Warning! tl;dr.
I rolled out of bed around 11am and pretty much got ready for the day. I received a call about a half hour later from Fish saying that he and Shea were at the mall and hadn’t heard from FiveK yet. He told me to come whenever because the word was that it wasn’t starting until 2 or 3. Not knowing if it was going to be 1v1 or 2v2 still because the store hadn’t decided, I did a last minute IV battle with someone in exchange for a Heart Scale just in case it was 1v1 and I wanted Recover back on my Latias that I obtained from Roy the night before. I put my doubles team as my set party, deleted all of cloud’s pokemon I was borrowing that said “Obtained at Mystery Zone” and saved in a Pokecenter. I was a little nervous and excited but ready to go.
I found Fish and Shea sitting outside of Macy’s deep in an intense 1v1 battle. After introductions and such, I watched Fish attempt to make a comeback with the might of Hitmonchan. Alas, it was not enough to defeat Specsmence and the other standards Shea seemed to be using. FiveK had been at the food court with his younger brother and they showed up toward the tail end of the battle. I had not yet signed in so we made our way over to Gamestop. EB Games was also holding a tournament but decided to have theirs at 9 am. Lame. The signup sheet was just out on the counter in Gamestop. A few more people had signed up after the others, one of them being Poke Pimp. I was intimidated to say the least. We’re told at this point that it’s at 3 pm and rules have yet to be decided still… depending on how many people show up would determine if it was singles or doubles.
Fish had an Electrode that was Serious so he and Shea decided to head back to their car, pull out the laptop and fix that along with some other things. We weren’t sure if Qwilfish could learn Explosion or not but Fish decided he was going with it anyway. A few corrections later on PokeSav and both Fish and Shea were ready to go. Both were going to use “Mystery Zone” pokemon and I now felt stupid for deleting cloud’s. We still had loads of time so we hit the food court for drinks. Some more bullshitting and shenanigans occurred before it was finally almost 3. We headed back to Gamestop.
The guys at Gamestop wanted to give people a few minutes to get there so we waited around in the shop for another 20 minutes or so. Finally they were ready and pulled out some Nintendo rules packet along with a clipboard containing a sheet of paper with brackets drawn in blue highlighter. The guys working there along with some guy that I think worked at T-mobile were cracking some jokes about pokemon and steroids and warning everyone in the store not to use “Bondsymon.” They read off the rules that had been floating around the forum.. nothing over 490, no more than a few Master Balls, watch out for a lot of shinies, etc. Each of our games was ruthlessly inspected… they looked at our party pokemon and the pokeballs bag and if that checked out we were good. We all passed except for this probably 12 year old kid who I think had a lot of Master Balls and wasn’t allowed to play. It was dumb but it was one less kid I would have to be ashamed of beating. There were a grand total of six of us playing despite the longer signup list.
Once everything was confirmed to “be in order” one of the guys came over with the clipboard and empty bracket and said ok put your names down wherever. Being the competitive assholes we are, Fish, Shea, FiveK and myself all write our names in opposite corners of the small brackets so as not to play any of each other in the first round. This left FiveK’s brother whose name I don’t remember and the other little kid who was not DQ’ed. FiveK’s brother signs up to fight Shea and the other little kid is paired against me. The kid looked confident so I was actually kind of nervous and also just ashamed that I had to play him. It would suck being a little kid signing up for a pokemon tournament only to face late teen and early 20 year olds. I was in the upper left bracket region so I was up first. After some struggling to even get it to work, we were set for a 2v2 stadium style battle with all pokemon set to level 50 and no other rules.
Round 1: Carl vs. 10 year old
10 year old’s team: Snorlax/Kyogre/Mewtwo/Sceptile; Bench: Typhlosion/Heracross
My team: Snorlax/Mewtwo/Kyogre/Latias; Bench: Lugia/Groudon
Seeing the kid’s options before hand I decide that my best option by far is an early explosion strategy. It’s simple, effective and I doubted he’d have Protect. It paid off. The kid leads with Kyogre and Snorlax while I lead with Mewtwo and Snorlax. I gamble thinking Latias and Kyogre in reserve can handle anything else the kid has and have my Mewtwo Protect while Lax Selfdestructs. His Kyogre uses Water Spout for about 50% damage and his Snorlax targets Mewtwo with Shadow Ball for no damage thanks to Protect. I’m almost smiling right now because I was sure I had this in the bag at this point. My Snorlax takes both of his pokemon out and Kyogre comes in and Choice Scarf Spouts the remaining two with help from my Mewtwo. Easy win (and I was ruthless too) but I feel like shit for beating the little kid and so do the guys running it as they suddenly decide it’s a double elimination tournament. Either way I move on. Fish got this one recorded so you’ll see it first hand.
Later I was told by Shea that the kid muttered something to his parents about Explosion being cheap after our battle. Well whatever.
Carl wins 3-0.
I’ll let the others tell their battles because I really don’t feel like trying to remember theirs as well as mine. I will say this though… Shea’s first round battle was hilarious.
Round 2: Carl vs. FiveK
FiveK’s team: Dusknoir/Mewtwo/Kyogre/Rayquaza Bench: Ludicolo/Smeargle
My team: Groudon/Lugia/Kyogre/Latias; Bench: Snorlax/Mewtwo
By round two the guy running it decides he’s bored with seeing Kyogre all the time and wants to see Mike (my Groudon) get some action since he “looked like a badass.” I figure what the hell and oblige going with my JAA strategy from last summer. FiveK pulls out exactly what I didn’t want to see in Dusknoir and Mewtwo. I decide to go standard procedure with my strategy and have Lugia use Icy Wind and Groudon Protect. Mewtwo Selfdestructs for about 60% damage to Lugia and Dusknoir Imprisons. He sends in Kyogre to replace Mewtwo.
At this point I think I’ve lost because Kyogre isn’t Icy Winded the way the game works now and Earthquake is Imprisoned. In desperation I decide to Swagger Kyogre in hope that it is really slow or that I get lucky or something and use Double-Edge with Groudon on Kyogre since I can’t Quake and know Dusknoir isn’t going to do shit to me. Here’s where I get lucky… FiveK uses Hydro Pump but it misses! Lugia hits the Swagger and takes an Ice Beam I think from Dusknoir for not a lot of damage. I proceed to Swagger my own Groudon who cures himself with Persim Berry while Kyogre hurts itself in confusion and Groudon slams it with another Double-Edge.. this time I think for the kill. Dusknoir I think aimed for Groudon with Ice Beam this time. In comes Rayquaza now for FiveK who hits Lugia with a Life Orb’ed ExtremeSpeed for a KO while my Groudon slams it with Stone-Edge for the OHKO. My Kyogre comes in now and deals with Dusknoir for the win. At least something like that happened. I apologize to FiveK for the luck and he tells me not to worry about it.
Carl wins I think 3-0.
Round 3: Carl vs Fish
Fish’s team: Mewtwo/Dusknoir/Electrode/Rayquaza; Bench: Qwilfish/Exeggutor iirc
My team: Kyogre/Latias/Snorlax/Mewtwo; Bench: Lugia/Groudon
At this point I have two wins and zero losses while everyone else still in has a loss from someone. FiveK’s brother was knocked out by losses to Shea and the 10 year old so I’m given the option of either Shea or Fish by the guy in charge. I turn to both of them and say “So who wants to fight me?” Shea was originally going to but Fish changes his mind and steps up.
Seeing Fish’s earlier fight I know his Dusknoir is for sure Imprison so I decide against Groudon and his Swagger gimmick and lead CScarf Kyogre and Soul Dew Latias. He goes with Mewtwo and Dusknoir who both Protect first turn while Latias uses Helping Hand and Kyogre Water Spouts. Obviously I repeat the process again next turn but I notice that my PP has been drained extremely fast. Both M2 and Dusknoir have Pressure and I forgot to use PP Ups! … Mewtwo is fainted on turn two and Rayquaza switches for Dusknoir to lessen some of the blow of the rain. I’m not really sure.. this is where it gets hazy.
I look over to Fish and tell him that this next turn is going to be great as Electrode comes into play. I let my Kyogre use Struggle and have Latias use Ice Beam on Ray as it Espeeds Kyogre I think. Fish gives me a look and laughs at me for not having PP Ups. FiveK says in the background to not attack Kyogre so I switch out for Mewtwo. I think Electrode Explodes now and my Mewtwo hangs on with Focus Sash while it hits Dusknoir with an Ice Beam and Latias faints. In comes Kyogre to Thunder for the kill. Something like that happened anyway. Fish is disappointed since Qwilfish probably could have dominated me.
Carl wins.. I want to say 2-0. I also want to say that Fish fought valiantly. (I was instructed to make this clear)
Round 4: Carl vs FiveK (again)
FiveK’s team: Ludicolo/Kyogre/Rayquaza/Mewtwo
My team: Snorlax/Mewtwo/Kyogre/Latias
I sit around while there is essentially a mini tournament to determine who plays me. The semi’s is Shea vs FiveK in a bout I hope Shea wins just because I hadn’t played him yet. And yeah maybe because FiveK worried me a bit more. Seeing FiveK pull out Obi mode against the 10 year old also made me worry a bit so I decide to use Mewtwo and Snorlax (lax had Lum Berry) as my reliable starters. He sends in Ludicolo and Kyogre. I Protect with both first turn to avoid any damage and flinch from Fake Out. Second time around I decide to risk another Protect with Mewtwo knowing I might have a shot at Focus Sash if it does fail. Protect does indeed fail and Ludicolo and Kyogre both use Hydro Pump… one of them misses.. I think Kyogre… so Snorlax gets off the Selfdestruct AND Mewtwo hangs on with Focus Sash since nobody touched him.
I go to my own Kyogre in place of Mewtwo while FiveK reveals Ray and Mewtwo. I decide Mewtwo is more of a threat and Water Spout with Kyogre while my Mewtwo tries to Ice Beam Rayquaza. No dice as it gets quickly picked off by Extremespeed. Kyogre does about a third to Ray while not quite killing his Mewtwo. Mewtwo being still alive uses Light Screen but a tad too late. I send in Latias and it’s now 2 each. I decide to Helping Hand and Water Spout while hoping Rayquaza doesn’t hit Latias with Outrage. I’m in luck as it targets Kyogre and faints it! Water Spout did bring Ray down a bit more.. but not by much… and takes out his Mewtwo. Now it’s one to one… whoever goes first wins. I ask FiveK how much speed he’s running and he tells me at 100 it’s just enough to beat Smeargle. I sigh and tell him my Latias is at 350 and Ice Beam for the win.
Carl wins 1-0 in a very close match. Had HPump hit from both pokemon I would have been screwed since Snorlax was both pokemon’s target.
Afterwards I get handed the PBR game that we used for the tournament and a hat that has nothing to do with pokemon along with some Pokemon card/bookmark things. Earlier we were all asked if we owned Wii’s. The guys at Gamestop laughed because I won the game and am the only one who doesn’t actually own the system. FiveK got a shirt and the hat as well for second place. We take a few pictures then say our goodbyes around 5pm. I still needed Harry Potter so I wandered over to the bookstore and picked up one of the last copies.
Phew.. that was a surprisingly long day that was extremely enjoyable. Everyone was fun to hang out with and it was a blast to play pokemon in real life for a change. I think I missed some stuff like the guy who worked somewhere else in the mall who was watching and was very hilarious even though he was kind of mocking us all. We have him on tape as well as some of the early battles. I showed up hoping to win and went undefeated which was cool. I’m pretty tired now so if I think of anything else I’ll add it in later.
Actual battle notes:
- Everyone but Fish had a Kyogre and one with Choice Scarf is brutal.
- Life Orb Rayquaza Outrage is amazing and should be whored in 1v1 ubers
- Props to Shea for only using 4 pokemon on his roster.. one of them being the awesome Ambipom
- Explosion and Protect are still as viable as ever in 2v2 and Dusknoir is still an ass.
- FiveK is really unlucky and not only in my battles with him
- More later maybe..
Hope you enjoyed.
I rolled out of bed around 11am and pretty much got ready for the day. I received a call about a half hour later from Fish saying that he and Shea were at the mall and hadn’t heard from FiveK yet. He told me to come whenever because the word was that it wasn’t starting until 2 or 3. Not knowing if it was going to be 1v1 or 2v2 still because the store hadn’t decided, I did a last minute IV battle with someone in exchange for a Heart Scale just in case it was 1v1 and I wanted Recover back on my Latias that I obtained from Roy the night before. I put my doubles team as my set party, deleted all of cloud’s pokemon I was borrowing that said “Obtained at Mystery Zone” and saved in a Pokecenter. I was a little nervous and excited but ready to go.
I found Fish and Shea sitting outside of Macy’s deep in an intense 1v1 battle. After introductions and such, I watched Fish attempt to make a comeback with the might of Hitmonchan. Alas, it was not enough to defeat Specsmence and the other standards Shea seemed to be using. FiveK had been at the food court with his younger brother and they showed up toward the tail end of the battle. I had not yet signed in so we made our way over to Gamestop. EB Games was also holding a tournament but decided to have theirs at 9 am. Lame. The signup sheet was just out on the counter in Gamestop. A few more people had signed up after the others, one of them being Poke Pimp. I was intimidated to say the least. We’re told at this point that it’s at 3 pm and rules have yet to be decided still… depending on how many people show up would determine if it was singles or doubles.
Fish had an Electrode that was Serious so he and Shea decided to head back to their car, pull out the laptop and fix that along with some other things. We weren’t sure if Qwilfish could learn Explosion or not but Fish decided he was going with it anyway. A few corrections later on PokeSav and both Fish and Shea were ready to go. Both were going to use “Mystery Zone” pokemon and I now felt stupid for deleting cloud’s. We still had loads of time so we hit the food court for drinks. Some more bullshitting and shenanigans occurred before it was finally almost 3. We headed back to Gamestop.
The guys at Gamestop wanted to give people a few minutes to get there so we waited around in the shop for another 20 minutes or so. Finally they were ready and pulled out some Nintendo rules packet along with a clipboard containing a sheet of paper with brackets drawn in blue highlighter. The guys working there along with some guy that I think worked at T-mobile were cracking some jokes about pokemon and steroids and warning everyone in the store not to use “Bondsymon.” They read off the rules that had been floating around the forum.. nothing over 490, no more than a few Master Balls, watch out for a lot of shinies, etc. Each of our games was ruthlessly inspected… they looked at our party pokemon and the pokeballs bag and if that checked out we were good. We all passed except for this probably 12 year old kid who I think had a lot of Master Balls and wasn’t allowed to play. It was dumb but it was one less kid I would have to be ashamed of beating. There were a grand total of six of us playing despite the longer signup list.
Once everything was confirmed to “be in order” one of the guys came over with the clipboard and empty bracket and said ok put your names down wherever. Being the competitive assholes we are, Fish, Shea, FiveK and myself all write our names in opposite corners of the small brackets so as not to play any of each other in the first round. This left FiveK’s brother whose name I don’t remember and the other little kid who was not DQ’ed. FiveK’s brother signs up to fight Shea and the other little kid is paired against me. The kid looked confident so I was actually kind of nervous and also just ashamed that I had to play him. It would suck being a little kid signing up for a pokemon tournament only to face late teen and early 20 year olds. I was in the upper left bracket region so I was up first. After some struggling to even get it to work, we were set for a 2v2 stadium style battle with all pokemon set to level 50 and no other rules.
Round 1: Carl vs. 10 year old
10 year old’s team: Snorlax/Kyogre/Mewtwo/Sceptile; Bench: Typhlosion/Heracross
My team: Snorlax/Mewtwo/Kyogre/Latias; Bench: Lugia/Groudon
Seeing the kid’s options before hand I decide that my best option by far is an early explosion strategy. It’s simple, effective and I doubted he’d have Protect. It paid off. The kid leads with Kyogre and Snorlax while I lead with Mewtwo and Snorlax. I gamble thinking Latias and Kyogre in reserve can handle anything else the kid has and have my Mewtwo Protect while Lax Selfdestructs. His Kyogre uses Water Spout for about 50% damage and his Snorlax targets Mewtwo with Shadow Ball for no damage thanks to Protect. I’m almost smiling right now because I was sure I had this in the bag at this point. My Snorlax takes both of his pokemon out and Kyogre comes in and Choice Scarf Spouts the remaining two with help from my Mewtwo. Easy win (and I was ruthless too) but I feel like shit for beating the little kid and so do the guys running it as they suddenly decide it’s a double elimination tournament. Either way I move on. Fish got this one recorded so you’ll see it first hand.
Later I was told by Shea that the kid muttered something to his parents about Explosion being cheap after our battle. Well whatever.
Carl wins 3-0.
I’ll let the others tell their battles because I really don’t feel like trying to remember theirs as well as mine. I will say this though… Shea’s first round battle was hilarious.
Round 2: Carl vs. FiveK
FiveK’s team: Dusknoir/Mewtwo/Kyogre/Rayquaza Bench: Ludicolo/Smeargle
My team: Groudon/Lugia/Kyogre/Latias; Bench: Snorlax/Mewtwo
By round two the guy running it decides he’s bored with seeing Kyogre all the time and wants to see Mike (my Groudon) get some action since he “looked like a badass.” I figure what the hell and oblige going with my JAA strategy from last summer. FiveK pulls out exactly what I didn’t want to see in Dusknoir and Mewtwo. I decide to go standard procedure with my strategy and have Lugia use Icy Wind and Groudon Protect. Mewtwo Selfdestructs for about 60% damage to Lugia and Dusknoir Imprisons. He sends in Kyogre to replace Mewtwo.
At this point I think I’ve lost because Kyogre isn’t Icy Winded the way the game works now and Earthquake is Imprisoned. In desperation I decide to Swagger Kyogre in hope that it is really slow or that I get lucky or something and use Double-Edge with Groudon on Kyogre since I can’t Quake and know Dusknoir isn’t going to do shit to me. Here’s where I get lucky… FiveK uses Hydro Pump but it misses! Lugia hits the Swagger and takes an Ice Beam I think from Dusknoir for not a lot of damage. I proceed to Swagger my own Groudon who cures himself with Persim Berry while Kyogre hurts itself in confusion and Groudon slams it with another Double-Edge.. this time I think for the kill. Dusknoir I think aimed for Groudon with Ice Beam this time. In comes Rayquaza now for FiveK who hits Lugia with a Life Orb’ed ExtremeSpeed for a KO while my Groudon slams it with Stone-Edge for the OHKO. My Kyogre comes in now and deals with Dusknoir for the win. At least something like that happened. I apologize to FiveK for the luck and he tells me not to worry about it.
Carl wins I think 3-0.
Round 3: Carl vs Fish
Fish’s team: Mewtwo/Dusknoir/Electrode/Rayquaza; Bench: Qwilfish/Exeggutor iirc
My team: Kyogre/Latias/Snorlax/Mewtwo; Bench: Lugia/Groudon
At this point I have two wins and zero losses while everyone else still in has a loss from someone. FiveK’s brother was knocked out by losses to Shea and the 10 year old so I’m given the option of either Shea or Fish by the guy in charge. I turn to both of them and say “So who wants to fight me?” Shea was originally going to but Fish changes his mind and steps up.
Seeing Fish’s earlier fight I know his Dusknoir is for sure Imprison so I decide against Groudon and his Swagger gimmick and lead CScarf Kyogre and Soul Dew Latias. He goes with Mewtwo and Dusknoir who both Protect first turn while Latias uses Helping Hand and Kyogre Water Spouts. Obviously I repeat the process again next turn but I notice that my PP has been drained extremely fast. Both M2 and Dusknoir have Pressure and I forgot to use PP Ups! … Mewtwo is fainted on turn two and Rayquaza switches for Dusknoir to lessen some of the blow of the rain. I’m not really sure.. this is where it gets hazy.
I look over to Fish and tell him that this next turn is going to be great as Electrode comes into play. I let my Kyogre use Struggle and have Latias use Ice Beam on Ray as it Espeeds Kyogre I think. Fish gives me a look and laughs at me for not having PP Ups. FiveK says in the background to not attack Kyogre so I switch out for Mewtwo. I think Electrode Explodes now and my Mewtwo hangs on with Focus Sash while it hits Dusknoir with an Ice Beam and Latias faints. In comes Kyogre to Thunder for the kill. Something like that happened anyway. Fish is disappointed since Qwilfish probably could have dominated me.
Carl wins.. I want to say 2-0. I also want to say that Fish fought valiantly. (I was instructed to make this clear)
Round 4: Carl vs FiveK (again)
FiveK’s team: Ludicolo/Kyogre/Rayquaza/Mewtwo
My team: Snorlax/Mewtwo/Kyogre/Latias
I sit around while there is essentially a mini tournament to determine who plays me. The semi’s is Shea vs FiveK in a bout I hope Shea wins just because I hadn’t played him yet. And yeah maybe because FiveK worried me a bit more. Seeing FiveK pull out Obi mode against the 10 year old also made me worry a bit so I decide to use Mewtwo and Snorlax (lax had Lum Berry) as my reliable starters. He sends in Ludicolo and Kyogre. I Protect with both first turn to avoid any damage and flinch from Fake Out. Second time around I decide to risk another Protect with Mewtwo knowing I might have a shot at Focus Sash if it does fail. Protect does indeed fail and Ludicolo and Kyogre both use Hydro Pump… one of them misses.. I think Kyogre… so Snorlax gets off the Selfdestruct AND Mewtwo hangs on with Focus Sash since nobody touched him.
I go to my own Kyogre in place of Mewtwo while FiveK reveals Ray and Mewtwo. I decide Mewtwo is more of a threat and Water Spout with Kyogre while my Mewtwo tries to Ice Beam Rayquaza. No dice as it gets quickly picked off by Extremespeed. Kyogre does about a third to Ray while not quite killing his Mewtwo. Mewtwo being still alive uses Light Screen but a tad too late. I send in Latias and it’s now 2 each. I decide to Helping Hand and Water Spout while hoping Rayquaza doesn’t hit Latias with Outrage. I’m in luck as it targets Kyogre and faints it! Water Spout did bring Ray down a bit more.. but not by much… and takes out his Mewtwo. Now it’s one to one… whoever goes first wins. I ask FiveK how much speed he’s running and he tells me at 100 it’s just enough to beat Smeargle. I sigh and tell him my Latias is at 350 and Ice Beam for the win.
Carl wins 1-0 in a very close match. Had HPump hit from both pokemon I would have been screwed since Snorlax was both pokemon’s target.
Afterwards I get handed the PBR game that we used for the tournament and a hat that has nothing to do with pokemon along with some Pokemon card/bookmark things. Earlier we were all asked if we owned Wii’s. The guys at Gamestop laughed because I won the game and am the only one who doesn’t actually own the system. FiveK got a shirt and the hat as well for second place. We take a few pictures then say our goodbyes around 5pm. I still needed Harry Potter so I wandered over to the bookstore and picked up one of the last copies.
Phew.. that was a surprisingly long day that was extremely enjoyable. Everyone was fun to hang out with and it was a blast to play pokemon in real life for a change. I think I missed some stuff like the guy who worked somewhere else in the mall who was watching and was very hilarious even though he was kind of mocking us all. We have him on tape as well as some of the early battles. I showed up hoping to win and went undefeated which was cool. I’m pretty tired now so if I think of anything else I’ll add it in later.
Actual battle notes:
- Everyone but Fish had a Kyogre and one with Choice Scarf is brutal.
- Life Orb Rayquaza Outrage is amazing and should be whored in 1v1 ubers
- Props to Shea for only using 4 pokemon on his roster.. one of them being the awesome Ambipom
- Explosion and Protect are still as viable as ever in 2v2 and Dusknoir is still an ass.
- FiveK is really unlucky and not only in my battles with him
- More later maybe..
Hope you enjoyed.
