Prologue
The Team
*Art made by RitterCat
Colette the Gardevoir (Named after the girl who thought of the best team core ever)
Dreidel the Hitmontop (Is there really a cool nickname for this guy that hasn’t been thought of)
Enigne the Rotom (Enigne backwards is Engine)
Bruno Mars the Breloom (Because his music helps me make it through life)
Scizrfrenic the Scizor (Because Schizophrenic has too many letters to fit as a NN)
BeatFan the Heatran (Named after what drives me to play VGC12)
The Teambuilding Process
Within a month until regionals I looked back and realized I’ve been working to create a team for the past 6 months! I went from sandstorm, to trick room, to bulky offense, to Blaziken based, to hyper offense, to rain, to sun. However, these are only the teams that I posted to the RMT section of Smogon. You don’t want to see all the wacky creation I have in my “Pokémon Online Teams” folder.
Once I got to get away from school for a weekend with Bruno up at Lake Tahoe I was able to tightened the leash and begin grinding for EVs, Items, and TMs all that stuff. I went from the state of “Total Cluster****”, to having 4 of my Pokémon on my team completely ready to fight, and I was expecting to get my last 2 Pokémon, Heatran and Scizor in a couple days. It turned out that I wouldn’t get my Heatran of Scizor from Bruno for another 2 weeks. I ended up having to piggyback off of the local Laundromat’s Wi-Fi in order to trade with him, and I got to be the weird creepy guy who was sitting in the corner of a Laundromat with his DS, but all was well, because I finally finished my team, and there was less than a month left until regionals in Pleasanton! I wanted to test my team, but wanted to keep it a secret so for the next month until regionals, I battled on PO under the name as TexasVGCer.
The Arrogant Douche Runs Wild
With nothing to do to better my team on Smogon I tried to become more omnipresent, and boy did I fall through the cracks on that. My naïveté in posting showed almost immediately when I received three infractions in less than a month. The nooby posts led to a heated argument between me and Giant Enemy Crab and I came off as a know-it-all prick, and for that I’m sorry Giant Enemy Crab. I deserved all the infractions I received and I’ll work harder to become a better poster.
The Final Countdown
The Tournament
Round 1 1-0
First turn he leads Seismitoad Glaceon and I lead Gardevoir Hitmontop. I fake out Glaceon, afraid of the blizzard and I’m surprised when Seismitoad’s Muddy Water gets two accuracy fall but my team does just fine, I sweep and win after setting up Trick Room, 4-0.
Round 2 1-1
I go up against Alec “pokemaster649” Wind, who got third place. I misplay in the beginning and he paralyzes everything. I total 5 parahax, a flinchhax and a crit against me, not my best battle. I lose 0-3.
Round 3 2-1
The kid leads with Ttar and Hydreigon, and I with Hitmontop and Gardevoir. I fake out Ttar because I don’t like taking physical attacks with Gardevoir and Hydreigon goes for the Fire Blast on Hitmontop, when I see that it does about 30%, I know I have the match one. Next turn I find out his Ttar is special, and he dark pulses my Gardevoir, I sweep him 4-0.
Round 4 3-1
The kid says he doesn’t EV train, so that comforts be a tad bit. But in team preview I see a full out hail team, and I’m worried because the team somewhat has some structure. I then realize he has all ice types, he tells me he loves spamming blizzard. I lead Gardevoir and Heatran and set up Trick Room and Heat Wave everything to death. By this time we had all chipped in to buy pizza, and damn that pizza was good! Huy, I gave you that extra 2 dollars to forgive me for my incompetent posts!
Round 5 4-1
I don’t remember this battle too well, but I remember sweeping some kid and winning 4-0.
Round 6 5-1
I don’t remember this battle too well either, I don’t even remember how much I won by….sorry!
Round 7 6-1
I go against a kid who’s also 6-1, he has a trick room team identical to my team from last year, so I know it backwards and forwards. He leads Amoongus and Reuniclus and I lead Hitmontop and Scizor. First turn I Fake Out Amoongus to prevent the rage powder and I get effect spore sleep and then I bug bite Reuniclus and I think I’ve got him owned when….Focus Sash! Who runs Focus Sash on Reuniclus?!? He sets up trick room with a sliver of health. I predict badly the next turn expecting the rage powder from Amoongus, but he obviously Spores my Scizor, as I went for the Bug Bite instead of the Bullet Punch. Hitmontop is fast asleep. Next turn, Hitmontop wakes up and sucker punches Amoongus bringing it to about 15%. They double target Hitmontop and kill it. Next turn I protect with Breloom as they double target it, and Scizor wakes up and Bug Bites Amoongus, this is where it gets awesome… Effect Spore put Scizor back to sleep but Scizor’s Bug Bite takes and eats Amoongus’ Lum Berry! I tell Jeremy and we lol a little bit. It was all downhill from there for him and I win 3-0.
Round 8 6-2
No doubt the haxiest match I played all day, my whole life even. I played Madeline Chung, a girl I barely beat at regionals last year, I was confident because I knew I could beat her, but I would be proven wrong. First turn she leads Typhlosion and Krookodile and I lead Gardevoir and Hitmontop. I know what Typhlosion wants to do, but I don’t really care, so I focus Krookodile, because it’s a huge threat to Gardevoir. I Fake Out Krookodile and Typhlosion Eruptions. It does about 75% to Hitmontop and about 45% to Gardevoir. I see Krookodile is running Leftovers, so I know it’s going to be a bit bulky, and might tank my Fight Gem Close Combat from Hitmontop. It doesn’t and I KO it, a good start. At the same time I switch to Heatran predicting another Eruption, but I guess she predicted my focus on Typloshion and Flamethrowers Hitmontop, which pisses me off. Hitmontop dies and I send Colette back out, she sends in Druddigon. First I Earth Power Typhlosion and it survives with a sliver of health, and Druddigon out-slows my Gardevoir and Dragon Claws it to kill it. Then Typhlosion Focus Blast not only hits my Heatran, but it also crits it, this lost me the game. I send in my last guy, Rotom-W and take out Druddigon with HP Ice, but first it Sucker Punches and does about 30%, Typhlosion’s Flamethrower triggers Sitrus Berry and I’m back at 60%. She sends in Excadrill, so I know I’m screwed from here, but don’t want to give up yet, so I try to Thunderbolt Typhlosion before I die, but trick room wears off and Excadrill’s Rock Slide crits my Rotom-W to kill it…and my spirits. I’m robbed, 2-0.
The Results
Round 9: Stephen Buhl VS Jeremy Fan
I lead with Gardevoir and Hitmontop and he leads Cresselia and Heatran. I knew he had these two Pokemon throughout the whole tournament, but I didn’t have a clue about his strategy. He knew about my secret weapon, Ally Switch on Gardevoir, and he was well aware I would use it. First turn I Fake Out Cresselia and Heatran Taunts my Gardevoir, but Gardevoir has a Mental Herb so the taunt wears off and I set up Trick Room. He rages slightly saying, “Who even runs Mental Herb anymore?!?” Bruno narrates the battle to the crowd of people who aren’t watching us saying stuff like, “You got dunked on, son!” and… well that’s all he would say. I start off next turn by WoWing his Cresselia giving it a burn. I was then surprised when Cresselia used Reflect, I didn’t expect that at all. But I got pretty pissed off when I killed his Heatran with a Fight Gem Close Combat crit. The thing I wanted the most was to not beat Jeremy with hax. He then sends in Rotom-W and states, “This is where the hax begins”. I know that this is where I need to release my secret weapon, Ally Switch. I ally switch as Rotom thunder waves what would’ve been my Hitmontop but instead is my Gardevoir. Cresselia hit’s Gardevoir with Psychic too thanks to Ally Switch. Hitmontop brings Rotom to about half with Close Combat. There’s a lot of rage in the air at this point. Next turn, Jeremy predicts the Ally Switch, too bad he predicts wrong, I don’t Ally Switch! I double target Rotom to kill it, and I think by this time Reflect wears off and Cress is at around 50% from burn. I don’t remember exactly what happened after that but in the end I outplayed him hard, son!!!!!!!! He ended up rage-quitting and I was extremely happy.
Epilogue
Props
- Thanks to Bruno, Dillion and Biosci for helping me get my team, I have no idea where I would be without you guys!
- V17 for hanging out with me for the majority of the time I was there.
- Huy for getting a pizza
- Making top 16
- Beating Jeremy, despite the fact that it wasn't during the tournament
- Ally Switch being uber-strong
- Ninahaza is hella cool
- Huy giving me a Watchog card
- Duy is handsome
- Getting haxed out of going 7-1 in Round 8
- Critting Jeremy with FGem CC against his Heatran with Reflect up, don't wanna win with hax.
- Not seeing DeepSpeed
- Everyone and there mother going 6-2, just like me
- 3 hours of waiting to play Round One
- Trolly announcer, getting us excited to play when he really announces some TCG crap.
- Venue downgrade
