Super Battlezone (May 2003)

May 2003 Super Battlezone Mission: Fun and Games, St. Albert, Alberta Batty Bash (60) Pokemon (19) Zubat (rev) x4 Golbat (rev) x4 Crobat (rev) x3 Pichu x1 Murkrow x2 Cleffa x2 Tyrogue x2 Unown M x1 Energy (15) Grass Energy x8 Rainbow Energy x3 Darkness Energy x3 Trainers (26) Pokemon Fan Club x2 Copycat x4 Professor Elm x4 Double Gust x4 Pokemon Trader x4 Focus Band x3 Gold Berry x3 Mirage Stadium x2 Town Volunteers x1 Game 1 Dark Espeon / Starmie(rev) This game had me worried right away; facing one of (if not the only) psychic deck right off of the bat was not a good thing. He got his Starmie on turn 2 or 3, and started to Core Blast my innocent babies as soon as he had it loaded a few turns later. Fortuneatly for me, the no Weakness/Resistance on the attack allowed Crobat to Cross Attack it to its doom. Dark Espeon was the next one he used, but he never managed to get that third energy on it and with 60 HP it KOed itself on a confusion hit after Crobat got 2 out of 4 heads on Cross Attack. He never did get a second one of either out, so it was just a matter of time until I had finished him off. (1-0) Game 2 Scizor/Umbreon/Espeon This game was against Clayton, the guy I went up to St. Albert with. He's been playing Scior since Aquapolis came out (he used it to win the first SBZ). This game was no different from any other game where the Scizor gets loaded up: how can you get rid of something with 80 HP, 4 metal energy, and that can do over 100 damage a turn if the dice are being nice? Both of the Crobats I got were polished off fairly quickly, and that was that. (1-1) Game 3 Feraligatr/Azumarill I start. Turn 1a: Zubat Poisons his only Totodile. Turn 1b: He Fury Swipes for 20. Turn 2a: I evo to Golbat, add a Darkness, and chomp him for the 20 and Poison KO. Good for me, but it's too bad that it ended like that. We played again for the heck of it, and he won that one 6-5 after getting heads every time his blasted Azumarill attacked @_@ (2-1) Game 4 Typhlosion/Charizard/Ho-oh/Entei The only real attacker he ever got was the Ho-oh, and it's so incredibly flippy that he didn't get much use for it. Both times he had an Entei use Howl, he got 3 and 0 Energy repsectively. That was a lucky break on my part; Ho-oh was only able to attack 3 times, 2 times of which he got tails. The Cyndaquils were picked off before they ever could get to Quilava (one exception, but after one failed smokescreen thanks to confusion it never touched me), and his only Charmander of the game never reached Charmeleon. That total lack of evolutions really helped me get past him. (3-1) Game 5 Kingdra Anger. This is the kid and the deck that removed me and my Light Dragonites in the Quarter finals of the first SBZ. As far as I could tell, it was nearly identical to last time excpet there was an Aquapolis Kingdra in the deck as well. Have you any idea how frustrating it is to get the same Pokemon within 10 HP of a Knockout FOUR times in one game?!? Just like last time, he got a Kingdra (Genetic Memory) up by turn 4 and started to Mud Splash away. Crobat was up if not that turn the turn after, and soon the two Pokemon were going at it. I managed to Confuse the first Kingdra, and it was eliminated with a few Cross Attacks. The second Kingdra showed its face not too long afterwards, and just like the first one it fell to a few Cross Attacks after getting in some Mud Splashes. I don't think he got another Genetic Memory Kingdra after that one, and the "revenge" was complete. Pokemon Center only showing its 'face' once was defineatly a huge help for me. (4-1) Game 6 Steelix/Kabutops Steelix had me worried from before the tourney started. Metal Energy was already not a friend of mine, and the grass resistance was even less of a friend to me. He started with a lone SI Onix which became a Steelix on turn 3, pretty much unscathed. However, I managed to get Unown M out on turn 2 thanks to Pokemon Fan Club, and after both Poisoning and Confusing Steelix thanks to Golbat's Poison Bite and Crobat's Cross Attack, I had him flipping twice needing 2 heads to attack for 20. All 4 of his Gold Berries were used on the Steelix, which eventually fell to the Poison. Kabutops never showed its face, and a poor Kabuto was the last KO. (5-1) After the round robin, I was 5-1 and in second place, having lost only the Clayton who was a perfect 6-0 in first place. Game 7 - Quarter Finals Houndoom(R/aqua)/Kingdra/Ninetales(aqua) I don't know that I have ever felt more bad about running a kid into the ground. The only evolution he ever managed to get out was a single Ninetales, which only managed to use it's first attack once. His poor Houndour Flared me once and Horsea Bubbled a few times, but other than that my three Crobats ate him alive. I felt so bad afterwards :( (6-1) Game 8 - Semi-Finals Feraligatr/Azumarill (same as game 3) Deja Vu. I started with a Zubat, him with the Totodile. This time he went first however, and we had a game. Just like the first time, his Azumarill just would not flip tails. In the entirety of this game, he only one 1 tails with Azumarill. After some Double Gusting however, both of his Azumarill were removed and the only Feraligatr he got never got the chance to attack. Crobat ripped through the Mantines, and after dealing with the Azumarills in a not very timely manner, I was going to the finals. (7-1) Game 9 - Super Battlezone Final Scizor/Umbreon/Espeon (same as game 2) No... not again. @_@ I knew that I could beat Clayton's deck, I had done it once before using a non-Light Dragonite deck a few weeks ago. The key was zapping the Scythers as soon as they hit the turf, or at least before they could be given any Metal Energy. Using that limited knowledge, off we went. Within my first couple turns, I made sure to get Unown M out and give it a Rainbow Energy to make sure that it couldn't be snatched (I knew that Snatch was the only method that he had of forcing me to change Pokemon and him getting to choose the new one). I managed to eliminate 2 of his possible 3 Scizor before they got to taste any Metal Energy (did the first one get a single energy? hmmm...) After that it was a matter of chasing around his Espeons, hoping that Scyther #4 never got a chance to show it's face (I did managed to axe one of the Scythers before it evolved). Unbeknownst to me at that point, Clayton too was wondering if Scyther would show it's face as he had the third Scizor and three (!) Metal Energy sitting in his hand. As we found out after the game, that rebelious forth Scyther was sitting on the top of his deck (literally, top card) the turn that I finally managed to corner one of the Espeons. Knockouts in the game, in no particual order, was 2 Scizor, 1 Scyther, 1 Tyrogue, 1 Cleffa, and 1 Espeon. (8-1) After being forced to settle for the 4 way tie for 5th in the first SBZ, getting past the Quarter-Finals and managing to win was a huge thrill. I want to give major thumbs up to my opponent in the first game (his name was Lannie I think); I never expected to see that Starmie used. quote-unquote "props" John (owner of the store) for running another incredibly smooth Super Battlezone Lannie. See above. The prize makerupper (ack! name!!! @_@) for throwing in a pile of holo energy in with the prizes for the top 4 Every single person there for the total lack of any sort of major complaining on anything; there was only 1 or 2 major gameplay errors but in that/both cases it was decided it was too late to do anything about it and both players got on with their game. quote-unquote "slops" The 3 and a half hour drive each way up to St. Albert and back! ;) ~Mystery Thing www.pokemonzeo.com