Hare Razer’s East Coast Super Trainer Showdown Report
What a weekend! This was something I’ll never forget as long as I live (well,
I will in bits and pieces but not the whole thing. LOL). I got to meet and play
against people from all corners of the US as well as ALMOST playing PokeSensei
(Sensei, we’ll get that game in next time). My son and nephew did get to play
the WoTC Master Trainers so they enjoyed it...tho they bost lost. Let me start
from the beginning.
We were almost NOT going as I registered us all within one hour of the
registration shutdown time. The kids (I also took my niece) didn’t even have
DCI numbers (that’s another story) so they had to get fully registered.
Luckily I got a very helpful rep on the phone who took care of everything in no
time at all. Once it was official we were going we had to set up STS legal decks
in a matter of days. No easy feat, let me tell you. My son’s deck was almost
legal already (he runs a Croconaw/Piloswine deck) except for a couple Articunos,
Bills, and Oaks. I just dug into my spare cards and let Misty’s
Dewgong, Mary, and Elm take care of that. Berries replaced the potions also.
My niece had nothing new in her deck (Jynx/Gengar/Mime deck) so we had to go
from scratch. We came up with a nice Sabrina deck that flowed between the Mega
Gastly (get him running with 7 energies and watch out!) to Haunter combo and the
Venonat/Venomoth attack. I threw in the deadly but inexpensive Hop-Skip-Jump
combo for variety. My nephew had been running a good Rocket’s Zapdos/Mewtwo
deck and went with that. After all of this I found a problem...I had no good
cards left for my own deck!!! My usual deck is a rainbow of Magmar/Buzz/Scyther
setting up for Flareon (I call it The Bodyguards deck) but I too had to go from
scratch. I decided on an Erika deck
looking for the poison/paralyzing effects of the Bellsprout and Oddish lines
which also give good damage if you can protect them long enough. I knew
there’d be few fire decks so I was safe.
After an hour and change drive (the hour part was spent driving in circles.
NEVER go to the Expo Center through the Lincoln Tunnel) we got there ready for
fun. My son was in the 10-under, my niece and nephew hit the 11-14, and I hit
the 15-up groups. I applauded Wizards for the format. It was time for some new
deck ideas but sadly it turned from everyone running the same decks to everyone
running the same decks. I expected Zapdos but few adults played them. Instead it
was Slowking/Chaos Gym cheeses. Most people didn’t even run Psy decks, just
left Slowking on the bench unpowered. Lame. Babies overran the tourney but that
was  ok. Even though they can be quite frustrating, at least they made
sense to play. My fave is Magby (being a Fire guy) since he actually works like
a real Pokemon anyway. If it wasn’t Slowking, it was...Slowking. Yes, it was
that boring. The best games I played were the ones (mostly in the Open Gym) that
did run original or old school ideas. Gengar Curse decks, Blaine decks (which
usually either destroy you or go down in flames...pun intended), even a
Raindance! It was more fun against those.
The first day I did poorly as I lost two games due to having no bench (I always
run few Pokemon and go for lines instead of a million BBPs) bringing my record
to 2-2. From there it was all downhill. Not being prepared for this state of
play I lost too many. I decided I’d do better in the Open Gym (and win
boosters for my 5-yr old) so I stayed there most of the day. I ran thru them
there (even a tough Metal/DarkDeck) and won the 6 boosters. You got 8 packs just
for entering so I had 14 for the first day. I kept a few and gave my son some.
My older Son lost only two games all day and one tie while my nephew also did
good. He placed 57th of the 409 ranked in the 11-14 group (going 6-3
for the day) despite losing a match because he didn’t show up on time. My
niece didn’t do as well, going gaga over the sight of everything and had 4
losses (5-4). They did get a few packs in the Open Gym tho and everyone went
home tired but happy.
Day two:
My niece couldn’t get up and I built a totally new deck in 45 minutes. I went
with a Quagsire/Misty’s Poliwrath/Dark Vaporeon deck depending on the abilty
to steal energy. How was I to know I’d find three people who played Eco Gym?
My day ended quickly as I again started 2-2 before running into the Eco-maniacs
and dropping 2-5. I hit the Open gym and cleaned up using my niece’s deck
(maybe I shoulda used that one instead of mine) and mine. My worst loss was from
a guy who ran 4 Sneasels (legal in the Open Gym) with Item Finders and gusts. I
still argue Wizard’s decision to let Rainbow Energy copy Dark Energy but I
lost fast so who cared.
With only 6 Dark/Darkness pokemon and 6 Pokemon Tools in my decks I couldn’t
get in the side gyms but I did have fun. I found some good opponents and had
good matches. Â I also made some great trades. my biggie was trading a
Holo Bellosom for 2 Neo Buzz’s, a Lt. Surge Buzz, and an Umbreon. I’m an
Eevee fan so I wanted the Umbreon alot. Wait til I find a way to make a good
Eevee-lution deck. Watch out! I also picked up some of the promos I needed so
all I need now is Sabrina’s Abra (anyone wanna trade?). Packwise I ended up
with over 20 Neos (Genesis and Discovery) as I traded off the older packs.
Cardwise I also got some good ones including Murkrow, who I hate but
acknowledge his Baby snuffing potential).
Overall, it was a great weekend and something I’d suggest to any parent to
take their kids to. A lot of parents signed up, dropped out after one match, and
gave their kids the 8 pack prize package. Kids were the big winners.
Now to the Thanks and Skanks
Thanks to the entire Wizards staff. Everyone was cool and helpful. DM Mike
was there too!
Thanks to the Meadowlands Expo staff. they were just as great considering
they had to deal with over 1000 kids (like me!)
Thanks to all of the Master trainers who played. Incredible deck ideas were
used by them
Thanks to all of the great opponents who played hard and fair
Thanks to everyone of the PokeFreaks like me who made it a great weekend.
Skanks to the guy that stole my Deck Protector box. NOT the sleeves or cards
or anything, just the empty box!!!
Skanks to all the cheapo players and you know who you are
Skanks to the guy that played the Slowking/Chaos Gym deck that turned the
whole game into a big coin flip and eventually hit the time limit even tho I
won
Skanks to whoever came up with Sneasel. Look up
“broken” in the dictionary and there he is
Skanks to whoever wrote the Trivia Q’s (What foil Pokemon evolves to another
foil Pokemon) (uh...Meowth,
Eevee, everyone and their mother...and her best friend) and Scyther was the only
accepted answer)
I’m looking forward to next year! Now about that Sabrina’s Abra...
HareRazer@aol.com