TAKING OUT THE TWASH (or so I hoped) - a UK VGC Warstory

Status
Not open for further replies.

gec

pharos
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
(thank you to the people who's picture I am stealing)


Day before VGC - with tblakey89


My quest to prepare for Birmingham VGC was certainly not an easy one like last year. Last year, it went something like 'OH AWESOME TOPOGRE WON SEATTLE I WANT THAT', but this year, I didn't actually have a team until 2 days before the event. While (and many thanks to him) zerowing was coaching me for a long time beforehand, teaching me how to use his team properly since I settled with using that, I came up with this magical epiphany (or stupid ass idea, looking back on how much better I could have done with his team). Nonetheless, I was looking excited for it - I got to see my best friends again, we had 2 days to chill together instead of just the VGC day itself and tbh, the UK Pokemon community is amazingly nice so pretty much everyone would be good to see again.

Before I get into detail on Friday afternoon/night, I think it's better to say that once Kinneas' uploads the endless amount of videos we took, you lot will greater understand how fun a day it was.

Anyways, I set out for Birmingham on Friday afternoon and the train ride was the most god awful boring experience ever. Also, I did almost shit myself a couple of times. Firstly, I stretched my legs out and was attempting to rest them on the seats opposite me but coincidentally the guy opposite me was stretching his arms out on the same seats. I kicked him, he started shouting at me and he was a very large man so naturally I cowered in fear ^_^ Also, I was on IRC on my phone and suddenly my phone just crashed and turned off, and it took a good 30 mins of endless button mashing to get it to turn back on. The whole weekend without my phone was near enough hell to even picture. But it all worked out fine, and look at that - I had arrived at New Street!

At the station I met up with Keelhauled, Kinneas, Pokawaii, her boyfriend, her friend and tab (who the ducks will know as KING OF ALL OSTRICHES and also the guy that made Kinneas and I piss ourselves a couple of nights ago on Skype with that incredible Warstory he wrote about VGC). There was an awkward moment of saying 'Hello' but then finally after staring at each other blankly for a few moments we decided to set off to our hotel but had no idea where we were going (nobody wanted to take charge and direct us somewhere). So we made like a flock of sheep and just followed each other to where we thought the exit was and we finally got to the exit, before realising our hotel was actually quite the walk away. We spent 25 minutes walking down some massive road before we asked a black guy (yes I have to specify he was black because according to tab black people are very knowledgeable about hotels). And so he was, and we found our hotel in no time. We had to sign into a machine check in thing, and give in our names too. Behold the guestlist of room 309:



Now just as Keelhauled was entering his rather 'racist' name, a staff member had to ask us if we were alright with everything and pointed out that 'coon' was not a correct title, we had to choose 'Mr. M Coonley'. Considering we were only allowed 2 adults in our room and were attempting to smuggle in 3 (well, 3.5 if you count Kinneas <3) the staff member was surprisingly chill with it or didn't really care, oh well. Anyways, after dumping our crap in our room and watching tab hilariously fail at mixing Sprite and vodka, we turned tried to sort out the bed situation (and seriously it was fucked). There was a big ass king size bed, then 2 small as hell single beds - they were all stuck together into one massive bed and there was no room to move them. We eventually decided that as common sense would dictate, our smallest roomer would get the double bed, our 2 fairly big roomers would get the 2 singles and our biggest roomer (Sorry tab D: ) had to sleep in the bathtub, even though he couldn't actually fit in there.

Anyways when that was done, we met up with the other lot downstairs and wondered around to find a place where we could eat. We found a KFC and let Pokawaii, her bf and her friend go in there and queue up in the massive line while we just stood outside KFC and stared at them. Thinking 'fuck this' we just went to the much quieter McDonalds and ate there, speaking about random shit. The highlight was when tab was telling black people jokes and Kinneas asked him to repeat the last one really loudly just as a massive black guy was walking past. Thank fuck we dodged that, then we just went back to meet the others. We decided to go to the PokemonWorld meetup for some reason and not wanting to walk anymore, we inquired about how much a taxi would cost - £25 my ass. We just went to the station and took the train to the NEC, wondered around aimlessly for 30 mins when we got there trying to find the hotel that the meetup was being held at and just as we were walking back to the Birmingham International station we met up with Pokerob and the lot. We stole tblakey89 and another chill member of their forum and they walked off without us, so we gave chase because we weren't being dumped that easily - we took some hostages with us :D. Anyways, I got a picture with tblakey (at the top of the story), we watched them lot play football for a while and thought fuck this we wanna go home, so we took the train back to new street and did so. Along the way we stopped at a tescos so that everyone could buy a bunch of Carlsberg and take it all back to our hotel. We just stayed up in Pokawaii's room and watched some fat guy pop his eyeballs out on TV while the others were getting trashed and I was EVing Kinneas' team like the cute person I am. Somehow the time flew to about 12am where we decided we were starving and took a midnight trip to McDonalds (which for some reason had bouncers). We chilled there for an hour or so, then Pokawaii and her lot wanted to go to bed so we parted and went to our hotel room where we spent about 4 hours doing fuck all like IRCing with the Ducks, attempting to Skype with them, having our accents ridiculed and making calls to Pokerob and all of them. We eventually decided to call it a day and made Kinneas a bed (more like a litter) on the floor with towels and tab took the massive king bed. Anyways, after falling asleep for 15 minutes I woke up to tab's incredibly loud sleeping and apparently so did Kinneas - I just spent the next couple of hours on my phone posting on Smogon about how tired I was, then just stared outside the window waiting for 7:30am to wake everyone up.

We all got ready and decided to go to the NEC early to see the arrival of Foodking but he ignored us so we sat at subway with Osirus182, Akira and a couple of other guys before deciding to go down to the NEC.

My team for the day was:



(Mad props to zerowing, Huy, Fishy, tyler, Ditto and all the other guys for helping me get my team sorted at the last minute)

Scrafty (M) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 124 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Drain Punch
- Detect
- Fake Out

Hydreigon (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Surf
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Protect

Whimsicott (M) @ Mental Herb - Teifufuun
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Tailwind
- Grass Knot
- Fake Tears
- Encore

Archeops (M) @ Flight Gem - Delitabby
Trait: Defeatist
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Acrobatics
- Rock Slide
- Protect
- Quick Guard

Jellicent (M) @ Choice Scarf - Foodking
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Water Spout
- Shadow Ball
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump

Thundurus (M) @ Electric Gem
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Substitute
- Thunder Wave

The basic gist of it was to just abuse Fake Tears Whimsicott in the earlier rounds with Tailwind support, then in the later rounds I could think a bit more about what modes to use with my team. It was all a little haywire but I suppose it worked out in the end.

So we just sat in the queue for about 3 hours, and while our group was holding it for us Kinneas and I went around to see everyone where we met twash (for the first time ever), Havak, PenguinX, Skynet and bunch of other people we hadn't seen the day before. Then there was more mindless queuing until finally the Master's queue was actually open but our group of about 10 was split up into some weird format. I made a few friends in the queue and even found a girl who was willing to lose to me r1 since she her friends (Wichu and others) made her play. However, Wichu and the lot got lost somewhere and finally - it was my turn to play r1. Now, I don't actually remember some of these details so I will just highlight the important occurrences of each match instead of giving a full analysis of their team.


Round 1 - Wichu's very good friend
So I did get one of his friend's albeit this guy was really good. I remember I was about 95% going to lose this match because there was a lot of luck on both sides, but thank god I put a focus sash > life orb on Hydreigon in the queue about an hour earlier. In the end, it came down to my Hydreigon vs his Landorus and paralysed Tornadus. Tornadus protected itself, Landorus Exploded on me and I lived with sash. Next turn, I Dragon Pulse Tornadus for the KO and win by 1HP. Fuck.


Round 2 - Chaos_AD (Pokemonworld member)
Chaos and I are friends from PW so we were alright with facing each other. He promptly told me that he faced me on PO a couple of days before and I beat him, really cranking up the pressure on me. He lead with Sazajelly and I lead with Whimsicott and Jellicent. I double targetted his Jellicent with Shadow Ball + Grass Knot while I think his Hydra protect, but his Jellicent lived on fucking 3HP and set up Trick Room. DAMMIT. My Jellicent was killed next turn since it was going last in Trick Room, and I sent out Scrafty which was actually moving first despite the Speed EVs I ploughed into it. Nonetheless, a few turns later the battle came down to his Eelektross vs my Scrafty and Hydreigon with me Protecting to stall out his trick room, then getting the KO on him. GG Bro.


Round 3 - A very cool guy I hadn't met before who was apparently a big fan of mine ~_~
We had a bit of a situation going into Round 3 because I was alone queuing for an opponent when suddenly tblakey89 comes along. We're good friends so naturally we friend rule each other, but then in come about 4 more Pokemonworld users against whom I have been practicing VGC against for months on end. We are desperate not to play each other when finally someone we didn't know comes along and I have to play him. Now, in team preview he only had 4 Pokemon so I thought this was going to be a fairly easy match up, and it was pretty much so. My Whimsicott and Scrafty tore through this Terrakion and Hydreigon, coming down to my Archeops netting the final deciding hits on his Chandelure and Amoonguss for the fairly quick victory. I happily move onto R4 but not seeing some friends of mine walk out after having lost in R2/R3 sadly.


Round 4 - B-Lulz FUCK
Ok so another situation but on a bigger scale than before. I get seated at the table I would be playing my match in but we were waiting for an opponent. I glanced at who was still playing in R3 and I see tblakey89, B-lulz, twash and a couple of other friends of mine. B-lulz and I eventually decide we may as well not waste time and just battle. I completely luck fucked him and I am not going to deny that without about 4 turns of paralysis on his Terrakion that mattered a boatload, I would have been dumped out this round and B-lulz would have got the easy win. I kept saying sorry to him and shaking his hand but he told me it was alright. Thank you man for being so cool, and sorry again, I just cringe thinking about this match :/



Anyways, here we are in the finalists lounge. I was very happy to see a lot of good people had already made the finalists lounge like Havak. I registered my details with the Worlds correspondent form last year who recognised me and we just got talking for a while before more people had to get registered. I go on IRC and update everyone about the current standings and with exception to Kinneas sadly being lucked out R4, everything was seemingly good with players such as Twash, Rees, Ruben and Keelhauled all eventually making the top 32. We just chill around for a bit waiting for the top 32 to get compiled. Finally, it's time to get our carts back, and start playing. Since there were only 25 of us, 7 byes had to be given out and it was fun to see Zog steal a bye off someone else - good man ;)

Top 32 - Aidy J. Stevens

The staff were about to pair Havak and I together and this was just not going to happen. I think out of everyone I prepped for VGC with, Havak was the one I trained with the most and we are very good friends, so we both wanted to get as far as possible. I got paired with a guy named Aidy who was really cool, and almost had me with his annoying as shit Swagger Whimsicott.

YOU CAN WATCH THIS BATTLE ON YOUTUBE HERE (thanks Kinneas <3)


A few pictures from this match:








(Strong Kinneas)

Top 16 - Daniel Rushton
Seeing Havak, Rees, Ruben, Zog and tblakey all make it through before I did got me really nervous incase I got paired with one of them in the next couple of rounds. I absolutely needed to win my Top 16 match to get my Worlds invite, and then I didn't care - anything could happen after that.

I remember looking at the team preview thinking fuck this guy has everything that could give me trouble. A Mienshao with a quicker Fake Out than I had, a Haxorus which when Scarfed outsped and could OHKO my whole team. I lead off with Jellicent and Scrafty and he leads with Haxorus and Tornadus. I think what won me this match was that his Haxorus was indeed Scarfed and that he locked himself into Brick Break in order to dispose of my Scrafty, only for the rest of my team to either resist or take hardly any damage from it. Anyways, I fake out Tornadus and Ice Beam it, not wanting it to set up Tailwind. He survives, his Haxorus starts Brick Breaking but to no avail. It all came down to my Jellicent and Thundurus against his Haxorus and Hydreigon (I think), where I just Ice Beamed/HP Flyinged myself to victory. TOP 8 FUCK YES.

Top 8 - Ashley Smith aka twash aka stupid twat who comes to VGC for the first time, beats me and comes 2nd :)

At this point when i'm walking towards the Top 8 area I see tblakey89 at his table, waiting for an opponent. I bargain with the staff to not pair us together and eventually (rather pissed off) they agree, so we just wait for our opponents. At this point, there were only 2 other Top 16 matches still being played. So Ruben wins his match and has to decide whether to face tblakey or I. I started shouting at him in Spanish saying 'RUBEN MY FRIEND SIT HERE AND PLAY TBLAKEY' and he does, thank god. Now I get to play twash, and I must say like an idiot I completely underestimate his game and I get outplayed like an absolute idiot.



YOU CAN WATCH THIS MATCH HERE

Apparently I talk too much during battle (fuck you twash), but I'm happy I got my worlds invite and I lost to twash of all people. We just wait around a bit to watch the finals which you can find in twash's/Ruben's stories and it was absolutely hilarious, especially at the end. We congratulate everyone on a job well done, and that's it - VGC over!

After a bit of fuss about where to go next, we get this amazing picture:



We also take a picture of the Pokemonworld members who placed well:



From right -> left: 'Juniors Champ' tab aka KING OF ALL OSTRICHES aka Delibird, gec, gatr's sister (4th juniors), tblakey89, Havak, our friend Alex, a very moody looking Keelhauled and our friend Sparks.

Anyways, the gang from the previous day and PenguinX decide to go back to New Street for a spot of McDonalds for the 3rd time. We just talk about the last couple of days, and i'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy Kinneas sticking his finger in my ear then molesting my face. Then someone takes a straw full of coke and shoves it in my other ear and fuck it was sticky. Nonetheless, we go back to New Street, sort out or trains, hug each other away and finally go home.

I had an incredible time, especially on Friday so thank you to everyone who I hung with and all the great people I got to meet again, as well as the new people. I had an absolutely great weekend.

One thing though.

SAN DIEGO BABY

See you bitches there!

-gec
 

Havak

I'm the Best. You're a Towel.
is a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
gec <3 hopefully we can do well at worlds :) would have loved to see your R1 game, looks like we both had a few close calls :P
 
I can't wait for Kinneas' videos now because this has just reminded me of everything awesome about the weekend :] GEC2WRECKSD <3
 
It's not that you talked too much or anything, it's just that when you were talking to me I was concentrating and therefore gorming out, instead of talking to you haha.

Congrats on your Worlds invite, YEAH.
 

Tyler

No Longer Live
won the 1st Smogon VGC Tournament
Strong GEC losing to Twash. Its a sad day when you lose to a person that looks similar to me. GGGG
 

Jibaku

Who let marco in here????
is a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Two-Time Past SPL Champion
GEC :D

Man this is gonna remind me of all the pressure I'll get in DC if I get to go. Good job freakyhairdude
 

BlueCookies

April Fools 2009 Participant
VGC '10, '11, '12 Masters Champion
gec congrats :)

it'll be well ace to see you in san diego!
 
GEC!!!
I still remember our first chat on IRC. I was at the apple store using their god powerful wifi and the first thing you said to me was that I was tall haha. WELL GEC YOU WILL INDEED GET TO SEE ME AND MY TALLNESS :D

Congrats again you bloody chap, really glad you were able to win out and get your worlds invite ;)
 

B-Lulz

Now Rusty and Old
is a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
All is forgiven, especially since some of the pics you posted had the smoking latin translator in them!

Anyway good luck at worlds bro! Good speaking to you on Saturday
 

Ninahaza

You'll always be a part of me
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
Gec, I heard you took the 20 mcnuggets challenge and did pretty well. you had easy opponents, at worlds you'll go up against a black man. 20 chicken nuggets challenge
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

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

Top