2005 North East Regionals at The Meadowlands
5/14/05
by Johnny Blaze
approx. 93 Participants

To start off my North East Regional Pics can be found here: 

http://community.webshots.com/album/346314251ybqzFr

The North Eastern Regionals were held at the Sheraton at the Meadowlands this year.  The Hotel was elegant as it gets for New Jersey. lol  There were around 93 participants much less than I expected.   I suppose this was due to the fact that the grand opening of the Nintendo Center was the same day.  There were 13 players in the 10 –under, 25 players in the 11-14, and 55 players in the 15+.  The game still boasts the most players in the 15+.  There is something to be said about this “kids game” when each and every tournament even Worlds has the majority of players in the 15+ division. 

So we take a crew of about 8 players down to the Meadowlands for this competition.  Strangely enough we brought 5 players in the 10 and under division.  There would have been only 8 - 10 and under players without us. lol   I decide to run with my tech Hariyama-ex deck.  I know Rock-Lock will still be popular and Hariyama-ex has a good matchup against that.   Also my friend Gino “G-Dog” from the boards is running Slaking so Hariyama smokes that.  It also does fairly well against Zappy . The basic strategy is to against Rock-Lock, Dark Draggy, Pidgeot, is to lock in Battle Frontier with Hariyama-ex and then beatdown. That is why you will see a tech Scott in there.  With Magcargo I can Smooth Over and I either get my Stadiums if I don’t have them or just search them out with Scott.  But with Smooth Over Scott also can net me 3 Steven’s or 3 TV Reporters that I can use for the next 3 turns with Smooth Over.  I have 2 Oak’s Research because I  tend to deck with the speed of this deck.  In hindsight I probably should have run 2 Battle Frontier and 1 Island Cave but I knew of at least 3 peeps that were playing Plume-ex and the Island Cave comes in handy against that deck. I do have to watch out for Psychic decks especially Dusclops-ex which is not weak to Psychic and resists Fighting and Colorless(Crystal Shard).  So here is my list and then to the report:

Hairy- Pig deck

Pokemon – 19
4 – Dunsparce
4 – Makuhita (EM)
3 – Hariyama-ex
2 – Slugma
2 – Magcargo (Smooth Over)
2 – Spoink
2 – Grumpig (DX)

Trainers – 27

4 – TV Reporter
4 – Steven’s Advice
3 – Celio’s Network
3 – Pokemon Reversal
2 – CopyCat
2 – Professor Oak’s Research
2 – Warp point
2 – Island Cave
2 – Crystal Shard
1 – Battle Frontier
1 – Pow Hand Xtension
1 - Scott

Energy – 14
11 – Fighting
3 – Scramble

Round 1 vs. Steven (Dark Ash) Kohler

It figures that I play Steven 1^st round.  Steven is a winner of one of the City Championships and one of the 1^st players that played Vileplume-ex since its inception.  Steven also plays at our league and rode with us in my van.  So I typically beat Steven with my Hariyama deck.  Lets see what happens today.  I get a decent start and I go for the early Battle Frontier lock with Hariyama on Turn 2 and start Knocking Off his hand for jank stuff like Dunsparces and useless trainers.  I am up by two prizes when he finally builds a Vileplume-ex.  Since I have the Battle Frontier Vile-ex locks out my Island Cave and my Hariyama suffers.  We trade prizes back and forth and he is now ahead by 1 prize.  He locks up my Magcargo with a Pokemon Reversal.  I get the sleep flip and attach a Scramble and ko his Plume-ex.  It is now 3-3 but he brings up a Pidgeot and ATM Rocks for 2 prizes.  During the game I misplay a Grumpig active instead of a Dunsparce and this eventually is my downfall.  He wins when time is called with his 1 prize to my remaining 3.

Record: 0-1

Round 2 vs. Armando

I remember playing Armando at the NJ State Championship.  Today he is playing Dark Amphy, Shiftry- Fan Action, with Pidgeot.  I go 1^st and have a god hand but no energies to Sar’s with Dunsparce.  It is like this for 5 turns until I get a Magcargo and Smooth Over for an energy.  Meanwhile he has taken 2 prizes with his Shiftry but he has bad luck getting out a Pidgeot.   I promote Magcargo attach a Scramble and ko his Shiftry that was damaged somehow I forgot how it took damage.  I was able to build  Hariyama and lock in the Battle Frontier which made his Dark Amphy useless.  He is finally able to get Pidgeot out for resistance but I smooth over 2 turns in a row to get Crystal Shards.  I end up winning.

Record: 1-1

Round 3 vs. David A.

David rode up from Maryland with his family, brother, and some friends.  I lose the flip and go 2nd.  I start with 2 Makuhitas and he has 2 –40 HP weak to fighting Elekids.  He attaches a L energy to his active Elekid and does his attack.  I attach a Fighting and roll a heads to ko his elekid.  He is like wtf I just got pwnd by Makuhita. Lol  He still has another Elekid.   He uses Dual Ball for 1 Zappy-ex.  He benches Zappy and attaches energy to it.  My turn I Professor Oak’s Research for a Hariyama-ex and another Fighting Energy.  I take my 2^nd prize.  His next turn he duals ball for nothing and attached another energy to Zappy.  My turn I attach another energy to Hariyama and attack for 80.  He has nothing and attacks for 80 back.  My turn and I ko his lone Zappy for game.

Record: 2-1

Round 4 vs. Julio

Julio is another player I played at the NJ State Championship.  He is part of Team 4K playas-Rising Stars.  Unfortunately he and his crew got lost and had to take a 1^st round lost since they showed up late.  He did win his next 2 rounds and I give him a lot of props for that.  He runs Venusaur-ex with Pidgeot.  I lock in an early Battle Frontier with Hariyama and start destroying his hand with Knock Off.  I get up on prizes early but he makes a remarkable comeback.  We end up going to sudden death with a lot of players surrounding us looking on.  Julio feels he has this as the momentum is with him.  I end up getting one of my last Fighting energies and hitting a Pokemon Reversal on his benched Bulbasaur for the win.   Great game Julio!!

Record: 3-1

Round 5 vs. Sean (Cross-format Kid)

Sean is from Northern Virginia and is playing Zappy-ex.  He gets a great start and gets a Turn 2 Zappy to ko my Dunsparce and then another sacrificial Dunpsarce and finally another sacrificial Makuhita.  By then I do get a Hariyama-ex pumped but he just kept on swarming with Zappy’s for the win.

Record: 3-2

Round 6 vs. Cindy Weed

I have seen Cindy at various other tournies but never played her before.  Cindy is a very good player and is running Voodoo, another deck I dread to play against with mine.  Cindy gets a very bad start and starts with 3 Hypno’s and an energy drought.  I don’t fair as better as I start with a Slugma and Spoink benched.  I have a 2^nd turn Magcargo that is attacking 10 a turn while trying to wake up from Drowzees sleep attacks.  She finally pulls a Dark Hypno to ko the Magcargo.  I send up my Grumpig and attach Scramble and ko her Dark Hypno which surprised her.  I build quicker than Cindy does and my Hariyama swarms lol are too much for her.   We do have friendly conversation during the whole match and she is a very nice person.  I also learn at this time that my son Nick wins a trip to San Diego at Worlds by coming in 2^nd in the 10 and under division. Woot Way to go Nick.

Record: 4-2

So I wait to see if I can make Top 16 with a 4-2 record.  I also learn that my friend Steven who beat me Round 1 went 2-4 with Vile-ex so that pretty much killed my resistance.  Top 16 is posted and sure enough it did.  I missed Top 16 by coming in 19^th place overall.  There were like 3 of us tied: Jon “Mozart Rules”, Rob “Loser” Castiello, and myself that just missed Top 16.

Oh well I’m excited anyways and it was a great tournament.  See everyone who goes to Worlds in August.

Props to:

• All staff and judges and volunteers who put on such a great event.
• TJ’s Collectibles for putting on a class event and the rulings.
• My son Nick who turns 11 on May 24^th for winning another trip to Worlds
• My 6 yr old son John Jr. who played in his 1^st big event and got 11 out of 13.
• Gino “G-Dog” for taking my advice and playing Slaking that earned him Top 16.
• The Barlocks and other people who drove up from the South to play in NJ.

Slops to:

• The lower than expected turnout due to the same day as the Nintendo Center opening.

Contact me on aim JSChimento

Email- JSChimento@aol.com