Doppelganger v1.0 By Jeremy Winn Fantasy Shop St. Charles, Missouri Saturday, March 30 Roughly 15 Participants Those of you who are weak of mind, skip down- WAY DOWN. Okay... this was the St. Charles Gym Challenge. My little brother, Justin, was going for a shot at worlds. He took my Modified deck, a rogue deck called Mirror Images, but you all don't get to see that ;) I'm expecting it to do pretty well in Neo Block. Anyway, my brother just turned 11 and I knew the competition would be tougher, so I gave him the usual lecture. Don't forget to shuffle really good-- actually, why don't you just bring your deck to me after each match and I'll shuffle it for you... Other things like, relax and think about what you're doing. We were visiting our grandma for Easter in Troy, Mis., At the qualifier in Memphis, the side events were unlimited, so I came prepared for unlimited with some really awesome decks (sorry, can't tell ;) but I figured I should make another Modified deck in case they didn't have unlimited (good thing). I was going to build a Life Drain deck, but didn't have enough ESP (I like building rogue decks) I even thought about building a "Big Fire" deck (God, what a crappy name) I decided I would rather do something original and I didn't want to bother with gathering the cards. I ended up throwing a deck together at around 6:00. I test played it against my brother's deck (Gatr) and my own deck as well as one of my dad's decks, and we ended up playing a team multiplayer match with my brother, Chris and I against my Dad and Justin. We won- it was fun (no rhyme intended). My deck was a Brock's Ninetales deck that I had been scheming up for months. I had just recently gotten ahold of the Pokemon I needed in the past week, so I thought I'd give it a shot. We got in the car around 10:00. Registration started at 11:00. On the way (I had to read the directions to my dad) my dad informed us that he missed the turn, and it would probably take us another hour to get turned around and find where we were going. He lied about the whole thing... Dad, if you're reading this, I just want to let you know that YOU SUCK!! We finally arrived with plenty of time to register. I made some last-minute changes to my deck after finding that there were NO unlimited events. I tried to get in some unlimited matches before the tourney but nobody had even brought any unlimited decks... :( The only people we recognized were a couple of guys who went to the Memphis qualifier. I wasn't sure I would recognize any of them, but my brother told me that PatK was supposed to be there. He won the side events in Memphis with his Jumpluff Madness deck (lucky turd...) We were going to make a sign that said "Down with Jumpluff Madness, Up with Jumpluff Sadness" so he could find us, but we thought he might take it kind of personally. I talked to a few older guys who would be in the 15+ tourney with me. I met Matt T. (MegaMurkrow)who was playing Crobat, some guy playing a Gatr, and another guy who was arguing with me that Slowking was viable in Modified (I had mentioned that I didn't think it was...) It turned out he was playing Slowking/Dark Muk. Chris met Slashtap, who was playing Gatr. They played a match and Chris owned, but apparently Slash was only playing 2 Gatr in his deck... Anyway, after we registered, we listened to the British guy tell us what was going down (actually, I was talking to MegaMurkrow and we didn't hear most of what he said). Here it is: Doppelganger v1.0 4 Brock's Vulpix 50HP 4 Brock's Tales 2 Jumpluff (Solarbeam) 2 Espeon (Psychic) 2 Kabutops 1 Steelix 1 Umby (Feint) 3 Dratini (Revelation) 3 Dark Dragonair 2 Cleffa 24 4 Professor Elm 3 Bill's Teleporter (STOP LAUGHING!!!) 3 Brock's Training Method 2 Double Gust 2 Warp Point 4 Focus Band 3 Energy Stadium 2 Nightly Garbage Run 23 4 Rainbow Energy 4 Fire 1 Grass 1 Psychic 1 Fighting 2 Full Heal Energy 13 The deck, I have to admit, was built very quickly and very poorly. The Bill's Teleporters were a desperate move for draw power. I added one of each basic type of energy that I needed so it could be retrieved with Energy Stadium. I ended up needing another Psychic *duh*. The trainers are mostly draw, the Pokemon do most of the work. The 4 Focus turned out being more than neccesary, but they were the only "good" cards I could find to fill space in the rough draft. Shoulda added a Steelix... Anyway, the deck is just Mad Techage... There's an evolution to help against each of the big archtypes. Espeon and Jumpluff aid Double Gust a lot, since I don't have to worry about them bringing in a benched tales. I wish I had something a little better for Gatr than Pluffy, but he's a turn quicker so I can't complain. NGR/Evolutionary Light is a killer combo in this deck. It just rocks- this deck is SO much fun to play, but I digress... The tournament was Swiss format, then single-elimination in the finals. My first round would be against MegaMurkrow, and I was a little nervous, having brought a rogue deck against a Crobat deck. I had seen how his deck was built from an earlier match and I was impressed. It was a traditional Cro, but I knew it would be one of my toughest matches. Round 1: vs. Matt Tyler (MegaMurkrow) Traditional Crobat - Doppelganger OMG this was such an awesome match. He was play Cro, Krow, and Chu. We both started somewhat slow. Of course, my goal was to get out an Espeon/Steelix and just start owning him. That didn't happen. I flipped many tails... many,many tails ('round these purts, I'm known as the tail-flippin' Champ-ee-yun) None of my Bill's Teleporters worked *surprise* and I couldn't get an Espeon or Dragonair for my life. I ended up resorting to just about everything other than those two. Late in the game, like turn 20 or so, I finally got an active Steelix, and a benched Espeon (Espeon came later), both of which were virtually useless at this time, but Steelix was giving me a chance. When Steelix hit the bench, I TC'd a Murkrow... tails. He Poison Sprays, exactly what I figured he would do (I told him before that I only played one Steelix). I NGR/Evolight, got Steelix and... tails again. I never could get Psychic up on Espy. Finally, the moment I feared. He pulled out his Pichu's. I tried to TC the first one, tails... tried again, heads! focus band, heads... He had 2 Pichu's out from about turn 5, so I had been trying to get rid of them the whole time, but in the end, Pichu drew his last 3 prizes in one turn. I guess it was an awesome match because I actually lost. We shook hands and he thanked me for flipping so many tails...j/k, but he did acknowledge that I had flipped a lot of tails and I respect him for that. 0-1-0 I knew I was going to have to win the rest of my matches... I met up with Chris, who had won his match. My brother, Chris, is very possibly the best Gatr player I have ever seen, met, or known. He's been playing Gatr since the release of Genesis (this was when we limited the amount of ER/SER in decks for home-play)and as far as I'm concerned, invented the very concept of many Gatr combos used today. The only time he has ever lost to another Gatr is to bad flips, and I was sure he would win today. I also met with my dad, who had lost. I'll just get it out of the way that my dad didn't win any matches that day. He's been so busy with work and really hasn't played much at all in the past 6 months, but we still love you dad (even though you suck!). Justin had lost his match against a Gatr. My deck totally owns Crobat and Fire, but has a little trouble with Gatr at times. For that purpose, I teched it heavy against Gatr... Justin NEVER plays cards anymore so he's really become kind of a pushover... Round 2: vs. Chris Rogue to the point of skilllessness - Doppelganger This guy was really nice, but wasn't very good. I knew I was going to get paired with someone bad since I had lost my last match. Let's just say that I started with a lone Cleffa, and he started with a *snicker* Sabrina's Jynx... He rolled high and went first. He was successful with Good Night for 10. I rolled tails to wake, attached FH Energy and Focus Band to Eeeeeek. This guy, seriously had tons of different Pokes, like Koga's Arbok and Brock's Tung... I was flipping out, because he almost won. He attached to Sabrina's Jynx, heads on Good Morning for 20... Oh, please Focus Band, don't fail! OMG, I would have been so mad if it failed, but it didn't :)! I ended up smacking him around really quick and he was so bummed because he didn't understand what went wrong... I didn't say anything. 1-1-0 I met up with my family again. I don't remember who Chris played that round. All I remember is that he totally owned everybody except MegaMurkrow in the whole tournament before the finals, including a Modified Hay, DarkMuk/Slowking, and a Crobat/DarkEgg deck. I enjoyed watching his match against Murkrow... They called time on Chris's turn. Chris had the game won, then Murkrow Feint's his benched Cleffa for 20 with only one prize left, another Murk ready on the bench to finish Cleffa. Chris has a Healing Fields and tries to get a Double Gust so he can heal Cleffa without retreating Gatr. He's only got two prizes left and if he flips heads he's in a position to win the game. It doesn't matter because the game will be declared a draw at the end of his turn, after he knocks out Murkrow. He ends up not getting his Gust, but the match was still a draw and awesome to watch. Round 3: vs. Mike Dark Scizor - Doppelganger I recognized Mike from Memphis. He was playing Dark Scizor with some form of Eevee. I owned this match too... I pulled out a second turn Jumpluff, which actually tore through his whole deck. I gusted and warped in promo Eevee's and Gligars and Solarbeamed for kills. His Scythers were 60 HP, so I Will-o-Wisped them for kills. Everything he played went down in a shot, and his head was spinning the whole time. He never touched Pluffy. 2-1-0 I ate pizza with PatK. I wanted to play against him, but we didn't have time. He was playing a really bad Big Fire deck (that's what he told me) that he had just shifted from Unlimited to Modified. Round 4: vs. Tom Modified Hay - Doppelganger This was an older guy, he was also really nice and afterwards I provided some ruling for his daughter in her matches. He was playing MP Mewtwo for Crobat, Rocket's Scyther for Gatr, and Rocket's Zappy for bigger damage on other types. This guy was pretty good, but second turn Ninetales destroyed Scythers, Espeon made quick work of Mewtwos and I used Kabutops a LOT in this match. No surprise provided Kabutops is what I usually use when I don't have a significant type advantage or can't get the one I need. I owned again. Thank you very much. 3-1-0 Well, now I'm in the finals or semifinals... whatever it is. My dad got us Jack in the Box and I ate again. BTW, for those of you who didn't see me, I'm not fat, in case you were wondering. I saw the brackets and it looks like if I win my next match I have to face my brother. I'll be playing against Bertha, whom everybody said was really good. I saw that MegaMurkrow was up against another guy playing Crobat but with Dark Egg. I was mad, because I knew MegaMurkrow was going to lose (even though he's better) and the guy playing Dark Egg would lose to the Gatr player (he's not in my circle, so I don't know his name). I figured it would be me against Chris, then Cro/Egg vs. Gatr (like I said, Gatr would win). There should be a rule about fighting family... Round 5: vs. Bertha Big Fire - Doppelganger I'm always nervous against Big Fire. I've seen what a good deck can do with a Blaine's Arcy and a few fire energy, but that's what Kabutops is for. Kabutops just slaughters fire, and I wish he were a grass-type... I'd switch with Pluffy any day. This lady called the judge about a billion times. She had no idea what Brock's Tales did and was just blown away by it. She was off to a pretty good start. Second turn she had a benched Arcy with two fire, a Quilava that I had gusted up, and a benched Cyndaquil. I was afraid of Arcy, so on my third turn, I gusted it up and got 2 heads on Hydrocutter (with 3 flips) Arcy was gone, but she soon Charred my Kabutops. Char eventually downed my Kabutops, but I had another ready on the bench. Kabutops wiped out Quilly in one hit. She played another Growlithe with Cinnabar Gym and played an Entei O_o and only got 1 fire. I had no counter Gym, but I got 2 heads with Hydrocutter and KO'd it. Next went Quilava with 2 MORE heads. Then, Entei came up, I only got one heads, so it survived* Before Entei could attack (I took no risks) I switched Kabutops to Espeon (she called the judge because she didn't think I was allowed to do that)and finished it with Psychic. 4-1-0 After the match, I realized that Cinnabar Gym only worked on Blaine's Pokemon, and I had actually already won the match, but it didn't matter... Next, I was up against Chris. My prediction had been right, and I knew the winner of this match would play against Gatr, but I was really kind of hoping the Crobat guy would win, so I could beat him with Espy. MegaKrow was looking kind of bummed. He won 6 Destiny packs and pulled pretty bad rares (no holos either). I was wanting to face him again, but at least I advanced. Round 6: vs. Chris Winn Gatr - Doppelganger It was just like home... I know Chris plays Magby so I'm a little worried. I got a turn 2 or 3 Jumpluff (neither of us remembers which) I seem to remember getting the Jumpluff on 2 but not getting the energy till 3, but anyway, he pulled third turn Gatr and the match began. Magby was a pain in this match. I'll make it quick. I took out a few babies and a couple Gatrs. In the end, I had not Pluffs and no way to get them back. He was burnt out and Riptiding for 10. I knew I didn't have much time. I was forced to use Kabutops. Hydrocutter for 1=0, for 2=0, for 3=40. Man, how come I only get good flips against bad people? I just couldn't kill Gatr fast enough to tear through his babies. His Riptides added up until he could Sputter for the KO. Focus Band had no effect so I lose... I had a good chance except that I flipped too many tales with Kabutops. 4-2-0 My dad came over to comfort me (he was teasing me) I never feel bad about losing to Chris. He's a good player and just to do well against him is a victory for me. I get my prize- a Pikachu World Collection. Is this all? I would have rather had packs. I tried to exchange it, trade it, anything... If I had known I was going to get this piece of crap I would have thrown my last match and let Chris advance on purpose. I stood on the other side and watched Chris' match with the Gatr player (he won, like I said). The other guy went first (dang it!) and they both pulled third turn Gatrs. The game was mostly just trading blows. The pivotal point was at the end of the game. Chris's opponent had an active Gatr but no gusts. Chris was building Gatr on the bench, and had 3 babies to stall with. All Chris needed was to knock on the last Gatr and just do baby flips- he would have the game. The guy plowed right through all 3 babies (all heads), not giving Chris enough time for his last Gatr. Dang! It was a good match, though. Kudos to whoever it was that beat Chris! Chris got many packs and pulled some decent rares/holos. More importantly he got every holo from Revelation. Chris gave me the Porygon2. Normal Pokes are cool... Pikachu sux... I placed third in the final standings. Pretty awesome for a rogue deck! Props and Slops Slops to my Dad for playing with our fragile little minds... Slops to Pikachu World Collection Slops to losing to Gatr Slops to Gatr Slops to Justin losing Slops to Murkrow's losses Slops to people who call the judge every other play ):) Props to my Dad for being awesome and working hard Props to Chris for doing so well Props to Justin for placing 10th (he asked for this) Props to Murkrow who ended up getting a better prize than me... Props to all my opponents Props to food Props to Normal Pokes! Props to Pojo for being cool! Props to Wizards and DCI! Props to everyone who tries this deck and has fun with it, or totally owns with it! _______________________ Jeremy Winn snorezzz@hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx