Around The Stadiums: Sceptile Series #1 – A Premier Challenge Summary

 

After enduring a quiet few months in the post-World Championship period, Australia’s VGC scene is back at it again as the journey towards the 2016 World Championships in San Francisco gets underway in earnest with a plethora of Premier Challenges (PCs) having been announced in recent weeks, and the first of those beginning to be held.

Here at PokéAus, we’ll endeavour to keep track of the results and the CP standings as they come throughout the 2016 season. We can’t be everywhere at once, and so will need the assistance of the community sending in results and photos. Any help offered will be appreciated. Anyway, to kick things off, here’s our first ‘Around the Stadiums’ results wrap up, examining results so far on a state-by-state basis.

Although some lucky travellers earned Championship Points (CP) in the Boston Open, held concurrently with the 2015 World Championships, the PC held in Tasmania on October 24 marked the first chance for trainers to pick up CP for 2016 on Australian soil. Since then, there have been several other PCs held, including most recently in Victoria and WA, with Queensland and NSW getting their first PCs of the season in the coming weeks. We hope to hear soon about PCs coming to South Australia as well, although unfortunately nothing has been announced in that regard just yet.

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 PokéAus’s events calendar.

Index:

• Tasmania
• Victoria
• Western Australia
• Upcoming Events
• Australian Championship Point Standings

Tasmania

As mentioned earlier, the opening PC of the season was held in Tasmania. 2015 National top 8 finisher Brendan Webb took the honours here getting his season off to the best possible start as he looks to improve on his 16th place CP in the APAC region finish in 2015. Brendan also won the third PC of Tasmania’s season to start his 2016 campaign strongly. In between, the second PC was won by the mysterious Skrazzy, which is the only name we can find for this trainer at present.

Saturday 24th October

Venue: Huonville, Tasmania (BattleAxe Games)
Attendance: 8 Masters, 1 Junior

Results:

1. Brendan Webb (Floristthebudew) @Floristthebudew
2. Christopher Mathers
3. Rose B
4. Unknown (Not opted in to rankings)
5. “Skrazzy”
6. Matthew Joyce
7. Sean Gressie
8. Matthew J

Sunday 1st November

Venue: Huonville, Tasmania (BattleAxe Games)
Attendance: 7 Masters; 1 Senior

Results:

1. “Skrazzy”
2. Jamie G
3. Rose B
4. Unknown (Not opted in to rankings)
5. Matthew Joyce
6. Chris Carr
7. Emma Pinferi

Saturday 6th November

Venue: Huonville, Tasmania (BattleAxe Games)
Attendance: 6 Masters, 1 Senior, 1 Junior

Results:

1. Brendan Webb (Floristthebudew) @floristthebudew
2. Matthew Joyce
3. “Skrazzy”
4. Matthew J
5. Unknown (Not opted into rankings)
6. Chris Carr

Victoria

Sunday 7th November

Venue: Morwell, Victoria (Next Level Games)
Attendance: 32 Masters, 2 Seniors, ? Juniors

The first PC to be held outside of Tasmania was just to the north and across the sea in Morwell, Victoria. Fortunately, there were no mine fires to worry about, but the competition did heat up inside the venue, with numerous World Championship representatives and Regional and National Top Cut performers attending. Zarif Ayman took out the top place, while Bailey Owen was second. 2015 double regional champion Chris G was also in attendance, but unfortunately he missed out on Championship Points on resistance after finishing 19th with a 3-3 record, showing the strength of this PC field. Considering that Morwell is over an hour’s drive or train ride from Melbourne, the nearest major city, the attendance of 32 Masters is impressive and speaks volumes about the size of Victoria’s Pokémon Community.

Photo courtesy of Jake Robertson

Results:

1. Zarif Ayman (Hikari0307)
2. Bailey Owen (Bargens)
3. James Farrugia
4. Nihal Noor (UchihaX96)
5. Tom Schultz @SchultzyVGC
6. Callum Witt @CruiseVGC
7. Meaghan Rattle
8. Cameron Dimond
9. Robert McAndrew @DextyriousVGC
10. Shaun Fotheringham
11. Christopher Egan
12. Luka Blaikle
13. Jake Robertson (rgrts)
14. Steven Mcmann
15. Tiffany Keane
16. James Robertson @James_Robbo_VGC

Western Australia

Wednesday 8th November

Venue: Morely, Western Australia (Retro Morely)

CANCELLED – Due to construction work near venue

Upcoming Events

Here are the Premier Challenges that each state has scheduled until the end of this month. For a full list of future events, check out our Events Calendar.

QLD

• November 15 @10:00am – Fastbreak: Pokémon Sceptile VGC Premier Challenge #1
• November 21 @10:00am – Fastbreak: Pokémon Sceptile VGC Premier Challenge #2

NSW

• November 29 @11:00am – Good Games Burwood: Pokémon Sceptile VGC Premier Challenge #1

VIC

• November 21 @11:00am – Guf Werribee: Pokémon Sceptile VGC Premier Challenge #1
• November 22 @1:00pm – NLG Morwell: Pokémon Sceptile VGC Premier Challenge #2
• November 28 @9:00am – Good Games Box Hill: Pokémon Sceptile VGC Premier Challenge #1

TAS

• November 21 @2:30pm – BattleAxe Games: Sceptile VGC Premier Challenge #5
• November 28 @2:30pm – BattleAxe Games: Sceptile VGC Premier Challenge #6

WA

• November 15 @10:00am – Retro Morley: Sceptile VGC Premier Challenge #2
• November 18 @3:00pm – Retro Morley: Sceptile VGC Premier Challenge #3
• November 22 @10:00am – Retro Morley: Sceptile VGC Premier Challenge #4
• November 25 @3:00pm – Retro Morley: Sceptile VGC Premier Challenge #5
• November 29 @10:00am – Retro Morley: Sceptile VGC Premier Challenge #6

Australian CP Standings

(Current as at 12/11/2015)

The full standings for the Australian VGC Masters Division can be found by visiting the Pokémon website. The APAC Regional standings are viewable here.

While Brendan Webb of Tasmania has jumped out to second place after his two PC wins, the top of the CP leaderboard is still dominated by those who attended the Boston Open in August, with CP leader Joey Forster, as well as Lionel Pryce, Mitch Kendrick and Chris G, all sitting in the top 8 for CP. Zarif Ayman, winner of the first Morwell PC, is registered with Malaysia on the Pokémon Trainer Club, and so does not appear in this Australian list. Contrariwise, Zyad Afiza appears on the Australian CP list, but picked up his most recent CP from a third placing at a Malaysian PC held on November 7th. With over a dozen more PCs scheduled in Australia for November, we can expect the rankings to change quite a lot over the coming weeks, but this is how they stand at time of printing.

Have you competed but your position is listed as unknown, or as ‘not opted in to rankings’? 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? Let us know so we can include it 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 PokéAus. You can contact them here:

PokeAus Facebook Page
Email: [email protected]

Contributors:

• Nathan Cappelutti: @cappavgc
  Cappa on Nugget Bridge
• Rhydian Cowley: @rhydianc
  Mindape on Pokémon Showdown and on Nugget Bridge
• Phil Nguyen: @boomguypokemon
  Boomguy on Pokemon Showdown and on Nugget Bridge
• Brendan Webb: @floristthebudew
  Floristthebudew on Pokémon Showdown and on Nugget Bridge

Special thanks to those that helped get this article happening: Nathan Cappelutti (Editing), Mitchell Dowling (Art), Phil Nguyen (Results, Editing), Jake Robertson (Morwell PC Photos), Brendan Webb (Results), Rob Whitehill (Editing).