Reports

Published on March 12th, 2015 | by DylanxArsenal

18

My First Regionals: A Top 16 SoCal Regionals Report

Hello everyone, and thank you for taking the time to read my report.  My name is Dylan Robison, and I go by DylanxArsenal. I want to give you some of my impressions on my first tournament. I attended the Winter Regionals in Lancaster, California, which was held on February 15. There were 260 Masters, including some extremely talented players, so it was definitely a tough tournament.

Teambuilding Process

I knew I wanted to bring a weather team, as I feel that weather is strong in every format; allowing one player free control of the weather is a huge advantage. I decided to use my favorite weather, rain, as Politoed and Ludicolo were incredibly strong. After testing on Battle Spot, I noticed that Bisharp was a good answer to nearly every common Pokémon in the format. It also provided a very good check to Intimidate and Fairy-types. I realized that Terrakion would be an issue. Naturally, I thought “Cresselia!” However, Cresselia didn’t quite have the offensive presence I wanted, but with an offensive set, it did enough. Afterwards, I needed a Mega Evolution, so I picked Mega Gardevoir and Pachirisu. (I wasn’t really on the Pachirisu hype train, but I needed redirection, and it was the best choice.)

The team ran into a couple of issues: it lacked Taunt, and Cresselia’s Moonlight clashed with rain. I decided to change things up and run sun instead, with Charizard, Mamoswine, Bisharp, and Cresselia. Thundurus patched the Taunt issue up, and I was lucky enough to obtain a shiny Thundurus on my fourth reset. For my last Pokémon, I added Gastrodon to patch up the team’s weaknesses to Water-type moves.

The team worked well, but it struggled against the increasingly common Tailwind. I was upset about not being able to form a consistent team, so I reverted back to rain and started over. After adding Thundurus to my original four, I still had no Mega Evolution. I struggled to find one, as adding nearly anything messed up the team’s defensive synergy. Then it hit me: Kangaskhan. It had the right balance of power and bulk, and even though I knew many players would heavily prepare for it, Kangaskhan was merely a bonus to an already balanced team. Here’s the final team I decided to bring:

The Team

Twinkle (Politoed) @ Choice Scarf
Drizzle | Modest
252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
– Scald
– Focus Blast
– Ice Beam
– Rain Dance

I opted for a simple EV spread, as I thought maximum Speed would be very important with Mega Salamence running amok. It worked out, as Politoed was able to knock out two Mega Salamence during the tournament with Ice Beam. Focus Blast gave me a way to beat Ferrothorn, which this team struggles with; although I did not run into any Ferrothorn, it was still nice to have the move just in case.

Icingdeath (Ludicolo) @ Assault Vest
Swift Swim | Modest
76 HP / 236 SpA / 196 Spe
– Fake Out
– Giga Drain
– Scald
– Ice Beam

This is Alex Ogloza’s (Evan Falco’s) Ludicolo, and there isn’t much to say about it. Ludicolo provided Fake Out support and dealt consistent damage, especially when in rain. Its excellent coverage proved to be very useful.

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Defiant | Adamant
252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
– Sucker Punch
– Iron Head
– Knock Off
– Protect

This is a pretty standard Bisharp set. I chose Knock Off over Assurance for its utility, as well as its ability to deal massive damage to Cresselia. Life Orb gave me more switching freedom than Focus Sash, and allowed Bisharp to OHKO most Sylveon with Iron Head.

Cresselia @ Rocky Helmet
Levitate | Modest
252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
– Icy Wind
– Psychic
– Light Screen
– Moonlight

Cresselia was my MVP. As I mentioned earlier, I disliked that Cresselia typically lacked offensive pressure. By heavily investing in Special Attack, I turned it into a tank that could dish out a lot of damage. I knew that doing so would sacrifice some of its famous bulk, so I added Rocky Helmet and Light Screen to help mitigate that tradeoff. Moonlight, despite the rain, was an excellent way to restore HP; it required some tricky play to avoid a reduced heal, but I made it work. Icy Wind was a great move, as it dealt heavy damage to Mega Salamence and could punish Taunts directed at Cresselia. Psychic dealt solid STAB damage, and hit threats such as Terrakion, Gengar, and Mega Venusaur very hard.

DatTail (Thundurus) @ Sitrus Berry
Prankster | Calm
244 HP / 108 Def / 64 SpA / 72 SpD / 20 Spe
– Thunderbolt
– Thunder Wave
– Taunt
– Swagger

Thundurus gave me a little bit of everything: Speed control, Taunt, and when I needed it, Swagger (which was somewhat hit or miss). It was an incredibly versatile Pokémon, and gave me numerous options. I pulled the EV spread off a Smogon Doubles analysis, and even though it was suboptimal, it got the job done.

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

I decided to run Adamant Mega Kangaskhan, as I had significant Speed control in the form of Icy Wind and Thunder Wave. Additionally, an Adamant nature gave Kangaskhan a better shot of winning the mirror, even against Jolly variants. I chose to forgo Fake Out, as I thought most opponents would see it coming and easily avoid it. This allowed Kangaskhan to be more offensive, throwing out powerful moves even on turn one. I made a last minute decision to use Facade, expecting heavy Will-O-Wisp usage. This didn’t quite work out, as Kangaskhan was only burned once (when Facade was already revealed). Looking back, I should have run Protect.

The Tournament

Round 1 vs. Louis

He brought:

I brought:

This was a pretty close game. Early on, his Terrakion knocked out Ludicolo with a critical hit Rock Slide, but Kangaskhan answered right back by knocking out Terrakion through its Chople Berry with a critical hit Low Kick. Later, Cresselia picked up a clutch knockout on Mega Salamence with Icy Wind, which sealed the game. Great game, Louis.

1-0

Round 2 vs. Nawraz Bashir (knawraz)

He brought:

I brought:

I don’t have extensive notes for this game, but I do remember most of it. This was a back and forth game; we traded damage throughout. Cresselia was extremely important here, as it was able to deal heavy damage to his Mega Venusaur. There was a key turn where he misclicked Flash Cannon instead of Shadow Ball with Aegislash, causing it to fail to knock out Politoed. Afterwards, Kangaskhan was able to clean up the rest of his team. Good game knawraz, and congratulations on your top eight finish!

2-0

Round 3 vs. Doran

He brought:

I brought:

A fairly simple game. On turn two, he decided to use Swagger on my Bisharp, but it was able to break through confusion twice and pick up two quick KOs as a result. This was one of my better games on the day.

3-0

Round 4 vs. Brandon Dickerson

He brought:

I brought:

I don’t have many notes on this game, but I got bodied pretty hard. Even though I had the better lead matchup, I threw it away by using Swagger on Gastrodon turn one… which switched to Metagross. I attempted to paralyze him to improve my chances, but Metagross was able to break through paralysis and confusion three times to pick up three knockouts. Luck was not on my side this game.

3-1

Round 5 vs. Daniel Berumen

He brought:

I brought:

I led with Thundurus as he had Amoonguss, Gothitelle, and Sableye. I was able to quickly neutralize his Amoonguss with Taunt and knock out Greninja with a Thunderbolt. Sableye was shut down by Thundurus, and Cresselia took out his Mega Salamence with an Icy Wind to quickly end the game.

4-1

Round 6 vs. Chris Hernandez

He brought:

I brought:

I noticed that his team was rather weak to rain, so I decided to lead with it here. My rain mode quickly knocked out Latios and Volcarona, but went down to his Choice Scarf Landorus-Therian. Nevertheless, my Bisharp and Kangaskhan were able to clean up for a quick win. Great to see you again after UCI, Chris!

5-1

Round 7 vs. Jobany

He brought:

I brought:

I pretty much got destroyed here. Although the lead matchup seemed decent, I completely mispredicted turn one and allowed Tailwind to go up. Afterwards, he outpredicted me every turn and quickly took out all of my Pokémon. The 3-0 defeat really taught me a lesson, but I’ll discuss that later.

5-2

Round 8 vs. Aaron

He brought:

I brought:

We both needed to win to have a chance at top cut, so this was a very intense game. Before the game, I shook his hand and told him, “Look, we both played really well today.  Only one of us will go 6-2 and have a chance at top cut.  At this point we should both be proud of ourselves and enjoy this match; congrats on making it this far, good luck if you make it to top cut!”

The game started off well, as I was able to knock out his Kangaskhan on turn one (his Kangaskhan had Inner Focus, so he attempted to make a play off that). However, a critical hit Hyper Voice from Sylveon knocked out my Ludicolo on turn two, which set me back. Breloom was able to put two of my Pokémon to sleep, but Cresselia slept for only a single turn and scored two critical hits on his Zapdos with Icy Wind, allowing me to win the game with Bisharp. This was an intense match; I’m sorry we couldn’t both go through!

6-2

At this point, I eagerly awaited the final standings. I knew I had a chance to make top cut, and I had talked to many of the people I had played. Two of them were 6-2 and one was 7-1. They posted the rankings, and I had made 14th on resistance! Gavin Michaels (kingofmars) and Omari Travis (BadIntent) had bubbled out, two players who I thought had a good chance at winning the tournament. I felt bad for them, as I (and knawraz) had made top cut in our first regionals while they had not, but that’s Pokémon.

Top 16 vs. Jobany

After seeing I was paired with Jobany, I was actually kind of excited.  This was a chance at redemption for the crushing Swiss format defeat he inflicted on me.  I literally took 0 notes during this so my commentary might be a bit off, but its close enough.
Game 1

He brought:

I brought:

Game one went my way. I was worried about Tailwind, but I was able to knock out his Togekiss on turn two and knock out his Mega Salamence with Cresselia shortly afterwards. Politoed and Ludicolo made short work of his team after that. I was elated, as I had made top cut, avoided a 2-0 defeat, and taken revenge for my Swiss defeat!

1-0

Game 2

I don’t remember much of this game, but he outplayed me most of the match. I tried to throw him off with an arbitrary lead, but his Mega Salamence was able to cut through my defenses and win the game.

1-1

Game 3

1-2

Conclusion

All in all, what an event. I mainly want to stress how I prepared for the tournament: I spent roughly a month building this team, but that was only half the battle. I commented on one of Alex Ogloza’s YouTube videos, asking for advice for a first-time Regional attendee, and he replied:

“Showing up to your first tournament and top cutting an event would be incredible. If that’s what you’re looking for, my only advice would be “good luck”. But honestly, just go to have fun. You’re gonna get haxed at some point, and it’s probably gonna be pretty bad. Just remember that.”

Before and during the tournament, I constantly reminded myself to have fun. My goals were to have fun, meet new people, and get tournament experience. I definitely achieved all three, and as I told my girlfriend, top cut was the icing on the cake. That mindset took away so much pressure and allowed me to play confidently. Getting through unlucky games was the hardest part, and being able to is a key talent of the best players. I just want to repeat: PLAY POKÉMON TO HAVE FUN!

Big shout-out here to Jeremy (ClassyCobra), as he was basically my only friend during the whole tournament.  None of my friends play Pokémon, so I made the two hour journey to Lancaster alone (unless you count the cop that gave me a speeding ticket as a friend).  Thanks Jeremy! I’m sorry you bubbled, but you played amazing and you should take some pride in that 6-2 record for sure!

Quick shout-out to my girlfriend, who probably won’t read this, but she let me spend Valentine’s Day away from her (at least during the day) <3.

Next shout-out goes to Alex Ogloza, because his advice guided me to success at my first regionals.  I love watching his videos and his random Twitch streams… Also a shout-out to ShadyPenguin, as I learned a lot from his singles videos.  I don’t play singles, but his videos provide very useful general information.

Finally, thanks to the Nugget Bridge and Pokémon Showdown staff for everything they do!

About the Author

DylanxArsenal Location: Southern California Occupation: Mental Health Care Giver School: Los Angeles Harbor College Major: Business About Me: I have been a closet pokemon player essentially my whole life. I do not have many friends who care for it. I have lurked here on NB for awhile, reading and learning. I play Showdown! and Battle Spot constantly for practice. Watching poketubers is also a way I picked up many tips and tricks. I am also an avid Arsenal F.C. fan, as well as a fan of cars and racing; mainly Formula 1 and DPGT. I own a 2013 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution which is my pride and joy.

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