I have to encourage all PTOs and TOs to play once in a while.  Gives you a real perspective and reminder as to how it feels to be a player, and the pressures involved with playing, winning and losing.  Also keeps you sharp on the cards and the rulings.

 

On Saturday we headed out early with the boys to Rolla, Missouri where Ray Simmons and crew were set up for a fun filled event!  We met up with Mega Murkrow and BigPoppaBeatdown from my gym, all 15+, and knew we were in for a fun ride!!!

 

I was playing my Dark Electrode/Dark Dragonite deck, and was ready for action!

 

Ended up losing in round 1 to Trevor S….what a way to start in a small event =/

 

Won my next 3 matches, and went on into the final 4...

 

Trevor S, Mega Murkrow, BigPoppaBeatdown and myself.

 

I played Murkrow in the semis, who was playing this VenusaurEX deck that was….well, it beat me in 2 straight games.  My deck failed me once, then his deck failed him, and in game 3.…good game, but I lost.

 

Mega Murkrow went on to take the title…

 

I was excited by my after-draft of Rocket Returns getting a 4-3-1 Kingdra line, a 4-3 Skiploom line, and a 2-2 Gyrados line, but ended up going 1-2  OUCH.

 

So, I could live with that 3-1 swiss, knocked out by Mega Murkrow, and my boys won BOTH 10- and 11-14...and gave their goody bags to the second place players which went over BIG in the room.

 

So, we snuck down to Rolla, I got beat twice, and we took away 3 medals back to St. Louis….

 

And Crystal City (Chicago) loomed on Sunday…

 

Murkrow was Traded for Anthony E. for the Sunday trip….and that was the fatal flaw (j/k)

 

We showed up at noon on Sunday, and geared up for the tourney…I was still running Dark Electrode/Dark Dragonite with an Electrode EX kicker, as were both of my sons.

 

Met up with the TON of cool Chicago people who we have known from before, Ness, Big Chuck, Axe, TuxedoBlack and his daughter, Banginbox, A Zero, Bullados, and many, many others (OK, 40 total people at the event)

 

I ended up going 4-2, and getting the WORST game hand ever against Big Chuck (who was playing Monarchy, which my deck should handle), and losing to TuxedoBlack playing DarkAmphy/Dark TTAR, because I was one turn late in a setup…costing me the game…  With that matchup either you hit everything in stride, or you are playing behind…and really suffering…and I was the latter.   I had the hand setup to try to get back in the game, basically setting him up to take 3 prizes, while I was setting an Electrode EX and the necessary energy in my hand to knock out his only energized Pokemon…He played the Administrator, taking this hand away…and ending all hope for my game.

 

Won the other 4 games though…pretty handily usually, including one against a Dark Amphy/Dark TTAR, one against a Dark Amphy/Xatu, and one against MAGMA.  All bad matches, but I was saved time and again by Electrode EX. 
I ended up 4-2 on the day…and sat with BigChuck on the sidelines as we were both knocked out by Tiebreakers.

 

OK, “play” of the day…was really a disgrace.  On table 2 (better players, right?) on the final turn of a game a player had a Rocket’s Hitmonchan EX with a double rainbow attached (OK, basic Pokemon, EX Pokemon, with a Double Rainbow Attached???) and the same player ON THE SAME POKEMON attached an ATM Rock (OK, basic Pokemon, EX Pokemon, owner’s Pokemon) basically breaking 5 rules on one attachment and the opponent said NOTHING!!! Cost him the game..Man, and this was 15+ (Oh, did I mention the player who played this “combo” was a Head Judge for a different gym???).  True, not the first or last time I have seen Chicago players play DRE on Exs, or Rocks on Exs or on basics, but, man, these cards have been out for a WHILE!

 

The sad part for me was that 4-2 was the BEST record of the 15+ players from St. Louis.  Bigpoppabeatdown and Anthoy E. both went 3-3.

 

There was a multi-way tie for 1st in the 11-14 division, so I think about the whole division (4 of them) played off for the title, won by Tuxedoblack’s daughter (Jessica L.) - hey, I told you in my last article she was a player to watch, didn’t I!!!

 

The 10- division had no playoff, kind of disappointing, as the other divisions did, but, heh.  My son also was tied for first, and had a round misreported.  He did not make a big deal of it, as he had already won his city, so played off for 2nd…and promptly won 3rd!  My other son won 4th, so ….not bad.

 

Oh, and for those wondering….Pooka beat Ness in the finals for a Wisconsin win!!!  Team Chicago, finished out of the top, which was REALLY surprising….

 

Hey, maybe in states…we will see them all.

 

So, I go 3-2 in Rolla, and feel GOOD about it…go 4-2 at Crystal City, and feel OK about it…and had a great time!!!   Hey, I can still play after all….City record now…14-4!

 

OK, brief rant about TMS…not many delays (most of course caused by Sudden Death), but there was a 15+ player who got to play as a 10- player ALL DAY, due to a mix-up in the entering of his Data.. Had the event been run using player sheets, this would have been caught, and corrected.  Funny thing, the player STILL did not make the top 8 cut….this was a ROUGH field.

 

Both events were well run, well judged.  Play seemed much cleaner in Rolla than in Chicago…

 

Free Pizza in Rolla….cool bookstore too!

 

Other fun in Chicago!!! Great players, great atmosphere (a little bit crowded)

 

Talk to you all from the “Judge’s Chair” for Malden, Missouri on the 29th!!!

 

Meganium45