​I first picked up the game in 2017, when I was studying abroad and found some free time that was usually taken up by extracurriculars at my home university. Having casually played Random Battles/OU on showdown and an extensive competitive background in Yugioh, I had a relatively smooth transition into the game. However, there was one (and disputably the most important) aspect of the game that I struggled to grasp: prediction.

Yugioh is a game all about intelligently crafting a game plan and playing perfectly for any given board state, and had little prediction involved due to the game being turn-based. Once I broke through the low rating trenches of the VGC17 showdown ladder, I would constantly get punished for making obvious plays and had trouble figuring out what factors I should be considering to outwit my opponent.

Though I got 1st on the showdown ladder at one point, I got disappointing results at the few Regionals I attended and it was the beginning of my last year in university before I knew it. I ended up not touching mons for close to another year until I graduated the following spring and was thinking about what team to use for the Nashville Open. I messed around with a few teams that saw success in the VGC18 season up until that point, and the one that stuck for me was James Baek’s Toronto Regional winning team. The reason: the intergalactically busted ability that is Shadow Tag.

Shadow Tag felt like a godsend to a player overwhelmed by the turn-by-turn complexity of VGC. Thanks to just having Mega Gengar on the field, I felt mental ease for no longer having to consider what my opponent might switch-in in which slot, and instead solely worry about what moves they may fire off. Though I was initially greedy and kept Mega Gengar out until it fainted, I eventually began to learn when it was optimal to switch it out and slowly picked up the prediction game little by little. After becoming more familiar with the format, I decided to build my own team with Shadow Tag.

I began my VGC19 on a high note with a Nashville Open top cut using an original Gothitelle + Mega Tyranitar team. The idea was simple: lead Gothitelle and a hard-hitter, support it using Helping Hand, and use Trick Room right when the partner would get knocked out to let Mega Tyranitar wreak havoc. I continued to use Gothitelle in Sun Series in a Xernogre team built with Ryokon to snipe the Xerndon teams that were popular in the very beginning of the format. So when Till Böhmer invited me to a EUIC testing group for a Xerndon team starring Mega Gengar, naturally I was interested.