Killer Deck Report by Snapman
'An Uncommon Fire Deck'
Pojo's apprentice league
Sunday 3rd December
3:30 EST, 8:30 GMT
10 participants

I had never won a tourney on Pojos Apprentice League before, but I had been in a final of one before. This was my favourite type of tourney- double elimination. I really like that format because it gives you 2 chances for glory. You have to lose twice two get knocked out. Anyway, onto the rules.

Rules- Mwsmagmars Double Trouble Tourney
Base set to Team Rocket set only and no promos. No rares allowed. Each round is 20 minutes apart from the final.

I really didn't expect this deck to do very well, as I though Dewgong and Dark Golduck would be in almost every deck. I decided to use Arcanine as my main killer because of the fact that he has a HUGE 100HP and can deal 80 damage with only 30 recoil. Here is my deck!

An Uncommon Fire Deck!

Pokemon = 16
4x Growlithe
4x Arcanine
4x Fossil Magmar
4x Farfetch'd

Trainers = 26
4x Oak
4x Bill
4x Pokedex
4x Defender
4x Super Potion
3x Recycle
3x Nightly Garbage Run (NGR)

Energy = 18
4x DCE
14x Fire

OK then. The aim behind this deck is to use Magmar to stall while you build up a fully charged Arcanine. While Arcanine is using Take Down, do whatever you can to stop significant damage. Defender and Take Down is the main combo in this deck  because  then Arcanine only takes 10 recoil and defends against the opponents next attack. Also for this deck, I revived two forgotten cards from the scrap heap, Pokedex and Super Potion. I used recycle as an alternative to Item Finder. As for Farfetch'd, this was gonna be Lickitung, but then I decided that despite the high HP of Licki, Farfetch'd was more suited for this deck with a nice small retreat cost.
OK then! Onto Round 1!

Round1
Me vs Chansey 2000
When I realised that I hadn't got a bye (to my surprise), I was quite annoyed because I was the 2nd (or 3rd) highest rank in the tourney. I was told that it was your skill rating that got you the bye, and not your rank. Anyway, I had played Chansey 2000 earlier today in a ladder match and lost so I knew this would be no pushover. I  can't remember too much about this match. Chan stalled with Lickitung against my Magmar which gave me time to build up my Arcanine. I then realised that I forgot to put GOW in my deck! I knew from then on that withour GOW in this tourney, I could struggle. After 18 mins of stalling and no prizes taken I retreated Magmar for a fully charged Arcanine and KO'd the Lickitung. 1!
 prize taken, and then 1-0

Round 2 (Upper Bracket)
Me vs ToMoss 45
Another tight match. Can't remember too much about this one either, but I was kinda lucky. This guy also play Lickitung and Dodrio (I think). He took the lead early with 1 prize and stalled. I didn't get Oak at all during this match so my deck was moving slowly, and was even slower thanks to his use of ER. With 2 minutes left I finally got Arcanine charged and tongue wrap failed so I retreated Magmar and sent out Arcanine and used Flamethrower. I got my prize at exactly the same time when time was called! It went into sudden death, and with nothing else with over 80HP, I used take down for the win.
2-0

Round 3 (Upper Bracket)
Me vs BabyNinetales
And yet another tight match. I have to say that I am sympathetic with BabyNinetales because he/she was very unlucky with the coin toss. We both used an Aracanine deck and I got an early KO with my Fossil Magmar, but I was hit back straight away to make it 1-1. She was unlucky with her Licki because the coin landed tails more or less every time. I got my Arcaine charged first and used Take + Defenders + Super Potions from then on. When time was called, I was ahead by 2 prizes.
3-0

Round 4 (Upper Bracket)
Me vs misled_RaveN
This guy was ranked #7 on the ladder and the favourite to win the tourney cause he's played lots of common/uncommon matches before and had experience in this kind of environment. I had absolutly no experience in this environment. This guy played a Dodrio/Tauros deck which he claims beat the #1 rank Underdog with in a ladder match a few days ago. I used Magmar to stall while I got Arcanine built up. He got Dodrio on second turn and kept retreating his Tauros to shake off the effect of Smokescreen. Magmar got KO'd, but Arcanine was ready to do some damage! From the on he stalled with Licki while he tried to build up his bench but when time was called, I had take 4 prizes and he had taken 2.
4-0

Man! If this was single elimination I would have won this tourney by now! I was then the only person who hadn't lost and I had a 40 minute break while the Lower Bracket found a winner..
I knew I had a good chance of winning now because my opponent would have to beat me twice to win the tourney, while I would have to only win once. My opponent turned out to be sudden_death, who was knocked out in the first round, but still won the lower bracket!

Final
Me vs Sudden_death
The worst thing happened here. I had a dire starting hand, and lost the toss. He was playing a Dark Golduck deck! No!! Arcanine could get KO'd in just 1 hit! I was getting tottaly beaten into submission when Aracinie finally came (after 3 Oaks!!) But even then it was too late. After just 10 minutes he had taken 5 prizes, and wiped out my bench, and I had only taken 1 prize! Another final then!
4-1

Final #2
Me vs Sudden_death
Geez, sudden_death certainly lived up to his name in the last round! I won the toss this time and had just 2 Growlithes, but 2 Arcanines were in my hand and an Oak! He started with Licki. I used a Growlithe as a punching bag while I charged up the Arcanine on the bench. Sadly he used ER to take away my 2 fire energy. I was getting nowhere so I started to pump up the active Arcanine. A few turn later, he had ko'd one of my Farfetch'd, and I had ko'd his Licki and with take down and Aracine had 8 damage counters on it. He sent out Doduo to Fury Swipe Aracanine. This coin flip would probably decide the match! If he got 2 heads, I would have probably gone on to lose this. Luckily, they were both TAILS!!=
20I quickly went for a 5-1

Yeah my first ever tourney victory! My rank moved from #20 to #14 during that tourney and I was very pleased with myself.

PROPS AND SLOPS

PROPS TO......
Mwsmagmar, for hosting such a great tourney
Pojo's Apprentice League, for being excellent.
Sudden_death, for making a great final.
My deck and me.
Super Potion and Pokedex- I know have better views on these cards.
Everyone who gave me support.

SLOPS TO......
BabyNinetales, for saying I was cheating and taking too long over my turns.

Hope you enjoyed this! Cya!
Snapman@talk21.com

-Snapman

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