The venue was another great SBZ with the illustrious Tymon as TD!  He and the other professors ran a flawless tourney and much fun was had by all (except when my kids started pulling down the window coverings.sorry Tymon). 3 of my kids played along with a number of players from the greatest card shop in the Salt Lake Area; The Press Box (shameless plug).  By the way.Press box participants finished 1st 2nd and 3rd in this tourney.  Kevin, my oldest son there played a Jumpluff (fluff) deck and finished 17th. Jeremy, my 11 year old, played a Neo genesis Gatr/Neo 3 Parasect deck and took 2nd (and 1st in his age division), Zack, my 9 yo finished 9th with a Donphan (neo genesis)/babies deck.  I finished 1st with the deck listed below.

Pokemon
4 Mareep (neo 2)
4 Falffy (Ex)
3 Ampharos (Ex)
3 Ho-oh (Rainbow Burn)
4 Cleffa (Neo 1)
2 Tyrogue (Neo 2)
1 Elekid (Neo 1)

Energies
2 grass
2 water
3 psychic
5 lightning
2 fighting
3 fire

Trainers
4 Prof Elm
2 Prof Oaks Research
2 Copycat
3 Switch
3 D Gust
3 Pokemon Center
2 Fisherman
1 Town Volunteer
2 Energy Stadium

The idea with this deck is two fold, one.mixed weakness/resistance.  Amphy takes out most water easily (exception neo 1 Gatr!) and Hooh deals nicely with those pesky fighting pokes that Amphy fears.  Also, Major damage with multiple energy on Hooh OR with energy discard from Amphy with the ability to recycle that energy easily.  Here is how the tourney went.

Round 1 - I went up against a Steelix/Kingdra (Twister) deck played by Mason, a very good player.  I had a slow start.almost got ko-ed in the first 5 minutes but thanks to a double tails on twister, was able to make a come back, just not enough against this player, and took a loss.  0-1

Round 2 - I went against a fellow Press Box player with a mixed fire deck, with Magcargo.  I was lucky enough to destroy the slugmas before they could hurt me much using Ho-oh with 5 energies. 1-1

Round 3 - Dodrio/Machamp.  I had a very slow start and kept pokecentering a confused Mareep until I finally let it die, then got card drawing (finally) and juiced up a Ho-oh who promptly began beating on Machops and birds for the win.  2-1

Round 4 - Gengar (Hide in Shadows).  When I saw Ghastlies coming out I feared Dark Gengar and began hoarding my swtches/D gusts.but then the OTHER Gengar came out after I had drawn 3 prizes and he began koing my babies with it! This is bad, because I keep my energies on babies until Amphy can energy Connect them to my Ho-oh. Ack!!  Luckily my hooh hung in there and disposed
of the pesky Gengars in time for another win.  3-1

Round 5 - Fortress/Donphan - This is the same guy I played in the finals in the last SBZ.and it was a tough match to the end.I was able to keep gusting and koing Phanphys before they could become Donphans (feared by Amphy). Unfortunately that allowed Fortress to get 4 metals on him!  Only a fully juiced Hooh (6 different energies) and repeated pokecenters (moving energy to babies with Energy connect) allowed me the win by a single prize!  4-1

Round 6 - Dark Gengar - I truly feared this deck.  I know the player well as he plays at press box with me, and played against this deck before and BARELY beat it.  This time I was NOT so lucky and got wasted. 4-2

Round 7 - Tyranitar deck - at least I THINK it was..All I saw was Larvitars which met their doom before they could grow up, thanks to a quickly juiced Ho-oh.  5-2

Now was time for the final 8 single elim.  I made it in as 5th seed.  My son Jeremy did also as 2nd seed having only lost once (and having beat the Dark Gengar deck).

Round 1 - Fortress/Donphan - This time my opponent got a slow start and in spite of some excellent play on his part, he could not overcome my lead. Ho-oh was taking out phanphies and a single fortress quickly. 5-2

Round 2 - Nidoking (earthrage) - I always enjoy playing against this opponent who is a fellow Poke Dad from Bountiful and an excellent player as are his daughters who were here as well.  We used his dice instead of my electroflip and man was I glad.I got multiple "evens" allowing me to ko his babies and finally his partially juiced Nidorinos before Nidoking could be a problem.  6-2

Championship Round - Neo 1 Gatr/Neo 3 Parasect (Jeremy, my son)  Jeremy and I have deck tested this against one another a lot over the last month, and he beats me 3 of 4 times usually.  He had me on the ropes early, koing 2 Ho-ohs and losing much energy.  I was able to finally ko his Gatr with 30 from a Tyrogue and 90 from a Hooh with 6 energies (thanks to a VERY lucky draw getting the water I needed with elm).  It was then one prize to 4 with Jeremy ahead.but he only had a Totodile with no energy.  My Ho-oh took out 3 more.making it 1-1.  By then he had a Croconaw with 2 energies with a gatr in hand but no energy in hand (but plenty in discard).  He got tails on energy stadium. He then made a fatal error by retreating the croc.unfortunately, with my Ho-oh fully juiced nothing but the Gatr could have survived.  Had he simply evolved and taken the 90 damage, he would have drawn a water energy the next turn.for the win.but as it was, I took out the hapless Parasect he sent out for the win. 7-2

Props:
Press Box, Fred and Tonya owners for the best card shop in the valley!
Tymon for another great SBZ
All the players at this tourney who were all great players!

Slops:
Can't think of any!

Ken Larsen AKA Popaa
Popaa1@earthlink.net