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Where are you from?
I am from a small town called Manito, IllinoisIs there a lot of Pokemon there?
There are five of us. Four of us. It depends, some of them go back and forth.
What year are you in school? How old are you?
I am 21, and I'm going to be a senior in college.
Where are you going to school and what's your major?
I'm going to Bradley University and I am a Civil Engineering student.
Can you tell us about your history with the Pokemon Trading Card Game?
Absolutely! My first tournament was actually Nationals in 2009. I had no idea what I was doing. A friend of mine, Cole Bernhardt, walked up to me in school one day and he said Hey, there's a Pokemon tournament we should go to, it kind of looks fun! And we didn't know anything about it, we just kind of went in there blind. He was playing VGC at the time, and I think my current TCG deck was Beautifly from, I want to say Legends Awakened or Stormfront? I think that shows how well adjusted I was to the game. And so I go to Nationals, I don't know how anything works. I assume it's double elimination, so I lose two and then I just stop. Yeah, that was my first tournament.After that we started attending events in Rantoul because that was the closest place to us, an hour and forty minute drive, but we thought it was worth it. We enjoyed it, it was fun. We started attending Prereleases and City Championships, and then we started going down to St. Louis for their Regional tournament, so that was my first tournament where I actually knew what was going on. I played Charizard from Arceus, so that's my favorite deck from that format. So I kept going and I just kept playing!
So you've been playing since 2009, which means you've been playing for more than six years. What has kept you playing this game for so long?
Just all the people I meet. I mean, I've met so many people through this game. I enjoy this game so much. Not to mention I'm pretty heavily invested in it, financially, so it'd take a little bit to get me out of it.
Have you ever tried to get a Worlds Invitation?
Not too seriously. I usually only go to Pokemon events when I have time between school and work. Also when I have money to afford them. Traveling takes a lot out of my wallet, so that's also a negative.
What's the farthest you've ever traveled for a tournament?
Wisconsin. We went to Madison Regionals.
How far of a drive is that?
It was about three and a half hours out to the house we were staying at, which was Brandon's house, and then it was another forty five or fifty minutes on top of that to get to the actual venue.
So four hours is probably your limit for how far you will travel?
Usually my limit for how far I'll travel is how far the people going with me will travel. I'm always down for a road trip but we usually cut it off at three [hours]. Usually I think Indianapolis for Nationals, or Chicago, is as far as we'll want to go.
So even if we had a car going to Philly would you go?
I would probably go, I don't think anyone else from this area would go.
Are there any big matches that stick out to you from all the years that you've played?
Nationals 2011. I was currently 5-1 at this point and I was playing against some guy, I don't know his name, I don't even remember what he was playing, but I was playing Reshiboar with a 2-2 RDL, and I start out terribly. And somehow I come back: in one turn I got an RDL (Rayquaza & Deoxys Legend) all set up, and in two turns I'd taken four prizes to tie him at one, and then I topdeck my last energy, which was the last card in deck, and I Inferno Fandango with Fisherman in hand and I take my last prize and the guy was super salty. There was a bunch of people watching it too. All my friends I went there with, they [had] finished their matches, and it just so happened that it [my match] was at the end of one of the tables. I kind of looked over and seven of the eight people I knew at the tournament were just standing there watching me. That was a pretty fun moment.
What is your favorite card that's ever been printed?
I really like Spiritomb, I think it was from [Platinum:] Arceus too. That was a really fun card, that was the basis of most of my rogue-level decks back in the day. But I have to say my favorite card was probably Pichu from HeartGold SoulSilver.
What decks did you play that in?
I played that in The Truth for a while, I played that in Vileplume/Cobalion/Serperior, which I want to say I actually went 6-3 at a Regionals with it. I bubbled out, so that was fun.
So what's your favorite deck that you've ever played with?
Blastoise, definitely Blastoise from 2013. I loved that deck so much, and then they made Virizion/Genesect which kind of just wrecked me.
You should have just played RayBoar!
I tried, I didn't like it so much.
What's your greatest achievement in the Pokemon Trading Card Game?
With Blastoise at 2013 Fort Wayne Regionals, I started out 0-2, and then I had a seven win-streak to make Day Two. It was a Top 32 with five rounds of Swiss and all five rounds were against a Virizion/Genesect deck, so I went 0-4-1 Day Two.
Hey, you tied one!
Yeah I did tie one! The guy actually scooped because he said he had a call from work coming.
You lose some, you tie some, that's what they say. So what are your hobbies outside of Pokemon?
I disc golf a lot. I usually go at least six, seven times a week.
It's like golf, but instead of hitting a ball you throw a plastic aerodynamic disc, and it's literally just like golf, you try to make it into a basket.
Interesting, does the wind affect that?
Oh yeah, I currently carry twenty four discs in my bag, they all fly differently, they all have to be flown differently, they all have different flight paths through the wind and everything.
Are you living in Peoria? Is that where Bradley is?
Bradley is in Peoria, I currently live at home [in Manito].
Is there a large disc golfing community in Manito or Peoria, wherever you disc golf?
There is a very large community in Peoria, I'm actually entering my first couple tournaments in a week or two. The Peoria area has six full-length disc golf courses, three of which are in the top fifteen in Illinois. It's pretty nice.
What would you do if there was no such thing as Pokemon?
I hate to say it, but I would probably be playing another trading card game. I don't want to say it would be Yugioh, but I like it more than Magic. If Dragon Ball Z, the card game, was around when I started playing Pokemon, I'd probably be playing that. I've been picking that up lately, it's pretty fun. I don't have enough money for it but it's pretty fun.
What decks do you think you will play next year in Standard and Expanded?
In Standard, I know it's not going to be good but I've been testing Mega Gallade with Forretess, I like it a lot. I think Vespiquen has potential, and I really like Mega Tyranitar but it seems kind of clunky.
In Expanded, it really depends if they actually make a ban list. If they don't, I think the only two possible plays are either Shiftry or like Wobbuffet, just because I've been testing Shiftry. I've got like ninety percent accuracy of going off turn one, and I think the only way it's going to lose is if they flip over Wobbuffet.
Do you think Gallade works better with Forretress or bats?
I like it better with Forretress because ten on everything. I also play two Absols in it, and the math works out really well with [hitting] Shaymins.
Do you think Tyranitar works better in Expanded with Dark Patches?
Oh definitely, it would be a lot better in Expanded.
Who do you test with the most, and do you play online?
I usually test with Cole or Evan, because they're one of the few people around here who actually play. I usually play about two hours on TCGOne.net per day.
What is your favorite Pokemon?
Snorlax.
Last question: do you have any shoutouts?
Cole Bernhardt, Evan Hopkins, Michael Patterson and Tater Tot.
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Thanks for the interview Allen!
Glossary:
Prerelease- A Prerelease is an event that takes place a couple weeks before the release of a set. Each player pays $30 and builds a deck from six packs of the upcoming set. At the end of the event, each player receives two more packs. You can read more about that here.
City Championships- City Championships, commonly known as "Cities", are the smallest level of tournament other than League Challenges. Winning a Cities gets you one sixth of the way towards an invitation to the World Championships, so they are a very competitive event. You can read more about them here.
Platinum: Arceus- Platinum: Arceus was the fourth and final set released in the Platinum expansion in the winter of 2009. It was centered around the God-like Pokemon Arceus, but unfortunately only two cards from the set were ever played in real decks: Expert Belt and Spiritomb. The set rotated in record time after the midseason rotation in 2011.
Worlds Invitation- At the end of a year's cycle of Pokemon, top players in both the Pokemon TCG and the VGC qualify for an exclusive, invitation-only event. This years Worlds is in Boston this August, but past locations include Florida, British Columbia, California, D.C., and even Hawaii!
In general, one must do very well at tournaments throughout the year to receive the prestigious invitation to the World Championships. Past Worlds invitees from the C-U area include Damien Hardy, Daniel Bernstein, and Josh Wittenkeller.
"Nationals"- Every year, in early July, all players with at least fifteen Play! Points are welcome to come out to Indianapolis for the annual National Championships. The stakes are high, with the winner taking home an extraordinary amount of packs. The top eight also receive an invitation to that year's World Championships. U.S. Nationals always has the highest attendance of any tournament. At this year's Nationals there were over 900 players!
"RDL"- Rayquaza & Deoxys Legend (nicknamed "RDL") from the HS: Undaunted set saw play in just one type of deck at U.S. Nationals in 2011. RDL's Poke-BODY let it take extra prizes from knockouts, and it was a common inclusion in Emboar decks since it was easier to get four energy accelerated onto it.The Truth- The Truth was the name of the new rogue deck that Ross Cawthon piloted to 2nd Place at the World Championships in 2011. The deck ran Vileplume to lock Items, Reuniclus to make it so that nothing ever got knocked out, and many, many other cards. The deck ran Pichu HS to set up along with Twins to draw cards once the Pichu went down.
Blastoise- Blastoise decks revolved around using Blastoise BCR to accelerate Water energy, in a similar manner to Emboar. Popular attackers with Blastoise included Black Kyurem EX and Keldeo EX.
Virizion/Genesect- Virizion/Genesect is a deck that uses Virizion EX to accelerate energy with the Emerald Slash attack to load up several Genesect EX to deal some big damage. The deck won the World Championship in 2014 and the Houston Regional Championships in the same year, but it has been in decline ever since.
RayBoar- RayBoar is a deck that used Emboar BLW to accelerate Fire Energy to load up Rayquaza EX. The deck also ran Delphox as an alternate attacker and to draw extra cards.
Day Two- Normally after the Swiss rounds of a tournament have ended, the top eight players face off in single-elimination rounds, commonly known as the top cut. However, this system is not adequate with a very high amount of players. At events with over 256 players, there is a Day Two. One Day One, nine rounds of Swiss are played. Then, the top 32 players continue onto Day Two, where they play five more rounds of Swiss before cutting to a Top Eight.
This format is usually used at large Regionals. However, Texas States had a Day Two this year because of how large it was! At Nationals, the Top 64 players move onto Day Two.
Standard vs Expanded- The Standard format changes every year, and for the upcoming season will include every set released from the XY block, including the Kalos Starter Set. Feel free to ask a league member if a card is Standard-legal! The Expanded format consists of every set released since the base set of Black & White, but you don't need to worry about that unless you are traveling to a Regional tournament.
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