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TEXAS STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
By Patriarch
3-5-2005
Deck: Oligarchy, rule of the few

Wow, such a LOOONG day. ^_^""

So I woke up at 4AM, and found that I could only get 5 hours of sleep since I had to unclog the drain in my shower. GRRR lol. So Patriarch Senior (pops!) and I went to the Collin Creek Mall and arrived around 4:50, so Master Professor Birch (the tournament organizer) could pick me up at 5:00. After being transferred from vehicle to vehicle, we were off, talking about various things including past major events and what I personally anticipate EX: Emerald, the new set, to be like.

Arriving at the city of Grand Prairie, we picked up Savannah M and Susan C, Oklahoma natives, and off we went! The conversing kind of died down after a while, until we ran into none other than Oklahoma friends I’ve known for a long time, Roy Roberson Jr, and his father, Roy Senior, at the gas station! This had actually been my first time to see them since worlds, so it was cool to see "Old Man" and his son "Young Man." =p

Eventually, we all arrived at Heroes Collectables in Houston TX, and I must say that it was a pleasure there was so much room! Since it was locked up before 10AM we just shot the breeze, and met up with a bunch of old pals. I ran into Nate Dalton, one of Texas’ best 10- players, and we talked strategy. Since his Metagross/Dark Steelix deck had been 2-4 versus his Salamence, he was really unsure about it, and went for his overall favorite deck, the big dragon himself! I also got some cool trades, and Clay (Blazi-king) introduced me to Lee Wiscovitch (Turbo Blastoise). This little meeting turned out to be important, because we later end up "meeting" again... in the finals!

After getting some good trades in (Salamence ex =D), we were finally allowed to go in. I met various people, including the very quiet (but nice) owner John, Tina (homeofmew), Brian Stevenson (Pokemaster1110, a former writer here), and Robert Eguia's (2nd at the South Stadium Challenge in 2004) older brother Jose Eguia. So I let Jose borrow my sally ex. Since I wanted my deck somewhat on the DL, I used nothing other than magma against people who I played against before Round 1. But speaking of decks...

I threw out a bunch of different ideas to hide what I was really playing. Some people thought I was using Breloom/Lanturn. Others thought I was choosing to use a rogue deck I invented called Super Hyper-Inventive Tech, that uses five 1-1 Pokemon lines! But in all reality, I was using Tyranitar/Ampharos, which I'll personally call Oligarchy (to continue the trend of Nidos being known as Monarchy, Dragonite being anarchy, etcetc). I would post the list, but since I saw firsthand at my states how some people don't work at all on their lists, but rather just choose to outright netdeck (for example, I saw an almost exact copy of Alex Brosseau/BigChuck01’s draggy list), I'll choose not to.

So the deck ACTUALLY was ttar/amphy...and the tournament was… now! Since our age group had 48 people in it, the judges decided that 6 rounds, and a cut to the top 16 (33%), were necessary, to ensure a legitimate tournament.

-Round 1: VS Roy Roberson Sr/Old Man (Shiftry)

Shiftry is a contender in the Oklahoma metagame, so it was interesting to finally see the match up. I had a god start (Dunsparce, Rare candy, Pidgeot), and I really did what I could to win this), while he had a solid one as well (he got out T3-T4 Pidgeot I know). So he is first, and Strike-and-Runs for none other than Pidgey, Seedot, and...Drowzee. Likewise, I “sar”d as well, and my only problem was that both of my Pidgeys were prized. I did what I could, and instead opted to go for Jirachi DX, Mareep, and Larvitar, running for Jirachi DX. Thanks to several flips that went my way, Jirachi was able to consistently fetch card after card, being a pseudo-Pidgeot (exactly what I meant it to be like). Since he knew I'd just wipe out his Hypno anyways, he played conservatively, building HL shiftry, Hyppy, among others. However, I went aggresive and got out a non-candied ttar, pounding and grinding away until i eventually screwed him over with a couple well-placed atm rocks. Sorry roy, but gg (1-0)

-Round 2: VS George Clay/Duckman (Spinning Tail ttar)

This was a short game. I just got a ttar that Ko'ed his spinning tail around turn three, and that was it (2-0)

So here's where the great dispute came. Basically, there was a wrong ruling on Rocket's Tricky gym that could have cost her the game, but didn't. After asking many different opinions, all saying that yes, they declared that yes, Feint Attack does more than 20 to the active pokemon (going back to the murkrow ruling) if Darkness Energy is attached.

-Round 3: VS Lee Wiscovitch/Turbo Blastoise (ZapDOS with exp all)

Nice to play him at last! Although I didn't get an excellent start, I was able to get out an extremely fast T2 Dark Ampharos that seriously screwed over Zapdos' setup. His tech exp alls were brilliant, since EXP all is great in most decks that don't have energy manipulation to go off of, and helped him get through the game, but I won in the end (3-0)

At this point, it was obvious that my van was the best performing one of the day, since Susan, Savannah and I were ALL 3-0. But fate screws you over, and who should I play but Savannah round 4...

-Round 4: VS Savannah Mitchell/Scarletkitsune (Dark Crobat/Amphy)

Well, to start off, she mulliganed two times, so it wasn't gonna be too great for 'er. However, she did start with Sparce, and went first (but didn't have much draw to back it up :(). I also got setup fast, and eventually had a ttar rocking and locking away. Since she knew that my Amphy ohko'ed her Dark Crobat, she really could just hit me with Dark Golbat. Eventually my ttar was knocked out of the way, as were a couple other dudes, but I won in the end (4-0)

-Round 5: VS Susan Collins (Spinning tail Ttar)

Oh great, my van has to play VS itself again! We both get somewhat setup, but I had a stronger start. She wasn't able to attack me head-on with ttar spinning at all, so she opted for sand damage VS sand damage. She got a hold on the game for a while, but my 3 sand damage and the retriever'ed line VS her 2 pushed me through the win in this match (5-0)

At this point, although I was ecstatic about being 5-0, figured i'd be kicked out of the car and forced to walk, lol XD. Surprisingly, I watched Brian Stevenson's draggy lose to a bizarre blaziken list, and found that I'd be playing vs that...boy was that a surprise.

-Round 6: VS Ben (Blaziken/Moltres ex)

Unlike typical blaze, he's been using moltres ex in his list. At first his lone moltres start looked fine vs me, but I didn't have an excellent one myself. So it was so much with the bird hitting me for 60 consistently, not to mention auto-confuse. Jirachi didn't due much from weakness, and when I finally got a hold on the game, he got heads on super scoop up, sent up a combusken, and atm rocked me...ouchouchouch. I did what I could from there, but I was eventually reduced to basics and stage 1's, since my 3rd ttar and 1 flaaffy were prized. (5-1)

Well, it was no big deal that I lost that one...kinda ominous, but fine, since I was still getting in at 2nd seed.

T16: VS ??? (sorry forgot your name, with Slaking/Magcargo)

Games 1 and 2 were the exact same thing. I won so fast he just decided to end them both. (6-1 and 7-1)

The Top 16 pairings all looked like this...best 2/3 made no difference at all for this round at least:

*note, bolded names=winners

Savannah Mitchell(OK; bat/amphy) VS Brian Stevenson (TX; dragtrode).
John Kettler(TX; ttar/amphy) VS ???? (TX; Slaking). John wins
Jose Eguia (TX; salamence) VS Phillip Tran (TX; zappy). Phillip wins
Susan Collins(OK; spinning tail) VS Dana Lynch (MS; Blazimence). Susan wins
Lee Wiscovitch (TX; zappy) VS Robert Eguia (TX; gardevoir). Lee wins
Mia Cook (TX; draggy) VS Ty (TX; zappy). Ty wins
Nancy Lynch (MS; ttar/amphy) VS Diana Chambers (TX; zappy). Nancy wins
Clay Carney (TX; draggy) VS Ben (Blaziken/Tres). Ben wins

Texas had seemed to hold its fort quite well, knocking out all but 4 “invaders” from other states. My match was the 2nd to finish, so I had time to observe the others have at it! Pretty interesting matches, and out of the top 16, there were 10 different decks! What a shift from the Blaziken-dominated format of last year!

T8: VS Brian/Pokemaster1110 (Drag/Trode)

Game 1: We both got nothing for turns on end. However, it was much better for me, 'cause I had a Pidgeotto One-Hit KOing dratinis, which got me the win solely off of weakness. Awful game, sorry. (8-1)

Game 2: This time, both of us got off much better. However, when I got Amphy into play, it was the seal on his Dragonites, the only things that could really spank me. His Dark Electrodes, whenever they attacked, usually just got OHKO'ed, and whenever he sent up a draggy, it either got ohko'ed by my pidgeot, or in one situation, I counter-gymmed his ancient tomb, and crystal sharded with an amphy. He managed to pull several prizes off of me, keeping it close, despite some poor luck on flips, but I won in the end (9-1)

It was nice to meet him, and we had an okay bout the 2nd time around, but that was that. We were both mentioning how ole Daniel Reyes should hopefully win his state (even though he got 3rd after 1st seed ;_;). Oh well...le sigh.

afterwards, T8 broke down like this:

Brian (TX; drag/trode) VS John (ttar/amphy). John wins
Phillip (TX; zappy) VS Susan (TX; Spinning tail). Susan wins
Lee (TX; zappy) VS Ty (TX; zappy). Lee wins
Nancy (MS; ttar/amphy) VS Ben (Blaziken/Tres). Ben wins

T4: VS Susan (Spinning Tail Tyranitar)

Game 1: this one was a very solid game. I didn't have a whole lot to go off of, having a somewhat mediocre start, so I had to make a big choice when my celio was topdecked: try to get lucky with explosive evolution on dark pupitar, or go for the sure thing with Jirachi dx. That decision right there made the game much longer, but I went with the jirachi, the sure thing. So for turns on end Jirachi, whenever it got out of sleep or paralysis, got me fully setup. She was also setup, and due to this, our ttar vs ttar conflicts were much, much more interesting. I honestly feel that if I played less than 3 sand damage ttar, I would have lost this one, because she was able to do several handy things, including setting me up so she could deal 100 damage with second strike, among others. But I got out of this one barely (10-1)

Game 2: A rather shame compared to the 40-minute epic just played out, lol. She didn't get much of a start, whereas I got a god one, and OHKO'ed her basics for a win (11-1).

John VS Susan. John wins
Lee (zappy) VS Ben (blaziken/tres). Lee wins

SOOOOOO at long last, the tournament was at the finals! Since we played for a while, the first place I went to was...yes...the VENDING MACHINE!!! I drank most of my coke, and rested up before the big rematch...

Finals: VS Lee (ZapDOS)

Game 1: At this point I feared that I would repeat my showing at states last year, losing in the finals to get 2nd. This seemed to be bolstered when I mulliganed 4 times (yes i counted ^^""). He didn't have a great initial hand, but the extra 4 cards made it better. I drew into a slightly okay setup, but the zap being on turn dos (me going 2nd) is what really bit into my setup. However, I got out a sand damage ttar, and it began multitasking, both on zapdos ex and the bench. It fell kinda quick, but much like our last game, Dark Ampharos picked up the entire slack, and won this game for me. I'm not sure if it was this game or the next, but I even drew 3 prizes at once somewhere along it (12-1)

Game 2: He didn't have a great start this time around, and I had a decent one. However, his hand turned rightside up when he topdecks a Zapdos on turn two, and once again starts pounding away. Unfortunately for him, setting up the amphy was much easier, getting my opponent at every corner, both basics and damaged evos. After the dos fell, not even energy manipulation through exp all could help, along with his AWFUL dual ball flips, and the tournament finally ended (13-1).

The prize was a neat thing, and only 'cause ToysRUsKid of www.pokegym.net asked, I'll put a picture of the trophy on Webshots.com . Along with the trophy, I also have:

• A $300 travel allowance to attend the Origins International Game Expo and participate in the Pokémon TCG National Championships. I’ll be given this on-site at the event.
• Four-day admission to the Origins Game Expo in Columbus, Ohio
• 24 booster packs of Pokémon TCG: EX Deoxys
• Other cool shtuffzzzz! o_O

Since it was late, we all basically just packed out of the store ASAP when I won. I gave Lee a couple goodies from my VIP bag before he left, and we all just kinda shot the breeze. I spoke to the Lynches a lil bit about strategy and the day in general. The four of us from the van had done well, taking both the GBA and TCG state titles, and were treated to dinner by MP birch. What a Texan gentleman! :O

The drive was long, and the day was too, but here I am, after staying up the craziest 24 hours I've had in Pokemon since the World Championships.

Props:
-John, the owner.
-All my opponents, for being such class acts against a jerk like me ^^""
-Birch for being a bang-up TO
-Jirachi DX, for saving me time and time again.
-Having a great time with all my pals that I haven't seen in a while: Chambers, Lynches, Phillip, Robert Eguia, etcetc
-Getting to meet new people, like Susan/Savannah, the rest of the Eguia family, Pokemaster1110, homeofmew, Turbo Blastoise, and anyone I forgot sry x_x'''
-Birch, Susan and Savannah again, for not kicking me out of the car! =P
-Team Mississippi and Team Eguia representin' along with Team Birch XD
-Tracy and Steven for winning their divisions. Also to Nate for getting 2nd in 10-!
-To you all on Pojo, for reading this!

Slops:
-That misruling about Tricky Gym was the only thing, and it only applied in one instance.

Thanks for reading, and wish me luck at nationals =)