East Coast Super Trainer Showdown 2001 - Reports

ECSTS 2001

    I arrived Thursday, I saw some people at the Embassy, played some fun games, and went back to my hotel (Amerisuites) and slept.  I woke up on Friday and headed over to the Embassy again to see a lot more people, played some more games..  everyone was going crazy trying to trade for Blaine's Arcanine and Feraligatr.  After the tournament I think it was quite obvious Feraligatr is the strongest deck in this format and dominates almost anything else.

    I met a bunch of people there, I was surprised how many of these people knew my full name even though I had no idea who many of them were.  I met a lot of cool people, and then I met some really weird people too.

    So on Friday night I went to sleep at like 4 AM, not knowing what I was gonna play tomorrow: Typhlosion/Blaine's Arcanine or Feraligatr.  I decided Typhlosion despite the fact that no one that day beat a Feraligatr with that deck once.  Ouch.

    So on Saturday I went and registered...
4x Cyndaquil
4x Quilava
4x Typhlosion
3x Blaine's Growlithe
3x Blaine's Arcanine
4x Cleffa
2x Giovanni's Nidoran (female)
1x Clefairy
-The typhlosion line is 4/4/4 because multiple are great, Arcanine can one hit KO anything, basically, Cleffa is maxed out because you need it to build, and Nidorans can take out Onix, Cleffa, Magby, Elekid and TOTODILE in one hit fast.
4x Professor Elm
3x Misty's Wrath
3x Double Gust
3x Focus Band
2x Cinnibar City Gym
2x Master Ball
1x Blaine
The Elms like Cleffa are necessary with all this evolution.  Wrath is our only speed.  Double Gust is what wins games in this formats.  Whoever builds first (normally who goes first) just gets an evolution out, Double Gusts something and KOs it if it' s athreat.  Focus Band flips are sickeningly game deciding, Cinnibar TRIES to protect Arcanine from water and does take out Chaos.. the Master Balls help with double evolution and the Blaine is a great surprise.
15x Fire
2x Metal
Metal prevents Arcanine from taking 10 from Heat Tackle, Typhlosion from damaging itself and is cool with Cleffa, making it harder to KO.

Day 1 I get my 3 byes for my DCI rating, and used this time to buy a 8.50 sandwich and gatorade. (i'm not kidding either)

I don't really remember my games that well, but I beat a few Feraligatrs and then on Game 8 I played a Slowking deck..  I had him on prizes 1-4 I believe, and then I flipped my infamous 8 fire recharges all tails, and my Elm and Wrath were failing to two Slowkings 6 turns each it seemed. Ugh. So he drew me on time.

Then Game 9 I go up against a Zapdos/Steelix, have some Fire Recharge problems, and draw it again.

I make Top 8, I beat a Feraligatr deck to make top 4.  People playing Feraligatr can't believe they're losing to fire.

Then, I play the Slowking deck again, where Jeremy's little dice don't even roll, but just land on the crease of the mat because they are so small, and he ends up putting a Wrath and Elm each back 6 times, and beats me.

Then day 2 I play the same deck, but get rid of the Clefairy and add a Brock's Mankey incase someone actually plays Slowking again.  After my 3 byes I played my friend Rudy Rodriguez.  Rudy is a great player and a cool guy.  I opened with a Brock's Mankey, benched a Cyndaquil, but it was Double Gusted and Fury Swiped with 3 heads for a KO. Ouch.  He Trash Exchanged away all his Trash Exchanges so I thought I had him beat since he was out of ways to get that much water in the discard.  Well, he played a Wrath that got 6 water in the discard and KO'd my Arcanine.  Ouch.  Then time ended at a draw after I say go.. as he is still drawing his cards for Eeeeeeek.  That was nasty.  The judge comes over and Rudy explained that he was drawing his cards for Eeeeeeek still.. I tell the judge it's okay, and to give Rudy 3 points because he forgot to draw a prize which would give him his last prize.  Rudy had me beat if it wasn't on time, and he deserved that win.

I ended up playing after this.. psychic decks, terrible fire decks, and beat everything.  But then I came against 2 Feraligatrs, but I ended up beating them, again.

In Top 8 I beat another Gatr deck.  He tried a Fury Swipes on Cyndaquil but got NO heads.  Then I played Rudy's Gatr deck, which basically came down to a Focus Band flip of his, like many games that day, and it failed. Lucky me.

Then.. I play Hanley in finals.  I do admit I think he is a good player, but he doesn't have THAT great of deck making skills.  He played no metal to fight Blaine's Arcanine, and instead of Focus Band, he played all Gold Berry.  Though the judges told us the last game would not have time limit, after I played a Wrath thinking I wouldn't deck myself with the time, they told us there WAS.  Tom and I were surprised but there was nothing I could do.  I couldn't take back the Wrath..

But I KO'd a Feraligatr with a surprise from Blaine's Arcanine, leaving him with few cards left and no more Croconaws.  I thought I had him.  So did everyone else.  He played a Trash Exchange, and was showing me the cards he was leaving in the deck as he put them back on the table.  I ended up seeing a Feraligatr (uh-oh..), a Double Gust that got back.. and then, a Croconaw!!  I couldn't believe he got everything he needed back, but he did.

But I KO'd that Feraligatr, and with about 11 cards left, all I had to do was go through babies.  I failed 6 times in a row trying to knock out a Cleffa, then I had to start trying to eeeeeek.  My Eeeeeek failed, so he tried a Playful punch for the KO, it failed. Mine fails, his Playful punch fails, mine fails, his fails, mine fails, his fails, mine works with NO cards left, then Arcanine comes back out and fails 3 babies in a row again.. so Cleffa comes back out and fails and his playful punch KO's it when I didn't have enough cards left.

I couldn't believe he actually got out of that, but good for him.. there were so many factors that contribute to my loss of that game, but oh well.  Good game, Tom.  Though it was a good game it was a terribly boring game as we attacked seldomly.

I don't care how good I can do in this format- I hate this.  It's all about going first and building your Pokemon that can Double Gust other things and KO them.  And Gatr beats basically every other deck in this format, other than Steelix/Slowking.

-Ness

A few more pictures:

Only $6.00 for a Soy Bean Burger!
What a deal!