Crawley was the 2nd of the 3 PCs in 3 weeks. I had just come off a top cut in Yeovil, but was definitely looking to go further than Top 8. This would end up being a much tougher task, as there were more people at the Crawley PC, so much so, that the PC turned into an expanded PC, with a total of 43 people attending (34 Masters), which meant 6 rounds. There were also a lot more people that I recognized, so I knew the day would be a fun one.
I will be splitting this PC report into 2 blog posts, as I feel that my top cut (spoilers :P) was worthy of its own post.
Game 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vIO6sVKbcw
Game 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5FymTvn2Dk
Game 3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SVsyDwW4uQ
Game 4:
Withheld
Game 5:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVBPKRuxArI
Game 6:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP99xmBcZDs
vs Dan Hamley
Team: MKangaskhan - Ferrothorn - Cresselia - Landorus-T - Volcarona - Thundurus
I don't know if Dan knew who I was, but as soon as he sat down, he said that I should have a pretty easy time against him. Not the mind-set you want going into a tournament. I tried to convince him otherwise, but his lack of confidence seemed to show, as he seemed to make obvious plays the entire match, allowing simple switching to dominate. Dan ended up top cutting, so I have no idea why he had such little confidence at the start, so hopefully this tournament will to his confidence in future tournaments, as he has showed that he is capable of winning.
vs William Tansley
Team: MKangaskhan - Thundurus - LandorusT - Amoonguss - Heatran - Azumarill
Another Round 2 Worlds competitor stand off. I had battled William before online, and have had some very good sets against him, so I was hoping for another great game. I put myself in a precarious position turn 1, letting my Infernape get Paralysed straight away. This was redeemed on my part however, as I predict William being the top level player that he is, to predict my Infernape switch. He does just that, and just misses the KO Suicune, letting me get a double KO turn 2, and effectively take the game there.... except Infernape gets fully paralysed. This hurts me too much, as his Kang survives, and lets him get off enough damage that his Lando and Heatran can finish up for him. A real shame, as I felt that the prediction deserved something, but RNG sucks sometimes. William went on to win the tournament, so I wonder what the final result would have been if my Infernape had been able to move that turn, but we will never know.
vs Gerald de Oliveira
Team: MCharizardY - Gengar - Conkeldurr - LandorusT - Hydreigon - Cresselia
We had lunch after Round 2. During this time, the pairings were put up, and were available to see for a while before we started again. I found out after the match that, because Gerald knew he was playing me for a while before we battled, he had been discussing with his friends what he would do against me....which is exactly what I wanted. I had purposely published my Worlds team while still intending to use it in Crawley for a specific reason: to see if I could win without the surprise factor. I have built a reputation for using unconventional sets, and I was wondering if a lot of my wins had been because I had caught my opponents off guard with something strange, and would have been a match I had lost otherwise, so I wanted everyone to know my team, to try and work out how they would beat it, and then still see if I could win. This isn't something I could have really tested, as there is no good way to practise BO3, and on Showdown and BS, no one knows what moves you will run. This tournament let me test this, even if it was just a few games, so thank you Gerald, for doing your best to prepare for my team. Rant over, onto the battle.
Gerald had used his time wisely, his lead gave me just enough doubt that his team wasn't Trick Room, as from first glance, it looked more like Cress would be Icy Wind. This caused me to play too safely with Thundurus, and let TR get up too safely for him. After some adjusting of board positioning on both our parts, I bring in my Infernape on an Ice Punch, and it proceeds to get frozen, thanks RNG. Infernape stays frozen for 3 more turns, giving Gerald a lot of opportunities to take the game, despite not being able to set up TR again due to a good prediction on my part. However, Giga Impact ends up coming in clutch, as at -1 I'm still able to OHKO the Conk. Frustration would have had the smallest odds to KO, so I'm glad I got to show off GI in a tournament to its full potential, especially since a few players started to watch the end of our match. I'm amazed I managed to pull through despite the freeze, and even a burn at the end, but that didn't end up mattering. Great Game Gerald.
vs Anonymous
This person did not wish to be included in the blog. I won the match.
vs Jamie Miller.
Photo Withheld as it is more appropriate later.
Team: MBlaziken - Thundurus - Gastrodon - Ferrothorn - Arcanine - Bisharp
Another Worlds competitor, and a good friend of mine. Jamie is the reason I was able to go to Worlds and inevitably steal his crown as best Jamie in VGC, as, thanks to him, I was able to attend the Germany Regionals and just scrape enough points to qualify. I had faced Jamie a few times before, beating him in the final of a Premier Challenge last season, but this was the first time we had battled with our Worlds teams (ironically with both of us having changed 1 Pokémon each). It would also guarantee the winner top cut, so it was an important match.
The first few turns, I could have only made the moves I did because I knew Jamie's team. He knew every move and spread of mine, I knew every move and spread on his (Except our new Pokes). I knew the Thundurus had Protect and speed tied with my own, and I also knew he had Sky Drop. Therefore, I knew my first few turns, as I had a very good idea of what he would do, and he did exactly what I wanted. I had not planned before the match what I would do, but because of my knowledge of Jamie's team, all the moves just seemed natural for me, and I was able to plan a few turns in the future for the KO on his Blaziken, although I did have to hope that Suicune was light enough to be picked up by Sky Drop, and it turns out it is in the group of Pokémon one category lighter than those that can't be picked up, so I got pretty lucky there. I did have to make a big prediction after he made a good one of his own doubling on my Suicune, but because I knew how good of a player he is, I knew he would recognise his Thundurus as the biggest threat to me, so would want to preserve it. I expected the Protect on the Fake Out, but got a switch, which was just as good. In the end however, I ended up stealing it with a 37.5% damage roll in my favour as I OHKO the Thundurus with Overheat thanks to Blaze. We were both surprised it got it, Jamie even thought it was a crit, so we calced it straight after and found out I had gotten a bit lucky. If his Thundurus had survived, I think he would have taken the game, but given the paralysis and freezes, I was owed a little RNG.
vs Brandon Ikin
(Photoception)
Team: MCharizardY - Raichu - Aegislash - Suicune - LandorusT - Virizion
I had a perfect record against Brandon in swiss rounds going into this match, I had only ever lost to him in MAJOR TOURNAMENT FINALS THANKS BRANDON I HATE YOUR RAICHU. Anyway, Brandon was 5-0 at this point, so he was looking to achieve his first ever perfect swiss. Given that he still had his team that beat me in Germany (with Aegislash making a debut), and I still had my Infernape that was still 2 speed points slower, I was sure he would lead with his Raichu, but because he didn't, he gave me a fantastic opportunity to set up that I seized immediately. I predicted quite hard on the 2nd turn, getting up a 2nd DD, but it wasn't so much a prediction for me really, as I knew that either Suicune would either Tailwind and I would still be faster, or Ice Beam, which I knew I would survive, and I would still be faster, so it was kind of a win-win prediction, and I was pretty sure he would predict my Protect on the Fake Out. Brandon revealed Volt Tackle which was really cool and still owes me an explanation for as he said he would tell me why he ran it but never did. Brandon gave himself a chance with his Sash Aegislash coming in clutch, after I had stalled out his Tailwind with a Fake Out, Protect play, which felt like a weird play to make as it is usually counter-intuitive, but was absolutely the correct play. However, since Thundurus was in the back for me and Zard was in the back for him, the game was mine. Sorry for stopping your perfect swiss run Brandon.
So I ended with a 5-1 record and a 2nd place seeding in top cut, quite an improvement over Yeovil. I will end the report here for now and I will have a new post for my top cut soon, which will have some fantastic matches.
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