By none other than
matthewssandslash
At Worlds
In Seattle, the
convention center
Who could guess how many
people!
"What's your
reaction to the Pokémon World Championship Side Events?"
"Wow."
Oh, my gosh.
Saturday:
Wowee! After all this time, matthewssandslash is
heading to Worlds! Once I arrived, I met bomie (who, even once he found out who
I was, was all nice and cool), saw rand0m, and Purity (hard to miss), and
checked to see how Coryace Jolteon was doing (not too bad)... exciting! I
played some kid with my Dk. Muk deck, and won easily before my first event. I
and my sister checked in for the team Sealed Swiss tourney. The rules were
simple. It's just like TMP (okay, scratch the "simple" part), but
each team gets 10 LC boosters to make a 2 40 card decks, 2 prizes per deck (so
once a team got 4 prizes, they won). We got strong Water, and decent Fire, and
some *okay* Fighting, so those are the decks we made! Here’s mine:
2 Charmander
2 Charmeleon
1 Eevee
1 Flareon
1 Growlithe
1 Arcanine
1 Tauros
2 Machop
2 Machoke
1 Machamp
2 Potion
2 Bill
1 ER (retrieval, in case you’re patriarch =/)
1 FHE
And something like 10 Fire and 7 Fighting, I forget exactly. =/ Remember, you
have to return the energy.
My sister’s:
1 Big Fat Tub of Lard (not Pikachu, Snorlax, duh)
3 Tentacool
3 Tentacruel
2 Seel
1 Dewgong
2 Dratini
1 Dark Dragonair
2 Psyduck
2 Golduck
2 Potion
1 Bill
1 Boss' Way
1 Potion energy
20 (I think =/) Water energy
Not THAT horrid, Beth's was better, I made them both. I am a fan of Machop for
life now: but we'll get to that. Round 1 we were terribly slaughtered, past her
opening Snorlax/Tentacool/Tentacool, Beth got NOTHING but Water Energy. I
couldn't even come CLOSE to pulling it off. I tell Beth that if we win all our
other games, we can still T8. We then SLAUGHTER our next opponents in Round 2,
one of which had this horrid Grass deck (that me and Beth made short work of)
and who I mercilessly slaughtered at the 2001 QT. Machop
and Dark Dragonair cleared out everything. And the next victims in Round 3 were
a nice German mother/son team who we chatted with, while wiping out with
Dewgong and Machop. I wished them good luck. I told Beth that now that we had
winning records, we’d play a LOT better people. And we got schooled the next
two rounds. The details are blurry, if you've ever quickly lost a Draft game,
you know what it's like. Egads! Anyway, the rounds took AGES! 50 minutes (40
plus ten in-between minutes) a round: we were always done in 15! We felt
downhearted, but I signed up for a Gym draft tourney. Then I found out that the
tourney was SIX rounds, not 5! I grabbed a reluctant Beth, and we finally
finished with a GREAT game, with some nice Tail Strike flips for our Dark
Dragonair. Unfortunately, our OWP was horrid (48%), and we got 22nd. Ouch,
ouch, ouch.
Meanwhile, I find Estabon, a friend from League! I convince him to join my Gym
draft, we finally get 8, and start drafting. Estabon and his brother are new,
and Estabon lets THREE Erika's Jigglies pass him by (I only snag one, one goes
around me, one I pass for an important card, I think it was Whirl.) Anyway, I
start drafting drawing early, seeing QUITE a bit (a Mission, Erika, and Wrath
in my VERY FIRST PACK EVER drafting!), then, by accident, pull a Misty's Horsea
(40HP). I start drafting Misty’s stuff, and thanks to some weird pack
distribution (3 Challenge, 2 Heroes), I get SIX Misty's Staryu, and many other
weird, weird things!
Oh ya, the deck:
2 Misty's Staryu (Star Boomerang, decided that 6 was a bit too much!)
3 Misty's Poliwag (2 Bubbles, 1 the other kind)
1 Misty's Poliwhirl
2 Misty's Seel (1 each)
1 Misty's Dewgong
1 Erika's Oddish (with the power, cool idea, never used, but that pack was crap
anyway)
1 Blaine's Rhyhorn (see above, minus the power)
1 Gio's Meowth (50 HP, see above)
2 Misty's Horsea (50 HP, but the free retreat is the most important)
1 Erika's Jiggly (and NEVER used!)
1 Koga's Pidgey (Messenger)
1 Blaine's Kangeshkhan
1 Erika's Clefairy (Lunar Power)
1 Mission
2 Wrath
1 Cerulean City Gym
1 Warp Point
1 Max Revive (FUNKY!)
16 Water, I believe.
In my first match, I was up against some guy who played a Koga's Beedrill
STRAIGHT FROM HIS HAND ONTO HIS BENCH. He turned out to be okay after I
corrected him, fortunately. Sigh... I won after a long battle, when he got NO
flips with Bellow but double Headed me with his 70 HP Brock's Rhyhorn to KO my
Poliwhirl!!! ACK! I beat him down, though. Phew! (this was single elim)
Round two I play Mr. E's Jiggly, with E's Sprouts/Oddishes, too. My Staryu and
Seel (60 HP) tag-team to drop a Jiggly, then Dewgong wipes out the rest of them
a _long_ while later. It lasted maybe 20 turns. Ouch!
Round 3 (FINALS) I play: Estabon with Psy/Fire! I beat him down early, then
stalled while we both built up. When I felt that I had the advantage, poof,
Water Punch! After a brief exchange of blows, I almost wiped out his Lt.
Surge's Fearow, then used Rapids instead and gave him a few turns, before I
Warp Pointed to bring out a sacrificial lamb for Misty’s Dewgong. Wow, 6 packs!
(And one had a reverse foil Charizard! Cool!)
Props/Slops!
Props to my family
Props to Estabon
Props to everyone on Pojo
Props to everyone on Wizards chats
Props to everyone here at Worlds!
Props to a lot of other things!
Props to my being #1 in the Tri-Cities! WOO-HOO!
Slops to everyone who beat me. =/ =/ =/ =/ =/ =/ =/
Slops to that annoying kid who kept drafting Sabrina's Gastly's without
realizing how many he'd drafted, and got 9!
So, if you guys WEREN'T at Worlds, enjoy, and wish you were there!
SUNDAY:
I got in and entered a Gym Draft early, and
played an Unlimited battle, beating a Dark Golbat + Murkrow deck with my Dark
Muk deck. Then I drafted, counter-drafting carefully, until I had THIS monster:
pure power! (=/) Anyway, I already drafted Misty, so I decided to use Erika,
who is supposed to be quite good in Gym block. Here's the deck:
3 Koga's Zubat (quick, early attacker, stops
quick losses, searches deck)
1 Koga's Golbat (just randomly pulled it. nice
attack)
3 Erika's Oddish (2 Strange Powder, 1 Poisonpowder.
Evolution, though Strange Powder ones are good, strong attackers)
2 Erika's Gloom (60 HP. I actually pulled 4! Oh
well... powerful attack)
3 Erika's Bellsprout (two Careless Tackle, one
Soak Up {great for a quick surprise with Weepingbell}, strong attackers)
1 Erika's Weepingbell (game-winner, 0wnage
machine)
3 Koga's Tangela (powerful in Draft)
2 Koga's Pidgey (40 HP: BROKEN in Draft!)
2 Brock's Mankey (Taunt, powerful things without
Gusts!)
1 Koga's Grimer (great first attack)
1 Koga's Muk (1-1 line, but VERY strong)
1 Blaine's Kangashkan (OMG! I love this card
now! It's the BOMB in Draft!)
1 Celadon City Gym (Default, mostly)
1 Erika's Maids (WOO-HOO!)
1 Koga (for the Zubats, mostly)
15 Grass (sufficient)
Not bad!
Round 1 versus RANDOM stuff
I Maided early for an Erika's Weepingbell and
trashed through the opposition, I believe not allowing a single prize to be
taken against me. Koga's Zubat was very useful early.
Round 2 versus Psychic deck
He got Chaos out early, and that stopped me from
using EITHER of my non-Stadiums (WHICH WERE BOTH IN MY HAD) from fear of
flipping tails. I Messengered and grabbed Weepingbell, and survived long enough
(with Taunts) to build it up. I was stalemated with an Erika's Oddish (Strange
Powder) up against a Sabrina's Psyduck (that was confused). I didn't want to KO
it with Weepingbell, or wound it enough to convince my opponent to retreat, so
what I id was wait until he got 40 on him, and I KO'd him with Strange Powder.
He KO'd me, I KO'd a Misty's Psyduck (Sleep Poison, then Razor Leaf), then a
Sabrina's Abra (Pound). Good game. :)
Round 3 versus ???
RANDOM!
(no, not Rand0m, just a random win)
Lt. Surge's Pikachu (40 HP, the Quick Attack
one), versus an Erika's Bellsprout. Careless tackle. Energy. Retreat for Koga's
Tangela (give him an extra turn, since I'm so nice). Sleep Vine. Energy, Quick
Attack. Sleep Vine. Good game. 6 boosters! BOO-yah!
So I got in line for the Sealed theme Deck
Challenge, you get 2 LC boosters and a random non-gym theme deck to make a
40-card deck. It's a Swiss tourney. I got... TROUBLE!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A Team Rocket deck! To top it off, I got NOTHING from my boosters, past a pair
of LC Machops (TeCH), a Potion, and an LC Charmander (TeCH). So I made
this mono-Psychic deck.
4 Abra (2 TR, 2 BS2)
2 DK Kadabra
1 Kadabra
2 Machop (LC/Rocket)
1 Charmander (LC/Base)
1 Jynx (BS2/LC)
3 Drowsee (Rocket)
2 Farfetch'd (BS2)
3 Potion
1 GOW
1 Bill
1 Boss' Way
1 Switch
1 FHE
16 Psychic
First Round:
Simple, he had a really bad deck, I won with a
quick Dark Kadabra.
1-0
Second Round:
He had 4 basics in his deck, 2 Eevee, 2 Pidgey.
I swamped the Pidgey early.
2-0
Third Round:
He had a Scyther (N2), I had a Drowsee/Abra
army. He Tyrouged my Abra, so I was mad. I pounded that booger with Dark
Kadabra, then did 30 to a Scyther before it KO'd me. I brought up a free
retreater (I think an Abra, or maybe I used Switch), laid down a Farfetch'd,
and for my last prized Tyrouged the Tyrouger with the ORIGINAL C-for-30
attacker.
3-0
Round 4:
I Leek Slap a Snorlax, heads. He Potions, ER's,
and passes. I attach, pass. He attaches, pass. I lay Machop, attach, pass.
He attaches, pass. I attach, retreat, do 40. He attaches, pass. I do fourty.
Game.
4-0
Wowee! I'm 4-0 with a ROCKET THEME DECK!!!
Round 5:
This guy got the BEST flips I'd EVER seen. With
Scyther. I got SCHOOLED. 4-0. He got a warning for accidentally looking at his
last prize. YA! I GAVE YOU A WARINING! BOO-YAH!
Round 6:
I play this girl, and with Dark Kadabra WHOOP UP
on her Water Blast army. I do 20 to a Base Machop early with Abra, it heals,
does 20. I heal, do 20. She heals, does 20. I need this flip: heads. She can't
heal, I evolve, and it's downhill from there for her. Even though she finished
4-2, she still got T8 (8th!) on awesome breakers.
5-1, 4th going into T8!
Round 7
Ack. He Scratches with a Base Charmander against
my lone Abra. I attach and hope for heads. Heads. He attaches. I evolve into
Dark Kadabra, Matter Exchange. Still nothing. Mind Shock. The inevitable: he
evolves and Throwers.
5-2, oh well. =/
I convince Mom & Dad to stay until the
finals of Worlds are decided. Thanks to a literal TON of good flips, Mindy wins
the 10- (forget who won 11-14). Congrats!
Props to everyone I know online that I met
Props to everyone who knew who I was
Props to *winning* 24 Boosters (including 12
from Card-E!)!
Props to Mom, Dad, and Beth
Props to Cheese
HUGE, HUGE, HUGE props to LC MACHOP!!!!! I LOVE
YOU!
Slops to drafting 4 Erika's Glooms and 3 Erika's
Oddish.
Slops to getting a cheap loss in T8.
You can E-mail me about this (and are welcome
to) at yeagers@urx.com
and have a happy New Year: later. =/
matthewssandslash: 14-5-0 at Worlds, 74th IN THE WORLD in Limited!
(Boo-yah!)
Cya,
Matthew.
Cya,
Matthew.