Future World Sports
Santa Maria, CA
June 9, 2000
Around 25 Participants (maybe more)

Maybe you've read my last deck report or not but let me tell you a little
about my tournament experiences. First of all this place is a tough place to
play.. and I'm sure that if it was DCI sanctioned, that many of us here would
be in the top 100. But since it isn't then we're just regular players who
aren't so great. In my last report I got 1st place on my 2nd tourney. Ever
since then i have gotten 3rd once.. and 2nd twice. I go here every other
week. After winning 2nd place the past two times I went there, they set up
this little championship thing. These are the rules. For the next 6 weeks
they will keep scores:
participating: 1 point
3rd place: 3 points
2nd place: 5 points
1st place: 10 points.
The top eight players would have a playoff and the winner of that is the
CHAMPION. I have only gone once since the past 3 weeks and in that tourney I
had lost a game during one of my rounds but luckily ended up fighting for 3rd
place. And i battled my way through until there were two of us left (one of
them was Alex Webb w/ M&M) and I had lost! Now I'm back and would like to get
some points up on the board for myself.

Here's my deck:

The Sponge (Seattle Style)

POKEMON (11)
3 electabuzz
3 mewtwo (movie)
2 scyther
2 ditto
1 mew

TRAINERS (33)
4 professor oak
3 bill
3 computer search
3 item finder
4 energy removal
2 super energy removal
3 plus power
3 gust of wind
3 scoop up
3 energy retrieval
2 nightly garbage run

ENERGY (16)
7 psychic
6 electric
3 double colorless

STRATEGY: In my last report I only had 3 professor oaks in it and kept
bragging about how it did well with only that amount. Well after trying out 4
of them I had found out it's much better. I have also added super energy
removals since my last report. Another change I have done is using nightly
garbage run. That's one card that I much looked forward to using when team
rocket was not released yet. Ever since it had came out I wanted to use it
but did not know what to do to create some space. After reading a deck report
named Seattle Sponge I found out a concept that would work! Now I think this
sponge is just a little more better than before.

Now for the report...

Round 1 vs. Stevie w/ some sort of Psychic deck
Now this is a person that I should beat all the time. But this game I guess
just was an exception! While shuffling before the match I thought about how
sad it would be if I had a ditto as my only basic with him having an abra and
beating me on turn two or even first turn. Guess what happened? My opening
hand was a single ditto with a bunch of energy removals, a super energy
removal and item finders. I was feeling a little nervous. After he had
psyshocked my ditto for 20 with paralyzation I drew my card. Another super
energy removal. All i could do was energy removal his DARN abra and hope he
would somehow make a mistake by maybe using vanish or something. He wasn't
that stupid though.
0-1

Round 2 BYE
Now I was really mad. I had just lost to a beginner and was put into the
losers raffle drawing thingie. I knew the next match would probably be a win
for me since the losers circle is easier.. but I got the bye! So now I would
have no chance whatsoever to get the bye if I can somehow reach the finals
for 3rd or 2nd place (I now have no chance for 1st)
1-1

Round 3 vs. David w/ hitmonchan/scyther combo
Many other trainers fear this man since he is the owner of the store and has
a pretty strong deck. I knew that my deck matches up well with his so I had
confidence. He started out with two scythers and luckily for me I drew some
other things besides just a ditto! My deck easily beat his partly because he
didn't really have a good hand. I eventually knocked out his last scyther
with my mewtwo for the win.
2-1

Round 4 vs. Brett Luis w/ magmar/electabuzz (i think)
This kid was about 8 years old, and everyone with skills in pokemon are
probably confident when entering a match with kids like these. But trust me
I've played this kid before and he's pretty good. He doesn't even have an
older sibling who makes his deck for him, he makes his own and they are
pretty decent. He was undefeated going into this match and we've had some
heated ones before I knew this one would probably be another. When we started
playing I discovered that he had added some worthless pokemon into his deck..
tr charmander. I know he can do 20 for one fire but I don't think it would be
worth the space. Again, my opening hand did not contain only one ditto, this
time it had TWO! WOOHOO! hehe. Well my opening hand also had some useful
trainers so my deck just did well against his. I won by getting all of my
prizes. This one wasn't heated after all.
3-1

After 4 rounds there were only 3 undefeated players. In order to get some
points on the board at least one of the players had to go down. But one of
the players was my brother. So I was hoping he would win but also wanted him
to lose. I had some mixed emotions at this moment.

Round 5 vs. Steve Acheta w/ electabuzz/hitmonchan/scyther (classic haymaker)
This is also one of the tough players that play here at future world. We've
played much before this game. Our rivalry (if you want to call it that)
started way back when we both had sucky decks. Ever since then we've probably
been equal in the win/loss column. The game started off pretty much the same
as the last two did. I had a good opening hand that didn't had one ditto with
no other pokemon. In this match he used his lone chansey much in the game.
His strategy somehow became to stall me out. I did not know why since he had
some good pokemon in there. While his chansey stalling strategy went on my
hand started to mount. It was getting bigger and bigger. I knew this game was
over. Even though my deck was thinning out with about 3 prizes left i still
had 2 nightly garbage runs and an item finder in my hand so I knew I was in
control. I eventually won the game by knocking out a gust of winded
hitmonchan with my mewtwo.
4-1

After the match I went to my nine-year-brother to watch it finish. He had one
prize left and his opponent had about 4. I now wanted him to win since we
would get some store credit no matter what if he did. But his deck only
contained 1 more card just like his prizes did and he had no chance. So he
lost. DARN! But since he lost all the players with only 1 loss had a chance
for 3rd. Five players would compete including my brother and myself. I really
wanted to get some points on the board so I was partly happy with the loss.

FINALS:

Round 1 vs. TJ w/ magmar/hitmonchan
I really wanted to win this game since he was the kid who had stalled out my
brother. This kid likes to talk! He's always talked to me before about how
his old deck was better since it had 4 mewtwo's and mine had 3. He also kept
trying to convince me that mew sucks. Well this was our first match so now we
would find out who was better. I started out with two mulligans so he had the
card advantage. My opening hand wasn't all that great but was still decent.
Even with the advantage I dominated this game. In the end he only managed to
draw one prize to my drawing all six. I was pretty satisfied with the
victory, since the kid finally learned his role and shut his mouth!
WIN

I went to my brother to see how he was doing. He was playing Jared, who is
pretty good at pokemon. My brother lost, so 2 were down, 3 were left standing.

Round 2 vs. Castavo w/ some sort of psychic/grass
Since I had the bye before and this kid had it before also, Jared got the bye
for sure. I've seen this kid before playing a charizard deck, and you know
how those are. His new deck isn't that good either it has alakazam and
venusaur in the same deck. I have no idea how he made it this far. I would
probably find out on this match. Now this match was pretty easy, another good
opening hand. Since he had a lot of psychic pokemon I went for mewtwos energy
absorbtion right away. This match then became fairly easy. I ended up drawing
my last prize with him only drawing one or two.
WIN

Round 3 vs. Jared w/ fire/fighting (same as he always has)
I was back in the same position I was the last time I came here. Fighting for
3rd place after a long and hard journey with one loss early in the tourney.
I've also had many heated battles with Jared that came down to the very last
damage counter, ever since beating him in my second tourney. He had the same
deck he usually plays, and I had the same deck I usually play. In the
beginning it seemed as though he had the advantage. I did not have a good
opening hand. I had mewtwo with two plus powers two nightly garbage runs an
item finder and a professor oak. I knew I wouldn't lose easily but the
nightly garbage runs would go away with one of my item finders early if i did
oak. We had made it 5 prizes each after about 5 minutes of play. Then after
discarding much cards, I managed to make it 3 to 5. I was feeling a little
comfortable maybe a little too much. He then brought out his FREAKIN chansey
and stalled me. Since I had only 1 more item finder left (I used 1 before),
and my two nightly's were already discarded. I managed to knock out one more
pokemon but he eventually stalled me out after I item findered a nightly to
add three more to my deck.
LOSE

Just like the last time I came here, I stayed pretty long (until 10:30) just
for nothing! I now have 2 points on the board. But since the people who had
won this week already have much points on the board, I still have a chance. 7
places are taken, but many are tied for eighth (people with 4 points each).
I'll try to encourage other people there to write reports so that we can be a
recognized a little more. Well hopefully you can read another one of my
articles were I actually place.

Ian Garrovillas
PiLiPiNOi@aol.com

Oh yea, after the match I gave Jared two holos (poliwrath and gyrados) since
I didn't really need them so that he could use some of his credit to get me a
lakers liscense plate. LAKERS RULE!