Turning the Tide v.4

by Nick Yurick

Westin Convention Center STS Qualifier

Pittsburgh, PA

Sunday, October 7 2001

31 Participants

This is basically the same deck I played at the

Roanoke Qualifier in September. For those of you who

didn't read that, here are the contents:

18 Pokemon

4 Totodile 50HP

4 Croconaw 80HP

3 Feraligatr 120Hp

3 Cleffa

4 Igglybuff

21 Trainers

4 Prof. Elm

4 Misty's Wrath

4 Trash Exchange

2 Double Gust

4 Master Ball

1 No Removal Gym

2 Focus Band

21 Water Energy

My parents drove me 4 hours to get to this thing. I

live in West Virginia, where they don't have ANY

tournaments due to the fact that it's mostly rednecks

that hate Pokemon.=( Oh well. Heres how I did:

Round 1 vs. Emily's grass deck.

This was pretty easy, although she did a lot better

than some of my other opponents. I started with

Totodile and Cleffa. I managed to get Feraligatr up

and take out all six prizes. Kudos to her though for

claiming two prizes before I could do that.

Record: 1-0

Round 2 vs. Corey's Typhlosion deck.

This could have been a really tough match. He got a

really bad draw. I started with Totodile. He started

with Cyndaquil. I basically went through all his small

stuff with Totodile and Croconaw for the quick win. We

still had 25 minutes left, so he turned in the game

report and we played a quick game that I won pretty

easily. We still had time, so we talked. This guy was

really cool and, as I would find out later, a great

player.

Record: 2-0

Round 3 vs. Randy's mostly Fighting deck.

I was in for a big surprise with this deck. He

succeeded in getting Donphan out and Rapid spinning,

which made things tough for me. In the end, I finally

took out his Donphan and then everything else.

Record: 3-0

Round 4 vs. Brian's Lightning deck

This game completely defines waht Pokemon is all

about.

We fought closely through the whole game until each of

us had one prize left. I evolved to Feraligatr, which

was probably a mistake. I continuosly got bad flips

against his Pichu, who kept whittling me down. Earlier

he got bad flip against my Cleffa, so one good flip

would have changed the outcome for either of us. When

time was called, we each had I prize left. It was

declared a tie. We were each give 1 point.

Record: 3-0-1

Round 5 vs. a guy wiht an Umbreon deck

After this point I'm too flustered to remember

anyone's names. Sorry. If you care, e-mail me. This

was the only undefeated and untied player left. This

match was pretty quick. He got an Umbreon at one

point, but I Riptided it. I just took everything else

out relatively quickly.

Record: 4-0-1

The Top Eight:

Round 1 vs. Corey (again.)

This is where this guy proves what a great player he

is. He put Chaos Gym out early in the game and I'm

stuck. Fortunately, some lucky flips bailed me out and

I was able to barely pull it out.

Top 8 Record: 1-0

Round 2 vs. a guy with a Dark Muk deck.

I felt really ignorant here. He basically had the

upper hand to begin with. I started with a lone

Totodile. He started with ND Caterpie, the bane of

Feraligatr's existence. Fortunately, he didn't get the

darkness he needed to finish me off, so I hung by a

thread. Next turn I Elmed and got a little help. But

he basically kept the upper hand the whole time.

Anything that could have helped was lost when I made a

stupid mistake. After attaching an energy to

Feraligatr, I did something else, then attached an

energy to Cleffa and Eeeeeeek!ed. But I had already

attached to Gatr. By the time I realized it, my hand

was already shuffled in. The judges ruled that I

should just lose my hand, which was a fair ruling,

even though it pretty much ruined my chances. In the

end, he poisoned my Feraligatr with Dark Muk, I

couldn't do anything, so he knocked me out and won.

I got third again. I won a box of Discovery. Since I

had already won one in Roanoke, I was generous in

giving packs to my friends.

Now for Props and Slops:

Props:

To me, for redeeming myself with everyone who said I

needed an illegal deck to get into the Top Eight for

what happened in Roanoke.

To the two that won the trip to San Diego.

To my parents for driving me there.

To my brother Sam, for getting third in the standard

side event.

To everyone who put up a good fight.

Slops:

To my bestest friend McKinley's parents for not

letting him go to the tourney. =(

To everyone who's been talking crap on me for what

happened in Roanoke.

To me for being sick that day, therefore making stupid

mistakes.

To some guy who was watching me play a pick up game

before the tournament, obviously trying to see what I

was playing.

To all the rednecks that hate Pokemon.

To the fact that there aren't tournaments in West

Virginia.

Well, I had a good time, but getting a buch of cards

isn't nearly as good as a trip to San Diego.

Send Questions, Comments, Condolences to:

nick_yurick@yahoo.com