Year of the Dragon: Reflections on the Road to Worlds 2024

Hi everyone, my name is Grant Weldon, and I go by Velocity online. This article is a reflection on my journey over the past year to obtain an invite to the 2024 World Championships. The season isn’t over yet, but I’m taking a break until LA Regionals and found this a good time to personally document the lessons I’ve learned along the way. I hope there’s something you can take away from this too!

Backstory

I grew up in Michigan and started playing VGC in 2015 when I was 15 years old. Playing Pokémon had always been a casual hobby of mine, and I got into VGC after watching Cybertron videos on YouTube. Although I didn’t have major success in 2015, I really enjoyed playing the game and made some close friends in the VGC community. It was also a good way to travel with my family.

In 2016, I earned a Day 1 Worlds invite almost entirely from locals, then surprisingly managed to Top 4 US Nationals, which earned me the free trip and bye into Day 2 of Worlds (the picture above shows me after just losing in Top 4 with the trophy). It was an incredible experience playing on stream for the first time, and it was rewarding to finally see my efforts pay off in a big way. I worked hard to prepare for Worlds with many of that year’s top finishers since we were all members of the same NPA team (pictured below), so I was deeply disappointed when I only finished in the Top 64. I felt that I had squandered perhaps my only ever chance of becoming World Champion. I knew that once I went to college, I would have little time for Pokémon and may never have the chance to compete at Worlds again.

I didn’t plan on playing in 2017, but because of my 2016 CP standing, I found out I would get a free trip to London for the first ever EUIC. I ended up doing poorly in London and struggled to repeat my 2016 success. The fast-paced 2016 format had taught me to be a very aggressive player, and the bulkier nature of 2017 required a more nuanced understanding of the game than 2016 had allowed me to develop. Although I had some fairly strong regional finishes on my record, I ended up missing a Worlds invite by just 22 points that year.

I then went to college in 2017 to pursue a physics degree and decided that also trying to grind the Worlds circuit would be too time consuming. I qualified for some of the Players Cups, but didn’t take anything too seriously. After completing my degree, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue a PhD in astrophysics. When Scarlet & Violet released and the first 2023 regional was only a couple hours away in San Diego, I decided to get back in the ring. After a mediocre 6-4 in San Diego, I took a break to study for my program’s comprehensive exam during Regulations A and B, then began serious competition in Regulation C. I enjoyed playing again; terastalization seemed to be a balanced mechanic, and open team sheets seemed to reduce much variance. It was also exciting meeting new people in the SoCal community and rekindling relationships with old friends. Day 2 finishes in Portland and Milwaukee put me within 22 points of a Worlds invite. Unfortunately, a poor showing at NAIC meant I couldn’t compete at Worlds 2023, missing by 22 points for the second time. I was satisfied with my results given that I had to prioritize working on my PhD for most of the season. However, I was determined to earn a Worlds invite after coming short in both 2017 and 2023.

The 2024 season

The journey to Worlds 2024 began in Regulation D, which was the format of Worlds 2023. Just prior to Worlds, I won an online tournament with 260 players using a team consisting of Regidrago, Gholdengo, Tornadus, Farigiraf, Rillaboom, and Urshifu-Water that was originally built by Eric Rios. When I top cut US Nationals in 2016, I used a Dual Primals team that aimed to overwhelm opponents with spread moves from Kyogre and Groudon. The dual threat of Regidrago’s Dragon Energy and Gholdengo’s Make It Rain seemed reminiscent of my 2016 team. The team also had both Tailwind and Trick Room, a concept I was familiar with from 2016. This victory was meaningful to me for two reasons. The first is that I had never won a large tournament before (either official or grassroots), so I was happy to finally go all the way. The second is that I historically have only found success after memorizing team matchups, so winning with a new team that I had picked up indicated that my fundamentals had improved. I was disappointed I couldn’t give the team a showing at Worlds, either in the main event or the Yokohama Open. I booked a trip to Japan before the Yokohama Open was cancelled, but I ended up having a great time visiting Japan without playing any Pokémon.

With my online victory and the Day 2’s in Portland and Milwaukee 2023, I felt that I was actually improving as a player for the first time in years. The centralized, fast-paced nature of 2016 had taught me to think about big picture interactions in battles, and I had always been pretty good at getting team preview and early turns right. Now I felt I was finally closing out endgames with higher consistency than before. I also began more critically reflecting on both my losses and wins. I think most players reflect on their losses to some extent, but I also began asking myself if the way I won games would work consistently in a given matchup. I worked more on playing optimally than on making reads. After the 2024 circuit structure was announced, I was fairly confident in my ability to earn an invite in 2024. I wanted to frontload my event schedule to hopefully get the invite earlier in the season and mitigate the chances of closely missing for a third time.

Pittsburgh Regionals (6-3, Top 64)

The journey began in Pittsburgh, the last major North American event in Regulation D. I knew my lines into the top teams from Worlds and felt that people still had not fully recognized the power of Tornadus/Scarf-Urshifu and Regidrago. When surrounded by Scarf-Urshifu and Gholdengo, problematic Pokémon like Flutter Mane and Chien-Pao could be cleared for an endgame Regidrago sweep. In game 2 or 3, a surprise Regidrago lead could instantly win the set. Regidrago didn’t have a great showing at Worlds, but nobody in Day 2 had used the exact six that I thought were best. 

I had a hot 6-0 start in Pittsburgh, but the run quickly fell apart. I was disappointed I couldn’t give Regidrago the showing it deserved during my stream match against Aaron Traylor. (As an aside, Aaron is to this day the only person to beat me on the official stream, having also defeated me in Top 4 of US Nationals 2016. I believe I am 5-0 otherwise. One of these days I hope we have another rematch!). In the last three rounds, I got quite unlucky but also made game-deciding misplays that I hadn’t been making in practice. This was one of the most frustrating events of my career because of the sheer amount of prep I put in and how I failed to close out a perfect start. The mistakes I made were tunnel-visioned plays, and I thought I had improved enough as a player to not make these as frequently. On the positive side, I cleaned up my play with a Top 8 finish at the MSS the next day and started the season with a good chunk of points.

Sacramento Regionals (6-3, Top 64)

I managed to win the first big online tournament of Regulation E with the Regidrago squad, but as the meta developed it became more difficult to win. The new addition Ogerpon-Wellspring prevented my trusty Scarf Urshifu from clearing the way for Regidrago endgames. Kingambit was also on the rise and walled both Regidrago and Gholdengo. Additionally, many othe players had come to the conclusion that Tailwind was broken, and I found myself getting outpaced in Tailwind mirrors as Regidrago and Gholdengo are mid-speed. My team was becoming unplayable. My friend Andrew Whitman helped me devise a new team around Life Orb Tera-Fairy Heatran, which was becoming a popular anti-meta threat that matched well into Kingambit. We also notably replaced Scarf Urshifu-Water with Urshifu-Dark to help into Ogerpon-Wellspring. I climbed to rank #1 on the best-of-three Showdown ladder with the team and felt confident going into Sacramento.

I was tired and made countless mistakes in the tournament, including unforced errors like forgetting basic mechanics. At this point, a frustrating pattern was starting to emerge. I could win large online tournaments, reach #1 on the ladder, and consistently top cut locals, but I couldn’t make things click the same way at Regionals. Fortunately, I played so poorly in Sacramento that the major cause clearly revealed itself. I realized that the main difference between my successful and unsuccessful runs was sleep. I am usually well-rested for online events, but I typically only get a few hours of sleep before Regionals. While some people play better on little sleep, it became obvious that I am not one of them. After Sacramento, I decided to travel earlier when possible and go to bed much earlier before events.

Toronto Regionals (8-1 Day 1, 10-4 overall, Top 16)

It seemed that the Reg E meta was cycling around to be closer to Reg D, and I thought I could make the Regidrago team work again by incorporating the solid elements of my Sacramento team. I felt that Fairy Heatran and Scarf Urshifu-Dark were still good calls, and the addition of Flutter Mane could help me keep pace in Tailwind mirrors. I no longer had the famous Regidrago Gholdengo duo, but my friend Chance Alexander convinced me that Heatran fulfills a similar role in that it’s a steel type with both a spread move and a way to OHKO Flutter Mane, while also patching the Kingambit weakness. The team ended up being pure offense without any disruptive support like Fake Out or redirection. That seemed a little suspicious, but I liked my matchups so much in testing that I had to bring the team to Toronto. I arrived in Toronto an extra day in advance and went to sleep at 8 PM the night before Day 1.

I started the tournament by losing a close round 1, but then managed to win 8 in a row (without dropping a game if I recall correctly!) This was my best Swiss finish ever, and I was elated to break the 6-3 streak. I went into Day 2 with an advantage, but I started out the day splitting wins and losses. I managed to defeat Justin Tang and Shiliang Tang who both had their Salamence rain team (after also playing Gavin Michaels in round 9 the day before, sorry guys), but lost unfamiliar matchups into Jamie Boyt’s and Bobby Rochelle’s unique teams. Heading into the final Swiss round, I saw that I had the highest resistance of anyone, so I knew I would likely top cut if I won. I played my friend from back in the day, Nate Wright, who had a Roaring Moon balance team. This was a matchup that I knew I had the tools for if I played correctly. I won game 1, but missed some crucial calls game 2 and lost game 3 to a devastating endgame critical hit. Although I barely missed top cut, this was my best regionals finish in years, and I was satisfied to see my improved practice and good sleep convert into a top finish. I was also pleased to do it with my own unique take on the Regidrago archetype.

San Antonio Regionals (7-2 Day 1, 9-5 overall, Top 64)

I didn’t originally plan on going to San Antonio, so I missed the first waves of registration. Once I decided to go, I refreshed RK9 hundreds of times each day until someone cancelled and I snagged a spot a week prior. Without much prep time, I decided to go with a version of the Regidrago team that I felt was the most rounded, having the flexibility to play a Rillaboom/Heatran/Urshifu-Water pivoting game or go on offense with Regidrago. I had been bringing iterations of this team to SoCal locals where it performed consistently.

I managed to start 7-0 for the first time in my career, making that back-to-back personal bests in Swiss, as I’ve always had to play round 9 win-and-ins to make Day 2. I was proud of my play in most of these rounds, as I leaned more into the balance mode than the offense mode. I played on stream vs Carson Confer in Day 1. His team had a Clefairy Kingambit mode that gave Regidrago issues, but also a Tailwind Urshifu mode that I felt Regidrago matched well into. His Tornadus also had Rain Dance to neuter the Heatran I usually used for Kingambit teams. I needed to hard call his leads to win. We went to three games and had a disconnect early in game three. An argument can be made for both players as to who the disconnect actually favored, but I felt fortunate to come out on top with my first stream win in 8 years and to do it with Regidrago. The rest of the tournament after Round 7 wasn’t so hot. I played a few more difficult Clefairy Kingambit teams and also found my team did not have sufficient resources into bulkier Ogerpon-Wellspring setup teams. I felt that my play was solid in this tournament, but the lack of preparation for some of these newer meta developments showed, and it was a bit unfortunate to play so many of these teams. Nevertheless, I was excited to get a stream win and a second consecutive Day 2 with Regidrago. I was perhaps even more excited to see my friend Gio get his first major victory.

Portland Regionals (6-3, Top 64)

Portland was the first tournament of the new year and the new format, Regulation F. Over the holidays, I was visiting with family and also playing in the five-day SoCal local marathon that was still Regulation E, so I didn’t think much about Regulation F going into the tournament. I was sitting at about 400 points so just wanted a good enough finish to put me within striking distance of the invite. I put together a team two days before the event that combined comfort, balance, and what I thought were good meta calls in Flutter Mane and Ogerpon-Cornerstone.

I lost mostly to priority spam teams (including eventual champion Alex Underhill) so in retrospect I should have just kept the Farigiraf that I had on every previous team. I’m typically a player that does well with more time to prepare and memorize matchups, so I wasn’t disappointed in missing Day 2 here. Between the Regional Top 64 and Top 4 at the MSS (thanks Junxi for having to catch a flight in Top 8), I was just happy to have a decent showing that put me at 470 points–very close to the magic number of 500 necessary for the invite.

Los Angeles MSS (1st place)

Regulation F was shaping up to be a very strange format with a huge diversity in teams, and I was struggling to get a grasp on it. Regidrago had a difficult time into the overwhelming Flutter Mane, Chien-Pao, and paradox dragon usage. I decided to scrap my previous teams and derive a fresh team from first principles that I felt gave me at least neutral matchups into everything. I started with Sash Urshifu-Dark, Flutter Mane, and Ogerpon-Wellspring because these had strong matchup spreads. I added back Tornadus and Farigiraf, as I was comfortable with how these two Pokémon help control the pace of games. I felt that Heatran naturally fell into the last slot as the ultimate defensive switch into Flutter Mane that could also apply pressure with Life Orb Sunny Day Heat Waves. This team ironically had the same six Pokémon as my Sacramento team in Reg E, but the sets and philosophies were different.

At this point I just needed an MSS Top 8 for my invite. I took the team to a 43-person SoCal MSS and managed to win it all, securing the invite along the way! As my team was similar to Gio’s, he gave me some tips and insight that I’m incredibly grateful for. Our SoCal locals have many world-class players, so I was delighted to come out with both the invite and victory in hand. After missing Worlds twice by 22 points, I had started to feel like there was some sort of curse and that the universe was trying to tell me that I should stop playing Pokémon. It was relieving to achieve the goal of making Worlds once again eight years later. I had secured my worlds invite in 2016 with an MSS win, so it felt like things had come full circle. 

Concluding thoughts

I feel incredibly fortunate to be traveling and playing Pokémon again. This game is incredibly complex, and it’s rewarding to always be learning something new about it. I’m satisfied having seen measurable improvement over previous years. I played in 5 regionals and never finished worse than Top 64, a floor that is much higher than I’ve had in the past. I’m proud of making four Day 2’s between 2023 and 2024. I’m also proud of my consistency in winning large online events, especially with Regidrago teams that required fairly precise play. I’m going to keep mastering the game and know that one day all the stars will align to give me the big win. My performances significantly improved after the revelation that I just needed to get some sleep, and I hope I can keep that up. I’m going to take all of the lessons I’ve learned and apply them to remaining events this year: LA Regionals, NAIC, and Worlds. I want to win each of these tournaments for a different reason. I’d like to defend my new home turf in LA, earn the big NAIC trophy that eluded me in 2016, and become the World Champion. 

Looking ahead to next season, now that I’ve proved to myself I can make Worlds a second time, I feel less pressure to seek the invite. Balancing competitive Pokémon with a PhD is difficult. I want to put more time into properly trying to win events and deeply understanding the meta each time, since most of my good runs have ended at the hands of teams I was simply unprepared for. I aim to play in fewer regionals and more internationals. Hopefully Worlds invites naturally come along the way, but less of my focus will be on accumulating points. This approach better aligns with my schedule, as it proved unsustainable for me to be frequently flying to regionals, and I just couldn’t constantly keep tabs on the meta. My season proves that comfort can get you far, but with more preparation time, I’ll be able to rigorously test adjustments to my teams without having to default to comfortable choices. This season, I also used teams whose effectiveness strongly depends on the meta at a given time. For example, Regidrago’s effectiveness depends on how many immunities are floating around and how many teams have faster Pokémon that can outpace it to reduce the power of Dragon Energy. As a general goal, I hope to use more consistent teams in the future with Pokémon that have a more even matchup spread.

I’m really happy I came back to Pokémon both for the game and the community. I owe a great many thanks to a large number of people. Thanks first to Chance and Andrew for teambuilding advice and for centering me during events. Thanks Adit and Tom for helping me get Pokémon, and thanks to the rest of the High Rollers for constant support. Thanks Yotam and Dan for being great roommates in San Antonio, and thanks also to Yotam for all the practice sets. Thanks Lorcy for the sets, and thanks Justin for some tips and spreads. Thanks Gio, Riley, and Shawn for being good friends and driving buddies to SoCal locals. Thanks to the rest of SoCal for welcoming me in and providing strong competition. Thanks to Alex for hanging out with me in Japan. Thanks to everyone who has reached out to me with thoughts on Regidrago, especially Austin and Fredo. Thanks to all the event staff at both Regionals and locals for your hard work and time to make these tournaments possible. Thanks to Limitless tournament hosts for providing great forums for on-cart best-of-three practice. Thanks to everyone else who has supported me along the way; there are way too many to thank individually, but I do appreciate everyone in the community who I’ve had the pleasure to interact with. Thanks to Ryan and DevonCorp for helping me get this piece out there.

Finally, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed coming along this journey with me, and I hope to see you in Honolulu. 

-Grant 

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