"Riptide Rush" v2.0 (Water)
by Andres Rodriguez
WOTC Store
The Block at Orange, CA
Sunday, September 16th, 2001
13 total participants
I am on a mission, to get 2000 DCI points. Why you ask? For 3 byes at WCSTS. Last year, at ECSTS I placed 5th day 1 (15+), and 9th day 2. The only reason I was 9th was because of my resistance, which was hampered by my early matches. I only had 1 bye, so I played 2 extra matches, and had my resistance torn to shreds by newbies.
I'm at 1931 right now, and climbing. I never saw DCI as an accurate measurement of skill though, since the local SoCal players were ranked low, and took ECSTS by force. 7 out of 10 SoCal people made T8, and 4 took home medals, 2: 1st place.
But now, I am adicted, and find myself looking for tourneys every week. I didn't do poorly, but I'll explain it all after the deck...
"Riptide Rush" v2.0
Pokemon 17
4 Totodile
3 Crocanaw
3 Feraligatr
3 Cleffa
2 Magby
1 Pichu
1 Smeargle
Energy 17
16 Water
1 Dark
Trainers 26
4 Elm
4 Wrath
4 Double Gust
3 Secret Mission
3 Trash Exchange
3 Focus Band
2 Nightly Garbage Run
2 Rocket Training Gym
1 Sprout Tower
This deck is really teched out. It works in this environment, and I feel it would in many. Feral basically ownz format decks. A tip to all going to QT's: Play feral or anti feral if you want to win.
Round 1 vs David N aka. Y2ace69 (A great Geo Machamp deck)
Well David started the match by mentioning he beat me in the last 4 tourneys, which isn't true. He beat me in 1, which was a close match. And 2 others were draft decks, so I feel they dont count.
I went first, he had a lone iggly vs. my totodile. I drop a water energy, and fail the attack. He breethed a sigh of relief. He draws, sighs, and plays elm. He drops energy on iggly, and passes. I draw my car, drop another energy on toto, and try to attack... I fail >_<. He draws his card, elms, and gets mad. He passed. :) I draw my card, drop another energy, and drop croc. I flip heads and KO the iggly.
1-0
Round 2 vs Some guy playing feral
He goes first... Wraths 3 times, and even elms. I have no draw power. He sets up his feral, draws ALL his cards... and can only attack my cleffa!!! The game came down to this coinflip. He flipped tails, I passed, he decked.
2-0
Round 3 vs Alvin Leu (Feral)
Alvin and I basically had the same deck. We both knew it would just be a matter of coinflips. We went back and forth. I eventually KO a feral who fails the focus band flip, and I just took it from there.
3-0
Round 4 vs Aaron Geraldo (Feral)
Well, this was the deck that won the San Fransico QT. We were the only 2 undefeated. It went back and forth, he got the coin flips... I couldnt get passed baby rules... >_<
3-1
Round 5 vs. John N (Feral)
Well with my resistance, I think I still could have had T4 if I lost. He was running gold berries, which really hurt him. I got the double gusts, and killed all the crocs and totodiles.
4-1
Now it was T4 and I had played everyone there already.
Semifinal vs. John N (Feral)
I was happy to play him again. The gold berries gave me a descisive advantage. But I lagged out. I couldn't grab a cleffa, or ANY draw power... It was sad.
Fight for 3rd Place ($5)
This was against Aaron Geraldo... Again. Well this time, I got my draw power. He was running gold berries, and it did hurt him a lot. I gusted a bunch of totodiles before they evolved. I took it, but it didnt count towards DCI. >_<
So that was it. My 2 losses were against people with descent DCI points. I had 2 wins vs. high ranked people. And I think I'll go up 10-20 points.
Alright, I think after 2-3 more tourneys, I'll have the points needed to get my 3 byes. Heh, and expect a Top of the World interview soon enough.
Props and Slops
Props
To Alvin for believing in vile.
To David for having a tight Machamp deck
To Juan for running it. Go to ipgeek21.com for SoCal tourney info.
Slops
To my match-ups. I had 7 matches... 6 against Feral decks!!!
Thanks for Reading!!
Andres Rodriguez
AKA:
the_evil_bill_gates
bomiester
Occult_Mastermind
the_evil_bill_gates@hotmail.com