Midwest VGC Regionals 2016-Masters Division Winner Interview

Diana Bros

The following is an interview with Diana Bros, winner of the Masters Division in the video game portion of this year’s Pokémon Midwest Regional.

Where are you from, and how did you get into Pokémon?

I'm a player out of the Chicago area, and I've played Pokémon since the original Red and Blue came out. I competed in a couple of online tournaments towards the end of 2015, and then finally started attending tournaments seriously.

What tournaments have you gone to so far?

Well, I have played in a lot of smaller tournaments leading up to this regional (Premiere Challenges and a couple of Mid-Season Showdowns). I felt I got decent results at those events, so I wanted to test myself at a larger tournament.

What was the team you used for this tournament?

-Groudon (Primal)
-Kyogre (Primal)
-Salamence (Mega)
-Thundurus (Focus Sash)
-Ferrothorn (Leftovers)
-Bronzong (Lum Berry)

What made you choose to use this team for this tournament? 

This team is a modified version of one that saw regional success in Europe with PokeAlex. I felt like his team had a solid answer to most of the common archetypes I’d be facing, so I decided to bring it.

What worked well for the team?

Overall, I like the way I had the team set up had a good mix of speed and bulk, and how I was able to work in both Tailwind and Trick Room, which allow for some adjustment in a best-of-three environment.

What was your strategy for the finals?

It was to apply offensive pressure with the speedy Salamence and Groudon in the early game and then get Bronzong and Kyogre next to each other under Trick Room for the late-game clean up. Also, I wanted to say, playing Sam was a lot of fun! It’s not often you get to be laughing and chatting during a big final.

What was the most interesting thing that came up in your discussion with Sam?

The discussion with Sam was actually a lot of fun. Most of the time it was a “mind game” discussion-did he side pup [1] again? Does Smeargle have Wide Guard? In the end we were talking about a tech on his Zapdos-Hidden Power Ground which was really interesting.

If you used this team again, are there any changes you might consider? 

I would definitely use this team again, and I have a few possible move set changes I’d consider.
Going forward with this team, I’ve been testing putting Safeguard on Bronzong to stop minimum speed Smeargle as well as maybe replacing Ferrothorn with Amoongus for redirection on the team.

1. Using Mega Kangaskhan’s Power-Up Punch on your teammate in a double battle