STS MichiganHello Pojo!
I love your site. I have been come here for well over
1 ½!
I am 29 years old and the Gym Leader at Competitive
Edge Sports in Michigan. I encouraged all of my trainers to go to
the STS at Oakland Mall on August 26 and 27! Not everyone went but
those who did had a blast! Wizards and the DCI from general appearances did a
good job with setup, keeping lines moving, deckchecks and organization.
I will give them props for that in the handling of the event. I
heard word of mouth that over 2000 people showed up for each day of the
event! What I can tell you: Biggest surprise, everyone who showed up received
Promo #7 Jigglypuff! I have never seen one in person until Saturday
and now I have my own! Thanks Wizards! The STS in New Jersey is Saturday November 18,
2000. It said it on the Gold invitations. Along with the Jigglypuff, you received at Ticket
to the Qualifying tournament with a specific time. These were
referred to as flights. You also had a specific time posted on your ticket
stating when you could get your deck checked. If you got in line
before your assigned time you were politely asked to leave the line and
come back when it was your turn. I saw a lot of kids from my Poke League and they
did well. They made me very (extremely) proud of them because of it.
In the 11-14 year old category, Matt and Sarah (both from my gym) played
in the finals against each other! Matt won. More on their
decks later. Matt received a
box of Hero boosters, Gameboy Color, Pokemon TCG for GB, STS t-shirt and
hat, and a gold invitation to New Jersey. Sarah recieved 24
Hero boosters, Pokemon TCG for GB, STS t-shirt and hat, and a gold
invitation to New Jersey. In the 10 and under category, Jeff and Drew (both
from my gym) were in the finals against each other! Drew won.
More on their decks later. Same
prizes as stated above. Then Clare (from my gym) in a separate flight of 10
and under took 7th or 8th place. Scott (my
gym) in a separate flight of 11-14 took 7th or 8th
place. Clare and Scott received 4 Hero boosters each. I myself placed second in my flight! I was very
happy since this was my first every DCI event I have played in my life!
Same prizes for 2nd as stated with Sarah’s above. Decks I saw: In my flights I saw nothing but Haymakers and
Wiggly decks or their variants. I saw two Raindance decks total for
both Saturday and Sunday! I myself, trying to play the metagame,
used a Dark Vileplume deck. I was fairly successful with it. My Deck ® = rocket J = Jungle B = Base H
= Hero Pokemon 4 Dratini (H)
3 Dratini (B) 2 Dragonair (H)
2 Dragonair ® 4 Oddish ® 2 Gloom
® 1 Gloom (J) 2 Vileplume ® 1 Vileplume
(J) 3 Scyther (J) Energy 4 DCE 2 Heal E. 16 Grass Trainers 3 Boss
3 Computer Searches 3 Challenge 2 Breeders 3 Oaks I did awesome against the Haymakers because they
never had any evolutions. Therefore, they couldn’t do more than 10
damage against Erika’s Dratini. I would also have Vile (J) sitting
on my bench using PP Heal to remove the 10 damage from Dratini. Then
I had time to get Dark Vileplume out and stop all their trainers.
However, in the finals I lost to a Haymaker Variant. He used Magmar
instead of Buzz. He also used Hitmonchan and Scyther. I
couldn’t draw a single Oddish, Oak, Computer Search or Challenge in this
game. His Fossil Magmar poisoned my Dratini and knock it out too
soon. I was able to take out a couple of his Pokemon but he knocked
out all of mine first. He won. His name was Brian and he was a
gracious competitor. Brian gets a lot of props from me. All the other competitors that I faced were also
serious but gracious. I did see others (15 & over flights) who
were mostly teenagers, that were obnoxiously loud, over-bearing,
arrogantly-rude and insulting to other players. The judges and
master trainers over seeing the games did not take kindly too them and put
them in their places. One of these trainers was even disqualified
after it was found out he played his match with 59 cards. He was in
the final 4 and sitting next to me. There game ended before mine and
he had won. His opponent wanted to check his deck and found out he
was a card short. What happened was he accidentally put one on his
cards in his translation pile leaving him one short. The trianers from my gym were using decks that
consisted of Haymakers, Wigglys and Team Rocket Trap decks. Like I
said earlier, the first two types were all over the place. On Sunday we all entered again. Matt, Sarah,
Drew and I took Fouth in our respective flights. Clare took fist in
her flight. Fourth place received 12 Hero boosters, STS hat and an
invitation. We were all happy with the boosters. There was a lot of activity going on in the League
Zone, Erika’s Challenge, Lt. Surge’s King of the Hill and Misty’s
Zone. Erika’s Challenge let you battle one of Wizard’s
three Master Trainers. You had to put your name on a ticket and drop
it into a Pokeball. If your name was drawn you got a chance to
battle a master trainer. They were dressed up as Professor Oak, Lt.
Surge and ??? never did figure out the last one. Needless to
say that was popular and my name was never drawn. Lt. Surge’s Zone was filled also. You
played an opponent. If you won you stay and played someone else.
If you lost, you left. If you won three times in a row, you also
left. The League Zone was packed, lots of games and trade
going on all around. Misty’s Zone is where you made you own card. I made
one of a Magmar!
Wrap-up!
The STS looked to be well run and organized.
The staff was attentive, friendly and pleasent. However, if you were
rude and pushy the Master Trainers and Judges put you in your place and
they did it respectfully! Props to all of them and I say thank you! Props to all the trainers I saw from my League,
Eric, Sarah, Sean, Matt, Drew, Clare, Scott, Greg, Chris, Anthony, Teresa,
Jermey, ... If I missed anybody, I’m sorry. thank you POJO! www.pojo.com |