~Introduction~ (because I said so)
This topic is more like a several days' journey worth of the various exploits I performed before, during, and after Spring Regionals weekend. I spare no detail; I even show what I'm doing on the days that weren't Regionals itself. This is going to be quite a read, but I've divided it up into sections for your convenience. Enjoy!
So, the weekend of Spring Regionals was fast approaching. I was aware of this because it's always on the weekend that's after my birthday...and this year, it was my 21st birthday. (That number will be a bit more important later.) After noticing my performance with my Victini Donk at Arizona (4-4) and later on how I did with my "poor man's Zekeels" at California (0-5), I decided that I shouldn't be running meta; it wasn't cut out for me. I turn back to my Victini Donk and see how I can make it better.
I want to add Vileplume, since lately people keep using Switch to back out of my paralysis, and I want to stop that. I look for what I can cut out, and lo and behold, a deadweight card presents itself before me: Regigigas EX. Yeah, I know. I love this guy to pieces, but in this deck, he wasn't serving his purpose very well. I tweak the deck around a bit, having it rely a bit less on Items (because, you know, Vileplume), and see how things work. I tested it at league for the next couple weeks and fine-tuned it some more, eventually getting to the build I was most comfortable with.
And since VGC is coming up as well, I wanted to build a team as well; it's a team I've been testing for a few weeks - both on Random Matchup and in the Subway - and is called "A Shadow in the Sand", which currently exists as a topic in Pokebeach's RMT forum, actually. It involves a Gengar core using Poison Gem Sludge Wave, with sandstorm-related support - mostly because Gengar is paired with Steel-type Excadrill or Metagross, either of whom can use Earthquake, tagging with Gengar's Levitate. I did quite well on both those planes and, being satisfied with both my deck and my team of choice, I'm ready to go. I load up my backpack for everything I'll need for a weekend trip - yep, it doubles as a suitcase. Packing all those clothes into the large back pocket made me feel like a walrus!
(Note: I'm going to spoiler the sections after this, since this gets pretty long.)
~Thursday~ (Packing up and driving off)
~Friday~ (Prepping for the tourney)
~Saturday~ (TCG Regionals)
~Sunday~ (VG Regionals)
~Monday~ (Headed home)
~End~ (because, once again, I said so)
So...in the end, this weekend was utterly fantastic. Ruben's family were awesome and hospitable, and Ruben liked having me along for the weekend - he told me he didn't want to go up here and have no one to go with, so he was glad to have me along. And he gave me a great compliment: he said I'm one of two people besides himself that he would trust to drive his car. And I don't even have my license yet. Wow. I was flattered.
Hope you enjoyed the read, guys, and maybe I've inspired some of you to traverse the world in search of tournaments and/or cosplayers to get more StreetPasses than you could ever dream of!
This topic is more like a several days' journey worth of the various exploits I performed before, during, and after Spring Regionals weekend. I spare no detail; I even show what I'm doing on the days that weren't Regionals itself. This is going to be quite a read, but I've divided it up into sections for your convenience. Enjoy!
So, the weekend of Spring Regionals was fast approaching. I was aware of this because it's always on the weekend that's after my birthday...and this year, it was my 21st birthday. (That number will be a bit more important later.) After noticing my performance with my Victini Donk at Arizona (4-4) and later on how I did with my "poor man's Zekeels" at California (0-5), I decided that I shouldn't be running meta; it wasn't cut out for me. I turn back to my Victini Donk and see how I can make it better.
I want to add Vileplume, since lately people keep using Switch to back out of my paralysis, and I want to stop that. I look for what I can cut out, and lo and behold, a deadweight card presents itself before me: Regigigas EX. Yeah, I know. I love this guy to pieces, but in this deck, he wasn't serving his purpose very well. I tweak the deck around a bit, having it rely a bit less on Items (because, you know, Vileplume), and see how things work. I tested it at league for the next couple weeks and fine-tuned it some more, eventually getting to the build I was most comfortable with.
And since VGC is coming up as well, I wanted to build a team as well; it's a team I've been testing for a few weeks - both on Random Matchup and in the Subway - and is called "A Shadow in the Sand", which currently exists as a topic in Pokebeach's RMT forum, actually. It involves a Gengar core using Poison Gem Sludge Wave, with sandstorm-related support - mostly because Gengar is paired with Steel-type Excadrill or Metagross, either of whom can use Earthquake, tagging with Gengar's Levitate. I did quite well on both those planes and, being satisfied with both my deck and my team of choice, I'm ready to go. I load up my backpack for everything I'll need for a weekend trip - yep, it doubles as a suitcase. Packing all those clothes into the large back pocket made me feel like a walrus!
(Note: I'm going to spoiler the sections after this, since this gets pretty long.)
~Thursday~ (Packing up and driving off)
The plan was for me and a friend of mine to carpool up there and stay at the house of a friend of his, who lives in Alameda (which actually is about 30 minutes northwest of Pleasanton), and when we get back to SoCal, we split the fuel costs 50-50. (The fuel costs totaled about $180 - hey, fuel is expensive! - and as arranged, I split the cost and paid $90. Now I have nothing in my wallet.) Originally we'd planned to leave on Thursday afternoon at 3.30pm, but due to his friend no longer being available (some things came up), he instead had to arrange to stay at his aunt and uncle's house...which was in Pleasanton itself, and they lived only a mile away from the venue itself, which was very convenient. However, we didn't leave until Thursday at 7.30pm instead, unfortunately. (I wasn't too surprised, I suppose; he's been late before, but it's worth it just to hang out and go up there.) We go search for a Taco Bell with the GPS, and after it trying to continually direct us to a Taco Bell which apparently doesn't exist, we just opt to snag our dinner at a Wendy's, eat it in the parking lot, and by 8pm we're on the I-5 heading north towards Pleasanton.
Leaving that late at night actually has a huge perk to it: we have to pass through Los Angeles to get to Pleasanton, and for anyone who lives around SoCal, they know that at certain times of the day LA is almost impossible to get through, due to traffic congestion. But late at night, there's literally no one there. We have smooth sailing all the way up to Pleasanton, having to stop only once for petrol. On the drive up, it was pouring down rain like no other, and we even saw a few strikes of plasma lightning, which lit up the sky in beautiful white flashes. My friend was going 85 or so to shave off time (and get good mileage), and it worked well since there were no cars around most of the time, although there was the odd truck. Obviously he didn't go 85 in the rain; he slowed down to about 70 when that happened - because, you know, safety reasons.
We finally arrive at my friend's family's house at 1.45am Friday morning, and by then it had finally stopped raining. I bring in my backpack (containing clothes and all my various gadgets) and lunchbox (containing food for carrying around in case we're hungry) into the house, and we're promptly ushered into the house by my friend's family. (You know what, I'm getting tired of pronouns. From now on I'm going to start referring to my friend as "Ruben" for the rest of this topic.) We're shown the room we'll be staying in and we're offered the chance to get something to eat before bed. Ruben opts to get some food and catch up with family; I instead ask if I can be excused to go to sleep and thank them profusely for taking me in.
Let's just say I was really really hungry the next morning.
Leaving that late at night actually has a huge perk to it: we have to pass through Los Angeles to get to Pleasanton, and for anyone who lives around SoCal, they know that at certain times of the day LA is almost impossible to get through, due to traffic congestion. But late at night, there's literally no one there. We have smooth sailing all the way up to Pleasanton, having to stop only once for petrol. On the drive up, it was pouring down rain like no other, and we even saw a few strikes of plasma lightning, which lit up the sky in beautiful white flashes. My friend was going 85 or so to shave off time (and get good mileage), and it worked well since there were no cars around most of the time, although there was the odd truck. Obviously he didn't go 85 in the rain; he slowed down to about 70 when that happened - because, you know, safety reasons.
We finally arrive at my friend's family's house at 1.45am Friday morning, and by then it had finally stopped raining. I bring in my backpack (containing clothes and all my various gadgets) and lunchbox (containing food for carrying around in case we're hungry) into the house, and we're promptly ushered into the house by my friend's family. (You know what, I'm getting tired of pronouns. From now on I'm going to start referring to my friend as "Ruben" for the rest of this topic.) We're shown the room we'll be staying in and we're offered the chance to get something to eat before bed. Ruben opts to get some food and catch up with family; I instead ask if I can be excused to go to sleep and thank them profusely for taking me in.
Let's just say I was really really hungry the next morning.
~Friday~ (Prepping for the tourney)
I think I woke up the following morning at 8, but I was still a bit drowsy so I decided to stay in bed until 9 or so. Ruben slept in later than I did - which isn't too surprising, really - and since I hadn't met most of his family, I felt a bit awkward wanting to go out, so I waited until he woke up. Turns out I didn't have much to feel awkward about, but I always do anyway.
Ah yeah, a bit of an addendum before I forget and go any further. I opted to grow out my beard just for the occasion at Regs, just so the people there who get a chance to meet me have a chance to look at my totally awesome beard. Fortunately, it was at the perfect length where it's long enough to look awesome, yet short enough to not look scraggy. As I write this, it's at the scraggy point. I'm going to shave it ASAP.
The morning is spent with a good breakfast, followed by some immediate playtesting. It consisted of a total of 4 matches, before we decided to do other things. Ruben uses his deck of choice, a Cinccino ND deck with Amoongus ND and Vileplume UD as support - essentially a lock-style deck (it also had Smoochum and Pinsir ND to be even MORE annoying), and he used it all 4 games. I chose to use a different deck each game.
In the first and fourth games I use my trademark deck, having changed its name from "V for Victory!" to "Sundae Best", a reference to Vanilluxe NV, the deck's figurehead. We both start out with pretty lousy hands, and we move pretty slowly, but I'm able to quickly apply the pressure by getting out my Vileplume before he drops his, preventing him from getting his Level Balls out to quickly snag his mushrooms. (It slowed him down quite a bit.) I don't remember how the match went, but at one point he was able to successfully Sporprise and then use Grip and Squeeze to prevent my escape - and since I don't have my lock-escaper tech in play at the moment, I get stuck for quite a bit. (The move surprised me a lot; I didn't even see it coming!) Unfortunately for him, by the time that happens my prize lead is so significant that the game's outcome wasn't significantly affected.
With the second game I reveal a testing deck idea I had - the DarMAXitan deck. I get a bit worried at first as it's rather Item-heavy (it's got 20 items and only 9 supporters), but I try to go with what I have. Fearing the Vileplume, I try to dump as many of my Items as I possibly can, before the Vileplume enters play...unfortunately for Ruben, his hands were so terrible that he never played a Vileplume the whole game, whereas I set up Gardevoir and start swinging with DarMAXitan and late game X-Ball. (Why didn't I use this in the tourney? Simple - the Mewtwo EX were proxied; neither of us own any.)
The third game I decide to run Lostgar for lulz...yes, a steadily improving version of the deck I built at Worlds. The last time it was tweaked, however, was right after Regionals in Autumn 2011, and it's been effectively collecting dust since then, mostly because in this meta there are rarely Pokemon in a player's hand, and since it's now even easier for Gengar to be one-shot it's even more difficult. The game itself was very interesting; I go into an energy drought and he gets Smoochum to keep moving Energy over to where I don't want it. I don't remember if I got rid of the Smoochum, but even after that I didn't draw into much I could use, so I pretty much spend the whole match using Mime Jr.+Slowking. I get the perfect baby flips going almost constantly and get 6 LZ'd in almost no time. Maybe I'll rebuild Lostgar in time for Cities, but I really doubt it. With all the Zekrom EX and Mewtwo EX running around I'll need to be VERY careful.
Ruben told me some time today that he wanted to play in VGC, but he wasn't able to as he lost his HG, which had the Pokemon he wanted to transfer over and play with (it was some lulzy Shedinja team). I offered to let him borrow some of my Pokemon for a team, and he accepted the offer. However, while building it, I noticed I didn't have enough points for all the items; I needed to buy another Air Balloon and Focus Sash, which would cost a total of 96 points, and I only had 24. Thus, I spent most of Friday, and even some of Saturday, challenging the Super Double Train. (Apparently I learned I can load a team straight from my Battle Box. Good to know.)
Most of Friday afternoon is still a bit of a blur to me, but what I do remember is that Ruben's cousins had their birthday on that day (twins) and they'd invited all their friends over to socialize. (I stayed quietly in the background accessing Pokebeach from my 3DS - yep, first time ever using the 3DS for the Internet. It's how I was able to keep up to speed with you guys.) All I really remember is that they were looking up cheesy pickup lines on their smartphones - some of which are too blurry in my memory to repeat, some of which are too embarrassing to repeat, and still others which are too inappropriate to repeat.
Later that night Ruben's family decide to go out to dinner, and they invite me along with them, for which I am extremely thankful, and expressed myself as such. We go to this little restaurant called "The Hop Yard", which, as you might have guessed, serves an assortment of microbrews. Both Ruben and his uncle each order a different beer and allow me to sample both - since Ruben told his family I'd just turned 21. I tried them both; I didn't like either - they left a strange aftertaste in my mouth. I order the fish & chips and later on get faced with the hardest chips I've ever seen in my life. (It was an effort just to jab them with my fork.)
After that we go home and Ruben's cousin's friends go out to see a movie, and upon their return they would all eat birthday cake. Ruben and I stay at the house with the family and watch a few episodes of Mad Men and then 30 Rock, which I think is an even better TV show than the US version of The Office (no word on the UK one as I haven't seen it). I start bursting into uncontrollable laughter while they try to name a microwave by taking tiles out of a Scrabble bag since they're tapped for ideas - the first two times, Alec Baldwin's character starts taking tiles out and ends up spelling the starts of words that I can't repeat here, starts over both times, and then finally gets frustrated, grabs a handful of tiles, and slams them on the table, revealing the word "HITLER". I about lost it.
It's almost midnight and I begin to wonder where the party gang is at, since I'd been staying up to wait for potential offers of birthday cake. I get told that the movie ends at about 1.30am, and since I'm more concerned about the tournament tomorrow and its signups beginning at 9am, I excuse myself and go to bed for the night, preparing myself for the TCG on Saturday.
And so now the fun begins.
Ah yeah, a bit of an addendum before I forget and go any further. I opted to grow out my beard just for the occasion at Regs, just so the people there who get a chance to meet me have a chance to look at my totally awesome beard. Fortunately, it was at the perfect length where it's long enough to look awesome, yet short enough to not look scraggy. As I write this, it's at the scraggy point. I'm going to shave it ASAP.
The morning is spent with a good breakfast, followed by some immediate playtesting. It consisted of a total of 4 matches, before we decided to do other things. Ruben uses his deck of choice, a Cinccino ND deck with Amoongus ND and Vileplume UD as support - essentially a lock-style deck (it also had Smoochum and Pinsir ND to be even MORE annoying), and he used it all 4 games. I chose to use a different deck each game.
In the first and fourth games I use my trademark deck, having changed its name from "V for Victory!" to "Sundae Best", a reference to Vanilluxe NV, the deck's figurehead. We both start out with pretty lousy hands, and we move pretty slowly, but I'm able to quickly apply the pressure by getting out my Vileplume before he drops his, preventing him from getting his Level Balls out to quickly snag his mushrooms. (It slowed him down quite a bit.) I don't remember how the match went, but at one point he was able to successfully Sporprise and then use Grip and Squeeze to prevent my escape - and since I don't have my lock-escaper tech in play at the moment, I get stuck for quite a bit. (The move surprised me a lot; I didn't even see it coming!) Unfortunately for him, by the time that happens my prize lead is so significant that the game's outcome wasn't significantly affected.
With the second game I reveal a testing deck idea I had - the DarMAXitan deck. I get a bit worried at first as it's rather Item-heavy (it's got 20 items and only 9 supporters), but I try to go with what I have. Fearing the Vileplume, I try to dump as many of my Items as I possibly can, before the Vileplume enters play...unfortunately for Ruben, his hands were so terrible that he never played a Vileplume the whole game, whereas I set up Gardevoir and start swinging with DarMAXitan and late game X-Ball. (Why didn't I use this in the tourney? Simple - the Mewtwo EX were proxied; neither of us own any.)
The third game I decide to run Lostgar for lulz...yes, a steadily improving version of the deck I built at Worlds. The last time it was tweaked, however, was right after Regionals in Autumn 2011, and it's been effectively collecting dust since then, mostly because in this meta there are rarely Pokemon in a player's hand, and since it's now even easier for Gengar to be one-shot it's even more difficult. The game itself was very interesting; I go into an energy drought and he gets Smoochum to keep moving Energy over to where I don't want it. I don't remember if I got rid of the Smoochum, but even after that I didn't draw into much I could use, so I pretty much spend the whole match using Mime Jr.+Slowking. I get the perfect baby flips going almost constantly and get 6 LZ'd in almost no time. Maybe I'll rebuild Lostgar in time for Cities, but I really doubt it. With all the Zekrom EX and Mewtwo EX running around I'll need to be VERY careful.
Ruben told me some time today that he wanted to play in VGC, but he wasn't able to as he lost his HG, which had the Pokemon he wanted to transfer over and play with (it was some lulzy Shedinja team). I offered to let him borrow some of my Pokemon for a team, and he accepted the offer. However, while building it, I noticed I didn't have enough points for all the items; I needed to buy another Air Balloon and Focus Sash, which would cost a total of 96 points, and I only had 24. Thus, I spent most of Friday, and even some of Saturday, challenging the Super Double Train. (Apparently I learned I can load a team straight from my Battle Box. Good to know.)
Most of Friday afternoon is still a bit of a blur to me, but what I do remember is that Ruben's cousins had their birthday on that day (twins) and they'd invited all their friends over to socialize. (I stayed quietly in the background accessing Pokebeach from my 3DS - yep, first time ever using the 3DS for the Internet. It's how I was able to keep up to speed with you guys.) All I really remember is that they were looking up cheesy pickup lines on their smartphones - some of which are too blurry in my memory to repeat, some of which are too embarrassing to repeat, and still others which are too inappropriate to repeat.
Later that night Ruben's family decide to go out to dinner, and they invite me along with them, for which I am extremely thankful, and expressed myself as such. We go to this little restaurant called "The Hop Yard", which, as you might have guessed, serves an assortment of microbrews. Both Ruben and his uncle each order a different beer and allow me to sample both - since Ruben told his family I'd just turned 21. I tried them both; I didn't like either - they left a strange aftertaste in my mouth. I order the fish & chips and later on get faced with the hardest chips I've ever seen in my life. (It was an effort just to jab them with my fork.)
After that we go home and Ruben's cousin's friends go out to see a movie, and upon their return they would all eat birthday cake. Ruben and I stay at the house with the family and watch a few episodes of Mad Men and then 30 Rock, which I think is an even better TV show than the US version of The Office (no word on the UK one as I haven't seen it). I start bursting into uncontrollable laughter while they try to name a microwave by taking tiles out of a Scrabble bag since they're tapped for ideas - the first two times, Alec Baldwin's character starts taking tiles out and ends up spelling the starts of words that I can't repeat here, starts over both times, and then finally gets frustrated, grabs a handful of tiles, and slams them on the table, revealing the word "HITLER". I about lost it.
It's almost midnight and I begin to wonder where the party gang is at, since I'd been staying up to wait for potential offers of birthday cake. I get told that the movie ends at about 1.30am, and since I'm more concerned about the tournament tomorrow and its signups beginning at 9am, I excuse myself and go to bed for the night, preparing myself for the TCG on Saturday.
And so now the fun begins.
~Saturday~ (TCG Regionals)
It's always good to go to bed early. I didn't sleep in; I woke up at about 8 or so. Ruben didn't wake up until 9, which is when signups start, so we're already a little behind. Most of the house is asleep, so we try to snag a quick breakfast and quietly leave. We were told the day before where the Fairgrounds were (where the tourney was being held), and find out it's only a mile away from the house. We drive down there and park in a business complex across the street, and opt to walk into the fairgrounds from there. I end up passing Rico M, a fellow SoCal-ian like myself, as we're walking in. He is accompanied by a friend of his who is sporting a rainbow afro - totally awesome - who I run into later a few times that day.
After about 20 minutes of walking through the fairgrounds trying to find the venue, we finally make it and put our signups in. We roam the area looking for acquaintances and split up. I have my 3DS in my pocket pretty much the whole day, picking up various StreetPasses. In all, I believe I got at least 150 tags from at least 100 people, one of which - my personal favorite encounter - was a guy who made a Mii look like a black Diglett. I got a bit confused seeing it at the Plaza Gate, but when I saw the Mii's name - Niglett - I cracked up. It was amazing. Whoever was at NorCal Regs and has the Mii called Niglett, I want to give you an epic hi-five.
The first person I see is Blargh257, who I met a month before at California States. He's a really great guy and we hit it off right away at States, and I was glad to run into him again at Regs. I ask if he knows where Meaty is, since I've been wanting to meet him for a while, and he offers to take me to him. About 10 minutes later, I find him. He's hanging out with Decmaster, one of the many members of his scrub army. Meaty and I got along very well that day, and getting to see him was one of the highlights of my weekend. Later on before the tourney started I ran into Zero. As usual, I tell him to get a haircut.
Shortly after that, the rounds of Swiss begin. I bring my Sundae Best to the table and the rounds begin. (I'm not going to put anyone's names down, partly because it doesn't really matter, and partly because I don't remember their names.)
Round 1 vs Hypno/Musharna
This was actually a really interesting deck to fight in the first round. I have a bit of a hard time setting up while he gets set up pretty easily. I see a Slowpoke and Drowzee start on his end and wonder what he's doing, but as soon as I see Munna I know what I'm going up against. Much to my surprise, he evolves Slowpoke to Slowbro, which ends up killing off my Victini.
I think the worst part of the match was when I was struggling to set up and I use Sage's Training on T3 and draw the following: Water Energy, Vanilluxe NV, Vanilluxe ND, Cheren, and Flower Shop Lady. Great. I have no Energy in my hand and I need the Water to keep going, so I opt to keep the first two and discard the rest. This probably sealed my defeat later; Vanilluxe ND would be the only thing allowing me to escape from a Sleep Pendulum.
From there on out, on the times he does flip heads on Sleep Pendulum (which was most of the time), I basically never wake up. He takes the match due to good flips on his part and bad ones on mine. Ah well, who am I to complain? My entire deck is coin flips. Still, it was a bit of a damper I had to lose to this early on.
0-1
Eh, I lost round 1, no big deal. I can probably bounce back later. It wasn't long after that when the second round started.
Round 2 vs Zekeels/Mewtwo
This match actually went a lot differently than my first round match. Unlike before, where I get a rather subpar start, I get an EXCELLENT start, managing to get out 2 Vanilluxe and a Vileplume in real short order, putting the pressure on and initiating the lock. (A third Vanilluxe and a Kingdra quickly joined them.) Even funnier still was, during most of the match, both of my Fliptini were prized, and I didn't draw either one until the 4th prize in.
I suppose there isn't much to say here, other than after I get set up, he really can't bounce back at all, being completely locked out of his Items and such. I take a quick win, in the end hitting his Eelektrik to the point where it has 80 damage, Spray Splash it with Kingdra for the prize, and then just Double Freeze again to maintain the lock.
1-1
Pick up an abundance of StreetPasses, hang out with friends, stuff like that in between rounds. I run into Zero and tell him about my latest win, and he responds (as expected) with "I hate you" with a silly smile on his face. Next round and I get to my table.
Round 3 vs Durant
My opponent was actually a really nice guy this time around. He said that this was his very first TCG tournament that he's been to, although he has been to several VG venues. I exchange a few helpful tips throughout the game, stuff like "try keeping your hand above the table", other little small things. He's a bit of a slow player, but he did say it was his first tournament, so I don't pay it much note; I let him take his time.
It was his first tournament, but he still played a rather strong Durant list, even running a Cobalion, something that Vanilluxe can't stand. I get set up pretty quickly though, getting my Vileplume out, and he had to send his Cobalion up with 2 Energy and take a prize against Vanilluxe, but I promote another and get rid of it pretty quickly. Most of the time he was using my own Tropical Beach card to try and increase his hand size, but I do that on purpose so I can Copycat.
Overall I think this game could have gone better for the both of us, mostly because his start was not very good - he didn't draw much search at all and for the first few turns he only had 2 Durant out. The game did pick up later though, but in the end it was a win for me.
On Sunday he was actually there for VG, and on the times I saw him I asked his record; the responses were '3-0', '5-0', and '6-1'. There were 8 rounds, and although he didn't make top 4, he must have done very well. I didn't face him at all that day, however.
2-1
LUNCH BREAK, FINALLY!
I want to try and play a game with Meaty during the lunch break. That was the plan, anyway - he said he'd get some food and come right back. In the meantime, I decide to play a game against Gistica instead (I met him at CA States right about when I had to leave) and his CMT. My start was pretty lulzy - a bunch of Stage 1/2 Ice Cream, a Donktini, and a Psychic Energy. I go first, I flip it over, and he flips over a lone Mewtwo EX. PERFECT. I don't have the Fliptini unfortunately, but if I can get 2 heads now, I win. Of course, I whiff on it, because V-Blast always misses Mewtwo for me. It kinda got better, but Gistica spent most of the match Catchering every Oddish I dropped. It annoyed him a lot, to the point where I used FSL to return them all to my deck and fetch them again. He got mad.
But it didn't make much difference - I lost anyway. By the time the game is over, so is lunch break. The game with Meaty will have to wait.
Actually, I did get a chance to play a quick YGO game with Blargh257. He gets a godly opening hand, dropping Hyperion and Kristya. I managed to BTH Hyperion and then one turn later I Mirror Force Kristya. Then I lock him out of everything and win.
Later on that day we play again, and that match was a lot closer. I end up barely hanging on with only 100 LP left, and then I pull a Yusei moment, using Miracle Synchro Fusion to get Ultimate Axon Kicker out. Since it can't be destroyed by effects and his Darklord Asmodeus was already gone, he scoops.
When he went home, he told me he went to Dueling Network to try and build my deck. (I was running Psychics, but funnily enough, it's not even my build - it was just a decklist my friend gave me that I tweaked.)
Round 4 vs Zekeels/Mewtwo
I guess I'm not too worried, but my start could have gone much better. I start with Vanillite; he starts with Mewtwo. I don't want the Mewtwo OHKOing my Vanillite, so I power up a Benched one instead. Next turn I get the Vanillish out, preparing to evolve to Vanilluxe next turn. Unfortunately, he uses Catcher and kills it. From there I never really get set up and I never take a single prize.
2-2
Meaty was sitting next to me that round; I look at his start and it looks amazingly legit. Also during that round is when they started handing out Random Goodness. Much to my surprise, I do get picked, and I receive a pack of DP Secret Wonders sleeves. This pleases me immensely; those are the only sleeves I didn't get because I missed that prerelease. This is a shock as I never get Random Goodness. I think the karma might be catching up.
Round 5 vs Durant
At the start of the round, they announce Random Goodness again. Much to my surprise, my table was one of those picked, and both myself and my opponent are given a Next Destinies card binder - it's got Mewtwo and Regigigas on it. There is envy at the tables next to me and one guy asks if I would trade it. I have to refuse as it's got Regigigas on it. With that happy moment in mind, I start the round.
This was, without a doubt, my favorite game of the day. He gets his Durants out very fast and I get out my Victini just as fast. He runs the Durant alongside Weavile and Mewtwo, which is actually pretty nifty. I can't force as strong of a lock as I'd like, so I just run Victini instead of trying to use Vanilluxe...and, sadly, I never got the Vileplume out. Out of the 6 times I used V-Blast during that game, it worked 5 of them, and most of those I didn't need to reflip. Stupendous.
My opponent and I talk during the match quite a bit, actually, and we got along quite well. In the end I was one turn too late; he'd milled my whole deck and I draw my final card to start my turn. At this point...I have 2 prizes left. I was one turn too late. I decide to V-Blast one final time; I succeed and take my 5th prize...and with that, the game was over.
2-3
I get up from my table and walk around a bit. Meaty comes up to me and asks me "DNA, Decmaster told me he just bought a pony playmat. Can I slap him?" I answer his question by slapping Decmaster myself. Meaty and I laugh, and I walk off.
I decide to peruse the merchandise stands and I espy this rather cute Vanillite plushie. It's priced at a whopping $22! Wow, too rich for my blood. I tell Ruben about it, and out of the blue he offers to split the cost and let me buy it. Whatta guy. I stash the Vanillite in my backpack and still try to think of a name. I didn't actually think of one until I got home, but if you want a picture of him, here you are.
This is Rod. Isn't he cute?
In between most of the rounds I'm still trying to keep up my Subway streak. I'm doing really well; at this point I think I fought some weird +3 Double Team Gigas, but Gastrodon kept using Muddy Water and Earth Power and didn't miss it once. I fought two Gigas in the Subway that weekend and I got really sad that I had to do so.
Round 6 vs Durant
And thus the next round begins. They announce Random Goodness again, and my table gets chosen once again. Three times in a row. I got chosen for Random Goodness three times in a row. That just doesn't happen. Both myself and my opponent receive a pack of DP Mysterious Treasures sleeves. I can't believe it myself.
At this point, the Rainbowfro guy is sitting one table over from me, and asks if I would trade it. Since I already have Electivire sleeves, I ask him to let me think about it until later in the day. With that, the round starts.
This match went a lot like my round 3 one. He mulligans a few times and I notice a Fire energy and wonder what the heck it's for. I get my lock out pretty quickly and just V-Blast/Double Freeze away. Later I find out it's for the V-Create Victini, but by the time that hits the field, it's too late for it to make a difference.
3-3
I finish pretty early, so I go find Meaty ASAP and ask if we can finally play our game out. He gets his Arceus, I get my Gigasbox - both MD-CL decks, and as such, we agree that the player going first can't use T/S/S. We go to one of the unused back tables and begin. I go first with a rather unusual start and use Call Energy for Jirachi and Garchomp C, and by this point he has no idea what the heck I am doing. He gets some things out on his bench, whereas I set up Garchomp and use Jirachi to Detour Team Rocket's Trickery, reducing his hand size to 0. On his turn, he goes first, topdecks Collector of all things, and searches his deck...his Uxie is prized, sadly for him. And, because of that, I start picking his field off relatively easily, using Dragon Rush to take 2 prizes.
It took one turn longer to set up Dragon Rush than I wanted because my Gain was prized, but I used Time Walk to rearrange my prizes. However, I got the order wrong and the first prize I took was the one I put back with Time Walk (a worthless Galactic HQ). The second prize was the Gain.
One of Meaty's friends comes over and says the pairings are up. Neither of us heard an announcement (I don't think one was actually made) so we have to pack up and run like Jesse Owens so we can get to our tables.
Round 7 vs Durant (loss)
I'd just like to say that, even though I got a Vileplume out turn 3, she milled all my Energy. I try to use FSL to get some back, but it all gets milled again. Clearly, my deck was not shuffled very well. And what good is a Vileplume if I can't attack at all? This round made me sad.
3-4
I have enough time to try and increase my Subway streak, and, of course, I check my StreetPasses and stuff.
Sometime between one of the rounds - I don't remember if it was this one or earlier - I decide to go to the AR Booth, in which a member of Team Rocket (yep, they were on the staff) would take a picture on Pokedex 3D, with you standing next to your Pokemon of choice. I decide to go over and pick Cofagrigus, and strike a pose with my hands up in the air. I'm also wearing my scarf, to give the illusion that I might have four arms. Unfortunately, the coffin obviously thinks I have much to learn.
Round 8 vs Zekeels/Mewtwo
My opponent and I joke around a lot during this round. We're both 3-4, and all we need to do is break even, and as everyone knows, breaking even is more intense than top cut. Every move either of us make involved one or both of us just laughing, because at this point we're just having fun. As for how the match went for me, it went just like my round 4 - never took a single prize. Oh well!
3-5
Right after I'm done, Rainbowfro comes up to me and says he got picked for Random Goodness. He was given a shirt from Worlds 2004, with the three Kanto Starters on the back. He wants to trade it for my Electivire sleeves. A new epic shirt? Yes please! I gladly accept the offer and we do the trade.
What's left to do? Well, I still have the Subway to finish. I run into Zero and ask him how he did, to which he happily responds that he's in top cut. He asks me how I did, I said 3-5, but I didn't care because I had a good day. I show him my DS, playing Black version, and I'm up to 44. I say "I could do it!" in response to getting to the Subway Master.
And, ultimately, I do! And I won! Because the AI was being exceptionally stupid! If you want to see the Battle Video for yourself, here's the number: 66-52221-41126
(I wasn't even expecting him to switch the Eelektross out. I just wanted the Excadrill dead, and it paid off handsomely.)
I tell Ruben and he's very excited, not only because I beat Emmet on the Super Double Train, but that I also have enough points. He asks if I'm going to stop the streak and I say no, because although I have enough points for his team, I want to keep going and see how far the streak will go. He also told me that he went 4-4, which for a deck I find is a bit inconsistent was actually very good! Cinccino, you troll.
I wanted to play a proper game with Meaty, but apparently he'd already left, and I wouldn't see him tomorrow either. But at least a quick game was better than nothing! I probably would have won if it had concluded due to his 0-card hand, but the Uxie being prized was a pity.
Ruben and I leave the venue, and we walk 20 minutes back to his car, getting lost along the way trying to find the exit. We then find out parking was only $8 all day. Yeah, on Sunday we're just going to go in and not bother walking. I focus on continuing my Subway streak.
By the time we get home, we're just in time for dinner - pasta and garlic bread, yum! I have my fill and we talk around the dinner table and such. It kinda surprised me at first to be in this setting, because I thought families only did that in TV shows. Huh. Whodathunkit.
After dinner there's time to basically hang out and do whatever. Ruben goes to sleep for a bit since he's tired, and I focus on the streak. I jokingly remark that, now that I want to lose in the Subway, I won't be able to now, since in the Subway I never get what I want. In the end, however, I lose on battle #82 because I myself was beginning to nod off and lose concentration, and should have used Protect when Conkeldurr entered play. Ah well, at least I have points to spare now. I had exactly 200 when I left the Subway.
Ruben's still sleeping, so I decide to have a laugh. I put Rod (the Vanillite) on his pillow, eyes staring right at him, waiting for him to wake up. I was about to leave the room and join the rest of the family, but right as I does so, he wakes up and sees the Vanillite right in his face.
It was so worth it.
I go out to the living room; apparently Ruben's cousin & friends are watching some movie (I think it was Bridesmaids) with cake and ice cream. There's still a bit left over, and I am offered some, which I accept. I have a bit, then go to sleep at about midnight again.
After about 20 minutes of walking through the fairgrounds trying to find the venue, we finally make it and put our signups in. We roam the area looking for acquaintances and split up. I have my 3DS in my pocket pretty much the whole day, picking up various StreetPasses. In all, I believe I got at least 150 tags from at least 100 people, one of which - my personal favorite encounter - was a guy who made a Mii look like a black Diglett. I got a bit confused seeing it at the Plaza Gate, but when I saw the Mii's name - Niglett - I cracked up. It was amazing. Whoever was at NorCal Regs and has the Mii called Niglett, I want to give you an epic hi-five.
The first person I see is Blargh257, who I met a month before at California States. He's a really great guy and we hit it off right away at States, and I was glad to run into him again at Regs. I ask if he knows where Meaty is, since I've been wanting to meet him for a while, and he offers to take me to him. About 10 minutes later, I find him. He's hanging out with Decmaster, one of the many members of his scrub army. Meaty and I got along very well that day, and getting to see him was one of the highlights of my weekend. Later on before the tourney started I ran into Zero. As usual, I tell him to get a haircut.
Shortly after that, the rounds of Swiss begin. I bring my Sundae Best to the table and the rounds begin. (I'm not going to put anyone's names down, partly because it doesn't really matter, and partly because I don't remember their names.)
Round 1 vs Hypno/Musharna
This was actually a really interesting deck to fight in the first round. I have a bit of a hard time setting up while he gets set up pretty easily. I see a Slowpoke and Drowzee start on his end and wonder what he's doing, but as soon as I see Munna I know what I'm going up against. Much to my surprise, he evolves Slowpoke to Slowbro, which ends up killing off my Victini.
I think the worst part of the match was when I was struggling to set up and I use Sage's Training on T3 and draw the following: Water Energy, Vanilluxe NV, Vanilluxe ND, Cheren, and Flower Shop Lady. Great. I have no Energy in my hand and I need the Water to keep going, so I opt to keep the first two and discard the rest. This probably sealed my defeat later; Vanilluxe ND would be the only thing allowing me to escape from a Sleep Pendulum.
From there on out, on the times he does flip heads on Sleep Pendulum (which was most of the time), I basically never wake up. He takes the match due to good flips on his part and bad ones on mine. Ah well, who am I to complain? My entire deck is coin flips. Still, it was a bit of a damper I had to lose to this early on.
0-1
Eh, I lost round 1, no big deal. I can probably bounce back later. It wasn't long after that when the second round started.
Round 2 vs Zekeels/Mewtwo
This match actually went a lot differently than my first round match. Unlike before, where I get a rather subpar start, I get an EXCELLENT start, managing to get out 2 Vanilluxe and a Vileplume in real short order, putting the pressure on and initiating the lock. (A third Vanilluxe and a Kingdra quickly joined them.) Even funnier still was, during most of the match, both of my Fliptini were prized, and I didn't draw either one until the 4th prize in.
I suppose there isn't much to say here, other than after I get set up, he really can't bounce back at all, being completely locked out of his Items and such. I take a quick win, in the end hitting his Eelektrik to the point where it has 80 damage, Spray Splash it with Kingdra for the prize, and then just Double Freeze again to maintain the lock.
1-1
Pick up an abundance of StreetPasses, hang out with friends, stuff like that in between rounds. I run into Zero and tell him about my latest win, and he responds (as expected) with "I hate you" with a silly smile on his face. Next round and I get to my table.
Round 3 vs Durant
My opponent was actually a really nice guy this time around. He said that this was his very first TCG tournament that he's been to, although he has been to several VG venues. I exchange a few helpful tips throughout the game, stuff like "try keeping your hand above the table", other little small things. He's a bit of a slow player, but he did say it was his first tournament, so I don't pay it much note; I let him take his time.
It was his first tournament, but he still played a rather strong Durant list, even running a Cobalion, something that Vanilluxe can't stand. I get set up pretty quickly though, getting my Vileplume out, and he had to send his Cobalion up with 2 Energy and take a prize against Vanilluxe, but I promote another and get rid of it pretty quickly. Most of the time he was using my own Tropical Beach card to try and increase his hand size, but I do that on purpose so I can Copycat.
Overall I think this game could have gone better for the both of us, mostly because his start was not very good - he didn't draw much search at all and for the first few turns he only had 2 Durant out. The game did pick up later though, but in the end it was a win for me.
On Sunday he was actually there for VG, and on the times I saw him I asked his record; the responses were '3-0', '5-0', and '6-1'. There were 8 rounds, and although he didn't make top 4, he must have done very well. I didn't face him at all that day, however.
2-1
LUNCH BREAK, FINALLY!
I want to try and play a game with Meaty during the lunch break. That was the plan, anyway - he said he'd get some food and come right back. In the meantime, I decide to play a game against Gistica instead (I met him at CA States right about when I had to leave) and his CMT. My start was pretty lulzy - a bunch of Stage 1/2 Ice Cream, a Donktini, and a Psychic Energy. I go first, I flip it over, and he flips over a lone Mewtwo EX. PERFECT. I don't have the Fliptini unfortunately, but if I can get 2 heads now, I win. Of course, I whiff on it, because V-Blast always misses Mewtwo for me. It kinda got better, but Gistica spent most of the match Catchering every Oddish I dropped. It annoyed him a lot, to the point where I used FSL to return them all to my deck and fetch them again. He got mad.
But it didn't make much difference - I lost anyway. By the time the game is over, so is lunch break. The game with Meaty will have to wait.Actually, I did get a chance to play a quick YGO game with Blargh257. He gets a godly opening hand, dropping Hyperion and Kristya. I managed to BTH Hyperion and then one turn later I Mirror Force Kristya. Then I lock him out of everything and win.
Later on that day we play again, and that match was a lot closer. I end up barely hanging on with only 100 LP left, and then I pull a Yusei moment, using Miracle Synchro Fusion to get Ultimate Axon Kicker out. Since it can't be destroyed by effects and his Darklord Asmodeus was already gone, he scoops.
When he went home, he told me he went to Dueling Network to try and build my deck. (I was running Psychics, but funnily enough, it's not even my build - it was just a decklist my friend gave me that I tweaked.)
Round 4 vs Zekeels/Mewtwo
I guess I'm not too worried, but my start could have gone much better. I start with Vanillite; he starts with Mewtwo. I don't want the Mewtwo OHKOing my Vanillite, so I power up a Benched one instead. Next turn I get the Vanillish out, preparing to evolve to Vanilluxe next turn. Unfortunately, he uses Catcher and kills it. From there I never really get set up and I never take a single prize.
2-2
Meaty was sitting next to me that round; I look at his start and it looks amazingly legit. Also during that round is when they started handing out Random Goodness. Much to my surprise, I do get picked, and I receive a pack of DP Secret Wonders sleeves. This pleases me immensely; those are the only sleeves I didn't get because I missed that prerelease. This is a shock as I never get Random Goodness. I think the karma might be catching up.
Round 5 vs Durant
At the start of the round, they announce Random Goodness again. Much to my surprise, my table was one of those picked, and both myself and my opponent are given a Next Destinies card binder - it's got Mewtwo and Regigigas on it. There is envy at the tables next to me and one guy asks if I would trade it. I have to refuse as it's got Regigigas on it. With that happy moment in mind, I start the round.
This was, without a doubt, my favorite game of the day. He gets his Durants out very fast and I get out my Victini just as fast. He runs the Durant alongside Weavile and Mewtwo, which is actually pretty nifty. I can't force as strong of a lock as I'd like, so I just run Victini instead of trying to use Vanilluxe...and, sadly, I never got the Vileplume out. Out of the 6 times I used V-Blast during that game, it worked 5 of them, and most of those I didn't need to reflip. Stupendous.
My opponent and I talk during the match quite a bit, actually, and we got along quite well. In the end I was one turn too late; he'd milled my whole deck and I draw my final card to start my turn. At this point...I have 2 prizes left. I was one turn too late. I decide to V-Blast one final time; I succeed and take my 5th prize...and with that, the game was over.
2-3
I get up from my table and walk around a bit. Meaty comes up to me and asks me "DNA, Decmaster told me he just bought a pony playmat. Can I slap him?" I answer his question by slapping Decmaster myself. Meaty and I laugh, and I walk off.
I decide to peruse the merchandise stands and I espy this rather cute Vanillite plushie. It's priced at a whopping $22! Wow, too rich for my blood. I tell Ruben about it, and out of the blue he offers to split the cost and let me buy it. Whatta guy. I stash the Vanillite in my backpack and still try to think of a name. I didn't actually think of one until I got home, but if you want a picture of him, here you are.
This is Rod. Isn't he cute?
In between most of the rounds I'm still trying to keep up my Subway streak. I'm doing really well; at this point I think I fought some weird +3 Double Team Gigas, but Gastrodon kept using Muddy Water and Earth Power and didn't miss it once. I fought two Gigas in the Subway that weekend and I got really sad that I had to do so.
Round 6 vs Durant
And thus the next round begins. They announce Random Goodness again, and my table gets chosen once again. Three times in a row. I got chosen for Random Goodness three times in a row. That just doesn't happen. Both myself and my opponent receive a pack of DP Mysterious Treasures sleeves. I can't believe it myself.
At this point, the Rainbowfro guy is sitting one table over from me, and asks if I would trade it. Since I already have Electivire sleeves, I ask him to let me think about it until later in the day. With that, the round starts.
This match went a lot like my round 3 one. He mulligans a few times and I notice a Fire energy and wonder what the heck it's for. I get my lock out pretty quickly and just V-Blast/Double Freeze away. Later I find out it's for the V-Create Victini, but by the time that hits the field, it's too late for it to make a difference.
3-3
I finish pretty early, so I go find Meaty ASAP and ask if we can finally play our game out. He gets his Arceus, I get my Gigasbox - both MD-CL decks, and as such, we agree that the player going first can't use T/S/S. We go to one of the unused back tables and begin. I go first with a rather unusual start and use Call Energy for Jirachi and Garchomp C, and by this point he has no idea what the heck I am doing. He gets some things out on his bench, whereas I set up Garchomp and use Jirachi to Detour Team Rocket's Trickery, reducing his hand size to 0. On his turn, he goes first, topdecks Collector of all things, and searches his deck...his Uxie is prized, sadly for him. And, because of that, I start picking his field off relatively easily, using Dragon Rush to take 2 prizes.
It took one turn longer to set up Dragon Rush than I wanted because my Gain was prized, but I used Time Walk to rearrange my prizes. However, I got the order wrong and the first prize I took was the one I put back with Time Walk (a worthless Galactic HQ). The second prize was the Gain.
One of Meaty's friends comes over and says the pairings are up. Neither of us heard an announcement (I don't think one was actually made) so we have to pack up and run like Jesse Owens so we can get to our tables.
Round 7 vs Durant (loss)
I'd just like to say that, even though I got a Vileplume out turn 3, she milled all my Energy. I try to use FSL to get some back, but it all gets milled again. Clearly, my deck was not shuffled very well. And what good is a Vileplume if I can't attack at all? This round made me sad.
3-4
I have enough time to try and increase my Subway streak, and, of course, I check my StreetPasses and stuff.
Sometime between one of the rounds - I don't remember if it was this one or earlier - I decide to go to the AR Booth, in which a member of Team Rocket (yep, they were on the staff) would take a picture on Pokedex 3D, with you standing next to your Pokemon of choice. I decide to go over and pick Cofagrigus, and strike a pose with my hands up in the air. I'm also wearing my scarf, to give the illusion that I might have four arms. Unfortunately, the coffin obviously thinks I have much to learn.
Round 8 vs Zekeels/Mewtwo
My opponent and I joke around a lot during this round. We're both 3-4, and all we need to do is break even, and as everyone knows, breaking even is more intense than top cut. Every move either of us make involved one or both of us just laughing, because at this point we're just having fun. As for how the match went for me, it went just like my round 4 - never took a single prize. Oh well!
3-5
Right after I'm done, Rainbowfro comes up to me and says he got picked for Random Goodness. He was given a shirt from Worlds 2004, with the three Kanto Starters on the back. He wants to trade it for my Electivire sleeves. A new epic shirt? Yes please! I gladly accept the offer and we do the trade.
What's left to do? Well, I still have the Subway to finish. I run into Zero and ask him how he did, to which he happily responds that he's in top cut. He asks me how I did, I said 3-5, but I didn't care because I had a good day. I show him my DS, playing Black version, and I'm up to 44. I say "I could do it!" in response to getting to the Subway Master.
And, ultimately, I do! And I won! Because the AI was being exceptionally stupid! If you want to see the Battle Video for yourself, here's the number: 66-52221-41126
(I wasn't even expecting him to switch the Eelektross out. I just wanted the Excadrill dead, and it paid off handsomely.)
I tell Ruben and he's very excited, not only because I beat Emmet on the Super Double Train, but that I also have enough points. He asks if I'm going to stop the streak and I say no, because although I have enough points for his team, I want to keep going and see how far the streak will go. He also told me that he went 4-4, which for a deck I find is a bit inconsistent was actually very good! Cinccino, you troll.
I wanted to play a proper game with Meaty, but apparently he'd already left, and I wouldn't see him tomorrow either. But at least a quick game was better than nothing! I probably would have won if it had concluded due to his 0-card hand, but the Uxie being prized was a pity.
Ruben and I leave the venue, and we walk 20 minutes back to his car, getting lost along the way trying to find the exit. We then find out parking was only $8 all day. Yeah, on Sunday we're just going to go in and not bother walking. I focus on continuing my Subway streak.
By the time we get home, we're just in time for dinner - pasta and garlic bread, yum! I have my fill and we talk around the dinner table and such. It kinda surprised me at first to be in this setting, because I thought families only did that in TV shows. Huh. Whodathunkit.
After dinner there's time to basically hang out and do whatever. Ruben goes to sleep for a bit since he's tired, and I focus on the streak. I jokingly remark that, now that I want to lose in the Subway, I won't be able to now, since in the Subway I never get what I want. In the end, however, I lose on battle #82 because I myself was beginning to nod off and lose concentration, and should have used Protect when Conkeldurr entered play. Ah well, at least I have points to spare now. I had exactly 200 when I left the Subway.
Ruben's still sleeping, so I decide to have a laugh. I put Rod (the Vanillite) on his pillow, eyes staring right at him, waiting for him to wake up. I was about to leave the room and join the rest of the family, but right as I does so, he wakes up and sees the Vanillite right in his face.
It was so worth it.
I go out to the living room; apparently Ruben's cousin & friends are watching some movie (I think it was Bridesmaids) with cake and ice cream. There's still a bit left over, and I am offered some, which I accept. I have a bit, then go to sleep at about midnight again.
~Sunday~ (VG Regionals)
Oh right, I have to trade Ruben my team. As soon as I wake up, I set out to doing that. While I'm doing that, he points something out to me - doesn't trading reset happiness? Yep, it does. This is a bit annoying, as one of the Pokemon I'm giving him for today knows Return. So, instead of trying to max Friendship out in only an hour or so (which is pretty much impossible), I just try to reduce it to zero and teach Frustration instead. It didn't take me that long at all. I load his Battle Box and hand back his DS and we're good to go.
We pay the $8 for parking and head on in; we get there about 9.20am or so and there's already a gigantic line heading out the door. I get in that line ASAP; I think I spent almost 2 hours in that line. VG was much more popular than I thought. While in line I collect StreetPasses (of course) and talk with some guy who said he was from East Bay. I have time to play 2 practice matches against his team, and as soon as I see his lead of choice (Amoonguss + Smeargle), I get pretty scared. I won't say what his Smeargle had, but let's just say you don't want to run into it. I won the first match but lost the second one. Stupid Conkeldurr.
While waiting in line, I look around to see if I can find any people dressed up. In particular, I'm looking for Emmet and Ingo - two twin brothers from Arizona that I met during Long Beach Regionals in November and got along very well with. (I also wanted to tell Emmet I beat him yesterday.) Unfortunately, I saw neither. I'm not surprised, though - it was a long drive even for me, and even longer for them. However, I did see a few cosplayers: a girl about 3 spaces ahead of me in line dressed as Hilda/Touko, and two friends dressed as Elesa and Skyla respectively. All of those costumes were near perfect.although Skyla could have stood to lose a bit of weight *shot*
Ruben introduces me to some of his friends, and they all appear to be really cool guys. One guy has a Leafeon hat, and I remember seeing him a few times before. The other guys are just running totally interesting teams; one of them got 5-3 at day's end with a team that used Fake Out Kangaskhan. It's got Scrappy. Take THAT, Chandelure.
I don't think the tournament actually started until 11.30am. I got sad that I couldn't face off against Zero, because he was in TCG top-cut (which was being held at the same time). I think he was sad too. He asked what garbage I was running this time, and I said it was organized garbage, but different from last time. I showed him my team and he was quite impressed.
Time to start.
Round 1
The guy I fought Round 1 said he hadn't played in a Regionals since 2009 in Fremont. It was still the same team he ran then, but he said he got top 4 with it, so at the very least it was a competent team. His battle box loads, and I only see 4 Pokemon - Hippowdon, Aerodactyl, Swampert, and Bronzong. I'm a bit relieved here; it means I don't need to waste too much time setting Sandstorm up as he'll do that for me. I manage to lead with my trademark Gengar+Excadrill and get to work. I get rid of his Aerodactyl pretty quickly, which he replaces with Bronzong.
I manage to get Excadrill+Gastrodon out, and something strange happens - Excadrill uses Rock Slide and makes both targets flinch, and Gastrodon used Muddy Water and scored a critical hit on both targets. OUCH. I won the match in the end, but I told my opponent that I felt really really bad after the match for winning by hax. I think if it had kept going, I would have won anyway, but that just made things go by way too fast.
I think before the match began, I took Rod (Vanillite) out, and since I couldn't balance him on his own, I had him lean back on my 3DS and said he was chilling. And then I realized I accidentally made a funny. I cracked up.
1-0
I pick Rod up, leave my table, and pretend to be licking the back of his head. I walk around pretty much all day in between rounds doing this, just to see who will notice. Just like that, some Seniors notice me and say "Dude, that guy has ice cream!" and that sparked a 10-minute conversation. I think at least 3 people complemented me on my ice cream that way.
I find out that, although Elesa is playing in the tournament, Skyla is not - since her team wasn't ready. That's a bit of a pity. Ruben was hanging out with his friends + Elesa at the end of pretty much each round; I wonder why that is and I later find out at day's end that Elesa was a friend of his friend (who had the Fake Out Kangaskhan). That explains a lot.
Round 2
This woman is wearing a Jigglypuff shirt, has a crocheted Jigglypuff doll that she sets on the table, and has a Jigglypuff in her Battle Box. Seems legit.
I also see a Dusknoir in there, so I'm expecting Trick Room, and thus I lead with Metagross and Gastrodon, my team's two slowest members. (Actually, Tyranitar might be a bit slower than Metagross, but whatever.) She leads with Jigglypuff and Dusknoir. I'm unable to KO either one, although I severely dent both. The Jigglypuff (Eviolited, no doubt) uses Gravity, while the Dusknoir uses Trick Room. Next turn, Dusknoir uses Disable and Jigglypuff uses Sing. Wow. Didn't see that one coming. Seems really legit.
I know the best thing for me to do when sleep hits is to not switch out, because usually things like that don't have much offense to speak of, so it's safer to leave them in. And that's exactly what I do; I just leave them in and pick things off. She brings in a Porygon-Z, and as soon as I see that I get a bit worried, so I team on it to kill it ASAP. Good idea. After that's gone, it's smooth sailing from there.
2-0
Haven't lost a match yet, I feel really good about myself! My acquaintances from SoCal (one of them being Josh L, who got 2nd place Masters at States) were quite impressed at my performance. I asked him how he did, and he said he dropped because he was lent a team and found out it was Pokegen'd, so he didn't want to take the risk.
Ruben comes up to me and told me he haxxed some guy for the win this round. I said "now you know how I felt during round 1".
There's no lunch break, so we just keep right on going.
Round 3
My opponent this round ultimately got 3rd place at the end of the day, and he had a very long name that's incredibly hard to pronounce. (I've forgotten it, but I forgot everyone's name.) His team, like pretty much every team I lost to that day, had Zapdos and Garchomp on it. How...bland. However, his team was anything but bland - I see Tyranitar and Abomasnow in his Battle Box and get concerned about what I should be doing. He sees my Battle Box and wonders the exact same thing. This means the psychology is probably working.
I don't remember too much of the match, except I had Excadrill use Swords Dance T1 instead of attack, and that made him unable to do much of anything. I couldn't do a whole lot after that and I ultimately lost, but it was a bit of a close game and I liked the outcome. I wished my opponent best of luck (like I did to all my opponents after every round both days) and went off.
2-1
So I'm not X-0 right now, but I still am doing pretty well. And it wasn't like I got swept or anything, so it's still possible for me to bounce back. And if not? Hey, I'm having fun.
Round 4
This game actually got very interesting, not only because of my own match, but that of the guy next to me. First I'll tell you mine, then my neighbor's.
It's mostly smooth sailing for me, as I don't see any counter-weather, so I lead with TTar/Excadrill to make my life easier. I kill his leads pretty fast - one of which was a Lapras that had Sheer Cold, but it missed, fortunately. I get worried and kill it quick. He then sends out the CrownCune, which knows - of all things - Sheer Cold. And it hit, twice. Bye TTar, and bye Gastrodon. Ouch. I had to kill that thing, and kill it quick. Fortunately, Metagross helped to accomplish that end with Zen Headbutt and Excadrill did his part with Rock Slide, and I take the game before I let Suicune wreak more havoc.
An interesting strategy to be sure, and quite effective as well. Flippy, but Suicune can live long enough to get a few tries off.
3-1
During my game, the guy next to me throws his stylus down on the table in frustration twice, because of parahax and other frustrating things. In the end I have enough time to watch the ending; his last Pokemon is a Garchomp while he's facing a Metagross and Chandelure. Theoretically, he could still win this. Garchomp uses Earthquake and kills the (non-Sashed) Chandelure and severely dents the Metagross, who uses Zen Headbutt and scores a critical hit of all things (more hax), leaving the Garchomp with a smidgen of HP. I stick around to watch the ending...with Metagross using Bullet Punch. hahahahah, gg garchomp
Round 5
Apparently the guy I was sitting across from was attending his first VG tournament. I congratulate him on doing this well for his first tourney. He asks me how people are paired, and I explain that Swiss pairs people with similar records. I peek at his DS and I notice that he's not 3-1, actually - he's 1-3. I ask him if he's sure he's sitting at the right table, and to confirm my suspicions, my actual opponent walks up. (They both had the same first name - Alex.) The other guy moves, my opponent sits down, I jokingly ask him if he's sure he's at the right place, and we begin.
I'm already worried about his Battle Box because he's got Virizion in it. He leads the battle itself with Mamoswine and Zapdos, and I try Gengar/Exca for the Sludge Wave lead. He's apparently never seen that move before (neither did my round 3 opponent) and he found it rather interesting. I kill the Zapdos pretty quickly but not before it set up a Tailwind (ow), and he gets out Virizion. By this point, I'm down to just Gastrodon and Tyranitar. I have to guess whether the Virizion is going to use Giga Drain on Gastro or Close Combat on TTar. I guess CC...and guess wrong. I lose. Ah well, it was bound to happen anyway.
3-2
I walk around the tourney venue, talking some more, tasting my ice cream. (It tastes like fuzz.) I ran into Zero and asked him where he was...he said he made it to top 2. Very impressive. I congratulate him and tell him to win or else. He didn't win, but I was still happy for him.
Round 6
I don't remember this match at all, actually - all I remember is that I was 4-2 afterward, so I must have won. This is about the point where I stop remembering stuff for the day, except that I know I asked Ruben's friends every so often how they were doing. Their records were all very similar to mine, thankfully.
4-2
After this round, I (finally) get a chance to talk to Elesa, and asked her how long the Elesa idea has been in the works. She said she's had the costume for a few months and had worn it to an anime convention several months before...and it did make sense to wear it to a Pokemon tournament, so why not? She mentioned Skyla was her friend (as I assumed, as they were together pretty much the whole day) and they came together. About this time they announced pairings and we somehow got on the subject of fighting Whitney in Crystal with the killer Metronome Clefairy using Hydro Pump against her Quilava who barely survived. Having started with Quilava myself, I know how she felt.
Round 7
My favorite match of the day. My opponent was really talkative and we spent most of the round just laughing and having a good time. He was a really friendly guy and it was a pleasure to meet him. He was even taking notes on my progress for his report, and I think he was impressed by my strategy - especially given the Sludge Wave Gengar lead!
He starts with the event Thundurus and Garchomp and I know I'm already in for a rough time; he gets the double Prankster T-Wave and I go "dangit" because I started with Metagross instead of Excadrill (who came along later). Thundurus is taken out ASAP and replaced with a Staraptor, whereas I lose Gengar and send out Tyranitar. It was a necessary risk since I knew he had Garchomp, but it was a risk I was willing to take. He said that he'd get the hax and Garchomp would start dodging everything, and sure enough, Garchomp dodged 5 out of 6 attacks from then on; we both start laughing. Of the one attack that did hit, however, Rock Slide did flinch, so that was nice.
I said I was a bit stressed so I said I'd have a little ice cream to help. He notices Rod, asks if he can have a taste, and pretends to eat him whole. I say "you jerk " and we have another laugh. In the match itself, he kept tagging out Staraptor for Latios and back again to get a second Intimidate out, and man, that was frustrating. On top of never being able to hit the Garchomp and my defenses slowly being eroded away, I ultimately lost.
4-3
I talk with my opponent a little after the round about how our days went and various other small talk as well. He even asked to take a picture of me with my DS as a souvenir, and I accepted. I did a thumbs-up pose and the picture was taken.
The Kangaskhan guy told me that he was also 4-3, and the possibility existed we would fight each other in the last round. I wanted to, but I didn't get the chance unfortunately.
Round 8
Last round, and we're all a bit tired from the day. This team looked pretty similar to the Round 4 team - no weather control, so I can afford to relax a bit. I think I lead the same way as well. I don't remember much about this match, except he forgot about Gastrodon's Storm Drain and used Scald to give me a boost, and later on, he drops his Arcanine. I expect it to Close Combat Tyranitar, but it's specially oriented...and, much to my surprised, it used Snarl. I didn't see that coming. But it didn't make that much of a difference; Muddy Water was wreaking havoc on the guy. I still thanked my opponent for a good match, as it did keep me on my toes.
5-3
The day's over. First thing I do is find Kangaskhan guy and ask him his record - he said 5-3. Apparently, most of Ruben's crew finished 5-3. Ruben himself finished 3-5, which isn't bad for a team thrown together at the last minute. (It should have been 4-4, because in one he got haxxed to death.)
At this point, the players left were waiting for who the top 4 would be, and when I hear my round 3 opponent's name in 3rd, I'm happy. When they got to the 1st place guy, the person in question got picked up and carried across the crowd of people. Real rock concert moment.
After that I go to hang out with Ruben's crew + Elesa (at this point I found out that Kangaskhan guy already knew her). She went 2-6 unfortunately, which is a bit of a shame, but I'm sure she made her mark (it's not often you see a perfect character get-up like that). A few more words are exchanged and we part ways. Right before we leave, though, my round 7 opponent (great guy) comes up with his "team" of friends and asks Ruben if he can take their picture (he does). Then we all part ways and go home. Great day.
Ruben mentioned that he has a friend who doesn't really believe all that much in EV training and such, so he asked if he could keep my team for a while to go fight this friend when he had a chance, to show her that EV training really does work. I agree and we exchange FCs.
Back at the house, dinner is apparently chicken and tater tots - nothing too over-the-top but it's still filling. Again, I thank them for the dinner; as usual, it was delicious.
I then get reminded that Ruben's uncle plays Magic: The Gathering. This is actually really advantageous; I'd been wanting to play this game for a while and ask if I can; he says yes and we decide to do a 3-way fight, with Ruben and his uncle using their own decks and I using a borrowed pre-made deck (using two cards called Jokalhaups and Lhurgoyf to first wipe the field and then attack with a gigantic creature, who gets attack equal to the # of creatures in all graveyards). The worst part was every time I dropped a Lhurgoyf (it was at least 9/10 every time I did it), it got Counterspell'd. This happened 3 times in one game. Fortunately it didn't happen after that.
Then Ruben gets out the StarCraft board game and asks if I wish to play. He said it wouldn't take too long to play. I look at my watch, see it's about 10.30pm or so, and agree. It was easy to pick up, but it took a lot longer than he said it would - I didn't get to bed until 2.30am. And I don't know if I was too tired to care about the game or if he was mumbling the rulebook, but each time Ruben said 'skirmish', I heard it as 'scrimmage'.
We pay the $8 for parking and head on in; we get there about 9.20am or so and there's already a gigantic line heading out the door. I get in that line ASAP; I think I spent almost 2 hours in that line. VG was much more popular than I thought. While in line I collect StreetPasses (of course) and talk with some guy who said he was from East Bay. I have time to play 2 practice matches against his team, and as soon as I see his lead of choice (Amoonguss + Smeargle), I get pretty scared. I won't say what his Smeargle had, but let's just say you don't want to run into it. I won the first match but lost the second one. Stupid Conkeldurr.
While waiting in line, I look around to see if I can find any people dressed up. In particular, I'm looking for Emmet and Ingo - two twin brothers from Arizona that I met during Long Beach Regionals in November and got along very well with. (I also wanted to tell Emmet I beat him yesterday.) Unfortunately, I saw neither. I'm not surprised, though - it was a long drive even for me, and even longer for them. However, I did see a few cosplayers: a girl about 3 spaces ahead of me in line dressed as Hilda/Touko, and two friends dressed as Elesa and Skyla respectively. All of those costumes were near perfect.
Ruben introduces me to some of his friends, and they all appear to be really cool guys. One guy has a Leafeon hat, and I remember seeing him a few times before. The other guys are just running totally interesting teams; one of them got 5-3 at day's end with a team that used Fake Out Kangaskhan. It's got Scrappy. Take THAT, Chandelure.
I don't think the tournament actually started until 11.30am. I got sad that I couldn't face off against Zero, because he was in TCG top-cut (which was being held at the same time). I think he was sad too. He asked what garbage I was running this time, and I said it was organized garbage, but different from last time. I showed him my team and he was quite impressed.
Time to start.
Round 1
The guy I fought Round 1 said he hadn't played in a Regionals since 2009 in Fremont. It was still the same team he ran then, but he said he got top 4 with it, so at the very least it was a competent team. His battle box loads, and I only see 4 Pokemon - Hippowdon, Aerodactyl, Swampert, and Bronzong. I'm a bit relieved here; it means I don't need to waste too much time setting Sandstorm up as he'll do that for me. I manage to lead with my trademark Gengar+Excadrill and get to work. I get rid of his Aerodactyl pretty quickly, which he replaces with Bronzong.
I manage to get Excadrill+Gastrodon out, and something strange happens - Excadrill uses Rock Slide and makes both targets flinch, and Gastrodon used Muddy Water and scored a critical hit on both targets. OUCH. I won the match in the end, but I told my opponent that I felt really really bad after the match for winning by hax. I think if it had kept going, I would have won anyway, but that just made things go by way too fast.
I think before the match began, I took Rod (Vanillite) out, and since I couldn't balance him on his own, I had him lean back on my 3DS and said he was chilling. And then I realized I accidentally made a funny. I cracked up.
1-0
I pick Rod up, leave my table, and pretend to be licking the back of his head. I walk around pretty much all day in between rounds doing this, just to see who will notice. Just like that, some Seniors notice me and say "Dude, that guy has ice cream!" and that sparked a 10-minute conversation. I think at least 3 people complemented me on my ice cream that way.
I find out that, although Elesa is playing in the tournament, Skyla is not - since her team wasn't ready. That's a bit of a pity. Ruben was hanging out with his friends + Elesa at the end of pretty much each round; I wonder why that is and I later find out at day's end that Elesa was a friend of his friend (who had the Fake Out Kangaskhan). That explains a lot.
Round 2
This woman is wearing a Jigglypuff shirt, has a crocheted Jigglypuff doll that she sets on the table, and has a Jigglypuff in her Battle Box. Seems legit.
I also see a Dusknoir in there, so I'm expecting Trick Room, and thus I lead with Metagross and Gastrodon, my team's two slowest members. (Actually, Tyranitar might be a bit slower than Metagross, but whatever.) She leads with Jigglypuff and Dusknoir. I'm unable to KO either one, although I severely dent both. The Jigglypuff (Eviolited, no doubt) uses Gravity, while the Dusknoir uses Trick Room. Next turn, Dusknoir uses Disable and Jigglypuff uses Sing. Wow. Didn't see that one coming. Seems really legit.
I know the best thing for me to do when sleep hits is to not switch out, because usually things like that don't have much offense to speak of, so it's safer to leave them in. And that's exactly what I do; I just leave them in and pick things off. She brings in a Porygon-Z, and as soon as I see that I get a bit worried, so I team on it to kill it ASAP. Good idea. After that's gone, it's smooth sailing from there.
2-0
Haven't lost a match yet, I feel really good about myself! My acquaintances from SoCal (one of them being Josh L, who got 2nd place Masters at States) were quite impressed at my performance. I asked him how he did, and he said he dropped because he was lent a team and found out it was Pokegen'd, so he didn't want to take the risk.
Ruben comes up to me and told me he haxxed some guy for the win this round. I said "now you know how I felt during round 1".
There's no lunch break, so we just keep right on going.
Round 3
My opponent this round ultimately got 3rd place at the end of the day, and he had a very long name that's incredibly hard to pronounce. (I've forgotten it, but I forgot everyone's name.) His team, like pretty much every team I lost to that day, had Zapdos and Garchomp on it. How...bland. However, his team was anything but bland - I see Tyranitar and Abomasnow in his Battle Box and get concerned about what I should be doing. He sees my Battle Box and wonders the exact same thing. This means the psychology is probably working.
I don't remember too much of the match, except I had Excadrill use Swords Dance T1 instead of attack, and that made him unable to do much of anything. I couldn't do a whole lot after that and I ultimately lost, but it was a bit of a close game and I liked the outcome. I wished my opponent best of luck (like I did to all my opponents after every round both days) and went off.
2-1
So I'm not X-0 right now, but I still am doing pretty well. And it wasn't like I got swept or anything, so it's still possible for me to bounce back. And if not? Hey, I'm having fun.
Round 4
This game actually got very interesting, not only because of my own match, but that of the guy next to me. First I'll tell you mine, then my neighbor's.
It's mostly smooth sailing for me, as I don't see any counter-weather, so I lead with TTar/Excadrill to make my life easier. I kill his leads pretty fast - one of which was a Lapras that had Sheer Cold, but it missed, fortunately. I get worried and kill it quick. He then sends out the CrownCune, which knows - of all things - Sheer Cold. And it hit, twice. Bye TTar, and bye Gastrodon. Ouch. I had to kill that thing, and kill it quick. Fortunately, Metagross helped to accomplish that end with Zen Headbutt and Excadrill did his part with Rock Slide, and I take the game before I let Suicune wreak more havoc.
An interesting strategy to be sure, and quite effective as well. Flippy, but Suicune can live long enough to get a few tries off.
3-1
During my game, the guy next to me throws his stylus down on the table in frustration twice, because of parahax and other frustrating things. In the end I have enough time to watch the ending; his last Pokemon is a Garchomp while he's facing a Metagross and Chandelure. Theoretically, he could still win this. Garchomp uses Earthquake and kills the (non-Sashed) Chandelure and severely dents the Metagross, who uses Zen Headbutt and scores a critical hit of all things (more hax), leaving the Garchomp with a smidgen of HP. I stick around to watch the ending...with Metagross using Bullet Punch. hahahahah, gg garchomp
Round 5
Apparently the guy I was sitting across from was attending his first VG tournament. I congratulate him on doing this well for his first tourney. He asks me how people are paired, and I explain that Swiss pairs people with similar records. I peek at his DS and I notice that he's not 3-1, actually - he's 1-3. I ask him if he's sure he's sitting at the right table, and to confirm my suspicions, my actual opponent walks up. (They both had the same first name - Alex.) The other guy moves, my opponent sits down, I jokingly ask him if he's sure he's at the right place, and we begin.
I'm already worried about his Battle Box because he's got Virizion in it. He leads the battle itself with Mamoswine and Zapdos, and I try Gengar/Exca for the Sludge Wave lead. He's apparently never seen that move before (neither did my round 3 opponent) and he found it rather interesting. I kill the Zapdos pretty quickly but not before it set up a Tailwind (ow), and he gets out Virizion. By this point, I'm down to just Gastrodon and Tyranitar. I have to guess whether the Virizion is going to use Giga Drain on Gastro or Close Combat on TTar. I guess CC...and guess wrong. I lose. Ah well, it was bound to happen anyway.
3-2
I walk around the tourney venue, talking some more, tasting my ice cream. (It tastes like fuzz.) I ran into Zero and asked him where he was...he said he made it to top 2. Very impressive. I congratulate him and tell him to win or else. He didn't win, but I was still happy for him.
Round 6
I don't remember this match at all, actually - all I remember is that I was 4-2 afterward, so I must have won. This is about the point where I stop remembering stuff for the day, except that I know I asked Ruben's friends every so often how they were doing. Their records were all very similar to mine, thankfully.
4-2
After this round, I (finally) get a chance to talk to Elesa, and asked her how long the Elesa idea has been in the works. She said she's had the costume for a few months and had worn it to an anime convention several months before...and it did make sense to wear it to a Pokemon tournament, so why not? She mentioned Skyla was her friend (as I assumed, as they were together pretty much the whole day) and they came together. About this time they announced pairings and we somehow got on the subject of fighting Whitney in Crystal with the killer Metronome Clefairy using Hydro Pump against her Quilava who barely survived. Having started with Quilava myself, I know how she felt.
Round 7
My favorite match of the day. My opponent was really talkative and we spent most of the round just laughing and having a good time. He was a really friendly guy and it was a pleasure to meet him. He was even taking notes on my progress for his report, and I think he was impressed by my strategy - especially given the Sludge Wave Gengar lead!
He starts with the event Thundurus and Garchomp and I know I'm already in for a rough time; he gets the double Prankster T-Wave and I go "dangit" because I started with Metagross instead of Excadrill (who came along later). Thundurus is taken out ASAP and replaced with a Staraptor, whereas I lose Gengar and send out Tyranitar. It was a necessary risk since I knew he had Garchomp, but it was a risk I was willing to take. He said that he'd get the hax and Garchomp would start dodging everything, and sure enough, Garchomp dodged 5 out of 6 attacks from then on; we both start laughing. Of the one attack that did hit, however, Rock Slide did flinch, so that was nice.
I said I was a bit stressed so I said I'd have a little ice cream to help. He notices Rod, asks if he can have a taste, and pretends to eat him whole. I say "you jerk
" and we have another laugh. In the match itself, he kept tagging out Staraptor for Latios and back again to get a second Intimidate out, and man, that was frustrating. On top of never being able to hit the Garchomp and my defenses slowly being eroded away, I ultimately lost.4-3
I talk with my opponent a little after the round about how our days went and various other small talk as well. He even asked to take a picture of me with my DS as a souvenir, and I accepted. I did a thumbs-up pose and the picture was taken.
The Kangaskhan guy told me that he was also 4-3, and the possibility existed we would fight each other in the last round. I wanted to, but I didn't get the chance unfortunately.
Round 8
Last round, and we're all a bit tired from the day. This team looked pretty similar to the Round 4 team - no weather control, so I can afford to relax a bit. I think I lead the same way as well. I don't remember much about this match, except he forgot about Gastrodon's Storm Drain and used Scald to give me a boost, and later on, he drops his Arcanine. I expect it to Close Combat Tyranitar, but it's specially oriented...and, much to my surprised, it used Snarl. I didn't see that coming. But it didn't make that much of a difference; Muddy Water was wreaking havoc on the guy. I still thanked my opponent for a good match, as it did keep me on my toes.
5-3
The day's over. First thing I do is find Kangaskhan guy and ask him his record - he said 5-3. Apparently, most of Ruben's crew finished 5-3. Ruben himself finished 3-5, which isn't bad for a team thrown together at the last minute. (It should have been 4-4, because in one he got haxxed to death.)
At this point, the players left were waiting for who the top 4 would be, and when I hear my round 3 opponent's name in 3rd, I'm happy. When they got to the 1st place guy, the person in question got picked up and carried across the crowd of people. Real rock concert moment.
After that I go to hang out with Ruben's crew + Elesa (at this point I found out that Kangaskhan guy already knew her). She went 2-6 unfortunately, which is a bit of a shame, but I'm sure she made her mark (it's not often you see a perfect character get-up like that). A few more words are exchanged and we part ways. Right before we leave, though, my round 7 opponent (great guy) comes up with his "team" of friends and asks Ruben if he can take their picture (he does). Then we all part ways and go home. Great day.
Ruben mentioned that he has a friend who doesn't really believe all that much in EV training and such, so he asked if he could keep my team for a while to go fight this friend when he had a chance, to show her that EV training really does work. I agree and we exchange FCs.
Back at the house, dinner is apparently chicken and tater tots - nothing too over-the-top but it's still filling. Again, I thank them for the dinner; as usual, it was delicious.
I then get reminded that Ruben's uncle plays Magic: The Gathering. This is actually really advantageous; I'd been wanting to play this game for a while and ask if I can; he says yes and we decide to do a 3-way fight, with Ruben and his uncle using their own decks and I using a borrowed pre-made deck (using two cards called Jokalhaups and Lhurgoyf to first wipe the field and then attack with a gigantic creature, who gets attack equal to the # of creatures in all graveyards). The worst part was every time I dropped a Lhurgoyf (it was at least 9/10 every time I did it), it got Counterspell'd. This happened 3 times in one game. Fortunately it didn't happen after that.
Then Ruben gets out the StarCraft board game and asks if I wish to play. He said it wouldn't take too long to play. I look at my watch, see it's about 10.30pm or so, and agree. It was easy to pick up, but it took a lot longer than he said it would - I didn't get to bed until 2.30am. And I don't know if I was too tired to care about the game or if he was mumbling the rulebook, but each time Ruben said 'skirmish', I heard it as 'scrimmage'.
~Monday~ (Headed home)
I probably should have charged my 3DS that night. I didn't think about it and didn't want to because I was too tired, but the next morning it had only enough battery power for about 15 minutes of surfing the Internet. Bleh, oh well.
I wake up at 9, but Ruben isn't up until 11...not even Rod was able to wake him up fully.. His aunt gives us some food for the ride home (I make another 3 sandwiches) since our food stores are nearly depleted, and at about 11.45am we're on the ride home.
We don't get home until 8pm, and we make two stops: once for sleep and coffee, the other for gas. During this time I get out my Final Fantasy VI Advance game and try to make some progress - Ruben loves FF6 so he liked seeing it. At the time I was only one scenario behind the opera house, which I've heard was absolutely amazing.
They were right, dangit. Darkness and Starlight is BEAUTIFUL.
And, of course, Ultros the top-class ham makes his appearance. I liked it when Locke + Ultros appeared on the stage to make their appearance, and they go right along with the play. But overall, from start to finish, that was one of the greatest scenes I've ever seen. I wish I could replay that part forever, but it's more important for me to finish FF6, so ah well. And Setzer has a pretty awesome theme song as well.
I wake up at 9, but Ruben isn't up until 11...not even Rod was able to wake him up fully.. His aunt gives us some food for the ride home (I make another 3 sandwiches) since our food stores are nearly depleted, and at about 11.45am we're on the ride home.
We don't get home until 8pm, and we make two stops: once for sleep and coffee, the other for gas. During this time I get out my Final Fantasy VI Advance game and try to make some progress - Ruben loves FF6 so he liked seeing it. At the time I was only one scenario behind the opera house, which I've heard was absolutely amazing.
They were right, dangit. Darkness and Starlight is BEAUTIFUL.
And, of course, Ultros the top-class ham makes his appearance. I liked it when Locke + Ultros appeared on the stage to make their appearance, and they go right along with the play. But overall, from start to finish, that was one of the greatest scenes I've ever seen. I wish I could replay that part forever, but it's more important for me to finish FF6, so ah well. And Setzer has a pretty awesome theme song as well.
~End~ (because, once again, I said so)
So...in the end, this weekend was utterly fantastic. Ruben's family were awesome and hospitable, and Ruben liked having me along for the weekend - he told me he didn't want to go up here and have no one to go with, so he was glad to have me along. And he gave me a great compliment: he said I'm one of two people besides himself that he would trust to drive his car. And I don't even have my license yet. Wow. I was flattered.
Hope you enjoyed the read, guys, and maybe I've inspired some of you to traverse the world in search of tournaments and/or cosplayers to get more StreetPasses than you could ever dream of!
