Marriland
New Member
Pre-Tournament Preparations
Unfortunately, I hadn't really had a whole lot of time to prepare for the Gym Challenge like I did the City and State Championships. I was as busy as ever, and only had signs of getting busier. I still had been using the deck that I played in the City and State Championships, Spoony/Spoonier B.A.R.D. The deck worked well for me in the past, I was very comfortable with it, and heck, 50 cards in the deck are foil, so I'm almost forced to play it.
I did decide to try making a slight alteration to the deck, and adding in a third Warp Point. I remember countless times thinking how bad I wished I had just one more Warp Point, but knowing that both in the deck have already been used, so I decided to put in one more, and boy was that a good decision on my part.
Anyway, on to the deck!
The Deck
Spoonier B.A.R.D. v.1.1
Pokemon
4 Torchic (DR)
1 Combusken (RS-27)
3 Blaziken (RS-3)
2 Blaziken ex
2 Mareep (DR)
1 Flaaffy (AQ)
2 Ampharos (EXP)
2 Skitty (SS)
2 Delcatty (RS-5)
4 Dunsparce (SS)
2 Rayquaza ex
Trainers
4 TV Reporter
4 Oracle
3 Professor Oak's Research
1 Copycat
1 Town Volunteers
4 Rare Candy
3 Warp Point
Energy
11 Fire Energy
4 Lightning Energy
The deck's focus is pretty much the same as all of the previous versions of the deck, found in my City Championship Report and State Championship Report. You try to get out a Rayquaza ex or Blaziken ex, then destroy whatever Pokemon your opponent sends out. Use Blaziken's Firestarter to keep the Energy returning to your Pokemon, then Ampharos to Energy Connect the Energy over to your active Pokemon. I prefer Ampharos over TA's Manectric, but that would also work in the deck.
The Tournament
We left at 7:15am, and stopped at McDonalds along the way. Yummy McGriddle! Anyway, after a rather long car ride (with lots of fog in the area), we finally arrived at My Parent's Basement at 10:30am.
We had plenty of time to mingle and such, and I met up with some familliar faces (Pooka, HypnosProjectHQ, TheDeuce, dld4a, Jim H. [the judge]). I hadn't seen Pooka since the Central Stadium Challenge back in 2002! So I played this one kid, and then I played Pooka (beating them both, but Pooka got 3 tails with Kabutops' Hydrocutter X_X).
I also received some Chanseys for the infamous Chansey Collection by Jim H. and Pooka, bringing the total count to 306! HypnosProjectHQ also gave me the last card I needed for my reverse foil Team Aqua vs Team Magma set, #55 - Team Aqua's Poochyena. Who would've guessed that a common would be so hard to get, eh?
Anyway, nothing else really exciting happened, so I'll get right to the Tournament Report. There were 43 people in the tournament.
- Round 1 -
Spoonier B.A.R.D. vs Dwight H.'s Beedrill/Shedinja/Espeon
I had to play Dwight H. again... Oi... I had an okay setup. Unfortunately, he was playing Shedinja, so I wanted to make sure I left something on my bench that could counter it. Fortunately for me, he played the Shedinja too early (he started with Nincada), so I was able to prepare against Shedinja. I ended up taking out both a Weedle and a Kakuna, then he brought out his Shedinja. So, I used Firestarter to get an Energy on my benched Skitty, attached a Lightning Energy to the Skitty from my hand, retreated Blaziken and brought out the Skitty, then used Double-edge for the game.
Record: 1-0-0 : 3 pts
- Round 2 -
Spoonier B.A.R.D. vs Gardevoir/ex/Wobbuffet
This was the same deck that beat me in the Elimination Round of the State Championship. The start was also looking way too similar as well, because I started with a single Torchic, 3 Fire Energy, 2 TV Reporter, and a Rare Candy. Fortunately, I won the coin flip so I got to go first (as opposed to him going first last time). I used TV Reporter, and thankfully drew another Torchic (and another TV Reporter), so I set it down. Eventually, I got out my Blaziken and used that to fight against the Wobbuffets and KO his Ralts. He managed to get a Kirlia out, but he never got the Gardevoir, so I KOed that. I then KOed the remaining Wobbuffet for the game.
Record: 2-0-0 : 6 pts
- Round 3 -
Spoonier B.A.R.D. vs TheDeuce's Swampert/ex/Suicune ex
Again, I have to fight one of my opponents in the State Championship. Sure are a lot of familliar faces, eh? Anyway, I feel a bit sorry for the match. I think we both started with Dunsparce and got our basic setups out pretty fast. Unfortunately, he didn't have a great hand at all, and he couldn't draw for beans. And, unfortunate for him, I had my setup roaring through everything. He got out a Swampert ex, and I took it out somehow. I then got out Blaziken ex, and started charging him up while taking out some other things. It was over once the Blaziken ex was ready to go, so he just stopped it there and conceded. By the way, didn't you hear that they just banned Swampert ex? And Swampert? Oh my, guess we were both playing illegal decks! (inside joke)
Record: 3-0-0 : 9 pts
We played again for fun afterward, and he ended up beating me silly. Oh well, I guess I'm fortunate that didn't happen in the main event.
- Round 4 -
Spoonier B.A.R.D. vs HypnosProjectHQ's Speed Gardy (Delcatty/Gardevoir/Wobbuffet)
We never got to play in the State Championship because we both decided to draw, so now it was time for the first epic clash between the two of us. This game was an extremely close game! I had a horrible setup, and he had a Gardevoir or two out before I knew it, and was plowing through things with his Wobbuffet. Then, miraculously I made a comeback, but it was looking extremely grim because he only had two prizes left, and was flipping with Pokemon Reversal to try send out my Rayquaza ex with 5 damage counters. He attaches a Boost Energy to Rayquaza ex then attacks... We both think its game, but then I notice that there's only 5 damage counters on him, and he forgot to use Psy Shadow. Then, I used Warp Point and brought back out my Blaziken and KOed something of his. He brought back out Gardevoir, and Psyshadowed me for 80. Then I (stupidly) used another Warp Point to send out is Delcatty and use my healthy new Blaziken and Knocked it Out. What I should've done was just attack the Gardevoir because it would've done 10 to the Delcatty anyway, so I'd claim both prizes, but I missed that one. Anyway, I just used Fire Stream next turn for the win. DANG THAT WAS TOO CLOSE!
Record: 4-0-0 : 12 pts
- Round 5 -
Spoonier B.A.R.D. vs Chris (?)'s Turbo Magma
This was just plain crazy. I got out my setup so fast, and I even had Blaziken ex up and running. I had Blaziken ex snipe off anything that was looking threatening (those Team Magma's Zangoose things scare me and my Rayquaza ex). Fortunately he wasn't playing any Crystal Shards, so Rayquaza ex was pretty effective against him, but it was Blaziken ex in the end that won me the fight by a long shot.
Record: 5-0-0 : 15 pts
- Round 6 -
Spoonier B.A.R.D. vs I forgot
Note to self: always play the game. I decided to draw with him. Something tells me that came back and ended up hurting me later on. But I was undefeated, so it wouldn't affect my position whether I lost, won, or drew, so I just decided to draw. Bad move, because every single time I do that, I lose in Elimination. Would that hold true this time though?
Record: 5-0-1 : 16 pts
I ended up taking 1st in the Swiss rounds without any problem, so I definitely made Top 8.
- Top 8 -
Spoonier B.A.R.D. vs Broken Lizard's Sceptile/ex/Muk ex
Game 1: I had a terrible setup, and he got Muk ex out on Turn 2. It was a hopeless fight, and nothing I tried could really do anything because he shut everything down. I used Warp Points, but that darn free retreat Marill ended up hurting me in the end, negating my Warp Point. Muk ex just slaughtered me, and I decided that I needed to lose this match before I put any more time in it so there's a slim possibility that I can win the next 2 games without time running out.
LOSE : 0-1
Game 2: Again, I have absolutely nothing, and again, he gets his Muk exs and Sceptile/exs out so fast. I can't draw anything to save me the game, and he just got out everything waaaayyyy too fast.
LOSE : 0-2
So, yet again I end up with exactly the same record as I did at the STS and the State Championship. It's even funnier because Broken Lizard also went on to win the whole event, just like my opponents in the other two events that I mentioned.
I ended up taking 5th. It was fun, and I think the tournament was organized fairly well, although it was a bit manic at some moments. Oh yeah, and I never got my onion! (inside joke)
Props
- Huge props to my family for taking me up to Manitowoc again.
- Huge props to my brother, Dustin, for taking 3rd in 11-14!
- Huge props to the people at My Parent's Basement for running it again!
- Big props to Jim H. and Pooka for giving me more Chanseys!
- Big props to HypnosProjectHQ for giving me the last card I needed for my reverse foil Aqua/Magma set!
- Props to TheDeuce for being cool, and for the entertaining game we had =)
- Props to the onions!
- Props to the people who enjoyed the Deoxys ex cards that I was giving out.
- Props to Broken Lizard for going on and winning 15+.
- Props to my website for being so darn cool, and for being one of the largest motivations for me playing Pokemon! It will become one of the most commonly known sites on the web eventually, mark my words!
- Props to them giving my mom 3 packs as a door prize. And props for them giving her a pack for complaining (?), although I'm still a bit lost on that one.
Slops
- Slops to myself for repeating history, again. Never again will I accept a draw! I will FORFEIT before I draw!
- Slops to the stinky cards we all pulled in our packs, except for my mom, who pulled a Sceptile ex.
- Slops to the mediocre Gym Challenge card we all got (Hidden Legends Beldum).
- Slops to myself for giving more than 2 slops. I hate being Sloppy =P
Unfortunately, I hadn't really had a whole lot of time to prepare for the Gym Challenge like I did the City and State Championships. I was as busy as ever, and only had signs of getting busier. I still had been using the deck that I played in the City and State Championships, Spoony/Spoonier B.A.R.D. The deck worked well for me in the past, I was very comfortable with it, and heck, 50 cards in the deck are foil, so I'm almost forced to play it.
I did decide to try making a slight alteration to the deck, and adding in a third Warp Point. I remember countless times thinking how bad I wished I had just one more Warp Point, but knowing that both in the deck have already been used, so I decided to put in one more, and boy was that a good decision on my part.
Anyway, on to the deck!
The Deck
Spoonier B.A.R.D. v.1.1
Pokemon
4 Torchic (DR)
1 Combusken (RS-27)
3 Blaziken (RS-3)
2 Blaziken ex
2 Mareep (DR)
1 Flaaffy (AQ)
2 Ampharos (EXP)
2 Skitty (SS)
2 Delcatty (RS-5)
4 Dunsparce (SS)
2 Rayquaza ex
Trainers
4 TV Reporter
4 Oracle
3 Professor Oak's Research
1 Copycat
1 Town Volunteers
4 Rare Candy
3 Warp Point
Energy
11 Fire Energy
4 Lightning Energy
The deck's focus is pretty much the same as all of the previous versions of the deck, found in my City Championship Report and State Championship Report. You try to get out a Rayquaza ex or Blaziken ex, then destroy whatever Pokemon your opponent sends out. Use Blaziken's Firestarter to keep the Energy returning to your Pokemon, then Ampharos to Energy Connect the Energy over to your active Pokemon. I prefer Ampharos over TA's Manectric, but that would also work in the deck.
The Tournament
We left at 7:15am, and stopped at McDonalds along the way. Yummy McGriddle! Anyway, after a rather long car ride (with lots of fog in the area), we finally arrived at My Parent's Basement at 10:30am.
We had plenty of time to mingle and such, and I met up with some familliar faces (Pooka, HypnosProjectHQ, TheDeuce, dld4a, Jim H. [the judge]). I hadn't seen Pooka since the Central Stadium Challenge back in 2002! So I played this one kid, and then I played Pooka (beating them both, but Pooka got 3 tails with Kabutops' Hydrocutter X_X).
I also received some Chanseys for the infamous Chansey Collection by Jim H. and Pooka, bringing the total count to 306! HypnosProjectHQ also gave me the last card I needed for my reverse foil Team Aqua vs Team Magma set, #55 - Team Aqua's Poochyena. Who would've guessed that a common would be so hard to get, eh?
Anyway, nothing else really exciting happened, so I'll get right to the Tournament Report. There were 43 people in the tournament.
- Round 1 -
Spoonier B.A.R.D. vs Dwight H.'s Beedrill/Shedinja/Espeon
I had to play Dwight H. again... Oi... I had an okay setup. Unfortunately, he was playing Shedinja, so I wanted to make sure I left something on my bench that could counter it. Fortunately for me, he played the Shedinja too early (he started with Nincada), so I was able to prepare against Shedinja. I ended up taking out both a Weedle and a Kakuna, then he brought out his Shedinja. So, I used Firestarter to get an Energy on my benched Skitty, attached a Lightning Energy to the Skitty from my hand, retreated Blaziken and brought out the Skitty, then used Double-edge for the game.
Record: 1-0-0 : 3 pts
- Round 2 -
Spoonier B.A.R.D. vs Gardevoir/ex/Wobbuffet
This was the same deck that beat me in the Elimination Round of the State Championship. The start was also looking way too similar as well, because I started with a single Torchic, 3 Fire Energy, 2 TV Reporter, and a Rare Candy. Fortunately, I won the coin flip so I got to go first (as opposed to him going first last time). I used TV Reporter, and thankfully drew another Torchic (and another TV Reporter), so I set it down. Eventually, I got out my Blaziken and used that to fight against the Wobbuffets and KO his Ralts. He managed to get a Kirlia out, but he never got the Gardevoir, so I KOed that. I then KOed the remaining Wobbuffet for the game.
Record: 2-0-0 : 6 pts
- Round 3 -
Spoonier B.A.R.D. vs TheDeuce's Swampert/ex/Suicune ex
Again, I have to fight one of my opponents in the State Championship. Sure are a lot of familliar faces, eh? Anyway, I feel a bit sorry for the match. I think we both started with Dunsparce and got our basic setups out pretty fast. Unfortunately, he didn't have a great hand at all, and he couldn't draw for beans. And, unfortunate for him, I had my setup roaring through everything. He got out a Swampert ex, and I took it out somehow. I then got out Blaziken ex, and started charging him up while taking out some other things. It was over once the Blaziken ex was ready to go, so he just stopped it there and conceded. By the way, didn't you hear that they just banned Swampert ex? And Swampert? Oh my, guess we were both playing illegal decks! (inside joke)
Record: 3-0-0 : 9 pts
We played again for fun afterward, and he ended up beating me silly. Oh well, I guess I'm fortunate that didn't happen in the main event.
- Round 4 -
Spoonier B.A.R.D. vs HypnosProjectHQ's Speed Gardy (Delcatty/Gardevoir/Wobbuffet)
We never got to play in the State Championship because we both decided to draw, so now it was time for the first epic clash between the two of us. This game was an extremely close game! I had a horrible setup, and he had a Gardevoir or two out before I knew it, and was plowing through things with his Wobbuffet. Then, miraculously I made a comeback, but it was looking extremely grim because he only had two prizes left, and was flipping with Pokemon Reversal to try send out my Rayquaza ex with 5 damage counters. He attaches a Boost Energy to Rayquaza ex then attacks... We both think its game, but then I notice that there's only 5 damage counters on him, and he forgot to use Psy Shadow. Then, I used Warp Point and brought back out my Blaziken and KOed something of his. He brought back out Gardevoir, and Psyshadowed me for 80. Then I (stupidly) used another Warp Point to send out is Delcatty and use my healthy new Blaziken and Knocked it Out. What I should've done was just attack the Gardevoir because it would've done 10 to the Delcatty anyway, so I'd claim both prizes, but I missed that one. Anyway, I just used Fire Stream next turn for the win. DANG THAT WAS TOO CLOSE!
Record: 4-0-0 : 12 pts
- Round 5 -
Spoonier B.A.R.D. vs Chris (?)'s Turbo Magma
This was just plain crazy. I got out my setup so fast, and I even had Blaziken ex up and running. I had Blaziken ex snipe off anything that was looking threatening (those Team Magma's Zangoose things scare me and my Rayquaza ex). Fortunately he wasn't playing any Crystal Shards, so Rayquaza ex was pretty effective against him, but it was Blaziken ex in the end that won me the fight by a long shot.
Record: 5-0-0 : 15 pts
- Round 6 -
Spoonier B.A.R.D. vs I forgot
Note to self: always play the game. I decided to draw with him. Something tells me that came back and ended up hurting me later on. But I was undefeated, so it wouldn't affect my position whether I lost, won, or drew, so I just decided to draw. Bad move, because every single time I do that, I lose in Elimination. Would that hold true this time though?
Record: 5-0-1 : 16 pts
I ended up taking 1st in the Swiss rounds without any problem, so I definitely made Top 8.
- Top 8 -
Spoonier B.A.R.D. vs Broken Lizard's Sceptile/ex/Muk ex
Game 1: I had a terrible setup, and he got Muk ex out on Turn 2. It was a hopeless fight, and nothing I tried could really do anything because he shut everything down. I used Warp Points, but that darn free retreat Marill ended up hurting me in the end, negating my Warp Point. Muk ex just slaughtered me, and I decided that I needed to lose this match before I put any more time in it so there's a slim possibility that I can win the next 2 games without time running out.
LOSE : 0-1
Game 2: Again, I have absolutely nothing, and again, he gets his Muk exs and Sceptile/exs out so fast. I can't draw anything to save me the game, and he just got out everything waaaayyyy too fast.
LOSE : 0-2
So, yet again I end up with exactly the same record as I did at the STS and the State Championship. It's even funnier because Broken Lizard also went on to win the whole event, just like my opponents in the other two events that I mentioned.
I ended up taking 5th. It was fun, and I think the tournament was organized fairly well, although it was a bit manic at some moments. Oh yeah, and I never got my onion! (inside joke)
Props
- Huge props to my family for taking me up to Manitowoc again.
- Huge props to my brother, Dustin, for taking 3rd in 11-14!
- Huge props to the people at My Parent's Basement for running it again!
- Big props to Jim H. and Pooka for giving me more Chanseys!
- Big props to HypnosProjectHQ for giving me the last card I needed for my reverse foil Aqua/Magma set!
- Props to TheDeuce for being cool, and for the entertaining game we had =)
- Props to the onions!
- Props to the people who enjoyed the Deoxys ex cards that I was giving out.
- Props to Broken Lizard for going on and winning 15+.
- Props to my website for being so darn cool, and for being one of the largest motivations for me playing Pokemon! It will become one of the most commonly known sites on the web eventually, mark my words!
- Props to them giving my mom 3 packs as a door prize. And props for them giving her a pack for complaining (?), although I'm still a bit lost on that one.
Slops
- Slops to myself for repeating history, again. Never again will I accept a draw! I will FORFEIT before I draw!
- Slops to the stinky cards we all pulled in our packs, except for my mom, who pulled a Sceptile ex.
- Slops to the mediocre Gym Challenge card we all got (Hidden Legends Beldum).
- Slops to myself for giving more than 2 slops. I hate being Sloppy =P
Pictures are going up tomorrow!
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