Overview of the St. Louis Gym Challenge

“I REALLY hope no one recognizes me… that would be interesting…” ~ Me to a friend

“Are you RaNd0m from POJO?!?” ~ Someone who saw my shirt.

“*sigh* Yeah…” ~ Me

Note to self: If you don’t want to be recognized, don’t wear a shirt with your name on it. =P

Well, it was fun. This was my first major tournament where I was well known, and it was definitely interesting. I had a lot of fun, and I think everyone else did too. I met tons of people, including: RS, Croconaw88, NikePK, Savior, Narfman, Slashtap, and many others. I knew RS and Croconaw from before, and trust me, we’ll get into that later…

I got there the night before, at a hotel in St. Louis. It took us forever to get there, and we had some bumps along the way… including nearly running out of gas, having transmission problems, and being stranded in the ghetto. =\

My sister and I went over our decks and stuff, waiting for RS and Croconaw to arrive. =\ Finally they did. My sister and RS immediately hung out, (They’ve been “dating” since the STS.) and Croconaw and his siblings, his mom, and I played Slap. It’s a fun game… but a dangerous one. My hands STILL hurt. =\ (If you want more info on that game, ask Croc’s mom. =P)

We TRY to sleep, but RS keeps knocking on our door all night. I end up staying up until 2 A.M. =/

Next day, Croc and I playtest, and off we go to the GC. We put our decks together, and chill. Finally, at 12 or so, we realize we’re not going to get a lunch break. Uh……… “I don’t get it.” Finally, the round 1 pairings are up ! Kudos to the people running this qualifier, as it was very speedy compared to some of the past I’ve seen.

Oh yeah, the deck:

Crobat’s Back, Resign! V2.0

Pokemon x22

Zubat x4
Golbat x4
Crobat x3
Cleffa x3
Pichu x2
Tyrogue x2
Murkrow x2
Unown M x1
Erika’s Bellsprout x1

Trainers x22

Professor Elm x4
Misty’s Wrath x4
Double Gust x4
Focus Band x4
Nightly Garbage Run x2
Chaos Gym x2
Resistance Gym x2

Energy x16

Grass Energy x10
Darkness x4
Full Heal x2

(Sorry to the people I played that I forgot… I WAS taking notes, yet they aren’t in my bookbag now…) There were 24 people in 11-14, 10 in the 10-, and 15 in the 15+. =\

Round 1: Vs. Joe w/ Feraligatr (Narfman)

This was a great game. I think both of us would agree. It was a typical Gatr vs. Crobat game, only something happened. I started off with bad luck. He got Feraligatr out, and I was worried. With him up 3-2, I had a choice. I could either risk using a baby Pokemon against him, or attack with Crobat. I chose Crobat. With Croconaw, RS, and Kristen watching on the other side of the ‘fence’, I flipped 3 heads out of 4 on Cross Attack. He flipped tails on the focus, hence, giving me the game.

Joe would end up winning the rest of his games, and we’d meet again.

1-0-0

Round 2: Vs. Slashtap w/ Feraligatr

I forgot your real name… I even wrote Slashtap in the notes I DO have. =\ This was a horrible game for me. I didn’t even see a Zubat until he was up by 5 prizes! I had the chance in the beginning to ko him with tyrogue vs. cleffa. I flipped tails on the baby rule. After that, I was a goner. He seriously owned. =P

He would actually end up with the seventh seed, and guess what? We’d meet again.

1-1-0

Round 3: Vs. A dude w/ Houndoom

Again, sorry I forgot names. =/ I actually had a bad hand, but it didn’t really matter. The deck was not going to come close to making top 8… and I won 6-0.

2-1-0

Round 4: Vs. Brock Hildebrandt w/ Feraligatr

This started out with me facing Kyle Dembinski with his Crobat, and me losing! But Kyle made a mistake, and sat at the wrong table. When I had my correct opponent, Brock Hildebrandt, we started with 15 minutes left! Brock had previously won this round as well, and he was about to face me again after he won. =\

I don’t remember a lot, except me getting Crobat out before he could do much with a Feraligatr. Oh yeah, that and the fact I used the TecH Erika’s Bellsprout 5 times! Just don’t ask… let’s just put it this way. Nightly Garbage Run combined with Chaos Gym against someone who uses Trash Exchange. =/ It stunk horribly for him, as he ended up losing in a round he won in. =\

3-1-0

Round 5: Vs. Colby Wright w/ Feraligatr

Seeing a pattern? 7/8 decks I would play would be FERALIGATR! At least his was original: He played SI Lapras in there, and I didn’t see much feraligatr. He didn’t get the greatest hand, and Chaos Gym seriously OWNED. =o

Colby would make the top 8, after thinking he wouldn’t after this game. We were thinking about drawing, but we didn’t know if we’d make it. =\

I thought his family was pretty cool, so I’ll mention a bit. Colby came with his mom, and with Chris Maple, from Oklahoma. We talked a bit, and had a blast. Kudos dudes! ;)

4-1-0

Ok, this is the midway point. I calculated it all up, and figured that I’d have the second or third seed, and that Croconaw88 would have 4^th or 5^th. Due to this, we knew that we’d not have to play until the finals. =P Anyway, thanks to this ownage British guy helping to run this, I got the final standings after the swiss rounds. Here are the top 8’s for all the divisions; and for the 10- and 15+, the final winners. 14- will be saved for later. =P

10- Division

1. Kimball, Carl                                    11 points
2. Vernola, Jeffrey                                9 points
3. Vernola, James                                 8 points
4. Krekeler, Andrew                            8 points
5. Gonzalex, Davian                              6 points
6. Krekeler, Zakary                              6 points
7. Romero, Daniel                                3 points
8. Buckland, Garrick                            3 points

11-14 Division

1. Hickman, Tommy (Savior)                13 points
2. Schweppe, Jonathan (me)                 12 points
3. Duncan, Joseph (round 1 opponent)12 points
4. Buckland, Julie                                 11 points
5. Recktenwald, Jonathan (Croc)          10 points
6. Wright, Colby (5^th round opponent)9 points
7. Tarpley, Kyle (Slashtap)                   9 points
8. Dembinski, Kyle                               9 points

15+ Division

1. Burks, Brandon (RS)                        12 points
2. Winn, Chris                                      10 points
3. Winn, Jeremy                                   9 points
4. Tyler, Matt                                       7 points
5. Krekeler, Vincent                             7 points
6. Pena, Bertha                         6 points
7. Vansant, Tom                                   6 points
8. Easley, Dennis                                  6 points

Ok, I caught some of the 10- and 15+, so here’s what I got.

15+ would be Brandon Burks in the finals with someone. =\ Brandon would win, owning the 15+ with a 7-0 record! Good job, RS :P

10- would be Carl Kimball in the finals with Jeffrey Vernola. And Jeffrey would win, getting the trip!

Now down to the 14-…

I played Slashtap first round. =\ Here we go…

Round 1: Vs. Slashtap w/ Feraligatr

This was a game… but I eventually took the lead. He couldn’t find focus band, and once his first gatr was gone, he was too. We had a lot of fun though J!

Round 2: Vs. Joe w/ Feraligatr

We were joking about a repeat of Round 1, but it didn’t quite happen. Again, I got Crobat out early, and voila! A win. =\ Crobat seriously can own gatr when it works right. =)

Finals: Vs. Croconaw88 w/ Feraligatr

Oh no! A repeat of Indianapolis! =\ This is still being debated in #pojo right now -_- I threw the dice in the air, he called heads, and it was tails. I had cleffa, tyrogue, and zubat. He had cleffa. I play an energy on tyrogue, and smash punch. “Baby Rule.” Heads. We all freak out… “Smash… Punch…” Heads! I won the trip! But wow was that cheap -_-

Unfortunately, I think an asterisk will be placed there for quite some time. I really think I could’ve taken his gatr, but we didn’t get the chance to find out. =\

Overall, it was a great qualifier/Gym Challenge. I’m glad I won the trip, and it was a shame I had to play a friend in the finals. But I bet he’d have done the same thing in my place… =\

Here’s some pictures of the GC =)

Before the GC starts… In the middle: Left to Right: Croc’s Sis, RS, My sis, Julie Buckland, Croconaw, Croc’s Mom.

RS and my sister, Kristen, in the pool. Doesn’t she look evil?  

Situation at hand: I’d just rolled heads on the baby rule vs. his Cleffa. This roll would be for the game. 

 

After the coin flips, and all the filling out forms, Croc and I shake hands.

We finally got home! =) (We forgot the cell phone in St. Louis, so we drove an extra 3 hours to get it back… not to mention the ghetto and the unplanned stops. -_-) There are tons more pictures at Croconaw’s Picture site. They can be found here: http://community.webshots.com/user/croconaw88

~ RaNd0m

rand0m_for_life@hotmail.com