Tournament: Raid Group Fusion Cup

Well, yes. That first gathering I discussed yesterday is in the form of a Pokémon Go tournament with this month's SLA theme. Aside from being competitions, I consider tournaments as a way to get in touch with others, particularly those who I only see very rarely. That, and for this one in particular, I haven't been able to participate since November, which makes this one somewhat important, especially as I was open to participate in it. Thus, it was time to meet up and battle down.

At first, I thought that this would be a comfy tournament with around 20 or so participants, but it turned out to be closer to 30, as it turned out even Trainers from faraway areas joined the festivities, including a member of my figure group. What this means is that tournaments like these, especially if they're promoted online through the SLA, as all tournaments there should be to all its members. I suppose that I and my raid group should repay the favor by dropping by their locales and participating when a tournament takes place there.

This tournament took place at the same location as November's tournament, but the "vibe" was different. Instead of using the provided tables and chairs, it became mostly a lax affair with participants sitting on the (carpeted) floor or on provided cushions. Regardless, the competition remained fierce. No one ended up winning all matches or even losing all, and the overall winner had to be decided by tiebreaking points, as eight Trainers won the same number of matches. The winners were pretty diverse in terms of regional representation as well.

As for myself, my results weren't good, but weren't too bad as well. I lost all my first match battles, won all my second, lost all my third, won one out of three in the fourth, and received a bye on the fifth. I seem to have problems in prediction and execution, even with a well-formed team based on certain rules of thumb. This seems to be a total challenge regardless of what I do, even for some things on this blog. It does get frustrating at times. I ended up sixth out of the group of two-win Trainers and ninth from the bottom overall.

To enliven the festivities, there were a couple of side challenges that involved guessing the cry sounds of Pokémon, which are also present in Pokémon Go in different circumstances. The first sound was for Pansage, which was guessed by my fellow figure group member. The second sound was for Krabby, which was guessed by... me! It was a characteristic sound, though it took me a bit of time to recall. Both of us received prizes in the form of a Pokémon of our choice, powered up as needed and given a second Charged move. As Krabby was a Pokémon that Ash had used, I chose another Pokémon that Ash had used, though I'm not interested in detailing it now. The results seem to be usable for PvP, though I'm not sure when I will be able to test this. This makes for a good "birthday present" as well.

Even with the competitive quality that Pokémon has, it can make for appreciably social affairs as well. This tournament was just that; it was both incredibly competitive and incredibly social. Many of my raid group members got in touch with each other, and we all got in touch with Trainers from different places as well. That seems to outweigh any results that occur from the execution. I don't know if the others would concur on this, but this is the truism that I see here and with Pokémon in general.

One year ago: Rivalries
Two years ago: (Almost) A Pokémon Party
Three years ago: Pokémon Art Academy - More Than Just Pokémon Art