Hi all, Gilbert here! I come from the modest country of England. Today I’d like to share a report about my first and last year competing in the Senior division. I started playing Pokemon competitively in the summer of 2013 when a friend told me about the Video Game Championships. I had been playing Pokémon for years and had never heard of the VGC before. I was intrigued by the competition and watched many videos of past VGC tournaments. This year, I placed 2nd at UK Nationals, eventually stopped in my tracks by Nicola Gini. I suppose second place wasn’t too bad for my first VGC tournament. My apologies in advance if this report doesn’t live up to one of Zog’s legendary team reports but “I did my best, I have no regrets.”

As you can probably see, this team was inspired by Se Jun Park’s 2013 World Championship team, and I found that his team suited my play style. Much like Se Jun last year, I finished 5th with my team at Worlds, although in my case it was in the Senior division. Although the lack of good Trick Room setters made setting up Trick Room harder this year, I found that my team could still catch many other teams off guard with the surprising amount of offensive pressure it offered. With this team I didn’t have to rely on Trick Room, as I could also slow them down with Thunder Wave. After a lot of practice, I felt confident in the way the team played.

I went 6-0 during Swiss with this team, and came in 5th place overall, only losing to eventual runner up woopahking.

The Team

Sun Tzu (Abomasnow) (M) @ Abomasite
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 50
EVs: 188 HP / 68 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Wood Hammer
- Blizzard
- Protect
- Ice Shard

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Hail Room.”

• Survives Brave Bird from -1 Choice Band Adamant Talonflame
• Survives Flash Cannon from max Special Attack from Aegislash
• OHKOs Hydreigon even if it’s running max HP
• OHKOs Rotom-W with 96 Defense EVs

In my opinion, Abomasnow is an underrated Mega. With more Attack than Garchomp and more Special Attack than Hydreigon, Abomasnow can deal devastating damage to teams at both ends of the defensive spectrum. The only area in which Abomasnow is lacking is Speed, which made it ideal for Trick Room. With Mega Abomasnow, my aim was to deal so much damage that my opponent couldn’t recover. This Pokémon also beats double Dragons and Rotom-W, which are really common in VGC 2014. Mega Abomasnow was very good at controlling the weather, and could deal nice chunks of damage to anything that didn’t resist Blizzard. I reckon it would be used more if it wasn’t for that pesky Talonflame.

Bane (Rhyperior) (M) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Solid Rock
Level: 50
EVs: 88 HP / 252 Atk / 168 SpD
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Rock Slide
- Drill Run
- Protect
- Substitute

“We will rock you.”

• Survives Flash Cannon from Modest max Special Attack Aegislash 100% of the time
• Survives Iron Head from max Attack Mega Mawile 100% of the time
• Survives Aqua Jet from max Attack Choice Band Azumarill 100% of the time
• OHKOs 4 HP Garchomp after +2 from Weakness Policy

This Pokémon was the star of my team and in my opinion is underused this generation. Its amazing Defense and Attack made it a solid check for Talonflame, and it could eat up Kangaskhan’s Power-Up Punch to get a powerful +2 Attack from Weakness Policy. This was my main reason for choosing Rhyperior over Rhydon. Solid Rock meant that it could survive Super Effective attacks throw at it and retaliate with a +2 Attack Drill Run. This thing tanks physical hits and is a great switch-in to Talonflame and Kangaskhan.

I chose Drill Run over Earthquake because most of my team couldn’t dodge Earthquake without Protecting. Substitute was my last move, and not only shielded me from Will-o-Wisps but also gave me a chance to get behind a Substitute if I predicted a Protect from the opponent. I invested heavily in Special Defense as that was an area in which Rhyperior was lacking. These EVs allowed Rhyperior to survive a Draco Meteor from Salamence, as well as other assorted Special Attacks. Rhyperior could deal heavy damage to anything that Abomasnow couldn’t, and vice versa, so they were almost a perfect pair.

Technoz (Scrafty) (F) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Atk / 64 Def / 68 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Taunt
- Drain Punch
- Fake Out

“Who needs the Incredible Hulk when you have incredible bulk?”

• OHKO’s Aegislash-Blade with 252 HP / 40 Defense
• Survives max Special Attack Timid Choice Spec Hydreigon Draco Meteor 100% of the time
• Survives Adamant Choice Banded Brave Bird from Talonflame at -1 100% of the time

This Pokémon was the primary support member of my team, as it had Fake Out to help Trick Room set up. I used Scrafty mostly to shut down Aegislash and Tyranitar, as both of these Pokemon threatened my Trick Room setters. For a long time I used Quick Guard on Scrafty, but Taunt just seemed to fit the team better, and I already dealt with Talonflame well enough. Taunt also allowed me to completely shut down Aegislash. Intimidate was a major factor in most of my games, helping Gardevoir to survive key physical attacks. I got the idea to use Taunt on my Scrafty from Technoz when he was using it at the US National Championships, and I thought it worked really well for him so I tried it.

Lawiet (Chandelure) (F) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Overheat
- Trick Room
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

“Can’t touch this.”

• Survives Hydro Pump from Calm Rotom-W with 116 EVs invested in Special Attack 100% of the time
• Survives Adamant Banded Talonflame’s Brave Bird 100% of the time
• Survives Crunch from max Attack Tyranitar 100% of the time
• Survives Life Orb Dark Pulse from Tyranitar as long as it’s not Modest

This Pokémon completely shuts down threats to my team such as Mawile, Kangaskhan, and Amoongus, as well as neutering many physical threats with Will-O-Wisp. I chose Overheat over Heat Wave for the extra bit of power. Chanderlure didn’t attack often, so the Special Attack drop didn’t matter so much. Chandelure was originally my primary means of getting Trick Room up. This is why I put a lot of EVs into its Defenses. I also felt Chandelure had enough Special Attack as it is, and so didn’t need any EV investment in Special Attack. I have used both Scrafty and Chandelure from the very beginning of VGC ’14 as they have very nice synergy together.

Eric1999 (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 196 Def / 36 SpA / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Roost
- Swagger
- Thunderbolt

Shout out to Eric1999 for giving me this EV spread.

• Survives Play Rough from max Attack Mawile 100% of the time.
• Survives Rock Slide from Banded Garchomp 100% of the time.

This was by far the hardest slot on my team to fill. I felt as though I needed something that resisted Steel and that could work outside of Trick Room. I tried several Pokemon in this slot, including but not limited to Mega Gyarados, Mega Blastoise, Clawlitzer, Rotom-Heat, and Mawile. I finally decided on Zapdos after using a team given to me by Eric1999. I found Zapdos to be a great support Pokémon that helped against Azumarill and Aegislash, both of which caused my team problems. Zapdos’s ability to resist weaknesses in my team such as Steel and Fighting made it a great switch in.

For the last move, I chose Swagger over other options such as Light Screen purely because I could Swagger my own Scrafty to get a +2 Attack boost. However, I didn’t get to use this combination in the tournament. I also considered having Hidden Power Ice on this Zapdos, but I found Abomasnow already dealt with Dragons well enough. In hindsight, I feel as though I should have chosen Mega Blastoise instead of Zapdos, as it would have done more work during Swiss and especially against Mark in Top Cut.

Trinity (Gardevoir) (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Def / 180 SpA / 44 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Protect
- Trick Room

“To Trick Room or not to Trick Room, that is the question.”

• survives Life Orb Brave Bird from Adamant Talonflame 100% of the time
• survives 252 Special Attack Modest Aegislash Shadow Ball 100% of the time
• OHKOs 4 HP / 4 Special Defense Garchomp 100% of the time
• OHKOs 4 HP / 4 Special Defense Venusaur 100% of the time

As you may or may not be able to tell, this is almost the exact same EV spread as Lajos’s Gardevoir, but with EVs taken out of Defense and Speed and put into Special Defense. I felt as thought these changes gave Gardevoir the perfect balance between offence and defense, and allowed Gardevoir to get Trick Room up easily when paired with Scrafty. I think because of this factor I brought it to almost every game. I considered using Ally Switch over Psychic to try to keep my heavy hitters alive, but I found Psychic was more reliable.

Synergy

+ 

I used this lead if getting Trick Room up seemed too risky or just not worth it. This lead also caught my opposition off guard when they expected a full out Trick Room mode. These two were a solid lead if I had no idea what to lead, and this came in particularly handy against Mark and Henry. This is often my lead against Rain.

+  or 

This was my main Trick Room lead, as it provided enough support to get Trick Room up without too much risk. These three were probably my most common lead, as all the practice I put in with these leads made me feel comfortable using them. Chandelure was perfect against Sun teams, and Scrafty offered that little bit of support I needed to succeed.

+ 

This was my lead if I needed to slow the opponent’s team down, or if I was playing a team like Mark’s. This was also a very strong lead against the Trick Room killer also known as Aegislash. There was additional synergy in that I had the option to Swagger my own Scrafty, adding a bit more offense to Scrafty and giving it the ability to OHKO 4 HP Mega Kangaskhan with Drain Punch.

+ 

These two were my all out offense mode. When Trick Room was up, I would primarily rely on these two to get damage dealt. As noted above, these two covered each other’s weaknesses very well.

Worlds Matches

Round 1  vs Mark McQuillan (woopahking) [UK]

Of course the first match I play is against my British rival. This was the first time I had met Mark in real life and I was determined to win. From the Team Preview I assumed that Lapras was holding an Assault Vest. However, I was mistaken, as it turned out to be a Weakness Policy Lapras. An awesome item choice that definitely benefited him in this scenario.

Game 1:

Game 2:

He led with Aegislash and got a Substitute up on the first turn. This left me at a great disadvantage, especially as I set up Trick Room on the first turn. He was able to cripple my Scrafty with two Will-O-Wisps, and managed to win Game 2.

Game 3:

I don’t remember a thing about this game but according to Mark, I got Trick Room up and was able to make good predictions. From there, I was able to sweep with Rhyperior. I won the set 2-1.

Round 2 vs Daniele Saracino [IT]

Round 2 and I run into my most feared Pokémon, Bisharp. Luckily he only brought it to Game 1.

Game 1:

I managed to burn his Bisharp with Chandelure once Trick Room was up. During Game 1 Chandelure did a lot of work, as he brought Bisharp, Kangaskhan, and Amoongus, all of which were susceptible to Will-O-Wisp.

Game 2:

I had a clear game plan: knock out Rotom-W and Amoonguss, get Trick Room up, and Rhyperior would do the rest. Abomasnow smashed Rotom-W with Wood Hammers and hit everything else with Blizzards to help me achieve my plan.

Round 3 vs Dylan Salvanera (DullAce24) [US]

This team looked very much like TheBattleRoom’s team so I knew what it was capable of.

Game 1:

He didn’t bring the Trick Room side of his team, so all I needed to do was set up Trick Room and Blizzard would do the rest. That’s exactly what I did.

Game 2:

On the first turn, Reuniclus’ Focus Blast was a critical hit on Scrafty. Scrafty bare hung on with 8 HP, and was able to knock Reuniclus out in return. In the end, it came down to his Amoongus and Mawile against my Chandelure. I missed a Will-O-Wisp one turn, and hit it the next. Mawile was low on HP, so I stupidly Overheated his Amoongus thinking that he might try to timer stall. I was rewarded with a Sucker Punch, which knocked me down to about 30% HP. I Protect to let the Burn do some damage, and then decide to Will-O-Wisp again to avoid Mawile’s Sucker Punch. My opponent predicted this, however, and Play Roughed Chandelure, doing about 20% damage. After another Protect his Mawile was in the red, and I had a choice to make: I could use Will-O-Wisp or Overheat, and if he Sucker Punches on Will-O-Wisp or Play Roughs on an Overheat I win. In the end, I played it correctly and won the set.

Round 4 vs Yuki Takashima [JP]

From Team Preview my opponent’s team looked like a Sun team, but the Charizard could have also been a Charizard X. I decided that the best lead I could use was Scrafty and Chandelure. Once Trick Room was up, I could start dealing damage with Abomasnow and Rhyperior.

Game 1:

He led with Charizard and Aerodactyl. This was perfect, as he couldn’t stop me from Faking Out his Aerodactyl and setting up Trick Room. Once Trick Room was up, I burnt his Aerodactal as he Sky Dropped and eventually took down my Scrafty. Rhyperior switched in and cleaned up from there. I learned that his Aegislash had Wide Guard, but luckily I had Drill Run so I was not affected too much.

Game 2:

This game came down to my Scrafty and Rhyperior with low health against his Aegislash. I had been in this situation before on Battle Spot, and I knew that if I played this scenario poorly I could lose. This is where Taunt came in handy. I knew he was going to use Kings Shield, so I Taunted his Aegislash and Substituted with Rhydon. He forfeited on the next turn and I won the set 2-0.

Round 5 vs Henry Maxon (Snake) [US]

This was the only other person I lost a game to in Swiss. This was due to the power of Life Orb Scizor and smart U-Turning on my opponent’s part. In the end, Chandelure was able to take on Kangaskhan and Scizor by itself. I remember almost nothing from this set, probably because half of the match I was trying to keep the British flag attached to my back.

Round 6 vs Alejandro Gomez (Pokealex1999) [ES]

This was a match I was looking forward to. I knew Alejandro was a good player, as I lost twice to him in the most recent International Challenge.

This was a set where Rhyperior did work, tanking hits and wreaking havoc behind a Substitute. My Rhyperior was dodging attacks left, right, and center in these games. It might as well have been Neo in the Matrix movies the way it dodged attacks. During Game 1 it dodged an Overheat while behind a Substitute, and dodged two Power Whips in Game 2, allowing me to burn his Ferrothorn with Chandelure. The deciding moment of Game 2 was predicting his switch from Hariyama to Ferrothorn and switching out my Gardevoir to Chandelure.

I have to say I was lucky in these games, and they would have been closer if not for the misses. I think I would have cleaned up with Chandelure in Game 2 even without the double Power Whip misses, though. During these games I knew that my win condition was keeping Chandelure alive purely because of Ferrothorn.

Top Cut

Top 8 vs Mark McQuillan (woopahking) [UK]

Of course I had to play against someone who knew my team in the first round of Top Cut. To be honest, I would have preferred to fight anyone other than him in Top Cut, since he and I were fellow Brits and wanted an all Brit final.

Game 1

I led Scrafty and Zapdos. Mark made some smart switches, switching in and out with Staraptor and Rotom-H so minimize Scrafty’s Attack. I ended up losing 2-0.

Game 2

My opponent led Staraptor and Rotom-H, and I started off with Rhyperior and Gardevoir. I protected with Gardevoir, fearing Staraptor’s Final Gambit, and hoped to deal some nice damage with Rock Slide. However, Rock Slide misses Staraptor, and on the next turn he gets the Final Gambit off on my Gardevoir. In doing so, he shuts down my Speed control and without that, I almost have no hope to win. He basically burnt his way to victory the second game. It had been a long day, but getting 5th place wasn’t too bad I guess.

Conclusion

Overall I feel I did well, but I was a little disappointed that I only finished in the Top 8, especially after doing so well in Swiss. Quarterfinalist sounds a little underwhelming compared to semifinalist, but I feel I did what I aimed to do: get into Top Cut without resorting to a standard team. Worlds was a great experience, and I met a lot of people I had played online before but never played in real life. I’m moving up to the Masters Division next year, so wish me luck. I’ll need it.

Shout Outs:

• Matt for telling me about the VGC series.
• Falcor (Trainerfalc) for helping me develop as a player and teaching me about IVs.
• Eric1999 for being my rival and helping me build my team.
• woopahking for an old bit of Scottish/English rivalry.
• The rest of Team UK for forcing me to wear the Union Jack.

The post 6 and 0 in the Snow: 5th Place Senior Division Worlds Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hi everyone, my name is Lee Provost or some of you may know me as Osirus on here. I’m a UK player and I recently finished 7^th in the 2014 Pokémon World Championships after going 5-1 in Swiss. I have been playing Pokémon for a very long time. I started out playing R/B/Y when the games were first released and haven’t really looked back since.

My first real season playing competitively was in 2010 where I earned an invite to Worlds by placing 3^rd in that year’s UK Nationals although I couldn’t attend as only 1^st and 2^nd places got the paid trips and I just couldn’t afford to pay my own way to Hawaii being a poor student at the time. I eventually made my first official Worlds appearance last year in Vancouver at the 2013 World Championships after finishing 3^rd again in the UK Nationals (this time winning a paid trip) but followed it up with a very disappointing and underwhelming performance finishing 37^th at the event.

And with that, it brings us on to this season and even though I’ve had a pretty tough time finding my feet within this year’s metagame, I seem to have somehow finished my season much better than I really saw it panning out. Whether it being down to luck or not I seem to have eventually found a team I am happy, proud, and comfortable with — which leads me on to my first ever Nugget Bridge team report so without dragging this on any longer, here it is.

Picking the Team

In the run up to Worlds my thoughts were heavily based around the weather. With Rain dominating a number of Nationals in the months leading up to the World Championships it really defined a lot of my thoughts around the metagame and helped contribute to how the team eventually came together. The concept I wanted to implement within the team was to be based around utilising two weather modes (hence the cheesy title). I felt having a dual weather team would give me more flexibility and choice going into the best of three format that Worlds is. The two methods I chose to base this concept around were Rain and Sand — one offering a fast offensive mode and the latter playing a more disruptive one.

With the lack of reliable speed control we have available and how match up based this year’s metagame has become I felt it was quite important to implement a fast mode within my team and ideally something that took as little setting up as possible. Choosing Rain as my first point of call, with the inclusion of Politoed and Ludicolo, fit this mold perfectly. I knew it was potentially quite risky bringing this combination to Worlds especially with any heavy reliance on it as many players would have good solid counters for this pair in light of their recent success, but as I was conscious of the other components I would be trying to include within the team I didn’t think this would be a weak decision.

From here I opted to add Tyranitar as my sand user and main weather disruptor; his ability, natural bulk, and great offensive presence made him a great candidate to fill this role. Tyranitar also offered really nice options against many common threats within the metagame I knew I needed an answer for — including Charizard (Y), Zapdos, and Talonflame along with the common ghosts and Psychic types I may come across. To complement Tyranitar I elected to round off this core of four with Garchomp. Garchomp’s Ground/Dragon typing with its amazing base stats made it one of the best Pokémon in the format which helped make this decision quite easy. Garchomp also offered the core some nice defensive synergy as well as being one of my main offensive tools to combat Steel types for strong and reliable super effective damage.

At this point the core four of Politoed, Ludicolo, Tyranitar and Garchomp offered a nice balance of special and physical offence which I felt was a solid base to move on from. The last two spots in my opinion were probably the most important choices to bring the team concept together. Both Pokémon needed to complement the four already chosen as well as being able to operate efficiently within both a Sand and Rain environment.

I definitely needed a Mega Pokémon to fill one of these slots, so looking through all of the options available I ended up short listing Mega Mawile, Mega Lucario, and Mega Scizor. All three could take advantage of the rain, could operate without any residual damage in Sand and were supported well by the other team members when considering their most common threats. They all had strong match ups against Mega Kangaskhan which was of huge importance but I think the Intimidate support Mawile offered along with its secondary Fairy typing were the factors that really swung the choice in its favour.

When looking at rounding off the team I elected Zapdos to fill my final slot. It gave the team a nice Ground and Grass resistance as well as some strong Electric STAB attacks for additional support. With its versatile and excellent base stat distribution I knew it would be very easy to mold Zapdos to fit perfectly within how I needed it to operate and perform.

The Final Six

The Team In-Depth

Zapdos @ Choice Scarf
Modest
Pressure
EVs: 132 HP / 44 Def / 172 SpAtk / 20 SpDef / 140 Spd
IVs: 31/31/31/30/30/30
- Thunder
- Discharge
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power Flying

• The IV Spread I ended up having to use: 31/31/31/24/0/26
• The Actual EV Spread: 140 HP / 12 Def / 184 SpAtk / 8 SpDef / 160Spd

As the actual IV spread I ended up using was pretty terrible, I think it definitely needs at least a little explanation. I started soft resetting for my Hidden Power Flying Zapdos about three weeks before Worlds, at the time I thought this would give me plenty of time to hit the spread I wanted or at least get something as close to perfect as possible. Oh my friends, how I was wrong! So wrong! I was spending around 4 hours per day on my commute to work and back soft resetting plus some additional hours on evenings when I could. Now, I was either incredibly unlucky or this is what I think to be probably one of the hardest Hidden Powers to get. Over what turned out to be a pretty horrible and tenuous three week period I managed to only get two (out of probably thousands) Hidden Power Flying spreads. The first one was a Quiet nature with a 0 Speed IV (great for trick room right?!??) which was useless for what I needed and the second one was what I settled on and can be seen above. The reason I really had no option but to settle on such poor IVs was because I caught the above Zapdos in the hotel room on the Thursday morning before Worlds started. It was Modest and I worked out I could move EVs around to compensate for the lower Speed and Special attack IVs to hit the numbers I needed as they were probably the key stats for how I wanted Zapdos to operate. The Special Defence literally couldn’t have been any worse but when I thought about continuing on for a better spread I thought doing this would mean I realistically wouldn’t be running it at Worlds. So with that in mind, I promptly saved and that was that. I definitely think having such a low Special Defence IV hurt in a few matches but over the course of the tournament it didn’t make as big an impact as I thought it may have. I really was quite lucky to actually get the Hidden Power when I did. This whole process meant I had very little time to play or get comfortable with the team; I think I had about 5 practice matches before Worlds started which wasn’t ideal. I am currently trying to soft reset for a better spread but at a much more casual pace, so if and when I do get one as near to perfect as possible I may do a giveaway if anyone would be interested.

In any case, I constructed this Zapdos with the main intention to operate it as the team’s main pivot point — helping support both weather modes with fast damage and giving good options for gaining board control, keeping momentum and overall allowing for easier team maneuverability.

The 140 Speed EVs ensured I would get the jump on Scarfed max Speed Politoeds, neutral natured up to 100 Speed ev invested Ludicolos in the rain and all max Speed base 135s and below. I wasn’t too concerned about outspeeding Scarfed Smeargles as I had other methods to deal with it, hence the reason for not investing any further.

The Special Attack investment guaranteed a 1HKO on standard Scarfed Politoeds and 252HP / 4SpDef Azumarills with Thunder.

The Defence EVs allowed me to always survive an adamant Mega Kangaskhan’s Return and with Intimidate support helped boost its longevity in general.

I opted to run Thunder over Thunderbolt mainly for the increase in base power which helped turn a lot of close or near 1hkos with Thunderbolt into guaranteed ones and gave me a stronger option against opposing Rain teams. Thunder’s accuracy outside of rain was a lot less desirable than I would normally be comfortable running but I had my own rain mode to support and complement this as well as other electric attacks I could rely on in other field conditions.

Volt Switch was chosen for a number of reasons. Zapdos was holding a Choice Scarf so it now had the Speed stat to actually make real use of the attack to move relatively freely on the field, getting the jump on a majority of the metagame and avoiding super effective attacks whilst picking up at worst some chip damage along the way. I also liked the options it gave me when facing trapping teams, allowing me to quickly change momentum when I otherwise wouldn’t be able to. My favourite and primary use for Volt Switch though was to be used in conjunction with my Tyranitar and Politoed and using the fast switch to manipulate and disrupt the weather in my favour.

Although Discharge is the third Electric type attack I have elected to use on Zapdos, it again is here for a good reason. I knew from experience I would sooner or later come across one or more of those cute teams carrying a Lightningrod, Rage Powder or Follow Me user to protect their Electric-weak partner setting up and as simple as it is, Discharge was there to combat that. Its other advantages are it has a pretty decent 30% secondary effect to paralyze the opponent and as I was also running Garchomp, I had the option to really overwhelm the opponent with the old ‘DisQuake’ combo if the opportunity presented itself — although the latter was an afterthought.

Why Hidden Power Flying? I originally had Hidden Power Ice on Zapdos as a way of hitting many of the metagame’s Ice-weak threats but when reviewing the team I noticed I had a huge problem in particular with my matchup against Mega Venusaur. This really put a ‘spanner in the works’ as I thought a lot of players would be inclined to bring it to Worlds because of how good a match up it has against Rain. I was also uncomfortable that Mawile was currently my only real way of hitting Venusaur hard as it was almost guaranteed to have a nasty Fire type partner that Mawile would prefer to avoid. So when looking at all of my options to resolve this problem (of which I didn’t have many throughout the team), I realised that Zapdos was realistically one of the only Pokémon that I could alter to turn this matchup into a more favourable one. I decided I didn’t necessarily need Hidden Power Ice as I had Ludicolo and Politoed to deal with the threats I would be hitting with it anyway so Hidden Power Flying just made perfect sense. It also added another STAB move to my arsenal giving additional ways to surprise my opponents and hit many other common threats I previously had no reliable answer for.

I also took full advantage of the fact that in most battles my opponents would be assuming I was running HP Ice. In some games it was nice to reveal the scarf early and not the hidden power type, especially when I was facing off against opposing Garchomp and Salamence where I could almost force switching late game due to their thoughts of ‘not wanting to take an easy KO’ which really helped gain momentum at times. In the same respect, HP Flying was also very effective especially against Mega Venusaur. I found players would happily leave it on the field to eat up the expected HP Ice with the help of its Thick Fat Ability only to take up to, and sometimes over, 50% damage from the incoming HP Flying attack.

Overall I felt my decision to run HP Flying over HP Ice was the right one and it turned out to be extremely effective. Zapdos was definitely my MVP of the tournament and was brought to every game I played.

Damage Calculations

• 252+ Atk Adamant Parental Bond Kangaskhan-Mega Return vs. 132 HP / 44 Def Zapdos: 153-180 (84 – 98.9%)
• 172+ SpA Modest Ludicolo Ice Beam vs. 132 HP / 20 SpD Zapdos: 90-106 (49.4 – 58.2%)
• 252+ SpA Life Orb Modest Ludicolo Ice Beam vs. 132 HP / 20 SpD Zapdos: 125-148 (68.6 – 81.3%)
• 252 Atk Jolly Garchomp Rock Slide vs. 132 HP / 44 Def Zapdos: 70-84 (38.4 – 46.1%) 3HKO
• 252+ Atk Adamant Life Orb Tyranitar Rock Slide vs. 132 HP / 44 Def Zapdos: 151-179 (82.9 – 98.3%)
• 172+ SpA Modest Zapdos Thunder vs. 4 HP / 4 SpD Politoed: 186-222 (112 – 133.7%) 1HKO
• 172+ SpA Modest Zapdos Thunder vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Azumarill: 224-266 (108.2 – 128.5%) 1HKO
• 172+ SpA Modest Zapdos Hidden Power (Flying) vs. 4 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Ludicolo: 68-84 (43.5 – 53.8%)
• 172+ SpA Modest Zapdos Hidden Power (Flying) vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Ludicolo: 104-126 (66.6 – 80.7%)
• 172+ SpA Modest Zapdos Hidden Power (Flying) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Venusaur-Mega: 90-108 (48.1 – 57.7%)
• 172+ SpA Modest Zapdos Volt Switch vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Talonflame: 162-192 (105.1 – 124.6%)

Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Adamant
Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 188 Att / 36 Def / 20 SpDef / 12 Spd
- Taunt
- Thunder Wave
- Rock Slide
- Assurance

Tyranitar offered the team weather disruption, good offence, and helped play a specific support role within the team.

When looking at the different options I had for a Taunt user, one of my main goals was to not force or dedicate a specific slot on the team to something that could perform this support role and offer nothing else. I wanted something that could potentially operate similarly to how Thundurus was used in past formats offering both good support and decent offense. In my opinion Tyranitar has the typing, ability, natural bulk, and offensive presence that can actually allow it to operate effectively as this multi-functional Pokémon within this year’s metagame.

Taunt was elected as a way to stop any annoying status moves like Will-o-Wisp, Spore, Thunder Wave, Swagger and Dark Void (to name a few) that could potential neuter my team. It was also a nice tech to have as a way of stopping Trick Room and although Aromattisse could have caused problems I had Mawile to help with this match up. One drawback I found was that with Tyranitar’s low base speed, ideally you want to be getting your Taunt off before your opponent can move but in most situations this wasn’t possible. Lum Berry was elected to help alleviate this problem. Tyranitar was also my main method to combat sashed Smeargles; with the residual damage from sand and Taunt + Lum Berry I was able to shut it down and break its sash all in the same turn which was very appealing.

Having Thunder Wave on Tyranitar was amazing. It helped support the rest of the team to no end and gave me another option of speed control outside of my rain mode which at times could feel a bit one dimensional. It especially helped against certain problematic match ups I had; being able to paralyze these threats and create an opening for other slower team members to come in and clean-up was a great help. Thunder Wave was also something I liked to use to stop any Dragon Dancers in their tracks — with Thunder Wave + Intimidate from Mawile this combination really helped against this strategy. Thunder Wave also gave me options against many faster opponents in general as well as scarfed Pokémon that were prone to paralysis and anything that had a speed boosting ability to take their advantage away.

Rock Slide was chosen as my initial STAB move as it offered good spread damage and hit many common threats for super effective damage. It also combined well with Thunder Wave for the chance of picking up some nice paraflinching.

I have to admit and give a lot of credit to Simon for my decision to run Assurance on my Tyranitar. After watching him use it on his own Tyranitar during one of his top cut matches on stream at US Nationals I immediately fell in love with the idea — especially with the synergy it has with Thunder Wave.

Tyranitar’s EV spread was designed to try and find a good balance between both defence and offence. The defence EVs allowed Tyranitar to survive a Sacred Sword from a Quiet 0 EV Attack invested Aegislash 100% of the time, as well as a Play Rough from an Intimidated Adamant 252 attack EVed Mega Mawile. The HP and Special Defence investment allowed Tyranitar to survive a modest Mega Charizard (Y) Solar Beam in the sun 100% of the time as well as a Scald from a Standard Modest 172 Special Attack EVed Assault Vest Ludicolo in the rain. The Attack investment made it possible to 1HKO 252HP/4Def Aegislash in defence mode with Assurance after an initial Rock Slide from Garchomp.

I originally had Protect in the Thunder Wave slot, but because of all the switching I would be doing with Tyranitar it seemed more beneficial to elect another tool I could use to support the rest of the team with. Not having Protect did have its drawbacks and did cause issues by restricting my options whenever I had Garchomp Earthquaking, but the pros of having Thunder Wave in place of Protect did outweigh the cons overall in regards to how I wanted Tyranitar to operate.

Damage Calc’s

• Quiet 252HP / 4Def / 252SpAtt Aegislash Sacred Sword vs Tyranitar 252HP / 36Def / 20SpDef = 83% – 98% (2HKO)
• Quiet 252HP / 4Def / 252SpAtt Aegislash Flash Cannon (In Sand) vs Tyranitar 252HP / 36Def / 20SpDef = 53% – 63% (2HKO)
• Quiet 252HP / 4Def / 252SpAtt Aegislash Flash Cannon (without Sand) vs Tyranitar 252HP / 36Def / 20SpDef = 79% – 93% (2HKO)
• Adamant 198Att Ev’s Garchomp Rock Slide (Double Target) Vs Quiet 252HP / 4Def / 252 SpAtt Aegislash in Defence mode = 7% – 8%
• Adamant 188 Att Ev’s Tyrnaitar Assurance (After Rock Slide) Vs Quiet 252HP / 4Def / 252 SpAtt Aegislash in Defence mode = 94% – 114% – Rock Slide followed by Assurance Minimum = 101% Damage (1HKO)
• 252+ SpA Modest Charizard-Mega-Y Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Tyranitar: 170-202 (82.1 – 97.5%)
• Vs Adamant (Huge Power) Azumarill 252 Att Play Rough = 81% – 96% (2HKO)
• Vs Adamant (Huge Power) Azumarill 252 Att Aqua Jet = 17% – 21% (After Belly Drum +6) = 72% – 85% (2HKO)
• -1 252+ Atk Adamant Huge Power Mawile-Mega Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 36 Def Tyranitar: 174-206 (84 – 99.5%)
• 252+ SpA Modest Life Orb Ludicolo Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 140-166 (67.6 – 80.1%)
• 172+ SpA Swift Swim Modest Ludicolo Scald vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Tyranitar in Rain: 162-192 (78.2 – 92.7%)

Garchomp @ Roseli Berry
Adamant
Rough Skin
EVs: 12 HP / 198 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpDef / 228 Spd
- Dragon Claw
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Protect

Garchomp offered the team good Ground and Dragon STAB attacks as well as Rock Slide for nice coverage and additional spread damage. Its typing gave me a nice defensive synergy alongside the other members of the team and was an overall reliable choice with its speed and bulk . I didn’t feel it was necessary to run a Jolly max speed spread with how the rest of the team shaped up and therefore opted for slightly more offense instead.

The Speed EVs allowed Garchomp to outspeed Modest max Speed invested Hydreigon by 1 point and all max Speed base 85s and below. The other EVs invested were used to hit specific defensive targets. 12HP / 36 SpDef is one we all know and allowed Garchomp to always survive a Hidden Power Ice from a Timid Mega Manetric. The 36 Def EVs with a Roseli Berry ensured I could always survive a Play Rough from a Mega Mawile. I calculated this more specifically so Garchomp could always survive a Play Rough and Sucker Punch in succession from an Intimidated Mega Mawile which allowed me to hit at least two Earthquakes in between moves picking up a KO 100% of the time with Rough Skin damage even after an Intimidate. The remaining EVs were placed in Attack to maximise Garchomp’s overall damage output.

The Roseli Berry may seem a bit strange but without having a wealth of hard offensive options against opposing Mega Mawiles and knowing how popular it would probably be at Worlds, it gave me more confidence in my general play and more of an advantage in any one-on-one matchups I was involved with.

This probably isn’t the most innovative Garchomp set you will see but it was created to help perform a set role which in my opinion it did incredibly well. I don’t think this is something you can just slap on any team but I have no regrets and feel it was the correct choice.

Damage Calculations

• (-1) After Intimidate Mega Mawile (Adamant) 252Att Ev’s Play Rough Vs Garchomp 12HP/36Def W Roseli Berry= 52% – 62%
• (-1) After Intimidate Mega Mawile (Adamant) 252Att Ev’s Sucker Punch Vs Garchomp 12HP/36Def = 31% – 37% = Max Damage 99% (3HKO)
• Mega Mawile (Adamant) 252Att Ev’s Play Rough Vs Garchomp 12HP/36Def W Roseli Berry = 78% – 92% (2HKO)
• Adamant Garchomp 198Att Ev’s Earthquake Vs Single Target Mega Mawile 252HP / 4Def = 96% – 114%
• (-1) After Intimidate Adamant Garchomp 198Att Ev’s Vs Single Target Mega Mawile 252HP / 4Def = 64% – 76% (2HKO)
• Azumarill (Adamanat) 252 Att Ev’s Play Rough Vs Garchomp 12HP/36Def With Roseli Berry = 50% – 60% (2HKO)
• Gardevoir (Modest) @ Choice Specs 252 SpAtt Ev’s Moonblast Vs Garchomp 12HP/36Def W Roseli Berry = 76% – 90% (2HKO)

Politoed @ Eject Button
Bold
Drizzle
EVs: 252HP / 116Def / 52SpAtt /84Spdef / 4Spd
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Protect
- Encore

With Zapdos as my Choice Scarf user it was no longer an option to run on Politoed and although I saw the benefits to Scarf the little toed, especially within this metagame, I have always personally preferred a more defensively orientated spread.

As well as bringing the weather, Politoed offered nice resistances to Ice and Steel attacks which other members of the team didn’t appreciate having to take.

Politoed’s EV spread was designed to try and survive even the strongest attacks from the likes of Mega Kangaskhan, Choice Specs Hydreigon and other common metagame big hitters which allowed me to get the rain back on the field, hit some decent offensive damage, or disrupt with Encore for additional turns. I think a Sitrus Berry would have been another beneficial item to give Politoed but as this was already taken I had to look further afield.

I chose Eject Button as I felt its synergy with my Volt Switching Zapdos would be extremely useful to help maintain the weather on my side of the field as well as being another nice option to have against opposing trapping teams. I think rather than waffle on and try to describe how I foresaw primarily using this item in combination with Volt Switch it can be better seen in my first round match against Jeudy. You can see how I played around his Mega Evolving Charizard (Y) to maintain the weather and keep momentum on my side of the field.

Encore was a nice tech for being able to shut down and punish some of the slower threats in the metagame; being able to Encore an Azumarill’s Belly Drum or Aegislash’s Substitute or King’s Shield gave the move some nice appeal.

I chose Scald as my main STAB attack because of its reliable accuracy and really nice secondary effect of a 30% chance to burn the target. Boosted with the rain, it was a nice move which let Politoed do some respectable damage with very little special attack investment.

Ice Beam was mainly for additional support against Garchomps, Salamence and other Ice weak opponents as well as giving me the opportunity to double up on opponents like Hydreigon, Amoongus and Zapdos with Ludicolo to ensure a KO when a single hit wasn’t quite enough.

Damage Calculations

• Modest Mega Charizard (Y) 252 Sp Att Ev’s Solar Beam Vs 252HP/84Sp def Politoed = 74% -88% (2HKO)
• Adamant Mega Mawile 252 Att Ev’s Play Rough Vs 252HP/116 def Bold Politoed = 73% – 86% (2HKO)
• Modest Zapdos 252 Sp Att Ev’s Thunder Bolt Vs 252HP/84Sp def Politoed = 77% – 91% (2HKO)
• Modest Mega Manetric 252 Sp Att Ev’s Thunder Bolt Vs 252HP/84Sp def Politoed = 80% – 95% (2HKO)
• Adamant Mega Kangaskhan 252 Att ev’s Double Edge Vs 252HP/116 def Bold Politoed = 82% – 97% (2HKO)
• Modest Hydreigon252 Sp Att Ev’s Choice Specs Draco Meteor Vs 252HP/84Sp def Politoed = 82% – 97% (2HKO)
• Mega Tyranitar 252 Att Ev’s (+1 After Dragon Dancing) Stone Edge Vs 252HP/116 def Bold Politoed = 84% – 99% (2HKO)

Ludicolo @ Sitrus Berry
Modest
Swift Swim
EVs: 132 HP / 20 Def / 212 SpAtk / 28 SpDef / 116 Spd
- Fake Out
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
- Giga Drain

Ludicolo offered the team quick offence in the rain with an array of Water, Grass and Ice attacks as well as good Fake Out support. Ludicolo’s role was to take full advantage of Politoed’s Drizzle abilty and start firing off damage as quick and hard as possible. Ludicolo also gave the team nice defensive options against incoming Ground and Water type attacks as well as being a great switch into Spore or helping combat any Rage Powder abusers.

Assualt Vest was an option I did consider using and would have worked extremely well, but I felt that I would need to overexert with my EVs in defence and HP for Ludicolo to not be an easy one shot for Mega Kangaskhan which I was slightly uncomfortable with. A way of overcoming this was to run a Sitrus Berry. The HP and Defence EVs with the Sitrus berry guaranteed I would be able to survive an Adamant Kangaskhan’s Return. In the rain, a Hydro Pump and Scald combination from Ludicolo and Politoed respectively guaranteed a 1HKO on 4hp/4spef variants.

I chose Hydro Pump over Scald for the additional damage it offered. Giga Drain gave me a nice STAB grass attack and way to further prolong Ludicolo’s life while Ice Beam was there mainly for Garchomp, Salamence, and other Ice-weak opponents.

The 116 Speed EVs allowed me the get the jump on all positive natured base 135s and all positive natured max Speed +1 base 75s and below. I had previously tested another team with a faster Ludicolo to ensure I got the jump on the likes of Timid Scarfed Salamence and other +1 base 100 Pokémon but I never really found the additional speed was needed and decided that the EVs would be more beneficial invested in defence.

Ludicolo also offered a nice option against Spore and Rage Powder users as well as additional defensive support for other team members against incoming Ground, steel and water attacks.

Damage Calculations

• Vs Adamant Mega Kangaskhan Return = 69% – 82% (First Hit)
• Vs Adamant Mega Kangaskhan Return = 34% – 41% (Second Hit)
• 82% Max Damage (First Hit) = 18% Health Ludicolo + Sitrus Berry = 25% = 43% Health – 41% Max Damage (Second hit) = 1% Health Ludicolo (Adamant Mega Kangaskhan 252 Att Return (2HKO))
• 212+ SpA Modest Ludicolo Hydro Pump vs. 4 HP / 4 SpD Kangaskhan-Mega in Rain: 118-139 (65.1 – 76.7%)
• 52 SpA Bold Politoed Scald vs. 4 HP / 4 SpD Kangaskhan-Mega in Rain: 67-81 (37 – 44.7%)
• -1 252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Play Rough vs. 132 HP / 20 Def Ludicolo in Rain: 126-148 (73.2 – 86%)
• 212+ SpA Ludicolo Ice Beam vs. 12 HP / 36 SpD Garchomp in Rain: 188-224 (101.6 – 121%)
• Ludicolo Modest 212 Sp att Ev’s Hydro Pump (In the rain) vs 252Hp/4Spdef Mega Kangaskhan = 55% – 65%
• Ludicolo Modest 212 Sp att Ev’s Hydro Pump (In the rain) vs 252HP/4Spdef Mega Mawile = 77% – 91% (2HKO)
• Azumarill Adamant 252 Att Ev’s Play Rough vs Ludicolo Modest 132Hp/20Def = 71% – 84% (2HKO)
• Ludicolo Modest 212 Sp Att Ev’s Giga Drain vs Azumarill 252HP/4Spdef = 61% -73% (2HKO)
• Ludicolo Modest 212 Sp att Ev’s Hydro Pump (In the rain) vs. 252 Hp/4 SpD Aegislash (Defence Mode) = 50% – 59% (2HKO)

Mawile @ Mawilite
Adamant
Intimidate/Huge Power
EVs: 252HP / 196Att / 4Def / 12SpDef / 44Spd
- Iron Head
- Play Rough
- Protect
- Sucker Punch

I chose Mawile as my Mega and it really seemed to be a perfect fit on the team. I initially couldn’t decide whether or not to run a more defensive or offensive spread but when looking at the team support Mawile had around it with the rain, Ludicolo, Politoed and support from Tyranitar, I almost felt the additional defence investment was wasteful and not necessary.

Mawile offered nice team support with Intimidate, a dual Fairy and Steel typing, and offered good offence with its huge Attack stat. It is one of the best checks for Mega Kangaskhan which was one of the major sways in selecting Mawile over another Mega. Its Dragon and Ice resistances helped complement Garchomp especially and gave me a lot of attacking coverage against the common metagame threats my other team members struggled against.

The Special Defence EVs allowed Mawile survive a max Special Attack invested Timid Mega Charizard (Y)’s Overheat in the rain and a it had a 50% chance to survive the same attack from a Modest variant. The Speed investment was there to creep other slightly Speed invested base 60s. The rest were dumped into Attack to maximise damage.

Play Rough, although having obvious accuracy issues, was the only real STAB physical Fairy attack I had to pick from. Though I swear its accuracy in the actual game is less than 90%, it didn’t warrant dropping it for an alternative move and considering the guaranteed KO on pretty much anything it hit for super effective damage. Out of the 12 Play Roughs I used throughout the tournament, only 5 ended up hitting.

Iron Head was my secondary STAB attack which was primarily there to nuke any other Fairies and give me a more reliable attacking option when Play Rough wasn’t worth risking to pick up easy KOs.

Sucker Punch gave me a nice method of priority and worked well to clean up at the end of matches or pick up any last ditch damage on a turn Mawile was going down.

Tyranitar was Mawile’s primary support partner with Taunt and Thunder Wave. Mawile has a pretty terrible base speed which is definitely one of its biggest draw backs; having Thunder Wave allowed me to paralyze opposing threats and set Mawile up to operate as a very effective sweeper. Taunt helped prevent burns, sleep and other annoying status based effects that would otherwise neuter its effectiveness. Taunt was also a nice tool to use in combination with Sucker Punch, forcing attacks and preventing any stalling.

Looking back after the event, I think Mawile would be the only Pokémon (besides possibly Garchomp) that I would make any changes on. The team in general has a few issues dealing with Ferrothorn and by replacing Iron Head with Fire Fang it would help with this matchup. By no means is this change a reliable check but it does give the team a better method for dealing with this matchup than I currently have.

Damage Calculations

• 252 SpA Timid Charizard-Mega-Y Overheat vs. 252 HP / 12 SpD Mawile-Mega (in Rain): 132-156 (84 – 99.3%)
• 252+ SpA Modest Charizard-Mega-Y Overheat vs. 252 HP / 12 SpD Mawile-Mega (in Rain): 144-170 (91.7 – 108.2%) 50% Chance to 1HKO
• 212+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Sucker Punch vs. 252 HP / 76 Def Charizard-Mega-Y: 93-110 (50.2 – 59.4%) Guaranteed 2HKO
• -1 252 Atk Jolly Garchomp Earthquake (Double Target) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Mawile-Mega: 68-84 (43.3 – 53.5%)
• 252+ Atk Adamant Choice Band Talonflame Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Mawile-Mega in Rain: 102-120 (64.9 – 76.4%)
• 204 Atk Adamant Mawile-Mega Sucker Punch vs. 4 HP / 132 Def Ludicolo in Rain: 94-111 (60.2 – 71.1%)
• 196+ Atk Adamant Mawile-Mega Play Rough vs. 4 HP / 132 Def Ludicolo in Rain: 157-186 (100.6 – 119.2%)
• 196+ Atk Adamant Mawile-Mega Play Rough vs. 4 HP / 4 Def Politoed: 175-207 (105.4 – 124.6%)

Closing Thoughts

Overall I was very happy with how the team performed and my eventual finish — I just hope this report makes some sort of sense! If you have any questions or opinions on anything I’ve said please PM me or even better post your comments and questions below and I’ll get back to you.

As far as the actual tournament went, I feel I performed quite well on a whole. I still have the same problems keeping my nerves and concentration in check during Swiss rounds when things seem to be going well but hopefully this is something I can overcome and improve on. Of course I would have liked to have gone deeper in the tournament (who wouldn’t?) but hopefully I’ll be there or thereabouts next year for another crack at the title. If not I am just very grateful and lucky to have had the opportunity.

On a whole I do feel I have learned a lot this year about the game and myself as a player in general. I gained a lot of insight from my Worlds experience last year which I think helped and had a lot of bearing on how I prepared and approached this year’s tournament. Hopefully, I can take what I have learned from this season and build on it for next year. Another aspect that has really helped me this season is eventually overcoming the ridiculous “scrub” mentality I have had hanging over my head (for way too long), which I think has being a major factor for me personally not making any real progress as a player in the past. I do think a lot of players still have this “bad” persona around not wanting to use common strategies or certain Pokémon simply because of how popular they are within a specific format. All I will say on this is “get over it.” This is a game. You play to win and use the best tools available. The sooner you realise this, the sooner you will start to see improvements. The only person you are really affecting by not allowing yourself to use the best or most popular Pokémon is yourself, so do yourself a favour and stop making this game harder than it has to be.

I hope my run at Worlds wasn’t a simple “one off” and I will be trying extremely hard to build on this going into next season. I still have a lot of growing to do as a player and I will try to make the right steps to do this going into next year and future seasons.

Shout Outs

Firstly I need to say a huge thank you and shout out to my good friend Koryo. Without his help I would have never made it to Worlds this year! You’re a legend!

There are far too many of you to thank individually and for those of you who are still with me at this point of the report you would probably appreciate a short and sweet ending so:

I just want to thank everyone I have met, played and spoken with this season at Worlds and throughout Europe. You are all what makes the VGC circuit so amazing. Since I started attending these events I have met some of the most incredible people and I feel so privileged to be even the smallest part of this amazing community. I love you all and can’t wait to hopefully see you all again next season.

One last side note, if anyone would like to test or try out the team please feel free! Thanks for reading!

The post Prepare for Trouble, Make it Double! A 7th Place Worlds Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

This is a translation of the 2014 World Championships Masters Top 8 player Ryosuke Kosuge’s team report by Tan Zong Ying (tanzying). The original is located at Ryosuke’s blog and we would like to thank him for his permission to post this translation. Ryosuke, the 2013 Masters Runner-up, earned his invite right back to this year’s tournament, where he demonstrated his consistency as one of the game’s top players by emerging from Swiss undefeated (6-0), before losing in the round of 8 to Germany’s Markus Liu (Henrique).

Original article at http://d.hatena.ne.jp/gebebo/20140822/1408695429

Article artwork by Shawn Tang (http://aquadragontrs.deviantart.com/)

Foreword

(This is going to be a really long foreword so if you only want to see the team please feel free to skip ahead)

First of all… hello everyone!

This is the first time I’m writing an introduction for international players, but I am Ryosuke Kosuge, a Japanese Pokémon VGC player, also known by my online handle “Gebebo”. Last year, I became Champion at the 2013 Japan National Championships and Runner-up at the World Championships, and thus attended the 2014 World Championships as an invited competitor, skipping Japan’s internal qualification tournaments. However, I ended off this year with 5th at Worlds, a slightly more disappointing result compared to last year.

My Pokémon-playing history is long and I have been a die-hard fan of the series since the launch date of the very first games Pokémon Red and Green (Red and Blue overseas), but I first started taking double battles seriously in 2007 and started participating in the World Championship Series (WCS) circuit from 2010 onwards. Around this time, I began to enter offline tournaments and the like under my “Gebebo” alias. During Worlds this time, I was able to meet TanZYinG, the Singaporean player who translated my Worlds team report last year, and he told me he would translate my report for me this year, which I am very grateful for. On top of that, there were a few foreign players at the competition venue who told me “I’m a Ryosuke fan!”, making me so happy. As such, I felt the need to add a few shoutouts to this.

VGC ’14

Now leaving aside the foreword, let’s talk about this year.

The rules for this year’s competition was Kalos Doubles, a ruleset that restricted the allowed pool of Pokémon more than last year and moreover incorporated the new Generation 6 mechanic of Mega Evolution, making it very different from VGC rulesets up until now. From January to April this year, I was busy with job hunting and played Kalos Doubles between working odd jobs, but I couldn’t get into the flow of 6th Generation battle mechanics and couldn’t boast of anything more than a roughly equal win-to-loss ratio on places like Battle Spot Special. Furthermore, at the same time I was job hunting, the unofficial Kalos Doubles ruleset-using Battle Road Gloria grassroots tournament circuit was taking place. As a result, while other Japanese players were busy shaping the metagame, I was unable to play Pokémon much and thus was only able to sit down and tackle the Kalos Doubles ruleset seriously after I had found employment — which was around when the first stage of qualification for the Japanese WCS representatives, the Japan Cup, had ended.

However, also at about this time, the 3rd season of Battle Spot Special had ended, leaving friend-to-friend battles as the only method of practicing the Kalos Doubles ruleset on an actual 3DS which flustered me. Thankfully, there were many avid Kalos Doubles players on Twitter and after being taught by friends on how to use the Pokémon Showdown battle simulator, I was able to do my team testing through this alternative.

The Journey to my Team’s Completion

I had a particular conviction when building my Worlds team, which was to include a Generation 1 (introduced in Kanto) Pokémon, and if possible, make it work well.

This might seem ridiculous coming from someone who is supposed to be picking Pokémon seriously with winning as the goal, but as I mentioned up above, I had been playing Pokémon since the time of Red and Green and the number one region in terms of emotional attachment to me is Kanto (On top of that, I live in Tokyo which is in real-life Kanto too). However, the now well-known team that I used at Worlds last year, the Tenchi Matou Standard, was formed out of Pokémon from Generations 2, 4 and 5 with no representatives from Generation 1. Up until last year’s ruleset, the amount of viable Generation 1 Pokémon was limited, but thanks to the introduction of Mega Evolution in Generation 6, many Generation 1 Pokémon received a fresh chance to vie for the spotlight, which delighted me. And thus, I spent a year teambuilding with this conviction in mind.

The question then was how many Generation 1 Pokémon I should actually use. The Pokémon that I immediately felt like using were none other than Charizard and Venusaur, the badass combination plastered across the boxarts of Pokémon Red and Green.

As everyone knows, this combination works by mega evolving Charizard to make the weather sunny, raising Venusaur’s Speed with Chlorophyll, and then attacking with Sleep Powder, Grass+Fire Pledges and the sheer power of Sun-boosted Heat Wave and Leaf Storm — a combination that seizes the initiative forcefully. However, this line-up was weak to many commonly used Pokémon such as Tyranitar, Garchomp, Talonflame, Mega Kangaskhan, Hydreigon, and as I was not able to build a team that complemented Charizard and Venusaur well enough to solve these problems, I gave up on this combination.

The next thing I thought I wanted to use was Mega Kangaskhan

This was for no other reason besides the fact that Mega Kangaskhan was simply strong. Kangaskhan-Smeargle-Talonflame teams, Gardevoir-Kangaskhan Trick Room switch teams… I tried out many of the well-known teams and they didn’t feel bad to use by any means, but in the end I knew Mega Kangaskhan, being naturally the strong Pokémon, would eventually end up being countered and become difficult to use. Also, I think that the Mega Kangaskhan mirror is fraught with elements of luck, and since I felt that my win rate would be unreliable I gave up on it as well.

The 3rd team I wanted to use was a Trick Room Switch team including Charizard. Tyranitar, Gardevoir, Liepard, Charizard, Mawile and Hydreigon were the Pokémon used.

This team was built as a result of wondering if a Trick Room-Thunder Wave strategy similar to my Tenchi Matou Standard team last year was possible in Kalos Doubles as well — with Charizard Y replacing Heatran, Mega Mawile replacing Conkeldurr, Liepard taking over Thunderus’ role, and Gardevoir substituting for Cresselia.

If I were to explain this team simply, the basic strategy is to send out Liepard, Scarf Hydreigon, Mega Charizard Y, and Gardevoir to prep the field with Thunder Wave and Fake Tears before sweeping through or switching to Gardevoir, Iron Ball Tyranitar and Mawile to wreck teams which looked weak to Trick Room. Due to Mega Evolution mechanics and their speeds, Charizard and Mawile could not both be present at the same time unlike Conkeldurr and Heatran, but Liepard being able to function under Trick Room provided some nice synergy.

I used a Brave minimum Speed Tyranitar with 252 EVs in Attack and Special Attack, and thanks to Iron Ball, I could counter Amoonguss (a nuisance under Trick Room) by Taunting it before it could move. It also could OHKO Aegislash, which vexes Mega Mawile, with an Iron Ball Fling, and could also fire off a wide spectrum of high base power coverage moves such as Rock Slide and Ice Beam, making it surprisingly easy to use.

I used this team only once at an offline grassroots tournament and won it (with Rhyperior in Tyranitar’s place at the time). It was indeed a team I had confidence in, but due to the risk of giving up easy losses due to the Trick Room setup falling into jeopardy if Gardevoir was interrupted even once while trying to set it up by (eg. Rock Slide), I reluctantly decided to disband this team.

My 4th team attempt was a standard Mega Venusaur team.

This is the team which a player called Noshin (@Cynthia_nosin) used to take 3rd place in the Japan Cup. The details are on Noshin’s blog.

I had tried Mega Venusau teams a few times, but kept getting screwed over by Mega Kangaskhans that had accumulated Power-up Punches and had a low opinion of it. However, I had never imagined that such a team would be able to get that far (especially the Bold Salamence), so when I first saw this team it left quite the impression on me.

This year the battle time limit was shortened from last year’s 20 minutes to 15 minutes, so when I first saw this team I wondered if aiming for timeout wins by using the 3 Pokémon with recovery moves well would be possible. But reality was not so kind, and between the domestic increase in Dragon Dance Mega Tyranitar numbers and the unusual surge in popularity of Rain overseas, even winning normally became a struggle — to say nothing of trying to do so on the timer. So while this was an excellent team which I could find no faults with, I gave up on using it for Worlds.

During the time I was using Noshin’s team, Japan Nationals had just ended and the Japanese representatives, including myself, had been decided. Last year, I brought the same team I had been using for half a year to Worlds, so this time last year I had nothing but fine tuning left to do. However, this year I didn’t even have a team to use at such a late stage (June) so I was panicking hard. I dug up every single team I had used before and started to reflect on which one had suited me the best. In the end, the team I won the most with had been the Trick Room Switch team with Charizard in it, but I really could not say I wasn’t worried about using Gardevoir with its flaws, or that Charizard would have fared well against what was used in Japan Nationals with any confidence at all. However, shortly into July Sejun Park won Korea Nationals with a Rain team which resulted in a huge spike in Rain on Showdown, leading me to wonder if Charizard could make a comeback and started teambuilding from there.

I supplemented my teambuilding with the teams of other Japanese and foreign players. By the way, the usage data of various tournaments compiled by Noshin for Japan and Taroimo for overseas were invaluable references, so I’d like to take this opportunity to leave them a word of thanks.

• Japan Nationals usage data
• Showdown July usage data
• Various foreign tournament usage data

Team Details

Charizard (M) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
EVs: 172 HP / 64 Def / 4 SpA / 76 SpD / 188 Spe
Modest Nature
- Heat Wave
- Overheat
- Solar Beam
- Protect

• OHKOs 4 HP / 0 SDef Mega Kangaskhan with Sun-boosted Overheat
• Survives 252 SAtk Modest Hydreigon’s Draco Meteor
• Survives 252 Atk neutral natured Garchomp’s Rock Slide (multiple targets)
• Survives 252 Atk neutral natured Mega Kangaskhan’s Parental Bond Return
• Outspeeds Smeargle which is at 139 Speed
• 11n SAtk stat value

The starting point of the team, and the Pokémon that I had wanted to build this team to use. In my opinion, Charizard’s fortes are being strong against Rain teams by changing the weather and having very high powered Fire moves under sunny conditions. To preserve these two characteristics, nearly all my EVs went into the defenses and Speed.

Let’s talk first about the reason for the heavy bulk. Investing to survive Specs Hydreigon’s Draco Meteor may be rare, but I did this because the team has nothing to switch into a Draco Meteor besides Mawile — which pretty much can never accompany Charizard due to Mega Evolution restrictions — leaving my only other switch-in option Sash Aerodactyl which was quite unpalatable. Also, I was able to get in an unexpected counterattack against opponents who expected Charizard to fall to Draco Meteor, making it easier to play. I think that all Charizards slower than Hydreigons on teams that have a few Draco Meteor switch-ins should hit at least this Special Defense threshold. The Defense threshold of surviving Parental Bond Return from Mega Kangaskhan, on the other hand, was because I could proceed to revenge kill non-bulky Kangaskhan with sun-boosted Overheat if I could survive. I might not be able to survive Double-Edge, but in a best-of-3 series I could take precautions after seeing it once, so I chose to invest this much Defense.

I originally tested 140 Speed to outspeed 139 Speed Smeargle by 1, but this became a hotly contested speed bracket and so I ended up dumping the rest of the EVs I did not know what to do with into here. I can’t actually think of a situation up until now where increasing the speed to this point paid off, but I still have some worries about how this might lead to speed ties with positive natured base 80s.

Special Attack was almost uninvested in because even only 4 EVs is enough to OHKO Mega Kangaskhan with Overheat. Charizard still packs firepower even with no investment thanks to the sun, so rather than investing in Special Attack, I felt that getting attacks off was more important and thus invested in bulk and Speed instead. This is somewhat similar to how I invested in Defense for Heatran last year.

For the moves, Overheat and Protect were confirmed from the start, while for the remaining two slots I tested out various options such as Heat Wave, Air Slash, Focus Blast, Flamethrower, Solar Beam, Ancient Power and Substitute. Eventually I settled back down on the orthodox choices of Heat Wave and Solar Beam. The other options felt overspecific and/or had shaky accuracy, had little general purpose use, and would just end up reducing Charizard’s capabilities so I did not use them in the end.

This year’s runner-up Jeudy Azzarelli (SoulSurvivor) was also using Charizard, reinforcing my belief thorough the tournament that using Charizard had been the correct metagame call.

As an aside, this team’s composition had problems with Faries + Rotom-H and I wanted to face them in best-of-3s as little as possible, so before Worlds I bought a Mega Charizard X plushie from a Japanese Pokémon Center (about 2000 yen) and attempted some mindgames by letting opponents see it and hopefully making them assume Charizard would Mega Evolve into X when it was actually Y and thus not bring Rotom-H (but I don’t know how effective this actually was).

Mamoswine (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Protect

• 4/16 chance to OHKO 0 HP / 0 Def Salamence with Life Orb Ice Shard, factoring in one Intimidate
• KOs 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Kangaskhan with Life Orb Icicle Crash + Ice Shard
• 2/16 chance to OHKO 252 HP / 0 Def Mega Mawile with Life Orb Earthquake (multiple targets)
• Survives 252 Atk Adamant Talonflame’s Choice Band Brave Bird (and 11/16 times, one round of Life Orb recoil after that as well)

I used Mamoswine because it was strong against the Scarf Salamences, Garchomps and Tyranitars that Charizard has problems with and because when I saw the usage data for Japanese Nationals I thought that it would be very effective against the Pokémon currently in the metagame. The Megas of this team, Charizard and Mawile, tend to take some painful hits from Salamence and Garchomp, but Mamoswine being able to move before them and deal with them allows it to synergise with the Megas quite well.

As for the EVs, Attack was given maximum investment so that Mamoswine would have a high probability of taking out Salamence after being intimidated (there are Salamences out there that are EVed to survive +1 Bisharp’s LO Sucker Punch and thus do not fall to my Ice Shard but thankfully I didn’t run into any of these at Worlds). To speed tie at worst with Specs Gardevoir, Speed was also maxed out.

I was torn between Icicle Crash and Rock Slide, but went with Icicle Crash after considering the damage on Mega Kangaskhan and Gardevoir. However, this makes the previously mentioned Rotom-H + Fairy matchup difficult, so I think Rock Slide could also have been good.

previously

Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Sleep Talk

• 2/16 chance to OHKO 4 HP / 0 SDef Mega Kangaskhan with Choice Specs Draco Meteor
• OHKOs 12 HP / 0 SDef Politoed with Choice Specs Draco Meteor
• 7/16 chance to OHKO 252 HP / 4 SDef Aegislash with Choice Specs Dark Pulse
• OHKOs 252 HP / 0 SDef Mega Mawile with Choice Specs Flamethrower

The anti-Rain slot. I used this to remove Politoeds with Specs Draco Meteor as well as to switch into Water moves with for Charizard. I was originally using a Choice Specs Rotom-W that survived Modest Ludicolo’s Giga Drain and OHKOed Scarf Politoed in this slot, but it was weak to the Hydreigons and Mega Kangaskhans that tag along with Rain teams, had an absolutely dismal participation rate against non-Rain matchups, and was just being a hindrance to the team in general so it got replaced by Hydreigon. In the past, Rain teams had preferred the use of Kingdra over Ludicolo, making it impossible for Hydreigon to be a Rain counter, but in Kalos Doubles the Fake Out-capable Ludicolo with its wider coverage is preferred and used instead, so putting in Hydreigon alone provided sufficient countermeasures.

EV-wise, I started off using the template spread that dropped Speed and survived Jolly 252 Attack Garchomp’s Dragon Claw, but as I was fine tuning, I started to frequently run into Hydreigon mirrors in my Showdown games and practice battles with friends, outspeeding some times and getting outsped others, until finally I scrapped all my Defense and maxed out Speed. Salamence and Garchomp, who could outspeed Hydreigon, could be KOed by Mamoswine’s priority, but it was important for my own Hydreigon to be able to win Hydreigon mirrors since Mamoswine could not outspeed and KO those. As a result, I lost not a single Hydreigon mirror after that (though I might have been simply lucky), so I don’t think there is any other Specs Hydreigon EV spread that feels as safe as this one.

I quickly decided on the cookie-cutter moves Draco Meteor, Dark Pulse and Flamethrower, but was quite lost as to what the last move should be. I personally wanted to use Focus Blast, which would allow me to hit Mega Kangaskhan and Hydreigon hard in situations where I didn’t want to lower my Special Attack, but in my friend battles I lost to a Kangaskhan and Smeargle without being able to do anything, so as the barest of countermeasures I put Sleep Talk on. I didn’t encounter any Smeargles at Worlds, but I did win some friend battles when Sleep Talk called Draco Meteor and it hit the opponent’s Mega Kangaskhan, so having it did me no harm, I think.

previously

Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 92 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Fire Fang
- Sucker Punch
- Protect

• Outspeeds Mega Lucario at 181 Speed under Tailwind

Anti-Fairy and Intimidate slot. This too was a different Pokémon previously. At the beginning I wanted an Intimidator and something that could get rid of enemy Hydreigons for sure, so I had been using a Scarf Salamence. It had been serving me well, but my friend Pukumaru (@puku_oyakata) was going to participate in the LCQ and we had been tweaking our teams together. He was using an Assault Vest Wigglytuff which was rare in Japan, which just happened to match up so well against my team that I lost many best-of-3 sets to him straight up.

Well, I thought, this really sucks, and bade Salamence farewell in order to be able to exterminate the incredible thorn in my side, Wigglytuff. I searched for a Steel type which is strong against Faries and came up with the three choices of Aegislash, Mega Mawile and Scizor, but among them only Mega Mawile was strong against both Hydreigon and Mega Kangaskhan so it won out by process of elimination.

Aerodactyl, which I will mention later, had Tailwind, so in order for Mega Mawile to KO stuff under Tailwind I invested EVs in Speed to the point where it could outspeed Mega Lucario. Even outside Tailwind, it was able to move first and do lethal damage to Azumarill and opposing Mega Mawile and Tyranitars who did not invest in Speed, leaving me impressed with the power of a speedy Mawile. The remainder was used to nearly max out Attack with the rest going into bulk.

Play Rough and Sucker Punch were no-brainers. Protect was actually Substitute at first, but being unable to Protect when Mamoswine or Garchomp wanted to fire off Earthquakes was out of the question so Protect it was. For the last slot, I was undecided between Rock Slide and Fire Fang. Rock Slide would be able to hit Rotom-H hard, but because I didn’t outspeed maximum Speed Talonflame under Tailwind and I at least had Sucker Punch for Rotom-H, I used Fire Fang since opposing Ferrothorn and Mega Mawile would become difficult if I chose Mega Mawile (instead of Charizard). I used Mawile because Wigglytuff was being problematic, but Mawile under Tailwind happened to be quite strong, so I am grateful to Pukumaru, without whom I might not have been using this Pokémon.

Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unnerve
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Taunt
- Tailwind
- Protect

• 2HKOs 252HP / 4 Def Rotom-H with Rock Slide (multiple targets)

Speed controller, Taunter, and part of the so-called Aero-Zard duo. Also, difficult-to-handle Rotom-H would not be allowed to use its Sitrus Berry due to Unnerve, which allowed me to force it from the field with two Rock Slide hits or Rock Slide + Overheat. In Japan which does not play best-of-3s, Pressure would have been useful to check for the presence of Choice Scarf on Salamence and Zapdos, but in a best-of-3 as soon as the information was confirmed once Pressure would become an almost useless Ability for the next game. In a best-of-3 situation I think Unnerve is the only option. The EVs are a simple 252/252 due to Focus Sash.

I was originally running Smack Down as the attacking move with Rotom-H in mind, but in spite of Mamoswine being around, almost all of the Garchomps sent against this team were Sashed. In order to break those and attack both targets, as well as create desperate comeback attempts with flinches, it was changed to Rock Slide. Taunt was for anti-Trick Room, and Tailwind, the reason for using Aerodactyl, boosted the whole team’s speed. I was split between Wide Guard, Sky Drop and Protect for the last move; any of them would have been useful, but because I disliked the possibility of Fake Out + something dropping Aerodactyl before it could get its Tailwind up, I chose Protect.

previously

Garchomp @ Choice Band
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 60 HP / 44 Atk / 4 Def / 148 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Sleep Talk

• OHKOs 0 HP / 4 Def Garchomp with Choice Band Dragon Claw
• Survives 252 SAtk Modest Gardevoir’s Choice Specs Dazzling Gleam (multiple targets)
• Survives 252 SAtk neutral natured Politoed’s Ice Beam
• Survives 252 SAtk neutral natured Pyroar’s Life Orb Hidden Power Ice
• 11/16 chance to survive 252 SAtk Modest Gardevoir’s Moonblast
• 16n-1 and 8n-1 stat value for HP (to minimise Weather and Burn damage)

The Kangaskhan check. This slot was the one I racked my brain the most over and I only decided on it the day before I left Japan. At the stage where the above five Pokémon were decided, two types of teams felt difficult to handle. The first type contained the Mega Kangaskhan-Bisharp line-up, because Bisharp prevented me from carelessly spreading Intimidates and both were able to ignore my Tailwind speed control with Sucker Punch which was annoying as well. The second type were dedicated Trick Room teams.

Switch Trick Room teams don’t have the requirement of setting up Trick Room from the get-go, so Taunt can easily defend against those, but the kind of teams that go “I AM going have my Trick Room” right from the start reliably disrupt Aerodactyl’s Taunt with Fake Out, Rage Powder etc. and allowing them Trick Room made winning difficult. Therefore I was using a minimum Speed Rocky Helmet Amoonguss to counter these two team types at first. The irony and a sense of fatedness hit me when I realised I was using both Mamoswine and Amoonguss just like last year’s Champion Arash.

However, I realised Amoonguss was the wrong choice for the slot due to it having practically no synergy with Aerodactyl’s Tailwind and it making Rotom-H even more threatening than it already was. So the next thing I tried out was a Scrafty with Fake Out and Quick Guard. One might think that with an extra Intimidator, Bisharp would become even more deadly, but being able to block Sucker Punch with Quick Guard and moreover being able to Intimidate Kangaskhan allowed Scrafty + Charizard to check Kangaskhan + Bisharp. Also, Fake Out improved my defenses against dedicated Trick Room, and after trading Fake Outs I could Taunt the opponent, so I found this solution rather nice. Furthermore, I was also using a gimmick where Scrafty was holding a Lum Berry, would outspeed Mega Kangaskhan under Tailwind with its Speed stat of 85, and together with a Swagger from Aerodactyl would be able to OHKO Mega Kangaskhan with a Swagger-Lum Drain Punch. This was all very strong, but made the whole team Fairy-weak and resulted in a dubious win rate against Gardevoir. This, combined with the fact that a Scrafty that has been Indimidated even once has unbearably low damage output, stopped me from using it in the end.

The 3rd choice I tried was a Scarfed Smeargle. I threw this in carelessly half-thinking “this is so irritating, I’m just going to put everything to sleep.” The moves were Dark Void, Transform, Fake Out, and Topsy-Turvy. But on the contrary this made me weaker to Kangaskhan, so after about 2 practice battles with friends in I immediately replaced it.

At this point I composed myself for once and looked over the state of the metagame, and realised that out of all the Japanese and overseas tournaments, the only person who had delivered results with dedicated Trick Room had been Ash (note: Brisbane Regional winner). Thus, predicting a low number of people using Trick Room and pressed for time as I was, I abandoned trying to counter it. In reality, I played zero Trick Room teams in Swiss and the only one I fought in Washington, DC was Aaron Zheng’s during the casual battles after the competition had ended.

Consequently only Kangaskhan-Bisharp was left for me to see to, so I decided on Garchomp, who was strong against this pair, and yet not weak to Rotom-H either. Wanting to survive unforeseen attacks from Scarfed Gardevoir and OHKO opposing Specs Hydreigons, I used the Choice Band Garchomp set which was well known in Japan. In Top Cut against Azumarill, I was unable to knock it into KO range of Rough Skin with Earthquake’s damage and lost, but there were occasions such as me surviving Politoed’s Ice Beam and winning so I think this spread was the correct choice. The moves are standard with the addition of Sleep Talk. It was meant to counter Smeargle but I think it’s up to the user’s preference.

Team Name

By the way, this year’s team’s name was also taken from a certain nationally popular manga, “Dragon Quest – Dai’s Great Adventure”.

Twin Dragon Crest (双竜紋) = Hydreigon and Garchomp, the two Dragons I used.

Medoroa (メドローア) = Charizard and Mamoswine, the powerful Fire and Ice-typed Pokémon I used.

It’s really interesting if you get it and an impressive manga series anyway so please go ahead and read it if you have the chance!

Conclusion

…that was what I had to say.

I’ve written about almost every last thought I had about Kalos Doubles and this has gotten very long, but my sincere thanks go out to those who have read this all the way up to here.

I ended up getting 5th place, but as someone who went to Worlds with less experience in Kalos Doubles than others, I could not conceal my shock at getting through Swiss undefeated (lol).

Also, having an extremely meaningful time interacting and battling with the overseas players after the competition ended made me feel like Pokémon was a truly remarkable thing and so much more than a mere game, and made me want to go to Worlds again next year. However, I let that invitation slip away this year and now have to fight my way through the domestic qualifiers. Also, I’m starting work next year and don’t know whether I’ll be able to take time off or not, so I can’t make concrete plans for Worlds 2015 (Of course I’ll go for sure if I can get my leave), but becoming the Pokémon World Champion is one of the long-held dreams of my life so I’ll be back on the stage that is the World Championships again someday!

Lastly, a word of thanks to the people who supported me, as well as those who helped me refine my teams. Unlike last year, it was definitely not my efforts alone that propelled me to 5th in the world. My humble thanks go out to everybody who collaborated with me. The people I have gotten to know through playing Pokémon will remain treasures for a lifetime even if I should quit playing, but I have no intention of quitting for a long time yet so I continue to look forward to your companionship!!!

The End

The post Gebebo’s Twin Dragon Crest Medoroa Standard: 2014 Worlds Masters 5th place Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

The most anticipated event by the Pokémon community in Mexico finally arrived: the Monterrey VGC Premier Challenge. Hi, my name is Gilberto Espejel also known as Gilberto Ranger or Empostoise, and this was my first official VGC tournament. I’m not new at the VGC environment but as this was the first year Mexico had official tournaments, I didn’t know what to expect. To prepare for the event, I took a deep look at the metagame and after several battles in Pokémon Showdown I decided to focus on a team capable of both taking hits and retaliating back with a warranted knock out. Now, without further ado, let’s introduce my team.

The Team

After a week of intensive testing, I settled upon these six Pokémon. This team gives me the opportunity to weaken the greatest threat this year, Mega Kangaskhan, before she starts to set up and then knock her out in the first few turns with either Mega Mawile or Tyranitar.

Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 52 Atk / 252 HP / 180 SDef / 24 Spd
Careful Nature
- Play Rough
- Fire Fang
- Sucker Punch
- Protect

As most of us know, Mega Mawile needs to take a hit before it can knock out the opponent, and this is the EV spread I found that accomplishes this task. I took the spread from Sir Chicken from his article about how to use the full potential of Mega Evolutions. Mawile’s goal was to take down as many threats as possible. With Intimidate, I gain extra resistance to physical attacks for all my team for at least one turn. If my opponent decides to switch out to recover his Attack stat, his next Pokémon needs to take a hit from Mawile. Play Rough is Mawile’s main STAB attack and is the greatest weapon against Fighting types (which my team is very weak to), Dark types, and Dragon types. Fire Fang gives me coverage for Ferrothorn, Klefki, and opposing Mega Mawile. Sucker Punch is my main choice against opposing Aegislash when it is behind a Susbtitute because I can break it with a priority attack and then directly attack it with any other of my Pokémon. Sucker Punch also helped me finish off Pokémon weakened by Play Rough.

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 172 HP / 84 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Ice Fang

Hitting hard, hitting hard and hitting hard: it’s what Tyranitar does best. It’s a very good teammate for Mawile because it removes the sun from Mega Charizard-Y and the rain from Politoed. It also resists Fire-type attacks which is very common due to Rotom-H, Charizard and Talonflame. Thanks to its special bulk, Tyranitar can resist a good amount of Special Attacks and then retaliate back with a potential knockout. I decided to give it a Choice Band because I thought it was a good idea against the Intimidate users as it puts Tyranitar’s attack at neutral instead of -1; however, I always try to bring out Tyranitar when all the Intimidate users are already out. The EV spread is from a standard Choice Band Tyranitar. Rock Slide OHKOes Salamence, Charizard Y, Aerodactyl, Talonflame, and has a 75% chance to OHKO Rotom-Heat and practically 2HKOes anything that doesn’t resist Rock. Crunch is the strongest attack of my Tyranitar and does serious damage to the opposing team. Pursuit traps Pokémon that attempt to switch out or like to use Volt Switch. I put Ice Fang to take advantage of the Choice Band in response to Garchomp and Hydreigon in case I need to bring Tyranitar as my only response for any of those two.

Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 Spd
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

The weakness to Ground that Mega Mawile and Tyranitar have its very well covered by Rotom-Wash. I originally put a Rotom-H on the team trying to protect me from Charizard Y and Talonflame, but it didn’t work out because of the Rock weakness that my team gained, so Rotom-W was chosen instead. It takes on threats like Talonflame, Tyranitar, Garchomp, Rotom-H, and Gyarados and hits many things very hard with both of its STAB attacks. Thunderbolt hits helps againts opposing Rotom-W and possibly Politoed. Hydro Pump is the greatest Water-type attack for an offesive Rotom-W and allowed me to take down a lot of Pokémon very easily. Rotom-W was the Pokémon that I used the most in the tournament.

Talonflame @ Leftovers
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Brave Bird
- Swords Dance
- Protect

If we talk about hitting hard, we talk about Talonflame. It destroys Venusaur and all other Grass-type Pokémon in the VGC metagame with both of its STAB moves. It can also knock out Fighting-type Pokémon and the abundance of Aegislash and Mega Mawile. I thought I could set up a Swords Dance in some of my matches but in the heat of the moment I realized that the better option was to attack my opponent directly. I gave it Leftovers to prolong its survivability along with Protect to try to avoid the recoil of Flare Blitz and Brave Bird.

Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 116 Spd / 252 SAtk / 140 HP
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast

I took the spread from DarkAssassin and I used it for the same purposes he did; this EV spread knocks out 4 HP Mega Kangaskhan and Modest Rotom-W or Rotom-H. I put Dragon Pulse over Flash Cannon because I consider it more important to hit with another STAB move apart from Draco Meteor. With the extra bulk and Intimidate suport from Mawile, this allowed Hydreigon to take a Dragon Claw from Mega Charizard-X and knock it out with a Dragon Pulse or Draco Meteor.

Meowstic (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def
Bold Nature
- Psychic
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Safeguard

Meowstic was used because of the incredible support it brings to my team. Psychic is my only attacking move in case of Taunt. Reflect and Light Screen gives my team extra bulk. Safeguard was my main move with Meowstic, which prevented Mawile from being burned or hindered by any other status problems. I didn’t brought Meowstic against hyper-offensive teams, because in the tests when I played defensively, I was annihilated due to my own team’s fragility; while Meowstic was setting up the screens, my opponent took the opportunity to set up its own team. I gave Meowstic a Lum Berry just for one reason: Dark Void Assist Liepard.

The Tournament

The night before the event I was so excited that I had trouble sleeping. In the morning, I woke up very early and got ready for the event. At the tournament, I proceeded to fill out the registration form and wait for the tournament to begin along with many of my friends. My friend Chui began telling me how he expected to fail in the tournament due to his own lack of confidence, yet he ended up in the Top 8 along with me by the end of the day.

Round 1 vs Inri Flores

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He brought:

I brought:

The key to winning this game was Mega Mawile since he had Mega Kangaskhan and Ferrothorn on his team. I used Safeguard in the first turn to avoid the Rotom-W’s Will-O-Wisp and possibly Thunder Wave from Klefki, which worked perfectly since his Rotom-W went directly for the burn on Mawile as Klefi set up Safeguard. Mega Mawile went for Play Rough and did a pretty good chunk of damage on Rotom.

The next turns were basically my Mawile tanking hits and hitting back while Meowstic set up screens. In the last turns, Mega Mawile fainted from Ferrothorn’s Iron Barbs and Rocky Helment and Meowstic fell down from Klefki’s Foul Play. Rotom-W and Talonflame finished the game, giving me the 2-0 victory.

Round 2

In this round my opponent brought two Pokémon that were not in the Kalos dex (Blaziken and Jellicent) so the judges gave me the victory.

Round 3 vs Diego Barrera

XRAW-WWWW-WWW8-24BQ

He brought:

I knew for a fact that this match was going to be one of the hardest of the tournament because Diego is one of the Mexico’s greatest players. I needed to play carefully  if I wanted to come out winning. He led with Aegislash and Charizard while I led with Mawile and Hydreigon. I wanted to take out his Aegislash as soon as possible to preserve my Tyranitar in the back, so I went straight for the Dark Pulse on Aegislash after barely survive a Dragon Claw from Charizard thanks to the Intimidate support. I also Protected Mawile just to scout which Charizard he had while his Aegislash survived with about 1%, preventing it from setting up a Substitute. I let him knock out my Hydreigon as I attacked Charizard X with Play Rough and he used Shadow Ball on Mawile. I sent out my Rotom-W and he called back Charizard; from there I started to knock out his team members with Mawile and Rotom while I let his Aegislash recover enough with Leftovers to set up a Substitute (which was a big mistake). Eventually, he sent out his Charizard X and knocked out my Mawile. When I brought my Tyranitar out I thought the game would be mine, but the Brick Break from Charizard took me off guard and the game ended up as a 1-0 victory for Diego.

Round 4 vs Eduardo

W6SG-WWWW-WWW8-24BU

He brought:

I brought:

This battle was more difficult than it should have been because of mistakes I made. My failure to bring Meowstic to set up both Reflect and Safeguard (to prevent Venusaur’s Sleep Powder) would have been very useful. Even without Meowstic I won 2-0.

Round 5 vs Rublax

RL4W-WWWW-WWW8-24C4

He brought:

I brought:

Round 6 vs Luis Canseco

2KUG-WWWW-WWW8-24C7

He brought:

I brought:

Round 7 vs José Eleazar

TU8G-WWWW-WWW8-24CG

He brought:

I brought:

I think this is the easiest match I had in the tournament as I played very safely. I first used Meowstic to set up screens and then started to attack everything with the rest of my Pokémon. I was very surprised that he brought a regular Charizard; if it had Mega Evolved, that could have given me problems. I won this match with a 2-0 score.

Game 1 vs Hugo Hernández

Game 2 vs Hugo Hernández

He brought:

I brought:

This time, I started off more aggressively but not in the best way since he froze my Mawile on the first turn and it couldn’t do much for the rest of the match. The battle ended up with a 4-0 victory for Hugo, adding another victory to his winning streak and marking the end of my participation in the tournament.

Conclusion

Although I was not satisfied with the results from my last two battles, I was very happy with my performance in the tournament overall. I had a great time with my friends and we talked awhile after the event and congratulated the champion, Hugo Hernández, who had travelled all the way from another state, Tamaulipas, to take the glory and the affection of the people. I hope to participate in more Mexican VGC events in the future. Thanks for reading my report!

The post Enters the Regios, AJÚA! A Top 8 Monterrey Premier Challenge Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

This is a translation of the 2014 World Championships Top 4 Junior division player Haruka Narita’s team report by Tan Zong Ying (tanzying). Haruka first qualified for Worlds in 2013 by being part of the winning 3-person team (“Team Rules”) from the 2013 Coro Coro Cup in Japan. She took Top 4 at Worlds in 2013, earning her an invitation to return to this year’s tournament, where she managed to achieve the same result. I had the pleasure of meeting her and her father, @tugaaaru, in Washington D.C., and they kindly approached me with a report that they wanted to have translated and shared on Nugget Bridge. I’d like to thank them for the opportunity, as well as Taroimo (@taroimo_poke), my English-Japanese translator counterpart for his coordination efforts.

Artwork and photos were provided by Tugaaaru, whose blog is located at http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/haruemi1218

Hello Nugget Bridge!

I am Haruka Narita and my in-game name is Rulue. I’d like to introduce my  2014 World Championships team. With it, I managed to reach the Top 4 of Worlds this year, defending my spot from 2013. I think that the only other Juniors who have made Top 4 at least twice are Santa Ito, Kippei Takaki, Brian Hough and Brendan Zheng. Seeing these names alone kind of gives me goosebumps, so it is such a great honour to be included in such esteemed company!

I had my invitation to the 2014 Pokémon World Championships confirmed from last year, so paying Nationals no heed I battled repeatedly in-game and on Pokémon Showdown in earnest. I probably logged more than 2500 battles. There probably isn’t any other Junior who exceeded this! I was happy that my blood and sweat produced results in the end. Perhaps I just needed that little extra bit of luck to become the champion? Anyway the champion was strong!

My Team

Politoed @ Eject Button
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 76 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Protect
- Encore

This team originated from the team known as “Korean Rain.” I researched how to play it by watching the Battle Videos of it that were released many times. Thank you Sensei ^^(I’m taking the liberty of calling Keewan-san Sensei here).

I send Politoed out against opponents weak against rain and grab the weather. Encore handles things like Aegislash’s Substitute. It needed to not faint before ejecting itself, so I bulked it up to survive various attacks.

Ludicolo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 124 Def / 204 SpA / 4 SpD / 172 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fake Out
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Giga Drain

This was Kingdra for a long time, but I changed it to Ludicolo around July because having Tyranitar and Kingdra together accumulated too many Fairy-type weaknesses. Assault Vest and a recovery method together was a good combination. It is faster than Mega Aerodactyl in Rain.

Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Rage Powder
- Spore
- Protect

Amoonguss is a staple of Kalos Doubles. It is Relaxed with maximum physical defenses. This cute little guy has been shielding my team ever since the 2013 World Championships. It exists to bring despair to its opponents and hope to its allies. It is the nucleus of my team: protecting Tyranitar with Rage Powder, depriving my opponents of their freedom with Spore, and tormenting Kangaskhan with its Rocky Helmet.

Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Brick Break
- Dragon Dance
- Protect

I put a Lum Berry on a Dragon Dance Tyranitar. Some time ago, Dragon Dance Mega Tyranitar had become popular. With support from Amoonguss and other Pokémon with redirection, it was very strong if it could get a Dragon Dance up. I did actually test it out, but when I used it I kept getting targeted by Will-O-Wisps and other status ailments at an unusually high rate. This made me change my plans. If I could instead lure in status ailments and Dragon Dance while recovering from them with Lum Berry, then its Speed and firepower would be perfect even without mega evolving.

Brick Brick was for hitting Kangaskhan and Bisharp hard. Rock Slide is the strongest move. It has no Dark-type moves, but I could bluff one by using the mentality that Tyranitars usually carry one.

Manectric @ Manectite
Ability: Lightningrod
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Protect
- Hidden Power [Ice]

I used Manectric for my Mega slot. Overheat does big damage against Ferrothorn, Aegislash and company. I use it alongside Talonflame a lot. Using Volt Switch and U-Turn to get Intimidates off while maintaining the weather correctly is necessary.

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Protect
- U-turn

Adamant with Life Orb. I use it with Manectric often. I tested out Taunt, Tailwind and more but the move that fit my team the best was U-Turn. Priority Brave Bird is too strong.

Member Selection and Tactics

I often led with Manectric + Talonflame or Tyranitar + Amoonguss often. With Manectric and Talonflame, I would get Intimidate off and Volt Switch or U-turn to set up either Rain or Sand. I had to practice hard to develop a reliable intuition as to which slot my opponents would aim Fake Outs at so that I could switch Amoonguss into them. Even when leading Tyranitar and Amoonguss, predicting Fake Outs is important. If I can get momentum going by Dragon Dancing and Rage Powdering together, I move one step closer to victory.

This is a video of my quarterfinals match against Miranda at Worlds:

I was able to keep Brick Brick unrevealed and predict Fake Out thanks to the experience I accumulated in practice.

Lastly…

After the Kalos Doubles-based Battle Spot Special ladder disappeared in May, I could not have gotten my battles done if not for Pokémon Showdown. I’d like to say thank you to everyone who battled me on both platforms! Sadly I didn’t manage to become the World Champion, but I feel that I managed to proved my strength.

However, I’m all burned out from battling too much so I don’t know whether I will come back to Worlds next year, though I still have an invite in the Junior Division next year, though. For now I’m going to concentrate on basketball ^^

Going to Worlds, I was able to meet many excellent acquaintances, and I am grateful to all of them. Thank you so much

The post The Queen of Juniors: A Junior Division 2014 Worlds 3rd Place Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hi everyone! My name is Adam or some of you may know me as GiraGoomy here on Nugget Bridge, Pokemon Showdown, or where ever else I may be online. Recently I competed in the Australian National Championships in the Senior Division where I placed in the top 4. The team I used throughout the day was one I really liked as it suited my hyper offensive playstyle. The team is based around BlitznBurst’s Regionals team where he used Helping Hand Azumarill and was also an idea given to me by PokeAlex. Going into Nationals, I prepared a lot as I was very aware that I’d be facing a lot of Mega Kangaskhan and some random Pokemon as well. This is the team I used throughout the day.

Lucario @Lucarionite
Ability: Inner Focus —> Adaptability
Jolly Nature
4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed
- Close Combat
- Flash Cannon
- Protect
- Substitute

Although this mega evolution isn’t the bulkiest, its massive amount of Attack and Special Attack combined with its Speed and Ability makes it a complete beast on the battlefield. Inner Focus is a great ability to have before mega evolving because without any Attack drops, regular Lucario can OHKO Mega Kangaskhan with Close Combat while not being affected by Fake Out. Adaptability gives a 1.5x boost to all STAB moves which makes Mega Lucario even more powerful. Close Combat with a Helping Hand boost OHKOs most Mega Mawile. It also has a chance to OHKO specially defensive Rotoms (OHKOs all Rotoms with Helping Hand boost). Protect shields myself from attacks when I mega evolve to gain the speed boost (and other stats) of Mega Lucario. Substitute is to shield myself from moves like Overheat while the attacking Pokemon takes a -2 drop in Special Attack and shields Lucario from status effects such as Burn, Sleep and Paralysis which make Lucario useless. Lastly I ran Flash Cannon over Bullet Punch because I wasn’t afraid of Scarf Gardevoir and Flash Cannon does more damage overall even with 0 Special Attack.

Offensive Calculations:

• 252 Atk Adaptability Mega Lucario Helping Hand Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 40 Def Mega Mawile: 180-212 (114.6 – 135%) — guaranteed OHKO
• 252 Atk Adaptability Mega Lucario Helping Hand Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 100+ Def Rotom-H: 174-206 (110.8 – 131.2%) — guaranteed OHKO
• 0 SpA Adaptability Mega Lucario Helping Hand Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Gardevoir: 192-228 (109.7 – 130.2%) — guaranteed OHKO
• 252 Atk Lucario Close Combat vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Kangaskhan: 186-218 (102.7 – 120.4%) — guaranteed OHKO
• 252 Atk Adaptability Mega Lucario Close Combat vs. 12 HP / 20 Def Garchomp: 152-180 (82.1 – 97.2%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252 Atk Adaptability Mega Lucario Helping Hand Close Combat vs. 12 HP / 20 Def Garchomp: 226-268 (122.1 – 144.8%) — guaranteed OHKO

Defensive Calculations:

• -1 252+ Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Play Rough vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Lucario: 108-127 (73.9 – 86.9%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• -1 252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Lucario: 91-108 (62.3 – 73.9%) — guaranteed 2HKO

Azumarill @Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
Adamant Nature
236 HP/ 60 Attack / 36 Defence / 172 Special Defence / 4 Speed
- Helping Hand
- Play Rough
- Aqua Jet
- Protect

Easily the MVP of the team. This spread was directly taken from BlitznBurst’s Helping Hand Azumarill team because it worked so well in the ‘practice’ I did before Nationals. The aim is for it to act as a well-rounded tank firing off a lot of Helping Hands before fainting. Although this spot could’ve easily been occupied by Vaporeon (another great Helping Hand user I tested), I figured Hydreigon would be everywhere at Nationals due to its recent increase in usage and that Azumarill would fare better against it than Vaporeon. The EV spread KOs Garchomp with a Play Rough + Aqua Jet combo while also beating Rotom-H 1v1 and OHKOing Salamence when not at -1 Attack. It also allows it to survive a 252+ Special Attack Solar Beam from Charizard Y and a 252 Attack Double Edge from Mega Kangaskhan.

Offensive Calculations

• 60+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Play Rough vs. 12 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 152-180 (82.1 – 97.2%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 60+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Aqua Jet vs. 12 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 34-42 (18.3 – 22.7%) — possible 5HKO
• 60+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Play Rough vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Salamence: 174-206 (101.7 – 120.4%) — guaranteed OHKO
• 60+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mega Tyranitar: 102-122 (49.2 – 58.9%) — 98% chance to 2HKO

Defensive Calculations

• 252 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 236 HP / 36 Def Azumarill: 172-204 (83.9 – 99.5%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ SpA Mega Charizard Y Solar Beam vs. 236 HP / 172 SpD Azumarill: 172-204 (83.9 – 99.5%) — guaranteed 2HKO

Tyranitar @Life Orb
Ability: Sand Stream
Modest Nature
220 HP / 4 Defence / 252 Special Attack / 12 Special Defence / 20 Speed
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
- Rock Slide
- Protect

Bulky Life Orb Tyranitar. Sounds really weird doesn’t it? The only reason I thought to use Tyranitar was because of the major increase in Rain and also the fact that I just needed at least two Talonflame switch-ins on my team. This Tyranitar is meant to outspeed Mega Mawile and OHKO with Helping Hand + Fire Blast (sometimes the Helping Hand boost isn’t needed). It also has a chance to OHKO 252HP Aegislash in Shield Forme with Helping Hand + Fire Blast. Ice Beam, Rock Slide and Protect are used mainly against Dragons, Talonflame/Charizard and to shield attacks respectively. I was trying to decide between Dark Pulse and Fire Blast on this Tyranitar because I noticed I had an Aegislash weakness due to Lucario not being able to hit it. In the end I went with Fire Blast for two reasons. One, it could hit Mawile, Aegislash and Bisharp (Steel types I was afraid of) and I believed it was worth losing 15% accuracy for the power. Two, there are barely any good Fire types this season in my opinion meaning Fire moves must be used on members of the team even though it doesn’t have STAB. The Defence EVs allow a 4 Attack Sacred Sword from Aegislash to only 3HKO it. A huge thanks to Toquill for helping me create this EV Spread! I’d also like to thank Toquill (once again) and Dragoon124 for providing me with this Tyranitar.

Offensive Calculations

• 252+ SpA Life Orb Tyranitar Helping Hand Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Aegislash-Shield: 153-182 (91.6 – 108.9%) — 50% chance to OHKO
• 252+ SpA Life Orb Tyranitar Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mega Mawile: 151-179 (96.1 – 114%) — 75% chance to OHKO
• 252+ SpA Life Orb Tyranitar Helping Hand Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 180+ SpD Mega Mawile: 174-205 (110.8 – 130.5%) — guaranteed OHKO

Defensive Calculations

• 4 Atk Aegislash-Shield Sacred Sword vs. 220 HP / 4 Def Tyranitar: 76-92 (37.4 – 45.3%) — guaranteed 3HKO

Staraptor @Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Adamant Nature
212 HP / 156 Attack / 140 Speed
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
- U-Turn
- Final Gambit

Staraptor (or commonly referred to as ‘Scrubraptor’ when I used it) is one of my favourite Pokemon ever and using it in a Nationals team successfully made me extremely happy. The HP EVs allow it to take out 4 HP Garchomp with Final Gambit and everything with less HP as well (notably Rotom-W) which did a good amount of damage to my team when I didn’t bring Venusaur. The Attack EVs allow it to still pick up OHKOs on Pokemon such as Tyranitar with Close Combat and Amoonguss with Brave Bird. The Speed investment with the combination of EVs and Choice Scarf allows me to be faster than Timid Mega Manectric. I’ve always loved Scarf Final Gambit and although I was using Reckless in testing (believe me, that is power), I decided that Intimidate would not only help me against Kangaskhan, but also allow my Lucario to survive attacks such as a Mega Mawile’s Play Rough and a Talonflame’s Brave Bird. Helping Hand + Close Combat can OHKO most Mega Kangaskhan making Staraptor a vital part to my team. I decided to go with U-Turn over Double Edge so I could have a decent matchup against Perish Trap and Gothitelle in general since it was seeing a spike in usage. A huge thanks to Mancuso for helping me make this EV Spread!

Offensive Calculations:

• 156+ Atk Staraptor Helping Hand Close Combat vs. 160 HP / 0 Def Mega Kangaskhan: 200-236 (100 – 118%) — guaranteed OHKO
• 156+ Atk Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 144 Def Amoonguss: 222-264 (100.4 – 119.4%) — guaranteed OHKO

Defensive Calculations:

• -1 252+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 212 HP / 0 Def Staraptor: 145-172 (77.5 – 91.9%) — guaranteed 2HKO

Rotom-Heat @Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
Modest Nature
252 HP / 20 Defence / 164 Special Attack / 12 Special Defence / 60 Speed
- Overheat
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

Easily the best Fire type this season in my opinion and definitely helped me out with my Steel weakness. Rotom-H also helped me out with Pokémon such as Azumarill and Gyarados which threatened my team. Not only that, but it gave me the option of Will-O-Wisp to cut the Attack stats of Pokemon such as Mawile and Kangaskhan who typically rely on their Attack. It’s a good Sun counter too. The EV spread is one created by my good friend PM649 and its aim is to pick up OHKOs on Pokemon such as Mega Mawile and Gyarados while taking hits and spreading Burn. The use of Safety Goggles was to prevent Rotom-H from taking damage from my own Sandstorm and to counter Amoonguss + Azumarill setup teams. There isn’t really much else to say about Rotom-H other than it did its job on the day and I’m really happy with how it performed. I’d like to thank Dragoon124 for giving me a Shiny Rotom he didn’t need anymore!

Offensive Calculations

• 164+ SpA Rotom-H Overheat vs. 252 HP / 180+ SpD Mega Mawile: 156-186 (99.3 – 118.4%) — 93.8% chance to OHKO
• 164+ SpA Rotom-H Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Talonflame: 186-218 (100.5 – 117.8%) — guaranteed OHKO

Defensive Calculations

• 252+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Return vs. 252 HP / 20 Def Rotom-H: 127-153 (80.8 – 97.4%) — guaranteed 2HKO

Venusaur (Mega) @Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll —> Thick Fat
Modest Nature
220 HP / 196 Def / 28 SpA / 4 SpD / 60 Spe
- Sleep Powder
- Synthesis
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb

This thing is literally the definition of a tank. It can easily gobble up most attacks and then react with either Sleep Powder or a Sludge Bomb / Giga Drain which can gain a boost with Helping Hand. It’s also a nice option to use whenever the opponent has a setup like Belly Drum Azumarill, Dragon Dance Gyarados, or Rain. Suggested by Emforbes and backed up by Toquill, Venusaur is a good enough counter to all three of the attacking weathers this season in my opinion (Hail, Sun, Rain) and is clutch with Synthesis. The EV spread allows it to 3HKO all Rotom-W with Giga Drain and take a Life Orb Brave Bird from Talonflame. Although I didn’t use it once until the first round in Top Cut, I was extremely impressed at what it did and it’s no wonder this Pokemon was in the top 3 most used megas at one stage in the metagame. The EV spread is a magnificent Toquill spread once again and that’s probably why it did so well for me on the day and in ‘practice’.

Offensive Calculations

• 28+ SpA Mega Venusaur Helping Hand Sludge Bomb vs. 220 HP / 172 SpD Azumarill: 200-236 (98.5 – 116.2%) — 87.5% chance to OHKO
• 28+ SpA Mega Venusaur Giga Drain vs. 252 HP / 180+ SpD Rotom-W: 84-102 (53.5 – 64.9%) — guaranteed 2HKO (3HKO all the time)
• 28+ SpA Mega Venusaur Helping Hand Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Gardevoir: 176-210 (100.5 – 120%) — guaranteed OHKO

Defensive Calculations

• 252+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 220 HP / 196 Def Mega Venusaur: 117-139 (63.9 – 75.9%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ Atk Life Orb Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 220 HP / 196 Def Mega Venusaur: 151-182 (82.5 – 99.4%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ SpA Gardevoir Psychic vs. 220 HP / 4 SpD Mega Venusaur: 140-168 (76.5 – 91.8%) — guaranteed 2HKO

At the end of the day, Nationals was a very fun experience and I met a lot of people there ranging from Matt (ZzamanN) to Sam (Cypress / Zelda / Whatever you call yourself). I ended up going 6-1 (1-1 at a point) in Swiss allowing me to finish 5th going into Top Cut (8 people). Top 8 was a best of 1 in which I was able to win 1-0  securing my Worlds Invite. In my semi-finals match I found out that it would be a best of three set. I ended up winning my first game in the semi final, but lost my next two games in a thrilling set that went down to the wire. In the end I finished 3rd or 4th out of the 126 Competitors which I was extremely happy with!

I’d like to summarise my thanks to a lot of people because this wouldn’t have been possible without you guys giving me support before the tournament. I’d to thank Toquill and Dragoon124 for providing me with some Pokemon (ily guys <3). I’d also like to thank PM649, Toquill, PokeAlex and Mancuso for their help with the EV spreads and just teambuilding in general. Also a huge thanks to Emforbes for giving me the idea of Mega Venusaur. To TwiddleDee, #TeamScrub for life and without you my man this Top 4 wouldn’t have happened. Thanks to everyone else who helped me if I forgot you and make sure to follow me on Twitter and subscribe to me on YouTube!

The post All Through a Helping Hand: Top 4 Senior Australian Nationals Team Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hi, I’m Low Wai Yin, and this is my report on the Singapore 2014 Elite Four Challenge! The Elite Four Challenge is our unofficial nationals, held once a year usually in June (although we weren’t able to hold it in 2013), where our strongest trainers gather and compete for the title of Champion. I’ve been playing Pokémon since 1998, and have been an active competitive player in the Singapore scene since 2011, when I made Top 16 in that year’s Elite 4. I’ve also participated in the World Championships in 2013, and since I decided not to go this year, the Elite Four challenge was the first and last time I actively participated in a VGC 2014 tournament.

For 2014, I didn’t actually really like the metagame much, and spent most of the year since the VGC 2014 ruleset was announced playing around with a really unstable Charizard X team that… didn’t do too well in the long run and had issues with most of the top Pokemon in the metagame. It wasn’t until March or April that I built this team (or as Kit Meng, my brother and 2012 E4, would attest, just copied whatever he was musing at the time over dinner) and after months of struggling for every victory, it felt good to have a team that you knew all the damage calculations/speed tiers to that also wasn’t completely reliant on you trying to predict everything every turn every battle with a Charizard X bluff. Admittedly, it’s quite outdated and some of the sets are considered ‘gimmicks’ but it did decently well on Showdown (75% win rate and breached 1400- yes I have low standards) and I had never felt so comfortable with a team ever before as with this one.

Team Outline

As is the case for most of my successful teams, this team was originally built around a ‘gimmick’- or rather, by my intense hatred of Kangaskhan-Smeargle teams. The original lineup of the team was supposed to be for Kangaskhan-Smeargle, in a weird reasoning of ‘if I run Kangaskhan-Smeargle I can figure out what stops it so then I can implement this knowledge to stop it later’. Kit Meng was the one who originally came up with the concept. Basically, our idea was that in most cases, Kanga-Smear was a thing that people only usually had one counter for; and if so, then there would be a fallback of Talon-Smear, with Talonflame having Quick Guard to block Fake Out, and Tailwind to make Smeargle insanely fast. And even without Smeargle, the team had enough lead optionsto probably get a good lead matchup against someone who obviously only had one Smeargle counter. Regardless, the original lineup worked so well together (even with Smeargle being dead weight in some cases) that when I saw the rankings for the top 12 Pokemon in VGC 2014 sometime around March/April, I wasn’t surprised that I was essentially using some of the top Pokemon of the metagame together. All I needed was to ditch Smeargle for a Salamence and I’d have a standard goodstuff team made up of the Top 6 of VGC 2014.

So I did.

So without further ado, the team which I used throughout the E4 Challenge:

Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite (Carnation)
Ability: Early Bird / Parental Bond
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
– Fake Out
– Power-Up Punch
– Return
– Sucker Punch

MegaMom has been the keystone of the team, usually the Pokemon I’ve come to rely on as my win condition. In earlier teams, I had tried out the Jolly, speedier set, but it always seemed to fail me when I needed it the most. I was originally surprised to see how effective the max HP set was, what with it making use of Mega Kangaskhan’s defenses to sponge just about every single thing you can imagine- even Modest Charizard Y’s Overheat in the sun is not a guaranteed OHKO- and with the right prediction of when to Power-Up Punch, MegaMom could rip through teams like a hot knife through butter. Unless they ran Quick Guard.

While I always lost the speed tie to other Mega Kangaskhan, I never actually minded it. As with most Kangaskhan mirrors, to quote my other mentor, Matthew Hui (2011 Singapore E4 Champion), it always depends on which Kangaskhan managed to set up first, and knowing that I could survive just about everything opposing Kangaskhan could throw at me made it safer for me to go for the Power-Up Punch. Knowing that the opponent outspeeds you as a certainty made it easy to predict when they’d try for the sucker punch to prevent my own +2 Kangaskhan from sucker punching, which then made it easier for me to predict when to Quick Guard on Talonflame or to outplay them. Or I could switch out to Salamence or Aegislash. The slow Kangaskhan created a lot of mind games.

While I wasn’t against the idea of optimizing my Mega Kangashan spread instead of using 252/252/4, to be honest, I never actually felt the need to split my EVs to survive anything during testing (because Mega Kangaskhan just survived everything to begin with, or I wouldn’t be using Mega Kangaskhan against the matchups where Pokemon could potentially OHKO and everything worked out fine) and the lack of speed didn’t really bother me after a while. As for Early Bird, Carnation was the first Kangaskhan I trained and to be completely honest, because I was playing in French, I didn’t actually notice its ability was Early Bird instead of Scrappy until AFTER I won battles with it. After which I figured if I lasted as long as I had already, it probably didn’t matter – especially since I had Aegislash and other alternatives to ghosts and Parental Bond kicks in on turn 1 most battles anyway. Plus I was too lazy to rebreed. I apologize – you should not follow my example.

Garchomp @ Lum Berry (Chompy)
Ability: Rough Skin
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
– Rock Slide
– Earthquake
– Dragon Claw
– Protect

Garchomp has surprisingly become one of the best Pokemon I’ve ever used in VGC 2014. Back when I first started, I used it for a core of Garchomp-Talonflame-Rotom-W to support Mega Mawile, and life was good. Despite its less-than-amazing offensive capabilities, it proved to be a real scrapper for my team – Dragon Claw-ing many things for decent neutral damage with dragon’s beautiful offensive typing, dishing out Earthquakes for spread damage or flinching opponents with Rock Slide, all the while carrying a Lum Berry to stop random statuses like burns from Flamethrower, or Confusion from an opposing Pokemon’s Swagger or something similar. The Dragon/Ground typing also provided good resistances that synergized well with my team. With a team that could support its Ice-type and Dragon-type weaknesses, it was easy to switch Garchomp in and out, allowing it to dish small amounts of damage before retreating until late game, when it could clean up easily.

That Lum Berry also made Garchomp my main answer to Smeargle-Kangaskhan (which by now you probably realize I absolutely hate), as when it’s paired with Talonflame it usually can pull off 2 Earthquakes to knock out the opposing Smeargle and deal good damage to the Kangaskhan. Besides that, it made it easier for Garchomp to be brought out against opposing Rotom-H since I didn’t need to be afraid of the burn from Will-o-Wisp. Essentially, Garchomp was an invaluable offensive and defensive pivot.

Rough Skin proved extremely useful as well, dealing chip damage to opposing physical attackers and potentially netting KOs that would never have occurred otherwise, along with breaking Focus Sash and whatnot.

Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus Berry (Brucey)
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 HP /192 SAtk / 52 SDef /12 Spd
– Hydro Pump
– Will-O-Wisp
– Thunderbolt
– Protect

Rotom-Wash was another piece of my original ‘core’. He was also the only one with a customized EV spread – 252 HP 52 Sp.Defense Calm survives Timid Charizard Y Solarbeam, and stands a nice 50% of surviving the same attack from Modest Charizard Y (but to be completely honest, I have no idea why I didn’t go the full way and EV to survive that as well, but whatever), which also means that Rotom-Wash essentially became the Pokemon I could count on to sponge special attacks to a certain extent and retaliate with still enough special attack that it would actually hurt. 12 Speed to outspeed 4 Speed Rotom-Wash/Heat because let’s all face it – there’s always a point in time when you will end up losing a game because of a speed tie with opposing Rotom formes.

Rotom-Wash partners well with both Garchomp and Talonflame, sponging the Ice-Type attacks that would devastate Garchomp while providing a much needed, solid check to Talonflame’s threats like Rotom-Heat and Aerodactyl. It also helped burn opposing Aegislash and other physical attackers earlier during the metagame, although with the recent prevalence of Lum Berry, I’ve taken to just going for the attack more often than not instead.

Defensively, Rotom-W has only one weakness which is covered by both Aegislash and Talonflame, and it could take on the most dangerous Ice-type Pokemon in the metagame – Mamoswine – and come out on top. This was especially useful for me since I was running double dragons as well as an Aegislash. Also it served as a good backup Pokemon in most rain matchups, which my team usually had to struggle slightly more against, and once Ludicolo or Manectric was taken out of the picture, Rotom-Wash could have a field day. It also gave me a solid counter to Talonflame, with an easy switch into either Flare Blitz or Brave Bird, and gave me some way to take on Azumarill (yet another thing that threatened my double dragons), after I removed the Raichu/Amoonguss redirector that it’s often paired with of course.

Sitrus Berry helped to keep Rotom-Wash alive, what with the huge amount of heavy-hitters in the metagame. Leftovers was another option I toyed with, but it didn’t give Rotom-W the immediate healing that the washing machine usually needed to stay out of danger.

Rotom-Wash was one of the least used members of my team, and I generally brought him along for specific matchups, but occasionally he would do more than expected and remind me exactly why he’s on the team.

Talonflame @ Sky Plate (Kacaw)
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
– Brave Bird
– Flare Blitz
– Quick Guard
– Tailwind

Kacaw was originally a Talonflame on loan from my brother because I was lazy to breed out Talonflame in January or something, after which he decided to just give it to me since it had perfect IVs in all the relevant stats. It also holds a Sky Plate because, quote from Kit: “Sky Plate is better than Sharp Beak because it has 1 extra line of description. Therefore, it is better.” We didn’t like the Life Orb recoil damage and while Kit later converted to Choice Band Talonflame, I always liked my Talonflame to be able to do a little more than attack recklessly.

Since my team had some issues with matchups in which they lost the speed advantage (especially since I was running bulky spreads on most of my Pokemon), Tailwind was used to exploit a possible dead turn or sacrifice itself and suddenly turn the match to my favor (unless Trick Room). Quick Guard was also used in situations where I did have the speed advantage and wanted to keep my Pokemon from taking priority damage (Azumarill’s Aqua Jet, opposing Talonflame Brave Bird, Sucker Punches being the most common), or to stop Prankster Pokemon from disrupting my team (I’m looking at you, Meowstic). Priority Brave Bird was also incredibly useful regardless of speed tiers, and Talonflame could function well enough in Trick Room so much so that I didn’t really have to worry too much about outspeeding/underspeeding anything while using it.

Talonflame was one of the Pokemon that I was willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the game, but even so, there were times that preserving it for late game or certain matchups was preferable. Were it not for the excellent team synergy it had with Garchomp, Rotom-Wash and Aegislash, it would have been far harder for me to use it to its full extent – and as it was, Talonflame essentially became the most common Pokemon I brought for my lead. While Sky Plate was, in no way, as damage-boosting as Choice Band or Life Orb, it didn’t sap away at Talonflame’s health or lock it into a single move, allowing it some flexibility for as long as it was required to stay out on the field, as well as possibly feigning a Choice Band set as long as I didn’t reveal Quick Guard or Tailwind. In retrospect after the tournament, Focus Sash would have been a bit more helpful for my Talonflame, but I’m not certain whether it would have impacted the outcome of some of my battles.

I ran 252 Attack because I liked my Talonflame to actually deal decent damage. 252 Speed was to at least give me a chance to win speed ties vs other Adamant Talonflame and to avoid Liepard Sucker Punch (Kit really liked Liepard at one point in time, so…).

Salamence @ Choice Scarf ==> Life Orb (Kitty)
Nature: Modest
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk /252 Spd
– Draco Meteor
– Hydro Pump => Protect
– Rock Slide
– Fire Blast

Kitty was named in honor of my brother and his 10 separate Salamence sets. The last Pokémon to actually be tossed onto the team, Salamence filled the spot that was once taken by Amoonguss. I chose it over the mushroom because of a) Intimidate b) Draco Meteor c) Choice Scarf d) it pairs up with Garchomp well and e) it had far better offensive presence than Amoonguss could offer. That and well, I always wanted to see what the big fuss over double dragons was.

To be completely fair, while Salamence has proved useful on occasion to snipe faster Pokemon like Aerodactyl, Pyroar, Manectric and other less common Pokemon, the Choice Scarf did make life far more difficult for me. It came to a point where I could only rely on Salamence against non-standard teams or weaker players, because most of the teams I saw during the Elite 4 Challenge were more than prepared to deal with Double Dragons, especially one that was locked in with a Choice Scarf.

After the Qualifiers, I realized that Choice Scarf Salamence was more liability than boon – most of the battles I brought it for, I ended up losing, and by Day 2 I pretty much never brought it ever. After a discussing the problem with Kit Meng, Aaron Traylor, and Matthew Hui, I finally decided to be completely true to paying homage to my brother and tossed a Life Orb onto Kitty instead. (Kit Meng swears by Life Orb Salamence if he absolutely has to use it.)

While it was Choice Scarfed, I ran Hydro Pump because I always found water coverage useful on Salamence for some reason and always seemed to pick it over Fire Blast when the opponent didn’t have a Mawile/Amoonguss/random fire weak Pokemon on the team. Rock Slide was because I hate Talonflames and like to fish for flinches, Draco Meteor for STAB, and Fire Blast because there’s nothing more satisfying than Fire Blasting a Mawile/Amoonguss in the face; especially more so if they aren’t EVd to take Life Orb Fire Blast and faint. Unfortunately, the lack of accuracy with Salamence made me very reluctant to depend on it consistently, and I’ve learned to play around without its Intimidate, though there are times when it does shine and prove its worth.

Aegislash @ Weakness Policy (Myrmidon)
Nature: Quiet
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk /4 SDef
– Shadow Sneak
– Shadow Ball
– Flash Cannon
– King’s Shield

Aegislash was one of the very first members of the team – the original ‘core’ of the team was supposed to be Kanga-Aegis. And generally it worked. Kangaskhan absorbed the ghost attacks meant for Aegislash and Aegislash absorbed the fighting attacks meant for Kangaskhan, both of them were powerful Pokemon in their own right, and they both worked well with the other members of my team (except Garchomp; Garchomp had a tendency to want to earthquake them).

While originally I did play with the Substitute Aegislash set, the very first Aegislash set I was introduced to was the Weakness Policy one, and all too often, I always found myself wishing for WP Aegis’s power or, more importantly, Shadow Sneak. Far too often, I found that opponents weakened by a previous attack would presume Aegislash would be unable to take them out since there’s a mentality that ‘nobody runs Weakness Policy Aegislash because it’s a gimmick’ and thus go for a King’s Shield or something, and they would leave Aegislash alone. Shadow Sneak has been able to turn my matches completely around simply because of this, and quite honestly, I could run any other item on Aegislash; but I just really wanted Shadow Sneak.

Weakness Policy itself wasn’t a really bad item either. True, it was unreliable for the triggers, but when it did trigger, the power was enormous, nabbing OHKOs against all manner of Pokemon and making Shadow Sneak incredibly dangerous. Moreover, it also tended to make the opponent panic a bit, making them somewhat easier to read once they went ‘Oh Man, I Need To Stop That Aegislash’.

Also, well, Aegislash has saved my life countless times in matches. There are times where I’m literally down to Aegislash against three Pokemon, and when I somehow win, I’m pretty sure that Weakness Policy was probably the cause. I run it for the surprise value, and even without it, Aegislash is still a valuable member of my team- shoring up my defenses with its neat Ghost/Steel typing, allowing it to switch into dragons and Fighting-types with ease. Also it became my normal ‘counter’ to Trick Room Pokmon and Mawile.

I bring Aegislash in most of my matches where I bring Kangaskhan, and for the most part, I don’t ever regret it.

Team Weaknesses and Synergy

Fact: I have never in my life found a team that synergizes together as well as this one. (Not that they don’t exist; I just haven’t found a better one.) Nor have I found a team that was so frustratingly, intrinsically good. I know this sounds like me gushing over the team, but generally, when we consider team synergy, we consider how teams deal with threats to individual Pokemon, and how they work around it through careful playing and switching. On some level, all ‘good’ teams have that, but for this team felt golden to me. This team was literally a toolkit with the answer to everything packed within 6 Pokemon – they synergized well defensively and offensively and could take out each other’s threats, there was a good balance of defensive bulk and offensive power, there was speed control on some level, had Intimidate to handle physical attackers, had priority attacks to handle faster Pokemon, Quick Guard and Lum Berry could be employed to deal with disruptive Pokemon, and I could set up to pull out my own win conditions – in all my time using this team, I think for the most part, I lose not because of the team, but because of me, as the trainer.

If there is any weakness in the team, it would be the fact that it is rather prediction heavy. During Day 1 of the Qualifiers, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, and regardless of how hard I tried, the team flopped. Badly. Sometimes it feels like that because there are so many tools for you to use, you sometimes default to the wrong one; and that it takes a lot of careful consideration to realize what you need to do with this team rather than just depending on the Pokemon’s base power and stats to muscle your way through victory. Honestly, while on lower levels of play that would probably work, on higher levels of play, it’s highly likely that because the team is so goomy-blasted standard that your opponents will know exactly what your Pokemon are even before you start the battle, and they have counters to your strongest Pokemon (aka poor Mega Kangaskhan).

Generally though, I play under the assumption that everything and anything will try and is capable of taking out my team, so to be honest, if I wanted to write a threat list, it’d probably be just about every single Pokemon in the metagame.

And if I needed to isolate specific Pokemon, I think teams with either Mawile or Salamence would actually prove a danger for this team. Mawile automatically threatens half of the team, and Salamence (especially the Choice Scarf variants) can easily take out or heavily dent one or more members of the team before I can stop it. While they can be worked around, playing becomes immediately more difficult around them.

So on that note, on to the leads!

Lead Options

+
Kangaskhan + Talonflame

This was generally my default lead. The wide variety of Talonflame’s support options enabled Kangaskhan to set up easily and quickly and Fake Out+Tailwind was a quick way to seize offensive momentum in one turn with minimal risk to both Pokemon. Sometimes Fake Out, Sucker Punch, and priority Brave Bird meant that I could severely damage Pokemon before they could even move (or even knock them out entirely), or force them into defensive moves, which meant Talonflame stayed alive longer and Kangaskhan could get Power-Up Punch off.

+
Garchomp + Talonflame

This is actually my second-favorite lead, especially against Kanga-unfriendly teams. Both Pokemon have a wide range of offensive options that give me really strong offensive pressure right from the start. Quick Guard also blocks stuff like Ice Shard, Fake Out, and Sucker Punch, enabling Garchomp to go on a rampage if it needs to. Also with quick Tailwind setup, this lead option enables Garchomp to threaten things faster than it that carry HP Ice like Manectric or Pyroar.

+
Salamence + Garchomp

Although I never really used double dragons much as I preferred my Fake Out/Quick Guard support more, I’m told that Salamence and Garchomp is a strong multi-purpose lead option. That said, there always were other leads that worked better against other teams; although there are occasions where I did employ double dragons to overwhelm weaker players or teams that had a weakness to repeated Dragon-type attacks. Still, the very presence of double dragons on my team is more than enough to lure fairies out as leads, and honestly, I think that’s more than enough to help ease prediction of what my opponent is going to bring.

Day 1 Qualifiers: An Epic Sequence of Continuous Failures and Why You Should Get A Good Night’s Sleep

When I first went for the Day 1 Qualifiers, I was functioning off 6 hours of sleep, had a headache, and hadn’t practiced playing Pokemon for more than a week (I didn’t play the last day of the June International). I was pretty gung-ho about my chances though- the team had a good win record in all the places I tested it on, and I was confident that if anything, a team that was intrinsically good would be able to hold it’s own. Pity I forgot that a team is only as good as its trainer.

Round 1: Brian Soh (Kai)

Talonflame/Sableye/Manectric(M)/Scizor  vs  Aegislash/Salamence/Kangaskhan(M)/Rotom-Wash

I honestly don’t know what I was thinking in this battle, leading with Aegislash and Salamence and not even bringing Talonflame (which could nail just about every single Pokemon in his team and Quick Guard Sableye’s Prankster). I ended up getting Swaggered and at the end of the battle, ended up mispredicting his Protects and enabling his Scizor to get a +2 to OHKO my Kangaskhan with Bullet Punch. Without my counter to Swagger, it became really difficult for me to play around the Sableye and OHKO it with Confusion constantly disrupting my Pokemon’s attacks and being threatened by his Talonflame and Mega-Manectric. What’s even worse was that somehow it became impossible for me to predict what he was doing- I guess that’s what 6 hours of sleep does to you. I ended up losing. 0-1

Round 2: Yue Zheng Ting (Ploopy)

Rotom-Wash/Talonflame/Mawile(M)/Hydreigon  vs  Salamence/Garchomp/Talonflame/Kangaskhan(M)

Zheng Ting was one of the kids I had helped on occassion, and I knew he was a pretty strong player if he was in the right mindset. I decided to lead with double dragons early on to take out as many of his Pokemon as I could, but was soon cornered by Mega Mawile. I ended up trying to switch in my Talonflame into a suspected Will-O-Wisp, but in the end it ate a Thunderbolt on the turn it switched in because the enemy Rotom-Wash evaded the Salamence Draco Meteor at half health at that particular turn. Since my remaining three Pokemon were at a severe disadvantage to Mega Mawile, I was forced into a pretty bad position. That said, I was doing fairly okay until Turn Nine where I somehow expected Zheng Ting’s low-health Hydreigon to try to go for a double Protect instead of attacking it with Sucker Punch, which ended up getting my Salamence and my Kangaskhan knocked out on the same turn. Somehow I ended up thinking that there was something extremely wrong with my playing, which probably messed with my head for the rest of the day. Lost, 0-2

Round 3: Su Gi Chandran (Celenia)

Scrafty/Klefki/Garchomp/Talonflame  vs  Rotom-Wash/Talonflame/Aegislash/Garchomp

In retrospect, I had no idea what I was doing leading with Rotom-Wash and Talonflame and not depending on Kangaskhan or Aegislash at all. The second thing I failed to do was to take out the Klefki since it was the biggest danger, and because I failed to stop it, Su Gi’s Garchomp got to +4 through a Safeguard/Swagger combination and it swept my team. The battle was over fairly quickly, and I got 4-0’d. Total count of the day: 0-3

Round 4: Chen Yuan (DC)

Rotom-Heat/Kangaskhan(M)/Ferrothorn/Scrafty  vs  Kangaskhan(M)/Talonflame/Garchomp/Aegislash

At this point I already kinda knew that I wasn’t going to Top Cut at all, so when I went in for my fourth match I was just trying to figure out where I went wrong. When I saw Chen Yuan’s team, somehow I figured that this was probably a ‘serious competitive player’-kind-of-team and that even though my opponent was also going 0-3, I couldn’t take her lightly. Either that or I was innately terrified of Liepard. That said, even though my Kangaskhan was the first to fall due to losing a Sucker Punch speed tie, I ended up taking the win when Talonflame and Garchomp knocked out both Rotom-H and Ferrothorn on the same turn, leaving only her Scrafty and Kangaskhan up against my Talonflame, Garchomp, and Aegislash in the back. Ice Punch knocked out my Garchomp when Talon went for the knockout against the Kangaskhan, but by then it was pretty much game. Score: 1-3

Round 5: Gan Eujun (Flux)

Garchomp/Gardevoir/Azumarill/Kangaskhan(M)  vs  Kangaskhan(M)/Talonflame/Rotom-Wash/Aegislash

When I was rewatching the battle video for this match, I can only stare in horror when I make unnecessary double-targets which ended up costing me the game. I have literally no other explanation for this: I double-targeted into Protects twice when I should have gone for spread attacks, and ended up getting murdered for it. I ended up losing Talonflame early and my own Kangaskhan was severely damaged before his Kangaskhan showed up, thereby ruining my chances of taking it on safely with Garchomp and Azumarill as backup.  Score: 1-4

Round 6: Ronald Seet (Sanniih)

Charizard(X)/Amoonguss/Aegislash/Azumarill  vs  Garchomp/?/Salamence/Kangaskhan(M) (I think I’m not very sure since I didn’t write it down/save battle video)

Apparently I forgot to save the battle video of this match, but I have some vague recollection of not being able to stop the Charizard X from setting up because of Amoonguss and having Salamence in the back instead of in the front where it could have stopped Charizard X from taking out whatever was my front leads (I’m thinking it wasn’t Kanga-Talon because if it was Kanga-Talon I don’t think I would have lost to Amoonguss-Charizard X). I feel kind of mystified because I think I knew this was a Charizard X team just from team preview, but didn’t do anything to stop it? I think I actually had some weird brain fart and tried to Dragon Claw the Charizard with a Garchomp lead even though I knew somewhere deep in my subconsciousness that it wouldn’t knock it out. Oh well. Anyway, score: 1-5.

Round 7: Zijing

Tyranitar/Machamp/Mawile(M)/Amoonguss  vs  Kangaskhan(M)/Talonflame/Aegislash/Garchomp

In conclusion of ‘The Day Wai Yin Absolutely Did Not Play Properly’, my Round 7 opponent was a young child that was rather enthusiastic about Pokemon playing, if a bit rough around the edges. For what it’s worth, I think Zijing was playing better than me that day and with a good deal of training, he could probably be a strong player in his own right. But in even more stupidity, I tried to Sucker Punch a Leftovers Tyranitar with an Amoonguss on the field at +2. No, I do not know what I was thinking either. Still, I managed to win and I ended up going 2-5 on Day 1.

Day 2 Qualifiers: In Which I Use the Same Team Again

After the deplorable showing on Day 1 (looking back on it now, I was fighting even worse than some of the worst players I’ve seen on Showdown) my brother kicked me off to bed early and I actually got a full 8 hours of sleep that day. Armed with Panadol, my beloved Inky the life-sized Inkay plush, and a newly-arrived Charizard X Megastone Pendant, I felt as if I had pushed my luck stat to the max and had made enough prayers to the Great Lord Togekiss. Because somehow I had come to the conclusion that despite Day 1 being deplorable, that team was still the best I had, so I was going to use it again. Even though I still hadn’t figured out then what was going wrong, but I had a feeling it was something to do with me not trusting my Kangaskhan.

Round 1: Wilson

Charizard(Y)/Venusaur/Rotom-Heat/Azumarill  vs  Talonflame/Kangaskhan(M)/Garchomp/Rotom-Wash

Wilson was a top contender in some of the previous tourneys, so I was already sure that the Great Lord Togekiss had decided to forsake me that day. His team looked like a generic sun team, although the Azumarill made me a bit cautious whether it was a Charizard X team in disguise. That, and presuming that he was actually going to go with something to take out Garchomp (which handles CharY+Venus leads very well), I led with Kangaskhan+Talonflame. He ended up leading with Charizard(Y)/Venusaur which was okay with Kangaskhan and Talon, and with some careful playing I managed to neuter his Azumarill and Rotom-H while they were switching in. My Garchomp avoided Sleep Powder on the last turn and scored a critical hit with Dragon Claw, but by that time it was one Venusaur vs my whole team of nearly full health Pokemon (inclusive of Talonflame) so I took that as a sign that the Great Lord Togekiss was actually smiling on me. Score: 1-0

Round 2: Gan Eujun (Flux)

Azumarill/Amoonguss/Pyroar/Kangaskhan(M)  vs  Garchomp/Talonflame/Kangaskhan(M)/Aegislash

I actually lost to Eujun the day before so I was apprehensive about fighting him again; and his team seemed to have changed to include Belly Drum Azumarill (or at least, I presumed it was carrying Belly Drum because of the Amoonguss) and still had Pyroar (which I always thought was actually quite threatening on Showdown when I first fought it ages ago). However, he tried to lead Amoonguss+Azumarill and I went with Garchomp+Talonflame, which pretty much nullified Amoonguss’s redirecting Rage Powder and put both of his Pokemon under heavy pressure. From there, and a gutsy Tailwind in the face of a +6 Azumarill (who thankfully decided to Protect on that turn), Garchomp and gang managed to pull off a sweet sweep and net the victory. Score: 2-0

Round 3: Lim Xiao Ming (Mao)

Raichu/Banette(M)/Sylveon/Amoonguss  vs  Talonflame/Kangaskhan(M)/Garchomp/Aegislash

I was actually also kind of terrified of fighting Gyarados and Raichu because previous experience with Shang Loh taught me to be very very afraid of it. Luckily my opponent decided to lead with Raichu+Banette instead against Kangaskhan+Talon, and being the reckless person I am, I left Talonflame in on that turn and went for the Quick Guard. This blocked the Fake Out that was meant for Kangaskhan and Kangaskhan managed to KO Raichu that turn. A double Protect from Banette ended up with my Talonflame getting knocked out by Moonblast from Sylveon (I wasn’t paying too much attention to the damage from the prior turn; my mistake) and it came down to Garchomp and Kangaskhan vs a low health Sylveon and Amoonguss. Knowing Max HP Kangaskhan would take Garchomp’s Earthquake like a boss, I used Earthquake to ensure that I wouldn’t miss the Sylveon (like Rock Slide has a tendency to do) and ended up clinching victory. Score: 3-0

Round 4: Leong Jun Hao (ILoveBunny)

Aegislash/Salamence/Amoonguss/Charizard X(M)  vs  Kangaskhan(M)/Talonflame/Garchomp/Rotom-Wash

I think I knew this was also a Charizard X team, so I expected Amoonguss+Charizard X lead and led with Kangaskhan+Talonflame. My mistake. He led with Salamence and Aegislash, and then as Kit said when reviewing my match later: “You need to stop overpredicting and Tailwinding when you don’t need to”. I ended up losing Talonflame far too early in the game when I needed it against Amoonguss, and spent far too much time trying to deal with the rest of the team so that when Charizard X finally showed its face, my team was far too battered to prove much of a threat. Amusingly enough though, when I tried to Power-Up Punch Amoonguss (no I have no idea what I was doing) I ended up getting hit by Effect Spore and my Kangaskhan was poisoned, which stopped his Spore from hitting it. In hindsight though, it was probably that poison that destroyed my Kangaskhan in the long term. Score: 3-1

Round 5: Goutham Jayaraman (Goutham)

Kangaskhan(M)/Gourgeist/Hydreigon/Slowbro  vs  Talonflame/Aegislash/Kangaskhan(M)/Rotom-Wash

I figured Goutham was running a Trick Room team because of the Slowbro and Gourgeist with a fast mode in Hydreigon and Kangaskhan. My lead option would actually be very crucial here since if he ran with Kangaskhan+Choice Specs Hydreigon, Aegislash (my usual counter to Trick Room teams) would be in grave danger. Still, I figured that against a fast team like mine, he probably would go for the Trick Room lead instead, and went with an Aegis+Talonflame lead, against his Kangaskhan+Gourgeist lead. Turn 1 Quick Guard blocked the predicted Scrappy Fake Out on Aegislash, and a critical hit Shadow Ball took out Gourgeist without much trouble (in hindsight I probably should have just double targeted the Gourgeist but oh well, it worked out). His Hydreigon came in and took out Talonflame with Stone Edge, and I brought in my Kangaskhan. Then Goutham’s Kangaskhan revealed Hammer Arm, which brought my Kangaskhan to 8 HP (it has an 18.8% chance to OHKO so I was very thankful I ran Max HP right then). After that, Sucker Punch+Shadow Sneak pretty much kept Goutham’s Kangaskhan on its toes and took out his low-health Hydreigon, and another critical Shadow Ball on his Slowbro sealed the game. Score: 4-1

Round 6: Isaac Lam (Rachaél)

Mienshao/Gyarados/Hydreigon/Venusaur(M)  vs  Garchomp/Talonflame/Kangaskhan(M)/Aegislash

Isaac’s actually one of my closest friends and also the only person who had gone undefeated in the tournament thus far, and he had been religiously testing his team with my brother the night before so I was apprehensive what I would fight. At first glance, his team was really Kangaskhan-unfriendly: Mienshao would devastate Kangaskhan if it was given the opening, and Mawile was the one mega that Kangaskhan would outright lose against one-on-one. Gyarados and Mawile also provided Intimidate backup, but at the same time I had spent the day telling myself I would trust in Kangaskhan’s intrinsic goodness, so I put it in the back and led with a Garchomp-Talonflame lead. Almost immediately I had to switch Talonflame out because of both Mienshao and Gyarados, and ended up bringing Aegislash in. It was then that Isaac revealed that his Gyarados had Taunt as well as Ice Fang (which thankfully went straight into a Protect), leaving my Aegislash vulnerable in Blade form and Garchomp heavily threatened by an OHKO. Despite the risk, I decided to leave Aegislash into battle, threatening the Mienshao with a quick Flash Cannon+Shadow Sneak KO and forcing him to switch out to Hydreigon (which still took a decent amount of damage from Flash Cannon) and switched Garchomp for Kangaskhan. At some point, Mienshao came back in, but because it was running Knock Off, I don’t think it held Quick Guard. It was then that I realized that Isaac’s team was heavily threatened by priority, and after some chip damage Shadow Sneak and Sucker Punches, Talonflame came back in and finished the game. Score: 5-1

Round 7: Ye Zhiyang (Sparky)

Talonflame/Starmie/Charizard(Y)/Jolteon  vs  Kangaskhan(M)/Aegislash/Talonflame/Garchomp

By this time I was already guaranteed a place in Top Cut, and I was tired, so looking back at this now, I made a few befuddling plays here that made my game a lot more difficult. The first time we played, there was a disconnect in Turn 2- so we were told to do choose the same leads but we were free to switch moves and stuff since Sparky’s Starmie’s Scald burned my Kangaskhan in turn 1 and chances were we wouldn’t be able to recreate that. So instead of OHKOing the Starmie with Shadow Ball like I did in the previous game, I targeted the Talonflame instead- which survived, and Kangaskhan got burned by Scald again. That made my life a lot more difficult, but his Talonflame took out Kangaskhan and itself the next turn, and Shadow Sneak took out Starmie on Turn 3. However, around this time Charizard(Y) made its appearance and unfortunately Sky Plate Talonflame wasn’t powerful enough to net an OHKO and it destroyed Aegislash, leaving only Talonflame and Garchomp against Charizard Y and Jolteon. Talonflame set up Tailwind, and Garchomp pretty much just finished the job. Sparky later told me that his Jolteon didn’t run Hidden Power Ice because his counter to dragons was Starmie (which in my opinion is putting all your eggs in one basket but well, it worked well enough for him, even if HP Ice with LO has a 90+% chance of OHKOing Garchomp. Regardless, I ended the day with only one loss; score: 6-1

Top Cut 32: vs Samuel Sim (Yasmine)

I had mixed feelings about making it into Top 32. I refused to let myself get too hyped up about how far I could go, even though I wanted nothing more than to fight my brother in the semi-finals. However, given that our brackets were different, that was the only way we could fight – and I would have to get through Eugene Tan, the reigning Singapore Champion first. I wasn’t sure that I would even make it that far.

My initial reaction to this team was abject horror when I realized I was facing a really standard team with the exception of Malamar, especially with a Kangaskhan of its own which would most likely outspeed my own Kangaskhan. There was also Salamence and Rotom-H and Amoonguss and Aegislash which would make it incredibly difficult for me to use Kangaskhan if it got bogged down by Intimidates, burns and redirected attacks.

And even with all that said I still thought Kangaskhan was the most reliable option here.

Game 1

Kangaskhan(M)/Malamar/Amoonguss/Rotom-Heat  vs  Talonflame/Kangaskhan(M)/Salamence/Aegislash

I already suspected that Samuel’s Kangaskhan was faster than mine, so I decided to go for a gamble and try for a turn 1 Power Up Punch. Talonflame used Quick Guard, just in case he decided to go for the Fake Out- which he did- and a Power-Up Punch got my Kangaskhan to +2, knocking his own Kanga into Brave Bird knock out range and seizing the offensive momentum in one fell swoop. His Malamar moved last, revealing that it wasn’t carrying a Choice Scarf, and went for the Superpower on my Kangaskhan, who took around 60-70%, but still healthy enough to prove a threat. By Turn 2, he was forced to switch out his Kangaskhan to avoid the obvious BB KO on it, and even at +1 Defense, Malamar was unable to take a full powered +2 Return from Kangaskhan. It was here that Samuel decided to bring in Amoonguss instead of threatening my Talonflame with Kangaskhan, and a cautious Protect from the mushroom enabled me to net the knockout on the Rotom-H before it could do anything, allowing both Talonflame and Kangaskhan to double-target the Amoonguss the next turn (Kangaskhan also survived his Kangaskhan’s Sucker Punch at 1HP before falling to Rocky Helmet) and basically clinching the game, 3-0.

Game 2

Malamar/Rotom-Heat/Kangaskhan(M)/Amoonguss  vs  Kangaskhan(M)/Talonflame/Aegislash/Salamence

Considering how overwhelming Kangaskhan-Talonflame seemed to be against him, I decided to bring them again. Surprisingly, Samuel still stuck with the same four Pokemon even if he did switch the lead up a bit. Suspecting that the Malamar might try to pull something funny (like Trick Room), I double targeted it on the first turn and took it out of commission, expecting to sacrifice my Kangaskhan or Talonflame to Rotom-Heat. A lucky Will-o-Wisp miss meant that Kangaskhan’s offensive pressure still continued, and deciding not to risk Talonflame any more than I already had, I switched it out for Salamence, which intimidated his Kangaskhan while eating a Thunderbolt from Rotom-H. It got a little touch-and-go when his Kangaskhan managed to get Power-Up Punch off and took out my own Kangaskhan, but for some reason, Samuel chose not to push the offensive when his Kangaskhan was pushed down to +0 and switched out, enabling Aegislash and Salamence to take out Rotom-H and damage his Amoonguss pretty decently. After that, Amoonguss was knocked out of the picture, and Talonflame came back in, taking out his 55% Health Kangaskhan with a Brave Bird. 2-0

Win: 2-0

Top 16: Chen Chun Ling (Tia)

If Samuel’s team made me panic, Chun Ling’s team was about to make me cry. Not only was Sableye the one thing that was almost certain to get Will-o-Wisp off on Kangaskhan if it was given the chance, the presence of Tyranitar, Rotom-H, Azumarill and Kangaskhan meant that Talonflame (the only thing stopping Sableye) was heavily threatened in this matchup. But at the same time, Talonflame was the one Pokemon I could see that could threaten Kangaskhan, Sableye, and Azumarill respectively- and I refused to let myself get swept by a +6 Azumarill. So given how reckless decisions seemed to be working extremely well for me for some reason, I went with Talonflame-Kangaskhan as a lead again.

Game 1

Sableye/Kangaskhan(M)/Rotom-Heat/Aegislash  vs  Talonflame/Kangaskhan(M)/Rotom-Wash/Aegislash

Almost immediately, I got off to the wrong start. Chun Ling called my Quick Guard bluff and went straight for the attack with Foul Play from Sableye, and in the next turn a double target into his Kangaskhan’s Protect ended up with my Kangaskhan being burnt. Foul Play then took out my own Kangaskhan, and in the next turn it also almost took out Talonflame (who survived, thankfully, just long enough to Flare Blitz his Aegislash). Rotom-Wash managed to take out Sableye through its confusion, but by then it was a confused Rotom-W and Aegislash vs Chun Ling’s Rotom-Heat and near-full health Mega Kangaskhan. Rotom-Wash ate a Parental Bond Return and survived one turn, but died the very next from Sucker Punch. It was during this turn that Rotom-Heat Overheated Aegislash (who survived; Chun Ling later admitted that his Rotom-Heat wasn’t max special attack Modest, but even that one only has a 37.5% chance to OHKO Aegislash) and triggered Weakness Policy. Shadow Ball knocked out his Rotom-Heat, leaving the game to a Kangaskhan vs Aegislash standoff. I was actually afraid that Chun Ling would catch on to the fact that I was counting his Sucker Punches, and that he might actually have 8 PP for Sucker Punch instead of the 5 that I counted, but eventually I decided why the Arceus not, and let loose with a +2 Flash Cannon which took his Kangaskhan out of commission. The battle lasted 20 turns, 1-0.

Game 2

Sableye/Kangaskhan(M)/Aegislash/Rotom-Heat  vs  Aegislash/Kangaskhan(M)/Talonflame/Garchomp

Realizing that Talonflame was far too valuable in this matchup to just lead with it, I decided to go with Aegislash+Kangaskhan this time around to knock out the Sableye as soon as possible. Even though Aegislash wasn’t able to complete the job, knocking Sableye down to 25-30% HP before it got Taunted, Garchomp managed to come in safely. I actually forgot about the Kangaskhan having Protect and I ended up Earthquaking my own Kangaskhan to secure Sableye’s demise, and it was soon replaced by Rotom-H. However, even though it was burnt, +2 Kangaskhan Return and Rock Slide was more than enough to take it out of commission, while Garchomp survived a +0 Return from Chun Ling’s Kangaskhan. I was a bit worried that Chun Ling’s Aegislash would set up a substitute, which I could do nothing about because Garchomp was sitting right in the range of Sucker Punch KO range, but thankfully he decided to go for the attack on my own Kangaskhan, which knocked it out of the match. This allowed Talonflame to come in safely, and with his own Kangaskhan within Brave Bird knockout range, I knew there was no way he could win. In the end, Talonflame and Garchomp sealed the match, 2-0.

Win: 2-0

Top 8: Eugene Tan (Verte)

When I told Eugene I would be his next opponent, we both promised each other that we wouldn’t hold back at all, even though we both knew how badly the other wanted to win – myself so that I could face my brother; Eugene so that he could defend his title. The last time we fought was back during the X/Y launch event, when we held an exhibition match – one which he won because he outpredicted me. Our matches were actually streamed live with commentary, so I actually felt an adrenaline rush – it was like this was the rematch I’d been waiting for, for all these months. And even though I wanted Eugene to win, I didn’t want to lose either.

Eugene’s team was solidly built, and one that was rather Talonflame-unfriendly, even though I knew that if I weakened his Pokemon enough, Talonflame would be able to sweep. But in the end, I decided to go with Kangaskhan as my primary win-condition, since if Kangaskhan managed to get to +2, she would be able to sweep most of his team members without too much trouble.

Game 1

Venusaur(M)/Gyarados/Garchomp/Aegislash  vs  Kangaskhan(M)/Talonflame/Rotom-Wash/Garchomp

Since the video is out for all to see, I’ll just comment on some of the things I found interesting about the battle. Eugene’s Rocky Helmet Garchomp was the first time I had ever encountered one, and while I had heard it was good at stopping Mega Kangaskhan, I had no idea how damaging it was until I actually watched its health drop to half. Pulling myself out of that and switching my win condition to Talonflame was difficult, because up till then, I had been relying on Kangaskhan to hopefully power her way through his team. Gyarados was also a Pokemon I had heard plenty about (Gyarados/Raichu from Shang, Expert Belt/Life Orb Gyarados from Matthew, Intimidate Support Gyarados, Dragon Dance Mega Gyarados), but it wasn’t until I faced it paired with Venusaur that I realized how dangerously risky I was playing the game. It was also here that I was so utterly thankful for running Sitrus Berry 252/52 Calm Rotom-Wash, because Rotom-Wash was capable of surviving his Venusaur’s Giga Drain, enabling it to maintain its threat against Gyarados. Win: 2-0

Game 2

Venusaur(M)/Garchomp/Aegislash/Gyarados  vs  Kangaskhan(M)/Rotom-Wash/Talonflame/Aegislash

I actually realized by now that Kangaskhan would have to be a support option and that my only really reliable win conditon was Talonflame. That said, I geared my team choice to be able to take out Gyarados and Garchomp as soon as possible – namely, leading with Rotom-Wash. To be honest, now that I look at the battle video, I think I actually misplayed towards the end. Aegislash at full health would have been able to wall Venusaur – I could have double targeted the Gyarados, or switched it out for Talonflame in order to bring it back with King’s Shield later. Regardless, I had been banking that Talonflame wouldn’t knock itself out with Brave Bird recoil on Gyarados, and I miscalculated. I think I had to admire Eugene for chipping Rotom-Wash’s health away in such a way that it was within Venusaur’s knockout range without triggering Sitrus Berry. Loss: 0-1

Anyway, by this time we were exhausted just by fighting each other in 2 intense battles with high prediction, so much so that even the commentators were tired. We were allowed a break, and we wandered around for a bit relaxing. I didn’t want to fight Eugene again, mostly because it was that so-close-yet-so-far feeling and I was sure that he was the better player and he was going to beat me through some way or another, but well, I got myself into this so I had to see it through if I wanted to fight my brother.

Game 3

Venusaur(M)/Aegislash/Garchomp/Gyarados  vs  Salamence/Kangaskhan(M)/Talonflame/Rotom-Wash

There was one Pokemon on my team that I was fairly confident could take on the majority of Eugene’s Pokemon; one Pokemon that I hadn’t brought because of my fear of his Mamoswine- Salamence. With a Life Orb, Salamence was able to switch moves, outspeed the majority of his Pokemon, and deal with his Garchomp one-on-one. To be honest, when Salamence’s Fire Blast missed his Gyarados, it actually helped in my favor because Eugene didn’t realize it was Life Orbed and switched Garchomp in, enabling me to net the knockout with Draco Meteor. However, I didn’t expect Ice Fang from Gyarados, which knocked out Salamence immediately and left us both down to three Pokemon. Admittedly both of us were exhausted by this battle, so we made a few misplays here and there – the one I regret most is double targeting Eugene’s Gyarados with Kangaskhan and Rotom-Wash instead of Sucker Punching his Aegislash and breaking its sub, which would have made life a lot easier for me. To be completely honest, when it was down to Aegislash vs Rotom-Wash, I thought I had lost – that all Eugene needed to do was to Shadow Ball me once, and I was dead. I actually thought he’d predict my Rotom-Wash’s wisp on his Aegislash when it went to King’s Shield, and go for the Shadow Ball instead, because wisp on King’s Shield would pretty much mean that I would probably come out on top if I managed to stall his attacks out. Thankfully, Rotom-Wash managed to take a Shadow Ball thanks to his special defense investment and pull out the win for me, although it was a really close thing. I literally cheered when I saw it survive Shadow Ball and trigger Sitrus Berry. Win: 1-0.

Win: 2-1

Top 4: Theron Ho (Boss)

So unfortunately, even though I managed to beat Eugene, Kit did not manage to beat Theron. And Theron was the one person I had an absolutely terrible losing streak against – because for some obscure reason, ever since VGC 14 swung around, I was literally unable to predict him. Even though he always used the same team. While this team looked somewhat different, I already suspected the Salamence was carrying Choice Specs and the Rotom-Heat was Choice Scarfed.

Game 1

Salamence/Rotom-Heat/Mawile(M)/Venusaur  vs  Talonflame/Kangaskhan(M)/Rotom-Wash/Aegislash

And despite me knowing exactly what he was running, I still got utterly obliterated by his lack of prediction. Previously, Theron would use his Choice Scarf Rotom-Heat to burn my Pokemon before they could even move, and I expected he would repeat that move, but instead he went for an offensive opening – which left Talonflame dead, even though I managed to push his Salamence down to Sucker Punch KO range. And then because I continued to predict, I expected him to switch out his Salamence so it wouldn’t get KOd by Sucker Punch and went for the Power-Up Punch – only to have him Draco Meteor me and claim a 2-4 lead. In retrospect, perhaps fighting Theron right after Eugene was really bad for my mental state because I kept expecting predictions and I lost because of that. Loss, 0-3

Game 2

Salamence/Rotom-Heat/Mawile(M)/Venusaur  vs  Talonflame/Kangaskhan(M)/Salamence/Aegislash

So I decided to mess things up a bit. Since Theron was playing simplistic offense, I pulled out Tailwind (sacrificing Talonflame along the way) on Turn 1 and proceeded to go all out with a Life Orb Salamence, netting KO after KO. Even though it was slightly risky to depend on no 100% acc moves, Salamence and Kangaskhan managed to plow their way through his team, forcing a (non-mega)Venusaur vs Aegislash and getting me the win. Win 2-0

Game 3

Salamence/Rotom-Heat/Venusaur/Mawile (M)  vs  Kangaskhan(M)/Rotom-Wash/Aegislash/Talonflame

I don’t know what I was expecting, but I really expected Theron to change up his team strategy by now, since the round 2 victory was something he was struggling against. So I expected a different lead (although I suspected Rotom-Heat, thus chose Rotom-Wash to scare it out). In hindsight, that was my biggest mistake. Theron went on ahead with the exact same leads and exact same openings, and this time without Talonflame as lead to set up sacrificial Tailwind and plenty of mispredicts, I ended up getting badly destroyed again. Loss, 0-3

Conclusions

Although I ended up losing pretty badly in the Top 4 matches because I misread my opponent, I think I didn’t really care. At that point I was tired and actually rather happy that I placed Top 4 in a tournament that was incredibly tough to get through (even though I feel a bit sad that I couldn’t get to face Nelson Lim in my brother’s place).

The Elite 4 Tournament was an adventure for me. From a devastating Day 1 to almost winning it all on Day 2 and fighting the Champion himself to claim the Elite 4 title – it was almost out of a dream. But even though I didn’t win, when I finally held the Gible plaque that I drew for the semifinalists and realized that I had actually accomplished what I had always wanted to do, it was a really amazing feeling.

I’m glad that I managed to prove that my team worked. I’m glad to prove to myself that I was right to trust my instincts and my skill- that a team is only as good as it’s trainer, and that I was right to use this team, even when people told me not to do so for all three days in a row. Even though this was in no way as big an accomplishment as getting through to Worlds, it felt so much more to me.

And the best thing is that this event just reminds me all the more exactly why I play Pokemon- the thrill of fighting strong opponents and that adrenaline rush, the friends and the people you meet, and the knowledge that no matter how strong you are, you always have so much more to learn and so much more to achieve.

To my mentors, Kit and Matt, I’ve thanked you a dozen times over by now but here’s another one to you. Thank you for believing in me and for giving me the advice I needed to get my team and my act together.

And to my group of brothers that have always encouraged and helped me, thank you for teaching me all these little things I wouldn’t know otherwise- like Gyarados/Raichu, spotting Charizard X teams, learning how to predict, fighting Kangaskhan, learning about the latest in the metagame… I wouldn’t have achieved this without you.

To my opponents, thank you for all the battles. I’ve learnt a great deal from them, not only as a trainer, but as a person. Even though I may not have realized it, all of you were instrumental to helping me get this far.

And to my team, whom I owe a lot to even though you’re just little bits of adorable data, thank you for hanging in there with me and for surviving all sorts of weird shit being thrown at you. I’m glad I decided to stick with you guys despite everything.

And to anyone else out there who wants to fight me: as your new Elite 4 of Singapore, I will gladly take up any challenges!

The post 4th Place Finish: Singapore Elite 4 Challenge Semifinalist Team appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hello, I am Collin Heier, The Battle Room online. I have been playing competitively since 2011 but this was by far my most successful year. I began my 2014 season with bubbling out of Top Cut at Fort Wayne Regionals, followed by a Top 16 finish at St. Louis. I knew I needed to step up my game if I wanted a shot at the Worlds invite. I ended up getting Top 4 and 1st at other Regionals with my Trick Room team featuring Reuniclus. While preparing for U.S. Nationals, I focused on trying to make Mega Gyarados successful, but I ended up scraping the idea and going with my Trick Room team. I finished with 6-3 at Nationals. Although I got my invite, I felt disappointed. I thought I would be able to top cut. I knew I needed a new team for Worlds if I wanted to do well. The following team is the team I used to get 3rd at the Pokémon World Championships last month in Washington D.C.

Team Building Process

I began team building immediately after U.S. Nationals. I quickly ruled out Trick Room. I didn’t think it would be a good call for Worlds, because I assumed people would be well prepared for it. I started by looking at what did well at U.S. Nationals. I personally feel that Simon Yip’s (Simon) Blastoise team was the best team used at U.S. Nationals this year. I tried to get my own version to work but I found out quickly that I wasn’t comfortable with the way Mega Blastoise played. When Blastoise takes damage he starts to become dead weight. He needs to stay at full HP to really sweep and do damage with Water Spout. I kept Simon’s Assault Vest Tyranitar and put it on several of my teams. I felt that Tyranitar was a great call for Worlds. I assumed there would be a lot of Zapdos , Hydreigon, and Rotom-Heat. After scratching Blastoise off, I moved on to Ray/Sejun’s Nationals team. I ended up using a variant in the Nugget Bridge Invitational. After losing Round 1 of the invitational, I felt discouraged and doubted myself. I spent the next couple weeks before Worlds testing several ideas but nothing panned out. I left for D.C. on the Monday before Worlds.

I had nothing. I ended up talking to Zach Droegkamp (Zach) right before I left. I felt like I needed to show off and use something crazy/cool. Zach told me to go with what I have done in the past and to use Pokémon and strategies I felt comfortable with. The car ride was around 13 hours so I had a lot of time to think and figure my team out.  At 12:00 P.M. I began building the team in my head and I kept throwing stuff in a team builder. I stayed up until around 4 A.M. I finally decided on using a core I had used since early spring.

After deciding on these three, I knew I wanted to use Tyranitar. Tyranitar has always been a good Pokémon and I thought he would be the perfect call for worlds. On Tuesday, I began thinking of the 5th and 6th Pokémon. I knew I was in a rush so I knew I needed help.  I ended up talking to my good friend and previous National Champion Gavin Michaels (kingofmars). He noticed an instant weakness to Hydreigon, Mamoswine, Lucario, and enemy Tyranitar. He suggested Assault Vest Conkeldurr. Conkeldurr helped with Rotom formes, Hydreigon, Tyranitar, Kangaskhan, and Rain, all of which I expected to see a lot of.

At this point it was Wednesday and I was lost. I ended up spending all day Wednesday and most of Thursday talking to people and figuring the last slot out. I ended up talking to around ten different people but no one gave me anything that I felt fit. I was told to use Talonflame, Gengar, Pyroar, Rotom-Heat, Trevenant, and Aegislash. I can’t even begin to mention all the times Benji Irons (benji) told me to use Pyroar.  I ended up panicking and placing a Gengar in the last slot right before the eight o’clock player meeting. Thankfully, we did not need to lock our battle boxes and I was given several more hours to figure this last slot out. I ended up spending around an hour with Oliver Valenti (Smith) in his hotel room discussing why I could not use Rotom-Heat in the last slot. When we came up with nothing, I left to go get some sleep. Benji walked me to the elevator and we spent another hour laying on the floor trying to think of something to fit in the last slot. He kept trying to convince me that Safety Goggles Gengar was the play. I felt completely lost. When I woke up the next morning, I was in a state of absolute panic. In a few hours, I would be playing in Worlds. I still did not have my last Pokémon. I stopped to look at what I still had issues against. After seeing Wolfe Glick (Wolfey) make it through the LCQ with a Trick Room team featuring Gothitelle and Mega Mawile, I was a little scared of Trick Room. I also felt I did not have enough for Gardevoir and Mawile. I wanted something to switch in and out of Shadow Tag and take a Play Rough from Mawile. Right before the opening ceremony, I told Blake Hopper (Bopper) that I needed a Quiet Aegislash with Sacred Sword. As the opening ceremony started he was still EV training it for me. I can’t even begin to describe how nervous I was. I felt like I was going to throw up and before I knew it I was sitting down across from Ben Rothman (Ben7000). I had never done an official battle with all six of my guys before round one.

The Team

Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Atk / 4 Def / 116 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Play Rough
– Iron Head
– Sucker Punch
– Protect

Mawile is by far my favorite Mega Pokémon. Ever since I began using it after spring Regionals, I never looked back. I usually use it on Trick Room teams but I felt that Thunder Wave would be better for worlds. With Zapdos providing the speed control, this time around my team wasn’t as focused on Mawile. I ran the standard moveset because I don’t think there is anything better for my team. Play Rough is a strong Fairy STAB move that is useful for general damage. Sucker Punch is for priority and just a nice way to hit Ghost-types if need be. Iron Head is by far my favorite move on Mawile. Iron Head is just a slightly weaker Play Rough that never misses. I can’t run Mawile without it. I hate missing.

My spread was somewhat simple. I ran enough Special Defense to be 3HKOed by max Special Attack Rotom Thunderbolts and to survive Modest Charizard Heat Waves in sand. I ran enough Speed to hopefully speed creep other Mawiles. I dumped the rest of the EVs in Attack. Mawile performed exactly as I expected it to. I brought Mawile to every game at Worlds. Mawile is a Mega I was comfortable with and I knew it inside and out. Mawile is a great check for Mega Kangaskhan and does well against most teams.

Zapdos @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 220 HP / 144 Def / 28 SpA / 76 SpD / 36 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 4 Atk / 30 Def
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Thunder Wave
– Roost

I love speed control. I need it on almost every team. For Worlds, I chose to go with Thunder Wave Zapdos. Thunder Wave also helped against enemy Mawile, Hydreigon, and Rain teams. In my opinion, Zapdos is the best non-Mega Pokémon in Kalos.  Zapdos has two weaknesses that are easily covered and Zapdos is a very difficult Pokémon to KO. I ran a standard moveset on Zapdos because it was the best set I could run for what I needed it to do. I ran Thunderbolt for a strong Electric-type STAB move. Although I cannot actually KO any Dragon-types with Hidden Power Ice, I still ran it so I had the option to hit them. Thunder Wave was my form of speed control. Roost was for recovery so Zapdos could hang around and Paralyze more Pokémon. I treated this Zapdos as I would a Thundurus from 2013. I have been using Zapdos since early spring after seeing Keewan Bae use it on his rain team. I ran Safety Goggles as I was afraid of facing Azumaril and Amoonguss. Safety Goggles also allowed my Zapdos to avoid Sandstorm damage that my Tyranitar provided.

My HP allowed me to survive Staraptor Final Gambits. I ran 76 EVs in Special Defense to survive Choice Specs Hydreigon Draco Meteors with my Calm Nature. My defense allowed Zapdos to be 3HKOed by Life Orb Garchomp Rock Slides. My speed allowed me to outspeed max Speed Tyranitars. The rest of my EVs were dumped into Special Attack. Zapdos was a key component to my team as it allowed me to control the battle with Thunder Wave. Zapdos was also a great defensive pivot. Not many teams have a Pokémon that can OHKO Zapdos and are forced to double up on him. Zapdos provided offensive pressure because it hits a lot of Pokémon in the metagame for neutral damage and the Pokémon that is getting hit cannot deal enough damage back to Zapdos.

Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 28 HP / 36 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 188 Spe
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Dark Pulse
– Fire Blast
– Earth Power

Ahh, Hydreigon. I have used Hydreigon at all but one event in X and Y. He has been my favorite dragon by far this format. He has fantastic synergy with Mawile and provides huge offensive pressure. Hydreigon threatens very common Pokémon in the meta including: Rotom formes, Garchomp, Kangaskhan, Aegislash, Mawile, Charizard, and Amoonguss. The core of Mawile, Zapdos, and Hydreigon is one of the best I have used all season. There are very few things that can stop them. I ran Choice Specs this time around. I ran Choice Scarf almost all season, but I felt I would need more power for Worlds. My moveset is very standard, but I would like to touch on Earth Power. I had Dragon Pulse in the last slot for a while but I changed it to Earth Power two days before worlds. Earth Power allows me to OHKO almost all Mawile in and out of rain. It also allowed me to hit Tyranitar.

When asking Toler Webb (Dim) for advice on my spreads, he told me to use his Nationals Hydreigon spread. It does all the things it needed to. It survives Garchomp Dragon Claws 100% of the time. It outspeeds the Pokémon that speed creep Smeargle. Finally, Hydreigon has max Special Attack to hit as hard as possible with Choice Specs. Although many people were prepared for Hydreigon this time around, he was crucial in eliminating the threats to Mawile. He could OHKO Amoonguss, Aegislash, and Rotom-Heat. He was an important offensive powerhouse on my team.

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 52 Atk / 204 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Rock Slide
– Dark Pulse
– Ice Beam
– Fire Blast

Tyranitar was the MVP of my worlds team.  Tyranitar added much needed Speed to my team with Choice Scarf. Tryanitar was key in my rain match up and in my sun matchup, as he was able to change the weather. I ran Rock Slide for obvious reasons. Ice Beam was to OHKO Garchomp, as I did have some issues with that Pokémon. Fire Blast was just so I could at least hit Mawile. Dark Pulse was for the Dark-type coverage and it has a safe accuracy if I needed to hit. Tyranitar provided pure offense and speed on a very slow and bulky team.

My spread was very simple. I wanted to OHKO 4 HP Garchomp and run max Speed. I dumped the rest of the EVs into Attack. This meant that my Attack stat was higher than my Special Attack stat meaning Crunch would technically be stronger but I wanted the safety of Dark Pulse. I wanted to avoid King’s Shields, Intimidates, and Will-O-Wisps. In Game 1 of tournament battles, I would commonly be able to steal a KO with Ice Beam. In the following games, it would become much harder to get KOs, but the pressure it provided was still very useful. Tyranitar was a key Pokémon to my success at worlds. Tyranitar has always been a good Pokémon and Worlds was the perfect metagame to let his strength truly shine.

Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
EVs: 212 HP / 44 Atk / 144 Def / 108 SpD
Adamant Nature
IVs: 15 Spe
– Drain Punch
– Mach Punch
– Rock Slide
– Payback

Conkeldurr was the weirdest Pokémon I used at Worlds. I needed a way to deal with Tyranitar, Mamoswine, and Lucario. Also, having another answer to Kangaskhan is always nice. I used Assault Vest to strengthen his already amazing bulk. The Assault Vest also allowed me to handle the Rotom formes and Hydreigon better. The moveset is quite standard. Drain Punch is great for damage and recovery. I always like to come out on top with priority so Mach Punch is a must have. Rock Slide is useful for hitting Charizards, Talonflames, and Rotom-Heat. Payback was a move I ran so that I wouldn’t be walled by Aegislash. I ran 15 Speed IVs and an Adamant nature to always underspeed Aegislash by one point so I would be able to Payback it in Blade Forme. I wanted to be one point less than Aegislash so I could still abuse the Thunder Wave Zapdos provided.

I wanted to get the most out of Conkeldurr’s natural Defense stat, so I focused his EV spread in a defensive manner. For Conkeldurr to become a Kangaskhan counter, he needed to survive her attacks. He survives a Fake Out and Return from an Adamant Kangaskhan unless they max roll both Fake Out and Return. I ran 212 EVs in HP so I would be able to take one less point from sand damage. My Special Defense EVs allowed me to survive Modest Charizard-Y Overheats in sun 100% of the time with my Assault Vest.  The rest was put into Attack. Although Conkeldurr was my least used Pokémon, I felt he was necessary for the team to function. He gave me ways to deal with the most common Pokémon in the format. I did not play many Rotom or Kangaskhan throughout the day, so he remained inactive. He was easily the MVP of my 5th round of Swiss and my Top 8 match. I think more people should give him a shot. Conkeldurr is still good, even though it no longer has access to Ice Punch.

Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 92 SpA / 156 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Shadow Ball
– Sacred Sword
– Substitute
– King’s Shield

This Aegislash is the glue that held my team together. I needed another Pokémon that could deal with Fairy types and Gothitelle. Gothitelle has excellent synergy with Hydreigon and Mawile. If I was going to be able to threaten it, I would need to be able to survive Hydreigon’s strongest attack. I ran max HP and 156 Special Defense to always survive Specs Hydreigon Dark Pulse. This may seem like a lot of bulk, but I found it necessary if I was going to counter the Gothitelle/Mawile Trick Room teams. I find that the recovery you get from Leftovers can sometimes be unimportant to the rest of the battle. If I could survive Hydreigon’s attack, I might as well KO it back. So, naturally, I choose Weakness Policy. Weakness Policy also functions as a small surprise factor, as it isn’t as commonly seen on Aegislash as Leftovers is. Weakness Policy-boosted Shadow Ball also put Pokémon into my priority Mach Punch or Sucker Punch range.  I normally hate Quiet-natured Aegislash and run Modest, but on this team, I saw it as necessary for his role. He needed to be able to dish out as much as he could with both Shadow Ball and Scared Sword. I put the rest of my EVs into Special Attack so I could do more damage with Shadow Ball. My spread allowed my Aegislash to become even more defensive and to abuse his phenomenal bulk.

Concluding Thoughts

I loved this team. It fit my playstyle completely. I built my team with a defensive focus in mind. I wanted to make sure there were no exploitable holes or problems. Although I had three Ground-type and three Fairy-type weaknesses, I didn’t have too difficult of a time playing the team. Since I had such a short amount of time, I focused on using Pokémon I was comfortable with and that simply were the best I could use. I tried to be creative early on in the team building process, but I couldn’t get anything to function, so I went back to what worked for me all season. Thanks for reading about my team, and now let’s move on to the actual report of Worlds 2014.

(Since Worlds was over a month ago, my memory on some of my matches isn’t that great. I apologize if I get anything wrong in advance.)

Worlds 2014

Round 1: Ben Rothman (Ben7000)

Before the pairings went up I was beyond nervous and didn’t feel so good. I kinda felt good seeing my pairing. The week before Worlds, Ben stayed with Toler, and they practiced together. I watched them battle, and even helped Ben get some of his Pokémon, so I had an info advantage going into it. I don’t remember much about this set as I was really nervous. I made some risky plays and they paid off for the most part.

Game 1: Ben’s team had a lot of Pokémon I didn’t want to see for the sake of my Mega. The Amoonguss and Salamence scared me away from bringing Conkeldurr, and he had a lot of Pokémon to check Aegislash. In Game 1, I was nervous and kinda let it get the best of me. I misplayed repeatedly and lost momentum as soon as my Hydreigon fainted. I don’t want to take anything away from Ben, I respect him quite a bit, and he deserved the win.

Game 2: I led Zapdos/Mawile into Ben’s Amoonguss/Kangaskhan. I am able to get an early Thunder Wave on his Kangaskhan allowing my Hydreigon to take control of the game as he brought Amoonguss/Kangaskhan/Rotom-Heat/Aegislash. Hydreigon was the key to my success, as it was able to OHKO all of his Pokémon with its Choice Specs boosted attacks.

Game 3: This game played out very similarly to Game 2. We lead the same Pokémon and bring the same Pokémon in back. Hydreigon was too much for Ben to handle once I got control of the Kangaskhan. I was in control the entire match.

Ben is a great person and player. I was glad to play against someone as skilled as him. (1-0)

Round 2: Hayden McTavish (Enigne)

After winning Round 1, I wasn’t as nervous going into Round 2. After seeing the pairing I was actually pretty excited. Hayden didn’t have a spectacular season this year, but last year, he did win Worlds in the Seniors division. When I saw his team in team preview, I noticed that his Talonflame was the only thing from stopping my two Steel types from tearing through his entire team.

Game 1:  I led Mawile/Aegislash into his Gardevoir/Manectric. He ends up Overheating my Aegislash as I Protect with Mawile. He Will-O-Wisps into a Protect and I KO Gardevoir with a +2 Shadow Ball. Once Gardevoir was removed, Tyranitar and Hydreigon were able to handle his last three Pokémon.

Game 2: During Game 2, his Gardevoir revealed Trick Room and my Aegislash just stood in his way, truly sweeping on its own. This was the only game that went to time for me all day. I had three Pokémon remaining to his two, so I won the battle.

Hayden was a nice guy and it was cool to play a former world champion. (2-0)

Round 3: Daichi Kumabe (Scar)

After going 2-0, I needed to keep winning to increase my chances of reaching Top Cut. When I saw the pairing, I recognized the name as the person I sat across from during the player meeting. As we go into team preview, I also noticed that his name was Scar ingame. I had heard of Scar before, so I whispered over to Blake that I was playing Scar. Daichi asked me if I knew who he was, and I told him that I had heard of him. Daichi seemed happy that an American player had heard of him before.

Game 1: I led Tyranitar/Aegislash into his Garchomp/Zapdos. His Pressure ability activated first, and then my Sand Stream, which revealed to me that he had to be Choice Scarf Zapdos. I went for Ice Beam to try and snag an easy KO, and I went for a Sub on Aegislash. He fell into my trap and got OHKOed by my Ice Beam as he Thunderbolted my Tyranitar. The game was in my favor as he lost his best answer to my Mawile as he had Gardevoir and his own Mawile in back.

Game 2: This was a game I couldn’t forget. I lead with Mawile/Hydreigon into his Garchomp/Gengar. I felt so safe going for an easy Protect with Mawile and a Draco Meteor on his Garchomp. Once we both locked in our moves Daichi looked at me and started smiling and laughing. I see him try to Will-O-Wisp my Mawile. Then it happens. His Garchomp uses Draco Meteor. My Hydreigon is gone just like that. I bring in Zapdos and go for a Thunderbolt on Gengar and I go for an Iron Head with Mawile on Garchomp predicting him to switch out and to target my Zapdos with Gengar. He switches into Mawile. My Zapdos moves before his Gengar and this surprised me. I get my Iron Head off and then he sets up Trick Room with Gengar! I was shocked. He ends up sweeping most of my team until it’s just my Mawile/Aegislash vs his Tyranitar/Garchomp in Trick Room. I feel safe going for a Scared Sword on the Tyranitar to faint it and Play Rough onto Garchomp. I expected Aegislash to move fist, but Tyranitar does and it KOs my Mawile with Fire Blast. I KO his Tyranitar with Scared Sword and then he KOs Aegislash with Fire Blast from Garchomp!

Game 3: I was a bit thrown off from Game 2. I knew I needed to pressure his Garchomp and I couldn’t lose Hydreigon. I led Tyranitar/Hydreigon into his Zapdos/Garchomp. I go for an Ice Beam on Garchomp and a Fire Blast on Zapdos. I expected Mawile to switch in or I would 2HKO him. He switches out Garchomp into Gengar and Discharges. Thankfully my Tyranitar does not get paralyzed but my Hydreigon does. I switch out my Tyranitar for Aegislash and go for another Fire Blast on Zapdos. Gengar Protects and he Discharges. The match continues on like this for a while. Hydreigon misses a Fire Blast and gets fully paralyzed twice… Until it’s my Tyranitar and Mawile vs his Mawile and Gengar with Garchomp in the back. Gengar will faint to an Ice Beam, but his Mawile is full HP. I have to flinch the Mawile with my Iron Head so I can get an Ice Beam aimed at his Garchomp. I cross my fingers and hope for the best. Ice Beam KOs Gengar. My Mawile hits the Iron Head and he flinches! I am able to KO Garchomp with Ice Beam and his Mawile with my Iron Head.

I had a blast playing Daichi. It was really incredible to play someone from Japan at a live event. (3-0)

Round 4: Yuichi Saski

After going 3-0 in my first Worlds, I was shocked. I had built this team not even a week ago and I was 3-0!! I saw my next opponent and found out he was from Japan as well.

Game 1: His team was somewhat similar to Daichi’s team. I led with Tyranitar/Aegislash into his Garchomp/Aerodactyl. I went for the Ice beam and his Garchomp SURVIVED! He got off an easy Earthquake and I was done for. My Tyranitar fainted and my Aegislash was near to fainting. He easily cleaned up and won Game 1 very convincingly.

Game 2:  After that terrible Game 1, I needed to adapt and pressure his Garchomp more. I decide to lead with Mawile and Tyranitar to threaten the Ice Beam and Sucker Punch KO onto his Garchomp. He leads with Aerodactyl and Garchomp again. I decided to Fire Blast his Garchomp and Iron Head his Aerodactyl. Garchomp switches into Mawile and his Aerodactyl tailwinds. Mawile faints to my Fire Blast, Aerodactyl uses Tailwind and my Mawile Knocks his Aerodactyl down to sash. Zapdos is able to deal enough damage to help clean up his Garchomp and Gardevoir.

Game 3: I felt like Mawile and Tyranitar was my best lead option regardless of what he leads, so I go with it again. He changes up his Mega and uses Charizard-Y this time. It becomes much more difficult as he gains momentum, and I lose my Tyranitar. Near the end of the battle I end up making the right Sucker Punch calls and barely win.

Yuichi was fun to play against and he kept me on my toes. Aerodactyl is a very annoying Pokémon to deal with when you don’t have any Pokémon to outspeed it with. I knew I was one win away from a guaranteed top cut at my first worlds. (4-0)

Round 5: Lee Provost (Osirus)

Lee is a really nice guy and he was 4-0 at this point so he was clearly doing something right. When I saw his team, I saw this as an opportunity to really abuse Conkeldurr.

Game 1: I don’t remember too clearly how this game went. I believe I got an Ice Beam off on his Garchomp, and from there I was able to take control with my own Mawile.

Game 2: This game was very close. In the end, it came down to if Lee could land two Thunders in sand. He was able to and takes game 2.

Game 3: I remember this game a little more clearly. I lead with Tyranitar/Hydreigon into his Tyranitar/Zapdos. Turn 1, I predicted him to Volt Switch into his Mawile, so I Fire Blast his Zapdos and Draco Meteor his Tyranitar. He does indeed Volt Switch into Mawile and Tyranitar KOs Mawile. I take easy control after that point and lock up the game securing my spot in Top 8 of Worlds. (5-0)

Round 6: Ryosuke Kosuge

After Round 5, I knew I had reached Top Cut. I wanted to defend myself here. As many of you saw on stream or on the big screen, Ryosuke destroyed me. He even 4-0ed me Game 2. Simply put, I sandbagged. I didn’t show everything I had, and I didn’t try to beat Ryosuke because I had no incentive to. I tried to hide my Choice Scarf Tyranitar, as it improved my matchup vs Ryosuke. I do think that Ryosuke’s team has a phenomenal matchup against my team, but I wanted to give myself anything I could use in Top Cut if I had to play him again. My match should not have been streamed. I knew I was going to throw the game regardless, but it embarrassed me to do it on stream and on stage. I wish that wasn’t my only streamed match. I think they should stream at least two or three of the Top 8 matches and both of the Semi-final matches.

Top Cut

I tried to get myself back into it after being utterly embarrassed. I walked it off, and tried to hype myself up again. I just Top Cut my first Worlds! I found out I would be playing Dayne O’Meara from Australia. I had not expected Australia to make it this far, as they haven’t proved themselves yet. I wished Jeudy Azzareli (SoulSurvivor) luck as I set off to play Dayne.

Top 8: Dayne O’Meara (ProfTeak)

The first thing I heard about this team is that it had Sheer Cold Lapras. After seeing the team in team preview I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. My team doesn’t really have issues with Lucario because Zapdos walls it completely. The Pokémon that allowed Dayne to shut me down was Raichu. Staraptor also threatened my Choice Scarf Tyranitar with a Choice Scarf Close Combat.

Game 1: This one was kinda hectic. I switched around a lot to try and stay alive. In the end, he was always in control threatening me. I found his combination of U-Turn and Volt Switch very annoying and hard to play around. I really wasn’t on my full game, I still didn’t fully recover from my match vs Ryosuke.

Game 2: This game went downhill fast. Near the middle of the game, I predicted his Staraptor to switch out, but it just Close Combatted my Tyranitar. I looked over to Blake (Bopper) and mouthed the words “I lost”. I thought the game was over. Then something came over me. I came to the realization that if I won this set I would most likely get to play Sejun Park. I have always been a fan of Sejun and it would be a dream come true if I got to play him at Worlds in top 4. I don’t remember how I won, I just know that I took Game 2 and I kept myself alive.

Game 3: This game started off ugly. I led with Tyranitar/Mawile vs Lapras/Politoed. I went for a Rock Slide and a Play Rough onto Lapras. He flinched with Politoed and missed Hydro Pump on Mawile. The game was pretty much over from there.

After Game 3, I immediately jumped out of my chair and ran over to my friends. I was greeted with hugs and congratulations. I had just gotten top 4 at my first Worlds.  After celebrating I waited to face Sejun Park.

Top 4: Sejun Park (pokemontcg)

Worlds is about playing the best of the best. Sejun is one of the best, if not the best, Pokémon player in the world, so playing at Worlds without playing Sejun would make Worlds incomplete. I had a blast playing against one of my idols. I can’t even begin to describe how cool it was to play against Sejun in an actual live event. If I was to get knocked out by anyone, I wanted it to be Sejun.

Game 1:

Game 2:

I think the videos speak for themselves. Thanks to Team Rocket Elite for recording this. I wouldn’t have any way to watch these without you. Most (if not all) of the crowd was cheering for Sejun, and this made it even more daunting to play him. I think I played well, but not my best. It was intimidating to be playing Sejun and it affected my play. I don’t want to take any credit from Sejun, because he deserved to win. I found it hard to react to his team as I had no practice playing against that kind of team before.

Closing Thoughts

Going into Worlds, I did not expect to do as well as I did. I had a great time and I am glad I was able to get an invite to go again next year. My entire season was focused on getting my invite. I didn’t actually have a plan for when I got it. This team isn’t the most creative, but it is defensively and offensively sound. If anyone wants to take my team for a spin, go ahead. I think practicing with the best teams from an event is a good way to get better and to understand why the team did well. I can’t wait to come back next year and try to win it all! Thanks for reading!

Thank Yous

• Blake(Bopper) – Oh man, I wouldn’t have even got third without your help. You let me into The Boiler Room and helped me grow as a player. Thank you so much for getting my Pokémon last minute, I wouldn’t have even been able to compete at worlds without you. I am glad you got a chance to shine at Worlds!
• Benji (Benji) – Thanks for all your team building help and just being a great friend. You have helped me with all my teams over the past year. Thank you for being there for me.
• Ryan (Tan) – Thank you, Tan, for cheering for me and believing in me. It was nice to have someone to come find and talk to after each battle. I hope to see you at worlds next year.
• Oliver (Smith) – I wouldn’t be here without your desire to create a teambuilding group. Sometimes your ideas get out of hand and you start getting a little crazy. You share the same wonder and awe that I had for Worlds. I hope you can make it there soon, it’s as good as we thought.
• Toler (Dimsun) – I think you have single-handedly taken me from a nobody to third in the world. Thank you for the countless hours we spent team building and stressing out before events. I hope everything goes well for you, I want to see you next to me in 2nd place next year at Worlds.
• Gavin (Kingofmars) – Thank you so much for spending those hours with me pounding out my core and helping me finish my team. I respect you a lot as a player and I am glad I have you as a friend. We need a rematch sometime soon.
• David (Mancuso) – I have to give you a shout out. You got Top 4 at Philly with my team, nice job!
• Zach, 13Yoshi37, and Cybertron- Thank you for giving me advice before Worlds. I asked all three of you how I should prepare and how to look at Worlds. You guys helped me out and I used all the advice you gave me. Without it I don’t know if I would have gotten third.

The post I Got this Feeling On the Summer Day When You Were Hydreigon: A 3rd Place Worlds Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

After a bitterly disappointing official season, I managed to iron out my team and myself into a Nugget Bridge Invitational-winning partnership I could be pleased with.

VGC ’14 has been a trying season for yours truly. With less free time on my hands and the introduction of one Pokémon who utterly shuts down my VGC ’13 team playing style, I could definitely have hoped for a more enjoyable format. After establishing my favoured playing style last year, the creation of Talonflame unwillingly forced me to adapt. This manifested itself with a team based around an Electric type and a Water type with a Rock Mega Pokémon. And a Talonflame.

This report comes in a slightly different form — in that through the power of modern technology and the press of a button, my very real and very English voice will talk to you through your own very speakers. The sets and spreads will also be laid out here as normal.

Raichu @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Lightningrod
Level: 50
EVs: 88 HP / 164 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 2 Atk / 30 Def
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Fake Out
– Encore

Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 4 SpA / 12 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Giga Drain
– Spore
– Rage Powder
– Protect

Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
EVs: 124 HP / 108 Atk / 12 Def / 12 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Crunch
– Rock Slide
– Dragon Dance
– Protect

Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 180 SpA / 68 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
– Shadow Ball
– Flash Cannon
– Wide Guard
– King’s Shield

Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
Level: 50
EVs: 164 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Play Rough
– Aqua Jet
– Belly Drum
– Protect

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Flare Blitz
– Brave Bird
– Taunt
– Protect

As an extra treat, you can listen to an additional team overview, and a look at the history this team went through – including talk of Nationals performances – to end up how it did. There had to be a Liepard in this article somewhere – here it is!

The Tournament

I also took the time to narrate my Nugget Bridge Invitational tournament run, so if the sound of my voice hasn’t reduced you to a catatonic state – feel free to follow each game with my play by play insight and thoughts.

Round 1 vs Simon

• Game 1
• Game 3

Round 2 vs Ray

• Game 1
• Game 2

Quarter Final vs Bopper

• Game 1
• Game 2
• Stream Archive with commentary by Duy and Scott

Semi Final vs CT MikotoMisaka

• Game 1
• Game 2
• Stream Archive with commentary by thejustinflynn and Duy

Final vs Samuel996

• Game 1
• Game 2
• Stream Archive with commentary by Duy and Scott

VGC ’14 will always be “the year Talonflame was introduced” to me, before any thoughts of Kangaskhan or even the new Fairy typing. I would like to be able to say I enjoyed this format more than I actually did, but at least I closed my season with the Nugget Bridge Circuit crown and some restored pride.

Pokémon can be a very testing game at times, especially when you put pressure on yourself to live up to past year’s glories. It is easy to lose sight of the most important aspect of this game: the community. My official tournament performances this year might have left something, a lot, to be desired – but VGC ’14 has finally given me a big tournament win and a title to carry for a year. For that reason – VGC 2014 – I can’t deny you haven’t been… ok.

Article image created by feathers for Nugget Bridge. View more of her artwork on her tumblr.

The post Azumarill: Rai-Choose you! Nugget Bridge Invitational Champion Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Introduction

Hi guys! My name is Aaron Zheng, and I’m a competitive Pokemon player. You may know me for my active online presence, my status in the community, or my YouTube channel. While I figure most of you know me by this point, I’ll still do a short introduction as I’m accustomed to doing so.

I began playing Pokemon casually in 2005 with Pokemon Emerald, and started attending VGC (short for Video Game Championships) tournaments in its first year back in 2008. I’ve grown up playing Pokemon at a competitive level, and I can’t express how much it’s changed my life. Throughout the years, I’ve had pretty good showings at tournaments, such as finishing in the Top 4 or better at nine different Regionals and winning back-to-back Senior National Championships in 2011 and 2012, but my 3rd place finish at the 2013 Pokemon World Championships is probably my most notable accomplishment to date. I’ve qualified and competed in five World Championships, and am looking to earn my sixth qualification this upcoming season. Earlier this year, I began my own YouTube channel to promote VGC and to help newer players get into the game. In June of 2014, I was sponsored to eSports organization CLASH Tournaments and their professional team, alongside professional Super Smash Bros players ESAM and ZeRo. It’s still surreal how much has happened in the last few months, especially the fact that I’m actually earning money off the game I love so much, so the least I can do it put it all back into the game (whether it’s equipment for the channel or travel expenses for tournaments).

While I originally didn’t plan on writing a report for Worlds due to my lackluster finish, I decided it would be nice to wrap the 2014 season up with a report, alongside my thoughts from the past year. As you may already know, I’ve also had a relatively strong start to the new VGC 2015 season, so consider this a prologue to my upcoming Regionals report. Let’s jump right into it!

WARNING: The first half of this report is very text heavy and focuses primarily on my story post-2013 Worlds/pre-2014 Worlds. I think it’s necessary to include, but it’s a lot, so if you’re here just for the team/tournament report. skip to around the second half of the report.

Pre-2014 Worlds Struggles

Taken shortly after I was eliminated from the 2013 World Championships.

After finishing 3rd at the 2013 Pokemon World Championships, I felt like I had finally proved to myself and everyone else that I had what it took to play this game at a top level. At the same time, it’s bittersweet to come so close to a World Championship, and have it slip away just like that. I still can’t erase my semi-finals set against Ryosuke Kosuge from my head, and how I was essentially one coin-flip away from making it to the finals of Worlds. It’s hard for me to rewatch the semis and understand some of the plays I made, but the reality is that I’ll never be able to really forget about that set, and that I should rather focus on trying to get better in the game instead and maybe even make another deep run at Worlds one day. Still, I’m proud of finishing 3rd at Worlds last year, and I was really happy that I secured an invite to the 2014 World Championships as a result of my finish.

With a Worlds invite in hand already during the start of the 2014 season, I knew I wouldn’t have to take events seriously. It also gave me some more time to study, since I was a junior in high school, which I valued since I feel like I sacrificed a fair amount of time in fighting for my Worlds invite in 2013. I ended up booking my ticket to California Regionals before they announced my invite, so I attended that tournament, along with Philadelphia Regionals, in the fall, bringing my 2013 Worlds team to both tournaments. In California, I went 5-2, and at Philadelphia, I went 5-3. Those records aren’t particularly impressive, but I was frustrated since I was one game from making top cut at both tournaments. I knew I wasn’t making optimal plays, and I just felt that I was not on my game both tournaments. California was especially frustrating, since I got a really bad cold the day before and could barely stay awake, but I was still happy to see Thomas Mifflin (PBB) win with my team and I had a lot of fun seeing friends I normally only see once or twice a year.

With Thomas Mifflin, Duy Ha, and Omari Travis after California Regionals

After the fall circuit, Pokemon X/Y came out, and I ended up attending three tournaments in the winter circuit: two grassroots tournaments (APEX and NYCE4) and Virginia Regionals.  I had sub-par performances at each tournament, losing in the finals of my pool at APEX, the semi-finals of the losers bracket at NYCE4, and bubbling out with a 7-2 record at Virginia. They were good finishes, but not as good as I desired.

A Small But Significant Tangent

During the winter circuit (February, to be exact), I purchased a 3DS capture card and began posting frequently on YouTube to my channel, CybertronProductions. Why? Well, I’ve been playing VGC competitively since its very first year, and it has honestly changed my life. I genuinely want to do whatever I can do help the game grow, and I decided YouTube would be a good platform to do so. With a Worlds invite in hand, I wouldn’t have to play seriously until August, so why not?

It’s amazing to see how far competitive VGC has come since the beginning, but we’ve still got a long way to go. (For reference: we didn’t have chairs at events for years, Worlds was single elimination in 2008, Regionals was based off a lottery in 2009 and was single elimination until 2012, there was barely any coverage, no commentating/live-streaming, no Nugget Bridge, etc.)  It’s why I really appreciate Nugget Bridge and what the admins (Scott, Rushan, Huy, Paul, and Evan) here have done for the game. They’ve put in countless hours in fostering a community designed to help everyone, from beginners to Worlds-level competitors, on their own time. As a current content creator, I can truly respect that. I think competitive Pokemon has a lot of potential to become larger than what it is today, but we’ll never get there without working as a community. We’ve taken some huge steps thanks to Chris Brown and Nugget Bridge, but there’s still a lot more room to grow.

Thus, I started my YouTube channel to help out those who are interested in VGC, but don’t know where to start. When I started, the only other competitive VGC player who posted any content was Alex Ogloza. There’s a lack of quality VGC content on YouTube even today, and I wanted to offer whatever I can to the community. In the past couple of months, I’ve created over 150 videos, gained over 15,000 subscribers, reached almost 1,000,000 overall views, met some incredible Poketubers, learned a lot about maturity on the internet (especially when dealing the comments section…), and reached out to thousands of people. The numbers are nothing when compared to actual, big YouTubers, but even getting to help just one person means the world to me. Honestly, doing well at events is nice, but there’s nothing more rewarding than someone telling you that they are going to get into the game because of you. That, for me, means the most, and it’s why I love what I’ve been doing. I can promise you that when Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire comes out, I’ll put even more time into my channel and into helping others get better at the game.

After Starting YouTube

Needless to say, once I started posting videos on YouTube, pretty much all my Pokemon time was invested in creating videos. Time that I used to spend building & practicing for tournaments now went into recording content in the spare time that I had. I didn’t really mind that – I had little incentive to do well at events. But the reality is that staying on the top in this game is pretty difficult, unless your name happens to be Ray Rizzo or Sejun Park. I’ve been super fortunate in the last couple of years to have a solid performance at every level in each division. That’s why 2014 was particularly frustrating: it was the first season I’ve ever missed a top 4 at a Regional in six years of playing, and the first time since 2010 I missed top cut at US Nationals. It’s an odd dichotomy, I guess. I did not really care about events in the 2014 season too much before the actual tournament, but would feel frustrated and empty after performing sub-optimally. That can probably be attributed to my natural drive for competition and success. I was definitely frustrated because I felt like after I had finally proven myself, people were quick to dismiss me (and in all fairness, that’s perfectly fair).

Either way, to put it into perspective, I woke up the morning of Massachusetts Regionals (the tournament I had won the previous year) in April and spent the entire car ride getting Brendan’s team together, since he had a much better shot at getting the trip/stipend to Nationals. On the other hand, I threw in six Pokemon randomly into my battle box five minutes before registration ended, and dropped after my third loss to record top cut matches for YouTube. Another tournament, another disappointing finish.

After April Regionals, I decided I’d try to get my stuff together and have a solid finish at US Nationals in July, especially since I was still pretty bitter after losing in the top 16 last year. I didn’t have time to team build or practice until after school was over, and in the meanwhile, pushed hard on YouTube with daily content.

Early Summer

While I would’ve liked some free time this summer to dedicate towards Pokemon, the reality was that it was always in the back of my mind. After SATs in May and final exams in June, summer break finally started. I was very, very fortunate to land an internship with JP Morgan this summer, and my internship actually started the week after school ended, so I began working from 9 AM to 5 PM every week day in mid-June. My internship experience was amazing and gave me a first hand view of a potential career path, and performing well there was the main priority of my summer.

I actually put a team together in advance for US Nationals a few weeks in advance though, and did very well in the June International with it (3rd in the US, 4th in NA, 18th overall in the world). I felt like I was playing really well and that the team was solid. Unfortunately, it was also one of the most hyper-offensive teams I’ve ever built, consisting of Gengar, Garchomp, Gardevoir, Rotom-Wash, Mega Lucario, and Pyroar.

The team was designed to take advantage of team match-ups and hit hard with super effective attacks, as I had a way to basically 2HKO anything in the format. Unfortunately, in choosing this team, I also ended up with some inaccurate moves, such as Rock Slide on Garchomp, Hydro Pump on Rotom-Wash, Overheat on Pyroar, and most notably, Stone Edge on Lucario. Nationals was a pretty disastrous tournament for me, as I started 2-2. I didn’t feel like I played especially poorly, but my team made it difficult to win (which was an error of mine when team-building) due to its inability to make good switches and low accuracy moves.  For example, I’d often set up win conditions that heavily relied on my low accuracy moves (hit the Stone Edge on Charizard-Y and win… miss and Mega Lucario is KOed), which is never a good idea. I realized that while my team was strong, it was not a good choice to bring to a nine round tournament where anything can happen and moves are prone to missing. Teams such as the one I brought to Nationals are far too reliant on the RNG, and we all know how the dice can roll in Pokemon. Thus, I finished Day 1 of US Nationals with a paltry 5-4 record and could not advance to the second day. While it was my worst performance at Nationals yet, I did take away a few important points:

1. Practice can maximize your chances at doing well at an event, but don’t get led into a false sense of security. Just because you play well in practice doesn’t mean it’ll necessarily translate over to real life.
2. However: practice is still essential to doing well. I think the lack of practice I had going into events earlier on in the year definitely put me at a disadvantage. You should fully know your damage calculations, speed tiers, and what the metagame is like before going into an event. Changing Pokemon/sets last second is almost never beneficial for me personally if I’ve practiced with the other option continuously.
3. You can control your luck factors in the game in team-building. I’ve learned this lesson over and over again, but with some Pokemon, you can afford to miss attacks (typically bulkier Pokemon that aren’t OHKOed by many attacks). Stone Edge on a Pokemon as frail as Mega Lucario is not the best of ideas. Why? Well, the reason you use it in the first place is to try and KO Fire-type Pokemon. What if you miss? They just KO you back with a Fire-type attack. That’s a trade-off you lose 20% of the time.
4. In general, hyper-offensive with almost no bulk is a bad idea. VGC 2014 was less defensive than all the other formats I’ve played in, but if you take a look at the teams that ended up doing well, they still all contain a balance between bulk and power. Take, for example, the modified team I brought to Regionals this fall. It also revolved around offense, but Pokemon like Mega Mawile can take hits while dishing out OHKOes. Mega Lucario just… faints. Jeudy’s Worlds team is the best use of Mega Lucario I’ve seen yet, so props to him for making it work.
5. I personally need bulkier teams to give me the option of switching. Switching to gain momentum is essential in VGC, and my Nationals team punished switches. With such frail Pokemon, most switches would result in the Pokemon switching in taking over 50% in damage, which is just unacceptable. Games are a lot easier to play when you have more options.

Building For Worlds

With a subpar Nationals performance, I took the knowledge I gained from it and looked towards the main event of the year: the 2014 Pokemon World Championships. While continuing to intern at JP Morgan, I began brainstorming ideas for Worlds.

I knew I wanted to use Trick Room (specifically Gothitelle), so I tested with a couple of ideas, revolving around Mega Kangaskhan and Heal Pulse Gothitelle. At one point, I was even using Choice Scarf Final Gambit Lucario, but I quickly dropped that idea…

Small note: I’ve been super fortunate to have a testing/team-building partner for Worlds the past few years. In 2011, it was Aaron Traylor (Unreality). In 2012, it was Wolfe Glick. In 2013, it was Mohsyn Bharmalm. This year, I found myself working with senior prodigy and top Spanish player Alex Gomez (Pokealex). Alex and I have grown to become really good friends, and we actually practiced a decent amount in 2013 despite working separately.

Alex and I actually ended up working together after he asked me for some practice games. I was able to win a good amount with the original version of my team, which was built around the aforementioned Mega Kangaskhan and Heal Pulse Gothitelle. Alex really liked the idea, and asked if we could work together. Of course, I accepted his request since it’s always good to have someone to bounce ideas with, especially another Worlds competitor in a different division. Alex is one of my best friends, and this team is his just as much as it is mine. He’s been super supportive throughout the years, and he definitely kept my head high in a time where I was frustrated at my results in the game. I’d like to thank him for working with me this summer, especially since I was so busy with work and social life. I’m really proud of him for his top 8 finish, and I’m excited to see how he performs in Masters.

Back to the team: we originally started off with Kangaskhan, Gothitelle, Zapdos, Hydreigon, Azumarill, and Ferrothorn. The original team was pretty powerful, but not having a Fire-type Pokemon gave us some issues against Pokemon such as Mawile and Aegislash if played properly. We had a solid core, but ended up replacing Zapdos for Rotom-Heat to keep the Electric-type on our team while gaining a Fire-type Pokemon with Overheat. Hydreigon was replaced for Specs Salamence to counter the popular Modest Specs Hydreigon. Finally, after we had used basically every Azumarill set (Assault Vest, Choice Band, Sitrus Berry), we wanted to up our Kangaskhan match-up. I also wasn’t too keen about having a semi-Trick Room team without a Fake Out user. Thus, we came up with the idea of Hariyama. It had access to Helping Hand, which boosted Salamence’s Draco Meteor, and allowed Kangaskhan to pick up OHKOes with Double Edge. It also could OHKO opposing Kangaskhan and Aegislash while offering Fake Out pressure. In the end, we ended up with a really solid core of six, and I felt pretty confident about our team – it was definitely my favorite team to play with up to that point in VGC 2014.

Before I finally start with the team analysis, I would also like to thank Ansel Blume (Stats) and Tommy Yee (tylee61) for looking over the EV spreads on the team and helping me optimize them before the tournament. I really liked the spread for both Rotom-Heat and Hariyama, and I owe it to both of them. Now for the team:

The Team

Rotom-Heat @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 68 Def / 20 SpA / 164 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
– Overheat
– Thunderbolt
– Will-O-Wisp
– Protect

One of the biggest issues I had with VGC 2014 format was the lack of strong Fire-type Pokemon. I tried out Pyroar at Nationals, but it was just too frail to do anything other than get one or two hits off. Rotom-Heat, in my opinion, is the best non-Mega Fire-type in the format, and it’s such a good Pokemon in general. While I obviously have an attachment to my trusty Rotom-Wash, Rotom-Heat’s typing and access to Overheat was too good to pass down. I knew Steel-types would be popular at Worlds (especially Mawile), and Rotom-Heat was my #1 answer. The EV spread is bulkier than your typical Rotom-Heat, but I knew I wanted at least enough investment to survive a Choice Specs Draco Meteor from Modest Hydreigon and Jolly Mega Lucario Close Combat, which is what it accomplishes. The moveset is self explanatory. I played around with Thunder Wave before including a Trick Room mode on my team, but Will-O-Wisp was too good to pass down. Rotom-Heat was an excellent call in a metagame full of Mega Mawile. We opted with Safety Goggles to counter Amoonguss, since a well played Amoonguss + sweeper really gave us some trouble (i.e. when paired with Mega Tyranitar). It was really fun trapping Amoonguss in with Gothitelle and essentially turning the battle into a 2 v. 1 since Rotom-Heat completely ignored Amoonguss. In combination with Ferrothorn, the team basically shut down any Amoonguss we faced, which was awesome. Speed really wasn’t necessary on this one since I wouldn’t stay in on opposing Rotom-Wash anyway.

Hariyama @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 62 HP / 100 Atk / 100 Def / 244 SpD / 4 Spe
IVs: 0 Spe
Brave Nature
– Fake Out
– Knock Off
– Close Combat
– Helping Hand

Hariyama was one of the more unique choices on this team, and it is definitely one of my favorite Pokemon in the VGC 2014 format. Alex came up with the idea after we were looking for a suitable Fake Out user to partner up with Gothitelle. It’s the perfect combination of bulk and offense. Similar to many other Pokemon on this team, we used Modest Choice Specs Hydreigon’s Draco Meteor as a benchmark, which was accomplished with the HP/Special Defense EVs. We also wanted as much physical bulk as possible, and with 100 Defense EVs, it survives Jolly Mega Lucario Close Combat, which came into play during practice multiple times. The rest of the EVs were dumped into Attack, which still allows it to OHKO Mega Kangaskhan with no HP investment. We had 4 EVs leftover that wouldn’t go into any other stat, so we just put them into Speed to win the Fake Out war against any other Hariyama in case someone actually used one at Worlds. (Interestingly enough, Ben Hickey actually brought Hariyama to Worlds as well, albeit his set was quite different).

As for the moveset, Fake Out and Close Combat are self-explanatory. Knock Off was excellent in hitting Ghost-types and Dark-types, especially opposing Gothitelle, Gengar, and most importantly, Aegislash. Since this Hariyama is minimum Speed, it is slower than minimum Speed Aegislash. Thus, there were multiple times where I led with Gothitelle + Hariyama against an Aegislash. Aegislash would Shadow Ball my Gothitelle, Hariyama would KO Aegislash with Knock Off, and Gothitelle would set up Trick Room. It was a great attack just because of its typing, and the effect was nice in scouting items in a best of 3 and removing useful ones such as Sitrus Berry and Choice items. Finally, we opted for Helping Hand as our last move to support the big attackers on this team, namely Salamence and Kangaskhan. A boosted Draco Meteor/Double Edge was basically a OHKO on anything that didn’t resist it, which was really neat.

While I know Ray Rizzo and Wolfe Glick like the Assault Vest variant more (which is what Ben Hickey brought to Worlds, if I recall correctly), Alex and I really liked Guts with Sitrus Berry. Sitrus Berry, in combination with Gothitelle’s Heal Pulse, allowed Hariyama to survive for a long time, and it was great for baiting Draco Meteors while trapping the opposing Dragon with Shadow Tag. Guts was really neat since a lot of players mindlessly Will-o-Wisped Hariyama, and it allowed me to bait the burn on Pokemon like Kangaskhan/Ferrothorn while switching out to Hariyama and getting the attack boost. Since this Hariyama isn’t too offensive, the extra power really came in handy.

In the end, we chose Hariyama because it supported our team perfectly: Fake Out pressure, Helping Hand support for the stronger attackers, STAB Close Combat that was powerful enough to do substantial damage, great overall bulk, and a way to OHKO Aegislash. We really couldn’t find a better user for the slot, and Hariyama caught many of our opponents off guard.

Gothitelle @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Shadow Tag
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 244 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Psychic
– Rest
– Heal Pulse
– Trick Room

When I looked at the list of viable Trick Room users this format, I knew that I wanted to build around Gothitelle. Shadow Tag is one of the best abilities in the game, and gives you a plethora of options while limiting your opponent’s. The EV spread and nature allows it to survive a Modest Choice Specs Dark Pulse from Hydreigon 100% of the time, which was, to me, the most important attack for Gothitelle to survive. The moveset and item choice is slightly different from the other Gothitelle used at Worlds, namely Sejun Park’s and Wolfe Glick’s. In fact, this Gothitelle is very similar to the Cresselia I brought to the 2013 Pokemon World Championships: they are both bulky, Psychic-type Trick Room users with Rest/Chesto Berry.

I opted for the ChestoRest set rather than Sitrus Berry or Leftovers because I was:

1. Familiar with how it operated after using it on Cresselia last year
2. I wanted Gothitelle to stay in the game as long as possible, and Sitrus Berry/Leftovers didn’t recover from attacks like Dark Pulse nearly as fast as Rest
3. It gave me another way to check sleep (especially Amoonguss and Smeargle)

In the end, I didn’t regret my decision one bit. Going back to the Hariyama+Gothitelle lead, it was great getting a free Trick Room up the first turn while taking about 90% worth of damage with Gothitelle, just to heal it all back up the following turn with Rest while Hariyama OHKOed the attacker. (Specs Hydreigon, for example!) It also saved me from Amoonguss, which can give Trick Room teams quite some trouble.

Psychic was Gothitelle’s main and only means of offense, slightly stronger than its counterpart Psyshock. Trick Room was obviously what it was built around. And finally, Alex and I chose Heal Pulse as the 4th move, similar to Wolfe Glick’s Gothitelle. We felt that a well played Gothitelle+Kangaskhan or Gothitelle+Ferrothorn, in combination with Heal Pulse, created so many winning situations and our opponents often just did not have an answer. While I didn’t end up using the move at Worlds nearly as much as I would’ve liked, it was still a great choice. Sejun Park’s use of Tickle really fascinated me, and I do wish I tested that before Worlds because I feel like I would’ve ended up using that move instead, but there’s a reason why he won Worlds and I didn’t! Overall, Gothitelle was my favorite Trick Room user of 2014 because of its diverse movepool (ironic given the fact all four of my attacks were Psychic-type…) and an incredible ability, and was the cornerstone to this team.

Salamence @ Choice Specs
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Fire Blast
– Flamethrower
– Draco Meteor
– Dragon Pulse

With the rising popularity of Choice Specs Hydreigon (almost all which were Modest nature), Alex and I immediately looked at Salamence, which is slightly faster. While Choice Scarf Salamence dominated the format for a good amount of the season, I didn’t feel the need to outspeed anything that normal Salamence doesn’t. We chose Modest to get more damage output, and because the extra speed wasn’t necessary. Salamence + Gothitelle was one of the best leads this team had, and there were countless times where I’d be able to lock in a Choice Specs Hydreigon, and OHKO it with a Dragon Pulse while it was trapped. There was no need for a complicated EV spread. The moveset is interesting because it carries two 100% accurate moves and their stronger counterparts. As we all know, Pokemon is a game full of RNG, and we’ve all had those games where it comes down to “hit the attack and I win, miss and I lose.” Alex and I decided to mitigate the luck factor by including Flamethrower and Draco Meteor. Hydro Pump/Rock Slide/Stone Edge weren’t really that useful in testing anyway, and Choice Specs Draco Meteor + Hariyama’s Helping Hand was a OHKO on basically anything that didn’t resist it. Intimidate is one of the best abilities in the game, and since Gothitelle focused so much on the special spectrum, it was important to have a way to reduce the power of physical attacks. Overall, Salamence was an excellent call for a Worlds metagame full of Choice Specs Hydreigon (I faced three in six matches, all which were Modest), and one of the best members of the team.

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Atk / 116 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Gyro Ball
– Power Whip
– Leech Seed
– Protect

Of course, when you’re about to play in the most prestigious Pokemon tournament of the season, you need to have a way to check the most popular Pokemon, Mega Kangaskhan. That was exactly what Ferrothorn was designed to do. I used Ferrothorn a fair amount after Ray Rizzo won Virginia Regionals with it, and found that if I could avoid/beat its checks (Fire-type Pokemon, Pokemon that often carried Fire-type attacks like Salamence, Tyranitar, etc.), Ferrothorn could beat an entire team by itself. Rocky Helmet+Iron Barbs completely shut down Mega Kangaskhan (there were countless times where I would switch from a predicted Fake Out into Ferrothorn to get free damage off), and gave Mawile a lot of trouble as well. I would often keep Ferrothorn in the back of my team, trap and KO the one or two Pokemon that countered it, and just win with Gothitelle+Ferrothorn in the end. One of the win conditions this team had was to just eliminate any Pokemon that could OHKO Ferrothorn, and start Leech Seeding after that Pokemon is KOed, and it worked out many times. Ferrothorn, similar to Hariyama, was a Pokemon that has a great mix of both bulk and offense and could take most attacks while dishing out OHKOes and 2HKOes.

->

Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
Level: 50
EVs: 212 HP / 76 Atk / 12 Def / 20 SpD / 188 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Protect
– Power-Up Punch
– Sucker Punch
– Double-Edge

Ironically, what was supposed to be the strongest member of the team was left out of multiple sets at Worlds. Alex and I decided to use Kangaskhan as our choice of Mega since it was the de-facto best Mega Pokemon going into Worlds. And the truth is, Mega Kangaskhan is still really powerful, but the reality is that all the best players in the world are going to have multiple ways to beat it. That’s why it worked really well in practice, but when it came down to the actual tournament, Kangaskhan was often a non-factor in sets. That’s not to say it was a bad call on this team: in the games I did bring Mega Kangaskhan to, it absolutely wrecked since the team supported it quite well. However, perhaps going with two Mega Evolutions would have been slightly better for this team. I removed Ferrothorn for Mega Mawile and brought it to a post-Worlds grassroots tournament, which I ended up winning. (Or even just going with Mega Mawile, as the newer version of my team runs now).

Regardless, I loved the set and EV spread on this Kangaskhan, and it was my favorite build of the season personally. Like all the other Pokemon on this team, it had enough bulk to take a Specs Draco Meteor from Hydreigon, which was huge. In addition, it had enough Speed EVs to outspeed Smeargle and Mega Blastoise, which I knew at least one player (Randy Kwa) would be bringing to Worlds. Having a way to remove Focus Sash Smeargle before it could accomplish anything was super convenient, and locking it in with Gothitelle made things a lot easier. The rest were put into Attack and Defense. You’ve probably noticed that I don’t carry Fake Out or Return, opting for Protect and Double Edge instead. I felt that Protect was a much better call for best of 3s, especially with a more defensively built team with the likes of Gothitelle and Ferrothorn. It made it a lot easier to scout, and defend myself from faster Pokemon like Salamence or opposing Kangaskhan. Alex and I chose Double Edge over Return because we knew we would have a means of recovery via Heal Pulse from Gothitelle, and since we don’t have too many Attack EVs.

Team Thoughts

Going into Worlds, I was very pleased with the team Alex and I had constructed. In retrospect, I think Gothitelle and Mawile is a much stronger archetype than Gothitelle and Kangaskhan. Not surprisingly, Kangaskhan had a really difficult time at Worlds since so many players adjusted for her, where as Mawile continues to thrive in a format lacking ways to effectively OHKO it. Also, while moves like Helping Hand on Hariyama and Heal Pulse on Gothitelle were really fun to use in practice, neither came into play too much at Worlds sadly. Alex ended up placing in the top 8 in Seniors, eventually eliminated by Ian McLaughlin (Raikoo). Ian’s team gave Kangaskhan a lot of trouble (he had Mega Mawile and Lucario), and you’re automatically at a disadvantage when your Mega Evolution is rendered useless.

As you may know, I edited the Worlds team and took it to the opening VGC 2015 tournaments (a local Premier Challenge, PA Regionals, TX Regionals). The results were astounding. By replacing Kangaskhan for Mawile, Ferrothorn for Ludicolo, Heal Pulse for Tickle, and Helping Hand for Rock Slide, the team suddenly felt much stronger. Setting up Trick Room became incredibly easy, with two different Fake Out users. Charizard-Y was not nearly as much of an issue as it was before if I lead with Hariyama and Gothitelle. Tickle and Mawile gave me the resources to effectively OHKO any Pokemon in the format. I think this team is slightly stronger than the Worlds team, and I wish I tested Mawile/Tickle out before Worlds, but as I’ve never used Mega Mawile until this fall, I was reluctant to use an unfamiliar Mega Evolution.

Ultimately, I felt pretty confident about this team going into Worlds. I honestly did not practice that much: between my internship and going out with friends, the only games I really played were with Alex. I think practice is important for tournaments, but I don’t like burning out and losing confidence right before a tournament, so I made sure that I played enough games to understand the team but no more. Alex and I actually played multiple mirror matches, which was really interesting since we brought different lead combinations/Pokemon every time and it was a great way to conceptualize the team.

As for how the team played out in practice:

Hariyama and Gothitelle was by far my favorite lead, but there were so many lead options with this team. Unlike my VGC 2013 Worlds team, which essentially lead Rotom-Wash and Cresselia every match, I couldn’t find a duo as solid as last year’s leads. Thus, leading was completely dependent on my opponent’s teams and threats in team preview. For example, there were games where I could safely lead with Salamence and get a powerful attack off the first turn (i.e. when the opponent’s team didn’t have a Fairy-type or Dragon-type, when they were incredibly weak to Intimidate, etc.).

The team struggled immensely against Fairy-types in general, since I didn’t have a way to effectively OHKO them and they threatened my entire team, namely Salamence and Hariyama. It also had trouble against Pokemon with access to powerful spread attacks, such as Charizard-Y. For example, a combination of Pokemon like Choice Band/Life Orb Garchomp and Charizard-Y could prove deadly if played properly, even if I were to set up Trick Room properly. My Round 1 matchup at Worlds highlights this pretty perfectly – I didn’t have a great answer to Charizard-Y, and it ran through my team.

However, I still think the team was really powerful. It was able to beat players like Sejun Park and Ryosuke Kosgue in casual games Sunday night (Ryosuke told me he did not expect Trick Room at all at Worlds, and after shutting down his Taunt from Aerodactyl, Ferrothorn was able to clean through his team). It’s just that the lack of synergy between Mega Kangaskhan and Gothitelle made it a bit more difficult to play. Overall though, I enjoyed playing with the team and it was a ton of fun building with Alex. I wish I could’ve brought the edited team that I created to Worlds, but you live and learn. Here’s how my matches from Worlds went down.

2014 World Championships

My family drove down to Washington DC Thursday afternoon. Since Brendan won Worlds last year, we had our travel expenses fully covered and a hotel room booked. Having a room right by the convention center was nice, since we had a one mile walk between our hotel/the convention center at Worlds the previous year. After traffic approximately doubled our travel time, we finally got there and I was able to meet a lot of people right away. Friday was spent hanging out with friends and watching the Last Chance Qualifier. I had tickets to the Pokemon Symphonic Evolutions Concert as well, which I attended with a lot of great people from Nugget Bridge. After a long night, I decided to call it a day.

I had a pretty terrible night of sleep that night and just wanted to go back to sleep after waking up. It was really cold in the convention center, and alongside my lack of sleep and pre-tournament jitters, I was honestly incredibly nervous going into the first round. I got there in time to watch the opening ceremony (which was kind of underwhelming when compared to the last three years). Afterwards, I realized that I carelessly forgot to charge my DS, so I went to the charging stations before the tournament started and tried to just stay focused, knowing I had a long day ahead of me. Pairings finally went up, and I saw that I was playing Christopher Arthur in the first round.

My notes for each round are very minimal, so you’ll have to bare with me. I’m basically going off memory here,  and as a result won’t be writing too much about each round. I thought this would be nice to include though, so you guys see who I faced and what each of them brought.

Round 1. vs Christopher Arthur (Koryo) 

I ran into my good friend Christopher Arthur in the first round. He’s one of the friendliest guys around in VGC, and has constantly performed well in tournaments overseas for the past couple of years. He finished 2nd at Italy Nationals this year, and I had a feeling he might be bringing the same team to Worlds. Lo and behold, when team preview went up, I saw the exact same six Pokemon he used to get 2nd there. I honestly did not like my chances when I saw his six Pokemon, as both Bisharp and Gengar threaten Gothitelle, Aerodactyl has Unnerve to shut down my Sitrus/Chesto Berry, Bisharp can absorb Intimidates with Defiant, and I didn’t have too many ways to deal with Charizard Y.

Game 1: Christopher leads with Gengar and Aerodactyl against my Hariyama and Gothitelle. Fearing the Taunt from both Pokemon, I Fake Out the Aerodactyl the first turn while Gothitelle goes for a Psychic onto Gengar to scout for the Taunt. He flinches with Aerodactyl and Shadow Balls my Hariyama, which was a sign to me that he did not carry Taunt. Of course, as I go for Trick Room the following turn, his Gengar Taunts my Gothitelle… and I instantly tilt a bit for not Trick Rooming the first turn, especially in a Game 1. Setting up Trick Room would have pretty much given me an instant lead, but I was forced to pay the consequences. After some careful switching, I manage to set up Trick Room, but he gets his Charizard-Y in safely and Heat Wave critical hits/burns my Gothitelle. I then see my win condition: if I can KO his Charizard-Y, my final Pokemon, Ferrothorn, walls the remainder of his team. However, as I go for the Double Edge onto his Charizard-Y with Kangaskhan, he outspeeds me and gets a critical hit Overheat, ending any chance of victory for me. Christopher played a really smart game and I was frustrated right from the start after not getting Trick Room up, but I felt like I had a decent grasp on the matchup going into the next games. 0-1

Game 2: I wish this game could have gone better, but the reality is that I just got smashed. Christopher opted to choose Mega Aerodactyl over Mega Charizard, and Rock Slide happened. With Bisharp in the back (an excellent adjustment by him since he didn’t bring it game 1, and I had Salamence this game), I didn’t have a good way to deal with Aerodactyl, and unfortunately, Rock Slide flinched me a total of five times, including once when I tried to set up Trick Room and another on my normal Kangaskhan, which Power-Up Punched a Gengar predicting a Bisharp switch-in (he did end up making that switch). Christopher won this game & set pretty convincingly, and I really began to doubt my team after an 0-2 start to Worlds as I realized I didn’t have that many ways to mitigate the luck factors if I wasn’t able to set up Trick Room successfully. While luck was a factor, I do think he made the better Pokemon selection both games, and I just wasn’t ready for such high level play right away. Good games! 0-2

Record: 0-1 (0-2)

Round 2 vs. Jon Hu (JHufSelf) 

Discouraged by a round 1 loss, I knew I would have to win all five games to make it into the final 8. My round 2 opponent was Jon Hu, who rose to fame with his breakout tournament at US Nationals, where he finished in the Top 4 overall and used really eccentric Pokemon choices such as Mega Gengar, Sableye, and Lapras. I was thus not surprised to see many members of his Nationals team on his Worlds team, as Garchomp, Mega Gengar, Mega Mawile, and Lapras returned. The Chandelure was definitely not a Pokemon I wanted to face. Umbreon had to stick out the most though, as I’ve never played a competitive one in VGC, so I was really curious to see what Jon had on it. His team checked Kangaskhan really well, and I actually ended up not bringing it at all in this set. I knew that Ferrothorn could run through his team if I eliminated Chandelure early on, so that was my game plan for all three matches. Jon’s team was quite interesting: he had the ability to lock in Pokemon with Mega Gengar, which also ran Substitute, and his Umbreon was super annoying with a moveset of Snarl, Yawn, Helping Hand, and Moonlight.

Game 1: The first game plays out pretty perfectly. Jon leads with Umbreon and Chandelure while I lead with Hariyama and Salamence. While I forget about Umbreon’s Inner Focus (oops!), I’m able to pick up a quick KO on Chandelure on the second turn of the game, allowing my Ferrothorn to come in and instantly have a field day. I almost lose the game as he reveals Helping Hand on Umbreon and Shadow Balls my Ferrothorn with Mega Gengar. He gets a critical hit too, but Ferrothorn was clutch and hung on with just a bit of HP, which was enough for me to take game one. 1-0

Game 2: Game 2 was pretty crazy. Jon ended up bringing both Mawile and Gengar, and despite choosing to Mega Evolve Gengar and not Mawile, I was still demolished by his normal Mawile. I lead with Hariyama and Gothitelle against his double Ghost lead of Chandelure and Gengar. Predicting a double Shadow Ball into Gothitelle, I decide to just try and eliminate the Chandelure from the start again with a Psychic and Knock Off. Right after I lock in my moves though, I realize my mistake – I should have used Trick Room instead of Psychic. Indeed, he actually goes for a Heat Wave/Shadow Ball, which fails to KO my Gothitelle due to it’s special bulk. I pick up the KO on his Chandelure once again, but now that my Hariyama is trapped by his Mega Gengar’s Shadow Tag, normal Mawile comes in. I switch Gothitelle out the following turn to Intimidate the Mawile, but Jon makes a great play by going for a Protect with Gengar and a Rock Slide with his normal Mawile, which actually does enough to put me in Sludge Bomb KO range. The following turn, he picks up two KOes with Sludge Bomb/Play Rough as neither of my Pokemon can switch out/carry Protect. At this point, I have a very weak Gothitelle and a full HP Ferrothorn left. Jon is able to pick off Gothitelle and his Umbreon in the back is able to continuously Yawn me, and Ferrothorn faints after multiple Helping Hand boosted Shadow Ball. 1-1

Game 3: I was slightly on tilt after game 2 because I didn’t attempt to set up Trick Room on the first turn, which would have given me a major advantage. I don’t remember game 3 too well sadly, but Jon played incredibly well, conserving his Chandelure by leading with it but switching out early on. In the end, I have a weakened Rotom-H and Ferrothorn against an Umbreon, a damaged Garchomp, and a damaged Chandelure in the back. Jon read my Protect and Protected with his Garchomp as my Rotom-Heat protected, so I know that the only chance I have at winning now is going for a double Protect while Ferrothorn tries to KO Garchomp. Fortunately enough, I get the double Protect, and Rotom-Heat is able to outspeed and KO the Chandelure Jon had in the back. A super, super close call and I’m saved from an 0-2 start at the World Championships. 2-1

Record: 1-1 (2-3)

Round 3 vs. Matthias Hellmoldt (Tyvyr) 

I was definitely relieved after game 3 of the previous set, but I still was not playing well and I needed to step my game up at this point if I wanted any chance of making the top 8. My next opponent was Matthias Hellmoldt, who became the first German player to top cut a World Championship with his Top 8 finish in 2013, losing to eventual World Champion Arash Omatti in three games. His team looked relatively standard, and seeing Hydreigon gave me some peace of mind since I had my Specs Hydreigon. The Vaporeon definitely stuck out though, and I knew it could give my Salamence/Rotom-Heat some trouble if played correctly. Sadly, I don’t remember these games very well, but I’ll do my best to recall them.

Game 1: Matthias leads with his Hydreigon and Vaporeon, with Mawile and Rotom-Heat in the back. I believe I switch out my Salamence into Hariyama while Gothitelle successfully sets up Trick Room, and I slowly clean through his team. I find out that his Vaporeon carries a Rocky Helmet, which was super interesting since Jon Hu has his own Rocky Helmet Eeveelution the previous round. I end up winning in a pretty clean game. 1-0

Game 2: In game 2, Matthias leads with Hydreigon and Mawile. I think his Mawile Protects on the first turn while I Draco Meteor his Hydreigon, which picks up the OHKO despite his Haban Berry. I learn that his Garchomp also has a Lum Berry after attempting to Will-o-Wisp it with Rotom-H. I think this game actually came down to a Rotom-Heat vs. Rotom-Heat war, but with mine clearly in the lead, Matthias forfeits and I win the game/set. 2-0

Record: 2-1 (4-3)

Round 4 vs. Alex Ogloza (Evan Falco) 

After a much better set than both Rounds 1 and 2, I regain some confidence and finally feel like I’m playing the way I should be playing. In Round 4, my opponent was none other than 2014 US National Champion Alex Ogloza. I knew Alex was using a relatively standard Rain team since he played Ray Rizzo on live stream in Round 2. I was actually really hoping they would feature our match on stream, but unfortunately, they ended up not choosing us. I felt really confident about my match up since Hariyama/Gothitelle ensure a Turn 1/Turn 2 Trick Room, and Kangaskhan can hit five of his six Pokemon for large damage.

Game 1: So Game 1 starts off perfectly, as I lead with Hariyama and Gothitelle against his Hydreigon and Ludicolo. He Fake Outs my Hariyama, and I set up Trick Room successfully as Gothitelle survives the Choice Specs Dark Pulse. The next turn, I Close Combat and Rest while Ludicolo does negligible damage. Unfortunately, by setting up Trick Room, I actually cause my own demise towards the end of the game as my own Kangaskhan Double Edges into his Kangaskhan’s Protect and his Ludicolo is able to burn my own Kangaskhan with Scald. I really blew this game, assuming he still carried Fake Out over Protect on his Kangaskhan and walking into a Protect, giving him a chance to come back. It’s definitely frustrating when you give up valuable information and have such a good lead but still lose the game. Lots of credit to Alex, though, for figuring out his win condition and executing it flawlessly, there’s a reason why he’s national champ. 0-1

Game 2: I don’t remember games 2 or 3 very well to be quite honest, but both of them involve a crucial prediction with Salamence, which I brought to both matchups. I think it was Game 2 where I predicted him to switch into Aegislash and Fire Blast that slot, picking up a ton of damage against it as I call the switch correctly. I end up winning this game, forcing a game 3. 1-1

Game 3: In game 3, I figure Alex is going to stay in with his Hydreigon this time as it faces up against my Salamence, and I just go for the Dragon Pulse. As I expected, he does not switch out and I pick up the KO on his Hydreigon instantly, which gives me a huge lead that I don’t give up for the remainder of the game as I take both the game and the set against a super strong opponent. 2-1

Record: 3-1 (6-4)

Round 5 vs. Markus Liu (Henrique) 

While not Germany’s Markus Stadter, I faced an equally formidable opponent in the 5th round, Markus Liu. Markus placed in the top 8 at the World Championships as a Senior last year and was having quite the performance as a first year Master. I felt relatively confident going into match, after bouncing back and winning three sets in a row. Markus’s team was full of threats though, and I was not pleased about that. He had two Fairy-type Pokemon in Azumarill and Mega Mawile (hint: this team does not like facing Fairies) and Choice Scarf Machamp, which is a huge threat to my entire team, other than Gothitelle. Looking back at my set with Markus, I do not know what I was thinking during some of my Pokemon decisions. He also played an excellent set and his Machamp was one of my favorite Pokemon/sets from VGC 2014.

Game 1: Game 1 plays out pretty perfectly for me. Markus decides to lead with his Choice Scarf Machamp, which threatens my team immensely since it can pick up OHKOes on Kangaskhan and Ferrothorn with Close Combat. He also leads with Rotom-Heat. As you can tell, a pretty perfect matchup for Gothitele and Hariyama, as Rotom-Heat can barely touch either, and I was guaranteed to get a Fake Out/Trick Room off on the first turn. After Machamp goes down, there is not very much Markus can do for the Mega Kangaskhan and Rotom-H I have in the back. I believe I win this game 4-0, which gave me a lot of confidence going into the next two games. 1-0

Game 2: Markus makes an excellent adjustment this game, leading with Azumarill and Hydreigon with Mawile and Machamp in the back. I don’t remember this game very well, but I decide not to lead with Salamence or Hariyama, and Gothitelle has a real tough time against both of his leads. Markus preserving Choice Scarf Machamp in the late game was also really smart, as it was able to OHKO my Kangaskhan in the end of the game while I was not able to do anything. His decision to threaten my Gothitelle from turn 1 with his leads paid off, especially as he had Machamp to clean up the game in the back. 1-1

Game 3: Unfortunately, this was a pretty heartbreaking game for me. Markus decides to stick with his Hydreigon/Azumarill lead while I lead with Hariyama/Gothitelle. My plan was to set up Trick Room the first turn, then switch Gothitelle into Ferrothorn the following turn. On the first turn, I Fake Out his Azumarill, which flinches, and his Choice Specs Hydreigon Dark Pulses my Gothitelle, which survives with a sliver of HP… just to flinch. I hadn’t even considered the flinch as a possibility, and that just threw my entire game plan off. I figure I still have a shot later on since I manage to have both Kangaskhan and Hariyama in against Hydreigon and Azumarill. I know his Azumarill does not have a Sitrus Berry, so Double Edge can actually KO it, while Hariyama can pick up a KO on Hydreigon. However, as Kangaskhan Mega Evolves, Hydreigon moves before it and gets yet another flinch with Dark Pulse. Both of Markus’s Pokemon stayed in that turn and did not Protect, so I could have turned the game 3-2 in my favor, but with Mawile and Machamp in the back, it was basically a lost cause after the first turn. My chances of top cutting Worlds end with a hearbreaking loss. In perspective, I played this game really poorly. For example, I figured he would lead with Hydreigon/Azumarill as he did the previous game, and instead of bringing Salamence, which directly counters Modest Specs Hydreigon, I lead with Hariyama. Leading Salamence would have allowed me to pick up a free KO AND safely set up Trick Room. I’m honestly not sure I would have been able to win even if I had set up Trick Room. I didn’t think my game plan fully through, and with Markus’s smart adjustment after game 1, I paid the price. 1-2

Record: 3-2 (7-6)

Round 6 vs. Wonseok Jang (Krelcroc) 

Still depressed about my elimination from top cut contention, I tried to keep my spirits high and at least finish with a 4-2 record. I ran into 2012 Korean National Champion Wonseok in the last round, which was actually super exciting for me. For those that don’t know, Wonseok was a huge inspiration to me back in the 2012 season after he won Korea Nationals. I adapted a bunch of his winning team for my own US Nationals team that summer, and ultimately ended up winning, so I owe a good amount of my success that season to him. I also had the opportunity to hang out with him more after Worlds this year, which was super exciting because his English is great and he’s a really funny guy. He qualified for Worlds this year through a Top 4 finish at Korea Nationals. His team looked pretty standard to me in team preview, and I knew Hariyama/Rotom-Heat would have a field day against his two Mega Evolutions and his Aegislash/Amoonguss. My notes for this set are nearly non-existent, so you’ll have to bear with me.

Game 1: Wonseok leads with Zapdos and Aegislash in the first game, and I am able to bait the turn 1 attack with Aegislash to KO it instantly with a Hariyama Knock Off. His Zapdos reveals Volt Switch and Choice Specs, while Aegislash reveals the Weakness Policy (fortunately not activated since I managed to pick up the KO with Knock Off). While his Amoonguss definitely scared me, Safety Goggles Rotom-Heat came in clutch here, with the ability to switch into Spores and Will-o-Wisp Tyranitar before it set up with Dragon Dance. Knocking out Aegislash early on was essential, allowing me to overwhelm him with offensive, especially as Amoonguss was essentially dead weight for Wonseok. 1-0

Game 2: I didn’t even write down Wonseok’s Pokemon in my notebook for this game, so I honestly can’t remember a single thing. I think he decided to switch from Mega Tyranitar to Kangaskhan this time around, but the combination of Salamence/Hariyama/Rotom-Heat was just too much too handle and I’m able to close out my last game at Worlds with a win. 2-0

Record: 4-2 (9-6) // Ranking: 18th Place

With a final record of 4-2, I played 18th in the world, which was actually my second worst performance at Worlds (31st in ’08, 17th in ’11, 8th in ’12, 3rd in ’13). However, this World Championship definitely felt more difficult than in previous years, and the rankings for all the 4-2s always feels so arbitrary since they’re determined by opponent’s win percentage. Unfortunately, all my opponents lost their last match, which meant that I fell from the middle of the x-2 pack to the bottom. I do not think I played my best that day, and Christopher and Markus definitely played better sets than I did. The reality is that you have to play near flawlessly (and get a little bit of RNG on your side) to make it into the top cut, and I didn’t do that this Worlds.

After Swiss was over, I went on to watch the top cut matches. Alex made it into the Top 8 of Seniors, so I cheered him on, but he unfortunately ran into what was basically a direct counter to our team, and he was eliminated. I then watched the SEJUN TRAIN roll through in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Now for a short interlude of pictures…

Picture Time

VGC reports barely ever have pictures anymore. Here’s a collection of some awesome photos taken over the weekend.

With Singapore’s Wei Wen

Most casual photobomb…

With Taiwan’s Tsau Che Ming

With Raúl Arias

The Worlds team!

With Deku/Sekiam, Spanish Team 2014!

With Daniel Norton

With On The Bubble’s Kenny Wisdom

With judge/TO Nic Freda, he’s the man!

With Miguel Vicêncio

With 2014 UK Semi-Finalist Kelly Mercier-White

2010 World Champion Shota Yamamoto

We take this photo at every event now

So many champions in one photo

Ryosuke Kosuge!

Luca + Eloy <3

Brendan with his MVP from 2013

The champ, the hero

Selfie with the champs before the Finals!

Brendan’s interview pre-Junior Finals

Sejun celebrates his World Championship

“SEJUN TAKE A SELFIE WITH ME”

CT ZeRo made a surprise visit!

With a Japanese Junior

Couldn’t have asked for a better friend/teambuilding partner

Post event shenanigans with some cuties

Unpacking the goods at home

5 different Worlds badges

Closing Thoughts

Ultimately, I had a great time at Worlds, despite my final ranking of 18th place. Sadly, all of my opponents lost their last round, so my resistance tanked between rounds 5/6 and I dropped all the way down to one of the lowest 4-2s. I have to be completely honest with you, I really wanted to make it back to the Top 8, and it was bittersweet coming so close but missing out. I wanted a shot at redemption after last year’s loss, but I didn’t even get a chance to fight it out. However, top cutting Worlds is certainly not an easy task: you have to play incredibly well, avoid bad matchups, and get lucky throughout the day. I don’t think I played my best that day, and the players who were in Top 8 certainly did. I’m fortunate enough to have top cut two World Championships already, and coming close this year is just more motivation for the upcoming season. I think at the least, I’ve regained my passion for the game, which was just what I needed. It was great to see so many new names make it up to the top (seriously, shoutouts to all of the top 8: Sejun, Jeduy, Collin, Markus, Dayne, Lee, Miguel, Ryosuke) and of course,  I was ecstatic to see Sejun Park finally take home his first World Championship.

As for the team I brought to Worlds, I’d like to once again thank Alex, Ansel, and Tommy for the help with constructing the team and perfecting the EV spreads. I think most of you know at this point that I’ve slightly edited the team to adjust for the metagame, and I’ll be posting a report on that shortly. (Personally, I believe now that Mawile is much better of a Mega Evolution to partner up with Gothitelle and Trick Room. There’s obviously not very much synergy between TR Gothitelle and Kangaskhan, and I feel as if I shouldn’t have been so stubborn to stick with Kangaskhan for Worlds.) The updated team is super, super, super powerful, and I’m excited to write about it soon, but the Worlds team was also really fun, especially with Ferrothorn and Hariyama as unique Trick Room attackers.

The social experience at Pokemon tournaments is always amazing, and Worlds was no different. There are too many people to list, but it was great seeing everyone again. I actually attended the Pokemon Symphonic Evolutions Concert the night before Worlds, which was an amazing experience (who knew Pokemon music could make you so nostalgic and emotional?) as well. I had a ton of fun with the Germans especially (shoutouts to 4018), a group I haven’t gotten to interact with too much until this summer. Sunday night with everyone was especially fun, and I’ll cherish the memories and games from that night for the rest of my life. I see players like Sejun and Shota once a year, so it makes those times that much more special.

I really rediscovered my love and passion for the game Sunday night at Worlds. For those that don’t know, it’s become a tradition now for all the players to come together in the open gaming room the last night of Worlds and celebrate the end of the season with games and Multi-battles. It’s the one time in the year that we get to interact with the international players, especially the Korean and Japanese players, and it’s an absolute blast. Sejun Park, Shota Yamamoto, and I began doing this in 2011, and it’s grown into something amazing in the past few years. I think as Scott put it in one of his “What We Learned” articles last year, at the end of the day, only one of us is crowned World Champion. The rest of us have to wait a whole year for another shot at the title. Do we get depressed about our losses? No! We come together and play the game we love and cherish with some of the most amazing people in the world. And despite the fact that we don’t speak the same language, Pokemon is more than enough to unite us.

As cliche as it sounds, Pokemon has done so much for my life. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be playing it competitively for, nor am I not sure if I’ll ever win a World Championship title. But I know that for as long as I play this game, I’m going to do whatever I can to help competitive VGC grow. I plan on doing many more guides once OR/AS come out, alongside battle videos, and hopefully I can find more time to write articles for you all since I always have so much to say but so little time to actually write it all out. I guess I’ll continue playing too…

I’m glad to have experienced the 2014 season as a whole. I think that success can often blind you, especially when it comes repeatedly, and I took away a lot both as a person and as a Pokemon competitor from my sub-par finishes this year. To be honest, I lost a lot of passion for the game competitively towards the middle of the season and really wanted to just stop playing and focus fully on helping the game grow through YouTube, but after Worlds, I realized that prospect is just ridiculous and that there’s no reason why I can’t do both.

Thanks for sticking with me up until this point, this report was a lot but I appreciate if if you read all of it. Thanks especially to those who have supported me throughout the years, especially in this past season. Being one of the more public players of VGC can work both ways. I love that I get to help so many people, it’s honestly a humbling experience. But it can be tough too, dealing with scrutiny, criticism, and sometimes, just plain hate. However, the pros far outweigh the cons, and it’s the community that keeps me around to this day. Thanks to Nugget Bridge for the amazing work it does, to the international community for making Worlds a blast every year, to all the fans online who support me continuously, to the people who come up to me at tournaments and tell me I got them into VGC, to all my friends who make each tournament so much more fun outside of the actual Pokemon games, and to TCPi for giving us a way to take our love for Pokemon to the next level. I’m honored to be part of such an incredibly and accepting community, and some of my best friends have come out of playing VGC.

This season (and Worlds) was full of ups and downs, but I’ve learned so much and I’m excited for what the future holds. I guess this report ended up being half about Worlds and half about my feelings towards the game in general, but I hope you enjoyed the read and the pictures. Stay tuned for another report on the start of my 2015 season, including my win at Philadelphia Regionals two weeks ago and my 4th place finish at Texas Regionals last weekend! Until then, I’ll see you next time.

Until next year.

The post Aaron Zheng’s 2014 Season Reflection & Pokemon World Championship Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hello. My name is Lee Camacho, but you may also know me as raindanceking on Pokemon Showdown. This is my first year competing in VGC, and I have found great success in utilizing rain ever since its rise in popularity a few years ago. After meeting Team Tank Top (Primitive, I Am A Rookie, RastaCharmander, and pimp shrimp) during U.S. Nationals, I began to understand the VGC 2014 format better and was able to create the team that would help me out in the upcoming 2015 Regionals.

Team Building Process

As I had mentioned previously, I am extremely partial to rain, so I decided to build a team around Politoed and Kingdra. I feel very comfortable using these two Pokemon, and I felt as though they were strong contenders against the other weather setters. Once I tested these two with other teammates, I immediately noticed my weaknesses to Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur. With that in mind, the obvious choice for a teammate was Talonflame. These three were a great core that played well together and could win plenty of matches alone. After establishing the core, I wanted to incorporate a Mega Evolution that would be useful in supporting the other three Pokemon. I did some heavy testing with Mawile and Venusaur, but I didn’t feel as though they were very helpful against Mega Kangaskhan. Finally, I concluded that the best way to beat a Mega Kangaskhan was to use one. With Fake Out support, I was able to incorporate more strategy into my team and show off Kangaskhan’s potential now that counters to her are so prominent.

The last two slots were the hardest for me to establish. I tested a lot with the legendary birds, but I didn’t enjoy having so many Pokemon weak to Rock Slide. I noticed that Tyranitar always performed well against my team, and with the rise of Mega Tyranitar, my Rain team was starting to feel the pressure. Knowing that Tyranitar has an overt 4x weakness, I decided that adding a Fighting-type to my team would be the best fit. The only Fighting-type that I enjoyed using during testing was Lucario, and I soon discovered that he helped my team out tremendously with the ability to OHKO Tyranitars AND Kangaskhans, while ignoring Sandstorm damage and flinches. I was so comfortable with the team of five, but I had not established a sixth member in time for Phoenix Regionals, so I threw a Salamence on my team. After going 4-4 in Phoenix, I was absolutely sure that Salamence was not the one for me.

During the Phoenix Regionals, I had noticed that Gothitelle was becoming popular, and it threw off my team with its Shadow Tag ability. My friend, Jesse, suggested that I try a Taunt user to shut it down, so I researched all the users. I came across Gardevoir, which is a Pokemon I had not really cared for. I ran some calculations, and it actually seemed like it would do well on my team if I were to implement this unique spread. After a week of testing, I knew she was the one that would make my team complete.

Team

Politoed (Green Dream) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 12 HP / 252 SpA / 244 Spe
Modest Nature
– Scald
– Psychic
– Ice Beam
– Rain Dance

For the longest time, I ran a bulky Eject Button Politoed in order to keep the rain alive. However, I realized that Eject Button wasn’t the best call for the metagame. Once I discovered Choice Scarf Politoed, I never looked back. With this spread, it outspeeds all non-scarfed Dragons and can OHKO them with Ice Beam. It’s also speedy enough to pull off a Scald on Mega Lucarios and Gengars before they can attack.

I chose Psychic as a coverage move to damage Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur enough for Politoed’s partner to finish the job. Finally, I chose Rain Dance for two reasons: one, I am the raindanceking; two, it helped me surprise Charizards by locking them into Solarbeam after pulling off a speedy Rain Dance.

Kingdra (Fruity Peblez) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
– Muddy Water
– Draco Meteor
– Hydro Pump
– Sleep Talk

Kingdra ended up being my all-star in Texas. It won me several matches by its brute force in the rain. If Kingdra was unable to OHKO a Pokemon, Politoed was always quick enough to finish the job. I chose a bulky spread because I thought investing in Speed was a total waste since Kingdra outspeeds nearly every Pokemon when rain is up. Also, with max EVs in HP, Kingdra was able to survive a Dragon Claw from Jolly Garchomp and a Play Rough from a burned Mega Mawile.

I feel as though Muddy Water and Draco Meteor are pretty standard for Kingdra. Hydro Pump, though inaccurate, is able to OHKO so many Pokemon under the Rain. I ended up choosing it after Michael Fladung (Primitive) suggested the idea on the way to Houston. Lastly, I chose Sleep Talk as a counter to Khan Artist, which works surprisingly well.

Talonflame (Fire OG) @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 188 Atk / 68 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
– Tailwind
– Brave Bird
– Overheat
– Protect

This spread was created through a combination of different ideas. My Talonflame was very similar to the one Sejun Park used at Worlds. However, instead of choosing a Naive nature for the speed boost, I opted for the Naughty nature in order to hit harder with Brave Bird. I used this spread because I loved the idea of Overheat wearing down Mega Mawile, especially since Intimidate is everywhere.

Otherwise, I feel this set is pretty standard. I chose Tailwind as a backup strategy to use in case my opponent was running heavy Rain counters, such as Ludicolo and Mega Manectric. Tailwind also allowed Kingdra to devastate the other Pokemon without having to set up Rain.

Kangaskhan (K-Train) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Fake Out
– Power-Up Punch
– Return
– Sucker Punch

This is probably one of the most obvious sets on my team. I went for the speedy Kangaskhan in order to win Fake Out matchups. With Fake Out, I was able to set up an easy Tailwind with Talonflame, or I was able to burn powerful physical attackers using Gardevoir.

Lucario (Mad Dawg) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Protect
– Follow Me
– Close Combat
– Bullet Punch

This set is also fairly standard in this metagame. Jolly Lucario is able to check Tyranitar and can OHKO Mega Kangaskhan using Close Combat. Bullet Punch was very useful in discarding pesky Aerodactyls and Choice Scarf Gardevoirs. Follow Me support was useful in setting up Tailwind and in redirecting super effective moves away from Gardevoir.

Gardevoir (Space Queen) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 68 SpA / 20 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
– Ally Switch
– Will-O-Wisp
– Psychic
– Moonblast

Finally, the greatest addition to my team; the one who held the team together – Bulky Gardevoir! After running calculations on Gardevoir, I discovered that she can tank hits pretty well with the right investment:

• 252 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Return vs. 252 HP / 164 Def Gardevoir: 144-171 (82.2 – 97.7%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 164 Def Gardevoir: 141-166 (80.5 – 94.8%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Gardevoir: 146-174 (83.4 – 99.4%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Hydreigon Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Gardevoir: 96-114 (54.8 – 65.1%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ Atk Huge Power burned Mega Mawile Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 164 Def Gardevoir: 147-174 (84 – 99.4%) — guaranteed 2HKO

This proved to me that Gardevoir was just what my team needed. Once I did some testing, I realized that Taunt didn’t come in handy as much as I had expected, so I replaced it with Ally Switch in order to take some Draco Meteors and Close Combats for Gardevoir’s teammates. Furthermore, with a Modest nature and 68 EVs in Special Attack, Gardevoir was still able to OHKO Garchomp, Salamence, and Hydreigon with Moonblast. Psychic was also useful in providing powerful damage to Mega Venusaur and Amoongus. Lastly, the Will-O-Wisp allowed Gardevoir to weaken all physical attackers.

Common Lead Strategies

Kangaskhan + Talonflame

This pair was my go-to for most situations. I could easily set up a Tailwind with Talonflame, especially with Fake Out support from Kangaskhan. They also often removed rain counters, setting up for my Politoed and/or Kingdra in the back.

Politoed + Kingdra

For the select few opponents that were unprepared for rain, this pair would destroy an entire team with ease. This combo outsped everything it needed to and would put the smackdown on teams that didn’t run Ludicolo.

Kangaskhan + Gardevoir

This lead duo was what I used against teams that ran Gothitelle and Mega Mawile. With Trace, Gardevoir could get a neat Intimdate which eases the pressure Mega Mawile brings. Even better, if Gardevoir received Shadow Tag, she was able to place pressure on Mega Mawile with incoming Will-O-Wisps, or it would allow me a switch that could turn the tides of the battle.

The post Every King Need His Queen: A 3rd Place Texas Regionals Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Eh up, dear reader. It’s been a while! I’ve had a busy past couple of months, and haven’t been playing Pokémon at all. In fact, while the hype was gearing up for Worlds (which I sadly had to miss this year), I hadn’t even been paying attention to any of it. While everyone else was flying out to DC, I was lost in the middle of a moonlit hurricane, on a sort-of spectacularly catastrophic journey in sort-of foreign lands. There were e-cards, magic wands, a Human Tentipede, and a man got hit in the head with a strawberry BN biscuit. In short, as is usual for me, things got a little out-of-hand.

Technical Challenge: Regret-Filled Cornish Pasties

I recall at one point, dressed like a chess club Lil’ Wayne, belly flopping onto a Neff-branded (See: RiFF RAFF) luminous yellow beanbag and, in the process, spilling my Cornish Rattler cider all over my shapely calves. As my merry mind rationalised the splashes of the sticky yellow liquid across my legs (because at least it’s only apple juice), I noticed a stupid plastic cup rolling across the grass, emblazoned with an arguably stupid cartoon snake, which was stupidly grinning at me as it gleefully rocked back and forth along the two inches between my shapely left calf and my muscular right ankle. My paradoxical ego at this point realised that I shouldn’t be calling the snake stupid. Firstly, I’ve definitely done dumber things than this gormless cartoon snake has. Secondly, if he’s stupid, I should probably be laughing at myself more than I am at him, because there I am, a sort-of snake researcher who does snake things in a laboratory with dead snakes, and it’s for seemingly no useful reason. I’m covered in fermented apple juice, but there I am laughing at the grinning snake. My work goes like this: “Let’s get the DNA from this snake from this island and compare it with the DNA of all these snakes from these islands in order to see which islands’ snakes are the most closely-related, because somebody should care. There is a reason to care. At least, I hope so.” I sat there thinking, why do I even bother with these stupid snakes? And then it hits me: oh yeah, it’s because I enjoy it, and that’s what matters. Being a zoologist is almost completely and utterly functionally pointless, all things considered. It’s a field that really isn’t helping many people, and it definitely isn’t earning much money. But it’s really, really fun and interesting, and that’s why I do it. Plus, I kind of like snakes. They’re cool. And there’s so many people in worse positions than I am. So I thought to myself, “Get a grip, Zog. Count your blessings and stop being such a bell. Go and fiddle with your snake stuff and enjoy it again, you mangy bugger. Stop moaning about your Trimeresurus flavoviridis and remind yourself of why you became a zoologist in the first place. Being a geek, I instead remembered that Trimeresurus flavoviridis is in fact the binominal name of the snake that inspired Seviper, and then, a thought struck me. A stupid, stupid snakey thought. I needed to make a stupid, fun Pokémon team based around Seviper.

Signature Challenge: Having a Seviper Cake, and Eating It

The stupid idea came amusingly quickly. It was a Wednesday, so like all decent English people, I was relaxing in front of BBC Two for the weekly Great British Bake-Off. Everybody loves tuning in to watch Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood sensually munch on ladies’ buns as they trade innuendos. It’s that straightforward, yet still somehow funny. At least, I thought that was funny. Anyway, after a while Sue Perkins’ grating normcore witticisms grew too much, so I got bored and looked up Seviper’s movepool. Immediately, like a 2011 London rioter in an Uncle Ben’s basmati rice warehouse, I irrationally fell in love. Seviper learns the move Belch, a huge Poison-type attack that pretty much nobody’s heard of. With one catch: its user has to eat a berry before it can use it. Not a Mary Berry, mind you (Mum, get the camera! Joke of the century!). A held item berry. So I thought, how am I going to get this Seviper to eat a berry? It’s slow, it’s rubbish, it’s just going to get knocked out before it does anything. Practically every offensive Pokémon in the game outspeeds and one-hit KOs Seviper if it doesn’t carry a Choice Scarf. And then, in a sudden moment of clarity, I realised: Seviper doesn’t need to hold the berry. I can make something else throw it at her!

Thus, in a blaze of burning, bakery-themed glory, the pairing of Choice Scarf Seviper and Fling Petaya Berry Hawlucha was born, and it
was beautiful.

Anaconda- Nicki Minaj
“My anaconda don’t want none… unless you’ve got buns, hun!”
Seviper (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Shed Skin
EVs: 252 Special Attack / 252 Speed / 4 HP
Modest Nature
– Belch
– Sludge Wave
– Flamethrower
– Switcheroo

Fortunately, although she’s a septuagenarian, Mary Berry has plenty of buns. Heh, heh, baking-based innuendos. Paul Hollywood, Nigella… no. English TV cooking would be lost without you. Nicki Minaj’s latest offering, however, isn’t really innuendo. Nicki Minaj’s idea of baking innuendo is probably American Pie, as subtle as a rhinoceros. It should be obvious why I named my snake Pokémon Anaconda, even though it’s a completely different kind of snake. I just have a thing for both snakes and the female Weezy. I even made myself a phone case of a snake dressed like her and pouting, which is as funky as it sounds, and not at all weird or jarring.

Seviper, meanwhile, is an incredibly rubbish Pokémon. It’s weak, its stats are terribly distributed, and nearly everything KOs it with ease. Seviper’s role in the VGC metagame is as snakekind’s Eddie the Eagle: yet another obscure reference you’ll probably have to Google. Essentially, Seviper is utterly terrible and should never be used under reasonable circumstances. Fortunately for you, you aren’t a lab monkey specialising in the Okinawan habu viper. That, alas, is my thing. That’s what I’m going into major student debt doing, thank you very much Nick Clegg. Like a long-distance lover, I had to try to make it work. It never works, but again, like a long-distance lover, I had to try. I was invested. Trimeresurus flavoviridis is sort of my bae.

The EVs I put together to outspeed Noivern, which hilariously one-hit KOs my beautiful Anaconda with Draco Meteor. In fact, I don’t think there is a single Dragon in the metagame that doesn’t one-hit KO my Nicki snake. I have no idea if +1 Belch KOs Noivern. Literally not a clue. All I care about is getting that Belch out, whacking things with it, and finding it all hilarious. Sludge Wave is for spamming around and hitting stuff with, and Flamethrower metaphorically melts Anaconda’s opponents like unfridged Baked Alaska. And, trust me, if you’re bad enough to let something get melted by my Seviper, forget the Baked Alaska. You belong in the bin.

Anyway, look. Seviper is useless, but this is a joke team. Just roll with it, please.

Fancy- Iggy Azalea
“First thing’s first, I’m the realest. Drop this and let the whole world feel it.”
Hawlucha (F) @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 12 HP/ 252 Attack / 4 Defence / 4 Special Defence / 236 Speed
Jolly Nature
– Sky Drop
– Fling
– Encore
– Detect

I was just looking at Hawlucha, and thought to myself… jeez, what do I call this lil’ fella? It’s mental. Then I noticed how it looks like it’s wearing leggings and immediately thought of the one and only Iggy Azalea. Then, like Newton’s apple, Queen Iggy fell off the stage and into my consciousness, rendering me in a state of newfound epiphany. Everything suddenly became clear. I realised things that I felt I’d long known to be true. I had to name my Hawlucha after her song “Fancy”. Seviper and Hawlucha; Nicki and Iggy. The yin and yang of preteen-friendly twerking.

Hawlucha is one of those Pokémon to me. It’s like a really smug cat. I want to call it Bishop Brennan and give it a reet good kicking, then hug it and tenderly feed it a bag of Dreamies as it gently purrs? Squawks? …Grouses? …whatever sound a happy bird in a mask makes. Now I really want to know. Basically, it’s that right kind of irritating, and I love it.

The main purpose of Fancy, of course, is to Fling its Petaya Berry at Anaconda, giving her +1 Special Attack and allowing her to use Belch for massive damage [citation needed]. She’s very good at doing this, and then immediately getting KOed. Unfortunately, though not as bad as Seviper, Hawlucha is less useful than an actual bird in a fancy costume. Its Sky Drop, despite having STAB and maximum investment, does not let the whole world feel it. Sky Drop does pitiful damage, but I needed the investment to secure some random KOs for the other team members, like Mega Kangaskhan which, if I remember rightly, is always KOed by Sky Drop and +1 Belch. That said, the main point of Sky Drop is for removing Seviper’s threats from the field for a turn. Pretty useful right? The other move is Encore, which is brilliant and really quite fitting. Iggy probably does a lot of Encores, after all. I mean, can you name a song of hers other than Fancy? Yeah, didn’t think so.

Crawling- Linkin Park
“There’s something inside of me that pulls beneath the surface… CONSUMING!!! CONFUSING!!!!”
Gengar (F) @ Gengarite
Ability: Levitate/Shadow Tag
EVs: I completely forgot and only remember 252 HP
Timid Nature
– Shadow Ball
– Will-O-Wisp
– Disable
– Protect

After building around Seviper and Hawlucha, I quickly realised that Gengar was the best Mega to pair them with. Shadow Tag, Encore and Disable hilarity combined so well, and Gengar really dealt with the huge Kangaskhan weakness the other two Pokemon suffer from. It also offered the momentum necessary to actually pull off the whole berry toss charade.

The name, I just thought was kind of funny. Like Linkin Park, Mega-Gengar is something 13-year-old emo kids cry themselves to sleep over. They’re so deep and hurt and resentful and go away dad I hate you oh you’re getting fish and chips? Nnrrrrrrrgggghh now I’m going to grumpily flail my arms and tut loudly, so you know I’m hormonal, and then I’ll mock-begrudgingly eat my fish and chips. I mean, everybody’s been there, right? Right? Anyway, my point is, nobody understands your average angsty Linkin Park listener, except literally every music industry executive ever. Everyone likes Linkin Park when they’re a kid and haven’t listened to any proper music. Likewise, early on in X and Y everyone stupid thought Mega Gengar would be a big deal and have a huge effect on the metagame, but it turned out to be a gimmick that pretty much only idiots lose to. Like Linkin Park, Mega Gengar is a hollow instrument of finely-tuned and squarely-aimed crass obnoxiousness. As such, I love them. I have to confess: “In The End” makes me shake my booty like an intergalactic flying space whale, and that is a sight to behold. On another note, Mega Gengar crawls. So I called it “Crawling”. That’s objectively funny. Possibly.

Either way, Gengar’s really quite simple. I use her to help lock down the opponent and let my Anaconda wreak havoc on unsuspecting, non-Poison-resistant Pokémon which, if I weren’t using this stupid snake, I would instead be KOing with a Sludge Bomb. However, now isn’t time for Gengar to shine. This is Nicki’s team, so Gengar has to shut up and put up. Seviper’s Angelina, she Jennifer. And Brad… something. Look, I like that song, okay? I can’t help it.

Smack My Blissey Up- Salamence
“Change my pitch up! Smack my… blissey up! Yeah honest, it says that. I think Keith Flint’s a big Pokémon fan or something. Yeah, that was definitely it.”
Salamence (F) @ Haban Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Special Attack / 252 Speed
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Dragon Pulse
– Flamethrower
– Protect

What? That’s what the song’s called, I swear on me mam’s life. Ha, got you, I had my fingers crossed. Wait… what do you mean, that’s not how it works? I thought if you crossed your fingers, it didn’t count…? Oh, God. Muuuuuuuuuum!

Well, implied misogyny aside, it is a classic tune from what is quite clearly one of the best albums ever made. As far as I’m concerned, if you say you dislike the Fat of the Land, you’re lying. Everybody likes the Fat of the Land. Apart from people who don’t like casual sexism. Ah well. At least that crab on the album cover seems to be enjoying himself. I think it’s time to change the subject.

Basically, I needed an Intimidate user, and I already had this thing EVed. So I threw it on the team. Otherwise, Talonflame would quite simply be an instant loss for my poor Hawlucha, Seviper, and Gengar core. Choice Band Talonflame one hit KOs all three of them, and they can’t really do anything back. Talonflame, it has to be said, is the micturition on my bonfire.

I gave it a Haban Berry because I had one, and yeah. My actual reason for giving my Salamence a Haban Berry was that I’m pretty sure it’s based on a medlar fruit, and those always make me laugh because there’s this scene in Romeo and Juliet where some guy says a medlar looks like a certain body part, it’s like… Shakespeare, mate, look. Come off it. If I had one that looked like an apple with flaps on the bottom, I’d go see the doctor. Or, at the very least, get it on Channel 4’s flagship drama Embarrassing Bodies, narrated by Ashley Jensen and starring things best left unseen. So, yeah, really. That is legitimately the reason why I gave my Salamence a Haban Berry. This, my dear reader, is the strategic logic that’s got me into the World Championship finals, and with a Beheeyem, no less. If you’ve never top cut Worlds, this is why: you’re lacking lowbrow humour.

Satisfaction- Benny Benassi
“Push me. And then just touch me. Till I can get my. Satisfaction.”
Garchomp (F) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed
Jolly Nature
– Earthquake
– Dragon Claw
– Rock Slide
– Protect

Gee, Zog, what Pokémon do you want to put into our team? The same thing we put into every team, Rhetorical Zog. That shiny Lum Berry Garchomp you’ve used in every bleedin’ team you’ve used since the game came out.

(If you’re playing to win and your team doesn’t include Garchomp, you’re probably daft.)

Horny ‘98- Mousse T and Hot ‘n’ Juicy
“I’m so horny! Horny, horny, horny!”
Rhydon (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Lightningrod
EVs: 116 HP / 140 Attack / 4 Defence / 244 Special Defence / 4 Speed
Adamant Nature
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
– Ice Fang
– Protect

You have no idea how hard I laughed when I thought of this name. It amused me so much that I immediately set to hatching one in a Love Ball, and to my amazement the first one hatched shiny and with perfect IVs. I was well chuffed. And the name. Just wow. Rhydon even debuted in 1998, the same year as this abhorrent, hilarious, mindblowingly moronic relic of its decade. So I had to use it in this team, the excuse being I can Encore a Rotom or something into an Electric move, then switch in Lightning Rod Rhydon to take the hit which is definitely a useful move and not just an excuse to Pokémon showboat. Rhydon’s actual main purpose is as a hard counter to Talonflame, and to get rid of stuff like Zapdos and Mega Manectric that would otherwise be a real pain for the rest of the team. I’d say it counters Rotom, but it really doesn’t because it still gets burned by Will-O-Wisp. Then I’d have to run Substitute over Ice Fang, and I really don’t want to because that’d mean running the same thing Ben Gould used, and I’m annoyed at him for pipping my Worlds finish. Like, I can’t even say I’m the UK’s best player anymore because of that. I get World No. 5, and he just has to go and get World No. 4 several years later. He’s even a Northerner, too. And a zoologist. It’s not fair. Since Substitute would only serve to remind me of this harsh, desolate and ultimately funny truth, I have to use Ice Fang. Shhhh. I know it’s stupid, but I’m not budging on this one.

And the complex EV spread? Yeah, I don’t know either. I was going for something but I have no idea what it was. If I was feeling smarmy I’d blag it and pretend I knew exactly what I was doing with those EVs but, truth be told, it’s funnier when I say I have no idea what they’re for. I’ll leave it to you to work it out.

But hey, I’m pretty sure this is the only perfect shiny Love Ball Rhydon in existence. That’s left her feeling lonely, and very horny. Because she’s a rhino, and rhinos have horns. Honestly, that one joke could keep me entertained for months.

Showstopper Challenge: Very Berry Burping Snake served with a Gimmick Compote

And thus, the team of Mary Berry and the Great British Snake-Off was completed. It’s a veritable medley of poorly-conceived flavours and textures. Like Skrillex at a funeral, this team is impossible to take seriously. It’s stupid, it’s pointless, and it’s ultimately useless., but I managed to pull off exactly what I wanted to do. Using this team is so, so much fun. Somehow, through handicapping myself with this godawful, lovingly baked serpentine catastrophe, I was enjoying myself. My rating on the Battle Spot was terrible, obviously – hovering mostly around 1650. Which, let’s be honest, is pretty good for a VGC-legal Seviper team on ranked Doubles. Call me a masochist, but facing off against and defeating hordes of noobs with a flimsy burping snake… honestly, it’s not a bad way to spend your time. To destroy with a team as gormless as this really takes some big plays, and that alone makes it a good laugh to mess around with.

So I think, the moral of this story is, if you’re feeling disenchanted with whatever it is you’re doing, maybe it’s a good idea to drop all your inhibitions and try it again in a fresher light. I was kind of sick of this year’s rather boring Pokémon metagame, and at the same time feeling a little bit of the old academic ennui. How better to sort that out than make both my work and Pokémon fun again? Sorted!

Pokémon’s good fun when it’s good, but especially this year it’s easy to get tired of how samey all of the good teams are. This year’s not really been about strategy so much as “Don’t be weak to x, y and z”, which almost inevitably leads to successful teams looking really similar. But then you have Se Jun breaking his way to the top with something weird and wonderful that hardly anyone’s seen before. Se Jun’s actually quite incredible, and his rare combination of skill and freshness makes him probably the most exotic player in the game today – definitely my favourite opponent to get online in the dozen or so times I’ve played him in the past few years. I’d remembered his Hangul from playing him repeatedly at Worlds 2011, when he kept challenging me over and over till he beat me, which I think took six or seven games. So of course I’d remember him! It’s players like Se Jun make it to the top of the pack because they aren’t just playing the metagame: they’re breaking it. If you want to cut your teeth as one of the best players in the world, I think the only way to make that happen is to know as much about the game as possible and be capable of making your own strategies. And a good way to practise that is to do something like I did with this team: challenge yourself to come up with a stupid, but workable, completely gimmicky idea, and then win games with it. It’ll help you get used to inventing new ideas, and the increased difficulty means you’ll improve in your gameplay too. Like, my Seviper team is all about timing and combining moves together. It’s incredibly hard to use and even harder to win with, which makes it good for practising. So go forth, and spread terrible ideas! If you try hard enough, some of them might even work, and you’ll be a much happier player for it.

Star Baker? That’d be me, obviously. Well done Zog, you made a sumptuous sausage roll, and Paul especially enjoyed the taste of your cherry Bakewells. But I’m afraid, the baker we won’t be seeing next week is Seviper. Seviper, you were awful. Your stats are naff, and your etiquette leaves something to be desired. Go and sit with Jo Brand for your last 5 minutes of fame, you slithery little plonker.

I’ll leave you with a few videos of the best battles I had, should you feel like watching! These games really had me laughing. My Anaconda don’t get none, but least she had fun, hun!

• BW4G-WWWW-WWW9-ZAY7- Seviper is an appendage “bigger than a tower, and I ain’t talkin’ Eiffel”. Yeah, the ending of this game is a thing of beauty.
• XPMG-WWWW-WWW9-ZAYA- Every snake has his day. This was this snake’s day. I love/hate you, Seviper.
• AHQG-WWWW-WWW9-ZAGG- Seviper learns table manners; hilarity ensues.
• JGWW-WWWW-WWW9-ZAGJ- Snake? …Snake?! Snaaaaaaaa- orrr blimey mate I almost babbed meself, thank God you’re alright.

The post Mary Berry and the Great British Snake-Off appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Happy Halloween everyone! I love pretty much everything about Halloween – costumes, candy, parties, and poorly made horror movies. Needless to say, I was pretty excited for the Halloween Party tournament. Unfortunately, the rules for the tournament ended up being rather unclear. Every page said a Super Sized Gourgeist must be in the battle box, except for one which had the note “Gourgeist must participate in battle”. I interpreted this note as Gourgeist must be in the Battle Box, as it was also the only page to not say Gourgeist must be in the Battle Box. This led to some complications for the team, but I still ended up with doing OK.

The Gourgeist Factor

Before I get into my team itself, I want to talk a bit about how being forced to bring Gourgeist every game affected the metagame. Gourgeist, while a fairly bulky pokemon, is pretty darn frail when everything can hit you super effectively, especially when a majority of those hits are coming from the Special Attack side. This meant that Pokemon such as Choice Specs Chandelure and Calm Mind Spiritomb became much stronger than in a format where you did not have to bring Gourgeist every time, simply by virtue of having less which could deal with them. The team I built was designed for a format where I did not have to bring Gourgeist, thus some of my strategies for dealing with the more powerful Pokemon in the format were thrown off. Because of this my team report will also occasionally feature changes I would have made if I had been more aware that I needed to bring Gourgeist every game.

The Team

Gourgeist-Super @ Choice Band
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Atk / 4 Def / 196 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
– Trick
– Shadow Sneak
– Phantom Force
– Seed Bomb

I’ve mentioned Gourgeist an absurd amount of times already, so let’s start with it. Gourgeist is meant to be the star of Halloween Party, but it tended to be the factor holding me back. I had decided on a Choice Band set, because I was a big fan of Trick in this meta. Many Pokemon were heavily built around their items, so taking them away was a huge advantage. This was especially so for Calm Mind Spiritomb, as it also locked it into a move stopping any boosting, Resting, or Sleep Talking nonsense. The defensive EVs here allowed me to take a Gengar Shadow Ball and Sucker Punch most of the time, while 2HKOing back with Shadow Sneak (a scenario which never actually happened). Twelve speed EVs were invested to out speed other Gourgeist and also Golurk. While Shadow Sneak did end up picking up a few KOs, the majority of the battles Gourgeist scouted an item with Frisk then either used Trick or an attack before being defeated.

What I should have used:

Gourgeist-Super @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 188 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Trick
– Shadow Sneak
– Phantom Force
– Destiny Bond

While changing from Choice Band to Choice Scarf isn’t huge, Choice Scarf Gourgeist would have been about one hundred times better than the Choice Band set I used. This set would have allowed Gourgeist to be much more versatile, while retaining the very strong Trick option. 188 Speed is the magic speed number for a Scarf Gourgeist, allowing it to out speed Timid Chandelure. Any more speed would be pointless, as no matter how much more you invest the only semi significant thing you do is speed tie other Choice Scarf Gourgeist (who you want to be slower than anyway, so you win Phantom Force battles). The HP EVs were just a dump, although a somewhat thought out dumping. While investing them all into Special Defense would have given it about a three percent chance to live a Timid Gengar Shadow Ball, investing into HP allows Gourgeist to take hits from opposing Gourgeist a bit better – a much more common situation.

Gengar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Perish Song
– Sucker Punch
– Shadow Ball
– Dazzling Gleam

OK, I’m gonna be honest here. I really only used Gengar because I already had one. I cannot recall ever bringing it to a game, although I faced a few. I also faced more than a few Mega Gengar, which was really surprising because Mega Gengar was pretty bad in this format. So let’s talk about my set. If you’re not familiar with the Halloween Party format Sucker Punch on a Gengar seems immensely stupid. However, it’s actually a response to the format. Notice I did not say a “reliable response to the format”. The idea here is that after you Shadow Ball an Aegislash, if it’s still in blade form you can KO it with Sucker Punch before it finishes you off with Shadow Sneak. Pretty cool in concept, but in execution tended to be pretty poor. Most Aegislash users got wise to it pretty quickly and started using King’s Shield before going for the Shadow Sneak KO. Once in shield form Sucker Punch is no longer a KO. Dazzling Gleam is the only Fairy move in the format and was a reasonably reliable way to hit Sableye and Spiritomb decently. Perish Song is the last interesting move here. While trapping Ghost type Pokemon cannot be done, you can at least force something to switch out. Perish Song is especially useful against Spiritomb, as it could easily Calm Mind and Rest if you were using Destiny Bond, a move commonly seen used over Perish Song. Also, had I been more serious about using Gengar I would have used a Hasty or Naive one, as to not impact Sucker Punch’s damage.

Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 92 SpA / 92 SpD / 68 Spe
Hasty Nature
– Swords Dance
– King’s Shield
– Shadow Ball
– Shadow Sneak

Aegislash was pretty cool in this format. I’m positive that upon hearing about this format a large amount of people immediately thought Weakness Policy Aegislash would be super good. And for the most part it was. However, people got very creative with their Aegislash counters and it probably ended up a lot worse than would be expected. I already mentioned Sucker Punch Gengar, but there were also things like Prankster Imprision from Mega Banette and Sableye, and Kasib Berry Chandelure (I’ll get to that next). Anyway, let’s talk about my EVs. I cannot fully remember why I wanted 92 Special Defense, but I did, so I imagine it was taking something like Timid Chandelure Fire Blast. The 68 Speed was to out speed slower versions of Mega Banette, so if I was at +2 Attack I could Shadow Sneak for a KO faster than their Destiny Bond.

Chandelure @ Kasib Berry
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 108 HP / 244 SpA / 156 Spe
Modest Nature
– Shadow Ball
– Overheat
– Flame Charge
– Will-O-Wisp

When it came to Chandelure nearly everyone talked about Choice Specs or Choice Scarf. You also had the occasional person championing Focus Sash Chandelure. However, in my mind, Kasib Berry Chandelure was the superior Chandelure set. Kasib Berry allowed Chandelure to be able to beat very nearly every other Ghost (notable exceptions include Flash Fire sash Chandelure, most Spiritiomb, some Sableye, and faster Kasib Berry Chandelure). The EVs allow Chandelure to out speed Timid Gengar after a Flame Charge, while also allowing it take a Shadow Ball and Sucker Punch from Gengar as well. If you haven’t figured it out by now, Flame Charge was chosen in order to beat Gengar, as I would break a Focus Sash, get the Speed boost, and then KO with Shadow Ball. Will-O-Wisp was chosen as utility vs the rarer physical Ghosts and as an option to beat Shedinja in one hit as opposed to two, should someone be brave enough to use it.

Spiritomb @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 108 SpA / 140 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
– Foul Play
– Nasty Plot
– Dark Pulse
– Shadow Sneak

Spiritomb was really, really, REALLY strong in this format. In fact, I’d be willing to say it’s the only Pokemon I was truly worried about. I felt priority was a really big deal in the Halloween Party format, so I wanted to run a Spiritomb that had Sucker Punch or Shadow Sneak (obviously I decided on Shadow Sneak) which put the option of the Calm Mind set right out. I ended up using this Nasty Plot utility set. The main idea of this set was that I could Nasty Plot along with a Spiritomb that was Calm Minding and end up beating it with my greater boosts. Foul Play was chosen in case I needed to attack into a Spiritomb that already had boosts up, as well as being better than unboosted Dark Pulse against Aegislash and Mega Banette. I was bulky enough to take a +2 Shadow Ball from Aegislash or a Choice Specs Boosted Overheat from Chandelure. The speed was added as sort of a pseudo speed creep against other Spiritomb, just for the off chance to take advantage of Dark Pulse’s flinch chance.

Sableye @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 204 HP / 116 Atk / 4 Def / 140 SpD / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Trick
– Sucker Punch
– Foul Play
– Will-O-Wisp

Choice Scarf Sableye was both my largest success and my biggest failure, all rolled into one Pokemon. This Pokemon is absolutely phenomenal in a Ghost only format where you do not have to bring Gourgeist. Once Gourgeist is thrown into the mix, deciding to use it can be difficult. This Sableye is no where near as bulky as other Sableye, and as such can end up being less than useful when you already have one Pokemon you expect to be dead weight. Regardless, I still used it in the majority of my battles and it usually ended up working out. Let’s talk about the EVs. 44 Speed allowed me to out speed all other Sableye while I held the Choice Scarf. This was a huge advantage in the Sableye mirror, where I knew I could Trick with no worries at all. Several times I was able to lock an opposing Sableye into Taunt, forcing a switch and crippling the Sableye for the rest of the game. The Attack EVs allowed me to OHKO Gengar. While I expected most Gengar to have Focus Sash, I could Trick away their Focus Sash and then KO with Sucker Punch. The same process worked with Aegislash. The other interesting move here is Will-O-Wisp. I originally had Recover in that slot, but rarely used it. I switched to Will-O-Wisp because it allowed me to get around Swagger spam from an opposing choice locked Sableye, assuming I had at least two Pokemon left. It also allowed me to Burn random things, which really can’t be understated in usefulness. Random Burned physical attackers became setup fodder for Aegislash, to a lesser extent Spiritomb, and even rarely Chandelure.

What I should have used:
Sableye @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
– Taunt
– Calm Mind
– Shadow Ball
– Recover

Despite how cool Trick Scarf Sableye was, I should have used Trick Scarf Gourgeist. This means I would have needed a different Sableye set. I would have used Calm Mind Sableye. I don’t know what the EVs or Nature would have been, but it would have been much bulkier than the set I ended up using, making it much less of a liability to bring with Gourgeist. I really wish I could say more about this set, but I have no experience with it, nor is it straightforward like Choice Scarf Gourgeist is.

After-Party Thoughts

My final record was 26-4, with a score of 1791. While this was just shy of my goal of 1800+, it was still enough for first place in North America and I feel I absolutely could have achieved that goal had I been more prepared to have Gourgeist every battle. Overall I had a fun time playing an all Ghost format and would participate in one again. This year we’ve seen a bunch of small strange tournaments (such as the Eevee tournament and the Fairy tournament), but I think this one was the best so far. I hope we keep seeing more tournaments like these; not necessarily type restricted tournaments, but tournaments where we have a small, interesting set of Pokemon to choose from.

The post The Spooky Scary Halloween Party appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hello, friends! My name is Unreality. I like short walks on the beach. Some of you may recognize me from my presence at real life tournaments, on Showdown, or as the kid saying “Yes?” when you’re trying to talk to Aaron Zheng any time over the past four years. If you don’t: My name is Aaron Traylor. I have been playing this game since I was 14, in 2011. I am from Massachusetts. This is the story of my favorite 2014 team!

Teambuilding Process

After a mediocre 6-3 finish at US Nationals, I knew that if I wanted to have any chance at the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) I would need to work hard to improve. The team that I used in July, while a strong team, was not right for me and I spent some time searching around looking for a team that would work. I was at work one day and it was ten days before the LCQ so I was starting to get a little bit antsy. I’m not a fan of last minute team hijinks and I usually need a bit of time to prepare my team physically and mentally. I started by writing all my ideas down on a piece of paper and making a list of pros vs cons for each archetype, but nothing really clicked for me. Raichu/Blastoise… Venusaur… Jumpluff… nothing just felt right, you know? Then, in a moment of frustration, at the bottom of the page, I wrote:

FUN ZONE

and circled it. And then I looked at it for a good long while. At first, I wasn’t serious, but then I had a plan. A wonderful, awful plan. For the first time in the 2014 season, I knew I was on to something.

For those of you who are not familiar, “Fun Zone” is a very silly kind of Smeargle team where Smeargle relies both on Dark Void and Transform. Instead of using Transform on the enemy Pokémon, however, Smeargle will usually Transform into its partner after Dark Voiding in order to pull off some crazy combos. In the original “Fun Zone” team, created in 2009 by Paul (makiri) with input from Danny (Dan) and used to win a regional by Huy, Smeargle could transform into Dusknoir, Machamp, or Lapras. The playstyle of the team was to evaluate whether or not the opponent was using Trick Room, and then Trick Room or prevent it accordingly. From there, double Machamp / Lapras makes short work of their team — especially after Dark Void put both enemy Pokémon to sleep.

Fun Zone teams were not possible between 2011 and 2013. In this time period, Smeargle did not have access to Dark Void (or Smeargle was plainly not eligible), which Huy assured me was vital to the team. I texted him frantically a week before 2012 Nationals wondering if it could work, and he told me it wouldn’t. However, that one August night, I realized that it could maybe work again, and I thought up:

Bakery Fun Zone

Nicknames are from the bakery. I like to bake things. Taglines are from The Nightmare Before Christmas’ opening song. This is the official theme song of this team. Feel free to play it and listen along.

Smeargle @ Choice Scarf (Biscotti)
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Transform
– Dark Void
– Trick-or-Treat
– Follow Me Forest’s Curse

Trick or treat til the neighbors gonna die of fright!

Say it once, say it twice, take a chance and roll the dice. Smeargle is one of the most feared Pokémon in the metagame if for one reason alone: Dark Void. With an 80% chance to put each enemy Pokémon to sleep, Dark Void is one of the strongest moves in Double Battles. Dark Void has been banned as a move since 2012 Regionals and was recently and somewhat controversially unbanned this year. Paired up with the most powerful Pokémon in the format, Mega Kangaskhan, Smeargle had the potential to became an unstoppable force. As such, for Spring Regionals and Nationals, at least one way to deal with Smeargle — whether it be Lum Berry, Chesto Berry, Safeguard, or Taunt — became a staple on every team. When opponents didn’t run one of these, they were willingly worsening their matchup against Smeargle. I can’t tell you how many people I talked to whose plan against Kangaskhan and Smeargle was “Hope my Pokémon don’t sleep for too long”.

However, when watching matches against Dark Void, I realized one thing: enemy players were very likely to double Protect on turn 1, expecting the Fake Out/Dark Void from Kangaskhan and Smeargle. This seemed exploitable to me and was part of the reason I chose to make a team around Smeargle. I also realized that the move Transform, which I was already interested in from makiri and Huy’s team, has the ability to go through Protect. The final piece of the puzzle was the item Choice Scarf. The Choice Scarf enables Smeargle to move before every common Pokémon in the metagame besides Mega Aerodactyl and some other Choice Scarfers. It even moves before Choice Scarf Tyranitar and Politoed, which became increasingly popular towards the end of the season. Furthermore, players who willingly accepted losses to Smeargle by making certain choices in their teambuilding (e.g. not running a Lum Berry) accepted even harder losses to Scarf Smeargle. With that, the Smeargle set came into my mind.

Transform is one of the most amazing moves in the game, and it is far and away the most versatile move. With Transform, I can get myself out of many holes. I can take their Mega Pokémon, I can take one of mine, I can grab an Intimidate from their Salamence, I can copy their boosted Pokémon, and much more. Transform made every game unique and threw my opponents out of their comfort zone.

I did not press Dark Void unless I felt I absolutely had to. This is the mentality given to me by Randy (R Inanimate), who popularized and sort of legitimized Smeargle competitively during Regionals and Nationals. Much more often, my play was to Transform Smeargle into Kangaskhan or something else. When you press Dark Void, these are the risks you take:

• 80%: A specific target on the opponent’s team is put to sleep.
• 80%: Missed Dark Void on a specific target on turn 1. The chance of Dark Void missing on that target again is 80%.
• 64%: Dark Void puts both targets to sleep.
• 32%: One of the two enemy Pokémon is put to sleep, but not both.
• 27%: A specific Pokémon on the enemy team is put to sleep, and sleeps for 3 turns.
• 27%: A specific Pokémon on the enemy team is put to sleep, and sleeps for 1 turn.
• 7%: Both Pokémon on the enemy team are put to sleep, and sleep for 3 turns.
• 7%: Both Pokémon on the enemy team are put to sleep, and sleep for 1 turn.
• 4%: Both Pokémon on the enemy team are not put to sleep.
• 4%: Missed Dark Void on both enemy Pokémon turn 1. The chance of Dark Void missing on both of those targets again is 4%.
• ?%: There is a Lum Berry or Chesto Berry on the opposing team.

I tried to always keep these risks in mind whenever I played Smeargle. Accepting that this game has dice rolls is more conducive to learning and a healthy line of thought than trying to ignore it. I have definitely lost games from being on the wrong end of this odds table. However, I’ve also won games because of good rolls.

I was searching for 3rd and 4th moves and nothing came to me. Originally, I ran Destiny Bond and Follow Me so that at least when Smeargle was bound to faint it served a purpose. Then, when talking to Scott H. (muffinhead), he gave me an unstoppable idea: Trick-or-Treat as a filler move. Let’s be clear here: most Smeargle do not rely on their moves beyond Dark Void and Spiky Shield — and Follow Me — if they’ve got Focus Sash. Every move that isn’t Dark Void is filler on Smeargle. So I decided to run some of the most ridiculous filler in the game: the type-changing moves. For those of you who don’t know, Trick-or-Treat and Forest’s Curse add Ghost type and Grass type to the target, respectively. What this means is that I could turn my Kangaskhan or Tyranitar into a Ghost type and avoid the Fighting-type attacks directed at them. I could Forest’s Curse one of my own Pokémon to make sure it couldn’t be Rage Powdered or Spored (even though Rage Powder will redirect Forest’s Curse, causing it to fail), and I could Forest’s Curse one of the enemy Pokémon to cause Talonflame, Lapras, or Salamence to score OHKOs on them. These moves were incredibly situational and they were hilarious when I used them and even more hilarious when I actually won with them. Like I said, they’re just filler: filler to get me out of incredibly niche situations. I actually took game 1 of a best of 3 from both Aaron Zheng (Cybertron) and Alex (PokeAlex) while they were practicing for worlds with just Trick-or-Treat, which was pretty strong.

Since Transform is so integral to the team, and its use changed with each Pokémon that I brought to battle, I will mention how Smeargle interacted with each Pokémon in their own sections.

Kangaskhan (F) @ Kangaskhanite (Cronut)
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Fake Out
– Double-Edge
– Power-Up Punch
– Sucker Punch

In this town we call home, everyone hail to the pumpkin song.

Kangaskhan. That’s all I need to say about that.

I hope that Simon reads this article and is absolutely disgusted by my Kangaskhan spread this late in the year. I hope that YOU read this article and are disgusted by my Kangaskhan spread this late in the year. Please do not run this Kangaskhan on any other team. It is bad and you will feel bad and you will wonder why you are performing poorly. This is a very simple Kangaskhan set “designed” for use on this team. It has 252 Speed to outspeed all other Adamant Kangaskhan, since I felt Jolly Kangaskhan would be unpopular this late in the season, and any Adamant Kangaskhan with Fake Out would be outsped by mine, because they would be running a “smarter” spread with more of a bulky investment and less than maximum Speed. I was hoping that, in the LCQ, any Kangaskhan that I ran into would carry Protect, which is, I feel, the best choice for a non-gimmick team Kangaskhan in a best of three match.

Synergy with Smeargle

I ran 4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed Kangaskhan in order to properly offensively synergize with Smeargle. Jolly would have been a better option if this team relied heavily on Dark Void. However, it does not. Since this team relies more on Transform, it made more sense to max Attack on Kangaskhan so that Choice Scarf Mega Kangaskhan could do as much damage as possible. In that vein, I felt my Choice Scarf Kangaskhan should speed tie with the neutral natured 100 base Speed Choice Scarf Pokémon, which are Salamence and Zapdos. Furthermore, Adamant Kangaskhan has a ~63% to OHKO Garchomp with Double Edge, whereas that chance is reduced to ~18% with Jolly Kangaskhan. This is a risk that I chose to take.

Choice Scarf Mega Kangaskhan is a beast. If a player cannot handle one Kangaskhan, they are often unlikely to be able to handle two, especially when one is faster than their Pokémon specifically designed to outspeed Kangaskhan. It one shots many Pokémon, especially Charizard, Gardevoir, Hydreigon, and Mamoswine. Thanks to Fake Out’s priority, most people do not expect the turn 2 Choice Scarf Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge KO on their Pokémon. When players double Protect into Transform + Fake Out, expecting a Dark Void, they often have little to no way to counterplay two Mega Kangaskhan. The biggest offender of this is Charizard-Y/Garchomp. Turn 1, Garchomp Protects, usually to save its Lum Berry, and Charizard either eats a Fake Out or Protects. Then two Double-Edges clean up the field.

Attacking with two Mega Kangaskhan is hilarious. If they switch Mawile in on a Double Edge, all it takes is two more Double Edges on it to pick up a surprise KO. Aegislash faints to a double Sucker Punch as well. Usually, the momentum gained by Choice Scarf Kangaskhan is enough to, at worst, clear the board of all four Pokémon, and at best, it picks up two KOs and leaves both Kangaskhan on the field. Trading Smeargle for a Pokémon on the enemy team is usually much more value than a Smeargle will get.

When Smeargle Transforms, it copies all of the stats of Kangaskhan but HP. Max HP Smeargle only has about 20 less HP than a 4 HP Kangaskhan. Just pretend it’s already spent two turns in Sandstorm or something.

Double Kangaskhan, while amazingly funny, is not a catch-all. It falters against Pokémon that would normally disrupt Kangaskhan. It is weak to Intimidate. It is weak to people switching in Rocky Helmet Pokémon. Against people who don’t expect it, it is devastating. And really, really, funny.

/

Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite (Burnt Cookie)

Ability: Unnerve
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Protect
– Dragon Dance
– Rock Slide
– Crunch

I am the shadow on the moon at night, filling your dreams to the brim with fright.

This is another silly spread! Against teams with large Tyranitar problems, I choose this Pokémon in order to abuse that weakness, which most teams could not handle along with Smeargle. Tyranitar is perfect for both supporting and being supported by Smeargle: its ability causes Lum Berry and Chesto Berry to not work, meaning that often the opponent’s only option is to pray for Dark Void to miss while Tyranitar Dragon Dances up to sweep. Tyranitar doesn’t miss Sand, because Lapras took care of Rain on its own for me. An option I really liked on this Tyranitar was leading it and having Mega Kangaskhan in the back without having to Mega Evolve Tyranitar.

I never brought Tyranitar as a lead against teams with Fake Out. In fact, Tyranitar was my least picked Pokémon, because it usually did not provide enough momentum or defensive synergy to support my team. When I did bring it, it performed well. It was my only way to deal with standard Charizard-Y / Venusaur sun.

Synergy with Smeargle

I never transform into Tyranitar with Smeargle. Rather, Smeargle gives Tyranitar Ghost-type with Trick-or-Treat, turning it into a Ghost/Dark/Rock juggernaut. The theory is: on turn 1: Tyranitar Dragon Dances while Smeargle Trick-or-Treats it. The next turn, Smeargle is still faster than Tyranitar, so it can use an offensive Trick-or-Treat along with Tyranitar’s +1 Crunch to KO anything. If, for whatever reason, being Ghost-type isn’t working out for Tyranitar, when it Mega Evolves, it turns back to Dark/Rock. I rarely used this in actual tournaments, but on the ladder it was hilarious and successful enough to keep on my team. To troll harder with Smeargle, I thought of using Life Orb Unnerve Tyranitar, so I could Dark Void Garchomp and then OHKO them with Ice Beam. I bred the Larvitar and never used it, but some extra defensive measures against Mega Mawile would have been nice.

Salamence @ Choice Specs (Coffee Cake)

Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Fire Blast
– Dragon Pulse
– Flamethrower

I am the “who” in the call “who’s there?”.

This Salamence works with the “choose how risky you want to play” theme of this team. Given the first three Pokémon on this team’s massive weakness to Steel-types, especially Mawile, I wanted a Pokémon that could always KO them. Choice Specs Salamence fit that description, but Fire Blast isn’t as “always” as I want it to be. Neither is Draco Meteor. I definitely didn’t want to lose any games because I couldn’t get as much damage as I needed to in on time, but I didn’t want to lose any games because I missed my move on a low health Pokémon. This moveset let me decide how much damage I needed, and evaluate whether I needed to take a 10-15% risk. Stone Edge, Hydro Pump, and other moves are all way more conditional than higher accuracy/higher power options, and I maintain that this is the best Choice Salamence moveset.

Intimidate is incredibly important for this team. Since there is no natural bulk outside of Lapras and Kangaskhan, my Pokémon need all the help they can get surviving hits.

Synergy with Smeargle

This one’s fun. Turn 1 I lead Kangaskhan and Smeargle versus, perhaps, my opponent’s Ferrothorn and Garchomp. Clearly not a winning matchup. What I can do in some instances is switch into Salamence and Transform on the switch. That way, I’ve got both a Choice Scarf Salamence and a Choice Specs Salamence on the field at the same time, and my opponent’s Pokémon are both at -2 Attack. If they just double Protected, as most of my opponents were liable to, they’re in for a world of hurt. Having both Choice Scarf and Choice Specs options on a single Pokémon on one team is unheard of since 2010, when you could switch items around between games.

Talonflame @ Choice Band (Eclair)
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Brave Bird
– Flare Blitz
– Giga Impact
– U-turn

I am the wind blowing through your hair.

Another exciting, fun-filled spread! Just kidding. This Talonflame is your standard fare. It is Jolly, intended to outspeed other Talonflame, but it actually just managed to speed tie them because everyone else was also running Jolly (I lost a game at Regionals to a Talonflame speed tie). Whatever. Jolly is still important because Talonflame is a huge issue for Smeargle. Talonflame is incredibly useful in my matchup against Aegislash, Ferrothorn, and most importantly Mawile, which are all Pokémon that give my core difficulties.

Synergy with Smeargle

Have you ever heard of a Choice Scarf Talonflame? Neither had I until I figured that a pretty hilarious way to troll Amoonguss, Lucario, and their similarly Fire-type challenged friends is to switch into Talonflame and Transform into it. From there, I can both Brave Bird and Flare Blitz, or I could go with the double U-Turn to gain momentum if my opponent switched (and they often did). Because Smeargle’s U-Turn goes faster than Talonflame’s, I can switch out Smeargle for Kangaskhan, and then Talonflame for Smeargle, and then I have Fake Out + Dark Void/Transform pressure. Also, since Smeargle is faster than Talonflame’s Flare Blitz, I can Forest’s Curse something (say, Kangashan) and OHKO it with a super effective Flare Blitz.

Lapras @ Assault Vest (Cupcake)
Ability: Water Absorb
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 4 Def / 156 SpA / 116 SpD / 12 Spe
Sassy Nature
– Ice Shard
– Hydro Pump
– Freeze-Dry
– Sheer Cold

Won’t you please make way for a very special guy?

Original Fun Zone, rolling through. Do not be fooled by Kangaskhan and Smeargle running around using their wacky tricks. Lapras is the real MVP (Most Valuable Pokémon) of this team. It is one of the most bulky Pokémon in the metagame, and it is the Pokémon most able to use one of the best coverage moves invented: Freeze Dry. Freeze Dry turns bulky Water type Pokémon into soup. Assault Vest Lapras is the only Pokémon I have ever seen reliably stop Politoed and Ludicolo at the same time. Lapras makes powerful Pokémon like Garchomp, Salamence, Gyarados, and Hydreigon stop in their tracks and think “Is it really worth it to be on the field right now?” Most often the answer is no, which I can then abuse with Salamence or Kangaskhan. Kangaskhan and Smeargle can usually trade at worst 2 for 2. If they happen to get Pokémon out of the way that give Lapras trouble, Lapras can come in and mop up, even 1v2ing for the win.

• 156 SpA Lapras Freeze Dry vs. 12 HP / 36 SpD Garchomp: 184-220 (99.4 – 118.9%) — 87.5% chance to OHKO
• 252+ SpA Mega Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 220 HP / 116+ SpD Assault Vest Lapras: 98-116 (42 – 49.7%) — guaranteed 3HKO

Credit to Markus (13Yoshi37) for the powerful spread. He is winner and I am very noob.

You may have noticed or heard about my somewhat notorious fourth move selection by now. Sheer Cold is so undeniably strong that some Pokémon fan sites choose to ban it in casual battles before it has a chance to even have an effect on the metagame. I run it for two reasons:

1. Sheer Cold is mathematically better than Hydro Pump in some situations.

• The odds of hitting 1 in 1 Sheer Cold is 30%.
• The odds of hitting 1 in 2 Sheer Colds is 51%.
• The odds of hitting 1 in 3 Sheer Colds is 65.7%.
• The odds of hitting 1 in 4 Sheer Colds is 75.9%.
• The odds of hitting 1 Hydro Pump is 80%.
• The odds of hitting all of 2 Hydro Pumps in a row is 64%.
• The odds of hitting all of 3 Hydro Pumps in a row is 51.2%.
• The odds of hitting all of 4 Hydro Pumps in a row is 40%.

In a 1v1 duel vs, say, a slower Aegislash (if they revealed Substitute, I would timer stall with Hydro Pump until they started attacking), I am much more likely to grab a KO than I would be if I did not run Sheer Cold. Sheer Cold also gave me a stronger matchup against Mega Venusaur, Tyranitar (Lapras does NOT beat Tyranitar! Especially not Assault Vest variants), and other Lapras.

I rarely use Sheer Cold outside of the endgame, unlike the Australian Sheer Cold methodology as seen at Worlds. I try to always keep its percentage in mind when using it. There are two conditions for me clicking Sheer Cold: either using it and missing will not have significant consequences, or it is my only option, which leads me to…

2. Sheer Cold gives a glimmer of hope.

Sheer Cold gives me a chance to win games that could not be won. Let me say that again: if I am about to lose a game with Lapras out, there is around a 3/10 chance that I can win it. This is so absurdly strong! 30% is so much more than 0%! I’ve gotten some flack for using this move sometimes. I apologize for not being an honourable samurai but seriously, this is a game of probabilities and trying to pretend that luck doesn’t exist doesn’t help me when I make a team. What’s different between Rock Sliding and praying for a flinch on the right Pokémon and using Sheer Cold for the KO? You’re 3% more likely to get what you want with Sheer Cold.

My Spreads

You may notice that only one of my spreads is optimized. This is because I chose to go for general power, rather than specific power. I do not mind playing with “suboptimal” spreads. I think that a gigantic trap in this game is building very, very, very specific EV spreads that don’t do much at all, especially on Pokémon that need all of their power. I could have run more defensive spreads on Kangaskhan and Talonflame and Tyranitar so that Smeargle could copy their bulk. However, this was not the goal of my team. There were very few attacks I could survive on these Pokémon by changing my EVs up, and the ones I didn’t survive I didn’t care about much. If I were running more of a bulky offense team, these basic spreads would need to go. This team is much less about the spreads on the Pokémon, and much more about what the Pokémon themselves are capable of.

Big Scary Threats

This team is not without its counters.

This is kind of counterintuitive because it really seems like Mawile is my most feared Mega Pokémon. However, the trouble for me is Kangaskhan and its unpredictability. Especially in a best of 1 setting, at a Premier Challenge or a Regional or on Pokémon Showdown, I’m not going to know if Kangaskhan is Jolly or Adamant natured, or if it’s running Protect. My team was designed to play Kangaskhan with Protect. Jolly Kangaskhan does about 75% to Smeargle with Fake Out. In a best of 3, I can play around their Kangaskhan. Usually if I survive Turn 1 it’ll go downhill from there for their Kangaskhan. Most of the time, I need to lead Kangaskhan and Salamence to deal with enemy Kangaskhan. Like I said in my Kangaskhan paragraph, I could run Jolly Kangaskhan, but that would only improve my Kangaskhan matchup by risking a speed tie on turn 1, which isn’t the kind of risk I want to take.

Kangaskhan’s brother in arms. Talonflame isn’t so scary except for the fact that it one shots Smeargle. This means that against Talonflame, I usually had to play a bit more straight-up. Against Kangaskhan and Talonflame in team preview, I almost always led Kangaskhan and Salamence. I would usually Double-Edge Talonflame turn 1 because Quick Guard users deserve to faint in one shot.

Trick Room in general is toxic for this team. If Trick Room gets up, I will likely lose unless their team has multiple serious Lapras weaknesses. I’ve actually stalled Trick Room out once with Smeargle, but it wasn’t very pretty. Double this with Gothitelle, which traps both my Smeargle and my Kangaskhan while pretty much neutering Kangaskhan. The only way I can win against Gothitelle is to pull off shenanigans with Talonflame U-turn, Tyranitar, and Smeargle Dark Void. Gothitelle / Lum Berry Scrafty / Mawile is almost an automatic loss for me, and I think in the future I might switch Tyranitar for Bisharp to prevent that from happening.

Sableye is just another one of those Pokémon that Smeargle doesn’t play kindly with because of the faster Taunt. It also can spread Burn and Confusion around to my team with ease, which isn’t something that any of my Pokémon save Talonflame appreciate. I usually dealt with Sableye by turn 1 Scrappy Kangaskhan Fake Out + Salamence Draco Meteor before it could do anything.

Tournament Results

I did not do too pleasantly at the LCQ. I was hoping for something in the ballpark of my 2013 Top 16 finish, which I was very proud of, losing in a graceful battle to Eugene Park and his Gastrodon. However, my 2014 LCQ finish was anything but graceful. I beat Collin Heier’s mom 2-0 Round 1. She was a very powerful Pokemom. I ran into Westin Lee Round 2. The first game I won 4-0 with Double Kangaskhan, but Game 2 I fell right into a trap of… Mega Dragon Dance Tyranitar and Double Team Brightpowder Substitute Sand Veil Garchomp. I misplayed horribly by targeting Garchomp instead of its supporting Pokémon both games, and lost the set 1-2. Then I was out of the LCQ. It’s worth noting that each game I aimed a Freeze Dry on Garchomp turn 1 as he Double Teamed. It is also worth noting that I did not timer stall or play well. So it goes. Game 3 was actually incredibly crazy, with me losing Salamence and Kangaskhan on turn 2 and surviving 12 more turns with Lapras and Smeargle. I had a ~15% chance to both wake up and hit Sheer Cold on his Amoonguss, but it did not happen.

Unfortunate yet necessary casualties of wartime. I do not think I would have made it too far in the LCQ because of the presence of Gothitelle Mawile and the near-perfect matchup Wolfe’s team, for instance, had against mine. I did, however, win some local tournaments with it. I won an 8-person local (oh boy) and won about 48$ from it (oh boy! That’s the first money I’ve made since 2011, so baby steps). Then I went to the Springfield Premier Challenge and got 1st in that as well, beating out some local community figures such as Chalkey, JoeDaPr0, and Pyromaniac720. I am also 4-1 with this team in the NPA, so far (thanks a lot, LPFan (Look out, Chargers!)).

FUN AND EXCITING Pokémon PUZZLES!

I thought that something neat to include in my report would be some scenarios with my team that kind of show my luck-evaluating thought process, and this team’s strange way of finding outs or advantages. These are real-life scenarios that happened to me online and at the tournaments I played throughout the year.

1. vs joej m: It’s turn 2. I have Kangaskhan and Lapras in vs Salamence and Ludicolo. He’s probably got Mawile in the back, which I’m pretty afraid of. Last turn, I switched Lapras in for Smeargle and took 5% damage from Ludicolo’s Fake Out, while Kangaskhan used Fake Out on Salamence. Can you find the situation in which I take joej m’s Mawile for free on Turn 2?

VS

2. vs Arash Ommati (Mean): I have just won Game 1 of our best of 3 set in the NPA and am looking to take Game 2 to close it up. It is his -1 Attack Garchomp at ~30% health and his -1 Attack Mega Mawile at ~10% health vs my Salamence and Smeargle at full health, neither of which have chosen their moves. Percentage-wise, I’m in a good position: except both of his Pokemon still have space to pick up OHKOs on mine, and Smeargle needs a turn to get going. I am actually in an incredibly stressful position! Assume my Smeargle has Follow Me instead of Forest’s Curse. Assume Garchomp is not carrying Lum Berry. Assume Garchomp outspeeds my Salamence. Can you find the moves that give me the best odds of winning? What are those odds?

VS

3. vs pyromaniac720: In the Springfield Premier Challenge, I have just lost one game in the Top 8 best of 3 set. I made some moves that led to small advantages for me in game 2, but it’s wound down to my Choice Band Talonflame locked into Brave Bird next to my full health Smeargle versus his +1 Attack / +1 Defense Malamar. All Pokémon are at full health, and his Malamar doesn’t just have Superpower as an attacking move, so Talonflame isn’t safe. Can you find my most reliable out and keep me alive in the best of 3?

VS

4. It’s Round 9 of the Philadelphia VGC tournament, and I’m unfortunately at 5-3, which means I’m very far away from Top Cut. However, I want to clinch 10 or hopefully 20 CP by winning my last game. Somehow, in the battle, I’ve gotten myself into somewhat of a pickle: half HP Lapras, low HP Smeargle, and full HP Talonflame in the back VS his full HP Mega Mawile. It looks like I’m at a major advantage, and I am. However, I know his Mawile has Sucker Punch, and I also know Talonflame is not the bulkiest Pokémon. I want to find the 100% win condition, so there’s no way he can even critical hit Sucker Punch my Talonflame to knock it out and cost me the game. Can you prevent me from losing the game to a critical hit, and earn me some sweet CP?

Closing Thoughts

Every year I end up with a team that I just can’t imagine playing this game without. Whether it’s Beat Up Krookodile in 2011, Nidoking Cloyster in 2012, or Bird Forme Birds team featuring Landorus-Therian and Tornadus-Therian in 2013, I always leave the season sadly leaving behind a team that I held very close to my heart. I am proud but sad to add Bakery Fun Zone to the list. Unfortunate yet necessary. This team truly plays like no other. Every game was a roller coaster, from the very first tournament on Pokémon Showdown where I beat Scott’s Amoonguss Lucario leads with Talonflame/Talonflame, to the set against Westin, to the time I played Fatum in NPA and learned that Kangaskhan’s Struggle hits twice, to the time that I wrote this report and thought of all the good times my Pokémon and I had. Every game with this team is a pretty crazy experience where I can laugh at the absurdity of this game that we all devote so much time and effort to. If you pick up this team: I hope you laugh with me, too. Let’s be friends.

Shoutouts

I would like to give a shout out to everyone. You are all my friends.

• Shout out to Paul and Huy for putting up with me calling it “Bakery Fun Zone” forever.
• Shout out to Scott and pookar and the rest of our best friends for putting up with me talking about Smeargle and Sheer Cold for months on end.
• Shout out to Wolfe and Max for letting me stay at their place for LCQ and convincing me that Sheer Cold is in fact the correct move choice. And Markus for showing me how to play Wii Play Tanks and Monopoly and doing EV thinking so that I didn’t have to.
• Shout out to muffinhead for helping me come up with Trick-or-Treat!
• Shout outs to Aryana (feathers) and Zilin for helping me with cosmetics and making super neato artwork! And to Scott again for teaching me that Poke Ball choice is the only thing that matters when choosing Pokémon. This whole team is in Dusk Balls.
• Bonus shout out to Aryana who is both the lovely artist who drew the really awesome picture and who saw the team the night before LCQ and decided to run it and make it further in the LCQ than I did.
• Shout out to Collin. Sorry for beating your mom. She was a very nice woman.
• Shout out to Jake and Pyromaniac720 for driving me to all of these silly places.
• Shout out to JRank, who, I believe, is in fact the person who convinced me to run this crazy team when he said, frustrated after losing a best of three to an early version: “Aaron, this team is crazy, but it actually really works.”
• Shout out to Aaron and Alex for being my amigos and putting up with Trick-or-Treat and being such gosh darn good Pokémon battlers that it brings tears to my eyes.

I was a victim of a series of accidents, as are we all.

Answers to the Fun and Intriguing Riddles:

1. I Double-Edged Ludicolo, and I Sheer Colded Salamence. I was not afraid of the damage output of either of his Pokémon at that point in time. However, I didn’t want to play too many steps ahead in my mind and possibly mispredict him by switching my Salamence or my Talonflame, which would deal with his Mawile pretty well, into a Draco Meteor. I also did not want to Hydro Pump that slot, which would deal considerably more damage to Mawile than a Freeze Dry. Sheer Cold was a 30% risk. What happened turn 2: he switched Mawile in for Salamence, I Double-Edged Ludicolo for ~70% of its health and Sheer Colded Mawile on the switchin. Sheer Cold hits and Mawile goes down. He then forfeited. I was lucky that it paid off for me, but notice that I had switch-in options in the back if it did not. This was a play that I made on Pokémon Showdown. It is not, probably, a play that I would make at a real event. A safer play, as pointed out to me by a very angry Wolfe (but it’s pretty obvious), is to Power-Up Punch Salamence’s slot and Freeze Dry Ludicolo. The thing is that this play always leaves me in a moderately awkward board position (~30-45% Ludicolo, and ~70-85% Mawile) and my play has a ~70% to leave me in a somewhat more awkward board position and a 30% to leave me in an excellent one. Do you agree with this play? Why or why not?
2. I Transformed into Salamence with my Smeargle, leaving both his Garchomp and his Mega Mawile at -2 Attack, because Salamence’s Intimidate copies over. From then, my plan was to Dragon Pulse his low HP Garchomp with Scarf Salamence next turn, outspeeding and KOing and surviving because Garchomp is -2, and this turn KOing Mawile with Specs’ Flamethrower. Unfortunately, Garchomp crit KOs the Specs Salamence, and I lose the game before Smeargle turned into Salamence can do anything. The odds of that happening are 6.25%. I won Game 3 and the series in a 1v1, his Mega Mawile vs my Lapras: his Play Rough missed in questionable KO range and my Lapras hit Sheer Cold. The odds of that happening are about 3%. Pokémon is a very silly game sometimes.
3. I Transformed into his +1 Attack / +1 Defense Malamar with Smeargle. Talonflame did about ~40% to his Malamar with Brave Bird. He then used Psycho Cut on my Smeargle turned Malamar with his Malamar. Even if he had Superpowered, I still could have had the game, questionably. I ended up taking the game and the series with his Malamar, Transforming into it in Game 3 as well.
4. Smeargle uses Forest’s Curse on his Mawile. This means that Mega Mawile receives neutral damage from both Lapras’ Freeze Dry/Ice Shard, and Talonflame’s Brave Bird, which outspeeds his Sucker Punch, so there’s no way he can critical hit KO my Talonflame. When Forest’s Curse happened, we both burst out laughing. He was expecting the Dark Void. He kept saying “I’m not even mad that I lost!” This match inspired the phrase “LOST IN THE FOREST.” If you use this team and you use Forest’s Curse on your enemy’s Pokémon, make sure you let them know that their Pokémon are now LOST IN THE FOREST.

Article image created by feathers for Nugget Bridge. View more of her artwork on her tumblr or Nugget Bridge forums thread.

The post Bakery Fun Zone appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hello everyone, I’m Daniel, known on here as Cinaclov. Thanks for checking out my animated team analysis and tournament report for the 2014 UK National Championships.

Despite this being my third time competing at a UK National, this is the first report I’ve created for Nugget Bridge, but more notable is that I decided to animate it. I wanted to create something that even if you didn’t have a clue about competitive Pokémon would still have some entertainment value whilst maintaining the same level of information competitive players are looking for. Hopefully they both worked out that way and everyone will enjoy them. Let me know what does and doesn’t work in the comments.

After competing at Nationals I had the idea of creating an animated tournament report about my experience; I was considering writing up a report of the event anyway whilst also wanting to create some animations for my portfolio, so thought why not kill two birds with one Rock Slide and animate it? Then when SuperIntegration’s report was posted I received a few messages asking about how my team worked, making me realise that people were interested and that it’d be worth following up on that animation idea. Unfortunately with this year also being my final year of university it has taken me far longer than planned to complete this, but hopefully the animations are entertaining enough to make up for that.

Before we get into it proper I’d just like to point out a couple of things:

• The majority of the written text in this article is going to focus on the peripheral elements of my 2014 Nationals experience; basically everything besides the battles themselves. If it’s just the analysis and battles that you’re interested in go for the animations.
• In both videos I am narrating fairly quickly. This is to fit in all that I wanted to say in a reasonable running time (the original scripts would’ve been about 45 minutes total). On YouTube there are subtitles if that helps. It might also be helpful to pause at points if you’re interested reading in specific text or stats.
• For the battles I have tried to replicate each scenario as accurately as possible but often it worked better to rearrange things – eg; Talonflame might have been on the right side of the field in battle but her flying animation takes up a lot of room visually and can be distracting. Consequently she was often moved to the left side of the field out the way. I don’t think there’s any major changes, but it’s just something to be aware of. You might notice inconsistencies when comparing the animations to the battle videos.

Team Analysis

This first video covers the team building process for me throughout 2014, showing the evolution of the team (including through the Bristol Battle Tournament) and ending with an analysis of the final version I took to Manchester.

Apologies for the not-fantastic-but-passable quality of the sound recording in the first video, but it does improve for the second. Remember to view both in HD

For those who prefer their Pokémon stats more conventionally presented:

Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 44 Def/ 132 SDef / 28 Spd
Careful Nature
– Play Rough
– Fire Fang
– Sucker Punch
– Protect

Azumarill @ Assault Vest
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 156 HP /196 Atk / 100 Def / 44 SDef / 12 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Aqua Jet
– Play Rough
– Waterfall
– Superpower

Rotom-Heat @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 126 HP /4 Def/ 148 SpA / 4 SpDef / 228 Spd
Modest Nature
– Overheat
– Thunderbolt
– Volt Switch
– Hidden Power [Ice]

Talonflame @ Charti Berry
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 172 HP/ 4Atk/ 44 Def/ 236 SDef/52 Spd
Careful Nature
– Brave Bird
– Tailwind
– Quick Guard
– Protect

Amoonguss @ Lum Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 188 Def / 68 Spd
Bold Nature
– Giga Drain
– Sludge Bomb
– Spore
– Protect

Goodra @ Expert Belt
Ability: Sap Sipper
EV’s: 92HP /164Def /188 SpA/ 4SpDef/ 60Speed
Modest Nature
– Dragon Pulse
– Thunderbolt
– Fire Blast
– Feint

Friday May 23rd

The day before Nationals. My plan for the event was I’d travel to Manchester on Friday, play in the tournament Saturday and Sunday, tourist around Manchester on Monday then head back on the Tuesday.

Friday morning I got a train that left at about 10:00am, intending to spend the 5 hours of travel time watching saved battle videos and making notes. Instead I ended up talking to three older people who were also sitting at the table with me. At Birmingham two of them left to be replaced by a younger couple who just so happened to be going to the VGC as well, so we sat and discussed Pokémon for the rest of the journey. I arrived in Manchester about 3pm and was at the hotel by half past.

I had booked this hotel quite late as I didn’t know if I could make Nationals until about two weeks prior. The hotels on the tournament site were incredibly expensive by that point but this one was just a 10 minute bus ride away and really cheap in comparison – it cost me less than half in total for what it would’ve cost for just one night staying next to Event City. Admittedly there were no windows and the whole place was heavily scented with lemon (not that that’s a terrible thing I guess), but for the amount I paid at that short notice it was fantastic. I think that’s worth remembering for anyone who has to get accommodation for a tournament: check out a few options first rather than just going for the closest and most expensive.

You have no idea how difficult it is to take a decent picture of a small hotel room with minimal natural lighting using an iPod camera that hates dim lighting conditions.

Saturday May 24th: 1st Day of Nationals

I woke up early. Whilst the hotel did provide breakfast it was from 8:30 onwards so I made the decision to get breakfast when I got to the venue to avoid being late for registration. I also stocked up on sandwiches from the petrol station whilst passing by as I didn’t want to get hungry during the day and it’s ­probably a good thing I did; registration was done by half 10 but it wasn’t until 3pm that actual battles began. Whilst waiting I met and got talking to Abir and James who I ended up hanging around with for most of the day, notable because I’d end up facing Abir later in the tournament.

Battle Report

You can also view the Battle Videos for each individual game (besides the first one which I forgot to film).

Rd2 – Luigi Lo Giudice (LPRox)
Rd3 – Gareth Buckley – (FroZen85)
Rd4 – Eden Batchelor (Xenoblade Hero)
Rd5 – Abir Ahmmed – Hedge282
Rd6 – Josh Schmidt
Rd7 – Max Kraffert (Nerpheus)
Rd8 – Sam Bentham (SuperIntegration) – SuperIntegration’s report, as referenced in the video.

Sunday May 25th

One of the advantages of not making top cut is I could have a bit of a lie in, whilst those who’d made it had to be there for 9am. The first two rounds of Masters had happened by the time I got there (around half 10ish). Whilst waiting for the finals I decided to enter a pick up tournament that was being held for anyone not competing in the main event where I lost first round to someone called Richard, who by coincidence I’d spoken to the day before at the 3DS charging station. Naturally we’d both swapped our teams tactics with each other whilst there, reasoning that it’d be safe to do so as there’s no way we’d end up playing against each other at this stage of the tournament.

LN5G-WWWW-WWW8-ZSPP

At the time I felt like I’d played really badly the entire game but watching the replay back I think I didn’t do all that badly until turn 9. Sableye had just switched in against my Mawile and Talonflame. I should have Quick Guarded with Talonflame but instead switched her out(?) and allowed Mawile to get burned. No idea what my logic was, but that seems to be the beginning of the end for me there.

After watching the semis and finals I hung around a bit and spoke to various people, then decided to check out the surrounding shops at the Trafford Center next to the tournament venue  — there were adverts all over Manchester for some kind of Lego Centre there and I thought that could be interesting. Gareth (FroZen85) decided to come along with me, but it was really expensive to get in and absolutely packed full of people so we gave up on that. Gareth decided to go at that point, saying that the shopping centre gave him the creeps. I’d never visited before and thought I’d stay and have a look round, and having done so I completely agree. The whole place was skin crawlingly creepy and fake. Everything from the fake ‘Greek’ statues with painted togas, the vaguely Greek style architecture mixed with modern glass, piped classical music… it felt weird in a kind of movie dystopia way. I wouldn’t recommend visiting just on the off chance anyone was considering it.

As was the plan from the start I spent Monday doing the tourist thing around Manchester before heading back the next day. It’s something I’d recommend for people who end up going somewhere they haven’t been before for a tournament: make the most of being there. Loads of people seemed to turn up to Manchester for the tournament then were gone, but after travelling to get there I’d say make some time to see the place. Think of it as a holiday or something.

The videos sum up my thoughts on how the tournament itself went so I wont dwell on that, but the overall event was great. If you haven’t been to a Pokémon tournament before and you’re capable of doing so, go for it. It’s fantastic being able to just completely nerd out about Pokémon and have everyone around you be on the same page, but more broadly than that it’s just such a great atmosphere. As stated in the Battle Report, I didn’t meet anyone who wasn’t really friendly and approachable and it was such a good time. Prepare for it by all means, but go there to have fun as opposed to winning it all and you wont be disappointed!

I’ll end with a list of things I’ve learnt and observed from both the tournament and whilst making the animations;

• Scripting and voice recording takes much longer than you’d think for a project like this
• Animating anyone who flies with a flapping animation is horrible.
• Mawile is probably the most awkward Mega Pokémon to animate decently. Just as well I didn’t have one on my team then… Gyarados gets honourable mentions.
• Speaking of which, I faced more Gyarados than Kangaskhan at Nationals. That might not be too odd in the current metagame but at the time Kangaskhan was basically Queen of the VGC.

My good luck charms from the event. They only let me down once (I forgot them for the Rd2 match)

Thanks everyone for watching/reading. This is the first time I’ve done something like this so constructive feedback would definitely be appreciated. I’d love to do another animation next year if I can, but it’s unlikely to be two big animations like these. Suggestions on how I could improve on these or what to try in the future would be great. For anyone who’s interested, I have written up a blog post reviewing my thoughts on both the creative process and the final animations, or equally have a look at the last few months of updates to see how things progressed.

On a side note, I’d like to do some kind of small dedication to the Official Nintendo Magazine forums which are closing in November, along with the magazine. That’s where I and a few others I know here started playing Pokémon competitively, and whilst the whole of ONM has seemingly been on life support for years I want to acknowledge where I started and how great it was around the D/P/Pt era.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Nintendo for their part in all this. Smash Bros on 3DS made rendering video something to look forward to rather than dread.

Thanks y’all 

The post When the Wind Blows: An Animated 2014 UK Nationals Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hi guys! My name is Stephen Brown III, also known as Pyromaniac720 on Showdown, Twitter, YouTube, and Nugget Bridge, and this is my report on the team that I used to go 7-2 and bubble at one of the toughest fall regionals. Ever since getting top 16 at LCQ, I kept trying to make new teams based off of my LCQ team (which you can read about here). However, I found that many more people than I expected had actually read my report, so they knew what my Pokémon could do. My opponents knew that I was using tricks such as Choice Scarf Gardevoir, Choice Specs Rotom-Wash, and Mega Charizard X, so I decided that I would just start my new team from scratch.

The Teambuilding Process

I knew that I wasn’t going to use Mega Charizard X this time, so I needed to find another Fire-type Pokémon (I wouldn’t live up to my name without at least one Fire-type Pokémon on my team). At first, I considered Rotom-Heat, but the Special Attack drop from Overheat was unappealing- the best way to reset the drop would have been Volt Switch, and I highly prefer Thunderbolt. Using Choice Specs was an option, but being locked into Overheat is highly problematic. Pyroar and Delphox seemed like good options, but I found that both were extremely frail. In the end, I decided on Talonflame, as its offensive power with Brave Bird and Flare Blitz combined with its support options in Tailwind, Quick Guard, Taunt, and Will-O-Wisp were extremely appealing.

I had the idea to run Mega Aerodactyl with Smack Down alongside Garchomp. I decided to run a Choice Scarf Garchomp that was one point slower than Mega Aerodactyl (credits to TwiddleDee for the idea), allowing me to Smack Down and Earthquake targets such as Rotom-Wash. This allowed me to run a Garchomp that was fast, yet bulky.

Next, I wanted another Dragon-type. I’m not really a fan of Salamence, and my favorite Dragon, Dragonite, didn’t seem it would fit the team I had in mind. Instead, I opted for Life Orb Hydreigon, which gave me many different options in battle. However, I didn’t want to deal with the Special Attack drop from Draco Meteor, and I knew I couldn’t use Draco Meteor and Dragon Pulse on the same set without making significant sacrifices. I decided to use the only Pokémon that could reverse stat drops: my old pal, Malamar. With Topsy-Turvy, I could safely use Draco Meteor and Overheat without being stuck in awkward positions. Since Malamar also learned Simple Beam and Hypnosis, I decided to use it as a support Pokémon. Since Rotom-Heat’s main issue was now solved, I also added it to the team.

I loved the team and in testing, was doing fairly well. However, I realized that the team had some glaring weaknesses, especially to rain teams and Azumarill. I also had issues with Dragon-types if Tailwind hadn’t been set up, so I replaced Garchomp with a Gardevoir from my LCQ team- a bulky Choice Scarf variant. I also decided to replace Mega Aerodactyl, as I didn’t have Garchomp to pair with it anymore. I tested Mega Absol and Mega Blastoise before settling on Mega Kangaskhan. Instead of boosting my attack with Power-Up Punch, I used Hammer Arm and then used Topsy-Turvy to give my Kangaskhan a speed boost, which allowed me to invest all of my EVs into HP and Attack. The final team looked like this:

Team Breakdown

Rotom-Heat @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Def / 180 SpA / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
– Overheat
– Thunderbolt
– Will-O-Wisp
– Protect

First up is Rotom-Heat, and it’s pretty standard. The spread is one I made: 252 HP for maximum bulk, 180 Special Attack with a Modest nature for a guaranteed OHKO on Ray’s Mawile, 20 Speed EVs to speed creep other Rotom formes, and the rest invested into defenses. Rotom was huge for me in this tournament and with Topsy-Turvy, I felt very comfortable using Overheat. I used Safety Goggles to shut down the increasingly popular Mega Tyranitar + Amoonguss combination by avoiding Rage Powder and burning Tyranitar.

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Dark Pulse
– Earth Power
– Protect

Hydreigon was my Dragon of choice for this team. Going to +2 after a Draco Meteor (which won me a match) was very appealing. I originally had 108 HP EVs to take a Jolly Garchomp Dragon Claw, but after readying Ryosuke’s report, I switched to his 252 Speed spread to have at least a 50% chance to KO other Hydreigon. It also allowed me to outspeed a lot of bulkier Pokémon with base 100 Speed, such as Zapdos and Mega Kangaskhan. Two days before Philly, TwiddleDee gave me the idea to run Earth Power over Flamethrower. It worked out really well, because it allowed me to hit Mega Mawile in Rain, Tyranitar, and Azumarill, something that I couldn’t really do before. I could also use Simple Beam on Rotom formes with Malamar and then OHKO them with Earth Power, which was always a surprise (although it never came up at a live event). I brought Hydreigon to a ton of matches and absolutely loved it.

Talonflame @ Charti Berry
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Brave Bird
– Flare Blitz
– Tailwind
– Quick Guard

Relatively standard Talonflame. Brave Bird and Flare Blitz provide powerful STAB attacks, Tailwind provides much-needed speed for the team, and Quick Guard shuts down Sucker Punch, Fake Out, and Prankster Pokémon. I used max speed and a Jolly nature to block fast Fake Outs and at worst speed tie opposing Talonflame. Life Orb was being used by Hydreigon so I opted for Charti Berry, which allowed me to avoid OHKOs from non-STAB Rock Slides, giving me an extra turn to hit hard with Brave Bird or setup Tailwind.

Malamar @ Leftovers
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
– Superpower
– Simple Beam
– Topsy-Turvy
– Hypnosis

The favorite part of my team and the inspiration for this report’s title: Malamar. I opted for maximum special bulk since Superpower could give Malamar Defense boosts. Leftovers gave it consistent recovery and allowed Malamar to stick around. Simple Beam was able to neutralize many Pokémon that relied on their abilities, such as Azumarill, Mega Mawile, Mega Kangaskhan, Mega Lucario, and many others. I’ve already explained how Topsy-Turvy affects my team, but I can also use it to reverse the boosts of Belly Drum Azumarill, Dragon Dance Mega Tyranitar, Power-Up Punch Mega Kangaskhan, and any other stat boosts my opponents would gain. Hypnosis was fun since not many people knew that Malamar learns it. It connected both times I used it in Philly, and both times it won me the game. However, I only brought Malamar to three of my nine matches. I had actually planned on Malamar being a huge asset in top cut, but I never got to use it in a best of 3.

Gardevoir @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
EVs: 12 HP / 92 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 148 Spe
Modest Nature
– Moonblast
– Psychic
– Will-O-Wisp
– Taunt

This is the same Gardevoir I used on my LCQ team. The Speed EVs allow it to outspeed positive natured base 110 Pokémon such as Gengar, while the HP and Defense EVs allow it to take a Brave Bird from Jolly Talonflame 100% of the time. Taunt was extremely useful when I played against Trick Room teams or Smeargle. I tested out several different 4th moves, but I found that I was never using any of them, so I decided to use Will-O-Wisp.

Kangaskhan (F) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy —> Parental Bond
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
– Return
– Hammer Arm
– Sucker Punch
– Protect

Finally, my Mega. This was the first time that I wasn’t using Mega Charizard X for an officially sanctioned event. Kangaskhan is a really good Mega that is easy to use since it fits on many teams. Hammer Arm was amazing for Kangaskhan mirrors (and won me my Round 9 game). I opted for Protect over Fake Out because my team didn’t really need Fake Out support. In general I found Protect more useful, especially in a best of 3 situation.

The Battles

Luckily, I was able to record all of my battles between rounds on my camera, and they are now uploaded on my channel below:

• Round 1 vs Thomas Horowitz 
• Round 2 vs Dayne Maust
• Round 3 vs Michael Lanzano (JiveTime)
• Round 4 vs Rob Doyle
• Round 5 vs Anonymous
• Round 6 vs Matt Grooms
• Round 7 vs Josh G
• Round 8 vs Jonathan Evans (Ezrael)
• Round 9 vs Dorian Nousias (Crazyblissey)

Conclusion

I had an amazing experience in Philly. I was so happy to go 7-2 and finish in 21st place. I feel as if I played really well and was only really outplayed in my match against JiveTime. Huge shoutouts to Araragii, Unreality, and Peara for joining me on the 7 hour drive from Massachusetts. Also, huge thanks to TwiddleDee once again for helping me perfect my team; I would not have done as well without the hours of testing and tweaking that we did. I hope to take this experience and build on it for PCs and Winter regionals. Also, check out my channel here! I upload videos almost daily—93 videos in 2 months if that’s any indication. There are also five battles with this team from a Premier Challenge that I won if you want to see more of how the team works. Also feel free to follow me on Twitter (@pyromaniac720) or chat with me on Showdown. Hope you enjoyed the report!

The post Turning the Metagame on its Head: A 21st Place Philadelphia Regional Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hi everyone, my name’s Isaac and I’m from Singapore. I finished in the Top 8 in the recently held Elite Four Challenge, though I’m here today to post the team report published by my friend Nelson who finished as champion of the tournament, remaining undefeated throughout his Top Cut run.

Introduction

Hi everybody, my name is Nelson Lim and a few weeks ago I won the Pokémon Video Game Elite Four Challenge at Campus Game Fest in Singapore, going undefeated in all of my best-of-three games to finish at the top of the 32-man Top Cut.

The Elite Four Challenge is the largest Pokémon Video Game tournament in Singapore and it is organized once a year by the local community: Team Robo Video Games. This tournament utilized the official VGC rules for the 2014 season, as has traditionally been done for the Elite Four challenges in the past. This year’s event was the third Elite Four challenge I’ve participated in, and the second in which I’ve won the title of Singapore’s Elite Four, as I came in second in 2012’s tournament—losing to Eugene Tan, a friend of mine who finished in the Top 8 at last year’s Last Chance Qualifier in Vancouver. (Eugene’s LCQ report can be found here.) I myself was among the team of Singaporeans who traveled to Vancouver in 2013 and finished in the Top 32, unfortunately being knocked out by Singapore’s first World Championships representative, Low Wai Yin, who is also a good friend of mine.

In this report I will be sharing the team which helped me win the tournament and the specific details of the matches during the tournament.

Teambuilding

My team initially revolved around Mega Kangaskhan, Azumarill, Aegislash and Rotom-Heat. I relied on Mega Kangaskhan’s Fake Out to enable either Azumarill to set up a Belly Drum or Aegislash to set up a Substitute. Mega Kangaskhan + Azumarill proved extremely effective against opponents who lacked a way of stopping physical threats, such as a Charm user (Meowstic), Intimidate, Will-O-Wisp (in the form of Gengar, Trevenant or Rotom), or other counters, such as Bold Rocky Helmet Amoonguss, Ferrothorn, or Garchomp. Rotom-Heat was included in the core to deal with Mega Mawile and Ferrothorn, which Mega Kangaskhan and Azumarill could not handle.

However, as I practiced more on Pokémon Showdown, I noticed that this was not a reliable strategy; my opponent could have a faster Fake Out user or have two Pokémon that threaten Azumarill (such as Rotom-W and Gengar). In the last two slots, I tried many different Pokémon, such as Life Orb Salamence, Manectric, Conkeldurr, Amoonguss, Gengar, special Tyranitar, and even Follow Me defensive Pachirisu. Pachirisu was useful in supporting Mega Kangaskhan and Azumarill by drawing away Will-O-Wisps and allowing them to set up and sweep. Basically, the last two slots had to either eliminate threats against Mega Kangaskhan and Azumarill or support these two Pokémon.

In the end, I settled for Gardevoir and Mega Charizard Y. Gardevoir countered Dragon-type Pokémon, especially Garchomp, Salamence, and Hydreigon, while Mega Charizard Y was useful if my opponent had Mega Mawile. Needless to say, Ferrothorn, Aegislash, and Rotom-Wash did not want to stay in against my Charizard.

The Team

Kangaskhan (Aphelion) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy → Parental Bond
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Frustration
– Sucker Punch
– Power-up Punch
– Fake Out

The main Mega Pokémon on my team. I tried many different sets and many different combinations, which included Double-Edge, Hammer Arm, Crunch, Protect, Jolly with 252 Speed, and Adamant with 252 Speed. I chose to use this set because I preferred having bulk over extra Speed. Double-Edge reduced Kangaskhan’s ability to soak up damage, and Hammer Arm could not cleanly knock out other 252 HP Mega Kangaskhan. I used Frustration instead of Return because of Smeargle. When Smeargle Transforms into Kangaskhan, it does not copy its happiness. As such, it is unable to use Frustration properly, and becomes much less of a threat. This makes Frustration slightly better than Return.

Fake Out was used over Protect, as Fake Out allowed Gardevoir to set up Trick Room and Aegislash to use Substitute. It gave me momentum against teams without a faster Fake Out user. It was especially useful in the second game against Theron, as I deduced from the first game that he had two Pokémon holding Choice items: Salamence and Rotom-Heat. Fake Out also helped against Sashed Gengar in two games: one against Zheng Ting and the other against Melvin. A more complicated strategy involves switching in Kangaskhan when I have the advantage and I think my opponent is going to Protect. If he used Protect, I would instead Power-Up Punch that slot. Given that he knows I have Fake Out, he will most likely switch out, which gives me a free turn to boost my Kangaskhan to +2 Attack.

Azumarill (Atlantus) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Aqua Jet
– Play Rough
– Superpower
– Protect

Initially, this was a Belly Drum Azumarill with Sitrus Berry. Many people often lead with Pokémon like Kangaskhan + Rotom-Wash, Amoonguss + Talonflame, etc. If I see any of these combinations during Team Preview, I never lead with Kangaskhan and Azumarill. Even after a Belly Drum, easy sweeps with a +6 Azumarill are uncommon. Sashed Gengar, Mega Venusaur, and Mega Mawile are not KOed by a +6 Aqua Jet and can subsequently knock out an Azumarill at 75% HP.

Lum Berry is a universally useful item for a physical attacker such as Azumarill. There were times when I switched in Azumarill to a Heat Wave, only for it to get burnt, which would cost me the game (this occurred against me during my match with Ama Bon during the Asia Cup). Against Rotom-Wash and Rotom-Heat, Azumarill’s Lum Berry allowed it to take a Will-O-Wisp. From experience, Rotom formes tend to be bulky and use Will-O-Wisp instead of Thunderbolt, especially when Azumarill is at full health. I changed Belly Drum to Superpower, since Superpower managed to surprise many Bisharp users during my practice games and was able to knock out Kangaskhan from about 70% health. However, Superpower was a move I never got to use during the tournament since I saw many more Mega Mawile than Mega Kangaskhan, and the one time I chose Superpower, Azumarill was KOed by Kangaskhan’s Return before it could use the attack.

Rotom-Heat (Azeotrope) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 4 Sp. Atk / 136 Sp. Def / 28 Speed
Calm Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Overheat
– Will-O-Wisp
– Protect

Standard Rotom-Heat set with a special EV spread. It is guaranteed to survive a Choice Specs Draco Meteor from a Modest Hydreigon and has a 6.3% chance of being knocked out by a Modest max Special Attack Rotom-Wash Hydro Pump. 28 Speed EVs speed creep other Rotom,  and the rest was added into Defense sinceRock Slide users like Aerodactyl and Garchomp were starting to become more common. With the extra Defense, I was able to take less damage from Rock Slide and use Will-O-Wisp in return. My Rotom-Heat was also able to take a Return from Mega Kangaskhan and burn it. Safety Goggles was used to defeat the Mega Gyarados + Amoonguss combination by ignoring Rage Powder and using Thunderbolt or Will-O-Wisp to cripple Gyarados. Safety Goggles also enables me to switch in Rotom-Heat against Amoonguss without fear of Spore.

Rotom-Heat is an important Pokémon in my team for various reasons. Without an Intimidate user, my team is unable to handle physical threats well. Rotom-Heat is able to mitigate these threats with Will-O-Wisp. It provides additional protection with its defensive type coverage; Rotom-Heat resists the STAB attacks of Talonflame and Mega Charizard Y. Other Pokémon that are threats to my team such as Ferrothorn, Mega Mawile, Azumarill, Kangaskhan, Garchomp, and Aerodactyl are also threatened by a full health Rotom-Heat. Because of its versatility, Rotom-Heat was used in almost every match.

Aegislash (Aegir) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 68 Def / 128 SpA / 56 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
– Flash Cannon
– Shadow Ball
– Wide Guard
– Substitute

Aegislash with no King’s Shield?! That’s right. In order to use both Wide Guard and Substitute, I did not have King’s Shield on my Aegislash. Contrary to popular opinion, this was the best change I ever made to this team. Given that Aegislash without King’s Shield was unheard of, many of my opponents expected me to use King’s Shield after several turns of attacking consecutively. Little did they know that my Aegislash could not use the move. Even when threatened by Pokémon such as Rotom-Heat and Gengar, my Aegislash could only keep attacking—I had no choice. This makes selecting a move much easier for me. As for my opponents, they would predict a King’s Shield and target my other Pokémon or use a status move on Aegislash. Even after the battle, all of my opponents did not realize that Aegislash lacked King’s Shield before I revealed my secret. No one would risk double targeting an Aegislash (especially with physical moves), since they would expect me to use King’s Shield to protect it from being easily knocked out in Sword form. Many Aegislash players make mistakes when alternating between attacking and shielding; this makes them very predictable. What my Aegislash does is keep attacking, and it paid off very well.

68 Defense EVs allows Aegislash to avoid a KO from Talonflame’s Life Orb Flare Blitz in Shield form, while 56 Special Defense EVs allows it to take an Overheat from Modest max Special Attack Rotom-Heat, along with a 25% chance of enduring a Dark Pulse from Choice Specs Modest Hydreigon. It can OHKO these Pokémon back after Weakness Policy is activated. 128 Special Attack EVs and a Modest Nature allows Aegislash to 2HKO standard Garchomp (or OHKO standard Garchomp after Weakness Policy activates). Wide Guard is an excellent supporting move on Aegislash and allows Aegislash to protect Mega Charizard Y and Rotom-Heat from Rock Slides. In Singapore, Rock Slide is almost always instead of Stone Edge, since Wide Guard is not common and the lower accuracy of Stone Edge makes it less ideal. Substitute allows Aegislash to set up against Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Mawile. Since I could not revert back to Shield form, I usually use Substitute when given the opportunity and attack from there. Substitute serves as additional protection and deters opponents from attacking Aegislash. An interesting thing about the combination of Substitute and Weakness Policy is that if  Mega Kangaskhan chooses to use Sucker Punch while Aegislash is behind a Substitute, Aegislash can activate Weakness Policy while taking reduced damage from the second hit of Sucker Punch. In some games I would preserve Aegislash by switching it out if I expected my opponent to KO Aegislash. For this, Azumarill makes a good switch in, as it resists Fire- and Dark-type moves. Overall, Aegislash was used in every game and was the most valuable Pokémon in my team.

Gardevoir (Aether) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 28 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
– Psychic
– Moonblast
– Shadow Ball
– Trick Room

Gardevoir is my physical tank. While the Defense EVs allow it to take a Return from Mega Kangaskhan, it offers little offense, being unable to KO Garchomp 100% of the time and Salamence 50% of the time. However, it has impressive special bulk, being able to handle a Sludge Bomb from an unboosted Timid Gengar or Expert Belt Modest Venusaur. In retrospect, the EVs placed in Special Attack could have been invested in Special Defence instead, and a Calm nature could have been used to have a better chance of withstanding a Sludge Bomb from Life Orb Gengar.

Psychic, Moonblast and Shadow Ball give me plenty of attacking versatility. For example, if Gardevoir is facing a Salamence and I suspect that my opponent is going to switch in Amoonguss, I could use Psychic. If he might switch in Aegislash, I could use Shadow Ball. Having Shadow Ball also allows Gardevoir to hit Steel-types such as Mega Mawile for neutral damage. Trick Room was chosen over Protect, since Trick Room has the potential to win games. For the first game in a series, I would always try to use Trick Room, because my opponent would not suspect it. My team is quite slow compared to most teams, so if I saw Pokémon such as Aerodactyl, Gengar, or Garchomp on the opposing team, I would definitely choose Gardevoir. Without Trick Room, my team would be weak to faster teams. Since I did not have Protect on it, Gardevoir is extremely vulnerable to double targets. Thus, it was important for me to keep my Gardevoir’s moveset a secret before and during the tournament. Rocky Helmet helps to break Focus Sashes, especially on Mienshao, as well as dealing good damage to Fake Out users such as Kangaskhan. As a physical wall, it is also helpful for Gardevoir to have Rocky Helmet to deal extra damage to physical attackers.

Charizard (Alduin) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze → Drought
EVs: 236 HP / 4 Def / 252 Sp. Atk / 4 Sp. Def / 12 Speed
Modest Nature
– Heat Wave
– Solarbeam
– Flamethrower
– Protect

My strongest special attacker. In a best of three, I normally use Charizard in one game and Kangaskhan in the other, unless my opponent is extremely weak against Charizard. The moves on Charizard are pretty standard, except for Flamethrower. I chose Flamethrower since it is sufficient to OHKO Aegislash and Amoonguss. I don’t really like moves with less than perfect accuracy, so I did not use Overheat. The EVs allow Charizard to withstand a Brave Bird from Choice Band Adamant Talonflame, Thunderbolt from Timid Mega Manectric, and Return from Jolly Mega Kangaskhan (70% of the time). Basically, it is a tankier version of standard Charizard, at the expense of being outsped by Smeargle. The Speed EVs allows me outspeed 4 Speed Mega Kangaskhan, such as my own.

There is nothing special about my Charizard, except that it cleans up games easily. Many teams that try to counter Mega Kangaskhan are very weak against Mega Charizard Y, since they use Pokémon such as Ferrothorn, Mega Mawile, Amoonguss (Bold with Rocky Helmet), and Scrafty. The only Pokémon which somewhat counters both is Salamence, which Gardevoir and Azumarill can easily handle. Mega Charizard Y was a recent addition to my team, but it proved to be very useful, even more so than Mega Kangaskhan.

Standard Leads

1) Kangaskhan + Azumarill

My core two Pokémon when I first started using this team. I hardly use this lead now, but it is useful for winning games quickly against unprepared teams.

2) Kangaskhan + Aegislash

The other lead, which abuses Kangaskhan’s Fake Out to allow Aegislash to set up Substitute easily.

3) Kangaskhan + Gardevoir

When my opponent lacks a Fake Out user and has a very fast team, I use Kangaskhan and Gardevoir as leads to quickly ensure that Trick Room is set up.

4) Aegislash + Gardevoir

This combination beats most leads, and is a very safe, defensive lead that I like to use.

5) Rotom-Heat + Aegislash

Another safe lead I often use. Aegislash protects Rotom-Heat from Rock Slide users with Wide Guard.

6) Aegislash + Charizard

Much like Rotom-Heat + Aegislash, both Aegislash and Charizard pair up well, as Wide Guard offers great protection for Charizard.

Games

Round 1: vs Kam Nam Aun (Top 32)

Game 1: 7KTW-WWWW-WWW8-8T7R
Game 2: QZ6W-WWWW-WWW8-8T83

After the matchups were posted, I asked around about my opponent. A friend told me that he was using a Pikachu and I was quite surprised. I did not know what to expect.

Aerodactyl, Charizard, Delphox and Pikachu were faster than most of my team so I decided to go with Trick Room in the first game. I played quite badly by letting Gardevoir get KOed by a Pikachu, thus being unable to set up Trick Room, but I managed to brute force my way through. In the second game, I thought he might change his leads after I revealed Trick Room, but he chose the same Pokémon. He did not have Protect on any of his Pokémon, so Sucker Punch Kangaskhan was quite useful here.

2-0

Round 2: vs Yue Zheng Ting (Top 16)

Game 1: TARG-WWWW-WWW8-8T92
Game 2: CS7G-WWWW-WWW8-8TA2

Since I knew that Zheng Ting is an amazing player, I was quite afraid of facing him so early. I was terrified of getting knocked out in the second round. During the qualifiers, because I already earned my place in the finals, I scouted the other players. Zheng Ting made a great play by choosing to use Thunderbolt on a Garchomp with Rotom-Heat, predicting a switch to Talonflame. His prediction paid off and I was truly impressed by that. I knew I was in for a tough fight.

For the first match, I guessed that he would bring Gengar, so I decided to bring my Trick Room leads: Aegislash and Gardevoir. I managed to set up Trick Room, so the battle was in my favor. On the next turn, I successfully predict Gengar’s Protect and get a Substitute up with Aegislash. Afterwards, I double targeted Gengar’s slot with Shadow Ball and Moonblast, since I half expected Hydreigon and half expected Ludicolo. Instead, Mawile was sent in but took a lot of damage. Under Trick Room, I managed to keep attacking without taking much damage in return. I easily cleaned up the game with Charizard after Trick Room ended.

1-0

I managed to get a Fake Out on Gengar in the second game, breaking its Focus Sash. Zheng Ting told me later that he thought I would predict the Quick Guard from his Meowstic, which he revealed in the first game to block an Aqua Jet. Despite having an early lead, I misplayed by allowing Kangaskhan to take a Will-O-Wisp from Gengar and Aegislash to be KOed by Overheat from Rotom-Heat. In retrospect, I should have switched Kangaskhan out to Rotom-Heat and Aegislash to Azumarill. Later in the match, I was very fortunate to land a critical hit on Ludicolo with Frustration to pick up the KO. The last two Pokemon standing were two Rotom-Heat—Zheng Ting’s 30% health Rotom-Heat against my 30% health Rotom-Heat. Both of us chose Overheat, and both Rotom hung on with 5% health. Fortunately for me, my Rotom-Heat was faster, and I picked up the win. This was the closest I was to losing a game in this entire tournament. Whew.

2-0

Quarterfinals: vs Jerrold Tan (Top 8)

Game 1

Game 2

This was my first time battling Jerrold. However, since he beat my friend Zong Yong, I assumed he must have been a very strong battler, so I took this battle very seriously. Also, the title of Elite 4 was at stake here. If I won this battle, I would retain my title as an Elite 4. Later on, Jerrold told me that this was the first tournament he had participated in. I was really impressed, as most players who only recently started to battle competitively would not be able to make it to the top cut.

In the first game, I led with Gardevoir and Aegislash, but I did not try to use Trick Room since his Amoonguss was on the field. Having a physically bulky Gardevoir with Rocky Helmet helped me to deal a decent amount of damage on Kangaskhan. After Jerrold’s Kangaskhan boosted itself to +2 Attack, I was not sure what to do. I decided to take a huge risk by knocking out Garchomp and ignoring Kangaskhan. Despite having a +2 Kangaskhan, Jerrold switched it out for Amoonguss (presumably with a Rocky Helmet) since he thought I would Fake Out his Kangaskhan. Later, I made a huge mistake by double targeting Azumarill, who protected, allowing Amoonguss to get a Spore off. Against an Azumarill and a Rage Powdering Amoonguss, I knew I would probably lose. However, he failed to Rage Powder, allowing me to knock out Azumarill. After eliminating his Kangaskhan, Jerrold only had Amoonguss, who could not defeat my Rotom-Heat and Aegislash.

1-0

In retrospect, I’m not really sure why I did not pick Charizard for the second game. From team preview, Charizard only loses to Aegislash. I did not make as many smart plays as I should have, such as Moonblasting the Aegislash slot when it was apparent that he would switch out. Near the end of the game, two Pokémon were left on each side. Jerrold had Garchomp and Aegislash while I was left with Rotom-Heat and Aegislash. Having Wide Guard on Aegislash helped out a lot, since I think Jerrold’s Garchomp did not have Dragon Claw. The game came down to a 50-50 decision: I could use Wide Guard to protect my team from a potential Rock Slide and use Overheat on Aegislash, or I could predict a potential Dragon Claw and use Shadow Ball and Overheat on Aegislash. I ultimately decided to go with the second option. Possibly due to the fact that Jerrold did not have a single target move on Garchomp, he used Protect with Garchomp, and I won the game.

2-0

Semifinals: vs Melvin Keh (Top 4)

Game 1

Game 2

Like Jerrold, I had never heard of Melvin until recently. He beat Shang, Xiao Liang and Isaac to reach this stage. For making it so far, I respected Melvin as a tough opponent.

Looking at Melvin’s team, Gengar was a huge threat. Most Gengar hold Focus Sash, which allows it to take on my Aegislash and Gardevoir easily, and with Will-O-Wisp Kangaskhan cannot do much against it. It also has a chance to OHKO Azumarill with Sludge Bomb. For the first game, I chose to bring Azumarill since it can easily set up Belly Drum against Gyarados. Melvin led with Garchomp and Gengar, which I was happy about since I needed to KO Gengar as soon as possible. Getting a Fake Out on Gengar on the first turn was the only thing Kangaskhan could do, so I went with that. Fortunately and surprisingly, Melvin didn’t use Protect with Gengar; he didn’t use Protect with Garchomp, either. Later, I was able to deduce that Garchomp had a Lum Berry, since he did not have a Focus Sash or Rocky Helmet. On the turn Azumarill fainted, I took the risk of using Superpower on his Kangaskhan instead of Aqua Jet, since I thought it would be more rewarding if his Kangaskhan failed to attack my Azumarill. It was down to my Kangaskhan and Aegislash, with Rotom-Heat in the back, versus his Kangaskhan and Aegislash. I used Sucker Punch on his Kangaskhan, since I believed that I was faster due to my 4 Speed EVs. However, my Kangaskhan was actually slower, and my Sucker Punch failed. Melvin probably thought that I had targeted his Aegislash, who used King’s Shield that turn. The next turn, I took the risk of using Sucker Punch on his Kangaskhan. This time I went first, which confirmed my suspicions that we had the same speed. With my Rotom-Heat and Kangaskhan against his Aegislash, I easily won the game.

1-0

The next game I decided to bring Charizard, since I knew that my Charizard was faster than his Kangaskhan by 1 speed point. In addition, Charizard does quite well against both Gengar and Aegislash. Gardevoir’s defensive EV spread and Rocky Helmet came in handy here when it managed to take a Return from his Kangaskhan and set Trick Room up. On the next turn, I use Substitute with Aegislash and Psychic with Gardevoir on his Kangaskhan thinking that his Gengar might Protect. When he doesn’t, I suspect he lacks Protect altogether, so I double target it on the following turn. With only Garchomp left to threaten my Charizard, my win condition was to knock out Garchomp. After doing so, I sent in my Charizard to safely win the second game.

2-0

Finals: vs Theron Ho

Game 1

Game 2

Theron’s team report can be found here.

After securing at least a second place finish, I was not so worried any more. I wasn’t too concerned with winning, although I did not want to lose. I knew Theron was a great player, since he won a previous tournament in 2013. He was also part of the Elite 4 in back in 2011. His team resembled the team he used back then, as I remembered him using Salamence and Rotom-Heat on his old team.

I actually didn’t realize that Theron was using double Choice item leads during team preview. It was only when Salamence’s Draco Meteor dealt a ton of damage to my specially defensive Rotom-Heat and my Aegislash’s Shadow Ball dealt over 50% to his Rotom-Heat that I realized that his Rotom-Heat was Scarfed and his Salamence had Choice Specs. Since I knew that his Salamence would go for another Draco Meteor, I switched out to Gardevoir. I also switched out Aegislash for Charizard since I believed that he wouldn’t go for a second Thunderbolt on Aegislash. Later in the game, I make a mistake by using Trick Room. If I didn’t use Trick Room, I would have already won since his final two Pokémon were Mawile and Venusaur. Nevertheless, I tried to preserve my Charizard while knocking out Mawile in order to set up a win. I succeeded in doing this with the help of Aegislash.

1-0

The second game was even easier since I knew that Theron had two Choiced Pokémon. I led with Kangaskhan to get a free Fake Out on one of his Pokémon. Salamence was essentially a free KO since Gardevoir’s Moonblast is a guaranteed OHKO after a Fake Out. Gardevoir’s investment in Special Defense allowed it to withstand his Venusaur’s Sludge Bomb, even though it had Expert Belt. When he brought Murkrow in, I expected a Feather Dance, so I double targeted it since I knew Kangaskhan would not be able to KO it at -2 Attack. To my surprise, Murkrow attacked Rotom-Heat with Foul Play. Even though the paralysis on his Mawile meant that I could not burn it, I still easily won since I had Rotom-Heat and Aegislash against his Mawile.

2-0

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to my friends who made this possible: Isaac Lam for giving me the Wide Guard Aegislash and 6 IV Dittos which enabled me to breed my team faster, Matthew Hui for giving advice on my team, Max Goh for helping me trade over a Charizardite Y from my other cartridge, and the rest of the Pokémon community in Singapore for making this, the closest we can get to an official competitive circuit, happen.

Artwork by: Low Wai Yin

The post The Best Defense is Overwhelming Offense: Singapore Elite 4 Challenge Champion Team appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hey Nugget Bridge! I’m mrbdog46, and I’m stoked (and really honored) to be writing my first Nugget Bridge article. I have a ton of respect for this community and I’m really excited to make a contribution.

I’ve been playing Pokémon since kindergarten in 1998, right around the release of Red and Blue. I played every chance I could get at my after school program, and was officially hooked when I got my very own Game Boy and Red Version for my 6th birthday. Since then, I’ve played every generation at release (with the exception of Diamond and Pearl because my dad said I was too old; later I played it anyway), but focused mainly on breeding. I only recently got into competitive battling and was planning to participate in the 2014 VGC season until life got in the way. Unable to do this, I settled for a much more convenient target: online friendlies I could play from the comfort of my bed.

The Fairy Face-Off was my very first foray into official competitive battling and I was super excited to finally have some sort of objective measure to place on my battling skills. To my delight, I was able to take 1st in the USA and 32nd in the world at this friendly. This report is for a team in a fairly bizarre format, so I’m going to go into the metagame a bit before diving into my team. I hope you enjoy!

Mawile: A Metagame

The Fairy Face-Off, as can be gleaned from its title, was a format where only Kalos-origin Fairy types were allowed. Each trainer was allowed a team of 6, but would select 3 for each battle. All Pokémon were rounded down or up (meaning no Focus Sash Endeavor Cottonee *sad face*) to level 30. While this format may have seemed restrictive due to the limited number of Pokémon available (and it was), it had a way of breeding creativity in strong players as they spawned unique answers to various threats.

Speaking of threats, this format began and ended with the behemoth that is Mega Mawile. This thing is a beast in essentially every format it can be used in. That said, you can imagine how fierce it was in a metagame where its STAB Huge Power Iron Head hit almost everything for super effective damage. Because of the power of this monster, every team that hoped to win needed a bona fide way of dealing with Mega Mawile (and it helped to have it on your own team too). The most successful teams had multiple ways of dealing with opposing Mawile while having ways to allow their own to succeed.

The other half of the metagame was dedicated to managing luck. Some people say that luck is just a part of Pokémon: can’t be controlled, can be avoided by superior counterplay, etc. but the one certainty I know is that it was an integral part of this metagame. With the non-Mawile denizens of the Fairy Face-Off being the likes of Togekiss, Klefki, Whimsicott, and Gardevoir, status—particularly confusion and paralysis—was being thrown all over the place, and speed ties were incredibly common. As such, there were some matches that simply came down to luck, and, while this can be the case in many formats, it was even more so in this one. The small size of teams, the prevalence of status, and the massive strength of Mawile meant that a single turn of paralysis could easily cost you a match.

Now onto my team!

Building the Team

When this format was announced, I immediately knew that it would be dominated by Mega Mawile, and that my team would have to be built accordingly. So naturally the first thing I did was add Mawile.

Next, I needed ways to be able to effectively deal with other Mawiles. I quickly found an easy way to dispatch Mawile in the form of the only (non-boosted) OHKO on Mawile in the metagame: Choice Specs Togekiss. Togekiss ended up getting tweaked a little bit to better suit my needs, but the Pokémon itself remained.

I decided that I needed another answer to Mawile and found it in Entrainment Dedenne. The little mouse had the added bonus of reliable paralysis, and was a natural fit.

The team still struggled with Gardevoir, so I decided to fight fire with fire. Adding Gardevoir gave me a more reliable lead option and the ability to make a match 2v2 in a hurry with Destiny Bond.

These guys formed the core 4. I found that it was easier to use a dedicated core rather than try to pick 3 different Pokémon every match in Team Preview. To round out my team, I added 2 “decoys”: Klefki and Azumarill.

The sets that I used changed leading up to the tournament, but the team never really changed. Now we’ll move on to the individual members.

Team Nuzzle: Spreading Love to the World

Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Atk / 12 Def / 184 SpD / 24 Spe
Careful Nature
– Swords Dance
– Iron Head
– Play Rough
– Sucker Punch

• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Togekiss Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 184+ SpD Mega Mawile: 80-96 (81.6 – 97.9%) — guaranteed 2HKO

Mawile was the powerhouse of this team, and of the metagame. The inspiration for this set was drawn from Ray Rizzo’s now-famous Mawile. In a format filled with things Mawile hits super effectively, I decided that it didn’t need investment in its already huge Attack stat, but rather investment in guarding it from attacks that could knock it out. Thus, I EV’d it to take a Specs Togekiss Flamethrower, allowing for the OHKO back with Iron Head (barring a burn). The Speed EVs allow me to creep 0 Speed Mawile and Azumarill, with 36 EVs dumped into Attack and 12 EVs into Defense to maintain efficiency at Level 30.

The moveset was something that I debated for a long time. With Iron Head and Sucker Punch as the only mainstays, I went back and forth on the remaining two moveslots. Fire Fang was a good option due to the presence of other Mawiles, but was still only a 2HKO on Mawile and brought no other OHKOs. It gave me little advantage over Iron Head. I ultimately chose Play Rough over Fire Fang because it did more damage (and had a chance at an OHKO) on Pokémon that took neutral damage from Iron Head such as Dedenne and Azumarill. The final slot belonged to Substitute until about a week before the tournament. Substitute and Swords Dance both had their merits, but I ultimately settled on Swords Dance for a couple reasons. First, it was able to offset Will-O-Wisp from Gardevoir, which saved me at least twice throughout the tournament. Second, it allowed me to prepare for Mawile mirror matches in the end game that I would not have won otherwise. For instance, if I was paralyzed at +0, the opponent’s Mawile always wins due to having the faster Iron Head. However, at +2, I can be slower, take a hit, and OHKO back. Finally, I could use it to avoid Sucker Punches from faster Mawile, and turn a match that might have been a 100% loss for me into a 50/50 mind game.

Mawile was almost always the last Pokémon standing on my team, picking up numerous late game cleanups after the other two Pokémon grabbed a few KOs or set up Mawile’s sweep with paralysis.

Togekiss @ Babiri Berry
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 36 SpA / 104 Spe
Modest Nature
– Flamethrower
– Air Slash
– Encore
– Nasty Plot

• 252+ Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 116 Def Babiri Berry Togekiss: 76-90 (63.8 – 75.6%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Sucker Punch vs. 252 HP / 116 Def Togekiss: 25-30 (21 – 25.2%) — 0% chance to 4HKO

Togekiss functioned as a conditional lead on my team, and I often brought it when I saw a team packing Whimsicott and/or Klefki that lacked Gardevoir (Togekiss has a really tough time with Gardevoir). The EV spread was designed so I could defeat Mawile in a 1v1. Max HP, 116 Defense, and Babiri Berry allow me to always survive an Iron Head and a Sucker Punch, and the Speed EVs outspeed Jolly max Speed Mawile, which was very common in this format. In the tournament, I only ended up using Togekiss against a small handful of Mawile, and the max HP and Babiri Berry were actually more effective for dealing with Klefki. The rest of the EVs were dumped into maximizing damage output.

The moveset is a little weird, but it ended up working out pretty well for me. Flamethrower was useful for hitting the uber-present Mawile and Klefki super effectively, and Air Slash dealt neutral damage on just about everything else, with a nice bonus flinch chance if I went first. Encore dealt with pesky Klefki, Whimsicott, or Carbink leads, locking them into whatever move they used turn 1 and allowing me to get up a Nasty Plot or two before roasting them. Nasty Plot filled out the set so I could deal more damage (what a concept).

I ended up not using Togekiss very much simply because of its bad matchup with Gardevoir. However, I was more than happy to bring it against any teams lacking Gardevoir, and I believe I won every match where I got to bring Togekiss.

Gardevoir @ Focus Sash
Ability: Trace
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Destiny Bond
– Encore
– Disable
– Synchronoise

Gardevoir was one of the team’s two leads, and her job was basically to be a giant pain in the rear to opposing teams. Her EV spread is pretty basic: outspeed or speed tie everything in the metagame and maximize Synchronoise damage. There wasn’t much use in bringing any bulk with a Focus Sash, although I did occasionally find myself wishing I had run a bulky Lum Berry set. I had a difficult time deciding between Trace and Synchronize because of how prevalent paralysis was, but Trace ended up being incredibly useful for Tracing Prankster (which would have made Substitute insanely useful vs Klefki, but hindsight is 20/20).

The moveset is designed to just mess with opposing Pokémon. This is the one metagame that Synchronoise will ever be viable in, and it did its job really well. It was primarily used for chip damage, but it also OHKO’d some Dedenne and Togekiss. Encore and Disable were the cruxes of this set, allowing me to shut down Klefki, other Gardevoir, and pretty much everything else. Destiny Bond rounded out the set, and ensured at the very least that I could trade 1 for 1 and let my main core, Dedenne and Mawile, take on a 2v2. I was always more than happy to trade Gardevoir for an opposing Klefki or Mawile.

Gardevoir gave me a much better matchup against opposing Gardevoir, Togekiss, and Dedenne, all popular Pokémon in this tournament. Thus, Gardevoir was the go-to lead, with Togekiss waiting in the wings.

Dedenne @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Cheek Pouch
EVs: 248 HP / 156 Def / 8 SpD / 96 Spe
Timid Nature
– Entrainment
– Nuzzle
– Thunderbolt
– Swagger

This little guy was an absolute monster. Much like Gardevoir’s Synchronoise, this is probably the only format that Generation 6 token Electric-type rodent will ever be viable in, but man was he a force. The EVs allow him to take hits from Mawile more reliably, with a decent chance to avoid a KO from a max Attack Iron Head. This meant that, if need be, I could actually switch into a Mawile Iron Head, heal up with Sitrus Berry and Cheek Pouch, then Entrainment and Nuzzle Mawile, effectively removing it as a threat. The 96 Speed EVs let me outspeed Timid max Speed Gardevoir and Togekiss, meaning Dedenne was a good way of handling them too.

Nuzzle, as you might have guessed from the team name, was a huge reason why the team was so successful. Paralysis made everything slow enough that I could clean up with Mawile, while (as a bonus) breaking Sashes. Even if Dedenne was knocked out after only getting off a single Nuzzle, this was often enough for Mawile to take the free switch and proceed to clean up. Entrainment, as I mentioned, was primarily for taking Huge Power away from Mawile, but also worked well on Prankster users. Thunderbolt was a surprisingly great chip damage move in a metagame where more people chose Speed over bulk. In several matches (with a little help from Nuzzle and Swagger), Dedenne was able to pull off pseudo-sweeps with Thunderbolt. Most notably, Thunderbolt often did enough damage to opposing Mawile to put it into OHKO range for my Mawile or Togekiss. Swagger rounded out the set, and served several purposes. Firstly, it gave me the edge in a Dedenne mirror match. Secondly, it formed half of the infamous para-fusion strategy, which gave me a huge edge in the luck war. And finally, it was effectively my final gambit, giving me a luck-reliant chance of winning a bad match instead of just losing outright.

Overall, Dedenne was the key team member that allowed Mawile to do its cleanup job. It dealt with other Mawile, crippling them before going down in an adorable blaze of glory. It also threw paralysis around like nobody’s business, which was key to allow my Mawile to come in and wreak uncontested havoc.

The last two Pokémon were a freshly caught Klefki that I slapped a Full Heal on and my in-game HM Slave Azumarill. Seeing Klefki at Team Preview was something that always made me pause, so I figured I’d throw one of my own in there too. Azumarill got the nod over Whimsicott because, well, I didn’t have a Whimsicott. These two performed their roles effectively 100% of the time, never once failing to be seen in Team Preview.

The Team in Action

Here are the codes for a few battle videos if you’re interested in checking out the team in action (I’m Erin in-game):

3NGG-WWWW-WWW9-ST9V

VS 

This battle was probably as close to a “typical” game for this team as you’ll see. Gardevoir, Dedenne, and Mawile all do pretty much exactly what they’re designed to do.

B2ZG-WWWW-WWW9-SA2S

VS 

This one has some Togekiss action, and was a prime example of some of the game-altering luck that 0ften occurred. I end up taking the win here thanks to full paralysis and flinch.

JQ5G-WWWW-WWW9-SAC9

VS 

Classic example of how evil Klefki is. This is pretty much why I was delighted with trading Gardevoir for Klefki on turn one in so many games. It has the chance to steal wins like no other Pokémon in the format.

88QG-WWWW-WWW9-SAYD

VS 

A good example of how good Gardevoir could be with Encore shenanigans. It deserved to do a bit more, but I got hit with the luck hammer. In the end, Dedenne and Gardevoir team up to put Mawile in perfect position to finish it.

“Why didn’t you show any losses?” Because I’m a sore loser, alright? There actually isn’t really a good reason for not being able to show a loss, but I was a little heated during some of these matches, and I never really had a blowout loss, meaning I was likely upset over losing a close one. An omission for sure, but I’m only human.

The End

Overall, I had a ton of fun participating in this tournament (although the confusion, paralysis, and flinching was maddening at times) and enjoyed writing this article. At some point I hope to make it to some VGC tournaments, but for now I’ll stick to these friendlies which I really enjoy.

A big thank you to the guys on the forums who participated in the lively Fairy Garden discussion, and to the community over at /r/stunfisk who put up with my constant posts about this tournament and actually seemed to embrace them.

Thanks to all of you for reading and good luck in your Pokémon endeavors!

The post Nuzzle, A Love Story: 1st Place USA Fairy Face-Off Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hello, everyone! My name’s Michael, and recently I achieved first place in the Senior Division at the 2014 Pennsylvania Regionals in October after going 6-1 in swiss. While the general idea for this team stayed the same all along—having both fast and slow modes for inside and outside Trick Room—it took about a month to perfect. I really liked my team as I enjoy having a lot of strategies to employ depending on the situation, instead of just playing each battle the same way every time. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

The Team at a Glance

Team Analysis

Mawile (Yuyuko) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 108 Atk / 4 Def / 124 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Play Rough
– Iron Head
– Sucker Punch
– Protect

Mega Mawile was the first Pokémon that I decided to put on the team. Along with being one of my most powerful attackers, it also served a great support role by being able to switch into Ice-, Rock-, or Fighting-type attacks aimed at Garchomp, Zapdos, and Tyranitar, as well as providing protection for the frailer members of the team with Intimidate. Mawile can function in pretty much any situation—Trick Room or no Trick Room, weather or no weather—if the opponent doesn’t keep it in check, Mawile will have no problem tearing through their team with its obscene power.

I had been bouncing back and forth between a very offensive spread and a very defensive one; however, I decided to compromise with Dim’s spread from Nationals, which offered me the ability to take weaker special attacks while still offering plenty of offensive power. The Special Defense and HP EVs assure that the average Rotom-Wash Thunderbolt will only 3HKO, usually forcing the enemy into using Hydro Pump to KO it quickly—a rather risky, inaccurate move. The Attack EVs allow it to OHKO 252 HP Tyranitar 100% of the time with Play Rough, which actually ended up being quite handy during one of my swiss rounds. I was never disappointed with Mawile’s damage output.

I mentioned that Mawile could function in or out of Trick Room; this was one of the ideas that I think was extremely important to the team. I wanted to use Trick Room as a rare, unexpected win condition that worked primarily with Mawile and Tyranitar—however, since I wasn’t running a dedicated Trick Room team (I used Trick Room in only five out of my 14 battles) I wanted to make sure that all of my “slow mode” Pokémon could function in a “fast mode” setting. This explains some of the Speed creep EVs on my Mawile and the relatively bulky spread.

I had a shiny perfect Mawile for the event (thank you, MissingNoL!), and I decided to name it Yuyuko after Yuyuko Saigyouji from Touhou, since I thought that having no nicknames on my team was pathetic and that shiny Mawile’s color scheme looked close enough to Yuyuko.

Damage Calculations:

• 108+ Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar: 236-282 (114 – 136.2%) — guaranteed OHKO
• 108+ Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mega Kangaskhan: 129-153 (60.8 – 72.1%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 4 SpA Rotom-W Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 124 SpD Mega Mawile: 51-60 (32.4 – 38.2%) — 95% chance to 3HKO
• 252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Heat Wave vs. 252 HP / 124 SpD Mega Mawile: 132-156 (84 – 99.3%) — guaranteed 2HKO (outside of sun, Tyranitar often allows for this condition)
• 252+ Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Mega Mawile: 116-138 (73.8 – 87.8%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• -1 252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Mega Mawile: 134-162 (85.3 – 103.1%) — 12.5% chance to OHKO

Gardevoir @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 108 SpA / 20 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
– Moonblast
– Psychic
– Trick Room
– Will-O-Wisp

Gardevoir was probably, along with Zapdos, the MVP of the team during the event. It was often one of my go-to Pokémon for a lead, as it was able to synergize very well with many other Pokémon. Primarily, it was meant to partner with Mawile. Gardevoir could pick off fast Dragon-types (they love to use powerful Fire-type attacks against Mawile) without a sweat, and in some cases it could set up the ever-deadly Trick Room. Will-O-Wisp helped increase both its own survivability and that of its teammates, and ended up crippling many more physical attackers than my Rotom-Heat.

This EV spread is also taken from Dim’s report—but if it isn’t broken, why fix it? This Gardevoir balanced offense and bulk perfectly with its Sitrus Berry, and that allowed it to do pretty much whatever it wanted. It always withstands an Adamant Mega Kangaskhan’s Return if Sitrus Berry activates, and after Intimidate it will take a Double-Edge very comfortably.

Gardevoir was a Pokémon I was extremely confident in bringing to almost all (if not all) of my games, as it could help every one of my team members accomplish something—whether it was picking up KOs, burning a threat, or setting up Trick Room. With its amazing synergy and ability to work together with its allies, Gardevoir definitely served as the glue of my team.

Damage Calculations:

• 252+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Return vs. 252 HP / 124 Def Gardevoir: 166-198 (94.8 – 113.1%) — 75% chance to OHKO (Sitrus Berry makes this a guaranteed 2HKO)
• -1 252+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 124 Def Gardevoir: 130-154 (74.2 – 88%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• -3 252+ Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 124 Def Gardevoir: 122-146 (69.7 – 83.4%) — guaranteed 2HKO (assuming Will-O-Wisp + Intimidate- this actually occured three times
• 108+ SpA Gardevoir Psychic vs. 252 HP / 72+ SpD Amoonguss: 150-176 (67.8 – 79.6%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 124 Def Gardevoir: 147-174 (84 – 99.4%) — guaranteed 2HKO

Tyranitar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
– Rock Slide
– Ice Beam
– Fire Blast
– Dark Pulse

In the later stages of the teambuilding process, I decided that I was weak to rain and looked for ways to counter it. Mega Charizard Y was my first choice, but despite changing the weather to sun with Drought, it ended up being extremely underwhelming in solving the problem. In addition, since it almost always has to Mega Evolve, it proved to be a burden. After some experimentation with Assault Vest Tyranitar, I realized that it fit my needs perfectly.

With Assault Vest and Sandstorm, Tyranitar’s Special Defense is boosted to sky-high levels and prevents most Pokémon on rain teams from scratching it. It also underspeeds Politoed, which meant that I had the advantage should both sides lead with their weather setters. The EV spread is very straightforward, maximizing offensive power while dumping the rest into HP. I didn’t really put much thought into the moveset, either—Rock Slide and Dark Pulse are great STAB options, while Ice Beam took care of Dragon-types, and Fire Blast dealt great damage to various Steel-types. While it has a very simple job, Tyranitar was instrumental to my success against various weather-based teams—4/7 of my swiss matches were against either rain or sun teams!

Damage Calculations:

• -1 252+ Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tyranitar: 176-210 (85 – 101.4%) — 6.3% chance to OHKO
• 244 SpA Adaptability Mega Lucario Aura Sphere vs. 252 HP 0 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 176-208 (85 – 100.4%) — 6.3% chance to OHKO
• 252+ SpA Politoed Scald vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 54-66 (26-31.8%) –guaranteed 4HKO
• 252+ SpA Ludicolo Scald vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 54-66 (26-31.8%) — guaranteed 4HKO
• 252+ SpA Gardevoir Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 80-96 (38.6 – 46.3%) — guaranteed 3HKO

Rotom-Heat @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 68 Def / 20 SpA / 164 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
– Overheat
– Thunderbolt
– Will-O-Wisp
– Protect

I decided to use Rotom-Heat on my team because I wanted a dedicated counter to Amoonguss and Steel-types not named Aegislash. It also greatly improved my matchup against Mega Charizard Y and Talonflame.

I chose Safety Goggles since it prevents Spore and Sleep Powder from affecting Rotom, as well as allowing me to properly target Will-O-Wisp through Rage Powder. This was extremely important against enemy Amoonguss, especially if I already had Trick Room up. I had originally been running a much more offensive Rotom-Heat (designed to always OHKO specially defensive Mega Mawile), but decided that I was being KOed too quickly (especially by Choice Specs Draco Meteor from Hydreigon), and instead opted for Cybertron’s much more bulky build that spreads status and racks up damage a bit more slowly. The moveset is simple: Overheat and Thunderbolt for STAB attacks, Will-O-Wisp to cripple physical attackers and rack up residual damage, and Protect to, uh, protect myself. Rotom-Heat proved to be very important, helping me to weaken and knock out my opponent’s Mega Mawile in one of the games in the finals—essentially winning me the match.

Damage Calculations:

• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 164+ SpD Rotom-H: 132-156 (84 – 99.3%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252 Atk Garchomp Rock Slide vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Rotom-H: (39.4 – 47.1%) — guaranteed 3HKO
• 4 SpA Rotom-W Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 164+ SpD Rotom-H: 98-116 (62.4 – 73.8%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Rotom-H: 132-157 (84 – 100%) — 6.3% chance to OHKO
• -1 252+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Rotom-H: 99-117 (63-74.5%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 12 SpA Rotom-H Overheat vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mega Mawile: 164-194 (104.4 – 123.5%) — guaranteed OHKO

Zapdos @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 220 HP / 120 Def / 44 SpA / 96 SpD / 28 Spe
Modest Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Roost
– Protect

Recently, Zapdos has been one of my favorite Pokémon to use competitively. It’s got just about everything—bulk, power, and speed. Zapdos functioned as a strong attacker that could double up on opposing Pokémon with its allies to achieve easy KOs, as well as being able to stick around on the battlefield for long periods of time using Roost.

Using Life Orb on this set made up for the loss of power due to the defensive spread; although using Life Orb on a defensively built Zapdos seems counterproductive, Roost more than made up for it. I decided not to use Thunder Wave: I already had so many answers to Mega Kangaskhan, and in many situations Protect was better than a rather situational move. Thunderbolt and Hidden Power Ice actually make for extremely solid coverage—only a handful of common Pokémon can comfortably wall them, especially coming from Zapdos’s high Special Attack. Roost enhanced Zapdos’s staying power immensely, and in some cases could even win games. In situations where I was forced into a 1v1 with an enemy that couldn’t be knocked out quickly but was doing less than 50% damage per turn, I would be able to alternate Roost and an attack until I had won the game. The EV spread is built to always withstand an Adamant max investment Mega Mawile’s Play Rough and one tick of Life Orb damage, while outspeeding max Speed Bisharp and Tyranitar.

Damage Calculations:

• 252+ Atk Mega Mawile Play Rough vs. 220 HP / 120 Def Zapdos: 145-172 (75.1 – 89.1%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Salamence Draco Meteor vs. 220 HP / 96 SpD Zapdos: 160-190 (82.9 – 98.4%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252 Atk Garchomp Rock Slide vs. 220 HP / 120 Def Zapdos: 66-78 (34.1 – 40.4%) — guaranteed 3HKO
• 44+ SpA Life Orb Zapdos Hidden Power Ice vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Salamence: 198-234 (115.7 – 136.8%) — guaranteed OHKO
• 44+ SpA Life Orb Zapdos Hidden Power Ice vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 187-224 (101.6 – 121.7%) — guaranteed OHKO
• 44+ SpA Life Orb Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. 188 HP / 4 SpD Mega Charizard Y: 164-195 (92.6 – 110.1%) — 56.3% chance to OHKO

Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 12 HP / 204 Atk / 4 Def / 36 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Dragon Claw
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
– Protect

Garchomp is one of the most common, tried-and-true Dragon-types, and it’s easy to see why. With great coverage options in Earthquake and Rock Slide, it can deal super effective damage to some of the most common Pokémon in the metagame. Rough Skin helps whittle away at physical attackers (Kangaskhan, cough cough) and can be even more useful if they’re already at low HP. Being faster than both Kangaskhan and Smeargle (as well as holding a Lum Berry), Garchomp was my main answer to the “Khan-Artist” combination that some players have taken an uncomfortable liking to. The EV spread, despite seeming complex, is actually very simple. It endures Timid Mega Manectric’s Hidden Power Ice 100% of the time, and the slight Attack drop from the lost EVs is barely noticeable. I did not take any EVs out of Speed in order to at least Speed tie opposing Garchomp. Although it was important in a few games, I would say that Garchomp had the least spectacular performance of any of my Pokémon during the tournament.

Damage Calculations:

• 204 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 86-104 (51.4 – 62.2%) — 97.3% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers Recovery
• 252 SpA Mega Manectric Hidden Power Ice vs. 12 HP / 36 SpD Garchomp: 156-184 (84.3 – 99.4%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 108 SpA Politoed Ice Beam vs. 12 HP / 36 SpD Garchomp: 156-184 (84.3 – 99.4%) — guaranteed 2HKO

 Conclusion

I had an absolute blast at this tournament and got to meet so many great people. I’m glad I was good enough to place as well as I did, and I hope I’ll be able to continue doing this well in the future. I would like to thank MissingNoL for supplying me with 4/6 of my Pokémon, since I’m way too lazy to actually breed. I would also like to thank Cometkins for creating the amazing art. That’s all I have to say- I hope you liked reading my report!

The post Gardevoir’s Decisive Trick Room: A Pennsylvania Regional Senior Division 1st Place Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hey there, folks! I’m Agustín Bordel, a VGC player from Argentina and an avid reader of Nugget Bridge, and I’m here to tell you about my second place finish at our country’s first Premier Challenge.

But first, a bit of history. (I’ll be brief!) Even though official sanctioned play started less than two months ago in Argentina, a VGC scene has existed here for several years, thanks to a couple of leagues and groups of players dedicated to spreading love for the competitive side of Pokémon. Now that TPCi has finally noticed us and we finally have the chance to compete in an official environment to earn some tasty Championship Points, I think a “thank you” to everyone here who has worked hard organizing tournaments, writing articles, and being good sports overall is in order. So, thank you!

Back to the tournament. This Premier Challenge was held simultaneously with another one at a different location, so I guess both have the honor of being the first Premier event here. We were a bit bummed about not being able to attend both tournaments, but were told that this was the only time such a situation would happen. In the end we didn’t care, as we were too excited. At least I was!

After analyzing the local metagame, I decided that nothing could go wrong if I played a rain team and made sure I kept the weather in my favor. As such, Politoed and Ludicolo were in, as was Mega Manectric since I loved the flexibility it brought. However, Trick Room and Mega Venusaur were quite popular over here, so I added Amoonguss and Talonflame as deterrents. Eagle-eyed readers might notice that I ended up with a team that was almost identical to Keewan’s Asia Cup team. I moved even further towards that similarity by switching Ludicolo for Kingdra. I wanted to minimize the chances of Talonflame being a major threat, and Azumarill wasn’t a Pokemon I was worried about at all. In the end, the spread damage that Kingdra brought ended up mattering a lot.

The Team

Politoed @ Eject Button – “Sprote”
Nature: Bold
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 228 HP / 172 Def / 108 SpD
– Scald
– Ice Beam
– Perish Song
– Protect

Using a rain team demands the appearance of this cute Pokémon , but I really disliked its lack of offensive presence. I opted for some Eject Button shenanigans to get around this. Volt Switch and U-Turn on my other Pokémon combined with Politoed’s bulk really allowed this item to shine, letting me set up a beautiful second turn on unsuspecting opponents. When creating a defensive Politoed set, players often struggle with its fourth move: some choose Encore and others pick Hypnosis, but I instead chose Perish Song since it gave me a win condition after I took two KOs.

I gave it this name because my girlfriend once mispronounced “Sprite”, and it was funny.

Kingdra @ Choice Specs – “La Pistola”
Nature: Modest
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
– Muddy Water
– Hydro Pump
– Dragon Pulse
– Draco Meteor

To take advantage of the rain, I had initially chosen Ludicolo since I absolutely loved its looks and its ability to take hits (it was mostly the looks though). I later realized that I needed more raw power than Ludicolo could give me, so I switched to Kingdra since I was not expecting many Azumarill. Muddy Water provided good, risk-free spread damage as well as a chance to drop accuracy, which happened quite often in my battles and ended up being clutch in my first Top Cut match. Hydro Pump was there in case I urgently needed to focus an opposing Pokémon, and I also had both Dragon-type moves so I could pick whichever suited the situation best (I considered Sleep Talk, but I was rather inexperienced with the move). I struggled with the item choice for Kingdra, but settled on Choice Specs so Talonflame could hold Life Orb.

“Pistola” means “gun” in Spanish and Kingdra kind of looks like a gun. The name is also based on a scene in “The Simpsons”, which is insanely popular in my country; the characters are revered as demigods. Now you know.

Manectric @ Manectite – “Shakira”
Nature: Timid
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
– Volt Switch
– Thunder
– Hidden Power Ice
– Protect

Manectric was chosen due to its access to Volt Switch and Intimidate, as well as its synergy with Eject Button. If Politoed had been using any other item, I probably would have used Kangaskhan instead. Hidden Power Ice finished off Dragon-types after they took chip damage from Kingdra (Goodra being the exception), while Thunder gave me a stronger STAB attack, and proved quite useful with its paralysis chance. Lightning Rod helped keep Politoed and Talonflame safe before I Mega Evolved, and allowed for interesting mindgames against opposing Electric-types. The ability’s main use, however, was shielding Kingdra from devastating Thunder Waves. I would occasionally keep Manectric in the back and switch it in beside Kingdra when I predicted a Thunder Wave.

I named her Shakira because she’s blonde and flexible.

Talonflame @ Life Orb – “Pet Shop”
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
– Brave Bird
– Flare Blitz
– U-turn
– Protect

Unlike Manectric, I believe that Talonflame is mandatory on rain teams. It is necessary to deal with Ludicolo, Amoonguss, and Venusaur, among others, that attempt to rain (ha, ha) on your parade. U-turn, just like Volt Switch, allowed Politoed to switch out and come back onto the field in a single turn, giving me a way to keep rain up despite a switched-in or Mega Evolved weather setter. There’s nothing more to say; what’d you expect? It’s Talonflame.

Pet Shop is the name of a “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure” character that’s a murderous hawk. It also shoots ice, just like Talonflame.

Bisharp @ Focus Sash – “Black RX”
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
– Sucker Punch
– Assurance
– Iron Head
– Protect

I think Bisharp is a great Pokemon, but sadly it didn’t have a chance to shine in the tournament. I used it in practice to punish Intimidate users, especially Mawile. Bisharp was useful for hitting Aegislash and most Trick Room setters quite hard. In spite of its Speed investment, it was usually the slowest of my Pokémon, so I chose Assurance instead of Night Slash.

It is nicknamed after my favorite iteration of Kamen Rider, known in America as Masked Rider.

Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet – “Rick Astley”
Nature: Sassy
Ability: Regenerator
EVs:  204 HP / 124 Def / 188 SpD
– Spore
– Rage Powder
– Giga Drain
– Protect

Amoonguss did for my team what it does best: it made the opponent think twice about setting up Trick Room and sent them to slumberland if they decided to do so anyway. I don’t think there’s much to be said about Amoonguss’s moves at this point; it’s was there to protect the other members of the team with Rage Powder, something it did even better in rain. Rocky Helmet helped me to pick up chip damage on opposing physical attackers, who would then be in the KO range of Kingdra’s Muddy Water. I chose Regenerator over Effect Spore because this team is all about switching, and there’s nothing worse than poisoning a Pokémon I wanted to put to sleep.

The name was chosen by my friend Waru in a fit of rage caused by my indecision in coming up with a name for it. I guess you could say both Rick and Amoonguss are equally annoying!

The Tournament

Five swiss rounds were played before Top 8.

Round 1: vs Axel Suarez

It’s always nice to face someone you don’t know in the first round. Alex was pretty nervous since this was his first tournament. He started the battle with his shiny Mega Charizard Y nicknamed Toothless (an extremely appropriate name indeed), but my Eject Button play worked perfectly and made it impossible for him to maintain sun. Kingdra then proceeded to defeat all of the opposing Pokémon by throwing mud in their faces. I was surprised when Jolteon took a Muddy Water hit without fainting, but it turns out it has 95 Special Defense; silly me. I won the match, but even while being nervous due to his tournament debut, Alex was able to reach top cut. Good job!

Round 2: vs Alex Proulx

This guy, who had an awesome surname, pronounced the names of the Pokémon in perfect English, which is rather uncommon around these parts—I found it rather cool. I later learned that he had been in the United States for a long time, which explained that oddity. During the battle he left both of his Dragon-types in their Poké Balls and instead went on the offensive with Tyranitar and Mega Mawile. It was a tough battle, and I almost lost due to some effective switching by my opponent and a couple of untimely Muddy Water misses (it was bound to happen). Ferrothorn was a real nuisance, but Talonflame was able to take it out and secure the win.

Round 3: vs Gonzalo “Void” Nieto

The first battle of the day against someone I actually knew! Not really a good thing, actually. I knew that Void was a well-versed player so I tried hard to concentrate on the battle, which wasn’t all that easy at the time since I had a song stuck in my head (this may sound silly, but is actually something that happens to me quite often). In this case, the song was “Mass Destruction” from the Persona 3 OST. But I digress. Unlike Alex, Void brought both of his Dragon-types to the battle, but left his Fairy-types at home. I led with Amoonguss, and Void launched an all-out attack against it with his Hydreigon and Rotom, targeting it with Dragon Pulse and Overheat. However, he was unable to knock it out thanks to Politoed switching in beside Amoonguss and summoning the rain. When Mega Kangaskhan came in, I was unsure whether to double Protect or not, since I feared that he would use Power-Up Punch on his own teammate. I decided to Protect anyway, and got away with it since he attempted to use Fake Out. Amoonguss carried me to victory in this match by redirecting attacks towards its Rocky Helmet—you can see why Void wanted to take it out as soon as possible.

Round 4: vs Manuel “Waru” Brignole

I don’t remember if Waru was the one who convinced me to play in this tournament or if I was the one who convinced him to play. The important thing is that he’s a good friend of mine and since he doesn’t usually play VGC, he told me he’d breed and train a team for himself the week before the tournament. Then he told me he’d do it the day before. Then it was the night before. Needless to say, I ended up lending him one of my teams. One of my favorite teams (for casual play, at least) too: perish trap. I was surprised upon being told I had to play him Round 4 because I didn’t expect him to do so well with that team; but here he was, with a 3-0 record too—the same as me. In our match, he opted not to use the Perish Trap aspect of the team—maybe he was trying out something new, maybe he was going easy on me, or maybe he realized that Volt Switch and U-turn were serious problems for perish trap (if this was the case, props for figuring it out on the first day using the team!). Anyway, the battle wasn’t easy at all! Ludicolo tanked at least four hits and heavily damaged most of my team, but I managed to win in the end. You’re so amazing, Ludicolo. I’m sorry I picked this ugly blue thing instead of you.

Round 5: vs Daniel Fau

During the tournament, I had heard of a guy nobody could beat. It was Daniel, and it turned out I had to play him in the fifth round. I’d never seen him before, so I was quite intrigued; our competitive scene isn’t big, so we tend to know each other. We were about to start when somebody pointed out that, since we both had perfect records, we should play it safe with an intentional draw. I knew Daniel was using Mega Charizard Y and I was eager to keep my Eject Button a secret from him due to the possibility of playing him in Top Cut, so it sounded like a good idea to me. We talked about it for a minute, asked the judge if we could do it, and he said we could, so we did. A week or so later, I decided to investigate online and found out that this practice isn’t only frowned upon by the community, it’s also not allowed—oh boy. This was our first Premier VGC event, but we’ve had TCG events for years, so both players and judges were used to the TCG rules. I’ve spread the information and now we know this isn’t allowed. Hey, we learned something already! We’re growing and stuff!

Top Cut

The top cut matches were best of three, something quite unusual around here that had almost never been done in local tournaments. Playing so many games is really tiring! I admire anyone who’s gotten used to it and look forward to getting used to it myself. Instead of writing about each game, I’ll give a summary of my experience against each of my top cut opponents. I think I could’ve played these matches much better than I did; I definitely need to practice and hone my best of three skills. Anyway, lots of surprises occurred: I ended up in the first place after the swiss rounds, yay! Waru made Top Cut—which was unbelievable, as this was the second time he had played VGC in his life. Axel, my first round opponent, also made it! And my friend Blake barely made the cut in eighth place. Wait, eighth place? Oh snap, that means…

Top 8: vs Mariano “Blake” Jar

Feast your eyes on these unorthodox choices! I knew sooner or later I’d be playing against Blake, who I considered to be one of the best local players. When I was teambuilding for the event, this matchup was the one I was most worried about. I thought he would be using Malamar with Trick Room, but I was only partially correct, as he brought Malamar but never set up Trick Room in any of our battles. I was pretty sure Malamar would be a nuisance, so I focused on using Talonflame’s U-turn to bring it down. Blake won the first battle and I won the second one. During the second game, we were quite surprised when my Amoonguss Spored his Mega Ampharos before it could move—turns out there was a speed tie. In the third game, I got a bit lucky when my Pokémon landed some critical hits and avoided some attacks due to Muddy Water (coincidentally, his Blastoise was also using the attack). I guess that’s just the game we play. Hey, I’ve always wanted to write that phrase in a Nugget Bridge article, and now I have!

Top 4: vs Fernando Soraires

Fernando is a very special guy who I already knew. We had teamed together in a Multi Battle tournament (we were randomly paired together) and reached the finals before losing due to a technicality: we both used our Mawile in the same battle—I didn’t know we weren’t allowed to do that (psh, what a joke). Anyway, the only thing I knew about Fernando’s performance at this tournament was that he’d been terrorized by Waru’s perish trap during the swiss rounds. In team preview, I recognized his team from the Multi Battle tournament. I won’t lie, I went into these battles feeling much more confident than I should have and was taken by surprise by an opponent who made smart switches and put me in complex situations. I barely won the first battle, and he completely destroyed me in the second thanks to his Gardevoir who was sporting a Choice Scarf that I really didn’t expect. I really hated playing against his Assault Vest Goodra, who could practically ignore the attacks of nearly all of my Pokémon. Our third game was my favorite battle from the entire tournament. At the end, I was able to isolate his -6 Special Attack Goodra and slowly whittle it down. Great games, Soraires, and I’m looking forward to our future battles.

Finals: vs Daniel Fau

Finally, the time had come. I knew nothing about Daniel—who he was, where he was from, nor what his style of play was. This created a great atmosphere for the final. What didn’t contribute to this tense atmosphere, however, was that it was very late and the owner of the pub we were playing at was politely trying to kick us out. The core of his team was Mega Charizard Y, Rhydon and Lapras, who covered each others’ weaknesses perfectly and gave me a ton of trouble. Charizard left me without rain, Lapras was a pain with Water Absorb, and Rhydon shielded the aforementioned duo with Lightning Rod. I won the first battle, but quickly ran out of gas and was unable to win the final two games. During the third battle I tried to knock Rhydon out with my Politoed’s Scald (for the third time in the set) since I knew I had a good chance of picking up the OHKO, but not only did it survive with a sliver of HP, it counterattacked with… Metal Burst?! That was it; at that point I knew I wouldn’t be able to win. Congratulations to Daniel, and thank you for the great battles!

Closing Thoughts

I had a lot of fun meeting both old and new friends and duking it out with them at this tournament. My only regret was the lack of time I spent building my rather standard team, but the truth was that I was so comfortable with it and had such a high win rate while practicing that I thought it would be a shame not to bring it. Switching Ludicolo for Kingdra was a big improvement: I noticed that it improved my chances to win against local players a great deal, but it did have the downside of making my team identical to Keewan’s. I’ve always thought that creativity shouldn’t be taken into account when building a team, especially in a “young” metagame like this one, and in the end I didn’t mind too much. I’m retiring this team for now though, so it’s time for some serious teambuilding work from me.

The most exciting thing about this tournament is that it’s only the beginning. Even though we’ve been playing VGC for a long time, the advent of our first Premier season is sure to encourage local players to give this format a chance. It’ll also bring new players to our competitive scene, which I’m sure will soon look better than ever!

As I said before, I’d like to thank LAP (Liga Argentina de Pokémon) and Liga Fancross Pokémon for their efforts in promoting the competitive aspect of Pokémon in Argentina, as well as the other groups across Argentina that support our scene. I’d also like to thank my fellow Argentinian trainers, mainly my sparring partners Lucas Hafner (who placed first in the other Premier Challenge!), Alan Collia, and the beautiful Iara Torres for their support and efforts in making this game fun—it’s already lots of fun, but they make it even more fun. Thanks to Ezequiel Fierro, who made the amazing drawing that adorns this article. Oh, and thank you, too, for reading it. See you around!

The post You Got Mud on Your Face: An Argentinian Premier Challenge Finalist Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.