WORK IN PROGRESS
alternate title: The Secret Origin of Team Seniors!
Prologue:
Sunday, May 22
After the San Jose regional, I went to the conference that was my reason for going down to California. Everyone at the conference was very excited with my win and one of the video staff challenged me to a battle (he lost heartily). I met a lot of awesome people (including Jeff Braun, cofounder of Maxis) and they all wished me luck at Nationals. I told them I would try my hardest but it would be challenging! My dad threw together a 11-minute video out of the 2 hours of regionals footage he had on tape in one night, and we presented it at the convention. One of the little kids (maybe 5) sitting next to me stared at me for a while and then finally said when the video was done "YOURE THE POKEMON MASTER?????"
After the event was done I flew home to Boston and handily forgot to put this in my warstory!
Wednesday, May 26 - Thursday, June 7
Shortly after Regionals, I toyed with the idea of having a seniors-only IRC channel. I went and created #TURKEYDUCKTURKEYDUCK , because I didn't know of anything else to call it. I had it but didn't invite anyone in for a long time because I didn't know whether they would be like "wtf lame" or not. It was only when JRank mentioned the idea in #smogonwifi of his own accord that I invited him and other seniors in. These are the humble beginnings of TEAM SENIORS.
Original Team Seniors list (before Nationals (do not throw a hissy fit if you are not on here (unless i legitimately forgot you)))
Unreality
Cybertron (FELLOW MEMBER OF TEAM AARON)
ABC
JRank
TheMaski
Kingofkongs
Iss
Human
----------------- ^went to nationals
CalmSnivy
Solace.
Plusle
7014gree
xana OUR OVERLORD AND BOT
maestrol
DIMSUN (I AM SO SORRY I FORGOT YOU OH MY GOD)
JESUS CHRIST TEAM SENIORS DOES NOT MEAN IF YOU'RE A SENIOR YOU'RE ON THE TEAM GOSH WHY CRUEL WORLD
WE TRIED TO NAME IT DUCKLETTS BUT NOBODY LISTENS TO ME EVER
Thursday before the tournament, Aaron Zheng (Cybertron) and I were planning to take a taxi together. We tried to coordinate our locations with the rest of Team Seniors, and then we said "meh we will figure it out when we get there" and then WINGED IT. Aaron promised me FREE CARDS at Nationals and i was like YES FREE CARDS!!! so that is what we made time in our schedule to do!
I brought along my good-luck Phillies hat (I had an awful haircut :(((( ) and my plushies and I was ready to go!
(psyduck not shown)
Nationals:
Friday, July 8
Our flight was from 9:00 to 11:30 which was pretty nice. On the plane my dad nixed the idea of taking a taxi with the Zhengs :(((((((( I told Aaron as soon as we landed and he was like "lol ok its fine". What was great was that as we were walking out of our gate, we were literally RIGHT BEHIND the Zhengs and my dad said "no socializing for you im gonna grab coffee." He stopped to have coffee and there was nothing I could do about that until we saw them at the Masters LCQ. bs hax
While my dad was checking into the hotel at the front booth, I noticed a girl next to me who had the gold medal around her neck! I said hi and it turns out this was none other than Maski who said UNREALITY and gave me a hug :O! Both of our dads started talking and then my dad wanted to go to our room and take care of some business.
When I got to the convention center, I met JRank and iss, both of whom had been MAJOR HAXED out of LCQ :(((((((((((( such bullshit how these guys keep losing at every regional they play when they would do great in swiss (although jrank did have kinda a risky team lol (its funny because a weather team took 2nd place(and beat me))). I also met ABC who made it in with his NON-troll team and then he decided to play in nats WITH his troll team. What a boss. I met Aaron Zheng and Brendan Zheng afterwards and I must say these guys are both amazing. I didn't know I would be spending pretty much the whole weekend with Aaron haha. Team Aaron is the strongest
(p.s. brendan zheng is the cutest thing ever he is also the love of my life i just want to hug him until he pops :D )
After we met up we headed over to the back of the room under the Mienshao posters. There we registered to get free cards. The thing with the cards was that you got a number and then you played someone else who had a number in either vgc or tcg. Both players got a free card at the end :D
r1: vs jrank
He defeats my vgc team with his sun team and I was not feeling too good about my chances tomorrow! We go and get our cards and he gets something good and I get something crummy :(
r2: vs snake
ok i know this one was going to be tough because he was the juniors champion of seattle.
t1: we both come out strong with scissors
t2: again we both go for the scissors. i bare my teeth and dig my heel into the ground. i know he isn't going down without a fight
t3: we both throw rock. at this point i know that the next turn will be all or nothing
t4: I throw a paper and he throws a rock for the GG. great game snake see you at worlds.
Snake and I go into the line to get some cards and the guy brings out a Zoroark and a Metal Energy and with the same sleight of hand that i used to defeat snake, I grabbed the zoroark.
r3: vs Aaron Zheng
this was tough but i triumphed so easily. Zheng's scissors didn't stand a chance against my rock. When we reached the front of the line, the guy says "who won" and Zheng said "i did" which was a total lie and he got some 5$ card and I got a Rainbow Energy T_T
r4: vs Gavin
Kingofkongs and I had been playing since t4 san jose and i knew it would be tough! However when we reach the guy at the beginning of the line he offers us a Tepig and a Full Heal which was such BS HAX >:( And, when we come back, we found we missed the smogon picture...
After we're done at the place I bug Aaron about going to the card dealers to pick up some pokemon cards and he's like "lol sure". As we move to the dealers we pick up Enosh (human) and Vince (hitmonrocker). We get some packs and are outside opening each others' packs for each other (100% guarenteed way to get amazheng cards) and then this kid comes up to Aaron.
Kid: Hey wanna buy my
card?
Aaron Z: How much?
The kid thinks for a moment.
Kid: Five bucks.
Aaron Z: I'll give you three cents for that card!
Kid: Erm no thanks
*kid walks away"
After we get some pretty AMAZING crappy cards we head to the fabled land of STEAK N' SHAKE. We had been told by the masters that STEAK N' SHAKE was a veritable land of milk n' honey. Let's ask some of our users what they thought of Steak N' Shake.
THE RESULTS ARE IN
SENIORS SAY
At least JRank and Babbytron and Snake and I had a great time multi battling at our table!!!!
After Steak N' Shake, we headed back to Natalie's room (not for sex 9.9) to make her team for the following day! She talked to CalmSnivy via the magic of IRC and they figured something out. I don't know what they did because I left at 10:15 to get some sleep in preparation for nationals. Little did I know that if I stayed I would have prevented a loss the next day....
Saturday, July 9
IT WAS THE BIG DAY THAT ALL OF US HAD TRAINED SO HARD FOR!!¡¡¡!!!! ! My dad and I arrived late to the convention center because we had to get breakfast before going (its the most important meal of the day!) We waited in line for about half an hour with our junior friends (who didn't show their scaredosity because they are so tough)! After we were logged in to the battle box for the competition, we had to find our tables to sit down. We met Mosquito in line and his dad was telling us about something like playing the person you're sitting across from o.O Vince looked at the table seating and said "aaron, I think you're playing zheng" and i was like WTF NOOOOOOO and then it turns out both Vince and Mosquito's dad were wrong and we weren't actually playing the person we were sitting across from. PHEW. After we had gotten logged in to the battle box, I sat down at table #1 (it was organized by first names, lol) and then AARON ZHENG sat down at table #2.
That's right; there were not one, not two, but THREE AARONS PLAYING IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP! Amazing! That's right, AARON COTTON, LADIES AND GENTLEMANS! Aaron Zheng and I chatted about how nervous we were and we talked with our tablemates. Finally, the officials said where our pairings were and a Redshirt put them up.
This is the team I used at VGC 2011 Nationals:
triple genie triple pony:
Terrakion @ Chople Berry
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Safeguard
- Rock Slide
- Sacred Sword
Virizion @ Fight Gem
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Leaf Blade
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
Tornadus (M) @ Flight Gem
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Tailwind
- Taunt
- Acrobatics
Thundurus (M) @ Electric Gem
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Protect
- Thunder Wave
- Discharge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Randorosu (Landorus) (M) @ Normal Gem
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Protect
- Explosion
Cobalion @ Focus Sash
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Quick Attack
- Iron Head
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
(this is not my real team. anyone come here to expect my real team is foolish. maybe now that its vgc 12 i'll put it up if there's popular demand.)
This team attempted to do as much damage as possible exploiting the best pokemon allowable in this metagame. I took advice from my good friend muffinhead that the best pokemon would obviously be the pokemon with the highest dex numbers.
ROUND ONE: VS ANTHONY TRAN (Reuniclusking)
Anthony Tran had talked with us at the table (alphabetical seating YEAH) so we had a little bit of background. He was really hyper, I guess he was just excited for the battle. We start and I lead with a double ko and both of his pokemon go down, but then i misplay massively and his mach punch gets a crit KO and he wins.
Aaron: 0-1
At this point my nerves were pretty shaken because it was my first VGC loss. I figured I was going to lose all of them in a row. I talked in the roped-off area with a bunch of my teammates and ALL of them had lost r1, except Mr Zheng because he won against another one of my teammates :v After about 10 minutes, Darren posted the second pairings.
ROUND 2: VS ALEX JONES (worlds 09 competitor)
I had talked at the table with him beforehand, too. He was kind of quiet and liked to talk about things not pertaining to the battle. I don't remember this battle much because his pokemon went down kind of quickly (after i got a beat up off) and he was pretty surprised. He mumbled good game afterwards and then I walked away to the roped off area again.
Aaron- 1-1
All of my teammates had won their r2, except ABC because he lost to Kingofkongs due to BS HAX OH MY GOD IT WAS SO BAD. WHY CRUEL WORLD DOES IT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY
ROUND 3: VS RYAN ARNOLD
When I saw the name on the board, I realized at once that this was one of the members of the awesome Arnold Clan. He was a really nice guy when we sat down, and he was extremely quiet once the game started. I predicted his moves correctly and i won the game 2-0 or 1-0.
Fun fact: Ryan Arnold avenged himself against my sister at Worlds. Strong trainer!
Aaron: 2-1
i forget what all of my teammates were at, it was six months ago okay
Between rounds I saw Duy talking to some kid about how the kid lost. The game was televised on the screen and Duy had seen how the match went. I asked him what was up and he said that the kid had just faced Wade Stanley, last year's Junior National Champion. I was impressed that Wade could continue his triumphs in the Senior division. I asked Duy what Wade's team was, and Duy said that it had level 1 Whimsicott TR and he whispered, "you better pack heat wave". I was nervous that my team did not in fact have heat wave and that my team was weak to TR anyway. I go to the match postings and I see:
ROUND 4: VS WADE STANLEY
holyyyyyyyyyy crap. My heart was pounding. I'd just heard about how this kid got trashed and now I was in line to take a beating in the same way. I remembered what Duy had said about bringing heat wave and I knew that I was screwed. Luckily, Wade messes up on prediction. It comes down to a 1v1 mirror match and my pokemon wins by 53 HP. This was the match I saved because it was SO SUPER GOOD JAAJAJ I think it's lost now :(
Wade runs off, and I shakily walk over to Duy to thank him for his help: without Duy, I probably would have lost the match and would have not been in the top 16. <3
Aaron: 3-1
ROUND 5: VS SOME KID GUY DUDE WEARING A GENGAR SHIRT (HE WAS CHILL)
I crushed this guy with the same WOMBO COMBO that destroyed Alex in R2. This guy was a really gracious opponent and he wished me good luck in the next round. All I remember about him is that he was cheering for me Sunday against David Arnold (spoilers!!! oh no). IDK maybe his name was hans or something.
Aaron: 4-1
at this point practically every one of my teammates was getting knocked out by the man known as MOSQUITOOOOOOOOOOOOO. He had defeated Aaron Z, Human, Vince, and one more (i forget). I prayed I wouldn't face him or anyone I knew because if I won this round, I would be in the top 16 and I would be playing for the Worlds invites tomorrow. I walk over to the board and I see:
ROUND 6: VS KING OF THE KONGS
the newly formed team seniors could not HANDLE this tournament BECAUSE we kept playing each other god why cruel world.
aaron v human
kok v abc
kok v unreality AND MANY MORE
this was a repeat of top 4 San Jose, and kingofkongs didnt change his team one little bit. This match came down to hax again! hooray, repeat of san jose (just kidding gavin did you really think i would admit defeat (i wouldnt))! his samurott misses a hydro pump on a pokemon it would have been super important on and then it dies stupendously. you think this clown would learn his lesson about hydro pump.
Aaron: 5-1 YES, MAKING IT TO SUNDAY!
other members who were in at this point:
human
vince?
maski
I was talking to maski after i sent kingofkongs to the showers. she was also 5-1 and we were like "lol wouldnt it be funny if we played"
ROUND 7: VS MASKI
I really let my guard down for this battle because I was so happy to be playing tomorrow. Also I figured that I'd know what her team was because I helped build it the night before. Turns out I didn't remember anything and my failure to double protect costs me the game, 2-0. but it's ok because I was still playing tomorrow :D
The Team (in actuality):
TEAM JAWESOME
I stumbled upon one little oversight in April and never looked back. While the whole of the PO meta was focused on Beat Up WHIMSICOTT, I wondered why nobody ever looked up the move Beat Up and saw who else could get it.
Druddigon (M) @ Dark Gem
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Sucker Punch
- Snatch
- Dragon Claw
Why Rough Skin? Rough Skin breaks sashes, does residual damage, and doesn't require me to use moves like Rock Slide. Since Sucker Punch and Dragon Claw don't necessarily benefit from Sheer Force, Rough Skin was the obvious pick here. I coulda gone with Iron Helmet for trolls, but Dark Gem allows Druddigon to get kos on Jellicent, Chandelure (barring sash...) and to take a large chunk of Reuniclus' and Musharna's health. I almost went with Haban Berry but it has a 75% chance to live through a Hydregion Dragon Pulse anyway.
Snatch was for prediction: Seniors is pretty easy to get a good prediction off in, and Snatch Druddigon did not disappoint me. I distinctly remember using it against Cybertron at worlds and it also played a huge role in Unreality vs. Mosquito t8 (not how I intended it to, but I was cool with it!) It can nab
1) stat up boosts
2) Tailwind (VERY important for a goodstuff team without tailwind to just take theirs)
3) Substitute
Eelektross (M) @ Flight Gem
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Acrobatics
- Wild Charge
- Dragon Claw
Eelektross: the most versatile pokemon of VGC11, and it comes very close in VGC12. However, whereas it has nowhere near enough power in VGC12, it shines in VGC11 because everyone runs a lot less bulk (barring Ray). While Eelektross' primary role was to kill Amoonguss and Conkeldurr with Acrobatics, it killed Tornadus and Jellicent in a pinch, and did a large amount of damage to Hydregion with Dragon Claw (Hydregion was a huge problem for this team because very few of my pokemon could touch it). Eel also had great synergy with Krookodile and it could take a Discharge from Thundurus in a pinch with no problem. Special Eelektross had more problems than Physical: the main problem was that it could NOT kill conkeldurr. Without Eelektross, I had NO COUNTERS to Conkeldurr and Amoonguss both. Special Eel cannot counter Conkeldurr AND Amoonguss despite Conkeldurr's high Defense stat.
I led with Druddigon Eelektross in Team Preview because I wanted to shake up my opponent in Team Preview: Yes, how you arrange your mons does have a big effect on how your opponent sees your team and counterpicks it. Leading Krookodile Terrakion might have led them to guess my true intentions, and leading Krookodile Thundurus might have led them to bring Wide Guard.
Amoonguss (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Effect Spore
EVs: 252 HP / 244 SDef / 12 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Protect
The terror of VGC11, the #2 most used pokemon, and for sure the #1 most annoying one. Amoonguss was so overused in this tier that I felt I would have to run it myself. This amoonguss is special in a few ways: most noticeably, it does not have Coba Berry. This is because Amoonguss can survive a Tornadus Acrobatics after Intimidate from Krookodile. Sitrus Berry allows it to take whatever hits its dealt outside of a big Acrobatics and then take another one. Next, it's Special Defense instead of Defense. This is because outside of Acrobatics, nothing hits Amoonguss but Fire and Psychic.
Thundurus (M) @ Electric Gem
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Protect
- Thunder Wave
- Discharge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
This is pretty standard: synergy with Krookodile and infamous synergy with Terrakion. HP Ice is a personal preference: I needed something more to deal with Hydregion and Haxorus, and Flying wasn't doing much for me. It doesn't run Thunderbolt: everything of mine runs protect except for the immune Krookodile. Also, Druddigon, Eelektross, and Amoonguss can all tank a Discharge if need be. Thunder Wave was my second counter to Tailwind teams: I could just Thunder Wave everything and they'd be slowed.
Krookodile (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Beat Up
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
It was 12 am on a night of April Break: I was thinking nervously about the team I would bring to San Jose. Previously, I had only two successful teams: Whimsicott/Cinccino and Rain (hint: these teams were not successful). As I started to sleep, I wondered: Whimsicott and Terrakion is so successful- what ELSE gets Beat Up? I slept on it, and in the morning looked it up on serebii, and Krookodile was the only other thing in gen 5. I talked to muffinhead about how I could make this work, and the only way Krook can successfully get a Beat Up off on Terrakion is with Choice Scarf yeahhh! A funny thing about Krookodile is that Beat Up isn't a waste of a moveslot: it can still do a TON of damage with the move, especially on things like Thundurus, Chandelure, Tornadus, and Musharna. I could also switch it out for another intimidate and another move lockin.
Terrakion @ Chople Berry
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Quick Attack
- Sacred Sword
- Rock Slide
The glue of the team! Without it, Beat Up Krook would just be stupid. A few things: it has Chople Berry, which allows it to beat Conkeldurr and other Terrakion (because it can just QA Sash, and it should OHKO Scarf: also, it OHKOs CC chople). It has Sacred Sword for more consistent damage: why would I need more power if I'm at +4 attack? It used to have Safeguard but QA works in TR and it can also beat Tailwind teams.
I used to have Red Card, but that wouldn't work for several reasons:
1) Fake out, and come back for MORE free fake outs? yes please
2) then it wouldn't live through Mach Punch and company
Problems for my team:
1) Fast Amoonguss beats my Eel, which is the only 100% counter to Amoonguss. If it's running speed, it cant have too much bulk, though, so I can wear it down with a few Rock Slides.
2) Bulky BULKY TR teams. Half of my team is operational in TR: but if it's got notable bulky monsters like Cofagrigous then I can't touch it. This team has a 100% loss rate against Wolfey's team and others of the same playstyle. (Notable exception: TheCalmSnivy's team, which took about 50000 rock slides to the face RIP)
3) My own nerves lost me a lot of the games I played. I always lose the first match and the last one in Swiss: worlds was no exception. I forgot a lot of what I talked about here and that led to my own downfall.
i'd prefer it if you didn't copy my team. kthx
[/QUOTE]
alternate title: The Secret Origin of Team Seniors!
Prologue:
Sunday, May 22
After the San Jose regional, I went to the conference that was my reason for going down to California. Everyone at the conference was very excited with my win and one of the video staff challenged me to a battle (he lost heartily). I met a lot of awesome people (including Jeff Braun, cofounder of Maxis) and they all wished me luck at Nationals. I told them I would try my hardest but it would be challenging! My dad threw together a 11-minute video out of the 2 hours of regionals footage he had on tape in one night, and we presented it at the convention. One of the little kids (maybe 5) sitting next to me stared at me for a while and then finally said when the video was done "YOURE THE POKEMON MASTER?????"
After the event was done I flew home to Boston and handily forgot to put this in my warstory!
Wednesday, May 26 - Thursday, June 7
Shortly after Regionals, I toyed with the idea of having a seniors-only IRC channel. I went and created #TURKEYDUCKTURKEYDUCK , because I didn't know of anything else to call it. I had it but didn't invite anyone in for a long time because I didn't know whether they would be like "wtf lame" or not. It was only when JRank mentioned the idea in #smogonwifi of his own accord that I invited him and other seniors in. These are the humble beginnings of TEAM SENIORS.
Original Team Seniors list (before Nationals (do not throw a hissy fit if you are not on here (unless i legitimately forgot you)))
Unreality
Cybertron (FELLOW MEMBER OF TEAM AARON)
ABC
JRank
TheMaski
Kingofkongs
Iss
Human
----------------- ^went to nationals
CalmSnivy
Solace.
Plusle
7014gree
xana OUR OVERLORD AND BOT
maestrol
DIMSUN (I AM SO SORRY I FORGOT YOU OH MY GOD)
JESUS CHRIST TEAM SENIORS DOES NOT MEAN IF YOU'RE A SENIOR YOU'RE ON THE TEAM GOSH WHY CRUEL WORLD
WE TRIED TO NAME IT DUCKLETTS BUT NOBODY LISTENS TO ME EVER
Thursday before the tournament, Aaron Zheng (Cybertron) and I were planning to take a taxi together. We tried to coordinate our locations with the rest of Team Seniors, and then we said "meh we will figure it out when we get there" and then WINGED IT. Aaron promised me FREE CARDS at Nationals and i was like YES FREE CARDS!!! so that is what we made time in our schedule to do!
I brought along my good-luck Phillies hat (I had an awful haircut :(((( ) and my plushies and I was ready to go!
(psyduck not shown)
Nationals:
Friday, July 8
Our flight was from 9:00 to 11:30 which was pretty nice. On the plane my dad nixed the idea of taking a taxi with the Zhengs :(((((((( I told Aaron as soon as we landed and he was like "lol ok its fine". What was great was that as we were walking out of our gate, we were literally RIGHT BEHIND the Zhengs and my dad said "no socializing for you im gonna grab coffee." He stopped to have coffee and there was nothing I could do about that until we saw them at the Masters LCQ. bs hax
While my dad was checking into the hotel at the front booth, I noticed a girl next to me who had the gold medal around her neck! I said hi and it turns out this was none other than Maski who said UNREALITY and gave me a hug :O! Both of our dads started talking and then my dad wanted to go to our room and take care of some business.
When I got to the convention center, I met JRank and iss, both of whom had been MAJOR HAXED out of LCQ :(((((((((((( such bullshit how these guys keep losing at every regional they play when they would do great in swiss (although jrank did have kinda a risky team lol (its funny because a weather team took 2nd place(and beat me))). I also met ABC who made it in with his NON-troll team and then he decided to play in nats WITH his troll team. What a boss. I met Aaron Zheng and Brendan Zheng afterwards and I must say these guys are both amazing. I didn't know I would be spending pretty much the whole weekend with Aaron haha. Team Aaron is the strongest
(p.s. brendan zheng is the cutest thing ever he is also the love of my life i just want to hug him until he pops :D )
After we met up we headed over to the back of the room under the Mienshao posters. There we registered to get free cards. The thing with the cards was that you got a number and then you played someone else who had a number in either vgc or tcg. Both players got a free card at the end :D
r1: vs jrank
He defeats my vgc team with his sun team and I was not feeling too good about my chances tomorrow! We go and get our cards and he gets something good and I get something crummy :(
r2: vs snake
ok i know this one was going to be tough because he was the juniors champion of seattle.
t1: we both come out strong with scissors
t2: again we both go for the scissors. i bare my teeth and dig my heel into the ground. i know he isn't going down without a fight
t3: we both throw rock. at this point i know that the next turn will be all or nothing
t4: I throw a paper and he throws a rock for the GG. great game snake see you at worlds.
Snake and I go into the line to get some cards and the guy brings out a Zoroark and a Metal Energy and with the same sleight of hand that i used to defeat snake, I grabbed the zoroark.
r3: vs Aaron Zheng
this was tough but i triumphed so easily. Zheng's scissors didn't stand a chance against my rock. When we reached the front of the line, the guy says "who won" and Zheng said "i did" which was a total lie and he got some 5$ card and I got a Rainbow Energy T_T
r4: vs Gavin
Kingofkongs and I had been playing since t4 san jose and i knew it would be tough! However when we reach the guy at the beginning of the line he offers us a Tepig and a Full Heal which was such BS HAX >:( And, when we come back, we found we missed the smogon picture...
After we're done at the place I bug Aaron about going to the card dealers to pick up some pokemon cards and he's like "lol sure". As we move to the dealers we pick up Enosh (human) and Vince (hitmonrocker). We get some packs and are outside opening each others' packs for each other (100% guarenteed way to get amazheng cards) and then this kid comes up to Aaron.
Kid: Hey wanna buy my
Aaron Z: How much?
The kid thinks for a moment.
Kid: Five bucks.
Aaron Z: I'll give you three cents for that card!
Kid: Erm no thanks
*kid walks away"
After we get some pretty AMAZING crappy cards we head to the fabled land of STEAK N' SHAKE. We had been told by the masters that STEAK N' SHAKE was a veritable land of milk n' honey. Let's ask some of our users what they thought of Steak N' Shake.
18:03 Maski it was cheap and pretty good for the price
18:04 Maski the service was godawful
18:04 Maski it took us 30 minutes to get a fork remember???
18:04 Maski the service was godawful
18:04 Maski it took us 30 minutes to get a fork remember???
babbytron: those guys do not know how to make milkshakes!!!!
19:34 Snake lol
19:34 Snake it was ok
19:34 Snake ive been there last year
19:34 Snake great food
19:34 Snake service...
19:34 Snake could be better
19:34 Snake it was ok
19:34 Snake ive been there last year
19:34 Snake great food
19:34 Snake service...
19:34 Snake could be better
18:13 unreality JRANK
18:13 unreality what would you say about steak n shake
18:13 JRank hi
18:13 JRank what
18:13 JRank um
18:14 JRank it was fun?
18:14 unreality the food
18:14 unreality the service
18:14 JRank oh
18:14 JRank service was good i thought
18:14 JRank i only got fries
18:14 JRank and didn't eat many of those
18:14 JRank but they weren't bad
18:13 unreality what would you say about steak n shake
18:13 JRank hi
18:13 JRank what
18:13 JRank um
18:14 JRank it was fun?
18:14 unreality the food
18:14 unreality the service
18:14 JRank oh
18:14 JRank service was good i thought
18:14 JRank i only got fries
18:14 JRank and didn't eat many of those
18:14 JRank but they weren't bad
18:19 unreality 7014gree
18:19 unreality what did you think of steak n shake
18:20 _7014gree do you want an honest answer?
18:20 unreality yes
18:20 _7014gree i have never heard of it.
18:19 unreality what did you think of steak n shake
18:20 _7014gree do you want an honest answer?
18:20 unreality yes
18:20 _7014gree i have never heard of it.
18:39 unreality kingofkongs
18:39 unreality what did you think of steak n shake
18:39 kingofkongs decent cheap food
18:39 kingofkongs nothing amazing though
18:39 unreality what did you think of steak n shake
18:39 kingofkongs decent cheap food
18:39 kingofkongs nothing amazing though
lucien: good food, cheap
unreality: what did you think of the service?
lucien: decent enoughh
lucien: slow
lucien: super slow
lucien: it took the lady 5 minutes to get enosh some napkins
unreality: what did you think of the service?
lucien: decent enoughh
lucien: slow
lucien: super slow
lucien: it took the lady 5 minutes to get enosh some napkins
19:32 PungentFruit unreality
19:32 PungentFruit what did you think of steak n shake
19:32 unreality i thought it was meh
19:32 unreality took the waiter 15 minutes to bring our drinks over and then he forgot i ordered one
19:32 unreality then the waitress dropped a plate and kinda just scooped it under the table
19:32 PungentFruit what did you think of steak n shake
19:32 unreality i thought it was meh
19:32 unreality took the waiter 15 minutes to bring our drinks over and then he forgot i ordered one
19:32 unreality then the waitress dropped a plate and kinda just scooped it under the table
19:31 Cybertron it was okay
19:31 Cybertron i liked hanging out there
19:31 Cybertron but dirty
19:31 Cybertron + terrible service
19:31 Cybertron remember the watiress
19:32 Cybertron who cursed lol
19:31 Cybertron i liked hanging out there
19:31 Cybertron but dirty
19:31 Cybertron + terrible service
19:31 Cybertron remember the watiress
19:32 Cybertron who cursed lol
20:03 Chinchou ok
20:03 Chinchou wait was TOO DAMN LONG
20:03 unreality how was the food
20:03 Chinchou food was ok
20:04 Chinchou worth it because i kept stealing maski's hat
20:04 unreality how was the service
20:04 Chinchou TERRIBAD
20:04 Chinchou like
20:04 Chinchou ._.
20:04 Chinchou also that woman
20:04 Chinchou god
20:04 Chinchou she scares me
20:03 Chinchou wait was TOO DAMN LONG
20:03 unreality how was the food
20:03 Chinchou food was ok
20:04 Chinchou worth it because i kept stealing maski's hat
20:04 unreality how was the service
20:04 Chinchou TERRIBAD
20:04 Chinchou like
20:04 Chinchou ._.
20:04 Chinchou also that woman
20:04 Chinchou god
20:04 Chinchou she scares me
20:12 ABC yes
20:12 ABC more shitty than yours, cuz you sat with the jocks and i didnt
20:12 unreality how was the service
20:12 unreality and how was the food
20:13 ABC service was shitty
20:13 ABC food was ok
20:12 ABC more shitty than yours, cuz you sat with the jocks and i didnt
20:12 unreality how was the service
20:12 unreality and how was the food
20:13 ABC service was shitty
20:13 ABC food was ok
THE RESULTS ARE IN
SENIORS SAY
At least JRank and Babbytron and Snake and I had a great time multi battling at our table!!!!
After Steak N' Shake, we headed back to Natalie's room (not for sex 9.9) to make her team for the following day! She talked to CalmSnivy via the magic of IRC and they figured something out. I don't know what they did because I left at 10:15 to get some sleep in preparation for nationals. Little did I know that if I stayed I would have prevented a loss the next day....
Saturday, July 9
IT WAS THE BIG DAY THAT ALL OF US HAD TRAINED SO HARD FOR!!¡¡¡!!!! ! My dad and I arrived late to the convention center because we had to get breakfast before going (its the most important meal of the day!) We waited in line for about half an hour with our junior friends (who didn't show their scaredosity because they are so tough)! After we were logged in to the battle box for the competition, we had to find our tables to sit down. We met Mosquito in line and his dad was telling us about something like playing the person you're sitting across from o.O Vince looked at the table seating and said "aaron, I think you're playing zheng" and i was like WTF NOOOOOOO and then it turns out both Vince and Mosquito's dad were wrong and we weren't actually playing the person we were sitting across from. PHEW. After we had gotten logged in to the battle box, I sat down at table #1 (it was organized by first names, lol) and then AARON ZHENG sat down at table #2.
That's right; there were not one, not two, but THREE AARONS PLAYING IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP! Amazing! That's right, AARON COTTON, LADIES AND GENTLEMANS! Aaron Zheng and I chatted about how nervous we were and we talked with our tablemates. Finally, the officials said where our pairings were and a Redshirt put them up.
This is the team I used at VGC 2011 Nationals:
triple genie triple pony:
Terrakion @ Chople Berry
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Safeguard
- Rock Slide
- Sacred Sword
Virizion @ Fight Gem
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Leaf Blade
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
Tornadus (M) @ Flight Gem
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Tailwind
- Taunt
- Acrobatics
Thundurus (M) @ Electric Gem
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Protect
- Thunder Wave
- Discharge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Randorosu (Landorus) (M) @ Normal Gem
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Protect
- Explosion
Cobalion @ Focus Sash
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Quick Attack
- Iron Head
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
(this is not my real team. anyone come here to expect my real team is foolish. maybe now that its vgc 12 i'll put it up if there's popular demand.)
This team attempted to do as much damage as possible exploiting the best pokemon allowable in this metagame. I took advice from my good friend muffinhead that the best pokemon would obviously be the pokemon with the highest dex numbers.
ROUND ONE: VS ANTHONY TRAN (Reuniclusking)
Anthony Tran had talked with us at the table (alphabetical seating YEAH) so we had a little bit of background. He was really hyper, I guess he was just excited for the battle. We start and I lead with a double ko and both of his pokemon go down, but then i misplay massively and his mach punch gets a crit KO and he wins.
Aaron: 0-1
At this point my nerves were pretty shaken because it was my first VGC loss. I figured I was going to lose all of them in a row. I talked in the roped-off area with a bunch of my teammates and ALL of them had lost r1, except Mr Zheng because he won against another one of my teammates :v After about 10 minutes, Darren posted the second pairings.
ROUND 2: VS ALEX JONES (worlds 09 competitor)
I had talked at the table with him beforehand, too. He was kind of quiet and liked to talk about things not pertaining to the battle. I don't remember this battle much because his pokemon went down kind of quickly (after i got a beat up off) and he was pretty surprised. He mumbled good game afterwards and then I walked away to the roped off area again.
Aaron- 1-1
All of my teammates had won their r2, except ABC because he lost to Kingofkongs due to BS HAX OH MY GOD IT WAS SO BAD. WHY CRUEL WORLD DOES IT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY
ROUND 3: VS RYAN ARNOLD
When I saw the name on the board, I realized at once that this was one of the members of the awesome Arnold Clan. He was a really nice guy when we sat down, and he was extremely quiet once the game started. I predicted his moves correctly and i won the game 2-0 or 1-0.
Fun fact: Ryan Arnold avenged himself against my sister at Worlds. Strong trainer!
Aaron: 2-1
i forget what all of my teammates were at, it was six months ago okay
Between rounds I saw Duy talking to some kid about how the kid lost. The game was televised on the screen and Duy had seen how the match went. I asked him what was up and he said that the kid had just faced Wade Stanley, last year's Junior National Champion. I was impressed that Wade could continue his triumphs in the Senior division. I asked Duy what Wade's team was, and Duy said that it had level 1 Whimsicott TR and he whispered, "you better pack heat wave". I was nervous that my team did not in fact have heat wave and that my team was weak to TR anyway. I go to the match postings and I see:
ROUND 4: VS WADE STANLEY
holyyyyyyyyyy crap. My heart was pounding. I'd just heard about how this kid got trashed and now I was in line to take a beating in the same way. I remembered what Duy had said about bringing heat wave and I knew that I was screwed. Luckily, Wade messes up on prediction. It comes down to a 1v1 mirror match and my pokemon wins by 53 HP. This was the match I saved because it was SO SUPER GOOD JAAJAJ I think it's lost now :(
Wade runs off, and I shakily walk over to Duy to thank him for his help: without Duy, I probably would have lost the match and would have not been in the top 16. <3
Aaron: 3-1
ROUND 5: VS SOME KID GUY DUDE WEARING A GENGAR SHIRT (HE WAS CHILL)
I crushed this guy with the same WOMBO COMBO that destroyed Alex in R2. This guy was a really gracious opponent and he wished me good luck in the next round. All I remember about him is that he was cheering for me Sunday against David Arnold (spoilers!!! oh no). IDK maybe his name was hans or something.
Aaron: 4-1
at this point practically every one of my teammates was getting knocked out by the man known as MOSQUITOOOOOOOOOOOOO. He had defeated Aaron Z, Human, Vince, and one more (i forget). I prayed I wouldn't face him or anyone I knew because if I won this round, I would be in the top 16 and I would be playing for the Worlds invites tomorrow. I walk over to the board and I see:
ROUND 6: VS KING OF THE KONGS
the newly formed team seniors could not HANDLE this tournament BECAUSE we kept playing each other god why cruel world.
aaron v human
kok v abc
kok v unreality AND MANY MORE
this was a repeat of top 4 San Jose, and kingofkongs didnt change his team one little bit. This match came down to hax again! hooray, repeat of san jose (just kidding gavin did you really think i would admit defeat (i wouldnt))! his samurott misses a hydro pump on a pokemon it would have been super important on and then it dies stupendously. you think this clown would learn his lesson about hydro pump.
Aaron: 5-1 YES, MAKING IT TO SUNDAY!
other members who were in at this point:
human
vince?
maski
I was talking to maski after i sent kingofkongs to the showers. she was also 5-1 and we were like "lol wouldnt it be funny if we played"
ROUND 7: VS MASKI
I really let my guard down for this battle because I was so happy to be playing tomorrow. Also I figured that I'd know what her team was because I helped build it the night before. Turns out I didn't remember anything and my failure to double protect costs me the game, 2-0. but it's ok because I was still playing tomorrow :D
The Team (in actuality):
TEAM JAWESOME
I stumbled upon one little oversight in April and never looked back. While the whole of the PO meta was focused on Beat Up WHIMSICOTT, I wondered why nobody ever looked up the move Beat Up and saw who else could get it.
Druddigon (M) @ Dark Gem
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Sucker Punch
- Snatch
- Dragon Claw
Why Rough Skin? Rough Skin breaks sashes, does residual damage, and doesn't require me to use moves like Rock Slide. Since Sucker Punch and Dragon Claw don't necessarily benefit from Sheer Force, Rough Skin was the obvious pick here. I coulda gone with Iron Helmet for trolls, but Dark Gem allows Druddigon to get kos on Jellicent, Chandelure (barring sash...) and to take a large chunk of Reuniclus' and Musharna's health. I almost went with Haban Berry but it has a 75% chance to live through a Hydregion Dragon Pulse anyway.
Snatch was for prediction: Seniors is pretty easy to get a good prediction off in, and Snatch Druddigon did not disappoint me. I distinctly remember using it against Cybertron at worlds and it also played a huge role in Unreality vs. Mosquito t8 (not how I intended it to, but I was cool with it!) It can nab
1) stat up boosts
2) Tailwind (VERY important for a goodstuff team without tailwind to just take theirs)
3) Substitute
Eelektross (M) @ Flight Gem
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Acrobatics
- Wild Charge
- Dragon Claw
Eelektross: the most versatile pokemon of VGC11, and it comes very close in VGC12. However, whereas it has nowhere near enough power in VGC12, it shines in VGC11 because everyone runs a lot less bulk (barring Ray). While Eelektross' primary role was to kill Amoonguss and Conkeldurr with Acrobatics, it killed Tornadus and Jellicent in a pinch, and did a large amount of damage to Hydregion with Dragon Claw (Hydregion was a huge problem for this team because very few of my pokemon could touch it). Eel also had great synergy with Krookodile and it could take a Discharge from Thundurus in a pinch with no problem. Special Eelektross had more problems than Physical: the main problem was that it could NOT kill conkeldurr. Without Eelektross, I had NO COUNTERS to Conkeldurr and Amoonguss both. Special Eel cannot counter Conkeldurr AND Amoonguss despite Conkeldurr's high Defense stat.
I led with Druddigon Eelektross in Team Preview because I wanted to shake up my opponent in Team Preview: Yes, how you arrange your mons does have a big effect on how your opponent sees your team and counterpicks it. Leading Krookodile Terrakion might have led them to guess my true intentions, and leading Krookodile Thundurus might have led them to bring Wide Guard.
Amoonguss (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Effect Spore
EVs: 252 HP / 244 SDef / 12 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Protect
The terror of VGC11, the #2 most used pokemon, and for sure the #1 most annoying one. Amoonguss was so overused in this tier that I felt I would have to run it myself. This amoonguss is special in a few ways: most noticeably, it does not have Coba Berry. This is because Amoonguss can survive a Tornadus Acrobatics after Intimidate from Krookodile. Sitrus Berry allows it to take whatever hits its dealt outside of a big Acrobatics and then take another one. Next, it's Special Defense instead of Defense. This is because outside of Acrobatics, nothing hits Amoonguss but Fire and Psychic.
Thundurus (M) @ Electric Gem
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Protect
- Thunder Wave
- Discharge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
This is pretty standard: synergy with Krookodile and infamous synergy with Terrakion. HP Ice is a personal preference: I needed something more to deal with Hydregion and Haxorus, and Flying wasn't doing much for me. It doesn't run Thunderbolt: everything of mine runs protect except for the immune Krookodile. Also, Druddigon, Eelektross, and Amoonguss can all tank a Discharge if need be. Thunder Wave was my second counter to Tailwind teams: I could just Thunder Wave everything and they'd be slowed.
Krookodile (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Beat Up
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
It was 12 am on a night of April Break: I was thinking nervously about the team I would bring to San Jose. Previously, I had only two successful teams: Whimsicott/Cinccino and Rain (hint: these teams were not successful). As I started to sleep, I wondered: Whimsicott and Terrakion is so successful- what ELSE gets Beat Up? I slept on it, and in the morning looked it up on serebii, and Krookodile was the only other thing in gen 5. I talked to muffinhead about how I could make this work, and the only way Krook can successfully get a Beat Up off on Terrakion is with Choice Scarf yeahhh! A funny thing about Krookodile is that Beat Up isn't a waste of a moveslot: it can still do a TON of damage with the move, especially on things like Thundurus, Chandelure, Tornadus, and Musharna. I could also switch it out for another intimidate and another move lockin.
Terrakion @ Chople Berry
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Quick Attack
- Sacred Sword
- Rock Slide
The glue of the team! Without it, Beat Up Krook would just be stupid. A few things: it has Chople Berry, which allows it to beat Conkeldurr and other Terrakion (because it can just QA Sash, and it should OHKO Scarf: also, it OHKOs CC chople). It has Sacred Sword for more consistent damage: why would I need more power if I'm at +4 attack? It used to have Safeguard but QA works in TR and it can also beat Tailwind teams.
I used to have Red Card, but that wouldn't work for several reasons:
1) Fake out, and come back for MORE free fake outs? yes please
2) then it wouldn't live through Mach Punch and company
Problems for my team:
1) Fast Amoonguss beats my Eel, which is the only 100% counter to Amoonguss. If it's running speed, it cant have too much bulk, though, so I can wear it down with a few Rock Slides.
2) Bulky BULKY TR teams. Half of my team is operational in TR: but if it's got notable bulky monsters like Cofagrigous then I can't touch it. This team has a 100% loss rate against Wolfey's team and others of the same playstyle. (Notable exception: TheCalmSnivy's team, which took about 50000 rock slides to the face RIP)
3) My own nerves lost me a lot of the games I played. I always lose the first match and the last one in Swiss: worlds was no exception. I forgot a lot of what I talked about here and that led to my own downfall.
i'd prefer it if you didn't copy my team. kthx
19:40 Cybertron HAI
19:40 unreality can i interview you
19:40 unreality for my thread
19:40 Cybertron YES
19:41 unreality ok
19:41 unreality what did you think of user cybertron
19:41 Cybertron what did i think of myself???
19:41 unreality in real life
19:41 unreality I DONT HAVE AL LDAY
19:42 Cybertron WAIT
19:42 Cybertron why are you asking me what i thought of myself in real life??
19:42 unreality because
19:42 unreality its part of my interview
19:43 Cybertron cybertron was very strong
19:43 unreality ok
19:43 unreality now
19:43 unreality if you could sum up nationals in one word
19:43 unreality what would it be
19:44 Cybertron pecks
19:44 unreality okay
19:45 unreality if you had something to say
19:45 unreality to millions of young viewers
19:45 unreality what would you say
19:45 Cybertron take it easy! trainer! do not forget to love!
19:47 unreality what would you say the biggest challenge was
19:47 unreality losing to unreality in rocks paper scissors
19:48 Cybertron no, not being able to buy an unown c for five dollars
19:48 unreality ok i see
19:49 unreality what are you doing
19:49 unreality with your winnings
19:50 Cybertron fuck bitches get money
19:50 unreality what are your plans to snog maski in the future
19:50 Cybertron win worlds win the girl ???? profit
19:52 unreality alright
19:52 unreality if you had to pick one master to win at worlds who would it be???
19:52 Cybertron rizzo!!!
19:52 unreality why did you pick this amazing choice
19:52 Cybertron he is funny
19:52 Cybertron strongth
19:53 Cybertron and best troll
19:53 unreality okay
19:53 unreality when you won
19:53 unreality what percentage of your heart was filled with love for unreality
19:53 Cybertron 120%
19:53 unreality alright
19:53 unreality thank you for your time
19:53 unreality i will try and get this aired in the new yor kt imes
19:53 Cybertron you are quite welcome
19:53 Cybertron excellent
19:40 unreality can i interview you
19:40 unreality for my thread
19:40 Cybertron YES
19:41 unreality ok
19:41 unreality what did you think of user cybertron
19:41 Cybertron what did i think of myself???
19:41 unreality in real life
19:41 unreality I DONT HAVE AL LDAY
19:42 Cybertron WAIT
19:42 Cybertron why are you asking me what i thought of myself in real life??
19:42 unreality because
19:42 unreality its part of my interview
19:43 Cybertron cybertron was very strong
19:43 unreality ok
19:43 unreality now
19:43 unreality if you could sum up nationals in one word
19:43 unreality what would it be
19:44 Cybertron pecks
19:44 unreality okay
19:45 unreality if you had something to say
19:45 unreality to millions of young viewers
19:45 unreality what would you say
19:45 Cybertron take it easy! trainer! do not forget to love!
19:47 unreality what would you say the biggest challenge was
19:47 unreality losing to unreality in rocks paper scissors
19:48 Cybertron no, not being able to buy an unown c for five dollars
19:48 unreality ok i see
19:49 unreality what are you doing
19:49 unreality with your winnings
19:50 Cybertron fuck bitches get money
19:50 unreality what are your plans to snog maski in the future
19:50 Cybertron win worlds win the girl ???? profit
19:52 unreality alright
19:52 unreality if you had to pick one master to win at worlds who would it be???
19:52 Cybertron rizzo!!!
19:52 unreality why did you pick this amazing choice
19:52 Cybertron he is funny
19:52 Cybertron strongth
19:53 Cybertron and best troll
19:53 unreality okay
19:53 unreality when you won
19:53 unreality what percentage of your heart was filled with love for unreality
19:53 Cybertron 120%
19:53 unreality alright
19:53 unreality thank you for your time
19:53 unreality i will try and get this aired in the new yor kt imes
19:53 Cybertron you are quite welcome
19:53 Cybertron excellent
