Can anyone let us (who have yet to participate) now how the tourney is handled? As in the structure of the brackets, the type of elimination (single or double), etc. Every time someone asks, they get ignored. Thanks in advance.
Ok, read this everyone. Then you'll see how the tourney is handled. Single elimination. 9 rounds. You line up and hand in your team information sheets. Then you get a wristband. You are paired up with the person you are next to in line in the first zone (or if you're one of the first 64, you just go to any open station). In the preceeding rounds you just fight whoever is available in the next zone. There are 4 zones and you will need either 3 or 4 matches to make it to the "finalists" lounge. Most likely four; I think Seattle messed up in doing 3. Even in the lounge you're not even guaranteed a spot to nationals. You need to get to at least round 6 to get that far.
I took out almost all the pictures and videos (
there were a ton) and shortened the story
a lot, because Serebii players probably won't know most of the people I referred to in the full version. But if you want to read the full story, you can find my warstory on Smogon or Skarmbliss.
MAY 9, 2010- Seattle, WA
So I it's finally May 9, 2010. They day I will finally see if all the VGC seeds I planted will bear fruit. I chill in the building and just kinda mess around for a bit. I end up seeing zerowing (who was a lot shorter and had a much higher voice than I imagined) and his ducks. I knew him and the ducks were good, but I wouldn't know just how good until later that day.
My Team:
Round 1: Vs Feathers
Well I get off the Scarf Force + Close Combat combo perfectly. It gets a crit on one of her Pokemon. It was pretty downhill from there. She had a good team that probably could have very likely placed top 16, but my team was able to counter it pretty well. I win.
Round 2: Vs 21 Year old guy.
He leads with Zapdos Groudon. This team is made to murder that lead. I use the same Shadow Force + Flare Blitz combo to kill Groudon without it even getting to attack. Infernape gets down to a sliver from Discharge and a Blaze and Drought boosted Flare Blitz kill Zapdos. Giratina Shadow force rapes the reserved Mewtwo. I forgot the last Pokemon, but I win this battle handily as well.
Round 3 Vs Fish.
Dude. Fish is hella good. That's all I can say. I lost this battle 4-0. He was a duck and now I finally saw how strong they were. I'm not sure how much input zerowing had on this team but I'm guessing a lot. It's about as flawless a team I've seen in VGC 2010. And that's saying a lot when almost every lead has an obvious and immediate counter. I think it's better than Kyogre/Top, but that's just me.
So I fly home very disappointed. But I have to pick myself back up, because one week later, it's time for the San Mateo VGC! I didn't get any video from this one because I was really focused but I did get some pictures.
MAY 15, 2010- San Mateo, CA
Ok so you guys already know how I do my prebattle by now so let's just get into them. Oh, but you need my team first.
Here, you guess the movesets. 90% of your guesses on EVs and attacks will be correct since this team is just a more aggressive variation of Misa Room.
Round 1: vs a girl
She was nice but she lead with Metagross and Roserade. Yeah... I cleaned up.
Round 2: vs an owner of some Pokemon site
Ok this guy was not bad. He leads with Dialga and Kyogre. I'm already thinking he's like zerowing and has Abomasnow and Hitmontop in the back. (a few days before the Seattle VGC, I battled zerowing on irc as mrbananagrabber and he lead with Palkia Kyogre, followed by Hitmotop Abomasnow. I battled Littlesnail in one of the Skarmlive finals with those same four before I battled zerowing, and needless to say I got crushed. It's a shame he wasn't at Seattle because that team turned out to be the best. Okay, anyway I end up Faking Out Dialga anyway. I say, since Smeargle is level 1 I can't really go wrong in Trick Room. Water Spout does over half to Dialga and I get Trick Room up. I endeavor and Dragon Pulse Kyogre for the kill and his Dialga Dracos mine for the kill. They send in Swampert and I send in Machamp. I Dynamic Punch Dialga for the kill and Swampert Waterfall crits Machamp for the kill. I endeavor the Swampert down to 1 HP. They send in Blissey and I send in Kyogre. Now i'm glad that I'm running the level 1 set. I Endeavor the Blissey all the way down to 1 HP and as the HP is dropping the other guy let's out a huge "Ugghhh!" Water Spout kills both of his guys before they can attack.
Round 3: Vs. Eric Wu
Ugh. ****ing Hitmontop. After this battle I have complete disdain for zerowing and his team. Hitmontop just raped my team by itself. Here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS8DbTAfAIM
MAY 22, 2010- Phoenix, AZ. The not so "war" story
Okay, since this team did so well and mainly only lost due to misprediction, I'm going to go ahead and keep it a secret. But long story short, I won rounds 1-4. Then I made it to the finalist lounge. I got a bye in round 5 and that got me an invite to nationals. I literally hugged Xerograde when we both drew a bye lol. I won round 6 against Masha's brother. I lost in round 7 to a semifinalist (who lost to Persian/Weavile lead >_>). However the person I lost to was running the same four Pokemon as the runner up so I'm not tripping too bad. This is the second tourney I've lost to the second place player.
I HAVE A LIVE VIDEO OF THE FINAL MATCH. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kq_9-5fSC4. Thanks to Supe for letting me get a clear shot.
Thanks to Fish for taking this. One of my favorite pics of all time.
To everyone who can make it: see you at Nationals. I'll be there the day of the LCQ just to socialize. The pressure will be off that day so it should be a great day to hang out.
I know I didn't win the whole thing but I'd like to thank MattJ, GreySong, Jivetime, DANUKES, sixonesix, TR Jessie, VashTSx98 for their constant support in helping me get this far. Even when I was down, and most people doubted me, they stuck with me.
