The Loss of Innocence - Nationals 2012 Warstory (UNFINISHED)

[Mosquito]

THIS IS AN UNFINISHED WORK




I'd like to begin this warstory by saying that this weekend has been one of the best experiences of my life. It had its ups and downs, but all together it was an amazing experience. Pokémon is not only enjoyable for its competitive and intellectual aspect, but also for the social aspect and the bonds that are formed. Though we all may try to win, in the end it is a game of luck and should be treated as such. One should always enjoy this game and not take it too seriously. So enjoy the read!

THE PROVIDENCE AND PHILADELPHIA SECTIONS WILL BE FILLED IN LATER


The Glass Menagerie - September 2011-November 2011

Note: Find the full story in Infinity.Cypher's warstory. I'm too lazy to type the social aspect because he already covered it.

I have been interested in competitive Pokémon since 2008, but I was never successful until 2011, when I made it through Regionals and Nationals with my friend Phillip Codio all the way to Worlds in the Senior Division. When we arrived back home in New York, people were already beginning to play B/W Double Cup. We experimented for a bit, but I wanted to enjoy the rest of my summer. Summer passed into Sophomore Year of high school, and I put less and less effort into Pokémon than I did into schoolwork, chess, and friends. Yet the VGC 2012 rules were announced, and I tried my best to play Pokémon. My friends and I (collectively known as Bloody Roses) would play every Friday night and I eventually designed teams for all of us to use at November Regionals.

Hide

Corwin's Team (GoodStuffs):
-Cresselia@Mental Herb
-Tyranitar@Chople Berry
-Hitmontop@Fight Gem
-Amoonguss@Occa Berry
-Zapdos@Lum Berry
-Latios@Life Orb

Liam's Team (DisQuake):
-Gengar@Focus Sash
-Zapdos@Lum Berry
-Metagross@Shuca Berry
-Garchomp@Yache Berry
-Abomasnow@Choice Scarf
-Rotom-W@Sitrus Berry

Phillip's Team (Icy Wind):
-Gyarados@Wacan Berry
-Tyranitar@Chople Berry
-Cresselia@Lum Berry
-Scrafty@Coba Berry
-Terrakion@Focus Sash
-Thundurus@Electric Gem

Kristian's Team (Tailwind):
-Zapdos@Lum Berry
-Tyranitar@Chople Berry
-Metagross@Shuca Berry
-Latios@Life Orb
-Terrakion@Focus Sash
-Tornadus@Flight Gem

So I spent a lot of time RNGing Pokémon for my friends because Corwin and Liam don't know how to RNG and Phillip only knows how to BW RNG. We travel to Providence, and we have a nice social time, but not really. Check Infinity's warstory for more.

Round 1 - Anthony Guevara
Infernape/Eelektross/Latios/Ludicolo/Cresselia/Abomasnow

He uses a TR team, which handily beats my team (NadusDos), which has no counter for TR. The Ice weaknesses on my team made it worse. (0-3)


Round 2 - Matthew Terriberry
Zapdos/Ludicolo/Metagross/Latios/Terrakion/Musharna

He uses a Scarf Metagross against my MetaDos, which will get KO'ed first turn. I eventually win after getting a sub up with my Latios while he protects with Terrakion. (3-0)


Round 3 - Craig Staruatelaky (sp?)
Jellicent/Amoonguss/Hariyama/Abomasnow/Metagross/Musharna

Another Trick Room team. I take out Amoonguss with Acrosbatics (Nadus/Dos, no Coba Berry), so I start out 4-3. My Tornadus gets a sub Turn 2 while he HH-CC with Hariyama on my Zapdos. From there, it's downhill for him. (2-0)


Round 4 - Kyle Morris
Hitmontop/Lickylicky/Zapdos/Latios/Garchomp/Tornadus

Short Battle. I lead with MetaDos, and first turn he sets up Tailwind while I OHKO Top with Meta. Turn 2, he does use an HP Fire on Meta, but I hit Latios hard while Protecting with Zapdos. Turn 3, I KO Latios and Tornadus. Turn 4, it's whittling his Meta down. He forfeits next turn. (4-1)


Round 5 -Anthony Rossano
Murkrow/Mienshao/Chandelure/Latios/Excadrill/Bisharp

I lead Tornadus/Ttar and he leads Murkrow Mienshao. I stupidly brought Ttar when he has Excadrill, so I eventually lose. Then again, maybe I should have set up Tailwind.... (0-3)


Round 6 - Sava Radovie
Politoed/Kingdra/Ludicolo/Jellicent/Toxicroak/{ }

Yes, that's right - he was running a five Pokémon Rain Team. I'm worrying about my battery (which is dying) so I don't concentrate enough and make some misplays. VIDEO COMING SOON.

(0-2)



Final score
16 Phillip 4-2
32 Kristian 3-3
40 Liam 2-4
49 Corwin 2-4

It disappointed me that I placed so poorly, and it reminded me of what Seniors was like last year and how I wished to be in that division again. Memories of a distant past....



Lord of The Flies - November 2011-April 2012

With April Regionals over, I went into a bit of a lull in Pokémon. AP World was killing me, and I didn't have enough time for Regionals. Alas, I did design the teams for my friends again, and we went to April Regionals in Philadelphia. Check Infinity.Cypher's warstory for the social aspect!

Philadelphia was a mess when it came to the whole tournament. People were running amok, it was very crowded, and it resembled one of the older tournaments. There were many complaints about hax and rage came off that day, especially with the postponing of the Masters tournament to three o'clock.

Hide

Corwin's Team:
-Garchomp
-Zapdos (no Discharge)
-Rotom-H
-Cresselia
-Hitmontop
-Metagross

Liam's Team:
-Garchomp
-Zapdos (Discharge)
-Rotom-H
-Musharna
-Swampert
-Metagross

Phillip's Team:
-Tyranitar
-Zapdos
-Rotom-H
-Cresselia
-Hitmontop
-Metagross

Kristian's Team (Skarmbliss Special)
-Chople Tyranitar
-Electric Gem TW Zapdos
-Life Orb Latios
-Lum Cresselia
-White Herb Hitmontop
-Occa Metagross

Round 1 - Josh Conrad (Virginia Regional Winner)
Garchomp/Tornadus/Conkeldurr/Scizor/Rotom-W/Latios

This match was bad. It started with a few predictions and switches, but I eventually take down his Rotom and he takes down my Meta to bring it to 3-3. His Chomp is at 1 HP (Sash), and my Latios is behind a sub. However, my Cresselia can't Icy Wind his Latios/Garchomp because of not one, but TWO full paralyses, which leads to my sub breaking and eventually me losing the game. (0-2)


Round 2 -Debbie Lee
Virizion/Electivire/Moltres/Seismitoad/Suicune/Landorus

I see this line up, and I'm like, "No... just no." I sweep with CressTop. (4-0)


Round 3 -Jim Kauterman
Scizor/Togekiss/Cloyster/Breloom/Whimsicott/Hydreigon

This was a fun match. I lead ZapTop and he leads Togekiss/Cloyster. I know that Cloyster will be setting up Shell Smash. Turn 1, he switches Cloyster for Whimsicott while I FO it and set up Tailwind. He Air Slashes my Hitmontop. Turn 2, I switch Zapdos for Metagorss anticipating the Encore. His Toge Protects and Whimsicott Charms my Hitmontop. But I have White Herb! I CC for 70%. Turn 3, I switch Top for Zapdos while his Whimsicott uses Tailwind. I later find out he doesn't have Encore. I Ice Punch Togekiss which T-Waves Metagross. Turn 4, Whimsicott Protects itself while I take out Togekiss. Turn 5, Zapdos... TBC (4-0)


Round 4 - Simon Yip (TDS)
Tyranitar/Garchomp/Metagross/Latios/Volcarona/Hitmontop

I win because of prediction and a burn on his Hitmontop. TBC (3-0)


Round 5 - Chalkey Horenstein (chalkey)
Scizor/Latios/Heatran/Gengar/Breloom/Empoleon

This was one of the best matches I've had in my life. An amazing amount of prediction and it was good. (3-0)


Round 6 - Nicholas Chinman
Terrakion/Hitmontop/Metagross/Latios/Zapdos/Suicune

I got a lot of hax this round. His Rock Slide missed my Zapdos, I got an Attack boost with my Metagross, his Draco Meteor misses my Zapdos just as it sets up Tailwind, and my Meta crit EQs his for the KO. That's an example of how matches can be lost on hax, without any intention of it happening. (3-0)


Round 7 - Wolfe Glick (wolfey, US National Champion)


I will say this: Wolfe definitely deserved to win the match. He was an excellent player and made many predictions and good moves. Wolfe, thank you for the battle. Oh, he won on time -.- (1-3)


This will be finished another time, so it's off to my Nats warstory.

 

[Mosquito]

Night - April 2012-June 2012

With April Regionals over, I knew that Bloody Roses would have only two months to prepare for Nationals. Unfortunately, testing and school got in everyone's way (especially for me, since I had to deal with the AP World Exam). Despite all of Phillip's pleas to practice more, I could never find time to play, except for maybe a few PO matches a week. Corwin decided against attending Nationals, so that left Phillip, Liam, and me to building teams. Once the AP World Exam was over, I was able to design a team for Liam, but Regents got in the way of training it. I played around with Swagger and decided to use a Thundurus/Cresselia core for my team. Regents got in the way of Pokémon, but once they were over, I could train our teams. Phillip decided on using plain old GoodStuffs, but I advised him to use Hydreigon. Training was a pain, but it had to be done. Luckily, we managed to train most of our stuff by Wednesday, but I still had to EV train some of my Pokémon.



The Glass Castle - Thursday, June 28th, 2012

Thursday began as it did for all of our Pokémon events - at midnight. Liam, Phillip, and I were sleeping over at Phillip's house, and we were busy finishing up parts of our teams. Liam had his team completely done, while Phillip and I had some Pokémon to EV train. I had to get a TM87 from the Battle Subway, so I was running through that, but we all needed sleep for the ride to Indiana, so we slept.

In the morning, we woke and ate breakfast. Phillip had McDonald's while Liam and I had Bagel's from the nearby Bagel Café. We all also had slurpees from 7-Eleven. Everything was in order and we packed our things, eventually leaving for LaGuardia Airport.

Our baggage

Floral Park in the morning.

The ride to Laguardia Airport was a little interesting. I ended up lecturing Phillip's younger Bobby on some of the landmarks. Honestly, one of the selling points of flying from LaGuardia is that there are actually landmarks to pass by (such as Flushing Meadows Corona Park or CitiField) unlike when riding to JFK. Phillip's mom, Phillip, Liam, Bobby, and I get dropped off by Phillip's dad, and we have an easy time getting through security at LaGuardia. We wait for our flight and eventually take off.

LaGuardia Airport

Liam's first plane ride!

So the flight was better than previous flights I've taken. There was more leg room, the plane was small (only four seats to a row), and there were friends to talk to. Take off was fine, and it was enjoyable looking at Manhattan from the plane. Towards the end of takeoff, my carried-on bag of Dorritos popped because I forgot to open it, so the explosion surprised the woman sitting next to me. The flight was spent EVing my Hydreigon, which helped with the flight. The flight endedu p taking less time than expected, so we arrived in Indianapolis International Airport earlier than expected. Upon landing, I get a call from my girlfriend and my best friend who were arguing over who should be my Physics Lab partner for next year. I laughed at it, and said I would tell them later. When we walked out of Indianapolis Airport, the escape from airconditioning into the 104 degrees Fahrenheit was intense. Thankfully we were in shade and there was a breeze, but the heat was really hard. Mrs. Codio called a taxi and we drove to our hotel, La Quinta Inns, about 15 minutes away from the convention center.

Indianapolis International Airport

Walking into air conditioning was a relief. We found out that the hotel had a slow elevator, so we took the stairs instead. What we found in our hotel room was a spacious suite, but it only had one bed. As such, we asked for a cot, which Phillip took, while Liam and I slept on the sofas (I got the smaller one). Mrs. Codio and Bobby slept on the bed.

This would be the perfect place to play, say, SSBM, rather than those small hotel rooms most people stay in, like in the Hilton San Diego Bayfront

Dat bed


After resting up for a bit (and playing some Touhou 6), we decided that we were hungry, so we went out to find the convention center and figure out how far away it was. Phillip and I knew that the mall had a food court, so we traveled in the heat for ten minutes (it's supposed to be a fifteen minute walk, but we're New Yorkers, so you know...). Upon arriving at the Circle Centre Mall, Liam and Phillip want to look at hats at Lids, so we digress for a few minutes, and then march on our way to the food court.

Downtown Indianapolis

Walking down East Maryland Street

Circle Center Mall

When we go to the food court, we immediately begin choosing our food. Phillip goes to buy Cajun, Liam gets Taco Bell, and I go to Great Steak. While waiting for order, I see two familiar figures, and I recognize them to be Trista and Omari (ryuzaki and BadIntent). I say hi, and we chitchat over dinner. We discussed trends in Pokémon usage (such as the fall of Latios and the rise of Swagger), as well as personal opinions on Hidden Power Flying and an explanation of the Skarmbliss special. Ryuzaki didn't finish her food (someone we'll see again), and Phillip, Liam, Bobby, Mrs. Codio, and I left, saying goodbye to Trsta and Omari. Trista did give me a Skarmbliss pin she made herself.

Great Steak

Ryuzaki, BadIntent, and me

So with food out of the way, Phillip, Liam, and I go back to Lids while Bobby and his mom go get his birthday present. After some time, we're back off to the hotel, because we honestly have nothing left to do. The walk back was hot, but not as bad as the first walk to the convention center. In cool air conditioning, we buy some soda (a recurring theme), and I'm off to finishing some last bits of my team. Eventually, with everything done, Phillip, Liam, and I play some Pokémon TCG. Thus ends Thursday, the day with expectations building as we await to enter the glass castle that will be finished.

Ryuzaki's Skarmbliss pin

Some TCG


Speak - Friday, June 29th, 2012

On Friday morning, we wake up early to my annoying alarm clock (which I set to the sound of church bells). After getting dressed, Phillip, Liam, and I go downstairs to eat breakfast. And what do you know, we see ryuzaki and JTK (Gabby) at the breakfast room of our hotel. I introduce Gabby to Liam, and small chit-chat goes on, on topics like RNG, competitive RBY, and how chalkey was rushing to get to Nationals. Ryuzaki doesn't finish her waffle, and she and Gabby leave for the convention center. Phillip and I argued over whether to use Salamence or Hydreigon, but it was pointless. The three of us left for the convention center, an especially exciting time for Liam, who has never been to Nationals before.

Entrance to the convention center

Wait... they're reusing the banner from last year?

So we're going down the escalator and the first thing we do is hit up the vendor set up across the hall from the main event. Phillip and Liam look through plushies while I'm interested in TCG stuff. On our way out of Troll & Toad and Collector's Cache, we run into none other than Senior National Champion Aaron Zheng (Cybertron)! We get a photo, but he leaves quickly. I was guessing that there was nothing to do except for TCG for then.

Even schedule

Cybertron and me

We walk into the main hall, and it's all there... like last year? Apparently they reused all the banners, wanting to save on money. Liam was impressed by the large display, but I was disappointed by the similar display to last year. We walk around for a bit, watching TCG from afar, seeing the TV displays for VGC, and looking for people that Phillip and I knew. This was Liam's first year at Nationals, and he wasn't really acquainted with most Smoggers. He's a little irked that Phillip and I wanted to come early on Friday, the day of nothing, to see people who Liam didn't know. We told him to try to make new friends, to speak, to find his voice to open up, but I can understand what it must be like for him.

Last year, Liam lost at Regionals to Phillip at Round 4. After Regionals, my dad said that only one person could come along to Nationals with me, for LCQ. To be fair, I decided that Liam and Phillip would play a best-of-13 Pokémon match to see who would go to Nats with me. Well, Liam wasn't well acquainted with his team, and to be fair, Phillip had the better team and had more experience with Double Cup (Liam didn't have a computer that could run Pokémon Online that year). Thus Phillip won handily, got to go with me to Nats, and the rest is history. Through Nationals and Worlds, Phillip and I got to meet many people, form bonds, and enjoy experiences Liam couldn't. It must have been bad....

While walking back to the stores, we bump into Aaron Grubbs (LPFan). We catch a picture, but to honest, there really was nothing to do at Nationals on Friday. We spent more time at the store, looking through TCG things. We each bough six packs of Next Destinies (a horrible idea, and we blame it on Phillip), and we mostly got bad cards, besides Liam's fullart Shaymin EX. We use these cards to build Liam a deck.

Pokémon US Nationals 2012

VGC Area

Phillip and Liam with their respective coloured dragons

LPFan and me

What a waste....


Upon finishing our TCG escapade, we go back into the store again to buy more TCG stuff. I notice Brandon Mitchell (Brandon13569) sitting outside the main hall drinking soda with his mom, so I drop by to say hello, and I start up some small talk with his mom, and then the four of us (sans Mrs. Mitchell) go to the open gaming room for randomness. Brandon is really quiet at this point, but it's ok. TCG commences between Liam, Phillip, and me while we all take turns facing Brandon (though I don't think Brandon faced Phillip). Liam faced Brandon and lost swiftly. My match against Brandon was a switch war, with a lot of prediction. He was using Sub Heatran, while I used Blissey. It was all about careful maneuvering, since his Heatran walled everything on my team besides Blissey, and Blissey walled everything but Gallade. I eventually lose the match when I misjudge my Blissey's speed and not attack Gallade when I outran it under Trick Room. It was a excellent game nonetheless. Oh, and I think I complained literally a dozen times about Jun (Infinity.Cypher) and Eujin (kiwidawg7) not being at Nats. There's always next year.

Blurry fail, but hey

Top tier battle

TCG


When we got hungry, we all went to the food court in the mall to get some food. Phillip always gets Cajun bourbon chicken.... We see a bunch of Smoggers there and I save seats for everybody. A person of note in this part of the story is Sapphire Birch, always referred to as Sapphire Birch and not his real name. So he begins to talk to us about metagaming (like Ryuzaki and BadIntent did), but he gets into the specifics of Team Preview. He explains to us how a battle can be decided by team preview (something I learned from PBR feared when team preview was first announced) and how having a certain Pokémon can "force" people to use Pokémon on their team (Shedinja, Ferrothorn), and how to employ these tactics to predict your opponent's lineup. It was a very interesting discussion, and it helped me recall a lot of experience back after not having played Pokémon for a while.

Sapphire Birch, Phillip, Brandon, Liam

Alaka, Ray, Dozz, and some others


From the food court, it's back to the open gaming room (and other things, I honestly forget). More TCG, more complaining about Jun and Eujin, and then bam! Someone challenges me to a Pokémon battle. I accept and hastily build a team to face this guy with. When we begin to battle, he introduces himself as Alex, or Sevrah on Smogon. It's been a week, and I don't remember the battle well, but I know that it ends in me winning over some shenanigans having to do with his Latias (Sevrah, fill me in here).

Sevrah and me

My mind goes really blank here, but I know that eventually registration begins and we're all rushing to finish up our teams. I ask Brandon for some PP Maxes, and he gives them to me. Eventually, I decide that I need some more time to decide the members of my team. I get off line (which is really short for Masters), and I work on my team there, thinking on what to do, trading them to White, and then deciding on my White trainer card. I ask Infinity for help for my trainer card, so he gives it. At this time, Brandon, Liam, and Phillip are done registering, and I'm still busy doing mine. For my trainer card, my trainer name is Kurisu. I, with Jun's adivce, make my slogan, "I beg you, GIRL. Please go with ME!" I'm a Rash Scientist, with a Pokédex of 87. Anyhow, I've decided my team, traded it, put it in the battle box, and so I went on line to register it (this is pre-registration, so you don't have to do it Saturday morning). Once registration was over, we go to Stake 'n Shake, which Phillip and I missed last year at Nats. Brandon tells us that it's inexpensive, but when we get there, there's a lot of people. The service isn't the best, but the food was great, and one could get a triple steakburger and fries for $3.99. We feast and enjoy the lunch, and then split the bill. By this time, Brandon is quite talkative, which I guess shows that he's shy at first, but when you get to know him, he's talkative.

Registration line for Juniors and Seniors

Steak 'n Shake

Steak 'n Shake

After the Stake 'n Shake, we're bored teenagers, so we go back to the convention center with nothing to do. We end up playing in some side events and winning some free cards. We see some of Team #Seniors playing around, and it's all fun. Greyson (Greysong) and his friend Andy are there. Greyson and I go around having fun with VGC 2011 teams to avoid team scouting. All in all, it was a fun day (Brandon won a lot of cards), but we had to go home and rest up for the next day. Phillip, Liam, and I left our new friends to go back to our hotel, to talk game theory, to practice VGC, to play TCG, and to sleep. Thus we met new people, made new friends, and began to speak.

Side Events




The Catcher in the Rye - Saturday, June 30th, 2012

TEAM DUMP

Hide

Max Euwe (Zapdos) @ Electric Gem
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
IVs: 30/xx/30/31/31/31
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Tailwind

Kramnik (Hitmontop) (M) @ White Herb
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spd
IVs: 31/31/31/xx/30/31
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch
- Wide Guard
- Fake Out

Karpov (Metagross) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 16 Spd
IVs: 31/31/30/xx/31/30
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Earthquake
- Bullet Punch

Polgar (Cresselia) (F) @ Mental Herb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 36 SAtk / 76 SDef
IVs: 31/xx/31/31/31/30
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Icy Wind
- Safeguard
- Swagger

Steinitz (Gastrodon) (M) @ Rindo Berry
Trait: Sticky Hold
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
IVs: 31/xx/31/30/31/27
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Muddy Water
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Recover

Spassky (Hydreigon) (M) @ Haban Berry
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 36 SAtk / 60 SDef / 156 Spd
IVs: 31/xx/31/31/31/31
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Protect
- Flamethrower

TBC

 

[kamz]

Beautiful just beautiful

 

[LPFan]

this

don't forget me

 

[Infinity.Cypher]

Kristian's Team (Skarmbliss Special)
-Chople Tyranitar
-Electric Gem TW Zapdos
-Life Orb Latios
-Lum Cresselia
-White Herb Hitmontop
-Occa Metagross

You *******! You said you were using basic Trick Room!
Anyways, nice warstory so far, I'll comment more when you finish :)

 

[VGCMASTER]

This is cool, please continue.