Last weekend (Oct. 9, 1999) we had the first
Pokémon tourney down here
at The Green Dragon in Charleston, SC.
It wasn't very big because it was
sort of spontaneous. We only had about
12 hours notice for it but we managed
to pull in an ok crowd of about 10 people
which pretty much paid for the prize
which was a box of 1st edition Fossil at $10
a person entering the tourney.
We got the word out about it at the local
Books-a-Million right across the street
during the Pokémon Leauge and wrangled some
kiddies to play with us. This is
the report:
The Deck:
Blastoise = Win
Blastoise x 3
Wartortle x 1
Squirtle x 4
Gyrados x 2
Magikarp x 4
Staryu x 4
Pokémon Breeder x 3
Professor Oak x 4
Energy Removal x 4
Super Energy Removal x 4
Gust of Wind x 2
Water Energy x 25
The deck's pretty straightforward. The common Blastoise
deck I suppose with
probably a modification or two done (I'm not familiar with
the archetype for the
Blastoise deck). The Staryus are in there for anti-Mr.
Mime and, as luck would
have it, they were a lifesaver. The Gusts of Wind are
multipurpose. Always useful. Built by my team, Team Franklin's
Treasure Hunt (don't ask, don't tell). But enough with the deck.
Onto the tourney.
Round 1:
This is the match I feared most. Me and my friends pool
cards and I was forced to play one of my teammates. Didn't know who
was gonna win. First game was fairly long. He was playing his crazy
stall deck with the Alakazam/large-hp-pokemon/Pokémon Centers. I cut
it close but I finally pulled a Staryu to chop down his Mr. Mime.
Everything else went down after that. Pulled a Gust of Wind to make
his Alakazam come out of hiding and i ate him with my Blastoise. Game
1: me. The second game was fairly quick. I got my
Blastoise out second turn and he couldn't pull off the crazy Alakazam combo.
It was quick and painless. Game 2: me. (Cuz he was on my
team, we decided to say he "won" the second game to give him some
more points. I didn't loose any over his "win" and it ended
up boosting him to the finals) *cough* Game 3: him Round:
me.
Round 2:
I played an inexperienced player. He must've had all the
colors in his deck and then some becaue he had the toughest time getting the
right energy. First game
he got stuck with a bunch of Ghastlys and nothing to do with
them due to lack of
energy. Game: me. Second game, started off
with a Charmander. My Staryu ate it up. I love you Staryu.
Game: me. Round: me. I gave him some deck pointers
afterwards. He needed them :-)
Round 3:
I played a guy that had a pretty impressive collection.
Several Japaneese Mews. Apparently collection doesn't matter when
you're in a tourney. He was playing a wild n' crazy deck based around
really big guys like Charizard and Chansey, etc.
His deck was really slow because of it. It eventually
lost to the second-turn Blastoise-Gyrados-Prof. Oak-lotsa energy-die die
die!!! strategy. Nothing much happened besides me drawing prizes like
crazy. Game 1: me. Second game was interesting. I
managed another second turn Blastoise-Gyrados-Prof. Oak crazyness but
sitting on his bench was a Mr. Mime and me without my Staryu.
He managed to pull a lot of stuff out on me and I couldn't
pull anything. He was killing me like crazy. He was down to one
prize left and I had my Magikarp out when I drew a Prof. Oak. Used it
and pulled out two Staryus and nothing but energy. I happened to have
a Blastoise left (Blastoise = win only if he's alive) so i slapped out some
energy on the Magikarp to get him out of there and ran up a Staryu.
Spanked his Mr. Mime for 20. Next turn, retreated the Staryu for the
fresh non-damaged one and killed the Mr. Mime. Pulled another Oak next
draw. Proceeded to kill his Charizard with one swoop from Blastoise.
Blastoise likes the taste of Boiled Charizard. The rest of the game
was mine. Phew that was close. Game 2: me. Round:
me. (mental note: I love Staryu)
Round 4:
Final round and I was good and undefeated. I was paired
up with another teammate. I knew he stood a good chance of beating me.
The first game was fairly quick. He pulled out a bunch of diverse Pokémon
and then evolved for a Dotrio. Messed me up totally. He then
proceeded to pull out a Chancey with full energy and get rid of all my
lonely Wartortle before he could evolve. Then he popped up a
Wigglytuff with a full bench and just killed me dead. Game 1:
him.
Game two was just about the same I suppose. He filled
up his bench and just beat me down with a diverse colorless Pokémon base.
Then he got out the Wigglytuff and just ended it there. Game 2:
him. Round: him.
Finals Round 1:
My score was good enough to pop me into the finals. I
played a crazy kid with an absolutely silly deck. He was like the
first person I played that day. Luck must've drawn him to the finals.
Game one was over in three rounds. Blastoise got his only two basic in
one shot each. Next game was similar. Staryu in two shots got
his Charmander. Game 1 & 2: me. Finals Round 1:
me. Yay!
Finals Round 2:
Played my teammate mentioned in Round 4. I was ready
for a good game. First game was good and long. I forget the high
and low points but it included the fact that Blastoise doesn't always = win.
Had him out since turn 2 and couldn't do anything. It can right down
to it though. He beat me out by one prize. Game 1: him.
Game two was so silly. He had a Farfetch'd and I had a Magikarp.
First turn kill. Game 2: him Finals Round 2: him.
I got a good 10 packs of Fossil. He got 16. The
guy I played 1st round got 6. The other guy I played in the finals got
4. Our team pooled out cards we got together and came out with almost
the whole set. We took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
The morale of this story is this folks: Blastoise
= 2nd place.
By--Mitchell Lane