Another Shot at Victory

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.