I remember seeing Ray at DC, I was standing right by him and talking with him and his friends. That was my first VGC and I was already talkig to the champ is what I was thinking, I was a noon then, now I am a bit more experienced.
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Taking a look at Europe - UK Trainer Min Datoo
UK's Cutest Trainer Min Datoo
Accomplishments
2010: 4th Place UK Nationals
2011: 6th Place UK Nationals
Total Winnings
2010: Invitation to compete in the 2010 World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.
2011: Invitation to compete in the 2011 World Championships in San Diego, California.
Biography and History
Today's player will be UK's Min "Giant Enemy Crab" Datoo! Min may not be very well known here in the US, but he is one of the best trainers over in Europe, having qualified for the World Championships both years at the UK VGC Nationals. In 2010, Min finished 4th at the UK Nationals, eventually losing to another one of UK's finest, Kinneas. He did not attend the World Championships that year despite having an invitation. Min powered through last year's Nationals with a team of Scrafty, Hydreigon, Whimsicott, Archeops, Jellicent and Thundurus, abusing Whimsicott's Fake Tears with Tailwind support to quickly KO Pokemon. After winning six straight rounds, he had to face Smogon's very own twash, also from the UK. Their match can be seen here. Although Min lost to twash, he secured an invitation to attend the World Championships in San Diego. He ended up in 6th place. Min finished with a 2-4 record at the World Championships, and was 30th place overall. Min is also known for being an incredibly helpful and friendly user on Smogon and is a moderator here in the VGC section. He will definitely be a threat at this year's UK Nationals, and with the top 4 winning a trip and invitation, Min is a strong contender for one of those spots.
Interview
Today, I got to sit down with our very own Giant Enemy Crab, better known as Min Datoo, and talk to him about VGC over in Europe. He gave me some incredible insight on the best players there, how their tournaments are run, etc. Read more to find out about Pokemon outside of America!
Thanks for taking some time out of being so cute to talk to me today Min! Why don't we start off by introducing yourself?
Hello! My name is Giant Enemy Crab but if you're cute, you can call me Min Datoo. I'm an English VGC Player but I would just like to say I am a legal resident of the United Kingdom, I don't wish to be labelled an 'international player'. I am also very cute.
Nice. How did you get introduced to VGC and competitive battling?
Well, in terms of standard competitive battling, I started playing with the release of D/P. I was exclusively a singles player until 2009 when there was an advertisement for a new Video Game Championship tournament to be held in London back in 2009. I turned my attention to Doubles from then, and to be honest I haven't looked back at all - doubles is a hell of a lot more fun than singles. Since 2009, my interest has shifted fast to VGC and since the release of B/W I have been a VGC player solely. It's pretty cliche to say but I probably would have stopped playing a long time ago if I didn't find a whole lot of cool people to play with. Back in 2009, I trained with guys like Kinneas and Havak, and along the years I met a whole lot of cool people to practice with, as well as enjoy the VGC experience with. It's pretty cliche to say but I probably would have stopped playing a long time ago if I didn't find a whole lot of cool people to play with.
Absolutely, the social aspect of VGC is the reason why I still play myself! What is the VGC environment like? How are the tournaments held over there? Who are the best players there?
Well I think the main difference between European VGC and American VGC is that our ones are a lot harder than the American Regionals. Of course, we don't have to earn an invite to Nats, then to Worlds like you do but since the entire country only has 1 event, everybody is there to compete for the same prize. On top on that, we also have people from other countries coming to our VGCs, (obviously going elsewhere too), and these people tend to be the more serious players, only making the events even harder. The tournaments are held in a single elimination format, where the players have to aim for the top 32 which is the finalists lounge. From there, it's single elimination again right until the finals. Due to the format, there is a lot of pressure to do well since a single mistake can cost you the entire tournament, not to mention bad luck. Unfortunately for me (and I suppose everyone else too!), there are a whole load to great players in the UK. Guys like Havak, Kinneas, Zog, MrsBlackbird and Osirus have been there from the start doing amazing. Of course I can't write a whole list here, but there are a whole load of talented people I haven't even touched on.
Are there any specific players in Europe that you think are really good? How do you feel about people from other countries flying into UK to compete?
I don't think I have enough space here to list every great battler from Europe, but I'll try. I would say first and foremost Havak and Kinneas are personally who I think are the best in the country, and amongst the best in Europe. I've played with them extensively for 3 years now, and when VGC season rolls around we're all frantically theorymonning with each other trying to do the best we can. I'd say guys like Zog, Dozz, Osirus, Twash, MrsBlackbird and Keelhauled rank up the best in our country quite well, although there are far more than that. Regarding Europe, Ruben and Albert come to mind as some of the more feared competitors in the UK. We all saw how they did at Worlds 2011, making Europe proud. From Italy, Matteo in particular surprised me with how well he did. While admittedly I hadn't heard of him until his success at Italy 2011, he has become a feared player by coming 2nd at Worlds. Other great players from around Europe include drug_duck, froggy and Francesco who have definitely made their countries proud with their ongoing success. Regarding the other people coming to the UK event, from a battlers perspective I hate it! While I do certainly love a challenge, I'm pretty sure everyone would agree that as soon as a free trip to Worlds is put on the table, everybody wants a path to that as smooth as possible. However I am a strong advocate that Pokemon does not make the events good, the people do. I love all the European players I have met so far so it's great seeing them all at our events in the UK. I don't blame them at all for going to competitions outside their country, everybody just wants the trip to Worlds and rightfully so - Worlds is simply incredible.
A lot of familiar names in there! So tell me about your personal experiences at VGC 2010 and VGC 2011. What teams did you use? What worked? What didn't?
Well when VGC 2010 rolled around, I was more determined than before to make up for 2009. As soon as Pokemon Online rolled out, I was on it completely, practicing as much as I could, however that was in vain since I ended up kinda (well, fully) ripping off makiri's infamous TopOgre team, as did a couple of my other friends. It was definitely the best team I have ever used in VGC 2010, and that's why it did so well at the UK qualifier. Kinneas and I used the exact same version of it, with us getting 2nd and 4th place respectively. Perhaps I would have done better if I didn't get him in the semi finals, but that's all in the past. Regarding VGC 2011, I took to Pokemon Online as soon as the rules were announced and played like a mad man. But then we were thrown a curveball in the form of Team Preview (or Wifi clause as it's known otherwise), which basically screwed over many strategies. From there, it was all downhill. I'm definitely not the only person who hates VGC 2011 with a burning passion. I don't like playing a metagame so linear, where it's all a coinflip at the end of the day. How guys like Bluecookies managed to be so creative and do so well with their teams is beyond me - I could only dream of being so good at it. Still, I went into the 2011 UK qualifier with a team that was loosely thrown together from testing, primarily abusing things like Fake Tears Whimsicott and a ton of special attackers. I got to the Top 8, losing to Twash at that point, which I didn't mind at all - he was simply the better player by far at that point. Still, I had earned my invite to Worlds again at that point so I have to give 2011 some credit; without it I wouldn't have had the chance to go to Worlds and have such a fantastic time. I'd just like to reiterate at this point once more that VGC 2010 is the best VGC metagame by far. It was what I played in the NPA tournament and still have a ton of fun playing it to this day.
Excellent!
So tell me about Worlds - why were you not able to attend in 2010 and how were you able to come last year? How was your experience in America like? What about meeting all the Smogoners? And how about the tournament itself?
I've been very lucky in life in that I've travelled a whole lot since I was a kid, and at this point I can easily say that Worlds 2011 was by far the best holiday I have ever had. Back in 2010 despite winning an invite, I wasn't able to attend at the last minute, if I recall correctly it was 3 days before I had planned to leave for Hawaii that I was thrown off the flight since there was no space (it was a standby ticket), so I was suddenly faced with a £1000 charge to buy a normal ticket, which obviously a 17 year old not named Zog does not have lying around. Not being able to attend was really frustrating - hearing about the experience and seeing all the pictures on Facebook just made me want to go next year, I was going to make sure of that. As for my experience in America, I think I bitched about the fun time I had at San Diego customs when I arrived there. The guy who checked me in was really nice, he wanted to know all sorts of things about me such as why I hadn't been to Yemen and why I wasn't married - even why I wasn't currently in school despite it being the middle of summer. After that lovely 3 hour date with the customs guy, my trip officially started and it was so great. It was my first time properly in America, and it was weird seeing how different it was to London. San Diego is a great city, and the Seaport Village area was great fun to stay in. Honestly, I was genuinely depressed leaving there and I was pulling a strop for a good week after returning to London. Meeting the Smogoners in particular was something that worried me a whole lot. I had been speaking to them for years at this point, for hours every day at some point and of course I didn't see them at every Nats/Worlds before that like they all saw each other. I certainly hope I made a good impression since it was particularly daunting being behind a screen one second then being face to face with everyone the next, but I don't have a single bad thing to say about anyone I met. It felt like I had known them for years and even the guys I hadn't spoken to before like Dozz, Wolfe, the Zhengs et al were amazing too. Sadly, my performance at Worlds was not too stellar; I went a rather amazing 2-4 in the swiss rounds. I don't feel the need to cry about it though, I got lucked pretty heavily at some points and the guys who got to watch me play on TV saw that (I think I set the record for being on TV for 4 out of my 6 rounds). Still, regardless of that I had an amazing time and the Pokemon aspect of Worlds didn't really entice me that much anyway.
Haha, yeah. I remember our good In-N-Out crew... and meeting you for the first time. That was really fun! So, a few final questions. How have you been preparing for VGC 2012? What do you have to say about America changing their Regionals format? What do you do outside of Pokemon? How about the change from Top 2 to Top 4 getting trips? And how the hell do you get your hair to be like that?
My preparation for VGC 2012 is going... shabby to say the least. I've been particularly thrown off by our qualifier being 3 months earlier than last year, and those months are really crucial since January/February are around the busiest times of the year for me, so I don't get to practice as much I would like to. I've made a deal with my mate Bluecookies that if he makes me a winning team for the UK event, then I will smuggle him some British treats and we'll all be good. But really, I think now it's clutch time. At the time of writing, it is actually 5 weeks time exactly till our event, and while that sounds like a fair amount it really isn't. VGC 2012 is pretty hard for me - it's a little too open and because of that there is a metric ton of stuff to not be weak to. But I suppose it'll all come with practice, and I hope to do a whole bunch of it in the weeks to VGC.
I think the change of format for America is bittersweet. While obviously it doesn't concern me, I think having more events is only really a good thing. However, having them all on the same day means that the events are obviously a lot smaller, and some people don't get to have more shots at winning invites to Nats as they used to. There is only one American event i'm interested in and that's Worlds. As long as I can make it and I have an amazing time again, then i'll be a very happy person!
Outside of Pokemon and Smogon, I'm currently a Law student in my first year of University. I love it a lot, it's a really interesting subject and my University is phenomenal. My time seems to be eaten up quite a lot since the workload is really big, but in my free time I love playing Cricket, and just generally chilling with my friends. I'm also a really big technology freak, I'm a bit of a whore when it comes to that. There's not much to me really, I'm just an average guy at the end of the day and sadly I'm not the most interesting person. I'm just a normal guy, albeit a very cute one at that!
Top 4 trips is simply amazing, I'm very happy TPCi decided to do that however knowing my luck I'll probably strike out Top 8 again like a BOSS. Still, the more people that get to Worlds the better, maybe this is Europe's year!
And for my hair... Well I went to Worlds and met Aaron Zheng and since then my hair has had a pseudo-boner over him, hence how it stays up.
Absolutely ridiculous. Incredible. Any closing words?
Hmm, closing words. I'd like to give a shoutout to my mate Cybertron for interviewing me, it really is an honour. I think congratulations are in order for anyone who has managed to read this through to the end, I wouldn't be surprised if people tl;dr this interview. That being said, I'll see some of you at UK VGC and hopefully I'll see the rest of you at Worlds. Goodbye, and stay cute
oh and B-CARALARMHARMMALMALMALM
UK's Cutest Trainer Min Datoo
Accomplishments
2010: 4th Place UK Nationals
2011: 6th Place UK Nationals
Total Winnings
2010: Invitation to compete in the 2010 World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.
2011: Invitation to compete in the 2011 World Championships in San Diego, California.
Biography and History
Today's player will be UK's Min "Giant Enemy Crab" Datoo! Min may not be very well known here in the US, but he is one of the best trainers over in Europe, having qualified for the World Championships both years at the UK VGC Nationals. In 2010, Min finished 4th at the UK Nationals, eventually losing to another one of UK's finest, Kinneas. He did not attend the World Championships that year despite having an invitation. Min powered through last year's Nationals with a team of Scrafty, Hydreigon, Whimsicott, Archeops, Jellicent and Thundurus, abusing Whimsicott's Fake Tears with Tailwind support to quickly KO Pokemon. After winning six straight rounds, he had to face Smogon's very own twash, also from the UK. Their match can be seen here. Although Min lost to twash, he secured an invitation to attend the World Championships in San Diego. He ended up in 6th place. Min finished with a 2-4 record at the World Championships, and was 30th place overall. Min is also known for being an incredibly helpful and friendly user on Smogon and is a moderator here in the VGC section. He will definitely be a threat at this year's UK Nationals, and with the top 4 winning a trip and invitation, Min is a strong contender for one of those spots.
Interview
Today, I got to sit down with our very own Giant Enemy Crab, better known as Min Datoo, and talk to him about VGC over in Europe. He gave me some incredible insight on the best players there, how their tournaments are run, etc. Read more to find out about Pokemon outside of America!
Thanks for taking some time out of being so cute to talk to me today Min! Why don't we start off by introducing yourself?
Hello! My name is Giant Enemy Crab but if you're cute, you can call me Min Datoo. I'm an English VGC Player but I would just like to say I am a legal resident of the United Kingdom, I don't wish to be labelled an 'international player'. I am also very cute.
Nice. How did you get introduced to VGC and competitive battling?
Well, in terms of standard competitive battling, I started playing with the release of D/P. I was exclusively a singles player until 2009 when there was an advertisement for a new Video Game Championship tournament to be held in London back in 2009. I turned my attention to Doubles from then, and to be honest I haven't looked back at all - doubles is a hell of a lot more fun than singles. Since 2009, my interest has shifted fast to VGC and since the release of B/W I have been a VGC player solely. It's pretty cliche to say but I probably would have stopped playing a long time ago if I didn't find a whole lot of cool people to play with. Back in 2009, I trained with guys like Kinneas and Havak, and along the years I met a whole lot of cool people to practice with, as well as enjoy the VGC experience with. It's pretty cliche to say but I probably would have stopped playing a long time ago if I didn't find a whole lot of cool people to play with.
Absolutely, the social aspect of VGC is the reason why I still play myself! What is the VGC environment like? How are the tournaments held over there? Who are the best players there?
Well I think the main difference between European VGC and American VGC is that our ones are a lot harder than the American Regionals. Of course, we don't have to earn an invite to Nats, then to Worlds like you do but since the entire country only has 1 event, everybody is there to compete for the same prize. On top on that, we also have people from other countries coming to our VGCs, (obviously going elsewhere too), and these people tend to be the more serious players, only making the events even harder. The tournaments are held in a single elimination format, where the players have to aim for the top 32 which is the finalists lounge. From there, it's single elimination again right until the finals. Due to the format, there is a lot of pressure to do well since a single mistake can cost you the entire tournament, not to mention bad luck. Unfortunately for me (and I suppose everyone else too!), there are a whole load to great players in the UK. Guys like Havak, Kinneas, Zog, MrsBlackbird and Osirus have been there from the start doing amazing. Of course I can't write a whole list here, but there are a whole load of talented people I haven't even touched on.
Are there any specific players in Europe that you think are really good? How do you feel about people from other countries flying into UK to compete?
I don't think I have enough space here to list every great battler from Europe, but I'll try. I would say first and foremost Havak and Kinneas are personally who I think are the best in the country, and amongst the best in Europe. I've played with them extensively for 3 years now, and when VGC season rolls around we're all frantically theorymonning with each other trying to do the best we can. I'd say guys like Zog, Dozz, Osirus, Twash, MrsBlackbird and Keelhauled rank up the best in our country quite well, although there are far more than that. Regarding Europe, Ruben and Albert come to mind as some of the more feared competitors in the UK. We all saw how they did at Worlds 2011, making Europe proud. From Italy, Matteo in particular surprised me with how well he did. While admittedly I hadn't heard of him until his success at Italy 2011, he has become a feared player by coming 2nd at Worlds. Other great players from around Europe include drug_duck, froggy and Francesco who have definitely made their countries proud with their ongoing success. Regarding the other people coming to the UK event, from a battlers perspective I hate it! While I do certainly love a challenge, I'm pretty sure everyone would agree that as soon as a free trip to Worlds is put on the table, everybody wants a path to that as smooth as possible. However I am a strong advocate that Pokemon does not make the events good, the people do. I love all the European players I have met so far so it's great seeing them all at our events in the UK. I don't blame them at all for going to competitions outside their country, everybody just wants the trip to Worlds and rightfully so - Worlds is simply incredible.
A lot of familiar names in there! So tell me about your personal experiences at VGC 2010 and VGC 2011. What teams did you use? What worked? What didn't?
Well when VGC 2010 rolled around, I was more determined than before to make up for 2009. As soon as Pokemon Online rolled out, I was on it completely, practicing as much as I could, however that was in vain since I ended up kinda (well, fully) ripping off makiri's infamous TopOgre team, as did a couple of my other friends. It was definitely the best team I have ever used in VGC 2010, and that's why it did so well at the UK qualifier. Kinneas and I used the exact same version of it, with us getting 2nd and 4th place respectively. Perhaps I would have done better if I didn't get him in the semi finals, but that's all in the past. Regarding VGC 2011, I took to Pokemon Online as soon as the rules were announced and played like a mad man. But then we were thrown a curveball in the form of Team Preview (or Wifi clause as it's known otherwise), which basically screwed over many strategies. From there, it was all downhill. I'm definitely not the only person who hates VGC 2011 with a burning passion. I don't like playing a metagame so linear, where it's all a coinflip at the end of the day. How guys like Bluecookies managed to be so creative and do so well with their teams is beyond me - I could only dream of being so good at it. Still, I went into the 2011 UK qualifier with a team that was loosely thrown together from testing, primarily abusing things like Fake Tears Whimsicott and a ton of special attackers. I got to the Top 8, losing to Twash at that point, which I didn't mind at all - he was simply the better player by far at that point. Still, I had earned my invite to Worlds again at that point so I have to give 2011 some credit; without it I wouldn't have had the chance to go to Worlds and have such a fantastic time. I'd just like to reiterate at this point once more that VGC 2010 is the best VGC metagame by far. It was what I played in the NPA tournament and still have a ton of fun playing it to this day.
Excellent!
I've been very lucky in life in that I've travelled a whole lot since I was a kid, and at this point I can easily say that Worlds 2011 was by far the best holiday I have ever had. Back in 2010 despite winning an invite, I wasn't able to attend at the last minute, if I recall correctly it was 3 days before I had planned to leave for Hawaii that I was thrown off the flight since there was no space (it was a standby ticket), so I was suddenly faced with a £1000 charge to buy a normal ticket, which obviously a 17 year old not named Zog does not have lying around. Not being able to attend was really frustrating - hearing about the experience and seeing all the pictures on Facebook just made me want to go next year, I was going to make sure of that. As for my experience in America, I think I bitched about the fun time I had at San Diego customs when I arrived there. The guy who checked me in was really nice, he wanted to know all sorts of things about me such as why I hadn't been to Yemen and why I wasn't married - even why I wasn't currently in school despite it being the middle of summer. After that lovely 3 hour date with the customs guy, my trip officially started and it was so great. It was my first time properly in America, and it was weird seeing how different it was to London. San Diego is a great city, and the Seaport Village area was great fun to stay in. Honestly, I was genuinely depressed leaving there and I was pulling a strop for a good week after returning to London. Meeting the Smogoners in particular was something that worried me a whole lot. I had been speaking to them for years at this point, for hours every day at some point and of course I didn't see them at every Nats/Worlds before that like they all saw each other. I certainly hope I made a good impression since it was particularly daunting being behind a screen one second then being face to face with everyone the next, but I don't have a single bad thing to say about anyone I met. It felt like I had known them for years and even the guys I hadn't spoken to before like Dozz, Wolfe, the Zhengs et al were amazing too. Sadly, my performance at Worlds was not too stellar; I went a rather amazing 2-4 in the swiss rounds. I don't feel the need to cry about it though, I got lucked pretty heavily at some points and the guys who got to watch me play on TV saw that (I think I set the record for being on TV for 4 out of my 6 rounds). Still, regardless of that I had an amazing time and the Pokemon aspect of Worlds didn't really entice me that much anyway.
Haha, yeah. I remember our good In-N-Out crew... and meeting you for the first time. That was really fun! So, a few final questions. How have you been preparing for VGC 2012? What do you have to say about America changing their Regionals format? What do you do outside of Pokemon? How about the change from Top 2 to Top 4 getting trips? And how the hell do you get your hair to be like that?
My preparation for VGC 2012 is going... shabby to say the least. I've been particularly thrown off by our qualifier being 3 months earlier than last year, and those months are really crucial since January/February are around the busiest times of the year for me, so I don't get to practice as much I would like to. I've made a deal with my mate Bluecookies that if he makes me a winning team for the UK event, then I will smuggle him some British treats and we'll all be good. But really, I think now it's clutch time. At the time of writing, it is actually 5 weeks time exactly till our event, and while that sounds like a fair amount it really isn't. VGC 2012 is pretty hard for me - it's a little too open and because of that there is a metric ton of stuff to not be weak to. But I suppose it'll all come with practice, and I hope to do a whole bunch of it in the weeks to VGC.
I think the change of format for America is bittersweet. While obviously it doesn't concern me, I think having more events is only really a good thing. However, having them all on the same day means that the events are obviously a lot smaller, and some people don't get to have more shots at winning invites to Nats as they used to. There is only one American event i'm interested in and that's Worlds. As long as I can make it and I have an amazing time again, then i'll be a very happy person!
Outside of Pokemon and Smogon, I'm currently a Law student in my first year of University. I love it a lot, it's a really interesting subject and my University is phenomenal. My time seems to be eaten up quite a lot since the workload is really big, but in my free time I love playing Cricket, and just generally chilling with my friends. I'm also a really big technology freak, I'm a bit of a whore when it comes to that. There's not much to me really, I'm just an average guy at the end of the day and sadly I'm not the most interesting person. I'm just a normal guy, albeit a very cute one at that!
Top 4 trips is simply amazing, I'm very happy TPCi decided to do that however knowing my luck I'll probably strike out Top 8 again like a BOSS. Still, the more people that get to Worlds the better, maybe this is Europe's year!
And for my hair... Well I went to Worlds and met Aaron Zheng and since then my hair has had a pseudo-boner over him, hence how it stays up.
Absolutely ridiculous. Incredible. Any closing words?
Hmm, closing words. I'd like to give a shoutout to my mate Cybertron for interviewing me, it really is an honour. I think congratulations are in order for anyone who has managed to read this through to the end, I wouldn't be surprised if people tl;dr this interview. That being said, I'll see some of you at UK VGC and hopefully I'll see the rest of you at Worlds. Goodbye, and stay cute
oh and B-CARALARMHARMMALMALMALM
Another great read. Good job Cybertron and thanks for taking your own time to do this!
I love this idea, and it looks great so far! Keep up the good work Aaron =D
Aaron, you are amazing. Great job!
me loves min datoo.
:D:D:D
:D:D:D
Excellent coverage on these features so far. I've got to meet both of them and hopefully the tradition continues stronger.
I'm so excited for the next interview! Just wondering when the next one will be?
Cybertron my boy, you always know how to make magic with that keyboard of yours, job well done.
also Ray my love, remember when we first met back in 2010? i honestly had no idea how life changing that faithful weekend would be. I am not saying meeting ray changed my life, what i am saying is that just the year 2010 and vgc, i can honestly say had i chosen to continue ignoring vgc and not attend phoenix, nationals etc etc, life would not be the same today. i probably wouldn't even know most of you guys.
anyways ray, i am going to go all Herman Cain on you and quote a line from a pokemon movie. this is a quote from the movie pokemon 4ever [great movie by the way, loved it]
also PS: i guess in that quote you can be the pride of pallet town AKA smogon AKA America. do us proud and go for the title once more, we cant let japan or Europe take it.
and i hope i did spark a few lifetime friendships
Ah vgc 2010, what a great year it was, and to think we get to relive it this year. vgc 2012 is basically a repeat of 2010 and by that i mean nationals in indianapolis and worlds in Hawaii again. i am getting too excited for my own good.
alright i'll end off with some of my favorite pictures i took of Ray from 2010
Ray Rizzo, champion of the world and champion of my heart.
i put the rest of the pictures in hide tags because i dont want to crowd this page and make it hard to load.
FOOOOOOSSSSEEEEEEBBBBBAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL, rematch this year son, rematch.
lol reese in the background, jhahahhahah
great picture
also Ray my love, remember when we first met back in 2010? i honestly had no idea how life changing that faithful weekend would be. I am not saying meeting ray changed my life, what i am saying is that just the year 2010 and vgc, i can honestly say had i chosen to continue ignoring vgc and not attend phoenix, nationals etc etc, life would not be the same today. i probably wouldn't even know most of you guys.
anyways ray, i am going to go all Herman Cain on you and quote a line from a pokemon movie. this is a quote from the movie pokemon 4ever [great movie by the way, loved it]
ray, i truly am grateful for having met you, getting to meet the people really overshadows the actually vgc events put on by Nintendo. i can honestly say when i look forward to worlds and nationals, i am not even picturing the actual events, i am picturing familiar faces, faces that i cannot wait to see/meet once more.
also PS: i guess in that quote you can be the pride of pallet town AKA smogon AKA America. do us proud and go for the title once more, we cant let japan or Europe take it.
and i hope i did spark a few lifetime friendships
Ah vgc 2010, what a great year it was, and to think we get to relive it this year. vgc 2012 is basically a repeat of 2010 and by that i mean nationals in indianapolis and worlds in Hawaii again. i am getting too excited for my own good.
alright i'll end off with some of my favorite pictures i took of Ray from 2010
Ray Rizzo, champion of the world and champion of my heart.
i put the rest of the pictures in hide tags because i dont want to crowd this page and make it hard to load.
FOOOOOOSSSSEEEEEEBBBBBAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL, rematch this year son, rematch.
lol reese in the background, jhahahhahah
great picture
alright now its GEC's turn and the year 2011
oh gec, cute gec, my love Min Datoo
remember the day we first met in 2011 at worlds?
oh wait............................
but seriously, i cannot take our relationship being online only, i just cant. Can we please just like both make it to Hawaii this year?.
Min i promise you, after worlds this year i am going to dedicate a whole section in my warstory[which by the way, is going to be huge. I have infact already planned some of it, i am starting so early, i plan to exceed the picture record for a picture warstory. i am setting a minimum of 250 pictures and 15 videos for that warstory, it'll be a master piece that kills people's internet/bandwidth
oh gec, cute gec, my love Min Datoo
remember the day we first met in 2011 at worlds?
oh wait............................
but seriously, i cannot take our relationship being online only, i just cant. Can we please just like both make it to Hawaii this year?.
Min i promise you, after worlds this year i am going to dedicate a whole section in my warstory[which by the way, is going to be huge. I have infact already planned some of it, i am starting so early, i plan to exceed the picture record for a picture warstory. i am setting a minimum of 250 pictures and 15 videos for that warstory, it'll be a master piece that kills people's internet/bandwidth
amen jesus, amen <3
I couldn't help but smile while reading that post and relive all the past memories again. The weekends I've spent at nats and worlds over the past 4 years have been some of the best weekends of my life, and I'm really looking forward to another great year hanging out with everyone.
Aaron this is some amazheng work you've done, you've definitely got a real talent for writing! I definitely think this is a cool idea to help newer players kind of get to know some of the more well known battlers. I know when I was new I always liked reading these kind of things and all of the jaa warstories. They definitely got me interested more in irl pokemon rather than purely internet pokemon. I can't wait to see who else you interview and what they say. Keep up the good work :D
edit: oh man I totally forgot about foosball! we definitely have to have to play that again. hopefully we can see a rematch of team skarmbliss vs team kinnehaza again.
Rising Star: National Champion Wolfe Glick
National Champion Wolfe Glick
Accomplishments
2011: 1st Place Regionals, 1st Place Nationals, 6th Place World Championships
Total Winnings
2011 Regionals: Medal, 3DS, Invitation and trip to Nationals in Indianapolis, Indiana
2011 Nationals: Medal, 3DS, Invitation and trip to Worlds in San Diego, California
2011 Worlds: 3DS, various Worlds exclusive items
Biography and History
At this time last year, almost no one knew who Wolfe "Wolfey" Glick was. In just a few months, he was recognized by the entire community and had made a name for himself. He was a favorite to win the World Championships, and was even considered by 2010 World Champion Ray Rizzo his biggest threat. Wolfe came into the Washington DC Regionals unheard of before, and managed to defeat known players such as Tyler and imperfectspider to win the title of Regional Champion. To most, Wolfe's Regional victory seemed like a fluke. His team was nothing like the standard teams that were winning. It utilized Pokemon such as Lum Berry Emboar that seemed bizarre to most others. However, Wolfe proved everybody wrong after winning US Nationals, defeating several well known players along the way including TDS, TRJesse, Fish, Ninahaza, R Inanimate, DukeTheDevil, and TTS. It was clear after winning Nationals that Wolfe was a force to be reckoned with. At the World Championships, Wolfe finished the first day with a 4-2 record, just high enough to seed him as 6th for the following day. Unfortunately, Wolfe's reign came to a stop as he had to play 3rd seed Ray Rizzo, a match only befitting for the finals. Wolfe was eliminated by Ray, and finished 6th overall in the world. Wolfe had an incredible VGC 2011 season, winning trips to compete at both Nationals and Worlds and being one of the two players in the world to win 3 3DS's in one year. He proved himself as an incredible trainer who not only has amazing prediction skills, but also great team building abilities. Although he underperformed at the recent fall Regionals, he will clearly be a threat at the Philadelphia Regionals in April.
Interview
Like I always start my interviews, thanks for taking some time to talk to me! Why don't you introduce yourself to everyone reading?
I'm Wolfe Glick, otherwise known as Wolfey or Superwolfe.
Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't last year your first year of playing VGC? How were you introduced to it?
That's right, last year was when I started VGC. I've been playing singles for a while now, and I was pretty good if I do say so myself, but when I heard there were prizes for VGC I quickly made the jump. I'd always been vaguely aware of Skarmbliss as a double battling server and once I came I never left.
Right, and you had a pretty incredible season last year year, winning both Regionals and Nationals and finishing in the top 8 in the world. you also used a really interesting and creative Trick Room team, can you tell me more about that?
Haha, thanks, it was really an incredible experience. What happened last year is that I had no experience in VGC, no idea what I was doing, and the knowledge that I wanted to use Trick Room. My original team had only four Pokemon, and one of the was Archeops, I'm ashamed to say, so clearly not the best place to start. But with no experience in VGC or effective team building for doubles, my team evolved bit by bit to the finished product. I made over 300 variants and tested some exceptionally strange thoughts. Ironically my team last year had served me better in VGC 2012 in testing than any of my actual new teams, I'm working hard to discover a team that flows as well as my previous one.
Oh yeah, while we're talking about your team from last year, can you tell me more about it? I remember it utilized really crazy sets and Pokemon such as Cofagrigus, Emboar, Thundurus, and Terrakion!
That's right, there were a couple of strange Pokemon and there and they evolved. The Pokemon that stayed consistent throughout Regionals, Nationals, and Worlds were my Mental Herb Mummy, my Standard Fake Out Scrafty, and my LO Reuniclus. Those formed the basis of my team, along with Conkeldurr who went from Leftovers to Coba Berry to Flame Orb Facade. I also found Emboar intriguing and used a Lum Set at Regionals and Worlds to counter the ever present Amoonguss. I brought a Taunt Hydreigon to Regionals to attempt both Amoonguss and Chandelure who I struggle with throughout the year, and it served me well, but I moved on to Choice Scarf Terrakion and bulky Modest Thundurus at Nationals, and an updated Flying Gem HP Flying Thundurus at Worlds. The special thing about my team was that at any given moment I could switch a Pokemon upfront that was threatened out for a resistance and an advantage, reversing the momentum of the game. That, coupled with my innate ability to predict which of my opponent's Pokemon was going to protect (which is frequent when your opponent is attempting to stall out Trick Room), served me well throughout the year.
Yeah, your team had so many different things that worked here and there. So, tell me about your VGC experiences. How did you prepare for Regionals, Nationals, and Worlds. You obviously did incredibly well in your first year, what do you think your success was due to?
Tough question! Well to prepare, I played tirelessly on here testing variant after variant, and with no knowledge of VGC other than what I learned myself and no one to tell me what Pokemon were good or bad and what to use on them, my team had a kind of accidental originality to it. I invested a lot of time which really payed off, and it was very rewarding to see the fruits of my labor. Unfortunately, I was away at two separate camps the month leading up to Worlds, and so I only had a week to prepare and ended up bringing some Pokemon and sets I shouldn't have in hind site. I learned from the experience though, so all's well that end's well I suppose! As to the secret of my success, I think it might have been due to the fact that I was a new player who used a weird team. I think anyone battling me prior to Nationals or even during would have just assumed I'd made it as far as I did through sheer luck, and being the underdog is something that inspires me to perform to my fullest capacity. I also was very big into prediction and not so much team building, which isn't the way a lot of people play. Overall, I'd just say being a n00b served me better than any amount of skill could have.
That's definitely a unique answer, I've never heard anyone say the reason they were so good was because they were a noob! Anyway, tell me more about Regionals and Nationals last year. Was it tough winning both? Were you surprised to win? What was it like, winning your first VGC tournament? How about the people?
It was certainly an incredible experience and one that I'll keep with me for the rest of my life. The level of difficulty was incredible, I played so many good players, such as Fish, Evan, TTS (though hes not that great), TDS, R.Inanimate, Stephen Morioka, DuketheDevil, IPS, the list goes on and on and there is still more. I'd say with Regionals I had a much greater surprise factor that I used to my advantage than at Nationals. Regionals happened so quickly for me though, as I finished my T16 T8 and T4 matches all within 20 minutes, and its a major blur to me. I would go in and out of periods of playing well and slipping and making mistakes, and fortunately all of the matches that I did not play my best either didn't matter or I caught myself. I remember in DC Regionals, IPS completely outplayd me the first two turns and I remember thinking to myself, "you've got to play better or you're not going to Nationals." And, somehow, I was able to turn it around.
Nationals especially was incredibly nerve racking. My flight was delayed within 10 minutes of cancellation, a total of four to five hours, and I was under an insane amount of stress sitting in the airport wondering if I was even going to be able to attend Nationals. I passed a sleepless night, and the next day I remember not knowing anyone there and seeing everyone from Smogon and being too nervous to go over and introduce myself. It was really nice to see some of the people I'd met online. It was really stressful though because I played TDS in the first round, and lost completely. I had started with room for only one more error. I end up winning my next 4 matches, and then going up against Fish, to where it came down to if my Paralyzed Mummy can have gotten a burn. It does, and I could have jumped for joy, until I saw the fateful words "A critical hit!" I lost that match, and knew I had to win the next one to make it into the Top 16.
At 4-2 I had to play Ninahaza, and ended up winning and sneaking in at 14th seed. I barely made it, but the pressure didn't stop. The next day I played R. Inanimate in the top 16, and took game one, but in game 2 I accidentally misclicked horribly, switching the wrong Pokemon out and reversing my own TR. I pulled out the win through the art of timestalling, and advanced to the top 8. It was really tough but I managed to pull through, and in semi finals against DukeTheDevil it all came down to whether I get a double Protect (the only official double Protect I have ever attempted), and I must say I was surprised when it went off. My final match against TTS was one of my best ever, and I left feeling very gratified with a win I felt I'd earned. The experience of winning Nationals especially is an incredible feeling, and I can't describe to you how good it felt (although you already know, don't you?). Socially was really amazing, there were so many great people but Ill get to them later this one response is already way too long.
Absolutely, the feeling of winning it pretty incredible, isn't it? How did the World Championships go for you? Unlike myself and Junior Division Champion Henry Maxon, you managed to qualify for the Top 8 before having to play Ray Rizzo. How did you react when you saw you had to face Ray? How did your games, both in general, and against Ray in particular, go?
It really was, and that's right. I made Top 8 as the highest 4-2 in 6th seed after getting haxed big time by my good friend Zog. My games in general went fairly well, but I definitely did not feel as sharp with my team and I did not play as well. I had exceptionally difficult opponents as well, playing 2 Europeans and 4 Americans, and I started off against Ryuzaki so a difficult start to say the least. My matches against Ray were something I will never forget, as that's the one loss I have that I wasn't able to make up for later. To be honest, I don't remember that much of what happened other than I was under constant pressure and I couldn't think as clearly as I wouldv'e liked. I won game 1 even though there was a lot of pressure, and in game 2 he outled me and beat me because of it. In game 3, I lead with Mummy and Emboar against Substitute Hydreigon and Substitute Escavlier, and he gets a crucial Substitute up on Escavlier which I thought would Protect. There was a crucial flinch, and just like that, it was over. He played the better game and I definitely feel that he deserved to win, both against me and Worlds as a whole, all I wish is I could have given him a match with a clear head. I'll have to ask him for a rematch sometime!
Yeah, it was a shame to see you guys matched so early, I really wanted to see you guys play in the finals. Either way, you obviously had an incredible season last year. How did you do at the recent fall Regionals?
There's always next year, which I guess is this year? And I did exceptionally poorly if I do say so myself, losing to a Cryogonal Blizzard critical freeze outside of Hail. The issue was that I went in a team made by a great friend of mine, Human, and it didn't feel like something I was used to, so I played poorly with it. I learned though and Ill try again in Philly, according to my previous records I can only win tournaments won by Aaron Zheng so hopefully the trend will continue!
Haha, and I only win tournaments Wolfe Glick wins so let's do the same at Philadelphia! On another note, the social aspect of VGC is arguably the best part. Tell me about the people you have met through it.
Wow, where to begin with this one? I've only been playing a year and I've already met so many amazing people; The whole Kindergang is hilarous, Enfuego is one of the best trolls I know, as is Unreality. Human is someone who I've talked a lot with and is super smart and always willing to chat about my ideas. Muffinhead and Jibaku are guys I met recently and they are both really nice. dtrain is one of the coolest guys I know, and was willing to go out of his way to help me take attack EV's out of my Mummy at Worlds. There's so many more people I can't even go in depth about including imperfectspider, DuketheDevil, Ryuzaki, Bluecookies, TDS, Captain Falcon, and everyone at Nationals who witnessed the formation of Team Shalom. I also want to give a huge shout out to Destinybond for helping me so much with my team last year (despite him dropping off the face of the earth). And that's not even to mention the European players such as Ruben, Zog, PORKLOIN and there's so many more I cant even touch on! Especially my man Dozz, an extremely underestimated and creative player, whose been a great friend. I've worked with so much on theorymon with him, and I'm predicting him to do extremely well this year, all of Europe better be prepared! And last but about as far from least as you can get, is Team Zheng, my favorite Pokefamily around, both you and your brother are incredible battlers and on top of that really nice guys, I've never won a tournament that Cybertron hasn't won as well, so I'm hoping we can continue this trend. There's so many great people out there that I was surprised there was so much of a real community, it's a really nice thing to witness coming in as a new player.
Absolutely, it's really great to see that there are so many incredible people out there in the community. I have to ask though, how have you been preparing for VGC 2012?
Preparing for VGC 2012 is a lot tougher for me than last year. I've been testing tirelessly online to no avail, and I've probably built the same amount of teams as I did last year too. I would say this year allows for much more creativity but its also a lot tougher to have a well balanced team that covers every threat. I preferred last year a lot more, but I have a feeling that's just because I had a team. Overall I find this year more difficult but I have the feeling that if I can get a good team together it'll feel more rewarding.
Agreed. On a non-related note, what do you do when you're not winning at Pokemon?
Outside of Pokemon I sing as my main interest, play chess, run track, play soccer, troll, and harass Deaglebeagle.
Haha, those are some pretty fun hobbies! Any closing words to all the readers out there?
TTS SUX
National Champion Wolfe Glick
Accomplishments
2011: 1st Place Regionals, 1st Place Nationals, 6th Place World Championships
Total Winnings
2011 Regionals: Medal, 3DS, Invitation and trip to Nationals in Indianapolis, Indiana
2011 Nationals: Medal, 3DS, Invitation and trip to Worlds in San Diego, California
2011 Worlds: 3DS, various Worlds exclusive items
Biography and History
At this time last year, almost no one knew who Wolfe "Wolfey" Glick was. In just a few months, he was recognized by the entire community and had made a name for himself. He was a favorite to win the World Championships, and was even considered by 2010 World Champion Ray Rizzo his biggest threat. Wolfe came into the Washington DC Regionals unheard of before, and managed to defeat known players such as Tyler and imperfectspider to win the title of Regional Champion. To most, Wolfe's Regional victory seemed like a fluke. His team was nothing like the standard teams that were winning. It utilized Pokemon such as Lum Berry Emboar that seemed bizarre to most others. However, Wolfe proved everybody wrong after winning US Nationals, defeating several well known players along the way including TDS, TRJesse, Fish, Ninahaza, R Inanimate, DukeTheDevil, and TTS. It was clear after winning Nationals that Wolfe was a force to be reckoned with. At the World Championships, Wolfe finished the first day with a 4-2 record, just high enough to seed him as 6th for the following day. Unfortunately, Wolfe's reign came to a stop as he had to play 3rd seed Ray Rizzo, a match only befitting for the finals. Wolfe was eliminated by Ray, and finished 6th overall in the world. Wolfe had an incredible VGC 2011 season, winning trips to compete at both Nationals and Worlds and being one of the two players in the world to win 3 3DS's in one year. He proved himself as an incredible trainer who not only has amazing prediction skills, but also great team building abilities. Although he underperformed at the recent fall Regionals, he will clearly be a threat at the Philadelphia Regionals in April.
Interview
Like I always start my interviews, thanks for taking some time to talk to me! Why don't you introduce yourself to everyone reading?
I'm Wolfe Glick, otherwise known as Wolfey or Superwolfe.
Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't last year your first year of playing VGC? How were you introduced to it?
That's right, last year was when I started VGC. I've been playing singles for a while now, and I was pretty good if I do say so myself, but when I heard there were prizes for VGC I quickly made the jump. I'd always been vaguely aware of Skarmbliss as a double battling server and once I came I never left.
Right, and you had a pretty incredible season last year year, winning both Regionals and Nationals and finishing in the top 8 in the world. you also used a really interesting and creative Trick Room team, can you tell me more about that?
Haha, thanks, it was really an incredible experience. What happened last year is that I had no experience in VGC, no idea what I was doing, and the knowledge that I wanted to use Trick Room. My original team had only four Pokemon, and one of the was Archeops, I'm ashamed to say, so clearly not the best place to start. But with no experience in VGC or effective team building for doubles, my team evolved bit by bit to the finished product. I made over 300 variants and tested some exceptionally strange thoughts. Ironically my team last year had served me better in VGC 2012 in testing than any of my actual new teams, I'm working hard to discover a team that flows as well as my previous one.
Oh yeah, while we're talking about your team from last year, can you tell me more about it? I remember it utilized really crazy sets and Pokemon such as Cofagrigus, Emboar, Thundurus, and Terrakion!
That's right, there were a couple of strange Pokemon and there and they evolved. The Pokemon that stayed consistent throughout Regionals, Nationals, and Worlds were my Mental Herb Mummy, my Standard Fake Out Scrafty, and my LO Reuniclus. Those formed the basis of my team, along with Conkeldurr who went from Leftovers to Coba Berry to Flame Orb Facade. I also found Emboar intriguing and used a Lum Set at Regionals and Worlds to counter the ever present Amoonguss. I brought a Taunt Hydreigon to Regionals to attempt both Amoonguss and Chandelure who I struggle with throughout the year, and it served me well, but I moved on to Choice Scarf Terrakion and bulky Modest Thundurus at Nationals, and an updated Flying Gem HP Flying Thundurus at Worlds. The special thing about my team was that at any given moment I could switch a Pokemon upfront that was threatened out for a resistance and an advantage, reversing the momentum of the game. That, coupled with my innate ability to predict which of my opponent's Pokemon was going to protect (which is frequent when your opponent is attempting to stall out Trick Room), served me well throughout the year.
Yeah, your team had so many different things that worked here and there. So, tell me about your VGC experiences. How did you prepare for Regionals, Nationals, and Worlds. You obviously did incredibly well in your first year, what do you think your success was due to?
Tough question! Well to prepare, I played tirelessly on here testing variant after variant, and with no knowledge of VGC other than what I learned myself and no one to tell me what Pokemon were good or bad and what to use on them, my team had a kind of accidental originality to it. I invested a lot of time which really payed off, and it was very rewarding to see the fruits of my labor. Unfortunately, I was away at two separate camps the month leading up to Worlds, and so I only had a week to prepare and ended up bringing some Pokemon and sets I shouldn't have in hind site. I learned from the experience though, so all's well that end's well I suppose! As to the secret of my success, I think it might have been due to the fact that I was a new player who used a weird team. I think anyone battling me prior to Nationals or even during would have just assumed I'd made it as far as I did through sheer luck, and being the underdog is something that inspires me to perform to my fullest capacity. I also was very big into prediction and not so much team building, which isn't the way a lot of people play. Overall, I'd just say being a n00b served me better than any amount of skill could have.
That's definitely a unique answer, I've never heard anyone say the reason they were so good was because they were a noob! Anyway, tell me more about Regionals and Nationals last year. Was it tough winning both? Were you surprised to win? What was it like, winning your first VGC tournament? How about the people?
It was certainly an incredible experience and one that I'll keep with me for the rest of my life. The level of difficulty was incredible, I played so many good players, such as Fish, Evan, TTS (though hes not that great), TDS, R.Inanimate, Stephen Morioka, DuketheDevil, IPS, the list goes on and on and there is still more. I'd say with Regionals I had a much greater surprise factor that I used to my advantage than at Nationals. Regionals happened so quickly for me though, as I finished my T16 T8 and T4 matches all within 20 minutes, and its a major blur to me. I would go in and out of periods of playing well and slipping and making mistakes, and fortunately all of the matches that I did not play my best either didn't matter or I caught myself. I remember in DC Regionals, IPS completely outplayd me the first two turns and I remember thinking to myself, "you've got to play better or you're not going to Nationals." And, somehow, I was able to turn it around.
Nationals especially was incredibly nerve racking. My flight was delayed within 10 minutes of cancellation, a total of four to five hours, and I was under an insane amount of stress sitting in the airport wondering if I was even going to be able to attend Nationals. I passed a sleepless night, and the next day I remember not knowing anyone there and seeing everyone from Smogon and being too nervous to go over and introduce myself. It was really nice to see some of the people I'd met online. It was really stressful though because I played TDS in the first round, and lost completely. I had started with room for only one more error. I end up winning my next 4 matches, and then going up against Fish, to where it came down to if my Paralyzed Mummy can have gotten a burn. It does, and I could have jumped for joy, until I saw the fateful words "A critical hit!" I lost that match, and knew I had to win the next one to make it into the Top 16.
At 4-2 I had to play Ninahaza, and ended up winning and sneaking in at 14th seed. I barely made it, but the pressure didn't stop. The next day I played R. Inanimate in the top 16, and took game one, but in game 2 I accidentally misclicked horribly, switching the wrong Pokemon out and reversing my own TR. I pulled out the win through the art of timestalling, and advanced to the top 8. It was really tough but I managed to pull through, and in semi finals against DukeTheDevil it all came down to whether I get a double Protect (the only official double Protect I have ever attempted), and I must say I was surprised when it went off. My final match against TTS was one of my best ever, and I left feeling very gratified with a win I felt I'd earned. The experience of winning Nationals especially is an incredible feeling, and I can't describe to you how good it felt (although you already know, don't you?). Socially was really amazing, there were so many great people but Ill get to them later this one response is already way too long.
Absolutely, the feeling of winning it pretty incredible, isn't it? How did the World Championships go for you? Unlike myself and Junior Division Champion Henry Maxon, you managed to qualify for the Top 8 before having to play Ray Rizzo. How did you react when you saw you had to face Ray? How did your games, both in general, and against Ray in particular, go?
It really was, and that's right. I made Top 8 as the highest 4-2 in 6th seed after getting haxed big time by my good friend Zog. My games in general went fairly well, but I definitely did not feel as sharp with my team and I did not play as well. I had exceptionally difficult opponents as well, playing 2 Europeans and 4 Americans, and I started off against Ryuzaki so a difficult start to say the least. My matches against Ray were something I will never forget, as that's the one loss I have that I wasn't able to make up for later. To be honest, I don't remember that much of what happened other than I was under constant pressure and I couldn't think as clearly as I wouldv'e liked. I won game 1 even though there was a lot of pressure, and in game 2 he outled me and beat me because of it. In game 3, I lead with Mummy and Emboar against Substitute Hydreigon and Substitute Escavlier, and he gets a crucial Substitute up on Escavlier which I thought would Protect. There was a crucial flinch, and just like that, it was over. He played the better game and I definitely feel that he deserved to win, both against me and Worlds as a whole, all I wish is I could have given him a match with a clear head. I'll have to ask him for a rematch sometime!
Yeah, it was a shame to see you guys matched so early, I really wanted to see you guys play in the finals. Either way, you obviously had an incredible season last year. How did you do at the recent fall Regionals?
There's always next year, which I guess is this year? And I did exceptionally poorly if I do say so myself, losing to a Cryogonal Blizzard critical freeze outside of Hail. The issue was that I went in a team made by a great friend of mine, Human, and it didn't feel like something I was used to, so I played poorly with it. I learned though and Ill try again in Philly, according to my previous records I can only win tournaments won by Aaron Zheng so hopefully the trend will continue!
Haha, and I only win tournaments Wolfe Glick wins so let's do the same at Philadelphia! On another note, the social aspect of VGC is arguably the best part. Tell me about the people you have met through it.
Wow, where to begin with this one? I've only been playing a year and I've already met so many amazing people; The whole Kindergang is hilarous, Enfuego is one of the best trolls I know, as is Unreality. Human is someone who I've talked a lot with and is super smart and always willing to chat about my ideas. Muffinhead and Jibaku are guys I met recently and they are both really nice. dtrain is one of the coolest guys I know, and was willing to go out of his way to help me take attack EV's out of my Mummy at Worlds. There's so many more people I can't even go in depth about including imperfectspider, DuketheDevil, Ryuzaki, Bluecookies, TDS, Captain Falcon, and everyone at Nationals who witnessed the formation of Team Shalom. I also want to give a huge shout out to Destinybond for helping me so much with my team last year (despite him dropping off the face of the earth). And that's not even to mention the European players such as Ruben, Zog, PORKLOIN and there's so many more I cant even touch on! Especially my man Dozz, an extremely underestimated and creative player, whose been a great friend. I've worked with so much on theorymon with him, and I'm predicting him to do extremely well this year, all of Europe better be prepared! And last but about as far from least as you can get, is Team Zheng, my favorite Pokefamily around, both you and your brother are incredible battlers and on top of that really nice guys, I've never won a tournament that Cybertron hasn't won as well, so I'm hoping we can continue this trend. There's so many great people out there that I was surprised there was so much of a real community, it's a really nice thing to witness coming in as a new player.
Absolutely, it's really great to see that there are so many incredible people out there in the community. I have to ask though, how have you been preparing for VGC 2012?
Preparing for VGC 2012 is a lot tougher for me than last year. I've been testing tirelessly online to no avail, and I've probably built the same amount of teams as I did last year too. I would say this year allows for much more creativity but its also a lot tougher to have a well balanced team that covers every threat. I preferred last year a lot more, but I have a feeling that's just because I had a team. Overall I find this year more difficult but I have the feeling that if I can get a good team together it'll feel more rewarding.
Agreed. On a non-related note, what do you do when you're not winning at Pokemon?
Outside of Pokemon I sing as my main interest, play chess, run track, play soccer, troll, and harass Deaglebeagle.
Haha, those are some pretty fun hobbies! Any closing words to all the readers out there?
TTS SUX
Wow, Cybertron you are an incredible writer. These articles are extremely interesting, and are helpful for people like me who weren't around in those years.
3 great interviews! By the way, I plan to do well at Philly Seniors to grab that Top 4 spot and the travel allowance so, watch out everyone....... Maybe I can pull off an amazing victory just like Wolfe did.
- Status