East Coast Super Trainer Showdown 2001 - Reports
Feraligatr Deck (Riptide Rush)
By Andrˇs Rodriguez, with help from many
Meadowlands Convention Center
Secaucus, New Jersey
Saturday, June 23rd
Started with 409 Participants
My second STS. I did horrible on the first one (dropped
out), and looked to redeem myself at this one. Me and my brother traveled all
the way from LA to get to this, so you can just imagine the pressure.
We got lucky and got a direct flight to NJ. We took a cab
to our Hotel and found Josh, Aaron, and David. We talked a bit, and watched the
playtesting ensue. Unfortunately
Josh was playing his REAL feraligatr deck, and woopin MAJOR arse.
I wasn’t suprised though. We (SoCal people) had been
working on the deck for quiet some time now. We had it pretty fine tune, and I
was confident enough not to play it.
But Josh on the other hand was not. He was revealing all
our tech... But hey, stuff happens...
I went to bed, like a SANE human being. But my little
brother, Josh, and Alvin decided “Sleep isn’t cool”.
I am woken up by David, telling me I missed the first
round. I jump out of bed, and see everyone is laughing.
I shower, double check my deck, and head down to the STS.
I soon find an open area where people seem to be playing at. I played a few
people with my brothers deck. But he soon grew restless, and wanted to play as
well.
He took his deck, and I was left alone with my own. I ran
into Pikabruce, and he asked if I wanted to battle. I accepted, and the battle
ensued.
I took the match with out too much trouble, and my
confidence remained. I then beat MTP and got a prerelease clefable.
The tournament was about to begin, so what was I playing?
Pokemon 17
4 Totodile (fury swipes)
4 Croconaw (Tackle)
3 Feraligatr (Downpour)
3 Cleffa
2 Elekid
1 Magby
Energy 16
15 Water
1 Dark
Trainers 27
4 Prof. Elm
4 Secret Mission
4 Double Gust
3 Mistys Wrath
3 Gold Berry
3 Trash Exchange
2 Nightly Garbage Run
2 Rocket Training Gym
2 Narrow Gym
Man, I cannot remember actual math-ups. Only blurs...
Here is what I have:
Round 1: Bye
Round 2: Easy match at like table 45.
2-0
Round 3: Another easy match, getting closer to table 1.
3-0
Round 4: Now everyone was playing. My first match up was
another easy one. I believe this was a psycic deck.
4-0
Round 5: A blains arcanine deck. It was straight beatdown.
Double gust, rtg, feral, OWNAGE.
5-0
Round 6: Vs. Tom Hanley
Easy match, as difficult as that may be to believe. I go first. Fury swipes
turn 1. He fury swipes back. Next turn, I get cronconaw and dark energy, game over.
6-0
Round 7: Vs. Ness
He was running typhlosion/blains arcanine. I thought I would beat him for
sure. I was wrong. He quickly disposed of some cronconaws, and destroyed me with
the combo.
6-1
Round 8: Psycic deck
With a 6-1 record, I expect something better. Oh well, lucky me. He was going
for the TecH with sab. venomoth/dark
golduck. Good in theory, but not in practice.
7-1
Round 9: Spagettio
He was running Feral also. He said before the match I
would OWN him, but I didn’t think so. We checked the ranking as well as we
could to see if we could intentionally draw so we could both be T8. But my
tiebreakers sucked, so we played it through. I
just got my feral out first, and killed his cronconaws.
8-1
With that, I was the #1 seed going into Top 8!!! Man,
thats was awesome. But doom awaited me.
Top 8:
I was seated against Jeremy, a local SoCal player running
a slowking/steeliz/r zap deck. I was nervous, but felt I could win.
Turn 1, a pretty bad hand, but wrath gave me the
oppertunity to save myself. I failed. I picked the wrong cards, and soon enough
I was locked in.
On a plus side, Jeremy did win the ENTIRE tourney, and I
was #1 seed. That makes me 5th place with out a doubt.
Time for some props:
David R, my bro. Dude, you suprised us all. Your deck was
ripped apart, but you didnt let it get you down. You still got 22nd with a 7-2 record!!!
Josh Goldstien for winning, and proving Socal is the
best. ;)
David N for showing that you have what it takes to beat
anyone, without coin flips.
Juan for the mental support.
Aaron for showing that you just dont beat the SoCal
people.
Alvin for being cool. Seriously, none of us would have
played feral were it not for you.
All the SoCal people for giving me a reason to play the
game.
All the cool East Coast people. I never had a problem
with anyone, and you guys are great players.
Ness, for beating me twice, showing me how to play
better.
·
Andrˇs Rodriguez
·
Bomiester
·
The_Evil_Bill_gates
·
Occult_Mastermind
5th Place STS Winner, 15+, Day 1.