Around The Stadiums: Blaziken Series #2 – A Premier Challenge Summary

Posted by: Mindape in Events February 2, 2016 Comments Off on Around The Stadiums: Blaziken Series #2 – A Premier Challenge Summary

ATSBS
 

Hello all, and welcome back to another edition of Around the Stadiums. Today we’re continuing on with the Blaziken Series of Premier Challenges, this time with the new VGC2016 format. You can familiarise yourself with the rules here if you don’t know them already. While only three states had PCs this month, we expect that number to increase in the coming months as the VGC2016 format gets into full swing. Here at Pokémon Australia, we’ve also started collecting usage data from these events to help prospective trainers understand what’s popular and what’s successful in Australia this format, and have a better idea what to expect in important events like Regionals and Nationals later in the year.

To be sure you don’t miss your next chance to compete, you can keep up to date with the times and locations of all of Australia’s 2016 season Premier Challenges on Pokémon Australia’s events calendar.

Index:

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Victoria

Victoria got started on VGC 2016 early, with a PC occurring on January 3rd. Nihal Noor, Bailey Owen and Meaghan Rattle all continued their good form from the 2015 format, taking out the top 3 places in Morwell. The following weekend saw the Box Hill PC streamed on Twitch, with Haris Sahovic taking it out in front of an international audience. Pokémon Australia has videos of the top cut battles from runner up Matt Roe’s perspective available for your viewing pleasure on Youtube. The top cut in Box Hill was full of familiar faces, with Robert Whitehill making the jump up to a top 4 finish after a string of top 8 finishes earlier in the season.

Sunday, January 3rd

Venue: NLG Morwell
Attendance: 27
Usage Stats

Results:

  1. Nihal Noor (@UchihaX96)
  2. Bailey Owen (@BargensVGC)
  3. Meaghan Rattle (AvengedWerehog)
  4. Jordan Bradley
  5. Joshua Spriggins
  6. Nicholas Vella
  7. Sam Hughes
  8. Nicholas Bingham (@ludicolopatrol)
Saturday, January 9th

Venue: Good Games Boxhill
Attendance: 46 (Elevated)
Usage Stats

Results:

  1. Haris Sahovic (@HSahovic)
  2. Matt Roe (@RoeyVGC)
  3. Christopher Kan
  4. Robert Whitehill (@No1MachopFanVGC)
  5. Jackson Lakey (@FamousDeaf)
  6. Meaghan Rattle (AvengedWerehog)
  7. Nicholas Calister
  8. Bailey Owen (@BargensVGC)
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Tasmania

Although Brendan Webb has already reached his Best Finish Limit for PCs, he took out Tasmania’s first PC of 2016 to show his continued intent towards earning a World Championship invitation by practicing the new format. Tasmania’s second PC saw Chris Mathers win ahead of Aidan Clarke, with Chris now building up a healthy CP total for himself.

Saturday, January 9th

Venue: BattleAxe
Attendance: 8

Results:

  1. Brendan Webb (@Floristthebudew)
  2. Emma
  3. Aidan Clarke
  4. Josh D
Saturday, January 23rd

Venue: BattleAxe
Attendance: 7 Masters

Results:

  1. Chris Mathers
  2. Aidan Clarke
  3. (Not Opted in to Rankings)
  4. (Not Opted in to Rankings)
  5. Sean G
  6. Chris Carr
  7. Brendan Webb (@Floristthebudew)
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Western Australia

Western Australia held two PCs in January as well, with the first of them won by Alex Poole, who improved on his solid 2015 format results with his first PC win, moving him closer to the World Championship Invitation CP bar. Western Australia also had the last PC for January, this time in Cannington, with Alex Poole taking the victory again. Cory Thomas was the runner up in both PCs, and Brendan Robeson made top 4 in both as well. These results give Alex and Cory a good boost towards achieving their World Championship invitations.

Sunday, January 24th

Venue: Retro, Morely
Attendance: 8

Results:

  1. Alexander Poole
  2. Cory Thomas
  3. Benjamin O’Neill
  4. Brendan Robeson
Sunday, January 31st

Venue: Good Games, Cannington
Attendance: 18

Results:

  1. Alex Poole
  2. Cory Thomas
  3. Brendan Robeson
  4. Kevin Pal-ing
  5. Aaron Apollos
  6. Lionel Pryce
  7. Zac Andrew Corrigan
  8. Karl Aquino
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Upcoming Events

VIC

NSW

QLD

TAS

WA

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Australian CP Standings (Current as at 29 January 2016)

CP Standings 29 Jan 2016

Full standings viewable here.
APAC Regional standings viewable here.

Brendan Webb remains in front with the maximum 180 CP from his 6 PC wins, but fellow Tasmanian Chris Mathers closed the gap on him a little this month in second place. Bailey Owen and Nihal Noor are tied for third, both on 116 after adding to their tally again this month to get closer to earning their World Championship invitation. They may soon reach their Best Finish Limit of 6 PCs though – once that occurs, they will need to improve on their lower scoring finishes in order to continue earning CP during the Premier Challenge season, as higher scoring finishes will replace lower scoring ones in their CP calculation. Lionel Pryce added to his CP with his top 8 finish on January 31st, but remains in 5th spot, while Joey Forster’s CP count remains unchanged this month. Meaghan Rattle, Chris Kan and Matt Roe continue to move up the top 10 rankings after earning more CP this January having had some success with the new format, while Alex Poole’s most recent win should see him join the top 10 when the CP standings next update.

The first 9 in Australian CP rankings are now just a top 64 finish at Nationals away from passing the 200 CP Bar and earning an invitation to Day 1 at the World Championships – not that that’s necessarily a given. However, there is still much time and many events left in the season, and it remains a tight battle for positioning to try to be in a position for a paid invitation once the dust settles from the Regional and National Championships – for which every battle and tournament is good practice.

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Have you competed but your position is listed as unknown, or as ‘not opted in to rankings’? Want to compete and join the chase for Championship Points? Join the Pokémon Trainer Club and opt in to rankings to join the quest to reach the 2016 Pokémon World Championships!

Do you have an online handle on Twitter, Pokémon Showdown or on Nugget Bridge that we’ve missed? Has your name been misspelled? Let us know so we can fix errors, and include more accurate information in future ‘Around the Stadiums’ publications.

We’d love to see your photos from Premier Challenges! Feel free to send them, and results, through to the writing team at Pokémon Australia. You can contact them here:

PokeAus Facebook Page
Email: [email protected]

Contributors:

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Special thanks to those that helped get this month’s article happening:

Alex Poole (Results), Tim Crockford (Usage Stats), Mitchell Dowling (Art), Bailey Owen (Usage Stats), Matthew Roe (Battle Video Codes), Brendan Webb (Results), Stacey Muscat (Data Collection and Entry), Nathan Cappelluti (Editing), Robert Whitehill (Editing)

About Mindape

A Pokemon fan since Blue and Red. Rarely seen as a trainer in the wild due to irl commitments, but dedicated to contributing to the community regardless. Rio 2016 Olympian.
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