A Birmingham Premier Challenge Report: The MS State Invasion

So a few weeks before the tournament, I got about 8 people say they were interested in going to the premier challenge, but a few days before 4 of them were either involved in a home game (football), or didn't want to go because the word 'competitive' in the same sentence as 'Pokemon' tends to scare people off. I've been working on using 'tournament' and 'friendlies' instead of the 'c' word; it's honestly very surprising how much more people become interested when I use them instead.

Anyway, I ended up having 4 people plus myself packed in a tiny Prius (a small car, basically), whose names were Sam, Alex, Marissa, and Aubrey. The latter three are new players who didn't really know what they were doing competitively, with Alex not knowing how Sucker Punch worked and what Safety Goggles did, and Marissa and Aubrey were about on the same level as one another (Marissa used an in-game team, Aubrey thought Stealth Rock was good enough to build a team around). Sam can make good plays in a vacuum, but isn't used to tournaments and probably has trouble teambuilding. I know these guys will probably read this, and if you guys are, I think you might already know this! If you gotta problem with that, you know where I live...........................

My team was netdecked straight off Pokemon.com. I used Wolfe's Nationals team, except I used weird EV spreads that I didn't change from other teams, like an inefficient Milotic spread, a speedy/bulky Kangaskhan (it was actually good), and a Modest Thundurus because I like my Thunderbolt nice and powerful.

Kangaskhan - Landorus-T - Heatran -  Thundurus - Amoonguss - Milotic
Model 20XX -  Demeteros - Heatstroke - KERSHOCKER - Mycelia - MILO

Yeah, basic Kang stuff. I didn't go into it with high expectations, but I was confident in my ability to make THE PLAYS. Another goal of the trip was to help the gang have a good time and a good first impression of the tournament scene.

The ride up was pretty smooth, with everyone entertaining themselves nicely; Sam helped Aubrey and Alex with their teams (Alex was going to use a different team, but hadn't beaten the game and had trouble getting items and leveling), and Marissa got shotgun and helped me operate the GPS. Despite my constant pit-stops to use the bathroom, we made good time and got there about two hours before the tournament started, so we went to find something to eat. Finding somewhere took about an hour (a lot of shops didn't open until 11), and then it took about an hour to gas up and have lunch at a deli.

We got back to Excelsior!, talked with the TO, found some old faces who I'd faced in Nats or other Regionals, and everyone got registered in a timely manner. Everyone except for Aubrey. It's about this time when Aubrey starts freaking out a little about his team not being leveled, EV'd, and being like, level 1 in general. So we go a little overtime (the TO, being infinitely patient) by about 20 minutes getting his team over level 50 and the right moves, but Aubrey basically went into the tournament with EV-less Pokemon despite being in the back seat with his DS out for the two hour drive up. It's alright though, since the tournament went amazingly smooth otherwise. (Thanks again for this, guys!) There were 17 people entered, 5 of which was us!

Anyway, I noticed a few faces missing from the crowd, namely Jake Muller who is/was probably the best player in the mid-south, and a few players in that general crowd who I see at Gulf Port PCs. I remember thinking this'll be easier than I thought it would be. Spoiler alert: I only lost one game the entire day.

Round 1: Vs. Alex

Kangaskhan Suicune Landorus-T Thundurus Amoonguss Heatran

This team would be threatening if he knew how to play it better. And if his Thundurus wasn't so frail. I remember not bringing my Kangaskhan and his Kang basically killing itself with Double-Edge (he wanted Return, but his Kang wasn't friendly enough), but otherwise I win 3-0.

Round 2: Vs. Swellow Dude

Conkeldurr Meowstic-M Swellow Hydreigon Politoed Manectric

I'm so glad this guy didn't have Ludicolo. That thing is annoying (not necessarily good, either). He made a pretty good Manectric switch-in on my Thundurus, but my Milotic's rain-boosted Scald crit regular Manectric, and then I paralyzed everything and got a bunch of full paralyses to rub salt in the wound. He didn't use Swellow unfortunately, but I did learn in this battle that Psyshock activates Maranga Berry.

Round 3: Vs. YouTube Guy

Kangaskhan Klefki Rotom-W Terrakion Aegislash Gardevoir

This guy had a YouTube channel, but I don't remember what it was. Thundurus got to paralyze everything besides the Rotom, which went down pretty easily because it didn't have a Sitrus (iirc, the Klefki had it), Modest Thundurus was strong, and he didn't conserve it at all besides Protecting on turns where I focused on other Pokemon. Gardevoir was paralyzed a lot, which definitely helped against Klefki, but other than that he didn't have a lot to deal with the Heatran+Amoonguss endgame besides maybe the Low Kick Kangaskhan which he didn't bring.

Round 4: Vs. Sam

Salamence Rhyperior Thundurus Heatran Sylveon Cresselia

Sam had the same idea as me to netdeck powerful trainers (link). Unfortunately for him, I happened to pack a huge threat to his team: Milotic. I kinda whiff taking out his Heatran early because I was predicting him to play a little more carefully with it, but he kept it in and spammed Helping Hand Heat Waves for a turn or two. During this battle, I discover that his Heatran is slower and has Safety Goggles, which is pretty key because at this point both of us were undefeated and had a good chance of making top cut.

Round 5: Vs. Marty Colby

Hydreigon Raichu Azumarill Tornadus Landorus-T Metagross

I remember this guy's name; he gave me a run for my money in top cut. Actually, I take that back: I kinda just looked up his name on the tournament results and I'm not 100% sure this is his name. In this game though, I kind of steamroll him as he leads Raichu Azumarill (?) against my Thundurus Kangaskhan (?) and double-target Azumarill with Taunt and Return to deny Belly Drum. It works and I basically sweep from there, but unfortunately I didn't get much information on his team except that his Tornadus is basically a Thundurus with a Flying move, which makes sense to get rid of Amoonguss if you're planning a Belly Drum sweep. I take some bad notes on his team though, writing down 7 Pokemon before realizing I had written down Azumarill twice. Oops.

So Sam and I are in Top Cut. Between rounds I make sure to check on the gang to see how everyone's holding up and if they're having a good time, which I think was the case, especially considering 3/4 of them got some sweet door prizes. I pick up a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic (which I still haven't read) to help support the shop. Everything's going smoothly, and it's only been like 2-3 hours (I don't remember exact timeframes)! And we're in Top Cut already!

Top Cut: Vs. A Rain Team

Politoed Ludicolo Kangaskhan Scizor Braviary Hydreigon

Game one, I quickly discover that Ludicolo has Assault Vest and Politoed isn't Scarfed, so I'm not scared of his Rain leads anymore. Thundurus paralyzes everything, and then Kangaskhan hits Ludicolo and it dies (pretty sure he wasn't using a good EV spread there, or maybe AV Ludicolo is just a bad rain abuser... It's probably the latter). Scizor reveals Life Orb. Braviary doesn't do anything.

Game two, he brings his rain leads again and we make basically the same plays, except this time he brings Kangaskhan. He reveals he's running fast, Low Kick/Double Edge Kangaskhan, which is neutered with Thundurus because his rain leads fail to remove it (REMOVE GENIES) with Ice Beam because my Thundurus knows Protect.

Semifinals: Vs. Marty Colby again

Hydreigon Raichu Azumarill Tornadus Landorus-T Metagross

Game one went a lot like our previous encounter, except this time he uses Tornadus and I get to see a lot of its tricks. Metagross has Substitute and no Earthquake. Azumarill Belly Drums itself into the red and gets a double protect, forcing me to sac my Thundurus, but I still win the game somehow. Oh yeah, I discover that he's running a slow Landorus-T because my 36 Speed Thundurus outsped it.

Game two, he plays his Azumarill a lot better. He bluffed an Azumarill/Raichu setup, got a good Substitute with Metagross, etc. I remember getting pooped on this game because I was expecting similar plays to what I've been seeing all day, i.e., I was just making safe plays all day and not getting punished for any of them. But kudos for making some huge adjustments to his playstyle unlike my previous opponent. I didn't save the battle video for this, but if he's reading this and has the battle video, he should send it to me so I can upload it to YouTube. ;) winky face ;)

Game three... I saved the battle video! Here it is, folks!

Basically, I kind of run the gauntlet of Swagger and Scald Burns and get the better end of it for the most part, but there is still some mind gaming going on here. I mess up slightly at times such as when I Scald Azumarill when it would've died to Burn anyway, but other than that a big game changer was knowing that his Landorus-T was slower than both my Kangaskhan and Heatran. Also, I wasn't expecting Hurricane, especially without him Rain Dancing first (which he revealed in our Swiss game, I think).

All in all, great player with a team he looked comfortable using. OK, maybe not so much the team (I don't think highly of Hydra+Metagross teams), but he definitely pulled off an impressive game two as I remember it.

Finals: Vs. Sam again

Salamence Rhyperior Thundurus Heatran Sylveon Cresselia

Both games go smoothly for me. Sorry Sam, but they weren't as good as Marty's. I saved both games, so I could probably go into detail about them, but basically if you had netdecked Toxic Cresselia as well, Milotic probably wouldn't have sat on your team. Also I remember thinking you wouldn't bring Sylveon to one of your games because in Swiss we were talking about how it couldn't take your Salamence's Return, so I figured you'd be scared of Kang's Return by extension. Basically though, you need to practice making safe plays imo!!

After the tournament, we continue our search for a good place to eat before hitting the road again. Instead of spending an hour tinkering with Alex's terrible GPS, we drive in one direction to pick out an eats joint. Miraculously, Hoover has a Steak 'N Shake, allowing us to uphold THE TRADITION. One of the waiters played competitive Pokemon too, but didn't know about the Premier Challenge. Truly, there is something magical about this place. Aubrey, having barely eaten anything all day, inhales a burger, most of my fries, and I think two milkshakes. Marissa's been quiet most of the day, but she seemed pretty happy with the day. Alex and Sam discuss their teams.

After that, I forget to turn my headlights on for a while and everyone uses the rest of their DSs' batteries on Mario Kart. After everyone scaring the shit out of me (I say this figuratively, but it was being close to being literally because a lot of 18-wheelers were on the road at the time) while merging when blue shells and whatnot hit people, I make everyone be quiet until we get back on the proper highway. This measure was largely unnecessary because everyone's DSs die at about the same time, though.

There's some singing on the way back (mostly by me), some DBZ Abridged, and some reminiscing on the day's events. Everyone gets back safe and sound at about 10 pm, just in time for Marissa to catch Toonami. I have to admit when I said at first we'd make it back in time for it I was lying a little bit, but it turns out I could keep that promise after all.

So everyone had a good time and I pick up a sweet 30 CP. I look forward to more premier events from the Birmingham league! And maybe... you should look forward to premier events in Mississippi!?

OK, so the next season of Battle Spot will be including past gen Pokemon, so I probably won't be using it to practice VGC, unless the rules come out for next season and they're the same as Battle Spot. I don't think anything included with the non-pentagon ruleset will be game-breaking per se, but my real issue with it is that currently the ruleset for Fall regionals and Battle Spot aren't the same.

It'd be different if they made one little change, like banning Dark Void and Minimize altogether and I could just ignore any Dark Void cheese I come across while practicing, but now we have new threats that aren't consistent with the current format, like a better Landorus-I and Defiant Thundurus-I, (no, you shouldn't be scared of Tornadus as long as gems aren't around). I don't have a solid opinion on Eruptran and Seismic Toss Kangaskhan, but outside of that, it'll be a slightly different metagame, and in turn will reinforce bad meta calls and habits.

Will I still hop on for a little general practice? Sure. Will I use it as extensively as I have been? Nah. I can always just find people to practice against and duke it out on Showdown, after all. But I think the real issue here is how easy it is for TPCi to just... not have an official ladder for their official rules (which is ridiculous, by the way). Actually obtaining the past gen Pokemon is one thing (and is another discussion), but does anyone remember last format when we had a gap in time without a VGC Battle Spot ladder? Before a major tournament season, no less? If we go down that route, it'll be another story of Pokemon, and perhaps Nintendo as a whole, taking a step forward and then turning around and stepping back.

But at least Magmar will be usable, right guys?

A regular 'ol Battle Spot Battle

Here's a battle from today that I'm a little proud of. The other Pokemon my opponent had were Politoed and Thundurus.

A few notes:

• First, I won the battle. I was starting to timerstall the 12 minutes that we had remaining away, and my opponent recognized this and forfeited. He might've still been able to win if I ran out of Wide Guard PP (I didn't max it out) before the last turn, which was entirely possible. Earthquake would've knocked me below his HP if not straight out KO'd.
• Second, the turn where I revealed Wide Guard was super nerve racking. Amoonguss has little to no SpD investment, so that Psychic probably had a 60% chance to KO or something. 
• I think I screwed up a little by not focusing on Bisharp a little more. The guy didn't have anything that could straight up OHKO it, so targeting down Bisharp would've been the better play, even if he had brought Politoed.
• My other two Pokemon are Politoed and Landorus-T. Super standard I know, but I've decided I'm going to just deal with being super standard in the interest of not having to worry with teambuilding and blaming the team for my losses. I'll save complicated teams for tournaments.

I got a little notepad to write down teams and turn counts recently. Haven't been using it, but it's something I need to get in the habit of. Maybe I'll stream sometime this labor day weekend, too.

Thanks for reading!