It was certainly an interesting tournament, seen some real original decks out there. Props to Rob Downs for that deck of his, he got it set up and really stunned me at the end. Props to Cory and all those who traded with me, got some cards I really needed, I am very close to completing all the Nintendo card sets, both reverse and regular.
Thanks to Jimmy for trading me that binder that comes in the winners bag, at least I will have one even if I don't win in one of the next 5 CC's that are out there. About the only thing I have to complain about is that I had to work the night before hand, get no sleep and then come in and play, then sleep for 3 hours and go to work again. That really stunk... and I know being tired affect my performance in at least 2 of the 5 matches.
Despite the computer problems, I think the event was run pretty well. I have 3 rules I follow when I go to anything higher then a local league, and I broke 1 and couldn't do anything about the 2nd.
1. Always change/tweak the deck- even your friends should be surprised at something new that they see. (It seems like a new deck everytime to some of my opponents, especially if it's been a while)
2. Get enough sleep. (My work is to blame for that one, can't control that, they needed me in desperately)
3. Even for friends, don't let them take back an attack or change what was placed. To elaborate: When you let go of a card, it's down. That energy, trainer, pokemon, etc. is now in play and cannot go back. If you attack me and then realize that you forgot stadium X was in play, I'm sorry, you can't go back and move more energy to your attacking pokemon.
I let that happen in one game, and I know it cost me that match, I drew the evolution next turn for that card, and that card would have healed itself and knocked out one of his pokemon. This is higher level competition- one should not expect your opponent to be generous, especially in 15+
This CC made me realize that I need to focus and not be swayed, if it happens again, I will simply call the judge and let he or she take care of it. That's why we have time to shuffle, time to play out our turn, etc.- so you know what you're doing when you say X is attacking Y...
I enjoy visiting different places, meeting new people, giving out my fake cards and making trades. But when you get me on the battle floor, don't expect any mercy... people have taken advantage of my good nature too many times since I came back into the game in August after a year's hiatus in Alaska. There will be no more shucking, jiving, or playing around... ST Pika is back in black and ready to surprise the midwest and beyond...
