Published on October 26th, 2012 | by Evan

[NBR] The Interview 001: Matt Sybeldon & Regional Battle Videos Part 2

Today on The Interview: Philadelphia Regional Champion Matt Sybeldon (bearsfan092) sits down with members of the Nugget Bridge editorial staff to discuss the Philadelphia Regional, teambuilding, and facing off against the Seniors invasion. Also, Alan S. (Dubulous) and I (evan) discuss attending the infamous Philadelphia Regional for the first time and launch the Nugget Bridge Radio Network.

Matt’s rise to the top is at times both unlikely and inevitable. A long-time member of the community, before the first Regionals of the season he was probably best known for his series of YouTube RNG Guides, which helped many users, yours truly included, learn to RNG soon after the code was cracked. Still, despite his years of experience and practice, Matt had never been able to crack into that top tier of players with disappointing performances at previous National Championships. In fact, this year’s Philadelphia Regional was the first Matt had ever attended, past years’ plans having been ruined by “deer hax.” Regionals turned out to be Matt’s best tournament performance, despite a level of competition that equaled his past Nationals runs.

Speaking of Philadelphia’s fabled difficulty curve, Matt has choice words for those who continue to underrate what are generally viewed as “lesser” Regionals. Despite Matt’s incredible strength of schedule, he calls out the Ft. Wayne and Houston Regionals as just as difficult, if not more. Even the Toronto Regional, which famously received an official Nugget Bridge Difficulty Rating of only one Pidgey, saw an increase in competition and not only from the visiting Americans, Matt contends. For the champ, it never pays to underestimate your competition — no matter who they are.

Matt certainly didn’t underestimate his competition, which largely consisted of graduated Seniors towards the top. In fact, Matt was the only member of the Top 4 who could drive on his own. Still the competition was heavy, with strong performances being turned in by every opponent every round, despite their relative youth. Matt’s not surprised by this turn of events, noting that these Seniors have been competing against Masters for at least the past two years and, in many cases, much more. While the Seniors pool might not be as deep, the top competitors have clearly proved that they can hang with the Masters.

For his part, Matt has proven himself to be an able competitor and teambuilder, winning with a team built the night before after early tests proved less than successful during the TCG portion of the Regional. Matt’s final team, which can be found exclusively on Nugget Bridge, shows a strong sense of vision, despite its rapid incubation period. Matt built his championship winning team with an eye towards the best of three top cut portion of the event, building around both Substitute and Protect to keep his opponents on their toes. His Gyarados in particular exhibits his unique mix of offense and defense, using Gyarados largely as a support Pokemon with Thunder Wave and Roar (which was actually able to successfully function as a Trick Room counter once!) but also having the option to put dents in his opponents with Water Gem-boosted Waterfalls, a choice that surprised his finals competitor Aaron Zheng (Cybertron).

Matt is 50/50 on attending the Virginia Regional, but if he does, he’ll be a strong competitor in another packed field.

Oh, and we’ve uploaded another dozen battle videos as a reward for sticking through The Interview. If you missed the last batch, you can find them here. Keep checking back with Nugget Bridge because we still have more videos coming from the VGC ’13 Fall Regionals, and make sure you subscribe to our YouTube account to get the scoop early!

San Jose, CA

Ft. Wayne, IN

Toronto, ON

Philadelphia, PA

Houston, TX


About the Author

is the Editor-in-Chief of Nugget Bridge and author of the arts and pop culture blog Preposterous Uncle. From his home in Washington, DC, he ensures that content posted to the site is up to snuff. Evan is known for his strict deadlines and wants you to have your article on his desk by 5.


Related Posts



Back to Top ↑

© 2012 - 2014 Nugget Bridge



Back to Top ↑