BRIEF WARSTORY
Instead of doing a report about the tournament, this warstory will be about my entire weekend in D.C. However if you want the long story short report, I made top 16 with some luck happening along the way (getting frozen and defrosting the following turn, using spore and the opponent waking up the following turn and using explosion that turn =x). I won't be including what mons I used since I might make some changes to it for future tournaments. Also got to meet up with VGC tournament coordinator Mike Liesik who is always chill and was making fun of me when I got to the finalist lounge cause I was making so many faces during rounds 1-4 (yea getting frozen turn 1 and defrosting the following turn is pretty big so had to make a face for that haha). But yea I'm really unhappy with the format since we are all limited to using a handful of pokemon and winning either through luck (hax), or speed ties (more luck). Since P!P does read the forums please don't make us use the team preview+using a handful of pokemon for the following seasons. Yes team preview makes it more strategy wise but now its mostly used as a way to counter certain pokemon (and adding even more mind games =x). At least with the old format you got to use whatever team you wanted to use without getting counter teamed. But yea just voicing my opinion to add to the mix of the others even though you probably can't do anything since Japan is the one that is implementing the rules.
SOCIAL WARSTORY.
When the locations were first announced (on a British gaming website lol), fellow team Dan member TTS and I had planned to make the journey to DC since after last years regionals attendance (aka the only regional to fill up+ppl being turned away), we decided it would be best to go to DC since this format is all luck based (hint hint lol). During the coming weeks our road trip group got bigger (TTS's friend Max+WORLD CHAMPION RAY RIZZO). Ok so finally it was the day before the tournament, I took a 2 hr bus to NJ to meet with TTS+group. I get to the bus stop, wait and meet up with the gang. Along the way we get some chikfila (I had this about 3 times since there is only 1 in all of NYC lolol). While TTS+Max are driving/navigating, Ray and I are busy at the battle factory (thanks guys lol). We lost in the last round of the first set since our pokemon sucked (golduck+quagsire lead with water absorb+surf) and our last opponent had snorlax, slaking+salamence lol. HOWEVER ARCEUS WAS ON OUR SIDE AND WE GOT TO CHOOSE METAGROSS+ TYRANITAR+SALAMENCE IN THE SECOND SET AND DESTROYED EVERYONE lol. SUCH A PWFL TEAM. We make some stops along the way and soon get to D.C. around 11:30 am.
TTS trying to figure out our way from the shady parking lot.
We soon meetup with Andrea+Chad who bussed their way down to the capital. Of course a long the way to meet them we get lost (this will be a reoccurring theme in our trip lol).
Ray Rizzo aka MSankey aka THE REAL SWAGMASTER
Also TTS tosses his $12 knife in the garbage (due to us going through a lot of security check points lololol) We soon meet up with hipster indie EVAN since he is interning there and soon go on a close to 1 hour tour of our nations capital (thanks again Evan much appreciated :)). Oh and Evan gets lost a lot while he is giving the tour also lol.
INDIE EVAN COUNTING HIS BANK
After the tour we get some pizza from we the pizza and I share a pie with Ray (the ppl there were pretty bad at taking our order lol (ITS NOT THAT COMPLICATED GUYS)). Soon we get on our way to the hotel and attempt to cram 6 people in a 5 person car lol.
BARELY FITTING IN THE BACK
Later we all get together in the lobby and abuse the hotels wifi (since it costs $12 a night to get internet in the room xD) We all do some last minute practice. TTS+I practice some more unsure about our team while Ray practices + trolls on IRC. We finally decide last minute what we are playing and get everything from Andrea (thanks again :) )
TOURNAMENT DAY
Before we leave the hotel, Chalkey calls TTS and asks if our wifi works. Luckily I decided to bring my wifi usb and he is able to get his pokemon online last minute. We soon split up and meetup at the Convention Center. We find Chalkey trying to get his key out of the ignition but to no avail (the short story is they call a locksmith to come down and it takes the guy 2 minutes to take it out (NICE ONE CHALKEY lol). While passing the time I brieftly meet muffin and CO. 616 also comes in around this time too. While waiting we play kick the munna game!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/32276938/10150644080640080_63405-1.mp4
Also TTS finally is able to return Evan back his $2.25 from his sprite addiction last year in 225 pennies!
While hanging around I see Cybertron and wave to him and watch a couple of battles. After the finals are over everyone grabs lunch (MORE CHIKFILA :D), and after get on the line. The music coordinator sees us and jokes with us a lot which was pretty funny. He also lets everyone know who Bluecookies is so that everyone around us quakes in fear haha. He also jokes about DQing TTS since he started making fun of Canadians haha. At this time we also get some helpful DEAGLE tips from Deagle himself. One really good tip I got from him was to use a 100% accuracy move since the 95% accuracy moves have a chance to miss. Thanks for the tip Deagle! Anyways my matches come and go and I finally reach the finalist lounge. Of course my wrist band had to have the #13 on it =x Anyways I find that EVAN, tyler422, TTS and myself all made it through :D. We all sit in a group along with this random asian girl, (all thanks to chalkey haha). Liesik comes out and tells us that there are 19 players and 13 byes will be given. Luckily everyone in our group gets the bye card so we all got invites to Nats :D. Top 16 comes and goes and I lose so I just hang out with the other ducks. Watched the left over matches+finals and called it a day.
Almost thought we wouldn't get a group picture, fortunately SWAGMASTER clone saved the day and we all got a picture :D
CLONE OF THE REAL SWAGMASTER
SKARMBLISS+DUCKS+SENIOR SMOGONERS
Ended the day with some more CHIKFILA (:D), along with spilling some icecream on TTS's car in the back seat since he took a hard turn =x. We also saw a blonde girl taking her strap off in front of a group of guys in the middle of the road, near a hooters, in the rain 0_o. Also while eating in the lobby of the hotel, the manager told us we couldn't eat there and had to eat in our room (even though we ate at the exact spot the night before >_> ). DEFINITELY WON'T BE RETURNING BACK THERE. Also RAY RIZZO had his first celeb picture with a 9 yr old and even gave a autograph (ROFL)
^^KID ON THE LEFT IS THE FIRST EVER TO GET PICTURE+SIGNATURE OF POKEMON VIDEO GAME WORLD CHAMPION RAY RIZZO.
Lastly got a Smogon history lesson from TTS on the early days of Smogon (chaos would be proud haha)
LAST DAY
On our way back we went to a gangster Mcdonalds (couldn't have been more gangster with the cashier having silver teeth and some couples doing their thing). Also most likely got hepatitis from eating the food lol (jk). Also TTS learned how to pump gas so I'm sure that was a learning experience for him haha. We soon returned back to NJ, drop RAY RIZZO off and TTS attempts to drive me back to a train station. But it was not meant to be since we got lost for 5 hours in NJ (DON'T ASK) and I ended up taking a late bus back. Luckily it could have been worse since the bus was first come first serve and the woman in front of me was with her mom so I ended up getting the last seat (THANK ARCEUS), besides the fact I had to sit next to the bathroom and smell urine while sitting next to a huge woman who was the combined weight of 2 users (who I dare not say their names) and getting crushed by her. So after getting crushed by said woman+smelling urine for 2 hours I finally make it back to the big apple!
Props
-Qualifying for Nationals :D
-Getting a ride from Team Dan member TTS
-RAY RIZZO FOR BEING RAY RIZZO
-Andrea for the mons. Thanks again even though I know you were exhausted =x
-Getting Deagle tips
-Nick for being a great MC. Thanks for all the hard work you do :)
-Evan for the tour. Thanks again. Also a great guy to get lost with :)
-Meeting Muffin+CO for the first time.
-AlphaOmega for the last minute testing/team building. Thanks again :)
-Dubs for running out and getting the tripod and in the process forgetting the clip on for the camera. Its ok though since I was still able to rest my camera on it :) Though I'm sure the vid is up already lol.
-Mike Liesik for moving the AZ regionals to the east coast. East coast appreciates it :) Sorry AZ =x. Also thanks to him and his crew for all their hard work :)
-Kicking Munna :)
-Team Mighty ducks. Great team to be a part of :)
-Chikfila+waffle fries=happy dtrain :)
-EDIT:FORGOT TO MENTION ALSO MEETING 3LMO+IPS. Pretty chill guys :)
Slops
-Not at least making top 4.
-Getting lost on the way back lol
-Smelling Urine+getting crushed by huge woman for 2 hours+
I'll be at Nationals so I look forward to meeting you all :)
QUACK QUACK QUACK
Instead of doing a report about the tournament, this warstory will be about my entire weekend in D.C. However if you want the long story short report, I made top 16 with some luck happening along the way (getting frozen and defrosting the following turn, using spore and the opponent waking up the following turn and using explosion that turn =x). I won't be including what mons I used since I might make some changes to it for future tournaments. Also got to meet up with VGC tournament coordinator Mike Liesik who is always chill and was making fun of me when I got to the finalist lounge cause I was making so many faces during rounds 1-4 (yea getting frozen turn 1 and defrosting the following turn is pretty big so had to make a face for that haha). But yea I'm really unhappy with the format since we are all limited to using a handful of pokemon and winning either through luck (hax), or speed ties (more luck). Since P!P does read the forums please don't make us use the team preview+using a handful of pokemon for the following seasons. Yes team preview makes it more strategy wise but now its mostly used as a way to counter certain pokemon (and adding even more mind games =x). At least with the old format you got to use whatever team you wanted to use without getting counter teamed. But yea just voicing my opinion to add to the mix of the others even though you probably can't do anything since Japan is the one that is implementing the rules.
SOCIAL WARSTORY.
When the locations were first announced (on a British gaming website lol), fellow team Dan member TTS and I had planned to make the journey to DC since after last years regionals attendance (aka the only regional to fill up+ppl being turned away), we decided it would be best to go to DC since this format is all luck based (hint hint lol). During the coming weeks our road trip group got bigger (TTS's friend Max+WORLD CHAMPION RAY RIZZO). Ok so finally it was the day before the tournament, I took a 2 hr bus to NJ to meet with TTS+group. I get to the bus stop, wait and meet up with the gang. Along the way we get some chikfila (I had this about 3 times since there is only 1 in all of NYC lolol). While TTS+Max are driving/navigating, Ray and I are busy at the battle factory (thanks guys lol). We lost in the last round of the first set since our pokemon sucked (golduck+quagsire lead with water absorb+surf) and our last opponent had snorlax, slaking+salamence lol. HOWEVER ARCEUS WAS ON OUR SIDE AND WE GOT TO CHOOSE METAGROSS+ TYRANITAR+SALAMENCE IN THE SECOND SET AND DESTROYED EVERYONE lol. SUCH A PWFL TEAM. We make some stops along the way and soon get to D.C. around 11:30 am.
TTS trying to figure out our way from the shady parking lot.
We soon meetup with Andrea+Chad who bussed their way down to the capital. Of course a long the way to meet them we get lost (this will be a reoccurring theme in our trip lol).
Ray Rizzo aka MSankey aka THE REAL SWAGMASTER
Also TTS tosses his $12 knife in the garbage (due to us going through a lot of security check points lololol) We soon meet up with hipster indie EVAN since he is interning there and soon go on a close to 1 hour tour of our nations capital (thanks again Evan much appreciated :)). Oh and Evan gets lost a lot while he is giving the tour also lol.
INDIE EVAN COUNTING HIS BANK
After the tour we get some pizza from we the pizza and I share a pie with Ray (the ppl there were pretty bad at taking our order lol (ITS NOT THAT COMPLICATED GUYS)). Soon we get on our way to the hotel and attempt to cram 6 people in a 5 person car lol.
BARELY FITTING IN THE BACK
Later we all get together in the lobby and abuse the hotels wifi (since it costs $12 a night to get internet in the room xD) We all do some last minute practice. TTS+I practice some more unsure about our team while Ray practices + trolls on IRC. We finally decide last minute what we are playing and get everything from Andrea (thanks again :) )
TOURNAMENT DAY
Before we leave the hotel, Chalkey calls TTS and asks if our wifi works. Luckily I decided to bring my wifi usb and he is able to get his pokemon online last minute. We soon split up and meetup at the Convention Center. We find Chalkey trying to get his key out of the ignition but to no avail (the short story is they call a locksmith to come down and it takes the guy 2 minutes to take it out (NICE ONE CHALKEY lol). While passing the time I brieftly meet muffin and CO. 616 also comes in around this time too. While waiting we play kick the munna game!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/32276938/10150644080640080_63405-1.mp4
Also TTS finally is able to return Evan back his $2.25 from his sprite addiction last year in 225 pennies!
While hanging around I see Cybertron and wave to him and watch a couple of battles. After the finals are over everyone grabs lunch (MORE CHIKFILA :D), and after get on the line. The music coordinator sees us and jokes with us a lot which was pretty funny. He also lets everyone know who Bluecookies is so that everyone around us quakes in fear haha. He also jokes about DQing TTS since he started making fun of Canadians haha. At this time we also get some helpful DEAGLE tips from Deagle himself. One really good tip I got from him was to use a 100% accuracy move since the 95% accuracy moves have a chance to miss. Thanks for the tip Deagle! Anyways my matches come and go and I finally reach the finalist lounge. Of course my wrist band had to have the #13 on it =x Anyways I find that EVAN, tyler422, TTS and myself all made it through :D. We all sit in a group along with this random asian girl, (all thanks to chalkey haha). Liesik comes out and tells us that there are 19 players and 13 byes will be given. Luckily everyone in our group gets the bye card so we all got invites to Nats :D. Top 16 comes and goes and I lose so I just hang out with the other ducks. Watched the left over matches+finals and called it a day.
Almost thought we wouldn't get a group picture, fortunately SWAGMASTER clone saved the day and we all got a picture :D
CLONE OF THE REAL SWAGMASTER
SKARMBLISS+DUCKS+SENIOR SMOGONERS
Ended the day with some more CHIKFILA (:D), along with spilling some icecream on TTS's car in the back seat since he took a hard turn =x. We also saw a blonde girl taking her strap off in front of a group of guys in the middle of the road, near a hooters, in the rain 0_o. Also while eating in the lobby of the hotel, the manager told us we couldn't eat there and had to eat in our room (even though we ate at the exact spot the night before >_> ). DEFINITELY WON'T BE RETURNING BACK THERE. Also RAY RIZZO had his first celeb picture with a 9 yr old and even gave a autograph (ROFL)
^^KID ON THE LEFT IS THE FIRST EVER TO GET PICTURE+SIGNATURE OF POKEMON VIDEO GAME WORLD CHAMPION RAY RIZZO.
Lastly got a Smogon history lesson from TTS on the early days of Smogon (chaos would be proud haha)
LAST DAY
On our way back we went to a gangster Mcdonalds (couldn't have been more gangster with the cashier having silver teeth and some couples doing their thing). Also most likely got hepatitis from eating the food lol (jk). Also TTS learned how to pump gas so I'm sure that was a learning experience for him haha. We soon returned back to NJ, drop RAY RIZZO off and TTS attempts to drive me back to a train station. But it was not meant to be since we got lost for 5 hours in NJ (DON'T ASK) and I ended up taking a late bus back. Luckily it could have been worse since the bus was first come first serve and the woman in front of me was with her mom so I ended up getting the last seat (THANK ARCEUS), besides the fact I had to sit next to the bathroom and smell urine while sitting next to a huge woman who was the combined weight of 2 users (who I dare not say their names) and getting crushed by her. So after getting crushed by said woman+smelling urine for 2 hours I finally make it back to the big apple!
Props
-Qualifying for Nationals :D
-Getting a ride from Team Dan member TTS
-RAY RIZZO FOR BEING RAY RIZZO
-Andrea for the mons. Thanks again even though I know you were exhausted =x
-Getting Deagle tips
-Nick for being a great MC. Thanks for all the hard work you do :)
-Evan for the tour. Thanks again. Also a great guy to get lost with :)
-Meeting Muffin+CO for the first time.
-AlphaOmega for the last minute testing/team building. Thanks again :)
-Dubs for running out and getting the tripod and in the process forgetting the clip on for the camera. Its ok though since I was still able to rest my camera on it :) Though I'm sure the vid is up already lol.
-Mike Liesik for moving the AZ regionals to the east coast. East coast appreciates it :) Sorry AZ =x. Also thanks to him and his crew for all their hard work :)
-Kicking Munna :)
-Team Mighty ducks. Great team to be a part of :)
-Chikfila+waffle fries=happy dtrain :)
-EDIT:FORGOT TO MENTION ALSO MEETING 3LMO+IPS. Pretty chill guys :)
Slops
-Not at least making top 4.
-Getting lost on the way back lol
-Smelling Urine+getting crushed by huge woman for 2 hours+
I'll be at Nationals so I look forward to meeting you all :)
QUACK QUACK QUACK
