I went to the Pokémon League at Waldenbooks on
Capital Boulevard, Raleigh, NC, (after much begging
and pleading with my Dad) on Saturday, April 9, 2000.
  The PokéLeague hasn't really caught on in my area
yet, I think maybe a total of 15 adults and kids were
there.  As this was my first time visiting, I got the
three promos (Mew, Pikachu & Arcanine) and the
booklet, plus a sticker to get a Holo Mew (if I get
the points.)
   I was distracted by all the trading going on so I
only played one game today, but here is my deck:
      Coolbees 
2 Beedrill
3 Kakuna
4 Weedle
3 Tentacool (yes I am insane)
2 Tentacruel
2 Lapras
2 Lickitung

2 Professor Oak
2 Bill
2 Computer Search
2 Switch
2 Gust of Wind
2 Plus Power
3 Energy Removal
1 Energy Retrieval
1 Mr. Fuji

12 Grass Energy
13 Water Energy  (yes, it's a bit high but I needed
every bit of that energy during the match)

Basically, this is a status effect deck.  Beedrill and
Tentacruel do the poisoning, Lapras, Tentacruel, and
Lickitung do the confusing, and Lickitung does the
paralyzing.

Match #1... A Venusaur Denial deck by "James"
  (note:  Since this is my only match, I'm doing more
detail than I would have)
  He won the flip.  Lovely.  He started with a Ditto,
with another Ditto on the bench as well as 2 Dratini.
I started with Lickitung active and a Lapras on the
bench, with a Plus Power, 2 water energy 1 grass
energy, and a Switch.  He attached energy and
paralyzed Likitung.  I drew a Plus Power. attached a
water to Lapras and passed.  He attempted a Supersonic
on his turn, it failed.  I drew an Energy Removal.  I
attached both Plus Power to Lickitung, attached a
Water energy to it, ER'd him, and did 30 damage to
Ditto with paralysis; 20 of which got potioned away
two turns later!  Meanwhile, he was building up a
benched Venusaur.
  From that point on for a while, he had some energy
problems.  But they weren't too serious thanks to that
dang Venusaur!  He kept paralyzing Likitung, and kept
ER'ing Lapras, which got Gusted.  I managed to build
up a Tentacruel on the bench, Switched out Likitung,
which was near fainting, and poisoned his Ditto.  His
turn, it was poisoned with 40 damage, and I think he
could tell I had a Gust of Wind in my hand.  He
switched it.  (darn!) Up next, that other Ditto.  It
poisoned Tentacruel, who poisoned Ditto back.  It went
like that for a while, then I retreated Tentacruel for
the nearly-dead Likitung.  Ditto had 50 damage on it
and when it was his turn, he used SWITCH.  I informed
him that doing so would KO his Ditto but he didn't
care and so I shrugged and drew my prize.
  Venusaur got Likitung the next turn.  I built up a
Kakuna on the bench, CPU Searched for a Beedrill, and
tried to poison sting that Venusaur but got a tails.
Argh!  Two turns later and Beedrill was "toast," and
so was Lapras.  I sent out the other Tentacruel after
his Venusaur fainted, but it didn't last long against
a Scyther, which had been assisted by ANOTHER
Venusaur.  By that time, two un-energied Dragonair
were out, Venusaur, and a half-life scyther.  I was
three prizes ahead but my weakling Uncommons couldn't
stand up to a Venusaur for more than two turns!  gah!
  Obviously, he won.  I won't go through the rest of
the humiliating defeat.  I did get a nice green stamp
for playing a game though.  He got a Holo Mew for
winning the game (he only needed 2 more stamps!)

  Things I learned: 
1:  Having a lot of rares in a deck isn't an entirely
bad thing.  Getting those rares is another story
entirely!
2:  Sometimes it's a better idea to Oak instead of CPU
Search.  Sometimes it's not.
3:  Mr. Fuji can help out.  I only had the one in
there, took out the other for a CPU Search I got in a
Base 2 Booster pack!  But it kept me from decking...
barely!
4:  Never look askance at a retreated ditto for free
prize!  Just shrug, smile, and nod. 
5:  I'm taking out the Tenta family and Lapras for a
full 4-3 Arbok family.  I'm still insane ;)
6:  I should drink some coffee before I go next time!
7:  Hold on to the Plus Power for the Beefies!

Now it's time for stage props and pig slops!

Props:  To me and the people I Traded with:  I got a
lot of cards that I needed :)
        To Waldenbooks:  The booster packs were $3.99,
from Base, Base 2, Fossil, and Jungle!  Yippee!!
        To the Booster Packs:  I finally bought a
mulitple of 3 in booster packs and got the proper
ratio of holos!  My ratio went to 1 in every 4.2
booster packs!
        To "James:" For being a good winner and
getting that Holo Mew.  Congrats!
        To My Dad:  For being late when picking me up
so I could stay longer! :)

Slops:  To the Venu-philes... about 5 kids had cards
disappear today, 3 of them Venusaurs.  The Head Judge
threatened to cancel for two weeks if there was
another complaint :(  (miniprop:  one kid found a
venusaur and turned it in)  Lots of Venusaur problems
today!!
        To Me, for getting distracted and not playing
as much as I had planned!

But I had a load of fun (and so did Oh Drat!) :) 

   Rainy the Furry Blue Mock-Dragon
        Rayinte@yahoo.com