A Ghost of a Chance

     A Ghost of a Chance (Psychic Deck)
     STS Qualifier
     South Shore Plaza   Braintree Ma
     October 7th, 2000

     Roughly 300 participants.

     Gut check time! After all of my other posts
complaining about the lack of originality in the
tourney scene, would I have the nerve to bring a
Non-Archetype deck into something as big as the STS
qualifier? With so much on the line?

     The answer? Yes. This deck is a more efficient
version of my Shallow Dive deck. Instead of Brock's
Zubat/Golbat, I used Scyther. With the free room, I
used my 2nd favorite Pokemon, Ditto. Mime stayed home
just in case Jiggly was abound. Gengar was forgotten
(Whoops, big mistake). Being two cards short, and not
having any ER or SER (I figured everyone would be
playing No Removal Gym), I managed to trade two cards
for 2 of those gyms. YAY!

     Darn. This deck looks like Daniel's, right down
to the wire. Hey, imitation is the highest form of
respect, and it is a good deck. (Daniel took out my
Shallow Dive deck with one like this.)

     So, here is the deck already.

     4 Gastly (Fossil)
     3 Haunter (Fossil)
     3 Scyther
     3 Chansey
     3 Ditto (1 English/ 2 Japanese)

     3 Computer Search
     4 Gust of Wind
     3 Item Finder
     2 Nightly Garbage Run
     2 No Removal Gym
     4 PlusPower
     3 Professor Oak
     2 Rocket Sneak Attack (1 English/ 1 Japanese)
     2 Scoop Up

    16 Psychic Energy
     4 Double Colorless Energy

     Theme: Well, use Double Edge to wipe out the
opposition, or use Ditto to make them pay with their
own moves. Gastly's Energy Conversion can get those
DCE's back, while Haunter is their to be annoying.
Scyther is their for the fighting resistance, as well
as supplying support in the attacking role.

      I mention the Japanese cards for you Can play
foreign version of English cards IF you have an
English version for viewing not in your deck. If you
don't you can (and will) be DQ'ed.

      Goal: To make it to round 4. Tourneys are 5
rounds long. Each tourney is split up by age. I was
in the 15+ age group. If you reach round 4, you
receive an invitation to the STS finals in New Jersey.

     Here we go.

     Round 1 vs Haymaker.

     Weather it was a Tuff/Hay or just a regular Hay,
I couldn't tell you. We both started with a lone
pokemon. Mine was Ditto, his was Hitmonlee. After
losing the coin toss, he attached an energy to Lee. I
drew a Gastly, benched it, and attached a Psychic to
Ditto. He attached another energy to Lee and Strech
Kicked the Gastly for 20. I had the DCE in my hand,
and a CPU Search. Sensing this was over, I drew a
card. Scyther. I benched the Scy, attached the DCE
to Ditto, Searched for a Plus, and Stretch Kicked him
for 60. KO. No benched Pokemon. YAY!

     1-0

     Round 2 vs. Tuff/Hay

     Wiggly with Scyther, Chan, and Buzz for support.
Oh, yeah! I had two Scythers, he had Jiggly and Chan.
I went first. Energy on Scy. Pass. A DCE on Puff
and Pound for 20. Buzz came on the Bench at this
time. My goal...KO that Puff before it evolves. I
attached a DCE, threw down a Plus, and Oaked. Getting
another Plus, and filling my bench, I CPU'ed for
another Oak. I got my 3rd Plus and Slashed the Jiggly
out. We went back and forth for a long time, until it
hit me. Uh-oh. I'm low on cards in my deck. Real
low. With one prize to go and 4 cards left, I needed
a miracle. I got it with this sweet combo. I had
Ditto out with 3 energies. I gusted out a Scy with 30
damage. I used Energy Retrieval for 2 energy cards.
I then used a CPU in my hand for a Plus. What??? Oh,
no. It's my last Prize. So, with two cards in hand,
I took an Item Finder, used that for the Plus, and
KO'ed the Scyther.

     2-0

     Round 3 vs. Haymaker

     This game was fun. We verbally jabbed each other
the whole match. It was great.

     I started slow, which in this environment is
murder. Haunter and Chansey stalled long enough to
buy me some time to get organized. The difference,
though, was this deck had Chan as its major player,
and all the fighting resistance just ruined the poor
boxer. Yeah, the Psychic friends helped as well.

     3-0

     Round 4 vs. Trapping Hay

     This was different. Magmars! Oh, boy. Buzz and
Wigglytuff was in this deck as well. What did me in,
though, was The Rocket's Trap. I had my hand
destroyed throughout the match, and could not get it
back fast enough. I fought on as long as I could, but
Magmar put 3 of my guys in fear, while ER (in SPITE of
the Gym Card) dried out my Chansey, who couldn't stop
the poison. Not good. I went out after this round.

      3-1

      Results: I got what I came for. An invite to
the STS Showdown, a cool Hat, and 12 Gym Heroes
Boosters. Inside, the rares were Misty (Holo), Erika,
2 Rocket Snorlax, Rocket Gym, Blaine's Moltres,
Erika's Victrebell. I can't recall what else.

      Note: Gym Challenge came out today. The
Challenge cards were tourney legal. While not being
incorporated correctly into decks, I saw the future
power of some cards. Rocket's Zapdos is just scary,
and Chaos Gym is insane.

      And I beat a Master Player for a cool promo:
Singing Jigglypuff. YAY!

      Props and Slops

      Props to:

      - Wizards for holding a cool tourney! Can't
wait to go tomorrow.
      - The girl who came to play dressed up like
Jesse.
      - The girl I traded my Dark Arbok (Foil) for a
Dark Dugtrio (Foil). Then she beat a Master for her
Jigglypuff with a Team Rocket Deck. (Dark Weezing,
Dark Arbok. and Rocket's Meowth.) I love original
decks.

      Slops to:

      - No one. It was a great day.

      Thanks for reading.

       Chris Magner

       Tigger_218@yahoo.com

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