Absoltrainer
Active Member
This was my first Grinder/Worlds, and it was definitely one of the most AMAZING experiences I have ever had. I got my plane ticket FOR FREE because of Frequent Flyer Miles and because my family was visiting my Aunt in San Diego anyways, I had free board as well.
DAY BEFORE GRINDER:
So on Wednesday I show up at the Hilton for some play-testing. I had decided on the plane ride that I would build Ge-Champ. I assumed 50% of the decks I would face would be SP. As I would later find out this was a good move. I got some interesting looks as I had my 2 binders on my lap while building my deck on my tray table. So at any rate, I show up at about 7:00 AM and no one except some judges are even awake. So I walk around for about an hour, and finally a kid who was obviously in the Juniors comes up to me and asks if I am her for the Pokémon tournament. He asked if I had any Rays for trade, and I decided to take a look. While talking I found out that this kid was the German Junior Champion. His mom came over and I talked to her a bit too. By this time people were beginning to wake up. I met up George Clay from TX and his friend Rachael from MO. I was having a lot of trouble finding SF MACHOP AND MACHOKE…..I had the Champs, but not Chokes or Chops…and no one had their commons and uncommons with me. I also needed Call Energy. After some talking around I got the cards I needed. I had the opportunity to play against the Belgium Junior Champion, as well as some players from Finland and Norway. I also got to trade with players from the Czech Republic. The general atmosphere was AMAZING. Later on the Japanese Vendors came out, and my Pre-Release sleeves went like mad. I literally had vendors pulling and tugging at me from all sides to get my Sleeves. By the end of the trades I ended up with a pack of Arceus Sleeves, a Pack of Shaymin Sleeves and 60 ORANGE POKEBALL SLEEVES. I also bought an Arceus Deck box and some Movie Promos. I also sold my Infernape Lv.X and got some cash for that. One of the coolest things was meeting all the Pokegym people in real life. I battled against Bianchi and beat him in a battle…something I did not except (although Champ has the advantage over SP.) During that entire day, I had only 2 losses. Both of which were to Flygon decks. I knew they would be a problem later down the road. However this was one of the most fun days I had.
GRINDER:
So this was the big day. I arrived extra early and got the Hilton at 6:45, assuming that no one would be anywhere in line and I would be up first….yeah, turns out I was on the opposite side of the hallway, and probably the 300th Master in line. Fun. So I wait in line, fill out my deck list, take a ton of pictures and finally get registered. After that I met up with Z-man and a few other people I knew from online and await the tournament to start. When the seating arrangements come up I found myself at table 18. Odd I thought since my name is Jeff and I thought it was alphabetical. The person also at my table introduces himself as Sam. About 5 min. later 2 people come and claim to be at table 18 as well. Then 2 people claim to be at table 19 and the 4 of use at those tables realize we were looking at AGE not TABLE NUMBER. So I go back and see my self in comfy 134. I get over there and wait. After about an hour I think, we get our REAL pairings. I sit down and prepare for the first match.
ROUND 1: Emma from Los Angeles Playing Diagla Palkia.
This match began in my favor. I got an early Champ out, and she really didn’t know the game. Her list was solid, and I am sure her friend helped her build it, but she did not know what Claydol did, and was attempting to use Unown G wrong. I helped her with the rules a bit without giving her the advantage, and actually inadvertently helped her take a prize by KOing my Champ Lv. X. But I had already taken 4 prizes to her 1 and her 2 Unown Gs were already gone, so I knew I had the game won. This was about the time the Fire alarm went off. The Juniors and Seniors left the room while the masters stayed (yay burns!) We were actually still playing because we did not know they had paused the timer lol. After everything calmed down, we continued the game and I finished up without her taking another prize. The game was never out of my advantage. An easy win.
1-0
We get an early lunch cause of the fire alarm, and I get to pay 14.50 for a cheap pizza, some chips, a cookie and a drink.
ROUND 2: Justin D. (HurricaneWarty) from Utah Playing Palkia Lock.
Another SP match. I was very happy with this. I remember he and I both got pretty bad starts, but he recovered a lot quicker. I got 2 EXTREMLEY LUCKY Looker’s Investigations draws. The first giving me a Candy and a Champ, and the second giving me a Candy and a Gengar. I used one turn after the other. I also got some lucky topdecks in this game. He power sprayed my Uxie really early. I don’t remember much on this game besides how freaking close it was. I believe it went down to 1 prize to one prize, though I may be mistaken. I basically held out until he had all 4 Power Sprays, Poke Turns, Cyruses, in the discard pile before I finally won. Probably the closest match I had all day.
2-0
ROUND 3 Ryan P. From CA Playing LuxApe
This game could have gone any way, and I was thinking that the entire game. He Power Sprayed my turn 2 Uxie and I could not draw a single Claydol, draw card, or search card. On the other hand, he had an Infernape GL, Luxray Lv. X and Luxray GL and NineTails prized. I took an extremely early lead with a 1 prize to 3 prize lead. There was a point in the game that I had an active Machamp with 10 HP left. And no energy, a charged Machamp on the bench with no damage. He could knock me out and let me kill him or let me be and try to draw into his Poke Turn. Basically we both needed to draw into something. I needed Warp Point, he needed Turn. So we both passed for like 10 turns. He however drew into what he needed first, and in an impressive move nailed BOTH of my Machamps in one turn and evening the game. It is at the point that I realize that I have nothing left in my deck, and he quickly takes the game GG,
2-1
ROUND 4: Cameron G. from CA Using Houndoom.
The entire match, I kept telling my opponent what an odd match it was. Boy was it odd. This guy’s Pokémon list was 4 Houndour and 4 Houndoom. The rest was energy and trainers. I remember thinking what an easy match it would be. Boy this match was anything but. This guy pulled out 4 KOs in the first 10 min. of the game. I didn’t have a response. He was recovering faster then I could KO and taking Kos faster then I could ser up. It was ridiculous. I finally evened the score because his lack of Pokémon caught up on him and gave me a moment to catch up. I got 5 KOs in retaliation and we both had one prize left. I have an active Gengar, and he has an active Houndoom. He plays bucks and does 110. I flip for Fainting Spell and get heads. So it is going to go to sudden death because we both have one prize. I decide I want to call a judge over to verify how we are going to do this, when something hit me….I have benched Pokémon. The judge comes over and goes:
“WHOA this guys just got a double win!”
The game came down to a flip. I was sweating my hands off, but lady luck decided to side with me on this one and I won the game.
3-1
ROUND 5: Erik from CA using Palkia Lock.
I’ll admit, I liked the SP match-ups. This guy was confident because he had just beaten a Ge-Champ deck last round. I had the advantage most of the game. I got an early Gengar and forced him to put both his Unown Gs on his Claydol, then in a surprise move threw down a double Champ line with a BTS and a candy. He had no answer to my Champs and the game went accordingly.
4-1
ROUND 6: Ricky G. From CA using Diagla Palkia.
Just like all the other SP deck I had faced, this one fell quite easily. I don’t remember ANYTHING from this match other then winning.
5-1
ROUND 7: Michael P. Using Palkia Lock with Manetric tech.
I was really confident by now, I figured if I won ONE more round I had a chance, I won then both I was in for sure.
I sit down and realize MY DECK IS MISSING….thank god someone turned it in to the Lost and Found and I got it back.
This guy KNEW how to play my deck. I could tell. The entire game was an uphill battle for me and he took my Claydols out with Manetric. I was getting tired so I can’t remember the entire battle, but he forced me into a bad situation. We both had one prize left. He emptied his hand of trainers, and anything I sent up would die. I had only one chance. I sent up Gengar and Poltergeist. It failed, he had emptied his hand. He Psychic Restored me for the win.
5-2
ROUND 8: Keisuke Miyadera From Japan Playing Flygon.
I took a picture of the Match-Slip because I would never remember his name. I find this match-up interesting and almost one of fate. I had all day wanted to battle ONE Japanese player…but at the same time did not want to face Flygon….
At any rate this match was lost before it began. I got a turn 2 Gengar, and he got turn 3 flygon. I search my deck and notice that my OTHER 2 candy are prized along with 1 of my 2 BTS. In an attempt to get something out, he sets up more and more. I never stood a chance.
One a side note….you NEVER know how big of a Pokémon Nerd you are until you battle a Japanese Player with an ENTIRELY Japanese deck….and know what EVERY SINGLE card does just by looking at the picture….
The guy was a good sport though. At the end of the match, he gave me 2 free Japanese Platinum packs and I got a Crobat, a Bronzong, and a BTS along with a Lv. Max. Nice pulls.
So with a record of 5-3 I missed grinding in, but had an AWSOME time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WORLDS DAY 1
I played in the Ex-on Tournament with my ALL TIME AMAZING DECK:
Metanite (with a few new cards in it)
I don’t feel like going into details cause I did so bad, but the short story is I lost because my deck could not keep up in the environment. Metanite is considered slow in this day and age lol. Oh well, it was fun to dust off the old deck.
One match I feel deserves some props for being the absolutely funniest match ever. The guy played Forrtress/Blastoise. He uses Holon Lass via Sableye like 3 times. On turn 4 he lays down 14 energy on Fortress and flips 14 of my dice getting 9 tails and doing 180 damage to my sixe Pokémon taking 6 prizes and killing all my Pokémon in one turn GG….
I met up with ArcticJedi, that’s right THE MATT CHIN, and chilled with him and his brother and Hitmonchan93 most of the day. It was pretty relaxed, nothing really happened.
One thing to note is that someone kicked my dice bag. It sucked as some of the dice went underneath the wall separating the two play rooms. I got all the dice back except 2 Metagross dice and a Pokegym dice. The MOST awesome thing happened though and the father of the boy I had played when it happened FOUND my Pokegym dice. So I was able to get that little gem back, and was very grateful that he had found it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WORLDS DAY 2
This day, I got to brag about some things. I sign up for league play some matches.
Now for those unfamiliar with league play at Worlds, you play a match, then report it. The judge then draws 2 random cards from a stack. They may be actually Pokémon Cards or trainers with prizes written on them like packs of Playing mats.
Round 1: Win, Prize: Mismangius Lv. X
Round 2: Win, Prize: Flygon Lv. X
Round 3: Win, Prize: Great ball Playing mat
Round 4: Win, Prize: Dusknoir sleeves which I promptly trade for a Garchamp C Lv. X
Round 5: Win, Prize: 2 Italian Rising Rivals Packs
Round 6: Win, Prize: Reverse Holo Luxray GL
Round 7: Win, Prize: Reverse Holo Infernape GL
Not only that but I got my picture taken with both of the Hosts from Pokémon Sunday. This day was pretty tight.
All in all, this was perhaps the COOLEST Pokémon event I had ever been too. I can’t wait to go to anther worlds.
Props:
-Going 5-3 at Worlds
-Wearing my Team M gear (even if the team is dead)
-Getting to see all my old friends
-Meeting new ones
-Pokémon Sunday Guys
-Awesome League pulls
-Z-man and DukeFireBird for giving me an outlet to be obnoxious to during Day 2 of Worlds
-NOT GETTING DONKED BY TREECKO (a cookie to anyone who gets this reference)
-Getting my Pokegym dice back
-The Fort Laud. Loud Mouth AKA Anthoy for thinking I was Gino on the phone….
-Worlds in general
- Free Room and Flight
Slops:
-Going 5-3 at Worlds
-Not Grinding in
-Losing 2 of my die
NEXT YEAR IN HAWAII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DAY BEFORE GRINDER:
So on Wednesday I show up at the Hilton for some play-testing. I had decided on the plane ride that I would build Ge-Champ. I assumed 50% of the decks I would face would be SP. As I would later find out this was a good move. I got some interesting looks as I had my 2 binders on my lap while building my deck on my tray table. So at any rate, I show up at about 7:00 AM and no one except some judges are even awake. So I walk around for about an hour, and finally a kid who was obviously in the Juniors comes up to me and asks if I am her for the Pokémon tournament. He asked if I had any Rays for trade, and I decided to take a look. While talking I found out that this kid was the German Junior Champion. His mom came over and I talked to her a bit too. By this time people were beginning to wake up. I met up George Clay from TX and his friend Rachael from MO. I was having a lot of trouble finding SF MACHOP AND MACHOKE…..I had the Champs, but not Chokes or Chops…and no one had their commons and uncommons with me. I also needed Call Energy. After some talking around I got the cards I needed. I had the opportunity to play against the Belgium Junior Champion, as well as some players from Finland and Norway. I also got to trade with players from the Czech Republic. The general atmosphere was AMAZING. Later on the Japanese Vendors came out, and my Pre-Release sleeves went like mad. I literally had vendors pulling and tugging at me from all sides to get my Sleeves. By the end of the trades I ended up with a pack of Arceus Sleeves, a Pack of Shaymin Sleeves and 60 ORANGE POKEBALL SLEEVES. I also bought an Arceus Deck box and some Movie Promos. I also sold my Infernape Lv.X and got some cash for that. One of the coolest things was meeting all the Pokegym people in real life. I battled against Bianchi and beat him in a battle…something I did not except (although Champ has the advantage over SP.) During that entire day, I had only 2 losses. Both of which were to Flygon decks. I knew they would be a problem later down the road. However this was one of the most fun days I had.
GRINDER:
So this was the big day. I arrived extra early and got the Hilton at 6:45, assuming that no one would be anywhere in line and I would be up first….yeah, turns out I was on the opposite side of the hallway, and probably the 300th Master in line. Fun. So I wait in line, fill out my deck list, take a ton of pictures and finally get registered. After that I met up with Z-man and a few other people I knew from online and await the tournament to start. When the seating arrangements come up I found myself at table 18. Odd I thought since my name is Jeff and I thought it was alphabetical. The person also at my table introduces himself as Sam. About 5 min. later 2 people come and claim to be at table 18 as well. Then 2 people claim to be at table 19 and the 4 of use at those tables realize we were looking at AGE not TABLE NUMBER. So I go back and see my self in comfy 134. I get over there and wait. After about an hour I think, we get our REAL pairings. I sit down and prepare for the first match.
ROUND 1: Emma from Los Angeles Playing Diagla Palkia.
This match began in my favor. I got an early Champ out, and she really didn’t know the game. Her list was solid, and I am sure her friend helped her build it, but she did not know what Claydol did, and was attempting to use Unown G wrong. I helped her with the rules a bit without giving her the advantage, and actually inadvertently helped her take a prize by KOing my Champ Lv. X. But I had already taken 4 prizes to her 1 and her 2 Unown Gs were already gone, so I knew I had the game won. This was about the time the Fire alarm went off. The Juniors and Seniors left the room while the masters stayed (yay burns!) We were actually still playing because we did not know they had paused the timer lol. After everything calmed down, we continued the game and I finished up without her taking another prize. The game was never out of my advantage. An easy win.
1-0
We get an early lunch cause of the fire alarm, and I get to pay 14.50 for a cheap pizza, some chips, a cookie and a drink.
ROUND 2: Justin D. (HurricaneWarty) from Utah Playing Palkia Lock.
Another SP match. I was very happy with this. I remember he and I both got pretty bad starts, but he recovered a lot quicker. I got 2 EXTREMLEY LUCKY Looker’s Investigations draws. The first giving me a Candy and a Champ, and the second giving me a Candy and a Gengar. I used one turn after the other. I also got some lucky topdecks in this game. He power sprayed my Uxie really early. I don’t remember much on this game besides how freaking close it was. I believe it went down to 1 prize to one prize, though I may be mistaken. I basically held out until he had all 4 Power Sprays, Poke Turns, Cyruses, in the discard pile before I finally won. Probably the closest match I had all day.
2-0
ROUND 3 Ryan P. From CA Playing LuxApe
This game could have gone any way, and I was thinking that the entire game. He Power Sprayed my turn 2 Uxie and I could not draw a single Claydol, draw card, or search card. On the other hand, he had an Infernape GL, Luxray Lv. X and Luxray GL and NineTails prized. I took an extremely early lead with a 1 prize to 3 prize lead. There was a point in the game that I had an active Machamp with 10 HP left. And no energy, a charged Machamp on the bench with no damage. He could knock me out and let me kill him or let me be and try to draw into his Poke Turn. Basically we both needed to draw into something. I needed Warp Point, he needed Turn. So we both passed for like 10 turns. He however drew into what he needed first, and in an impressive move nailed BOTH of my Machamps in one turn and evening the game. It is at the point that I realize that I have nothing left in my deck, and he quickly takes the game GG,
2-1
ROUND 4: Cameron G. from CA Using Houndoom.
The entire match, I kept telling my opponent what an odd match it was. Boy was it odd. This guy’s Pokémon list was 4 Houndour and 4 Houndoom. The rest was energy and trainers. I remember thinking what an easy match it would be. Boy this match was anything but. This guy pulled out 4 KOs in the first 10 min. of the game. I didn’t have a response. He was recovering faster then I could KO and taking Kos faster then I could ser up. It was ridiculous. I finally evened the score because his lack of Pokémon caught up on him and gave me a moment to catch up. I got 5 KOs in retaliation and we both had one prize left. I have an active Gengar, and he has an active Houndoom. He plays bucks and does 110. I flip for Fainting Spell and get heads. So it is going to go to sudden death because we both have one prize. I decide I want to call a judge over to verify how we are going to do this, when something hit me….I have benched Pokémon. The judge comes over and goes:
“WHOA this guys just got a double win!”
The game came down to a flip. I was sweating my hands off, but lady luck decided to side with me on this one and I won the game.
3-1
ROUND 5: Erik from CA using Palkia Lock.
I’ll admit, I liked the SP match-ups. This guy was confident because he had just beaten a Ge-Champ deck last round. I had the advantage most of the game. I got an early Gengar and forced him to put both his Unown Gs on his Claydol, then in a surprise move threw down a double Champ line with a BTS and a candy. He had no answer to my Champs and the game went accordingly.
4-1
ROUND 6: Ricky G. From CA using Diagla Palkia.
Just like all the other SP deck I had faced, this one fell quite easily. I don’t remember ANYTHING from this match other then winning.
5-1
ROUND 7: Michael P. Using Palkia Lock with Manetric tech.
I was really confident by now, I figured if I won ONE more round I had a chance, I won then both I was in for sure.
I sit down and realize MY DECK IS MISSING….thank god someone turned it in to the Lost and Found and I got it back.
This guy KNEW how to play my deck. I could tell. The entire game was an uphill battle for me and he took my Claydols out with Manetric. I was getting tired so I can’t remember the entire battle, but he forced me into a bad situation. We both had one prize left. He emptied his hand of trainers, and anything I sent up would die. I had only one chance. I sent up Gengar and Poltergeist. It failed, he had emptied his hand. He Psychic Restored me for the win.
5-2
ROUND 8: Keisuke Miyadera From Japan Playing Flygon.
I took a picture of the Match-Slip because I would never remember his name. I find this match-up interesting and almost one of fate. I had all day wanted to battle ONE Japanese player…but at the same time did not want to face Flygon….
At any rate this match was lost before it began. I got a turn 2 Gengar, and he got turn 3 flygon. I search my deck and notice that my OTHER 2 candy are prized along with 1 of my 2 BTS. In an attempt to get something out, he sets up more and more. I never stood a chance.
One a side note….you NEVER know how big of a Pokémon Nerd you are until you battle a Japanese Player with an ENTIRELY Japanese deck….and know what EVERY SINGLE card does just by looking at the picture….
The guy was a good sport though. At the end of the match, he gave me 2 free Japanese Platinum packs and I got a Crobat, a Bronzong, and a BTS along with a Lv. Max. Nice pulls.
So with a record of 5-3 I missed grinding in, but had an AWSOME time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WORLDS DAY 1
I played in the Ex-on Tournament with my ALL TIME AMAZING DECK:
Metanite (with a few new cards in it)
I don’t feel like going into details cause I did so bad, but the short story is I lost because my deck could not keep up in the environment. Metanite is considered slow in this day and age lol. Oh well, it was fun to dust off the old deck.
One match I feel deserves some props for being the absolutely funniest match ever. The guy played Forrtress/Blastoise. He uses Holon Lass via Sableye like 3 times. On turn 4 he lays down 14 energy on Fortress and flips 14 of my dice getting 9 tails and doing 180 damage to my sixe Pokémon taking 6 prizes and killing all my Pokémon in one turn GG….
I met up with ArcticJedi, that’s right THE MATT CHIN, and chilled with him and his brother and Hitmonchan93 most of the day. It was pretty relaxed, nothing really happened.
One thing to note is that someone kicked my dice bag. It sucked as some of the dice went underneath the wall separating the two play rooms. I got all the dice back except 2 Metagross dice and a Pokegym dice. The MOST awesome thing happened though and the father of the boy I had played when it happened FOUND my Pokegym dice. So I was able to get that little gem back, and was very grateful that he had found it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WORLDS DAY 2
This day, I got to brag about some things. I sign up for league play some matches.
Now for those unfamiliar with league play at Worlds, you play a match, then report it. The judge then draws 2 random cards from a stack. They may be actually Pokémon Cards or trainers with prizes written on them like packs of Playing mats.
Round 1: Win, Prize: Mismangius Lv. X
Round 2: Win, Prize: Flygon Lv. X
Round 3: Win, Prize: Great ball Playing mat
Round 4: Win, Prize: Dusknoir sleeves which I promptly trade for a Garchamp C Lv. X
Round 5: Win, Prize: 2 Italian Rising Rivals Packs
Round 6: Win, Prize: Reverse Holo Luxray GL
Round 7: Win, Prize: Reverse Holo Infernape GL
Not only that but I got my picture taken with both of the Hosts from Pokémon Sunday. This day was pretty tight.
All in all, this was perhaps the COOLEST Pokémon event I had ever been too. I can’t wait to go to anther worlds.
Props:
-Going 5-3 at Worlds
-Wearing my Team M gear (even if the team is dead)
-Getting to see all my old friends
-Meeting new ones
-Pokémon Sunday Guys
-Awesome League pulls
-Z-man and DukeFireBird for giving me an outlet to be obnoxious to during Day 2 of Worlds
-NOT GETTING DONKED BY TREECKO (a cookie to anyone who gets this reference)
-Getting my Pokegym dice back
-The Fort Laud. Loud Mouth AKA Anthoy for thinking I was Gino on the phone….
-Worlds in general
- Free Room and Flight
Slops:
-Going 5-3 at Worlds
-Not Grinding in
-Losing 2 of my die
NEXT YEAR IN HAWAII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
