I sincerely hoped everybody enjoyed their appetizer in the Germany National Championships, because the main course is about to be dished up this weekend in the second National event! Once again, players will be dining of a bountiful feast of Championship Points, with Europe’s finest Pokémon Trainers gearing up to do battle in Manchester, United Kingdom on the 30^th and 31^st May. In this preview article, we will have a quick look at how the European standings are looking following the results in Germany, having a small foray into the metagame by having a glance at the usage data for the top teams and going over the important details to be aware of regarding the event. After that, we’ll dive into the players and predictions, looking at who is hot and who is not.

Prizes

As expected, there is a mountain of Championship Points on the line for players attending, far above what has been seen so far at the Regional events. These points are critical for securing that important invite to the Pokémon World Championships that are being held in Boston, Massachusetts from 21^st – 23^rd August. In addition to the points, there will be some very valuable Pokémon and Nintendo prizes on offer to those who do well.

1^st Place:

• 1^st Place ‘Pokemon VG National Champion’ Trophy
• Nintendo Wii U Deluxe
• 600 Championship Points

2^nd Place:

• 2^nd Place ‘Pokemon VG National Finalist’ Trophy
• A Nintendo 3DS XL system (or New 3DS if available)
• 500 Championship Points

3^rd & 4^th Place:

• 3^rd and 4^th Place ‘Pokemon VG National Semi-Finalist’ Trophies
• A Nintendo 3DS XL system (or New 3DS if available)
• 400 Championship Points

5^th – 8^th Place:

• 300 Championship Points

9^th – 16^th Place:

• 200 Championship Points

17^th – 32^nd Place:

• 150 Championship Points

33^rd – 64^th Place:

• 100 Championship Points [128+ Players Required]

65^th – 128^th Place:

• 50 Championship Points [256+ Players Required]

Current CP Rankings (Top 16)

With the season now starting to reach a climax, each of the preview articles for the National Championships will feature the current CP Rankings in Europe. I will be focusing on the paid world invite positions, the Top 16 in Europe, as well as give the current cut-off for the unpaid invites for reference. These figures are correct as of the 23^th May on Pokémon Global Link:

As expected, there was a very large shake-up of the positions that the head of the field. Unsurprisingly those that did very well saw some of the largest gains position-wise. This weekend will see the volatility of the top spots be much less pronounced than before. The estimation from the last article regarding the expected cut-off for the Top 16 was largely on point. However, the Top 60 moved substantially less than what I had personally expected and estimated for. While estimation and modelling can give us a good idea of the possible cut off points, it is by no means an exact science. Expect Top 16 after Manchester to be around 435 CP, with Top 60 looking at 260 CP.

The Metagame

The various events we have already had in Europe so far has given us a fairly narrow but otherwise important view of the metagame thus far. German Nationals will be a significant event that may define how players adapt to what was popular and what did well in general. I’m going to cover two separate breakdowns that I think are worth noting; the usage of Mega Pokemon and the overall usage stats.

• The first thing we should note is there was a surprisingly high diversity of Mega Pokemon used in the top cut, 15 different species across the 38 currently recorded teams. This diversity is wider than anticipated and has some very unorthodox picks such as Tyranitar, Sharpedo and Slowbro.
• Kangaskhan remains the most popular Mega Pokemon to use on a team with around 30% of the usage. This certainly reflects its general consistency, but it is significantly lower than earlier in the season. More players are starting to diverge from the comfort zone and are choosing other popular options, a trend we can expect to see replicated as we carry on through the remainder of this year.
• Charizard-Y has seen a notable upswing in usage with use on almost a quarter of top cut teams. In many ways this is not a surprise as Steel-types have been very common sight on nearly every team, so Charizard-Y is a natural pick, often backed up with a good supporting cast of teammates.
• Venusaur remains a respectable Mega evolution choice among top players thanks to its superb bulk and ability to stick around for extended periods of time. It still showcases itself as a good choice to run on a double mega team on the whole, thanks in part to how it can often be good when the other mega struggles in specific matchups.
• Metagross and Salamence have seen a massive fall from grace since the first half of the year in Europe. Metagross can be explained to struggle thanks to the glut of Fire-types now being used to rebuff the Steel-types that have become a common sight. Salamence’s drop is much harder to explain, and I expect through a combination of factors. Realistically, Salamence has not seen a set that has taken the meta by storm yet, so many people are still trying to experiment with it. It also needs good support to work effectively, something that I expect many have found difficult to work around.
• Gardevoir looks to be creeping up in usage as a Mega, possibly as people try and imitate the surge of popularity it has seen in the Japanese community. I think this will be something people should be wary of in future National events, as it can provide versatility in strategies for a team, and Hyper Voice with Pixilate is not something that will go away quietly.

• Once again, the diversity of Pokemon being used at the top level is quite notable, with 67 different Pokemon choices being used across the known 38 teams. People are trying to experiment with new ideas, which is a good sign for the future National events and Worlds. Just over half of the various Pokemon saw usage on more than one team in the top cut.
• Landorus-Therian was, unsurprisingly, the most common choice of Pokemon on teams with 23 appearances in total, including 7 of the Top 8 players using it on their respective teams. It’s possibly a testament to how good it actually is to see how many players are resorting to using it. It has the perfect storm of Rock Slide and Earthquake at its disposal which covers a wide array of the metagame, and has a plethora of other options such as Superpower, Knock Off, U-Turn etc. You have to be prepared for this threat. I expect this will be the peak of its usage, as people will be looking for ways to bring it under control.
• Outside of the Pokemon commonly used as a Mega evolution, Thundurus, Heatran and Aegislash all saw healthy use across the top cut teams as generally expected. Thundurus is the de-facto best Prankster user in the game in terms of overall bulk, utility and damage output. It can be run with notable items such as Leftovers and Sitrus Berry, and most will carry a combination of Thunder Wave, Taunt, Swagger or Protect in addition to Thunderbolt and the largely common Hidden Power Ice.
• Heatran stands out as the main bulky Fire-type in the meta as well as one of the best Steel-types which have been omniscient thus far this year. The conventional wisdom of how to run Heatran is slowly starting to fragment, as some opt to run Timid over the conventional Modest to out-speed in mirror-matches. General consensus still opts for the reliable Substitute variant with Leftovers, but be aware for the Shuca Berry and Air Balloon Heatran, as they will aim to force the hand of opposing trainers to march to their beat to remove it.
• Aegislash is definitely finding itself as a solid choice for many trainers because of its offensive and defensive qualities that provide versatility in spades. Most Aegislash will run King’s Shield, Shadow Ball and Flash Cannon, and will commonly carry either Substitute or Wide Guard as a fourth move. Leftovers is the common choice of item on Substitute sets, but expect Weakness Policy or Life Orb otherwise.
• Water types seem to be finding themselves gaining traction. Suicune has been a popular choice so far for most of the season after various popular players having success with it. Its bulk and useful team support options makes it a reliable choice. Rotom-Wash however has once more come to the fore with a formidable defensive typing, as well as a nifty Ground immunity. It provides reasonable versatility by being run either as a bulky wall or with a more aggressive preference. I can foresee Rotom-W gaining more use as we continue on towards Boston.
• The fall from grace of Talonflame in Germany is an intriguing showcase that the metagame has shifted away from it at the top level. Only one in the top cut was a surprise to me, but perhaps the top players will say it has been a long time coming for its decline to occur. It can still pose a valid threat to certain Pokemon, but it lacks raw power that can only be truly achieved with the Life Orb or Choice Band. The kamikaze nature of Talonflame can be useful for tearing holes in a team, but often at the expense of leaving a gaping hole in your own.

The Main Event

Difficulty Rating:

/ 5

(Five Pokémon depicting a totally legitimate British experience at the seaside, honest!) / 5

Location: Event City, Phoenix Way, Barton Dock Road, Manchester, M41 7TB

Registration Time: 10.30am – 12.00pm (First seating planned to be around 12.45pm)

In addition to the above information, there are a couple of further points that are worth noting. Players are advised that there will be no lunch break during the swiss rounds. Players should take note that there is a 45 minute block scheduled between the close of registration to the first seating where the organisers have recommend getting lunch. Drinks and snacks will be offered at the venue, and players are advised to consume food and drinks between rounds. Please remember to take your Player ID to the event if you already have one. There will not be any byes awarded for the first round of swiss this year for those at the top of the CP Rankings, so everyone will starting on a level playing field regardless of their achievement this season to date.

As was the case in Stuttgart, the top cut portion of the event will see anyone with a X-2 record or better proceed to the single elimination stages, provided that the relevant age bracket has 65 or more players. It is pretty much a certainty that Masters will hit this modest threshold, and the Senior division may also hit the threshold. Juniors however may run according to fixed top cut numbers, but should be aware of the possibility.

You can find a complete rundown of the event times for the weekend here as well as a comprehensive view of the rules, regulations and schedule here. There may be streamed content, although at this stage this is merely a rumor and should be treated as such until confirmed. Should information become available about this, it will be mentioned in the comments.

Last Years’ Results:

1. Albert Bañeres (Arbol Deku)
2. Miguel Marti de la Torre (Sekiam)
3. Carlo Arbelli (shinycarletto)
4. Kelly Mercier-White (KellsterCartier)
5. Jamie Miller (Blaze King7)
6. Niall Crallan (The Last Sheikah)
7. Baris Ackos (Billa)
8. Joshua Schmidt (Gamebreak0r)
9. Tyler Bakhtiari (Pokeguru01)
10. Terence Dray (Ty Flowsion)
11. Claudio Serpa (TrickSage)
12. Luigi LoGuidice (LPROX)
13. Ben Kyriakou (Kyriakou)
14. Luke Chaplin
15. Dario Crestani
16. Lee Watson (Redemption003)
17. Barry Anderson (Baz Anderson)
18. Sam Bentham (SuperIntegration)
19. Richard Fairbrother (Nidorich)
20. Chris Foulds (Accelerator)
21. Phillip de Sousa (P3DS)
22. Raphael Candelaresi
23. Lajos K. (Lajo)
24. Simon He
25. Steve Edgson (SirSmoke)
26. Joe Wilson (Russian)
27. Pedro Lima (Findow)
28. Erik Anderson
29. Lee Provost (Osirus)
30. Daniel Nolan (Zog)
31. Guillermo Sanavia
32. William Tansley (StarKO)

The Scoop

Historically in Europe, the United Kingdom National event has always pulled in the largest participant numbers and with it, a notable slew of high-profile players. There’s a real expectation that this trend is likely to continue this year, both providing an exciting and daunting prospect for those attending in equal measure. The venue is fantastic in terms of size, is situated in a very convenient location with regard to local hotels and the shopping centre is literally a short walk away to get any required amenities. I do want to temper expectations with respect to the speed and efficiency we should expect at this event. The past couple of years have been notable for the wrong reasons in the view of many players. I am at least hopeful that the organisers will have learned from the mistakes and this event should be a significant improvement. Despite this though, the atmosphere will be electric inside the venue, and should provide some shockingly good battles!

Returning Top-Cut Players

With a top cut of 32 players last year, we have a host of key names to run through on the list, as just over half have confirmed that they will be returning, with a few more potentially also making the trip. Last years’ winner, Spain’s Albert Baneres is one of the few I do not have information on whether he will be back to try and reprise his title, but given the Spanish contingent at this event is likely to be pretty formidable, I’m fairly confident he will be amongst them. The runner-up of Miguel Marti de la Torre I have been given notice of attending thanks to a friendly source. I am hopeful both Albert and Miguel will showcase the strength of the Spanish scene, as they are generally under-appreciated on Nugget Bridge. Of the semi-finalists, I do not unfortunately have any information on Carlo Arbelli being in attendance, and with regards to Kelly Mercier-White, he will now be attending after a late change of plans. Apparently he had tickets to something called a ‘Foo Fighters Concert’ on the Saturday. Personally I think it’s shameful that some hyped-up band of musicians is more important than a National Pokemon event, but there you go! Joking aside, Kelly only managed to acquire 50 CP in Stuttgart, and while still resides in the Top 16, he now feels he needs to attend the UK event to give himself the best chance of the invite.

Three of the quarter-finalists from last year are returning in Jamie Miller, Niall Crallan and Baris Ackos. Jamie certainly made a huge statement of intent last year here going undefeated in his swiss flight and has subsequently followed up with a healthy run to the Top 16 in Stuttgart a couple of weeks ago. As a consequence of his superb performance, he now sits just outside the Top 16 in the rankings, on 306 CP. Niall Crallan is a Brit that has been on the scene for a little while now, but I have very little information to go on. I can only apologise to him for the lack of any meaningful information, hopefully I will get acquainted so I can do more justice to him for future previews. His attendance will be warmly welcomed and I’m he’ll be looking for another strong performance in Manchester potentially. Finally, Baris is here off the back of a very important 3^rd Place result over in Stuttgart. He still however sits 2^nd in Europe after Markus Stefan leapfrogged him in the standings. Despite this however, Baris should be pretty much confirmed for his paid invite, barring some star-aligning permutations. Once again, I expect he will secure another strong result in Manchester to really tighten the screw as he will no doubt want to head the standings at the close of the season.

The remaining players I’m covering are all individuals who have confirmed they will be in attendance. Tyler Bakhtiari will be looking to avenge his poor Sutton Coldfield result and earn some points from this event, something of a rare commodity for him presently with only 26 CP. In a similar situation, Terence Dray is also lacking points to his name with only 20 CP. Last year saw Terence have a breakout performance, but realistically we have yet to see any further notable results, so expectations will be kept in check. Ben Kyriakou meanwhile may be keen to invoke the spirit of past performances from this event given his season thus far. Ben did however claim championship points with his 5-4 result in Stuttgart, giving him a total of 92 CP thus far, and lies in 173^rd position. Barry Anderson meanwhile was the agonising loser from the trip with 129^th in the standings meaning he came away pointless from the trip and falls to 15th in the rankings. Richard Fairbrother will be at the event, currently he sits marginally in front of Ben Kyriakou in the standings at 170^th. I’m honour bound to cut short any further mention because he didn’t want me to curse him again in the preview articles! In all seriousness, Richard will be looking to impress at this event, and I look forward to getting some more battles in with him at some stage.

One individual that we’ve yet to touch upon is the UK Regional winner Phillip de Sousa. Phillip has so far only attended the one event, but the 120 CP is enough to slot him neatly into 125^th on the rankings, and reasonably within reach of the Top 60. I think a few people will be wary of his name, especially if he is continuing to pilot the team that he conquered Sutton Coldfield with. Lajos Kowalewski is another name that people will be worth keeping an eye on, after a Top 64 result in Stuttgart brings his total CP count to 266. This means Lajos makes a modest move up the rankings to 33^rd Place. In a similar manner to Phillip, Lajos is within touching distance of the paid invite slots, a little under 50 points away. One player to bring down the curtain on a flawless Nationals top cut record was Steve Edgson, after he only managed to achieve a Top 128 placing. In all fairness, nobody can reasonably expect to cut every event they attend, so it is always a case of ‘if’ and not ‘when.’ Nonetheless, Steve bagged important points and climbed 23 places in the rankings to 70^th place, but will most likely require a better result here in Manchester. Portuguese player Pedro Lima is also making an appearance in Manchester. His season thus far has seen him earn 142 CP, and is down in 97^th in the rankings. It will be interesting to see how Pedro does here; a strong result here will put him in a strong position heading into Italian Nationals, otherwise it will be a last chance saloon. Lee Provost made the trip to Stuttgart and came away with 50 CP to increase his total to a very healthy 263 CP. Despite that, Lee did drop in the rankings to 34^th Place, down 20 spots immediately prior to Stuttgart. I don’t have many reasons as to why Lee did not have as prominent a showing as would have been expected from him. The home advantage however will likely provide that added boost that’s needed at these sorts of events. I’m happy to say that Daniel Nolan will be once more gracing his holy presence in Manchester after also making the trip to Stuttgart to spread the Zog way of life, with the mystery of the floating Ringbrot just one more story to add to the collective tales. His wit, humour and fashion sense is quite literally infectious, and it is good to see him getting back into competing at more events. Expect a new series of the ‘Tales of Zog’ to appear soon. William Tansley rounds out our top cut players. His showing in Germany was less than stellar, falling outside of the points-paying positions. As a result, Will has fallen back into the main group vying for invites, to 50^th Place.

There may be more names that made top cut last year that I’ve not mentioned who are going, but I cannot be certain due to a lack of information. Most will likely be present as in the case of Joe Wilson as an example, this is their home National event.

Players to look out for

So with the names of those that top cut from last year all accounted for, I’m going to turn my attention to the players at the head of the rankings who have yet to be given a warranted mention. Luca Breitlig-Pause is the highest name on this list at 4^th spot in the rankings, up 34 places after a glorious Semi-Final finish. This is certainly a huge breakthrough for Luca, and will not doubt give him lots of confidence heading into the remaining events of the season, as he looks to claim a deserved paid invite spot. Matteo Gini certainly made a huge statement of intent with his Quarter-Finals run in Germany, with Baris being the player to halt his advance in the single elimination rounds. The healthy injection of points means he moves up 5 places to 5^th in the rankings, with a total of 536 CP. His invite to worlds is essentially secured, but Matteo will be looking to lock up the paid invite with another strong performance in Manchester. Despite only achieving a Top 64 result in Stuttgart and having dropped five spots in the rankings, Yan Sym is looking much more likely to secure his first world’s invitation. Yan still needs another small injection of points to add to his 374 CP to be absolutely sure, but his consistency at earning points across events will stand him in good stead. Markus Stadter had a hard-earned Top 32 from his home regional, and the 150 points was a much needed boost to his tally to lift him 20 places to 14^th in the rankings on 326 CP. Markus will be looking for another strong, assured performance in Manchester to maintain his position, as I feel he has not yet locked up his invite, so expect stiff opposition if you face him. Christoph Kugeler also has a day 2 and paid invite in his sights. The 100 CP he earned in Stuttgart was enough to cling onto the Top 16 in the rankings.

For the sake of completion, there are a few names that I have yet to be mentioned. Luigi Lo Giudice I believe could be in attendance, but I’ve not had any firm confirmation to confirm or deny, while Huib Buijssen was meant to also be attending, but I believe this is no longer the case owing to exams.

The Chasing Pack

Even with all the names mentioned thus far, we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg as there are still dozens of respected players who will be scrapping tooth and nail to win this event. Here are a few of the major names I’m tipping to be in the thick of proceedings:

UK

As expected, the cast of names from the UK is a long-winded affair, so the following names are my main picks.

• Jake Birch (WhiteAfroKing92) – currently sits 58^th in the rankings, is always a solid pick to do well at events like this generally, and is well-respected among the British contingent. He will need points to keep inside the invite threshold, something definitely not beyond him.
• Brandon Ikin (Toquill) – currently sitting 92^nd in the rankings, Brandon is a fan-favourite with a cult following. This could be his major breakthrough in the Masters’ division and has shown great form of late with his deep run in the Nugget Bridge Major 4.
• Christopher Arthur (Koryo) – Chris’s earlier success in the season has hit something of a wall of late which has seen him fall down the rankings to 98th. Having come home without any CP from Stuttgart, Chris will be keen for a strong home showing to stop the rot.
• Justin Miller (ThrillerMiller9) – In contrast to his brother Jamie, Justin went down the rankings and currently sits in 100^th Place. Justin is more than capable of producing a virtuoso performance when on form, I’m hopeful this weekend will be the one.

Germany

Outside of the British players, Germany will have a high representation in Manchester, with many of the following names being well-respected players with a myriad of accolades between them.

• Timo Koppetsch (37TimoK1) – Timo currently sits 29^th in the standings after a modest Top 64 result in Stuttgart allowed him to keep in touching distance of the paid invite spots. Certainly one of the favourites amongst the German players listed here to potentially have a deep run.
• Florian Wurdack (DaFlo) – At 35^th in the standings, Florian had a low key German Nationals, only increasing his CP tally by 50. I don’t think he’s totally comfortable with the metagame at present, but I think it’s a feeling a lot of players have had this season. Either way, he’ll be keen to cement his place for Boston this weekend.
• Matthias Suchodolski (Lega) – Sitting 43^rd in the standings, Matthias was unable to add any points to his tally in Stuttgart. His visit to Manchester will therefore be a crucial test of nerve and understanding where improvements can be made.
• Nemanja Sandic (Porengan) – currently sitting at 44th in the rankings, Nemanja was the top seed after swiss in Stuttgart and turned heads with some of his original interpretations for some Pokemon. Expect more of the same in Manchester, although will be interesting to see if he has more aces up his sleeve.
• Jan Michelberger (Lati) – Jan slipped 31 places to 77^th in the standings after Stuttgart, and will need a top cut result to guarantee he is inside the invite spots heading to Italy. Jan is certainly capable of achieving this, but again, this event will be a serious test of nerve.

Italy

While Italy has a heavy representation in the CP standings, as well as a rich history in the game, there will be substantially fewer players making the trip. With Italy Nationals only two weeks away being right on the doorstep, it’s understandable, but there will still be a few big names who will be keen to press home their advantage.

• Arash Ommati (Mean) – 23^rd in the standings after securing another 50 CP, the 2013 World Champion will certainly be looking to turn heads in Manchester. He can certainly evaluate a metagame to make the correct call as he has proven before, can he produce another spell of brilliance here?
• Alberto Gini (BraindeadPrimeape) – Alby also earned 50 CP from Stuttgart and currently lies 26^th in the standings. Once again, the Gini brothers are unrivalled in terms of skill compared to other sibling groups. Alberto will certainly be keen not be outdone once again by Matteo, so expect fireworks!

Ireland

While Kelly is going to be the main standard-bearer for Irish hopes this weekend, we should do well not to forget that there will be other Irish players who are making the trip who are more than capable of getting in the mix.

• Conor McNamara (Garchamp) – Down in 94^th place, Conor is much more of an unknown factor to many players, but as Kelly will attest to, he is definitely no pushover. This weekend will be his first major event this year, and do not be surprised to see his name near the top of the standings.

Outside of Masters…

In the Senior division, home-grown hopes will be firmly looking towards Mark McQuillan (woopahking) to get a big win. Unfortunately the CP lists have not updated with the points from Stuttgart as of writing, but Mark is likely to be within the Top 16 in the standings at a cursory glance. His biggest challenger will likely come from Italian Gabriele Spagnolo who is I am told expected to make the trip over, and will similarly expected to be within the Top 8 for Seniors after the update.

In the Junior division, we have four strong British entrants who will all likely be attending in Ethan K., Jaden D., Lisle C. and Rhys S. However, competition from the continent will be extremely fierce with Samet D. from Germany, Giovanni T. from Italy and Jocelyn A. from France possible opposition in Manchester as they battle for their own invites to Boston.

As an added extra…

Once again, I’ve had the pleasure to join Baz Anderson for one of his YouTube videos along with Jamie Miller and Szymon Wodjat. In this preview video, we discuss our thoughts and reflections from Stuttgart as well as looking forward to Manchester, among other topics. Please feel free to watch as Baz, Jamie, Szymon and I go over the main points of interest.

The Crystal Ball Predicts…: Once again, the high standard of players making their way to Manchester makes this event a very difficult one to predict. In much the same way that Germany’s top cut was largely comprised of home players, we should expect there to be a similar situation occur here. While we did see a sizeable number of established players make the cut a fortnight ago, we should also note that there were also many players for whom we were not aware of. I am this week going to make a prediction, and my head wins over my heart by opting for Markus Stadter. Given Markus is still chasing to guarantee his spot at worlds he will be giving it his all this weekend, and will certainly have made sensible adaptations to his team from Stuttgart to get ahead of the field.

Final Words…

I will be there! It feels like forever since my last major tournament outing, even though that was back in April, but this is definitely the one I’ve been very excited to attend since basically June last year. From sending out all the private messages and replies to obtain the information, I am certainly planning to introduce myself to a lot of people. Okay, so the game is meant to be the main event, but I am genuinely looking forward to hanging out this weekend. I’m looking into a T-Shirt with my Nugget Bridge username on it, but failing that, I’m sure I can recycle the “got lost going to Hawaii Worlds 2012” number I used at UK Regionals! Finally, I want to wish everyone attending this weekend the best of luck, and may the RNG forever be in your favour!

Please leave any comments and feedback as it is always gratefully received, and please feel free to share your opinions about any of the discursive points that have been made in this article.

The post VGC 2015 United Kingdom National Preview appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

The third and final week of the North American Spring Regionals is finally upon us. These are the last two US Regionals before US Nationals in July. A lot of players will be traveling in order to scramble for last minute crucial points as stipends are decided for Nationals, and of course qualification for the World Championships.

Wisconsin

Difficulty Rating:
/ 5

(Four Pokemon definitely native to Wisconsin and an Untrained Mamoswine out of Five)

Location: Monona Terrace, One John Nolen Drive, Madison, WI 53703

Registration Time: Saturday 8:00 AM

Last Year’s Winner: Collin Heier (TheBattleRoom)

Team Wisconsin

Starting off the preview strong with last year’s Madison champion, Collin Heier (TheBattleRoom) is 7th in North American CP entering this weekend. Collin already has his Day 1 World Championship invite from his Top 4 Worlds placing last season, but is playing for his spot for the Top 8 stipend for Nationals as well as the Day 2 automatic qualifier. He’s got a Top 16 regional that he can replace at Madison. Fellow Wisconsin resident Zach Droegkamp (Braverius) will also be competing on “home territory” this weekend. Zach’s got two Top 64 finishes already and there is a lot of potential for an increase in Championship Points for him. A lot of players will enter this weekend with their best finish limit reached already of course, and some will have an “easier” time improving on some of their less valuable finishes. Just as an example, if Zach and Collin both get Top 8 at this regional, they’ll earn 60 CP. But Collin replaces a finish worth 40 CP and Zach replaces one worth 20 CP. So Zach would gain 40 CP and Collin would only get 20 CP.

Team Ohio

Ohio will be sending quite a few highly competitive players to Madison this weekend, including two players in the Top 8 of Championship Points. David Mancuso (Mancuso) and Ashton Cox (linkyoshimario) are at 2nd and 4th place respectively in the Championship Point rankings. Both of them have had incredibly impressive seasons to date. David received a majority of his CP from the 2014 format in the Fall, but also earned 2nd place at the Florida regional in the winter. Ashton recently placed second at the Massachusetts regional a couple of weeks ago. Funny enough, both of these guys got the opportunity to lose to Wolfe Glick in the finals of their respective tournaments. As if having two of the top 4 players in North America wasn’t enough, Ohio could be sending Alec Rubin (amr97), Andy Himes (Amarillo), Kyle Timbrook (TM Ruby), and Thomas McCready (Tmac). Alec, Andy, and Kyle are all top 32 in Championship Points right now, with Thomas just outside Top 40. Top 32 is the $1000 stipend cutoff for US Nationals so these guys are looking to at least do well enough to stay in their respective positions, with Thomas having the potential to sneak right in there.

Team Michigan

I expect most of the Michigan players who attended Kansas City last weekend to show up to Madison this week as well. Sam Schweitzer (Sam) managed to impress last week with a Top 8 finish at Kansas City. He hasn’t had many other top finishes, but I’m sure he is more pumped than ever after his Top 8 finish and another strong performance could really get his name out there. Other familiar faces include Andrew Burley (Andykins) at 16th in CP, Jonathan McMillan (MrEobo) at 40th, and Kevin Beach (RandomVGC).

Team Minnesota

I can’t say much about Minnesota, but they’ve got some solid players that could really break out with some great play this weekend. Aaron Liebersbach (Arch), Cody Bernheisel (CodeUmbreon), Steven Burton (PikaPastor), and Matthew Peroutka (MittensAnimator) all sit in the range of 40-64 with the potential to get into the mix.

Team Illinois

Kamaal Harris (Kamaal) and Evan Deligiannis (nave) should be heading up to Madison this weekend after traveling south to Kansas City last weekend. Kamaal’s at 27th in CP which is a pretty solid spot to be at heading into Nationals, but getting higher than that couldn’t do any harm. Evan is at 62nd which is a ways off, but does have two Top 16 finishes this season. Both of these guys actually just barely missed cut last week in Kansas City and could easily get in with a little bit more luck via Opponents Win Percentage the dream.

Team Other Guys

Got a couple stragglers that couldn’t be lopped into the confines of a state group. Chuppa Cross (Chuppa) comes in from New York. He’s finally conquered being able to top cut premiere challenges, but he hasn’t been able to crack regionals this season yet. Whitney Johnson (brokestupidlonely) was able to earn Top 4 at Kansas City last week, playing in home territory. He’s at 55th for CP this year. Matt Coyle (PrettyLittleLiar) and Trista Medine (ryuzaki) made a surprise appearance last week at the Utah regional and also went to Madison last year, so it is definitely in the realm of possibility for both of them to come to Madison again this year. Oliver Valenti (Smith) has got two Top 32s this year but as always is not a player to sleep on.

The Smart Money is On: I know it kind of bit me in the rear last time I did it, but I have to pick Zach Droegkamp (Braverius). He’s at home, which has to count for something at least. He also got second at the last event that TPCI streamed (St. Louis) which doesn’t hurt.

Georgia

Difficulty Rating:
/5

(One T.I. and one Andre 3000 out of Five)

Location: Classic Center Grand Hall 7 300 N. Thomas St Athens, GA. 30601

Registration Time: Sunday 8:30 AM

Last Year’s Winner: Michael Lanzano (Jivetime)

The Georgia regional has always been one of the weird ones. The attendance last year was able to grant them a Top 16 cut (better than last week’s regionals), but the area doesn’t lend itself to the traditional top players of the country.

Absent from Class

Toler Webb (Dimsun) has been pretty quiet this season with some low attendance in comparison with the other top players. He was able to get into the Top 8 in the Fall at Ft. Wayne and also has a Top 32 finish. Toler has been one of the top VGC players since he was in the Senior division and has carried his success into the Masters division as well. DeVon Ingram (dingram) is another player with some attendance issues. He was able to earn second place at Athens last year which helped him qualify for Worlds. With how much Nationals is worth, it is still not out of reach for him, but a good showing at Athens could really help him earn a repeat appearance there. Adib Alam (Adib) earned a 2014 Worlds invite from a strong Nationals performance but has yet to earn any CP this year. It seems we have a pattern of players with attendance issues at Georgia, but jokes aside Adib has had a pretty good track record of doing well at the Midwest tournaments he’s gone to in the past. Rounding out Team Attendance is none other than Harrison Saylor (Crow). The butt of all attendance jokes since Mike Sankey, Harrison really showed up to Seattle with a Top 4 finish. He’s clearly still got it and could scoop up some solid Championship Points from Georgia.

Jackson Hambrick (Hambrick) has really done well at Premiere Challenges this season and also has a Top 64 regional finish. He’s at a total of 182 CP and could really add to that with this regional. William Collins (wiretap) was able to earn 3rd place at the Florida regionals during the winter and has a couple of Premiere Challenge points under his belt too. Nicholas Borghi (LightCore) earned a Top 8 back in the Fall and has just about maximized his Premiere Challenge CP. At a tie for 55th place in CP, this regional is crucial for securing a Worlds invite for Nick. Michael Groshans (Mikewando) comes from California to Georgia and he’s just below Nick in CP. Unlike most players, Mike has gotten most of his CP from regionals and not Premiere Challenges. He has three Top 16 regional finishes so he would really have to step up for Georgia. Kolby Golliher (KolbyJayke) has been solid at his Premiere Challenges as well and looks to add a solid regional finish to give himself a fighting chance at Nationals. I’ve also heard rumblings that veteran Joe Pulkowski (sandman) might make an appearance here and he could really shake things up for the competition. With somehwat of a hiatus, Joe has been doing great recently at Premiere Challenges this season. Angel Miranda (CT MikotoMisaka) has made a full transition into the video game this season and as expected has been a strong force all season long. He’s got consistent PC finishes and a Top 8 regional placing too. A few other Northeastern players might show up too, including Patrick Donegan (Pd0nz), Daniel Stein (Blazikenburner), Justin Carris (Azazel), and Stephen Brown III (pyromaniac720). Daniel finished 11th in Utah last weekend and looks to put his money where his mouth is with the next event.

The Smart Money is On: Angel Miranda (CT MikotoMisaka). Angel puts a lot of work in practicing with his group of friends and thinking about the game in general a ton. Some of the players in the attendance section have great histories, but Angel is showing up this season and this is an event he can take advantage of. It’s a really shallow group of players in comparison to the other 5 regionals this Spring and can definitely make some lesser known players shine.

The post VGC 2015 North American Spring Regional Preview: Week 3 of 3 appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

We were lucky enough to stream from the Washington and Utah Regional Championships this month and Eiganjo has archived the videos on YouTube. Huge shoutouts go to Duy and Alaka on the mic for the entire duration of both tournaments as well as Slashmolder and Huy for getting all the equipment in check. We’ve also got the Massachusetts Regional via Clash Tournaments and Kansas Regionals via Cybertron.

Remember that the official Pokémon Twitch channel will be streaming all weekend from Madison, Wisconsin with Scott and plaid on the mic! With that we’ll have had a live stream from every regional this month outside of Athens, Georgia also happening this weekend.

Seattle, Washington

• Round 1 – Riley F. (gengarb0i) vs Nikolai Z. (Nikolai)
• Round 2 – Harrison S. (Crow) vs Collin H. (TheBattleRoom)
• Round 3 – Conan T. (Conan) vs Aryana W. (feathers)
• Round 4 – Gabby S. (JTK) vs Jake H. (Jhoqk)
• Round 5 – Ellie T. (emeraldragon) vs Max D. (StarMetroid)
• Round 6 – Ben I. (Benji) vs Yuanhao L.
• Round 7 – Kimo N. (TFC) vs Rushan S. (Firestorm)
• Round 8 – Gary Q. vs Mike G. (Mikewando)
• Top 16 – Kimo N. (TFC) vs Harrison S. (Crow)
• Top 8 – Riley F. (gengarb0i) vs Yuanhao L.
• Semifinals – Harrison S. (Crow) vs Mark H. (Crawdaunt)
• Semifinals – Riley F. (gengarb0i) vs Wesley W.
• Finals – Mark H. (Crawdaunt) vs Riley F. (gengarb0i)

Sturbridge, Massachusetts

• Junghun Y. (AngDe) vs Matt C. (PrettyLittleLiar) – Swiss R6
• Wolfe G. (Wolfey) vs Aaron Z. (Cybertron) – Swiss R7
• Michael L. (JiveTime) vs Steven L. – Swiss R8
• Amelia Z. (VioletPumpkin) vs Wolfe G. (Wolfey) – Semi-Finals
• Wolfe G. (Wolfey) vs Ashton C. (linkyoshimario) – Grand Finals

Salt Lake City, Utah

• Round 1 – Bridger S. (squirtwo) vs Phil W. (THATSAplusONE)
• Round 2 – Riley F. (gengarb0i) vs Hayden M. (enigne)
• Round 3 – Kimo N. (TFC) vs Nikolai Z.
• Round 4 – Colten L. (Rookie Slayer MLG) vs Conan T. (Conan)
• Round 5 – Chase L. (I am a Rookie) vs Max D. (starmetroid)
• Round 6 – Guilermo B. (PeachyMemo) vs Daniel S. (BlazikenBurner)
• Round 8 – Daniel S. (BlazikenBurner) vs Alberto L. (CaliSweeper)
• Top 8 – Conan T. (Conan) vs Matthew G. (picklesword)
• Top 4 Game 1 – Bjorn M. (Ishalaka) vs Max D. (starmetroid)
• Finals – Alberto L. (CaliSweeper) vs Max D. (starmetroid)

Kansas City, Kansas

• Round 1 – Luis C. vs Erika P.
• Round 2 – Benji I. (Benji) vs Cedric B. (Talon)
• Round 3 – Travis S. (BSTS) vs Jonathan R. (JRank)

The post Battle Videos from the VGC ’15 Spring Regional Championships appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Thanks much to LightCore, Talon, and anyone else who helped gather teams and to HeliosanNA for helping touch up the article!

Week 1

Washington Regionals

1) Riley Factura (gengarboi)

2) Mark Hanson (Crawdaunt)

3) Harrison Saylor (Crow)

4) Wesley Warthe-Anderson

5) Nikolai Zielinski (Nikolai)

6) Yuanhao Li

7) Max Douglas (Starmetroid)

8) Gabby Snyder (JTK)

9) Luis Canseco (Chaivon)

10) Gary Qian

11) Tiffany Stanley (Shiloh)

12) Travis Knickerbocker

13) Carter Powers Beggs (FlacidPanda)

14) Michael Groshans (Mikewando)

15) Jake Hwang-Twigg (Jhoqk)

16) Kimo Nishimura (TFC)

Massachusetts Regionals

1) Wolfe Glick (Wolfey)

2) Ashton Cox (linkyoshimario)

3) Amelia Zoldy (VioletPumpkin)

4) Danny Hemchand (Jabberwocky)

5) Mike Suleski (OmegaDonut)

6) Michael Lanzano (Jivetime)

7) James Ball (pball0010)

8) Eric Bartlett

Week 2

Utah Regionals

1) Alberto Lara (Sweeper)

2) Max Douglas (starmetroid)

3) Bjorn Johnson

4) Matthew Greaves (picklesword)

5) Conan Thompson (conan)

6) Victor Camacho

7) Joshua Sperry

8) Kimo Nishimura (TFC)

Kansas Regionals

1) Michael Garrett

2) Paul Chua (pwny person)

3) Gabby Snyder (JTK)

4) Whitney Johnson (brokestupidlonely)

5) Chance Alexander (Paragon)

6) Eric Graham (ChaosElementX)

7) Ben Hickey (Darkpenguin67)

8) Sam Schweitzer (Sam)

Week 3

Wisconsin Regionals

1) Collin Heier (TheBattleRoom)

2) James Baek (Jamesspeed1)

3) Manoj Sunny (MangoSol)

4) Wesley Morioka (Wesley)

5) Jonathan Neville (TM Gold)

6) Nick Sefranek

7) Matthew Swanson (Swanner)

8) Mario Serrano (Mario C)

Georgia Regionals

1) Jerry Woods III (Sabaku)

2) Cameron Swan (Drizzleboy)

3) Angel Miranda (CT MikotoMisaka)

4) Toler Webb (Dim)

5) Ben Thomas

6) Joseph Brummet (lucariojr)

7) Aaron Riker (rapture)

8) Karl Conception

9) Geoffrey Sauk

10) Michael Lanzano (Jivetime)

11) Edward Glover (Min)

12) Mathew Blackburn

13) Sohaib Mufti (sohaib)

14) Joshua Edwards (General Josh)

15) Eric Hogan (JackOfClubs97)

16) Dan Richard

The post Teams from the VGC ’15 Spring Regional Championships appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hello! My name is Nicholas Borghi, but you may know me as LightCore. I’m back today to discuss my recent and highly-anticipated team that managed to win three consecutive Premier Challenges earlier this season.

Ever since the format change, I have not been able to go to a single ORAS event. This was mainly due to life getting in the way. I knew that the Brooklyn PC would be my first event back, and as such I wanted to Top Cut very badly. That was my main goal, but I really wanted to prove myself in this new format. To top it off, Brooklyn New York has a highly competitive scene meaning that the tournament would be a real test of my abilities.

So, here’s my team!

Salamence @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 164 HP / 148 Atk / 36 Def / 60 SpD / 100 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Protect
– Dragon Dance
– Return
– Earthquake/Roost

Right from the start I knew I wanted to use Mega Salamence. I actually started drafting this team during PARCC testing because the test was stupid and I was bored.

Return is something many people have questioned me about. I personally believe that Double-Edge is a counter-intuitive move to run on bulkier variants of Mega Salamence or Mega Kangaskhan. It ruins your ability to survive and often makes you KO yourself unnecessarily. Return preserves your health and provides more consistency when battling. I would rather know that I can safely attack and know Salamence will be around next turn.

The other moves were just filler. Earthquake was a move I only used twice all day at Brooklyn, and when I did use it, it failed to OHKO a Blade form Aegislash at -1, which I found pathetic. It also failed to OHKO a Heatran when I was a neutral. Roost was a move I didn’t use much either at the Blue Bell PC; although I did use it once in the finals so I could guarantee a win.

The EV spread was also something a lot of people inquired about. I wanted the power of Adamant, as I would be setting up a Dragon Dance most of the time to help my Speed anyway. I added 100 EVs into Speed so that I could out speed max Speed neutral base 100’s such as Adamant Kangaskhan and Charizard-Y. The HP EVs put me at a number of 16n-1 to reduce burn damage; I figured that Mega-Salamence would be a common target for burns due to the pressure it exerts (not literally, Intimidate is better anyway).

The Defense EVs allowed me to take an Adamant max attack Life Orbed Mamoswine’s Ice Shard, while the Special Defense EVs allow me to take a 132 Sp. Atk Suicune’s Ice Beam. The remaining EVs were simply thrown into Attack to maximize Salamence’s damage output.

Clefairy @ Eviolite
Ability: Friend Guard
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 204 Def / 4 SpA / 60 SpD / 4 Spe
EVs: 236 HP / 212 Def / 4 SpA / 44 SpD / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Protect
– Follow Me
– Moonblast
– Thunder Wave

This slot used to be a Clefable, but I replaced it because of Clefairy’s additional bulk, plus it still met my team’s need for redirection. Many people have asked me why I didn’t use Helping Hand over Thunder Wave. It’s because I never found myself using it during testing. Every time I might have used Helping Hand I always thought that I could be doing something better with Clefairy that turn. Up to this point the team also lacked Speed Control, so Thunder Wave seemed like the best option. I barely used Thunder Wave either, but it helped me in more situations than Helping Hand would have.

The spread is simple, it can take a Bisharp’s Iron Head and an Aegislash’s Flash Cannon most of the time. I eventually added 8 extra Speed EVs to avoid speed tying minimum speed Scrafty, which I had seen rising in popularity the week after my Brooklyn PC win.

Heatran @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 60 SpA / 116 SpD / 84 Spe
EVs: 172 HP / 52 Def / 76 SpA / 4 SpD / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Protect
– Earth Power
– Heat Wave
– Flash Cannon

This slot used to be an Aegislash, but I was desperate for some fire coverage. Because I still wanted a Steel type, Heatran was the obvious choice. Life Orb Heatran was a good meta call because it’s able to deal significant damage to a large portion of the Metagame. It was also my check to Sylveon, which runs rampant through my team otherwise. I honestly can’t remember for the life (orb) of me what the first EV spread does, so I will only be elaborating on the second one listed.

The second spread allows me to take a -1 Life Orb Terrakion’s Close Combat, which I considered important because Terrakion has a decent match up against my team. The Sp. Atk investment allows me to OHKO 252 HP / 4 Sp. Def Mega Mawile with Heat Wave, and the Speed allows me to out-speed max speed Adamant Bisharp which I had a bit of trouble with during the Brooklyn PC.

Scrafty @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 36 Atk / 164 Def / 4 SpA / 60 SpD
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 164 Def / 4 SpA / 84 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Fake Out
– Snarl
– Drain Punch
– Knock Off

My team’s star of the show. When building, I added it right after adding Aegislash, so I was looking for something that resisted Dark type attacks with access to Fake out and Intimidate. Scrafty met these requirements exactly.

I feel like all my moves were standard, but lets talk about the elephant in the set. Snarl was a move I chose because I wanted more power control. It helped with so many match-ups, and even won me some key end game situations where my opponent just couldn’t damage Scrafty as it chipped away at their health with Drain Punch and Knock Off.

The first spread is what I’ll be talking about, even though they are essentially the same thing. Basically, I wanted as much bulk as possible. The HP and Sp. Def allow me to take a Max Sp. Atk Charizard-Y’s Overheat in the Sun. The HP and Defense allow me to take a Terrakion’s Close Combat even without the Intimidate. The Attack EVs I initially gave it served no real purpose, so I took the majority of them out and added them to HP and Sp.Def just to make it bulkier.

Terrakion @ Focus Sash
Ability: Justified
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Protect
– Double Kick
– Close Combat
– Rock Slide

Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
Level: 50
Evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Protect
– Rock Slide
– Iron Head
– Earthquake

Very standard Terrakion. I chose Double Kick over other options such as Quick Guard, Taunt or Stone Edge as I found them all underwhelming during testing and never used any of them anyway. Double Kick was chosen because it helped my Bisharp match-up, something I had trouble with seeing as I had double Intimidate. Focus Sash was to help me win Terrakion mirrors.

Eventually however, I swapped Terrakion out for Excadrill. I added it mainly because Sylveon and other Fairies were becoming a pain to face even with Heatran. Said Fairies got extremely annoying to deal with, so I adapted my team as a result. I went Jolly with max Speed so I could out-speed max Speed base 100 Pokemon such as Adamant Mega Kangaskhan and Modest Mega Charizard. By replacing Terrakion, my Charizard matchup also suffered. While I would have loved using Adamant Excadrill, I simply couldn’t because Jolly provided more positive match-ups for my team.

Thundurus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Volt Absorb
Level: 50
EVs: 76 HP / 252 SpA / 180 Spe
EVs: 68 HP / 252 SpA / 188 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Grass Knot
– Volt Switch

Continuing the trend, I received some questions about my use of Thundurus-Therian. It was basically my Landorus-Therian check. It was EVd to out speed max speed choice Landorus-T, assuming they’re Adamant. I upped the speed investment for the next weekend to allow me to out speed Mega Sceptile and the like too. The moves are very simple, Grass Knot allowed me to take out Swampert, but apparently it doesn’t get the guaranteed one shot on most Gastrodon. Volt Switch was for momentum and to help me get out of bad situations.

Overall, I really enjoyed this team. It had just the right combination of interesting moves and items that would help me in a best of one situation, paired with the consistency that I believed would help a great deal in best of three matches. The team has some glaring weaknesses, but if played correctly they can be overlooked and dealt with easily. It’s quite a fun team to use, and I suggest you try it out sometime. As it was, I ran into 16 iterations of my team on Showdown! within the first few days after the Brooklyn PC!

Thank Yous:

• Jeremy (Serapis): Thank you for being a great team building partner. You helped with several of the team decisions and are just an awesome friend.
• Luka (Zephyl), Jake (Pokebeys), Mihrab (MegaChar10): Great training partners, and fun to talk to on Skype.
• The Imouto’s (Jon, Simon, Chuppa and Angel): I didn’t have too many Master division friends, and they have just been awesome. Great friends to have at events, and so much fun to listen to when they talk about my weird plays.

A thread will be posted eventually with all my battle videos.

Thanks for reading!

Some quick pictures from the events! My thanks to Jen Bamo for allowing me to use these pictures in the article!

The post Veggie-Cide: 3 Consecutive Premier Challenge Wins appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hey guys. Not sure if anyone knows me but if you don’t, I’m Matthew otherwise known as ZzamanN on Nugget Bridge.
I recently competed in the Brisbane, Australia Regionals. I ended up finishing sixth in seniors which was a disappointment as I had won it the two years beforehand. I was undefeated in swiss, but lost in my Top Eight match.  Overall the event was a blast and I hope I can do it justice in this report.

The Prototype

This first team was meant to take advantage of Ludicolo under Tailwind. After the speed doubled, Ludicolo out sped scarf Landorus-T meaning I could Ice Beam it before it got a U-Turn off. I ended up trying it out at a local grassroots tournament held every month in my home town. Overall i went 4-1 in swiss losing in Top Four to Jarrod Bennett, whom I later beat at Regionals, and finished 4th place. I didn’t think my placing did the team justice so I went back to the drawing board.

After the tournament I looked back at my matches and decided that Tailwind wasn’t working as well as I hoped as the majority of my team didn’t benefit from the extra speed. I ended up changing to Thundurus as I felt that Zapdos often took way too much damage before it was able to setup Tailwind. Thundurus could fire off priority Thunder Waves before it had even taken damage, giving my team more reliable speed control.

After removing Tailwind, my turn one option of Fake Out from Ludicolo and Tailwind from Zapdos disappeared, so I didn’t bring Ludicolo often. I rarely brought it to matches that weren’t against Rain teams.  After hunting around for a bulky Water-type replacement, Gastrodon really popped out at me. Unlike Swampert, whom was also a valid consideration, Gastrodon has the utility of being immune to Water and getting a free +1 in Special Attack if anyone were to fire off a Water-type Attack on the switch in. It also underspeeds Aegislash, meaning once it fired off its attack, I would be able to knock it out with an Earth Power. This was also the team I brought to the February International Challenge in which my record was 24/6, giving me 2nd place in Australia.

To be honest, I’m not sure if I was on tilting rampage when I made this change but Landorus-T was a still a big problem when you factor in Rock Slide flinches, which is why Gengar changed to Bisharp. I really liked the change as I felt it handled Sylveon a lot better, too. Even if I don’t guarantee the Knock Out on either due to their increase of Defensive investment and the lack of Life Orb, it was still a lot of damage and Kangaskhan or Landorus could come back in later and Fake Out or Rock Slide to finish either off. Also I never really needed Gengar against most teams anyway as I already had Taunt on Thundurus to shut down strategies that rely on non-damaging moves.

The Team

Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Double-Edge
– Fake Out
– Sucker Punch
– Low Kick

Mega Kangaskhan is by far my favorite Mega this season. It really fills in a lot of holes most of my teams have and can consistently do a lot of damage before it gets burned or Knocked Out. I went for Jolly and max speed because I wasn’t experienced enough with Bulky Kangaskhan. If there ever was a Pokemon on the other side of the field and I didn’t know what it did or how I should approach it, Kangaskhan was usually my pick to handle them.

I never really regretted running the Jolly set aside from my round four match in which I missed the KO against my opponents Kangaskhan only to find out that he was a Bulky Adamant set. I proceeded to lose my Mega Evolution turn 1 which was slightly frustrating. The Power-up-Punch set was also a likely contender but I much preferred the raw power of Low Kick to get quick and early Knock Outs against popular threats like Heatran and Hydreigon.

Thundurus @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 228 HP / 112 Def / 68 SpA / 28 SpD / 72 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
– Thunderbolt
– Thunder Wave
– Taunt
– Hidden Power [Ice]

Thundurus was by far the best metagame call I made going into the tournament. Expecting a lot of fast Pokémon like Greninja and Weavile, Thundurus provided the crucial speed control my team desperately needed. The defense investment allows me to take a Jolly Mamoswine’s Icicle Crash. This may not seem so big but it allowed me to learn whether or not they were Adamant or Jolly so I didn’t send in my Scarf Landorus and get out sped. Learning that sort of information allowed me to plan future games and did actually come in handy.

The Special Defense investment has a similar story. It allowed me to take a non-boosted, Timid Greninja Ice Beam, which also allowed me to plan out future games against Greninja. I could safely land the Knock Out with Superpower with Landorus or it would go down to its Focus Sash and return with a KO of its own.
The Speed wasn’t as important but it was added anyway so i could outspeed max Speed Jolly Smeargle and Breloom in the process.I never battled either of them, but it was nice being able to outspeed bulkier Thundurus that had little to no speed investment.

Heatran @ Chople Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 20 HP / 252 SpA / 236 Spe
Timid Nature
– Heat Wave
– Earth Power
– Substitute
– Protect

Fast Substitute Heatran was one of the last changes I made before Regionals. I opted for Timid with almost max Speed so I could outspeed all the other Modest max Speed Heatrans which were currently seeing usage in Brisbane. Although I much prefer Leftovers, I opted for Chople Berry as it let me comfortably lead it against Kangaskhan + Bisharp without having to make any risky predictions. Timid also allowed me to outspeed Breloom which was a problem for the team in testing.

The 20 HP EVs were used to allow me to set up 4 Substitutes and still have one HP left. I highly doubted the use of Timid Max speed Heatrans on the day and I didn’t need the bulk so I put the rest in Special Attack and then in Speed. Heatran is one of my favorite Steel-types in this metagame currently and for good reason. It allows me to achieve easy win conditions behind a Substitute and tends to end up on almost every team I make due to its reliability in what it does.

Bisharp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Iron Head
– Sucker Punch
– Knock Off
– Protect

Your run-of-the-mill Bisharp. I used Focus Sash over Life Orb because I felt most comfortable with Focus Sash as the usage of Double Kick Terrakion had drastically decreased. It provided a semi-reliable way of dealing with Terrakion as it does threaten the teams usual leads. I had been testing Assurance before the tournament but came to a conclusion that it wasn’t as consistent as Knock Off.

It was great in getting lots of quick damage and really puts a strain on the opponent in team preview whether or not they want to bring their Landorus or Salamence. Definitely put in work on the day and I enjoyed using it.

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
– U-turn
– Superpower

The standard Choice Scarf Landorus-T. Although I was testing Assault Vest’s viablity for a little bit after I replaced Gengar, the team’s fastest Pokemon was Kangaskhan at base 100 which isn’t a good speed tier to be working with. Choice Scarf gave the team a last ditch effort option and also allowed me to achieve the previously mentioned combo with Thundurus to play around Mamoswines.

No fancy spread on this Landorus as I wanted it to be fast and get as much damage off as possible. Surprisingly it was my least used Pokemon on the day since most of my opponents were prepared for it. I had tested Knock Off over U-turn but decided against it since U-turn allowed me to get a lot of damage off against Ludicolo and provided an easy way of resetting Intimidate.

Gastrodon @ Rindo Berry
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 SpA
Modest Nature
– Scald
– Ice Beam
– Earth Power
– Protect

I opted for Gastrodon due to its ability to switch into both Thundurus and Landorus which are both popular Pokémon. I used a similar set back in 2013 at the first Australian Nationals and it didn’t really help that much which made me reluctant to use it again this year. However after a few test matches against friends, It really helped the team deal with the lack of switch value, which was the reason why I was steering away from using this team.

Underspeeding Aegislash was also nice as it allowed me to survive the incoming Shadow Ball and retaliate with a Earth Power while it was in Blade-Forme. Rindo Berry was an interesting choice which I felt most comfortable using. It allowed me to worry less about Amoonguss and fire off attacks at its partner. Storm Drain is also an amazing ability letting my Heatran set up substitutes for free against Pokémon like Suicune and Politoed and win me games. The EV spread allows it to take an Adamant Kangaskhan’s Return. If I could go back I would change it to take Mega Salamence’s Double Edge which proved to be a problem on the day.

The Tournament

Overall the tournament had 35 Seniors with six rounds of swiss with a Top Eight cut. The matches were Best-of-Three which was nice also as it was my most comfortable style of playing.

Round 1: Massimo

Game 1

He Brought: Togetic, M-Salamence, Typhlosion, Serperior
I Brought: Thundurus-I, Landorus-T, M-Kangaskhan, Heatran

Turn 1 the Togetic goes straight for the Follow Me which concerned me a bit as the incoming Dragon Dance from Mega Salamence was obvious. However Landorus scores a flinch on his Salamence giving me free damage and a taunted Togetic on the other side. From there Landorus switches out due to the the damage output from Rock Slide being dismal. However, the Salamence goes for Hydro Pump onto what was my Landorus and is now a Heatran and does a considerable amount of damage and put me just out of Substitute range which was a headache. Thundurus does pick up the Knock Out on Salamence though, leaving Kangaskhan to finish off the game.

Game 2

He Brought: Lucario, Togetic, Typhlosion, Mega Salamence
I Brought: Kangaskhan, Bisharp, Heatran, Landorus-T

Turn 1 Togetic goes for Follow Me once again as I switch out my Kangaskhan into Landorus fearing the obvious fighting attack. However he targets the Bisharp instead bringing me down to my sash as I one shot his Togetic. After that he sends in Salamence giving me a free +1. Next turn I go straight for the Sucker Punch onto Salamence doing around 55% and Landorus picks up the one shot on his Lucario with a Superpower. Mega Salamence goes for Hyper voice picking up the KO on my 1 HP Bisharp as well as doing around 45% to my Landorus. From there Kangaskhan comes in and Fake Outs the Salamence as Landorus switches into Heatran giving it a Flash Fire boost as he uses Eruption with the recently sent in Typhlosion. From there, Sucker Punch finishes off Salamence and Typhlosion is left alone to suffer its fate.

1-0

Round 2: Michael (5-1, 4th Place)

Game 1

He Brought: Thundurus, Sylveon, M-Lopunny, Mamoswine
I Brought: Kangaskhan, Thundurus-I, Heatran, Landorus-T

Looking back on this game, Bisharp definitely would have been really useful this game but my lead was too prepared for Amoonguss, which didn’t show its face the entire set. Turn 1 I go straight for the Taunt onto Thundurus and Double Edge onto Sylveon. However the Thundurus reveals Mental Herb and Sylveon survives the Double Edge! I take huge damage from the likely Choice Specs Sylveon and Turn 1 does not go to plan. I know my Thundurus is faster so I go straight for the KO on Sylveon with a Thunderbolt and a Sucker Punch from Kangaskhan does lots of damage to Thundurus. In hindsight, knowing that my Kangaskhan is faster than my Thundurus I could of gone straight for the Double Edge. Next turn he sends in Mamoswine against my double genies who aren’t too impressed. I switch my Landorus out for Heatran as he goes for the Icicle Crash into the same spot. My Thundurus goes for a Thunderbolt onto his Thundurus as he does the same to mine. Next turn he goes for Thunder Wave onto my Heatran and Icicle Crashes my weakened Thundurus for the KO as my Heatran gets fully Paralyzed. He goes for Thunder Wave into my Landorus as it fails and Icicle Crashes it. My Heatran is fully Paralyzed again. I thought the game was over as he sends in his Mega Lopunny as I try and go for Protect and get fully Paralyzed for the third time. From their he Encores my Heatran which fails since I hadn’t moved yet. I Heat Wave KOing the Mamoswine and doing 50% to his Mega Lopunny. Next turn Mega Lopunny goes straight for High Jump Kick and thanks to Chople Berry, I live with 2 HP and Heatran hits its Heat Wave through Paralysis for the Knock Out! This game really taught me to never hit that forfeit button before the game is over.

Game 2

He Brought: Thundurus-I, M-Lopunny, Sylveon, Mamoswine
I Brought: Kangaskhan, Bisharp, Landorus-T, Heatran

This game goes a lot nicer for me. Turn 1 I take advantage of the fact that Lopunny is almost certain to Fake Out the Kangaskhan slot so I switch it into Landorus. Strangely enough, Thundurus, Thunder Waves my Bisharp which does come back to haunt me later. Bisharp gets a Knock Off onto Thundurus doing over 50%. Next turn he Thunder Waves into my Landorus again as I U-turn the Lopunny back into Kangaskhan while he Ice Punches into Kangaskhan. Sadly enough my Bisharp gets fully Paralyzed. Next turn I Fake Out the Lopunny and Iron Head it for the KO while Thundurus gets another Thunder Wave onto my Kangaskhan. After that Mamoswine comes in and fires off a Earthquake while Thundurus gets Knocked Out by a Sucker Punch. Thankfully Bisharp does pull through the paralysis and gets an Iron Head onto the Mamoswine doing about 95%. Next turn Sylveon comes in and at this point, Bisharp being paralyzed was a big deal since getting an Iron Head off against the Sylveon was going to be impossible. I go for the double Sucker Punch onto Mamoswine in case one Pokemon gets fully paralyzed. Kangaskhan unfortunately doesn’t get to attack, but Bisharp does, locking up the win condition with Landorus and Heatran in the back to fight the lone Sylveon.

2-0

Round 3: Nathan (Amperes) (4-2, 2nd Place)

Game 1

He brought: Gallade, Rotom-W, Amoonguss, Salamence
I Brought: Kangaskhan, Thundurus, Gastrodon, Heatran
This game was really bad prediction wise, Kangaskhan goes down turn 1 to a Close Combat from Gallade as I expected it to go straight for the Trick Room or Will-o-Wisp. Gastrodon comes in as I Thunderbolt and Earth Power the Amoonguss switch in. It all goes down from there as I make some poor predictions and Mega Salamence quite easily finishes off the game after Thundurus goes down.

Game 2

He Brought: Bisharp, Rotom-W, Amoonguss, Gallade
I Brought: M-Kangaskhan, Thundurus, Gastrodon, Heatran
This game goes much better. I’m able to play around Rotom-W’s shenanigans. This time he doesn’t lead with Gallade so Kangaskhan is allowed to get free hits off without much threat. Once his Gallade goes down in Defense and Amoonguss is gone, Kangaskhan and Thundurus clean up the game.

Game 3

He Brought: M-Salamence, Amoonguss, Gallade, Rotom-W
I Brought: Thundurus, Heatran, Gastrodon, M-Kangaskhan

Judging by leads, I like to think I have the advantage due to the threat of Taunt and Hidden Power Ice coming from Thundurus and free Substitute from Heatran. Turn 1 I expect Amoonguss to switch out to Gallade or Rotom so I go straight for the Hidden Power Ice onto Salamence while Substituting with Heatran. This backfires majorly as Amoonguss goes for Rage Powder and Salamence sets up a Dragon Dance. It all goes down hill from there until he makes a crucial mistake, he plays too safely, and forgetting he used Protect last turn, he goes for it again and it fails meaning I pick up the KO on Salamence. Amoonguss and Rotom-W end up losing the battle against my Heatran and Gastrodon. Unnfortunate that I had to win this way but he gets his revenge in Top 8.

Round 4: Tom (4-2, 9th Place)

Game 1

He Brought: M-Kangaskhan, Milotic, Ferrothorn Latios
I Brought: M-Kangaskhan, Bisharp, Heatran, Thundurus

Turn 1 I go straight for the Knock Off onto the Milotic slot as he switches it for Ferrothorn, getting rid of its Rocky Helmet. My Kangaskhan goes straight for Low Kick into his Kangaskhan’s Protect. From there, his Kangaskhan and Latios are able to finish off my weakened Heatran and Thundurus.

Game 2

He Brought: M-Kangaskhan, Latios, Milotic, Ferrothorn
I Brought: M-Kangaskhan, Gastrodon, Thundurus, Heatran

Turn one he withdraws his Latios for Ferrothorn, likely expecting the Fake Out from my Kangaskhan. Instead, knowing his Kangaskhan is slower, I Fake Out his Kangaskhan. Next turn I double switch avoiding the obvious Low Kick from his Kangaskhan and Power Whip from Ferrothorn. The game is decided after I get a substitute up with Heatran and his Scarf Milotic goes down.

Game 3

He Brought: M-Kangaskhan, Sylveon, Ferrothorn, Entei
I Brought: M-Kangaskhan, Thundurus, Heatran, Gastrodon

This game really came down to luck from my side. Turn 1 he makes an excellent prediction switching his Sylveon out for Ferrothorn as I go straight for the Double Edge on it, losing more than half of my health to recoil. From their I lose momentum drastically after Kangaskhan goes down from a  Sucker Punch from his Kangaskhan. I get a lucky Thunderbolt Paralysis not just on his  Kangaskhan but his Sylveon as well. Heatran comes in after Kangaskhan gets put into Heat Wave range and I’m able to win the game. Unfortunate I had to win in this way as I felt like my opponent really outplayed me this game. I also only just found out that this is the team Eden Batchelor (Xenoblade Hero) used to Top 8 the UK Regionals so that was a pretty neat discovery.

Round 5: Anthony

Game 1

He Brought: Lucario, Clefable, Greninja, Dedenne
I Brought: M-Kangaskhan, Thundurus, Landorus, Gastrodon

Turn 1, my Kangaskhan immediately switches out for Landorus fearing the Follow Me and Close Combat. Taunt also goes onto the Clefable as he Ice Punches my Thundurus and Follow Me’s with his Clefable. Fearing the Ice Beam from Clefable and Protect from Lucario, I U-turn his Clefable revealing the Rocky Helmet which proved to be good information for the rest of the game. He does just that, Ice Beaming my Kangaskhan switch in as well as Ice Punching which unfortunately freezes my Kangaskhan. However after getting a Thunderbolt onto his Clefable, it is now in Thunderbolt  and Earthquake range meaning I can safely pick up 2 Knock Outs.  Landorus and Thundurus proceed to sweep.

Game 2

He Brought: Greninja, Clefable, M-Kangaskhan, Rotom-W
I Brought: Thundurus, Bisharp, M-Kangaskhan, Landorus-T

Not really much to say about this game, Thundurus goes down turn 1 to an Ice Beam as I get a lot of damage off onto his Clefable as he Follow Me’s away from his Greninja. Kangaskhan comes in and Fake Outs the Greninja as an Iron Head from Bisharp Knocks Out the Clefable. His own Kangaskhan comes in threatening both my own Kangaskhan and Bisharp. He Fake Outs my Bisharp and Life Orb Hydro Pumps my Kangaskhan doing over 60% as I go for Low Kick just barely missing the Knock Out on his Kangaskhan. After some Sucker Punch wars and a Rotom-W Hydro Pump miss, the game is mine.

Round 6: Jarrod (5-1, 3rd Place)

Sorry I dont remember much from either games as my VS Recorder ran out of room… I do remember however, my Landorus and Kangaskhan put in a lot of work and Aegislash never showed its face to my relief as it gave the Pokémon I brought major problems. I also do now realize this is a team Paul Chua used to ladder on Battle Spot and Jarrod is notorious for using Paul Chua’s teams at most events I see him attend.

Top 8: Nathan (Amperes) (8th Seed, 2nd Place)

Again, I forget to remove some Battle Videos so I didn’t get to save the games. I remember getting slaughtered after Salamence gets up a Dragon Dance on turn one and some bad reads and good plays by my opponent cost me the tournament. In hindsight, Rotom gave me a lot of problems and getting chip damage off against it was hard as my opponent correctly identified it as his win condition.

Props:

• Anthony in the 5th round giving me his full art Deoxys card for free
• Going undefeated in swiss
• Nicknames being shown

Slops

• First regional I haven’t won
• Undefeated in swiss causing me to lose against the one person I didn’t want to face in cut
• No Lunch break

Thanks for viewing and I can’t wait to see you all at Nationals!

The post A Thunder Storm brews in Brisbane! An Undefeated Swiss Seniors Regionals Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

The most important Pokémon event in Australia is coming up and many players will be relying on their placing at Nationals for their chance to compete in Boston at the Pokémon World Championships. Australia’s circuit introduced Championship Points this year and had a very late start to the season with five Australian Regionals, a single New Zealand Regionals, and a handful of Premier Challenges being included into the circuit. Many Australians who cannot afford to travel to Singapore Nationals will pin their hopes and dreams on a single placing. My name is Bailey, although I’m more commonly referred to as Bargens, and I’ll be giving an in-depth insight into Australian Nationals which will be held on June 7th-8th.

Prizes

1st Place:

• A Pokémon VG National Championships First-Place Trophy
• A New Nintendo 3DS XL console
• 600 Championship Points

2nd Place:

• A Pokémon VG National Championships Second-Place Trophy
• A New Nintendo 3DS console
• 500 Championship Points

3rd & 4th Place:

• A Pokémon VG National Championships Semi-Finalist Trophy
• A Nintendo 2DS console
• 400 Championship Points

5th – 8th Place:

• 300 Championship Points

9th – 16th Place:

• 200 Championship Points

17th – 32nd Place:

• 150 Championship Points

33rd – 64th Place:

• 100 Championship Points [128+ Players Required]

65th – 128th Place:

• 50 Championship Points [256+ Players Required]

Current CP Rankings

While Championship Points for most players may not be too high I do think it’s good to see where players are sitting going into Nationals. Those who are currently sitting in world invite positions are below, whilst those in bold are currently sitting in paid invite positions. All of the non-Australian players in South East Asia have not got fully updated Championship Points, so I will go by the results listed on the official website. Thanks to “Boomguy”  for the help in tallying the list. List calculated as of 30th May 2015.

With the current CP count I expect the top 18 to change drastically and for over half of the players listed here to be overtaken. In saying that, the 8 non-Australian players will certainly be removed from the standings until Singapore Nationals takes place on the 27th to 28th of June.

The Main Event

Difficulty Rating:

/5
(4 random top cut Pokemon and a single Kangaskhan)/5

Location: Melbourne Park Function Centre, Melbourne, Australia

Event Times:

• Saturday 6th June: TCG Qualifying Rounds, VGC Pre-Registration from 12:30 PM to 6:00 PM
• Sunday 7th June: VGC Qualifying Rounds
• Monday 8th June: VGC and TCG Finals

Alongside the above information there are a few points of note. Event times should be updated soon so stay tuned for those. Registration times are as yet to be posted also so to be on the safe side all VGC competitors should aim to register on Saturday as per Nintendo’s schedule.

Last Years’ Results:

1. Dayne O’Meara (Prof. Teak)
2. Michael Wawrzycki
3. Tony Nguyen (Competny)
4. Andrew Brophy
5. James Katsaros
6. Nathan Farrugia
7. Sameer Sangwan
8. Ash Bakar
9. Layne Hall (Lejn)
10. Wilson Quan (Jovistron)
11. Sam Benson (ClassifiedArea)
12. Mitch Kendrick (Mitch)
13. Sean Brown
14. Chris Kan
15. Liam Paternott
16. Jacky Ly (LoadingGame)

The Scoop

Australian Nationals will feature a large number of established players as well as a large number of less seasoned competitors, which will most likely rival Europe and the US  in numbers. With Nationals being arguably the only way to get a worlds invite it can be assumed that interstate travelers will increase, and a top 8 placing will most likely guarantee a worlds invite.

Returning Top Cut Players

Winner of Nationals and Worlds Top Cut player Dayne O’Meara (Prof. Teak) has confirmed he will be traveling to the event, and after a decent placing at Sydney Regionals has proven he is still most definitely in form. The runner up Michael “Rotom-Fan” Wawrzycki has also had a decent placing, this time at Melbourne Regionals, and is also looking to repeat his placing. In top 16 we have both Layne Hall (Lejn) and Mitch Kendrick (Mitch) who have placed within the top cut of Melbourne and Brisbane Regionals respectively. Layne has also had some respectable results this season, most notably a top 16 in the Nugget Bridge Major, and with such consistent results it’s very plausible that Layne will top cut again this year. Unfortunately Layne will be unable to play day 2 top cut, but will most definitely be there on the Sunday. Mitch Kendrick (Mitch) has also repeated the consistent results of last year, with a second place in Brisbane Regionals as well as multiple top 16 finishes across the board, and will be going into Nationals with a respectable 180 Championship Points. In seniors top cut of last year we have worlds competitor Callum Witt (CruiseVGC) who, after a top 4 at Melbourne Regionals, has shown he has what it takes to play with the big boys. Callum has been fairly absent online but has been practicing hard for Nationals and should not be taken lightly because of his age.

On the Championship Points Board

Alongside the top cut from last year there are a few players with very notable achievements who should not be taken lightly based on their results last year. Chris Giagozoglou (The Batman) is currently first on the board with a crazy 420 Championship Points, as well as two Regional wins. With such consistent results it would be an understatement to say that Chris will be a threat this Nationals. Mustafaa Olomi (mustytkd) is another player who already has a Regionals win under his belt, as well as a top 16 in Brisbane Regionals. Mustafaa has a large Battle Spot presence and has been placing within the top ten of Australia since the beginning of the season. Nihal Noor (UchihaX96) is a player who up until Regionals was more or less off of the radar. Achieving first and top 16 in arguably the two hardest Australian Regionals is no small feat, and after defeating me in the top 4 of Adelaide Regionals, is a player I would prefer to avoid throughout Nationals. The undefeated Sydney Regional Champion Daniel Pol (Chiron) really picked up right before Regionals and created what is now known as “Daniel Pol The Team.” This is the first National Championship Daniel has attended and although remaining relatively quiet, has shown his strength as a player. The last Australian in the top 18 in Championship Points traveling to Nationals is Saamid Zikria (Yourf). Saamid had sub-par results at Sydney and Melbourne Regionals, unable to repeat his top cut at last years Nationals, but eventually hit big in Adelaide placing second. Saamid is also the first and only Australian to win a Nugget Bridge Live, which is definitely an achievement he can gloat about.

Other Players to Look Out For

Jackson Lakey (FamousDeaf) is the first player who comes to mind as a player to look out for. After taking me down in top 16 of Melbourne Regionals Jackson managed to make top four, where he was beaten by eventual second place Nathan Farrugia. Jackson is one of the more consistent Australian players with a large Battle Spot presence and has been top cutting smaller tournaments since before I even knew what VGC was. It’s fairly safe to say that Jackson will be achieving top cut at Nationals, or if not, will go down fighting. The one and only Phil Nguyen (Boomguy) will also be attending Nationals. Last season Phil was the only Australian competing in the Nugget Bridge Invitational and had shown he had what it takes to play at a high level. This year however, after achieving what is known as the “Double Bubble” at two Regionals, Phil is seeking redemption in the form of a World Championships invite at Nationals. Phil is not the only one seeking redemption however, as Sam Pandelis (ZeldaVGC) will be looking to reclaim Melbourne as his own, with this year being the first year that he was unable to win Melbourne Regionals. Sam is a player known to play consistently and was able to top cut every tournament he played in last season, and it’s very plausible that this may be repeated at Nationals this year. Sam also managed to top cut the Nugget Bridge Major alongside other Australians Martin Larumbe (XxXBase420), Ty Power (Sarkastik), Jerikho Bulanadi (Echomoner) and Matthew Roe (RoeySK). All of these players have had strong showings recently, most achieving top cut at Premier Challenges or in Matthew’s case, a top 4 at Adelaide Regionals. Another player who’s had quite an impact in the community this year is Luke Curtale (Dawg). Luke has been the go-to guy for team building in Australia and aided in building Daniel Pol’s winning Regionals team, as well as having input into both of my Regional top cut teams. Whilst not having great results at live events in Australia, Luke has managed to place second in Australia in the International Challenge, with only the other South Australian Matthew Bockman (Zyihk) besting him. Matthew managed to not drop more than 2 games per Regionals, which going into Nationals is a good sign, especially if we follow in the footsteps of UK and US having all of those with two losses or less top cutting.

My Personal Pick to Win

It’s definitely not an easy task choosing a winner in a tournament which is expected to have over 400 players, but going solely on consistency I would have to say either Jackson Lakey (FamousDeaf) or Sam Pandelis (ZeldaVGC). Both players have had great results this season and are, in my personal opinion, two of the best players in Australia. I think it’s fairly safe to say that both will be placing well and they’re definitely players I would like to see representing Australia at the World Championships. However, any of the names listed can take Nationals and I’m excited to see Australia lift it’s game this year to such a high level.

Thank you for reading through the preview of Australian Nationals! If you live in Melbourne and have time to come down it’s definitely worthwhile. There’s gonna be tons of people attending so if you have the time to come down you really should, competitive or not we all love Pokemon and that’s why we’re attending these events.

The post VGC 2015 Australian Nationals Preview appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

The final weekend of Regional Championships this season is over in the United States and we’re done the second National Championship in Europe. A number of players met their goals for the weekend while many more missed the mark. Here’s who top cut:

EU National Championships

Manchester, United Kingdom

Masters Division

1. Markus Stadter (13Yoshi37)
2. Arash Ommati (Mean)
3. Baris Ackos (Billa)
4. Eugenio Discalzi
5. Matthias Suchodolski (Lega)
6. Miguel Marti (Sekiam)
7. Jamie Miller (Blaze King7)
8. Joe Cox (MegaPunchMew)
9. Lajos Kowalewski (Lajo)
10. Matteo Dorrell
11. Till Bohmer (Dark Psiana)
12. Terence Dray (Ty Flowsion)
13. Matteo Gini (Matty)
14. Dawn Mathieson
15. Jeremy Mantingh (Jezza)
16. Jan Michelberger (Lati)
17. Alvaro Rodriguez
18. Rachel Annand (SP Eevee)
19. James Tarbuck (OnlineTuba)
20. Ethan Hall (Jhon)
21. Sergio Marcos
22. Samuel East (Samuel996)
23. David de Pedro (soulofaertherym)
24. James Kean (Sweet Clive)
25. Sheldon Greenaway
26. Nathan Mack
27. William Tansley (StarKO)
28. Pedro Lima (Findow)
29. Lee Provost (Osirus)
30. Chalkey Horenstein (Chalkey)
31. Alberto Gini (Braindead Primeape)
32. Chris Foulds
33. Brandon Ikin (Toquill)
34. Barry Anderson (Baz Anderson)
35. Matthew Shepherd
36. Jamie Boyt (MrJellyLeggs)
37. Sam James
38. Oliver Hirsch (Yanzin)

US Regional Championships

Madison, Wisconsin

Masters Division

1. Collin Heier (TheBattleRoom)
2. James Baek (Jamesspeed1)
3. Manoj Sunny (MangoSol)
4. Wesley Morioka (Wesley)
5. Jonathan Neville (TM Gold)
6. Nick Sefranek
7. Matthew Swanson (Swanner)
8. Mario Serrano (Mario C)

Atlanta, Georgia

Masters Division

1. Jerry Woods III (Sabaku)
2. Cameron Swan (Drizzleboy)
3. Angel Miranda (CT MikotoMisaka)
4. Toler Web (Dim)
5. Ben Thomas
6. Joseph Brummet (lucariojr)
7. Aaron Riker (rapture)
8. Karl Concepion
9. Geoffrey Sauk
10. Michael Lanzano (JiveTime)
11. Edward Glover (Min)
12. Matthew Blackburn
13. Sohaib Mufti (sohaib)
14. Joshua Edwards (General Josh)
15. Eric Hogan (JackOfClubs97)
16. Dan Richard

The post Results from Week 3 of the VGC ’15 US Spring Regionals & UK Nationals appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

1327 players entered. 1 will emerge victorious. After five long months and over 4300 best of three matches of Pokémon, we’ve come to our final two. Jake Muller (MajorBowman) of the United States will play Juan Carlos Mateos del Amo (L3ctro) of Spain this Sunday, June 7th at 12:30 PM Pacific Daylight Time. It will be streamed live on the Nugget Bridge Twitch channel with commentary by Duy Ha and Alex Ogloza. Both players have earned an invitation to the Nugget Bridge Invitational and will be playing for the first prize of $300. Second place will walk off with $150.

Jake Muller (MajorBowman)

While Jake’s (centre) first Pokémon game was Silver, he didn’t start playing competitively until the Diamond and Pearl days, where he mostly stuck to Smogon’s Singles OU format. After watching the live stream of the 2013 Pokémon World Championships, he was inspired to start competing in the Video Game Championships. His first tournament was the Philadelphia Regionals that fall and he hasn’t looked back. While his 2014 season was somewhat quiet, Jake began establishing himself in 2015 and has consistently been near the top of the rankings this year. His biggest accomplishment at a tournament so far has been going 9-0 in Swiss at Missouri Regionals with a somewhat metagame-defining team as well as 4 Premier Challenge wins to date. He is hoping for a strong run at the upcoming US National Championships to secure his first invite to Worlds.

Juan Carlos Mateos del Amo (L3ctro)

Juan (left) started playing Pokémon when he was seven years old with Pokémon Blue and has played every game since. Pokémon was his childhood and he looks to make sure his name is remembered in the game that has given so much to him. His competitive involvement began in 2011 with Pokémon Black & White playing Singles OU on Pokémon Online. Juan didn’t look at competitive play very seriously until 2014 when he purchased a Nintendo 2DS and Pokémon Omega Ruby at which point his friends, including established players like Eric “Riopaser” Rios pointed him towards the Video Game Championships.

Since starting, Juan has played in two non-official tournaments in Spain finish 77th in Barcelona and 12th in Madrid. Next season he’s looking to continue the success he’s seen in the Nugget Bridge Major and travel to some National Championships and doing his best to earn an invitation to the Pokémon World Championships.

The post The Season 4 Nugget Bridge Major Final is Set appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hello Internet. Earlier in the year, Europe had its first ever Regional level tournament in Arnhem, The Netherlands. As the new VGC ’15 format was both so new and open, I thought it would be fun to re-introduce my successful VGC ’13 Worlds team to the metagame.

Perhaps a somewhat lucky run through the Swiss rounds placed me in the top 8 cut. From here, I did not drop a game putting me at 12-1 for the entire tournament and becoming the first ever European Regional Champion.

You can watch my entire tournament run in this playlist:

As for the team, I continued to plough through Premier Challenges with it, with four Premier Challenge 1st place finishes and one 9th placing. I also made minor changes and felt pretty confident entering the German Nationals a few weeks ago. Unfortunately that did not go so well, although mainly due to bad plays on my behalf. This team, with some luck, did top cut the UK National last weekend, but could not go any further through it, thus resulting in my first top cut loss this season.

Perhaps this is an appropriate time to finally reveal my sets, spreads and changes I have made to adapt the team to the current VGC ’15 format. Therefore, I included below videos introducing the team, and detailing the moves, spreads and roles of each member.

The Team

Liepard

Liepard @ Black Glasses
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 156 HP / 100 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Foul Play
– Fake Out
– Swagger
– Encore

Good old Liepard. This set is very similar to my Worlds 2013 version with Swagger instead of Trick (as used in late 2013) or Taunt (as used in 2014). The Black Glasses replaced Dark Gem to pick up some useful 2HKOs and OHKOs at +2.

Scizor

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 92 Atk / 4 Def / 156 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Knock Off
– Bullet Punch
– Swords Dance
– Protect

Scizor kept its place on the team and gained the place as the Mega evolution. Bullet Punch is essential for neutralising Fairies, and the inclusion of Knock Off gives me another option against Aegislash and provides item scouting utility.

Breloom

Breloom @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Bullet Seed
– Mach Punch
– Spore
– Protect

No surprises here, no changes here. Breloom is still a great Pokémon, but the new Spore and Sleep mechanics as well as the introduction of Safety Goggles means Breloom has to be played much more carefully.

Cresselia

Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 100 HP / 28 Def / 200 SpA / 8 SpD / 172 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 SpA / 28 SpD
– Psychic
– Hidden Power [Ground]
– Icy Wind
– Calm Mind

Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 100 HP / 4 Def / 200 SpA / 8 SpD / 196 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 SpA / 28 SpD
– Psychic
– Hidden Power [Ground]
– Icy Wind
– Calm Mind

I went back to the Calm Mind set, since Cresselia at +1 is a monster. Moreover, in order to provide me with another option against the vastly popular and greatly threatening Heatran, Hidden Power Ground was included on this set. The newer version of Cresselia on the right outspeeds Modest 252 Heatran and base 125 at -1.

Terrakion

Terrakion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Justified
Level: 50
EVs: 68 HP / 148 Atk / 36 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Close Combat
– Rock Slide
– Substitute
– Protect

Terrakion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Justified
Level: 50
EVs: 68 HP / 148 Atk / 36 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Close Combat
– Rock Slide
– Rock Tomb
– Protect

Because Substitute sees less viability with Hyper Voice, Rock Tomb was included on the newer version as a means of avoiding Wide Guard. It also provided my team with more Speed control and it was a slightly more accurate alternative to Rock Slide.

Thundurus

Thundurus @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 164 HP / 32 Def / 52 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Taunt
– Thunder Wave

Thundurus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 36 HP / 220 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Taunt
– Thunder Wave

Thundurus was the team member that changed the most after Arnhem. It went from a defensive version with Sitrus Berry to an offensive Life Orb version that threatened OHKOs on most Charizards and could do a substantial amount of damage to everything else.  The most unconvincing member of the team split half way between offensive sweeper and support.

Thank you for watching/reading! Feel free to try the team out yourself; it is harder to use than it looks! What is next for Liepard? …who knows!

The post Liepard Returns: Arnhem Champion and Beyond Team Analysis appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Congratulations to Jake Muller (MajorBowman) who defeated Juan Carlos Mateos del Amo (L3ctro) today in the finals of the Season 4 Nugget Bridge Major. Emerging victorious in the largest Pokémon tournament in history is no easy feat! Over 1300 players from every inhabited continent entered the latest iteration of the Nugget Bridge Major. Five months and over 4000 best-of-three sets later we have a Champion! MajorBowman will walk away with $300 and an invitation to our most prestigious tournament, the Nugget Bridge Invitational. L3ctro also has an invitation to the Nugget Bridge Invitational which will run later this summer.

Missed the finals? We have the stream archive fully commentated by Duy (Duy) and Alex (Evan Falco) up on YouTube. We also have the rest of the Top 8 matches up on our YouTube channel! To see how the bracket played out, see the full archive on Battlefy. Have feedback on the Nugget Bridge Major? Leave it in the comments!

The post MajorBowman is Your Season 4 Nugget Bridge Major Champion appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hey there Nugget Bridge. My name’s Mark and I’ve been lurking in VGC for a few years now, but this year has been my first real go at the circuit, and today I get to share my Washington 2nd place story with everyone. Max Douglas (starmetroid) and I ran the same team in Washington (and Utah), and you can read his team report on our blog, VGC with Hats! While I’ve written a couple articles for Nugget Bridge already, I’ve never talked about my history as a player, so before I get to my report, a brief introduction:

My first tournament was technically Seattle Regionals in 2011 (I played one game and was knocked out of the event), but I kept VGC as a side-interest while playing TCG mainly up until late 2013. At Canadian Nationals, Randy Kwa (R Inanimate) gave me a team he had used in the international challenge, and I ended up playing the team in Oregon Regionals 2013 (after scrubbing up in TCG), and later took Top 8 in British Columbia Regionals using the team with some adjustments.

2014 was my first real competitive season…sorta. I only made it out to one Regionals (Oregon) ending with a  5-2 record. After that, life took over and while I had booked a ticket to Nats, I was later offered a chance to fly to Prague to present at a biology conference; this conference ended 3 days before US Nationals…in Europe. So my first Nationals ended up being a real “no Raichus given” experience, having worked 10+ hour days for the month before the event with no time for Pokemon. So while I’ve been playing with a competitive mindset for a couple years now, I think this is the first year I’ve really had the chance to prepare for and attend multiple events.

The Team

The team I used for Washington was a team that Max and I had been playing with since March. The team spawned out of an idea I had to use Scarfed Metagross; I wanted scarfed Metagross because it was a physical scarfer with decent bulk, good coverage, could out-speed Base 130s, and most importantly, it couldn’t be intimidated. I told Max about Scarf Metagross before heading home from work, and by the time I was home he had drafted a team that was very close to the team we ended up using. The team had three Jolly Pokemon with Rock Slide, so we affectionately referred to it as “Jolly Rocks.” Max won a couple Premier Challenges with Scarf Metagross and I played in one taking Top 8 before being knocked out by Cybertron’s recent Gothitelle team.

At that point, Metagross’ novelty was wearing off and we were both considering swapping it out for a Life Orb Aegislash (an idea Max had before that seemed to counter the Vancouver metagame), and my loss to the bulky psychic type confirmed that it was time to retire Metagross.

I’d been playing around with a HailRoom team and had really appreciated Abomasnow’s Ice Shard for picking up KOs against anything in the red, so I suggested Shadow Sneak over the more typical Wide Guard and this ended up being one of Aegislash’s strongest additions to the team; Shadow Sneak just gave the team some versatility in setting up end games. The other change this allowed us to make was to use Scarfed Politoed, which I’ve always thought to be the strongest Politoed set since anything with a Scarfed Ice Beam is pretty good. The last change we made was to drop Rock Slide from M-Salamence in favour of Hyper Voice; this idea we got from Randy Kwa. Both moves were meant to deal chip damage such that Double-Edge could take a KO later, but while Rock Slide let Salamence deal good damage to Thundurus-I, and Rock Slide is… well… Rock Slide, Hyper Voice was 100% accurate, couldn’t be Intimidated, and gave the team a far better option for dealing with Breloom/support.

With most of these adjustments I made Top 4 at the next Premier Challenge, and the night before heading off to Seattle I went online to play some battle spot and get some experience with the changes on the team. I also reached out to a couple players to give me some practice games, so a big thanks to Andy Himes (Amarillo) for letting me feel my way around these changes with him! One of the best parts about this team as a Swiss play was that it only used two moves with less than 100% accuracy: Rock Slide and Swagger. I think that consistency really helped throughout the day.

The final version of the team ended up being:

Politoed @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP /  252 SpA /  252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Scald
– Ice Beam
– Surf
– Rain Dance

The team started out with a Bold Politoed that used Helping Hand and Icy Wind, but the lack of speed really hurt Politoed’s ability to contribute to games. Scarfed Politoed allowed us to keep another naturally fast Pokemon on the team after dropping Metagross. Scald and Ice Beam are obviously useful, while Surf could have been anything and it probably would have been alright. But it’s nice to have the option of a Scarfed Surf. Rain Dance was to slow down sun teams, which finds its way into games somewhat often.

Ludicolo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 148 HP / 36 Def / 156 SpA / 4 SpD / 164 Spe
Modest Nature
– Scald
– Giga Drain
– Ice Beam
– Fake Out

Ludicolo is a Pokemon Max and I had played with a lot at the end of VGC 2014, as it could function well in and outside of rain. Nowadays, with M-Salamence and scarfed Landorus-T running around on top of Ludicolo’s natural enemy Kangaskhan, Ludicolo has to fear big hits from a lot of top guns. Still, it isn’t without its checks to these top threats, which means that it can still come to games with rain against these Pokemon without hesitation. But its ability to play outside of rain has diminished to some extent. This team is low on speed control options, and Ludicolo is effectively one of them, so it’s a good way to start the game off with some major pressure. Ludicolo’s EVs are meant to speed creep that tier of Pokemon that like to be in Tailwind, while also out-speeding most Rotom-W and Suicune such that Ludicolo could protect its partner from a potential Ice Beam or Will-o-Wisp. This Ludicolo spread also survives a Life Orb Bisharp’s Knock Off and its Special Attack hits an 11n number.

Salamence @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
– Double-Edge
– Earthquake
– Hyper Voice
– Protect

This Salamence was ripped from Randy Kwa, so major props to him. M-Salamence’s Double-Edge is a force to be reckoned with, and while everyone is all uppity about their Salamence wrecking itself before it checks itself, I simply would not run a non-Dragon Dance set without Double-Edge and max physical attack investment. This team is hyper offensive, and its policy is “the best defence is a good offence.” I am confident that having Double-Edge has saved M-Salamence from getting KO’d loads of times; Double-Edge just facilitates knock outs. Running the mixed set with Hyper Voice has been great as it just gives the team an option for good damage against Intimidate, and a 100% accurate spread move.

Thundurus @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 4 SpA / 28 SpD / 68 Spe
Bold Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Swagger
– Taunt
– Thunder Wave

Thundurus is one of the best Pokemon in the game right now, and Prankster is one of the best abilities around. The team already had two Ice-type attacks, so Hidden Power Ice wasn’t a high priority. Having Swagger also gave Thundurus the option of Swaggering our own Terrakion, which let Terrakion OHKO opposing Thundurus-I no matter how physically bulky they were. Swagger is also just stupid good at being a move you can use with almost no repercussions. If Thundurus didn’t have something better to do that turn, it could just Swagger and they would have a 45% chance of not moving (accounting for accuracy) while dealing minor chip damage if they hit themselves. Paralysis is also, quite possibly, the most powerful status effect in the game. I’m sure many people would still use Thunder Wave even if Paralysis didn’t have the 25% chance to be fully paralyzed, which just emphasizes how good the move is.

Thundurus’ EV spread was meant to be bulky, and gets 3HKOd by Terrakion’s Rock Slide after Sitrus; plus it hits an 11n number (I’m a sucker for efficiency). The speed was to out-speed the “I’m scared of Breloom” tier, speed creep other bulky Thundurus so I could Taunt them, and had the side-benefit of being faster than Smeargle should I want to Thunderbolt it for the turn. The team really didn’t care about Heatran and this Thundurus couldn’t touch Landorus-T so I stopped my speed creeping nonsense there; Max settled at a speed stat of 137.

Terrakion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Close Combat
– Rock Slide
– Quick Guard
– Protect

Terrakion is pretty standard, but it’s the team’s best way of clearing Kangaskhan and also Ferrothorn which can otherwise cause problems. Quick Guard was a move that almost never got used, but I did almost win game one of the finals with it so it put in work that day. That said, depending on what metagame this Terrakion was playing in, it has also used Double Kick or Stone Edge in that slot. I don’t think it really matters that much. The other thing that gets played around with is Focus Sash vs. Lum Berry, but at this point I don’t think I could drop Lum Berry as it offers too good a buffer to unfortunate hax, and to those players who fearlessly Thunder Wave Terrakion for some reason.

Aegislash @ Life Orb
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
– Shadow Ball
– Flash Cannon
– Shadow Sneak
– King’s Shield

Aegislash became the star of the team despite being the last Pokemon added. Life Orb Aegislash’s Shadow Ball hits almost as hard as Choice Specs Hydreigon’s Dark Pulse, but without being locked into the move afterwards. The unfortunate part of this damage calculation is that Aegislash just barely comes up short on the OHKO on your standard Sylveon, which means Sylveon needed chip damage before Flash Cannon could KO; chip damage… or a Shadow Sneak! Any time you can use a priority move that does around 20% neutral damage to anything, it’s going to put in work. Shadow Sneak was easily the neatest move on the team and I think Max was surprised at how useful it was, having been a Wide Guard purist for so long.

The Tournament

I couldn’t save my battle videos obviously, but as a result I don’t know what I led since I don’t keep track of that in my notes (I should change that…), but I’ll go over the matches I can remember with quick thoughts and reflections.

Round 1 – Jimmy P.

There’s not much to say about this game. Nice guy, but he ended up dropping pretty early in the day.

Win: (1-0)

Round 2 – Sam H. (DrFidget)

Sam had an Aron on the team, which honestly scared me a lot because I didn’t have any multi-hit moves. I led with Politoed/Ludicolo this game despite expecting him to switch in Tyranitar to win the weather war. I was planning to potentially Rain Dance on turn 1 to beat the incoming Sand, but his leads of Azumarill and Zapdos made me feel safe in just doubling into the TTar switch-in from the Zapdos slot with Scalds for a chance at burn and major damage. This play worked out pretty well, and I doubled into it again next turn for the KO. That turn, Sam missed a Play Rough on my Ludicolo which would’ve chunked me good; but I also critted his TTar with Scald not quite KOing, which meant my Ludicolo couldn’t recover as much off of Giga Drain by doubling in, later forcing me to switch Ludicolo out to preserve it from being KOd by Sand damage. Definitely a trade I’ll take any day, but an interesting turn of events nonetheless. Had he hit the Play Rough, I’d have had to play quite differently, but that miss let me close the game very comfortably.

Win (2-0)

Round 3 – Hajime Uyesugi (Aralevent)

I led Thundurus/Politoed and used Rain Dance and Taunt on the first turn to shut down his Sableye and leave his Charizard stuck in Solarbeam. After this, the game was very manageable on my end, as Salamence’s Hyper Voice cleanly dealt with Breloom and I had Choice Scarf Politoed in back for his Garchomp.

Win (3-0)

Round 4 – Rapha “bagel bagel” Bagara (Rapha)

Oh man… Rapha is a fellow VGCwithHats‘er and friend from Vancouver, and we’ve played far too many times now in Premier Challenges. I don’t think Rapha’s actually beaten me in swiss, but I lost to him in Top Cut the last time we played a top cut match. This game, I think I led Thundurus/Ludicolo to his Togekiss/Hydreigon, and tried to call Rapha Draco Meteor’ing my Thundurus by switching in Aegislash. This was a pretty risky move on my part, and it didn’t work out as Rapha went for the safe play of just Dark Pulsing that slot, which made a lot of sense. So I started the game down 3-4, but somehow was able to put pressure on him with Thunder Wave (and Swagger). At one point, he ended up fully paralyzed which was what I needed to halt his momentum and steal the game back. The raw power of Salamence’s Double-Edge let me pick up quick KOs in this game that made sure I kept the momentum I’d gained back.

Win (4-0)

Round 5 – Harrison Saylor (Crow)

I really liked the look of this matchup from team preview, but was just toying with the idea of bringing Politoed or Ludicolo as my 4th Pokemon in back. As time ran out, with one second left my brain was emphatically saying “Politoed!” and my hand said “Ludicolo!,” and I immediately divorced my hand and let my brain take custody of the stylus; my hand could see it in between turns and on weekends. I had the full intention of bringing Politoed and really regretted this brain fart and having Ludicolo in this game. Had I had Politoed, the game played out in such a way that I’d have won with Politoed as my last Pokemon, and there wasn’t anything revealed until Politoed would have closed the game. But Ludicolo was brought, and was KOd from being too slow, and I took my first loss of the day. I did get to find out about Draco Meteor on his M-Salemence and Rocky Helmet on his Cresselia though, so that was valuable information for the future.

Loss (4-1)

Round 6 – Paul Barrera

I led with Ludicolo/Aegislash, to his Ludicolo/Zapdos. Feeling extremely confident my Ludicolo was faster than his, I Faked Out his Ludicolo and Shadow Balled his Zapdos on turn 1, getting a Special Defense drop in the process while he paralyzed Ludicolo. He left his Zapdos in allowing me to Ice Beam KO it on turn 2 as he paralyzed Aegislash, which gave me a strong control of the game from there. I was lucky this game in not getting fully paralyzed so much that I didn’t lose the lead from there. I was also able to spread some paralysis of my own to mitigate that issue and regain some speed control.

Win (5-1)

Round 7 – Marc Dennis

Marc had sent Rapha “bagel bagel” down to a record of 4-2 after round 6, so I was pretty cautious of his team. Jolteon, Greninja and Heracross were uncommon choices, and Greninja was something I really didn’t like seeing as it could out-speed and KO my Salamence while also threatening big damage on Ludicolo through Gunk Shot. I don’t remember what I led, but at some point in the game, I made a yamsy prediction and went for a Hyper Voice with Salamence to set Greninja up for the KO later, and this let me know I was actually faster than Greninja! After that, the game was nowhere near as scary and I was able to close it out handily, though his Jolteon got a Thunder in on my Politoed for KO which was pretty neat.

Win (6-1)

Round 8 – Max Douglas (starmetroid)

We were both at 6-1 and using the exact same team, but I knew I had great resistance (~70%), while Max did not. That said, I didn’t want to scoop to Max for us to both make cut, in the unlikely event that I bubbled out as a result; only ~7 of 27 X-2s were projected to make Top 16 (it ended up being 8). While I was planning to scoop, we played a game out before committing to the final decision which would make me feel a lot better about the situation. The mirror match played out as mirror-matchy as you could have it (though we brought different Pokemon). The last two on our fields were Salamence and Ludicolo, with both Ludicolo paralyzed and every Pokemon basically fresh. We both Double-Edged each other’s Ludicolos resulting in a M-Salamence speed tie to finish the game. Then we both scrubbed up and went for a Double-Edge on each other, which meant whoever moved second and took recoil second would win. I say scrubbed up, because later Max realized we both should have Hyper Voiced; I completely forgot about it being at single target power at that point. While Hyper Voice wouldn’t outright KO the opponent’s Salamence, it also would ensure our own M-Salamence survived the turn. Either way, Max won fair and square and I felt much better about the result that way, though was pretty nervous about the standings.

Loss (6-2)

Post-Swiss

I was pretty antsy waiting for confirmation that my resistance remained strong, as of the six opponents I could track down at the end of Round 8, one had dropped previously and the others went 2W-3L, which was a net drop in my resistance. My last opponent had also lost, but it turned out I was alright and made it into cut as the 13th seed. With that huge relief off my chest, we did the hack check and the British Columbia crew left to follow friends around aimlessly until later splitting off for pizza.

That night, I ended up being out until 2:30 AM trying to find a hotel room for a couple TCG friends who were minors and couldn’t book their own room; a last minute cancellation left the group in a dicey situation. Our hotel wouldn’t allow them to stay in our room for fire safety reasons, and everywhere around the Travelodge was booked up, but they eventually found a floor to sleep on (seriously, thanks Sorina!) and I got to pass out as well. Not an ideal way to spend the night before your Top Cut matches, but Max and I have had good results after staying up late, so maybe it was a bonus!

After a wee few hours of sleep, we woke up to face the day and our opponents in Top 16.

Top Cut

Top 16 – Gary Qian

Gary was dressed as “Red” which put some pressure on me to don the Crawdaunt hat… but I withheld as that thing is just too warm despite its awesomeness! Anyways, Gary had a Smeargle and Salamence, both of which were dealt with adequately by Thundurus and Politoed, letting me take the first game quite handily. I was also able to launch an unnecessary Thunder Wave at his Scizor to confirm its item as Lum Berry. In the second game, he brought Mega-Venusaur which was a good adjustment and it was really close, but he hadn’t realized I was on my last two Pokemon and slipped up to let me win the game without a need for game 3.

Win [2-0]

Top 8 – Gabby Snyder (JTK)

After forgoing the Crawdaunt hat in Top 16, Gabby sat down across from me with a Bidoof and Jirachi plush. Two things went through my mind: 1) Someone actually owns a Bidoof plush? 2) Crap… I think I have to don the Daunt now.

I knew Gabby was a strong player and I was in for a tough series, and honestly this was probably the best Top Cut series I played that day; it’s a shame we couldn’t get on stream so I could remember more about them! I was wary about her team using Encore Politoed + Disable Kingdra to shut me down, and didn’t find out until Game 3 that this wasn’t a problem as Kingdra revealed its 4th move. I remember taking Game 1 with a prediction on her switch in for a clutch advantage. Game 2, I found out about her Lum Berry on Kingdra, which got a Substitute up without being paralyzed as a result, and that strong position let her close out game 2. In game 3, I revealed Shadow Sneak on Aegislash to remove Kingdra’s Subsitute at an ideal point in the game, and was able to hit through an accuracy drop on Ludicolo to put myself in a winning position. At the end of this game, I was able to switch my Ludicolo out to reset its accuracy for the guaranteed win against her soon-to-be lone Politoed.

Win [2-1]

Top 4 – Harrison Saylor (Crow)

While I was itching for a rematch with Harrison after losing in Swiss due to my bizarre team preview internal conflict, he had just taken out Max who was using the same team as me; this left me a bit nervous that he’d have counter strategies prepared. In game 1, my Thundurus was frozen early in the game, and I wasn’t very confident in my odds from there on out. I ended that turn with a frozen Thundurus and an Aegislash in blade forme against his M-Salamence and Cresselia. I knew his M-Salamence had Return and Draco Meteor, and my thought process was completely distracted by this fact not even considering Earthquake (which is pretty embarrassing because I run Earthquake on my own Salamence). Whatever the reason, I actually forgot about Earthquake, and had I remembered, I likely would have King’s Shielded. But then again I may have decided I just needed to predict him to expect my King’s Shield in order to come back from the freeze. I guess I’ll never know! Either way… losing Aegislash early and having Thundurus frozen gave Harrison a 4-0 victory.

Game two wasn’t the cleanest affair. I called his Salamence switch out on turn 2, and ended up shutting down Sylveon with Swagger and Thunder Wave, and got some luck of my own as it failed to attack three turns in a row. I knew Life Orb Aegislash or my Mega Salamence would be able to take it out after it took chip damage, so I didn’t want to Thunderbolt into that slot and just wanted to prevent Sylveon from attacking as much as possible, not treating it as a priority. I had Politoed in the back for his Mega Salamence or Rhyperior, and intended for my Salamence switch in to let me save Thundurus since Politoed could take out his Salamence at any point, but I never had to use Politoed thanks to Sylveon failing to attack, which let me play some mind games for game 3.

Game 3, after not revealing Politoed, and after Aegislash put in as much work as it did, I figured he would bring Heatran and I aggressively led with Politoed to shut down this adjustment. This worked perfectly and I took game 3 handily as Politoed neutered Heatran and Thundurus was able to Taunt Cresselia, giving me easy outs since Trick Room never went up.

Win [2-1]

Finals – Riley Factura (gengarb0i)

We had an hour lunch break and Riley had just played on stream against my friend Wesley, and I had played on stream prior to that, so I knew a lot about his team entering the match and I expect he knew a lot about mine. I knew his Sylveon was bulky, and I had actually just lost a best-of-three in the National Collegiate Pokemon Association after being surprised by a Bold Sylveon that survived my Mega Salamence’s Double-Edge. At lunch with Max, we pined over the best way to lead in this match, and it was a pretty depressing experience. There really weren’t any two Pokemon on my team that gave me options against every good lead combo he could bring.

In the end, I figured out a decent lead combo in Salamence and Aegislash that gave me options against what I expected him to bring first. This first game, I got a bit greedy expecting a Thunder Wave so I used Hyper Voice and went to Shadow ball the Thundurus while KO’ing Sylveon, and he was able to take Aegislash a bit too easily as a result. Politoed ended up paraflinched, which is a strategy I employed in building my team originally, so it really showed its worth here. In the middle, my Terrakion missed a Rock Slide onto his Thundurus which would end up hurting later, and at the end my Terrakion missed a Rock Slide against his Kangaskhan that would’ve sealed the game for me; though I was able to attack through a paralysis that turn, so the odds of me winning off my Double-Edge + Rock Slide play at that point were actually only 60.8%. Still, it was a disappointing loss since I felt I had a good win condition and just barely missed out on it through Lemony Snickett’s series of unfortunate events.

In game 2, I went with a lead of Aegislash/Terrakion to face Sylveon/Thundurus, but this didn’t really work out for me as he ended up leading with Landorus-T which left me at a disadvantage. To compound that, I later failed to switch Salamence out to Terrakion to take a potential Thunder Wave, which would have worked out really well as Riley Hidden Power Iced that slot. I guess I was greedy and wanted to get a Hyper Voice + Flash Cannon KO on the Landorus-T or Kangaskhan switch-in since either would cause me problems. I also think that was Riley’s first use of Hidden Power Ice, so I think it caught me by surprise a bit. In the end, I failed to preserve M-Salamence to deal with Landorus-T, and lost my only Earthquake immunity on the team. I also didn’t bring Terrakion in afterward which was probably my best chance at winning after losing M-Salamence; Riley’s Landorus-T was able to close out the game handily. Riley took game 2 with commanding play, and I was beaten!

Loss [0-2]

Riley’s bulky Sylveon really tied my hands this series, as I couldn’t just OHKO it using Salamence (nor with Aegislash). Riley made a really great call to build his Sylveon the way he did, so major props to him and his set. I don’t expect this rain team will be a strong play entering Nationals as it is, so I’ll have to think of something to do about that, or more likely just find a new team for Nationals.

Conclusion

And there you have it! After two days, many great matches, some boneheaded mistakes, a bit of luck, and the ideal ~3 hours of sleep needed for a successful run in Top Cut, I walked away with an extra 100 Championship Points, securing my $750 travel stipend to US Nationals. The next week, Max and I took the team to Utah where I made Top 8 in the 98-person Premier Challenge the day before, and Max took 2nd place in the actual event. This team has been really good to us over the last couple months, earning us a total of 386 Championships Points worth of finishes, so it’s nice to be able to highlight it since it’s likely played its last big event.

Thanks for reading! Cheers,

Crawdaunt out.

The post Sneaking Through Seattle: Washington 2nd Place Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hello everyone! My name is Yan Sym, better known on Nugget Bridge as Sogeking. I’m a 21-year-old Brazilian player who recently moved to the United Kingdom to finish my Master’s degree. I’ve played competitive Pokémon since 2007 and VGC since 2011. My accomplishments include winning Smogon Superstars V, a 3rd place in the Official Smogon Tournament #10, and winning a big non-sanctioned VGC tournament the Brazilian Pokémon League hosted in 2014.

The Quest for the Best VGC Team

When the rules for the season was announced in December, I soon began looking at statistics and team-building. Those who know me are aware that I am a very methodical person, so I enjoy developing general guidelines and team-building patterns for every format. In January, after playing extensively on both Pokémon Showdown and Battle Spot, I came up with some guidelines to help me out with building teams for the format.

Over the next few months, I went through several teams to find something that fit my play style. These teams ranged from speed control as a central role for the entire team, to teams that were built around defensive synergy, re-direction and general bulk. In total, I used teams that were based around four of the most popular Mega Pokémon in the format; Kangaskhan, Metagross, Salamence and Venusaur. While there were some teams I liked using, I felt I was not winning consistently enough with any of them.

With only about a month before the United Kingdom and Italy Regionals, I was frustrated I couldn’t find a team that fit my play style in the format. That was when I decided to give Mega Charizard Y a try, and fell in love with it!

Building The Team

I believe Mega Charizard Y is one of the best Mega Evolutions in the format. I knew that most players would be over-prepared for Kangaskhan, so I was expecting to see numerous Landorus-T, Terrakion, Amoonguss and Mega Metagross. And guess what beats all that? Mega Charizard Y + Wide Guard Aegislash does! The synergy of this pair meant that Aegislash could protect Charizard from any Rock Slides. I then decided to try Landorus-T and Thundurus in the team more out of convenience than anything else. To finish the team, I needed two Pokémon that were able to hit Heatran hard so I could safely use Heat Waves and Overheat with Charizard. I decided to add Hydreigon, providing another Ground-type immunity to the team so Landorus-T would be able to use Earthquake more freely. In addition, Hydreigon is an excellent Pokémon in the format, being able to hit everything pretty hard. To finish the team, I thought it would be a good idea to add a Focus Sash Terrakion, providing me with a reliable answer to Mega Kangaskhan as well as a check to both Rain and Sun playstyles. The first iteration of the team looked like this:

Still not good enough. Having both Terrakion and Landorus-T in the team seemed redundant to me, and I needed something to safely sponge special attacks when I U-turned out with Landorus-T. Thundurus was also fainting very quickly before it accomplished much, so an alternative was needed to provide the team with speed control. After about a week testing in the Pokémon Showdown ladder, I finally came up with this:

The Final Team

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 220 HP / 148 Def / 4 SpA / 12 SpD / 124 Spe
Modest Nature
– Heat Wave
– Solar Beam
– Overheat
– Protect

• Outruns Jolly max Speed Breloom by two points
• Survives Adamant Landorus-T spread Rock Slide 93.7% of the time
• Survives Jolly Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge 93.7% of the time
• Survives Modest Choice Specs Hydreigon Draco Meteor 87.5% of the time
• OHKOs 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Kangaskhan with Overheat 100% of the time
• OHKOs 4 HP / 0 Def Terrakion with Solar Beam 87.5% of the time
• OHKOs 252 HP / 84 SpD Amoonguss with spread Heat Wave 81.3% of the time

Charizard’s move-set is the most standard possible but it’s simple and effective. Heat Wave is the spammable STAB move that hits hard and gets around redirection, Solar Beam offers coverage mainly against Terrakion and bulky Water-types in general, and Overheat in the Sun hits like a truck, knocking out just about any non-resist to open up exploitable holes in the early game. The difference here is the EV spread. After weeks brainstorming about it, me and my Portuguese team building partner, Ricardo Pinto (RpIndaHouse), finally came up with this one, which I liked a lot. Being able to survive a Rock Slide from an Adamant Landorus-T most of the time means that in situations where I have a full health Charizard and Aegislash in the field against a Choice Scarf Landorus-T and its partner, I am able to freely attack with both of my Pokémon, which ended up being extremely helpful and key for this team.

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 52 HP / 220 Atk / 52 Def / 4 SpD / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Earthquake
– Superpower
– Rock Slide
– U-turn

• Outruns Timid Mega Gengar and Jolly Aerodactyl by 1 point
• Survives Hidden Power Ice from 84 SpA neutral Thundurus 100% of the time
• Survives Jolly Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge 56.2% of the time
• Survives Modest non-boosted Hydreigon Draco Meteor 100% of the time
• Survives Sucker Punch from +1 Life Orb Adamant Bisharp 87.5% of the time
• Survives Ice Shard from -1 Life Orb Adamant Mamoswine 93.7% of the time
• OHKOs 4 HP / 0 Def Terrakion with spread Earthquake 81.3% of the time

Landorus-Therian is a really great Pokémon and there is a good reason it’s consistently among the Top Five on most ladder and tournament statistics. Intimidate is really nice to suppress enemy physical attackers, although I have to watch out for Bisharp. The moveset is pretty standard once again, but it works. There wasn’t really a point where I felt like I needed another move to win. Some players like to run Knock Off in the last moveslot, but U-turn is amazing because it allows me to switch Landorus’ partner out and then U-turn out to bring it back out again. This came in handy for setting up the sun again on the field without wasting two turns. Landorus did its job on the team really well.

Landorus-T provides Charizard with an amazing synergy by intimidating threats like Kangaskhan, Terrakion and other Landorus-T. Charizard and Landorus-T was by far my most common lead because Landorus-T can get a fast U-turn in, letting me bring Aegislash or Conkeldurr in to fulfill necessary roles. Landorus-T is also amazing for finishing off weakened Pokémon with spread moves in the late game.

Zapdos @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 244 HP / 120 Def / 116 SpD / 28 Spe (IV: 0 Atk / 30 Def)
Bold Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Heat Wave
– Thunder Wave

• Outruns Adamant Bisharp by 2 points
• Survives Fake Out + Double-Edge from Adamant Mega Kangaskhan 100% of the time
• Survives Modest Choice Specs Hydreigon Draco Meteor 81.2% of the time
• Adamant Landorus-T spread Rock Slide is a 4HKO most of the time

Zapdos offers me speed control while also being my main check to Mega Salamence and Rain teams in general. I tried to run Tailwind at first, but it really didn’t work for this team. Thunder Wave is fantastic for slowing down threats like Kangaskhan and Hydreigon which allows Conkeldurr to clean the field later. It’s also awesome when my opponent thinks we are both going to use Tailwind and I end up paralyzing his sweeper.

Thunderbolt is there as a reliable STAB move and Hidden Power [Ice] is pretty useful to hit Landorus-T and most Dragon-types for super-effective damage. For the last move, I considered Roost and Detect at first, but Heat Wave boosted in the Sun is really good, and having a spread damage attack negates any redirection concerns.

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 12 HP / 4 Def / 236 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Dark Pulse
– Earth Power
– Protect

• Survives -1 Jolly Terrakion Close Combat 75% of the time
• Survives Jolly Garchomp Dragon Claw 75% of the time
• Survives Helping Hand boosted Ice Beam from Modest Ludicolo 93.7% of the time

Another pretty standard and straightforward moveset. Draco Meteor is an obvious choice, being STAB and hitting like a truck everything that doesn’t resist it. Dark Pulse is the other STAB move and also deals a ton of damage even to neutral targets. Earth Power was the perfect way to dispatch Heatran, which totally walls Charizard. In the last slot, Protect was the obvious choice which allows me to stall Tailwind or Trick Room as well as seeing what moves choiced Pokémon will lock themselves into.

I opted to run max Speed otherwise bulky Hydreigon would be a threat to the team. However, instead of running 252 SpA as most people do, I chose to use 12 HP, 4 Def and 4 Sp Def. This gave me a better chance to survive moves like -1 Close Combat from Jolly Terrakion, Dragon Claw from Jolly Garchomp, and a Helping Hand boosted Ice Beam from Ludicolo. A useless defensive investment, you might say? Well, in the Italy regionals, it allowed Hydreigon to survive a -2 Life Orb Draco Meteor from a Timid Hydreigon with 2 HP!

Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 204 SpA / 52 SpD (IV: 0 Spe)
Quiet Nature
– Shadow Ball
– Flash Cannon
– King’s Shield
– Wide Guard

• Survives Modest Choice Specs Hydreigon Dark Pulse 63.5% of the time
• Survives 100 Spa Modest Mega Charizard Y spread Heat Wave 87.% of the time
• Survives Modest Heatran Fire Blast 96.7% of the time
• OHKOs 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Metagross with Shadow Ball 87.5% of the time

Aegislash supports Charizard with Wide Guard, resists Dragon-type and Fairy-type moves, and is also my main answer against Trick Room teams. Using 0 IV Speed was really useful against Noah Fuchs (Daydreaming Ninja) in the Italy regionals where it used Flash Cannon against his Sylveon and got the KO after Conkeldurr’s Ice Punch damage, whilst under Trick Room. Aegislash’s moveset is also pretty straightforward. Shadow Ball and Flash Cannon are its STAB moves and offer a decent coverage. King’s Shield allows it to go back into Shield form and Wide Guard blocks spread moves like Rock Slide, Heat Wave and Earthquake for its ally.

Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 212 HP / 84 Atk / 124 Def / 88 SpD (IV: 15 Spe)
Adamant Nature
– Drain Punch
– Ice Punch
– Knock Off
– Mach Punch

• Underspeeds minimum Speed Aegislash by 1 point
• Survives Modest Choice Specs Hydreigon Draco Meteor 100% of the time
• Survives Modest Mega Charizard Y Overheat 81.2% of the time
• Survives Brave Bird from Life Orb Jolly Talonflame 87.5% of the time
• Survives Zen Headbutt from Jolly Mega Metagross 81.2% of the time
• After Intimidate, Ice Punch puts a non-bulky Landorus-T in Mach Punch’s KO range most of the time
• OHKOs 4 HP / 0 Def Terrakion with Drain Punch 100% of the time
• OHKOs Alex Ogloza’s Hydreigon (84 HP / 12 Def) with Drain Punch 75% of the time
• OHKOs 252 HP / 4 Def Aegislash-Blade with Knock Off 100% of the time

Conkeldurr was the last addition to the team, but it definitely pulled its weight. Drain Punch and Mach Punch are its staple STAB moves. While the former hits harder and provides Conkeldurr with the ability to recover health, the latter is a priority move able to finish off weakened targets. Ice Punch hits common Pokémon like Landorus-T, Thundurus-I and Mega Salamence for Super Effective damage. Knock Off hits Aegislash, Cresselia and Jellicent, while also having the useful side-effect of removing items from opposing Pokémon.

I believe Assault Vest Conkeldurr is an extremely underestimated set in this format. Most players prefer using Sitrus Berry to tank Mega Kangaskhan better, but this spread can do that while still taking special attacks and effectively hitting back. This Conkeldurr can easily survive a Double-Edge from an Adamant Mega Kangaskhan, as well as a Zen Headbutt from a Jolly Mega Metagross most of the time.

You might have noticed that I chose Iron Fist over Guts for the ability. The reason is that whenever my opponents had a Pokémon with Will-O-Wisp, they would often fear Guts and prefer not using status on it. The only real reason I would want to run Guts would be to safely take Scalds on the switch. But we are taking about a 30% chance and Zapdos, Charizard and Hydreigon can take care of bulky waters. For this team, I wanted Conkeldurr to be bulky in order to sponge moves on the switch while still being able to get most of the knockouts that Guts Conkeldurr with max Attack investment does, so this makes Iron Fist my best choice and I don’t regret using it.

You might have also noticed that I am running a 15 IVs in Speed instead of just a standard 31 or 0. I wanted Conkeldurr to just under-speed minimum Speed Aegislash while still out-speeding Amoonguss, minimum Speed Scrafty and most paralyzed Pokémon.

Before the Tournament

I had the opportunity to test this team out at three Premier Challenges before the regional events. The first, held in Dublin, I managed to go undefeated until finals, where I lost to Kelly Mercier-White (KellsterCartier) in three intense games which you can watch below:

The following weekend I was over in Crawley where I went 3-2 in Swiss. Unfortunately I failed to reach the top cut, and only earned 14 CP from the event. The last Premier Challenge was in Glasgow. I went through Swiss with only one loss, which meant I was able to top-cut. I then managed to win through to the finals where I played Rachel (SPEevee) winning the set in three intense games. You can watch them below:

Going to the Tournament

It was literally a Pokémon quest to get to Sutton Coldfield, a very lovely town where the United Kingdom regional was hosted. After getting a bus, a plane, a train and finishing off with a short walk, I reached the venue at around 8:40 am, a short time before registration started. Here are some pictures of the venue:

The organization of the event was incredible. Huge shout-outs to Suzie Masters (Arono) and Ian Fotheringham (NoPoke) for their incredible performance during the event, the whole competitive Pokémon community really appreciates your efforts to make things work. The staff at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall were also very helpful and the breaks between rounds were very generous. The tournament even finished hours before the expected time, a real rarity!

The Tournament

Heading into the first round of matches, I was pretty confident with my team. During the week, I managed to put two accounts into the top 10 of the Pokémon Showdown ladder with this team. My only concerns were facing Rain teams with manual Rain Dance setters and Kangaskhan + Shuca Berry Heatran, both of which give my team a hard time. The tournament had 154 Masters, which meant at most only three people with a 6-2 record would be able to make it to Top Cut.

Round 1 vs James Bishop

His Team:
+

I brought:

In team preview, I saw Hydreigon would put a lot of work against his team. I left Zapdos out of this match because I didn’t feel like playing mind-games with a Lightning Rod Manectric potentially switching in and Aegislash matched up poorly to most of his team, so I also left it behind. He led Manectric and Talonflame, while I led Landorus-T and Hydreigon.

In the first turn he uses Tailwind with his Talonflame while I use U-Turn on Landorus-T to switch into Conkeldurr. James then uses Snarl with his Mega Manectric. However, Hydreigon still knocks out Talonflame at -1 with Dark Pulse, giving me a 4-3 lead. He replaces his fallen Talonflame with his own Hydreigon.

In the next turn, he doubles into my Conkeldurr with his Mega Manectric and Choice Specs Hydreigon. Conkeldurr though takes both hits and takes down Manectric with a Drain Punch, while my Hydreigon goes to -3 after using Draco Meteor on his Hydreigon.

The match is pretty much over at this point, I just had finish off the weakened Hydreigon and Earthquake Arcanine with the Landorus-T in the back. My opponent was a really nice guy and we talked a lot between matches.

Win | Score: 1-0

Round 2 vs Arron Hollands

His Team:
+

I brought:

In the Team Preview, I saw that Charizard would be key in this match. With Intimidate control to stop Talonflame and a bit of caution to play around Hydreigon, Charizard would definitely win me the game. Aegislash and Hydreigon wouldn’t do much in this matchup, so they sat on the bench for this one. I led with Charizard and Landorus, while Arron led with Serperior and Hydreigon.

On the first turn, I opted to U-turn Hydreigon, hedging my bets in case of a Talonflame switch. If he stayed in, like he did, Charizard could take anything Hydreigon could throw against it. U-turn did about 65% to his Hydreigon and I bring Conkeldurr in, while he uses Leaf Storm on the Conkeldurr and Hydreigon uses Dark Pulse on the Charizard. Charizard didn’t flinch and I got a double knock-out with Heat Wave, getting a 4-2 start.

He revealed his back line of Blastoise and Klefki to the field; it surprised me that he decided not to bring Talonflame to this match. I decided to focus on taking Blastoise down first, as it was the major threat on the field. After that, I just had to finish off Klefki with a Heat Wave and victory had been achieved. My opponent was also pretty chill and I respect for him for having such an unusual team.

Win | Score: 2-0

Round 3 vs Philip de Sousa (P3DS)

His Team:
+

I brought:

I wasn’t aware he was P3DS when we played. He was a very chill guy and played really well during the whole tournament. He went 7-1 in Swiss and was the winner of the first ever United Kingdom Regional. Good job, bro! You can watch the match below:

He had a Gengar, a Charizard and a Bisharp, so it really wouldn’t be a good idea to bring Aegislash here. I also didn’t want to bring Zapdos because it wouldn’t do anything against a very likely Lum Berry Terrakion. Although it wouldn’t be ideal to bring Landorus-T to this match, I really needed it to avoid being destroyed by Terrakion. Even if he decided to bring Bisharp, I would have Hydreigon, Conkeldurr and Charizard to play around it.

I lead Hydreigon and Conkeldurr while he lead with Charizard and Whimsicott. I had to Draco Meteor the Charizard in case it decided not to Protect. And even if he did, I still had no reason to target Whimsicott, as turn stalling Tailwind was what I had in mind to win this game. I get an Ice Punch off onto the Whimsicott, which did about 70%.

In the following turn I decided to just protect with Hydreigon, just in case Whimsicott turned out to have Moonblast. I thought Hydreigon was too important to take unnecessary risks so early in the game, and I knew that if Whimsicott didn’t have Moonblast he would want to switch it to Terrakion to abuse the Tailwind turns. He expected Overheat to take down my Conkeldurr, which survived with 27 HP and got the OHKO in his Terrakion in the switch with Drain Punch. From there the game was pretty much over for him, and he forfeited a few turns later.

Win | Score: 3-0

Round 4 vs Matthew

His Team:
+

I brought:

In the team preview I knew that although Conkeldurr seemed to be a good Pokémon to bring, it would be killed by any double target my opponent made. Zapdos also seemed bad in this matchup, being threatened by both Terrakion and Hydreigon. I also noticed that this team seemed very similar to what Zach (Braverius), Jake (MajorBowman) and Kelly (KellsterCartier) used to top cut a Regional, with Feraligatr as bulky water and Zapdos instead of Thundurus-I.

I decided to lead Landorus-T and Hydreigon as my opponent did the same for a mirror lead. In the first turn, I tried to scout for a Choice Scarf Hydreigon and decided to Protect my own. My Landorus-T used U-Turn on his Hydreigon and brought Aegislash onto the field while he revealed to be Choice Specs and went for the Dark Pulse into the Aegislash slot, which survived with 29 HP. Looking at the damage from my U-turn into his Hydreigon and the small damage of Dark Pulse into the Aegislash, I realized he was likely Jake’s spread. If that was the case, I knew my Hydreigon could survive a Superpower from a Jolly -1 Choice Band Landorus-T without max investment in Attack and decided to stay in with Hydreigon to use Draco Meteor on his Hydreigon. My Hydreigon survived the Superpower from his Landorus-T with 21 HP and got the KO in his Hydreigon, and then my Aegislash got the KO with a +2 Shadow Ball on his Landorus-T, allowing me to get a 4-2 start!

He sent his last two Pokémon, Terrakion and Zapdos. I thought I would still need Aegislash around to Wide Guard for my Charizard to clean the game, so I decided to switch Aegislash for Landorus-T and just Earth Power the Terrakion with Hydreigon in case he went for a non-attacking move. However, he does get the knockout on my Hydreigon with Close Combat and Zapdos used Thunderbolt onto my Landorus-T.

I brought Charizard into the field and then took a lot of time to decide if I should Rock Slide or just Superpower the Terrakion with my Landorus-T. I believe the former would have been better (because I would need one out of two flinch chances to win) if I was 100% sure his Terrakion had Focus Sash and that his Zapdos was faster than my Charizard, but as I was not sure about either of them and just needed one to be false for Superpower to be my optimal play, so I just went for Superpower…right into Terrakion’s Focus Sash. I thought it would be game over when Terrakion survived the Superpower with the Focus Sash and Zapdos went before my Charizard, but he went for the Hidden Power Ice into my Landorus-T instead of Thunderbolt in my Charizard, and having Aegislash with Wide Guard in the back guaranteed me the win.

Win | Score: 4-0

Round 5 vs Matt

His Team:
+

I brought:

In team preview, I knew that if I could take Cresselia down, my Conkeldurr would put a lot of pressure against his team, so I focused my game plan around taking it out. I knew Zapdos and Aegislash wouldn’t be too great in this matchup, so I left them behind.

The first turn couldn’t have gone better for me, as I got the turn 1 K.O. into the Cresselia with U-turn and Overheat, while his Heatran switched fearing an Earthquake, and I got the 4-3 lead. He sent out his Kangaskhan and I thought it would be pretty obvious if I switched my Charizard into my Landorus-T, so I decided to switch Hydreigon into Landorus-T instead, just leaving Charizard to eventually die as I wouldn’t need it anymore. He went for the Hidden Power Ice into the Charizard and a Double-Edge into the Landorus-T, while Charizard got an Overheat off against his Kangaskhan and is now at -4 SpA. This turn was key for me, as I found out that he was running a very slow Kangaskhan, so Hydreigon would be able to seal the game for me later.

He knocks out my Charizard and his Heatran got a Heat Wave Critical Hit Single Target in the Sun against my Conkeldurr, which was able to survive and hit it back with a Drain Punch. I thought the game was pretty much under control at that point because I just needed to send Landorus-T and go for the Rock Slide. For my surprise, his Thundurus-I survived with 2 HP and knocked out my Conkeldurr while fainting from Life Orb recoil thus making it 2-2. He revealed a Protect Kangaskhan, which surprised me a lot. However, in the end Hydreigon was able to seal the game anyway, and make me one victory away from a guaranteed Top Cut!

Win | Score: 5-0

Round 6 vs Daniel Oztekin (Necrocat219)

His Team:
+

I brought:

In team preview, I thought my opponent would either lead Politoed and Kingdra or Kangaskhan and Smeargle, and obviously have Talonflame in the back. I gambled that he wouldn’t want to lead with Smeargle and rely on a 80% accuracy move at this point in the tournament, so I decided not to bring Conkeldurr to this match. For obvious reasons I decided not to bring Landorus-T too.

I pretty much sealed my win in the first turn of the match, as he used Rain Dance with Kingdra and I protected my Charizard without Mega Evolving, using Thunder Wave on his Kingdra. He switched Politoed for Mawile while I put the Sun in the field and used Heat Wave, and from there the game was over. I got very excited after this win, because as all my previous opponents had positive scores, I was guaranteed Top Cut.

Huge shout-outs for my opponent for being the Runner-Up of the Regional.

Win | Score: 6-0

Round 7 vs James Boyt (MrJellyLeggs)

His Team:
+

I brought:

I had already a guaranteed Top Cut even if I lost my next two games, and this was when I believe I let my guard down a bit. In team preview, I thought this was just another Mega Charizard Y Tailwind based team. As he seemed not to have any Physical Attacker, there was no reason for me to bring Landorus-T to this match. Conkeldurr also didn’t seem very effective, so it also remained on the bench.

I lead with Zapdos and Charizard while he lead Togekiss and Thundurus-I. Fearing an offensive variant of Thundurus-I, I switched Charizard into Aegislash, as he revealed the Life Orb and went straight for the Thunderbolt against it. I tried to use Thunder Wave in his Togekiss, which flinched my Zapdos and was likely a Choice Scarf set.

He then switched his Togekiss into Suicune, which I found to be a pretty weird play. My Aegislash used Shadow ball on his Thundurus-I, and it survived with around 30% HP. On the following turn, I lost a 50/50 with Aegislash and he got a Tailwind off with his Suicune which pretty much sealed the victory for him. He totally caught me off guard with his strategy, and he was also the only unbeaten player in Swiss. I really liked his Mega Charizard X team, so we spent the following 20 minutes discussing about how he built it.

Lose | Score: 6-1

Round 8 vs Kelly Mercier-White (KellsterCartier)

His Team:
+

I brought:

I lead Charizard and Landorus-T against his Rotom-H and Landorus-T. When I saw my Intimidate going before his, I thought he was running the same spread from Arnhem (bulky Choice Scarf). I thought I had the edge on the first turn when his Landorus-T used Rock Slide, because I thought he was locked into it. However, when he knocked out my Aegislash and I didn’t target the Landorus-T with an Ice Punch, predicting a switch to Metagross, I thought it was game over for me. I didn’t play well in this battle, and I would have lost without the two 90% accuracy moves missing. I’m sorry, Kelly!

Win | Score: 7-1

It was a relatively short wait for the final results to be posted after the conclusion of Swiss. I knew that my record meant I guaranteed my place in the top 8, but I still was eager to find out who my opponent would be. When they were published, I saw I was the second seed! Andy Waddell (Peng) who I had gotten to know during the event, had also made the cut using his own Mega Charizard Y team, and I couldn’t help but get a small celebration picture with him!

Top 8 vs Daniel Oztekin (Necrocat219)

His Team:

Game 1:

I brought:

He brought:

This was a rematch of our earlier swiss encounter, but this time over three games, so we both had an idea of each others’ team heading into the first game. I definitely wasn’t expecting him to lead Kangaskhan and Smeargle, which caught me off-guard. Although I got a 4-3 lead, his Smeargle got Speed boosts thanks to Moody, his Dark Voids didn’t miss and my Pokémon were tired from all the battles so far. Despite the unorthodox strategy, Daniel played well and really deserved to win.

Lose | Score: 0-1

Game 2:

I brought:

He brought:

I responded by trying to get a better lead matchup against the Smeargle in this game, but Daniel wisely didn’t bring Smeargle to the match. I made a wrong prediction in the first turn of the game, expecting his Kingdra to use Rain Dance, and that basically cost me the game.

Lose | Score: 0-2

Final standings after Top Cut:

1. Philip de Suosa (P3DS)
2. Daniel Oztekin (Necrocat219)
3. Jamie Boyt (MrJellyLeggs)
4. Stephen Gibbon (Stegibbon)
5. Yan Vianna Sym (Sogeking)
6. Baris Akcos (Billa)
7. Andy Waddell (peng)
8. Eden Batchelor (Xenoblade Hero)

Top Cut Players (Billa had to leave before the presentation)

After the tournament, a few other players and I went to a nearby pub to have some food and drinks. After that, me and William (StarKO) got a train to Manchester Airport. There we would get a flight to Italy, where we were going to play another Regional!

We all slept in the airport for a few hours and woke up at around 5 am to get our flight to Rome’s Ciampino Airport.

From left to right, representing UK in the Italian Regional, meet Team Fruitcake: Kay (Cambria), William Tansley (StarKO), Steve Edgson (SirSmoke), Ben Kyriakou (Kyriakou), Yan Sym (Sogeking)

We touched down in Rome about forty minutes before registrations for the Rome Regional ended. When we were about to leave the airport, I couldn’t help but notice the message on the signboard:

Of course by that point this sign wouldn’t stop me from playing the Regional. As soon as we left the airport, we got a taxi to the venue, arriving about 10 minutes before registrations ended. We made it!

The Regional was held at a store called Dark Side, close to the center of Rome. There were 89 Masters attending the tournament.

Dark Side store

First round of Swiss getting underway.

After some unfortunate misses and getting demolished by Matteo Gini’s powerful Trick Room team with a Timid Choice Specs Zapdos, I finished 28th. I had earned 90 CP from the weekend, which put me in 5th on the European ranking for the Master division. Ben Kyriakou and William Tansley also finished 4-3, while Steve Edgson finished 3-4.

Team fruitcake sadly had to split up right after the tournament. I spent the rest of the day and the beginning of the following to visit the beautiful city of Rome.

Me and Zapdos in front of the Roman Coliseum

Me taking a scenic tour in Rome

Closing Thoughts

I’m very happy I finished as well as I did in the United Kingdom Regional. Aside from the competitions, I had such a great time in both Sutton Coldfield and Rome. Everyone I met was really friendly. This tournament was very important to me, because it helped me boost my confidence during the rest of the season, and now I can finally accomplish my dream of playing in the World Championship! I also used this team to go 6-3 in both Germany and United Kingdom Nationals, and I believe the main reason why Charizard Y is not the best Mega Pokémon in the format is its disappointing 90% accuracy STAB moves. The search for the best VGC goes on I suppose! Before I sign off, I want to give a few shout-outs:

• The Brazilian Pokémon community (LOP-BR and PokéEVO) for being cool and enthusiastic people who always give me support. Whether I am playing decisive tiebreak matches of the Smogon World Cup of Pokémon or playing VGC tournaments around the World, thank you guys!
• The Glasgow Pokémon community for hosting fun tournaments and being funny people full of creativity. I hope to see the Glasgow Pokémon league growing even more.
• Team Fruitcake for being crazy and going from Sutton Coldfield to Manchester, and then to Rome, getting to the venue 10 minutes before the deadline for registrations. Let’s do it again next time.
• Suzie Masters and Ian Fotheringham for hosting an amazing Regional in the United Kingdom.
• Lorenzo Belleffi for hosting a cool Regional in Italy and extending the registration deadline for half an hour so team fruitcake could get to the venue in time.
• Daniel Veras for letting me borrow his 3DS and Omega Ruby game every weekend and ruin his plans of playing Pokémon Rumble. I’m Sorry!
• Júlio Eller (HaxBroKoga), Bruno “DK” and Hector for always providing me Pokémon with the nature, spread and moveset I want. Thanks!
• Peng for being my Smogon buddy #teamZardY.
• RpIndaHouse for helping me team build.
• Keonspy for creating the banner image for this article. Isn’t it awesome? Jip is the best.
• StarKO for not letting me get lost in the super confusing British rail system.
• Matthew King (MSK) for being our make-shift travel agent, showing us how to get from Sutton Coldfield to Rome in time.
• Wyrms Eye for being a cool guy and volunteering to edit and revise my article.
• Gustavo Braz for recording my matches and uploading them in YouTube. You’re the best! Please make sure you take a look at his channel.
• The Nugget Bridge staff for giving me a chance to write this team report.

And finally, you for reading my report! I hope that this was helpful to you! Should you have any questions, just ask in the comments and I’ll do my best to give a good answer.

The post Burn It to the Ground: UK Regionals 5th Place Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Southeast Asia will finally have its first ever Pokémon Video Game National Championships, held right in the heart of Singapore. The event was officially announced recently and will take place over the weekend of June 27th and 28th, 2015 at ITE Central in Ang Mo Kio inside the Campus Game Fest hosted by the Singapore Cybersports and Online Gaming Association (SCOGA). Massive Championship Points (CP) for the worldwide Pokémon Video Game Championship (VGC) series will be awarded at this event.

Event: Pokémon Video Game National Championships (Singapore)
Facebook: Event Page
Date: 27-28 June 2015 (Sat-Sun), registration opens at 10 am
Location: ITE College Central, 2 Ang Mo Kio Drive, Campus Game Fest, Singapore
Entry Fee: $8

There will be a discounted entry fee of $7 for players who pre-register early!

This is the first untethered Pokemon VG National Championship event. There are no restrictions of the region of the consoles. However, only players who have a TPCi Pokemon Trainer Club Account in proper standing are eligible to register for the events.

This will be the second Pokemon VG National Championship event held in the Asia Pacific rating zone. Like the Australia National Championships, the Swiss rounds here will also be played as best of three sets. With the first place award of 600 CP and hundreds of CP for the other top placings, this event will greatly boost the chances of rising to the top of the CP rankings in the Asia Pacific rating zone for players who win them. It will play a large part in players looking to earn an invitation and maybe even a travel award to the 2015 Pokémon World Championships in Boston, MA, USA happening from August 21st to 23rd, 2015.

The post First Pokémon Video Game National Championship Announced in Southeast Asia appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Top Players Talk is a (hopefully) weekly segment in which I (Kenan) interview some of the top players in the US and ask them questions about a particular topic. While I’m certainly not the best player, I hope to bring quality content to the community, to educate others, and learn a bit along the way as well! This week, we’ll be discussing Mega Pokemon and predictions about what Megas will be popular at US Nationals.

With US Nationals less than a month away, players everywhere are frantically searching for the fabled “best vgc.” While the US metagame is entering a period of heavy foreign influence, I begin my own search for consistency by asking some of the US’s top players, Jeudy Azzarelli (SoulSurvivor), Collin Heier (TheBattleRoom), Gavin Michaels (kingofmars), and Blake Hopper (Bopper), their opinions on the top Megas in the current format and what makes those Pokemon stand out from the rest. I asked the players separately these questions, and arranged their answers accordingly.

Kenan: Going into Spring Regionals, what did you think were the top three Mega Pokemon in the format?

Collin: I think Kangaskhan, Metagross, and Charizard-Y were the top Megas, in order.

Blake: For me it was Kangaskhan, Salamence, and Charizard-Y.

Gavin: I think we all knew that Kangaskhan and Salamence were number 1 and number 2, with Charizard following up.

Jeudy: Going into week 1, I definitely thought Kangaskhan and Salamence were leagues ahead of the other Megas. They are versatile enough to go on a variety of teams and have more than one really strong set. However selecting a 3rd Mega Pokemon is definitely harder because I think no other Mega is as dominant in this meta as the former 2, but Charizard would get my pick as a top 3 Mega going into spring Regionals.

Kenan: Charizard hasn’t made too much of an impact this year as compared to last year. Why do you think it was a strong pick for Regionals?

Collin: Charizard dealt with many of the common non-Mega Pokemon such as Aegislash, Sylveon, and Thundurus. It also provided a good way to help deal with rain and Mega Metagross. I also think if you can manage to defend it, Charizard can be unstoppable, as seen in Germany.

Gavin: People love sun. Unfortunately, Charizard hasn’t really made the transition to being good outside of sun modes so players choose either Charizard/Venusaur and Charizard/Heatran, which is the reason I don’t think it was a very good choice, but it was clearly going to be a popular one.

Kenan: Do you think the massive metagame presence of the “Japan Sand” archetype and its American iterations will lessen Charizard’s effectiveness? I personally thought Charizard always had a difficult enough time handling Kangaskhan, Landorus-Therian, and Terrakion, but adding on Tyranitar and Excadrill only compounds its weaknesses.

Jeudy: Definitely. If you are going to ask me the same question about top 3 Megas going into Nationals, Charizard would not be in the top 3.

Gavin: I don’t think Charizard’s usage will be as inhibited as you think. While I think it’ll be much worse, it’ll take a round of inspiration for another Mega to surpass it in usage. Also, Terrakion usage should go way down at Nationals as we realize how not good it is, leaving only Landorus-Therian as the last common good answer to Charizard.

Blake: Yes and no. Charizard still has ways to get around it, if the team is built well.

Collin: With enough Fake Out and speed control Charizard can handle most matchups, but I think now with Tyranitar on the rise once again we will see very little Charizard usage at US Nationals.

Kenan: With that said, what would you rank as the top 3 Megas going into US Nationals?

Collin: Kangaskhan is still number one, but Salamence is second with Metagross in third.

Blake: Kangaskhan, Salamence, and it’s a tie between Charizard and Venusaur.

Jeudy: To be honest, this is really hard for me to decide, but if a Mega can replace Charizard it would be Metagross just because of its versatility and being one of the better Mega Pokemon in rain, which has been seeing a surprising amount of usage. I think my answer would change if I saw Japan Nationals, but for now Metagross. Another change going into Nationals for me is Salamence being the #1 Mega.

Gavin: I think Salamence will safely be in the #1 slot, with Kangaskhan behind and Charizard last.

Kenan: Why do you think Salamence will surpass Kangaskhan in usage?

Gavin: I think that people are going to see how well it did in off-meta teams like Harrison’s and how easy it is to use in “Japan Sand.”

Jeudy: It feels much much easier to make a successful team with Salamence right now than Kangaskhan and I feel there is more Kangaskhan hate than Salamence hate.

Kenan: So what kind of Salamence? Mixed or physical? Or is that what makes it so good? The unpredictability of Salamence and never being sure what it’s going to throw at you.

Collin: That’s it, the unpredictability of what it’s going to do. It might set up on you, it might OHKO your Sylveon with Double Edge, or it might switch out. Salamence has so many viable movesets and it has really good speed.

Kenan: I definitely agree, and I think it was funny how we noticed how distinctly different Japan and the US used Salamence, with Japan using almost exclusively mixed, and US using almost exclusively physical and when we all started experimenting with “Japan Sand,” a lot of players began experimenting with mixed, with physical still being popular.

Collin: I personally think physical Salamence is better, boasting much more raw power.

Kenan: Blake, why would you say Venusaur is in the top 3 Mega Pokemon?

Blake: Venusaur has been growing in popularity and deals with a lot of non-Megas, specifically Landorus-Therian, Rotom forms, Terrakion, Thundurus, stuff like that.

Kenan: Venusaur definitely is capable of just absolutely walling some of the top threats in the metagame.

Blake: Venusaur is much different than the other Megas as it doesn’t generate a lot of offensive pressure, but rather amazing defensive pressure.

Collin: I don’t think Venusaur will be that great. I think the other three best Megas kinda smash it so I disagree.

Gavin: I think that Venusaur is heavily reliant on the team it’s playing against not knowing how to deal with it. Venusaur cannot generate any offensive momentum for itself and it doesn’t threaten anything enough to give you room to outplay with it.

Kenan: I’m inclined to agree with you, Collin and Gavin. Talonflame was in the top 10 in usage of the International Challenge and I know of a few players who have tested Latios extensively. However, with the right support, Venusaur is certainly capable of anything.

Kenan: Why do you guys think Metagross is still capable of being a top threat at Nationals, given that we’ve been exposed to it since Winter Regionals?

Jeudy: To be honest, I said Metagross takes #3 because I think every other Mega is just OK, but I think Charizard is just not good enough due to matchups. I think that Metagross has one particular archetype (rain+Steel-type) where it performs amazingly. Otherwise I think every other Mega Pokemon is just OK or average.

Gavin: Unfortunately, I think people are still rooted in the Metagross/Hydreigon format for the team and once you start from there it’s very difficult to deviate heavily. I’d be surprised if a team like that doesn’t do well though, to be honest. I think its Mega Salamence matchup is good enough that it warrants usage.

Blake: I think bulky Adamant Mega Metagross is much better now. It hits harder, lives longer, and has solid typing seeing as Hydreigon is seeing less usage.

Collin: Metagross still is faster than most of the meta and it also does very well against both Kangaskhan and Salamence. And it is one of the few steel types that can outspeed and OHKO Sylveon.

Kenan: Collin, wouldn’t the play be to talk down things that beat Sylveon? I do know you’re a huge fan of her!

Collin: *Send average Sylveon fan photo*

Kenan: Looking at your top Mega choices for Regionals, you all agree on Kangaskhan as the best. Do you still think Kangaskhan is significantly better than the other Megas?

Collin: I don’t think it’s leagues ahead of the other two, but it stands out to me as the best Mega because Megas are not as important as in 2014, so some teams just want to slip a Mega in and Kangaskhan slides in most teams quite well.

Jeudy: No. I think it was place #1 for Regionals because it was significantly more consistent. The current standard Kangaskhan (Double-Edge+Low Kick) is incredibly easy to slap on, and those assuming that had to also face the probably more scary Power-Up-Punch variant. Going into Nationals, the uprising of Salamence definitely hurts Kangaskhan’s current standard just due to Intimidate. However it still remains as consistent as ever and that is what most Megas lack– consistency, and that’s a reason Mega Salamence and Kangaskhan are so far ahead of the rest. Especially in a National where there are 500+ different teams.

Blake: Not super better, but for sure the best. I think the gap between Kangaskhan and Salamence is slowly closing up as people are getting better at countering Kangaskhan.

Kenan: That’s a very interesting point, especially considering some of the other top Megas do a phenomenal job at beating Kangaskhan (Salamence and Metagross in particular). Do you think there is a reason Kangaskhan is the most common Mega in both Japan and US?

Blake: Kangaskhan has the best neutral hits in the game and what it doesn’t hit neutrally, it can hit for super effective damage with a coverage move.

Collin: I think it’s universally agreed upon that Kangaskhan is the best Mega because of the pure power and effectiveness Kangaskhan has. It can do so much damage and can even provide utility with Fake Out. Kangaskhan is the most important Mega to be ready for because everyone and their mother uses it.

Kenan: Kangaskhan, being a mother herself, certainly appreciates more PokeMoms entering in the community. Well, you guys that ends my questions for you all. Thank you guys once again for taking the time to answer some questions. Good luck at Nationals!

The post Top Players Talk: A Look at the Top Mega Pokémon for US Nationals appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

With a veritable buffet of Pokémon battling served up in Manchester over, our attention turns to the decadent dessert of a finale in Milan, Italy on 13^th-14^th June. This tournament is the penultimate major event on the European circuit – there is one final regional to be held in Germany later this month – but the points earned here will almost certainly solidify the vast majority of invite permutations still to play for. This preview will differ in format slightly to the previous two, as you shall see shortly. As ever though, we will be covering the metagame and looking at the shifts that we saw, discuss the boring details about the event itself, and then go over the players themselves and the scenarios that will be laid out like a large cheese board.

Prizes

As expected, there is a mountain of Championship Points on the line for players attending, far above what has been seen so far at the Regional events. These points are critical for securing that important invite to the Pokémon World Championships that are being held in Boston, Massachusetts from 21^st – 23^rd August. In addition to the points, there will be some very valuable Pokémon and Nintendo prizes on offer to those who do well.

1^st Place:

• 1^st Place ‘Pokémon VG National Champion’ Trophy
• Nintendo Wii U Deluxe
• 600 Championship Points

2^nd Place:

• 2^nd Place ‘Pokémon VG National Finalist’ Trophy
• A Nintendo 3DS XL system (or New 3DS if available)
• 500 Championship Points

3^rd & 4^th Place:

• 3^rd and 4^th Place ‘Pokémon VG National Semi-Finalist’ Trophies
• A Nintendo 3DS XL system (or New 3DS if available)
• 400 Championship Points

5^th – 8^th Place:

• 300 Championship Points

9^th – 16^th Place:

• 200 Championship Points

17^th – 32^nd Place:

• 150 Championship Points

33^rd – 64^th Place:

• 100 Championship Points [128+ Players Required]

65^th – 128^th Place:

• 50 Championship Points [256+ Players Required]

The Metagame

Moving into the final National event, people who are still chasing those all important points will be looking to get a fix on what to expect and counter. As ever, the usage stats below will be divided into two tables: one showing the Pokémon being used as a mega across each team in the top cut and secondly one showing the usage statistics of all Pokémon being used across teams in the top cut.

• One again, the UK Nationals saw a wide diversity of Mega Pokémon being utilized with 15 different species. We also got to see more unorthodox picks being piloted to top cut, including Gyarados, Charizard-X and Abomasnow.
• Kangaskhan remained the most popular mega to use in the top cut with a 29% usage rate in the UK and was on the winning team. Her usage appears to be fairly stable, which is something we would expect with events in such close proximity. She will most likely retain this spot for Italy, again at a similar usage threshold.
• Charizard-Y also maintained its wide appeal and was on just over 21% of teams in the UK top cut, and remained Kangaskhan’s closest challenger overall. Despite a hostile metagame environment, Charizard continues to shine with raw power, and more are beginning to run unusual move choices, including Hidden Power Ice or Ground among the most prominent in lieu of Overheat.
• Venusaur was the biggest loser in Manchester with only 3 uses overall. Regional variations in the metagame could partially explain this, but I expect more people were prepared to deal with it given it was on the winning team in Stuttgart, so reacted accordingly. In addition, Metagross saw a further drop in use which coincides with Heatran and other Fire-types rising in popularity slightly, as well as the continued dominant use of Landorus-T and Dark-type moves such as Knock Off on nearly every team.
• Salamence, however, saw a modest rise in usage, and was also piloted to 2^nd place in Masters. There may be an upswing in use in Italy as people aim to replicate the team, but this may invite Pokémon that counter it to become more prominent once more.

• Diversity continues to be a theme across European tournaments with 64 different species or forms being used in Manchester top cut. Amongst the usual suspects, we saw some very unusual choices including Dusclops, Kabutops, Roserade and Ditto.
• Landorus-Therian continues to dominate usage overall with 21 uses among the top cut teams in the UK, equating to approximately 55%. This is lower than Stuttgart’s usage by some 6 percentage points, a significant drop and one that does suggest either players are starting to distance themselves from using it or players are more prepared to deal with it.
• Heatran rose sharply in usage in Manchester, with 39.5% usage across teams, up by around 9 percentage points from what was seen in Stuttgart. Heatran continues to be the premier Pokémon of choice for teams for Fire-types and Steel-types, and manages to carve out a solid platform despite the heavy presence of Landorus-T in the format.
• Thundurus was the big loser in Manchester, despite being the 4^th most popular Pokémon for teams. With only a 23.7% usage, it saw a drop of over 12 percentage points compared to Stuttgart, and only one team in the top 8 had it amongst the chosen six. It’s a stark drop, one that openly suggests that players feel it has become more vulnerable in the current metagame climate.
• Rain failed to make any notable impact in the top cut with only one team making it to the single elimination. By contrast, Sand cores saw a notable increase in usage, with Excadrill and Tyranitar being the two beneficiaries. Japan has very recently popularized the sand team archetype and it has started to filter through to other countries as well, so we can assume that this may be a team decision that builds momentum in Italy.
• There were sharp rises for Sylveon and Milotic in use. The former appears to have finally re-invented itself outside of the obvious Choice Specs Hyper Voice role everyone is familiar with, to accommodate a more defensive build and making more use of the supportive options it has available. Of the supportive options, Helping Hand is a useful way of allowing Sylveon to have one final hurrah on the field just before being knocked out. Milotic’s rise could be a sign players are looking to abuse the large Intimidate presence still in the format to take full use of its Competitive ability. Coupled with its bulkiness, it can largely stick around and give players a huge headache and often runs Scald along with an Ice-type move of choice. This covers a wide array of common threats in the metagame, allowing a filler option that compliments the team.
• Fire-Water-Grass cores continue to be a prominent fixture on teams, and those that ran a partial core largely opted to run a Fire-type with a bulky Water-type. It’s very simple, but continues to remain an effective way of teambuilding in this meta, and often aesthetically balanced.

The Main Event

Difficulty Rating:

/ 5

(Five mutant Spaghetti monsters) / 5

Location: Mediolanum Forum, Via G. di Vittorio 6, Assago, (Milan, Italy) 20090

Registration Time: 8.00am – 10.00am (If you are not in line to register at 10am you may be refused entry or incur a round loss!)

In addition to the information above, there are a couple of further points that are worth noting. Players should be aware that the organisers are aiming to start the tournament at roughly 10.30am, so please ensure a prompt arrival. Please remember to take your Player ID to the event if you already have one. There will not be any byes awarded for the first round of swiss this year for those at the top of the CP Rankings, so everyone will be starting on a level playing field regardless of their achievements in this season to date.

As was the case in Stuttgart and Manchester, the top cut portion of the event will see anyone with a X-2 record, or better, proceed to the single elimination stages, provided that the relevant age bracket has 65 or more players. It is pretty much a certainty that Masters will hit this modest threshold, and the Senior division may also exceed the needed numbers. Juniors, however, may run according to fixed top cut numbers, but should be aware of the possibility.

You can find information regarding this event, provided in both Italian and English, here: http://www.gedis-group.it/vgcnationals15.html. Please be aware that there will also be side-events held over the course of the weekend. There will be a stream set-up to watch over the weekend, when we have more information we shall make sure that everyone is aware of the address.

Last Years Results:

1. Florian Wurdack (DaFlo)
2. Christopher Arthur Koryo (Koryo)
3. Umberto Palini (Terrakhaos)
4. Vangelis Eloy H. (Dragoran5)
5. Ben Paul Kyriakou (Kyriakou)
6. Cristoph Kugeler (drug duck)
7. Jan Ulrich Michelberger (Lati)
8. Matthias Helmoldt (Tyvyr)
9. Steven E. (SirSmoke)
10. Jaime Martinez (Repr4y)
11. Timo Koppetsch (37TimoK1)
12. Miguel Marti de la Torre (Sekiam)
13. Davide Guaring
14. Markus Stadter (13Yoshi37)
15. Frank Steven Benalcozar
16. Alberto Gini (BraindeadPrimeape)
17. Peer Broxtermann (Bjart)
18. Nicholas Rottoli
19. Andrea Sala
20. Luigi Domenico Orsi (ZPhoenix)
21. Michael Maneia (Porro88)
22. Luca Catapane
23. Rolando Pece
24. Pietro C.
25. Riccardo C.
26. Arash Ommati (Mean)
27. Albert Baneres (Arbol Deku)

The Scoop

The Italian National Championships, certainly last year, was the smallest national event on the calendar, but, at the same time, is the most intriguing since a lot of dreams are made and crushed in equal measure as the results pan out. For the lucky few that are safe in their invite bracket and are also playing, this event serves the unique purpose as a practice for Boston, and the opportunity to experiment without worry. However, for the vast majority, this event will be critical. The test of nerve will mean that many will need to maintain an icy cool resolve and possibly take a few calculated risks too.

Unlike previous preview articles, I’m going to look at where players stand in the context of the standings as of the 8^th June and what players will need to qualify for Boston. Those who may have seen my recent twitter comments will be aware of my predicted figures for the final cut-off’s, which stand at 602CP and 330CP for Top 16 and Top 60 respectively. However, for the purposes of this article, I will be slightly inflating the numbers to provide a small buffer, therefore the expected Top 16 cut-off for this article will be set at 650 CP, while the Top 60 will be set to 375 CP. This means that, should a player exceed the number, they are statistically more likely to be guaranteed their invite spots. Please remember that while the modelling has provided these figures, they are by no means guaranteed, and thresholds could be higher (or lower) than anticipated.

The Hunt for the Paid Invites

Safe and secure:

1^st – Baris Ackos (Billa) – 1116CP
2^nd – Markus Stadter (13Yoshi37) – 926CP
3^rd – Arash Ommati (Mean) – 793CP
4^th – Markus Stefan (Blacklag) – 778CP
5^th – Matteo Gini (Matty) – 736CP
6^th – Eugenio Discalzi – 691CP

It’s a near certainty that the six players at the top of the standings, that are going to Italy, will have already guaranteed their paid invitation regardless of the circumstances that play out over the weekend, barring some doomsday scenario occurring. All six will have deserved their places, with superb results in both Stuttgart and Manchester between them.

Baris deserves credit for what he has achieved this year, having top cut every Regional and National event he has participated with the same team throughout, and is certainly not under any obligation to attend Milan, but may do so to chase that elusive National trophy. In a similar manner, Markus Stadter will not need to attend thanks to his win in Manchester, but could certainly use this tournament to practice strategies for Boston, only a mere 10 weeks away. Arash’s runner-up spot in Manchester was good enough to place him 3^rd in the rankings, and will be in attendance. Not as a participant, but as a commentator on the stream that will be broadcasted over the weekend. Nevertheless, I am sure he will be keeping a close eye on proceedings, and will look to read the metagame from his commentary post.

Stuttgart winner Markus Stefan will be participating, and will certainly be aiming to follow up with another strong result here. I will be interested to see whether he chooses to run the same team, or if he decides to experiment a little to prepare for Boston. Matteo Gini, currently in 5^th, will be the highest ranked Italian in the field participating, and should be the best shot for a player outside of Germany to break the German domination at a National level. The final player in this list was the surprise Manchester Semi-Finalist Eugenio Discalzi. Of the six, Eugenio’s place is the most tenuous, but will likely be attending as it is his home event.

In-the-hunt for the flights

7^th – Jamie Miller (Blaze King7) – 638CP
8^th – Tobias Koschitzki – 600CP

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9^th – Luca Breitlig-Pause (sewadle) – 580CP

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10^th – Matthias Suchodolski (Lega) – 518CP

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11^th – Lajos Kowalewski (Lajo) – 466CP
12^th – Davide Sperati – 454CP
13^th – Yan Sym (Sogeking) – 450CP

-=-

14^th – Alberto Gini (BraindeadPrimeape) – 440CP
15^th – Adrian Baumann – 436CP
16^th – Barry Anderson (Baz Anderson) – 416CP
17^th – Lee Provost (Osirus) – 413CP
18^th – Tirso Buttafuoco (Fuoco24) – 406CP
19^th – Kelly Mercier-White (KellsterCartier) – 406CP
20^th – Till Bohmer – 382CP

This is quite a large selection of players, but once again, barring the doomsday scenario, all of these players have already wrapped up an invite, but they will all be looking to secure those remaining spots into the second day of the event, as well as the bonus of flights and accommodation being catered for. Unsurprisingly, the majority of these players will be playing, and those I’ve not got any firm confirmation about are very likely to be there in any case.

Jamie Miller and Tobias Koschitzki currently lie 7^th and 8^th respectively in the standings, and the aim will be to pick up any championship points from the trip to get them over the 650CP threshold. Both are more than capable, with Jamie achieving two consecutive top cut berths and will be looking to achieve the elusive treble, while Tobias’s Runner-Up spot in Stuttgart will provide him with confidence that he can go far into the event once more.

9^th place in the standings is currently occupied by Stuttgart Semi-Finalist Luca Breitlig-Pause. For Luca, the job is slightly more difficult than his contemporaries’ above him, with a Top 64 spot threshold required. This is very much an achievable prospect for the young German, although nothing can be taken for granted at this level of competition. In my opinion, Luca is certainly one of the likely standard-bearers for Germany in future years, and this year could be defining for him as he establishes himself in Europe.

One German who is already well-established is Matthias Suchodolski, who occupies 10^th in the standings. A Top 32 finish will be sufficient to cement Matthias’s position for a paid invite, but will inevitably mean that he will need to top cut to achieve this. Given Matthias’s form this season, I feel this is again well within his reach and he is well-versed in handling the pressure cooker of the swiss stages.

Lajos Kowalewski and Yan Sym occupy 11^th and 13^th in the standings. Both need a Top 16 spot from Milan to secure their Top 16 placings overall, but, as expected, the difficulty in achieving that in a likely field of 300 or even more should not be underestimated. Lajos will probably be the more likely of the two to achieve the required result given previous form from this season and others. Yan has shown unerring consistency in amassing points across the season, but apart from a top cut appearance in the UK Regionals, nothing ultimately spectacular. Still, his quest for the best VGC could yet surprise a few individuals. Oh, and by the way America, have fun in Boston with Yan!

The last batch of players is the largest and all need to reach the Quarter-Finals in Milan to secure their paid invites. Those that have confirmed their attendance are Alberto Gini (14^th), Barry Anderson (16^th), Lee Provost (17^th) and Kelly Mercier-White (19^th). All four are established names, and should all be considered valid threats. Milan will definitely define their seasons and dictate whether they attend Boston in certain cases. Of the four here, I’m definitely drawn towards Alberto Gini to have a serious run. His form in this tournament over previous years has been very strong, I fully expect that to carry him forward. While openly downplaying his chances from his own personal opinion and being vocal on his current stance on the game itself, Barry Anderson is still a player to look out for and respect. In many ways, it will be interesting to see what Baz takes to Milan, especially since his recent publication of his recognisable Liepard and Breloom squad. Lee Provost has maintained a fairly quiet and steady season without much in the way of standout results, but his Top 32 in Manchester was enough to put him on the fringes of the Top 16 for the first time. He is certainly on finding form at the right time, so do not discount him. Finally, Kelly Mercier-White has slipped outside of the paid invite spots for the first time since February and has not showcased the form that he would ultimately have liked. His Top 128 Manchester run was way down on expectations, but this one last throw of the dice to secure the paid trip could be all that is needed.

Davide Sperati (12^th), Adrian Baumann (15^th), Tirso Buttafuoco (18^th) and Till Bohmer (20^th) are the four players who I’ve not been able to get information on attendance in an orderly timeframe, but all four are either assumed to attend as it is their National event, or have been making the trips to the other events over the last month so are expected to be in attendance. Nonetheless, if they are not going, they have a regular invite in their pockets pretty much locked up.

The hunt for the regular invites:

Need a Top 128 finish or better

21^st – Huib Buijssen (Lolnub) – 358CP
22^nd – James Kean (Sweet Clive) – 356CP
24^th – Jan Michelberger (Lati) – 354CP
25^th – William Tansley (StarKO) – 350CP
26^th – Luigi Lo Giudice (LPROX) – 342CP
27^th – Pietro Chiri (kirro) – 337CP
28^th – Timo Koppetsch (37TimoK1) – 330CP

Ultimately the modelling has suggested that these players should all be safe from dropping out of the Top 60, but any points that they can earn will be gratefully appreciated to put their minds at ease, and can also still have an outside shot at the paid invite slots, but would require a significant run to the Semi-Finals to be absolutely certain.

In a refreshing departure from the German, British and Italian domination currently seen in the standings and this preview, we have the Dutchman Huib Buijssen who leads the charge for the rest of Europe in a richly deserved 21^st spot. As I have mentioned before, the skill of the Dutch contingent this year has been noticeably higher and Huib will certainly be aiming to replicate or even improve upon his Top 32 from Stuttgart.

James Kean is certainly a new name to these preview articles, but given his results so far in the National events it is certainly on merit. Two Top 32 results have propelled him up into 22^nd position, and there is little reason to suggest that he cannot do the same in Milan. His results are all the more impressive considering he has only actively played the official format for less than a year. Once again, he has the opportunity to achieve a clean sweep of top cut results in the National events, and I certainly wish him luck.

Back on a more familiar name in these articles, Jan Michelberger will be looking to carry the positive momentum he has built up in Manchester across to Milan. His Top 16 result was enough to put him comfortably back into the thick of the invite hunt, to 24^th spot. Once again, Jan is a player that has found form at the right time of the year. However, we shall see if Manchester is when he peaks or if Milan will see him make a further climb to the summit.

The 25^th position is once again occupied by William Tansley, whose Top 32 in Manchester was a much-needed result for him to re-engage himself into the invite fight, although not without its wobbly moments. That said, I think Will has definitely shown that he’s got the fighting qualities that a lot of players need to have. Just don’t be fooled by the laissez-faire attitude; he’s a determined competitor.

Luigi Lo Giudice has been somewhat unmentioned in the National previews, but at this late stage, at his home Nationals, it would be rude of me to ignore him at 26^th in the standings. This previous world championship competitor has already reached the single elimination stages once this season, with a Top 32 result in Stuttgart. It’s not unreasonable to expect a similar result from him in Milan. Just behind Luigi is Pietro Chiri in 27^th spot, who also reached the Top 32 in Stuttgart with perhaps one of the more eccentric mega choices across the field, but obviously an effective one. I’m certainly interested in his team, and I would be lying to say that I’m curious if he plans to bring it to Milan or not. Time will tell, I guess!

The last player in this particular group is Timo Koppetsch, who arguably has not had any eye-catching results, but his consistency has kept him in the hunt throughout the season. Manchester was not the happiest of hunting grounds with a Top 128 finish, but that will not deter Timo in the slightest in my experience. He’s a player that has a lot of grit and is not afraid to walk the line in most scenarios.

Need a Top 64 finish or better

32^nd – Christoph Kugeler (drug duck) – 315CP
33^rd – Thomas Schadinger (TH1806) – 310CP
35^th – Pedro Lima (Findow) – 306CP
36^rd – Noah Fuchs (Daydreaming Ninja) – 304CP
37^th – Miguel Marti de la Torre (Sekiam) – 302CP
39^th – Felix Rossler (fxelxy) – 300CP
41^st – Alexander Kuhn (Hibiki) – 295CP
42^nd – Eloy Hahn (Dragoran5) – 292CP

This next group of players are those that need a solid result from this weekend, but nothing spectacular. There are quite a few interesting names among this bunch, and I’m certainly keen to see a few players here reach Boston.

One of the more interesting points with this group is the fact that we have four Austrians in it: Thomas Schadinger, Noah Fuchs, Felix Rossler and Alexander Kuhn. Once again, Austria has shown notable progression this year with the depth of solid players in the circuit, and it would be great to see these four represent their country. Arguably, Noah has the best result of the group from a major event with his Top 8 back in Arnhem, but Felix and Alexander’s achievements in Stuttgart, both reaching the single elimination stages, carry far more clout based on the depth of the field, in my opinion. Of the three, Alexander is my favoured choice to do well here. I will be particularly keen to see whether the team from Stuttgart remains the team of choice, or if Alexander has decided to mix it up a little based upon his experiences and information obtained. Thomas certainly is not to be overlooked either; he is another player that has been consistent across the year and it is paying off.

Pedro Lima may also add to the multi-cultural melting pot for this tournament as the highest ranked Portuguese player, sitting at 40^th in the standings. I have to say, Pedro is a nice guy after finally meeting him, and I was especially glad to see him reach the Top 32 in Manchester. As a player, I think Pedro is currently undervalued in terms of skill level, but hopefully results and reaching the World Championships, should said results go his way, will help elevate his profile somewhat, but there was some uncertainty in his attendance when I last checked.

Despite Spain’s lack of tournaments and general silence of their players, it’s hard not to ignore the accomplishments of a notable few. Miguel Marti is definitely one player that for the last few years has helped define Spanish VGC and is, with almost certain, the strongest player that the country has to offer right now. His run to the Quarter-Final in Manchester was sublime and did not appear to show any signs of lacking tournament-practice either, despite it being his first major event this season.

Finally, we come to the two German players who will be attending: Christoph Kugeler and Eloy Hahn. I’m expecting both to have a good showing in Milan and to reach Boston this year. The results from last year, where they achieved a Top 8 and Top 4 result respectively, is a good indication that they are more than capable of getting the necessary results, irrespective of the fact that the ruleset has changed in the intervening period.

Need a Top 32 finish or better

47^th – Nemanja Sandic (Porengan) – 267CP
48^th – Florian Wurdack (DaFlo) – 262CP
49^th – Michael Richert (Michilele) – 260CP
51^st – Mathias G. (Dreykopff) – 250CP
53^rd – Andrea Sala (Yaya) – 248CP
54^th – Brandon Ikin (Toquill) – 246CP
57^th – Jake Birch (WhiteAfroKing92) – 236CP
59^th – Luigi Orsi (ZPhoenix) – 235CP
61^st – David Mizrahi (AwesomePlatypus) – 230CP

We’re now starting to move into the territory where a great result is required from the players, and there will be more than a couple players who are in this group who will miss out on the world championships. There are a few names who are chasing their debut World’s appearance in this list, but there are also some surprising names that you wouldn’t usually expect to be in this position.

Two names I am very keen to support, as I am totally biased in favor of, are Brandon Ikin and Jake Birch from this group, as both are tantalizingly close to earning their invites for the first time, hopefully of many. Both have shown that they can top cut now, and Brandon in-particular managed to do so in Manchester and has certainly been on an incredible run of form. Jake’s season has been much more measured and steady, but I have faith that he can pull through.

Another new name to add to the mix is David Mizrahi, a Swiss player who has been hovering around the Top 60 in the standings for most of the season, but has slipped just outside the threshold. I’m not completely familiar with David’s accomplishments in general, but he has managed to score 50CP in Stuttgart for his troubles. He will probably require a breakout performance to secure his opportunity to attend Boston in August.

The two Italian players among this group are Andrea Sala and Luigi Orsi. Once again, both will look to do well this year once again after reaching the single elimination stages last year. Andrea, I believe, will be chasing his right to go to the World Championships for the first time, while Luigi will be aiming to make a welcome return. Luigi will be the likelier of the two to deal with the pressure that will be on them to perform and produce a favorable result, but there will be many players in the same boat.

That finally leaves us with the German quartet of players. Possibly the biggest surprise is the inclusion of Florian Wurdack in this precarious position. I’m pretty sure Florian has had to deal with times of adversity playing competitively many times before, and will need to call on all of his experience after a shocking result in Manchester. He does go into the event as the reigning champion, but his confidence has taken a knock, that much that he has probably conceded. Nemanja Sandic, Michael Richert and Mathias G. all had slightly better Manchester runs, all three scoring a modest 50CP which keeps them in the hunt. Yet again, unfavourable bias goes towards my Mistralton Jets teammate Nemanja to reach worlds, and I certainly will be keeping an eye on results as they come in. Michael Richert is still a solid player overall, and Mathias G. could spring a surprise along the way.

Need a Top 16 finish or better

65^th – Steve Edgson (SirSmoke) – 218CP
68^th – Alejandro Gomez (Pokealex) – 202CP
69^th – Simone Sanvito (Sanvy) – 201CP
82^nd – Eduardo Cunha (EmbC) – 192CP

I’m going to have to start with Steve Edgson who lies 65^th. Manchester was very much a case of two halves, after a torrid start going 0-3, Steve managed to pull it back to salvage a Top 128 spot and some points towards his total. I am not convinced, based across the entire year, that Steve will make it to Boston; a very harsh assessment on my end, but I would like to be proven wrong. Steve did Top Cut last year and is more than capable of doing so again. Alejandro Gomez might be down in this group of players in 68^th place, but critically is here owing to attending far fewer competitions. More importantly, his attendance to Stuttgart paid huge dividends with a Top 16 finish, accounting for pretty much all of his points. His rain team worked fairly well over in Germany, so we will see if he continues to pilot it and it reaps rewards, or whether he decides to change it up. Simone Sanvito sits in 69^th place, but is one of the few lesser known picks I’m keen to throw into the mix here, but I am sure he will be very motivated to go out and prove that it is well-merited. Finally, down in 82^nd we have another Portuguese player: Eduardo Cunha. Eduardo still has a reasonable chance of making the cut-off to Worlds, but will need to have a very big result, one that will eclipse anything he has achieved this season to date.

Go big or go home

Nicola Gini (Nicoakiwa) , Christopher Arthur (Koryo) , Nicholas Rottoli (Wonder) , Joe Birch (Professor Birch) , Marcel Kapelle (Massi) , Lorenzo Galassi (Greyfox) , Patryk Bieda (Phlosio) ; Konrad Janik (Gonzo)

Finally, here we have the players that will need THE tournament. The sort of major run that many mere mortals, such as myself, can really only dream of. The tournament where you know you have to walk that tightrope with no safety net. And in a game where luck is fickle and uncompromising, this is a major ask, but it can be done. All of these players are certainly more than capable of producing a result, with many of them sporting notable resumes in the game. We have Nicola Gini, brother to Matteo and Alberto, who I’m sure will be a major name in the Masters’ division in the years to come but is by no means a pushover. Christopher Arthur sports world appearances and was last years’ Runner-Up, but suffered badly in Manchester. Nicholas Rottoli also top cut here last year, and will be another future star of the Masters division. Joe Birch will be joining his brother Jake in Milan, but will still harbor ambitions of his own Boston dream. Marcel Kapelle is a seasoned competitor and sports world championship appearances, a grizzled veteran of the scene if you prefer, and still has the skill and tenacity to do well. Lorenzo Galassi, similarly, has world championship pedigree, but has had less success this year. Lastly, we have the two Polish players that will round off the multi-cultural feel of the event; with Patryk Bieda having qualified for the Nugget Bridge Invitational this year, while Konrad has experience under his belt, if not the results that he truly deserves. But despite not being able to fully commit to the circuit, he’s still a name I fancy could do well here.

As an added extra…

Once again, I’ve had the pleasure to join Baz Anderson for one of his YouTube videos along with Jake Birch. In this preview video, we discuss our thoughts and reflections from Manchester as well as looking forward to Milan, among other topics. Please feel free to watch as Baz, Jake and I go over the main points of interest.

The Crystal Ball Predicts…: It looks like me purchasing a new crystal ball paid dividends last fortnight after I nailed the prediction! In all seriousness, this is still an open event, one that is tough to call purely because of the various scenarios that will test the resolve of the vast majority of players. I’m actually torn between two players, but I am going to go with Alberto Gini. Given that he still needs CP to actually guarantee that paid invite, regardless of how small the amount he requires, will be the key motivating factor for him. Once the shackles are removed and he knows he is safe, it would take a brave man to bet against Alberto going for the title.

Final Words

That’s it for another preview. I hope you guys enjoy this one despite the fact it feels like I’ve been rambling a lot compared to those I have written previously. A combination of time constraints and waiting on updates on the CP standings that failed to arrive, thus forcing me to collate the info myself, were to blame. Nevertheless, it has been interesting to model the numbers and see all the permutations that are on the table. For those of you competing, I wish all of you the very best of luck, and hopefully you will achieve the results that you need. I may be back to write a preview article for the German Regional in Bochum later this month, if you guys are all for it. Let me know in the comments or get in touch, I’d really appreciate the feedback.

The post VGC 2015 Italian National Preview appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Yooooooo Nugget Bridge! My name is Riley Factura, also known as GENGARboi online. I was born and raised in New Jersey, and now reside in Orange County, California. I’m 22 years old and I’ve loved Pokémon ever since Red and Blue came out when I was a kid. I started playing competitively when Netbattle was around in Generation 3, so some of you may have known me to hate Substitute “Viloplumes.”   Now that that broken strategy isn’t viable anymore, I began to start having decent success. I had a slight stint of appearances in VGC with top cuts in 2010 and 2014 California Regionals. My 2014 goal was to get an invite to Worlds. After a disappointing performance on day 2 of Nationals, I knew I needed to step up my game. I worked even harder for the 2015 season. I’ve had multiple top cuts and wins in Nugget Bridge circuit tournaments, maxed out my Premier Challenge wins, and won the Spring Regionals in Seattle. The following is a report for the team I used.

Team Building Process

After using Kangaskhan for the entire 2014 season, I knew I wanted to start the new metagame with a completely different mega. When the rules were announced, I first tested Charizard. I was playing around with teammates such as Terrakion, Landorus, Thundurus, Sylveon, Aegislash, Conkeldurr, Hydreigon, Cresselia and a few others. However, no matter which other five Pokémon were doing well, Charizard felt overwhelmed by the metagame’s Landorus and Terrakion Rock Slides, as well as being walled by Heatran, barring Hidden Power Ground variants, which would have to give up a move slot.  I think it is a completely viable Mega Evolution and can do well at tournaments. However, Charizard just wasn’t working best for me at the time.

This was the main Charizard core:

Next, I did a lot of Salamence and Metagross testing, and even tried Gyarados, Abomasnow, Swampert, Camerupt, and Gallade. However, the teams weren’t meeting expectations from practice on the Pokémon Showdown ladder. The highest results I got were from Salamence teams, but I still wasn’t completely comfortable with it.

These are the Salamence and Metagross cores:

Reluctantly, I started testing Kangaskhan again. She gave me no trouble powering through online play. Anthony Jimenez (DarkAssassin) and I started working on the same Kangaskhan team and we eventually brought the same six to SoCal Regionals. Our spreads, movesets, and items were different, and he did well with it getting 4^th, but I didn’t do so hot at the Regionals. I did however, win the Premier Challenge the day after with the team. In between Winter and Spring Regionals, I tried playing around with the team to get more comfortable with it and making any adjustments I could. I tried replacing Pokémon, but I felt the most comfortable with these six. The Pokémon seem pretty standard, but some of the sets gave opponents a surprise by being different from the most popular ones. This is the team:

Team Accomplishments:

• 2/8/15 Nugget Bridge Live Tournament – 1st Place
• 2/15/15 Lancaster, CA Premier Challenge – 1st Place
• 3/6/15 Nugget Bridge Live Tournament – 1st Place
• 3/28/15 Ventura, CA Premier Challenge – 1st Place
• 5/17/15 Seattle, WA Regionals – 1st Place
• Any 2nd Place finishes don’t count.

The Team

Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 148 HP / 108 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Return
– Power-Up Punch
– Sucker Punch
– Protect

The moveset is the same set I used to top cut 2014 SoCal Winter Regionals. Fake Out is a good move, but I really didn’t see much use for it with nothing on the team to setup besides Kangaskhan herself. Most opponents usually prepare or expect the Fake Out and use Protect or switch accordingly, making Fake Out a wasted turn. Instead, I can go for the Power-Up Punch on a predicted switch or Protect, having three members that I could set up on myself, resulting in always have one in every game. This would net me a quick +2 attack boost, where Kangaskhan could rampage through the opponents, or attracting the opponent’s attention of being the threat. This attention sometimes lured the opponent to double target Kangaskhan, which would in the end waste their turn if I used Protect.

I could also get a free switch in and support Kangaskhan even further with any of the team members.  Sylveon did well against Scrafty and Conkeldurr, Landorus for Terrakion and Intimidate, Heatran for Aegislash and Mawile, Thundurus for Salamence and as a status abuser, or Amoonguss to redirect threatening attacks, since these were some of the common threats that stop Kangaskhan from sweeping.  You can see how this team revolved around Kangaskhan, and even though the Pokémon standard, they all worked well to support Kangaskhan.

The EV Spread I used was actually not the one I intended to use during the tournament. I didn’t find out that I had put the wrong Kangaskhan in my battle box until after the Swiss rounds. It actually hurt that with less attack, I failed to OHKO a Venusaur with a +2 Sucker Punch in my top 8 match.  However, I was still able to pull through with a win. In hindsight, I would have preferred the standard 252/252 like I have been using in testing because of the cases of leaving opposing Pokémon in the red with less attack and for maximizing my chances of winning the Kangaskhan mirror match.

Sylveon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 180 HP / 212 Def / 88 SpA / 28 Spe
Modest Nature
– Hyper Voice
– Quick Attack
– Shadow Ball
– Hidden Power [Ground]

Sylveon in my opinion, has made just as big of a metagame impact as Kangaskhan. It is a must to have at least one, preferably two, three, and you couldn’t go wrong with even more resistances to Fairy on your team. Sylveon will produce massive amounts of damage with Hyper Voice and Choice Specs to both of the opposing Pokémon. Sylveon’s precense forces a lot of switches.  No matter which slot the opponent switches, the incoming Pokémon will take a significant amount of damage.  Even Pokémon that resisted the attack would now be in range for another one of my Pokémon to KO if it was normally a damage roll.  I could also punish any predicted switches by using a move from Sylveon’s partner that would heavily damage it.

For example, I see from Team Preview that my opponent’s resistances to Fairy type is Aegislash or Amoonguss.  My opponent is in a situation where Hydreigon is out on the field against my Sylveon locked into Draco Meteor.  I could safely Flamethrower that slot with Heatran, knowing that either Aegislash or Amoonguss would come in.  And if my opponent didn’t switch then the Hydreigon would faint to the Hyper Voice.  Either choice my opponent does is a win/win situation for me.

Hidden Power Ground was used to damage Heatran harder, while Shadow Ball was used for Aegislash.  The last and most arguable move was a tough decision. I was choosing between Psyshock, Hyper Beam, and Quick Attack. Psyshock hits opposing Amoonguss, while Hyper Beam OHKO’s almost anything (damn that bulky Cresselia) that doesn’t resist Fairy at the cost of not moving next turn.  In the end, I decided to go with Quick Attack so I could pick off the popular Focus Sash users Breloom and Gengar, or anything that was left in the red.  Here are some damage calculations with the EV Spread:

• 252 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 180 HP / 212 Def Sylveon: 162-191 (83.9 – 98.9%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ Atk Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 180 HP / 212 Def Sylveon: 81-96 (41.9 – 49.7%) — guaranteed 3HKO
• 56+ SpA Mega Charizard Y Overheat vs. 180 HP / 0 SpD Sylveon in Sun: 150-177 (77.7 – 91.7%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 56+ SpA Mega Charizard Y Heat Wave vs. 180 HP / 0 SpD Sylveon in Sun: 81-96 (41.9 – 49.7%) — guaranteed 3HKO
• -1 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Metagross Iron Head vs. 180 HP / 212 Def Sylveon: 152-182 (78.7 – 94.3%) — guaranteed 2HKO

Intimidate from Landorus helped Sylveon survive even more attacks.  The 28 EVs in Speed was just to speed creep other Sylveon, and the rest was dumped into Special Attack.  If there’s anything I would change about this spread it would probably be because of this:

• 252+ SpA Life Orb Aegislash-Blade Flash Cannon vs. 180 HP / 0 SpD Sylveon: 174-211 (90.1 – 109.3%) — 50% chance to OHKO

Thundurus @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 4 SpA / 132 SpD / 32 Spe
Calm Nature
– Thunder Wave
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Taunt

Thundurus was a very situational Pokémon, but he was vital at shutting down Mega Salamence, Blaziken, Greninja, any random fast Pokémon, and various setup strategies.  The moveset was pretty standard, as it is the only Pokémon on my team to use the top four most popular moves for a particular Pokémon on Battle Spot.

• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Pixilate Sylveon Hyper Voice vs. 252 HP / 132+ SpD Thundurus: 103-123 (55.3 – 66.1%) — 25.4% chance to 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery
• 252+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 88 Def Thundurus: 196-232 (105.3 – 124.7%) — 0.4% chance to OHKO

With Sitrus Berry, I had a pretty decent chance to survive 2 Hyper Voices from Sylveon and a Double-Edge from Kangaskhan.  The bulk allowed me to spread paralysis throughout my opponent’s team even further.  During Seattle regionals and playing online, Thundurus was brought the least amount of times.

* While editing this article, HeliosanNA pointed out that this Thundurus spread has 4 less Speed EVs than it should. Moving the 4 EVs in Special Attack into Speed would be optimal. The 88 Defense EVs is not a waste since Thundurus has 30 IVs in Defense for Hidden Power Ice.

Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 188 HP / 156 Def / 164 SpD
Sassy Nature
– Spore
– Rage Powder
– Sludge Bomb
– Protect

• 188 HP Maximizes HP recovery with Regenerator
• -1 252 Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Return vs. 188 HP / 156 Def Amoonguss: 180-212 (84.5 – 99.5%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• -1 252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 188 HP / 156 Def Amoonguss: 180-212 (84.5 – 99.5%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ SpA Mega Gardevoir Psychic vs. 188 HP / 164+ SpD Amoonguss: 182-216 (85.4 – 101.4%) — 6.3% chance to OHKO
• 56+ SpA Mega Charizard Y Heat Wave vs. 188 HP / 164+ SpD Amoonguss in Sun: 186-218 (87.3 – 102.3%) — 12.5% chance to OHKO
• 252+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 188 HP / 156 Def Amoonguss: 180-214 (84.5 – 100.4%) — 0.8% chance to OHKO

Amoonguss was the glue of the team and the most important member for keeping the rest of the team alive. Spore helped my matchup against Trick Room. I could put opposing Trick Room setters to sleep to prevent setup. If Trick Room was already up, I could prevent the Trick Room abusers from attacking for one turn. Notice how I said one turn. When using Spore with Amoonguss, I play assuming the opponent will wake up turn 1. This allowed me to be prepared for the worst possible scenario. Any sleeping turns after the first one is luck based, so I chose not to rely on it, but it is a plus if given. Rage Powder allowed the rest of my team perform their roles for a longer period of time. I chose Sludge Bomb over Giga Drain to hit Breloom and Whimsicott down to the Focus Sash. The damage was also more beneficial towards Sylveon, Gardevoir, Ludicolo, and Pokémon that resisted Grass. Grass typing hits more of the current metagame for resisted damage.

Heatran @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 36 Def / 220 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Flamethrower
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Earth Power
– Protect

Shuca Berry and maximum investment in Speed with a Timid nature gave me confidence in winning the mirror match. With the EV investment, I would also take a spread Landorus-T Earthquake 100% of the time and could OHKO back with Hidden Power Ice and it also gave an option to hit Salamence hard as well. I opted for Flamethrower for a couple reasons. Heat Wave had a chance to miss and dealt less damage to the opponent I want to take the Fire move. For example, if my opponent had Hydreigon and Metagross out on the field and I used Heat Wave, there was a chance I would miss the Metagross and hit the Hydreigon. I basically got unsignificant amount of damage to Hydreigon without even damaging Metagross at all, essentially wasting a turn. With Flamethrower, not only was I going to get damage into that slot 100% of the time, I could chose the target I wanted to hit, and deal more damage than a spread move.

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Earthquake
– Stone Edge
– Rock Slide
– Superpower

As you’ve seen from above, Landorus-T’s Intimidate was important for helping the rest of my team survive attacks. Terrakion gave above five members a problem, especially if it was going to start flinching Sylveon with Rock Slide. Landorus-T helped fill the role of taking Terrakion down nicely. With Choice Scarf, I could outspeed and OHKO Terrakion as well as opposing Kangaskhan.

As a fourth move, I think U-turn is bad in the VGC format. In singles, U-Turn helped abused Stealth Rock damage onto your opponent and essentially you have five Pokémon to switch into. In VGC, you only have two options, so switching into the correct Pokémon to counter your opponent is a lot less difficult. U-turn seems to have more negatives than positives. A lot of times, U-Turn can be tempting to use on a Hydreigon, only to find out it had Choice Scarf with Hidden Power Ice, and you lose your Landorus-T turn one. Switching not only performs the same goal, but now you have even more momentum. Stone Edge helped vs. Wide Guard and could OHKO Charizard at -1, and maybe even -2 depending on the opponent’s spread. I’ve tested a bit bulkier sets with less Attack and Speed to survive things like +1 Life Orb Sucker Punch from Bisharp. In the end, I chose to run 252/252 because I wanted to outspeed Choice Scarf Heatran, which was gaining popularity next to Charizard to abuse the Sun. I also felt I was leaving too many Pokémon in the red with less attack investment and non max Attack Landorus-T doesn’t always OHKO Terrakion with Earthquake.

Shoutouts

I’ve asked for help from some people and literally got shut down before.  So here’s to the people that have supported me throughout the season.

• Team West Coast #BestCoast
• Team Tank Top
• Angel Orozco (lafanz), Alicia Martinez (leeshe), plus the rest of the SoCal locals
• Andy Himes (Amarillo) for giving me the play I needed to make in my Top 8 match.  He was very supportive throughout the season and the weekend.  Although I couldn’t get any help from him for finals because he was friends with Mark too!
• Alberto Lara (Sweeper) for being the most stubborn, fun, and persistent person I know.
• Alex & Anthony Jimenez (Legacy & DarkAssassin) for sharing strategies, gossiping about NuggetBridge drama, and everything else Pokémon pretty much everyday.  These two have been helping me grow as a player ever since I met them at 2014 SoCal Regionals.  A lot of credit goes to them for the Seattle win and 380 CP I racked up before Nationals.
• Everyone else I talk to on Showdown
• Nugget Bridge and the community – The admins, moderators, and everyone else take the time out of their day to put effort into this site for nearly free.  From hosting tournaments, to editing and creating articles and other content, the damage calculator customized for VGC, Stats for the survival calculator, and even the drama to spice up life while I sit behind the computer screen with some popcorn.  Shoutouts to HeliosanNA for editing this article! I really wouldn’t have become the player I am today without being on this site literally everyday.

The post Standard Six Squad with a Twist: 1st Place Seattle Regionals Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

One of the three core types of the game, Grass types see notably less play than their Water and Fire type brethren.  However, don’t simply assume that Grass is a bad type because of usage.  While Grass types are less common than other types, and rightfully, they can fulfill important team niches, and often times several of them at once.  So, let’s dive right in!

Offensive Potential

Recently I’ve been working with Nick (LightCore) on gathering and organizing Regional Top Cut usage statistics, and for fun I decided to run some calculations to find out what the best offensive type in a Top Cut Metagame was.  The calculations themselves were pretty simple, each neutral hit a type got was +1, each 2x super effective hit was +2 and each 4x super effective hit was +3.  2x resisted hits were -1, 4x resisted hits were -2 and immunities were -3.  After point values were assidned, they were multipled by the totaly number of the Pokemon that’s typing was being used in the calculation.  By combining calculations I was able to assign each type it’s own point value, and compare it’s offensive coverage to that of other types.

Almost totally without contest, Grass type scored the lowest clocking in at -36 once all was said and done, and if you were counting on secondary STABs to save them, the only other type that even came close to Grass in negative points was Poison at -25, and Grass/Poison is the most common dual typing.  Still, despite all that, Grass type does benefit from the ability to damage the bulky Waters that roam the metagame, and it also gets 4x super effective coverage on Swampert and Gastrodon while Electric type answers to bulky Waters find themselves dead weight.

Finally, many Grass types have access to the ability Chlorophyll which allows them to continue to use their terrible STAB, but faster.  All jokes aside here, thanks to the sheer power of Charizard-Y, it’s quite viable to have a Sun mode on teams with a Chlorophyll sweeper like Venusaur as long as you sufficiently cover weaknesses like Talonflame.  Speaking of Talonflame. . .

Defensive Potential

Grass types suffer from an extremely mixed bag in terms of defensive capabilities.  On the one hand, Grass is weak to five other types, those being Fire, Flying, Bug, Poison and Ice.  Furthermore, when relying on Chlorophyll to outspeed and incapacitate/KO threats Grass types find themselves totally at the mercy of Talonflame who disregards their buffed speed to spam its super effective Brave Bird.

Moving beyond this however, things begin to look up for the green type. Grass’s Ground resistance is extremely valuable in a meta where Landorus-Therian is the second most common Pokemon, although the common Poison dual typing removes that benefit.  Pokemon like Amoonguss and Venusaur trade their Ground resistance for a Fairy resistance, which is still very helpful as Sylveon is lurking a single slot behind Landorus in the Battle Spot Doubles usage stats.

Furthermore, Grass types often make the best Rain counters.  For anyone who has experienced the terror of a well played Rain team, a good Grass type can be quite reassuring.  Resisting the boosted Water STABs that Rain teams love to throw around so much, Grass types also tend to have the natural bulk to take the Ice type coverage moves that Rain teams traditionally carry. Furthermore, Giga Drain is a great defensive tool for Grass types as it allows them to increase their staying power and continue to support their teammates as long as possible.

Supportive Potential

While offensively underwhelming and defensively niche, Support is where Grass types really get to shine.  And by shine, I mean Spore.  Everything.  Seriously, it’s a 100% accurate sleep move, how can you go wrong?  Beyond that Grass types often have Leech Seed to give them even more staying power when paired with Giga Drain.  And, if you want to live even longer, Grass types like Amoonguss and Tangrowth get Regenerator, the ability that allows you recovery just by switching out.  I’d mention Whimsicott here, but THAT will be getting it’s own section later.

Now that we’ve analyzed the abilities of Grass types in general, it’s time to look at the specific Pokemon themselves.  And yes, I did totally copy WackaboomVGC’s format in doing this.  What can I say?  His article was beautiful.  Anyway, let’s get started!

Amoonguss

Type: Grass/Poison

Notable Items:

• Rocky Helmet 67.1%
• Black Sludge 10.3%
• Mental Herb 9.2%

Notable Moves:

• Spore 95.5%
• Rage Powder 98.2%
• Giga Drain 85.2%
• Protect 84.8%
• Sludge Bomb 12.5%

Amoonguss is currently the only Grass type Pokemon to be in the Top 12 in the Battle Spot usage statistics, but it has certainly earned it’s place.  With good bulk, Spore, and redirection via Rage Powder, it can be an extremely disruptive Pokemon.  As mentioned earlier, it also gets Regenerator (83.9% usage) to extend it’s longevity even further by switching in and out of battle.  However, despite the fact that Amoonguss is a great Rain and Trick Room counter, it finds itself extremely susceptible to Taunt.

In a Metagame with Thundurus-Incarnate running around everywhere, the little mushroom has to be extremely careful to stay clear, as even a single Taunt can render it near useless unless it’s running the Mental Herb which wastes the damage potential of Rocky Helmet and the active recovery of black Sludge.

Breloom

Type: Grass/Fighting

Notable Items:

• Focus Sash 80.5%
• Choice Scarf 10.7%
• Life Orb 3.7%

Notable Moves:

• Bullet Seed 96.8%
• Spore 96.7%
• Mach Punch 90.3%
• Protect 77.4%
• Rock Tomb 21.8%

Breloom probably the second most recognizable Grass type and it’s almost entirely because it has access to a decently speedy Spore.  Don’t get me wrong, with Base 130 Attack and Technician boosted Bullet Seed and Mach Punch, it can certainly hold it’s own in terms of damage output, but at the same time it’s main threat is that of Spore.  This does make Breloom susceptible to Taunt, but not nearly a susceptible as Amoonguss is.  Nearly all Breloom run Focus Sash because they are extremely frail, however you will occasionally see Choice Scarf variants.

Breloom is best dealt with by double targeting and spread moves.  Talonflame obviously does a number on it (we’re talking about Grass type here, assume it beats them all unless noted otherwise) but Mega-Charizard Y is the real winner here as it easily brings Breloom to it’s Sash just by spamming it’s most common attack.  From there all it takes is a Rock Slide or Earthquake and that’s the end of Breloom.  Partially for this reason, Breloom can be incredibly dangerous in Tailwind, although a faster alternative Grass type does already exist.

Virizion

Type: Grass/Fighting

Notable Items:

• Life Orb 62.1%
• Expert Belt 14.5%
• Lum Berry 11.0%
• Focus Sash 9.1%

Notable Moves:

• Leaf Blade 99.4%
• Close Combat 98.4%
• Protect 92.5%
• Stone Edge 69.0%
• Quick Guard 23.6%

Virizion shares the same typing as Breloom, but lacks Spore and has a notably inferior Attack stat.  Virizion is able to make up for this however with it’s speed; sitting at Base 108 it outspeeds everything except Base 110s and Heliolisk.  Of course, it does have to worry about speed ties with Terrakion, but at the same time Virizion actually has a decent amount of bulk and can take a Close Combat from Terrakion decently.  One of the largest issues that Virizion faces is that in order to get the Close Combat and Leaf Blade KOes that it wants, it pretty much requires the Life Orb or Expert Belt.  The former messes with Virizion’s decent bulk while the latter leaves it rather vulnerable to neutral targets who don’t have to deal with the Expert Belt boost.

It’s also worth noting that Virizion has access to Quick Guard, which can allow it occasional moments of glory against Talonflame, but never on its own.  The increase in Life Orb Talonflame (to 36.9%) also decreases the chances of catching Talonflame locking itself into BB so you can Quick Guard it into oblivion as your partner is free to attack.  Even if you don’t block Brave Bird from Talonflame, Virizion’s Quick Guard can block Kangaskhan’s Fake Out so it does certainly have some use even though Stone Edge sees notably more use.  Personally, I would never depend on a Pokemon like Virizion to deal with Charizard because of the lack of switch in potential, not to mention you’re relying on Stone Edge to hit as well.

Whimsicott

Typing: Grass/Fairy

Notable Items:

• Focus Sash 79.7%
• Mental Herb 4.3%

Notable Moves:

• Encore 86.9%
• Tailwind 82.5%
• Protect 65.5%
• Beat Up 57.9%
• Taunt 26.9%
• Fake Tears 21.1%
• Moonblast 13.7%

Ah, Whimsicott.  If you want Prankster support, Whimsicott is probably for you.  Boasting Prankster Tailwind, Whimsicott really becomes a deadly threat with Prankster Encore.  The two moves are even more deadly in combination as with Encore Whimsicott can punish opponent’s trying to Protect stall out Tailwind.  It can also partner with Terrakion to form the terrifying TerraCott duo with the Beat Up + Justified combination to boost Terrakion’s attack.  While it may be a cheesy strategy, that’s not much comfort as you’re being swept by it.  Whimsicott’s Taunt is notable because it is the fastest Prankster Taunt in the game, allowing it to always go before Thundurus-Incarnate and Liepard.

Fake Tears is mostly for use with Mega-Gengar.  If you haven’t seen the strategy, a trainer will Fake Tears/Shadow Ball or Sludge Bomb into a mon for the almost guaranteed OHKO.  This strategy is weak to the fact that in order to work it needs to leave one Pokemon unharmed, and with that we come to Whimsicott’s greatest issue.  It just can’t do damage.  It truly excels at assisting it’s teammates in doing damage, but it’s utterly incapable of doing anything to Pokemon that aren’t weak to it, assuming it’s one of the 13.7% that actually carry an offensive move.

Mega Venusaur

Typing: Grass/Poison

Notable Items:

• Venusaurite 68.3%
• Focus Sash 17.0%
• Life Orb 5.3%

Notable Moves:

• Sludge Bomb 97.4%
• Protect 92.7%
• Giga Drain 73.4%
• Leech Seed 44.3%
• Sleep Powder 39.8%

Let’s cover Chlorophyll Venusaur before diving into the Mega.  Chlorophyll Venusaur abuses Mega-Charizard Y’s Drought to gain amazing speed, but even with the ability to move first it still often struggles to deal damage.  The existence of Talonflame further restricts it, and while Chlorophyll Venusaur is a nice option to have it shouldn’t be relied on as a team’s main sweeper.

Mega-Venusaur has a lot of the same problems regular Venusaur faces, but it has extra bulk and the Thick Fat ability to deal with them. Mega-Venusaur needs proper team support in order to function, but when the threats to it are dealt with it can simply sit down, start Leech Seeding things and never die.  It’s ability to deal with Sylveon and Landorus-Therian is notable and invaluable for teams.  But sitting down and Leech Seeding things. . . that sounds almost like. . .

Ferrothorn

Typing: Grass/Steel

Notable Items:

• Rocky Helmet 37.8%
• Leftovers 27.1%
• Choice Band 12.3%
• Lum Berry 10.3%

Notable Moves:

• Power Whip 89.5%
• Protect 81.1%
• Gyro Ball 80.6%
• Leech Seed 68.4%
• Knock Off 23.5%

Ferrothorn has seen a pretty sharp decrease in usage since the 2014 season, partially due to the increased variety of viable Fire types in this meta.  It also has to contend with Terrakion, although it’s worth noting that Ferrothorn can survive Terrakion’s Close Combat.  Prankster Taunt hasn’t helped Ferrothorn’s case any, but the expansion of the meta isn’t all bad for Ferrothorn.  Although it lacks a Ground resistance, it’s fully capable of beating Landorus-Therian through Leech Seed stall, and with most Sylveon carrying HP Ground for Heatran, it finds another positive matchup there.

As with many Grass types, Ferrothorn is a bit of a natural counter to Rain, and similar to Amoonguss it can put in large amounts of work against Trick Room teams.  Finally, Iron Barbs in conjunction with the Rocky Helmet allow it to force massive amounts of residual damage on the physical metagame. Kangaskhan in particular suffers greatly against a Rocky Helmet Ferrothorn.

Mega Sceptile

Typing: Grass/Dragon

Notable Items:

• 95.1% Sceptililite

Notable Moves:

• Dragon Pulse 93.2%
• Leaf Storm 55.1%
• Protect 46.8%
• Quick Guard 46.4%
• Energy Ball 34.0%

Mega-Sceptile is like a Chlorophyll sweeper that doesn’t even need Sun.  With a Base 145 speed stat it can opt for a Modest nature and still outspeed Jolly Mega-Salamence, or go for Jolly and outspeed Adamant Choice Scarf Landorus-Therian.  It has decent STAB coverage, but it’s super effective coverage is nothing special.  As a Dragon type without Draco Meteor it can find its damage to be underwhelming, and Energy Ball is a decent STAB move but nothing spectacular.  The only success Mega-Sceptile has seen thus far in the season is with Kenposy on a rather unusual Electrify/Discharge team that centered around Lightning Rod abuse.

Mega-Sceptile does have a niche in the meta, but unlike most Grass types, it loses to Rain and absolutely despises Trick Room.  More of a late game sweeper, Sceptile relies on its partners to deal early damage so it can come in and clean up towards the end of the game.  Also of note is the fact that it gets Quick Guard, which improves its Talonflame matchup slightly, although Talonflame is still very threatening to it.

Ludicolo

Typing: Grass/Water

Notable Items:

• Assault Vest 72.2%
• Life Orb 7.0%

Notable Moves:

• Fake Out 93.5%
• Ice Beam 92.0%
• Giga Drain 88.1%
• Scald 78.7%
• Hydro Pump 19.1%
• Energy Ball 11.3%

Ludicolo’s main attractions are its unique typing, ability to hard counter Rain, good bulk and access to Fake Out.  While in past Generations it has been a weaker Kingdra, with the advent of Generation Six, Ludicolo has begun to stand on it’s own.  While it’s not nearly as common in ORAS as it was back in XY, Ludicolo is still more than capable of filling roles in this meta.  By making use of its unique typing, it’s capable of countering combinations of Pokemon that would never be otherwise possible.  Acting as an answer to both Fire and Water types, Ludicolo also fares well against Pokemon like Thundurus and Terrakion.  The former struggles to damage it, and the latter is just Giga Drain bait.

Gourgeist

Typing: Grass/Ghost

Notable Items:

• Focus Sash 50.0%
• Choice Scarf 47.7%
• Mental Herb 2.3%

Expect Sitrus/Leftovers at live events, especially if facing one in later rounds.

Notable Moves:

• Trick 54.5% (Wait, what?)
• Trick-or-Treat 52.3% (The heck?)
• Destiny Bond 52.3% (This isn’t getting better)
• Shadow Sneak 45.5% (Somebody help me)
• Protect 45.5%
• Seed Bomb 38.6%
• Will-O-Wisp 25.0%
• Leech Seed (somewhere under 16%)
• Trick Room (somewhere under 16%)

Another support oriented Grass type, Gourgeist really shines due to it’s ability to set up Trick Room.  It’s also one of only three Evolved Grass types to get Will-O-Wisp.  The lesson to be learned from the move statistics is that most of the people using Gourgeist on Battle Spot have. . . very inventive ideas.  Anyway, due to its solid defensive typing coupled with Will-O-Wisp Gourgeist can pose a surprising threat to the metagame.  While it finds itself extremely weak to Fire types, even more so than the average Grass type, it also walls the great Mega-Kangakhan and might as well wall Landorus-Therian.

By abusing Leech Seed recover as well as Leftover or the Sitrus Berry that it apparently doesn’t use, Gourgeist can achieve longevity to rival that of Mega-Venusaur.  As shown by Ashton, while Gourgeist may not always be the best Pokemon, there are plenty of weaknesses to it in this meta to be exploited.

Abomasnow

Typing: Grass/Ice

Notable Items:

• Abomasite 51.1%
• Focus Sash 35.3%
• Choice Scarf 5.7%

Notable Moves:

• Blizzard 98.9%
• Protect 91.1%
• Ice Shard 81.0%
• Energy Ball 54.3%
• Wood Hammer 24.3%
• Giga Drain 20.6%

Abomasnow has always been an interesting Pokemon.  Defensively, its Ice/Grass typing is the worst in the game, but on the other end of the spectrum it offers it nearly unrivaled offensive coverage.  Couple that with Blizzard and Snow Warning and you have yourself a viable Pokemon.  Still, viable or not, Abomasnow definitely needs a lot of support in order to function.  Trick Room is almost a must to allow Abomasnow to actually achieve anything, and even then it retains it’s horrible 4x Fire weakness.  Ice Shard can help it’s speed issues, but Ice Shard will only be KOing 4x weaknesses, the two most common of which (Landorus-T and Salamence) have Intimidate to ensure they survive.  I definitely believe in Abomasnow’s potential in Trick Room, and you can find more on that here.

And with that we’ve covered the major Grass types of the meta.  I’m not going to conclude this by saying that Grass type is strong, or even good.  What I will tell you is that all Pokemon have potential, and Grass types are incredibly versatile and most are extremely effective in specific regards.  Whimsicott is an amazing Prankster, Amoonguss is amazing redirection, Abomasnow a powerful anti-meta pick, Virizion can OHKO Kangaskhan while resisting Landorus-T’s STABs and the list goes on.  So, if you find yourself with an oddly specific role you’re looking to fill on your team, take a look through the list of Grass types.  Their versatility might surprise you.

The post Growing Like Weeds: An Overview of Grass Types in VGC ’15 appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hi, I’m Bennett Piercy, also known as Qertyk on Nugget Bridge and Pokemon Showdown and QertykVGC on Twitter, and this is my first Nugget Bridge team report. I started playing VGC in 2014, but I never actually went to an event until the 2015 cycle began. I live in Calgary, so finding VGC events almost always means travelling, thus I’ve only made it to four events throughout my Pokemon career. My first event was a low-attendance Edmonton Premier Challenge in December 2014, where I went 2-2 and finished third. After the 2015 format actually started, I went to another small Edmonton Premier Challenge, this time finishing first. I also ended up winning a bigger Premier Challenge in Seattle the day after the Washington Regional. The team I used for all of my winning events was fairly unique, without using needlessly obscure Pokemon.

Teambuilding

I don’t remember exactly how this team came to be, but to some extent it originated from a team I saw on Nugget Bridge – Evan Feroy’s Oregon Regionals team of Primeape, Crawdaunt, Clefable, Crobat, Arcanine, and Nidoking. I began replacing the team members with Pokemon that I thought provided more important type coverage, and I eventually ended up with this team.

I used this team for quite a while. I thought it was pretty good, and I ended up posting it in Nugget Bridge’s “Rate My Team” section, but it got no replies. Anyway, I decided that Raikou wasn’t very good and that I wanted Fake Out, which I didn’t accommodate for at the time, but eventually led to the addition of Weavile.

This is the version of my team that I used in Edmonton. I love Weakness Policy Lapras, but I really didn’t do well with it.  The Gardevoir was a last minute addition to the team. I gave it Choice Scarf and placed it top left in my Battle Box to bluff Mega Gardevoir. I was actually pretty excited about it at the time, but it flopped during testing.

These five did well in testing, and I began to like them a lot. I only used Weavile in certain situations, meaning I’d use the other four in most games. For the sixth slot, I wanted something that could balance out the team, expecting that the role would go to a bulky water type. I ended up trying out Lapras, Gardevoir, Carracosta, Zapdos, Clauncher, Aegislash, Gigalith, and Milotic. I finally decided on Conkeldurr, but I’m not sure that it was the best choice.

Team at a Glance

The Team

BoJack (Breloom) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Superpower
– Bullet Seed
– Spore
– Protect

I named my Breloom “BoJack”after BoJack Horseman. Probably because Breloom is also a non-human anthropomorphic individual, but I don’t really know.

Breloom is a fairly common Pokemon, especially in the Seniors division. Mine is completely standard, apart from Superpower, which I added to OHKO Mega Kangaskhan. I honestly didn’t even test Mach Punch for more than a few days, so I don’t know whether or not that would have been better. Overall though, I don’t have much to say about Breloom.

Mercury (Nidoqueen) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Level: 50
EVs: 148 HP / 84 Def / 252 SpA / 20 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
– Sludge Bomb
– Earth Power
– Ice Beam
– Protect

Something about naming a Nidoqueen after Queen frontman Freddie Mercury just felt right.

Nidoqueen ended up being my MVP of the tournament. The combination of Sheer Force and Life Orb is amazing, and can make otherwise unviable Pokemon like Nidoqueen into dangerous offensive threats. Sludge Bomb merits a one-hit knockout on most Gardevoir, while always doing at least 90% to Sylveon. Earth Power always knocks out Heatran, Metagross, Bisharp, and just about anything else to weak to Ground. Ice Beam always OHKO’s Landorus-T, Mega Salamence, Garchomp, as well as non-bulky Thundurus. Although Nidoqueen’s offense is impressive, its real merit is its surprising defensive abilities, best expressed in a single calculation:

• 252+ Atk Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 148 HP / 84 Def Nidoqueen: 152-182 (82.6 – 98.9%) — guaranteed 2HKO

Machida Born (Volcarona) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 12 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
– Heat Wave
– Bug Buzz
– Rage Powder
– Tailwind

“Machida Born” is a reference to Satoshi Tajiri’s hometown in Japan. Tajiri credits memories of catching bugs as a child as inspiration for Pokemon, so I thought it was a fitting name for my Bug-type Pokemon.

I brought Nidoqueen and Volcarona to most of my games, normally leading the two as a pair. Volcarona is certainly an underrated Tailwind user in VGC 2015. With Rage Powder and the addition of Tailwind to Volcarona’s move pool thanks to ORAS move tutors, it fits a whole new Togekiss-esque niche. Flame Body is another one of Volcarona’s selling points, thanks to how well Flame Body deals with Kangaskhan. After Sitrus Berry recovery, Volcarona survives Mega Kangaskhan’s Double-Edge 100% of the time and burns the attacking M-Kangaskhan 51% of the time. Even though Volcarona is 4x weak to Rock, my spread allows it to survives nearly all non-STAB Rock Slides in VGC 2015, namely from Scarfed Landorus-T. Here are a few calculations that really highlight Volcarona’s bulk:

• 252+ Atk Landorus-T Rock Slide vs. 252 HP / 236 Def Volcarona: 156-188 (81.2 – 97.9%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252 SpA Politoed Scald vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Volcarona in Rain: 152-182 (79.1 – 94.7%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ SpA Aerilate Mega Salamence Hyper Voice vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Volcarona: 150-176 (78.1 – 91.6%) — guaranteed 2HKO

Brer Dragon (Salamence) @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Frustration
– Dragon Claw
– Rock Slide
– Protect

“Brer Dragon” is named after the loveable trickster Brer Rabbit, featured in, but not originating from, Disney’s Song of the South.

This was an entirely standard Salamence apart from Rock Slide. Rock Slide often one-shots Mega Charizard Y, as well as being a convenient spread attack. Contrary to most people’s opinions, I appreciated having Dragon Claw on Salamence in many matches, as it deals with fellow Dragons and Pokemon that resist Flying, such as Rotom-Wash. I didn’t have time to max out Salamence’s happiness, so I went the simpler route and minimized his Happiness. There really isn’t much to say about this Salamence, it’s just a standard Physical Mega.

L’Oreal (Weavile) @ King’s Rock
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Fake Out
– Fling
– Icicle Crash
– Knock Off

Apart from Knock Off, I stole this from Ashton Cox’s team report. His was named after Covergirl, so I named mine L’Oreal. For anyone who doesn’t know, Flinging a King’s Rock will make the opponent flinch 100% of the time, making Weavile a uniquely helpful Pokemon. As for actual results, Weavile is kind of iffy, as nearly all teams have multiple ways to take it out in one hit. I think that having Weavile helped a lot during Team Preview, because many opponents think Weavile’s item is Focus Sash, thus implying my Breloom carries Choice Scarf (which in reality, I didn’t use at all on the team).

3 of Spaid (Conkeldurr) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Atk / 116 SpD
Adamant Nature
– Hammer Arm
– Mach Punch
– Ice Punch
– Rock Slide

Conkeldurr’s nickname is an inside joke that you don’t get to know.

I really regret using Conkeldurr in the tournament. I lost every game I brought it to, and I really had never tested it until the week before the tournament. I freaked out last minute because I stopped liking Aegislash, and I ended up breeding this Conkeldurr two days before the tournament. The only discernible feature brought by Conkeldurr was Mach Punch, which makes me wonder why I didn’t just give Breloom Mach Punch and switch Conkeldurr for something more useful.

Washington Regional Swiss

Note: I didn’t keep track of which four I brought to any particular game, so apart from random memories I don’t know what I brought.

Swiss Round 1 vs Jason Wong

My first opponent of the day, and already my extensive viewing of “Road to Ranked” was going to start paying off. I quickly identified Jason’s team as Cybertron’s APEX team. I was confident I could win this game, especially because Nidoqueen and Volcarona counter most of his team, but Jason proved me wrong. For about the first half of the game, I was confident in my play, and all was going well. I found, however, that I was too reliant on Breloom in this game. At one point, Jason’s Venusaur used Sludge Bomb on Breloom, activating Focus Sash, but the secondary effect of Poisoning (10%) picked up the knock out. With that and a rather decisive Heat Wave miss, I lost the game. This wasn’t exactly a fun game, but my opponent was very gracious, even going as for as to apologize for the bad luck. He ended up making Top Cut too, so that’s pretty cool.

0-1

Swiss Round 2 vs Henry Maxon (Snake)

I played really poorly in this game. I played way too aggressively, almost completely ignoring Cresselia. I was somewhat thrown off by the first game, and I took plenty of unnecessary risks. This game wasn’t even close, and Henry won something like 3-0 or 4-0. He also ended up making top cut.

0-2

Swiss Round 3

I was now in an awkward situation. Knowing I had to go X-2 to even get a chance at top cut, I was really nervous. I got lucky, however,  because I had gotten a bye for the third round. Getting a bye means that you don’t play for that round and it counts as an automatic win. I spent this extra time getting a snack and looking at all the merchandise. It definitely relaxed me.

1-2

Swiss Round 4 vs Roman Hatch 

This game was definitely the best one I had played so far, and it really highlighted the power of Nidoqueen. She picked up all four KO’s in this game, with some help from Volcarona’s Rage Powder and Breloom’s Spore.

2-2

Swiss Round 5 vs Jacob Martin 

Jacob had a really interesting team with Mega Alakazam. I quickly identified that Nidoqueen and Volcarona could deal with most of the team very well, and sure enough, they did. I remember that I hit the perfect combination of choosing to Protect, attack and Rage Powder with Nidoqueen and Volcarona on the first few turns, that I took an early 4-2 lead. Apart from that, I don’t know anything other than that I won.

3-2

Swiss Round 6 vs Tiana Kaguras

Before my last swiss match, I checked the records of the other competitors and decided I wouldn’t be making top cut. I almost didn’t pay serious attention in this match, because I thought it was just for fun. I did like the sound of “4-2 record” much more than 3-3, though. My competitor’s last name seemed familiar, so I assume she is related to Demitrios Kaguras (kingdjk) in some way. I don’t really remember what happened in this game, I just don’t. I ended up winning, but again, I didn’t think it mattered.

4-2

When the Top Cut was posted, I was ecstatic. I was posted at eighth seed (top cut of eight), because my opponents’ win percentage was exactly 60%, higher than any other 4-2 player. I was particularly excited because this was my first high-level event, so making Top Cut felt like quite the accomplishment.

Washington Regional Top Cut

Top 8 vs Carson St. Denis (Dorian06)

Game 1

I went with my usual lead, Nidoqueen and Volcarona, because they deal with Thundurus, Heatran, and Sylveon very well. Carson led with Salamence and Mamoswine, and for the first time ever I discovered how terrible my Mamoswine matchup was. I had no answers to the combination of it and physical Mega Salamence, and I dropped the game quickly. I don’t remember if I forfeited or actually lost, but it wasn’t really a close game.

Game 2

Because it worked so well the first time, Carson led Salamence and Mamoswine. I went with Weavile (My backup lead) and something else, probably Nidoqueen. This game seemed to be going better for the first two turns or so, and then it turned into a repeat of game 1.  I actually ended up attempting a double protect with my Salamence at one point, when the risk was not worth the reward and it ended up failing. Not exactly an example of me playing (or team building) well, as this was my worst set ever.

Conclusion

Even though I didn’t make it far into Top Cut, I did get plenty of Trading Cards. I also won the Premier Challenge on the same day as Top Cut, which was cool because a lot of the competitors from the Regional participated in that, too.

Overall, I like this team a lot and I’m excited that it did so well. The main reason I’m not going to bring it to more events is because one of its worst matchups is against Mega Gardevoir, which I expect to be very popular at future events, notably US Nationals. The team may become dated anyway, as this team is very anti-Kangaskhan, which might not be a such a big priority as the 2015 metagame develops.

Special thanks to:

• Andrew Laigo, for helping me practice everyday at school. Maybe I shouldn’t be playing Pokemon at school, but whatever.
• Gavin Gentry and Caden Kamp (scumbagCaden) for hanging out with me on the days of the tournament. They’re both pretty cool.
• My parents, for paying for and taking me to all these events.
• My brother Declan for helping me practice, even though he’s not much of a Pokemon player.
• Andrew Laigo again, because he wouldn’t stop asking for a second mention.

The post Nidoqueen of Kings: A Washington Regional Seniors Top Cut Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

The last two weeks have been very eventful with the Australian, Italian, South Africa, and Japanese National Championships happening over the course of ten days! With that, only two National Championships are left in the 2015 Video Game Championship circuit: Singapore on the final weekend of June and the United States in the first weekend of July. Congratulations to all our new National Champions!

Australia

Masters Division

1. Matthew Roe
2. Theron Ho
3. Jackson Lackey (FamousDeaf)
4. Lionel Pryce (CatGonk)
5. Brendan Webb (FloristtheBudew)
6. Sean Ronzani
7. Ty Power
8. Philip Nguyen (Boomguy)
9. Nicholas Bingham
10. Saamid Zikria
11. Matthew Jiwa
12. Mustafaa Olomi
13. Alexander Poole
14. Christopher Kan
15. Eugene Tan
16. Callum Witt

Japan

Masters Division

1. Viera
2. Moriyama
3. Barudoru
4. BIDC
5. Federica
6. Penguin
7. Nepinepi
8. Sharon

South Africa

Masters Division

1. Johannes Botma
2. Kevin Lopes
3. Yazied Adams
4. Navishkar Deodatu
5. Michael O’Kennedy
6. Doran Crasson
7. Clive Lai
8. Dale Schwikkard

Italy

Masters Division

1. Francesco Pardini (Alexis)
2. Dominic Scheffler
3. Miguel Marti Della Torre (Sekiam)
4. Raphael Paul
5. Florian Wurdack (DaFlo)
6. Marcel Kapelle (Massi)
7. Michelangelo Baudanza
8. Riccardo Rispoli
9. Eloy Hahn (Dragoran)
10. Giulia Sogaro
11. Akcos Amilcon (Billabro)
12. Amin Salzer (Lorenzo)
13. Carlos Rodriguez (BrintMea)
14. Matthias Helmoldt (Tyvyr)
15. Peer Broxtermann (Bjart)
16. Christian Dennis Chejnubrata
17. Victor Gardet
18. Len Deuel (Alaka)
19. Ugur Tatli
20. Matthias Suchodolski (Lega)
21. Akira Petrolini
22. Gianalfredo Giusiano
23. Huib Buijssen (Lolnub)
24. Thomas Schadinger
25. Aniello Iuliano
26. Javier Berdun (Berdunsito)
27. Ylenia Locatelli
28. Till Lucas Bohmer (Dark Psiana)
29. Eugenio Discalzi
30. Lorenzo Galassi
31. Gabriele Cinquepalmi
32. Felix Roessler (fxelxy)
33. Adrian Baumann
34. Rina Purdy
35. Joan Bennasar Bonnin (Supernova)
36. Lee Provost (Osirus)
37. David Hernandez (Blumer)
38. Giovanni Milani
39. Federico Superti

Thank you to those who helped put this data together including Victiny, Conan, DalesHand, and carfer97yt.

The post Results from the 2015 Australia, Italy, South Africa, and Japan National Championships appeared first on Nugget Bridge.