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.

The time for the grand final is almost here! Qualifier Events have been happening since September and are still not over for StreetPass UK’s Pokémon Autumn Event 2014. The UK’s best trainers have been competing in this great series in hope of qualifying for the grand finals in Manchester on Saturday, 22nd November, 2014. Trainers will be competing for some amazing prizes in what is possibly the most star-studded invite-only tournament ever held in the United Kingdom. Past National Champions and Top-Cutting Worlds competitors will battle out to become StreetPass UK’s Pokémon Autumn Event 2014 Champion. You’ll be able to follow the tournament bracket live on the day, with information broadcast on Twitter via @nuggetbridge and @StreetPassUK.

Venue

Format

This tournament will use the Swiss and Top Cut Format, with six rounds of best of one game battles and the top eight players advancing to a best of three games Single Elimination tournament.

As you should all know by now, the Battle Format will be the official Video Game Championships 2014 rules. You can view them in full here.

• Number of Players: Two-Player Match
• Battle Format: Double Battle
• Battle Rules: Flat Battle
• Handicap Off

IMPORTANT: Move Tutor Moves from Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire are banned for this tournament.

Schedule

• 11:00am – 12:00pm – Player Check-In
• 12:00pm – 12:15pm – Player Meeting
• 12:15pm – 15:30pm – Swiss Rounds
• 15:30pm – 16:30pm – Lunch Break
• 16:30pm – 19:30pm – Top Cut
• 19:30pm – 20:00pm – Awards Ceremony

Please note that this is a rough estimate and we will move onto the next stage earlier if possible.

Spectators

This is not an open event. A guest list will be created with 100 places which includes participants and staff, so spectator slots are strictly limited. Priority will be given to any competitors in need of a care worker or who are under the age of 18. If you have qualified for this tournament and are under the age of 18, you will need a parent or guardian with you at all times.

If you wish to be a spectator or are in the tournament and wish to bring a spectator with you, then please send an e-mail to the following address stating the full name of the person wishing to be a spectator. Set the title of the e-mail as “StreetPass UK Pokémon Autumn Event 2014 Spectator”:

StreetPassUKTeam[at]gmail[dot]com

If you haven’t been added to the list by Thursday, 20th November then you will be turned away at the door.

Food & Drink

It is sadly prohibited for anyone to bring their own food or drink to the venue. This is not our rule but the venue’s, so we have to abide by it. Failure to do so will result in you being asked to leave the venue and in turn disqualified from the tournament. All competitors will receive at least one free drink from the bar (alcohol included for those over the age of 18 with photographic proof of age). Depending on remaining funds more may be available.

All competitors will receive at least two slices of pizza and a portion of fries during a permitted lunch break. Spectators are not eligible for any of this, but may help themselves to any extra food (if any) and potentially drinks once the competitors have received theirs. You can order your own at any time, however.

Prizes

1st Place

• A 1st Place Trophy
• A Nintendo Wii U 32gb Deluxe Set with New Super Mario Bros. U & New Super Luigi DLC Bundle
• A Special Edition Nintendo 2DS Pokémon Bundle (Includes Pre-Installed copy of Pokémon Omega Ruby version or Pokémon Alpha Sapphire version)
• £40 Nintendo eShop Credit

2nd Place

• A 2nd Place Trophy
• A Special Edition Nintendo 2DS Pokémon Bundle (Includes Pre-Installed copy of Pokémon Omega Ruby version or Pokémon Alpha Sapphire version)
• £40 Nintendo eShop Credit

3rd & 4th Place

• A copy of Pokémon Omega Ruby version or Pokémon Alpha Sapphire version
• £30 Nintendo eShop Credit

All Entrants

• £10 Nintendo eShop Credit

Qualified Players

1. Mike Abbott
2. Richard Allum
3. Barry Anderson (Baz Anderson)
4. Rachel Annand (SPEevee)
5. Christopher Arthur (Koryo)
6. Eden Batchelor (Xenoblade Hero)
7. Joseph Bee
8. Sam Bentham (SuperIntegration)
9. Robert Bland
10. Angus Broadbent
11. Jake Birch (WhiteAfroKing92)
12. Joe Birch (Professor Birch)
13. Joe Cox
14. Fabio Denis
15. Steven Edgson (SirSmoke)
16. Andrew Fairbrother (Combustandy)
17. Christopher Fotheringham (High Templar)
18. Hosea Fidel
19. Jason Finch (Die2Distroy)
20. Ethan Hall
21. Keiron Harman
22. Sam Hill
23. Brandon Ikin (Toquill)
24. Sam James
25. Francis Jones
26. Sam Kenealy (WM Sam)
27. Dennis Kinghorn
28. Ben Kyriakou (Kyriakou)
29. Alex Lee
30. Daniel Lloyd
31. Christopher Littlechild
32. Neale Maker (MrNealio)
33. Ben Markham (Benster)
34. Jack Marshall
35. Jonathan Marston
36. Mark McQuillan (Woopahking123)
37. Jamie Miller (Blaze_King7)
38. Justin Miller  (ThrillerMiller9)
39. Daniel Nolan (Zog)
40. Samuel O’Connor (Garchompguy)
41. Alex Parker
42. Rina Purdy (SquishyRina)
43. Paul Riley
44. Nicholas Rhodes (pro blaze)
45. Robert Simmons
46. James Tarbuck
47. Shaun Tysoe (foodking2win)
48. Daniel Walton
49. Erik Waterhouse
50. Alan West (alanspurs)
51. David Whale (Carbonific)
52. Sid

Last Chance Qualifier

As a thank you to the continued support from the UK Pokémon community in attending these events to make them a success, we’re offering those who fell short a chance at qualification once more! Beginning on Wednesday, 12th November at 12:00pm and lasting until Saturday, 15th November at 18:00pm, players who are yet to qualify will be able to enter an e-mail ballot for a chance at qualification to compete in the Grand Finals! Four lucky players will be selected to compete in the Grand Final and will be notified on Sunday, 16th November via e-mail. To enter, simply send an e-mail titled “Last Chance Qualifier” and state which qualifier(s) you went to, to this address:

StreetPassUKTeam[at]gmail[dot]com

The post StreetPass UK Pokémon Autumn Event 2014 Grand Final appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

G’day everyone! My name is Harry Boucher, and this past July I competed in the 2014 Australian and New Zealand VGC National Tournament. As this was only my second official tournament, I could not believe the amazing turnout of 442 Masters and roughly 700 competitors in total. It was, according to the event organisers, the second biggest Nationals event all year. Although there were issues that accompanied such a vast attendance, such as a two hour wait in line just to get inside, which in turn caused the event to run quite late, the atmosphere was electric and the event organisers were extremely professional and efficient given the circumstances. Now, on to the team!

Team Overview

This is my first year of competitive Pokémon, so I am still very new to a lot of concepts and strategies. Thus, team building was something I seriously struggled with at first. Personally, I am a strong believer in using a team that goes against the norm and nothing pleases me more than winning with a team that surprises people. I have messed around with the likes of Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Mawile in the past but they weren’t Pokémon that I felt comfortable using. I felt that I was only using them because they were perceived as the best Mega Evolutions and that they must be used to win. If you create a team that you feel comfortable with using and has great synergy, you are far more likely to outplay your opponents than if you were using a team that you were lead to believe is essential to win. That being said, I’m certainly not against going with the metagame. It just isn’t my preferred style of play.

To properly understand my Nationals team, I need to briefly explain the core concept of my Regionals team, as this was the foundation of my team going into Nationals. Earlier this year I came up with the idea of having a fast Water-type Pokémon use the move ‘Soak’ on a Shedinja so that, due to its Wonder Guard ability, only Grass and Electric type moves would be able to hit it. Upon further research, I discovered that not only had this concept already been created, but it was riddled with flaws. First and foremost, status moves such as Will-O-Wisp, Toxic, and Leech Seed were a serious concern, as they provided my opponent with an instant OHKO. Combine this with recoil damage from Rough Skin, Iron Barbs, and Rocky Helmet; and the threat of Sandstorm and Hail damage from Tyranitar and Abomasnow respectively, I suddenly had a very serious problem. The biggest threat of all was the susceptibility to Electric- and Grass-type moves. While Manectric was designed to soak up any Electric attacks that came my way with its Lightning Rod ability, I didn’t have much to counter the omnipresent Amoonguss and Venusaur or any other stray Grass-type moves that may be out there. Needless to say, I was knocked out in the first round at Regionals.

I was still not deterred, and for the two months between Regionals and Nationals I spent the majority of my time trying to create a perfect three Pokémon team (plus Manectric) that I could use when conditions were not ideal for bringing Shedinja. This led me to try countless different teams and ideas, which in the final weeks led to something that vaguely resembles what I had on the big day. Three weeks before game day I was running Mega Charizard Y, Mega Venusaur, and Klefki, inspired by the success of Redemption003. However, Charizard Y just wasn’t working for me, as it was falling to Rock Slide way too easily. I decided to make what would be one of my best decisions yet by changing Charizard Y to Charizard X. Potentially the best decision of all, however, occurred the day before the tournament, when I switched out Shedinja for Garchomp. I just could not justify going with the Shedinja strategy any longer. What was originally designed as my back up team to support Shedinja had become so successful that I wanted to make it the best it could be. My only regret was that I made this decision too late, which left me minimal preparation time to actually create the team in-game. Consequently, Floatzel would make an appearance at Nationals.

The Team

Prince Aegon (Charizard) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze/Tough Claws
EVs: 60 HP / 156 Atk / 120 Def / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature

• Dragon Dance
• Steel Wing
• Flare Blitz
• Dragon Claw

The clear MVP of the team, Charizard never once let me down. The EV spread was designed to be strong in defence, yet still have devastating offensive power, and it did just that. First turn usually saw me set up a Dragon Dance, which although risky would then provide enough Speed and attack power to OHKO pretty much any threat I would encounter. This EV spread let Charizard survive a Dragon Claw from Jolly 252 Attack Garchomp, and truly surprised me throughout every one of my battles.

As my team included both Venusaur and Charizard, and the role of an offensive Dragon on my team was already occupied by Garchomp, I anticipated my opponents would expect Charizard to Mega Evolve into Charizard Y, as the Drought + Chlorophyll lead is a common strategy that can be a big threat to a lot of teams. This worked very much in my favour, as my Charizard was comfortably able to survive many Rock Slides from my opponent and OHKO them in return. Probably the greatest thing about Mega Charizard X is the ability to use the move Steel Wing, and how many people don’t realise this in the game. Using Steel Wing, when boosted with Dragon Dance, meant that I was able to OHKO every Aerodactyl, Tyranitar, Gardevoir, and Carbink that I encountered, often to the complete astonishment of my opponents. The fact that this move checks Charizard’s Rock weakness is exceptionally useful, and was well worth the sacrifice of not having the move Protect. As for Flare Blitz and Dragon Claw: well, they’re pretty self-explanatory. They both have high damage output, especially factoring in STAB. The nickname is a Game of Thrones reference, as I am a big fan of the books and the TV show.

LaLADis (Liepard) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

• Taunt
• Encore
• Foul Play
• Fake Out

Liepard is in my opinion easily one of the best Pokémon in VGC ’14, and certainly the best Prankster abuser that can win you games by crippling opponent’s strategies. I nicknamed this Poke after one of my best friends as this setup was his idea, and it was certainly one of his best. Rocky Helmet is a very effective item to give to Liepard as it is prime Fake Out bait and, surprisingly, the item influenced games quite a lot even with such little damage output. The EVs are stock standard so that it will speed tie with other Liepards, and the HP investment is to assist it with sticking around longer. Any VGC player will tell you that Fake Out is extremely useful, so it’s no surprise that I employed it here. Prankster makes this Pokémon so useful because not only can it priority Taunt, but it can priority Encore. This means that at any stage if your opponent uses Protect (or any setup move), you can lock them into that move for the next few turns, and effectively shut it down all together. This is especially useful in situations where they have no other Pokémon to switch into as you can continue to spam the Encore, or then proceed to Taunt them so it forces the Struggle and you get the additional recoil damage. I also found that this works well against Trick Room teams, as when they use Trick Room again due to the Encore it cancels its affects and reverts the field back to default. Due to my last minute changes I didn’t manage to fully train this Pokémon, and consequently I had to run Foul Play instead of Sucker Punch. Sucker Punch would have been extremely beneficial in the tournament as it can provide support by KOing a threat before they can attack (providing they are only have a small amount of HP let), yet Foul Play was still quite useful as it deals damage based off the opponents base attack stat and not your own. In such a physical attacking metagame this is can be a deadly move, and it also means you can’t get walled by any Quick Guard users.

King G VI (Venusaur) (M) @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 124 HP / 120 Def / 140 SpA / 84 SpD / 40 Spe
Modest Nature

• Protect
• Sleep Powder
• Giga Drain
• Sludge Bomb

While I didn’t actually use Venusaur a great deal in the tournament, I found that in practice it was a great addition to the team. Having two potential megas added a lot of versatility to the team and also played an integral role to my strategy. By having the Venusaur featured in my team preview, it really gave my opponents the impression that my Charizard was going to mega evolve into Charizard Y. I knew that, by having two megas, I had the potential to surprise my opponent should I make it to the best of three rounds. Additionally, Venusaur would be much more suited to face a dangerous rock/ground/dragon team that Mega Charizard X would struggle with. Additionally, Mega Venusaur has exceptional bulk which is only enhanced by the HP support that Giga Drain provides. I would much rather be mega evolving Charizard however, so the mega stone may have been wasted on Venusaur but it was a decision I was comfortable with and I think it definitely would have proved its worth if I had progressed further into the tournament. The EV spread ensured that it was capable of hitting hard while retaining its impressive bulk and the moves are rather standard.

The nickname is symbolic. I made sure that the father to this Venusaur was my first Pokémon ever, another Venusaur called G, which I have traded up from Leaf Green over the years. The ‘VI’ part of the name represents the 6th generation that we are currently playing in.

Many Quick (Manectric) @ Zap Plate
Ability: Lightningrod
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature

• Flamethrower
• Thunderbolt
• Protect
• Discharge

First things first, you’re probably wondering why I chose to use a Zap Plate. If you’re waiting to hear some ridiculously cool idea about the hidden potential of the Zap Plate and how it carried me to the glorious Top Cut, you’re going to have to keep on waiting. As I am the king of procrastination, I decided it would be a good idea to put off the team building process for a while, which I can assure you is not a good idea in the slightest. Originally I was using a Focus Sash on Manectric, but the week before Nationals someone was offering an event Deoxys for a Focus Sash and Choice Scarf. Obviously this was an exceptionally good deal for me, but unfortunately I forgot about acquiring another one until it was too late. This led to me scrolling through my bag looking for anything that would be useful as I stood in line outside the tournament, before I finally decided on using the Zap Plate as it was the only thing that may actually help. I’m sure this did play some role in my success and that potentially without it the day could have gone worse, but needless to say I sorely missed the Sash.

The EV spread and nature was designed simply to hit reasonably hard and fast, and it did just that. Manectric was a Pokémon that I brought to every match because of its Lightningrod ability. Whenever my opponent brought in a Pokémon that was likely to use an electric type move I could safely switch in to Manectric and get a free special attack boost if the prediction proved accurate. This also worked with Thunder Wave, which was amazing for Mega Charizard X as I found that, during practice, Charizard became prime Thunder Wave bait after powering up with a Dragon Dance.

The moves are fairly standard with Thunderbolt being the primary STAB attack and Discharge proving helpful at times as it is a multi-target attack that paired well alongside Garchomp. Protect ensured that I could keep it around longer and Flamethrower was a helpful fire type move for when I didn’t want to suffer the recoil damage from Flare Blitz on Charizard.

As I mentioned earlier I originally chose Manectric due to its integral role in my old Shedinja strategy, but I found that it remained extremely useful even after that strategy was abandoned. While I did consider switching him for a Rotom or something similar, I found that my play style had evolved to really rely on having Lightningrod in the back. Additionally, Manectric is rarely seen in the meta save for its Mega form, so I felt that this provided an extra element of confusion for my opponents.

The nickname is a play on Manectric’s name and is accentuated by the classic doge memes.

Saphira (Garchomp) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature

• Earthquake
• Dragon Claw
• Poison Jab
• Rock Slide

There is very little to explain here as it is just a basic Garchomp. I chose the Choice Scarf so that I could out speed any dragon that posed a threat to Mega Charizard, though later I regretted not going with a Lum Berry. While the Lum Berry would have limited my ability to OHKO a Scarfed Hydreigon or Salamence, it would have allowed for more versatility when picking moves and also would have nerfed the Will-O-Wisp that really cripples this Garchomp.

The nickname here is based on the dragon Saphira from the Inheritance Cycle book series that was a favourite of mine in primary school.

The Baptist (Floatzel) (F) @ Quick Claw
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

• Soak
• Aqua Tail
• Taunt
• Protect

Finally onto Floatzel… What can I say? Floatzel was the smoking ruins of my abandoned strategy. Whilst I never once actually used Floatzel in the tournament, it did work moderately well with the team. Floatzel’s biggest key was that it was a really fast Soak user, which is an extremely underrated move. For those that don’t know, Soak changes the type of the target Pokémon to water type. Seeing as I had strong electric and grass type moves on the team, it really could have caused some devastating damage. This change of type also means that, unless the opponent uses a water type move, they won’t have the STAB. In reality, I probably could have used this Pokémon more, but I didn’t want to risk the chance of wasting a spot on my team that could be better utilized. That being said, I think there is potential here and it is certainly something I plan on investigating further.

The best thing about having Floatzel on the team was that I knew it was going to confuse my opponents in the team preview, because really, Floatzel..?

Team Leads

(Charizard + Liepard)

The lead that I felt most comfortable with and used every game, save for one, was Charizard + Liepard. Liepard was an exceptionally good support Pokémon that gave my team a bit of an edge in almost every matchup. Charizard X alongside Liepard was a monster as the Fake Out support usually provided enough room to successfully Dragon Dance. I managed to pull this off nearly every game, and in all honesty it’s the only lead I really used. I was open to other leads, but I just didn’t see a reason to during the tournament. Venusaur and Liepard would have made another strong lead, but this was not something I capitalised on.

The Glorious Battles

I’m going to apologise in advance for my terrible recollection of these battles. My notes are only of the Pokémon that my opponents had and used and, even then, the notes only cover from the fourth battle onwards. Nevertheless, here’s what I can remember!

In all of the following battles save for one I used Charizard X, Liepard, Manectric, and Garchomp.

Swiss Round 1

This was a good battle that gave me a lot of confidence. My competitor was a girl called Laura whom I had spoken to a few times before hand, so it was coincidental that she would be my first opponent. I don’t remember much, but I clearly remember that Manectric was able to absorb a Thunderbolt and get the Spec Attack boost whilst my Mega Charizard X OHKO’ed her Shiny Mega Ampharos and subsequently the majority of her team. Once the Charizard was down I brought in Garchomp, which provided a swift end to her last Pokémon.

Win. 1-0

Swiss Round 2

Luckily, I just made it to this battle on time and didn’t get disqualified, but as a result missed out on getting a seat. Regardless, this was a good battle. I knew instantly from the team preview that this was a Trick Room team and knew that Liepard would be able to carry me here. He led with Slowbro and Abomasnow and I lead with my Liepard and Zard. I confidently locked in Flare Blitz and mega evolution to take out the Abomasnow and then Taunt to stop Slowbro from setting up the TR. What I didn’t realise was that Slowbro gets the ability Oblivious, which very nearly cost me the game. Abomasnow protected first turn and Slowbro fired of the TR whilst my taunt was completely ignored. It was a complete waste of a turn on my part, and the field was now in my opponents favour. What happened next you ask? Redemption. Liepard encored the Abomasnow forcing it to use and fail a Protect, Slowbro targeted Charizard, causing some mild damage, and Charizard incinerated the Abomasnow with a Flare Blitz. The rest of a battle is a blur, but I know that it was very close.

Win. 2-0

Swiss Round 3

Unfortunately I can’t remember a single thing about this battle, but I vaguely remember thinking it was tight.

Win. 3-0

At this stage, my friends and I were under the impression that the Swiss was going to be out of 6 rounds, so having the 3-0 under my belt was looking very promising. I was still quite nervous though and just focused on keeping a level head while having fun.

Swiss Round 4

From here on, save for one battle, I actually took notes on my matches! Though these notes only consist of the team the opposition had and then which 4 they used… Regardless, round 4 was a good one.

They had

• Conkeldur
• Rotom
• Gardevoir
• Mawile
• Salamence
• Tyranitar

This seemed like an obvious Trick Room with Gardevoir as the setter, so I didn’t see a reason to change the 4 that I used in this match.

They brought out

• Gardevoir
• Mawile
• Rotom
• Salamence

This battle is a blur at best, but I’m fairly sure that I was able to Encore a Protect for a few turns and that Steel Wing is great at killing fairies. This was a comfortable win that made me feel very content with adding Garchomp to the team at the last minute.

Win. 4-0.

Swiss Round 5

He had

• Kangaskhan
• Talonflame
• Ludicolo
• Garchomp
• Aegislash (which amusingly is noted as ‘Sword’ in my notes because I had blanked on its name)
• Gardevoir

Of which, he brought

• Kangaskhan
• Talonflame
• Ludicolo
• Gardevoir

The adrenaline was pumping now as I have never really achieved much success in the VGC world and suddenly was 4-0 and surrounded by pro players. I remember that the guy I played was pretty cool and we both were talking about how awesome it was to make it as far as we had, regardless of what was about to happen in the next game.

This game was RIDICULOUSLY close and I’m fairly sure that my Charizard went down way earlier than I would have liked, leaving me feeling like this would be a certain loss. Then, out of nowhere, something magical happened. Don’t ask me what it was, because I couldn’t tell you if I tried, but the game started to look a little more even. I do remember that a Scald from Ludicolo burned my Garchomp, which caused it faint the next turn anyway, and it was suddenly down to just Ludicolo and Manectric. Mano a mano. 1v1. What happened that day was a battle so great that it was worthy of a song written by Tenacious D. Many Quick pulled through.

Win. 5-0.

Swiss Round 6

I stood before the list of names, ecstatic with a 5-0 record and not stressing about what I believed would be the last round of Swiss, then I saw who my next opponent was… Dayne O’Meara, or Umberrific here on Nugget Bridge. Dayne had come second at the Melbourne Regionals, so I knew he was a great player and I had just read an article by Boomguy in which Dayne had been tipped to win Nationals. Did this formidable opponent intimidate me? Not in the slightest. To be completely honest I’d considered it lost from the moment I read his name, but I was still stoked that I had the opportunity to play someone with such a stellar reputation.

What he had

• Heliolisk
• Venusaur
• Meinshao
• Aegislash
• Charizard
• Staraptor

What he brought

• Heliolisk
• Meinshao
• Venusaur
• Staraptor

This was possibly the greatest display of my strategy ever, as it later became clear that Dayne thought I was running a Charizard Y. I remember there being quite a few errors in this game and a reasonable amount of luck though, thankfully, the luck went both ways evenly. At one stage, I switched in my Manectric to absorb whatever electric type move Heliolisk was going to shoot out, only to be left dumbfounded as Heliolisk used Hyper Beam and KO’ed my Charizard. Manectric also proved invaluable with a quick OHKO to his Staraptor which is always nice. There’s not much I remember about this game, though I do distinctly remember Dayne sending out his Venusaur with three quarters health when suddenly I realised that it was his last Pokémon and that somehow I’d KO’ed his other three. So now it was 2v1 and I had only just sent in Liepard which meant that I had a Fake Out up the sleeve. Needless to say, it was game. What surprised me the most at the time was the Venusaur’s item. I thought “No mega?”, but later, when watching his final battles, it dawned on me that Charizard Y was his only mega and that his team was heavily sun orientated. This explained the no mega conundrum as he must have held back his Charizard and relied on chirping the sun from my ‘Charizard Y’. Priceless.
Overall Dayne was a pretty great bloke and definitely deserved to win the whole event later that night and go on to represent Australia in Top Cut at Worlds. Beating him is definitely the biggest achievement of all my VGC exploits and it’s not something that I will be forgetting any time soon. GG Dayne.

6-0.

Being 1 of 6 people to go 6-0 in Swiss I figured I was certain to make it to Top Cut, right until the commentators announced that it would be a best of 9 rounds. The experienced players didn’t seem surprised in the slightest however, so I figured I’d just have to drink a cup of concrete and win a few more matches, how hard could it be?

Swiss Round 7

What he had

• Gengar
• Aegislash
• Klefki
• Dragonite
• Scrafty
• Staryu

What he brought

• Gengar
• Klefki
• Scrafty
• Staryu

This battle was a serious wet cloth to the old hype train. Within a few rounds it was game and suddenly I started to question how far I might go in the tournament. Credit to this guy for using Staryu though, it definitely seemed to work for him and it was good to see it do well.

Loss. 6-1.

Swiss Round 8

Not even my notes can help me here, as I have nothing but the bitter taste of defeat to help me reflect on this battle…
In all seriousness I was still overwhelmed that I had done so well thus far and wasn’t too disheartened.

Loss. 6-2.

It’s worth mentioning here that one of my friends was also doing quite well and it seemed fairly likely that we would be paired up in the next round (not the most delightful prospect). After losing his 4th and 5th matches (I don’t remember the full details) he had caught up to me as we were both now on 6-2 and desperately needed to win that last round so we would make it to Top Cut.

Swiss Round 9

The pressure was on. I needed the win and my opponents name was worryingly familiar. Later I realised that he was Boomguy, but that’s a different story.

What he had

• Delphox
• Hydreigon
• Kangaskhan
• Amoonguss (written as Mushroom in my notes)
• Carbink
• Rotom

What he brought

• Carbink
• Kangaskhan
• Delphox
• Amoonguss

This battle ended up being another perfect display of my team’s strategy and it was the first battle where I used Venusaur over Manectric. My memory is sketchy, so it may not be 100% accurate, but I’m fairly sure I used Fake Out on the Carbink because I was counting on Kangaskhan to Fake Out my Charizard, which proved to be an apt prediction. Then it was just a matter of encoring the Kangaskhan into Fake Out and, to my opponent’s apparent amazement, OHKO the Carbink with Steel Wing. Priceless. Overall, this battle was close, yet still a reasonably comfortable win with Venusaur landing a Sleep Powder on the second attempt, though by that stage it didn’t really matter anymore. Afterwards, Phil was asking me about my set-up on Charizard which was really awesome as I felt like I’d gone from scrub to legend overnight.

Win. 7-2.

The Results

The results were in and there were murmurings about people on 7-2 not making it which, needless to say, left me slightly worried. By now it was about 9pm, so more than half of the people had left and soon only 32 would be remaining. I finally got to see the list of who had made it and I was at place number 15. Pure elation was all I was feeling and at that moment I knew that, no matter what happened from here on in, I was content. I found my friends and quickly learned that Leigh, the guy I mentioned earlier, had come 33rd.
I still feel devastated for him, but come on, 33rd… You can’t help but laugh a little

The Prestigious Top Cut

Everyone that didn’t make Top Cut was herded into the grand stands around the arena and I was able to have a good look at just how few of us there were left. Then my name was called and I went over to the table where my opponent was waiting for me. Funnily enough it turned out to be a really cool guy that I met earlier on in the day as he had beaten my friend, which didn’t really fill me with confidence.

Regardless, it was game time.

What he had

• Rotom
• Meinshao
• Salamence
• Talonflame
• Aegislash
• Mawile

What he used (not in order)

• Rotom
• Meinshao
• Mawile
• Talonflame

I’d really like to be able to say this game was close, but it just really wasn’t. I changed my strategy for the first time all tournament and opened with Garchomp and Liepard out of fear of the Salamence threat, but alas it never came. I don’t really think that was a big enough difference to cost me the game, but I do wonder what else I could have done as they were a fairly weak lead.

It was down to 2v2 with my Liepard and Garchomp (interestingly the last two and first two on the field) VS his Rotom and Meinshao I think. Once Rotom landed Will’O’Wisp on my Garchomp the full reality kicked in and I knew it was over.

Overall it was a well-deserved win on my opponent’s part and I was really happy to see that he made it to the Top 8.

Things I’d Change

Potentially the greatest strategy I didn’t even consider at the time was Charizard + Venusaur.

This would have almost certainly convinced my opponent that I was running Charizard Y over X and the offensive options, coupled with the bulky Sleep Powder support of Venusaur, would have been a more versatile strategy. This is only something I’ve experimented with recently and the results so far have been overwhelmingly good.

The most notable flaw in my team was the sheer uselessness of Floatzel. Though it did have a little potential and I can’t stress how little that ‘little’ was, it was never going to be a risk I would have been comfortable taking in such a high stakes tournament. I’ve recently bred a shiny 6 IV Honedge so, while I’m slightly more biased towards the Pokémon, I now think it would have provided more options than Floatzel ever did.

Closing Thoughts

I love this team. This team and I achieved far more than I ever expected and it really is just a creation that I am so happy with. Also, big shout out to one of the event organisers that coincidentally always collected the results slip from my table and asked after every match “Did you win?” followed by “Ahhhh good job man!”. He was my real life ‘Yo Champ in the making!’ guy and made this experience all the more surreal.

The post Megazard X Steels the Win: An Australian Nationals Top Cut Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hello, my name is Jeremy Rodrigues.  I’m relatively new to the competitive Pokémon community and even newer to the VGC side of things.  I probably started playing VGC about seven months ago and I instantly liked all of the freedom that doubles offered.  In particular, I was fascinated by strategies that involved field effects such as weather and Trick Room, seeing as they are much more viable in doubles than singles.

I spent a lot of time on Showdown down at the bottom of the ladder testing random stuff that any rational person would scoff at, but I enjoyed it.  One day, when I was looking for a new idea to try, I stumbled upon the Bulbapedia article on Pledge moves and I created the team that would eventually evolve into what I used at Philadelphia Regionals.

Before I go into the team itself, I believe it’s important to go over some Pledge basics.  Pretty much all you need to know is that, when Water and Grass Pledge combine, they form a Grass type attack with a Base Power of 160 and it creates a Swamp for three turns after it is used that lowers the speed of all opposing Pokemon by 50%.  If you want to know more about Pledge mechanics, I have a thread on it here.

Anyways, enough of that boring stuff.  Now, onto the team!

Greninja @ Focus Sash (Ranzou)
Ability: Protean
Level: 50
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Water Pledge
– Ice Beam
– Taunt
– Protect

Greninja, besides being essential for Pledge, proved to be a great team player.  Water Pledge is there to allow Venusaur to set up the swamp by increasing its speed, and Ice Beam is there for dragons, Garchomp and Salamence in particular.  Taunt used to be U-Turn and, before that, it was Dark Pulse, but I never used either of those two moves enough so I eventually settled on Taunt.  Taunt allows me to shut down some Trick Room teams and Pokémon that love to spam Thunder Wave, although Thunder Wave Gyarados suffered a massive drop in popularity since I added Taunt to the set.  Protect is simply there for the reliability, since I need a way to stop Fake Out and I don’t feel Mat Block would be as useful.  The spread is an incredibly simple 252/252/4 because I feel Greninja is best suited for speed and I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to survive with it that I could realistically achieve through EV redistribution.

Venusaur @ Venusaurite (Mystogan)
Ability: Chlorophyll
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
– Grass Pledge
– Sludge Bomb
– Sleep Powder
– Protect

Venusaur was one of my team’s two Megas and it was both the one I used the most and the one I liked the least.  Mega-Venusaur is a nice Pokémon, but I’ve never really loved it for whatever reason.  Anyways, I chose Chlorophyll as the ability because I thought I might use this Venusaur for something else at a later date, but it actually wound up becoming useful.  Grass Pledge is to allow for the Pledge combo and Sludge Bomb is the secondary STAB.  I chose Sleep Powder over Synthesis or Leech Seed because I feel both of those moves are two defensive for my highly offensive team.  Sleep Powder allows me to stop Pokémon I wouldn’t normally be able to touch and I actually used Venusuar as an impromptu Mega-Mawile counter in Round 9 of Swiss.  Just like Greninja, Protect is there simply because this is doubles and Protect is always a good option.

The 252/252/4 spread is because I wanted to have an offensive presence.  As you will come to see, my team struggles with Talonflame and I was aware that there existed a Mega-Venusaur set designed to survive Choice Banded Brave Bird, but I didn’t feel that being able to survive that was worth neutering myself offensive-wise, so I just went max Special Attack, Modest nature for the damage and max HP to give me quite a lot of bulk.

Chandelure @ Choice Specs (Lumière)
Ability: Infiltrator
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpA
Modest Nature
– Heat Wave
– Shadow Ball
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Energy Ball

When I first was picking members for my team, I knew that I would have to hit incredibly hard.  The swamp created by Pledge only lasts for three usable turns, so I needed to take advantage of the time I had.  To find my two main attackers I literally went onto Seribii and looked at the highest base SpA and Atk stats and, for SpA, I found Chandelure.  Sporting an insane base 145 SpA and great dual STAB, it proved to be a great Pokémon.  Heat Wave and Shadow Ball were selected as the STAB options, Energy Ball was for Water coverage and Hidden Power Ice was for any Dragons like Garchomp and Salamence.

The EVs allow it to survive Jolly Garchomp’s Earthquake and Jolly Mega Kangaskhan’s Sucker Punch 100% of the time.  It also gives it the bulk to take non Adamant 252 Atk Gyarados’ Waterfall 100% of the time.  Really, it was just a good defensive number to be at.  The Choice Specs were selected to maximize damage output.

Haxorus @ Life Orb (Acnologia)
Ability: Mold Breaker
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 188 Atk / 68 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 21 Spe
– Dragon Claw
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
– Dragon Dance

Haxorus, the team’s shiny, was also an MVP of sorts.  Quick shout out here to PokemonZone for getting me a foreign Axew as, otherwise, I would never have been able to get my shiny Haxorus.  Anyways, as the second Pokémon I selected to be one of my swamp sweepers, Haxorus used its insane Base 147 Atk stat to crush all in its way.  The moves are mostly self explanatory, except for the lack of Protect.  This was originally a Choice Band Haxorus, but after OHKOing my own Chandelure with Earthquake one too many times I switched over to Life Orb.  It was also at that time that I changed Outrage to Dragon Dance.

Now, Dragon Claw was necessary as STAB, Earthquake was a must because of Mold Breaker, Rock Slide provided a great way to deal with Mega-Charizard Y and Dragon Dance created win conditions.  Although Protect would have been useful, I felt that the moves I already had would be more useful in the long run and so I decided to forego Protect and simply run with the set I had.  I can’t say I regretted the decision.

Lucario @ Lucarionite (Rouge)
Ability: Inner Focus
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Aura Sphere
– Flash Cannon
– Quick Guard
– Protect

The Lucario I decided to run at Regionals differs from the standard Lucario in two ways.  First, I decided to run a purely special set in order to be able to ignore Intimidate and not be neutralized by burns.  During testing, I took great joy in allowing my opponent to spend turns trying to burn my Lucario before I revealed that I was running a special set.  The second oddity about my Lucario is the move Quick Guard.  Quick Guard allowed me to hinder opposing Talonflame and it mainly functioned to stop Sucker Punches aimed for my Chandelure, but I’ll go more into that when I cover team combinations.  The moves and EVs should be self explanatory.

Zapdos @ Power Belt (Tempest)
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 100 SpA
Modest Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Thunder Wave
– Roost
– Protect

Zapdos is simultaneously the Pokémon I used the least and the one I have the most to say about.  First off, I know the Power Belt makes no sense, but I’ll get to that later.  Second, I have to thank Alex (Stempe) for suggesting Zapdos as, even if I didn’t use it all that well at Philly, it was a good fit for my team.  Also, Tempest is an anagram of Stempe, which is how I got the nickname (Yes, I know Tempest has one too many T’s.  It was the best I could do).  Anyways, the moves were my attempt to function as bulky offense and speed control at the same time.  The EV spread. . . really, I have no idea where it came from or what it does.  I just ended up with it on Showdown one day and it was what I ended up using.  In its favor, it was able to take a Brave Bird and a Rock Slide from a Mega-Aerodactyl, so that’s something.

Well, now that you know the team, I’m going to go into a quick part about how I prepared for the Regional itself.

The Tournament

For the most part, I just battled on the Showdown ladder, but I also kept an eye out for who was on and tried to practice against other people I knew who were good.  I battled my friend Luka (Zephyl) a lot and practiced against Alex (Stempe) as well.  Among others I practiced with were Nightfront, Ezrl and Joey (joej m).  Actually, the Friday night before Regionals, I was on and battled Joey a few times. He won pretty solidly each time before he gave me some advice for the coming tournament.  That’s the hyper condensed version of my preparation. Now we get to the second thing you’re here for: the battles.  Sorry if anything is incorrect here, I’m pretty much entirely going off memory.

Round 1: Dakota

His team: Politoed, Aegislash, Blastoise, Manetric, Ludicolo and Gardevoir

I was really worried about my round one match even though I knew that it was the round I had the least to worry about.  I was starting way down at the end of the room, table 147 to be precise.  Since Haxorus has a base 147 Atk stat I decided to take it as a good omen.  Anyways, first turn my opponent led with his Politoed and Manetric while I led with Greninja and Venusaur.  Seeing a chance to get rid of what I suspected to be his Mega, I double Pledged into Manetric for the OHKO.  He didn’t Mega Evolve, so I started to suspect a Mega-Blastoise in the back, but I later found out that he didn’t even bring Blastoise.

After KOing Manetric, I was expecting an Ice Beam from Politoed onto my Venusuar, but instead he used—Swagger?  Well, he confused me and my Greninja, but I decided to roll with it.  Next turn he sent in his Gardevoir, which I quickly KO with a combination of Sludge Bomb and Water Pledge since my Greninja was able to hit through the confusion.  Once Gardevoir was down, his Politoed Swaggers my Venusaur, putting me at a 4-2 lead, but with both of my Pokemon on the field suffering from confusion.

Since Gardevoir went down, he had to reveal his last Pokemon, which turned out the be Ludicolo instead of Blastoise.  He Faked Out and Scalded my Venusaur for minimal damage while my Greninja proceeded to hit itself in confusion.  At this point I had one turn left of my swamp, so I double targeted Ludicolo with Sludge Bomb and Ice Beam for the KO.  I don’t remember if either of my Pokemon snapped out of their confusion, but the attacks went off.  Politoed once again used Scald on Venusaur for minimal damage.

With things now 4-1, I was feeling really good.  Deciding to end things with a bang, I used the Pledge combination to OHKO Dakota’s Politoed.  As it happens, it was the only time all day I would be able to set up my swamp for a second time.

Battle: 4-0

My Record: 1-0

Round 2: Julien

His team: Aerodactyl, Mawile, Charizard, Garchomp, Mamoswine, Hydreigon

So I finished Round 1 feeling all good about myself, only to come face to face with this terriflying team in Round 2.  Aerodactyl threatens my Pledge start because of Rock Slide flinches and Mawile gives my team all sorts of issues.  Still, I decided to stick with what worked and led with Pledge as he led with Garchomp and Mamoswine.

Now, I felt pretty good about this matchup and I was confident that Garchomp would Protect so I double Pledged into the Mamoswine.  Things didn’t go quite as expected, to say the least.  He withdrew Mamo and sent in his Charizard, to which Pledge did minimal damage, while his Garchomp used Earthquake, getting a ridiculous amount of damage off on both of my Pokemon.  I later discovered that his Garchomp was Banded.  After this, my memory sputters out and dies, all I can really say is that he also had Hydreigon and that this was one of my closer matches.  Julien was one of the people I talked with throughout the day and I know he finished with a respectable 6-3, which certainly helped my resistance.

Battle: 2-0

My Record: 2-0

Round 3: Matthew

Now, by this point, I had made my way up to the first table and I was getting really excited.  My Round 3 opponent had a super interesting team too.

His team: Exeggutor, Politoed, Rhyperior, Rotom-W, Doublade, Gengar

While it was an odd team, he was 2-0 like me so I knew he was doing something right.  Seing no real reason not to, I led with Greninja and Venusaur as he led with Politoed and Gengar.  Turn one, his Gengar Mega Evolves, which surprised me (even though it was his only possible Mega).  I believe I Mega Evolved Venusaur and got the double Pledge into Politoed for the OHKO as his Gengar proceeded to. . . Thunder my Greninja.  Thunder Mega-Gengar.  Needless to say, I didn’t see it coming.

Turn two, I’m pretty sure he sends out his Rhyperior.  If I recall correctly, I Ice Beamed the Mega Gengar and also went for the Sleep Powder on it, dealing over 50% and putting it out of the battle for awhile while his Rhyperior goes for the Rock Slide, taking out my Greninja and damaging my Mega-Venusuar.  Seeing that Chandy can do some work, I decide to send him in.

Turn three is pretty self explanitory as I OKHO Ryhperior with Grass Pledge and KO Gengar with Shadow Ball, placing me in a comfortable 3-1 lead.  He reveals his final Pokemon to be Doublade, which I easily one-shot with a Shadow Ball.

Battle: 3-0

My Record: 3-0

Round 4: Rob

His team: Pachirisu, Sableye, Florges, Aegislash, Hawlucha, Mawile

I literally have no idea what happened this battle, but I’ll do my best.  He brought Sableye, Aegislash, Hawlucha and Mega (surprise surprise) Mawile.  I think he led with Hawlucha and Mawile while I led with Greninja and Venusaur.

Seeing that Pledge wouldn’t do much here, I Ice Beam Hawlucha for the OHKO and Mega-Evolve Venusaur to go for the Sleep Powder on his Mawile as it Mega Evolves and I miss.  Still, I wasn’t worried.  He would probably just Iron Head. . . nope.  He sets up a Swords Dance and I proceed to freak out.  I just let a Mega-Mawile get up to +2 for free.  After that, I’m pretty sure he sends in his Sableye.

So, facing down a Mega-Mawile, I think I Protected my Venusaur, which blocked an Iron Head, and I get some damage (about 40%) onto his Mawile with Water Pledge.  Sableye Will-O-Wisps my Greninja, but I really had bigger concerns.  Next turn I think I went for the Sleep Powder, which missed again, and the Water Pledge, which did another 40% to his Mawile, but he OHKOes my Venusaur and Sableye did something, maybe Will-O-Wisp again.

This next turn is the only one I remember clearly.  I send in my Lucario and have just about resigned myself to taking massive damage onto one of my Pokemon, but then I realized that his Mawile was going to Sucker Punch and his Sableye was going to use a Prankster move.  And, wouldn’t you know it, I had Quick Guard.  Not seeing a way for it to go wrong, I used Quick Guard, which blocks the Will-O-Wisp headed for Lucario and the Sucker Punch aimed at Greninja, who proceeds to Water Pledge Mawile for the KO.

After that he sent in Aegislash and I doubled up on Sableye while sacrificing my Greninja to a Flash Cannon or Shadow Ball.  Fortunately, I had Chandelure in the back, which was able to OHKO his Aegislash with Shadow Ball, ending the match.

Battle: 2-0

My Record: 4-0

Round 5: Anthony (Chilebowl)

His team: Gardevoir, Salamence, Tyranitar, Rotom-H, Venusaur, Lucario

This was one of my harder matches, and sadly I don’t remember as much of it as I’d like.  Sorry about that Anthony, but you can correct me if I’m wrong.  Anyways, I know I led with Greninja and Venusaur and I believe he led with Tyranitar and Gardevoir.  I really can’t remember what happened, but the important part is that I lost my Venusaur while managing to get Pledge up.  Anthony spent the next four turns expertly dancing around my swamp until it disappeared.  At this point my memory becomes crystal clear and, considering the last turn of the battle, it’s no surprise.

I had my Mega-Lucario and Haxorus out on the field against his Salamence and Gardevoir.  My Mega-Lucario and his Salamence were both at full health, while his Gardevoir and my Haxorus were in the red and yellow respectively.  My Haxorus was at +1 speed thanks to a Dragon Dance, but was at +0 attack due to Intimidate.  Finally, I knew his Salamence was holding the Choice Scarf but, because Salamence had just switched in, he could lock himself into any of his four moves.

A mistake here would have cost me the match, but looking at the situation I felt confident that he would attack my Mega-Lucario, so I Protected.  Fortunately, I was correct and he used Flamethrower into the Protect and my Haxorus used Rock Slide for the double KO thanks to a critical hit on Salamence.  Still, even without the crit, I could have KOed Salamence next turn with Flash Cannon or Dragon Claw.

Anthony went on to finish 8-1 in Swiss and eventually placed 10th in the event, so congrats on that!

Battle: 2-0

My Record: 5-0

Round 6: Kris

Her team: Greninja, Salamence, Mawile, Rotom-H, Mienshao, Aegislash

I led with Pledge once more as Kris led with Greninja and Salamence.  Deciding to ignore the Scarf Salamence, which used Draco Meteor on Venusaur, I Pledged into Greninja, which I believe nets me the OHKO.  After that, I’m not sure what happened, but I probably made some switches and KOed her Mega-Mawile and Rotom-H with an Earthquake from Haxorus while her Salamence probably went down to an Ice Beam from Greninja.  I don’t really remember.

Battle: 3-0

My Record: 6-0

Round 7: Jeudy (SoulSurvivor)

I’m on a six game winning streak and who do I face round 7 but Jeudy, the player who finished 2nd at the 2014 World Championships.  Still, I wasn’t feeling all that intimidated. I thought I would do fine.  You can see this one for yourself though, since it was a feature match.  Enjoy the replay!

So as you can see, I didn’t “do fine”.  One last comment here before moving on, this was the round that I discovered that my Zapdos had the Power Belt as it proceeded to move before Jeudy’s Mega-Mawile under Trick Room.  I had brought Zapdos to my Round 1 match, but it never actually went onto the field so I had no idea that I had forgotten to give it Leftovers.

Battle: 0-4

My Record: 6-1

Round 8: Enosh (Human)

So, after that terrible performance I was ready to get my 7th win and make my way into Top Cut but, once again, I was paired with a Worlds player.  Really, Enosh scared me more than Jeudy because I had discussed my team with him at a Premiere Challenge we both attended, so he knew way more about my team than I would have liked.

His team: Talonflame, Garchomp, Manetric, Ferrothron, Politoed, Zapdos

With about 1/2 of a second left on the Team Preview timer I decide to just lead with Pledge, as he proceeds to lead with Talonflame and Manetric.  Now, I guessed that his Talonflame wasn’t carrying Choice Band because he wasn’t using one at the aforementioned Premiere Challenge, so I wasn’t in a terrible position.  Once again, I take up almost the full timer before I decide to just YOLO and Pledge into his Manetric, which did indeed turned out to be his Mega.  If it had connected, it would have been an OHKO, but he Protected as his Talonflame used Brave Bird on my Venusaur.  After that, he pretty much just cleaned up the rest of my team, but at least his Talonflame died to recoil so it wasn’t another 0-4 for me.

Battle: 0-3

My Record: 6-2

Round 9: Joey (joej m)

I’d been talking to my past opponents and I was able to determine that, if I could win Round 9, my resistance would probably be good enough to allow me to make Cut. But who would I have to battle?  There were a lot of good 6-2’s, one of them even being Cybertron.  Still, when I found out who I had to battle, Cybertron started to seem more appealing.

Remember Joey from the beginning of the story?  If Enosh knew a bit about my team, Joey knew double that plus some.  Not only that, but he had actual experience against my team, so I was pretty scared.  Still, nothing to do but play the game and hope to win.

His team: Malamar, Gothitelle, Ludicolo, Mawile, Nidoqueen, Salamence

This game I remember pretty well.  I led with Greninja and Venusuar as he led with Ludicolo and Gothitelle, a rather obvious Fake Out/Trick Room duo.  Turn one he Fakes Out my Venusaur, but I Taunt his Gothitelle and prevent Trick Room from going up.  It was fortunate that he forgot I ran Taunt, or else I would have had to rely on Venusaur landing the Sleep Powder I had also used on Gothitelle.

Turn two I double Pledge into Ludicolo for some pretty good damage as he Giga Drains my Greninja with Ludicolo and switches Gothitelle for his Mawile.  Now that the threat of Mawile and Sucker Punch is in play, I decide to Protect my Greninja and Sleep Powder the Mawile.  Thankfully, it works and my Venusuar just takes some Ice Beam damage from Ludicolo.  Now, it was at this point I decided to play the risky game called “ignore the Mega-Mawile and pray that it doesn’t wake up.”

The first turn goes well as I KO his Ludicolo with a combination of Ice Beam and Sludge Bomb as his Mawile slumbers.  After Ludicolo goes down, I can’t quite remember what he did.  What I do remember is that, when I went to set up my swamp for a second time, his Mawile wakes up and Sucker Punches my Greninja down.  The next turn my Venusaur lands another Sleep Powder though, so I go back to ignoring the Mawile.

I eventually KO the Mawile with something and, at some point, Sludge Bomb his Malamar. Much like Round 5, my memory really comes back into focus for the end of the game.  He had managed to set up Trick Room and I had my Mega-Lucario out on the field (bringing Lucario didn’t deter me from bringing Venusaur) with my Chandelure.  Both of my Pokemon were at full health and his Malamar was at 50% while his Gothitelle was probably a bit over 30%.  Unlike Round 5 though, I feel that Protecting Lucario won’t end well, so I Flash Cannon his Malamar.  As it turns out, I was right.  He had doubled into my Chandelure and managed to get the KO.

So now it comes down to a 1v1 between my Mega-Lucario and his Gothitelle in Trick Room.  The only reason I was able to win this is because his Gothitelle wasn’t at full health.  First, I Protect my Lucario to stall out Trick Room a little, in case I miss the KO. Then, I go for the Flash Cannon, which thankfully is enough to KO his Gothitelle and win me the match.

Battle: 1-0

My Record: 7-2

So, like I thought, my resistance was enough to let me make Top Cut. However, once I got there, I was pretty solidly defeated by Jonathan (MrFox) in both of games of the best-of-three.  Even though both ended 0-2 for me, he clearly had control of the matches and I don’t think anything can top that Round 9 match.  Really, clichés aside, I really enjoyed the journey to Top Cut even if I did get defeated immediately upon getting there.

In conclusion, I’d like to thank all of you for reading this.  I hope this was useful or entertaining and, if you ever decide to try Pledge, then I wish you the best of luck!

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So you want to be a Master of Pokémon! Do you have the skills to be number one?

Hi, and welcome to the tale of a young Australian named Phil Nguyen (Boomguy) who aimed to be the world’s best VGC Pokémon player in the 2014 season, both in Australia and in the world. The 2014 VGC season was my first full season of practicing nearly every day, and it was filled with ups and downs for me.  I will give you guys insight into what I did for the 2014 season, and show you guys the benefits and the fun of competing with the world’s best Pokémon players. Hopefully I can inspire you guys to commit to creating a name for yourself in the Pokémon VGC world next season!

The Beginning

Ever since hearing about the World Championships in 2013, and with the hype of Pokémon X and Y coming out, I knew I wanted to compete in the 2014 VGC season, and to go to the World Championships as my overseas holiday in 2014. When X and Y came out, my first goal was to make sure I had every TM and O-Power in order to set myself up for breeding. I managed to finish the story in one week, making sure I spoke to every NPC and collecting every item in each area. Since the game was released at the same time around the world, I had to rely on asking my friends and the users on Nugget Bridge and multiple Facebook groups to find out what I had missed. It wasn’t long until the whole world discovered that the breeding system had changed for the better, so many people in my network and I got to work. Together, we got as many 5 IV Pokémon in as many different egg groups as possible in order to breed any Pokémon we wanted easily.

In November, Nugget Bridge announced the third season of the Nugget Bridge Circuit. This offered great weekly practice to work on my battle skills against a range of players around the world, from players starting fresh to former World Champions. The tournaments used a Kalos Dex Pokémon only format, which ended up reflecting the official rules that came out later that month. I quickly got to work on making a team, and went on Battle Spot to practice.

The Path of Battle

I had my goals in sight: to get to play in the World Championships, to qualify for the Nugget Bridge Invitational, and to win a live tournament in the Nugget Bridge Circuit. I always encourage others to go for their dreams, because we all have just one shot at life and you might as well make the most of it. I understood that the path to success isn’t always easy, and that in achieving my goals I would encounter some difficulties. How I handled these difficulties would be the difference between being a champion or a total failure.  When things got difficult for me, I used to give up because they were too hard. Now, however, I have been trained to look for solutions by asking questions to yourself and others. Sometimes you have to ask an expert for solutions, and when I say expert, I mean someone who has had success in the past.

The Nugget Bridge live tournaments are spread out over many different times, and those times are mostly suited for American and European players, since those make up the vast majority of the Nugget Bridge membership. Australia is far away from those parts of the world, and most of the tournaments started at 5 or 6 AM my time. Sometimes I’d be able to afford the luxury of sleeping in a bit to wake up for  a 8 or 9 AM tournament start, and if I was really lucky, there may have been a tournament in the afternoon. What it came down to was how badly I wanted my dream. There was a huge difference in energy for me when I woke up at 4:30 AM for work as compared to waking up at 4:30 AM for a Pokémon tournament, because I desperately wanted to achieve that goal.

Every year we all start fresh, trying to understand the new rules and finding strong Pokémon combinations. As the year goes by, new trends appear and people want to use them. Many players adjust their teams accordingly to keep a winning edge. For example, 2014 World Champion Se Jun Park explained his choice of Pachirisu in an interview. He needed redirection to support his Mega Gyarados, and correctly assumed that other players would have options to deal with Rage Powder Amoonguss.

The first team I created in the VGC 14 season had a Scrappy Exploud with Boomburst as its focus. I combined Exploud with Soundproof Mr. Mime, Mega Bannete, Barbarcle, Rotom-Heat, and another Pokémon I can’t remember. I started the Nugget Bridge season well in November, only losing to Scott Glaza and Randy Kwa. Both were seasoned Pokémon players. so there was no shame in losing to either of them. Scott in particular thrashed me with a Mega Charizard Y and Venusaur Pledge team, which was cool at the time but nowadays too risky to use thanks to Talonflame’s popularity. December was a terrible month for me, as I lost to players who are no longer active as I struggled with team choices.

My Exploud team didn’t last very long, since most people were using dominant Pokémon such as Talonflame, Mega Kangaskhan, Mega Mawile, and Charizard-Y with Venusaur. I had to readjust because I like to teambuild using Pokémon that counter the most popular strategies, often using less popular Pokémon or movesets. One such example is Haban Berry Salamence.

January 2014

The new year came, and I knew January was going to be a big month for VGC events. Nugget Bridge announced their annual Nugget Bridge Major. This is the world’s biggest online VGC tournament, with world class players such as Wolfe Glick, Aaron Zheng, and the 2013 World Champion Arash Ommati competing. This tournament was three months long and attracted over 200 players. Another huge online event was through Battle Spot. It was announced that the 2nd Special Ladder Season would be 2014 VGC rules, which offered great practice. One more event was a local one, hosted in Melbourne by PokeMelbourne during the Australia Day weekend at the end of the month. I decided to go to this tournament, because Melbourne has an established playerbase and the tournament would be a great test to see how I ranked as a player.

Nugget Bridge only hosted two live tournaments in January, due to the North American Winter Regionals taking up two weekends. In one of these tournaments I lost to a player who admitted that it was his first time playing. He played accordingly, but I overcomplicated things in our match, allowing him to earn the win. The lesson I learned there: keep it simple against newer players.

After that event, I created a new team using Mega Aerodactyl as a starting point. This team gave me great success, but Aerodactyl had a revolving door of teammates, from Meowstic for its ability to set up Safeguard and Swagger to increase Aerodactyl’s Attack, to Tyranitar for its ability to give Aerodactyl a Special Defense boost thanks to Sandstorm. Some unusual sets I toyed with included Choice Scarf Rotom-Heat, and Haban Berry Salamence to avoid the Speed tie with and KO back the more popular Scarf Salamence.

I played on Battle Spot as much as possible. Living in Australia, you’ll most likely play Japanese or Koreans at night, and in the morning you can often play Europeans and Americans. One morning I ran into 2014 Worlds Semi Finalist Collin Heier (TheBattleRoom), who I didn’t know at the time, only seeing his name in Nugget Bridge events. In our battle his experience showed off, and it proved I had lots to learn about battling, especially when it came to prediction and not always making the obvious play. One example was his Hydreigon attacking my Rotom-Heat instead of Salamence. You can watch our battle here.

In the last weekend of January I went to Melbourne to play in a VGC 14 tournament hosted by PokeMelbourne.  My team at the event was Mega Aerodactyl, Sitrus Berry Wigglytuff, Chesnaught, Scarf Rotom-Heat, Haban Berry Salamence, and Ray Rizzo’s mixed Tyranitar. By the time of this event, I was the number one Australian player on the Battle Spot Special Ladder. On paper, I was the favorite for this 180 player event in Australia’s biggest VGC city. In the end, I finished the Swiss rounds 3-1 and failed to make top cut. Yes, it was a poor decision to play only four rounds of Swiss with 180 people playing, but I always respect any organiser that takes the time to host an event and support the community. Despite the disappointing result at Melbourne, I felt like I ended January well with a 1839 rating on the Battle Spot Special Ladder.

I started my Nugget Bridge Major campaign with a win over Tommy Cooleen (Tman), who top cut at the recent Virginia Regional. I won the match 2-1 thanks to a clutch Rock Slide flinch from my Mega Aerodactyl on his Choice Scarf Mamoswine. Tommy introduced himself to me at the World Championships in August, and he remembered our battle. He is a great and energetic guy to be around. I can see he is getting better at best of three battles, so I’d watch out for him next season.

February

My winning momentum continued in February. I started with my best ever finish in a Nugget Bridge Live tournament, defeating Nugget Bridge co-founder Rushan Shekar (Firestorm) before losing to German sensation Markus Stadter (13Yoshi37) in Top 8. You can view our battle here.

Yoshi taught me some great lessons in this battle. I only just added Aegislash to the team, as Special Substitute Aegislash was trending at the time. I learned not to be afraid to stay in Blade forme and attack. The battle ended with his Garchomp KOing his own Mega Kangaskhan, preventing me from getting the Spiky Shield KO for the win. I would never have expected that move, but Yoshi’s experience let him know that move was the best choice, and it clearly showed in our battle. That was our first battle of four we had that month. I kept running into Markus on the Battle Spot ladder as well. I got revenge on him many hours after our first battle, and then eight days later I repeated my victory. At the end of Season 2, he got the better of me again.

I respected Markus’ hard work, and I was very happy that he won German Nationals. His spot at Worlds was well deserved. I am grateful for the lessons I learned from battling him and from other online resources he provided. The photo above is us at Worlds. Meeting him in person felt comfortable because we’d already developed a friendship through our battling and through Facebook.

Besides Markus, I ran into many other well known players on Battle Spot . Some of these players were Austrian Alex Kuhn (Hibiki), Britain’s Brandon Ikin (Toquill), Polish player Szymon (Szymoninho), and Americans Simon Yip (Simon), JoeJ M, and Greyson Garren (Greysong). On the 13^th of February I peaked at 34^th in the World (as pictured below). Top 50 in the world was great, but I was still far from world number 1, or even my next goal of top 30.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t keep winning consistently, which is more important to me than peaking high on the ladder.  I would rather be consistently winning every day than win one tournament and then flop. I wanted to be a legend like Se Jun Park, Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, or Serena Williams. They’re all known for winning many games consistently. They are the people I wanted to be like, and I wanted to copy their winning habits.

On the last day of the Battle Spot Special Ladder’s Season 2, the fight for best player in Australia came down to the wire between my good friend and VGC 2014 top 8 player Dayne  (Prof Teak) and I.  In the end, Dayne took first place in Australia by winning a single match, while I flopped hard, almost missing top 1000 in the world and finishing at 10^th in Australia. I have no regrets in trying to finish in the top 100, since I always say go hard or go home. The big lesson I learned here was that I need to focus on winning one battle at a time rather than obsessing about my end goal.

On the 8^th of February, I traveled down to Sydney for a grassroots tournament. This was the second such VGC event in Sydney, the first being a successful tournament in January. The event attracted 50 players, and just like the Melbourne event, I was the top Australian player on the Battle Spot Special Ladder at the time. Going in, I felt very good about my chances of winning the event. Unfortunately, I failed to make top cut, finishing 15^th with a 4-2 record in Swiss. I lost my second game to a hard Trick Room team, and I lost my fifth game in a pair down, thanks to me choking the match. In the end, I was happy that I won four matches including the must win final match, but I was not happy with the consistency of my focus. I knew I had to bounce back and refocus on my goals.

My play in the Nugget Major continued to be strong in February. I followed up my first round upset of Tman by defeating sconley262. After a disastrous start, getting swept 4-0 in the first game, I managed to pull out a win after finding out his Scrafty had no Dark attacks with which to hit Aegislash.  The next week, I played Hawaiian player HeroOfTheWinds and dominated him 2-0, as his team had no answer to Mega Aerodactyl. It wasn’t until the fourth round that I finally ran into a really big name. I got the privilege to battle Wolfe Glick (Wolfey), the 2012 Worlds runner up. Given his reputation, I expected some off-the-wall team like his Virginia Regional team ,where he finished in the top 8 with a Mr. Mime and Vaporeon. Instead, I got to play against a relatively simple team. I was still interested on how he battled, and I wanted to see how I would fare against a player of this caliber. You can watch our battles here:

• Game 1
• Game 2

I was very proud of how I battled against one of the world’s best players. In the first game, an unfortunate Rock Slide flinch prevented Aegislash from KOing his Mega Tyranitar. In the second game, I saw three of his four Pokémon, and none were a Mega Pokémon. I should have expected that his Mega Tyranitar was waiting in the back, and not making that assumption killed me. I should have went for the Flash Cannon on the Aegislash slot, because my Aegislash was faster than his and threatened to KO. His Tyranitar switch-in helped seal my defeat.

With one loss, you’d think I was going to avoid another big name player. However, some of those big name players lost early, and one of those players was my next opponent, Randy Kwa (R Inanimate). When I saw his team in Team Preview, I knew I was in for quite a battle. Watch my battles here:

• Game 1
• Game 2

The first game was a learning experience about his team. I fell victim to the darkness, with Dark Void hitting despite Moody’s accuracy negation. The second game I thought I adjusted extremely well and got myself into a good position to win, but one assumption cost me the match. Since not many people were using Mega Aerodactyl, I thought I could score a surprise KO on many Garchomp with Ice Fang. However, Randy expected the Ice Fang and protected Garchomp, which won him the game.

March

On the 2^nd of March, I said goodbye to my Mega Aerodactyl team. I was playing with the team in the Nugget Bridge Live tournament that day, and finished with another top 8 effort. In this tournament, I had my first battles against the Zheng brothers. I first battled the 2013 Junior World Champion Brendan Zheng (Babbytron) in the third round. You can watch our battle here. My Choice Banded Tauros was the hero of the match. That victory got me a match against his older brother and 2013 Worlds Semi Finalist Aaron Zheng (Cybertron). Part of why I lost to Aaron was because he won a speed tie between our Aerodactyl, and his Rock Slide flinched my Aerodactyl. I couldn’t recover from that moment, and that emotional disappointment caused me to remake another team. I didn’t want the Rock Slide flinch to happen to me again, and I really hate Speed ties. With Aerodactyl getting used more often, I thought it was time for a change.

While I was still deciding on a new team, I was still in the middle of the Nugget Bridge Major tournament. I was fighting for my life, as one more loss would prevent me from top cutting. I had to win my last three rounds to qualify. In round six, I played against American BigBonBon and defeated him 2-0 with a Sigilyph team that used Future Sight with Tinted Lens. This strategy doesn’t actually work in game the way it does in Showdown; next time, I’ll test strategies in game first to make sure they work. The following week I took on another American player, Ryan B. (lolfailsnail), with a completely random test team. I lost the first game, but felt that I adjusted well and ended up winning the match.

My last opponent in the Major was German player Peer Broxtermann (Bjart). My team at this point was Ferrothorn, Mega Charizard X, Mr. Mime, Gengar, and Choice Scarf Tyranitar. He used Mega Kangaskhan, Rotom-Wash, Garchomp, and Scrafty in both games. In game one I made a shocking discovery: his Mega Kangaskhan had Protect instead of Fake Out. This threw me off because I double targeted into a Protect, and he was able to pick off my Pokemon from there. Game two lasted longer, and I brought Tyranitar instead of Gengar. I had no idea why he knew or thought I was Choice Scarfed, but I guess Scarftar was a thing at the time. I tried to Ice Beam his Protected Garchomp to no avail. With the second game in hand, Bjart moved on to the top cut. With the frustration of my loss, I dumped this team and worked on something new.

From the end of March until mid April, I experimented with a non-Protean Greninja, Scarf Abomasnow, Charizard X, and Pachirisu. I was using Pachirisu before it was cool, and even with the exact move set as Sejun’s. Sejun was more clever with his use of Pachirisu, where just I kept spamming Follow Me.

In the last Nugget Bridge Live event of the month, I made it as far as the third round. My opponent there was 2013 Masters World Champion Arash Ommati (Mean), and you can watch our battle here. It was a very close battle, and I had no idea that his Bisharp was holding a Choice Band until after the match, when he revealed it to me. It was hard at that time for me to recognize if a Pokémon was holding a Choice Band or Specs, and it wasn’t until months later I was finally using damage calculations in my team building and battling to find out this information.

April

On the first day of April, I ran into German fan favourite Lajos Kowalewski (Lajo) on Battle Spot. He is well known for his clever team building and for making deep runs in tournaments, though he has never won one. You can watch our battle here. This was my first win over one of the world’s best players, and so I thought this was my most successful team ever. The next morning, I took on another German in the second round of a Nugget Bridge Live event. Florian Wurdack (Daflo) was the Italian National Champion this year, but I played him before he won that tournament. This was our battle. Unfortunately, my move to swap Abomasnow for Charizard didn’t work out as planned, as he saw the switch coming.

The German theme for the month continued with a German online tournament hosted by German Pokémon fan site Bisafans. I used a team with Mega Medicham as my Mega, since I was practicing Yoga at the time and I thought it would be fun to play with. The tournament went for two days, with seven rounds of Swiss on the first day and top cut on the second. Myself and fellow Australians Emma Williams (cobalte) and Johnson Ng (Zantar) played in this tournament. Due to the tournament being organized around European time zones, we had a late night on day one. This was the latest I’ve ever played Pokémon, and it was a fun experience. Due to technical problems on the first day, the Swiss rounds had to run into day two, with Emma and I still in contention to make top cut. We each had to win our last match in order to make the top cut. I faced an Austrian player named Gueni who was streaming his matches on his Twitch channel. You can watch the hilarious replay here. I made a big mistake at the end, not Protecting Rotom on the second to last turn in order to reduce the damage from Haxorus’s Earthquake on the last turn. Had I done so, Krookodile would have been able to survive the second Earthquake due to the spread damage penalty with more than one target left on the field.

I continued to refine the team, and on the 19^th of April I ran into none other than future World Champion Sejun Park on Battle Spot. I had no idea that it was him at the time, but having checked my Global Link records and having the man himself confirm it at Worlds I found that it was actually him. In this battle, I experimentally changed my Rotom forme from Wash to Heat. You can watch our battle here.

May

So this is what the Mega Medicham team looked like at the start of the month. I will briefly explain what each Pokémon does.

I chose Telepathy on Medicham to let it switch in to an Earthquake or Discharge safely. Drain Punch was chosen for its healing properties, and I invested in Medicham’s defenses to recover a greater percentage of HP while still surviving certain attacks. I also mad Medicham outspeed Smeargle while in Mega forme. Rotom-Wash was Choice Scarfed because I originally wanted to outspeed Aerodactyl, but now I see there was no real point in achieving that. Scarf Will-O-Wisp did surprise some people. Krookodile provided Intimidate support and paired well with Aerodactyl, which supports it with Smack Down, Swagger, and Tailwind. Amoongus was used for redirection, as this team isn’t especially bulky. I used Aegislash to help deal with Mega Kangaskhan and Mawile.

May started off well, as I won a local Street Pass event two weeks before my home city’s Regional event. Unfortunately, I then choked terribly in the opening round of that event. I couldn’t figure out my gameplan in my third game, and ended up picking my team at the last second. In the May International Challenge, I ran into some Nugget Bridge members. One such battle was against young Brit Brandon Ikin (Toquill). I was very proud the way I won that battle, but overall I felt disappointed in how I finished the tournament with a 36-22 record and a rating of 1659.

After a weekend of poor results and learning something from the success of fellow Delphox Cub Lionel (CatGonk), I decided to represent the Delphox team by using a Delphox of my own for the rest of the season. The next weekend was the Melbourne Regional. The Delphox team started out as Delphox, Inner Focus Mega Kangaskhan, Hydreigon, Amoongus, Scizor, and Azumarill. I redeemed my play from the previous week by winning my first round match. I shocked my opponent with Inner Focus Kangaskhan, and his use of Swagger didn’t pay off for him. In the next round, I unluckily drew Dayne in a single elimination draw. My team at the time had no Flying-type resistances, so I gave Amoonguss a Coba Berry to try to buy time to get a KO on any Flying-types I might encounter. Dayne had two, however, and that was enough to overpower me.

It was back to the drawing board before my next trip to Melbourne: Australian Nationals in July. I also had my goal of qualifying for the Nugget Bridge Invitational, where I needed to finish in the top 16 by the end of the circuit. I was still on course to achieve that goal, but around 14^th - 18^th place my spot was by no means guaranteed. I did have the upcoming Scramble tournament to help out with that goal, and performing well in that gave me the motivation I needed to fix my team.

June

The Scramble’s first part of the tournament finished in the first week of the month, and in the end I didn’t qualify for the next stage. Finishing in the top 32 certainly helped me get those important points to qualify for the Nugget Bridge Invitational, though. This tournament gave me a lot of battle practice, especially against good players.

After the Scramble, there were only three live events left in the season. I was in 15^th place, so while I was in that top 16 needed to qualify for the Invitational, I still had to fight to make sure I stayed in it. The fight got tougher on the 14^th of June, when I faced Baz Anderson in a Live tournament. He was also fighting for a spot as well, as he was only one or two spots above me at the time. The result of the battle is a nail biter, and I felt that it was my best one set match of the season.

After that victory, I lost to an unknown Italian player named Leo. I was really disappointed, because I didn’t play with the same consistency that let me defeat Baz. Five days after that event, makiri, the tournament organizer of Nugget Bridge, announced that only a player’s best 18 results from Live tournaments would count towards the Nugget Bridge Invitational. It was a bit of a blow for me because I had already played more than 18 tournaments. In order to qualify for the Invitational, I’d have to do well in the last two Live tournaments I played in.

My June International Friendly campaign finished similarly to my May campaign, with an average result. I had 35 wins to 26 losses with a final rating of 1654. In the second to last Live event, I lost in the first round, so my chances of qualifying for the Invitational were not looking great. I kept looking for solutions, since I didn’t want to give up on my goal. I finally readjusted my team to look like this:

Delphox (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
EVs: 12 Def / 252 SpA / 244 Spe
Timid Nature
– Will-O-Wisp
– Protect
– Psychic
– Overheat

This is a very basic Delphox build. I didn’t run max Speed because Garchomp was the only Pokémon I really wanted to outspeed. I put the remaining EVs in Defense to help survive hits from physical attackers. Overheat was my the choice of Fire move because it can OHKO Aegislash in Shield forme and Amoonguss with the help of Life Orb. If you get Delphox into Blaze health, it becomes even more powerful! For the Psychic-type attack, I considered Psyshock over Psychic, but my friend Lionel said “How often will you see Goodra or Florges?” I decided that it wouldn’t be very often, so I chose Psychic as the STAB move due to the increase power over Psyshock. I knew Sucker Punch would be a problem, so with inspiration from Markus Stadter’s German Nationals-winning Gengar, I decided to run Will-o-Wisp to punish Sucker Punch users.

Hydreigon (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 20 HP / 60 Def / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
– Dark Pulse
– Draco Meteor
– Dragon Pulse
– Fire Blast

Next, I considered which Pokémon could switch in safely for Delphox. Hydreigon seemed like the best choice, as it resists all but Delphox’s Rock weakness, and the only Rock-type move I expected to see was Rock Slide, which is not that strong in doubles. When I saw the final of the Nugget Bridge Major, where the winner DarkAssassin used a Choice Specs Hydreigon to win the tournament, I was very impressed with its power. I liked how he built his Hydreigon to survive a Garchomp Dragon Claw as well. My move set was the same as his. Fire Blast can OHKO most Mawile with the help of Choice Specs. Dark Pulse can OHKO most Aegislash in Shield Forme, and Draco Meteor deals heavy damage to most Pokémon, even being capable of OHKOing Mega Kangaskhan depending how it’s built.

Kangaskhan (F) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Inner Focus -> Parental Bond
Level: 50
EVs: 212 HP / 52 Atk / 244 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Hammer Arm
– Double-Edge
– Fake Out
– Sucker Punch

Next, I looked for a Mega Pokémon that would work well with Delphox. In the end, I decided on Mega Kangaskhan. I chose the ability Inner Focus after discussing my ability options with Layne Hall (Lejn). He told me that not many people expect Inner Focus, and my choice did certainly shock a lot of people. I also couldn’t see myself using the Scrappy ability as much.

I’ve run Kangaskhan many different ways this season. At first, I used the standard Power-Up Punch, Return, Fake Out, Sucker Punch moveset. After two weeks of testing on this team, I switched out Power-Up Punch for Hammer Arm because I wanted to secure KOs on Pokémon such as Tyranitar and Hydreigon. I used Return up to the Nugget Bridge Invitational, and I changed Return to Double Edge after battling Ash Siddiq Abu Bakar, the Brisbane Regional winner and a top 8 finisher at Australian Nationals in 2014. He was by far more successful than me this season, at least at real life events. When we battled three days before I left for the USA, I noticed his Kangaskhan had Double Edge instead of Return. I asked him about his move choice, and whether or not the recoil damage was worth the extra power. He said the extra damage helped him get important KOs, and the recoil was not a big issue. After switching to it myself, I noticed the extra damage certainly did help. I feel as though Double Edge is a must on Kangaskhan using Hammer Arm instead of Power-Up Punch.

The EVs and Nature also changed as the season went on. I started out with a Jolly nature and 252 EVs each in Attack and Speed. During the June International, I was watching Markus Stadter’s (13Yoshi37) twitch stream of the tournament, and I noticed that his Kangaskhan was running a bulkier build. Since I was using Hammer Arm and I hated Speed tying other Kangaskhan, I decided to copy his HP EVs. This ended up being a life saver.

• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 212 HP / 0 SpD Mega Kangaskhan: 178-210 (85.9 – 101.4%) — 12.5% chance to OHKO
• 252 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Hammer Arm vs. 212 HP / 0 Def Mega Kangaskhan: 168-198 (81.1 – 95.6%) — guaranteed 2HKO

I also changed the nature from Jolly to Adamant, and my speed was originally reduced to be two stat points faster than max Speed Smeargle when in Mega forme. After facing three people with Worlds invites (Dingram, Henrique & competny) who used Hydreigon, though, I decided to increase my Kangaskhan’s Speed to outpace 252 Speed EV Modest Hydreigon. This left me with just 54 Attack EVs, but thankfully those were enough OHKO Hydreigon and Tyranitar.

• 54+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Hammer Arm vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Hydreigon: 171-204 (101.7 – 121.4%) — guaranteed OHKO
• 54+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Hammer Arm vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Tyranitar: 222-264 (126.8 – 150.8%) — guaranteed OHKO

Amoonguss (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 140 HP / 180 Def / 188 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 26 Spe
– Rage Powder
– Giga Drain
– Spore
– Protect

The fourth Pokémon I chose for this team was Amoonguss. I felt that redirection support would help my team, especially since two of my team up to this point had a Fighting weakness. Amoonguss also provided some defense against Trick Room teams, as I could put enemy Pokémon to sleep. The HP EVs are designed to give maximum HP regeneration from Regenerator. The Speed IV was chosen to outspeed common Trick Room Pokémon like Slowbro and Rhyperior outside of Trick Room. The rest of my EVs went into general bulk, without trying to survive any specific attack.

Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 76 Def / 132 SpA / 36 SpD / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
– Hydro Pump
– Protect
– Thunderbolt
– Will-O-Wisp

Rotom-Wash was a late addition to the team. I found that after the June International Challenge, I had troubles with Talonflame, and I felt I needed a second Ground-immune Pokémon. Originally, I aimed to outspeed Ray Rizzo’s Rotom-Heat that he used in the 2014 Virginia Regionals, but I saw that many other players chose to run their Rotom-Heat faster than max speed Bisharp. I also had problems going against Mega Lucario that were able to OHKO Rotom with Close Combat. I adjusted my Defense to survive a Jolly Mega Lucario Close Combat as well as Play Rough from Mega Mawile. My Rotom is a basic Sitrus Berry build, with an even max HP to let the berry proc after a Super Fang. This saved me in many battles.

Carbink @ Mental Herb
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Moonblast
– Trick Room
– Protect
– Power Gem

The other thing I noticed in the June International Challenge was that I had no Speed control on this team. I tried Tailwind before to no avail, and I’m not a fan of Thunder Wave because of the possibility of Lightning Rod Pokémon, Safeguard, or Substitute completely invalidating the move. Thunder Wave also fails on Ground- and Electric-type Pokémon. Icy Wind and Rock Tomb let your opponent swap out to negate the Speed drops or just Protect to avoid them.

Trick Room was something I liked because I didn’t have to rely on opponent factors, and everyone else seemed to be playing the Speed creeping game. Which Pokémon to use, though? I wanted something that could tank Talonflame’s attacks, and possibly deal big damage in return. I looked at Carbink due to its typing and bulk, but I initially questioned its attacking options, seeing as its base Attack and Special Attack were only 50 base each. Still, I decided to try Carbink out, first with its Clear Body ability. I felt as though I wouldn’t want Sturdy initially because with Carbink’s bulk, only a critical hit or a really powerful attack would bring Carbink down in one hit. However, I later decided that the probability of getting critically hit was higher than getting a relevant stat loss. I chose Mental Herb as the item to let Carbink get Trick Room off through Taunt and Encore.

I instantly saw great results with Carbink. It overshadowed Delphox, who was supposed to be the star Pokémon on this team. I was surprised at how many teams could not handle Trick Room, and having a fast Spore was fantastic. I no longer had a problem with Talonflame, since I now had two Pokémon that can tank hits from it. Offensively, Carbink could only OHKO Scrafty, Hydreigon, Talonflame, and Charizard Y, but many other Pokémon are weak to Rock or Fairy, and Carbink could hit these Pokémon for decent damage. The surprise factor provided by Carbink was also nice to have, especially in the best of one format which was expected at Australian Nationals.

Threats

/ + 

Ferrothorn or Mega Abomasnow & Talonflame

A team that has both slow and fast Pokémon is really tricky for me handle, whether I have Trick Room up or not. This combination in particular really makes things difficult for me. Ferrothorn and Mega Abomasnow can cause a lot of damage to my team while Trick Room is up, and I cannot stop either Pokémon or Talonflame with Amoonguss. Both Pokémon I use to deal with Talonflame are weak to Ferrothorn. I do have Carbink’s Sturdy if I am desperate enough to utilise it. I can also use Kangaskhan in Trick Room against these two, as Kangaskhan can actually Sucker Punch Talonflame before it uses Brave Bird.

Goodra + Assault Vest

As you can see, I have five Special Attackers on my team. As a result, Assault Vest users give me a hard time, particularly Goodra. I usually want to Will-o-Wisp to chip away at an AV wearer slowly, and then try to bring in Mega Kangaskhan safely. Goodra is the hardest of the Assault Vest Pokémon to deal with, mainly due to Sap Sipper negating Spore and its bulk making it hard for me to make a dent in its HP. Even Carbink using Moonblast doesn’t do much to Goodra.

At 5 AM on the 28^th of June, the last Nugget Bridge Live tournament for the circuit was held. I found out that I needed to finish in the final in order to secure my spot in the top 16. Of course, I had to fight other players who were also fighting for that spot. The last tournament was a Swiss tournament, perfect practice for the upcoming Australian Nationals which was two weeks away. Fellow Aussies Lejn, Prof Teak, and FamousDeaf participated in the tournament as well. The event attracted 82 players, good for seven rounds of Swiss over five hours.

I started well, winning my first four matches in a row while defeating three tough opponents along the way: Zach Droegkamp (Zach), Jeudy Azzarelli (SoulSurvivor), and Alexander Kuhn (Hibiki). You can watch my match against Jeudy, the runner up of the 2014 World Championships, here. I lost to Britain’s Wyrms Eye in the fifth round, thanks to some silly plays on my part. I recovered well, defeating PokemonZone and Gengarboi in order to finish the Swiss stage at 5th overall with a 6-1 record.

In the first match of top cut, I took on good friend EmBc from Portugal. We battled seven times on Battle Spot over the two seasons where the Special Ladder was VGC 2014 rules, and I have only beaten him twice. I did defeat him in the one other occasion we battled, a NB Live tournament, but this was our first ever best of three match. It was also a pressure-filled fight for a top 16 spot, as we were closely ranked in Circuit points. I won pretty comfortably in the first game, and while he did improve in game two I prevailed in the end. This victory meant that I’d finish at least one point ahead of him in the final Circuit standings.

In the Semis, I took on Hibiki again. Despite defeating him in Swiss, I was still uneasy about our matchup because of the threat of Smeargle. His best of three experience paid off, and he won our match 2-1. I fell one round short of ensuring myself a top 16 Circuit finish. After the tournament was over, I was tied for 15^th with American Ludimpact, but Szymoninho was still in a position to overtake me because he was still alive in the No Megas Allowed tournament. The Pole’s condition for qualifying for the Nugget Bridge Invitational was to win the No Megas Tournament, and luckily for me he lost to Randy Kwa in the finals, securing my spot in the tournament. I was extremely happy that I achieved my goal for the season, since I worked so hard on achieving it. All those mornings waking up at 4:30 to play the majority of the live tournaments were so worth it.

July

Going into Australian Nationals, I was the most confident I have ever been, thanks to qualifying for the Invitational and being the number one Australian on the Battle Spot doubles ladder. My record was 52-25 using my VGC team, giving me some extra confidence. I lost my first match at Nationals, but then rattled off six wins in a row thanks to Carbink. I lost my eighth match to Ty Power (TheBlooFoxx), and then got stunned in the final round by Harry Boucher’s (Hazza) Charizard X. Its Steel Wing destroyed my Carbink, and I couldn’t mount a comeback. I ended up finishing the Swiss stages with a 6-3 record, and sadly I needed a 7-2 record to move on to top cut.

August

I started August by playing in the Nugget Bridge Invitational, which almost felt like playing at the World Championships. In the first round, I took on DeVon Ingram (dingram). You can watch our dramatic match here. I lost the first match, but I felt I could still win the set. The big turning point was getting those Rocky Helmet KOs with Amoonguss, but right after that great play I made a boneheaded one by not protecting Amoonguss. I was still happy with the comeback, and winning this match was my best-played best of three match of the season. It was awesome to have Evan Latt (plaid), Duy Ha, and Justin Flynn commentating the match, and it’s something I can treasure forever. I also got to meet them at Worlds briefly (as pictured below), and they are real genuine people that want to get to know you.

We were the last to finish our first round match, and I quickly moved on to round two against Matt Coyle (PrettyLittleLiar). You can watch our battles here:

• Game 1
• Game 2

Game one was pretty much spent learning his team, as he had common Pokémon with strange movesets. In game two, I didn’t manage my priories correctly after gaining momentum from removing Kangaskhan quickly. I should have gotten rid of Sableye faster, and as a result I lost.

A few days later, I started my trip to the USA. I didn’t play for the first three days after arriving in order to get used to the time zone difference. Being in the US made it easier to play in the practice Nugget Bridge tournaments on the Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons before Worlds. For the Tuesday live tournament I was in Orlando, Florida, and I played my first best of three battles since leaving Australia. I started off well, winning the first two rounds in straight sets, and then in the top 8 I took on Worlds Semifinalist Markus Liu (Henrique) from Germany. I didn’t know that he had a Worlds invite until after the match. In game one, he dominated me with a Taunt/Trick Room Gothitelle. Gothitelle used Taunt on my Delphox, and he used Mawile’s Sucker Punch to KO on the next turn. I also forgot that Rage Powder doesn’t work on Abomasnow due to its Grass typing. In game two (which you can see here) I fell for the same tricks again, which really annoyed me. The guy has some real skills to go into Worlds with a completely different team four days later and still finish in the top four.

The next day, I flew into Washington D.C. and got to my hotel room 30 minutes before the next practice tournament. I won my opening round match against Austrian Doppelgengar in straight sets. I then took on the famous Aaron Cybertron Zheng, who was still at home when we battled. I was very excited to see what he was going to use at Worlds. Our match went to three games:

• Game 1
• Game 2
• Game 3

I will let the videos do the talking this time, but I will say it was a great privilege to battle Aaron. These battles show why he is a world-class competitor, despite his struggles this season. He used a team that didn’t suit his usual style of play, but he still had a decent result using it at Worlds. I had a great battle despite my stupid decision at the end.

At the Last Chance Qualification, I got a bye in the opening round. In round two, I drew American Andrew Burley. It wasn’t until I saw his in-game name Andykins that I knew I was in for a tough battle.

LCQ 2014 Round 2

Game 1

He brought: ///

I brought: ///

When he started with Zapdos, I knew straight away his strategy would be to Paralyse my team. I Faked Out Zapdos, since most Zapdos builds don’t have Protect, and Delphox used Will-o-Wisp against Scrafty, which I correctly assumed was holding an Assault Vest because I figured Garchomp would be holding the Lum Berry. I remembered downing Zapdos quickly to prevent the Paralysis, and Delphox missed Overheat on Aegislash, which then finished it off with Shadow Ball. Thankfully it didn’t matter in the end, despite not having Delphox to deal with Mega Venusaur.  The power of Hydreigon and Mega Kangaskhan were enough to finish him off. I won the game 3-0.

Game 2

He brought: ///

I brought: ///

To my surprise, Aerodactyl was also a Mega, and his Subbing Garchomp has Leftovers instead of a Lum Berry. He dominated the game with his Speed advantage.

Game 3

He brought: ///

I brought: ///

I figured he might keep the same four as last match. If he did, I thought Carbink could set up Trick Room to reverse the speedy team’s advantage, and if he brought back Aegislash or Venusaur I felt like Hydreigon and Kangaskhan could handle it. You can watch game three here:

It was harsh way to lose, but I felt I could have prevented it if I actually made use of Trick Room. Not going for Aerodactyl first was a mistake, as Sky Drop is a good way to stall out Trick Room turns. Protecting Carbink in Trick Room for no reason was another mistake that cost me. I was very disappointed in the loss, but at least it was close.

Change or Get Left Behind

Sometimes in our lives, we have to make some changes for the better. Usually, it will take a life changing event for us to change our habits in order to live better. In Pokémon I made four massive changes just in order to be a player. I remember at the 2013 Australian Nationals, I lost in the top 22 because I had no idea how much damage Weavile’s Low Kick did to other Pokémon like Abomasnow. Instead, I chose to use Ice Punch on Abomasnow, because I wasn’t sure how heavy Abomasnow was. I wanted to be a winner and not a loser, so I got to work with damage calculations this year. I created some study notes (as pictured below). Another big change for me was to construct custom EV spreads, compared to last year where I was extremely lazy with my EV spreads. Most of my Pokémon were 252/252/4 or 252 attack and even defenses. After reading reports on Nugget Bridge or personal blogs about other people’s teams, you start to understand why they went with the EV spreads they did, and how such custom EV spreads help a lot against common threats like Mega Kangaskhan and Talonflame.

Another change I made was that I started taking notes during battles. Not everybody agrees to do this, but what made me start this habit was seeing champions doing it in Youtube videos. I noticed Markus Stadter (13Yoshi37) did it in the German National final, Florian Wurdack (daflo) also did it in the Italian National final, and Alex Ogolza (Evan Falco) did it in the US Nationals as well. It was after the US National that I decided to take up note taking. I practiced with Battle Spot battles, and I found that taking notes helped keep me focused on my match. I didn’t have to stress out about remembering what Pokémon, items, or moves the opponents used, as well as what Pokémon I used. My notes also served as a journal to keep after the match. I remember one of my opponents at the Australian Nationals asking me why I was writing notes for a best of one battle. I told him that I take notes every match so I can get used to taking notes efficiently. I not only write down the Pokémon, moves, and items, I also write down human behaviours of my opponent. I explained to him how he acted super defensive, and I managed to make him Protect into nothing. What everybody writes down is going to be different, and we all have our own personal preference on how we do things, so if you want to develop this habit always write down what you want to take note of for every battle. Remember, it takes 21 days to create a habit. Here is an evolution of my note taking over a 1 month period.

The last change I made was to analyze every battle and ask myself: how I can do better next time? I’d rather focus on things that I can control than blame the RNG, because that gets you nowhere as a player. For example, we all hate getting flinched by Rock Slide. Some players would rather be a sitting duck and pray it doesn’t happen to them. More proactive players who are concerned about that have a real strategy to do something about it, either by having Wide Guard, using priority moves, or by using Speed control.

Meeting the Community

Because participation in the World Championships was cut short, I wanted to meet and get to know as many people in the community as possible. It was easier to say hi to everyone because I had a previous engagement with them online, with a bit of friendship building in getting to know them. After Worlds is a crazy after party with battles in the trade room. Big thanks to Hibiki for telling me about the party, and for introducing me to some of the Japanese players.

With Zach Droegkamp & Dayne O’Meara (Prof Teak).  The picture on the right is me with Angel Miranda (CT MikotoMisaka)

With Andrew Burley (Andykins) and his brother Justin Burley. It’s always better to be friends then enemies. Blaming others and disrespecting them get you nowhere.

After Worlds, I went to New York and spent the next nine days touring the city. I also got to meet some of the New York crowd the weekend after Worlds. Thanks to Simon Yip for inviting me to hang out. From left to right: Simon Yip (Simon), Fifi, Patrick (Pd0nZ), Chuppa Cross (Chuppa), Dan Levinson (dtrain), and Trista Medine (ryuzaki).

Thank You

It has been a long, crazy, fun, depressing, and exciting season of ups and downs. I want to thank the Delphox group for making life easier and supporting me throughout the season. Thank you Jackson, Emma, Johnson, Daniel, Ben, Lionel, Bailey, Matt, Denaysh, Dayne, and Nick. Thanks so much to Roland Walker for uploading my battles this season on my YouTube page. Thanks to the Nugget Bridge team for giving me exposure to the VGC world through Nugget Bridge streams. Thank you to my fans and twitter followers out there who supported me and believed in me for this continuing journey.

Closing Words

I won’t be playing as much next season, as I have to work on being an awesome sales person. I will be only playing ORAS for one week, setting myself to breed and collect every item and O power, and then I will come back two weeks before events depending how qualification for Worlds work in Australia. Final advice from me: Work hard. Train smart by having goals big and small. Always keep focused on the dream, and create friendships.  See you in 2015!

The post The Life of a Wannabe Professional Pokémon Player appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hi guys, Hashegi here again. Indonesia and Philippines played off in a friendly match, which was held on November 1, 2014. Towards the end of the season (which actually already ended, just a few weeks away from ORAS) we wanted to have another international friendly to strengthen the bonds and experience between these two countries.

This event was proposed by the Pokémon Philippines Community. Like the Indonesia vs Taiwan Friendly or Indonesia vs Malaysia Friendly, the trainers playing from Indonesia were directly chosen by their respective community leaders or the country’s tournament organizer while Philippines made a qualifier tournament for those who will play against Indonesia. Neither of these countries have Premier Challenges yet, though Pokémon competitive battling in Indonesia and Philippines has been around for some time. Lately the Philippines also organized a regular tournament, but it was bigger than this one.

The Tournament is called PGP Pilipinas Got Pokémon. Before the rise of Gen 6, the Pokémon competitive scene in Indonesia was mostly seen in simulator battles, where Philippines were already ahead of us, but recently the Indonesian VGC community has been growing with a mission to take Indonesian VGC to the international level. I believe that the Philippines also have the dream to have National Championships in their home country. This is one of our main reasons for creating friendly matches towards the end of the X and Y season. Official Southeast Asia VGC Tournaments, Taiwan and Hong Kong are under direct supervision of The Pokémon Company (not TPCi). What we want to get from these friendlies is for them to notice that there are dedicated players in Southeast Asia, not only Japan and Korea. Aside from getting all the hype of Pokémon, of course.

Even though our numbers are not as high as Japan or Korea, Southeast Asian player skills are much on par with the international community. Standouts are SEA players who made to top 8 at Australian National Championship is from Malaysia. While 2 times in a row Singapore has been sending one representative to Worlds through LCQ, Masters for 2013 and Seniors for 2014.

In order to spread out our love and dedication for VGC, we’ve set up friendly showmatches with our neighboring countries. To actually hold the interest of players in Indonesia, our community is holding a weekly tournaments with the same system as TCG Leagues. Without official Play! Pokémon support, more people are interested in playing the TCG in Indonesia. Most of Indonesian players are hit and run, but we got many dedicated players such as the representatives who are playing in recent International friendlies.

This was originally posted in Indonesian here. It has been published again in English for you below:

• Format: VGC ’14
• Tournament Type: Wi-Fi
• Tournament Format: Best of Three, Random Pairings
• Date & Time: Saturday, November 1st 2014
• Registration: Invitational Only
• Trainers: 5 Trainers from each country

Trainers List

No.	Name	IGN	Country
1.	Oktavian Jason (witzel)	Jason
2.	Jack Kurniawan (azukanakano)	Azuka
3.	Irvan Ing (beastlife)	Kuro
4.	Ama Bon (amadayo)	Ama
5.	Markus	Markus
6.	Alvin Rambano	Alvin
7.	Rodel Reyes	Rodel
8.	Marlon Varlenza	BlueInfinity
9.	Leandro Carandang (Zekira Drake)	Thane
10.	Mark Anthony Narsuli	Mark Anthony
11.	Muhammad Aldo Pradipta (Sub)	Kaze
12.	Edward Ang (Sub)	Edward

Pairings and Results

No.	Name	IGN	Score	IGN	Name
1.	Markus Edward Ang	Edward	2-0	Mark Anthony	Mark Anthony Narsuli
2.	Jack Kurniawan	Azuka	2-0	Alvin	Alvin Rambano
3.	Ama Bon	Ama	2-1	Thane	Leandro Carandang
4.	Irvan Ing Aldo Pradipta	Kaze4591	2-1	BlueInfinity	Marlon Varlenza
5.	Oktavian Jason	Jason	2-1	Rodel	Rodel Reyes
FINAL SCORE			5-0		INDONESIA WON

Videos

1. Edward Ang vs Mark Anthony
2. Jack Kurniawan vs Alvin Rambano
3. Ama Bon vs Leandro Carandang
4. Muhammad Aldo Pradipta vs Marlon Varlenza
5. Oktavian Jason vs Rodel Reyes

Teams

1. Oktavian Jason

2. Jack Kurniawan

3. Muhammad Aldo Pradipta

4. Ama Bon

5. Edward Ang

6. Alvin Rambano

7. Rodel Reyes

8. Marlon Varlenza

9. Leandro Carandang

10. Mark Anthony Narsuli

Shout Outs

• Michael Pond Wijaya, the Tournament Organizer of Indonesia for TPCi, for letting trainers play.
• Leandro Carandang (Zekira Drake), for proposing this International Friendly Match.
• Paul Alvin Morada, as the VG Tournament Organizer of Philippines for letting trainers play.
• Rei Powao as the one who conducted the qualifier Tournament in Philippines.
• Both Country Trainers, for putting your best efforts to play this game.
• Nugget Bridge, for letting me post this International Friendly Report.
• and all the user who are still reading this super boring Report! Also to the ones who watched and subscribe my channel!

In this first season where Indonesia have joined the Video Game Circuit, we have been getting quite a remarkable achievement even though we do not get official support neither from TPC or TPCi. These are the notable achievements:

1. Top 8 Asia Cup Stage 3 (Oktavian Jason, Rank 8th)
2. Top 16 Asia Cup Stage 3 (Ama Bon, Rank 13th)
3. Conducted Weekly Tournaments via WiFi
4. Held sanctioned Tournaments regularly between 1-2 months
5. Biggest Tournament of the season reached 123 trainers! (unofficial)
6. Winning friendly match against Taiwan in August 2014 (Score: 3-2)
7. Winning friendly match against Malaysia in September 2014 (Score 3-2)
8. Winning friendly match against Philippines in November 2014 (Score 5-0)

After following the success tournament of Asia Cup 2014, make sure to stay tuned for the next biggest unofficial Pokémon event, Asia Cup 2015!

The post Indonesia vs Philippines November Friendly Results & Videos appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hi Nugget Bridgers, I’m Raúl Arias (RAV44) and currently the admin of a competitive Pokémon community in Costa Rica called The Costa Rica Online Challenge. I had the idea of promoting the competitive game in Costa Rica. Some time ago all the players were battling under the single battle format. For that reason I’ve tried to build this community around the official ruleset during the VGC ’14 season using the double battle format with great success.

Currently Costa Rica just got the license to run Premier Challenges thanks to the alliance among different communities of Pokémon in the country (including The CROC) giving birth to Trainer Valley. We started making live tournaments and looking for our own ranking systems with the results of each tournament so we would have the opportunity to form a team that would represent us as a nation on the international scene. We have made tournaments with great success, even 64 players in some of them. We have an advantage living in a small country allowing us to travel to the capital where the tournaments are realized with more ease than other countries. We may have less players, but we’ve been working with each of them who are dedicated to the  competitive game. In my personal opinion, that’s why we’ve managed to get Premier Challenges: the commitment of our players.

Thanks to our players, we could make contact with another VGC community in Chile (CBI Chile) and their admin Fenix Buccarey. We arranged the friendly that took place on October 10th – October 12th in a 7vs7 team match. This friendly was very exciting as it was our first and it was against Chile, a country that we knew had a good competitive level. Maybe the final results weren’t as we wanted, but we have learned so much and besides that we have made some friends in the Chile community as well. We are very happy with the results and we wanted to share this with the biggest VGC community: Nugget Bridge.

• Format: VGC ’14
• Tournament Type: Wi-Fi
• Tournament Format: Best of Three, Random Pairings
• Date & Time: October 10th, 11th, 12th, 2014
• Registration: Invitational Only
• Trainers: 7 Trainers from each country

Trainers List

Pairings & Results

Videos

Here it is a playlist where you can see each battle for each match of the friendly:

• Costa Rica(TheCROC) vs Chile(CBI Chile)

Costa Rica

1. Max Morales(MAX_LJCR)

2. Raúl Arias (RAV44)

3. Luis Ángel Zúñiga(Luissaru93)

4. Eduard Zúñiga(eduard22)

5. Miguel Marín(Migno)

6. Antonio Rodríguez(Toño)

7. Edward Zúñiga(EDDCHRIS)

Chile

 1. Nicolas del Campo

2. Estephan Valdebenito

3. Sebastian Benavidez

4. Francisco Arcos

5. Matias Roa

6. Felipe Manzur

7. Felipe Méndez

The post Costa Rica vs Chile: A Latin American Encounter appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

If you’re following our Twitter account you’ve probably seen images from the Champion’s Day celebrations that were happening last weekend in Seoul. This special event was organized by Pokémon to celebrate Sejun Park earning the title of World Champion — the first to do so from Korea. Celebrations included exclusive merchandise, special tournaments for both the trading card game and video game, as well as special meet and greets with the World Champion himself and Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda.

According to Asahi, a big part of Champion’s Day were to be eight special Pikachu parades over four days in the Dongdaemun Design Plaza. Unfortunately after fans filled the plaza, overcrowding led to safety concerns and the rest of the parades had to be called off.

Thankfully, a smaller parade in Yokohama can give us a look at how adorable this parade was supposed to be:

It is definitely great to see celebrations of the World Championships to this scale and we plan to have a more full report on Champion’s Day soon!

Image Credits: Star via Destructoid.

The post Parades for Pokémon World Champion Cancelled Due to Crowds appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hey everyone! My name is Andy Himes aka Amarillo (pronoiunced ah-mah-ree-oh) and this is my USA Nationals and season report. VGC 2014 was the first season that I’ve had that I can really call a success so I’m finally getting a chance to write a report about a team I’m proud of! I’ve been playing since 2010 and I think 10 is the year I was best at but I never got a chance to prove it because I was unable to attend any events that year. At the beginning of the season I was running a team with Mawile/Garchomp/Hydreigon/Rotom-H/Aegislash/Scrafty and at the time I believed I had the best team because I was number 1 on the Showdown ladder with around a 90% win rate. However, at Regionals everyone I played at both Virginia and St. Louis had 2 or 3 fairies on the team. I knew fairies would get played but I never imagined I would see teams like Mawile/Azumarill/Gardevoir and I had 2 Pokémon with 4x weaknesses. Between my team being awful for the real life, non-Showdown metagame, and a bit of bad luck I ended two straight Regionals with a score of 5-4. Some people may remember me crying in the corner in St. Louis because it seemed like all of my hard work for the last few years just hadn’t paid off. Reflecting on it, I let myself go on tilt and went into the events with a poor mentality that I’ll discuss later in my Guide for Beginners. Regardless, it was then I decided I would just play for fun the rest of the year and I decided I would start using Smeargle. I had used Smeargle to great success in the second season of the NPA and it has never let me down in online tournaments in the four years I’ve played this game. That said, I’ve been too afraid of taking it to a real tournament between the accuracy of Dark Void and it being way too easy to counter. After my depressing Winter Regionals performances I learned that all this time I’ve been playing to not lose instead of to win. At Madison I took a team consisting of Smeargle/Kangaskhan/Rotom-H/Salamence/Azumarill/Amoongus and ended up going 6-2 for a 13^th place finish. Feeling like I had made progress I decided to stick with the team concept and kept working at improving the team.  This is what I came up with after testing various things for around three months and ultimately used at the US National Championships.

Team

Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Moody
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Dark Void
– Transform
– Follow Me
– Spiky Shield

The concept of Smeargle is to NOT spam Dark Void. Let me repeat that: if you are using Smeargle and you are relying on Dark Void then your team is not going to be consistent. Smeargle’s purpose is a scare tactic in team preview. My opponent must lead counters to Smeargle or they probably lose. This gives an opportunity to always get a lead advantage and counter whatever Smeargle counters they have that I can figure out from team preview. If the opposing team looks like it can’t handle it, then I’ll use it. I also never lead Smeargle/Kangaskhan unless the opponent has 1 or 0 Pokémon that outspeed Smeargle. In simple terms, you KO any Smeargle counters and then send it in from the back once they can no longer do anything to stop Dark Void. You can also not bring it at all and just gain a favorable team matchup because the opponent is forced to send out specific Pokémon against you.  A few sentences about the move set: Transform is one of the best moves in the game. It copies the stat boost of what you are transforming into which is why it’s so deadly after a Kangaskhan Power-Up Punch. Not many teams are equipped to handle 2 Mega Kangaskhan. Transform gives Smeargle an offensive presence. Transform is also helpful against certain strategies such as Perish Song. At Regionals in Fort Wayne I was able to transform into my opponent’s Mega Gengar and trap his Azumarill which had used Perish Song. I was also not afraid of being Shadow Balled by his Gengar because I still had my Focus Sash active. Ultimately I won a speed tie against his Mega Gengar and Smeargle-Gengar was able to win the game. I had tested Tailwind, Encore, and Fake Out in my 4^th move slot but decided on just running Protect. Smeargle naturally gets double targeted a lot due to the Focus Sash it’s running and a double target into a Protect when you have Kangaskhan as the teammate is usually game ending. Spiky Shield is a better Protect than King’s Shield because it blocks Taunt of course. A big shout-out goes to R Inanimate for convincing me the night before to use Moody. I was planning on using Own Tempo to prevent Speed drops but Randy just said, “Moody is the play”. Moody ended up winning me 2 battles in swiss outright and helping in a third. Moody also single handedly beat Ray in round 7 which I kind of felt bad about afterwards since I clearly wouldn’t have been able to beat him otherwise that game…

Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Return
– Power-Up Punch
– Sucker Punch
– Protect

Mega Kangaskhan is the biggest threat. It has Fake Out which you want if you plan on using Dark Void and it abuses Power-Up Punch letting you transform into a +2 version of what is already the biggest threat on the field. Simple and terrifying, Mega Kangaskhan is the best partner that Smeargle has ever had. Not even Kyogre was a better partner. I chose this EV spread because I wanted to outspeed all other Kangaskhan. With a slower Kangaskhan I would not be able to ever bring Smeargle to the battle if the opponent also had a Mega Kangaskhan on the team. I used Jolly for a while and it was okay, but I kept running into speed ties which is the last thing I wanted. I switched to Adamant and never noticed a difference in my speed, except if I Mega Evolved first I was confident I would always attack first which wasn’t true with Jolly max speed which is a tad ironic I think. Fake Out is chosen over Protect to help out Smeargle. I also really enjoy having two Fake Out users on the team.

Rotom-Heat @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 164 HP / 252 SpA / 92 Spe
Modest Nature
– Overheat
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Protect

Disturb not the Harmony of Fire, Ice, or Lightning…or else Rotom will turn you to ash… I figured out very quickly that Kangaskhan is weak to Steel types so I decided I needed an aggressive Fire type. Rotom-H seemed like the best Fire type that fit my plan. Of course my team so far was weak to Garchomp. I then got an idea: why should I bother using Will-O-Wisp when I can just KO everything with Hidden Power Ice instead? This is where my idea of running a Life Orb set came from. The EV spread is simple and admittedly inefficient. Max Special Attack Modest gets the greatest damage output. I thought I might as well do as much damage as I could since I’m sacrificing Hit Points to do so. 92 Speed EVs hits 118 Speed. This was an arbitrary number that made me feel safe that I out-creeped all Rotom-W. Of course, this is slower than Bisharp which I didn’t even consider when I was building the team and then ultimately lost to on Day 2. If you want to run LO Rotom-H yourself, make sure you go to 132 EVs to outspeed Bisharp. The rest of my EVs were dumped into HP because there was not anything specific I cared to calculate for. The last thing I wanted to mention was that for Nationals, Will-O-Wisp was terrible. I know a bunch of people had success with it this season and I’m in the minority that thinks it was a really bad move this year, but I want to explain my thought process anyway. Rotom is probably slower than everything you want to WoW. That means it is taking a hit before firing off an 85 accuracy attack that isn’t going to get an opposing Pokémon off the field. In the case of Kangaskhan, burning it doesn’t remove its pressure. It still has Power-Up Punch and enough power on its own that it could still possibly run you over. Garchomp has Lum Berry often enough that Wisping it isn’t viable either. Mawile you should just be attacking with Overheat anyway. I was also terrified of players running Facade Kangaskhan in a field such as Nationals which just makes you lose instantly as much as the community jokes about it. In fact, I ran into a Facade Kang user at 7-0 so my judgment for running a statusless Rotom in the end was correct.

Salamence @ Haban Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Flamethrower
– Dragon Pulse
– Protect

I like Intimidate and needed as much Garchomp hate as I could possibly have because LumChomp is the best Smeargle counter — and it really isn’t close either. Against the very common Kangaskhan/Garchomp lead I would lead my Salamence and Scrafty while leaving Smeargle on the bench. I had been using Choice Scarf for a long time, but found that getting locked into Draco Meteor — especially if it missed — made me lose almost immediately. I switched to Haban Berry a week before Nationals because I was tired of Scarf’s inconsistency and never once regretted it during the tournament. Choice Specs Hydreigon still OHKOs Salamence through Haban Bery but since I ran max Speed, I always outsped the common Modest Specs Hydreigon anyway. Dragon Pulse was selected as a 100% accurate move that doesn’t lower my Special Attack. I always use Dragon Pulse unless I am sure that Draco Meteor will KO because I like not missing and I also like not losing immediately if I get a prediction wrong.

Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 148 SpA / 100 SpD / 8 Spe
Sassy Nature
IVs: 2 Spe
– Shadow Ball
– Flash Cannon
– Substitute
– Protect

The more I tested Aegislash the more I realized that its greatest strength is its Special Defense stat so I went with a Sassy nature and added a lot of Special Defense. It goes way past what is required to survive a Choice Specs Dark Pulse from Hydreigon. The EVs aren’t supposed to be too specific but I made sure that Flash Cannon + Drain Punch from Scrafty always got the KO on 252 HP Kangaskhan. This spread  2HKOs 4HP Kangaskahn with Flash Cannon around 80% of the time and this amount of Special Defense is enough to take a maximum roll from a Choice Specs Dark Pulse and have enough HP left to also take one turn of burn damage so that’s neat. I switched into Will-o-Wisps a lot during the tournament so this actually came up despite being a pretty strange calculation. This Aegislash has a 2 Speed IV which speed ties Ray’s Amoongus from his Virginia team so naturally I had to add more points in speed since I was afraid of running into it. If you would like to use Aegislash then use TheBattleRoom’s spread from his Worlds team; it’s almost identical to this one in function but it doesn’t waste a bunch of stat points by going further than it really needs to. There is no difference between Sassy and Quiet when it comes to numbers — it just changes the allocation of EVs. This Aegislash was crucial to my success. Once again Kangaskhan is one of the best and most prevalent Smeargle counters and Sub Aegislash is really nice against opposing Kangaskhan. It had really good synergy with my double Intimidate and in one game it survived both a Dark Pulse from Specs Hydreigon and a Thunderbolt from Rotom-W so maybe going way past what was necessary in Special Defense was worth it in the end. I selected Flash Cannon over Sacred Sword in order to KO Smeargle counter Aerodactyl after a Fake Out and to let me switch into Will-O-Wisps without losing damage potential.

Scrafty @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 180 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 68 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Drain Punch
– Crunch
– Ice Punch
– Fake Out

This Scrafty was added in line the night before the tournament when the Sableye (which I wasn’t confident in anyway) that I had been testing wasn’t EV’d. I just kind of searched my box for something that had Synergy with the rest of the party. Scrafty was everything I wanted and more. It gave me double Intimidate, double Fake Out, and beats literally all of Smeargle’s counters. It Intimidates and Ice Punches public enemy number 1 Garchomp and does 70% with Drain Punch to enemy number 2 Kangaskhan. It one shots enemy 3 Tyranitar and beats obnoxious ghosts like Chandelure and Aegislash. For a last second addition that I never tested on this team it was probably the best Pokémon on the team.  Once again my EV spread is a tad arbitrary. I wanted max Attack Adamant because most of Scrafty’s bulk comes from Drain Punch instead of EV dumping. 180 HP was as low as I was willing to go to get the most out of Drain Punch healing, and because I ran Assault Vest I put a bunch of EVs into Special Defense in order to get more stat points off of my item. Scrafty needs 60 Defense in order to survive a Choice Band Brave Bird from Talonflame at -1 but I put it into Special Defense instead because I wasn’t worried about Talonflame and Scrafty probably couldn’t KO it anyway. I run Assault Vest over the other popular choice Lum Berry because Assault Vest is always on and is always an item. Lum Berry only counts as an item if they burn you. I like being efficient in what items I run.

I’m not going to talk about any of my matches because at this point I’ve forgotten most of them and the most interesting were against Gavin Michaels and Jon Hu who both wrote about our matches in their own reports. I also want to clear something up about my match against Ashton on stream. I said after the battle that I had chosen Smeargle instead of Rotom Game 3 because of the crowd. That was partly a joke. I knew from playing Ashton at a Premier Challenge that his Sawk OHKOs my Rotom-H. I decided that I wanted Follow Me and a Focus Sash more than I wanted Rotom. People were telling me how if I had brought Rotom then his Charizard couldn’t do anything to me. Well his Charizard couldn’t do anything to me anyway because Smeargle outspeds it. Or at least, that is what happened in Game 1. It turns out his Charizard was EVed to speed tie Smeargle (not on purpose according to Ashton) and I won the tie in Game 1 and  lost it in Game 3. If I had known it was a tie and not Smeargle being faster then I probably would have brought Rotom over it but the fact is that I thought that my team was well positioned to beat his team and it would have won if Heat Wave didn’t burn my Kangaskhan which allowed Heliolisk to tank a Sucker Punch.

At Fort Wayne Regionals where I finished 2^nd losing in the finals to Mancuso, I used a Choice Band Garchomp and a Sitrus Berry Zapdos over Salamence and Aegislash since they felt like they weren’t winning matches like they had a few months prior. I’m not sure if that was a good choice or not because Garchomp was good but not great and Zapdos I’d rather not talk about, but I guess they got me to my first ever top cut at a Regional so I’m thankful to them. Enough has been written about how the tournament was run so I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to say that I was really excited about who did make top cut as all of us (besides Dim) are from the same area and the top 4 felt like a Northern Ohio Premier Challenge. So shout outs to everyone in the Ohio/Michigan/West Virginia/Western Pennsylvania area because all of sudden we are now one of the strongest areas in the country! Now I want to make a few comments about the Pokémon game itself.

A Strategy Guide for Beginners

Have a Plan

I can’t understate the importance of having a plan. Almost every single successful team has some kind of strategy that they want to execute every game. Alex Ogloza’s Nationals team used Politoed and Ludicolo in order get his opponents’ Pokémon into Choice Band Brave Bird range. Jon Hu used Confuse Ray Sableye and Mega Gengar to create an extremely strong lock that left opponents without a whole lot of good options. Aaron Zheng had a similar plan that he tried to execute with a Heal Pulse Trick Room Gothitelle. Sejun Park used Follow Me and Tickle to defend his Mega Gyarados enough to set up a Dragon Dance. Smeargle’s plan is to counter lead the opposing Smeargle counters and get them off the field to allow Dark Void to be unstoppable. Never use a Pokémon because it just “counters a certain threat” or “it’s unexpected”. Everything you do in team building must contribute to your plan and what helps you execute you strategy. If you add a Pokémon that just “counters a specific threat” you are doing that because that threat will cause your plan to fail. Never try to counter everything, it just leads to your team not having a plan and therefore your team will be weak. No team can counter everything anyway. There is always a hole that someone will eventually exploit.

Be Efficient

I’m not talking about Effort Values because obviously I’m no good at that whatsoever and there have been many well written articles on this subject in the past. There is also item efficiency, turn efficiency, and making sure you are using the best Pokémon and best moves to execute your strategy. Some items are always an item and some items do not always count as an item. Choice items, Life Orb, Leftovers… these items are always on and always count as an item. Berries, Safety Goggles, Weakness Policy… these don’t always count as an item. If your opponent never uses a status move on you, then your Lum berry was not an item in that game. Safety Goggles isn’t an item if Tyranitar and Amoongus are not in the battle. Weakness Policy is not an item if the opponent never attacks you with a super effective attack, or if the super effective attack manages to KO. Items are an integral part of what makes a Pokémon strong, and if you are running too many items that don’t always function as items then your Pokémon might be lacking something that could have made it strong in that battle. I’m not claiming that any of these items that are not always on are bad — far from that — but I do think having too many of them in a party can be problematic as it might be decreasing the strength of your team.

Turn efficiency is just simply making the most of any given turn. The way you win a Pokémon battle is by doing more damage than the opponent. The simplest way to do that is to attack more than the opponent. Always keep in mind what targets let you attack the most and your opponent attack the least. As a simple example, let’s say your opponent has Garchomp and Mawile on the field, and you have Hydreigon and Ludicolo. Ignoring switching for this example, let’s say you know from game 1 the Mawile doesn’t run Sucker Punch. You know that Dragon Claw won’t KO Hydreigon and either of your Pokémon have the ability to KO Garchomp. If you decide to have Hydreigon use Flamethrower on Mawile and Ludicolo Ice Beam on Garchomp then you get the KO on Garchomp but your opponent got to use both Dragon Claw and Play Rough that turn. That is 2 attacks, whereas if you used both Flamethrower and Scald on Mawile then you get a KO, and your opponent only got to attack once that turn. Obviously to make this kind of play you need to be sure that your opponent’s Mawile won’t Protect so this play is a risk for you, but the point is to just keep in mind that it is important what Pokémon you attack in a situation where either of your Pokémon could get a KO. You also need to decide if switching makes the most out of your turn. Getting a type advantage or removing a -2 is nice, but that is a turn you aren’t attacking. I just think a lot of new players don’t prioritize targets well enough and believe it’s important for players to think about when they are first learning.

Make sure that you are using the correct Pokémon and moves for your plan. Garchomp and Zapdos do a lot of damage with Discharge + Earthquake, but did you know that Telepathy Gardevoir has the same base Special Attack as Zapdos and Dazzling Gleam has the same Base Power? Gardevoir also doesn’t share a weakness to Ice. You have the same plan and 2 completely different Pokémon choices. My plan for my Nationals team was to beat Garchomp. I had Rotom-H on my team and I could have run Will O Wisp, but I decided that KOing it with HP Ice and KOing Mawile with Overheat was more efficient than burning them. Sometimes a completely different Pokémon allows you to execute your strategy a lot better. Just keep in mind that what may seem like a big change may not be a big change at all but it may make your team significantly stronger. Also for players who are new to the game, a “standard” move set is standard because it is the best move set for that Pokémon. If you want to deviate from the standard set then you need to have a real reason for it. Don’t just say “I don’t want to be standard” because that is a losing mentality.

If you guys get anything out of this report at all, I want it to be this:

The game does not owe you anything

The RNG does not care how hard you have worked. I’m going to steal a quote from a Magic the Gathering article by James Fazzolari that I owe my first Regionals top cut to: “No matter how much time, energy or money you invest in the game, you deserve exactly zero success and zero recognition.” There will be games where the RNG decides to not let you have an opportunity to win. I know; I’ve had many of them at tournaments. However, I’m sure there are also many games that I have “lost to luck” where I could have made a different decision here or there to allow me to have a great enough advantage that I could still survive after a costly flinch. For too long I believed that just because I am a better player than my opponent, that I should beat them every time.  Just because I have practiced more that I deserve the win more. This isn’t true and it’s probably why I’ve had so little success at tournaments before Nationals this year. The approach I take now is that a 1-0 record just means that I might go 1-7. A 2-0 record just means you might go 2-6. Do not tell yourself before the start of the tournament, “I’ll get 5-6 wins today easily.” Telling yourself how you will do before any games begin is the quickest way to be disappointed. Always play to win; never play to prevent losing. Playing safe against someone who you believe you are better than leads to them having the opportunity to outplay you. Playing a certain style is perfectly fine against people you know, but don’t assume you know how a person you don’t know plays just because you haven’t seen their name in results lists. Obviously luck is a major factor in our game and the player who played better in any given game may not win, but they almost always do. A player who loses to luck may not have actually played better if they left win conditions open for their opponent. A critical hit turn 1 hurts but people win games down 3-4 all the time; if the game isn’t over yet you still have a chance. Luck can be an excuse for losing sometimes, but it is never an excuse for suboptimal play. I’d probably say the amount of games where the cartridge doesn’t let one person play the game is less than 10% of all games where the loser blames it. Cockiness gets you nowhere. Always play your best. The game owes you absolutely nothing.

I hope some readers got something out of this report. I’ll be going strong for a Worlds invite this year since I have never had the opportunity to yet. Playing in Worlds is probably my biggest dream at the moment so I look forward to getting the opportunity to play everyone in VGC ’15! One last thing, in the unlikely chance that AlphaZealot is reading this report, Dark Void is really bad for the game and despite my success with it, it probably should be re-banned for the sake of the game. I’ll keep on using it as long as it’s around because I’m a firm believer in using the biggest threats and will personally be a bit sad to see it go, but the fact is that the game as a whole is worse when Dark Void is legal and I’m pretty sure I gained no friends in 2014 by abusing it. Everyone please don’t hate me as I was only using what wins.

Thank you for reading!

The post A Journey into the Darkness: A 9-0 Nationals Team Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hello readers! My name is Greyson Garren, but I go by simply as GreySong on the forums. I first got my feet wet back in 2006 when the Journey Across America series was traveling all over the United States, but it wasn’t until late 2009/early 2010 that I became inspired to get better at the game from watching the Senior World Finals. My most notable accomplishment was placing 5th at the US National Championships in 2011, and following that up with a 3-3, 18th place finish at the World Championships. Earlier this year, I competed in the 2014 Winter Regionals in St. Louis and the 2014 Spring Regionals located in Kansas City and Madison, where I was able to place 4th, 2nd, and 11th respectively. Unfortunately, I was unable to Top Cut Nationals this year, which was necessary for me to earn my second Worlds invite. With the $300 I earned for being in the top 16 in Championship Points going into Nationals, I was able to pay for my plane ticket to Washington D.C., where I had my eyes set on the Last Chance Qualifier. I decided to give this team one last chance to redeem itself in D.C., and I knew it would still be successful despite the metagame evolving throughout the year. I felt confident and comfortable with the team, and in the end I placed Top 16 at the Last Chance Qualifier. The EVs remained the same throughout the season up until the Last Chance Qualifier, so I will be writing about the final version of the team.

The Team

Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy > Parental Bond
EVs: 84 HP / 204 Atk / 28 Def / 4 SpD / 188 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Return
– Protect
– Power-Up Punch
– Sucker Punch

Kangaskhan was an obvious choice to me, mainly due to its massive impact on the metagame. It’s also my favorite Pokémon from RBY, so how could I resist? In the first months of the metagame, most Kangaskhan were using Fake Out, with Protect being far rarer. I thought giving mine Protect would not only confuse my opponent and allow me to deflect incoming Fake Outs, but it also ended up allowed Kangaskhan to last much longer on the field. When I first used it, Protect was extremely successful in luring attacks. Later on, many more players knew about Protect Kangaskhan, but despite that, I continued to use Protect, and it has continued to be successful. The rest of the attacks are standard staples on Mega Kangaskhan.

While most Kangaskhan were running bog-standard Jolly spreads, I decided to build my Kangaskhan more defensively, adding more Attack and bulk while cutting out excessive speed. During my Regionals run, I ran 252 Attack and 156 Speed. This allowed it to outspeed maximum Speed Smeargle. Before the Last Chance Qualifier I decided that maximum Attack investment was unnecessary due to Power-Up-Punch, and my friend David Mancuso (Mancuso) agreed. I chose to add a few more points of Speed instead. This gives Kangaskhan the ability to outspeed Mega Blastoise, a threat that started to see play after Simon Yip (Simon) and Randy Kwa (R Inanimate) used it successfully. The Defense EVs allow it to survive Hammer Arm from opposing Kangaskhan 15 out of 16 times.

Gardevoir @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
EVs: 28 HP / 108 Def / 132 SpA / 4 SpD / 236 Spe
Modest Nature
– Moonblast
– Psychic
– Thunderbolt
– Dazzling Gleam

When I read about the powerful Garchomp/Salamence duo that was very common in Japan, I decided that I needed a powerful Fairy-type. My immediate answer was Choice Scarf Gardevoir. Despite all of the hate, I found it to be an extremely strong asset for my team. Her great Special Attack allowed her to deal tons of damage to her opponents even without a boosting item, so Choice Specs or Life Orb were unnecessary. With a Choice Scarf, Gardevoir also allowed me to outspeed certain threats outside of Tailwind. Likely due to Gardevoir, I did not have a single problem with Garchomp over the entire season. Gardevoir ability, Trace, allowed it to pull off some massive shenanigans. Learning that Trace could not copy Stance Change allowed me to strategically copy a necessary ability. My favorite use of Trace was to copy Parental Bond from Mega Kangaskhan, which provided a significant offensive boost.

Moonblast and Psychic were standard choices, and Dazzling Gleam was just a reliable spread move should I ever need it. Thunderbolt was an odd choice, but it gave Gardevoir the ability to pick up a surprise KO on Gyarados and dealt decent damage to Mega Charizard Y and Talonflame. Although Shadow Ball would have given it the ability to damage Aegislash, I felt I could defeat the sword with my other Pokémon. In a pinch, Gardevoir could also provide chip damage on Aegislash to allow Hydreigon’s Dark Pulse to pick up the KO.

The EV spread was given to me by my very good friend Biosci. It allowed Gardevoir to withstand Life Orb Talonflame’s Brave Bird 70% of the time. As an aside, the spread also can withstand a +2 Tyranitar Rock Slide roughly 70% of the time. Before LCQ, Gardevoir’s spread was designed to outspeed Timid Noivern, but after unexpectedly running into Weavile at Nationals, I decided to invest the additional Speed to outspeed it.

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 44 HP / 36 Def / 220 SpA / 4 SpD / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Protect
– Fire Blast
– Dark Pulse

Hydreigon proved to be an absolute monster throughout my VGC 2014 season. It provided amazing coverage, as it was able to hit many different Pokémon super effectively. Ironically, Hydreigon’s most important purpose was to deal with Mawile, as it was able to cleanly remove 252 HP Mawile with a Fire Blast. Dark Pulse dealt with Aegislash—it wasn’t an OHKO, but it came close enough that chip damage could pick up the knockout. Hydreigon also helped to stop otherwise annoying Pokémon such as Meowstic, and also took care of Ferrothorn, Trevenant, and Gourgeist, Pokémon that I would otherwise be unable to deal with. I chose Life Orb since I felt that two Choice items would put me at a disadvantage, and it worked out well.

Like Kangaskhan, Hydreigon originally used a spread with maximum Special Attack and enough Speed to outspeed Smeargle. Mancuso suggested that it didn’t require all of that power, and that I should invest more EVs into bulk and Speed. As such, I designed a spread that would outspeed Mega Blastoise. The HP and Defense EVs allowed Hydreigon to comfortably take a Dragon Claw from Jolly Garchomp.

Talonflame @ Focus Sash
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Brave Bird
– Tailwind
– Quick Guard
– Will-O-Wisp

The glue that held the team together. Support Talonflame was actually a product of my goofing off with my friend, Uncle Taint. It was originally a purely damage-oriented Pokémon, but I thought it would be helpful to add Will-O-Wisp and Tailwind into the mix since I never used Flare Blitz. After the change, I started winning game after game after game, and I knew I had a monster in my hands. The difference between choosing support Talonflame and a similar Pokémon such as Aerodactyl came down to the move Will-O-Wisp. Will-O-Wisp gave Talonflame a great option to cripple the physical attackers that ran amok this season, most notably Kangaskhan, Garchomp and Mawile. It also provided decent residual damage over time. Quick Guard blocked moves such as Fake Out, Prankster-boosted status moves, and Brave Bird from opposing Talonflame. Tailwind proved to be extremely beneficial for the team. In a role similar to that of Tornadus from VGC 2011, Talonflame could immediately use Tailwind before opponents attacked. Even if Talonflame failed to do anything else, the Tailwind it set up was massively useful. It is truly horrifying to face a Mega Kangaskhan and a Hydreigon that are faster than your Choice Scarf Salamence. As the metagame evolved, Tailwind helped me counter the powerful Rain teams that started to see play, as it essentially matched their Speed boost from Swift Swim and allowed me to outspeed opposing Ludicolo and Kingdra.

I decided to use a very simple EV spread for Talonflame. Due to its fraility, I decided to use a Focus Sash on Talonflame. This gave it the capability to perform its various support roles more effectively. If I felt that the Sash was unnecessary, I could just choose to use Brave Bird instead. Once Talonflame was at 1 HP, I had the option of either setting up Tailwind or going out with a Brave Bird. Support Talonflame created a lot of mindgames on the battlefield, and I’m so happy that its set proved to be extremely successful.

Amoonguss @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 196 HP / 180 Def / 132 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
Relaxed Nature
– Giga Drain
– Protect
– Rage Powder
– Spore

Although this slot was originally a Ferrothorn, my friends JiveTime and TheBattleRoom showed me how necessary Amoonguss was for this team. I took their advice and switched Ferrothorn for Amoonguss at the last minute before St. Louis Regionals. I haven’t looked back, as its Rage Powder and Spore support has proven invaluable. Sitrus Berry gave Amoonguss significantly better longetivity. I’ve always loved physically defensive Amoonguss, and this spread in particular can take attacks as powerful as a +6 Play Rough from Azumarill. Despite my failure to optimize the spread for Tailwind, I felt that this Amoonguss was very successful at its job, and I’m glad I made the change.

Rotom-Wash @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 36 SpA / 132 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Will-O-Wisp
– Rest
– Hydro Pump

Rotom was another excellent support Pokémon for the team. It provided Will-O-Wisp if I couldn’t bring Talonflame, and Rotom helped deal with threats such as Rotom-Heat, Aerodactyl, and Mega Charizard Y. The “ChestoRest” moveset was inspired by Babbytron’s Worlds-winning Rotom-Wash. Rest had the potential to pull me out of tough situations where Sitrus Berry would not have been nearly as helpful. The defensive EVs allowed Rotom to take a Solar Beam from Modest Mega Charizard Y 15 out of 16 times, while the Special Attack EVs allowed it to OHKO Talonflame with Thunderbolt after any recoil damage. Overall, Rotom-Wash was a fantastic Pokémon that helped cover the remaining weaknesses that the team had.

Team Combinations

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This was my most commonly used lead option during the Swiss rounds. Many of my opponents would focus their attention on Kangaskhan, worrying about a potential Fake Out or Power-Up Punch. Meanwhile, Talonflame would be able to freely set up Tailwind. Getting Tailwind set up causes most games to turn in my favor, as it brings massive offensive pressure in the form of incredible Speed.

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When I felt that Amoonguss would be a relatively safe lead, I often used this combination. This was my answer to various rain teams, as well as teams that couldn’t threaten Amoonguss or were very slow. Against teams of these natures, Amoonguss was free to spam Rage Powder and Spore while Kangaskhan started setting up with Power-Up Punch. This combination is very nostalgic for me, as it is extremely similar to a combination I used with my Worlds team from 2011 that involved Amoonguss and a physical Swords Dance Samurott.

+

This was my anti-Trick Room lead. The majority of Trick Room users (Trevenant, Gourgeist, and Meowstic to name a few) are weak to Dark Pulse, and Mawile, the most common Trick Room sweeper, was weak to Fire Blast. Due to this, I felt that Hydreigon was the perfect team member to lead with Amoonguss.

Closing Thoughts

Overall, I felt that I was very comfortable with how this team worked. Despite my attempts to make different teams, I always found myself returning to this one due to its success. It was able to adapt to the constantly changing metagame, and such a quality is fairly unique. This season has easily become one of my favorite VGC seasons, and I far exceeded my expectations. Although in the end I wasn’t able to earn my second Worlds invite, this setback only motivates me to continue to do my very best and to work even harder next season. This year was a perfect stepping stone for that goal, and I’m very happy with the accomplishments I was able to achieve with this team.

Thank You!

• Tommy (TMan) and David (Mancuso): My brothers. Thank you for being by my side and believing in me whenever I had doubts. Whether it was for practice, to adjust EVs, or for metagame advice, you guys were always there for me. I enjoyed sharing team ideas with you guys, and I can’t wait to hang with you guys again at Nationals!
• Tom (TheGr8): We’ve been best friends since Nationals in 2012, and I feel like I’ve gotten stronger every day since then. You’ve always been there for me whenever I needed someone to talk to, and I wouldn’t have made it far in the LCQ without that motivational speech you gave me. Thank you, for helping me become stronger not only as a player, but as an individual.
• Rhyder: I’ve known you since Tom introduced us way back in 2012, and it’s a shame we couldn’t finally meet until Worlds this year. You’re such a cool guy to hang out with, and I really hope you can come to more events in the future.
• Matthew (mattj): Thank you my friend, for introducing me to the competitive side of Pokémon. Back in 2009, when you and I fought in the finals of that 2009 VGC tournament in SerebiiForums, you told me that I had enough potential to make it to Worlds one day. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be typing this article out today. Also, thank you so much for allowing Brady and I to spend the night at your house the night before St. Louis Regionals. Your family was such a joy to meet, and I hope to see you guys again next season.
• Kevin (UncleTaint), Adib, (honchkro13), and the rest of the Poke-Pokes crew: Kevin, thank you so much for helping me build this team from the bottom up to what it is now. It’s too bad you had to experience our results first hand at St. Louis, but I’m so happy we were able to create something that was so successful. Adib, thank you so much for letting me stay with you at Worlds. You are such a kind individual, along with the rest of you guys. Those Multi Battles we had at Worlds were insane and amazing, witnessing the glory that is Ariados. I hope we can continue hanging out in future competitions!
• Jonathan (MrEobo), Keegan (Darkness), and the rest of the Michigan players: Thank you guys for being able to pick me up to help take me to Kansas City and Madison. Kansas City was the greatest, buying Yu-Gi-Oh cards at Collector’s Cache and just passing the time at the Salvation Army while we wait to check into our rooms. These are memories I cherish, and I want us to create more memories in the seasons to come. Also, don’t worry Jonathan. We will have our duel eventually.
• Michael (JiveTime), Collin (TheBattleRoom), and William (Biosci): Thank you guys for showing me what last minute changes I needed to make for my team to truly make it complete. We need to hang out more in the future.
• Brianna (TR Jessie): Thank you so much for the shiny Talonflame!
• Brady (Styrofoameon): Man, thank you so much for picking me up so we could go to St. Louis. If it had not have been for you, I wouldn’t have started this season the way I did. I hope you can continue attending these events in the future so we can hang out more.
• Osamu and Yohei from Japan: Thank you guys so much for transferring over my Pokémon back when Pokémon Bank was unavailable here in the states. Thanks to you guys, I was able to have a stylish Kangaskhan in a Safari Ball and a Gardevoir in a Love Ball just in time for Regionals. I’m happy we were able to meet at Worlds this year, as well as trade and battle after the event ended. Your gifts are just simply amazing, and I’ll try to make it to Worlds next year so that we can meet again.
• Marriland and the rest of the Pokémon YouTube community: I know I have thanked you numerous times before, but I don’t think I’ve expressed it enough. Had it not have been for you and the rest of the YouTubers, I wouldn’t have been able to see the phenomenon that was the Pokémon Symphony Orchestra. You told me that there was only one seat empty at the premier, and we all knew who that seat belonged to. It was stressful choosing between potentially a Worlds invite and attending the Symphony at all. Thanks to you, I was able to experience such a wondrous performance, and I’m eternally grateful for everything you guys did just so I could a fantastic time at Worlds. Thank you guys so, so much.
• TPCi: Thank you so much for awarding me free travel, a hotel room, and $300 for placing in the Top 16 in Championship Points this season. You guys continue to improve each and every year for the fans, and and thank you for everything you guys do.

Everyone else in the Pokémon community: I’m so thankful to know each and every one of you, whether it be online or in real life. This community is unlike any other, and you guys are what makes it worth it for me to go to these events. Thank you all, and I can’t to see you guys again in the upcoming 2015 season!

The post You’re Too Slow: A Regional Finalist and Top 16 LCQ Team Analysis appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

The release of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire is just around the corner so I’d like to introduce you to the EV training hotspots in the new games! Don’t know what that means? Check out our previous guide.

Below are the Pokémon’s locations, levels, encounter rate and method of encounter. Also provided is the EV gain from each battle as well as calculations for modifiers so you’ll know exactly how many EVs you’ll get. For now, the guide consists of hordes only and will be updated once the full games are released. The data we have does not provide the names of locations, so these are (hopefully) correct guesses. If not, they’ll be updated when ORAS is out.

1. Changes & Basic Information

Changes from 5th Gen

• The maximum amount of EVs in a single stat prior to XY was 255. In the 6th generation of games, it was reduced to 252, so now you don’t have to worry about going over when maxing out a single stat.
• Horde encounters are the fastest way to EV train your Pokémon. Use Sweet Scent in an area to trigger a horde encounter.

Modifying EV Gain

• Pokérus – doubles EVs gained, can be combined with Macho Brace and Power Items
• Macho Brace – doubles EVs gained, halves the holder’s Speed, can be combined with Pokérus
• Power Items – give 4 additional EV points to the corresponding stat, halves holder’s Speed, can be combined with Pokérus

Calculations for EVs per Pokémon

Don’t forget to multiply by 5 for horde encounters!

Base 3 points:

• Pokérus / Macho Brace: 6 EVs
• Pokérus + Macho Brace: 12 EVs
• Pokérus + Power Item: 14 EVs

Base 2 points:

• Pokérus / Macho Brace: 4 EVs
• Pokérus + Macho Brace: 8 EVs
• Pokérus + Power Item: 12 EVs

Base 1 point:

• Pokérus / Macho Brace: 2 EVs
• Pokérus + Macho Brace: 4 EVs
• Pokérus + Power Item: 10 EVs

2. Hordes

It seems Game Freak has understood our frustrations with running into the wrong Pokémon while training and given us at least one location with a 100% encounter rate for each stat. We’ve listed them below with alternatives in case there are hazards in the way! As always, this list will be updated as we find even more efficient ways of doing things. These are all hordes so you want to use Sweet Scent or Honey to attract them.

HP

Location: Rusturf Tunnel
Encounter Rate: 100%
Level: 5
EVs: 1 HP each

Attack

This horde might actually be an Alpha Sapphire exclusive. In both games, there’s a horde with a decent (65%) encounter chance, so give it a shot in Omega Ruby. We will update this once the game has been released.

Location: Mt. Pyre (cemetery area)
Encounter Rate: 100%
Level: 15
EVs: 1 Atk each

Location: Jagged Pass
Encounter Rate: 65%
Level: 10
EVs: 1 Atk each

Defense

This might be Game Freak’s most hated stat ever—it has never had a 100% encounter slot until now, but it’s still a bit tricky. I assume it’s the desert on Route 111 (permanent Sandstorm in RSE) with Mirage Tower or a cave nearby, since Sandshrew’s horde is listed twice and all of the other encounters are the same. If it’s Mirage Tower, don’t bring your fossil—seriously, you don’t want to deal with Aron hordes. If it’s a cave and it won’t collapse, do whatever you want.

Location: Route 111/Mirage Tower
Encounter Rate: 100%
Level: 11
EVs: 1 Def each

Location: Granite Cave (B1F)
Encounter Rate: 40%
Level: 6
EVs: 1 Def each

Special Attack

Location: Route 118/Route 123 (possible rain)
Encounter Rate: 100%
Level: 13
EVs: 1 SpA each

Location: Route 113
Encounter Rate: 95%
Level: 9
EVs: 1 SpA each

Special Defence

Location: Route 115
Encounter Rate: 100%
Level: 10
EVs: 1 SpD each

Speed

Location: Route 103 or 104
Encounter Rate: 100% combined
Level: 2
EVs: 1 Spe each

As soon as the full games are released, we’ll expand the guide with more methods. Thanks to Project Pokémon for providing us the data to create this guide with and good luck with your EV training!

The post EV Training Horde Hotspots in Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

During the 2014 Pokémon World Championships we had the chance to sit down and talk with J.C. Smith, Consumer Marketing Director at The Pokémon Company International, about the Pokémon Video Game Championships (VGC). Unfortunately we weren’t able to publish it right away due to some technical issues, but with the release of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire we thought it would be a good time to look at how someone from The Pokémon Company International sees the program we spend so much of our time with!

A lot of our readers probably don’t know who you are outside maybe as the person who’s in all the news releases. How long have you been with Pokémon?
Almost 7 years! Since 2007.

Oh wow, 2007. So the year before the first Pokémon Video Game World Championships.
Coincidence? I think not!

And what do you do in relation to Play! Pokémon?
My groups encompass Play! Pokémon, advertising, PR, and events in general. So basically I’m involved in a lot of the things going on here at the World Championships.

So what was it that prompted your group to add the video game to the Pokémon World Championships?
Obviously there’s people playing the game everywhere and there had been championships throughout time. In fact one of the first trips I went on when I worked at Nintendo was the 2000 Pokémon World Championships in Sydney, Australia so I’ve been immersed from the get-go!

When I came to The Pokémon Company, we decided we built this amazing infrastructure for the trading card game, we had all these amazing organizers, all these key learnings we’ve made about how to run a great tournament and how to build a community – let’s apply this to the video game side. Let’s build the video game up the same way. It took some time, but we’ve been building and finding who the communities are and finding who the organizers are and figuring out what works for us because we want to provide that same experience to play as much as possible with other people that love to play and battle.

Every year of the Video Game Championships has brought a host of improvements. How has fan feedback helped shape the Pokémon Championship Series?
I think a lot of people working at our company are fans. So I think a lot of it is, we just want things to be a certain way. We want to see more streaming. We want to see more people understand what we love about Pokémon. For us, it’s continuing to express that. A lot of the stuff we’re doing with tournaments themselves are to make them more fair, look gorgeous, and allow the audience to see what’s going on.

There are also developers that are here seeing how the game is being played. They’re looking at the metagame saying, “Ok, there’s a balance issue here, here, and here” and they’re thinking about how to fix that. We learn from things like the game timer in tournaments and we look at matches to find a happy medium so it works for the player and also doesn’t drag out the event for too long.

To what extent does The Pokémon Company International and Game Freak communicate on things like how the game is played by competitors and other fans in the western world?
We provide them a lot of data about things like what Pokemon are being played, what moves are being used, and other stats that we can gather. Things like that to help them understand it because it’s similar in Japan but we provide them stats from other areas. We’re constantly talking about it and we have all kinds of meetings throughout the process about the format as well.

Ok, this isn’t a job interview but where do you see the Pokémon Championship Series in 5 Years?
What I’d like is for more and more people to see it. We don’t really want Worlds to be necessarily bigger. It should be an exclusive group that has earned their right to be there. What we would like to see is to have it in more places meaning more qualifying events leading up to it. There’s a lot of great online stuff going on so that people can battle, but I’d like to see more that are channeling people up through into the Worlds ranks. Because for me, there are still a lot of people out there who just don’t have access to a qualifier that gets them here and we want to improve that as best we can.

In Pokémon Black & White 2 you had the Pokémon World Tournament download that added players from the Pokémon World Championships as opponents. That year you also had Three Time World Champion Ray Rizzo as a guest battler for fans at the Pokemon Game Show in Tokyo. How did those come to be and do you have more plans to highlight players in the future?
We definitely conveyed our sense of how awesome it was for both of those things to everyone organizing it. They loved it. Game Freak loved it. We’re always thinking about it but nothing I can reveal at this point but it’s definitely something they think about because they know how cool this community is. After all, they’re here right now watching it and enjoying it themselves.

Who do we need to write to and annoy for a spectate mode in this game?
You just keep writing about it.

Photo Credits: Doug M.

The post Interview with J.C. Smith of The Pokémon Company International about Competitive Organized Play appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Sorry for the length of this article. This report covers my entire season. If you don’t want to read the whole thing, I recommend skipping to the Nationals section and going from there.

Hey! So lets just start this by saying that this is my first year in the Masters division and my first year of actually trying for Championship Points. Last year, I was a garbage player in Seniors and I was struggling at the start of this season as well. I literally couldn’t get one win with standard teams like Mega Kangaskhan, Hydreigon, Politoed, Ludicolo, Talonflame, and Aegislash even if I tried. They just seem to not work for me. Trust me, I’ve really tried running “good stuff” but I felt that good stuff was easily countered, especially by my own ideas. People might say that I’m not original or the first to try these strategies, but I developed them on my own. The only other people that I know of that I’ll give credit to for running this kind of stuff on purpose and doing well are as follows:

• Talkinglion – <3 Thanks for the Sawk idea, even though you originally ran Sawk to counter team me!
• KillerOrcas – Biggest bae for weird mons. Ever.

Fall Regionals

Anyways, I started out this season in my basement with Mancuso. We were watching the 2013 World Championship on stream. I remember hating on all the common stuff because it all just kind of beat itself but, when I saw one guy running Magmar, I thought, “Whoa, he’s cool!” From then on, I wanted to emulate that guy and always considered any Pokemon for a team. My first regionals for the 2013-2014 season was the Ft. Wayne Indiana Fall Regionals, which was still using the VGC 2013 ruleset for Black and White. I had far more options than with the 2014 format and my first team looked like this:

Weavile @ Ice Gem
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Ice Punch
– Fake Out
– Night Slash
– Protect

This is the basis of the Weavile that would carry me with flying colors through the rest of the season. In this team, it was basically just an attacker and didn’t serve a complex purpose.

Infernape @ Fire Gem
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
– Heat Wave
– Fake Out
– Will-O-Wisp
– Helping Hand

Yet again, nothing special, just another Fake Out user. You can never have too much Fake Out and Helping Hand/Will-O-Wisp support is great.

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Dark Pulse
– Heat Wave
– Earth Power

Scarf Hydreigon is boss. I loved this thing and it was just too good not to use. The Heat Wave was for coverage and Dark Pulse was for Cresselia, as well as being a nice STAB attack that fit well with the rest of the team.

Mienshao @ Fighting Gem
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– High Jump Kitck
– U-turn
– Fake Out
– Acrobatics

More Fake Out? Um…YES. Fake Out is god. I’m exaggerating, but Mienshao probably pulled off some of the most clutch KOs for me. From doing major damage, even on resisted hits, to almost OHKOing non-bulky Metagross. It was just beautiful.

Thundurus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Thunder Wave
– Swagger
– Hidden Power [Ice]

Full out assault is the best option. Ever. The end.

Archeops @ Flying Gem
Ability: Defeatist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Acrobatics
– Rock Slide
– Roost
– Protect

Don’t ask. I don’t even know. This was in my box and then it was on my team. Magic!

So that’s the team. I ended up going 6-2 and bubbled at around 12th place or something, missing out of a top 8 cut. This was pretty cool to me considering I had expected to do terrible in Masters. Mancuso made cut and then lost after missing an Icy Wind on something, I think. The highlight of the tournament for me was Critting Scott Glaza’s (Scott) Cresselia with a High Jump Kick from my Mienshao when he switched it in for his Heatran. The attack put the Cresselia into KO range with U-Turn and this is what I’ll always remember about the first time I met Scott.

After this, with the introduction of the VGC 2014 format, I put away my old team and got right to work on a new team for the new format. I was really excited for the chance to use new Pokemon. Now you will get to see the weirdness that is my XY team(s).

First Winter Regionals

Before the first regionals of the new format, which was when the metagame started taking form, I was testing Shell Smash Cloyster and I was trying to figure out how I could support it and keep it on the field after stat drops. I still loved Weavile and wanted to use my old spread, but gems were not allowed anymore so I had to look for a new item. Additionally, I checked out the new egg moves in Weavile’s movepool and saw that Icicle Crash, which I had thought only Mamoswine could learn, was now available. I immediately switched Ice Punch to Icicle Crash and then my mom, who actually plays in tournaments and knows the game quite well, asks me, “Why is Fling a move? It has to be the most useless thing I’ve ever seen!” That pique my interest and I looked into the things that you could Fling and stumbled upon the King’s Rock Fling idea. It was really nice for shutting down opponents for multiple turns and supporting my other Pokemon. So, going into the first winter regionals, my team looked like this:

Fair warning: I wasn’t very good at breeding and ended up with Pokemon with less than stellar IVs, but I still performed well at the tournament. Take from that what you will.

~COVERGURRRLLL~ (Weavile) @ King’s Rock
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs:  xHP /  xDef /  xSpA /  xSpD
– Fake Out
– Fling
– Icicle Crash
– Protect

As I mentioned, Weavile had turned into more of a support Pokemon rather than an attacker and I utilized it as such.

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: xHP /  xAtk /  xDef /  xSpA /  xSpD
– Heat Wave
– SolarBeam
– Overheat
– Protect

Ah, Charizard where do I begin? First off, thanks to my eighth grade friends, as Charizard would have never popped into my head without them. I had loved Charizard since forever and they were like, “if you don’t use Charizard, we’re going to shame you and your family.” So, naturally I knew what had to be done. Charizard was instantly added onto my team and I loved it forever (and ever and ever). It has been a proud member of my team all season. I want to say that DeVon and I were the first people to use Overheat on Charizard way early in the season, but that’s questionable.

Garchomp @ Leftovers
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs:  xSpA
– Substitute
– Protect
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide

Probably as close to standard as a Pokemon can get on my team.

Clawitzer @ Assault Vest
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: xAtk / xDef
– Aura Sphere
– Dark Pulse
– Water Pulse
– Dragon Pulse

A new Pokemon! It looked cool and I really liked the bulk and coverage.

Diggersby @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: xSpA
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
– Return
– Brick Break

This ended up being my signature Pokemon. It was the best Pokemon I’ve ever used so far. Major thanks to Ian (KittyKatterz) for the wonderful idea. It carried me through winter regionals and was a large reason for my success. Diggersby was super fast, around 200 with the Scarf, and it had amazing coverage for its odd typing.

Absol @ Focus Sash
Ability: Super Luck
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Sucker Punch
– Feint
– Swords Dance
– Psycho Cut

I’m greedy and wanted another dark type. That is all.

I ended up making top 16 and got knocked out in the first round. It was a frustrating loss because I had Diggersby locked into Rock Slide and Charizard-Y against a 1 health Mamoswine and a non-scarfed Salamence. All I needed was to nail a Heat Wave or Rock Slide on either opposing Pokemon, but instead I completely miss with both moves. Needless to say, I was disappointed and was eager to move onto the next major tournament.

Second Winter Regionals

The next winter regional was a week or so after the first one. I didn’t really change the team much, except that I swapped out Absol and added

Chesnaught @ Expert Belt
Ability: Bulletproof
Level: 50
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 80 Def / 80 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
– Wood Hammer
– Brick Break
– Spiky Shield
– Quick Guard

I’m not going to lie, this was totally inspired by Enosh. Talonflame was becoming a huge thing and Quick Guard was valued. For the EV spread, I decided to max the Attack and then evenly distributed the remainder into bulk.

This regionals tournament was fun and it was the second one that I made top cut. I was pretty much in shock because I thought I was a terrible player. I don’t remember the swiss rounds or the top 16 very well, but my top 8 match was against the one and only Blake Hopper (Bopper). I made a good prediction, using Brick Break on his Rotom-W slot to nail his Lucario switching in. This essentially ended the match but it was still a really close match and it opened my eyes to the competitive side of Pokemon. Up to this point, I had figured that this year would just be one where I could beat some random people before being destroyed by the great players. However, when I realized that I actually stood a chance, I was ecstatic! I remember Mancuso telling me that I was screwed when he found out that I was facing Blake Hopper and I honestly thought I would lose, but I ended up moving onto top 4.

I had absolutely no idea who my top 4 opponent was besides the fact that his name was Matt. I was wondering how good he was when we sat down and I remember complimenting his Zelda shirt. Matt replied with a “thanks” and asked if I knew who he was because of the shirt. I was like, “noooooooo…should I?” And that’s how I met mattj. But yeah, Matt won game one because of Meinshao. I took game two, partially thanks to Matt timing out and both his Meinshao and Kangaskhan using Fake out on turn three. In game three it came down to a 25% damage roll with his Zapdos and I was on the losing side of the roll. Still, I thought it was pretty cool to reach top 4 at a regionals and I had some pretty cool ideas in mind for the next tournament.

Florida Regionals

The next regional was in Florida. It may seems like a long trip, but we did it for the love of the game. I was comfortable with CP under my belt from two top 16s and a top 4 and I just wanted to see if I could get any more. I arrived at the tournament thinking that, if I fought any of my friends, I’d definitely scoop to them because they all needed CP more than I did. Thankfully, I didn’t pair against anyone I knew and went 7-2, making the top cut again.

My team for the event was mostly the same, except for a few small changes. I swapped in Swords Dance for Protect on Garchomp and Ice Beam for Dragon Pulse on Clawitzer. At the time, the only common dragons were 4x weak to ice. I decided the switch to Ice Beam would definitely be worth it since I would be able to OHKO Garchomp and Salamence. I also put Wild Charge on Diggersby in lieu of Brick Break because I wasn’t too afraid of Kangaskhan anymore. Instead, I was more afraid of Gyarados, which Wild Charge could usually handle.

The last change I made was to add a whole new Pokemon, one inspired by MattJ. Zapdos was a very awesome addition to the team because I was running the Modest Choice Specs set and it just added a whole new level of unexpected power. The moveset was a pretty easy choice, with Discharge being only moderately unorthodox. I had two ground types on the team, making Disquake a viable strategy to fall back on in some tough situations. All my Pokemon still had their garbage IVs though.

In Florida, I started off the day 0-1 because my first opponent was Stephen Morioko. I was so bummed that I was already one down and basically had given up at that point. However, my day wasn’t over yet. I fought back and ended up getting to top 16. Again, I don’t remember much about all my matches. I did remember playing against someone who was running Mega Garchomp, which I thought was cool. I only ended up winning that match due to some crazy predictions and shenanigans with Substitute on my own Garchomp and I moved on to top 4, where I got destroyed by the one and only Zach Droegkamp (zach). My team was completely obliterated by his Kangaskhan/Talonflame combination and I felt that, no matter what I did, it was  over when he led with that combination, which he did for both games. At least I got to say that I lost to the eventual winner of the whole tournament, which is cool. Last thing about this tournament, I wanted to give a huge shout out to Garrett, who had the smart idea of using Thunderwave on my Diggersby and was confused when it didn’t work. It was the main reason I was able to beat him late in the swiss rounds.

Spring Regionals

The next  regional tournament turned out to be the only spring regional that I actually attended. It was a bad and weird time in my life. I honestly can’t tell you what I was thinking when I put this team together, but here it is:

One thing I will note, however, I did manage to get Pokemon with perfect IVs this time around. Oh, and they were also shiny.

~COVER GURLL~ (Weavile) @ King’s Rock
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Fake Out
– Fling
– Icicle Crash
– Protect

Same old Weavile set. Trust me, it really doesn’t change much during the season.

Vivillon @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Sleep Powder
– Quiver Dance
– Bug Buzz
– Hurricane

I thought this thing was good, but it ended up getting knocked out by the stupidest things, such as Choice Scarf Tyranitar.

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 104 HP / 252 SpA / 152 Spe
Modest Nature
– Heat Wave
– SolarBeam
– Overheat
– Protect

Again, the same Charizard set except that it is on a Pokemon with good IVs. It also boasts a new EV spread.

Garchomp @ Garchompite
Ability: Rough Skin
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Substitute
– Swords Dance
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide

I don’t know why I thought this was a good idea, I really don’t. I just slapped a mega stone on it and didn’t use it once during the whole tournament.

Diggersby @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Huge Power
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
– Return
– Wild Charge

Same Diggersby. At this point in the season, I really thought that I would never part with this thing.

Steelix @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
– Rock Slide
– Ice Fang
– Heavy Slam
– Protect

Shout Out to Adib Alam for hooking me up with this awesome Steelix before it made a bigger splash during Nationals. It was awesome and I came back from a 3-1 with it and won that match. Did I mention that this thing was awesome?

I bubbled out of cut with a 6-2 record and ended up a little frustrated because I took a bad loss to Angel and a Choice Scarf Tyranitar. Shout out to Mancuso for going 6-0 before finishing 6-2. Thankfully, after this tournament I was still in the top 16 for CP and well on my way to a Nationals invite. However, with the recent announcement of Premier Challenges, I knew that I would have to step up my game and get some points.

US Nationals

My Nationals team went through several iterations. I put a lot of thought into creating a core of four and then looked into covering the core’s trouble match ups. Once again, the team started with Weavile, but it then moved in a different direction.

Weavile @ King’s Rock
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Fake Out
– Fling
– Icicle Crash
– Assurance

Basially the same Weavile with the exception of Assurance over Protect because I was having trouble dealing with Aegislash leads. It also combo well with Rock Slide from Sawk, having a good chance to quickly KO many Pokemon, which was really useful.

fighting intensifies (Sawk) @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Close Combat
– Double Kick
– Rock Slide
– Poison Jab

My whole team was destroyed by this Pokemon in the Dodrio Cup. I fell in love with it immediately and knew I had to use it. Sawk was present in almost every single match during Nationals. It is the best Kangaskhan counter and is just powerful overall. Double Kick was for Smeargle and Poison Jab was just for any fairy types.

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 104 HP / 252 SpA / 152 Spe
Modest Nature
– Heat Wave
– SolarBeam
– Substitute
– Protect

Before anyone asks, I had never seen anyone else use Substitute on Charizard prior to this and I definitely didn’t get the idea from anyone else. I got the idea when I noticed that player frequently double Protected against me. Substitute was awesome at Nationals, I managed to set it up against Andy’s (Amarillo) Smeargle before he went for the Dark Void, which essentially won me game 3. It also helped that I got 13 burns off Heat Wave during my day two best-of-three matches. I distinctly remember bringing an Aegislash down to low red health, its Weakness Policy activating, and then it fainting to burn damage on the same turn.

Espeon @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Psychic
– Shadow Ball
– Calm Mind
– Protect

A few days before Regionals, I realized that I needed a good counter to Mega Venusaur. Espeon’s Magic Bounce ability would bounce back the Sleep Powder and would let me set up or proceed to KO the threat. It was also very handy against Sableyes that tried to Taunt me, as it bounced back to them and rendered their Prankster ability useless. Espeon also did a lot of big damage after one Calm Mind. It could survive a Shadow Ball from Aegislash 100% of the time and then KO it in return with my own Shadow Ball and still have enough HP to survive the Life Orb damage.

Gigalith @ Weakness Policy

Ability: Sturdy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Atk / 44 Def
Brave Nature
– Rock Slide
– Earthquake
– Wide Guard
– Protect

Originally, the last 2 Pokemons chosen for the team didn’t have any special synergy with the rest of the team. I had picked them for one job and they did it. Ironically, I ended up bringing them in just as much or even more than the original core.The only reason I considered Gigalith is that I knew that I needed a Wide Guard user and he was one of the Pokemon on the list that I had no idea could learn Wide Guard. I suspected that most of my opponents would also be caught off guard by this. Weakness Policy was a good way to abuse Gigalith’s Sturdy ability and add some extra damage. The EVs simply boosted the Attack stat up to an even 200 and the rest were tossed into Defence.

Heliolisk @ Choice Specs
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Volt Switch
– Focus Blast
– Dark Pulse

Ahhhhh, Heliolisk! This wonderful Pokemon caught almost everyone off guard. It was the most wonderful, random last minute addition to my team that I could have ever picked. I was thinking, “Oh Solar Power Heliolisk would be great in sun!”  Thus, I played with it on Showdown the night before registration and really liked it. However, as I was waiting in line for registration, I realized that I didn’t have one with the right ability. So, down the drain went the plans for a Life Orb Solar Power Heliolisk. I decided to totally scrap the idea with minutes left before I had to lock my battle box. Nothing else I looked at fit in the team and time was running out. So, instead, I just took the Dry Skin Heliolisk, slapped Choice Specs onto it, taught it Focus Blast and, I’m sure you all know now how amazing it ended up being. I probably used Focus Blast more than Thunderbolt. Anyways, Heliolisk was an amazing answer to the ever growing use of rain, Azumarill, and Tyranitar. Additionally, Dark Pulse had a chance to pick up a KO on Mega Gengars, which I was having trouble with a week prior.

Going into Nationals, I wasn’t even expecting to do well. I thought it would just be like every other year where I would end up making it to Nationals and then suck a lot and go 5-4. But starting the day off with a round one bye wasn’t too bad. Going into my actual first match as a 1-0 who hadn’t even played a match yet was really nerve racking. I knew almost everyone had already played a match and were warmed up. Of course, the night before Nationals, I was with Mancuso and friends, which happened to include Greyson (Greysong). Greyson was my first actual opponent. He led with the only things that beat my team in form of Kangaskhan and Talonflame, but I had a way to beat that now with Gigalith. As I go for the Rock Slide, I was shocked to see the Talonflame survive thanks to Focus Sash. That basically won him the match right there. Now I was 1-1. I was hard on myself, thinking that I didn’t stand a chance against anyone “good”. I got super depressed about my run after that, but cheered up a bit after playing against some really cool people. My opponents ran things like Electrode and Poliwrath, which inspired me to do better and I ended up making it to day 2 with an 8-1 record. Shout out to Mancuso for having an awesome record as well, but still missing cut.

After round 9, a Pokemon official comes up to me and asks if I would like to be featured on the website. I wanted to keep my team a secret and made sure that it would not be up that night, to which he responded, “Why would it go up tonight? That’s stupid!” Well guess what. They put my team up that night anyway. I still had to play the next day and my whole team, including items, moves, and everything was out there. Long story short, I requested for it to be taken down within the hour it was put up.

On day 2, my first match was against Huy. He had a really cool Trick Room team with Audino and stuff, but I ended up beating him 2-0 thanks to the Icicle Crash that was targeting his Rotom-W hitting Hydreigon on the switch in and getting the free KO. After that, I fought Adib. It was a really close match that I could have won if I wasn’t an idiot. I locked myself into Rock Slide when I should have gone for close combat. Game 3 ended with Sawk locked into Rock Slide against a Tyranitar locked into Rock Tomb, which took forever but he eventually won.

Later on, I fought Andy Himes (Amarillo) who, in all respect, definitely deserved the win but I was on a blind rampage and didn’t care at the time (sorry!). We were the featured stream match and I remembered that we drew so many people to the TV that they filled up the whole side passageway where we were playing and more people couldn’t even get in to watch. He told me that he was only pulling Smeargle because the crowd wanted him to and I really played differently because of that. I ended up getting a Heat Wave burn on his Kangaskhan in 2 of our 3 games and my Charizard at the time was actually EV’d to speed tie with Smeargle instead outspeeding it. Thus, in game 3, it came down to whether or not I could out speed Smeargle and set up a Substitute before he could get off a Dark Void. Luckily, I won the speed tie and it was game from there because he couldn’t touch me.

I don’t remember my next two matches too much but, as you all probably know, I ended up fighting Simon Yip on the big screen in my last match. This match was huge because it decided who moved onto top 8 and who got top 16. I finished at a cool 11th place, ensuring me a worlds invite thanks to the CP earned. This was pretty cool considering it was my first year in Masters and first year really playing competitively.

Worlds

This team is so last minute it makes me want to cry. Ok, lets start with some back story. Originally, the team going into Worlds was going to be Weavile, Sawk, Charizard Y, Aggron, Gengar, Talonflame. I was using the same spreads that I had used at nationals, but the Aggron carried Weakness Policy and the Gengar and Talonflame were standard. By now, you should know that I’m not about that life. Each Pokemon has a story of how they got from what they were originally to what they were going in to Worlds.

~COVER<3GURL~ (Weavile) @ King’s Rock
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Fake Out
– Fling
– Icicle Crash
– Feint

Oh god, you don’t know stress until you’re breeding a Weavile the night before registration (that’s early the next morning). It was around midnight and I was in a friend’s room when I complained that Weavile really didn’t have any good move for the 4th slot. I began looking into it and saw that Weavile could learn Feint as an egg move. I freaked out and rapidly started breeding so that I could use Feint Weavile the next day in the tournament. I’m glad to say that it was the best decision I had ever made. People liked to double protect against me to try and make me waste my Fake Out, making Feint a great option. It greatly helped me in game one against Timo. He double protected with his Mega-Manectric and Gothitelle and I used Feint on his Manecrtic and fired off a Heat Wave that almost knocked it out. It was definitely game changing and I most likely would have lost without it in a couple of my matches.

fighting intensifies (Sawk) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Inner Focus
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Close Combat
– Stone Edge
– Rock Slide
– Low Sweep

Next was Sawk. A day or two before the event, I heard rain was still slightly popular and that all the Japanese players were using Mega Tyranitar or Mega Aerodactyl. So, instead of keeping Poison Jab or Double Kick, I went to a more useful option in my opinion. Low kick helped my rain match up because I would lower the speed of the any Swift Swim users, setting up for a KO with something in the back. Even though I didn’t battle any Mega Aerodactyl, Stone Edge was still great for dishing out a good amount more damage than Rock Slide when I needed more damage.

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 220 HP / 44 Def / 84 SpA / 4 SpD / 156 Spe
Modest Nature
– Heat Wave
– SolarBeam
– Substitute
– Protect

This is the only Pokemon that didn’t change.

Gengar @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 76 SpA / 20 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 4 Atk / 30 Def / 5 Spe
– Shadow Ball
– Sludge Bomb
– Focus Blast
– Hidden Power [Ice]

This was fun and, surprisingly, I wasn’t the only one who thought bulky Gengar was a good idea *cough cough* senior world champ *cough cough*. The bulk took a 252+ Brave Bird from Talonflame using Choice Band plus one turn in sand and it also survived Sucker Punch from some Kangaskhan and Mawile builds. It was beautiful. I knew that I had to keep running Focus Blast after having success with it on Heliolisk. The Hidden Power ice was a pain to get, I had someone try for weeks to get it and eventually they got it, but with 4 Speed IVs. Thankfully, I wasn’t trying to out speed anything anyways.

Overall, the damage output was amazing and the bulk that it also had was amazing. Here’s an example of what I mean:

• 220+ SpA Politoed Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Gengar in Rain: 144-171 (86.2 – 102.3%) — 12.5% chance to OHKO.

This saved me in game 6 against Alex Oglaza. Needless to say, I was really impressed by the bulk.

Aggron @ Assault Vest
Ability: Rock Head
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Atk / 28 Def / 4 SpA / 28 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Rock Tomb
– Iron Head
– Head Smash
– Fire Blast

Well, this was interesting conceptualizing. This originally started as a joke, a non-serious way to beat Talonflame, but in the end it really had more power than anticipated. I loved this so much as a concept, but I ended up only bringing Aggron into two of my matches. Here are some calcs to show you the power.

Defensive side:

• 252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 28 Def Aggron: 156-184 (88.1 – 103.9%) — 25% chance to OHKO
• 232+ SpA Rotom-H Overheat vs. 252 HP / 28 SpD Assault Vest Aggron in Sun: 148-175 (83.6 – 98.8%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252 SpA Politoed Scald vs. 252 HP / 28 SpD Assault Vest Aggron in Rain: 152-182 (85.8 – 102.8%) — 12.5% chance to OHKO

Offensive side:

• 196+ Atk Aggron Head Smash vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Politoed: 153-180 (92.1 – 108.4%) — 50% chance to OHKO
• -1 196+ Atk Aggron Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Gyarados: 192-228 (95 – 112.8%) — 68.8% chance to OHKO
• 196+ Atk Aggron Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 220+ Def Zapdos: 198-234 (100.5 – 118.7%) — guaranteed OHKO

And remember, no recoil damage thanks to the Rock Head ability!

Staraptor @ Choice Band
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Brave Bird
– Double-Edge
– Close Combat
– U-turn

• There is no amount of thanks to my friend for giving me this beautiful idea. Words cannot describe the perfection. Let me show you some damage calculations that will make you cry rainbows of happiness:
  252 Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Rotom-H: 157-186 (100 – 118.4%) — guaranteed OHKO
• 252 Atk Choice Band Staraptor Close Combat vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Kangaskhan: 194-230 (107.1 – 127%) — guaranteed OHKO
• 252 Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 220 HP / 44 Def Mega Charizard Y: 202-238 (111.6 – 131.4%) — guaranteed OHKO
• 252 Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 180-213 (98.3 – 116.3%) — 93.8% chance to OHKO

Just is just a small portion of all the relevant calcs, but going into them would take too long and this report should have been done a month ago.

In the end, I finished Worlds at 4-2. It wasn’t too shabby for my first year in Masters. Here’s a quick summary of my swiss round matches:

Round 1 vs Timo Koppetsch (37TimoK1)

Coincidentally, the day before the swiss rounds my friend Adit (LithiumAcid) was telling me how much he loved Timo’s rain team and he actually had a copy of it, so I kind of had an advantage going into this match. Just having team knowledge in general was good. For example, I did know his Mega Manectric was bulky, which lessened some confusion when it required so many hits to go down.

His team was:

• Politoed
• Kingdra
• Manectric
• Gothitelle
• Escavalier
• Amoongus

I’m not going to say anything about the moveset, just in case Timo wanted some to maintain some secrecy. The match was definitely very good and very close, coming down to the last turn. In game one, he leads Mega Manectric and Gothitelle and I lead Weavile and Charizard. It was obvious that he was going to double protect and usually I would be unable to do anything about it. However, having recently added Feint to my Weavile, I proceeded to Feint the Manectric and fire off a Heat Wave that put it in range for a second Feint to KO it. Removing such a big threat so quickly basically decided the game. He did manage to get Trick Room up, but it was ill-timed since he was forced to bring out his Kindra out in rain and in Trick Room.

In game two he made the same leads and I’m not quite sure what he did (my notes are bad), but he had Politoed and Kingdra in the back and Charizard had been knocked out, so the duo just destroyed my team. In game 3, I was so nervous about losing my first round at worlds. I knew I really had to step it up to win. Timo used the exact same leads with the exact same two in the back and it looked like his game, but eventually I knocked out his Manectric with a bunch of Heat Waves in the rain and it came down to a full health bulky Politoed and my Staraptor. We both thought it was his win but, after I clicked the button for Double Edge, that beautiful bird charged full force at the Politoed it ended up doing enough damage to OHKO and win me the game. It was an intense first match, but I was up 1-0.

Round 2 vs Jeudy Azzarelli (SoulSurvivor)

No words can be said about how upset I was to fight someone I knew. Jeudy had been really good this season, especially since Nationals, and I feared his team a lot. It also didn’t help that I made the worst possible plays ever. I don’t think it mattered too much in the end though, as he had a really good team match up and the games were pretty straightforward and not really that interesting. And I’m sure you all already know his team since he was runner-up and all. Now I was 1-1.

Round 3 vs Florian Wurdack (DaFlo)

I’m sorry to say that the only word to describe this match is “destruction”. There was really nothing he could do to stand up to my Staraptor. I beat him 2-1 the first game and 4-0 the second game.

His team was:

• Hydreigon
• Lucario
• Venusaur
• Gengar
• Azumaraill
• Rotom-W

Seemed pretty Talonflame weak aside from the Rotom-W, which Staraptor had a way of OHKOing. Once it was defeated, the game was basically mine, but I was still surprised to 4-0 him the second game. Still, it was a really fun set and my record was now 2-1.

Round 4 vs Namanja Sandic (Porengan)

I’m still kind of salty about this match even though there isn’t too much that I can complain about. The first game I should’ve won. It came down to Aggron vs his Mega Tyranitar and Smeargle choice locked into Dark Void. I attacked the Smeargle instead of the low health Tyranitar, which was my own stupid mistake. Before that, a Flare Blitz critical hit on my Aggron put it into a health range where two Crunch from Tyranitar could finish me. Sure enough, he used Crunch on the turn I knocked out the Smeargle and then outsped me to take game one. I had figured that it wouldn’t be too hard to come back, considering how close game one was, but then he proceeds to critical hit and burn my Aggron in game two with the same Flare Blitz doing at least 50% to my bulky monster again. That basically lost the game for me, but I knew it wasn’t the fault of my team. Now I was 2-2.

Round 5 vs Michael W.

This was the cool Australian with the Rotom-F. I’m not sure if he has a Nugget Bridge account, but I absolutely loved his team. It was really creative and I loved the fact that I encountered it at Worlds.

His team was:

• Gyarados
• Rotom-F
• Nidoqueen
• Ferrothorn
• Lapras
• Tyranitar

Even after seeing his battle on the big screen the match before, the only thing I knew about his team was that the Gyarados was the mega. Our match was the cleanest one I had ever played. There was not an instance of hax from either side of the field and it was just really fun to play. I won game one, he won game 2, and then I took game 3 and the match, putting me now at 3-2

R6:VS Alex Oglaza (Evan Falco) I was so upset when I saw this pairing. I was certain that I would end the day 3-3. I knew he had a rain team and I still didn’t have a really good answer to rain and he knew that.

His team was:

• Ludicolo
• Politoed
• Aegislash
• Hydriegon
• Kangaskhan
• Zapdos

I knew he had Mega Kangaskhan, but I was super sure he wouldn’t bring it in because of my Sawk threat, so I actually never even bothered to bring Sawk due to its minimal use in other situations. Amazingly, at the start of game 1, he leads Politoed/Ludicolo and I lead Weavile/Gengar. I knew he was going to Fake Out my Weavile and most likely Scald or Hydro Pump my Gengar. I had minimal Special Defense investment on Gengar, so I was certain that it would be a OHKO. I was surprised that my Gengar survived with 17 hp to spare after taking a Hydro Pump to the face. Since Gengar survive, it fired off a Specs Sludge Bomb that OHKOs the Luidcolo thanks to fact it wasn’t carrying Assault Vest. Game 2 started with the same leads, but this time he got the damage roll he needed and picked up the KO on my Gengar , which won him the game. In game 3 however, the damage roll was a null issue because Hydro Pump missed and I got the crucial KO for the momentum and the game. With this win, I was 4-2 and was hoping to cut, but I knew it was really a long stretch.

After a long day of playing and stressing out about every single decision, it still ended up being one of the best days of my life. I ended up placing 13th in the World, which was pretty cool for my first year in Masters. Going into this tournament I had so many people rooting against me. Rumor was that, if I managed to get a positive record at Worlds, people would stop giving me flack for my teams and finally acknowledge me as a decent player. Hopefully that’s true, since I got the positive record!

There weren’t only haters however, there were also people that had backed me the whole season and were friends with me before anyone thought I would have a chance to get anywhere. So, shout outs to them and wherever it’s due. It’s been a long report, so I’ll just wrap it up here. Thanks for reading!

The post A Look into the Mind of a Weirdo: My 2014 Season appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

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 10^th 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.

Introduction

Hello, my name is Matt Peroutka, otherwise known as MittensAnimator. Recently I took 11th place at the Fall 2015 Regional in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Although I have only been playing competitively for less than a year, I feel like I am having a rather successful run so early in the season. For some reason this year, the Fort Wayne regional was a Top 8 instead of a Top 16, despite the fact that there were enough players in attendance. At the end of the day, I came in at 11th place, leaving me just outside the Top Cut, so I decided to write an article about my experiences as a new player and my latest run at the Fort Wayne Regional.

History

I, like most people I think, started playing competitive Pokémon using the singles Smogon format. I never made it very far and found more entertainment in the breeding and training aspects versus the actual game play. For me, singles battles would take too long and have too much switching. Eventually, I discovered that the official TPCi tournaments were held using the doubles format. I decided to try it out and I immediately fell in love with the faster format and strategically-advanced play.

The bulk of my competitive career started on X and Y where I began using Mega Kangaskhan. Earlier in the format, Kangaskhan was an awesome Pokémon. I guess she still is, but as the season advanced, more and more counters to Kangaskhan began to pop up. Eventually, I decided that she was no longer a reliable Pokémon to use, so I decided to go with my favorite Mega: the power-house Mega Lucario!

Team Building Process

Mega Lucario is a tricky Pokémon to use. He is fast and hits like a truck without brakes, but he is also incredibly frail. I tried to use Wide Guard methods with Aegislash and Aerodactyl, but I found most experienced players could outplay my strategy. Eventually, I decided the best way to use Lucario is to be smart and play him carefully without relying on gimmicks or obvious support moves. This decision led me to create a dual-Mega team. This left me with another Mega option to bring if my opponent’s team was very anti-Lucario. Thus, Mega Venusaur was added. Later, I saw a post by Kingofmars who also used the duo of Mega Lucario and Venuasaur, which led me to believe I was on to something.

The metagame is in constant flux; what works for one Regional or Premier Challenge will not necessarily work for the next tournament. While building this team, Mega Mawile rose to power and I suddenly needed a better counter to him as well. Garchomp, Mamoswine, and Talonflame could work, but they were all weak to Intimdate and burn, so I eventually decided to switch from Rotom-Wash to Rotom-Heat since he is not weak to Intimidate and does not damage himself while attacking like Talonflame does. He also has some bulk, which comes in handy. My only real problem with Rotom-Heat is that he is slow, so I gave mine a Choice Scarf. This either allowed me to get either a quick and sneaky knockout or a fast Will-O-Wisp before being knocked out myself.

In addition to Lucario and Rotom-Heat, I also really wanted to use Azumarill. The idea of destroying my opponents with a bunny wabbit was too enticing to pass up. I found that without the Belly Drum support, Azumarill’s damage output was just a little too low. Because if this, I then added Raichu onto the team. I needed a fast Fake Out user anyway, and the Lightning Rod ability did a great job protecting Azumarill. Raichu also came in handy alongside my scarfed Rotom-Heat. By using Discharge, I was able to cause some damage to my opponents while also powering up my Raichu, plus the 30% chance of a paralysis was an added bonus. There was one issue with this idea: if Raichu went down, then I was stuck with a Scarfed Rotom continually using Discharge. To help with this, I added Garchomp. Garchomp’s dual Ground- and Dragon-typing allowed him to absorb Discharges while also taking Rock Slides often aimed at Rotom-Heat. He was also great at taking a Brave Bird or Flare Blitz from Talonflame aimed at Venusuar or Lucario.

Final Team Analysis

For any of you who would rather watch a video than read a lengthy article, I have provided a team analysis video on my YouTube channel. Please watch and leave a like! Hitting that sexy subscribe button would also be helpful.

Raijin (Raichu) (F) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Lightningrod
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power Ice
– Encore
– Fake Out

Most of my team’s nicknames are based off of demons in the Christian mythology. In Raichu’s case, I decided to go with Raijin which is actually a Japanese lightning god. Raichu was the main support Pokémon on my team. He is one of the fastest Fake Out users in the game, which helped a lot against Kangaskhan and other Fake Out users. Encore is really useful against people who were foolish enough to use Protect on the first turn. It also was helpful in locking Aegislash into Substitute or locking other Pokemon into a useless move that I switched into. On a few occasions, I was able to lock the opponent into Thunderbolt and they were stuck continuously powering up my Raichu. Hidden Power Ice was key for taking out Garchomp threats, which could give my team a lot of trouble. Unfortunately, the nerf to Hidden Power made it impossible to knock out Garchomp, which was where Rotom-Heat’s Discharge came in handy. With a +1 boost, Hidden Power Ice is capable of one-shotting Garchomp and Salamence. Since I ran both Lucario and Raichu, opposing Garchomp could almost be guaranteed to show up, so I gave Raichu an Air Balloon. This forced Garchomp to use a move other than Earthquake and made it so he could never one shot my Raichu, which then allowed me to pick up the Hidden Power knock out on the second turn if I was not able to the first turn. It also allowed me to pair Raichu with my own Garchomp on the rare occasion I would need to.

Succorbenoth (Rotom-Heat) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest Nature
– Volt Switch
– Overheat
– Will-O-Wisp
– Discharge

Succorbenoth is the chief eunuch demon of the gates of hell. I found this appropriate since Rotom is genderless and is also known as a wall. Volt Switch allowed me to cause some damage and also escape threats. It was also useful for fighting against Shadow Tag users, which is gaining popularity right now. Overheat is a given and was nice for taking out Mawile and Aegislash. Due to my Rotom not having a lot of investment in bulk, he was vulnerable to Sucker Punch. Therefore, I also ran with Will-O-Wisp to help counter the obvious Sucker Punch and to also bypass King’s Shield. Discharge was there for powering up Raichu, causing paralysis, and for running the classic Disquake combo with my Garchomp. This particular Rotom is not bulky at all, but he will still survive most Rock Slides. Hydro Pump should be avoided at all costs. I decided to invest as much as I could in Speed first, and then worry about bulk. This Rotom can outspeed a Jolly Aerodactyl, a very common threat against Raichu and Rotom-Heat.

Caerbannog (Azumarill) (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 228 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Play Rough
– Aqua Jet
– Belly Drum
– Protect

Azumarill is actually named after the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I was running a pretty standard set for him with no real surprises. He was also my main Trick Room counter. With Aaron Zheng’s team sprouting up all over the place, I really needed a counter for both Trick Room and Gothitelle. When I saw a player running Gothitelle, I would often let them set up Trick Room, Fake Out the partner with Raichu and get a Belly Drum up with Azumarill and then sweep, sweep, sweep. At +6, Azumarill even had a chance to KO Mega Mawile. That’s huge!

Belphegor (Garchomp) (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Rock Slide
– Dragon Claw
– Earthquake
– Protect

Belphegor was the demon or “god” of the Moabites, which I believe was a desert tribe so the nickname seemed to fit. Plus, it sounds cool. Anyway, this is a super standard Garchomp set, but also very useful for my team. Like I said before, Garchomp allowed me to swallow up Discharge and other electric attacks. He was also my biggest counter to Talonflame. Rough Skin really hurt Talonflame after a Brave Bird or Flare Blitz. It also allowed me to switch into predictable Fake Outs from Kangaskhan. The Lum Berry was used to avoid burns, but also gave me a counter for the common Dark Void Smeargle and Kangaskhan leads.

Sonneillon (Lucario) (M) @ Lucarionite
Ability: Inner Focus/Adaptability
EVs: 60 HP / 108 Atk / 92 Def / 4 SpD / 244 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Close Combat
– Bullet Punch
– Swords Dance
– Protect

Sonneillon is the demon of hatred. I originally used this nickname for Rotom because I hate Rotoms so much and called my Lucario “Thamuz”, who is the ambassador of hell and demon master of big weapons. I don’t remember the reasoning behind the switch. Anyway, Lucario was used a lot in practice on Showdown and for many of the local Premier Challenges in my area, but was rarely used at the Fort Wayne Regional tournament. I previously ran a special set with Vacuum Wave, Flash Cannon, and Nasty Plot, which hard to pull off but was actually a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it missed out on a lot of KOs. Vacuum Wave usually doesn’t KO Tyranitar in the sand, often leaving me open to a Fire Blast. It also has a chance of not KOing Kangaskhan even after a Nasty Plot boost, so I decided to swith to a physical set with a Jolly nature.

I cannot take complete credit for the EV spread, which was originally designed by Wolfe Glick. The Speed EVs allowed me to outspeed Gengar. The Defense and HP investments allowed me to survive an Earthquake from Garchomp, although I seemed to receive a lot of critical hit Earthquakes during the tournament so it rarely saved me! Close Combat allowed me to knock out Kangaskhan and could even do some hefty damage to Mawile as long as I was not Intimidated. Bullet Punch was nice for picking off threats that Raichu or the others weakened for Lucario. Since Nasty Plot was so much fun to run on my special Lucario, I decided use the same idea with my physical Lucario and added Swords Dance. This actually came in handy to power up Bullet Punch or shake off Intimidates. The Inner Focus Ability is really nice for punishing Kangaskhan, other Fake Out users, or to make sure Rock Slide did not land a flinch.

Caym (Venusaur) (F) @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 132 SpA / 4 SpD / 116 Spe
Modest Nature
– Energy Ball
– Synthesis
– Sludge Bomb
– Protect

Caym is the great President of hell who takes the shape of a thrush. Venusaur was basically my bulky, Special-Attacking option for the team. After seeing Kingofmars’ Venusaur set on NuggetBridge, I decided to run something similar but changed some of the moves. I did not like running Leaf Storm at all. Since I rarely led with Venusaur, he would often end up being one of my last two Pokémon. Therefore, I would be stuck using Leaf Storm without being able to switch out or a Gothitelle would Shadow Tag me on the battlefield. Energy Ball, in my opinion, was a better option. It still did an insane amount of damage to Rotom-Wash, still knocked out Mamoswine, and often allowed me to 2HKO other Pokémon. I also chose to run Synthesis over Leech Seed. With Leech Seed, I often found myself losing a game because of a Leech Seed miss or the health return was just not big enough. Synthesis also allowed me to run the more powerful Energy Ball over Giga Drain. Sludge Bomb has a surprisingly wide coverage and the 30% chance of poisoning the target proved to be very helpful. I actually ended up running with Venusaur more often than Lucario at the the tournament. Additionally, Chlorophyll gave me an option against sun. You would normally think that would be a suicide option, but with Garchomp, Raichu, or Rotom-Heat at Venusaur’s side, Mega Charizard-Y was not a big threat. It seems a lot people are still not prepared for the power that is Mega Venusaur. Because I had no Intimidate user, I had to be very careful with Venusaur against Talonflame. He cannot survive a Choice Banded Talonflame but was usually fine against other versions such as Life Orb Talonflame.

This team had an insanely strong core with Raichu, Azumarill, Garchomp, and Rotom-Heat. I have won many matches with just this core alone. My only regret is that my Mega Pokémon seemed more like filler rather than an addition to my core.

Lead Combinations

This was probably my most common lead. It allowed for a quick KO on Garchomp, which is a common lead against Raichu. It also allowed me to take out Aerodactyl or Talonflame before Tailwind could go up. Also, many people seemed to assume that I was going to run Raichu alongside Azumarill. This mistake often ended up with the opponent running Mawile, Venusaur, or Aegislash against my Rotom-Heat. Burn, burn, burn! I would rarely Overheat in this situation due to obvious Protects or switches. The Discharge/Lightning Rod combo often led to many paralyzed Pokémon, too. Even Mamoswine had trouble with this lead since even with the Thick Fat Ability, he does not want to take an Overheat. This was also my usual choice against sun teams, as long as they were not running Venusaur.

This was a common lead for me to use against Trick Room users. I would often Fake Out the partner while allowing Gothitelle to Protect or set up Trick Room. Azumarill would set up Belly Drum and then sweep from there. I also often used this lead if they did not have a Steel- or Grass-type as well.

A classic Discharge/Earthquake lead. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t: I had to be to very aware of Wide Guard. A surprising amount of people do not expect this kind of an attack since I think most are used to seeing this strategy with Zapdos.

This is what I would use against Kangaskhan and Dark Void Smeargle. I would usually not Mega Evolve so Lucario could not be Faked Out, and then double up on the Smeargle with Bullet Punch and Dragon Claw. Kangaskhan would rarely Fake Out the Garchomp due to the massive amount of Rough Skin damage it could take. In some situations, I would change my moves but this often worked against the less-experienced Smeargle players.

Another Kangaskhan and Smeargle counter. This one is pretty obvious. Fake Out and then Close Combat the Smeargle. It usually worked better against a Scarfed Smeargle, which I rarely saw.

This is my common lead against rain. It works alright but I do have to be very careful against Talonflame and Ludicolo. In the rain, Ludicolo has a faster Fake Out than my Raichu which can be a problem. Usually Ludicolo will Fake Out Venusaur so instead of trying to go for the Fake Out, I will Encore it. This forces a switch that is usually predictable.

Strengths and Weaknesses

This team has almost everything. Sun will not touch it, and sand is not a problem with Mega Lucario. Trick Room is nullified with Azumarill, Venusaur, and priority moves , and it has answers to the most common Mega Pokémon. Rain surprisingly gives this team a lot of trouble, but usually only when Ludicolo is involved… which is always. Venusaur could devastate a rain team, but Ludicolo and any Talonflame needs to be dealt with immediately. I wish I also had an Intimidate user on the team, which would have helped in certain situations where I could not get a burn off and my counter was KOed.

Battles

Due to the inability to save battle videos and this tournament already being a month over, my battle details will be a little sparse. I will try and fill in the details as much as I can based off my notes.

Round 1: vs Nathan Cole

VS

This battle actually really scared me because Nathan defeated me the night before at the Premier Challenge. He changed his team up a bit from the night before and brought Raichu and Kangaskhan instead of his Mega Gyarados. I think this was a mistake because he had ended up bringing two support Pokémon to the match, and support Pokémon cannot do their jobs if there are no Pokemon to support! Seeing this, I focused on his big hitters and wittled down his support mons. Sableye ended up giving me a lot of trouble because I do not have a solution for Prankster Pokémon. Remind me to never Encore Will-O-Wisp when I bring all of my physical attackers. This is one of the few matches where I brought Lucario and he cleaned up. (1-0)

Round 2: vs Cody Bernheisel

VS

Cody is actually a friend of mine from the Premier events here in Minnesota. The first time I went to a Premier Challenge, Cody mopped the floor with me using a Trick Room team, but he’s had trouble beating me since. During our match I was able to predict most of his moves which lead to a pretty good victory, such as when I swapped out Venusaur for Garchomp against his Talonflame’s Brave Bird, allowing me to KO my biggest threat. After that, Aegislash, Manectric, and Machamp were not too difficult to dispatch. The only surprise was his Manectric was able knock out Garchomp with Hidden Power Ice, leaving me to believe that it was Modest and not Timid. (2-0)

Round 3: vs Andy Himes

VS

This was a scary match because he had Dark Void Smeargle. Although I have ways to dispatch it, it’s always scary to come across because you have no idea what set it could be running. I never found out if he brought it or not because he never revealed his last Pokémon. Andy made an amazing prediction using Earthquake on my switch to Lucario. I think that awesome prediction cost me the entire match. He had me after that. Andy ended up taking second so it felt good to lose to somebody with such amazing skill. (2-1)

Round 4: vs Jake

VS

Honestly, this match was super hax-heavy in my favor. I felt bad for winning that way, but not bad enough to give up the victory. First, he surprised me with Charizard-X instead of Charizard-Y, but this didn’t help him. My Rotom paralyzed both his Pokémon with Discharge. He then tried to go for Dragon Dance on his Charizard but that was kind of useless after being paralyzed. After that, both of his Pokémon were fully paralyzed for two turns. That was pretty much the end of the match. It was really bad and I never had the chance to see how skillfully he could play. (3-1)

Round 5: vs Shane Black

VS

This was another match where I led with Raichu and Rotom-Heat. At least I think I did since my notes say Sableye was paralyzed and that was most likely from Rotom-Heat’s Discharge. I barely remember this match except for the fact that I won. I am not sure, but I think I finished this match 4-0. (4-1)

Round 6: vs Collin Heier

VS

This was the scariest match of the night against Collin Heier, 3rd place at the World Championships. I had faced Collin before in a Premier Challenge from last season where he destroyed me. That team was not prepared for Trick Room and I was even more of a noob than I am now. This time, I told myself this match would be different: I could win this!

That was a lie. Collin beat me again, but this time I at least I made him work for it. He started out with Ludicolo and Gothitelle (possibly Politoed) and I led with Raichu and Venusaur. For some reason I knew he wanted to Fake Out my Venusaur so I let him and had Raichu go for Encore instead, locking his Ludicolo into Fake Out. This would have worked out great if I could complete my plan. Like the noob that I am, I went for a Sludge Bomb into a Mawile switch-in, which was a rookie mistake I am still angry about. That move could have won me the game. After that, I could not escape the Shadow Tag shenanigans and Collin eventually took the game. It was a very exciting match and I hope I made him sweat. (4-2)

Round 7: vs Vincent

VS

When I saw this team, it screamed Trick Room so I decided to lead with Raichu and Azumarill. This was one of those situations where I didn’t want him to get Trick Room up so I didn’t let him. If I remember this right, I Faked Out his Slowking and then Play Roughed his Hariyama for the knock out. Then I doubled up on his Slowking to make sure it went down. After that, the match was pretty much over since his Ampharos could not do a lot with Raichu out there. I believe I won this match 4-0. (5-2)

Round 8: vs Spencer

VS

Honestly, I do not remember this match at all. But if I do remember correctly, it was a pretty quick match and did not give me too much of a headache. I may have won this one 4-0 as well. (6-2)

Conclusion

So there it is. My first team report and my 11th place standing. I hope you guys enjoyed the read.

All in all, I think this team performed extraordinarily well. I blame my losses on player error and not the team. I had an opportunity to win in both the matches that I lost, but I was just not able to gain the upper hand. I will be better prepared next time.

I am pretty happy with the way I performed, but I am extremely unhappy about the decision to have a Top 8 instead of a Top 16. This infuriated many players because it robbed them of the chance to do better. Who knows, I could have made Top 4 or even won the tournament if given the chance to advance. But either way, I did awesome and came home with some gloating rights and cards (which I promptly sold since I have no interest in collecting cardboard).

Thank Yous and Props

I would like to thank the entire Pokémon community, especially all the users at Nugget Bridge. I have never met such a nice and helpful group of people. I also want to thank the guys at the local Premier Events here in Minnesota, especially Aaron Liebersback (Arch) who consistently beats me in tournaments and enraged me enough to do better. I guess I should also thank the girlfriend. She is usually pretty good about not giving me grief for running off to Pokémon tournaments and skipping the house chores. Thanks for reading the report, and I hope to see you at future events!

The post What Could Have Been: An 11th Place Indiana Regional Team Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hey guys, Zekira G. Drake here, writing about what is undoubtedly the Philippines’ most successful Pokémon Video Game tournament.

I do have to apologize for getting this out pretty late; by the time I finish writing this initial draft, the second big tournament (which takes place on October 26, 2014) has already ended. Oops. I won’t be able to cover that one as I had other commitments on the same day. (Author’s note: Our November tournament also just ended, which was on the 22nd; wasn’t able to attend that one as well though)

Introduction

Pokémon-Philippines: Pilipinas Got Pokémon (PKMN-ph: PGP) and its Video Game sScene

I joined the group known as “PKMN-ph” around 2007-8. It was a small group of Pokémon lovers in the Philippines who were mainly situated in a simple message board of their own, started in 2006. It covered Pokémon fans of multiple specialties: Trading Card Game, Video Game, fan art, writing, and a lot more. For a while, I was under the impression that it was the main Pokémon community in the Philippines.

For the video game side, we mostly played the 6v6 Singles formats as our main format. I don’t remember the official VGC formats being mentioned much back then. We had self-organized tournaments. Our venue? Random places around certain malls. To put it bluntly, we were loitering. We often used THE FLOOR™. We would sometimes even look for stray food/utensils/plates around food courts just so we could justify ourselves staying in one place as long as possible.

Stepping a few years into the 2010’s, we had some conflicts regarding a group situated on Facebook known as “Pilipinas Got Pokémon” (PGP), where the two groups were usually mistaken with the other. I wasn’t part of that one, so I don’t really know what’s going on their side.

Negative history and stories aside, the two merged into one Pokémon community that was nothing but support for the franchise just a few years ago. This is when PKMN-ph: PGP was born as one big Pokémon community.

As I was on a slight community hiatus for a long time, I don’t exactly know when the group started mingling in VGC formats.

Me as Part of the Battling Community

I honestly feel bad that I made an entire section that highlights myself, but I can’t find any other way to explain my limited perceptions on the community’s history.

I started playing the VGC formats during the season of VGC14, which was back around November of 2013. Why I suddenly started playing Doubles when I’ve been playing competitive Singles 6v6 since around 2005 is irrelevant right now.

The first tournament I attended hosted by the new PKMN-ph: PGP was a VGC14 tournament held last December 2013. We were STILL loiterers. This would repeat around February and April, and I think another month after that, but I only remember participating in only one more. I was more interested in battling with the international community, to be honest.

In these tournaments, we struggled to reach a participant count of 20. Though it was kind of exciting to see the participants grow more and more, it stagnated a bit around the 30 mark. I also lost count of how many times the mall security officers would tell us to leave.

Then came September 2014.

The Event Preparations

Prior to this, the Philippine VGC community wass largely aware of the international scene now. A lot of people are starting to have that big dream of one day having official support. Competitors are starting to watch international scenes more closely than before.

I didn’t think much of this booming activity because of the part I stated above of me wanting to battle the international community instead. But all this preparation and teasing really caught my eye.

The Month of Teasing

When the admins and organizers would survey for the event setting, they usually opted for our ‘standard’ venues, with cheap registration fees for those joining the tournaments. So I was a bit surprised when we had a different proposal: Robinson’s Galleria Courtside, Registration Fee 100 PHP. I wondered what the increased price was for, and why this suddenly different venue? It was farther from where I lived, so I wasn’t that comfortable.

But this event kept getting hyped. Eventually I found out that Robinson’s Galleria Courtside is the same place where our TCG community (which has some official support) is holding their events. So I was like “wait… we’re gonna have TABLES?!” Guess that’s where the extra registration fee came in.

Well, it’s just tables, big deal, right? Well, yeah it kinda is. I just can’t help but feel how much more professional this looks than what I’m used to.

More teasing aside like the above illustrated ID being given out, and the preparations keep going and going until the day itself. What did me in was the custom trophy.

I don’t know why, but there is just something that attracts me from having things like these, especially for achievements involving games I love. I couldn’t resist. I pre-registered.

I then took team creation and practicing more seriously than I usually did. I emphasized on meta-counter picking, something I don’t usually do, because I really, REALLY just wanted this. The day came. Funnily enough, I think I wasn’t done with my team back then.

The Event

So I hadn’t finished my team while going into the event itself; I was still conflicted with a 6th member. But I was already picking from just 2 left so I decided that I’d be finishing it on the way there.

Visual First Impressions

The place was already pretty packed when I got there, despite it still being relatively early. The shot above is taken from the registration booth while people were lining up to register their teams.

Speaking of that, this was the first tournament where we were going to try and use as much of the ruleset used in tournaments held in the US; we were all restricted to just one team for the entire tourney. We even had judges willing to take care of match monitoring; even though they’re not a lot, it gave some reassurance that this is gonna be good.

I got there and talked to the people I know from the community. Haven’t seen them in a long time, but it’s good to know that they still know my face at least. I go ahead and register my team… which I was not done EV’ing.

I felt comfortable around this community since I’m one of the more, longer-time members in there, so I was a bit noisier than I usually am. Made some small talk with some of the people I don’t know, even. I was seated in one of the chairs fixing my things, and was told that I forgot to get my freebies. So I got my freebies which composed of those Points card things (which we weren’t actually gonna use), some TCG cards, a Pokemon strap which I attached to my 3DSXL. After seeing what I was given, I was fortunate I got their early as I was able to swap all of them with Fennekin ones.

I’m thinking of replacing my 3DSXL to a Fennekin one so that I can have a fully Fennekin themed rig.

Not clearly seen here was me bringing large headphones to the venue. If there’s one thing I learned from participating in Fighting Game tournaments, is that you want to do as much as possible to block out external sound. In this case, I wanted to make sure that I’m listening to Music 10 (Elite Four Battle Theme) on blast while battling. Yeah, I know other electronics normally shouldn’t be allowed in the official tourneys.

Later I found out that we were going to have a bracket split into Beginners and Advanced brackets. This meant that there were a lot of new players coming in, which was good. I did mention above that the place was pretty filled when I got there already, right? I recognized many faces, and I didn’t recognize many as well. It was pretty exciting.

I clarified the round format used; first is a 5-round BO1 swiss, then top 8 from each bracket advances into top cut.

I started taking pictures then. I specifically wanted to look for the prize I was aiming for. I was kinda stunned when I found it.

After taking pictures, I sat down and continued finishing my team.

After Registrations

Registrations finished and then lunch break was announced. I found out that we had a total of 96 participants for VGC that day. I was really excited at being able to participate in such a large tourney. Oh yeah, I put “for VGC” there since I also found out that a TCG tourney was also held on the same day.

(sorry for blurry pic)

So I finished EV training my 6th member… or so I thought; I use Reset Bags to check whether I EV’d it right, and I found out that it was wrong. I started to panic a bit so I just bought fries for lunch along with 3 bottles of water and quickly sat down to rush the EV training throughout lunch break.

Bit of a random pic, but sitting across me is who most of us consider to be the best player in the country.

I wanted to see what he was using in the case that I run into him again. After he posted his team report in PKMN-ph though, I was thankful that I didn’t meet him in swiss.

By the way, needless to say, we eventually still had to use THE FLOOR™ due to the number of people.

The Battling Experience

I decided to keep my battles and team separate from this post as I wanted to highlight the event itself here. But if anyone’s still interested, you can find me posting about it in one of my tumblr posts. A summary of which is:

• Me trying to counterpick more than play with what I’m comfortable with, which leads to me winning my first 3 games convincingly and then choking + overestimating my team on the last two, barely missing my top cut opportunity with just 1 match.
• Seriously guys, if you really REALLY want to win something, use what you’re most comfortable winning with. And don’t use a Pokémon that you hate so much that you’d rather die.
• I also have vids of all of my matches there, in case you guys wanted to see how stupid my decisions were…

The Battling Statistics

Aside from the event, I also wanted to highlight a bit of the meta’s state here. The organizers were keen enough to start gathering usage statistics at the same time as the team registrations. I was able to borrow this info from them. Thanks guys!

First, I would like to point out that I am aware that there are illegal Pokémon in here. Sorry for that.

Posting these statistics reminded me of the one guy I really wanted to see, who was said to be using Mega Alakazam, Mr. Mime, and Scyther in the same team. I had an idea what each did, but having all those 3 seemed really interesting to me. I never knew who it was, though.

There’s little differences from the meta that the community here normally knows about. The main difference would probably the high usage of Gardevoir and Rotom-W, who fell in usage just before worlds.

Top Cut Teams

I think Top Cut Teams always deserve special mentions.

1. Migz Garcia

2. Alvin Rambano

3. Keith Magali

4. Nigel Descalzo

The rest of the top cut people below are in no particular order in their placings.

Rikki Castro

Joshua Manalansan

Allan Joseph Coral

Martin Ocampo

Allain Larin

Jonathan Delos Santos

Marlon Valeza

Reymar Canada

Juan Miguel La Torre

Renelle Payumo

Jerry San Miguel

Cris Vincent Bondoc

The People

Just wanted to highlight some of the conversations I had that I found interesting.

I was small talking Alvin Rambano and checking out how he was doing in the tourney. I was also trying to get some info on his team somehow, but wasn’t able to. There were a lot of people doing multi-battles on the side and I really wanted to join in one of them. Wasn’t able to though since most of them seem like they knew each other

After around Round 2 or 3 or something, I talked with Marlon a bit and he told me he just won a match where he and his opponent had a lot of similar Pokémon. It was also the time I found out that his Kangaskhan had Double-Edge. I have no idea why this didn’t give me the signal to bring Mawile in our match, though.

When I was borrowing the files from the organizers’ laptops, I told the PKMN-ph admin Serpol that I’d do the competitive battling side of the event coverage. Sorry that I couldn’t highlight it as much as you probably were expecting though, the event was just too good that I have to make it the main focus.

One conversation I remember having was with the guy tallying the wins; he told me that, after my third win, I just needed any next win out of my two matches to guarantee my top cut spot. Which didn’t happen. I don’t know if I got overconfident, but I’ll make a mental note not to let that get to me next time. To this day, I’m still surprised that JM suddenly didn’t bring Rain when he was the sole reason I was scared of rain in our local community.

That’s mostly what I remember; I was too busy griping about all my mistakes the whole day.

Other Resources

• Our photographer allowed me to link his album of the shots he took at the event. It’s mostly shots of people though, so it might not be interesting, but it gives a really good idea of how big the event was, with some funny shots like the comsat moment caught on cam.
• (this was the very last turn of the very last match by the way; it was already a decided match)
• The PKMN-ph admins decided to share their own thoughts about the event itself.
• A short video by our same photographer about the event. He recently just posted it on his official page.

Closing Remarks and Credits

I really regret that I was not able to go to the tournament on October 26. There were 83 participants then, 66 of which were registered even before the event itself. They had better management this time to make match calling easier and made sure that no illegal Pokémon went through. They also made it into one bracket due to a controversy with the brackets for a while in the previous tournament.

I think the organizers are trying to make this a monthly thing, which will be pretty exciting; the air of an offline tourney is still much better compared to an online one. I have a feeling some of the players here are actually not performing as well as they should be because of the offline environment.

I hope this will be a signal for the Pokémon community and the battling community to grow larger and larger in the future; I’d love to see it get bigger and bigger. Maybe one day, we’ll achieve the dream of getting noticed by officials. But until then, we’ll keep rocking the game the way we love to rock it.

Special shoutouts:

•  Of course, first, THE FLOOR™. You will forever be a part of the PKMN-ph venue.
• Our admins Paul Morada and Ray Powao of PKMN-ph and PGP respectively for organizing an amazing event. And of course, to all of our rangers (moderators).
• Speaking of which, http://pkmn-ph.com/, of course.
• Our photographer Ricky Namin for providing us with great photo coverage.
• Marlon Valeza for reminding me how bad he is at this game. He even selected Trade when he wanted to do our match. Must be jelly of my Mawile or something.
• Keith Magali for making me realize that there’s something more annoying than bulky helmet Talonflame. Also, I found out late that he wanted to write this article himself. Sorry!
• That guy who was calling matches whose name escapes me again. Sorry!
• That guy who was recording match wins who even posted his name on the Facebook group reminding everyone of himself. Sorry that I forgot your name too!
• The TCG community and admins for helping us out. Really, REALLY helping us out a lot. I’m glad we’re beginning to bridge the two communities together.

I think that’s pretty much it. Thanks for reading, guys.

Random Picture Corner

I’m not much of a paparazzi, but for some reason I just loved taking random pictures at the event.

The post Pokémon-Philippines: First Big Tournament appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

The site of the 2015 Pokémon World Championships has finally been announced alongside qualification info! Keep an eye out for flights as it will take place in Boston, MA, USA from August 21st to 23rd at:

Hynes Convention Center
900 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02115
Phone: 617-954-2000

There will be no Last Chance Qualifier this year. You must qualify for the invite-only World Championships to play in the main event. Spectators are welcome to attend and watch the most exciting matches of the season! As always, there will also be all sorts of side events and activities to do as a spectator including autograph signings by key Pokémon staff and the chance to purchase exclusive merchandise that will never be released again.

Qualification

The top players from each region as determined by Championship Points will receive an invitation for the Pokémon World Championships. To earn Championship Points, you must attend events throughout the year including Premier Challenges,  Regional Championships, and National Championships. The higher you place, the more points you earn at each event.

As you can see, Asia Pacific has been added to the list of regions this year! Mexico has been separated from the USA and Canada and added to the new Latin America region as well. We should see plenty of new faces at Worlds this year. Japan and Korea will have separate qualification requirements as they have had in previous years.

Invitations will be finalized on July 13th, 2015. All issues with accounts must be reported by June 1st.

Tournament Structure

The players who qualify for the 2015 Pokémon World Championships will play off in the first day of competition on Friday, August 21st. All players who finish with two or fewer losses will move on to Day 2 of the competition. The top players from each region will be seeded directly into Day 2 of the competition and receive Travel Awards covering their flights and accommodations:

• The Top 8 players from the US and Canada rating zone
• The Top 16 players from the Europe rating zone
• The Top 2 players from the Latin America rating zone
• The Top 2 players from the Asia Pacific rating zone

Players in Korea and Japan will have their own ways of qualifying for both Day 1 and Day 2 of the competition that will be announced later. Players with invitations from the 2014 Pokémon World Championships will play in Day 1 unless they earn a bye into Day 2 this season through Championship Points.

Schedule

Again, there is no Last Chance Qualifier. Only those who have qualified for the World Championships will be able to play in the main tournament. Side tournaments will run all weekend for those looking to compete with other players for smaller prizes!

Friday, August 21st, 2015

Players who have an invitation to the 2015 Pokémon World Championships but did not earn a bye to day 2 by finishing near the top of their region will play off in a number of best-of-three Swiss rounds determined by attendance. All players with two or fewer losses move on to the second part of the competition on Saturday.

Saturday, August, 22nd, 2015

Players who made it past the Friday segment of the tournament will join those who were automatically seeded into the Saturday segment in another best-of-three Swiss tournament. Players can change their teams between Friday and Saturday. Scores from Friday will be reset, so everyone starts Saturday with a fresh slate.

After the Swiss rounds are over, the top eight players will face off in a single elimination best-of-three bracket until only two players are remaining.

Sunday, August 23rd, 2015

The finals for each age division will be played in sequence.

Prizes

All players who have an invitation to the World Championships will receive an exclusive Pokémon World Championships Welcome Kit as an acknowledgement of their accomplishments during the season. Players must be on site to receive the Welcome Kit.

The top 16 finishers in each of the three age divisions receive the following scholarship awards:

• 1st: $10,000
• 2nd: $7,500
• 3rd and 4th: $5,000
• 5th–8th: $3,000
• 9th–16th: $1,500

1st and 2nd place also receive:

• A Pokémon World Championships Trophy
• A Travel Award for the winner (and parent or legal guardian for players considered minors) to the 2016 World Championships
• An invitation to the 2016 World Championships
• Two boxes of the most current Pokémon TCG expansion

3rd and 4th place also receive:

• A Pokémon World Championships Trophy
• An invitation to the 2016 World Championships
• Two boxes of the most current Pokémon TCG expansion

5th through 16th place also receive:

• Two boxes of the most current Pokémon TCG expansion

The post 2015 Pokémon World Championships Location & Qualification Info appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hello. My name is Nicholas Borghi. I am from South Brunswick, NJ. I started to get into VGC around three years ago, but this was the first year I took it seriously.

I started building several different gimmicky teams with my friends James (Jamesspeed1) Baek, Jake (Pokebeys) Skurchak, Dan (SharingIsCaring) Howse, Leonard (DaWoblefet) Craft III, and Shaun (Scal). These teams included Pokémon such as Mega Pinsir, Mega Houndoom, and Mega Banette. One day, I went back and re-watched the semifinal match between Alex Ogloza and Jon Hu at the US National Championships. Jon inspired me to build a team around Lapras. Unfortunately, I deleted my computer history since I originally made the team, due to a virus scare that turned out to just be my laptop being old. Because of this, I no longer have past versions of the team saved. I only have two versions with me: the one that I used to win the Holmes PA Premier Challenge, and the version used to get top eight at Philadelphia Regionals.

I started VGC back in 2012 when my friend Dan took me to Philadelphia Regionals. I played awfully, but ended with a neutral record. Next year I went again and ended with a better record at 4-3. I had actually done this while using a Hitmonlee and a Choice Scarfed Metagross. I actually tried this year though and I ended decently, I think. Where I got top 8 at Philly Regionals, First at the Holems PA Premier Challenge, and Second at a West Babylon Premier Challenge.

I went to MA Regionals with a team I had been very confident in. I unfortunately met very bad luck. At one point I lost a battle where I just had a Mega Charizard Y left against an under-leveled Conkeldurr, and a Mega Abomasnow. I double missed Heat Wave and that took me out of any chance of Top Cut.

Later I got 4th place at the Premier Challenge in Delaware, which is where I met my friend Jake Skurchak. I had done this using a Mega Aerodactyl team. Later I got 2nd at a Premier Challenge in Bluebell PA using a Mega Banette team. I unfortunately lost to Michael Spinetta-McCarthy (SirChicken). He had been using Mega Kangaskhan, the Pokémon my Mega had been designed to beat. The link to the post about this team is here.

Then it had come down to the LCQ. I don’t really like talking about this much because of the bit of luck that happened, two Draco Meteor critical hits in a row. My opponent who had knocked me out was a nice Australian player named Bailey (Bargens). He ended up getting knocked out next round by my friend James.

Then I had moved up to the Masters Division on September 4th. I also at that point knew that the competition would be much harder. Here is the team that I used at my first event ever in the Masters Division. I had not realized at the time though that my 6 Pokemon had been Sejun Park’s National Rain Team.

I enjoyed this version of the team for quite some time until I realized that I had a giant weakness to Mega Venusaur, Mega Lucario (especially Special variants), and Choice Scarf Machamp. Funny thing is, Zapdos had been the MVP of the tournament. So here is the 4th draft of the team:

Ludicolo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Swift Swim
Modest Nature
EVs: 220 HP / 188 SpA / 100 Spe
– Fake Out
– Ice Beam
– Scald
– Giga Drain

Ludicolo was the eventual replacement for Lapras on the team, as I found that Lapras lacked the offensive presence that my team wanted. I used Ludicolo more for offensive support though instead of using it for its offensive prowess. Ludicolo was much faster than Lapras, especially under Rain. Ludicolo also added Fake Out support which my team lacked, and liked overall. I chose Scald over Hydro Pump because as I said, I used him more for offensive support than power, and the chance to burn never hurt.

I choose Giga Drain over Energy Ball so that Ludicolo would be able to last longer on the field, and Energy Ball still didn’t get the OHKO on most Rotom-W’s. The EV spread is extremely simple. My team had a bit of a weakness to Mega Manetric, so I invested enough Speed EVs to outspeed Timid Mega Manetric when Rain was up. The Special Attack EVs allowed me to 2HKO everything I wanted to, and gave me a guaranteed OHKO on Mega Kangaskhan if I were to get the burn. The rest of the EVs were dumped into HP.

Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
Jolly Nature
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Atk / 252 Spe
– Protect
– Rock Slide
– Dragon Claw
– Earthquake

Standard Garchomp. I chose Life Orb over the standard (at the time) Lum Berry because I found in testing that most Rotom would try to get damage off on Garchomp instead of going for two Will-O-Wisps. Not having to worry about Rotom Will-O-Wisps allowed me to switch over to Life Orb to deal more damage overall. It also allowed me to OHKO other Garchomp, and Hydreigon who are EVed to take non-Orbed Garchomp’s Dragon Claw. Although this made Garchomp a boon in best of one matches, the Life Orb seemed more of a liability than an asset in best of three matches.

Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate —> Huge Power
Adamant Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Atk / 4 Def / 76 SpD / 4 Spe
– Protect
– Sucker Punch
– Play Rough
– Iron Head

This was my original Mawile spread. It was a slightly edited version of my friend Jake (SableyeMagma) Rosen’s spread. I basically took 8 EVs out of Special Defense and split them between Defense and Speed , letting it outspeed other Adamant Mawiles that run no Speed. At first I considered using Fire Fang to always win the Mawile mirror outside of Rain, but that would leave me without a reliable STAB move and could make me lose the mirror if Rain is up. During testing this happened eight times, so I’m glad I went with what I did.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Bold Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 108 Def / 148 SpD
IVs: 30 Atk, 30 Def
– Thunderbolt
– Roost
– Swagger
– Thunder Wave

I wanted to change the EVs so that the HP would be divisible by 16 for maximum Leftovers recovery. However, I never got around to adjusting my spread. The HP and Defense EVs give Zapdos a 97.6% chance of surviving a Life Orb Garchomp’s Dragon Claw, and also makes Rock Slide from said Garchomp a 3HKO. The HP and Special Defense EVs allow Zapdos to survive a Choice Specs Hydreigon Draco Meteor, letting me Thunder Wave it and Roost the next turn to be at a good enough amount of health to still do work against my opponent’s team. I considered whether or not I wanted Hidden Power Ice or Swagger, and went with the latter. Just in case I decided to switch Swagger out at the last minute, I made sure that my Zapdos had the correct IVs to use Hidden Power Ice.

Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Modest Nature
EVs: 36 HP /36 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 180 Spe
– Dark Pulse
– Draco Meteor
– Flamethrower
– Earth Power

Very standard Choice Specs Hydreigon. 36 HP and Defense EVs allow me to survive a Garchomp Dragon Claw or a Jolly Mega Kangaskhan Return. 180 Speed allows me to outspeed Alex Ogloza’s Hydreigon from US Nationals, which I thought would be quite popular. Earth Power gives me an option to knock out Mega Mawile while Rain is in effect.

Politoed @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Drizzle
Calm Nature
EVs: 244 HP / 52 Def / 212 SpD
– Protect
– Rain Dance
– Scald
– Ice Beam

Let me start off by saying that I personally prefer this Politoed set more than the Scarf set. The spread, taken from my friend Jamesspeed1, optimizes Sitrus Berry recovery. The HP and Defense EVs allow Politoed to survive Mega Lucario’s Close Combat, and the Special Defense makes Choice Specs Hydreigon’s Dark Pulse a 4HKO. The moveset is very standard. Scald is a reliable STAB move, Ice Beam provides coverage, and Rain Dance helps to get my Rain back up against Tyranitar and Charizard-Y.

Onto The Tournament: Holmes, PA 9/14/14

Unfortunately, I do not remember how most of my battles went.

Round 1 Vs. Random Girl

She had just gotten the game five days prior to the tournament and was using her in-game team. She had been told that no Legendaries were allowed, so she called over the TO to check my team. I ended up getting a 4-0 victory.

Score: 1-0

Round 2 Vs. Random Guy

I remember absolutely nothing about this game, except that it was a win.

Score: 2-0

Round 3 Vs. Scott Morris (TheLoveDrVGC)

He Brought: Mamoswine, ????
I Brought: Politoed, Hydreigon, ??

I had decent position for most of this battle, but ended up losing.

Score: 2-1

Round 4 Vs. Kyle Morris (I can’t remember names too well)

He Brought: Mega Venusaur, ???
I Brought: Zapdos, ???

Can’t remember much about this game except that he had a Mega Venusaur and that Zapdos put in a lot of work.

Score: 3-1

I made it into Top Cut despite my low resistance. It was the first time I’d Top Cut in a sanctioned event, and doing it in my first event ever in the Masters Division made it better.

Top 4 Vs. Tyler VanBlargan (Eventual 3rd Place)

All I remember about this match was that he was a Singles player who wanted to try out VGC. Game one was a 4-0 victory, and game two was a 3-0 victory.

Finals Vs. Chris Semp (pookar)

I was very proud of my play in the first match, as I think I played very well. Game two was sloppier, and I got extremely lucky.

Here are the replay codes for these two matches. I was not able to save battle videos, but Chris did.

• G1: APPG WWWW WWW9 NVA9
• G2: 26GW WWWW WWW9 NVA8

My first competition in the Masters Division ended up with a win. I did realize, though, that my team still had a few weaknesses that needed to be addressed. Life Orb Mamoswine was annoying to deal, and Mega Venusaur wreaked havoc on my team.

Changes to the Team

I changed my spread very slightly. I realized that I only needed 148 Sp. Att with a Modest nature to get all the OHKOs I needed, so I put some bulk into each of its defenses. Not much else to say.

As an aside: I was testing this new iteration of the team with my friend Pokebeys, and something unbelievable happened. We go into a battle, and I start using Scald with Ludicolo. I get a burn on his Garchomp on the first turn. Then, I get a burn on his Zapdos the next turn. This then happens two more times in a row, with burns on his Mawile and Ludicolo. In our next battle, the same thing happened again, except that Politoed was the Pokemon doing the burning. Jake didn’t speak to me for three days after that.

I edited the spread, only using 236 Attack EVs. These were enough to be able to OHKO other Garchomp with Dragon Claw. I dumped the rest of the EVs into HP.

I changed the nature on Mawile from Adamant to Brave, and took away the Speed EVs. I felt this would help me out a bit against Trick Room teams. I still kept a 31 Speed IV in order to outspeed other Brave Mawile outside of TR. I also invested more into the Defenses at the expense of Attack. I originally only wanted to survive Modest Life Orb Tyranitar Fire Blast, which required 252 HP and 140 Special Defense EVs. The day before the Regional, though, I decided to also make Mega Mawile survive a -1 Attack Talonflame Flare Blitz, which required 60 Defense EVs. This left me with only 56 Attack EVs, but to be honest the drop in Attack wasn’t noticeable, and the extra bulk helped my matchups in general.

—->

Talonflame @ Choice Band
Trait: Gale Wings
Adamant Nature
Evs: 68 HP / 196 Atk / 68 Def / 4 SpD / 172 Spe
– Brave Bird
– Flare Blitz
– U-Turn
– Taunt

I swapped out Zapdos for Choice Band Talonflame in order to better check Pokemon like Mega Venusaur, Mega Lucario, and Scarf Machamp. This set is designed to win the Talonflame mirror, as the Attack EVs guarantee I OHKO 4 HP Talonflame. My friend who came up with the spread assured me that the HP and Defense EVs would allow me to always survive a Choice Band Brave Bird, but it turns out that he calculated using a Life Orb. I actually had a 50% chance to survive CB Talonflame Brave Bird, but I didn’t realize this until well after the tournament because during testing I never actually had another Talonflame OHKO me. Taunt was used to help against Trick Room.

I changed a few EVs on Hydreigon, taking out 16 Special Attack EVs. This still gave me an 81.33% chance of OHKOing 4 HP Mega Kangaskhan with Draco Meteor. I added 8 EVs each to HP and Speed. The former allowed me to always survive an Adamant Mega Kangaskhan Return, while the latter put my Speed above anything Speed creeping Smeargle.

Politoed @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
Modest Nature
Evs: 20 HP / 4 Def / 236 SpA /4 SpD / 244 Spe
– Scald
– Ice Beam
– Hydro Pump
– Rain Dance

Alex Ogloza’s Politoed spread. I hated this. I only used it because I thought other players might know that I ran Sitrus Berry Politoed in the Premier Challenge prior to the tournament. I wanted to take a few people by surprise. Scarf Politoed could also help with my Mega Lucario matchup, as I could try to burn it with Scald or OHKO it with Hydro Pump.

I liked using this team a lot, even though it was so standard compared to the other teams I’d made in the past. Here is why I called it “The Look-A-Like”:

Round 1 Opponent: “Hey, is that an updated version of Alex Ogloza’s National’s team?”
Round 2 Opponent: “Is that Sejun Park’s National Rain Team?”
Guy in between Rounds 2 & 3: “Hey, I told my friend that you’re using Sejun’s team. He says you’re using Ray Rizzo’s Nats team.”
Round 5 Opponent: “Are you using JiveTime’s team from Worlds?”
Round 6 Opponent: “I know I don’t know VGC too well, but isn’t that team that Ray Rizzo used at US Nats?”
SableyeMagma, the day after Philadelphia Regionals: “Why are you even writing a team report? You just used Sejun’s team. It’s as standard as Detroit.”

Now onto the big day.

Philadelphia Regionals

I was extremely nervous going into the Regional. My team was so standard and really didn’t have any tricks up its sleeve. I knew that no matter what, I wanted to Top Cut, but I also knew that it was going to be a blood bath trying to get to 7-2. I went in and saw players like Wolfe, Aaron, Cameron (Stormfront), Jeff (Expert Evan), OmegaDonut, and so many others. This did not stop me from trying however.

I had a few warmup battles with some of my Senior friends, where I won convincingly, and before long it was time to go see the first round pairings.

Round 1 Vs. Lauren Schwegler (Aovolt)

She brought: Manectric, Garchomp, Gardevoir Ferrothorn
I brought: Ludicolo, Hydreigon, Talonflame, Mawile

Really nice girl. I remember her switching out to Gardevoir expecting my Hydreigon to Draco Meteor it. I saw the switch coming and Dark Pulsed and Giga Drained that slot, expecting either Gardevoir or Politoed to switch in. The battle goes downhill for her from there and she starts trying to stall out the battle. I have to tell her that I have Talonflame in the back and she forfeits. She ended up going 5-4 at her first Regional ever.

Score: 4-0 Win
Record: 1-0

Round 2 Vs. Jesse Spinelli

He brought: Mawile, Slowbro, Garchomp, Gengar
I brought: ????

I don’t remember much about this battle. His team looked like a Trick Room team, but it wasn’t. Gengar had Life Orb with Dazzling Gleam, and the Slowbro had Calm Mind.

Score: 3-0 Win
Record: 2-0

Round 3 Vs. Jonathan Hiller (Mr. Fox) (Eventual 5th Place)

He Brought: Greninja, Pachirisu, Aerodactyl, ?
I Brought: Ludicolo, Politoed, ??

I don’t want to talk about this battle. I got completely wrecked by the Pachirisu/Greninja lead. I never actually thought that I would face Pachirisu in a real tournament, so I never adjusted my team to deal with it. Let’s just say I had a heart attack when I saw it in Team Preview.

Score: 1-3 Loss
Record: 2-1

After this loss, I was extremely discouraged. I thought that a loss this early in the tournament would stop me from making Top Cut. However, if Jon did extremely well, it would raise my resistance to the point where I would still have a chance.

Round 4 Vs. James Baek (Jamesspeed1) Eventual 31st Place

I was absolutely terrified. The person I’d spent months team building with, the guy I would Skype everyday, now sat in front of me.

He brought: Garchomp, Ludicolo, ??
I brought: Politoed, Ludicolo, Talonflame, ?

I can’t remember too much about this battle. I remember he had Life Orb Substitute Garchomp. I got a burn and a Critical Hit on his Garchomp. James was extremely mad at me. No hand shake for me at the end of the battle.

Score: 3-0
Record: 3-1

Round 5 Vs. Blake Maust (Drrek)

He brought: Mawile, Garchomp, Vivillon, Rotom-H
I brought: Hydreigon, ???

All I remember from this battle is that he went for Sleep Powder first turn. Had he gone for Powder, he would have done tons of damage to Hydreigon, and probably won in the end.

Score: 2-0
Record: 4-1

Round 6 Vs. Nainil Shan

He brought: Talonflame, Tyranitar, Kangaskhan, ?
I Brought: Garchomp, Mawile, Talonflame, Ludicolo
I led Mawile and Garchomp to his Tyranitar and Talonflame. I had a very advantageous lead matchup, but a critical hit on my Mawile with Flare Blitz knocked it out. Tyranitar was Choice Scarfed, and my team got annihilated.

Score: 0-3
Record: 4-2

Round 7 Vs. Angel Miranda (CT Mikoto Misaka)

He brought: Pachirisu, Zapdos, Ferrothorn, Garchomp
I brought: ???? Aren’t I great at remembering what I brought?

Very standard team. I was scared going into this match, but it was probably the most fun match I had all day. Angel is a great guy and he was a lot of fun to talk to during the battle. Hope I get to battle you again! Sadly, I don’t remember much about the actual battle. He had a Choice Scarfed Zapdos and a Ferrothorn with Leftovers.

Score: 2-0
Record: 5-2

Round 8 Vs. Joshua Edwards (General Josh)

He brought: Azumarill, Charizard, Raichu, Machamp
I brought: ????

My opponent had a Choice Scarfed Machamp, and he may have had Substitute on his Charizard, but I can’t be sure. He told me that he had a Choice Banded Azumarill, but I later saw in one of Cybertron’s Youtube videos that it was a Belly Drum variant.

Score: 4-0
Record: 6-2

It was my last match, and it came down to this. This battle would decide if I Top Cut or not. I went to look at the roster and my heart sank. I was facing a guy named Jeff Falberg. Expert Evan. He was an extremely experienced player, and I thought for sure that my run was over.

Round 9 Vs. Jeff Falberg (Expert Evan)

He brought: Gardevoir, Talonflame, Rotom-W, Lucario
I brought: Talonflame, ???

I can’t remember exactly how this battle went. I remember that it was a 2-0, and that he didn’t see my last Pokémon. I know that his Talonflame had Tailwind, and his Gardevoir was Choice Scarfed. I really wanted to see Roserade, but it didn’t happen. Jeff is a great guy and I friended him on Facebook after the tournament. He seems really cool and is amazingly well rounded.

Score: 2-0
Record: 7-2

I was extremely nervous going to the board to see the final Swiss results. I was stuck in the middle, and could only just snap a picture of part of Top Cut. I looked afterwards and my hand shot up into the air as I screamed at the top of my lungs.

I made it into Top Cut! I finally achieved the goal I’d been training for months to reach. And now, I was going in to face off against Anthony Kisson.

Top 16 Vs. Anthony Kisson (Chilebowl)

Game 1:

He brought: Venusaur, Gardevoir, Tyranitar, Rotom-H
I brought: ????

This was the most stressful set I had all day. I went in with absolutely no information about my opponent. How my opponent plays and their view on the metagame is very important to me when I go against experienced players.

I remember that he forfeited the match just so that I wouldn’t find out information about his Rotom. He didn’t have a Choice Scarf Tyranitar or Gardevoir. I thought the Tyranitar was an Assault Vest set because its damage output was lacking a bit, and he didn’t seem to have Protect.

Score: 4-0
Record: 8-2
Game 2:

He brought: Venusaur, Tyranitar, Rotom-H, Salamence
I brought: ????

In this game, I found out more information. He didn’t have Protect on his Venusaur. He also had Flamethrower on his Tyranitar, and that pretty much confirmed that he was running Assault Vest. Rotom-H had Safety Goggles. I also confirmed that his Salamence was running Choice Scarf because it outsped my Ludicolo in the Rain. He told me afterwards that he didn’t want to bring Lucario because of Talonflame.

Score: 3-0
Record: 9-2

Top 8 Vs. Aaron Zheng (Cybertron)

I would talk about his team, but I would rather post the link where he explains it himself.

The battles weren’t too good for me. I made several miss-plays in game 2 which could have turned the momentum in my favor. The link for the battles are here. These are from Aaron’s perspective and commentated by him. Hope you enjoy!

Score (Game 1): 4-0
Record: 9-3

Score (Game 2): 3-0
Record: 9-4

In my very first Masters Division Regional, I went 9-4 and ended with 8th place!

Shoutouts

I wanted to briefly talk about the other “newcomers” to Top Cut:

• Serapis of the VGC: I love how you used Pledge. You were doing amazing on Showdown!, and I loved watching you battle and talk about your team.
• TwoSmoove: While most people on Showdown! didn’t like you due to the strategy you used, you were able to make it work because you were comfortable with it. Good job, man.

On to the sappy thank yous:

•  James Baek (Jamesspeed1): Dude, I have to attribute a huge amount of my success to you. You helped me build, theorymon, and test, and you are just a great friend. Thanks, man.
• Jake Skurchak (Pokebeys): Great training partner. You are a good friend, and just a great kid overall. You’re awesome at theorymoning. Thank you for the countless days on Skype and for the amazing battles. I couldn’t have asked for a better training partner and friend.
• Jake Rosen (SableyeMagma): Thank you for the ride to Holmes. I wouldn’t have had as much success if you hadn’t been willing to help. I enjoyed your talk about Smash even though I didn’t understand half of it. Thank you for keeping me sane and not allowing me to make crazy changes that were stupid.
• Cameron Kicak (Stormfront): Thank you for being so cool, man. I only met you in September, but you are a great friend to have at Regionals and I was so upset to see that you didn’t Top Cut. I really wanna battle you again sometime, man.
• Leonard Craft III (DaWoblefet): You helped me all year, and I couldn’t have asked for anyone else to make better spreads for me. You helped me with team composition, and the help with my LCQ team will never go unforgotten. Thank you for the help on my Trick Room team, and thank you for just being awesome overall. I hope to see you at Nats, man.

The Parents:

• Mr. Rosen: Thank you for the ride to Holmes, and just for being one of the best parents a kid playing VGC could have. You are okay with the game and you don’t criticize for it.
• Mr. Havardansky: Thank you for driving me and my dad to Regionals. I had a lot of fun. Having Michael there with me was just great overall.
• My Dad (Perry): You have been so supportive. I love how I can talk to you and go on rants about Pokémon, and how you’ll actually listen, even though you probably don’t understand half the stuff I’m saying.

Other players:

• Angel Miranda (CT Mikoto Misaka): Thank you for one of the best matches I had all day. It was a ton of fun, man.
• Jeff Falberg (Expert Evan): Once again. An amazingly fun match. I couldn’t have asked to face someone as awesome as you in my final Swiss match. You’re a great guy and a well-rounded person. I hope you get better from what ever is ailing you.
• Dan Howse (SharingIsCaring): Oh, man. You are just awesome. I never would have started competitive battling without you had I not met you back in 6th grade. You helped me come up with original team compositions. You helped me get all of my Pokémon every year prior to this one. I always love talking with you, and you’re just a great friend. You are a guy I can always count on. You tell me when I being a dumb poop, and you always set me straight. If there was anyone I want to thank the most, it would be you Dan.
• Chris Semp (pookar): The Dark Horse!!!!!! I loved our finals matches and I really want a rematch against you considering how the final game was. Hit me up man.
• Aaron (Aaron “CT Cybertron” Zheng) Zheng: The matches we had were amazing, and it was so much fun playing you. I’m glad I got to face one of my idols in this community. I got so used to hearing you on Youtube. I would love a rematch someday.
• Mohammed Nihal (Mr. GX): Great guy. Such an awesome artist. I really wish that we were in the same time zone, though, so that we could battle and team build. Bro Hug!
• Mini: Mohamed Minhaj (Soon to be KENOG): Brother of MrGX. Helped with Talonflame. Thanks, man.
• Tushar/Colin: Great guys. Tushar is my best friend who actually is into this sort of stuff. He is an awesome friend who is into Singles and hopes to get into VGC this year. Colin is an amazing friend. While not into the competitive screen, he is awesome to talk to. He is always there to talk to me, and is always willing to listen. Thanks, guys.

The post The Look-A-Like: Top 8 Philadelphia Regionals and Holmes Premier Challenge 1st Place Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

I was fortunate enough to make it out to two Autumn Regionals this season. Both times, I finished at X-2, one win shy of qualifying for the Top Cut. While a 7-2 finish in the most talent-heavy portion of the country and a 6-2 finish at a tournament filled with big names from out of the region look good on paper, I can’t help but think I could and should have done better at both. In this report, I’ll talk about the team I used in Philadelphia and Fort Wayne and go through all of my battles at those events.

At a Glance

Just looking at the team, I can’t help but smile. Some of these Pokemon, like Ludicolo and Aegislash, are personal favorites. I don’t even mean competitively, I just like the concept and design of these Pokemon. The team was incredibly fun to use, and I wish I’d built something like it sooner in the format. Hopefully I’ll be able to make it to a couple Alpha Series Premier Challenges so I can give it another shot at glory.

The Team In-Depth

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 68 Def / 12 SpD / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Dragon Claw
– Flare Blitz
– Dragon Dance
– Protect

• Nickname: Ike
• Deployed in Philadelphia: 9/9
• KOs in Philadelphia: 7
• Deployed in Fort Wayne: 8/8
• KOs in Fort Wayne: 11

Considering the most common mega Pokemon at the time were Mawile, Charizard Y, and Kangaskhan, I was looking for a mega of my own that could stand its ground against all three. Charizard X OHKOs Mawile without a Dragon Dance boost, OHKOs Kangaskhan at +1 with Flare Blitz, and takes laughable damage from Charizard Y. Charizard X has the potential for huge damage output if it gets set up, but can be a threat even without a Dragon Dance boost. I went with a bulkier spread to make setting up a bit easier. The HP and Defense EV’s allow it to survive a Jolly Life Orb Garchomp Dragon Claw and OHKO back with its own Dragon Claw. Most Rotom-Wash Hydro Pumps fail to 2HKO as well. Being able to safely Dragon Dance in front of these fairly common Pokemon made Charizard’s life a lot easier. It’s especially funny to see people switch in Rotom-Heat, which all but hard counters Charizard Y, and watch them flail when they realize Rotom-Heat is pure setup bait for Charizard X. As you can see, I brought Charizard to all of my battles at each regional. It also scored far and away the most knockouts of any of my team members. Charizard X is such a powerhouse, and I am very happy I chose to use it.

While this wasn’t meant to be a team that bluffed Charizard Y (I had two water types…why would I use sun with two water types…), Charizard Y with Mega Lucario had just been used by Jeudy Azzarelli to take 2nd place at Worlds, and the fact that I also carried Lucario probably flipped the Charizard Y switch in some people’s heads. Charizard Y is also much more popular in general, and most of the time it’s a safe assumption. I was able to capitalize on this fact pretty well, as most of my opponents would say something like “oh, I didn’t expect that” when I revealed the Charizardite X. I honestly nicknamed it Ike because I just liked the name, but a friend told me that Ike is apparently the name of the “Hero of the Blue Flame” from the Fire Emblem series, which I haven’t touched. This worked out nicely, considering Charizard has blue flames spewing from his mouth upon mega evolution.

Ludicolo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 148 SpA / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
– Fake Out
– Giga Drain
– Scald
– Ice Beam

Nickname: QuieroBailar
Deployed in
Philadelphia: 5/9 KOs in Philadelphia: 6
Deployed in Fort Wayne: 6/8
KOs in Fort Wayne: 7

This is the Ludicolo Blake Hopper took through the LCQ into Worlds. Ludicolo has such a great matchup against a large portion of the metagame, especially teams with a rain component. If you can clear the field of strong physical attackers, Ludicolo can often clean up at the end. The EVs are built to make Jolly Garchomp Dragon Claw a 3HKO while OHKOing back with Ice Beam. The remaining EVs were dumped into speed to creep slower Ludicolo variants. I thought about adding a little more speed, but I valued the defense and special attack benchmarks too much to drop those stats at all. Ludicolo + Charizard was a very common lead for me, since more often than not I could Fake Out the bigger threat to Charizard and start Dragon Dancing right off the bat. Ludicolo also does very well against some of Charizard’s checks, such as faster Dragons. The general bulk and diverse type coverage Ludicolo brought to the team were invaluable. I brought Ludicolo to the majority of my battles, typically only leaving him out when I saw a team full of physical attackers. Flying-types in general scared Ludicolo away. However, there were times when I faced Talonflame or Mega Pinsir and still brought Ludicolo since I was confident that my other three Pokemon could handle them easily. The nickname was inspired by United States Nationals, where the crowd would always start doing Ludicolo’s dance when it was on stream. “Quiero bailar” is Spanish for “I want to dance,” so I saw it as a fitting name for the pineapple with fancy feet. A clone of QuieroBailar made its way to Top 8 in Fort Wayne under Andrew Burley’s control, so I like to think that I made Top 8 in spirit.

Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Fire Blast
– Stone Edge
– Dragon Pulse

•  Nickname: Brutalanda
• Deployed in Philadelphia: 5/9
• KOs in Philadelphia: 2
• Deployed in Fort Wayne: 5/8
• KOs in Fort Wayne: 1

Choice Scarf Salamence, though very straightforward, was an important addition to this team. With the exception of Goodra and random Haban Berries, it picks off the Dragon-types that give Charizard trouble, such as Garchomp and Hydreigon. I really hate playing the speed tie game, so I just opted to go with 252/252 Timid. I probably could have optimized the spread a little bit, but I wanted to give myself the best possible chance of outspeeding and KOing opposing Salamence and Hydreigon. In hindsight, a slower, bulkier spread like Simon Yip’s US Nationals Salamence would have worked just fine, but I don’t regret my decision. The moveset is pretty standard as well. I think Rock Slide on Scarf Salamence is a bad choice, considering it’s way too weak to deal considerable damage and is mostly only good for fishing for flinches. The only real reason to use a rock type move on Salamence is to hit Charizard Y, but Rock Slide can’t even OHKO it, so I didn’t think it’s worth a move slot. While it looks like Salamence’s KO count is really low, that’s because it isn’t meant to be a powerhouse that knocks out Pokemon left and right. Timid Scarf Salamence is really good at taking chunks out of semi-bulky Pokemon for the rest of the team to finish off. It was often switched in and out to utilize Intimidate, and occasionally was saved for an endgame when there was a Pokemon at low health it could finish off. For example, the only time Salamence knocked out a Pokemon at Fort Wayne was in Round 8 when it knocked out a Charizard Y late in the game, but it was brought frequently throughout the tournament and was key in a few wins. The nickname is just the German translation of Salamence. I really like a lot of the foreign Pokemon names (in particular: Scrafty’s German name, Irokex), so if I can’t think of a better nickname that’s usually my default choice.

Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 236 SpA / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
– Shadow Ball
– Flash Cannon
– Substitute
– King’s Shield

Nickname: Durengard
Deployed in Philadelphia: 7/9
KOs in Philadelphia: 9
Deployed in Fort Wayne: 4/8
KOs in Fort Wayne: 2
I’ve been playing Sub + Leftovers Aegislash since a little before Nationals and I really, really like it. I know a lot of people have switched to other sets like Life Orb or Wide Guard + Weakness Policy, but the somewhat defensive nature of this set really meshes well with my playstyle. Aegislash creates really good endgames if it can get behind a substitute against key threats like Mawile or Kangaskhan, while stacking up well against a lot of common archetypes such as Gothitelle + Mawile in Trick Room. The speed EVs are there just to creep other Aegislash and slow Tyranitar, with the leftovers in HP and special attack. My usage of Aegislash dipped from Philadelphia to Fort Wayne, and its KO count dropped severely. I don’t really have an explanation other than less favorable matchups at the latter regional. Aegislash was definitely my MVP in Philadelphia, and my two losses came when I severely misplayed with it. In Fort Wayne, however, it was much less important in determining the outcome of my matches. The nickname is just another German translation that I admire.

Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 76 SpA / 164 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
– Hydro Pump
– Thunderbolt
– Will-O-Wisp
– Protect

• Nickname: Sterling
• Deployed in Philadelphia: 5/9
• KOs in Philadelphia: 3
• Deployed in Fort Wayne: 4/8
• KOs in Fort Wayne: 4

Rotom was a bit of a wild card, honestly. It felt a bit like dead weight in some matchups but really shined in others. It helped disable some physical threats like Mawile, Kangaskhan, and Tyranitar with Will-O-Wisp, and also gave me a solid answer to Talonflame, which could otherwise be pretty troublesome. After using Rotom-Heat and Rotom-Wash back and forth this whole format (I’m pretty sure one of the two has been on every team I’ve ever taken to a live event), I preferred Rotom-Wash in general since its secondary STAB move, Hydro Pump, could be spammed, unlike the oven’s Overheat. Rotom-Wash also helped the rain matchup somewhat, while Rotom-Heat was pretty much helpless against rain. I think Rotom-Wash fit well enough on the team that I’m not wishing I had used something else, but there may have been a better choice out there somewhere. I’m not surprised by the low usage, as Rotom was never meant to be an integral part of the team. It was mostly around to help out during certain matchups, and that’s certainly what it did. The nickname is just kinda something I thought up. Appliances can be silver, and sterling is a type of silver I guess?

Lucario @ Focus Sash
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Close Combat
– Extreme Speed / Stone Edge
– Bullet Punch
– Protect

• Nickname: Sun Tzu
• Deployed in Philadelphia: 5/9
• KOs in Philadelphia: 5
• Deployed in Fort Wayne: 5/8
• KOs in Fort Wayne: 4

Part 2 of the potential Charizard Y / Mega Lucario bluff. It served as the “glue” Pokemon, if you will. Lucario was the last Pokemon added to the team, since I was having a lot of trouble with Tyranitar. Even though Charizard X isn’t double weak to Rock Slide like its Y-version counterpart, it still doesn’t appreciate taking Rock Slides. Non-Life Orb Garchomp fails to 2HKO, but Tyranitar can do a lot of damage. Wide Guard was certainly an option, but I’m just not comfortable playing that mind game on a regular basis and opted to just knock out Rock Slide users instead. Lucario was great for that role since Inner Focus prevents it from flinching from Rock Slides. Close Combat is such a powerful move, easily knocking out Pokemon such as Scrafty, Tyranitar, and Hydreigon. The Jolly nature let me outspeed Hydreigon reliably, since Modest is almost always the nature of choice on the three-headed dragon. It also gave me a chance to outrun opposing Kangaskhan before they mega evolved. I would often lead with Lucario if I saw a Kangaskhan at team preview, since most people target Lucario with Fake Out assuming it will mega evolve and lose Inner Focus. I give up my Focus Sash in the process, but OHKOing Kangaskhan before it can rip through my team was usually worth it. Bullet Punch was great for picking off Gardevoir and Aerodactyl, which can be pretty annoying if left unchecked. I ran Extreme Speed in Philadelphia, but I only used it once on the day and I felt it was unnecessary. I switched it to Stone Edge for Fort Wayne since it made my Charizard Y and Zapdos matchups easier in theory, but I never used Stone Edge at Fort Wayne either so that slot seemed like a waste of space. Follow Me, Feint, and Quick Guard are all cool techs that could possibly have helped me out. Follow Me specifically could have eased setting up with Charizard, but there wasn’t really a point in either tournament when I thought “I really need Follow Me right now.” All in all, Lucario was a great asset when I needed Tyranitar to faint quickly, and helped put dents in some other threats to my team. Its usage to KO ratio reflects his role on the team. I typically brought Lucario to target a specific Pokemon, and it averaged one knockout per match. My tactical use of Lucario prompted the nickname “Sun Tzu” after the author of the ancient book The Art of War.

I put this team together one night while I was on Pokemon Showdown with some friends (Andykins, Darkeness, AdamHoffer, Seaco), and I won one of the VGC room tournaments with it. Obviously that isn’t exactly a measure of prestige, but it was enough for me to feel confident in the team’s ability. I decided to not play any battles on the Showdown ladder since that almost always leads to me losing confidence in myself and the team. I limited myself to matches with friends, focusing on best-of-three sets in preparation for top cut. The first game of best-of-threes function somewhat like Swiss rounds too, so I definitely felt prepared for the Fall Regional season.

2015 Philadelphia Regionals

Result: 7-2, 30th place, 30 CP

Formatting note: The first two Pokemon listed were the leads, the next two were brought in the back, and the two in parentheses were not brought to the battle.

Round 1 vs Christopher Kennedy

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I used

My pre-tournament nerves were running high, so I was pretty relieved to see this team, complete with a Level 42 Scizor. That’s not to say that a team composed of these lesser-used Pokemon can’t be successful, but combined with my opponent saying he was relatively new to VGC, I wasn’t really fearing much. Charizard-X had a good matchup here, so I tried to get it set up early. Dragalge’s Dragon Tail was a bit troublesome since it reset the stat boosts, but I was able to burn most of his team to rack up chip damage and eventually was able to checkmate him with Aegislash when I took out his Greninja.

W 4-0 (Record: 1-0)

Round 2 vs Jalen Parente

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I used

Teams like this are exactly why I put Lucario on my team. Hoping he’d lead with Kangaskhan, I led Salamence and Lucario to bait a Fake Out and get an Intimidate off. He led with Meowstic and Kangaskhan, and I knew that Kangaskhan was going down this turn unless he switched it out or Charmed Lucario. I switched Aegislash into Salamence’s slot, while Meowstic and Kangaskhan both ended up using Fake Out. Thanks to Inner Focus, I knocked out Kangaskhan immediately. Aegislash was key in taking out Meowstic, hiding behind a substitute to shield itself from status moves. Ferrothorn was easily dispatched by Salamence, which then proceeded to spam Fire Blast on Tyranitar since I didn’t want to take the risk of switching something into a +2 Tyranitar (Aegislash’s Flash Cannon activated a Weakness Policy). Salamence connected on all 4 Fire Blasts it used this match, and ended up burning Tyranitar on the 4th. It was an easy cleanup from there.

W 3-0 (Record: 2-0)

Round 3 vs Greg Johnson

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I used

My opponent’s name sounded familiar to me, but I didn’t remember why. I was a bit leery looking at his team, as Zapdos and Conkeldurr could give me a bit of trouble. I led with Ludicolo and Aegislash against his Conkeldurr and Zapdos. The way I played Aegislash during this battle was unfortunately my undoing. Turn 1, I used Fake Out on Zapdos and Substitute with Aegislash, only to have the substitute broken by Payback from Conkeldurr. I didn’t think he’d attack Aegislash again for fear of a King’s Shield, so I used Substitute again while he paralyzed Ludicolo and broke the substitute with a second Payback. I don’t remember a whole lot about this battle, only that at some point I knocked out his Zapdos and Tyranitar with a few Ice Beams and Close Combat, respectively. At that point, I knew I had a chance to win if his last pokemon was something other than Mawile, but Mawile was sent out and I knew I was done for.

L 0-2 (Record: 2-1)

Round 4 vs Colin Schonewolf

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I used

This battle was pretty intense from what I can remember. I Bullet Punched Aerodactyl down to its Focus Sash while he set up Tailwind, and I switched Aegislash into Salamence’s slot to take an Ice Punch. After I finished off Aerodactyl with another Bullet Punch, we tried maneuvering around each other until it was my Charizard and Lucario against his Machamp and Aegislash in Blade Form. I really needed Aegislash gone, but I was pretty confident he’d King’s Shield so I doubled into Machamp and knocked it out while Aegislash did, in fact, protect itself. After this turn, he just had Kangaskhan and Aegislash to beat my Charizard, Lucario, and Aegislash. I knew that I could win if I preserved my own Aegislash while knocking out his. Eventually, I was able to Shadow Ball and KO his Aegislash while his Kangaskhan knocked out my Charizard with a Return. Being in Blade Form, I decided to King’s Shield before using Substitute on the off chance that he carried Crunch (he hadn’t revealed Sucker Punch yet either). When the King’s Shield animation started, my opponent looked visibly disappointed and I was pretty confident I had sealed up the game when I saw “Kangaskhan used Crunch!” There was no point in stalling out Sucker Punch with Substitute so I just went straight for a Flash Cannon, which ended up knocking it out from around 70% with a critical hit. That critical hit really didn’t matter, as his Crunch was nowhere close to 2HKOing Aegislash. This was definitely one of my best battles of my Fall Regionals.

W 1-0 (Record 3-1)

Round 5 vs Julius Solomon

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I used

Seeing the lead matchup, I thought I was in a pretty good position. Since Charizard-Y doesn’t really threaten Hydreigon, I thought he’d Fake Out and Draco Meteor the Salamence slot and decided to switch Aegislash in. He did burn his Fake Out on that slot but ended up targeting my mega-evolved Charizard X with Draco Meteor for a quick OHKO. This kind of threw me for a loop, as I knew a really good win condition against this team was setting up Charizard, provided he didn’t bring Azumarill (he didn’t). I still had a fighting chance if I could get his Hydreigon and Charizard out of the way, since Aegislash walls Mienshao and Gardevoir pretty easily. Lucario also handles these two well, outspeeding and OHKOing them both. My opponent’s Mienshao gave me a lot more trouble than I anticipated, and I had a chance to KO it with Aegislash but instead decided to double into Gardevoir. In hindsight, I really should have taken out that Mienshao since Gardevoir really doesn’t trouble me too much. Mienshao proceeded to take out my only ways to pressure Charizard and Hydreigon with High Jump Kick and Stone Edge, combined with a timely Heat Wave burn on Salamence. I really could and should have played this battle smarter, and my lack of forethought led me to my second loss.

L 0-2 (Record 3-2)

Round 6 vs Julia Bernhard

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I used

Julia is a friend and training partner, so I knew that her team had a couple tricks that could give me some trouble. The most key information was that her Sableye held a Lagging Tail and knew Trick, and that her Garchomp was running Substitute instead of Protect. I had a hunch she wouldn’t bring her Venusaur since it has a poor matchup against Charizard and Aegislash, so I took Rotom along to help out with Talonflame and try to burn Gyarados. Knowing she’d probably lead with Sableye, I led Charizard and Aegislash to bait a Trick onto the Aegislash slot. I also knew that Sableye in general can do almost nothing to Charizard X, so it would be easy to start setting up. She did lead Sableye, along with her Mega Gyarados. We both Dragon Danced on Turn 1, while I switched in Salamence to make Sableye swap its Lagging Tail for a Choice Scarf. I was completely fine with Salamence taking the Lagging Tail, since its speed wasn’t too important in this matchup. Garchomp doesn’t OHKO it, Gyarados would be increasing its speed with Dragon Dance anyway, and Talonflame has priority with Gale Wings. The first few turns were just us trying to get in position to knock out the opposing mega evolution and sweep from there. I was able to chunk her Gyarados with a couple Dragon Pulses while we both did some switching around in our non-mega slot. At one point, it was Charizard and Rotom against Gyarados (with no attack boosts) and Talonflame. My bigger priority at that point was burning Gyarados as opposed to knocking out Talonflame, and I was able to tank an Earthquake and land a Will-O-Wisp. From there, Charizard took a Brave Bird and KO’d Gyarados while Rotom knocked out Talonflame. I was able to finish off the battle from there, as Charizard had a speed boost and could freely OHKO the Protect-less Garchomp. I was happy to have won the battle, but it was unfortunate to knock a friend out of the tournament. I encouraged her and told her to win out with me, and we both got ready for round 7.

W 2-0 (Record 4-2)

Round 7 vs William Gu

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I used

A Charizard X mirror! Seeing this team (and assuming his Charizard was the Y form…I fell into my own trap), I knew that my own Charizard had a field day. It didn’t even need a boost to beat most of this team, so I kept it in the back to play it safe. Ludicolo and Aegislash were my leads of choice, and they matched up well against my opponent’s Mr. Mime and Snorlax. I did my default play of Fake Out + Substitute, and targeted his Snorlax, since it could potentially do a lot of damage to Ludicolo. Mr. Mime set up a Light Screen, so I essentially got a free Substitute. The next turn, I targeted Snorlax with Scald and Flash Cannon, again ignoring Mr. Mime since its very low damage output wasn’t threatening me at all. I ended up scoring a Burn and a Critical Hit through his Light Screen with that Scald, which was a nice little bonus. Mr. Mime used Icy Wind and Snorlax used Power-Up Punch on Ludicolo, and based on the relatively low amount of damage it took from Scald + Flash Cannon I decided it had Assault Vest. I kept chipping away at Snorlax, eventually knocking it out, while he failed to do meaningful damage to either of my Pokemon. He replaced his fallen Snorlax with Gardevoir, which I promptly burned on the first try with Scald. Aegislash was still hiding behind its Substitute from Turn 1, which I was able to preserve with a couple timely King’s Shields that blocked double targets. Eventually I KO’d his Gardevoir and Mr. Mime with Aegislash, and his Charizard was on the field against my Ludicolo and Aegislash, which hadn’t left the battle at all. I had won the battle at this point, as even the best Charizard X can’t win a 1 v 4.

W 3-0 (Record 5-2)

Round 8 vs Anthony Rossano

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This team looked a bit scary. He had the Raichu + Azumarill combo that Baz Anderson used to win the Nugget Bridge Invitational, and Raichu and Weavile both have the power to disrupt teams very well. They can create a bunch of free turns for Pokemon to set up or deal heavy damage. I knew Rotom would be important in this matchup, but I had to play carefully around Raichu to avoid giving it any Lightningrod Boosts. On Turn 1, I expected the Fake Out from Weavile onto Rotom, but didn’t want to Protect in case Raichu came in next turn for the Encore. He did Fake Out Rotom, while mega evolving his Pinsir and using Return on Charizard. Charizard tanked the Return like a pro and was able to KO Pinsir with Flare Blitz. I could tell my opponent was counting on that Return OHKOing the assumed Charizard Y, and even told me afterwards that it usually knocks out Charizard Y in one blow. I forget how the turns played out exactly after that, but he ended up flinching Rotom again the next turn with Fling + King’s Rock and (I think) set up a Belly Drum with Azumarill. I was eventually able to burn the Azumarill (again, leery of trying to Thunderbolt it in case Raichu switched in), which put Azumarill in range to be knocked out by Giga Drain after a couple turns of burn damage. Raichu ended up being very easy to manage, especially since Rotom was feeling particularly cooperative this round and didn’t miss a Hydro Pump.

W 3-0 (Record 6-2)

Round 9 vs Benjamin Sorohan

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I used

I don’t remember a whole lot about this battle. My notes were pretty scarce, and I actually wrote down Talonflame twice so I’m not sure what his sixth Pokemon was. From what I do remember, this was another match in which Lucario proved its worth, outrunning and dealing significant damage to Blastoise before it could get off a powerful Water Spout and making Tyranitar much easier to beat. This was the second Raichu I faced in a row, yet both times I brought my Electric type since it had too good of a matchup to pass up. My opponent switched Tyranitar into a Hydro Pump to activate his Weakness Policy, and I would have knocked it out with another on the next turn but it missed. Rotom barely survived a Rock Slide, and I believe I brought Lucario in the next turn. Rotom was in Thunderbolt range from Raichu, and I was pretty confident he’d Protect Tyranitar so I used Protect with my own Rotom and Close Combat on Raichu. Thankfully my bold play paid off as he did exactly what I predicted. The next turn I was able to KO Tyranitar and freely Thunderbolt the Blastoise for the win.

W 3-0 (Record 7-2)

I had managed to claw my way up to an X-2 finish after a poor start, and I was pretty happy with the way I finished. Since we had a top 16 cut, there were a few X-2’s that made it, but I knew my resistance would be too bad for me to make the cut. Nevertheless, I hovered around the pairings and waited for standings to be released. I didn’t make top 16, but I did manage to have a high enough resistance to make top 32, a threshold some X-2’s failed to reach. All in all, Top 32 is a solid result in Philadelphia considering the talent in the region, but I can’t help feeling I could have gone farther.

2015 Fort Wayne Regionals

Result: 6-2, 27th place, 30 CP

I was able to play in the Premier Challenge the night before despite the 64-person cutoff, but used a team that I wasn’t familiar with and played pretty poorly, finishing 3-3. Top 16 got CP, but I was somewhere in the 20’s so it was a (Rotom) wash. I’m not going to even bother talking about it since the battles were mediocre and I don’t know enough about the team to explain it in detail. Onto the main event!

Round 1 vs Sean Ring

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I used

I had seen this guy around at the Premier Challenge, but didn’t know anything about his team. He told me he was using something different so it didn’t matter anyway. He had a very interesting Scrafty set, using a Life Orb with Fake Out, Drain Punch, Crunch, and Smack Down. I imagine he used Smack Down alongside Garchomp (and maybe Tyranitar) to make Earthquake more potent. He ended up not bringing Garchomp, however, so I didn’t see it in action. He put Charizard to sleep early, which proved troublesome later in the match. We both switched around a little bit, and I tried to burn Tyranitar once but Will-O-Wisp missed the mark. His Tyranitar ended up having a special bias so it wasn’t a huge deal, but the chip damage would have been nice for sure. The next turn I read the Talonflame switch in on Tyranitar’s slot, attempting to block another Will-O-Wisp, so I used Thunderbolt instead and got the KO on the bird. Venusaur’s Sleep Powder gave me a lot of trouble, and there were a couple times I really needed a first-turn wake up to stay in a good position. Lucario was able to wake up quickly and get rid of Tyranitar, which would have knocked out Aegislash that turn with another Dark Pulse. Venusaur knocked out Lucario with a Giga Drain, and it came down to my Shield Form Aegislash with 32 HP and Charizard at full health with a guaranteed sleep turn remaining. Venusaur used Giga Drain on Aegislash and critical hit it for the KO while Charizard slept. I didn’t think this critical hit was a big deal at the time since Aegislash was at such low health. Charizard slept for another turn while Venusaur Sludge Bombed it down to ~45%. Thankfully I woke up the next turn, but Flare Blitz wasn’t enough to KO as Venusaur knocked out Charizard with another Sludge Bomb. Discouraged that I had lost my first round, I decided to look up the damage calculation for Venusaur’s Giga Drain against an Aegislash, remembering that I had 32 HP at the time.

252+ SpA Mega Venusaur Giga Drain vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Aegislash-Shield: 24-29 (14.3 – 17.3%) — possible 9HKO after Leftovers recovery
(24, 24, 24, 25, 25, 26, 26, 26, 27, 27, 27, 27, 27, 28, 28, 29)

So yeah, that Critical Hit definitely mattered. Even against Venusaur with maximum Special Attack investment (which is probably not what my opponent used), Aegislash should have survived the Giga Drain to fire off a Shadow Ball. That chunk of damage would have been enough to make Charizard’s Flare Blitz a KO, so unfortunately I had been robbed of a win. Since the tournament organizers thought it would be a good idea to run a Top 8 cut instead of Top 16, I knew that I had to win my next 7 matches if I wanted to make the cut. I was under a lot of pressure, but determined to do my best.

L 0-1 (Record 0-1)

Round 2 vs Shayne Kelly

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This was another matchup where Charizard could do some work if it could get set up. Knowing his Miltank would probably be carrying Thunder Wave, I decided to target it with Fake Out and start Dragon Dancing right away. Charizard was unable to KO Miltank the next turn, so Charizard was paralyzed while Rotom revealed a Thunder Wave of its own and paralyzed Ludicolo. The next few turns consisted of me praying to not be fully paralyzed and trying to knock out Miltank, which kept healing its HP back with Milk Drink. Eventually I was able to knock out Miltank after a couple turns of breaking through paralysis, and Ludicolo got some good chip damage onto Rotom. My opponent’s Garchomp came in and dropped a Rock Slide, which prevented Charizard from attacking but couldn’t phase Ludicolo. Garchomp was eliminated by an Ice Beam, and when I saw that Greninja was my opponent’s 4th Pokemon I was confident in my win. Ludicolo really shined in this battle, showing off it’s great ability to shrug off special attacks and give some pretty common Pokemon a lot of problems. While Charizard knocked out Miltank, Ludicolo got the other 3 KO’s in this battle.

W 2-0 (Record 1-1)

Round 3 vs Thomas Spoor

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Yay! Another impending Charizard sweep! I went with my standard setup lead with Ludicolo and Charizard, and went straight for the Fake Out on Amoonguss (since I obviously can’t Fake Out a Sableye). Sableye went for a Confuse Ray on Charizard, and I thought I’d be in for another luck-fest since that’s where Sableye excels. Ludicolo was confused the next turn, while Charizard attacked through confusion to KO Amoonguss with a Flare Blitz. Between the recoil and the Rocky Helmet damage, I was barely above 50% after the attack and knew I’d have to be careful if Talonflame was brought out. Ludicolo got some chip damage off on Sableye, and Dragonite entered the battlefield. Dragonite went straight for a Dragon Dance of his own while I broke its Multiscale with Scald (not wanting to activate a Weakness Policy and fishing for a burn). I was able to finish off Sableye that turn with a Dragon Claw as well. The next turn, Charizard snapped out of confusion to KO Dragonite with Dragon Claw. Mega Manectric didn’t have a hope against Ludicolo and Charizard, and I easily cleaned up the next turn. This was the cleanest Charizard sweep I had ever experienced, and it felt pretty good. Neither of my Pokemon hit themselves in confusion at all, and neither Pokemon ever left the field.

W 4-0 (Record 2-1)

Round 4 vs Matthew Peroutka

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This team had a few Pokemon that could be annoying, namely Raichu and Azumarill. I debated trying to get cute with my leads and go with Rotom and Ludicolo to pressure the Azumarill, but decided to go with the default Ludicolo/Charizard again. I was very happy to see the Rotom-Heat and Garchomp on the field, as this was a perfect opportunity to set up. I targeted the Garchomp with Fake Out while it Protected, then watched as his Choice Scarfed Rotom-Heat fired off a Discharge that paralyzed both my Ludicolo and Charizard. Charizard was able to Dragon Dance, but the speed drop from paralysis really hurt. The situation wouldn’t have been all that bad if I could still get some good damage off (both of his Pokemon could have been OHKOd at this point), but I spent the next two turns seeing the words “Charizard was fully paralyzed!” and “Ludicolo was fully paralyzed!” I didn’t want to make any switches and let him get free damage off or risk another Discharge paralysis. But I didn’t make any progress, and my opponent was able to knock out both of my leads without much cost, and I was left with Salamence (locked into Dragon Pulse) and Rotom against a Venusaur and Azumarill. My opponent made smart plays, protecting Azumarill and dealing huge damage to Rotom with Energy Ball when I tried to Thunderbolt the bunny. Once Rotom was gone, I had no way to deal damage to Azumarill and I was doomed.

For the second consecutive tournament, I had been eliminated with 4 rounds remaining. However, my two losses here in Fort Wayne hurt a lot more. I lost in Philadelphia when I made poor decisions, while I lost in Fort Wayne because I got unlucky while making the right plays. I’m sure I could have played those matches a little differently to give myself a better chance, but at this point I couldn’t help but feel a little bit cheated. I got pretty frustrated and decided to leave the hall and take a walk around the convention center to clear my head. I still had the chance to finish at a respectable 6-2 for another Top 32 finish and 30 more CP, so that became my new goal.

L 2-0 (Record 2-2)

Round 5 vs Jacob Short

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I saw another Sableye and was somewhat annoyed, honestly. I had played 4 straight matches where I had to worry about staying asleep, hitting myself in confusion, or being fully paralyzed, and I just wanted to play a clean match. I went with my best anti-Kangaskhan lead and brought Aegislash and Charizard in the back. I don’t remember the exact details of the match, but I know that my opponent double targeted Lucario with Fake Out and Overheat, so I traded my Lucario for his Kangaskhan (a trade I’d take any day). I don’t remember what I did with the Salamence slot, but I’m pretty sure I switched it out into Aegislash. Gardevoir and Charizard came in the next turn, and I set up a Dragon Dance. Aegislash OHKO’d his Scarfed Gardevoir after Rotom failed to knock it out with a -2 Overheat, and from there it was an easy cleanup.

W 3-0 (Record 3-2)

Round 6 vs Brendan Hudson

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Before the round started there was a longer wait than usual, and I talked to my opponent for a bit. He was a really nice guy from the area competing in his second tournament, the first being Nationals. I was looking forward to the battle, as battling against someone friendly is a lot of fun regardless of the outcome. Charizard did very well against a lot of his team, and Rotom helped to patch up a couple holes. I don’t remember how the battle went exactly, but I remember a couple key turns. At one point, I had Rotom on the field against Gyarados at mid-range health and a Talonflame, and my opponent had already revealed the non-mega Manectric. I really wanted to knock out the Gyarados but decided to burn it just in case the the Manectric switched in. I ended up making the right call as Talonflame U-Turned into Manectric, Gyarados attacked Rotom’s partner, and Rotom’s Will-O-Wisp connected. This made Gyarados much easier to handle, and I could turn my focus to eliminating its partners. Another huge turn was when Ludicolo at ~30% HP was up against Manectric and -2 Special Attack Goodra (which had previously used Draco Meteor). Manectric attacked Ludicolo’s partner while Goodra used Sludge Bomb on Ludicolo, which survived with 4 HP to finish off Manectric with a Giga Drain. At this point, I had essentially cleared the field for Charizard to come in and clean up without needing a Dragon Dance.

W 2-0 (Record 4-2)

Round 7 vs Abraham Morales

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This team was very similar to the standard rain teams that had been running around, so I wagered that Politoed would be Choice Scarfed with Rain Dance. I also bet that he would lead with Politoed and Ludicolo, so I lead Charizard and Lucario to bait the Rain Dance on Politoed, since my opponent’s assumption would be that I lead Charizard Y to disrupt the rain. I immediately switched Charizard out for my own Ludicolo, while my opponent Faked Out Lucario and used a pointless Rain Dance. Confident that his Politoed was choice locked and would need to switch out, and that his Ludicolo wasn’t running Protect, I was free to Fake Out and Close Combat the Ludicolo while his Politoed switched. I was able to get Ludicolo down to very low health while Zapdos switched in. I finished Ludicolo off with a Bullet Punch while the rain enabled Ludicolo to move before Zapdos and get off a nice Ice Beam. Politoed was brought in the next turn, and Ludicolo finished off Zapdos while Politoed KO’d Lucario with Hydro Pump. I brought in Charizard, and knew that once I knocked out Politoed I could checkmate Kangaskhan in what is definitely my favorite endgame of all time: Subsitute Aegislash vs Crunch-less Mega Kangaskhan. I doubled into Politoed with Giga Drain and Dragon Claw. I had sealed the win at that point, as I was able to Substitute with Aegislash to limit Sucker Punch’s damage. Flash Cannon is a solid 3HKO (sometimes 2HKO) on Kangaskhan, so it was just a matter of making sure I could survive a Critical Hit from Sucker Punch’s second strike before I attacked to guarantee the win.

W 1-0 (Record 5-2)

Round 8 vs Jonathan McMillan (MrEobo)

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Jon is a friend of mine, and we were both ready to finish off the day with a fun match. This ended up being the single most hilarious game of Pokemon I’ve ever witnessed, much less participated in. I’ll just let you watch it for yourself.

Something in me knew his Hydreigon wasn’t going to be choiced, but I went ahead and tried to flinch it. I really should have targeted the Zapdos since the incoming Thunder Wave was pretty obvious. When Charizard was fully paralyzed while trying to Protect the next turn, I knew I would have to dodge a Draco Meteor, attack through paralysis with Ludicolo, AND freeze his Hydreigon with an Ice Beam to have a shot at winning the match…and they all happened. We were both cracking up at this point, though his laughter might have been more in the “laugh so you don’t cry” vein. A Flare Blitz left Zapdos in the red, but a Dragon Claw was able to finish it off after he Roosted the next turn. I’m convinced that either Flare Blitz was a low damage roll or Dragon Claw was a high damage roll since I really wasn’t expecting Dragon Claw to KO from that range. Luckily, Hydreigon didn’t unfreeze and Ludicolo was able to knock it out with a second Ice Beam. Jon sent out his Charizard and Mamoswine, and I knew that if I could knock out Mamoswine I could KO Charizard with a Stone Edge from either Lucario or Salamence. After a couple turns of paralysis and flinching, Flare Blitz connected and knocked out the Mamoswine. After Salamence’s Stone Edge didn’t miss, Jon said “but wait, I’m bulky!” in an attempt to inspire his Charizard to live another day. Charizard didn’t believe in itself hard enough, as it was knocked out and I sealed up my final win.

W 2-0 (Record 6-2)

So my terrible habit of losing early and winning out at Regionals continued, as I logged another X-2/Top 32 finish. I was definitely happy I was able to wipe out my frustration and anger from earlier rounds, but I can’t say I was satisfied with my performance. I had hoped to cut at least one of the two fall regionals I attended and fell one win short at both. I did learn more about myself as a player, which will definitely help me in the future. I showed myself that I’m capable of putting together a string of consecutive wins, I just need to figure out how to do so earlier in the tournament. Breaking through the early-round nerves is going to be my focus in the future.

Post Regionals

I made a couple changes to the team for the remainder of the season, specifically a couple Premier Challenges I knew I’d be able to play in before the format switch. I switched to using Simon’s bulky Modest Choice Scarf Salamence but with a slight adjustment in moving the Special Defense EV’s into Special Attack (EV’s: 212 HP / 20 Def / 116 SpA / 4 SpD / 156 Spe). I thought the extra bulk would be really helpful since a lot of times I kept Salamence in for consecutive turns, as opposed to using Draco Meteor once and switching out immediately. Since Salamence was my only Intimidate user, I figured keeping it around longer could only be good, and I didn’t really notice the small drop in power.

I didn’t think Rotom was pulling its weight, so I swapped it out for Zapdos. Since the Zapdos I had was Calm, I used Collin’s Worlds spread (Calm Nature, EVs: 220 HP / 144 Def / 32 SpA / 76 SpD / 36 Spe). I used the same attacks Collin did (Thunderbolt, Thunder Wave, Hidden Power Ice, Roost), but didn’t think Safety Goggles were necessary, given the huge drop in usage Amoonguss has seen. I originally used a Rocky Helmet, but then switched to Sitrus Berry at the suggestion of Andykins. Sitrus Berry was really clutch on Zapdos, as a lot of Pokemon had trouble breaking through Sitrus Berry + Roost. Zapdos helped out a lot of matchups, as Thunder Wave can be an incredibly useful move. This team is relatively slow overall, and the speed control and general bulk Zapdos provided were crucial.

I finally tested Follow Me on Lucario on top of Stone Edge, and it was very effective. It was able to pull attacks away from Charizard as it Dragon Danced or Aegislash as it set up a Substitute. My favorite way to use Follow Me was to pull Sucker Punches away from a partner and watch them fail. Often times, the Focus Sash allowed Lucario to use Follow Me one turn and survive to get off one final attack later in the battle.

I also switched up the EVs on Charizard. Hydreigon could be a little bit of a problem if I had the wrong Pokemon on the field since it can OHKO a large portion of my team. I decided to up Charizard’s speed to make sure it always outspeeds Hydreigon with 252 EV’s and a neutral nature, the most common spread by far. I originally had some fancy Jolly spread with lots of cool numbers, but when I shared the spread with fellow Charizard X afficionado Pyromaniac720, he pointed out that I was wasting some stat points. The final spread ended up coming out to 252 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 244 Spe, which is much more boring than the Jolly spread, but also more efficient.

I played in a Nugget Bridge Circuit Live Tournament and made it to the finals, so I was happy with the changes I made and the way I was playing. I took the team to a Premier Challenge in Alpharetta, Georgia, the next weekend and was able to come away with a first place finish and 40 more CP, putting me at 100 CP in the season so far. Considering my grand total for last season was 52, I’m pretty happy with the way this Fall has gone. Hopefully I can ride this momentum into a successful Winter.

Shoutouts

• Julien Porto – thanks for going out of your way to pick me up at the Philadelphia airport and for letting all of us stay in your hotel room. Hopefully we showed you a good enough time to convince you to stick with it!
• Meghan Swyryn – thanks for letting me stay with you on Sunday night in Philadelphia. It was great seeing you again and I’m really really sorry if I woke you up at 4:30 on Monday morning.
• Andrew Burley – thanks to you and your family for pretty much being my lifeline for Fort Wayne. There’s no way I could have made it there without you, and hopefully we can do it again next year. And congrats for cutting both events I guess… #QuieroBailar

There are way too many people to thank individually, but it was really great to see everyone again. The people in the community make traveling to these events worthwhile, whether you finish X-0 or 0-X. Well maybe not 0-X, but you get the picture. Follow me on Twitter at @jakesaysstuff for your daily recommended allowance of sarcasm. 4 out of 5 dentists recommend following me on twitter, and the 5th is stupid. Go check out my blog, Bowman’s Corner. I originally posted this report in 3 parts there, and will be updating it regularly in the future. I always tweet out a link when I publish a new post, so you should definitely follow me on Twitter.

Thanks for reading! If you managed to make it all the way through this whole post, you deserve a cookie. Go get yourself a cookie.

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