Aerodactyl, Hitmontop, Gyarados, Raichu, and Lapras all stood out as unexpected Pokémon.
☆ NintendObs Event – Pokémon World Championships 2016.
Surprises Abound In the Video Game Championships
Unexpected Pokémon ruled the first day of the Pokémon Video Game World Championships
August 20, 2016
Surprising Pokémon and strategies kicked off an exciting first day of Pokémon Video Game World Championships battles. Sixty-one of the roughly 400 qualified Masters Division players who battled on Friday in San Francisco were able to move on to Saturday by finishing with at least six wins and two or fewer losses during the eight rounds of play. In the Senior Division, 25 players moved on, while 20 new Junior Division players will continue on to Saturday. The top players from the 2016 Championship Series will enter the fray today after earning a free pass to Saturday play. Players with two or fewer losses after seven rounds will move on to single-elimination top cut brackets to determine the 2016 Pokémon World Champion in each age division.
We’ve seen the duo of Groudon and Xerneas combine for many top finishes at key tournaments this season, and they appeared on both teams used in the Masters Division Finals during our last stream at the United States National Championships. Many spectators and players expected this duo to continue their domination at the Pokémon video game’s greatest stage, but so far successful Trainers have largely gone in a different direction. Few players in the Masters Division even opted to try to use teams built around Groudon and Xerneas on Friday, leading to a tournament that looks more like the National Championships in the United Kingdom than the more recent National Championships in the United States.
The seven Masters Division players who made it through from Day One with perfect records of six wins and zero losses lead the charge in bringing innovative strategies to the Pokémon World Championships. A variety of restricted Pokémon pairings were represented among their teams—two used Groudon with Kyogre, two used Groudon with Rayquaza, one used Rayquaza with Xerneas, one used Groudon with Yveltal, and only one used Groudon with Xerneas. The only Pokémon that seemed to rise above the rest was Groudon, with a variety of other Pokémon having similar success near the top. The top Trainers from Friday also represented a variety of different countries: Nimiel Catipon is from the Philippines, Eduardo Cunha represented Portugal, Rachel Annand and Matt Carter showed Great Britain’s strength, and Dane Zieman, Rajan Bal, and Wolfe Glick put on an impressive show for the United States.
It wasn’t just in these Trainers’ selection of Legendary Pokémon that they bucked trends. Most also made some interesting choices with their unrestricted Pokémon by including some Pokémon that few players expected to see star at the World Championships. Aerodactyl, Hitmontop, Gyarados, Raichu, and Lapras all stood out as unexpected Pokémon that were key parts of their impressive Day One runs.
With a new batch of players joining the fray on Saturday, no one can be completely sure how the rest of the 2016 Pokémon Video Game Championships will play out. The variety in restricted Pokémon on Day One created a tournament where some advancing players never even played a match against a team using both Groudon and Xerneas. It will be interesting to see how these players fare if they wind up battling in a more standard metagame on Saturday. Players are also allowed to change their teams for Day Two, so it will also be interesting to see if Trainers choose to make any last minute changes anticipating a metagame that is different from what players were expecting before Friday’s battles.
With 2013 World Champion Arash Ommati and 2015 World Champion Shoma Honami both losing their round one matches on the livestream to start off the second day of the tournament, it looks like the surprises will continue at the 2016 Pokémon Video Game World Championships. Trainers will battle down to the finalists in each age division today, so there’s sure to be many exciting battles. Keep watching Pokemon.com/Live to see the action unfold for yourself, and remember to check out Pokemon.com/Strategy for coverage of Pokémon TCG and video game tournaments and strategy during and after the event.
— Pokémon News
Source: Pokémon.
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