Dallas Texas
Dallas Mall
June 10th
Nickname - ^Rayden
Email - rayden@hotmail.com

STS Qualifier to goto California About 300-400 in attendance

This was my first big tournament in Pokemon and needless to say I was
surprised by all the people who showed up.  I had been working on this
deck for over 2 months going up against a variety of decks and it did
rather well most of the time.  We drove for 5 1/2 hours to get to Dallas
to play.  So I was a bit tired but this is how it went:

1st Round versus a Fire/Fighting Haymaker.  This was the one deck I was
afraid to go up against.  I told my wife just to stick around because I
didn't believe it would be long.  My initial draw was awesome to my
surprise.  I drew an Articuno off the bat with a Squirtle, a water
energy and a Professor Oak that I remember.  I win the flip of the coin
and elect to go first.  I put Articuno up and keep Squirtle back.  He
put up a Hitmonchan which doesn't affect my Articuno since he has
resistance.  I Oak and get a Wartortle, Blastoise, Computer Search and
the rest was energy.  I wait till the second turn then draw my card and
it was a Pokemon Breeder so I evolve Squirtle to Blastoise use one
energy and the Wartortle to search for another Oak.  Place all my
energies I have left on Articuno and Oak again.  Now I get a Lapras and
two Magikarps.  My next turn I get a Gyarados and that was it.  Brought
Gyarados up and pounded away using Gyarados.

2nd Round versus another Water Deck.  This was probably one of the
nicest guys there.  He had real real bad draws and I drew and Articuno
on my 2nd turn, retreat my Squirtle and beat him within 5 minutes with
an Articuno.  All he had gotten was basics like Horsea and Team Rocket
Squirtle and that wasn't nearly enough.

3rd Round versus a Wiggly Tuff Deck.  I had seen this deck work before
and figured this would be it that I had given it a good run.  I win the
Coin Toss and start it off with a Lapras up front (first time I've seen
it through out the tournament) and 2 Squirtle in the bench.  I also drew
a Pokemon Breeder and Computer Search.  I draw my card and put one
energy on Lapras for a quick hit.  Next turn I get a Blastoise and
evolve one Squirtle.  Computer Search for an Oak and Oak and get another
Oak in that draw plus 2 more basics and a Wartortle so I evolve the 2nd
Squirtle to Wartortle.  I Oak again after putting the basics down and
this time I get some energy as well as my two Gust of Winds.  By this
time my opponent has 3 Jigglypuffs on her bench.  I bring up my
Wartortle and Gust up a Jigglypuff.  I then start to beat her down with
the Wartortle and at one point drew a Blastoise and held on to it.  She
put my Wartortle asleep and I flip the coin and he wakes up.  I get rid
of another Jigglypuff but by now she has a Wigglytuff on her bench and
brings it up and gusts up my MagiKarp.  She only has enough energy to
put him asleep.  She does that and I lose to coin toss to wake him up.
She draws her card and she draws a Computer Error and plays it.  I drew
the 5 extra cards and I drew a Gyarados.  I evolve the MagiKarp and load
the energy up on him and the beatings started.

4th Round (Semifinals) against a Haymaker.  Well luck ran out here.  I
drew a Magikarp and 4 energy and a Nightly Garbage Run and a Gust of
Wind.  I never can recover from that bad draw for everytime I'd get a
Basic out my opponent would knock it out in two turns with his Pokemon.
I gave it a good run and got 4th Place and qualified to goto California.



4 Base Squirtle
2 Wartortle
3 Base Blastoise
2 Team Rocket Magikarp
1 Base Magikarp
2 Base Gyarados
2 Articuno
1 Lapras

3 Pokemon Breeder
2 Nightly Garbage Run
1 Energy Retrieval
4 Computer Search
3 Professor Oak
4 Bill
2 Gust of Wind

24 Water Energy