As many of you know, the most important event of the entire VGC season draws near. In nearly a week, three players will be crowned the 2013 World Champions. But who? Who of the 56 (including LCQ) competitors from around the globe will achieve the most prestigious and elusive title in the entire VGC circuit? I’m here to give you a rundown of the players that I feel have the best shot at besting all others and becoming this year’s Senior Division World Champion.

Disclaimer: This list is not fact. The purpose of this article is to educate people on the players who have proven in the past that they are capable of winning this event. The factors influencing my choices of players include level of play, a large cash bribe, level of competition in their region, and past results at major events. World and National Championship results have the biggest influence of these, as they tend to have the toughest competition and are a good gauge of a competitor’s skill. With that out of the way, if you asked me who I thought were the safest bets to take the title of World Champion this year, I would reply with these trainers.

 Edward Thompson (Plusle)

One of the most consistent Seniors in the world, Edward Thompson is not to be taken lightly. Since the Senior division was invented, he has dominated the European scene. Edward became the first UK Senior National Championship in 2011, qualifying for Worlds. He went 2-3 there after a tough schedule including eventual Top 8 finisher Jeremiah Fan. In 2012, Edward managed to place in the Top 4 of the UK National Championship, once again qualifying for Worlds. He improved upon his previous record by going 3-3, but was once again paired up against some stiff competition such as the 2012 Korean National Champion, Wonseok Jang (KrelCROC), Jonathan Hiller (MrFox), and eventual World Champion Toler Webb (Dim).

In 2013, Edward attended the German National Championship, where he disappointingly missed the Top 8 cut. However, he was able to attend the UK National Championship and reclaim his throne, besting Spain’s Alex Gomez (PokeAlex1999) in the finals. In doing this, he qualified for Worlds for a third time. This is Edward’s final year in the Senior division, making this is his last chance to top cut in the Senior World Championship.

Edward seems to have no problems playing foreign competition. He has proven this countless times in the TPCI hosted Wi-Fi Tournaments, of which he won three, seeming to have no trouble defeating the ever present Zoroark+Lucario combo. Not only that, but in the recent Nugget Bridge Invitational he took down several tough competitors before losing in the finals against Blake Hopper (Mrbopper) in an amazing set, which can be found here. His team building style can be best described as a mixture between the best things that the European, Japanese, and American metagames have to offer. I believe this will help him to do well in the mixing pot that is the World Championship. Edward is going into Worlds with some momentum after his success online, and I would not be surprised if he finally was able to get in the Top Cut this season and go deep.

 Paul Chua (pwny person)

Paul Chua was easily the safest bet to win US Nationals this year, and I expect a similarly spectacular result at Worlds from this competitor. In his first season in Seniors, Paul placed in the Top 4 at US Nationals and went 4-2 at the World Championship, ending 9^th,  just below Jaime Martinez on opponents-opponent win percentage. He had an incredibly tough schedule, playing the previously mentioned Wonseok Jang, as well as Canadian National Champion and Top 4 Worlds finisher Nitesh Manem. He also happened to be matched up against Aaron Zheng (Cybertron), the two-time National Champion and Top 8 Worlds finisher, who had knocked him out of the Top 4 at Nationals.

Paul has continued to shine this year, winning 1st and 2nd place at two of the toughest Regionals in the country. He led an incredibly solid team of Politoed, Kingdra, Thundurus, Scrafty, Metagross, and Cresselia to victory at US Nationals, defeating DeVon Ingram in two solid matches in which he showed incredible foresight. Although his opponent was making some amazing predictions, Paul stayed focused, identified what he needed to do, and expertly maneuvered himself into a winnable position.

Something I think needs to be addressed is how Paul plays. Throughout game one of the finals, which can be found above, Paul seemed to be behind in the prediction game, with DeVon predicting his every move for the first couple of turns. However, Paul was able to identify his win condition in the last few turns. He played himself into a position where if DeVon’s Latias got fully paralyzed, he could take the game. It was to DeVon’s dismay when Latias was indeed paralyzed, allowing Paul to take the lead in the series 1-0. This is a great example of a player being forced into a position where they must use para-and-pray probability management tactics. It also shows that Paul will do anything he can to win when behind, something every true competitor needs to do. In game two, Paul was able to identify that if he could get rid of DeVon’s Volcarona, he could easily take the match with his Metagross. Paul always seems to have a good endgame planed, and his opponents at Nationals walked right into his traps.

In his 2nd year at the World Championship, I think we have a general idea of what Paul will be bringing to the table. Since his debut in 2012, he has brought offensively and defensively balanced teams with some subtle tricks, such as Explosion Metagross and Stone Edge Scrafty. His regular practice helps him to learn what he needs to do to win with the tools he has at his disposal. His consistency is unrivaled in the North American circuit this year, and he’ll be ready to show why he’s one of the best at the most important tournament of the year.

 Anilcan Ackos (BillaBro)

Anilcan Ackos has been around Pokemon for a while due to his brother, Baris (Billa) introducing him to the VGC series. In 2012, Anilcan had a great season, getting 2nd place at the Italian National Championship, losing to Luca Breitling-Pause (sewadle). He finished with a 4-2 record at Worlds, only losing to the previously mentioned Toler and Paul.  He placed 12th overall, a very respectable result for someone’s first World Championship.

Anilcan has had a solid season so far. He got past his previous runner-up status and won the Italian National Championships this year, dethroning the previous winner in the Top 4. The final matches against Maksim Cannova (mprox) can be viewed in the middle screen of this video. He used a team seemingly based off of the Korean National Champion Sejun Park’s winning team. The team Anilcan used was Abomasnow, Breloom, Liepard, Volcarona, Terrakion, and Thundurus. He brought the same team to the Germany National Championship and was defeated in the Top 8, although it is doubtful that Anilcan was actually trying to win with an invite and a trip to the World Championship already in hand.

You can learn a little bit about how Anilcan plays by watching his finals matches against Maksim. He seems to play very offensively, using Pokemon like Choice Scarf Abomasnow and Terrakion that hit hard and fast. However, Anilcan isn’t just about brute offensive. He had a couple of surprises that helped him to win the finals, such as a Flying Gem Hidden Power Flying Thundurus and Dark Gem Foul Play Liepard, which enabled him to get some surprising OHKOs. With such offensive play, his opponents will need to be on top of their game at all times to defeat this trainer.

 Jonathan Hiller (MrFox)

First off, you can rest assured: he has in fact shaved the ‘stache. Jonathan Hiller started playing VGC in 2011 when the Senior division was first created. He became the New Jersey Regional Champion before a lackluster 30th place finish at Nationals. In 2012, Hiller attended two Regionals, where he was unable to Top 4. However, that didn’t stop him from taking 2nd place at US Nationals with a team of Togekiss, Infernape, Mamoswine, Bisharp, Abomasnow, and Latios, losing to Aaron Zheng in the finals. He went to Worlds that year and had a 4-2 record, end up in 10th. He had an insanely hard schedule, playing Top 8 finisher Gavin Michaels (kingofkongs), finalist Jaime Martinez Alonzo, Luca Breitling-Pause, Edward Thompson, and Maksim Cannavo.

Jonathan has had a successful 2013 season with a Regional Championship, a Top 4, and a Top 8 to his name. At Nationals, he lost to Kyle L. (MrFookie) during Top 16, where he quickly found his team had a devastating weakness to TM 87. He achieved this placing with a team of Excadrill, Tyranitar, Togekiss, Breloom, Latios, and Rotom-Wash. Like many others, this is Jonathan’s last chance to Top Cut Worlds in the Senior division. An advantage Hiller has over most of his competitors is having lots of best-two-of-three experience from 2012 Nationals and his various Regional performances. I expect him to take advantage of this experience in the Swiss rounds at Worlds to get into the Top Cut this year.

Jonathan has a major tendency in leaning toward bulky Pokemon with moves like Rage Powder and Follow Me. Togekiss gets a special mention, as he has two years of experience with it. The reason for this is Hiller has a hyper-offensive playstyle, similar to Masters division competitor Randy Kwa (R Inanimate), another Togekiss connoisseur. Overall, Jonathan and his Togekiss fixation are going to be playing at a breakneck pace this year at Worlds. Will anyone be able to stop his quick play from taking the title in his final year in Seniors?

 Mohsyn Bharmal (Bcaralarm)

Let me start this off by telling you that Mohsyn is easily the most consistent Senior in the world when it comes to Nationals. He is famous not only for his glee-inducing name, but also for choking out of his first National of the year and following it up by winning himself a Championship. He won the France National Championship in 2011 and 2012, defeating the eventual Worlds runner-up Jaime Martinez in the latter. This year was no exception in Bharmal’s pattern, as in the Italian National Championship he was defeated in Top 8 by the previously mentioned runner-up Maksim Cannova. He came to the German National Championship ready to go with a similar, if not identical, team of Ludicolo, Cresselia, Rhyperior, Thundurus, Volcarona, and Hitmontop. There he defeated Luca Breitling-Pause in the finals 2-0, and won a trip to the World Championships for a 3rd consecutive year.

After a respectable 3-2 finish in his first World Championship in 2011, Mohsyn went to Worlds in 2012 and had a really humbling tournament. He ended up finishing a disappointing 2-4 after losing to Henry Maxon(Snake) in the first round. This was an extremely strange turnout for Bharmal, as he had been seen as one of the bigger threats going into the event. Since then, he has improved in hopes of finishing off his Senior career strong.

Mohsyn is the only player on this list whose play I know almost nothing about. But let’s be real for a moment. If this guy can win three National Championships in three years, he must be pretty good. All that I really know about Mohsyn’s play I learned from his 2012 French National Championship battle video, which can be found above. In this battle he showed off his ability to make some hard reads that can really help him to win matches.  He tends to use more common Pokemon on his teams, for example Cresselia and Thundurus. I would be shocked if he decides to be cute at his final World Championship and use anything too far outside of the norm. Look for Mohsyn’s skilled predictions to be his greatest asset at the World Championships.

 DeVon Ingram (dingram)

Before this year’s US National Championship, DeVon had yet to really break out at an extremely competitive tournament. However, he was able to go 8-0 in the Swiss round and reached the finals before being defeated by Paul Chua in two great matches. Although DeVon has two years of experience, this will be his first year at Worlds. Despite that, I believe he is one of the biggest contenders to win this year’s World Championship.

In 2012, DeVon took 1st place at the Georgia Regional, and placed in the Top 32 at Nationals before losing to the eventual runner-up, Jonathan Hiller. In 2013, Ingram has had an even stronger season. He started off well, once again becoming a Regional Championship, but this time in Florida. When the Georgia Regional came around, he was able to get into the Top 8. He put this experience of best-two-of-three matches from Regionals to good use in the National Championship, defeating strong competitors such as Edward Fan (iss), Grace Arnold, and Tyler Allen (Elite4Allen) on his run to the finals.

Ingram seems to have a very particular team building style. He leans toward more defensive Pokemon which allow him to win games by slowly chipping away on his opponents with his clever play. His defensive cohesion aids him as he switches out his Pokemon to give him the edge in battle when he is behind. His most recent team of Raikou, Scrafty, Gyarados, Rhyperior, Volcarona, and Latias had many aspects similar to the Korean metagame. He utilized sets such as Lum Berry Rage Powder Volcarona over the more American variant of Fire Gem Overheat, once again opting for a more defensive approach. It is this defensive style that DeVon is really known for, and I wouldn’t expect anything too offensive from him at the World Championship.

For those unwilling to scroll back to Paul Chua to find for the finals video of which I will be briefly analyzing, tough luck click here. For the first few turns of game one, DeVon showed off his brilliant prediction skills. He was consistently making solid reads that helped to maneuver himself into a great position. Although he didn’t end up winning the game, he played into a position where he had a 75% chance to win. Unfortunately for him, the RNG did not favor him and he lost. Although DeVon did lose the next game of the series in a less impressive showing, the fact remains that he can make incredible plays under high pressure, which I expect will set him apart from many of the players at Worlds.

Luca Breitling-Pause (sewadle)

Luca is probably the player that I feel is flying under the radar the most coming into Worlds, which is exactly why I’ve decided to blow his cover! Although he has been very successful in the past, he is relatively unknown to those outside of Europe. In 2012, Luca took 1st place in the Italian National Championships, defeating Anilcan Ackos in the finals. He was able to attend Worlds and while there achieved a 3-3 record.

Luca started 2013 off by getting Top 4 at Italian Nationals, losing to his previous finals opponent Anilcan. He achieved this with a team of Thundurus-Therian, Scizor, Cresselia, Politoed, Kingdra, and Conkeldurr. He then attended the German National Championship, where he got 2nd place, losing to Mohsyn Bharmal in the finals. He decided to roll with an entirely different team in that event. His final team was Hydreigon, Cresselia, Breloom, Scizor, Heatran, and Hitmontop.

In the past, Luca has had a lot of success with teams that have Rain modes. He brought Rain to Nationals in 2012 and it worked out well for him. However, I wouldn’t bank on him bringing a Rain team to the World Championship. As shown by his finish in the German National Championship, Luca has no trouble switching things up and doing well. Most of the best players are able to create teams very different than those they have used in the past and still succeed with them, and I think that will be what Luca ends up doing. However, I doubt that he will switch to much more defensive style, as his playstyle is very heavily offensive. I expect his performance to be dependent on how skillfully he can pilot his offensive teams through the tough field that is Worlds.

Watch Out For LCQ

For those unaware, players who have yet to qualify for the World Championship have one last shot to compete with the best of the best via the Last Chance Qualifier. The event is simply a single-elimination tournament in which players battle it out until only 4 remain. These battles operate using the best-two-of-three format, which serves to help those who actually deserve to play at the Worlds main event. Now, this is not my predictions of who is going to make it through the LCQ. If it was I would basically have to write about everyone I know who is going. The people I will overview could not only get past the LCQ with some luck, but I believe could also Top Cut in the main event. Now that that has been established, let’s get right into it!

First off is a player who had great success in 2012, but really fell off this year with some lackluster Regional performances. I am referring to Henry Maxon (Snake). Henry first started playing in 2011, where he was a fan favorite for Worlds in the Junior division. He unfortunately was unable to make the Top Cut, and left the Junior division the following year. In 2012 Henry had an impressive season. He managed to get a Top 16 US Nationals performance in which he was knocked out by the reigning National Champion. However, he was able to attend the LCQ, where he qualified for Worlds. There, he was able to go 4-2 in Swiss and qualify for the Top 8. He defeated Santa Ito of Japan before being knocked out by Toler Webb. This year he had two Top 8 performances, but was unable to attend US Nationals. However, I am still confident that Henry is capable of getting past the LCQ and doing some work in the main competition.

No stranger to strong competition, Shota Yamamoto is one of the biggest threats attending the LCQ this year. He easily has the most impressive résumé in the field, having success across multiple years. In 2010, Shota bested all other competitors to become the Junior World Champion in what many regard as the best Junior division finals ever. He returned to the World Championship in 2011, going 4-1 in Swiss before placing in the Top 4, losing to Sejun Park. In 2012, Shota became the Japanese National Championship, winning himself an invitation to Worlds once again, where he finished 3-3. In his final year as a Senior, Shota hopes to grind through the LCQ in hopes of once again becoming a World Champion.

When one talks about Shota, conversation tends to drift towards Santa Ito. Another incredible Japanese competitor, Santa is the 2009 and 2010 Junior World Championship runner-up. Like Shota, Santa has lots of experience at the Worlds stage, and even more experience in the LCQ. In 2011, he went 3-2, but his tiebreakers were not high enough to give him a Top 8 finish. In 2012, Santa swept through the LCQ, taking one of the four remaining invitations to compete in Worlds. In the main competition, he went 5-1 before losing in the Top 8 to Henry, as previously stated. Like Shota, this is Santa’s last chance to become a Senior World Champion.

Final Thoughts

As this comes to a close, I believe I should reiterate this: if someone isn’t included in this article, that doesn’t mean they don’t have a shot at doing well or even winning Worlds. The people I’ve discussed are here because they have proved time and time again that they are the best of the best. But the World Championships are a time when legacies are born. The reigning Senior World Champion Toler Webb wasn’t the fan favorite to win last year, yet he proved everyone wrong. There are so many great players attending Worlds this year, and if I included everyone I thought had a slight chance of doing well I would basically have an attendance list. Anyways, post your predictions for the Senior World Champion below!

The post Scouting Report: Players to Watch at the 2013 World Championship (Seniors) appeared first on Nugget Bridge.