Month: May 2015

All This Yelling Is Making My Throat Sore: Spring Regionals Report

Hello Hat Lovers!

Today I’m going to show the team I used to get 7th place in Washington Regionals and 2nd in Utah Regionals. Mark also took 2nd at Washington Regionals with this team (be on the lookout for his report on Nugget Bridge). Originally we were only going to Washington but once the Nationals Stipends were announced we decided to fly to Utah to give us a better chance of earning a stipend.

Going into Regionals I didn’t know what I wanted to play. My goal for Washington and Utah was to get enough points to earn a travel award to Nationals and to get a Worlds invite without needing points from Nationals. Getting two top 16 finishes be good enough so I decided I needed a team that would be able to go X-1 in Swiss reliably.

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What is Momentum in Competitive Pokemon?

Hey there Hat Lovers,

Today’s article will be a topic that I think confuses many people (including myself). You hear a lot of players talk about the momentum of a game, saying things like “I was able to take back the momentum” or “I couldn’t stop their momentum.” But what is momentum? If you asked people this, I’m sure they could answer, but it might come out a bit rambly and unfocused. I only really got a clear idea of how to convey momentum thanks to my experience with the TCG, where the game is highly predictable turn after turn. So today’s post is short and sweet. I’m going to put forth a definition for momentum, and discuss how it can change through the game. After that, I really just want to hear back from you guys, the readers, about whether you think I’ve hit the nail on the head or if my definition needs adjustments. Here goes:

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3 Reasons Why Mixed Blaziken Is Better Than Physical Blaziken

Hello Hat Lovers!

BlazikenLast time Mark looked at why Milotic isn’t a very good Pokemon despite looking good on paper. Today I’m going to talk about why physical Blaziken is a bad set and why mixed Blaziken is superior. Think of this as a public service announcement to help educate those using non-mixed Blaziken.

Physical Blaziken is something I see players use at the lower ranks on Battle Spot and Showdown. These teams make for easy wins because they’re easy to counter. You can use physical Blaziken and have a decent win ratio as you stomp on the scrubs while dropping matches against more experienced players. The problem is that when you get to higher levels of play your opponents will be able to handle Blaziken and put the chicken down.

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