Shreyas' Pleasanton Warstory
Hey guys, most of you guys probably don't know me at all. May have seen me in the 2010 regional, 2011 regionals and nationals, this years regional, and maybe battled me once in a while on PO. Anywho, I better start by introducing myself. I'm Shreyas, and I probably have one of the longest names in these tourneys. I've only seen one other person whose name takes more than 1 line to write out. I've been on this forums for a couple years, and didn't really post and chose to lurk around and post around very rarely, but here is my first ever legit post, and my first war story.... EVER. My VGCs experience was pretty amazing in the last 2 years. Got up in the 4th round in CA regional, and died there. Last year, I managed to get up to top 4 in the senior division, and headed for nationals where I got 18th place (so close...). Anyway, I return this year as a master.
I went to the Pleasenton VGCs yesterday, and it was FUN.
I was a Senior last year, so this is definitely a different experience. I was pretty nervous facing everyone who is older than me, and possibly know more about the game then I do, but it is Pokemon... it can go either way.
Saturday: The night before
Current team: Zapdos, Garchomp, Abomasnow, Weavile, Suicune, and Metagross
I was battling on the GBU for a good amount of the day. I started losing to some hail teams. It was really disappointing. I went on a chatroom to ask about how I can change my team to handle a wider array of teams, and still keep its balance. At first, I was thinking I needed a Tyranitar. Who should I take out? I was first thinking Abomasnow, but then It'd lose my only guy who can turn the tables on Sand Teams. Then, I considered not even adding him. Finally, I decided to ditch Weavile for Tyranitar since they basically do the same thing, except getting off the Fake Out. This got rid of a pretty big Fire weakness, and got 1/2 my team to counter them. DEZ (one of the coolest guys ever) had a Tyranitar he was willing to let me use. One thing I didn't know is that Tyranitar was going to be the MVP of my team during the VGCs. (Thanks DEZ)
My Finalized Team:
Metagross @ Lum Berry
Adamant (+Atk, - SpA)
Clear Body
244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Spe
- Protect
- Bullet Punch
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
So, I knew for sure he can live a Heat Wave from Zapdos, and other Fire Types would be prepared for the Occa Berry anyway. So, after scarf Brelooms and Amoonguss under Trick Room annoyed me enough, I gave him a Lum Berry to OHKO both of them, AND take the Spore like a boss. I just stuck to his STAB moves since I really didn't need EQ or Ice Punch considering Chomp, and Abomasnow have that covered.
Garchomp @ Yache Berry
Jolly (+Spe, -SpA)
Sand Veil
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Earthquake
- Protect
- Rock Slide
- Dragon Claw
This guy is standard, but DEADLY. I mainly gave him Rock Slide to kill off Volcaronas. His EQ + Dragon Claw covers most of the metagame anyway. Since Ice Type attacks naturally OHKO this guy, a Yache Berry will give him a chance to retaliate with a strong Dragon Claw.
Zapdos @ Electric Gem
Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
Pressure
228 HP / 252 SpA / 28 Spe
- Heat Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Detect
Zapdos is here to mainly take out Metagross and Scizors, and partner up with chomp to take the EQ. The EV Spread gives Zapdos as much bulk as possible, and at the same time do as much damage as possible. The EV spread is mainly meant to outspeed non scarf'd abomasnows, and hit them with a heatwave.
Tyranitar @ Focus Sash
Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
Sand Stream
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
- Low Kick
- Rock Slide
- Protect
- Crunch
Tyranitar + Abomasnow is a bad idea on the same team. Once they cancel out each other's weather, the other dies pretty fast. But, the trick is to know when to use them. The EV spread is perfect to take hits as much as possible, and manage under Trick Room. This is my main answer to Latios, Zapdos, and Abomasnows. Low Kick handles opposing T-Tars. The sash helps me survive a fighting attack, so Tyranitar can take out the partner Pokemon.
Suicune @ Wacaan Berry
Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
Pressure
116 HP / 84 Def / 248 SpA / 60 Spe
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Protect
- Tailwind
Suicune plays more of a support role, but does pretty well on his own too. Scald + Ice Beam hits everything with neutral damage except Water types. The Wacaan Berry helps him live an Electric Gem Thunderbolt from opposing Zapdos, and lets me set up Tailwind.
Abomasnow @ Choice Scarf
Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
Snow Warning
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Blizzard
- Ice Shard
- Sheer Cold
- Giga Drain
Ok, all Abomasnow needs is Blizzard, but lacks the speed to pull it off successfully. So, Choice Scarf is a viable option. It lets him take care of Sand Teams that are speedy, and checks Chompdos pretty well. Sheer Cold was there only in the moment when I have Abomasnow out, but the opponent has out something that resists his STAB. It's better to depend on Sheer Cold rather than Blizzard Freezing.
Sunday: The Day of the VGCs
Ok, this is the day. I got my Soul Silver, Platinum, and White (incase I wanted to change something in the last minute), a DSi, my video camera, my dad's phone charger (to keep a website updated), my camera charger, my DSi charger, and some food. I'm pretty packed for this day. My dad drove me to Pleasenton. We reached there in about 45 minutes. It was 9:00 AM, and there was already a HUGE line. Since I pre registered, I was done with registration in about 5 minutes. I remember one of the judges telling me my team looked pretty solid. Not bad... things are moving pretty fast. I walked around the place checking out the merchandise booth, and the TCG tourney. I kept in mind where the bathrooms and plug sockets were in case I needed them. I was quite for the most part, really.
I saw two girls come in around 9:30 with a Elesa and Skyla cosplay. The costumes looked pretty good, so I got a picture with them.
And then came the annoying part... the wait. I almost fell asleep waiting for the tourney to start. It was scheduled to start around 10, but it started at 11:30 or 12. That's when we heard that there was around 300 participants in all divisions. Not bad... the majority was in the masters. The judges told us we needed to do 8 battles in a row. That was pretty scary...
The Battles.
Round 1: ???
Opponent's Team: Conkeldurr, Porygon2, Magmortar, Flygon
My Team: Zapdos, Metagross, Garchomp, Tyranitar
Here, I first attempted a gang up attack on Porygon2 with Zapdos and Metagross hoping to do as much damage to it before TR goes up. But, he protected with him and Conkeldurr Rock Slided (Rock Gem Boost). D= Next turn, I zen headbutt the Conkeldurr and detect with dos knowing I can’t manage to lose Zapdos again, and I really can’t stop Trick Room. He Rock Slided, and Gross took it. From there, Metagross managed to kill Conkeldurr and Zapdos died to Ice Beam. He sends in Flygon while I send in T-Tar. He goes for a Protect + EQ, and I meteor mash Flygon. And then… I messed up. I double protected while he returned Porygon2 for Magmortar and his Flygon roosted. The battle kinda screwed me over until it became Garchomp + T-Tar vs. Porygon2 + Flygon. TR isn’t up, so I knew Flygon is dead, and Porygon will Ice Beam my chomp. In the end, I won 1-0. That was a close call…
1-0
Good Start. That battle was CLOSE and I really need to think my moves through before just picking them randomly expecting my opponent to fall for everything. The battle could have gone pretty nicely in my favor, but I decided to ruin it.
Round 2: ???
Opponent's Team: Reuniclus, Conkeldurr, Magnezone, Jellicent
My Team: Tyranitar, Metagross
At first, this guy with shades comes up, and just stares at me when I say Hi… he had a serious look on his face which intimidated me for the first few seconds, but ended up calming me down later (no idea how). When I see his team preview, I see that he runs a Trick Room team without a doubt. What I saw is that he will lead with Jellicent or Reuniclus and a guy that can hurt my Tyranitar (since he is the only guy who can hurt both his TR guys), and considering he only had Conkeldurr, I went with Metagross. Perfect choice. He leads with Reuniclus and Conkeldurr. Tyranitar uses Crunch on his Reuniclus and Metagross Zen Headbutts his Conkeldurr. Both barely lived. Conkeldurr flinched, and Reuniclus set up Reflect (wut?). From there, the battle just went downhill for him, and I won 4-0.
2-0
I DID SOMETHING RIGHT :D
It feels good to be up here. 2 rounds of success. After this battle, I was pretty confident, and never really got intimidated by anyone. At the end of the battle, the guy took his glasses off and started smiling. The guy is a pretty good actor...
Round 3: ???
Opponent's Team: Excadrill, Metagross, Gengar, Gastrodon
My Team: Garchomp, Zapdos, Abomasnow, Suicune,
So, a guy with a Vanilite plushie comes up. We were talking about how the shiny version of Vanilite should be chocolate before the battle started. When I see his team, I see a pretty obvious sand storm team. Landorus, Excadrill, Tyranitar, Gengar, Metagross , and Gastrodon. He leads with Gengar and Excadrill while I go for Chompdos. He starts off using a poison gem sludge wave that crits my chomp. Chomp uses EQ so Excadrill lived on with his sash. He goes for a Swords Dance, and I kill off his Gengar with Thunderbolt. I thought I was screwed if Tyranitar came up and gave that Excadrill a speed boost. Luckily, he didn’t bring his T-Tar. He sent in his Gastrodon instead. I was pretty surprised but, oh well… I thought he’d protect with Excadrill, so I used Dragon Claw on Gastrodon, and he kills of chomp but not dos. Don’t remember how that happened… I send in Abomasnow who Blizzards to kill off Excadrill and does major damage to Gastrodon. Zapdos Hidden Powers Gastrodon leaving him with Metagross. I return Abomasnow for Suicune, and Zapdos uses Thunderbolt. I won that battle 3-0
3-0
I think I just got lucky here. IF he ran T-Tar I would have had a much harder time. But, I’m glad he didn’t.
Round 4
I get out my DS, and get ready for an intense battle. Both me and my opponent are at 3-0. This is going to be tough. A judge came by, and checked his cart first. They said they’ll hold onto it for a while. I can tell my opponent was a bit worried. I handed in mine, and it was clean! First hack check of the day. But, my opponent was not. He got D/Q’d, so I won that too, but I was a bit sad that I didn’t get to battle, but oh well…
4-0
Ok…
Round 5: Mike Ellis
Opponent's Team: Scizor, Musharna, Politoed, Ludicolo
My Team: Zapdos, Suicune, Garchomp, Tyranitar
Mike Ellis comes up, and he is really spirited, and very funny. He comes up, and I see his team. Standard Rain. I expected him to depend on pure speed to rip through me, so I was prepared to set up Tailwind with Suicune, and Thunderbolt with Zapdos. But wait… he goes with Musharna and Scizor. I thought it was alright… Zapdos could kill Scizor, and Musharna can’t do anything to me. Not bad… I thunderbolt Scizor and Scald Musharna. Scizor protects, and Musharna Trick Rooms. Oh no… I manage to kill off Scizor and burn Musharna with Scald. Ok… not bad. Suicune has a small amount of HP left. He sends in Politoed. I double protect, so I was safe for 1 turn. Next turn, he goes with a helping hand surf. Zapdos lives, suicune dies. I send in Chomp, and double protect again. He saw this coming. =_=” He returns politoed for Ludicolo, and the dimensions are back to normal. Another Helping hand surf… Garchomp has 6 HP, and Zapdos dies. I send in T-Tar, and from there, he sends in toed after Musharna dies, and I lose the battle 2-0.
4-1
Right now, I remember being a bit sad, but it’s all good. I’ve got DEZ’s T-Tar, and a bunch of support behind me. Getting pumped for Round 6. I can do it!
Round 6: Anthony Huang
Opponent's Team: Metagross, Zapdos, Chandelure
My Team: Zapdos, Tyranitar, Suicune
I battle an asian guy with a butterfly tattoo on his face. I expected a pretty good battle. I see a goodstuffs team, but I can’t remember the guys he used other than Zapdos and Chandelure. I really don’t remember this battle. He goes for Tailwind on dos, and protect on his gross while I Thunderbolt gross and protect with T-Tar. I got a team full of slow and bulky Pokemon, so I was all good. The battle ends with Chandelure vs. Suicune and T-Tar, and I win the battle 3-0.
5-1
Pretty decent battler. He knew what he was doing for sure, but his team was a bit obvious. Then again… so was mine, but I think I played perfectly in this battle. Don’t think I could have done any better.
Round 7: breh
Opponent's Team: Dusclops, Hariyama, Chandelure, Tyranitar
My Team: Tyranitar, Metagross
I see his team is a very obvious Trick Room team. He will probably go for Hariyama and one of his Trick Room starters. He chooses Dusclops + Hariyama. I saw that coming. He fakes out my Metagross, and lets my T-Tar use Crunch on Dusclops. The crunch gets a crit, and I kill it. He then sends out Chandelure. I go with a Zen Headbutt on Hariyama killing it, and he returns Chandelure for Tyranitar. He told me he only did this to force a protect on Gross, so Hariyama can take out my Tyranitar. Didn’t work. Hariyama dies, and Tyranitar gets hit by my T-Tar’s Crunch. Next turn, I meteor Mash his T-Tar and Crunch his Chandelure, and win the battle the next turn (4-0).
6-1
Whoa can’t believe I got this far! I notice that 4 people are at 7-0, and I thought I lost my chances for top 4, but oh well… it was fun, and there is still 1 more battle to go, and lets end this thing strong
Round 8: PaperGlaceon
Opponent's Team: Zapdos, Metagross, Scrafty, Scizor
My Team: Metagross, Tyranitar, Zapdos, Suicune
Last battle of the day, and it is the same person who beat me last year in top 4 (PaperGlaceon). This is probably going to be hard, but might as well get the best out of it! I see a Scrafty, and stupidly assume he is going to lead with it, so I go with Gross. I then thought he will see that coming and bring in Zapdos for safety, so I brought out Tyranitar. I was right about dos… But, he sends in Metagross. HORRIBLE START. He can potentially kill both of my guys turning the battle in his favor FAST. I did pretty stupid mistakes in this battle. I knew my T-Tar can take the Meteor Mash and Heat Wave, and kill off dos or do major damage with Rock Slide. Instead, I return T-Tar and go into my Zapdos who dodges a Meteor Mash and a heat wave. My Metagross survives a heat wave, and hits his Zapdos with Zen Headbutt. Next turn, I get my Zapdos killed, but it goes down killing his Zapdos. The battle is already turning in his favor. I’m dead… He then sends in Scrafty, and I remember thinking I can’t do ANYHTING anymore. But, seeing a fake out, I go for the double protect, but little did I know that this move changed the course of the battled completely. He fakes out and Explodes. Kills his own Scrafty with his Gross. YES YES YES. I got this. He sends in Scizor. Scizor vs. Suicune and Gross. Suicune won’t die to Acrobatics for sure, so I go for Scald. It burns Scizor, but I'm not too sure if this mattered all that much.
Battle Video Number: 23-05957-41021
7-1
Not bad for my first year in masters! I definitely knew I’d be leaving with something knowing I got top 12 for sure. I was online after this battle telling DEZ how I was doing, and it was pretty intense.
The list came up, and I was pretty nervous. My hands started sweating to a point where I couldn’t hold the phone anymore. I went toward the list and there it was… First place was Marco Sandoval(Nickscor), second was Mike Ellis(MikeyFromSantee), and there I was standing in 3rd place! It was a pretty amazing feeling! 3rd place… first year in masters!
$600 for me and my dad to go to nationals during the summer, a Play! Pokemon hat, binder, TCG play mat, and a glass trophy for being a semifinalist.
Overall, it was a pretty fun day, and I’m definitely doing it next year. I’m not a 100% sure if I will be going to nats or not, but that’s a later discussion.
Special thanks to DEZTROYA for the Tyranitar that basically won me the regional, and my friends for being right behind me through the entire event!
As for everyone here. I saw a bunch of people yesterday, and not too sure who most of you guys were really. So, if you did see me, tell me, and I'll try to recall. ;)
