2014 Germany National Preview
The first European National tournament of the season takes place this weekend in Bochum, Germany. Due to no Wi-Fi events taking place this time, this year no player will have a first round bye. This tournament will almost solely decide who has a bye in the United Kingdom National tournament toward the end of May. Every player attending will be eager to get some Championship Points on the board as I feel that this year, more than ever, there are a lot of players travelling to multiple tournaments. The European circuit is finally developing into just that, and players are going to have to start venturing out to other events if they want to secure a place at Worlds. Thankfully after a little confusion, this event will now run at least eight rounds of swiss and a top 16 cut. While that’s not the level of improvement everyone was hoping for, it is still an improvement on the previous year.
Players to Watch
The tournament seems rather star-studded already, with a whole host of previous Worlds competitors in attendance along with the usual big names. This makes the event very open, as a couple of tough swiss round opponents early on can make all the difference for anyone’s run. I actually feel that we’re finally getting to a point in Europe where the number of participants at each event will be densely populated with players of a very high skill level. I’ll be surprised if we see ‘unknown’ players top cutting these events, but of course anything can happen!
Germany
Lots of German players are doing well this season, so in their home National tournament more than the rest, I expect them to have a very good showing. 13Yoshi37 top cut the Nugget Bridge Major and made the final of the IDM 2014. He’s also continually been among the highest ranked players on Battle Spot and has top cut the BisaBoard Major, so he is a clear favourite. DaFlo top cut the Nugget Bridge Major and has been performing well in the German online scene. Massi is a very strong player who managed to cut the Nugget Bridge Major (and knocked me out of it), while drug_duck is also seeming very up for it this time around after winning the Spring Open tournament on Bisaboards (along with cutting another online Major). Fatum made a top eight finish in the NB Major, which is very impressive. and countkroeterich went a step further than that, so both will fancy their chances to cut this weekend. Michilele is a player I’ve seen less of this season, but he has cut 4/4 Nationals in the past. so he will be looking to make sure that run continues. The other Major I’ve mentioned is the BisaBoard Major, which FastLustigerLega was seeded first in after swiss, going unbeaten. He also cut the UK National last year, so he will be a big threat. Then, we come to Lajo, who I think more-so than the rest has the ability to use something a little more outrageous and still come out on top (similar to things we’ve seen Ray and Wolfey do in the past with their teams). That’s not to say that other players can’t do this, but I believe Lajo is the best example. He also cut the Major, but with the Germans it seems better to ask who didn’t? I also need to mention Picollo and Billa as other great players who will be trying to claim the crown in their home country. I would expect all of these players to have a great chance to make the top 16.
United Kingdom
It’s hard to say if any of the UK players going to this event are having a good season, despite Nintendo UK hosting two separate VGC-style series already which will have no doubt been great practise. However, due to the sheer number of players from the UK travelling to this tournament, I would expect a few to make the cut. The only players who I would say have had notable success so far are El Fenomeno and WhiteAfroKing92 who both managed to reach the top four in the annual Manchester Pokémon Tournament. There’s also NidoRich who finished fifth in that tournament, losing out to the UK player who’s probably having the best of it so far this season in Zog (who isn’t going to Germany as far as I know, Europe can only take so much Zog a year) and Koryo, who managed a top eight finish at the Nintendo UK Winter Event last year. However, if we go back to last year, El Fenomeno and NidoRich finished 17th and 18th after swiss repsectively, while Koryo top cut two Nationals and finished 17th in the other. The rest of the top players are more name-drops than anything, but any of these guys can turn it on if they want to and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them top cut, so here’s the list (most of whom played at Worlds last year): Kyriakou (reigning UK National champion), Baz Anderson (undoubtedly only ever misses the good stuff by one place), Osirus (spends too much time playing in silly bands compared to on his 3DS), SuperIntegration (will wear a suit to VGC), SeanSymphony, Lord Gatr, SqishyRina, SPEevee and I guess Havak too. There are plenty of other British players coming, so I hope they can make a name for themselves. Also, who knows, maybe we can expect more than just a cameo appearance from gec, Ant, and tblakey89?
Other Countries
Normally I’d roll with sections for Spain, Italy, France… However, the tournament seems to have less players from these countries, and it’s hard to find too much information on all of them. I know that we’ve got Matty and BraindeadPrimeape travelling over from Italy, along with mprox and of course current World Champion Mean! All of whom I expect to put in a strong showing. The only Spanish player who I know that has announced their attendance is Arbol Deku, but I’m sure the Spanish army will be there in some force. As for France, do they even play any more? Even Poland has Szymoninho, with LolNub representing the Netherlands on his own!
Who will win?
There are a lot of players capable of winning this tournament, so I’ll leave that question for you guys to answer. No, really, post in the comments and tell me because I have no idea. Good luck to everyone attending! May the #BANTZ commence.
About the Author
Havak has competed in the VGC series since 2009 when it was first introduced to Europe, qualifying for the World Championships in 2011. Since 2009, he has also been a big influence in the United Kingdom's competitive scene by helping run local tournaments.
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? →
52 Responses to 2014 Germany National Preview
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
He’s studying for exams and can’t make it to Nationals
LAJO! You can win it!
Unfortunately he cannot make this one due to exams
Europe really needs regionals… i live in Austria and would have had about 12 hours travel-time to Bochum/Germany, not even thinking about the costs..
Damn 🙁
Good luck to everyone taking part!
Angel has been updating live from Bochum! External
Follow for updates
Jake getting to the top cut has made my day :’) Well done man, I wish you luck if you can read this before tomorrow
It’s funny i’ve never seen Germany hold a big place at Worlds. Its always US Italy and Japan. Looking forward to that changing this year.
Tyvyr cut last year, top 8 Worlds is a big deal. Spain has finished top 4 twice and the UK once (along with another top 8 for both countries). That also ignores Sejun top cutting both of the last two years as the only Korean in the field. It’s hardly a three country system. Spain also took 2nd in the Senior division just two years ago… which is a funny thing for you to overlook as a Senior yourself.
Interested to see how the top cut plays out in this one. Huge concentration of German players, which isn’t surprising because it is their home National and I think most of us thought they were the deepest country in Europe coming in to begin with, but still noteworthy. It seems like most people are expecting we’ll get Yoshi vs Lajo in the semis and the winner will take the tournament, but it’ll be interesting to see what actually happens because I think they’re both going to have a tough time just getting to that point with how strong the top half of the bracket is. If Yoshi managed to win after going undefeated in a difficult-looking swiss schedule with the top cut bracket he got dealt it would probably be the most impressive run I can remember seeing at National tournament. Whoever wins this one is going to have earned it, especially if they come from the top (left on the official bracket, I guess) side of the bracket.
Thankyou! I think im just as surprised as everyone else with the top cut finish. It’s pretty daunting that I’m the only person the cut with a 6-2 record so I’m extremely lucky!
Can’t wait for tomorrow now. I’m not expecting miracles but I’ll have fun either way
Are You doing a top cut stream?
Yoshi here: I tried to tweet standings multiple times but for some reason it never came through… anyways, here they are:
C’mon Poland, we can do this!
Congrats to those in top cut! Just go for gold!
Whiteafroking92 and Lajo in particular, since the 2 of you are on the same side of the bracket, only 1 will get to the final’s match. But do your best guys, is this the alcohol getting you to the top 16 Jake? XD
Congrats to those in top cut! Just go for gold!
Whiteafroking92 and Lajo in particular, since the 2 of you are on the same side of the bracket, only 1 will get to the final’s match. But do your best guys, is this the alcohol getting you to the top 16 Jake? XD
Not too happy with my Round 1 or 8 losses, just sheer bad luck out of my control. But my loss to Szymon was justifiable, I just didn’t know my speed ties with +1 and Tailwind and cost me the match, he did deserve that win.
Overall it was a good day out, meeting players I haven’t met before and testing a new team…Lapras too strong! Will be cheering on Afroking tomorrow!!
Top 4 seeds of Flight 1
Excited to see how this plays out, good luck to everyone tomorrow
It’s too bad I had to leave before the standings were announced. I ended up with 5-3, so I’m pretty satisfied. Good luck to everyone still in the tournament today.
Went 4-4, but considering I got haxed terribly hard in 2 games that I had the upperhand in (never fun to lose like that, but hax is part of the game so you just have to shrug it off and move on. Did lead to an interesting conversation about how accuracy percentages in Fire Emblem are far more reliable than those in Pokemon) I’m very pleased with my first ever attendance at a Pokemon tournament.
I’m not sure who got haxed more, me or Reijo with him missing Will-O-Wisp every single time in the tournament O.O
Interesting things I learned about the metagame and the game itself:
– Modest Aegislash with speed investment and Leftovers is now a thing, Weakness Policy sets are no longer used o.O
– PROTECT IS FOR NOOBS! Substitute is where it’s at! Sub Venusaur, Sub Lanturn, Sub Rotom… you name it we got it! lol
– Amoonguss are an endangered species, almost nobody used them. Only encountered one and CJ also only fought one…
– Play Rough was secretly patched to only have 50% accuracy as nobody seemed to be able to hit theirs all day xd
– Azumarill carrrying Lucky Egg and Belly Drum is the ultimate mindgame!!!
Good luck to CJ today who made Top Cut with a 7-1 score. May the Hax be with you!
-Weird, I think I saw 1 or 2 Amoonguss against me and I used one myself
-I think Play Rough was my only move without 100% Accuracy that didn’t miss.
I still got a lot of different hax against me, yesterday. Including:
-Mienshao missing HJK when it had less than 50%
-Getting a crit against my Goodra on that same turn.
-Hitting myself in confusion every time I needed that Pokémon to attack.
-Missing Draco Meteor against a Garchomp
-And a whole lot more.
yoshi won it with a total of 16-0.
Thanks to everyone who rootet for me, I saw these posts of you guys and they gave me so much motivation, I´m glad I could keep my good play up and made it to Top Cut. Swiss was really tough, and I felt like flight 1 being a bit more difficult than flight 2.
For the record, in Swiss I faced:
– 4 Kangaskhan
– 4 Aegislash
– 4 Garchomp
– 5 Rotoms (3x W, 1x H, 1x Mow)
– 2 Charizard (1x X, 1x Y)
– 2 Amoonguss
– 2 Salamence
– 2 Tyranitar
– 2 Gyarados
and nothing else more than 1 time, including Talonflame, Mawile, Scrafty, Ferrothorn, Mamoswine, Chandelure, and Hydreigon, and oone rain team with Politoad and Kingdra.
Top Cut was full of Kangaskhan-teams. Amusingly, I lost because my opponent was smart enough to not pick Kangaskhan against me in game 2 and 3, therefore my advantage I usually had was gone and the matchup was more even. I got a bit unlucky in game 2, but in game 3 he found the best lead and surprised me very well with it, so the third game was pretty one-sided.
I met tons of peoples for the first time, including Mean, Lolnub, Massi, countkroeterich, Feis, Osirus, and many others, and of course even more guys I met last year, making the event even better. There was no bad mood all the day, and I hung around with you guys was so much fun.
Since I did use something you won´t see so often and did well with it, I plan to write another report- I was asked to publish it after all Nationals are over, so it may take some time, but you´ll definitely read something from me