Articles

Published on October 19th, 2013 | by Technoz

11

2014 North American Fall Regionals Preview: Seniors Edition

Hello Nugget Bridge, my name is Zackary Thornberg, also known as Technoz on the forums. With 2013 being such an exciting and intense year for VGC, everyone has been looking forward to the 2014 season, and now it is upon us. With so many of the Senior division’s best players graduating to masters this year, such as DeVon Ingram (dingram) and Jonathon Hiller (MrFox), It has cleared the field some to let newer players take the stage and show what they have to offer. There are also several threats moving up from the Junior division into Seniors this year, like Brendan Zheng (Babbytron) and Beau Berg (Oreios). Also expect to see big things coming from earlier Junior graduates Ian McLaughlin (Raikoo), Abram Burrows (Abman261), and Brian Hough. So without further ado, lets get on to looking at the senior competition for this season’s Fall Regionals.

Arizona Regional

Tournament Organizer: Patricia McCan

Last Year’s Winner: None

The Story: Phoenix was a unique location for the Southwestern regional, considering that an official VGC event hasn’t been held in Arizona since 2012. One of the best players attending is Abram Burrows, who had a phenomenal 2012 season, getting second at Regionals and then not losing a single sanctioned match for the rest of the year! This is an incredible feat, considering that it was his rookie year. Abram also had a very strong 2013 run, getting second at Regionals, top 16 at Nationals, and 21st at the World Championships. There is no doubt that Abram is the player to beat at this event.

There have been rumors about George Langford (KobraTail) also attending the Phoenix Regional, but it he isn’t 100% sure yet. If George does come, we can know from his past records that he is sure to give Abram a run for his money.

Pennsylvania Regional

Tournament Organizer: Dorian Redburn

Last Year’s Winner: Ben Hickey (Darkpenguin67)

The Story: The Northeast regionals have always been known to have some of the best players in the world. This year is no different and Philly again has several Worlds-level Seniors. Paul Chua (pwny person) has been one of the best players of the division since 2012, after he got third at Nationals and a very respectable ninth at Worlds. Paul then had a very strong 2013 season, getting 2nd at Winter regionals, losing to Jonathon Hiller in the top two, and first at Spring Regionals, beating Cameron Swan (Drizzleboy) in the finals. In the Nationals Swiss rounds Paul went 7-1, losing only to the future runner up, DeVon Ingram. In top cut Paul beat Hayden Mctavish (Enigne), the future world champion, in his top 16 match. In the end Paul adapted well from his Swiss match and was able to defeat DeVon in the finals, claiming the national champion title. At the World Championships Paul did very well, making top eight and earning himself 120 CP for the 2014 season, but this was the end of Paul’s 2013 run, as Cameron Swan was able to beat Paul this time.

Another huge threat at this event is Cameron Swan. As stated earlier, he lost to Paul in the finals at Massachusetts Regionals. After having a decent Regional run, Cameron did amazingly at Nationals, placing third overall after losing to Paul yet again in the top four. At Worlds Cameron showed he has what it takes to play against some of the best players in the world. After a strong run through the Swiss rounds, going 5-1, Cameron had to face Paul Chua yet again in top cut, but this time Swan came out on top, securing his invite to the 2014 world championships. In the top four Cameron lost to the eventual world champion Hayden McTavish. Because Cameron already has his invite to the World Championships, he really doesn’t need to try hard at Regionals, but we should expect that he will still be playing his best to try and earn the other prizes available.

Brendan Zheng is a five time Regional champion making him a huge threat to anyone. On top of that, Brendan has gotten top four at World Championships three times and won the whole event in 2013, possibly making him the best Junior in history.  Brendan’s playstyle is unique and he has a lot of prediction skill, which is important in Seniors. Brendan has proved himself a worthy opponent to even the best Masters in online tournaments, and I believe that he has a lot of potential to do extremely well at this event.

Priten Patel (LudiImpact) isn’t a player that most people think of when they talk about Northeastern seniors, but his past definitely makes him a threatening player this year. Priten got sixth at Philadelphia Regionals in 2013 after going 6-1 in Swiss and losing to Jeremy Gumbs (Randomtron) in the top eight. He also did very well at APEX 2013, a grassroots tournament that is open to all age divisions, placing 7th overall, showing that he can play very well against the Masters age division. I expect Priten to be playing his best this season, as it is his last in the Senior division.

Texas Regional

Tournament Organizer: Mike Cook

Last Year’s Winner: Cedric Bernier (Talon)

The Story:  Last year this was a very heated regional for the Senior division, with competition from Cedric Bernier (Talon) and Aaron Grubbs (LPFan),  both very experienced players. Ian McLaughlin is one of the two experienced seniors attending the Houston regional this year.Last year Ian has a very solid run, getting second at Regionals, losing to Cedric in the finals. He did well at Nationals and Worlds too, getting ninth at Nationals after losing to yours truly and getting 28th at the World Championships.

The other senior attending Houston that I think is worth mentioning is Mark Grubbs. Mark placed third at Regionals last year, losing to Ian in his top four match. Mark didn’t do very well at Nationals, but he beat George Langford in the World Championships LCQ, earning himself a spot in the main event. In the main event Mark did incredibly well, going 3-3 in Swiss and getting 15th overall, even with a very rough schedule, having to play Jonathon Hiller, Hayden Mctavish, and Mark Mcquillan (woopahking123). Mark has very good chances this year, with the field being easier than last year and him really only having to worry about Ian for well-known threats at Regionals.

Indiana Regional

Tournament Organizer: Derek Farber

Last Year’s Winner: Brian Hough

The Story: Fort Wayne is a Regional that has more senior competition than you would expect. Most of the Seniors attending keep to themselves in the community.  Beau Berg, the 2013 Junior National champion, is someone I expect to do very well simply because of how well he has done in Juniors. We don’t know much about Beau’s style against Seniors and Masters because he usually keeps to himself on the forum and hasn’t played much in the NB circuit tournaments, but  this tournament is a big opportunity for him and we should expect that he will be trying his best to win this one.

Another player that not many people seem to think about when looking at the Senior competition this year is Ayaan Nadeem (Pokemonmaster), who had an amazing 2012 season in Juniors, getting first at Toronto Regionals, first at Canadian Nationals, and sixth at the World Championships. In 2013 Ayaan did very well at his first Regional in Seniors, getting fifth at Toronto Regionals only losing to his older brother, Umer Nadeem (Gorigenous), who ended up getting fourth. Unfortunately, Ayaan and Umer could not attend nationals in 2013 due to being on vacation, but I expect both of them to do very well here.

The last Senior that I wanted to mention here was the last year’s Fort Wayne Regional Champion, Brian Hough. We don’t know a lot about Brian, as he isn’t on the forums and hasn’t really been apart of the VGC online community,  however from Brian’s past VGC records we know that he will be a huge threat this year. Brian got 1st at Worlds in 2011 and 2nd at Worlds in 2012 in the Junior age division. In 2013 Seniors Brian got 1st at Fort Wayne Regionals. At Nationals Brian didn’t top cut, but he more than made up for it at the World Championships, finishing fourth overall.

Conclusion

I hope to have given you sufficient information about the Seniors competing in this year’s fall Regionals. If you are attending one of the above Regionals and happen to be a Senior, good luck! I made this article mostly based on players’ VGC 2013 seasons, and only chose a select few to mention, but do well at Regionals and I will definitely consider writing about players who do well in my Seniors Nationals Preview.

Feel free to leave your predictions, comments, or who you are rooting for below!

About the Author

Technoz Zack started playing VGC in 2010 without any knowledge of IVs and only a basic knowledge of EVs. Besides VGC, Zack is a homeschooled Freshman in high school, a Christian, and enjoys playing other games such as Chess, Dominion, and the Fire Emblem series.

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