Crossing the Bar – A Malaysia Pokemon VGC 2015 Regional Top 10 Report @ Comic Fiesta 2015

Now that what felt like an extremely long and tiring yet very fun weekend for me is finally over, I guess its about time I get down to writing this post.

Last weekend on the 19th of December 2015, Malaysia had our first VGC Regionals of the 2015-2016 VGC season hosted withing Comic Fiesta which was Malaysia’s longest running as well as biggest Anime, Comics and Games convention. Even though VGC 2016 rules has already been announced, since it will not be implemented before the 1st of January 2016, this Regional still uses VGC 2015 rules though it awards Championship Points towards a Worlds 2016 invitation.

Players came from all over South East Asia to participate in the tournament. We had our usual Singaporean neighbours coming over to steal some CP, some Thais and Indonesians came as well. In fact top cut for the tournament was 4 Malaysians, an Indonesian, a Thai and two Singaporeans. I was told that we apparently had some Philippines in the tournament as well though I didn’t notice them which was unfortunate as it would have been great to get to know them and we had people from all 4 countries hanging out not only after the event but over the course of the next few days which is why I said that it was an extremely long and tiring yet fun weekend haha =D

Also I would like to mention that I spent the entire day before Regionals hanging out with the Thai and Indonesian players along with the other KL Raikous and spent the night playing Yu-Gi-Oh! against Ariff at the hotel haha. Yes Ariff, you can activate a normal magic card on the same turn that you set it =P

The turn player may Set a Normal Spell Card and activate it on the same turn

Okay now on to the tournament portion of this post,

Considering that I have had reasonably good results using this team throughout the entire post worlds 2015 season so far with an Australian Premier Challenge Win, top 31 at London Regional and 5th Place at an Elevated Malaysian Premier Challenge, I decided I would use the same team again since I’m obviously comfortable with using it at this point and trying a totally new team when all I needed was to play it safe and get decent placings at several events is all I needed to reach the 200 CP bar at this point means that taking risks is not what I wanted to do even though I’m perfectly aware of weaknesses of this team at this point. Nothing much changed from when I used it at London Regional except that I changed Shadow Ball on Sylveon to Hidden Power Ground in order to be able to hit Heatran and Mawile better. Knowing that we had 107 Masters in the tournament, our trusty swiss calculator showed us that if we want a guaranteed place in top cut, we will have to go for at least a 6-1 record in swiss or be that one person who depends heavily on resistance to cut.

The Team:

Khan Senpai (Kangaskhan) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
Level: 50
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Return
– Protect
– Sucker Punch
– Power-Up Punch

Kangaskhan, my go to Mega of VGC 2014 and VGC 2015 and probably what I’ll be using early VGC 2016 and maybe even throughout 2016 if I still find it to be extremely viable which it seems to be so far. I used to play an Adamant bulky set but after Worlds, this set just feels much better knowing that I’ll be faster than a lot of other Kangaskhans or at least speed tie with other Max speed ones. I do miss having Fake Out sometimes but being able to use Protect has helped me out in so many situations, its just much more better overall in my opinion. I’ve also gotten a bit better with finding opportunities to boost with Power-Up Punch which is why I went with Jolly max speed now rather than a bulky Adamant set which would have had more power at the start.

Click RSlide (Landorus-Therian) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 12 HP / 252 Atk / 92 Def / 4 SpD / 150 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Rock Slide
– Earthquake
– Knock Off
– Superpower

Nothing much to say here, standard Choice Scarf Landorus-T that survives a +1 Life Orb Sucker Punch from Bisharp while being faster than Weavile.

Moon Duck (Cresselia) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 224 HP / 60 Def / 188 SpA / 36 SpD
Calm Nature
– Psychic
– Ice Beam
– Helping Hand
– Trick Room

I copied the spread from Boomguy, here’s a little bit about what it can do:

• Survives Adamant Life Orb Bisharp’s Knock Off
• Survives Modest Life Orb Aegislash’s Shadow Ball
• Survives Modest Choice Specs Hydreigon’s Dark Pulse
• Survives Mega Gengar’s Shadow Ball
• OHKOes 4 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian with Ice Beam 15/16 times
• OHKOes 4 HP / 0 SpD Naive Mega Salamence with Ice Beam most of the time

#YOLOBIRD (Talonflame) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Brave Bird
– Flare Blitz
– Tailwind
– Protect

Standard Talonflame set, nothing much to say here, mainly added in due to the fact that my team needed some Fire type coverage as well I’ve been having trouble with some super bulky or fast fighting types and it also helps me take out opposing Amoonguss before they cause trouble.

Tailwind helps a lot if my opponent isn’t a Trick Room team or no longer have their Trick Room setter and is especially deadly after Kangaskhan or Sylveon has boosted themselves with Power-Up Punch or Calm Mind.

Hit Me!! (Amoonguss) (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 94 Def / 164 SpD
Bold Nature
– Giga Drain
– Rage Powder
– Spore
– Protect

I’ll be honest and say that I’m not sure what the EVs are for, I simply copied it from the Nuggetbridge Damage Calculator and when I tested it, I was quite satisfied with the bulk it had so I simply kept using it. I’ve won so many battles with Amoongus simply sporing majority of my opponent’s team or redirecting their attacks after Sylveon or Kangaskhan finish setting up that they just can’t take back momentum from me.

 

Nico Nico Ni (Sylveon) (F) @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Pixilate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 6 Def / 248 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
– Hyper Voice
– Protect
– Hidden Power [Ground]
– Calm Mind

Standard Sylveon, I used to have Shadow Ball instead of Hidden Power Ground though I changed it in order to be able to hit Heatran and Mawile better. If I could get a Calm Mind or two and then either set up tailwind or trick room, my opponents are going to be taking some huge dents in their team at Sylveon’s expense.

The tournament:

Round 1 Vs. Fadhlul Hadi [Arc Nova] (Malaysia)

[Ranked 84th with 2-5 in Swiss]

He brought:

I brought:

As soon as I saw Fadhlul’s team during team preview, I knew it would be interesting. I sat there scratching my head for a bit cause I didn’t remember anything at all about Drapion other than its typing (it took me a while to even remember its name). Typhlosion was also another source of a headache for me since I knew that its job would be to do something like spam eruption, but I didn’t remember its speed or how powerful of a special attack does it have so I was a bit uncomfortable to make certain plays that I could have otherwise easily made if I had properly known all those information. Pachirisu even though now no longer containing any surprise factors or the best follow me user unlike when Se Jun Park was using it in 2014, would also be quite the troublesome little critter. Nevertheless, I played safely and the match was very straightforward and ended with my first win of the day.

Overall Result: 1-0

Round 2 Vs. Yoko Taguma [Yoko ♣] (Singapore)

[Ranked 16th with 5-2 in Swiss]

She brought:

I brought:

Here’s a match-up that I dreaded. I knew that if I wanted to achieve a good ranking in this event I would have to battle with a number of famous players but I had hoped for that to happen at least not as soon as round 2 with the large pool of players at the event. This was way too soon. Anyway, going into team preview, I realised I’ve seen this team somewhere before, Yoko had posted this team before on her blog. Though at the time of the match, I had forgotten most of what the team did and I think the only thing I was certain of was that the Abomasnow was sashed and that the Mega Salamence is mixed. Though I also remember thinking that I have to play carefully as a lot of time has passed between then and now and she could very well have done quite a number of modifications to the team.

Anyway, things looked bad for me right from the get go, I did some poor plays and my team got dented so much that there was very little chance of coming back though I soldiered on. I was very surprised by the Sacred Sword coming from Aegislash but thankfully it failed to KO my Kangaskhan due to it being at -1 from intimidate. Halfway into the game, some calls that could have gone either way which was 50-50 turned the tide in my favor such as whether or not Yoko will do the same play of switching Salamence into Rotom-W or whether or not she would attempt to King Shield in front of my Talonflame after she had gotten her Weakness Policy Boost on Aegislash. Calling the switch into Rotom-W, I opted to HP Ground her Aegislash which activated the Weakness Policy when she failed to use King’s Shield due to using Wide Guard the previous turn and I was able to put a tailwind up. She choosing not to King’s Shield the next turn was crucial and I was able to take out Aegislash with Flare Blitz and take out the Rotom-W with a single target Hyper Voice. From there Landorus could take out her damaged Salamence with Rock Slide and Sylveon with Hyper Voice, the game was set as long as I didn’t miss any Rock Slides and I got my second win of the day.

Overall Result: 2-0

Round 3 Vs. Zain Khalid [Silver] (Malaysia)

[Ranked 8th Overall, finished swiss ranked at 8th place with a 5-2 Record]

He brought:

I brought:

I can’t catch a break can I. I dreaded this match up even more than the last. Zain was an incredibly strong player in Malaysian tournaments and has won a couple of Premier Challenges this season as well as top cut in another. He has also had considerable performance last season and even though I’ve always ended up with more Championship Points than him on the Malaysian leader-board in the past, I’ve lost majority of the battles we have had though this would be the first time ever that we would battle in an official event. We were also the “lucky” table number that would be featured on stream this round. Due to some earlier technical difficulties, we were the first on stream for the day. We were instructed to wait until about 10 minutes into the round before we could start our match which kinda annoyed us a bit as by that time, a large number of the other contestants would have finished their matches and would be able to gather information on our teams since we were being featured on several Television screens in the tournament area though we followed the instructions given to us since there’s not much we can do about that.

Going into team preview, I saw several things which my team would have an extremely hard time against, namely the Mega Mawile and Gothitelle which once trick room comes up, speels doom to my team. There’s really not much to say here about this match, I played poorly and a bit desperately against Zain which something that won’t work against a player like him. I was somehow able to navigate myself into getting a Power-Up Punch with my Kangaskhan late game which gave me a fighting chance even 1 Vs. 3 as long as his Mega Mawile which I was able to spore doesn’t wake up too fast though a scald burn from his Gastrodon destroyed any hope I had of winning the game and I have my first lost of the day. Every match from here on out has just increased in the level of importance as if I want to still make top cut, I can’t afford to lose even one more match.

Overall record 2-1

Round 4 Vs.Tze Han Teo [Flurk] (Malaysia)

[Ranked 58th with 3-4 in Swiss]

He brought:

I brought:

Ok, here’s another member of the KL Raikous. After the first round, I keep battling against people I know….I’ve known Teo for a long time now and even though he has not had much success in VGC besides from getting Top Cut in a recent Premier Challenge, he has much potential to surprise you as he does have all the knowledge as a competitive Pokemon player to do well at events unlike your average player.

So looking at Team Preview, I saw Khan Artist and I have no answer to that… so I guess I would just went with my usual lead and go from there. His first move was obvious enough once the match started so I switched Sylveon out for Amoongus for some Rocky Helmet damage on his Kangaskhan though surprisingly he didn’t go for the first turn Dark Void but Sheer Cold onto Cresselia from Smeargle. He used Dark Void afterwards and attempted to use Sheer Cold a couple more times though the RNG would not allow it, I was able to wake up fast with my Cresselia and bring Trick Room up, he missed a chance to preserve his Smeargle by attempting to use Sheer Cold instead of Dark Void to put my Cresselia back to sleep and that gave me a chance to get rid of it as well as Spore the Landorus that switched afterwards with Amoongus being super fast in Trick Room. He got a lot of burns from his Heat Wave but I guess the RNG decided not to be totally unfair by making him not hit his sheer colds and have a Rock Slide miss on my Sylveon which resulted in it being around to longer to help me finish off the match.

Overall Result: 3-1

“I could feel it, Dark Void was going to miss, so I clicked Sheer Cold instead” (Teo Tze Han 2015). Best quote of 2015.

Round 5 Vs. Jirawiwat Thitasiri [Karf] (Thailand)

[Ranked 13th with 5-2 in Swiss]

He brought:

I brought:

My next opponent would be the Legendary Jirawiwat. I’ve met him before during Nationals in Singapore and though I’ve never fought him before, I’ve heard tales of his magnificent Kecleon. Looking at his team, he has some unique choices namely the aforementioned Kecleon, a Mamoswine and a Cobalion which could be troublesome to deal with as its really physically bulky and can either be a special attacker or physical attacker due to its stats, when paired with Milotic, Cobalion could also provide some good defensive switches. I was also quite wary of Breelom. I’m not exactly sure what I should do against such a team really since you rarely face such unique team choices. Fighting against a team which has several members that could outspeed my team means that getting trick room up was vital in this match. From there, I could use Amoongus to spore most of his team which I did so that whatever their functions were, they won’t be able to carry them out properly. This was a success for me and I practically put his entire team besides Milotic to sleep and chip away at them before they could do anything to me and finish off the match from there. It was quite a straight forward match, but a scary one nevertheless and would also be much scarier if he got some one turn sleeps.

Overall Result: 4-1

Round 6 Vs. Quous Tee [Sora] (Malaysia)

[Ranked 14th with 5-2 in Swiss]

He brought:

I brought:

So far so good until I found out who my next opponent would be. My next opponent would be another member of the KL Raikous, Quous Tee. This match-up is a huge problem for me as I’ve used this same exact team I’m currently using in a Premier Challenge two weeks before Regionals and I had to play Quous in four battles in that Premier Challenge, once during swiss and in a Bo3 match during top cut, so right from the start, I’d be playing at a disadvantage as Quous would be much more familiar with information on my team though I’ve been playing with the assumption that people would know a number of information on my team since I appeared on stream earlier but Quous out of any other player in the tournament especially would be familiar with it.

So onto the match, there’s not much to say about the match really, it was a very straight forward match where I take one of your mon out, you take out one of my mon which goes on and on till the end. If you’re interested to watch the match, you’re more than welcomed to watch the video below. His last choice of taking out my Landorus with Hidden Power Ice after I used Superpower on his Kangaskhan was a bit questionable and allowed my Sylveon to take out his Heatran with Hidden Power Ground. Though I could have taken a Heat Wave even at that point and still survived and be able to take him out next turn even if Sylveon went down to a Heat Wave though it would have been all up to damage rolls if he had decided to Sucker Punch my Landorus that turn and the RNG would be deciding the winner if he had gone for that move. So I took this game.

Sitting at 5-1, I’m guaranteed to be in the top 32 at least which would guarantee me Championship Points for this tournament which was a major relief as I’ll be much closer to a world invite even if things go downhill in the final match though I’ve gone this far, I’m not about to relax too much yet as I’ve still got a chance at top cut if I win the next round.

Overall Record: 5-1

Round 7 Vs. Chaiyawat Traiwichcha [Nontaro] (Thailand)

[Ranked 7th overall, finished swiss ranked at 6th place with a 6-1 record]

He brought:

I brought:

The moment of truth, whomever wins this match will have a record of 6-1 which guarantees him a place in the Top 8 Cut while whoever loses needs to depend on resistance for one of two things, being that one last person to be in top cut or failing that, have enough resistance to be in the top 16 rather than top 32 as top 16 will receive 92 Championship Points Vs. 56 Championship Points for the top 32. Being in Top Cut or the Top 16 would safely put me over the 200 Championship Points bar for a Worlds Day 1 Invite.

I’ve actually battled Chaiyawat quite a number of times since after Nationals as he’s quite active in asking for battles online so I know that this match is definitely going to be a tough one which isn’t so great on the nerves. So again, once we went into team preview, I see quite a standard team which means two things, probably won’t be seeing much surprises and its gonna be a hard and close battle. I went with my Landorus-Kangaskhan lead to be able to put out as much damage as I hopefully can from the get go with Cresselia and Sylveon at the back. Failing to take out his Heatran with my Power-Up Punch follow up after a Superpower was crucial and I forgot about Overheat the next turn which is why I kinda left it alone that turn which resulted in me losing my Kangaskhan. Taking the risk of him targeting the Cresselia slot or predicting my Protect on Sylveon in the face of an obvious Fake Out was also another risky play which didn’t end well for me. I had very little chance for recovery after that and Chaiyawat sure wasn’t going to give me an opening for one either and so I lost Round 7 bringing me to an overall record of 5-2. Congratz again Chaiyawat for making top cut.

Overall Record 5-2

With Zain who was sitting nearby telling me that he lost this round as well, I knew that I won’t have enough resistance to get myself into top cut and sure enough I ended up bubbling at 10th.

and with that, my regional run ended with me finishing at 10th place providing with 92 Championship Points bringing me to a grand total of 219 CP, safely above the 200 CP bar making me again the first Malaysian and only Malaysian so far to qualify for Worlds (though with the way the season is going so far, I’m quite sure a number of my friends will be joining me as world qualifiers soon and I won’t have to be the only Malaysian VG player at worlds next year unlike this year, yeay \0/ ).

See you all at San Francisco and I’m looking forward to VGC 2016 and let’s see how far I can go in that format.

Also thanks to Wilson and his team for organising the event and also thanks to the Comic Fiesta 2015 Committee for being such generous venue sponsors as well as supporting the Pokemon community for several years now. Also thanks everyone for the wonderful and fun time as well as all the nice memories.

Picture of “Team Bubbles” at the 2015 Malaysia VGC Regionals 2015 (Those who ranked 9th to 16th that didn’t have enough resistance to get into the top 8).