On Sunday, the 17th of October, I went to one of the weekly tournaments being
held at the war room in Atlanta, GA.  Usually it is a good turnout, and there
are always some very good players there.  This tourney was no exception, as
31 people showed up, with some of the areas best making their appearances
again. 

I hadn't shown up for 2 weeks, so I wasn't sure how fossil affected the
environment, but I went on ahead and played my fossil modified Rain Dance
deck, despite Muk and Aerodactyl looming over my head.

Here's the deck:

Energy: (24)
24 Water Energy

Pokemon: (19)
4 Squirtle
4 Blastoise
3 Seel
3 Dewgong
3 Articuno
2 Jigglypuff (Specifically to stop mimes.)

Trainers: (17)
4 Bill
4 Professor Oak
4 Pokemon Breeder
3 Computer Search
2 Gust of Wind

I loved seeing all the Articunos I got recently.  That, added to the fact
that I recently traded my Charizard for 3 Blastoises were all key factors in
deciding that I would play Rain Dance.

There were five rounds of age-modified swiss, switching to normal swiss after
round 2.

1st Round:
I played against a nice guy named Matt, who was playing a Grass/Water deck. 
It was his first tounament, and he told me he was so scared he could just wet
his pants.  I told him not to worry, since we've all been there, and I told
him he'd do fine.  He started out with a seel, and I started with an
Articuno.  Unfortunately for him, he didn't get the energy to get started up,
just the pokemon, and my Articuno cut through Seel, Bulbasaur, 2 more Seels,
and another Articuno.  I got out the Blastoise on turn 5, but it was trivial
at that point, as he never got the energy to put up a fight.  He ran out of
basics and I won.
WIN 3 pts.

Round 2:
I played against Nick, a guy who does RPGs with my little brother.  We talked
quite a bit before we played, discussing everything that had happened in the
past few weeks.  The game maintained the nice, friendly tone throughout.  He
was playing a Fighting/Fire deck, which means that he would run into Articuno
problems, and he did. After he knocked out my starting Seel, he couldn't get
anything else done, as I brought up Articuno, and he ran out of basics, as I
plowed through them with Articuno.
WIN

Round 3:
A very interesting game.  I played a nice guy, one of those fellows who
always seems to be having a good time.  He reminded me of a comedian.  He was
playing a fighting fire deck as well, but this match would prove to be a bit
harder.  He played a lot of Moltres, which made my strength of water vs. fire
almost nonexistant.  As it dragged on, he got out the nightmare card,
Aerodactyl.  The game sat there for a very long time, and we slowly exchanged
prizes for quite a while, until my bench destruction with Articuno got me the
extra prize I needed to win.  A very exciting game.
WIN

Round 4:
Against a young, impulsive looking boy.  I couldn't tell much about his deck,
as he got such a bad draw, but it looked to resemble a haymaker.  He only got
out a couple of basics and no energy (He must have had evolutions, which is
why it only resembled a haymaker.) and my Articuno ripped through a
Hitmonchan and an Eelectabuzz.
WIN

Round 5:
Against Ohno Kim, a member of an elite pokemon team.  A group of four people
who, if they win the tournament, always split up the 10 packs, since there is
no prize for best in my age group and they all want to always get something. 
Like almost all of them, he played haymaker.  It started off really bad... I
couldn't get my blastoise out, and Articunos were torn apart by ER and
Electabuzzes.  I managed to stay alive for a little while, but an aerodactyl
sealed my fate.
LOSS

I was 4-1, and barely squeaked in to fourth place, so I got into the
semifinals.

Semifinals
I played a young man named Kyle.  He and his sister are known for hustling
their under 10 age group every time, and for frequently beating event the
best of the team I mentioned earlier.  He also played haymaker.  I held off
for quite some time, and actually managed to get out my Blastoise, but it was
killed by 3 Special punches and ER.  And one turn later, of course, I get my
first Oak.  It wasn't pretty, and his little Electabuzzes and Scythers
finished me off.
LOSS

Well, I ended up in fourth place, so I earned absolutely nothing.  Time to go
over what I have learned from this.

What have I learned?

Articuno is simply great.  No weakness, Resistant to fighting, bench
destruction, high   HP, Great attacks, everything.

I think raindance is dead in this enviornment.  It was bad enough with bad
luck and    draws, but when you add Muk and Aerodactyl to the mix, it's just
too much.

Rain dance needs a TON of search cards.  It seemed like I never had all I
needed for  the whole tourney.

I'm still mad the best of the younger groups gets packs, but the older groups
get nothing.  And don't you think you can at least offer something for second
place?  I don't think it's too much to ask.

Well, that's it for this week.  Thanks a lot, everyone, and I hope to be
right back here next week with my new post.  I have a couple of rogue deck
ideas I want to try out, so stay tuned for that!

Daihakusei@aol.com
Rain Dance is dead.