Worlds LcQ Warstory
Ok so I'm currently in a restuarant with AC and still have 7 hours left before my flight takes off. With only 97% left on my laptop and no outlets I'll try to make this complete as possible
Wednesday:
So my flight takes off from Laguardia in NYC and I'm on my way. However my flight is delayed by about 20 min so when I get to my connecting flight in DC, I end up having to run since my flight was on the other side of the airport. Between running, catching the shuttle and running some more I end up still having about 15 min before they begin to board.
Shuttle in dc
I finally arrive in LA and hang around there before my other connecting flight to Kona. During this time, I spot the top 2 german winners as well as Mario the winner of Spain. I approach the german winners and right off the bat we just chat about how our flights was etc... (you guys need to go on Smogon more haha). Our flight finally calls for us to board and the 3 of us get on and say bye to each other until we arrive in kona which would be 4 hrs later. The flight crew played this game called half way to hawaii where you had the guess the time when the plane reaches halfway between hawaii and LA and the winner would get a free cd by some famous hawaiian singer. I wasn't in the mood to bother with it however the woman next to me put in a guess of 4:37 pm and ended up winning haha. Well the flight finally lands and since I planned to room with kinneas and bluecookies (future world champion!!!) I say goodbye to the german dudes and we depart ways.
Waiting for bluecookies and kinneas at kona airport.
After waiting for about an hour bluecookies calls to tell me his flight has landed and there was some miscommunication on where we would meet. After about 20 min I finally call him and we decide I'll meet him at his gate. However at the time, I'm having trouble calling kinneas since I can't call his phone (foreign phones ftl :( ) and his flight info doesn't match with the planes that were landing on the ground. So I'm scared shitless since we both wouldn't have a room. I finally meet up with Ray and we both try to figure out how to get in touch with kinneas. Luckily the situation went some thing like this:
*random guy walks up to me*
Kinneas: might one of you guys be dtrain
Me: O shit lol
Kinneas: oh good thing I looked at the photo gallery haha
So it turns out his gate and bluecookies was right next to each other and it just so happened everything timed out perfectly. As we are looking for a taxi some guy approaches us asking if we need a ride.
We were all exhausted so we went ahead and took his offer. Along the way we were just went right off the bat talking about our flights/pokemon/worlds
We finally arrived at the Hilton and bill comes up to $64!?! !$@#%@#$% lol
Luckily it was the 3 of us so the bill turned out alright (can't imagine Badintent paying the $64 on his own =/ )As soon as we arrive, kinneas goes on to check in while bluecookies and I just hang out. Out of nowhere Ms Blackbird came out of nowhere and just started talking with kinneas and bluecookies. I had a feeling it might be the other UK winner cause of his accent (excellent accent chap, did I say that right? lol) and he said how he was hanging out in the lobby since he was still having trouble adjusting to the timezone difference. Kinneas soon arrives back with the key and the 4 of us take the shuttle to his room. It turns out his room was at the palace tower (the fanciest of the 3 imo) and would take about 10 min to get by shuttle.
Palace tower entrance
Bluecookies
Kinneas
Ms Blackbird
We finally arrive at the palace tower and we are amazed by the incredible view that welcomes us once we walk in. We drop our stuff off, talk some more pokemon and bring out our latops back to the lobby since that was the only place that had free wifi (unlike the other people that had $70 for wifi in their room). I get on irc and chat with a Mr. Huy Ha and tell him how cool the hotel is and whats going on. After the 4 us were finished with wifi we decided to head back to kinneas room and find out what kind of shows they have in hawaii (as well as hearing the brits comment on the shows with their amazing accents.) We soon call it a night and Ms blackbird decides to head back to his room.
Thursday:
Since I was still adjusting to the 6 hr difference, I had a rough night. I ended up waking up at like 6:30 and just head out to have breakfast at the resort. I ended up ordering about $9 (yes 9 crazy dollars) worth of breakfast which consisted of a small bagel with egg/cheese/suasuage and a fruit parfait. The bagel was alright but the parfait made up for it :) I found a place under an umbrella and just enjoyed the scene of the ocean along with the variety of fish that were in the water (So many colorful fishies).
The ocean just waking up
colorful fishies
Kinneas and Bluecookies soon wake up and I take them out to where I had breakfast. Both didn't enjoy the prices so none of them bought anything (however bluecookies regret not buying anything when he finally decided to buy soemthing but by then they were already closed :(). The 3 of us soon checked out the venue which was directly below the lobby of the hilton. It was amazing with all of the cool designs and posters that was hanging. I found a mirror with jumpluff (since I remembered how much Andrea loves pluff) and got the 3 of us to take a picture in the mirror of it.
The 3 of us + Andrea
Later we wandered around some more and at some point badintent calls and says that he just arrived. The 3 of us meet up with him and introduce ourselves and we go and head out to the food court (about a 20 min walk) The prices there were a lot better then the resort and we all stocked up on goods (mostly just kinneas lol) We finally head back to the resort (another 20 min long walk in the sun) and depart back to our rooms. Sometime in the evening, we meet up with Deagle,metabou and ninahaza who were all chilling in the lobby with their laptops and we all just chat about worlds and stuff. Huy soon calls me and after about a couple of minutes him and his family come out. We soon all chill together and I just chat some more mons. At about 11pm, I feel like passing out (I guess it was because of the little sleep I got the night before). Huy goes back with me to kinneas room to trade me my team since I would be playing in the lcq the next day. I thank him for the mons and he heads back to the lobby where the others are. Kinneas was nice enough to let me stay with him an extra day so I end up passing out on the bed (Thank you again Kinneas :)))
Friday (Pokeface day)
So it was time for me to prove that I was indeed one of the very best. I try to get in line with the not so pro players but it really is indeed luck on who you get paired with. I think there was about a little under 100 players. With everyone expecting for there to be more jpn players there turned out to be only 2 (lol), one of which I would be paired with (more on that later). Anyway its finally my turn and I approach a station. I get paired with Sandman (apparently he recognized me) and asks me if I want to get repaired. I agree and I get back in line to get repaired. Nick Mcchord does his skit about who is the best of the best. The eye of the tiger music is keyed.
LETS BATTLE TRAINERS!
Game 1
I get matched with this girl (I heard from Huy she top 8 in cali regionals) who I thought might not be that good but I was totally wrong. If anything I thought I was gonna lose my rd 1 match and my trip would have been a complete waste :(. I also got all of the smogonites to watch since my match would be playing on screen.
She goes and leads with Bronzong/Hippowdon and I lead with Infernape/Palkia.
I expect this to be a tr team so I go ahead and fakeout zong and draco hippo. However she protects her hippo and her zong gets flinch. I don't know what she is trying to do, since that first turn looked like she was goin to tr, so I go ahead and encore her hipo's protect and sub my palkia. However her hippo protects on its own (@@&$*%!!!!) and her zong explodes taking out my ape and breaking my palkia's sub (I later find out from Alpha Omega that her zong is banded xxD) She replaces her zong with garchomp (@&*@*#&) and I send out Giratina. I contemplate my moves but decide to draco her chomp (while sand is in effect!!!) and I sf her hippo. My Draco hits (yesssss!!!) but her chomp has sash (shittttt). And I think her hippo slacks off or protects and her chomp use outrage (WTF!!!) and hits my haban Palkia for the ko (o why could u have not targeted giratina since I had just vanished with sf :((( ). I sent out Metagross I Meteor Mash her hippo while her hippo does earthquake for about a 1/3 on my meta and dmges my giratina while my giratina does shadow sneak on her garchomp. She replaces her garchomp for Mewtwo (yes she only used 1 uber!!) I'm temped to explode but decide not to fearing a protect from hippo and i would lose a lot faster if she does indeed use protect. Her mewtwo uses aura sphere ( 0_o) on my meta and my sf hits her mewtwo ftko, and my metagross a metoer mash on her hippo for little damage. Her hippo uses another quake on my giratina taking some dmg and my meta is left with about 20% (WHY DID SHE NOT USE PROTEct yet!!!!! :( ) so now its my 20% health left meta and my 40% giratina left against her full health hippowdown (SHITTTTTT)
I say to myself well if I'm going down it gonna be now. I double check my moves I make and click the explode and sf button. Her hippowdon doesn't protect (WOOOO!!!) My explode goes off (YESSSSSSS!!!) Her Hippowdon survives with like 1 hp (NOOOOOOOOOOOO @*@&#^$*@(! :(((((((( !!! ) However she does earthquake and not slackoff so next turn I win with sf on her hippowdon the following turn!!!!!!!! :DDDDDDDD 1-0
Round 1
But yea everyone watching (including myself) thought I would lose that match but I was able to pull through. I shook my opponents hand, told her gg and walked off to the next round and face my next opponent not expecting to have pulled a win from that match.
Game 2:
I get to my station and soon get paried with Zog's brother. We try to get repaired however Marriland denies our request. I appeal Marriland's decision and so the both of us wait for what the offical decision will be. Marrialnd returns and apoligizes and says this is the world championships and so with the 2 of us disappointed to having to face each other we get going. He leads with ludicolo+ho-oh and I go and use ape/palkia again. I expect a brave bird coming from ho-oh but I decide to fakeout the ludi and draco ho-oh while his ludi fakes out my palkia (I think) and his ho-oh uses protect. Next turn I encore his ho-oh's protect and I draco his ludi leaving it with like 1 hp while his ludi grass knot on my palkia for almost half and also faints from lifeorb damage. I forget what his last 2 are but the end result is he leaves his ho-oh in for close to 7 turns (with encore still in effect) and I just take out his partner for the rest of the game while playing so none of my pokemon won't be koed. This might not have been a good idea since both my rd 1 and rd 2 match took so longggggg......
4-0
Game 3:
Since both of my games took foreverrrrrrrrrr I get paired with one of the 2 jpn players on the lcq line (who were by the way at the very end of the line while I was in the middle of the line). I come face to face with Takushi Morishima. Takushi qualified to worlds last year and came in top 8. I knew his face looked familiar so I knew the match would not be easy. He also had his kaaaaa shirt on and had a name tag with his game name TDOM and a cool picture of Lanturn on it. He leads with Mow Rotom, Groudon with a back up with Kyogre and Lanturn (!!!) !!! is for Bontakun whom about 2 months before worlds was talking to me with how good lanturn is but I just lol at it. Once I saw it though I knew the match would be harder since he kept telling me how good of a pokemon it was. Anyway on to the match:
So he leads with Mow rotom groudon and I lead with ape and palkia. I expect him to think I would fakeout but I throw him off when both of my leads double protect as well as his groudon protecting while his rotom uses discharge for nothing. He lets out a sigh. I don't remember the whole match but the key points are when he gets rotom discarge paralysis on my palkia, a thunder paralysis from kyogre on my Metagross and my palkia getting fully paralyzed when I attempt to draco ko his kyogre, as well as his lanturn getting a draco from my lanturn leaving it with like 20% but sitrus activates and brings it back up to the green. I believe I ko his rotom, kyogre and lanturn with him only leaving his full hp gdon left. gg 0-1
Well I guess I didn't qualify for worlds :( So closeeeee =/ Everybody tries to cheer me up but I was pretty down because of all of the hax that was done on me :((( As soon as I lose I check to see if I can enter the tcg lcq but they are about to start and I really just wasn't in the mood to play (as well as trying to win 7 games in a row because I would have a 0-1 record to start the tournament off). Anyway its lunch time so head out with Huy/Bianca/Skarm/Alpha Omega/Alaka/Ninahaza/Metabou/PBB/Deagle/kinneas. We take the the $1 shuttle to the market place and get lunch at subway. We chill some more and head back to the lobby.
Us waiting for the shuttle
I hear from Alaka that the juniors only had to play 1 round since there was about 30 players and it would be 1 round best 2 out of 3. His bro was playing standard topogre and it just so happens his bro had to play a jpn player who was using a complete counter team to topogre. So once his opponent saw topogre he switched his leads and obliterated him since he didn't have any backups :((( Majority of us have laptops so we get on IRc/PO and do battles. Three Jpn players were there so we were all doing battles with the jpn. I tried to get in a battle with one of the jpn players but Bluecookies kept hogging them all and not letting me get a turn (I guess that turned out to be a good thing!!! ;) ) From there I head back and await the next days for amazing duck matches and tons of quacking.
Us playing against the jpnese
Saturday:
I look over Huy and Duys team the night before and see if I can offer any suggestions. Duy was set on his team but Huy just kind of doubted his team.
I said I liked the team just cause it wasn't standard and cause no one would expect it at all. Glad you stuck with it bro :)
We arrive at the worlds set up which was exactly the same setup as the lcq except with chairs (so jealoussss). All of us huddle together and put our hand out in the center and let out a quack quack quack chant (so awesome!) and the team gets on with rd 1 pairings. Huy gets a bye (yesssss) and Duy faces Skarm (ughh). I get going with omega donut and cheer the rest of the team and record matches. After about 3 matches we all head out to lunch. Huy's family gets food for us so I'm relieved to find turket wraps (the besssst). So we all just chat and trade info on what the japanese are running and if I saw anything interesting in particular. After lunch the team heads back and continues the onslaught. Huy just keeps slautering all of his opponents (he played 4 jpn in total out of his 5 played matches, way to gooooo :)))
The best part was Huy's opponents getting pissed when parasect comes to the field and they have nothing to counter it (lol) as well as his last round jpn opponent falls out of his chair because he missed a spacial rend to ko his parasect. Another crazy part was during the match was of Alaka and Skarm playing and they ended up having to play a 20 min Blissey vs Blissey match between toxic/softboiled//hail animation lol (congrats to skarm for doing another blissey vs blissey match the next round with Ninahaza xD). While that sudden death match was goin on between them the match between Bianca and Rio (National champion of Japan) was having to be ruled by Marriland since they had to redo the battle since Duy had used a lifeorb dclaw giratina (I think giratina) on a smeargle that just did dbond to it. So they were trying to figure out who would win, the dbond player or the lifeorb recoil player. Luckily it was ruled in Duy's favor so he ended up winning the match. While Alaka vs Skarm Sudden Death match resulted in Alaka getting a turn 1 mach punch crit on Skarm's Dialga. The results are soon posted and Huy is second seed along with bluecookies coming in as sixth seed as well as Metabou finishing in as 4th seed and Deagle finishing in 8th place. After a long day we checked out the top 8 pics and I went out with the Ha family+Alpha Omega. While we were busy eating our fish+chicken combo which was very tasty, we began brainstorming what Huy could do against his top 8 opponent Wataru Onishi. After talking some more and later watching some battle vids we were off to bed.
Random slide pic of one of the spainards matches
Sunday USAAAAAA!!!!!!
Huy and I get up early and arrive to check out the scene.
Huy
Bluecookies doing last minute damage calcs
Everybody gets seated and we await for some awesome matches. However both the ppl I wanted to watch (bluecookies and Huy) were in the back so there was no vid of it :(((
What was more shocking was Huy losing so quickly before the other matches finished (a double crit spout on both of your guys does that =/) Metabou loses pretty quickly however Deagel pulls out a win with a sliver of hp in game 2 but loses his 3rd game while bluecookies moves on. Dang 3/4 Americans eliminated.
Metabou vs Yasuki
Huy vs Wataru
Deagle vs Isao
Bluecookies vs Takushi
Bluecookies match is displayed on the tv so everyone is eager to watch their match. Everybody is cheering MSANKEYYYYYYY (haha). In the end bluecookies make a perfect prediction to pull out the win and moves on to top 2. Everyone is screaming and cheering. It was awesomeeeee.
So since there was about 2 hrs till the top 2 match all of smogon huddle together and come up with his opponents team (down to moves and items). We're unsure on Palkia but for the most part we come up with what his best options are. Before the seniors match we watched the junior finals which was just as spectacular (I think it took over an hour with all of the switches and animations going on. O and cherrim is awesome lol. And now the seniors finals are ready and everyone is psyched. Bluecookies ends up losing game one but goes on hax mode with double flinch, double crit and I think his opponent even missed a double blizzard. After he wins the 3rd game and marriland declares him the winner, the bunch of us storm the stage and pile on him while the TPcI guys start pulling us all off the stage because they still need to setup the closing ceromonies since they were running late.
closing ceremonies was awesome (though I think last year was much better)
And yea if you didn't hear U.S. finally won worlds senior division lol.
Awesome marilland pose+marilland
Kaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!
Later I meetup with bluecookies before he has to head out cause he has a early flight. We give each other a bro hug before he heads out.
So I guess worlds was a success. Although I didn't make it into worlds, I had a blast with the time I had down there with all of you.
After the tournament I got to tour the island with Huy and his family. Although I lost in rd 3 at the lcq, the rest of the trip after worlds made up for it entirely. Thanks guys :D
Props:
HUY HAAAA (Thank you for making this trip a blast. Also thanks for not doubting your team. I know you'll qualify for worlds next year, as well as making topcut. Just win next year ok? Also your family was awesome!!!! Thank you again :))))))) O yea and I promise to not touch the turtles ;)
Bianca: You are exactly like your bro. Just as enjoyable and a pleasure to talk and chill pokemon with. I enjoyed when the 3 of us were in the car and we would just start randomly talking about pokemon. I know you are still disappointed about losing to skarm in your first round but you took it like a pro. O yea and please don't switch over to yugioh ok ;)? I still need to vs you or your bro at the finals of Nats/Worlds.
Bluecookies: Dude I'm so happy for you :DDDDDD After your 3 hax matches (TRJEssie, Huy =x, and Wesley) at Nats, I'm glad you finally got to prove that you are indeed the best in the world. Knowing you for the past 2 years has been a blast and I look forward to hanging out again with you next year. Let me battle some of the jpn though the next time I come ok (hahah)?
Kinneas: Thank you again for letting me and bluecookies room with you on Wed (that 6 hrs difference was murder on us, more on me since I'm an early sleeper). Also thanks again for letting me stay the following night. I was completly dead that night. I'm sorry you didn't get to play but I'm positive we'll see each other at a worlds again :)
MsBlackbird: I had a blast hanging out with you and kinneas these past few days. You are a really friendly guy. Thanks for helping us get around when we first arrived at the hotel. We had no clue how the shuttle worked xD Also 'll have to get a maitai after having one the next time we meet.
Skarm: It was a pleasure to hang out with you and your wife (haha at you making me and Alaka stand next to your wife to show just how much of a giant we are). Also thanks for and huy providing me with mons (I'm still not sure who's mons are they but thank you again :))))
Alaka: It was awesome hanging with ya'llllll (hehe) during this entire adventure. From photoshop pics (LOL), to your crazy sunburn (where was your sunscreen anyway?!), to your desire for papaya (36 man?!?!) as well as some BLIZZZAARD acton, it was awesome chilling with you. Your an amazing guy. Your dad had an awesome alakadad shirt and I remember your mom yelling at me and Alpha Omega when we were cheering for skarm over you =x. We quickly cheered for you haha.
Ninahaza: I'm happy you got in to worlds but was hoping you'd join me picture taking and recording matches when I Iost. congrats for making it into worlds!
Kongler: I didn't get a chance to chat with you much at Nats but I'm glad I did at worlds :). You are also an awesome guy. hoice band double edge snorlax rocksssss. With your random stories smoking with executive jpn guys (HAHA) and that awesome gigle laugh, it was a blast chatting with you whenever possible. Also gj for hooking up ruben and albert with those muy caliente cHIcIAS using your spanish talking skils
Metabou+Deagle: It was nice to meet you both. O yea Deagle don't blizz me in the sandstorm and criting me next time. Ok thanks :P
Spainish guys: hopefully albert or mario can translate this for rueben but it
was blast hanging out with you guys. DISOcOO, chicas!!, KEFKAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!.
German Guys: It was nice to meet the both of you. Would be nicer if you would post on the boards more ;)
PBB: congrats on making it in the lcq and like kinneas =/. Just make sure to not get dq ok?
Team JPN: Maybe you go on the boards but those multi battles was awesome. I also saw some of those battle factory matches which were insane. KAAAAA!!!
Alpha Omega: I had a blast hanging out with you!! Although you went 3-3 I think you did a good job making your transition over to seniors. You played some pretty tough opponents and you still went 3-3. I hope to see you next year :)
trjessie: Team Rocket jessie it was a pleasure to meet you (yes I indeed wrote your whole name out lol) ! Your crit sucker punch in rd 1 on giratina was nuts lol. Although you were a bit pissed with me recording your match I think you'll appreciate gettling to looking back on it. Also what did you think of the show haha?
Badintent: It was awesome hanging out with you. And thanks for talking more ;)
OmegaDonut: It was fun recording those vids with you when we both didn't qualify. And thanks for checking out those turtles in the pool for us ;)
Evan Falco: That should be your real name! It was also fun hanging out with you! LOL @ you passing us in the pool just as someone mentioned your name and you saying "thats me"
critico: It was also fun chatting with you. lol @ the $58 play mat.
Fmasume: I'm glad I got to chat with you more. You were a fun guy to chat with :)
Our little group on Sat was fun (u/me/alaka/falco/critico)
Hagridtwin: congrats to you/your wife/and Ryan (YAAAAY) for making it in through the lcq!! We all weren't sure if you guys would be making it down but it was nice to see you all again :)
Froggy: it was nice meeting you :)
TTS: Fake Dan I'm still disappointed you weren't able to come this year :(((. Thanks for everything :) Your team rocks and I did my best with it in the lcq. Looking forward to catching up with you soon :D
Bontakun: Thank you Thank you for everything. You are a really good friend. You helped me whenever I had question and always supported me time and again. Please don't get crit 5 times+freeze at regionals next year ok?
Slops:
Beside not making it into worlds I have no slops. I had no slops during my entire time in hawaii (besides not making it into worlds because of getting hax 3 times =x)
Well I guess thats it. I spent close to 4 hrs writing this report ( only another 3 hrs left before I get on my flight) with only 28% left lol. Not bad at all. Now just another 15hrs and I'll be back home (tomorrow xDDDD). I'm off to play GTA haha. Till next year!
-Dtrain
Ok so I'm currently in a restuarant with AC and still have 7 hours left before my flight takes off. With only 97% left on my laptop and no outlets I'll try to make this complete as possible
Wednesday:
So my flight takes off from Laguardia in NYC and I'm on my way. However my flight is delayed by about 20 min so when I get to my connecting flight in DC, I end up having to run since my flight was on the other side of the airport. Between running, catching the shuttle and running some more I end up still having about 15 min before they begin to board.
Shuttle in dc
I finally arrive in LA and hang around there before my other connecting flight to Kona. During this time, I spot the top 2 german winners as well as Mario the winner of Spain. I approach the german winners and right off the bat we just chat about how our flights was etc... (you guys need to go on Smogon more haha). Our flight finally calls for us to board and the 3 of us get on and say bye to each other until we arrive in kona which would be 4 hrs later. The flight crew played this game called half way to hawaii where you had the guess the time when the plane reaches halfway between hawaii and LA and the winner would get a free cd by some famous hawaiian singer. I wasn't in the mood to bother with it however the woman next to me put in a guess of 4:37 pm and ended up winning haha. Well the flight finally lands and since I planned to room with kinneas and bluecookies (future world champion!!!) I say goodbye to the german dudes and we depart ways.
Waiting for bluecookies and kinneas at kona airport.
After waiting for about an hour bluecookies calls to tell me his flight has landed and there was some miscommunication on where we would meet. After about 20 min I finally call him and we decide I'll meet him at his gate. However at the time, I'm having trouble calling kinneas since I can't call his phone (foreign phones ftl :( ) and his flight info doesn't match with the planes that were landing on the ground. So I'm scared shitless since we both wouldn't have a room. I finally meet up with Ray and we both try to figure out how to get in touch with kinneas. Luckily the situation went some thing like this:
*random guy walks up to me*
Kinneas: might one of you guys be dtrain
Me: O shit lol
Kinneas: oh good thing I looked at the photo gallery haha
So it turns out his gate and bluecookies was right next to each other and it just so happened everything timed out perfectly. As we are looking for a taxi some guy approaches us asking if we need a ride.
We were all exhausted so we went ahead and took his offer. Along the way we were just went right off the bat talking about our flights/pokemon/worlds
We finally arrived at the Hilton and bill comes up to $64!?! !$@#%@#$% lol
Luckily it was the 3 of us so the bill turned out alright (can't imagine Badintent paying the $64 on his own =/ )As soon as we arrive, kinneas goes on to check in while bluecookies and I just hang out. Out of nowhere Ms Blackbird came out of nowhere and just started talking with kinneas and bluecookies. I had a feeling it might be the other UK winner cause of his accent (excellent accent chap, did I say that right? lol) and he said how he was hanging out in the lobby since he was still having trouble adjusting to the timezone difference. Kinneas soon arrives back with the key and the 4 of us take the shuttle to his room. It turns out his room was at the palace tower (the fanciest of the 3 imo) and would take about 10 min to get by shuttle.
Palace tower entrance
Bluecookies
Kinneas
Ms Blackbird
We finally arrive at the palace tower and we are amazed by the incredible view that welcomes us once we walk in. We drop our stuff off, talk some more pokemon and bring out our latops back to the lobby since that was the only place that had free wifi (unlike the other people that had $70 for wifi in their room). I get on irc and chat with a Mr. Huy Ha and tell him how cool the hotel is and whats going on. After the 4 us were finished with wifi we decided to head back to kinneas room and find out what kind of shows they have in hawaii (as well as hearing the brits comment on the shows with their amazing accents.) We soon call it a night and Ms blackbird decides to head back to his room.
Thursday:
Since I was still adjusting to the 6 hr difference, I had a rough night. I ended up waking up at like 6:30 and just head out to have breakfast at the resort. I ended up ordering about $9 (yes 9 crazy dollars) worth of breakfast which consisted of a small bagel with egg/cheese/suasuage and a fruit parfait. The bagel was alright but the parfait made up for it :) I found a place under an umbrella and just enjoyed the scene of the ocean along with the variety of fish that were in the water (So many colorful fishies).
The ocean just waking up
colorful fishies
Kinneas and Bluecookies soon wake up and I take them out to where I had breakfast. Both didn't enjoy the prices so none of them bought anything (however bluecookies regret not buying anything when he finally decided to buy soemthing but by then they were already closed :(). The 3 of us soon checked out the venue which was directly below the lobby of the hilton. It was amazing with all of the cool designs and posters that was hanging. I found a mirror with jumpluff (since I remembered how much Andrea loves pluff) and got the 3 of us to take a picture in the mirror of it.
The 3 of us + Andrea
Later we wandered around some more and at some point badintent calls and says that he just arrived. The 3 of us meet up with him and introduce ourselves and we go and head out to the food court (about a 20 min walk) The prices there were a lot better then the resort and we all stocked up on goods (mostly just kinneas lol) We finally head back to the resort (another 20 min long walk in the sun) and depart back to our rooms. Sometime in the evening, we meet up with Deagle,metabou and ninahaza who were all chilling in the lobby with their laptops and we all just chat about worlds and stuff. Huy soon calls me and after about a couple of minutes him and his family come out. We soon all chill together and I just chat some more mons. At about 11pm, I feel like passing out (I guess it was because of the little sleep I got the night before). Huy goes back with me to kinneas room to trade me my team since I would be playing in the lcq the next day. I thank him for the mons and he heads back to the lobby where the others are. Kinneas was nice enough to let me stay with him an extra day so I end up passing out on the bed (Thank you again Kinneas :)))
Friday (Pokeface day)
So it was time for me to prove that I was indeed one of the very best. I try to get in line with the not so pro players but it really is indeed luck on who you get paired with. I think there was about a little under 100 players. With everyone expecting for there to be more jpn players there turned out to be only 2 (lol), one of which I would be paired with (more on that later). Anyway its finally my turn and I approach a station. I get paired with Sandman (apparently he recognized me) and asks me if I want to get repaired. I agree and I get back in line to get repaired. Nick Mcchord does his skit about who is the best of the best. The eye of the tiger music is keyed.
LETS BATTLE TRAINERS!
Game 1
I get matched with this girl (I heard from Huy she top 8 in cali regionals) who I thought might not be that good but I was totally wrong. If anything I thought I was gonna lose my rd 1 match and my trip would have been a complete waste :(. I also got all of the smogonites to watch since my match would be playing on screen.
She goes and leads with Bronzong/Hippowdon and I lead with Infernape/Palkia.
I expect this to be a tr team so I go ahead and fakeout zong and draco hippo. However she protects her hippo and her zong gets flinch. I don't know what she is trying to do, since that first turn looked like she was goin to tr, so I go ahead and encore her hipo's protect and sub my palkia. However her hippo protects on its own (@@&$*%!!!!) and her zong explodes taking out my ape and breaking my palkia's sub (I later find out from Alpha Omega that her zong is banded xxD) She replaces her zong with garchomp (@&*@*#&) and I send out Giratina. I contemplate my moves but decide to draco her chomp (while sand is in effect!!!) and I sf her hippo. My Draco hits (yesssss!!!) but her chomp has sash (shittttt). And I think her hippo slacks off or protects and her chomp use outrage (WTF!!!) and hits my haban Palkia for the ko (o why could u have not targeted giratina since I had just vanished with sf :((( ). I sent out Metagross I Meteor Mash her hippo while her hippo does earthquake for about a 1/3 on my meta and dmges my giratina while my giratina does shadow sneak on her garchomp. She replaces her garchomp for Mewtwo (yes she only used 1 uber!!) I'm temped to explode but decide not to fearing a protect from hippo and i would lose a lot faster if she does indeed use protect. Her mewtwo uses aura sphere ( 0_o) on my meta and my sf hits her mewtwo ftko, and my metagross a metoer mash on her hippo for little damage. Her hippo uses another quake on my giratina taking some dmg and my meta is left with about 20% (WHY DID SHE NOT USE PROTEct yet!!!!! :( ) so now its my 20% health left meta and my 40% giratina left against her full health hippowdown (SHITTTTTT)
I say to myself well if I'm going down it gonna be now. I double check my moves I make and click the explode and sf button. Her hippowdon doesn't protect (WOOOO!!!) My explode goes off (YESSSSSSS!!!) Her Hippowdon survives with like 1 hp (NOOOOOOOOOOOO @*@&#^$*@(! :(((((((( !!! ) However she does earthquake and not slackoff so next turn I win with sf on her hippowdon the following turn!!!!!!!! :DDDDDDDD 1-0
Round 1
But yea everyone watching (including myself) thought I would lose that match but I was able to pull through. I shook my opponents hand, told her gg and walked off to the next round and face my next opponent not expecting to have pulled a win from that match.
Game 2:
I get to my station and soon get paried with Zog's brother. We try to get repaired however Marriland denies our request. I appeal Marriland's decision and so the both of us wait for what the offical decision will be. Marrialnd returns and apoligizes and says this is the world championships and so with the 2 of us disappointed to having to face each other we get going. He leads with ludicolo+ho-oh and I go and use ape/palkia again. I expect a brave bird coming from ho-oh but I decide to fakeout the ludi and draco ho-oh while his ludi fakes out my palkia (I think) and his ho-oh uses protect. Next turn I encore his ho-oh's protect and I draco his ludi leaving it with like 1 hp while his ludi grass knot on my palkia for almost half and also faints from lifeorb damage. I forget what his last 2 are but the end result is he leaves his ho-oh in for close to 7 turns (with encore still in effect) and I just take out his partner for the rest of the game while playing so none of my pokemon won't be koed. This might not have been a good idea since both my rd 1 and rd 2 match took so longggggg......
4-0
Game 3:
Since both of my games took foreverrrrrrrrrr I get paired with one of the 2 jpn players on the lcq line (who were by the way at the very end of the line while I was in the middle of the line). I come face to face with Takushi Morishima. Takushi qualified to worlds last year and came in top 8. I knew his face looked familiar so I knew the match would not be easy. He also had his kaaaaa shirt on and had a name tag with his game name TDOM and a cool picture of Lanturn on it. He leads with Mow Rotom, Groudon with a back up with Kyogre and Lanturn (!!!) !!! is for Bontakun whom about 2 months before worlds was talking to me with how good lanturn is but I just lol at it. Once I saw it though I knew the match would be harder since he kept telling me how good of a pokemon it was. Anyway on to the match:
So he leads with Mow rotom groudon and I lead with ape and palkia. I expect him to think I would fakeout but I throw him off when both of my leads double protect as well as his groudon protecting while his rotom uses discharge for nothing. He lets out a sigh. I don't remember the whole match but the key points are when he gets rotom discarge paralysis on my palkia, a thunder paralysis from kyogre on my Metagross and my palkia getting fully paralyzed when I attempt to draco ko his kyogre, as well as his lanturn getting a draco from my lanturn leaving it with like 20% but sitrus activates and brings it back up to the green. I believe I ko his rotom, kyogre and lanturn with him only leaving his full hp gdon left. gg 0-1
Well I guess I didn't qualify for worlds :( So closeeeee =/ Everybody tries to cheer me up but I was pretty down because of all of the hax that was done on me :((( As soon as I lose I check to see if I can enter the tcg lcq but they are about to start and I really just wasn't in the mood to play (as well as trying to win 7 games in a row because I would have a 0-1 record to start the tournament off). Anyway its lunch time so head out with Huy/Bianca/Skarm/Alpha Omega/Alaka/Ninahaza/Metabou/PBB/Deagle/kinneas. We take the the $1 shuttle to the market place and get lunch at subway. We chill some more and head back to the lobby.
Us waiting for the shuttle
I hear from Alaka that the juniors only had to play 1 round since there was about 30 players and it would be 1 round best 2 out of 3. His bro was playing standard topogre and it just so happens his bro had to play a jpn player who was using a complete counter team to topogre. So once his opponent saw topogre he switched his leads and obliterated him since he didn't have any backups :((( Majority of us have laptops so we get on IRc/PO and do battles. Three Jpn players were there so we were all doing battles with the jpn. I tried to get in a battle with one of the jpn players but Bluecookies kept hogging them all and not letting me get a turn (I guess that turned out to be a good thing!!! ;) ) From there I head back and await the next days for amazing duck matches and tons of quacking.
Us playing against the jpnese
Saturday:
I look over Huy and Duys team the night before and see if I can offer any suggestions. Duy was set on his team but Huy just kind of doubted his team.
I said I liked the team just cause it wasn't standard and cause no one would expect it at all. Glad you stuck with it bro :)
We arrive at the worlds set up which was exactly the same setup as the lcq except with chairs (so jealoussss). All of us huddle together and put our hand out in the center and let out a quack quack quack chant (so awesome!) and the team gets on with rd 1 pairings. Huy gets a bye (yesssss) and Duy faces Skarm (ughh). I get going with omega donut and cheer the rest of the team and record matches. After about 3 matches we all head out to lunch. Huy's family gets food for us so I'm relieved to find turket wraps (the besssst). So we all just chat and trade info on what the japanese are running and if I saw anything interesting in particular. After lunch the team heads back and continues the onslaught. Huy just keeps slautering all of his opponents (he played 4 jpn in total out of his 5 played matches, way to gooooo :)))
The best part was Huy's opponents getting pissed when parasect comes to the field and they have nothing to counter it (lol) as well as his last round jpn opponent falls out of his chair because he missed a spacial rend to ko his parasect. Another crazy part was during the match was of Alaka and Skarm playing and they ended up having to play a 20 min Blissey vs Blissey match between toxic/softboiled//hail animation lol (congrats to skarm for doing another blissey vs blissey match the next round with Ninahaza xD). While that sudden death match was goin on between them the match between Bianca and Rio (National champion of Japan) was having to be ruled by Marriland since they had to redo the battle since Duy had used a lifeorb dclaw giratina (I think giratina) on a smeargle that just did dbond to it. So they were trying to figure out who would win, the dbond player or the lifeorb recoil player. Luckily it was ruled in Duy's favor so he ended up winning the match. While Alaka vs Skarm Sudden Death match resulted in Alaka getting a turn 1 mach punch crit on Skarm's Dialga. The results are soon posted and Huy is second seed along with bluecookies coming in as sixth seed as well as Metabou finishing in as 4th seed and Deagle finishing in 8th place. After a long day we checked out the top 8 pics and I went out with the Ha family+Alpha Omega. While we were busy eating our fish+chicken combo which was very tasty, we began brainstorming what Huy could do against his top 8 opponent Wataru Onishi. After talking some more and later watching some battle vids we were off to bed.
Random slide pic of one of the spainards matches
Sunday USAAAAAA!!!!!!
Huy and I get up early and arrive to check out the scene.
Huy
Bluecookies doing last minute damage calcs
Everybody gets seated and we await for some awesome matches. However both the ppl I wanted to watch (bluecookies and Huy) were in the back so there was no vid of it :(((
What was more shocking was Huy losing so quickly before the other matches finished (a double crit spout on both of your guys does that =/) Metabou loses pretty quickly however Deagel pulls out a win with a sliver of hp in game 2 but loses his 3rd game while bluecookies moves on. Dang 3/4 Americans eliminated.
Metabou vs Yasuki
Huy vs Wataru
Deagle vs Isao
Bluecookies vs Takushi
Bluecookies match is displayed on the tv so everyone is eager to watch their match. Everybody is cheering MSANKEYYYYYYY (haha). In the end bluecookies make a perfect prediction to pull out the win and moves on to top 2. Everyone is screaming and cheering. It was awesomeeeee.
So since there was about 2 hrs till the top 2 match all of smogon huddle together and come up with his opponents team (down to moves and items). We're unsure on Palkia but for the most part we come up with what his best options are. Before the seniors match we watched the junior finals which was just as spectacular (I think it took over an hour with all of the switches and animations going on. O and cherrim is awesome lol. And now the seniors finals are ready and everyone is psyched. Bluecookies ends up losing game one but goes on hax mode with double flinch, double crit and I think his opponent even missed a double blizzard. After he wins the 3rd game and marriland declares him the winner, the bunch of us storm the stage and pile on him while the TPcI guys start pulling us all off the stage because they still need to setup the closing ceromonies since they were running late.
closing ceremonies was awesome (though I think last year was much better)
And yea if you didn't hear U.S. finally won worlds senior division lol.
Awesome marilland pose+marilland
Kaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!
Later I meetup with bluecookies before he has to head out cause he has a early flight. We give each other a bro hug before he heads out.
So I guess worlds was a success. Although I didn't make it into worlds, I had a blast with the time I had down there with all of you.
After the tournament I got to tour the island with Huy and his family. Although I lost in rd 3 at the lcq, the rest of the trip after worlds made up for it entirely. Thanks guys :D
Props:
HUY HAAAA (Thank you for making this trip a blast. Also thanks for not doubting your team. I know you'll qualify for worlds next year, as well as making topcut. Just win next year ok? Also your family was awesome!!!! Thank you again :))))))) O yea and I promise to not touch the turtles ;)
Bianca: You are exactly like your bro. Just as enjoyable and a pleasure to talk and chill pokemon with. I enjoyed when the 3 of us were in the car and we would just start randomly talking about pokemon. I know you are still disappointed about losing to skarm in your first round but you took it like a pro. O yea and please don't switch over to yugioh ok ;)? I still need to vs you or your bro at the finals of Nats/Worlds.
Bluecookies: Dude I'm so happy for you :DDDDDD After your 3 hax matches (TRJEssie, Huy =x, and Wesley) at Nats, I'm glad you finally got to prove that you are indeed the best in the world. Knowing you for the past 2 years has been a blast and I look forward to hanging out again with you next year. Let me battle some of the jpn though the next time I come ok (hahah)?
Kinneas: Thank you again for letting me and bluecookies room with you on Wed (that 6 hrs difference was murder on us, more on me since I'm an early sleeper). Also thanks again for letting me stay the following night. I was completly dead that night. I'm sorry you didn't get to play but I'm positive we'll see each other at a worlds again :)
MsBlackbird: I had a blast hanging out with you and kinneas these past few days. You are a really friendly guy. Thanks for helping us get around when we first arrived at the hotel. We had no clue how the shuttle worked xD Also 'll have to get a maitai after having one the next time we meet.
Skarm: It was a pleasure to hang out with you and your wife (haha at you making me and Alaka stand next to your wife to show just how much of a giant we are). Also thanks for and huy providing me with mons (I'm still not sure who's mons are they but thank you again :))))
Alaka: It was awesome hanging with ya'llllll (hehe) during this entire adventure. From photoshop pics (LOL), to your crazy sunburn (where was your sunscreen anyway?!), to your desire for papaya (36 man?!?!) as well as some BLIZZZAARD acton, it was awesome chilling with you. Your an amazing guy. Your dad had an awesome alakadad shirt and I remember your mom yelling at me and Alpha Omega when we were cheering for skarm over you =x. We quickly cheered for you haha.
Ninahaza: I'm happy you got in to worlds but was hoping you'd join me picture taking and recording matches when I Iost. congrats for making it into worlds!
Kongler: I didn't get a chance to chat with you much at Nats but I'm glad I did at worlds :). You are also an awesome guy. hoice band double edge snorlax rocksssss. With your random stories smoking with executive jpn guys (HAHA) and that awesome gigle laugh, it was a blast chatting with you whenever possible. Also gj for hooking up ruben and albert with those muy caliente cHIcIAS using your spanish talking skils
Metabou+Deagle: It was nice to meet you both. O yea Deagle don't blizz me in the sandstorm and criting me next time. Ok thanks :P
Spainish guys: hopefully albert or mario can translate this for rueben but it
was blast hanging out with you guys. DISOcOO, chicas!!, KEFKAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!.
German Guys: It was nice to meet the both of you. Would be nicer if you would post on the boards more ;)
PBB: congrats on making it in the lcq and like kinneas =/. Just make sure to not get dq ok?
Team JPN: Maybe you go on the boards but those multi battles was awesome. I also saw some of those battle factory matches which were insane. KAAAAA!!!
Alpha Omega: I had a blast hanging out with you!! Although you went 3-3 I think you did a good job making your transition over to seniors. You played some pretty tough opponents and you still went 3-3. I hope to see you next year :)
trjessie: Team Rocket jessie it was a pleasure to meet you (yes I indeed wrote your whole name out lol) ! Your crit sucker punch in rd 1 on giratina was nuts lol. Although you were a bit pissed with me recording your match I think you'll appreciate gettling to looking back on it. Also what did you think of the show haha?
Badintent: It was awesome hanging out with you. And thanks for talking more ;)
OmegaDonut: It was fun recording those vids with you when we both didn't qualify. And thanks for checking out those turtles in the pool for us ;)
Evan Falco: That should be your real name! It was also fun hanging out with you! LOL @ you passing us in the pool just as someone mentioned your name and you saying "thats me"
critico: It was also fun chatting with you. lol @ the $58 play mat.
Fmasume: I'm glad I got to chat with you more. You were a fun guy to chat with :)
Our little group on Sat was fun (u/me/alaka/falco/critico)
Hagridtwin: congrats to you/your wife/and Ryan (YAAAAY) for making it in through the lcq!! We all weren't sure if you guys would be making it down but it was nice to see you all again :)
Froggy: it was nice meeting you :)
TTS: Fake Dan I'm still disappointed you weren't able to come this year :(((. Thanks for everything :) Your team rocks and I did my best with it in the lcq. Looking forward to catching up with you soon :D
Bontakun: Thank you Thank you for everything. You are a really good friend. You helped me whenever I had question and always supported me time and again. Please don't get crit 5 times+freeze at regionals next year ok?
Slops:
Beside not making it into worlds I have no slops. I had no slops during my entire time in hawaii (besides not making it into worlds because of getting hax 3 times =x)
Well I guess thats it. I spent close to 4 hrs writing this report ( only another 3 hrs left before I get on my flight) with only 28% left lol. Not bad at all. Now just another 15hrs and I'll be back home (tomorrow xDDDD). I'm off to play GTA haha. Till next year!
-Dtrain
