The GGFan Experience
There were actually a couple of RBY2K10 tournaments that I considered covering before this one, but I think the average viewer of my website knows the story about its first anniversary tournament by now. For the few who don't, I'll be succinct and say that, despite offering a cash prize, it was canceled in the finals--after going on for six whole months (it had 32 participants). The finalists couldn't even be bothered to play for money; if they did, it was long after the thread was closed.
That was in 2011, the same year I left RBY2K10 and took a long hiatus from Pokemon, as I wanted to focus on endeavors in the real world. I called out the site's founders as well as its toxic userbase for their stupidity and the way they treated older players in what was a long post that got me banned. A year and they tried another anniversary tournament, lifting my ban in the hopes that I would sign up. I teased my entry by calling out Smogon and Kevin Garrett (who was on top at the time) and said that I would win the tour and use it as my springboard back into prominence.
I ended up not entering, but I did play many of the participants in the Netbattle Global Casino and walked away with a solid 21-3 record, using the opportunity to experiment with things like FriendlyMie, Clefable, and GSCLax. However, it seemed like my days as a tour player were numbered with RBY not having support outside an outdated simulator. Everyone moved on to Pokemon Online and Pokemon Showdown; and, what made matters worse was that RBY wasn't supported on the former and there were many bugs on the latter. BW was the current gen and most of the playerbase wanted to indulge in it, leaving the older gens in the dust.
Finally, at the end of 2012, RBY was implemented on the PO ladder; its finished product was superior to what we had on Showdown. The birth of both the ladder and Pokemon Perfect were the two major catalysts behind RBY2K10 hosting its first tour in well over a year, the "RBY2K10 Revival Tournament," which took place in the fall of 2013 and was described aptly by my old ladder rival, Golden Gyarados: "I think the whole Revival Tour felt like a ladder championship match - pretty much everyone in that tour was serious on the ladder at that time, which is actually pretty rare for a tournament - these days especially."
Indeed, the Revival Tournament was a "who's who" of the ladder: myself, Golden Gyarados, M Dragon, marcoasd, and more. Actually, I was going through a bit of a slump when this tournament started, having lost in the first round twice in a row in the Master Tournament scene. I was hoping this tour would mark the return to my winning ways.
Round one - vs alexejj
This was an interesting clash in that it pitted #1 on the PO ladder (myself) against the top dog of Showdown's ladder. Yes, Showdown did have an RBY ladder at that this time, and I even played a bit on it. I remember winning the first game easily and losing game 2 to two consecutive Tauros Hyper Beam crits, which was obviously very frustrating. In the third game my luck finally turned around: BeamGore scored a crit of its own on Alex's Reflect Alakazam, and then it managed to survive Jolteon's Pin Missile and put it to sleep, securing the win. I would have lost otherwise.
Round two - vs Golden Gyarados
Both Golden Gyarados and I were two of the ladder's most prominent players, having both reached #1 and remained on the grind for a considerable chunk of 2013. I'd say I left the ladder in the fall, but Goldie stayed there for quite a while longer, laddering as late as 2014. Needless to say, we played each other many, many times--so much that I, perhaps, knew him better than he knew himself. I knew he'd lead with Gengar, use Golem, and a Thunderbolt Tauros, so, after winning game 1, I prepared for that team accordingly by leading with FriendlyMie and not switching my Tauros out in the bull ditto to take the victory in game 2.
Semi finals/finals - vs marcoasd
Marco was coming off a win against Crystal in the previous round, so he was red hot and would be a formidable adversary indeed. However, it wasn't his time quite yet. The semi finals and finals were played under bo5; unfortunately, I don't remember the first two games at all. In the third game, he went with a Thunder Zapdos that swung and missed against my Slowbro, sealing the win and set for me.
Finals - vs Isa
The other semi-final matchup was Isa against M Dragon. They didn't play right away--before I knew it, days became weeks. I called out Isa, who was running the site, for not advancing the tour, as it was rather lazy and negligent on his part. It could have been because he had moved onto Smogon and looked down on other sites as was typical of them, or it could have been because he didn't take the criticism well. Whatever the case, he would eventually give himself the DQ win and then forfeit against me in the finals, crowning me the winner of RBY2K10's last tournament.
Aftermath
How ironic that the "revival" tournament ended up being the final nail in the coffin for RBY2K10. Its short-lived comeback produced what was, for the most part, an exciting tournament that featured most of the top players. The ending was disappointing yet apropos given the site's habits and the rise of Pokemon Perfect. I left RBY2K10 for good, never looking back, and the site would eventually close.
Publication date: 2/7/2021