Minimize (Psychic/Fighting)
Eric Stover
Toys-R-Us
York, PA
Saturday, August 19th, 2000
10am-12pm
About 20 people

    This is my firsy Toury I've gone to, so I was a bit nervous becuase I
didn't know what to expect.  I took my Raindance and Aerodactyl/Mew
(Minimize) so I could pick which would be the best suited to use there. 
Surprisingly, the only haymaker there was my friends and there were quite a
few evolution decks so I decided to run Minimize.  I got there, signed in and
traded till my first match.  Some kid who I would later face thought I was
dumb and tried to trade me a Base Alakazam for Erika's Dragonair and
Victreebel, Lt. Surges Magneton, Brock's Ryhorn(rare), Rockets Training Gym
and assortred commons and uncommons from Gym.  I said no for apparent reasons.

Minimize v1.0

Pokémon- 14
4 Erika's Dratini (devolved the enemy, then sit him out while you build up
scyther or magmar for some fun!)
3 Magmar (fossil, no question)
3 Mew (gotta devolve those pokemon if they get out before Aerodactyl)
2 Aerodactyl (hmmm)
2 Scyther (needed some extra basic that could do decent damage and resist
fighting)

Trainers- 27
4 Bill
2 Oak
2 NGR (nightly Garbage Run)
2 Computer Search
2 Scoop Up
2 Item Finder
4 RSA (Rocket Sneak Attack)
3 Mysterious Fossil (hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm)
2 SER
2 Potion
1 Energy Flow (I know, I know, 1 card isn't the greatest idea, but it does
well enough)
1 Celadon City Gym (to get rid of any of my opponents gyms or help out
Dratini)

19 Energy
7 Fire
7 Psychic
4 DCE
1 Full Heal Energy (just in case, better trainers could be added)

When the tourny got underway, we were told the top 8 were guarunteed free
boosters and The Rocket's Meowth as a promo.  Other than me, my Bro, and ours
friends Doug, Cody, and Adam had come along for their first tourny, so a
bunch of newbies made 1/4 of the people.  I only remember a few of the
peoples names so sorry for any lack of info.  ON TO THE MATCHES!

Match #1 Minimize vs. Brandon with poor man's haymaker?
His deck was a mess.  He had some Hitmonchans, Base Digletts(ick). Mr. Mime,
Sabrina's Abra(no evolves for it), and Base Abra(!?!?!?!)  Apparently, he was
the 4th best player in all of York county so he must be lucky, a great
player, or just some bad opponents he faced.  Very quick match.  Bad hand for
me, Mew vs. Sabrina's Abra, Ouch.

0-1

Match #2 Minimize vs Brandon again
We decided to battle again because 2 turns for a battle was just too short
and it would get both of us closer to Promo Eevee(yes, I don't have it, but
I'm a newbie).  This time I held on longer.  I got Mew and Magmar and a Oak. 
I don't think he suffled at all, again he had Sabrina's Abra and a Chan on
the bench and played same strategy perfectly as before.  Luckyly I had Magmar
out and I stall for a bit, he powered up chan and was able to knock out
magmar.  I sent out Mew and Oaked.  MMMMMMMM.  5 energys, a potion and comp.
search.  I searched for Oak only to find out it was in my prizes, got bill
instead and got no one, very bad for me.  I psywave, he retreated, sent out
S's Abra, and killed me. Ouch again. Not a good start for a newbie.

0-2

Match #3 vs. ????? with Wigglytuff variant
Awesome hand, Fossil, E's Dratini, Magmar, Scyther, Comp. Search, and 2
Energy.  I win flip, and he has Scyther active with 2 Jiggly's on bench.  I
mention that he's running a wiggly deck and he gets pissed off and blames me
for cheating.  Um, it kinda hard not to notice that jigglys go with Wigglys. 
I draw, retreat, acttach fire to Magmar, Comp. Search for Oak and draw
Dactyl.  I smokescreen for 20.  He goes, Misty's Wrath(?!?!?!?!), Oaks,
retreats, attaches DCE to jiggly for 20 with pound.  I evolve into dactyl,
and build up on him.  I was easy after that, just took care of jiggly's with
dactyl, and scyther with Magmar.  I"M A WINNER MAN!!! WHOOOOO!!!

1-2

Match #4  ???? with same deck
Apperently, he had wiggly in his hand, and wanted a re-match cause He thought
I was cheating.  Ok with me.  I get 2 E's Dratini, and Magmar, against his
Scyther.  Ouch for him.

2-2

Match #5 Minimize vs. Some really cool adult dude with a Erika's
Vilplume/Victreebel deck
This guy was cool, he traded me my 3rd clefairy and 3rd clefable for Dk.
Dugtrio non-holo and E's Dragonair.  It was good to know there's some one
older than me who plays the game and doesn't complain during the game when I
do something completely legal and they lose.  He had a great start with 3 E's
BellSprout and Scyther to start with.  I had to becareful with Dactyl now.  I
had Fossil, dactyl, 2 Magmar, 2 Fire, and a Bill.  I played magmar active and
benched fossil and other magmar, I won flip and went first.  Drew another
Bill and pull Oak, Mew, Psychic, and E's Dratini.  I smokescreened him, and
he went, he play grass on bellsprout, retreated and poisoned me.  I layed
dactyl(this is where it went downhill for him), retreated, sent out other
magmar, Oaked, got 2 RSA, and SER.  I RSA'ed his Oak and SER away. 
Smokescreened and he went.  He layed DCE on Scyther, and failed to get
through smoke screen, drew Item finder, and smoged for a prize.  He sent out
scyther and slashed.  I findered for bill, and drew potion, and smoged with
poison to knock out scyther.  After that, he had no chance.  After the
battle, he traded me my first Movie Promo Mewtwo for a Lt. Surges Raichu
(YAY!) and thanked me for being the first pleasent opponent of the day.

3-2

Match #6 Minimize vs. Brandon (again!) with poor mans's Haymaker?
He was getting cocky and if I won, I might make the Top 8, he was already in
with a 5-0 record.  Great start with for me, 2 E's Dratini, 1 fossil, 2 Bill,
1 DCE, and RSA.  I won flip(YAY!) and went first, it was his Base Abra
against my dratini with his hitmochan on bench.  I played bill got dactyl and
tail striked for 10.  He put fighting on Chan and passed.  I evoled dactyl,
attached a Fire to him, and tail Striked to 10 again.  he attached fighting
to chan and passed.  I went, pulled DCE, played Mew, attached DCE to dactyl,
and knocked out abra for a potion as prize.  Sent out Chan and did 10(due to
Strange Barrier).  I retreated and sent out dactyl, RSAed 1 of his 2 potions
away.  This is where he cheated, I watched him put the potion on top of his
deck with out shuffling (maybe that's how he's the 4th best, by cheating), I
didn't care, I had him beat.  WIng attack for 30, his turn.  He does double
potion.  I questioned him about it to see his response to my RSA and all he
said was he pulled the potion, I didn't care, he was finished.  He special
punched for 10 due to resistence.  I go wing attack for 30, he does 10, I
retreat, play psychic on mew for win.  He got mad and went to battle his next
opponent.

4-2

Between matches:
I was at 4-2 and had a slim chance of making the top 8.  This is where the
guy from round 5 was really cool.  He had been going there for months and had
won a lot of the promos and earlier tourny's.  If he won his match he was in
and I was out.  He won so I started to go find someone to trade with while I
waited for my Bro and Adam to finished up in the top 8.  He turns to me and
says go ahead and take his spot in the top 8, hes been in enough and I was
one of the nicest people he played against that day.  I couldn't thank him
enough, for someone to do something like that to someone he doesn't even know
and is a newbie to the league is a pretty cool thing to have happen.  I told
him I'd pay him back any way I could but he said no thanks and enjoy the
tourny.  Great Guy.

Top 8
Match #7 Minimize vs. my Brother Jason and his KEDD deck (Killer Energy
Denial Deck)
This match was quick.  I hit him early with E's Dratini to slow him down
while I powered up scyther to knock out his Poliwag and Psyduck.

5-2

Match #8 Minimize vs. Kevin? and a Electabuzz/Charmander deck
All I saw was 2 charmander and 2 Base Electabuzz.  I had E's Dratini, 2
potions and lots of energy and a Magmar to start so i was in a bit of
trouble, luckly, I pulled a bill to get another bill and another so by turn 5
I had 2 full powered magmar and a Oak ready to use if I ran into trouble.  I
scooped up Dratini, knocked out charmander with Smog and help of poison.  He
sent out 1 energy buzz, no paralyze.  I oak, get fossil and dactyl, I
smokescreen. He fails to get through screen, I power up dactyl to take care
of his Buzzes, and I use Magmar for the rest of his charmanders.  I think he
had charizard in his deck but I don't know.

Final Record 6-2

For my first tourny, I did quite well for my first time, i got 4th place and
3 Gym boosters.  I pulled Holo Lt. Surge, Misty's rare
Goldeen(AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!), and Brock's Sandslash.  Ok packs, nothing
spectacular, but they were free.  Jason got 1 gym booster and pulled a
blaine's Moltres which he traded for a Base Venusaur.  Adam got 2 boosters
and pulled a holo Misty and non-holo Erika trainers.  Cody bought 2 boosters
and pulled no removal Gym and Erika's Vileplume.  Doug just traded a lot.  He
got a Venusaur for Rocket's Moltres. hehehe

Props:
to Pojo, thanks for being the best site in the world!!!
to Scott Gerhardt for taking his own time to make this the best site along
with the help of so many others
to the dude from round 5 for giving up his spot in the top 8 just so some
newbie can have a chance and trading me the promo Mewtwo and clefairy/clefable
to Toys-R-Us for hosting the event
to my Bro for being a great sport in the top 8 even though he lost and we've
battle over 150 times
to my friends for being there so I'm not the only newbie
to my mom for taking me and my friends to the tourny even though she hates
pokemon
to anyone who deserves props I forgot

Slops:
to Brandon, the whinny sore loser who claims to be the 4th best in York
County, even though he got crushed in the 2 rounds after I beat him
to the kid who though I was an idiot and trying to trade me a alakazam for 2
holos, 2 rares, and many commons and uncommons in Gym
to collectors who won't trade any cards they only have 1 of
to Rare's like Zubat, Goldeen, and Tentacool in Gym


Any Questions, comments, hate mail, game pointers, and help on how to make my
E-mail address a hyper link please contact me at
NHLfreak22@AOL.com

~Eric Stover