Articles

Published on October 10th, 2013 | by Scott

8

2014 North American Fall Regionals Preview Part 1: Northern California

While most players have their sights set on Pokémon X & Y’s release in a few hours, Sunday marks the first event of the 2014 VGC season, confusingly still taking place in 2013. Players have one final set of BW2 events to deal with and try to establish their CP positions before moving on to their shiny new toys in the next generation of games.  Expect the 2014 Fall Regionals to be tough as players will be bringing their A-game to the upcoming group of events on a level they didn’t for 2013’s Fall Regionals. Last year, players didn’t even know how CP was going to work during the Fall Regionals and many of them took the events less seriously as a result, whereas this year they’re both hungry for CP after the results of last season and eager to get CP in a more predictable, established metagame before XY and a new generation of shenanigans enters the stage during Winter Regionals.

Pleasanton is likely to be the most hotly contested of all BW2 Regionals. While we’ve had ten BW2 Regionals already and will soon have four more, the three week Regionals cycles in North America this year are going to make the events on isolated weekends much tougher than the others. With the opportunity for players to play in three Regionals over three weekends during each set of Regionals, there’ll likely be a few of the more serious players traveling on both of the bonus weekends, and for Fall it looks like Pleasanton will by far be the most invaded Regional. The swiss rounds of this tournament may wind up being particularly brutal because it isn’t likely more less serious players will show up than normal, with a new game having just been released and the travel distance being prohibitive for players who wouldn’t have shown up regardless of the change in Regional timing.  Odds are good there’ll be more spotlight matches in the swiss rounds than usual as players try to get through the pairings Russian roulette on their way to the top cut. Last year, no one made it to Pleasanton’s top cut with more than one loss, so pairings could have a big impact on the tournament early on.

As with the 2013 Fall Regionals, expect the results of the 2013 World Championships to be evident in the Regionals this year. Last year we saw a handful of players make it into the top cut by using the teams of Worlds competitors and many more players use tactics that were inspired by them, and I would expect to see more of the same this year. Hope everyone has those Lum Berries ready…

Pleasanton Regional

Difficulty Rating:

 / 5

(five ghost Pokemon returning to haunt the field out of five)

Tournament Organizer: Kim Cary of Second City Gym

Last Year’s Winner: Kamran Jahadi (Kamz)

The Story:  While California and the western United States in general is home to a group of players I have poked some fun at in the past for being a little over the Pokémon hill these days, there’s an interesting mix of players from that region who have had recent big events and cross-country travelers that should make this one of the more exciting Regionals in recent memory.

After a lackluster and controversial Regionals season last year that included both losing a bye to a tournament organizer error and missing the top cut in San Jose because he forfeited a game to conceal information and wound up finishing 9th, the now more appropriately named Gavin Michaels (kingofmars) is trying to finally have a successful Masters Regional after winning US Nationals and finishing at a respectable 3-3 in Worlds. The only other local(ish) players who competed in the 2013 World Championships in the field are Nationals top 4 finisher Demitri Camperos (Demitri) and LCQ survivor Alan Schambers (Metabou). Duy Ha (Duy) barely missed out on Worlds last year with a 13th place finish and Hayden Morrison (hakemo) wasn’t too far behind him in 16th place overall. Stretching the local thing a little farther, former Regional winners Texan Len Deuel (Alaka) and Blaine County resident Paul Hornak (makiri) both made it to the last round of Worlds LCQ, which they’ll be hoping to transition into some Regionals success after middling 2013 seasons. Kamran Jahadi (Kamz)’s season went downhill after winning this event last year as he gradually dropped in the standings partially due to an inability to travel, but as the defending champion he’ll be one of the favorites to do well here.

There are a few other players out west who were once among the most feared names in the game and will be looking to make a comeback. Two years ago this tournament was won by Marco Sandoval (Nickscor), but he’s been a little too busy making thousands of Air Cutter calculations since then to actually accomplish anything. Huy Ha (Huy) had a quiet 2013 season after finishing 9th in the World in 2012, but he has still had one of the best decorated pasts of any player. Mike Suleski (OmegaDonut) is a former National champion who is still playing at a National champion level but who seems to greatly enjoy undermining his own chances of success with bizarre team choices. At the very least, it’ll be interesting to see what he brings out this time. Omari Travis (BadIntent), Ryan Schambers (DeagleBeagle), and Thomas Mifflin (PBB) haven’t been big names in VGC for quite a long time now, but were certainly strong enough players in their primes that if they decide to put effort in they’d quickly wind up back near the top.

I wrote previously that players traveling from the rest of the country would likely be a big factor here, and there are a handful of players who are all among the biggest contenders to take the tournament. Aaron Zheng (Cybertron) has earned the first mention by finishing 3rd in the world and winning a Regional in 2013, though with his 2014 Worlds invitation already locked up he may not be his usual self at this event. The most intimidating invaders are probably a couple Midwestern players in Kamaal Harris (FonicFrog) and Zach Droegkamp (Zach), both of whom also won Regionals and qualified for Worlds in 2013. While he seemed to come up a little short at every turn in 2013, Matthew Coyle (EnFuego) is one of the game’s most intimidating opponents after making the top cut of Worlds in both 2011 and 2012. Perhaps the most intriguing attendee will be recent Seniors graduate Edward Fan (iss), who will be looking to continue a trend of early success among recent Seniors graduates over the past couple of years. Ray Rizzo (Ray) will be trying hard to name his own price so he can come as well, though William Shatner doesn’t seem to be Negotiatoring very hard for him. I haven’t heard anything solid either way, but there are rumors Stephen Morioka (Stephen) may be coming as well, who is a favorite in any event he attends.

A little recap: that’s eight of the top 16 finishers in North America last year that may be attending this Regional. Given that most of the points those players racked up last year were under the same ruleset as this event, Pleasanton’s quality of play should be very high for a Regional, especially considering there are potentially three more 2013 Worlds competitors and at least seven more players who have participated in the World Championships in past years in the field.

The Smart Money is on…:  Kamaal Harris (FonicFrog) . While Nationals and Worlds didn’t go quite the way he planned, the latter of which is understandable given that he had a schedule containing both 2012 finalists, the 2013 US National champion, and Canada’s best player, Kamaal is one of the game’s best players and I expect him to get his revenge in perhaps the last star-laden BW2 event. This is probably the most open Regional I can remember, though, and there’s about 15 players who have a good shot at this one.

Attending this event? Join your fellow competitors in discussion on our forum.

While I’m sure XY will be on everyone’s minds, this should be a fun event and I encourage everyone who can go to it to show up while the rest of us enjoy following the results from home. Firestorm, makiri, and Huy will all be there, so say hello to your friendly neighborhood Nugget Bridge admins if you’re there!

About the Author

Scott started playing VGC in 2011. He finished 17th at US Nationals, then lost in the final round of 2011 Worlds LCQ. He finished 10th in the 2012 World Championships and qualified for Worlds again in 2013 after going into US Nationals second in CP. Instead of playing, he commentated at US Nationals and the World Championships in 2013 and 2014. Follow him on Twitter @NBNostrom!

Related Posts

New Mechanics Introduced in VGC 2016 →

VGC ’16 Pokémon Speed Tiers →

Hyper Offense Analysis – BadIntent’s Evil Thoughts →

Greener Grassy Terrain: A More Balanced Future For VGC? →