Pokémon Midwest Regionals 2018: Masters VGC Winner

Paul Chua

The following is an interview with Paul Chua, winner of the Masters Division of the video game competition at the 2018 Midwest Regional in Madison, WI.

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

I am from Union, New Jersey. I got into Pokémon after I saw a commercial for Diamond and Pearl-the games looked really cool and I got them on release day. I started doing VGC in 2010, when I read an advertisement about the events and the closest one was less than an hour away. I went there and made it to the third round. From that point on, I decided to keep playing VGC because of how fun it was to play against other people.

What was the team you used for this event?

-Kangaskhan
-Landorus (Therian)
-Tapu Fini
-Cresselia
-Kartana
-Heatran

Was there an overall strategy for the team?

No, it was just meant to take hits and do damage with some of the strongest Pokémon available. It was all about just using the best Pokémon given the opponent’s team and play style.

What worked well for the team in the tournament?

I think Kangaskhan worked really well. Mine was relatively bulky which allowed it to take strong attacks such as Hydro Vortex from Ludicolo (even in the rain) or Overheat from Charizard-Y. Another aspect that worked well was my Cresselia having Hidden Power Fire. I put it on there as a way to handle Kartana more easily, which had given my team a lot of issues in the past.

How did the finals play out?

Game one I felt could have gone either way, however him attacking my Kangaskhan near the end with his Kartana allowed me to make a comeback and barely take it. In game two, I tried to cover all of his switches he could make and brought my Landorus this time as a way to reduce the power of his Kartana.

Any changes might you make to this team if you used it again?

I felt like teams that had Gothitelle and Mawile did really well against, as the ability to have more board control by stopping me from switching made it really hard to take knockouts. Putting Taunt on Heatran or using a ghost-type might help there.

What are your plans for the rest of the season?

I plan on going to North American Internationals and maybe a few Midseason Showdowns before that. I qualified for Worlds too, so I’m definitely going there.

Midwest VGC Regionals 2017-Winner Interview

At this year's Ohana-con, I had an opportunity to talk to Andrew Nowak, winner of the VGC Masters Division. Find out about his team and strategy:

Poke Press Digest Podcast: Episode 5-Pokemon 4Ever/Anime Milwaukee 2017

For this fifth episode, we have two segments. In the first (0:46-39:24), Anne from Pikapi Podcast returns to discuss the English and Japanese ending themes of Pokémon 4Ever. We talk about the songs themselves, and which one we prefer.

Our second segment (39:32-46:57) is from Anime Milwaukee 2017, where I interviewed the winner of the Pokémon Sun & Moon Tournament, who just so happens to be a YouTube Manga reviewer. Find out about his team, and his channel.




Note: During the first segment, Anne incorrectly states that Russel Velazquez wrote "Two Perfect Girls" and "Biggest Part Of My Life" on Totally Pokemon. The only song from that album he wrote is "The Game".

Links:

Segment 1:
Pikapi Podcast

Segment 2:
MangaMan's Channel
Anime Milwaukee

Interview: London International Championship 2016 Seniors VGC Runner-Up

Murray McKenzie

The following is an interview with Murray McKenzie, runner-up in the Seniors Division of the VGC competition at the recent Pokémon International Championship in London, England.

Where are you from, and how did you get into Pokémon?
I'm a player from Fife, Scotland, however most of the tournaments I go to are in Glasgow. My first Pokémon game was Pokémon White, which I got for my ninth birthday. I started getting into competitive play just after 2014 Worlds, but I only considered myself a good player after 2015 Worlds, where I made a successful rain team.

What was the team you used for this event? 
-Wishiwashi
-Mudsdale
-Tapu Koko
-Tapu Bulu
-Nihilego
-Celesteela

Full team information is available at Pokemon.com.

This tournament was likely to feature a wider-than-normal set of Pokémon due to the games being fairly new. How did that affect which Pokémon you chose?
To be honest, I only really thought about a few Pokémon whilst building this team, namely “Koko-Raichu”, “Maro-Dos” and I think Gastrodon. There was a light foundation of a metagame brewing on Showdown, so I based it off of that.

What worked well for the team in the tournament?
The most important change I made to the team was definitely passing the Life Orb from Nihilego to Koko and making Nihilego hold the Focus Sash-a change I made two days before the event. I have no idea how I would've dealt with rain if not for that Sash, as it came in handy so many games. Honourable mention goes to Electric Seed/Acrobatics Celesteela and Mudsdale. The Seed helped Celesteela to be extremely bulky in both sides and Acrobatics was nice as it let me hit things which resisted Heavy Slam, it even two-hit ko'd a Pelipper! Assault Vest Mudsdale (I didn't think any others would be running it and I didn't see any prior) was also extremely nice due to it having an extraordinary attack stat and a great Ability for a Vest user. I designed it to survive both a Marowak Flare Blitz or an Energy Ball from a +1 Life Orb Xurkitree-pretty much some of the most powerful attacks you'll see on either side.

What didn't work so well, and what kind of changes might you make to this team if you used it again?
To be honest, I think the team was as good as you could get with these six Pokémon; however I do want to use other teams for the Regionals in Sheffield and Liverpool. This team is utter rubbish in best-of-one though, so I wouldn't try it there. All of my losses (except one round in Swiss I lost 2-0 and the final match against Jan) were in the first game. This team is great for adapting to situations once you know certain things like is the Pelipper Sash or Scarf? To be honest, I should've paid closer attention to IVs and made sure my Mudsdale was faster than my Wishiwashi as those two and Tapu Bulu's speed IVs were unknown.

What did you think of this new level of event?
Initially, I was quite wary of this new structure, namely the opportunities for Americans, Japanese and the like to get CP which would've gone to Europeans. Also, the fact that the tournament was two weeks after the release scared me. However, whilst I still believe that they should've made it Europe exclusive, I had a blast and this is much better to me than having three smaller Nationals. The event was very well run, but they needed to be more transparent. All of us in the top eight expected (due to things on the Pokémon website and prior events) to play on Sunday, have a lunch break and have the finals be streamed. To our surprise (and crushing our dreams of being on stream) none of these things happened. So yeah, they should've just clarified the first and last ones and had a lunch break after I think round four of Swiss.

Fixing the Pokemon VGC's Barrier-of-Entry Problem

The Pokemon VGC is difficult to get into. What can we do to fix that?

If you'd like to listen to the episode of "It's Super Effective" referenced in this video, you can check it out here:

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

Pokémon VGC Midseason Showdown-Janesville, WI

Stephen Morioka

The following is an interview with Stephen Morioka, winner of the Masters Division at a 2016 Pokémon VGC Midseason Showdown in Janesville, WI.

Where are you from, and how did you get into competitive Pokémon (and Pokémon in general)?

I am from Chicago, Illinois and I am a longtime Pokémon player. My relatives in Texas gave me a Game Boy Pocket and Pokémon Blue Version as a parting gift during my family’s summer vacation in 1999. I have played through every generation, even when Pokémon’s popularity was declining in the early 2000s.

Nintendo Power magazine is what I credit for entering me into the competitive Pokémon scene. In the winter of 2005, there was a one or two-page spread advertising qualifier tests that funneled into a Pokémon tournament celebrating the release of Pokémon Emerald. I managed to make it all the way to the tournament, which was single battle, later that spring. I didn’t win it but from the other players there I learned a lot about many of the hidden features Pokémon has to offer, such as effort values. Knowing that I could improve my training, I was always on the lookout for future competitions after that tournament. My search led me to the Journey Across America (JAA) in 2006 and VGC’s first official season in 2009.

What was the team you used for this event?

It was a spin of Wolfe Glick’s Winter Regional 1st place team. While the team normally consists of Primal Kyogre, Dialga, Mega Salamence, Ferrothorn, Thundurus and Landorus-Therian, I used Mega Gengar instead of Landorus.

Why did you choose the Pokémon you did?

Several members of the team are very good checks to the common Pokémon in the 2016 format. To provide some basic examples, Salamence does well against Groudon, Ferrothorn does well against Kyogre, and Dialga does well against opposing dragons such as Salamence and Rayquaza. The team also has several options for speed control, such as Thunder Wave, Tailwind, and Trick Room, which is an important part of any VGC format. As for Mega Gengar, I selected it over Landorus simply due to personal preference-I wasn’t really comfortable with the way Landorus was played on the team despite its incredible synergy. On the other hand, I have been using Gengar for a good majority of this format, so I went with what I knew how to play. Gengar is quite useful against teams built around Xerneas and simplifies the game a little with its Shadow Tag ability.

Were there any particular matches that stood out in your mind?

I would have to say the quarterfinals against Calvin Chan, in part because we have a long history. Back in 2006, we actually played in the Chicago Regional for JAA in the round of 8 or 16-I can’t remember exactly. Regardless, Calvin won and ended up playing in the finals for both that regional and the national championship later that summer in New York City. He was somewhat of an idol to me growing up, so it is always an honor to play against him.

For this tournament, both our Swiss round and Top 8 matches were extremely tight, 3-game sets. I lost game 1 in both series, and lost the match in Swiss, but was fortunate enough to come back from that deficit in the Top 8 match.

If you used a team similar to this again, is there anything you might change?

I would actually consider using Landorus instead of Mega Gengar as was originally intended. The rest of the team is a very solid core so reconfiguring that doesn’t really make sense to me. However, minor adjustments can always be made to suit a player’s personal playstyle.

What are your thoughts on the new VGC format?

I enjoy the 2016 VGC format, but a majority of the community probably doesn’t share that sentiment. The general complaints consist of too many luck factors outside of players’ control and strong centralization around a select group of Pokémon. I have been playing competitively for a long time and those issues have arisen every year to varying degrees. I simply brush them aside because I’m used to it and well hey, it’s Pokémon. Another important thing I don’t think players realize is how special this format is. This format allows for two restricted Pokémon to be on your team from a group of 15, such as Mewtwo, Groudon, and Kyogre. Normally, since they are so overpowered compared to other Pokémon, they are always sitting on the sidelines because they are not allowed to play in official formats. This year is only the 3rd time I’ve been able to use these Pokémon in a double battle format (the last two being in 2006 and 2010), so I am appreciating every second of this format because who knows, it may be another four to six years until we see these Pokémon in competitive play again.

Any advice for other players?

First, I strongly recommend watching the YouTube channels created by accomplished players Aaron Zheng, Markus Stadter, and Wolfe Glick. All three of them are repeat National Champions, provide high quality content, and are generously using their own time to entertain and more importantly to educate the VGC player base, both old and new. Also, I think for beginners it’s important to stay positive and not get easily discouraged if success eludes you early on. Pokémon players also need to be self-critical about their play, which many struggle to do. To elaborate, I tend to be very hard on myself when I make mistakes and accept the luck factors for what they are. Lastly, be sure you are playing Pokémon for the right reasons: Play because the game is fun for you. Play because you enjoy the people you are around when you compete. Play for the love of the game.

Pokémon World Championships 2015: Seniors VGC Winner

Mark McQuillan

The following is an interview with Mark McQuillan, winner of the VGC Seniors division in this year’s Pokémon World Championships.

Where are you from, and how did you get into playing the Pokémon video games competitively?
I’m from Edinburgh, Scotland, in the UK and I started playing competitive Pokémon in 2011. I saw something online about the UK National Championships in Birmingham and had managed to persuade my parents to take me there. I had been playing Pokémon casually since 2007 but I knew nothing about competitive Pokémon at that time (I didn’t even have a properly EV-trained team). Even so, I ended up reaching the top eight of that tournament, which got me an invite to the 2011 World Championships in San Diego. Between Nationals and Worlds I learned more about the game and I was able to build a much stronger team for Worlds, where I ended up getting tenth place. That tournament was a very enjoyable experience, so I’ve been playing Pokémon ever since and have now played in a total of five World Championships.

How did you end up with the team you did? Was there an overall strategy? 
The team idea came from a Korean player that I battled online. His team featured a Skill Swap Cresselia alongside a slow Charizard (designed for Trick Room), and he defeated me relatively easily. I took the team of six which I had faced and changed some of the moves as well as made some of my own original sets. One of the main changes was Toxic replacing Psychic on Cresselia-I did this to strengthen my matchup against Milotic and opposing Cresselia, as well to deal important chip damage to Pokémon such as Rotom-Heat (which gave my team a lot of trouble). I also had a hard choice between Conkeldurr and Machamp since the player I faced on Battle Spot never brought his own Machamp to our set and therefore I wasn’t sure what it did. I decided on Machamp because I found in practise that it makes it hard for opponents to switch due to the threat of a Dynamic Punch confusion. It also gave me a better matchup against Charizard with its 100% accurate Stone Edge. Landorus was important on the team since Intimidate support can be crucial at many points during a match, and it provided ways to hit common Pokémon such as Kangaskhan, Charizard and Heatran for at least a two-hit KO. Heatran was good as it could knock out Aegislash in one hit with Overheat and make use of Charizard’s sun with boosted Heat Waves. Sylveon was my least-used Pokémon on the team since I only brought it to one match, but that was mostly because I didn’t play against very many Mega Salamence at Worlds.

Using Skill Swap on Cresselia meant that you had to have a good knowledge of what your opponent’s Pokemon’s abilities are, despite the fact that many Pokémon have multiple possible Abilities. Did you have to prepare a lot?
Actually, there’s not much diversity in the abilities of most of the common Pokémon in VGC. For example, Heatran is guaranteed to have Flash Fire so it is perfectly safe to Skill Swap that ability away allowing Charizard to freely use Heat Wave or Flamethrower. There are barely any Pokémon which have two equally viable abilities; so Skill Swap was not usually a risky play to make.

What’s the most interesting Swap you got in the tournament?
My favourite Skill Swap was when I was able to predict my opponent’s switch into Tyranitar (in an attempt to remove my sun) and use Skill Swap on my own Mega Charizard Y. This meant that I could keep sun up (“switch in” abilities swap before they can activate) and hit the Tyranitar with a Solar Beam, knocking it out in one hit. Another interesting swap was when I was able to take away Flash Fire from a Heatran and give it to my Charizard. This meant that Heatran could not damage My Charizard since I was immune to all of its attacks. I then got a Flash Fire boost which meant I could knock out both Kangaskhan and Landorus-Therian in one hit before winning two vs. one against his Heatran.

What was your overall strategy for the finals? 
I knew in the finals that I needed to put Trick Room up in order to get momentum against my opponent’s faster team. I also knew that he had no reliable way to get rid of my Cresselia and so I could virtually freely set up Trick Room. The Pokémon I was most worried about were his Aegislash, which undersped a lot of the Pokémon on my team, and his Assault Vest Landorus which I had been told was very Specially Defensive. He did not bring his Aegislash to either of our games, possibly fearing my two fire-type Pokémon. I was able to inflict a lot of damage onto my opponent’s Landorus in game one when it switched in on my Cresselia’s Ice Beam and My Charizard’s Heat Wave. He decided not to bring his Landorus to the second match, a decision which helped me considerably as his Sylveon was not as threatening to my team.

You read your opponent extremely well in that match. Was there anything that helped you figure out what your opponent was going to do?
My friend, who had lost to my finals opponent in the Top Four, showed me a replay of the third game in their set. I noted that my finals opponent was very much inclined to double-targeting one of the opposing Pokémon when he felt a Protect may be coming from the other. This aggressive playstyle choice was the reason I opted not to use protect with my Charizard on the first turn of the first game. This paid off for me and I was able to hit his Zapdos with a Flamethrower and put up Trick Room on the same turn. I knew that on turn two he needed to preserve his Landorus since I was threatening it with an Ice Beam. I had played that situation many times when practising with the team and so I knew to Skill Swap and Heat Wave on the switch. If he had stayed in with Landorus then I still would have been in a good position as I would have been able to Skill Swap his intimidate putting him to minus one attack, meaning he would not be able to OHKO my Charizard with Rock Slide. In game two, when I went for Dynamic Punch on his Zapdos I knew he would probably have Kangaskhan and Heatran in the back so if he switched I would get a KO, and if he stayed in he may be confused. The lead matchups were very positive in both games, and therefore I was able to play very offensively, forcing my opponent to switch. This was good for me as one of the main objectives of the team was to punish my opponents’ switches.

Are there any improvements you might make to your team if you used it again?
If I had the opportunity to change my team, the only Pokémon I would consider swapping out would be Sylveon, since I only brought it to one match. However, it was definitely an important Pokémon in that match and it really strengthened my overall matchup against Mega Salamence (despite that particular Mega Evolution not being very popular at the World Championships).

What’s it like winning the world championship?
Winning the World Championships felt like I was redeeming myself after losing in the finals the previous year. Coming so close to winning in 2014 was exciting and felt like a great accomplishment, but falling at the last hurdle was heartbreaking and (slightly) hurt my confidence. I don’t feel that I played very well in that match and the heavy defeat did not make me look good, especially on-stream. Winning the World Championships has been a goal of mine since I began to drastically improve at the game (around 2013), and finally doing it this year, in my final year of seniors, felt like a lot of hard work finally paying off.

Did you do anything else interesting in Boston?
Despite not having very much time in Boston with the tournament taking up three days, I did thoroughly enjoy my time there. My parents and I went on a walking tour along part of the Freedom Trail which was quite interesting. We also went to Fenway Park to watch the Boston Red Sox. This was my first experience of baseball and the game was very exciting and fast paced. My family also spent a week in Cape Cod prior to the event which was really enjoyable: We went to Provincetown, saw the impressive Pilgrim’s Monument and cycled to the many beaches on the cape. Cape Cod was a nice, relaxing holiday but I still made sure to practise consistently during that time.

Pokémon VGC US Nationals 2015: Seniors Winner Interview

Ben Piercy

The following is an interview with Ben Piercy, winner of the Seniors Division of this year’s Pokémon VGC US Nationals.

Where are you from?
I’m Canadian, from Calgary, Alberta.

How did you get into Pokémon in general, and competitive battling in specific?
I started Pokémon when I switched schools before the start of grade four, where many of the kids on the school bus had one of the early generation four games (Diamond/Pearl/Platinum). I would spend most bus rides watching the other kids play, until I got my own DS and Pokémon Pearl for my birthday. As for competitive battling, I knew I wanted to try it after watching the 2013 World Championships online. The thought of playing for a crowd excited me, and the prospect of having actual commentators and interviews seemed interesting.

What was the team you used at nationals?
My team at nationals was Mega Salamence, Focus Sash Breloom, Expert Belt Scizor, Sitrus Berry Volcarona, Choice Scarf Latios, and Life Orb Nidoqueen.

Why did you choose your uncommon Pokémon?
The problem with common Pokémon in VGC is that opposing teams become very intent on working to find ways to reliably beat them. The solution to this, in my opinion, is to use obscure Pokémon that are still competitive when run properly. Nidoqueen is a good example, as it has tons of potential, but still sees very little use. Opposing teams will have no pre-planned counters to my Nidoqueen, and oftentimes they are completely unprepared to face off against it-most opponents won’t remember base stats for these Pokémon going into battle, and I’ve also had more than one opponent tell me during the game that they forgot Nidoqueen’s types (Ground/Poison) and thus can’t predict its move set or know which types are super-effective against it.

What was your overall strategy for the finals?
After seeing his team, I knew that I immediately had to target his Breloom. Breloom knows Spore, and should be faster than four of my Pokémon. It also often carries Focus Sash, meaning it can’t be taken out in one hit. I decided he’d recognize Breloom was important and send it out as a lead in game one. I was able to take it out from game one before it could get any serious damage off, so I decided going into game two that he wouldn’t lead Breloom again, so I sent out Nidoqueen and Volcarona, which had a bad matchup against Breloom, but can take out any combination of his other five. Luckily I was correct, as he led Kangaskhan and Thundurus, without using Breloom at all.

Are there any improvements you might make if you used this team again?
One of my Latios’ moves was Heal Pulse, which wasn’t helpful. Not only did I never use it in the tournament, I never even used it in practice. The move I wanted was Draco Meteor, but I didn’t have time to acquire it in-game, considering I had to play through Omega Ruby just a few days before to even get Latios at all. I also should have replaced Salamence’s Dragon Claw with Dragon Dance (a fact I realized about a month before nationals). The only problem is that Dragon Dance is an egg move for Salamence, and I decided I would rather just use my Dragon Claw Salamence instead of breeding for and raising a new one with Dragon Dance.

Pokemon Midwest Regionals 2015-Masters VGC Winner

At last weekend's Pokemon Midwest Regional, I got a chance to talk to the Masters Division winner of the video game competition:



In the interview, we discuss his team, strategy, and the plushes he brought along.

Collin's Team:

-Cresselia
-Rhyperior
-Sylveon
-Thunderous
-Salamence
-Heatran

Pokemon US Nationals 2014: Senior Division Video Game Champion

Mackenzie Karouzos

The following is an interview with Mackenzie Karouzos, winner of the Seniors Division of the 2014 Pokémon Video Game US National Championship.

Where are you from?
My family has lived in several different states (Arizona, Illinois, Texas and Virginia), but we are currently living in Farmington, Illinois which is close to Peoria.

How did you get into Pokémon in general and competitive battling in specific?
My beginnings in the game can be traced back to the trading card game (TCG) when I was in third grade. My involvement was mostly collecting the trading cards with my friends at school. I never seriously considered playing the TCG, but it was fun learning about the Pokémon.

In 2009, I bought my first Nintendo DS Lite as well as the Platinum game. When I saw an advertisement on Pokemon.com for the 2009 National VGC being hosted in St. Louis near my home town I thought, “Great, that sounds like fun; I’ll go play in that competition.”

My knowledge of the game at that time was very basic-I was a true novice. No one on my team was EV-trained and only two members of my Pokémon team (Rapidash and Empoleon) were even at level 50! The other two Pokémon on my team included a level 39 Snover and a level 27 Luxio-not exactly what most people would call a powerhouse team. To make matters worse, I didn’t realize that in a double battle, Empoleon using Surf while next to Rapidash depleted 80% of Rapidash’s HP (poor Rapidash…), but the VGC event was fun and started my interest in competitive Pokémon play for future years.

What was the team you used for this tournament? Did it have a specific theme?
The Pokémon on my 2014 VGC National’s team were:

-Mega-Kangaskhan
-Mega-Venusaur
-Garchomp
-Salamence
-Rotom (Heat)
-Aegislash

I don't think good players need to build teams around a theme to be successful. Instead, good players need teams with some flexibility and balance to use team preview effectively and respond to opponent challenges. As a result, my team would be best described as a “good stuff” team.

Your team had multiple Pokémon that could Mega Evolve. How did you choose which one to use in each match? If you used both, how did you choose which one to Mega Evolve? 
Although I had two Megas on my team, I never selected both Megas for a particular battle. I always evaluated the opponent’s Pokémon in team preview and selected the best-suited Mega for that battle. For example, in my finals match, I could quickly see from team preview that two of my opponent’s Pokémon had the Intimidate ability (Scrafty and Mawile) plus Gothitelle’s Shadow Tag ability.  This team design allowed his team to be very effective against physical attacking Pokémon such as Kangaskhan. So with that in mind, it was an easy decision for me to select Mega-Venusaur each time for that match.

Your opponent in the finals had actually play-tested against your team prior to the tournament. How did that end up happening, and did that affect your strategy? 
I became frustrated with the team I was planning to use in the weeks leading up to the Nationals, so I made several changes which resulted in the team that I actually used in the tournament. As a result, I did not have much experience in using my new team, so I decided to contact him for assistance in play-testing my team two days before Nationals to get some of his insight. He agreed and created multiple test teams based on what he anticipated to be popular at Nationals, however he did not use the actual anti-physical attacking team that he played in Nationals to play-test my team. So although Zack was able to see my exact team while we play-tested it together, he did not necessarily know how I might use it if I were to compete against him in the tournament.

At the end of the second game, you had just your Rotom against two Pokémon, but you managed to knock out both to win the game and match. What went through your mind and how did you decide what to do? 
Despite what many people have said of that second match, I was quite happy when I reached that point. As I saw it, I had a Rotom at full health and he had a 30% Ludicolo and a 100% Mega-Mawile. I knew that Ludicolo did not have Protect and removing its threat of Scald from the game was optimal, even if I had to lose two stages on Rotom’s special attack by using Overheat. Since Rotom was carrying a Sitrus Berry, I knew I would survive a Sucker Punch or Play Rough from Mega-Mawile with sufficient HP remaining to win the match after knocking out Ludicolo.

Finishing off Mega-Mawile at that point was primarily a function of Rotom’s accuracy with Will-O-Wisp (85%) and Overheat (90%). As long as those two moves didn’t miss and as long as my opponent didn’t get two critical hits in a row, I knew I had the game. In this case both of my moves connected and I avoided a second critical hit to win the game.

What else did you do at Nationals this year?
Well, not too much. On the Friday night before the start of the VGC, my family watched the July 4th fireworks from the parking lot of the Indianapolis Colts’s stadium. We probably got to bed too late that evening and I was still feeling the lack of sleep during the first day of the VGC. When I made Top Cut the next day I made sure to get a good night’s sleep on Saturday night and felt sharp throughout the Top Cut portion of the tournament on Sunday. Overall, it was a great event and I enjoyed being able to see many Pokémon friends.