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1) Many of us aren't as good as we are because we're just that amazing (barring MSankey, derp). We got as good as we are because of hard work, sweat, crying, destroyed Pokemon, and our awesome friends of the vgc community to tweak and increase are ability to be the very best pokemon pro's. Of course, speaking in idealistic terms.
2) Some of us are going to be having a hiatus until next season. Or for some of us, our activity will be lowered.
Therefore I think it's a good idea to give thanks to all the people you think helped you develop your skills - big or small.
I'd like to thank everyone for posting '09 warstory's--the strategy's and teams used contributed to me in understanding the vgc universe. Also, drcossack, BadIntent (holla), PBB, lucariojr, bearsfan092, FMasamune, Andrea and so many others I had been able to battle in IRC and on PO. The battling and such is definitely what gave me the experience and I value it a lot (I'm sure most of us do, yes?)
And what appreciation thread would not be complete without more MSankey?
Big thanks to drcossack, he's really good even though you guys pick on him, lol. He tweaked my team I took to Dallas and got Top 16 with it, so you could say he was kinda there with my team. :D Also, I wouldn't be where I am now without my lucky red backpack, it took me all the way to 22nd at nats, and I hope to ride it to worlds next year. And a HUGE thanks to Dr Fidget, you made us feel like we were there with your stream, thanks so much. Deagle gets a mention because he gave me the advice before Dallas to NOT use Shedinja, which I was going to previously. Thank you to all the people who made this the best VGC year yet!
Major thanks to Deagle for helping me out about VGC on PO. I've learned many things this year from you and hopefully I can use those lessons to great success next year. :)
Also shout out to MSankey crew! Powerful peeps!!!!
And I would also like to thank everyone who posted a warstory from any year, team rates, articles, etc. and everyone who participated this year. This is what makes VGC better, because we learn from each other to make nice ideas and create superb strategies to overcome all others, just like this year. Thank you all.
A HUGE thanks to MattJ, BadIntent, Cybertron, Ninahaza, RandomVGC, Bitterlemon, Godudette, SP-Eevee, TR Jessie, the Japanese, and everybody else's name I didn't mention. Without you guys I wouldn't have gone as far as I did in my first true competitive year. I had a lot of fun finally meeting up with you guys and getting to know you all. In other words, YOU GUYZ ROCKZ!!!! Can't wait to see all of you guys next year! :D
HUGE thanks goes to Deagle for doing rigorous testing and team building with me. Metabou for supplying with many of my Pokemon. Along with Sixonesix, and BadIntent for answering some of my questions. VashTS for helping me get started.And lastly anyone I have battled on the Skarmbliss IRC, or here in the battle me forum including Ninahaza (day before San Mateo regional), Alaka, MattGritt, MattJ, Sixonesix, Zill, BadIntent, Holy Chipmunk, DarkWatch, Andrea, Deagle and Metabou.
Then of course goes to all of those that have supported me throughout this year.
THANK YOU!
Well, first, props to TCPi for making this season such an excellent one. I'm so pleased they ran the tournaments so smoothly, and gave everyone a chance to play. Thank you! It made 2010 so much better :)
Thanks to dtrain, especially, for helping me with my brother's team! Dan really helped with the movesets, and the team wouldn't have been as good without his help.
Huge thanks to all who battled with me. I remember the 3rd VGC Battle I ever had with MSankey himself :p I 4-0'd him and he got extremely pissed off at me. Sorry Sankey! Thanks to Alaka's 2010 tournament, I got a lot of testing in with my team, which really helped me out. Weekly tournaments on #smogonwifi helped too! There really were too many people that helped me out with battles. Thanks a lot guys.
Oh, and those I met from Newark! Human, Mr. World Champion himself, TTS, CCM30, RukarioAuraMaster, AceTrainerRed, TDS, etc.
Milan for representing at Worlds! :) Resistance sucks, but you did great man. TRICK ROOOM haha.
And OmegaDonut's Shiny Dialga (oops) and Abomasnow, which I used the whole season. You rock.
1) The TPCi staff for listening to the players. Mike Liesek does browse the forums and I presume he'll eventually see this, so thanks for listening to us and doing away with the whole random lottery system for making events. Also, thank you for allowing Canadians - I know this happened last year as well, but it is awesome to finally be able to legitimately play... and still American slots.
2) The Mighty Psyducks - How could I have done any of this without you guys? Ducks fly together!
1) Many of us aren't as good as we are because we're just that amazing (barring MSankey, derp). We got as good as we are because of hard work, sweat, crying, destroyed Pokemon, and our awesome friends of the vgc community to tweak and increase are ability to be the very best pokemon pro's. Of course, speaking in idealistic terms.
2) Some of us are going to be having a hiatus until next season. Or for some of us, our activity will be lowered.
Therefore I think it's a good idea to give thanks to all the people you think helped you develop your skills - big or small.
I'd like to thank everyone for posting '09 warstory's--the strategy's and teams used contributed to me in understanding the vgc universe. Also, drcossack, BadIntent (holla), PBB, lucariojr, bearsfan092, FMasamune, Andrea and so many others I had been able to battle in IRC and on PO. The battling and such is definitely what gave me the experience and I value it a lot (I'm sure most of us do, yes?)
And what appreciation thread would not be complete without more MSankey?
deleting the pic so it doesn't stretch the page some more. anyway.
heh, you were good to begin with and had a good team. I generally don't battle randoms who VM me (and you were at the time) - I'm glad I did though, you got very good very quickly.
Big thanks to drcossack, he's really good even though you guys pick on him, lol. He tweaked my team I took to Dallas and got Top 16 with it, so you could say he was kinda there with my team. :D Also, I wouldn't be where I am now without my lucky red backpack, it took me all the way to 22nd at nats, and I hope to ride it to worlds next year. And a HUGE thanks to Dr Fidget, you made us feel like we were there with your stream, thanks so much. Deagle gets a mention because he gave me the advice before Dallas to NOT use Shedinja, which I was going to previously. Thank you to all the people who made this the best VGC year yet!
Well, first, props to TCPi for making this season such an excellent one. I'm so pleased they ran the tournaments so smoothly, and gave everyone a chance to play. Thank you! It made 2010 so much better :)
Thanks to dtrain, especially, for helping me with my brother's team! Dan really helped with the movesets, and the team wouldn't have been as good without his help.
Huge thanks to all who battled with me. I remember the 3rd VGC Battle I ever had with MSankey himself :p I 4-0'd him and he got extremely pissed off at me. Sorry Sankey! Thanks to Alaka's 2010 tournament, I got a lot of testing in with my team, which really helped me out. Weekly tournaments on #smogonwifi helped too! There really were too many people that helped me out with battles. Thanks a lot guys.
my bathroom - I got multiple team ideas while in the shower and on the toilet. (bet nobody saw this coming.)
mattj. Test battles, RNGing whatever I requested.
PBB/Bluecookies: for hosting the NBS server, even if we had to deal with incorrect mechanics for most of our testing.
Bluecookies: using my name as the OT at Worlds. I got a laugh from the "SANKEY! SANKEY! SANKEY!" during Dr Fidget's live stream.
everyone on #smogonwifi and #skarmbliss - weekly tournaments, test battles, strategy discussion.
Yeti: For those of you who have seen the chat log, you know why she's on this list.
OmegaDonut: practice battles on PO, and also for using the weirdest combos I've ever seen. Venomoth and Hitmontop anyone? :)
Sidd's cousin: kicked ass in San Francisco with one of my teams (a version of it with old movesets can be seen in the RMT forum.) Granted, it was juniors, but my team still won, so it's a win in my book.
For everyone else I didn't name specifically: thank you for a great year.
I'll see you guys at the tournament(s) next year.
One quick slops that HAS to be said:
Alaka for his phone dying at the very end of Ray's last match at Worlds.
-Mike Liesek and TPCi for removing the lottery which kept me and so many others from competing last year.
-Sankey himself for being so trollable
-PBB/5K for hosting the NBS server
-The PO staff(except coolguy31337 ;p) for having a very good sim with correct mechanics
-PBB/BI/MattJ/Kinneas for letting me room with you guys at Nats/Worlds
-Everyone cool I met IRL at these events, if it weren't for being able to hang out with you guys IRL idk if I would still be playing
i was re-watching the opening ceremony for the 2010 academy awards this morning and felt like being creative, so i am gonna do this in the style of the academy awards
the nominees for most helpful in vgc 2010 season are:
this year was great and alot of people deserved to be thanked, if you didnt get mentioned just know that i am gratefull for the help you gave me this year.
Paul "Zerowing"- after 1 round away from making finalist lounge in seattle, i went to zerowing for advice going into the phoenix regional and he answered me 3 times giving me advice on my potential phoenix teams
Boomguy- boomguy took the time out his schedule to help me make a nationals team everyday for the last 2 weeks before nationals. he then put in the time to help me test them both on P.O and via WiFi, then just to make sure the team was awsome he would do research on little things to help better a team that wasnt even his. Boomguy was part of the two man team that created my now loved Toxic stall team.
Greysong- greysong for having my back at nationals and holding my stuff at worlds haha, thanks bro
Mike "Omegadonut"- Omega gave me my kyogre[me secret weapon] for my nationals toxic stall team, he was a life saver when he offered to film the battles at nationals so i can continue taking pictures. when i once again needed pokemon for my worlds LCQ team he gave me the star of the team "Molly Nut" along with parasect, finally at worlds he offered to help me come up with a new team once i qualified from the LCQ.
Duy Ha- Duy at nationals really made me feel confortable around the group which was GREAT because i was meeting most of you for the first time. and Duy was a big help at worlds giving me advice on my team issues and then cheering me on REALLY LOUDLY during the lcq :)
Zog- i battled many great people on P.O as practice for worlds, but zog gave me the most battling practice on there and with each battle we had he answered all the questions i had. thanks zog
Andrea+Huy-at the last minute, like 1.5 days before worlds lcq i had decided to take my scarfeargle palkia TR team as a backup and needed a good IV slow kyogre fast, well Thanks Andrea for coming to my aid but she didnt have the time to trade so she sent me to Huy and thanks to Huy for trading that kyogre to me. [also a thank you to Mattj, Huy said that it was your kyogre Matt :) ]
Adrien "Froggy25"- Froggy i know i have thanked you like 106x already for letting me room with you at worlds but i dont think you understand how much that meant to me, you literally made worlds possible for me, thank you so much
Alan "metabou" + Badintent- ok i am not joking when i say without these two people i would not have qualified for worlds through the lcq. the night before the LCQ i had alot of practice battles with people but BI was the person that had the most with, i lost really badly and BI immediately went to work on figuring out what i should change for the lcq, after more battles in the hotel lobby he decided i should go with a completely different team[THANK YOU SO MUCH], so i went with my good old toxic stall team + a palkia/infernape backup lead and Alan was there to provide me with those new pokemon. really if i had gone with my original lcq team i would have lost [just going off what my opponents leads were]
Ryan "Deagle"- so deagle really from before nationals on P.O to throughout worlds he offered me advice and team ideas, although at times i felt overwhelmed because i was getting bombarted with too many ideas and strategies, its the thaught that counts because really no matter what he is just trying to make you a better vgc battler :). and he did end up giving me one of the best item+ pokemon change tip this year.
AND the award goes to:
Mike "Omegadonut"
My God mike was so helpful on so many levels this year, infact my 1 and only regret of this vgc season is that on friday the night before worlds mike heard that i needed a new team for the next day's intense competition and offered to brainstorm with me and provide me with a potential team but i did not take that offer :(, who knows how much better i would have done at worlds if i had jumped on that offer [like i should have :( ] anyways thanks mike, haha also sorry for being Fail at eating a banana split.
if your name wasnt mentioned i just wanna again say thanks to all that helped me this year, all that just made this year so much fun, i look forward to next year's season but not because of the pokemon competition itself, but because of you awesome guys and all the fun to be had.
EDIT: a special thanks to kinneas for being half of the awesomeness that is KINNAHAZA, and for his awesome worlds youtube footage haha.
skarm - for making it affordable for me to attend
Articuno64 - for making sure i didn't get stabbed
all of the duckies - for making VGC the best Pokemon-related experience I've been a part of <3
Newts - for providing me with 3 of my Pokemon
andrea - for providing me with the last of my Pokemon
Milan for keeping me looking and helping me with practice. Slops to Mccord to making me face deagle fourth round by holding me up. Great announcer though.
MattJ - For helping supply me with good competitive mons compared to my lackluster ones, and test battles
Pokemon Online/People on there: For helping me test stuff, evolving my team rapidly
NetBattle Supremacy: Even though it had incorrect mechanics/the same people over and over again using CM+Psych Up Stall teams, you still kept me from using Empoleon and Scizor. Thankfully.
BlueCookies: For beating me several times and winning Worlds. I feel honored to have been swept by you.
Other people who I didn't mention - For being cool and other stuff
And last but not least...
A big thanks to Lady Luck for keeping me from going for the second year in a row. Yeah, let's give her a hand.
Andrea- for giving everyone her pokes. :D
randomVGC- for giving me a team to use.
3lmo- for calling rvgc's team crap and building a new team for me.
Siddarth- for critting me in R3.
Mingot for cracking the RNG. My friend mentioned the VGC and I didn't have much time to prepare and I heard about RNG before so I looked at the PRNG thread and learning how to RNG convinced me to join Smogon.
Milan for doing so well, especially seeing I helped him with his team.
Everyone on PO for helping me practice a lot and make a team, most notably TTS and Deagle there for extreme team testing.
BlueCookies for representing America *coughNewJerseycough* and everyone who even went to the Newark regional, made the VGC a great experience.
Cybertron for being awesome, even though I only met him for a brief amount of time.
DrFidget for the live stream of Worlds, was great!
For everyone whom I did not mention, without all of you the VGC season would have been something completely different, everyone contributed in some way making it as enjoyable as it was!
Everyone on #skarmbliss, Darkwatch for supplying me with 3~4 members of the team, Andrea for being so helpful with helping Aaron get ready (HITMONTAWP.), Ditto for putting up with me while I begged and BEGGED for his Kyogre, Lucariojr for being supporting throughout the whole thing, Drcossack for keeping on the low post with massive trolling skills, Bluecookies who devised a secret plot to take down drcossack, PBB for being freaking ossum, BLUE MOFUCKING COOKIES FOR BEING RAY MOFUCKING RIZZO(yes I thanked him twice), HolyChipmunk for not being too mad when I 4-0'd him, RandomVGC for not noticing the crit that ended up 4-0ing him, and many others.
Slops:
Omegadonut and Ninahaza stealin mah chairs.
Its fine guys.
I really don't mind.
>=( :P
Metabou is the reason I was able to compete this year. I found out about VGC less than a week before the SF regional, so I had practically no time to prep; I didn't even own a fourth-gen game card or functional DS until several days before the event. Metabou provided the team that I used at the event and he was even nice enough to change the nicknames of the Pokemon I used on the day of the event. Even more importantly, he also allowed me to hitch a ride with him.
Deagle was also very helpful in giving me a general rundown on what to expect and doing a few practice battles with me on Netbattle. I have zero experience with fourth generation and hadn't touched Pokemon since JAA 2006, so I had a lot of catching up to do.
I had a lot of fun competing in VGC with Metabou and Deagle this year and just discussing Pokemon in general with them. I'm actually tempted to say that the 2+ hours I spent waiting in line with them at SF were the best part of the day. The next time I see them will be several months after Black and White's Japanese release, so I have no doubt that we'll have plenty to talk about then. If I compete next year, it will almost certainly be with their help (both in terms of the logistics of assembling a team and actually attending the event). We actually live a day's drive away from where Worlds will be held next year, which is pretty cool; I may attend the LCQ with them if things work out.
I didn't really follow VGC past the regional that I attended (I qualified for nats but didn't get the travel money, so I stayed home), so I was in the whole VGC circuit for a grand total of about a week. However, I have been checking up on this forum from time to time (and I got to watch the stream of the Worlds finals with you guys) and I have to say that I am constantly amazed by what I observe. Whether it's getting advice from more seasoned veterans or actually getting Pokemon to use in the event, it seems like everyone has good things to report, and the community (both on and off Smogon) just seems really awesome in general. Hopefully I can get more involved next year and get to know some of you guys better, because you all seem like really awesome people.
I can't thank deagle and sixonesix enough for the help they have given me. They have always been available when I have had questions and always give helpful, constructive criticism on my predictions and teams. Thanks a ton.
Everyone on #skarmbliss, Darkwatch for supplying me with 3~4 members of the team, Andrea for being so helpful with helping Aaron get ready (HITMONTAWP.), Ditto for putting up with me while I begged and BEGGED for his Kyogre, Lucariojr for being supporting throughout the whole thing, Drcossack for keeping on the low post with massive trolling skills, Bluecookies who devised a secret plot to take down drcossack, PBB for being freaking ossum, BLUE MOFUCKING COOKIES FOR BEING RAY MOFUCKING RIZZO(yes I thanked him twice), HolyChipmunk for not being too mad when I 4-0'd him, RandomVGC for not noticing the crit that ended up 4-0ing him, and many others.
Slops:
Omegadonut and Ninahaza stealin mah chairs.
Its fine guys.
I really don't mind.
>=( :P
I'd like to thank myself for the supreme individual effort that I put out to make this season such a phenomenoal success for me. None of this would have been possible if I wasn't the awesome person that I made myself today.
But seriously here's some real thanks.
OmegaDonut - RNGing that sweet Sassy Mewtwo for me and being an around great hubby
Andrea- for supporting me and believing in me even when I didn't believe in myself. And a ton of sweet mons <33
Every single of the Ducks - you're a great bunch of dudes and you guys made VGC season worthwhile. If it wasn't for all of you, I don't think I would still be playing
Smogonites - for all being such wonderful people to hang out with
Team Seattle [Arti, Fish, makiri, firestorm, skarm] - for helping kick off the VGC season with a bang. A fantastic start to summer!
TPCi - for taking all of our complaints into account and hosting an incredible tournament.
There seems to be quite a list of whom I'd give thanks to, so if I leave anybody out it's because of my senior moment, so here it goes:
TPCi: for doing away with the dumb lottery from 2009
Alaka, Badal: hosting wifi tournaments back in the spring to warm us up.
makiri, PBB, DukeTheDevil, Alaka: being good sports in the spring wifi tournament rounds 2-5 which eventually got posted on youtube.
Alaka (for the 3rd time): for hosting weekly wifi VGC tournaments
Bitterlemon: for his brave 0-speed self-destruct snorlax.
Cybertron: for that final match which made me not get too cocky and seeing what flawed the team I was using
#smogonwifi, #vgc, #skarmbliss: keeping active and sharp on the VGC topic
mingot: for RNG which made it easily possible to consider teams
BlueCookies, TTS, Silv and others I saw in Newark: Great to see you again
TPCi (again): for choosing Newark as a location and not on a potentially conflicting date (had it been a week before)
smogon: for makings us proud at Nationals & Worlds
BlueCookies: for winning it all
Dr.Fidget/Alaka: for providing stream to us non-World attendees
Havak: input on giratina I considered using
Pokemon Online: VGC battle similator great for testing out teams.
Shinkou: my son for trying as well as he did with a team that got him top 5 in Pokemon Online.
There were many others as I would also give thanks to those of you that actually used my pokemon in your teams and also gave me further advice on which or whom to use.
The only downsides were that I didn't get to stay long at Newark therefore I missed many of you. It took months to prepare my team yet minutes just to get eliminated. The common expression in sports is: "There's always next year" which happens to be so true.
Everyone on #skarmbliss, Darkwatch for supplying me with 3~4 members of the team, Andrea for being so helpful with helping Aaron get ready (HITMONTAWP.), Ditto for putting up with me while I begged and BEGGED for his Kyogre, Lucariojr for being supporting throughout the whole thing, Drcossack for keeping on the low post with massive trolling skills, Bluecookies who devised a secret plot to take down drcossack, PBB for being freaking ossum, BLUE MOFUCKING COOKIES FOR BEING RAY MOFUCKING RIZZO(yes I thanked him twice), HolyChipmunk for not being too mad when I 4-0'd him, RandomVGC for not noticing the crit that ended up 4-0ing him, and many others.
Slops:
Omegadonut and Ninahaza stealin mah chairs.
Its fine guys.
I really don't mind.
>=( :P
deleting the pic so it doesn't stretch the page some more. anyway.
heh, you were good to begin with and had a good team. I generally don't battle randoms who VM me (and you were at the time) - I'm glad I did though, you got very good very quickly.
Thanks dude. Yeah I've (like everyone here) liked pokemon since I was little so it came pretty natural to be strategize and get used to the metagame. I already did OU and UU (more UU though) anyway. lol
I'd definitely like to give a big thanks to dubulous/andrea for putting my team together as they drove to Indy, I would have been lost without you guys?? Huy as well, I'm pretty sure I got half of my mons from him.
otherwise I'd like to thank all the ducks for a wonderful weekend together, it's definitely up there in the "most enjoyable weekends ever" level,
If anything, I'd guess I'd be thankful to Imawario and (to a minor extent since I rarely saw him on) PBB for lending ears out while I spouted out random monologues about various theories on team building and matchups. Always nice to have a sounding board.
