Super Trainer Showdown

Queen Mary, Long Beach, CA

July 22, 2000

By: Joseph Viray (9)

Hi to the pojomaniacs out there! As you might know, I’m the 10 and under champion for the Super Trainer Showdown.

My Dad, Mom and me arrived at around 9 AM. There was a long line. Fortunately, we have the gold invitation so we were able to get inside. We heard that a lot of people did not make it inside the Queen Mary. After we registered, we went outside the Queen Mary for a snack. After we ate, we tried to get back inside, but the guard of the Queen Mary said that if you went out, you couldn’t go inside again. Strange, because before we went out, we asked one of the staff members of WOTC if we could go outside and buy food. She said yes. We quickly think that we could go through the rope behind the snack stand to get inside and that is what we did.

Thanks to Jack Savage, 11-14 Division Champion, for mentioning me in his report. Enough talking, here’s my deck.

The Rainmaker deck

Pokemon (14)

3x Lapras

4x Articuno

4x Squirtle (TR)

3x Blastoise

Trainers (27)

3x Pokemon Breeder

4x Prof. Oak

4x Computer Search

2x Pokemon Trader

4x Bill

4x Rocket Sneak Attack

4x PlusPower

2x Defender

Energy

19x Water Energy

The deck’s strategy is to get Blastoise as soon as possible and use PlusPower to get quick knockouts. Use Lapras and Articuno as backup for Blastoise and protection for Squirtle. If all of your Pokemon are powered up, then you have an unstoppable team of water Pokemon. And one more thing. If your Pokemon need protection from damage, you can count on Defender. Rocket Sneak Attack (RSN) is protection from energy removals or to remove computer searches/prof oak in order to slow down your opponent. In addition, RSN allows me to see my opponent’s hand.

Swiss round elimination report

The first round of Swiss rounds I won with the butt-kicking Blastoise. Second round I won again, but this kid called the judge and told her to count my deck because he thought I have more than 60 cards in my deck. The first count was 56 cards. Then, she counted again. She said my deck has 60 cards. The kid thought I was cheating. Third round I faced a girl. I beat her and once again took the victory. Fourth round I almost lost. 30 seconds left and it’s my turn. We both have two prizes left, the time expires and we ended up tied. Fifth round against Ken Knight, he sneak attacked my Pokemon Breeder and slowed down evolving my Blastoise. His energy removals kept me off track.I lost the fifth round. The sixth round, my opponent only had two Jigglypuffs. I killed them both with the mighty Blastoise. The seventh round he had a fire deck. I killed all of his Pokemon and ended up winning. I was 7th out of the Top 8. Well, let’s go into the playoffs report.

The Playoffs Report

Quarterfinals Playoff Round 1: Me vs. Ken Knight with a Haymaker Deck

Off we go! Sorry I forgot most of the game, but I killed all of his

Pokemon with the Blastoise and PlusPower combo! This kid was the same kid who beat me in the Swiss Rounds. This time, I got my revenge! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Playoff Record Record Total

1-0-0 6-1-1

Semifinals Playoff Round 2: Me vs. Brock Christianson with Hitmonchan Deck.

He starts off with a Hitmonchan and he put Chansey on the bench. I forgot the other Pokemon that he put on the Bench. I start with Articuno and no Basic Pokemon on the Bench. He could have killed me with his powered up Chansey, but I Computer Searched for Squirtle and put it on my Bench. Later on, I used Blastoise to kill most of his Pokemon, then he killed my Blastoise. My Articuno ended the game. I won.

Playoff Record Record Total

2-0-0 7-1-1

Finals Playoff Round 3: Me vs. Dean Barlett with Haymaker Potpourri Deck

This is it. The final round of the playoffs. One will go home with the gold medal. One will go home with the silver medal. First, they recorded my opponent rolling a dice and drawing a card. Then, Pikachu came in to watch the finals. Okay, we start. He has a Magmar and no Basic Pokemon on his Bench. I have Squirtle as active and Articuno on my Bench. I go first. I draw a card and attach an energy to Squirtle, sneak attacked him twice with his two energy removals and say go. He draws a card and says go. I draw a card, attach an energy to Squirtle and attack Magmar with Shell Attack for 40 because of weakness. He draws a card and does Super Energy Removal to my Squirtle. Then, he does Pokemon Center and says go. I kept building my Articuno until it has 3 energys. While building up my Articuno, Dean didn’t drew Basic Pokemon. I attached an energy and retreated Squirtle and brought out Articuno. I attach pluspower to Articuno and attack with freeze dry for 70 damage to knock out Magmar. I win because he has no Basic Pokemon to fight with. I’m the 10 and under champion!

Playoff Record Record Total

3-0-0 8-1-1

The Awards Ceremony was next. The gold medal looked like the size of a large cookie. They said that they’re going to mail my jacket. I received a phone call saying that they’re going to put my name on the jacket. I also received a cap and 32 booster packs. They were Jungle, Fossil, Base Set 2, and Team Rocket. The Awards Ceremony was flashy because of the cameras. One side of the gold medal shows a Machamp and there’s words that says, POKEMON TRADING CARD GAME SUPER TRAINER SHOWDOWN, and on the other side, it says, POKEMON TRADING CARD GAME LEAGUE SUPER TRAINER SHOWDOWN. Well, gotta go!

Questions? Comments? Email me at:

Jmar28@yahoo.com