Exhausted after a long week, I almost didn't make the three-hour trek home. I had everything packed and ready to go, but paused momentarily at the door. It would have been easy to take it easy and rest up for the weekend, but I quickly dismissed the thought -- I could do it. I could make the drive. Besides, it was the least I could do for my parents. As expected, my mom was thrilled to see me for her birthday (which coincidentally is the day Mewtwo was born).
My mom and Mewtwo aren't related.
The following day was also a big day -- the Super Bowl. The game was more background noise for me, but there was one commercial I wanted to watch. I've already seen it, but I wanted to see my folks' reaction. After all, they were the ones who allowed me to go on this crazy Pokémon journey in the first place.
The 20th anniversary commercial made its TV premiere, and it was everything I knew it would be. Inspiring, motivational, uplifting -- judging from my mom and dad's reaction, it seemed to have captured their imagination. Of course, my dad and brother made some small quips about our past VGC days, but it was all in good fun.
What resonated with us was the phrase "I can do that." I remember saying something similar to myself when I started the drive home. I remember saying something similar whenever I have a ton of assignments and try to squeeze one more in. Heck, I'm saying it right now as I type this up, trying to stop myself from falling asleep on the keyboard! Everyone in the commercial saw someone do the impossible and challenged themselves to accomplish greatness for themselves. That's how I felt at least, so I wanted to share that with my parents.
So, in the spirit of Pokémon's 20th anniversary, I'm going to train on. That means making new posts, as opposed to the one last year. That means getting out there to face new challenges. That means pushing my limits even further to achieve new goals. It's a huge commitment, but I'm ready to be the very best like no one ever was. Soon, I'll change "I can do that" to "I did do that."
Yes, I know that half the year’s almost over and this is my
first blogpost for 2015. You might be wondering, “Smiles, what’s the hold up?”
Well, it’s this little thing called life. Between work, moving to a new
city, and all sorts of other craziness, I haven’t had much time to play
Pokémon. I know right! It makes me angrier than a Primeape!
Missing out on way too much Pokémon, I needed to fix that
pronto! So when the latest challenge was announced, I was determined to compete.
I’m familiar with Little Cup, but I honestly haven’t played
it since Stadium 2. Basically, only Pokémon who are the lowest line in their
evolutionary family are allowed. So that means you can use Pokémon like Charmander or
Bidoof, but not Kangaskhan or Pachirisu. With not much time to work
with, I went with the simplest team building strategy: Use everything that’s
banned on Smogon’s Little Cup! Hate all you want, but it was an effective strategy.
…Or I thought it was anyways. As fate would have it, I didn’t
have time to get a full party of six ready and had to settle what was in my
box. So after a quick scramble, I got my bad girls ready for battle!
Introducing the Gross Sisters!
The basic team borrowed some elements from my past
strategies. Since Scyther was the hardest hitter, her job was to cut down as
much of the opposing team as possible. Afterwards, I’d U-Turn to Murkrow, who’d
set up Perish Song to end game. Tentacool was more or less there to take hits,
and also because I had no other Pokémon ready. The other three in the battle box were just filler
to confuse the opponent. At a glance, the team had a big weakness to electric
moves, but I hardly saw any Electric-Types.
I knew that I’d be encountering many Scythers and Sneasals,
but I was quite surprised to run into things like Onix! While 45 base attack
and 70 base speed doesn’t seem impressive, that’s quite a powerhouse for Little
Cup standards! Tentacool actually served as a decent check, but a costly
misprediction sealed up the game.
But nothing could have prepared me for the Minister of Doom,
the Archangel of Destruction, the Harbinger of Death.
Priority Acrobatics hurts
After a series of losses, I got the hang of things and knew
more or less what to expect. With a better grasp of the metagame, I was able to
pull off some decent wins - - with Lady Luck’s help of course.
While only having three Pokémon severely limited my options, I did
pretty well. I barely squeaked out a win with a 10-8 win. Ranked in the top 30%
isn’t bad either, but there’s always room for improvement. Still, it was great
getting back into competitive play and learning about a new metagame. Despite
the lack of prep time, my girls carried.
Walking away with a 2,151 rating isn't so bad, but I'll do better next time!
After school, my friends and I would take our Pokémon
binders up to my treehouse and marvel at our collection. Mainly buying packs to
look at the pretty pictures, we hadn’t the faintest idea how to actually play
the Pokémon Trading Card game. Usually we’d put down cards and yell out attacks
without any regard to energy costs, evolutions, or prize cards. For years, I’d
continue to buy packs just to look at the pretty pictures until Pokémon
released TCG Online back in the Black and White era. Realizing how much fun the
actual game was, I quickly gathered my stockpile of old cards to build decks.
Needless to say, there aren’t many players that stick to the old base set. The
best place to get my old-school fix was with the Gameboy Pokémon TCG game, but
was more elusive than Mew thanks to its rarity and unusually high price. That
is, until now thanks to its release on the 3DS Virtual Console this past week.
Pikachu, the Science Pokémon.
The story of the Pokémon TCG game is pretty simple. You’re a
card player sent on a journey to collect the 8 medals from club leaders to
challenge the 4 grandmasters and eventually defeat your rival to inherit the
legendary cards and become the champion. Wait…isn’t this basically the same
story as Red and Blue? At least there’s no evil team trying to steal people’s
cards, but Imakuni’s creepy enough to be considered evil in my opinion. And
what the heck is up with the Science Club? Every other club is based on a
Pokémon type, but I can’t wrap my head around why they would have a
science-themed club. Don’t tell me they plan to release a new Science-Type
Pokémon.
Navigating the menus takes some getting used to.
The Pokémon TCG game serves as a decent intro for the card
game. At the beginning, Sam the lab assistant plays a practice duel with you.
The practice duel goes through the basic steps of how to win, but since I
played the card game before I just breezed through it. One thing I noticed was
that the tutorial wasn’t as thorough as I’d expect. For instance, the practice
duel doesn’t go into details about special conditions like paralysis and
poison. There are some guides outside the practice duel that you can read
in-game, but who wants to do that! The practice duel is mainly handy to
familiarize yourself with the interface. The Gameboy can’t fit the entire play
area onscreen, so it’s somewhat harrowing to navigate through menus without
some practice.
Like my adventure in Pokémon Red, I started my journey by
picking Bulbasaur…or in this case the Bulbasaur and Friends deck. Fun fact,
this deck contained Venusaur, my all-time favorite card. I mentioned it on a
past post but I have a Base Set Venusaur in real life that I got from the same friend I use to have treehouse battles with. Originally, the idea was to get
Venusaur out as quickly as possible and abuse Energy Trans to switch Grass
energies around. Unfortunately, evolution wasn’t the solution as setting up
took way too much time. I’d find myself on the receiving end of Blastoise’s
Rain Dance infused shenanigans before I could even evolve to Ivysaur. I’d have
to adopt a new deck, and that meant abandoning Venusaur.
It's not me, it's you. Sorry buddy.
You can't escape my Special Punch!
A while back, I remember reading about a “Haymaker” deck and
thought about building one for myself. Basically, Haymaker decks consist of big
basic Pokémon like Scyther, Electabuzz and Hitmonchan. While it might seem like
an odd combination with no real type synergy, a Haymaker deck is quite
devastating thanks to its quick setup time. Pokémon in a Haymaker deck feature
strong attacks with very little energy cost, so Hitmonchan can start hitting
right off the bat for 20 damage. While that might not sound as impressive as
Charizard’s Fire Spin for 100, keep in mind it takes a minimum of 2 turns if
you got all the right cards in hand. By the time your first Charizard is ready
to go, Hitmonchan knocked out 3 other Pokémon and you now trail significantly
behind in the prize card count. Because of their aggressive playstyle, Haymaker
decks pretty much shut down
every other strategy. The early metagame of the TCG was dominated by big
basics, which is kind of a reflection of today’s metagame with cards like
Mewtwo-EX. While there are better cards and new rules to help counter big basics, the early
metagame certainly wasn’t balanced. Pretty much every Pokémon was Hitmonchan’s
punching bag. And to think, back in the day I had every card needed to make a
formidable Haymaker deck in real life!
You're lucky you have a good theme, jerk!
After cutting the competition with Scyther, clobbering my
way to the top with Hitmonchan, and (insert dumb electric pun) with Electabuzz,
I managed to beat the 4 Grandmasters when SURPRISE SURPRISE, my rival Ronald
already beat them and I have to defeat him to inherit the legendary cards. I used to think Gary was a jerk, but this guy takes it to a whole new level. Seriously
dude we’re playing a children’s card game, no need for the smack talk. I kicked
his sorry butt anyways thanks in part to his wide array of Normal-Types that
are extremely weak to Hitmonchan. After about 10 hours of my weekend, I claim
the overhyped legendary cards for myself and my journey is over.
Looking back, Pokémon TCG felt a little too easy. Granted, a
Haymaker deck really is overpowered, but I just didn’t feel satisfied with my
victory. With Virtual Console titles on the 3DS, a lack of multiplayer features means you’re stuck challenging the
same computers so there’s not much variety in battles. Still, it was a joy to visit this blast from the past. I gained an appreciation for the fun, albeit broken, origin of the Pokémon TCG.
Namco and Pokémon officially announced their marriage of
fighting games and Pokémon, two of my favorite things in video games, and I
couldn’t be more excited! Pokkén Tournament, a mix of Tekken gameplay with
Pokémon, is planned for an arcade release for Japan in 2015. There’s no
confirmation of a console release yet, but judging by Namco’s history of
releasing fighters like Tekken on arcades first, it’s safe to assume a console
release is inevitable. Worried that Pokkén Tournament will remain a
Japan-exclusive? Pokémon Conquest was a cross-over between Pokémon and Nobunaga’s
Ambitions, which is a rarely known series outside of Japan. If that got an
international release, I’m sure Pokkén Tournament will.
The first trailer
show Lucario and Machamp duking it out in the countryside. A flurry of punches
an Aura Spheres are thrown in this otherwise peaceful backdrop. While Pokkén
Tournament’s fighting style is similar to Tekken, there also seems to be a hint
of Dragon Ball Z fighting games like Raging Blast. In one scene, Lucario’s back
is completely turned to the camera as he wales on Machamp. While characters in
Tekken can circle around an opponent, their back never turns completely against
the camera. Taking cues from DBZ fighting games might be a good way to balance
the projectile-based attacks used in Pokémon.
Side-by-side comparison of Pokkén Tournament and DBZ Raging Blast
Ready to bust a move! Credit to Zweilous on Tumblr
Character selection make or break a fighting game, which
Namco in the past has handled well. We already know that Lucario, Machamp, and
Blaziken (teased at the Pokémon Game Show in 2013) are confirmed, so there’s definitely
an emphasis on Fighting-type Pokémon. With that in mind, Hitmontop and
Heracross would be my top choices for contenders. Yes, I’ll admit my choice is
biased due to being my favorite Fighting-types, but they would bring welcome
diversity. Hitmontop just screams Eddy Gordo! Heracross could play a mixed set, utilizing
physical contact moves like Close Combat in his normal form, and then Mega
Evolve to use more projectile attacks like Pin Missile.
If he can fight in Smash Bros, he can fight here
Hopefully, Pokkén Tournament will expand its roster to
include more than Fighting-type Pokémon. It’d be a shame to miss out on
powerhouses like Charizard and Tyranitar. It wouldn’t even take much to imagine
their moveset. They got claws, they got a big tail, Charizard can fly and
breathe fire, Tyranitar can throw rocks and cause earthquakes, they got all
they need to be perfect fighters. Other hopefuls for me include Greninja,
Mewtwo, and Shiftry.
*UPDATE: Pokkén Tournament producer Katsuhiro Harada
confirmed via Twitter that other types besides Fighting will be
represented. There's hope for Charizard!
Tekken does a great job of including joke characters like
Kuma and Roger Jr. and still making them play well. At first, I couldn’t think
of a Pokémon that would work well in this game while being somewhat of a joke.
Then it hit me, like a stick to the head.
Farfetch'd!
It’s not a farfetched concept to imagine. Farfetch’d could
use his stick to attack, kick up dirt with Sand-Attack, and peck things with
his bill. The hype would be unreal if Farfetch’d won EVO! While the final
decision of characters is up to Pokémon and Namco, a man can dream. But Farfetch’d
would be pretty sweet.
While there isn’t much information, I’d expect in the coming
months to hear more about Pokkén Tournament and what the King of the Pokémon
Fist Tournament will bring. I’m excited about the first Pokémon fighting game,
and know it’ll do well in Namco’s hands.
Pokémon Worlds. In a sense, it’s like challenging the Elite
Four and Champion at the Pokémon League. The countless hours training are put
to the test fighting against the best of the best. There’s no turning back, you
can only hope for the best with the team you brought and just keep moving
forward. While I didn’t attend this year’s competition, I enjoyed watching the
stream and seeing how much the community has evolved since my last foray in
2011. Pokémon Worlds offers the highest level of play, so how does one prepare
for the biggest battles and become a Pokémon Master in real life?
The coveted Worlds trophy. They even give you a card!
Know the game. This goes beyond knowing what moves are super
effective. It’s about knowing the trends of the metagame and what to expect
before the first Pokéball is sent out. Looking at player statistics from Pokémon's Global Link, Charizard
ranks as one of the top used Pokémon in doubles. Thanks to its useful Mega Evolutions, Charizard is a force to reckon with. When building
your team, ask yourself “what do I have to take down this threat?” If you don’t
have a good answer, go back to the drawing board. It’s impossible to deal with
every threat, but be prepared for the common ones like Charizard, Kangaskhan, and
Garchomp. Plan on using a Charizard of your own? Know ways people tend to
counter it and address those issues. Maybe have a Wide Guard user to stop Rock Slide, speed control like Icy Wind or Tailwind so Charizard
outspeeds opponents, Pokémon like Marowak who can switch in and redirect Electric moves that threaten Charizard, things like that.
Do you have a plan in case of Charizard?
Once you know the metagame; take past assumptions and
turning them upside their head. A great example of this is Germany’s Markus Lie
and his Machamp. When one sees a Machamp in Team Preview, they’ll most likely
come to the conclusion that:
·Machamp will abuse No Guard and Dynamicpunch to
spread confusion with a strong move
·Machamp will support his teammates with Quick
Guard and/or Wide Guard
·Machamp will be slow yet bulky and physically
strong
Markus’ Machamp went against convention to emphasize speed
over power and support. By holding a Choice Scarf, Machamp was able to outspeed
threats like Charizard before they could hit first. Many Charizard players,
including myself, are familiar with Wide Guard stopping Heat Wave. One way to
stop this is to single-target Machamp, letting it waste its turn with Wide
Guard while I knock it out. With Machamp out of the way, I can continue to spam
Heat Wave for game. So you happily hit the Air Slash or Overheat button only to
have Machamp knock you out before you can move.
Look how fast he goes!
But the surprises don’t stop
there. Instead of No Guard and Dynamicpunch, Markus’ Machamp uses Guts and
Close Combat. While usually an inferior choice, the current metagame makes it a
superior option. As I mentioned earlier, Kangaskan is a huge threat. One of the
ways to deal with physical hitters is to deliver a burn to half their attack
power. For this reason, Rotom is a prominent Pokémon thanks to Will-o-Wisp and
other support moves in its arsenal. Naturally, one would burn Machamp to weaken
it, and this is true if it was the No Guard variant. However, Guts actually boosts Machamp’s attack when afflicted
with a status effect. Players will instinctively burn Machamp, only to make
Machamp even stronger. A hindrance for physical attackers becomes an advantage
for Machamp, and the choice of Guts over No Guard is a great metagame call from
Markus.
Competing in live events differs from online competitions
due to human interaction. While it might seem weird to have a “strategy” for
it, human interaction can prove either helpful or hurtful depending on the way
you look at it and should be something to keep in mind before going into
battle. For one thing, you don’t want to go blabbing your mouth about how
trainers won’t anticipate your “Choice Specs Gyarados” only to have your
strategy fall flat on its face.
Quit your blabbing and start battling!
That example seems obvious, but even subtle
hints before you fight can be detrimental. During VGC Nationals 2013, one
trainer I fought was talking up about one Pokémon on his team no one really
expects. During Team Preview, I saw an Electabuzz and thought “he’s probably
means that.” Sent out my Landorus first turn and “surprisingly”, he led with Electabuzz
who immediately ran tail.
Of course, one could argue that someone could bluff
you with prebattle talks, so it’s best to avoid those mind games to begin
with. I find it helpful to introduce myself, shake hands, and maybe throw in
light banter to help people relax. During battles, it’s all focus. I don’t say
much and tend to just look at my screen when making moves. At the end, I’ll
extend my hand for another hand shake and compliment my opponent (Good
prediction with your Abomasnow’s Safeguard!). When you’re less nervous, it’ll help you think
clearer in battles, so have a plan to go in with a calm mind. Raise your
Special Attack and Special Defense by one stage!
Be calm young one.
Probably the most helpful advice I can give is practice. A
LOT. Coming up with winning strategies doesn’t happen by only reading articles
online or watching a few matches. You can only level up through experience. In
a previous blog post, I mentioned how Kangaskhan caused significant problems
for my team. So I battled and failed, multiple times, until I could finally secure a
strategy to effectively take her down. I might not have a trophy of my own, but I don't plan on giving up anytime soon. It took Se Jun Park, the current World Champion, five years to
finally claim his title. Any champion can tell
you their success comes from their failures. So never give up! Go out there and
battle to become the very best like no one ever was!
It's a normal day in Pokemon X. I hatch some eggs, Wondertrade, battle online, and hatch some more eggs. Just as I'm about to grab more eggs to hatch, I get a challenge from Andy, a person I recently Wondertraded with. My main team was built for doubles, but I usually don't get challenges so I say what the heck and accept his singles challenge.
It was a back-and-forth match and I'm about to deliver the final blow to his Gyarados. Right before my Conkeldurr lands the final Mach Punch, I get this:
Yep, Andy couldn't handle the loss and disconnects on me. I spent 20 minutes in a battle only to have some jerk disconnect on me. Now, I've had my fair share of disconnects from trainers in the past, but this particular match infuriated me.
First off, why the heck are YOU initiating the challenge if you're just going to quit before the match officially ends? That's like someone challenging you to a game of chess and knocking the board over after a checkmate.
Not only that, but you had Darkrai on your team! I hate how some trainers assume that an Uber
legendary will carry their whole team. All Pokemon have weaknesses that can be played around. If you knew Darkrai was going to be your key to victory, you should have taken care of it. I knew that Conkeldurr was a key player in taking out your team, so I kept him in the back until the opportune moment. I'm sorry I played around your Dark Void shenanigans.
And don't go crying to me that I won due to hax. Greninja waking up the turn after Dark Void hit was lucky, but you my friend had a great amount of luck on your side again. My Charizard's Heat Wave missed 4 times in a row against your Aegislash WITHOUT King's Shield up. Immediately after, my Venusaur gets off a Sleep Powder, and you wake up the next turn. Did I disconnect after that stream of bad luck? In Pokemon, there's a factor of luck. Deal with it. If I really wanted to quit, I could have ran and formally gave you the win. You could have easily done the same.
It's right there! How hard is it to hit "run"?!
It's aggravating that players think it's ok to act like a poor sport just because it's a video game. Every competition has a code of respect. Whether that's shaking hands before and after a match or see a match through, you owe it to every player to facilitate a fun environment. I felt that disconnect was a spit in the face. Andy of New Mexico, you should be ashamed of yourself. It's players like you who take the fun out of online battles. But you can be a better player than that. Take your losses in stride, learn from mistakes, and become stronger. Pokemon's a game, and part of that is accepting defeat gracefully. Quitters never win and winners never quit.
Getting off of work early, I rushed to my room and turned on my 3DS. Yeah, sounds like any other day. But the 2014 April Friendly, an official Pokémon battle competition, was already underway and my team wasn't ready yet! After a 4-hour grind session, my Pokémon were ready to proceed online. I could only pray that my hastily built team could pull some victories.
My team for April Friendly. I didn't have time to nickname them.
The rules of April Friendly differ from previous VGC rules. Each battle is singles, where trainers choose 3 out of 6 Pokémon per battle. Every Pokémon in the Kalos Pokédex were eligible. Yep, that means legendaries like Xerneas, Yveltal and Mewtwo were permitted to wreck havoc on unsuspecting trainers.
The legendary deer in all its glory
I always say fight fire with fire...just make sure you have coverage against Fire-types. With that, I picked Xerneas as my legendary of choice. The set wasn't anything special, just the usual Power Herb+Geomancy combo. Geomancy is Xerneas's signature move that increases its Special Attack, Speed and Special Defense by 2 stages. It usually requires 2 turns to activate, but consuming a Power Herb changes that to 1. As this set was common, I had to prepare myself for counters like Scizor and Talonflame.
Mega Aggron, the Greatest Wall of Ever
And thus, I give you the star of my team, Mega Aggron. He's more of a "Super Ultra Mega Titan Behemoth" Aggron. Seriously, Close Combat tickles him. The idea was to use this Great Wall of Pure Steel to slowly wear down opponents until Xerneas could come in and proceed to sweep. When Mega Aggron's HP got low, I just used Rest and Sleep Talk. Very few Pokémon can reliably 2HKO him. I mainly paired Mega Aggron with Florges or Rotom-Wash to deal with really strong special attackers.
Besides that, I had a Greninja and Talonflame whose task was to break down walls. While straightforward, they did their job well.
Delirious, I recorded my first set of battles. I look quite pathetic, so feel free to laugh and cringe as I perform my rendition of "New York." First match in, I throw away a 3-1 lead by clicking Psyshock instead of Moonblast! I'll never live that down.
The next day, I managed to maintain a winning record. While most of the teams consisted of the same standard Pokémon, I was impressed by the few creative movesets I ran into. Rest Quagsire, a Greninja with King's Rock, and even a Pikachu! Unfortunately, Pikachu couldn't scratch Aggron, but it's the thought that counts.
Sorry Pikachu, you just don't mess with Mega Aggron.
The number of matches dwindled on the last day of battling. Don't get me wrong, I had fun competing. But after fighting match after match of faceless opponents and recording virtually every match, competing became a chore. With my Pokémon-playing friends out of town and my brother deciding not to play, it got lonely. This competition lacked the atmosphere and excitement of a live competition. There was one brief shining moment when I convinced my mom to commentate a battle with me. I felt bad though; I constantly talked over her and I could tell that half the things I said went over her head.
For throwing my team together at the last minute, I managed to squeeze in a decent record and placed in the top 9%. I earned a final rating of 1647 with 27 wins and 18 losses. The inclusion of legendaries was an interesting twist, but most trainers stuck with standard teams. This battle competition was fun, but maybe it's time I take a small break from Pokémon. My fighting spirit has all but vanished, and the time away might be just what I need to reflect and refresh myself for the next competition. At the very least, April Friendly gave me the opportunity to experience Mega Aggron's girth, and I look forward to using him in future teams.
