Cybertron's VGC 2012 RI Regional Warstory!

[Cybertron]

Just it.

Cybertron's VGC 2012 RI Regional Warstory
"You may not know, but I'm a pretty big deal." - Babbytron
Dedicated to Brendan Zheng, the strongest Junior out there.

Introduction

So, I didn't really think I'd write a warstory this time around since I feel like not too much happened socially at this Regional, and I normally aim my warstories towards the social aspect more, but I did get notes down for all my battles and wanted to share my (At least what I think is cool) team with everyone else. Also, Babby's success needs to be commemorated in a thread! I don't think you need an introduction of who I am (JUST KIDDING), but if you really don't, try reading this VGC 2011 Warstory. It was one of my proudest pieces, and I really enjoyed putting it together. I've divided this warstory into three parts: The first part introduces my team and our TCG decks for the weekend. The second part talks about the TCG portion of Regionals, and the third part is what you all came here for, the VGC portion / battles. Anyway, here we go! I hope you enjoy.

The Team



I'm not going to post my movesets, items, or EV's. You can figure those out by yourself, they're rather straight forward. The strategy is also pretty straight forward: Set up Trick Room, sweep with Glaceon. I knew I wanted to use my VGC '09 team after being denied a chance to play that year, which consisted of Infernape/Slowking/Abomasnow/Glaceon. The team worked incredibly well for me back then, so I started testing with those four as my core in PO when rules were announced. I eventually added in Jellicent, which is immune to Fake Out along with the sheer power of Water Spout and finally added in Gallade (over what was originally a Choice Scarf Terrakion) after Human suggested it to me. I also enjoyed the fact that I didn't necessarily need to set up Trick Room to win: These Pokemon were strong and bulky enough to take a few hits and do massive damage, mainly Abomasnow, Infernape, and Jellicent. In the end, I was pretty happy with my team and the way it ran. If there was one Pokemon I would change, it would probably be Slowking. Online, he proved to be a great use to me because of a few surprise moves that caught my opponents off guard, but I don't think I even used him once at this Regional. Anyway, enjoy!

The Decks



Reshiplosion

Brendan ended up playing his Typhlosion/Reshiram deck, a very straightforward strategy. Use Typhlosion's "Afterburner" power to quickly charge Reshiram's up, and use Blue Flare, along with cards such as Catcher and Plus Power to knock out threats. We ran a 3-2-3 line of Typhlosion, and a thick 2-2 line of Ninetales. My reasoning for this is that Brendan really needs Ninetales rather than having that extra 1-0-1 line of Typhlosion. With a 2-2 line of Ninetales, the threat of something being prized is much less and you can set it up every game. This turned out to be a great decision, as Brendan managed to win all his mirror matchups by outspeeding his opponent with quick Ninetales draws. The rest of the list was rather standard, using cards such as Professor Juniper or Professor Oak's New Theory to replenish your hand, and Flower Shop Lady to get back energy and Pokemon.


Gothitelle/Reuniclus

As for me, I decided to try out Gothitelle and Reuniclus thanks to Dan/dtrain and Huy/Huy. The strategy of Gothitelle is also rather straight forward. Set up a Gothitelle to lock your opponent from using trainers, while using Reuniclus's "Damage Swap" ability to move damage around so your opponent can never KO you without doing 130 damage without the use of cards such as Plus Power and Catcher. I also ran 2 Tropical Beach, a card familiar to all our World Competitors here as we all received 7 in different languages. The card allows you to draw cards until you have 7 in your hand and end your turn, great to use when you have a Gothitelle that isn't fully charged up yet. The deck used a heavy line of Twins, expecting to fail behind on prizes early on to set up. Once you get a charged up Gothitelle and Reuniclus, the deck is deadly and is almost impossible to beat. Dan convinced me to use the deck, and Huy sent me 2 Gothitelle's. Thanks guys :)

[Cybertron]

Friday, November 11th

Unlike everyone else, I still had school on Friday. My parents had to come to my school for a parent meeting, so we left right after it ended. Took public transportation home (I hate my commute ), ate dinner, packed all of our stuff, and took off for Rhode Island at around 6.

Yummy...

---

The ride there was uneventful, like always. It was around a 3.5 hour drive, and I spent most of my time playing through my other game of White in order to get the VS Recorder to record some of my battles for the weekend. I spent the rest of the time sleeping or talking to Brendan about strategies and things to watch out for. We arrive at the hotel at around 9:30, check into our room, and I get our decks sorted for the TCG portion of Regionals. I fall asleep after watching Criminal Minds (the strongest TV show!).

Saturday, November 12th: TCG Regionals

I wake up bright and early at around 6:30 to check forums and start spamming Facebook with constant status messages. I look over our decklists again and was content with them, and start packing everything for the convention center. Brendan and my dad wake up soon, and we get ready for the day. No breakfast was needed for me or Brendan. I can never eat the morning of a competition. I just can't. We wait for my dad to finish up, and finally head out to the convention center.

At arrival at the convention center, I see a very familiar face... it is the one and only, MIKE LIESEK! (Also known as the coolest guy out there. VGC is lucky to have him.) I hand him over Brendan's "Top 8" hat from Worlds which he received by accident, and show him my deck for the day. He shakes his head, says that I can't compete tomorrow if I lose today, and I just laugh. I head over to a table where all my TCG friends have gathered, and start resleeving decks after realizing my cool Palkia sleeves were too beaten up. Halfway into sleeving with these other cool Japanese sleeves, one breaks and I realize that I have no extra so I need to resleeve AGAIN. Fortunately, none broke this time. We hand in our decklists, play a few practice games, and wait for pairings to go up. I won't bore you too much with my TCG games, but here's a summary of what went down.

A few pictures of the tournament area while we were sitting down.

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I played Joe C. Round 1, running Yanmega/Cincinno/Kingdra. I look at my hand, and it is GOD. Pichu, Pokemon Collector, Twins, Tropical Beach, Energies. I'm ready to blow up after Turn 1. I ask him heads or tails, he says heads. I roll the die, it's a 2. He flips over his basic Pokemon, and I see a Mincinno. My head is spinning right now. All he needs is a energy and a coin flip to take Round 1. He attaches the Double Colorless Energy, flips for Mincinno's attack, and gets heads. Pichu gets knocked out, I lose game 1. I hate donks. Fortunately, Brendan wins his game and his now 1-0, while I am 0-1. I figure that I need to win out now because hardly any 4-2's make it, and judging my the fact that I already lost 1 to a donk, I can't afford to lose anymore.


(0/1). DONKED!

In Round 2, I play Anthony P. running a bunch of random stuff that included a Reshiram. The game was rather straight forward: I managed to set up my Gothitelle/Reuniclus combo and steamrolled him basically, and his deck couldn't really do anything to stop it. I take game 2 easily while Brendan wins as well. He is 2-0 now, and I am 1-1. Only 4 more games to go! I feel a lot more confident about my situation and my deck, and as long as I don't get donked, I think I can win through.

In Round 3, I play Andrew G. running a Reshiboar deck. I can't remember too much detail about this game, but I think it went very similar to the 2nd game. He got a quick knock out, and I am able to blow up with Twins. I can easily used Catcher to bring up his Emboars, and with Gothitelle as the active Pokemon, it is nearly impossible to retreat to his main attackers unless he has 4 energies along with a Fisherman. I win game 3, and am now 2-1 while Brendan is 3-0.

Mall pictures! (2)

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Throughout all this TCG craziness, Aaron/Unreality and his family arrive along with several other cool VGC guys including Enfuego, dtrain, Charzaro, etc. We hang out and talk VGC throughout the day, and fun ensues, especially with Aaron getting everyone to sign their Smogon username on a TCG card, check out his pre-warstory over here. I think we got a lunch break at this time, and we all head over to the mall (which is HUGE) to grab some food. Brendan goes by himself to order Subway, while I go grab some Beef Teriyaki. (So good)

My Round 4 opponent's name is Kyle W. using a Donphan/Zekrom/Reshiram deck. The strategy is to use Donphan's "Earthquake" attack to do 60 damage while charging up Zekrom and Reshiram's "Outrage" attack. Early in the game, he uses Professor Oak's New Theory to draw 6 cards but whiffs on a way to get Donphan, and passes for his turn. I get a Rare Candy Gothitelle the next turn, and take control of the game from there on out. Although he got unlucky with the wiff, I did have a Twins in my hand and a Tropical Beach, so the game would have been a uphill battle for me. I win game 4, and am now 3-1 while Brendan is 4-0 and is guaranteed to make it into the top cut.

Brendan playing his Round 5 match against his eventual finals opponent.

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Pumped up about my 3 straight victories in a row and about Brendan's success, I go into Round 5 very excited. My opponent is named Antoine B., who I later find out was a Worlds Competitor. He was using a Reshiboar deck. Unlike my Round 3 opponent, Antoine was a very smart player, making sure not to KO anything too early on in the game. Now why is this smart? He gets to set up his Emboar's, making sure that he has 2 by the time I start attacking, and makes sure that I can't use my Twins to my advantage. He uses an early Judge, and I draw well off that. However, I spend the next three turns with a Gothitelle active and a Reuniclus benched, just waiting for something to happen. He doesn't take the bait for a KO, and I'm forced to take the first knock out. He takes control of the game as I am never able to set up a fully powered Gothitelle, and with both of my Catchers prized, I can't stall for time by Catchering Emboar. An unfortunate turn of events, especially when I started off so well. I misplay at one point by Junk Arming my last Reuniclus without thinking about it, and I know the game is lost after that point. I lose my 5th game, and am now 3-2 while Brendan has managed to go 5-0 in a VERY close game, having no cards left his deck in the end and winning by 1 prize.

Shot of my matchslip and sleeves.

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I'm a bit depressed now: I was so close to making it, but even if I win my last one, I'm pretty sure my resistance is quite low, and not good enough to make it. Nevertheless, I play my last game through and hope for the best. My Round 6 opponent is Colin G., using another Stage 1 deck that techs in Mew Prime for Gothitelle. He gets an early See Off, and puts Cincinno in the Lost Zone. I get my combo going, making sure to Catcher his Mew Prime and KO it so he can't OHKO me, and after that, I have total control of the game. I win my last game, and finish swiss with a record of 4-2. Meanwhile, Brendan is playing his Top Cut games as the first seed.

Top 4 Juniors. How 'bout that Babbyswag?

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Brendan going undefeated like a boss.

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Standings are posted, and my friend comes over and tells me that I actually made it into the Top 8, seeded 7th. I flip out and start hugging everyone; totally not expecting to make it since I thought my resistance would be so low. Then the dreaded news was brought down to me. I would not be able to play in both the card game and the video game. The decision to play the TCG Top 8 on Sunday had been made, and I had to choose.

Total bummer. I felt so confident with my Gothitelle deck and really though that I could win the whole tournament with it, or at least Top 4 since I had a easy matchup in the Top 8. My main goal was to win a medal, but the tournament organizers tell me that I have to choose. I tell them that I am going to play for now, but know that in the end, I will probably change my choice and play in the video game.

Meanwhile, Brendan wins his Top 4 match easily and is in the finals of the 2012 Pokemon TCG Rhode Island Regionals. His finals opponent is one he has already played: Jack S. However, the game between Brendan and Jack during Swiss was incredibly close and went back and forth, and it was anyone's game in the finals, especially when both Juniors were running Reshiram/Typhlosion decks. They get seated in a sealed off area, with Mike observing, and they start playing. I drop in every few minutes to see how Brendan's doing, and their first game just seemed to go on and on. I'm pretty sure it went over half an hour. Brendan and Mike later tell me it was also incredible close: Brendan started poorly, with bad hands, first consisting of no energy, then being full of energy after a Professor Juniper. Brendan manages to pull off a victory, and is now only 1 game from being a Regional Champion. I observe his game, and early on, his opponent makes a misplay.

Apparently, Jack was playing through his turn when he announced Reshiram's "Outrage" attack by accident. For those that don't know, once you announce an attack in the TCG, you can't take it back unless your opponent allows you. Brendan apologizes but says that the move has been made, and after a few minutes of discussion, the judges agree. This wasn't that big of a deal, but it prevented Jack from using a supporter that turn. Brendan tells me the 2nd game wasn't as close as the 1st, and soon enough, becomes the 2012 Rhode Island TCG Regional Champion. Not only that, he managed to go through the whole tournament undefeated. Very impressive, to say the last. We came into TCG Regionals with the mindset of playing for fun, trying to get some packs along the way. Who knew Brendan would be able to pull off a freaking victory?

Interviews, cards, fun fun fun

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To summarize our TCG adventure: Brendan wins Regionals, going 9-0 and I went 4-2 and qualified for the Top 8 as 7th seed, but wouldn't be allowed to play in both the Top 8 and the Video Game. I eventually make the decision to drop out to play VGC. After Brendan's victory, he gets his prizes (Two boxes of the newest set, Nobel Victories, forms for Nationals, a plush, etc.) and we start opening one box of Nobel Victories, pulling a lot of cool cards along the way. By this time, it's already around 6 and Aaron/Charzaro leaves while dtrain and Enfuego go out to pick Sapphire Birch. (The real) Papa Zheng drives us back to our hotel, where we celebrate Brendan's victory through ramen noodles and constant Facebook status updates! I tell Brendan that if he wins tomorrow, it'll be one of the most incredible feats in Pokemon history; no pressure or anything. Brendan says "I GOT THIS."

Pokemon, and ramen, and Asians oh my!

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Enfuego and dtrain eventually come back with Sapphire Birch, The Wolf, and Jio and we all hang out in their room for a while after Dan gave me the wrong room number, haha. I play a few games with my Gothitelle deck against Sapphire Birch, while everyone else is doing some last minute GBUing. Babby and Enfuego battle, and Babby wins because of serious h@x. Such a strong trainer. We eventually head back to our room to get some sleep for the next day. Brendan gets knocked out really soon, and I stay up for a bit longer, talking to people online. Eventually, after finding nothing good to watch on TV, I decide to retire for the night.

[Cybertron]

Sunday, November 13th: VGC Regionals

We wake up bright and early again, and I get all my stuff packed, take a shower, and dress up. For those that didn't know, I played on Sunday with a suit. We leave for the convention center right away, and I tell the TCG judges that I've confirmed my decision and that I'll be dropping from the Top 8 of TCG. My Top 8 opponent just won another 12 packs and a medal! (And he misses out on playing one of his deck's toughest matchups...)

A huge crowd gathers around a couple of tables, where I'm doing some last minute team building for several Seniors/Masters. I finally lock in my battle box, and in no time, pairings are already up. Here were how my six games went!

Round 1 - Table 1
Aaron Z. (0/0) vs. Gregor R. (0/0)

...

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Pre-battle notes: Gregor is mainly a TCG player, him and his brother asked for VGC teams last second and I decided to hook them up with a typical Rain Dance team... with only 5 Pokemon. With that being said, I knew all the movesets and EV's, so this match was obviously favorable. I lead with Infernape and Gallade, with Abomasnow and Glaceon in the back to hopefully set up Trick Room and gain weather support later on in the game after KOing Politoed.

vs.

Turn 1:
The foe's Politoed's Drizzle made it rain!
Infernape used Fake Out!
The foe's Kingdra flinched!
Politoed used Psychic! Gallade took 40%.
Gallade used Trick Room!

This turn couldn't have gone any better. He lead with Politoed and Kingdra rather than Ludicolo, meaning that I wouldn't have to worry about a Hydro Pump or a fast Fake Out. Psychic does a meager amount to my Gallade, and I safely set up Trick Room. Now my plan is to bring out Abomasnow and spam some quick Blizzards and Close Combats to slowly KO everything.

vs.

Turn 2:
Infernape is called back! Abomasnow is sent out!
Abomasnow's Snow Warning whipped up a hailstorm!
Gallade used Close Combat on Kingdra, leaving Kingdra with around 15%.
The foe's Politoed used Psychic on Gallade.
The foe's Kingdra used Dragon Pulse on Gallade.
After hail damage is done, Gallade survives with 6 HP.

This turn also worked out pretty well for me: Abomasnow safely came in, and even after he double targeted Gallade, it still manages to live with a strong 6 HP. I should be able to get 2 easy KO's now.

vs.

Turn 3:
The foe's Politoed used Protect!
The foe's Kingdra used Protect!
Abomasnow used Blizzard! Damage negated.
Gallade used Close Combat! Damage negated.
Gallade faints to the hail.

The double Protect was rather obvious, and I don't see why I didn't switch to Glaceon in order to let my Gallade live. I guess I was pretty confident about how the game was going at this point, and wanted to safely switch in Glaceon.

vs.
Turn 4:
Glaceon is sent out!
Glaceon used Blizzard! The foe's Kingdra is KO'd!
Abomasnow used Giga Drain! The foe's Politoed lives with around 10%!
The foe's Politoed used Psychic! Abomasnow lives with 137 HP.

Good turn for me, although Politoed living was kind of a nuisance. However, I got rid of Kingdra, which can hit for a decent amount more than Politoed so I was rather content with the situation.

vs.
Turn 5:
The foe's Ludicolo is sent out!
Glaceon used Blizzard! The foe's Politoed is KO'd! The foe's Ludicolo is KO'd! A critical hit on Ludicolo!
Abomasnow used Blizzard! But it failed...
The twisted dimensions returned to normal!

Sweet, I got a double KO in my last turn of Trick Room. Surprised he didn't Fake Out / switch the Toed out, but this was Gregor's first game with the team. Anyway, I have total control of the game now and can easily KO whatever comes in since he has no more Rain support.

vs.

Turn 6:
The foe's Jellicent is sent out!
The foe's Jellicent used Shadow Ball! Abomasnow took 30%!
Abomasnow used Giga Drain!
Glaceon used Shadow Ball! The foe's Jellicent is KO'd!
Aaron wins 3-0

Simple turn, I score a KO on the Jellicent with two super effective moves. Good game Gregor. (Fun fact: Gregor ends up going 5-1 with this team and finishes 3rd: It was his first time with this team, it only had 5 Pokemon, and I gave it to him last second. Nice work!)

Basic summary: Basic Rain Dance team. Set up Trick Room and used strong moves to KO one Pokemon at a time. He never switched out, which made the battle much easier on my side.

Round 2 - Table 8
Aaron Z. (1/0) vs. Clark S. (1/0)

...

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Pre-battle notes: A bit intimidated going into this match since he was one of BlitznBurst's friends, so he obviously knew what he was doing. Seeing his team worried me: Tyranitar and Metagross are two of the Pokemon my team struggles with sometimes, so I knew I had to choose carefully. I lead with Infernape and Jellicent, since Jellicent can take a super effective move and set up Trick Room with Fake Out support.

vs.
Turn 1:
The foe's Tyranitar whipped up a sandstorm!
The foe's Zapdos is exerting its Pressure!
Infernape used Fake Out on Tyranitar!
The foe's Zapdos used Tailwind!
Jellicent used Trick Room!

Wow, sweet. Turn 1 was trick for me, as he lead with two Pokemon that both can hit Jellicent REALLY hard. I know that Jellicent can live a Thunderbolt from Zapdos, so I went with the Fake Out on Tyranitar and set up Trick Room, hoping that a potential T-bolt would not crit me. To my surprise, his Zapdos used Tailwind, which was perfect for me because now I am sure to outspeed everything under Trick Room.

vs.

Turn 2:
Jellicent used Water Spout! (Does 70% to Tyranitar, 50% to Zapdos)
The foe's Tyranitar used Crunch! Jellicent is KO'd!
Infernape used Close Combat on Tyranitar! The foe's Chople Berry reduces damage! Tyranitar is KO'd!
The foe's Zapdos used Discharge! Infernape is KO'd!

Not the best of turns on my side. For whatever reason, I thought my Infernape would outslow the Tyranitar and get a CC off, and didn't really expect Discharge and Crunch to KO both of my guys. I did manage to get rid of Tyranitar, meaning that I have weather control when I send out Abomasnow.

vs.
Turn 3:
The foe's Metagross is sent out!
Gallade is sent out!
Abomasnow is sent out!
Abomasnow's Snow Warning whipped up a hailstorm!

The foe's Metagross used Protect!
Abomasnow used Blizzard! The foe's Zapdos is KO'd!
Gallade used Close Combat! But it failed...

OK, that was a pretty decent turn. I got a clean KO without taking any damage, and managed to get rid of Zapdos which has Heat Wave. Now I have to slowly kill this Metagross.


vs.
Turn 4:
The foe's Excadrill is sent out!
Abomasnow used Blizzard! The foe's Metagross is frozen solid! (Does 30% to Meta, 50% to Exca)
Gallade used Close Combat! The foe's Metagross took 50%.
The foe's Metagross is frozen solid.
The foe's Excadrill used X-Scissor! Abmoasnow lives with around 10 HP.
The foe's tailwind petered out.

I should have went for the KO on Excadrill this turn, seeing how I can live an attack from Metagross. I thought Blizzard would kill for some reason, but I don't manage to do that much. However, I get a lucky freeze on his Metagross, one of the awesome parts about spamming Blizzard with this team. the next turn is my last turn of Trick Room, so I have to play it safe.

vs.
Turn 5:
The foe's Metagross is frozen!
Abomasnow used Blizzard! The foe's Metagross is knocked out! The foe's Excadrill is knocked out!
Aaron wins 2-0.

Simple turn, Metagross remains frozen and I get 2 easy KO's. I got very lucky with the freeze, making up for my misplay. I think I would have been able to win regardless, but the freeze made it a lot easier on my side. Clark played really well, and I had a very lucky turn 1 by setting up Trick Room to his Tailwind.

Basic summary: Opponent has a bunch of Pokemon that counter my team. He sets up sand/Tailwind while I get Trick Room up. Gallade and Abomasnow kill off everything.

Round 3 - Table 3
Aaron Z. (2/0) vs. Colin G. (2/0)

...

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Pre-battle notes: If you read my TCG portion of this warstory, you'll realize that Colin is a familiar name. I actually played him the day before in Round 6. His team looked rather weak to hail spam, so I decided my best strategy was to just set up Trick Room and sweep.

vs.
Turn 1:
Infernape used Fake Out on Terrakion!
The foe's Whimsicott used Beat Up on the foe's Terrakion! 4x
The foe's Terrakion Justified raised its Attack!
The foe's Terrakion flinched!
Gallade used Trick Room!

I take control of the game right around the beginning, and I feel good about my position already. Now I just need to safely switch in Abomasnow and Glaceon.

vs.
Turn 2:
Infernape is sent back! Abomasnow is sent in!
Abomasnow's Snow Warning whipped up a hailstorm!
Gallade used Close Combat on the foe's Terrakion! The foe's Terrakion is KO'd!
The foe's Whimsicott used Beat Up! But it failed...

Perfect turn, I set up hail and bring out Abomasnow safely while I get a easy KO on Terrakion and Whimsicott does nothing at all.

vs.
Turn 3:
The foe's Hydreigon is sent out!
Abomasnow used Blizzard! The foe's Whimsicott is KO'd! The foe's Hydreigon is KO'd!
Gallade used Close Combat! But it failed...

Another easy turn, I score 2 knock outs while Trick Room is still up and the game is pretty much mine at this point.

vs.

Turn 4:
The foe's Suicune is sent out!
Abomasnow used Giga Drain! It's super effective!
Gallade used Close Combat! The foe's Suicune is KO'd!
Aaron wins 4-0.

I finish the game off with a strong Giga Drain and Close Combat.

Basic summary: I set up Trick Room and use Gallade/Abomasnow to quickly kill off his entire team.

Round 4 - Table 3
Aaron Z. (3/0) vs. Joe C. (3/0)

and several other Unova mons...

...

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Basically, Joe was also a TCG player (who donked me the day before!) and somehow made it to 3-0 with 2 Pokemon under level 50 in his team. Our game lasted three turns: I set up Trick Room against his Chandelure and Seismitoad leads with my own Abomasnow and Jellicent, while he double targets my Abomasnow with a Flamethrower and Muddy Water. I sent in Glaceon and wreck in the next two turns with Blizzard and Water Spout! Revenge for my donk yesterday!

Round 5 - Table 1
Aaron Z. (4/0) vs. Edward/iss (4/0)

...

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It's probably because I'm getting lazy with following through with my format, but I recorded this match so you can click here to watch it. I had to play my good friend Edward/iss in Round 5 unfortunately: We were really hoping we could meet in the finals, but I guess we got lucky avoiding each other up to this point. The battle was really intense, and although it was pretty one sided towards the end, it came down to a lot of prediction. My heart jumped when I saw that he switched out Hariyama, and prayed that it wasn't one of his two TR set-upers... You'll have to watch the video to see what the outcome of my prediction was. It was a really good game, and Edward is always a good opponent. Sorry you got haxed out Round 6, but you're doing a lot better now and I'm sure you'll kick butt in Philly! GG.

Round 6 - Table 1
Aaron Z. (5/0) vs. Chuppa C. (5/0)

+1 more.

...

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Yeah, it's official. I've gotten way too lazy to follow my previous format, along with the fact that I lost my notes for this game. Here's what pretty much happened though.

He leads with his Scrafty and Reuniclus, while I lead with Abomasnow and Jellicent. Knowing Reuniclus is the slowest of all and that Scrafty is probably the fastest, I Blizzard and Trick Room, hoping that he goes for either the Fake Out / Trick Room or Crunch / Trick Room. Now why was this a bad decision? I should have Protected on Abomasnow because with a FO coming my way, my Sash is now broken. He ends up catching me off guard with a Psychic and Fake Out, and I set up Trick Room. Well, shit. That didn't go well.

The next few turns were a blur to me, but basically I eventually KO Scrafty, and in the end, it's his Reuniclus with like 6% and Metagross against my Glaceon and Gallade. My problem here was that I didn't know my speed tiers, and never realized that Gallade was slower than Metagross. I Protect a bunch of times, expecting an Explosion from Metagross, but he never went for it. Had I realized Gallade was slower than Metagross, I would have set up Trick Room again after it ended to get 2 easy KO's with a Blizzard / Close Combat. His last Pokemon was a Togekiss, which is fairly easy for Glaceon to take care of. However, because I never realized this, Chuppa gets a bunch of easy KO's and wins the finals in a not very exciting match, 3-0.

Chuppa deserved to win; he was a very excellent player and made moves that caught me off guard every turn. I felt like I could have won at several points had I really put in all my effort in it, but to be honest, I feel like I really wasn't thinking through with all my moves. (See: Turn 1) I pretty much played like shit the whole game. But, I'm not trying to make excuses for losing, and I actually like my prizes for 2nd more since it helps Chuppa get to Nationals, and since our family already has 1 (or maybe even 2) hotel rooms, the $600 allows us to book tickets and have left over money for food and other expenses in Indy, so we basically have all of Nationals set out already!

And so the tournament finally ends, and after going 5-0, I lose in a good game in the finals to a new player. Brendan won Juniors VGC within like an hour, and he told me he 4-0'd all of his opponents. Dang, this format's making it too easy for him! We get all our prizes, which include some TCG packs and a plush, take pictures, and hang around a bit more for Masters.

Around 4 rounds into Masters, my dad tells me and Brendan we really need to start heading back because we have a nail in our tire, and should we encounter any problems along the way, we need to make sure we get enough time to fix it since we had school the next day. Fortunately, we made it home quickly and safe and sound. Brendan and I had some fun exploiting the fact we could still battle for the competition. I won 3-0 in our game, and I recorded the whole game so I'll upload that sometime just for fun.

We finally made it home at around 6, where I returned to the neverending life of a high schooler...

Summary

Overall, the 2011 Fall Rhode Island Regionals was quite the experience. I had a blast playing both TCG and VGC in one weekend, along with getting to see all my friends from everywhere. I'm really glad that this change was made, and although I have a few sour grapes about it, Pokemon is definitely headed towards the right direction with this change. I hope that the problems we encountered with this Regional will be fixed for the Spring Regionals.

Things I would definitely look over and try to fix:

- TV's. At least 1. I know that players will all be playing at the same time, but I had a lot of TCG friends spectating my matches from a close distance. It'd also be nice for parents, spectators in general, and even players after they finish a match.
- Music. This VGC felt nothing like the previous ones without Nick, TVs, or the music. I don't care if it's bad music, I just miss all the energy we used to have at these tournaments.
- Advertisement. Mike said something about not advertising Fall Regionals because they didn't want to overwhelm the TO and judges, which is a perfectly plausible explanation. However, I think that after seeing such low numbers for attendance, they can definitely bump it up for Spring Regionals by updating their website.
- Hack Checking. If you ask me, this should be done at the very beginning while we are locking in our Battle Boxes. Make sure your judges know what they are doing. Having Mike over at RI was a huge assistance because he understands his software and how it works. I hope that judges in the future will know how the hack checks work without getting players confused. This also needs to be done in the beginning of the tournament, not the end. I don't like hearing that player who made it into the T4 gets disqualified at the very end.
- Tie-breakers/Matchups. I know this has been discussed in the feedback thread, but I have a lot of mixed feelings about this year's format. I like Swiss, and heck, Swiss without Top Cut is fair game. However, what makes this year so much different is that there is no "friend rule." Some unlucky players will always play another person from Smogon/Skarmbliss, essentially knocking them out. Seeding would be something really cool to see. The tie-breakers are also total garbage as you obviously can't control who you play, and it really comes down to luck in the end. I'd like to see a better way of determining ties.

I think the New England staff did a wonderful job of organizing the event, and I had a ton of fun. I understand that this year is kind of like a "test" year with so many changes, but I can tell this is definitely headed towards an excellent future.

Pros:
- Parents for supporting our hobby as always, and my dad for driving us all the way to Rhode Island!
- Great venue.
- Excellent staffing / judging for both TCG and VGC.
- Mike Liesek for flying over and helping out with everything. Best. organizer. ever.
- Mike Liesek, again, for talking with the players about Pokemon's plans to move towards the future. Along with sharing the fact my DC rate in the 2011 Autumn Friendly was around 47%. Amazing.
- Seeing everyone again, and meeting new people!
- Brendan for winning 2 in 1 weekend, undefeated. Amazheng.
- Not even having to worry about Spring Regionals for Nationals!
- Great prizes.
- Dressing up on Sunday

Cons
- Not hanging out with everyone enough.
- Low attendance in Juniors / Seniors VGC, and we had the largest Senior turnout of all Regionals.
- Not being able to play in both TCG and VGC.
- Low amount of Masters + high amount of Smogoners = Smogoner matchups every time, along with tie-breakers.
- Edward for getting haxed out.
- No medals at site :(

And a congrats to everyone who played this weekend: Especially my fellow Team Senior members. Way to go to TheCalmSnivy, JRank, and Ryan Arnold for all taking titles, and to Maski, kingofkongs, and V17 for placing in the T4 of their respective regionals. Great way to start the season!

[Cybertron]

EDIT: Oh and you should check out my YouTube channel for VGC 2012 games and stuff :3

Finally got this one up. Still have a bit more I'd like to add, including pictures and more suggestions, but enjoy for now!

Also, a huge shoutout to the following people for helping me and Brendan with our teams:
- Biosci
- Shii
- King N
- Ashenlock
- Prince of Johto
- rubixlx0

We couldn't have done so well without you guys. Thank you so much!

Oh and cool people I got to meet/hang out with... really sad I didn't get individual pics with anyone except TheGr8.
TheGr8, dtrain, Enfuego, Unreality, Charzaro, Jio, The Wolf, Solace, tennisace, Sapphire Birch, iss, soul_survivor, Mosquito, Codios341, etc etc etc.

No I'm not grounded... though with report cards coming this week I probably will be :P

[Firestorm]

Damn that's long. Are you grounded?

[Jibaku*]

You never cease to make me hungry.

[TheGr8]

nice warstory bud, yeah well you were really busy also and then you had someone following you all day xD It was great to see you again and get that picture in from Newark :)

[Biosci]

Like I've been hearing from other people from this years VGC, you can you use anyone you want and win. Your team is a good example. You wanted to use Hail, so you did and figured out how to use it the best ;D

I love how both your and Baby's teams were all Shiny, Thanks for props!! :) Now to get past Nats and make it to Worlds :D

[BlueCookies]

man why did you include the vgc 11 warstory link, I couldn't resist re-reading it and reliving worlds 11 :(

But I am excited for this year and can't wait to hang out again! Nice warstory Aaron and congrats on another excellent finish!

[Ashenlock]

Very cool story. If I had known you would write another epic warstory over an event, I'd have offered to make your whole team :D

[Shinryu]

I still never got why TyRam is more popular than Reshiboar personally...nice job with the Goth deck though. Must've sucked to choose between which to play in, but seems like you made the right choice in opting for the VGC, 2nd is much better than risking a loss in top 8 for the tcg.

[kingofkongs]

Not exactly Champizheng but Zhecond has a nice ring to it i guess...

also <3<

[Unreality]

"I'm not going to post my movesets, items, or EV's."


my aaron zheng is all grown up D;


goncratulations and now you've got a rather nice red medal to go with the blue one! after your brother won I didn't expect you to be anywhere but nationals this year :P

see you sooooooooooooooooooooooooon (if you're not grounded)

[iss]

great warstory :D

hope to see you at the thanksgiving meetup, and at philly/nats/worlds!

[bearsfan092]

I'm with you Cybertron. I definitely think more socially-focused warstories are more fun to read, but you really covered both the TCG and VGC events well!

You've sort of piqued my interest in the TCG. On average, how much money does one need to build a solid deck?

[dtrain]

Goth strong in both TCG and VGC. GJ on the top 2 :D

[Cybertron]

Originally Posted by Fat iss

great warstory :D

hope to see you at the thanksgiving meetup, and at philly/nats/worlds!

Or you know, at school everday

And bearsfan, I'd say with $100, you can get all the supporters you need. (4 Pokemon Collector, Communication, Rare Candy, Catcher, Plus Power, Junk Arm, Twins, Sages Training, Professor Juniper/Oak's New Theory and some others; those are the main ones.) Energies are easy to get and are free at events, you can get all you need for a deck for probably like $1. As for Pokemon, it depends on what deck you want to run. Brendan's Reshi deck is fairly cheap to make, maybe $50 for the whole line. Gothitelle is really expensive because it runs Tropical Beach, which costs like $70 by itself. IMO, if you want to start with a good and simple deck, either run Reshiplosion or Stage 1's (Cincinno/Zoroark/Yanmega/Donphan).

[soul_survivor]

Well congrats on you and your brothers placing. I was reading this at like 4 in the morning, and remember nearly passing out trying to write this haha, and eventually stopped. It was cool seeing you and the rest of the smogon cast this weekend, and hopefully I can see you, and the rest at philly, and nationals.

[JRank]

Originally Posted by Fat Cybertron

Also, a huge shoutout to the following people for helping Brendan with his team:
<my name not listed>

>____________________________>



congrats and looking forward to being in the same hotel with you at nats :D

[Huy]

Remember when people said you were going to be like me in the future? Get used to not winning tournaments and watching your brother go further from the sidelines. I am you and you are me.

[Cybertron]

Haha JRank I am an idiot, you are the best!

And Huy I'm winning Worlds so chill

[Alphabet123]

Good read, even though I was too lazy to go through the easiest part being PO logs. I'd tell you where all of your writing doesn't make sense and edit it for you, but I only woke up an hour ago so I don't feel like it :P Hope to see you at Nats.

Edit: OK, I got through reading it all, but I'm still too lazy to be your editor at this point in time like I was last year.

[TalkingLion]

Congrats Cybertron on doing so well! Your team was also really cool. I'll see/meet you at Nationals!

[theamericandream38]

Great story as always Aaron, congrats to you and your brother for doing so well! I'm looking forward to seeing you at Apex and Nationals/Worlds!! =D

[Eraddd]

Cybertron has consistently set the standard of excellent warstories.

Congrats on your great finish!