Evil Wiggly v. 1.0 (Fire/Fighting/Colorless)
by Toby Aurora
Spring Hill Mall
West Dundee, IL
Saturday, September 23rd, 2000
32 participants per flight

Evil Wiggly:

3 Jigglypuff
2 Wigglytuff
3 Hitmonchan
2 Scyther
3 Fossil Magmar

4 Bill
3 Oak
3 Comp. Search
3 RSA
4 PlusPower
2 GOW
2 Scoop Up
3 NGR
2 Itemfinder
2 Switch
2 Impostor Oak's Revenge

2 FH Energy
4 DCE
6 Fighting
5 Fire

After reading about this on Pojo.com for months, and this being the only stop
anywhere near me, I had to go, so my mom agreed to drive me. If I didn't get
the ticket, there was no way I'd be able to go to New Jersey.
We left around 6:00 and got to the mall by 7:30. There were already maybe 30
people there. We got in line and began the wait, since the event didn't open
until 10:00. John from Team Canada was behind us in line and we ended up
talking, and he ended up completely fixing my deck. (Which ended in me
running up and down the line asking "Does anyone have Itemfinder?!") I also
saw Gordon Kane a bit back in line, and heard him mention Kittyfox was there
as well, but didn't see any other Pojo people.

We finally got to the registration, it was moving really slowly even though
we were quite close to the front of the line, maybe 25 people in front of us.
They gave us Misty's Seadra Prerelease (ARGH! I wanted the Jigglypuff!) I
signed up and it turned out I was in Flight one of the 11-14 group.

After a fairly quick deck check (you had to have all your duplicate cards
together...all that time wasted on shuffling beforehand!) I headed off
towards the middle of the mall. The event was run very smoothly, and the
judges knew what they were doing. The winners from round 1 went on to the
next area while Flight 2 battled, then the Flight 1 winners from round 2 went
to a 3rd area, and played the final 3 rounds there, being joined by the
Flight 2 people (distinguishable by their green neckbands as opposed to our
neon orange ones) in our 4th round.

I was very surprised by the LACK of Wigglys and Hay in this age group.(At
least what I saw in my flight, but I heard in others they were rampant.)
Before the matches started, everyone was discussing what deck types they had
(not the smartest thing to do, in my opinion) and I heard a lot of,
"Water/Psychic" "Moltres/Fire" and other non-archetype decks.

Match 1
    I played against one of the only other two girls there, and she had a
water deck that was not a Raindance. I got out Wiggly fully powered 2nd turn,
with a full bench, and took out 3 Lapras and an Articuno quickly. She brought
out Rocket Squirtle, evolved to Wartortle and used Bite. Unfortunately for
her, I drew a PlusPower and that was game.

I ended up being the only girl to go on. We marched over to the next little
area.

Match 2
    I didn't see very much of his deck. He told me he wasn't very good at the
game. Hitmonchan took a few early prizes, then Wiggly came out and the game
was literally "Waved" away.

Moving on to the 3rd area, the judges informed us that since we'd made it
here, we would receive at least 4 booster packs.

Match 3
    I Mulliganned 3 times, much to my surprise, and he drew 2 cards every
time. My fourth hand, I finally got basic, and also an Impostor Oak's
Revenge. After Revenge, he couldn't seem to recover, he was low on cards the
rest of the game, Wiggly came out and it was over quickly.

We were again informed that by reaching this level, we would now get 12
booster packs and a ticket to New Jersey automatically, since we were in the
Final Four.

Match 4
    This was a little slower since Wiggly didn't show up as quickly. In the
end, he had a Ditto out, used Lullaby, but I rolled a dice and Wiggly woke
up. I used PlusPower and Waved for 70. He used Gust and brought out a
Hitmonchan and tried to Special Punch. I pointed out that by Gusting the
'Chan out, he killed himself. He didn't believe it so I called the judge over
and he confirmed that by Gusting out 'Chan Ditto was KOed.

Match 5 (Finals)
    This kid had the only other Wiggly deck I saw in my Flight. We had joked
in the first round that we'd have to play each other in the Finals if we both
made it there, and I'd said it would be very interesting to play Wiggly vs.
Wiggly. Now, it was coming true. The match started out strong, and I was
ahead on prizes by 2 several minutes into the match. John (who'd fixed my
deck) was watching, and he said that when I KOed my opponents Hitmonchan and
Scyther, I forgot to draw prizes. Near the end game I had no hand and no Oak
in sight. I couldn't get energy, and eventually lost. :(

I received a shirt, hat, 24 Gym Heroes boosters, TCG for Gameboy, and the
"gold ticket" to the New Jersey STS. :)!!!!

I left soon after, but managed to take some of the giant card forms home from
Misty's Fun Zone.

Props and Slops
Props to John for fixing my deck, I don't think I'd have made it far with my
other deck
Props to ending up with $75 in free boosters ( I got another from a survey)
Props to some decent cards in the boosters
Props to all the people that lost to me, you were good sports.
Props to my opponent in the final round, sorry I never learned your name, it
was a tough match.
Props to Pojo.com, without it I wouldn't have even gone!
Props to the mistake booster that had a rare and a holo in it. :)
Props to Wizards for organizing it well.
Props to finding the 5 figure battle pack w/ Mew after searching for it for
months!
Props to the judges that knew the game rules.

Slops that I didn't get the Promo Jigglypuff!
Slops to not staying longer.
Slops that I didn't get a chance to battle any Pojo people, I'd have liked to.
Slops to losing the event guide with all my stamps.
 
All in all, it was a great day. Now I've just gotta figure out how to get to
New Jersey... :)
~~ Toby Aurora~~