Who: Sandman, Luis, Rene, Jennifer
What: Super Trainer Showdown
Where: Long Beach, California
When: July 22, 2000
This was going to be my first major Tournament in over 4 months. I woke up
saturday morning at about 5:00am to drive all the way from Los Angeles down
to Santa Monica to go pick up my friends Luis and Rene. It was about 7:30
when I finally got back to L.A. to pick up my little sister Jennifer. Then
we were off to Long Beach. Traffic was non existent which made us feel like
if we were going to be early. That was not the case. When we arrived at
about 8:00am the man at the gate looked at us and said, "Let me
guess...Pokemon?" We smiled and said yes to which he pointed us to the
parking area. We got there and to our surprise was the longest line for a
Tourney I've ever seen. We lined up and began to get our decks ready. Team
"Canada" was in front of us. It took us 3 and a half hours to finally
get in
the boat.(Note:In my opinion Queen mary was an awful choice for a tourney.
Too small.) We signed in, to tell you the trued we were one of the last
people to be allowed in the tournament. We then tried to go outside to buy a
pretzel or something to eat since we were all starving but they wouldn't let
us out. The man told me that if I leave I can't come back in and that I
should be lucky that I got in. I ranted for a while but no such luck I was
stuck inside. We then headed down to begin battle. Me and Luis drew the red
group, Rene the Orange(note: I think..I forgot what color was the 11-14 year
olds), and Jennifer the green. Here is my deck:
4 mewtwo
3 ditto
3 electabuzz
2 scyther
2oak
4 bill
4 ER
3 SER
2 switch
4 GOW
4 scoop up
2 item finders
4DCE
11 psy
8 Electric
My first match I lost 6 prizes to 3 prizes. I recognized him from the
Torrance Qualifying tournament. He got his mewtwo out first and took out my
ditto's and mewtwo's with relative ease. Luis also lost. As for Rene and
Jennifer they both won.
Second match I played this kid with an Gengar deck. I ate him up and spit
him out in about 2 minutes. I took all prizes he took none. Luis also
grabbed a win and so did Jenny. Rene lost.
Third match was just bad luck. All I drew was a ditto to his Buzz. took me
out in three turns. Rene and Jenny won, Luis Tied.
Fourth match I lost contact with rest of the team. I beat the guy that took
out Luis in the first round. It was so fast. I shredded his mewtwos and
dittos with ease. I took all prizes he took none.
fifth match I lost in the most embarrassing way I can. He decked me out with
his little Lickintung. This guy was using a dice to roll instead of
flipping. I was mad because he rolled the dice 23 times and got 21 even(or
heads). This got me so mad but it's my fault for allowing him to use dice at
the begining of the match. At this point These were our results. Sandman
2-3, Luis 1-2-2, Rene 2-3, Jenny 3-2
Sixth match I played some guy who really didn't want to play. He was on his
walky talky during the whole game describing it to his friend. I took him
out with no problem. 6 prizes to none.
Seventh match I played a guy that we met in line to get in. He was from
Seattle. He was a cool guy. We shook hands and began to play. I had mewtwo
active and went first. I had an oak with a bunch of energy. That's all I
needed for the easy win. I took all six prizes he took none.
Last Match was where my day went from fun to terrible. This guy took some of
my pokes out early and was leading 5 prizes to 3. Then he began to stall
seeing that he was in big trouble. I made every effort not to be a jerk
about his stalling. I yawned, shrugged my shoulders, began to look at my
watch, but he took 3 minutes to make his move. then I psyburned his scyther.
He then took 2:45 for his next move. He did nothing but retreat his scyther
for another. I Psyburned it for 40. He then took 4 minutes for his next
move. I told him if he could quit stalling cause he was making me mad. He
just laughed and said I'm thinking. He then retreated his scyther and
brought in his chansey. He then took and extra 3 minutes to stall for the
win. The judge saw this and said nothing to him. I was angry and cursed the
man out for stalling. He then explained that if I could keep it down cause
his little boy was watching. I let his little boy know that his daddy was a
cheat and to be proud of his cheating father. The judges then came up to me
realizing his mistake and offered me 4 extra boosters plus the 4 that they
gave everyone. I declined them and told them I would rather earn them. That
lost dropped me to 74th place out of 180. With that win I would have moved
up in the top 40 but it was all for not.
All in all I went a disappointing 4-4 (74), Luis 3-2-3 (103), Rene 3-4-1
(122), Jenny 4-3 (39)(kids only got to play 7). I didn't even bother to stay
for the other events.
Props to Wizards of the coast for making it free, for being so fast in
keeping track of records, for giving away free shirts and boosters, and for
my little sister for doing so well.
Slops to The man I played last, for my poor performance and constant
ranting(ITS JUST A GAME SANDMAN), and for the Queen Mary for being to small
and for the staff for not allowing everyone to get in.
Note to Wizards: Next time you hold an even here in California, nothing says
welcome to L.A. then holding the tournament at the home of our World
Champion Los Angeles Lakers, The Staple Center.
Sandman
sabumike@aol.com