Another Worlds Story

Status
Not open for further replies.
Yes this is late sorry I know.
This will be a terrible story compared to what you're used to, too bad DM wasn't here.
I really want to say thank you to the people that have helped me since April this year. I remember my first day on the forums asking Expert Evan where the Wifi Battle section was. I remember my very first VGC battle ever against Ditto on these forums, and my second and third being against Sixonesix and Mattj. Of course getting rocked by all three. But I think it was practicing with the best, and learning from mistakes which has helped me the most. So a big thank you goes to everyone on Skarmbliss and Smogon who has tolerated me, and was patient enough to help teach me.
Here is just a summary of my experiences in Kona, Hawaii. Mostly from a battling standpoint.

Previously this year I went to the San Mateo Regional and got 4th place.
Then I did poorly at Nationals, because of lack of effort in the team making it so I had to do the LCQ. This time though I put the most effort in practicing than I did before the regional or nationals.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I can't find many that I took including one with Marriland and I. So I'll just use other peoples photos for now :P So I arrived on the 12th a day before the Last Chance Qualifier. I knew that without getting a bad draw I had a decent chance of getting in. This day I decided to wear all Green Hawaiian clothes just to have some spirit ya-know. That morning before the LCQ I got together with Alaka, Huy, Duy, dtrain, Jeremy, Zog, CRITICO, Evan Falco etc. and we all got in line.
My team for the Last Chance Qualifier:
I have to give a lot of credit to Deagle for helping me decide on using this team through rigorous testing, damage calcs. etc. I had about 3 teams in mind and he helped me make the decision on using this one.
I tried going for an Anti-Metagame type of team at Worlds. (Some of the EV spreads may be slightly off)


Ho-Oh@Passho Berry
Careful
252 HP, 180 Atk, 36 Speed, 42 Special Defense
-Sacred Fire
-Brave Bird
-Protect
-Roost
Passho to survive a Water Spout and Brave Bird Kyogre. Allowing me to use Thunder Wave with Cresselia that turn, or Grass Knot with Abomasnow to finish it off. This set is simple enough yet very effective.


Abomasnow@Focus Sash
Modest
252 HP, 252 SpAtk, 6 Speed
-Ice Shard
-Protect
-Blizzard
-Grass Knot
Main purpose is to set-up hail for breaking Focus Sash, and stopping rain to lower thunder's accuracy. Counters Kyogre completely which is a threat to Ho-Oh.


Cresselia@Chesto Berry
Calm
252 HP, 252 SpD, 6 Speed
-Psychic
-Calm Mind
-Rest
-Thunder Wave
Main goal is to Paralyze, and outputting the necessary damage for Life Orb Groudon Earthquake to finish off which usually isn't much. Also if needed setting up Calm Mind and Walling the opponent's team.


Groudon@Life Orb
252 Atk, 32 Speed, 226 SpD
Adamant
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Protect
-Dragon Claw
My late game sweeper. Life Orb allows it to OHKO max HP Dialga, and Tyranitar. While putting a giant hole through anything else.

Here are my matches which ensued that day:
Round 1 vs Some Nice Guy:
When I first saw this guy I thought it would be an extremely easy match. Only because I didn't recognize him from any websites. He led with Mewtwo, Metagross. I was like "Ok I'll switch in Groudon, and Sacred Fire Metagross to OHKO it." Predicting the explosion. So I switch in Groudon, I see his Mewtwo Protect and everything seems to be going well. Then......Ho-Oh used Sacred Fire! Sacred Fire Missed! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! 95% Accuracy my behind. Then I see Metagross explode killing Groudon and Ho-Oh. I knew that now I had no chance but to resort to Calm Mind stalling with Cresselia. So I send out Cress, and Abomasnow. He sends out Palkia. First turn I paralyze Palkia and use Blizzard with Abomasnow. But since Mewtwo was faster Abomasnow lost about 65% of it's HP that turn. So I protect with Aboma, and paralyze Mewtwo. I blizzard killing Palkia, but only does about 40% to Mewtwo. He then sends out Zapdos. So I set-up about 5 Calm Minds, and a crit almost lost me the game. Fortunately I win this match. This match would've been a piece of cake if 95% Sacred Fire hit.

Round 2 vs Chris "Halordain" Tsai:
Since CM stall took so long in the first match we were the second to last group done. So I get seated at the next table, and I look over to see who's still battling. And my blood ran cold when I saw who was playing, Chris Tsai. Chris Tsai won the 2008 California regional, and got top 8 at the San Mateo Regional this year. I knew this match would not be easy. For those that are interested watch the video of the match.


We were the last match to be completed and Marriland said I was in with a buy. I asked him for a picture, and he accepted. But I actually can't find the picture. Here is a picture with what PBB called "The Badass Qualifiers". Of course we let Zog in, because he's Zog.

Credit to Ninahaza for the pic
Afterwards all of us that qualified recieved some goodie bags with lots of cool stuff in them. So later a group of us went to lunch and discussed what types of teams the Japanese will bring. That night I had to add two Pokemon to my team because Worlds was Swiss style best out of three. Meaning we played Six rounds and the Top 8 with the best records would play the next day. Choosing the Pokemon to add was very hard since it hard to work with my other 4 well.
The Pokemon I added:


Tyranitar@Chople Berry
Brave
252 HP, 252 Atk, 6 SpDef
-Rock Slide
-Payback
-Low Kick
-Protect
A good lead for Ho-Oh and Latias. Having Sandstorm in play allows T-Tar to take many hits, lower accuracy on Thunder, Blizzard etc and it counters Giratina and Cresselia extremely well.


Latios@Lum Berry
Timid
6 HP, 252 SpAtk, 252 Speed
-Psychic
-Grass Knot
-Draco Meteor
-Protect
Faster than Ape to avoid Encore, and very powerful. Grass Knot hurts Kyogre really bad, and Draco Meteor puts a giant chunk into anything including Palkia. Psychic OHKO many of the common fighting leads including Toxicroak, and Infernape.

The next day everyone played six battles. Without describing into detail all of them here was my results.

Round 1 vs. German guy:
I won two battles in a row pretty easily, and gained confidence from this match.
1-0
Round 2 vs. Deagle:
Deagle is known around many forums, and is an extremely skilled battler we had some great battles and went to three games. But in the end he won.
1-1

Round 3 vs. BlueCookies now known as the 2010 VGC World Champion:
I've known BlueCookies on the next for a while, and knew he was a good battler. He got a crit on my cress in the first match not sure if it mattered much. The next game though he beat me fair and square.
1-2

After this battle there was a lunch break, which gave me some time to gain some confidence since I knew I would have to step things up if I wanted to qualify. This is where I started talking to Evan Falco, because he looked lonely. Poor guy.

Round 4 vs. WintersZombie:
I've played him before and he put up a great fight. But I won in two games.
2-2

Round 5 vs. RubeNCB
I got "mucho fuerte" in both of the battles against him. There was so much hax it wasn't even funny, and I wasn't even happy with the win at the end. I think he has a grudge against me now for those battles.
3-2

Round 6 vs. MissBlackBird
Reese was the winner of Birmingham and knew he was a good battler. I managed to win in two games.
4-2

So with a final record of 4-2 I was pretty confident I would get top 8, but that didn't happen and recieved the rank of 12. I'm still happy to know I'm #12 in the world though which is sort of cool.

The next day was definately the most fun. I finally learned how to play the TCG by the person that ranked #13 in the VGC, Evan Falco. No one knows how he made it but he just did. We saw the hosts of Pokemon Sunday walking around, and I knew I HAD to get a picture with them.

Credit to Ninahaza again
I got some cards from some boosters I won from the side events from playing the game. Getting free stuff is awesome!
Then later were the Top 8 matches. Unfortunately Huy, Deagle and Metabou got out first round against the Japs, but BlueCookies gave us hope by winning the first round. In the Semi-Finals he creamed some Japanese guy, and afterwards we helped him prepare for his match to become the world champion. In the last two battles he had some awesome luck, and the battles were really exciting.
You can see him winning the last battle and us storming the stage here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d-iCZfwW40

Afterwards we all got a group shot with Marriland who is as awesome as you think he is. This picture is my favorite:

Then Marriland's mother wanted us to quack which I found funny, because half of us weren't even Ducks. So all of us quacked anyway for his mom on camera.
For those of you that missed this years VGC check out this video Ninhaza created as a recap of the greatness that occured:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwJ_UGEpcRA
Isn't it amazing how Pokemon brings us together?
If you come this next coming year and recognize me please introduce yourself meeting new people is the most fun part of these events!
Pros:
Meeting lots of people I didn't meet at Nationals
Qualifying for worlds
Getting a picture with Pokemon Sunday
Knowing I'm #12 in the World
Cons:
Not making Top 8
Event was only three days
 
Great job! Only complaint I have is the 2nd battle you had in the VGC. If Chris Tsai just used Surf instead of Water Spout that last turn, or at least had Surf he would have won and made it to Worlds. I wish I could have gotten a better idea of how you played though, if you can go a bit more depth about the battles you had, like what lead you used and explain the strategy a bit more that would be great!
 

BlueCookies

April Fools 2009 Participant
VGC '10, '11, '12 Masters Champion
Great job! Only complaint I have is the 2nd battle you had in the VGC. If Chris Tsai just used Surf instead of Water Spout that last turn, or at least had Surf he would have won and made it to Worlds. I wish I could have gotten a better idea of how you played though, if you can go a bit more depth about the battles you had, like what lead you used and explain the strategy a bit more that would be great!

Hopefully I'll see you at next year's Northeastern Regional!
I don't think you'll be seeing him at next years northeastern regional, seeing that FMasamune is from cali...

Also great to meet you FMasamune, reading these warstories just makes me wish next year would get here already.
 
Oh, well. I have no clue where anyone is from, let me simply edit my post so I don't seem stupid :nerd:
 

BlueCookies

April Fools 2009 Participant
VGC '10, '11, '12 Masters Champion
Oh, well. I have no clue where anyone is from, let me simply edit my post so I don't seem stupid :nerd:
well his location does say he's from Orange County, and in his warstory he mentions that he got top 4 in San Mateo

gggggggggggg
 
Nice meeting you again fmasamune and actually hanging with you this time; hopefully you hit up the SoCal qualifer if TPCi will ever wise up and have one here!


"Of course we let Zog in, because he's Zog."

Ya Zog honorary Worlds qualifier. If we didn't let him in, he might have thrown his Heracross or Arbok from his collection at us and we would have been done for. lolololol
 
Great job! Only complaint I have is the 2nd battle you had in the VGC. If Chris Tsai just used Surf instead of Water Spout that last turn, or at least had Surf he would have won and made it to Worlds. I wish I could have gotten a better idea of how you played though, if you can go a bit more depth about the battles you had, like what lead you used and explain the strategy a bit more that would be great!
Well actually his Kyogre was a TR one, and that is why I used Rest with Cresselia the last turn instead of using Psychic just in case he had Surf. Plus I still had Ho-Oh in the back which was faster than his Kyogre. That is why I protected with Groudon it's first turn out to help stall out TR, and that is why I used psychic on Palkia instead of targeting Croak so he couldn't set TR up again. I will update the battles more when I have a bit more time.
@Huy It would be an honor sir, and yeah looks like that's where my future is headed now. :D
@PBB it was great meeting you too! Yeah a Socal Regional would be very convenient. :P
@BlueCookies yeah I'm really pumped for next years VGC, and yes I'll be going to the California Regional. And congrats man! See you at worlds next year!
 
Please, I think my nats report wins being the most late submitted (though Omega Donut wins that category for not posting his nats warstory until a year later lol).

Anyways it was nice to finally meet you! Maybe next year I'll get a chance to compete with you and the rest of the smogoners!
 
Ha. :D

Yeah nice story, was really cool to see you (and thanks for printing off the teamsheets by the way :P). I'll see you next year! The 2011 regionals should be relatively easy to sweep; with the completely new pool of Pokémon to use the really good people will be able to break out of the pack more easily since there won't be any teams to rip off.
 
no dan mine came later lool

great warstory! congrats on grinding in and finishing with a winning record :) that match with chris was very well played, I honestly thought he had the game after the turn with spacial rend and blizzard, but you made quite a comeback. hopefully I'll see you at nats next year :D
 

Ninahaza

You'll always be a part of me
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
It was great meeting you after missing you at nationals, you did great at worlds and I look forward to seeing you at 2011 nationals and worlds
 

AlphaOmega

VGC 2009 Juniors Champion
Please, I think my nats report wins being the most late submitted (though Omega Donut wins that category for not posting his nats warstory until a year later lol).

Anyways it was nice to finally meet you! Maybe next year I'll get a chance to compete with you and the rest of the smogoners!

Hey, I'm still not done with my warstory either. I hate looking at my wall of text, so I'm gonna borrow some of your pics.
 
To everyone, I haven't even started writing mine yet. Still debating on whether or not I should...

But congrats Tarbell! You did better than I did! It was great to see you there with us in Hawaii. I must say, you're Hawaiian shirt was horribly tacky!
 
IM STILL WORKIN ON IT GUYS (should be done fairly soon though!)

Great story dude, congrats on your placing and it's good to see you had a great time. I am sad we didn't talk much at nats, but I'm sure we will meet next year!
 
@Zog no problem I think Jesus ended up using one of them so at least they had a use!
@Cybertron Yeah that was a really great match, luckily hax didn't ruin the epicness. Also thanks for the compliments and I really hope to meet you at nats next year too :)
@Ninahaza definately you were a pleasure to meet yourself
@Bianca222 You are the only person who can spell my last name, and yes the tackier the better
@theamericandream38 I don't think we talked at all :( I really hope to meet you next year though!
 
congratulations on your position, you know that I have no bitterness, if it is true that there were many HAX but it's not your fault Amigo :)
 

DeagleBeagle

Banned deucer.
I had everything I could do to win vs you since you had groudon and my team again, was really weak to rock slide, but I won one of the matches mainly because you earthquaked your own tar lol, thank God, now I get the Dsi XL and not the japanese guy :), well it was nice meeting you in real life after I saw you from regionals and nationals briefly. Maybe my friend will play you at regionals again next year, who knows? Oh and I am pretty sure your abomasnow actually had more evs than 6 unless you didn't copy the team on PO I sent you, because I made tar and abomasnow 84 speed on level 50 so it was faster than most other tars and abomasnows, but also slow enough to outspeed base 90's like dialga in trick room.
 
I had everything I could do to win vs you since you had groudon and my team again, was really weak to rock slide, but I won one of the matches mainly because you earthquaked your own tar lol, thank God, now I get the Dsi XL and not the japanese guy :), well it was nice meeting you in real life after I saw you from regionals and nationals briefly. Maybe my friend will play you at regionals again next year, who knows? Oh and I am pretty sure your abomasnow actually had more evs than 6 unless you didn't copy the team on PO I sent you, because I made tar and abomasnow 84 speed on level 50 so it was faster than most other tars and abomasnows, but also slow enough to outspeed base 90's like dialga in trick room.
No I just ended up using 6 speed I believe, and yeah that EQ on my tar sucked lol. I believe that is the worst mistake I have ever made in terms of Pokemon...
 
UCDPL has a spot open for you if that is where your future is heading.
Like /\

oh ya, and i seem to remember that EQ happened while your family was watching, LOL : D
And Tarbell, for the last time, i was NOT lonely, i was strategizing with my friend back home over the phone because dialga's typing = gay. The funny thing was that we both had the same record throughout the entire tournament and we never played each other.

"I finally learned how to play the TCG by the person that ranked #13 in the VGC, Evan Falco. No one knows how he made it but he just did." -> obviously with skill, practice, and hard work ;)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top