Brillo v. 1.0
Place: Timewarp Comics, Cedar Grove NJ/ King of Prussia Mall, King of
Prussia PA

History of Brillo:
Brillo has been on paper since there was rumor to be Rocket back in November
of last year, heck, even a Rocket Zapdos deck was inscribed on a sheet of
paper I still have in my room and would work VERY easily. Then, a week after
the qualifier, a friend of mine asked for some deck help. Brillo became a
reality. He had all of the cards necessary (of course, his design is a bit
different from mine) to build it. With the power of Cleaner and absorbency
of Sponge, Brillo became a new way of life for me. With every new deck, I
made one closer and closer to Brillo's planned form. Finally, the Omega test
(still lacking the Zapdos) was finished and it worked like a charm, I placed
2nd and a half (Mr. RK9 and I split the prize money since we both wanted a
box of boosters) at the tourney I played at with Electabuzz as replacement
for Zapdos and no Mewtwo, with a Ditto instead.

Point of Existence:
Zapdos is like saying 'Free super energy removal' or 'free super potion'. 20
for 1 and charge effect are like ketchup on fries or cherries on a sundae.
Mewtwo is just a strong little powerhouse on his own. Put two and two
together. Then, throw in an indestructible fortress and a firewall. Now, put
something great in an environment that can't handle it. What do you get? A
good deck. I bought a box of Challenge boosters the day before they came
out. So anyway, that's just a short overview of why I do what I do.

Where this all went down:
The 1st and 3rd tourneys were held at Timewarp Comics and Games in Cedar
Grove, NJ. The STS qualifier was in King of Prussia Mall or whatever its
name was. Needless to say, the drive up to KOP, PA was a long one.

What's inside the Wonder Ball:
4x Rocket's Zapdos:
I've already said why. The 70 damage also matches to the damage that it
takes to kill Haymaker Pokémon and, with a Plus Power, Wigglytuff.
The 20-damage turn one is nothing to scoff at, either. The toughest part of
this deck was getting the Doses.

2x Movie Promotion Mewtwo:
As for the sponge portion of my deck.
Mewtwo still remains as the worlds most powerful Psychic Basic and may just
stay that way. I'd put in the Resistance Gyms if it weren't for the
resistance Zapdos has.

3x Mr. Mime:
What recent deck of mine would be complete without Mr. Mime? Meditate adds
up quickly and Invisible wall battles Wigglytuff combat sickness or any
other beefy attacker.

2x Scyther:
Two may seem scoffable, but it isn't. He serves as a firewall or emergency
attacker, nothing more. He retreats, takes damage, retreats, and takes
damage and so on.
<Total: 11>

Trainers:
4x Bill:
A staple of every non-STSEC deck. Bill can do what nearly every other card
can't, thin out your deck with no backlash besides thinning your deck (Which
can turn into a problem around end game).

2x Oak:
I remember fondly of the days when I 1st stepped into Zany Brainy and vowed
to never use Oak in a deck to prove that it would just deck you out. Then I
said by the time Prof. Elm (think hard, gold and silver is being sold at
local TRU, I'm waiting for Nintendo Power to send me mine, though) came out,
I'd use Oak, but wouldn't be tempted because Elm was so much better (I still
believe he is, feel free to rant me on this), then I said just decided to
screw that and play Oak. If a card is good enough to make me go against my
own word to MYSELF even, then it must be somewhere around the good/great to
fantastic/put in every deck scale.

4x Plus Power:
After reading the little heading on a convo Edo and some guy from Japan (I
don't remember his name right now) about how little Plus Power wasn't
popular in America and then how a Haymaker deck using Plus Powers won the
1st Tropical Mega Battle, I've had them in all decks since.

4x Super Energy Removal:
These are free. There is no adverse side effect to using these with Zapdos
active. These are just too good, leave your opponent's Pokémon helpless as
it struggles to retreat, attack, or function without energy.

2x Super Potion:
Dare you mock these? Dare you attempt to mock what saves Zapdos from a
suicidal fate? Go ahead, you'll do so in vain.

2x Scoop Up:
Saving the lives and the rainforest are both very important, make sure you
recycle all of those Sleep! Cards to save some trees.

3x Gust of Wind:
.Because Scyther can retreat for free.

2x Nightly Garbage Run:
Restore deck size and get needed energy back, or maybe just a Zapdos. If you
need it, it will come.

3x Computer Search:
I'm surprised people are still stupid enough to not play with these. I mean,
come on! They come in 2 different Preconstructed decks! They're not that
expensive if you want to buy them as singles and most kids at the league
don't value rare trainers. Just trade for 2 with that base 2 Magneton

2x Itemfinder:
As usual, just an extra card in case I need the Super Potion I used up or in
case I need a trainer that I don't have a Computer Search for.

2x Rocket's Minefield Gym:
I just call it Kaboom gym and everyone seems to know what I'm talking about
since no one knows the Japanese name and the American one is stupid.
Wouldn't it be great to not have to use the errata on it? Anyway, it softens
up any Jigglypuffs, Scythers, Hitmonchans, Electabuzzes, Magmars, Water
Pokémon, and every other Pokémon that exists. How would you like to kill
Fossils as they come into play? Yeah, me too.
<Total: 30>

3x Double Colorless Energy:
Scyther and Mewtwo make good work of this, as does Zapdos.

8x Electric Energy:
For Zapdos, Mime, Mewtwo, and Scyther.

8x Psychic Energy:
For the same obvious reasons.

"Let all witness the fate of those who oppose me"- Crovax

Going to the tourney:
I had to go to MSU 1st, but got to the tourney in time to sign up and play a
few league battles, trade, and watch Ralph play Silver (which I got on
Sunday. I'm waiting for Nintendo Power to send me my Gold copy in the mail
with a game guide). Anyway, I shuffled Brillo and got ready to play.

Round one: Dan <Haymaker>
This was the second easiest battle I had all tourney. It started Scyther to
Scyther, he went first. He retreated for Electabuzz and tried to Shock my
Scther and ended up flipping tails. I retreated for Zapdos and used Plasma.
I won a few turns later.

Round two: Anthony <Nidoqueen Grass>
It was basically target practice with Dos and Gust of Wind. He'd send it out
and I'd shoot it up. I took all my prizes between the Psy weakness and the
massive 70 damage his Pinsirs and Nidoran and Nidorinas.

Round three: Steve H. <Suicide Sponge [Sponge with base Electrode]>
A game too fast. It was Mewtwo to Ditto. I went 1st, it died. He also got a
Voltorb ®, it died too. The game was called on part of a shutout.

Round four: Rob Z. <Equalizer>
We were hungry, it was 3 in the afternoon and we hadn't had lunch. We went
to Poppa Tony's for lunch and spilt the prize money $27.50 each.

<End Tourney one>

STS Qualifier in King of Prussia, Penn.

There was a massive line and no one wanted to play while waiting. I waited
for an hour before the line moved. I scouted the line for signs of Rob but
he never showed up. Then I looked to see if anyone knew who or where Justin
Smith was, no such luck. Everyone was in awe over the fact that I had four
Rocket's Zapdoses. They all cowered in fear and such, I just noted that just
because I had Dos didn't mean I'd win (but I knew I could in my mind).

Round 1: Brother 1 <Sponge>
Once again, it was how many times I could use Gust of Wind to pick off
something on the bench. Easy win, my friend lost to Brother 1's brother.
Short report for round one? Duh.

Round 2: Tall kid <Electabuzz Deck with Zap>
The heck? Another short battle. I just beat him up with Dos and my little
Psychic buggers. Very VERY short battle, how else do you explain my feelings
when I found out I'd play.

Round 3: Brother 2 <Sponge>
This was fun. A long game with very even point after I had an early lead
with him catching up. He would've decked, then I used a Bill to knock out
his Active and get my last prize by pulling the last Plus Power.

Round 3: Cooltrainer (Male) <???I forget ???>
I was really, really annoyed and upset after this match, the game was in my
pocket and I dropped it. The game was almost at him decking out. Then,
another kid started talking to me in astonishment over my deck that had 4
Rocket's Zapdoses in it. He asked for my email address and s/n, and the MT's
weren't paying any attention as I tried to concentrate so I screwed up by
placing an electric energy on Scyther rather then a Mime I could've
retreated with and stall out. I found out he won afterwards. Immediately
afterwards, I broke down a sobbed.

I couldn't stop kicking myself, I felt like a total failure. I let one small
mistake break me. I had come in 3rd again, but I knew I would've come in
1st. My goal of the color Gameboy was shattered. I went to lunch with my
parents as they tried to calm me down. I finally stopped crying over
something I could easily fix in the Finals and went to go on and win 6 out
of 6 battles in the league zone.

Next week, I went to Timewarp again with my Brillo deck.

I would not be a failure.


Round 1: Miguel <Modified Sabrina Deck>
I helped him make this deck and one he should make once he got the supplies.
I won after a temporary time he had me on the ropes. Beating my friends is
now something I get used to, overcoming friendship is important. It's only a
game, it can't hurt you. It will only make you stronger.

Round 2: Rob Z. <Equalizer>
Mr. Mime to 2 Dos. Turn two, I win. I laughed. Fate is against him, I
shattered his record. I just stood around and watched other people play when
James (the incompetent gym leader and tourney judge who is younger then me)
said I'd play Ralph for 1st and 2nd.

Round 3: Ralph <Mono-Electric>
We split the money, $16 each. I got 5 boosters and picked up some nice 1st
edition stuff in them.

In the end, I know this is not the end for Brillo, but a beginning. Being
the creator of what seems to be an 'Archetype' means I have to keep playing
this, make it my trademark, make it an icon of my ability to create. I
encourage people to continue to see if they can expand upon my idea. Good
luck to you all and I'll see you at the STS finals in November.

Props:
To Dave and all of Timewarp.
To you, for reading this.
To all the people who want to push this more towards Archetype status
(throughout New Jersey, Brillo is an archetype and people know my name with
it).
To Rob for coming in 3rd.

Slops:
To the MT's at the Qualifier in KOP, pay attention you guys, you're not paid
to sit around and pretend to look pretty.
To that kid who talked to me at the qualifier, your face is imbedded in my
brain now with cold precision. I'll find you at the finals and I WILL take
the victory you cost me back.

For all questions, comments, concerns, hate/pro email, letters to god, deck
help, etc, please email: insomniac_gamer@hotmail.com

Thank you, again, for reading this.
PokéPunk
"Any lock can be undone, any secret revealed."

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