Last weekend the UK Pokémon X & Y Battle Tournament 2014 Grand Final is finally ended with champs coming out. At the end of a long day of battling the winners of the four categories were decided, with Oliver Reilly taking home the prestigious 'Ultimate Expert' title and that sought-after two week-long tickets to Japan. In the 12 years old and under category, Daniel Burton won 'Junior Expert', while Dominic Rice was crowned 'Pokémon Apprentice'. The family duo of Francis and Joshua Jones (fittingly dressed as Ash and Pikachu) won 'Ultimate Team' and took home £250 of Nintendo eShop vouchers and four VIP passes to Eurogamer Expo. WOW, the good reputation and big bonus which everyone pokemon fans are dreaming for and why not practice it with Mt card under the Master guide?
we decided to talk to the tournament winners and get nine top tips on how to get into Pokémon at a competitive level and become the next Pokémon Battle Tournament Master.
1. Make use of Battle Spot Online
Battle Spot Online is a great way to get you started competitively and can be an excellent tool for testing out your latest team. "I think [Pokémon Battle Spot] is incredibly helpful, and players don't realize how much game knowledge they actually acquire when they play on them." Junior Expert Daniel also used Battle Spot frequently during training so that he could see where his team were going wrong and adjust it accordingly. Pokémon Battle Spot also provides you with the opportunity to practice Double style matches, which are the type of battles used in most tournaments, and allows you to discover which members of your party cover one another's weaknesses in battle.
2. Form a well-rounded team
Pokémon Apprentice Dom explains that making sure you have a well-rounded team before you get into competitive battling is his number one top tip — "Too many times have I gone up against people with un-rounded teams. Fox example, It is a bad team because two of their Pokémon are 4x weak to Rock type moves and all four of their Pokémon are weak to Electric type moves."
3. Know your Pokémon's weaknesses
Will your Aurorus be able to stand up to a Fighting or Steel type when the times comes? Oliver has learnt from this the hard way, "I knew all [my Pokemon's] major threats and how to deal with them, but I didn't spend as much time getting to know my team as I should have done. I wanted to bring Tyranitar to every match because I loved using it! But in reality there were times were it should have sat out. It hates fighting-types."
4. Always bring a 'support' Pokémon
For the Ultimate Team, Francis and Joshua Jones, having a support Pokemon was even more important than usual, as Francis explains — "Since my brother is seven he doesn't think much about strategy and only thinks about using hyper-offensive moves. My team building consisted on thinking of Pokémon he could sweep and cause massive damage with, while I boost, support and protect him from my side."During the final battle Francis focused on re-directed attacks away from his brother's Kingdra and Talonflame and using his Amoonguss to sponge up attacks, securing the team's victory.
5. Learn about IVs and EVs
IV stands for 'Individual Values' and EV means 'Effort Values'. If a Pokémon has a great set of IV stats, you can pass them down to another Pokémon by breeding the parent Pokémon while it's holding a specific item, such as the Power Bracer which boosts Attack IVs. EV training has become a lot more accessible via Super Training in Pokémon X & Y as you can now view your Pokémon's effort values by checking the Effort-O-Meter - handy! Putting some time into Super Training and making a specific Pokémon's stat is essential if you want to win a Pokémon Battle Tournament, so make sure to find the right in-game location to further boost specific stats,
6. Surprise your opponent with something unexpected
"Surprise you opponent with something they're not expecting," suggests Oliver, "If you bring a Garchomp, your opponent is going to know exactly what moves it will have. They all run Earthquake, Rock Slide, Protect and Dragon Claw. If you bring Raichu, for example, as one of my opponents did, your opponent will be unable to predict what you'll do without knowing what moves you have. They don't know how to deal with it and immediately you have the advantage."
7.Pick a Pokémon with a good nature
The nature of a Pokemon is also largely important depending on which of their stats you want to advance. Some natures give a 10% increase to a specific stat while also decreasing another by 10%, but there are some natures which do absolutely nothing. "A Pokémon's nature can mean the difference between winning and losing," explains Dominic. "Say I had a 'jolly' Excadrill and you had an 'adamant' one, and now say we had the same EV investments (252 in attack and speed and 6 in HP) and 32 IV's across the board and we battled one to one with the same move set. Because I have a jolly Excadrill (+ Speed - Special Attack) I would attack first, meaning I would hit your Excadrill for 95-100% HP taking into account min-max damage. If you lived because you're adamant (+Attack -Special Attack) your Excadrill would kit mine for 100-110% damage resulting in your win so natures have a massive impact on battle outcomes."
8. Learn from your mistakes
Keeping calm and learning from your mistakes is key in competitive games, so make sure to think about what tactics you might alter for your next match. "Are you not able to take on certain Pokémon? How do others deal with threats like that? If your opponents are outplaying you, try and think about what you would do in their position - what's their move? Counter it with your own."
9. Don't be afraid to ask for help
It might sound a little cheesy, or really very cheesy, but friendship really is the key to becoming successful at Pokémon tournaments. "Most people in the competitive Pokémon community are eager to help and get more people into the meta-game."
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