(I'm not sure what category this goes in - please feel free to use it
wherever)

To Pojo:

I had a very unusual game in the Pojo Apprentice League that others might
find interesting as well, one in which my opponent and I went through a total
of 79 cards combined in only 7 turns!  It occurred in the finals of the April
11 Pojo Apprentice League tournament judged by Zerosk8r.  The format was
Standard (US cards only, promos allowed), but due to time constraints we
started each match with only 3 prizes and a 15 minute time limit.  My
opponent had what appeared to be a standard haymaker, and I was trying out
Scott Gerhardt's Sponge:

Pokemon:
4 Electabuzz
3 Promo Mewtwo
1 Mew
2 Ditto

Trainers:
3 Bill
4 Professor Oak
1 Gambler
4 Energy Removal
2 Super Energy Removal
3 Computer Search
3 Item Finder
3 Scoop Up
3 Gust of Wind
3 PlusPower
3 Energy Retrieval
1 Mr. Fuji

Energy:
7 Psychic Energy
7 Lightning Energy
3 Double Colorless Energy


As it turned out, I needed ALL of its sponge-soaking abilities (energy
removals and card drawing/finding) in this match.

The finals began ordinarily enough. We had used plenty of trainers and so
each of us had knocked out only 1 of the other's Pokemon when the 15-min time
limit expired.  Since we were tied, the judge told us to start a new game of
Sudden Death, which meant of course only 1 prize each.  That's when the fun
REALLY began!

I lost the coin flip (of course, I had lost every opening flip in the
tournament), and the flip in a Sudden Death match is very important -- you
really want to get the first strike in.  The opening Pokemon matchup was my
Electabuzz against his Hitmonchan.  Great, a bad matchup already with Buzz's
weakness to Fighting.  He Billed, benched a Scyther, laid a Fighting energy
and Jabbed for 40.  Not to worry.  I Billed and got a Ditto, which I
immediately benched and laid a Psychic energy on him, and Scooped Up Buzz.
With a Plus Power to bring Ditto's Jab to 30, and a Double Colorless in my
hand for a Special Punch next turn, I thought I was sitting fine. Oh, well,
he Energy Removed Ditto's energy, put a DCE on Scyther, and Oaked and then
Computer Searched for a Scoop Up to get rid of Hitmo -- now a brand new
Scyther was up for him. I benched my Buzz again, Energy Removed the DCE,
Comp. Searched for an Oak, and laid another Psychic Energy on Ditto and
Swords Danced (I had found another DCE in the Oak draw).

Unfortunately, he benched and promoted his Hitmo again, Gusted out poor Buzz,
laid a Fighting Energy, and Jabbed him for another 40 - ouch!  Luckily, I
drew an Item Finder and found my trusty Scoop Up to again use on Buzz, laid
the DCE on Ditto, and Special Punched Hitmo for 40.  Another Energy Removal
did away with my DCE, another Scoop Up did away with his Hitmo again, and an
Item Finder found another Oak for him.  This time, he benched and promoted a
Fossil Magmar with a Fire Energy (Scyther had done the retreating work in
between) and Smokescreened me for 10. Here we were at the 8th turn, and no
one was close to having a single KO!

Well, I was determined to change all that.  I benched and promoted a Promo
Mewtwo in place of Ditto, and Oaked again. I got another Energy Removal for
the Fire Energy on Magmar, laid a Psychic on Mewtwo and Absorbed 2 more
Psychics onto him.  My opponent used an energy from his hand and played a
Super ER on Mewtwo, but that left him with no other energies in play. I had
no more Psychic Energies in my hand, but a Lightning Energy worked fine, and
after my second Absorb, Mewtwo now had 4 energies on him -- let's see all of
those be removed!

At the beginning of Turn 11, my opponent was starting to squirm. He was
limited to playing a Fire Energy on Magmar and Smokescreening.  On my turn, I
drew my last Energy Removal and removed the Fire, then I crossed my fingers
and flipped for Psyburn to overcome the Smokescreen effect -- a Heads!  40
damage to Magmar, now if he has no more Scoop Ups.........

He laid a Fire on Magmar, but instead of Smokescreening, he retreated and
brought out Scyther.  A mistake - even though I didn't have a Gust of Wind, I
did have yet one more Oak.  In my draw after the Oak, I had an Item Finder,
which quickly became a Gust of Wind, and Magmar was Gusted out for the final
Psyburn and the knock out.

I kept the Apprentice Log from the game, and found some unusual stats. In 14
total turns (7 by each of us), 5 Oaks had been used, along with 6 Energy
Removals, 4 Scoop Ups -- 27 trainers actually played in all!  I had gone
through 39 cards in only 7 turns, and he had gone through 32 cards, making
the total of 71 cards. Altogether, we had discarded 23 cards in Oaking and
searching for cards in our own decks and discard piles, and that doesn't
include discarding energy for the Energy Removals, retreating and Scooping
our Pokemon away.  And, remember, all of this was in just 7 turns apiece, and
it all resulted in just 1 knock out!


Any question or comments, email to MikLamb11@aol.com.