Reports

Published on August 29th, 2014 | by Bopper

18

Let’s Go to the National Mall… Today! An LCQ Finalist and Worlds 11th Place Report

Hello everybody, for those of you who don’t know me, I’m Blake “Bopper” Hopper, A.K.A. Bopper Sparkles (as seen in top 8 of LCQ). This past season of VGC was my 3^rd year to compete in and I managed to get a worlds invite by qualifying through the LCQ. At the world competition, I ended 11^th in the world with a record of 4-2. The following is all about the team I used and the matches I played at worlds.

Team Building

After Nationals, I had missed out on an invite to Worlds and wanted to compete in the LCQ but cared a bit more about the Nugget Bridge Invitational due to the prizes that were given to the top players. Going into the tournament, I knew that I wanted to use what I loved. When thinking about what I really enjoyed using, only one team came to mind, my Invitational Season 2 winning team. I took the team and changed it to fit the metagame. I tried to keep the core of Dragon Dance Tyranitar, Amoonguss, and Gyarados. While I kept the core of those three, I incorporated my favorite Mega pokemon, Lucario.

Invitational Season 2 Winning Team

Invitational Season 3 Team

After the Invitational didn’t go quite as I had wanted it to, finishing in Top 8 (one place short of a cash prize), I knew that I had to change my team in order to fit my playstyle and to make it a bit better for the metagame at Worlds if I expected to do well. I had done a lot of practicing with Gavin Michaels (KingofMars) for him due to him having a Worlds invite. Through this practicing, I saw a certain set he was using that caught my eye, his Lucario. It was a Focus Sash Lucario with Extreme Speed and Follow Me. Thinking about how it worked, it seemed to work exceptionally well with Mega Tyranitar, due to the fact that it could help support it against anything with Safety Goggles or any Grass-type attacks. I felt like Mega Tyranitar was a good call for Worlds due to the incredible bulk and power it offers after a Dragon Dance and the extremely strong neutral game it had on the rest of the metagame.

LCQ & Worlds 2014 Team

After a lot of practice, I felt like this version of the team fit my playstyle and was good enough to go deep in the LCQ, so I ran with it.

The Team

Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 204 HP / 4 Atk / 60 Def / 4 SpD / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Rock Slide
– Crunch
– Dragon Dance
– Protect

• Jolly 252 Attack Garchomp Earthquake is a 3HKO after mega
• Outspeeds Mega-Lucario after Mega at +1

Picked:

• Worlds: 14/16 individual battles, 6/6 sets
• LCQ: 16/16 individual battles, 7/7 sets

Whenever I was revising my team after the Invitational, I knew that I really wanted to be using Mega Tyranitar at Worlds. I knew that rain was going to be at least existent at Worlds due to its success at every National tournament. Mega Tyranitar is a very good way to answer rain paired with Ludicolo due to the ability to reset the weather by Mega Evolving. I went for the popular Dragon Dance set on Tyranitar because once it sets up a Dragon Dance, Tyranitar instantly becomes the most threatening Pokemon on the field. There’s really not much you can do to stop two +1 Attack Rock Slides with roughly a 50% chance to flinch one of your Pokemon once it gets set up. Setting up Dragon Dance makes my opponent play my game and react to the way I’m playing, which puts me in a very commanding position and allows me to get an early lead if I can KO a pokemon really quickly with Rock Slide or Crunch. One thing that I noticed in practice and in Worlds is that since Mega Tyranitar is so bulky, people really need to plan ahead to take it out. If I flinch just one Pokemon with Rock Slide, the opponent’s plan for getting rid of Tyranitar typically falls apart and puts me at a large advantage. While most people run Jolly Mega Tyranitar, I found that Adamant was actually the best option due to Tyranitar having higher Attack than Speed and I was able to hit the Speed I needed with Adamant, making Adamant better in terms of boosting the higher stat.

Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 236 HP / 148 Def / 124 SpD
Bold Nature
– Spore
– Giga Drain
– Rage Powder
– Protect

• Survives a majority of Rotom-H Overheats
• Lives Fake Out + Return from adamant Mega-Kangaskhan
• HP optimized to maximize Regenerator health

Picked:

• Worlds: 1/16 individual battle, 1/6 set
• LCQ: 7/16 individual battles, 5/7 sets

Amoonguss was mainly on the team to support Tyranitar. It really helped with what Tyranitar didn’t love facing; most notably Rotom-Wash and Mawile. Furthermore, Amoonguss can support it with Rage Powder. Amoonguss wasn’t too helpful in Worlds because of bad matchups, which was really unfortunate because I really feel like Amoonguss Tyranitar is a good core and lead.

Lucario @ Focus Sash
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Close Combat
– Extreme Speed
– Follow Me
– Protect

•  Boring spread, Jolly to increase chances of KOing Kangaskhan on Turn 1 whenever both are non-mega

Picked:

• Worlds: 6/16 individual battles, 3/6 sets
• LCQ: 11/16 individual battles

Lucario made sense with Mega Tyranitar. Whenever I had Amoonguss in the same battle, I had two ways to redirect attacks from Mega Tyranitar. This allowed Tyranitar to shine and get up Dragon Dances without worrying about strong single target hits. The Focus Sash allowed Lucario to take two hits whenever I needed it to, compared to Amoonguss, which was easily KOed by Talonflame Brave Birds, Charizard Heat Waves, and Gardevoir Psychics. Also, Follow Me was great redirection because it allowed Tyranitar to not be hit by Grass-Type attacks. I felt like Lucario was outclassing Amoonguss whenever I brought it, which is why I barely brought Amoonguss in my matches. Extreme Speed allowed me to outspeed and KO Kangaskhan barely surviving my Close Combat before they Sucker Punch me, and allowed Lucario to have priority before Amoonguss Rage Powder.

Ludicolo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 148 SpA / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
– Scald
– Giga Drain
– Ice Beam
– Fake Out

•  Jolly Garchomp Dragon Claw is a 3HKO
• OHKOs 4HP Garchomp with Ice Beam
• 20 Speed to outspeed any bulky Ludicolos I might face

Picked:

• Worlds: 16/16 battles, 6/6 sets
• LCQ: 7/16 battles, 4/7 sets

Throughout this entire year, I kept looking at Ludicolo thinking it could be incredibly good but did nothing about it. Looking at my team, I knew that if I was going to win the rain matchups, I needed something to actually damage the enemy Pokemon rain and also something to not get punished by switching in. Ludicolo could always switch in on Ludicolo Politoed leads with ease and instantly be in a commanding position. This team was all about getting the momentum on my side and directing the battle, Ludicolo was extremely effective in doing this. With its Fake Out, Ludicolo opened up a wide variety of options when it came to setting up Dragon Dances. Ludicolo’s wide range of coverage moves were very helpful against a large portion of the metagame such as Garchomp, Rotom-Heat, Rotom-Wash, Tyranitar, Amoonguss, Politoed, and many more. I barely brought Ludicolo to my matches in LCQ, but it was extremely prominent in my matches in Worlds itself. I feel like most of the players in Worlds cut down on Talonflame use and had many more bulky Pokemon that couldn’t really do too much immediate damage to Ludicolo, which played a big role in its use in the event. Assault Vest opened up my options in terms of the spread. It allowed me to focus more on the defensive investment rather than the special investment. After Assault Vest, Ludicolo pretty much needed to be knocked out with physical hits in order to be taken off the field quickly.

Rotom-Heat @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 140 SpA / 36 SpD / 84 Spe
Modest Nature
– Overheat
– Thunderbolt
– Will-O-Wisp
– Protect

• Ray’s Rotom-H spread
• Made to OHKO a very large majority of Mawiles

Picked:

• Worlds: 14/16 individual battles, 6/6 sets
• LCQ: 12/16 individual battles, 6/7 sets

There isn’t much to say about Rotom. He did what I needed it to do, KO Mega Mawiles. I needed a Rotom that could OHKO a very large majority of Mawiles and Ray’s Rotom from Massachusetts Regionals is exactly what I needed. The spread worked extremely well and Rotom was a Pokemon I chose very often due to its support role with Will-O-Wisp.

Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Dragon Pulse
– Stone Edge
– Fire Blast

•  Very straight forward 252/252 Salamence

Picked:

• Worlds: 12/16 individual battles, 5/6 sets
• LCQ: 11/16 individual battles, 5/7 sets

After putting the other five Pokemon on this team, I knew that I needed some sort of glue that could beat Garchomp and support Mega Tyranitar in some way. I figured Salamence with Choice Scarf was my best option due to its ability, Intimidate, which made Tyranitar rudely bulky. Tyranitar would be able to survive a total of three Earthquakes from Jolly Garchomp after I Intimidated the enemy Garchomp. Salamence was a great Pokemon to keep in back, coming in the late game and cleaning up KOs that Tyranitar might not have been able to pick up.

Common Leads

Ludicolo + Rotom

The main focus of this lead was to remove big threats to Tyranitar before I sent it out on the field. If I saw Pokemon such as Salamence, Amoonguss, Garchomp, Rotom-Heat, or Rotom-Wash, I was inclined to use this lead in order to clear out those threatening pokemon. This lead’s main focus was bulk. Ludicolo with Assault Vest made it so I could easily clear off opposing Salamence and Ludicolo also could take anything an opposing Rotom wanted to throw at it. My own Rotom-Heat was able to weaken opposing physical attackers with Will-O-Wisp and opened up my playing options with Tyranitar in back.

Tyranitar + Lucario

If the opponent didn’t have any sort of spread moves on their team or didn’t lead with their spread move users in a previous game, this lead was great for redirecting the single target hits directed at Tyranitar. With this lead, I was able to clear out huge threats such as other Tyranitars and Kangaskhans with my Lucario and focus on setting up Dragon Dances with Tyranitar.

Tyranitar + Ludicolo

In Worlds, I saw a heavy decrease in Mega Kangaskhan use. If the opponent had Kangaskhan, Tyranitar and Lucario was the preferred lead to focus on setting up Tyranitar. If the opponent didn’t have any sort of Fake Out, Tyranitar and Ludicolo were great leads because of Ludicolo’s ability to Fake Out the biggest threat on the field and get set up for my late game. The entire team was focused on allowing Tyranitar to shine and Ludicolo was one of the best pokemon at allowing it to get up the Dragon Dances.

At the Event: LCQ

LCQ was not a tournament in which I expected to place Top 4 and win an invite to Worlds. I was determined to do well and prove that I wasn’t just someone who did decently well at Regionals then flopped at Nationals. Getting to Top 4 was an indescribable feeling and I was extremely bittersweet when I had to play my very good friend from The Boiler Room, Ryan Tan (Tan) in Top 8. During LCQ, I only dropped 2 matches out of my 16 matches that I played, which resulted in a 14-2 record in individual battles, and a 7-0 record in Best of 3 matches. While I was playing my matches, I felt as if a large majority of my opponents weren’t ready for Mega Tyranitar and the power and bulk it brought to the games. I often found myself in the situation where once I got up a Dragon Dance, I got myself into an instant win condition.

For anybody interested in doing LCQ in the future, be sure to stay focused, keep your eyes on the prize, and eat at some point. I had dropped two games in the span of Rounds 2 and 3 and was a bit worried about how I’d be able to do going into future rounds. I managed to grab a quick bite to eat thanks to Chalkey Horenstein (Chalkey), and after that, my plays made more sense, I was able to think clearly, and I was more focused. LCQ is the toughest competition I’ve ever competed in, and honestly, I feel like it was tougher than Worlds itself. Going undefeated at Worlds hosted in one of the toughest competitive locations in the country was extremely nerveracking. Also, shout out to Tan for being so cool about my wig fiasco in Top 8:

At the Event: Worlds

Round 1 [0-0]: Toler Webb (Dim) [1-5]

Mawile-Mega / Tyranitar / Salamence / Gallade / Rotom-H / Ludicolo

There I was, my first Worlds, and I have to play one of the people from The Boiler Room I’ve been practicing with for the past year. Toler’s a great friend of mine and I was absolutely crushed when I saw we had to play each other Round 1.

Game 1

He Brought: / /  / 

I Brought:   / / / 

I knew going into this match that Gallade was the way Toler was going to win. I had to hope he didn’t set up Trick Room and I tried to get it KOed before he tried to do anything crazy. I managed to Fake Out his Ludicolo, knowing it was slower than mine, and burn his Gallade Turn 1 as he goes for the Close Combat on my Rotom. The following turn, I Overheat and Scald the Gallade for the KO as he KOs my Rotom with Scald. I bring in Tyranitar as he brings in Mawile. I manage to burn his Mawile and that was game. After I lost Rotom-Heat, I really had nothing for Mawile and Toler played it very well. The only way I was going to get out of that situation was by burning his Mawile in order to prevent it from KOing the rest of my team.

Win 2-1

Game 2

He Brought:  //  / 

I Brought:  //  / 

After Game 1, I was going to try to be a bit risky with my leads. If he didn’t lead Gallade, then I would have a very large advantage with a Lucario Tyranitar lead. When I saw him lead Salamence Tyranitar I got extremely excited and knew the game was mine. I just had to preserve my Rotom-Heat that was in back for his Mawile and it was smooth sailing from there. If he had brought Gallade, the match would have been tougher, but to my surprise Gallade was nowhere to be seen.

Win 2-0

1-0

Round 2 [1-0]: Ben Kyriakou (Kyriakou) [4-2]

Manectric-Mega / Gyarados-Mega / Florges / Ferrothorn / Garchomp / Moltres

Kyriakou and I had been talking a bit throughout the event, so facing him Round 2 was not something I was up for. I figured he was using a version of his UK Nationals team, which I felt confident about facing going into our match.

Game 1

He Brought:  /  /  / 

I Brought:  / /  / 

I knew that Florges was going to be a problematic Pokemon to face. Ben had a very irritating Light Screen Florges that I really couldn’t hit for big damage. Going into the game, I knew that I wanted to burn his Florges as soon as I possibly could to get chip damage on it. Rotom-Heat was a great pokemon in this matchup because it did well against his Manectric lead and could punish a Ferrothorn switch in. Turn 1 I burn his Florges with Rotom and switch Salamence out to Tyranitar as he Volt Switches my Tyranitar into Garchomp. I’m able to set up a Dragon Dance and slowly work my way into a winning position by KOing Garchomp after Rotom went down to Rock Slides and Moonblast double targets. Saving Salamence for Garchomp and Ferrothorn locked me the match.

Win 2-0

Game 2

He Brought:  /  /  / 

I Brought:  /  /  / 

Turn 1 I go for the Fake Out on the Protecting Manectric and burn the Florges that sets up a Light Screen. Ludicolo Rotom was a much better lead than Rotom Salamence because it allowed me to immediately get a KO turn 2 by doubling up on his Manectric with Ice beam and Overheat expecting the Volt Switch into either Ferrothorn or Garchomp. Manectric switches to Ferrothorn, eats an Overheat for the KO, and Ludicolo chips Florges with an Ice beam. After that, I managed to get Tyranitar to +2 in order to outspeed the Manectric and get into a winning spot with Salamence and Tyranitar after Florges takes enough damage from Sand and Burn chipping to get KOed by Rock Slide.

Win 3-0

2-0

Round 3 [2-0]: Alex Oglaza (Evan Falco) [3-3]

Ludicolo / Politoed / Aegislash / Hydreigon / Kangaskhan-Mega / Zapdos

Going into this match, I knew I had an excellent matchup. With Ludicolo to thrive in the rain, Mega Tyranitar to reset the rain, and Lucario to redirect Ludicolo’s attacks, there was nothing he could really do if I played safe and kept the momentum in my favor. I knew that if I wanted to win this, I had to keep the offensive pressure with every move I made.

Game 1

He Brought: /  /  / 

I Brought:  /  /  / 

In this game, I applied pressure with Lucario and was able to get Ludicolo and Politoed in Extreme Speed Range by getting off Close Combats off on both as Alex attacked into my Protect early on. After that, I got to Dragon Dance with Tyranitar and took the game.

Win 3-0

Game 2

He Brought:  /  /  /

I Brought:  /  /  / 

Going into Game 2, I didn’t play safe enough with Tyranitar to carry my matchup well enough. I allowed Tyranitar to get KOed early and lost my win condition.

Loss 1-3

Game 3

He Brought:  /  /  / 

I Brought:  /  /  / 

By leading Tyranitar and Ludicolo, I applied pressure to a possible Aegislash lead better than I did with my Tyranitar and Lucario lead from Game 2. I got set up with Tyranitar and in the endgame managed to crit his Kangaskhan from full which didn’t end up mattering due to him having Double Edge Kangaskhan which would have KOed itself with the damage he took from a +1 Crunch.

Win 3-0

3-0

Round 4 [3-0]: Lee Provost (Osirus) [5-1]

Zapdos / Mawile-Mega / Ludicolo / Politoed / Tyranitar / Garchomp

This team was difficult to lead against. It’s difficult to have a lead that’s good against Tyranitar/Garchomp and Ludicolo/Politoed. I knew this was going to be a tough match.

Game 1

He Brought:  /  /  /

I Brought:  /  /  / 

The biggest issue here was my lead. I didn’t have enough pressure and couldn’t really stop the Garchomp / Mawile core after he KOed my Ludicolo and Rotom-Heat. Very well played on Lee’s part. I forfeited early to not reveal any info that I didn’t need to.

Loss 3-4

Game 2

He Brought:  /  /  / 

I Brought:  /  / / 

I was furious with myself after I saw the leads. I knew he was going to lead with Ludicolo and Politoed after that Game 1 but didn’t do much about it out of fear of the Tyranitar and Garchomp lead. I switched out Salamence for Ludicolo and Protected Lucario as he doubles into my Lucario. I Fake Out the Politoed, which activates his Eject Button, as he Intimidates me with Mawile as I go for the Close Combat on Ludicolo for about half damage. He gets the KO on my Ludicolo with Mawile and gets the KO on my Lucario with an Ice Beam from Ludicolo when I feel like it’s about over. I come in with Salamence and Rotom-Heat. I just Will-o-Wisp the Mawile which switches to Garchomp and Dragon Pulse the Ludicolo just in the off chance he was running a slow Ludicolo. Which he was. My Salamence gets the KO on his Ludicolo, and his Garchomp gets burned. He brings in Politoed and I call the Protect on Garchomp and double up on Politoed which gets KOed from Dragon Pulse and Thunderbolt. The following turns were me Dragon Pulsing his Garchomp for the KO and burn stalling his Mega Mawile for the win.

Win 2-0

Game 3

He Brought:  /  /  / 

I Brought:  /  /  / 

My lead looked pretty convincing. It had the tools to beat Garchomp/Tyranitar and Ludicolo/Politoed. He surprises me with a Garchomp and Zapdos lead which I was okay with for the most part. I Protect my Lucario and Scald his Zapdos predicting the Protect on Garchomp. He doesn’t Protect his Garchomp, which if I were to have Ice Beamed, I pretty much had an instant win condition, and goes for the Hidden Power Flying on my Ludicolo and the Earthquake. After that, I was afraid to switch in Salamence or Rotom because of how important they were in the matchup. However, Lucario was more important to me in hindsight because of how much of a threat the Tyranitar was, which ended up being the last Pokemon his team standing. After I lost Lucario, I had no chance of winning. Well played on Lee’s part, poorly played on my part.

Loss 0-1

3-1

Round 5 [3-1]: Wonseok Jang (KrelCROC) [4-2]

Kangaskhan-Mega / Zapdos / Salamence / Aegislash / Tyranitar-Mega / Amoonguss

Wonseok is someone who I’ve looked up to this season. I’ve been extremely respectful to his play style ever since I heard about him and I was oddly confident going into the match. I had a bit of information on his team and I knew I had a good matchup.

Game 1

He Brought:  /  /  / 

I Brought:  / /  / 

Based on leads, I knew I had won. I was able to get up a free Dragon Dance Turn 1 and Rage Powder with Amoonguss as Tyranitar cleaned up his team.

Win 2-0

Game 2

He Brought:  /  /  / 

I Brought:  / /  / 

I had a feeling that he would be bringing his Mega Tyranitar option in the second game based on how poorly his Kangaskhan option went. I called it correctly but his faster Tyranitar was too much for me to keep up with and allowed him to clean up my team rather quickly.

Loss

Game 3

He Brought:  /  /  / 

I Brought:  /  /  / 

The leads were exactly what I wanted to see. It looks like I was in a bad spot because of how I lead with two Rock-type weak pokemon against a Tyranitar, but Intimidating his Tyranitar was very important. This allowed Rotom-Heat to have some room to get off a Will-O-Wisp on the Tyranitar spot that switched to Amoonguss as his Salamence Protected fearing my Scarf Draco Meteor, which my Salamence switched into my own Tyranitar. I predicted his Amoonguss to switch back into Tyranitar and called his switch by using Will-O-Wisp on that slot again and Dragon Danced with my own Tyranitar as he used Draco Meteor on my Rotom-Heat knocking it down to about 10 HP. After that, I got up another Dragon Dance and kept the momentum in my favor. I knew that if I wanted Tyranitar to carry my matchup, I had to stay one Dragon Dance ahead of Won Seok’s Tyranitar, which I managed to pull off quite well.

Win 3-0

4-1

Round 6 [4-1]: Sejun Park (pokemontcg) [5-1 / 1^st Place]

Pachirisu / Gothitelle / Gardevoir / Gyarados-Mega / Talonflame / Garchomp

This was it, the last round of my first Worlds competition, at table 2, against debatably the best player in the world. I wasn’t sure about my matchup but I went into this match determined, hoping for a win.

Game 1

He Brought:  /  / / 

I Brought:  /  /  / 

The leads looked kind of iffy on my side. I can’t really remember this match too well, I remember managing to set up a Dragon Dance with Tyranitar as his Gothitelle got to Paralyze my Tyranitar and Ludicolo. Ludicolo managed to do around 75% with Giga Drain to Gyarados. At that point, it was too late because after his Gothitelle was KOed, and Garchomp had a bit of damage on it, Salamence and Rotom cleaned up the match.

Win 1-0

Game 2

He Brought:  /  /  / 

I Brought:  /  /  / 

I had this set up very well. I lead to set up with Tyranitar, and that’s what I did. He managed to eventually KO Tyranitar and got off a Thunder Wave on my Ludicolo, which won him the match due to me going for the Scald on his Gothitelle as he switched to Talonflame, which is when I got fully paralyzed. If I had KOed the Talonflame, I would have instantly won, but I still had an out. Because his Gothitelle was gone, I could switch in Salamence in place of Ludicolo, putting Gyarados at -1 which would allow my Rotom to survive its Earthquake — which managed to land a Critical Hit, preventing me from KOing his Talonflame. If I had gotten rid of the Talonflame, I would have had a chance of winning due to how much of a threat Ludicolo was to his entire team. Gyarados was sitting at Dragon Pulse range which would have been tough for him to come back from.

Loss 2-4

Game 3

He Brought:  /  /  / 

I Brought:  /  /  / 

After that game 2, it was hard for me to put it together and make the right plays. I figured turn 1 he would protect his Gothitelle so a Dragon Dance and Dragon Pulse on the Gyarados would have set me up for a near instant win. However, he didn’t protect his Gothitelle, not fearing the double up of Draco Meteor and Crunch and managed to Thunder Wave my Salamence. After that, he cleaned up with his Scarf Gardevoir in back and won the set.

Loss 2-0

4-2, 11th place overall

Closing Thoughts

Going into this season, I didn’t expect much of myself. To be completely honest, my only goal for the year was simple; Top Cut at a Regionals event. After placing in Top Cut my first regional of the event, I was content with my season already. However, after St. Louis, I had realized that I had gotten much better since the previous year. I just thought about the possibility of making Worlds and got excited. Missing out on the invite at the end of the season was crushing after being so close for the first time. Going into LCQ, I didn’t expect to make it so making it in was absolutely insane and overwhelming for me. Worlds was by far the best experience I’ve ever had as a Pokemon player. I played some of the best players in the world and many people I’ve looked up to and respected in my Pokemon career. While missing Top Cut at worlds was unfortunate, putting into perspective that I was playing Sejun Park last round of the world competition I qualified for through LCQ, at table 2, at my first Worlds was indescribable. I don’t think I could have asked for a better way to be knocked out of Top Cut.

Thank Yous

I feel like this deserves its own section since there were so many amazing people that made this season possible and the best one I’ve ever competed in.

• Ben Irons (BenjitheGREAT): You’re amazing. You know this. I’ve been friends with you for 13 years and watching you miss out on worlds this year really sucked. I couldn’t have made it through the season without you.
• Collin Heier (TheBattleRoom): I can’t believe you managed to Top 4 Worlds. I remember you in 2013 St. Louis where you barely beat me and didn’t know too much of what you were doing. Then we included you in The Boiler Room and you completely took off. I can’t even begin to say how grateful I am to have you as a teambuilding partner.
• Gavin Michaels (KingofMars): Since the end of Nationals, you inspired so much of this team. The amount you’ve helped me do this well is so crazy, I can’t thank you enough. I greatly appreciate the practice and you are such a great friend.
• Toler Webb (Dim): Thanks for being there Toler. You’ve been an incredible friend and you’ll always be world champ Toler Webb. Thank you for being there whenever I needed someone to battle with or someone to help me with teams, you’ve been amazing.
• Oliver Valenti (Smith): You weren’t really too around before worlds/nationals but you’ve been a great friend so thank you.
• Ryan Tan (Tan): Thanks for the Worlds invite bud. In all seriousness, it sucked to be playing a fellow Boiler Room member in Top 8 of the LCQ. Thanks for being such a good sport, and of course, ggs.
• Kamz Bopper Jihadi (Kamz): Thank you for stealing my team already. But seriously, you’re an amazing dude, it was great getting to know you.
• The Boiler Room: To everybody involved (Oliver, Collin, Ben, Tan, and Toler) thank you. You guys have been the best friends and team builders I could have asked for. Without you guys, I wouldn’t have done nearly as well this season.

About the Author

Bopper started playing competitive VGC in 2012. He now looks at VGC as not only a competition, but a great way to meet up with friends and meet new people who share the same interests as him. Outside of Pokemon, Mrbopper is studying Mechanical Engineering at Texas Tech Univeristy

Related Posts

Memoirs of a World Champion: by 2015 World Champion SHADEviera →

The Other Fire Doge: A Top 8 Lancaster Report →

Blazing Forward! A Malaysian Regionals 2nd Place Report →

Top 4, Top 4, We’ve Never Used This Team Before →