Pokemon VGC- Philadelphia Warstory

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Yeah, I know I'm late at writing this, but I haven't had the time to do so until today (6/12/09). More pictures will be coming as soon as I can get pictures my dad took.

6/5/09

I got home as usual and started getting ready for the next day. I still didn't have my Cresselia nor my Togekiss. Besides those two, my team was prepared. After trying to abuse the Platinum RNG for half an hour, I decided to give up. I guess there would be no Cresselia for the next day. Togekiss was also scrapped because the only purpose of Togekiss was to let Cresselia set up. I finished my Team Information Sheet and PP Up'ed my team. I then went on Smogon for a bit, then the clock stroke 12:00 midnight.



6/6/09

I went upstairs to play PBR to have some last minute practice. Even though I won't tell of any of those practice matches, I guess I'll give my team out now.
Code:
[B]Sakuya Team[/B][B]: Haymaker Variation
[/B]
[B]Leads[/B]
[IMG]http://pokemonelite2000.com/sprites/dpmfa/dpmfa376.png[/IMG]
Savato (Metagross)@Lum Berry
Clear Body     Adamant Nature
EVs: 196 HP, 156 Attack, 156 Sp. Defense
IVs: 21/31/30/19/31/7
-Meteor Mash
-Bullet Punch
-Explosion
-Earthquake

Bullet Punch rids Lv. 1 Smeargles and Focus Sashers. Meteor Mash is for
STAB, Explosion is obvious, and Earthquake is for coverage. EQ has good
synergy with the other lead pokemon. EVs are to make Latios HP Ground 70
(Timid, 248 EVs and 22 IVs in Sp. Attack) a 3HKO.


[IMG]http://pokemonelite2000.com/sprites/dpmfa/dpmfa130.png[/IMG]
Paraskevi (Gyarados)@Wacan Berry
Intimidate     Adamant Nature
EVs: 252 HP, 80 Attack, 88 Defense, 80 Sp. Defense
IVs: 27/31/30/0/30/30
-Waterfall
-Taunt
-Protect
-Icy Wind

This is a supporting Gyarados. Waterfall is for STAB, Taunt shuts down
some Rain Dance teams and Trick Room teams stupid enough not to have
Fake Out or Follow Me. Protect can allow for scouting Electric moves, and
can be used in conjunction with Metagross's Explosion. Icy Wind lowers
both of the opposing pokemon's speeds. The EVs here survive a lot of stuff,
including Timid Jolteon's Thunderbolt and HP Electric 70 from both Vaporeon
and Typhlosion.

[B]Back-Ups[/B]

[IMG]http://pokemonelite2000.com/sprites/dpmfa/dpmfa143.png[/IMG]
Pempti (Snorlax)@Leftovers
Thick Fat     Adamant Nature
EVs: 40 HP, 252 Attack, 116 Defense, 100 Sp. Defense
IVs: 30/31/31/11/26/4
-Return
-Crunch
-Protect
-Fire Punch

Return is for STAB, Crunch and Fire Punch are for coverage against things
such as Dusknoir, Cresselia, Bronzong, Metagross, and Abomasnow.Protect
is used as a defensive measure, buying Snorlax one turn while its teammate
takes out whatever threatens Snorlax the most. The IVs with the EVs lands
Pempti on 240 Hp, which is a Leftovers number. The rest of the EVs were
given to make Defense 100, maxing out attack, and putting the remaining
EVs in Sp. Defense.


[IMG]http://pokemonelite2000.com/sprites/dpmfa/dpmfa381.png[/IMG]
Kyriaki (Latios)@Focus Sash
Levitate     Timid Nature
EVs: 8 HP, 248 Sp. Attack, 252 Speed
IVs: 30/27/11/22/26/31
-Dragon Pulse
-Thunderbolt
-Protect
-Hidden Power (Type: Ground, Power: 70)
The only Special attacker on the team. Dragon Pulse is for STAB.
I've learned from my own experience that the reduction in Sp. Attack and
the accuracy make Draco Meteor unfavorable for this team. Thunderbolt is
for coverage, Protect is obvious, and HP Ground 70 1HKOs Heatran and
2HKOs Metagross not EV'ed in Sp. Defense. The EVs are self-explanatory.
After practicing for awhile, I checked my teams one last time, then went and did random stuff for an hour. I got ready and dressed up (Fly Rayquaza/Rayclownza is awesome), then helped my family load things into the car. We left at 5:00 AM, then I slept for 1&1/2 hours. I woke up, and we were in Pennsylvania, about 20 minutes from King of Prussia. We ate, then continued to the tournament site. We arrived there at around 7:15.


Me sleeping


Upon arriving at the Valley Forge Convention Center, my family and I took some pictures outside the center itself, and while that was happening, I noticed a person in the unofficial Smogon shirt (sold by zerowing, it's black and has the Koffing skull & crossbones on it in yellow). My sister and I went downstairs, and the line stretched nearly to the stairs. We went to the end of the line, and my sister commented on how I was fighting teenagers. She also joked on how some of the people here were adults (She's 18 and I'm 13). I talked to the people in front of me. They were a couple of friends who traveled together over to PA from NJ (they were all 12-14 in age). I remember one of them was a gay-sounding Black/Hipanic, two were White (One of them was named Forest), and one of them was either Indian or Guyanese (Named Landon). We talked for a bit, and I noticed that on of them used the PBR Electivire and Magmortar. I asked if he EV trained them, and he said he didn't have the time to EV train and train to level 50 six pokemon, so he was lazy and didn't EV train.






Me outside the Convention Center

After talking to those guys (Forest and Landon were two of the people I stayed with pre-announcing the names) I decided to talk to the guy with the Smogon shirt (he was behind me in line). The conversation went somewhat like this:

Me: "Hey can I see your medal?" *points to his JAA Semifinalist medal"
Him: "Sure."
Me: *I look at the medal* "Were you a semifinalist at Nationals, or one of the qualifiers?"
Him: "No, I was a semifinalist at one of the qualifiers."
Me: "Which one?"
Him: "The one here at King of Prussia."
Me: "Hmmmm." "By the way, do you happen to go on Smogon? I noticed your shirt was the Smogon shirt"
Him: "Yeah, I'm TTS. You must be" *TTS looks at my Rayclownza shirt "Mosquitox, right?"
Me: "Yeah, I'm Mosquitox216"

Afterwards, we don't talk much. I go back the people in front of me in line. I observe their teams some more, and I doubted one person's strategy (I forgot what it was). Then the line started to move. I noticedMarriland (the head referee) was ahead, and I told the people I was with "Hey, it's Marriland." One of the guys then went "It would be cool if Marriland was here." as we walked past Marriland. Then another person and I said "That IS Marriland, he's the head ref for this tournament!" Afterwards, 10 people start screaming "Oh my God! I can't believe I met Marriland in real life!" Marriland fanboys. He isn't as good of player as he was in 2007 because he doesn't play competitively that often.

Once the line moved to the Dialga/Palkia inflatable whatever-they-are, there was more time for me to talk to the guys I was with. I saw a battle, and it seemed good to me. Forest then asked me if we could have a battle to practice before the tournament. I didn't think he would be hard and get vital amounts of information, so I decided to battle, even against my dad's advice.



Dialga and Palkia inflatable balloons/floats/things-to-be-stolen: by me

Battle 1: Kristian versus Forest
GoodStuffs vs. Random

I don't remember this battle clearly. He sent out two pokemon (one was Magmortar), while I sent out Savato and Paraskevi. Magmortar threatened to kill Savato, so I went for the safe Explosion+Protect strategy. To my surprise, Forest ended up dealing less than 50% of max health (damage-wise) to Savato. I explode, KOing two of his pokemon. He sends out Infernape and Abomasnow. I switch out Metagross for Snorlax in fear of Overheat/Heat Wave/Fire Blast/Flamethrower. To my surprise, he did something else. My Gyarados used Icy Wind, while his Abomasnow used Blizzard. Next turn, my Gyarados outruns his Infernape and KOs it with Waterfall, while Snorlax either outruns Abomasnow or survies another Blizzard, then proceeds to KO it with Fire Punch. 4-0 Win

After the battle finishes, he comments that my team was very good. According to him, he lost badly because he couldn't do much to stop Abomasnow from fainting, and that his Abomasnow was strong. Well, you learn from your mistakes kid! Make sure to pack both a Special Fire move and Close Combat on Infernape for times like this. After our battle, another kid (a Junior) asks me to check over his team in the form of a battle. We begin, but then everyone is let into the main tournament area, so we stop the battle. The area is large, with the colored zones for the battling area, TV screens all over, a yellow area for Shiny Milotic, and a green area for registration.


The general area of the tournament site

After looking around the area for a bit (I was awe-struck), I went onto the green registration line. The people in front of me (same guys mind you) were talking about hack checks, and one of them was frantic, saying (possibly loud enough for the staff to hear) something along the lines of "Oh my gosh! My other game was hacked, and I traded over stuff from it into my Platinum! Will my Platinum be hacked?!?" I then told him that as long as nothing itself hacked was traded over, his game would be safe. I also told the group over the possibilities of the tournament after the experiences of the other qualifiers. I told them not to be surprised if someone sends out 2 shines at a time (I told them it was easy if you abused the PRNG. They were puzzled, and I didn't bother explaining to them), and that Level 1 Smeargles would be common. I registered, quite too easily. The staff simply took a signed Terms of Contract (or whatever the real name is) and checked my Team Information Sheet to see if there were any banned pokemon listed on it. Then I was given back my TIS and was given a wristband-#102 Exeggcute- and it was put on my wrist tightly. I laughed when I saw Exeggcute, and the staff member putting on my wristband asked why. I said that I would rather have Exeggutor because it was cooler. After, my siste, my dad, and I just wander around taking pictures (I don't have any of my dad's pictures, he took alot).


The Pikachu float, with the battle areas in the background


My sister with Pikachu


My sister with Piplup


The battle zone an hour before the competitors get in it


And...it's me with Marriland! Unfortunately, the photo was blurry because my sister's hand shook. Also, I don't why the picture is sideways. This was taken on a digital camera.

After all the picture taking my sister, dad, and I did (my mom was at the King of Prussia mall), my sis and I went to sit down. We found Landon and Forest in the corner between the entrace to the battle area and the registration area. The three of us chatted for 15 minutes (my sister doesn't count). Eventually, I fight Landon.

Battle 2: Kristian versus Landon
GoodStuffs vs. Random

I barely remember this battle. I do remember Landon sending out a Ninjask, which Substituted. I Taunted through the Sub (I didn't know you could do that) while Meteor Mashing the Sub. I did win this battle. 2-0 Win

I then I see an adult go around our corner, looking bored. He notices my shirt, and asks me "Are you from Smogon", and I reply "Yes, I'm Mosquitox216". He then replied "Oh, I noticed our shirt". I asked him if he was from Smogon, and he responded that he joined the day before. I then asked him if he was Cornelius, and responded with a yes. For fun, Landon and Forest challenged Cornelius and me to a tag-battle. We accepted, and, after I looked over Cornelius' team, decided on who to use.

Battle 3: Kristian+Cornelius versus Landon+Forest
GoodStuffs+GoodStuffs vs. Random+Random

I don't remember this battle precisely. Landon and Forest sent out Ninjask and Banetter respectively, while Cornelius sent out an Azelf while I sent out Paraskevi. Fearful of Ninjask using X-Scissor on Azelf, I told Cornelius to Detect while I Taunted the Ninjask. It used X-Scissor that turn (Landon learned) on Paraskevi. Banette was useless. Next turn, my Paraskevi Protects. Ninjask X-Scissors Azelf, which somehow survives at red. Azelf then explodes on both Banette and Ninjask (Banette was immune). The battle continues, with me remember little. Forest did send out a PBR Magmortar, while Landon sent out a PBR Electivire (the F? Why does everyone have one of these in a competitive tournament?). Cornelius and I win 3-0


A picture of the Juniors schedule. I wanted a picture of the seniors schedule, but I wasn't quick enough


A picture of the sign that was placed at the entrance to the battle area. I took this while chatting with Landon and Forest.

After all this battling and talking with Landon, Forest, and Cornelius, it was already 9:50 AM. The names for those who would be participating in the tournament would be announce in 25 minutes. I randomly walked around the area. An Asian teenager with a yellow JAA Finalist shirt looked at my shirt (This is the only time I've ever worn that shirt and had people notice it) and commented that him and his friends remember the time (back in 2005) when Fly Rayquaza was used to win a tournament. Chris Daring used a Rayquaza with Fly (70 pwer and 90 accuracy back then) to defeat Mike Papiganis (skarm from here on Smogon. Also, did I spell that right?) in the 2005 Emerald tournament. Also, many kids at JAA (including me, even though I didn't take part in the actual tournament) used Rayquaza with Fly.

After walking around, I saw a battle that looked interesting. A 13-year-old was fighting another person. The first person used Espeon and jolteon. I asked him if his team was made up of only Eeveelutions, in which he replied "Only my leads are". He told me that "This team has won 12 times in a row without losing". I responded "My team has had 30 matched: 27 wins and 3 losses." He then said "My team hasn't lost a single time. He was bored, so he asked me if I wanted to battle. I said sure, and I was afraid he EV trained and had good strategy. I casually asked him "How are you able to win with your team". He said "On the first turn, I set-up by having Espeon use Calm Mind and Jolteon use Double Team." I laughed to myself, thinking that I could KO both of his pokemon with Explosion, but then I thought "What if Double Team kicks in and makes Explosion miss?" So I decided to 2HKO both of his pokemon with EQ.

Battle 4: Kristian versus Random Kid Who Thinks He's The Best
GoodStuffs vs. GoodStuffs

He sends out Espeon and Jolteon, while I send out my usual leads. I decided Taunt Espeon and EQ, hypothetically stopping Espeon from a Calm Mind spree and KOing Jolteon. Here's what really happened:

Espeon used Helping Hand! *Hits Jolteon* Espeon is ready to help Jolteon!
Jolteon used Thunderbolt! *Hits Paraskevi* Wacan Berry reduced the power of Thunderbolt! *Paraskevi is at red*
Paraskevi used Taunt! Paraskevi Taunted the foe's Espeon!
Savato used Earthquake! *Hits Espeon, brings it to yellow* *Hits Jolteon, brings it to red*

Basically, it's good to not trust your opponent in what they say they will do, they could be lying. Next turn, Jolteon KOs Paraskevi, while Savato KOs both Espeon and Jolteon. He sends in something and Froslass, while I send out something. Whatever, he protects with Froslass while I Meteor Mash it. Etc. I Meteor Mash Froslass next turn, bringing it to red. the turn after that, I aim for the other pokemon, KOing it, while Froslass Protects. Then I Bullet Punch Froslass, sealing my victory. 3-0 Win

So after this battle, my opponent comments "You're team is pretty good". Well of course it's good! It just beat your "undefeated" team. After this, I went in front of the TVs, where everyone was gathering. Eveyone waited patiently in front of the TVs. I overheard some guys came from Buffalo, NY (That's on the border of Canada and NY, where Niagara Falls is) to get here. Wow. The countdown was very instense. Then the numbers were displayed, and...















I was not picked!


I got pissed off at this, waiting for the numbers to show again, hoping I hadn't made a mistake. Unfortunately, it went #100 Voltorb, then #104 Cubone. So I was sad, then went on the line for Shiny Milotic. While on the line, I saw a kid with an American Shiny Shaymin (way to go kiddo, showing off that you obviously hack). A girl of around 16 was behind me in line, and she kept telling someone (who I think was her boyfriend) about how bad the players were, using the example below (note: the example below did happen):

Player A has a pokemon with Ice Beam. Player B has a Cresselia and a Garchomp out. Player A uses Ice Beam on Cresselia.

The girl kept complaining on how there should have been a test to see if the players were good enough to be in the tournament. I told her what happened in last year's tests, and she said that the tests should have questions on possible situations in battle. I eventually reach the front of the line, and I walk up to an event staff member. He takes my DS Lite (Dialga/Palkia one from GameStop) and plugs in something that looks like a GBA game with lights into the GBA Slot (I had already taken out my GBA Slot filler). Apparantly, the even works this way:

The event itself is wireless. It is received via wireless on the Mystery Gift screen. However, the DS will only receive the signal if that GBA game-like cartridge is in the bottom slot.

After I got my wonder card, I was about to leave, when the man called me and the person who was in front of me on the Milotic line to come back. The man then cut off both of our wristbands. I asked him if we had to give them up, but then he said that we could them if we wanted. I didn't. I (in a disappointed way) told him that we couldn't get more than one Milotic if we had more than one Platinum (I had my friend's Platinum with me).

After getting off the Milotic line, I went to watch the Senior matches matches. I'll try to highlight all the bad parts:
  • Togetic
  • Avalanche on Weavile
  • Thunderbolt on Rhyperior
  • Bubblebeam on Empoleon'
  • Articuno with Blizzard (without hail) and aerial ace
  • Garchomp with Dragon Rush
  • Bronzong with Flash and Stealth Rock. The woman who used this actually got into the sweet 16
There's much more bad parts. After the sweet 16 were chosen, there was a shot intermission. I went a table, where two people were having a battle. Now that was a real battle! Life Orb on Clefable, TrickHail, real stuff. I challenged the guy who won (TrickHail. He said he had won 8 times and lost 0, and I believed him).

Battle 5: Kristian versus Chris
GoodStuffs vs. TrickHail

This battle I remember pretty well. I start off with my leads, while he starts out with his leads (Bronzong and Abomasnow). I Taunt his Bronzong, preventing Trick Room, while I Meteor Mash his Abomasnow. The bad thing is, it missed! The next turn, he switches out Abomasnow for Snorlax. I Waterfall Bronzong, which flinches it. I Meteor Mash Snorlax, which brings it to low health. The next turn, I attack Snorlax with both Savato and Paraskevi. Bronzong Zen Headbutts someone. Snorlax is fainted. He sends in Dusknoir. This is where my recklessness comes in. I Meteor Mash his Dusknoir, while Paraskevi does something. His Dusknoir does something, and his Bronzong explodes. I'm left with Snorlax and Latios, while he had Dusknoir and Abomasnow. My Kyriaki Dragon Pulses his Dusknoir for decent damage. His Abomasnow Wood Hammer's Pempti, bringing it to ~60% health. Dusknoir Shadow Punches Kyriaki, leaving it at yellow. Pempti Fire Punches Abomasnow, but Occa Berry kicks in. Hail hurts my teams badly. The next turn, I Protect with Kyriaki. He tries to Shadow Sneak my Kyriaki, while his Abomasnow Wood Hammers my Snorlax. Snorlax is at red, and it Crunches Dusknoir, bringing it to red. At this point I knew I lost, and He Shadow Sneaks+Wood Hammers for the win (literally). 0-2 Loss

If I had only aimed for Dusknoir instead of Fire Punching, I would have won the battle. Anyways, he's a good sport and compliments my team. After that, I go to watch the sweet 16 matches. It just so happened that all four of the sweet 16 matches on the TVs were following Ethan (Pokethan on Smogon). I did lecture a lot of kids on the game. One girl said that there was a new pokemon called "Aquarius" (maybe she's referring to Arceus), while another kid was bragging about how he could do the Mew glitch in Blue Version. Ethan's team was good, but it was scary that he bothered to use BlakBlastoise's BlakChrome (a shiny Metagross) when other top 4 placers in other qualifiers used BlakChrome also.

It eventually got to the finals, with Pokethan facing VashTheStampede. It was a wonderful match, and I think Vash would have won the match if it weren't for the freeze. The video I recorded of the actual match (not from the battle recorder) can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUYyiQovFPI

Yeah, watching the battle was funny. One kid shouted "Gengar will use Fire Blast!" Also (not to be racist) there was a black kid in a hat who was jumping up and down in front of the screen and being really obnoxious:jump:. I actually screamed to him (while recording) "Stop jumping!" 10-15 people looked at me as if I were weird, then turned back to continue to watch the match. The kid did stop jumping.

After the finals were over, I left the tournament site to eat. I saw Rick Guerra (Darkmaster491 of Youtube and Little Guerra from Smogon I think) sitting down at a table also. After, my family just left, and we drove back to New York. I did actually see BlueCookies, Bonta-kun, mysteryman, and mysteryman's brother all in a group, but I didn't say hi...

Pros:
-Good battles
-I had fun lecturing kids on Pokemon. That's right, Pokemon is now a school subject
-Meeting Darkmaster491 and TTS in real life
-Seeing Pokethan win 1st place and VashTheStampede win 2nd.
-Being able to prove that my team works against a competitive player (see Battle 5)

Cons:
-I didn't get picked
-Look at my list of bad things during the seniors matched that I saw
-I didn't say hi to BlueCookies
-I didn't see ExpertEvan or Gouki Shinkou
-Only one shiny Milotic per person
 
Nice read. Glad there was an all natural version of the senior finals, I always prefer the all natural version to a battle recorder version. :P


edit = lol the kids are chanting 'obama' and 'swine flu' over and over again. x)
 

TTS

Articulate Potty Lid
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Heh, I didn't really talk much in line since after I started to talk, I just set off that gay black guy into a 5-6 minute rant about what a wonderful, brilliant artist his friend was. "Oh, and this one? This is Pikachu combined with a waffle iron! Isn't it brilliant?! I want to show these to [whoever] and see if they'll use them to make new Pokemon!"

Mosquitox216 said:
An Asian teenager with a yellow JAA Finalist shirt looked at my shirt (This is the only time I've ever worn that shirt and had people notice it) and commented that him and his friends remember the time (back in 2005) when Fly Rayquaza was used to win a tournament.
That was Shaka Khan, he's competing in Nashville today too >_> He and TAD are my top picks to win if they get in.

PS: Your sister is hot :P
 

supermarth64

Here I stand in the light of day
is a Contributor Alumnus
Aha, that Fire Blast Gengar noob.

Agreed with TTS on your sister part. :P What's her number? XD
 
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