Almost Hay
Johnny/Patriarch Creative Gift Baskets
Planto, TX
June 7, 2003 15 Participants
Well, it's about time for AH to get a tournament again!
Hi all. Some may know me as Patriarch, some may know me as Johnny, and
the rest know me as "freak" -_-""
Seriously, I got there around 3:50'ish, and met up with the "gang" of
store locals. We chatted, made a couple trades (Which I, sadly, was not
part of ^_-), and talked. Right before the tournament's start, I was
ready and raring to own with my...Major Tsunami Feraligatr?! Oh yah, I
need to tell you about THAT. You see, I expected it to be a Modified
tournament, as tradition has it that the first and last weeks of the
month are dedicated to Modified, so, naturally, I brought a modified
deck! However, apparently this Saturday WAS unlimited, so I was very
thankful that I brought along tried and true Almost Hay. So, as fast as
the Flash, I switched out my gold cases between Modified and Unlimited
decks! Well, enough mindless rambling, here's the deck:
4 Professor Oak (Professor Carvalho!)
4 Gust of Wind
4 Copycat
3 Computer Search
3 Pokemon Trader
3 Gold Berry
3 Focus Band
2 Ecogym
1 Pokemon Fan Club
1 Town Volunteers
Energy (18):
3 Rainbow
3 Double Colorless
4 Grass
4 Dark
4 Metal
A pretty exciting tournament for unlimited (Since unlimited isn't
very...fun, shall I say). Well, with barely any time to spare, the first
round of the tourny beings, and all decks are set, raring to roll!
Round 1: Vs Dalton (Steelix)
This game is quite the exciting one. Both of us are set for many
excellent opening moves. I fail to win the die roll, so I go last. So he
does his thing, and then I swords dance the following turn! Luckily, he
pulls the Skyridge Steelix on me to prevent any real harm. However, I do
just as good, evolving to Scizor for sheer strength. Within a few turns,
we find Steelix knocked out by some huge Heavy Metal. While I am in
quite the commanding role, I play it safe by focusing on a stall/kill
strategy via Murkrow. I manage to wipe out many key babies, and draw
many prizes. While, through the next few turns' courses, he finds
himself killing both another Scizor and Murkrow, he has to face good
ole' Sneasy! Rearing its ugly head, Sneasel Beats Up, and wins me the
game. (1-0)
Well, I try to get lunch...and fail...
Round 2: Vs. Christy (Jumpluff)
This game COULD have ended quickly in her favor with a FTKO of Cleffa by
using the Tyrogue.
Rolls one die for baby flip...heads! O_O""
Rolls the other for smash punch...tails! ^_^""
So, after that frightening little event, I begin to take a firm lead in
the game. Scizor quickly becomes her bane with plenty of Heavy Metal,
knocking out many of her Pokemon. However, she eventually kills it! With
few options at the time, I luckily get into building up another! Once
again killing off her Pokemon, I gain a lead. However, Skiploom comes up
and...POISONS SCIZOR?! Yep, that's right. For over 4 turns Scizor stayed
poisoned, with neither of us noticing the Pokebody, he was taking
massive losses in life. By the second gold berry, the two master
professors politely noted of our little mishap, so all damage was
immediately removed...and well...you get it from there. (2-0)
Round 3: Vs. Gilbert (Dark Muk/Ditto)
A good game, but Scizor proved nearly unstoppable in many situations
against the Muk. However, on one or two occasions, his Ditto gives my
Scizor a rude awakening with an equal, if not better Heavy Metal Attack.
Ahhh, but remember folks, Ditto is quite weak against many things, and
through a couple vital strategies, I crush his Dittos by Simply
retreating, or sending out my simple babies like Igglybuff or Cleffa.
The game eventually ends, with me, the victor (3-0).
Round 4: Vs. Manuel (Sneasel)
A good game, but a total slaughter at the end. Manuel's Sneasel and my
Scizor clash twice in the game: I kill it, he kills me. Pretty tight,
you'd say. However, this drains out a disgusting amount of my deck, and
I only have one option: Gust out a weak Pokey, and lockdown with
Murkrow. However, it is to no avail, as my third and fourth Gusts are IN
THE PRIZES! I eventually die, and lose. (3-1)
Now, with the totals the way they are, the Top Four are decided. Note
that none of us managed to storm the tournament with a sweepstakes
record:
1st: Me (3-1, highest Op. win percentage of all 3-1's)
2nd: Manuel (3-1)
3rd: Gilbert (3-1)
4th: Robert B. (3-1; barely snags the spot due to a slightly higher op.
win %)
Semi-Finals: Vs. Robert B. (Sneasel/Slowking)
Now, I saw his deck perform very well earlier, against Manuel, the only
person to beat me so far. We played, and behold: No Slowking! For
several turns, I make the best of there being no Slowking, and get out
the deck's most vital characters: Scizor, Sneasel, and the amazingly
useful Igglybuff. I maintain board control, though he makes many solid
plays: Built-up Sneasels are the biggest of which. It looks as though he
will win with Unown D and M in for tech, but...wait a minute!
Up in the sky!
It's a bird, it's a plane...
no, it's...IGGLYMAN!
Well, on the less happy-go-lucky side, Igglybuff manages to hold off the
Unowns time and time again, letting massive damage through. Eventually,
I even get oppurtunities to snatch up his Unowns for quicker and easier
kills. Overall a tense game, but, like the Manuel game, I am
surprisingly close to a deck-out with only 8 cards left! Luckily, I knew
my opponent's thoughts, and with SLowking, he was thinking...DENIED! XD
So, naturally, I unloaded all trainers in my hand except oak, and all
but one Slowking flip failed, giving me the oppurtunity to totally
replete my deck! So, with no doubt that I was safe from failure, I
manage to crush the last Sneasel, and win! (4-1)
Finals: Vs. Gilbert (Dark Muk/Ditto)
Now, from the beginning, I remembered every single occurance from our
last bout, and, with only a mere Scyther as my Pokemon, thought only of
building the mantis up with metal. However, an energy removal quickly
reminds me of Ecogym. So, from there, I also focus on a better hand,
Ecogym, and evolving Scyther. I managed to get ahead with various
characters such as Sneasel and the babies to live on. Many happenings
from our game in the swiss show up again, such as Ditto vs. Scizor, Dark
Muk's failings to Poison Resistance, and the ever-faithful baby flip!
While the game proves to be a tough one, with Ditto killing Scizors,
baby HP killing dittos, and much more, the fateful Sneasel attacks with
a beat up, and all the flips but one are heads. The game ends, and I win
the tournament (5-1).
Epilogue:
While the prize for 1st wasn't so big, I still really liked it. Rocket's
Mewtwo foil and Skyridge Box Topper Crobat are pretty nice IMHO! As
usual, I find one way or another to sit in the Plano Square Mall's
massage chair for a nice 6 minutes, as my mother took some time to buy
things in the Garden Ridge store.
Well, just a quick, stupid comment on AH Heavy Metal:
It seemed that I proved that Scizor has the ability to not only be a
verdant force int the modified format, but the unlimited one as well!