I agree, when I talked to Mike Liesik at 2009 worlds, he said he is working towards expanding the VGC, so it is just as big as TCG.
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Pokemon VGC 2010 DATES / rules announced for the US!
- Thread starter POKEMONBATTLEBRAIN
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I agree, when I talked to Mike Liesik at 2009 worlds, he said he is working towards expanding the VGC, so it is just as big as TCG.
Wrong. Europe, without Russia, has 400 million inhabitants, around 100 million more than the U.S. You might be right with your guess of lower sales, though, I doubt the countries behind the previous Iron Curtain are that much of a market for video games lol
I certainly hope Europe gets more qualifiers because the German crew that came to Worlds was seriously good. It was a shame they all didn't get to compete. :(
More than 2 people from each European country anyway. This year there was absolutely no safety net- you were either a finalist or you didn't get anywhere further. 2 people per country, with it being a massive drag to go to any of the other regionals. Seeing as travel would be difficult, and you wouldn't be able to plan anything in advance (seeing as you'd have to do one event before knowing if you'll need to do a second), which'd make it expensive, and even then each one was in a different language. And as for Spain, that was a travesty.
I guess Europe is bigger than I thought population-wise, but game sales are still definitely a factor. Yeah, I don't think Ukraine, Turkey, or Romania have that many pokemon game sales to warrant a VGC stop, lol, but you never know.
Something ace that just struck me:
How about a VGC last chance qualifier for next year? If a friend of mine gets a place at the worlds (which isn't highly unlikely) and I don't, I might try and go to the worlds for the last chance event and just the occasion in general. Would be pretty cool. Not sure how it'd work out, but I'd assume in the same way as the TCG. I don't know how that works, though.
How about a VGC last chance qualifier for next year? If a friend of mine gets a place at the worlds (which isn't highly unlikely) and I don't, I might try and go to the worlds for the last chance event and just the occasion in general. Would be pretty cool. Not sure how it'd work out, but I'd assume in the same way as the TCG. I don't know how that works, though.
sounds exciiiiiiting
Also, thought I'd mention something:
Through a bit of online research through some Japanese blogs, I've found the video to what I think is the Chiba Juniors final. Notably, the video number has a star next to it and a special description (which is in Japanese even on an English game and is talking about how it's a video from the world championships), so it seems the worlds battles are somehow differentiated from normal battles. It might be the seniors though- the guy who wins is called Romancer, lol. And seriously, would a 12-year old call their trainer that? :P
And wait: The battle has no ubers in it!
Anyway, it's a pretty cool battle, namely because it involves a SUNFLORA of all things. I'll post any more vids as I find them:
Chiba juniors: 04-81672-12630 *
Edit: Screw it it's last year's. XD
Through a bit of online research through some Japanese blogs, I've found the video to what I think is the Chiba Juniors final. Notably, the video number has a star next to it and a special description (which is in Japanese even on an English game and is talking about how it's a video from the world championships), so it seems the worlds battles are somehow differentiated from normal battles. It might be the seniors though- the guy who wins is called Romancer, lol. And seriously, would a 12-year old call their trainer that? :P
And wait: The battle has no ubers in it!
Anyway, it's a pretty cool battle, namely because it involves a SUNFLORA of all things. I'll post any more vids as I find them:
Chiba juniors: 04-81672-12630 *
Edit: Screw it it's last year's. XD
It is a great idea, and seeing how the TCG has had this every year at worlds, i am sure that it has at least crossed their minds at one time or another. I am guessing that space/booking was the issue and that is why there was/is none.
If i remember correctly, Dave Schwimmer (Head of TPCi) and Angela Durrand (Booking, reservations, and planning Head) said that they plan worlds at least two years in advance.
Do it! The PSP's an absolute brick. I've had one since they came out and seriously, all I ever used it for was the internet browser. I can't think of any games on it that are actually any good. Pretty much all of them are lite versions of something off the PS2, and the key factor with almost everything is that there are no goals whatsoever. e.g. Star Wars Battlefront and Gran Turismo- both are fun for a while but there's absolutely no ingame reward from doing stuff; no campaign or anything. The DS is a far better console and personally it's the only one of this generation that I still play regularly. And I have a PSP, a Wii and a 360 too.
But yeah that's kind of irrelevant. Still, the tournaments are that much fun. I sort of had London ruined for me in a sense because my dad rushed me out as soon as it'd finished and I didn't get to do any cool multiplayer stuff, but whatever. I'll do my best to hang around next year.
Has anyone else been facing Japanese 2010 VGC rules teams on PBR random wifi latley? Several times now, I have across Japanese teams of 4 with 2 pokes off the UUber list and HG moves.
What do you think of them?
In my experience so far, 99% have been less than stellar (2-4 turn games), but man, there's that 1% that really know how to use them, predict really well, and actually have decent team synergy!
What do you think of them?
In my experience so far, 99% have been less than stellar (2-4 turn games), but man, there's that 1% that really know how to use them, predict really well, and actually have decent team synergy!
Is this why you're up at 4:00 in the morning? :P
Got any specifics on those really good players?
Yeah, I'd like to know what sort of teams people are trying, and which ones seem to work.
Thinking about my team more, and how I want to handle different kinds of weather (and by different kinds of weather I mean Rain) Palkia seems like the best choice. If the weather teams were 100 percent Rain, then Kingdra would be the superior choice, but as it stands, I'm sure there will be some Sandstorm teams at least, and Palkia obviously performs better in general. The real hard part for me is trying to come up with the non-uber Pokemon.
One idea I have is to lead with Metagross, have it set up one or both screens (if it's only one screen, it will probably be Light Screen), and then explode. An advantage of only setting up one screen is I'm sure people will be expecting the other, and I'm also very sure they'll be expecting an Explosion after both screens go up. Bullet Punch is usually a great move for Metagross, especially in Doubles, but with all the water types, somehow I doubt it'll do much.
Thinking about my team more, and how I want to handle different kinds of weather (and by different kinds of weather I mean Rain) Palkia seems like the best choice. If the weather teams were 100 percent Rain, then Kingdra would be the superior choice, but as it stands, I'm sure there will be some Sandstorm teams at least, and Palkia obviously performs better in general. The real hard part for me is trying to come up with the non-uber Pokemon.
One idea I have is to lead with Metagross, have it set up one or both screens (if it's only one screen, it will probably be Light Screen), and then explode. An advantage of only setting up one screen is I'm sure people will be expecting the other, and I'm also very sure they'll be expecting an Explosion after both screens go up. Bullet Punch is usually a great move for Metagross, especially in Doubles, but with all the water types, somehow I doubt it'll do much.
hmmm I have yet to go on PBR, since I haven't bothered setting up the Wii yet, since I don't want to be fully distracted from classes... but anyway, how is it, which Ubers tend to be dominant? I've been expecting Kyogres and Dialgas but I haven't actually been able to see for myself yet...
I'm not so sure about that False, even if they expect the second screen, it's kind of suicide to spend too many turns on setting up, I mean yeah I guess screens would sort of mitigate it but at the same time you're giving up two turns (I know you're using it as a lure so you're really giving up one turn, but from this would people really expect you to give up two turns that easily?) and not to mention the fact that Ubers is a bit more special oriented, that is iirc, so Light Screen would generally be enough, but then again... if someone actually thinks that out, they'd just be completely overthinking it... yeah... I'm totally not doing that right now...
I'm not so sure about that False, even if they expect the second screen, it's kind of suicide to spend too many turns on setting up, I mean yeah I guess screens would sort of mitigate it but at the same time you're giving up two turns (I know you're using it as a lure so you're really giving up one turn, but from this would people really expect you to give up two turns that easily?) and not to mention the fact that Ubers is a bit more special oriented, that is iirc, so Light Screen would generally be enough, but then again... if someone actually thinks that out, they'd just be completely overthinking it... yeah... I'm totally not doing that right now...
With Russia and Ukraine it's... 575 milion people (120 on Russia, 57 on Ukraine). Heck, you may count to some extent Turkey (well, it's part of South Europe, so why not ? :D) with 66 milion people more.
Poland, Ukraine and Russia are really good markets for computer games. Only in Poland you have 20-26 milion computers (on 40 milion population) and for about 13-15 milion of consoles like PSP, Playstation 3 or Nintendo DS which good gaming corporations don't ignore. Problem here is a bit different - in Poland, Russia and Ukraine reputation of Pokemon games is really bad and almost no one play them here, so I can understand why I won't ever see here any tournaments from VGC. Most players from behind Iron Curtain just prefer to play and start in tournament in games like CS:S or CS 1.6 (Poland had few world and europe champions here), Starcraft or something else.
But I guess that VGC tournament in Berlin is enough as it's pretty close anyway.
Anyway, I guess it's time to think of something for it, as it would be fun to try my luck on one of VGC tournaments ;).
I've run into two (probably more, but these two definitely stood out) myself.
Dunno about Matt, but as I said above, there's two memorable ones I've seen. Dunno any EV's/IV's obviously, but I could figure them out.
Team 1:
T-Tar. Crunch/Prot/Roar/Low Kick. Chople Berry is held item.
Calm Cress. Trick Room/Icy Wind/Psychic/Safeguard, Lum Berry
Bold Dialga, Sitrus Berry. Thunder/Dragon Pulse/Aura Sphere/Protect
Jolly Ho-Oh, Life Orb. Sacred Fire/Brave Bird/EQ/Protect
Team 2:
Ho-Oh, Jolly. Sacred/Brave/Prot/Tailwind, Passho Berry.
Shedinja, Naughty. Prot/Shadow Sneak/X-Scissor/Sunny Day. Pretty much the standard Sashed Sheddy.
Cress, Modest. Lefties, T-Wave/Grass Knot/Safeguard/Swagger
Groudon, Adamant. Sitrus Berry, Prot/Sub/EQ/Rock Slide
Didn't have that many problems with the first one when I first battled it, but the second was a pain in the ass. The Safeguard/Swagger combo on Groudon was interesting, and I plan on copying it.
Either way, playing against the Japanese VGC teams is a good learning experience. If you've got PBR, don't hesitate to exchange friend passes if you run into a good Japanese team, since they're just as likely to want to look at yours.
heh, that last bit is a bit of a turn off from exchanging passes... but hmmm any idea what the Roar is for on Tyranitar... although I can't really say much since I ran Roar on my Scarfed Lucario >_>... and the fact that the Cresselia... carries both Icy Wind and Trick Room is also beyond me, unless it wants insurance on going first...hmm the second team does seem rather annoying to fight... though the Shedinja seems rather deadweight..., annoying to kill... but not really threatening either...
I see what you mean, but I've got a bunch of teams, and the one I use depends entirely on my mood. Seeing what we'll be up against is more important - it's too early to finalize a team, so it's better to get information on what combos we might run into.
The roar T-Tar: no clue, seems like dead weight as a move. Stone Edge for STAB might be a better idea. Not sure about the Shedinja or the Icy Wind on Cress either. I'm sure both have their uses, but I haven't fully explored that.
The Cressellia probably only has Trick Room for the purpose of canceling out the other team's Trick Room, especially since the teams goal seems to be making sure Groudon outspeeds the other team, through Icy Wind and Tailwind.
And Shedinja in Doubles is kind of a strange situation, and one that mostly depends on the other team. It would probably have been a bit dicey at VGC2009, since Dusknoir saw plenty of use, but at VGC2010, the big types to watch out for are things like Water, Ice, Ground, and Dragon, all of which Shedinja takes no damage from. That said, I can't see Shedinja threatening many of the Uber pokemon that are allowed, except maybe the Psychics. To be honest, Ho-oh in this tournament is a strange situation to me too, I'd rather choose an Uber that compliments Groudon, especially since he's the core of the team. He was probably chosen for his Physical stat and the fact that he's flying so Groudon doesn't have to worry about Earthquake hitting him (in fact, none of the other Pokemon have to worry about Earthquake), but two pokemon weak to water seems dangerous to me.
And Shedinja in Doubles is kind of a strange situation, and one that mostly depends on the other team. It would probably have been a bit dicey at VGC2009, since Dusknoir saw plenty of use, but at VGC2010, the big types to watch out for are things like Water, Ice, Ground, and Dragon, all of which Shedinja takes no damage from. That said, I can't see Shedinja threatening many of the Uber pokemon that are allowed, except maybe the Psychics. To be honest, Ho-oh in this tournament is a strange situation to me too, I'd rather choose an Uber that compliments Groudon, especially since he's the core of the team. He was probably chosen for his Physical stat and the fact that he's flying so Groudon doesn't have to worry about Earthquake hitting him (in fact, none of the other Pokemon have to worry about Earthquake), but two pokemon weak to water seems dangerous to me.
Water's weakened in the Sun though - while it'll still hurt if you get hit by Water Spout from a full HP Kyogre, you can survive at least one if the Sun is up, even if you're weak to it.
Shedinja: Yeah - against Rain or teams that don't have a Ghost/Rock/Fire/Dark move, Shedinja can live forever. While it's not terribly threatening, it can still force a stalemate if it's held in reserve.
The TR Cress: idk, it did use it on me in a rematch, but that was when we knew each other's team. That said, it's more likely to be there to cancel it out if someone else uses it - I have TR on one version of my rain team on Dialga for that reason.
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