Another Shot at Victory
29 June, 2012 in Play! Pokémon
Sydney Morisoli was the runner-up last year in the Junior Division. Now she’s back at Indy and ready to win it all.
You did really well at a Nationals last year, finishing in second place.
Yeah, I really wanted to win because I would have been the first ever female National Champion. Getting so close makes me want to win even more this year. I think there's a lot of tough competition here so it'll be tough.
After playing well last year, are you more comfortable at this year's competition?
For sure. I know my way around now and I can have fun playing and meeting new people. But I also know that the game is going to be harder—there's a lot of good decks that people are playing right now.
How have you been preparing for the National Championships?
I spend a lot of time online with all my friends talking about ideas, I play Pokémon TCG Online quite a bit, and I read a lot on strategy sites.
How long have you been working on the current deck you're playing?
Not long. I've been trying all kinds of different decks to see what I like. The deck I'm playing consistently lost to one other specific deck, so I tried to play that deck for a while. I never got comfortable with it, so I went back to this deck. So far, so good!
There seems to be a lot of different cards to build good decks around. Are you expecting to see a lot of surprises?
Yeah, I've already seen a few but I'm sure there will be more tomorrow, too.
What events did you play in during the year?
I played in States and I won that tournament for the first time. In the Philadelphia Regionals I finished 3rd, which was the best I'd ever done at that level. Then I finished 8th in the Virginia Regionals, which would've been my best finish prior to Philadelphia. So I've been to a lot of tournaments this year.
The Philadelphia Regional Championships drew a lot of people this year. Did that large field help you prepare mentally for Nationals?
Yes, Philadelphia felt like a mini Nationals. It did help me get used to big tournaments.
What's your take on the impact of Pokémon-EX cards?
Well, a lot of people don't play too many Pokémon-EX cards, and people I face are sometimes surprised to see my deck which is almost all Pokémon-EX. It's always a risk because they need to take out only three of my Pokémon to take all six prizes. I even played a deck that was entirely made of Pokémon-EX before I made this deck.
Good luck on your day tomorrow.
Thanks. I'm 3-1 after losing my last round today. But I'm hanging tough and I'm just focusing on tomorrow. I'm really looking to make it into the bracket rounds.
Return to the National Championships page for more stories from the 2012 Pokémon National Championships.