feraligatr
                         by Brandon Ienn
                         San Diego,CA
                         11-14 about 60 ppl

we left on friday about 6:30 from yuma and we stayed
at the ramada plaza hotel. we looked around and went
to the lobby for a little bit. we played a few matches
w/ our decks and we were pretty comfortable w/ what we
were entering. we got to the stadium challenge a
little late but we got everything done in time. i got
to meet a lot of knew and cool people which was nice.
well heres the deck i entered.

pokemon(18)
4 totodile
4 croconaw
3 feraligatr
3 cleffa
2 pichu
1 tyrogue
1 magby

trainers(26)
4 mistys wrath
4 trash exchange
4 professor elm
4 double gust
3 secret mission
3 focus band
2 healing field
1 lucky stadium
1 time capsule

energy(16)
16 water energys

ok i enetered w/ gatr cuz thats what i was most
familiar w/ and i had it for a long time. i kind of
thought their was going to be a lot of anti gatr but
their wasnt really that much or at least i didnt face
any. heres the report

round 1 vs. slowking,rockets zapdos,promo
scyther,promo mewtwo
this kid was easy. i got gatr turn 3 and he did have 1
slowking but he rolled tails on the double gust and i
killed the slowking. he tried to load everything up
but i just double gusted everything. it was pretty
easy match.
1-0 3 points

round 2 vs. jennifer w/ gatr
 i go first and i get a gatr out before she had
anything. all she had was a cleffa and a totodile w/ 2
energys on it. i double gust the totodile and kill it.
after that she kept putting totodiles out and so it
was easy bait. i double gusted everything and won
pretty easy.
2-0 6 points

inbetween rounds i talked to cody and he lost to a
kingdra deck and so he was 1-1 but he could still make
it into top 8. criminal was getting ready for the
booster draft. good luck to him.

round 3 vs. dark plume,espeon
 he never got anything going. i got gatr turn 3 or 4
and i double gusted the glooms before they could
evolve into plume and his espeons never got powered
up. i koed everything before he could get anything set
up.
3-0 9 points

round 4 vs. kingdra,pichu,murkrow
this was the same guy that beat cody first round. so i
played w/ caution but i thought that i could take him.
it was a very close and hard match. it really goes
into details but we each get left w/ 1 prize each and
i managed to get a croconaw powered up again and
chanced him not getting heads on the baby flips. w/ 3
seconds left i evolve to gatr and wrath. i riptide w/
just enought time left. i win.
4-0 12 points

i find out that marty got beat by stephanie w/ a first
turn kill. all he had was cleffa and she tyrogued him
for the win. that sucks. o well i look at the pairings
and im up against her next.

round 5 vs. stephanie w/ gatr
 i go first but have a crappy hand. i have tyrogue up
w/ a totodile and she has a cleffa totodile and a
tyrogue.i just attach to tyrogue and to my surprise i
get 2 heads in a row. anyway she gets a gatr up before
me and i double gust it to the bench and i bring up
her totodile. i hoped to stall which i did. i got a
gatr out like 5th turn. pretty late but at least i got
 it. i got enought energys in discard and double
gusted her gatr on the bench and i koed it. she rolled
tails on focus. from thier it was just babys. i rolled
through them pretty good.
5-0 15 points

during lunch marty,criminal,cody, and some other
people all left to look for somewhere to eat. we did
find this cafe place but i forgot the name. it was
pretty nasty and we sort of made fun of it. well we
looked around again and still didnt find anything.
well we ended up coming back to the same place. go
figure. after we ate we headed back to the convention
center and the standings were up. i was number 1. i
couldnt believe it. i knew if i just win one more
match im going to top 8.

round 6 vs. aaron w/ gatr
my third match against a gatr. i knew he was pretty
good. i  go first and all he has is a pichu. lucky me.
i start w/ cleffa and a totodile. i got pretty lucky
w/ that set up. i attach to totodile and fur swipes. i
got baby check and then i got one heads after that. he
gets nothing. i was surprised. i attach again to
totodile and evolve into croconaw. i get heads on baby
check and i win. now i know im going to top 8.
6-0 18 points

round 7 vs. kevin cheng w/ slowking/dark golduck
he wanted to intentionally draw but i refused. i dont
know y i didnt do that but o well. i absolutely dont
get anything. i dont even get a totodile down until
the 7th turn. by then he had 2 dark golducks w/ 3
slowkings. i knew it was over. i tried to stall and
kill the slowkings w/ pichu but when i got 60 damage
w/ pichu he pokemon centered. my hopes were shot now.
6-1 18 points

i walked around for a while and watched the booster
draft. criminal went 1-4 so he didnt do to well. after
a while the standings where up and i was number 1
still. so they checked are decks and mine was perfect.
so now we start are match.

top 8 round 1 vs. enetei/magcargo
this is the worst thing that could happen especially
on round 8. i dont get a basic for 4 turns in a row.
and he goes first. i know that im pretty much done
for.he get magcargo turn 2 and starts owning me. i
have nothing at all. i get a crap hand. i did get a
croconaw out but it was enought cuz he had another
magcargo on its way and that was game. i was pissed
cuz i knew i could have taken that game.

props:
1)my mom for driving me to san diego
2)cody bugging me to go(or else i wouldnt have come)
3)meeting new people
4)making top 8 for my first big tournament

slops:
1)jose staying in yuma and winning the grass energys
2)criminal going 1-4 in the booster draft
3)not getting a basic for 4 turns
4)the crappy food

everything else was pretty cool and i would do it
again.

brandon
activision2@yahoo.com