Final Words from a Samurai
By Derek "Satoshi" Heid

Well folks, it's been a good four years. Gosh, four years.I can't believe it's really been that long since I started Satoshi's Shop on Pojo. A lot has changed since then. Pojo itself has gone from a solely-Pokémon site to a site that well, that covers a great many things. It's become quite a power, that it has. Decks have changed, that's for certain. What once was a game of one small, 102 card set has evolved (pun intended) into a game of hundreds of cards, each spawning creative new deck ideas, and ultimately furthering the game to the point it is at today.

More than that, I myself have changed. The Pokémon TCG and my time on Pojo as a Deck Mechanic. how can I describe it except to say that it has been a fantastic honor to be able to help so many players with their decks. To beable to have a hand in helping so many in a game as great as this has been one of the highest points of my time in the online community.

They say that everything must move on at some point - Pojo.com has moved on from solely being about Pokémon, and the metagame has certainly moved on from being about getting the big hitting basic out first; I'm sure many would agree that the game is now much more complicated. What I'm getting at here is this: just as Pojo and the metagame have moved on from their former selves, I too have moved on from what was once my former self. I find that my attention to my Deck Garage has been waning, and that other things - the Drama department at my high school and generally life in general - have beendrawing much of my attention away from Pojo. More importantly, they have been keeping me from doing my best in helping you, the player, become better. And for that I feel I owe an apology.

It's funny; the caricature of me as a samurai doesn't look a thing like me. Well, we've both got brown hair and goofy grins, but that's about as far as the likeness goes. Despite that, today I really do feel like I'm laying down my sword. I've fought many battles in this game - Prop15, the whole 15+ dilemma, I've been here for all of it, and God knows I've done my best to voice the opinion I saw as right. It's made me quite.unpopular at times; Ness will attest to that. ;) But looking back on all the arguments and flamefests, all the insults and squabbles. I find that I wouldn't change a thing.

I'd like to take a moment to thank a few people. Obviously, at the top of the list comes the great Pojo himself - Bill Gill. Thank you so much, Bill, for letting me do this for four years. It's been a blast.

Besides Bill, I have to thank - well, basically everyone. Random, TRCass, Phil, Scott Gerhardt, Clefairy Doll, old favorites like Spike and Crash and Z, Griffin.even guys I haven't always gotten along with, like Ness and Moss and everyone else I ever "crossed swords" with. Thanks everyone, for making my time as a Deck Mechanic what it has been: thoroughly enjoyable.

One thing still needs to be said..

Our game is entering a new era; things are changing, and change is good. But with this change will come problems. As we've seen over the past four or
five years, this game is not to be without its complications. For these times, I have but one bit of advice: be careful whom you allow to be the voice of your cause. That's all I'm going to say on the matter.

I'm making it sound like I'm going to drop off the face of the Internet, when in fact I'm not. I'll still be around - on the boards, in IRC, on AIM (sn: PojoMechanic), but I felt that if I didn't write up an official goodbye than I'd be letting you all down or something. More than that, I'd feel like I left this job unfinished. With this typed up, I can rest easy knowing that I've said what I want to.

Again, thank you Bill and everyone I've become friends with over the past four years - you know who you all are. Like I said, I'll still be around on AIM and IRC, so don't be strangers.

That all said and done, it's time to do this one last thing:

Good luck.and happy gaming.

~Derek "Satoshi" Heid