With BattleZone’s support, we ran a tournament at MEFCC on Friday 10th of April. I was initially expecting about 10 to participate, since that’s our usual numbers. As it turns out, my very conservative estimate was off by 5, and we ended up having 15 players. A new record!

If we did end up being 10 players, we’d be playing at BattleZone’s tournament tables a bit further in MEFCC, next to BattleZone’s tournament players, and have tables and chairs. Unfortunately, there’s no space for 15 (or 16 if you count the tournament organizer!), so we got to play at their booth, on chairs, bean bags, and the floor. At least we got a really cool TV set up for the tournament in return!

One thing I want to be clear about is that we follow the Standard Format rules (aka VGC). This is the same rules that are being played with in official tournaments like the World Championships. To put it simply: Double battle, bring 6 Pokemon, choose 4 per battle, and no “big” legendary Pokemon (eg Kyogre, Dialga, Mewtwo).

Of the 15 participants, 7 of the players have participated in our previous tournaments at least once. The remaining 8 were their first time participating.

Our usual tournament set up is 4 rounds of swiss, with each round being a Best of 3, and then a single elimination of the top 4 or 8 players (aka top cut). For this tournament, we went for 5 rounds of swiss, with each round being a Best of 1, and a top cut of 4 players in a best of 3.

The 5 rounds of swiss ended with Omar Almuhairi, Ali Alhammadi, Mohammad Khoory, and Mohammed Eissa at the top 4, all with 4 wins and 1 loss. By this time, several have already left seeing they’re not in the top 4, or had to leave.

Ali and Mohammad advanced to the grand finals, where Ali destroyed Mohammad’s team. The final results were as follows:

Ali Alhammadi Mohammad Khoory Omar Almuhairi

I will share videos of the replays as soon as I receive them all from the players.

And now for some Pokemon usage statistics within this tournament (anything with a count of 1 is grouped into “Other”):

Pokemon Count Talonflame 5 Landorus-T 4 Rotom-W 4 Cresselia 3 Gengar 3 Greninja 3 Kangaskhan 3 Salamence 3 Swampert 3 Zapdos 3 Aegislash 2 Azumarril 2 Blaziken 2 Charizard 2 Gallade 2 Klefki 2 Ludicolo 2 Metagross 2 Scizor 2 Tyranitar 2 Venusaur 2 Other 34

Usage stats aren’t too surprising compared to what we usually see on an international level, since a lot of these Pokemon are really good regardless where you are in the world. In case you’re not up to speed on some of the top used Pokemon in this tournament:

Talonflame: A very good Pokemon. It can run a pure offensive build with its signature priority Brave Bird spam or an offensive support build with Tailwind, Will-o-Wisp, and Taunt in its moveset.

A very good Pokemon. It can run a pure offensive build with its signature priority Brave Bird spam or an offensive support build with Tailwind, Will-o-Wisp, and Taunt in its moveset. Landorus-T: One of the top threats of VGC with its really strong Rock Slides and Earthquakes. If your team can’t handle one, you should seriously consider redoing your team.

One of the top threats of VGC with its really strong Rock Slides and Earthquakes. If your team can’t handle one, you should seriously consider redoing your team. Rotom-W: One of the best mixed offense/defense/support Pokemon around. Its Water/Electric typing walls a lot of things (like Talonflame!), it can burn opposing Pokemon, and blast things with Hydro Pump.

One of the best mixed offense/defense/support Pokemon around. Its Water/Electric typing walls a lot of things (like Talonflame!), it can burn opposing Pokemon, and blast things with Hydro Pump. Cresselia: Amazing support move pool and amazing defenses. She’ll always give your team the support it needs.

Amazing support move pool and amazing defenses. She’ll always give your team the support it needs. Gengar: With Will-o-Wisp, Icy Wind, Sludge Bomb, Taunt, and Shadow Ball, it makes for an amazing lead Pokemon.

With Will-o-Wisp, Icy Wind, Sludge Bomb, Taunt, and Shadow Ball, it makes for an amazing lead Pokemon. Greninja: Nowhere as close as the monster it’s known to be in single battles, but it’s speed and power gives a lot of offensive pressure on your opponent.

Nowhere as close as the monster it’s known to be in single battles, but it’s speed and power gives a lot of offensive pressure on your opponent. Kangaskhan: Top threat since 2014. Everyone was expecting it to be not as strong in 2015. It only became stronger, however.

Top threat since 2014. Everyone was expecting it to be not as strong in 2015. It only became stronger, however. Salamence: Generally considered to be the strongest mega in 2015. Hits FAST and HARD. Hates ice though.

Some of the more common top Pokemon globally are a bit lacking here, such as Bisharp and Thundurus-I, but I believe they’ll be more common as people discover their worth and/or become more experienced with the VGC metagame.

Shout outs:

BattleZone for providing the space, set up, and the discounted 2 day passes for our participants.

for providing the space, set up, and the discounted 2 day passes for our participants. Ali Alhammadi for being in first place and volunteering to have his game broadcasted on the TV set up during the top cut

for being in first place and volunteering to have his game broadcasted on the TV set up during the top cut Abhirup Obi for volunteering to have his game broadcasted on the TV set up during the swiss rounds

for volunteering to have his game broadcasted on the TV set up during the swiss rounds Mohammed Eissa for lending me his camera and sending me the photos

for lending me his camera and sending me the photos All our participants for making this a very successful tournament!

Miscellaneous thoughts:

Since we ended up with four people with 4 wins and 1 loss, I think i should run 6 swiss rounds for 15 people.

Despite having started about 30 mins late, we still managed to finish very close to the planned end time, 9 PM.

People have been asking me why I didn’t participate in the tournament. Someone has to market the group to the spectators while everyone is busy battling!

I overheard some chatter about a participant complaining about there being “too many ubers”. I’d like to remind everyone that we’re playing VGC (aka Standard Format), and not Smogon. We want to be able to compete on a global level, and VGC is the way to go for this goal.