...
In advance people did take a few pictures of me and a group photo so if you are one of the ones that did and wouldn't mind posting it here it would be cool to add it to my story
Friday: I had decided on my team a few days ago, and finished up the team today. I had to come up with nicknames for them, and couldn't decide between Tom Petty songs, Boston songs, Rush songs, or famous poker players since I was wearing a pokerstars shirt(U2 was on the list but their best songs have long titles and their best songs that are less than 10 characters are names people wouldn't attribute to U2 like one, bad, pride, etc). Because Boston is such a boss band, I chose them
Saturday: I wake up early and have a few PO matches, with BI haxing me like usual and winning the rest. I'm feeling pretty nervous but try to eat a big breakfast anyway since I know my nerves won't let me eat a big meal when I'm there. It's about an hour and a half drive from where I live so I leave in plenty of time. I didn't want to be one of the ~30 people who didn't make it in. My dad and I get kind of lost so we stop to ask a police officer where the expo center is. After he gives us some powerful directions he asks if it's for pokemon and he says a lot of people are there already. This makes me a little worried I won't get in even though I'm getting to the tournament 3 hours early. When we arrive it looks like a really short line, only about 50 or so ahead of us. But then I see that inside there are a few hundred people waiting. When I get my spot in line I look for people I recognize, and try to hear some conversations of people around me to see if they know what they're doing or not. This group of guys behind me were pretty hillarious with their pokemon humor, especially when it started raining haha. First I spot TTS since I recognized him from last year, and he tells me 5k and his group are inside already. He also tells me that VGC Human from PO is standing near me in line so we introduce ourselves. 5k ends up walking up behind me and says "Hey Ray". As I turn around and see a really tall guy walking fast(almost running!) inside I knew it had to be him! After what seems like forever the staff finally lets us inside. We line up against the wall so they can count how many competitors there are so far, and then I see EE walk in so he gets a picture of me chillin in line. As it turns out the group that was infront of me was PocketCat and her friends. Unfortunately I didn't know who they were or try to talk to them because one of them never heard of marriland and the other girl lost to a calm mind slowbro. Instead I decide to have my dad hold my place in line and go roam around in the actual area where they held the competition, looking for people I knew. I quickly found Dtrain and Bonta-Kun, and watched some junior matches with them. I also saw serendipity, 5k again, Darkwatch, and the falcons. Juniors was pretty intense, and made me wish I had a 10 year old sibling to train.
Juniors ends and they start senior registraion! I wish 5k and Dtrain good luck, and head back to my spot in line. We move pretty quickly surprisingly. I thought tpci did a good job having like 8 staff members registering people to make it go faster(compared to last year's 2 people). As I get to the front of the line about to get assigned to a battle station I try to get between these two little kids(I overheard their dad asking them their strongest pokemon and they answered lv.25 lol) so I could face either one of them round 1, but it seemed PocketCat had the same idea and called friend rule so I had to face one of her friends round 1 and she played one of the 2 kids.
The so strong Team:
@ Choice Scarf *HitchARide
~Shadow Force
~Dragon Claw
~Safeguard
~Stone Edge
@ Focus Sash *Smokin'
~Close Combat
~Overheat
~Protect
~Encore
@ Sitrus Berry *Its Easy
~Water Spout
~Thunder
~Blizzard
~Protect
@ Custap Berry *PeaceOMind
~Meteor Mash
~Bullet Punch
~Hammer Arm
~Explosion
I forget whether we handed back the card with our opponents names and stuff or whether I just lost it, so I won't have my opponents names
Round 1: vs PocketCat's friend (Jumpluff/Groudon/Regigigas/?)
Turn one I safeguard and overheat Jumpluff, hoping he'll double protect fearing the fake out I don't use. Instead he sleep powders Giratina, so Jumpluff survives with sash, and Groudon eq's bring Infernape to 1 HP too. I protect with Ape and switch Giratina out for Metagross. This mistake ends up being costly, but he protects with jumpluff and then his Groudon's protect fails. I Bullet Punch his Jumpluff killing it, and I forget the rest but I end up critting his chople Regigigas with Close Combat for the OHKO and it being an easy match after turn 1.
Round 2: vs young kid (Garchomp/Tyranitar/Mewtwo/Espeon)
he was a lot less of a threat than R1. It was an easy sweep, though his Mewtwo did survive my shadow Force and my Infernape outsped it, so it was probably like relaxed nature or something.
Round 3: vs (
?)
no clue what he used here, I just remember him not standing much of a chance, as bad as R2 iirc) Since I knew R4 to be the trouble round (PBB lost, 5k lost) I decided now would be as good a time as ever to activate the friend rule if I so desired. I ask the kid behind me if he goes online for pokemon, he says no, and I ask the girl in front of me, who was in the group ahead of me in line, and she says yes. She says she's from smogon/skarmbliss, but is representing skarmbliss more! I say something like "Yes! Good choice!" and tell her I'm BlueCookies, and that's when I found at she was PocketCat. I ended up being paired with the guy behind me so I decided no friend rule needed.
Round 4: vs (Cherrim/Groudon/Kangaskhan/?)
I overheat and Shadow Force target Groudon. He protects with Cherrim and Earthquakes, bringing Infernape to 1 HP. I think he protects wth Groudon here and I break protect and ko with Close Combat. he brings in Kangaskhan and Fake Out's Giratina while I overheat Cherrim. I go for the Shadow Force next turn targetting Cherrim and Overheat Cherrim. I think he Giga Impact's Giratina but I vanish instantly and his Cherrim's solarbeam ko's 1 HP Infernape. From there it's a pretty easy win.
Me on the left, Dtrain in the middle, TDS on the right
Finalist Lounge! I see Dtrain, TDS, PocketCat, Serendipity, and Chalkey. After talking to them a bit I find out the person I swore to avoid, Elmo, made it to the finalist lounge! He ended up being a pretty chill guy, and Mitchell Horny ended up being the pretty creepy kid. I went to Burger King and ate, came back and waited for the round of 64 to start. I found out there were 3 DQ's which was nice, but I ended up drawing a green energy, and had to play 2 rounds to get to the top 16
Round 5: vs Rain Guy (Kyogre/Kangaskhan/Kingdra/Milotic)
I shadow Force target Kyogre and Close Combat Kyogre predicting a FO on Giratina from Kangaskhan. That's exactly what he does. My Ape is faster than Kyogre so I realize it isn't scarfed. He water spouts and crits my Giratina. Next turn I feel he'll sucker punch my Giratina so I switch out to Metagross and Close Combat Kyogre for the KO. I actually forget what he does with Kangaskhan this turn, but I think he protects or something. he brings in Kingdra. I hammer Arm Kangaskhan for the ko and Infernape dies to waterfall. I bring in Giratina and he brings in Milotic. I Shadow Force target Kingdra and it turns out I'm faster. I forget the rest but I crit his sash Kingdra, and at one point I had Kyogre and custap Meta vs his Milotic and it was game over.
Round 6: vs little nervous kid (Rayquaza/Metagross/Tyranitar/Giratina-O)
This was the closest and toughest match all day. The battle vid is 58-25016-24720 so definitely watch it. All I can say is my overheat miss which would have ko'd his Metagross made me sick inside the whole match because after that I had no shot at winning, but he ended up blowing the game in the end. I didn't even bribe him lol. Just watch the battol!
Round 7: vs guy from Columbus (Cresselia/Shuckle/Palkia/Kyogre)
When I saw this I was thrilled because this was a good matchup for my team. I sahdow force target Cresselia and switch in meta for ape. I figure he'll power trick and trick room. I thought about bullet punching shuckle, but I figured he would be sashed and I knew EQ would leave me in custap range which would seal the deal vs a trick room team with a custap explosion. But, his EQ crit ko's my meta and the battle goes downhill from there. I get it to low health Gira and low health Kyogre vs his full health Palkia and Kyogre and almost come back, but it wasn't meant to be and I lose 1-0. He ended up not having sash, so if I Bullet Punched I would have won, but I still got an invite to Nats which all be going to so whatever. Still a fun day.
Props:
-meeting cool people
-5k being mad chill
-elmo being more chill than his creepy online version
-Cossack for telling me not to name my backup Palkia "Foreplay" and instead "Long Time" lol
-nats invite
Slops:
-luck
-Mitchell for being mad creepy irl
-waiting in line a lot
In advance people did take a few pictures of me and a group photo so if you are one of the ones that did and wouldn't mind posting it here it would be cool to add it to my story
Friday: I had decided on my team a few days ago, and finished up the team today. I had to come up with nicknames for them, and couldn't decide between Tom Petty songs, Boston songs, Rush songs, or famous poker players since I was wearing a pokerstars shirt(U2 was on the list but their best songs have long titles and their best songs that are less than 10 characters are names people wouldn't attribute to U2 like one, bad, pride, etc). Because Boston is such a boss band, I chose them
Saturday: I wake up early and have a few PO matches, with BI haxing me like usual and winning the rest. I'm feeling pretty nervous but try to eat a big breakfast anyway since I know my nerves won't let me eat a big meal when I'm there. It's about an hour and a half drive from where I live so I leave in plenty of time. I didn't want to be one of the ~30 people who didn't make it in. My dad and I get kind of lost so we stop to ask a police officer where the expo center is. After he gives us some powerful directions he asks if it's for pokemon and he says a lot of people are there already. This makes me a little worried I won't get in even though I'm getting to the tournament 3 hours early. When we arrive it looks like a really short line, only about 50 or so ahead of us. But then I see that inside there are a few hundred people waiting. When I get my spot in line I look for people I recognize, and try to hear some conversations of people around me to see if they know what they're doing or not. This group of guys behind me were pretty hillarious with their pokemon humor, especially when it started raining haha. First I spot TTS since I recognized him from last year, and he tells me 5k and his group are inside already. He also tells me that VGC Human from PO is standing near me in line so we introduce ourselves. 5k ends up walking up behind me and says "Hey Ray". As I turn around and see a really tall guy walking fast(almost running!) inside I knew it had to be him! After what seems like forever the staff finally lets us inside. We line up against the wall so they can count how many competitors there are so far, and then I see EE walk in so he gets a picture of me chillin in line. As it turns out the group that was infront of me was PocketCat and her friends. Unfortunately I didn't know who they were or try to talk to them because one of them never heard of marriland and the other girl lost to a calm mind slowbro. Instead I decide to have my dad hold my place in line and go roam around in the actual area where they held the competition, looking for people I knew. I quickly found Dtrain and Bonta-Kun, and watched some junior matches with them. I also saw serendipity, 5k again, Darkwatch, and the falcons. Juniors was pretty intense, and made me wish I had a 10 year old sibling to train.
Juniors ends and they start senior registraion! I wish 5k and Dtrain good luck, and head back to my spot in line. We move pretty quickly surprisingly. I thought tpci did a good job having like 8 staff members registering people to make it go faster(compared to last year's 2 people). As I get to the front of the line about to get assigned to a battle station I try to get between these two little kids(I overheard their dad asking them their strongest pokemon and they answered lv.25 lol) so I could face either one of them round 1, but it seemed PocketCat had the same idea and called friend rule so I had to face one of her friends round 1 and she played one of the 2 kids.
The so strong Team:
~Shadow Force
~Dragon Claw
~Safeguard
~Stone Edge
~Close Combat
~Overheat
~Protect
~Encore
~Water Spout
~Thunder
~Blizzard
~Protect
~Meteor Mash
~Bullet Punch
~Hammer Arm
~Explosion
I forget whether we handed back the card with our opponents names and stuff or whether I just lost it, so I won't have my opponents names
Round 1: vs PocketCat's friend (Jumpluff/Groudon/Regigigas/?)
Turn one I safeguard and overheat Jumpluff, hoping he'll double protect fearing the fake out I don't use. Instead he sleep powders Giratina, so Jumpluff survives with sash, and Groudon eq's bring Infernape to 1 HP too. I protect with Ape and switch Giratina out for Metagross. This mistake ends up being costly, but he protects with jumpluff and then his Groudon's protect fails. I Bullet Punch his Jumpluff killing it, and I forget the rest but I end up critting his chople Regigigas with Close Combat for the OHKO and it being an easy match after turn 1.
Round 2: vs young kid (Garchomp/Tyranitar/Mewtwo/Espeon)
he was a lot less of a threat than R1. It was an easy sweep, though his Mewtwo did survive my shadow Force and my Infernape outsped it, so it was probably like relaxed nature or something.
Round 3: vs (
no clue what he used here, I just remember him not standing much of a chance, as bad as R2 iirc) Since I knew R4 to be the trouble round (PBB lost, 5k lost) I decided now would be as good a time as ever to activate the friend rule if I so desired. I ask the kid behind me if he goes online for pokemon, he says no, and I ask the girl in front of me, who was in the group ahead of me in line, and she says yes. She says she's from smogon/skarmbliss, but is representing skarmbliss more! I say something like "Yes! Good choice!" and tell her I'm BlueCookies, and that's when I found at she was PocketCat. I ended up being paired with the guy behind me so I decided no friend rule needed.
Round 4: vs (Cherrim/Groudon/Kangaskhan/?)
I overheat and Shadow Force target Groudon. He protects with Cherrim and Earthquakes, bringing Infernape to 1 HP. I think he protects wth Groudon here and I break protect and ko with Close Combat. he brings in Kangaskhan and Fake Out's Giratina while I overheat Cherrim. I go for the Shadow Force next turn targetting Cherrim and Overheat Cherrim. I think he Giga Impact's Giratina but I vanish instantly and his Cherrim's solarbeam ko's 1 HP Infernape. From there it's a pretty easy win.
Me on the left, Dtrain in the middle, TDS on the right
Finalist Lounge! I see Dtrain, TDS, PocketCat, Serendipity, and Chalkey. After talking to them a bit I find out the person I swore to avoid, Elmo, made it to the finalist lounge! He ended up being a pretty chill guy, and Mitchell Horny ended up being the pretty creepy kid. I went to Burger King and ate, came back and waited for the round of 64 to start. I found out there were 3 DQ's which was nice, but I ended up drawing a green energy, and had to play 2 rounds to get to the top 16
Round 5: vs Rain Guy (Kyogre/Kangaskhan/Kingdra/Milotic)
I shadow Force target Kyogre and Close Combat Kyogre predicting a FO on Giratina from Kangaskhan. That's exactly what he does. My Ape is faster than Kyogre so I realize it isn't scarfed. He water spouts and crits my Giratina. Next turn I feel he'll sucker punch my Giratina so I switch out to Metagross and Close Combat Kyogre for the KO. I actually forget what he does with Kangaskhan this turn, but I think he protects or something. he brings in Kingdra. I hammer Arm Kangaskhan for the ko and Infernape dies to waterfall. I bring in Giratina and he brings in Milotic. I Shadow Force target Kingdra and it turns out I'm faster. I forget the rest but I crit his sash Kingdra, and at one point I had Kyogre and custap Meta vs his Milotic and it was game over.
Round 6: vs little nervous kid (Rayquaza/Metagross/Tyranitar/Giratina-O)
This was the closest and toughest match all day. The battle vid is 58-25016-24720 so definitely watch it. All I can say is my overheat miss which would have ko'd his Metagross made me sick inside the whole match because after that I had no shot at winning, but he ended up blowing the game in the end. I didn't even bribe him lol. Just watch the battol!
Round 7: vs guy from Columbus (Cresselia/Shuckle/Palkia/Kyogre)
When I saw this I was thrilled because this was a good matchup for my team. I sahdow force target Cresselia and switch in meta for ape. I figure he'll power trick and trick room. I thought about bullet punching shuckle, but I figured he would be sashed and I knew EQ would leave me in custap range which would seal the deal vs a trick room team with a custap explosion. But, his EQ crit ko's my meta and the battle goes downhill from there. I get it to low health Gira and low health Kyogre vs his full health Palkia and Kyogre and almost come back, but it wasn't meant to be and I lose 1-0. He ended up not having sash, so if I Bullet Punched I would have won, but I still got an invite to Nats which all be going to so whatever. Still a fun day.
Props:
-meeting cool people
-5k being mad chill
-elmo being more chill than his creepy online version
-Cossack for telling me not to name my backup Palkia "Foreplay" and instead "Long Time" lol
-nats invite
Slops:
-luck
-Mitchell for being mad creepy irl
-waiting in line a lot
