NycDarkDragon
New Member
I received an invite to play through my modified rankings. I figured that I might give up the game soon so I decide to use this tournament to prove whether I should continue playing. I left with my friend MK and his father on Friday morning. We went straight to the hotel and checked in. The first thing we did was seeking out our other buddies in the hotel. We meet up with Frankie Durso, Anthony Durso, James Sorge, Alex Alverez, Jesse Poms and Joe Poms. Alex, James and Anthony had to play in the grinder, Joe is judging, and the rest of us have invites. Unfortunately, none of them got an invite. Alex was very close though, he came in 33rd (there were 32 invites for the 15+…) So we all rest up and look forward to the long day ahead of us.
Sneasel’s Cousin:
4 Shiftry
4 Nuzleaf
4 Seedot
2 Furret
2 Stentret
2 Delcatty
2 Skitty
3 Dunsparce
1 Jirachi
4 Steven
4 CopyCat
4 Desert Shaman
2 Oracle
1 Desert Ruins
1 Town Volunteers
2 Warp Point
4 Dark
4 Boost
4 DRE
6 Grass
Everything went pretty smooth and we were paired up according to schedule.
Round one: Blaziken,Bellosome
I was pretty surprised to see him play an oddish when we started. I started off fine with a dunsparce and got basics down. He started with an early blex and killed off my jirachi and shiftry. I managed to kill it with my second shiftry, but he also got a second blex. So I just lost it there.
0-1
Round two: Lanturn, Gardi Deck
Another weird deck that I didn’t expect. I started with dunsparce and got my basics down, but my jirachi was in the prizes. I couldn’t pull out a nuzleaf until it was too late. The shiftry’s seem to come back after every shuffle.
0-2
Round three: Metagross, Gorebyss
I thought that with two losses already, I had no chance what so ever on making the finals. I decided just to enjoy myself instead of worrying about winning. So I start off with dunsparce again and used jirachi to start pumping out evolutions. Soon enough when he killed one of my poke, I countered with my shiftrys. It seems that the resistance was too much for him. He lost his gorebyss to my shiftry early in the battle so he had a hard time killing them.
1-2
Round four: Pual with Gardi and Magneton
I met this guy at the pokemon center about a month ago. So another deck that I have an advantage against…(not that I don’t like it, just that I feel it’s unfair) I get shiftrys on the bench and as active pretty quick and then started rampaging though his gardi’s. In the end, it was just no match for shiftry.
2-2
Round five: Crobyss
This match was pretty much the same as the last two matches. Shiftry owns them all with the help of hand size adjustments.
3-2
Round six: Shiftry
This was truly a good match when neither side had the advantage. I started with the dunsparce/jirachi start. Turned out that I got more shiftrys powered before him so I won the game.
4-2
Round seven: Exploud
I had to win this match in order to make the finals. So everything was on the line here. He started off with a first turn exploud…he did 10 to my only active stentret. I retreated for dunsparce and got down some basics. I he started picking at my basics and ko’d each one by one. I had one shiftry that did 40 to the exploud which he later briney’d. So it came down to his last prize and I still had 6 left. That’s when I suddenly evolved my shiftry with 1 dark and 1 grass. I used my furret to search for another dark making it enough to kill his exploud with 20 on it. This was the turning point of the whole match. shiftry rampaged through all his basics as he tries to get another exploud out to kill my benched furret with 40 on it. Unfortunately he didn’t manage to get any. His plan to search out evo’s was foiled by shiftry’s push aside. So that one shiftry make the whole comeback for me.
5-2
I was in the finals with the 8th place record (16th by tiebreakers). I was so excited, I didn’t expect to make the finals. The finals was based on the top 32 and we were to play one round of the finals on Saturday night.
Top 32 elimination: Oliver Durr-Sceptile
Match one: He started off with a turn 3 Sceptile (tail rap). Killed some of my basics. I brought up some shiftrys but it wasn’t enough to kill him. he soon got out a muk ex and a sceptile ex. The muk messed with my furret and delcatty’s powers so I was sort of screwed. I managed to kill the muk but he had a Sceptile ex waiting for me. He killed 3 of my shiftry’s and I ran short on energy so I gave up on the last prize.
Match two: I went first with my seedot vs his treeko. I attached a dark and use growth. He attached a grass and did 10. Next I evolved into nuzleaf and killed his only basic with a boost.
Match three: So the pressure was on. Whoever wins proceeds to day two. I stayed cool and tried to concentrate. I started with my dunsparce/jirachi start against his lone treeko. I got shiftrys powered up as he continues to lay down basics helplessly. I didn’t want it to end that way as a bad hand…but I did what I had to. I’m in the top sixteen.
I gave my deck over to the official and went off with Joe, Jesse, Jon and this other kid that I forgot the name of (sorry). We had dinner together and headed back for the hotel for another exciting day ahead of us (thanks again Jon for paying for dinner).
Day two
Top 16 elimination: Nick – Crobyss
I must admit, this was the most equally matched opponent that I have faced throughout the tournament. We both got a peak at each other’s decklist before playing so I guess we were both prepared. He loves to predict what my next move is going to be and 90 % of the time he is right. Unfortuately, I used this against him by changing my plans.
Match one: He got out a second turn gorebyss and just killed my seedot…
Match two: We had a neck to neck game here. We both got our poke powered and I made the first move and killed his gorebyss. Then we go back and forth doing damage to each other. He poisons me and I continue to do 80-100 damage every turn. Push aside helped me a lot too. Whenever he gets an evo that he needed, I sent it back to the deck. Turned out that the damage was too much for his 70-90 HP pokes.
Match three: He starts off with a bad hand but soon gets better after using a oak to get a turn two gorebyss. I had to sacrafice jirachi and dunsparce to ensure that I get my shiftry powered. He continues poisoning my shiftrys and attacking with gorebyss afterwards. If I remember correctly, I had to use my 4th shiftry to pull off the victory. I’m in the top 8!
Top 8 elimination: YUGI – Magma
I knew this was going to happen…I ran into a fighting deck in the finals…and one that was surpose to be particularly weak…now is where I regret that I didn’t play any ancient tombs…
Match one: Sad to say that I started with dunsparce but jirachi was in the prizes so I was screwed without a single evolution the whole game.
Match two: I start with dunsparce again but this time, I wound up with DRE in my hand. No matter how I try to get rid of them and look for evos and energies that I can attach to basics, it never works out…again, no nuzleafs.
That was a pretty sad ending but I must say that I’m proud to make the top 8. Now I have folks back in New York that is waiting for my news on how I did. Well…here it is.
Slops:
Me for being so forgetful about the supporter rule, I had to place it into the discard pile then place it next to my active a second later…
Props:
Everything else: the judges, the TO, everything running so smoothly, the competitors, Pokemon USA for hosting the event, the PCL judges, the Pokemon Trading Card Game World Championships 2004 in general.
Thank you for reading, it has been a pleasure to meet all of you and I hope to do it again next year.
Sneasel’s Cousin:
4 Shiftry
4 Nuzleaf
4 Seedot
2 Furret
2 Stentret
2 Delcatty
2 Skitty
3 Dunsparce
1 Jirachi
4 Steven
4 CopyCat
4 Desert Shaman
2 Oracle
1 Desert Ruins
1 Town Volunteers
2 Warp Point
4 Dark
4 Boost
4 DRE
6 Grass
Everything went pretty smooth and we were paired up according to schedule.
Round one: Blaziken,Bellosome
I was pretty surprised to see him play an oddish when we started. I started off fine with a dunsparce and got basics down. He started with an early blex and killed off my jirachi and shiftry. I managed to kill it with my second shiftry, but he also got a second blex. So I just lost it there.
0-1
Round two: Lanturn, Gardi Deck
Another weird deck that I didn’t expect. I started with dunsparce and got my basics down, but my jirachi was in the prizes. I couldn’t pull out a nuzleaf until it was too late. The shiftry’s seem to come back after every shuffle.
0-2
Round three: Metagross, Gorebyss
I thought that with two losses already, I had no chance what so ever on making the finals. I decided just to enjoy myself instead of worrying about winning. So I start off with dunsparce again and used jirachi to start pumping out evolutions. Soon enough when he killed one of my poke, I countered with my shiftrys. It seems that the resistance was too much for him. He lost his gorebyss to my shiftry early in the battle so he had a hard time killing them.
1-2
Round four: Pual with Gardi and Magneton
I met this guy at the pokemon center about a month ago. So another deck that I have an advantage against…(not that I don’t like it, just that I feel it’s unfair) I get shiftrys on the bench and as active pretty quick and then started rampaging though his gardi’s. In the end, it was just no match for shiftry.
2-2
Round five: Crobyss
This match was pretty much the same as the last two matches. Shiftry owns them all with the help of hand size adjustments.
3-2
Round six: Shiftry
This was truly a good match when neither side had the advantage. I started with the dunsparce/jirachi start. Turned out that I got more shiftrys powered before him so I won the game.
4-2
Round seven: Exploud
I had to win this match in order to make the finals. So everything was on the line here. He started off with a first turn exploud…he did 10 to my only active stentret. I retreated for dunsparce and got down some basics. I he started picking at my basics and ko’d each one by one. I had one shiftry that did 40 to the exploud which he later briney’d. So it came down to his last prize and I still had 6 left. That’s when I suddenly evolved my shiftry with 1 dark and 1 grass. I used my furret to search for another dark making it enough to kill his exploud with 20 on it. This was the turning point of the whole match. shiftry rampaged through all his basics as he tries to get another exploud out to kill my benched furret with 40 on it. Unfortunately he didn’t manage to get any. His plan to search out evo’s was foiled by shiftry’s push aside. So that one shiftry make the whole comeback for me.
5-2
I was in the finals with the 8th place record (16th by tiebreakers). I was so excited, I didn’t expect to make the finals. The finals was based on the top 32 and we were to play one round of the finals on Saturday night.
Top 32 elimination: Oliver Durr-Sceptile
Match one: He started off with a turn 3 Sceptile (tail rap). Killed some of my basics. I brought up some shiftrys but it wasn’t enough to kill him. he soon got out a muk ex and a sceptile ex. The muk messed with my furret and delcatty’s powers so I was sort of screwed. I managed to kill the muk but he had a Sceptile ex waiting for me. He killed 3 of my shiftry’s and I ran short on energy so I gave up on the last prize.
Match two: I went first with my seedot vs his treeko. I attached a dark and use growth. He attached a grass and did 10. Next I evolved into nuzleaf and killed his only basic with a boost.
Match three: So the pressure was on. Whoever wins proceeds to day two. I stayed cool and tried to concentrate. I started with my dunsparce/jirachi start against his lone treeko. I got shiftrys powered up as he continues to lay down basics helplessly. I didn’t want it to end that way as a bad hand…but I did what I had to. I’m in the top sixteen.
I gave my deck over to the official and went off with Joe, Jesse, Jon and this other kid that I forgot the name of (sorry). We had dinner together and headed back for the hotel for another exciting day ahead of us (thanks again Jon for paying for dinner).
Day two
Top 16 elimination: Nick – Crobyss
I must admit, this was the most equally matched opponent that I have faced throughout the tournament. We both got a peak at each other’s decklist before playing so I guess we were both prepared. He loves to predict what my next move is going to be and 90 % of the time he is right. Unfortuately, I used this against him by changing my plans.
Match one: He got out a second turn gorebyss and just killed my seedot…
Match two: We had a neck to neck game here. We both got our poke powered and I made the first move and killed his gorebyss. Then we go back and forth doing damage to each other. He poisons me and I continue to do 80-100 damage every turn. Push aside helped me a lot too. Whenever he gets an evo that he needed, I sent it back to the deck. Turned out that the damage was too much for his 70-90 HP pokes.
Match three: He starts off with a bad hand but soon gets better after using a oak to get a turn two gorebyss. I had to sacrafice jirachi and dunsparce to ensure that I get my shiftry powered. He continues poisoning my shiftrys and attacking with gorebyss afterwards. If I remember correctly, I had to use my 4th shiftry to pull off the victory. I’m in the top 8!
Top 8 elimination: YUGI – Magma
I knew this was going to happen…I ran into a fighting deck in the finals…and one that was surpose to be particularly weak…now is where I regret that I didn’t play any ancient tombs…
Match one: Sad to say that I started with dunsparce but jirachi was in the prizes so I was screwed without a single evolution the whole game.
Match two: I start with dunsparce again but this time, I wound up with DRE in my hand. No matter how I try to get rid of them and look for evos and energies that I can attach to basics, it never works out…again, no nuzleafs.
That was a pretty sad ending but I must say that I’m proud to make the top 8. Now I have folks back in New York that is waiting for my news on how I did. Well…here it is.
Slops:
Me for being so forgetful about the supporter rule, I had to place it into the discard pile then place it next to my active a second later…
Props:
Everything else: the judges, the TO, everything running so smoothly, the competitors, Pokemon USA for hosting the event, the PCL judges, the Pokemon Trading Card Game World Championships 2004 in general.
Thank you for reading, it has been a pleasure to meet all of you and I hope to do it again next year.
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