Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Procircuitscrub's Columbus Cities Report

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procircuitscrub

New Member
So my good buddy james and I have been testing for about 3 months in hopes of earning an awesome trip to hawaii...and we decided to make the 3 and a half hour trip from KY to Columbus. The night before we take on 2 additional passengers at the last min. A lady friend of Wames and a local player . We head out at about 8am end up stopping at McDonalds for some breakfast and Wames scares the crap out of several customers with his odd voices from behind a trash can. We drop off james lady friend at her college in Columbus and head to the tournament. It think we are running kinda late...but when we pull up the store is still closed. : / At this point I am guessing that there would be a lot of Glicor/Spiritomb, Gyarados, Flygon, and Gengar....and james seems to believe that people would be better and realize that gliscor is terrible. The store opens and we find out that there are like 7 Gliscor decks running around and only 1 Flygon/Machamp. So we both decide that Luxray/Blaze is the call seeing as how it auto wins the gliscor match. Pairings go up and we get started.

Round 1

VS. Tyranitar

He wins the flip and goes first...he starts with a larvitar and passes. I start luxray , call energy, and search out blaze/baltoy. He responds with pupitar and passes. Bad beats. I retreat for blaze, play claydol, radar for blaze X, cosmic into cyrus and crobat G, crobat the active, cyrus for gain, and fire and swing for 80.

1-0

Round 2

VS. Raichu

He wins the flip and flips over a pikachu. I start with luxray. He attaches an energy and quick attacks for 10 on my lux. I play call and roseanne to get a baltoy, another luxray, a blaze and a crobat G. He follows up with crazy stupid draw. BTS, baltoy, claydol, 3 pokedex, some drawers, quick balls, another pikachu/raichu on the bench and then he searches for 2 lightning and attaches them to the benched raichu. I respond with lux X gust up the benched raichu, poke turn my lux X, bring up blaze, play the lvl X, drop a crobat, gain and fire energy. Ko with jet shoot. He sets up another raichu the following turn and makes the same play searching out lightnings for the bench raichu. I retreat my blaze for lux, play lux x, drop another crobat g, poke turn my lux again, attach a fire to blaze and ko again. He goes to his turn...plays a bunch or scoop ups for some reason...flips tails on ALL of them and he passes. I bring up his claydol with luring flame...and pass. He thinks for a a bit and scoops because he will never have an attacker.

2-0

Round 3

VS. Gengar

This guy was really cool. Sorry I don't remember names all that well. But we talked a bit while we were setting up and it turns out he graduated from the same college i've been attending. I get a pretty good start....I spray his claydols the turn he drops them and I gust them up the turn after anf ko with blaze. I get 3 prizes ahead and he takes a ko with relicanth. But without claydols...he's drawing dead. I sweep this one.

3-0

at this point Wames and I are both 3-0 and hoping we don't have to play each other.

Round 4

VS. Kingdra

I find out that I got paired down and that kinda sucks. I win the flip and have to go 1st. I play a luxray and a baltoy and pass. (no energy drop ) He proceeds to BLOW UP with kingdra. Double poke drawer, baltoy/claydol, candy/kingdra, double uxie, expert belt, and I am just shaking my head. He kos my luxray. I have a baltoy active....I end up searching out another luxray with sp radar. but I have no supporters. He starts his next turn....sets up another kingdra...and i'm just getting run over. I was able to ko a benched horsea with lux X a few turns later...but that was it. I look at him and say... " best draw you can possibly get. " Yikes.

3-1

Round 5

VS. Lux/Blaze

He gets a crappy start but draws into EVERYTHING he needs to stay in the game without even having a claydol. We trade prizes the whole game. at one point I think I have him because I ko his blaze X and all he has is a blaze on the bench. he has already played 4 cyrus and an aaron. So I think there is very little possibility of him getting it back on the field. But he drops a 2nd blaze X from his hand!!!! What?! 2-2 blaze....yikes. he jet shoots my blaze and I end up luxing it up for the ko the next turn. he returns the ko with croak, and I follow up with lux x gusting up the azelf on the bench. I swing for 60 and he has no way to ko me the next turn. he has 1 prize left...and I have 2. He proceeds to stare into space claiming that he is tired for like 4 mins. I call a judge to watch for pace of play and then they call time....I get stalled out for the loss. The following turn I would have used crobat to ko his azelf and brought up blaze to jet shoot the active with another crobat for the win. Sigh....

After I go 3-2....my last round opponent decides he's going to Drop from the tournament...( yes...he was going to be top 4) so his buddy would make top cut. Then James beats the guy in top 4. ^_^ the guy was talking about how he was going to split prizes with his friend in top 2 and all this other crap. Then james completely runs over him 2-0. That was funny.

After the swiss rounds I play a game with a cool guy from muncie and we talk a bit about the format.

Overall it was a really fun trip....but bad beats and stalling keep me from top cut. Oh well. There's always next weekend. ^_^
 
You should have cut, dude. I saw that round 5 match and the win in your hand. Slow play sucks. He sure found a lot of pointless things to do on that turn and maxed out his 20ish seconds per play, which might as well be stalling if it isn't.
And when he played the 2nd Blaze X, my jaw just dropped, lol. I was like "WHY?" So random, and you could never predict that.

Great meeting you. Hope we play again in the near future.
 
i have to say that the guy that stalled you out should have been reprehended for stalling and being a bad sport
 
Just to set some things straight:

Keith and Ryne aren't really buddies. Keith is from Sandusky, Ryne is from Columbus and doesn't really care either way. Ryne had really no place in that deal. I think he really just said yes because who wouldn't say yes to an offer like that? Free medal because my opponent wants packs? His loss.

Your 5th round opponent may play slow but he doesn't do it intentionally. He gets worked up in the moment and is a very solid player with a worlds qualification under his belt. You want slow, you should see some other Ohioan players sometime. I almost find it offensive that you would complain about him on an open forum that he doesn't reg and has no place to fight back. In addition to that, he was dropping not so another person could get in, but because they wanted to leave to get food (Why that is, I don't exactly know) at a local place in Columbus. I will admit, yes, he does play slow sometimes, and I will sometimes tell him to pick up the pace, but he does not do it intentionally or to stall his opponents out. Most Ohioan players are well aware of this. I'm sorry that you do not.

If you really want to make this sour grapes, you probably shouldn't have made it such a close game in the first place. Your fault for giving him outs and calling him on stalling so late in the game. I mean, if he really took 4 minutes for a turn and you were so hard pressed on time, why didn't you just call him after the obvious 40 second rule? If he was making moves within the 40 second frame, then you have no room to complain. This is the same thing that went for GG two years ago, plus you had 40 minutes to play the game. I honestly can't see the justified complaining here.

Please don't make assumptions if you don't know what exactly you are talking about.
 
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Naki Feralkin said:
Just to set some things straight:

Keith and Ryne aren't really buddies. Keith is from Sandusky, Ryne is from Columbus and doesn't really care either way. Ryne had really no place in that deal. I think he really just said yes because who wouldn't say yes to an offer like that? Free medal because my opponent wants packs? His loss.

Your 5th round opponent may play slow but he doesn't do it intentionally. He gets worked up in the moment and is a very solid player with a worlds qualification under his belt. You want slow, you should see some other Ohioan players sometime. I almost find it offensive that you would complain about him on an open forum that he doesn't reg and has no place to fight back. In addition to that, he was dropping not so another person could get in, but because they wanted to leave to get food (Why that is, I don't exactly know) at a local place in Columbus. I will admit, yes, he does play slow sometimes, and I will sometimes tell him to pick up the pace, but he does not do it intentionally or to stall his opponents out. Most Ohioan players are well aware of this. I'm sorry that you do not.

If you really want to make this sour grapes, you probably shouldn't have made it such a close game in the first place. Your fault for giving him outs and calling him on stalling so late in the game.

Please don't make assumptions if you don't know what exactly you are talking about.
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Ok....first things first. I don't care that you know he is a slow player. He stalled me out and would have lost the following turn. The fact that "ohio players" know he is slow doesn't change the fact that I was cheated out of a win. He is more than welcome to come on the message board and defend himself. But nothing changes the fact that he is a VERY slow player and he stalled me for a NON- legit win. He did a bunch of POINTLESS moves in the last few turns just to eat up the clock...and I should have called a judge sooner than I did. I love how YOU make assumptions about my playskill. What was you record that day? 0-4 or something like that? He was a solid player and was able to stay in the game on his own top decking skills and playskill....but ultimately won due to his stalling.

Secondly...I don't care if Keith and Ryne were buddies or not. They were both guilty of collusion and are getting reported ^_^ On top of that....Keith was a very cocky and unpleasant person who was beat by the better player 3 games in a row despite his trash talk. He never stood a chance in any of the games against James. So please...go spout your rediculous comments somewhere else.
 
procircuitscrub said:
Ok....first things first. I don't care that you know he is a slow player. He stalled me out and would have lost the following turn. The fact that "ohio players" know he is slow doesn't change the fact that I was cheated out of a win. He is more than welcome to come on the message board and defend himself. But nothing changes the fact that he is a VERY slow player and he stalled me for a NON- legit win. He did a bunch of POINTLESS moves in the last few turns just to eat up the clock...and I should have called a judge sooner than I did. I love how YOU make assumptions about my playskill. What was you record that day? 0-4 or something like that? He was a solid player and was able to stay in the game on his own top decking skills and playskill....but ultimately won due to his stalling.

Secondly...I don't care if Keith and Ryne were buddies or not. They were both guilty of collusion and are getting reported ^_^ On top of that....Keith was a very cocky and unpleasant person who was beat by the better player 3 games in a row despite his trash talk. He never stood a chance in any of the games against James. So please...go spout your rediculous comments somewhere else.
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He stalled you, and you learned an important lesson: Call a judge much sooner. Sour grapes won't get you ANYTHING, learn from your mistake and move on.

Also, you're stretching the idea of Collusion. A player is allowed to drop/concede any time they want/need.

Sounds to me like you can handle a loss, and need to cover it up by whining about someone else. The rest of your report was very detailed, good job. Learn to keep your sour grapes to yourself though, they just make everyone else roll their eyes and ignore you.
 
This is your fourth round opponent :)

Had a great game against you, thanks for that. I was also watching your game against your fifth round opponent and what you said you were going to do you couldn't have pulled it off that turn if I remember correctly because you played it out and could not draw into the fire energy you needed so.....unless you had something else that turn it would have went another turn and he may have pulled something out.

Also he dropped because our group wanted to go get food and he felt bad about making us stay so he dropped =/. Don't be a jerk. Anyway thanks for the games you were a fun opponent :)
 
Like I said...I should have called a judge WAY earlier. What made me upset was someone trying to justify the guy's stalling by saying I should have called the judge. I wasn't ever that upset about it. I realised my own mistake and will never make it again....but i will look like a jerk all the time because I will be calling a judge to watch for pace of play. I hate that I have to do that in order to not get stalled out. Why can't people just play the game the way it is meant to be played? At a decent speed.
 
^ Well, ya learned your lesson. At least your opponent wasn't a certain person up here who literally takes 30 minutes for a turn and knows full well that he does it and infuriates most of the people up here by doing so.
 
procircuitscrub said:
Like I said...I should have called a judge WAY earlier. What made me upset was someone trying to justify the guy's stalling by saying I should have called the judge. I wasn't ever that upset about it. I realised my own mistake and will never make it again....but i will look like a jerk all the time because I will be calling a judge to watch for pace of play. I hate that I have to do that in order to not get stalled out. Why can't people just play the game the way it is meant to be played? At a decent speed.
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Sadly people want to win that badly they will stall someone out, but we know this man very well and he doesn't really care about winning so I know for a fact that he was not doing it on purpose.
While we were in the car he was upset that you felt he was trying to cheat you out of that game, but meh whats done is done. Looking forward to seeing you again and getting a rematch. ;)
 
procircuitscrub said:
Secondly...I don't care if Keith and Ryne were buddies or not. They were both guilty of collusion and are getting reported ^_^
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Players can drop, no matter what their motives. Players have also scooped games to buddies so they'd both get in top cut, thus "unfairly" decreasing others' chances of making cut. It's perfectly within the rules and legit.
 
i wanted to go to that cities too steve.(its trevor)
sucks about the guy stalling but you should know that thats pokemon for ya.
did james end up winning?
 
NF. I was going to stay out of this thread, but I'm not.

You've learned your lesson? That is your input?

Players who slow play, stall, and are known for doing so, are the bane of every player's existence.

And, if he heard 2 players "colluding" about the prizes in the finals, he should report it. Worst that happens is that Pokemon investigates.

If the players and judges know a player is a staller/potential staller, then they should show them a little extra attention at an event. It is obvious that if your players know the problems, the judges certainly should too. It is a small community, we know what we have.

Hope this doesn't stop you from travelling to events, you all are always welcome to sneak down to St. Louis area, and I know a certain PTO in Evansville, Indiana who is always welcoming to visitors!!!

Good luck for the rest of the season.

Vince
 
It really wasn't so much two players colluding as it was one player trying to goad the other into collusion. Basically, Player A (The one that James defeated in his Top 4) asked Player B if both of them were to play in the final round that he would drop to Player B and they would split prizes and the medal would go to Player B. Player B looked rather confused at this statement, and even asked Player A to repeat what he had just said, as if confused that anyone at this point in time would ask something like that. Player A indeed repeated the question, Player B replied with a rather snide "oookaay", in which he said he'd go along with it. Player B didn't even have this in mind and doesn't even know Player A on a regular basis. If anyone is completely at fault for even thinking it, Player A should be completely held to blame, not that it mattered anyways, since the collusion never would have gone through since James beat Player A, and then lost to Player B in the finals.

I will again reiterate that the stalling person is not normally a stalling player. If this were the case, any judge would have caught him red handed in Top 64 at 08 nationals and 08 Worlds if he constantly did it. He does play somewhat slowly, but he always makes moves within the time frame, and does not usually do it on purpose. There are worse stallers in this state, those who go relatively unpunished which is agitating, that will take a long time to just look at their options, mutter pointless things to themselves, and also take more than the legitimate time to tutor for Roseannes/Bebes/what have you. Worst part is he's been told countless times to pick up the pace, nor does he ever learn it.

Your input is certainly welcome, Vince. Just wanted to say the side of the story that was also heard. I can see where Steven and James could come off as bitter about something like this.
 
Glad to see that the collusion offer is being admitted.

I hope PUI acts immediately and appropriately.

I know one of the players in my area got a one-year ban for just this type of thing. And no, his offer wasn't accepted either.

By you (NF):

Basically, Player A (The one that James defeated in his Top 4) asked Player B if both of them were to play in the final round that he would drop to Player B and they would split prizes and the medal would go to Player B. Player B looked rather confused at this statement, and even asked Player A to repeat what he had just said, as if confused that anyone at this point in time would ask something like that. Player A indeed repeated the question, Player B replied with a rather snide "oookaay", in which he said he'd go along with it. Player B didn't even have this in mind and doesn't even know Player A on a regular basis. If anyone is completely at fault for even thinking it, Player A should be completely held to blame, not that it mattered anyways, since the collusion never would have gone through since James beat Player A, and then lost to Player B in the finals.

Yes, I am keeping after this...

Vince
 
I would not complain so much about your round 5 clock-out. It may not be very sportsmanlike, but it's a legit way to win. I got 2nd instead of 1st at States thanks to stalling, so I know the pain. But you have to realize that the clock is just as important as your prizes, your bench, or your deck as win conditions.

Just think of the clock as a mind game. Mind games are easily won through frustration. If stalling frustrates you it is more likely to beat you. You can flip this on potential stallers by strategically calling the judge. The idea of being caught stalling is frustrating to many ppl. Just the judge's presence could force a little misplay here or there, which in a long game is the only edge u need to win.

I say it would be a good idea to call a judge any time a match gets to the 10 minute mark. It's hard to stop a staller from winning after that point, and like I said calling a judge can frustrate some ppl to your advantage, even if they aren't stalling. It's not against the rules to call a judge if you suspect foul play, right?

It sucks to have to be this pessimistic and sneaky about other ppl, but some ppl need these traits for their job (pro poker/Magic players are a big chunk of this). Expecting the unexpected and how to handle it is an important life skill. Learning those skills by playing a game is way less dangerous than learning them from the real world.
 
mrdraz07 said:
Just think of the clock as a mind game. Mind games are easily won through frustration. If stalling frustrates you it is more likely to beat you. You can flip this on potential stallers by strategically calling the judge. The idea of being caught stalling is frustrating to many ppl. Just the judge's presence could force a little misplay here or there, which in a long game is the only edge u need to win.

I say it would be a good idea to call a judge any time a match gets to the 10 minute mark. It's hard to stop a staller from winning after that point, and like I said calling a judge can frustrate some ppl to your advantage, even if they aren't stalling. It's not against the rules to call a judge if you suspect foul play, right?

It sucks to have to be this pessimistic and sneaky about other ppl, but some ppl need these traits for their job (pro poker/Magic players are a big chunk of this).
Click to expand...

Please tell me we haven't gotten to the point where we are calling judges just to psych our opponents out!!!

Jeez. Is this par for the course in this area? Has the whole game gotten this cynical?

I certainly hope not.

Vince
 
meganium45 said:
Please tell me we haven't gotten to the point where we are calling judges just to psych our opponents out!!!

Jeez. Is this par for the course in this area? Has the whole game gotten this cynical?

I certainly hope not.

Vince
Click to expand...

Does anybody play this game fairly anymore?
 
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