JRank
Jonny
JRank here again with my warstory for VGC Nationals 2011. I'm not good at introductions so here we go! (note: whenever I refer to "we," I'm usually speaking about myself, werecario, and my Dad)
Wednesday, July 6th
werecario was due to arrive at my house at around 9 PM, so I spent the day making sure my team was ready to go and waiting excitedly. Got all my crap packed and ready to go.
werecario arrived and we made sure he was ready to go, including some last-minute scrambling for a Druddigon with Sucker Punch, he thought it was a level up move so we got Human's, then I RNG'd him a shiny one on the drive up to Indy. We went to bed around 11:30, we had to get some sleep for the long day driving.
Thursday, July 7th
We got up around 6, had breakfast (hot pockets, the breakfast of champions), and finally left. The drive up was fairly uneventful, although 10 hours in a car is ugh. We stopped and McDonald's for lunch and Dad had agreed previously to get a happy meal so I could have one of the Pokemon toys. However upon opening said happy meal it was a Kung Fu Panda toy, to which Dad yelled "What?! I don't want THIS! I wanted the Pokemon!" and embarrassed me greatly. Anyway we exchanged it and got Tepig!
After that we hit the road again, and I was bored so I took some pictures of Tepig and Weavile!
Who are YOU?
Introductions
Beeeeeest friends!
So we continue on, finally arriving at our hotel in Plainfield at around 8:00 PM. Needless to say, we were tired.
Alphabet123 was due to arrive at the hotel right next to us at around 10:30, so to pass the time we drove into the city. We planned to get out but by the time we got near anything it was already 10 and we needed to get back. There was a nice little McDonald's across the street so we met ABC there and chilled for a bit, talking strategy and what we'd be using the next day. At around 11:15 we decided to head back to our hotel room to make sure our teams were squared away and help teach Dad VGC 11/Pokemon in general. ABC left about 12:00, and we finally knocked off around 1:00 and went to bed, ready to battle the next day.
Friday, July 8th
I woke up really nervous. I had remembered the night before I forgot to put Protect on Chandelure so I did that first thing so I didn't forget and get screwed because of it. The lady at the reception desk told us we should leave about an hour ahead of time to get to the convention center because of rush hour. We left at 7, aiming to be there by 8, and arrived at 7:30. >__> I had wanted to be at the back of the line so I wasn't one of the first people to battle, and as a result didn't play the best people in the last rounds. (like it mattered lol) We get in line and I get my card, #75 in Seniors.
Eventually it turns out that Rushing Maid from skarmbliss is behind us, and we introduce, and then a few people ahead of us are the Arnold family! We don't really want to face either of them so we get at the back of the line and find Tyler, so we chat with him for a bit, then andrea and her boyfriend Chad show up and we talk for a bit again. At this point I don't feel like I'm ready to battle, I just wasn't in the right mindset, and it wound up showing. I guess now is as good a time as ever, so here's the team I was using for the LCQ! (note: all my Pokemon were nicknamed after Jibaku and the various nicknames he has on irc)
"Jibbles" the Whimsicott @ Heat Rock
Prankster
Timid
252 HP/6 SpA/252 Spe
Sunny Day
Grass Knot
Encore
Protect
"JibaLUNCH" the Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Guts
Adamant
252 HP/252 Atk/6 Spe
Mach Punch
Wide Guard
Payback
Rock Slide
"Jibaku" the Lilligant @ Life Orb
Chlorophyll
Modest
6 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
Sleep Powder
Giga Drain
Hidden Power [Rock]
Protect
"JibaNAP" the Eelektross @ Flying Gem
Levitate
Adamant
252 HP/252 Atk/6 Spe
Wild Charge
Acrobatics
Crunch
Protect
"JibNOTHERE" the Chandelure @ Focus Sash
Flame Body
Timid
6 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
Heat Wave
Shadow Ball
Hidden Power [Ice]
Protect
"COOKINRICE" the Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Sheer Force
Jolly
6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
Flare Blitz
Rock Slide
Superpower
Fire Punch
Yeah I was running Sun, maybe a little gimmicky but it worked. (at least in practice)
So we get started battling and everything, but everyone who entered is playing Round One together (only 125 seniors), so my strategy of waiting fails. However, this means there will only be three rounds to the finalists lounge! (and basically nats) So here goes my battle!
Round One: vs Eric P.
Tornadus/Zoroark/Terrakion/Chandelure/Thundurus/Hydregion
He says he knows a little about IVs and EVs, and once I finish battling I think he was either A) BSing me and he knew exactly what he was doing, or B) someone gave him the team with flawless IVs and EVs. Anyway, I lead Conkeldurr and Darmanitan, my anti-Tornadus/Terrakion leads. He leads Tornadus and Terrakion, just as I predicted. I Mach Punch Terrakion and Flare Blitz Tornadus. Tornadus Protects and Mach Punch activates Terrakion's Sash, who turns out to be Zoroark! Zoroark does...something, I don't remember, and winds up putting Conkeldurr at around 65% HP. I Mach Punch and Flare Blitz again turn 2 and both Tornadus and Zoroark die. He brings in Chandelure and Terrakion. At this point I'm feeling pretty confident and think ahead to what I thought would be my next battles. I should've either Mach Punched Terrakion or Wide Guarded, both of which would've won me the game. However, I expected him (this is a result of me not being in the correct mindset) to Close Combat Conkeldurr and Shadow Ball Darmanitan (both of which would finish off my Pokemon). I didn't think he'd go for the Rock Slide and Heat Wave, because an avoid would kill him. I didn't double-target Terrakion because I also feared him Protecting. So I went for the Payback on Chandelure (wtf I know right?) and Flare Blitzed Terrakion. Flare Blitz does around 65% to Terrakion, and he...Rock Slides and Heat Waves. >__> They both hit and kill my Pokemon. At this point I know my backs can beat his, as I saw that his Chandelure is Scarfed. (it moved before his Terrakion) I bring in Eelektross and Chandelure. I know from experience Acrobatics will finish off Terrakion, and which point my Chandelure beats his Heat Wave-locked Chandelure. I Protect with Chandelure and Acrobatics Terrakion. I begin to think Eelektross might not live Heat Wave+Rock Slide, but lo and behold, it does. Then I see "JibaNAP flinched and couldn't move!"
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
gg. He Rock Slides and Heat Waves again for the double KO and the win. At this point I think the only reason I lost was hax (which I did put myself in a position to win only to get flinched) but I later realized that having Flash Fire on Chandelure would've won me the game, as would have using Wide Guard or Mach Punch turn 3 with Conkeldurr. So I'm out of the LCQ and pretty mad. I find iss who got critted out Round 2, and I have him play my dad to get him some practice in. (iss critted Dad's Terrakion through his Chople so he lost >__>) I mess around waiting for unreality and cybertron to get off their planes and get to the convention center, and for maski to WAKE UP and get there as well. Eventually what became the early part of Team Seniors assembled and we took some pictures:
genie posing like a BOSS (who am I kidding I look terrible in pictures)
best picture of me all weekend imo
doing some side events!
hi! :D
Eventually it was time for Dad (now to be referred to as "DadRank") to play in the LCQ. For those of you wondering, his team was Tornadus/Terrakion/Chandelure/Scarf Haxorus (too lazy to type the rest of it out) So he gets going, unfortunately he's never on a screen.
Round One: vs "some lady"
Apparently her son got Top 4 in Juniors, other than that DadRank didn't remember much, just that he won.
At this point I'm kind of amazed he got to the next round.
Round Two: vs ray423
At the time I don't know who it is, but it turns out to be ray423 from Smogon! Dad somehow wins this too.
Again I'm amazed and at this time Cybertron joins me to see his Round 3 opponent.
Round Three: vs mingot
He gets started and Cybertron says (about Dad's opponent) "THAT'S MINGOT"
Oh
my
gosh
I thought DadRank was done for sure but apparently mingot was confused by Tailwind, so DadRank won this too!
Round Four: vs Joel A.
He winds up losing this, but upon reviewing the battle video he should've won. Turn one he Rock Slided, however the opponent's Landorus avoided it. He gets up Tailwind and has Haxorus and Terrakion out against those two (Landorus and Thundurus). Since Landorus avoided Rock Slide the turn before, DadRank thought they it was possibly immune to it, so he Sacred Sword's Landorus (d'oh!), and Dual Chop's Thundurus for the KO. After seeing his back two if he had Rock Slided with both Pokemon he would've easily won, however, this was not the case and DadRank wound up getting knocked out in the fourth and last round! I was still in shock that he'd done so well with so little knowledge (he knew to Tailwind+Rock Slide and to "Taunt the mushrooms")
Dad's in blue, mingot in red with the tepig hat
We took some more pictures after this, some of these are seniors and one is the Smogon group picture.
why am i so awkward in pictures
there are 3 genies not 4 aaron >__>
After that the seniors decided to head to Steak n Shake for some food!
some random guy blocking the picture wtf
snake just doesn't take good pictures
but neither can i :P
After this we head back to the convention center and spam the side events for cards. Soon it's time to head back to the hotel for the night, werecario needs to get some sleep to play Saturday.
Saturday, July 9th
We don't get up til 10 or so because werecario isn't playing until 1. I see that I've got several texts already from maski and cybertron asking where I was, even though I told them I'd be getting there late. I arrive and watch most of team seniors (barring ABC but he was using Stunfisk lol), get into the top 16! Not much to write about today because I wasn't battling, and besides it took me an hour to write Friday's events. We meet Kid Kadabra and Lucien Lachance and head to the mall for lunch. At this point Team Seniors is: (this is THE DEFINITIVE LIST YO)
JRank
Cybertron
Kid Kadabra
Lucien Lachance
Maski
ABC
iss
unreality
snake (he's a junior but he's still a boss shut up)
kingofkongs
superpokemon67
Hitmonrocker
Human
Brendan Zheng (another junior but the cutest kid ever)
David Arnold
So after this everyone else goes back to maski's hotel but unfortunately I must go back to my hotel. We're really tired and werecario is sad after going 2-5 in swiss D: At around 11 that night we find out amarillo caballero, enfeugo, and metabou are staying at our hotel, so we chill with them for a bit, and at around midnight go to bed.
Sunday, July 10th
We were under the impression that the battling started at 9:30, but evidently it started at 9 so we missed the Top 16 battles. We stick around to watch it all, even though the finals started at 1:00, and we really wanted to get back earlier. Congrats to Cybertron and everyone else for winning and stuff. Now I grow tired, I must rest. I'll put up props/slops tomorrow I guess and stuff about the ride home. To wrap everything up:
THIS
META
SUCKS
SCREW
YOU
ROCK
SLIDE
gg it was fun guys
Wednesday, July 6th
werecario was due to arrive at my house at around 9 PM, so I spent the day making sure my team was ready to go and waiting excitedly. Got all my crap packed and ready to go.
werecario arrived and we made sure he was ready to go, including some last-minute scrambling for a Druddigon with Sucker Punch, he thought it was a level up move so we got Human's, then I RNG'd him a shiny one on the drive up to Indy. We went to bed around 11:30, we had to get some sleep for the long day driving.
Thursday, July 7th
We got up around 6, had breakfast (hot pockets, the breakfast of champions), and finally left. The drive up was fairly uneventful, although 10 hours in a car is ugh. We stopped and McDonald's for lunch and Dad had agreed previously to get a happy meal so I could have one of the Pokemon toys. However upon opening said happy meal it was a Kung Fu Panda toy, to which Dad yelled "What?! I don't want THIS! I wanted the Pokemon!" and embarrassed me greatly. Anyway we exchanged it and got Tepig!
After that we hit the road again, and I was bored so I took some pictures of Tepig and Weavile!
Who are YOU?
Introductions
Beeeeeest friends!
So we continue on, finally arriving at our hotel in Plainfield at around 8:00 PM. Needless to say, we were tired.
Alphabet123 was due to arrive at the hotel right next to us at around 10:30, so to pass the time we drove into the city. We planned to get out but by the time we got near anything it was already 10 and we needed to get back. There was a nice little McDonald's across the street so we met ABC there and chilled for a bit, talking strategy and what we'd be using the next day. At around 11:15 we decided to head back to our hotel room to make sure our teams were squared away and help teach Dad VGC 11/Pokemon in general. ABC left about 12:00, and we finally knocked off around 1:00 and went to bed, ready to battle the next day.
Friday, July 8th
I woke up really nervous. I had remembered the night before I forgot to put Protect on Chandelure so I did that first thing so I didn't forget and get screwed because of it. The lady at the reception desk told us we should leave about an hour ahead of time to get to the convention center because of rush hour. We left at 7, aiming to be there by 8, and arrived at 7:30. >__> I had wanted to be at the back of the line so I wasn't one of the first people to battle, and as a result didn't play the best people in the last rounds. (like it mattered lol) We get in line and I get my card, #75 in Seniors.
Eventually it turns out that Rushing Maid from skarmbliss is behind us, and we introduce, and then a few people ahead of us are the Arnold family! We don't really want to face either of them so we get at the back of the line and find Tyler, so we chat with him for a bit, then andrea and her boyfriend Chad show up and we talk for a bit again. At this point I don't feel like I'm ready to battle, I just wasn't in the right mindset, and it wound up showing. I guess now is as good a time as ever, so here's the team I was using for the LCQ! (note: all my Pokemon were nicknamed after Jibaku and the various nicknames he has on irc)
"Jibbles" the Whimsicott @ Heat Rock
Prankster
Timid
252 HP/6 SpA/252 Spe
Sunny Day
Grass Knot
Encore
Protect
"JibaLUNCH" the Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Guts
Adamant
252 HP/252 Atk/6 Spe
Mach Punch
Wide Guard
Payback
Rock Slide
"Jibaku" the Lilligant @ Life Orb
Chlorophyll
Modest
6 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
Sleep Powder
Giga Drain
Hidden Power [Rock]
Protect
"JibaNAP" the Eelektross @ Flying Gem
Levitate
Adamant
252 HP/252 Atk/6 Spe
Wild Charge
Acrobatics
Crunch
Protect
"JibNOTHERE" the Chandelure @ Focus Sash
Flame Body
Timid
6 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
Heat Wave
Shadow Ball
Hidden Power [Ice]
Protect
"COOKINRICE" the Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Sheer Force
Jolly
6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
Flare Blitz
Rock Slide
Superpower
Fire Punch
Yeah I was running Sun, maybe a little gimmicky but it worked. (at least in practice)
So we get started battling and everything, but everyone who entered is playing Round One together (only 125 seniors), so my strategy of waiting fails. However, this means there will only be three rounds to the finalists lounge! (and basically nats) So here goes my battle!
Round One: vs Eric P.
Tornadus/Zoroark/Terrakion/Chandelure/Thundurus/Hydregion
He says he knows a little about IVs and EVs, and once I finish battling I think he was either A) BSing me and he knew exactly what he was doing, or B) someone gave him the team with flawless IVs and EVs. Anyway, I lead Conkeldurr and Darmanitan, my anti-Tornadus/Terrakion leads. He leads Tornadus and Terrakion, just as I predicted. I Mach Punch Terrakion and Flare Blitz Tornadus. Tornadus Protects and Mach Punch activates Terrakion's Sash, who turns out to be Zoroark! Zoroark does...something, I don't remember, and winds up putting Conkeldurr at around 65% HP. I Mach Punch and Flare Blitz again turn 2 and both Tornadus and Zoroark die. He brings in Chandelure and Terrakion. At this point I'm feeling pretty confident and think ahead to what I thought would be my next battles. I should've either Mach Punched Terrakion or Wide Guarded, both of which would've won me the game. However, I expected him (this is a result of me not being in the correct mindset) to Close Combat Conkeldurr and Shadow Ball Darmanitan (both of which would finish off my Pokemon). I didn't think he'd go for the Rock Slide and Heat Wave, because an avoid would kill him. I didn't double-target Terrakion because I also feared him Protecting. So I went for the Payback on Chandelure (wtf I know right?) and Flare Blitzed Terrakion. Flare Blitz does around 65% to Terrakion, and he...Rock Slides and Heat Waves. >__> They both hit and kill my Pokemon. At this point I know my backs can beat his, as I saw that his Chandelure is Scarfed. (it moved before his Terrakion) I bring in Eelektross and Chandelure. I know from experience Acrobatics will finish off Terrakion, and which point my Chandelure beats his Heat Wave-locked Chandelure. I Protect with Chandelure and Acrobatics Terrakion. I begin to think Eelektross might not live Heat Wave+Rock Slide, but lo and behold, it does. Then I see "JibaNAP flinched and couldn't move!"
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
gg. He Rock Slides and Heat Waves again for the double KO and the win. At this point I think the only reason I lost was hax (which I did put myself in a position to win only to get flinched) but I later realized that having Flash Fire on Chandelure would've won me the game, as would have using Wide Guard or Mach Punch turn 3 with Conkeldurr. So I'm out of the LCQ and pretty mad. I find iss who got critted out Round 2, and I have him play my dad to get him some practice in. (iss critted Dad's Terrakion through his Chople so he lost >__>) I mess around waiting for unreality and cybertron to get off their planes and get to the convention center, and for maski to WAKE UP and get there as well. Eventually what became the early part of Team Seniors assembled and we took some pictures:
genie posing like a BOSS (who am I kidding I look terrible in pictures)
best picture of me all weekend imo
doing some side events!
hi! :D
Eventually it was time for Dad (now to be referred to as "DadRank") to play in the LCQ. For those of you wondering, his team was Tornadus/Terrakion/Chandelure/Scarf Haxorus (too lazy to type the rest of it out) So he gets going, unfortunately he's never on a screen.
Round One: vs "some lady"
Apparently her son got Top 4 in Juniors, other than that DadRank didn't remember much, just that he won.
At this point I'm kind of amazed he got to the next round.
Round Two: vs ray423
At the time I don't know who it is, but it turns out to be ray423 from Smogon! Dad somehow wins this too.
Again I'm amazed and at this time Cybertron joins me to see his Round 3 opponent.
Round Three: vs mingot
He gets started and Cybertron says (about Dad's opponent) "THAT'S MINGOT"
Oh
my
gosh
I thought DadRank was done for sure but apparently mingot was confused by Tailwind, so DadRank won this too!
Round Four: vs Joel A.
He winds up losing this, but upon reviewing the battle video he should've won. Turn one he Rock Slided, however the opponent's Landorus avoided it. He gets up Tailwind and has Haxorus and Terrakion out against those two (Landorus and Thundurus). Since Landorus avoided Rock Slide the turn before, DadRank thought they it was possibly immune to it, so he Sacred Sword's Landorus (d'oh!), and Dual Chop's Thundurus for the KO. After seeing his back two if he had Rock Slided with both Pokemon he would've easily won, however, this was not the case and DadRank wound up getting knocked out in the fourth and last round! I was still in shock that he'd done so well with so little knowledge (he knew to Tailwind+Rock Slide and to "Taunt the mushrooms")
Dad's in blue, mingot in red with the tepig hat
We took some more pictures after this, some of these are seniors and one is the Smogon group picture.
why am i so awkward in pictures
there are 3 genies not 4 aaron >__>
After that the seniors decided to head to Steak n Shake for some food!
some random guy blocking the picture wtf
snake just doesn't take good pictures
but neither can i :P
After this we head back to the convention center and spam the side events for cards. Soon it's time to head back to the hotel for the night, werecario needs to get some sleep to play Saturday.
Saturday, July 9th
We don't get up til 10 or so because werecario isn't playing until 1. I see that I've got several texts already from maski and cybertron asking where I was, even though I told them I'd be getting there late. I arrive and watch most of team seniors (barring ABC but he was using Stunfisk lol), get into the top 16! Not much to write about today because I wasn't battling, and besides it took me an hour to write Friday's events. We meet Kid Kadabra and Lucien Lachance and head to the mall for lunch. At this point Team Seniors is: (this is THE DEFINITIVE LIST YO)
JRank
Cybertron
Kid Kadabra
Lucien Lachance
Maski
ABC
iss
unreality
snake (he's a junior but he's still a boss shut up)
kingofkongs
superpokemon67
Hitmonrocker
Human
Brendan Zheng (another junior but the cutest kid ever)
David Arnold
So after this everyone else goes back to maski's hotel but unfortunately I must go back to my hotel. We're really tired and werecario is sad after going 2-5 in swiss D: At around 11 that night we find out amarillo caballero, enfeugo, and metabou are staying at our hotel, so we chill with them for a bit, and at around midnight go to bed.
Sunday, July 10th
We were under the impression that the battling started at 9:30, but evidently it started at 9 so we missed the Top 16 battles. We stick around to watch it all, even though the finals started at 1:00, and we really wanted to get back earlier. Congrats to Cybertron and everyone else for winning and stuff. Now I grow tired, I must rest. I'll put up props/slops tomorrow I guess and stuff about the ride home. To wrap everything up:
THIS
META
SUCKS
SCREW
YOU
ROCK
SLIDE
gg it was fun guys