Turning the Tide. v.3 (Mono water)
by: Nick A. Yurick
Star City Games
Roanoke, VA
Sunday September 16, 2001
32 Participants.

I was in an STS Qualifier in Roanoke, Va. I played in
the 11-14 division. The format was the same as the
STS, except there were only 5 preliminary rounds. We
were only allowed to play Rocket through Discovery. No
Sneasal. 
Here are my Deck contents:
4 Totodile (50HP)
4 Croconaw (80HP)
4 Feraligatr (120HP)
3 Cleffa
4 Igglybuff

4 Prof. Elm
3 Master Ball
4 Misty's Wrath
4 Trash Exchange
2 Double Gust
1 No Removal Gym
2 Focus Band

21 Water Energy

Here's how I did:
Round One vs.Rocket's Mewtwo and what seemed to be
Dark Golduck deck.

He started with a Rocket's Mewtwo active. I had a
Cleffa active and a Totodile benched. I must say I had
a pretty bad opening draw, but that's what Cleffa is
for. I managed to Eeeeeeek until I got Feraligatr
powered. By then he had a few Promo Psyducks up, so I
just Riptided Mewtwo, then through all the Psyducks.
Record: 1-0

Round Two vs. What seemed to be a Steelix deck w/Dark
Blastoise.

I started with Totodile active and a Cleffa and an
Igglybuff active. He had a Rocket's Squirtle. He went
first and benched a Rocket's Scyther and attached a
Rainbow to it. He managed to get it fully powered, but
still needed one more turn to retreat Squirtle.
Fotunately, I had a Croconaw powered to Sweep Away,
and Double Gusted Scyther and Swept him away. I kept
Sweeping Away little stuff for a while, then he got a
Dark Blastoise powered nad did 70 to me with
Hydrocannon. One of prizes had been a Feraligatr, so
I evolved him and managed to Trash exchange enough
water into discard to take out his Blastoise and his
chance of Beating me.
Record: 2-0.

Round Three: Mirror Match.

This Guy had a deck a lot like mine, except he was
runnign Wooper, Magby, and Elekid. I must admit, there
actually was a point in this game when I thought I
would lose. I didn't get Feraligatr out until I had  
about 10 cards left in my draw pile. Not only that,
but I was getting terrible flips against his Magby,
who continued to whittle me down and shut off
Downpour. Finally, he made a mistake. I had 20 left on
my Feraligatr, and he tried to Playful Punch with
Elekid. He got tails. My Power was back on, so I
Downpoured every energy in my hand into my discard to
save from decking, then I left it all to a flip. I got
Heads. I continued to Riptide all his little stuff for
the win.
Record: 3-0

Round Four: Mirror Match.

He had the same deck as the last guy. I could tell he
didn't like me very well. This was a relatively quick
game. He managed to get a Feraligatr out, but couldn't
get it powered. I persisted to Riptide every thing in
sight until all my prizes were drawn.
Record: 4-0

Round Five: Another Mirror Match.

I made a really stupid mistake here. We both started
with Totodiles. I got Feraligatr out on turn four, but
I also had a Totodile on my bench, who I was stupid
enough to start powering. Well, that cost me the game.
The one water energy I had attached left me one energy
short of taking out his Croconaw, which he evolved
next turn, and had plenty of water energy to discard
and take out my Feraligatr and everything else on my
side of the board.
Record: 4-1

The top eight:
I went into the top eight ranked second. In the first
round I played against an Umbreon hunter. This was a
really tough match. His Umbreon continued to Feint
Attack all my Babys, and thanks to Secret Mission,
managed to always know my next move. finally, I got
the drop on him with Feraligatr, and took out his
Umbreon. He still had another one that continued to
wreak havoc. I used Double Gusts, to take out his
Giovanni's Nidoran, which was there as a Totodile
assassin, so that we each had one prize. On the last
play of the game, I was against a Cleffa. I drew my
last card: a Double Gust I had brought Back with Trash
Exchange. I had just enough water energy, to take out
his Umbreon and win the game.

This is where it ends. they did a deck check for the
Final Four. Since I had so many Japanese cards,
instead of shelling out $8 for opaque sleeves, I just
put American cards on the back of all my Japanese
cards. This however made it an illegal deck. They had
determined I wasn't cheating, and were going to let me
play, when the kid who I had beaten last round's dad,
got them to consult the rule book. They weren't going
to first, but then this guy goes and gets all the
other parents riled up. Fist fights nearly broke out,
most notably between my best friend McKinley, and the
guy I played in the fourth round who didn't seem to
like me very well, and as it turns out didn't like me
at all. So, they checked the rulebook. it said that
the penalty was a game loss. Meaning I had to forfeit
my semifinal match. The judged hated it just as much
as I did and a working to get it changed. My would-be
opponent forfeited anyway, as a gesture of good will I
guess. So I got third place and a box of Neo Discovery
boosters. Not a bad haul, though first and second got
a trip to San Diego for the STS.

Please send your questions, comments, or, in this
case, condolences to: nick_yurick@yahoo.com












 






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