The Crusader

By

Matt Dunford

The San Diego Convention Center

San Diego, California

June 8th, 2002

64 Entrants

 

          My name is Matt Dunford I am a player of Wizards of the Coast at the Mission Valley Mall here in San Diego and this is my report of the San Diego Stadium Challenge.

 

          I arrived at the Convention Center at 7:00 A.M. I am dressed in Blue Jeans, a Black Shirt and my Black Jacket. I put on my Chrome Oakley sunglasses and enter the center. I take the escalator upstairs. When I reached the top, Dallas Dalton of Name of the Game greeted me. Dallas and I talked for a while because we were the only two people there. Dallas told me that he was going to be a judge and enter the Professors Challenge. After that, Dallas made deck plans for his younger brother Cody who was entering the 11-14 division. Cody was going to play an Entei/Magcargo deck, because Dallas said that it was the fastest deck in Modified.

 

          The time is now 7:30 I had done some play testing against Cody Dalton’s Entei/Magcargo deck and it had proven to be good. Soon after the testing, my friend Abraham Jimenez and so did Red the Gym Leader of Plaza Bonita. At this time more and more people arrived. The next person to arrive was Ryan Watson. Ryan was going to play a Crobat deck that I had made for him a week earlier. The next player to arrive was my good friend James Day he was going to play along side me in the Unlimited Tournament. Soon after the arrival of James, Team Name of the Game came: Kevin Cheng, Richard Cheng, Daniel Deardoff and his uncle Jeff Deardoff had joined us. The circle was almost complete; we had assembled most of the best players in San Diego into our group.

 

          It is now 8:00 A.M. The doors open and the people rushed inside. Our group settled at a table and then we went straight for the card vendors and bought what we needed. When I came back to the table my Gym Leader the great Robert Estrada had arrived. Around five minutes later, my good friend Danny Natan joined me and we went to the registration desk to get him set up. On my way to the registration desk, I heard someone scream my name. It was Kevin Nguyen and Kevin Tran, all right everyone is here. Kevin Nguyen told me that he needed help making his deck so I quickly got to it, I helped him make a Crobat deck that he would use for the 11-14 division and we filled out his deck list and got him ready for registration. After I finished with Kevin’s Crobat deck, Danny came back to me and he told me that they would not let him in the tournament. He brought in all of the registration materials the night before and they somehow screwed it up and now he does not get to play in the 11-14 division and even worse, he does not even get his $10 back.

 

          It is now 8:30 A.M. Jerel Barnes and his cousin William Gibbs joined us. After talking to Jerel for a while he decided to look around for someone, I asked him who he was looking for, and he told me that he was looking for Matt Moss so he could punch him in the face. [See Day 2, Round 6 of Matt Moss’ Tournament Report]

         

The Main Event had just begun here are our entrants.

 

11-14

 

Kevin Nguyen (Crobat)

Ryan Watson (Crobat)

Kevin Cheng (Dark Golduck/Slowking)

Daniel Deardoff (Kingdra/Murkrow)

Cody Dalton (Entei/Magcargo)

Richard Cheng (Fire Recharge)

 

          Everyone else decided to enter the Unlimited Tournament.

 

 

Unlimited Tournament

 

Matt Dunford (Haymaker)

Danny Natan (Haymaker)

James Day (Steelix/Chansey)

Robert Estrada (Rain Dance)

Jerel Barnes (Steelix/Chansey)

William Gibbs (Rain Dance)

Kevin Tran (Sneasel/Slowking)

Abraham Jimenez (Sneasel/Rocket’s Scyther) 

 

 

Here is my deck and my report.

 

The Crusader

 

Pokemon

 

12

 

3 Cleffa LV. 6 (Genesis)

3 Erika’s Jigglypuff LV. 13 (Challenge)

3 Electabuzz LV. 35 (Base)

3 Sneasel LV. 34 (Genesis)

 

Trainers

 

29

 

3 Computer Search (Base)

3 Professor Oak (Base)

3 Focus Band (Base)

3 Item Finder (Base)

4 PlusPower (Base)

3 Nightly Garbage Run (Rocket)

3 Gust of Wind (Base)

4 Energy Removal (Base)

2 Bill (Base)

1 Super Energy Removal (Base)

 

Energy

 

19

 

4 Darkness Energy (Genesis)

4 Rainbow Energy (Rocket)

4 Double-Colorless Energy (Base)

7 Electric Energy (Base)

 

Round 1 Matt Dunford vs. Kevin Tran (Sneasel/Slowking)

 

          Kevin Tran is a player from my league and just because he is my friend did not mean that I went easy on him. I won the coin flip. I started with an Electabuzz as my active and Kevin started with a single Chansey. I attach an Electric energy to my active Electabuzz and use Thundershock but failed to paralyze. He attached a Double-Colorless Energy and used Scrunch and it failed. I attach an Electric Energy to my Electabuzz, play an Energy Removal on his Chansey, and then play a Professor Oak to get more basics. Kevin did manage to kill off my Electabuzz but after his Chansey was knocked out, he really had a hard time against me. Whenever he would put an Energy on his Sneasel, I would use an Energy Removal to take it off and whenever he put down a Slowpoke I would just use and Erika’s Jigglypuff with a PlusPower to kill it. So in the end I won.

 

1-0

 

Round 2 Matt Dunford vs. Caitlin Christian (Wigglytuff/Sneasel)

 

          When I first saw this girl I though to myself, “All right another easy win.” But I was wrong. It started like this. My active was an Erika’s Jigglypuff and she only had a Cleffa. So I attached a Double-Colorless Energy to my Erika’s Jigglypuff and tried to attack, my attack failed. She attached a Recycle Energy to her Cleffa and Eeeeeeeked, I attached an Electric Energy to my Electabuzz and tried to use Pulled Punch, it failed. Then she put down a Jigglypuff, a Sneasel, a Pichu and another Cleffa. Then she attached Focus Bands to all of them and the she used a Professor Oak. I had an extremely hard time playing against this girl especially because all of her Focus Bands flipped heads. But I eventually defeated her. I would have never suspected that a girl her age could have a deck that good.

 

2-0

 

          After I beat Caitlin, I talked to some other Players. Two of the other players that I met are Dax and Chao both are good players and were doing well in the Unlimited Tournament so far. I went back to our designated hangout spot. I asked how the other players were doing in the Main Event. Kevin Cheng told me that he was undefeated in the 11-14 division, and I told Kevin that I am undefeated in the Unlimited Tournament. Kevin asked if he could see my deck, so I showed it to him and he said he wanted to see how it would do against his Haymaker, I accepted his challenge.

 

Matt Dunford vs. Kevin Cheng (Sneasel/Hitmonchan/Scyther)

 

          We began our game. I got the coin flip. I started with an Erika’s Jigglypuff as my active and an Electabuzz on my bench. Kevin had a Scyther and a Hitmonchan on his bench and as his active; he had an Erika’s Dratini. I attached a Double-Colorless Energy to my Erika’s Jigglypuff, and then I attached a PlusPower to it and did 20 damage to him. He put a Double-Colorless Energy to His Erika’s Dratini and did 30 damage to me. I put a Darkness Energy on my Sneasel used Professor Oak, put on another PlusPower and kill his Erika’s Dratini. He brings up his Hitmonchan and Jabs me. Kevin and his Hitmonchans were really giving my Electabuzzes and Jigglypuffs a hard time. I used a Super Energy Removal on his benched Hitmonchan and left it with a single Recycle Energy and killed his active Hitmonchan with a Sneasel. He brought up his Benched Hitmonchan and used Jab. I used an Energy Removal on his Fighting Energy. He drew his card and said go. I drew my card and said go. He drew his card and said go. And so on and so on until he finally decked out. I had removed all of his Fighting Energy and he could not attack.

 

          Soon after my win we were called back to play in the Tournament.

 

 

Round 3 Matt Dunford vs. Jeffery Orchez (Sneasel/Murkrow/Muk)

 

          I hate this kid. Everyone hated this kid. Whenever you would talk to anyone about this kid, the first thing they would say is that they hate him. He is an ugly little punk with stupid hair and dumb beady eyes and he always had his mouth open, probably to attract flies. I suspected that this kid cheated during our game. Anyway onto our match. He won the coin flip. I had a Sneasel as my active with an Electabuzz on my bench. He had a Cleffa as his active and Sneasel on his bench. He put a Recycle Energy on his Cleffa and used Lass and then he Eeeeeeeked. I had no Trainer options so I put a Darkness Energy on Sneasel but I failed to attack. He used an Energy Removal on my Sneasel. I really do not remember much about this match except that he really made me mad and that it took every once of my will power not to punch him in the face.

 

2-1

 

          After my loss I talked to Abraham, he was bragging about how he was undefeated, and I told him that he has to go up against the kid next. Abraham said, “I hate that kid.” What did I tell you?

 

Round 4 Matt Dunford vs.??? (Lugia/Articuno/Zapdos/Moltres)

 

          I started with Sneasel as my active with an Electabuzz on the bench. He had a Lugia as his active and all three Birds on the bench. I had all four of my Energy Removals in my opening hand and as you can imagine that really screwed him up. Once I got a Sneasel going, he could not make a comeback.

 

3-1

 

          In between this round a tragedy occurred. Some dirty gimp stole Kevin Tran’s deck.

 

Round 5 Matt Dunford vs. Abraham Jimenez (Sneasel/Rocket’s Scyther)

 

          Abraham lost his last match to the stupid, ugly cheater kid and now he has to face me his worst nightmare. I won the coin flip. I began with an Erika’s Jigglypuff and two Sneasel on the bench. He had a Sneasel and a Rocket’s Scyther on the bench. I started by attaching a Double-Colorless Energy to my Erika’s Jigglypuff and then I attached a PlusPower then I used a Professor Oak and got another PlusPower and killed his Sneasel. He really did not have a chance against me. Tubbs was easily defeated.

 

4-1

 

          After Abraham met his demise, I spoke with Dax to see if he beat that gimpy kid. “I hate that kid,” he said. See the pattern. The gimpy cheater kid went 5-0.

 

Now for the Top 8

 

1.    Jeffery Orchez

2.    James Orchez

3.    Matt Dunford

4.    Dax

5.    Chao

6.    Abraham Jimenez

7.    Caitlin Christian

8.    ???

 

Wow only to members of our group made it to the Top 8.

  

Quarterfinals Matt Dunford vs.??? (Blissey)

 

          I really expected this match to be a lot harder. I won the coin flip. I began with a Cleffa as my active and an Electabuzz on my bench. He had a Chansey as his active and a Scyther on the bench. I brought up Electabuzz and I used Thundershock and paralyzed his Chansey. He put a Gold Berry on his Chansey and a Double-Colorless Energy and said go. I put down a Sneasel and play a Professor Oak, play an Electric Energy on Electabuzz and took off his Gold Berry and did 10 to myself. He put on another Double-Colorless Energy on his Chansey and used Double-Edge on my Electabuzz. When my Electabuzz fell I brought up my Sneasel and put on a Darkness Energy and two PlusPower and used a Professor Oak, got some more basics and used Fury Swipes on his Chansey, I needed I flip to bring it down and I got two. He managed to get a Blissey with two Double-Colorless Energy out but I just used a Super Energy Removal on him and that really screwed him. I used the same method that I used to beat Kevin Cheng, he had problems getting energy and when he I did get energy I would just take it off. I did that until he decked out. Just like Kevin. After I beat him, I learned that he did not even play Hyper Devolution Spray.

 

          After I won, I checked how my friends did. Dax had to go up against Chao and Dax lost, but Dax gave us a final message. Dax said I do not care who beats the cheater kid I just want him to be beaten. Abraham also lost, too bad Tubbs.

  

Semifinals Matt Dunford vs. James Orchez (Sneasel/Murkrow/Muk)

 

          All right, now I am in the Semifinals and must do my best to win. I won the coin flip. James was playing an identical deck of his little brother except that he is a lot nicer than his brother is. James mulliganed four times at the start of the game. When he finally got a basic, it was a single Murkrow. I had an Electabuzz and I had three PlusPower in my hand and a Computer Search too. I Attach an Electric Energy to my Electabuzz, use a Computer Search, and look through my deck for another PlusPower. I looked through my deck four times. It was in my prizes. I could have had the game right there if it was not in my prizes. Things just went downhill from there. I lost. However, on the plus side, Chao beat the gimpy kid and the gimpy kid ran out of the convention center and started crying like a little wimp. Chao lost to James but hey, he made the finals. I why am I not happy with my placing. It is just that I knew I could but I did not. Third out of 64 is not bad. When Dax heard that, the gimpy kid had run out crying he started cracking up.

 

          As soon as the Tournament was over I when over to the Main Event I joined my friends as we supported Kevin and Daniel in the Top 8 of the 11-14 Division. Daniel lost in the Quarterfinals and Kevin made it to the Semifinals. Kevin still gets to go to Seattle for making it that far, Dallas won the Professors Challenge. The important thing is we did well and that we had fun.

 

          I stayed until the very end with Danny and James. I and had the pleasure of interviewing Dark Master Trainer Mike, I learned that he is obsessed with Gengar. Danny, James and I were the last people to leave the convention center and they stuck with me from start until finish they are my real friends. As Danny, James and I left we walked to out pick up spot at the grassy knoll. While we were walking the cheater kid walked by us his eyes still red from crying we just laughed at him, I am not a mean person but this kid deserved it. As we sat on the grassy knoll waiting for our parents to come, we talked of our great day our success and how much fun it was.

 

Props

 

To my Gym Leader Robert Estrada for skipping work to be with us.

 

To Danny Natan for providing himself as an obstacle for me to overcome.

 

To James Day for getting me into the Pokemon trading card game.

 

To Abraham Jimenez for always being alongside me.

 

To Dax, I only knew you for one day but you are a cool guy.

 

To Chao for beating Jeffery Orchez we all thank you for that.

 

To Marcello Mundo for believing in me before I was a big shot.

 

To Jerel Barnes for always providing me with a new challenge.

 

To Dallas Dalton for winning the Professor’s Challenge.

 

To Cody Dalton you will do better next time.

 

To William Gibbs for making our time a lot funnier.

 

To Kevin Nguyen for his great determination.

 

To Kevin Tran for always being a good opponent.

 

To Ryan Watson you will do better next time.

 

To Caitlin Christian for getting in the newspaper the next day.

 

To Kevin Cheng for getting to the Semifinals of the 11-14 division.

 

To Daniel Deardoff for making the Top 8 of the 11-14 division.

 

To Yoda for having the coolest fight scene in the history of time.

 

And very special props to Suni Murata.

 

Slops

 

To my last PlusPower being in my prizes.

 

To Jeffery Orchez.

 

To Jojo Coleman, Josh Shneck and David Valdez you guys are gimps.

 

To the guy who stole Kevin’s deck.

 

 

E-Mail

 

mattdunford13@yahoo.com

 

Matt Dunford