Around the Stadiums: Swampert Series #2– A Premier Challenge Summary

 

Hello everyone, welcome back to the penultimate edition of Around the Stadiums for the 2016 season, where we bring you Premier Challenge Results from around Australia in April. This was the final month before the Regional Championship season began, so we saw a large number of events available for trainers to fine-tune their strategies for the big events.

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:

• Victoria
• New South Wales
• Queensland
• Tasmania
• Western Australia
• Upcoming Events
• Australian Championship Point Standings

Victoria

Victoria played host to a massive five Premier Challenges this month, with familiar faces in the top cuts throughout. The first of these was at Box Hill, where Wil Antonyson took out first place ahead of Matthew Roe, the latter confirming his Day 1 World Championship invitation despite a mix up in CP from his win in Tasmania’s Midseason Showdown in March. The following day saw Sam Pandelis win in Morwell ahead of a strong field.

Nicholas Bingham was the winner of Melbourne’s Midseason Showdown later in the month, defeating Nihal Noor in the final, while Meaghan Rattle was victorious the next day at Celtic Club, ahead of Tim Walsh in the final. This was Tim’s best finish in a month filled with PC top cuts, which will help his accumulation of CP in the lead up to Regionals.

The fifth event of the month, on April 30th in Dandenong was won by Sam Hughes over Galvin Hui, who was also runner up in Morwell.

Saturday, April 9th

Venue: Good Games Boxhill
Usage Stats

Results:

1. Will Antonyson
2. Matthew Roe (@RoeyVGC)
3. Nicholas Bingham (@LudicoloPatrol)
4. Galvin Hui
5. Zak Tober
6. Nathan Farrugia
7. James Farrugia
8. Bailey Gabbell

Sunday, April 10

Venue: NLG Morwell
Usage Stats

Results:

1. Sam Pandelis (@ZeldaVGC)
2. Galvin Hui
3. Haris Sahovic (@HSahovic)
4. Timothy Walsh (@2Girls1Muk)
5. Matthew Roe (@RoeyVGC)
6. Meaghan Rattle (@AvengedWerehog)
7. Luka Blaikie
8. Joshua Callister (@JCalVGC)

Saturday, April 23 | Mid-Season Showdown Melbourne

Venue: Celtic Club
Usage Stats

Results:

1. Nicholas Bingham (@LudicoloPatrol)
2. Nihal Noor (@Uchihax96)
3. Jay Tyrell
4. James Katsaros
5. Steven Currie
6. Bailey Owen (@Bargens)
7. Timothy Walsh (@2Girls1Muk)
8. Bailey Gabbell

Sunday, April 24th

Venue: Celtic Club, Melbourne

Results:

1. Meaghan Rattle (@AvengedWerehog)
2. Timothy Walsh (@2Girls1Muk)
3. Robert Whitehill (@No1MachopFanVGC)
4. Sam Hughes
5. James Katsaros
6. Taleb “Bache Afghan” Nazari
7. Jay Tyrrell
8. Zarif Ayman

Saturday, April 30th

Venue: NLG Dandenong

Results:

1. Sam Hughes
2. Galvin Hui
3. Jordan Bradley
4. Emma Williams (@CobalteVGC)
5. Michael Abdelmesih (@GreatTornadoVGC)
6. Robert Whitehill (@No1MachopFanVGC)
7. Jack Mason
8. James Katsaros

New South Wales

Top Ryde hosted New South Wales’ only Premier Challenge for April. Martin Larumbe took out top spot, defeating Corey M in the final, an ideal warm up for a tour of Australia during the Regionals season.

Saturday, April 23rd

Venue: Good Games Top Ryde
Usage Stats

Results:

1. Martin Larumbe (@BaseIN2)
2. Corey M
3. Daniel Walker (@Ludicola31)
4. Josh M
5. Shisir L
6. Arkie Owen
7. Peter Seo
8. Mitch Kendrick (@MitchVGC)

Queensland

April 23rd was a busy day all around, with Queensland also holding a PC on that day. Damon Murdoch took out the Sunshine State’s tournament, defeating Luke Milligan in the final

Saturday, April 23rd

Venue: Fastbreak

Results:

1. Damon Murdoch (@SirScrubbs)
2. Luke Milligan
3. Joseph Garrett
4. Ty Farry
5. Malcolm Mackellar (@MogarMalcolm)
6. Paul Amedee
7. Matthew Burris
8. Richard Buckley (@Arahpthos)

Tasmania

The two PCs in Tasmania for April had identical results, with Lochiel Cameron claiming two wins, and Perri Deane two second place finishes.

Saturday, April 9th

Venue: BattleAxe

Results:

1. Lochiel Cameron
2. Perri Deane
3. Not Opted into Rankings
4. Chris Carr

Saturday, April 23rd

Venue: BattleAxe

Results:
1. Lochiel Cameron
2. Perri Deane
3. Not Opted into Rankings
4. Chris Carr

Western Australia

Western Australia also had two PCs this month. At this stage, we are unable to get results from the April 10th tournament, but we have the results from the April 23rd PC, which as previously observed was a popular day for battling all around the nation. There, Brendan Robeson was victorious, with Benjamin O’Neill finishing as the runner-up.

Sunday, April 10th

Venue: Good Games Cannington

Results:

Missing Results

Sunday, April 23rd

Venue: Good Games Cannington
Results:

1. Brendan Robeson
2. Benjamin O’Neill
3. Karl Aquino
4. Steven Williams

Upcoming Events

Premier Challenges:

VIC

• May 15 @9:00am – NLG Morwell: Pokémon Swampert VGC Premier Challenge #3

NSW

• May 21 @9:00am – Good Games Top Ryde: Pokémon Swampert VGC Premier Challenge #2

TAS

• May 14 @2:30pm – BattleAxe: Pokémon Swampert VGC Premier Challenge #5
• May 28 @2:30pm – BattleAxe: Pokémon Swampert VGC Premier Challenge #6

WA

• May 15 @10:00am – Good Games Cannington: Pokémon Swampert VGC Premier Challenge #5
• May 22 @5:00pm – Good Games Cannington: Pokémon Swampert VGC Premier Challenge #6

Regional Championships:

ADELAIDE | MAY 1ST

Registration: 9:00am -10:00am.
Where: The Ellington, Hackney

AUCKLAND (NZ) | MAY 7TH

Registration: 9:00am -10:00am.
Where: ANZ Viaduct Events Centre, Auckland

SYDNEY | MAY 14TH

Registration:  9:00am -10:00am.
Where: Paddington Town Hall

BRISBANE | MAY 21ST

Registration:  9:00am -10:00am.
Where: Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Southbank

MELBOURNE | MAY 29TH

Registration:  9:00am -10:00am.
Where: Collingwood Town Hall

PERTH | JUNE 5TH

Registration:  9:00am -10:00am.
Where: Perth Town Hall

Australian CP Standings (Current as at 1 May 2016)

Full standings viewable here.
APAC Regional standings viewable here.

The top two positions in Australia’s standings remained unchanged this month, with neither Brendan nor Alex collecting CP. Behind them we saw an additional 5 people reach Day 1 World Championship invitations, and a large number get within close striking distance, as the top 10 Australians by Championship points are now all at or over 200 CP. Nihal Noor and Bailey Owen returned to the top 10 this month, while Matthew Roe snuck in to third place, just ahead of Lochiel Cameron and Nihal. Christopher Mathers, Lionel Pryce and Chris Giagozoglou were bumped down to 6th, 8th and 10th respectively by the movements in the standings. Cory Thomas also dropped just outside of the top 10 after not picking up any CP this month, but remains close enough to 200 CP that a middling performance at a local regional would be enough to see him invited to the World Championships.

Congratulations to Brendan Robeson, Matthew Roe, Nihal Noor, Lochiel Cameron and Bailey Owen for qualifying for the World Championships.

As Regional Championships occur during the next month, we expect to see the face of the top 10 change considerably given the amount of Championship Points on offer, and we look forward to seeing a bunch more Day 1 World Championship invitations earned.

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:

• Nathan Cappelluti: @cappavgc
  Cappa on Nugget Bridge and CappaVGC on Pokemon Showdown
• 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:

Brendan Webb (Results), Phil Nguyen (Results), Matthew Roe (Results), Mitchell Dowling (Results), Robert Whitehill (Editing), Stacey Muscat (Result Collection)