How going Turtle-mode helped Choc earn the first ever recorded Day 2 for Torterra
Many times, I have cursed this game when I felt stuck and couldn’t get out of low ladder or crashed out at a major tournament. Whenever that feeling of frustration hits me, I can’t help but admire Choc’s relationship with VGC. He approaches the game with a serenity unlike any other player. Whenever we attend a tournament together, it seems that he’s perfectly at peace with anything that could happen any given Saturday morning. Of course that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care about his performance or is so arrogant he thinks that he can’t lose. He is perfectly aware of his weaknesses and the consequences of not achieving his goals. Facing them head-on is what makes him such a formidable player.
Nowhere did I see this more clearly than at last year’s Bologna Special Event.
It was a warm spring evening in the old roman streets of Bologna, and the sun was slowly getting lower and lower, signalling to us that is was time to go back to our hotel. We had had a pleasant afternoon in the city, strolling around the cobbled piazzas and alleyways. Now it was time to prepare for the tournament ahead. There were Pokémon to EV and team lists to submit. We were all feeling quite confident in our teams, with two notable exceptions: For Choc and Sela, Bologna was the last tournament of their season, which meant it was their final chance to lock their invites for Worlds. Only the 75 best players in Europe would be allowed to play at the Pokémon World Championships that summer in Anaheim, California. They had been preparing a Miraidon & Calyrex-Ice team, but now, around twelve hours before Round One pairings would go online, their composition was still incomplete.
They only had five Pokémon.
As we were walking back to the hotel, Choc and Sela were debating which Pokémon would be able to patch the holes in their matchup spread when we passed a florist. The shutters had already been pulled over the shop’s window, spraypainted over in an attempt to hide the rust slowly eating away at them. The mural seemed like it had been placed there specifically for them to find, like an Antidote lying on the ground when you’re making your way through Viridian Forest and your beloved starter Pokémon has been poisoned. Painted on the shutters was a small bonsai tree, with a gnarled brown stem and thick green leafage, its roots digging into a pot of dark brown soil.
Plant and ground.
A bonsai and its home.
They had found their sixth Pokémon.
Torterra would prove it’s worth in the very first round of the tournament. Their team had been struggling against Kyogre and Zacian teams, also known as SwordFish. Calyrex-Ice was unable to seriously threaten Kyogre, Miraidon could be outsped and KO’d by Zacian. Torterra, lovingly nicknamed Tortellini by Choc, was a natural counter. Wood Hammer shut down the Fish, while Electric Seed and Headlong Rush took care of the Sword.
The tortoise continued to triumph in Round Two: Again, Choc’s opponent had two restricted Pokémon that struggled into Torterra. Miraidon and Calyrex-Ice might have been two of the most popular pieces in the format, but once again neither could really touch Tortellini. Ground typing provided immunity to Electro Drift and Volt Switch, while the Grass typing meant Calyrex couldn’t outstall it with Leech Seed. The niche pick was turning out to be the perfect meta counter.
The turtle would end up coming to almost every game in his first eight rounds, winning six rounds in total. Tortellini remains to this day the only Torterra to ever have made Day 2 at a Major. Throughout the tournament Choc truly embrace the steadfast nature of Torterra, playing with a calmness that allowed him to outplay his opponents and find safe paths to victory in the heat of battle. In Day 2 it took the formidable Matteo Velata, who would go on to win the entire tournament, to knock him out. In the end they placed 60th out of 684 players, sealing Choc’s world invite once and for all.
Being cool under fire and able to identify niche picks that solve a specific problem are skills that don’t just help Choc with VGC, they also help him in his professional life as an IT consultant where he helps customers by finding tailor-made solutions to the problems they are facing. It’s no coincidence that many Pokémon players gravitate towards positions that utilize the skills we’ve gained in battle. If you think that sounds like you, consider applying for a position at codecentric, our sponsor. You might know them from our anniversary tournament, where they helped us in making the event the big success it was by providing a prize pool of 500€.
They are looking to hire consultants in their Atlassian team where they help customers identify and solve problems with individualised software solutions. Finding solutions to unique problems requires ingenuity, a level head and the ability to remain calm under pressure. In that way, it’s quite similar to making a niche Pokémon work on your team! And a company that supports Grassroots VGC tournaments is bound to be a cool place to work. If you’re interested, you can check out their job listings below:
English:
https://codecentric.jobs.personio.de/job/2325174?language=en
Deutsch:
https://codecentric.jobs.personio.de/job/2325174?language=de
