PNEUMATIC LIFTING FORKS
Brett "Magnus Bohica" Hurley
Sports Cards II
Phoenix, Arizona
Saturday, August 25, 2001
About 20 participants

This week, I planned to go to my usual place to hit a tournament, Atomic
Comics.  
But upon my arrival, I see one of usual players, Craig.  I was about to walk
inside
and he told me there isn't a tournament today.  That struck me odd, I Was
there last
week and Kellie did not tell us anything about an Anime Fest (tournaments
aren't held on some Saturdays, maybe once in like 2-3 months for a large
group of people that watch anime all day)  So Craig brought up an idea: "Lets
go to Sports Cards II!  It's DCI sanctioned"  I ask how far.  He says half an
hour.  We were going to wait for one of the other regulars there, Fred.  But
Craig, his brother Kory, Ben and I got impatient and we took a road trip.  To
make a long story short, what was supposed to be a 25 minute drive turned
into a 95 minute road trip.  It's hard to know where you're going when you
have barely any Highway experience and 3 people in the car who know how to
get there a couple different ways, but aren't exactly clear on it.  On the
way to Sports Cards II, we stumble upon a guy in a car with his buddy ranting
about how good his battery powered stereo is, which he was playing and
holding.  We all got a good laugh about that!  (those who were there would
know this, it was funny!)
But finally, we reach our destination, exhausted, weary and dehydrated AND in
time for signups.

A little thing about me, I don't care for the DCI…AT ALL.  I could care less
about my ranking.  I somehow got 2 DCI cards a while back, one has my real
name (Brett Hurley) the other I put an alias down in which I use frequently
(Magnus Bohica) Magnus Bohica is the name of a character I use online to Role
Play with.  It's not illegal J.  I'll get to the deck.

POKEMON: 18
4 Slowpoke
4 Slowking
4 Jigglypuff
3 Wigglytuff
3 Cleffa

TRAINERS: 30
4 Computer Search
4 Gold Berry
4 Professor Oak
3 Item Finder
3 Gust Of Wind
3 ER
3 Pokemon Trader
2 SER
2 TR Training Gym
2 Nightly Garbage Run

ENERGY: 12
6 Psychic Energy
4 DCE
2 Recycle Energy

not the most original piece of work I have done, but it works surprisingly
well.  It's your basic Slowking + Wigglytuff.  It uses Pokemon Trader to get
out numerous Slowpoke on turn 1, after that, Oak and EEEEk like crazy, you
should AT LEAST get 2 Slowking by turn 2, this should slow the opponent
enough to get Slowking 3 and 4 and a Wigglytuff to take them out for good.  

I got the name because I am a HUGE Battlebots fan.  And the deck resembles a
lifting fork/arm.  The opponent sets down a trainer, I get heads on Mind
Games and Slowking flips the trainer back the the top of their deck.

When I got there, I Was dehydrated like crazy, I drove across town in my
little Mercury Capri for 95 minutes, I was ready to pass out.  I ran to the
gas station and bough some water with what little money I had left after the
tournament fee (the fee for the tournament was 3 bucks)  when I Went inside,
one of the people who worked there (which was some kid that looked 14) told
me that "NO OUTSIDE LIQUID CAN BE BROUGHT IN THE STORE!"…First off, I got
water because  they didn't sell any.  Secondly, they only had SODA!  If they
can have soda in there, I Can have water.  Water doesn't mess up the carpet
if you spill it, plus, the salt in soda would dehydrate me even more and
would prolly make me pass out (I was in really bad shape at the time).
And here was my first matchup

ROUND 1:
Me VS. Chad Mills
(the 14 year old kid was annoucing the names, he had a heck of a time
pronouncing Magnus.  "Maaaa….gg…nus")
Great, my first match is with one of the good DCI players, oi vey.  We set up
and I mulligan.  Whats weird is, Chad wasn't required to put down a basic by
the terms there.  If I mulligan, I show the judge, and they draw 2.  I
questioned this for 5 minutes.  I later found out that they were DCI and made
up some rules as well.  This struck me as VERY odd (I just entered what I
call Neo Communist Russia)

After we set up, I went first.  I Tradered and Oaked like crazy getting out
Slowpoke and building up an offense at the same time.  Chad was reeling a bit
because his only defense against me was Unown N, D, a Growlithe and a
Chansey.  He didn't get too good of a search engine going.  He Lasses me a
couple turns later, but then I EEEEEeeek with Cleffa and I get EXACTLY what I
need.  Next turn, I get out 3 Slowking and I start picking off his Unown N so
that I may do more damage in the future.  In the meantime, I have TR Training
Gym  out to prevent free retreaters from getting off the hook so easy.  I
pick off his Unkown N, then I get his Unown D, a couple of Chanseys.  He was
able to get a Nightly Garabge Run to work and got an Unown N out again a
couple turn later.  He starts building up a Chansey and Arcanine but I ER and
SER them to uselessness while I take out a Cleffa and the Unown N for my last
couple prizes.  Amazingly enough, He never knocked out any of my pokemon that
game.  
1-0-0

ROUND 2:
Me VS ?? (another Slowking deck)
Ah! A Slowking VS Slowking, an interesting match.  He goes first and gets a
good bench setup.  He uses most of his Oaks, Bills, and CPU Search for a full
bench.  His result is a Cleffa, 3 Slowpoke and 2 Sneasel.  I start out VERY
badly.  I end up drawing a MUCH needed Pokemon trader in my prize because he
attached a Dark Energy to Cleffa in order to EEEeeeek.  I use the trader to
get a Cleffa, and then my deck starts rolling.  I get out 3 Slowking to his
one and begin plowing right through him.  Although something ary happened. I
used CPU. Search, I Forgot to discard the 2 cards and I searched my deck.  I
remembered that I forgot to do this so I set my deck down, discarded the 2
cards and searched again.  The guy called over a judge and he got on my butt
as well as ANOTHER judge about this.  The 14 year old judge said he would
have to "Award me a game loss because it's DCI rules"  o.O WHAT?! These guys
MAKE UP RULES! and "Award"?!  I am lenient with people, I prolly could have
called stalling a couple of times but I am a patient guy.  But I make one
TINY error (I had 5 cards in my hand, I could easily pay for the CPU search
cost and then some) and I get 3 people in my face about it.  I should have
got a warning, I told the judge exaxtly what happened and what cards I put in
the discard pile for the 2 cards discarded for CPU search  The only GOOD
thing that came out of this was that the guy offered a draw.  I accepted the
draw.  Hey, if I'm going to get Dqed in a match, might as well get some
points for it.  
1-0-1

This is weird.  These guys make up rules (their mulligan rule is corrupt and
I think Sneasel has been almost banned…anyone find this a little odd)

ROUND 3:
Me VS. Kory
I played him in a practice match before the tournament, he took out
Electabuzz for Hirmonchan, just to counter Wigglytuff and Chansey.  Kory
starts off a little slow, he was unable to get Plasma working for a couple of
turns due to no Lightning energy.  I plow through my deck for Slowpokes.  I
know Korys decks.  Don't give them a chance to build up or you will dearly
regret it!  I eventually get out 2 Slowking and I immediately pick off his TR
Zapdos' with it.  He had a Focus Band on one, but it failed.  The entire
time, he is desperately trying to get a Computer Search to work and I got at
least one heads for about 5 turns.  I eventually killed off his only pokemon,
a lone Hitmonchan for the win.  
2-0-1

ROUND 4:
Me VS. ?? Another Slowking
I saw this deck go up against one of his opponents, and it was BRUTAL!  I had
to work very fast for this one.  I go first and I Oak 4 consecutive times
(thanks to a couple Item Finder), only to get a few Slowpoke, a Jigglypuff
and a Cleffa.  He uses Rocket Sneak attack and takes away my Oak, he uses a
second one and takes away my Energy Removal.  Next turn, I topdeck a Computer
search (^.^) and I snag an Oak and I get out a few Slowking as well as send
up a changed Wigglytuff.  I begin ER and SERing his Sneasels and quickly
taking them out, all he had left for defense was a Cleffa, some more Sneasels
and Slowpoke.  And they later fell to Wigglytuff
3-0-1

All right! I find out I made it to the top 4.  The last guy I played was in
it and so was Craig and some other guy.  My first match of semi finals was
with the other guy while Craig and the Slowking player duked it out.

ROUND 5:
Me VS. Haymaker/Wigglytuff

I go first and as usual, I get out Slowpokes, but I only used 1 Oak a
computer search and 2 Pokemon traders to do so.  I'm doin all right.  He
starts off a little slow, mainly because I have TR Training Gym out, I
frequently bring up his Scythers to prevent his Cleffas from EEEeeeking right
away.  I quickly get out a Wigglytuff, but so does he as he finally gets
Cleffa out to EEEeeek.  I ER his Wigglytuffs and Scythers, then its my Wiggly
VS. his and I knock his first one out.  HE sends up a second one, but then I
send up a Jigglypuff with one energy on it up front, I put a DCE on it,
Cleffa on the bench, Evolve the Wigglytuff and I kill it off.  After that, he
was only able to attack with his scythers and they fell quickly to a charged
Wigglytuff
4-0-1

YES! I might actually get 1st place!  If I do, this is the first time EVER in
2 years that I have played that I got first.

My next match was with the Slowking deck I played on Round 4.  He beat Craig
just BARELY.  Craig was using a Haymaker style deck with Pichu to counter
Slowking.  Craigs deck would have definitely given me a run for my money if I
played against it.
The judge, Ryan(?) Crimo really wanted to see me get my butt kicked.  So, not
wanting to "disappoint" my audience, I prepare for my final match.

ROUND 6:
Me VS. Slowking from Round 4 [GRUDGE MATCH]
Both the guy and I were shocked to play each other again.  We set up and we
started off fast.  I get out my Slowpokes and he starts building up a
Sneasel.  I send up a Wigglytuff as a decoy while I get out Slowkings and the
Wigglytuff dies a dramatic death  (5-6 heads on Beat Up).  I get out 2
Slowking, enough to slow him down for now, and I SER his Sneasel making sure
he stays slowed down.  I begin building up a Wigglytuff again and he is
desperately trying to get his Srpout Tower and Computer Search working, but I
later get out a 3rd Slowking and a consistant barrage of heads from MIND
GAMES prevents him from drawing any energy or useful things he needs at that
moment.  I finally get out a 2nd Wigglytuff (I had to get 3 Psychic Energy on
it because I somehow trashed all of my Recycle Energy and DCE).  I take out
his Sneasels and his Cleffa for the game win.

I GOT FIRST…for the first time! Wahoo!  I got 24 bucks as store credit.  I
got 2 Japanese Base Chanseys (which were 8 bucks each) I had no money in my
wallet, and Ryan just wanted to get us out and kept going "c'mon…c'mon" to me
>.<  I gave Craig the 8 bucks for store Credit and said "the remaining stuff
is yours, have at it".  Craig got a Japanese Eco Gym and 6 sodas for our
group.  Craig gave me a Japanese Slowking for the 8 dollars of credit and I
traded him an English one for another Japanese one (I am trying to make the
deck in ALL Japanese)

After we leave, I follow Freds truck back to Gilbert.  I spend about 30
minutes on the freeway home (which isn't a good idea for my little car, but
oh well, I gotta get home)  The rest of the group (Fred, Craig, Ben, and
Kory) go to Atomic Comics while I go home to get ready for work.  An
interesting outing for Saturday!

PROPS:
Craig and Ben for the idea of going to Sports Cards II
Ben, Craig and Kory for trying hard to get the 4 of us to Sports Cards II
Craig for the Japanese Slowkings
Kory for the interesting conversation of Mega Man games
Fred for letting me follow him back to town

SLOPS:
The Communist Mulligan rule at Sports Card II
Ryan, the cashier for going "c'mon…c'mon" for 10 minutes straight, be quiet!  
 
The 14 year old punk judge (for what I listed and did not list in the report)
The 95 minutes it took to get us there

All in all everyone had a good time (I think) we won't be back there for a
while due to travelling inconveniences

Brett "Magnus Bohica" Hurley
KuroikoX@aol.com

"Obscurity before effectiveness"