2018 World Championships Recap & Photos From Nashville

The Fincastle Gym Leaders came back home from their trip to the 2018 Pokemon World Championships in Nashville, TN.  Upon returning, we immediately had to pack up for GEXCON, in D.C. on the following weekend, so we are unfortunately delayed in getting this report out.  While not competing in the main event, Gym Leaders Joel, Logan and Georgia did try their hand at the Nashville Open, a regional-level tournament held on Saturday.  They were also there to cheer on Ridge and Anna Radtke, as they competed in their first Video Game World Championship.  Overall the weekend was a really cool.  There were a multitude of things to see, including a massive Mega Construx Blastoise accompanied by its previous forms, a diorama to end all dioramas, a decked out Pokemon Center full of unique things to buy and of course, lots of Nashville themed decorations throughout the hall.   The weekend full of competitions had its strikes and gutters, ups and downs for The Gym.  As the Dude once said, you know, sometimes you eat the bar, and, sometimes uh, you know….  Alas, The Gym abides.

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Fincastle’s Own “Generals” Ready For World Championships

The Fincastle Pokemon Gym is proud to announce that two of its own are on their way to the 2018 Pokemon World Championships in Nashville, TN, this coming weekend, August 24th – 26th.  Siblings Ridge and Anna Radtke have both qualified for the video game event in their respective age divisions.  They are the charter members of The Gym’s team, Hee-Haw’s Generals, and are the first active members of The Gym to earn invitations to the event under the tutelage of its founders, Joel & Marthe Honts and their children, Logan and Georgia.  Logan and Georgia have earned a combined 6 invitations to past World Championships, stretching back to 2011.  In 2016, Georgia became the 1st from Fincastle to earn an invite to the video game event.  Georgia, who qualified for both the trading card game and video game championships in 2016, was forced to choose between the two, ultimately picking the card competition.  This year marks the first time local players will compete in the video game event.

Pokemon 2018 TCG Rotation – Sun & Moon-on!

The Pokemon Company and Play!Pokemon announced its 2018 TCG rotation… back in May.  Why?  “Why” is an often asked and rarely answered question for a lot actions taken by the corporation.  Our speculation as to this “why” is similar to the scenario of the “Top Cut” website (remember the original online site with “Pooka”, where all net-deckers went to get their lists).   The Top Cut was taking too much internet traffic away from Pokemon.com.  So, Pokemon hired Pooka (the site’s creator) to write and commentate for them, thus improving their service and eliminating a competitor.  Of course, dozens of other sites popped up in his absence and the entire community had to embrace net-decking just to keep up, thus turning to many other internet sources.  Mission not accomplished.  Our annual rotation article is our site’s biggest draw, and the subject in general draws lots of traffic to various YouTube channels and other sites.  So, Pokemon’s response is… just throw it out there in May.  Solid plan.  The discussion of “why’s” is not why we’re here today, so let’s move on to the reason we are here, the rotation.

2018 Blue Ridge Regional Championships – Cosplay Contest

The Fincastle Pokemon Gym is proud to host its 2^nd Regional Championship Event in Roanoke over the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.  As we did last year, we are striving to incorporate special events as part of that weekend that you cannot experience anywhere but here in the heart of Virginia.  We tried a little bit of everything last year, from Pokemon GO tours, to photo booths, to the 1^st attempt on US soil at a Japanese-style Battle Fiesta.  This year, the organizing team of the Fincastle Gym (Joel and Marthe) and Pam & Dave Tuskey have refined the weekend to focus on what worked best last year.  Gym Leader Joel will be detailing the plans for the weekend over the next two weeks, and hopefully slipping in an article or two on the Expanded Format in between, so check back here often to see our latest posts.  You can also follow our links to the main Blue Ridge Regional site and Facebook pages (Gym’s and Regionals) for registration info and additional details.  On to the 1^st event in this series, the Pokemon Cosplay contest.

January 2018 VGC Premier Challenge Results

The challenges facing the “powers that be” at Pokemon vary from season to season.  When it comes to deciding the format and rules for each year’s VGC season, those decisions are very consequential, as once they are released, that’s what you get for the entire year.  There are no major shifts in the format like there are in the TCG as various sets are released throughout the year.  Sometimes the VGC format is pretty wide open and sometimes it becomes painfully narrow.  Two seasons ago, the addition of the “Primals” (Groudon and Kyogre) was devastating to the format, as it narrowed it so much that almost all of the top 32 teams at the Virginia Regional Championship were identical.  Inversely, the 2017 season was much more open, seeing a much wider variety of teams take the top spots at events throughout the year.  2018 is here and so is the new Ultra Sun & Moon format.  Each new season usually brings a surge of new players with it with the hopes that the season will provide a fun, different and creative environment for the players.  While we can’t see the future, we like the 2018 format and its possibilities. 

Pokemon Announces 2017 Rotation – BREAKthrough – On!

Play!Pokemon has announced its 2017 edition of the TCG’s annual rotation.  As expected the oldest 3 sets from the X&Y series, Primal Clash, Roaring Skies and Ancient Origins are leaving the Standard Format officially on September 1, 2017.  This means that all cards printed in XY BREAKthrough and newer sets will remain legal for the Standard Format.  The promo card pool will be cut to include XY promo #67 and higher and all Sun & Moon promos.  This also means that promo set dubbed, Generations, remains in format, as it was officially released on February 2016.  The Fincastle Gym, now in its 7^th year of existence (9 years of playing the TCG) has developed what we hope is an easy-to-follow guide to walk both new and seasoned players through the annual rotation.  We have posted articles each of the last 5 years and like the layout that we’ve come to over the last 2 years.  We’ll stick to that design again this year, so if you have navigated our past posts, this year’s article should be familiar to you. 

Next Up – Blue Ridge Regional Championships – May 6 & 7

 

 

 

We are just over 2 weeks away from the biggest Pokemon event that Roanoke has ever seen.  Roanoke’s first Regional Championship takes place over the weekend of May 6th at the Berglund Center in the heart of the downtown area.  Organizers David and Pam Tuskey and our very own gym leader Marthe Honts have been planning for the last year to make this event not only a success, but a unique event that all lovers of Pokemon will be able to enjoy.  By combining their collective years of experience, they have put together a schedule of events that take this Regional beyond the standard mold (main event + side events at spare tables w/ 1 card vendor in the corner).  From a cosplay contest to Pokemon GO tours to the east coast’s first ever Battle Fiesta, the Blue Ridge Regional will offer more than you have seen at similar Pokemon weekends.

Join Hee-Haw’s Generals, the Gym’s First Juniors Team

In a year of many firsts for the Fincastle Pokemon Gym, we have reached another one that we did not recognize until our time in San Francisco watching Georgia and Logan compete against the best players in the world.  The 2016-17 season will be the 1^st time since we have been involved with the game that we do not have a competitor of our own in the Junior Division.  The Junior Division has been very good to the gym leaders as both Logan and Georgia quickly became dominant forces in the Juniors during their respective years within those ranks.  Beginning with Gym Leader Logan and the 1st scholarship that he won as a Regional Champion, the siblings have amassed a collection of “goodies” (like mats, hats, plushes, deck boxes, backpacks and more booster packs that we can account for) and cash travel allowances that given them a leg up on saving for the future.  As Georgia graduates into the Senior Division this year, the rewards have grown to even higher numbers, leaving us wishing that we had another Junior.  A spark went off in Gym Leader Joel’s head as he watched Georgia dominate her American opponents and battle down to the wire against 3 of Japan’s top finishers at Worlds (and no, we’re not adopting a child to compete… although his idea is along those lines).

Logan’s Worlds Day 1 Deck – Darkrai/Garbodor

The 2016 World Championships presented several “firsts” for the Fincastle Pokemon Gym.  It was the 1^st time that we’ve had a trainer qualify for the VG Championship, as Gym Leader Georgia had a strong VG season to go with her TCG season where she amassed 600 Championship Points.  Unfortunately, Georgia was unable to participate in both events, as they took place simultaneously.  Had she automatically made Day 2 of the TCG event (as her 600 points were only good enough for 24^th in North America), she could have played Day 1 of the VG event and then decided what to do on Day 2 if she made it through Day 1 of the VG competition.  This was Georgia’s 2^nd time qualifying for the TCG Worlds, as she also made the DC event in 2014.  Joining her was our league veteran, Gym Leader Logan, earning his 3^rd World Championship invite.  Logan previously qualified as a Junior for the 2011 and 2012 Championships, when the Pokemon TCG was an entirely different animal.  Despite all of their successes, the 2016 Worlds was the 1^st time that both siblings qualified in the same year.

Georgia’s Worlds Day 1 Deck – Vespiquen/March

The Gym Leaders are back home, mostly adjusted to the time change and back into the normal swing of things.  We wrapped up our weekend in San Francisco by doing some bonus sight-seeing, a relaxing way to pass the time… but our competitive leaders would have rather been in the mix for the title.  We did not go pokemon-less for the rest of the weekend however, as Georgia was fortunate enough to get one of the random wrist bands included in some players’ competitor pack.  The band granted access to a limited autograph session with Junichi Masuda (Game Producer & Director at GAME FREAK, Inc) and Shigeki Morimoto (Game Director at GAME FREAK, Inc).  Georgia walked away with what may be the most unique “half-art” Entei in existence, as she had both VIP’s autograph her favorite card.  Here’s a couple of photos for the meeting and then we’ll get into her deck.