The Ultra Happy Deck (don't
ask...)v3.0
               by Drew the Pickle (Footitch)
                     Noodle-Kidoodle
             Paramus, NJ, about 20 participants
                    Friday, August 4th, 2000

Hello all. I was in a tourney last Friday at a Zany
Brainy (at least thats what the employees said, the
big sign outside said Noodle Kidoodle, but then again
people who live in toy stores all their life tend not
to have very good reading skills).  It was supposed to
be a Pokémon League, but the manager got tired of it
and decided to have a special tourney in the first
weekend of each month.  The rules were fairly simple:
-60 card all english deck (no japanese)
-Single Elimination
-Open to all league members,
-Must have at least 3 badges (I have 8 :-)
-50 points for entering (!), 20 points for playing a
game, 20 points for winning

Each person was assigned a number.  If you lost in
round one, there was a random drawing of numbers, and
if your number was drawn, you could re-enter. Also,
there were a bunch of little 5-card packs that the
staff had put together before the tourney.  In the
front of the pack was a mew (8) (this was the only
card you saw so you never knew the other 4 cards), and
the other 4 were random promo cards, however one pack
had 4 holo mews, and everyone was after this one pack.
 You got points toward Meowth 18 (they handed out
stickers at the start) if you wanted to work toward
that or you could work towards your badges, it was
your choice, but not both.  I have all the badges/TMs,
so I worked toward the Meowths (you couldnt get these
in the promo packs they made for us). Enough of that,
on to the deck:

POKEMON:
4x Electabuzz (1 was a sweet holo fake)
4x Scyther (gotta love that slash)
4x Ditto (use their own weapons against them!)
----------
TRAINERS:
3x RSA (I love it how opponents always accidentally
discard the trainer instead of shuffling it into their
deck, but I tell them anyway)
4x Bill (2 free cards!)
3x Prof. Oak (got cards? No? Well now you have 7.)
2x CPU Search (Get that card you need)
2x Item Finder (Dude, I only have 6 pluspowers! :-)
4x Pluspowers (Pokemon viagra)
4x ER (Screws around with any deck)
3x SER (REALLY screws around with any deck)
3x GOW (Kill those weaklings)
----------
ENERGY:
15x Lighting NRG (for Buzz and Co.)
4x DCE (help out Ditto and Scyther)
1x FHE (I HATE BEING PARALYZED!!!!)  
----------

Pretty strait forward strategy, just your basic
beatdown deck.

1st opponent: Ark with Ekansdance deck
If you think this guy's name was weird, you should
have seen his deck! He started with an TR Ekans and a
TR koffing on the bench. He was using a Devastation
box to hold his deck.  I asked him if he was using a
precon, he said no, it was a raindance with the best
card in the world: Dark Arbok! (uh,... he was probably
a big fan of base Gastly too). By the way, all the
games except the finals were 4 prizes. I started with
a Scyther and an Ditto on the bench. He went first,
attached a water NRG to ekans, and bit me. I drew a
Bill, billed, and got a DCE and a THNDR NRG. I
switched them and put a DCE on Ditto and poison stung
with heads.  Hmm, 30 damage, nice. His turn.  He plays
Magikrap (tr) and a squirtle (tr). He puts a grass nrg
on koffing and bites again. My turn.  I draw an RSA.
I RSA and see his hand. uh oh. A dark blastiose, a
breeder, & 2 water energys.  I see where this is going
and trash the breeder (whew). I attach a lightning to
Scyther and bite again, then he takes 10 more damage,
and I draw my prize, a gust of wind. His turn.  He
plays koffing and puts a water nrg on karp (?!) then
he tackles. My turn. I draw a bill, I bill and get er
and +power. I put a DCE on scyther, pluspower on
ditto, ER karp (youll see why in a sec) and poison gas
with heads and poison.  Then he gets koed by poison
and I draw my second prize: another bill! He goes,
puts down TR Eevee, and puts a grass nrg on it. I was
worried he'd flop and knock out ditto. my turn.  I
draw a buzz, and bench him.  i bill and get 2 +powers!
Too good to be true.  I have 20 damage right now, for
those who are wondering.  I attach both +powers to
ditto and flop to ko the karp! Score: 1 prize - 4
cool.  Now i have to kill this eevee. He puts a water
nrg on squirtle and tackles. Stupid stupid. My turn.
I draw my last bill! I bill, and get a thndr nrg and
gow.  This is just perfect.  I get all the cards I
need! I attach the nrg to buzz, retreat ditto and
promote buzz, gow squirtle, and thunderpunch for the
victory! Yippy!
Score: 1-0-0, 90 points

Between turns: I pick up my prize pack and 40 points.
My pack contains (aside from the mew) a gyarados
(prerelease), arcanine, and two holo mews.  Not bad. A
kid next to me gets the pack with the mews and yells
loudly in my ear. My last opponent (Ark) won the
lottery and was back in the tourney, though he lost in
the next round to some little girl named Eve. Anyway,
my next opponent was the kid who got the mews, a kid
named Dunkin Bear.  I couldn't stop laughing and he
couldnt figure out why.

2nd Opponent: Dunkin: Agility Deck
This was a quick one.  He started with a Spearow and I
with a Buzz.  I attached a lightning nrg and shocked
for paralysis.  next turn he puts a fire nrg on
spearow and passes. I draw pluspower, attach, and
shock for ko and the game.
Score: 2-0-0, 180 points.

Between turns: I opened my promo pack and got
gyarados, 2 arcanines and a pikachu. I got two
activities: One for the misty's seadra and one for the
fossil quiz. I completed both and brought myself up to
200 points.  I decided that I would trade a card (I
traded a Dark Persian for a Dark Golduck) for 210
points, and if I could win the next game then I would
get my Meowth! I also got a Misty's Seadra. My next
opponent was the Eve girl.

3rd Opponent: Eve: Pikachu deck (with promo
electabuzz)
I wondered if I'd ever see a deck like this, and I
did! She started with a jungle Pikachu and a promo
buzz on the bench.  I started with a Scyther active
and Buzz on the bench. She goes first.  She plays a
DCE on buzz and passes. I draw an RSA.  She has no nrg
in her hand, only an nrg search, so i killed that to
stall a little (I didnt know at the time it was a
Pikachu deck). I attach an energy to buzz, and promote
him.  I shock for paralysis.  Her turn.  She bills and
plays a Dark Raichu and a thndr energy to it.  My
turn.  I draw a ditto! I play ditto and attach a dce
to it (thinking suprise thunder baby) that I had
planned to attach to scyther.  I shock again, No
paralysis this time.  Her turn.  She gives me one of
those little girl pleading looks and asks if she can
play one japanese card.  I say, oh fine, why not? And
she plays... SURFING PIKACHU WITH MT. FUJI!!!!!!!!!!!!
She also plays a lightning nrg on D. Raichu and I
almost forget that its my turn.  Still a little
suprised, I draw my card and its a lightning nrg. I
attach it to ditto and shock for paralysis. Her turn.
She draws an oak, oaks, plays a lightning nrg (I was
watching her hand) on D. Raichu, then Gusts out ditto.
 WHY DID SHE DO THAT!? Then she plays a full heal and
suprise thunders me with one head, doing the damage to
buzz. My turn. I draw ER. I ER , and remove 1 thndr
nrg from D. Raichu. Then I notice the thndr nrg in my
hand and put it on buzz. I suprise thunder with two
heads and do the damage to Surfin Pika (thinking it
will be so cool to be able to say I ko'ed a surfing
pika in real life). Her turn.  She plays a thndr nrg
on D. Raichu, frowns, and suprise thunders with no
heads.  My turn.  I draw an +power, and I'm glad I
did, because now I can ko D. Raichu and maybe Surfing
pikachu.  I suprise thunder with 2 heads, so I ko d.
Raichu and do 30 damage to surfin pika koing him also!
yeah! 1 prize left. She plays electabuzz and benches a
voltorb. she plays a lightning nrg on voltorb and
quick attacks for a ko.  (Score: 1 prize to 3).  My
turn. I draw a gow! Yeah! I gow out voltorb, and
tpunch. I flip heads and I win the game! Yay!
Score: 3-0-0, 250 points

Between turns: I get my pack and my meowth (the
illustration kicks) and I get a CPU error and 3
Eevees! Nice! But then John the legue coordinator
announces some bad news. He says they are one person
short and will have to eliminate one person in order
to continue. Then someone with some common sense say
why dont you just have another lottery and invite
someone back in. Oh yeah, he says, and this kid named
Sam comes back in.  I got to battle him. New rule for
the quaterfinals: because all the people had done what
I had done in terms of points (activities and tradin
to get meowth), this round would be worth 20 points
for enetering and 30 extra for winning, bringing the
four winners to 300. Then the semifinals would be
worth 50 for entering and 50 for winning, and then the
last round would be worth no points for entering but
100 points for winning, netting the winner of the
tourney another meowth along with whatever the prize
was (it was supposed to be "super-secret", as the
manager said).

4th Opponent (quaterfinals): Sam with Charizard deck.
I'm not suprised that he got kicked out, his deck
consisted of 2 base chars, 2 rocket chars, 4 dark
charmeleons, 4 charmeleons, 4 breeders, 4 dark
charizards and 4 base charizards, along with DCE's and
energy retrieval and of course, fire nrg.  The kid was
freaking rich, and, fortunately for me, freaking
stupid as well.  He starts with a tr char active and 2
base chars on the bench. I start with a... Scyther.
Not good. He goes first.  He attaches a fire to his
active and flame tails for 40.  Argh. My turn, I get a
DCE and attach to Scyther, thinking, where are my
other Pokes. He goes and makes the stupid move that
costs him the game. He breeds on a base charizard and
attaches a dce.  I go. I draw an er, and er the DCE.
He starts complaining that I cant do that, but
everyone is telling him that I can, so he gets all
huffy and lets me continue.  I attache a thndr energy
to Scyther and slash. He goes, attaches a fire to the
big lizard, and passes.  I draw an oak.  The rest of
my hand was energy, so I oaked, and got this: 1 buzz,
1 dce, 1 thndr nrg, and *drum roll* 3
+POWERS!!!!!!!!!! I attach them all to scyther and
slash, bringing him down to 30 damage.  He goes and
draws, sobbing, throws down his hand and sulks in his
chair.  His hand is made of 3 dark charizards.
Woohoo. I win. He then goes off crying to his father,
who gives me a dirty look and then they leave,
forgetting to get their points, and almost forgetting
the deck.
Score: 4-0-0, 300 points

Between turns: The other remaining 3 and I are very
happy about the extra points, and as I go to get my
promo pack, one of the other 3 comes up to me and
pokes his face like an inch away from mine and said:
Your goin dowwwwwwnnn. He snickered and walked off to
the table, awaiting me.  I got my promo pack:
Gyarados, Seadra (I wonder how that got in there...),
Aerodactyl (!), and... CLEFABLE! YEAH! Apparently this
pack was another one constructed on purpose containing
all the prerelease league cards! Someone else had
gotten aerodactyl earilier, but I was the only one
with clefable and bragging rights.  My next opponent
was the arrogant kid, he said his name was Giovanni,
but I think he was lying because of the theme of his
deck: 

5th Opponent: "Giovanni" with Team Rocket Deck.
This kid was my age (13), so I sort of expected him to
be more mature than to go around telling people they'd
lose and to even go as far as using an alias (which I
thought was funny) anyway, I started with a lone
electabuzz, he started with a promo 18 meowth as
active (I think he snuck that in before the last
round) and a jungle meowth on the bench. He went
first, and put a grass energy on meowth and used
miraculous comeback, getting three tails and putting
him on the verge of death >:-).  My turn, I draw
+power.  I attach a thndr nrg to buzz, and shock for
KO >:-). "Giovanni" glared at me as I drew my prize,
another pluspower. He goes, attaches a DCE, and
evolves to a promo 17 Dark Persian. He poison claws
for 10 and poisons for another 10.  My turn.  I draw
and attach a FHE to buzz (convinient, huh?) and I take
a gamble and attach both +powers to buzz and punch.  I
flip the coin, and its... HEADS! I win again!
Score: 5-0-0, 400 points

Between matches: I collect my promo pack, I get 2
arcanine and 2 gyarados. My final opponent (who was
very quiet and really calm) was Rich. 

LAST MATCH! RICH: Super Stall deck.
He mulliganed first turn, and when I saw that hand
full of psy energy, i didnt draw any cards.  He looked
at me quizzically, and I said: Your playing a stall
deck.  His jaw dropped open and he said: How'd you
know?! Apparently he doesnt know that he's the only
one playing a psy stall in the whole world and didnt
expect this. This round is 6 prizes.  It was really
annoying, because we have 20-some odd people crowded
around our table and I was nervous enough sweating and
breathing in heavily all this body odor. I thought I
would asphixiate.  The guy who was leaning over my
left shoulder smelled like salmon. Ick, I'm getting
sick, enough of that. He started with a ton of basics,
Chansey active, Mr Mime, tr Drowzee, tr Abra, and tr
dratini on the bench. I have all 3 different pokes in
play, with scyther active. I go first and draw a bill.
Of course I dont play it.  This was a very VERY long
game, but what he kept doing was using Mr. Fuji and
NGR and shuffling cards into his deck.  He stalled me
out with Mime most of the time, and ko'd 5 of my
pokes, but I also managed to get in 5 of his (he had
some oddballs like D. Dragonair and farfetch'd).  He
used tr Drowzee's power to sleep me out a lot.  In the
end, I come up against his tr Abra.  Here's the
scenario (this is so cool): Many cards left in his
deck (15 I think), none in my deck. I have a hand full
of Bills and Oaks that I never played.  I have 1
prize, he has 1 prize. My active is a buzz with 60
damage on it.I thunderpunch and the whole game depends
on a coin flip: heads, I get 40 damage and the win,
tails, I get 30 damage and 10 damage to myself, dying,
giving him his last prize.  That means he beats me 3
ways: Gets all his prizes, decks me, and runs me out
of Pokes.  So it comes down to this one coin
flip...... I flip the coin... It does some
spinning.... It does what would be the equivalent of a
belly flop for a coin... and it lands...
HEADS!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!! I WIN!
Final Score: 6-0-0, 500 points

I win the tournament, and the prize is this. I get my
Meowth (2nd one) and I also get a complete set of
movie cards along with the jumbo legendary birds card.
Sweetness! And now it is time for...

PROPS & SLOPS
Props to:
-You for reading this
-Dunkin, Giovanni and Ark for giving me a laugh
-Eve for playing a Surfin Pikachu
-Sam for sucking as bad as Gastly
-Rich, for being a good loser.  He walked away with an
Ancient mew for second place. Congrats Rich.
-John, the league coordinator for putting on the
tourney
-My dad, for getting me there in his BMW just in time
for the tournament (I almost didnt make it)

Slops to:
-All the strange people that got me mad or got mad
when they lost *cough*SAM*cough*
-The other employees for being so difficult (John
finally found out they weren't letting me in and said
I was allowed, thanks again dude)
-Item Finder and Computer Search for not being there
(I never saw it once)
-My dad, for being a reckless driver (he could've
gotten us killed at least 3 times on the way to the
league, but I guess thats half my fault.  Then again,
he always drives like that...)
-to me, for the many spelling errors in this document
that I have no time to correct

Questions, comments, death threats, and deli meats may
be sent to me, Drew the Pickleman Footitch, at
andrew_jacob@yahoo.com

-Stick to the road, beware the moon. Words to live
by... 

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