Autumn Leaves: Battle Road Wrap-Up and Thoughts/Predictions for Regionals

Introduction

This past Sunday, the United States held its fifth and final weekend of 2011 Fall Battle Road tournaments. Now, though, we have bigger concerns: the upcoming, brand-new November Regional Championships utilize the same exact card pool as the previous tournaments, making now the time to prepare as much as possible. This 2011-2012 tournament season is reaching a fever-pitch, and with Cities, States, and April Regionals on the way, there will be no slowing down for anyone.

In order to prepare as well as we can, our first duty of the day is to reconsider (“Wrap-Up”) what happened at these events. This involves contemplating final weekend results, any interesting rogue decks that may have slipped past the radar, and “the big picture” of this entire season segment. After that, we will examine in full detail our November Regionals: their metagames, decks to watch out for, and – most importantly – all of the information you need to know in your quest for that prestigious Worlds 2012 invitation.

Battle Road Wrap-Up

On Inactivity

Before we proceed any further with this article, I’d like to explain to you why I have been relatively inactive at Fall Battle Roads. Several of you familiar with my tournament history know that I have a long history of success at these events: they helped secure my 2007 Worlds invite, and built my Pokémon resume with several uninterrupted win streaks.

However, in recent years I have chosen to not invest as much time in this stretch of the season. This does not mean that I fail to watch these events pan out; in fact, I keep a pretty close eye on the metagame. Unfortunately, I am a less active participant for the following reasons:

1. I am a busy, busy beaver. Between professional school applications and work, I could not devote any more than half a day to any given tournament…And when your future career is on the line, traveling to Pokémon tournaments should not come first.

2. Due to the new best finish limits (“BFL”) placed on event results, playing catch-up is easier than before. Since the 16 point cap for this particular leg of the year covers both fall and spring tournaments, a bad or non-existent showing in one segment will be negated by a stellar showing in the other. I’ve been generally too busy to play in Fall Battle Roads for the past three seasons, so as a competitive player with a lot on his plate, I see fall as the time to “work,” and spring as the time to “play.”

Basically, if you redouble your efforts, then you may have four points or more before you know it! Although I attended only three Battle Roads this fall (two whiffed cuts and one judged), I plan to go to at least six during May, and am already play-testing many times harder than I did in the past. So for those eager to reclaim some lost point chances, I encourage you to do the same.

Analyzing Last Weekend’s Results

Although Battle Roads have come and gone for the year, we metagame junkies are still not done with them – that is, we need to figure out what they mean for the future. Some of these events may be larger, more competitive, or more varied than others, sure, but since November Regionals are closing in quickly, we need to see how this last piece to the puzzle fits.

Listed below are all of the results posted on PokeGym from this past weekend of Battle Road tournaments – reformatted, condensed, and left nameless for your viewing pleasure! As you continue to read through them, be sure to note the underlined decks – these will be discussed later in the “interesting rogues” section. But for the time being, I will go over each major observation I have about the state of the format as it stands right now.

Rantoul, IL:

Masters
1^st: Cinccino/Kingdra
2^nd: Blastoise/Feraligatr

Ann Arbor, MI:

Masters
1^st: Typhlosion/Reshiram
2^nd: ZPST
3^rd: ZPST
4^th: Stage Ones

Seniors
1^st: Typhlosion/Reshiram
2^nd: ZPST

Juniors
1^st: Typhlosion/Reshiram

New Berlin, WI:

Masters
1^st: Typhlosion/Reshiram
2^nd: Gothitelle
3^rd: ZPST
4^th: Emboar/Reshiram/RDL

Blue Springs, MO:

Masters
1^st: Typhlosion/Reshiram
2^nd: Stage Ones
3^rd: Emboar/Reshiram (with RDL too, maybe)
4^th: Yanmega/Magnezone

Seniors
1^st: ZPST
2^nd: The Truth
3^rd: “Mewbox” (I assume this to be either Mew Lock or Mew/Cinccino)
4^th: Donphan/Machamp

Burlington, NJ:

Masters
1^st: The Truth (Vileplume/Reuniclus/Donphan/Zekrom/Suicune & Entei LEGEND)
2^nd: ZPST
3^rd: Typhlosion/Reshiram/Ninetales
4^th: The Truth (Vileplume/Reuniclus/Donphan/Zekrom/Suicune & Entei LEGEND)

Mississauga, ON:

Masters
1^st: Typhlosion/Reshiram
2^nd: ZPST
3^rd: Lostgar/Vileplume
4^th: Kingdra/Yanmega/Gliscor

Richland, WA:

Masters
1^st: ZPST
2^nd: Mew/Yanmega/Cinccino
3^rd: Vilplume/Beartic
4^th: Tyranitar

Juniors
1^st: Zekrom/lanturn/electrode/Genies
2^nd: Krookodile

Okemos, MI:

Masters
1^st: Donphan/Dragons
2^nd: ZPST
3^rd: Typhlosion/Reshiram
4^th: Gothitelle

Seniors
1^st: Gothitelle
2^nd: ZPST
3^rd: Gothitelle
4^th: Typhlosion/Reshiram

Juniors:
1^st: Reshiram/Typhlosion
2^nd: Reshiram/Typhlosion

Freehold, NJ:

Masters
1^st: Gothitelle
2^nd: Typhlosion/Reshiram
3^rd: ZPST
4^th: Gothitelle

St. Louis Park, MN:

Masters
1^st: Yanmega/Magnezone
2^nd: Yanmega/Magnezone/Kingdra/Jirachi
3^rd: ZPST
4^th: Typhlosion/Reshiram

???, MN:

Masters
1^st: Yanmega/Magnezone
2^nd: ZPST
3^rd: Magnezone/Yanmega
4^th: Yanmega/Magnezone/Kingdra/Jirachi

Sedalia, MO:

Masters
1^st: ZPST
2^nd: Emboar/Ninetales/Reshiram
3^rd: Yanmega/Weavile
4^th: Yanmega/Lanturn/Donphan

Muncie, IN:

Masters:
1^st: Magnezone/Yanmega
2^nd: Donphan/Yanmega/Zoroark
3^rd: Yanmega/Zoroark/Weavile
4^th: Gothitelle/Reuniclus

Seniors
1^st: Typhlosion/Reshiram

Newmarket, ON:

Masters
1st: Emboar/Magnezone
2^nd: Emboar/Magnezone
3^rd: “RossiPhloshion” (Typhlosion, Reuniclus, Vileplume, SEL, Blissey, and Reshiram)
4^th: Mew Lock

Huttonville, ON:

Masters
1st: Typhlosion/Reshiram/Kingdra
2^nd: Beartic/Vileplume
3^rd: Typhlosion, Reuncleus, Vileplume, SEL, Blissey, and Reshiram)
4^th: Magneboar

Douglasville, GA:

Masters
1^st: ZPST
2^nd: Yanmega/Vileplume/Mismagius
3^rd: Gothitelle
4^th: ZPST

St. Albert, Alberta:

Masters
1^st: Gothitelle
2^nd: Donphan/Dragons
3^rd: ZPST
4^th: Typhlosion/Reshiram

Turku, Finland:

Masters
1^st: Typhlosion/Reshiram
2^nd: ZPST
3^rd: Typhlosion/Reshiram
4^th: Typhlosion/Reshiram

Rockford, IL:

Masters
1^st: Magnezone/Lanturn/Pachirisu
2^nd: The Truth
3^rd: Absol/Lucario/Yanmega/Zoroark
4^th: Typhlosion/Reshiram

Franklin, TN:

Masters
1^st: Typhlosion/Reshiram
2^nd: Yanmega/Magnezone
3^rd: ???
4^th: Mew Lock