SuperWooper
New Member
Mid-Atlantic Regionals Report
April 9, 2006
This weekend was a crazy one. On Thursday, school let out, so Friday morning my mom, brother and I set off for the Great Wolf Lodge, a waterpark/hotel up in Pennsylvania somewhere. They had some crazy slides that were almost like roller coasters in their design, and this ride that I affectionately named “The Toilet Bowl,” because when you ride in it, you take a sharp drop into, essentially, a huge toilet, which flushes you through the hole in the middle. They also had an arcade at the waterpark, and we found over half of our tickets and tokens on the ground, including a receipt for about 500 tickets that some five-year-old kid must have dropped. We used the tickets to buy a pair of fuzzy dice and an inflatable green alien. Hot.
So Saturday night we leave the Lodge for Exton, PA, where the Regional Championship is being held. The event is in a hotel, but I, being the organized planner that I am, forget to mention this to my mom, who ends up booking a hotel four minutes away from the place, which ends up being more expensive. =/ This setback aside, we arrive in front of the place at around nine, which is when registration begins. I fill out my Metro list, and get Ludicargo filled out for Mason. Devon, Daniel and Ryan are also there, so our crazy party of five is complete and ready to dominate Pennsylvania. (Yeah, sure.) Daniel is rich, so he’s playing Stoise, and Devon and Ryan are playing Flygon and Nidoqueen, respectively.
I get in line to register, then take my decklist over to a secluded part of the tournament area and fill it out rather haphazardly, so that it looks like I wrote it with my left hand instead of my right. The deck gets checked, though, and my sleeves are in order, because the new rule doesn’t go into affect for another month. There’s some sort of issue with Dan’s sleeves, but that gets cleared up. I glance at Mike’s list over his shoulder and see a Stump, so I feel fairly confident about my choice. Metro’s match versus Stoise is slightly favorable. 60/40, maybe. 90/10 my foot, Magnechu. ;p
So I get to scouting who has shown up, and none of the Midwest seems to be in attendance, which I was really afraid of coming into the tournament, unless Ohio counts, in which case, Fulop was there, running Stoise with an odd but surprisingly effective twist (see my Round 3 match). Plaidlesspez and some Pennsylvania locals are there, as well as the World Champ HIMSELF, Jeremy “Venusaur” Maron. OMG. A good part of VA and MD trekked up, including Mike, Luke, Physics Squirrel and his brother, Johnny R, Matt LeDonk, and our star 10- player Patrick T. Patrick’s dad, Totoro, our local PTO, has come up to play as well, and Pokepop is there (!) running a Haymaker, of sorts (LM Absol and Rocket’s Sneasel ex <3). NY has traveled down, as well. Drew G, Benlugia, Frankie “T2 Zapdos” D, and Mozartrules are there. North Carolina has shown a few faces - three to be exact; the Hills are there. The triple Regional winner and the 10- World Champ? No problem! =P
I get Matt to let me borrow his English Trode instead of my Japanese one and Carddex translation, because I heard something about the judges not accepting that. So the signing up and deck checking seems to drag on FOREVER, and then finally we sit down across from our Round 1 opponents, but they have to make some announcements first.
15+ has 71 players, so we do 7 rounds and a Top 16 cut. 11-14 does 5 rounds and Top 8, and 10- does 2/3 in SWISS, and then a Top 4 cut. (Two out of three in swiss? Dubious.) The top cuts will, of course, be 2/3 one hour time limits, no cheating, etc etc. On to the matches!
Round One versus (?) w/ LBS
Sorry that I can’t remember your name, if you’re reading this. Anyway, he starts with Pidgey, and I with Voltorb. He goes first and attaches the water, so I figure that he’s playing Stoise. I Heal to Voltorb, PETM for Trode, and Recharge. I figure he’s going to Swoop to Onix and attach a Holon for game, but instead he uses Lanette’s Net Search.
He gets Pidge, Squirtle, Onix. I get a confused sort of expression on my face, I suppose, because he says, “I don’t like the Holon Engine.” He evolves to Pidgeotto and retreats to Pidgey. I evolve to Trode, blow it up, put up Beldum and Candy it to Metagross, and the engine really starts to click. It gets down to 1-1, but I don’t need to POW because there are about 5-6 counters on his benched Steelix because of Ruins and my 8 in-play energy are all on my only Pokemon in play, Metagross, including a couple Metal. One of his Lugia is in the discard, and I guess he didn’t run a second, because he puts up Steelix and tries to Mudslide for the last prize. When I point out that my 2 Metal make the damage only 80, he says, “Don’t treat me like a dumb---.” SotG 4 lyfe. I Cyclone unnecessarily to hit his 2nd Stoise for the win.
1-0
Devon loses to Scizor ex/Quaqsire in the 11-14. =/ Ryan isn’t done with his one hour, best of three swiss match yet, in the 10-, but Mason and Dan both win (I think). Random unimportant and non humorous events occur at this point, aside from the talking Pikachu door prizes being given out. I forget who won them in 10- and 11-14, but Johnny wins in 15+, and he goes up and claims it and sits back down, and - yeah. Round 2.
Round Two versus Tony W. w/ Spin Tail and Lunasol
He starts with Solrock, I think, and finds Lunatone. I see a Rocket Ball in one of his mulligans, but I don’t find out what it’s for until about Turn 6-7. This guy had horrible luck; we Admined each other four or five times in total and he never drew a Larvitar until I was completely set up. When I finally saw Spin Tail Tyranitar, Metagross was tanked with Metals, and the game was over. Sorry, dude. =(
2-0
Lunch break! Johnny, Patrick and Totoro all sit down next to me at a table, and they’re selling tiny pizza things for a dollar each. You would have to spend about eight bucks to even begin to feel full! They weren’t even slices, either. These were like sticks of pizza. It was weird. But I steal some of my brother’s pizza, since he bought an unnecessarily large amount (he borrowed fifteen bucks from me for a draft later and he has yet to pay me back, so we’re about even, I guess), and I end up satisfied. Most places don’t bring pizza for you to buy. Count your blessings, right? Anyways, Johnny and I are having a conversation about his T2 Arcanine rogue deck when his Pikachu starts talking of its own accord, which was odd because normally you have to squeeze its hand for it to move. But not this one. We logically and rationally assume that the plush Pikachu is a tool of ultimate evil, and Johnny tries to take the batteries out, but he can’t get the box open. This leads our conversation into the realms of really lame horror movies, and Totoro mentions that he went to elementary school with the guy who wrote the screenplay for Chuckie. How cool is that?!
Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. Round 3 pairings come up, there is a major stampede to the doorway where the judge hangs with sheet, and I find my name right next to none other than that of the 2004 15+ runner up World Champion.
Round Three versus Chris F. w/ LBS
Chris is decked out in a gray suit with a pink shirt and tie and is either really hot under two or three layers of clothing or has applied liberal amounts of red face paint. But he’s playing Stoise, and being the runner up World Champ a few years ago, I assume that he is, in fact, completely sane, so I’m on my guard. =P
I can’t remember how we start out, but I remember that Turn 2 or 3, he searches for Porygon as the third part of his Mentor. I take a moment to reevaluate my decision regarding his mental state. He presses with a Lugia and I catch him off guard by blowing Trode onto Beldum and PETM+Candy+Delta Control+Ruins to swing the prize count to 3-4, him. He has to put up Latias * to stall for a turn, but then evolves to Porygon 2 and let me tell you, drawing your hand up to six once a turn is amazing in Stoise. I bomb again and load up on energy, Admin him to 1, but neither my 4 card Admin nor my 4 card Delta Control land me a POW. Chris draws to 2 and then Porygon 2 takes him to SIX! He is able to get the Steelix up and wreck me, as my one card Admins are doing more harm than good, it seems. I have a Ruins lock on him for a while, but eventually he Stumps and I lose all hope. GG.
2-1
So, yeah, Porygon 2. I dunno. It makes Metro a better match. It’s useless versus Cham. But in the mirror, they can’t Mudslide Porygon 2 AND Pidgeot in the same turn. It could be good. But come on; it’s Porygon 2! Did you ever think you’d see the day? =O
Dan and Devon are 2-1. Squirrel is 1-2 with Dark Dragonite, which I was hoping would do well, but isn’t. Blah. Eight or nine people are undefeated at 3-0, including Fulop, Mike, Luke, Johnny, and a few others. 71 people in the 15+ means that no 4-3 records will make the cut, so I need to go 3-1 from here on out to make it. Fulop goes on to be first seed, so I figure my resistance will be enough to squeak in at the bottom few if I go 5-2, and 6-1 will obviously secure it for me. Too much math... Let’s move on to Round 4.
Round Four versus (?) w/ ZRE variant
This guy was really nervous - I think he thought that no 5-2 records would make it, and when I told him that most 5-2s would get in, he was really relieved. He started with Electrike from DX, which isn’t exactly normal for ZRE. So he tells me that he’s playing ZRE, but using Electrike to start instead of Magmar, and only a 1-1 line of Electrode ex. He can’t find the lightning energy for Recharge, though. He attaches fire, I Recharge with Voltorb, get a couple Metagross set up with the Trode T3-4, and just blow him away. He played ER2 twice and flipped two tails, which wasn’t huge because I was about to blow up anyway, but it was just horrible luck. He had to bench Rayquaza and Zapdos in succession to stop himself from benching, and couldn’t find another Frontier to counter my second Ruins. With Ruins damage, I only had to discard a single energy to kill Zapdos and just 2 to KO Rayquaza. I killed a lone Voltorb to win on prizes and by knocking out his last in-play Pokemon at the same time. GG.
3-1
Johnny is undefeated at 4-0 now using T2 Arcanine, and most other people are still in the running. Physics Squirrel is 1-3, however, which is pretty disappointing, and his younger brother David, also 15+, is 2-2 with Typhlosion/Weezing, and has just come off a loss to a Queendom deck. That same Queendom deck is the one I play in Round 5. Small world.
Round Five versus Joey from “Friends” w/ Queendom
It’s an inside joke. You less cool non-Virginia/MD people just couldn’t comprehend it. Anyway, Matt and I sit down across from each other and my hand is just gross. He gets the T2 Queen to KO my Voltorb, and I make a fool out of myself by playing POW to move his DRE from his Nidoqueen to his benched Nidoran F... I could swear that Nidorina was a Nidoran F just two seconds ago... ;/ He Toxics me and I have the Heal, but not the Metal so I can actually do any damage. All 4 Reporters and no Metal energy. And to top it all off, when he forgets about Metal energy and uses Power Lariat to put me at 90, I topdeck Rainbow, but if I attached it to attack with, it would knock me out! I flip my prizes and find a Lightning, 2 Metal, and something else (Ruins, maybe? *shrug*). GG.
3-2
I sit down and shuffle well. I have to win out to make it. I know I can do it, but Mike and Luke are close at 4-1. If I win and they lose, there’s a good chance I would play one of them. David, who’s playing Typhlosion, has my weakness, and he’s 3-2 as well. There are a lot of unfavorable matchups that could knock me out in the next two rounds. Swiss is over for the 11-14, and Devon missed the cut for the first time in a while with a 3-2 record on a huge supporter drought. =/ Mason ended up going 2-3, but I loaned him my twenty bucks so he could go play in a booster draft. Ryan’s swiss is still going on. Pairings are up. Hurrah.
Round Six versus Frank B. w/ Politoed ex
He got a Pidgey start and attached a water energy, so I started freaking out, because my opening hand wouldn’t beat a fast Stoise setup. But he was playing Politoed, as it turned out, and with Plusle and Pidgeot, too. Not with Fossils. I abandoned the conventional “POW the Pidgeot” plan, as there wasn’t much he could QS for that would beat me, and POWed every Poliwag I saw. He got a Candy into a Politoed ex off all in one turn, but it didn’t matter - I had a lot of energy in play, so I killed that too. I had 1 prize left to take and his last Poliwag was active, and he Candied, Boosted, and ran to the bench to hide behind Pidgeot. Weakness, anyone? Last prize. GG.
4-2
I have to win the next one to get in. Johnny is 5-1 and David is 3-3, so my two toughest matchups are gone. But Dan is 4-2, like me, and Jordan H is using Rock-Lock, a tough match for Metro, and his resistance is close to mine (he’s 4-2 as well). I hope for a good matchup. I look at the list, and it’s not a name I recognize. When I sit down across from him, though, I realize that he was sitting across from me last round, and I remember what he’s playing:
Round Seven versus Evan w/ Medicham
I draw my hand and hope so hard that I win the roll. I take one of my six sided dice and roll. Two dots; no good. But he rolls a ONE. Yes! I go first, attach Metal to Beldum, Call for Family and shut down his active Jirachi. Next turn, I Candy to Metagross, Delta Control, find a Great Ball and use it for Voltorb. Attach a Rainbow and kill the Jirachi. He puts up Meditite, his only other in-play Pokemon, and can’t find ANYTHING. He tries to paralyze and flips TAILS. Next turn I PETM for the Trode, bomb, KO and it’s game!
5-2
Well, I expected to make the cut; I almost always do, but it was a relief to know that I was in, all the same. Even for players far better than myself, there’s still that feeling of, “Yes, I made it.” Ryan’s 10- matches are over, and he went 2-2 in 2/3 swiss. Blah. He and Devon almost always cut in their respective age groups, but not this time. And they had to get up at 5:30 to drive to PA, to top it all off. Daniel is also 5-2, though, and with a higher resistance than me. Patrick T wins the 10- with Rock-Lock to represent Virginia, and it looks like PA will also be shut out of the 11-14; both Curran and Elissa from North Carolina have made the cut and advanced to Top 4, on opposite sides of the bracket.
Now here’s what most of you probably skipped the bigger part of my report for - the players in the Top 16 in the 15+ age division.
(1) Chris F v (16) Jeremy M
(2) Johnny R v (15) Jordan H
(3) Mike P v (14) MK C
(4) Adam C v (13) SuperWooper
(5) Ryan W v (12) Matt L
(6) Drew G v (11) Daniel C
(7) Jon J v (10) Frankie D
(8) Ian R v (9) Luke R
And now, corresponding decks:
(1) LBS v (16) Queendom
(2) Arcanine ex v (15) Rock-Lock
(3) LBS v (14) Rock-Lock
(4) LBS v (13) Metro
(5) LBS v (12) Queendom
(6) Medicham v (11) LBS
(7) Salamence d v (10) ZRE
(8) LBS v (9) Hariyama ex
There were 6 LBS decks in the Top 16. That’s a good percentage - around 38% otoh - of the top cut playing the hundred dollar deck. We get paired up, and I’m facing Plaidlesspez, who is, ironically, the creator of the deck I chose to play, so he had a natural edge in knowing exactly how our matchup would go. I go into the Top 16 trying to remember everything about how the matchup could possibly turn out in either game - it really just depends on setup speed, so it was important that I didn’t slip up early on. The judge says that the deck check will only be for the people who make Top 8, so I sit down, shuffle, and wait for the “you may begin.”
Top Sixteen versus Adam C. w/ LBS
We roll and Plaid goes first, getting off 1 Wishing Star before I lock his Jirachi. I get a Beldum start with energy and Call for Family until my bench is completely full, but I go through three Reporters and I can’t find a Metagross. I topdeck into an Electrode ex and play it onto a Voltorb, then use an Admin. There are three energy in my discard from those three Reporters, and a Candy and Metagross in my six cards would seal it. I get a bunch of Ruins and another Trode, but there is a PETM. Adam has flipped 4 tails in a row on his original Jirachi, so he was set back a bit, and now he’s having tough luck finding the Stoise. I evolve into Metang, but I still can’t bomb because Metang isn’t a Metal type (I’m using the DS one - it has 80 HP), and it would just get KO’d. I don’t see him getting Stoise any time soon, but next turn he gets one off the top and Candies, and Mudslides my Electrode. Well, I topdeck ANOTHER Electrode ex, so I have 2 in my hand. I figure it’s time to make a stand. My plan is retreat Metang to put 5 energy in the discard, evolve to Trode, bomb onto a Voltorb, evolve that Voltorb into Electrode, POW Blastoise and Admin to 2. So I put my plan into action. Retreat Metang, evolve into Electrode ex, evolve into Electrode ex, bomb...
Oops. You can’t bomb onto exs. It ends up not mattering, actually - I bomb everything onto Metang, POW up Stoise and do 100, after the Admin, but he gets a second Stoise off the 2 cards plus his 1 draw. Uggh. I concede and we move on to Game 2.
5-3
I open up my hand and it’s amazing. Another Beldum start, but this time I go first. He has a Lugia ex start. Could this get any better? My only energy is Heal, but with a PETM, Reporter, and Trode in hand, I’m gearing for a third turn setup, so that doesn’t bother me. I shut off the potential retreat to Jirachi with Call for Family, and pass. He Mentors and gets Squirtle, Mew ex, and Onix. I think both his Pidgey might have been prized. He benches them, plays Mew ex, attaches water to Mew ex, and plays Switch. He tries to use Voltorb’s Recharge with Mew ex, but realized it only gets Lightning energy, and I won’t let him use Foresight instead. I draw and it’s Candy. Seizing the opportunity, I PETM, Candy, Delta Control, and find a Lightning! I attach, but can’t Crush and Burn yet, since I have Heal attached instead of Metal. But that doesn’t matter - I’m one step away from completely crippling him and going on to Game 3.
Adam attaches a Holon to Mew ex, uses Steven’s Advice or something, and uses Girafarig’s Disorder. 20 and Confusion if I have a Special energy attached. Ouch! This would be no problem if I already had a Metal and Lightning attached, since I play Heal. But I can’t Heal my Confusion and attach Metal at the same time. I get a Heal energy off a Reporter, Heal and Delta Control, and find a Metal. He attaches water, evolves Onix to Steelix and does it again. I’ve had Ruins in play for a few turns, so Lugia is taking heavy damage and Steelix is about to start. I have expended all of my draw by this time, so I attach Metal to Metagross and flip for Confusion. Tails. I go up to 70. Adam plays PETM, Candies to Stoise and kills Metagross, seeing that I have nothing to bomb onto, then when I bench Beldum next turn, Mudslides my Voltorb. Mew ex went on to take 4 more prizes and seal Adam’s place in the Top 8.
5-4; Elim.
If that Heal had been a Metal in my opening hand, it might have been different. But that’s wishful thinking. Copying Disorder was a good move - one that seriously compromised my strategy. I walked away pretty disappointed in myself, but the TO gave all of us losers (9th-16th place) 2 packs as a consolation prize. The best card I got in my two packs was a Spinda. =P It was nice of her to give us stuff when it wasn’t necessary, though.
Daniel made the Top 8 via total donkage versus Drew G. I didn’t see the first game, but the second one was a T1 Blastoise versus Jirachi. How lucky can you get? Johnny, Luke, Mike and Matt also advanced, putting 5 players from VA in the Top 8.
Winners in bold:
(1) Chris F v (16) Jeremy M
(2) Johnny R v (15) Jordan H
(3) Mike P v (14) MK C
(4) Adam C v (13) SuperWooper
(5) Ryan W v (12) Matt L
(6) Drew G v (11) Daniel C
(7) Jon J v (10) Frankie D
(8) Ian R v (9) Luke R
Top 8 - Winners in bold:
(16) Jeremy M v (9) Luke R
(4) Adam C v (12) Matt L
(2) Johnny R v (10) Frankie D
(3) Mike P v (11) Daniel C
The World Champ goes down! Seeds 2, 3, and 4 all make it to the Final Four, but Fulop, of course, loses on the first seed curse in Top 16. I didn’t watch any of the Top 8 matches too closely, but I got the results. At least 3 LBS decks were in the Top 8; 4 if Frankie played it.
Top 4:
(9) Luke R (Hariyama ex) v (4) Adam C (LBS)
(2) Johnny R (Arcanine ex) v (3) Mike P (LBS)
Johnny’s games with Mike weren’t really games. Mike started with Onix one game and Lugia ex in the other. Johnny got set up both games. Mike couldn’t get the energy on Stoise to push the game in his favor when he managed to get it out. Adam and Luke’s deciding game wasn’t much better (I didn’t see the first or second). Adam got stranded with Lugia in the third game, and Adam played cards until he had one card left, which Luke ripped with Hariyama’s attack. For two or three turns in a row, Adam would draw, look at his card, and pass, and Luke would discard it within a couple seconds. Finally, the cycle was broken when Lugia had 50 damage on it, and Hariyama KO’d it with its 80 damage attack. Lucky Adam - he topdecked a Holon Scientist and discarded the card Luke had neglected to rip from his hand, drawing THIRTEEN cards to match Luke’s enormous hand. But somehow, he missed the Candy Blastoise in his huge draw, and Luke won Game 3!
I didn’t see the full contents of his hand, but after Luke took the game, Adam realized that he had Blastoise Candy and got pretty upset about it. Losing on a misplay is something you don’t get over too easily.
And speaking of misplays...
Fast forward to Game 2 of the finals. Both competitors have already won $1000, but just a couple games of Pokemon could more than double their winnings. Johnny has won Game 1. Luke has a horrible setup Game 2. Johnny is winning, 2-5, and has a React Energy in his hand and an active Arcanine ex with 2 Fire energy on it. Luke’s Hariyama ex is active with 40 damage on it. Johnny just needs to attach React to Arcanine and attack Hariyama with its second attack and win it all! BUT HE MISSES THE PLAY. He attaches to a benched Lunatone, hits Hariyama for 30 and a benched Solrock for 20 (another misplay - Luke has a Makuhita benched). Luke retreats to Makuhita, evolves into Hariyama, Admins Johnny to 2, himself to 5, and kills Arcanine to put his hand at 7. Johnny paralyzes Hariyama twice in succession with Growlithe’s attack, but draws into PETM the turn after paralysis finally fails and Luke kills the Growlithe. Johnny Swoops a benched basic into Growlithe, PETMs for Arcanine, evolves, hits for 30 and 20 on the Solrock to take a single prize when he should have hit Hariyama on the bench, and right when Johnny thinks he still has the game after all that, Luke Cyclones and takes his last prize.
It’s tied at one game a piece. This next game, with plenty of time left on the clock, will determine the winner.
Too bad I had to leave before I could see Game 3. =P
Luke ended up winning the whole thing, but it would have been Johnny in 2 except for a couple of big misplays in the second game. Luke is a veteran player who has been to the top before, and never loses his head in pressure situations - when you watch him play, it almost seems like the trip to Nationals and extra thousand bucks aren’t on his mind at all. Johnny was nervous, though - not shaking or anything to that extreme, but not used to having a large crowd gather around to watch him play and vulnerable to game-changing slip ups. Luke’s joking and trash talking weren’t was Johnny was used to.
I.E. Luke has made a couple spectacular discards, at random, from players’ hands in the Top 16 so far using Hariyama ex’s first attack. Johnny decides to shuffle his hand and place all his cards face down so Luke’s discard isn’t based on watching the eyes. When Johnny is playing the cards face down, Luke leans his head sideways, and when a judge tells him off, Luke says, “He was showing me the cards, I just had to lean over to see them!”
Before I had to go, I saw the results of Mike and Adam’s 3rd/4th place game, which would decide who got the trophy. Mike won, shutting Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New York, and all those other states out of the Top 3. Virginia takes home three trophies? SWEET! =D
We take the Conns to Red Robin, then go our separate ways. I head up to my grandparents’ house to stay a couple days before coming home, as it’s Spring Break all this week for me.
Props to
- The PTO, judges, software people. Great job all around.
- Virginia for winning the 10- and 15+ age groups.
- An event with 2 World Champions in attendance (Curran AND Jeremy). And Fulop was there, too. That’s two and a half World Champs. Kthxbye, Midwest. =D
- Getting 2 packs for Top 16.
- Johnny and Luke for great showings against a field dominated by LBS.
- Daniel for top cutting his first big tournament.
- Inflatable green aliens.
- The girl with the lip piercing at the event. <3
- Red Robin’s Bacon Cheeseburger.
- Mom, for being my chauffeur.
- Everyone who helped prepare me for this event. You know who you guys are.
Slops to
- Not enough believing!
- Missing the React Energy play. =(
- Plushie Pikachus.
- Pizza slices being pizza rectangles, and being a dollar each.
- Devon and Ryan for playing sloppy.
- Heal and Metal energy for not being the same card.
- Girafarig for knowing Disorder.
- Charging $35 for a single Steelix ex at the event.
See you all at Gyms.
Wooper.
April 9, 2006
This weekend was a crazy one. On Thursday, school let out, so Friday morning my mom, brother and I set off for the Great Wolf Lodge, a waterpark/hotel up in Pennsylvania somewhere. They had some crazy slides that were almost like roller coasters in their design, and this ride that I affectionately named “The Toilet Bowl,” because when you ride in it, you take a sharp drop into, essentially, a huge toilet, which flushes you through the hole in the middle. They also had an arcade at the waterpark, and we found over half of our tickets and tokens on the ground, including a receipt for about 500 tickets that some five-year-old kid must have dropped. We used the tickets to buy a pair of fuzzy dice and an inflatable green alien. Hot.
So Saturday night we leave the Lodge for Exton, PA, where the Regional Championship is being held. The event is in a hotel, but I, being the organized planner that I am, forget to mention this to my mom, who ends up booking a hotel four minutes away from the place, which ends up being more expensive. =/ This setback aside, we arrive in front of the place at around nine, which is when registration begins. I fill out my Metro list, and get Ludicargo filled out for Mason. Devon, Daniel and Ryan are also there, so our crazy party of five is complete and ready to dominate Pennsylvania. (Yeah, sure.) Daniel is rich, so he’s playing Stoise, and Devon and Ryan are playing Flygon and Nidoqueen, respectively.
I get in line to register, then take my decklist over to a secluded part of the tournament area and fill it out rather haphazardly, so that it looks like I wrote it with my left hand instead of my right. The deck gets checked, though, and my sleeves are in order, because the new rule doesn’t go into affect for another month. There’s some sort of issue with Dan’s sleeves, but that gets cleared up. I glance at Mike’s list over his shoulder and see a Stump, so I feel fairly confident about my choice. Metro’s match versus Stoise is slightly favorable. 60/40, maybe. 90/10 my foot, Magnechu. ;p
So I get to scouting who has shown up, and none of the Midwest seems to be in attendance, which I was really afraid of coming into the tournament, unless Ohio counts, in which case, Fulop was there, running Stoise with an odd but surprisingly effective twist (see my Round 3 match). Plaidlesspez and some Pennsylvania locals are there, as well as the World Champ HIMSELF, Jeremy “Venusaur” Maron. OMG. A good part of VA and MD trekked up, including Mike, Luke, Physics Squirrel and his brother, Johnny R, Matt LeDonk, and our star 10- player Patrick T. Patrick’s dad, Totoro, our local PTO, has come up to play as well, and Pokepop is there (!) running a Haymaker, of sorts (LM Absol and Rocket’s Sneasel ex <3). NY has traveled down, as well. Drew G, Benlugia, Frankie “T2 Zapdos” D, and Mozartrules are there. North Carolina has shown a few faces - three to be exact; the Hills are there. The triple Regional winner and the 10- World Champ? No problem! =P
I get Matt to let me borrow his English Trode instead of my Japanese one and Carddex translation, because I heard something about the judges not accepting that. So the signing up and deck checking seems to drag on FOREVER, and then finally we sit down across from our Round 1 opponents, but they have to make some announcements first.
15+ has 71 players, so we do 7 rounds and a Top 16 cut. 11-14 does 5 rounds and Top 8, and 10- does 2/3 in SWISS, and then a Top 4 cut. (Two out of three in swiss? Dubious.) The top cuts will, of course, be 2/3 one hour time limits, no cheating, etc etc. On to the matches!
Round One versus (?) w/ LBS
Sorry that I can’t remember your name, if you’re reading this. Anyway, he starts with Pidgey, and I with Voltorb. He goes first and attaches the water, so I figure that he’s playing Stoise. I Heal to Voltorb, PETM for Trode, and Recharge. I figure he’s going to Swoop to Onix and attach a Holon for game, but instead he uses Lanette’s Net Search.
He gets Pidge, Squirtle, Onix. I get a confused sort of expression on my face, I suppose, because he says, “I don’t like the Holon Engine.” He evolves to Pidgeotto and retreats to Pidgey. I evolve to Trode, blow it up, put up Beldum and Candy it to Metagross, and the engine really starts to click. It gets down to 1-1, but I don’t need to POW because there are about 5-6 counters on his benched Steelix because of Ruins and my 8 in-play energy are all on my only Pokemon in play, Metagross, including a couple Metal. One of his Lugia is in the discard, and I guess he didn’t run a second, because he puts up Steelix and tries to Mudslide for the last prize. When I point out that my 2 Metal make the damage only 80, he says, “Don’t treat me like a dumb---.” SotG 4 lyfe. I Cyclone unnecessarily to hit his 2nd Stoise for the win.1-0
Devon loses to Scizor ex/Quaqsire in the 11-14. =/ Ryan isn’t done with his one hour, best of three swiss match yet, in the 10-, but Mason and Dan both win (I think). Random unimportant and non humorous events occur at this point, aside from the talking Pikachu door prizes being given out. I forget who won them in 10- and 11-14, but Johnny wins in 15+, and he goes up and claims it and sits back down, and - yeah. Round 2.
Round Two versus Tony W. w/ Spin Tail and Lunasol
He starts with Solrock, I think, and finds Lunatone. I see a Rocket Ball in one of his mulligans, but I don’t find out what it’s for until about Turn 6-7. This guy had horrible luck; we Admined each other four or five times in total and he never drew a Larvitar until I was completely set up. When I finally saw Spin Tail Tyranitar, Metagross was tanked with Metals, and the game was over. Sorry, dude. =(
2-0
Lunch break! Johnny, Patrick and Totoro all sit down next to me at a table, and they’re selling tiny pizza things for a dollar each. You would have to spend about eight bucks to even begin to feel full! They weren’t even slices, either. These were like sticks of pizza. It was weird. But I steal some of my brother’s pizza, since he bought an unnecessarily large amount (he borrowed fifteen bucks from me for a draft later and he has yet to pay me back, so we’re about even, I guess), and I end up satisfied. Most places don’t bring pizza for you to buy. Count your blessings, right? Anyways, Johnny and I are having a conversation about his T2 Arcanine rogue deck when his Pikachu starts talking of its own accord, which was odd because normally you have to squeeze its hand for it to move. But not this one. We logically and rationally assume that the plush Pikachu is a tool of ultimate evil, and Johnny tries to take the batteries out, but he can’t get the box open. This leads our conversation into the realms of really lame horror movies, and Totoro mentions that he went to elementary school with the guy who wrote the screenplay for Chuckie. How cool is that?!
Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. Round 3 pairings come up, there is a major stampede to the doorway where the judge hangs with sheet, and I find my name right next to none other than that of the 2004 15+ runner up World Champion.
Round Three versus Chris F. w/ LBS
Chris is decked out in a gray suit with a pink shirt and tie and is either really hot under two or three layers of clothing or has applied liberal amounts of red face paint. But he’s playing Stoise, and being the runner up World Champ a few years ago, I assume that he is, in fact, completely sane, so I’m on my guard. =P
I can’t remember how we start out, but I remember that Turn 2 or 3, he searches for Porygon as the third part of his Mentor. I take a moment to reevaluate my decision regarding his mental state. He presses with a Lugia and I catch him off guard by blowing Trode onto Beldum and PETM+Candy+Delta Control+Ruins to swing the prize count to 3-4, him. He has to put up Latias * to stall for a turn, but then evolves to Porygon 2 and let me tell you, drawing your hand up to six once a turn is amazing in Stoise. I bomb again and load up on energy, Admin him to 1, but neither my 4 card Admin nor my 4 card Delta Control land me a POW. Chris draws to 2 and then Porygon 2 takes him to SIX! He is able to get the Steelix up and wreck me, as my one card Admins are doing more harm than good, it seems. I have a Ruins lock on him for a while, but eventually he Stumps and I lose all hope. GG.
2-1
So, yeah, Porygon 2. I dunno. It makes Metro a better match. It’s useless versus Cham. But in the mirror, they can’t Mudslide Porygon 2 AND Pidgeot in the same turn. It could be good. But come on; it’s Porygon 2! Did you ever think you’d see the day? =O
Dan and Devon are 2-1. Squirrel is 1-2 with Dark Dragonite, which I was hoping would do well, but isn’t. Blah. Eight or nine people are undefeated at 3-0, including Fulop, Mike, Luke, Johnny, and a few others. 71 people in the 15+ means that no 4-3 records will make the cut, so I need to go 3-1 from here on out to make it. Fulop goes on to be first seed, so I figure my resistance will be enough to squeak in at the bottom few if I go 5-2, and 6-1 will obviously secure it for me. Too much math... Let’s move on to Round 4.
Round Four versus (?) w/ ZRE variant
This guy was really nervous - I think he thought that no 5-2 records would make it, and when I told him that most 5-2s would get in, he was really relieved. He started with Electrike from DX, which isn’t exactly normal for ZRE. So he tells me that he’s playing ZRE, but using Electrike to start instead of Magmar, and only a 1-1 line of Electrode ex. He can’t find the lightning energy for Recharge, though. He attaches fire, I Recharge with Voltorb, get a couple Metagross set up with the Trode T3-4, and just blow him away. He played ER2 twice and flipped two tails, which wasn’t huge because I was about to blow up anyway, but it was just horrible luck. He had to bench Rayquaza and Zapdos in succession to stop himself from benching, and couldn’t find another Frontier to counter my second Ruins. With Ruins damage, I only had to discard a single energy to kill Zapdos and just 2 to KO Rayquaza. I killed a lone Voltorb to win on prizes and by knocking out his last in-play Pokemon at the same time. GG.
3-1
Johnny is undefeated at 4-0 now using T2 Arcanine, and most other people are still in the running. Physics Squirrel is 1-3, however, which is pretty disappointing, and his younger brother David, also 15+, is 2-2 with Typhlosion/Weezing, and has just come off a loss to a Queendom deck. That same Queendom deck is the one I play in Round 5. Small world.
Round Five versus Joey from “Friends” w/ Queendom
It’s an inside joke. You less cool non-Virginia/MD people just couldn’t comprehend it. Anyway, Matt and I sit down across from each other and my hand is just gross. He gets the T2 Queen to KO my Voltorb, and I make a fool out of myself by playing POW to move his DRE from his Nidoqueen to his benched Nidoran F... I could swear that Nidorina was a Nidoran F just two seconds ago... ;/ He Toxics me and I have the Heal, but not the Metal so I can actually do any damage. All 4 Reporters and no Metal energy. And to top it all off, when he forgets about Metal energy and uses Power Lariat to put me at 90, I topdeck Rainbow, but if I attached it to attack with, it would knock me out! I flip my prizes and find a Lightning, 2 Metal, and something else (Ruins, maybe? *shrug*). GG.
3-2
I sit down and shuffle well. I have to win out to make it. I know I can do it, but Mike and Luke are close at 4-1. If I win and they lose, there’s a good chance I would play one of them. David, who’s playing Typhlosion, has my weakness, and he’s 3-2 as well. There are a lot of unfavorable matchups that could knock me out in the next two rounds. Swiss is over for the 11-14, and Devon missed the cut for the first time in a while with a 3-2 record on a huge supporter drought. =/ Mason ended up going 2-3, but I loaned him my twenty bucks so he could go play in a booster draft. Ryan’s swiss is still going on. Pairings are up. Hurrah.
Round Six versus Frank B. w/ Politoed ex
He got a Pidgey start and attached a water energy, so I started freaking out, because my opening hand wouldn’t beat a fast Stoise setup. But he was playing Politoed, as it turned out, and with Plusle and Pidgeot, too. Not with Fossils. I abandoned the conventional “POW the Pidgeot” plan, as there wasn’t much he could QS for that would beat me, and POWed every Poliwag I saw. He got a Candy into a Politoed ex off all in one turn, but it didn’t matter - I had a lot of energy in play, so I killed that too. I had 1 prize left to take and his last Poliwag was active, and he Candied, Boosted, and ran to the bench to hide behind Pidgeot. Weakness, anyone? Last prize. GG.
4-2
I have to win the next one to get in. Johnny is 5-1 and David is 3-3, so my two toughest matchups are gone. But Dan is 4-2, like me, and Jordan H is using Rock-Lock, a tough match for Metro, and his resistance is close to mine (he’s 4-2 as well). I hope for a good matchup. I look at the list, and it’s not a name I recognize. When I sit down across from him, though, I realize that he was sitting across from me last round, and I remember what he’s playing:
Round Seven versus Evan w/ Medicham
I draw my hand and hope so hard that I win the roll. I take one of my six sided dice and roll. Two dots; no good. But he rolls a ONE. Yes! I go first, attach Metal to Beldum, Call for Family and shut down his active Jirachi. Next turn, I Candy to Metagross, Delta Control, find a Great Ball and use it for Voltorb. Attach a Rainbow and kill the Jirachi. He puts up Meditite, his only other in-play Pokemon, and can’t find ANYTHING. He tries to paralyze and flips TAILS. Next turn I PETM for the Trode, bomb, KO and it’s game!
5-2
Well, I expected to make the cut; I almost always do, but it was a relief to know that I was in, all the same. Even for players far better than myself, there’s still that feeling of, “Yes, I made it.” Ryan’s 10- matches are over, and he went 2-2 in 2/3 swiss. Blah. He and Devon almost always cut in their respective age groups, but not this time. And they had to get up at 5:30 to drive to PA, to top it all off. Daniel is also 5-2, though, and with a higher resistance than me. Patrick T wins the 10- with Rock-Lock to represent Virginia, and it looks like PA will also be shut out of the 11-14; both Curran and Elissa from North Carolina have made the cut and advanced to Top 4, on opposite sides of the bracket.
Now here’s what most of you probably skipped the bigger part of my report for - the players in the Top 16 in the 15+ age division.
(1) Chris F v (16) Jeremy M
(2) Johnny R v (15) Jordan H
(3) Mike P v (14) MK C
(4) Adam C v (13) SuperWooper
(5) Ryan W v (12) Matt L
(6) Drew G v (11) Daniel C
(7) Jon J v (10) Frankie D
(8) Ian R v (9) Luke R
And now, corresponding decks:
(1) LBS v (16) Queendom
(2) Arcanine ex v (15) Rock-Lock
(3) LBS v (14) Rock-Lock
(4) LBS v (13) Metro
(5) LBS v (12) Queendom
(6) Medicham v (11) LBS
(7) Salamence d v (10) ZRE
(8) LBS v (9) Hariyama ex
There were 6 LBS decks in the Top 16. That’s a good percentage - around 38% otoh - of the top cut playing the hundred dollar deck. We get paired up, and I’m facing Plaidlesspez, who is, ironically, the creator of the deck I chose to play, so he had a natural edge in knowing exactly how our matchup would go. I go into the Top 16 trying to remember everything about how the matchup could possibly turn out in either game - it really just depends on setup speed, so it was important that I didn’t slip up early on. The judge says that the deck check will only be for the people who make Top 8, so I sit down, shuffle, and wait for the “you may begin.”
Top Sixteen versus Adam C. w/ LBS
We roll and Plaid goes first, getting off 1 Wishing Star before I lock his Jirachi. I get a Beldum start with energy and Call for Family until my bench is completely full, but I go through three Reporters and I can’t find a Metagross. I topdeck into an Electrode ex and play it onto a Voltorb, then use an Admin. There are three energy in my discard from those three Reporters, and a Candy and Metagross in my six cards would seal it. I get a bunch of Ruins and another Trode, but there is a PETM. Adam has flipped 4 tails in a row on his original Jirachi, so he was set back a bit, and now he’s having tough luck finding the Stoise. I evolve into Metang, but I still can’t bomb because Metang isn’t a Metal type (I’m using the DS one - it has 80 HP), and it would just get KO’d. I don’t see him getting Stoise any time soon, but next turn he gets one off the top and Candies, and Mudslides my Electrode. Well, I topdeck ANOTHER Electrode ex, so I have 2 in my hand. I figure it’s time to make a stand. My plan is retreat Metang to put 5 energy in the discard, evolve to Trode, bomb onto a Voltorb, evolve that Voltorb into Electrode, POW Blastoise and Admin to 2. So I put my plan into action. Retreat Metang, evolve into Electrode ex, evolve into Electrode ex, bomb...
Oops. You can’t bomb onto exs. It ends up not mattering, actually - I bomb everything onto Metang, POW up Stoise and do 100, after the Admin, but he gets a second Stoise off the 2 cards plus his 1 draw. Uggh. I concede and we move on to Game 2.
5-3
I open up my hand and it’s amazing. Another Beldum start, but this time I go first. He has a Lugia ex start. Could this get any better? My only energy is Heal, but with a PETM, Reporter, and Trode in hand, I’m gearing for a third turn setup, so that doesn’t bother me. I shut off the potential retreat to Jirachi with Call for Family, and pass. He Mentors and gets Squirtle, Mew ex, and Onix. I think both his Pidgey might have been prized. He benches them, plays Mew ex, attaches water to Mew ex, and plays Switch. He tries to use Voltorb’s Recharge with Mew ex, but realized it only gets Lightning energy, and I won’t let him use Foresight instead. I draw and it’s Candy. Seizing the opportunity, I PETM, Candy, Delta Control, and find a Lightning! I attach, but can’t Crush and Burn yet, since I have Heal attached instead of Metal. But that doesn’t matter - I’m one step away from completely crippling him and going on to Game 3.
Adam attaches a Holon to Mew ex, uses Steven’s Advice or something, and uses Girafarig’s Disorder. 20 and Confusion if I have a Special energy attached. Ouch! This would be no problem if I already had a Metal and Lightning attached, since I play Heal. But I can’t Heal my Confusion and attach Metal at the same time. I get a Heal energy off a Reporter, Heal and Delta Control, and find a Metal. He attaches water, evolves Onix to Steelix and does it again. I’ve had Ruins in play for a few turns, so Lugia is taking heavy damage and Steelix is about to start. I have expended all of my draw by this time, so I attach Metal to Metagross and flip for Confusion. Tails. I go up to 70. Adam plays PETM, Candies to Stoise and kills Metagross, seeing that I have nothing to bomb onto, then when I bench Beldum next turn, Mudslides my Voltorb. Mew ex went on to take 4 more prizes and seal Adam’s place in the Top 8.
5-4; Elim.
If that Heal had been a Metal in my opening hand, it might have been different. But that’s wishful thinking. Copying Disorder was a good move - one that seriously compromised my strategy. I walked away pretty disappointed in myself, but the TO gave all of us losers (9th-16th place) 2 packs as a consolation prize. The best card I got in my two packs was a Spinda. =P It was nice of her to give us stuff when it wasn’t necessary, though.
Daniel made the Top 8 via total donkage versus Drew G. I didn’t see the first game, but the second one was a T1 Blastoise versus Jirachi. How lucky can you get? Johnny, Luke, Mike and Matt also advanced, putting 5 players from VA in the Top 8.
Winners in bold:
(1) Chris F v (16) Jeremy M
(2) Johnny R v (15) Jordan H
(3) Mike P v (14) MK C
(4) Adam C v (13) SuperWooper
(5) Ryan W v (12) Matt L
(6) Drew G v (11) Daniel C
(7) Jon J v (10) Frankie D
(8) Ian R v (9) Luke R
Top 8 - Winners in bold:
(16) Jeremy M v (9) Luke R
(4) Adam C v (12) Matt L
(2) Johnny R v (10) Frankie D
(3) Mike P v (11) Daniel C
The World Champ goes down! Seeds 2, 3, and 4 all make it to the Final Four, but Fulop, of course, loses on the first seed curse in Top 16. I didn’t watch any of the Top 8 matches too closely, but I got the results. At least 3 LBS decks were in the Top 8; 4 if Frankie played it.
Top 4:
(9) Luke R (Hariyama ex) v (4) Adam C (LBS)
(2) Johnny R (Arcanine ex) v (3) Mike P (LBS)
Johnny’s games with Mike weren’t really games. Mike started with Onix one game and Lugia ex in the other. Johnny got set up both games. Mike couldn’t get the energy on Stoise to push the game in his favor when he managed to get it out. Adam and Luke’s deciding game wasn’t much better (I didn’t see the first or second). Adam got stranded with Lugia in the third game, and Adam played cards until he had one card left, which Luke ripped with Hariyama’s attack. For two or three turns in a row, Adam would draw, look at his card, and pass, and Luke would discard it within a couple seconds. Finally, the cycle was broken when Lugia had 50 damage on it, and Hariyama KO’d it with its 80 damage attack. Lucky Adam - he topdecked a Holon Scientist and discarded the card Luke had neglected to rip from his hand, drawing THIRTEEN cards to match Luke’s enormous hand. But somehow, he missed the Candy Blastoise in his huge draw, and Luke won Game 3!
I didn’t see the full contents of his hand, but after Luke took the game, Adam realized that he had Blastoise Candy and got pretty upset about it. Losing on a misplay is something you don’t get over too easily.
And speaking of misplays...
Fast forward to Game 2 of the finals. Both competitors have already won $1000, but just a couple games of Pokemon could more than double their winnings. Johnny has won Game 1. Luke has a horrible setup Game 2. Johnny is winning, 2-5, and has a React Energy in his hand and an active Arcanine ex with 2 Fire energy on it. Luke’s Hariyama ex is active with 40 damage on it. Johnny just needs to attach React to Arcanine and attack Hariyama with its second attack and win it all! BUT HE MISSES THE PLAY. He attaches to a benched Lunatone, hits Hariyama for 30 and a benched Solrock for 20 (another misplay - Luke has a Makuhita benched). Luke retreats to Makuhita, evolves into Hariyama, Admins Johnny to 2, himself to 5, and kills Arcanine to put his hand at 7. Johnny paralyzes Hariyama twice in succession with Growlithe’s attack, but draws into PETM the turn after paralysis finally fails and Luke kills the Growlithe. Johnny Swoops a benched basic into Growlithe, PETMs for Arcanine, evolves, hits for 30 and 20 on the Solrock to take a single prize when he should have hit Hariyama on the bench, and right when Johnny thinks he still has the game after all that, Luke Cyclones and takes his last prize.
It’s tied at one game a piece. This next game, with plenty of time left on the clock, will determine the winner.
Too bad I had to leave before I could see Game 3. =P
Luke ended up winning the whole thing, but it would have been Johnny in 2 except for a couple of big misplays in the second game. Luke is a veteran player who has been to the top before, and never loses his head in pressure situations - when you watch him play, it almost seems like the trip to Nationals and extra thousand bucks aren’t on his mind at all. Johnny was nervous, though - not shaking or anything to that extreme, but not used to having a large crowd gather around to watch him play and vulnerable to game-changing slip ups. Luke’s joking and trash talking weren’t was Johnny was used to.
I.E. Luke has made a couple spectacular discards, at random, from players’ hands in the Top 16 so far using Hariyama ex’s first attack. Johnny decides to shuffle his hand and place all his cards face down so Luke’s discard isn’t based on watching the eyes. When Johnny is playing the cards face down, Luke leans his head sideways, and when a judge tells him off, Luke says, “He was showing me the cards, I just had to lean over to see them!”
Before I had to go, I saw the results of Mike and Adam’s 3rd/4th place game, which would decide who got the trophy. Mike won, shutting Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New York, and all those other states out of the Top 3. Virginia takes home three trophies? SWEET! =D
We take the Conns to Red Robin, then go our separate ways. I head up to my grandparents’ house to stay a couple days before coming home, as it’s Spring Break all this week for me.
Props to
- The PTO, judges, software people. Great job all around.
- Virginia for winning the 10- and 15+ age groups.
- An event with 2 World Champions in attendance (Curran AND Jeremy). And Fulop was there, too. That’s two and a half World Champs. Kthxbye, Midwest. =D
- Getting 2 packs for Top 16.
- Johnny and Luke for great showings against a field dominated by LBS.
- Daniel for top cutting his first big tournament.
- Inflatable green aliens.
- The girl with the lip piercing at the event. <3
- Red Robin’s Bacon Cheeseburger.
- Mom, for being my chauffeur.
- Everyone who helped prepare me for this event. You know who you guys are.
Slops to
- Not enough believing!
- Missing the React Energy play. =(
- Plushie Pikachus.
- Pizza slices being pizza rectangles, and being a dollar each.
- Devon and Ryan for playing sloppy.
- Heal and Metal energy for not being the same card.
- Girafarig for knowing Disorder.
- Charging $35 for a single Steelix ex at the event.
See you all at Gyms.
Wooper.
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