mattj
blatant Nintendo fanboy
all credit to Bad Intent for the pic
Thanks Y'all:
As always, before I even begin, I have to give thanks to those who helped me make it. Without you guys I'd be worse than
Yeti. Without your undying support, I never would have had the will to continue when nobody else believed in me, the will to push harder and make top 16 at both Atlanta and Nats 2010. Thank you. Thank YOU.
Teh J-Dawg. A close second. Thanks for good weather, a safe drive, and good times.
Bad Intent. It was seriously awesome finally getting to meet you in real life. You've helped me immensely since those days back on Serebii playing in TRJesse's VGC Tourneys. I don't believe any one person has helped me as much as you have with test battles and good advice.
PokemonBattleBrain. A real metagame genius. My battles with you always teach me something new. Oh, and thank you so, so soooooo much for getting the room lined out for us all. *whew* Plus, hanging out with you in real life is always fun (when you're not blowing chunks).
BlueCookies. The few times we've battled have taught me a lot also. Plus you're awesome to joke with on IRC.
BAHAHAHAH I POSTED A FB PIC OF YOU BAHAHAHAHA at least it's a good one
Drcossack. You've been a serious help to me since VGC 09. You've always been up for a quick battle (even when I'm not lol) and you've always had great team advice for me. Thank you bro.
Greysong. It was such a treat to finally get to meet you. We've been battling since VGC 09 over on Serebii in TRJ's Tourneys, and you've always presented a challenge for me. You've EV'd for me, RNG'd for me, battled. Man. I owe ya.
RandomVGC. My personal EV'er. Thank you for all your hard work man.
Shuttup. Another "Sere-bro". Bro, you're a serious inspiration to me. You always believe in me and support me. Thanks man. It was a real pleasure to meet you in real life.
Massi. Dude. Seriously. We've played a TON of times, and the ONLY time I've EVER beaten you is when I haxed the CRAP out of you. You always give me a tough fight, and I appreciate that.
Fridanny. You RNG'd so many pokemon for me, even the Shiftry and Gengar that I ended up using on my Nats team. You saved me so much time and headache so I could focus on getting used to the VGC 2010 metagame. Thank you so much.
All my #Skarmbliss and #Smogonwifi peeps. Thanks guys for all the battles and for all the good laughs running up to Nats 2010.
Everybody I've traded with. To all of you who helped my thread become so successful, thank you. Because of you guys (and gals, godudette and fridanny) I was always able to have a fully legit EV'd poke on hand to test on wifi. I appreciate each and every one of you.
There are so many more people who helped me out, each in their own way, and I feel terrible because I know I've forgotten someone terribly important to me, but, this trip was literally...
So please don't be too offended if I forgot you specifically. :x
The Trip Down:
Friday Afternoon/Evening. It was a seriously nice drive compared to the 10 hour drive to Atlanta. It only turned out to be like 4 and a half hours, but only because of slow truckers blocking both lanes like the whole trip down. One nice straight shot up 70 almost the whole entire way. There was good weather and manageable traffic. Somehow I didn't have too much trouble finding and picking up BlueCookies around the Convention Center that night (buh buh BUUUUUUUUH!!). Picked up PBB at the airport and found the hotel fairly easily.
Met up with BI at the hotel (yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!) and settled in. PBB scored a seriously nice room for the low price!
SATURDAY MORNING, LCQ:
Somehow, I didn't have too much trouble finding BC around the Convention Center in the BLACK OF NIGHT. HOWEVER, I had the most terrible time navigating that morning. My mapquest directions were absolutely useless and all the one-way streets had me about to punch some random homeless guy's teeth out. I got so lost that I aaaaaaaalmost made PBB too late for the LCQ. But I dropped him off near the Convention Center and found a place to park and he made it in allright.
Thanks for the pic Huy. Mooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwkssss
I met TONS of people including RandomVGC (who took the time to say hi WHILE BATTLING in the LCQ), lots of Worlds 09 Peeps, other well known and lesser known Smogoners, Greysong (yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!) and even (buh buh BUUUUUUHHHH!!) my old pal TR Jesse who hadn't been answering PMs on serebii beforehand and I didn't even know was going to be there.:justin2:
Tons of my friends made tops at LCQ, Got to watch literally the most Epic "top 32" battle that will ever exist (Brianna pwnage, couldn't even break her leads), PBB blew chunks. I'd say it was a pretty good day. But then the "5 minute" drive back literally took me an hour and half because of getting lost AGAIN and road construction closing the exits I needed twice. TWIIIIIIIICE!!!
THE NIGHT BEFORE NATS:
Like everyone else, I had been watching the metagame develop since even before Seattle, since the first rumors about being able to use Ubers surfaced. The way I saw it, it started with Scarfogres, then randomhodgepodge goodstuffs teams made of uubers. Then I started testing Quiet 0spd IronBall Kyogre to force the weather. That became popular, not just because of me, but because it really did work for a time. Then I noticed that after PBB tested my Quiet 0spd Iron Balled Abomasnow paired with Mewtwo, a lot of people started countering IBall Kyogre and Groudon powered weather teams. And then, of course, Paul forever changed this year's metagame with Kyogre / Top. Etc, etc, you get the picture.
Here was the dilemma I was in; should I use a team that I absolutely know will work, or should I use a team I actually like?
Ever since Atlanta, I had made up my mind to swallow my pride this year and just use Ogre / Croak (a good alternate to Ogre / Top). I really wanted that free trip to Hawaii, stakes were higher this year with fewer paid invites, and I didn't want to jack around. I knew from testing that it would get me to top 8, but... it just seemed too... idunno... "not my style". :/
Literally, the night before Nats at like 1AM, when we were all finally settling down to sleep, I decided to completely scrap the team I'd been testing and planning to use for over a month, and go with the first team I'd really fallen in love with waaaaaaay back before Seattle, waaaaaaay back even before the dates/locations/RULES were even announced. This team LITERALLY represents me, my taste in pokemon, my likes in videogames, and ESPECIALLY my general playstyle... here it is. :)
THE TEAM:
Groudon "Fyrus"
Brave
31/31/31/x/31/0
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Iron Ball
Earthquake, Dragon Claw, Fling, Protect
Shiftry "Deku Scrub"
Adamant
31/31/31/x/31/31
252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Focus Sash
Fake Out, Sucker Punch, Protect, Explosion (in that very specific order)
Thank you Fridanny!
Gengar "Poe"
Hasty
31/31/31/31/31/31
252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Atk
Life Orb
Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Explosion, Protect
Thank you Fridanny!
Giratina O "Dead Hand"
Jolly
31/31/31/x/31/31
252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Griseous Orb
Shadow Force, Shadow Sneak, Dragon Claw, Protect
Ho-oh "Helmaroc"
Jolly
31/31/31/x/31/31
252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Choice Scarf (lol)
Sacred Fire, Brave Bird, Earthquake, Protect (lol)
Togekiss "Gyorg Pair"
Timid
31/x/31/31/31/31
252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Holding a Choice Band, but usually using either a Life Orb (wow) or a Choice Scarf (lol)
Air Slash, Heat Wave, Follow Me, Protect
Just your basic, "Sun Fueled Explosion Team". It wasn't set up to "counter" anything. It didn't fit well into the "current metagame". I just liked it, and I had pretty much been fooling around with it off and on since we first heard we might be able to use ubers. As soon as people started leading with Abomasnow to shut down Auto-weather teams, this particular team started failing pretty hard. BUT. I kept playing with it here and there, because I really, really, liked it. Maybe its just nostalgia from using a Sunny Day team at Worlds 09, but man, I LOVE Sun teams. :D
Saturday Morning, the 2010 Pokemon National Championship:
Round 1, versus Imawario:
DEAGLE GET OUT OF THE FRIGGIN WAY!! Me behind Deagle(orange) Imawario in yellow. Thanks to theundecided for the pic.
While getting my game out of my DS pouch, my AR fell out onto the little white table area
but I got it put away before Marriland crucified me (nice goat man!).
Imawario's a really cool guy in real life (unlike his firebot persona that he has created for himself). We chatted for a bit and then the battle started.
and then it ended.
4/0 him. My God. I was sweating now. Did I make the wrong decision? Is this team just too weak. Oh crap oh crap oh crap.
Imawario played very well and had a tight team and deserved the win 100%. I played a little to... "defensively?" and Giratina O proved to be nothing but dead weight, so I determined to play more offensively from now on, switched out Gira O for Scarfed Ho-Oh and waited for the next match. This would turn out to be a great decision. Thanks Imawario for the loss. It set me up for the next 5 wins that day!
Round 2, versus David Arnold:
NOOOOOOOOOoooooooooose can't find that Nats pic of our battle. :(
Thanks for the FB pic Glen Arnold.
Let me start by saying that I really admire David Arnold. He struts right into Seniors at Atlanta and MOPS THE FLOOR WITH EVERYONE. I mean, bodies everywhere. It was carnage. I seriously was worried sitting down across from him, BUT, he's such a likeable lil dude, that he put me at ease right away.
Battle starts. Looks like a TR lead. I Fake Out his setup poke (Smeargle?) and EQ with Groudon. His Dialga lives and sets up TR, which as it turns out, and he probably couldn't have known, was good for me cuz of my Groudon. It was a great game.
A real LOL moment came when Greysong and Shuttup were cheering for me on the sidelines and Mrs. Arnold "SHHUSHED" them. David and I just kinda chuckled and I turned to them and was like "Dudes, dudes, chill. David's a bro too."
Round 3, versus Ryuzaki:
Gawd I procrastinated again and lost the link to the Match Pic >_?. Thanks to Huy for the FB Pic.
All I have to say is, sorry for the 1st Turn DClaw Crit on your Scarfed Palkia. Really, really sorry :( You fought really well though after that, but taking out a lead with a Crit on the first turn is hard to come back from. :(
Round 4, versus Wesley:
Why look at a picture when you can watch the vid?
Wesley and I kind of go back a ways. His brother Steve was the only guy to mop the floor with me back at Nats 09 (I ran speed, he ran TR lol). Plus, Wesley beat me fair and square for the "top 8" match down in Atlanta. So, he's like "We meet again, heh".
I don't mean any disrespect whatsoever, but I believe if you watch the vid, you'll notice that Wesley got fairly lucky. My Groudon has never died to a non-orbed DPulse from a Ray before (without a crit) and I think that ho-oh may have survived his Ogre's Muddy Water too since he had little to no SAtk EVs on his Ogre and it wasn't in the rain (Rayquaza). Needless to say, that's the game. No hard feelings. :) Lost that one and moved on.
Round 5, versus... er... ummm.. ??JGiles??
Really sorry if I messed up the name bro. All I remember of this battle was that he lead with Sashzelf and GiraA. Faked out his Zelf (who protected) and switched in my Scarf-oh. I then Suckerpunched his Zelf (who was going to explode). He got a smirk and goes "thank God for the sash, heh" and then I got a smirk and went "thank God for the scarf, heh" as Ho-oh, Brave Bird'd Azelf. PWWWWWWWWWWWWWN!! It was a good close game, but I won.
Round 6, versus Ninahaza:
BROOOOOOOOOOO WHYYYYY MUUUUUUUUUST WEEEEEEEEE BAAAAAAAATLOROOOOOOR?!?!?!
thanks for the awesome pic Ninahaza!
Basic Rundown:
T1: Two Protects = like no damage.
T2: I waste my Fling into his Cress's protect this turn.
I AM DOOMED
T3: Toxics both my Groudon and Shiftry I think
T...somethinerother: lots of switching
Okay Final turns: Basically, it boils down to his Cress alone versus my Shiftry and Groudon. He tries to PP Stall at first and Protect in case of explosions. I just wait him out. I finally see my chance, so I take it. I explode, knowing it won't KO most Cress's (and as it turns out it wouldn't have KO'd his). Health drops, drops, drops.... "A critcal hit!"
YOU
CANNOT
TIME
STUFF
LIKE
THAT
I really do apologize bro. I realize you totally had that one in the bag. Had I not been a noob and saved my Iron Ball when I KNEW you were going to protect with Cress like turn 2, it would have been a different story. But... that wasn't the case... Wins don't feel good at all when you didn't deserve them...
Round 7, versus Danny:
Thanks to TAD for the pic. Me in the green on the right, just past some random black dude (lol). Danny across the table from me.
It took a little prodding at first to get him to chat, but as soon as he did, it became clear he was a really neat guy. Just came to the VGCs for his kids, made it farther than them (lol). He had a super tight team (Paul's) and used it skillfully.
In the end, I had to sacrifice Ho-Oh to get a quick EQ in there to weaken both his Palkia and Kyogre down enough to where my superweak Orbe'd Gengar's Explosion could KO them both AND THEN just HOPE he didn't protect. Fortunately he didn't. Like the next day, we were talking and he was like "I totally just forgot Gengar GOT Explosion". And we laughed.
Regardless of what other people have said about him, we got along really well. :)
So that was it. Mike Leisik had already said that all 5/2s get in, so it was sealed. In spite of what some people had thought, I had at least won an invite to Worlds 2010!! I was officially...
LORD OF THE NERDS
at least in my own mind
SUNDAY MORNING, BATTLE FOR TEH MONIES
Round 1, versus Milan Patel (Pokeman Master)
Because Mike had *coughfoolishlycough* let us all know who we were facing R1 like a DAY AHEAD OF TIME, I had plenty of time to figure out who Milan was and what he was using. I had faced similar teams before and wasn't really worried. Infact, I hadn't remembered it, but we had actually battled with the exact same teams before Nats (lol). We ran the damage calcs the night before and as long as I Banded my Groudon and his Dialga wasn't like +Def with a ton of Def EVs or a Shucca Berry, there was like a 99% chance of 1HKOing his Dialga with EQ. It would then be 4 on 2 with no Trick Room for him. An easy win for me.
Turn 1: Fake Out his Smeargle, Groudon EQs, Smeargle dies. Dialga... going... going... goooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiing....
stops
1
hit
point
Then after that, I lost a speed tie to his Sitrus'd Quiet 0spd Ogre, and Ho-oh failed to Brave Bird his non Sashed Abomasnow due to paralysis.
A lot of people would have gotten frustrated. I just let out a big belly laugh.
People. If you don't understand by now, you may never understand.
Round 2, versus Milan
Thanks Dan for the LOL pic.
I can't say jack about this match. I actually got lucky myself with DV missing. I SWORE he would have put a Shucca on his Dialga because of how much damage I did to his Dialga before, so I brought out Orbed Gengar with Focus Blast as backup.
T1: Dialga protects, Gengar Focus Blasts (protect), Groudon EQs to bring Smeargle to his sash. SMEARGLE DARK VOIDS!!! :o It misses Gengar but gets Groudon. Then Dialga sets up TR as I Focus Blast into his Chopple >_?WTH?!!? and DV gets Gengar this time.
Many turns of sleep later, it's over.
DO NOT GET ME WRONG, MILAN PATEL HAD A GREAT TEAM, PLAYED EXPERTLY AND ABSOLUTELY DESERVED THE WIN. PROPS TO YOU BRO. ENJOY WORLDS!! :D
I hold nothing against the kid, and hope he has a great time there. As for me, no money means no trip.
BUT
I played well, and had fun.
I have absolutely no regrets.
THOUGHTS ON VGC 2010:
- Mike Liesik is teh man. You and your crew did an amazing job this year. Thanks for listening to us about so many things, the entrant cap, the team scouting, the CHAIRS!!
- It's all luck at the top kids. As long as you understand and can accept that, it's still fun.
- The metagame was not stagnant or cramped. Yes there were a lot of ubers, but there were a lot of Rayquazas and Brave Groudons too, which everybody said wouldn't work. This is a good sign for next year's "unknown" metagame. Oh yeah, ABSOL ABSOL AAAAAABSOOOL
- It was so insanely nice to meet so many great people, especially Bad Intent, Greysong, TR Jesse, and Shuttup.
- Oh, meeting a few, non-wifi'ers was cool too, DM, Fishy, and Chaos.
- OMFGZ?! CHAOS KNEW MY NAME?>!kh%)~()&%*(%&()_)(()+_(_%$$%
So what will I be up to now that I'm not going to Worlds 2010? Well... a bunch of this:
And hopefully some more of this too:
Am I going to participate in VGC 2011? Idunno. It really depends on if there are any close stops next year. I'm definitely not driving 10 hours to a Quali again.
I don't really have anything to prove
- I've qualified for the Pokemon World Championship two years in a row now
- I've placed 17th (worlds 09) or higher (everywhere else) at every VGC event I've been allowed to actually play at
- I have a successful trade thread (which i'm finally gonna re-open now that VGCs are over)
- I can manipulate the game's internal RNG to my command
- the owner of the frigging LARGEST COMPETITIVE POKEMON SITE recognized ME
- I've roomed (twice now lol) with the owner of largest VGCcentric site.
We'll see. ;)
gawd this was long x_x
