My VGC journey began thanks to the SmogCast, which sparked curiosity in the middle of my early-summer boredom. Since learning the basics of competitive Pokemon earlier this year, I'd been itching to test my knowledge/skills/luck, and the Newark regional seemed like the perfect place. Three weeks of intense research, EV-training, and Battle Subway later, I had a team. The concept was all my own, and I personally bred four of the six.
~11:45am--I hopped in line just behind Smogon's own cosmicexplorer. It would be another 45 minutes before we struck up a conversation.
1:31--The line closes as I completed registration for my first VGC event.
~1:35--Some guy (short, brown hair, black shirt) rage quit in real life! He quite literally ran from his battle, ducked under the ropes, dashed between waiting participants, and continued running. At this point I silently vowed I would not be bitter about my (almost certain) loss.
~1:45--My match begins. I see Amoonguss on the opposing team, but opt not to go with an anti-status group, which turns out to be the right call. I lost in about two turns, so I'll recap both of those: 1. Archeops and Musharna both attack Amoonguss; Amoonguss dies. Reuniclus uses Trick Room. Escavalier is sent out. 2. I Protect with Archeops, intending to reverse Trick Room with Musharna. Escavalier uses Mega Horn and OHKOs Musharna. From then on, I was playing with a serious deficit and couldn't recover. My remaining two Pokemon were in trouble in Trick Room, and neither could reverse it.
The coolest part was seeing the guy who beat me (SHALEEN) face a girl from my (very small) college (Fuzzy) in the 3rd round on a TV screen. She won by a small margin, and became a finalist after winning the fourth round. I didn't stick around to see how she did--if I had, I wouldn't be writing this now.
I still feel like my team is solid, all Trick Room Escavaliers aside. VGC was extremely fun, and I'll be back next year. Heck, I'll be at the LCQ this year--it's one of the perks of being a native of Indianapolis ^.^
~11:45am--I hopped in line just behind Smogon's own cosmicexplorer. It would be another 45 minutes before we struck up a conversation.
1:31--The line closes as I completed registration for my first VGC event.
~1:35--Some guy (short, brown hair, black shirt) rage quit in real life! He quite literally ran from his battle, ducked under the ropes, dashed between waiting participants, and continued running. At this point I silently vowed I would not be bitter about my (almost certain) loss.
~1:45--My match begins. I see Amoonguss on the opposing team, but opt not to go with an anti-status group, which turns out to be the right call. I lost in about two turns, so I'll recap both of those: 1. Archeops and Musharna both attack Amoonguss; Amoonguss dies. Reuniclus uses Trick Room. Escavalier is sent out. 2. I Protect with Archeops, intending to reverse Trick Room with Musharna. Escavalier uses Mega Horn and OHKOs Musharna. From then on, I was playing with a serious deficit and couldn't recover. My remaining two Pokemon were in trouble in Trick Room, and neither could reverse it.
The coolest part was seeing the guy who beat me (SHALEEN) face a girl from my (very small) college (Fuzzy) in the 3rd round on a TV screen. She won by a small margin, and became a finalist after winning the fourth round. I didn't stick around to see how she did--if I had, I wouldn't be writing this now.
I still feel like my team is solid, all Trick Room Escavaliers aside. VGC was extremely fun, and I'll be back next year. Heck, I'll be at the LCQ this year--it's one of the perks of being a native of Indianapolis ^.^
