Reports

Published on July 16th, 2014 | by Jayhonas

12

South African National Champion’s Report

South Africa joined the VGC circuit this year. Most players viewed this as positive news, whilst other players were unimpressed and said that other countries should be afforded the opportunity before South Africa. Although I do have opinions on the matter, today’s report won’t be focusing on that. Rather, I’ll be having a look at South Africa’s very first VGC National event.

We have had the privilege of hosting a TCG National event before as well as several Regional and Cities events, but 2014 was the first year we have had any formal VGC tournaments. The venue was in a very spacious vacant store in Brightwater Commons mall that was more than big enough to comfortably house all of us. The tournament consisted of four rounds of Swiss followed by a Top Cut of 8. I was kind of disappointed to see such a small turnout for the tournament, as there were only 25 Masters, but nevertheless, I knew it would be a great day. The organisation and judging of the event were masterfully coordinated by the judges. Registration started at 8 AM and ended at 10 AM. The Swiss rounds started a lot later, though, as there wasn’t enough judging staff to juggle both the TCG Top Cut and VGC players simultaneously.

The Team

Kangaskhan (KAAAAAAAAA) @ Kangaskhanite
212 HP / 212 Attack / 60 Speed / 20 Def / 4 Sp.Def
Adamant Nature
Ability: Scrappy -> Parental Bond
– Fake Out
– Power-Up Punch
– Sucker Punch
– Return

Kangaskhan was my Mega of choice. I’m really comfortable with the role it plays. Kangaskhan hits hard and relatively fast. I went for a bulkier, slower spread because I had Speed control support in the form of Meowstic with Thunder Wave. My set survives an Adamant Mega Kangaskhan’s Hammer Arm 100% of the time. The Speed is so that I can outspeed Tyranitar and anything that was EVed to outspeed it in turn, as I felt that Kangaskhan with no Speed investment was a bit too slow. The HP investment was inspired by the German VGC National champion’s in order to reduce damage taken from Sandstorm, as Kangaskhan’s HP is one less than a multiple of 16.

Garchomp (RELINQUISH*) @ Rocky Helmet
252 Attack / 252 Speed / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
Ability: Rough Skin
– Protect
– Rock Slide
– Earthquake
– Dragon Claw

There’s really not much to be said here. This is the same Garchomp set that I’ve used for the entire year. It hits hard and fast. The Rocky Helmet was used to punish Fake Out users that were faster than my Kangaskhan, as well as punishing Kangaskhan in general.

Gardevoir (BLAZEM8) @ Sitrus Berry
252 HP / 116 Def / 76 Sp.Atk / 4 Sp.Def / 60 Speed
Modest Nature
Ability: Trace
– Protect
– Moonblast
– Psychic
– Taunt

The defensive EV investment is designed to survive a Choice Banded Brave Bird from Talonflame. I decided against changing the spread to survive only the Life Orb-boosted Brave Bird, because against Mega Kangaskhan, the first Return hit usually does enough damage to activate my Sitrus Berry. I opted for Trace over Telepathy as I thought I could get a few useful Traces during my matches, and I felt as though my choice was correct, as long as I didn’t Trace something useless like Huge Power or Gale Wings. Taunt is used to stop Pokemon like Amoonguss from having free reign when I didn’t bring Meowstic to the match.

Talonflame (HAWKWARD) @ Life Orb
252 Attack / 252 Speed / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
Ability: Gale Wings
– Quick Guard
– Taunt
-Flare Blitz
– Brave Bird

Two Taunt users in the same team might seem a bit excessive, and it is. Since I pretty much only practiced with this team on Showdown! I felt the need for a faster Taunt user, as I felt there were just too many teams that could do well if they get set up, e.g. Perish Trap teams. Nothing terribly exciting in the spread and move set department. I used Quick Guard to block Fake Outs and Prankster spam. I have a shirt that I got as a gift from Stephen for Christmas with a hawk that says “hawkward,” and that’s where the nickname comes from. I have a shiny 4 IV Adamant Talonflame, but opted to go the safe route with my flawless one, just in case the extra Special Defense IVs helped Talonflame survive a hit.

Bisharp (Diarmuid) @ Focus Sash
252 Attack / 252 Speed / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
Ability: Defiant
– Protect
– Sucker Punch
– Night Slash
– Iron Head

Bisharp replaced my Aegislash, and there is good reason for that. It isn’t as slow as Aegislash, despite being less bulky, and it has a solid priority attack in Sucker Punch. It’s also a really good Aegislash counter, because Bisharp doesn’t need to fear the -2 Attack drop from King’s Shield due to Defiant.

Bisharp’s nickname comes from an animé called Fate/Zero. One of the warrior’s in the show is called Diarmuid. Thanks to EricOfficially for recommending it in the forums!

I decided to use Night Slash, despite Assurance being the better option in most cases. I was comfortable with Night Slash and the increased chance of a Critical Hit was good enough reason to merit its use. Iron Head provided some decent coverage against Fairies and could do a fair amount of damage to Tyranitar. It took me a while to decide on the item. Since my Life Orb was already in use and I didn’t like being locked into a move like Sucker Punch, for example, I opted to forgo Choice Band and ended up choosing Focus Sash. It’s an interesting item choice, but I found that if you aren’t up against Mega Kangaskhan, Bisharp seldom gets KOed in one turn. My opponents usually wouldn’t double target Bisharp due to it being so frail. This usually resulted in me being able to get two attacks off at the least before fainting. I definitely missed Life Orb at times.

During my testing it was very noticeable that Bisharp needed some form of boosted damage output, but I decided to keep using Focus Sash, as I was familiar with it. I only brought Bisharp to three games, but it proved its worth in the Finals, sealing two very close victories and nabbing me the title of South Africa’s best VGC player.

Meowstic (M) (CremeFraiche) @ Mental Herb
236 HP / 212 Sp.Def / 60 Def
Bold Nature
Ability: Prankster
– Thunder Wave
– Light Screen
– Charm
– Safeguard

Meowstic used Mental Herb because there are, again, a lot of tricks to be used while on Showdown! Trainers usually want to minimise their losses against teams that might be a bit more ‘gimmicky’. Due to the common usage of Taunt, I decided to run Mental Herb. This gave Meowstic more staying presence on the field, as I wouldn’t have to use Struggle or switch out to reset the Taunt. The EV spread guarantees survival against Adamant Mega Kangaskhan’s Return. The rest of my EVs were pumped into Special Defense in order to increase my chances of surviving Aegislash’s Shadow Ball. Safeguard helps against Smeargle, Amoonguss, opposing Prankster Pokémon, and Rotom-W, all of which would otherwise have free reign to spam their status moves due to the lack of a Lum Berry on my team. I was really comfortable with the team, as I knew what it could do and what it could not do. I really felt like the team had something up its sleeve to counter any team and to make the matchup a favourable one if I used it correctly.

The Matches

Round 1 vs. Dale Schwikkard (Daleshand)

Dale is a really great guy and I first met him over Nugget Bridge, as we were both South Africans. Dale is a really great player, and I was disappointed to find out that I was paired against a friend in the first round. It’s nicer to get into the groove of things against someone you don’t know, in my opinion.

His team: Diggersby, Blastoise, Raichu, Amoonguss, Talonflame, Hydreigon.

Game 1

He brought: Blastoise, Talonflame, Diggersby and Hydreigon. I brought Kangaskhan, Gardevoir, Talonflame and Garchomp.

This was a really close game, as it came down to my Talonflame having avoided two Rock Slides from Diggersby. Brave Bird was brave indeed, and won the match for me after a bit of RNG luck. I made a poor switch in with Garchomp during the match, resulting in it getting OHKOed by Dragon Pulse from Blastoise. So that put me behind, making this match an uphill battle. I was also really surprised to see that my Gardevoir was able to survive Hydreigon’s Flash Cannon from about 55% health, so it was probably Scarfed and not Specs.

Win (1-0).

Game 2

He brought Raichu, Blastoise, Diggersby and Hydreigon. I brought Meowstic, Gardevoir, Kangaskhan and Garchomp.

Dale’s lead was better than mine as Raichu’s Lightning Rod put a halt in my plans to get some Speed control under way with Meowstic. Garchomp does a bit more work this match, not getting OHKOed by Dragon Pulse this time around. The match boiled down to my +1 Kangaskhan with Garchomp and Meowstic in the back against his Hydreigon and Raichu. I switch out Garchomp for Meowstic, hoping to cripple Hydreigon’s Speed for Garchomp in case it came to down to that. But first, Kanga needed to KO that Raichu. My +3 Kanga and Meowstic were able to come out on top here.

Win (3-0). 1 win, 0 losses.

Round 2 vs. Jan-Hendrick Fick

Jan-Hen is a guy that I’ve known from league. I had a very close match with him earlier in the year, so I was cautious going into this match.

His team: Smeargle, Azumarill, Scolipede, Goodra, Mawile, Gourgeist.

Game 1

He brought: Smeargle, Scolipede, Azumarill and Mawile. I brought: Meowstic, Kangaskhan, Garchomp and Talonflame.   His Smeargle’s Fake Out goes before my Kangaskhan and that’s when I am sorely reminded that base 100 speed Pokémon need 156 Speed investment to out speed max speed Smeargle. My Meowstic can’t get Safeguard up this turn due to the flinch and my Kanga gets his Scolipede with Fake Out. Once I get Safeguard up I don’t worry about Smeargle and Kangaskhan breaks Scolipede’s sub that it got up in the previous turn, but Kangaskhan doesn’t get the KO. The match ends with my +3 Mega Kangaskhan and Meowstic out against his Paralysed Scolipede and Mega Mawile. I learn that Scolipede has no attacking moves, which I thought was rather interesting, and it was an easy enough victory from then on. Charm really helped a lot against Mawile, as its Play Rough did less than 50% damage to KAAAAAAAAA.

Win (4-0).

Game 2

He brought: Scolipede, Smeargle, Mawile and Gourgeist. I brought: Kangaskhan, Talonflame, Garchomp, Meowstic.

After his Smeargle gets Taunted by Talonflame, it’s switched out for Gourgeist. Gourgeist is able to survive Talonflame’s Brave Bird by a couple of Hit Points. Talonflame knocks itself out with recoil damage during the match, and my Garchomp, Meowstic and Kangaskhan are able to pull through for me and beat Smeargle and Mawile. Garchomp was able to get an OHKO on Mawile with Earthquake which was really surprising!   Win (3-0). 2 wins, 0 losses.

Round 3 vs. Rogan Botha

Rogan is a great friend and my “rival”, so to speak. He’s a great Pokémon player, so I knew I was in for some good matches.

His team: Talonflame, Garchomp, Aegislash, Amoonguss, Charizard Y and Azumarill.

Game 1

He brought: Azumarill, Charizard, Aegislash, Garchomp. I brought: Meowstic, Kangaskhan, Garchomp, Talonflame.

This was a really good match, with both teams taking fair trades. He lead Azumarill and Charizard to my Meowstic and Kangakshan. I switch out Kangaskhan for Garchomp and he switched Azumarill for Aegislash. Charizard Protects and Meowstic Paralyses Aegislash.  I am able to learn that his Garchomp isn’t carrying Life Orb, since my Garchomp survived a Dragon Claw at full health, and that his Aegislash is a physical attacker. The match ended with my Kangaskhan and Garchomp out against his Charizard and Azumarill. My Rock Slide missed his Charizard Y, but got the KO on Azumarill. Funnily enough, his Heat Wave then misses my Garchomp, which would definitely have knocked it out, so I wasn’t too upset about the Rock Slide miss. Kangaskhan gets put below 50% health and would have gotten KOed the next turn from Heat Wave, and my Sucker Punch wouldn’t have OHKOd his Char Y, so Garchomp surviving was incredibly fortunate.

Win (1-0).

Game 2

He brought: Azumarill, Talonflame, Garchomp and Aegislash. I brought: Bisharp and Gardevoir as lead and had Garchomp and Kangaskhan in the back.

I decided to lead with Bisharp, as I wanted to immediately apply pressure on his Aegislash. I Protect turn one with Bisharp, as I feared an Aqua Jet and Flare Blitz KO. Instead, Rogan goes for the Brave Bird on Gardevoir, putting it at 25% health and activating its Sitrus Berry. I am able to KO the Talonflame in turn with Psychic, due to the recoil it sustained. Azumarill showed that it had Superpower as it hit into my Protect, so my Kangaskhan and Bisharp need to be careful in this match. He then brings in Garchomp, but immediately switches it out for Aegislash having predicted the Moonblast. My Gardevoir’s Moonblast does almost no damage against his Aegislash, and Bisharp manages to flinch Azumarill with Iron Head. I forego double targeting his Aegislash, predicting the Sub. I need to get the KO, or do enough damage to prevent Substitute from activating. Moonblast does a fair amount of damage against Azumarill, putting it in the red, and with a Critical Hit, Night Slash puts the Shield-Forme Aegislash at 5% health. Azumarill uses Superpower, which activates Sash on my Bisharp, and Aegislash can’t get up the Substitute due to not having enough health.  I realise that his Azumarill isn’t running Aqua Jet, but is instead using Waterfall, so Bisharp would always be able to attack before it. This was comforting, as I didn’t have to worry about being left at 1 HP.   His Azumarill Protects, and Aegislash use King’s Shield. The next turn he again tries to use King’s Shield, which fails. I KO both his active Pokémon and he is left to send in Garchomp. I use Bisharp’s Sucker Punch to get some chip damage on his Garchomp and he reveals that his Garchomp hasn’t got Rough Skin! He uses Dragon Claw to KO Bisharp, and Gardevoir nets the KO with Moonblast.

GG, win (3-0). 3 wins, 0 losses.

Round 4 vs. Nikola Radevic

I hadn’t met Nikola prior to the tournament. I’m not going to lie here, I was fairly intimidated by him, as he’d been wearing his hood all day and was a rather towering fellow. All of this ‘fear’ subsided when I introduced myself and realised that he’s actually an incredibly friendly and talkative chap. He was also at 3-0, so it was scary realising that one of us had to end Swiss with a loss on our records. It turns out that Nikola is in fact a Singles player, and heard about Nats about a fortnight before the tournament.

His ability to predict was one the same level as mine, if not better. However, since he had a few Singles moves, like Stealth Rock on his Tyranitar, Water Shuriken on his Greninja and, by the sound of things, a few last minute Protects added onto some of his Pokémon, the factor of prediction was slightly in my favour once I learnt of this disadvantage.

His team: Greninja, Weavile, Tyranitar, Tyrantrum, Charizard Y, Trevenant.

Game 1

He brought: Charizard Y and Weavile as leads, with Tyrantrum and Greninja in the back. I open with Talonflame and Gardevoir with Kangaskhan and Garchomp in the back.

He Mega Evolves his Char Y and uses Fake Out on Talonflame on the first turn. I predicted the Fake Out but I didn’t know that Weavile was faster than Talonflame, which is entirely my own fault as I had checked for faster Pokémon the night before the tourney. His Charizard uses Heat Wave and Talonflame is surprisingly left standing with one Hit Point. He then switches out Weavile for Tyrantrum. I incorrectly predicted an Ice Shard, so I use Quick Guard to a rather astounding nil effect. Charizard Heat Waves again, which misses Gardevoir and KOs Talonflame. Psychic from Gardevoir does a bit of chip damage against Charizard Y for a booby prize effect.   After a not-so-stellar first two turns, I send in Garchomp and use Protect. This was because I assumed, but still needed to find out whether, Tyrantrum was Scarfed or not and decided to not get greedy go for the OHKO on Charizard. My hunch was correct and he Ice Fangs into Protect! A critical hit from Heat Wave takes Gardevoir off the field.   I bring in Kangaskhan hoping to pick up some steam. The match ends with my Garchomp getting flinched by Weavile’s Fake Out and Greninja Ice Beams for the KO. Unfortunately, I am out-predicted and outplayed this game and I just couldn’t get ahead.

GG, lost (0-1). 0-1

Game 2

He brought: Weavile, Charizard, Greninja and Tyrantrum. I brought Kangaskhan, Meowstic, Garchomp and Gardevoir.

I immediately switch out Kangaskhan for Garchomp. This was somewhat effective, as I knew I’d be able to break Weavile’s Focus Sash with the Rocky Helmet and Rough Skin chip damage due to the predicted Fake Out on Kangaskhan. To make this plan fully effective, I also had Meowstic Paralyse Weavile with Thunder Wave. Weavile was quite the threat to my Garchomp, so I needed to keep Garchomp from fainting. Heat Wave gets both Garchomp and Meowstic below 50% health. I am able to KO his Charizard with Rock Slide, which wasn’t able to quite KO Weavile and it’s left standing with what was probably 3 HP. Thankfully, Rock Slide did manage to flinch his Weavile. He then sends forth his Greninja, which is another huge threat to Garchomp. I Protect Garchomp and make sure that Meowstic also paralyses Greninja before it faints from Weavile’s Night Slash attack. Next up is Kangaskhan, and I quite like the favourable position I find myself in. Rock Slide manages to get a superfluous critical hit on Weavile, but misses Greninja. I Power-Up Punch the Greninja for the knock out, and I have a Garchomp and +2 Mega Kangaskhan against his Tyrantrum. Sucker Punch leaves Tyrantrum at low health but still in the yellow zone. Ice Fang does indeed hit Garchomp for the KO and Rough Skin and Rocky Helmet are able to get a cherry-on-the-top knock out.

Win (2-0). 1-1, we’re both tied and come down to our last game before the end of the Swiss rounds.

Nikola jokes about how the game can be rather bittersweet in giving out those “superfluous crit hits”. I totally agree with him and we mentally prepare ourselves for the nerve-wracking match ahead.

Game 3

He brought: Weavile and Greninja as leads, and had Charizard and Trevenant cover the rear. I brought: Kangaskhan, Meowstic, Gardevoir and Garchomp.

This time around I don’t switch in Garchomp in place of Kangaskhan, as I predict his duo to not fall for the same trick twice. Instead he flinches my Meowstic, and I flinch his Greninja. On the second turn he withdraws his Greninja for Trevenant. I paralyse his Weavile with Thunder Wave. This is super fortunate for me, as Weavile is Paralysed the same turn and doesn’t attack. Nikola correctly predicts the Power-Up Punch onto his Greninja’s slot. I then get Safeguard going with Meowstic, as I’m fairly confident his Trevenant is going to try and burn my Kangaskhan sooner or later, and I Power-Up Punch on Weavile for the knock out and get the +2 Attack boost.  He sends in Charizard and Mega Evolves it; I get somewhat optimistic here thinking that his Trevenant will attack this turn. Sadly my Sucker Punch fails. Thunder Wave cripples Charizard’s speed and my Kangaskhan is Seeded. Not liking the idea of having my health slowly sapped away, I switch in for Garchomp, as Kangaskhan and Meowstic can’t do much against Trevenant. I set up Light Screen, Trevenant uses Ingrain and Charizard’s Heat Wave takes care of Meowstic. I realise at this point that his Trevenant probably isn’t running an attack that does damage. I try to capitalise on this and send in Gardevoir, tracing Harvest, which is great, because now my Sitrus Berry will be even more useful. His Greninja comes out and I Protect with Garchomp. Moonblast swiftly takes care of Greninja. The match ends with about three to four turns of Garchomp and Gardevoir watching Trevenant Struggle as they struggle to get rid of the Harvested Sitrus Berries.

GG, win (3-0), and the series is 2-1. 4 wins and 0 losses.

Phew, I made it into cut without losing a round. I was confident I’d get far in Top Cut, maybe even win it, but I needed to keep a level head. I was actual able to keep calm in most of my matches, and this was thanks to all the practice I had on Showdown! and in my matches in the Dodrio Cup.

Top Cut Round 1 vs. Morné Steinmann (acreland)

Morné said that he and I would get paired up in the first round of cut, as I’m seeded first after Swiss and he was eighth. It’s never ‘fun’ having to go up against a friend, as someone always needs to come out second best. During the lunch break someone mentioned that Morné’s Kangaskhan is running Crunch over Sucker Punch. This information, as important as it might have been at the time, didn’t even prove useful during our matches, as I had totally forgotten his Kangaskhan didn’t even run Sucker Punch. I was really thankful for this, as I didn’t want to win due to information that I hadn’t obtained during one of my own matches against an opponent.

His team: Rotom-Wash, Amoonguss, Mega Kangaskhan, Talonflame, Azumarill, and Hydreigon.

Round 1

He brought: Hydreigon, Talonflame, Rotom-W and Amoonguss. I brought: Kangaskhan, Meowstic, Garchomp and Gardevoir.

I thought his Talonflame would have Quick Guard, as it’s what people usually use when they lead with Talonflame. Accordingly, I don’t use Fake Out with Kangaskhan and make sure Meowstic doesn’t use Thunder Wave or Charm. Here I make, what is quite possibly, the worst misplay of my tournament run thus far. I decide to use Safeguard, of all things, when I really should have used Light Screen to hamper Hydreigon. I pay a dear price for misplay, as his Hydreigon takes out Mega Kangaskhan with a single Draco Meteor. I actually ran the calcs when I got back home, and his Choice Specs Hydreigon had a 6.3% chance to get that OHKO.  I immediately realise that I need to up my game or I won’t find myself in the later Top Cut rounds.

I then send in Gardevoir as Morné retreats his -2 Hydreigon. Talonflame uses Protect, but fails. Morné is surprised to see this happen. I then explain to him that the odds of a protecting move succeeding in succession is lowered to 30% the second time round. Amoonguss is sent in and Meowstic paralyses it while Gardevoir uses Psychic to put Talonflame at 30% health. The next turn he Rage Powders and uses Brave Bird on Gardevoir, activating Sitrus Berry. Meowstic uses Safeguard and Psychic does a fair bit of damage to Amoonguss.  He sends in Rotom-Wash and I only realise after our game that Morné hadn’t brought his Kangaskhan to this match. Meowstic uses Light Screen, and I take out Amoonguss with Psychic. Rotom hits Gardevoir with Thunderbolt leaving it in the red. His Hydreigon then returns to the field. I Protect Gardevoir and make sure that Meowstic gets the Thunder Wave off for the Moonblast OHKO the next turn.

The match ends with Garchomp at 20% and Meowstic up against a Leftovers Rotom-W. Thankfully, Dragon Claw was able to win the damage race after a lucky double Protect from Rotom.

GG, win (2-0). 1-0 so far…

Game 2

He brought: Amoonguss, Azumarill, Talonflame and Rotom-W (no Kangaskhan again!). I brought: Talonflame, Garchomp, Kangaskhan and Gardevoir.

I protect Garchomp and Morné’s Amoonguss does the same. My Taunt hits the Protect and Belly Drum Azumarill is a real thing at the end of the turn. He switches Rotom-W in for Amoonguss and my Brave Bird does minimal damage. Earthquake puts Azumarill at 45% health and Play Rough naturally OHKOs Garchomp, who’s recoil damage sadly leave Azumarill with 5% health. I send in Kangaskhan to gain some momentum now. I go for the Fake Out on Rotom and my Brave Bird hits into Azumarill’s Protect. Amoonguss is sent in and Rotom is retreated. Protect doesn’t work the second time around and Brave Bird takes out Azumarill. Kangaskhan’s Return gets a lucky critical hit on the first attack and the second Parental Bond hit is enough to take out Amoonguss. Amoonguss’s Rocky Helmet recoil did a pretty number to Kangaskhan as revenge.

He then sends in his Talonflame and Rotom, and from this comfortable position I wasn’t able to win it, as I made an incorrect prediction involving Quick Guard and the opposing Talonflame’s Flare Blitz. My Kangaskhan gets taken out by a critical hit Brave Bird and it’s downhill from there.

GG, lost (0-2). The games are now one apiece.

Game 3

He brought: Hydreigon, Kangaskhan (finally), Talonflame and Rotom-W. I ended up bringing: Kangaskhan, Meowstic, Gardevoir and Garchomp.

Turn 1 I switch out my Kangaskhan for Gardevoir as Morné’s Kangaskhan Mega Evolves. I was afraid that his Kangaskhan was Jolly and would attack before me. He uses Fake Out on Gardevoir, Meowstic paralyses Hydreigon and Gardevoir was unaffected by Draco Meteor. My prediction paid off. I then Charm his Kangaskhan and its Return does very little damage to Meowstic. Obviously being locked into Draco Meteor, it really does a number to Meowstic and knocks it out. Thankfully Cremefraiche was able to put in some work before fainting, so I wasn’t too upset about it.

I decided to send in Kangaskhan, as Morné retreats his Kangaskhan for Rotom-W. My Fake Out takes away a quarter of Rotom’s health and Gardevoir’s Moonblast on Rotom leaves it in the red. I mispredicted that his Hydreigon would switch out, but thankfully its Draco Meteor missed Kangaskhan. I have Kangaskhan Power-Up Punch Rotom for the +2 Attack boost as well as the knock out, and Moonblast does its magic on Hydreigon.  Kangaskhan and Talonflame are sent in, and I retreat my Kangaskhan for Garchomp. My thought process with this move was that his Kangaskhan would use Fake Out on mine. I knew that the recoil from Rough Skin and Rocky Helmet would take Kangaskhan below fifty per cent health.   I used Protect on Gardevoir, but it would have been better off attacking this turn, as it could have grabbed the KO on either of Morné’s Pokémon. I didn’t, however, anticipate his Talonflame to double target my Kangaskhan’s slot with Brave Bird. Garchomp was yet again knocked out due to a poor switch in from my part. At least it half performed its job with doing a fair amount of damage to both opposing Pokémon.

I send out Mega Kangaskhan once again. I knew I could win this game if I just played it out cleverly enough. Instead I use Sucker Punch into his Quick Guard. I’m not sure what the dice roll on this next attack was, but Gardevoir’s Moonblast was able to take out Kangaskhan from 45% health.

I had made it into the next round of cut and I was really excited, but I didn’t let this victory go to my head. Morné and I both congratulate each other and we go on to say that these past matches were definitely the best either of us had had throughout the tournament thus far.

GGs, win (1-0). 2-1 and I make it through to the top 4.

Top 4 match vs. Nikola Radevic

I was somewhat thankful that I had the chance to battle against someone whose entire team I had known by now due to my previous matches against him.

Game 1

He brought Weavile and Charizard and I opened with Garchomp and Talonflame. I Protected with Garchomp and Talonflame managed to, in the same turn, a) take Weavile down to its Sash, b) survive Charizard Y’s Heat Wave with 10 HP to spare, and c) get Pickpocketed by Weavile, giving it my Life Orb. Nikola then switches out Charizard for his Tyrantrum. Brave Bird takes out Weavile and Rock Slide doesn’t do much against Tyrantrum.  Greninja enters the battle, and I was surprised to see a Drought-weakened Water Shuriken from the toady ninja. It certainly did the job as Talonflame was knocked out. Garchomp Protected itself from Ice Fang. I send out Kangaskhan and retreat Garchomp for Gardevoir.   In the second last turn both my Gardevoir and Kangaskhan were taken out by Charizard Y’s Heat Wave. I knew that my end game victory was going to happen if I managed to keep Garchomp alive. That’s exactly what I did and thankfully my Rock Slide hit to take down Nikola’s last Pokémon.

Won (1-0). One win so far, one more to go.

Game 2

At the start of this game I could tell that his lead of Trevenant + Tyranitar definitely put a lot of pressure on my lead of Talonflame + Meowstic. But with some paralysis hacks and some clever move choices, I was able to win this game by keeping his Trevenant from using Will-o-Wisp. I was able to gain a lot of momentum when I predicted he’d switch in his Charizard for his Tyranitar. He predicted me to Earthquake again and I took a leap of faith here and went with Rock Slide knowing his incoming Charizard wouldn’t be able to survive the blow. In the end my Garchomp and Kangaskhan were able to take care of Trevenant and Tyranitar, as I was mindful not to Mega Evolve Kangaskhan so that a combination of Dragon Claw and Return were enough to take Trevenant off the field, leaving only his Tyranitar up against my two powerhouses.

GGs, win (2-0). 2-0 and I make it into the final! Nikola is incredibly gifted with predicting and I know that if he takes the time to make a fully VGC dedicated team he can place even better at the next tournament. I take my hat off to you sir, a fellow scholar and gentlemon.

Finals vs. Johannes Botma (dotNinja)

Johannes had also finished the Swiss rounds 4-0, so this meant that he also hadn’t lost more than two games against any one opponent in the same round. The first thing he said to me was “It’s funny that one of us will lose for the first time today.” I totally agreed with him, but I knew I was able to win it if my team had taken me this far already.

His team consisted of Chandelure, Gardevoir, Rotom-W, Charizard, Mawile and Mamoswine.

Game 1

He brought: Gardevoir, Rotom-W, Mamoswine and Mawile. I lead with Kangaskhan and Meowstic and have Garchomp and Bisharp in the back.

On the first turn I Fake Out into his Gardevoir’s Protect. Meowstic gets Safeguard up and Rotom-W connects with its Hydro Pump onto Kangaskhan. I then get Light Screen up and Kangaskhan hits Rotom-W with Return, which reveals it’s holding a Sitrus Berry. A combination of a critical hit Hydro Pump and Moonblast are more than enough to take care of Kangaskhan as it goes down.

I send in Bisharp next and Johannes’s Gardevoir and my Bisharp use Protect. Meowstic uses T-Wave into the Protect and Rotom-W also hits my Protect. The next turn I have Meowstic use Thunder Wave again onto Gardevoir and Sucker Punch from Bisharp take care of Rotom. Moonblast from Gardevoir puts Bisharp at about 45% health.

Johannes then sends in Mamoswine. I Protect with Bisharp and use Charm on Mamoswine. At this point I am unsure of whether Mamoswine out speeds my Bisharp or not. I notice that Mamoswine has Life Orb and Gardevoir ends up being Paralysed as it tries to Protect too. Gardevoir attempts Protect again and isn’t Paralysed this time.

I’m not taking any chances here and have Meowstic Charm Mamoswine and Bisharp attacks before Mamoswine (this is good to know at this point) and Iron Head gets the knock out.  Mawile is sent out and for the first time in the tournament I get a Defiant boost!   I paralyse Mawile with Thunder Wave and Bisharp uses Iron Head on Gardevoir to knock it out. It’s now nabbed 3 knockouts in the same match! Play Rough from Mega Mawile connects and Bisharp finally faints.

I send out Garchomp and I know I’ll need to Charm spam like there’s no tomorrow if Garchomp is to survive and take care of Mawile. I manage to get two consecutive Charms onto Mawile with some clever Protecting and a lucky paralysis. It takes one Earthquake to put Mawile on what looks like 3 HP and Play Rough doesn’t even do 50% damage to Garchomp. Rough Skin gets the recoil damage on and Mawile is history.

GG, win (1-0). One win away from being the champion!

Game 2

He brought: Chandelure, Rotom-W, Mamoswine and Mawile. I brought: Meowstic, Gardevoir, Kangaskhan and Garchomp.

I really didn’t play well this match and I was out-played without a doubt.  I wasn’t sure how to go about beating Chandelure, so thinking it’s Scarfed I Paralyse it. I bring back Gardevoir for Kangaskhan not knowing what to do in this situation. Rotom’s Hydro Pump misses and Chandelure is Paralysed.

The next turn I Sucker Punch onto Chandelure, which fails. Meowstic uses Safeguard and I was surprised to see Chandelure use Substitute. Rotom was comfortably behind a Protect for the turn.   Meowstic uses Light Screen and Kangaskhan uses Power-Up Punch on Rotom. The +2 boost is nice, although short-lived as Hydro Pump and Overheat put Kangaskhan into the red with 18 HP to spare.  My Sucker Punch doesn’t fail this time. I break Chandelure’s Substitute and the second hit leaves it in the yellow. Rotom uses Thunderbolt to get the knock out on Kangaskhan.

I bring in Garchomp to make short work of Chandelure the following turn. From here he sends in Mamoswine and I spend way too much time focusing on it and hitting into its Protects as Rotom and Ice Shard manage to take care of my attackers.

I end up with Meowstic and 20 HP Garchomp against his Rotom and Mamoswine.

Lost (0-3). I now know that I need to get rid of that Mamoswine ASAP. Gardevoir and Rotom were a nuisance, but they were manageable.

Game 3

He brought Rotom, Gardevoir, Mamoswine and Mawile. I brought: Garchomp, Kangaskhan, Bisharp and Gardevoir.

His Gardevoir traces Rough Skin, which isn’t ideal for my two physical attackers, but I needed to work around it. Garchomp Protects and Kangaskhan’s Return takes out Gardevoir from full health. I realised this was possible as his Gardevoir didn’t run Sitrus Berry. Since mine did, I knew that a +252 Return wouldn’t get the one-hit knock out, because Sitrus activates after the first hit. But since his wasn’t running Sitrus Berry I knew that a knock out was possible.

Rotom uses Will-o-Wisp on Kangaskhan and I guess it’s a fair trade at the end of the turn. I kind of anticipated the Will-o-Wisp on Garchomp, but it was not to be.   Johannes sends in Mamoswine and I retreat my Garchomp for Gardevoir and it fortunately Traces Mamoswine Thick Fat. Ice Shard doesn’t do a lot of damage to Gardevoir. Kangaskhan Power-Up Punches on Mamoswine to put it back at its regular attack stat. Rotom-W then uses Thunderbolt, and after the burn damage, Kangaskhan is left with 45 HP. His Mamoswine Protects and my Sucker Punch fails. Hydro Pump from Rotom activates Sitrus Berry. My Moonblast hits into Mamoswine’s Protect. I felt really dumb having double targeted when the Protect from Mamoswine was the most likely move for him to play this turn.

The next turn I use Return on Mamoswine for the knock out, and Moonblast hits Rotom. Kanga faints from the burn chip damage. I now send in Bisharp knowing that it’s going to come in with a Defiant boost from Mawile.  Bisharp and Mawile both Protect. Rotom-W uses Will-o-Wisp into my Protect and thinking a few moves ahead, I use Taunt on Rotom. If either my Garchomp or Bisharp get burnt it will severely limit my chances of winning.

This turn my Gardevoir uses Protect and Sucker Punch packs enough punch to take out Rotom-W. Mawile uses Play Rough and brings Bisharp down to its Sash.   Now it’s Garchomp and +1 Attack, 1 HP Bisharp versus Mega Mawile.  With some clever plays, a Rock Slide and an Iron Head later, I manage to take out Johannes’s final Pokémon! I just became South Africa’s first VGC Masters champion. I congratulate Johannes and he congratulates me too. My friend Stephen had been watching all of my top cut matches and he seemed more excited about me winning than I did.

Props

• Once the Swiss rounds were up and running, the event was very smoothly organised with no hiccups.
• Getting to meet players that I had previously only known from the forums in person.
• Having some top quality matches against fellow South Africans.
• I was able to learn a lot in terms of predicting, making better plays and overall better team choices from the Team Preview. Basically, just being able to become a better player.
• Treven (who placed third) saying that Dale looked a lot like Kyle Bosman.
• Morné making it into cut when he thought he wouldn’t.
• Getting a brand new 3DS, a copy of Pokémon Y, and awesome champion’s trophy.

Slops

• My friend Stephen bubbling at 9th place. We had started to celebrate a bit too early when we saw Stevey was placed 5th, due to the automatically updated ‘standings’ online, we falsely believed he had made it into cut… Sorry pal. Funny thing is, I actually called it before the tournament even started.
• Dale missing out on cut too.
• There was no 3DS for second place.
• The poor-ish turnout for such an awesome event.

Well, anyways folks, I’d like to leave you with this quote. “…A real warrior doesn’t dash off in pursuit of the next victory, nor throw a fit when experiencing a loss. A real warrior ponders the next battle.”

About the Author

Jayhonas

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 →