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ThePokemonLady@aol.com |
LEAVING LAS
VEGAS (WELL, NOT QUITE)
Well, I was picked up around 9:00 am by my pals, Bret (also known
as KittyFox) and Damon, for the monthly tournament in the Iowa
capitol, Des Moines (DSM). We live in Ames, Iowa and it's about
a 40 minute drive from Ames to Mayhem
Collectibles in DSM where the tournament was to be held.
We had a lot of fun on the trip up, discussing deck strategies
and making plans for the upcoming Super Trainer Showdown that
Damon and I are planning to attend on July 1 and 2 in Minneapolis,
Minnesota at the Mall of America.
We arrived at the store at about 10 am, an hour before registration was to begin, in order to make sure that everything was set up and to give Bret time to plug in the laptop and printer. Bret and I use the DCI reporting software (available from DCI) when we judge our tourneys because it creates the pairings, tie breaks are calculated by the computer, and it makes sending the reports into DCI a whole lot easier. I would suggest anyone running tournaments contact dci@wizards.com and find out what they need to do to become sanctioned. It's not that difficult, and honestly, if you're running tourneys, why not have them sanctioned?
Anyway--on with the report. On this day, I decided to play a slightly modified version of last DSM tourney's deck. With new cards, I also gave it a new name:
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The strategy behind this deck was fairly straightforward and simple--KO as many of my opponent's Pokemon as fast as possible. I'm prepping for the Super Trainer Showdown in Minneapolis on July 1 and 2nd where the player with the most match points will win an all expense paid trip for two to California. it is important for me to KO my opponent's Pokemon quickly. Matches are limited to 20 minutes. This may mean taking some risks by drawing and discarding quickly in the first two turns in order to have Wigglytuff fully powered with a full bench. A nice selection of basic Pokemon with higher-than-normal HP values and low retreat costs allowed for the utilisation of my opponent's weaknesses while the addition of Thrust! The Letter of Challenge (from TR expansion) and CPU search allowed me to have a fully powered, fully evolved Wigglytuff out and sweeping the field by turn 2 or turn 3 at the latest. The biggest mistake any opponent can make against my deck is actually accepting my Challenge! I knew that I had to correct the problem from last tournament--when my deck didn't take off, I crashed in huge towering flames. The addition of some better Pokemon and the removal of Dark Dugtrio and Rocket Diglett helped that. The
first letter of the set is listed-- <B> Base; <J>
Jungle; <F> Fossil; <R> Team Rocket. |
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3 Wigglytuff <J> 2 Hitmonchan <B> 2 Electabuzz <B> 2 Scyther <J> 2 Magmar <F> |
2 Item Finder <B> 2 Energy Removal <B> 3 Bill <B> 3 Switch <B> 3 CPU Search <B> 2 Pokemon Trader <B> 2 Professor Oak <B> 3 Nightly Garbage Run <R> 2 Gambler <F> |
3 Rainbow <R> 4 Electric <B> 4 Fighting <B> 6 Fire <B> |
THE ARRIVAL
Doors to Mayhem opened at 11:00 and the kids poured in. The tournament,
according to DCI rules, needed to be an Age Modified Swiss system,
so we would be playing 5 rounds with the top 8 (or 4, depending
on the number of entrants) advancing to the finals. Within an
hour, Bret had 3 fully sanctioned age divisions, 10 and under,
11 to 14, and 14 and older. Being 23, I played in the 14 and
older division. There were many returning players, and even better,
there were some new faces! I didn't have a whole lot of time
to chat with new people, because I needed to get my deck written
down and I needed time to prep myself mentally for the competition.
I've discovered that I'm an incredibly competitive player--and
if I don't get in the mood for a tournament I can be very mean
to my opponents. I love the game so much, that I sometime forget
that it's a game, and that the whole point is to have fun...
PRE TOURNAMENT
PREPARATION
After registering my deck and while waiting for the actual tournament
to begin, I played a pickup game with this really nice fellow
named Ken. He was older than me, and he was at the tournament
so that his daughter (cute kid by the way) could play in one
of the other divisions. He had a deck based around Dark Dragonite
and the Abra-->Kadabra line. He was a very nice fellow, yet
I quickly realised that his Pokemon would be no match for the
speed of my deck. By turn 2 I had a fully powered Wiggly with
a full bench, thanks to the help of a couple Bills and a Professor
Oak played on my opening turn. I gave him a few suggestions on
his deck (which he appreciated) and then it was time to begin
the tourney.
THE FIRST FIVE ROUNDS
ROUND 1 vs SCOTT FLAHERTY with a Psychic Deck
Scott
was a bit younger than me, probably 16-17 years old. He was a
pretty nice fellow and he was playing a neat little Psychic deck
that had TR Abra in it. It combined the Alakazam PP with Scyther
and Chansey. I think that had his deck taken off the way he intended,
he would have gotten the Damage Swap thing going, because I did
see a few Potions, Fuji, and Pokemon Centres during the game.
It wasn't enough though. My colourless Jigglys and Wigglys were
resistant to his Psychic pokes, and due to the speed of the deck,
I again had a fully powered Wiggly and full bench by turn 3.
I waved and KO'd a couple Scythers, and took out at least one
of his Chanseys. He stalled me for a while because he popped
up a Mr. Mime. Sleep wasn't working (tried it a couple turns
but he kept waking up.) Finally, I retreated my Wiggly to bring
up my old friend, Magmar <F>. Two turns against the Smog
of Magmar and Scott was toast. I can't remember if I won by prizes
or by KOing his Pokemon, but I won the first round.
TOURNAMENT SCORE 1-0-0
ROUND
2 vs NATHAN NISSEN with a 'Buzz/Magmar <F>/ MP Mewtwo deck
This
was an interesting match. Nathan was running a pseudo Potpourri-Sponge.
He had me stalled for a while because he had energy removal and
Super energy removal that kept slowing me down. Unfortunately
for him, he couldn't slow me down enough. I used my own energy
removals to take his energy off of him, and then used Gambler
to try to find something useful. I rolled the die and it came
up tails. I drew 1 card off the top of my deck, and it was...
Another Gambler. I dropped it in the discard and rolled the die.
Heads. I drew 8 and began powering back up. Wiggly evolved and
came out against his Psychic Pokemon and the game was pretty
much over.
TOURNAMENT SCORE 2-0-0
ROUND
3 vs ANDREW ANDERSON with an AERODACTYL POTPOURRI
Boy
did I moan after this pairing was announced! AJ ahhanniallated
me in the last
tournament,
simply because I couldn't get my Wiggly's out once his Aerodactyl
evolved... I had thought to put Gust of Wind's in my deck before
I played him again; but, I forgot. Let's just say, that he pretty
much repeated what he did to me at the last tournament--but not
quite as badly. It was down to the wire, with him taking his
last prize only minutes before time was called. I had two prizes
left when he took his last prize. Boy was I hoping that if I
made the finals I wouldn't be facing him.
TOURNAMENT SCORE 2-0-1
ROUND
4 vs KEN WEIBLE with PSYCHIC DECK
I
felt very sheepish when I entered into this game--seeing how
I slaughtered him in the pregame warmup. He and I had a lot of
fun though, because we laughed and chatted about Pokemon and
whatnot during the course of it. I didn't speed through my turns
(like I usually do) but his Abras and Kadabras were no match
for me. He simply couldn't get anything out fast enough to combat
the Speed of my deck. I'd found myself usually Oaking at least
once in the first two turns in order to get what I wanted out
of the deck--and most people just don't react well to 2 Bills,
and then an Oak in turn 2 =). We took our time, and played for
most of the half-hour I won the game against Ken.
TOURNAMENT SCORE 3-0-1
ROUND
5 vs MIKE STUMBO with ** WIGGLYTUFF SURPRISE! **
Round
5 was a very challenging and interesting round! It was after
this round that the players to advance to the finals would be
announced. I was very concerned that I wouldn't be in the finals
because of my loss in round 3 to Andrew. Everyone except Mike
who was in contention for the finals had a 3-1 record. I thought
I needed a win to make the finals...
To open, I had a Jigglypuff out and it was my only Pokemon. After I Billed a couple of times, I opened up with a Challenge! card from team Rocket. By this time everyone knew I was playing a very fast Tuff deck, so I never expected Mike to accept my challenge--but he did! When I saw what he dropped on his bench I was astonished! He was also playing a Wiggly deck! He had Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee in his deck as well, which made me shudder with fear--Wiggly's weakness is Fighting. I did my very best to keep him at bay, and took 4 prizes, but he used Energy removal and Super energy removal in combination with Plus Powers and Gust of wind to bring my 0 energy Pokemon to their doom.
We were very close to the end of the game, and there were about three fellows who were standing at the end of the table watching our game. Now, normally I don't have a problem with people watching--but these guys were commenting how they wanted Mike to win, simply because I'd beaten them in the previous rounds and they didn't want me to make the finals. Not only did that kind of talk kinda make me mad, but it also hurt my feelings. I learned a valuable lesson in this game--don't underestimate your opponent! Mike was about to KO my active Pokemon and take his last prize when he looked at me, grinned, and said, "I forfeit. You win."
Boy was I (and everyone else) surprised! I asked him why, and he threw a sly grin my way and said, "I'd rather sit across from you at the finals =)" Bret came over and said that Mike wouldn't have needed to forfeit for me to have made the finals, because my match-win percentage was high enough to have gotten me in anyway... But, since he did, then Mike and I would face each other again in the first round of the Semi Finals! We really cracked up laughing then!
TOURNAMENT SCORE 4-0-1
SEMIFINALS
--
MATCH
#1 vs MIKE STUMBO with **WIGGLYTUFF SURPRISE**
After recovering from the mass hysteria of the two Wiggly decks
having to play each other again; Mike and I got down to business.
The winner of this match would play the winner of the other match
for 1st and 2nd place...
This time was a slightly different story than the first game. Mike couldn't seem to draw any of his Basics, and he was having a lot of trouble finding (and keeping) energy on his Pokes. Having learned from the round before that I cannot afford to take any chances with him, I didn't hesitate to Oak, Bill, Gambler, Item Finder, and CPU search my deck and discard pile to the get energy and Pokemon that I needed. Lucky me, Mike didn't really get his hands on any of the energy sucking trainer cards that he had, and after about 15 minutes, and a whole lot of fun and laughter, we were chalking up a win for the Pokemon Lady. I found out a few minutes later that I would be playing Andrew Anderson in the final match. Jokingly I said to Mike, " Purple monkeys will fly out of my behind, before I beat him {andrew}!"
TOURNAMENT SCORE 5-0-1
BREAKTIME
I
didn't know about anyone else, but I had been playing Pokemon
straight through for almost an hour and my poor butt needed a
break. I asked the Judge if it would be ok for the four adults
to have a 10 minute potty and stretch break, and he said fine.
Outside the store I met this really sad looking girl. I chatted
with her for a while and found out that she was homeless, and
that she didn't really have any money for food or anything. I
felt really bad that she was sitting outside in the weather (Iowa
can be very hot during the summer, and very chilly if it's raining)
with nothing to eat--so I went inside and got her something from
the vending machine. I Know it wasn't much... but it was something...
Then I had to go inside to play my final match.
MATCH
#2 -- FOR 1st or 2ND PLACE vs..... ANDREW ANDERSON
Don't
ask me why I thought I would get away with not having to play
him--but I had hoped that I wouldn't have to. I dreaded this
match.
I don't know what happened but due to a combination of his deck stalling, and my deck simply flying I beat him. I zipped through my deck to find Pokemon which could combat his Aerodactyl--and I was smart enough to hold the Fighting weak Pokemon to my hand as long as I could. I used Rainbow energy to power an active Scyther--taking 10 damage in the process, but allowing for a Swords dance 1st turn. Turn 2, I dropped the DCE to do 60 Damage. Subsequent turns, I built up Hitmonchan for the Special Punch, Magmar for the Smog (ooohh I lovvve Poison) and Electabuzz for the 30+ dmg Thunder punch. Andrew simply didn't get a good opening hand, and his drawing didn't get him what he needed.
Purple monkeys didn't fly from my behind, but I defeated Andrew to win the tournament!
TOURNAMENT SCORE 6-0-1
First Place prize was 4 Japanese Boosters: 1 Rocket, 1 Base, and 2 Gym Leaders II.
EPIPHANIES!
DISCOVERIES!
I
made some minor discoveries during this tournament.
1: LAUGHING is more fun than WINNING and making Friends is more
satisfying than taking Prizes.
2: I need to add 4 Plus Powers to up Wiggly's damage base to
70 and 3 Rocket Sneak Attack to give my opponents a big headache
=). I also think I'll drop a Here Comes Team Rocket into the
deck in order to be able to see what my prizes are.
3. I believe I will remove the switches and the fighting energy in order to make room for those additions. I'll simply have to power Hitmonchan with 1 or 2 Rainbow energy and an off colour if need be.
| PROPS AND SLOPS | ||
| PROPS TO: * Brett Larwick for Judging the tourney, and for the ride to DSM. * Mayhem Collectables for providing prizes. * Mike Stumbo and Ken Weible for simply having fun. |
SLOPS TO: * Slops to the sore losers who couldn't help but comment on everything... * Slops to people who stand over your shoulder and kibbutz the whole time you're playing... |
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Well, Tha'ts my tournament report. I hope you like it. If you do, send me a mail at ThePokemonLady@aol.com and maybe I'll see you in California!