Let's Roarke and Roll (Athens Warstory)

[TheMantyke]

(aka huy aka huy likes to rename threads)

Well hi there, I'm TheMantyke. A number of you probably know me as an active wifier and a Pokecheck frequenter. I only got involved in the VGC community about a year ago, but even with so little experience and time, It's led to a number of fantastic experiences. This trip to the Southeastern Qualifier was just the latest of what I hope will be several trips to VGCs!

PRE EVENT

So the road to this regional is a weird one. Even going to the event itself has a strange origin story. My interest in the VGCs all started one year ago when a user asked for a handout of two of my Pokemon so his brother could compete in the 2011 Southern Regional. Lo and behold, his brother actually net 2nd place and I got to see my own Pokemon fighting on the big screen. I showed my sister and told her about the events. With that little bit of information, she was determined to ship me up to Atlanta for the Southeastern Regional next week!

The next thing I knew, I was in Atlanta, and somehow in the finalist's lounge after the weirdest last minute round 4 comeback. I met a handful of people I'd be seeing a lot more of come next spring and the return of the qualifiers. When the spring regional in Athens was announced, I was excited it had returned to Georgia, although very disappointed it hadn't stayed in Atlanta (since I now go to college there). With the move, the biggest matter at hand now was finding a ride…

It really is a small world. It turns out that Smogon user Killah, who I had met last year in the finalist’s lounge just happened to have the exact same computer science class at the exact same time and lecture hall… and we had been sitting by each other for weeks. We eventually realized who we were and started making plans for the big trip to Athens in the Spring time.

The morning of the event finally rolls around and we’re on the road by 7:30. Killah decided to show me his wide variety of MLP tunes remixed to insanity. Most of them weren’t half bad and I honestly couldn’t have picked out most of them as pony related.



After an hour and a half of travel, including 20 minutes fiddling with a GTS and map after getting lost, we arrived. Low and behold, the first thing we see are Everstone and his band of friends arriving!



DAT HAT



His band of friends had really awesome shirts



I’d love to see how well LeBrongzong James does in the playoffs this year

A quick trip around the parking lot and down the escalator and we were there! It was much, much smaller than the room in Gwinnett center last year, but we made due. Killah and I actually had our Player IDs ready from Pokemon.com which meant we were able to bolt ahead of the crowd who were still registering. There wasn’t really anywhere to go after registration, so we just hovered around the juniors getting ready to begin.

After a few minutes of standing, I was greeted by a flock of Smogon users who seemed to know me on site!Dimsum, Zackattack, Lucariojr, and NCSbert all met me and kicked up a bit of conversation before the masters rounds began.



Lucariojr posing



NCSBert (plus lucariojr's hand)

Also Lucariojr got ripped off in our card trade. Sucker gave me an event Shelmet for my lousy event Shelmet.

THE TEAM

I tested this team for around 2 weeks under the names Noobgasm and Magikarpe Diem. It centers around two sets Mr.Crow350 himself, Fire Gem Overheat Volcarona and Choice Scarf Cloyster. Both of these really, REALLY good sets with a little bit of back up fire power and weather support!

Every good team needs a good nickname gimmick and this one was no different. I decided to name my team after a bunch of old wifiers who haven’t been very relevant since I first joined. Back when Stark Mountain was active, Wifi was ten times as spammy, I was a moron, and Hazeriders roamed the earth.

TEAM VINTAGE WIFI

A Mini RMT

---

Gin (Volcarona)
Flame Body
6 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Speed
Modest
Overheat
Bug Buzz
Rage Powder
Protect
When I heard about this set, I instantly fell in love with it. It’s best described as Rage Powder Support with a nuke strapped to its back. Fire Gem Overheat will OHKO anything as bulky as a 252 Modest Zapdos and weaker!


MarioWL (Metagross)
Clear Body
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Speed
Adamant
Meteor Mash
Zen Headbutt
Bullet Punch
Protect

During my b202 session with Fishy, she recommended a set for one of the goodstuffs teams we created, Steel Gem Metagross. While Meteor Mashes typing and lower base power doesn’t make it quite as destructive as Volcarona’s Overheat, it packs a huge punch. In desperate / suicide situations, Steel Gem Bullet Punch also made for a nice way to get off a bit of quick damage.


Anti (Tyranitar)
Sand Stream
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDef
Brave
Crunch
Low Kick
Rock Slide
Protect

Dark Gem Tyranitar is kind of dumb considering Ledian’s Mach Punch will probably KO you, but the power of a Dark Gem Crunch was too alluring. Tyranitar was stuck on the team primarily as a way to combat weather and Trick Room. He does a marvelous job against both, denting Cresselia and most bulky waters while OHKOing Chandelure and weaker TR users with Crunch (with SS nabbing KOs against focus sash)


Goodbar (Cloyster)
Trait: Skill Link
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 236 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
Icicle Spear
Rock Blast
Razor Shell
Explosion

Oh my god. This thing. THIS THING. Choice Scarf Cloyster is absolutely amazing! While middling attack and speed might not seem like the best idea, Skill Link Icicle Spears are extremely powerful and give no fucks against Yache Berry, Sitrus Berry, and Focus Sash users. I run just enough speed to hit 180, one point higher than Max Speed Thunderous and enough to GO FAST. With just one Icicle Spear, you have an easy KO against him, Tornadus, Latios, Garchomp, and Zapdos! Overall, probably the MVP of the whole event.


Negator (Latios)
Levitate
4 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Speed
Timid
Draco Meteor
Psyshock
Dragon Pulse
Protect

You may have noticed that most of my team lacks speed and doesn’t enjoy fighting types. Latios was added as a measure against those two, dealing with Hitmontop and Terrakion with a quick Psyshock. Coinsiding with the rest of the team, Dragon Gem Draco Meteors help to deal with bulkier opponents, especially with that awesome neutral coverage.


Stefywefy (Ferrothorn)
Iron Barbs
252 HP / 148 Def / 108 SDef
Impish
Seed Bomb
Thunder Wave
Leech Seed
Protect

Ferrothorn was a last minute addition. For my last slot, I needed something that could deal with Rain and do reasonably in Trick Room. Rotom-W use to be here, but Hydro Pump was annoying to use and I just felt like I couldn’t use it correctly. Ferrothorn was the best answer and man, am I ever happy I added it! Thunder Wave helps deal with Swift Swimmers outspeeding my other Pokemon and Leech Seed allows it go into turbo stall mode on a dime. Seed Bomb was chosen over Power Whip due to accuracy issues. To see the power of this thing first hand, try skipping down to Round 5 of the warstory…

THE TOURNEY


Round 1
Player by the name of Budda (pronounced Bud-ah)

This game really showcased how cool Cloyster was. My opponent lead with a Samurott and Thunderous. While I chose Volcarona and Cloyster. Turn 1, he Water Gem Aqua Jet my Volcarona leaving it with about 30 HP. Cloyster Icicle Speared Thunderous for the OHKO. At the same time, Volcarona Bug Buzzes the Samurott bringing it into the red. Garchomp comes out the next turn. I Protect with Volcarona while Cloyster OHKOs the Garchomp (through the Yache!). Infernape comes out next. Knowing the Aqua Jet is inevitable, I switch to Latios to take the hit while Cloyster kills of the Samurott. Infernape, fearing something or other, uses Protect. Latios Psyshocks the next turn for the kill.

4-0 Victory
Record: 1-0

Round 2

Forgot the name

Trick Room + Rain. Expected rain out first, got TR. My team is actually rather fighting weak despite the Volcarona and Latios, so I had to play around his Scrafty for most of the game. All I can remember is trick room wearing off just as my Latios died and Dusclops was killed off. I sent in my Tyranitar to try to nab a sandstorm kill on his very low health Scrafty, only for him to send in his Politoed. His weather took over, meaning he was slower… Rock Slide time! It turns out my Brave 0IV Tyranitar and my Impish Ferrothorn could outspeed them both, nabbing a Rock Slide KO on Scrafty and a Seed Bomb KO on Politoed.

Victory 2-0
Record: 2-0

Round 3

Guy with the Porygon action figure

This round was against a nice guy with a small Porygon action figure. Sadly I can’t remember much about the battle, but it was a good match.

2-0 or 1-0 Victory
Record: 3-0

After this match, they announced we were free to get lunch until 1pm. Killah, NCSBert, Everstone, Lucariojr and I all headed down the street to a little taco restraunt. They weren't half bad but they were slooooooooooow. Everstone and I got our food right at 12:52 which meant a mad dash back to the convention center.

Round 4

Crow350 (Harrison Saylor)

OH GOD, I GOT BEAT BY MY OWN TTAR. So yeah, Harrison and I are friends, go to the same campus, lots of stuff. He recommended sets, I RNGed Pokemon for him. It’s a symbipoke relationship. Needless to say considering he knew most of what I was using from PO and he’s a much better player than I am, it was an easy 4-0 for him.

If you wish, you can watch me give a horribly rambling 2 minutes after the fact commentary over the match courtesy of Lucariojr's cam corder.



0-4 Defeat
Record: 3-1

Round 5

Tall and long haired FSPL member

This was a match against a rather lanky dude from the Florida State Pokemon. Honestly, the battle went horribly for me right off the bat. Turn one, Metagross gets a Bullet Punch hit off on a Togekiss (intended for a Tyranitar) while Excadrill got a double crit OHKOing my Volcarona and Metagross! Latios and Ferrothorn come out. Excadrill changes attacks to Rock Slide while, fearing paraflinch shenanigans, I OHKO the Togekiss with a Dragon Gem Draco. Now all I have left is a Ferrothorn, a -2 SpAtk Latios, versus his Cresselia, Tyranitar, and Excadrill…

And oh my goodness, Ferrothorn somehow pulled a win out of its ass. Double Leech Seed, Protect, and lefties made it neigh indestructible, bringing everything down to the HP tie breaker!
Oh, strange note, but apparently he was using my own excadrill to fight me!



1-0 Victory
Record: 4-1

Round 6

Kid that I think was wearing a toque

The team preview for this match was really bizarre. At first, I thought it was obvious TR with a Slowking + Hariyama lead. Then I saw the rest of his team. Gengar? Hydreigon? He’s bluffing! He’s bluffing!

…turns out he wasn’t. He led with Hariyrama and a Gengar. To my surprise, Cloyster’s Icicle Spear couldn’t KO and it set up trick room for the team! I was a bit surprised, but after the surprise went away, I ended up with a decent win.

As it turns out, the last I saw of this user was a hack check interrogation so that gengar might have actually been a little more than physically bulky

2-0(?) Victory
Record: 5-1

Round 7

Another FSPL member

Both of the FSPL players I played were really close matches, but the players themselves were really cool. Apparently, after my last match, they realized I was OT Roarke on Pokecheck and the player I was about to go against thanked me for being a big help building teams last minute! Sadly, most of the match escapes me, beyond the finish: My Tyranitar versus his Rotom W. Live two Hydro Pumps with 9 HP to kill with Dark Gem Crunch + Sandstorm.

1-0 Victory
Record: 6-1

Round 8

Jerry Woods

Oh gosh, this was an awkward way to cheese by what could have been an awesome battle. Cloyster apparently had a medic building Kritzkreig this whole time and got an amazing 3 critical hits on his Hippowdon for an OHKO and 2 on his Excadrill for another one. Not the best way to end it a winning streak of really close games, 4-0.

Anticlimactic 4-0 Victory
Record: 7-1

POST EVENT

And that was that. 7-1, with the only defeat against the reigning champ. The staff escorted me over to the registration table to do something with my save file. After that, it was a quick wait until the rest of the rounds had finished and the final standings were posted…



I couldn’t believe it, I had gotten 3rd place and a trip to Indianapolis!

THE THANKS

This was probably the best part of the whole experience. It seems as though my Pokecheck uploads have really gone a long way. Upon arriving at the Classic Center, I told the friendly little Miami Heatran group about what I did at Pokecheck and one of them said something that really got to me

“Oh, YOU’RE Roarke”

Apparently a few members of the group had downloaded my stuff for use here. I was flattered but didn’t pay much mind to it at the time.

Then, sometime around round 6, something amazing happened. A member of the Florida State Pokemon league walked up to me, recognized me by name and username, and thanked me for what I had uploaded. He explained that he was a third year physics major at FSU and that my uploads were a huge help getting ready for the event. This really struck home with me, someone knew me and thanked me in real life for something I had paid no mind to and did on a daily basis! It was incredible! After everything was said and the winners were declared, dingrum came up to me and showed me his team, only to see my own Hitmontop was a member of the winning Seniors division team! This was too weird, but so awesome!

What I’m trying to get at here is that I’m amazed how widespread my stuff has become and how many people I’ve helped, oblivious to most of it. To all of you who took one of my RNGs to any of your local event, Thank you for making me feel so wonderful and like I’ve made a difference in the Pokemon community!

Now with all of the gushy stuff out of the way, it’s time for some shoutouts!

SHOUTOUTS

Killah for driving us there and watching many a PO match while ignoring CS lectures.
Crow350 for two amazing sets and being a great friend.
Everstone, Lucariojr, and NCSbert for making the whole event a great time.
Dimsun, ZackAttack, and Dingrum for repping Smogon well in the seniors divison.
Fishy for being a great tutor just a few weeks before the event.
The Florida State Pokemon league for being an outstandingly well-mannered and polite group. You make me want to start one for GT with Beedrill shirts or something...
The Miami Heatran group for awesome shirts, an awesome greeting, and an awesome time.
All the #smogonwifi regulars (Hazey, Hozu, Kaph, Bond, xfr, V4, PoJ, Jedi, Tolan, all the mods and more) for making sure I didn't get too retarded team building
Cassie, Biosci, Charzaro, and the rest of the VGC RNG crew for helping out others on #vgc when I lacked what they needed

MISCELANEOUS IMAGE GALLERY
I couldn't think of anywhere else to put these so I'll dump them here!



The event right after we arrived, with competitors and parents chilling on the tables



Dimsun beating an unfortunate competitor



Everstone and I posing around Volcarona



Group photo of Killah, Everstone, and lucariojr!



Killah and my lame attempt at pretending to "swim swiftly" like a kingdra



The champ and his crew!



Group photo at the local taco shop for lunch. Thanks for such a great time from you all!

Thanks for reading, I hope to see a bunch of you in Indianapolis!

[PungentFruit]

SCARF CLOYSTER SO GOOOOD!

Nice job buddy!

[Killah]

your phone takes the most UNFLATTERING PICTURES


best of luck in Indi, brutha

[TrollFreak]

If I read one more good Warstory from Athens I'll kill myself D:

In all seriousness, good job man, can't wait to (hopefully!) meet you at nats

[TheGr8]

wow man, nice warstory and congratz! :D hope to see you at Nats!

[Nickscor]

Great read, hope to see you at Nats!

Dat Cloyster... @_@

[lucariojr]

Also Lucariojr got ripped off in our card trade. Sucker gave me an event Shelmet for my lousy event Shelmet.

what

mantyke strong player @_@

also i want to see shell smash kings rock cloyster next time ok

[Crow350]

This warstory is missing something but I can't quite place it...

Oh, I know! SWAG!


Hahaha, best pic from the event. Great warstory! I was so happy to see that volcarona and cloyster, and even happier that you got third using them! But man, you have no idea how nervous I was going into our match. I made some ballsy plays that happened to pay off. Nationals is gonna be so good, GA Tech represent!

(also good luck on finals!)

[ncsbert]

Congrats again on 3rd! You deserve it.

Cloyster is freakin' amazing. Good luck at Nats! Maybe I'll be there too.

[Everstone]

Had a great time and you played a big part in it. Looking forward to seeing you next regionals. Until then, we can always talk on irc. Good luck at nats and congrats again for placing.

[Expert Evan]

Looks like it was a great time, and congratulations on top 3.

[Drifblim]

haha, RNGing stuff and knowing what they have must be interesting/annoying/cool/cheap.
Best of luck at Nats!

[Civ]

I used some of your mons for philly vgc, and I got top 8! Thanks man and keep up the good work!

[Rukario]

Thanks for the mons bro, really appreciate it and wish I could meet you irl to thank you :) and good luck at Nationals! :D

[slaymar]

<3 your 'mons, and envy your win.

Congrats on third place and thank you for being overall a great person for RNGing all of those Pokemon! I wish you good luck at Nationals!

(I myself had used your Latios and Amoonguss)

[Carl]

sorry for the bump but just wanted to say i used your team for the spring friendly and it's pretty enjoyable (took everything from pokecheck). cloyster and volcarona were by far my favorite mons to use and dominated quite a few matches.. got me into the 1850s before i tanked about 50 points on the last day.

massive heatran issues, though, oh man. have to pretty much hope you get cloyster and tyranitar in at the right time.

[Magicxgame]

Hi5 Roarke!

Too bad I didn't get to talk to you. I didn't know who you were until late in the tourney (I was the black guy near you in R7), and I had to leave afterwards, so I didn't get a chance to talk. Congrats, though, and thanks again for the Latios!

I went 6-2 (Sand Veil and Draco Meteor misses screwed me over when I had game), but I may scrounge up the money to go to Nats, so hope to see you there! :D

[MiniWade]

Is Volcarona really that good? I found it too easy of an target against Rain dance, sandstorm and psychic to many weaknesses.

[voodoo pimp]

Originally Posted by Fat MiniWade

Is Volcarona really that good? I found it too easy of an target against Rain dance, sandstorm and psychic to many weaknesses.

It's actually still viable in rain - in fact, some people have even used it on rain teams to abuse Hurricane - and sand doesn't really affect it unless it's sashed. It only has three weaknesses (and Flying isn't really common), alongside five resistances and good special bulk. On the other hand it has ridiculous power and hits like half of the metagame super effectively.

[coolbiz]

Congrats on your success.
P.S. Goodbar is awesome

[TheMantyke]

Oh man, definitely did not expect to see this this soon again. Thanks to all of you who have posted congratulatory messages!

Originally Posted by Fat Carl

sorry for the bump but just wanted to say i used your team for the spring friendly and it's pretty enjoyable (took everything from pokecheck). cloyster and volcarona were by far my favorite mons to use and dominated quite a few matches.. got me into the 1850s before i tanked about 50 points on the last day.

massive heatran issues, though, oh man. have to pretty much hope you get cloyster and tyranitar in at the right time.

I'm flattered, nice to hear they served you so well! I hadn't actually noticed Heatran issues, but now that you mention it, they are pretty obvious. As useful as Dragon Pulse is, I guess HP Ground could go over it. As the tournament went on, I also noticed I had Exacdrill issues, so that might be a nice idea if I plan on using this team again soon.

Originally Posted by Fat MiniWade

Is Volcarona really that good? I found it too easy of an target against Rain dance, sandstorm and psychic to many weaknesses.

Though I never used it versus rain for obvious reasons, Volcarona's ability to outspeed and tank Fake Outs so Cloyster and friends could go nuts was absolutely indispensable throughout the tournament. On top of that, Fire Gem Overheats were great for a quick, easy kill on anything weaker than a max HP Zapdos.

[LPFan]

Congrats on top 4!

By the way, thanks for the uploads on pokecheck, about half my team was from you, it really helped me win regionals! I hope to meet you at nationals in person!

[flash_mc]

Hey man, congratulations! You have a really cool team. Btw, I want one of those Miami Heatran shirts they are soooo awesome :D Maybe if one of the member of the team qualify to Worlds I'll be glad to pay for one of them.


PS: I'm realtively new to pokecheck. It's awesome, If I don't have time to RNG for worlds by myself I'll pick up my team from there. Knowing your mons are legit is great, could you send me a pm with your pokecheck's page? It would be so helpful thanks

[Stormfront]

Congrats man, I want one of those Heatran shirts, lol.


Welcome to the 3rd place club and see you at Nationals(hopefully).

[LPFan]

Originally Posted by Fat flash_mc

Hey man, congratulations! You have a really cool team. Btw, I want one of those Miami Heatran shirts they are soooo awesome :D Maybe if one of the member of the team qualify to Worlds I'll be glad to pay for one of them.


PS: I'm realtively new to pokecheck. It's awesome, If I don't have time to RNG for worlds by myself I'll pick up my team from there. Knowing your mons are legit is great, could you send me a pm with your pokecheck's page? It would be so helpful thanks

If you want a list of his pokemon that he uploaded, under the "Trainer name/ID" put "@TheMantyke" and all the pokemon he uploaded will be appear! Hope that helps!