Hey Pojo! Please post this in Killer Decks under Fighting/Psychic! Thanks!
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PROLOGUE:
            On March 12, 2000, I, "Max B.", won my very first tournament at
The Magic Guild in Fitchburg, MA. The deck? Mind over Matter, a mysterious
pairing of brute fighting strength and extreme psychic power. Though the
competition was fierce, the matches were hard, and there were Aerodactyls and
Mews all over the place, I pulled through against Tiger Miola's brother, who
somehow (luckily for me) defeated Tiger's powerful Golbat Stall (Don't ask me
how it works, because I'm not really sure either. But it works. Somehow...).
The finals were tense, but in the end I pulled through to win a Charizard.
Now, the Guild has done it again. 15 packs of almost out-of-print Base Set 1
boosters are on the line. My competition includes the best of the best: Chris
DiMarco. Andy Plante. Dane Olson. And Lenny...Lenny....errrr, sorry, I forgot
your last name. But yes, Lenny was there. So if you're ready to continue,
scroll down for the official tournament stats, provided by the Tournadex!

----Activated......Accessing GuildTourney2.tou----
LOCATION: The Magic Guild - Fitchburg, MA
DATE: April 9th, 2000
PLAYERS: 20
ENTRY FEE: $3.00
PRIZE: 15 Base Set 1 booster packs (unlimited edition)
STYLE: Each player will play five rounds of Swiss, best 2 out of 3. The top 8
scores go on to the finals, which is single elimination (but still best 2 out
of 3).
-(Finished)-

As you can see, the tournament isn't much different from the previous one
(see Mind over Matter under Fighting/Psychic decks in March). Now for the
important part: here's my upgrade of tournament-winning deck, Mind over
Matter. Let's see the Mind over Matter 2.0 list!

-Accessing mindovermatter2.dec-
MIND OVER MATTER, V. 2.0:
Pokemon - 14 Total
2 Hitmonchan (Mainstay of all good Fighting decks: powerful and fast)
2 Hitmonlee (Bench crusher, plus both attacks can hurt fighting-resistant
Pokemon)
2 Scyther (Awesome all-around Pokemon; pure versatility with high HP too)
2 Ditto (Way underestimated. Can T-Punch an Electabuzz on turn 1 with DCE)
2 Movie Mewtwo (Incredibly powerful. A built-in energy-recycler and a good
attack)
2 Fossil Gastly (The greatest anti-Mime to ever live, and fighting resistance
rocks)
2 Mr. Mime (Scyther can't hurt it, Blastoise can't hurt it, Charizard can't
hurt it.....)
Trainers - 22 Total
4 Bill (You must have 4 of this card in EVERY deck worthy of existing)
2 Professor Oak (Makes turn one Energy Absorption possible. Excellent card.)
4 Energy Removal (See Bill, but some decks can run on 3. Still necessary.)
3 Super Energy Removal (The ultimate "HA!" card. Best rare trainer IMO.)
2 Lass (Good card. I'll replace it w/Rocket's Sneak Attack when TR comes out
though.)
2 Energy Retrieval (Again, when TR is out, it's Nightly Garbage Runs, not
these.)
3 Gust of Wind (Here, karp karp karp karp.....)
2 Switch (Mostly here for Hitmonchan and Mewtwo, the high-retreat cost
Pokemon)
Energy - 24 Total
11 Fighting Energy
10 Psychic Energy
3 Double Colorless Energy
-(Finished)-

This deck is inspired by Pokemon Lady's featured article about creating
decks. The full story is in the original Mind over Matter deck report.
Anyway, here are a few corrections that should've been made from the last
report:
1. It's Andy Plante, not Chris Plante (see round 1 and finals round 2). Sorry.
2. It's "Butchy" not "Spanky" (see....round 2 I think). Sorry again.
3. I actually didn't know much about violations back then, so I thought
calling Butchy a sore loser and almost picking up a prize for KOing a MF
weren't against the rules. But the first one I'm still sticking with. I think
he took it way too seriously. Oh yeah, and as for all you rumor-people who
were telling the Guild about my last report and exaggerating my judge
complaints. I don't know what you said, but the Gym Leader, Steve, told me he
was getting e-mails saying that my report was far more against them than it
actually turned out to be. Stop right now. You know who you are.....

Now, you've seen the deck and the details. Are you ready to find out what
happened? Will I win the second straight tournament? Will Jamison show up?
Will my friend from the Toys R Us League, Dane Olson, show up? Will I finally
remember Lenny's last name? Will I ever stop? The answers (starting with the
last and going up to the first) are maybe, no, yes, no, read on to find out,
and that's up to you to decide! Here we go!

Match 1: Vs. Stephanie (?) Barber
I'm 75% sure that her name was Stephanie. I'm 100% sure that she got the most
unfortunate pairing in the tournament. Grass/Lightning, with all psychic-weak
grass-types. Why? Who knows. Maybe the tournament computer does. Oh
well....it was Hitmonchans vs. Electabuzzes and Mewtwos vs. Koffings and
Nidorinos here, in both games. Luckily it's Swiss. Maybe her luck will change
and the next deck will be a Poliwrath/Gyarados deck. Meanwhile, my next
opponent's got a Haymaker. This will be interesting.
Match Record: 1-0
Game Record: 2-0

Match 2: Vs. ???
Okay, this time I forgot my opponent's name completely. Sorry. She had a
Haymaker with Kangaskhans and Aerodactyls. Game 1 went smoothly and I
defeated quite a few Fossils and Chans to win by no bench. Game 2 was
neck-and-neck, but she unfortunately got the upper hand and won. Game 3 was
trouble. I had KO-ed a Chan for Prize 3 while our judge was watching another
game. Then I also knocked out a Fossil. I made sure not to draw a prize for
that. I even said aloud that I wouldn't want to get a warning like my match
against Lenny in the first tourney. When the judge came back to our game, he
noticed I had one fewer prize. He saw that the last Pokemon KO-ed was a
Fossil so, even though I had made that fossil statement, he still called
Steve (the head judge) over. Luckily, my opponent kept her discard pile
orderly and Steve clearly saw the three KO-ed Pokemon in there. I ended up
winning again by prizes later in the game.
Match Record: 2-0
Game Record: 4-1

Match 3: Vs. Chris DiMarco
I know him from school. I knew he played Magic and Pokemon, but considering
he placed 12th last tournament, I didn't expect much. He played a Wigglytuff
Haymaker and totally destroyed me game 1. I got lucky and won game 2, but he
totalled me again in game 3. I'm not gonna underestimate him from now on.
Match Record: 2-1
Game Record: 5-3

Match 4: Vs. Dane Olson
Heh heh heh....my old friend from the Toys R Us League (if you've read "Ghost
Tuff" or "Masters of Poison" you'll know him as "the rain dance kid") entered
too. He had a psychic/lightning combo deck. My Dittos, with the help of some
DCE, destroyed his Gastlys and Electabuzzes in both rounds. Scythers were met
with Mr. Mimes, and my own Gastlys and Mewtwos destroyed his other Pokemon. I
won 2-0.
Match Record: 3-1
Game Record: 7-3

Match 5: Vs. ???
Another person whose name I forget. He played AeroMew, or at least it seemed
that way. He held me off with his Mysterious Fossils, but Scyther and Mewtwo
prevailed. Round 2 worked his way, as his Mewtwos totally destroyed my
Hitmonlees. Game 3 went a lot like Game 1. I defeated him and now I'm in the
finals!
Match Record: 4-1
Game Record: 9-3

THE FINALS:
This is it. Three opponents stand in my way of 15 boosters of Base 1. If I
lose twice to one person, I'm out. Here we go.

Finals, Match 1: ???????
Somehow, I don't remember anything about this match. I know I won, 2-1,
though. Hmmmm....oh well. That's kinda weird....
Match Record: 5-1
Game Record: 11-4

Finals, Match 2: Vs. Lenny
Oh no....my worst nightmare. Lenny's an experienced player with a Movie
Mewtwo haymaker. Round 1 went bad. I lost very quickly to his Movie Mewtwo
when my Movie Mewtwo didn't get a single Psychic energy, while his went first
and, thanks to Professor Oak, Energy Absorbed on turn one. I don't think he
realized it, but he tought me a strategy right there. Round 2 was great. He
had no Psychic energy or Oak, and I had Gastly out there killing his Mewtwo
off. He only had Mewtwo so I won after 4 turns. Lastly, game 3 was drawn-out,
compared to the last two (which lasted about 5 minutes each). Thanks to some
Lass anti-decking, I barely won. Phew...the hard part's over. Or is
it?.....Dane just lost to Chris. That means it's me vs. Chris DiMarco in the
final battle. NOOOO!
Match Record: 6-1
Game Record: 13-5

THE LAST BATTLE: REMATCH W/CHRIS
Here we go. The winner walks home with 15 boosters. The loser gets 3. This is
going to be the toughest battle yet.......but wait! Thanks to some
extraordinary luck, game 1 opens with my Scyther vs. his Jigglypuff! Plus I
have some ERs, DCEs, and other energies. I win turn 3 after two Slashes!
Okay. One more and I win. Next game.....Scyther again, vs. some standard Hay
Pokemon. Dittos and Chans as my backup, I drain all his energy with the 4 or
so removals and super removals I get in the first couple of turns and Slash
away for the win! YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHH!
FINAL MATCH RECORD: 7-1
FINAL GAME RECORD: 15-5

YESSSS! I've done it again! That's two tournaments in a row! I eagerly open
all my boosters. I get Charizard, Blastoise, Gyarados, Magneton, Zapdos,
Pokemon Breeder, Itemfinder, 3 Scoop Up, 2 Dugtrio, Pidgeotto, Lass, and
Super Energy Removal as rares. Awesome! After pre-reserving a few Rocket
boosters, I find out that the next tournament is on May 25th. The prize is 10
boosters of Team Rocket! Coolness! That would be 3 in a row if I win.
Meanwhile, here are the props and slops:

Props:
to me for winning again :-)
to Scyther, Ditto, Gastly and Mewtwo for being my MVPs today!
to Magic Guild for holding another great tourney!
to Lenny for teaching me the turn one absorption trick without even knowing
it ;-)
to Wizards for bringing the TCG to the U.S.
to those awesome pulls from the packs!
to Dane for showing up and almost getting into the final round against me!
to everyone who showed up
to Pojo for posting this! Right, Pojo? RIGHT????
to Pokemon Lady for the inspirational article on deckbuilding (it's in
Featured Articles)

Slops:
to whatever it was that prevented Jamison from showing up :-(
to Team Rocket for not being out yet...Rocket's Sneak Attack and Nightly
Garbage Run will rule in this deck as Lass and Retrieval replacements.
to those rumor people (see way above)
to me for still not knowing Lenny's last name
to the people from the first tourney that didn't show up for the second
to Base Gastly for no apparent reason at all :-)
to me for getting no Chanseys, Clefairies, or Blastoises in those 15 packs
to Dane's red-head friend Chris (not DiMarco) for calling me "Eddy" all day
(Note: To learn more about the history of my name, be sure and read my next
report)

Well, that about wraps things up. I guess I'll be back in May with the next
Tourney report. In the meantime, I'll have more reports from the Toys R Us
League, including a Pokemon Flute deck I want to try out......

                ~Max B.
                  ~Maxtendo64@aol.com

                ~BTW, if you wanna know what the B stands for...
                ~....then read my next report sometime in May!!!! The
revelation will             ~be made then! S

Okay, fade out now!

Please!

No, for real this time.