Reports

Published on March 9th, 2015 | by Life Orb

27

Blame It On Denny’s: A 3rd Place Virginia Seniors Report

Hi there! I’m Joseph Costagliola, or Life Orb on the forums, and I recently placed third at the 2015 Virginia Regional Championships in the Senior Division. I went undefeated in the Swiss rounds before losing to eventual champion Michael (Sir Chicken) in top four. This was my first regional, and I was really proud of my performance, so I decided to share my experience with the community. Without further ado, let’s dive in!

Before The Tournament

Friday: 9 Days Remaining

I was discussing my chances of making Worlds with Michael on Pokemon Showdown, and I realized that I needed to achieve at least a top four finish in Virginia for a reasonable chance, as I hadn’t played in any tournaments prior to the rule change. I had planned on using a really cool team with Mega Salamence and support Azelf, but I didn’t know if it could bring me the results I needed. As such, I decided to build a more consistent team that could carry me if I played well.

Saturday: 8 Days Remaining

I worked really hard on the team, as I realized that waiting any longer would cut into valuable practice time. I knew that I was going to use a core of Mega Kangaskhan, Landorus-Therian, and Sylveon as they fit in well with my playstyle (not because they were common, as you might think). By looking at the team’s resistances and weaknesses, I decided to add Heatran, Cresselia, and Suicune as the remaining members.

Tuesday/Wednesday: 5/4 Days Remaining

After about 20 games of Battle Spot practice, I noticed two major flaws: the team struggled to deal significant damage to opposing rain teams, and my play with Suicune was lackluster, turning it into dead weight. Therefore, I took out Suicune for Hydreigon to apply additional offensive pressure, and added Sunny Day onto Cresselia’s moveset.

Friday: 2 Days Remaining

I was able to get a lot of practice in, and I put together a good winning streak on Battle Spot, going 11-1. This made me incredibly confident going into tournament weekend.

Saturday: Road Trip

This was a great day! I had lunch with my family before setting out for Doswell with my grandpa around 3:30 in the afternoon. There’s not much to say about the ride (I was actually somewhat upset about not being able to listen to the new Imagine Dragons album, as it wasn’t released until the Tuesday after). That evening, I, my grandpa, and the Green Machine (a 1980 Honda Civic) pulled into the Best Western we were staying at. We were hungry, and I remember reading about a Cracker Barrel from Ray Rizzo’s (Ray) Virginia Regional report last year, but we decided to just go to the nearby Denny’s. The food was incredibly greasy, which my grandpa was quick to point out, and the service wasn’t stellar. Afterwards, I watched King of the Hill and Rick and Morty (which my grandpa surprisingly enjoyed) until I went to sleep around 11.

Before I discuss how the tournament went, I’ll introduce my team members.

The Team

Lanorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Intimidate | Adamant
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
– Earthquake
– U-Turn
– Knock Off
– Rock Slide

This is a pretty standard Choice Scarf Landorus-Therian set. I wanted a fast and hard hitting Pokemon that also provided substantial team support. Landorus-T filled that role between Intimidate, massive base Attack, and decent Speed supplemented by the Scarf. I chose Knock Off as its fourth move as I wanted an attack that could circumvent Wide Guard (and didn’t force Landorus-T to switch out). It also hit Gengar, a significant threat to this team. This team didn’t really mind the loss of Superpower as it had plenty of ways to deal with opposing Kangaskhan, Tyranitar, and Hydreigon; even so, it’s probably the better move for most teams.

Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite
Scrappy / Parental Bond | Jolly
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
– Fake Out
– Double-Edge
– Low Kick
– Sucker Punch

About as standard of a Kangaskhan that you can find in this metagame. Mega Kangaskhan deals a ridiculous amount of damage, especially with Double-Edge. I chose Low Kick over its other coverage options as this team needed coverage against Bisharp and Kangaskhan, and other options such as Ice Punch weren’t especially useful. Fake Out and Sucker Punch provided two much-needed priority attacks.

Sylveon @ Choice Specs
Pixilate | Modest
92 HP / 116 Def / 252 SpA / 48 Spe
– Hyper Voice
– Shadow Ball
– Psyshock
– Moonblast

The “bulky offensive special attacker” niche in the current metagame is pretty much filled by only two Pokemon, Heatran and Sylveon. Sylveon was fantastic for me, carrying the team through several Swiss rounds (and top eight). Moonblast as the fourth attack is the only slightly non-standard thing about this set; I felt that Hyper Beam left Sylveon too vulnerable, Helping Hand didn’t quite fit in with the team’s offensive nature, and Hidden Power Ground was too much of a pain to breed for. It ended up being the right choice, as Moonblast won both games two and three of my top eight match. Credits go to Aaron Zheng (Cybertron) for the EV spread.

Heatran @ Shuca Berry
Flash Fire | Modest
252 HP / 168 Def / 68 SpA
– Heat Wave
– Flash Cannon
– Earth Power
– Protect

Finally, a somewhat interesting Pokemon! Heatran complemented the initial core very well. Shuca Berry and Flash Cannon extended Heatran’s threat coverage, giving it a better matchup against Gardevoir, Landorus-Therian, and Sylveon, three big threats for this team. The EV spread allows it to withstand Jolly Terrakion’s Close Combat and OHKO in return with Flash Cannon. Despite the rather small investment in Special Attack, Heatran always dealt enough damage; it doesn’t rely on the stat as much as something like Sylveon does. Heatran was a solid pick; its unique typing gave me two of the metagame’s best types (in my opinion) in a single Pokemon.

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Levitate | Modest
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
– Draco Meteor
– Dark Pulse
– Fire Blast
– Protect

I wanted a hard hitting special attacker that synergized well with Landorus-T, and Hydreigon filled the role pretty well. Unfortunately, it was a late addition to the team, so I didn’t get too much practice with it. It’s a pretty simple set. I chose Modest over Timid for the extra damage output, and the Speed drop never mattered during the tournament. Since Sylveon had Choice Specs, Life Orb was the obvious option. Flash Cannon was unnecessary due to Heatran.

Cresselia @ Sitrus Berry
Levitate | Bold
220 HP / 100 Def / 188 SpD
– Icy Wind
– Helping Hand
– Sunny Day
– Psyshock

I’ll be the first to tell you that Cresselia is nowhere near as good as it was in 2013. On an offensive team like this one, its only purpose was to remove opposing rain—it was essentially useless otherwise. In hindsight, Gengar would have been the much better option, but I was paranoid of running into opposing rain. Cresselia was my least used Pokemon; I only brought it in a single game.

Sunday: The Tournament

I woke up that morning at 6:15, but instead of being excited to play Pokemon, my stomach was in knots. I panicked, because my immediate thought was, “I’m gonna get sick and have to go home.” My grandpa decided he wanted pancakes from Denny’s, so we made the trek back there in even colder weather than the previous night. After I had a fourth of a pancake and half a glass of Coke, I really felt sick to my stomach. After he was done eating, we made the drive to the event park. It was really, really cold. Seriously, if I had been out there for another 30 seconds, I think my hands would have been frostbitten. Anyway, I got there, registered (finding out I didn’t need a team sheet after I spent 10 minutes filling one out that morning), and ran into a friend, Tyler, who I had met at a Premier Challenge. We talked for a bit and then he left to get some breakfast. My grandpa also decided to head to the gas station down the road and hang out for a while, so I had nothing to do.

While I was sitting at a table filling out some notes, I noticed a kid who looked like he was bored sitting at the table next to me. I decided to go over and talk to him. I found out he was using a team with Sandslash, and his goal was to go 1-6 and have fun while doing it. While I was talking to him, my stomach finally gave up. I went to the bathroom and vomited. After I was done, I talked to Sandslash guy for a few minutes before the players’ meeting was called.

Round 1: vs. Andrea

This match was nothing to write home about. She used a team with three starters, and the combination of Hydreigon and Landorus-T knocked out all of her Pokemon in three turns.

1-0

Round 2: vs. Logan Honts

Logan was the son of the tournament organizer, and I had seen him at both of the Premier Challenges I attended (he top cut both). I remembered that he had brought a Magnezone to the Salem PC, and I saw it again in team preview. I noticed that Hydreigon and Landorus-T could tear his team apart, and I added Heatran in the back as he had a major Fire-type weakness. The battle was fairly uneventful; despite an early Fire Blast miss by Hydreigon, Heatran was able to easily finish off his team after Cresselia set up Sunny Day.

2-0

Round 3: vs. Lyndon Rees (Crys)

Although I heard Lyndon drop some trash talk before the match, this game ended up being a fairly simple win. I noticed that if I could get rid of his Steel-types, Sylveon could easily take out everything else with Hyper Voice. I don’t remember this match too well, but I recall Mega Kangaskhan picking up several cleanup knockouts with Sucker Punch.

3-0

Lunch break was after round three. I wasn’t planning on eating anything, but my grandpa brought me some Pepto-Bismol and ginger ale, which really helped out. I relaxed and prepared for the rest of the Swiss rounds.

Round 4: vs. Michael Skipper

I thought that my opponent was Sir Chicken at first (his first name is also Michael), but this Michael never showed up, so I got a free win.

4-0

At this point, I was feeling good both physically and mentally, as I knew that I only had to win 2 out 3 of my next rounds.

Round 5

At this point, there were only roughly seven undefeated players remaining, and I socialized with them before the match. I was feeling much better by now. My opponent had competed at the Raleigh PC, and he had a threatening sand team with Mega Garchomp. I don’t remember too much about this game, but I recall his Mega Garchomp in sand facing down my half health Sylveon and Kangaskhan near the end of the game. After he knocked out Sylveon, however, I noticed I still had Landorus-T in the back, and it was a fairly easy win from there.

5-0

Round 6: vs. Rebecca

Rebecca and I had some unfinished business from Raleigh, where I had lost to her sun team in round one and beaten her in top right. We were 2-2 overall, which made this match an unofficial tiebreaker. She had a really cool team this time, with Thundurus, Mega Swampert, and Conkeldurr. However, Sylveon and Kangaskhan cut through her team fairly easily, and I took a quick win. We both had a lot of fun this round, as we talked back and forth during the match.

6-0

I ran over to my grandpa and told him that I made top cut, and he congratulated me. I made cut at my first regional!

Round 7: vs. Joshua

This was my favorite match of the entire day. It wasn’t a great match in terms of the game itself, but since we were both guaranteed top cut, we just talked and laughed the whole game. He had a pretty cool team with Mega Charizard X, a fairly rare Pokemon. One really cool play I remember is that he chose to delay Mega Evolving his Charizard for a turn in order to dodge Heatran’s Earth Power. Even with that play, he couldn’t really stop the combination of Kangaskhan and Landorus-T, and I cruised to a win.

7-0

I honestly couldn’t believe it. After an incredibly rocky start (I still had a drop of vomit on my jeans), I had gone undefeated at my first regional! I called home to my mom, grandma, and dad to tell them how the Swiss rounds went, and then talked to Tyler and Sandslash guy until they left.

Top Cut

After a brief hack check, I talked with the other top cut players and got cool hats with Hoenn starter designs. I got a Mudkip hat! My top eight opponent was Mark Garas, who I had never heard of before.

Top 8

Game 1

In Team Preview, I was strongly reminded of Aaron Zheng’s Fall Regionals team, which also had Gothitelle and Mawile. I went for the tried and true Kangaskhan and Hydreigon lead, while bringing Landorus-T and Sylveon in the back for their damage output. He led Swampert and Gothitelle, preventing me from switching. I went for a huge prediction on the first turn, using Fire Blast on the Swampert slot (expecting a Mawile switchin), but it didn’t work out. Trick Room went up, and Mega Mawile tore through my team.

0-1

Game 2

For the second game, I decided to lead with Hydreigon and Sylveon, as I knew I could beat anything he led with as long as I predicted correctly. He led with Gothitelle and Swampert again, and I successfully predicted the Wide Guard, knocking out Gothitelle on turn one with Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball. With no Trick Room available, his other Pokemon quickly fainted at the hands of mine. I was confident about the match again.

1-1

Game 3

All the marbles were on the line for this game: 20 Championship Points, a trophy, and ~$100 in TCG packs. I can’t really remember this match well, but I recall Sylveon picking up several KOs with its single target moves, circumventing his Wide Guard-spamming Swampert.

2-1

Top 4

The judge announced “Joseph versus Michael” and my heart sank. I knew I didn’t have a shot of beating one of the top three Seniors this year (in my opinion), and that’s exactly what happened. I got demolished in both games, and all I remember is wishing him good luck in the finals.

On the bright side, I skyrocketed to top 60 in Championship Points, picked up a nice trophy and some cards, and went undefeated in Swiss! Although I played three people who made top cut during the Swiss rounds, I can’t help but feel I had a relatively easy schedule, especially with a free win in round four. My goal is now to qualify for the World Championships in August, and I’m looking forward to playing in the Georgia Regional this spring!

Props

• Going 7-0!
• Winning a trophy
• Meeting Michael and Sandslash guy
• Having a great time
• My grandpa being awesome!
• Landorus-Therian
• Sylveon doing something in every game

Slops

• Denny’s
• Stomachache caused by food at Denny’s
• Walking to Denny’s in cold weather for a terrible sandwich
• The waitress at Denny’s taking forever with our food
• Denny’s not having Dr. Pepper
• Imagine Dragons for not releasing their album before the road trip

About the Author

Life Orb

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