Dark Intentions by Kevin Pastimes Sports Cards, Comics & Games Niles, Illinois Saturday, September 29th, 2001 8 People per Side Event First, I should mention that this tournament took place on Saturday, and I'm writing this as of Monday, so the details are a bit fuzzy. I'm writing about the Chicagoland STS qualifier. I'm 16, which puts me in the 15+ category, for which there was no central tournament this year. :( We were allowed to enter the side event tournaments for $5 each, with prizes of gift certificates for the store. I entered only two events, but battled numerous other people. I went to the tournament expecting only Modified format, but there were side events for both Rocket-On and Standard. I used my Modified deck. When I first arrived, I met up with my friend Alex, whom I know from Pokémon League in Crystal Lake. Anyway, on to the report. Dark Intentions (Modified Format Deck) 4x Rocket's Zapdos 2x Neo Genesis Cleffa 2x Neo Discovery Eevee 2x Dark Jolteon 2x Murkrow 2x Neo Discovery Igglybuff 3x Secret Mission 2x Professor Elm 3x Gold Berry 3x Warp Point 2x Energy Charge 2x Challenge! 2x Focus Band 2x Nightly Garbage Run 2x Energy Flow 1x Trash Exchange 1x Rocket's Minefield Gym 1x Rocket's Secret Experiment 1x Master Ball 14x Lightning Energy 4x Darkness Energy 3x Metal Energy My basic strategy is to use Rocket's Zappy as my main attacker, with the Metal energy combo, and Darkness energies sparodically as PlusPowers or to power up Murkrow or Dark Jolteon. After all, if you have energy flow in your deck, Darkness might as well read, "Add 10 damage to your attacks, and put two damage counters on your Pokémon." I added a single Trash Exchange as a slow-acting Item Finder, but none of the trainers were so necessary that I needed to use the Exchange; I mostly used it for discard fodder. First Battle vs Alex with Lightning I know Alex personally, and he's a very good player. His deck featured Rocket's Zapdos, Neo Magmar, and Unown D to counter my Murkrow (that made me regret not including Pichu!). This battle was amazing, lasting until both of us were down to a single prize. Little kids gathered around to view the awesome spectacle of our battle. In the end, however, his Magmar couldn't stand up to Rocket's Zapdos with Metal. 1-0 For the day First Side Tournament, First Round, vs Alex (what a coincidence!) What are the odds that we would be paired up against each other?! This battle was also interesting, with him drawing about 3 prizes before my Dark Jolteon with 2 Darkness and Rocket's Zapdos with a Metal got rolling. When I got attacking, I drew prize after prize, and ended up with a fairly quick victory. 2-0 For the day, 1-0 For the event First Side Tournament, Second Round, vs some lady with Fighting I had an unlucky draw, with Neo Eevee, but this was a pretty quick match, with her Neo Onixes and Larvitars having such low HP. I drew a Murkrow and powered it up, then knocked them out pretty quick, hitting Larvitars for 2-turn KOs. And she never did get the chance to use the Tyranitar I was expecting. 3-0 For the day, 2-0 For the event First Side Event, Final Round, vs someone about my age with Steelix This was a TOUGH match. A Steelix deck obviously runs lots of Metal, which caused problems for my R's Zappy, doing 50 or less damage a turn, even with Darkness(!), is devistating. Even a late-game Dark Jolteon with Darkness couldn't finish him off completely, with him drawing his last prize when I had about 2 left. 3-1 For the day, 2-1 For the event (got a $10 gift certificate) Second Side Event, First Round, vs Alex (AGAIN!!!) We both signed up for the same tourny again, but the odds were pretty slim that we would end up paired first round again. However, the person doing the pairings didn't know the meaning of RANDOM, and we went head-to-head once more. Unfortunately for him, even his newly purchased DBZ figure good-luck charm couldn't save him from a bad start and powerful Pokémon. He lost again and I moved on. 4-1 For the day, 1-0 For the event Second Side Event, Second Round, vs some guy (early 30s?) with Koga's Muk This was a tough and interesting battle. A deck focusing on energy removing and status effects caught me completely off guard. The Koga's Muk itself wasn't threatening, but the status effects did me in. Dark Gloom's confusion, Koga's Grimer's poisoning, and Meganium's sleep all severely hurt my Rocket's Zappys. By the way, there was a bit of an argument between us: I said that since Metal Energy prevents both attacks and defends against them, there would be 0 confustion damage, since confusion states to ATTACK your attacking Pokémon for 20 damage, while he said it only prevented the 10 as defense. The person behind me backed me up, while his friend of course supported him. Anyway, there was a critical moment in the battle that I believe resulted in my demise. I had an active Rocket's Zapdos with 3 Lightning and 2 Metal, resulting in 50 damage and 0 to self, with a Rocket's Zapdos on the bench, with 2 Lighning. I planned on attacking with Electroburn, reducing his HP to 10, then using Energy Flow the next turn, get the metal back, attaching one to the benched Zappy, using Plasma for a KO and next turn 50-60. However, since I had no self damage from Electroburn, and my Zappy had 10 HP left, my plan slipped my mind, and I used Electroburn. Of course, he knocked me out and I lost my precious Metal. This was a good, challenging match, however, and I only regret that one decision. 4-2 For the day, 1-1 For the event (got a $5 gift certificate) After that, I just battled a bit more for fun: Seventh Battle vs kid I battled at last STSQT of Chicago with Sabrina's Haunter This was a pretty good battle, with his Rocket's Scythers dropped to a single Electroburn and Murkrow having a resistance to Sabrina's Haunter. However, my intrest faded, and he got some KOs as I tried to power up my bench again. Finally, he drew his last prize, as I didn't keep an eye on how many he had taken. It was an interesting battle, though, and I was glad to see an original deck played. 4-3 For the day Final Battle of the Day vs Alex again... After versing Al in Super Dodgeball Advance, and him beating me 2-1 in best of three, he finally got the nerve to battle me one last time. However, I slaughtered his Pokémon, and he had to leave anyway. Still, he was the most fun of all the people I battled that day. 5-3 For the day P.S. I used my gift certificates to purchase a Southern Islands Set (finally!). Props and Slops Props to Pastimes for being much more organized this year. Props to Alex for taking his losing every battle against me so well. Props to Metal Energy for being the shiznit! Slops to Wizards for the Mew of my SI Collection being damaged when I opened it :( Slops to Pastimes for no central 15+ tourney. Slops to Wizards for no 15+ trip. Thanks for reading! Kevin