Reports

Published on February 3rd, 2014 | by DaWoblefet

23

Synergistic Frustration: Top 8 Winter Regionals Team & Tournament Report

Hello everyone! My name is Leonard Craft III, but you might know me better as DaWoblefet from the Nugget Bridge forums. After confirming my assumptions at last year’s Winter Regional that all the best VGC players were from Nugget Bridge, I joined up with this awesome website and continued to try to improve my battling skill.

It’s Saturday morning the day of Missouri Winter Regional and, because I’m too young and cheap to pay for a hotel room, my brother Koby (Foob), wakes me up at 4:00 in the morning to get ready for the two hour drive down to St. Charles. After scarfing down a sausage biscuit and a banana, I quickly realize why my mom made me drive. After three almost-accidents with deer, we end up at the convention center half an hour before they even open up. We sit around in the car for a while, until we notice a couple of TCG players going inside, so we go in and claim some comfy chairs before anyone else has a chance to take them. After a bit, I’m starting to pick up some StreetPasses, and attempt to clear them out, but then a huge wave of players starts showing up. I’m definitely not complaining, and by the end of the day I have 14 more Puzzle Swap Panels completed.

As I am going through the StreetPasses, I say hi to my first Nugget Bridge members of the day, Blake Hopper (mrbopper) and Collin Heier (TheBattleRoom), two Magmas. I’m super impressed that Blake actually addresses me as DaWoblefet, and we exchange pleasant conversation that I do not remember. Greyson Garren (Greysong), the only Nugget Bridge player there that I played last year, was helpful in introducing me to some of the other Nugget Bridge players, including Joseph Brummet (lucariojr), who had fun making his Lucario plushie play Find Mii II. I also finally got to meet up with Pat Ball (pball0010). He’s really fun to hang around with, and was also handy for recording Battle Videos on his phone. I’m still wandering around when I meet up with Mario C, a guy I hung out with last year. He’s very easy to talk with, and was kind enough to let me have a couple warm-up battles against him. It looks like my persistence paid off, and I’m glad he’s joined up with Nugget Bridge now!

During these initial introductions, I get to skip to the beginning of line and lock up my Battle Box early since I preregistered, and use my extra time to snap a couple pictures of the event. The room where we were was huge! Considering there were 239 Masters just for VGC and probably more for TCG, the large room size was definitely appreciated.

Me standing next to the big Mewtwo sign

Generic convention center shot, used with permission by Wesley Morioka

I continue to hang out with the Nugget Bridge players, and after talking about Dark Void Smeargle, the blue pentagon hacking, and Tyrantrum, I notice Matthew Carter (mattj) in his infamous Link shirt. he seemed like a pretty cool guy and I hung out with him for a while. The line is slowly starting to decrease in length, and I help someone with a last-minute Life Orb and teach his Pokemon a couple TM moves. You could tell he really appreciated it, and I was glad to help someone out. However, I could not, for the life of me, find Scott! Anyways, the list goes up to make sure everyone’s here, and we get seated. A roar of excitement goes up from the crowd as it’s announced that there will be a top 16 cut due to the large number of Masters. Personally, I’m stoked, as I know I have a better chance of making Top Cut now. The pairings go up, and I’m thrilled I’m not facing Greysong or Scott round one. But before we get into that…

The Team

After practicing for a while on Showdown with a team of Rotom-W/Choice Scarf Tyranitar/Mega Charizard Y/Garchomp/Meowstic/Mega Scizor, I knew that a team like that wouldn’t perform very well at Regionals. It didn’t have a very good way to handle Mega Kangaskhan, lacked Fake Out support, and had a huge Trick Room weakness. After hearing things on Showdown about how Rotom-H counters so many Megas, and that Salamence was a good metagame call, I came up with a Amoonguss/Rotom-H/Salamence core and worked from there.

Egg (Amoonguss) @Black Sludge
Nature: Calm (+Sp. Def, -Atk)
IV’s: 31/30/31/31/31/31
EV’s: 172 HP / 172 Def / 164 Sp. Def
Ability: Regenerator
Moveset:
-Rage Powder
-Spore
-Giga Drain
-Protect

I have used Amoonguss on almost every one of my teams since last Winter Regionals, so I was definitely comfortable using this marvelous mushroom. Even though it gained some new enemies, like Mega Charizard Y and Talonflame, it still pulled its weight at the tournament, redirecting attacks with Rage Powder and giving me some extra turns by putting Pokemon to sleep. I know some people have been using Sludge Bomb over Giga Drain, but I appreciate the recovery more, in addition to hitting Rotom-W for solid damage. Although I usually make my own EV spreads, Ansel Blume’s (Stats) suggestion proved to be superior to my original 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 Sp. Def. His spread takes Special attacks better in addition to recovering a greater percentage of HP with Giga Drain, Black Sludge, and Regenerator. Anyway, the main attraction of the EV spread is that it takes max Attack unboosted Talonflame’s Brave Bird or Flare Blitz 100% of the time. I wish I could have gotten lower Attack IVs than what I had but, luckily, Amoonguss never was Swaggered during the event.

Bring↓DaPain (Salamence) (M) @Life Orb
Nature: Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
IV’s: 31/31/31/31/31/31
EV’s: 20 HP / 68 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Sp. Atk / 164 Spd
Ability: Intimidate
Moveset:
-Draco Meteor
-Flamethrower
-Rock Slide
-Protect

I actually got the idea for a mixed Salamence from my friend Chris Nelson (HeroOfTheWinds) after seeing him use it against me on a team with Mega Houndoom. I didn’t like the idea of having a Scarf Salamence in this metagame, although I did like it last generation because of its ability to OHKO standard Latios. This generation, I absolutely adore the Life Orb version. Unlike the Choice Scarf set, which doesn’t even get the OHKO on 4 HP MegaZard Y with Rock Slide, my Salamence’s Rock Slide can OHKO Zog’s bulkier version 100% of the time. Now, you might wonder why I ran a Timid Nature, when with Hasty or Naive, I wouldn’t need any Attack EV’s. After a lot of calculations, we determined that I actually lost more bulk when I put the extra 68 Attack EVs into the defensive stat that was being lowered. Anyway, Draco Meteor and Flamethrower provided great coverage, and with the Life Orb boosting all of my attacks, it dealt a lot of damage to a lot of stuff. The speed EVs allow Salamence to outspeed Adamant Garchomp by one point, and subsequently outspeeds all neutral-natured base 100s.

Bread Burnér (Rotom-H) @Leftovers
Nature: Modest (+Sp. Atk, -Atk)
IV’s: 31/0/31/31/31/31
EV’s: 180 HP / 4 Def / 252 Sp. Atk / 4 Sp. Def / 68 Spd
Ability: Levitate
Moveset:
-Overheat
-Thunderbolt
-Will-o-Wisp
-Protect

Rotom-H was easily the MVP of this team. Whether it was outright walling teams, burning physical attackers, or simply racking up chip damage on the opponent, Rotom-H was essential to my team. Many people use Rotom-W in this metagame simply because Aaron Zheng (Cybertron) used it in Worlds last year. I’m certainly not denying his success with that form of Rotom in that metagame, but for VGC 14, Rotom-H simply does more. It’s a hard check to Mega Mawile, resisting its STABs and being able to burn it or usually OHKO it with Overheat. Mega Charizard Y can’t touch it unless it runs the obscure AncientPower, unlike Rotom-W who is either OHKOd by Solar Beam or just barely hangs on. In addition, its Rock-type weakness is somewhat nullified thanks to Will-o-Wisp, my Intimidate, spread move power reduction, and players like Ray Rizzo opting to go for special Tyranitar. While I think special Tyranitar is a better metagame call, Modest and Timid Natures further weaken Rock Slide’s power, so that’s a plus for me! However, my Rotom-H is weak to faster Rock Slides, as it flinched at least seven times total during the tournament. Leftovers is absolutely crucial for Rotom-H, often recovering more HP than Sitrus Berry would in a match. The EV spread isn’t a masterpiece, with it having a somewhat arbitrary speed to get the jump on slower Rotom and Gyarados, in addition to being one point faster than my own Gyarados. The Attack IVs are 0 to further reduce confusion and Foul Play damage, though it actually ended up being pure luck that I obtained a flawless one like this! I had traded off my first Rotom to Beau Berg (Oreios) for use as a breeding parent, but when we traded back, there was a communication error and from the sound of things, I thought Rotom got deleted and my trade fodder got cloned! So, I haphazardly threw my hexflawless Ditto (thanks Toquill!) and another Rotom spitback together, and managed to pull a flawless baby on the first egg. Cool, but also ironic, because I had just spent four days prior getting my hexflawless Salamence.

Anger Issues (Kangaskhan) (F) @Kangaskhanite
Nature: Jolly (+Spd, -Sp. Atk)
IV’s: 31/31/31/18-19/31/31
EV’s: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Ability: Scrappy –> Parental Bond
Moveset:
-Frustration
-Power-Up Punch
-Fake Out
-Sucker Punch

Standard Mega Kangaskhan, with Jolly for more speed. And yes, you saw that correctly; I am using Frustration. Many of my opponents asked why I used that move over Return, and it’s simple: Pokemon are tools and could never be our friends it gave me something to joke about. This is the first event I’ve gone to after joining Nugget Bridge, so Frustration gave me a way to break the ice, or cleverly insert it into the conversation as I’m describing a match or something. Anyway, if you’ve played VGC 14 at all, you know that Mega Kangaskhan hits like a truck. Once I properly disable any opposing threats to my Kangaskhan, it is used to quickly clean up games. The match where Mega Kangaskhan shone most brightly was my round 7 match where, after burning two of his physical attackers and putting his Mega Manectric to sleep, Kangaskhan just needed one Power-Up Punch and it was good game from there.

A misconception among newer players is that Mega Kangaskhan is too powerful and that because it’s so good people shouldn’t use it because it’s not original or whatever. While it is definitely strong, it will not win games by itself. You can burn it, Intimidate it, Charm it, outspeed it, or send in something that outright walls it like Aegislash or Mega Mawile to easily take care of Kangaskhan. Despite its popularity, there are ways around it. If your team doesn’t have an answer to such a popular Pokemon then, in all honesty, you’re probably also losing to teams that don’t have Mega Kangaskhan.

Restriction (Meowstic) (M) @Sitrus Berry
Nature: Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
IV’s: 31/1/31/27-28/31/31
EV’s: 204 HP / 36 Def / 4 Sp. Atk / 116 Sp. Def / 148 Spd
Ability: Prankster
Moveset:
-Quick Guard
-Safeguard
-Charm
-Swagger

Super epic Meowstic. The nickname is appropriate, as it stops the opponent from doing anything. Prankster is a great Ability on most Pokemon, but if you’re looking for the best Prankster Pokemon in the format, Meowstic is my favorite. Priority Quick Guard stops any Fake Out, and also sets up mindgames with the opponent, giving them hard choices, for example, when deciding to use Brave Bird or Flare Blitz on Talonflame. In addition, Quick Guard outright walls opposing Liepard and Sableye, with Foul Play being a lovely 4HKO on it 72% of the time with an Attack IV of 1 (which is equivalent to 0 at level 50). Safeguard, especially coming off of my faster Meowstic, blocks Prankster Swagger, Thunder Wave, and more as well as burns and sleep from non-Prankster Pokemon, including our good friend Smeargle. Charm is clutch on Meowstic, allowing it to severely weaken physical attackers, often forcing switches. Lastly, Swagger was added to increase my odds against Special attackers, Malamar, and for the Safeguard Swagger combo with Kangaskhan and Gyarados.

The speed EVs invested actually are for that very combo; turn one, I can Fake Out + Safeguard, then turn two, Mega Evolve and go for a Swagger + Sucker Punch to catch something off guard. In addition, since there wasn’t really a defined speed number for Meowstic before Winter Regionals, I felt like I could get the jump on other Meowstic a good majority of the time for the first Safeguard. As for the other EVs, 204 HP / 116 Special Defense allowed me to take a Modest Life Orb Salamence’s Draco Meteor 100% of the time, while the reduced HP allows me to only take 10 damage from Sand/Hail instead of 11. The Defense EVs are more for generic bulk, but after a Charm I survive pretty much every physical attack in the metagame. The 4 Special Attack obviously does nothing, but wouldn’t do anything anywhere else either. Speaking of doing nothing, people may question why I didn’t run an attacking move on Meowstic or, for that matter, dual screens or Fake Out. It’s simple, really – those moves are inferior. Most Taunts come from Liepard and Sableye, which are both blocked by Quick Guard. Dual Screens is better accomplished by Klefki, and Fake Out is just so bad on Meowstic that I didn’t even bother testing it. Meowstic usually tries to stay on the field for a long time, and having a move on it that only works the first turn seems like such wasted potential to me. However, Trick Room and Helping Hand are cool options to try out on it.

Tugboat (Gyarados) (F) @Gyaradosite
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -Sp. Atk)
IV’s: 31/31/31/0/31/31
EV’s: 148 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 Sp. Def / 100 Spd
Ability: Intimidate
Moveset:
-Waterfall
-Ice Fang
-Earthquake
-Protect

The first five Pokemon came really easily to me, but the last Pokemon was a tough choice to make. After evaluating my team, it came down to Garchomp or Gyarados. Daniel Cardenas (KermitTheFrog14) helped me make the decision, and although Garchomp is a strong Pokemon with a Rock-type resistance that would have proved useful to my team, Gyarados has Intimidate and a good typing, and was able to function well both in and out of its Mega Evolution. The item was also a toss-up, but the ability to Mega Evolve won over the immediate power of Choice Band. Plus, it meant I could take an incoming Thunderbolt if the situation ever arose, which happened in practice a couple times. I invested enough bulk to take two Solar Beams from Timid Mega Charizard Y as regular Gyarados, which also happened to have enough bulk to survive a Life Orb Thunderbolt from max Special Attack Rotom as Mega Gyarados. The speed is fairly generic, which accomplishes a little bit of speed creeping on the Rotom forms (I beat 52 Spd Rotom with this spread). Waterfall, Ice Fang, and Protect were given, but the last move, like the item, was a toss-up. In the end, I decided that Stone Edge was too risky of a move, Taunt’s usefulness was overlapped by Meowstic, and at least with Earthquake, I had an option against opposing Rotom in my Mega Evolution, as well as another spread attack.

Common Leads

   +   

Meowstic + Rotom-H

This was by far the safest lead of my team, and I used it when I wanted to play more defensively at the beginning. Charm + Will-o-Wisp could neutralize physical threats in a hurry, and Thunderbolt usually did a good job of chipping away at Pokemon, setting up KOs for later.

   +   

Meowstic + Kangaskhan

I used this lead when it appeared that the opponent had very little way to check Kangaskhan. If I managed to set up Safeguard and Swagger, opponents usually just fell apart. This is what you would consider to be the “fast mode” on my team.

I could list all the other lead combinations I used, but that’d be super boring. Besides, I don’t have a specific lead pair that I always go with. Choosing your leads can sometimes be the most important factor in the game, so going on autopilot and haphazardly choosing the same two Pokemon every time will make it hard for you to win consistently. Every Pokemon got to lead at least once during the tournament (except for poor Amoonguss lol), but these leads are notable because they came up most often.

Tournament Report

Round 1 – Vs. Colten Hedrick

Team Preview: Wigglytuff / Gengar / Rhyperior / Aerodactyl / Charizard / Liepard
Brought: Rotom-H / Kangaskhan / Amoonguss / Meowstic

Ironically, this team looks very similar to the one I had to face in round one of St. Charles last year. However, with Wigglytuff being Fairy-type now and Charizard being able to Mega Evolve, I knew it wouldn’t just be a straightforward match. He opens up with his Wigglytuff and Liepard as I lead with Rotom-H and Meowstic. The situation looks good for me as I Quick Guard to block Liepard shenanigans and Thunderbolt the Wigglytuff for some chip damage. However, he reads this well enough and makes a switch to Rhyperior to eat up Thunderbolt and has Liepard use Snarl. However, I’m still not very concerned, and immediately burn Rhyperior while Liepard locks Meowstic into Quick Guard with Encore. Judging by the damage output from Rock Slide, I can tell this burn is going to be huge. Next, I get Amoonguss in and put Liepard to sleep, while I continue to maneuver my Pokemon around to get the advantage. Eventually, my Mega Kangaskhan gets a Power-Up Punch off and it’s good game from there. After the match, he told me his Wigglytuff was actually being used for its Ability, Competitive, and was holding an Assault Vest.

Me squaring off against Colten Round 1

Win 3-0, Record 1-0.

Round 2 – Vs. Trae Hurd

Team Preview: Aerodactyl / Cryogonal / Amoonguss / Rotom-H / Krookodile / Scrafty
Brought: Meowstic / Salamence / Rotom-H / Kangaskhan

When I first see the team, I think “That’s the one guy who beat Cybertron at Virginia!” While I’m pretty sure it wasn’t, if two people are using the same team like that, then I know it won’t be an easy match. After the battle, he said he was friends with Calm Lava, but wasn’t on Nugget Bridge. From Team Preview I figure Gyarados is too risky to bring with Cryogonal, especially since I’ve never faced one in practice, and that Krookodile would likely be Scarfed like Human‘s was. I lead similarly to last game with Meowstic and Rotom-H against his Krookodile and Scrafty. Here, I misplay by assuming his Scrafty will go straight for a Crunch instead of having Fake Out get blocked by Quick Guard, but end up taking the Fake Out damage while also having Rotom flinch to a Rock Slide. I don’t remember the next few turns, other than I burned Krookodile and some switching occured. Then, a critical couple of turns took place. My full HP Mega Kangaskhan and Salamence were facing down his burned Krookodile and full HP Scrafty. I figured my best move was to go straight for the KO on Scrafty with a combo of Frustration + Draco Meteor to prevent it from doing a ton of damage to Mega Kangaskhan. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work out so well for me, as he gets a double flinch with Rock Slide, and Drain Punch leaves MegaKanga with about 35% of its health. Next turn, I foolishly think that I won’t get flinched again, and pay for it by having only Kangaskhan get off an attack while Salamence is unable to move, meaning Scrafty gets a free KO and leaves it at about 75% health. At this point, my Pokemon are simply too worn down to win, and he wins without me seeing his last Pokemon. Still, I can’t really blame the match on hax. Because I was letting him continually spam Rock Slide on my Pokemon, I wasn’t doing anything to minimize the risk of getting flinched.

Loss 0-3, Record 1-1.

Round 3 – Vs. David Hart (D++)

Team Preview: Scrafty / Rotom-W / Salamence / Kangaskhan / Liepard / Talonflame
Brought: Kangaskhan / ???  / ??? / ???

I’m pretty sure I let my loss from last game get to my head, as the words from Cybertron’s 7 Tips to Win a Regional echoed in my head: “you can only afford to take one loss and still guarantee Top Cut”. I let my thinking go where it shouldn’t have, and made terrible misplays like double targeting into Protects and letting Liepard get a free OHKO with Foul Play on my +2 Mega Kangaskhan. There really isn’t any other way to describe the match other than he just outplayed me. However, despite the loss, he gave me some good advice that helped me later, saying that if you try to predict your opponent too much without knowing their skill level, you could easily end up at a large disadvantage.

Loss 0-2, Record 1-2.

Lunch Break

This lunch break was a godsend. Not only did it let me get some more food into my system and recharge my 3DS XL’s battery, but it also helped me to calm down and reevaluate my situation. At this point, my brother was 3-0 in Swiss for Seniors, and things were looking solid for him to make Top Cut. However, just because my record wasn’t as good as his, giving up was not an option. After eating, I laid back and rested for about 20 minutes on the floor, then went to go chitchat with the other Nugget Bridge players. Talking with them, I learned that two losses could still probably make Top Cut. Also, I knew that at 1-2, I probably would be facing someone who wasn’t necessarily the greatest player. Before I see the pairings for next round, I say hello to who I think is Scott, but is actually Kappy. He kindly points me in Scott’s direction, and after one sentence I recognize his voice from the Worlds commentary.

Round 4 – Vs. Brian Krzyzanowski

Team Preview: Ferrothorn / Hippowdon / Aegislash / Conkeldurr / Gyarados / Gardevoir
Brought: Gyarados / Rotom-H / Kangaskhan / Amoonguss

Taking a look at his team, it appeared like it was a hard Trick Room team with Gardevoir as the setter. On top of this, the only Pokemon that could really touch Amoonguss was Gardevoir. Rotom-H would also do a lot of work, so I figured this wouldn’t be a very difficult battle. I decide to lead with Rotom-H and Gyarados to potentially OHKO Gardevoir right off the bat. Interestingly enough, he leads with Ferrothorn and Hippowdon. Remembering David’s advice, I decide to just go for a straightforward Waterfall and Overheat, which works out marvelously as I pick up the OHKO on Ferrothorn and deal a little over half to Hippowdon while he misses a Stone Edge (though I doubt it would have KO’d Gyarados after Intimidate).  He goes ahead and sends in Gardevoir. Judging by how easy the last turn was, I simply burn Hippowdon and try to go for Waterfall with Gyarados as his Gardevoir outspeeds and OHKOs it first with Thunderbolt. Still, there’s very little he can do as I send in Kangaskhan and Mega evolve for an easy KO with Frustration on Gardevoir, while his Hippowdon switches out to his Conkeldurr and takes a -2 Overheat, which was enough chip damage to allow me to OHKO it with Frustration the following turn. Next, I merely Power-Up Punch Hippowdon while he uses Slack Off, revealing that he didn’t have Protect on his Hippowdon (the other moves were Stone Edge, Earthquake, and Crunch). As Frustration KOs Hippowdon, I ask if Gardevoir had Trick Room, to which he replied, “No, Gardevoir is fast. Why would it need Trick Room?” By his expression though, I think he was just annoyed I beat him.

Win 3-0, Record 2-2.

Round 5 – Vs. Alex Thomas

Team Preview: Manectric / Articuno / Kingdra / Rotom-W / Klefki / Absol
Brought: Meowstic / Kangaskhan / Amoonguss / Salamence

In our conversation prior to the match,  he brought up he had just lost to Mega Kangaskhan and Amoonguss pretty badly. Looking at his team, I could see why.  It was pretty obvious that Klefki was going to be using Rain Dance, and you could tell what he was planning to do with that. So, I lead with the #1 Klefki counter, Meowstic, and Kangaskhan, while he starts things off with Rotom-W and Klefki. From turn one I have the advantage as he Swaggers and Will-o-Wisps straight into my Safeguard and Kangaskhan gets off a Power-Up Punch. From here, I simply KO the Rotom-W and Swagger Klefki as it sets up Rain Dance for the Kingdra that’s coming in. Sucker Punch KOs Kingdra and Klefki uses Thunder Wave on Kangaskhan even though Safeguard is still up. He exclaims, “My Klefki doesn’t have any attacking moves!” when I ask why he used Thunder Wave. Frustration OHKOs his last Pokemon. Alex is very frustrated right now, much like my Kangaskhan. He starts talking about how nobody is original and how everyone uses the same Pokemon. From here, I decide to actually agree with him to help him get some of that frustration out of his system, because unlike Kangaskhan, it isn’t going to benefit him. We talk about Showdown, and I tell him that originality without preparing for the big threats just won’t get you very far. I tell him about Wolfey and bring up Human’s Chesnaught. Gradually, his mood softens. I give him a pep talk, saying not to give up just because of a couple losses or a couple Pokemon. I’m glad I did, because it may have very well been him not dropping that gave me enough resistance to land 16th in Swiss. Plus, it felt good to help cheer someone up.

Win 4-0, Record 3-2.

Between rounds four and five, I was hanging around Greysong and another one of his friends. Like me, his friend was at 3-2, and Greysong was giving him solid advice: don’t look at your situation as “only one more loss and you’re out”, but rather, just keep going one round at a time. Though I didn’t tell Greysong at the time, this really inspired me to do well and it told me that I could still Top Cut.

Round 6 – Vs. Shelby Wroczynski

Team Preview: Doublade / Garchomp / Dragalge / Tyranitar / Talonflame / Flygon
Brought: Gyarados / Rotom-H / Kangaskhan / Salamence

Shelby and I had actually talked prior to the Swiss rounds starting, and she seemed really nice. Looking at the team, I didn’t see much that was threatening besides Garchomp. I decide to be a little cocky and say, “Oh, Eviolite Doublade? That’s pretty cool.” It seemed to impress her a bit that I could call that straight from Team Preview, but she didn’t look intimidated or anything. To fix that, I led with Salamence to get its Intimidate off on her Doublade and Dragalge, and threw Rotom-H in there for good measure. Now, I didn’t know much about Dragalge other than the Adaptablity Ability is still unreleased for it, so I went straight for a Life Orb Draco Meteor from Salamence, which OHKOd it, and burnt Doublade with Rotom-H.  Now, in hindsight, I might have been able to OHKO Doublade with Overheat, but I totally blanked and forgot it doesn’t get more Special Defense until after evolving. Anyway, Sacred Sword comes out, doing next to nothing to Rotom-H. She replaces Dragalge with Tyranitar. From here, my memory is a bit fuzzy, but my notes say that the Tyranitar had Rocky Helmet, which I remember activating when I used Power-Up Punch on Tyranitar, and that I forgot to Mega evolve Kangaskhan. Anyway, it somehow ends up with her Flygon and severely weakened Doublade against my Rotom-H and Gyarados. However, her Flygon was faster than my two Pokemon. I knew that Ice Fang would OHKO, but my Gyarados simply refused to stop flinching from Rock Slide! Rotom wasn’t helping much either, missing a Will-o-Wisp and flinching like mad. However, I refused to lose from flinches twice, and Mega evolved to Mega Gyarados for the first and only time during the tournament. FINALLY I hit the Flygon with Ice Fang, OHKOd, and clean up from there.

Win 2-0, Record 4-2.

After this match my brother came up to me and told me some great news. He went 5-1 in Seniors and made 2nd seed in Swiss! I was so proud of him, and it encouraged me to keep doing well. I knew that my opponents from here on out would be far more difficult though, especially considering that Scott, who I considered to be one of the best people participating, had the same record as me. Luckily, I do not pull Scott’s name as the pairings go up!

Round 7 – Vs. Steven Walders

Team Preview: Mienshao / Manectric / Garchomp / Meowstic / Tyranitar / Venusaur
Brought: Meowstic / Rotom-H / Amoonguss / Kangaskhan

I didn’t know this guy, but his Team Preview looked incredibly solid. I decide to lead with my safe leads and go with Meowstic + Rotom-H as he brings out Mienshao and Manectric. I didn’t really see much risk with going for a Quick Guard + Will-o-Wisp to block Fake Out and neutralize Mienshao. I get even better than that, as his Mienshao reveals Quick Guard, and his Manectric Mega evolves and uses Overheat on Meowstic, activating the Sitrus Berry. Next turn, it was so obvious he had to switch out Manectric that I target it with Will-o-Wisp, expecting a Garchomp switch-in. Quick Guard blocks the Charm on Mienshao, and he does in fact Volt Switch out to Garchomp… but of course, Will-o-Wisp misses. I slam my fist on the table, scaring the Grimer out of Scott’s opponent who was right next to me. I immediately apologize, and Scott says he could relate to the Will-o-Wisp miss on the switch-in. Anyway, I didn’t panic, and get Amoonguss in while he brings in Mega Manectric again, while I actually do get the burn on Garchomp. At this point, I look at my situation, and deduce that all I need to do is put Mega Manectric to sleep, send in Kangaskhan, and wipe through his remaining Pokemon. That’s exactly what I did too, with Amoonguss’ boss EV spread allowing it to take the Overheat from Mega Manectric perfectly and shut it down with Spore.  At this point, he just can’t win, with his Pokemon falling left and right to Mega Kangaskhan’s Frustration. After the match, he asks for advice, and I tell him High Jump Kick was better on Mienshao than Drain Punch for the ability to OHKO Mega Kangaskhan.

Win 4-0, Record 5-2.

Round 8 – Vs. Sean Flowers

Team Preview: Garchomp / Rotom-W / Talonflame / Salamence / Scizor / Sableye
Brought: Meowstic / Salamence / Rotom-H / Kangaskhan

The match was partially recorded by the awesome videographer Pat Ball, so I won’t jabber on for too long about this match. Basically, I felt that the Pokemon I brought were the ones I needed. Even though Kangaskhan got KOd early on, I wasn’t done yet by any means. I’m not going to lie, after I got the Sableye paralyzed, the Garchomp burned and at -6 Attack, and still had 3 Pokemon left, my first thought was timer stalling. So, I played the clock. However, I’m happy to say that despite the timer running down to 0 like I planned it, I was able to end the game before the timer did. Still, I didn’t need the timer in this situation, because even with a critical hit, Salamence could not have been KOd by a burned Garchomp’s Dragon Claw.

Win 3-0, Record 6-2.

Round 9 – Vs. Aaron Grubbs (LPFan)

Team Preview: Amoonguss / Garchomp / Manectric / Kangaskhan / Rotom-H / Gyarados
Brought: Rotom-H / Meowstic / Amoonguss / Kangaskhan

This was my first Nugget Bridge player match of the day , and the winner of this match would decide who makes top cut (D++ joined after Regionals took place). Stakes are high. Aaron seemed flustered, and when asked why, he said he got haxed out of his last match. His team preview looks very strong, so I decide to go with my safe leads Meowstic and Rotom-H, while he leads Manectric and Gyarados. I was so close to clicking Charm + Thunderbolt to get a free OHKO on Gyarados regardless of his Gyarados’ speed, but in the nick of time I remembered that Manectric’s Lightning Rod would have none of that. Thankfully, I change my moves up and switch in Amoonguss to take the Waterfall. Judging by the damage it did, I deduce his Gyarados is Choice Banded. He switches Gyarados out, but I don’t quite remember why. I do know that I end up Swaggering his Rotom-H, and it hits itself twice before just barely not getting the KO on Meowstic with Overheat. It was at this point in the match that my glasses’ lens popped out, probably due to the intensity of the battle.

It’s hard to see with the shadow, but this is when my glasses’ lens popped out.

It all comes down to my +2 Mega Kangaskhan and Rotom-H versus his Rotom-H and Charmed Garchomp. I Protect Rotom-H as his Garchomp goes for Rock Slide. He ends up getting a critical hit on Mega Kangaskhan, and more importantly, the flinch. Now I can’t KO his Rotom, which goes for Overheat… but misses. It was huge, to say the least. He goes for the same play again, but this time, Garchomp’s Rock Slide neither crits nor flinches, meaning Frustration gets the KO on his Rotom-H, and my Overheat puts LPFan’s Garchomp well within Sucker Punch KO range. You could tell LPFan wasn’t too pleased, and for good reason. I really wish we could have both gotten into Top Cut, because Aaron still played really well. In any case, we said our good games, and I knew that because of Aaron’s great resistance, I would indeed make it to Top Cut.

Win 2-0, Record 7-2.

I am super proud of myself for coming all the way from 1-2 to 7-2. I go over and talk with the Nugget Bridge crowd, where pball, mattj, LatiosIsCool, and others congratulated me on not giving up. Sadly, when I go to share the news with my mom and brother, my brother told me he lost in top 8. At this point, it was getting late, so Mom decided to book a hotel room for the night.

The final records go up, and I look to see my name… at 16th! I had no idea that I was that close to being one under top cut like last year! Anyways, I’m glad I hadn’t celebrated too early, and look at the first seed – some guy named Keegan Beljanski who I had never heard of. I go around asking who he is, and bump into Keegan himself, who introduces himself as Darkeness. Later, the top 16 are called over to do hack checks and fill out some sort of sheet where you had to write out all the info on your Pokemon. I remembered reading about these things from 2010 and stuff, but because I haven’t participated in anything before 2011 (and that was the 2011 Nationals Seniors LCQ without any competitive battling experience), it was new to me. Speaking of being young, everyone else who made it in seemed to be older than me (I’m only 16), so I knew I would be up against experienced players.

Top 16 – Vs. Keegan Beljanski (Darkeness)

Team Preview: Gourgeist / Charizard / Rhydon / Ludicolo / Aerodactyl / Salamence

Before team preview, Keegan seemed pretty confident. I think he was a bit too cocky, though, because he kept saying Mega Charizard Y sucked, which gave away that he was using it. Of course, he had every right to be confident – he managed an 8/0/1 streak in Swiss, and was now playing somebody who had never cut an event before.

Game 1

He leads Mega Charizard Y and Aerodactyl against my Salamence and Kangaskhan. We both go Mega, with my Kangaskhan’s Mega evolution surprisingly going before his, which revealed his Modest Nature. I make an obvious play of using Fake Out and reveal my gimmick move, Rock Slide, as he double Protects. Knowing that there is no way in the wonky world of walruses that he’s staying in with Mega Charizard Y, I look at his potential switch-ins and decide that Gourgeist is the most optimal. I predict correctly, and the sun-boosted, Life Orb Flamethrower from Salamence does not KO! Yay! However, it does knock Gourgeist’s health down to high red, and it heals up with a Sitrus Berry. Unfortunately, I don’t make the same kind of play with Aerodactyl, and I Sucker Punch into a Tailwind. At this point, my memory gets a little fuzzy, but I do remember that I manage to get Mega Kangaskhan up to +4 by hitting a Rhydon. He burned my Kangaskhan, effectively giving it +2 Atk, and I take a turn to scout Rhydon’s Ability and discover it has Lightning Rod. I also recall KOing his Rhydon with Rotom-H’s Overheat, and that Keegan thought it wouldn’t KO while I was pretty certain it would. It comes down to a bit of a prediction game, with me needing to call when Charizard won’t Protect so Sucker Punch can KO. Once I do that, I take the game.

Game 2

The last match was a bit too close for my liking, so I go for my safe leads, Meowstic and Rotom-H, as he leads with Salamence and Ludicolo, both Pokemon that I did not get to see last game. I knew that he wouldn’t want to get caught playing into a Quick Guard, so I decide to straight-up Swagger his Ludicolo. Salamence hits with Hydro Pump as I infer that it’s Scarfed, while between the confusion damage and Thunderbolt, Ludicolo loses half of its health. However, I outspeed the Ludicolo with Rotom-H, so I know I can KO next turn with Thunderbolt, provided the Salamence doesn’t KO me first. I decide that since I’m up one game, if I take some risks and they pay off, the game is mine. I Swagger Salamence, knowing that between Hydro Pump accuracy and the confusion chance, I’ll likely not get hit. I assume correctly, and as Salamence hits itself in its confusion I use Thunderbolt on Ludicolo – but I forgot that it had taken the confusion damage prior, so it survives! I’m kicking myself so hard for not using Overheat, but then Thunderbolt paralyzes his Ludicolo. Hax makes up for my misplay, and confusion damage KOs Ludicolo. I feel just terrible for that happening, as I wasn’t counting on Thunderbolt paralyzing or Ludicolo hitting itself in confusion – it was my own mistake. From here, Salamence’s Rock Slide puts huge pressure on Charizard, and my Mega Kangaskhan got some Power-Up Punches off, so I win, 4-0.

Match 2-0

Despite losing that way, Keegan took his losses like a man. I originally apologized for the hax, but Keegan dismissed it, saying that I used Swagger on purpose and that I knew what I was doing when I used the move. I really did admire his attitude towards the whole situation. Anyway, I’m excited I beat the first seed in the tournament, moving on to top 8.

Because our match finished so quickly, I had a little more time to hang out with pball and the others before my top 8 opponent was announced. When I saw I pulled mattj though, I was overjoyed! Out of all the people still in top cut, mattj was the one person that I wanted to battle because I knew his team from watching his channel on YouTube. Therefore, the “surprises” like Scarfed Abomasnow, Feint Mienshao, and Hammer Arm Kangaskhan weren’t going to catch me off guard. However, in hindsight, I should have used this knowledge to prepare leads before team preview.

Top 8 – Vs. Matthew Carter (mattj)

Team Preview: Talonflame / Zapdos / Chandelure / Kangaskhan / Abomasnow / Mienshao

Game 1

I don’t remember all that much about Game 1, other than I switched Salamence out of Choice Scarfed Abomasnow’s Blizzard to Rotom-H, and realized that besides that Pokemon, I have no other Ice resists on the team. Lovely. Anyway, it comes down to a very crucial turn where mattj says, “I have a 90% chance to win here.” I’m confused, then understand that he is talking about Hammer Arm potentially missing, leaving us with 2 Jolly Kangaskhan staring each other down. I know from his YouTube channel that despite Hammer Arm, his Kangaskhan has a bog standard EV spread of 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP, so it’s going to come down to a coin flip, and likely a high damage roll for me. However, I don’t need to check what kind of damage roll I get as he wins the speed tie (like he should after the Hammer Arm miss) and takes the match.

Game 2

Like Round 8, pball was kind enough to record this match for me. I actually made the commentary on the video after Regionals ended, so I apologize if I sound bad or if the content was bad, as this was my first time ever recording over a battle. I wish we could have just directly saved our Battle Video, as that would have saved a lot of hassle later on.

To go off on what I was saying in the video, after the critical hits occurred, my only chance of winning would have been to use Overheat + Swagger on Mega Kangaskhan in an attempt to KO it. Chandelure would have also had to hit itself in confusion. This alone only gave me a 25% chance to win (the odds are good I could have KOd Kangaskhan if it hit itself in confusion), and even if I had pulled it off, I would have had to play perfectly the rest of the game and probably get many more Swagger hits.

Match 0-2

Final Place: Top 8

Well, I’m out! Yet for some reason, I wasn’t upset that the critical hits happened. Maybe it was because luck was on my side in my matches against LPFan and Darkeness, so I deserved to have luck turn against me. Maybe it was because I had seen mattj’s team beforehand, so I was too confident and didn’t make the correct choices with the Pokemon I chose. But I think the real reason I lost was because mattj’s team and skill level is just that good – even without the crits, it would not have been an easy match. I’m also happy that even though my plays weren’t working in my favor, I still feel like they were the correct plays and that I did not lose due to me making foolish mistakes like my Round 3 match. It also helped that Matt is super understanding and encouraged me both during and after the match, saying on Facebook that, “Your team was solid and you played solidly… you have every reason to be proud.” He’s a great guy, and it’s super cool that he won the whole tournament. Congratulations on your Regionals win mattj!

Conclusion

I loved this tournament! Considering the amount of people that showed up and that both TCG and VGC were being run on the same day, the tournament went along pretty smoothly. I had a great time hanging out with pball and mattj, listening to Scott (trust me – this guy knows what he’s talking about), and in general matching Nugget Bridge usernames to faces. To end this report, here’s a group picture of all those who stayed til the end, graciously provided by Wesley Morioka.

From left to right: styrofoameon, ?, GreySong, mattj, Welsey, ?, pball0010, me, Amarillo, Scott

Article image created by The Knights of Wario Land for Nugget Bridge. View more on his Tumblr, or visit his forum thread.

About the Author

DaWoblefet , aka Leonard Craft III, is a diehard Pokémon fan who has been involved with competitive battling since 2011. He enjoys hanging out and practicing with the Anistar Aliens (Oreios, Stats, KermitTheFrog14, and tlyee61), making the best EV spreads possible, and glitching the entirety of Generation I. When he's not playing Pokémon, DaWoblefet enjoys playing Quiz Bowl and ping-pong, hanging out with friends, and helping at his church.

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