At one of the final Super Battlezones ever, I played my Skyrige Crobat deck to good results. It was Saturday Morning, maybe 10:30, when my parents and I arrived at the small comic shop in Monroe, MI, where the last Super Battle Zone was being held. About 20 other people were there when we arrived, but it soon grew to 50 or more. People were playing everywhere, trading, talking, and I noticed a feel in the air that seemed to scream “FERALIGATR!!!!!!!!!” I should also note that there seemed to be a run on Copycats; several people were willing to trade massive amounts of good cards for a single Copycat or two. In any case, two nights before, I whipped together my Modified Skyridge Crobat deck to play here, and so without further ado here it is and here are my results:

 

“Crossing Crobat”

By: Paris Garavaglia

 

Pokémon:14

4 Revelation Zubat

4 Skyridge Crobat

3 Discovery Yanma

3 Genesis Cleffa

 

Trainers:26

4 Prof. Elm

4 Prof. Oak’s research

4 Pokémon Breeder

3 Double Gust

3 Fast Ball

4 Bill

4 Goldberry

 

Energy: 20

14 grass energy

4 Recycle energy

2 Full Heal energy

 

 

Now that you’ve seen my deck, here’s how it did (very roughly; I have a bad memory:/ )

 

Round #1 v.s a dude named Jordan, who of all things played Psychic!!!!

 

I got a good start, with a Zubat, Cleffa, and a Prof. Elm. He went first (note: throughout the whole tourney, I never went first in any game! I felt like killing the coin I had!!!) He opened with Tyrogue and a Ghastly (Expedition Gengar/ Baby switch thingy) Things went well for me. I got Crobat up by turn 4, and his Poké- Power held off almost all of Jordan’s Gengars. By the time he did get one out, I had stocked up on Goldberrys and only had two prizes left. I gusted Gengar, hit it a few times, k.oed it, and when he put in Cleffa, I flipped heads on Crobat’s attack, got one heads, and he flipped a tails for his focus band. 1/0 for me! J

 

Round #2 v.s kid that had Crobat deck and was really good

 

 Same start; Zubat & Cleffa. This dude had a revelation Crobat deck that had Skyridge Starmie and Boost as a stage one backup. I played him once for fun before the tourney, and he creamed me. Now was different, though, and I played it well. His Mirage Stadiums really messed up my double gusts, but at the last second, when an earlier Crobat of mine did some nasty damage, I pulled a Fast Ball, breedered Zubat, powered Crobat up, and cleaned him off. What really helped me that game was his mirage stadium; every time he was confused and poisoned from Double Cross, he couldn’t get back to the bench to cure it.  2/0  

 

Round #3 v.s……………..???? I got a bye???????

 

This round, the judges accidentally paired me with Jordan again; we couldn’t battle the same person twice in a row, so he gave us both a bye for the round. Yipee!  3/0

 

Round #4 v.s Dylan (yes, the dude who won at Worlds…..  :0 )

 

 This was a complete and total shutdown for me. Dylan played a weird Feraligatr deck ( I knew Feraligatr was here!!!!) I never got going, though, opening with a Yanma and a hand full of energy. Dylan did the Parasect/ Riptide deal, plus a splash of Expedition Gatr. I got creamed, taking only one prize (a Cleffa) while he took me for six.

            3/1

 

Round #5 v.s nice guy who showed me the Desert Shaman+ Noctowl+Crobat trick

 

This opponent played a Meganium/ solarbeam deck which was very slow. Things went moderately good for me, getting Crobat out by turn six, and having Yanma Powered. He got one Meganium going, but I took it down with Da’ Bat. I won on a time run out, but I had one prize left, had Crobat in, Bayleef as his active, and the judge said to finish your turns. Since if I rolled double heads and took Bayleef down, I got three points instead of two, I rolled away, and I rolled a four and two. 4/1 for me

 

Round #6 v.s girl with Discovery Kabutops deck

 

This was weird. It smelled funny, almost like Feraligatr, only sneakier. She rolled a weird die that always seemed to land on ‘6’, but since she had weakness to me, I took her down on a time limit, so I got 2 points.  5/1

 

Final Round: Oh Gosh, more Feraligatr…………

 

This was a nice guy who played an Expedition Feraligatr deck that was a little slow. It was a pretty well played battle by both of us, but in the end, after he Sweeped away 3 of my Zubats using his Croconaw, he caught the edge of a win. I never saw his Gatr in play: only in his discard card pile. That tells you something about my deck, now doesn’t it?? :/

            5/2

 

I made the cut to the top eight, so the judges went through the pep talk, while I checked my deck. Everything was groovy, so when I found who I was playing, it really dampened my spirits. Dylan AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Top Eight Battle: Dylan

 

This was wild. I got off nice and had a turn two Crobat out, and power at turn three. He, on the contrary, had nothing but a Revelation Suicune (Legendary Body) He did a wild comeback, though, using Copycat, Bill, then Prof. Elm. He had a genesis Gatr and Parasect going on the next turn, and, to my horror, 11 water energy in the discard pile.

I rolled two heads on Crobat’s Double Cross, taking his Gatr out, but he came in with another one and made mince meet of Crobat. I countered with another Crobat (after losing a Yanma) and confused and poisoned his Gatr. I can’t really remember after that, but I know he had two prizes left, I had three, and he had no cards left in his deck. I was proud that I was putting up a fight to the World’s Champion, a mixture of gratitude and despise (he was real good) but when there was a minute left, and I could tie it with my Yanma, it all went away. Dylan stalled his way to a victory by counting quite a few times and the judge didn’t do a thing. I lost on a time run out, and was eliminated from the top eight. Oh well.

 

            Overall, it was great fun, and it was my first (and last) SBZ. I did some trades, played good, and picked up some strategy. What a good day.

 

~Paris Garavaglia

Chicago, IL

Cello1126@aol.com