Mr. 17th Place - A Very Late Nationals Warstory

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Mr. 17th Place - A VGC National Warstory

by Aaron Zheng

Hi guys! Aaron/Cybertron/Serendipity here. Yep, this is my Nationals warstory! I'm sorry this is so late, I kinda lost motivation when I got back from camp but well now it's finally up...

Background Information...

For those that don't know, I placed in the Top 8 (4?) at the NY VGS as a Junior in 2008. That was my first real taste of VGS/VGC. After failing at Worlds from being haxed out in my first round, I knew that I would come back in the future ready. Fast forward to the 2009 season. Sadly, I didn't win the lottery at Regionals and that ended my 09 season. It also ended my time as a Junior. I knew that 2010 was going to be much more different, and that I had to be ready. The first time I got to experience 2010 VGC style was with Alaka's tournament. That made my status as a nobody turn into, well, a somewhat nobody. The first time I got to prove myself was at the NJ Regionals. I somehow managed to get 4th place (and my Juniors brother placed 3rd), and that's what leads into the actual warstory....

(If you actually read that, bravo ^.^)

Friday, June 25th

Unlike most people, I arrived the afternoon on Friday. Fortunately, the weather was flawless so my dad, brother and I had a smooth commute over to Indiana, just under two hours. The flight gave me some time to consider what to use as my team (and what my brother should use.) I knew that I would probably stick with Misa Room, as it was the one team I felt was fit for me. Ever since Alaka's tournament, it was the one team I stuck with. The only problem with Misa Room is that the smallest amount of hax can turn around a game. I decided that hax would be on my side (what a frigging JOKE that was) and confirmed it as my team.

Anyways, we make it to Indy right around noon. We check into our hotel (which was a mile away T_T) and head to the convention center. Not much happens on Friday, mainly hanging around the convention center with TCG friends and chilling. I manage to sleep at like 12 for once after a tiring day.

Saturday, June 26th

Oh dear, it's the big day! I head to the convention center pretty early. Nothing too special, soon enough pairings are up and the tournament starts.

65 people with 7 rounds of Swiss, a Top 16 cut.


Round 1: Robert I. (Grinded In) [Final Record - 2-5]

He tells me he grinded in, so right of the bat I'm a bit intimidated since he had to be somewhat good to have made it in. I begin to take notes for future purposes but then I'm told that I can't... I disappointingly put away my little blue notebook and focus on the battle.

He leads with Dusknoir and something slow, so I'm able to assume that he's running Trick Room right off the bat. *grins* Considering I was running Trick Room as well (and he probably did not see that from my leads), I allowed him to set up Trick Room while I Dark Voided/Dragon Pulsed everything. When he finally got a Trick Room up, I sent out my Kyogre to counter his Kyogre and Abomasnow. My Kyogre was slower than his so I managed to Thunder him first, and I OHKO'd Abomasnow with a Flamethrower from Dialga. Next turn, I finished Kyogre. Good game. I win 3-0.

Record: 1-0

Round 2: Forgot Name [Final Record: 1-6]


I don't remember who my opponent was this round, but after seeing his leads, I kind of freaked. He lead with Blissey and Registeel. I didn't predict him at all and he manages to explode with Registeel around the 3rd turn or so, taking down everything except Dialga. I didn't want to set up Trick Room because Registeel would then outspeed Dialga and co. After his leads were gone, he sent out more reasonable Ubers (Kyogre and Palkia? I believe.) I set up Trick Room and win 3-0.

Record: 2-0

Round 3: Daniel L. aka dtrain [Final Record: 4-3]
...you're kidding me right :( I look at the pairings and I find that I'm battling one of my fellow New Yorkers and friend, Dan. Out of anyone I could have played... I sigh as we both set up and get ready to battle. We call Marriland over because he makes a mistake on items and it wastes like 5 minutes and they don't give us any extra time lol. Don't call Marriland over next time :(

Since he thought I wasn't running Misa Room, he leads with Abomasnow and Mewtwo. For those that don't know, that was the exact same team my little brother was running as well. I Fake Out the Mewtwo and Flamethrower the Abomasnow, leaving him one Pokemon down as I have not taken any damage yet. I later set up Trick Room and win 3-0. Good game, Dan :(

Record: 3-0

Round 4: Judd P. aka Kongler [Final Record: 5-2]

I look at the pairings and sigh again. Looks like it's not going to be an easy ride anymore. The battle was pretty haxxy, and I end up winning because of a critical hit on his Toxicroak. I'm not sure if that would have been game or not, but it probably would have been a win for him. I end up PP Stalling his Kyogre's Water Spout, and Thundering his Ludicolo with my Kygore in the end (with a useless crit.) I kinda felt bad, but he was awesome about the hax an the lost. Good game, I win 2-0? 1-0?

Record: 4-0

At this point, I'm feeling great in the tournament. I'm undefeated, and I've played at Table 1 in my last battle so I'm seeded first/second right now. I somehow managed to pull a victory against two great players with a little luck and a lot of prediction. Just 1 more victory and I'm into Worlds - heck, I can lose all my battles and still make it to Worlds. Little did I know then.... I have a terrible curse of always going undefeated in a tournament, then losing all my matches after that to miss cut my 1 or 2 places. Happened at TCG States this year too. There are only a few 4-0's at this point, so I feel that I really have a good shot.

Round 5: BadIntent (Record: 7-0)

Oh man, it's BadIntent! I didn't recognize his name but when he walks over to the table, I die a bit inside. We delay the battle because he has to change some items, but it's all good. He leads off with Infernape and T-Tar. I'm feeling okay, because as long as I can set up Trick Room, those two die to a Water Spout. I use Follow Me, as Fake Out and Rock Slide proceed to kill it. Then Dialga flinches and does NOT set up Trick Room. 3/10 of a chance and it happened. I send out Kyogre as he kills my Dialga and does about 20% to Kyogre, as I attempt to Spout. He flinches me again :( At this point, I've given up and I'm about to be 4-0'd. I send out Abomasnow and he finishes me off. If I hadn't flinched that one turn with Trick Room, the game would have ended up much differently. He still might have won, but I at least wanted to give a fighting chance.

Record: 4-1

Round 6: Mr. National Champion [Record 5-2]

I don't recognize the name to be the name of a Smogoner so I kind of relax. Turns out he ended up winning the whole thing. This was the one battle I really regret, as I actually completely misplayed. He leads with Raquaza and Kangaskhan. I go with Follow Me and Trick Room, and set up Trick Room. This is going exactly how I wanted it to go, I'm thinking. I then bring out Abomasnow over Kyogre, my biggest misplay -_- I don't know what the hell I was thinking, I forgot about Air Lock. I Blizzard and Dragon Pulse, and Blizzard.... hits Kangaskhan. I'm praying that it hits Raquaza but it doesn't. :(. He Air Slashes me which OHKO's me, and I finish Raquaza off with Dragon Pulse. After this turn, I'm completely baffled at what just happened. I sent out Kyogre but he manages to win 2-0 at the end. I'm really pissed off at myself for allowing such a loss, and I'm 4-2 at this point. I went from 1st seed to the mid 10's. I say good game and walk away shamefully. :(

Record: 4-2

Round 7: Danny Z. aka TTS [Record 5-2]

Not TTS! I kinda knew the battle was over before it started and that my chances to Worlds were over now. The winner of the battle would make it to the Top 16 while the loser did not. I realized that had we tied, we both would have made it in. Instead, he completely out predicts me and I lose 3-0? It was the only fair loss I had, with hardly any hax. I shake TTS' hand and we walk out to wait for final standings.

Record: 4-3

STANDINGS TIME! I hurry and use my short height to my advantage and slip through everyone, haha. I see my name before I see my rank, and there's a chance! It's not that low! *scrolls down.... 17th Aaron Zheng* roflwatnowai. dreamcrushed. I was the second highest 4-3, with Rory as the highest. I was honestly surprised, as I thought my resistance would be high losing to the only 7-0, 3 5-2's, and a 4-3. Turned out that my round 1 and 2 opponents did not do so well, going 2-5 and 1-6. Had they won just one more battle, I would have been in 16th place rather than 17th. I was really depressed, not only from the fact that I didn't make it in but 17th just sucks. Guess that's biting me in the butt for when I got the last TCG rating invite in 2008. :( I hang around the convention center, ranting my butt off to everyone I know. My last chance is my little brother, who's about to compete in the Juniors division.

Quick Overview of Brendan's Day

He starts off the tournament 2-0. He manages to beat Grace Arnold, which surprises me to be honest and really gives me hope. Both his round 1 and his round 2 opponents later qualified for Worlds, congrats! I'm not sure who he faced Round 3, but he losed. In Round 4, he faced the brother of xerograde, who finishes the tournament in 2nd place. At this point, he's 2-2 and he's a bit upset himself. I tell him he still has a chance and he goes into round 5 against the Juniors winner of Texas. He loses, but shortly after Round 6 begins, he's disqualified for having a hacked Marowak. (Not my brother, the texas junior...) They can't do anything about the loss. My brother's really mad, and to be honest, so am I. He probably got it from the GTS, but still, it's freaking Nationals... He finishes 3-3 in 26th place. I think he probably would have made it had he gotten the win against Cedric, the Texas winner because he battled 3 Top 16 kids that day. I guess I need to make sure he calls a hack check next year :(

I'm probably going to edit this warstory later for more details but I just wanted to make sure this got posted, so yeah. That's my nationals experience. (props/slops later)

shoutouts to TTS, skarm, dtrain, the ha brothers, godudette, ninahaza, tad38, tyler, alaka, imawario, and various other people who made my weekend awesome :)
 
Yeah first post! :P

Anyway, good job to you and your brother for getting far at Nationals and BEWARE of the GTS next time. Crafty place. :l
 
Great story man! I really need to finish mine when I get home ._. It was awesome meeting you and I look forward to seeing you again next year =D It sucks that you lost to hax like that, but I'm glad you had a good weekend anyway.
 

skarm

I HAVE HOTEL ROOMS
is a Tournament Director Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnus
Yeah first post! :P

Anyway, good job to you and your brother for getting far at Nationals and BEWARE of the GTS next time. Crafty place. :l
It wasn't his brother that had a hacked Pokemon, it was his opponent -- who had won. Later, he was disqualified, but they do not reverse the wins.

Probably no way he could have known, though, Aaron, and it would be a jerk move to call Hack check every match. :p
 

Ninahaza

You'll always be a part of me
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
nice story, short yet fun to read. really sucks that you were 1 battle away from making top 16 so early and then you get hit with 17th place, yet again 1 battle short :(. but sounds like you had fun so that reverses my sad face :).
hopefully we meet up in hawaii but if not here is to next year's vgc and to a whole new freaking playing field haha.

also ps: although we didnt get to talk much i recognized you right away and was nice to meet you in real life, and that picture you have just keeps hunting me for missing out on it. dang early flights
 

mattj

blatant Nintendo fanboy
Regardless of your placing, you did very well. You fought some really tough players. Good job man!
 
I was standing right behind you when you looked up your ranking. Sucks, man. Glad you had fun regardless. It could have been worse. You could have gone out like you did yesterday.

Really sucks about your brother though. I understand why they don't reverse results in the qualifiers to an extent since those are single elimination, but I don't see why they couldn't fix things for the swiss rounds or at least check everyone for that beforehand since there are much fewer players.
 
It wasn't his brother that had a hacked Pokemon, it was his opponent -- who had won. Later, he was disqualified, but they do not reverse the wins.
OH I misread it, thank you so much for correcting me. But I honestly hope there are better ways of checking hacks in the future. Too many people get screwed over.
 
Like Matt said gj regardless of your placing! You faced the best of the best. And like skarm said, it would be a jerk move to call out a hack check during every match. Seniors maybe but you can't call out hack on a junior.
 

andrea

/me cresselias
Oh gosh Aaron you were SO AWESOME irl. Definitely one of my favorite people to meet, even if you were wearing a Falcons shirt amongst some Ducks. ^_^_^

17th place sucks, as does hax in general... >_> But there's always next year, and I'm super looking forward to it!
 
Great job man! It feels really cool to know I inspired your use of Trick Room at Regionals and you doing so well. LolXD

It's great talking to you, though we didnt talk in Indianapolis Nats. But... I will ABSOLUTELY represent your name at Worlds. :D

Hope to see you next year man!
 
Was great meeting you at New Jersey Regional! Hope to see you again next year! Sucks how you got 17th place after doing so well, I just wish that you could have gone to Worlds!
 
You know, during the Main Event at the World Series of Poker, (and probably during other events too, but I digress) during that tournament, there's a player aptly named 'Bubble Boy'.

Bubble Boy (or Girl) is the last player to be eliminated before players reach 'the money'. It's a funny thing to behold. As more and more players are eliminated, and players get closer to the money, card play slows to a glacial pace... no one wants to be out of the money, and no one wants to be bubble boy. However...

Bubble Boy, per tradition, is given a free entry into the following year's Main Event. So at least you've got that going for you... wait, what?

Terribly sorry about what happened to your little brother. Honest players deserve better. I think about it this way: If you've lost, then you've got nothing to lose by calling for a hack check.
 
Thanks to all of you! Your posts mean a lot to me ^_^

Maestroll55: Thanks! Looks like skarm cleared up about my brother, yeah it wasn't too clear in my original post >.<

tad38: It was awesome meeting you too! Saturday night with you, Alaka, Tyler, ImaWario, and Duy was fun even if I had to bail after round 1 of mutant draft haha. And yes, post your warstory already :D

skarm: Yeah, and to be honest I'd be a bit intimidated calling a hack check on someone who's like double my height and 5 years older than me, haha. It was great meeting you!

Ninahaza: I think we both know how hax has killed us in our matches, haha. It's too bad we didn't hang out as much as we could have, but if I go to Worlds, we definitely need to! Nevertheless, it's pretty obvious you're an awesome guy :) I hope to see you at LCQ/next season!

mattj: Thanks man! You really do understand how hax screws players over, and I appreciate it. Congrats on doing so well at Nationals! Hope to see you next year!

Sixfourtyfive: Oh god, not that match. That was a disaster, heh. I hope that they learn to check everyone next year - to be honest, I really don't think it would take that long. It takes like 30-45 seconds at most, and with only around 60 people, that's not too bad.

dtrain: Thanks Dan! I certainly did face some good trainers, like you for example :)

godudette: Oh yeah, that Falcon shirt, haha. Duy kept on teasing me for wearing it xD. It was great meeting you too! Congrats on grinding in by the way! (never got to say it properly :3) I hope to see you next year :)

PokemonMaster: It's too bad we didn't hang out as much at Nationals! It's awesome talking to you online though! Trick Room for the win, heh. I'm rooting for you at Worlds and you know it! Bring it back home :)

Human: Yeah, it was awesome meeting you too! I'm disappointed in myself a bit as well, but I still might go to Worlds to try one last time in the LCQ. I definitely hope to see you in the North Eastern VGC next year too :)

ostrigal: Wow, I didn't even know that. You learn something every day! It's not good to be bubble boy when you're playing Pokemon though, haha. I'm kind of disappointed he lost to a hacker, but it's even more disheartening that it was a Regional WINNER that's been on Smogon before. (and whose just a bit younger than me!) I know that it's unfair to blame just him because he probably got it from the GTS, but considering its hatch location was hacked, I'm surprised he didn't catch that himself. My brother said he didn't call a hack check because I told him "it would be mean and you'd kinda be a jerk." I wasn't really expecting at Nationals to hack =/
 
Haha, we couldn't even hang out at all at Nats, which saddened me. :( I saw you, but diddnt talk to you because I thought you wouldn't know me. Heh, yea, Trick Room FTW! xD Ill definitely bring it back home, but I really hope you get to LCQ and Worlds and Hawaii. Ill give you a good 200 games if you go and you'll e set for LCQ. :)
 
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