PROLOGUE
It was a dark and stormy night.
Actually, it was a bright and sunny summer day in 2008. Young trainer wer, with wide eyes and dreams for the future, waited outside a New York City convention center, ready to play in his first ever tournament. There were 110 spots open, and with only 120 potential participants he felt confident about the day ahead.
Sadly, the gods that govern probability were jerks that day, and wer had to go home without playing a single match. He cursed his luck, and swore that he would never play again.
MANY YEARS LATER...
DM made a thread about how awesome Nats 2011 was, and I decided that I wanted in on that. Thus, I made the decision to officially unretire from Pokemon battling, and went and bought myself a copy of White. I crammed as much VGC knowledge into my head as I could in two weeks as I played the game to learn the new mons, and soon I was ready to make my team.
THE TEAM
Adamant @ Toxic Orb
Poison Heal
- Drain Punch
- Seed Bomb
- Spore
- Protect
The backbone of my team. Breloom was a constant partner for me back in my salad days, which makes sense since she is a Grass type. I started this team with the mindset that I would build it around Breloom's putting threats to sleep and then whaling on them. This is a pretty standard Breloom set, so nothing really to comment on other than the fact that this little girl was my MVP.
Calm @ Leftovers
Serene Grace
- Follow Me
- Protect
- Air Slash
- Tail Wind
If Breloom was gonna set up on the other team, I was gonna need something to take hits for it. I looked up Follow Me users, and this little girl made the most sense for my team. Follow Me would allow Breloom to sleep the bigger of the two initial threats, and this thing had the bulk to take at least 2 hits from more or less everything that was thrown at it. Having Tailwind helped me out a bunch as well, and Air Slash flinches came in handy for those rare occasions when this cannon fodder stayed alive more than 2 turns.
Adamant @ Lum Berry
Intimidate
- Fake Out
- Wide Guard
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch
My other complement to Breloom. Rather than wagging its finger at the opponents Pokemon like the flying glacier above, this guy took a more proactive approach to helping out Breloom with Fake Out. Wide Guard was there to help me deal with the odd Heat Wave or Blizzard. CC because like Togekiss, the plan was for Hitmontop to not stay in any longer than it needed to, and Sucker Punch to finish off threats that were low on HP.
Modest @ Fire Gem
Flash Fire
- Heat Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Protect
- Trick Room
This guy was an integral part of my team on PO before the tournament, but for some reason I didn't use him often at the actual tournament (maybe one out of the seven matches). So, I really don't have much to say about this guy.
Brave @ Chople Berry
Sandstream
- Protect
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
Once whichever sacrifice did its duty, I would often send in this monster. The source of many an "Oh Crap" moment for my opponents, especially against Rain teams whose Politoed I'd killed off. Not a whole lot stood in this thing's wake, but if the opponent could take this guy on, I'd just send in...
Quiet @ Focus Sash
Snow Warning
- Blizzard
- Ice Beam
- Giga Drain
- Protect
... this girl, who could hit on the Special spectrum. This was the last addition to my team, added about 6 hours before I arrived in Philly, and man was I glad that I had her. Besides Breloom, this was probably the MVP of my team.
THE TOURNAMENT
I got my last Pokemon from Biosci at around 3 AM, and decided that rather than try to nap for an hour before leaving for Philly, I'd just stay up, since I was paranoid that I'd sleep through my alarm. The drive there was shorter than I had expected it to be, and I ended up getting to the convention center around 9:30. The first Smogoner I ended up meeting was Biffster. I walked over to say hello to him after seeing his shirt, but I didn't actually get to talk to him until after the registration since he was being accosted by a rather large man who was telling him that the Pokemon anime was bullshit and that it should have gore like the manga does.
After we had all registered, though, I got to say hello, and thus began my introduction to the Smogon wifi community. Highlights of the 3 hour wait for the Masters division to start include:
- Biffster, dtrain, me, and some other kid (sorry I forgot your name!) getting interviewed for a lovely youtube channel called "buttderp"
- watching this video with said users
- meeting Ditto, who is a chill motherlover. Other Smogoners I got to meet: Expert Evan, Solace, TheGr8, kinderlew (more on that later), Cyberjerk.
- seeing the dude in the Diglett costume use Dig
Finally, though, the wait was over. I would be entering into my first real Pokemon tournament. I ended up in the dreaded Pink Flight of Death, which worried me a bit. Still, I had a secret weapon: Huy himself had given me his blessing, an awesome power whose burning grip compelled me to defeat anyone in my way. He believed in my slam, and I believed in his jam which believed in my slam. Knowing this, I took my seat for my first match.
They say that you only remember your losses, and me being the newbie I was I didn't take any pens or paper with me to take notes. Here's what I do remember:
- My first two opponents were chill as all hell, but not particularly good
- I'm pretty sure I beat my third opponent without taking more than 2 hits all game.
- My one and only loss came against kinderlew, in I think my fifth match. I don't remember the battle turn for turn, but I do remember the moment in which I probably lost the match. He was up 3-2 against me, and I switched in Abomasnow and Tyranitar against Latias and Metagross, both at around half HP. It could have been nerves, it could have been the sleep deprivation, but either way I elected to use Rock Slide with TTar instead of Crunch or Earthquake, which I think would have killed Metagross. That Metagross ended up killing both of my remaining mons, costing me the game.
- Speaking of kinderlew, I wish I had found out he was DQed earlier than I did. I don't think he used the Hitmontop in question against me so I'm not sure if it would have mattered, but it could have been the difference between me going to Indy on my own dime or on Nintendo's.
- I pulled out my last match by the skin of my teeth. I had Breloom and an Abomasnow with 21 HP remaining versus a +1 CM Suicune and a sleeping Pokemon I can't remember. Perhaps the gods I had cursed four years ago decided that they wanted to make up for it, but either way Suicune missed Abomasnow with Icy Wind, allowing me to finish it off with a Giga Drain and come back to win the battle. My opponent was justifiably pissed when he found out my Abomasnow wasn't carrying a Brightpowder.
I went into the tournament hoping to place in the top 64. I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams, placing into the top 16 with a 6-1 record. More importantly, however, was that like a Shellder on the tail of a Slowbro, I was hooked back into a game that I had given up on. I'm currently planning to go to Nats, where I plan on avenging my loss to kinderlew and hanging out with more cool Smogoners (and maybe Cybertron if he wants to acknowledge me this time =P).
It was a dark and stormy night.
Actually, it was a bright and sunny summer day in 2008. Young trainer wer, with wide eyes and dreams for the future, waited outside a New York City convention center, ready to play in his first ever tournament. There were 110 spots open, and with only 120 potential participants he felt confident about the day ahead.
Sadly, the gods that govern probability were jerks that day, and wer had to go home without playing a single match. He cursed his luck, and swore that he would never play again.
MANY YEARS LATER...
DM made a thread about how awesome Nats 2011 was, and I decided that I wanted in on that. Thus, I made the decision to officially unretire from Pokemon battling, and went and bought myself a copy of White. I crammed as much VGC knowledge into my head as I could in two weeks as I played the game to learn the new mons, and soon I was ready to make my team.
THE TEAM
Adamant @ Toxic Orb
Poison Heal
- Drain Punch
- Seed Bomb
- Spore
- Protect
The backbone of my team. Breloom was a constant partner for me back in my salad days, which makes sense since she is a Grass type. I started this team with the mindset that I would build it around Breloom's putting threats to sleep and then whaling on them. This is a pretty standard Breloom set, so nothing really to comment on other than the fact that this little girl was my MVP.
Calm @ Leftovers
Serene Grace
- Follow Me
- Protect
- Air Slash
- Tail Wind
If Breloom was gonna set up on the other team, I was gonna need something to take hits for it. I looked up Follow Me users, and this little girl made the most sense for my team. Follow Me would allow Breloom to sleep the bigger of the two initial threats, and this thing had the bulk to take at least 2 hits from more or less everything that was thrown at it. Having Tailwind helped me out a bunch as well, and Air Slash flinches came in handy for those rare occasions when this cannon fodder stayed alive more than 2 turns.
Adamant @ Lum Berry
Intimidate
- Fake Out
- Wide Guard
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch
My other complement to Breloom. Rather than wagging its finger at the opponents Pokemon like the flying glacier above, this guy took a more proactive approach to helping out Breloom with Fake Out. Wide Guard was there to help me deal with the odd Heat Wave or Blizzard. CC because like Togekiss, the plan was for Hitmontop to not stay in any longer than it needed to, and Sucker Punch to finish off threats that were low on HP.
Modest @ Fire Gem
Flash Fire
- Heat Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Protect
- Trick Room
This guy was an integral part of my team on PO before the tournament, but for some reason I didn't use him often at the actual tournament (maybe one out of the seven matches). So, I really don't have much to say about this guy.
Brave @ Chople Berry
Sandstream
- Protect
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
Once whichever sacrifice did its duty, I would often send in this monster. The source of many an "Oh Crap" moment for my opponents, especially against Rain teams whose Politoed I'd killed off. Not a whole lot stood in this thing's wake, but if the opponent could take this guy on, I'd just send in...
Quiet @ Focus Sash
Snow Warning
- Blizzard
- Ice Beam
- Giga Drain
- Protect
... this girl, who could hit on the Special spectrum. This was the last addition to my team, added about 6 hours before I arrived in Philly, and man was I glad that I had her. Besides Breloom, this was probably the MVP of my team.
THE TOURNAMENT
I got my last Pokemon from Biosci at around 3 AM, and decided that rather than try to nap for an hour before leaving for Philly, I'd just stay up, since I was paranoid that I'd sleep through my alarm. The drive there was shorter than I had expected it to be, and I ended up getting to the convention center around 9:30. The first Smogoner I ended up meeting was Biffster. I walked over to say hello to him after seeing his shirt, but I didn't actually get to talk to him until after the registration since he was being accosted by a rather large man who was telling him that the Pokemon anime was bullshit and that it should have gore like the manga does.
After we had all registered, though, I got to say hello, and thus began my introduction to the Smogon wifi community. Highlights of the 3 hour wait for the Masters division to start include:
- Biffster, dtrain, me, and some other kid (sorry I forgot your name!) getting interviewed for a lovely youtube channel called "buttderp"
- watching this video with said users
- meeting Ditto, who is a chill motherlover. Other Smogoners I got to meet: Expert Evan, Solace, TheGr8, kinderlew (more on that later), Cyberjerk.
- seeing the dude in the Diglett costume use Dig
Finally, though, the wait was over. I would be entering into my first real Pokemon tournament. I ended up in the dreaded Pink Flight of Death, which worried me a bit. Still, I had a secret weapon: Huy himself had given me his blessing, an awesome power whose burning grip compelled me to defeat anyone in my way. He believed in my slam, and I believed in his jam which believed in my slam. Knowing this, I took my seat for my first match.
They say that you only remember your losses, and me being the newbie I was I didn't take any pens or paper with me to take notes. Here's what I do remember:
- My first two opponents were chill as all hell, but not particularly good
- I'm pretty sure I beat my third opponent without taking more than 2 hits all game.
- My one and only loss came against kinderlew, in I think my fifth match. I don't remember the battle turn for turn, but I do remember the moment in which I probably lost the match. He was up 3-2 against me, and I switched in Abomasnow and Tyranitar against Latias and Metagross, both at around half HP. It could have been nerves, it could have been the sleep deprivation, but either way I elected to use Rock Slide with TTar instead of Crunch or Earthquake, which I think would have killed Metagross. That Metagross ended up killing both of my remaining mons, costing me the game.
- Speaking of kinderlew, I wish I had found out he was DQed earlier than I did. I don't think he used the Hitmontop in question against me so I'm not sure if it would have mattered, but it could have been the difference between me going to Indy on my own dime or on Nintendo's.
- I pulled out my last match by the skin of my teeth. I had Breloom and an Abomasnow with 21 HP remaining versus a +1 CM Suicune and a sleeping Pokemon I can't remember. Perhaps the gods I had cursed four years ago decided that they wanted to make up for it, but either way Suicune missed Abomasnow with Icy Wind, allowing me to finish it off with a Giga Drain and come back to win the battle. My opponent was justifiably pissed when he found out my Abomasnow wasn't carrying a Brightpowder.
I went into the tournament hoping to place in the top 64. I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams, placing into the top 16 with a 6-1 record. More importantly, however, was that like a Shellder on the tail of a Slowbro, I was hooked back into a game that I had given up on. I'm currently planning to go to Nats, where I plan on avenging my loss to kinderlew and hanging out with more cool Smogoners (and maybe Cybertron if he wants to acknowledge me this time =P).
