Groudon and Xerneas domination, and a Mewtwo coming out of nowhere.
☆ NintendObs Weekly – Monday, July 11, 2016 – Sunday, July 17, 2016.
Day 2 of Video Game Competition Concludes
Take a look back at the intense battles at the US Video Game National Championships.
July 02, 2016
With most of the Masters Division players near the top of the Championship Points standings failing to advance to Day 2, the anticipation was contagious as play resumed at the Pokémon US Video Game National Championships in Columbus, Ohio. If that wasn’t enough, Ian Lutz’s shocking Lunatone kicked off the battles on stream. To both spectators and competitors, one thing quickly became clear: the US National Championships is a tournament where anything could happen.
Many of North America’s top players had been extremely consistent all season. Before the tournament began on Friday, it seemed almost certain that most of them would at least move on to Saturday. Instead, with so many stars eliminated it became clear that many more players had a realistic shot of earning enough Championships Points to earn a Travel Award to the 2016 Pokémon World Championships.
As play continued early Saturday morning, only 34 Masters Division players remained, with more than half trusting their dreams to teams featuring Xerneas and Groudon. The task ahead of them was simple: records from Friday were reset on Saturday, so each player would win at least four rounds to move on to the single-elimination stage of the tournament. Win more than that, and qualify directly to the top-8. One more question was on the mind of many spectators: would any of the less conventional teams be able to top those using Xerneas and Groudon?
As the day progressed, the field began to separate into groups. Chase Lybbert, Leonard Craft, and Cedric Bernier’s Xerneas and Groudon teams, Bjorn Johnsson’s Dialga and Groudon team, and Jake Skurchak’s Groudon and Kyogre teams stood alone at three wins, zero losses after three rounds, while four players found themselves eliminated with three losses. Shockingly, one of those eliminated players was Andy Himes, who had just put together his second 9-0 Friday Nationals performance in three years.
Tension built as the rounds continued. By the start of the sixth and final round of Swiss play, seven players had already qualified for the top cut, while 11 more needed to win one final round to move on. It was also clear at this point in the tournament that despite how it may have seemed at points during Friday, the top cut would not simply be a collection of mirror matches between teams using Xerneas and Groudon.
Cedric Bernier picked up his sixth win and became the only player to finish the second stage of the tournament undefeated, while Leonard Craft III, Michael Lanzano, and Stefan Smigoc earned their fifth wins to join him immediately in the round of 8. Jake Skurchak, Conan Thompson, Chase Lybbert, Gary Qian, Aaron Traylor, Rajan Bal, Alan Schambers, and Grant Weldon would need to win one more round to make it to the top-8.
The top cut ended up being comprised of six teams using Groudon and Xerneas as their two restricted Pokémon, two using Groudon with Kyogre, two with Rayquaza and Kyogre, one with Rayquaza and Groudon, and a shocking Mewtwo and Groudon duo. After comprising almost two thirds of the field entering Saturday play, Groudon and Xerneas actually saw a significant drop in their representation when the top cut began.
In the end, the Masters Division played down to four players on Saturday. Tomorrow on Pokemon.com/Live, Grant Weldon’s Groudon and Kyogre team will battle Aaron Traylor’s Groudon and Xerneas team on one side of the bracket, while the other side of the bracket will feature Chase Lybbert’s Groudon and Xerneas team against Alan Schambers’ Kyogre and Rayquaza team.
Play in the Senior and Junior Divisions also began today. Senior Division players battled through seven rounds of best-of-three play, while Junior Division players went at it for six rounds. In the end, there were exactly 24 players in both the Senior and Junior Division that moved on to tomorrow’s top cut by finishing with two losses or fewer.
Battles in all three age divisions, as well as the Senior and Masters Divisions of the Pokémon TCG will continue tomorrow on Pokemon.com/Live. Don’t forget to tune in to find out which teams, decks, and Trainers are crowned National Champion. And as always, don’t forget to check out Pokemon.com/Strategy for Pokémon TCG and video game strategy and analysis.
— Pokémon News
Source: Pokémon.
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