Perth VGC Regionals Warstory: Always Read the Fine Print!

Thought it would be fun to share my experience from Perth VGC Regionals that took place March 24th-25th. Here's the link to the final results: https://trainertower.com/2018-perth-regionals/

THE TEAM:


Ability: Intimidate
Item: Assault Vest
Nature: Adamant
Moves: Fake Out / Flare Blitz / Knock Off / Low Kick


Ability: Competitive
Item: Red Card
Nature: Calm
Moves: Scald / Icy Wind / Mirror Coat / Protect


Ability: Beast Boost
Item: Focus Sash
Nature: Timid
Moves: Power Gem / Sludge Bomb / Grass Knot / Protect


Ability: Pressure
Item: Electrium Z
Nature: Timid
Moves: Thunderbolt / Heat Wave / Hidden Power Ice / Tailwind


Ability: Clear Body
Item: Metagrossite
Nature: Jolly
Moves: Iron Head / Ice Punch / Stomping Tantrum / Protect


Ability: Levitate
Item: Psychium Z
Nature: Quiet
Moves: Psychic / Ice Beam / Trick Room / Ally Switch

Incineroar because it's amazing with Fake Out, Knock Off and Intimidate support. Zapdos for Tailwind support, bulky offensive, ground immunity and dealing with Fini and Celesteela. Cresselia for speed control, ground immunity and mind games. Milotic for an Intimidate counter and a form of phazing with Red Card. It can survive attacks from Koko, Zapdos and Manectric and OHKO back with Mirror Coat if you predict their attack. Metagross for dealing with Tapus and Dragons and Landorus. Nihilego was a tech choice because Rock and Poison deals with SO many threats (Mega Charizard Y, Incineroar and every Guardian Deity for example), especially with a Sash to protect it, and it doesn't care about Intimidate. In fact my team is mainly Specially Offensive orientated to minimise Intimidate's effect on my team (Clear Body on Metagross also helps). Grass Knot was a niche inclusion to deal with Rain teams and Mega Swampert in particular, as in testing I realised I didn't have an answer to a Swampert rain sweep. Sadly I gave up Clear Smog or Hidden Power (useful moves) for Grass Knot and never even saw a Rain team all weekend. But it did put in some work against Tyranitars and to a lesser extent Milotics and Gigaliths.

ROUND ONE:

Opponent's Team: Snorlax / Tyranitar / Venusaur / Aegislash / Charizard / Garchomp

So first round my table is chosen to be on the STREAM! Talk about pressure from the get go. The battle was pretty quick, as things got KO'd pretty quickly. I set up Tailwind turn one. His Garchomp fell to HP Ice and Ice Punch in game 1 and game 2 respectively, and his Tyranitar didn't appreciate an Iron Head. Strangely his Snorlax fired off Ice Punches and High Horsepowers and never Belly Drummed or posed much threat. His Garchomp even whipped out an Aqua Tail which was weird considering the target was also weak to potential STAB Ground attacks. My opponent seemed a little inexperienced, as he didn't Protect at crucial times and used the same 4 Pokemon in the same order for both games. He probably could have won a game at least, with a bit more strategic thinking, as his decent was decent enough. But he was too concerned with killing my Mega Metagross with Aegislash's Never Ending Nightmare, which left his other team members exposed and easily picked off by Metagross before it was taken out, and after that it was a numbers game. If getting rid of Megagross was the main goal, at least use Protect with your other Pokemon!

Result: WIN (2-0)

ROUND TWO:

Opponent's Team: Landorus / Tapu Fini / Gigalith / Volcarona / Cresselia / Mega Steelix

The Mega Steelix was a bit cute to see. It used Curse a couple of times and tried to spam Earthquakes. He even had Sandstorm support with Gigalith and Light Screen support from Cresselia. The only problem was that I was double targeting his Steelix and could wipe it out before it posed a threat. It doesn't enjoy Stomping Tantrum and Grass Knot. And his Volcarona REALLY didn't enjoy a Power Gem. I'm assuming Volcarona had Rage Powder and Cresselia could have had Ally Switch and Trick Room, which would have protected Steelix while it Cursed up and allowed him to go first. But I never saw it come together. Red Card Milotic showed her evil ways in the match, as a Steelix Earthquake triggered the Red Card, forced out Landorus, Intimidate triggered a Competitive boost, and then Lando ate a boosted Scald with extra Burn on the side. Wrecked. Steelix also ate a Scald Burn and it was over after that. I must note that I am a COMPLETE IDIOT, as I froze his Cresselia with an Ice Punch from Metagross and wanted to pile on as much damage next turn to rid myself of the Cresselia which was outstaying its welcome with Aguav Berry etc. So I clicked Scald from my Milotic without thinking and watched in horror as I thawed out his Cresselia and allowed him a window to make a comeback. Thankfully I held on and won despite Cress setting up Trick Room after the thaw.

Result: WIN (2-0)

ROUND THREE:

Opponent's Team: Alolan Ninetails / Garchomp / Milotic / Tapu Fini / Kartana / Mega Pinsir

Game one my opponent led with Tapu Fini and Milotic, and Milotic turned out to be holding a Misty Seed. Stupidly I fell for my own strategy and led with Incineroar and activated his Milotic's Competitive boost. It wasn't pretty after that, as Milotic basically swept me with Ice Beam and Scald. Though I did OHKO his Tapu Fini with Zapdos' Gigavolt Havoc. Game 2 I was better prepared and knew what to expect. His Garchomp was Choice Scarfed and was pretty scary. He used Ninetails again, and just like in game 1, it died before it could set up Aurora Veil (he used Light Clay and not a Focus Sash, so Iron Head and Flare Blitz wrecked it). Game 2 his team basically lost because of his OWN HAIL DAMAGE. He had obviously designed the EV spread to survive common super effective attacks, but failed to realise Hail would KO him at the end of the turn. HP Ice, Heat Wave and Iron Head took his three remaining Pokemon to low HP and Hail did the rest. Game 3 I managed to time out in the Pokemon selection screen (I don't know how, I guess I was overthinking and didn't notice the clock), so I literally went into the battle having NO IDEA what my 4th Pokemon was. Turned out to be Milotic. Thank God I made an amazing fluke prediction/accident turn one, when I led with Mega Metagross and attacked his Tapu Fini with Ice Punch accidentally, and he switched out the Fini into Landorus, which was OHKO'd. Yikes. Then he attacked my Zapdos with Ice Beam but I predicted it and switched in my Milotic, activated Red Card and dragged his Fini back out, which I think got later killed by Zapdos. His Kartana managed to Sacred Sword my Megagross to death, but a Zapdos Heat Wave KO'd his Kartana next turn.

Result: WIN (2-1)

ROUND FOUR:

Opponent's Team: Tapu Lele / Drifblim / Arcanine / Garchomp / Mega Metagross / Tapu Fini

No you're not imagining it, this was a VGC 17 team, with a Metagrossite slapped on. But hell, it worked, because this guy WON THE DAMN REGIONALS. But more on that later.
Game 1 he led with Tapu Fini and Drifblim, cue Misty Seed boost and Unburden triggering. I had hoped for Arcanine and led with Milotic and Incineroar. It worked well though, as his Drifblim attacked Milotic and got Red Carded, losing all its boosts. After some back and forth, his Fini fell to an Iron Head, his Garchomp ate an Ice Punch and his Megagross also fell from a move I can't remember. The Garchomp did go out swinging though with Tectonic Rage KO'ing something. Game 2 became a Tailwind war. I led with Zapdos and Metagross and he led with Lele and Drifblim. Both of us got Tailwind off, and it got pretty hectic and we both tried to stall out the Tailwind boosts and set up our own again. His Drifblim fell to a Thunderbolt. My Incineroar was OHKO'd by a Tectonic Rage. My Nihilego and Metagross also fell, but not before they took care of Lele and Fini. And eventually it came down to Zapdos vs Garchomp, 1 v 1. He was faster, and attacked with Rock Slide. My Zapdos was on about 50% HP and I had designed it to be able to take 2 Rock Slides in theory, but it was no guarantee in the heat of the moment. My Zapdos survived on barely any HP and I waited for what seemed like a millennium for the flinch to happen, but thankfully it never did. So I was able to attack with HP Ice for the win!

Result: WIN (2-0)

ROUND FIVE:

Opponent's Team: Tapu Fini / Cresselia / Incineroar / Lurantis / Manectric / Snorlax

Game 1 I played really well and had him beat. He incorrectly predicted I would use Trick Room after he had used it the previous turn, and therefore used Trick Room again, reversing the dimensions and giving me a speed advantage. There was a Cresselia mirror match war as we both used Ally Switch to play mind games. Red Card Milotic wrecked his Belly Drum aspirations, and tanked a Volt Switch from Manectric which OHKO'd the switch in. His Lurantis was interesting, with Superpower and a bulky set with an Iapapa berry. In the end it came down to his Snorlax up against THREE of my Pokemon, including Nihilego and Incineroar. But he kept using Recycle and Protect along with a pinch berry to stall out my attacks. I kept pressing for damage and had it won, and thought I was about to commence the winning turn when all of a sudden I get a TIMER LOSS! I am fairly new to competing at big events and hadn't even thought about the turn timer until that moment, as I never considered myself a slow player. Sure I think about some plays, but I certainly don't stall for time. I was really annoyed by this rule, as it was my opponent that was doing the stalling and forcing me to think about how to deal enough damage to the Snorlax. He admitted he knew my timer was running out and chose not to warn me. Fair enough, you can do that. But he even admitted that I was about to win the game, so it's so frustrating that I was robbed of the victory I had earned. And I just don't like that this new timer rule forces you into making rushed decisions and weakens gameplay overall. Plus it can get a bit unsportsmanlike. I was pretty rattled by the timer loss after being so sure I was going to win, and played like rubbish in game 2. My team's surprise factors were all gone as well. He got Belly Drum off early on and KO'd Incineroar with Return. Then healed up the Snorlax while his Mega Manectric kept spamming Snarl until I couldn't deal any damage.

Result: LOSS (0-2)
This player ended up placing 3rd, so well done to him. Yes a Lurantis made Top 4.

ROUND SIX:

Opponent's Team: Mega Charizard Y / Tyranitar / Milotic / Tapu Bulu / Aegislash / Landorus

If I thought the stalling with Snorlax last round was bad, I was about to realise that that matchup was heaven compared to this team of PURE EVIL CRAP. A fully bulky Aegislash with Toxic, Substitute, Leftovers and King's Shield. Backed up by Grassy Terrain support from a Tapu Bulu with Horn Leech, pinch berry and Protect. Backed up by a Milotic with Icy Wind, Scald, Recover and a Wiki Berry. And a Tyranitar with Black Hole Eclipse just in case. I basically lost game 1 to burn and poison damage while he kept his Pokemon healthy and protected. It was excruciating. Game 2 I adjusted my strategy and played better, KO'ing Tyranitar with Grass Knot, KO'ing Aegislash with Knock Off, and getting a Competitive boost on Milotic from his Incineroar. But his Tapu Bulu was a menace that KO'd Milotic with Wood Hammer and even managed to KO Cresselia with Horn Leech. It was close, but no cigar. This opponent ended up finishing 6th.

Result: LOSS (0-2)

Overall Result Day One: 4-2
This was enough to place 8th, as I had really strong resistance. My last three opponents all made it into the Top 8. I was pretty happy with 8th. I would love to have seen what would have happened had I not got the timer loss in Round 5 and potentially have won that round.

DAY TWO: TOP 8

Because I had finished 8th, I had to face the guy who was currently undefeated 6-0 and finished 1st. GREAT.

The day started off disastrous, as I had filled out the team list wrong and was called over to see the judges. My team was correct, but I had only written "Hidden Power" on my Zapdos moveset, instead of "HP Ice". I didn't know this rule existed, but sure enough it does say it in the fine print of the team list sheet at the bottom, which I didn't read as I hurriedly wrote down my team on the reception floor the morning of Day One. The judges said it was unfair and that they had to know what hidden power typing it was. I was like, just look at the stats. Or I can just show you what typing it has, it's pretty obviously Ice type. But because I had hyper trained my Zapdos, there was no way I could prove it was Ice type there and then. So despite my arguments, I was given a game loss, and my Zapdos banned from the rest of the event, as per the standard penalties for having my team not match my team list sheet. Which is BS because it does match. The Pokemon DOES have Hidden Power. I just copied out the Pokemon summaries and the move is literally called Hidden Power on the screen. But anyway, I was heading into my toughest matchup yet with only FIVE Pokemon AND a game loss. Woo!

TOP 8:

Opponent's Team: Mega Gengar / Tapu Bulu / Volcarona / Whimsicott / Kommo-O / Incineroar

GREAT. The good old Bulu/Kommo-O/Gengar triad of doom.

Game 1 loss
Game 2: By this stage the Top 8 all knew each other's teams, as everyone had done their research / gossiped / colluded / spied and basically knew every Pokemon and moveset and item. So I had a general idea of how I was going to approach this matchup. I knew he would most likely lead Gengar and Whimsicott, and then depending on what I had on the field, he would set up Tailwind and Protect with Gengar, or use Fake Tears and then KO something with Gengar. I knew the Gengar was bulky and max SpA, with only minimal speed investment. I knew the Whimsicott had Encore and held an Eject Button. Basically these two Pokemon trap and pacify any threats to Kommo-O before he brings it in for the Z-Clanging Scales shenanigans. My plan was to set up Trick Room to screw over his entire team and then kill everything. I knew his Incineroar had Taunt, and would need to be careful if he chose to lead with that.
He leads with Gengar and Whimiscott, no surprise there. I lead with Incineroar and Cresselia, my strongest opening against that pairing (Cress can survive Shadow Ball). I Fake Out the Whimsicott to block a Fake Tears and set up Trick Room with Cresselia, which ate and survived a Shadow Ball. Eject Button brings out Tapu Bulu which is Choice Scarfed. I predict another Shadow Ball is coming my way, or he is going to Protect on his Gengar, so I Ally Switch with Cress and Flare Blitz with Incineroar. Under Trick Room the Incineroar goes first and OHKO's the Tapu Bulu. Cress dodges the Shadow Ball thanks to Ally Switch and Incineroar happily takes it instead. He brings Whimsicott back in and goes for Prankster Encore on the Cresselia, locking it into Ally Switch. That's fine though, because I knew it was coming and used Shattered Psyche from my Cresselia which I knew OHKO'd Mega Gengar and could bypass Encore. Somehow nobody in Top 8 knew that it held Psychium Z, which was nice. Incineroar then OHKO'd the Whimsicott with Flare Blitz. He brings out his last Pokemon, Kommo-O. I switch out Incineroar knowing I'll need the Fake Out later, and send in Metagross. He uses the Z-Clanging Scales thingy to boost his stats and KO Cresselia before it can set up Trick Room a second time. Slight setback. Incineroar comes back out and he Protects to block the Fake Out and Ice Punch. Next turn Clanging Scales KO's Incineroar but lowers his Defense. Ice Punch from Mega Metagross is an easy KO from there. I win game 2!

Game 3 I am out of surprise moves and there's no way he will allow Shattered Psyche to KO him again. He leads with Gengar and Incineroar this time, and uses Fake Out to stop me doing anything with Cresselia, who he also hits with a Shadow Ball, and his Incineroar outsped my Incineroar which I wasted a Fake Out on. Next turn he KO's Incineroar with a double target of Sludge Bomb and Knock Off. Not sure what my Cress does this turn, maybe Psychic kills Gengar? He switches out Incineroar for Kommo-O and I think Whimsicott is out. He goes for Clangorous Soulblaze (finally remember that move name) which KO's Cress before it can KO back with Shattered Psyche. My Metagross and Nihilego are out. Mega Metagross is nerfed by the incoming Incineroar switch and my Ice Punch doesn't even threaten to 2HKO his Kommo-O. Then Metagross dies to a Flare Blitz while Nihilego is 2HKO'd by Drain Punch. Pure carnage.

Result: LOSS (1-2)

FINAL RESULT: 8th Place

Overall thoughts, great weekend of Pokemon, slightly tarnished by my own inexperience with big events and the rules associated with them. I think it's crap that hackers get past the team checks (people literally hacking Pokemon at the venue on the morning of the event), but the people they punish are the guys who spend weeks breeding and training their legit team and then forget to write a hidden power typing on a bit of paper. But nonetheless I made myself known in the community. Feels good to have beaten the eventual winner of the event in Round 4.

Pokemon trends: lots of Incineroars and Milotics. Some Tapu Bulu and Tapu Fini love as well. Very few Landorus. NO RAIN TEAMS!? And some sexy Perth tech choices. I'm looking at you, Regirock, which finished in SECOND PLACE on Day One and 5th overall! It was a Curse set that can tank TWO Wood Hammers from a max Atk invested Tapu Bulu in Grassy Terrain. Jesus Christ.

PS. I hate Shadow Tag.
 
Grats on your 8th placing!

Those teams surely looked interesting. A VGC17 winning team, a Regirock, a Lurantis... wow. Your teams wasn't common either.

Those Kommo-O teams are so good when well played. Most of the time I have lost with it are due to being extremely well outsmarted or either I make a bad desicion.
 
I guess my one suggestion would have been to use choice scarf Nihilego, in order to outspeed M-Gengar
I suppose it would help in that match up, but the number of times Focus Sash saved me is enough to make me want to keep it. It guarantees I can survive a hit and kill something, and then I'm on 1 HP with a Beast Boost and posing a threat. So it draws attacks to it, often allowing something else to avoid damage, and I can Protect and use my teammates to kill things that outspeed it. Or set up Tailwind.
Mega Gengar I pretty much relied on a Z move to surprise kill it (Shattered Psyche and Gigavolt Havoc both KO it after Zapdos/Cresselia survive a hit from it) or Knock Off and Stomping Tantrum if need be. Tailwind also helps.
I also just really hate being trapped into a move. I like being able to switch between attacks
 
Congrats on coming 8th man. Thanks for the write up too. This was my first tournament and I finished at the back of the pack so good to see the event from a winning perspective.
I bought rain and faced other rain users just guess we weren't good enough to figure.
I left myself with no real way to take down Snorlax during team building so of course I faced him 3 times including the eventual 3rd and 4th place players in round 1 and 3.

All in all despite losing was a really fun day plus my son came 4th in senior division so pretty happy with that. Not too bad for our first ever tournament.
 

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