Reports Tony Cheung after winning Canada's first Video Game National Championship

Published on July 8th, 2012 | by Chinese Dood

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Canada’s First Champion, eh?: Canada Nationals Report

This is a record of what happened for me in the Nationals VGC Tournament of 2012 in Toronto, ON, Canada. But before I talk about the tournament itself, I will go over the process of my team building first.

Team Building

Introduction

Prior to the VGC Nationals tournament, I had the privilege of participating in a few VGC-related events, such as the tournament that Mark (Crawdaunt) hosted in Victoria, BC, where I got 2nd Place, losing to Max Douglas. After that there was the Regionals tournament held in Surrey, BC, where I got 4th place, losing to Randy Kwa (R Inanimate).  A short while before the Nationals, I also participated in the Spring Friendly Wifi Tournament, where I did not even bother checking my ranking, since I was only testing out different pokemon in that tournament (primarily Storm Drain Cradily, Empoleon, and Crobat).  I gained much experience from those events, and those events all contributed to shaping how my Nationals team was eventually constructed.

For weather-based teams, I found Rain to be particularly strong and easy to use, and, probably because of that, it was also the most common out of other weathers (although Sand seemed to be a close second).  I knew that whatever my team was, it would need to be able to handle Rain teams.  It could be a Rain team of my own that somehow handles other Rain teams, or it could be a Goodstuffs team, i.e. a team of Pokémon that have good stats (and/or typing) and synergy with each other.  For me, this time around, it was a quick decision that it would be a Goodstuffs team, simply because it allowed for more creativity in my team building.  That was not to say that I would definitely not have a Politoed, Abomasnow, or Tyranitar, etc. in there to disrupt weather, but it just meant that the team itself will not be primarily based on taking advantage of weather.

Initial Ideas

If possible, I wanted something unique for handling Rain teams.  I had many choices, and Abomasnow, Rotom-W, Ludicolo, Latios, Zapdos, and some others were all considerations, but in the end, I wanted to start with Latias because I thought it was a hugely underrated pokemon, often dismissed because Latios had better offensive stats. The fact is, though, that Latios (with Base Sats: 80 / 90 / 80 / 130 / 110 / 110) will basically never use that 90 base attack, in the same way that Latias (with Base Stats: 80 / 80 / 90 / 110 / 130 / 110) will never use that 80 base attack.  This meant that really, Latias has effectively 10 extra base stats to work with compared to Latios because their total base stat is the same. Going all offensive with Latias is not a good idea, though, because it will never be as strong offensively as Latios, so being defensive while having the capability of offense when needed is where Latias will excel, and that is the goal for my Latias.

From my testing and experience, Intimidate Hitmontop was strong.  Originally I tested it out because I was not sure what the hype was about it.  I knew it had Intimidate, but I thought Technician ability was better with Hitmontop’s many low base power priority moves.  However,  I soon understood the metagame better and realized the advantage of having Intimidate and Fake Out (and of course decent bulk) on the same Pokémon.  It is also a Pokémon that had good synergy with Latias, taking care of Dark-types that scare Latias and some of the Steel-types that wall Latias.

I used teams that took advantage of Tailwind in all of my VGC 2012 events so far, but I was not extremely confident with the idea anymore for Nationals after watching some of the Japanese VGC videos.  For them, Thunder Wave was common, but Tailwind was almost non-existant.  The two are similar, and I see the effectiveness of Thunder Wave.  Latias was definitely going to have Thunder Wave, but I was thinking that it might be safer still if I had one Tailwind user because (as mentioned) all my VGC 2012 teams so far had Tailwind.  I RNG’d a few pokemon with Tailwind: Latios, Zapdos, and I wanted to try out a Scizor too.  Latios and Zapdos did not really do too well for me when I tried them out, and having Latios with Latias in the same team doubled up on the common weaknesses a bit too much for my liking too.  I never got around to breeding for or catching a Scizor in 4th Gen for Tailwind move tutoring.  I thought back to how often I actually needed or wanted to use Tailwind in my previous battles, and I realized that it’s really not used that much.  This was when I decided that I would just use Thunder Wave if I ever needed or wanted to outspeed something.

So, the use of Latias, Hitmontop, and Thunder Wave was what I started with in my process of team building.

Team at a Glance

latiashitmontopheatranrotom-washgyaradoshydreigon
1. Latias / Levitate / Timid @ Dragon Fang
IVs: 31 / x / 31 / 31 / 31 / 31
EVs: 156 / 0 / 4 / 148 / 4 / 196
Moveset: Dragon Pulse / Substitute / Thunderwave / Recover

2. Hitmontop / Intimidate / Adamant @ Fighting Gem
IVs: 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31
EVs: 124 / 196 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 188
Moveset: Fake Out / Close Combat / Wide Guard / Sucker Punch

3. Heatran / Flash Fire / Timid @ Shuca Berry
IVs: 31 / x / 30 / 31 / 31 / 31 (HP Ice 70)
EVs: 0 / 0 / 0 / 252 / 20 / 236
Moveset: Taunt / Substitute / Heatwave / Dark Pulse

4. Rotom-Wash / Levitate / Modest @ Sitrus Berry
IVs: 31 / x / 31 / 30 / 31 / 31 (HP Grass 70)
EVs: 116 / 0 / 4 / 248 / 4 / 164 (I’m not sure where the last 4 EVs went to)
Moveset: Thunderwave / Thunderbolt / Hydro Pump / Hidden Power (Grass)

5. Gyarados / Intimidate / Adamant @ Wide Lens
IVs: 31 / 31 / 31 / x / 31 / 31
EVs: 164 / 252 / 4 / 0 / 36 / 52
Moveset: Thunderwave / Protect / Aqua Tail / Stone Edge

6. Hydreigon / Levitate / Modest @ Choice Scarf
IVs: 31 / x / 31 / 30 / 31 / 31
EVs: 88 / 0 / 0 / 248 / 4 / 164 (I messed up when I was EV training this, so there were EVs elsewhere and I don’t know where)
Moveset: Dragon Pulse / Flamethrower / Dark Pulse / HP Grass 70

EV Explanations:

Latias

  • outspeeds Jolly Garchomp by 1 point
  • survives Jolly Garchomp Dragon Claw
  • survives -1 Attack Jolly Garchomp Dragon Claw with over 75% (so she can substitute)
  • survives -1 Attack Adamant Salamence Dragon Claw and -1 Attack Tyranitar Crunch
  • survives Timid Volcarona Bug Buzz with over 75% health
  • survives -2 SpA Draco Meteor from Life Orb Modest Latios
  • with Dragon Fang boost, Dragon Pulse OHKOs 4 HP Salamence
  • with Dragon Fang boost, Dragon Pulse OHKOs 4 HP Garchomp 70% of the time
  • with Dragon Fang boost, Dragon Pulse 2HKOs many neutral pokemon that do not have a lot of defensive EVs

Hitmontop

  • 196 Attack EVs is the last EV threshold needed when taking advantage of Adamant nature (i.e. with 192 Attack EVs Hitmontop would have 152 Attack stat, but with 196, it would have 154 Attack stat)
  • 188 Speed EVs, to be honest, was somewhat arbitrary (i.e. not specifically targetted towards outspeeding anything in particular).  The original EV spread had 124 HP 252 Attack 132 Speed, where 132 Speed EVs outsped 0 Speed EV Rotom-W (and 4 Speed EV Base 85s), but as I lowered the Attack from 252 to 196, those EVs just all went to Speed
  • Remaining EVs went to HP for more survivability.

Heatran

  • Max Special Attack for most damage
  • Speed EVs were originally meant to just outspeed +Speed Base 70s (Hitmontop, Metagross, Ludicolo), but I found that with just a little bit more, it can outspeed neutral Base 85s (mainly Adamant Heracross).  I decided that outspeeding Adamant Heracross was a good idea, and that was what the Speed EVs outspeed.
  • Remaining EVs are in Special Defense because 1) Download Porygon-2/Z will receive an Attack Boost, 2) I have two Intimidate users already, so Special Defense is good, 3) (from my experience) there would be more Special attackers because of the presence of Intimidate users, and 4) I wanted it to tank Latios’ Dragon Gem Draco Meteor a little bit better.

Rotom-Wash

  • 248 SpA (instead of 252) because of the 30 SpA IV for HP Grass
  • EVs are meant for outspeeding neutral Base 70s, mainly Ludicolo when it is not raining and maybe Politoed.  It was a bit arbitrary, really.  I just knew I wanted some Speed to outspeed other non-Scarf Rotoms that also ran some Speed, so it was really just picking something in particular I might want to outspeed.
  • Remainder in HP and Def/Sp Def.

Gyarados

  • Max attack for most damage
  • 52 Speed EVs for outspeeding 4 Speed EVs Rotom-Appliance
  • 164 HP so that HP is at 191 at level 50, 1 less than 192 (which is divisible by 16) which means Sand/Hail damage rounds down (this is the sort of thing that doesn’t matter 99% of the time but seems cool to me anyway for some reason)
  • remainder in Sp Def for tanking Special hits better.

Hydreigon

  • 248 (instead of 252) SpA because of 30 SpA IV for HP Grass
  • The EVs were originally meant to outspeed Adamant Choice Scarf Heracross, but then I figured why not outspeed Scarf Modest Rotom-Appliance also since it is only 1 extra Speed EV and then somehow I messed up the EVs when EV training.  I think I only speed tie Scarf Modest Rotom-Appliance here.  Thinking back now, this 1 stat difference in speed *might* actually have ended up mattering because if I did use Hydreigon vs Mark(Crawdaunt)’s Scarf Rotom-Freeze, we might have been tied in Speed (of course, if his refrigerator was a Timid one, it wouldn’t have mattered at all).
  • remainder in HP and bulk.

Longer Team Explanations:

Latias

The main idea for Substitute is that a fast Substitute can:

  1. block status effects like Thunder Wave (unless opponent has Prankster)
  2. use up an opponent’s Gem without being KO’d (e.g. Bug Gem Bug Buzz from Volcarona or, in a similar vein, Draco Meteor from a slower Dragon), and
  3. allow Latias to hide behind a Substitute if neither opponent attacks Latias (i.e. something Protect cannot do)

Thunder Wave is used for slowing opponents down and sometimes even luckily getting full Paralysis.  Dragon Pulse (as explained in the EVs section) allows Latias to have some offensive presence after being equipped with Dragon Fang.  Recover allows for stalling out opponents it otherwise wouldn’t.  Also, when Latias is at low health, opponents predict Latias to Protect (and thus do not target her), allowing Latias to Recover safely.  This happened twice in Toronto.

Hitmontop

The moveset is fairly standard, but I’ll see if I can add a bit. Fake Out is for flinching an opponent on first turn.  Often times though (from my experience), it’s the mere fact that Hitmontop potentially has Fake Out that causes the opponent to react in a certain way.  That is whether I actually have it or use it is another matter, but the fact that Hitmontop potentially has Fake Out allows for easier prediction usually (or allows me to over think things sometimes too, as to be explained in the Tournament section). I chose Wide Guard over other moves (Detect/Feint/Rock Slide/etc.) because it was a good move to block multi-target moves likes Muddy Water, Surf, Earthquake, Rock Slide, etc. from my experience.

Heatran

I used a Ghost Gem Chandelure in all my previous VGC 2012 teams as a way of dealing with Trick Room (Ghost Gem Shadow Ball OHKOed all Trick Roomers not named Cresselia and Porygon2).  However with the team I was testing out (that had Latias, Hitmontop, Gyarados and Chandelure in it), I could not find a Steel-type that would fit in without causing other problems (e.g. Empoleon caused me to be too Zapdos-weak and somewhat Ground weak; Scizor did not help the cause against Heat Wave Zapdos; Metagross was ok actually, but personally I did not want to use it).  Heatran came out on top, but with Heatran, I saw little reason to use Chandelure since the coverage is basically exactly the same with the exception that Dark Pulse does a lot less damage than Chandelure’s Ghost Gem Shadow Ball.  I decided to not use both of those and chose Heatran.  Taunt shuts down Cresselia and potential Trick Room Pokémon that do not have Mental Herb.

Heatran being able to outspeed all Hitmontop and Admant Heracross meant that it would be able to use Substitute before the Fighting-types could Close Combat, which lowers the user’s Defense and Special Defense.  Lowering Defense and Special Defense allows Heatran (or its partner out at the time) to KO those Fighting threats more easily.  Substitute was also good on Heatran because Heatran has many type resistances and some Pokémon may not even be able to break Heatran’s Substitute.  One might wonder about the use for Dark Pulse. The fact is that Heatran will not be doing well against Water-types.  So, Water-types aside, what Pokémon resist Heat Wave? The top two answers that came up were Latios and Chandelure, two of the Pokémon that Heatran was meant to counter, and Dark Pulse hits them for Super-Effective damage, comfortably 2HKOing both.

Rotom-Wash

Latias did fine as a Rain counter, but Ice Beams still hurt. Given that I did not have room for Light Screen on Latias, I needed another Rain counter, and Rotom-Wash quickly came to mind because its only weakness – Grass – is resisted by both Latias and Heatran and it has Levitate, which will make the opponent hesitate before using Earthquake on Heatran.  Hidden Power Grass is mainly for Gastrodon, as well as managing potential Lightning Rod Pokémon trying to redirect Rotom-W’s Thunderbolt that is aimed at a Water-type.

Gyarados

The team I had (prior to Gyarados) was good, but I needed (or at least really wanted) something that countered Volcarona better.  It is true that Heatran does counter Volcarona, and Rotom-W can take a hit from Volcarona and OHKO back with Hydro Pump.  However, I played Randy (R Inanimate)’s team in Surrey, and his Volcarona + Gastrodon combo will KO Rotom-W before it can KO both Volcarona and Gastrodon, and even though Heatran counters Volcarona, it cannot OHKO (or maybe even 2HKO) Volcarona, while Gastrodon might be able to OHKO or at least 2HKO with either of its STAB moves, so I needed something that could deal with Volcarona for sure without much risk.  This was when I thought about Gyarados with Wide Lens Stone Edge (Gyarados does not learn Rock Slide).  Gyarados provided everything I wanted: Thunder Wave support for slowing Swift Swimmers down, Stone Edge for dealing with Volcarona and Flying-types (and also does decently good damage to opposing Water-types), Aqua Tail for heavy STAB damage (and coincidentally Water + Rock has fairly good neutral coverage), and Intimidate alongside Hitmontop’s Intimidate for really softening Physical hits from the opponent.  Because Gyarados was so good for all those things, I knew it was staying in the team for sure.  If something were problematic, I would be building the team around Gyarados instead of replacing Gyarados.  Plus, this Gyarados is fairly unique.  I enjoy using Pokémon that are not all extremely standard.

Hydreigon

While testing, I found that I had some problems with Zapdos and Latios.  Zapdos can 2HKO everything in my team except Latias, while timid Latios with Dragon Gem outspeeds and OHKOs every member in my team except Heatran.  If both are out at the same time (which is not unlikely since both are really good Pokémon with fairly good offensive synergy), I will be in big trouble.  I wanted something that can deal with both, ideally something that can OHKO both, but at least something that could OHKO one and then 2HKO the other.  The first thing that came to mind was Tyranitar, and Jolly Choice Scarf Tyranitar was first in my mind because even without any Special Defense, it can still tank a Dragon Gem Draco Meteor and OHKO back with Crunch and still deal a lot of damage to Zapdos with either Crunch or Rock Slide (while Zapdos cannot do a lot of damage to Tyranitar).  However, I did not have enough time to RNG for a 4th Gen Tyranitar.  At the end I settled on Choice Scarf Hydreigon, which can OHKO Latios and 2HKO Zapdos with Dragon Pulse.  I could have used other Dragons, but what stood out for Hydreigon was Dark Pulse, which is capable of 2HKOing Cresselia.  Without Chandelure, the only pokemon in my team that can consistently beat Rest Cresselia is Heatran (due to its access to Taunt).  I wanted something else that can beat it at least somewhat consistently, and Hydreigon was a good choice. HP Grass is mainly for Gastrodon which usually holds a a Rindo Berry, so one HP Grass won’t KO but two definitely will.


Tournament

It was sort of too bad how so much time was wasted in the beginning when the announcer kept stalling us, telling us they needed to repair something for the pairing systems. To quote Mark(Crawdaunt): “Did he just Taunt us? OMG, he just Taunted us, and he played a Trick on the Room!” But aside from that, it was a very good tournament.  I did not write down anything during the tournament though, so unfortunately, I forgot a lot of the battle details.  I will type out what I can remember.

Round 1: VS Katie

Katie had a sand based team with Hitmontop, Garchomp, Tyranitar, Metagross, and other pokemon that I did not remember.  I led with Hitmontop and something else (possibly Latias or Gyarados).  She led with Hitmontop and Tyranitar.

I made two mistakes and got 2 crucial Sand Veil misses, resulting in my loss.  First mistake was first turn.  My Hitmontop should be faster than hers due to my Intimidate activating first, but I over predicted that she’d switch out her Hitmontop for Metagross (I really shouldn’t over think that much on the first turn of the first match of the day haha) to refresh her Hitmontop’s attack drop and Fake Out while taking little damage from my Hitmontop’s Fake Out.  So, instead of using fake out, I decided to just Close Combat Tyranitar right away.  She ended up not switching, and instead, used Fake Out on my Hitmontop.  I don’t remember what else happened that turn, but I just remembered that if I did Fake Out her Hitmontop, I would have been at a slight advantage instead of slight disadvantage.  This mistake wasn’t game costing though.

The 2nd big mistake was switching Latias in.  Maybe it wasn’t a mistake so much as her making a good prediction that my Latias would switch in.  I predicted an Earthquake since my Hitmontop just used Wide Guard to block an Earthquake (or was it Rock Slide?), but instead his Garchomp used Dragon Claw as Latias switched in.  She survives (as she was EV’d to), but Latias is still severely injured after Sand.  I did use Recover successfully, however, as Katie predicted Latias to Protect (and thus didn’t target her).

We were on about even grounds when I saw that I actually had the path for victory.  I forgot exactly how it was, but I had a Latias + something low health (Hitmontop?) and Hydreigon in the back, while (I think) Katie had Garchomp and an injured Metagross left. However, Latias’ Dragon Pulse missed Garchomp while Garchomp KO’d her with Dragon Claw, and then Hydreigon’s Dragon Pulse also missed Garchomp, resulting in my loss.

Record: 0 Wins – Losses 1

Round 2: VS John I think

Sorry, I do not remember who it was that I battled in 2nd round. I just remembered that it was a guy and his name was John and … that I won.

Record: 1 Wins – Losses 1

Round 3: VS someone else I forgot

Sorry again.  I just remember that this one was a girl, and she had a Dragonite, and when I faked out her Dragonite, she said something like “Oh noes, my Multiscale!” … I thought she had an Inner Focus Dragonite when she said that, but it turns out it did indeed have Multiscale.  She was from Toronto I think.  I just remember I won fairly comfortably (like probably 3-0).

Record: 2 Wins – Losses 1

Round 4: VS Bidier

I think this was round 4 anyway.  Bidier got 3rd place in the Regionals in Surrey (I got 4th).  He used a team that looked very familiar.  I told him, “Hm, I think I saw a team very similar to this before… where have I seen this…”  Bidier: “O yeah, maybe you have.  I got this team and cartridge from a friend.  Maybe you battled him before…”

I looked at the trainer name: “Max” … No wonder it looked so familiar.  I fought this team back in Victoria in May.  The team consisted of Dusknoir, Ninetales, Cresselia, Garchomp, Eelektross, and Hariyama.  Half of it takes advantage of Trick Room, and the other third takes advantage of Sun while Garchomp sort of just kills stuff.  I led with Hitmontop and Heatran while he led with Dusknoir and Hariyama.  I Fake Out Hariyama and Taunt Dusknoir, but to my surprise Dusknoir had a Mental Herb and successfully used Trick Room anyway.  It was here when I sort of realized that I didn’t have Protect on very many pokemon in my team.  That said, Trick Room was fairly easy to play around, especially since I have Gyarados in the back to soften things up with Intimidate. Between Hitmontop and Gyarados (who has Protect), Intimidate and some switches, it was not difficult to stall out Trick Room while KOing some of his Pokémon.  I had a lot of trouble with this team back in Regionals, but with my current team, it was actually not bad at all.  I think I won 3-0 here too, maybe 2-0.

Record: 3 Wins – Losses: 1

At this time we were hack checked, and it was found that the Cresselia was illegal.  Bidier had no idea.  Well, they gave him the option to drop out instead of getting DQ’d.  That sort of sucked for me since my opponents’ win ratio will be lower as a result (then again, Katie’s going strong, so that’s good).

Round 5: VS Mark (Crawdaunt) (or was this Round 6?)

I’m thinking this was actually round 6, but my memory is so bad that I’ll just say it’s round 5 unless someone corrects me.

Mark was using one of Randy’s older teams.  I didn’t know at the time, but after he told me (after the battle), I totally did recall seeing a video of Randy using said team.  It was a team with (Bug Gem?) Heracross, Abomasnow and Rotom-Frost.  He also had a Heatran, and… I don’t remember what else.  Upon team preview, I knew that he will likely use Heatran because after his Heatran faints, my Heatran will do pretty well.  So, I led with Heatran to lure out his Heatran (but I mean, it’s strong against a number of members in his team so why not lead with it).  I switched out my Heatran after his came in (since mine lacks Earth Power).  After Aqua Tail finishes off his Heatran, it was easy enough to pull off the win.  But I do recall it being a somewhat close match. I only had my Heatran left standing, I think.

Record: 4 Wins – Losses: 1

Round 6: VS Gene I think

This might actually have been round 5, and I don’t remember much from the battle but that it was close. Then I did something that secured my win.  If I remember correctly, my Latias and Gyarados were out, and he had Zapdos and something else out.  Gyarados just protected the previous turn.  I switched Hydreigon in to replace Gyarados, taking little from the Thunderbolt while Latias paralyzed the Zapdos with Thunder Wave.  He then told me that that sucks because Zapdos was holding Choice Specs (he probably shouldn’t have told me about it until after the battle, but I sort of realized that already just from his reaction).  That meant that Zapdos was switching out next turn, which also meant I got to KO something for sure next turn without taking much damage.  I think I remember him having a Salamence, and in the end I had my Latias or Hydreigon (and I’m sure something else, but don’t remember what – likely Hitmontop – and it was probably in the back and injured) vs his Salamence, and we had a short conversation that went something like:

me: “I think I have this.”
Gene: “…unless my Salamence has a Haban Berry…”
me: “uh oh, does it?”
*We watch as the health bar goes down … no sign of Haban*…
Gene: “Oh I guess not”

Record: 5 Wins – Losses: 1

So I just made top cut!

If I remember correctly, the top 8 were:

  1. skarm
  2. Crobert
  3. R Inanimate (Randy)
  4. Katie
  5. Gordon
  6. me
  7. Johnny
  8. Team Rocket Elite

… This means, I play Randy next!

Top 8 VS Randy Match 1

Turn 1

You might as well read R Inanimate’s story since his turns are much more detailed than mine will ever be, but yes, I was happy to see that he was using the same team I faced at Regionals, so I know already that his Volcarona has a Bug Gem, his Salamence has a Life Orb, and I don’t think I faced his Politoed in Regionals, but I recall from his Battle Subway team that Politoed has Choice Scarf and Ludicolo has Absorb Bulb.  I wasn’t totally sure about the Absorb Bulb for this team, but I was pretty sure his Politoed has Choice Scarf (I’m not sure why I was so sure haha).  He totally screwed me up at Regionals with his Volcarona + Gastrodon combo, so I wasn’t going to fall for that again — that’s why I have Gyarados there, to fake the Water move and go for the surprise Stone Edge KO.

So I lead with Latias and Gyarados.  Slightly to my surprise, he led with Volcarona and Salamence – the SAME leads that he used in Regionals that beat my team.  I was thinking that he definitely wouldn’t be leading with both of those together again — maybe one or the other but not both.  I figured he would probably not use Volcarona because Gyarados counters it and also does decently well vs the rest of his team (so I’m almost definitely using it), but that was great news for me.  I anticipated a Protect or switch from his Salamence and probably Bug Buzz from Volcarona, but he might also just double Protect or Protect with Volcarona to scout and switch to Metagross.

Either way, Latias’ best option is to Substitute.  She’ll either get a free Substitute at the end of this, or she’ll have wasted Volcarona’s Bug Gem as Volcarona is KO’d by Gyarados’ Stone Edge (and even if Stone Edge misses, it’s not a huge deal… just sort of bad to lose the surprise factor).  Well, things worked out perfectly and he switched Salamence for Gastrodon while Latias used Sub. Volcarona breaks Sub with Bug Gem Bug Buzz, and Gyarados Stone Edges Volcarona for the KO.

Turn 2 onwards

Turn 1 was the most important turn.  After this, I was fairly certain I could win because I have Rotom-W for Gastrodon, my Latias outspeeds his Salamence, and Politoed is not really threatening anymore when it got paralyzed by Gyarados’ Thunder Wave.  Randy chose to use Surf with his Politoed to boost Gastrodon’s Special Attack, so (knowing that his Politoed is Scarfed) I didn’t have to worry about Randy’s Politoed dealing too much damage to my Pokémon (Latias, Gyarados, and Rotom-W all resist water). I focused on taking out Gastrodon, and… yeah, after that it was just cleaning up.  After a short while, it became obvious to me that Randy was just using the remainder of this battle to scout for what attacks I have on my Pokémon. I tried not to reveal too much – not that I had too many more surprises other than HP Grass Hydreigon (but I don’t think I brought Hydreigon to this match).
Record – Me 1 : 0 Randy

Top 8 VS Randy Match 2

I led with Hydreigon and Gyarados this time.  He led with Politoed and Ludicolo.  I’m not sure what I was thinking though when I used HP Grass + Protect first turn.  Well, Protect is obvious, since I predicted that Randy would Fake Out Gyarados so Gyarados can’t start spreading Paralysis, but I probably should have been using Dragon Pulse instead of revealing Hidden Power which he knows must be either Electric or Grass now.  He used Surf and switched Gastrodon in, getting a lot of Special Attack boosts while I was slowly killing things.  For whatever reason, I thought he only had 2 pokemon left when I finally KO’d his Ludicolo, and then his Metagross shows up and I was thinking “Oh shoot… what was I thinking!”  The thing was… I was in a sort of difficult situation because Latias can’t beat Metagross but my other Pokémon that can deal noticeable damage to Metagross are all injured already.  In the end, I did what I could with Latias.  If I could survive Metagross’s Bullet Punch after taking a Meteor Mash, I could still have a very slim chance of winning by using Thunder Wave and Recover/Sub stall hoping for Meteor Mash misses or full Paralyses and then getting the occasional Dragon Pulse in.  But yeah, that wasn’t happening.
Record – Me 1 : 1 Randy

Top 8 VS Randy Match 3

I led with Latias again. She’s good.  I decided to try Rotom-W this time.  I think either Gyarados or Rotom-W leading with Latias is the way to go.  He led with Salamence and Metagross.  I was hoping that Randy would think that Latias is going to Sub first turn again because really, I don’t lose much by Subbing first turn vs his leads — that’s what’s so good about a fast Sub, it makes prediction easier.  If I don’t get attacked, then I get to hide behind a Sub.  If I’m attacked, then at least it’s not extremely costly (sometimes even beneficial like wasting the Bug Gem in my first match).  With that in mind, I decided to attack his Salamence instead, thinking that he’d also attack my Latias, predicting me to Sub.  It paid off as Salamence faints from Dragon Pulse.  Rotom-W also gets a lucky Zen Headbutt miss from Metagross, making my chance of winning very high. Politoed switches in.  I was predicting an Ice Beam, so Latias used Recover…. In hindsight, I should have been using Thunder Wave or Sub because Politoed’s Ice Beam won’t do much to Latias.  Instead he used Hypnosis on Rotom, but thank goodness it missed. Rotom’s Thunderbolt failed to OHKO Politoed, though, which means another Hypnosis is coming up. Fortunately, the second misses as well, and at that point I knew I had this one.  I went ahead to reveal HP Grass on my Hydreigon to KO Gastrodon and then switched it out so it could come back in to Flamethrower Metagross. I forgot if I actually needed to.  R Inanimate’s story said Gyarados’ Aqua Tail KO’d it.
Record – Me 2 : 1 Randy

I won!

Top 4 VS Johnny Tang Match 1

I thought I was going to face Crobert, but instead it was Johnny Tang.  I don’t know who he is (not that I really knew who Crobert was either), but during team preview I was pretty nervous when I saw Tyranitar and Garchomp again. I told him, “I don’t like facing Sand teams… *sad face*” … I mean, I really didn’t have any problems with Sand teams.  It was just that match vs Katie with two Sand Veil misses. Ugh.  But anyway, he had an Excadrill as well, and other Pokémon that I forgot already.  Oh, actually, I remember, he had two other Dragons and Zapdos.  I think Dragonite and Haxorus, but maybe it was a Latios or Kingdra.  This means Hydreigon is definitely in.  Hitmontop and Gyarados are also in, but  I forgot what my last Pokémon was.  I think it was Heatran, but maybe it was Rotom.  I won the first match fairly easily.  I don’t even remember what I led with, but for some reason Hitmontop OHKO’d full health Garchomp with Fighting Gem Close Combat, no crit.  I told him I was a bit surprised, but he just said, “Oh but you have that thing that increase attack.”  I guess I did … didn’t think it was enough to KO, though, especially with just 196 Attack EVs, but I’m not complaining.  Intimidates softened up a lot of his attacks, and he didn’t switch much at all.  I didn’t even use Hydreigon I think, which is good, because I can keep the Scarf a surprise (not that it should be too surprising).
Record – Me 1 : 0 Johnny

Top 4 VS Johnny Tang Match 2

I don’t remember much from this battle either, except that Hydreigon’s surprise scarf Dragon Pulse OHKO on Garchomp did indeed surprise him.  Before that point, neither side was winning, but after that, I had the advantage and proceeded to victory!
Me 2: 0 Johnny

Wow I totally did not expect to get this far … …

Top 2 (Finals) VS Skarm

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Sorry for not so good quality, but hey, it’s me on the left and Skarm on the right, with our plushies cheering us on, except those Wailords are Feathers’.  And of course R Inanimate and TRE and Crawdaunt are in there watching too.  You can also sort of see my gf Sally in the mirror taking the photo.

So his team was rain based with good stuffs… Hydreigon, Metagross, Kingdra, Politoed, Cresselia, Hitmontop.

Match 1



I took almost all my time to pick my Pokémon, largely because I was nervous and people were crowding around and I was trying to concentrate and then getting distracted.  At the end I wasn’t sure whether to pick Heatran or Hydreigon.  Hydreigon made sense because it’d do better against his Rain Pokémon, but Heatran would be able to shut down his Cresselia. I basically just randomly picked Hydreigon (without even looking) since there was no time left.

I led with Gyarados and Hitmontop mainly because I think my Hitmontop will be faster than his and can Fake Out his.  I noted that he didn’t have a Ground-type or Volt Absorb, which means Gyarados/Latias/Rotom-W will be free to Thunder Wave.  Out of those Gyarados and Rotom seem to be the safest, and I chose Gyarados because it has Protect in case there’s something unexpected… plus… Intimidate, hehe.

He led with Hitmontop and Cresselia, and I was going to Fake out his Cresselia and switch Gyarados out for Heatran … except I didn’t bring Heatran to the battle. Well, I get Hydreigon in anyway, since Dark Pulse will do more damage than anything a -1 Gyarados can do.  Things happen as expected.

Hydreigon’s Dark Pulse on Cresselia is a must, and I was really hoping she is wouldn’t switch out because I’m sure Skarm’s Hitmontop is going to Close Combat Hydreigon… which is why I switch my Hitmontop out to get Gyarados back in so that Skarm’s hitmontop is at -3.  Obviously I have done damage calculations before that a -3 Fighting Gem Hitmontop Close Combat does not OHKO a Hydreigon that has some bulk.  Ok, no I actually didn’t, but I figured it should survive.  I’m glad to know that it did, and I’m glad that Dark Pulse did over 50% damage, which means the next Dark Pulse might KO, but Trick Room is up now, and I see absolutely no reason why Cresselia is staying in when switching is clearly the better option.  So, switching out Hydreigon is clearly the option for me too.  What better thing to switch in than another Intimidate Hitmontop to get Skarm’s Hitmontop to -4? :P Well, that’s a big reason, but the other reason is that I want Fake Out to burn another turn of Trick Room.

I don’t remember why I didn’t Fake Out the following turn. Instead I switched. I do remember that I switched in Hydreigon anticipating a Zen Headbutt, but instead Water Gem Scald KOs Hydreigon. It’s not so good since I was counting on Hydreigon to beat Cresselia, but with Politoed’s rain, I know that Gyarados’s Aqua Tail (or Rotom-W’s Hydro pump) will hurt Cresselia quite a bit too, so while I was a bit worried, I wasn’t extremely worried. Also, even in hindsight, if I were to need to sacrifice any Pokémon to the Water Gem Scald, I probably would have chosen to sacrifice the 35% health Hydreigon anyway. So it’s ok. I get Rotom-W in.

Skarm does a nice double target on my Rotom-W to KO it. I think I might have lost it here, but I got a very lucky crit Aqua Tail OHKO on Metagross, which turned from low chance to winning to somewhat high chance of winning.  I just need Cresselia to not be running Protect and for Politoed to not crit Hitmontop with Scald (or Psychic), and I should have this.  Indeed, I Fake Out + Aqua Tail on Cresselia, putting her in KO range.  Hitmontop does survive the Scald and doesn’t get burnt, so it was low health Hitmontop + full health Gyarados vs Skarm’s low health Cresselia and full health Politoed.  Trick Room just ended and both of my pokemon are faster than both of his, so should be able to win this first match now, and I do.

Record – Me 1 : 0 Skarm

Match 2



I led with Heatran + Hitmontop this time because I wanted to Taunt his Cresselia, but instead, he doesn’t use Cresselia this match.  He quickly reveals all 4 of his Pokémon after 1st turn as he led with Metagross and Hydreigon.  It’s understandable, since Heat Wave KOs Metagross and Close Combat KOs Hydreigon.  I went with the safer Heat Wave + Fake Out even though Close Combat might have been better (he might have switched Cresselia in on the Close Combat though).  Then let’s just say I get super lucky with 2 Muddy Water misses which allowed me to Close Combat his Hydreigon to death.  I’m surprised that I had Latias out with two faster dragons and Latias still managed to survive.  Looks like the training I had with her paid off, surviving a Life Orb Rain boosted 75% Muddy Water followed by a -2 Hydreigon Draco Meteor.  After that, it was all over since it was 3 on 1.  I did make a mistake of not (playing safe by) Subbing with Heatran (which could have been costly should Heat Wave miss twice in a row or should Heat Wave miss once while Metagross’ EQ crits), but I was sort of just wanting to finish it quickly.

Record – Me 2 : 0 Skarm

My Experience: Battles

I know I was extremely lucky. Not to say that I think I suck or anything, but Skarm probably would have won both of those if not for hax, or at the very least it would have been much much closer (which would have made it much more interesting).  But oh well, 1st and 2nd place still get the same awards other than different trophies, so I don’t feel quite as bad. But still sorry about the hax, Skarm!

Randy is an amazing player too.  If not for the fact that I knew how his team worked already (and, well, more importantly, that he used the same team at Regionals), he definitely would have been extremely hard to beat (and even now it was not at all easy).  Oh yeah, I thought his team was really good too, so good, in fact, that I made my gf Sally’s team based on the structure of Randy’s team (hers was Rain-based with a Ghost Gem Chandelure instead of Bug Gem Volcarona).  Also, when we went to Milestones for dinner after the tournament, Sally and I had a battle and she beat me with the team I made for her.  I probably could have predicted better, but yeah, it was a good team.

I think I should say too that I was lucky to not have encountered that many Electric-types.  In fact, I did not encounter a single Zapdos or Thundurus!  I asked Sally too.  She did face a Thundurus, but she never encountered any Zapdos either. Seems like not many at Nats used one, but maybe it just so happened that neither of us encountered them. I think I faced 2 Rotoms (Frost and Washer) but that was all for electric types… oh, and one Eelektross.  That’s probably the reason why Gyarados did so well I think.  If you’re wondering what exactly Gyarados did, well, it’s more the support he was able to give while dishing out powerful attacks and the fact that Stone Edge never missed in the entire tournament.  I think I used it 3 times.  It Thunder Waved successfully when I needed it to, and it dealt with Rain better than even Latias.  I’m not sure why.  Maybe people saw Latias as more of a threat and targeted her more often than Gyarados.  Who knows.  Maybe it was Protect that made Gyarados better?

On the topic of Protect, yeah, it was totally unintentional that I only have ONE Protect on the entire team, and I don’t think that will happen again because it seemed like a team like this won’t do too well vs Trick Room even though I guess did face two Trick Room teams and won against both. The defensive typing synergy (and good bulk in general and Intimidate) probably allowed the team to deal with Trick Room more easily.

Relating to Protect is of course Substitute. I thought it would be a good idea to use Substitute instead of Protect on Latias and Heatran (I explained my reasoning above already), and yes, I think it did turn out to be a good idea. Only Gyarados has Protect, but Latias and Heatran have Substitute, and Hitmontop had Wide Guard.  So the team did not need constant switches and good predictions to work (in fact, with Sub it’s actually less prediction needed sometimes).

Oh, but on the topic of switching.  I did make plenty of switches in many of the battles (like the finals round 1 vid).  I think it’s a very big part of the metagame. I made switches in almost all my battles.   It’s cool that none of the players I faced this time were newbies.  Some were of course less experienced than others, but I see some sort of strategy and planning on my opponent’s side in all of my battles, so everybody at least sort of knew what they were doing.

My Experience: VGC as a Whole

It was awesome meeting everyone.  Too bad I didn’t hang out as much as others did since I was staying at another hotel and I was out most of the day on Saturday when you guys were at Double Tree. And I was pretty tired on Sunday after the tournament too.  Haha, I’m an old man. It was definitely a fun and enjoyable experience, and I hope Canadian Regionals and Nationals will grow bigger in years to come.


About the Author

has participated in VGC since 2009 and recently has taken the title of Nation VGC Champion of Canada by winning the VGC Nationals of 2012. He enjoys trying out and discovering new and creative ideas and tries to incorporate them into VGC teams whenever possible instead of using what is considered the standard. Outside of VGC, Tony likes battling at the Battle Subway / Tower. Outside of Pokemon, Tony regularly plays many boardgames that often involve strategy and planning. Outside of games, Tony currently works as a freelance programmer.



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