Well, here I am. This is Sheepy77, known to you as SuperSheep77 on the boards. On Saturday, May 12, 2001, I went to Wichita, Kansas from my home in Overland Park (a suburb of Kansas City), Kansas of to play in the STS Qualifier Tournament.

NOTE: This has the best effect if you play Lifehouse: Hanging by a Moment (maybe my favorite song of all time) while reading this. The reason being, I was once “Hanging by a Moment” onto the game of Pokemon. I was on the verge of quitting, but that moment that drove me back to the game was last year’s STSQ and this year’s STSQ will probably have the same effect.

I got a bit creative a little while ago, and named all my decks cool names. Instead of "VenuCenter", "Imitated Shock" (this deck), and "Evil Slowking", they are now "Ray of Light", "Infinity", and "Morphine" :p

First off, I have to once again thank kyledem, because his mom took both kyledem and I there. It was a 3-½ hour drive…kyledem and I talked and battled pretty much the whole way there. As our luck would have it, we got lost in Wichita, which is actually a relatively large city. After circling the city for about 20 minutes, we finally figured out that we exited at the wrong exit and we finally found the Sunset Ballroom, where the QT was being held. Kyledem and I walked in and registered. There were lots of cards (packs and singles) on sale, a Pokemon Stadium 2 station, and lots of tables where everyone was practice battling and trading. I decided that I should try Recycle Energy in my deck, so I traded for one. Looking back, it was a great idea, Recycle Energy helped a lot with Clefable and SER.

Anyway, after an hour or so, we got ready for the tourney. As usual for me, I was very nervous. The first round has got to be the most important one, because if you lose, you’re in a huge hole for the rest of the tournament. I went to see whom my opponent was: Quoc (sp?) Thai.

This is someone I became friends with afterward. When we were about to start, a judge came over and told him that his deck was illegal because he had 2 cards in some of his covers, to conceal Japanese backs. So, he was forced to run over and buy a box of red-backed covers. And the game continued.

I don’t remember too much about this game, as it was the first match I played all day. He started the game with Elekid on the bench and (I think) Sneasel active. I had a Clefairy, which I evolved second turn. I Oaked, and proceeded to fill my bench (with all 3 of my Rocket’s Zapdos, Gligar, Magby) and Metronomed Beat Up for the KO. He then sent up Elekid, and free-retreated for an energyless Rocket’s Mewtwo. He passed. I Hypnoblasted it, and when it stayed asleep, I finished it off with a Psyburn. He proceeded like this for 3-4 more turns, with his Elekid Playful Punching almost every turn, until he didn’t have any Pokemon left. So he sent up Elekid. I retreated Clefable with a Scoop Up, and promoted a Rocket’s Zapdos with one electric energy. I attached a Plus Power, and flipped heads for the Baby Rule. He benched out, giving me my first round win.

Anyway. I had out Cleffa (active) with R Zappy and Clefairy on the bench. I had a Clefable in my starting hand. He had a Jungle Meowth active. First turn, I passed, doing nothing. Second turn, I evolved Clefairy, retreated Cleffa, attached my Recycle Energy to Clefable, and Metronomed Pay Day for 10. I flipped heads and drew a card. He attached an energy and Pay Day’d me. This went back and forth, with me Oaking before doing my second Pay Day. After I’d hit him 3 times, I attached a Plus Power and KOed it.. By this time, he’d put a Koffing, Geodude, Zubat, and Magnemite on his bench. I quickly went through each one with the combination of Clefable and a charged Rocket’s Zapdos. The kid kept saying how good my deck was and how I should win this tournament easily. Well, I sure hoped I would…

Between: I helped the kid with his deck, and suggested that he use not more than 2 colors. I think he improved his deck a bit after I helped him. Kyledem came over to watch our game after it was about halfway through, and told us that he’d already won his second round game. *sigh*

I’m not kidding; I didn’t play anybody this round. I sat down, got ready, and waited patiently (more or less), but he didn’t show up. I heard from a judge that he’d been kicked out of the store for selling cards there. So, I’m now 3-0, but I hated getting a win this way.

I went to watch some other games. I settled down on watching Ditto (Michael) with his Jealousy against a Raindance. Near the end of the game, the Raindance player attached a water energy to his benched Base Gyarados. Suddenly, Ditto asked to see the energy, took it out of its case, and found that it was a Japanese card. He demanded a translation for it (even though there was no writing on it!), and a judge came over and they started arguing. Ditto pulled out a full set of official Team Compendium rules, read the part about energy, and said that he needed a translation. Meanwhile, a huge (20 people or so) gathered to watch the dispute. It was finally settled when the Raindance player pulled out an English water energy from his backpack. Sorry, Ditto, but it was just too good to leave out ;-).

I talked with kyledem before the next round and he told me that he’d also won all 3 of his games so far, however, all his opponents had shown up. He also told me that we’d each need to win 2 out of the next 3 games to go on to the single elimination playoffs.

I started out with a horrible hand. Gligar, 2 Oak, 1 DCE, and 4 electric energy. He started with a Scyther, and something else. He went first, attached an energy to Scyther, and passed. I drew a Cleffa, retreated Gligar, attached an electric energy, and Eeeeeeeked. This is the scary part: I got no energy in my entire Eeeeeeek. I had 2 Gust, 1 Item Finder, 2 Oak, 1 SER, and 1 Lass. He attached a DCE and KOed Cleffa with a heads flip from Scyther. I sent up Gligar. I managed to topdeck a Clefairy. I put it down. I Oaked, hoping for more energy. Guess what, not a single one. I got another Clefairy (which I put down), 2 Rocket’s Zapdos (I put down one), my last Gust, another SER, Clefable, and another Item Finder. I passed. Meanwhile, he had a Sneasel fully charged up on his bench, with Darkness and Rainbow energy attached. He retreated for it, and KOed Clefairy easily. I drew Narrow Gym. I considered Oaking again, but saw that I had less than half of my deck left. So I decided to!

try my luck. I sent out my Rocket’s Zapdos and passed. He killed it with a Beat Up. At this point, I was sure that this game was lost. It was too late. Luckily, I drew and benched an Erika’s Dratini. I put it active and tried to stall. It stalled for a turn before he Gusted up my benched Clefable and KOed it. I put up Erika’s Dratini again. I managed to Scoop it once. This lasted about 7 turns: him doing a steady ten and me drawing Trainers and worthless Pokemon. I knew that what I was doing was in his favor; he had many more cards in his deck than I did. I finally drew an electric energy and decided to drop it on R Zappy. Guess what, next turn, he ERs it off. At that point, I regretted not using that energy as SER fuel (to remove both of Sneasel’s energies), but it wouldn’t have helped much anyway, he had another fully charged Sneasel on the bench. So, I lost soon after from lack of energies and lack of deck.

Between: Kyledem really started to annoy me when he told me that he’d won again. I had a high resistance, but realized that I would have to win the rest of my games to have a chance at the playoff. After my game, I decided to watch the game between Ditto and an 11 year-old girl named Briana. Briana was actually winning. She played a Steelix/Sneasel/Slowking/Cleffa deck, which was an awesome combo. The game went down to the wire. Briana had no cards left in her deck. She retreated her active Steelix and promoted a Cleffa. She had a huge hand, maybe 30 cards. She Eeeeeeeked them all back into her deck. Ditto, on the other hand, had about 5 or so cards left and would deck long before her. Briana once again promoted a Steelix loaded with Metal Energies, and won the game handily. A large crowd had gathered to watch this game, and everyone applauded both Ditto and Briana when the game was decided. Briana, kyledem, and two others were the only ones undefeated. Ditto, Thai (my first r!

ound opponent), and I both had one loss against us. I’m sure that there were many others who were 3-1, but we 3 were the only ones I remember. On to round 5, I had to win this one or I’d be eliminated.

I remember almost nothing about the first part of this game. All I remember is that he had 3 Sneasels on his bench at one point, and that none had any Darkness or Rainbow energy. I promoted a Clefable and steadily took all of them down. He had 1 card left in his deck, and I had about 3. He had 5 prizes left and I had 2. He was also watching Briana’s last game and had a brilliant idea. He also had a huge hand, and copied her idea, using Cleffa as an anti-decking technique. His deck was now larger than mine.. I almost panicked, knowing that he now had the upper hand. I had a Lass in my hand. I retreated for a fully loaded Erika’s Dratini, and tried to Tail Strike his Cleffa. I got tails, my attack doing nothing because of the baby power. He retreated for a Magby, attached a Metal energy to it, and Sputtered for 10. I Tail struck it, getting tails. He was very happy. I had nothing left in my deck, but I Lassed 3 trainers back. I Tail Struck with heads this time. One prize left. He!

Between: Guess what, kyledem’s Sneasel/Electabuzz/Slowking deck won again. --_--. Next would be the last round. Briana had finally lost her first game the same time that I had, to another Sneasel/Steelix deck. I didn’t watch that game because I had my own to take care of, but I do remember that at one point, her opponent KOed her Steelix with 2 Metal Energy with a Sneasel that got all heads on a Beat Up. I didn’t especially want to face either of them next round. I went and checked whom I was playing as soon as it was posted. I would have to win this one to get into the playoff.

Wow, I was scared. This was probably the best player in the tournament. I had to go through her to get to the playoffs. I honestly thought that I stood no chance whatsoever. Before this round, kyledem was convinced that he’d have to play her. So he walked around the room, muttering ways to beat her. “Beat Onix before it evolves…remove Energy…” That was pretty much what he came up with. Luckily for him, he never had to play Briana. Well, I started with a bad hand. Swell, the most important game of the day, and my only basic is Clefairy.

I also had Comp. Search, Recycle Energy, Narrow Gym, Oak, and a few other cards in my starting hand. I made the plan early on to attach Recycle and pass the first turn, and then Comp. Search for Clefable second turn. So, I followed it. I was utterly surprised when I saw that her only basic was a Slowpoke. 0_0

I followed through with my plan. I attached the Gold Berry I’d draw second turn to Clefairy. I Comp. Searched for Clefable and evolved it. I played Narrow Gym and Oaked. I got Rocket’s Zapdos, Cleffa, a Plus Power, 2 Item Finders, and some other cards. I played Cleffa and Rocket’s Zapdos. I Psyshocked Slowpoke for 10 and paralyzed. In the next 2 turns, she played Sneasel as her only other basic. This game was actually starting to look pretty good for me. She had energy on either Slowpoke or Sneasel. I had a hunch that she had a Slowking in her hand, so I decided to try to KO Slowpoke before she tried to evolve it. When it had 30 damage on it, I Psyshocked with a Plus Power for the KO. Looking back, I could have done it faster by using the Plus Power as soon as I had gotten it, and then Item Findering it twice.

She promoted Sneasel and passed. I realized that this was my chance. I used one of my Item Finders to get back that Plus Power, and the other for my Oak. I attached Plus Power and Oaked. I got enough basics to fill my bench, and one more Plus Power. All I needed was two heads out of six for the win. And I got it.

Between games: Both Ditto and kyledem were disbelieving when I told them that I’d beaten Briana. I suddenly realized how she must feel, having lost her last two games after winning the first four. She might not make it to the playoff, just because of bad luck. When the results were posted, I was both happy and sad at once. Unlike the previous five times, I had not rushed forward to see how I’d done and whom I’d be against. Something held me back. After everyone had cleared out, I found that I’d ended up fourth overall. That meant that I’d be playing number five: James.

Briana was number nine. That had to be a killer. She was maybe the best player with the best deck there, and didn’t make the playoff. It mutually agreed that that wasn’t fair, although kyledem was relieved that he wouldn’t have to play her. Number eight plays number one, two and seven, three and six, and four and five. I was four so I played James, who was five. I’d had a chance to watch his deck after my match with Briana and was not at all pleased with what I saw. He played Scyther and Murkrow. But worst of all, he played three Clefable. The worst enemy of Rocket’s Zapdos.

I knew that this game was lost even before I had started. This was probably the worst possible opponent for me to face. His deck stacked up very well against mine; probably the only other one that would do this well against my deck would be Ditto’s. Anyway.

As was the situation all day, I started with a Gligar active with Clefairy as bench and him a Scyther and Clefairy. He went first, attached a grass energy, and Swords Danced. This was the first time all day that I’d seen anyone use Swords Dance. I drew Rocket’s Zapdos and placed it. I decided to sacrifice Gligar, as it didn’t serve much purpose for me against a Scyther anyway. Instead of ridding me of Gligar, he gusted up Clefairy and did 60 because of Swords Dance =\ I sent up Gligar, and drew Rocket’s Zapdos. Relieved that I wouldn’t lose (at least not yet), I sent up Rocket’s Zappy and passed. I had no energy whatsoever. He attached an energy to Clefairy and evolved it. He retreated Scyther and KOed R Zap. Once again, I sent up Gligar. I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I don’t remember what else happened. I didn’t lose right away, but it was all downhill from there.

Then, a judge came over and told us that we could play 2 out of 3. It turned out that James was a pretty easygoing guy, and said yes even though he’d already won the first game and we hadn’t agreed beforehand to play 2 of 3.

This was a quick game. I had up Erika’s Dratini and him a Magby. For the first time of the entire day, I went first. I Computer Searched for a DCE, attached to E Drat, and Tail Struck hoping for two heads in a row. He told me that it was a very slim chance that it would succeed, I responded by saying that I had a better chance of this working than me dragging the game out and winning that way. Guess what, I got two heads. The series is tied!

This was it. I thought beforehand that I actually had a chance to win. Then, I thought that I could never win and go on with a clear conscience when he’d already officially won the round. I didn’t tell him that, but planned to if I had won.

I don’t remember much about this game. He started out with a free retreater and I a Rocket’s Zapdos. He benched two Clefairy. I gusted out one of them, attached a Plus Power that was in my starting hand, and Oaked. I got two more plus powers, and used Plasma for the KO. He said it didn’t matter anyway. He sent out the other Clefairy, evolved, attached an energy, and, with a wave of his hand, won. This wasn’t exactly what had happened, before this was a few turns of stalling, but I don’t remember those clear enough to describe them.

By nature, I’m a very competitive person. I almost always feel bad when I lose; it’s just the way I am. This being the biggest tournament of my life, I found it very strange that I felt no sadness or regret that I’d lost. Sure, I felt disappointed, but not nearly as much as I usually do after a huge loss. Maybe it was the thought that someone like Ditto or James might go on to New Jersey and win it all that did the trick. I don’t know for sure.

So this was it. Strangely enough, I felt great. I had made lots of new friends, played some awesomely talented people, and, most importantly, had a lot of fun. It was great. On the three hour trip home with kyledem, I felt like I’d done something great with this Saturday. The 3-1/2 hour trip home seemed like a ten-minute trip. I spent most of my time talking with kyledem and writing out this KDR in my notebook by hand.

Now I know my answer to my once-endless question. I’ll never quit Pokemon. I’m no longer “Hanging by a Moment.” Now, it’s more like another part of that same song: “I’m falling even more in love with you.”

Pojo note: Please edit out this Pojo note. Please, if AOL messes up the formatting, please put the line breaks and paragraphs where they should go. Also, on the italicized song part, please just use the simple code that I provided. If there’s some reason why this shouldn’t be posted, please tell me and I’ll fix it, because I really want to get this posted. Thanks, and great site. :-)