2015 Italy Nationals 7th Place Team Analysis and Tournament Report(Masters Division)

Hi! Since school has begun and I did well with my exams, I'll back up finish writing my nats experience, so here it is what I was writing, hope you'll have a nice read.

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Yo there! I'm finally back again on this blog, to show you the team that I managed to bring to the 7th place out of 401 players at Italy Nationals, the last European Nats Tournament. Since this year is my first one in Masters, I was pretty unconfident about my possibilities of making top cut, since there will be a lot of more experienced and skilled players to fight. My goal was a decent 6-3 record, but my "dream goal" was at least a top8 finish, just to get my invite to play worlds (since my brother got 2nd at both Germany nats and regs in Seniors will get the paid trip, so I can go with him and my family). For the teambuilding, I started in late November with a solid Trick Room, which I managed to get top4 in PS! ladder for about a month. Here it is at a glance:

Then, in Jenuary, I saw that this TR has a lot of flaws, so I started to search an ispiration. My attenction was caught by Raikou, and I built a team with it. After a lot of weeks full of testing, I ended up with this:

But it still wasn't enough, despite my good records on PS!. Then, around March, I finally decided to find something I feel comfortable with - and since I played rain and goth+maw+rain for about six months in VGC'14, I started my teambuilding with the Politoed / Gothitelle / Mawile core. After this, I had to choose between Disable Kingdra and Assault Vest Ludicolo. I brought the pineapple duck, since, in my opinion, with Fake Out I can have a better Perish Mode. For the last two, I tested Landorus-t and Aegi, but the team was too weak to Bisharp, so I added Hydreigon on Aegislash. Having two physical attackers both with Intimidate was bad, so I went with Heatran - which also helps with fairies, Amoonguss and Aegislash.
I know that this team is similar to Wolfe's LCQ and Worlds 2015 team but, as you just read, my teambuilding phase was something totally different.
Anyway, stop boring you with this description, here it is my precious RainRoom Team!

- I'll not explain nicknames because they need to much time to be understanded. Just know that all of them are from the Shingeki no Kyojin anime serie.

THE TEAM

Pixis (Politoed) (M) @ Leftovers

Ability: Drizzle

Level: 50
Sassy Nature
- Scald
- Perish Song
- Encore
- Protect

The star (and the start) of the team. Politoed's role was maily scaring Landorus-T, burn everything with Scald and destroy all paired with Gothitelle. The help that Encore and Perish Song gives to this team is something fantastic, really. This Pokémon probably had one the best EVs set I've ever made - read why there aren't my spreads after the team analysis. Politoed was one of the MVPs of this team - which as a high number of MVPs, since all this Pokémon works only paired together. Politoed whitout Gothitelle or Ludicolo is bad, but when you paired it with one of them it works perfectly. I minimized the Speed to optimize the Perish Song effect and the utility under the Trick Room. Encore won basically my top32 game3 so it's probably the best move on Politoed here. Just a note on Scald: don't expect a burn every time you use it, and don't cry if the burn doesn't happen. Is just a 30%, man. The same chance to get a Fissure off, or to flinch to Landorus' Rock Slide (wait, hasn't Lando's Rock Slide a 75% flinching chance?). I used Scald about eight times and I burned just one time, but it was useful anyway to OHKO Landorus, Excadrill etc.

Levi (Ludicolo) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 50
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam
- Fake Out

Ahh, Ludicolo. Good old friend from 2014. The last year I played it with Protect and a Life Orb (Hydro Pump damage was amazing), but in a bulky team like this I can't play an offensive Ludicolo, and Fake Out is so important - expecially for the Perish turn stall and when paired with Hydreigon, big damage + 100% flinch was something unreal. Ludicolo OHKOs Landorus, Salamence, Hetran and also deals big damages to Rotom-W, which can be problematic to this team if well supported. Ludicolo was a great Pokémon under the tr and out of tr, and expecially, with the Fake Out support, it can support Gothitelle to set up. Ludicolo was mostyl the glue of the team, I can't imagine how this team should work without it - probably, if I used Kingdra, I'll not write this report but just a sad post about my silly life, ahah.

Eren (Mawile) (F) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Rock Slide
- Sucker Punch
- Protect

Mawile is the best Mega ever, in my opinion. I play Mawile since July 2014 and never looked back - she is in all of my teams. I don't know why I can't build something decent without her. She has an indecent amount of attack, decent defences and a good stab move, which OHKOs basically whatever doesn't resist it. She also counters Kangaskhan, MegaSalamence, MegaMetagross (Play Rough can break a Substitute) and Charizard (under the Trick Room). The Speed IVs makes it one point faster than Gothitelle, so under the Trick Room Psychic should it before Play Rough - and basically OHKO everything, from Rotom-W to Landorus-T (at -1) and Kangaskhan, for example. Rock Slide was here for OHKOing Charizard, Talonflame and deals heavy damage with a double target. Sucker Punch to hit priority moves in tr like Talonflame's Brave Bird and to move first out of tr; Protect is here for obvious reasons. Mawile is also good on this team because in a bo3 match your opponent can't decide if he had to be prepared for a perish mode or a MegaMawile in tr. I never play Perish + Mawile, since before mega-evolving (and also after), Mawile tooks too much damage to everything, so I can't switch her safe. Mawile is also the only physical attaccker of the team, but she does the work of three Pokémon, speaking about output damage.

Petra (Gothitelle) (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Shadow Tag
Level: 50
Sassy Nature
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Taunt
- Protect

I'm glad that I finally managed to get a decent result with Gothitelle - in my opinion, is one of the best Pokémon ever. I started using Gothitelle back in August 2014 and then, when I started testing her, I never looked back. Shadow Tag is the best ability ever, maybe second only to Parental Bond. Maybe. Her job on this team is basically trap everything, while another Pokémon destroys the opponent. There's no word to describe of much powerful is Goth+Mawile, I think 2014 has showed that enough. The EVs spread is really cool, it's a shame I can't share it. Trick Room is here to help both Mawile and Politoed, but also Heatran if they are against a Scarf Landorus. Psychic just do the little damage that Mawile needs to OHKO them all, and Taunt is really, really god to outplay opponents under Trick Room, and also to make Amoonguss unuseful while trapping it. Protect doesn't need any explanation.

Erwin (Hydreigon) (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power

Hydreigon is a Pokémon that I use in rain since June 2014, because he is the best Dragon ever - and he covers Rain weakness pretty well. In this team he basically OHKOs Bisharp, Thundurus, Aegislash and Ferrothorn, four Pokémon that I hate to face off. I used a Timid Nature just to outspeed others Hydreigon and basically every Kangaskhan that I faced. Hydreigon does his best job when paired with Mawile, I never losed a single game with this lead - the "Kalos Doubles most powerful lead".

Mikasa (Heatran) (F) @ Chople Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Will-O-Wisp
- Earth Power
- Protect

Okay, here we are with the Co-MVP of the team. I'm really happy about the choice of playing Heatran in a rain team, but, as a Two-Time Pokémon National Champion said, "Fantasy is the best weapon at Pokémon". So here we are, Timid Will-O-Wisp Heatran in rain. Chople Berry is here to let Heatran win a 1v1 against Terrakion and to resist MegaKangaskhan Low Kick - and then burn it with Will-O-Wisp. I also enjoy the fact that Breloom's Mach Punch is a 3HKO. Overheat is here just to shut down in one hit both Amoonguss and Aegislash, which are pretty difficult mons for this team. Will-O-Wisp on Heatran is one of my best ideas and it won me Round 3, Round 7 and Top16 matches. I can burn Bisharp while avoid his Sucker Punch, and also I can outspeed and burn both not-full speed Landorus and Kangaskhan (like in Top16). Heatran was also sososo bulky and a great switch-in for every move. Probably the best 6th slot filler Pokémon ever.

So here it is the team, now I'll start my story back on Thurday, the first day in Milan.

A little note on EVs and IVs

As I said in a previous article, italian community sucks because they just copy teams - and they has already copied enough this team, but they'll never copy my team with my spread. If you recognize yourself while you're reading this, just start think instead of copy-paste copy-paste.

Friday

I woke up at 7 a.m. to catch the bus as soon as possible to go to the train station, and I toke the train around at 12 a.m. . After three hours of travelling, I finally was in Milan! I toke the metro till the other station, the Porta Garibaldi's one, where I met my friends Gilberto, Bruno and Aniello, my room mates for the week. We immediately went with Aniello's uncle to his home, where we ate some Oreo (best biscuits ever) and drunk some cold tea. Then, we walked about two hours around Milan to find the shop that Bruno wanted to see and find the place where the others Italian players was waiting us for the dinner. Gilberto also met his "dream-girl", which isn't is girl, because he is a faggot. It was an 'All You Can Eat' with a lot of chinese food, and we ate like monsters. Then, Arianna, a friend, drove us (with a lot of Pokémon songs on the stereo) to the place where Aniello's uncle was waiting to bring us home. Then, we talked all the night about how much faggot Gilberto is and I also tested with both him and Bruno. At 4:15 p.m. we chose to sleep, for a total of 2:30 hours. Not bad, we just had to play a Nationals the next day after all.

Saturday
When we woke up, we were like zombies, but a lot of coffee, milk, biscuits and some Ferrero shit woke us up. Aniello's uncle (who was like an awesome taxist) drove us to the Assago Forum, were we met a lot of old friends. What a cool moment! Not more than the previous night, anyway. That night was probably the best of my life, paired with the Saturday's and Sunday's one. Then, after a lot of waiting, pairings was up! I was pretty nervous, and I go to the bathroom to pee every time before a battle, haha. Gilberto was a faggot with his solitary music, as usual, but if I'm writing this report, is mainly thanks to him.
Probably my match description will not be good, I'll try to do my best, but I was really tired with just 2:30 hours of sleep.
P:S: On my opponent's teams, the first two Pokémon are what my opponent used to lead, the third and the fourth Pokémon are what he had in the back. Over the line, there are the two Pokémon that he didn't chose to bring against me.

Round 1 vs. Federico Moretti (0/0/0)

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Unknown italian player, who told me that he has been playing since 2013. Cool. I had the advantage that I played a similar team on PS! the week before so I knew what to lead. He leaded Landorus plus Suicune against my Heatran and Gothitelle. I went for Protect with Goth to take a possible U-Turn while his Landorus used Superpower on Heatran, revealing is Life Orb, and Heatran OHKOed it back with Overheat. Suicune used Scald on Goth. Then the game was really easy, I just went for the Perish Mode (sacrifying Heatran in the process) against Suicune and Cress, and I finished off his Charizard in the late game, locking it in the rain. Win 3-0

Round 2 vs Toby Bundy (1/0/0)

___________

Great start with the win at the first turn, but I still had 8 games to play. He had the same sand team of Bathuan Can, who defeated my brother at Germany Nats Seniors Finals. After some flinches and misses on my side, I basically won at turn 4 when I used Play Rough on his Rotom-H switched out for Tyranitar, while Gothitelle used Taunt on his Amoonguss. Another some unfortunately Rock Slide misses (from Mawile) make me losed both Ludicolo and Gothitelle, but the game was mine anyway. Win 2-0

Round 3 vs Marco Pellizzoni (2/0/0)

___________

For Round 3 I get paired wih a friend, known as 'Bob online, who is also a member of my battling team. He was playing a sand really similar to the one of the provious round, so I knew what to lead. It is also the magic sand who won the Japan Cup, so I also knew some items, like Azumarill's Assault Vest. Gothitelle and Heatran again, versus Azumarill and Amoonguss. In the first turn I protected Heatran from a Waterfall and used Taunt on Amoonguss, who went for a failed Spore on Goth. In the second turn, I went for Will-O-Wisp on Azumarill and Protect with Gothitelle, avoiding damage for both Knock Off and Sludge Bomb. I switched out Gothitelle for Mawile, while Overheat OHKOed Amoonguss, and Azumarill burned my Chople Berry with Knock Off on Heatran. Now, my memory is not good and I don't remember exactly what happened, but he had Exacdrill and Aegi in the back, so it was close. Win 4-0

Round 4  vs  Nicola Tomasini (3/0/0)

___________

So that's the third MegaSalamence out of four matches, fortunately my team has a good matchup against it. Anyway, I went for Gothitelle and Ludicolo against his Salamence and Ludicolo. The first turn was useless, both of us just went for Fake Out on Gothitelle and MegaSalamence, respectively. Then, he used Earthquake with Salamence, misspredicting a Mawile switch-in. That was basically the game. I OHKOed Salamence with Ice Beam, while his Ludicolo used Surf - basically a perfect turn for me. The Trick Room went up. Then he sent Scizor who get a nice Swords Dance boost, while I switched Ludicolo out for Mawile, who tokes a Giga Drain, and Gothitelle used Psychic on Ludicolo for abou 20% of healt. . Then, Mawile used Sucker Punch on Scizor, who left with around 52% of his HP, Gothitelle protected herself from a Giga Drain and Mawile tokes about 60% from Bullet Punch. Then, he did a wrong move again: he believed that Scizor could endure another Sucker Punch, while this time deals more than 50% and OHKOed it. Then, the match was basically over - he just stalled a bit with Roost Zapdos. Anyway, this match was really great, but offensive has a really bad matchup against defensive rain. gg Tom :)  Win 2-0

Round 5 vs. Eloy Hanh (4/0/0)

_________

When I saw this pairing, I started smiling. I always wanted to battle Eloy after a lot of his battle viewed on Youtube, mainly because he is one of the best European players, and is when you battle with the best that the game being really, really cool. The match started with Gothitelle-Mawile from my side against Charizard and Cresselia from his one. I went for the standard boring (but safe) Protect with Mawile, while using TR with Goth. His Cresselia (faster than Zard) went for Skill Swap on Gothitelle, and his Charizard went for Heat Wave, bring Gothitelle to the Sitrus Berry range and burning it. The Trick Room went up. Then, I used Rock Slide and Taunt on Cress, who flinched (I think that it was useless, but I said 'sorry' anyway) and Charizard used Protect. Now, I decided my move in 5 seconds. I was sure that he will change Charizard for Scrafty, so I clicked Play Rough on that slot, and it happens! Scrafty faints to Play Rough, while bot Goth and Cresselia used some random Psychic. He replaced Scrafty with Landorus, who tokes both Rock Slide and Psychic, and, without flinching, OHKOed Mawile, while Gothitelle survives. Then, I replaced Mawile with Ludicolo. I used Fake Out on Landorus, switched out for Charizard, and I reverse the Trick Room (another stupid move by me, it will ends in the same turn) and Cress restored its HP with Moonlight. Gothitelle dies to the burn. Politoed replaced Gothitelle and his ability Drizzle made it rainy. He made the obvious play of replacing Zard with Landorus, who went down to Scald, while Cress used Psychic on Ludicolo for basically no damage. Charizard bnrought the Sun, and we were 2-2, without any chance of resetting the weather. Now, I made the most stupid play that losed me the game: I predicted and Heat Wave, but instead of Encore on Charizard I used Perish Song. Ludi used a random Scald on Zard. Then, Politoed takes Solar Beam pretty well, Ludi tokes another Psychic and a double Scald on Zard did about 50%. Then, I just had to get a double Protect, to finish both of his Pokémon with Perish Song. The first Protect, obviously, worked. The second, failed, and I losed the game. Probably, from my side, the most beautiful match of the day, and I was determined more than ever to make top cut, I really wanted to face off Eloy again. Loss 0-2

Round 6 vs. Luca Castelnovo (4/1/0)

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Thankfully, the god of pairings was gentle and I found an unskilled player, as my goal was to play the best of the best in the top cut. At the team preview I tought that it culd be a sort of Rain with Rain Dance Tornadus and MegaSwampert. I want on this match pretty confident, until I saw his strategy: Thunder Wave with Raichu and Water Pulse or Hurricane with Articuno. So scary, against my lead of Gothitelle and Heatran. After some turns of paralysis I managed to OHKO Articuno with Overheat while I used Trick Room with Gothitelle. Heatran dies to the new entry Swampert, but Ludicolo replaced the poor Heatran and destroyed his team (his last Pokémon was Tornadus, who had the Sitrus Berry and Hurricane). Win 3-0

Round 7 vs. Pietro Chiri  (5/1/0)

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(I tried to fix the font, but it was useless, sorry for that).

As soon as I saw the pairings, I was curious. Kirro was a player that I knew only online for his MegaHeracross stuffs and some PCs wins in North Italy. The matchup wasn't the best, but I was really motivated to win, another goal was to be the best italian at the event - and I even managed to be the second, damn. The key point of the match was the first turn: he went with Talonflame and Landorus-T against Gothitelle and Heatran. My goal was to burn Landorus and then to sweep his Mawile-weak team only with Mawile under Trick Room, so Heatran had to Burn and immediately get OHKOed. He used Brave Bird on Gothitelle (who took little damage, so it wasn't Band or Life Orb) and Rock Slide, while I protected Heatran and went for the Trick Room. His move was really cool - he made me thinking he had a Scarf Landorus locked in Rock Slide while it hadn't a choice item. The second turn I protected Gothitelle from a Brave Bird and used Will-O-Wisp on Landorus (his surprised face was the best) and his Landorus used Earthquake (now I was the surprised one!). Heatran survived it with 4 HP - but a kill would be more useful for me. Then I used Psychic on Talonflame who revealed its Eject Button (another surprised face) and Sylveon replaced it, Landorus killed Heatran with Rock Slide and Gothitelle was still alive (mainly thanks to the Sitrus Berry). Then Mawile just killed all his Pokémon, while losing Gothitelle in the process.  Win 2-0

Round 8 vs. Thomas Schadinger (6/1/0)

                                                                         

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I didn't recognize his name at first, but Gilberto said that he was a good player. He had a very particular team - and you can find his team analysis here. I really don't remember much of this battle apart some mindgames about Gengar Will-O-Wisping Mawile that I won, but he anyway destroyed me as I played all the match thinking his Gengar had Taunt while it hasn't. Like, the first turn was Gothitelle Mawile on my side vs Kangaskhan and Gengar. I protected Mawile from a Fake Out and he used Shadow Ball on Gothitelle, while I used Psychic on Gengar (without activating the Focus Sash but leavng it on 5-10%, so at first I tought it was Mega or Bulky Goggles) expecting a Taunt. After the match he revealed me that his Gengar was Focus Sash with max speed and Trick Room as 4th move. It was anyway a cool game, and the bulkyness of his Pokémon really caught me off guard. I also tolk with him after the battle and he was a really cool guy, I was happy he made it to the top - now all I had to do was to follow him to the list of the best ~40 players in Italy!  Loss 0-2

Round 9 vs. Manuel Vittorio Micaletto (6/2/0)

                                                                           

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Last round of swiss, it was 'win or go home'. I was against an italian player that I didn't knew, but some friends told me that he was a mediocre player, so I wasn't much scared at all. The matchup was really awesome, as he hadn't basically no answers to Goth/Mawile/Politoed, and after a burn from the second Scald on Scrafty (predicting a Protect with the other Pokémon) the game was basically over, but a Shadow Ball crit OHKOed Politoed, and the situation was Mawile and Gothitelle against Charizard and Aegi, under rain (with two turns left of Trick Room). I protected Mawile from a Shadow Ball and he Protected Charizard, while Gothitelle used Taunt on Aegislash. Then, Rock Slide and Psychic get a KO on both Charizard and Aegislash (who had like 50% of its HP). I MADE TOP CUT AGAIN!  Win 2-0

After winning this match I started being happy (like after winning the last round in 2014) and I talked with the other italian friends. We get some photos and I let the judges hack-checking my team, then I went with Gilberto, Aniello and some italians to search a restaurant. We searched all the night but at the end we ate some pasta with tomato sauce at home (it was 1:30 A.M.). Then, after an ice cream and some Oreos, we went to bed: I had to play the top cut the next day along with Aniello after all. Again, we basically slept a really poor amount of time, since we were too much excited and I talked about my top32 game with Gilberto, who helped me with the matchups, because.. I had to play Thomas again!

Sunday

TOOP CUUUT 

TOOP CUUUT

TOP CUT TOP CUT TOP CUUUUUT   -cit.

After two hours of sleep, we woke up to play. We arrived at the Mediolanum Forum and we spent some time talking with friends. After a lot of time - like two hours, the judges (not Lo Judge!) called us on the table: it finally was the time to play.

Top32 vs. Thomas Shadinger

                                                                               

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Before the matches, Gilberto talked with Thomas and that was what they said, I just added a word after them.

G: "Hey Thomas, you're against my boy Michelangelo!"

T: "Oh yeah, I know, I already defeated him yesterday"

Me: "Yeah, yesterday..."

This words motivated me a lot. I don't remember much of the games - apart from five things:

- I lost the first game and I saw Gilberto spelling "Faggot you can do it". I had to win the other two matches, a lot of people was believing in me after all!

- I won the second game 4-0 adjusting the lead

- I won the third game thank to Politoed's Encore, who locked his last Pokémon, Heatran into Substitute, against my Mawile and Politoed. 

- Thomas was really good by smiling and say "well played man", I appreciated it a lot!

- All the italians who were cheering for me come to me saying "you're the best here! I told you! You can do it!" And things like that.  Win 2-1

After the battle I found that my top16 opponent would have been a girl. Immediately after the news, Gilberto said "if you lose to a girl in the top16 of Italy Nationals, you'll lose all my respect."

So it was clear, I had to win.. again!

Top16 vs. Giulia Sogaro

                                    

                                            (don't remember the order of her pokemon)

He was playing a standard team which I was prepared to face, but the fact that she had Kangaskhan, Bisharp and Thundurus was a pain. Some italian friends told me that she was a great player, but as soon as I saw her prevedible playstyle I relaxed myself a lot. Again, I remember just some random things about our matches:

- I won the first game 4-0 because Heatran was faster than both Kangaskhan and Landorus, so I got some easy burns on them that he wasn't expecting.

- In game2, I missed a crucial Rock Slide on her Thundurus but I get a crit the second time (it would be a 2HKO anyway), and after Thundurus went down i just OHKOed Suicune with Psychic + Play Rough after she failed the double Protect under the Trick Room.

- I wasn't believing how much far I was. The other italians was crazy, especially Gilberto and Jacopo Gardin, another good friend. He is the best saying "DAGHINE BESTIO!", which means "COME ON BEAST!". Really, really motivating. Win 2-0

After some pee and time with Gilberto, I was ready to finally get to the glory, the top4. I just had to win the next bo3. I was against a German player that I never heard of, but I didn't want to get caught off guard. 

Top8 vs. Dominic Scheffler

                                                                           

(don't remember the order of his pokemon)

As you may know after reading all this report is that I don't remember a lot about my top cut matches. Again, here it is what I recall about our match:

- I lost the first game after a very unlucky Will-O-Wisp miss on his Kangaskhan, but this was a decent loss since I knew that I had enough informations to do better in the next games.

- As I said, I won this game2 with good Perish Song mindgames. He was really surprised about the Encore/Perish Song sheningans.

- I lost like an idiot the third game, as I misspredicted a lot of things. A Return crit on Politoed (probably didn't matter but who knows) ends my dream.

- My hearth was broken

- All my friends were awesome and didn't let me kill myself

- I leave the Assago Forum with the goal to be in top4 next year. I'm really, really motivated to do this next year  Loss 1-2

Monday

Another night that we spent without sleeping but making jokes on Aniello's face and things like that. After all the hughs and things like that anyone toke his respective train and went to his home town. See you next year Milan!

Conclusion

It's a long report but you should read it, it's really cool in my opinion, hope you enjoy! it Can't wait to do better next year, for sure. Always lose in top8 at Nats is too frustrating, you can't even imagine how much hearthbreaking it is. Next posts will be about Worlds and the Boston Open, stay tuned!

Special thanks

• Andrea Sala for taking me back in 2013 and helped me a lot to become the player that I'm now
• Aniello Iuliano for the ospitality in Milan and expecially for let the #disagioroom born
• Gilberto Goracci for being the best friend I could have asked for (and also thanks for helping me  lot for all the 2015)
• Jacopo Gardin for your introduction to Nationals in 2013, it is really important to me <3
• Luca Lussignoli for being the most stupid itlian player, your stupidity is the best
• The italian community for being one of the worst (sadly) community ever. I hope we'll get to the Spanish's one as soon as possible.