Pokemon VGC Created by: Bartol Buljubašić

(video game championship) Visoko Učilište Algebra

Pokemon VGC
Video Game Championship
About the Pokemon series
• Nintendo (of which The Pokemon Company and GameFreak are
subsidiaries) – selling toys and hanafuda playing cards since 1889.
• Created in 1995. by Satoshi Tajiri (autistic) – wanted to share love of
collecting insects with other people
• First video games published in 1996. for the Nintendo Gameboy
The composition of a competitive Pokemon –
species specific
The composition of a competitive Pokemon –
species specific
• 1 or 2 types which define weaknesses, resistances and STAB (Same-Type Attack
Bonus)
• Choice out of 1-3 abilities
• Move-pool
• 6 base stats (ranging from 1-255)
• HP
• Atk
• Def
• SpA
• SpD
• Spe
• A stat of 80 is said to be usable
Weakness / Resistance Chart
The composition of a competitive Pokemon –
general builds
• Each Pokemon can be trained with EV’s (effort values)
• Total of 508 EV’s, no more than 252 in a single stat
• Each Pokemon has IV’s (internal values)
• Ranging from 0-31
• Pokemon are bred for these
• Sometimes you want a 0 IV (Spe for Trick Room, Atk for a Special attacker)
• 1 nature (+10% one stat, -10% another stat)
• 1 held item (passive or activated)
• 4 moves (chosen from the species specific move-pool)
These Pokemon might seem the same, but they serve
wildly different purposes on their respective teams
Common Strategies
• Hyper Aggression
• Set-Up
• Buff = Stat * (1+(0,5*X), X = stage of buffs, max 6.
• Debuff = Stat / (1+(0,5*X), X = stage of debuffs, max 6.
• Good-stuff
• Trick Room
• Sun-Room
• Gimmick
• Perish Song
• Stall
History of competitive Pokemon
• Started with Pokemon CGC in 2004. (the trading card game)
• First Pokemon VGC World competition in 2009.
• 4 regions
• Europe - EU
• North America – NA
• Oceania – OC
• South America – SA
• 3 divisions (years of age)
• Junior – <11
• Senior - 12-15
• Master – >16
Pokemon Battles
• 75% preparation and knowledge, 15% reads (reading you opponent)
and 10% luck
• Usually best of 3
• Your time – 5:00 min -> Like Chess!
• Total time – 20:00 min
• Each battle begins way before the actual battle takes place
Format of the competition
• Double battles, “bring 6, pick 4”
• In 2020 – live season canceled due to Covid-19
• 3-day Regional qualifiers – 15 x 20 minute battle each day
• Top 256 players from each region (128 from Oceania) proceed to the Players
Cup
• Players Cup – 1st stage - Regional
• Double-elimination bracket (best of 3 battles) play until 16 players remain in
each region
• Winners bracket (lose 1 round and get dropped to Losers bracket)
• Losers bracket (lose 1 round and drop out) – best player gets to rechallenge the winners
bracket finalist
Format of the competition contd.
• Players Cup - Stage 2 – Top 4 Global Finals Qualifier
• After a week, the top 16 double-elimination bracket play continues until 4
players remain in each region
• Players Cup – Stage 3 – Global Finals
• 16 players, top 4 from each region
• Double-elimination best of 3 bracket
• Finalist of Losers Bracket and finalist of Winners Bracket battle for 1st place in
the finals
Teambuilding
• First we check which Pokemon are allowed this season
• National Dex – only caught and bred in game, excluding box legendary and
mythicals
• Expanded National – all of the Pokemon included in the game files, excluding
box legendary and mythicals
• GS Cup – all Pokemon, 2 of which can be box legendary or mythical
• Meta – what are the best Pokemon and their respective builds? What
will everyone be using? How will I defeat the “best” Pokemon?
• Knowledge = Power
Teambuilding contd.
• How well do my Pokemon play together? Is there synergy or do the
various tactics conflict with each other? (weakness/resistance
synergy, multi-weather, multi-terrain, Psychic terrain + Fake Out)
• The game is won by tempo, and tempo is won by good team building
and careful planning.
Some of my favorite Pro players
• Wolfey Glicke

• Aaron “Cybertron” Zheng

• James Baek
New team for PC3 – Jan 15th 2021
Old team – 272nd in Europe
during PC1
2016 World Championship Finals
Questions?
Thank you for your
attention!