From the Bottom, to the Top, and Back Again: CHODESTORY
I am imperfectspider. This is my warstory and it is the story of my team, the Chodesmugglers.
We came from humble beginnings.
VGC 2010 – NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
VGC 2010 is the only other VGC metagame that I ever played in-season. It was my first exposure to competitive Pokemon, and I was introduced to it by my friends Elmo and DukeTheDevil. Leading up to VGC 2010, we trained together for a while and we made something of a name for ourselves as a team called the Chodesmugglers by fighting a valiant war against a certain user DrCossack. Sadly, full Chode Glory would not be attained for another year. I believe that DukeTheDevil lost in Round 4 of the Newark VGC to someone who went on to make the Top 8, and Elmo lost in the Top 32 to user Chalkey. Chalkey (and all of Team Magma) is awesome though, so no hard feelings. Here is my battling experience at the 2010 Newark VGC:
My team consisted of Dusknoir, Iron Ball Kyogre, Abomasnow, and Machamp. Okay, yeah, it doesn’t sound like a great team, but I was new to playing so I needed a team that was easy to navigate, and that is why Trick Room + Helping Hand Water Spout was a great idea. The team still does well when I battle with it in exhibition 2010 matches.
I don’t think I have ever been as nervous as I was standing in line that day. Those nerves were what killed me in the end.
Round 1 – ???
My first battle was against the person that I had been talking to in line for the past few hours. Sadly, I beat him 4-0. I felt bad about sending him home in such a disappointing way, but he was a gracious loser, and we shook hands and parted ways.
Round 2 – ???
This battle was against local scrub. I remember that his team had Magmortar and Zapdos on it. I battled him with all of my strength, and made it to the last turn with 3 of my Pokemon still intact. It was the last turn, and victory was in my sights. I picked my first Pokemon’s move, and then realized that it was a dumb idea, so I hit cancel…. and hit it again…
Mitch got away safely!
After pleading desperately with my opponent, and an explosive argument with Marriland, I knew that this was the end of the line for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2eeJ-vaEI0&feature=player_detailpage#t=85s
Here is an interview with the Chodesmugglers. I thought the interview would be longer, so I kind of hogged the time, and I was obviously still pretty butthurt about losing.
Elmo throwing up his Team Chodes gang sign. Represent.
Besides losing, the VGC was a great time. Even though I was still a noobie in the community, I had a great time talking to VashTheStampede, DragonFE, TDS, 5krunner, JTK, and ExpertEvan. I specifically remember a conversation that I had with World Champion-to-be Bluecookies, which would brand me as “creepy Mitch” for the year to come. Also, I learned what it was to be the shaved head dude (don’t touch me)!
After our losses, Chodes regrouped. We knew that we had to expand and train harder than ever before if we wanted to do well next year. And so we did.
On the Road to VGC 2011
Over the offseason, the Chodes dedicated themselves to perfecting their trolling technique. They also gained a few members along the way. Here is a list of the smugglers as of the beginning of VGC 2011:
- Calm Lava (bonus) happy time strength
- Cybertron – winner! most dedication for you!
- Dord (bonus)
- DragonFE (bonus) --- use the magnum
- DukeTheDevil - he kind of looks like a bird or something
- Elmo – poison, to thy work jajajajaja!
- Imperfectspider (bonus)
- Ninahaza – taught me to battle with love in my heart
- Ryuzaki (commended) – is that what i think it is
- Skybot - <3
- Solace - ::!!!!!SS<S alien torlled me
- TDS - M3 nikkuh
- Zill4 (bonus) - real poker champs
Over the next months we all trained harder than ever before to sweep the VGCs. Specifically, I want to thank user DeagleBeagle for helping me hone my battling and teambuilding skill. I don’t think that there is a single person in the VGC community more willing to help other users with his advice. I personally owe him a ton for my victory.
And so we trained and trolled, and two weeks after Ryuzaki won Dallas, the Zhengs, IPS, DtD, and Elmo were up to bat.
The day before I was feeling so stressed and unprepared. I was getting really emo and emo Ryuzaki didn’t help me at all with my feelings so I just called over a girl friend of mine, and we talked about feelings and shit. Felt great after that, and totally at peace with myself. I was officially in ZEN MODE. It was time to take it to the big man!
That night, Duke, Elmo, and a friend of ours came over my house and we went shopping for some sunglasses (SWAG) and we stayed up ‘til 4 a.m. getting all of our teams’ items and EVs together. I also decided to change my Eelektross for an Amoonguss, and was able to trade Metabou for the Musharna I needed at the last minute (you are seriously a lifesaver dude, thanks for that). Also, Destinybond messaged me that night, wishing me good luck. I remembered that this wasn’t just about Team Chodes. This was bigger than me. I was also fighting for TEAM MITCH (amazing team).
After the previous night, I vowed to never again stay up so late before a regional. The next morning, we woke up at 7 a.m., grabbed some Dunkin’ Donuts, and set out to go to DC. Along the way, I decided that I wanted to change one of my EV sets, which turned out later to be an amazing decision. I also nicknamed my pokemon. Those 3 last minute changes I made to my team were vital to my success, but I never want to do something like that again.
For those of you interested in my nicks, I had 4:
dord :D :D :D :D
emocleffrs
BIG BERTHA
BLACKFLA GG
And here is the so strong trainer name that I used:
<3csmugs
VGC 2011 – EAST REGIONAL (WASHINGTON DC)
All photos courtesy of DukeTheDevil
We got there early enough to cheer on our fellow Chode, Cybertron, on his way to Seniors victory. Elmo and I were wearing shirts with his picture on them that said ZHENG’D OUT because we have love for the Zheng. Mad congrats to him and his brother; it was great watching them both battle their way to victory. Afterwards, we took a few pictures with Aaron and got in line (pictures soon to come). DC was about to be swept with Chode fury.
Elmo, Cybertron, and Me celebrating an amazing victory for Team Chodes. On the shirt is a picture of Zheng in an amazing pose!
ZHENG'D OUT
Before the competition, we talked to Dtrain, Cocy695 (who turned out to be pretty cool irl), Cosmicexplorer, Human, Bluecookies, Sixonesix, Tyler422, Evan, and a few others. Seeing 9+ Ducks was pretty intimidating, and we knew that it would be a struggle to get to the finalists’ lounge.
Duke, Elmo, Cocy, my friend, and I all ended up getting in line together next to a bunch of people we didn’t know, one of them being a nervous asian fellow pacing quietly back and forth. Across from us in line, I saw Muffinhead, and started talking to him. He ended up being a super cool guy, which was awesome, and he told me that his team had Liepard on it. At that point, there wasn’t a single person I wanted to make the Lounge more, since I love unique teams, and he deserves it for going all out like that. Muffinhead also told me, though, that the nervous looking asian fellow standing next to us in line was in fact Jibaku! I was pumped because I knew Jibaku from the time that I spent in a secret IRC channel, where I found out that he was a fellow Marylander. We talked to him some, and agreed that we would use the friend rule for each other in the first round since we did know each other from before.
Standing in line, the nerves started to get to all of us, though Jibs was the most nervous out of all of us. By the time that we made it to the end of the line, he was visibly sweating. We all wished each other luck, and parted our ways for Round 1. Little did we know that our paths would cross again.
Round 1 – Andy B.
There was a little wait between us sitting down and the first round actually starting, so I started talking to my opponents about their Pokemon experience etc. I was sitting near Muffinhead at the time, if I remember correctly. Then with a classic Nick McCord countdown, everything got started. When my opponent led with a Sygilyph and Accelgor (racecar bug), I knew that it was going to be a long, hard fight to the top. He started by setting up spikes (and I started freaking out because he was obviously a trainer with strong strategy on his side), and I rock slid both of his Pokemon to oblivion. A quick two or three turns later, I had the victory. I patted my opponent on the back, and moved on to the second round arena.
Round 2 – SUBWAY BOSS EMMIT
There was only one person who made it to the second area before me, and that was this dude who dressed up as a subway boss. Automatically, I assumed that he was a strong trainer who had GameFreak hax on his side. I would have to battle with all my heart to beat this dude. His strategy actually wasn’t that bad, if I remember correctly. He used a Hurrican Whimsicott, which frustrated me because it hit my pokemon every single time. However, his strength was no match for my BAWK, so I shook his gloved hand and moved on.
Blurry shot of me removing my sunglasses before a match. It turns out that you could see my screen through the reflection, so I wore them whenever I wasn't battling. Guess that makes me GoodIntent.
Round 3 – Dubulous
I was the first person in the tournament to make it to the Third Area. As I sat there, I began to realize the potentially fatal error that I had made: by rushing through the first rounds, I was more likely to be paired up with someone good this next round. As I sat there with the battle box, I watched the entrance to the third area, and hoped for the best. However, I was met with my worst nightmare: a duck. We exchanged a few words, wished each other good luck, and began our battle. In the Team Preview, I saw that he was using Alaka’s Dallas team, and instantly I kicked myself for not watching that final’s video more closely. This was probably my hardest battle all day. If I remember correctly, I took advantage of Musharna to maintain speed control throughout the match, and although it was close, I was the one who made it through to the next round. During the battle, I looked over and saw that Duke and Elmo were already out, and I started crying. GG Dubulous, it is a shame that we had to meet up so early in the tournament.
Also, while I was waiting for my Round 3 match, I heard someone shouting angrily because they lost. It turns out that EnFuego lost to SixOneSix and was making a huge scene. I couldn’t believe the level of unsportsmanlike conduct I was seeing over there. He was cursing at Marriland and arguing with everyone around him. He even took the battle box he was using and hit it onto the ground :\. I guess what they said about EnFuego last year was true.
Round 4 – East Pokemon League Champion
My Fourth Round opponent was wearing a shirt about some eastern Pokemon league so he was probably so strong. He used a Terrakion/Whimsicott team (Terracotta is a dumb name imo (!!!)). When I saw this, I thanked the gods that I brought a Mushroom. First turn, he used Beat Up + Something, and looked away from the screen as if he already had it won. I used Anger Powder and Close Combat. The look on his face was priceless when he finally looked back to his screen and saw that the Beat Ups were going into my Amoonguss. I began to realize that the Finalists Lounge, my goal for the better part of the past year, was in my sights. I finished the battle, told my opponent that he did a great job, and moved on to the Lounge!
BREAK TIME!
I went up to the table in the Lounge and they took my cart for a hack check and gave me the number M8 on a wristband. I saw that I was the eighth person to make the lounge, and that there weren’t a ton of battles left in the prelim rounds, so I figured that there would be some byes into the Top 16 for this regional. I saw that TTS, DTrain, Evan, Tyler, Cocy, and a others made the lounge, too. I took a picture of the Finalists’ Lounge banner and saved it as the background of my phone, which is something I always wanted to do since Elmer did it last year. I then went out and talked to a few people, including TTS and the other Ducks for a bit. I also found out that Sapphire Birch actually was a big black dude, and that he wasn’t double trolling us, so I lol’d for a while about that. I thanked Orochi for allowing DORD :D :D :D :D to lead me to victory.
Just posting this picture because of TTS's face jajaja.
Then Mike Liesik called us all to sit down in the lounge while he explained that there were 19 finalists, 13 of which would get byes, and 6 of which would have to battle for an invite to nats. While this was happening, I sat across a kid and asked him what his name on PO was. As soon as I found out that he was THE Sandman, I gtfo’d as quickly as I possibly could because I did NOT want to play him. Sorry Sandman that we didn’t talk more, but I didn’t want to battle such a strong trainer lol. And so the tourney staff started handing out cards that either said BYE or PLAY to decide who would have to battle. I was going to be one of the last people to get a card, so I watched the reactions on people’s faces, and was dismayed to find out that by the time that the cards got to me, less than 6 PLAY’s had been handed out. (Also, I was feeling a little bitter that none of the Ducks got PLAY cards. It made me want to explode! The monster was about to come out!) I knew my fate before they even gave me my card, and I began cursing the Fates for what they had done to me. They had a greater plan for the imperfectspider, though. Lottery hax was just one more obstacle in between me and the Top 16. The nerves began to set in again as I walked towards my Top 32 opponent: Jivetime.
Top 32 – Jivetime
Jivetime was a really cool dude and it was great meeting him. He will give a turn-by-turn of our battle in his warstory, so be sure to read it! Before the match began we had some connection issues, which turned out to be a wrist strap in between our carts. We both led with Thundurus and Terrakion if I remember correctly. He used Protect on the first turn with his Thundurus, and I used Substitute with mine, and I believe that that is one of the big reasons why I won this matchup. My sub stayed up the whole game while I suppose I let out some rage with my Terrakion, and the battle was soon over. I felt really badly that he got screwed by the lottery, wished him better luck in Newark, and went on my way to the Top 16.
Top 16 – TTS
At this point I was absolutely ecstatic. I finally did it. I qualified for nationals! All of the stress left my body, because I knew that whatever happened past this point was just icing on the cake. I saw that I was going to be put up on the screen for the third time that day, and then saw none other than TTS was waiting there for me. I pretty much resigned myself to defeat at this point, since he, you know, won the previous year. I wished him luck, and started my most enjoyable match of the day. For some reason, after this match, I couldn’t touch my face for the rest of the day.
The story of this battle actually begins during the week before the tournament when I was testing my team. I battled somebody who had an Archeops and a Zebra on their team. I led with a Thundurus, and on Turn 1 Thunderbolted their Archeops. However, they switched the Zebra in for that Archeops, and proceeded to wreck me 4-0. When I saw that TTS was using the Zebra, I knew exactly what was coming. I led with Thundurus, but instead of thunderbolting the first turn, I used my Hidden Power. It worked like a charm. TTS sent in his Zebra, and I did some good damage. I remember playing the rest of the battle out without a lot of guessing, and I won in the end. The reason that this was my favorite battle all day was that TTS used a great unique Pokemon, the Zebra, and he turned out to be very amicable. During the battle we talked about the Zebra, the tournament so far, made some Pokemon jokes, and even mentioned the anime “One Piece”. It was just a fun, casual battling environment for me, especially since I didn’t have the stress of qualifying for Nats on my shoulders. GG TTS.
Top 8 – Joshiro
This was a good battle. I don’t remember it exactly, but I believe that this was the person that beat DTrain in his Top 16 match. The guy used a Trick Room Whimsicott, and he was actually pretty good. However, my memory is so fuzzy at this point that I can’t give you guys any more detail than that unfortunately. I do remember, though, that near the end of the battle I started making really sad faces, which made everyone who was watching me from the side think that I was about to lose. We all had a good laugh after that. In all of my post-Top 32 matches, I was very animated in my seat, and Human once even said that I was dancing. I really couldn’t contain my excitement.
Joshiro and I in the heat of battle.
Top 4 – Jibaku
I was astounded when I saw that Jibaku was my Top 4 opponent. I was really happy that he made it that far, and I was so happy that I got a travel allowance! Of course, Nick McCord starts interviewing us, and has given me the mic a few times before this, and I am speechless. I tell McCord, and the audience that I made a few changes the night before and am astounded that it is working so well. I shake Jibaku’s hand, and our battle starts. I predicted his Fake Out on Turn 1, and switched in my Musharna. I then proceeded to Rock Slide Spam, and some fortuitous flinches kept it from being the close battle that it would have been otherwise. Sorry Jibbs, the hax really did you in, but you didn’t do too badly for your first VGC tourney! GG.
A video of the battle: http://youtu.be/q-YhIy_gsfk
A video of me during the battle: http://youtu.be/TRBLmogRL4c
(NOTE: Jibaku is one of the newest members of the Chodesmugglers! Team Maryland goes hard.)
Jibaku and I battling. Having a great time!
Finals – Superwolfe
This battle had already been decided. I tried my hardest to win it, but I always knew in the way back of my mind that I had to lose. After all, Deagle can never wrong, else the universe be thrust into complete chaos. I said hi to my opponent, and he told me that he was Wolfey on PO, and I told him that I was imperfectspider, and he quietly said, “Oh, you’ve beaten me a few times before.” In my mind, this is where I started celebrating. I started thinking about how I was going to get Duke and Elmo to nats with me, and was thinking about every other thing except the battle that I was in. Wolfey easily outplayed me with his unstandard team. I fell into his traps again and again and again, and a few things about his team, such as his Leftovers Conkeldurr, just threw me off of my game. Superwolfe won this battle fair and square; congrats to him and his victory, and good luck at Nationals.
For those of you that want to see the finals battle, and a few more pictures from the DC event, here is the link: http://www.pokemonvgc.com/en/event/63
Battling Superwolfe
After the battle, I had to fill out some paperwork, etc. After that, Team Chodes started talking to Mike Liesik about the metagame and things this year. For those of you interested, we asked him what the about the battle boxes, and he said that everything about them is 100% TOP SECRET CONFIDENTIAL SO STOP ASKING. We also asked him about the official stance on the “friend rule”. He said that he didn’t mind it being used in the first round of the tournament, but believed that using it in any round past that was abuse. We gave Mike and Nick McCord a “Cya next week!” and set off for home.
Being interviewed!
Elmo, Duke, my friend and I said a quick goodbye to all of the Smogonites hanging around outside of the convention center, and went to the coolest Five Guys that I have ever been to in my life. They had this touch screen soda machine that had like 50 different flavors of every soda. Like wow that was so awesome. They had like cherry sprite and like so many sodas that I didn’t even know existed. And we were all just messin around because wow I can’t believe Mitchell actually did that well jajajajaja.
Tyler, Superwolfe, Me, and Jibaku celebrating our victories. I wore my BlueCookies shirt because I would be battling with the spirit of a champion!
Showcasing my Fugazi sweatshirt and amazing improvised DS case.
Even though I lost what many people said was one of the most confused matches they had ever seen, I was still pumped that I got second. Having won the Junior and Senior divisions, and coming in second in the Masters, team Chodes did so strong at DC! I was walking on air and couldn’t believe the amazing time that I had at the regional… until I got home. The moment I signed onto IRC, I was bombarded with messages saying that I should have won. What was elation quickly became depression, and I knew that there was only one way that I could feel good about what I did at DC.
The day's loot. GG.
INTERMISSION: SENIOR WEEEEEEKKKKKK
The week in between DC and Newark was what people in my area call “Senior Week”, where basically all of the recently graduated high school seniors go down to the beach for a week and party their dords off. Needless to say, Team Chodes didn’t get a lot of practice in for the next week. By the end of the week, Elmo had his head shaved and I somehow ended up with a Mike Tyson-style henna tattoo on my face. On Friday, I decided that it would be better for me to stay in and get my team prepared than to go to a party. I was up until 4 am for a second time, getting all my stuff together. Elmo and I woke up early in the morning and went off to Newark. We got lost along the way and to be honest New Jersey sucks there I said it!
VGC 2011 – NORTHEAST REGIONAL (NEWARK, NJ)
By the time we got to the convention center, things were just about wrapping up in the Seniors division, and the line for the Masters tournament was getting longer and longer. Elmo and I got in line somewhere near the back, but then after a few texts, Masha found us and brought us to a spot in line where many Smogonites were. We said hi to Tyler422, DTrain, TTS, Andrea, and a few others standing next to us in line. We also spotted Chalkey, JTK, and other members of team Magma standing across from us in line (I’m sorry I forgot your name :\). We wished them luck because Magma is so boss and then we talked to other people blah blah blah BAM WE ARE IN THE FRONT OF THE LINE. I personally wasn’t feeling the nerves that I felt at DC, because I already had my invite to Nats I guess. As I said earlier, icing on the cake. I did know, however, that I had the chance to do something great, so I put my Gameface on. All of us strong trainers ended up sitting next to each other in Round 1, so it was pretty much GG for the group of kids that sat across from us. Too bad.
BTW, there won't be many more pictures for this segment because Duke died :((
Round 1 – Gene F.
I don’t really remember this battle, but I do remember it being a lot harder than my first battle in DC. Instead of going with the classic Round 1 Spikes strategy, my opponent used a really standard team that I had some trouble with, but eventually won in the end jajajaja.
Round 2 – Matthew
Another opponent using a pretty standard team. I got lucky this match and my Draco Meteor crit’d his Conkeldurr, making the win much easier for me. I told the kid that I felt bad about the crit, and wished him better luck next time. During the battle, I remember looking up and seeing Bluecookies entering the Third Area. I was happy to see him heading towards the Finalists’ Lounge, because when I looked over, I saw that many of the battlers that I stood in line with were already knocked out.
Round 3 – Nathan A.
This was probably the second most hax-ridden match of the day for me. It seemed like everything that could go wrong for me did go wrong for me. My Draco Meteor missed and I was flinched, crit’d, and burned by a Flamethrower or something in this match. It was frustrating to play this match, but I tried to keep my composure the whole time, and ended up pulling out the win luckily. I was so frustrated by the end of it that I had trouble being a gracious winner at the end of the match, but I shook his hand and moved on.
Round 4 – Leicer L.
My opponent was using a pretty obvious Trick Room team, starring an Escavalier. I led with Musharna to reverse his Trick Room, and killed off his Trick Roomer the next turn so that I could maintain speed control. By the end of the match, it was my Mushroom and my Musharna against his Escavalier. I spammed Psychic and Rage Powder to victory lol. Not the most effective way to win, but it worked. My favorite part of this battle was looking to my side about 3/4ths of the way through the battle and seeing none other than Chalkey battling next to me! I wished him luck, and crossed my fingers that he would make it to the Top 16, and went on to the Lounge. Amaze!
Finalists’ Lounge
The feelings in my heart at this point are unexplainable! I am given a wristband saying M16 this time, so I guess I was twice as slow getting there this time about. I shake hands with a few people and talk to other valiant battlers about how they lost etc. So far I don’t see any Ducks in the finalists lounge, or really any Pokemon people except for RAY RIZZO. So I sit by him for a bit until I see Chalkey make it through to the Finalists’ Lounge, then Elmo and I split to go to Chipotle like we did last year. Chipotle was awesome as usual, burrito was so amazing. I was eating with BlueCookies and Chalkey, and we were trying to figure out which user in the Lounge was Dark Revin, but to no avail L. I also didn’t have much of an appetite at this point, so I thought about giving the rest of my burrito to Chalkey. I thought that would be weird though, so I threw it out, and then Chalkey got angry at me for not giving the rest of it to him lol. Oh well. I counted exactly 32 people in the Lounge at this point, so I knew that there would be some people playing in the round of 64… hopefully not me again. There were 35 finalists, which meant that 6 people would be battling for a Top 32 spot. They pass out the cards again, and everyone at my table made it through, and I also saw that Joshiro, my Top 8 opponent, made it through to the Top 32 again. I didn’t think it would be the last I’d see of him. However, we both knew that we didn’t want to play each other again, so we tried our best to stay out of each other’s ways for the rest of the tourney. Onwards, to the Top 32!
Top 32 – Rick G.
BlueCookies and I both sit down next to each other to battle our opponents. I see that he is battling Joshiro, so I know that, unfortunately, he has a chance to lose this match. I hope for the best at my match, thinking that it would be cool to make Top 16 two regionals in a row. However, I know that at this point I was feeling pretty pessimistic about making it into the money, just because I had not had a single easy match the whole day, and did not see things getting any easier. Unfortunately, my memory gets really fuzzy at this point, so my actual battle details are only going to get more and more vague from here on out. Sorry about that. I remember that I won this match, and went on to the Top 16.
Top 16 – Bowen
is that a dord?
Top 8 – Locopoke
Locopoke and I both sit down at one of the battle boxes. This was the first battle I had all day that was broadcast on the screens, which got me excited. When I learned that I was in fact playing Locopoke, I was even more excited because it was the first name that I actually knew out of all the people that I had played so far that day (so many randoms). We began our match, and I remember him leading with a Mienshao. I think that I had the edge on team matchups, and that Locopoke just got unlucky with his team choice. We played the game out, and I won in the end. It was at this point that I started to notice that a lot of the Smogonites at the tournament were rooting for me to win, since I was the last one still alive. This excited me, and I knew that i couldn’t let my brothers down! It was time to turn up the heat. Good game Locopoke, I hope to see you at Nats dude, though I think I remember you expressing some doubt about whether you could make it or not.
After this win, Nick McCord pulled me aside for an interview, and asked me what the hardest part of my battle was. I kind of made a dweeb out of myself and just said “both teams played hard”. My BAWK was just throbbing at the time and I really couldn’t think about anything other than my hands and my face at the time. Sorry Locopoke.
Top 4 – Nickolai
Okay lol this was by far the most ridiculous match that I played all day. I thought nothing could top the hax of my Round 3 match, but I was sadly mistaken. So I sit next to the kid, who is like totally out of his gourd about how he made it that far. He was saying things like “I DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW I MADE IT THIS FAR I DON’T EVEN HAVE ALL OF MY POKEMON AT LEVEL 50”. When I told him that he had won $300 travel money for Nats, he started freaking out even more lol. I began to wonder with him how he made it that far, when I noticed that he had like a level 49 on his team, and a level 45 Jellicent. I soon found out that even though his pokemon weren’t fully leveled, they were fully EV’d in HAAAAXXXXXXXX. I also saw that he was using a Cofagrigusk in his team, and I began to get really worried that this would end up being DC finals 2.0. So the battle starts.
Turn 1
Hammer Arm miss.
Turn 2
Nickolai uses Destinybond, and my Musharna crits his Cofagrigusk for the kill. Wow terrible hax.
Draco Meteor miss.
Turn 3
This match went on and on, there were misses, crits, flinches, wrong item hax, and everything seemed to be going against me except my one lucky double Protect. I think Cybertron kept a tally:
<3csmugs indeed, Cybertron.
At one point during this match I got so frustrated that I actually punched the table. My hand was bleeding for the rest of the day. BLOOD, SWEAT, AND POKEMON TEARS YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS.
However, I kept my composure the whole match (something I learned to do after DC), and luckily enough, I got a double Protect with my Landorus, and was able to pull out a W. The noise that was being made every turn due to flinches, etc. was unbelievable and pumped me up so much. Good game Nickolai. I don’t think I saw anyone as excited as this kid at any regional I went to lol. However, it was really frustrating watching him celebrate all of his hax right in front of my face. But Team Mitch prevails in the end, I guess. ON TO THE FINALS WOW IS THIS REALLY HAPPEN
Finals – The Wolf
I guess I am a Wolf magnet lol, like Jibaku said. So I sit down for my finals match. My opponent is a girl who seemed so strong. Almost every time that I saw her during the final rounds of the tournament, she was sitting around waiting for a match, because apparently she crushed everyone that she battled along the way. I was really curious about who this mystery trainer was, so before our match I asked. She told me her name on PO, which I will keep SECRET, and also said that a she beat me the day before, when I played a few matches just to refresh my memory. Okay, so I’m a little intimidated at this point, but I know that I cannot lose this match. Too much was at stake. Chode glory was just one match away, and I was just one match away from finally proving myself! Plus I’m pretty sure Ryuzaki would have actually come to my house and killed me if I lost two finals matches in a row lol. Anyways, we both played a good match against each other, but Dragon types once again proved to be superior and overpowered in the end. ZEUS !!!!!!!!!! Good game, Wolf.
For those of you that want to see some so strong pictures, and a video of the finals match, the link IS HERE (WE have THE GREEN LASER. WE are HOMOPIA!): http://www.pokemonvgc.com/en/event/65
WAIT TURNS OUT THERE IS NO FINALS VIDEO THERE FOR SOME REASON. WATCH HERE: http://youtu.be/r3QRtjm7PWs
Before or after my win, Nick McCord interviewed me for a second time and I said something about going for 2 3ds’s etc. lol whatever wow this warstory is so long time to just ------------------ GO OFF
I filled out my paperwork and was only able to say some quick goodbyes to a few people, like TDS I think. It was really nice that Masha and a few others stayed behind for a bit longer to say goodbye, but the staff really sucks you in with all the pictures and whatever.
Here is an article about the whole event: http://www.examiner.com/video-game-...-2011-regional-championship-series-new-jersey
^Bonus interview with Solace's dad!
All of my prizes from VGC 2011 Regionals. Not shown: A free trip to Nats + $300 (Also not shown: all of the chicks I can pick up now that I am a champion!)
BREAKING NEWS: TEAM CHODES HAS SOME NEW MEMBERS:
- Sapphire Birch
- CosmicExplorer
- Jibaku
Needless to say, I cannot wait to meet everyone at Nats. It’s gunna be great time for us to BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS BONUS +1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
tl;dr: VGC is about friendship. I love to boost, so get ready!!!!
Thorns:
· Mingot
Roses:
· Meeting countless awesome people from Skarmbliss, PO, Smogon, and IRC!
· Metabou and DukeTheDevil RNG’ing my team. Thanks a ton!
· Deagle for sage Zoroark advice
· Amazing 5 Guys soda machine
· ZHENG’D OUT
· Redeeming myself for my loss in VGC 2010
· Team Chodes, Team Mitch, Team Magma, etc.
· CHICKEN NUGGETS, STUPID!
· IM GOING TO NATS!
· IDK IT WAS ALL JUST GREAT OKAY.
/me boosts BlueCookies
/me boosts TEAM CHODES
/me boosts DeagleBeagle
/me boosts DragonFE
/me boosts DukeTheDevil
/me boosts Elmo
/me boosts Jibaku
/me boosts JiveTime
/me boosts Metabou
/me boosts Ryuzaki
/me boosts SapphireBirch
/me boosts Zhengs!
/me boosts etc. anyone I forgot; I love you!
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
(Also I’m not IPL.)
