Tyranitar666
New Member
Hey guys, sorry that this one is so long, but I put it on my online Xanga first, and now I am transferring it here. Please try and stop in at my Xanga and leave some comments for it, I have a bet going to see if I can get more replies, so help a man out 
Anyways, here it is.
Hey guys! I am FINALLY back from my vacation in Florida and holy **** do I have a ton to update! Alright, first off, I don't even know where to begin but I will simply say that I am now $5000 richer. Yes, I got 2nd place at the Pokemon TCG World Championships and recieved $5000 for it. So before you laugh at me and say " Hahaha You Play Pokemon!? You ***! " re-read said numerical value after the dollar sign. Yeah, I won a free trip to Florida for 2 with paid hotel expensives AND managed to win 5 thousand dollars playing the game, so who cares if it involves a bunch of dumb cartoon characters?
Anyways, lets start with a day by day recap. I'll start with Thursday, obviously. I try to go to bed at a reasonable time on Wednesday night but obviously do not succeed in sleep any time much sooner than 2 am. I am awaken at 7 am to go get breakfast and pick up Gabby to go to the airport. Me and my dad pile all of my stuff into the trunk of his car and we ride off to pick up Gabby from her house about 20 minutes away. A tread which continued for most of the weekend started at this time: She made fun of me. Alot.
We drive over to Cafe Stratos or whatever its called. All I know is it was a 24 hour joint that serves pancakes and thus got our business. The food was really good, and my dad paid for both of our meals. We get to the airport and things go almost too easily. We get our e-tickets transfered into actual tickets and go through the security check points with no problems ( I almost ALWAYS get frisked! ) and we basically sit in the waiting area for an hour and a half and listen to music for a bit. Unfortunately our seats were not next to each other but she sat behind me...which is bad as she kept poking me and I couldn't retaliate. I was sad.
We get off at Charlotte, NC, and rush to transfer to the next flight even though Gabby really wanted to step outside to smoke for a bit. She decided to wait instead and we go on the flight. This time she didn't get to sit behind me and poke me the whole time! Huzzah! I think she did flick me once anyways out of spite. I'd also like to state that I am cursed. When flying I ALWAYS get seated next to fat guys. Not just fat fat guys, but talkative fat fat guys. Like I'm sitting there peacefully, and some guy sits down. I try and ignore him, but than his rolls start to overtake the left side of my seat and I'm so not up for that stuff. So I finally free my arm from under his intrusive mass, and he keeps talking to me. Now, I guess me having headphones on wasn't enough of a clue that I didn't really want to talk, but who knows.
We get out at the airport and go to baggage claim after riding one of those sweet transport thingies!!! I was excited. Me and Gabby grabbed the front car so we got a cool view. Hurricane Charlie's devastation was readily apparent everywhere around us though. It was fairly haunting. We get to baggage claim and they take forever to send our bags out. We debate riding the conveyor belt around because simply put it sounded fun and amusing. We wanted to ride it all the way to the back of the luggage area. We resisted the urge and grabbed our stuff and went to the Mears stand and I paided for two one way tickets to the hotel.
So we wait around and get on this big bus and the bus driver is super annoying and would NOT shut up. I guess the fact that everyone tried to ignore him after he asked if anyone had any questions ( an action which happened appr. every 4 minutes ) wasn't enough to turn him away as he decided to be a tour guide instead of a damn shuttle. Throwing Knives were sorely missed.
We get to the hotel after about a 30 minute drive and it was sooooooo amazing! It was hands down the nicest hotel in the area and we go to check in. Somehow this goes easily as well, as I pay for it with my NEW CREDIT CARD for the first time. We get room keys ( Specifically designed for Pokemon Worlds 2004...awww how cute -_-" ) plus a random bag of pokemon junk. We head up to the room and unpack and lay around for a bit than we decide to go exploring! Yay!
We find a few nice restaurants, and the outdoor pools, plus the lobby where all the Pokemon players were hanging out and trading. We were going to go out to dinner at the Outback in the hotel but it was at cheapest 20 dollars a meal. We decided against it, and we walked over to Downtown Disney across the street and we found a Wolfgang punk's restaurant and we got caesar salads and some water and split a chocolate cake thingy for like 6 dollars ( Oh how I wish I was kidding on that cake price even though it was good ) The food was pretty good and exactly what we needed as we were hungry. We walked around the area a bit more before returning to the hotel and we went back up to the room and I ordered Hellboy for us to watch. Now, this is my 7th time seeing this movie, and her 1st. I still enjoyed it just as much. Scary, no?
After this I decide to go down to the lobby and trade and talk to my Pokemon friends while Gabby watches TV and reads, and goes down to the pool. Oh, while I am thinking of it, when exploring, we had to ask directions for a rumored " Indoor Pool ". We could not find it and the hotel was getting the better of us already. We had complications with the room key too, and general navigation. We asked a random employee...who obviously only spoke in Spanish and directed us to the outdoor pool with confidence upon our request for an " INDOOR " pool which we specified. Stupid spanish old woman...grrr.
Anyways, I definitely get back to the room around 12 and go to bed. Me and Gabby wake up around 1:45 the next day hahaha. We order room service and get chicken fingers and grilled cheese off the kids menu ( THE PRICES! SOOO EXPENSIVE! 20 DOLLARS! ACK! ) and 2 BIG Cookies! I like big cookies! That was fun. Very tasty. We both agreed.
We go down and hang out with all the Pokemon Players, such as Chad, Drew, Tom, David, Jim, Stephanie, Levi, Martin, Ryan, Pablo, AJ, Dylan, Sean, John, Freddy K, and more. We rip off random japenese people for their cards which was pretty fun. Ampharos EX for Blastoise EX...sweetness. Japanese Nationals was dominated by Team Magma decks...made me really scared as I had full intent to play Shiftry. Groudon beats the crap out of me. The grinder was also completed and every 10- player got invites, and 24 out of 11-14, and 32 out of the 15+ got in. Ryan got like 33rd and missed it =( John from my league made t32 and was in using Swampert.
Soon the HUGE Banquet dinner was thrown and I cannot stress enough how hands down amazing it was. They opened up a room which they had dressed up really fancily. Inside they had tons of rows of really dressed up food. They had pastas, fruits, cheeses, drinks, roasts, ice cream, pizza, and a ton of other stuff. They also had people dressed up as Pokemon characters. Now, this normally would be really retarded but they are so damn cute when they bounce around and they like to hug people....and they are all fluffy...and short...and cute girls inside...*day dreams back to thoughts of nuzzling with Torchic...*
Ok, sorry, I'm back now. Anyways, we all get together at a table and they have LIVE MUSIC playing. They had some form of tropical band playing music at one end up the dinner hall and it really made for a lively time. I knew 80% of the people invited in and it was alot of people. I sat with Gabby who decided to wear a really nice dress to it. She hands down looked the best out of everyone there. Yes, even over Torchic. I'd have worn a suit if my mom had let me bring one.
I eat a bit more than I'd have liked to and I met Freddy K for the first time. Everyone took turns signing people's cards and such, and we eventually snuck out to go check on how the Grinder was doing. After this me Chad and Gabby went up to my room and I laid down in her bed and she was yelling at me to move. Haha. I wouldn't, so she started throwing knives at the wall above me. They kept falling and hitting me. They hurt. I took a shot to the juggular and one to the eye despite covering my face with a pillow. I ended up finally giving up when she started to press down on my head to crush me unless I moved. I aborted my misson and switched beds.
I headed down to do some trading and watch the tournaments again for a bit as Gabby stayed in the room. I played a few games with my Shiftry and beat Blaziken and Gardevoir, but I began to hear all these rumors of the Japanese Team Magma Deck everyone was running. It made me want to switch decks because I knew I couldn't beat it. I went back to the room and went down to the pool with Gabby for awhile and we talked and swam and I was blind in the pool in the dark without glasses and she kicked me. I was sad.
We go back upstairs and we go to check out Martin's "Party " he had advertised online before hand. We stop in for a second and say we may go back to it if " we were that bored " hehe. I eventually did go back but Gabby got some sleep instead. I do some playtesting with Martin and some kids and go downstairs before everyone gets kicked out of the playing area so they could set up for Worlds the next day.
Martin's dad and dad's friend were drunk off their *** and were quite funny. I end up stealing Martin's Blaziken deck and writing a new list down on John's deck box at like 3 am once I decide that Shiftry was NOT going to win. I build it and borrow a Blaziken EX off of Chad after I wake him up at like 4 to get it. So I have my deck ready, and we set the alarm to get up at 6 am. We had to turn in deck registration sheets at 7 am since we opted not to do it the night before because we wanted to playtest our decks more.
I wake up so ready to just die because I had no sleep, and I rush through filling a decklist out and I put on the "Large " Competitor shirt I was required to wear....turns out it was indeed a large...a YOUTH Large. SO you could see my nipples quite readily. I kinda liked it
Anyways we go down and I tell Gabby just to stop down and watch a few games once she gets more sleep. We all wait around for things to start and I run a few sample hands to test out a deck I had never even played before in my life. I had to hope my testing experience online and general knowledge of deck match ups would get me through everything.
The opening ceremony started around 10, and we sat down and listened to Dave Schwimmer tell everyone about the tournament and how great it was gonna be. Everyone was really psyched out. I couldn't wait to start playing.
My round one opponent was against a kid named Matt F.
Round 1 vs Matt F ( Blaziken Mirror Match )
For those not familar with what a Mirror Match is, a Mirror Match is when your opponent uses the same basic deck idea that you use, so alot of it depends on player ability and who gets set up first. This match goes pretty evenly but I get my Blaziken EX out first, and eventually even Nurse it once it gets damaged and his is killed. He gets a 2nd one up but makes the mistake of killing a Blaziken over my Manectric which would have put him in the game still, but I still had the game locked based on my hand. Tough game for most of it considering he got a slightly quicker start than I did.
1-0
So alot of my friends lost their first round game. I began to hear alot of comments about how the Japanese players were getting really lucky and how they couldn't flip tails with their coins. ( For those who don't play, coin flips often determine key effects in games, so thats a really big deal ) Anyways, all of our group of friends pretty much sit around drooling over these two cute girls at the tournament haha. We are so pathetic.
Round 2 vs Kevin Jackson (Gardevoir )
I get an ok hand, nothing great, but he gets a really nice one with Dunsparce. He ran Gardevoir Delcatty Magneton which is a bit too consistant for my liking haha. He basically murders me 800 times over because my deck is very poorly equiped to deal with Gardevoir at all. I take a giant sized beating. With only 1 Rayquaza and minimal playtesting experience in this match up, I had almost no chance of winning.
Chad had gone 0-2. So had a few of my friends. This was pathetic. We were getting killed. Levi was 1-0-1 which was cool. A few players were 2-0 ( Pooka, AJ ) and Drew. So was Sean.
Round 3 vs Blair
I saw what she was playing the round before. It was Gardevoir again. Why always Gardevoir!? It has to always be Gardevoir!!! ARGH! Anyways, I found it funny that I got paired against one of the girls everyone thought was really cute. That wasn't on my mind, I was much more hoping that she got a really bad hand and mine was explosive. No such luck.
We get started and she gets a fast hand and mine is rather pathetic. I think she gets a t2 Gardevoir EX on me and I begin to want to cry. Haha. I give up a few prizes but THANKFULLY she stalls out midgame and I get lucky Dunsparce flips to keep her Paralyzed. And I do mean LUCKY. I get built up again and I score enough KOs so that in the long run she was down to 2 prizes to my 2. We had about 2 and a half minutes left. I debate what to do and I have no switching cards left and my Manectric was dead. I had only one chance left. I send up Rayquaza with 2 energy and a Multi energy and deal her 120 for a prize. Theres a minute and a half left on the clock. I have full view of it. She does not. She has a Kirlia in play with a 5 card hand ( She had Fishermaned a few turns ago so alot of it was Energy ) and I knew if she got 2 turns in she would kill me for her last two prizes and win. She takes a fairly long turn after Top Decking a Gardevoir EX. She could only hit me for 80 though and I would live. She does enough other moves that by the time it gets to my turn its 45 seconds left on the clock and its stall time. I stumbled through my 20 sided dice to find the 8, and I drew. I asked for her hand size, feigning a Copycat, and to see how many options she may have. I drop a Dunsparce, and I attach an energy. I use Energy Draw to draw 3 cards. I drop Oddish. 20 seconds left. Town Volunteers. Pull out 7 cards, count how many energy I'd have left, and begin to shuffle five of the 7 into the deck. Time was up before I was done with TV so I got the win.
I felt so bad over doing that to her because she was really cool and we talked alot during the game and she was extremely nice. Plus her Teddiursa doll was cute -_- She didn't seem upset over what happened at all though...I was relieved. Seeing how you would have had the game, and there was so much money on the line, I was extremely surprised, and impressed. I dropped her name off as a suggestion for the Spirit of the Game rewards with the Judges, but I guess it didn't matter as she didn't win one of them. The Spirit Of The Game award is a box of every new Pokemon card set for the next year for players who a Judge feel exhibited incredibly sportsmanship throughout the tournament. If getting stalled out during a game you'd win the next turn and still being cool about it doesn't count, I'm not so sure what does.
Alot of players were still playing poorly due to hands and such and the Team Magma decks the Japanese were using were like, all undefeated.
Round 3 vs Someone with Sceptile Suicune Muk EX
I get a slower start but he doesn't get much either. He sends up Muk EX early but it is met by my Rayquaza when I drop a Multi Energy out of a 2 card hand for the KO. He gets set up eventually and so do I but I am up on Prizes and my Bellossom goes to school on his Suicunes and his Sceptile EX. I eventually win decisively because of type advantage and Bellossom's PP. Plus he couldn't get out a 2nd Muk EX no matter how hard he tried.
3-1-0
Round 4 vs Alexis
He had Blaziken as well. He got a lone Skitty in our game and never really got recovery cards quick enough to make this into a game as I got my deck set up and pretty much dominated him for a win.
4-1-0
At 4 and 1 I was somewhat around 15th place. I needed to make top32 which was likely. My tie breakers were rather weak though. The Magma decks were still doing awesome and most were in top 32 still. We all debated whether or not two Intentional Draws would get us into t32. Some decided to go for it, while some, like me, decided to play it out.
Round 5 vs Kevin D ( Crobyss ) from the Netherlands.
Yay. Crobyss. I HATE fighting Crobyss. Its really good against Blaziken, plus if he was 4-1 he had to be good. We get set up, and I have a lone Skitty. He has a Clamperl. He goes first. He attaches a Psychic. I go. I draw nothing. My only draw card is an Oracle. I know he has a Gorebyss for next turn and the KO. I see nothing I can do. I look up at the time. THE TIME HADN'T STARTED! I call over a judge " Judge...we accidently started before the timer started...what do we do? " He asked another judge, and they ruled we had to start over when the timer started!!! I shuffle my hand back into my deck and when I get my new hand its a GOD start!
So timer starts and I get set up really quick and get a Blaziken EX and a Manectric in play. Soon followed by a Bellossom and 2 Blaziken. I start Volcanic Ashing all of his Gorebyss really early so he has no way to really damage me besides Poison which I switched out of. I am up huge on prizes when he used ROCK TM. I lose 3 of my Rare Candy'd Pokemon, plus my damaged Blaziken EX! This gets him back in the game EASILY. I go crazy searching for Combuskens and manage to come back into the game a little bit. I stall by sending up 50 HP basics which he can deal 40 to a turn max with Crobat, and keep stalling as much as I can while I try and re-establish my set up. In the end I am up by 2 prizes, being down to 1 to his 3. Unfortunately, on his last turn, he drops a SECOND Rock TM on me, killing my Delcatty and Combusken I had stalled with, and I had no options to steal a last prize back with on my last turn so I stall and turn it into a draw. Very close game, and its insane how his deck stayed in it the entire time despite my insane start.
4-1-1
There were a ton of 4-1-1 players because alot of players IDed last game. All I had to do was get paired with one of them and ID a 2nd time and we WOULD automatically make top32.
Round 6 vs Japanese player with Team Magma.
I was scared. I was not sure if I could ID with him because I do not know how well he understood English and if the Japanese usually IDed or not. I offered him it, telling him we would both make top 32, and he accepted! I was so overjoyed. I was in top 32.
4-1-2
All of the other players who went 4-1-1 also IDed to make top 32, so we had a decent amount of players I was rooting for in top32. I run up to our room and tell Gabby how I was doing and she wished me luck. It was all or nothing now. If I won, I would get 1000 dollars. If I lost, I would get about 40 dollars in product. I had to win.
Top 32 vs Alexis ( Blaziken )
These games are Best Two Of Three, so we had to play alot of games. Game 1 I get set up quicker and I use Pokemon Nurse to establish a real advantage as he tries to damage my Blaziken EX. I win decisively.
Game 2 was pretty much the same thing, although he got a weaker start. I eat through his Pokemon fairly easily.
2-0
I had done it. I was into top 16! I had gotten 1000 dollars. Levi had been 4th seed but lost to a Team Magma deck. Tom was 32nd Seed and lost to the first place Team Magma seed who had gone undefeated all through the Japanese Nationals the day before and this tournament. Drew made it to t16, as did Kyle, and Colin, and my friend Eric who was the person who beat me at the ECSC where I won the trip from.
Overjoyed I walk around a bit and everyone asks me how I did. I had no problems telling them. Anyways, Sam called me about this time and asked how I did. I told her I made t16 and got 1000 dollars. Unfortunately, Gabby walked in behind me while I was talking and overheard me. Now, my plan was to tell her that I had gotten crap hands and got beat to try and **** with her, but noooooo. I couldn't do that now. *Cries*
Anyways, I was starved by this point, so I over to take Gabby out to Outback even though it was so expensive for dinner because I had actually won some money so I could feel better about spending so much haha. Everyone else had decided to go out to dinner at Hooters. They invited us but I'd have rather had better food even if it did cost 800 dollars or whatever.
So we go to Outback, and its a really nice restaurant. We order a Caesar Salad that ends up being split, and we each get the white wine sauce pasta with grilled chicken and dried tomatos which was really good in my opinion. To top it off I order us both desserts. I obviously get a cheese cake, as cheese cakes rule. I get the check and open it with fear. 72 dollars. Toss in a 10 dollar tip and we exceeded 80 dollars. Woo Hoo! I was so full between all we ordered plus the bread and chips they brought us for free.
We go outside and everyone decided to skip Hooters and order Pizza. Only problem? Its been 2 hours and still no Pizza. Haha. It ends up taking like 3 hours for it to come. Drew and Tom are playtesting against a Team Magma deck they threw together to get Drew some practice as he knew if he beat Kyle next round he would get paired against it eventually.
Finally the Pizza did come, and everyone ate all but 3 pieces so we decided to pull a prank on everyone's favorite player, Andrew Newman! We have David call up the operator pretending like we found some of Newman's cards and ask for his room number. We get connected to his room and he tells us it so we can bring it up. Instead we drop off a bunch of empty pizza boxes. The door POPS open and 2 of Newmans friends rush out and start yelling at us threatening to kick our asses. We BOOK and start running. Half of us go to the elevator, while some of us sneak around behind them. I score a SWEET picture of Newman picking up the pizza boxes and we run straight to the stairs and down the floors and get out!
That was HILARIOUS and we get back to the lobby and Newman and crew are glaring at us from above on their floor. Me and Gabby eventually go back upstairs and we end up wanting to go to bed but not being able to as we see Jason X on TV and we sit there and watch it making fun of it for awhile. VERY amusing. Eventually Chad stops by for awhile and watches too and we all just goof around and eventually Gabby teaches us how to apply headlocks ( hurts ) and throw better punches ( again, hurts ) and she accidently punches me in the glasses. Its also pathetic she punches better than me. Doesn't hurt that her brothers in the military and shows her stuff though. We also get more knife throwing. And she forces us to try and belly dance. Very embarassing and Chad hands down wouldn't even try it. ****ing *****.
We were all extremely giddy and basically sat around in the beds and said random comments and it dragged on til like 4 am even when we were all tired. Finally CHad leaves and I force myself to sleep.
I wake up at 8 the next day and go down to the lobby to get my next round pairing against J.R. Palumbo. He was also using Blaziken. He was the 2nd place seed, going 6-0-1.
T16 vs J.R. Palumbo ( Blaziken )
Game 1 was close but I got set up quicker and managed to win it fairly quickly. I don't remember much about it besides him not running Rayquaza in his list, nor Nurse, so it gave me some breathing room. Game 2 he gets set up much faster than me and he crushes me pretty badly. Game 3 two of his torchics are prized and I get a win here again. I wish I remembered this game better as it wasn't an easy group of wins but I can't remember much.
T8 vs Japanese player with Team Magma
This was what I knew would happen eventually. Me, Drew and Colin made t8. So did a Shiftry and 4 Magma Decks. None of the Magma decks faced each other either. I get my opening hand and I have a GREAT start. I start with Dunsparce. Strike and Run...NO SKITTY! ALL OF THEM ARE PRIZED! I'm pretty much screwed, but I do manage to sit around and stall for awhile. He gets himself down to 2 prizes by the time I get set up. I get alot of Blazikens in play and start using its attack to get mass bench damage around and eventually make it so his Camelrupts cant use their PP anymore. I use Bellossom's PP to keep healing my Blazikens, and comboed with Nurse, I end up taking all my prizes by playing the retreating game. VERY good game, and I think the judges called it right by saying it was the best game they had pretty much ever seen. I wish I remembered my opponents name but GREAT game man. Incredibly well played and I can't believe I came back to win it.
Game two was pretty much one sided as I got set up and he never really did. I got heads with a t2 Combusken to kill his Numel and force him to bring up an energyless Groudon and its over soon after to send me to t4!!!
Drew had crap hands and lost 0-2 against Team Magma. Colin got stalled out against his Magma opponent, but I think it was a smart move by his opponent so I can't argue with it. So I was the only American to move on as the Shiftry obviously got beaten.
They offered to give all of top 4 free lunch, so I got to buy a bunch of stuff on Nintendo's pay. I grab as much as I can fit on plates and bring it upstairs for Gabby who hadn't eaten yet. I only eat a Snickers Bar and a bit of cookie and I think a bite of a chicken finger. I was too nervous to eat. I go back down and wait for the next round to start. Gabby comes down and watches my rounds as well after wishing me luck again.
T4 vs Team Magma.
Game 1 I get set up and I don't remember much besides him dropping alot of Magma Energy early on to get him prizes but also leave him behind in energy development so I could get set up. This hurts him alot and I get set up and my Blaziken EX goes all the way against him. He did not run any Desert Ruins which was huge against him.
Game 2 I get a GOD start. I get a t1 Delcatty, due to Candy, and a Dunsparce and use Strike and Run. I get set up beautifully. Unfortunately, mid game, the use of that Rare Candy t1 HURTS me and I can't get any stage 2s out what so ever. He comes back and beats me even though I had an extremely impressive start.
Game 3
We both get solid set ups and this one is just insanely brutal. He has the better start and gets up on prizes a little bit and I can't seem to get enough Blazikens going and I can't pull off massive bench damage like my first opponent. I try and get Blaziken EX to kill Claydols but its no good as he runs Maxie. The ending is very close, as we are both at 2 prizes and time is running out. I have Nurse left. I have 3 cards left. The turn before I needlessly used PETM to search my deck and check. I have a 1 in three chance of drawing it, which will give me game as my Bex had 110 on it and I could promote it. I have a fire energy in hand so i can Delcatty for 1 if I need it, so theres technically a 2 in 3 chance I win. I draw...NURSE. I breathe a sigh of relief and I am good to go. I kill Claydol. Next turn I win. Insane game and my head literally HURT after this one.
I leave and go sit in the lobby for awhile trying to stall for time to recover as I have had no sleep, was sore, and had a horrible headache. I knew my next round opponent would be really good, but all was on the line. I was garunteed at least 5,000 dollars so i didn't care all that much. Finally they call for all competitors.
Finals
Game 1
I get a solid set up again. His is a bit slower. I should have had the game. I start playing and get a bit of offense going but it doesn't keep up. I use Friend Ball for Fire...TWO OF MY BLAZIKEN ARE PRIZED! So is my Electrike. I take one prize and its useless. No way I was winning this. He gets up by alot of prizes and to the shock of my opponent and the crowd around me, I offer my hand for concession of that game. I knew from the past games that the situation was unwinnable. The other spectators had no idea how to play the match up and alot of people said I shouldn't have conceded but it was unwinnable and I needed to conserve time in case it did go to a game 3 or some of the games took awhile. I am sure my opponent would have stalled out his games as much as possible against me, as I would have done the same, especially since if it gets to a game 3 his deck can get up on prizes. time was not on my side. A few players start to clap, but most people looked mad I lost, so I motioned to the crowd to applaud. The guy earned his spot this far, hes a great player, I don't care if people wanted an American to win, they should ****ing cheer!
Game 2
I look at my hand and think of offering my hand right away. Lone Rayquaza. I go and pass. He drops a fighting on Zangoose and drops Desert Ruins. Oh yay. I go. Copycat. No bench. I shrug. I pass. He goes, can't KO me somehow. He gets more bench. I go, Stevens. No more bench. I pass and he offers the Magma Energy for the kill. I raise his hand and make sure he has his time to bask in the spotlight after his well earned win. I grab a Team Magma's Groudon and return to have him sign it. In return he asks me to sign his Groudon from his deck, which I do gratefully. Let me just say this much now. Throughout the weekend I heard so many people complain about the Japanese, be it shuffling strategies to as far as rigged coin flips or being *******s during games, but I will be honest and say that they were some of the kindest and most skilled players I had played all weekend.
In closing, the Magma deck was overlooked purely based on the fact that we did not abuse Groudon effectively. By dealing 20 to it, we could easily set up anything for an easy 100+ total by using its big attack. Plus Magma energy is huge. None the less, it has issues with a prepared Swampert deck, and Walrein can fight it fairly evently. Blaziken, if knowing what to do, definitely can go pretty 50-50 with it. Crobyss SHOULD beat it. Shiftry dies to it. None the less, almost no one at the tournament had lists prepared to battle against it. It deserved to do as well as it did. I honestly think I had a solid 50-50 chance to beat the Champion, but hey, hands dictate alot of it. I have no regrets, I did my best.
11-14 and 10- were also Americans vs Japanese, and the Magma decks won both divisions as well. 10- was Swampert Suicune, and 11-14 was Gardevoir I believe. Good job to all competitors. Some players liked to call it Pearl Harbor '04. I'll go with that because its funny as hell, but I think in the long run they deserved it. They never misplayed. Ever. They knew what to do against all of our decks, although my Bellossom tech surprised them as I don't believe they knew what it did alot of times.
After this we all get called up onstage for the closing ceremony. We are awarded with trophies, an exclusive promo card that only the t3 at Worlds get, and a bunch of product, plus the scholarship. We got a ton of pictures taken of us, and I posed with the two Japanese players on stage from my division for awhile and they took alot of pictures. I was angry cause I didnt get to go hug Torchic again!!!
I quickly head back to the room after all this commotion once I get my stuff and drop everything off. I open my box and get crap. I won a box of every set for a year too. Makes me happy. After this I go back down to the lobby with Gabby and everyones playing. I steal Sean's Pichu and run it up to my room. " He Disappeared! Like a NINJA! " was what Sean said. More like I hid behind a pillar, but I guess that is rather ninja like. I made a scavenger hunt for him, and also return to steal his PROXY PICHU which he had. I kept it in my pocket though. Before the scavenger hunt though we all met up in Chad's room. I brought with us a big bag of Unowns. 400 to be exact. We debated what to do with them. We wanted to drop them all on someone. I tried to get Martin and MISSED so they went all over the floor. Damn. Someone than had the brilliant idea to drop them off the balcony. So Martin grabs the bag and just CHUCKS it. Of course, it DOESN'T open and the bag flies OVER the roof below us and lands in the parking lot. Way to go you stupid mexican trashbag SOOO me and Martin go on retrieval mission, and we sneak down to the lobby and outside. We can't be too obvious as they have guards outside who may have noticed a big blue bag crashing from upstairs somewhere. So I ask them where the nearest restaurant is, and me and Martin debated whether or not the walk was worth it as we walked through the parking lot. " Hey? Whats that. " *Checks bag* " Oh! Its cards! Sweet! " *picks up bag and goes back inside* We go back to Chads room and this time Martin just takes the cards, no bag, and chucks them. It's like confetti. They fly EVERYWHERE. Half of them atop the roof and half in the parking lot. We found them wet outside later that night. We laughed our asses off. It wasn't my idea even, but hot damn was it funny. Go Martin!
Heidi Craig held a draft with the new set that night but I was way too tired to play in it. Instead I sat around and talked with Eric for awhile and discussed strategies for the new cards and the new format coming out. Newman grew fatter. I have to scan my pictures of Newman, they are very amusing. That boy needs to move.
Anyways, the scavenger hunt was kind of boring. Sean had no idea how to guess and all he did was suck. Everyone followed so it wasn't as fun. I eventually just gave it back to him because he wanted to play in Heidi's draft. I had to go into Chad's hotel to get my deck and camera back that I left there. I go back to the room to get some sleep and its about 12. Gabby cleans up the room as she doesnt want to do it in the morning. ( thank you so much, I'd have helped but I was so beat by that point... ) and basically we kept talking til about 2 am. It ended with us alternating making wierd animal noises. Don't ask. I started with grrrr and she followed with a meow, and it all went downhill from there Sam called me at like 2 am too, but I couldn't talk for long. We went back to animal noises haha.
I finally fell asleep and got woken up around 7:30 and finished packing. Heidi was going to take me and Gabby to the airport early since she had to clean up from yesterday as a judge. We head down to the lobby and pay for our stuff after obviously taking some stuff from the hotel ( Toilet paper...planned to be used to TP someone special! ) and got to the airport. We go to McDonalds and get stuff for breakfast. I order 2 Pancakes haha. Just because I didn't eat more than a Snickers Bar the day before and was so hungry. We also enjoyed riding the conveyor belts around. Fun.We got on the first plane fairly easily, and Gabby stole the cool laying down spot on the seats in the waiting area for our flight. I curled up at her feet where there was room but was scrunched.
The flight went well and the plane was huge. We got in the middle. I got two pillows. She stole a blanket. We go to a restaurant in the next airport so gabby can get a chance to smoke, since she hadn't in awhile. We than get on the next plane and off we go. We finally get to Cleveland and my dad picks us up as we again resist the urge to ride the conveyor belt to the luggage department. It'll prolly meet us with saw blades and **** I bet. I drop Gabby back off home and we go out to eat dinner at El Rodeo. Best restaurant EVER. I swear. Anyways, yeah, I am done. Go to my Xanga and help me win my bet!
Props
My deck, for finally giving me some loving in the finals.
The Players from NEO, whether they did well or pulled a Chad...erm, I mean, lost. ( Chad, Levi, Drew, David, Tom, Sean, Kyle, Colin, YJ, Martin, AJ, and soooo many more.
My friend Gabrielle, for putting up with me for the better part of a week.
MONEY!
The Japanese players for being so skilled and fun to play against. I hope even more of them can make next year's event.
Players from all the other countrys who attended. This event was amazing. We had players from so many countrys and it was great to play against them all.
Unown Rain...yeah, you get the idea.
Torchic, for being so friggin cute and nuzzling with me. Will you go out with me? Please?
Blair for being such a good sport about our game. Shoulda won a Spirit of The Game award much more so than Mike " Cant Make t32 Must Tank " P.
PUI and all of those involved in putting on such an amazing weekend, easily the best of my life. I got to spend 4 days with one of my best friends, all of my friends from around the country, compete with the best players in the world, win a lot of prizes, and have a perfect ( and warm! ) environment to do it in.
Slops
Martin. Not sure why, I just always wanted to give Martin slops.
Spirit of the Game awards. I mean they were pretty much Loser awards over SotG awards. Many other players did things to deserve it more than simply tanking the tourney after going 0-2. I think they should have been awarded at the end without anyone mentioning an award existed. So many people falsely wore masks of sportsmanship to attempt to win.
Neo- YOU GUYS BOMBED
The weekend having to end.
WotC for looking so much more pathetic now that the game has new owners.
Team Magma's Groudon for being so friggin good and me owning none.
Me for being way too lazy and hoping that the filter catches my abundance of curse words because this got cut and paste and I am way too lazy to go back and change it.
All of you who dont go and post on my Xanga! www.Xanga.com/AmerikanRevolution. ( Please don't edit that Mods, I wrote up a real nice long report gimme this one break, k? Thanks )
Anyways, here it is. Hey guys! I am FINALLY back from my vacation in Florida and holy **** do I have a ton to update! Alright, first off, I don't even know where to begin but I will simply say that I am now $5000 richer. Yes, I got 2nd place at the Pokemon TCG World Championships and recieved $5000 for it. So before you laugh at me and say " Hahaha You Play Pokemon!? You ***! " re-read said numerical value after the dollar sign. Yeah, I won a free trip to Florida for 2 with paid hotel expensives AND managed to win 5 thousand dollars playing the game, so who cares if it involves a bunch of dumb cartoon characters?
Anyways, lets start with a day by day recap. I'll start with Thursday, obviously. I try to go to bed at a reasonable time on Wednesday night but obviously do not succeed in sleep any time much sooner than 2 am. I am awaken at 7 am to go get breakfast and pick up Gabby to go to the airport. Me and my dad pile all of my stuff into the trunk of his car and we ride off to pick up Gabby from her house about 20 minutes away. A tread which continued for most of the weekend started at this time: She made fun of me. Alot.
We drive over to Cafe Stratos or whatever its called. All I know is it was a 24 hour joint that serves pancakes and thus got our business. The food was really good, and my dad paid for both of our meals. We get to the airport and things go almost too easily. We get our e-tickets transfered into actual tickets and go through the security check points with no problems ( I almost ALWAYS get frisked! ) and we basically sit in the waiting area for an hour and a half and listen to music for a bit. Unfortunately our seats were not next to each other but she sat behind me...which is bad as she kept poking me and I couldn't retaliate. I was sad.
We get off at Charlotte, NC, and rush to transfer to the next flight even though Gabby really wanted to step outside to smoke for a bit. She decided to wait instead and we go on the flight. This time she didn't get to sit behind me and poke me the whole time! Huzzah! I think she did flick me once anyways out of spite. I'd also like to state that I am cursed. When flying I ALWAYS get seated next to fat guys. Not just fat fat guys, but talkative fat fat guys. Like I'm sitting there peacefully, and some guy sits down. I try and ignore him, but than his rolls start to overtake the left side of my seat and I'm so not up for that stuff. So I finally free my arm from under his intrusive mass, and he keeps talking to me. Now, I guess me having headphones on wasn't enough of a clue that I didn't really want to talk, but who knows.
We get out at the airport and go to baggage claim after riding one of those sweet transport thingies!!! I was excited. Me and Gabby grabbed the front car so we got a cool view. Hurricane Charlie's devastation was readily apparent everywhere around us though. It was fairly haunting. We get to baggage claim and they take forever to send our bags out. We debate riding the conveyor belt around because simply put it sounded fun and amusing. We wanted to ride it all the way to the back of the luggage area. We resisted the urge and grabbed our stuff and went to the Mears stand and I paided for two one way tickets to the hotel.
So we wait around and get on this big bus and the bus driver is super annoying and would NOT shut up. I guess the fact that everyone tried to ignore him after he asked if anyone had any questions ( an action which happened appr. every 4 minutes ) wasn't enough to turn him away as he decided to be a tour guide instead of a damn shuttle. Throwing Knives were sorely missed.
We get to the hotel after about a 30 minute drive and it was sooooooo amazing! It was hands down the nicest hotel in the area and we go to check in. Somehow this goes easily as well, as I pay for it with my NEW CREDIT CARD for the first time. We get room keys ( Specifically designed for Pokemon Worlds 2004...awww how cute -_-" ) plus a random bag of pokemon junk. We head up to the room and unpack and lay around for a bit than we decide to go exploring! Yay!
We find a few nice restaurants, and the outdoor pools, plus the lobby where all the Pokemon players were hanging out and trading. We were going to go out to dinner at the Outback in the hotel but it was at cheapest 20 dollars a meal. We decided against it, and we walked over to Downtown Disney across the street and we found a Wolfgang punk's restaurant and we got caesar salads and some water and split a chocolate cake thingy for like 6 dollars ( Oh how I wish I was kidding on that cake price even though it was good ) The food was pretty good and exactly what we needed as we were hungry. We walked around the area a bit more before returning to the hotel and we went back up to the room and I ordered Hellboy for us to watch. Now, this is my 7th time seeing this movie, and her 1st. I still enjoyed it just as much. Scary, no?
After this I decide to go down to the lobby and trade and talk to my Pokemon friends while Gabby watches TV and reads, and goes down to the pool. Oh, while I am thinking of it, when exploring, we had to ask directions for a rumored " Indoor Pool ". We could not find it and the hotel was getting the better of us already. We had complications with the room key too, and general navigation. We asked a random employee...who obviously only spoke in Spanish and directed us to the outdoor pool with confidence upon our request for an " INDOOR " pool which we specified. Stupid spanish old woman...grrr.
Anyways, I definitely get back to the room around 12 and go to bed. Me and Gabby wake up around 1:45 the next day hahaha. We order room service and get chicken fingers and grilled cheese off the kids menu ( THE PRICES! SOOO EXPENSIVE! 20 DOLLARS! ACK! ) and 2 BIG Cookies!
I like big cookies! That was fun. Very tasty. We both agreed.We go down and hang out with all the Pokemon Players, such as Chad, Drew, Tom, David, Jim, Stephanie, Levi, Martin, Ryan, Pablo, AJ, Dylan, Sean, John, Freddy K, and more. We rip off random japenese people for their cards which was pretty fun. Ampharos EX for Blastoise EX...sweetness. Japanese Nationals was dominated by Team Magma decks...made me really scared as I had full intent to play Shiftry. Groudon beats the crap out of me. The grinder was also completed and every 10- player got invites, and 24 out of 11-14, and 32 out of the 15+ got in. Ryan got like 33rd and missed it =( John from my league made t32 and was in using Swampert.
Soon the HUGE Banquet dinner was thrown and I cannot stress enough how hands down amazing it was. They opened up a room which they had dressed up really fancily. Inside they had tons of rows of really dressed up food. They had pastas, fruits, cheeses, drinks, roasts, ice cream, pizza, and a ton of other stuff. They also had people dressed up as Pokemon characters. Now, this normally would be really retarded but they are so damn cute when they bounce around and they like to hug people....and they are all fluffy...and short...and cute girls inside...*day dreams back to thoughts of nuzzling with Torchic...*
Ok, sorry, I'm back now. Anyways, we all get together at a table and they have LIVE MUSIC playing. They had some form of tropical band playing music at one end up the dinner hall and it really made for a lively time. I knew 80% of the people invited in and it was alot of people. I sat with Gabby who decided to wear a really nice dress to it. She hands down looked the best out of everyone there. Yes, even over Torchic. I'd have worn a suit if my mom had let me bring one.
I eat a bit more than I'd have liked to and I met Freddy K for the first time. Everyone took turns signing people's cards and such, and we eventually snuck out to go check on how the Grinder was doing. After this me Chad and Gabby went up to my room and I laid down in her bed and she was yelling at me to move. Haha. I wouldn't, so she started throwing knives at the wall above me. They kept falling and hitting me. They hurt. I took a shot to the juggular and one to the eye despite covering my face with a pillow. I ended up finally giving up when she started to press down on my head to crush me unless I moved. I aborted my misson and switched beds.
I headed down to do some trading and watch the tournaments again for a bit as Gabby stayed in the room. I played a few games with my Shiftry and beat Blaziken and Gardevoir, but I began to hear all these rumors of the Japanese Team Magma Deck everyone was running. It made me want to switch decks because I knew I couldn't beat it. I went back to the room and went down to the pool with Gabby for awhile and we talked and swam and I was blind in the pool in the dark without glasses and she kicked me. I was sad.
We go back upstairs and we go to check out Martin's "Party " he had advertised online before hand. We stop in for a second and say we may go back to it if " we were that bored " hehe. I eventually did go back but Gabby got some sleep instead. I do some playtesting with Martin and some kids and go downstairs before everyone gets kicked out of the playing area so they could set up for Worlds the next day.
Martin's dad and dad's friend were drunk off their *** and were quite funny. I end up stealing Martin's Blaziken deck and writing a new list down on John's deck box at like 3 am once I decide that Shiftry was NOT going to win. I build it and borrow a Blaziken EX off of Chad after I wake him up at like 4 to get it. So I have my deck ready, and we set the alarm to get up at 6 am. We had to turn in deck registration sheets at 7 am since we opted not to do it the night before because we wanted to playtest our decks more.
I wake up so ready to just die because I had no sleep, and I rush through filling a decklist out and I put on the "Large " Competitor shirt I was required to wear....turns out it was indeed a large...a YOUTH Large. SO you could see my nipples quite readily. I kinda liked it
Anyways we go down and I tell Gabby just to stop down and watch a few games once she gets more sleep. We all wait around for things to start and I run a few sample hands to test out a deck I had never even played before in my life. I had to hope my testing experience online and general knowledge of deck match ups would get me through everything.
The opening ceremony started around 10, and we sat down and listened to Dave Schwimmer tell everyone about the tournament and how great it was gonna be. Everyone was really psyched out. I couldn't wait to start playing.
My round one opponent was against a kid named Matt F.
Round 1 vs Matt F ( Blaziken Mirror Match )
For those not familar with what a Mirror Match is, a Mirror Match is when your opponent uses the same basic deck idea that you use, so alot of it depends on player ability and who gets set up first. This match goes pretty evenly but I get my Blaziken EX out first, and eventually even Nurse it once it gets damaged and his is killed. He gets a 2nd one up but makes the mistake of killing a Blaziken over my Manectric which would have put him in the game still, but I still had the game locked based on my hand. Tough game for most of it considering he got a slightly quicker start than I did.
1-0
So alot of my friends lost their first round game. I began to hear alot of comments about how the Japanese players were getting really lucky and how they couldn't flip tails with their coins. ( For those who don't play, coin flips often determine key effects in games, so thats a really big deal ) Anyways, all of our group of friends pretty much sit around drooling over these two cute girls at the tournament haha. We are so pathetic.
Round 2 vs Kevin Jackson (Gardevoir )
I get an ok hand, nothing great, but he gets a really nice one with Dunsparce. He ran Gardevoir Delcatty Magneton which is a bit too consistant for my liking haha. He basically murders me 800 times over because my deck is very poorly equiped to deal with Gardevoir at all. I take a giant sized beating. With only 1 Rayquaza and minimal playtesting experience in this match up, I had almost no chance of winning.
Chad had gone 0-2. So had a few of my friends. This was pathetic. We were getting killed. Levi was 1-0-1 which was cool. A few players were 2-0 ( Pooka, AJ ) and Drew. So was Sean.
Round 3 vs Blair
I saw what she was playing the round before. It was Gardevoir again. Why always Gardevoir!? It has to always be Gardevoir!!! ARGH! Anyways, I found it funny that I got paired against one of the girls everyone thought was really cute. That wasn't on my mind, I was much more hoping that she got a really bad hand and mine was explosive. No such luck.
We get started and she gets a fast hand and mine is rather pathetic. I think she gets a t2 Gardevoir EX on me and I begin to want to cry. Haha. I give up a few prizes but THANKFULLY she stalls out midgame and I get lucky Dunsparce flips to keep her Paralyzed. And I do mean LUCKY. I get built up again and I score enough KOs so that in the long run she was down to 2 prizes to my 2. We had about 2 and a half minutes left. I debate what to do and I have no switching cards left and my Manectric was dead. I had only one chance left. I send up Rayquaza with 2 energy and a Multi energy and deal her 120 for a prize. Theres a minute and a half left on the clock. I have full view of it. She does not. She has a Kirlia in play with a 5 card hand ( She had Fishermaned a few turns ago so alot of it was Energy ) and I knew if she got 2 turns in she would kill me for her last two prizes and win. She takes a fairly long turn after Top Decking a Gardevoir EX. She could only hit me for 80 though and I would live. She does enough other moves that by the time it gets to my turn its 45 seconds left on the clock and its stall time. I stumbled through my 20 sided dice to find the 8, and I drew. I asked for her hand size, feigning a Copycat, and to see how many options she may have. I drop a Dunsparce, and I attach an energy. I use Energy Draw to draw 3 cards. I drop Oddish. 20 seconds left. Town Volunteers. Pull out 7 cards, count how many energy I'd have left, and begin to shuffle five of the 7 into the deck. Time was up before I was done with TV so I got the win.
I felt so bad over doing that to her because she was really cool and we talked alot during the game and she was extremely nice. Plus her Teddiursa doll was cute -_- She didn't seem upset over what happened at all though...I was relieved. Seeing how you would have had the game, and there was so much money on the line, I was extremely surprised, and impressed. I dropped her name off as a suggestion for the Spirit of the Game rewards with the Judges, but I guess it didn't matter as she didn't win one of them. The Spirit Of The Game award is a box of every new Pokemon card set for the next year for players who a Judge feel exhibited incredibly sportsmanship throughout the tournament. If getting stalled out during a game you'd win the next turn and still being cool about it doesn't count, I'm not so sure what does.
Alot of players were still playing poorly due to hands and such and the Team Magma decks the Japanese were using were like, all undefeated.
Round 3 vs Someone with Sceptile Suicune Muk EX
I get a slower start but he doesn't get much either. He sends up Muk EX early but it is met by my Rayquaza when I drop a Multi Energy out of a 2 card hand for the KO. He gets set up eventually and so do I but I am up on Prizes and my Bellossom goes to school on his Suicunes and his Sceptile EX. I eventually win decisively because of type advantage and Bellossom's PP. Plus he couldn't get out a 2nd Muk EX no matter how hard he tried.
3-1-0
Round 4 vs Alexis
He had Blaziken as well. He got a lone Skitty in our game and never really got recovery cards quick enough to make this into a game as I got my deck set up and pretty much dominated him for a win.
4-1-0
At 4 and 1 I was somewhat around 15th place. I needed to make top32 which was likely. My tie breakers were rather weak though. The Magma decks were still doing awesome and most were in top 32 still. We all debated whether or not two Intentional Draws would get us into t32. Some decided to go for it, while some, like me, decided to play it out.
Round 5 vs Kevin D ( Crobyss ) from the Netherlands.
Yay. Crobyss. I HATE fighting Crobyss. Its really good against Blaziken, plus if he was 4-1 he had to be good. We get set up, and I have a lone Skitty. He has a Clamperl. He goes first. He attaches a Psychic. I go. I draw nothing. My only draw card is an Oracle. I know he has a Gorebyss for next turn and the KO. I see nothing I can do. I look up at the time. THE TIME HADN'T STARTED! I call over a judge " Judge...we accidently started before the timer started...what do we do? " He asked another judge, and they ruled we had to start over when the timer started!!! I shuffle my hand back into my deck and when I get my new hand its a GOD start!
So timer starts and I get set up really quick and get a Blaziken EX and a Manectric in play. Soon followed by a Bellossom and 2 Blaziken. I start Volcanic Ashing all of his Gorebyss really early so he has no way to really damage me besides Poison which I switched out of. I am up huge on prizes when he used ROCK TM. I lose 3 of my Rare Candy'd Pokemon, plus my damaged Blaziken EX! This gets him back in the game EASILY. I go crazy searching for Combuskens and manage to come back into the game a little bit. I stall by sending up 50 HP basics which he can deal 40 to a turn max with Crobat, and keep stalling as much as I can while I try and re-establish my set up. In the end I am up by 2 prizes, being down to 1 to his 3. Unfortunately, on his last turn, he drops a SECOND Rock TM on me, killing my Delcatty and Combusken I had stalled with, and I had no options to steal a last prize back with on my last turn so I stall and turn it into a draw. Very close game, and its insane how his deck stayed in it the entire time despite my insane start.
4-1-1
There were a ton of 4-1-1 players because alot of players IDed last game. All I had to do was get paired with one of them and ID a 2nd time and we WOULD automatically make top32.
Round 6 vs Japanese player with Team Magma.
I was scared. I was not sure if I could ID with him because I do not know how well he understood English and if the Japanese usually IDed or not. I offered him it, telling him we would both make top 32, and he accepted! I was so overjoyed. I was in top 32.
4-1-2
All of the other players who went 4-1-1 also IDed to make top 32, so we had a decent amount of players I was rooting for in top32. I run up to our room and tell Gabby how I was doing and she wished me luck. It was all or nothing now. If I won, I would get 1000 dollars. If I lost, I would get about 40 dollars in product. I had to win.
Top 32 vs Alexis ( Blaziken )
These games are Best Two Of Three, so we had to play alot of games. Game 1 I get set up quicker and I use Pokemon Nurse to establish a real advantage as he tries to damage my Blaziken EX. I win decisively.
Game 2 was pretty much the same thing, although he got a weaker start. I eat through his Pokemon fairly easily.
2-0
I had done it. I was into top 16! I had gotten 1000 dollars. Levi had been 4th seed but lost to a Team Magma deck. Tom was 32nd Seed and lost to the first place Team Magma seed who had gone undefeated all through the Japanese Nationals the day before and this tournament. Drew made it to t16, as did Kyle, and Colin, and my friend Eric who was the person who beat me at the ECSC where I won the trip from.
Overjoyed I walk around a bit and everyone asks me how I did. I had no problems telling them. Anyways, Sam called me about this time and asked how I did. I told her I made t16 and got 1000 dollars. Unfortunately, Gabby walked in behind me while I was talking and overheard me. Now, my plan was to tell her that I had gotten crap hands and got beat to try and **** with her, but noooooo. I couldn't do that now. *Cries*
Anyways, I was starved by this point, so I over to take Gabby out to Outback even though it was so expensive for dinner because I had actually won some money so I could feel better about spending so much haha. Everyone else had decided to go out to dinner at Hooters. They invited us but I'd have rather had better food even if it did cost 800 dollars or whatever.
So we go to Outback, and its a really nice restaurant. We order a Caesar Salad that ends up being split, and we each get the white wine sauce pasta with grilled chicken and dried tomatos which was really good in my opinion. To top it off I order us both desserts. I obviously get a cheese cake, as cheese cakes rule. I get the check and open it with fear. 72 dollars. Toss in a 10 dollar tip and we exceeded 80 dollars. Woo Hoo! I was so full between all we ordered plus the bread and chips they brought us for free.
We go outside and everyone decided to skip Hooters and order Pizza. Only problem? Its been 2 hours and still no Pizza. Haha. It ends up taking like 3 hours for it to come. Drew and Tom are playtesting against a Team Magma deck they threw together to get Drew some practice as he knew if he beat Kyle next round he would get paired against it eventually.
Finally the Pizza did come, and everyone ate all but 3 pieces so we decided to pull a prank on everyone's favorite player, Andrew Newman! We have David call up the operator pretending like we found some of Newman's cards and ask for his room number. We get connected to his room and he tells us it so we can bring it up. Instead we drop off a bunch of empty pizza boxes. The door POPS open and 2 of Newmans friends rush out and start yelling at us threatening to kick our asses. We BOOK and start running. Half of us go to the elevator, while some of us sneak around behind them. I score a SWEET picture of Newman picking up the pizza boxes and we run straight to the stairs and down the floors and get out!
That was HILARIOUS and we get back to the lobby and Newman and crew are glaring at us from above on their floor. Me and Gabby eventually go back upstairs and we end up wanting to go to bed but not being able to as we see Jason X on TV and we sit there and watch it making fun of it for awhile. VERY amusing. Eventually Chad stops by for awhile and watches too and we all just goof around and eventually Gabby teaches us how to apply headlocks ( hurts ) and throw better punches ( again, hurts ) and she accidently punches me in the glasses. Its also pathetic she punches better than me. Doesn't hurt that her brothers in the military and shows her stuff though. We also get more knife throwing. And she forces us to try and belly dance. Very embarassing and Chad hands down wouldn't even try it. ****ing *****.
We were all extremely giddy and basically sat around in the beds and said random comments and it dragged on til like 4 am even when we were all tired. Finally CHad leaves and I force myself to sleep.
I wake up at 8 the next day and go down to the lobby to get my next round pairing against J.R. Palumbo. He was also using Blaziken. He was the 2nd place seed, going 6-0-1.
T16 vs J.R. Palumbo ( Blaziken )
Game 1 was close but I got set up quicker and managed to win it fairly quickly. I don't remember much about it besides him not running Rayquaza in his list, nor Nurse, so it gave me some breathing room. Game 2 he gets set up much faster than me and he crushes me pretty badly. Game 3 two of his torchics are prized and I get a win here again. I wish I remembered this game better as it wasn't an easy group of wins but I can't remember much.
T8 vs Japanese player with Team Magma
This was what I knew would happen eventually. Me, Drew and Colin made t8. So did a Shiftry and 4 Magma Decks. None of the Magma decks faced each other either. I get my opening hand and I have a GREAT start. I start with Dunsparce. Strike and Run...NO SKITTY! ALL OF THEM ARE PRIZED! I'm pretty much screwed, but I do manage to sit around and stall for awhile. He gets himself down to 2 prizes by the time I get set up. I get alot of Blazikens in play and start using its attack to get mass bench damage around and eventually make it so his Camelrupts cant use their PP anymore. I use Bellossom's PP to keep healing my Blazikens, and comboed with Nurse, I end up taking all my prizes by playing the retreating game. VERY good game, and I think the judges called it right by saying it was the best game they had pretty much ever seen. I wish I remembered my opponents name but GREAT game man. Incredibly well played and I can't believe I came back to win it.
Game two was pretty much one sided as I got set up and he never really did. I got heads with a t2 Combusken to kill his Numel and force him to bring up an energyless Groudon and its over soon after to send me to t4!!!
Drew had crap hands and lost 0-2 against Team Magma. Colin got stalled out against his Magma opponent, but I think it was a smart move by his opponent so I can't argue with it. So I was the only American to move on as the Shiftry obviously got beaten.
They offered to give all of top 4 free lunch, so I got to buy a bunch of stuff on Nintendo's pay. I grab as much as I can fit on plates and bring it upstairs for Gabby who hadn't eaten yet. I only eat a Snickers Bar and a bit of cookie and I think a bite of a chicken finger. I was too nervous to eat. I go back down and wait for the next round to start. Gabby comes down and watches my rounds as well after wishing me luck again.
T4 vs Team Magma.
Game 1 I get set up and I don't remember much besides him dropping alot of Magma Energy early on to get him prizes but also leave him behind in energy development so I could get set up. This hurts him alot and I get set up and my Blaziken EX goes all the way against him. He did not run any Desert Ruins which was huge against him.
Game 2 I get a GOD start. I get a t1 Delcatty, due to Candy, and a Dunsparce and use Strike and Run. I get set up beautifully. Unfortunately, mid game, the use of that Rare Candy t1 HURTS me and I can't get any stage 2s out what so ever. He comes back and beats me even though I had an extremely impressive start.
Game 3
We both get solid set ups and this one is just insanely brutal. He has the better start and gets up on prizes a little bit and I can't seem to get enough Blazikens going and I can't pull off massive bench damage like my first opponent. I try and get Blaziken EX to kill Claydols but its no good as he runs Maxie. The ending is very close, as we are both at 2 prizes and time is running out. I have Nurse left. I have 3 cards left. The turn before I needlessly used PETM to search my deck and check. I have a 1 in three chance of drawing it, which will give me game as my Bex had 110 on it and I could promote it. I have a fire energy in hand so i can Delcatty for 1 if I need it, so theres technically a 2 in 3 chance I win. I draw...NURSE. I breathe a sigh of relief and I am good to go. I kill Claydol. Next turn I win. Insane game and my head literally HURT after this one.
I leave and go sit in the lobby for awhile trying to stall for time to recover as I have had no sleep, was sore, and had a horrible headache. I knew my next round opponent would be really good, but all was on the line. I was garunteed at least 5,000 dollars so i didn't care all that much. Finally they call for all competitors.
Finals
Game 1
I get a solid set up again. His is a bit slower. I should have had the game. I start playing and get a bit of offense going but it doesn't keep up. I use Friend Ball for Fire...TWO OF MY BLAZIKEN ARE PRIZED! So is my Electrike. I take one prize and its useless. No way I was winning this. He gets up by alot of prizes and to the shock of my opponent and the crowd around me, I offer my hand for concession of that game. I knew from the past games that the situation was unwinnable. The other spectators had no idea how to play the match up and alot of people said I shouldn't have conceded but it was unwinnable and I needed to conserve time in case it did go to a game 3 or some of the games took awhile. I am sure my opponent would have stalled out his games as much as possible against me, as I would have done the same, especially since if it gets to a game 3 his deck can get up on prizes. time was not on my side. A few players start to clap, but most people looked mad I lost, so I motioned to the crowd to applaud. The guy earned his spot this far, hes a great player, I don't care if people wanted an American to win, they should ****ing cheer!
Game 2
I look at my hand and think of offering my hand right away. Lone Rayquaza. I go and pass. He drops a fighting on Zangoose and drops Desert Ruins. Oh yay. I go. Copycat. No bench. I shrug. I pass. He goes, can't KO me somehow. He gets more bench. I go, Stevens. No more bench. I pass and he offers the Magma Energy for the kill. I raise his hand and make sure he has his time to bask in the spotlight after his well earned win. I grab a Team Magma's Groudon and return to have him sign it. In return he asks me to sign his Groudon from his deck, which I do gratefully. Let me just say this much now. Throughout the weekend I heard so many people complain about the Japanese, be it shuffling strategies to as far as rigged coin flips or being *******s during games, but I will be honest and say that they were some of the kindest and most skilled players I had played all weekend.
In closing, the Magma deck was overlooked purely based on the fact that we did not abuse Groudon effectively. By dealing 20 to it, we could easily set up anything for an easy 100+ total by using its big attack. Plus Magma energy is huge. None the less, it has issues with a prepared Swampert deck, and Walrein can fight it fairly evently. Blaziken, if knowing what to do, definitely can go pretty 50-50 with it. Crobyss SHOULD beat it. Shiftry dies to it. None the less, almost no one at the tournament had lists prepared to battle against it. It deserved to do as well as it did. I honestly think I had a solid 50-50 chance to beat the Champion, but hey, hands dictate alot of it. I have no regrets, I did my best.
11-14 and 10- were also Americans vs Japanese, and the Magma decks won both divisions as well. 10- was Swampert Suicune, and 11-14 was Gardevoir I believe. Good job to all competitors. Some players liked to call it Pearl Harbor '04. I'll go with that because its funny as hell, but I think in the long run they deserved it. They never misplayed. Ever. They knew what to do against all of our decks, although my Bellossom tech surprised them as I don't believe they knew what it did alot of times.
After this we all get called up onstage for the closing ceremony. We are awarded with trophies, an exclusive promo card that only the t3 at Worlds get, and a bunch of product, plus the scholarship. We got a ton of pictures taken of us, and I posed with the two Japanese players on stage from my division for awhile and they took alot of pictures. I was angry cause I didnt get to go hug Torchic again!!!
I quickly head back to the room after all this commotion once I get my stuff and drop everything off. I open my box and get crap. I won a box of every set for a year too. Makes me happy. After this I go back down to the lobby with Gabby and everyones playing. I steal Sean's Pichu and run it up to my room. " He Disappeared! Like a NINJA! " was what Sean said. More like I hid behind a pillar, but I guess that is rather ninja like. I made a scavenger hunt for him, and also return to steal his PROXY PICHU which he had. I kept it in my pocket though. Before the scavenger hunt though we all met up in Chad's room. I brought with us a big bag of Unowns. 400 to be exact. We debated what to do with them. We wanted to drop them all on someone. I tried to get Martin and MISSED so they went all over the floor. Damn. Someone than had the brilliant idea to drop them off the balcony. So Martin grabs the bag and just CHUCKS it. Of course, it DOESN'T open and the bag flies OVER the roof below us and lands in the parking lot. Way to go you stupid mexican trashbag
SOOO me and Martin go on retrieval mission, and we sneak down to the lobby and outside. We can't be too obvious as they have guards outside who may have noticed a big blue bag crashing from upstairs somewhere. So I ask them where the nearest restaurant is, and me and Martin debated whether or not the walk was worth it as we walked through the parking lot. " Hey? Whats that. " *Checks bag* " Oh! Its cards! Sweet! " *picks up bag and goes back inside* We go back to Chads room and this time Martin just takes the cards, no bag, and chucks them. It's like confetti. They fly EVERYWHERE. Half of them atop the roof and half in the parking lot. We found them wet outside later that night. We laughed our asses off. It wasn't my idea even, but hot damn was it funny. Go Martin!Heidi Craig held a draft with the new set that night but I was way too tired to play in it. Instead I sat around and talked with Eric for awhile and discussed strategies for the new cards and the new format coming out. Newman grew fatter. I have to scan my pictures of Newman, they are very amusing. That boy needs to move.
Anyways, the scavenger hunt was kind of boring. Sean had no idea how to guess and all he did was suck. Everyone followed so it wasn't as fun. I eventually just gave it back to him because he wanted to play in Heidi's draft. I had to go into Chad's hotel to get my deck and camera back that I left there. I go back to the room to get some sleep and its about 12. Gabby cleans up the room as she doesnt want to do it in the morning. ( thank you so much, I'd have helped but I was so beat by that point... ) and basically we kept talking til about 2 am. It ended with us alternating making wierd animal noises. Don't ask. I started with grrrr and she followed with a meow, and it all went downhill from there
Sam called me at like 2 am too, but I couldn't talk for long. We went back to animal noises haha.I finally fell asleep and got woken up around 7:30 and finished packing. Heidi was going to take me and Gabby to the airport early since she had to clean up from yesterday as a judge. We head down to the lobby and pay for our stuff after obviously taking some stuff from the hotel ( Toilet paper...planned to be used to TP someone special! ) and got to the airport. We go to McDonalds and get stuff for breakfast. I order 2 Pancakes haha. Just because I didn't eat more than a Snickers Bar the day before and was so hungry. We also enjoyed riding the conveyor belts around. Fun.We got on the first plane fairly easily, and Gabby stole the cool laying down spot on the seats in the waiting area for our flight. I curled up at her feet where there was room but was scrunched.
The flight went well and the plane was huge. We got in the middle. I got two pillows. She stole a blanket. We go to a restaurant in the next airport so gabby can get a chance to smoke, since she hadn't in awhile. We than get on the next plane and off we go. We finally get to Cleveland and my dad picks us up as we again resist the urge to ride the conveyor belt to the luggage department. It'll prolly meet us with saw blades and **** I bet. I drop Gabby back off home and we go out to eat dinner at El Rodeo. Best restaurant EVER. I swear. Anyways, yeah, I am done. Go to my Xanga and help me win my bet!
Props
My deck, for finally giving me some loving in the finals.
The Players from NEO, whether they did well or pulled a Chad...erm, I mean, lost. ( Chad, Levi, Drew, David, Tom, Sean, Kyle, Colin, YJ, Martin, AJ, and soooo many more.
My friend Gabrielle, for putting up with me for the better part of a week.
MONEY!
The Japanese players for being so skilled and fun to play against. I hope even more of them can make next year's event.
Players from all the other countrys who attended. This event was amazing. We had players from so many countrys and it was great to play against them all.
Unown Rain...yeah, you get the idea.
Torchic, for being so friggin cute and nuzzling with me. Will you go out with me? Please?
Blair for being such a good sport about our game. Shoulda won a Spirit of The Game award much more so than Mike " Cant Make t32 Must Tank " P.
PUI and all of those involved in putting on such an amazing weekend, easily the best of my life. I got to spend 4 days with one of my best friends, all of my friends from around the country, compete with the best players in the world, win a lot of prizes, and have a perfect ( and warm! ) environment to do it in.
Slops
Martin. Not sure why, I just always wanted to give Martin slops.
Spirit of the Game awards. I mean they were pretty much Loser awards over SotG awards. Many other players did things to deserve it more than simply tanking the tourney after going 0-2. I think they should have been awarded at the end without anyone mentioning an award existed. So many people falsely wore masks of sportsmanship to attempt to win.
Neo- YOU GUYS BOMBED
The weekend having to end.
WotC for looking so much more pathetic now that the game has new owners.
Team Magma's Groudon for being so friggin good and me owning none.
Me for being way too lazy and hoping that the filter catches my abundance of curse words because this got cut and paste and I am way too lazy to go back and change it.
All of you who dont go and post on my Xanga! www.Xanga.com/AmerikanRevolution. ( Please don't edit that Mods, I wrote up a real nice long report gimme this one break, k? Thanks )
