For the sake of my rapidly-declining sanity, I shall not return to the Tower, or the Frontier at all, in 2010.
Basically, in a battle between 49 and my record, I got screwed by a PI using lead Rhydon:
Quick Claw, Stone Edge hits, also crits CritMagnet just for fun (would've killed anyway...)
Garchomp's Sub hit by non-QC Horn Drill, Sub again but he EQs, my EQ fails to KO so Chomp dies.
Quick Claw, Horn Drill hits Registeel.
Conclusion: To anyone who has passed 500 battles (Peterko, Jumpman16, probably Bozo by now...), you are f**king lucky. And how the f**k did Peterko last 2363 battles without such BS occuring until then?
In the Tower, Luck > Skill. I've known that for a long time, but........
screw it, I'll play some fun games. The only thing I still play Pokemon for is a real-life tournament next July (2010) in my city, where I intend to win, as opposed to being ridiculously haxed to a loss in the quarter-finals this year (2009).
Anyway, I hope this message doesn't come across as overly moody (kind of hard to talk about hax with a neutral tone), it's just that I probably won't have much to say in this thread any more.
I'll still be around Smogon though, since this site is FTW. Don't get much internet time though.
"Good luck" (smirk) to all current and future Tower/Frontier enthusiasts who still play it.