OCIC 2020: My first International event - Learning Experience

It's been a week since I was in Melbourne but I never did find the time to reflect on my trip there for the 2020 Oceania International Championship. Easily the biggest event I've ever been to in my Pokemon TCG journey so far.

And in all honesty, I wasn't actually planning to go this year. I was still so bummed about doing so badly at the Singapore SPE and the Kuala Lumpur Regional, with the plan to score points at both events to help myself get closer to my first Worlds invite but ended up not doing well in either. But after speaking to a few friends and my family, they all encouraged me to give it a shot and try my luck at OCIC.

So there we were, planning a trip to Melbourne. Initially it wasn't going to be a solo trip as I was supposed to travel with a friend but he backed out of the trip at the last minute so I was left by myself but luckily I had my usual testing partner Nicholas with me staying at the same hotel in Melbourne and pretty much accompanied me during the trip. I'll always be grateful to him for being there for me throughout the whole season too.

A week before OCIC, I was dead set on Blacephalon UNB as my deck choice for the event with ADP-GX/Zacian V as the backup. And then Mill decks started showing up and knowing how bad of a matchup it was for Blowns, I went back to the drawing board. I still wasn't sure of what to play so I brought along 4 decks to Melbourne. TurboZard, Mew3 (Welder & Psychic), PikaRom and ADP/Zacian.

We did some late night testing at the hotel lobby and I noticed how well TurboZard was actually doing against ADP/Zacian and thought, "well I know the deck better than any, why not go with that?". My main fear for not going with ADP/Zacian was that I wasn't confident enough in the mirror match to win it or play the deck as optimally as possible. Back to TurboZard it was for me.

Just being in the environment at OCIC was quite surreal. Seeing all the big names I've seen play on streams, read about or heard of in living colour did make it more intimidating for me. But at the same time it was so nice to meet some of my overseas friends for the first time as well!

OCIC 2020 Deck choice: Turbo Reshiram & Charizard-GX

Round 1 vs Chen Yen Chun [TW] - Lucario & Melmetal-GX/Zacian V (WW) 1/0/0

First round started nicely for me. My opponent just had a hard time setting up and even though she played Frying Pans I got around it. Both games went my way. Good start to my first internats.

Round 2 vs Alex Baker [US] - Cinccino Mill (WLW) 2/0/0

The dreaded Mill match. And against one of the best from the United States as well. I got lucky in the first game when he prized his Wobbuffet. I couldn't get anything going in the second game and decided to scoop early to give myself a chance to win the third game. Game 3 was a really close one, targeting his Wobb almost every turn I got. I came within 4 or 5 cards of losing but on the last turn I drew the energy I needed to take the game. Great opponent and I was glad he did end up getting his points.

Round 3 vs Wong Wei Kit [SG] - Blacephalon UNB (LL) 2/1/0

Now here's someone I'm too familar with. The worst part was that he was 1/1/0 so we got up/down paired. And I knew this was a bad matchup as the last few times I played him, he was on Blowns. Sure enough, he was still on Blowns. I misplayed badly in the first game and just never got going in the second one since I had to start with ReshiZard, a big no-no.

Round 4 vs Preston Ellis [US] - Shedinja/Zebstrika Control (LWT) 2/1/1

Another name I was familiar with from overseas. I had some idea of what I was going into having watched Preston on stream for a bit during the first round. I couldn't get my ideal setup for the first game so I scooped once he had most of his guys with Shedinja attached. Second game went better for me but I saw he started to go after my Ninetales. Thankfully it wasn't enough. We just didn't have enough time to finish the third game and if it didn't go to time, I think I had him as I was just three prizes away from winning.

Round 5 vs Man Tsung Wong [HK] - ADP-GX/Zacian V (LWL) 2/2/1

Finally an ADP Zacian match, the one matchup I've practiced against the most. And all my practice went down the drain early on with a horrible start and I scooped. Second game went according to plan, Zard doing the business and taking 5 prizes after 3 turns as planned. Game 3 wasn't my finest moment, for some reasonm I went for Heatran instead of ReshiZard and got punished for it when it got the clean KO on me. His Magcargo tech won him the game. He ended up finish top 16 in the whole event too.

Round 6 vs Bo Chen [AU] - Mewtwo & Mew-GX/Malamar Toolbox (WW) 3/2/1

I was feeling a little down going into this one. Finally went 2/0/0 at a big event only for the next three rounds to go so badly. This round gave me hope still. I was a bit fearful of the Mew3 Mally matchup but luckily for me my opponent never did get the proper set up in either games.

Round 7 vs Francesco Pasquale Caterino [IT] - ADP-GX/Zacian V (LL) 3/3/1

Even though I took two losses here those two games were close, some of my favourite games of the whole weekend too. Glad that Francesco got his points as well, another great guy I met along with Alex from these games. Both games I couldn't find the pieces I needed to take the big KOs and he made me pay for it.

Round 8 vs Angus Johnson [AU] - Cinccino Mill (LL) 3/4/1

This one hurt. I was happy seeing Mill knowing what to do after my games with Alex but I couldn't get going in the first game. The second game was just heartbreaking. Angus went for an early Bellman mill and took out my only Ninetales (the other being prized and I really needed that Tales). That shook me and I never recovered from that, I let the pressure get to me and started playing badly. This ended my hopes of scoring points with a Top 128 finish.

Round 9 vs Ben Nihill [AU] - ADP-GX/Zacian V (LWL) 3/5/1

I just wasn't playing my best during these games, I was already feeling very down after how the last few games and just wanted the day to end. Nice guy but I felt bad I couldn't give him a proper game with my heart just not being in the match. I somehow brought it to a 3rd game but once again never found the pieces I needed to take those early prizes.

I did learn a lot from those games but the biggest takeaway for me was just falling to pressure, especially in Rounds 3, 5 and 8. I was put in an awkward spot in those games and I didn't make the right decisions and paid the price for it. Still was a good learning experience playing against guys from overseas and playing against guys who are some of the top players in their region, be it US, Europe or Oceania. I would end up trying my luck in the League Cup and Challenge, mainly to gain more experience playing against guys from overseas, a rare chance that I usually don't get so why not?

League Cup deck choice: ADP-GX/Zacian V

Round 1 vs Favio Perez [AU] - Mewtwo & Mew-GX/Welder Toolbox (WW) 1/0/0
Round 2 vs Erin Peebles [AU] - Whimsicott-GX/Porygon-Z (WW) 2/0/0
Round 3 vs Matthew Bray [AU] - Pikachu & Zekrom-GX (LWL) 2/1/0
Round 4 vs Angus Johnson [AU] - ADP-GX/Zacian V (LL) 2/2/0
Round 5 vs Ying Hao Tou [AU] - ADP-GX/Zacian V (WLW) 3/2/0
Round 6 vs Michael Kan [AU] - Turbo Reshiram & Charizard-GX (LL) 3/3/0
Round 7 vs Nicholas Moore [AU] - Pikachu & Zekrom-GX (WW) 4/3/0

Once again I started 2/0/0 only to mess up in the next few rounds. Matt's PikaRom was incredibly consistent, I just got lucky in the game 2 to take the win from him before he demolished me again. The mirror match for ADP/Zacian really isn't the nicest thing. The only reason I beat my friend Ying was because he had a terrible setup going in game 3. I was so stunned by how bad it was for him I even promoted the wrong pokemon to take my final KO but he brought up my Zacian just to make sure. It was cool to play against the top guys from Australia, hopefully it won't be the only time. Ended up 4/3/0 with ADP/Zacian, and hey, more wins then losses is always nice I suppose.

Always it was a funny League Cup as they misspelt a lot of names at the start. I was Kushvinder at one point. My friend Jesper Eriksen ended up as Zesper! We all got a good laugh out of it. He even gave me one of his dices because he saw I didn't bring a big dice, good dude! Sadly he lost in his top 8 match but glad that he got his points.

League Challenge deck choice: Turbo Reshiram & Charizard-GX

Round 1 vs James Pritchard [AU] - Pikachu & Zekrom-GX (W) 1/0/0
Round 2 vs Henry Brand [AU] - Mewtwo & Mew-GX/Solgaelo GX Toolbox (W) 2/0/0
Round 3 vs Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi [JP] - Turbo Zacian V (L) 2/1/0 [Prized two Vulpix here yikes]
Round 4 vs Rown Farren [AU] - Mewtwo & Mew-GX/Welder Toolbox (L) 2/2/0
Round 5 vs Rhys Christian [DE] - Blacephalon UNB/Greens (L) 3/2/0

This was the most stacked League Challenge I've ever seen. Even the other guys were saying that. I mean look at the players who entered! Pedro Torres, Henry Brand, Kaiwen Cabbabe, Ethan Lee, Francesco Caterino, Isaiah Bradner, Raz Wolfe, Ying Hao Tou and the top Japanese players were in this as well! How the heck would little old me fare up against these guys?

I ended up finishing 9th, just one spot away from 8 CP. The games were fun, especially against Henry, Yoshiyuki and Rhys. I still found it crazy that I got to play against the defending World Champion Henry and somehow beat him. That might have been my best game of the whole weekend, even Henry said I made all the right plays which was pretty cool to hear from him! That really lifted my spirits after what was a terrible weekend for me gaming wise.

And now I'm back home, still trying to process the whole trip. I did take some valuable lessons aways from it:

• Pressure. I really need to deal with pressure better. In all three events, I found myself in a good spot only to screw it up. Started all three events 2/0/0 and sure enough lost the next ones and in the case of OCIC itself, never really recovered from it. 
• Decision Making. Once again, I made a few bad decisions that cost me games. Such as gusting the wrong Blacephalon in my match against Wei Kit or using Heatran instead of ReshiZard in two of my games against ADP/Zacian. Also for deck choices. I should have gone with Victini V but ended up not doing thinking I might never get all my energies for Heatran/Turtonator
• Confidence. I'll be honest and I can say I've always lacked confidence going into a big event. I thought I didn't pick the right deck going into OCIC, worried that ReshiZard would do the same thing it did to me at Singapore SPE, just give me dead hands and not much to do. It was the right call after all and a few friends said I made the right decision, I should not have doubted my deck choice. 
• Maybe I'm not so bad at this game after all. I did start 2/0/0 in all three events. I just need to learn how to keep that kind of momentum going, not make bad calls, not pressure myself into a mistake, be a bit more confident and hopefully I can start doing better at these big events on a more consistent basis. 

I did have my fun but also I still feel that I've let myself down once again, ending up the weekend with no CP to show for my efforts. I still need 159 CPs and that may not sound like much but with the limited chances I have of going to any more big events and the amount of cups we have, it might be all but over for me in that hopes to get my first Worlds invite. Maybe this wasn't the year for me but I am still motivated to do even better in future games (starting with this weekend's League Challenge and the final Pro Circuit Invitational). Not sure how I can get that invite now but I'll still try my best.

I hope you enjoyed my little recap of my time in OCIC. Just wanted to share my experience at the biggest event I've been to and I hope it can help others in the future.