VGC12 Warstory

Just thought about reviving this with my VGC12 warstory which hasn't been posted on any forums up to now and since I'm not gonna use that team anyway might as well just make this publicly available.

Formatting will be dealt with after I figure out how to do this (probably won't because I am a lazy ass).






Team Essen:
- Latios
- Hitmontop
- Cresselia
- Zapdos
- Rhyperior
- Metagross

Basic strategy:
A basic goodstuff team featuring the most powerful and bulky Pokemon in the game which provides a multitude of lead options and winning plans against every possible kind of team. I, much like a lot of other players, chose a more bulkier approach to a Goodstuff team because it's usually not that good of an idea to just fire off a quick EQ with your Garchomp and then get instantly killed by all kinds of shit or crippled by Intimidates and Icy Winds as well as using Tailwind and just get mauled by the first opponent that knows how to Protect/switch stall those 3 turns. So uh lol this is still a heavily offensive team as evidenced by the items but it still can handle basically everything damage output-wise, even critical hits.
As you can see this is quite a slow team but I can execute speed control with Cresselia's Trick Room and Zapdos' Thunder Wave. Nowadays a lot of people who try to counter fast Goodstuff teams rely on Thunder Wave and/or Icy Wind to get a speed advantage and Trick Room completely turns their efforts against them, giving me an even larger speed advantage. Rhyperior is a vastly underrated Pokémon and the good thing about my team is that I can lead off with heavy offensive stuff and keep Cresselia and Rhyperior in the back. Their Taunters or whatever they have to block the TR gets usually beaten before and then Rhyperior can clean up the mess.



Under the microscope

Latios (M) @ Dragon Gem ** BAVARIABLU
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Def / 244 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Protect
- Substitute

> Sub Latios is hands down the best Latios there is. I guess you could also use Tailwind in more offensive approaches or Thunder Wave if you somehow need more speed control but Substitute enables it to play around so many threats without much effort as well as getting a free Sub against quite a lot of other mons that cannot really touch it. The additional status immunity tops it all off nicely.



Cresselia (F) @ Leftovers ** Kid Gloves
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Def / 28 SAtk / 156 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Helping Hand
- Light Screen

> Cresselia is the best TR setter in this metagame and I already explained its use in the text above. Trick Room sets up Rhyperior for a sweep as well as countering Thunder Wave, Tailwind and Icy Wind spam. I choose Leftovers over a Sitrus berry because normally people want to kill the bigger threat but with Leftovers they cannot really affort having the Cresselia around for too long since it could easily get a second set-up then, also, Cresselia usually lives long enough to make Leftovers a viable option. Psychic is there because I never use full support Pokémon (Pokemon beats Pokemon with move) and Light Screen together with Hitmontop's Intimidate offers good damage control and makes the whole team even more bulkier. Using 28 SpAtk to get a clean 2HKO on adamant 252/0 Hitmontop.



Rhyperior (F) @ Earth Gem ** RedSectorA
Trait: Solid Rock
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 68 Def / 116 SDef / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Protect
- Ice Punch

> Definitely an underrated mon. It lives through so much shit with this spread and abuses the opponent's sandstorm should he have set one up with his Tyranitar. Helping Hand Gem EQ comes close to getting a secure OHKO on even the bulkiest of mons (Garchomp takes 98% minimum from a 3/4 EQ) and usually decides a game or paves the way for other mons to clean up. A 3/4 Helping Hand Rock Slide is a clean OHKO on 252/0 Zapdos but Rhyperior walls Zapdos to no end anyway, even if it has HP Grass it cannot do much. Normally Megahorn is the superior option due to being able to OHKO Latios and 2HKO Cresselia but I chose Ice Punch to be able to beat Landorus in Sandstorm teams as well as having a single target option against flying mons, I also don't like Megahorn's accuracy.



Hitmontop (M) @ Fight Gem ** kindieeeee
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 220 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 28 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch
- Wide Guard

> A careful nature would normally be the better option because its SpDef is its highest stat and that nature would give me the highest bonus as well as being able to possibly live through Latios' Psychic, not being 2HKOed by Cresselia but I like the higher damage output more (clean OHKO with Gem CC on 4/0 Politoed, high chance to OHKO 252/0 Toed, clean OHKO on TTar through Chople). With TR in my team I chose not to speed creep because even with like 92 Speed most of the time my Top was slower anyway and the added survivability sometimes helps. It's also better in mirrors because you get to CC their -1 Hitmontop after they hit yours and if they are faster I just go for the neutralisation in the Fake Out war T1 anyway.



Metagross @ Normal Gem ** Heavymetal
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 52 SDef / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Explosion
- Protect
- Zen Headbutt
- Iron Head

> I'll probably get booed at for using Explosion Metagross but a well-placed Explosion can still turn the tides decisively in my favor. I sometimes miss the Occa Berry and the EQ but can't have everything. With a Light Screen it lives through Gem Hydro Pumps by modest Kingdra in rain, double Surfs by Ludi/Dra, modest Gem Thunder by Zapdos/Thundurus and can boom their asses. Zen Headbutt offers good coverage, kills off Hitmontop, Amoonguss and is an option if I don't want to straight boom away against Zapdos. I chose Iron Head over Meteor Mash for a couple reasons, first the accuracy of MM put me off and the occasional boost isn't worth it, second most things (Abomasnow especially) MM would get a kill on have a Focus Sash anyway and third the added flinch chance helps more with speed control and wears down Cresselias almost as good as MM does, especially if they set up a damaging weather before. I would've really liked to use Bullet Punch but there was just no space left for that and with Speed Control in the form of TR and Thunder Wave and low HP opponents protecting against it, Bullet Punch is somewhat pointless anyway.



Zapdos @ Electric Gem ** CultOfLuna
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 196 HP / 4 Def / 196 SAtk / 76 SDef / 36 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Protect
- Thunder Wave

> I was using Tailwind Zapdos most of the time but with the way the team finally ended up to be Tailwind was more of a dead move since no-one could really abuse it. Of all the other interesting options it has Thunder Wave was the most appealing for me since it synergizes quite well with the rest of the team and Thunder Wave also makes it easier for Rhyperior to do its job without being too reliant on Cresselia to set up TR for him. This Zapdos is quite bulky, surviving Latios LO Draco Meteor 100% of the time as well as being a lot sturdier against rain. This is quite a slow Zapdos but once again, with TR in the team and with Icy Wind and Thunder Wave running rampant in this metagame I thought it'd just be smarter to dump those speed points into his bulkiness. Sometimes it hurts to be slower than 252 Speed Chandelure but most of the time I live through its moves anyway. I didn't want to go without a fire move so Heat Wave it was. The decision to use Protect over Roost wasn't an easy one but with that Boom on Metagross I felt Protect might be better. Also if I had opted to choose Roost, I would have needed a much more bulky split and tbh I didn't like the prospect of that since Gem Tbolt hurts, especially with HH Cresselia.



Trip to Essen:

-

Essen VGC March 10, 2012

Round 1: Man in his 30s / 40s using Eeveelutions (GER)
Oh well. The holy grail of first round opponents. Used Faint Attack on my Hitmontop with his Umbreon and such. Nothing left to say about that, I 4-0d him in 2 or 3 turns. Didn't even boost my confidence because I knew I got lucky with that opponent and because quite a lot of skilled players lost early from what I could see, being almost at the end of the line.

Round 2: Teenager using Goodstuffs (Thundurus, Tyranitar, Metagross, Zapdos Chandelure and the likes)(GER)
Yeah, that was the first nailbiter. He had Thundurus in preview and it also came out first. I led with Zapdos / Metagross and we traded damage. Later on I send in my Cresselia and try to play around the possible Taunt. At some point in the match I didn't really care anymore about him possibly taunting so I just set-up TR and got through. The guy told me he was not expecting me to do that since that Taunt would have been so obvious right after having seen the Lefties. Rhyperior cleaned what was left of his team. 2-0

Round 3: NL (Dusclops, Scrafty, Rotom-O, Mamoswine + 2 TR Mons)
I knew this was gonna be an ugly match since I didn't really have an effective way to beat full-blown Trick Room other than to try to reverse the Trick Room if it's already up but I didn't want to pick Cresselia against Scrafty, Dusclops and a possible Choice Trick Rotom which would effectively cripple the Cresselia. I chose Hitmontop / Latios / Zapdos / Rhyperior and hoped for the best. Got a Psychic SpDef drop on his Dusclops early on and played around the Will-o-Wisps, making sure to not have my physical sweepers crippled by it. Unfortunately he got my Hitmontop burned on a switch in. In the end I was up 3-2 against a full Mamoswine and 75% Scrafty with Latios and Rhyperior out and the burned Hitmontop in the back. Now this is where I got nervous and made a mistake that nearly cost me. With the Hitmontop out I decided to CC the Scrafty which was kind of futile since it could restore itself with Drain Punch anyway. I would've been better off to damage the Mamoswine so Ground Gem EQ by Rhyperior would finish him off and 2HKO the Scrafty even with Drain Punch due to having a 100% EQ in a 1v1 situation. I don't know the exact turns anymore but I ended up needing a critical hit to win that match and I got that crit. I felt sorry for him, especially because all the Germans were cheering for me and when I got that crit everyone was screaming so loudly I couldn't even talk to my opponent. Oh my god. If you read this, I'm sorry, you deserved to win.

Well, with that match, I was in Finalist's Lounge once again. Some lucky kid didn't have to play his round 3 match since there were no opponents left anymore and he also got a bye in Finalist's Lounge so he basically had two byes into Top16. I, of course, had to play. Misaki, Fatum, Flame, Yoshi, DaFlo and tblakey among others were all through to Finalists as well so I would be in for a tough fight if I was to get to Top4

Top32: Mirko Jahr (GER, Cresselia, Zapdos, Metagross, Abomasnow, +2 Goodstuff which he didn't bring so I don't remember them)
Yeah, had a nice talk with him before and during the battle, he was a nice guy. He lost to Misaki in Top16 in 2011 and thought he wouldn't stand a chance against me because of that. Utter nonsense since everyone half-decent is able to win a trip any given day as long as they just get a little lucky... Well I remember leading off Latios / Metagross against his Cresselia / Abomasnow and managed to damage both of his mons to low HP while losing my Metagross in the process. His Cresselia went finally down as well and I brought Cresselia / Rhyperior in the back, set up TR and was about to sweep. He had Zapdos / Metagross out and an Abomasnow in the back while I had Cresselia / Rhyperior. Now two crucial things happen. He hits my Cresselia with a LO Meteor Mash on the turn I was using Protect / TR _and gets the Attack boost_. I forgot what Zapdos did but it wasn't that important. I think it might have been a TB on Cresselia or, much more likely, a Protect. Anyway, TR is up and I have a 50% Cresselia and a full Rhyperior. He Bullet Punches for 45-50% with Metagross, I EQ his Metagross into oblivion, Cresselia sets up Light Screen to take possible HP Ices easier and his Zapdos Heat Waves. I was kidding when I said this only burns me on PO but guess what - he got the burn. I had quite a good shot at winning it but with Burn damage depleting my HP quickly (and after Aboma came in the Hail damage too) and the Attack reduction  my chances suddenly turned from being very good to nearly impossible. He used Protect to stall for Hail/Burn damage and finished Rhyperior off with Ice Shard. Cresselia couldn't emerge victorious vs. full Abomasnow and 50% Zapdos on its own. Good game, heh.
I finally found the battle video. For anyone interested in watching it: 67-49391-91051. I'll edit if I get this uploaded to Youtube. ;)

With that I left the tournament area, saw how Fatum avenged my loss against Mirko in Top16 by beating him on time limit and how tblakey kicked Misaki in a good game. I cheered on my friends DaFlo and Yoshi and my roommate Flame and Flame made it to Top4 and later Top2 by beating Yoshi in quarters. DaFlo beat tblakey in quarters too, so I was happy to see at least two of my friends getting their well-deserved trips. Hanging out with all of my friends and going to a mall in the centre of Essen to look for food ensued and good times were had by all.



After returning home I was wasted but I soon told myself there's no point in crying about spilt milk. I had a mission to fulfil in France a week later so I began to think about what needs to be changed in the team. I wanted a better Trick Room check and Latios didn't really convince me with that slowish Cress/Rhype core altough it's one of the best mons in VGC12. I ended up using Hydreigon over Latios in testing and it worked really well even against Goodstuff teams, against TR I just went for the Substitute and with careful play, this can beat TR as well as being a much better check against Chandelure. I also went from using Lefties on Cresselia to using ChestoRest since this allows you to set up TR twice a game with Cresselia alone and should it come to that win on stalling the timer. The Light Screen got moved from Cresselia to Zapdos where it replaced Thunder Wave which I never had a reasonable opportunity of using it, let alone winning me a game. I laddered a lot with that team of Zapdos/Metagross/Hydreigon/Cresselia/Rhyperior/Hitmontop and peaked at almost 1400 on the ladder under my Kolabaloraz alt. For some reason I began to panic about Volcarona 2 days before Paris and threw on Dusclops over Hitmontop. Dusclops absolutely wrecked a lot of common mons with Pain Split / Will-o-Wisp and was another option to set up TR. It also gave me the option of using Boom + TR/Split with Meta/Clops and I ended up using Dusclops > Hitmontop. Since I had no way of touching Ferrothorn other than Zapdos' Heat Wave, I replaced Substitute on Hydreigon with Flamethrower. You see, this is all heavily fucked up and I partly blame changing my team so close before the tournament for my loss in Paris. I won't describe the Paris team in detail since it only stayed that way for two matches. A description on the Milan team will be given at the Milan section. ;)

Trip to Paris

-

Paris VGC March 17, 2012

The trip to Paris was pretty uneventful and we arrived at our Hotel at 11:30 PM. Met the Spanish guys in front of a pizzeria and said hello and we ended up playing Mario Kart 7 until 2 AM. Fun times were had. K-OS and flash_mc wanted to leave the hotel at like 3 AM to be at the location early and the rest of us Germans took a nap until 5 AM. We got up and were at the Espace Champerret at like 6 AM and literally no-one was there. It got more crowded later on but I think it was less then 200 players and at least half of those weren't even French. The Paris qualifier was definitely deserving of the title "European Championship". I also got to meet Ruben again after two long years, the last time I had seen him was 2 years ago at the 2010 Lyon Qualifier. A pleasure to meet you again, Mr two-time champion of Birmingham, even though we didn't talk too much I was happy I could meet you again! I was one of the first people to register and get into the line. I had a weird feeling standing there, maybe it was premonition?

Round 1: A French guy (ingame)
Not much to say here, I got lucky with that opponent and basically stomped him after finally setting up TR. I had to be a bit careful with my moves because he had a Dragon Tail Garchomp and kept DTailing the TR user and if I had opted to Boom/TR I could have severely damaged my own Cresselia. 4-0

Round 2: Mr haxx (Hitmontop, Tyranitar, Excadrill, Metagross)
I'm gonna upload this to my YT sometime, here's the battle video: 37-40962-11803. Yeah, I played really badly and I deserved to lose. For some reason I was really afraid of Taunt but he never taunted so I took heavy damage with both TR setters and lost Metagross stupidly. Him surviving Night Shade + Iron Head was just the tip of the iceberg, I also didn't assume for some reason that he was going to Wide Guard... bleh. Dusclops was too defensive and without Hitmontop I also lacked a way of controlling damage against Sandstorm teams and this battle was the result of all of the wrong predictions, misplays and team building assumptions. But I only partly blame the team, the only one responsible for that loss was me really since I still would've won if I played perfectly. I didn't, so I deserved it.

Things were looking grim for the German team in Paris because of that large group of 15 people or so only 3 made it to the Finalist lounge with Yoshi being the only one who's well-known internationally. Fatum, Misaki, Peterko, Rees, Albert and a lot of other well-known players and friends also fell in the first rounds, some of them due to misplays, some of them due to ridiculous hax. Things began to lighten up again when I saw that Donsteve, Yoshi, Hogan, Pokérob and the two other Germans were in T8 finally. Yoshi has described almost all of this in his own warstory. I just kept cheering on Rob, Yoshi and the Germans and I nearly lost my voice when I was hyping the German final :D So clutch :3

Misaki and I had an Eiffel tower reservation and climbing to the top was slowed down due to only one elevator working so we missed the German-British-Slovakian meeting in that obscure Latino bar and met up with our Spanish friends K-OS and flash at our hotel, chilling out together with them and the other Germans that returned. Once again fun timed were had but one couldn't deny the feeling of disappointment was in the air and people also were really tired after a long day. I gave my Spanish bros a heads-up, saying that they will grab Top4 at Madrid and sure enough Donsteve and flash_mc both got to Top4 a week later :D Congrats men, both of you deserved it, especially flash! Te lo dije, que ya supe que eres un jugador de puta madre jaja, encantado de conocerte y quedarme contigo y con Andoni dos anos consecutivos en Francia, espero verte en San Diego en 2013 ya que te clasificarás para el mundial 2013 en el mundial de 2012 ;)
Meanwhile, I discussed options of going to Milan with Misaki and Mob, a player and friend from Berlin who was considering the option of road-tripping to Milan because he'd be on his way to a seminar in Spain. After clearing up organisatory issues, we knew we could roadtrip to Milan with Mob and had to find a way to return home. Thankfully there were some cheap flights available on Monday morning (April 1st) which was ideal since Milan VGC would take place on a sunday.

After Paris' VGC I was quite sure Dusclops would make for a good Worlds mon since my opponent either has the Taunt or he doesn't and even if he does, I have one entire match in a Bo3 to learn his patterns. But for a European qualifier it was better to use more standard stuff because Hitmontop is able to check so many common things at once. It singlehandedly checks physical sandstorm teams, helps setting up TR, is helpful against rain teams and allows me to just execute damage control better than Dusclops with a 75% accurate WoW does.

Team Milan
At a Glance

Basic Strategy:
Most of that has been explained above. A TR Goodstuffs hybrid featuring the most powerful Pokémon in the game. Compared to my Essen team the only thing that has changed is Hydreigon in Latios' place. This made me a bit more weak to Volcarona but I didn't really care since very few people were actually using it come Italy VGC and if there were players who used it, I was able to play around it most of the time. Against Sandstorm, Hitmontop/Cresselia/Rhyperior/Hydreigon/Zapdos was almost a perfect counterteam. Against standard Rain, Hitmontop/Light Screen Zapdos/TR Cresselia/Hydreigon/Rhyperior worked very well, sometimes Metagross was an option too. Against offensive Goodstuff, Cresselia/Zapdos/Metagross/Rhyperior or Hydreigon/Zapdos + Metagross with Cresselia in the back was my team of choice. I basically had an answer to everything and was very confident.

Under the Microscope
Cresselia (F) @ Chesto Berry ** Kid Gloves
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Def / 28 SAtk / 156 SDef (0 Speed IV)
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Helping Hand
- Rest

Zapdos @ Electric Gem ** CultOfLuna
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 196 HP / 4 Def / 196 SAtk / 76 SDef / 36 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Protect
- Light Screen

Rhyperior (F) @ Earth Gem ** RedSectorA
Trait: Solid Rock
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 68 Def / 116 SDef / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Protect
- Ice Punch

Hitmontop (M) @ Fight Gem ** kindieeeee
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 220 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 28 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch
- Wide Guard

> Nothing really new about those 4 mons. As has been mentioned, I used Rest on Cresselia to extend its lifetime and moved the Light Screen to Zapdos. Hitmontop returned to the team.

Metagross @ Sitrus Berry ** Heavymetal
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 52 SDef / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Protect
- Zen Headbutt
- Iron Head

> I was testing Sitrus Metagross in the International Challenge and was overwhelmed by it. It already survives most Ground assaults =/= Landorus Gem Earthpower with its natural bulk and Intimidate and with a Light Screen, it survives STAB fire as well. Sitrus made it significantly harder to kill even when double-targeted. I never got to use Boom really but I also wasn't convinced by the coverage a steel move + Zen Headbutt/EQ + Bullet Punch would give me since there'd be always something walling me. In the end I decided to go with this set because it gives great neutral coverage against everything. It also cancelled possible Shuca berries on my opponent's Metagross and had an advantage against other Metagross not sporting EQ since they cannot touch me while I can.


Hydreigon (F) @ Dragon Gem
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 116 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 132 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Protect
- Substitute

> Outspeeds Modest Chandelure and Jolly Hitmontop (yes I have seen that in testing) and hits like a truck with Dragon Gem Draco Meteor while being exceedingly bulky. Most people calc their stuff to survive Timid Latios Draco Meteor but Modest max SpAtk Hydreigon is even stronger. Acts as an anti-anti TR check together with Metagross/Hitmontop but is also good against Goodstuff teams, especially against those using Cresselia > Latios.



Trip to Milan
-
Milan VGC, April 1st 2012


Spontaneous roadtripping is always so much fun! We drove all night, leaving Nuremberg at around 11:30PM on Saturday evening. We got to see the sparkling stars while driving through the Alpes of Switzerland and when the sun began to rise we entered Northern Italy, maxing out the volume of our car sound system and singing 2B A MASTER altogether. Great memories and great drive, would do again :D We arrived at the Centro Congressi around 7AM and immediately saw all the players - this was gonna be a second European championship, tblakey, Rob and the other Brits were there, I talked to arbol_deku from Spain and later on Zog, Peterko, Sekiam, Kasty and Spaniard arrived. Soon, registration began and while I was waiting for my first match I noticed that to my horror they paired Massi with shinycarletto (both had identical teams) and Misaki with another German player. The event staff didn't let neither of them friendclause while the Spanish player Jordi apparently brought his father, gave him an ingame team and the staff paired father and son in round 1, thus giving his son an easy win to round 2. I kept facepalming until I got seated for my own match.

Round 1 vs ITA (Rain Goodstuff hybrid, Toxicroak/Politoed/Latios/Amoonguss):
Rain with Amoonguss was the worst thing that could happen to me and this guy brought it to my first match. Great. He had Metagross and Zapdos for 5th and 6th. I don't remember too much apart from getting an early kill on his Politoed, then using TR to setup Light Screen before Latios Draco Meteors. He pulled out that pesky mushroom, tried to Spore my Cresselia - Chesto Berry kicks in and I reverse TR to regain the speed advantage. Latios was useless with -2 and Light Screen up and he was basically done for. Out of fear to get Electric Gem Thunder'd aby the Zapdos I didn't bring Metagross but Hydreigon. Metagross would've made for an easy win against Toxicroak/Latios/Amoonguss but without it I resorted on timestalling after I saw his Amoonguss first in case he gets lucky with 4 turn sleeps or the like. Toxicroak and Amoonguss were his last man Standing and when I was up 3-2, my Hydreigon awoke and Draco Meteored his already damaged Mushroom to Hell. Time ran out and I won 3-1

Round 2 vs Jason (UK, from Rob's PWUK group, help me get his forum alias Rob D:):
Jason brought a sandstorm team quite similar to the one I lost to in Paris. Time to redeem myself. I lead off with Cresselia and Hitmontop while he leads Tyranitar/Excadrill. Turn 1 I Fake out the Tyranitar and hoped he wouldn't flinch me with his Excadrill's Rock Slide. Nope. He double-protected and I got TR off. It gets hazy from there but iirc he Protects with TTar while he switches in Empoleon for Excadrill, only to be welcomed with a Fighting Gem Close Combat. Excadrill enters again. It protects itself, I switch in Rhyperior for Cresselia and his -1 Crunch does little to Rhyperior while I CC Tyranitar down to its Focus Sash. Rhyperior cleaned up what was left. Maybe Jason can fill me in on the gaps. 3-0

Round 3 vs ITA (Standard PO Goodstuff: Cresselia, Metagross, Tyranitar, Chandelure... not entirely sure but I think it might have been a Ruben clone):
I'm pretty sure I picked Cresselia, Zapdos, Metagross and Rhyperior vs him but I forgot what I led with. In the first three turns he spreads paralysis on Zapdos and Cresselia and Icy Winds and he told his friends on the sidelines that he's doing well in Italian... then I used Trick Room on him and he completely lost his composure, "porca miseria" all the time. Apparently he panicked and well, I predicted and outplayed him badly, always targeting and killing the stuff he was not using Protect with. If not for 5 fully paras and 2 Zen Headbutt misses, I would've probably 4-0d him. I ended up killing everything except the Cresselia and I was up 3-1 with my own Cresselia (Rest>Sitrus), Rhyperior and Zapdos in the back. Helping Hand Rock Slides killed the Cresselia before Zapdos got an opportunity to do that. 3-0



Hell yes, I've done it and in clean games no less! When I was battling my round 3 opponent, Coldplay's Paradise was playing and I had a clear view on the stage where the finals should be unfolding later. Worlds in San Diego 2009 flashed before my eyes... I was so damn determined to do it this time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gClLrIFQvGY

When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach so
She ran away in her sleep
and dreamed of
Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise
Every time she closed her eyes

When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach
and the bullets catch in her teeth
Life goes on, it gets so heavy
The wheel breaks the butterfly
Every tear a waterfall
In the night the stormy night she'll close her eyes
In the night the stormy night away she'd fly

and dreams of
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise

Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh
She'd dream of
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh-oh

lalalalalalalalalalala
And so lying underneath those stormy skies
She'd say, "oh, ohohohoh I know the sun must set to rise"

This could be
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh
This could be
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
This could be
Para-para-paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh-oh


Also, 5 Germans through to Finalists Lounge which was comprised of 17 players which meant 15 would be getting byes into Top16. I wasn't unlucky this time and seating for the Top16 matches began. At first I wanted to battle Carii, a German girl who I practiced with the days before Milan. Crushed her 3 times and so I was confident that I could do it again... but it was not meant to be. She waved and some staff member came and told me I would be battling Kasty instead of Carii. To be honest I didn't want to face him before Top4 because he was by far the best player at this tournament. Still, I thought I could do it.

Top16 vs -Kasty- (Hitmontop/Zapdos/Tyranitar/Scizor/Cresselia/Metagross):
He started with Hitmontop/Zapdos and I lead with Hitmontop/Hydreigon. From earlier matches I thought he's gonna Close Combat the Hydreigon directly so I used Protect and Close Combatted his Hitmontop. I fucked up there because he had the faster Hitmontop and just went for Fake Out + Tbolt on my Hitmontop turn 1. Turn 2 he Protects Zapdos, I Draco Meteor his protecting Zapdos and his Hitmontop kills Hydreigon with Close Combat. Okay, certainly not an advantage but still far from over. I was slowly pulling it back and aiming for a Rhyperior sweep with Trick Room up. That requires setting up Trick Room but I never got to do that because his Tyranitar got a CH Crunch in the turn I was setting up TR.

That's how my journey ended.

I'm not bitter about it. After I got so lucky in 2009, I think it's not meant to be for me to come back to the Worlds stage. I got incredibly lucky once and it's not only in-game luck that has to work in your favor. It's so many factors like who you get paired with, who you can friendclause with and so much more. If they're going for Swiss or Best-of-Three Single Elimination I will come back and try again but as long as tournament organisation remains this arbitrary, there's no point for me in competing anymore. I just don't want to throw away hundreds of €€€ just to play 2-4 games at a tournament.
Anyway, I've met so many wonderful people over the years and have had so many good memories, I just wanted to thank all of you who I have gotten to know or spoken with. Shoutouts to PBB, BlueCookies, Massi, Yoshi, Flame, BadIntent, Pokérob, Peterko, tblakey89, Dillon, Matty85, shinycarletto, Wolfey, DaFlo (du Hässlon!), flash_mc, Donsteve, OcarinaOfTime / K-OS, Albert, RubeNCB, Arbol_Deku, Kasty, Spaniard, Sekiam, Mob, Feqz, galooks, Froggy, Picollo, Fatum, dtrain, Huy, Duy, Alaka, Michi, OmegaDonut, imperfectluck, makiri, Hilikus, Kedavra, 3.14159, BPE + friends in general and many many more, I'm probably forgetting lots of people right now...