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Pokemon VGC 2010 DATES / rules announced for the US!

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Galactic Boss Cyrus said:
Remember, we get complete info when HGSS is released on March 14th. What we know now is basically a teaser.

However, what I can tell you now is that this tournament will be completely and totally wrecked by Rain Dance teams.
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I said the same thing in October - I predicted that there would be a huge spike in the number of Rain and Sun thanks to Groudon and Kyogre.

However, nearly everyone who's posted in this thread since then realized that we'd get the same rules as Japan (since it'd be stupid to introduce a second ruleset for the US), and we've been preparing the entire time.

That said, the inclusion of the Ubers isn't that terrible.

Galactic Boss Cyrus said:
With what? Groudon and Rayquaza? Rayquaza is simple to take down and Groudon, I can just switch out of and barrage.
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Abomasnow. Wood Hammer handles both Kyogre and Groudon, and he's slower, which means they don't get the weather off.

Before you start bawwwwwwwwwwwing about Mewtwo/Lugia/Ho-oh/Kyogre/Groudon/Rayquaza/Dialga/Palkia/Giratina being added, learn how to beat them. It's not difficult.
 
inclusion of the ubers isn't as bad but i have to admit there isn't as much varieties.
the most pokemon i see are kyogre and palkia on the same team, while groudon and dialga are also very common. There are ways to stop each team and yeah not an awful lot.

Oh and an interesting note to state, I have been to some unofficial tournies in Japan and Korea that often included the ubers with a specific rule of exclusion of the usage of the items on those pokemons. Apparently, Kyogres, Groudon,s Palkias, and etc aren't nearly as hard to handle with the "regular" pokemons when they cannot hold any items. Well just thought it was an interesting thing to shout out since a lot of people were talking about the powers of the ubers. lol
 
drcossack said:
Before you start bawwwwwwwwwwwing about Mewtwo/Lugia/Ho-oh/Kyogre/Groudon/Rayquaza/Dialga/Palkia/Giratina being added, learn how to beat them. It's not difficult.
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^ Yeah, most of these ubers can easily be taken down. In one of my tests, I've found that most of these aren't too much of a problem.
 
I hope this thing doesn't happen on the May long weekend. :/ I'll be in Japan.

I've been trying to figure out exactly how serious this is going to be this year as opposed to last year. It's a lot more popular now. I ran into a few 'serious' teams where it seemed like the player was trying to make it look like they knew what they were doing. I remember my first battle, my opponent's leads were Yanmega and Abomasnow. I...have no idea why. Neither of them survived Dusknoir and Weavile in with trick room, and the rest of his team went down just as easily.

In fact, I ran into a lot of people that used goodstuffs pokemon that somehow had no synergy. My second match was against some extreme looking asian guy who had a lot of concentration. He used common pokemon like Gyara/Garchomp etc. There was no EV training, but his movesets were normal. I took him down in three turns or something crazy like that.

Do you think there'll be more like that because the VGC is more popular this year? Or do you think we'll get some actual players? I figured while I was in Seattle that age would have something to do with skill, but I found that most older players in the senior division didn't seem to know what they were trying to do. I could see an attempt, but it just wasn't there. I think I was the youngest in the division, too.

I guess I was just surprised. To be honest, I'm sort of hoping for more of a challenge this year. I'd like to meet someone who actually knows what an EV is, and not just how to make cool movesets. Anyone here planning on hitting Seattle? (I'm sure there'll be a stop there.)
 
Feathers said:
I hope this thing doesn't happen on the May long weekend. :/ I'll be in Japan.

I've been trying to figure out exactly how serious this is going to be this year as opposed to last year. It's a lot more popular now. I ran into a few 'serious' teams where it seemed like the player was trying to make it look like they knew what they were doing. I remember my first battle, my opponent's leads were Yanmega and Abomasnow. I...have no idea why. Neither of them survived Dusknoir and Weavile in with trick room, and the rest of his team went down just as easily.

In fact, I ran into a lot of people that used goodstuffs pokemon that somehow had no synergy. My second match was against some extreme looking asian guy who had a lot of concentration. He used common pokemon like Gyara/Garchomp etc. There was no EV training, but his movesets were normal. I took him down in three turns or something crazy like that.

Do you think there'll be more like that because the VGC is more popular this year? Or do you think we'll get some actual players? I figured while I was in Seattle that age would have something to do with skill, but I found that most older players in the senior division didn't seem to know what they were trying to do. I could see an attempt, but it just wasn't there. I think I was the youngest in the division, too.

I guess I was just surprised. To be honest, I'm sort of hoping for more of a challenge this year. I'd like to meet someone who actually knows what an EV is, and not just how to make cool movesets. Anyone here planning on hitting Seattle? (I'm sure there'll be a stop there.)
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I'm going to hit Seattle again this year, as I participated as well in the senior division last year. I have to say that my first three matches were easy for me too. I don't actually remember too much from those battles; I just steamrolled away with a generic rain dance team. I don't think I had a battle that lasted for more than five minutes.

Actually, I remember one of my opponents had a plastic parrot on his shoulder and wore a pirate hat. The guy stood out of the crowd like a sore thumb even before our match. Once I OHKO'd his Garchomp on the first turn with Ice Beam, I knew I had already won.

But once I got into the top sixteen, I lost to a trickroom team. Hopefully I'll do better this year because I'm making more of an effort to get out and study other teams before the main event.

I'm not too sure what to expect this year in terms of skillfulness. I think that there are still going to be masses of inexperienced people using their ingame teams in an attempt to become "Pokemon masters"; it's not like they're suddenly going to disappear off the face of the earth given a year's time. And even if more experienced people turn up, there's also the chance that it'll be a random drawing deal and they won't get selected.

I don't know. I'm thinking skillfulness could go either way.
 
Feathers said:
Do you think there'll be more like that because the VGC is more popular this year? Or do you think we'll get some actual players? I figured while I was in Seattle that age would have something to do with skill, but I found that most older players in the senior division didn't seem to know what they were trying to do. I could see an attempt, but it just wasn't there. I think I was the youngest in the division, too.

I guess I was just surprised. To be honest, I'm sort of hoping for more of a challenge this year. I'd like to meet someone who actually knows what an EV is, and not just how to make cool movesets. Anyone here planning on hitting Seattle? (I'm sure there'll be a stop there.)
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I've had similar experiences. When I went to a Qualifier in '08, a Senior battle was being broadcast on a screen. One player had a Garchomp, the other had Zapdos. So I'm thinking, okay, this could be good.

And then the Garchomp uses GIGA IMPACT.

Then, without rain to boot, the other player uses Thunder on Garchomp. Of course, he could have meant to hit the other Pokemon (I can't remember what it was) or predict a switch in, but with the latter, couldn't he tell his opponent had a mediocre skill level?

Another guy I was facing in a Qualifier in '09 had obviously ignored the fact the format was DOUBLES, sent out something and a Skarmory, and immediately proceeds to Spike/Whirlwind as I set up Rain Dance and kill his teammate. I'm not even halfway good at VGC, but I beat this guy 4-0!

Then I get swept by a TR team next round (I think it was a Smogoner... anyone led with an Azelf and Spore Smeargle?) while my friend, who knows nothing about competitive battling, thinks EVs are fox Pokemon, and believes Blast Burn + Flash Fire is a great strategy for the tournament, faces three complete noobs and gets into the freaking FINALS. Yes, I was indeed ticked.

And I was in Seattle last year, but I'm not sure where I'll be this year as I've moved far from the Greater Seattle Area. I'm only one step higher than a noob anyway. :P

I'd like to see as many VGC locations as there are State Champs for the TCG, so all the in-game teams and non-competitive teams get weeded out early and don't interfere too much with the random number drawings.
 
Unfortunately Nintendo hasn't gotten VGC in India so I can't take part, but a few years down the road, I'll be going to the USA so I'll probably take part!
 
One thought I had. Is VGC in South Korea? HGSS is already in korean.

Also, in my case, if I don´t qualify in the spanish qualifiers, I´ll try again in french and italian ones. Indeed, is very possible that the Italian qualifiers would be the easiest ones to qualify since of the 5 big European countries, Italy is the one with less good players.
 
Bangisan said:
Also, in my case, if I don´t qualify in the spanish qualifiers, I´ll try again in french and italian ones. Indeed, is very possible that the Italian qualifiers would be the easiest ones to qualify since of the 5 big European countries, Italy is the one with less good players.
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I won't be offended by this comment since it's true to a certain extent, but a tournament advertised only on competitive forums is not likely to bring noobs
 
Metang with said:
I won't be offended by this comment since it's true to a certain extent, but a tournament advertised only on competitive forums is not likely to bring noobs
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Actually, a lot of little kids and noobs alike check pokemon.com, where there is enormous advertisement for the VGC. This is why there are so many inexperienced people at the VGC, and to be honest I can't blame them. The internet site says "Show that you're a true Pokemon Master!" or something to that effect that is clearly meant to hook in little kids.
 
But many not-so-little kids as well since most of these "kids" are 13 or 14 years old.

Also I think that Italy will be some kind of haven for a second chance and because of this the Italian qualifier will be one of the hardest in Europe - especially in the case of Italy being the last VGC qualifier in the European VGC schedule.

As to the discussion which European nation is the best one, I'll leave that for you to decide :P
 
I wonder what will happen in Spain. One only tournament style Berlin/Paris/London of last year? Or 4 tournaments in 4 different spanish cities and then the final in Madrid like last year here?

I prefer the latter, and not only for Spain. For all Europe. More people participating.
 
Okay, because I'm 1)lazy and 2)a noob, I'm planning to "translate" the champion's team from last year into this year's VGC. I mean, what better team to use than the champion's right? A quick reminder of what Kazuyuki Tsuji's team was:

Empoleon @ Wacan Berry
~ Surf
~ Hydro Pump
~ Protect
~ Icy Wind

Toxicraok @ Focus Sash
~ Cross Chop
~ Sucker Punch
~ Fake Out
~ Taunt

Snorlax @ Custap Berry
~ Return
~ Earthquake
~ Protect
~ Selfdestruct

Salamence @ Sitrus Berry
~ Draco Meteor
~ Heat Wave
~ Protect
~ Hydro Pump (Rain Dance?)

Ludicolo @ Lum Berry
~ Fake Out
~ Grass Knot
~ Rain Dance?
~ Surf / Hydro Pump?

And supposedly his last pokemon was a Metagross. Don't know the item or moveset.

So just looking at this team, it seems to me that he wanted to make a "goodstuffs" team that was capable of riding both Trick Room and Rain Dance. Against other goodstuffs, I guess he just had to outplay the opponent. It also seems that he purposely put Taunt on his Toxicroak as an "insurance policy" against suprise fringe strategies.

Now by "translating" the team, I mean making a team for the 2010 ruleset with the same general strategy: that is, "ride" the common enemy strategies to victory with a highly adaptable team. Now of course the first step in this process is determining what the "common" strategies are. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm guessing that due to the harder-hitting nature of ubers, and the presence of Drought and Drizzle, rain dance teams will be just as common if not more so, and trick room teams will be "replaced" by sunny day teams. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. But I really do need to know, as "my" whole strategy hinges on adapting to enemy strategies, so if anyone can inform me of what the metagame looks like, I would appreciate it. But I'm guessing no one will know for sure until we hear what is going on in the Japanese tournaments.

So anyway, what are some ideas for Pokemon that can "ride" the waves of Rain, Sun, AND Trick Room, all the while having the necessary components to defeat an enemy goodstuffs?
 
drug_duck said:
But many not-so-little kids as well since most of these "kids" are 13 or 14 years old.
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Really? I've grown up among believers of Pokemon being only for ages 4-10. MAYBE eleven. XP And the Senior division tends to be far more composed of adults than children to my experiences... Yeah, there's a few, of course. But not really a significant enough margin to make the tourneys any easier.

I don't live in Europe, but I think Metang could be right. Even if there's heavy advertisement, why would they spontaneously advertise more in Italy?
 
Randominator said:
Really? I've grown up among believers of Pokemon being only for ages 4-10. MAYBE eleven. XP And the Senior division tends to be far more composed of adults than children to my experiences... Yeah, there's a few, of course. But not really a significant enough margin to make the tourneys any easier.
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No really, you get a lot of 13-16 year olds playing Pokémon. At London there were 132 seniors and I think 13 juniors, to give an idea.

Even in the UK, Pokémon game sales and DSs owned by anyone under 20 are at pretty much a 1:1 ratio. Everyone I've known to have owned a DS/GBA/GBC, except adults who bought DSs for Brain Training etc, has had a Pokémon game for it.
 
Zog said:
No really, you get a lot of 13-16 year olds playing Pokémon. At London there were 132 seniors and I think 13 juniors, to give an idea.

Even in the UK, Pokémon game sales and DSs owned by anyone under 20 are at pretty much a 1:1 ratio. Everyone I've known to have owned a DS/GBA/GBC, except adults who bought DSs for Brain Training etc, has had a Pokémon game for it.
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yeah there are alot of older people like myself who still play, I know quite a few people who play but its surprising they dont know what EV/IV is.

Well i hope in the UK they switch the time around, because the early start on a saturday morning isnt good. They should let all the junior brightsparks go first so we get a lie in.
 
Akiratron said:
yeah there are alot of older people like myself who still play, I know quite a few people who play but its surprising they dont know what EV/IV is.

Well i hope in the UK they switch the time around, because the early start on a saturday morning isnt good. They should let all the junior brightsparks go first so we get a lie in.
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since I have this thing where I can have more tha none game file at a time in a chip (im sure what it is :D), my friends have been playing on it with one file for each one of them. None of them what what evs, ivs, natures' importance, and what not are. they have been utilizing things like bidoof and whatever they found . I actually admire this since they do it purely for fun :D
 
lordkira said:
since I have this thing where I can have more tha none game file at a time in a chip (im sure what it is :D), my friends have been playing on it with one file for each one of them. None of them what what evs, ivs, natures' importance, and what not are. they have been utilizing things like bidoof and whatever they found . I actually admire this since they do it purely for fun :D
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I guess thats the original way of how pokemon is supposed to be played, making use of resources and the element of randomly catching/breeding without knowledge of the ingame mechanics/RNG etc. I guess you could say once you know these things - it's the equivalent of finding out Santa doesnt exist and losing your innocence turning into a competitive hungry battlebreederpawnerevtraineriv trainer. I admire the guys too that play without this knowledge, its just a shame when they enter things like VGC :( as they put the work in not realising the true potential
 
Akiratron said:
I guess thats the original way of how pokemon is supposed to be played, making use of resources and the element of randomly catching/breeding without knowledge of the ingame mechanics/RNG etc. I guess you could say once you know these things - it's the equivalent of finding out Santa doesnt exist and losing your innocence turning into a competitive hungry battlebreederpawnerevtraineriv trainer. I admire the guys too that play without this knowledge, its just a shame when they enter things like VGC :( as they put the work in not realising the true potential
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Yeah, I tried looking through the pokemon guide books with all the pokemon pictures like last month because I was reminiscing about the old days when my brother and I used to sit on the sofa and just go through every single one of them and just tell each other how awesome each of them were. Now, when I tried it...I couldn't help myself to think just how terrible some are competitively, which made me sad kinda lol.

Oh and yeah when i was in Japan and Korea, a lot of teh vgc competitive players were talking about just how terrible europeans and americans are. I feel like it's that way since most euro, americans players aren't vgc players but smogon-oriented competitive players. oh well, I'm still getting used to VGC style haha.

I wish many smogon playres will be qualified this time for teh tourny and show them :(

Akiratron said:
Yeah i know the feeling, I guess Smogon generally dominates in competitive play. Look at how were going for:

31/31/31/31/31/0 Brave

In trick room just so our guys can go first, but VGC is competitive in my eyes. Yeah it's having fun, but everyone who goes wants to win :) so I don't know why they'd be hating on us Westerners. They get all the events/games first - i wouldnt be complaining lol

EDIT: just bookedmarked that skarmbliss site - props on the site man
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They also get all the weird unofficial tournies that hundreds of people compete like every weekends and what not.

But yeah, they were having fun and wlel...Ilove this game so...lol

As for the 2010 vgc...I wish a westerner will win just to show them off that we can do it too :(
 
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