Gaming
Miguel Marti de la Torre tells us how he won the Pokémon European International in London.
Last weekend, Pokémon fans from all over the world travelled to ExCel London to compete in the first Pokémon International Championship. Over the course of three days Pokémon Trading Card Game and Pokémon Sun and Moon players battled it out for a chance to win the all-important Championship Points to help them qualify for the Pokémon Video Game World Championships 2017. Also new to the Video Game Championships was the promise of cash prizes for the top performers of the weekend.
The three-day event began on Friday December 9, with 549 players in the Masters division battling it out in Swiss format rounds. All players with an 'x-2' record (no more than two games lost) went through to the next round on Saturday, but only the top eight competitors from the second wave of Swiss rounds made it through to Sunday’s finals.
In the end, the last player standing was Pokémon VGC veteran Miguel Marti de la Torre. He won the $5,000 first prize and enough Championship Points to earn a invitation to the 2017 Pokémon World Championships. Following his victory, Miguel talked us through his first Pokémon Sun and Moon victory, giving us the inside track on his winning team.
Congratulations! How does it feel to be the first winner of the Pokémon Sun and Moon International?
Thank you very much. I feel like I'm living a dream, because I've been competing since 2012, but have never won anything –I have qualified for Worlds, and finished 6th in 2014, but I have never won a National or any big tournament. So this time, at the first International, it's like, Oh my God! Such a dream!
Pokémon Sun and Moon were only released two weeks ago. Were you concerned about the amount of time you had to prepare?
It was so crazy! When the games went on sale, I thought: ‘OK, I want to do well at this tournament – I have to play a lot in the next two weeks’. I normally play for maybe one hour per day, but this time, it was like, OK, I’m going to just concentrate on the game and play as much as I can.
How did you get on in the Swiss rounds?
On the first day, I had seven wins and two losses, but the second day was perfect for me as I went 5-0. My overall score was 12-2.
Did you have any opponents that gave you trouble?
Yeah, of course. Ben Kyriakou, who finished third [the best-placed British competitor], played really well and I had a really bad match-up against him. So I had to play perfectly, and I needed a little bit of luck to beat him. I also faced Nico, who also got into the top-cut but lost in final eight. He played really well.
So tell us about your team – which Pokémon did you pick and why?
First of all I started playing Tapu Koko, Garchomp and Celesteela because it was the standard and it works pretty well. Everyone was using it so I started testing it – I normally go for a standard team, but I always try to improve upon it to best reflect my style.
So in this team, I think the MVP is Gigalith, because it works perfectly with Garchomp, and it counters Alolan Ninetails and Politoed – It works very well for me.
Garchomp has been popular for many years now. You chose to play one with Assault Vest, no Protect, which is very different to the 'standard' Garchomp we have been used to seeing. What made you decide to play it differently?
I decided to do this the last night before registering for the tournament – I was up until 2am testing my team. I was using Krokodile, but then I faced an Alolan Raichu and Tapu Lele, which destroyed me.
So I was like, OK, I need something that can deal with this, and can do it well like Krokodile with Earthquake and Rock Slide. So then I decided to go with Garchomp with Assault Vest as itresists everything – Moonblast, Ice Beam, even Blizzard from Alolan Ninetails. So it works perfectly for me. Garchomp is usually seen with the ability Rough Skin, but a Sand Veil Garchomp can work well alongside Gigalith.
How does it feel knowing that loads of people will probably imitate that now? You've put Assault Vest Garchomp on the map!
Yeah! I will probably have to come up with a new team now. With this international being the first tournament, it will set the meta-game for a while.
Will you be attending any of the other European regionals or big events that have been announced?
Yeah, of course. Being first means I have enough points for an invite to Worlds this year, but I am trying to get a paid invitation, so I will be attempting to get to another regional event. I would like to go to Germany because I've never been there to play. I think that would be really nice.
Finally do you have any advice for anyone wishing to take up playing Pokémon competitively?
If you have just started playing, it can be so difficult to make your own team. I think there is no problem copying other players’ teams – using the ones you see doing really well. When you've learned how to play with that team, you can start to make your own teams and improve yourself.
