Pokémon: 'Pokkén Tournament Stars Shine Bright in Columbus'

Croagunk made a huge comeback in the scene thanks to the latest update.

☆ NintendObs Weekly – Monday, July 11, 2016 – Sunday, July 17, 2016.

Pokémon US National Championships 2016

Pokkén Tournament Stars Shine Bright in Columbus

Top Pokkén Tournament players rose to the occasion at the Pokémon National Championships.

July 03, 2016

Pokkén Tournament entered its second day of competition at the US Pokémon National Championships with just 32 players left and massive prizes on the line, including two trips to the Pokémon World Championships later this summer.

The day was filled with some surprise winners, but also some surprise losers, as former champions like Shaun “NYC Fab” Swain and Steven “Coach Steve” Delgado were eliminated before reaching the top-8.

Recent changes to Pokkén Tournament‘s gameplay from the most recent patch, especially a massive increase in productivity for the Croagunk assist, were on display throughout the day. While already a strong space-control tool, the increase in recoverable life Croagunk now eliminates from its opponent makes Croagunk too useful to ignore. It was rare to see a match where the assist wasn’t present, and it will likely remain a large part of the Pokkén Tournament landscape moving forward.

Sceptile continues to dominate the other Battle Pokémon, with three of the final eight players representing the tricky Pokémon. Both iterations of Mewtwo also continued to make their presence felt deep in the tournament, even after some major balance changes in the latest update. Sceptile’s prevalence was highlighted in a winners finals match between two of the weekend’s strongest competitors, Tevin “TeeJay” Stokes and Wesley “Bim?” Murray.

Although both competitors play Sceptile, their bout was a perfect example of how players can put their own unique spin on the same Pokémon. Where Bim applies relentless offense in pursuit of pressing “all the buttons,” TeeJay’s play is more reactionary. This calm approach gave TeeJay an inside track on Bim’s mindset, and in no time he held a two-game lead on the challenger. While Bim mounted an impressive comeback, TeeJay persevered and earned his spot in the grand finals.

Bim was plenty familiar with his next opponent, Christian “Suicune Master” Patierno. Both hail from South Florida, and their experience playing against one another added plenty of intensity to their losers finals match. Suicune Master switched up his tactics from their previous top-8 match, and the Suicune loyalist was able to stave off Bim’s relentless Sceptile play with a dominant 3-0 victory.

If Suicune Master was to secure his second Pokkén Tournament major championship in as many weeks, he would have to do so in a rematch against TeeJay, the CEO runner-up. Unlike at CEO, Suicune Master was coming from losers bracket, effectively doubling the games he had to take from Teejay in order to be crowned the champion.

Suicune Master won the first game, but his odds looked bleak after TeeJay took the second match convincingly, putting on a clinic with Sceptile’s ridiculously varied tools. Steady Sceptile play transformed the arena into a veritable minefield of traps that Suicune Master appeared incapable of traversing.

But that’s when the tides turned.

By turning on the (water) jets, Suicune Master showed that he traveled to Columbus to win. Through brilliant use of Suicune’s ranged attacks and an enhanced mix-up game courtesy of Croagunk, Suicune Master consistently put himself in positions that were too advantageous to be foiled by disruption from Sceptile’s traps. As the grand finals came to a close, Suicune Master nabbed multiple perfects on his way to another championship, leaving TeeJay with nothing left to do but nod in approval, stand up, and shake his opponent’s hand.

When asked about the tournament afterwards, Suicune Master told host D’Ron “D1” Maingrette that he actually had Bim to thank for the way things turned out. “I was having a hard time focusing throughout the whole tournament,” he explained. “Once Bim finally beat me, that was a massive wakeup call. That’s when everything changed, and I felt so much better.”

Suicune Master had recently considered going into this competition with a different Pokémon, but with Suicune he proved to himself that he has what it takes to find success with his Pokémon of choice. “Try every single thing until you make that change,” he said, addressing other players out there that may be facing a similar dilemma. “Stick with what you’re best at before you switch.”

Congratulations to all of this weekend’s amazing competitors!

Pokkén Tournament Masters Division Final Results:

1. Christian “Suicune Master” Patierno (Suicune)
2. Tevin “TeeJay” Stokes (Sceptile)
3. Wesley “Bim?” Murray (Sceptile)
4. Willie “Swillo” Barr (Mewtwo, Shadow Mewtwo)
5. Daniel “Mins” Minsley (Shadow Mewtwo)
5. Jacob “Thankswalot” Waller (Sceptile)
7. Thomas “Thulius” McLaurin (Mewtwo)
7. James “Bosshog” Rosseel Jr. (Garchomp)

— Pokémon News
Source: Pokémon.