Hi everybody, my name is Polecat. Some of you may know me as Darkeness’s little brother while others of you may know me as “Double Poli Guy;” regardless, I felt my 2014 season would be somewhat unfulfilled if I didn’t do this team report. Although this team never performed super well (a lot of that having to do with my inexperience with the game), it still was able reach the second day of US Nationals, and hold its own against some pretty tough opponents, which I think is pretty great.
A couple of things to know about me before I write this thing:
Firstly, I’m not afraid to experiment with gimmicks. In fact I like gimmicks, they can often provide a springboard for some pretty good ideas. While some people may consider this team “gimmicky,” I would certainly defend its integrity. Is Swift Swim a gimmick? Is Belly Drum Azumarill a gimmick? If the answers to both of those questions are “no,” then I have reasonable support for my case. If you think the answer to either of those is “yes,” then sure, this team is a gimmick, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t fairly successful considering the lack of skill and practice this player had (and has).
Secondly, I still haven’t grown out of that phase where I like to build teams with my favorites. It’s fun, and I think a lot of people forget that this is Pokémon and is supposed to be fun. Yes, Gardevoir is almost objectively a better Pokémon than Grumpig. It still doesn’t mean I’ll take Grumpig purely because it has thick fat (also it has a sillier design).
Thirdly, I don’t want anyone getting the impression that I only use favorites; that would simply be uncompetitive and stupid. I more like to scour Serebii for Pokémon with unique/useful abilities or stat combinations or movesets that a lot of people may overlook, which is where this team came from.
About three days before I was to depart for US Nationals, I was messing around on Pokémon showdown until far too late in the evening, coming up with all sorts of terrible ideas which included but were not limited to: stall Shuckle+sandstorm, Swift Swim Floatzel, and freaking Magnezone. But from this came a team that was just too darn fun to play with that I stayed up many extra hours just playing people online and getting to 1600 (around 10th on the ladder) on showdown, a rank I had never even come near to touching beforehand. When I got to Indianapolis in a couple of days, I told my friend MrEobo about it; he insisted that I stay up all night and create the team in game, the night before the tournament. After staying up until 4 am (which was not a good idea because I made a few glaring errors in EV training and ability-setting), I had finished it. After about an hour of sleep, I registered for the tournament and started on my way.
I present to you, the original double poli team.
The Team
Poliwrath w/Sitrus Berry
Swift Swim
EVs: 52HP, 252Atk, 204Spd
Jolly Nature
– Waterfall
– Rock Slide
– Protect
– Belly Drum
Here he is! The star of the show! There are so many reasons not to use Poliwrath. He has 4 very common weaknesses (Psychic, Fairy, Grass, Electric), no base stat over 95, and is pretty mediocre in general.
That being said, the combination of Belly Drum and Swift Swim was too tempting to pass up, and seeing that Poliwrath is the only Pokémon with this combination, I felt his use was justified. His moveset is pretty formidable as well: Waterfall, Brick Break, Rock Slide, Earthquake, all are pretty good options. Swift Swim (in theory) allows him to outspeed a Choice Scarf Garchomp in rain, which would have been great, had I not messed up his EVs for speed. It was a rude surprise on the second day of competition when he fell to a Choice Scarf Salamence’s Draco Meteor when I thought I had secured the KO; the EVs on the Poliwrath above are correct, however. With the right EVs, Poliwrath outspeeds pretty much everything in rain. His 90/95/90 defensive spread allows him to take a surprising amount of attacks while at 75% health, as well, including holding on from a Zapdos’ Thunderbolt and a Garchomp’s Earthquake. Why Poliwrath over Azumarill? Poliwrath, for one, can use a fast Waterfall, which is twice as powerful as Aqua Jet, and has a chance to flinch in the slim chance the target survives, and his ability to shoot of powerful Rock Slides on both opponents (again, flinch chance) were two very convincing reasons. With Rock Slide, Poliwrath could KO one of his opponents, and leave the other one weakened enough for his partner to clean up. Also he looks so freaking cool this generation!
Kangaskhan w/Kangaskhanite
Scrappy –> Parental Bond
EVs: 132HP, 252Atk, 108D, 12SpD, 4Spd
Adamant Nature
– Fake Out
– Return
– Protect
– Sucker Punch
So everything can’t be totally out of left field, as I well know. Kangaskhan provided a combination of support for Poliwrath and offensive pressure; it’s weird how the two could work so well together. Fake Out is great to give Poliwrath the opportunity to set up a Belly Drum. Fake Out also allows me to immobilize one Pokémon while Poliwrath faints the other later in the match. It leaves opponents in a difficult spot. They have two offensive monsters on the field and aren’t really sure which one to hinder or knock out. A couple of well-timed protects (or lack of protects), and I could easily set myself up for victory. Sucker Punch was nice for Pokémon who tried to beat Poliwrath’s speed with priority moves. The EVs above, once again, probably aren’t what I had for Nationals but are what are on my current team.
Politoed w/Eject Button
EVs: 228HP, 172D, 108SpD
Bold Nature
– Scald
– Perish Song
– Protect
– Encore
Pretty standard Eject Button Politoed set taken straight from Keewan’s Rain Team. For the tournament I think I used a Relaxed Politoed due to lack of resources, which had its benefits considering it has Perish Song. Politoed was key to the team. She set up rain, and stalled out with perish song after Kangaskhan and Poliwrath had taken my opponent down to two Pokémon. Encore was also useful to mess with my opponent’s plans.
Ferrothorn w/ Rocky Helmet
EVs: 252HP, 252D, 4SpD (0 Spd IVs)
Relaxed Nature
– Power Whip
– Leech Seed
– Protect
– Thunder Wave
Ferrothorn was great for the end game and valuable against unsuspecting Kangaskhans. Ferrothorn could reliably be the slowest thing on the field, which was very useful when ending the game with Perish Song. It made my win condition much simpler: get the opponent down to two Pokémon and use Perish Song. As long as I removed Pokémon with fire-type moves, Ferrothorn could easily survive the three turns.
Electrode w/Light Clay
Aftermath
252HP, 252D, 4Spd
Timid Nature
– Thunder Wave
– Protect
– Light Screen
– Thunder
Not one of my best ideas, but Thunder can take down a Gyarados, so that’s something. Light Screen support was cool for a less than bulky Poliwrath. Thunder Wave also helped Poliwrath after the rain cleared away. He can outspeed Garchomps before falling to its Earthquake. I regret not using Soundproof because Aftermath’s effects are actually pretty small compared to being able to use perish song and keep a Pokémon in battle.
Rotom-H
I’m not really going to bother writing anything about this guy because I honestly can’t remember ever using him or even what set I used. It was a case where I didn’t have a lot of time to put together a team and needed something so that it looked like I was a somewhat serious player. Looked pretty menacing in team previews though.
General Game Plans with this team
This team left me fairly inflexible; I had essentially five Pokémon from which to choose, one being Electrode, and I’m pretty sure I brought Kangaskhan/Poliwrath in the front with Ferrothorn and Politoed in the back every match for the Swiss Rounds. The concept was to Fake Out whichever Pokémon was more threatening to Poliwrath and set up Belly Drum turn 1; then Protect and switch to Politoed turn 2; then Fake Out and KO something turn three (because Politoed would be switched out by an Earthquake or something). And that process worked for me as an inexperienced player. A few times I had to make a few tough calls (like calling quick guard talonflame and getting it right), so it’s not like I robotically did the same thing every time.
Common Leads
Kangaskhan/Poliwrath
By far my best and most reliable lead. Kangaskhan could Fake Out and Poliwrath could set up. I led this in 95% of my battles at Nationals.
Electrode/Ferrothorn
I led with this more in the days leading up to Nationals, but it allowed me to Thunder Wave a ton of stuff and set up a light screen for my team. With the opponent’s speed and offenses crippled, it allowed my more offensive-oriented back two Pokémon to knock out my opponents. At Nationals I might have used this once.
Electrode/Poliwrath
A slightly riskier lead, but if I saw my opponent didn’t have too much to harm Poliwrath, I could lead this. With a combination of light screens, thunder waves, and Protects, Poliwrath could get his Belly Drum set up and sweep.
Matches
I’m not going to get into every single match I played; it was so long ago that I don’t remember. R Inanimate has a pretty solid description of our battle; if you want to read that, it’s right here. I do know that I went 7-2 during the Swiss round and then 2-4 during Day 2 Swiss. Day 2 wasn’t super impressive, I know, but I started 2-0 and then kind of took a downward spiral after getting absolutely handled by Adib in Round 3 and realizing my EVs were wrong in Round 4. I still think my poor performance day 2 had to do with my sickness being magical or lucky, and that went away after the first two rounds. But that’s Pokémon! I did my best; I have no regrets!
Actually I have a lot of regrets, but I digress.
After Nationals
Although I didn’t take Nationals by storm or anything (I mean, I guess I did because of the rain…ba dum, ksshhhh), it was the first time that I realized that one of my stupid ideas had potential. After getting a lot of feedback at nationals from more experienced players, I was able to improve the team so that it was more versatile, more reliable and simply better, even if I never outdid my performance at Nationals. Unfortunately I didn’t get to test out the revisions at Worlds LCQs because my train broke down on the way over. In this section I’ll talk about Pokémon I used to replace Electrode and Rotom-H at Philadelphia Regionals.
Philadelphia Regionals Version
Salamence w/Haban Berry
Intimidate
52HP, 4Atk, 84SpA, 116SpD, 252Spd
Modest
-Rock Tomb
-Fire Blast
-Draco Meteor
-Protect
This was taken straight from Jeudy’s Worlds team, and it fits pretty well with the Double Polis core. Rock Tomb hits pesky Talonflames pretty hard and provides speed control, Fire Blast can do considerable damage to Mawiles, and Protect allows Salamence to stall out a Perish Song. Draco Meteor can take out non-scarfed Hydreigon, and Intimidate gives Poliwrath some defensive support. All-in-all, a pretty solid Pokémon to replace Rotom-H. Salamence also gave me a decent option so that I wasn’t forced to bring Poliwrath.
Raichu w/Focus Sash
Lightningrod
252SpA, 252Spd, 4HP
Timid Nature
-Thunderbolt
-Feint
-Thunder Wave
-Encore
If I had to choose one Pokémon to have brought to Nationals over Rotom-H or Electrode, it would have been Raichu. Raichu brings so much support to a team that relies on two hard attackers and four support Pokémon. Lightningrod allows Poliwrath to be safe around electric types; a second Fake Out user gives me a little more versatility; Feint lets Poliwrath hit whomever he wants on an attacking turn and breaks Focus Sashes, and a fast Pokémon with encore can be killer in the Perish Song phase of this team. By far the best fit for this team, Raichu is a much better lead with Poliwrath than Kangaskhan sometimes because Raichu has a faster Fake Out, provides Lightningrod support, and can encore protects. Even when I don’t bring Poliwrath, Raichu can provide assistance to most of my Pokémon.
Other Options
Here are some other options that I used while experimenting with the team between Nationals and Worlds LCQs. All are viable and useful in my opinion.
Electrode w/Light Clay
Soundproof
252HP, 236D, 20Spd
Timid Nature
-Thunder
-Light Screen
-Thunder Wave
-Protect
Still not amazing, but I consider this Electrode set to be superior to my Nationals one. The extra speed allows Electrode to outspeed Gengar and Raichu, and Soundproof allows me to be more threatening with Perish Song.
Rhydon w/Eviolite
Lightningrod
12HP, 252Atk, 244SpD
Adamant Nature
-Drill Run
-Rock Slide
-Mega Horn
-Protect
Another Pokémon that gives Poliwrath Lightningrod support. Kind of cool because he can do some massive damage to Mawile (provided that he doesn’t get knocked out first) and is really helpful against Manectric. His bulk made him pretty useful during the Perish Song phase. Running Rhydon with a Pokémon like Scrafty or Raichu also meant that I didn’t have to always bring both Polis.
Honorable Mentions
Finally I have some honorable mentions: Pokémon who have appeared on variations of this team, but I don’t feel like writing about, I didn’t like, or had really obvious roles. None of that means, however, that these Pokémon could not work for this team, and next to all of them I’ve commented on what they provide for the team.
- Meowstic: Supports Poliwrath
- Choice Scarf Salamence:Allows me to rely less on the Polis
- Scrafty: Provides Fake Out and Intimidate support
- Talonflame: Allows me to rely less on the Polis
- Liepard: Really stupidly annoying
- Amoonguss: Spore and Rage Powder
Overall I’ve loved using this team. It was such a weird experience for me to be recognized in the Pokémon community besides being “Darkeness’ little brother.” I can’t explain how exciting it was to hear someone in Italy using a variant of my team a couple of days after U.S. Nationals. Through this team, I have also grown as a player, it sort of validated that I don’t have to go straight for standard but that standard Pokémon are undeniably useful. Above all, it allowed me to see what kind of player I am. For a while I tried to go with more practical teams but was pretty unsuccessful with them. Maybe that means I’m just bad, but it might mean that I’m just not comfortable playing completely within the format, and that’s okay. I would rather go with something odd or surprising but can still hold its own without the surprise, than a straight standard team.
If you have any questions, feel free to PM me, especially if you want to know about my Grumpig/Flareon/Kecleon/Abomasnow/Azumarill team. It’s a lot of fun. I’m a bit of a naïve and new player, but I think my greatest strength right now lies in finding new and unique Pokémon that can be devastating in the right environment.
The post The Wrath of Khan: A US Nationals Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.