Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

YJ06's Great Lake Regional Report

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YoungJohn06

New Member
Well I left with the Davis' family (Steven, Jake, Brandon and James) at about 5:45 am to get there. Somewhere along the way, like around 7-7:30 we get a flat tire... sucktastic. James got out and replaced it with a spare we went to find a place that would put on a better tire as this one wasn't that great. We found a Marathon full service station and they fixed it for us in like 10 minutes. Cool, we're not running too late.

We got there at about 9:30 I think and I met up with Croconaw88 and got him the cards he needs for his deck. Steve Gillette walks in and I get the stuff he needs for his deck as well. I decided to play Matrix today (Metagross, Steelix, Cargo, Milotic). Same thing for 4 of my friends. Me, Steve Gillette, James, Jake and Steven Davis all played Matrix.

I'm not going to give out the exact decklist, if someone wants it pm me and I might send it to you. I really don't remember the exact one I played as I've been tinkering with it since then. Anyway onto the report.

Round 1: Dunno the name, Togetic/EM Sceptile was his deck.

I won this fairly easily, he really didn't get set up. He got out one Togetic which I OHKOed with Metagross. The Sceptile landed in the play area too late to do anything.

1-0

Round 2: Elizabeth Reed, Rock Lock.

I start with a Slugma... joy. I pulled out of it early tho, luckily. We both got kinda crap starts but it got better for both later. Mid game it's REALLY close 4-3 her lead. However I have by far the better field position. I have a steelix 4 metal 2 dark 1 rainbow with a metagross and another onix on bench. She has active t-tar 80 benched sparce candied pidgeot and candied amphy. I have a rock in my hand... 4-3 prize count. I ask judge how much time is left since I knew it was running low. I'm told that there is just under 5 minutes left. It's my opponents turn I'm just waiting to drop the ATM rock and have the game completely in my favor and oops immediately after I'm told a little under 5 minutes time is called... I'm like umm what the heck. So I lose on one prize... I don't have any hard feelings toward Elizabeth, she's a good player and what not she wasn't intending on stalling. I just wish I would have been told the correct time, ehh I figure what ever it happens they're human.

1-1

Round 3: Some kid with Dark Slowking

He mulligans like 5 times an starts with a Wobbuffet. I get a decent start, he doesn't get a slowpoke in forever. He managed to take down one Steelix but it got to be too much later on when he was running out of tools and I was healing like mad. I also appreciated the fact that he was forgetting to do cunning... especially AFTER I smoothed over lol. After I realized he'd do this, I always did Smooth over immediately, then did as much as I could or should for the turn after words to get his mind off of the top of my deck and it worked about 50% of the time.

2-1

Round 4: Justin Williams with Ludicargo/shiftry.

This is a very good player and a friend of mine. It seems we ALWAYS have to play and our games come down to the wire. We both get decent set ups. I went up on prizes but he POWed up my cargo which left me hurting all game. I eventually let my bench get smaller as I tanked steelix so I could get less damage on me. I had a Steelix with 4 dark and 4 metal and 1 rainbow by the closing bit of time. It was 3-3 Prizes and I know time is getting low again. I have the tanked steelix and a metagross out in play with feebas/tic/candy in hand. So I'm taking like 40-50 a turn and dealing 100 OHKOing all ludis. I call for time to see how much is left. I was told 10 minutes and OOPS guess what, judge cannot tell the proper time again. About a minute later there is a THREE minute time announcement made... soooo I get screwed by time again and he drew his prize just as time was called for game. He didn't purposely do this tho, he was trying to play fast once he heard there was 3 minutes left. Good game Justin, it's always close with you.

2-2

Round 5: someone with ludicargo.

I get crap start of the year with slugma start no energy swoop for sparce tvr no energy. No energy til turn 3, and I just don't draw crap. So I get crushed

2-3

Round 6: Dragtrode.

I got up kinda slow with a crap start and figured I was toast cause he had a decent start. However late game I just trampled him with a tanked Steelix. GG

3-3

Soooooo I go 3-3 and miss the cut obviously. I was pretty much 2 turns away from making the top cut.

Props:

-To my friend Jason for getting the trip to worlds in 15+ with dragtrode!!!
-To Steven Davis for pwning the 11-14 like usual and getting his trip to worlds.
-To the Gillettes for giving everyone food after the lunch break that was supposed to happen never did.
-Ajay and the cleveland crew for being fun to be around.
-James Davis for taking us to the tournament
-Steve Gillette for taking me home.

Slops:

-The mirrors on the ceiling that got you an AUTO game loss if you looked up EVER because you could see your opponents hand... what crap and then they play the top cut under these mirrors. HOW SMART!
-To the judges and their horrible ability to tell time which pretty much screwed me. Game speed changes dramatically when there's 10 minutes and 3 minutes left.
-The year and a half that the tournament took and the hour+ late start we had. In between rounds took way too long
- Dave Schwimmer for being rude to the Gillettes when they gave out a CRAP LOAD OF FOOD for FREE to ANYONE who was hungry to help people from getting SICK since there was NO LUNCH BREAK IN THIS VERY TIME CONSUMING EVENT. They went through about 3 loafs of bread, crap load of lunchmeat and other stuff. How do you get ticked at someone for keeping the younger kids and older ones even at that from getting sick from not eating? Then he accuses them of selling the food which they did not do. =\.
- The less than knowlagable million people staffing the event. One of the so called judges went over for a ruling question and said let me go get someone else I don't know much about this game.. how is that a regional level judge?

All in all... I had fun, but this wasn't that great of a regional IMO. Many people got jacked by the time crap. Three minute time calls should never be made like they were in a couple of rounds because it promotes stalling. Being with my friends made it a fun event, but other than that it wasn't amazing. I hope my other regional experiences are better... should be as long as the people running it can tell time. :smile:
 
I hear about the mirrors, sounds fun. That was harsh, though we did get a game loss if we yelled the word "Pooka!"
 
nice job YJ, Steve ended up beating me in the last round of swiss with his Matrix, down to the wire as well, he got that final prize on me though. It's a real shame he didn't get t16 with that 4-2. Great tourney, great deck, we'll have another awesome/crappy game in the future I'm sure, lol.
 
YoungJohn06 said:
-The mirrors on the ceiling that got you an AUTO game loss if you looked up EVER because you could see your opponents hand... what crap and then they play the top cut under these mirrors. HOW SMART!
-To the judges and their horrible ability to tell time which pretty much screwed me. Game speed changes dramatically when there's 10 minutes and 3 minutes left.
-The year and a half that the tournament took and the hour+ late start we had. In between rounds took way too long
- Dave Schwimmer for being rude to the Gillettes when they gave out a CRAP LOAD OF FOOD for FREE to ANYONE who was hungry to help people from getting SICK since there was NO LUNCH BREAK IN THIS VERY TIME CONSUMING EVENT. They went through about 3 loafs of bread, crap load of lunchmeat and other stuff. How do you get ticked at someone for keeping the younger kids and older ones even at that from getting sick from not eating? Then he accuses them of selling the food which they did not do. =\.
- The less than knowlagable million people staffing the event. One of the so called judges went over for a ruling question and said let me go get someone else I don't know much about this game.. how is that a regional level judge?
Click to expand...

I wanted to set the record straight.

-So why was an auto game loss for obvious cheating a problem? We checked it ahead of time, it was really obvious if you looked up to see your opponents hand. Why would you need to look up during a match if everything is on the table in front of you?

-The time thing is crap, every round the judges started stop watches at the same time. Dave couldn't figure out where this complaint was coming from either.

-We started late? Where was there a posted start time? Registration ended at 11:00 and we started at 11:35. First results were entered into the TMS program for the first round at 11:48:31am (TMS records when results are entered into the TRN file) Pokemon-tcg website has the latest time posted that you could show up and get in, not when the tournament started.

-Skipping this one because I don't know anything about this.

-Not everyone in a Staff shirt at the event was a judge. Kinda like not everyone helping at worlds was a judge. There were only 6 judges. Three people there were only there to take results, two of those 3 people just there to take results have never played pokemon. You don't have to know how to play in order to highlight a name and ask for initials. These people that only were taking results always were able to get a judge over to the table. Amazing how rude some people were to these people that were only there to help keep the judges from having to ask for results so they were available to answer questions.
 
The things about time and Dave I know nothing about. However I'm lost and won on two of John's issues when seen laid out, point by point. I don't know how much I'm warranted to speak on this issue, since I wasn't attending the event, but here's how I call it:

-First off, a game loss is way too harsh for something that is NOT apparent cheating, like Farbsman says it is. In every age division, at every skill level, in every pokemon-playing state, there is at least one person who looks up/looks down/flicks his or her cards/eyes something on the table...habits usually created by being nervous. Perhaps someone from the staff should have checked out Hotel Seagate to make sure nothing could be used for cheating. It's the staff's fault here, because giving game losses on nervousness is going against Spirit of the Game.

-Also like Farbsman says, however, people should not have taken their anger out on those who are helping with the event. They were obviously asked to just help mark things down and send them up to the computers, not explain complex rulings or situations.

The other three contentions I know nothing about, and have heard only one side of the story on. But oh well, glad to see your deck performed well in most of its winning games! =)
 
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Patriarch said:
-First off, a game loss is way too harsh for something that is NOT apparent cheating, like Farbsman says it is. In every age division, at every skill level, in every pokemon-playing state, there is at least one person who looks up/looks down/flicks his or her cards/eyes something on the table...habits usually created by being nervous. Perhaps someone from the staff should have checked out Hotel Seagate to make sure nothing could be used for cheating. It's the staff's fault here, because giving game losses on nervousness is going against Spirit of the Game.
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Gotta clear this up, you couldn't just look up and see your opponents hand in the mirrors, you had to take your head and almost bend it all the way back to see your opponents deck. Ceiling I believe was 10-12 foot high. You really had to bend to see you and your opponent in them. Very obvious cheating. Trust me. Dave was asked his opinion on this and he suggested the game loss.
 
Ok, here are my views on everything.

First off, the mirror issue. Slops to those running the event for not having found a better location to hold a tournament in. An obvious issue like this should not have been overlooked. None the less, I do feel that the game loss warning is good for one reason. First off, the pre warned seriousness of the cheating is useful to deter it. Did anyone actually get the game loss? The threat is effective enough to likely deter the use of mirrors to cheat. I have at least some confidence that judges discretion here could be used in each incident, and that if it is likely someone is not cheating, maybe it would not have been enforced. BUT I would have prefered to disclaimer that such action COULD result in disqualification. It is much more fair and holds all parties involved to less predetermined actions.

The time issue WAS an issue. I did witness multiple issues of subpar to flat out bad time callings. It seemed off during my game with Drew ( I won, but it seemed like more time was left on the clock than we were told ) and judges often refused to say more than " under 5 minutes " which is not as informative as needed at times. There was no visible timer like at many events as well. I am 100% aware of the dislike betweenYJ and Derek here, and I like to think I am on good terms with both sides here, but I see some credence to some of Johns issues here.

As for the tournament time. It took awhile. The main issue that kept this taking so long was the extended time due to deck checks,a nd sudden death. The overall time of the event seemed a bit slow but far from offensive to me. I don't think this is much of an issue. The tournament did get off to a slightly slow start but I think every event I have been to has done the same.

As for Dave and the Gillettes. I am aware they got yelled at for giving out free food? Now personally I enjoyed the free food, as I am pretty poor, and I think thatw as kinda lame. I am not sure who commented to them, or anything about it, but I am aware it happened.

The main issue I have was with the lack of a lunch break. I did not eat breakfast at all, and playing 6 rounds straight on an empty stomach is a bit lame. I did it just fine, but when we than get a 30 minute dinner break where there are few restaurants nearby ( Subway was closed by that time, the closest restaurant...the one upstairs we went to was pricey and slow ) and seeing how I had to wait for them to collect my deck for deck check prior to t16, I had very minimal chance to eat. I had to wait until after the tournament to have time to. This was my MAJOR complaint about the day, and I am pretty good without any food, but I think a lunch break, or at least an extended dinner break ( by the time we left the tables with the deck checks I had around 20 minutes to walk to a restaurant, order, eat, pay and walk back before t16 occured and I could not risk being late )

Overall, I think it could be run a bit smoother, but I didn't think it was poorly run either. Plus the door prizes were awesome, and I saw no complaints of bad rulings either. Plus, look at SoCal's event that got butchered. This one went off pretty smoothly, along floor rules, and hadno major complications. I wouldn't be too worked up over it. If anything, I'd like to see a longer time in swiss.
 
I'm a little suprised with Dave for being so hard on them. Schwimmer: you need to give players time to eat during these all day events! I know you want to keep things moving along but you need to understand that 10 hours of playing Pokemon will wear you out! Slops!
 
I thought the event was ran extremely professionally, especially compared to when the MTG guys would run it. They didn't seem to give two craps about what was going on, and often couldn't settle rulings because nobody running the event played the game. We had someone from Nintendo CORPORATE at a regional level event! Wake up people, we're heads and tails above where we were.

Sure, we didn't get much time to eat. I would have rather dropped my deck off after round 6 with Matt or someone and taken off. However, since about six or so of us from the top16 were coming down with our food, which we got "to go" from the resturaunt in the hotel (so its not like we could have gotten it any faster from anywhere), they let us get back down and actually eat it before the top 16 started. So that was nice.

I'm just really glad that Schwimmer finally cracked and let AJ and I have that invite to worlds. *wakes up from amazing dream and faces his grim reality* awwww no invite :'(
 
I think PUI should invite Aj and Moss to worlds to entertain the kids in the little sibblings room near the main event hall at worlds.
This would be hands down better than the giant two story Pikachu in the parking lot of last years event.
 
nice report YJ i would have been thar if the car drive was shorter :frown: its nice to see Steven and Jason won trips already
 
farbsman said:
I wanted to set the record straight.

-So why was an auto game loss for obvious cheating a problem? We checked it ahead of time, it was really obvious if you looked up to see your opponents hand. Why would you need to look up during a match if everything is on the table in front of you?

-The time thing is crap, every round the judges started stop watches at the same time. Dave couldn't figure out where this complaint was coming from either.

-We started late? Where was there a posted start time? Registration ended at 11:00 and we started at 11:35. First results were entered into the TMS program for the first round at 11:48:31am (TMS records when results are entered into the TRN file) Pokemon-tcg website has the latest time posted that you could show up and get in, not when the tournament started.

-Skipping this one because I don't know anything about this.

-Not everyone in a Staff shirt at the event was a judge. Kinda like not everyone helping at worlds was a judge. There were only 6 judges. Three people there were only there to take results, two of those 3 people just there to take results have never played pokemon. You don't have to know how to play in order to highlight a name and ask for initials. These people that only were taking results always were able to get a judge over to the table. Amazing how rude some people were to these people that were only there to help keep the judges from having to ask for results so they were available to answer questions.
Click to expand...

I haven't got a problem if the player was actually doing it, yes I am aware that it didn't happen. I for one tho, often do look up during matches normally because I'm trying to relax and stretch or something. I know of a lot of people who also do this. I didn't/couldn't do it in fear of a game loss and a lot of times it is just a nervous habbit that people do.

If the judges started watches at the same time how come no one knew what the real time was then? Had you been around your event more maybe you'd have actually seen this.

Well when they're actually calling out judge we need a ruling and someone for scores comes over you'd get a little frustrated too. Time or something should have been added on or something. Maybe you could have set something up to help the judges tell if someone needed a match report or a rulings question?

I know the event could have gone a lot worse, but somethings really could have gone better. The biggest issues I had was the time and lunch issue. The mirrors were just horrible planning/lack of knowlage on the venue on your part.



I agree with you Rich, they're much more entertaining, for the younger and older kids. :smile:

Thanx MSB, too bad you couldn't go.
 
Time for my two cents. We all knew it was coming.

I have a few problems with the event

1. The judges, or event staff, that had no idea how to play the game. It's not the fact that they were there, but I myself never heard anyone say that there were staff that didn’t' know how to play the game; I think if I knew, then I wouldn't had been so mad. If there was an announcement, I missed it, and that seems unlikely due to the fact that I was in the main room most of the time, and even if I wasn’t, from the corridor, I was able to hear things. This lead to a problem, around round 3 or 4 can't remember. I had a ruling question, I raised my hand and looked around, I saw one of the event staffers look at me, and I yelled judge, so he came over. I started my question when he said he didn't know anything about this game, and didn't know how to judge it, and he would get a real judge. So he had to go and find a real judge, which took a few min.
Now it's not the fact that he didn't know, it's that I yelled judge, and he still came over, and this took even more time, and it was less the 10 min's left in that round as well. So time was an issue.

2. Next problem, time.
I think someone needs the shell out a little money and get a big digital clock, now this is a very good idea, for both sides, the players and the judges. For the players, they can just look and see how much time is left, and no0t spend more of it asking the judge. And for the judges, they won't be bothered by players who just want to know the time. Plus people, who don't know the time, won't screw with player’s minds. The amount of time left in a round, does change how people play.

3. Stalling. Now I never ran into it myself, but my friends did. When people hear that it is 5 min’s left, some players slow down, take even more time, and they look as if they are playing right, but still, they take forever, but this only happens when they are ahead in prizes, so when time is called, they win. But if they are behind, they will go fast. Now this idea is from John, but if time is called in a game, the game should get 5 more turns.

4. FOOD.
Now yes, they did have a food chart, well not a chart, someone at a table with food, but it was over expensive, and for someone who doesn't have a lot of money (which I really am happy with PUI for making the States and Regionals and stuff free) there’s a difference from that and the at dollar menu at Wendy's. But no lunch break, man that was hard, and I thank the Gillette's for bringing food. Now I have a problem, at Indy state we were told that we were not given a lunch break because of the late start, noon, well this was 11, so my question is, how early do these events have to start to get a lunch break? 9 am? 8 am?

5. Don't know how to title this.
Well after top 16 was told, I was talking to the mother of a boy who was in the top of the 10 and under group, at this point I really didn't know the prizes, so we went to a judge(one I knew that knew the game, I have seen him in tourneys before), and asked the prizes. He said top 2 get trips to worlds, and the n3and 4 get just invites. Well I was a bit more then confused. I thought there were no invites, its trips or nothing. I then asked, what about the scholarships? The guys said, only top two get them. Now I knew that top four got them, I just didn't know how much. I then asked the head judge, and he didn't know, and Derek or Dave was no where in sight to ask, so the mother was left unanswered.

So all in all, an ok day. Three friends won trips to worlds, all in different age groups too, and I got to hang out with my friends. Although the lack of props from YJ has made me sad....lol jk.

Now to find a way down to Tennessee for that Regional.
 
annisarich said:
I think PUI should invite Aj and Moss to worlds to entertain the kids in the little sibblings room near the main event hall at worlds.
This would be hands down better than the giant two story Pikachu in the parking lot of last years event.
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He speaks the truth! The only reason I can see Dave WOULDN'T let AJ and I have invites is he would be afraid that there wouldn't be enough room after thousands of ladies and fans RUSHED the world's arena to ideally get a shred of clothing/autograph/lock of hair/phone number. This would obviously cause so much of a disturbance that playing would be difficult, but I still think it'd be possible!

I don't want to say I'll bribe you for an invite, but lets just say if someone just "happened" to put TWO sugar cubes in your coffee at worlds insteaed of the standard one, I wouldn't be surprised :smile:
 
- Dave Schwimmer for being rude to the Gillettes when they gave out a CRAP LOAD OF FOOD for FREE to ANYONE who was hungry to help people from getting SICK since there was NO LUNCH BREAK IN THIS VERY TIME CONSUMING EVENT. They went through about 3 loafs of bread, crap load of lunchmeat and other stuff. How do you get ticked at someone for keeping the younger kids and older ones even at that from getting sick from not eating? Then he accuses them of selling the food which they did not do. =\.
Click to expand...

The only rudeness I witnessed at this event originated from your camp YoungJohn [not you specifically, but, from those in your crew.] All of the other participants and spectators at this event appeared to have a very good time, with very few issues at all.

The hotel was gracious enough to have offered food at a very reasonable price for a large portion of the day. There was a restaurant on the top floor of the hotel, and a subway just over a block away. AJ didn't seem to have a problem finding time to go get himself lunch, and I saw plenty of others doing the same.

The event was not that time consuming, as it took almost exactly the same amount of time as the other regionals run on Saturday.

Whether or not your group, and the Gillettes, felt I was rude to them is up to you to interpret. It was reported to me from multiple sources that they were selling food. This is completely unacceptable for a number of reasons, and they were confronted on this point. I easily could have asked them to close up their cooler and take it elsewhere, but I took them at their word when they told me they were not selling food, and I said, "That's fine then, as long as you aren't selling it, you can do whatever you please."

If assuring that health codes and laws are followed at PUI sponsored events is rude, then, I'm rude.

Prof. Dav
 
As for Dave and the Gillettes. I am aware they got yelled at for giving out free food? Now personally I enjoyed the free food, as I am pretty poor, and I think thatw as kinda lame. I am not sure who commented to them, or anything about it, but I am aware it happened.
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No one got yelled at.

All I did was approach them, and tell them that I was hearing reports of them selling food, and that if they were, that was unacceptable for a number of reasons. Margret responded that they were perfectly aware of the issues, and assured me that they were not selling food, but giving it away. I took them at thier word, and told them that if that were the case, there was no issue.

You are all free to formulate your opinions of what happened based upon what you hear. I can't make you believe anything you don't want to believe. I know what happened, and the Gillettes know what happened. There were certainly a number of people at the table when I spoke to them, and they are free to make thier own assessments of what happened there as well.

Prof. Dav
 
Professor Dav said:
The only rudeness I witnessed at this event originated from your camp YoungJohn [not you specifically, but, from those in your crew.] All of the other participants and spectators at this event appeared to have a very good time, with very few issues at all.

The hotel was gracious enough to have offered food at a very reasonable price for a large portion of the day. There was a restaurant on the top floor of the hotel, and a subway just over a block away. AJ didn't seem to have a problem finding time to go get himself lunch, and I saw plenty of others doing the same.

The event was not that time consuming, as it took almost exactly the same amount of time as the other regionals run on Saturday.

Whether or not your group, and the Gillettes, felt I was rude to them is up to you to interpret. It was reported to me from multiple sources that they were selling food. This is completely unacceptable for a number of reasons, and they were confronted on this point. I easily could have asked them to close up their cooler and take it elsewhere, but I took them at their word when they told me they were not selling food, and I said, "That's fine then, as long as you aren't selling it, you can do whatever you please."

If assuring that health codes and laws are followed at PUI sponsored events is rude, then, I'm rude.

Prof. Dav
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How were we rude? I did not see anything from anyone I was with being rude. We may have questioned a few things like the time calls, but I don't see how that's rude. I'm used to spending the majority of my day at pokemon events. However I am not used to that much time inbetween rounds and from the deck registration closing to the start of the tournament. I heard from a woman that was there from MI at her and her kids first event ever that she thought you got rude with them over it. I didn't witness it my self but from everyone that did witness it, I've got more reason to believe all those people than you. No offense meant there.
 
Farbsman: When I ask the judge how much time left in a round, ROUND 1 at that. He says more than 5, less than 10 "proly about 7"

1 min later: 3 MIN LEFT
does this not encourage stalling?


The way the Gillettes were treated about giving out food was rediculous IMO. Especially with no lunch break. Shouldnt the Gillettes be asked first if they were selling it first instead of going by others words?
From what I hear the conversation was a bit different.

With the timing and all, dang, a couple tech POW! Time Extensions woulda been good=/
 
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