The Skillet
By John (da Hamsta) Khaou
Saturday, June 3, 2000
9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Pokemon League
Toys R Us
Sterling, VA
Around 15 Participants

    Welcome, POJOHOLICS, to Sterling, Virginia, IS POJO!!!!!!!!!!  This time
around, HamstaJ decided to use the king of evil, Dark Charizard, as the
theme.  The strategy is simple:  Use Magmar and 'Buzz to attack early first,
while disrupting your opponent w/energy removal each turn.  Once your
opponent has been thoroughly disrupted and is struggling to survive, finish
'em off w/Charizard.  Dont' worry if you discard Charizard, since you've 2
Garbage Runs to bring it back, along w/ ItemFinder to cause more havoc.This
is a swift, deadly deck with great versatility.

Energy:23
13 Fire
10 Lightning

Pokemon:16
4 Fossil Magmar (NEVER..EEEEEEVER leave this out of a fire deck!)
4 Electabuzz (The meanest mamajamma there is!)
4 TR Charmander
2 Dark Charmeleon
2 Dark Charizard (The IOTOLLA, of Rock 'n ROLLA!!!!)

Trainers:21
4 Bill
4 Energy Removal
3 Prof. Oak
2 Nightly Garbage Run
2 Gust of Wind
2 Comp. Search
2 Pokemon Breeder
2 ItemFinder

The Sizzlin' Report

Match 1: Arrogant kid with Psy/Grass

    This was a quick battle.  Once we drew our hands, he exclaimed,"You're
definitely going down!"  So, I expected something bad, right?  I put 'Buzz
active for his power and Magmar to warm up the bench.  And he puts out
an......ABRA?!  Not even the new one, but the cursed base set one.  He
psyshock fails, and he evolved it into a Dark Kadabra next turn.  I kept
hammerin' him w/ER each turn, as I kept the relentless assault and KOed it
soon enough.  Next, his Jynx comes up and slaps 'Buzz a li'l, unleashing a
damaging Meditate.  Now 'Buzz is barely beating a pulse w/ 10 hp left. Now
I've a benched Charizard and Magmar. Seeing that he doesn't have a bench, and
his Jynx has already accumulated 40 damage, I TPunched for the victory.

Match 2: Matt w/Raindance

    Umm hmm...a Raindance. Looks like yours truly is gonna have a run for his
money.  Actually, it was another massacre (to tell y'all the truth, all of
them were).  Matt's actually a formidable,yet new, regular here.  He is has
quickly become a force to be reckoned with his wide knowledge and skill in
the game.  Unfortunately, he still has much to learn....
    I quickly make a snack out of one of his 2 Squirtles w/ 'Buzz.  He then
drew an Articuno and sends it out in the meantime.  I was getting pitiful die
rolls, and 'Buzz kept hurtin' itself.  It took THREE turns to KO it!  He kept
sending out more Articunos to 'Buzz to KO, then he evolves a Dark Blastoise
out, and w/ 2 water energy.  Since 'Buzz has soaked in 40 damage now, he's
KOed. By now, I've 3 reserved Electabuzzes and I garbage ran one back in the
deck.  Thanks to Matt's Here comes Team Rocket, he confidently grabs an Oak
as a prize.  Throughout the match Matt's been having energy problems, and
when he got a Base Blastoise out, he had nothing in his hand.  So, after Dark
Blastoise's brief moment of glory, I gusted out his other shellfish and KOed
it.  By now his resources have been depleted and I'm simply havin' fun
punchin' away his ranks of Articunos.  I got my last prize off probably a 3rd
or 4th Articuno.

Match 3: Another cocky kid with Water/Fire

    Another youngin' with poorly built deck.  His base Magmars and Poliwhirls
were no match to Magmar, along w/ my constant flow of ER.  He tried to gust
out my other Magmar, but I simly retreated it and continued the beatdown.  By
now he's got an energyless bench w/Poliwhirls and Magmars, so I've had enough
and brought out....you guessed it, CHARIZARD!!!!  With 4 fire energies on
him, i dealt 100 damage to his measely Base Magmar , and another 50 to his
gusted out Dark Charmeleon.  I totally missed the next turn, but came back
and fried his energyless Poliwhirl next turn, and took the victory.

Match 4: John Rust (or "Rusty) w/Fire

    He's a good player, but has inferior deck building skills compared to
yours truly.  His lone Growlithe confronts my Magmar and benched 'Buzz.  Once
it got poisoned, he evolved it into Blaine's Arcanine, adding 30 more HP.  I
kept denying his energy, leaving him vulnerable and consequently, a quick
victory.  He was suspicious of my number of ERs I had and looked through my
deck, and what he saw was perfectly legal.

Results
   
    Well, besides going undefeated through 4 games, I also traded for a Scoop
Up, and helped a newbie to build a makeshift deck.  So, I collected a total
of 120 points this time.  Well, that's the bottom line 'cuz HamstaJ said
so!!!!


John "da Hamsta"

hamsterjohn@britney-spears.com or
hamsterjon@aol.com