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Published on May 31st, 2013 | by Scott

17

2013 UK Nationals Preview

The final National tournament for Europe is almost upon us. While European players will have one more chance at earning CP in the final Wi-Fi tournament in a few weeks, the UK National tournament will almost certainly decide the 16 players Europe will send on to Worlds. With byes from Championship Points being determined almost exclusively by players’ performances in Italy and Germany, it’s likely only a few of the players with byes will actually show up. With most of the players with byes living farther from this event than the others and several of the players with byes having clinched Worlds appearances already, including all of the current top 7 in CP, the door is open in the UK for someone new to break out with a big win.

We’re still a little unsure of exactly what the format in the UK will turn out to be with the tournament only taking place on a single day again. Germany ended up cutting a round of Swiss in order to save time, and there’s been some rumors of splitting into two flights for the UK event if there are enough players, so it’ll be interesting to see if the format of the event has much impact on the results, especially considering the top cut is again capped at 16.

2013 UK Nationals Predictions

With two events down, I feel like we have a much better idea of who the strongest players in Europe were than we did in the beginning of the year. The third and final National tournament will still be the first event for some players, with some big names getting back into the action and presumably some new faces popping in, too. I imagine that most of the top slots will again be taken by established players in this final, crucial event, but I’m sure some lesser known players will also wind up near the top. However, I can’t write about people we don’t know yet, so don’t take there being no further mentions of anyone but established players as an expectation that big names are going to sweep all of the top cut slots, because they probably won’t.

Difficulty Rating:  

/ 5

(FIVE SUKAMON OUT OF FIVE)

The Story:  Of all of the European National tournaments, the UK is the one where I feel like I have the best knowledge of the players going in because by virtue of the UK being an English-speaking country. Most of the prominent players defending their home turf are active on the forum here, so hopefully I have a little more to write about this week! In the past, our friends in the UK have fallen a bit short of their goals, but the UK has had a really impressive resurgence this year led by players like 8th seeded Baz Anderson, 10th seeded Osirus, and 12th seeded Kyriakou, so I would expect them to defend their tournament much better than they have in the past. I don’t think since I’ve started playing VGC we’ve gone into an event in the UK expecting a native to win the tournament, but I think the UK has their best chance this year by far. The three players I just mentioned represent the UK’s best chances. They’d all be players I’d have predicted to finish near the top to begin with, but the added boost of their byes greatly increases their odds of making it into the top cut. They’ve all had good tournaments so far and have fallen just a bit short, so it’ll be interesting to see if they can finish the job here. It’ll be even more interesting to see how much killer instinct they show: ignoring potential financial trouble, none of them actually need to make it much beyond just getting to the top cut in order to clinch their Worlds spots.

The UK actually has quite a few other players who could potentially have big events here. The most obvious player is Zog, the only UK player who has ever managed to top cut Worlds. He looked really shaky in that European friendly streamed match he was in a few months ago, but I’ve heard he’s in much better form now, and he’ll be among the biggest threats if he is. Apparently he’s doing some bizarre cosplay cross-dressing thing, so I guess we’ll see if our game’s most eccentric player can capitalize on, well, his own eccentricity. Cosplaying has been shown to be a powerful tactic in the UK in the past, after all. NidoRich, Die2Distroy, and samgei were all in the top 16 in Europe after the Wi-Fi tournaments ended, and while that seems like forever ago, they’ve proven at least in one medium that they can finish in the top 16 of Europe(even if one of them can’t spell destroy). Anas2k7 and Havak probably round out the most notables. I’m hopeful we might see breakout performances from community fixtures like keely, gec, and Kinneas, but am not exactly holding my breath. I am furious my boy Dozz is letting me down and not showing up to defend his country and will smash him into tiny bits with unnecessary “u”s in them at US Nationals again in response.

There isn’t quite as much international competition confirmed to go to the UK as there has been in past years, perhaps because some of the big travelers have their spots already. Unfortunately for the local players, almost any of the foreign players we do know are going could easily win the tournament. Spain has a knack for hilariously winning the UK National, and while Ruben won’t be allowed to defend his crown this year, he’s being replaced by some capable countrymen. Sekiam seems to have gotten his bye at 16th place due to one of the players from Germany not opting in, and is likely to top cut as a result. While they both underperformed a little in Milan, 2012 Worlds Top Cutters Kasty and Flash will be back and going for one more shot at Vancouver. I still think they’re the two best players in the tournament, but hitting an undersized top cut without a bye in a game like Pokemon is always difficult. I haven’t seen any of Kasty’s battles, but Flash looked a little shaky in Milan… hopefully he gets it together for this event.

I can never seem to get solid information on German players, but I do know 13Yoshi37 and Billa are going. They’re both pretty strong contenders to make the top cut, though I have lost all my faith in the German players after seeing that terrible Latios so many of them seem to be using. The UK will also see a couple American players in OmegaDonut and PokemonBattleBrain. They’re perhaps two trainers whose best days are a bit behind them, but Donut has been practicing hard and is using a team he sounds confident in. He’s definitely a strong enough player to take the event if he’s having a good day.

The Smart Money is on…:  Flash. This is based more on what I think of the players overall at the event rather than based on actual evidence from the 2013 season, but I still think Flash is the best player in the field and I like to think that’s usually what determines the winner. Expect Sekiam, Kasty, Baz, Kyriakou, Osirus, Zog, Yoshi, Billa, and OmegaDonut to take most of the top cut slots, and one of them to take the event if he falters. I’m sure our UK players won’t be too happy about me predicting a Spaniard to take their event once again, but hey, prove me wrong and I’ll predict you next year! 😉

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

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!

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