Reports

Published on December 20th, 2014 | by Talon

12

Reborn in Flame: Texas Champion Team Analysis and Tournament Report

Hey guys! My name is Cedric Bernier, but you might know me as Talon. Or maybe not. Probably not, actually, which is completely understandable considering I haven’t had a large presence online since 2013. My notable accomplishments consisted of Regional wins in the Junior and Senior divisions and a 15th place finish at the 2011 World Championships in Seniors. Most recently, I won a Premier Challenge and the Houston Regional Championship in the Masters division, which I’m going to discuss in this report.

After a weak finish at US Nationals in 2013 (my final event as a Senior), I was lucky enough to be drafted by the Fallarbor Flames for NPA 2, which allowed me to develop more as a player. For my first Masters event, the 2014 Houston Regional, I created what I thought to be a solid team, and was hoping for an x-2 or better performance. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. An early string of bad luck put me on tilt, and I dropped at 3-3. Completely demoralized, I decided that I might retire early.

I stopped chatting with my friends online and stopped frequenting Pokemon-related websites. By the time the 2014 US National Championships came around, I hadn’t thought about the game for months. However, I couldn’t resist following the event and watching the stream. As I watched the high level of play in the top cut, I realized that I had missed not only the strategy of the game, but the friends I had made through it. However, the centralization of the metagame at the time of US Nationals curbed my desire to start playing again. It was only once I saw in the World Championship that the metagame had become fairly diverse that I decided I would give this format a shot.

By reading Nuggetbridge, I gained a simple understanding of the VGC 14 metagame. I had trouble learning the speed tiers due to the inclusion of incredibly fast Pokémon such as Aerodactyl and Mega Manectric that had previously not been viable or hadn’t existed. However, with the help of my good friend Jaquar I was able to garner a good enough understanding of the metagame to get high on the Pokemon Showdown! ladder using several different popular teams.

Soon, I logged on as my normal alias of TalonVGC on the VGC server, and was pleasantly surprised to receive a personal message from one of my good friends, Kenan Nerad (Lucien). We spent a while chatting, and he told me a lot about what I had missed that season. It was later that week that Kenan gave me the opportunity… No, the honor of aiding him in the building of Dig Boom 3.0. For those unaware, Dig Boom is a seekrit strategy that dates back to 2010 that involves the use of Dig, Fly, or Dive to avoid a partner Pokémon’s Explosion or Self-Destruct. Although it only came with mixed success, Dig Boom is an elite strategy with deep roots that will continue to be viable in all VGC formats.

Using such a fun team brought the joy back in Pokémon for me. It was the first time in years that Pokémon wasn’t a competition for me anymore, but a game as it was meant to be. Eventually, Kenan asked me if I was going to attend the Houston Regional this year. I answered truthfully that I hadn’t made any plans to. He informed that on top of the people that usually attended Houston, there was a high chance that Aaron Zheng (Cybertron) and Edward Fan (iss) would be attending. As I hadn’t seen those two since 2013 US Nationals, I decided I would attempt to attend. It was only 2 weeks before the event that I had booked a hotel room. With far less time than I’ve ever had to build, refine, and obtain the Pokémon for a team, I knew that I would need to train smart, not hard. Past knowledge reminded me that rain teams tend to be prominent at Regionals. The rising Mawile usage was also something I kept an eye on, as I knew that it was arguably the best functioning Mega Evolution in rain and out of rain. After identifying what I wanted my team to counter, I began to build the team that would win the 2015 Houston Regional Championship.

The Team

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 188 HP / 44 Def / 116 SpA / 4 SpD / 156 Spe
Modest Nature
-Heat Wave
-Overheat
-Solarbeam
-Protect

Mega Charizard-Y looked to be the most anti-meta Mega Pokémon going into the Regional in my eyes, countering both rain and Mawile very well. This Charizard has a standard move set, so I won’t waste many keystrokes explaining it. Heat Wave was effective in doing spread damage quickly, Overheat was my option when I wanted to drop a bulky Pokémon to low HP, and Solarbeam was used mainly against Water types. Protect was almost mandatory so that I could stall turns and eliminate Pokémon threatening Charizard with Rock type attacks.

The EV spread does what most do these days, with the HP and defensive investment allowing Charizard to survive a Jolly Garchomp’s Rock Slide 15/16 times. This was mainly for insurance, as I rarely left my Charizard on the field against a Garchomp if I had a choice. The speed EVs allow me to hit 140 Speed, although I have debated running a faster Charizard to outspeed Timid Mega-Blastoise. I invested the rest of my EVs into special attack to maximize my damage output.

In both the Premier Challenge and Regional, Mega Charizard-Y came in very handy. I saw several rain teams on both days, with Mawile as their Mega Pokémon, as anticipated. Despite having two 90% accurate moves, Charizard was extremely consistent. I didn’t miss any Overheats, and Heat Wave never missed when I absolutely needed it to hit. Mega Charizard-Y was the right metagame call for Regionals, and it was a key factor in every game that I brought it to.

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 36 Atk / 212 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
– Rock Slide
– Ice Beam
– Fire Blast
– Crunch

I had always planned to use a Choice Scarf Tyranitar during my teambuilding process, but I had no intention of using Crunch nor a Hasty nature. However, on Friday night I didn’t have any of the Pokémon that I needed in-cart, let alone trained. I looked through the Nuggetbridge IRC chat for anyone that might be able to trade me a Tyranitar. I noticed Randy Kwa (R Inanimate) online and remembered from his World Championship team report that he tested a Choice Scarf Tyranitar. I immediately messaged him asking if he could lend it to me for the weekend. He was able to trade it to me, but it was only during the Premier Challenge that I learned that it wasn’t the standard Timid Dark Pulse version.

Although I only have a small sample size, I now believe that Hasty is a better nature than Timid is. The main purpose of Timid is to use Dark Pulse instead of Crunch, which can be hindered by Intimidate and Will-O-Wisp. However, I rarely used Dark Pulse in practice, and I found that the trade off of stronger Rock Slides for a less reliable Dark type STAB and weaker physical defenses was worthwhile. This came in useful throughout the tournament, with Rock Slide doing just enough damage to get the 2HKOs that won several games. I only used Crunch once throughout the tournament, but it did ensure that I got an important KO against an Assault Vest Ludicolo that Dark Pulse wouldn’t have gotten. Randy’s EV investment allows Tyranitar to move before Choice Scarf Politoed and Mega Lucario and OHKO 4 HP Garchomp with an Ice Beam. The remainder of EVs go are split between Attack, Defense, and HP for a bit more bulk and offensive power.

It wasn’t as useful of an end game tool as some of my other Pokémon were, but Tyranitar was effective in applying chip damage that allowed my other team members to clean up. It was also an extremely strong choice as a lead with almost any other Pokémon on the team because it applied pressure to my opponents early, forcing them to play predictably.

Salamence @ Choice Specs
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 20 HP / 52 Def / 180 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
-Draco Meteor
-Flamethrower
-Dragon Pulse
-Sleep Talk

For the longest time, I was using a Hydreigon over Salamence because I believed that its Dark type STAB would be needed for my Gothitelle matchup. However, the day before Regionals I realized that most teams with Gothitelle were effectively countering Choice Specs Hydreigon. I switched to Salamence because of the utility provided by Intimidate. I opted to use both Draco Meteor and Dragon Pulse so that I could choose either power or reliability based on the situation. I decided to use Flamethrower over Fire Blast because this team excelled at doing chip damage to Pokémon, and I didn’t want to bet entire games on hitting a Fire Blast when I could use a more reliable move. I used Sleep Talk in the last slot in case I ran into any Choice Scarf Smeargle in the tournament. There was no reliably way to stop it from getting a Dark Void off on this team, so I needed at least some way to beat it. I didn’t get into a situation where I needed to use Sleep Talk, but no situations occurred in which I wished that I had Fire Blast during the tournament.

I don’t believe that the EV spread for Salamence was optimal. I hadn’t used a Salamence prior to the event, but I knew that I wanted to outspeed Modest Hydreigon and speed tie with other Salamence if I needed to. With the defensive investment, Salamence will survive a Life Orb Mamoswine’s Ice Shard at -1 15/16 of the time. In retrospect, I think these are wasted EVs that should have been invested into Special Attack, but at the time of EV training, I saw that my team was fairly Mamoswine weak. I wanted another Pokémon on my team to survive one of its attack and KO back, but in practice I decided to sideline it when I saw Mamoswine, as just a little of Sandstorm chip damage made its defensive EVs moot.

During the tournaments, the Intimidate that Salamence provided was instrumental in setting up win conditions. Despite never using it before the Premier Challenge, it played so similarly to Hydreigon that I didn’t have any troubles adapting. The damage it provided with Choice Specs put threats such as Kangaskhan and Rotom-H in KO range of my teammates, allowing them to sweep in the late game.

Mawile @ Mawilite
Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Atk / 76 Def
Adamant Nature
-Play Rough
-Iron Head
-Sucker Punch
-Protect

In testing, I found that Mega Charizard-Y was at a significant disadvantage if I came across a fast user of Rock Slide, such as Aerodactyl or Choice Scarf Tyranitar. I tried several different options before Mawile to strengthen my matchup against these two, but nothing clicked. I wasn’t eager to use Mawile at first, as I was sure that many others would see the sharp rise in Mawile usage and try very hard to counter it. This wasn’t an issue because my team members covered Mawile’s weaknesses well, with Garchomp, Tyranitar, and Ludicolo serving as checks to its most common counters.

I decided to use the standard moveset on Mawile, as alternative options like Fire Fang and Rock Slide didn’t improve any matchup significantly enough to warrant the valuable moveslot. Play Rough was almost exclusively used against Dragon and Dark types or when I needed to hit something that the more reliable Iron Head couldn’t, such as Zapdos. Sucker Punch was effective in picking off Pokémon at low HP. The EV spread is simple as a result of laziness. I got this Mawile late at night, and I was far too tired to use my ideal Mawile spread, which invested a bit into Special Defense and Speed, while still being able to survive notable physical attacks such as Jolly Life Orb Garchomp’s Earthquake. However, it was roughly 2 AM by the time I received the Mawile, so I decided that sleep would be more valuable to me than the small difference that retraining it could make in the tournament.

Mawile’s strength was its synergy with Charizard. The matchups that Mega Charizard-Y struggles in are often positive for Mega Mawile. This made this team fairly easy to play in Team Preview, as I knew my opponents would be forced to bring their Pokémon that beat both Charizard and Mawile. If there was Rotom-H or Garchomp in my opponent’s party I could safely assume that they would bring it, often in the lead position, in a desperate attempt to check both Charizard and Mawile. Knowing this allowed me to outlead my opponents consistently, forcing them to play predictably early in the game.

Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
-Dragon Claw
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Protect

In past VGC formats, I was never a fan of Garchomp. However, I believe that Garchomp is better in the VGC 2014 rule set than it has been in any format since 2009. Garchomp is perfect for the fast paced metagame that developed as a result of the introduction of outrageously powerful Pokémon via Mega Evolution. There’s a small group of Pokémon that truly counter Garchomp, and most are either easy to play around (Choice Scarf Dragon types and Tyranitar) or aren’t common. For this reason, Garchomp is an extremely safe option and synergized with this team well, despite it only being able to safely use Earthquake with Salamence or Charizard on the field.

The moveset and EV spread are as simple as it gets. Earthquake and Dragon Claw serve as powerful STAB attacks, while Rock Slide is for coverage on Flying types like Talonflame and Zapdos. In general, I think that Substitute is a better option than Rock Slide. However, Rock Slide was definitely the right call for this team, because if Salamence or Tyranitar ended up Choice-locking into the incorrect move, Talonflame could go to town on my remaining team members. The EV spread is as common as it gets. Maximum Speed was necessary because, in a format where Garchomp is the most common non-Mega Pokémon, having a chance to win the Garchomp mirror can make or break games. I opted not to EV to survive Timid Mega Manectric’s Hidden Power Ice. It isn’t as common as it was in early 2014, and those EVs are useless if the Manectric comes in late-game after Garchomp has taken one turn of Life Orb recoil.

The consistent damage output that Garchomp provided with Life Orb proved to be useful. Slowly chipping away threats to Garchomp until they were in range of its powerful attacks was my win condition in many games throughout the tournament, making it the MVP of the weekend.

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

Two days before the Premier Challenge, I had no idea what I would be using at the sixth member of my team. Ideally, I wanted my last member to check Mamoswine, Rotom-Heat, Azumarill, as well as giving me good tools to defeat Rain teams and the Gothitelle-Mawile combination that was rapidly rising in popularity. I experimented with Zapdos, Ferrothorn, and Rotom-W but none of them could stand up to all variations of Gothitelle-Mawile teams, specifically ones that led with Ludicolo or Hariyama. I experimented with several terribly bad options to beat this combination, even going so far as to remove the Choice Scarf on my Tyranitar to test out CHOICE SCARF FINAL GAMBIT LUCARIO. Unfortunately, an extremely fast Final Gambit user with an immunity to flinching is better in theory than in practice once you see how many KO’s are missed with a base 70 HP stat.

Eventually, I realized that the Pokémon I was trying so hard to beat were all fundamentally different. To beat them all, I would need to find something with extremely diverse coverage. In reading nearly every team report I could find online, only Ludicolo’s movepool jumped out at me. Without a second thought, I knew it would be the final member of this team.

It was Blake (Bopper) Hopper’s  team report that convinced me to use Ludicolo, so I decided to use his EV spread. For those unaware, the defensive investments allows Ludicolo to be 3HKO’d by Garchomp’s Jolly Dragon Claw, while the Special Attack EVs let it OHKO back with an Ice Beam, assuming Garchomp isn’t bulky. Looking back, I would invest the Speed EVs into another stat, as being slower in the Ludicolo-mirror isn’t an important factor in most situations. Fake Out is a useful form of disruption, while the combination of Ice Beam, Giga Drain, and Scald hit some of the most common Pokémon in the format for super effective damage. I used Scald over Hydro Pump mainly for consistency. The Special Defense boost from Assault Vest, combined with Intimidate support from Salamence and Mawile, allowed to Ludicolo to stick around for quite a while in most battles. This had the added benefit of increasing the chances of burning my opponent’s Pokemon with Scald.

Despite me never using it prior to the event, Ludicolo came in clutch whenever I brought it. With weather-changers and Swift Swim, my rain matchup was blissfully easy. By applying Fake Out pressure, Ludicolo made playing against Gothitelle-Mawile teams far easier, as I could waste the first turn trading Fake Outs with my opponent and double target the Gothitelle next turn. In my opinion, Ludicolo’s usefulness in most matchups makes it one of the best non-Mega Pokémon in the format.

Effective Lead Combinations

 /  +

This lead’s purpose was to apply offensive pressure extremely early in the battle by allowing my Mega Pokémon to get off a lot of damage. Tyranitar checked many of the Pokemon that gave Charizard and Mawile trouble, which often gave me the opportunity to score an early KO.

 + 
This was my typical lead against rain teams lacking Talonflame, although it was useful in general as Ludicolo and Charizard complement each other well. It was also a useful lead against Gothitelle-Mawile teams that had a rain mode, because even if Mawile got past Charizard, it had to risk getting burned by Ludicolo’s Scald. I found this was the most neutral lead choice I could make, and I often defaulted to it when I wasn’t sure what else to do.

 + 
Double the dragons, double the fun! This was my anti-Kangaskhan/Smeargle lead. My opponents had to assume Garchomp had Lum Berry, but Salamence was the real threat. I would often use Protect with Garchomp on the first turn and target Smeargle with Salamence. If the Smeargle turned out to be Choice Scarfed, I would simply Sleep Talk the next turn and nab a surprise KO in the early game, with a -1 Kangaskhan on the field.

Premier Challenge

After roughly a four and a half hour drive to Houston, I arrived at the hotel at about 5:30 PM. Knowing better than to play on an empty stomach, I ate dinner at a restaurant in the hotel and made sure to get caffeinated for what I believed would be a late night. Following my meal, I picked up a team registration sheet and sat down at a table with Ben (Benji) Irons, Blake Hopper, Collin (TheBattleRoom) Heier, and Logan (Yellowbox) Castro. They were surprised to find that an untimely death was not the cause of my hiatus. After some idle chit-chat and inspirational ballads (“Like a game of chess…”), we began to turn in our team sheets and went through the registration process. The player meeting started sometime after 9:00 PM, with the actual competition beginning roughly 25 minutes later. Registration lasted an abnormally long time because over 100 players showed up to the event, which is actually more than we had at Houston Regionals last year. That really put into perspective for me how much the Pokémon community has grown since the release of X and Y.

Round 1: vs Joseph (lucariojr) Brummett

 v. 

I’m going to get this out of the way now: going into a big tournament after taking a year off, I didn’t anticipate doing well enough to warrant a report. For that reason, I did not take notes during any of the tournament. There will likely be inaccuracies and there will definitely be vague descriptions of battles, since I am going off of memory here. But I’ll attempt to explain the thought processes behind my plays for the turns that I can recall.

When looking at the pairings, I found a name that was vaguely familiar to me. As soon as I saw him approaching the table, I recognized him as lucariojr. While waiting for the judges to start the mathes, I asked Nico (Calm Lava) Villalobos how to actually battle via IR connection, as I had never been to an XY event and was unfamiliar with the game.

I didn’t identify this to be Markus (13Yoshi37) Stadter’s Nationals team in Team Preview due to my lack of knowledge of the 2014 season. Knowing this information could have been extremely useful in Team Preview, as I would’ve known that the Salamence was likely to be holding a Choice Scarf. Regardless, anticipating Joseph to bring Rotom-H and possibly Salamence to check my Mega Pokémon, I led with Tyranitar and my own Salamence. I brought Mawile and Garchomp in the back as checks to his Kangaskhan. Joseph led with his Salamence and Rotom-H, just as expected.

The opposing Salamence’s Intimidate activated before my Tyranitar’s Sand Stream, but I missed this valuable information. Predicting his Salamence to switch out against the threat of an Ice Beam, I used Rock Slide and Dragon Pulse on the Rotom-Heat slot, hoping to get either an early KO or put it into sandstorm KO range. However, he sent my Salamence packing with a Draco Meteor while switching Rotom-H to Mawile. My -2 Rock Slide did roughly 35% against Salamence and minuscule damage to Mawile, with sandstorm bringing Salamence to about 60% HP. I reprimanded myself internally for not paying attention to the order of abilities activating, as there was no way I would do remotely well if I kept making careless mistakes like that. I brought in my own Mawile to put Joseph’s Mawile at -1 Attack.

Knowing that it wasn’t an appealing option for his Salamence to stay in, I targeted Joseph’s Mawile with an Iron Head. I felt I couldn’t risk a Play Rough knocking out my Garchomp on a switch, so I used Rock Slide with Tyranitar. He double switched, with his Garchomp taking the Iron Head and Rock Slide, bringing it to about 20%, with Rock Slide doing roughly 30% to the Rotom-Heat that took Salamence’s place.

The Rotom-Heat was threatening to Mawile, so I had to switch in Garchomp despite the fact that I would most likely be burned. I kept Tyranitar in and continued to use Rock Slide, wanting to chip Rotom-H down slowly before Mawile came back later in the game. Tyranitar hit both Rock Slides, which after Sitrus Berry and sandstorm damage put it at just above 50%. Joseph’s Garchomp used Earthquake, which put Tyranitar at 25% and my Garchomp at 60%. Rotom-Heat burned Garchomp with Will-O-Wisp, putting it at just below 50% HP at the end of the turn.

This turn I thought a bit about what I needed to happen so that I could make a comeback. I had to risk the speed tie and try to KO his Garchomp with a Dragon Claw or I had no chance to win. This was the most opportune time to switch out my -2 Attack Tyranitar, assuming that I won the imminent coin flip. My Garchomp did move first, and Mawile came in safely for Tyranitar while Rotom-Heat used Protect as anticipated. However, a combination of Life Orb, Rough Skin, and burn damage put Garchomp at a little above 15% HP. Joseph brought in Salamence in the spot of his fallen Garchomp.

I used Protect with Mawile and Rock Slide with Garchomp in order to put both Salamence and Rotom-H into KO range of Tyranitar’s Rock Slide. Joseph double targeted Mawile with a Fire Blast and Will-O-Wisp, and Rock Slide did connect with either of his Pokémon. Garchomp fainted to Life Orb recoil and Burn, and I brought in Tyranitar.

I believe this to be the turning point of this battle. Salamence was at a low enough HP that my Mawile, despite being -1, had a good chance to nab the KO with Sucker Punch. He could have either switched in Mawile to Intimidate my physical Pokémon while letting Rotom-Heat faint to my Tyranitar’s Rock Slide, or he could have stayed in and risked the game on whether or not I got the KO with Sucker Punch. I used Iron Head onto the Salamence slot, hoping that I had made the right play. To my elation his Salamence did switch, and I hit the Mawile for significant damage while Rotom-Heat used Protect.

I had no choice but to use Iron Head on the Mawile slot and hope that he wasn’t running any speed while using Rock Slide with Tyranitar. To my surprise, Joseph Sucker Punched Tyranitar, missing the KO. Rock Slide took Rotom-Heat out, while Iron Head finished off Mawile. Salamence came in, and a Sucker Punch+Rock Slide combination gave me the win.

Record: 1-0

Despite a devastating turn one, I was able to turn the game around in a nerve-racking first game of the Premier Challenge. I think that playing the start of that game so horribly actually helped me focus better for the rest of the night, though. From then on I was committed to observing every aspect of my games while playing, so as not to make such a bad mistake again.

Round 2: vs Abram Calderon

 v. 

This battle is mostly a blur to me, but there are some key events that I do remember. On the first turn, I Mega Evolved Charizard and used Heat Wave, but I did negligible damage as his Sableye used Rain Dance. My lack of knowledge of this format became obvious here, and my opponent informed me that Rain Dance is common on most Prankster users to counter Mega Charizard-Y. He later revealed Confide, which lowers Special Attack by one stage. I was aware of that, but I was shocked to find that it also bypasses Protect! Despite being slightly flustered by all of this new technology being dropped on me, including a non-Mega Manectric, I was able to put myself into a winning position, with full HP Garchomp and Tyranitar locked into Rock Slide against a Full HP Mega Scizor. I went for Rock Slide with Garchomp, knowing that using Earthquake on my own Tyranitar was less than ideal. The Scizor did not flinch and he revealed Brick Break, OHKOing Tyranitar. At this point I had the win, as a Life Orb Earthquake finished Scizor off, and even a Bullet Punch critical hit couldn’t save him.

Record: 2-0

Round 3: vs Collin Heier

   v.

Going into this game, I didn’t feel very confident. This has been Collin’s format, and I wasn’t entirely sure that I knew my team well enough to even compete. Seeing his rain mode, I led with Ludicolo and Charizard. Collin didn’t seem to have a reliable answer to Ludicolo aside from Mawile. I chose to use Tyranitar as a way to deal with Hydreigon and Zapdos primarily, with an added bonus that I would be able to further control the weather. For my final team member, I chose Garchomp over Salamence, wanting the option of Protect in a team that potentially carried three Ice type moves. Collin led with Mawile and Zapdos.

Knowing that he would most likely try to preserve his Mawile by switching out or using Protect, I double targeted the Zapdos with Fake Out and Overheat. Zapdos went down and Mawile did use Protect, giving me a 4-3 lead on Turn 1. Collin brought in Politoed, setting rain up.

I scouted whether Politoed would use a Water type attack or Ice Beam by using Protect with Charizard and attacking the Mawile with Scald, hoping for a burn. This turn went well, with Scald doing 75% to Mawile with a critical hit, and Politoed attacking into Charizard’s Protect with an Ice Beam. Ludicolo survived a Play Rough with 10%.

I didn’t want to lose my Ludicolo to the potential Sucker Punch from Mawile, so I switched out to Tyranitar, and used Heat Wave with Charizard as I knew I could easily survive what was likely a Choice Scarf Politoed’s Ice Beam. Collin realized that Politoed wasn’t in a favorable position and switched it out for his Hydreigon. My Heat Wave did 35% to Hydreigon with a critical hit while Mawile hid safely behind its Protect.

I used Heat Wave once again, while using Ice Beam on Hydriegon with Tyranitar. Collin played this turn well, switching Politoed into the Mawile spot and using Protect with Hydreigon. My -2 Heat Wave in the rain amusingly missed Politoed.

At this point in the game there was no point in keeping Charizard in, so I switched Ludicolo into Politoed’s Scald which survived with 1 HP, with no burn occurring. Collin switched Hydreigon into Mawile which survived a critical hit Ice Beam with little more HP than my Ludicolo did.

I identified that Collin wasn’t likely to snipe Ludicolo with a Sucker Punch, as doing so would allow my Tyranitar’s Ice Beam to KO it as well. I used Giga Drain on Politeod, leaving it at roughly 25% HP, and Ice Beam on Mawile, which Protected. Politoed’s rain boosted Scald OHKOd Tyranitar, which allowed me to bring Mega Charizard-Y in and set up sun.

I made a fairly stupid play this turn, using Fake Out with Ludicolo to try and avoid Mawile’s Sucker Punch that would clearly be targeting Charizard. As long as Heat Wave hit both of his Pokémon, I had the battle, but using Fake Out with Ludicolo opened me up to losing on account of a miss. Collin knew he needed Charizard gone, so he double targeted it with Scald and Sucker Punch. But thankfully there were no critical hits, and Heat Wave hit both Mawile and Politoed. Collin sent in Hydreigon and forfeited the match.

Record: 3-0

This battle was honestly a really good confidence builder for me. I felt really in control for most of that battle, and I had managed to get a win against a Worlds-caliber player. However, I tried not to become overconfident. I still needed to maintain my focus.

Round 4: vs Sam Haarsma (DrFidget)

 v.  

I was familiar with Sam from his presence online, and I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this battle. In past years he had used some less common Pokémon, but he isn’t the type of player to use an obscure Pokémon unless it has competitive merit.

Looking at his team, I knew that Mawile was a safer choice than Charizard, as the Umbreon could outstall every other Pokémon on the team, so I needed a way to deal damage to it quickly that didn’t involve dropping my Special Attack to -2. I led with Tyranitar to deal with Sam’s Mawile checks, specifically Rotom-Heat. He led with Greninja and Pinsir, which wasn’t affected by Intimidate due to Hyper Cutter.

I made a mistake here in thinking that Sam’s Greninja might have Mat Block. That move is more common with less skilled players, and it was a lapse in judgment thinking that he might have it. I used Protect with Mawile to avoid taking either a Hydro Pump from Greninja or attacking into a Mat Block, while using Rock Slide with Tyranitar. Sam Mega Evolved Pinsir and Hydro Pumped Tyranitar for 80%. Rock Slide left Greninja at a 40% after sandstorm damage.

It was fairly obvious that a neutral Sucker Punch from a Mega Mawile would now be able to KO Greninja, so I decided to Iron Head the Pinsir. I switched Tyranitar to Salamence to lower Pinsir’s attack stat, but Sam switched his Ferrothorn into the Pinsir slot in fear of my Tyranitar’s Rock Slide. Greninja used Protect, while my Iron Head did roughly 25% to Ferrothorn, with Leftovers bringing it back to over 80%.

This next turn, I didn’t want to mess around with Greninja using Ice Beam on Salamence, so I targeted it with Sucker Punch. Expecting Ferrothorn to make a switch, I targeted it with Dragon Pulse. Although Sucker Punch knocked out Greninja, Sam protected Ferrothorn to scout Salamence’s locked move. Rotom-Heat came in to threaten Mawile.

I didn’t want to risk a potential Hidden Power Ice from Rotom-H KOing Salamence, so I switched it out for Ludicolo, which also had the benefit of resisting a Gyro Ball. I played it safe this turn by Protecting Mawile. Rotom-H tried to Will-O-Wisp Mawile while Gyro Ball did very little to Ludicolo.

Not wanting my Mawile to be burned by a Will-O-Wisp or OHKOd by an Overheat, I switched Salamence in its slot, while attacking Rotom-Heat with a Scald. The Scald was blocked by a Protect, and Salamence came in for free. After Intimidate, Ferrothorn’s Power Whip left Ludicolo at roughly 40% HP.

I expected Ferrothorn to use Protect once again to scout for a Fire type attack, so I double targeted Rotom-H with a Scald and Flamethrower, hoping to get the KO. This turn did not go well for me, with Scald failing to KO because of Rotom-Heat’s Passho Berry, and he double targeted Salamence with Thunderbolt and Gyro Ball and KOd it. Suffice it to say that turn did not go as I expected. I brought in Tyranitar, hoping to bait a Thunderbolt.

This turn, I allowed Mawile to take a Thunderbolt and Ludicolo to take a Power Whip so I could KO Rotom-Heat. Power Whip left Ludicolo with 5 HP, but the Mega-Pinsir that came in for Rotom-Heat could easily take Ludicolo out next turn.

I knew that I needed to get Tyranitar in safely with my Mega Mawile if I wanted a chance to win this game. I did so by using Protect Mawile and letting Sam’s Pinsir KO Ludicolo with a Return.

After bringing in Tyranitar, I figured that I had no chance of winning if I didn’t KO one of his Pokémon this turn, so I attacked Pinsir with Fire Blast and Sucker Punch. I felt like it was less likely to use Protect this turn than Ferrothorn was. I groaned in dismay as I didn’t see Ferrothorn go for a Protect this turn. Pinsir, however, did faint to the double target. Ferrothorn used Leech Seed on Mawile instead of attacking Tyranitar, which really surprised me. He used Protect next turn, sapping a bit of HP from my Mawile. Tyranitar’s Fire Blast was able to connect and did roughly 85% to Ferrothorn, with Iron Head finishing it off to give me the win.

Record: 4-0

Following the battle, Sam informed me that he didn’t think that my Tyranitar was Choice Scarfed, as his Greninja did outspeed it. I recalled that a maximum Speed Greninja will always outspeed a Choice Scarfed Tyranitar, so he must have had an EV spread, or a Modest nature, that allowed him to scout out the items of different Tyranitar. For some reason, his Greninja didn’t underspeed in this case, which ended up causing him to misplay the final turns of the battle. I really got lucky here, and I don’t think I deserved the win in this game. As this was a fairly long battle, pairings went up quickly afterwards and I didn’t have much time to linger on this.

Round 5: vs Mario Contreras

 v.  

I honestly can’t remember much about this battle, other than my leads doing work against his team. Mario couldn’t really switch anything into a fast Ice Beam paired with sun boosted Heat Waves, apart from Rotom-Heat. However, because his Rotom-Heat was offensive, I knocked it out with an Overheat after I had gotten off one Heat Wave. After those two were gone, I simply had to switch Charizard out to reset my Special Attack and take out Aegislash’s partner.

Record: 5-0

I was pleasantly surprised by my results so far, as I knew that it I had a decent chance of getting into Top Cut, even if I lost the next two games. It was at this point that Aaron arrived at the venue, and was consequently swarmed by his adoring subscribers. I was able to push my way through the stampede and have a conversation with him for the first time in over a year, which was really nice. I had missed the friends I had made from VGC more than the competition, and I was glad that attending this event had allowed me to see some of them again. Pairings did eventually go up, but at this point it was getting so late that I didn’t even feel like battling anymore. I half-heartedly went to my next battle, the fatigue of playing finally hitting me.

Round 6: vs JT Hunsaker

 v.

Manectric was very scary to me in Team Preview. It could do work against every member of my team except Tyranitar and Ludicolo with his team’s support. Ludicolo, however, wouldn’t be very useful against his Scizor, so I decided not to bring it. I brought Mawile over Charizard for some Intimidate support, although in hindsight Charizard would have been a better choice, with my opponent having two Steel types. I brought Tyranitar as a way to threaten Garchomp and Scizor with fast, 4x Super Effective moves. Salamence was brought to keep his physical attackers in check, specifically Scizor if it went for a Swords Dance. My opponent led with Scizor and Manectric.

I decided to roll the dice here to see if I could survive Manectric’s Hidden Power Ice and KO it back with an Earthquake. I obviously didn’t want to Earthquake my own Tyranitar, so I switched into Salamence, which could also threaten Scizor with a Flamethrower. I was glad to see my Garchomp survive with a sliver of health and KO Manectric with a Life Orb Earthquake. This meant that Garchomp went down to Life Orb recoil, but I believe it was a worthy trade. I can’t recall the rest of the match, but each of us preserved our final three Pokémon until he had Garchomp with a little chip damage and -1 Scizor out against my Salamence and Tyranitar. At this point, I knew his final Pokémon was Aegislash, so I locked into Flamethrower and attacked the Scizor slot, while using Ice Beam on his Garchomp. I thought to myself while inputting my moves, “Alright, I’ve got this game in the bag, as long as this Garchomp doesn’t have a Choice Scarf. But who runs Choice Scarf Garchomp, right?” Apparently JT runs Choice Scarf Garchomp, as he outsped Tyranitar and knocked out Salamence before falling to an Ice Beam. At this point I had no chance to win unless I could freeze both his Scizor and his Aegislash. As soon as Mawile was knocked out, I forfeited.

Record: 5-1

Although I joked around with my friends that I hoped to lose the next game so I could just go to sleep, I really wanted to make Top 8 at this event. I tried to keep my competitiveness in check and have fun in the final round, but I was so close to getting my first Top Cut in a Masters division event. I awaited the pairings, hoping that I wouldn’t be paired against one of the many other 5-1 players that I knew.

Round 7: vs Zach Asdasda (Hooligan)

 v.

Unfortunately, this is where my memory starts to get a little sketchy. Keep in mind that it was about 1:00 AM, and I was just trying to get through each battle. As a result, I can hardly remember this battle apart from my opponent having a White Herb Azumarill and Substitute Kangaskhan. I was able to get a timely critical hit on the Azumarill with a Giga Drain and knocked it out before it could do any significant damage to my team. Later in the game, I was able to prevent Kanghaskhan from setting up a Substitute and limited its damage output using Salamence’s Intimidate. I did end up on top of this one in the end.

Record: 6-1

Everyone was relieved that the Swiss rounds were finally over and that they could finally get some sleep, except for those poor souls who had made the Top 8. It must’ve been terrible to be one of those guys, right? As the Tournament Organizers and Judges were itching to get some shut-eye, they hurried the Top Cut process to initiate. It was to our great surprise that we would be operating in a best-of-one system until the finals. While many of us were upset by this, as best-of-three is general a more reliable way to determine who deserves to move on, it’s pretty easy to understand why they did this. If every match had been a best-of-three, the people running the event, as well as the players in the finals, would probably finish at around 4:00 AM. Regardless, we had no say on the matter, and we simply grit our teeth and dealt with it.

Top 8: Michael (shrop05) Shropshire, 6th Seed

 v.

Yet another battle I hardly remember. His team seemed to lack a way to beat both Salamence and Garchomp, so I got a feeling that he had an Ice type attack on one of his Pokémon. When he led with Rotom-Heat, I had a gut feeling that it was carrying Hidden Power Ice. I decided to switch into Tyranitar in anticipation of this. My intuition was correct, and the Rotom Heat did target the Salamence’s slot with a Hidden Power. My Charizard just spammed Heat Waves, getting two burns, one on his Mega Gyarados. The luck made the game play out entirely differently, and without those burns I think this game would have been far more difficult.

Top 4: vs Aaron (LPFan) Grubbs, 4th Seed

 v.

I’ve known Aaron since 2010, when we played in the semi-finals of a Junior Division Regional Championship. We had avoided playing each other in sanctioned events since then, but it was bound to happen eventually. Looking at Team Preview, I saw what appeared to be a Mega Blastoise team with a potential Mega Tyranitar. Charizard would have a terrible time against both of these, as a Timid Blastoise would be able to outspeed it and get off a powerful Water Spout, which would do a lot regardless of the weather condition. I led with Ludicolo because it did well against every member on his team except for Aegislash, which it has a neutral matchup against. I brought Salamence and Garchomp as a way to beat Aegislash, but also to deal with Tyranitar if it got a Dragon Dance off. Aaron led with Blastoise and Tyranitar.

Because he led with both of them, I second guessed myself on whether or not Tyranitar was actually holding a Tyranitarite. I used Fake Out on it to see in what order the Pokemon would flinch. I attacked Blastoise with a Play Rough in the hopes of lowering its damage output with Water Spout. I was shocked to see Aaron’s Tyranitar Mega Evolve over his Blastoise, while his Blastoise used Fake Out on my Mawile! This was a dead turn, but I got valuable information from this. From here, things start to get blurry.

At some point, I predicted a Blastoise switch into Amoonguss and used Ice Beam and Iron Head on it, getting a timely freeze. Aaron’s Tyranitar got a Dragon Dance up safely, and began to spam Rock Slide. It got a double flinch onto my Ludicolo and Mawile while Amoonguss was frozen. Garchomp was burned by a Will-O-Wisp, but was still able to do enough damage throughout the battle to KO Tyranitar and Rotom Heat. As I had Ludicolo still at a good amount of HP, I was able to beat both Blastoise and Amoonguss with the help of Salamence.

Finals: Danish (Danish555) Ali, 2nd Seed

Game 1:

 v.  

Looking at Team Preview, I thought that Mawile would be the better Mega Pokémon in this situation. Charizard usually ends up doing almost nothing against teams with Aerodactyl, so I often don’t even consider it. I led with Mawile and Garchomp to apply offensive pressure very early in the battle. Danish made a great call, leading with Lapras and Aerodactyl.

I liked my position here, despite Lapras threatening Garchomp with an Ice Shard. Mawile’s Intimidate ensured I could take at least one prior to any possible Weakness Policy activation. I used Iron Head and Rock Slide, which would have knocked Lapras out and allowed me to pick off Aerodactyl in the following turns. Danish used Protect with his Lapras this turn, and set up Tailwind with Aerodactyl. I wasn’t upset that I didn’t go after Aerodactyl that turn, as doing so would have allowed him to send in his Charizard and potentially take two KOs under Tailwind.

I stalled one turn of Tailwind by using Protect with Garchomp and Iron Head on the Aerodactyl slot, not wanting to activate the Weakness Policy Lapras was likely carrying. Aerodactyl used Sky Drop on my Mawile, which was really beneficial to me, as that is one less turn of Tailwind that it could act in. Lapras attacked into Garchomp’s Protect with Freeze Dry.

I once again used Iron Head on the Aerodactyl slot, knocking it out after Sky Drop ended on Mawile. I was not keen on letting my Garchomp get OHKO’d by a Freeze Dry, so I switched it out for my Tyranitar. This turn went exactly according to plan, with Danish’s speed control option being eliminated. Tyranitar took little damage on account of its Special Defense boost provided by the sandstorm. With only one turn of Tailwind remaining, I was feeling good about my position. Charizard came in for the fallen Aerodactyl.

I made a critical mistake here by choosing to use Rock Slide with Tyranitar. Charizard used Protect and Lapras’ Weakness Policy activated, making it a threat. I used Protect with Mawile to stall the final turn of Tailwind, but Lapras used Hydro Pump on Tyranitar… and it missed! This was a horrible break for Danish, as I was able to clean up with Tyranitar and any one of my other team members. If the Hydro Pump had hit, I would have needed to make some risky switches with Salamence to Intimidate his Lapras to a point where its Ice Shard wouldn’t OHKO my Garchomp. This wouldn’t have been an overly hard end game to set up, but missing that Hydro Pump basically guaranteed me the win in game one.

Game 2:

 v.

I decided to lead with Mawile and Tyranitar in this game so that I didn’t have to try and play around Lapras as much. I brought Garchomp and Salamence in the back because they could do well against every member of Danish’s team, excluding Lapras. Danish decided to completely change his game plan by leading with Scrafty and Charizard.

I didn’t like my position here with Tyranitar, as his Charizard could Protect while Scrafty could knock it out with a Drain Punch. I switched Tyranitar out into Garchomp, which had a better matchup against Scarfty while still threatening to OHKO Charizard with a Life Orb Rock Slide. I used Protect with Mawile just to be safe. Danish used Fake Out and Solarbeam on Garchomp, leaving it at 35% HP. Although I took a lot of damage for that switch, I gained a lot of momentum. At this point, my opponents 3DS started to blink red, signaling that the battery was in a critical state.

I saw no significant risk with playing this turn obviously, so I used Rock Slide and Play Rough on the Scrafty slot. Charizard used Protect, while the Scrafty switched out into Lapras, which fainted as a result of its poor Defense. Scrafty came back in, lowering both of my Pokémon’s attack and threatening with Fake Out pressure.

Garchomp didn’t seem important to this battle anymore, as even with Life Orb my -1 Garchomp was unlikely to get the KO on Charizard with a Rock Slide. I preserved Mawile by using Protect, while using Rock Slide with Garchomp. Danish made the correct play in here in using Fake Out on Garchomp while firing off a sun-boosted Heat Wave. Garchomp went down this turn, and I brought in my Tyranitar.

Everyone was nervous about Danish’s 3DS power, so I recommended that we move to a different location and charge it. We circled the room, finding that some of the outlets weren’t working with his 3DS for some reason. We were eventually able to get one to work, but this process left Danish with very little time to pick a move. Knowing this, I went for the obvious play of Rock Slide and Play Rough into the Scrafty slot, which resulted in every Pokémon on the field except Mawile being knocked out. Had this turn occurred at any other time other than 2:30 AM while frantically trying to plug in a 3DS, I think Danish could have made a really good play here by switching in Garchomp for Charizard. I almost predicted that and acted accordingly, but knowing that he didn’t have enough time to fully consider this option I simply attacked what was in front of me. The following turn Danish sent in Garchomp while I sent in Salamence.

I attacked Garchomp with a Dragon Pulse and Play Rough and knew that without some horrible luck that the game was mine. Garchomp got a critical hit Dragon Claw on Salamence, but Play Rough hit, winning me the Premier Challenge. I wish that I could attest to the jubilation that I felt at that moment, but I was honestly more interested in finally getting some rest for the Regional the next morning. I received my nifty Froakie hat as my prize, and within five minutes I had fallen asleep in my hotel room.

Regionals

I woke up at about 7:00 AM. I wasn’t too eager to play with less than 5 hours of sleep, but I eventually made my way downstairs where I made sure to eat as much as I could to keep my energy up. By 8:00 most people had arrived at the event. Most everyone I knew got into the FAST Pass lane that helped to speed us through registration, which was a really cool idea on the Tournament Organizer’s part. It was about at this time that Kenan arrived. Blake started dealing out Pokémon, leading to Logan and him having a lively debate over whether Jolly or Adamant Focus Sash Lucario would be better, in which they finally had to agree to disagree. Eventually everyone got through the process of registration, except for one lone champion. We cheered Ben on as he struggled to defeat his greatest opponent of 2014 after a long year of training, the devilishly clever hack check.

We sat down at a table and chatted while waiting for the rest of the line to get registered. Aaron tried to set up a stream with the tournament organizers, but the internet at the venue wasn’t fast enough for it to be worth it. We convinced Logan to use Tickle on Aaron while talking logistics with Chris Brown, in hopes that he wouldn’t find it amusing at all. There was a loud enough reaction for us to hear from across the room, alerting an admirer to Aaron’s presence. It was at this point that we discovered the soon-to-be legendary Twitter god, Aaron’s Stalker. Aaron came over to our table, inquiring about Logan’s motives. Aaron’s Stalker, however, wasn’t focused on the answer. His only real interest was that Aaron (and his sweet, sweet, sweet, and sour lips) stay in top physical form for the tournament.

After entertaining ourselves with the Twitter account, the pairings for the player meeting went up and I was paired up with Aaron Zheng Chalkey Horenstein. The meeting didn’t begin for a fair amount of time, causing Ben to grow bored and take a quick snooze. Chalkey and I took this opportunity to pile our possessions onto him, as well as the contents of the table.

The meeting did eventually crawl to a start, with them giving us the standard information: have good sportsmanship, make sure to turn in battle result slips, etc. They let us know that we had 206 Masters in attendance, giving us hope that Chris Brown might give us the gift of a Top 16 Cut. No dice. We would be playing 8 rounds of Swiss with a Top 8 cutoff. With such a large attendance, this guaranteed that losing two games would knock anyone out of Top Cut contention. Knowing the odds of getting into the Top 8, I kept my expectations low and simply tried to enjoy the event. This mentality kept me relaxed throughout the day, which ended up enhancing my play.

Round 1: ???, 0-0

 v.

I was glad that I hadn’t been paired up with one of my friends early in the tournament. I engaged in some casual conversation with my opponent, trying to stay entertained until play officially began. Once Team Preview began, I saw a fairly standard rain team that lacked Talonflame. Ludicolo was a very safe choice as a lead here, and Charizard complimented it very well. Tyranitar and Garchomp gave me some flexibility in the matchup, and completed my anti-rain mode. My opponent led with Zapdos and Politoed.

Mega Evolving with Charizard could put me into a bad position if his Politoed switched out this turn, so I chose to use Protect. I targeted Zapdos with an Ice Beam so that I could KO it the following turn,  while Politoed attacked Charizard with a Scald. The Zapdos paralyzed my Ludicolo with Thunder Wave, taking away its speed advantage in rain.

I used Heat Wave with Mega Charizard-Y this turn while targeting the Politoed with Giga Drain. The Politoed stayed in and revealed a Choice Scarf as it outsped Charizard and did roughly 40% with a Scald, while Heat Wave did 30% to the Politoed and knocked out the Zapdos. Ludicolo was paralyzed this turn, and Mawile came in for the fallen Zapdos.

I can’t recall exactly how the rest of the game went, but I knocked out the Mawile without much trouble, and my opponent was unable to beat Ludicolo once it had fainted. I won this battle fairly convincingly due to my team’s great rain matchup.

Overall Record: 11-1

I waited for everyone else to see how they did in their first battles. Apart from a few exceptions, most of my friends had won their first match. The pairings went up fairly quickly and I was thankfully not paired against anyone that I knew. However, there’s a lot of unknown talent out there, so every game that I play I assume that my opponent knows what they are doing until they prove otherwise. With that in mind, I faced down an interesting team for my second battle.

Round 2: ???, 1-0

 v. 

I can’t recall his name, but looking at my oponenents’ team, two Pokémon were threatening to me in Team Preview: Staraptor and Mamoswine. A Choice Scarf Staraptor could get a free Final Gambit off against anything on my team, and only Mawile could lower Staraptor’s damage output with Sucker Punch. Mawile’s matchup against Ferrothorn and Mamoswine is shaky though, so I led with Charizard and Ludicolo to use Fake Out on the Staraptor if I saw it. My opponent led with Staraptor alongside Mamoswine.

This turn I chose not to mess around with Staraptor, as it could OHKO Ludicolo and Charizard with Brave Bird and Final Gambit, respectively. I targeted it with a Fake Out and a Heat Wave, which could also do some respectable damage to Mamoswine. This turn worked out very well, with Staraptor getting KO’d by Heat Wave and Mamoswine wasting a turn by using Protect. My opponent brought in Ampharos for the fallen Staraptor.

I decided to use Solar Beam onto the Mamoswine for the KO, assuming that it was a Life Orb variant, while using Ice Beam on the Ampharos. I was surprised to see the Mamoswine once again use Protect. Ludicolo hit what had become a Mega Ampharos for about 50% damage, and Ampharos knocked out Mega Charizard-Y with a Thunderbolt. My opponent informed me that he timed out this turn, which worked out well for him, as one of my Ferrothorn counters was now decommissioned. I brought in Tyranitar for my fallen Charizard.

I used Rock Slide with Tyranitar and targeted Mamoswine with a Giga Drain. Mamoswine was knocked out at the cost of Tyranitar taking an Earthquake. Ampharos did little damage to Ludicolo with a Thunderbolt and Ferrothorn switched in for the fainted Mamoswine.

I needed to preserve Tyranitar at this point so I could get rid of Ferrothorn later in the game. I knew that Ampharos would get knocked out by Ludicolo’s Ice Beam after it had taken another turn of sandstorm damage. I switched Tyranitar into Garchomp to preserve it. Ampharos went down this turn while Garchomp took a Gyro Ball. I didn’t see any Leftovers recovery, so he needed to use Leech Seed on Garchomp if he wanted to win.

I used Protect with Garchomp to prevent a Leech Seed, which my opponent did attempt. Ice Beam did a bit of damage to Ferrothorn, and the following turn an Earthquake critical hit knocked it out.

Record 12-1

I made that battle much harder than it needed to be when I let Charizard get knocked out. I very easily could have switched into Tyranitar on the turn that his Mamoswine went for a double-Protect, while attempting to KO Mamoswine with a Giga Drain, achieving the same reward for far less risk. Regardless, I was able to get the win here.

, 

Round 3: Stephen Morioka (Stephen), 2-0

 v.

I wasn’t thrilled to see myself paired against Stephen for round 3. I can recall getting demolished by him several times online in 2013, so I know how great of a player he is. He came over to the table with his trademark smile, and he snapped a picture. Unfortunately I was making conversation when he took the picture, resulting in this awkward, mid-sentence grin.

Anyways, on to the battle. I recognized that this was inspired by one of R Inanimate’s teams. I hadn’t fully read the report about it, so this knowledge wasn’t actually useful to me. I assumed that Blastoise and Venusaur were holding their respective Mega Stones, but apart from that I was in the dark (void). Had I done my research, I would have known that the Rotom-Heat would be holding a Choice Scarf if this team was copied from the report.

I led with Garchomp and Salamence, assuming Blastoise was the only thing on his team threatening an Ice type attack. Whoops. I chose to bring Charizard as my Mega Pokémon because neither of Stephen’s Mega options could stand up to Charizard as long as I was in sun. I used Ludicolo to support Charizard by checking Rotom-Heat and Garchomp. Stephen led with Rotom-Heat and Smeargle.

Ignorant to the fact that Rotom-Heat could threaten both of my Pokémon, I used Rock Slide and Dragon Pulse on the Smeargle. Luckily, Stephen probably assumed that I knew about this team and used Thunderbolt on Salamence predicting a switch. Smeargle used Fake Out on Garchomp, taking Rough Skin damage, while Dragon Pulse knocked Smeargle out. I leaned back in my chair, feeling fortunate as it could have been me that was behind 4-3 at the end of turn 1. I don’t recall what immediately occurred after this, but everything is crystal clear after a certain point.

Stephen was down 3-2 with his -1 Attack Garchomp out alongside a nearly full HP Mega Venusaur. I had the game won if I could hit his Garchomp with a Dragon Claw, but he won the speed tie and knocked out my Garchomp, putting me in a less favorable position.

The game was full of momentum shifts, with the fate of the match being determined by who played the final two turns better. Stephen’s Garchomp had taken a bit of damage, and my Ludicolo, Charizard, and his Venusaur were at full health. I predicted Stephen to use Protect with Venusaur and attack my Charizard with a Rock Slide, expecting a Fake Out and Overheat combo onto it. I chose to Protect Charizard and Ice Beam the Garchomp, hoping to KO Garchomp for the win. He played this very well, using Protect with Garchomp while getting a big chunk of damage on Ludicolo, although it was out of range for a -1 Dragon Claw to finish it off.

I had to hope that Garchomp didn’t get a flinch or critical hit on either of my Pokémon with Rock Slide and that Overheat could somehow knock Venusaur out. Attacking Garchomp with Ice Beam and using Overheat on the Mega Venusaur was my only play. Garchomp’s Rock Slide left both of my Pokémon with enough HP to fulfill their roles. Charizard didn’t flinch and Overheat hit the Mega Venusaur. The HP bar went down painfully slowly until…Venusaur fainted! I don’t know the damage calculation for this one, but I’d be willing to wager it came down to a damage roll. Ludicolo also avoided being flinched, and clinched the game with an Ice Beam.

Record 13-1

After I had gotten out of it, I realized how much fun that match was. I was never sure who would pull out the win, and it came down to the wire. It was a really great experience getting to play Stephen. He is a player I respect a lot.

Round 4: ???, 3-0

I’m not going to lie, I can’t recall anything about this round. I want to say that I played another rain team this round, but I can’t be sure. I did win though, and the Tournament Organizers gave us a lunch break.

Record: 14-1

After getting some pizza from the venue, I sat down with Kenan and his friends. We chatted about out records, and I watched replay of a battle involving a Kecleon. The damage output coming from that thing was impressive, doing big damage to a Zapdos. Eventually, I decided to go wash my pizza-covered hands, and I caught Jonathan (JRank) Rankin in the middle of his patented pre-battle Arkansas rituals, and I passed by with a moment of awkward eye contact. He later tried to convince me he was trying to shake off a heavy meal, but I KNOW THE TRUTH. The pairings went up shortly after this.

Round 5: Gabby Snyder (JTK), 4-0

 v.

I knew that Gabby has played VGC for a long time, so I knew that this wouldn’t be an easy game. I knew that Aerodactyl made bringing Charizard a poor option. Mawile had the potential to put in work against Gabby’s team if I could eliminate Rotom-Heat and Hydreigon, so I focused on beating those with my leads. In case this didn’t work out, I brought Ludicolo to beat Rotom-Heat and to provide Fake Out pressure in order to stall a Tailwind turn if need be. Gabby led with Aerodactyl and Ludicolo.

I didn’t like my matchup here with Salamence or Garchomp, so I decided to double switch here. From what I remember, this went fairly well with neither of my switches taking significant damage. From there on, I can only recall bits and pieces of the battle. I learned that the Rotom-Heat was heavily offensive when I did about 75% with Garchomp’s Rock Slide, but it answered back by knocking Garchomp out with a Hidden Power Ice. I recall getting a clutch burn with Scald on a Mawile switch, which really gave me an advantage. After taking out Mawile, I forgot that it Mega Evolved, and I played the game into a situation where a Mega Aerodactly Ice Fang wouldn’t OHKO my Salamence. It did end up being a standard variant, which allowed me to finish off the Rotom-Heat with Salamence’s Dragon Pulse and Aerodactyl with a Sucker Punch before it could tempt the RNG with a few Rock Slides.

Record: 15-1

With my highest hope for Regionals being to go 5-3, I was very pleased that I had done this well. I was feeling very good about my play, but I tried to keep my competitive nature in check. I tried to remember that I came to Houston to socialize with my friends and enjoy myself. Every opponent I played against I made sure to converse with, making sure not to take the games too seriously. I think this is a good way to play in these tournaments, as even when you end up losing you can say you had a good time.

Round 6: Tien-Dan Nguyen (Tabris), 5-0

 v.

My opponent and I talked a bit about how our days have gone so far until the the judges let us know that we could start. I saw no reason in Team Preview not to use my standard anti-rain option, so I went with it once again. Tien-Dan led with his Zapdos and Ludicolo, and we traded Fake Outs for a dead first turn

Having not Mega Evolved the previous turn, I safely used Overheat onto the Zapdos in sun, taking the KO. Charizard took a Scald while Ludicolo used Giga Drain for a bit of damage onto Tien-Dan’s Ludicolo. I can’t recall how, but the final turn of the battle came down to Mega Charizard-Y with sun up against a 15% HP Ludicolo and a 10% HP Politoed with a Choice Scarf.

I knew that Tien-Dan either had to set up rain with Politoed and attack Charizard with a Scald or try to double target it. I figured that even if rain was set up by Politoed, I had a chance to knock Ludicolo out with a Heat Wave. Tien-Dan decided to play it simply and attacked Charizard with Ice Beam, and my Heat Wave picked up a double-KO here, giving me the win.

Record: 16-1

I regrouped with all the players that were undefeated going into round 6 to see who the remaining 6-0s were. It ended up being Aaron, Collin, me, and Lee Camacho. I hoped that I wouldn’t be paired against Aaron, as I knew that my matchup against his team wasn’t very strong, as it struggles to knock Mawile out once Trick Room is set up. Despite how well my game went in the Premier Challenge against Collin, I knew that he had switched teams and would be ready for me. I wasn’t sleeping on Lee, though, as he had managed to get to 6-0 at a fairly large Regional, and that wasn’t an accident. Anyways, I checked the pairings to see whose name I drawn out of the hat and saw that I would be playing against Collin once again.

Round 7: Collin Heier, 6-0

   v.

Although I wasn’t happy to play Collin, I did find comfort in the fact that one of us was guaranteed to cut. Despite the situation we were both fairly relaxed before initiating the battle, attempting to start a sing-along at our table. I didn’t like what I saw in Team Preview, as Collin was threatening both a rain and Trick Room mode. My only safe lead against this team was Charizard and Ludicolo, as they gave me tools to combat the duality of Collin’s team. I picked Garchomp in order to beat Hydreigon and Mawile outside of Trick Room, and Tyranitar to change the weather in the late game. Looking back, bringing Choice Scarf Tyranitar against a team with a threatening Trick Room option wasn’t a good call, regardless of how influential its ability could have been. Collin led with Gothitelle and Ludicolo, which put us at a fairly neutral position.

Here, I decided not to be overly aggressive with Charizard. I didn’t want to get flinched by Fake Out and set up sun, only to see Politoed come in the next turn and render Charizard useless. I went for a Heat Wave with Charizard without Mega Evolving while using Fake Out on the Gothitelle. This turn went as I expected, with both of us trading Fake Outs for an unproductive turn. I didn’t see any Leftovers on Gothitelle, bringing me to believe it was either a Sitrus or Chesto Berry variant.

Now was the opportune time for Charizard to set up sun. I double targeted the Gothitelle with an Overheat and Giga Drain, hoping to pick up a KO. The Gothitelle survived with a fair amount of HP after Overheat, and a revealed Sitrus Berry put it out of range for Giga Drain to KO. Although I would have preferred to see Gothitelle knocked out this turn, I knew that Gothitelle was in range for any Pokémon to KO it.

I expected the Ludicolo to switch into Politoed to further weaken my Charizard’s attacks, so I used Giga Drain on that slot, while using Overheat on the Gothitelle in hopes of removing its Shadow Tag pressure. This turn went about as well as I could hope, with Ludicolo switching to Politoed which took about 50% of its HP. Its revealed Leftovers brought it back to over 50% while Gothitelle used Protect.

I got the feeling that Collin wouldn’t risk losing Politoed to a high Giga Drain damage roll and would use Protect. For this reason, I targeted the Gothitelle with Scald instead of Giga Drain. Either would have gotten the KO on Gothitelle if it had chosen to stay in, so I went for the play with a higher potential reward of getting a burn on a switch in. Collin could take the KO on Charizard any time he wanted to, so I saw was no reason to use Protect with it. I used Heat Wave this turn, fairly confident that Charizard wouldn’t be targeted. Politoed used Protect and Charizard’s Heat Wave did pitiful damage to Collin’s Ludicolo switch-in. Scald did miniscule damage to it, but luckily got a burn.

With Politoed out of Ludicolo’s Giga Drain range by just a hair, I knew that I needed some residual damage to chip it down. I also needed to get Charizard out of this situation, so I switched in my Tyranitar. Bringing it in would preserve my Charizard for the late game and also allow Ludicolo’s Giga Drain to knock Politoed out. Collin decided not to risk his rain mode and switched Politoed into Mawile, which took about 20% from Giga Drain. Collin used Ice Beam on the slot in which Charizard was previously in, telling me that Collin knew I would be switching that turn. Fortunately, I had brought Tyranitar over Salamence.

Collin had one turn to abuse Mawile moving first under Trick Room, and we both knew he would take a KO this turn. I targeted Mawile with a Fire Blast and Collin’s Ludicolo with a Giga Drain, knowing that I could do some valuable damage this turn regardless of what Collin chose to knock out. Tyranitar fainted to an Iron Head, and we traded Giga Drain, with Collin’s getting a critical hit. The burn and sandstorm damage put Collin’s Ludicolo into the red. I brought in Charizard for my fallen Tyranitar.

I had brought Charizard in to stall another turn of residual damage on Ludicolo, as I didn’t know the damage calculation for Ludicolo surviving an Earthquake. Expecting to come out of this turn in a good position, I allowed Charizard to get knocked out by Mega Mawile’s Sucker Punch while trading Giga Drains with Collin’s Ludicolo to make sure that it fainted to Garchomp’s Earthquake. However, another critical hit healed Collin’s Ludicolo to roughly the same HP that it was at when Charizard came in, making that a very useless turn for me. I sent in Garchomp, and I could almost see the weight of the game being carried on its back.

I went for an Earthquake with Garchomp while using a Fake Out with Ludicolo, not wanting to lose it to a Sucker Punch. This turn went well, with Garchomp getting a double KO, but knocking my Ludicolo down to 20% HP. Collin sent in Gothitelle and Politoed.

Gothitelle could be easily picked off by Garchomp, but I wasn’t sure that I could take out Politoed with an Earthquake. If Politoed survived, it could knock Garchomp out with an Ice Beam after Life Orb recoil. He could also use Protect with both Pokemon, which would result in only Ludicolo fainting. For this reason, I used Protect with Garchomp and Giga Drain onto the Gothitelle, expecting Collin to preserve Politoed with a Protect. Collin made a great read here by using Protect with Gothitelle and Scald onto Ludicolo, knowing that going for a burn was his highest percentage play here. A tip of the hat to Collin, he read me like a book this turn. Ludicolo got burned, but it survived with 10 HP.

I knew that Collin’s best play here was to use Protect with Politoed and go for the double-Protect with Gothitelle. Unfortunately I had no counter play to this, and I was forced to Giga Drain the Gothitelle to heal enough HP back so that Ludicolo could survive the burn. The game was winding down, and we both knew it was in the hands of the RNG. I was relieved to see the Gothitelle fail to get off its Protect, and after Giga Drain recovery and burn Ludicolo fell to 2 HP.

Politoed had been slowly recovering its HP with Leftovers, and was now at about 70% HP. I attacked with Giga Drain and Dragon Claw onto the Politoed. Things rolled in my favor once again, and the combination of my attacks knocked Politoed out after its double-Protect failed. I shook Collin’s hand and complimented him on a really well-played game. This was easily the most fun game of the Swiss rounds for me, and the luck happened to go my way in the final turns, guaranteeing me a spot in the Top 8.

Record: 17-1

Following this match, a series of raffles delayed the final round for about an hour. I ended up talking with a lot of my old friends, as well as making some new ones. It was enjoyable to reminisce about some of everyone’s favorite VGC memories and teams, so the time passed quickly for me. I am sure the same couldn’t be said for the players that were 6-1.  The delay gave them a lot of time to stress out about the game that would ultimately decide whether or not they would reach Top Cut. During this time I learned that Aaron had lost to Lee, but I didn’t probe him on any team details. It didn’t seem necessary to scout out his team, as this next match wasn’t very important to me.

Round 8: Lee Camacho (raindanceking), 7-0

 v.   

Just at a glance, I knew that Lee hadn’t simply tossed this team together. He could apply offensive pressure easily without even using his rain mode. I had to deviate from my standard anti-rain option in order to win, as Kangaskhan and Talonflame were far too threatening to warrant bringing Ludicolo. Instead, I brought Tyranitar and Charizard in hopes of drawing a Power-Up Punch into Tyranitar while dropping a sun-boosted Overheat onto the Kangaskhan. Garchomp and Salamence rounded out the team, as they could do well against Lee’s team as long as the rain mode was out of play. Lee led with Kangaskhan and Talonflame, and I was immediately glad that I had benched Ludicolo.

From turn 1 and on, I knew that I needed to beat Lee’s lead, while preserving my Charizard for what I was sure to be a rain mode in the back. The first half of the game I played very obviously, my focus not as intense knowing that I was already guaranteed to Top Cut. Lee exploited this, outpredicting me for the first half of the game. Every Protect or switch he called perfectly, putting me behind going into the final turns of the battle. At some point I decided I needed to get my act together, and I was able to maneuver myself into a decent position. I made the right plays in the last couple of turns, getting me the win. I learned from this game that Lee was capable of making solid reads, which would be valuable information if I played him in the Top Cut.

Record 18-1

I didn’t have a lot of time to dwell on this win, as I saw a crowd drawing around Aaron’s game. When I came over, I only needed to look at his body language to see how intense the game was. From what I could gather, it would come down to one prediction that would decide who would make cut. Aaron did make the right play, giving him a spot in the Top Cut, along with the 7 others listed below.

Top Cut 

I sat down and struck up a conversation with some of the people I didn’t know at the Top 8 table, and I was really glad to hear some enthusiastic responses. One person was in his first Top Cut, and he was just glad to be there. Seeing new faces do well at these events is always enjoyable for me to see, as it shows just how well Nuggetbridge has helped beginners get past what used to be an extremely steep learning curve very quickly so that they can thoroughly enjoy these events.

While we got our teams checked for illegitimacy, Aaron tried to set up a stream or a recording from every round of the Top Cut. The head judge seemed uncomfortable at first, so Aaron found a compromise in recording one set of Top 4 battles and the finals. After the recording situation had been dealt with and the judges explained to us the format of Top Cut play, we began to get settled across from our opponents. Stephen snapped a money shot of us before the battling began, and then the battles began!

Man, I just have problems taking pictures. I had no idea we were smiling I swear!

Top 8: Omari Travis (BadIntent), 8th Seed

Game 1:

 v.    

Omari is a player that I’ve seen doing well at events since 2010, and I have a lot of respect for his playing. We had sat near each other during battles several times that day, so I knew a bit about his team. I knew that Gardevoir was using a Life Orb, the Zapdos was extremely physically bulky, and that his Aegislash was carrying Hidden Power Ice. I was aware from watching him play on the Worlds stream that he favored Mega Garchomp, so I assumed that the Talonflame would be running Tailwind to support it.

I didn’t see a lot on Omari’s team that could stand up to Tyranitar and Charizard’s offensive pressure other than his own Tyranitar, so I chose to lead with them. I used Ludicolo to potentially get an Ice Beam off against the Mega Garchomp and do super-effective damage to Tyranitar. I brought Garchomp as my final Pokémon, as I wanted to have another option for Aegislash and Garchomp. Immediately after picking my team I noticed how badly I had to go to the restroom. Hoping that this game would go by quickly, I waited for Omari to select his team members. After urine-stalling me in Team Preview, he selected Gardevoir and Zapdos as his leads.

I was really glad to see this lead, as I could potentially grab a double-KO here if my Rock Slide and Heat Wave both hit. I decided to go for it, and it paid off stupendously. Tyranitar’s Rock Slide brought Zapdos to 60%, comfirming that Zapdos was physical defensive, and a critical hit on the Gardevoir put it just above 50%. I was thrilled to Mega Charizard-Y’s Heat Wave finished off both Gardevoir and Zapdos, giving me a first turn double-KO. The combination of Heat Wave and Rock Slide under normal circumstances probably needed high damage rolls to snag the KO on Gardevoir, but the critical hit guaranteed that it would go down before getting off a Moonblast on my Tyranitar. Omari sent in Talonflame and Garchomp.

I knew that I had to put myself into a position to take down Garchomp, as Talonflame isn’t usually a threat when it is fighting from behind. I sacrificed Tyranitar in exchange for Talonflame, giving me the win with Ludicolo and Garchomp which could both beat his slower, bulkier Garchomp. Omari did not choose to Mega Evolve the Garchomp in this battle, but I was still sure that it was his Mega Pokémon. It was at this point that I asked Omari and the head judge if I could hustle over to the facilities to relieve myself, which they agreed was acceptable.

I think now is an appropriate time to give some advise to beginners and veterans alike. Never let your bladder dictate your pace or mental state at these events. Frequent potty breaks a key to victory, and don’t you ever forget it. Having returned from my voyage to the lavatory (that’s a fancy way to say john, right?), I began to battle with a new sense of well-being.

Record: 19-1

Game 2:

 v.

After the success of my lead in the first game, I knew that Omari would adapt to beat it. I expected him to lead with one or both of Talonflame and Tyranitar, hoping to either get Tailwind up or to threaten my Charizard with a Rock Slide. For this reason, I led with Garchomp. I felt safe from a Choice Scarf Tyranitar, as I found it unlikely that he was running it on a team that already had a potential form of speed control in Tailwind Talonflame. I led with Charizard once again, as its matchup against Omari’s team was solid for the most part. I brought Tyranitar in the back to threaten Talonflame and switch into its Brave Birds, and Salamence was brought to regulate Omari’s physically threatening Pokémon with Intimidate. I was glad to see the Talonflame start off the battle on Omari’s side, but I wasn’t thrilled to see Garchomp.

I Mega Evolved Charizard and fired off a Heat Wave, but I Protected with my own Garchomp. I honestly couldn’t explain the logic behind that if I tried. This was a terrible play, as I completely forgot that Talonflame would most definitely be setting up a Tailwind and the opposing Garchomp didn’t have maximum Speed. Omari Mega Evolved Garchomp while using Protect, and Talonflame used Tailwind. Charizard did respectable damage to Talonflame, but everything went downhill from there.

I can’t remember the specifics past the first turn. I stalled out the Tailwind, but the Mega Garchomp did enough damage to my team to give Omari an easy win. The game ended 2-0, but the score didn’t represent how badly I played that game. I had already lost the game on turn 1 to a moment of stupidity, and I knew that I would have to make an adaptation here to move on to the Top 4. I did gain some valuable information this game, such as that his Garchomp was slower than my Charizard without Tailwind, and it was using Substitute over Rock Slide. Going in to game 3, I knew I had to focus hard and not let that lose get to me. I completely zoned in, not wanting to end my tournament run here.

Record: 19-2

Game 3:

v. 

I had been completely demolished the previous game, so I needed to make some changed. Charizard had been fairly useless in the previous battle, and I felt that bringing Mawile in this battle would be the right play. I made a really risky prediction that was completely dependent on Omari sticking with his previous leads of Garchomp and Talonflame by leading with Mawile and Salamence. If it worked, the double Intimidate would force a switch out of Garchomp and ensure that Talonflame’s Brave Bird and Flare Blitz wouldn’t be doing much damage. I didn’t want to bring Tyranitar in this battle, as giving Mega Garchomp the Sand Force boost ruined me in the previous game. For that reason, I had to use Garchomp and Ludicolo as my back two. I nervously inputted my choices, aware that I was risking my entire tournament on this gamble. I was understandably hyped to see the Talonflame-Garchomp combination come out in the lead position.

By committing so hard to counter-leading Omari here, I was in a fantastic position. I had no reason not to use Play Rough on the Garchomp, as only Aegislash could easily switch in on it. After bringing Garchomp and Mega Charizard-Y in the previous games, Omari wasn’t likely to have selected it. I targeted Talonflame with a Dragon Pulse instead of Draco Meteor to prevent it from fainting, which would have allowed Garchomp to come in for free. Garchomp switched to Zapdos, which took about 65% damage, activating Sitrus Berry. Talonflame set up Tailwind and took 90% damage from a Dragon Pulse. Although I had lost the speed advantage, I still felt I had the advantage.

I needed to preserve Salamence to knock Garchomp out in the late game, so I switched it into Ludicolo to take Zapdos’ potential Hidden Power Ice. Knowing that Sucker Punch wouldn’t knock Zapdos out or would fail against a Roost, I used Play Rough on the Zapdos. Omari popped off here by predicting the Ludicolo switch by using Brave Bird onto it. We both reacted as if Ludicolo would faint. However, because Talonflame was at -2 Attack, Ludicolo survived with 35% HP remaining. Zapdos used Thunderbolt on Mawile, doing 45% damage while I brought it to a very low amount of HP. The Talonflame went down with the Brave Bird recoil, and Omari brought in the Garchomp.

There were still two more turns of Tailwind left, but Ludicolo was applying Fake Out pressure. Omari had no reason to risk his Garchomp fainting to a Play Rough,  so a Protect was obvious.  I still used Fake Out on it, as there was a high risk but little reward of targeting Zapdos with it. A Thunderbolt brought Mawile to about 10% HP and Play Rough knocked Zapdos out. Omari brought in his final Pokémon, Gardevoir.

With this being the final turn of Tailwind, I just needed to allow my Pokémon to be knocked out to bring Salamence and Garchomp in without Tailwind on Omari’s side. I used Sucker Punch on Gardevoir and an irrelevant move with Ludicolo while a Dazzling Gleam and Earthquake combination, with Telepathy Gardevoir, got the double KO. Gardevoir was at about 30% after the Sucker Punch and Life Orb recoil. I brought in Salamence and Garchomp, feeling confident I had the game won as long as I don’t choke it away.

Unsure of Garchomp being able to KO the Gardevoir with Earthquake (although I’m not sure why, Gardevoir has fairly pitiful Defense), I used Flamethrower on it for insurance. This opened me up for a Mega Garchomp Dragon Claw critical hit to lose the game. Regardless, Garchomp knocked Gardevoir out with an Earthquake and the Mega Garchomp did not get a critical hit. I won the game the next following turn with a Dragon Claw, and I shook Omari’s hand for a well-played series. He is a player I really respect, and I was glad that I got the opportunity to battle him.

Record: 20-2

Although I misplayed that last turn, I felt good about how I adjusted in the third game. The gamble I had made in Team Preview had paid off, earning me a spot in the Top 4. Our set was one of the first to finish, so I didn’t know who I would be playing next. After some congratulations, I went to a charging outlet and refocused. Blake came over to inquire about my team, as he had actually built a team that was almost identical to mine in all aspects apart from the use of a Rotom-Wash over Salamence, but he had not used it. We ended up talking about a lot of important items and moves for a good amount of time before we realized simultaneously that someone from the Top 8 was sitting about six feet to my right. He mouthed his apologies to me. I began to spout false information about the team, and Blake followed my lead for a bit before we went somewhere private. He started to laugh and apologized, but thankfully the guy near us didn’t end up being my Top 4 opponent.

Top 4: Lee Camacho, 4th Seed

Game 1:

 v.

I found it unlikely that Lee would bring his rain option this game, as it hadn’t been effective in our previous battle. I felt that a Kangaskhan lead would be probable, so I led with Mawile paired with Tyranitar, which could pressure the Talonflame if it came out. I brought Salamence to deal with Kingdra out of rain, and to provide consistent Intimidate support. Garchomp rounded out the team for being able to excel against all members of the team except Gardevoir, provided that rain was not in play. Gardevoir and Kangaskhan came out for Lee, with Sand Stream being copied by Trace.

The obvious play here was to use Protect with Mawile to avoid taking a Fake Out and a Will-O-Wisp. However, Lee showed that he could predict Protects easily in our round 8 game, so I decided to use Iron Head on Kangaskhan. I went for a Rock Slide with Tyranitar, which would do enough damage so that an Iron Head and 1-2 turns of Sandstorm would knock out Kangaskhan. Lee used Fake Out on Tyranitar and tried to use Will-O-Wisp on Mawile. Fortunately it didn’t hit, and Iron Head did incredible damage.

Things went well after that, with Kangaskhan and Talonflame (on a switch in) getting KO’d by Rock Slide. With all but Tyranitar at full HP, I was able to clean up Lee’s Gardevoir and Lucario easily.

Record: 21-2

Game 2:

 v.

This game I was sure that Lee would bring Politoed and Kingdra, so I brought Charizard paired with Garchomp to do major damage to Kangaskhan and KO Talonflame if it showed up. Tyranitar and Salamence looked to be good answer to anything that could beat my leads, and Ludicolo didn’t function well against a rain team like Lee’s that had many powerful physical attacks. Lee brought Politoed and Kingdra as his leads.

I can’t recall much of this game, but I did get a few clutch misses and a critical hit against Gardevoir with a -2 Mega Charizard-Y Overheat to seal my victory and put me in the finals. I felt for Lee here, as all the luck I was getting made it difficult for him to keep up with the offensive pressure that was being applied.

Record: 22-2

I charged my 3DS while spectating the battle between Collin and Aaron in Top 4. Blake and Logan informed me that Collin had won game 1, and we watched him play smartly to win game 2, proving that he is the superior 3^rd in the world.

Finals: Collin Heier, 2nd Seed

Game 1:

 v.  

I hadn’t even entertained the idea of making the Top Cut prior to the Regional, so being in the Finals against Collin “#3 in the world but #1 in your heart” Heier was a surreal experience. Having made it that far, I figured I might as well play my heart out and go for the win. After playing games against each other this weekend we both had a strong grasp on each other’s playstyles, so this promised to be a great set. I had decided in the time before the match that I would use combinations on Charizard, Garchomp, Ludicolo, and Salamence. I felt that Mawile and Tyranitar couldn’t excel against Collin’s team because Mawile’s damage output could be limited by Tickle from Gothitelle and Tyranitar tends to struggle under Trick Room. For game 1, I led neutrally with Ludicolo and Charizard. With this, I could deal with rain and Trick Room, and Garchomp+Salamence could succeed as long as I could get them into play without Trick Room or rain set up. Collin brought Ludicolo and Gothitelle.

In our previous match, I had delayed Mega Evolving with Charizard on the first turn while still using Heat Wave so as not to waste a Protect and to discourage a Politoed switch in. To mix it up, I used Heat Wave while Mega Evolving. This did roughly 50% to both of Collin’s Pokémon, but Collin’s faster Ludicolo used Fake Out onto mine as Gothitelle set up Trick Room. Collin was in the perfect position to start doing major damage. He was able to knock out Charizard, so the rain would be there to stay once Politoed came in.

I found myself on the final turn of Trick Room with Salamence and Garchomp against Mawile and Gothitelle. I struggled to think of a consistent way to weather the storm. I analyzed the situation and found that with Mawile in rain, my odds of winning the game were slim. Because he had Politoed still at a high amount of HP, Collin would attempt to knock Garchomp out with a Play Rough. Whatever move Salamence locked into would be doing little or no damage to either Politoed or Mawile, winning Collin the game. Unless of course, my Garchomp was able to survive the next turn until Trick Room ran out. There was only 2 ways for this to happen: Mawile missed the Play Rough or Garchomp successfully double-Protected. Getting the second Protect was the higher percentage play but was dependent on Mawile targeting Garchomp instead of Salamence. After inputting my moves I anxiously waited to see whether or not the RNG would favor me. Thankfully, the Protect was succesful and Mawile had targeted Garchomp with Play Rough. Salamence knocked out Gothitelle with a Dragon Pulse, and Politoed came in.

Knowing that I would have to get two low damage rolls to miss the knockout on Politoed, I used Earthquake and Dragon Pulse onto Politoed. I was able to knock it out while Mawile used Protect, and I won the game the following turn with an Earthquake while Collin attempted to KO Garchomp with a critical hit Sucker Punch.

Record: 23-2

Game 2:

Although the previous match came down to a double-Protect, I remained confident in the line-up that I had chosen. I decided to stick with Charizard, Ludicolo, Garchomp, and Salamence as my four, while Collin led with Gothitelle and something I can’t recall, with Mawile and Politoed in the back.

I can’t recall much of this battle other than I got a burn on Gothitelle on the first turn. This residual damage allowed me to easily knock it out later in the battle. I also got a Heat Wave burn onto Mawile, which crippled it. I can recall the final two turns of the battle. I had Garchomp and Charizard in the rain and Trick Room against a low HP Mawile and a Politoed, with Salemence in the back at full HP. I knew that should Charizard get knocked out, Collin’s very bulky Politoed would be able to give him the win. However, since this was the final turn of Trick Room, I could Protect with Garchomp and switch Charizard, which had used Protect the previous turn, into Salamence. I knew this was painfully obvious and Collin would almost definitely use Ice Beam on the Charizard slot, but I realized this would put me into a winning position in the following turn. Everything went according to plan, and Trick Room went away as Charizard came in and got rid of the rain.

This next turn I knocked out Mawile, but Politoed somehow was able to survive this turn and use Perish Song. As soon as Collin used this, I laughed, realizing that yet another of our games would be decided by the RNG. Collin proceeded to use Protect in the following two turns without fail. We selected our moves and waited, and to Collin’s dismay he was unable to get the third consecutive Protect, netting me the championship.

Record 24-2

Both games were determined by which side the RNG would favor, and thankfully it rolled my way. Collin and I shook hands over a well-played series, and we received our playmats, binders, trophies, and last but not least, the Treecko hats.

I should really get my spine checked out, that can’t be healthy neck positioning…a bit before taking this picture Aaron brought it to my attention that I had now won a Regional Championship in every division, which I honestly think is pretty cool. I hadn’t thought about that before the weekend, as winning had never crossed my mind. I think the main competitive lesson that I learned that weekend is that if you see an exploitable hole in the metagame prior to an event, trust your instincts and act on it. I’m glad that I acted on my observations of rising rain and Mawile usage, as I probably would have had the mediocre performance that I expected had I not done so.

Shoutouts

Thanks to Stephen, Chalkey, Blake, and Jonathan for taking these pictures. There aren’t enough taken these days, and I think that these ones will be great memories someday.

I would like to thank TheZeroVirus, religiousjedi, and R Ininimate for supplying me with the Pokémon I needed with very short notice.

Special thanks go to Gavin Michaels (kingofmars) for completely squashing a new team that I was considering to bring to Regionals, forcing me to use what I was comfortable with. He also traded me his Charizard and Tyranitar the night before the event, one of which I used.

Shoutouts to Aaron Traylor (Unreality) for being an all around nice guy and supporting me before the event. Hopefully we can have that fiesta at Nationals this yar buddy!

Thanks to the members of the Boiler Room, namely Ben, Logan, Blake, and Collin for being great guys. I got to know everyone better during the weekend and I met Logan for the first time, and I’m glad that we got to hang out.

Shoutouts to Jonathan, Edward, and Aaron for coming out to this out-of-state event. Hanging out again was one of the main reasons that I decided to attend the event, and it was great to see you guys again.

Lastly, I want to thank Kenan. You reminded me of the fun that could be had at these tournaments and you inspired me to come out to Houston. It’s always a joy talking with you online and at events, and I’m looking forward to next time.

#seniors for life, can’t wait for the entire gang to get back together at Nationals.

Despite how well the weekend went for me, I don’t regret taking a hiatus from Pokémon. I think that when most people are asked why they continue to play, their almost-automatic response is because they love the community. That was my answer for a long time, but I always took it for granted. In taking such a long break, I never missed playing, teambuilding, or competing, and I definitely never missed the online drama that so often occurs. What I did miss was staying in touch with the friends that I have made over the years. For that reason, taking a break was good for me as a person. It has taught me to fully appreciate my friends and the effect that they have on me.

And so, my dear reader, I will leave you with some advise. The Pokémon Video Game Championship is a competition, yes, but the competitive aspect of it should never take the entirety of your focus. Locking in so completely on victory will only lead to crippling disappointment once you lose. And you will lose. Maintaining a relaxed state of mind is the most vital part in making the most of these events because at the end of the day, win or lose, you can say that you had fun.

About the Author

Talon started competing in the Pokemon Video Game Championship in 2010. He is a Houston Regional Champion and will be moving into the Masters division in 2014.

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