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WCSTS 2001 Report - William Hung William Hung Dear pojo and all trainers,
It is my pleasure to present my deck report from the WCSTS.
I am from Los Angeles and it was kind of a long trip for my parents
and me. I'm glad that many of
my friends in my Pokemon Leagues and tournaments shown up and put up a
respectable fight against the world's best - the best that the world can
offer. I certainly understand
many people had a much longer trip than we did, but many of those people
earned free trips to come here. In terms of DCI rankings, I can't find any regular DCI-sanctioned Pokemon tournaments in my region. In fact, I am the one of the few tournament organizers to run DCI tourneys at my region. I believe that many people from other regions had significant advantage with byes, especially the people with three byes. BIG disadvantage for us. Without further bias, let's get to my event summary and my deck report.
I started off by practicing with my trainers and my friends after I took care of the paperwork. I used the deck that I intended to use for Saturday, my Blaine’s Arcanine with Entei (Howl). I Howled for good amount of Fire Energies (usually 2 to 3), but I end up discarding key cards, such as Blaine’s Arcanine and Elm. Since I already turned in the decklists and everything else, I am stuck with it. One of the
trainers and his friends invited me for a Pokemon battle before the tourney.
My
friend Grace and her mom finally show up. Summary for the WCSTS on Saturday:
Game #1: Firestorm vs. Jeff with Givoanni’s Machamp It was a long battle, but he never could control this
game. In fact, he can’t draw
any of his prizes. My Magby
shuts down Giovanni’s Machamp after my stars damaged him for big damage. WIN 1-0-0 3 pts.
The match keeps bouncing back and forth.
His Focus Band worked once out of the three times he played them on
his Giovanni’s Nidoking. In the late game, he had a two prize advantage, but more
importantly, I began to realize my energies and my time is running out.
I tried to stall with my Cleffa at the end, but he got heads and I
lost the game. LOSS 1-1-0 3 pts.
My parents and I had dinner in Mission Valley in Pat and
Oscar’s. After that, I went
back to my hotel and totally changed my deck.
I was deciding between Feraligatr and Crobat.
All of a sudden, I figured things out based on what I saw on Saturday.
I ran into many Slowking and Fire decks.
Although there are some surprises lurking out there, such as the Dark
Raichu and Rocket’s Zapdos deck, finishing 7-2 and placed 13th.
Now I made the final decision to try Neo Revelation Aerodactyl and
Steelix. This is the
Remembering Rage deck in Tom’s Bunker.
I made some changes to metagame and handle the more popular decks.
My friends predict there will be plenty of Gatr decks on Sunday, and
that things will get more difficult.
With a good sleep and great breakfast, it’s time to get into
serious action. Before I go any
further, I will show you my decklist. Remembering Rage (Revised): Pokemon (18): 4x Onix (Neo Genesis) Trainers (27): 4x Professor Elm Energies (15): 7x Fighting Goal: To endure a lot of damage, and take advantage of Prehistoric
Memory and Rage for one hit Knock Outs. Advantage against: Slowking, Tyranitar, other Steelix decks,
Crobat, Erika’s Victreebel, Lightning Even against: Feraligatr Loses against: “Good” Fire decks These are only my predictions!
The actual results are somewhat surprising. Game #1: William vs. Lucas Cook (Slowking, Umbreon, Rocket’s
Mewtwo) I had very bad luck. I
can’t pull any energies at all. I
used Double Gust on his Slowking, and still no energies. Rocket’s Mewtwo quickly destroyed my deck. LOSS 0-1-0 0pts.
During the first round I just took a picture of all the players battling on Sunday. Game #2: William vs. Joseph (Sabrina’s Alakazam and Promo
Mewtwo) Finally started with a decent hand; a Cleffa and Onix, with two
Fossil Egg. I got out
Aerodactyl on my first turn. I
had everything in control by turn four, and Rage through everything. WIN 1-1-0 3pts. Game #3: William vs. Jeren (Fire – Marcargo, Ho-oh, Blaine’s
Arcanine, Entei) Once again, I had a bad start.
I only have Onix and Brock’s Mankey.
I was hoping for damage on my Onix, but he knocked out my Brock’s
Mankey first, then my Onix. That’s
all I have. LOSS 1-2-0 3pts. Game #4: William vs. Nigel (Wall – Slowking, Steelix, Rocket’s
Zapdos) I thought I would have an easy win, except that when it comes to
Fossil Egg, I got three tails out of four during the match.
Also, I was too desperate and made a bad decision – burning through
my deck too quickly to pull everything out.
What makes it worse is that he has a Steelix with Four Metal Energies
on it, and without my Aerodactyl until the very end, I can’t compete for
damage. When I finally got my
Aerodactyl out, it was too late. I had too much damage on just about everyone, and finally he
got to knock out my Igglybuff for his last prize. LOSS 1-3-0 3 pts. So far, I am very disappointed and frustrated.
Yesterday, I placed 176th out of 207 because I dropped
early. Nevertheless, when I
began to think of one of my friends in my college (definitely not a Pokemon
player), I felt a sudden lift that I will fight back with honor and courage. After lunch break, and after I told my parents that I’m not
giving it up, I went right back into Round 5 for more action.
From this point on, I am very serious. Game #5: William vs. Typhlosion and Blaine’s Arcanine (from this
point, I don’t remember all the names of my opponents) I saw a Fire Energy and a Typhlosion while he was shuffling.
So I was cautious with how I played this game.
I actually nailed him with Brock’s Mankey by Taunting his
Typhlosion and Blaine’s Arcanine on his bench.
My Steelix keeps doing Rage, with Aerodactyl on my bench for 5 of my
6 prizes. Suddenly, his deck
came roaring back when his Blaine’s Arcanine and his final Typhlosion work
together. He took 4 prizes in 5
turns. I finally used Tackle on
his Blaine’s Arcanine with Focus Band, and he flipped tails.
Game over. WIN 2-3-0 6 pts. Game #6: William vs. Athena (Crobat) This game was in a deadlock for over 20 minutes and I was perhaps
too causal to her (chatting quite a bit and stuff). We are tied at 5 prizes to go, and her Murkrow used Mean Look
on my Cleffa and worked. When
she finally knocked out one of my Steelix, it got my attention quickly. I started playing Healing Fields to take away her Chaos Gym.
I played Double Gust to get rid one of her Crobats.
The Knock Outs are quickly exchanged during the next few turns and it
came right down the wire when she finally pulled her Resistance Gym.
I had the Knock Out to get down to 1 prize left, while she had 2
prizes left, and then time was called.
I pulled the last prize when she just wrapped up her stuff and told
the judge she lost the match already. That
was crucial because I know every point counts.
I just felt relieved in my heart that I got the 3 points I
desperately needed instead of 2. We
shook hands and she gave up, and dropped from the tournament. WIN 3-3-0 9 pts. Game #7: William vs. Matthew (Typhlosion, Blaine’s Arcanine) He had a lot of his Pokemon out, but useless because he had no
energies at all. A combination
of Double Gust and Balloon Berry puts the game out of his reach quickly,
drawing 5 prizes in less than 10 turns.
He used the Baby, of course, Cleffa, to try to do something. I used Tail Crush on his Cleffa and got heads to earn my
final prize. He showed his
frustration, but we still shook hands and he also dropped as well. WIN 4-3-0 12 pts. Right after Round 7, my parents and I decided to take pictures of
Ness. (Pojo Note: Now I see why Ness didn't make top 8!
He's not wearing his Pojosama Hockey Jersey! That explains a lot.)
Game #8: William vs. Feraligatr – Riptide (First and last Gatr
deck I’ll play against in WCSTS) He got a great start with Misty’s Wrath, and really puts me in
trouble with Trash Exchange because he used it every time when it is around
15-18 cards in his discard pile. He
got his first 5 prizes easily. More
importantly, one of those prizes was against my Aerodactyl when he made use
of his Double Gust. I played
Fossil Egg one after another throughout the match.
With Trash Exchange, I played 5 Fossil Eggs total during this match,
and after the first HEADS, it went all TAILS!
No chance to knock out his first Feraligatr, no chance to win. LOSS 4-4-0 12 pts. My parents said he likes to chat with his opponents for
distraction and I should totally avoid conversation with him unless it is
part of the game. That’s
true, although I didn’t take it very well because I knew the bad coin
flips were the reason of my defeat, not the distraction.
However, I could still place in the TOP 64 if I win the last match,
so this time I get dead serious. Game #9: William vs. Tyranitar, Rocket’s Zapdos The early game was crucial. He
burned through his deck with three Misty’s Wraths to get to his Tyranitar.
I don’t really need a lot of draw in this match after a couple of
Eeeeeeeks. I set up the Aerodactyl and Steelix combination as usual.
I know his must damage my Steelix, and he did – 90 damage to
Steelix in two turns. Then the
Rage begins to knock out his Pokemon in one shot.
Hot knife through butter. Easy
win. WIN 5-4-0 15 pts. I placed 58th out of 166 and received four Neo Genesis
boosters. I was glad I never
gave up and came back strong. I
redeemed myself as one of the great trainers in Los Angeles.
If it wasn’t those bad matches early on, I would have a legitimate
shot at the top 8. After the main event on Sunday, I went into Booster Draft and got
booted out after the first round. Oh
well, it’s my first time and I’ll do better next time.
I had a great time meeting many of the best players around the world,
including Master Trainer Mike, the Pokemon card developer from the
laboratory of Japan, Ness, and Tom Hanley.
I had a lot of fun and thanks for reading to my deck report.
Time for PROPS and SLOPS. PROPS: -To Wizards of the Coast for running all these Super Trainer
Showdowns and Qualifiers -To my parents for taking me to San Diego, and for their great
support -To my friend Grace who traded me a Dark Energy for a Rainbow
Energy -To Edwin who gave me the cards back that I left on the Booster
Draft table -To Athena for calling her loss to the judges and wrapped things
up just before the judge came to the table -To Andrew for lending me the cards I need the night before the
WCSTS -To Ness and Tom for being so nice to me -To Ness for getting together with me in the photo, and to fulfill
the request of my parents and myself -To everyone who worked their way through all 8 or 9 rounds SLOPS: -To people with byes (Sorry, I think many of us worked too hard in
the first three rounds and that the top players should prove themselves
worthy in the first three rounds as well.) -To the prize distribution – without the Pokemon League to earn
points for boosters, it is so much harder to win a lot of boosters Thank you very much for reading my deck report.
I’ll see you all in the ECSTS next year. Sincerely, William Hung dragonlord53@juno.com www.pojo.com
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