Sonic Shadows
Played by Hawk (Aka: Adam Martin)
Downtown Comics
Winter Haven, Florida
Saturday, October 14th, 2000
Roughly 20 participants at entry time.

Well, a few of you may recognise me from previous posts in the Tips section
and Killer Reports Past, but it's been a while since I submitted anything, so
I figured after today's events, it would be as good a time as any. I was
getting rather bored with Haymakers--playing them myself and playing against
them--along with Wigglytuffs. So I made a deck that seemed as if it stood a
solid chance. After getting good praise from Doctor Crash Landon, I made a
slight alteration to the original format, and now I have been left with this:

Sonic Shadows:

2 -- Ditto
3 -- Scyther
3 -- Rocket's Scyther
4 -- Sabrina's Venonat
3 -- Sabrina's Venomoth

4 -- Bill
3 -- Professor Oak
3 -- Nightly Garbage Run
2 -- Computer Search
4 -- Gust of Wind
3 -- Rocket's Sneak Attack
4 -- Energy Removal
4 -- Super Energy Removal

4 -- Double Colorless Energy
6 -- Psychic Energy
8 -- Grass Energy

I find that since the revisions (The original can be found in Crash's Shrink
Tank under the fix title "Sonic Shadows") the deck has run a bit more
smoothly, with less interuptions. The entry fee for the tournament was two
dollars, and the prizes (from first to fourth) were fifteen dollars, ten
dollars, five dollars, and another five dollars. It was paid in store gift
certificates. Your opponents were computer generated based on tournament
record, avaliability of players with matching records, and various other
statistics, so it was all fairly chosen. Well, enough of my chit-chat--on
with the report!

~^~ Round 1 -- vs Chris with Potpourri ~^~
This was probably my toughest match of the tournament. I had never played
against Chris before today, but luckily, we had done two practice matches
before hand, so I was able to get a feel for how he played his cards. After
rounds and rounds of mutual ER'ing, KOs, and pretty much equal card drawing,
it came down to both having one prize each, with my Rocket's Scyther only
having to be poinsoned by his Magmar to be KO'ed for the last prize. Luckily
for me, it went tails, and I went on to knock out one last Electabuzz for my
final prize.
Record: 1- 0 ~ Points: 3

~^~ Round 2 -- vs *Unknown* with Rain Dance ~^~
This match wasn't so much hard as it was long. Not knowing his deck type, and
figuring it would be able to handle whatever came out, Ditto was send out as
active with one of each brand of Scyther on the bench--unfortuenately, he
started with Articuno. After spending time charging Ditto with energy, I
managed to damage two Articunos. One was knocked out later, but at this
point, he managed to get Blastoise out. After retreating Ditto for Scyther, I
used two SERs once Blastoise was pumped, and kept Removing until I managed to
slash Blastoise down to size--namely nothing. After that, I kept going to KO
a total of four Articuno, a Lapras, and the Blastoise, using my own team of
Scythers, Rocket's Scythers, Dittos, and Sabrina's Venomoths.
Record: 2 - 0 ~ Points: 6

~^~ Round 3 -- vs. Heidi with Hay-varient ~^~
before the match, I was nervous. Nobody enjoys being paired to go against
Heidi, because she is a very good player--and in tournaments, you usually
enjoy winning yourself. Luckily, she wasn't able to do much. After a few
rounds, and some handy work by Sabrina's Venonat and Scyther, I managed to KO
a Scyther and Mr. Mime for the win. There really isn't much else to say for
this round, seeing as how it was so short.
Record: 3 - 0 ~ Points: 9

~^~ Finals -- vs. Thomas with Potpourri ~^~
Thomas's deck was rather interesting. It combined the usual Potpourri
strategies with the ideal of pulling of a Rocket's Trap to cripple an
opponent. In a practice match after the first round, I had nearly beaten him
before the postings were put up for the second, so I was feeling sort of half
and half about this match. After handshakes and wishes of good luck, we
started. Luck was on my side, and after getting a lot of KOs of my own, and
preventing him from getting any, he went into suicide mode--which he does
often to just play around when he knows he is going to be beat--and purposely
decked himself out. Even if he hadn't, there was no way he could deck me or
win by prizes.
Final Results ~ Record: 4 - 0 ~ Points: 12

And that was it! I managed to snag first place using the Sonic Shadows deck
in its first true tournament. I used my fifteen dollar gift certificate to
buy four 1st Edition Gym: Challenge packs, from which I pulled Rocket's
Zapdos, a holo Sabrina, Resistance Gym, and Misty's Wish.

I know which deck I'm taking with me to the STS qualifier down here in
Florida, and I look forward to seeing some of you fellow PoJo readers there!

~^~^~ Props 'n' Slops ~^~^~
Props to Matt, owner of Downtown Comics, for holding the tournament
Props to my relatively good booster packs
Props to Thomas, for trading me the last card I needed to complete my deck
before it was show time
Props to everyone there, for being good sports, and just generally a great
bunch of people
Slops to Misty's Wish, for being completely useless!
Slops to myself, for forgetting my extra energy when I needed it
Slops to Michael's mom, for getting my and him late to Toys 'R' Us before we
went to Downtown

Comments? Questions? Send them all, down to:
"Hawk" (Aka: Adam Martin)
blazinghawk@aol.com