Pokebeach Members Attending the Pokemon World Championships
- Thread starter HenryP
- Start date
The top cut pairings for all divisions are up for anybody who cares. I'm really excited to see that someone from Massachusetts made it all the way to T16 in masters. ^.^
I'm really rooting for Yuka Furusawa in seniors. She's a pretty good player, and she's doing really well for her first year as a senior. With this in mind, I think she has a very good shot at winning worlds yet again. Also, if she wins, it'll bring more power to the girl power to the TCG.
I'm also rooting for JWittz to win masters. I'm really glad he had a great swiss run, and based off his performance, I think he has a really good shot at winning this year. It would also be great for him to win because his Profit episode on his worlds report would receive a tremendous amount of views, and this would make Josh even more famous.
Well, so far, the top cut for all the divisions is looking pretty interesting, but I'm giving my cheers for Yuka and Josh.
I'm also rooting for JWittz to win masters. I'm really glad he had a great swiss run, and based off his performance, I think he has a really good shot at winning this year. It would also be great for him to win because his Profit episode on his worlds report would receive a tremendous amount of views, and this would make Josh even more famous.
Well, so far, the top cut for all the divisions is looking pretty interesting, but I'm giving my cheers for Yuka and Josh.
I am rooting for:
Patrick Martinez (california) in Juniors
Yuka Furusawa in Seniors (she beat me and she's playing a cool deck)
Jwittz and Mitchel Silva(Norcal) in Masters.
I WOULD be rooting for Aaron Rozbicki, the guy who knocked me out of top cut, but one of his losses was to a guy who went 1-6 so his resistance was bad and he didn't get in.
I am also very happy about beating JASON and RAYVN, two players from my area, in standings.
Patrick Martinez (california) in Juniors
Yuka Furusawa in Seniors (she beat me and she's playing a cool deck)
Jwittz and Mitchel Silva(Norcal) in Masters.
I WOULD be rooting for Aaron Rozbicki, the guy who knocked me out of top cut, but one of his losses was to a guy who went 1-6 so his resistance was bad and he didn't get in.
I am also very happy about beating JASON and RAYVN, two players from my area, in standings.
Pokegym revealed the top 8 in each division, google is still in, he is played Reuniclus, Blissey, Vileplume, Dragons. That's pretty wicked.
Masters Top 8:
http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/295691_217252248322829_149276451787076_524451_6198818_n.jpg
Seniors Top 8:
http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/291860_217252141656173_149276451787076_524450_2962242_n.jpg
Juniors Top 8: http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/294857_217252348322819_149276451787076_524452_2579808_n.jpg
Masters Top 8:
http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/295691_217252248322829_149276451787076_524451_6198818_n.jpg
Seniors Top 8:
http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/291860_217252141656173_149276451787076_524450_2962242_n.jpg
Juniors Top 8: http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/294857_217252348322819_149276451787076_524452_2579808_n.jpg
I'm rooting for Dylan Lefavour to take it all in masters. It would be amazing to see JWittz vs. Dylan in top 2. Obviously I want to see JWittz lose in that match though. :3 Dylan is from my area and it would be so incredibly awesome for him to win because he already won Worlds I think about 3 years back when he was a senior so a second win in another division would be so pro.
Root for Grafton Roll all the way!
I've been looking around for information and here's a few random things I thought I would point out. First, JWittz lost in T8! D: It's too bad he didn't make it further but T8 is still an amazing accomplishment. Last year's senior world champ Jacob Lesage lost in T8. :/ And then my man Dylan in masters lost in T8 as well. :[
Other things to note is that there are no more Yanmega variants left in masters top cut which was very unexpected for me. There's a Magneboar deck in T4 which is a deck that I didn't exactly expect to do that well. And what I think is the coolest news is there's a guy in masters playing Vileplume, Reuniclus, Blissey, and Dragons . It sounds pretty awesome and super rogue. I can't wait to see how far it gets. He's in T8 right now I'm pretty sure but I don't think he's won or lost yet.
Edit: The guy playing Vileplume, Reuniclus, Blissey, and Dragons actually did make it into T4! ^.^
I can probably post names if anybody is interested.
Other things to note is that there are no more Yanmega variants left in masters top cut which was very unexpected for me. There's a Magneboar deck in T4 which is a deck that I didn't exactly expect to do that well. And what I think is the coolest news is there's a guy in masters playing Vileplume, Reuniclus, Blissey, and Dragons . It sounds pretty awesome and super rogue. I can't wait to see how far it gets. He's in T8 right now I'm pretty sure but I don't think he's won or lost yet.
Edit: The guy playing Vileplume, Reuniclus, Blissey, and Dragons actually did make it into T4! ^.^
I can probably post names if anybody is interested.
Hi guys. I'm back from Worlds.
So I'm sure you're all dying to know what it was like. And seeing that most of the beachgoers that went to Worlds are still there, I can tell you.
(Note, my opinions differ from most people in regards to various things, so anything you're about to see or read is based on my personal bias. Keep that in mind. Also my deck was Lostgar, but it's interesting in the fact that it is actually capable of taking prizes.)
~~~
I actually didn't stay down in San Diego or any hotel. My friend that I drove down with lived close enough down to San Diego that we could afford to actually commute down to Worlds. (Protip: If it gets held in San Diego in future, use the SD Convention Center parking lot. They have a flat rate of $10 that last a whole day, and the Hilton parking structure charges by the hour and can rise as high as $30. So keep that in mind for a few years from now.)
So, my friend and I got there at the hotel about 8.30am on Friday morning to get in line. And wow, the line was huge. It took us an hour and a half of waiting to get to the sign-up desk (so 10.00am), but we got in. Presumably, they cut the line off at a certain point, so I feel sorry for the people that didn't make it in.
Since there were 619 Masters signed up, about 80% of us got a bye the first round - pretty much all the cool crew. Round 2 comes along, and I end up playing a Finnish guy in Grinder playing Stage 1 Rush (I'll have more to say on it later). He was a really nice guy. I did end up losing both games to him, but both of them were very fun and enjoyable matches, and there were no unfair donks or anything. I got 3+ in Lost Zone each match, and we had a laugh after the match was done. I wish him best of luck, and then I start roaming around.
Now that DNA's out of Grinder, what's to do next? Two floors down they had side events - 8-man, single-elimination, best of 1. Free entry, and if you get at least 1 win you're guaranteed packs. 3rd and 4th get 2 packs, 2nd gets 3, and 1st gets 5. I enter, win twice (the first two matches were pretty much decks of people that just started) and the last one is KYJ. KYJ ended up giving me a great match - I did get quite fortunate as I Cursed Dropped his one and only Horsea into the Lost Zone, thereby preventing my benched Gastlys from being sniped and killed. It was down to the wire, but I won. Out of my five packs, of note I got Revenge Cow, rev. Cinccino, rev. Juniper, and FA Reshiram. (The next day, Saturday, I played in another one, got 2nd, and pulled ANOTHER FA Reshiram.) Interestingly enough, in all 3 matches, I had a very mediocre starting hand, went first each time, and topdecked Collector each time. (I ended up doing that a lot.) And in the one I got 2nd, my final match was vs a ZPS, and I actually had to draw the match out for quite a while, using Slowking to manipulate his topdeck and try to not only get Pokemon into the Lost Zone (via Cursed Drop) but also try to take prizes off his Zekrom and such. I ended up taking 3 prizes against him but ultimately lost.
After that I pretty much hung around trying to look for people from Beach, which is pretty much what I did the rest of Friday and Saturday. I didn't have any wish to stay on Sunday so I asked my friend to take me home that night. I thanked him for taking me to Worlds and spending the weekend with him, and with that...well, he's at Worlds right now in an EP prerelease.
So, who on the Beach DID I say hi to at Worlds?
~Esperante - First guy from Beach I saw. He's a cool guy so he deserves to be at the top. I didn't see him all that much, but he's an awesome guy and we get along really well. He's at a lot of CA events, so if you ever see him, it's worthwhile to meet the guy. Anything else I can say about him is that...well, his kind of awesomeness you just have to see for yourself.
~Zero - Well, obviously. He's pretty much saying hi to everyone Beach-based at Worlds. Fun guy, witty insights, let me see his goodies (like Tropical Beach), and we shared a few laughs. On Saturday I asked him how he was doing in Grinder, and he said terribly - that he only had one legitimate match. I offered him a chance to play against my Gigas, and he accepted. I did give him a legitimate match - even though I kept picking off his 50 HP basics with belted Drag Off he managed to make quite a comeback in the end. Ultimately it came down to whether or not he'd get heads on Reversal, because he blew up my first Gigas (but Lost Burned FOUR energy to do so!), and I had to try and knock out a Yanmega with Dragon Rush (the only thing I could set up quickly enough). I opt not to Deafen him (but I did lock Insight), use Tropical Beach to make my hand go from 0 to 7 (and end my turn), and then just pray Zero would get Tails on Reversal. I made him get Tails on it a lot, but he Junk Armed it back and got heads, blowing up my Crobat. A little bit later, I heard the announcer call out his name and tell him to get to his seat. I lol'd.
Oh, and he kept making the <3 sign at me -.-
~LXF - Yeah, him. He always looks for me at Worlds. He's also fun to hang with, and I think I talked with him for at least an hour on Saturday just throwing down cards (and we played a DP-AR format game as well, which I loved). Apparently he got knocked out of Grinder in the last round, which is a pity. On Friday night, my last game before I went home for the night was against him and his KYJ. Another down-to-the-wire match, I had LZ'd his Jirachi and was stalling with Time Hollow getting rid of his Candied Pokemon, trying to deck him out (because he had Burned all his energy and there was no way I could get 6 in the Lost Zone). He turned it around in the last possible moment. Simply amazing. My Friday ended quite well.
~Jirachinick - Saw him by chance and he mentioned he was looking for Meaty. I caught him and asked him to send Meaty my way. Unfortunately we didn't meet up again, despite me looking for both of them on Friday and Saturday.
~dmaster - He was busy most of Friday so I didn't get a chance to greet him, but I managed to say hi to him Saturday afternoon. He, like me, got knocked out of Grinders in Round 2 after getting a bye, so we shared a few laughs about our respective frustrations. He's very much like a ghost - Zero was constantly trying to find him, and although I saw dmaster on multiple occasions, by the time Zero got there, he vanished. Yes, he is the amazing disappearing Smasher. (Nice meeting you again, bro.)
~WPM - As usual, WPM is a busy man. I only caught a glimpse of him, and I didn't want to disturb him so I just waved hi (he returned it) and left it at that.
~Amt - Only person on this list who doesn't live in or near CA (Zero's in Nevada, dmaster is in Arizona, the rest are in California, and Amt...well, I dunno). Ironically enough, Zero said he'd introduce me to Amt and said it would make me feel tall. He was wrong on both counts - LXF introduced me because he is a gentleman, though you'd never believe it (so ni to you, Zero), and although Amt is quite short I didn't feel any taller. Although, for some reason, I do think I grew two inches in height over the weekend. As for the introduction it was just a basic hello and not much else.
People that I didn't meet but that I should probably mention:
~Heatrotomftw1997 - Zero caught me and said this guy wanted to meet me. He couldn't find him at all later. So oh well.
~Meaty - I was looking for him all day Friday and half of Saturday, to no avail. He's been wanting to play my Gigas for ages (which I actually used in a few fun matches at Worlds and it was in full swing). But I didn't find him. So Meaty, if you're reading this, either come down to my league or I'll see you at States. I'll be waiting.
So what did I actually think of Worlds?
To be perfectly honest, I found Worlds rather underwhelming. I mean, it is awesome that people from all across the planet were gathered in one place, and it's awesome to meet foreign people (I mentioned the Finnish guy in Grinder, and in the side event tourney that I won, the KYJ guy was German or Belgian and I'm not sure which) who love the game as well, but since I live in California, I am rather used to seeing big events - our States has at least 800 people attending it each year, in total (not just the players). So for me, Worlds was just like States, except with more floors and really long annoying lines.
Was it worth it? Yes, most certainly. I got 2 FA Resh and got to meet some awesome people, as well as watch some VGC matches. Would I go again? Probably not, unless I was sure I'd be meeting up with several of my friends and we'd arranged a meeting place beforehand. Would I recommend it? That depends. If you are not exactly a fan of big places, long lines, and a lot of people crowded into one place, then I'd advise you heavily consider it. But if you don't really have a lot of big events in your area and you'd like to hang out and do lots of side events, then yes, I think it may be a good idea.
And now for the interesting insights I gathered from Worlds.
~As you might very well imagine, there were Pokemon going around in costume getting their pictures taken. The Pokemon were Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott, and Pikachu. The first three I anticipated, the fourth I didn't (although I should have). They went in pairs - Tepig with Pikachu, and Snivy with Oshawott, and they swapped out. I'd been watching them throughout the day and I got some humor from each one:
Pikachu - The way he walks on those stubby legs with his arms stretched out and bouncing around, you'd think he was stalking people. Tepig walked much the same way, almost like a zombie. Watching those two was very humorous. There were a lot of high-fives handed out. Well, as much as those stubby arms could give out.
Snivy - When Snivy was about to swap out, there were one (or two?) little kids sorta following it around, and at one point they both hugged/attacked it from different sides, causing Snivy to flap his arms around almost as if in frustration. I was watching from the sidelines. Right after he did that, he looked at me (I think), to which I simply responded 'Hey man' and waved. Then he kept walking.
Tepig - i think worlds tepig is a pretty cool guy. eh walks on 2 legs and doesn't afraid of anything
Oshawott - Oshawott was my favorite because he was SMILING~ instead of the usual grim face he always has. I almost wanted to hug/get my picture taken with him, but I was either too lazy or didn't work up the nerve. I did end up following right behind him for a minute or so (for the lolz) and almost wanted to surprise hug him from behind, but then some child wants his picture taken, so I just walk off to the side (since I was standing directly behind Oshawott) and shrug.
~The current TCG format is not much fun. And after seeing most of the decks that people play...let's just say I never want to see another dragonfly in my life, ever again.
~Slowking is one lucky son of a gun. I sometimes had to attack with him in a few games with Psyshock, and every time save one I used Psyshock, I got a successful paralysis. I got some lucky baby flips too (tails on their turn, heads on mine), but I don't think they topped Slowking in terms of luck.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go plan out my next deck (and decide if I want to keep playing the game in this format) and get my RDL back from my friend who borrowed it.
So I'm sure you're all dying to know what it was like. And seeing that most of the beachgoers that went to Worlds are still there, I can tell you.
(Note, my opinions differ from most people in regards to various things, so anything you're about to see or read is based on my personal bias. Keep that in mind. Also my deck was Lostgar, but it's interesting in the fact that it is actually capable of taking prizes.)
~~~
I actually didn't stay down in San Diego or any hotel. My friend that I drove down with lived close enough down to San Diego that we could afford to actually commute down to Worlds. (Protip: If it gets held in San Diego in future, use the SD Convention Center parking lot. They have a flat rate of $10 that last a whole day, and the Hilton parking structure charges by the hour and can rise as high as $30. So keep that in mind for a few years from now.)
So, my friend and I got there at the hotel about 8.30am on Friday morning to get in line. And wow, the line was huge. It took us an hour and a half of waiting to get to the sign-up desk (so 10.00am), but we got in. Presumably, they cut the line off at a certain point, so I feel sorry for the people that didn't make it in.
Since there were 619 Masters signed up, about 80% of us got a bye the first round - pretty much all the cool crew. Round 2 comes along, and I end up playing a Finnish guy in Grinder playing Stage 1 Rush (I'll have more to say on it later). He was a really nice guy. I did end up losing both games to him, but both of them were very fun and enjoyable matches, and there were no unfair donks or anything. I got 3+ in Lost Zone each match, and we had a laugh after the match was done. I wish him best of luck, and then I start roaming around.
Now that DNA's out of Grinder, what's to do next? Two floors down they had side events - 8-man, single-elimination, best of 1. Free entry, and if you get at least 1 win you're guaranteed packs. 3rd and 4th get 2 packs, 2nd gets 3, and 1st gets 5. I enter, win twice (the first two matches were pretty much decks of people that just started) and the last one is KYJ. KYJ ended up giving me a great match - I did get quite fortunate as I Cursed Dropped his one and only Horsea into the Lost Zone, thereby preventing my benched Gastlys from being sniped and killed. It was down to the wire, but I won. Out of my five packs, of note I got Revenge Cow, rev. Cinccino, rev. Juniper, and FA Reshiram. (The next day, Saturday, I played in another one, got 2nd, and pulled ANOTHER FA Reshiram.) Interestingly enough, in all 3 matches, I had a very mediocre starting hand, went first each time, and topdecked Collector each time. (I ended up doing that a lot.) And in the one I got 2nd, my final match was vs a ZPS, and I actually had to draw the match out for quite a while, using Slowking to manipulate his topdeck and try to not only get Pokemon into the Lost Zone (via Cursed Drop) but also try to take prizes off his Zekrom and such. I ended up taking 3 prizes against him but ultimately lost.
After that I pretty much hung around trying to look for people from Beach, which is pretty much what I did the rest of Friday and Saturday. I didn't have any wish to stay on Sunday so I asked my friend to take me home that night. I thanked him for taking me to Worlds and spending the weekend with him, and with that...well, he's at Worlds right now in an EP prerelease.
So, who on the Beach DID I say hi to at Worlds?
~Esperante - First guy from Beach I saw. He's a cool guy so he deserves to be at the top. I didn't see him all that much, but he's an awesome guy and we get along really well. He's at a lot of CA events, so if you ever see him, it's worthwhile to meet the guy. Anything else I can say about him is that...well, his kind of awesomeness you just have to see for yourself.
~Zero - Well, obviously. He's pretty much saying hi to everyone Beach-based at Worlds. Fun guy, witty insights, let me see his goodies (like Tropical Beach), and we shared a few laughs. On Saturday I asked him how he was doing in Grinder, and he said terribly - that he only had one legitimate match. I offered him a chance to play against my Gigas, and he accepted. I did give him a legitimate match - even though I kept picking off his 50 HP basics with belted Drag Off he managed to make quite a comeback in the end. Ultimately it came down to whether or not he'd get heads on Reversal, because he blew up my first Gigas (but Lost Burned FOUR energy to do so!), and I had to try and knock out a Yanmega with Dragon Rush (the only thing I could set up quickly enough). I opt not to Deafen him (but I did lock Insight), use Tropical Beach to make my hand go from 0 to 7 (and end my turn), and then just pray Zero would get Tails on Reversal. I made him get Tails on it a lot, but he Junk Armed it back and got heads, blowing up my Crobat. A little bit later, I heard the announcer call out his name and tell him to get to his seat. I lol'd.
Oh, and he kept making the <3 sign at me -.-
~LXF - Yeah, him. He always looks for me at Worlds. He's also fun to hang with, and I think I talked with him for at least an hour on Saturday just throwing down cards (and we played a DP-AR format game as well, which I loved). Apparently he got knocked out of Grinder in the last round, which is a pity. On Friday night, my last game before I went home for the night was against him and his KYJ. Another down-to-the-wire match, I had LZ'd his Jirachi and was stalling with Time Hollow getting rid of his Candied Pokemon, trying to deck him out (because he had Burned all his energy and there was no way I could get 6 in the Lost Zone). He turned it around in the last possible moment. Simply amazing. My Friday ended quite well.
~Jirachinick - Saw him by chance and he mentioned he was looking for Meaty. I caught him and asked him to send Meaty my way. Unfortunately we didn't meet up again, despite me looking for both of them on Friday and Saturday.
~dmaster - He was busy most of Friday so I didn't get a chance to greet him, but I managed to say hi to him Saturday afternoon. He, like me, got knocked out of Grinders in Round 2 after getting a bye, so we shared a few laughs about our respective frustrations. He's very much like a ghost - Zero was constantly trying to find him, and although I saw dmaster on multiple occasions, by the time Zero got there, he vanished. Yes, he is the amazing disappearing Smasher. (Nice meeting you again, bro.)
~WPM - As usual, WPM is a busy man. I only caught a glimpse of him, and I didn't want to disturb him so I just waved hi (he returned it) and left it at that.
~Amt - Only person on this list who doesn't live in or near CA (Zero's in Nevada, dmaster is in Arizona, the rest are in California, and Amt...well, I dunno). Ironically enough, Zero said he'd introduce me to Amt and said it would make me feel tall. He was wrong on both counts - LXF introduced me because he is a gentleman, though you'd never believe it (so ni to you, Zero), and although Amt is quite short I didn't feel any taller. Although, for some reason, I do think I grew two inches in height over the weekend. As for the introduction it was just a basic hello and not much else.
People that I didn't meet but that I should probably mention:
~Heatrotomftw1997 - Zero caught me and said this guy wanted to meet me. He couldn't find him at all later. So oh well.
~Meaty - I was looking for him all day Friday and half of Saturday, to no avail. He's been wanting to play my Gigas for ages (which I actually used in a few fun matches at Worlds and it was in full swing). But I didn't find him. So Meaty, if you're reading this, either come down to my league or I'll see you at States. I'll be waiting.
So what did I actually think of Worlds?
To be perfectly honest, I found Worlds rather underwhelming. I mean, it is awesome that people from all across the planet were gathered in one place, and it's awesome to meet foreign people (I mentioned the Finnish guy in Grinder, and in the side event tourney that I won, the KYJ guy was German or Belgian and I'm not sure which) who love the game as well, but since I live in California, I am rather used to seeing big events - our States has at least 800 people attending it each year, in total (not just the players). So for me, Worlds was just like States, except with more floors and really long annoying lines.
Was it worth it? Yes, most certainly. I got 2 FA Resh and got to meet some awesome people, as well as watch some VGC matches. Would I go again? Probably not, unless I was sure I'd be meeting up with several of my friends and we'd arranged a meeting place beforehand. Would I recommend it? That depends. If you are not exactly a fan of big places, long lines, and a lot of people crowded into one place, then I'd advise you heavily consider it. But if you don't really have a lot of big events in your area and you'd like to hang out and do lots of side events, then yes, I think it may be a good idea.
And now for the interesting insights I gathered from Worlds.
~As you might very well imagine, there were Pokemon going around in costume getting their pictures taken. The Pokemon were Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott, and Pikachu. The first three I anticipated, the fourth I didn't (although I should have). They went in pairs - Tepig with Pikachu, and Snivy with Oshawott, and they swapped out. I'd been watching them throughout the day and I got some humor from each one:
Pikachu - The way he walks on those stubby legs with his arms stretched out and bouncing around, you'd think he was stalking people. Tepig walked much the same way, almost like a zombie. Watching those two was very humorous. There were a lot of high-fives handed out. Well, as much as those stubby arms could give out.
Snivy - When Snivy was about to swap out, there were one (or two?) little kids sorta following it around, and at one point they both hugged/attacked it from different sides, causing Snivy to flap his arms around almost as if in frustration. I was watching from the sidelines. Right after he did that, he looked at me (I think), to which I simply responded 'Hey man' and waved. Then he kept walking.
Tepig - i think worlds tepig is a pretty cool guy. eh walks on 2 legs and doesn't afraid of anything
Oshawott - Oshawott was my favorite because he was SMILING~ instead of the usual grim face he always has. I almost wanted to hug/get my picture taken with him, but I was either too lazy or didn't work up the nerve. I did end up following right behind him for a minute or so (for the lolz) and almost wanted to surprise hug him from behind, but then some child wants his picture taken, so I just walk off to the side (since I was standing directly behind Oshawott) and shrug.
~The current TCG format is not much fun. And after seeing most of the decks that people play...let's just say I never want to see another dragonfly in my life, ever again.
~Slowking is one lucky son of a gun. I sometimes had to attack with him in a few games with Psyshock, and every time save one I used Psyshock, I got a successful paralysis. I got some lucky baby flips too (tails on their turn, heads on mine), but I don't think they topped Slowking in terms of luck.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go plan out my next deck (and decide if I want to keep playing the game in this format) and get my RDL back from my friend who borrowed it.
Magneboar just beat awesome rogue out in Masters. I knew that deck was still good. Congrats David. Piplups update on the gym.
Magneboar!?!?!? What the heck I thought that deck was suposed to be too slow for this format. At least I can rest a little easier seeing as how I got beat by it in the LCQ, but still. :\