I'm still exhausted from the weekend at Massachusetts Regionals so I'm only going to post a team report this time rather than a "Warstory" like I posted after Virginia.
Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Stone Edge
- Sleep Talk
Standard Scarf Mence, not much to say about it though I'll go over the slight differences from my Virginia Scarf Mence. With Pokebank out I was finally able to get one with a 31 Atk IV (from my #1 fan Paul Hornak) so I could switch from Hydro Pump to Stone Edge. Also with Pokebank released Dark Void Smeargle is seen somewhat frequently, so I added Sleep Talk to help deal with that.
Rotom-Heat @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 36 Def / 140 SAtk / 4 SDef / 84 Spd
Modest Nature
- Overheat
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
Another standard set for Rotom-H. I don't really like Rotom-H much at all but I wanted a defensive fire type. The Special Attack EVs let it OHKO the Mawile I used in Virginia, the Speed EVs let it speed creep Neutral Nature 252 Speed TTars and Rotom-Ws. 244 HP gives it an even numbered HP for Sitrus Berry since a few people use Super Fang Noivern. I just put the leftover EVs in the defenses.
Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Substitute
- King's Shield
I used 0 Speed IV to get the Shadow Ball off on other Aegislash after they attacked which would let me KO them, as well as to let me stay in Shield Form longer. I opted for Flash Cannon instead of Sacred Sword because they do the same exact thing except one is better vs some TTars and Bisharp while the other is better vs Mamoswine, Aromatisse and when Intimidated or Burned. I prefer the advantages of Flash Cannon. Another aspect of Flash Cannon that I prefer is that it makes it harder to switch in on Aegislash. Many times you'll be in a situation where both Shadow Ball and Flash Cannon will do the same damage. When Aegislash is in a threatening position in one of those situations (For example, when facing a Gardevoir that may opt to switch out) you choose which move based on potential switchins. If the opponent for example has no Pokemon that resist steel and one that resists Ghost, Flash Cannon becomes the easy move to make. That way you punish the opponent no matter whether they stay in or switch out. This situation is a lot more frequent than it may seem.
Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 188 Def / 68 Spd
Bold Nature
- Giga Drain
- Rage Powder
- Spore
- Protect
This set is probably a little different from most Amoonguss. Many Amoonguss choose to use the minimum speed possible in order to counter Trick Room teams better, but I didn't feel that was necessary for my team since I liked my match-up vs Trick Room teams even without a minimum speed Amoonguss. Instead I opted to use enough Speed EVs to outspeed minimum Speed Aegislash (Which has become extremely common in America compared to Neutral Speed Aegislash) in order to Spore them before they set up a Substitute. Rocky Helmet was to help with Kangaskhan. I chose Regenerator over Effect Spore because I like to switch out a lot and it's a more reliable ability since sometimes Effect Spore can backfire when trying to Spore or Will-o-Wisp with Rotom-H. The rest of the set is standard, there are many Physical threats in the metagame so I focused all of the EVs on Defense rather than Special Defense or a mix of both.
Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Power-Up Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Fake Out
Standard Kangaskhan. Since a lot of American players are switching to slower bulky Kangaskhans and Charizards I decided on max speed for fine to take advantage of that since I lack any speed control and my team is for the most part really slow. Kangaskhan was the focal point of my team and I based my team and play within each battle to enable it to run through teams. One of the key supporters for it is.....
Wigglytuff @ Assault Vest
Ability: Competitive
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 188 Def / 236 SAtk / 12 SDef / 68 Spd
Modest Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Hyper Beam
I was originally testing Bisharp in this role instead, but found it extremely underwhelming if the opponent didn't bring Intimidate, and even if they did it had quite a few flaws. I knew some of the Korean players were in love with Wigglytuff and Scott told me he was being terrorized by it and losing against it every time, so I thought why the hell not I'll test it instead of Bisharp. It'll be equally useless if they don't have Intimidate but at least it can take hits. It gets amazing coverage and a STAB spread move as well. Assault Vest was to increase its Special Bulk which helped a lot, and the Defense EVs were there so it could take neutral Physical Attacks better (Like when the opponent leads Salamence/Garchomp). The Speed EVs let it outspeed my Virginia Mawile, and the Special Attack EVs let it OHKO my Virginia Ferrothorn with Fire Blast at +0, my Virginia Mawile with Fire Blast at +2, and Salamence/Garchomp with Dazzling Gleam at +2. Since I had Assault Vest I couldn't use Protect as the 4th move and needed to find a solid filler move. There were pretty much no good choices. I considered Psychic for Gengar but not many people use that in the US. I decided on Hyper Beam since at +2 it OHKOs almost everything, and gives me something to hit Rotoms hard with since Kangaskhan doesn't like getting burned. I really only used it when Wigglytuff was about to die so I wouldn't care about the recharge turn, but it was a pretty useful move to have the option of using.
As of now the only video I have of my team from the tournament is Game 2 of my Top 4 match vs Trista "The Machine" Medine (also known as ryuzaki): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVVgmOd8riA
My Top 8 match was recorded and should be up within the next few days. I think the Finals were recorded as well but I'm not totally sure, but if they were those games should also be up within the next few days. I'll post the videos here and on Twitter (Follow me @RayRizzoVGC ) when they get uploaded so keep an eye out for them as well!
Thanks for reading guys, hope you enjoyed it. Now that I'm most likely qualified for Worlds without having to play Nationals I may try and make some strategy posts/guides here and maybe get into the whole Youtube thing like my man Aaron Zheng is doing, so keep an eye out for that as well.
The MSanktuary
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
THE Comeback Begins - A Virginia 1st Place Report
I had a hectic week
leading up to Regionals, as I was in Dallas for a Job Interview on Wednesday
and Thursday, so I didn't have a whole lot of practice time. Luckily I hired a
personal trainer, Aaron Zheng, to help keep me motivated to play Pokemon, because
otherwise I probably would have just used Torkoal again. After finishing my
team at 7 am Saturday without sleeping because it took forever to get a 6x 31
IV Tyranitar, I take a nap for a few hours until it's time to catch a ride with
the pookCAR and head off to Virginia. We meet in a McDonald's and get some food
while we're there. The cashiers must have known the Pokemon CHAMP was there
because they just brought my food directly to my table.
THE pookar.
Trista making some weird
face and Dan join me in the backseat.
Simon Yop is busy
training hard riding shotgun.
The traffic is pretty
bad, but we finally arrive and get some dinner at one of my favorite
restaurants, Cracker Barrel. We have a group of like 18, so we split up into
multiple tables. I get the pleasure of sitting next to one of my best buds,
Aaron Zheng. Unfortunately while waiting to order he makes up lies about me and
texts his hunny that I think she's fukin crazy when I said she was fukin cool.
We talk about powerful strategies involving the iceberg table and the tree, and
finally it's time to order dinner. I made sure to order gravy on everything I
ordered, while Babbytron ordered gritts. We all got a good taste of southern
cooking and decided we needed some exercise to work off all the food we ate. We
ended up at a Laser Tag place in the middle of absolutely nowhere. We signed up
and decided on captains to pick teams. I was lucky enough to be named the
captain of Team Aqua, while Wer was named captain of Team Flare. I made some
clutch picks, including Wolfe and Aaron, as well as "that guy who looks
like he might be good at this game". They finished 1st and 2nd place
respectively, while I finished a solid 5th.
The DREAM TEAM.
Of course the most
important result is that Team Aqua was victorious!!! But also who the hell knew
you could detach the gun from the vest!?!? Apparently everyone else
rofl...
It's around midnight so
we head back to the hotel and try and get some sleep. Unfortunately I was only
able to sleep about 3 hours because the pillows sucked, Dan kept stealing the
blanket, and I was hungry. But it's ok! I'm stopping at nothing this year. Not
even lack of sleep is gonna stop me. When everyone else wakes up we shower and
get ready, get some of the free breakfast in the lobby, and drive off to
wherever in the middle of nowhere this tournament was.
The registration line is
huge, but luckily pookar and I were smart and pre-registered. We registered in
like 5 minutes and started to meet some old faces as well as new ones.
Josetron!!!
Aaron and Hannah.
I also got to see my
good pal, and fellow gravy expert, Evan Latt. Don't forget to follow him on
twitter @NBplaid if you are also an avid gravy fan! Anyway, onto the team
I used! I had done all of my testing with either Charizard-Y, Kangaskhan, and
Mawile, so I knew I wanted one of those as my mega. However, not having Pokemon
Bank really ended up messing with me. I had 3 other teams that I had done
extremely well with on Showdown in testing, but there was no way I could get
them in time without having Pokemon Bank to transfer over parents to breed
with. Without revealing a whole lot in case Pokemon Bank miraculously gets
released in the next few weeks and I end up going to another regional, I had
some obscure Hidden Powers on Pokemon who no one used that Hidden Power on, and
some Pokemon with 6x 31 IVs that no one was breeding as mixed Pokemon. I just
didn't have enough time to get those teams in time, and I figured they may be a
little too anti-metagame at this point in the year. This was the very first
real X/Y tournament, so I wanted to be more conservative when it came to teambuilding and
not take too many risks trying to anti-metagame. But at the same time I
wanted to make sure I handled some of the most common Pokemon really well.
Physical Attackers and especially those with contact attacks were some of the
biggest threats and most likely to be used at regionals I had figured, so I
wanted to make sure I was well prepared for them. There are also certain
Pokemon and themes that I really like and end up using a lot no matter what the
rules are, including Double Dragon with some steels/Tyranitar supporting them
and their weaknesses! That's how I came up with this team, which I
affectionately refer to as THE BIG 6, because of course there are only 6 viable
Pokemon in the entire game!!!
Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252
SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Hydro Pump
- Dragon Pulse
Pretty standard Scarf
Salamence. One half of the Double Dragon and Double Intimidate. The only thing
that may be different is the Timid nature and lack of Rock Slide. I wanted
Timid because Scarf Salamence is really popular and I wanted to at worst be in
a speed tie. I couldn't get a 6x 31 IV one for Rock Slide in time without good
parents, and since it doesn't even OHKO Talonflame unless I go for a minus
defensive nature which I didn't want to do, I just didn't care. I never even
needed to use Hydro Pump in the actual tournament, nor did I ever need Rock
Slide, so that slot was a waste anyway.
Tyranitar @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252
SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Rock Slide
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Protect
Because I didn't have
Pokemon Bank, It took me forever to breed it so I could have 6x 31 IVs in order
to successfully go mixed but I managed to get it in time. I used Timid because
I know a lot of people use Specs Rotom-W with 114 Speed to outspeed max speed
Modest Tyranitars, but really I should have figured despite its popularity in
the rest of the world, almost no Americans would use that and instead I should
have used Modest. Modest Tyranitar with LO gets the OHKO on 252 HP/4 SpDef
Mawile 75% of the time, which is pretty useful. I went with Timid instead of a
minus defensive nature because I like the bulk on Tyranitar (which is a little
contradictory considering Life Orb and no EV investment in HP or Defenses, but
he's so naturally bulky especially in sand) and ended up surviving attacks a
lot during testing with under 10% HP. Rock Slide also doesn't need a neutral
nature in order to get the OHKOs and 2HKOs it needs to. Dark Pulse was for
special STAB whenever I was burned or Intimidated, and Fire Blast was for
steels which walled my Double Dragons(well kind of, I have Fire Blast on Mence
and EQ on Chomp)/Mawile/Ferrothorn. I decided to forgo Ice Beam because I felt
that I had Dragons covered fine with my other Pokemon, and Rock Slide still
lets me handle Salamence easily though it's not a OHKO.
Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk
/ 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Rock Slide
- Protect
Rocky Helmet is so
cheesy with Rough Skin but it's actually pretty solid. It's another part of the
team that helps control physical attackers (ones that make contact). It along
with Salamence also really help to handle fire types (especially Charizard-Y, the
most dangerous of them) which are a threat to Mawile/Ferrothorn. There's
nothing else to really say about the Garchomp, it's really standard, but it
just fit so well with the rest of the team.
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 4
Def / 180 SDef / 20 Spd
Careful Nature
- Play Rough
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Protect
Mawile is definitely one
of the best Mega Pokemon, and for a lot of reasons. In its regular form,
despite the extremely low base stats, it can offer Intimidate Support before
Megaevolving. Steel/Fairy typing lets it switch in on so much, and it works especially
well switching into Garchomp/Salamence's weaknesses. Careful Nature with all
that bulk will surely come as a surprise to a lot of people, but I felt that
maxing its attack really didn't accomplish much. It's one of the perfect
examples in Pokemon of Diminishing Returns. It has such an obnoxious attack
stat with Huge Power, investing in it to the maximum is likely to be just a
waste of EVs. It's going to OHKO frail Pokemon and stuff weak to fairy no
matter how much Attack you have, and it's still going to 2HKO everything else
that doesn't resist it no matter how much attack you have. On the other hand,
its SpDef is so bad, even weak STAB attacks deal a ton of damage to it. I knew
that 252 HP/252 Atk was not an ideal EV spread, but I didn't know how far I
wanted to take the idea of making Mawile really bulky. Looking back to 2011,
where I used almost max HP/SpDef on Conkeldurr, and used a Bold entirely bulky
Thundurus to great success, I figured I should start by taking it to the
extreme like I did back then. With Careful and 180 SpDef EVs Timid 252 SpAtk
Choice Specs Salamence does 85.3 - 100.6 % with Fire Blast (6.3 % chance to
OHKO) and Mawile can OHKO back with Play Rough at -1 Atk. Modest 252 SpAtk
Charizard-Y does 77.7 - 92.9 % with Heat Wave outside of Sun (So Tyranitar
helps there, or if the 5 turns of sun just run out), while Mawile can do 52.5 -
62.3 % back to it with Sucker Punch. The 52 Atk EVs let Mawile OHKO 252 HP
Tyranitar 93.8 % of the time with Play Rough. The Speed EVs were just for speed
creeping other Mawiles.
Overall, Mawile was
excellent, and despite not having any speed control, it was extremely useful in
almost all of my matches. In fact it was clutch in a lot of my matches and
really gave me an advantage that was hard to let go of if I got my opponent
caught in a bad position due to the synergy I had in switching in and out
combined with Intimidate support. I wouldn't hesitate to say the extra bulk
helps a lot when your team lacks speed control. I'm not sure how the EV spread
for Mawiles will evolve after I post this, but I know it's very likely my EV
spread isn't ideal. However, I think the idea of using some extra bulk on it is
a better way to use it compared to 252 HP/Atk and I will continue to work on
making those common/standard Pokemon like Mawile evolve throughout the year,
whether it's by unique EV spreads or movesets and I encourage everyone else to
do the same. Just because everyone uses a Pokemon on almost every team and has
the same EV spread/moveset doesn't mean it's the best way to use that Pokemon,
or that there are no other options that are also good. I only say this because
I see so many people complaining on places like Nuggetbridge or Showdown chat
about how "there are only 6 viable Pokemon" because "everyone
uses the same team". I think this is far from the truth, and I think this
metagame has a lot more variety than VGC 13 did. People just need to be willing
to experiment. Look at Enosh, who is an excellent player and an extremely
consistent tournament finisher, Toler, a former World Champion, and Wolfe, a
2-time National Champion and Worlds Runner up. They all used some crazy stuff,
much crazier than I did, and they both had a very successful regional.
Hopefully this regional encourages people to be more creative, because I think
that makes the game more fun for everyone playing. If you manage to think of
something that's creative yet actually good, you're going to have much more
success. Just think of it mathematically. If you consider yourself a good
player but maybe not one of the best, and are aiming for not just top cut, but
a really high finish, would you rather be one of the hundreds using the same
exact team and just hoping you get better luck than those who are also of an
equal skill level to you whether it's by lucky pairings or actual luck during
battles? Or would you rather try and work to find something creative that can
help break down the metagame and separate yourself from all of your
competitors using the standard team and even compete with the top tier players?
It's more difficult absolutely, but if you have aspirations to finish really
highly at the more challenging tournaments I think that's the way to go. Enough
of that rant, inspired by that drama filled thread on Nuggetbridge, back to the
team. Also Talonflame sucks.
Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus
Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def /
4 SAtk / 132 SDef / 4 Spd
Calm Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
Sadly mine wasn't shiny,
but I love shiny Rotom-W and I wish I had one in X/Y. Pretty standard Support
Rotom-W. I don't like Rotom-H very much and I think Rotom-W is pretty superior
to it, so it was an easy choice for my team. One of the best Pokemon in this
ruleset, and it's one of those Pokemon where it's no surprise it's on almost
every team. WoW provides further disruption for teams filled with Physical
Pokemon, and Protect helps me in the Charizard/Venusaur matchup, as I can scout
for the megaevolve and then switch in TTar. Protect is also just a really good
move in general, and it's even better when it's unsuspected, which it often is
on Rotom-W. Just like I EV'd Mawile, Rotom only has a ~6% chance of dying to
Modest 252 SpAtk Charizard-Y's Solarbeam. Just incase I get caught in a
situation where Charizard-Y is in and sun is up, which does happen a decent
amount when Charizard-Y teams are played well. The 116 Defense lets it take 2
Adamant 252 Atk Azumarill Play Roughs without dying when factoring in Sitrus.
That scenario never happened in testing or in the tournament, but I wanted the
rest of my EVs in Physical Defense anyway just for some more bulk.
Ferrothorn @ Lum Berry
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Atk /
52 SDef
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Protect
Ferrothorn helped the
team with a lot of different things at once. It disrupted physical contact
making attackers with Iron Barbs, could help in the Smeargle matchup with Lum
Berry, could take a WoW from Rotom-W and OHKO it back with Power Whip thanks to
my large investment in Attack, it could help handle Rain teams, and it had
excellent synergy defensively with the rest of my team. It also created win
conditions on its own. In some cases where my opponent only had 1 or 2 Pokemon
that could deal with Ferrothorn, I could simply identify those 1 or 2 Pokemon
and focus my strategy on KOing the threats to Ferrothorn no matter what the
cost and simply winning because they can't KO Ferrothorn once it Leech Seeds
them. Lum was extremely useful, as many people kept their Rotom-Ws in and tried
WoWing Ferro instead of switching out. The Moveset is standard, and the Atk EVs
are enough to OHKO common Rotoms. I just put the rest in SpDef since I had so
many ways to handle Physical Attackers.
Overall, I felt pretty
confident in the team going into the regional despite only making it and
testing it one day before. I hadn't practiced nearly as much as I would have
liked though. I was fuzzy on some damage calcs that playing more would have
helped with. The new 45 second timer doesn't give a warning when you're about
to run out of time and I definitely would prefer the minute we had in previous
years, so I wasn't as used to the timer as players who played a lot on Battle
Spot like Wolfey were. I couldn't identify all the Pokemon in team preview if
my opponent used some crazy obscure Pokemon (which happened), and I definitely
don't know all the names of the new Pokemon haha (or last gen's Pokemon). Onto
the tournament itself! I will prepare you for disappointment, because I don't
remember anything about my matches, and you're unable to save battle videos.
Evan recorded my round 9 match vs Jivetime during the break between Swiss and
Top Cut, and I recorded game 2 of the finals vs Enosh, the only 2 games that
were even possible to record with the lookback feature, so I'll post those
links for you guys to watch. I have in my notes the Pokemon my opponent used
and whether I won or lost, but I don't have their names and I don't remember
what happened in the match so this part probably won't be too interesting other
than seeing the teams I had to play against.
Round 1 vs Kid
Scizor
(Lv.40)/Jolteon/Quagsire/Snorlax/Charizard/Lucario
His Quagsire got a
critical hit Ice Beam on my Garchomp so I lost a Pokemon to him, hopefully he
didn't feel too discouraged after his Round 1 loss. And yes he did bring the
Lv.40 Scizor to the battle and yes it megaevolved. Win
The real story of this
round ended up being both Aaron and Wolfe losing, with Aaron losing to 4-0 to
this guy with a Mega Aerodactyl and lots of Swagger and a Cryoginal, who ended
up becoming a legend at the tournament.
Round 2 vs Guy
Pumpkin/Reuniclus/Aromatisse/Mawile/Clawitzer/Kangaskhan
This guy had a really
hard TR team, which I was ok with because I felt my team could handle TR fine.
I remember he had a Calm Mind Aromatisse with that fairy move that heals HP
based on the damage it does so that was interesting, but I won the match
without too much trouble. I do remember I faced a little bit of hax this match
but not enough to cost me the battle. Win
Round 3 vs Guy
Garchomp/Kangaskhan/Rotom-W/TTar/Gengar/Salamence
I don't remember what
happened this match, but this kind of standard type team I was completely
prepared for and I don't remember having much trouble with this match. I do
remember he had WoW Gengar though which was interesting, and wouldn't be the
last time I saw that today. Win
Round 4 vs TMan (I
didn't know who he was at the time)
Manectric/Garchomp/Talonflame/Kangaskhan/Rotom-W/Mamoswine
I didn't play very well
this match. I have trouble with Manectric with my team sometimes, but I got
outplayed turn 1 by double attacking into a Protect and then missed a Draco
Meteor on it the following turn which hurt because that's the Pokemon that
single handedly beat me. My predictions were off this game, most likely because
of a lack of practice, but he ended up going 9-0 so his tiebreaker would help
me later, as I squeaked into top cut at 13th place. But really this was a good
match because it put some pressure on me to play better. Lose
Round 5 vs Guy
Mawile/Garchomp/Mushroom/Rotom-H/Greninja/Meowstick
This guy had another
pretty standard team. I pretty much just focused on taking out Rotom-H and
winning with Ferrothorn, which is exactly what happened. Win
Round 6 vs Guy
Garchomp/TTar/Talonflame/Lucario/Kangaskhan/Gengar
Another standard looking
team, which I was ok with. I missed a Rock Slide on his Talonflame which
sucked, but I still managed to win pretty handily since I remember I got some
kind of revenge hax. Win
Round 7 vs TCG Guy
Garchomp/Hydra/Eggy/Mawile/Rotom-W/Scrafty
He told me he was a TCG
player, so I was curious to see how good he would be since he must know what
he's doing if he's 5-1. Eggy brought me back to 2012 worlds, but just like Wolfe
he didn't use it vs me. I remember this was one of the matches where I abused
my defensive switch-in synergy, as well as creating a Ferrothorn win condition
for myself. I later found out that this guy was using a team Amarilo Cablero
made for him. Win
Round 8 vs Matt Coyle
(EnFuego)
Talonflame/Kangaskhan/Mushroom/Rotom-W/Scizor(Lum)/Salamence
I knew his Scizor had
Lum because we roomed together and it was announced to the entire room that it
had Lum Berry. I played thinking he knew my TTar would outspeed his Scizor and
Fire Blast it since people knew I had mixed TTar by that point, but that didn't
work out for me. Rotom-W burned my Ferrothorn which cured itself with Lum
Berry, but ended up missing Power Whip, and then when I flinched his Rotom with
Rock Slide the following turn I missed Power Whip again, so my Ferrothorn ended
up getting burned and I lost to endgame Kangaskhan+Mushroom. Revenge for
beating him at US Nationals with Numel I guess! Lose
Round 9 vs Michael
Lanzano (Jivetime)
Meowstick/Mawile/Rotom-W/Salamence/Mushroom/TTar
Jivetime's a guy who has
a lot of Regional success and I think he's a really solid player, but has yet
to place really high at Nationals or Worlds. He's a modest guy who works pretty
hard at improving so I think he's due for a really good finish there soon
though. This was an insanely close match, and definitely the closest match of
the tournament for me (especially in a situation where it's win and cut or lose
and miss). I was at a key early disadvantage when he nailed my Salamence
switchin with Mawile, where if the timer was a minute I would have gone back
and switched because it was such an obvious play but I didn't have enough time.
That left me with 3 physical attackers vs a Charm Meowstick.
Somehow I played out of it, and got it down to one of those coinflip turns
where whoever predicts right wins. Since we've played a few times online and
I've seen him play vs other good players I know he's capable of making plays
your average player wouldn't make, so I used that to my advantage when trying
to predict him on the final turn. It may have only made me a couple % more
confident in my move which is just considered a 50/50, but any advantage helps.
I ended up guessing right, sending me into the top 16. Win
Watch the battle here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzB3EpcJHvQ
Sadly my man Aaron
misses Top Cut barely, despite coming back from his early loss to Aerodactyl
and Cryoginal. Wolfe makes it into top cut, and ends up on the opposite side of
the bracket as me, so if we both win out, we'll meet in the finals for a pretty
epic first X/Y regional. I end up paired with Talking Lion for Top 16 who I
know from Nuggetbridge but don't know much else about him like how he plays or
what mons he likes using.
Top 16 vs Talking Lion
Nidoqueen/Talonflame/Gardevoir/Rotom-W/Kangaskhan/Ferrothorn
I didn't know if it was
Nidoking or Nidoqueen based on the team preview pictures so I asked him and he
kindly told me, but then I realized that was dumb because you can tell by the
gender. I knew Ferrothorn would be a pain, so I wanted to try and keep a mon
alive at the end to deal with a late game Ferrothorn. I remember I played
pretty well games 1 and 2, but in game 2 it came down to my Mawile and Garchomp
vs his Ferrothorn. He ended up Leech Seeding both so I had to EQ my own Mawile
to stop him from healing from it while at the same time increasing EQ's power
to 100% since it would be 1 v 1. Luckily he wasn't able to get off enough
triple protects to win, so I moved on to the top 8. Win 2 - 0
Top 8 vs Guy
Kangaskhan/Talonflame/Rotom-W/Hydreigon/Chandelure/Charizard
When I saw his team in
team preview I was remembering my matches over the years with ryujin jaka cause
he had 3 Fire types. Like I do in all of my best of 3 matches, I play to win
game 1 but I also try and get information that might be key to winning games 2
and 3. I got exactly that in game 1. I found out his Hydreigon was Scarfed and
what I guessed was Specs Chandelure though I couldn't be 100 % sure. But I was
fairly confident it was Specs. I ended up losing but I gained some key
knowledge on how my opponent plays as well as some items/moves. I don't
remember games 2 or 3 really being very close. Win 2 - 1
Top 4 vs Toler Webb
(Dimsun)
Garchomp/Talonflame/Flower/Rotom-W/Pumpkin/Mawile
Trista told me at the
start of the tournament that Flower could learn Trick Room. Luckily I talked to
my good friends Aaron and Wolfe to find out that Trista was WRONG and that the
Flower doesn't learn Trick Room. I still had no idea what it did, but at least
I knew not that. But this looked to be a really interesting match, with two
2012 World Champions against each other. I can't remember what I did, but I
remember he missed both WoW and Leech Seed from Rotom and Pumpkin and I ended
up killing his Pumpkin with Dark Pulse from TTar and burned Mawile. He didn't
end up bringing Flower, but I remember winning without having to reveal
Ferrothorn as the 4th mon that I picked, so I hoped maybe that would cause him
to bring Flower so I could clean up with an end game Ferrothorn. Game 2 I
forget how I won, but I did, so GG. Win 2 - 0
Finals vs Enosh Shachar
(Human)
Politoed/Talonflame/Krokodile/Ludicolo/Grass
Starter/Zapdos
I didn't know anything
about his team going into this match other than that he didn't have a mega,
which was pretty interesting. I was worried of the Politoed/Ludicolo matchup
since it could take care of some of my counters to his other mons, but I knew if
I played it right I could win. I had no idea what Grass Starter does, other
than that it gets that shield move, and it's ability prevents bomb moves. (I
remember someone talking about how it walls Gengar on IRC like right when the
game came out, so I knew it blocked Shadow Ball for some reason, but I had no
idea if it blocked Gyro Ball (which I was using). I tried asking before he saw
my team in preview if it blocked Gyro Ball but I couldn't get an answer! Oh
well! Game 1 I think I played pretty well and ended up with Ferrothorn and
something else vs low HP Grass Starter at the end. I went for a Gyro Ball on it
just so I could see if it would block it before winning and I found out that it
does indeed block Gyro Ball! Who knew??? Game 2 I have recorded so I won't
comment on it. GG. Win 2 - 0
Watch Game 2 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSHlNwMbz6k
Group Photo of the few
people who stayed until the very end!
We went back to our
hotel room to chill and get drinks. Evan Falco joined us which was cool, I
haven't seen him in a long time.
Jamaican Me Happy :3
Upon EnFuego posting
this on Facebook, my manhood began to be questioned by the likes of Duy Ha, so
I had to drink something a little more manly.
Some Mike's Hard
Lemonade, now that's more like it :3
Simon and I are getting
hungry and it's like 1 AM and we don't know where to go. I call up the Denny's
at the West Bestern and ask what time they close, and they tell me it doesn't.
I think we found where to eat. When we get there no one's there, and there is
just one guy running the entire Denny's, from seating us, taking orders,
cooking the food, everything. He was a fuckin machine. He even gave us like 6
free pancakes. Needless to say we tipped him pretty well.
We get back to our hotel
and for reasons Simon Yop and Chris "Laser Tag God"
whatever your last name is slept in the pookCAR. And that's pretty much the end
of the weekend. I get some more gravy for breakfast at the Waffle House,
because I don't know the next time I'll get to enjoy some nice gravy will be,
and we drive back home :)
I look forward to seeing
a lot of people again at APEX, and maybe at Florida Regionals too!
Remember, Talonflame
sucks. And follow me on Twitter @RayRizzoVGC
After not playing Pokemon last year I'm gonna try and get more active playing Pokemon as long as I keep my personal trainer Aaron Zheng around. I'll try to post some more stuff on my blog, whether it's just general strategy stuff, teams, teambuilding, or maybe streaming, so stay tuned!
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