We started Gen 7 competitive playoff with the London Internationals, and three years later we're seeing the end of an era. While there are still a few Regionals and Special Events around the country, this will be the last International ever played on the 3DS. Today, we'll be taking a look at the players receiving travel awards to the tournament, those being in the top 4 of each rating division for the last quarter of the VGC 2019 season. In addition, a few first-year Masters who have travel awards from their senior division placements will also be mentioned. All accomplishments mentioned for players will be at the Internationals level and above.
The tournament itself is currently sitting at 95 players, which means that the tournament will very likely narrowly miss the top 32 CP cutoff. This leaves for an incredibly high-stakes tournament in which all players will be shooting for an X-1 record. Without further ado, let's discuss some players to watch out for at the final Ultra Series supermajor.
These are the four European travel award winners. However, due to a school conflict, Jamie Boyt will not be in attendance.
Flavio Del Pidio - (Pado)
Kyle Livinghouse - (Animus)
Yihui Xu - (Yihui)
Ashton Cox - (AshtonCoxGAZ)
(There was no CP sheet available for the Oceania rating zone travel awards.)
Melvin Keh - (@ShamanVGC)
Graham Amedee - (@AmedeeGraham)
Christopher Kan
Meaghan Rattle - (@AvengedWerehog)
And now for some local talent:
Paul Ruiz - (@Ralfdude90)
Jean Paul Lopez Buiza
Javier Valdes - (@IRNemesis)
And that's it for our coverage of the 2020 Latin American Internationals. Be sure to check back here for the results after the tournament, and follow along at twitch.tv/pokemonVGC. If you're curious about the types of teams that will show up, check out Pokemon's official Power Rankings, written by some of the game's experts.
The tournament itself is currently sitting at 95 players, which means that the tournament will very likely narrowly miss the top 32 CP cutoff. This leaves for an incredibly high-stakes tournament in which all players will be shooting for an X-1 record. Without further ado, let's discuss some players to watch out for at the final Ultra Series supermajor.
These are the four European travel award winners. However, due to a school conflict, Jamie Boyt will not be in attendance.
Flavio Del Pidio - (Pado)
- Accomplishments: European International Champion 2019, North American International Top 8 2019
Pado had one of the most dominant runs in the world for the tail end of the 2019 season. Flavio has shown himself to be one of the best players in Europe with his meteoric rise to stardom. His win in Berlin with Xerneas/Rayquaza followed by a Top 8 in Columbus with Kangaskhan/Tornadus shows both his skill and ability to play a variety of teams, leaving him as quite the wild card. Will Pado go on to top cut all three Ultra Series internationals?)
Davide Carrer - (Nirinbo)
Davide Carrer - (Nirinbo)
- Accomplishments: European International Runner-Up 2019, North American International Day 2 2019, Top 32 World Championships 2019
The other Berlin finalist has also made quite the name for himself recently. An impressive string of performances from EUIC to Worlds has solidified Carrer as another one of Europe's most dominant players in the modern era. Davide is known for using extremely sound Xerneas/Groudon builds, and I would not be surprised at all to see him dominate this tournament with a team very similar to his past compositions.
Marco Silva - (Marcofiero)
Marco Silva - (Marcofiero)
- Accomplishments: European International Day 2 2019, Top 32 Worlds 2019
Marco is one of the youngest stars in the European scene, clutching both his travel award to Sao Paulo and his Day 2 Worlds invite at the very end of last season. Marco is an incredibly fearsome player and an expert at using Xerneas/Lunala, an archetype that has seen a resurgence as of late. Watch out for this rising hero in Brazil.
Here are the four North American representatives for travel awards.
Here are the four North American representatives for travel awards.
Wolfe Glick - (Wolfey)
- Accomplishments: 2016 Pokemon World Champion, 2x US National Champion, North American International Champion 2019
Wolfe is a man who needs no introduction. Undeniably one of the best players in the game, Wolfe was able to recover from a rocky start to his 2019 season with a Top 4 and a win at EUIC and NAIC, respectively. Wolfe is one of the smartest builders in the history of the game and is sure to not disappoint. He is also coming off of a Top 4 at the Richmond Regional from just two weeks ago, meaning he has the momentum to potentially carry him to yet another Internationals trophy.
Kyle Livinghouse - (Animus)
- Accomplishments: Top 16 North American Internationals 2018, Top 8 North American Internationals 2019, Day 2 Worlds 2019
Livinghouse went on an absolute tear at the end of Ultra Series, getting Championship Points at all four Regionals, which included a 2nd place at the Hartford Regional and Top 8 at NAIC. Kyle has since added to his resume with a win at the Knoxville Regional using his famed Kangaskhan/Tornadus team. This tournament will be big for Kyle as he aims to reclaim his position in top 8 of the North American CP standings for the current season.
Yihui Xu - (Yihui)
- Accomplishments: Top 64 North American Internationals 2019, 2019 Worlds Qualifier
Yihui came under fire last season for the number of events he traveled to, but those events have helped to strengthen this relatively new player's fundamentals. Xu is an interesting card in North America's hand because his teams generally have an extremely reckless and interesting composition about them. I personally believe both Yihui and whatever team he decides to enter with will be capable of doing great things at this tournament, and he should not be underestimated.
Ashton Cox - (AshtonCoxGAZ)
- Accomplishments: 2x Latin American International Champion, Top 8 North American Internationals 2019, 2019 Championship Point Leader
It would be absolutely foolish to cover this event without mentioning Ashton Cox. This monster has won two out of the three past Latin American Internationals and will be gunning for his third. Ashton has been falling into a bit of a rough stint since Worlds, which perfectly builds up enough plot armor to leave Brazil as his redemption arc. Team-wise, Ashton and his partner-in-crime Jeremy Rodrigues have been using a variety of teams as of late, leaving the pair to be quite unpredictable.
(There was no CP sheet available for the Oceania rating zone travel awards.)
Melvin Keh - (@ShamanVGC)
- Accomplishments: 3x 2019 International Top Cut (2x Top 4), Oceania CP Leader 2019
Melvin was by far the most consistent Internationals player in 2019. His love for everyone's favorite little ghost bug Shedinja carried him to two consecutive Top 4 placements at EUIC and NAIC. This isn't anything new for Melvin either; he's been absolutely crushing the Internationals circuit since 2017. I expect Melvin to give his sneaky friend a beautiful send-off at this tournament.
Graham Amedee - (@AmedeeGraham)
- Accomplishments: Top 8 Australia International 2018, Runner-Up North American International 2019, Top Cut Worlds 2019
Graham and (most likely) his famous Medicham team will be in full force in Sao Paulo. Coming off an incredible 1-2 punch of 2nd at NAIC and top cutting worlds, Graham is riding a wave of energy only matched in power by his Kyogre's Water Spout in Tailwind. Everyone should have their eyes on this maverick for this tournament.
Christopher Kan
- Accomplishments: North American International Champion 2017, Day 2 Worlds 2019
Kan is regarded by many of his locals to be the most fearsome player in Australia. His impressive placements both in Australia and on the other half of the world surely go to back that statement. Chris is normally one to fly under the radar due to his lack of online presence, but I would not be surprised at all to see this incredible player walk away with another Internationals gold.
Meaghan Rattle - (@AvengedWerehog)
- Accomplishments: Top 8 World Championships 2019, Top 8 Oceania CP 2019
In a similar fashion to Marco Silva, Meaghan was able to just barely clutch out her Day 2 Worlds invite and travel award to Brazil with a Top 64 at NAIC. Then, she was able to go all the way to a Top 8 at the World Championships with Yveltal/Kyogre, an archetype that almost no one could have predicted to be in the top standings of this tournament. It'll be interesting to see if Meaghan can repeat a stellar placement like that at this tournament.
And now for some local talent:
Rene Alvarenga - (@ReneVGC)
- Accomplishments: Top 8 World Championship 2017, Top 16 North American Internationals 2019
We last covered Rene two weeks ago as the smart money for the Richmond Regional. While Rene wasn't able to do as well as he would've liked, the 2019 Latin American CP leader now seems to be supercharged and will enter this tournament with a clear mind. Rene has canonically played Xerneas/Groudon teams for the duration of Ultra Series at a very high level, and I have full faith that Rene could very well return to his old form here.
Paul Ruiz - (@Ralfdude90)
- Accomplishments: 2018 World Champion, 3rd Place 2017 World Championships, Top 4 2019 Latin American Internationals
Paul is our second World Champion on the list, and once again needs no introduction. The legendary player turned content producer and tutor has been grinding Ultra Series quite intensely as of late, hosting numerous exhibition matches against top players on his Twitch channel. I have full faith in Ralfdude to repeat or even one-up his performance from last year.
Jean Paul Lopez Buiza
- Accomplishments: Top 8 2018 Latin American International Championship, Top 4 2019 North American International Championship
Jean Paul Lopez has consistently been one of Latin America's best representatives when it comes to Internationals. His strong performance in Columbus with Xerneas/Rayquaza brought Kartana into view in the Ultra metagame and netted him both a Day 2 Worlds invite and a travel award to Brazil. Jean Paul could very well add a third Internationals Top Cut to his accomplishments this weekend.
Javier Valdes - (@IRNemesis)
- Accomplishments: Day 2 European & North American Internationals 2019, Top 8 Oceania Internationals 2019, Top Cut World Championships 2018
Known for his incredibly bizarre teams, Valdes has been quite successful at International Championships across the 2018 and 2019 seasons. His ability to put players in unfamiliar situations has afforded him great success, and I'm sure Javier will have a wild team put together for this event.
Smart Money:
Gabriel Agati - (@AgatiGa)
- Accomplishments: Top 8 Oceania International Championships 2019, Top 4 Latin American Internationals 2017, Top 16 2019 World Championships
If you paid attention to the 2017 season, chances are you became familiar with the rising star known as "Agati Stall" from the Latin American Internationals. This star would go on to be one of the most consistent players in 2019, earning himself a Day 2 invite, a Top Cut at an International, and a Worlds Top Cut appearance. He is easily the best player Brazil has ever seen to date, and the best hope the country has at defending its homeland for this International.
And that's it for our coverage of the 2020 Latin American Internationals. Be sure to check back here for the results after the tournament, and follow along at twitch.tv/pokemonVGC. If you're curious about the types of teams that will show up, check out Pokemon's official Power Rankings, written by some of the game's experts.
Good luck to everyone in Sao Paulo!
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