2002 Pojo Awards – Winners
First off, I’d like to thank all of the people who participated in this contest. We had quite a few people take part in this contest, and I appreciate it. The contest turned out to be very exciting for me to tally the votes in. Some of the categories were blow-outs… and some were extremely close. We had about 50 people vote overall. I will obviously point out who received first, and I will point out latter places IF they made a strong showing. If they didn’t, I won’t even list them.
Let’s get to the winners!
Top Deck – Unlimited
And the winner is… Slowking/Sneasel!!! It received 49% of the votes in this category, making it a clear choice for first. This deck has been a mainstay since the beginning of 2001, with the release of Neo Genesis. The shear economic power of Sneasel’s “Beat Up” attack totally is gamebreaking. Slowking’s Pokemon Power “Mind Games” is one of the best in the game. Combining these two cards makes it where Sneasel cannot have its energy removed, making it nearly invincible. I cannot even say how many tournaments this deck has won, but there have been a lot of them.
2nd: Wigglytuff (31%)
Top Deck – Old Modified
And the winner is… Feraligatr!!! Not a huge surprise here; it received 60% of the vote. The power of this deck in Old Modified was not only revered, it was blatantly feared. It was feared so badly that numerous grass decks popped up in efforts to stop it, and many of them even failed. The only two that actually survived were Crobat and Dark Muk, and they didn’t always beat non-Feraligatr decks.
Feraligatr’s “Riptide” attack simply dominated the environment. With numerous drawing power cards combined with Feraligatr’s Pokemon Power “Downpour”, this deck was able to stock up on damage like it wasn’t anybody’s business. Combined with Trash Exchange, it was able to get many of the necessary trainers back into the deck, while at the same time fueling another huge attack. Feraligatr has won more Old Modified tournaments than any deck, hands down. It dominated the STS’s.
2nd: Crobat (19%)
3rd: Dark Muk (17%)
Top Deck – New Modified
This was obviously a very close contest. There were so many people who wrote in their own decks! That wasn’t exactly the point… but regardless. The winner is… Entei/Cargo!!! Although it only received 30% of the vote, it did receive the most votes. The idea behind the deck is to quickly get out a Slugma, lay down an Entei, using it’s power “Howl”, try to get 3 or 4 energy on Slugma. Then next turn, lay down the Magcargo and start beating away! If this deck goes off right, it’s a weapon.
2nd: Kingdra (25%)
3rd: Pure Espeon (16%)
Top Rogue Deck – Unlimited
This was a category where everyone was confused on what to vote. I honestly expected a different deck to emerge as the victor, but to my surprise, a deck that really has no “definition” won. And the winner is… New Age Raindance!!! With 45% of the vote, it won handedly. Now that Raindance isn’t really a tournament-winning deck anymore since Rocket’s Zapdos was released, it’s been downgraded to a “Rogue deck” status. However, when built correctly, the deck can still do very well.
2nd: Dark Vileplume (33%)
3rd: Light Golduck (21%)
Top Rogue Deck – Old Modified
This category was one where everyone seemed to expect the same deck to win. The winner is… Dark Muk!!! It won easily with 64% of the vote. The idea behind this deck was to be an “Anti-Gatr”, taking advantage of Feraligatr’s grass weakness. Doing 40 damage plus poison to Feraligatr, while forcing it to stay put with it’s power which increased retreats by two, it hurt the deck immensely. Feraligatr couldn’t continue attacking with poison damage.
Dark Muk faired mediocre against some of the other decks, like Crobat. Although Dark Muk won the Central Stadium Challenge (11-14), there were many decks it couldn’t always compete against. However, it was simply a great way to counter Feraligatr, and an extremely formidable deck.
2nd: Dark Tyranitar (18%)
3rd: Beedrill (16%)
Top Rogue Deck – New Modified
This was another close category… and the winner is Ampharos!!! With 33% of the votes, it squeaked by with the win. Ampharos is a solid card, no matter what form you play it in. The Neo3 version combined with the Expedition version can really wreak havoc in a heavily water dominated environment. Combined with Zapdos (LC) and Pokemon Center, you can move the energy around to whoever, whenever, for whatever reason. Center is an excellent card with Ampharos. I see much of this deck being used in the future in situations where water is huge.
2nd: Noc-Lock (28%)
3rd: Dark Blastoise (17%)
Best Combo of 2002
And the winner is… Kingdra/Seadra/Pokemon Center!!! This was an obvious pick, and one of the most influential combos of the year. It received 60% of the vote, winning by a long shot. The idea is to use Kingdra’ Genetic Memories attack, using Seadra’s Mud Splash, for a simple cost of C. By swarming with Kingdra, and using Pokemon Center for an extremely cheap energy cost (returning Recycles), it’s unbelievably strong and frustrating to go against.
2nd: Venusaur/Pokemon Center (21%)
Underdog of the Year
And the winner is… Pooka Rulez!!! With 53% of the vote, he handedly won this category. Pooka came out of nowhere to do extremely well at the Windy City Championship. Placing 3rd overall, he had wins against Ness and Alex Brosseau. Congratulations Pooka! Welcome to the Pojo Awards Hall of Fame as the first Underdog of the Year! =P
2nd: Mindy Lambkee (32%)
Biggest News of the Year
And the biggest news of the year was… The Release of Expedition!!! It won with 40% of the vote. Congratulations… uh… Expedition? I’m sure… uh… ok this is too weird. Anyway, yeah so that was the biggest news… of the year. =\
2nd: The Professor Program (28%)
Writer of the Year
Well… personally, this was a category of interest for me, obviously. This was a close race up until the very end, when suddenly lots of people came in and voted for the winner, which utterly decided the contest. The winner is… RaNd0m!!! winning with exactly 50% of the vote. (Entering third person writing mode) RaNd0m wrote most of his articles in 2002. They ranged from deck strategies to current events in the Pokemon world. Thanks to all who voted for me! ;-)
2nd: Ness (25%)
3rd: Baboon (Pokeschool) (21%)
Deck Mechanic of the Year
I probably should’ve limited this to “Pojo Deck Mechanic” of the year, because this is a Pojo contest, and it’s probably extremely unfair to some of the other deck mechanics out there. (Gloom, Bullados, etc.) Sorry that you didn’t exactly get great representation here. =P
The winner of this category is… Satoshi!!! With exactly 50% of the vote, Satoshi gets the first crown for “Deck Mech of the Year”. And he deserves it! Satoshi has been fixing decks since the very beginning of Pojo! Congratulations! ;-)
2nd: TR Cassidy (19%)
3rd: Martin (14%)
Upset of the Year
And the winner is… RaNd0m winning the St. Louis Gym Challenge!!! This event received 48% of the vote. It was probably one of the worst ways to lose for Croconaw88, lasting only 30 seconds. RaNd0m won the flip. Croconaw only had a Cleffa active. RaNd0m sent up Tyrogue, laid an energy down, and attacked. Baby rule. HEADS! Smash Punch. HEADS! Game. Was it luck? Yes. But losing a trip over it is really lame. This may have been one of the reasons Wizards began using the Match system.
2nd: Pooka Rulez getting third at the Windy City Championship (33%)
Player of the Year
And the winner is… Alex Brosseau!!! With 49% of the vote, he easily wins the category. Alex won the Central Stadium Challenge, placed 2nd at the Origins Professor Championship, won the Worlds Professor Challenge, and tied for first in the Windy City Championship. He is obviously the most deserving player of this award. Congrats Alex!
2nd: Ness (29%)
3rd: Chris Fulop (12%)
Card of the Year
And the winner is… Cleffa!!! With 57% of the total vote, you guys obviously felt it was the best choice for Card of the Year. Cleffa has been placed in 99.999% of all decks since its release in January 2001. It is simply the best card in existence. Play 3 or 4 in EVERY deck!!!
2nd: Tyrogue (28%)
Female Player of the Year
I am astounded at this category. I put my sister in there as a JOKE, and she actually gets VOTES. Wow… what do I say to something like that? Seriously, she hasn’t done SQUAT this year. Her DCI rating is 1337… literally. She’s one of the WORST players I have ever seen… and she got votes? You guys scare me. ;-)
The winner is… TR Cassidy!!! With 39% of the votes, she won the closest contest of the Awards. Jen Brazas (TR Cassidy) won by ONE VOTE, just edging out Mindy Lambkee. Congrats to Jen, our own Pojo Deck Mech! =)
2nd: Mindy Lambkee (37%)
3rd: Kristen Schweppe (RaNd0m’s Sister) (12%)
Messageboard of the Year
I’m very happy with the result of this contest, especially since the board that won has been worked on so hard by the Pojo staff. That’s right, the winner of the Messageboard of the Year category is Pojo with 42% of the total vote! Congratulations to the Pojosama himself, since he is the owner of the Pojo board, and also to the moderators and frequenters of that board!
2nd: WizPog (29%)
3rd: Pokerevolution (26%)
Thank you very much to all who participated! Next year, I plan to hold nominations on the Pojo messageboard for these categories, along with some other categories! So be on the lookout for Pojo Awards 2003 in January 2004! =)
~ RaNd0m
“Writer of the Year” – Pojo Awards 2002 (Thanks guys ;x)
AIM: JonSchweppe