2017 Season Information: Format, Rental Pokemon, Live Competitions, Timer Rules

Hello hat lovers!

We had several big changes announced for the 2017 season, everything from official confirmation of the format, new features, and changes to old systems. Much of this is overwhelmingly positive in my opinion and I’m very glad to see the progression that this game is taking in Sun&Moon to make VGC a greater experience. I will be posting the most important news in regards to VGC and my thoughts on them. I will be leaving some stuff out though that I believe are less important, so to see the entire everything that was announced, be sure to visit http://www.pokemon-sunmoon.com/en-us/new-pokemon-global-link-features/

(also, evolutions for the starters were released. The Rowlet line is still the best)

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Rapha’s World Cup of Pokemon Report

Hello hat lovers!

This past month I took part in the World Cup of Pokemon, a NuggetBridge tournament that featured country and region based teams. I played for team Canada along with fellow VGC With Hats members Kelvin (lyingliepard) and Max (starmetroid), and the team was captained by Randy (R Inanimate). Other members of the team include 2015 senior national champion Ben Piercy (qertyk), 2016 senior worlds quarter finalist Daravone Souphommanychanh (Lilsquinty08), Tyson Gernack (Firefly), Myles Krystalovich (drakon), Dan McSorely (DONGSONG), Shingo Fukuyado (Uwaki Shin), and Curtis Cousins (Blaazin14). Unfortunately we were left short handed by the fact that our only day 2 worlds competitors in masters Hongyu (fivepointstars) and Hao (…Hao) chose to back out from the tournament, and our admittedly thin roster didn’t allow us to advance. Regardless, the World Cup was a lot of fun because I got to play the 2015 format all three weeks, and unlike the NPA, I had already been acquainted with most of my teammates in real life.

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Hidden Power Water: Or How I Memed My Way to a World Championship

Greetings, hat lovers!

Carson here. I am fairly new to VGC With Hats, but excited to be a writer. Before I talk about the team, I wanted to share the backstory about my journey to becoming World Champion. I started playing Competitive Pokemon only two years ago, after watching Sejun Park win it all with his Pachirisu. After a lot of ups and downs, I was able to cut and win my first regionals last year in Kansas. After that, I cut my first Nationals, but barely missed out on a paid invite to Worlds. I attended, but went 1-3 on Day 1 and was eliminated. However, I played in the Boston Open, and made Top 16, giving me a head start for the new season. I did fairly well, getting 4th at Houston and winning a few PCs, before I had a 3-3 flop at Virginia Regionals. Right after this, I decided to focus on another upcoming competition, the National Science Bowl, and didn’t touch Pokemon for March through April. I started playing just two weeks before Kansas Regionals, which brings me to my time using this team. Now, let’s jump right in!

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Starmetroid’s Day 1 Worlds Report

Hello Hat Lovers!

I competed in my second World Championship this year.

Going into Nationals I didn’t do a lot of testing because I was pretty disillusioned with the format. After Nationals I really wasn’t interested in team-building for worlds. I tried out a couple teams that did well from various Nationals but once Pokemon Go came out I had stopped playing VGC altogether.

A week before Worlds I looked at the teams I could run. I decided to use Alan Schamber’s Nationals team. The team had strong options against Big B teams and didn’t rely on inaccurate moves. I knew the items and move sets from Pokemon’s official website but had to make my own spreads.

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Are You Hypnotized? Worlds Day 1 & 2 Report

Ni Hao Hat Lovers!

This is Hao, one of your new authors of VGC with Hats. I started playing VGC last year, learning a lot from local tournaments and friends, keeping improving myself as well. At the time, I surprisingly cut my first regional in Seattle last year. This year I played decently in PCs and qualified for world championships day 1.

I’m just back from San Francisco, where I finished my first world championships. I went 6-1 on day 1 to advance to day 2, in which I finally finished 4-3, barely missing the cut after I lost my last set. I am going to analyze the team I prepared and used and how the matches went during the tournament.

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