Well I just got back from the SBZ down at Cedar Grove,
NJ. I played my Feraligatr EXP with all its little
baby helpers. Heres the deck:
Pokemon (19)
4x Totodile
2x Crocodile Sweep Away
2x Crocodile EX
3x Feraligatr EX Major Tsunami
2x Cleffa
2x Tyrogue
2x Magby
1x Elekid
1x Skarmory
Trainers (25)
4x Professor Elm
4x Copycat
4x Gold Berry
4x Pokemon Trader
4x Double Gust
2x Focus Band
1x Bill
1x Pokemon Fan Club
1x Town Volunteers
Energy (16)
10x Water Energy
4x Metal Energy
2x Recycle Energy

Before I go on, I need to give Super Major Battlezone Props to Brad Gustas (aka TheRealSlimEspy/Espy87) Read on to see details...

Basically, Bee, Baal, Coryace Jolteon, Brad (Espy), and Rob (Kurobutto) and later Jermy101 (after he
admitted it was him) hung out throughout the tournament. It's fun to have a "Crew" with you. Without them, the day would have sucked-win or lose.

Round 1 vs Baal w/ EX Tyranitar
Great, I have to start off vs an amigo. That sucks. We both had strong starts and he took out a Gatr then I took out a T-Tar. He stamped through a few babies. Prizes were 2-2 when he played a Larvitar, weak to Water. I Double Gusted it out and ko'ed it, Up 2-1. Next turn he Stamped and KO'd my Active Gatr and to both our surprise, KO'd my Benched Tyrogue. Never saw it coming, Great Game.
0-1-0

Round 2 vs =\
BYE =\ This, I thought, would break my chances of T8.
1-1-0

Round 3 vs Rob (aka Kurobutto) w/ Intense Fire
Another game vs un amigo. We knew each others decks before hand and he knew he had the disadvantage. Basically, I got the Gatr out and ripped through him. Won 6-0. I did the infamous Good Game when it really wasn't. We both knew it.
2-1-0

Round 4 vs Random Kid w/ Something Fire
Uhh all I know is I won on Round 2. Good Game for me I guess =\.
3-1-0

We're all talking about ID'ing to get into the T8 when pairings are announced....Justin Cener vs Brad
Gustas......
Round 5 vs Brad (aka Espy87) w/ Ampharos
We Intentionally Drew. Thanks a lot Brad, you definitley would have had me beat. MAJOR PROPS.
3-1-1

After this, I looked to the Tables to my right and saw 2 people who could jump me to take the 8th Spot I thought I had. Since I had the Bye I thought I had very low resistence. Both the players I needed to
lose...WON >=\. I pretty much knew I was out. The TO announces the players who would be getting 2 packs for playing, which in essence, means NOT in T8. I waited for my name to be called...Some Random, Another Random, Jermy... JERMY? He was sitting at a higher table than me and drew to give him a 3-1-1 record like I had. I thought he was definitley in T8. He was the cut off. I made Top 8. I donno how, but I did.

A lot of people were 3-1-1 and I figured I was the 8th spot for my poor resistence. Mind you, NO Standings were ever printed and we were NOT allowed to look at them on the Computer. He calls out the first name...Cory Davia...He ID'd with Jermy. I definitley thought he'd be higher than me. 7th Baal, 6th Brad, 5th Justin...How did I get 5th??? I'll never know. Here comes the funny part...

After all the Top 8 were called he announced thats it, come get your prizes. The crew of us were shocked. No Top 8 Single Elim??? Top 8 meant nothing? Best Swiss Records got the spots??? We were irate, all of us. Baal, Cory, Brad, and myself started to complain. The TO said "ehh its in the form we got...Top 8 cut for the prizes and nothing else." We tell him how we know how it goes...We visit the boards...We talk to the people in charge. To no avail, theres no Top 8 Elimination Rounds.

They ask the Top 8 to take a picture, but I inisist that none of the "Crew" go in it. They take the
picture of the kids who were 1-4 who didn't mind because they got the prizes they wanted. We stay and
threaten them with writing to Wizards..."No more Premiere events for you guys." "We'll post this on
every board online." "We'll write Wizards and complain, they'll never get Pokemon Premeire Events
here again." About 2 minutes later, the TO says "Everyone bring back your prizes." They were going to
do a Top 8 afterall. We were right and they knew it. Top 8 starts.

Top 8 Round 1 vs ??? w/ Electabuzz/Steelix
This was probably my best game ever with my Gatr. Everything worked perfectly. I won 6-0 and ripped
through EVERYTHING. The deck worked so well, by the end of the match, my opponent wanted my decklist so he could make the deck himself. I felt unstoppable.

Heres another good part. I'm waiting around for the next round when the owner of the store comes to me. He says, "I'd just like to apologize about before. We are given such vague directions that we sometimes mess up. I'd just like to say you're right and we're sorry." Well that felt DAMN GOOD. But it gets better...A little while after that he goes to me..."Hey you guys hungry? How bout I order some pizzas for you?" Wow, threatning DOES pay off. He orders 3-5 Pies and gets a few 2 Liters of Soda when Round 2 of T8 starts.

Top 8 Round 2 vs Mike w/ Kingdra/Steelix
I was incredibly nervous. I didn't like this matchup to start with. We started off about the same until I
started to get it going. I was up 5-3. He then built a Steelix and 2 Kingdras. His Twister Flips were crazy. He had 4 Double Heads and 3 Double Tails. No 1H/1T at all! I was very low on energy. I was able to build up another Gatr and eventually took him out. This match was literally 45 to an hour long. It was nerve racking, exciting, and most of all fun! I shook his hand and asked for a break to eat some pizza since the other game ended 40minutes earlier.

I grabbed a slice of pizza and some soda and called my mom. This would be my first Championship match. I knew what I'd be playing against...Magcargo, but no Entei. Cory, Brad, Baal, and Rob wished me good luck. Told me to win it for Pojo =D.

Top 8 Championships vs/ Entei-less Magcargo
We started off equally. I got 3 Totodiles out so I made sure I would ko the Slugmas and Cargos before
they could load up. I won pretty quickly, didn't feel like a championship match. I had the advantage before hand and I wasn't losing with this deck at that time.So basically...
6-1-1
Cedar Grove SBZ Champion.

I won an AQ Box and 8 packs which I later drafted with (read on). My box is going on Ebay for some much needed cash for ice hockey stuff. Props, Slops, and a special "Plop", then Draft.

Props
Brad (Espy)--Thanks a lot for ID'ing
Bee, Cory, Baal, Rob (i need your SN), Jermy-- You guys made the day fun, hope to see you again soon
The Power of Threats
Going on Wizpog to check out all the official stuff that helped us get a T8 Elimination
WotC for a great tournament and prize structure
The Judge (whos name I don't remember)--not the TO but the one with the mustache and tatoo of a noose(I think) on his arm. The guy was cool, funny, and he knew what he was talkin about. Oh and his son was cool too, we drafted.
To myself for: a) printing out the ruling on Major Tsunami which helped me out in Round 2 of Top 8 and
for making me look intelligent b)knowing the Compendium site to make me look more intelligent c)
Keeping my cool and winning

Slops
Jermy's Opponents for being bad and giving him bad resisitence--You deserved a spot Jermy

Plops--I couldn't decide if this was good or bad Bad Tournament Directing which led to Threatning which led to a Top 8 Elimination which led to Free Pizza and Soda which led to My 1st Big Tournament Victory

We used our packs to draft which worked out well cuz I got 8 extra. My deck was OK, Had some Lanturns and some nice water backup...A Solid draft deck. Round 1 I beat Brad, 2 I lost to Rob, and 3 I beat Cory. We threw all the rares, RHs, and Holos into the pool and did a draft. Got some nice cards and it was a fun way to hang with the guys.

I hope I can go to another tournament like this. It was a great day and I hung out with some cool people.

Thanks for reading
Justin Cener
PojosamaWannabe
AIM: AEJacks8
hockeyroom28@yahoo.com