Chicago Trainer Showdown Report

Arlington Heights Hilton Convention Center

Our whole family travelled from St. Paul, MN to Chicago for the Trainer Showdown. My kids David (12), Jacob (10), and Nathan (9) were the competitors. My daughter Rachel (turns 6 at the end of July, sadly) and I (34) were excluded from the main festivities.

As mentioned by others, the most surprising thing about the Showdown was that it was not sanctioned. What was unclear from the initial directions was that the side DCI event had a scheduled time (2:00) and would not be running throughout the day. A more pleasant surprise was the presence of four "masters" that anyone could play: if you won, you came away with two booster packs; if you lost, you got one pack as a consolation.

David and Nathan were playing with Haymakers (David had a modified version of the tri-color suggested on the Pokegym; Nathan had one we've been working on for a couple of months with some new Kangaskhans added). Jacob was armed with the Turbo Blastoise he's been playing for a couple months. All three kids were battle-hardened veterans of six tournaments at Mirkwood Coffee and Games here in Minnesota (versus kids and adults). Rounds were 20 minutes (as per usual DCI suggested format). We figured they'd do well; I wasn't disappointed.

I had intended to do an actual round by round report, but I immediately started a trade with a guy named Ben prior to the rounds starting. It turns out he was from Minneapolis, MN! I spent most of the time trading and playing the masters (as did my daughter). I got notes from the kids afterwards. They remembered little, as they were busy opening packs...

THE SHOWDOWN: Nathan opened his first round with an active Hitmonchan, with Dratini and Kangaskhan on the bench, against a first-timer. Jacob opened with an active Chansey with his Squirtle waiting to power up by turn two against a lonely Nidoran. David was just thrilled to win. Each child dispatched his opponent with ease (and Nathan dispatched his opponent to trade me some cards), a trend that continued throughout the day. Each brother went 6-0. I was quite pleased that the judges asked the at the beginning if the brothers wanted to play each other. I said no, as did 2 of the kids (Jacob was quite displeased).

There were a LARGE number of first time players: some just purchased a prebuilt deck from the product stand and went at it. Most had some kind of deck. More realistic than the 6-0 blowouts were reports from the siblings of people I was trading with--if you had a focused strategy in the deck, you were likely to come out 4-2 or 5-1. If you had nothing, you were going to be hurting at the end of the day.

THE SIDE ACTIVITIES: I was a trading machine. I had two boxes of Jungle that the kids and I ripped open for decks and trades two days prior to the showdown. We used them to score many foils I needed, as well as elusive Traders, Breeders, SERs, etc. (when you support 5 decks, you need cards). The most satisfying activity of the day for me was taking down a guy named E.J. in order to demonstrate the inherent frustration of playing with fire. Don't get me wrong--that wasn't the satisfying part. What we did afterwards was to take apart his fighting/fire deck piece by piece and explain what works (card access, card advantage, focused strategy, etc.). We threw out the fire, pumped up his Hitmonchans, got in the four Bills, and even splashed in his original Charizard (difficult to run with, but not impossible). We had a nice audience for this bit of deck construction fun, and then went at it again (versus my Mr. Mime deck). I was annihilated. Then with a gleam in his eye, he went after the Masters (think he went 1-1). He was pleased, I was pleased, and in general the atmosphere was relaxed.

I got to play "Minneapolis Ben" later in the morning--that was good and came down to the wire (again, with my eternal-experiment Nidorama deck). I think I squeaked this one out and decked him. The same thing happened against one of the masters--I went gangbusters at the beginning, then stalled in the middle, then hung on for dear life and decked him (this was a Master playing with electricity). Against the other master I played, I got a bit hammered (he had a Haymaker), and eventually decked myself (he would have won easily on prizes anyway). Scored three packs, though. Rachel went up against the Masters with her Venusaur deck; she didn't win, but she did give them a good scare and she scored some good packs. She had fun trading with the other kids watching the episodes they were showing, but she was disappointed in not being able to play more games. I felt her pain--I really wanted to be in a DCI event at the same time that my kids were playing.

In the end Rachel and I were cheered by two words: Yaohan Mall (also in Arlington Heights). If you go to Chicago, you must visit this all-Japanese mall. We ate a ton of food, bought some Japanese Pokemon boosters, and had a whale of a time.

If they do this again next year (and the nomenclature of the event would indicate that they will be considering it), they really ought to do the following:

1) Reduce the entry fee. Wizards may be hurting for cash after buying Gamekeepers, but c'mon--these are 6 to 12 year-olds battling it out--not Pro Tour veterans. $15 is too much, especially given the neophyte playing levels of some entrants. Knock it back to $5, find a cheaper venue, and don't put the hurt on the wallet that much.

2) Run a morning and afternoon DCI sanctioned event. We really missed out on not being able to be there all day for the afternoon DCI event.

3) Keep the "Masters versus everybody" thing. That was a main attraction in being able to possibly take down Wizards' own players. Very nice idea.

4) The side stuff (DVD episodes running all day and the merchandise) were a big hit.

The Minneapolis stop of the Mall Tour stops by here in a couple weeks. Should be a fun time; this time, we'll go to play all day and my wife can enjoy some peace and quiet at home. :)

--Tony Vasquez

Mirkwood Pokemon Gym Leader