DISCLAIMER: Please forgive me if I forgot any details. I'm still exhausted from Origins (each member of POP worked close to 90 hours last week, ensuring that you all had a good time).
I’d been planning the Professor Cup for several months. I’d gone through several different ideas for prizes, formats, trophies, etc. before settling on the details that I announced back in March.
I had done some thinking about who I wanted my judges to be. Dave and I joked about having kids from the 10 and under group judge. When I got to Origins, I was approached by Chris Fulop about judging. From that point, everything sort of clicked. I had someone that knew the rules pretty darn well that I could set as the head judge. The prospect of having kids judge seemed much more reasonable. I recruited Taylor (Poké_Dad’s daughter), Anna (nfgcgrb’s daughter), and Andrew and Zak (meganium45’s oldest sons) to be my judges.
I knew that I would be playing, and had no plans of dropping if I made the cut. When people asked if I’d be dropping before the top cut, I answered with a resounding “NO!” I had no plans to pull punches. I was in it to win it. I would pass down the trophy and the prizes, but I had every intention of winning the event, if possible.
Friday morning, Professors started pouring in. A few people asked me how many people I thought would play. “I’d be shocked if we got 100,” was my reply. Well, with 96, I guess I was just shy of shocked
. I had a quick meeting with my judges, telling them to have fun, and that if anyone gave them any grief, that they should immediately come get either Dave or myself. I then handed out Nationals Judge shirts, so that they would look official. The adult Medium shirts came to the knees of some of the kids. It was amazingly cute!
I kicked off the event by introducing the judges and making a few announcements. I emphasized that this event was in appreciation of the hard work of all Professors in the program, and that everything at the event was geared toward having fun. I also kept all of the prizes (except for the trophies) a secret. I figured, if you don’t know what you’re playing for, you’re less likely to take the event too seriously.
Once packs were handed out, everyone got down to building their decks. Mine looked like this:
1 Deoxys ex
2 Spoink
1 Grumpig
3 Electrike
1 Minun
2 Baltoy
1 Illumise
1 Snorunt
2 Mudkip
2 Marshtomp
2 Kyogre
1 Luvdisc
2 Poké Nav
1 Double Full Heal
1 Professor Birch
1 Lanette’s Net Search
1 Double Rainbow Energy
3 Psychic
3 Lightning
8 Water
I pull an Altaria ex as well, but I have no Swablu. Oh well, I’ve got 4 more packs coming to me. I’m bound to get one…
R1 vs. Tim F
I drop a Marshtomp and a Grumpig on turn two, and proceed to wreck shop. A few turns later, I play four Basics to empty my hand of everything but one card. I then play the Birch left in my hand to draw 6 cards. Tim and I trade blows for a bit, and then he decides to switch to the “Heart of the Cards” dueling method. Alas, Pokémon is not Yu-Gi-Oh! so he fails to draw what he needs.
1-0
R2 vs. Andrea S
I start with a Kyogre, she starts with a Lighting Pokémon. I have no other Basics. Bad news for me. I Nav, and see another Kyogre and 2 energy. I take the Kyogre so that I have at least one Basic on the bench. I lose my first Kyogre, and bring up the second. I Scary Face like 3 times, flipping heads like a McDonalds employee flips burgers, meanwhile, I’m building up for the fat Hydro Pump. I Lanette’s and pull my Deoxys ex. I take a few prizes before Andrea brings up her Groovyle. I Hydro for 20, and, on my next turn, bring up Deoxys ex, and proceed to my win step.
2-0
After round two, we get a lunch break. I pay way too much for four pizzas, so that I can feed my crew. The pizza is terrible.
When everyone gets back, we get seated, and get 2 more booster packs. I forget my own format, and start replacing cards, forgetting that I now need to build a 50-card deck. My new deck looks like this:
1 Deoxys ex
3 Spoink
1 Grumpig
1 Duskull
3 Electrike
1 Manectric
1 Minun
3 Baltoy
1 Illumise
1 Snorunt
2 Mudkip
2 Marshtomp
2 Kyogre
2 Luvdisc
2 Poké Nav
1 Double Full Heal
1 Professor Birch
2 Lanette’s Net Search
1 Mr Stone’s Project
1 Double Rainbow Energy
1 Multi Energy
4 Psychic
4 Lightning
9 Water
That’s right, no Swablu. Oh well, 2 more packs…
R3 vs. Alan S
I start Kyogre vs. Lighting AGAIN. I have no basics on my bench AGAIN. Minun gets tails on the flip, so I dodge a T2 loss. I get out some more basics, and we trade prizes. Deoxys finally shows up, and I win. Alan has 1 prize left.
3-0
At this point, people begin to question me. “How much did you pay the judges to give you good packs?” I laugh, and threaten to strip people of their Professor status with a grin and a wink…
R4 vs. Jake B
Jake gets horribly energy starved. His Linoone misses a flip to Paralyze twice. It’s a terrible way to win.
4-0
So I know that I only need 1 more win to have a really good shot at the top 16. Meg45 starts stalking me, telling me that he’s taking me down…
We open our next packs. NO SWABLU!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!
1 Deoxys ex
4 Spoink
1 Grumpig
2 Duskull
4 Electrike
2 Manectric
2 Minun
1 Pikachu
3 Baltoy
1 Illumise
1 Snorunt
3 Mudkip
2 Marshtomp
2 Kyogre
2 Luvdisc
2 Poké Nav
1 Double Full Heal
1 Professor Birch
2 Lanette’s Net Search
1 Mr Stone’s Project
1 Double Rainbow Energy
1 Multi Energy
4 Psychic
5 Lightning
11 Water
R5 vs. Vince K
I start Mudkip vs. Vince’s Numel. I flip and do 40. Vince Wally’s to get Camerupt ex. I flip and do 40. One more heads and I’m golden. Then the bad luck kicks in. No more heads. I manage to take out his Camerupt ex, and get taken out in return. I manage to stall the heck out of his Groudon with 2 Duskulls, doing 70 damage between the two. Vince’s Groudon manages to make me discard my Deoxys ex, which seems to have had a profound impact on most of my games. I fail to draw Energy that I need to win the game. Vince needs Fire Energy, but can’t seem to find any. I flip a tails on Kyogre’s Scary Face, and lose.
4-1
I realize at this point that I have far too many Basics, and not enough Energy. Oh well. Too late to do anything now…
R6 vs. Sean F
Sean and I both have solid starts. I find out (the hard way) throughout the course of the game that he’s pulled 3 Wally’s. We both play retreat games, but, ultimately, his evolutions wreck me.
4-2
I must win this last game to move on to the top 16…
R7 vs. Jeff R
The game starts out great for me. Then he gets out his Grumpig and proceeds to dance back and forth using Teleport Blast. I’ve got a fully powered Deoxys ex on my bench, just waiting to catch Grumpig up front, but it just never happens. I lose with 1 Prize left.
4-3
At this point, Taylor, Anna, Andrew, and Zak are all looking pretty pooped. I give them their judge compensation (a GBA SP, and a copy of Pokémon Emerald) and cut them loose. With the cut, there are plenty of qualified Professors to finish judging the event. The finals went very smoothly and were pretty exciting to watch.
All in all, I had a great time. It was really nice to be able to rub elbows with some of the folks that help ensure that Pokémon continues to grow. These are the guys and gals that helped us get 150-ish more players at Nationals this year. What makes me even more thrilled about the tournament is that none of the judges had to come to Dave or I because someone was giving them a hard time.
Props:
Fulop for acting as head judge, and escalating Dave’s drop to a DQ
Anna, Taylor, Zak, and Andrew for judging. They all looked so serious, and issued penalties where they felt it was appropriate.
Every Professor that played. You folks made this easily one of the best tournaments (Pokémon or otherwise) that I have ever played in.
Dave for agreeing to let me run such a crazy format without ever questioning me.
Vince, Mike, Kathy, and Clay for loaning me their kids to judge the event.
All my opponents for helping me have such a good time
Tymon for running the computer instead of playing.
Everyone that offered to give me a Swablu when I couldn’t pull one to save my life.
Everyone else that I forgot
Slops:
Swablu
I’d been planning the Professor Cup for several months. I’d gone through several different ideas for prizes, formats, trophies, etc. before settling on the details that I announced back in March.
I had done some thinking about who I wanted my judges to be. Dave and I joked about having kids from the 10 and under group judge. When I got to Origins, I was approached by Chris Fulop about judging. From that point, everything sort of clicked. I had someone that knew the rules pretty darn well that I could set as the head judge. The prospect of having kids judge seemed much more reasonable. I recruited Taylor (Poké_Dad’s daughter), Anna (nfgcgrb’s daughter), and Andrew and Zak (meganium45’s oldest sons) to be my judges.
I knew that I would be playing, and had no plans of dropping if I made the cut. When people asked if I’d be dropping before the top cut, I answered with a resounding “NO!” I had no plans to pull punches. I was in it to win it. I would pass down the trophy and the prizes, but I had every intention of winning the event, if possible.
Friday morning, Professors started pouring in. A few people asked me how many people I thought would play. “I’d be shocked if we got 100,” was my reply. Well, with 96, I guess I was just shy of shocked
. I had a quick meeting with my judges, telling them to have fun, and that if anyone gave them any grief, that they should immediately come get either Dave or myself. I then handed out Nationals Judge shirts, so that they would look official. The adult Medium shirts came to the knees of some of the kids. It was amazingly cute!I kicked off the event by introducing the judges and making a few announcements. I emphasized that this event was in appreciation of the hard work of all Professors in the program, and that everything at the event was geared toward having fun. I also kept all of the prizes (except for the trophies) a secret. I figured, if you don’t know what you’re playing for, you’re less likely to take the event too seriously.
Once packs were handed out, everyone got down to building their decks. Mine looked like this:
1 Deoxys ex
2 Spoink
1 Grumpig
3 Electrike
1 Minun
2 Baltoy
1 Illumise
1 Snorunt
2 Mudkip
2 Marshtomp
2 Kyogre
1 Luvdisc
2 Poké Nav
1 Double Full Heal
1 Professor Birch
1 Lanette’s Net Search
1 Double Rainbow Energy
3 Psychic
3 Lightning
8 Water
I pull an Altaria ex as well, but I have no Swablu. Oh well, I’ve got 4 more packs coming to me. I’m bound to get one…
R1 vs. Tim F
I drop a Marshtomp and a Grumpig on turn two, and proceed to wreck shop. A few turns later, I play four Basics to empty my hand of everything but one card. I then play the Birch left in my hand to draw 6 cards. Tim and I trade blows for a bit, and then he decides to switch to the “Heart of the Cards” dueling method. Alas, Pokémon is not Yu-Gi-Oh! so he fails to draw what he needs.
1-0
R2 vs. Andrea S
I start with a Kyogre, she starts with a Lighting Pokémon. I have no other Basics. Bad news for me. I Nav, and see another Kyogre and 2 energy. I take the Kyogre so that I have at least one Basic on the bench. I lose my first Kyogre, and bring up the second. I Scary Face like 3 times, flipping heads like a McDonalds employee flips burgers, meanwhile, I’m building up for the fat Hydro Pump. I Lanette’s and pull my Deoxys ex. I take a few prizes before Andrea brings up her Groovyle. I Hydro for 20, and, on my next turn, bring up Deoxys ex, and proceed to my win step.
2-0
After round two, we get a lunch break. I pay way too much for four pizzas, so that I can feed my crew. The pizza is terrible.
When everyone gets back, we get seated, and get 2 more booster packs. I forget my own format, and start replacing cards, forgetting that I now need to build a 50-card deck. My new deck looks like this:
1 Deoxys ex
3 Spoink
1 Grumpig
1 Duskull
3 Electrike
1 Manectric
1 Minun
3 Baltoy
1 Illumise
1 Snorunt
2 Mudkip
2 Marshtomp
2 Kyogre
2 Luvdisc
2 Poké Nav
1 Double Full Heal
1 Professor Birch
2 Lanette’s Net Search
1 Mr Stone’s Project
1 Double Rainbow Energy
1 Multi Energy
4 Psychic
4 Lightning
9 Water
That’s right, no Swablu. Oh well, 2 more packs…
R3 vs. Alan S
I start Kyogre vs. Lighting AGAIN. I have no basics on my bench AGAIN. Minun gets tails on the flip, so I dodge a T2 loss. I get out some more basics, and we trade prizes. Deoxys finally shows up, and I win. Alan has 1 prize left.
3-0
At this point, people begin to question me. “How much did you pay the judges to give you good packs?” I laugh, and threaten to strip people of their Professor status with a grin and a wink…
R4 vs. Jake B
Jake gets horribly energy starved. His Linoone misses a flip to Paralyze twice. It’s a terrible way to win.
4-0
So I know that I only need 1 more win to have a really good shot at the top 16. Meg45 starts stalking me, telling me that he’s taking me down…
We open our next packs. NO SWABLU!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!
1 Deoxys ex
4 Spoink
1 Grumpig
2 Duskull
4 Electrike
2 Manectric
2 Minun
1 Pikachu
3 Baltoy
1 Illumise
1 Snorunt
3 Mudkip
2 Marshtomp
2 Kyogre
2 Luvdisc
2 Poké Nav
1 Double Full Heal
1 Professor Birch
2 Lanette’s Net Search
1 Mr Stone’s Project
1 Double Rainbow Energy
1 Multi Energy
4 Psychic
5 Lightning
11 Water
R5 vs. Vince K
I start Mudkip vs. Vince’s Numel. I flip and do 40. Vince Wally’s to get Camerupt ex. I flip and do 40. One more heads and I’m golden. Then the bad luck kicks in. No more heads. I manage to take out his Camerupt ex, and get taken out in return. I manage to stall the heck out of his Groudon with 2 Duskulls, doing 70 damage between the two. Vince’s Groudon manages to make me discard my Deoxys ex, which seems to have had a profound impact on most of my games. I fail to draw Energy that I need to win the game. Vince needs Fire Energy, but can’t seem to find any. I flip a tails on Kyogre’s Scary Face, and lose.
4-1
I realize at this point that I have far too many Basics, and not enough Energy. Oh well. Too late to do anything now…
R6 vs. Sean F
Sean and I both have solid starts. I find out (the hard way) throughout the course of the game that he’s pulled 3 Wally’s. We both play retreat games, but, ultimately, his evolutions wreck me.
4-2
I must win this last game to move on to the top 16…
R7 vs. Jeff R
The game starts out great for me. Then he gets out his Grumpig and proceeds to dance back and forth using Teleport Blast. I’ve got a fully powered Deoxys ex on my bench, just waiting to catch Grumpig up front, but it just never happens. I lose with 1 Prize left.
4-3
At this point, Taylor, Anna, Andrew, and Zak are all looking pretty pooped. I give them their judge compensation (a GBA SP, and a copy of Pokémon Emerald) and cut them loose. With the cut, there are plenty of qualified Professors to finish judging the event. The finals went very smoothly and were pretty exciting to watch.
All in all, I had a great time. It was really nice to be able to rub elbows with some of the folks that help ensure that Pokémon continues to grow. These are the guys and gals that helped us get 150-ish more players at Nationals this year. What makes me even more thrilled about the tournament is that none of the judges had to come to Dave or I because someone was giving them a hard time.
Props:
Fulop for acting as head judge, and escalating Dave’s drop to a DQ
Anna, Taylor, Zak, and Andrew for judging. They all looked so serious, and issued penalties where they felt it was appropriate.
Every Professor that played. You folks made this easily one of the best tournaments (Pokémon or otherwise) that I have ever played in.
Dave for agreeing to let me run such a crazy format without ever questioning me.
Vince, Mike, Kathy, and Clay for loaning me their kids to judge the event.
All my opponents for helping me have such a good time
Tymon for running the computer instead of playing.
Everyone that offered to give me a Swablu when I couldn’t pull one to save my life.
Everyone else that I forgot
Slops:
Swablu
