Ok, I was really excited for this event and I was looking forward to it for the entire week before. I decided to play almost complete rogue for this tournament and somehow I came up with this list after playing around with Patriarch’s STITCH deck:
Pokemon (24)
2 Dratini
2 Dark Dragonair
2 Dark Dragonite
2 Slugma
2 Magcargo
1 Voltorb
1 Dark Electrode
1 Cubone
1 Dark Marowak
1 Magikarp
1 Dark Gyrados
1 Drowzee
1 Dark Hypno
4 Dunsparce
1 Rocket’s Scyther EX
1 Rocket’s Scizor EX
Energy (13)
4 Dark Energy
4 Dark/Metal Energy
4 Rainbow Energy
1 R Energy
Trainers (23)
3 Steven’s Advice
4 Celio’s Network
4 TV Reporter
1 Mr. Briney’s Compassion
3 Swoop! Teleporter
3 Pokemon Retriever
1 Switch
2 Rocket’s Hideout
1 Rocket’s Tricky Gym
After deck checks and some funny looks from people as I played around before the tournament, the playing began around 12:30.
Round 1 vs. Nicole N. (Gardevoir)
This was a pretty quick one. She only got out a few Ralts or so out. She never saw any Pidgeot or Gardevoir all game. I just ran through with Dark Hypno and the like.
1-0
Round 2 vs. (forgot kid’s name) Blastoise/Ludicolo
This was another bad match. I got a great hand. He started out with Rocket’s Mewtwo EX and couldn’t pull any psychics all game. He finally got a Blastoise EX but that went down quickly with Trode.
2-0
Round 3 vs. Nancy L. (Mewsmom) (Gardevoir)
I got a great hand. It had pretty much everything you could want for a deck like this. Unfortunately, she drops Battle Frontier on me first turn (=/). I can’t draw into a stadium and my way of getting Magcargo (Dark Dragonair) is shut down. After I’m already 3-4 prizes in the hole, I draw a Celio to grab Cargo. I began to come back after this but the lead she took at the beginning was just too much.
2-1
Round 4 vs. Heidi C. (Zapdos/Moltres/Quazza/Trode ex)
We both started off decently. She did a great job of spreading her pokes around as to not let me get my last two prizes after she had blown up Trode and I sharded a Quazza. A little into the game I did 80 to a Zapdos. She then decided to play a Moltres to get the Zappy out of the way. However, I Smooth’d Over a Tricky Gym and picked on the Zapdos for the win.
3-1
Round 5 vs. Stephen S. (Ludicargo)
This game looked good at the beginning for me as well. We kept pretty good pace with each other until he dropped his second Frontier on me. I wasn’t worried at the time because I had Magcargo on the field with a TV Reporter in my hand. I used Smooth Over with the intention of finding a counter-stadium. I then found out that a Tricky Gym and a Hideout were prized. It was pretty down-hill from there.
3-2
Round 6 vs. Seth P. (Dragonite/Sharpedo)
A must-win game here. I had high enough resistance that I wasn’t worried about me missing the cut at 4-2. It looked extremely grim at the beginning. I began with a Sparce but he went first and paralyzed it with a Voltorb with a dark. I attached a Dark Metal and passed…. praying he wouldn’t pull the Trode with a Rainbow. He had the Trode but the Rainbow was nowhere to be found, even after he used Admin. Afterwards I was quickly able to establish a overwhelming position on him with his main attacker (Sharpedo EX) being controlled by a Rocket’s Scyther on the bench. I pulled this game and top 16 off.
4-2
TOP 16
This is where things get really ugly. I ran into some problems while playing in this cut. I want you all to know that I do not make this many mistakes on a consistent basis. Fatigue as well as nervousness had a lot to do with the following matches.
Top 16 match vs. Stephen S. (Ludicargo)
Game 1:
I started this much like our swiss game. It was looking up. The only difference was this time, I had counter-stadiums. I shredded through everything he threw at me and I was able to replace everything he KO’d. This is probably the best I have ever seen this deck work.
Game 2:
This was a game where I ran across my first mistake. It was about half-way or so through the game. I played Pokemon Retriever to retrieve a Dark Dragonair, Voltorb, and Dark Electrode. I put them on top of my deck. I didn’t shuffle at the time because I had a Smooth Over coming up. I kept the Dark Dragonair on top and shuffled. However, you must realize that Stephen was insisting that I play faster (time was an issue) and again, nervousness and fatigue, and because of this, I just riffled and a couple of times and I guess my top two cards remained unchanged. I offered him a cut and he refused the offer. I played TV Reporter and found myself drawing the three cards I had just put back into my deck with Retriever. He soon realized that these were the cards that I drew a turn later and called me on it. The judge gave me a warning and made me shuffle the Voltorb and Trode back. I eventually lost this game closely.
Game 3:
I drew my opening hand. I looked it over and found that I had no basics. I was nervous, shaky, tired, and trying to hurry (time was slim) so I accidentally shuffled my hand back into my deck without showing him my hand. I realized that this was a mistake (I even helped Stephen call over a judge). I was given a penalty (I had to put out 7 prizes) and we continued the game. I proceeded to beat him (his hand was absolutely horrendous). Afterwards, he and his dad got on my case for “cheating.” I could elaborate much more but in order to keep this clean, I am not going to do so. There was a huge discussion about what should be done. However, many people were on my side telling the judges that I would never cheat and that I took my penalty graciously and I won the game legitimately and that the game shouldn’t have to be replayed. My argument won and I ended up advancing to top 8, but I do still feel bad for making that mistake, even though I know I wasn’t cheating while I was doing it.
Top 8 match vs. Robert E. (Gardevoir)
Game 1:
A good game here. This game really made me feel much better about the match before. We both got set up early and it was just a slug-fest after that. My Dark Hypno revival was able to win out in the end though.
Game 2:
Another good match although this one was a bit easier for me because my Scyther wasn’t prized. However, it looked as though he was going to win because my draw stalled mid-game and he went up on me 5-2 in prizes. I then KO’d a Gex and a Psyshadow Gardevoir with Dark Hypno and afterwards, he was forced to try paralyzation until he got set up again. He got two straight tails so I won.
Top 4 match vs. Chris S. (Professor Chris) (Blaziken)
Game 1:
He made a couple of weird moves in this game. I think it was because he had never seen this deck before and wasn’t expecting Dark Gyrados when he played his Moltres. After KO’ing his Moltres he brought up Rayquaza. I sharded it with Dark Marowak for the KO. He then sent up another Rayquaza. I did 80 to it with Hypno. He Bex’d my Hypno but then I was able to Tricky Gym his Rayquaza for the win.
Game 2:
We both got pretty bad starts here. His was a bit better because he drew into a Blaziken and fire streamed all my Pokemon. I scooped around the time he got his second Blaziken out. I don’t think I saw any evolutions this game.
Game 3:
Another bad start for me. He got a good start and quickly established an ideal Bex setup. I was forced to scoop again and hope to win the 3rd/4th match.
3rd/4th match vs. Ryan S. (evilcacturne666) (Pooka w/ Grumpig)
Game 1:
I got a good start and he didn’t. I pretty much ran through everything with ease and got a quick game 1 win.
Game 2:
The game was pretty even for awhile. It came down to another killer mistake I made. It was tied on prizes at 3 each. I tried to use Evolutionary Light with Battle Frontier and play. I even caught myself doing it and even said “oh wait, never mind, Battle Frontier, sorry.” but he still got to draw a prize. It was 1-1 then (it would have 2-1 in my favor without the above, keep that in mind) when it was a Dragonite with 3 darks against his Spoink with no energies. He top decks a Scramble. He then Celio’s for Grumpig, evolves, plays the Scramble, and Rocks (my Cargo had 50 damage on it) to take his last prize. After this game I felt terrible because that stupid thing I did cost me the game and possibly Worlds.
Game 3:
I was on tilt through this game and I had a bad start to go along with it. I lost and took 4th.
I look back on this tournament now and I suppose I should definitely look on it as a positive experience. When I was in my hotel room after the tournament I only really looked at the negative things that had happened. I really want to apologize to Ryan though. I kind of acted like a jerk after our game. It was stupid of me to blame the judging/judges (although I did have a MAJOR problem with one of the judges, I am discussing this with Birch elsewhere though) when it was my mistake that cost me the game. I knew better on all of my mistakes and although I knew there were several factors that caused them, I have no one to blame but myself
Pokemon (24)
2 Dratini
2 Dark Dragonair
2 Dark Dragonite
2 Slugma
2 Magcargo
1 Voltorb
1 Dark Electrode
1 Cubone
1 Dark Marowak
1 Magikarp
1 Dark Gyrados
1 Drowzee
1 Dark Hypno
4 Dunsparce
1 Rocket’s Scyther EX
1 Rocket’s Scizor EX
Energy (13)
4 Dark Energy
4 Dark/Metal Energy
4 Rainbow Energy
1 R Energy
Trainers (23)
3 Steven’s Advice
4 Celio’s Network
4 TV Reporter
1 Mr. Briney’s Compassion
3 Swoop! Teleporter
3 Pokemon Retriever
1 Switch
2 Rocket’s Hideout
1 Rocket’s Tricky Gym
After deck checks and some funny looks from people as I played around before the tournament, the playing began around 12:30.
Round 1 vs. Nicole N. (Gardevoir)
This was a pretty quick one. She only got out a few Ralts or so out. She never saw any Pidgeot or Gardevoir all game. I just ran through with Dark Hypno and the like.
1-0
Round 2 vs. (forgot kid’s name) Blastoise/Ludicolo
This was another bad match. I got a great hand. He started out with Rocket’s Mewtwo EX and couldn’t pull any psychics all game. He finally got a Blastoise EX but that went down quickly with Trode.
2-0
Round 3 vs. Nancy L. (Mewsmom) (Gardevoir)
I got a great hand. It had pretty much everything you could want for a deck like this. Unfortunately, she drops Battle Frontier on me first turn (=/). I can’t draw into a stadium and my way of getting Magcargo (Dark Dragonair) is shut down. After I’m already 3-4 prizes in the hole, I draw a Celio to grab Cargo. I began to come back after this but the lead she took at the beginning was just too much.
2-1
Round 4 vs. Heidi C. (Zapdos/Moltres/Quazza/Trode ex)
We both started off decently. She did a great job of spreading her pokes around as to not let me get my last two prizes after she had blown up Trode and I sharded a Quazza. A little into the game I did 80 to a Zapdos. She then decided to play a Moltres to get the Zappy out of the way. However, I Smooth’d Over a Tricky Gym and picked on the Zapdos for the win.
3-1
Round 5 vs. Stephen S. (Ludicargo)
This game looked good at the beginning for me as well. We kept pretty good pace with each other until he dropped his second Frontier on me. I wasn’t worried at the time because I had Magcargo on the field with a TV Reporter in my hand. I used Smooth Over with the intention of finding a counter-stadium. I then found out that a Tricky Gym and a Hideout were prized. It was pretty down-hill from there.
3-2
Round 6 vs. Seth P. (Dragonite/Sharpedo)
A must-win game here. I had high enough resistance that I wasn’t worried about me missing the cut at 4-2. It looked extremely grim at the beginning. I began with a Sparce but he went first and paralyzed it with a Voltorb with a dark. I attached a Dark Metal and passed…. praying he wouldn’t pull the Trode with a Rainbow. He had the Trode but the Rainbow was nowhere to be found, even after he used Admin. Afterwards I was quickly able to establish a overwhelming position on him with his main attacker (Sharpedo EX) being controlled by a Rocket’s Scyther on the bench. I pulled this game and top 16 off.
4-2
TOP 16
This is where things get really ugly. I ran into some problems while playing in this cut. I want you all to know that I do not make this many mistakes on a consistent basis. Fatigue as well as nervousness had a lot to do with the following matches.
Top 16 match vs. Stephen S. (Ludicargo)
Game 1:
I started this much like our swiss game. It was looking up. The only difference was this time, I had counter-stadiums. I shredded through everything he threw at me and I was able to replace everything he KO’d. This is probably the best I have ever seen this deck work.
Game 2:
This was a game where I ran across my first mistake. It was about half-way or so through the game. I played Pokemon Retriever to retrieve a Dark Dragonair, Voltorb, and Dark Electrode. I put them on top of my deck. I didn’t shuffle at the time because I had a Smooth Over coming up. I kept the Dark Dragonair on top and shuffled. However, you must realize that Stephen was insisting that I play faster (time was an issue) and again, nervousness and fatigue, and because of this, I just riffled and a couple of times and I guess my top two cards remained unchanged. I offered him a cut and he refused the offer. I played TV Reporter and found myself drawing the three cards I had just put back into my deck with Retriever. He soon realized that these were the cards that I drew a turn later and called me on it. The judge gave me a warning and made me shuffle the Voltorb and Trode back. I eventually lost this game closely.
Game 3:
I drew my opening hand. I looked it over and found that I had no basics. I was nervous, shaky, tired, and trying to hurry (time was slim) so I accidentally shuffled my hand back into my deck without showing him my hand. I realized that this was a mistake (I even helped Stephen call over a judge). I was given a penalty (I had to put out 7 prizes) and we continued the game. I proceeded to beat him (his hand was absolutely horrendous). Afterwards, he and his dad got on my case for “cheating.” I could elaborate much more but in order to keep this clean, I am not going to do so. There was a huge discussion about what should be done. However, many people were on my side telling the judges that I would never cheat and that I took my penalty graciously and I won the game legitimately and that the game shouldn’t have to be replayed. My argument won and I ended up advancing to top 8, but I do still feel bad for making that mistake, even though I know I wasn’t cheating while I was doing it.
Top 8 match vs. Robert E. (Gardevoir)
Game 1:
A good game here. This game really made me feel much better about the match before. We both got set up early and it was just a slug-fest after that. My Dark Hypno revival was able to win out in the end though.
Game 2:
Another good match although this one was a bit easier for me because my Scyther wasn’t prized. However, it looked as though he was going to win because my draw stalled mid-game and he went up on me 5-2 in prizes. I then KO’d a Gex and a Psyshadow Gardevoir with Dark Hypno and afterwards, he was forced to try paralyzation until he got set up again. He got two straight tails so I won.
Top 4 match vs. Chris S. (Professor Chris) (Blaziken)
Game 1:
He made a couple of weird moves in this game. I think it was because he had never seen this deck before and wasn’t expecting Dark Gyrados when he played his Moltres. After KO’ing his Moltres he brought up Rayquaza. I sharded it with Dark Marowak for the KO. He then sent up another Rayquaza. I did 80 to it with Hypno. He Bex’d my Hypno but then I was able to Tricky Gym his Rayquaza for the win.
Game 2:
We both got pretty bad starts here. His was a bit better because he drew into a Blaziken and fire streamed all my Pokemon. I scooped around the time he got his second Blaziken out. I don’t think I saw any evolutions this game.
Game 3:
Another bad start for me. He got a good start and quickly established an ideal Bex setup. I was forced to scoop again and hope to win the 3rd/4th match.
3rd/4th match vs. Ryan S. (evilcacturne666) (Pooka w/ Grumpig)
Game 1:
I got a good start and he didn’t. I pretty much ran through everything with ease and got a quick game 1 win.
Game 2:
The game was pretty even for awhile. It came down to another killer mistake I made. It was tied on prizes at 3 each. I tried to use Evolutionary Light with Battle Frontier and play. I even caught myself doing it and even said “oh wait, never mind, Battle Frontier, sorry.” but he still got to draw a prize. It was 1-1 then (it would have 2-1 in my favor without the above, keep that in mind) when it was a Dragonite with 3 darks against his Spoink with no energies. He top decks a Scramble. He then Celio’s for Grumpig, evolves, plays the Scramble, and Rocks (my Cargo had 50 damage on it) to take his last prize. After this game I felt terrible because that stupid thing I did cost me the game and possibly Worlds.
Game 3:
I was on tilt through this game and I had a bad start to go along with it. I lost and took 4th.
I look back on this tournament now and I suppose I should definitely look on it as a positive experience. When I was in my hotel room after the tournament I only really looked at the negative things that had happened. I really want to apologize to Ryan though. I kind of acted like a jerk after our game. It was stupid of me to blame the judging/judges (although I did have a MAJOR problem with one of the judges, I am discussing this with Birch elsewhere though) when it was my mistake that cost me the game. I knew better on all of my mistakes and although I knew there were several factors that caused them, I have no one to blame but myself
