-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Tropical Mega Battle 2001
By Edo (edo_hrzic@hotmail.com)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Once again, the Tropical Mega Battle (TMB for short) was held in
sunny, downtown Honolulu, Hawai'i, on August 25th and 26th. The
place was the Hilton Hawai'ian Village. This year's TMB marked
the third one for players of Pokemon around the world. Children
from the United States, Japan, Italy, Germany, and other
countries were invited to Hawai'i for a two-day extravaganza of
battling, and inter-cultural exchange.
The Pokemon Company was the host for the event. Wizards of the
Coast, who does not run the Tropical Mega Battle, was asked to
assist with the event, which they happily agreed.
----------| Day 01:
Unlike the first and second years of the TMB, this year's TMB
didn't have much to offer in the form of games. The first day
was for touring of the different countries. What followed was a
lunch, then later in the evening was free-battling from eight
o'clock to eleven o'clock.
Since I didn't know about that until later, I went to get
something to eat at a local shop, then did some wandering around,
whereupon I found Ron Foster (Pokemon card game translator, and
currently the territory manager for Japan and Korea) and Michael
Gills, who were chatting. They were waiting for the lunch room
to close before a meeting was supposed to start in that same
room. The meeting would concern the how to deal with problems of
any sort that would happen on the second day's festivities.
I waited outside the room for lack of better things to do, while
I started with some other notes. While I was waiting, some
Japanese individuals came out of the room, and sat a ways over to
my right, talking amongst themselves. Then, after a short while,
another Japanese individual came around. After talking to the
others for a bit, he cam over and greeted me.
The infamous Imakuni (no question mark since he was out of
costume) once again remembered me.
["Long time no see,"] he said.
["Yes, it has,"] I replied.
For around a half hour, Imakuni and I talked about various
things. I asked him about some good cities in Japan. We talked
about some other card games, which brought the subject to Harry
Potter, since Wizards of the Coast just recently released it.
I'm not a Harry Potter fan, but Imakuni asked if I had read any
of the books. I hadn't, but he had read the first two. He was
waiting for the movie to come out so that he could compare it to
the book to see what was changed.
I went back to my car to get a present for him - a Birthday
Pikachu, whereupon I met Imakuni's significant other, Nori
Yamamoto. All three of us talked a bit.
The meeting finished, and Imakuni and Yamamoto had to go back to
their rooms, so I went to get something else to eat before
returning for the free-battle.
A little after eight o'clock, I went to the free-battle room,
where some people had already started playing. I waited there
for a little while when I was greeted by an individual, who would
be known as Steve Perucca. He had known me from the Internet,
and the VS translations that he printed from my homepage. Mr.
Gills also showed up to start playing against all challengers. I
also met Jason Imperiale.
The room was beginning to fill up, and I started taking some
pictures. Mr. Gills then asked for me to take some pictures with
his camera as well. I couldn't promise any good pictures, since
my photographic skills are below-average at best. I took about
ten pictures for him, and handed back the camera, as there isn't
many pictures one can take of the same thing over and over again.
Mr. Gills games weren't going so well, since the decks he was
playing were based on the Modified format, whereas everyone else
was using the TMB format. I decided to play my Ninetales-
Fireblast deck (which was also based on the restrictions from the
TMB, but not the fifteen Trainer card limit), but failed due to
Mr. Gill's deck that was NOT based on the TMB format. Energy
Removals hit hard, and I ran out of cards when using Professor
Oak after Professor Oak to get what I needed. I was offered a
card from his promo stack, and I picked up a Prerelease Clefable
(though slightly marred on the back). I gave him a badge that I
made with my own button machine at home.
During the game, I talked with Mr. Gills about year three of the
Pokemon League. He couldn't go into too much detail, but he
stated that year three would be composed of tournaments. There
wouldn't be any badges, but promo cards would still be given out.
The second game was against Jason Imperiale and his Nidoking
deck. I was doing okay at first, but my lack of playing and
deck-building skills reached its peak, and I lost that game as
well. I handed over another of my badges.
Imakuni? showed up to play, and I watched a few of his games with
the other players. He was using some of the new VS cards in his
deck.
The room closed at eleven o'clock and I retreated home for a good
night's rest. The next day's festivities would begin around
eight o'clock in the morning.
----------| Day 02:
I arrived at the Hilton around eight-thirty, and a number of the
staff were already in the conference room. It wasn't long before
the remaining players and staff filtered in for the event to
start. Johanna Cox, Wizards of the Coast Event Manager, gave me
her business card so that I could forward a copy of this report
to her before being released publicly.
At first, Mr. Takahashi stood up and read that standard
congratulatory speech for the players who made it to the event,
which was in English. Keith Strohm then was given the microphone
to also give his words of encouragement and congratulations to
the players.
The players were to hand in their constructed decks to the
Japanese staff for checking, while they played in the first
event.
All of the players and their countries were called, whereupon
they stood up.
The first event of the day was the VS tournament; each player was
given a deck of 30 VS cards in their native language! Since they
are not available outside of Japan at the current time, it would
make an excellent collector's item. For those that have some
Japanese VS cards, most of the cards were available in the
Japanese VS Movie pack (the one with Team Rocket's Tyranitar),
except for the exclusive Tropical Breeze card (Flip 1 coin. If
heads, remove up to 2 damage counters from each player's Active
Pokemon; if tails, each player's Active Pokemon is now Asleep).
For the VS decks, each player would play with only three Prize
cards, to denote the smaller deck format. This should not be a
surprise; it was the same with the Two-Player Pokemon Starter Set
which is released by Wizards of the Coast. In addition, the
first player would NOT draw a card during his or her first draw
phase. Three rounds would be played of these VS cards.
The first round went relatively smoothly, but when it was
revealed that one of the cards has a misprint on it, as compared
to the other countries' versions, the first round had to be re-
played. This turned out to be a reversal of fortune; the three
American players that had lost on the first round actually won on
the re-played first round. This was not just the Americans; for
most of the players, the ones that lost on the first round ended
winning in the re-played round.
When the VS games were completed, it was time for a lunch break.
I was invited by Mr. Foster and Mr. Gills to join some of the
Wizards staff for lunch. We went to a Japanese restaurant right
next to the Hilton, where I has Katsu-Don (breaded pork and egg,
all on top of rice). We all then headed back to the conference
room, where the constructed deck event would be initiated.
The decks were handed back to their respective owners. Some had
to be slightly modified, as they were illegal. Those that needed
to be changed were simply over the fifteen Trainer limit
regulation. However, all the decks had been outfitted with gold-
colored Pocket Monster card sleeves. Three rounds would be
played, then the top eight would face off.
As I was taking some pictures, I began to notice the decks. Some
of them included Blaine's Fire Decks, Nidoking (Jason
Imperiale's), Psychic, Blastoise (even though it was a restricted
card in this event), Damage Swap, and some Water/Colorless decks,
among others.
One problem that came up during play was Blaine's Charizard,
which is different in the Japanese version. The original
Japanese card's first attack discards only the Fire Energy cards
that are not used to pay for the attack's energy cost. Non-
Japanese ones discard all of the Fire Energy cards attached to
it, thus doing more damage.
The top eight came down to: Sheng Zheng, Michael Perucca, Jorge
Figueiredo, Ryosuke Araki, Andy Diedrich, Dillon Jarman, Jason
Imperiale, and Michael Baia.
The top eight players would play in a three-round, single
elimination tournament.
In the end, it would come down to Jorge Figueiredo and Andy
Diedrich for the final battle. As I was handed the decks for the
other contestants, and proceeded writing them down, I was unable
to watch the match commence. But Jorge's Rocket's Zapdos, a key
card that helped him win other games, came through for him and
let him win the event.
The decks for the remaining six finishers include:
-----| Sheng Zheng
1 Mr. Mime 3 Pokemon Breeder
1 Cleffa 1 Gold Berry
2 Steelix 1 Professor Elm
2 Dark Blastoise 3 Professor Oak
1 Blastoise 4 Computer Search
1 Wartortle 1 Double Colorless Energy
1 Dark Wartortle 1 Metal Energy
1 Squirtle (BS) 1 Darkness Energy
3 Squirtle (TR) 2 Full-Heal Energy
3 Lapras 2 Rainbow Energy
3 Onix 16 Water Energy
3 Articuno
-----| Michael Perucca
3 Blaine's Growlithe (L.20) 1 Item Finder
3 Blaine's Arcanine 1 Super Energy Removal
4 Cyndaquil 1 Time Capsule
3 Quilava (L.21) 3 Gust of Wind
3 Typhlosion (L.55) 2 Blaine
1 Cleffa 2 Professor Elm
1 Ditto 2 Professor Oak
1 Dratini (BS) 3 Computer Search
1 Dratini (TR) 1 Double Colorless Energy
2 Dark Dragonair 18 Fire Energy
1 Dark Dragonite
1 Elekid
2 Pikachu (N1)
-----| Ryosuke Araki
1 Elekid 1 Pokemon Trader
1 Rocket's Zapdos 1 Super Energy Removal
1 Cleffa 1 Energy Removal
1 Tyrouge 1 Focus Band
1 Electabuzz (BS) 1 Item Finder
2 Electrode (BS) 1 Gust of Wind
1 Voltorb (BS) 1 Pokemon Breeder
1 Voltrob (TR) 4 Professor Oak
1 Lickitung (J) 4 Computer Search
1 Sneasel 1 Double Colorless Energy
1 Magmar (F) 1 Potion Energy
3 Charizard 1 Metal Energy
4 Charmeleon 1 Darkness Energy
3 Charmander (BS) 2 Full-Heal Energy
1 Charmander (TR) 2 Rainbow Energy
3 Recycle Energy
6 Fire Energy
5 Electric Energy
-----| Dillon Jarman
1 Scyther (J) 3 Pokemon Trader
1 Wooper 4 Professor Elm
1 Pikachu (N1) 1 Nightly Garbage Run
1 Electabuzz (N1) 3 Computer Search
1 Elekid 1 Professor Oak
1 Chansey 2 Gust of Wind
1 Cleffa 1 Item Finder
1 Magmar (N1) 1 Double Colorless Energy
4 Cyndaquil (L.21) 1 Darkness Energy
4 Quilava (N1) 2 Full-Heal Energy
3 Typhlosion (L.55) 16 Fire Energy
3 Blaine's Growlithe (L.20)
3 Blaine's Arcanine
-----| Jason Imperiale
4 Nidoran M 1 Item Finder
4 Nidorino 1 Gold Berry
3 Nidoking 1 Super Energy Removal
1 Scyther (J) 2 Gust of Wind
3 Oddish (TR) 3 Computer Search
3 Staryu (BS) 3 Professor Elm
1 Cleffa 4 Professor Oak
1 Pichu 1 Darkness Energy
1 Double Colorless Energy
5 Water Energy
18 Grass Energy
-----| Michael Baia
1 Chansey 1 Super Energy Removal
1 Scyther (J) 4 Pokemon Center
1 Ditto 2 Pokemon Breeder
3 Lickitung 4 Switch
2 Sabrina's Psyduck 1 Professor Oak
2 Sabrina's Golduck 3 Professor Elm
3 Abra (TR) 1 Double Colorless Energy
1 Kadabra 23 Psychic Energy
3 Alakazam
2 Rocket's Mewtwo
2 Mr. Mime
-----| Victor Crusner
(NOTE: Victor was not a top-eight finisher, but was very close.
His deck is included at his request.)
3 Rocket's Mewtwo 1 Pluspower
4 Onix (N1) 3 Switch
3 Steelix 2 Nightly Garbage Run
3 Rocket's Hitmonchan 3 Professor Oak
3 Computer Search
1 Metal Energy
4 Rainbow Energy
15 Fighting Energy
12 Psychic Energy
At the conclusion of battle, the players were instructed to meet
for the outdoor dinner and award ceremony. Just as the room was
clearing out, I traded with a Japanese individual, getting a
Japanese ANA Marill and ANA Togepi, along with the Japanese movie
Igglybuff and Tyrogue, and finishing off with an Ooyama's
Pikachu.
I made my way to the green, and as I was waiting, and Japanese
woman by the name of Junko Hanna from the Pokemon Company stopped
me and said, "You must be Edo."
"Uh, yes," I replied.
She said, "My name is Junko, from the Pokemon Company. I've
been to your website. I read the earlier Tropical Mega Battle
Reports that you wrote."
Of course I was embarrassed about it. "How did you find my
webpage?" I asked.
"Well, it's famous, after all. I went there from the Pojo."
Ack. I guess I'm more well-known than I thought.
The awards ceremony began shortly afterward. I took a seat at
the table occupied by Mr. Gills, and Steve Perucca.
After words of encouragement and satisfaction by Mr. Ishihara and
the CEO of Wizards of the Coast, the awards were given out.
Jorge Figueiredo, winner of the constructed tournament, was asked
to say some words about the event, but it all consisted of "Yes",
"No", and "I'm embarrassed" answers. The top three finishers
were given medals. All of the contestants were given prizes.
After the main awards, a special commendation was given for two
distinct players, recognized as "The Most Impressive Players."
The Wizards of the Coast staff picked one Japanese player, and
the Japanese staff picked one non-Japanese player. Wizards of
the Coast selected a young man by the name of Hiroshi. He was
selected by the Wizards of the Coast staff for doing his best to
communicate in English with his opponents. Victor Crusner was
chosen as the non-Japanese Most Impressive Player, as he
displayed an intense "fighting spirit" to his opponents.
Dinner commenced, where there was a large buffet waiting. During
dinner, singers and dancers provided entertainment. At the close
of dinner, a Fire Knives (the fire batons) Dancer displayed his
skill.
The free-battle room once against opened from eight o'clock and
eleven o'clock. There, I battled Mr. Perucca and his Blaine
deck, and realized that the non-Japanese version of Blaine's
Charizard was too powerful. I gave him my badge after I lost.
After that, I played against one of the Japanese staff. He used
a Donphan deck, and it really hurt when he played a Chaos Gym on
his first turn. All I could do was say "Ow" in Japanese. I also
lost to him, and gave him my badge. As I waited for Imakuni? to
show up, I also got to play against Mr. Ooyama and his Muk deck.
I won this time, and gave him a random English promo card, and my
badge. I also got him to sign my Ooyama's Pikachu.
Imakuni? showed up, and as I waited in a line (of sorts) to play
him, Mr. Perucca started a booster draft. The Japanese players
were quite interested, as they had never played in booster drafts
before. Since they were so interested, Mr. Foster got Wizards of
the Coast to donate two boxes so that some Japanese players could
play a booster draft.
I played against Imakuni?. And then his Imakuni?'s Doduo came
out. I have to admit that, regardless of how weird the songs he
sings are, he is an incredible singer. He had to sing whenever
he used the attack on the card. When he was playing me, he
started singing, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas"...in
English. It was quite embarrassing, but entertaining
nonetheless. I won this time. I got an Imakuni? bendable
figure, and gave him my badge, along with two random promo cards.
I also got my Imakuni? card signed by him.
I then proceeded to give out the remainder of my badges,
seemingly at random. I gave one to Mr. Akabane, Mr. Ishihara,
Ms. Rui, and Ms. Hanna. Ms. Hanna laughed quite bit when she saw
the badge, and gave me an English Neo 2 Magnemite in return.
The Japanese booster draft concluded, and the prizes were handed
out. The first-place winner was given a special bag by Mr.
Ishihara.
Since it was after eleven o'clock, the room was being cleaned
out. I told Mr. Foster that I had to leave, since I had a final
exam in a college class the next day. He relayed that to some of
the Japanese staff, and one of their jaws dropped. I explained
that the exam was going to be easy, so not to worry.
Overall, it was another exciting experience at the Tropical Mega
Battle. I would like to thank the Wizards of the Coast staff,
including Ron Foster, Michael Gills, and Johanna Cox for making
me feel welcome. I would also like to extend my thanks to Mr.
Ishihara, Tomoaki Imakuni and Junko Hanna for extending their
friendship.
P.S.: Oh, and by the way, I got around a ninety percent on that
exam.
(
geocities.com/timessquare/alley) (
geocities.com/timessquare)