Finally, a tournament out here in the middle of nowhere (otherwise known as
Maquoketa, IA)! The library sponsored a tournament, and the turnout was
rather impressive (a total of 32 people!) I could tell this tournament was
going to be interesting right off the bat. Everyone had rather interesting
decks.
The deck I used was my very own...
"Zantetsuken"
Energy: 26
14 Psychic
9 Fire
3 Double Colorless
Pokemon: 23
3 Fossil Ghastly (Just so I can get out...)
2 Fossil Haunter (Part of the defense, due to Transparency)
4 Abra (Just so I can get out...)
4 Kadabra (The big punch of the deck!)
2 Alakazam (Gee, I wonder why he and Chansey are in here?)
3 Jynx (The other big punch of the deck)
2 Fossil Magmar
3 Chansey (See Alakazam)
Trainers: 11
4 Energy Retrieval (Y'know how Haymakers are with Energy Removal....)
4 Item Finders (So I can use the E-Retrievals again.)
3 Pokemon Centers (I think you can figure out why)
The rules of the tourney were pretty simple. 15 minute time limit per game,
single elimination, Basic through Fossil only (no Jap cards, which urked me
a bit..)
MATCH ONE:
Opponent: Chris Hulton. Deck: Your basic Evo-Grass.
Let's see...I was using Psychic/Fire, and he was using Mono-Grass....
When the match started, he had NidoranM out, whereas I had Chansey and an
Abra on my bench. In my hand were 2 Fire energies, a Double Colorless, an
Alakazam, a Haunter, and an Energy Retrieval. I went first, so I drew a
card, which
turned out to be a 2nd Double Colorless. I plopped down one on Chansey and
used
Scrunch. Tails. RATS! His turn. Chris laid a grass energy onto his Nidoran
and, for some reason, didn't attack. Didn't lay down a Pokemon, either. So,
chuckling, I drew a card (Abra), plopped down the 2nd Dbl. Colorless, and
Double-Edged myself a win.
1-0
MATCH TWO:
Opponent: Clay Hulton, Chris's younger brother. Deck: Potpurri.
(Who's this kid think he is, Ryan Truong? *wink*)
I got a pretty crappy hand to start with. An abra, 5 Fire Energies, and an
Alakazam.
The only good thing was that I went first. Good thing, too. I started out
with that Abra, while he started out with *SCYTHER*. Never a good scenario.
So, I drew a card. Magmar! I popped it down and plopped an energy on it,
and retreated Abra. Next thing Clay knew he had a faceful of Smokescreen,
and his Scyther was down by 20.
Next turn he pulls out a Grass Energy, lays down a Pinsir, and uses Swords
Dance
I drew a card (Another Fire energy! Joy!! :-/), plopped it down on Magmar,
and Smogged him. That put Scyther down to 10 life, which the Poison quickly
relieved him of after I flipped a Heads. Now his Pinsir was out.
He drew a card and muttered something, then said he was done after laying
down a Defender.
I drew a card....Yippie, Ghastly. I put that down and Smogged Pinsir for
20, flipping a Heads for poison.
After drawing his card, Clay threw his hand onto the table face-up. No
Grass energy whatsoever, just a few Nidorinos and Glooms, along with a
PlusPower and a Nidoqueen. Wow, a forfeit!
2-0
MATCH THREE:
Name: Dunno, some out-of-towner. Deck: The dreaded Raindance.
I could tell I was in trouble on this one. I had to mulligan 3 times, and
she took full
advantage of those to get more cards in her hand.
Finally I could stop Mulliganing (spellcheck?). My hand looked pretty
promising, thankfully. Abra, Kadabra, Alakazam (Again!?), Chansey, and 3
Psychic Energies. I put down Chansey to start, with Abra on my bench. He
came out with *3* Laprases.
He went first, and plopped down a Squirtle. That kinda worried me. He
decided not to do anything at the moment, so it was my turn. I took a
breath and drew a card. Double Colorless. THANK MOG. I plopped it down on
Chansey, while at the same time evolving Abra to Kadabra. Then I tried
Scrunch. *PHEW!* Heads.
Next turn, she did something that nearly made me wet my pants. All I'm
gonna say is that apparently she had a Pokemon Breeder and a Blastoise in
her hand, but not anymore. Then she throws out a Professor Oak.....followed
up by dumping an entire hand of Water Energy out! 2 of her Laprases were
charged, but her Blastoise was locked and loaded. My response was nothing
more than a *gulp*.
On my next turn, I drew a Jynx, and, figuring it couldn't hurt, plopped it
down. I put an energy on Kadabra and Scrunched. Another heads. *Sigh of
relief*
Now she prepared her offense. She drew a card and played it immediately:
Another Oak! Drawing his cards, he layed down an Articuno, which quickly
became fully loaded. He was done.
I drew a card...Double Colorless. I placed another energy on Kadabra, then
Scrunched. 3 heads in a row. Must be my lucky day, I thought.
Her next turn went rather uneventfully. Just drew a card and said
"Done."
I drew a card....Another Abra. I placed one last energy on Kadabra, so now
I was ready with Super Psy if necessary. Taking a breath, I
Scrunched......CRAP! Tails.
I was in trouble.
Now she went on the offensive. Drawing a card, which turned out to be
Switch, she pulled her Lapras out and put in Articuno. She nailed me with
Blizzard, putting the hurt on my whole team.
I needed to act fast. With nothing else to do, I drew a card (Energy
Retrieval), and plopped my Double Colorless onto Chansey. "Well, he's dead
anyway, so what the heck!?" Double-Edge, they both dropped. I drew my
prize: WHAT THE!? Another Chansey! I put Kadabra into play.
With Articuno out of the way, guess what came next.....yep, she pulled out
Blastoise. She wasn't doing much with her hand (the cards, you perv!), so
she just shot me with Hydro Cannon. OUCHIES!
Now I was getting desperate. I drew my next card, a Fire Energy. At the
sacrifice
of my Abra (in my hand), I fired off Energy Retrieval and got back my
Double Colorlesses. I dropped one onto Jynx, and Super Psyed Blastoise. I
was done.
After drawing her card, she Hydro-Cannoned me again, and my Kadabra made a
permanent vanishing act.
This was just great. I was now down to just Jynx against a whole crapload
of Water Pokemon, mainly a blastoise that was half-dead. I drew a
card....Psychic Energy. I dropped that onto Jynx. Then I double-Slapped. 2
Tails.
After my pitiful performance, she decided it was time to finish the game. I
was counting on the Hydro-Cannon......I just wasn't prepared for the 2
PlusPowers she was hiding in her hand! So, there ya have it, I got
flattened.
2-1, and I'm out.
Okay, so the deck isn't great against Rain Dance, but hey, I still made it
to the quarter-finals with this thing!
Submitted by:
XaqTN Email: wmpotter@caves.net