Outskirts of Wakanda, Wakanda - Thinking about attending Madison regionals? Well perhaps you should think again! Thanos just dealt a punishing blow to the prospective attendees of this event, naming half of all attendees to be the smart money to win the whole event. In his article, published via snapchat, Thanos justified his seemingly heinous act. His speech is as follow "Players, VGC is on the brink of collapse. It's simple calculus, CP is finite, stipends are finite. If too many players are left free of being smart moneyed, VGC will cease to exist." He continued "Drastic measures must be taken, and I'm the only one with the will to take them. This will come at a great cost, even greater than an entry fee, but once it is done VGC will be balanced, as all things should be."
Immediately after Thanos published his article, chaos erupted in Madison. The players looked into the night sky and their destinies were revealed. A total of 55 people were smart moneyed. Below is a vivid account of players who were smart moneyed and their destinies.
The day got off to a rough start, as Thomas McCready, Matthew Carter, Jimmy Friedle, Zheyuan Huang, and Alex Faust had nightmares about ally switch and were not able to wake up in time for registration. Patrick Finney, Mario Serrano, Justin Frys, Tommy Coolean and Keith S Talon were all afllicted with a terrible condition, try as they might they were unable to fill in anything except "Smart Money" in the blanks of their team sheet, and thus received 6 game losses and had to play all their matches without 6 of their Pokemon.
Carson Confer, Tyler Miller, William Sepesi, Ethan Simpson and Curtis Cousins were infected by a rare brain parasite that forces its user to run dunsparce and simisear on their teams, and performed poorly as a result. Jake Muller, Nate Innocenti, Brett Favre, David Mancuso and Sean Carter were all late to their round 1 matches due to accidentally sitting at the TCG tables, were unable to make win first round match, and were unable to recover from such a set back
Sean Carter, Daniel Thorpe, Brandon Wright, Gavin Michaels, and Dylan Salvanera lost their first 2 sets to getting flinched repeatedly by choice scarf landorus, who used rock slide so much it ran out of rock slide PP every game. Nicholas Borghi, Louis Milich, Alex Collins, Alyssa Smith and Andrew Cavanah won their first set, but then ran into some really tough matchups and ended up eventually losing three games in a row. Adam Baltrusaitis, Ryan Brainard, Alexander Williams, William Marks, and Logan Mazur all got food poisoning over lunch break, and were unable to finish the tournament
Justin Crubaugh, Shaun Martin, Jake Barrett, Nick Sefranek, and Isaac Van Name played exclusively 6 pokemon mirror matchups, and went X-3 as a result. Alex Arand, Jack Thackrah, Paul Chua, Collin Heier, Justin Burns all lost peacefully, they just played slightly sub optimally and ended at X-3 or low X-2. Ashton Cox, Jake Smith, Samuel Haarsma, Andrew Nowak, and Travis Johnson all fought hard to defeat their destinies, but ultimately bubbled at X-2
In a heroic showing, it seemed as if some of the smart monies could survive, Brian Youm, Mitchell Beyer, and Kyle Houston all made it to the top 8, but unfortunately faced rematches of their swiss losses in top cut and suffered a second loss. Alex Underhill and Corey Esmeier both fell short in top 4, losing on your time in both of their sets.
If you weren't on this list, then congratulations! You avoided the smart money curse. But please remember and mourn our fallen brothers and sisters who weren't so lucky.
Smart Monies (in order of on-screen demise)
1. Thomas McCready
2. Matthew Carter
3. Jimmy Friedle
4. Zheyuan Huang
5. Alex Faust
6. Patrick Finney
7. Mario Serrano
8. Justin Frys
9. Tommy Cooleen
10. Keith S Talon
11. Carson Confer
12. Tyler Miller
13. William Sepesi
14. Curtis Cousins
15. Ethan Simpson
16. Jake Muller
17. Nate Innocenti
18. Brett Favre
19. David Mancuso
20. Sean Carter
21. Daniel Thorpe
22. Brandon Wright
24. Gavin Michaels
25. Dylan Salvanera
26. Nicholas Borghi
27. Louis Milich
28. Alex Collins
29. Alyssa Smith
30. Andrew Cavanah
31. Adam Baltrusaitis
32. Ryan Brainard
33. Alexander Williams
34. William Marks
35. Logan Mazur
36. Justin Crubaugh
37. Shaun Martin
38. Jake Barrett
39. Nick Sefranek
40. Isaac Van Name
41. Alex Arand
42. Jack Thackrah
43. Paul Chua
44. Collin Heier
45. Justin Burns
46. Ashton Cox
47. Jake Smith
48. Samuel Haarsma
49. Andrew Nowak
50. Travis Johnson
51. Brian Youm
52. Mitchell Beyer
53. Kyle Houston
54. Alex Underhill
55. Corey Esmeier
