Meet the Managers of the NPA and Player Registration
Sign ups have ended with 10 of the previous managers and 23 new users signing up to manage for this season of the National Pokémon Association. Only 6 spots were open and lots of thought was put into the managers chosen. It was tough to make the final calls, but these are the managers and teams that will be playing in this season.
Returning Managers
Zach, Fortree Brave Birds
Zach was the manager of the Brave Birds in the second season of the NPA. He has a large community presence, is a moderator on Nugget Bridge, and has organized many tournaments and kept track of their stats. He won three Regionals in 2013 and barely needed to attend US Nationals that year in order to clinch his Worlds invite. He is committed to victory and knows how to work hard to clutch out.
DrFidget, Goldenrod Gamblers
DrFidget has been a much-loved member of the community after being the only person to stream Worlds in 2010. He is also the organizer of The Lava Pool, a highly informative podcast about the Video Game Championships, usually featuring many powerful trainers sharing advice and strategy. In 2013, he placed 3rd and 7th at two different Regionals. The Gamblers finished 4-4 in NPA 2, and are hungry for an even better placing this season.
Ray, Hearthome Holy Spirits
The three-time World Champion Ray Rizzo. There is not enough space in this brief article to cover his Pokemon successes. In the first NPA, he managed the Cleveland Escavaliers, which finished seventh. Last season, he led the Holy Spirits to a 6-2 final record, losing in the Final Four to the Sunyshore Chargers. He is known for drafting star player DeagleBeagle every season. As always, expect the best.
PrettyLittleLiar, Sunyshore Chargers
PrettyLittleLiar experienced a brief stint as a player in the first NPA before returning as a manager in NPA 2, leading the Sunyshore Chargers to a 6-2 finish in the regular season and 2nd place overall. He has placed at Worlds himself, losing in the Top 4 in 2011 to eventual champion Ray Rizzo. He is an active poster, player, and threat.
Huy, Castelia Cones
Huy has had an incredibly strong presence in the online competitive Pokemon community since the early 2000s. He has also been mighty on the battlefield, with back-to-back Top 8 finishes at Worlds in 2009 and 2010. In the original NPA, the team he co-managed with Darnell Washington, the Chicago Afrobulls, reached the finals, losing to the Sacramento Slakings 2-3. His team, the Cones, went 4-4 last NPA season with a strong comeback at the end of the season. Expect big business from this manager.
Tan, Celestic Stars
Tan has been a member of the VGC community since 2012. The Stars have been known to flood the forum with not only their team spirit but also their good cheer. In NPA 2, he led the stars to a mediocre 4-4 finish. However, the Stars were the only team to take a week away from the Seafoam Islanders all tournament. If they can recreate that success, Tan’s Stars will definitely be a top tier team.
TalkingLion, Fuchsia Ninjas
TalkingLion returns to manage the Fuschia Ninjas, which made the Final Four in NPA 2 with a 4-4 record losing to eventual champions, the Seafoam Islanders. TalkingLion has been a member of the VGC community since 2011 with several high placings in offline tournaments in both the Senior division and the Masters division. He is active as a moderator on Pokemon Showdown and although one of the youngest managers, has shown he knows how to lead.
feathers, Fallarbor Flames
feathers returns to manage the Flames for NPA 3! The Flames finished 3-5 in NPA 2 with strong team players like Fish, gene, and PROFESSORLABCOAT. feathers is a powerful player herself, with an undefeated Swiss run at Oregon Regionals in 2013. She is one of the artists who regularly creates artwork for Nugget Bridge and also the only Canadian manager.
theamericandream38, Seafoam Islanders
theamericandream38 is the player who perhaps has had the most success in the NPA. In the first NPA, he played for the winning team, the Sacramento Slakings. In NPA 2, he led the Seafoam Islanders to a nearly undefeated victory. theamericandream38 and his Islanders are definitely the team to beat this season.
makiri, Mistralton Jets
Like Huy, makiri has been integral to the online Pokemon community for many years. He has had many first place Regional finishes and played in the World Championships. Last NPA season, he managed the Jets and in the eyes of many “won” the draft, emerging with an extremely powerful roster. Although the Jets had a mediocre performance in NPA 2, ending the season at 4-4, Makiri has led several teams in Pokemon tournaments to victory, as well as being a winning player on the Sacramento Slakings in the first NPA. You can never count him out!
And the Newcomers
benjitheGREAT, Goldenrod Rollouts
benjitheGREAT, while a relatively unknown player until the start of the 2011 season, has picked up considerably since, winning multiple Regionals in 2013 and 2014. He is replacing Smith as the manager of the Goldenrod Rollouts. Last season in the NPA, benjitheGREAT went 6-2 playing for the Stars and has shown he knows how a successful team runs in the league.
CT MikotoMisaka, Lavarre Pixies*
CT MikotoMisaka, although sometimes partaking in the oft-forgotten Trading Card Game section of official Pokemon tournaments, has been a longtime member of the online Pokemon community. He joins his Sacramento Slakings teammates makiri and theamericandream38 in the ranks of managers for NPA 3. He played for the Mossdeep Rockets in NPA 2, but otherwise has won every Pokemon team tournament he has participated in.
jio, Lilycove Cruisers*
Jio began his VGC career in 2011. Although he was unable to attend Regionals for the first year, he continues to be an active teambuilder and breeder for many high-level players. When he finally attended a Regional in 2012, he placed Top 8. He is one of the most powerful trainers active in the breeding scene.
Dubulous, Viridian Forest Hornets*
Dubs managed in the first NPA, but took a year off before returning to the scene. His team, the Golden State Wartortles, reached the Final Four before losing 3-2 to the eventual champions, the Sacramento Slaking. He has been a member of the competitive Pokémon community since around 2009.
Alaka, Olivine City Splashes*
Alaka is the second manager to return from the original NPA to manage in NPA 3 without managing last season. He led the Orlando Magikarp to a 5th place finish out of the 8 teams present, drafting a strong roster featuring current Regional champion mattj and first NPA 2 draft pick skarm. Alaka has shown intelligence in both managing and operating a team, and he will not disappoint this season.
Dim, Ever Grande Elite*
Dim has been an active user in the VGC community since 2010, and achieved success in the Senior division in 2012 by winning the World Championships. He didn’t stop there, with high finishes at Regionals, US Nationals, and especially at Worlds in 2013, barely losing in the last round to Cybertron who would go on to make Top 4. Dim continues to be a strong player in the 2014 season, and has clinched his Worlds invite.
Thank you again to everyone who took the time to sign up, sorry if you missed the cut.
*These are new teams and their logos are currently being worked on.
Player Sign-ups
To sign up as a player you must post the following in the comments thread:
Timezone:
Tell us about yourself:
Notable accomplishments (Optional):
Now, signing up won’t put you on a team by itself. The NPA draft will take place at some point after the 2014 Pokémon World Championships. The registrations will make up the pool of players that the managers will bid on. You can keep an eye out for managers doing try out sessions in this thread, but please keep in mind that spots are limited and not everyone will be drafted! We will be working to ensure the NPA is as entertaining for spectators as well as the participants themselves. Sign ups will last until August 17th! We look forward to seeing who will sign up this season to be drafted onto one of these 16 teams!
Related Posts
Nugget Bridge Update →
GS Cup Announced as Pokémon’s 2016 Ruleset →
2016 Pokémon World Championships Date & Location Surfaces →
Timezone: EST
Tell us about yourself: I am 15 years old and I started playing the Pokemon VGC about two years ago. I used to play the TCG for a while but after I got a DS and played White I found that I enjoyed the video games much more.
Notable accomplishments (Optional): I made Top 16 with a Sandslash in the senior division at the 2013 U.S Nationals
Timezone: EST
About Me: I’ve been playing in VGC since 2010, but haven’t made real progress until 2013. I have become more involved in theory and potential of Pokemon, this has translated into my tram building where each Pokémon I use has an alternate style to it, but it has proven effective. I’ve studied the game very carefully and am confident in my abilities.
Accomplishments: Average of 60% wins during international challenges and battle spot seasons. Each time averaging 30-45 battles. No Regional record due to travel restrictions
Timezone: EST
Tell us about yourself: Well I’ve been playing pokemon since the beginning (although I missed gen 3 completely) competitively battling over wifi since DPPt on pe2k. I’ve attended VGC Fall Regionals 2011 in Philly and I went 3-4. Along with battling on pe2k I’ve been on PXR and now here as well as perfect pokemon. I try to participate in most of the Global Link events also. I like to think I am knowledgeable and well rounded player, smogon & bulbapedia are me best friends.
Timezone: Central (US/CAN)
Tell us about yourself: I’m 23, male, and have been playing Pokemon since the early days of Red and Blue. While this year is my first playing competitively, I am no stranger to competition and challenge within Pokemon. I have played under nuzlocke rules in-game multiple times, and have gotten to know the ins and outs of many different Pokemon. I have played in both the May and June International Challenges, though I will admit my scores were not all that hot. Regardless, I have a “never give up” attitude in Pokemon battling, and will always look for a way to win, or to learn.
Outside of Pokemon, I’m an aspiring voice actor, who enjoys writing, long walks on the beach, and listening to the sound of- wait, wrong scenario XD. Anyways, I work full-time, mostly in the evenings at present, but can adjust my schedule as needed. I like meeting new people, and having fun.
Notable achievements: None… unless you count the fact I’m one of the few VGC players in Winnipeg? (TT__TT)
I am going to ask a dumb question…where is the IRC I can’t find it…
Timezone: GMT-6
Tell us about yourself: Played ever since R/B/Y, prominently played competitive Singles since 2006, but only started VGC late in this season. I invest a lot of time into helping people get into the competitive aspect of Pokemon, as such I regularly go to 2-3 weekly Pokemon leagues and help out however I can. I probably invest more time than I should when it comes to competitive, but it hasn’t really failed me so far.
Notable accomplishments (Optional):
Bisafan Spring Open 2014 – 2nd place (first VGC tournament)
Season 3 Special Ladder – 1752 (#27 NA)
Timezone: Central Time Zone
* I am a Pokemon veteran and have been playing the games since the Red/Blue/Yellow days, but I was officially a competitor in 2009. I lost in the first match and was eliminated, so I started to learn the mechanics of the Pokemon competitive system. I have been going to live Pokemon tourneys in Dallas and in Houston since 2009, and yet I haven’t gotten a very high ranking as of late. I plan on entering the Houston Regionals in October 2014.
Notable Accomplishments:
Houston Regionals 2012: 32nd Place
Houston Regionals 2013: 73rd(?) Place (I know. Worthless.)
Timezone: Eastern
Tell us about yourself: I enjoy bow ties and butterscotch pudding.
Notable accomplishments (Optional): I can fit an entire corn on the cob in my mouth sometimes.
Timezone:
Central Daylight (GMT-5)
Tell us about yourself:
One day I got fed up with how chat was handled in my online Pokemon battle simulator, so I embedded a window to an IRC server for people to use to arrange battles. And that’s how we got Pokemon on IRC.
Notable accomplishments (Optional):
Time Zone: Eastern Standard Time
Tell us about yourself: Been playing Pokemon since 2001 but started playing competitively in 2013. I try to promote VGC to my friends and members of the Pokemon Club at my college which I am the president of. Very new to Nugget Bridge and the community in general but eager to play more and attend more tournaments. I’ve only attended one tournament so far but ended up placing first.
Notable Accomplishments:
VGC Premier Challenge TCG Canadian Nationals Day 2: 1st Place
PS: Almost identical username above syndrome.
Timezone: (UTC-06:00) Central Time
Tell us about yourself: –2014 has been my first year of VGC
-I’m in Masters next year
-I’ve been playing Pokemon since 2006
Notable accomplishments (Optional):
1st Kansas City Regionals (Seniors)
Top 8 US Nationals (Seniors)
Qualified for Worlds 2014 (Seniors)
Also if my Showdown rating looks super low, it’s because I use Bramblestar1227 to test random things, I ladder on CortexVGC, so check that account’s rating if that matters.
Timezone: (GMT – 7:00)
Tell us about yourself: I’ve been in Pokemon competitive battling since 2010. Up until 6 months ago I experienced my first real VGC tournament in Long Beach. Didn’t do so hot since at the time I wasn’t very experienced with the doubles format. Not though since I fell in love with, I’ve spent countless hours since that day trying to improve my team, and knowledge. I’m very dedicated to Pokemon since it is the only game I play competitively. Just because I’m a bit new to vgc though doesn’t mean I should be underestimated. I know the gimmicks of lots and lots of Pokemon. Movesets, speed tiers, etc. Battling like this is something I would really love to do, and I hope I’d be given a chance
Notable accomplishments (Optional): I’ve been in many small competitions and tournaments. Recently though I won 2 tickets to Universal Studios Hollywood for winning a tournament in a mid sized Pokemon group on Facebook.
Again thanks you for taking the time to read this
Timezone: CST
Tell us about yourself: I AM AN OLD MAN NOW BUT I USED TO BE GOOD IN YESTER-YEAR. I ONLY HAVE THREE TEAMS LEFT TO BATTLE WITH SO CHOOSE WISELY.
Notable accomplishments (Optional): Seattle 05′ Runner-up, JAA Chicago Winner, Nats ’10 Top 8, Worlds ’10, lost to Simisear R1 Nats ’11 LCQ, Canada Nats ’12 Runner-Up, Nearly vomited on Scott R1 Worlds ’12.
Timezone: US EST
Tell us about yourself: I’m a semi new VGC player. I started back in gen 5 and I love team building especially in gen 6. Gen 3 is my favorite because Hoenn is so cool and it added so much to the series.
Notable accomplishments (Optional): I haven’t done any official tournaments but I won a few of the ones my school held a few years ago.
Timezone: Central
Tell us about yourself: I like shorts, they are comfy and easy to wear
Notable accomplishments (Optional): top 8 arlington 2011
top cut at nationals 3 years in a row
2012 2nd houston
2013 6th houston
2013 13th st charles
2014 3rd houston
2014 st charles 16th
I qualified for worlds this year
You and me to the top bro.
Timezone:GMT +10:(Australia)
Tell us about yourself:I started playing Pokemon in 2007 in diamond and pearl and bought ‘almost’ every game all the way up to now but I started playing competitive singles in either HGSS or Black and White can’t remember which one, this year I got into VGC because of a friend of mine (Brent/Aguy our Senior National Champion) and completely ditched singles as I thought it was no where near as fun as VGC… also Dragoon124 for worlds!!!!!
Notable accomplishments:I have only been to a small amount of tournaments seeing as this is my first year and placed poorly in a few because of the single elimination format.
VGC’14 Sydney Regional:Top 16 (Senior) (Single Elimination)
VGC’14 Melbourne Regional:Champion (Senior) (Single Elimination)
VGC’14 Australia National:Top 8 (Senior) (Swiss)
How many people do I have to fight to get Skarm
Timezone: central
Tell us about yourself:
Notable accomplishments (Optional): eliminated skarm round 1 from nsider’s official netbattle ubers tournament 2005
Timezone: US Central
Tell Us About Yourself: I started playing VGC late last season, but I’ve been around throughout this entire year.
Notable Accomplishments:
Top 32 Premier Challenge DF (Out of 324)
Timezone: Pacific Time (USA)
Tell us about yourself: 6’2″, 174 pounds, 6’5″ wingspan, 8’1″ standing reach, 24″ vertical. Also it’s six inches
Notable accomplishments (Optional): this was my first real season, went to five regs. made top 8 at norcal and florida, bubbled KC and arizona, sucked at socal. got a top 32 stipend. have wins (and losses) vs plenty of big name NB users. i can’t teambuild worth grimer but i’m an ok player. please draft me please
Timezone:
Canada PST
Tell us about yourself:
I am a 26 year old Pokemon battler who resides in Canada. I have been on Nuggetbridge for a year and just started recently competing in VGC. I have been battling since Diamond and Pearl competitively. I used to battle on Marriland when that was super popular. I am a Pokemon junkie and love all facts Pokemon.
Notable accomplishments (Optional):
Timezone: PST
Tell us about yourself: This is Erik Holmstrom and I’ve had a terrific season in 2014. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m 6’7″ and am probably the tallest person in the room at any Regional or Nationals I attend. I could quite possibly be the tallest VGC player in general! I’m super competitive, but I have a very friendly disposition, and I don’t get too worked up if I lose.
My approach to team building is largely to counter the current metagame while incorporating a few surprises that can catch opponents off-guard. I will still use some standard pokemon, but often they will have unique builds.
As for my competitive history, I started playing in regional tournaments in 2010 and have progressively improved as time has gone by. 2014 has certainly been a break out year for me with 2 regional top cuts, a top 32 regional, 2nd place at a premiere challenge, and 21st at US Nationals this year. I also attended only 3 regionals in total this year to make my finishes.
Notable accomplishments (Optional):
VGC ’14 Autumn Regionals, Phoenix, Arizona: Top 8
VGC ’14 Winter Regionals,Long Beach, CA: Top 16
VGC ’14 Spring Regionals, Salt Lake City, Utah: Top 32
VGC ’14 Torrance, CA Premiere Challenge: 2nd Place
VGC ’14 Ontario Mills, CA Victory Road Local Tournament: 1st place (See tournament videos here: External )
VGC ’14 US Nationals: 21st Place
Timezone:
(UTC+00:00)
Tell us about yourself:
Ok I’ll be short!
Making teams in Pokémon = Me feeling like a little kid in a candy shop completely lost, wanting everything and ending up with a tummy ache! XD
VGC Organizer in Portugal
Troller and “”Hipster”” in VGC XD
Last thing! The next time I feel like writing something for Nugget Bridge I’ll write 5 different articles in a row! Right Werford? XD
Notable accomplishments (Optional):
I don’t feel like accomplishments are everything, I think I’m a good player in my own way like many players here that maybe didn’t had the opportunity to show themselves. 🙂
Given this I think my best accomplishments was using a team I really loved with Pokés I really like and make a good score in UK Nats this year and in the IC of June. Not using Rain or Kanga! XD
Timezone: CDT – Central Daylight Time
Tell us about yourself: I’m from México. I’ve been playing Pokémon since like I was ten (I’m currently 24), but I got interested in competitive playing just last year with the launch of X&Y, as I never had HG/SS or B&W 1/2, which I regret a lot, but don’t worry I have them now…. This season, I’ve played in some tournaments such as the NB Major, IC May & June and lastly the Mexico City Premier Challenge, which has been my best playing day of the year, apart from some minor tournaments in my area. I want to play in the NPA because I want to improve for the next season playing with and against the best players in the worid, who are here in NB, and also because I find this tournament to be very cool with the draft, team logos, managers and all.
Notable accomplishments: 3rd Place at Mexico’s City Premier Challenge (300+ players)
Whoops 37th
Timezone: PST
Tell us about yourself: This is my second year playing VGC and I’m really enjoying it. Although now I live in nice California, I grew up in Cleveland playing pokemon to keep me off the streets like LeBron did. If you draft me, you’ll get 7 players worth of Ds. I like to think that I’m fun to play pokemon with :).
Notable accomplishments:
This video describes all the success I’ve had this season: http://youtu.be/GgINGJsAjA0
timezone: gmt +1 (germany)
about me: amateur player and notorious top cut choker needs good team to learn the game 8D
accomplishments: runner-up vgc germany 2009, 4 worlds invites (09 11 13 14), several top8/16 at EU nats (see also about me), #11 worlds 13 (4-2), spring open champion 2014 (2nd largest online live tournament ever held)
Timezone: EST
About me: I have been doing VGCs for 2 years now and have played Pokemon for 4 years.
I have been to 2013 and 2014 Georgia regionals and Lexington SC premier challenge.
Notable Accomplishments: i play pokemon
Timezone: EST
About Me: I’ve been playing pokemon for a few years now, and joined the competitive scene at the end of last season. Unfortunetly never been to any live events due to other obligations, so I know theres a 99.9% chance I wont be picked, but I decided to throw this in anyway. This is my 2nd year in the masters division, and sometimes even surprise myself with what i can do