My top 5 losses in the GameFAQs era

I wrote about my 5 biggest victories in the GameFAQs era, so now I must reveal the five failures that stand out the most to me. So, without further ado, here is the most pungent stack of my ancient dirty laundry.

5. Getting 6-0d by Shuveit - December 2002

I was on top of the world after beating Syberia in the semi finals of TOS. Not only had I beaten him with my new Slowbro team, but I had also managed to score a couple of other key victories with it, particularly beating Shuveit in a grudge match before my encounter against Syberia. Shuveit wanted to cut me down to size, nearly doing so with Pinsir, but what he failed to realize was that Hyper Beam, even at +6, would not OHKO Slowbro. Perhaps it was a display of hubris or just an innocent mistake--whatever the case, Slowbro proceeded to sweep his entire team. After beating Syberia, the stage was set for a rematch with Shuveit. This time Shuveit, being the experienced veteran, proceeded to take advantage of my own hubris and maul me, thanks partially to adding Venusaur to his team, which shut down Slowbro. To this day, this is the only time I lost an RBY game 6-0. While it was embarrassing to have been dominated so effortlessly after scoring such a big win just recently, this one is on the bottom of the list because it made me understand that you can't rely on one gimmick every single time. From here on out I began to broaden my horizons and use a variety of teams, which was a major reason I performed as well as I did in 2003.

4. Losing my first final-round game - October 2003

No, you can't win 'em all, as they say, but it was still disappointing to have my streak of never losing in the final round come to an end. Prior to this loss, I had been 8-0 in the finals of tournaments, and my game against Fuzion in the final round of this OU tournament was an intense nailbiter that I nearly won to extend my streak. I believe it came down to a duel between our Tauri; his went first. This would actually be the only time I lost in the final round of a tournament for two whole years.

3. Getting swept in the semi finals of the Pokemon Season - September 2003

The "Pokemon Season" was a tournament of mine that was, perhaps, the first swiss format tournament in the history of the game, at least in competitive RBY. Eight players signed up, and the regular season was concluded after everyone played each other. After going 6-0 I finished in first place of my division, and was paired against kuleguy18 in the semi finals. Although both games were close, I lost each time in what was a really disappointing end to my run in this tournament.

2. Losing to Redwall Dude in the final OU tournament - December 2003

During my run as the most despised villain on GameFAQs I had many memorable rivalries. In the final OU tournament of the year I ran into one of my biggest rivals and detractors, Redwall Dude, after defeating undone by the skin of my teeth in the first round, which angered the masses because of what transpired during the "loser leaves town" match. A year prior to this game, Redwall used to give me a hard time because he sided with the elitist troll, psystorm, but then decided to try helping me. He beat me a few times but pointed out what I had been doing wrong, and was also the one who taught me about Slowbro. We became friends until I cemented my status as a massive heel, which resulted in him constantly ridiculing me and making excuses whenever I was victorious on the battlefield. However, while my tongue may not have been as potent as his was, my sword certainly was: we played three times or so throughout 2003, with me winning each game. Now, here we were at the end of the year, having gone from enemies to friends to enemies again, but now it was Redwall's turn to prove he could beat me, whereas I was determined to prove that the student had become the teacher. In a showdown that would have made Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kenobi proud, our game came down to just two Pokemon, but it would be Redwall who would come out on top victorious, winning 1-0. Had I won it would have felt like a "coming of age" victory, but it was not meant to be. It was still a memorable tournament for me, at least.

1. Losing to Nitro in TOS2 - March 2003

I first squared off against Nitro in the first round of a type clause tournament, where I, thanks to scouting him (yes, scouting was a thing, even back then) learned about his early-game tendencies. Unfortunately, I had to play with a team of five Pokemon because I accidentally had a Venomoth with Golduck's moveset (you could give Pokemon any move you wanted to on the Azureheights PBS), putting me at an immediate disadvantage against one of the game's best at the time. Nonetheless, I played incredibly well and won the game (read my book for the full story--it's an interesting read, I promise!), but lost the rematch shortly after. My bout against him in the second round of TOS would be our rubber match, one that I was determined to win. However, Nitro also came to play, and beat me in what was practically a squash. My only glimmer of hope came in the form of Tauros freezing Starmie with Blizzard, but Nitro had Rhydon and I had Zapdos, so that was that. I lost 5-0 and my momentum was crushed.

Publication date - 12/26/2019