Super Trainer Showdown - California
Wow, May 27th and 28th, Memorial day weekend. It’s here so soon. The weekend all of southern California has been anticipating. It’s the Pokemon Super Trainer Showdown! Newly formed team Dark Star (name after our local card shop) would not miss this for the world! Here are the members:
Devon (me) 15+
Derek (my brother) 11-14
Kody (the “ten year old”) I’ll talk about that later
Greg (mini me) 11-14
Kevin (my greatest competition) 15+
Alvin (Kevin’s brother) Anybody’s guess
This report is mostly about my experience, but I will talk about how the others did later…. And now, day one….
Well I got there an hour and a half early, terribly terrified that I would not even get a spot, being as late as I was. But, as it turns out, I could have gotten there an hour and a half later than I did, and still get in the first tournament. Oh well. I got my tournament card and report immediately to deck check. After careful thought, I decide that I should play my Hitmonchan/ Mewtwo/ Wiggly deck. Kody plays the exact copy of my deck(yes he copied it from me =). Derek plays an old school haymaker with Buzz/Chan/Scyther. Greg plays a deck similar to Derek’s. Kevin plays a Mewto/Buzz. Alvin plays a Machop-Machamp line.
First match of the day: I win the toss and go first. Imposter Oak’s Counterattack saves me the game on this one, probably. I play it and his dream hand is shuffled in. Then I Sneak Attack for his Computer Search. Later, I Sneak Attack his Super Energy Removal. This allows my Wiggly to wave bye-bye to 4 consecutive Pokemon. Finally he gets a Hitmonchan going to K-O my Wiggly. And a Wiggly of his own to start tearing my Pokemon down. Just as he starts his campaign of terror, time is called. I win by having more prizes taken, 4-2.
Round 2. I can’t say much about this game. My opening hand included 6 basic and Nightly Garbage Run. Horrible start, and I can never really get back into it because of all the energy removals building up in his hand. When time is called, he has taken 4 prizes and I have taken none. What a way to waste a day.
But what’s this? Kody shows up later and his dad waits in line with him. He gets another tournament time!! I’m saved….
Round 1 of my second tournament on Saturday. This was a quick match, and the only one that I played that was finished within the 20 min time limit. He had low HP Pokemon and I had Wiggly.
Round
2. Derk was his name. I remember because I sometimes call my brother Derk
(it makes him mad). Anyways he had a Venusaur/ Nidoking/ Scyther
deck going. Once again, I got off to a slow start. His Venusaur was taking
out my Jigglys out in one hit and it was bad. He had taken three prizes
before I got going. Out comes Wiggly and I do the wave, taking cheap shots
against poor Bulbasaurs. When we were tied at 3 prizes each, the master
trainer announces, “1 minute left.” I have to think. I need to KO one
Pokemon to win, but I have to make sure he can’t kill one in return.
Going insane by the count down of the master trainer, I decide to go for
the easy kill. I item finder for gust of wind and TIME! What? Don’t I
get to finish my turn, I ask. The master trainer says when time is called,
it’s over. Derk beats me by having more cards in his deck (because we
were tied with prizes).
Well
I did terrible, but there’s always Sunday, right?
Kody,
who looks young, got a 10 and under card. He should be ashamed of himself,
but he won. He’s really 12.
Derek
did awesome! Undefeated in his age group with ease.
Greg
suffered the same fate as me, losing in two tournaments twice, both in the
second round.
Kevin,
who got there late, was lucky enough to receive an extra tournament ticket
from a different friend. Unfortunately, he lost in the third round.
Alvin
was not so lucky, and could not find an extra ticket.
Read
my next tournament report on tomorrow’s happenings.
Props and Slops
Props to Derek for winning!
Props to Kody’s dad, for giving me a second chance.
Props to my friends from Thunder and Lightning, many of whom qualified.
Slops to Kody for beating up on the 10 and under group.
Slops to me for losing.
Slops to the short 20 min rounds. It’s not enough time!!!
Devon
Founder of team DarkStar
-----------------------
Sunday, a day of redemption. Kody does not show up, because his dad didn’t want to drive an hour there again. My dad doesn’t either, so I bum a ride off of Greg and his dad. We get there a little bit later and there are a little bit more people. We wait patiently in line and my brother waits a little ways back, so we can jump back in line and get second time slots, just incase. Kevin and Alvin show up later, but in time to get time slots. I play the same deck, but tweaked to give me more flexibility in switching around my active Pokemon (which seemed to be my flaw yesterday). Team DarkStar is on a mission…
Round 1, start! Yuck. 7 turns pass without an oak or computer search. She is (fortunately for me) playing a slow water deck. Its not rain dance, but focuses more on Dragonair and Poliwrath for energy removal abilities and dark Dragonair and Kangaskhan to get out the right cards. I finally get out the cards and its on, a full fledge brawl. We were tied 3 prizes and the judge yells “One minute left”. Not again, I think. This time it is her turn though. She obviously has more cards in her deck, meaning she would win if it ended now. She mopes around and I let out a long sigh. She finally amnesias my Mewtwo’s Psyburn. Oh no! It’s my only Pokemon capable of attacking. With 20 seconds left, I have little time to think. I realize I need too many cards and I Professor Oak without counting how many cards are left in my deck. I had two left(after drawing the 7). A quick look at my hand and I realize I can win. I must move fast though. I switch to scyther and retreat back to mewtwo (ending amnesias effect). I item finder for gust of wind and KO an already wounded Dragonite. Whew, that was close. I win by taking 4 prizes to her 3.
Round 2. I play against a really nice guy. He is older and is there for his son. I start off strong and Imposter Oak’s Counterattack plays a huge role. Once again, I follow up by sneak attacking searches and all other important cards. He takes no prizes and ditto and Mewtwo do their job nicely. I kill 5 of his Pokemon and he runs out of them.
Round 3, crunch time. Do or die here. Lose and the weekend was wasted. As we start, I bluff a horrible hand, and it really wasn’t that great. I had an Oak and prayed he wouldn’t sneak attack me. He goes first and absorbs with Mewtwo. Facing him is my energy-less Mewtwo. Doh! I oak and get nothing good. I play some basic and oak again. I finally get some energy and decide its best to sacrifice Mewtwo. I put an energy on Ditto and feign certain defeat. He takes the bait and kills the Mewtwo. Next turn I drop the double colorless and away goes his Mewtwo. Then comes a hitmonchan and I special punch twice. Not willing to give away my Ditto, I retreat to let my Hitmonchan die to the Mewtwo he has been building up in the back. Back comes my Ditto and takes him out. He claims he saw it coming, but I don’t think he did =). I take all of my prizes to his two.
Round 4. I’ve made it to the Queen Mary and it’s time to relax and play like it’s a friendly game. Well that was what I was thinking at least, but my opponent was bent on winning. He was unsure about some rules and hearing the judges rule against him aggravated him. I end up winning, mostly because I was more sure of card specific rulings. Also playing a big role are Chan and Wiggly. He is very mad, without good reason to be.
Round 5, the finals. I play against one of my friends from Thunder & Lightning. He has a decent draw but only puts down a Scyther because he doesn’t want to me to gust it out. I have a lone Jiggly. He puts an energy down and it’s my turn. Whew. Imposter Oak’s Counterattack saves me again. I Oak and get a ditto. I play it, switch and swords dance with a double colorless (with plus power in hand). Grrr he draws a Magmar. He brings it out and smokescreens. I play an energy on Jiggly and smog with Ditto, successful with both flips. He retreats in terror =). He slashes me. I retreat to my Jiggly, evolve into wiggly, play plus power and double colorless and then goes Scyther. Up comes Magmar, his last basic and he smoke screens. I flip heads and I win. He wanted a long game, I wanted it over with. I win by benching him, 2 prizes taken to none.
I win it all- the packs, the hat, the shirt, the trip!
Derek wants competition, so he plays in a different 15+ tournament than I. He loses in the third round, but plays all good, tough games up to that point.
After we worked on Greg’s deck a little, he wins! All of his matches go well for him and he loses none.
Kevin plays a different deck (that I don’t remember too well) and makes it to the finals, however he loses to a Thunder & Lightning friend.
Alvin is crazy, I didn’t watch it, but from his brother’s description of the match, he was letting his opponent cheat. He still wins, but loses in the fourth round.
Over all impressions? Well Wiggly/Haymaker was dominant. There were a couple of stall decks (including a Mewtwo[base set] and Chansey stall that did well). Also were a few raindance and a couple of unique decks. Very few of us had easy matches and this was definitely very competitive.
Team DarkStar had all of its 6 members qualify as well as four of us(Kody, Greg, Derek, and Myself) who won our tournaments. We all had a great time and I picked up an Error Non-Holo Dragonite(5/82). We all live half an hour to one hour away from the Queen Mary so we should all be able to attend.
Props and slops
Props to Greg’s dad for giving us rides
Props to team Darkstar for doing so well.
Props to Derek, Greg, Kody, and myself for winning our tournaments
Props to me for getting Error Dragonite
Props to the Team Rocket Supersquad (don’t ask)
Props to people from Thunder & Lightning for doing so well also
Props to WotC for making this tourney
Slops to the 20 min time limit
Slops to the power mad judges (who made several bad rulings because they could)
Slops to the guy I played in round 4 for being so mean
Slops to the SMALL TSHIRTS!! Haven’t they ever heard of XXL? Well large just doesn’t cut it =)
Devon
Founder of team DarkStar