Pokémon Korea hosted the Champions Day event at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul from November 15th to 16th, 2014 to celebrate the first ever Korean World Champion, Sejun Park (pokemontcg). Junichi Masuda and Shigeru Ohmori visted Korea to have an interview with Korean Pokemon fans during the tournament. Pokemon Korea gathered fans’s questions about Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire for Masuda and Ohmori to answer during the event. Afterwards there was an autograph event for Korean Pokémon fans with both Game Freak members as well as Sejun.

Pokemon Korea released some special items just for the event. The “Champion’s Day Original Snapback and T-shirt” was one such item. They were limited so many people came very early in the morning to buy them. They also pre-released the Pokémon TCG Phantom Forces expansion. The retail shop was really crowded because they sold so many items.

There were a lot of different events happening like the Battle VS Team Flare event, Pikachu Parade, TCG Battle Rally event, interview with the 2014 Korean VG and TCG National Champions, a Cosplay Contest and the autograph signings. In addition, Pokemon Korea released Sejun’s Pachirisu as an event Pokémon.

Team Battle

On Saturday, there were TCG team battle events. Each team needed at least one Junior player and all team members had to battle at least one match. Teams could include 3 to 5 people. Team HonoMaki won the competition and won ₩500,000 ($450 USD), trophies, the Gold Medal Victory Ring promo card, and two boxes of Phantom Forces. The second place team, DerenMingook, got second place and won ₩300,000 ($270 USD), trophies, and the Silver Medal Victory Ring promo card along with two boxes of Phantom Forces. Top 4 finishers Cassiopeia and Omega Ruby Alpha Sapphire got ₩100,000 ($90 USD),the Bronze Medal Victory Ring promo card, and a box of Phantom Forces. Top 8 finishers received a special deck box and everyone who entered got a t-shirt and promo Charizard card.

Photo of the Team Battle Closing Ceremony. These are the players who won a Victory Ring card.

 Hoenn Region Mega Battle Tournament

On Sunday, they held the Hoenn Region Mega Battle Tournament. Players could only use Poké that were introduced in the third generation. Additionally, players could use one of Groudon, Kyogre, or Rayquaza. Players had to choose their 4 Pokémon for battle and had 25 seconds to make each move.

Results

Master Division

1. Sepia ₩200,000 ($180 USD) and a gold medal
2. Ggodalgae won ₩100,000 ($90 USD) and a silver medal

Junior & Senior Division

• Yun Sung Cho won ₩200,000 ($180 USD) and a gold medal
• Jung Jun Lee won ₩100,000 ($90 USD) a silver medal

It was a really crowded event (as you might have heard) and was  huge fun! Here are some other pictures I took of the event:

The post Champion’s Day in Korea Celebrates Sejun Park’s World Championship Win appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

The season is in full swing and Worlds information has even been announced! This has gotten a lot of people excited about the upcoming World Championships, and of course how one qualifies for them! I don’t know if you’ve heard… but a select group of approved Tournament Organizers (TOs) have been running these things called Premier Challenges. These Premier Challenges are worth up to 200 Championship Points towards your Worlds invite. As such, a lot of people are not only excited about Worlds, but are also looking to try and take advantage of these Premier Challenge events as much as possible.

The only snag is that not everywhere has a TO that hosts Premier Challenges.

A realization that has only been entrenched in my mind more and more as I continue running our Pokémon League and hosting local tournaments is that these events only happen because someone makes them happen.

You can have 30 people interested in playing Pokémon, but if no one is willing to take the extra ~30 minutes every week to run a league (instead of just participating), if no one is willing to give up a few hours one weekend every now and then to host a tournament, then Pokémon events won’t happen.

That’s why I’m writing this article today. There are many people out there who want local Premier Challenges, but either don’t have a local video game TO, or don’t even have a local video game league! My goal is to provide the basic info you’ll need to start a league, and go over ways you can help entice store owners to lend you their space for a couple hours a week. So today I’ll talk about:

1. Starting a league and becoming a TO
2. Some stores don’t like video games
3. Troubleshooting with a local store

Just to establish who I am and why I’m writing this. I’ve been running our local league for over 4 years now, and have been a TO for much of that time. I am approved to host both TCG League Challenges and VGC Premier Challenges. Starmetroid and I are also active players and run the blog VGC with Hats. With that, let’s get to it!

1. Starting a League and Becoming a TO

First and foremost, you need to apply to start your very own weekly Pokémon league! Pokémon has some useful info posted here which I’ll try and summarize for you guys briefly; I definitely recommend reading through the “Pokémon League Instructions” document for yourself.

Step 1: Finding a Location

First, you need to find a location to run your league in. Here’s what Pokémon recommends:

Pokémon Leagues must be run in a clean, safe, public location. While we prefer leagues to be run in game stores, we realize that it is not always possible. Libraries, community centers, and malls all make great alternate locations. The most important thing to ask yourself when selecting a league location is, “Will my players feel comfortable playing here?”

As is mentioned, it is preferred that leagues are run out of game stores. If you don’t have a (willing) local game store near you, then here are some less-obvious alternate ideas I’ve seen put into action:

• Internet/Gaming cafes
• Food court of a shopping mall
• Local McDonalds or other larger fast-food restaurant
• Local elementary/high schools
• Colleges and Universities*

I’ll include a cautionary note on the college/university point. Pokémon wants their leagues to be run in a stable location with stable leadership. University clubs often have to book rooms for their activities, and can shift around a lot on campus. The leadership also turns over quite frequently. Neither of these traits makes a university an appealing location for Pokémon to give a league to. But if you have a stable location at the university, and can provide stable leadership (i.e. you’re not a student or at least you won’t be moving away when you’re done school), then these locations work just fine. Be sure to include those relevant details in your league application!

Step 2: The Registration/Application Part

This is probably best described in a numbered list:

1. Get a Pokemon.com account
2. Get a Pokémon Player ID and link it to your Pokemon.com account. If you’ve attended an event, you’ll already have a Player ID.
3. Apply for a league. Include info like how large your venue is, why it would make a good location, and how you plan to run the league and help it grow. Pokémon won’t grant a league to just anyone; be sure you are professional in your application and have a plan of action.
4. Fill out the background check that pops up after you submit your application.

Step 3: Other Relevant Points

At this point, you’ll have to wait and see if you’re approved! Again, I recommend people read over the “Pokémon” document supplied by Pokemon.com. I’ll just include some tidbits here that are helpful to know:

• You’ll need to report who attended your league every ~1.5 months if you want to continue receiving league promo materials. It’s ok to have these materials sent to a home address rather than a business address if it is more convenient.
• Let league attendees know that they need to activate Player IDs on Pokemon.com in order for your league to keep receiving promo materials.
• Organize a forum or web page to post league information in. An email list or group is also very helpful for parents or anyone else that avoids social media sites.
• It’s ok to charge a small fee to participate in your league. This fee should go towards covering venue costs or providing additional prize support for your league. If you do charge a fee, be sure to let players know what their money is going towards.
• Leagues are more likely to be approved if you plan to host both Trading Card Game and Video Game players.
• Leagues are a casual, friendly environment. Pokémon would prefer that people do not run tournaments during league sessions. If you feel like your community would benefit from the option of having fun tournaments during league sessions, that is your judgment call to make. But you may not sanction a tournament on Pokemon.com that is run during a league session.

Step 4: Becoming a TO

For those looking to become a TO and host Premier Challenges:

• A successfully run league is a great way to let Pokémon know that you’re ready to host events like Video Game Premier Challenges. This is a near-essential resource to have on your resume if/when you apply to become a TO. Pokémon also has no reason to approve a TO in an area without an associated league.
• You’ll need to sanction grassroots tournaments locally to show Pokémon that you’re capable of hosting successful tournaments and reporting them in a timely fashion. This also gives Pokémon information about how many players would play in a Premier Challenge if they did grant you one.

2. Some Stores Don’t Like Video Games

This is a Pokémon Video Game Championships website. We’re here to play VGC, and we want to play at local Premier Challenges! I hear you loud and clear. The best way to do this is to find a league near you and see if they’d be willing to apply for and host Video Game Premier Challenges. But this is where we hit a snag…

The video game isn’t like the card game. Running a league at your local card shop requires staff to be on-site to handle the influx of players. This is an expense that card shops can only justify if they stand to profit off of running a weekly league. This is an easy task for the TCG to accomplish, as players are more likely to purchase cards from the shop if they are at the shop on a regular basis. But we video game players have nothing to contribute to local card shops:

We don’t want to buy TCG booster packs, we don’t need card sleeves, and we don’t buy deck boxes or packs of dice. We just sit there and take up space; we cause the store to pay staff for extra hours while they gain nothing.

It’s no wonder some local games stores don’t want to host Video Game events.

How can we make running a VGC league or Premier Challenge more appealing for local game shops? The answer to this question is pretty obvious:

Support the shop.

I noted above in the other relevant points that “It’s ok to charge a small fee to participate in your league.” If it meant you could have a VGC league to attend near you, would you be willing to pay a small fee to support the store? I’m sure most everyone reading this would say “yes.” But there are ways to help sweeten the deal for the players too.

3. Troubleshooting with a Local Store

It would be great if your local store wanted to host your local league for free, say… provided you organize and run it. But in many situations, this ideal solution won’t magically appear (nor should it). Thus you must offer the store a way to make a living off of hosting a league.

Before I get into entry fees, I want to help people understand why they are necessary:

If a store devotes its space to your league every week, that means they can’t use that space for other events. A successful card/game shop is running weekly events all the time. Card game tournaments or free events centered on a product that they sell, help maintain interest in those products. A Pokémon TCG league is an example of a free event that a store hosts to maintain interest in one of their products, Pokémon TCG booster packs. If they dedicate space to a VG league, that is space and time they could have used to host e.g. a Magic the Gathering tournament. Thus, even if it costs the store “nothing” to host a free league, they take a net loss by devoting that space and time to your event.

For this reason, personally, I don’t feel like we should prey on a store’s kindness or naivety. Even if a store was willing to host a league for free, I feel like we VGC players should make an effort to support the store.

If we don’t support stores, I fear at some point these “free league” parasitic relationships will break down, and stores will require a change. As long as we video game players understand this, we can try and make running a VG league a mutually beneficial experience.

One solution is to propose that players pay a registration fee to play at the league. You can also ask if that registration can be put toward providing prizes for video game tournaments. By doing so, the league essentially makes purchases from the store, rather than simply paying the store to rent space. This system still benefits the store, but prevents league-attendees from siphoning money into the store with little tangible being given in return. If a store wanted to take a small percentage just for hosting the league, it’s your judgment call as to what is acceptable. Here’s an example of this sort of scenario:

I approach my local card shop and ask if they would host a video game league, provided players paid $5 as registration at the beginning of each league cycle (~1.5 months). I suggest that the registration fees go towards prizing for grassroots video game tournaments or Premier Challenges. The store could offer gift certificates as main prizes, and small purchases like Pokémon-themed merchandise or even just TCG booster packs to round out the spending. I offer to run the league every week, and tournaments every month.

The store owner replies that they would prefer if their own staff ran events at their store. As such, they would run the league if they could take $2 from every $5 registration to cover costs for the time their staff will put into running the league and tournaments, and the other $3 can go towards a prize pool for those tournaments.

I believe in your negotiation skills, and your ability to reach a fair compromise! My intent in outlining this scenario is just to give an example of a possible mutually beneficial outcome. It’s even better if the store will put all $5 towards prizing! Of course, when money is involved, everything gets a fair bit more complicated. As such, it’s perhaps recommendable to leave the handling of monies to the store. But if the store handles the entry fee, they may prefer to run the league themselves. After all, too many chefs spoil the pot.

But despite your valiant efforts to make things appealing for the store, they still have reservations about hosting a VG league. Perhaps it’s just too far out of their comfort zone, or they actively dislike the din that is created when ten 3DS systems all have their volume on. For whatever reason, they feel like this plan is more trouble than it’s worth. What can you do to help ease their concerns?

This problem is more difficult to resolve, and really has to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Suggesting that they keep a portion of registration as rent for the space is a good way to respond. Suggesting more regular pay-to-play tournaments (e.g. weekly) is another good way to provide the store with income. Perhaps these weekly pay-to-play events could be enough to avoid requiring registration fees for local leagues. The challenge then, is simply to figure out a good prizing scheme for these tournaments. Despite making more work for the store, you could suggest they bring in more Pokémon or video-game related products like Nintendo eShop gift cards, or small things like Japanese Pokémon merchandise (e.g. Pokémon). This may not be all too appealing for a store, but it’s a decent last ditch effort.

Our local card shop is where I get the example of the “ten 3DS systems with their volume on.” The owner really dislikes the idea of video games in the store. But they have agreed to host their first Premier Challenge with the condition that players either leave their volume off, or have headphones in. If a store simply isn’t comfortable with video games, and won’t let you run the VG league in their stead, the best answer may just be to move on to a different location. Hopefully the list I’ve provided in section one gives you some ideas about potential locations you can propose a league to.

In Conclusion

The best way to get a league in your local area is to start one yourself. The best way to have Premier Challenge tournaments hosted in your local area is to host them yourself. This isn’t ideal for a lot of people, as you cannot compete in your own tournaments, but everything has to start somewhere. The ideal solution to this problem is to get a local store to run the league and tournaments for you. But in the event that this doesn’t work out, you can try to host a league at an alternate location. If a friend is willing to pitch in and become sanctioned as a TO, then perhaps you could share the load so that each of you will have local Premier Challenges to attend.

Either way, starting a league and getting Premier Challenges doesn’t happen overnight. It also doesn’t happen without a lot of work put in by everyone involved. If you start a league now, you likely won’t have Premier Challenges before this VGC season comes to an end. But Play! Pokémon is looking to keep expanding support for the video game, and they’re going to want new areas that they can support. If you start a league now, and show Pokémon that your area has a community, they’ll be more likely to approve you as a TO. And if you host sanctioned Video Game tournaments successfully, they’ll be more likely to approve your area for Premier Challenges.

If we as players want to see the VGC community grow, we need to put in a bit of our own time and effort. After all, if we VGC players won’t volunteer our time to host events, why should we expect anyone else to?

The post Starting a Pokémon League: Tips and Troubleshooting appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Introduction

Hey everyone, it’s your friendly neighborhood TO, Nic! I’m here to talk about something that a number of people have been asking for over the past year or so: a tournament report… from the perspective of the organizers! I’m not going to be getting into too many gritty details or things that will bore you, but I’m going to try to give a fairly straightforward idea of how things work when you’re running a big event.

Personal Bio

I’m currently a 4th-year student at Penn State University, and my plan is to head to Seattle, WA next year to start my professional career as a Program Manager. My major accomplishments are:

Staff Accomplishments

• Pokémon Professor and Tournament Organizer since 2011, the day I turned 18
• VGC Head Judge at 5 Regionals from 2012-2014
• TCG Judge at 2 Regionals, 1 States, and multiple City Championships, Battle Roads, and League Challenges
• US Nationals Judge in 2013 and 2014
• Worlds VGC Judge in 2013
• Worlds VGC Head Judge in 2014

TCG Accomplishments

• 2009: Started playing again 2009 after taking 6 years away from the game
• 2010: Up to a .500 record in TCG
• 2011: Up to a .558 record in TCG
• 2012: 6-3 at US Nationals TCG for 162/1003 and a .640 record overall
• 2014: First event win at Penn State League Challenge

VGC Accomplishments

• 4-3 at Philadelphia Regionals in 2012
• 6-2 at Virginia Regionals in 2013

At this point, I was really questioning what I was doing with the game – I had made progress and felt like I was doing better and making friends, but something was missing. At this point, I was also now 18 years old and had become a Pokémon Professor and Tournament Organizer. I was having fun going to events, but something was missing.

One notable event that sticks out to me is the “infamous” Philadelphia VGC Spring 2012 Regional, where many of us (including myself) got to see what happens when you have a major shift in event structure. The 2011-2012 tournament season was the shift from the single-elimination-random-draw structure that so many members of the community recall to the now-used Swiss system. There were Regionals that year with less than 64 people, and it just so happened that this would be the first (and hopefully last) flighted Regional I played in. After getting put into Pink flight and seeing the insanity, I made a commitment to help improve the quality of VGC events in the future.

Going into the 2012-2013 season, I started contacting PTOs and I got my first chance to judge as head judge at Philadelphia, PA’s fall regional. It was this fateful day that I met the one and only AlphaZealot who had just started working for TPCi, and after hearing about his vision for the future, I became committed to growing this game as much as possible. I took a break to play in the Virginia Regional and after playing Ray and Wolfey in the first two rounds, I wanted to give my all to running events and making things go as well as possible for all of you great people! At that point, I ended up judging at US Nationals and then at my first ever World Championships in Vancouver. Hands down, one of my favorite Pokémon moments to date is sitting on stage with Mean and gebebo waiting to see them face off for the title. It was an awesome, awesome year.

Last season was a bit different for me because I had made the decision to take a term off from school to continue my work at Microsoft. While that was a great experience, it was also a ton of work getting ready to ship a video game console, and so I missed everything for the first few months of the season. I was able to get back into the swing of things by head judging at Virginia Regionals as well as judging in Massachusetts (both of which happened to be won by Ray who was on a Regionals tear last year.) In the middle of that, I caught a huge break, winning my first ever event (A TCG League Challenge which involved a final-round showdown against a parent) and reaffirmed to myself that I like helping out. I got to be on staff at US Nationals and then had the privilege and honor to head judge Worlds in Washington, D.C. with a great staff.

This year, I’m back at school to wrap up, and I’ve started off the year by traveling across the country to help run some awesome events. I started the year by head judging Philadelphia regionals, which was a blast thanks to how many of you turned out with so much energy. Two weeks later, I grabbed a flight to San Francisco for the first time in my life, and got to head judge San Jose Regionals with awesome hosts in Huy, Duy, Cassie, and Kimo. I’m still in the planning stages for Winter and Spring Regionals, but I’m hoping to connect with more PTOs so that I can continue traveling around the country and making all of your tournament experiences great!

The Report

Pre-Event

Okay, so enough about me and the events I’ve run in the past. Let’s get down to the actual report for San Jose Regionals. In August after Worlds concluded, the PTO for the event, Karl, reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in staffing his event. While I had to explain that I wasn’t living on the West Coast quite yet, I happily replied that I was interested in coming out to California to help with the event. For those of you that have reached out to organizers or are trying to staff Regional-level events, this is probably the time you want to start volunteering or checking your e-mail for any invitations.

Once I’ve been contacted, my first steps are always to make sure that I have a travel plan. In this case, that meant finding a way to fly from State College, PA where I go to school to California, attempting to schedule the flight so I miss the fewest possible classes. That ended up being a crack-of-dawn flight on Friday morning with layovers to get to San Francisco and then an ugly redeye flight to get home on Monday morning. Once I had this planned out, Duy told me that he would be happy to help show me the city and be my host, which was hugely helpful. All weekend, the Duy/Huy/Cassie/Kimo crew was awesome, whether they were helping me figure out how to escape Stanford’s campus, find awesome food, teaching me new games, or getting me from place to place. Huge props to them.

One of the best parts about getting in on Friday was the fact that I got to see parts of the area. I think it’s important to do this if you can – we’re fortunate to get to travel around the country to see our friends and share Pokémon, but if you can spare the half-day or day so that you get to share the culture and surrounding areas, it can be even better. For me, that meant going into the city to see sights, eat food, and then checking out Stanford and some startups my friends are a part of. I absolutely could have spent more time chilling, and I’m hopeful that I’ll get to come back again someday!

Friday night ended with an awesome ramen dinner followed by way too many games of DC Deckbuilding, only for me to realize at like 2 AM that I had a school assignment I needed to make progress on, so I gave up another hour of sleep for that. I don’t recommend doing that before an event, whether you’re playing or not.

Saturday – TCG Regional

Saturday started off early, and I arrived on site at the San Jose fairgrounds to see that there were a lot of people lined up outside and lots of people getting ready to play in the event. I got inside and talked to Karl, only to realize that there’d been e-mails that I hadn’t received and so I had missed arriving early to help with setup. As a note to aspiring judges and staff out there – this is why you should always follow up to make sure you don’t miss any last-minute changes. This was a mistake I made, and one that I spent a portion of Saturday trying to correct.

The issue is, when you miss the pre-event dealings, you get put into a pool of staff who already have spent some time working together, building up a routine and plan, and learning how they can solve the problems that will come up. I was able to rendezvous with Leo O. who was going to be in charge of Juniors TCG, and I was really happy to see that some veteran staff were being utilized alongside new staff. One of the best feelings in the world is being able to look at someone and see the journey they’ve made to reach the current stage, whether that’s a player who has played with their heart and eventually makes the decision to start judging or an adult who helped mentor you that’s not running their own events. Leo has helped me learn a ton about the game and Japanese culture over the past few years, and it’s always awesome to see him when we’re running events.

I spent the majority of the day helping out with the TCG staff and making sure their event was going as smoothly as possible. A big part of being on staff is helping out in any way possible, and for me, that means that I’m just as willing to cut match slips and hang pairings as I am to keep people in line, answer questions, or make rulings on the floor. I spent most of the first few rounds doing deck checks and fixing issues that came up. Thanks to a great team of volunteers, we were able to get all of the Junior issues fixed before starting the tournament, and the Masters lists were all reviewed by 11:12 AM, within an hour of the start of round 1.

It’s never fun when players earn penalties, but it’s unfortunately a part of many tournaments. There were still a few players who used shorthand (“Juniper”) on their decklists or forgot to write cards, and I hope that even though the penalty is painful, it’s a teaching moment that they’re able to use to avoid making mistakes in the future and to be more careful. Also, while it’s a TCG-related comment, I strongly encourage players to print their decklists out ahead of time so that they can verify the contents without risking a handwritten mistake or point of confusion.

There were 8 rounds of swiss for masters and 6 rounds of swiss for juniors and seniors, with a top 8 for all three divisions. The day was a pretty long one, and I was ready for things to wrap up as we did, around 8:30 PM. After dinner, I got the chance to grab some boba and walk to a food truck with Leo and some of the other staff, only to find out that they were out of tortas! After we all laughed about my attempt to order in Spanish and my dismay after finding out my food wasn’t available, we all got some sleep before the events of Sunday.

Sunday – VGC

The big day! I pretty much always start out tired, but once I get to an event, everything kicks into gear and I’m ready to go. I used to have a lot of trouble sleeping the night before I had to play, but that’s since gone away, so perhaps it’s a sign that I’m less stressed? Who knows. We get on site early, and I see that my staff list has a mixture of a few experienced folks with several newer judges.

One big mention is that Cassie volunteered to be on staff instead of playing, and she was a huge help in providing me with another knowledgeable expert. I can’t say it enough – if you’re a knowledgeable, mature, friendly member of the community and you don’t want to play, reach out to your local judges and organizers and offer to help. While it might not turn into anything immediately, these are the baby steps that lead to more opportunities and responsibilities. As an aside, don’t worry about the Professor Exam if you don’t play or understand the TCG. While having more knowledge is always good, if you can demonstrate that you’re able to act within the goals of the event and contribute to the team, you can still get your chance to help out.

I got the chance to brief the staff on effective ways to register teams and lock Battle Boxes, and along with Cassie, set up a side table to help fix issues that staff weren’t going to resolve. In my mind, the key to running great VGC events revolves around keeping the day running smoothly for the players, from registration straight through the conclusion of the event. Part of my pre-event goals are giving defined goals to the staff that I’m working with so that they can get a grasp for how things work. That means having teams of two people on each Battle Box-locking station to ensure that they can help each other if things go awry and also to ensure that we’re getting maximum turnover in the line. It’s easy to get flustered when a Battle Box isn’t locking or a player has leftover regulations from a past event, and having a second person to bounce ideas and talk through your plan helps make things run more effectively.

One thing I wasn’t prepared for was the online registration system. The only online registration that I’ve actively dealt with have been at the large events (Nationals/Worlds) where we had an online system to check players in. In San Jose, we were doing it more old-school with paper check in sheets, and this was part of what would lead to our delay before starting the event. This would also prove to be a bottleneck, and is part of why it took us so long to let people into the building.

By 8:30 AM, there were over 300 people (including parents and friends) in line, and we were having a very serious conversation about what to do when we reached venue capacity. This was a great reminder to players, myself included, that it’s always best to arrive at events as early as possible. My belief is that you absolutely need to be in line before the end of registration, but being in line doesn’t guarantee you a spot if the fire marshal is arriving in the hall to shut everything down. Alex Ogloza was the LAST person to get in line without a Round 1 or beyond loss, and he showed up just as I was counting out the last minutes of the registration window. Being on time means a lot, because when individuals come up and ask us to let them in because they’re (x) minutes late, I want them to realize that hundreds of other people had no problem NOT being (x) minutes late. I understand that emergencies come up, and I’ve also seen players with Round 1 losses make top cut, so I revert to my stance on penalties from before – it hurts when a player earns a penalty, and as a judge, my goal is to help make it a teaching moment for the future.

Similarly problematic was the individual who was in line with level 30 Pokémon with 5 minutes to go in registration. C’mon, train them beforehand or on the trip to the event! You should be ready to roll when you get in line.

At 9:40 AM, we thought that we had everything set, with a tentative count of 195 Masters, 45 Seniors, and 6 Juniors. For any experienced organizers out there, you’re well aware of the restriction that an event must have at least 8 players to be sanctioned. That’s not a problem, unless you have different computers for different age divisions, as is customary at many Regionals and higher events. That means that if for some reason you have less than 8 players in an age division, you need a backup plan.

At this point, I was able to confer with Dave from TPCi and Karl to make a decision on how best to proceed with our Junior division players. Simultaneously, the division judges I’ve delegated are getting ready to seat players for the players’ meeting to explain how the day is going to go. They print the roster which has seats for the player meeting and they go up. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, a page of masters division players didn’t get entered into the computer, and finding this page and correcting the issue takes the staff about 45 minutes to resolve. We had to move the players out of the venue for a variety of reasons, but please believe me when I say that I didn’t want everyone to be without information and confused as to what was going on. The simple answer is that it’s much better (for event integrity and for the running of an event) to have a single delay that can be addressed than to have repeated delays, whether that’s from re-pairings or issues mid-event.

By 10:45 AM, we’re ready to go, and we’re basically 45 minutes behind my target schedule for the event. We ended up with an Age-Modified Junior/Senior tournament with 6 rounds of Swiss and a Top 8 for seniors as well as 8 rounds of swiss with a Top 8 for masters. We ended up with 207/47/6 players, which actually beat the TCG numbers for masters, which is a great feeling, so thank you all and congratulations on showing them that VGC is alive and well!

I spent most of round 1 fixing a TOM problem, but thanks to the great judging staff, we had great folks running the divisions and keeping the players rolling along. Around this time, a lot of players were asking about lunch breaks for the day. In Philadelphia, we had so many masters and were behind due to an incorrect time being listed for registration, so we made the difficult decision to not break for lunch. This time, however, I felt that we could have a lunch break and still keep the event running in a timely manner.

By 12:45 PM, the players are on lunch break after completing four rounds of play, and we’re starting to turn rounds over faster. The staff are getting more comfortable with each other, and the highlighting of match slips is going really well. One of the biggest issues in a tournament of this size is that cutting match slips takes a long time – it can be upwards of 40 printed pages that have to be cut and distributed, and miss-cutting can cost your event time. It’s basically a game where doing small things like putting up pairings or match slips is important, and if you keep doing those things correctly, your event runs smoothly.

After round 5 wraps up, Duy and Alex make the call to drop from the tournament and start commentating on the Nugget Bridge stream. Big props to them: they had a stellar setup from this point out, and the crowd that was watching was respectful and great to see. At this point, we have wrapped up the Juniors (all of them got prizes and CP!) and are finishing Seniors.

At 3:15 PM, four hours and thirty minutes after the start of round 1, we are done with swiss. That’s 8 rounds of swiss along with a lunch break. Not bad, eh? This, to me, is a great example of how VGC events should be run. When staff know their roles and have a well-designed plan for the day, there are fewer mistakes. There were no re-pairs during the day, and we were able to keep the number of match record issues to a minimum. We were able to correct record errors, and the players were on top of their records making sure that if we made a mistake in the hundreds of match slips, we could fix it.

Thanks to some convenient timing, we were able to weave the Seniors division final matches in with the Top Cut for Masters, which really made their day. When we told them before Top Cut that the final match might be streamed, a few of them were really excited at the prospect. Masters: keep being awesome role models for them, and watch as that excitement and spirit continue to grow in the younger age divisions. By 5:00 PM, we were done with everything and packing up the VGC event. We’d made it through with only a few bumps along the way, and I was really proud of the way the staff and players responded to the challenges that came up.

Post-Event Review

So, that’s what it’s like for me to run an event and talk about it. My goals on Sunday followed a pretty basic flow:

• Ensure staff know how to register and interact with players
• Delegate division judges to ensure that rounds and staff will run effectively
• Get everyone registered correctly
• Ensure rounds 1 and 2 go well
• Support the event by doing anything else necessary to solve problems that arise

I really think that as an organizer, if you follow this nice “EDGES” system, you can set yourself up for success. There’s a lot to be said for having an awesome staff, expert knowledge, or someone who knows the game inside and out to commentate, but really, my goal is making sure that there’s a clean, fun, fair event that goes as smoothly as possible.

The three things that I really want to call out for making this event a success are:

• Having enough staff
• Highlighted match slips
• Players stepping up to help

A few things that really helped were the high quantity of staff we had. From my experience at US Nationals and Worlds, I believe that 25-30 players per judge is a great ratio for an event. It’s enough players that a judge will be able to interact and feel like they’re busy, without having too many players that make the staff feel overwhelmed. When the staff are overwhelmed, they can start making mistakes on match slips or providing information to players, and that’s not good. We had staff who ranged from 10-year veterans of the game to first-time staffers, and a good head judge or organizer should be comfortable finding roles for everyone. Staff is a team, and each person brings their own skills to the table – we don’t want to waste them or make them feel like they’re not helping. TPCi often mentions how committed they are to helping in any way necessary, and I really take their goal to heart. Remember that no matter what role a volunteer or staff member is in, they’re taking their time and energy to try and make your event better.

Another key to success was the use of highlighted match slips. While it’s not perfect, we had three errors during Philadelphia regionals due to the use of the highlighters (out of approximately 2000 match slips, or a 99.85% confidence rate for accuracy) and we had less than five in San Jose. My goal is and will always remain 0 mistakes made by staff, but I also acknowledge that as humans, we are prone to error. I’ll also take this chance to remind players of a few important things. Sit at the correct table. We had multiple matches where players didn’t sit at the right table, and you earn yourself a Game Loss penalty by not sitting at the correct table. Secondly, play the game to see who wins – this matters a lot less than it used to, but I still have a lot of players asking me how the game breaks ties. All of that information is publicly available online, and one of the most unpleasant experiences I’ve had is when a player or parent comes up and asks why the game resolved in a certain way. If you play the game, then there will be a result! It’s that simple

Finally, I think that’s it’s really important to thank the staff who are helping out. For some of them, it’s a next step in their roles in growing the community. For others it’s a big decision to not play in a major event, maybe your only major event for the year, to help make the experience better for your peers. In 2014, Sheryl R, Geoff S, Casey B, Bolt, and Cassie have all done this, and they’ve all been absolute pleasure to work with. Remember that the next time something goes wrong at your premier event to ask yourself, “Could I help fix that next time?” Sometimes it’s hard to take that next step, to step out of the potential  glory of competition, but I’m buoyed by the conversations I’ve had this year with future judges and organizers who have come from the ranks of this great community.

On that note, a quick shout-outs section, and I’ll leave you with a farewell and glossary.

Shout-outs to:

• Philip K on a Top 16 finish in the TCG. You’ve been awesome to meet over the past few years doing media, and it was great to see you playing and rewarded for your hard work.
• Duy, Huy, Cassie, and Kimo for being my hosts to the area and being so awesome to hang out with, as well as providing a place to stay.
• Leo, Justin, and Ricky for being awesome to hang out with and for going to get tortas and horchata after Saturday’s event.
• Karl B, Dorian R, Tom S, David T, and TPCi for inviting me to staff their events over the years and giving me the opportunity to give back to the community in this way.
• Junicki for welcoming me to the Dark Side at Nationals and Worlds – thanks for everything!
• All the staff I’ve worked with – thanks for being friendly and effective. Let’s keep running great events!

I hope you enjoyed this insight, and please feel free to leave me comments or send me a message if you have any feedback, questions, or concerns. Thanks, and have a great day!

~Nic

Organized Play Roles Overview

(All for North America – I’m not going to be discussing the situation in other countries because I don’t have the experience or background)

At the top of the food chain, you have The Pokémon Company International, based out of Washington, who coordinate Organized Play. They’re great folks, and the one this community is most familiar with is likely AlphaZealot, the gentleman in charge of the VGC side of things.

Then you have Premier Tournament Organizers – these are individuals who have proven themselves as Tournament Organizers and who are permitted by Pokémon to run “big” events. These are your Regionals and States organizers in most cases.

Next, you have Tournament Organizers – These are individuals (like myself) who have made an effort to be recognized by Pokémon to run local tournaments, like Premier Challenges.

Outside of the “Organizer” structure are the Pokémon Professors, individuals who have taken a test (which currently focuses primarily on TCG mechanics and event operation) and who are willing to uphold the Spirit of the Game and Professor Core Values while judging. In many cases, these people can be seen helping run Pokémon League or judging at events.

After that are Volunteers – often seen wearing neon colors at Nationals and Worlds. These are parents, players, and friends who are willing to help make a tournament even better by doing anything that’s necessary. From helping out by directing the flow of traffic, providing information, or helping with match slips, these great folks do all sorts of good.

All of these roles help out in different capacities, and if you’re interested in learning how they work or want to participate in Organized Play, feel free to reach out and I’d be happy to help if I can!

The post NorCal TOurnament Report: A Judge’s Perspective appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire have finally been released worldwide and our friends at Nintendo of Canada have been kind enough to provide us with a digital copy of each game again. As we have for the past two years, we’re going to celebrate the release of the new game with a giveaway! Like our previous contests, we’ll have three ways of entering: Twitter, Facebook, and our ever insightful forums. Much like the European Smash Bros. 3DS and Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Demo contests we held during the fall, these codes are region locked. In this case, they are for North America so you must own a 3DS from North America to win.

Forum Entry

Simply respond to the comment thread for this article with a quick post about your introduction to the Pokémon Championship Series. Did someone tell you about it? Did you find out about it on Google? How was your first event? Let us know how you got involved with the scene!

Our comments section and forums are linked so you only need to reply once on either location and it will automatically sync. Only your first post will count though you’re free to reply to other players to discuss your experiences! One entry will be randomly chosen from the thread and that player will win their choice of Pokémon Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire.

Social Media Entry

The other copy of Pokémon Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire will be given away on Facebook and Twitter in a random draw. Enter both to increase your chance of winning!

Twitter

Simply follow @nuggetbridge and retweet the following tweet to be entered into the draw.

Want a copy of Pokémon #OmegaRuby or #AlphaSapphire? Follow @nuggetbridge & retweet this for a chance to win! http://t.co/MHfAJ2S5lU #NBoras

— Nugget Bridge (@nuggetbridge) December 3, 2014

Facebook

Like Nugget Bridge and post an image in the comments for the contest post with your favourite Pokémon item you own — whether that’s a game, a plush, a card, or whatever else! If you’ve got a story to go with it, be sure to include that too!

Contest End

The contest will end at 11:59 PM on Sunday, December 7th, 2014 in Pacific Standard Time. One winner will be chosen randomly from all entries received in the comments thread for this article. Another winner will be chosen randomly from all entries received on either Facebook or Twitter. The winners will be contacted on Monday, December 8th, 2014.

The post Contest: Win a Copy of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

The following is an update to the guide “Breeding Perfect Pokémon in X and Y” I wrote last year. The same basic principles apply, but a few of the locations and starting points have changed.

Changes in Generation 6

Egg Moves – In past generations a Pokémon could learn special moves that it normally does not learn by inheriting it from the father only. In X&Y this was changed. Pokémon are able to inherit these Egg Moves from the mother as well. This opens up new possibilities for move combinations that could not be obtained before.

Hidden Abilities – Previously referred to as Dream World Abilities, these Abilities are not normally obtainable by a Pokémon. These Hidden Abilities can be found on special event Pokémon and sometimes on Pokémon in hordes or by chaining with the DexNav. These abilities previously could only be passed down by female Pokémon but that has been changed in Generation 6. Male Pokémon are now capable of passing down Hidden Abilities while breeding with Ditto, but have a smaller chance to pass them down than a female. Female Pokémon have a greater chance of passing down the ability. Breeding a male Pokémon and a female Pokémon with a Hidden Ability yields the best chance to pass it down.

Special Poké Balls – Arguably the most important change in breeding is the passing down of Poké Balls. In all previous generations, Pokémon that were bred would always appear in normal Poké Balls. In Generation 6, the baby will inherit the Poké Ball from its female parent (Note: Ditto does not count as a female). Rejoice in fact that your bred Pokémon can now be super stylish!

Things Required for Breeding Strong Pokémon:

DexNav – If you don’t have access to Pokémon with good IVs already, this is a good starting point. First, figure out which routes have suitable Pokémon to be your starting parents: either the female of the species you are aiming for, or a male in the same egg group. Search for the Pokémon using your DexNav, sneak up on it when it appears, and either knock out or catch the Pokémon to level up your DexNav. As you continue to level up your DexNav for the Pokémon you are hunting, you will notice a number of stars that appear next to the Pokémon on your DexNav. The higher the number of ‘Potential Stars,’ the better chance that Pokémon will have better IVs. For instance, a Pokémon with no stars will generally have lower IVs, while a Pokémon with 3 stars can have anything from three 31 IVs to six 31 IVs. DexNav chaining is also useful for hunting Pokémon with Hidden Abilities, hard to breed down Egg Moves, as well as an increasing chance of shininess.

Synchronizers – Pokémon with the ability Synchronize are extremely useful for getting the natures that you want. If a Pokémon with Synchronize is the first Pokémon in your party (fainted or not), there is a higher chance the opposing wild Pokémon will have the same nature. This allows you to catch parents with both the correct nature and flawless IVs to pass down to your offspring.

Everstone (Granite Cave) – The Everstone is important for maintaining the nature of the Pokémon you are trying to breed. The parent holding the Everstone is guaranteed to pass down its nature 100% of the time.

Destiny Knot (Sea Mauville) – Destiny Knot is the most important item for breeding perfect Pokémon. Without Destiny Knot, offspring are limited to inheriting a maximum of three IVs from both parents. In Generation 6, Destiny Knot raises this limit to five, allowing a Pokémon to inherit almost all of its own IVs from the parents.

Power Items (Battle Maison) – While the Power Items (Weight, Bracer, Belt, Lens, Band, Anklet) are not necessary, they are useful items to have for the early stages of breeding. Attaching a Power Item to a parent guarantees that it will pass down the IV of the item’s corresponding stat to the offspring. This is useful for preserving hard-to-get IVs such as a 0 in Speed for a Trick Room Pokémon.

IV Judge (Battle Resort) – The IV Judge will take a look at your Pokémon and tell you what stats they have 31 IVs in. If the judge says X stat can simply not be beat, then congratulations, you have a fully maxed out IV. On the flip side, if the judge makes a comment about how terrible the IV is, then congratulations, you have a 0 IV in that stat!

Flame Body – While a Pokémon with Flame Body is not required, it is extremely helpful for speeding up the process of hatching eggs. Carrying a Pokémon with Flame Body in your party allows you to hatch your eggs in half the time!

Battle Resort – Access to the Battle Resort is almost required if you are serious about your breeding. On the Battle Resort you will find everything you need to hatch eggs. The Day Care Center on the island can be used to make eggs while the IV checker is also on the island for your convenience. There is even a spot on the island where all you have to do is hold Up to continue walking in a circle for maximum laziness in hatching eggs.

The Process:

Note: These steps do not have to be followed in an exact order. This is merely a guideline to help you get into the process. You can do things in almost any order, but this is the most streamlined approach. Most of these steps can be adjusted if you have perfect Pokémon from other games that you can use as parents.

1. Grab a Pokémon with Synchronize and break out your DexNav! Your goal here is to grab a bunch of parents for the Pokémon you are trying to breed. You will want as many males as possible with different combinations of perfect IVs to pass down to your offspring. Leading with a Synchronizer will help ensure that you will have the right nature you want to pass down.

2. Attach an Everstone to the parent with the nature that you want to pass down. Breed that parent with a female of the Pokémon that you are looking to get. Hatch the eggs until you have a female with the Nature that you want. Move the Everstone to the baby. From this point on, the female will continue to hold the Everstone to continuously pass down the Nature.

3. Breed down 1 or 2 IVs from a male parent. You can do this a number of different ways. If you have a male parent with 3 or 4 perfect IVs then it is probably better to attach a Destiny Knot to it to allow it to pass down as many as it can. If you are not lucky enough to have that many perfect IVs yet, you can attach the Power Item that corresponds to the the IV that you want to pass down to the father to force it to pass the IV to the baby. For example, say you have a Ditto with 31 HP and 31 Speed. If you attached a Speed Anklet to the Ditto, the offspring would be guaranteed to have 31 Speed.

4. After obtaining a female Pokémon with 1 or 2 perfect IVs from the father, you can replace the female that is currently in the daycare and move the Everstone over to the female. Pick a male with 2 perfect IVs that are different from the female and attach a Destiny Knot to it. This allows for more IVs to pass down to the baby. The goal here is to keep improving the number of perfect IVs on your female.

5. Once you get 3 Perfect IVs, switch the parents again. The female with 3 IVs replaces the female with 2 IVs and a male with another combination of IVs that are not perfect on the female replaces the male. Remember to keep Destiny Knot and Everstone on the respective Pokémon so that IVs and natures continue to pass. Your goal is to end up with at least one 31 in each IV you want to pass down between the parents and as many 31s in important stats between the parents as possible to maximize the odds of your Pokémon inheriting 31 IVs.

6. Rinse and repeat until your Pokémon are powerful. Keep in mind that as you build up your collection of Pokémon, this process gets simpler. Males with a large number of perfect IVs can be used within their Egg group to speed up the beginning processes of breeding. The more perfect IVs you have between the parents, gives you a larger chance of getting what you want.

With a little bit of luck you’ll have your perfect Pokémon in no time!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask us in the Breeding Q&A Thread.

Good luck and happy breeding!

The post Breeding Perfect Pokémon in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hello, I’m Paul Chua. Some of you may know me better as pwny person. I started playing VGC in 2010, but didn’t really have a breakthrough until 2012, where I placed top 4 in the Seniors division at my first nationals. I won Nationals in 2013, and went on to finish top 8 at Worlds the same year. Even with these accomplishments, I was pretty nervous going into the Philidelphia regional, as this is my first season in the Masters dvision. In the end, I finished top 8, losing to Wolfey in some very fun games. I’m here to give you some insight into the team I used at the tournament.

The Team at a Glance

On the surface, this team looks just like a standard rain team, similar to the ones Ray (Ray) and Sejun (pokemontcg) have been using. However, this team gives me many options other than a simple offensive rain mode, which I will explain in detail later. Let’s take a look at each Pokemon individually.

More In Depth Look at the Team

@ Leftovers

Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 204 HP / 148 Def / 156 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Scald
– Ice Beam
– Perish Song
– Protect

Politoed is one of my favorite Pokemon due to its bulk, cuteness, and versatility. For this team, I felt like I needed Politoed to be slow in order to set up rain as often as possible, and to faint after other Pokemon in Perish Song. Because of the offensive nature of this team, I didn’t feel like I needed any investment in Special Attack and just went for a defensive build. The EV spread is the same as the one used by Japanese player YT (read more about his team here). The HP EVs allow Politoed to take minimal damage from hail and sandstorm, and the Defense and Special Defense EVs allow it to survive an Adamant Mawile Play Rough and a Thunder from Timid Mega Manectric, respectively.

The moveset is pretty simple. Scald is just a reliable STAB attack, and Ice Beam hits Pokemon that resist Scald, such as Salamence. Perish Song can be used to force switches, or used alongside Gothitelle’s Shadow Tag to knock out Pokemon that would otherwise cause problems for my team. Protect prevents Politoed from taking damage and allows for Leftovers recovery.

If I were to use this team again, I would definitely consider replacing Ice Beam with Encore. Due to Politoed’s lack of Special Attack investment, Ice Beam doesn’t do very much damage, even when its super effective. Encore is very useful in setting up Perish Song, locking my opponent into an ineffective move while I wait out the Perish count.

@ Assault Vest

Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 132 HP / 20 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 100 Spe
Modest Nature
– Fake Out
– Scald
– Ice Beam
– Giga Drain

Ludicolo was Politoed’s rain partner. I prefer Ludicolo over Kingdra due to Ludicolo’s lack of reliance on rain, and its useful grass typing, which allows it to go ignore rage powder and spore. I didn’t really like using a fast variant of Ludicolo so I went with an Assault Vest to allow it to take some hits a bit better. I’m going to be honest here, I got lazy on thinking of a Ludicolo spread and just used the EVs Sejun Park’s Ludicolo had on his nationals team. The problem is that the Ludicolo Sejun used was for a Sitrus Berry, so i wasn’t getting the most out of it. However, I never really had any issues when I was testing with it.

The moveset is pretty much what you would see any Ludicolo have. The only move that might seem a bit out of the box is Scald instead of Hydro Pump. I’m the kind of person that is really paranoid when it comes to moves with less than 100 accuracy. I didn’t want to risk missing any attacks so I went with Scald because it does some decent damage in and out of rain and the 30% burn chance is also a nice bonus.

@ Choice Specs

EVs: 60 HP / 4 Def / 244 SpA / 4 SpD / 196 Spe
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Dark Pulse
– Flamethrower
– Dragon Pulse

Hydriegon is the next member on my team. The EVs allow it to outspeed Pokemon that are meant to outspeed Smeargle by 1 by 1 point (the speed stat number is 143). The HP EVs allow it to survive a Jolly Dragon Claw from a Garchomp. The 244 in Special Attack makes it so that I don’t waste the 8 evs in something that isn’t relevant. User Risky Chance showed me that 244 and 252 Special Attack  pretty much do the same thing, so investing 252 in Special attack would be a waste so invested it into other stats.

Moveset is pretty standard, Dragon Pulse was chosen over other options such as Earth Power because when testing, I never found a use for it and I had a feeling that i might need a time to do damage consistently compared to Draco Meteor with the Special Attack Drop.

@ Mawilite

Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
– Iron Head
– Play Rough
– Sucker Punch
– Protect

Mawile is the Pokemon I chose as my mega. Its ability, Huge Power, when it mega evolves is really helpful because it allows Mawile to do even more damage. It also does well against the common Pokemon people use such as Garchomp, Hydreigon, and Kangaskhan. As you can tell, the EVs for this Mawile are very standard. As Mawile was my only physical attacker, I felt like I needed it to do as much damage on the physical side as possible. The moveset is also pretty standard as I saw no need to run anything unusual such as Rock Slide.

@Safety Goggles

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 76 SpA / 156 SpD / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
– Thunder Wave
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Roost

Zapdos, in my opinion, is the best Electric type Pokemon you can have on a rain team. It is very bulky but also has a decent amount of offense. The EV Spread is really old. I was struggling to think of a Zapdos spread and I didn’t like using a Bold one. In the end, I decided to go with Human’s spread from his rain team from long ago which can be found here. It pretty much accomplished the only goal I wanted it to do, survive a Draco Meteor from a Choice Specs Modest Hydreigon, so I went with it. The moveset is also very basic. Thunderbolt for STAB, Thunder Wave for speed control, and Roost in order for it to survive for a longer time. I chose Hidden Power Ice over another attack such as Swagger because I was worried about not being able to hit Garchomp if a scenario were to end up like that.

Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 244 SpD
Calm Nature
– Trick Room
– Psyshock
– Charm
– Protect

Gothitelle is the last Pokemon on my team. It helped me set up Perish Song or disrupt my opponent’s strategies with its ability. The EV spread allows it to take a Choice Specs Hyderigon Dark Pulse and the remaining EVs were put into Defense to make it a little tankier on the physical side. The moves are also self explanatory. Trick Room for speed control,Psyshock was chosen over psychic just so that i can hit Assault Vest Pokemon harder. Charm is there to cripple physical attackers. One notable thing about this is that my Gothitelle is faster than Mawile outside of Trick Room. This can help me a lot by outspeeding a Mawile and charming it which leads to my Pokemon surviving an attack I normally wouldn’t. Protect is there to stall out my own Trick Room if I wanted to, but mostly I used it to stall out Perish Song turns if it was going on.

Conclusion

In the end, I enjoyed this team. This has to be, in my honest opinion, my favorite team I have ever used out of all 4 years of playing VGC and I am glad I got to share this team with you guys! The many different options the team has is part of what makes it fun, causing your opponent to wonder which mode you decide to bring into the match. Other people have also used similar versions of my team and have achieved better results than I have, such as Kamz and TheBattleRoom getting 2nd at their respective regionals.

So with that being said, I would like to give a few thank yous to people who have helped somewhere along the journey of becoming the person I am today:

• Eric1999: You were the best team building partner I could have asked for. The ideas you give me for my teams always help my team and you are very supportive of me. Hopefully we can meet one day in person, and I am very glad to have met you.
• Cybertron: My match against you in 2012 was one of the best matches I ever had and I still haven’t forgotten it. That was motivated me to keep playing Pokemon. Your YouTube videos also help me in coming up with cool ideas and become a better player.
• LudiImpact: Thanks for being a great friend and also telling me how good my team was. You are always very positive when it comes to me in these events, and that always makes me happy.
• My parents: Thanks for actually putting up with me and actually bringing me to these events. You guys are also very positive and always tell me to not worry about doing bad and to just have fun, which has always helped me whenever I get flustered from a loss.

This is all from me for now! I hope you enjoyed reading this report as much as I had writing it. Have a nice day!

The post Making a Splash: A Top 8 Philadelphia Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

The third season of the National Pokémon Association has come to a close and of the sixteen teams that entered, one has emerged victorious! Congratulations to the Goldenrod Rollouts who defeated the Lilycove Cruisers to become the champions of Season 3. The roster consisted of Bopper, TheBattleRoom, LPFan, Mancuso, Darkeness, Blitznburst, and Falco. Team owner Benji knew what he wanted spending 70% of his budget for his two star players Bopper and TheBattleRoom. The final round of the playoffs ended in a 3-3 score between both teams, sending the Rollouts’ TheBattleRoom against the Cruisers’ Human in a winner-take-all tie-breaker match. TheBattleRoom emerged victorious and made sure the title came home to Johto’s Goldenrod City and made sure residents knew which team had brought it to them.

Congratulations Rollouts!

Throughout the season we’ve been uploading battle videos of the battles that have happened between the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos teams that make up the NPA. They’ve all been put together into one handy playlist for you to enjoy. There are over 180 battles between some of the best players in the game for you to study!

The post Goldenrod Rollouts Crowned Season 3 NPA Champions appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

“They say that Wii Us are reserved for kings.
That trophies are the realm of those who deserve them.
And in a critical hit, in the missing of a stone edge, fortunes change.
Through every bubbling comes the chance to top cut again.
To rebuild anew, atop the misclicks of the past.
Out of scrub comes pro.

We come to you, with the salt of a proud gamer, and the tilt-filled mind of a haxer-bathed Smogonite.
Let us begin the story now…”

Well, I asked my baby tarantula for ideas on a cool opening and that’s definitely what he told me. He moved his mouth and everything, honest, he was like the cat from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but less Soho.

He’s called Rob Swire, and he true be cold like Alaska freezer, whatever that means. Ask the guy he’s named after. Yet another tribute to glorious electronic music, he lives on my desk next to Skrillex the centipede and Calvin Harris the pitcher plant, who, incidentally, I did meet in the Summer. It just so happens that we fell in love, as his leaves turned brown. Yes, that’s another terrible musical reference, and I regret nothing. Because it’s funny. More importantly, however, Rob lives next to my brand new shiny Wii U, which is what this story is about.

Hold up your hands, and begin again

So, you probably know how sick I got of the standard XY format and its don’t-be-weak-to-Kangaskhan-use-Rock-Slide tendencies, and who didn’t? It was a format that I never really found myself a cohesive team for, which meant I wasn’t playing with anything good enough to more than top cut Nationals. I pretty blindly ran into it with stuff I’d made in about two seconds, and used practically the same stuff all season. In the end, come Worlds I was busy anyway, but it did kind of bother me how I hadn’t properly cracked the 2014 format. So, once I heard the lovely announcement for the Streetpass UK Autumn Event, I decided I had to make an effort for once and rolled out of bed to the local qualifier, which was a convenient one minute’s walk away, in a hall with walls adorned in paintings of cherubim, and naked soldiers. I managed to lose to Steelix, because I’m an idiot and was really hung over and forgot it learned rock moves, but I won an invitation to the grand final in Manchester, which was what mattered. Soon after, I began thinking about finally making that one team I could say I was proud of. I decided to make like Knife Party’s new album and Abandon Ship: Reconnect and bring out a load of new material. Begin Again and come up with something that’s basically the same but kind of slightly different. A Pokémon equivalent to middling electro, text-to-speech sampling, and bad deep house. A team so foolproof that even I can win a Wii U with it. So dastardly and ironic that the Mamoswine is called Mammoth. The Best. Team. Ever.
So I began training. I spent long and hard nights on the Hyperbolic Time Chamber that is Pokémon Showdown, with a variety of unprintable and hilarious usernames involving words such as “massive”, “leaky”, and “panther”. I’d organised something nice, based around a specially defensive Aegislash named Resistance (“This… is a knife!”), the beautifully-monikered XGonGivIt2Ya the Charizard X, and Red Dawn the Talonflame. All was well, until I kept playing this German guy with a Raichu and Azumarill lead, and couldn’t beat him however hard I tried. I must’ve lost to him a dozen times before it (Red) dawned upon me: “I practically invented Lightningrod + Azumarill! What am I doing not using it again?!?!” I’d well and truly forgotten the trick of my best team in the format… whoops. Except Raichu was an even better partner for Azumarill than Mega-Manectric, and it let me use a Mega in the back. So I pondered, deeply and meditatively, for about the ten seconds it required to put a team together. This is what I came up with.

You are now about to witness the strength… of street knowledge

Gin and Juice- Snoop Dogg
“Rollin’ down the street, doing nothing in particular, sippin’ on gin and juice!”
Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 164 HP / 252 Attack / 92 Speed
Adamant Nature
– Play Rough
– Aqua Jet
– Belly Drum
– Protect

With my mind on my offensive pressure and my offensive pressure on my mind. Nope, doesn’t work. This Azumarill set, though, works obscenely well.
The cool thing about Azumarill is how everything takes huge damage from its Play Rough, but barely anything can one-hit KO it. And if the opponent doesn’t hit it, they leave it able to set up a massive attack stat and risk taking Aqua Jets that wreck their entire team without giving them a chance to hit it back. So, Azumarill is pretty much always going to win if it’s played right. That’s why I like it. That, and it’s really cute.

Like the clearly tanked rabbit itself, gin and juice is so pleasant, but it hits you hard if you don’t pour it right. Pour a measure of clear gin in the bottom of the glass, and then fill it up with orange juice on top. Looks kind of like a shiny Azumarill’s pattern, right? So the Snoop Dogg classic suits better than anything.

And hey, notice something funny about the EV spread? Yeah, it’s Baz Anderson’s spread with 1 extra speed in case I played him. Teehee, I’m so naughty.

Volt- Yung Lean
“Not supposed to make it so we chase it till we got ‘em all”
Raichu @ Focus Sash
Ability: Lightningrod
EVs: 4 Attack / 252 Special Attack / 252 Speed
Timid Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Fake Out
– Encore
– Protect

This is my Raichu. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My Raichu is my best frien- actually nah… that’s pushing it a bit. Really, though, my Raichu’s pretty unique.

For some reason, nobody else seems to run Protect on Raichu and I have absolutely no idea why. It’s clearly a better move to carry than Hidden Power Ice, which doesn’t actually KO anything Azumarill can’t already. Raichu’s here to support Azumarill and pressure the opponent into attacking me, and it does that better if it stays alive for longer, hence the Protect and Focus Sash. Encore, however, is the real star move. Try to use Protect against Azumarill? Enjoy getting either Encore sticking you into it, or having to switch out into something Azumarill can totally wallop. Basically, Raichu’s support puts a lot of pressure on the opponent, since they can’t use Electric moves in front of it, its fast Fake Out gives me advantage in the first turn, and I can use Encore to trap the opponent in bad moves, all while Azumarill is dealing loads of damage. Raichu and Azumarill has to be one of the best lead combinations in the game: it gives the user overwhelming field control and lets you punish practically everything the opponent can throw at you. Just how I like it!

Volt’s not just called that because it’s Electric-type, it’s actually more imaginative than you might think. Yung Lean is possibly the definition of niche. Nobody sane can even come close to comprehending that which is Yung Lean and his Sadboys. So, you have no idea how happy I was when I found him on the internet last year. He constantly wears bucket hats with sunglasses and goes on about Pokémon whilst prancing about and ostentatiously sipping Arizona iced tea. If this wasn’t literally me aged 10 and up, I’d be copying him right now and not regretting a minute of it. God, I love Yung Lean. If you’re not already a Sadboy (Which is legitimately a unisex term), go and watch the video to the song Hurt, because it is, in my opinion, the best four minutes on the internet. Volt’s one of his newer and artier tracks, which, if you read into the lyrics, is about how all the haters told him he’d never get famous, but now he’s mixing orange juice and alcohol, in a spaceship. And there’s a basketball involved, and rupees. Oh, and he puts drugs in his smoothies. The orange juice and alcohol represents Azumarill, and the spaceship his alienation from society. The basketball is an allegory for oranges, and how they are also orange, like my shiny Raichu and Azumarill. But oranges don’t bounce. They just splat and make a mess, a situation that’s affected me personally. As you can see, there’s hard-hitting themes involved and it’s very deep and meaningful. Really makes you think.

Bad- David Guetta
“Why does it feel so good… to be bad?”
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate/Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Attack / 4 Speed
Adamant Nature
– Play Rough
– Iron Head
– Sucker Punch
– Protect

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the club tune of 2014. As the DJ presses the play button on his Macbook, tensions rise: the build-up resonates into the glory of synthetic fanfare. Pray tell, what is that luminous serenade emanating from those standard issue Welsh nightclub speakers, the ones famous Nugget Bridge member _OR1 lost a paper parrot between, leading to a fatal case of the jolly belly tickly? For the fifth time tonight, it’s Bad by David Guetta, and it has all 6 misfits on the dancefloor bouncing. I wonder: why does it feel so good… to be bad?

RAH NANANAH RANAH RAHNANANAH NANAH, RAHNANANAH NANAH, RANANANAH NAH

The crowd goes wild, shuffling around vaguely in circles as they usually do.

“HANDS UP IF YOU’RE FROM BANGOR UNI!”

Everyone flails their hands somewhere in the air, except Koryo because bless him he’s actually a local.

RAH NANANAH RANAH RAHNANANAH NANAH, RAHNANANAH NANAH, RANANANAH NAH

“Gaz from Geordie Shore is in the building!!!” The kids keep shamble dancing. They can’t get enough of this big room house music. Except they can, because I honestly couldn’t tell you the kind of person who enjoys listening to it. It’s in the charts! Who is paying money for this stuff?!

RAH NANANAH RANAH RAHNANANAH NANAH, RAHNANANAH NANAH, RANANANAH NAH

And then you just give up and start laughing because, honestly… who even cares? You’re in Wales, for some reason, surrounded by people who are equally questioning why they’re there, drowning in a booming sonic mire; the soundtrack to the end of the world. The sticky satellite town dancefloor is the embodiment of grimness; it’s a scum that grips. It’s grimmer than Kony 2012, and hey look, there’s even a naked guy running down the street. You question everything about the kind of society that not so much allows this kind of nonsense, but encourages it. Then you don’t care. Because it feels good to be bad.

This is basically why I use standard Mega-Mawile. No matter how hard you can try to be above it, you can’t, so just go with what you’re given, and focus on playing it to its strengths, which means play your Mawile standard. You can try to be smart with a fancy defensive spread, or Rock Slide, or Fire Fang, but it just doesn’t work. Thanks to Huge Power, your Attack EVs actually have twice as much effect than if you put them in any other stat, so it’s so much more efficient than using anything else. To use anything other than the standard is, as they say in my country, all fur coat and no knickers. Which, fair enough, is a good look if you can rock it. You, however, probably can’t.

Spitfire- The Prodigy
“If I was in World War Two they’d call me… Spit-fire!”
Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze/Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Defence / 60 Special Attack / 4 Special Defence / 188 Speed
Modest Nature
– Overheat
– Heat Wave
– Solarbeam
– Protect

Tuuuune! If you don’t like The Prodigy, you’re lying to yourself. Given the fact I do possess questionable taste, you may disagree with me. I mean, I’m not going to beat about the bush, I did think “Hey QT” was a good song. That said, The Prodigy are pretty great, as you’ll probably agree with me.

In this song, the sampled vocalist asserts that, had he been involved in world conflict of 1939-1945, people would’ve referred to him by the name of a kind of English fighting aeroplane. Now, I can’t vouch for the legitimacy of that somewhat fanciful claim. What I can do, however, is point out that Charizard, too, was a child of the late ‘90s, and he definitely spits fire. Setting Sun’s more refined brother, Spitfire probably has the best Charizard Y setup you’re ever going to get. Truth be told, if I’d run this guy at Nationals, like I should’ve done, I think I’d probably have done a lot better. But I went with Kangaskhan because I was beginning to feel like a one-trick pony, so whoops. That’s how I ended up with my massive rain weakness: I’d basically been using Charizard to beat it the entire time, then totally forgot rain was a thing as soon as I removed it, which was something of a mistake.

Charizard Y controls the field and pressures the opponent. If they don’t immediately get on his case, he’ll blow them away. He’s simple enough, but gets the job done and gives people plenty of trouble, unless they have a faster Rock-type move user, which is pretty much only Garchomp, and something else I’d later be reminded of. Anyway, Spitfire is a plain good piece of music. Sadly though, the fact they never play it anywhere, yet I’m always hearing stuff like Bad. Like TM21, that’s an endless source of Frustration.

(Whaaayyy!!)

Mammoth- Dimitri Vegas, Moguai and Like Mike
“Woop doop doop! Woopa doopa doopaaa! Woop doop doop!”
Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed
Adamant Nature
– Earthquake
– Icicle Spear
– Ice Shard
– Protect

‘Cause he’s a mammoth? Get it? …oh, it’s just not a good joke. That’s okay. I suppose I can’t win them all.

If Spitfire’s my favourite dance floor tune of the ‘90s, Mammoth is probably my favourite of the current decade. It’s so sad-sounding, and yet so powerfully stoic. Kind of like Manny the Mammoth from Ice Age. He’s pretty cool, but he misses his family, so he’s a sad boy but also a strong boy. The song’s writers manage to convincingly synthesize this dicey melancholic vibe, despite being respectively named after money laundering, something you shouldn’t feed after midnight, and a septic tank of Lil’ Bow Wow. It’s inspirational.

So yeah, quite clearly this guy is the perfect partner for Charizard. Those icy cool wabi-sabi overtones are just too much for dragons like Garchomp to handle. Mammoth knows he’s not perfect. He knows he’s no longer meant for this world. But he’s come to terms with it, and it just makes him want to dance his stubby little legs off, and then die again, like he should’ve done 10,000 years ago. Honestly, I wish I could tell you the mammoth was going to come back, but I actually share a lab with a guy on the front line of mammoth ancient DNA research and yeah, not going to happen anytime soon. He reckons that if they did Jurassic Park one back to life, it’d just sit there like a big woolly Eeyore and ruin everyone’s day, and I think he’s right. I like to play with the dead squirrel he keeps in the fridge.

Now, how to finish off my team? Hmm…

Next, on Intervention…

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

I was warned about Garchomp. I was told, dog. But it keeps happening. I tried to do things differently. I TRIED!

Actually no I didn’t. I really, really didn’t. Please, just check me into Garchomp rehab or something. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel: Zog doesn’t always have to use Lum Berry Garchomp. This is a short appeal. For just two pounds a month, you could help Zogs like Zog have access to a clean Dragon-type. A Dragon-type that doesn’t have 4 HP EVs, 252 Attack EVs, and 252 Speed EVs. The future is bright, and it’s hopefully not nicknamed Satisfaction.

Well, Garchomp is still as good as it always was. I picked it in games where it was better than Mamoswine, like if they had a Charizard or Talonflame. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Garchomp is the best non-Mega Pokémon in the metagame. I win by never having deadweight, and Garchomp is never deadweight.

That’s each of the members of the team!

Where the hood, where the hood, where the hood at?

<Each Pokémon’s picture all in a line here would be cool>

So, you’ve seen each Pokémon. The most important part of the team, though, is how it fits together. You’ve probably guessed that Raichu and Azumarill are meant to go alongside. By default, I’d usually lead those two whatever the opponent had, using different if they had a team that was particularly unfriendly to either. Raichu would then be free to distract the opponent and put down any cocky Pokémon weak to Electric, while Azumarill wreaks havoc on the rest of the team. The only real answers to this lead are Grass-types, which, by virtue of being rare thanks to their weakness to Talonflame, and handled by Charizard, aren’t much of a problem. If I was up against a Grass-type or a rain team, Charizard would be chosen in the back, or frequently as a lead alongside Raichu. As you can imagine, Charizard did show his face in pretty much all of my games. Mawile was almost exclusively left to matchups involving Kangaskhan, which was weirdly not that often. Then I’d have Garchomp or Mamoswine depending on if I needed Garchomp’s Rock Slide or Mamoswine’s Ice Shard and stronger Earthquake. But hey, that’s enough boring explanation. You’d rather see for yourself, right?

Are you ready… for the grand finale?

I’d actually been looking forward to the day, as it happens. When Chris (Havak) and the rest of the team organise a tournament, it’s always as good as UK Pokémon gets, so probably the highest quality grassroots Pokémon you’ll find anywhere, plus alcohol. So all in all, top day out.

This one was the Streetpass UK Autumn Grand Final, which was the culmination of a couple of dozen qualifiers held by Streetpass UK groups across the country. The top four at each won an invitation to play at Bar21 in Manchester, for the chance to win a Wii U, trophies and the new games. I’ve had a secret rule for myself since the Wii U came out: I wasn’t allowed to buy one, I had to win one from a tournament. So, I had to put some effort in and bring it home this time.
The lil’ bro and I managed to easily make it to the venue this time, without walking past and entirely missing it. Which was fortunate, since later it turned out there was a dead guy poking out from under a bush a little down the road and had I got lost in the same place as I did last tournament, it would’ve been me that found the poor fella. Hash tag downer? Luckily for me that ended up being somebody else’s problem, so I settled down and got myself a gin and juice, in honour of my lovely Azumarill. I vaguely remember Foodking accusing me of having ebola and me telling him that if he wasn’t careful I’d wee on his face, and then he’d have ebola too. It’s funny; where life takes you.

Round one… FIGHT!

Round 1 Vs. Rachel Annand (SPEevee)

Raichu, Azumarill, Mega Mawile, Mamoswine Vs. Mienshao, Gardevoir, Mega Manectric, Garchomp

Her country might’ve quailed at competing with the rest of the UK, but Rachel, Scotland’s strongest trainer, has been doing it for years and it shows. I had a tough first round, and it was time to give it a go. Things get off to an extremely Rocky start, and for a while it seems like my chances are Sliding into oblivion, but give it a watch and you’ll see what happens! Loads of really cool moves in this one.

1-0

I may have taken the first round, but I did not take Scotland’s freedom. Its general public did that.

Round 2 Vs. Joe Wilson (Russian)

Raichu, Mega Charizard Y, Azumarill, Garchomp Vs. Mega Manectric, Talonflame, Politoed, Ludicolo

Oh, hello. Yet again, I’m playing Mr. Fluffy Hair and his… actually glorious rain team. Get ready for a nice game! It’s all about bringing it to 2-2 and positioning my Charizard to underspeed his scarf Politoed and get the sun on the field for the endgame.

…ah, wasn’t scarfed, was it? Splish splash, quality game with a quality player.

1-1

Round 3 Vs. Chris Littlechild

Raichu, Mega Charizard Y, Azumarill, Garchomp Vs. Mega Kangaskhan, Politoed, Ludicolo, Aegislash

Chris was a little bigger than I expected, and seemingly also an adult. I felt somehow lied to. He was, however, packing both one dangerous rain team and the favour of the gods. Scary!

See, games like that are why I wear dark-coloured trousers. Around now I begin to realise how badly-prepared for Ludicolo I am after dropping Talonflame, so I buy a fifth or seventh gin and juice.

2-1

Round 4 Vs. Ben Markham (Benster)

Raichu, Mega Mawile, Mamoswine, Garchomp Vs. Talonflame, Hydreigon, Mega Kangaskhan, Azumarill

Sadly gonna have to omit the video for this one since I can only upload 10 at once, but it was still a nice game. Raichu takes down Talonflame on the first turn, Kangaskhan drops Garchomp soon after but goes out with Rough Skin, and I’m feeling comfortable with Ben’s Specs Hydreigon locked into Fire Blast. But wait… oh whoops, I brought Mawile. That’s… going to be a problem. So I have to go a little into the rough and double target Hydreigon with Ice Shard and Sucker Punch for the KO. Kids, this is why I use 252 Attack EVs. Wins you games, even if you screw up!

3-1

Round 5 Vs. Dennis Kinghorn

Raichu, Azumarill, Mamoswine, Mega Mawile Vs. Garchomp, Zapdos, Mega Mawile, Greninja

This pleasant fellow named Dennis used a classic and imposing ZapChomp DisQuake team, which made me nostalgic for the olden days of 2009. Ah, those days as a chubby-cheeked and insomniac 16-year-old, with a shiny addiction and zero killer instinct. That year I top cut Nationals with Explosion Gengar and Kabutops, with IVs so bad they each got OHKOed by Thunder Fang Salamence and Charge Beam Cresselia. In March, I introduced my good friend Andy to his first Pokémon game. By June he’d blown my idiot self out of the water and won tickets to Worlds. Yeah, I don’t think I miss 2009. All this nostalgia made me wonder, though, what would it be like to have a baby named Dennis? It just doesn’t fit. It’s like having an Imogen who isn’t an emo. In case you’re guessing, yeah the game left a little to be desired. But it was nice talking to Dennis.

4-1

Round 6 Vs. Sam Bentham (SuperIntegration)

Raichu, Azumarill, Mamoswine, Mega Charizard Y Vs. Garchomp, Rotom-W, Scrafty, Mega Mawile

Ouch! It’s a nasty matchup to end the Swiss rounds. See, I might be a scientist, but at heart I’m a bit of a dippy creative. Sam’s a mathematician, and his cold hard numbers hit me for super effective damage. Mathematics scare me. They make me feel lost and powerless, like Les Dennis.

Harsh, harsh game, and it all comes down to one turn.

…ah, that had to happen, didn’t it. Icicle Spear only needed 3 hits or one critical to KO, then Rock Slide goes and flinches me. But I don’t mind that much; I didn’t play perfectly, Sam is strong, and as luck would have it I’m still in the top cut!

4-2

Time for some pretty nice free pizza and a sixth? Eleventh? Gin and juice. Delicious. And now, the top cut.

Top 16 Vs. Alex Parker

Game 1

Mega Charizard Y, Garchomp, Mamoswine, Azumarill Vs. Nidoqueen, Azumarill, Mega Lucario, Rotom-H

Immediately Rotom’s Thunderbolt critical hits and somehow knocks out my Charizard, meaning he’s running the rare offensive set and I’m not happy. I’m more than a little mad at this kind of thing happening at exactly the wrong moment, and end up running right into a Protect from his Azumarill, losing Mamoswine to a sun-boosted Overheat that I weirdly assumed wouldn’t KO. In the space of two turns, I’ve been unnecessarily wrecked by this stupid Rotom, and it’s all my fault. Then, the icing on the cake: he’s running a ridiculously fast Azumarill. As the brothers from Rotherham would so wisely say: Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. I’m about to throw the teddy out of the cot when Alex, God bless him, points out that it’s a best of three. Phew! Good thing I’m not a sore loser, right? …right?

Game 2

Mamoswine, Mega Charizard Y, Azumarill, Garchomp Vs. Azumarill, Nidoqueen, Abomasnow, Mega Lucario
I hope you, dear reader, realise at this point just how stressy Alex’s team was making me. I used to have a stress ball that, if you squeezed it, would play a sound clip of Michael Winner saying “Calm down, dear!”. Michael Winner doesn’t stop you from feeling stressed. Michael Winner only makes it worse. But now he’s dead, so I’m safe now. This game was thrillingly noxious so I’ll give you the video. I brought Charizard thinking it wouldn’t be threatened by his Mega Lucario. Then, once the big dog hit the field, I knew something was wrong. My spidey senses were tingling. So I took a risk, and it paid off. Happy viewing.

Game 3

Garchomp, Mega Charizard Y, Azumarill, Mamoswine Vs. Mega Lucario, Rotom-H, Azumarill, Hydreigon

So here it is. Back to the wall against one brutally tough adversary. I know what’s coming: it’s a leap of faith. Come on, Stone Edge! Show me why you’re the worst move in the game!

I’m a lucky little lolcat. Thanks to Alex for being a good sport and giving me one of the toughest matches I can remember! I’m a little worried, though, about facing any more Rock-carrying Mega Lucario, which I’d totally forgotten was even a thing. Because I’m silly.

Top 8 Vs. Alan West (alanspurs)

Alan was the 6-0 in Swiss, so I know I’m in for a hard time. It’s time to fight for a copy of Omega Ruby!

Game 1

Mamoswine, Mega Charizard Y, Azumarill, Raichu Vs. Ludicolo, Politoed, Hydreigon, Mega Mawile

Eek, Politoed and Ludicolo! I don’t really know what to do and just hit everything with Play Rough until I get a grip and remember… wait, I can use the rain to KO Politoed with Aqua Jet. How fortunate. From there I make it sunny again and clean up with Charizard and priority moves. Sorted.

Game 2

Mamoswine, Mega Charizard Y, Azumarill, Raichu Vs. Hydreigon, Mega Mawile, Politoed, Ludicolo

I had a hunch and I rode it like a Japanese grasshopper man on a talking motorbike. Strong game!

Thanks for the games, Alan! Lovely games, lovely bloke. And hey, he got his revenge on me a few days ago when he steamrolled my second badge Omega Ruby team with… Swagger spam. Surskit and Nuzleaf had less of a chance than Barney in the Kowloon Walled City.

Top 4 Vs. Joe Wilson (Russian)

We meet again, fluffy man. Your rainy poser days are over, jerk! Now I’ll get my revenge. Sun versus rain. Dragon versus frog. Hotness versus wetness. Two polar opposites, so divergent yet intrinsically linked. Our teams form antipodean perfection: a Yin and Yang of children’s computer gaming. In case you’re wondering, though, yes, I am the hot one.

Game 1

Raichu, Azumarill, Mega Charizard Y, Mamoswine Vs. Mega Manectric, Talonflame, Politoed, Ludicolo

Now I know his Politoed isn’t scarfed, I manage to face Joe down and beat him. Like Alan Partridge before me, I’ve proven the possibility of being funnier than rain. In this moment, I am euphoric. Now all I have to do is keep it up.

Game 2

Raichu, Mega Charizard Y, Mamoswine, Azumarill Vs. Mega Manectric, Aegislash, Politoed, Ludicolo

Here we go, I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna go full Adele and set fiiiire, to the raaaaain!

…ah. Whoops. Well, Play Rough’s always going to do you in every now and then. If I hadn’t have been overly cautious about a possible Wide Guard at the start of the game, though, that wouldn’t have happened.

Game 3

This is it. A Pokémon battle so relatively epic, it would’ve made Jesus Ninahaza fall backwards off his chair all over again. Enjoy.

Amazing games as always with Joe, the best rain player in the country. And hey, would you believe it? Just like that, I’m in the final.

Final Vs. Richard Fairbrother (NidoRich)

Now, Rich and I were the only two guys playing who’ve won a Manchester tournament before. Could I let him beat me and be drawing with my at this point 2 Manchester wins? No way! Manchester’s mine, I can’t lose it to a literal Scrub! I’d come so far. I needed that Wii U, and its ability to waste even more of my precious free time.

Game 1

Raichu, Azumarill, Mega Charizard Y, Garchomp Vs. Gardevoir, Mega Manectric, Lapras, Talonflame

Here we go! We’re on the big screen for glory, and a Wii U. Gardevoir, which for some reason is named Boris, traces Huge Power… lucky. I want to beat it up because someone once told me I was the Boris Johnson of Pokémon, and I was very offended. However, he switches it into Talonflame? Well, I do what I did last time I played Rich, and to give the crowd a bit of excitement Belly Drum up, the only time I used it all tournament. Thanks to Talonflame, Azumarill’s now in huge danger from Brave Bird, which ironically plays in my favour since the predictability of me Protecting it means I’m almost certain Rich will double up on the Raichu that’s bothering Manectric, so I just attack with Azumarill for an easy KO at the expense of Raichu, who I deliberately sacrificed to hide Protect for the next game. *I move away from the mic to breathe in*. So I bring in Charizard and… ah, he doesn’t have a counter to it. That’s boring. I feel kind of bad for spamming Heat Wave for the win on the big screen final but it’s all in the name of a Wii U, and bashing Boris Johnson.

Game 2

Raichu, Mega Charizard Y, Garchomp, Azumarill Vs. Manectric, Talonflame, Gardevoir, Mega Lucario

Now, that’s more like it. This game was on a knife-edge. My team’s one true nemesis, Rock-carrying Mega Lucario, in the final. A double target from Lucario and any of its teammates is enough to KO any of my Pokémon, so one wrong prediction and I’m done. How will Zog cope? Will he crack under the pressure? Find out by clicking the play button!

Had that Rock Slide flinched my Azumarill, I think that would’ve been a very different story. Rich played it well and made some ballsy moves, but other than Lucario I think the matchup was strongly in my favour. Once he was out of the picture, Charizard could to town on his whole team and that really swung it for me. So woo! I won! I got the Wii U! I’m proper chuffed.

Oh baby, a triple! Oh, yeah!

And that’s how I won my third Manchester tournament and got more excited for the next year of Pokémon. I hope you enjoyed reading about it, and maybe learning something new and pointless. Being able to do well again’s really got me back into the Pokémon, and I’m looking forward to the new format. I’ll be putting a lot of effort in this year to make sure I get to Boston, and really smash the scene up a bit. I want that World Champion title!

Hey QT! Yeah, there’s something I want to say!

• Massive thanks to everyone who organised the event, wherever you were. None of this would’ve been possible without your hard work! You’re all treasures. Especially Chris and James who were on the frontline managing the brackets and- get this- having the next round’s matchups ready within seconds of the last result being posted in. These events are literally the gold standard of grassroots Pokémon. Non-UK people, y’all better be jelly.
• Love you all, amazing Pokémon trainers. It wouldn’t be the same without the beautiful, tipsy characters gracing the tournament floor, and meeting great new people at every event. Moments like Jake’s “I think it’s rum?” shots, oh wait, too late, it’s 85% alcohol drain cleaner and now we’ve all downed it. Teehee. Stuff like that, it’s special. You’ll get me out one day, promise! And I’m gonna swing from the Chandeluuuure, from the Chandeluuuuuuuuure.
• I’ve been thinking a lot about how I should practise for the coming season, and I decided I’ll give a shot at doing proper VGC livestreams, where I’ll test out teams and talk about VGC and just random funny things. Problem is, right now I can’t afford a capture card. If you think it’s worth doing and you’d watch me, I’d like you to tell me. I think it’ll be really fun and I want to help the game grow but it’s a pretty big investment, so let me know if it’s worth doing!

So, thanks for reading! See you next time.

The post Begin Again: First Place at the StreetPass UK Autumn Grand Final appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

The Standard Ruleset has been updated. All tournaments that are a part of the Pokémon Video Game Championships (VGC) will use these rules starting January 1st, 2015. As many have predicted, it will mirror the ruleset used in the ΩR/αS League Doubles ladder on Battle Spot. For those who need a refresher, that means:

Standard Ruleset

• All matches are played in the Doubles format.
• Pokémon above Level 50 will be brought down to 50 for the match while those below 50 will stay as is.
• Players choose 4 of their 6 registered Pokémon after team preview.
• Pentagon Rule: All Pokémon must have the blue pentagon on their stats page indicating they were caught, bred, or received as an official gift in Pokémon X, Y, Omega Ruby, or Alpha Sapphire.
• Species Clause: No two Pokémon on your team can share the same Pokédex number.
• Item Clause: No two Pokémon on your team can hold the same held item.
• The following items are banned:
  • Soul Dew
• The following moves are banned:
  • none
• The following Pokémon are banned (all forms):
  • Mewtwo
  • Mew
  • Lugia
  • Ho-oh
  • Celebi
  • Kyogre
  • Groudon
  • Rayquaza
  • Jirachi
  • Deoxys
  • Dialga
  • Palkia
  • Giratina
  • Phione
  • Manaphy
  • Darkrai
  • Shaymin
  • Arceus
  • Victini
  • Reshiram
  • Zekrom
  • Kyurem
  • Keldeo
  • Meloetta
  • Genesect
  • Xerneas
  • Yveltal
  • Zygarde
  • Diancie

For full rules, download the rules document here.

Additional Rule Clarifications

Headphones

You are allowed to use headphones while playing as long as they are wired and plugged into your 3DS. The cord must be visible.

Time Limits at Premier Challenges

Due to the longer than normal timers when using the Player Search System, Premier Challenges and other tournaments where you don’t have your Battle Box locked and rules downloaded at registration can have time limits enforced manually by a judge. Time limits may also be extended if the organizer sees fit. Changes should be communicated at the beginning of the tournament alongside the number of rounds and top cut size.

The post Standard Ruleset for 2015 VGC Season Updated appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

The following is a guide on how to catch “perfect” Legendary Pokémon in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. It will be broken down into two parts:

• Tips on how to catch “perfect” Pokémon and
• Recommended natures and IV set ups for Legendary Pokémon usable in the VGC ’15 ruleset

The first part will be written by myself (Simon) and the second part will be written by CT Mikoto Misaka as he has done a lot of research on the Battle Spot Doubles format which is now the VGC ’15 format (aside from the time limit).

There are really only two different variables when catching Pokémon: Nature and IVs. In the current generation of Pokémon games, all Legendary Pokémon have 3 IVs that are automatically set to 31, making it much easier to catch Pokémon with the “perfect” stats when compared to previous generations. Using a Synchronizer — which I’ll explain a little further down — will help with the nature making it a 50% chance of making any Pokémon you battle have the same nature as the Synchronizer.

You have to remember that the IVs of Pokémon are all random and while it might take someone an hour to get a “perfect” Pokémon, it can take weeks for another. You also have to remember that even though getting a Pokémon with five 31s in specific stats is about 1 in 4000, it doesn’t guarantee that you will get 1 if you soft reset 4000 times. The guide is designed to help you cut down that time so you can aim for perfection!

Resources

IV Checker

The IV Checker is located in the Battle Resort Pokémon Center. He will tell you which stats your Pokémon has a 31 or 0 IV in. This is going to be your most useful resource in checking your Pokémon.

Hidden Power Checker

The Hidden Power Checker will tell you the Hidden Power of your Pokémon. He is located on the Tree House section in Fortree City. This is a really useful tool if you are going for a Hidden Power.

Tools Needed

Pokeballs

To catch Pokémon you need Pokeballs. The easiest way to capture Pokémon is by using a Master Ball as most of you know (or at least I hope you do). For the people who don’t have a mysteriously infinite supply of Master Balls, various PokéMarts around Hoenn will have different Pokeballs of varying capture rates.

Synchronizer

A Pokémon with the Ability Synchronize makes it so that anything you encounter through battle will have a 50% chance to be the same nature as your Synchronizer. In order to use a Synchronizer you need to place it first in your party. Synchronize works even if the Pokémon has fainted which allows you to lead your “Speed Checker” immediately.

Speed Checker

A Speed Checker is a Pokémon that has one less (or more) Speed stat than your desired target. For example, a 31 Speed IV Cresselia has a Speed stat of 105. Your Speed Checker should have a Speed stat of 104. When you start the battle, you should use a 0 priority attack. If you go first, you know that the Pokémon does not have a 30-31 Speed IV and you should immediately reset. If the target goes first, you’ll know that it has a speed IV of 28-31 (the 28-29 is from the possibility of it winning a speed tie). You can also do this for 0 IV Pokémon and make your Speed Checker have one Speed stat more than your desired Pokémon.

For Pokémon with Abilities that have activation messages upon switch-in such as Pressure, your Speed Checker can be another Pokémon with an activated ability so that you don’t have to waste time attacking. Note that although Unnerve is an activated ability, it seems to have priority over other activated abilities and will go before them. Don’t use Unnerve to Speed check.

The purpose of a Speed checker is to save you the 30 seconds or more it takes to catch a Pokémon every time you reset and check its stats.

Final Gambit

You can also use Final Gambit to check the HP IV of a Pokémon before you catch it. Use a Final Gambit Pokémon with one HP stat less than the desired Pokémon to check if it has an HP IV of 30-31. For example, a 31 HP IV Cresselia has 195 HP; you can use Final Gambit on Cresselia with a 194 HP Pokémon. If it survives, you’ll know that it has a 30-31 HP IV. This form of “Checking” is far less frequent than speed checking mainly because there are very few Final Gambit users and the chances of you having one with the right HP is low.

Final Gambit + Speed Checking

There are rare cases where you can use a Final Gambit Pokémon to HP and Speed check at the same time. A 0 Speed IV Cresselia has 195 HP and 81 Speed. You can use something with Final Gambit, 194 HP and 82 Speed to check both its HP and Speed in the same go. First check if the target is slower than your checker, if not reset. If it is in fact slower you can wait for Final Gambit to hit and if the Pokémon survives you’ll know it has both a 0 Speed IV as well as a 30-31 HP IV.

You can also be creative for “checking” Pokémon. Use your imagination to think of ways you can check speed and HP. You can even use things like a Level 97 Seismic Toss user to check if Cresselias HP stat is 195 (30-31IV). If one of your Pokémon is too fast, you can use a Pokémon that has double its speed and give it a Macho Brace or a Power Item.

Recommended Captures & Stats

I’ll (CT Mikoto Misaka) be listing some of the likely Pokémon you’ll be resetting for along with their ideal IVs and stats at the level you’ll capture them at. These include some of the more popular sets seen on Battle Spot Doubles which is the confirmed ruleset for the rest of the VGC ’15 season.

Notes

• stats will be in order of HP/Atk/Def/Sp.atk/Sp.def/Speed
• x = IV does not matter
• e = IV requires an even number
• o = IV requires an odd number
• 30 and 31 IVs reach the same number at level 50 if no EVs are invested into the stat.

The perfect stats of the Pokémon at level 50 (the level you encounter them at and the level you will be using them at) with that particular set up will be listed next to the IV set.

Cresselia

Location: Crescent Isle: Random Daily Mirage Spot just east of Ever Grande City. Note that you can “Reset” for this island by saving before you update your Buzznav and then updating it every time you start your game to see if you have Crescent Isle.

The nature for Cresselia usually depends on what EV spread you go with. If you decide to use an overwhelming amount of Defense EVs, a +Defense nature is the way to go, otherwise a +SpDef nature is what you want. If you decide to use Trick Room on your Cresselia you would want to go with a Sassy or Relaxed nature. A key thing to remember when using a Speed reduction nature on Cresselia is that any Speed IV between 0 and 3 have the same stat point so it eases resetting as you can get any of those four IVs and get the same result.

Thundurus (Incarnate)

Location: Thunder cloud North of Fortree City when you have Castform in your party (Alpha Sapphire only).

Hidden Power Ice Combinations

Thundurus has many potent options at its disposal. Almost all offensive Thundurus-I use Timid natures with Hidden Power Ice. The more known Thundurus if you played in 2012 and 2013 would be the bulkier set that spreads paralysis. You can choose Calm or Bold depending on which side of the offensive spectrum you want Thundurus to take better hits from. The IVs also depend on whether or not you want to use Hidden Power Ice on your Thundurus for coverage. The IVs you need for Hidden Power mostly depend on what kind of EV spread you use. For Bold you are almost certain to use Defense EVs and may not use Speed EVs so having the Hidden Power Ice IV spread that has 30 Speed makes more sense. For Calm it depends on whether or not you invest in Speed or Defense, but if you invest in both Def and Speed you may use either IV combination for Hidden Power Ice.

Note: It is hard to check for Speed in battle with Thundurus because it will use both Prankster priority moves and neutral priority damage moves.

Landorus (Therian)

Location: North of Fortree City when you have Tornadus and Thundurus in your Party.

Note that the stats listed will be those of the Incarnate forme which is the forme you will catch Landorus in.

Adamant has been the most common nature for Landorus but Jolly is also an option if you want to outspeed neutral nature base 100s and anything slower than that. Careful is also note-worthy for those who want to use the bulky Choice Band set.

Heatran

Location: Scorched Slab; East of Fortree City

Hidden Power Ice Combinations

Timid and Modest are equally used right now it mainly depends on how much speed you want on your Heatran. Quiet was once an option for Heatran but with Heatran losing Eruption since it was an Event Exclusive move in a previous Generation and with the existence of Mega Camerupt, it doesn’t seem optimal anymore.

Terrakion

Location: Pathless Plain: East of Pacifidlog. Three fully EV’d Pokémon are required for them to appear.

While most Terrakion and Cobalion are Jolly to outspeed Pokémon such as Garchomp, Mega Kangaskhan, and Charizard there are a few people who use Adamant and sacrifice some of the speed for more power and bulk. Outside of those two natures there aren’t really any other natures used on these two for the most part.

Cobalion

Location: Pathless Plain: East of Pacifidlog. Three fully EV’d Pokémon are required for them to appear.

While most Terrakion and Cobalion are Jolly to outspeed Pokémon such as Garchomp, Mega Kangaskhan, and Charizard there are a few people who use Adamant and sacrifice some of the speed for more power and bulk. Outside of those two natures there aren’t really any other natures used on these two for the most part.

Virizion

Location: Pathless Plain: East of Pacifidlog. Three fully EV’d Pokémon are required for them to appear.

Hidden Power Ice

For the same reasons as Terrakion and Cobalion, most Virizion are Jolly with a few exceptions using Adamant or even Timid. While Timid is definitely rare on Virizion it’s worth noting it has the same Special Attack as it does Attack, though it has to rely on the shaky Focus Blast for its fighting type STAB.

Latias

Location: Southern Island after the 5th Gym or Eon Ticket Event.

Almost all Latias are Timid so it can outspeed other common Dragons such as Garchomp, Hydreigon, and non-Mega Salamence. Calm is also an option as you can further abuse Latias’ (and mega Latias’) bulk and support movepool at the cost of Speed.

Latios

Location: Southern Island after the 5th Gym or Eon Ticket Event.

Hidden Power Ground

Hidden Power Fire

Like Latias, almost all Latios use Timid natures to outspeed most of the other Dragons. Hidden Power Ground (31/o/31/30/30/31) and Hidden Power Fire (31/e/31/30/31/30) are also options though you’ll need to keep in mind the Hidden Power nerf this generation. Modest can also be used if you are using Hidden Power Fire since you will lose the speed tie with base 110 Speed Pokémon anyways. Latios doesn’t benefit as much from Hidden Power as it used to so it may not be as great an option for our old friend.

Note that the stats listed are for Latios and Latias at Level 30 which is what level they are when you get them both during the story and with the Eon Ticket.

Suicune

Location: Trackless Forest near Rustboro with Lugia or Ho Oh in your party.

Suicune is a Pokémon mostly known for its bulky support role. Most players favor using Bold to take hits better from Pokémon such as Kangaskhan, Bisharp, Mawile, and Landorus-T but Calm can be used if you want to take hits from Pokémon such as Hydreigon, Thundurus, and Sylveon better. You can also use Modest with Special Attack investment to get KOs on Pokémon such as Garchomp, Landorus-T, and Mega Salamence.

Entei

Location: Trackless Forest near Rustboro with Lugia or Ho Oh in your party.

Gaining Sacred Fire this generation makes Entei a real threat now along with having access to moves such as Stone Edge. Adamant is more commonly used which gives up the speed for more overall bulk, but Jolly is also an option if you value outspeeding neutral base 100s and speed-tying the positive base 100s.

Raikou

Location: Trackless Forest near Rustboro with Lugia or Ho Oh in your party.

Hidden Power Ice

Almost all Raikou use Timid with maybe 1 in 20 using Modest. Timid allows you to outspeed Pokémon such as Mega Lucario, Mega Metagross, neutral natured Mega Salamence. The more offensive sets use Hidden Power Ice but some opt to use Screens or Snarl instead so the IVs you want will depend on whether or not you want to use Hidden Power Ice.

Lower Priority Pokémon

Now the following Legendary Pokémon I’m not very familiar with (and there isn’t much data or usage to look at) so I’ll just list what I think would be usable natures and IVs for them.

Regice

Location: Island Cave.

Regirock

Location: Desert Ruins.

Registeel

Location: Ancient Tomb.

Regigigas

Location: Island Cave.

Uxie

Location: Nameless Cavern east of Sootopolis. Three Pokémon with max Happiness are required for Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf to appear.

Mesprit

Location: Nameless Cavern east of Sootopolis. Three Pokémon with max Happiness are required for Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf to appear.

Azelf

Location: Nameless Cavern east of Sootopolis. Three Pokémon with max Happiness are required for Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf to appear.

Tornadus

Location: Thunder cloud North of Fortree CIty when you have Castform in your party (Omega Ruby only).

Other Legendary Pokémon

If you’re looking for the stats of some of the other Legendary Pokémon that aren’t usable in competition, check out this project led by majorbowman.

Why Flawless or Bust?

I get a lot of people asking me why I bother getting all perfect IVs instead of just settling for 27+ IVs and the answer to that is pretty simple. We play a game where luck plays a big role. We have things like critical hits, moves missing and damage rolls. By settling on a Pokémon with imperfect IVs you are making yourself more vulnerable to the luck of this game. You may not think 1 or 2 stat points matter in the end but sometimes they do. No matter how small the chance is, it is still there and you can somewhat mitigate it. Have you ever lost a game because your Pokémon got KO’d by a move that had a 1/16 chance to KO? What about missing a KO with the same odds? Using imperfect IVs open the door for that to happen when it probably shouldn’t. You are also essentially wasting EVs by using lower than ideal IVs. I know not everyone is the same, but as a competitive Pokémon player if I have the opportunity to reduce some of the luck this game has I will gladly spend more time resetting for a Pokémon with ideal IVs than settling on something less than optimal.

If you like losing games for reasons that were at some point in your control, by all means use non-flawless Pokémon. If you want to maximize your chances to win, you should definitely be going for flawless Pokémon. I always try to optimize my spreads and make every point count and using Pokémon with inferior IVs completely defeats the purpose of doing so.

I hope the tips and information CT Mikoto Misaka and I provided in this guide will motivate you to to aim for perfection and start getting your team together for the 2015 Pokémon Championship Series!

The post Flawless or Bust: How to Catch Perfect Legendary Pokémon in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

The standard ruleset for VGC 2015 has just been announced, and with a whole new group of available Pokémon, it’s more important than ever to fine-tune your own team’s EVs to outrun the right threats. While together they look a bit like a reference table in a mathematics textbook, Speed tiers are what drive turns in Pokémon. Knowing whether your Pokémon is going to move before or after its opponents is essential to winning battles and avoiding unnecessary damage. This list should help you get a feel for the relative Speed of each Pokémon and what nearby threats are faster or slower than them, thereby making it easier for you to construct your team.

Some helpful hints about Speed before the table:

• Discounting the bonuses and penalties of a Pokémon’s Nature, the difference between a 0 IV in Speed and a 31 IV is 15 points in Speed and the difference between 0 EVs and 252 EVs in Speed is 32 points with an odd IV or 31 with an even IV.
• Choice Scarf boosts Speed by one level (*1.5). Tailwind boosts Speed by two levels (*2). Thunder Wave reduces speed to 1/4. Icy Wind reduces Speed by one level (2/3). Iron Ball reduces Speed by two levels (2/4).
• A Pokémon’s Speed is always a whole number. Like most of the math in Pokémon, Speed calculations round down, so a Pokémon with 101 Speed would have 151 Speed when holding a Choice Scarf, not 151.5 or 152.
• The turn order of Pokémon is decided before a turn starts. If you use a move that changes a Pokémon’s Speed level (like Icy Wind) or value (through Mega Evolving) you retain the Speed value you had before the turn started until the next turn. The only exception to this rule is the move Quash.
• There is a 50/50 chance of each Pokémon moving first if two Pokémon have the same Speed. This is some of how Speed Tiers got their name, though Game Freak has enjoyed putting Pokémon at a much greater variety of Speeds in recent iterations of the game compared to the older games, when any popular Pokémon were tied at base speeds like 100.

Every Pokémon listed below has either 0 or 252 EVs in Speed and a 31 or 0 IV in Speed. In real life, you’ll probably see more variance than this, so what a list like this really does is help you find absolutes: these are the fastest and slowest Pokémon can be with the given Natures. Since taking unnecessary risks tends to be the fastest way to lose in Pokémon, you can use this information when planning your team to make sure that your Pokémon will move before important threats that can knock your Pokémon out, or if that is unreasonable or impossible, to know when defeat could be a turn away and you need to switch out to a more appropriate counter to fend it off. This list can also help you figure out how much Speed you really need: if all the things you want to counter only require your Pokémon to invest 100 EVs in Speed, you’re probably going to want to invest the rest of your EVs defensively instead of running more Speed EVs that might not accomplish very much.

The speeds listed here are broken up into four somewhat arbitrary groups to make the list a little more readable. There is almost too much data here already, so Pokémon not likely to be relevant to the metagame aren’t listed. Should there be a rise in Tyrantrum usage, for example, it would be added to the list.

Boost Required

All Pokémon here have their speed boosted in one way or another, whether by Choice Scarf, Tailwind or boosting moves such as Dragon Dance and Quiver Dance. Most viable Pokémon require a boost of some sort in order to reach these Speed numbers.

Faster Than Base 100

The Pokémon in this section of the Speed tiers are those faster than base 100 Pokémon with positive natures, which also includes some Pokémon with Speed boosts from weather abilities and Choice Scarf as well as most of the Pokémon that are used largely because of their innate Speed.

Middle of the Pack

These Pokémon make up the large bulk of the Speed tiers, and are slower than the base 100s like Mega Kangaskhan, Mega Gardevoir, Charizard, Zapdos and Volcarona but faster than most Pokémon common on Trick Room teams, especially the most common Trick Room setter, Cresselia.

Trick Room Zone

These Pokémon are largely favored on Trick Room teams due to their naturally lower base Speed, allowing them to move before faster Pokémon under Trick Room conditions. Most of them have had their Speed lowered further by a negative Nature and a 0 Speed IV in order to optimize their effectiveness in Trick Room.

The post VGC ’15 Pokémon Speed Tiers appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

With VGC 2014 in our rear view mirror and the inevitable rule changes for the VGC 2015 season coming up, we can now view this year’s season with optimistic criticism in earnest retrospect. Many areas of debate have arose about the improvement of next year’s system, and we have learned a lot about the current metagame as well, as outlined in Scott’s most recent “What We Learned” article. However, I imagine a majority of older players would single out this year’s metagame as different compared to previous metagames. While some older players did retain consistency (such as reigning World Champion Se Jun Park), many simply could not rely on their intuition to provide the same amount of consistency as before. As one player stated: “I felt like I really made a good meta call. I did so well in practice, but somehow botched it at LCQ.” It’s really not a player being “washed up”, or somehow inferior to his or her former glory, as many people seem to like to claim. I believe the rotation in Worlds qualifiers is due to a change in the way that VGC is now played competitively. This change isn’t simply system-based, but has its roots in several factors. However, before we continue, I would like to start with a small excerpt from an IRC chatlog to you that summarizes much of the attitude toward this season:

16:22 Dark51: sounds like a lot of johns

16:23 Fatum: i feel like this is some kind of format of johns

John – an excuse, coined by the Super Smash Bros. community. Popular Phrase: No Johns.

It’s important to realize that one critical part of the jump competitively to the 6th generation is the largely expanded playerbase. This is, in itself, the result of several in-game changes and a few factors that are more relevant to the players themselves. The aforementioned technical changes eliminate barriers to entry for newer players. Not only is EV training easier than ever before with Super Training and Hordes, but breeding perfect Pokémon is much more convenient with the changes to Destiny Knot’s IV inheritance function. In previous generations, getting perfect Pokémon took extensive time or a basic understanding of the RNG, but neither is required to prepare a team competitively in the 6th generation games. By eliminating important barriers to entry for competition, TPCi created a huge growth in the number of attendees at events, and now seems to be actively encouraging new players to take part in competition.

It is also fairly interesting to note that on April 6th, Nintendo announced that 12 million copies of Pokémon X and Y had been sold worldwide, making them the fastest-selling Pokémon games in the franchise. Lifetime sales of games such as Diamond and Pearl (the Pokémon games with the most sales in their lifespans) reached about 17.63 million units worldwide. It’s not implausible to assume that XY sales could have taken off so drastically in just several months in anticipation of the Pokémon World Championships and in preparation for the Fall Regionals later this year. With the VGC community growing so rapidly, it’s not surprising that this fledgling e-sport has begun to blossom. However, we may have to recognize that the game that we play is a highly volatile game. The more numerous the entrants in a tournament, the more likely that “hax” and luck-based events will occur. In a tournament setting, the number of matches compounds the probability of being affected by luck negatively. For example, if a player were to use a move with 90% accuracy three or so times per match, and they play five rounds, then theoretically the probability of not missing at all is only about 59%. One missed move could ultimately lead to a loss for the match. Some top-notch players, like Adib Alam (honchkro13), realized the importance of move efficiency and maximized accuracy in return for a little less power this past season. Adib states in his second place Nationals article,

“Being virtually immune to sleep and not having to worry about my attacks missing minimized the RNG against me and maximized my chances of making top cut, as I was much less likely now to lose matches and miss top cut because an attack missed, which happens to many players at these tournaments. While my team isn’t exactly a powerhouse, it still hits hard enough to the point where I didn’t really miss having stronger but less accurate moves.”

An increased variety in move choices is another side effect of increased tournament attendance. A large number of players allows for many highly unique styles of teambuilding. Some teambuilders may stray from the norm completely, and others may seek to use strategies that will catch the opponent off guard and possibly allow them to take a win. Because of this unpredictability, we have seen strategies that we had previously believed to be unviable or unusable in an actual competitive scene make top cut. Together, these factors undoubtedly affect the consistency and performance of specific players. Prediction becomes much more risky. As I mentioned before, because each Pokémon VGC battle has many volatile factors, the numerous-players model can really affect someone’s battling record over time. Resorting to Johns instead of identifying the cause of a lost match is a human tendency of myself and others, and it’s not hard to go on tilt after an unfortunate loss. Among high-level, consistent players, however, I have noticed that they tend to not make excuses and instead improve from every loss after realizing what they could have done differently.

Another aspect that must be stressed in the VGC community is that there are no implications from Player A beating Player B. It’s fairly common to hear things like: “Oh, X beat Y, so X must be a better player than Y!” There are so many factors to take into consideration during every high-level match, and there is simply no way to deem a win or a loss to be “inferiority” versus “superiority”. In our game, it’s not impossible for the oldest, most polished players to be defeated by rookies. There is no massive mechanical skillset requirement that separates the new players from the experienced. VGC is all about understanding the metagame and making the most efficient plays in different environments. Practice is learning the way that people think and play from the context of many battles.

In VGC, the end pretty much justifies the means. If someone makes top cut or does well with a team, we can change our perception of the player or their strategy based on their success. The metagame is developed by trial and error. Discrediting the strategy or player’s finish as a result of complete “luck” does us no good in understanding the optimal way to play our game.

Also, if I’ve learned one thing about not making Johns, it is to never attach one’s own ego to one’s performance. Doing so inevitably results in a lot more salt and a lot more complaining. Hypothetical conjectures in hindsight have no bearing on what actually happened, so there’s really no point in bringing up “Oh, I could have done this and won” because, well, clearly you didn’t.

Finally, the most crucial part to playing Pokémon is realizing that we’re playing a game. We’re all here to have fun and make lifelong friends in the growing community. VGC is becoming more popular and will only continue to expand in the coming years. What can we do, as players, to respond to this change? We can set examples for newer players, welcome them, and teach them. But first and foremost, we, as the collective community and as individual players, must stress: No Johns.

The post No More Johns? – A Mini-Treatise on Consistency and Efficiency appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hey guys! My name is Cedric Bernier, but you might know me as Talon. Or maybe not. Probably not, actually, which is completely understandable considering I haven’t had a large presence online since 2013. My notable accomplishments consisted of Regional wins in the Junior and Senior divisions and a 15th place finish at the 2011 World Championships in Seniors. Most recently, I won a Premier Challenge and the Houston Regional Championship in the Masters division, which I’m going to discuss in this report.

After a weak finish at US Nationals in 2013 (my final event as a Senior), I was lucky enough to be drafted by the Fallarbor Flames for NPA 2, which allowed me to develop more as a player. For my first Masters event, the 2014 Houston Regional, I created what I thought to be a solid team, and was hoping for an x-2 or better performance. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. An early string of bad luck put me on tilt, and I dropped at 3-3. Completely demoralized, I decided that I might retire early.

I stopped chatting with my friends online and stopped frequenting Pokemon-related websites. By the time the 2014 US National Championships came around, I hadn’t thought about the game for months. However, I couldn’t resist following the event and watching the stream. As I watched the high level of play in the top cut, I realized that I had missed not only the strategy of the game, but the friends I had made through it. However, the centralization of the metagame at the time of US Nationals curbed my desire to start playing again. It was only once I saw in the World Championship that the metagame had become fairly diverse that I decided I would give this format a shot.

By reading Nuggetbridge, I gained a simple understanding of the VGC 14 metagame. I had trouble learning the speed tiers due to the inclusion of incredibly fast Pokémon such as Aerodactyl and Mega Manectric that had previously not been viable or hadn’t existed. However, with the help of my good friend Jaquar I was able to garner a good enough understanding of the metagame to get high on the Pokemon Showdown! ladder using several different popular teams.

Soon, I logged on as my normal alias of TalonVGC on the VGC server, and was pleasantly surprised to receive a personal message from one of my good friends, Kenan Nerad (Lucien). We spent a while chatting, and he told me a lot about what I had missed that season. It was later that week that Kenan gave me the opportunity… No, the honor of aiding him in the building of Dig Boom 3.0. For those unaware, Dig Boom is a seekrit strategy that dates back to 2010 that involves the use of Dig, Fly, or Dive to avoid a partner Pokémon’s Explosion or Self-Destruct. Although it only came with mixed success, Dig Boom is an elite strategy with deep roots that will continue to be viable in all VGC formats.

Using such a fun team brought the joy back in Pokémon for me. It was the first time in years that Pokémon wasn’t a competition for me anymore, but a game as it was meant to be. Eventually, Kenan asked me if I was going to attend the Houston Regional this year. I answered truthfully that I hadn’t made any plans to. He informed that on top of the people that usually attended Houston, there was a high chance that Aaron Zheng (Cybertron) and Edward Fan (iss) would be attending. As I hadn’t seen those two since 2013 US Nationals, I decided I would attempt to attend. It was only 2 weeks before the event that I had booked a hotel room. With far less time than I’ve ever had to build, refine, and obtain the Pokémon for a team, I knew that I would need to train smart, not hard. Past knowledge reminded me that rain teams tend to be prominent at Regionals. The rising Mawile usage was also something I kept an eye on, as I knew that it was arguably the best functioning Mega Evolution in rain and out of rain. After identifying what I wanted my team to counter, I began to build the team that would win the 2015 Houston Regional Championship.

The Team

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 188 HP / 44 Def / 116 SpA / 4 SpD / 156 Spe
Modest Nature
-Heat Wave
-Overheat
-Solarbeam
-Protect

Mega Charizard-Y looked to be the most anti-meta Mega Pokémon going into the Regional in my eyes, countering both rain and Mawile very well. This Charizard has a standard move set, so I won’t waste many keystrokes explaining it. Heat Wave was effective in doing spread damage quickly, Overheat was my option when I wanted to drop a bulky Pokémon to low HP, and Solarbeam was used mainly against Water types. Protect was almost mandatory so that I could stall turns and eliminate Pokémon threatening Charizard with Rock type attacks.

The EV spread does what most do these days, with the HP and defensive investment allowing Charizard to survive a Jolly Garchomp’s Rock Slide 15/16 times. This was mainly for insurance, as I rarely left my Charizard on the field against a Garchomp if I had a choice. The speed EVs allow me to hit 140 Speed, although I have debated running a faster Charizard to outspeed Timid Mega-Blastoise. I invested the rest of my EVs into special attack to maximize my damage output.

In both the Premier Challenge and Regional, Mega Charizard-Y came in very handy. I saw several rain teams on both days, with Mawile as their Mega Pokémon, as anticipated. Despite having two 90% accurate moves, Charizard was extremely consistent. I didn’t miss any Overheats, and Heat Wave never missed when I absolutely needed it to hit. Mega Charizard-Y was the right metagame call for Regionals, and it was a key factor in every game that I brought it to.

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 36 Atk / 212 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
– Rock Slide
– Ice Beam
– Fire Blast
– Crunch

I had always planned to use a Choice Scarf Tyranitar during my teambuilding process, but I had no intention of using Crunch nor a Hasty nature. However, on Friday night I didn’t have any of the Pokémon that I needed in-cart, let alone trained. I looked through the Nuggetbridge IRC chat for anyone that might be able to trade me a Tyranitar. I noticed Randy Kwa (R Inanimate) online and remembered from his World Championship team report that he tested a Choice Scarf Tyranitar. I immediately messaged him asking if he could lend it to me for the weekend. He was able to trade it to me, but it was only during the Premier Challenge that I learned that it wasn’t the standard Timid Dark Pulse version.

Although I only have a small sample size, I now believe that Hasty is a better nature than Timid is. The main purpose of Timid is to use Dark Pulse instead of Crunch, which can be hindered by Intimidate and Will-O-Wisp. However, I rarely used Dark Pulse in practice, and I found that the trade off of stronger Rock Slides for a less reliable Dark type STAB and weaker physical defenses was worthwhile. This came in useful throughout the tournament, with Rock Slide doing just enough damage to get the 2HKOs that won several games. I only used Crunch once throughout the tournament, but it did ensure that I got an important KO against an Assault Vest Ludicolo that Dark Pulse wouldn’t have gotten. Randy’s EV investment allows Tyranitar to move before Choice Scarf Politoed and Mega Lucario and OHKO 4 HP Garchomp with an Ice Beam. The remainder of EVs go are split between Attack, Defense, and HP for a bit more bulk and offensive power.

It wasn’t as useful of an end game tool as some of my other Pokémon were, but Tyranitar was effective in applying chip damage that allowed my other team members to clean up. It was also an extremely strong choice as a lead with almost any other Pokémon on the team because it applied pressure to my opponents early, forcing them to play predictably.

Salamence @ Choice Specs
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 20 HP / 52 Def / 180 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
-Draco Meteor
-Flamethrower
-Dragon Pulse
-Sleep Talk

For the longest time, I was using a Hydreigon over Salamence because I believed that its Dark type STAB would be needed for my Gothitelle matchup. However, the day before Regionals I realized that most teams with Gothitelle were effectively countering Choice Specs Hydreigon. I switched to Salamence because of the utility provided by Intimidate. I opted to use both Draco Meteor and Dragon Pulse so that I could choose either power or reliability based on the situation. I decided to use Flamethrower over Fire Blast because this team excelled at doing chip damage to Pokémon, and I didn’t want to bet entire games on hitting a Fire Blast when I could use a more reliable move. I used Sleep Talk in the last slot in case I ran into any Choice Scarf Smeargle in the tournament. There was no reliably way to stop it from getting a Dark Void off on this team, so I needed at least some way to beat it. I didn’t get into a situation where I needed to use Sleep Talk, but no situations occurred in which I wished that I had Fire Blast during the tournament.

I don’t believe that the EV spread for Salamence was optimal. I hadn’t used a Salamence prior to the event, but I knew that I wanted to outspeed Modest Hydreigon and speed tie with other Salamence if I needed to. With the defensive investment, Salamence will survive a Life Orb Mamoswine’s Ice Shard at -1 15/16 of the time. In retrospect, I think these are wasted EVs that should have been invested into Special Attack, but at the time of EV training, I saw that my team was fairly Mamoswine weak. I wanted another Pokémon on my team to survive one of its attack and KO back, but in practice I decided to sideline it when I saw Mamoswine, as just a little of Sandstorm chip damage made its defensive EVs moot.

During the tournaments, the Intimidate that Salamence provided was instrumental in setting up win conditions. Despite never using it before the Premier Challenge, it played so similarly to Hydreigon that I didn’t have any troubles adapting. The damage it provided with Choice Specs put threats such as Kangaskhan and Rotom-H in KO range of my teammates, allowing them to sweep in the late game.

Mawile @ Mawilite
Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Atk / 76 Def
Adamant Nature
-Play Rough
-Iron Head
-Sucker Punch
-Protect

In testing, I found that Mega Charizard-Y was at a significant disadvantage if I came across a fast user of Rock Slide, such as Aerodactyl or Choice Scarf Tyranitar. I tried several different options before Mawile to strengthen my matchup against these two, but nothing clicked. I wasn’t eager to use Mawile at first, as I was sure that many others would see the sharp rise in Mawile usage and try very hard to counter it. This wasn’t an issue because my team members covered Mawile’s weaknesses well, with Garchomp, Tyranitar, and Ludicolo serving as checks to its most common counters.

I decided to use the standard moveset on Mawile, as alternative options like Fire Fang and Rock Slide didn’t improve any matchup significantly enough to warrant the valuable moveslot. Play Rough was almost exclusively used against Dragon and Dark types or when I needed to hit something that the more reliable Iron Head couldn’t, such as Zapdos. Sucker Punch was effective in picking off Pokémon at low HP. The EV spread is simple as a result of laziness. I got this Mawile late at night, and I was far too tired to use my ideal Mawile spread, which invested a bit into Special Defense and Speed, while still being able to survive notable physical attacks such as Jolly Life Orb Garchomp’s Earthquake. However, it was roughly 2 AM by the time I received the Mawile, so I decided that sleep would be more valuable to me than the small difference that retraining it could make in the tournament.

Mawile’s strength was its synergy with Charizard. The matchups that Mega Charizard-Y struggles in are often positive for Mega Mawile. This made this team fairly easy to play in Team Preview, as I knew my opponents would be forced to bring their Pokémon that beat both Charizard and Mawile. If there was Rotom-H or Garchomp in my opponent’s party I could safely assume that they would bring it, often in the lead position, in a desperate attempt to check both Charizard and Mawile. Knowing this allowed me to outlead my opponents consistently, forcing them to play predictably early in the game.

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

In past VGC formats, I was never a fan of Garchomp. However, I believe that Garchomp is better in the VGC 2014 rule set than it has been in any format since 2009. Garchomp is perfect for the fast paced metagame that developed as a result of the introduction of outrageously powerful Pokémon via Mega Evolution. There’s a small group of Pokémon that truly counter Garchomp, and most are either easy to play around (Choice Scarf Dragon types and Tyranitar) or aren’t common. For this reason, Garchomp is an extremely safe option and synergized with this team well, despite it only being able to safely use Earthquake with Salamence or Charizard on the field.

The moveset and EV spread are as simple as it gets. Earthquake and Dragon Claw serve as powerful STAB attacks, while Rock Slide is for coverage on Flying types like Talonflame and Zapdos. In general, I think that Substitute is a better option than Rock Slide. However, Rock Slide was definitely the right call for this team, because if Salamence or Tyranitar ended up Choice-locking into the incorrect move, Talonflame could go to town on my remaining team members. The EV spread is as common as it gets. Maximum Speed was necessary because, in a format where Garchomp is the most common non-Mega Pokémon, having a chance to win the Garchomp mirror can make or break games. I opted not to EV to survive Timid Mega Manectric’s Hidden Power Ice. It isn’t as common as it was in early 2014, and those EVs are useless if the Manectric comes in late-game after Garchomp has taken one turn of Life Orb recoil.

The consistent damage output that Garchomp provided with Life Orb proved to be useful. Slowly chipping away threats to Garchomp until they were in range of its powerful attacks was my win condition in many games throughout the tournament, making it the MVP of the weekend.

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

Two days before the Premier Challenge, I had no idea what I would be using at the sixth member of my team. Ideally, I wanted my last member to check Mamoswine, Rotom-Heat, Azumarill, as well as giving me good tools to defeat Rain teams and the Gothitelle-Mawile combination that was rapidly rising in popularity. I experimented with Zapdos, Ferrothorn, and Rotom-W but none of them could stand up to all variations of Gothitelle-Mawile teams, specifically ones that led with Ludicolo or Hariyama. I experimented with several terribly bad options to beat this combination, even going so far as to remove the Choice Scarf on my Tyranitar to test out CHOICE SCARF FINAL GAMBIT LUCARIO. Unfortunately, an extremely fast Final Gambit user with an immunity to flinching is better in theory than in practice once you see how many KO’s are missed with a base 70 HP stat.

Eventually, I realized that the Pokémon I was trying so hard to beat were all fundamentally different. To beat them all, I would need to find something with extremely diverse coverage. In reading nearly every team report I could find online, only Ludicolo’s movepool jumped out at me. Without a second thought, I knew it would be the final member of this team.

It was Blake (Bopper) Hopper’s  team report that convinced me to use Ludicolo, so I decided to use his EV spread. For those unaware, the defensive investments allows Ludicolo to be 3HKO’d by Garchomp’s Jolly Dragon Claw, while the Special Attack EVs let it OHKO back with an Ice Beam, assuming Garchomp isn’t bulky. Looking back, I would invest the Speed EVs into another stat, as being slower in the Ludicolo-mirror isn’t an important factor in most situations. Fake Out is a useful form of disruption, while the combination of Ice Beam, Giga Drain, and Scald hit some of the most common Pokémon in the format for super effective damage. I used Scald over Hydro Pump mainly for consistency. The Special Defense boost from Assault Vest, combined with Intimidate support from Salamence and Mawile, allowed to Ludicolo to stick around for quite a while in most battles. This had the added benefit of increasing the chances of burning my opponent’s Pokemon with Scald.

Despite me never using it prior to the event, Ludicolo came in clutch whenever I brought it. With weather-changers and Swift Swim, my rain matchup was blissfully easy. By applying Fake Out pressure, Ludicolo made playing against Gothitelle-Mawile teams far easier, as I could waste the first turn trading Fake Outs with my opponent and double target the Gothitelle next turn. In my opinion, Ludicolo’s usefulness in most matchups makes it one of the best non-Mega Pokémon in the format.

Effective Lead Combinations

 /  +

This lead’s purpose was to apply offensive pressure extremely early in the battle by allowing my Mega Pokémon to get off a lot of damage. Tyranitar checked many of the Pokemon that gave Charizard and Mawile trouble, which often gave me the opportunity to score an early KO.

 + 
This was my typical lead against rain teams lacking Talonflame, although it was useful in general as Ludicolo and Charizard complement each other well. It was also a useful lead against Gothitelle-Mawile teams that had a rain mode, because even if Mawile got past Charizard, it had to risk getting burned by Ludicolo’s Scald. I found this was the most neutral lead choice I could make, and I often defaulted to it when I wasn’t sure what else to do.

 + 
Double the dragons, double the fun! This was my anti-Kangaskhan/Smeargle lead. My opponents had to assume Garchomp had Lum Berry, but Salamence was the real threat. I would often use Protect with Garchomp on the first turn and target Smeargle with Salamence. If the Smeargle turned out to be Choice Scarfed, I would simply Sleep Talk the next turn and nab a surprise KO in the early game, with a -1 Kangaskhan on the field.

Premier Challenge

After roughly a four and a half hour drive to Houston, I arrived at the hotel at about 5:30 PM. Knowing better than to play on an empty stomach, I ate dinner at a restaurant in the hotel and made sure to get caffeinated for what I believed would be a late night. Following my meal, I picked up a team registration sheet and sat down at a table with Ben (Benji) Irons, Blake Hopper, Collin (TheBattleRoom) Heier, and Logan (Yellowbox) Castro. They were surprised to find that an untimely death was not the cause of my hiatus. After some idle chit-chat and inspirational ballads (“Like a game of chess…”), we began to turn in our team sheets and went through the registration process. The player meeting started sometime after 9:00 PM, with the actual competition beginning roughly 25 minutes later. Registration lasted an abnormally long time because over 100 players showed up to the event, which is actually more than we had at Houston Regionals last year. That really put into perspective for me how much the Pokémon community has grown since the release of X and Y.

Round 1: vs Joseph (lucariojr) Brummett

 v. 

I’m going to get this out of the way now: going into a big tournament after taking a year off, I didn’t anticipate doing well enough to warrant a report. For that reason, I did not take notes during any of the tournament. There will likely be inaccuracies and there will definitely be vague descriptions of battles, since I am going off of memory here. But I’ll attempt to explain the thought processes behind my plays for the turns that I can recall.

When looking at the pairings, I found a name that was vaguely familiar to me. As soon as I saw him approaching the table, I recognized him as lucariojr. While waiting for the judges to start the mathes, I asked Nico (Calm Lava) Villalobos how to actually battle via IR connection, as I had never been to an XY event and was unfamiliar with the game.

I didn’t identify this to be Markus (13Yoshi37) Stadter’s Nationals team in Team Preview due to my lack of knowledge of the 2014 season. Knowing this information could have been extremely useful in Team Preview, as I would’ve known that the Salamence was likely to be holding a Choice Scarf. Regardless, anticipating Joseph to bring Rotom-H and possibly Salamence to check my Mega Pokémon, I led with Tyranitar and my own Salamence. I brought Mawile and Garchomp in the back as checks to his Kangaskhan. Joseph led with his Salamence and Rotom-H, just as expected.

The opposing Salamence’s Intimidate activated before my Tyranitar’s Sand Stream, but I missed this valuable information. Predicting his Salamence to switch out against the threat of an Ice Beam, I used Rock Slide and Dragon Pulse on the Rotom-Heat slot, hoping to get either an early KO or put it into sandstorm KO range. However, he sent my Salamence packing with a Draco Meteor while switching Rotom-H to Mawile. My -2 Rock Slide did roughly 35% against Salamence and minuscule damage to Mawile, with sandstorm bringing Salamence to about 60% HP. I reprimanded myself internally for not paying attention to the order of abilities activating, as there was no way I would do remotely well if I kept making careless mistakes like that. I brought in my own Mawile to put Joseph’s Mawile at -1 Attack.

Knowing that it wasn’t an appealing option for his Salamence to stay in, I targeted Joseph’s Mawile with an Iron Head. I felt I couldn’t risk a Play Rough knocking out my Garchomp on a switch, so I used Rock Slide with Tyranitar. He double switched, with his Garchomp taking the Iron Head and Rock Slide, bringing it to about 20%, with Rock Slide doing roughly 30% to the Rotom-Heat that took Salamence’s place.

The Rotom-Heat was threatening to Mawile, so I had to switch in Garchomp despite the fact that I would most likely be burned. I kept Tyranitar in and continued to use Rock Slide, wanting to chip Rotom-H down slowly before Mawile came back later in the game. Tyranitar hit both Rock Slides, which after Sitrus Berry and sandstorm damage put it at just above 50%. Joseph’s Garchomp used Earthquake, which put Tyranitar at 25% and my Garchomp at 60%. Rotom-Heat burned Garchomp with Will-O-Wisp, putting it at just below 50% HP at the end of the turn.

This turn I thought a bit about what I needed to happen so that I could make a comeback. I had to risk the speed tie and try to KO his Garchomp with a Dragon Claw or I had no chance to win. This was the most opportune time to switch out my -2 Attack Tyranitar, assuming that I won the imminent coin flip. My Garchomp did move first, and Mawile came in safely for Tyranitar while Rotom-Heat used Protect as anticipated. However, a combination of Life Orb, Rough Skin, and burn damage put Garchomp at a little above 15% HP. Joseph brought in Salamence in the spot of his fallen Garchomp.

I used Protect with Mawile and Rock Slide with Garchomp in order to put both Salamence and Rotom-H into KO range of Tyranitar’s Rock Slide. Joseph double targeted Mawile with a Fire Blast and Will-O-Wisp, and Rock Slide did connect with either of his Pokémon. Garchomp fainted to Life Orb recoil and Burn, and I brought in Tyranitar.

I believe this to be the turning point of this battle. Salamence was at a low enough HP that my Mawile, despite being -1, had a good chance to nab the KO with Sucker Punch. He could have either switched in Mawile to Intimidate my physical Pokémon while letting Rotom-Heat faint to my Tyranitar’s Rock Slide, or he could have stayed in and risked the game on whether or not I got the KO with Sucker Punch. I used Iron Head onto the Salamence slot, hoping that I had made the right play. To my elation his Salamence did switch, and I hit the Mawile for significant damage while Rotom-Heat used Protect.

I had no choice but to use Iron Head on the Mawile slot and hope that he wasn’t running any speed while using Rock Slide with Tyranitar. To my surprise, Joseph Sucker Punched Tyranitar, missing the KO. Rock Slide took Rotom-Heat out, while Iron Head finished off Mawile. Salamence came in, and a Sucker Punch+Rock Slide combination gave me the win.

Record: 1-0

Despite a devastating turn one, I was able to turn the game around in a nerve-racking first game of the Premier Challenge. I think that playing the start of that game so horribly actually helped me focus better for the rest of the night, though. From then on I was committed to observing every aspect of my games while playing, so as not to make such a bad mistake again.

Round 2: vs Abram Calderon

 v. 

This battle is mostly a blur to me, but there are some key events that I do remember. On the first turn, I Mega Evolved Charizard and used Heat Wave, but I did negligible damage as his Sableye used Rain Dance. My lack of knowledge of this format became obvious here, and my opponent informed me that Rain Dance is common on most Prankster users to counter Mega Charizard-Y. He later revealed Confide, which lowers Special Attack by one stage. I was aware of that, but I was shocked to find that it also bypasses Protect! Despite being slightly flustered by all of this new technology being dropped on me, including a non-Mega Manectric, I was able to put myself into a winning position, with full HP Garchomp and Tyranitar locked into Rock Slide against a Full HP Mega Scizor. I went for Rock Slide with Garchomp, knowing that using Earthquake on my own Tyranitar was less than ideal. The Scizor did not flinch and he revealed Brick Break, OHKOing Tyranitar. At this point I had the win, as a Life Orb Earthquake finished Scizor off, and even a Bullet Punch critical hit couldn’t save him.

Record: 2-0

Round 3: vs Collin Heier

   v.

Going into this game, I didn’t feel very confident. This has been Collin’s format, and I wasn’t entirely sure that I knew my team well enough to even compete. Seeing his rain mode, I led with Ludicolo and Charizard. Collin didn’t seem to have a reliable answer to Ludicolo aside from Mawile. I chose to use Tyranitar as a way to deal with Hydreigon and Zapdos primarily, with an added bonus that I would be able to further control the weather. For my final team member, I chose Garchomp over Salamence, wanting the option of Protect in a team that potentially carried three Ice type moves. Collin led with Mawile and Zapdos.

Knowing that he would most likely try to preserve his Mawile by switching out or using Protect, I double targeted the Zapdos with Fake Out and Overheat. Zapdos went down and Mawile did use Protect, giving me a 4-3 lead on Turn 1. Collin brought in Politoed, setting rain up.

I scouted whether Politoed would use a Water type attack or Ice Beam by using Protect with Charizard and attacking the Mawile with Scald, hoping for a burn. This turn went well, with Scald doing 75% to Mawile with a critical hit, and Politoed attacking into Charizard’s Protect with an Ice Beam. Ludicolo survived a Play Rough with 10%.

I didn’t want to lose my Ludicolo to the potential Sucker Punch from Mawile, so I switched out to Tyranitar, and used Heat Wave with Charizard as I knew I could easily survive what was likely a Choice Scarf Politoed’s Ice Beam. Collin realized that Politoed wasn’t in a favorable position and switched it out for his Hydreigon. My Heat Wave did 35% to Hydreigon with a critical hit while Mawile hid safely behind its Protect.

I used Heat Wave once again, while using Ice Beam on Hydriegon with Tyranitar. Collin played this turn well, switching Politoed into the Mawile spot and using Protect with Hydreigon. My -2 Heat Wave in the rain amusingly missed Politoed.

At this point in the game there was no point in keeping Charizard in, so I switched Ludicolo into Politoed’s Scald which survived with 1 HP, with no burn occurring. Collin switched Hydreigon into Mawile which survived a critical hit Ice Beam with little more HP than my Ludicolo did.

I identified that Collin wasn’t likely to snipe Ludicolo with a Sucker Punch, as doing so would allow my Tyranitar’s Ice Beam to KO it as well. I used Giga Drain on Politeod, leaving it at roughly 25% HP, and Ice Beam on Mawile, which Protected. Politoed’s rain boosted Scald OHKOd Tyranitar, which allowed me to bring Mega Charizard-Y in and set up sun.

I made a fairly stupid play this turn, using Fake Out with Ludicolo to try and avoid Mawile’s Sucker Punch that would clearly be targeting Charizard. As long as Heat Wave hit both of his Pokémon, I had the battle, but using Fake Out with Ludicolo opened me up to losing on account of a miss. Collin knew he needed Charizard gone, so he double targeted it with Scald and Sucker Punch. But thankfully there were no critical hits, and Heat Wave hit both Mawile and Politoed. Collin sent in Hydreigon and forfeited the match.

Record: 3-0

This battle was honestly a really good confidence builder for me. I felt really in control for most of that battle, and I had managed to get a win against a Worlds-caliber player. However, I tried not to become overconfident. I still needed to maintain my focus.

Round 4: vs Sam Haarsma (DrFidget)

 v.  

I was familiar with Sam from his presence online, and I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this battle. In past years he had used some less common Pokémon, but he isn’t the type of player to use an obscure Pokémon unless it has competitive merit.

Looking at his team, I knew that Mawile was a safer choice than Charizard, as the Umbreon could outstall every other Pokémon on the team, so I needed a way to deal damage to it quickly that didn’t involve dropping my Special Attack to -2. I led with Tyranitar to deal with Sam’s Mawile checks, specifically Rotom-Heat. He led with Greninja and Pinsir, which wasn’t affected by Intimidate due to Hyper Cutter.

I made a mistake here in thinking that Sam’s Greninja might have Mat Block. That move is more common with less skilled players, and it was a lapse in judgment thinking that he might have it. I used Protect with Mawile to avoid taking either a Hydro Pump from Greninja or attacking into a Mat Block, while using Rock Slide with Tyranitar. Sam Mega Evolved Pinsir and Hydro Pumped Tyranitar for 80%. Rock Slide left Greninja at a 40% after sandstorm damage.

It was fairly obvious that a neutral Sucker Punch from a Mega Mawile would now be able to KO Greninja, so I decided to Iron Head the Pinsir. I switched Tyranitar to Salamence to lower Pinsir’s attack stat, but Sam switched his Ferrothorn into the Pinsir slot in fear of my Tyranitar’s Rock Slide. Greninja used Protect, while my Iron Head did roughly 25% to Ferrothorn, with Leftovers bringing it back to over 80%.

This next turn, I didn’t want to mess around with Greninja using Ice Beam on Salamence, so I targeted it with Sucker Punch. Expecting Ferrothorn to make a switch, I targeted it with Dragon Pulse. Although Sucker Punch knocked out Greninja, Sam protected Ferrothorn to scout Salamence’s locked move. Rotom-Heat came in to threaten Mawile.

I didn’t want to risk a potential Hidden Power Ice from Rotom-H KOing Salamence, so I switched it out for Ludicolo, which also had the benefit of resisting a Gyro Ball. I played it safe this turn by Protecting Mawile. Rotom-H tried to Will-O-Wisp Mawile while Gyro Ball did very little to Ludicolo.

Not wanting my Mawile to be burned by a Will-O-Wisp or OHKOd by an Overheat, I switched Salamence in its slot, while attacking Rotom-Heat with a Scald. The Scald was blocked by a Protect, and Salamence came in for free. After Intimidate, Ferrothorn’s Power Whip left Ludicolo at roughly 40% HP.

I expected Ferrothorn to use Protect once again to scout for a Fire type attack, so I double targeted Rotom-H with a Scald and Flamethrower, hoping to get the KO. This turn did not go well for me, with Scald failing to KO because of Rotom-Heat’s Passho Berry, and he double targeted Salamence with Thunderbolt and Gyro Ball and KOd it. Suffice it to say that turn did not go as I expected. I brought in Tyranitar, hoping to bait a Thunderbolt.

This turn, I allowed Mawile to take a Thunderbolt and Ludicolo to take a Power Whip so I could KO Rotom-Heat. Power Whip left Ludicolo with 5 HP, but the Mega-Pinsir that came in for Rotom-Heat could easily take Ludicolo out next turn.

I knew that I needed to get Tyranitar in safely with my Mega Mawile if I wanted a chance to win this game. I did so by using Protect Mawile and letting Sam’s Pinsir KO Ludicolo with a Return.

After bringing in Tyranitar, I figured that I had no chance of winning if I didn’t KO one of his Pokémon this turn, so I attacked Pinsir with Fire Blast and Sucker Punch. I felt like it was less likely to use Protect this turn than Ferrothorn was. I groaned in dismay as I didn’t see Ferrothorn go for a Protect this turn. Pinsir, however, did faint to the double target. Ferrothorn used Leech Seed on Mawile instead of attacking Tyranitar, which really surprised me. He used Protect next turn, sapping a bit of HP from my Mawile. Tyranitar’s Fire Blast was able to connect and did roughly 85% to Ferrothorn, with Iron Head finishing it off to give me the win.

Record: 4-0

Following the battle, Sam informed me that he didn’t think that my Tyranitar was Choice Scarfed, as his Greninja did outspeed it. I recalled that a maximum Speed Greninja will always outspeed a Choice Scarfed Tyranitar, so he must have had an EV spread, or a Modest nature, that allowed him to scout out the items of different Tyranitar. For some reason, his Greninja didn’t underspeed in this case, which ended up causing him to misplay the final turns of the battle. I really got lucky here, and I don’t think I deserved the win in this game. As this was a fairly long battle, pairings went up quickly afterwards and I didn’t have much time to linger on this.

Round 5: vs Mario Contreras

 v.  

I honestly can’t remember much about this battle, other than my leads doing work against his team. Mario couldn’t really switch anything into a fast Ice Beam paired with sun boosted Heat Waves, apart from Rotom-Heat. However, because his Rotom-Heat was offensive, I knocked it out with an Overheat after I had gotten off one Heat Wave. After those two were gone, I simply had to switch Charizard out to reset my Special Attack and take out Aegislash’s partner.

Record: 5-0

I was pleasantly surprised by my results so far, as I knew that it I had a decent chance of getting into Top Cut, even if I lost the next two games. It was at this point that Aaron arrived at the venue, and was consequently swarmed by his adoring subscribers. I was able to push my way through the stampede and have a conversation with him for the first time in over a year, which was really nice. I had missed the friends I had made from VGC more than the competition, and I was glad that attending this event had allowed me to see some of them again. Pairings did eventually go up, but at this point it was getting so late that I didn’t even feel like battling anymore. I half-heartedly went to my next battle, the fatigue of playing finally hitting me.

Round 6: vs JT Hunsaker

 v.

Manectric was very scary to me in Team Preview. It could do work against every member of my team except Tyranitar and Ludicolo with his team’s support. Ludicolo, however, wouldn’t be very useful against his Scizor, so I decided not to bring it. I brought Mawile over Charizard for some Intimidate support, although in hindsight Charizard would have been a better choice, with my opponent having two Steel types. I brought Tyranitar as a way to threaten Garchomp and Scizor with fast, 4x Super Effective moves. Salamence was brought to keep his physical attackers in check, specifically Scizor if it went for a Swords Dance. My opponent led with Scizor and Manectric.

I decided to roll the dice here to see if I could survive Manectric’s Hidden Power Ice and KO it back with an Earthquake. I obviously didn’t want to Earthquake my own Tyranitar, so I switched into Salamence, which could also threaten Scizor with a Flamethrower. I was glad to see my Garchomp survive with a sliver of health and KO Manectric with a Life Orb Earthquake. This meant that Garchomp went down to Life Orb recoil, but I believe it was a worthy trade. I can’t recall the rest of the match, but each of us preserved our final three Pokémon until he had Garchomp with a little chip damage and -1 Scizor out against my Salamence and Tyranitar. At this point, I knew his final Pokémon was Aegislash, so I locked into Flamethrower and attacked the Scizor slot, while using Ice Beam on his Garchomp. I thought to myself while inputting my moves, “Alright, I’ve got this game in the bag, as long as this Garchomp doesn’t have a Choice Scarf. But who runs Choice Scarf Garchomp, right?” Apparently JT runs Choice Scarf Garchomp, as he outsped Tyranitar and knocked out Salamence before falling to an Ice Beam. At this point I had no chance to win unless I could freeze both his Scizor and his Aegislash. As soon as Mawile was knocked out, I forfeited.

Record: 5-1

Although I joked around with my friends that I hoped to lose the next game so I could just go to sleep, I really wanted to make Top 8 at this event. I tried to keep my competitiveness in check and have fun in the final round, but I was so close to getting my first Top Cut in a Masters division event. I awaited the pairings, hoping that I wouldn’t be paired against one of the many other 5-1 players that I knew.

Round 7: vs Zach Asdasda (Hooligan)

 v.

Unfortunately, this is where my memory starts to get a little sketchy. Keep in mind that it was about 1:00 AM, and I was just trying to get through each battle. As a result, I can hardly remember this battle apart from my opponent having a White Herb Azumarill and Substitute Kangaskhan. I was able to get a timely critical hit on the Azumarill with a Giga Drain and knocked it out before it could do any significant damage to my team. Later in the game, I was able to prevent Kanghaskhan from setting up a Substitute and limited its damage output using Salamence’s Intimidate. I did end up on top of this one in the end.

Record: 6-1

Everyone was relieved that the Swiss rounds were finally over and that they could finally get some sleep, except for those poor souls who had made the Top 8. It must’ve been terrible to be one of those guys, right? As the Tournament Organizers and Judges were itching to get some shut-eye, they hurried the Top Cut process to initiate. It was to our great surprise that we would be operating in a best-of-one system until the finals. While many of us were upset by this, as best-of-three is general a more reliable way to determine who deserves to move on, it’s pretty easy to understand why they did this. If every match had been a best-of-three, the people running the event, as well as the players in the finals, would probably finish at around 4:00 AM. Regardless, we had no say on the matter, and we simply grit our teeth and dealt with it.

Top 8: Michael (shrop05) Shropshire, 6th Seed

 v.

Yet another battle I hardly remember. His team seemed to lack a way to beat both Salamence and Garchomp, so I got a feeling that he had an Ice type attack on one of his Pokémon. When he led with Rotom-Heat, I had a gut feeling that it was carrying Hidden Power Ice. I decided to switch into Tyranitar in anticipation of this. My intuition was correct, and the Rotom Heat did target the Salamence’s slot with a Hidden Power. My Charizard just spammed Heat Waves, getting two burns, one on his Mega Gyarados. The luck made the game play out entirely differently, and without those burns I think this game would have been far more difficult.

Top 4: vs Aaron (LPFan) Grubbs, 4th Seed

 v.

I’ve known Aaron since 2010, when we played in the semi-finals of a Junior Division Regional Championship. We had avoided playing each other in sanctioned events since then, but it was bound to happen eventually. Looking at Team Preview, I saw what appeared to be a Mega Blastoise team with a potential Mega Tyranitar. Charizard would have a terrible time against both of these, as a Timid Blastoise would be able to outspeed it and get off a powerful Water Spout, which would do a lot regardless of the weather condition. I led with Ludicolo because it did well against every member on his team except for Aegislash, which it has a neutral matchup against. I brought Salamence and Garchomp as a way to beat Aegislash, but also to deal with Tyranitar if it got a Dragon Dance off. Aaron led with Blastoise and Tyranitar.

Because he led with both of them, I second guessed myself on whether or not Tyranitar was actually holding a Tyranitarite. I used Fake Out on it to see in what order the Pokemon would flinch. I attacked Blastoise with a Play Rough in the hopes of lowering its damage output with Water Spout. I was shocked to see Aaron’s Tyranitar Mega Evolve over his Blastoise, while his Blastoise used Fake Out on my Mawile! This was a dead turn, but I got valuable information from this. From here, things start to get blurry.

At some point, I predicted a Blastoise switch into Amoonguss and used Ice Beam and Iron Head on it, getting a timely freeze. Aaron’s Tyranitar got a Dragon Dance up safely, and began to spam Rock Slide. It got a double flinch onto my Ludicolo and Mawile while Amoonguss was frozen. Garchomp was burned by a Will-O-Wisp, but was still able to do enough damage throughout the battle to KO Tyranitar and Rotom Heat. As I had Ludicolo still at a good amount of HP, I was able to beat both Blastoise and Amoonguss with the help of Salamence.

Finals: Danish (Danish555) Ali, 2nd Seed

Game 1:

 v.  

Looking at Team Preview, I thought that Mawile would be the better Mega Pokémon in this situation. Charizard usually ends up doing almost nothing against teams with Aerodactyl, so I often don’t even consider it. I led with Mawile and Garchomp to apply offensive pressure very early in the battle. Danish made a great call, leading with Lapras and Aerodactyl.

I liked my position here, despite Lapras threatening Garchomp with an Ice Shard. Mawile’s Intimidate ensured I could take at least one prior to any possible Weakness Policy activation. I used Iron Head and Rock Slide, which would have knocked Lapras out and allowed me to pick off Aerodactyl in the following turns. Danish used Protect with his Lapras this turn, and set up Tailwind with Aerodactyl. I wasn’t upset that I didn’t go after Aerodactyl that turn, as doing so would have allowed him to send in his Charizard and potentially take two KOs under Tailwind.

I stalled one turn of Tailwind by using Protect with Garchomp and Iron Head on the Aerodactyl slot, not wanting to activate the Weakness Policy Lapras was likely carrying. Aerodactyl used Sky Drop on my Mawile, which was really beneficial to me, as that is one less turn of Tailwind that it could act in. Lapras attacked into Garchomp’s Protect with Freeze Dry.

I once again used Iron Head on the Aerodactyl slot, knocking it out after Sky Drop ended on Mawile. I was not keen on letting my Garchomp get OHKO’d by a Freeze Dry, so I switched it out for my Tyranitar. This turn went exactly according to plan, with Danish’s speed control option being eliminated. Tyranitar took little damage on account of its Special Defense boost provided by the sandstorm. With only one turn of Tailwind remaining, I was feeling good about my position. Charizard came in for the fallen Aerodactyl.

I made a critical mistake here by choosing to use Rock Slide with Tyranitar. Charizard used Protect and Lapras’ Weakness Policy activated, making it a threat. I used Protect with Mawile to stall the final turn of Tailwind, but Lapras used Hydro Pump on Tyranitar… and it missed! This was a horrible break for Danish, as I was able to clean up with Tyranitar and any one of my other team members. If the Hydro Pump had hit, I would have needed to make some risky switches with Salamence to Intimidate his Lapras to a point where its Ice Shard wouldn’t OHKO my Garchomp. This wouldn’t have been an overly hard end game to set up, but missing that Hydro Pump basically guaranteed me the win in game one.

Game 2:

 v.

I decided to lead with Mawile and Tyranitar in this game so that I didn’t have to try and play around Lapras as much. I brought Garchomp and Salamence in the back because they could do well against every member of Danish’s team, excluding Lapras. Danish decided to completely change his game plan by leading with Scrafty and Charizard.

I didn’t like my position here with Tyranitar, as his Charizard could Protect while Scrafty could knock it out with a Drain Punch. I switched Tyranitar out into Garchomp, which had a better matchup against Scarfty while still threatening to OHKO Charizard with a Life Orb Rock Slide. I used Protect with Mawile just to be safe. Danish used Fake Out and Solarbeam on Garchomp, leaving it at 35% HP. Although I took a lot of damage for that switch, I gained a lot of momentum. At this point, my opponents 3DS started to blink red, signaling that the battery was in a critical state.

I saw no significant risk with playing this turn obviously, so I used Rock Slide and Play Rough on the Scrafty slot. Charizard used Protect, while the Scrafty switched out into Lapras, which fainted as a result of its poor Defense. Scrafty came back in, lowering both of my Pokémon’s attack and threatening with Fake Out pressure.

Garchomp didn’t seem important to this battle anymore, as even with Life Orb my -1 Garchomp was unlikely to get the KO on Charizard with a Rock Slide. I preserved Mawile by using Protect, while using Rock Slide with Garchomp. Danish made the correct play in here in using Fake Out on Garchomp while firing off a sun-boosted Heat Wave. Garchomp went down this turn, and I brought in my Tyranitar.

Everyone was nervous about Danish’s 3DS power, so I recommended that we move to a different location and charge it. We circled the room, finding that some of the outlets weren’t working with his 3DS for some reason. We were eventually able to get one to work, but this process left Danish with very little time to pick a move. Knowing this, I went for the obvious play of Rock Slide and Play Rough into the Scrafty slot, which resulted in every Pokémon on the field except Mawile being knocked out. Had this turn occurred at any other time other than 2:30 AM while frantically trying to plug in a 3DS, I think Danish could have made a really good play here by switching in Garchomp for Charizard. I almost predicted that and acted accordingly, but knowing that he didn’t have enough time to fully consider this option I simply attacked what was in front of me. The following turn Danish sent in Garchomp while I sent in Salamence.

I attacked Garchomp with a Dragon Pulse and Play Rough and knew that without some horrible luck that the game was mine. Garchomp got a critical hit Dragon Claw on Salamence, but Play Rough hit, winning me the Premier Challenge. I wish that I could attest to the jubilation that I felt at that moment, but I was honestly more interested in finally getting some rest for the Regional the next morning. I received my nifty Froakie hat as my prize, and within five minutes I had fallen asleep in my hotel room.

Regionals

I woke up at about 7:00 AM. I wasn’t too eager to play with less than 5 hours of sleep, but I eventually made my way downstairs where I made sure to eat as much as I could to keep my energy up. By 8:00 most people had arrived at the event. Most everyone I knew got into the FAST Pass lane that helped to speed us through registration, which was a really cool idea on the Tournament Organizer’s part. It was about at this time that Kenan arrived. Blake started dealing out Pokémon, leading to Logan and him having a lively debate over whether Jolly or Adamant Focus Sash Lucario would be better, in which they finally had to agree to disagree. Eventually everyone got through the process of registration, except for one lone champion. We cheered Ben on as he struggled to defeat his greatest opponent of 2014 after a long year of training, the devilishly clever hack check.

We sat down at a table and chatted while waiting for the rest of the line to get registered. Aaron tried to set up a stream with the tournament organizers, but the internet at the venue wasn’t fast enough for it to be worth it. We convinced Logan to use Tickle on Aaron while talking logistics with Chris Brown, in hopes that he wouldn’t find it amusing at all. There was a loud enough reaction for us to hear from across the room, alerting an admirer to Aaron’s presence. It was at this point that we discovered the soon-to-be legendary Twitter god, Aaron’s Stalker. Aaron came over to our table, inquiring about Logan’s motives. Aaron’s Stalker, however, wasn’t focused on the answer. His only real interest was that Aaron (and his sweet, sweet, sweet, and sour lips) stay in top physical form for the tournament.

After entertaining ourselves with the Twitter account, the pairings for the player meeting went up and I was paired up with Aaron Zheng Chalkey Horenstein. The meeting didn’t begin for a fair amount of time, causing Ben to grow bored and take a quick snooze. Chalkey and I took this opportunity to pile our possessions onto him, as well as the contents of the table.

The meeting did eventually crawl to a start, with them giving us the standard information: have good sportsmanship, make sure to turn in battle result slips, etc. They let us know that we had 206 Masters in attendance, giving us hope that Chris Brown might give us the gift of a Top 16 Cut. No dice. We would be playing 8 rounds of Swiss with a Top 8 cutoff. With such a large attendance, this guaranteed that losing two games would knock anyone out of Top Cut contention. Knowing the odds of getting into the Top 8, I kept my expectations low and simply tried to enjoy the event. This mentality kept me relaxed throughout the day, which ended up enhancing my play.

Round 1: ???, 0-0

 v.

I was glad that I hadn’t been paired up with one of my friends early in the tournament. I engaged in some casual conversation with my opponent, trying to stay entertained until play officially began. Once Team Preview began, I saw a fairly standard rain team that lacked Talonflame. Ludicolo was a very safe choice as a lead here, and Charizard complimented it very well. Tyranitar and Garchomp gave me some flexibility in the matchup, and completed my anti-rain mode. My opponent led with Zapdos and Politoed.

Mega Evolving with Charizard could put me into a bad position if his Politoed switched out this turn, so I chose to use Protect. I targeted Zapdos with an Ice Beam so that I could KO it the following turn,  while Politoed attacked Charizard with a Scald. The Zapdos paralyzed my Ludicolo with Thunder Wave, taking away its speed advantage in rain.

I used Heat Wave with Mega Charizard-Y this turn while targeting the Politoed with Giga Drain. The Politoed stayed in and revealed a Choice Scarf as it outsped Charizard and did roughly 40% with a Scald, while Heat Wave did 30% to the Politoed and knocked out the Zapdos. Ludicolo was paralyzed this turn, and Mawile came in for the fallen Zapdos.

I can’t recall exactly how the rest of the game went, but I knocked out the Mawile without much trouble, and my opponent was unable to beat Ludicolo once it had fainted. I won this battle fairly convincingly due to my team’s great rain matchup.

Overall Record: 11-1

I waited for everyone else to see how they did in their first battles. Apart from a few exceptions, most of my friends had won their first match. The pairings went up fairly quickly and I was thankfully not paired against anyone that I knew. However, there’s a lot of unknown talent out there, so every game that I play I assume that my opponent knows what they are doing until they prove otherwise. With that in mind, I faced down an interesting team for my second battle.

Round 2: ???, 1-0

 v. 

I can’t recall his name, but looking at my oponenents’ team, two Pokémon were threatening to me in Team Preview: Staraptor and Mamoswine. A Choice Scarf Staraptor could get a free Final Gambit off against anything on my team, and only Mawile could lower Staraptor’s damage output with Sucker Punch. Mawile’s matchup against Ferrothorn and Mamoswine is shaky though, so I led with Charizard and Ludicolo to use Fake Out on the Staraptor if I saw it. My opponent led with Staraptor alongside Mamoswine.

This turn I chose not to mess around with Staraptor, as it could OHKO Ludicolo and Charizard with Brave Bird and Final Gambit, respectively. I targeted it with a Fake Out and a Heat Wave, which could also do some respectable damage to Mamoswine. This turn worked out very well, with Staraptor getting KO’d by Heat Wave and Mamoswine wasting a turn by using Protect. My opponent brought in Ampharos for the fallen Staraptor.

I decided to use Solar Beam onto the Mamoswine for the KO, assuming that it was a Life Orb variant, while using Ice Beam on the Ampharos. I was surprised to see the Mamoswine once again use Protect. Ludicolo hit what had become a Mega Ampharos for about 50% damage, and Ampharos knocked out Mega Charizard-Y with a Thunderbolt. My opponent informed me that he timed out this turn, which worked out well for him, as one of my Ferrothorn counters was now decommissioned. I brought in Tyranitar for my fallen Charizard.

I used Rock Slide with Tyranitar and targeted Mamoswine with a Giga Drain. Mamoswine was knocked out at the cost of Tyranitar taking an Earthquake. Ampharos did little damage to Ludicolo with a Thunderbolt and Ferrothorn switched in for the fainted Mamoswine.

I needed to preserve Tyranitar at this point so I could get rid of Ferrothorn later in the game. I knew that Ampharos would get knocked out by Ludicolo’s Ice Beam after it had taken another turn of sandstorm damage. I switched Tyranitar into Garchomp to preserve it. Ampharos went down this turn while Garchomp took a Gyro Ball. I didn’t see any Leftovers recovery, so he needed to use Leech Seed on Garchomp if he wanted to win.

I used Protect with Garchomp to prevent a Leech Seed, which my opponent did attempt. Ice Beam did a bit of damage to Ferrothorn, and the following turn an Earthquake critical hit knocked it out.

Record 12-1

I made that battle much harder than it needed to be when I let Charizard get knocked out. I very easily could have switched into Tyranitar on the turn that his Mamoswine went for a double-Protect, while attempting to KO Mamoswine with a Giga Drain, achieving the same reward for far less risk. Regardless, I was able to get the win here.

, 

Round 3: Stephen Morioka (Stephen), 2-0

 v.

I wasn’t thrilled to see myself paired against Stephen for round 3. I can recall getting demolished by him several times online in 2013, so I know how great of a player he is. He came over to the table with his trademark smile, and he snapped a picture. Unfortunately I was making conversation when he took the picture, resulting in this awkward, mid-sentence grin.

Anyways, on to the battle. I recognized that this was inspired by one of R Inanimate’s teams. I hadn’t fully read the report about it, so this knowledge wasn’t actually useful to me. I assumed that Blastoise and Venusaur were holding their respective Mega Stones, but apart from that I was in the dark (void). Had I done my research, I would have known that the Rotom-Heat would be holding a Choice Scarf if this team was copied from the report.

I led with Garchomp and Salamence, assuming Blastoise was the only thing on his team threatening an Ice type attack. Whoops. I chose to bring Charizard as my Mega Pokémon because neither of Stephen’s Mega options could stand up to Charizard as long as I was in sun. I used Ludicolo to support Charizard by checking Rotom-Heat and Garchomp. Stephen led with Rotom-Heat and Smeargle.

Ignorant to the fact that Rotom-Heat could threaten both of my Pokémon, I used Rock Slide and Dragon Pulse on the Smeargle. Luckily, Stephen probably assumed that I knew about this team and used Thunderbolt on Salamence predicting a switch. Smeargle used Fake Out on Garchomp, taking Rough Skin damage, while Dragon Pulse knocked Smeargle out. I leaned back in my chair, feeling fortunate as it could have been me that was behind 4-3 at the end of turn 1. I don’t recall what immediately occurred after this, but everything is crystal clear after a certain point.

Stephen was down 3-2 with his -1 Attack Garchomp out alongside a nearly full HP Mega Venusaur. I had the game won if I could hit his Garchomp with a Dragon Claw, but he won the speed tie and knocked out my Garchomp, putting me in a less favorable position.

The game was full of momentum shifts, with the fate of the match being determined by who played the final two turns better. Stephen’s Garchomp had taken a bit of damage, and my Ludicolo, Charizard, and his Venusaur were at full health. I predicted Stephen to use Protect with Venusaur and attack my Charizard with a Rock Slide, expecting a Fake Out and Overheat combo onto it. I chose to Protect Charizard and Ice Beam the Garchomp, hoping to KO Garchomp for the win. He played this very well, using Protect with Garchomp while getting a big chunk of damage on Ludicolo, although it was out of range for a -1 Dragon Claw to finish it off.

I had to hope that Garchomp didn’t get a flinch or critical hit on either of my Pokémon with Rock Slide and that Overheat could somehow knock Venusaur out. Attacking Garchomp with Ice Beam and using Overheat on the Mega Venusaur was my only play. Garchomp’s Rock Slide left both of my Pokémon with enough HP to fulfill their roles. Charizard didn’t flinch and Overheat hit the Mega Venusaur. The HP bar went down painfully slowly until…Venusaur fainted! I don’t know the damage calculation for this one, but I’d be willing to wager it came down to a damage roll. Ludicolo also avoided being flinched, and clinched the game with an Ice Beam.

Record 13-1

After I had gotten out of it, I realized how much fun that match was. I was never sure who would pull out the win, and it came down to the wire. It was a really great experience getting to play Stephen. He is a player I respect a lot.

Round 4: ???, 3-0

I’m not going to lie, I can’t recall anything about this round. I want to say that I played another rain team this round, but I can’t be sure. I did win though, and the Tournament Organizers gave us a lunch break.

Record: 14-1

After getting some pizza from the venue, I sat down with Kenan and his friends. We chatted about out records, and I watched replay of a battle involving a Kecleon. The damage output coming from that thing was impressive, doing big damage to a Zapdos. Eventually, I decided to go wash my pizza-covered hands, and I caught Jonathan (JRank) Rankin in the middle of his patented pre-battle Arkansas rituals, and I passed by with a moment of awkward eye contact. He later tried to convince me he was trying to shake off a heavy meal, but I KNOW THE TRUTH. The pairings went up shortly after this.

Round 5: Gabby Snyder (JTK), 4-0

 v.

I knew that Gabby has played VGC for a long time, so I knew that this wouldn’t be an easy game. I knew that Aerodactyl made bringing Charizard a poor option. Mawile had the potential to put in work against Gabby’s team if I could eliminate Rotom-Heat and Hydreigon, so I focused on beating those with my leads. In case this didn’t work out, I brought Ludicolo to beat Rotom-Heat and to provide Fake Out pressure in order to stall a Tailwind turn if need be. Gabby led with Aerodactyl and Ludicolo.

I didn’t like my matchup here with Salamence or Garchomp, so I decided to double switch here. From what I remember, this went fairly well with neither of my switches taking significant damage. From there on, I can only recall bits and pieces of the battle. I learned that the Rotom-Heat was heavily offensive when I did about 75% with Garchomp’s Rock Slide, but it answered back by knocking Garchomp out with a Hidden Power Ice. I recall getting a clutch burn with Scald on a Mawile switch, which really gave me an advantage. After taking out Mawile, I forgot that it Mega Evolved, and I played the game into a situation where a Mega Aerodactly Ice Fang wouldn’t OHKO my Salamence. It did end up being a standard variant, which allowed me to finish off the Rotom-Heat with Salamence’s Dragon Pulse and Aerodactyl with a Sucker Punch before it could tempt the RNG with a few Rock Slides.

Record: 15-1

With my highest hope for Regionals being to go 5-3, I was very pleased that I had done this well. I was feeling very good about my play, but I tried to keep my competitive nature in check. I tried to remember that I came to Houston to socialize with my friends and enjoy myself. Every opponent I played against I made sure to converse with, making sure not to take the games too seriously. I think this is a good way to play in these tournaments, as even when you end up losing you can say you had a good time.

Round 6: Tien-Dan Nguyen (Tabris), 5-0

 v.

My opponent and I talked a bit about how our days have gone so far until the the judges let us know that we could start. I saw no reason in Team Preview not to use my standard anti-rain option, so I went with it once again. Tien-Dan led with his Zapdos and Ludicolo, and we traded Fake Outs for a dead first turn

Having not Mega Evolved the previous turn, I safely used Overheat onto the Zapdos in sun, taking the KO. Charizard took a Scald while Ludicolo used Giga Drain for a bit of damage onto Tien-Dan’s Ludicolo. I can’t recall how, but the final turn of the battle came down to Mega Charizard-Y with sun up against a 15% HP Ludicolo and a 10% HP Politoed with a Choice Scarf.

I knew that Tien-Dan either had to set up rain with Politoed and attack Charizard with a Scald or try to double target it. I figured that even if rain was set up by Politoed, I had a chance to knock Ludicolo out with a Heat Wave. Tien-Dan decided to play it simply and attacked Charizard with Ice Beam, and my Heat Wave picked up a double-KO here, giving me the win.

Record: 16-1

I regrouped with all the players that were undefeated going into round 6 to see who the remaining 6-0s were. It ended up being Aaron, Collin, me, and Lee Camacho. I hoped that I wouldn’t be paired against Aaron, as I knew that my matchup against his team wasn’t very strong, as it struggles to knock Mawile out once Trick Room is set up. Despite how well my game went in the Premier Challenge against Collin, I knew that he had switched teams and would be ready for me. I wasn’t sleeping on Lee, though, as he had managed to get to 6-0 at a fairly large Regional, and that wasn’t an accident. Anyways, I checked the pairings to see whose name I drawn out of the hat and saw that I would be playing against Collin once again.

Round 7: Collin Heier, 6-0

   v.

Although I wasn’t happy to play Collin, I did find comfort in the fact that one of us was guaranteed to cut. Despite the situation we were both fairly relaxed before initiating the battle, attempting to start a sing-along at our table. I didn’t like what I saw in Team Preview, as Collin was threatening both a rain and Trick Room mode. My only safe lead against this team was Charizard and Ludicolo, as they gave me tools to combat the duality of Collin’s team. I picked Garchomp in order to beat Hydreigon and Mawile outside of Trick Room, and Tyranitar to change the weather in the late game. Looking back, bringing Choice Scarf Tyranitar against a team with a threatening Trick Room option wasn’t a good call, regardless of how influential its ability could have been. Collin led with Gothitelle and Ludicolo, which put us at a fairly neutral position.

Here, I decided not to be overly aggressive with Charizard. I didn’t want to get flinched by Fake Out and set up sun, only to see Politoed come in the next turn and render Charizard useless. I went for a Heat Wave with Charizard without Mega Evolving while using Fake Out on the Gothitelle. This turn went as I expected, with both of us trading Fake Outs for an unproductive turn. I didn’t see any Leftovers on Gothitelle, bringing me to believe it was either a Sitrus or Chesto Berry variant.

Now was the opportune time for Charizard to set up sun. I double targeted the Gothitelle with an Overheat and Giga Drain, hoping to pick up a KO. The Gothitelle survived with a fair amount of HP after Overheat, and a revealed Sitrus Berry put it out of range for Giga Drain to KO. Although I would have preferred to see Gothitelle knocked out this turn, I knew that Gothitelle was in range for any Pokémon to KO it.

I expected the Ludicolo to switch into Politoed to further weaken my Charizard’s attacks, so I used Giga Drain on that slot, while using Overheat on the Gothitelle in hopes of removing its Shadow Tag pressure. This turn went about as well as I could hope, with Ludicolo switching to Politoed which took about 50% of its HP. Its revealed Leftovers brought it back to over 50% while Gothitelle used Protect.

I got the feeling that Collin wouldn’t risk losing Politoed to a high Giga Drain damage roll and would use Protect. For this reason, I targeted the Gothitelle with Scald instead of Giga Drain. Either would have gotten the KO on Gothitelle if it had chosen to stay in, so I went for the play with a higher potential reward of getting a burn on a switch in. Collin could take the KO on Charizard any time he wanted to, so I saw was no reason to use Protect with it. I used Heat Wave this turn, fairly confident that Charizard wouldn’t be targeted. Politoed used Protect and Charizard’s Heat Wave did pitiful damage to Collin’s Ludicolo switch-in. Scald did miniscule damage to it, but luckily got a burn.

With Politoed out of Ludicolo’s Giga Drain range by just a hair, I knew that I needed some residual damage to chip it down. I also needed to get Charizard out of this situation, so I switched in my Tyranitar. Bringing it in would preserve my Charizard for the late game and also allow Ludicolo’s Giga Drain to knock Politoed out. Collin decided not to risk his rain mode and switched Politoed into Mawile, which took about 20% from Giga Drain. Collin used Ice Beam on the slot in which Charizard was previously in, telling me that Collin knew I would be switching that turn. Fortunately, I had brought Tyranitar over Salamence.

Collin had one turn to abuse Mawile moving first under Trick Room, and we both knew he would take a KO this turn. I targeted Mawile with a Fire Blast and Collin’s Ludicolo with a Giga Drain, knowing that I could do some valuable damage this turn regardless of what Collin chose to knock out. Tyranitar fainted to an Iron Head, and we traded Giga Drain, with Collin’s getting a critical hit. The burn and sandstorm damage put Collin’s Ludicolo into the red. I brought in Charizard for my fallen Tyranitar.

I had brought Charizard in to stall another turn of residual damage on Ludicolo, as I didn’t know the damage calculation for Ludicolo surviving an Earthquake. Expecting to come out of this turn in a good position, I allowed Charizard to get knocked out by Mega Mawile’s Sucker Punch while trading Giga Drains with Collin’s Ludicolo to make sure that it fainted to Garchomp’s Earthquake. However, another critical hit healed Collin’s Ludicolo to roughly the same HP that it was at when Charizard came in, making that a very useless turn for me. I sent in Garchomp, and I could almost see the weight of the game being carried on its back.

I went for an Earthquake with Garchomp while using a Fake Out with Ludicolo, not wanting to lose it to a Sucker Punch. This turn went well, with Garchomp getting a double KO, but knocking my Ludicolo down to 20% HP. Collin sent in Gothitelle and Politoed.

Gothitelle could be easily picked off by Garchomp, but I wasn’t sure that I could take out Politoed with an Earthquake. If Politoed survived, it could knock Garchomp out with an Ice Beam after Life Orb recoil. He could also use Protect with both Pokemon, which would result in only Ludicolo fainting. For this reason, I used Protect with Garchomp and Giga Drain onto the Gothitelle, expecting Collin to preserve Politoed with a Protect. Collin made a great read here by using Protect with Gothitelle and Scald onto Ludicolo, knowing that going for a burn was his highest percentage play here. A tip of the hat to Collin, he read me like a book this turn. Ludicolo got burned, but it survived with 10 HP.

I knew that Collin’s best play here was to use Protect with Politoed and go for the double-Protect with Gothitelle. Unfortunately I had no counter play to this, and I was forced to Giga Drain the Gothitelle to heal enough HP back so that Ludicolo could survive the burn. The game was winding down, and we both knew it was in the hands of the RNG. I was relieved to see the Gothitelle fail to get off its Protect, and after Giga Drain recovery and burn Ludicolo fell to 2 HP.

Politoed had been slowly recovering its HP with Leftovers, and was now at about 70% HP. I attacked with Giga Drain and Dragon Claw onto the Politoed. Things rolled in my favor once again, and the combination of my attacks knocked Politoed out after its double-Protect failed. I shook Collin’s hand and complimented him on a really well-played game. This was easily the most fun game of the Swiss rounds for me, and the luck happened to go my way in the final turns, guaranteeing me a spot in the Top 8.

Record: 17-1

Following this match, a series of raffles delayed the final round for about an hour. I ended up talking with a lot of my old friends, as well as making some new ones. It was enjoyable to reminisce about some of everyone’s favorite VGC memories and teams, so the time passed quickly for me. I am sure the same couldn’t be said for the players that were 6-1.  The delay gave them a lot of time to stress out about the game that would ultimately decide whether or not they would reach Top Cut. During this time I learned that Aaron had lost to Lee, but I didn’t probe him on any team details. It didn’t seem necessary to scout out his team, as this next match wasn’t very important to me.

Round 8: Lee Camacho (raindanceking), 7-0

 v.   

Just at a glance, I knew that Lee hadn’t simply tossed this team together. He could apply offensive pressure easily without even using his rain mode. I had to deviate from my standard anti-rain option in order to win, as Kangaskhan and Talonflame were far too threatening to warrant bringing Ludicolo. Instead, I brought Tyranitar and Charizard in hopes of drawing a Power-Up Punch into Tyranitar while dropping a sun-boosted Overheat onto the Kangaskhan. Garchomp and Salamence rounded out the team, as they could do well against Lee’s team as long as the rain mode was out of play. Lee led with Kangaskhan and Talonflame, and I was immediately glad that I had benched Ludicolo.

From turn 1 and on, I knew that I needed to beat Lee’s lead, while preserving my Charizard for what I was sure to be a rain mode in the back. The first half of the game I played very obviously, my focus not as intense knowing that I was already guaranteed to Top Cut. Lee exploited this, outpredicting me for the first half of the game. Every Protect or switch he called perfectly, putting me behind going into the final turns of the battle. At some point I decided I needed to get my act together, and I was able to maneuver myself into a decent position. I made the right plays in the last couple of turns, getting me the win. I learned from this game that Lee was capable of making solid reads, which would be valuable information if I played him in the Top Cut.

Record 18-1

I didn’t have a lot of time to dwell on this win, as I saw a crowd drawing around Aaron’s game. When I came over, I only needed to look at his body language to see how intense the game was. From what I could gather, it would come down to one prediction that would decide who would make cut. Aaron did make the right play, giving him a spot in the Top Cut, along with the 7 others listed below.

Top Cut 

I sat down and struck up a conversation with some of the people I didn’t know at the Top 8 table, and I was really glad to hear some enthusiastic responses. One person was in his first Top Cut, and he was just glad to be there. Seeing new faces do well at these events is always enjoyable for me to see, as it shows just how well Nuggetbridge has helped beginners get past what used to be an extremely steep learning curve very quickly so that they can thoroughly enjoy these events.

While we got our teams checked for illegitimacy, Aaron tried to set up a stream or a recording from every round of the Top Cut. The head judge seemed uncomfortable at first, so Aaron found a compromise in recording one set of Top 4 battles and the finals. After the recording situation had been dealt with and the judges explained to us the format of Top Cut play, we began to get settled across from our opponents. Stephen snapped a money shot of us before the battling began, and then the battles began!

Man, I just have problems taking pictures. I had no idea we were smiling I swear!

Top 8: Omari Travis (BadIntent), 8th Seed

Game 1:

 v.    

Omari is a player that I’ve seen doing well at events since 2010, and I have a lot of respect for his playing. We had sat near each other during battles several times that day, so I knew a bit about his team. I knew that Gardevoir was using a Life Orb, the Zapdos was extremely physically bulky, and that his Aegislash was carrying Hidden Power Ice. I was aware from watching him play on the Worlds stream that he favored Mega Garchomp, so I assumed that the Talonflame would be running Tailwind to support it.

I didn’t see a lot on Omari’s team that could stand up to Tyranitar and Charizard’s offensive pressure other than his own Tyranitar, so I chose to lead with them. I used Ludicolo to potentially get an Ice Beam off against the Mega Garchomp and do super-effective damage to Tyranitar. I brought Garchomp as my final Pokémon, as I wanted to have another option for Aegislash and Garchomp. Immediately after picking my team I noticed how badly I had to go to the restroom. Hoping that this game would go by quickly, I waited for Omari to select his team members. After urine-stalling me in Team Preview, he selected Gardevoir and Zapdos as his leads.

I was really glad to see this lead, as I could potentially grab a double-KO here if my Rock Slide and Heat Wave both hit. I decided to go for it, and it paid off stupendously. Tyranitar’s Rock Slide brought Zapdos to 60%, comfirming that Zapdos was physical defensive, and a critical hit on the Gardevoir put it just above 50%. I was thrilled to Mega Charizard-Y’s Heat Wave finished off both Gardevoir and Zapdos, giving me a first turn double-KO. The combination of Heat Wave and Rock Slide under normal circumstances probably needed high damage rolls to snag the KO on Gardevoir, but the critical hit guaranteed that it would go down before getting off a Moonblast on my Tyranitar. Omari sent in Talonflame and Garchomp.

I knew that I had to put myself into a position to take down Garchomp, as Talonflame isn’t usually a threat when it is fighting from behind. I sacrificed Tyranitar in exchange for Talonflame, giving me the win with Ludicolo and Garchomp which could both beat his slower, bulkier Garchomp. Omari did not choose to Mega Evolve the Garchomp in this battle, but I was still sure that it was his Mega Pokémon. It was at this point that I asked Omari and the head judge if I could hustle over to the facilities to relieve myself, which they agreed was acceptable.

I think now is an appropriate time to give some advise to beginners and veterans alike. Never let your bladder dictate your pace or mental state at these events. Frequent potty breaks a key to victory, and don’t you ever forget it. Having returned from my voyage to the lavatory (that’s a fancy way to say john, right?), I began to battle with a new sense of well-being.

Record: 19-1

Game 2:

 v.

After the success of my lead in the first game, I knew that Omari would adapt to beat it. I expected him to lead with one or both of Talonflame and Tyranitar, hoping to either get Tailwind up or to threaten my Charizard with a Rock Slide. For this reason, I led with Garchomp. I felt safe from a Choice Scarf Tyranitar, as I found it unlikely that he was running it on a team that already had a potential form of speed control in Tailwind Talonflame. I led with Charizard once again, as its matchup against Omari’s team was solid for the most part. I brought Tyranitar in the back to threaten Talonflame and switch into its Brave Birds, and Salamence was brought to regulate Omari’s physically threatening Pokémon with Intimidate. I was glad to see the Talonflame start off the battle on Omari’s side, but I wasn’t thrilled to see Garchomp.

I Mega Evolved Charizard and fired off a Heat Wave, but I Protected with my own Garchomp. I honestly couldn’t explain the logic behind that if I tried. This was a terrible play, as I completely forgot that Talonflame would most definitely be setting up a Tailwind and the opposing Garchomp didn’t have maximum Speed. Omari Mega Evolved Garchomp while using Protect, and Talonflame used Tailwind. Charizard did respectable damage to Talonflame, but everything went downhill from there.

I can’t remember the specifics past the first turn. I stalled out the Tailwind, but the Mega Garchomp did enough damage to my team to give Omari an easy win. The game ended 2-0, but the score didn’t represent how badly I played that game. I had already lost the game on turn 1 to a moment of stupidity, and I knew that I would have to make an adaptation here to move on to the Top 4. I did gain some valuable information this game, such as that his Garchomp was slower than my Charizard without Tailwind, and it was using Substitute over Rock Slide. Going in to game 3, I knew I had to focus hard and not let that lose get to me. I completely zoned in, not wanting to end my tournament run here.

Record: 19-2

Game 3:

v. 

I had been completely demolished the previous game, so I needed to make some changed. Charizard had been fairly useless in the previous battle, and I felt that bringing Mawile in this battle would be the right play. I made a really risky prediction that was completely dependent on Omari sticking with his previous leads of Garchomp and Talonflame by leading with Mawile and Salamence. If it worked, the double Intimidate would force a switch out of Garchomp and ensure that Talonflame’s Brave Bird and Flare Blitz wouldn’t be doing much damage. I didn’t want to bring Tyranitar in this battle, as giving Mega Garchomp the Sand Force boost ruined me in the previous game. For that reason, I had to use Garchomp and Ludicolo as my back two. I nervously inputted my choices, aware that I was risking my entire tournament on this gamble. I was understandably hyped to see the Talonflame-Garchomp combination come out in the lead position.

By committing so hard to counter-leading Omari here, I was in a fantastic position. I had no reason not to use Play Rough on the Garchomp, as only Aegislash could easily switch in on it. After bringing Garchomp and Mega Charizard-Y in the previous games, Omari wasn’t likely to have selected it. I targeted Talonflame with a Dragon Pulse instead of Draco Meteor to prevent it from fainting, which would have allowed Garchomp to come in for free. Garchomp switched to Zapdos, which took about 65% damage, activating Sitrus Berry. Talonflame set up Tailwind and took 90% damage from a Dragon Pulse. Although I had lost the speed advantage, I still felt I had the advantage.

I needed to preserve Salamence to knock Garchomp out in the late game, so I switched it into Ludicolo to take Zapdos’ potential Hidden Power Ice. Knowing that Sucker Punch wouldn’t knock Zapdos out or would fail against a Roost, I used Play Rough on the Zapdos. Omari popped off here by predicting the Ludicolo switch by using Brave Bird onto it. We both reacted as if Ludicolo would faint. However, because Talonflame was at -2 Attack, Ludicolo survived with 35% HP remaining. Zapdos used Thunderbolt on Mawile, doing 45% damage while I brought it to a very low amount of HP. The Talonflame went down with the Brave Bird recoil, and Omari brought in the Garchomp.

There were still two more turns of Tailwind left, but Ludicolo was applying Fake Out pressure. Omari had no reason to risk his Garchomp fainting to a Play Rough,  so a Protect was obvious.  I still used Fake Out on it, as there was a high risk but little reward of targeting Zapdos with it. A Thunderbolt brought Mawile to about 10% HP and Play Rough knocked Zapdos out. Omari brought in his final Pokémon, Gardevoir.

With this being the final turn of Tailwind, I just needed to allow my Pokémon to be knocked out to bring Salamence and Garchomp in without Tailwind on Omari’s side. I used Sucker Punch on Gardevoir and an irrelevant move with Ludicolo while a Dazzling Gleam and Earthquake combination, with Telepathy Gardevoir, got the double KO. Gardevoir was at about 30% after the Sucker Punch and Life Orb recoil. I brought in Salamence and Garchomp, feeling confident I had the game won as long as I don’t choke it away.

Unsure of Garchomp being able to KO the Gardevoir with Earthquake (although I’m not sure why, Gardevoir has fairly pitiful Defense), I used Flamethrower on it for insurance. This opened me up for a Mega Garchomp Dragon Claw critical hit to lose the game. Regardless, Garchomp knocked Gardevoir out with an Earthquake and the Mega Garchomp did not get a critical hit. I won the game the next following turn with a Dragon Claw, and I shook Omari’s hand for a well-played series. He is a player I really respect, and I was glad that I got the opportunity to battle him.

Record: 20-2

Although I misplayed that last turn, I felt good about how I adjusted in the third game. The gamble I had made in Team Preview had paid off, earning me a spot in the Top 4. Our set was one of the first to finish, so I didn’t know who I would be playing next. After some congratulations, I went to a charging outlet and refocused. Blake came over to inquire about my team, as he had actually built a team that was almost identical to mine in all aspects apart from the use of a Rotom-Wash over Salamence, but he had not used it. We ended up talking about a lot of important items and moves for a good amount of time before we realized simultaneously that someone from the Top 8 was sitting about six feet to my right. He mouthed his apologies to me. I began to spout false information about the team, and Blake followed my lead for a bit before we went somewhere private. He started to laugh and apologized, but thankfully the guy near us didn’t end up being my Top 4 opponent.

Top 4: Lee Camacho, 4th Seed

Game 1:

 v.

I found it unlikely that Lee would bring his rain option this game, as it hadn’t been effective in our previous battle. I felt that a Kangaskhan lead would be probable, so I led with Mawile paired with Tyranitar, which could pressure the Talonflame if it came out. I brought Salamence to deal with Kingdra out of rain, and to provide consistent Intimidate support. Garchomp rounded out the team for being able to excel against all members of the team except Gardevoir, provided that rain was not in play. Gardevoir and Kangaskhan came out for Lee, with Sand Stream being copied by Trace.

The obvious play here was to use Protect with Mawile to avoid taking a Fake Out and a Will-O-Wisp. However, Lee showed that he could predict Protects easily in our round 8 game, so I decided to use Iron Head on Kangaskhan. I went for a Rock Slide with Tyranitar, which would do enough damage so that an Iron Head and 1-2 turns of Sandstorm would knock out Kangaskhan. Lee used Fake Out on Tyranitar and tried to use Will-O-Wisp on Mawile. Fortunately it didn’t hit, and Iron Head did incredible damage.

Things went well after that, with Kangaskhan and Talonflame (on a switch in) getting KO’d by Rock Slide. With all but Tyranitar at full HP, I was able to clean up Lee’s Gardevoir and Lucario easily.

Record: 21-2

Game 2:

 v.

This game I was sure that Lee would bring Politoed and Kingdra, so I brought Charizard paired with Garchomp to do major damage to Kangaskhan and KO Talonflame if it showed up. Tyranitar and Salamence looked to be good answer to anything that could beat my leads, and Ludicolo didn’t function well against a rain team like Lee’s that had many powerful physical attacks. Lee brought Politoed and Kingdra as his leads.

I can’t recall much of this game, but I did get a few clutch misses and a critical hit against Gardevoir with a -2 Mega Charizard-Y Overheat to seal my victory and put me in the finals. I felt for Lee here, as all the luck I was getting made it difficult for him to keep up with the offensive pressure that was being applied.

Record: 22-2

I charged my 3DS while spectating the battle between Collin and Aaron in Top 4. Blake and Logan informed me that Collin had won game 1, and we watched him play smartly to win game 2, proving that he is the superior 3^rd in the world.

Finals: Collin Heier, 2nd Seed

Game 1:

 v.  

I hadn’t even entertained the idea of making the Top Cut prior to the Regional, so being in the Finals against Collin “#3 in the world but #1 in your heart” Heier was a surreal experience. Having made it that far, I figured I might as well play my heart out and go for the win. After playing games against each other this weekend we both had a strong grasp on each other’s playstyles, so this promised to be a great set. I had decided in the time before the match that I would use combinations on Charizard, Garchomp, Ludicolo, and Salamence. I felt that Mawile and Tyranitar couldn’t excel against Collin’s team because Mawile’s damage output could be limited by Tickle from Gothitelle and Tyranitar tends to struggle under Trick Room. For game 1, I led neutrally with Ludicolo and Charizard. With this, I could deal with rain and Trick Room, and Garchomp+Salamence could succeed as long as I could get them into play without Trick Room or rain set up. Collin brought Ludicolo and Gothitelle.

In our previous match, I had delayed Mega Evolving with Charizard on the first turn while still using Heat Wave so as not to waste a Protect and to discourage a Politoed switch in. To mix it up, I used Heat Wave while Mega Evolving. This did roughly 50% to both of Collin’s Pokémon, but Collin’s faster Ludicolo used Fake Out onto mine as Gothitelle set up Trick Room. Collin was in the perfect position to start doing major damage. He was able to knock out Charizard, so the rain would be there to stay once Politoed came in.

I found myself on the final turn of Trick Room with Salamence and Garchomp against Mawile and Gothitelle. I struggled to think of a consistent way to weather the storm. I analyzed the situation and found that with Mawile in rain, my odds of winning the game were slim. Because he had Politoed still at a high amount of HP, Collin would attempt to knock Garchomp out with a Play Rough. Whatever move Salamence locked into would be doing little or no damage to either Politoed or Mawile, winning Collin the game. Unless of course, my Garchomp was able to survive the next turn until Trick Room ran out. There was only 2 ways for this to happen: Mawile missed the Play Rough or Garchomp successfully double-Protected. Getting the second Protect was the higher percentage play but was dependent on Mawile targeting Garchomp instead of Salamence. After inputting my moves I anxiously waited to see whether or not the RNG would favor me. Thankfully, the Protect was succesful and Mawile had targeted Garchomp with Play Rough. Salamence knocked out Gothitelle with a Dragon Pulse, and Politoed came in.

Knowing that I would have to get two low damage rolls to miss the knockout on Politoed, I used Earthquake and Dragon Pulse onto Politoed. I was able to knock it out while Mawile used Protect, and I won the game the following turn with an Earthquake while Collin attempted to KO Garchomp with a critical hit Sucker Punch.

Record: 23-2

Game 2:

Although the previous match came down to a double-Protect, I remained confident in the line-up that I had chosen. I decided to stick with Charizard, Ludicolo, Garchomp, and Salamence as my four, while Collin led with Gothitelle and something I can’t recall, with Mawile and Politoed in the back.

I can’t recall much of this battle other than I got a burn on Gothitelle on the first turn. This residual damage allowed me to easily knock it out later in the battle. I also got a Heat Wave burn onto Mawile, which crippled it. I can recall the final two turns of the battle. I had Garchomp and Charizard in the rain and Trick Room against a low HP Mawile and a Politoed, with Salemence in the back at full HP. I knew that should Charizard get knocked out, Collin’s very bulky Politoed would be able to give him the win. However, since this was the final turn of Trick Room, I could Protect with Garchomp and switch Charizard, which had used Protect the previous turn, into Salamence. I knew this was painfully obvious and Collin would almost definitely use Ice Beam on the Charizard slot, but I realized this would put me into a winning position in the following turn. Everything went according to plan, and Trick Room went away as Charizard came in and got rid of the rain.

This next turn I knocked out Mawile, but Politoed somehow was able to survive this turn and use Perish Song. As soon as Collin used this, I laughed, realizing that yet another of our games would be decided by the RNG. Collin proceeded to use Protect in the following two turns without fail. We selected our moves and waited, and to Collin’s dismay he was unable to get the third consecutive Protect, netting me the championship.

Record 24-2

Both games were determined by which side the RNG would favor, and thankfully it rolled my way. Collin and I shook hands over a well-played series, and we received our playmats, binders, trophies, and last but not least, the Treecko hats.

I should really get my spine checked out, that can’t be healthy neck positioning…a bit before taking this picture Aaron brought it to my attention that I had now won a Regional Championship in every division, which I honestly think is pretty cool. I hadn’t thought about that before the weekend, as winning had never crossed my mind. I think the main competitive lesson that I learned that weekend is that if you see an exploitable hole in the metagame prior to an event, trust your instincts and act on it. I’m glad that I acted on my observations of rising rain and Mawile usage, as I probably would have had the mediocre performance that I expected had I not done so.

Shoutouts

Thanks to Stephen, Chalkey, Blake, and Jonathan for taking these pictures. There aren’t enough taken these days, and I think that these ones will be great memories someday.

I would like to thank TheZeroVirus, religiousjedi, and R Ininimate for supplying me with the Pokémon I needed with very short notice.

Special thanks go to Gavin Michaels (kingofmars) for completely squashing a new team that I was considering to bring to Regionals, forcing me to use what I was comfortable with. He also traded me his Charizard and Tyranitar the night before the event, one of which I used.

Shoutouts to Aaron Traylor (Unreality) for being an all around nice guy and supporting me before the event. Hopefully we can have that fiesta at Nationals this yar buddy!

Thanks to the members of the Boiler Room, namely Ben, Logan, Blake, and Collin for being great guys. I got to know everyone better during the weekend and I met Logan for the first time, and I’m glad that we got to hang out.

Shoutouts to Jonathan, Edward, and Aaron for coming out to this out-of-state event. Hanging out again was one of the main reasons that I decided to attend the event, and it was great to see you guys again.

Lastly, I want to thank Kenan. You reminded me of the fun that could be had at these tournaments and you inspired me to come out to Houston. It’s always a joy talking with you online and at events, and I’m looking forward to next time.

#seniors for life, can’t wait for the entire gang to get back together at Nationals.

Despite how well the weekend went for me, I don’t regret taking a hiatus from Pokémon. I think that when most people are asked why they continue to play, their almost-automatic response is because they love the community. That was my answer for a long time, but I always took it for granted. In taking such a long break, I never missed playing, teambuilding, or competing, and I definitely never missed the online drama that so often occurs. What I did miss was staying in touch with the friends that I have made over the years. For that reason, taking a break was good for me as a person. It has taught me to fully appreciate my friends and the effect that they have on me.

And so, my dear reader, I will leave you with some advise. The Pokémon Video Game Championship is a competition, yes, but the competitive aspect of it should never take the entirety of your focus. Locking in so completely on victory will only lead to crippling disappointment once you lose. And you will lose. Maintaining a relaxed state of mind is the most vital part in making the most of these events because at the end of the day, win or lose, you can say that you had fun.

The post Reborn in Flame: Texas Champion Team Analysis and Tournament Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

VGC 2015’s rules have finally been announced. Players, I imagine, are now scrambling to figure out what teams and Pokémon they’d like to try first and to figure out what their opponents are likely to be using. While it’s certainly still far too early in the VGC 2015 season to pinpoint exclusively and exactly what Pokémon players are likely to see in a tournament, now that basically the whole Pokédex is back and available again I’m sure a lot of players are having a hard time narrowing down which Pokémon they need to focus their strategies against. This article is designed to help players isolate the big guns in a similar, but less complete vein to last year’s VGC 2014 Metagame Overview. Since we’re much earlier in the season than we were for 2014’s article and the format is much deeper this year, expect this article to include a smaller portion of what’s available than last year’s did. I think there are probably about 150 Pokémon that are perfectly competitive choices without being overly niche in VGC 2015, which is far beyond a realistic scope for an article like this. I drew the line for this article at 50 — this should, at least, help players get their teeth wet a little.

Stats about items and moves will be pulled from the Pokémon Global Link’s Double Battle ladder statistics, which uses the same format as VGC 2015. Expect these percentages to get dated quickly if you aren’t reading this article the moment its published, but the common attacks and items themselves won’t change much. I will probably editorialize some sections a little bit more than I did last year as the data collected is from so early in the format this time that I suspect it is not as likely to paint a picture that will be very helpful in the coming months on its own. As far as the Pokémon listed here, I will take a look at the top Pokémon on Global Link, the top Pokémon on similar simulator ladders, and some other Pokémon I think are particularly relevant for whatever reason. I will probably stick to the simulator usage statistics as closely as possible after the top 15 or so Pokémon that have made the top 12 listing on Global Link since the rules were announced.

Consider everything in this resource to be listed in rough order of importance. The Pokémon are listed largely in descending order of their popularity. Within each section, the most common moves and builds of the Pokémon in question will be listed first. Pokémon that are almost guaranteed to Mega Evolve will be listed with their Mega picture only, Pokémon that are almost always guaranteed not to Mega Evolve to will only be shown in their normal form, and both pictures will be shown when Pokémon are commonly seen both with and without their Mega Stones. I will include all moves, Natures, and items used more frequently than 10% of the time on the Battle Spot stats, with occasional additions when I think something is particularly noteworthy. As the Global Link stats are updated weekly and this article is not, expect the numbers to vary if you check the source. You can click the Pokémon’s name in the title of any section to be taken to a list of articles and teams on Nugget Bridge that include it.

You probably want to read this article over multiple sittings or to check as you run into Pokémon instead of trying to digest it all at once. Think of this piece more as a reference sheet for reviewing the most common VGC Pokémon than a single article. Thanks to Firestorm, the metagame overview is actually navigable this time and you can click Pokémon below to go directly to their section.

The following Pokémon will be included in this article:

• Kangaskhan
• Landorus
• Talonflame
• Aegislash
• Salamence
• Sylveon
• Wash Rotom
• Bisharp
• Amoonguss
• Hydreigon
• Garchomp
• Gengar
• Charizard
• Mawile
• Zapdos
• Heatran
• Thundurus
• Cresselia
• Ludicolo
• Azumarill
• Terrakion
• Politoed
• Whimsicott
• Metagross
• Milotic
• Arcanine
• Tyranitar
• Togekiss
• Raichu
• Gyarados
• Gardevoir
• Suicune
• Camerupt
• Rotom-Heat
• Mamoswine
• Conkeldurr
• Breloom
• Swampert
• Gothitelle
• Hitmontop
• Volcarona
• Scrafty
• Greninja
• Latios
• Blastoise
• Excadrill
• Manectric
• Smeargle
• Lucario
• Weavile

Kangaskhan

Base stats: 105 HP / 95 -> 125 Atk / 80 -> 100 Def / 40 -> 60 SAtk / 80 -> 100 SDef / 90 -> 100 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: 100%. Kangaskhan would still be in the Safari Zone without mega stones.

Typing: Normal

Key Moves: Fake Out (85.1%), Sucker Punch (62.2%), Double-Edge (58.1%), Low Kick (50.4%), Return (32.1%), Ice Punch (24.6%), Protect (24.3%), Power-Up Punch (22%), Drain Punch (9.4%), Hammer Arm (6.3%), Fire Punch (?%)

Common Items: Kangaskhanite (97.2%)

• The most common Pokémon overall on Battle Spot as well as the most common Mega on Showdown!, Kangaskhan continues to be the Pokémon the VGC format is most centralized around at most levels of competition in 2015.
• I’m not sure I’m buying Double-Edge over Return or Low Kick over Power-Up Punch as the standard choices moving forward, but Kangaskhan can now take immediate coverage and power instead of the longer term sweeping potential of Power-Up Punch if it chooses. Personally, I think that removes most of what made Kangaskhan feel best-in-format for most of last year, but its power with only attacking moves is still considerable and it now gives Kangaskhan’s opponents something new to worry about.
• While we were spared the wrath of Seismic Toss Mega Kangaskhan thanks to the pentagon rule, Kangaskhan did get Low Kick, Ice Punch, Drain Punch, and Fire Punch from ORAS. Low Kick becomes its Fighting-type attack with the best combination of accuracy and power in exchange for Power-Up Punch’s setup potential, with Low Kick synergizes most with aggressive Double-Edge sets. Ice Punch is sort of a weak coverage move even with so many Dragons, but the threat of it and Fire Punch adds some extra fear early in matches. One random Elemental Punch when its opponent isn’t expecting it can easily become a KO for Kangaskhan, so now players will have to be even more cautious against it.
• Kangaskhan has been predominantly Jolly (68.1%) with a touch of Adamant (28.7%) so far. I’m sure the mirror is a lot of the reason for this, but with more Mega Pokémon faster than Mega Kangaskhan in the game now I wouldn’t be surprised to see more players begin to opt for the power of Adamant.
• The metagame in the format at this point is focused on countering physical Megas like Kangaskhan, Mawile, and some Salamence. This article’s list of 50 Pokémon contains 8 Pokémon with Intimidate, 4 that often carry Will-O-Wisp, and a variety of other Pokémon that are popular because they otherwise check Kangaskhan such as Aegislash, Garchomp, Terrakion, and Lucario. In spite of that centralization, Kangaskhan has been effective early in ORAS, but we all saw what too much focus on it can do as it flamed out in the 2014 World Championships.
• Kangaskhan is frequently paired with Milotic or Bisharp early in VGC 2015 in order to deter Intimidate.

Landorus

Base stats: 89 HP / 145 Atk / 90 Def / 105 SAtk / 80 SDef / 91 Spd (Therian)

Typing: Ground / Flying

Key Moves: Earthquake (97.9%), Rock Slide (96.5%), Superpower (71%), U-turn (68.7%), Knock Off (36.5%), Protect (14.7%), Stone Edge (4.4%), Explosion (2.9%)

Common Items: Choice Scarf (60.6%), Assault Vest (21.4%), Focus Sash (8.3%), Choice Band (2.5%), Yache Berry (2.5%)

• A dominating force in VGC 2013, Landorus is still a very good Pokémon in 2015. It doesn’t feel like it has quite the impact it once had thanks to an increase in Pokémon that can knock it out with neutral attacks, Competitive Milotic, and an increase in the use of Wide Guard, but it should still stay one of the format’s more common Pokémon.
• Landorus is primarily used to provide chip damage, spread Intimidate with the help of U-turn, and then come in late in the game to help finish off weakened opponents.
• Choice Scarf is by far the most common item on Landorus and Adamant (70.3%) is by far the most common Nature as a result. Choice Scarf Landorus can spread Intimidate and U-turn out with safety and can always roll the dice for fast Rock Slide flinches in losing games.
• Assault Vest is something I expect to see gain more traction over the course of the year, in a similar way to how Careful Choice Band surged toward the end of 2013. In close, defensive games, Landorus tends to be at its best with more balanced offense and defense so that it can stay on the field and take a few hits occasionally.
• Landorus’s coverage moves are far more important in 2015 than they were in 2013. While Earthquake and U-turn need to be on every set, Landorus has some options for the other slots. Rock Slide gives it the fast flinch potential and a safe way to hit both opponents, Superpower allows Landorus to swat the omnipresent Kangaskhan fairly easily, Stone Edge does the same to Mega Charizard even while Intimidated, and Knock Off is really problematic for many teams now that it has been buffed. Even Explosion can be a strong filler choice with a Ghost-type teammate or a team full of Protects, though it’s much harder to justify fitting Explosion on a moveset now than in 2013.

Talonflame

Base stats: 78 HP / 81 Atk / 71 Def / 74 SAtk / 69 SDef / 126 Spd

Typing: Fire / Flying

Key Moves: Brave Bird (98.8%), Flare Blitz (81.2%), Tailwind (45.3%), Protect (41.9%), Quick Guard (28.3%), U-Turn (28.1%), Taunt (21.3%), Will-O-Wisp (14.5%), Sleep Talk (12.7%), Overheat (9.5%)

Common Items: Life Orb (36.3%), Choice Band (30.4%), Sharp Beak + Sky Plate (16.2%)

• Click “Brave Bird”

• Talonflame has some of the game’s best immediate offensive power in spite of only having 81 base Attack. Having two STAB 120 power moves means that it is going to do a lot of damage when it hits, and with Gale Wings it’s at least going to hit once per game. However, since it often carries Life Orb and both of those STABs have natural recoil, it also tends to do quite a lot of damage to itself. It’s one of the format’s riskier Pokémon and something many experienced players didn’t expect to succeed last year, but then there it was winning Worlds.
• Talonflame can actually do some neat things with mixed sets using Overheat, sometimes also featuring Tailwind, but it hasn’t seemed popular so far in 2015. Brave Bird is still required on every set, but it really can do more than grabbing Choice Band or Life Orb and clicking Flare Blitz, Brave Bird, and maybe U-turn if its trainer is feeling really crazy.
• As with last year, Talonflame’s Nature is normally Adamant (66%). Naive and Naughty only combine for 7.2% in spite of probably being the best choice for Life Orb sets. Come on, guys!
• Talonflame’s massive popularity so far is not something I expect to stick to the same degree it did last year once players start making teams with stronger defensive cores. With that said, many of us said the same thing last year, and we saw how that turned out…
• One thing that may hurt Talonflame’s usage this year is the Tailwind tutor. Now that there are options for Tailwind other than Talonflame and Aerodactyl, and now that Icy Wind and Trick Room have distribution on better Pokémon, Talonflame really will be selected mostly to click the Brave Bird button. I’m not confident that’ll be enough to keep it on serious teams this year.

Aegislash

Base stats: Shield Forme: 60 HP / 50 Atk / 150 Def / 50 SAtk / 150 SDef / 60 Spd
Blade Forme: 60 HP / 150 Atk /50 Def / 150 SAtk / 50 SDef / 60 Spd

Typing: Ghost / Steel

Key Moves: Shadow Ball (95.3%), King’s Shield (94.6%), Flash Cannon (80.4%), Wide Guard (48.8%), Substitute (26.1%), Shadow Sneak (25.1%), Sacred Sword (12.8%)

Common Items: Weakness Policy (40.4%), Leftovers (31.1%), Life Orb (11%)

• Aegislash continues to be strong for many of the same reasons it was strong in 2014. It still has Kangaskhan and Mawile to counter, Stance Change still lets it trade more effectively than most other Pokémon, and it has solid typing.
• Weakness Policy may really be the most common item now. It was always popular among more casual players and the super serious crowd seems to be embracing it more after Weakness Policy Aegislash top cut Worlds twice, albeit without the Shadow Sneak often seen on Battle Spot. The addition of Mega Salamence even helps improve Weakness Policy, as it doesn’t do nearly enough to get an OHKO and +2 Shadow Ball on Mega Salamence’s lower Special Defense takes out uninvested Mega Salamence in a single blow.
• Shadow Ball, King’s Shield, and Flash Cannon are on basically every set now. Substitute has actually been a lot less common than Wide Guard in the last slot thanks to Sylveon, with Shadow Sneak shockingly staying even with Substitute.
• Wide Guard is much more common than in VGC 2014 thanks to the omnipresent Therian Landorus and Sylveon, among other common spread move users like Charizard, Zapdos, and Terrakion. As the best user of Wide Guard, Aegislash has somehow become even more valuable than it was in 2014.
• Aegislash is almost always Quiet (58%) or Modest (32.5%), as the big boost on Blade Forme’s 150 base Special Attack allows it to knock out many targets in fewer attacks than it would need with another Nature. Modest vs. Quiet becomes a decision about the advantages of attacking before other Pokémon to get a KO before the opposition can move or normally moving last and not risking being hit in Blade Forme.

Salamence

Base stats: 95 HP / 135 -> 145 Atk / 80 -> 130 Def / 110 -> 120 SAtk / 80 -> 90 SDef / 100 -> 120 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Almost guaranteed on Battle Spot right now, but likely to wind up closer to 50/50.

Typing: Dragon / Flying

Key Moves: Protect (86.1%), Draco Meteor (61.6%), Hyper Voice (51.8%), Fire Blast (42.5%), Double-Edge (27.4%), Flamethrower (17.9%), Earthquake (16.8%), Dragon Dance (15.2%), Dragon Claw (13.8%), Dragon Pulse (13.7%)

Common Items: Salamencite (88.2%), Choice Scarf (5.8%), Life Orb (1.5%), Choice Specs (1.4%), Haban Berry (1.2%)

• There is a big gap between what will make Salamence one of the best Pokémon in VGC 2015 and the story the above stats tell, so take them with a grain of salt for a moment. The stats are reflective of players experimenting right now.
• Salamence is a very difficult Pokémon to face down because it can run about six sets well. Mega Salamence can use a physical, special or mixed moveset effectively, with the physical set having the option to run Dragon Dance. Normal Salamence can run a fast offensive set with Choice Scarf, a standard offensive set with Life Orb or Choice Specs, or a defensive set with Haban Berry or even Focus Sash. It is often not obvious what Salamence will do on team preview. Salamence is a tricky opponent, particularly in best-of-one and game one scenarios.
• As far as Mega Salamence goes, there’s a huge preference toward special sets right now. I would expect this to balance out more in the future and Double-Edge or Return to wind up on a lot of movesets. The Special focus helps Salamence get around the barrage of Intimidate and Will-O-Wisp floating around right now, but the unboosted damage of special Mega Salamence is underwhelming for a Mega.
• The Dragon Dance set is pretty interesting and plays similarly to Mega Tyranitar, though I think the set is tougher to pull off for Salamence. Without a STAB physical spread move like Tyranitar’s Rock Slide, Salamence is forced to obliterate single targets instead, which makes it tougher to avoid getting outplayed by Protect or simply getting knocked out by the Pokémon Salamence isn’t targeting. Even with redirection, the Dragon Dance ends up needing its team to invest a lot of moves into a Salamence sweep, but Salamence does wind up with nearly the best reasonably attainable single target damage in the format when the Dragon Dance set works.
• Normal Salamence changes little from 2013 (rather than 2014) beyond Intimidate being much more valuable now. Most of the best Pokémon are physical attackers like in 2014, so it’s worth trying to fit Salamence on a team for Intimidate. The drawback is that it is again very tough to find holes for Salamence to attack in like in 2013 because of the focus on countering Dragons, the greater amount of Speed control, and the greater amount of faster enemy Dragon-types in VGC 2015 compared to 2014.
• Salamence right now is most commonly Timid (38.2%), followed by Modest (19.8%), Adamant (14.5%), Jolly (10.2%), and Naive (9.8%). It’s hard to say what will become the consensus for mixed sets as Salamence really wants to use all of its stats. Even for the simpler sets going for one damage type, not using a Speed-boosting Nature limits Salamence’s ability to function as a non-Mega on two Mega teams.

Sylveon

Base stats: 95 HP / 65 Atk / 65 Def / 110 SAtk / 130 SDef / 60 Spd

Typing: Fairy

Key Moves: Hyper Voice (99.9%), Shadow Ball (60.0%), Psyshock (56.4%), Hidden Power (39.8%), Protect (33.1%), Quick Attack (25.7%), Hyper Beam (23.6%), Moonblast (19.8%), Sleep Talk (14.1%), Helping Hand (8.4%)

Common Items: Choice Specs (63.4%), Pixie Plate (16.9%), Life Orb (10.1%), Sitrus Berry (3.6%)

• Hyper Voice is the move Sylveon will be using nine turns out of ten. Sylveon is the only Pokémon on the 2015 version of this list that was available in 2014 but was not on the 2014 version, and Hyper Voice is the sole reason. It went from below average in a weaker format to one of the best Pokémon in a deeper format. Hyper Voice is so good that Pixie Plate is Sylveon’s second most common item because it’s typically just going to use Hyper Voice every turn anyway, and when it doesn’t it may be using the Pixie Plate-friendly Quick Attack, Hyper Beam, or Moonblast instead to get around Wide Guard.
• Shadow Ball covers Aegislash (and risks setting off its Weakness Policy), who is pretty problematic for Sylveon because of Wide Guard and Flash Cannon. Psyshock hits the Poison-types that resist Hyper Voice supereffectively, though in many cases a teammate attacking instead is probably more effective. Hidden Power is normally Ground-type and helps counter Fire-, Poison-, and Steel-type Pokémon, particularly Heatran. Quick Attack does pretty terrible neutral damage, but allows Sylveon to get a trickle of extra damage to faster targets when it would otherwise be knocked out and chunks Hydreigon. Sleep Talk lets Sylveon keep screaming even while asleep.
• Since Sylveon is basically just going to use Hyper Voice anyway, Choice Specs is obvious, making its damage truly ridiculous for something that doesn’t have to set up at all. Life Orb allows for Protect while not reducing power too significantly. Pixie Plate reduces the damage of coverage moves significantly, but doesn’t sacrifice Sylveon’s durability at all and still adds damage to Hyper Voice.
• Sylveon’s weak Defense and Speed and mediocre HP make it vulnerable to strong neutral physical attacks, but even only getting one Hyper Voice off on two targets that don’t resist it often means Sylveon traded a health bar worth of damage for its own.
• Sylveon is almost always Modest (88.1%) to optimize damage, sometimes opting for Quiet (8.9%) with Trick Room.

Wash Rotom

Base stats: 50 HP / 65 Atk / 107 Def / 105 SAtk / 107 SDef / 86 Spd

Typing: Electric / Water

Key Moves: Hydro Pump (98.6%), Thunderbolt (89.5%), Will-O-Wisp (69.8%), Protect (64.0%), Volt Switch (23.3%), Hidden Power (13.3%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (65.9%), Choice Specs (12.8%)

• Wash Rotom is a Pokémon that is simple but effective. It nearly always runs Hydro Pump, Thunderbolt, Will-O-Wisp, and Protect. It uses its excellent typing to spread burns on physical attackers and damage popular Pokémon weak to its STAB-boosted attacks.
• Landorus is particularly vulnerable to Wash Rotom and is essentially forced to U-turn out any time it is on the field, which is a particularly valuable trait with Landorus on nearly every team right now.
• As in 2014, Will-O-Wisp helps cover Mega Kangaskhan and Mawile, as well as new challengers Mega Salamence and Mega Metagross.
• In addition to the previously mentioned Pokémon, Rotom’s typing also helps it deals with a number of common Pokémon especially well such as Milotic, Arcanine, Politoed, Talonflame, and Heatran.
• Wash Rotom is most frequently Modest (54.6%), but sometimes leans toward one of its defenses with Bold (23.3%) or Calm (17.7%).
• While not what it was in 2012, the rare Choice Specs Wash Rotom does leave the laundry room occasionally, typically using Volt Switch, Hydro Pump, Hidden Power Ice, and Thunderbolt or Thunder.

Bisharp

Base stats: 65 HP / 125 Atk / 100 Def / 60 SAtk / 70 SDef / 70 Spd

Typing: Dark / Steel

Key Moves: Iron Head (99.4%), Sucker Punch (98.4%), Protect (96.3%), Knock Off (84.8%), Assurance (8.4%), Low Kick (4.1%)

Common Items: Life Orb (56.2%), Focus Sash (34%)

• That weird Pokémon only Sejun used before Pachirisu stole its spotlight, Bisharp has now risen to prominence and become one of the most common Pokémon thanks to Intimidate’s popularity and regaining Knock Off from the ORAS tutors.
• Knock Off gives Bisharp a 97 BP 100% accurate STAB attack as long as it is attacking Pokémon holding items that aren’t Mega Stones, with the added bonus of removing those items. With Bisharp’s solid Attack stat, a Knock Off often takes targets low enough that Sucker Punch would finish them off, allowing Bisharp to pin them and prevent them from attacking.
• Bisharp is particularly dangerous against Pokémon trying to set Trick Room, as nearly all of them are weak to one of its STAB attacks and they typically hold a vital item like Sitrus Berry or Eviolite for Bisharp to remove.
• Bisharp does need to be careful with Mega Pokémon, particularly those that resist Steel, as Knock Off can never get its damage boost against them.
• Iron Head’s Steel-type coverage is now more valuable than in 2014 with Pokémon like Togekiss and Sylveon entering the fray.
• Bisharp is nearly always Adamant (95.6%). Life Orb lets it maximize its damage while still being able to switch moves to take advantage of Sucker Punch’s pressure, while holding Focus Sash means Bisharp can normally survive at least one hit and stay on the field.

Amoonguss

Base stats: 114 HP / 85 Atk / 70 Def / 85 SAtk / 80 SDef / 30 Spd

Typing: Grass / Poison

Key Moves: Rage Powder (99.3%), Spore (99.0%), Giga Drain (89.6%), Protect (84.2%), Sludge Bomb (11%)

Common Items: Rocky Helmet (60.2%), Black Sludge (17.9%), Sitrus Berry (3.3%)

• While not the game’s most interesting redirective Pokémon, Amoonguss is likely the most stable. It reliably helps frailer attackers get more attacks off than they otherwise would and can provide pressure without having to deal damage through Spore.
• Another way Amoonguss can do damage without having decent attack scores is Rocky Helmet, which makes it one of the more annoying Pokémon for Kangaskhan to face down. Against other Pokémon, Sitrus Berry is the de facto best item, which makes the meager 3.3% usage very strange. When Rocky Helmet isn’t needed Black Sludge keeps Amoonguss item clause friendly if it has a teammate that needs the Sitrus more, such as Cresselia or Togekiss.
• Rage Powder, Spore, protect, and one of Giga Drain and Sludge Bomb are really the extent of what Amoonguss can do it. It is simple and effective.
• While the existence of another powerful Flying-type Pokémon in Mega Salamence reduces Amoonguss’ value somewhat, it’s still one of the game’s premier redirective Pokémon. The ability to resist Hyper Voice and put Sylveon to sleep will keep Amoonguss on teams, though interestingly Sylveon and the Flying-type Pokémon haven’t led to a shift from Giga Drain to Sludge Bomb yet.
• Relaxed (38.1%) and Sassy (26.6%) are the most common Natures, enabling Amoonguss to help counter Trick Room teams. The Speed-neutral Bold (25.3%) is nearly as popular, however.

Hydreigon

Base stats: 92 HP / 105 Atk / 90 Def / 125 SAtk / 90 SDef / 98 Spd

Typing: Dragon / Dark

Key Moves: Dark Pulse (99.8%), Draco Meteor (92.5%), Earth Power (50.6%), Flamethrower (40.5%), Fire Blast (33.5%), Protect (27.3%), Dragon Pulse (14.7%), Focus Blast (13.5%)

Common Items: Choice Specs (39.7%), Choice Scarf (29.2%), Life Orb (17.9%)

• A Pokémon that typically hides in the shadows for the first half of the season before returning to dominate around Worlds as Pokémon’s equivalent of Corki, Hydreigon is starting early this year, hovering around 10th to 11th in Battle Spot usage and 12th on weighted Showdown! statistics.
• Hydreigon faces a lot of danger in this format as the slowest viable Dragon and as easy Sylveon fodder, but it can crank out some of the best special damage from a non-Mega in the format and it feeds easily on Aegislash, Metagross, Cresselia, and a number of neutral targets.
• Hydreigon needs Dark Pulse and Draco Meteor, with Flamethrower or Fire Blast and Earth Power being its best coverage moves.
• Choice Specs is deservedly the most common item, giving Hydreigon a chance to KO Cresselia and Aegislash that aren’t trained to survive max power Dark Pulse and giving Draco Meteor the ability to KO many neutral targets. Choice Scarf is sometimes used to outrun Garchomp Latios, and Salamence, though wise enemy Dragons will often scout the Choice Scarf with Protect. Life Orb gets some of the benefit of Choice Specs while allowing Hydreigon to Protect, though it loses many of Choice Specs’ KOs and needs chip damage or Helping Hand to make up for it.
• Modest is by far the most common Nature at 88.5%, which is to be expected as Hydreigon is the Dragon focused more on power than Speed.

Garchomp

Base stats: 108 HP / 130 -> 170 Atk / 95 -> 115 Def / 80 -> 120 SAtk / 85 -> 95 SDef / 102 -> 92 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Oh, honey… though it wound up being better than totally nonviable last year.

Typing: Dragon / Ground

Key Moves: Earthquake (98.7%), Dragon Claw (88.5%), Rock Slide (86.6%), Protect (78.7%), Swords Dance (5.5%), Substitute (?%)

Common Items: Focus Sash (25.5%), Lum Berry (20.1%), Rocky Helmet (13.9%), Life Orb (10.9%), Garchompite (5.5%)

• I’m going to be honest here: the only team I ever saw Garchomp on I liked in 2013 was a team that also had Therian Landorus on it. While Garchomp isn’t completely outclassed because its Speed gets it over that giant base 100 group instead of below it, players should make sure they have a good reason for using it over Landorus now that the format’s best Ground-type has returned.
• The item distribution leads me to believe that the players using Garchomp enough for it to make the top 12 on Battle Spot aren’t completely sure how to use it, either. It did finally fall out this week, however. Merry Christmas, Garchomp.
• With Jolly Nature (88.7%) and Life Orb, Garchomp is still able to outrun and chunk most of the format’s strongest Pokémon, though it now has to be careful around Latios and Mega Salamence. To me, that’s why you use it now, and throwing Substitute on there Nikolai-style is probably worth consideration, as well. Otherwise, Earthquake, Dragon Claw, Rock Slide, and Protect gets it done.
• Lum Berry is an option with Will-O-Wisp being pretty popular, but Garchomp really isn’t in a good place to try to play defensively in a metagame with so much Intimidate, Mega Salamence, Milotic, and Cresselia. Even Wide Guard from Aegislash being so much more popular than it was in 2014 is a big problem for Garchomp.

Gengar

Base stats: 60 HP / 65 Atk / 60 -> 80 Def / 130 -> 170 SAtk / 75 -> 95 SDef / 110 -> 130 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Typically unlikely unless one or more of Whimsicott, Liepard, Raichu, Gothitelle, or Politoed are present, but it’s currently more likely to be Mega than not on Battle Spot.

Typing: Ghost / Poison

Key Moves: Shadow Ball (94.3%), Protect (81%), Sludge Bomb (55.6%), Will-O-Wisp (40.3%), Disable (28.3%), Icy Wind (25.6%), Perish Song (17%), Taunt (12.1%), Substitute (8.6%)

Common Items: Gengarite (53.9%), Focus Sash (41.3%)

• Finishing just inside the top 12 on Pokémon Global Link last week, Gengar is achieving a level of popularity early in 2015 it never enjoyed in 2014. The biggest reason for the increase in Gengar’s popularity has been Mega Gengar’s synergy with Whimsicott, who offers more with its Prankster Encore than Liepard did for many teams. Gengar also gets Icy Wind now, which isn’t a fantastic upgrade, but it is appearing relatively often.
• Once primarily an offensive Pokémon, Gengar has truly become a tricky Ghost in Generation 6. Normal Gengar holds Focus Sash and uses Will-O-Wisp and usually Taunt (though apparently not usually on Battle Spot) to disrupt foes. It is particularly effective against Mega Kangaskhan, who typically can’t hit it effectively and is greatly inhibited by burn. Icy Wind is also an option for this sort of Gengar now.
• Mega Gengar can do a number of things, but it typically either supports Perish Trap or tries to set up Disable + Encore. On Perish Trap it is the only Pokémon in the game that can Perish Song and Shadow Tag on its own, so its tends to focus mostly on setting up and surviving for three turns while its teammates defend it. It can use any combination of Shadow Ball, Will-O-Wisp, Substitute, and Disable on top of Protect, with Shadow Ball being more valuable than it may seem due to other Ghost-types not being trappable by Shadow Tag. Gengar is typically supported by Pokémon like Politoed, Amoonguss, Azumarill, and Gothitelle on Perish Trap teams.
• Mega Gengar can also do mean things without singing at you, typically involving its own Disable and a teammate’s Encore. All of Whimsicott, Liepard, and Raichu can use fast Encores combined with Mega Gengar’s Disable to trap targets and force them to Struggle. It uses similar moves to the previous Mega Gengar, except that now Perish Song is rarely the best option and Disable is mandatory.
• 91% of Gengar are Timid, which is by far the best Nature for both Mega and non-Mega Gengar. All Gengar sets tend to need to get their support moves off as quickly as possible, either to burn the target before it attacks or to Disable it and prevent it from attacking completely.

Charizard

Base stats: Mega Charizard Y: 78 HP / 84->104 Atk / 78 Def / 109->159 SAtk / 85->115 SDef / 100 Spd
Mega Charizard X: 78 HP / 84->130 Atk / 78->111 Def / 109->130 SAtk / 85 SDef / 100 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Guaranteed. Y is the big threat, X shows up very rarely as a rogue aiming to benefit from misplays by players who don’t expect it.

Typing: Fire / Flying (Charizard, Mega Charizard Y), Fire / Dragon (Mega Charizard X)

Key Moves: Protect (96.1%), Heat Wave (93.6%), Solar Beam (85.2%), Overheat (39%), Flamethrower (14.9%), Fire Pledge (13.8%), Focus Blast (13.4%), Air Slash (12.6%), Tailwind (4.3%)

Common Items: Charizardite Y (97.1%), Charizardite X (2%)

• While Kangaskhan and Mawile were the two most dominant Megas in 2014 and Gyarados won the big prize, Charizard was certainly the third member of the VGC 2014 Mega power trio. While Salamence and possibly Metagross will likely be expanding that group to at least a quartet this year, Charizard seems poised to stay a relevant factor in 2015’s metagame. Drought is an extremely powerful ability and 159 Special Attack is completely absurd, even for a Mega.
• Charizard’s movepool is a lot less exciting. Protect, Heat Wave, and Solar Beam are basically mandatory. Overheat seems like filler, but being able to burst down a single target and make full use of Charizard’s crazy power is very valuable, especially early in games when Charizard can easily switch out to reset its Special Attack. The other attacks are pretty lackluster. Tailwind may be a viable option for some teams, and Substitute looked decent at US Nationals.
• Charizard is most commonly Modest (53%), which is hard to give up with that juicy 159 base Special Attack to multiply. Modest Charizard tends to be built a little more defensively, since it knows it is going to be outrun by threats in its Speed range. Timid is less common (43.7%) and generally ends up being some good ole 4/252/252 BY FIRE BE PURGED nonsense.
• The nearly irrelevant Mega Charizard X typically runs Dragon Dance, Flare Blitz, Dragon Claw, and Protect with an Adamant Nature. It often only takes one mistake from an opponent trying to play around Charizard Y for X to get in a very advantageous position. In spite of still managing to win a National title in Italy last year, X is much weaker in best-of-three play. If it was as good when people were expecting to see it, its usage would be higher and reflect that strength.

Mawile

Base stats: 50 HP / 85 -> 105 Atk / 85 -> 125 Def / 55 SAtk / 55 -> 95 SDef / 50 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Don’t expect the 0.1% of people with Life Orb.

Typing: Steel / Fairy

Key Moves: Play Rough (94.2%), Sucker Punch (90.4%), Protect (80.7%), Iron Head (72.5%), Rock Slide (33.1%), Fire Fang (10.6%), Knock Off (10.2%)

Common Items: Mawilite (99.9%)

• Mawile deserves to be higher up on this year’s list, especially considering it was last year’s best Pokémon, but after three weeks of watching the stats it has never cracked the top 12. It has a positive matchup with the big new Mega in Mega Salamence and can supereffectively Sucker Punch other big newbie Mega Metagross. It even gets Cresselia back to use Trick Room for it and make its low Speed less of a detriment. The only new Megas that are likely to create significant added trouble for Mawile are Swampert and Camerupt.
• Mawile is another Pokémon that changes little from VGC 2014. It spreads Intimidate until it is time to Mega Evolve, then uses one of the game’s most ridiculous Attack stats and good typing to devastate the opponent. The combination of its typing, Ability, and movepool make it one of the game’s better optimized competitive Pokémon.
• Play Rough, Sucker Punch, Protect, and Iron Head are nearly guaranteed moves for all Mawile. Rock Slide gives it a spread option and a better way to knock out Talonflame and Charizard, which is useful mostly on Trick Room teams. Fire Fang and Knock Off are a little too niche to really be worth using, though Knock Off is the strongest attack Mawile can use on most enemy Trick Room setters.
• Expect Mawile to be used similarly to how it was late in 2014. It can work well as a Trick Room sweeper that isn’t helpless outside of Trick Room or on most standard teams as a lategame sweeper, where it’s less likely to Mega Evolve immediately and more likely to play around with its Intimidate until it’s ready to clean up.
• 60.3% of Mawile are Adamant while 33.2% are Brave, essentially showing you how many Mawile were on Trick Room teams. A bold 5% of players are still hoping Ray will notice them for using Careful.

Zapdos

Base stats: 90 HP / 90 Atk / 85 Def / 125 SAtk / 90 SDef / 100 Spd

Typing: Electric / Flying

Key Moves: Thunderbolt (90.5%), Heat Wave (69.5%), Hidden Power (67.3%), Roost (48.3%), Tailwind (47.5%), Protect (24.5%), Thunder Wave (14.5%), Volt Switch (12%), Discharge (10.1%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (26.7%), Rocky Helmet (16.2%), Safety Goggles (10%), Life Orb (9.1%)

• While Zapdos struggled to stay popular in 2013 after the inclusion of Therian Thundurus, it’s been by far the more popular option so far in 2015, staying in the top 12 of Battle Spot Doubles until last week’s update. While I’m sure some of that popularity can be tied to availability, Zapdos does bring a couple tricks Thundurus doesn’t near the top of its common moves in Heat Wave and Tailwind. One of the main advantages of Thundurus in the past was its immunity to Thunder Wave, which Zapdos now also has thanks to the changes in XY.
• Now that Zapdos is both immune to Paralysis and able to learn Tailwind, Zapdos is a pretty solid Pokémon for providing Tailwind support for its teammates. It can dish out damage itself in Tailwind or Volt Switch out to a sweeper to avoid wasting momentum, and it has solid bulk to survive the setup.
• Electric is a pretty good offensive type this year because of Talonflame, Politoed, and Milotic. With Hidden Power Ice and Heat Wave also available, Zapdos can threaten a huge chunk of the metagame with supereffective damage if it is willing to dedicate three moveslots to attacks.
• Zapdos is most commonly Modest (49.8%), which makes sense, since Special Attack is Zapdos’ highest stat by far. Timid (19%), Bold (17.5%), and Calm (13%) all have respectable usage, as well, with Timid hopefully belonging to Zapdos opting out of Tailwind.
• There are a decent variety of items so far, with Sitrus Berry likely being the best if it is available. Safety Goggles’ value will depend a lot on how popular Amoonguss ends up being, and with Heat Wave Zapdos can hit it a lot harder than it could in 2014. Surprisingly, the classic Choice Specs is all the way down at 5.1%, though that is one set that perhaps Therian Thundurus really does do better.

Heatran

Base stats: 91 HP / 90 Atk / 106 Def / 130 SAtk / 106 SDef / 77 Spd

Typing: Fire / Steel

Key Moves: Protect (88.9%), Heat Wave (85.1%), Earth Power (84.9%), Flash Cannon (42.7%), Substitute (33.1%), Overheat (12.6%), Hidden Power (10.8%), Fire Blast (9.9%)

Common Items: Leftovers (33.4%), Air Balloon (25.7%), Shuca Berry (8.3%), Life Orb (7.4%), Choice Specs (7.1%)

• Heatran has lost Eruption, Fire Gem, and resistances to Ghost and Dark since 2013, but it’s still one of the game’s better Fire-types and is primed to see a bunch of use again. It does excellently against most Dragons, Mawile, Amoonguss, and Sylveon (as long as it can avoid Hidden Power Ground). Heatran does have much more competition for a spot on teams from Pokémon like Heat Rotom, Arcanine, and Volcarona this year now that Fire is actually a desirable type and Heatran isn’t just the Steel-type with a Special Attack score, however.
• Players seem a little lost on Heatran’s fourth standard move now that Eruption is gone. Flash Cannon seems like a strange answer in the context of 2013, but it does get a STAB boost. Given that it is now Heatran’s best attack against some big Pokémon like Sylveon, Tyranitar, and Togekiss, its use makes sense after all. Substitute still seems like the best conventional option, but Flash Cannon and Overheat are almost all there is for viable alternatives if Substitute isn’t desired beyond using something strange like Hidden Power Ice.
• I’m a lot less convinced that Air Balloon is an item that any Pokémon should be using in a serious match. I would expect the balloon to be phased out once people figure out what they’re doing. Heatran does seem to lack a go-to item if the Substitute set isn’t being used for Leftovers now, however. Shuca Berry should definitely be getting used where most of those Air Balloons are, at the very least.
• Heatran’s most common Natures are the three conventional special attacker Natures, as would be expected. Modest (48.4%) and Timid (42.1%) are used with similar frequency, while Quiet (8.9%) accounts for most of the remainder. Quiet is way down from 2013, which isn’t very surprising thanks to Heatran losing Eruption and Mega Camerupt taking the role slow Heatran used to occupy.

Thundurus

Base stats: 79 HP / 115 Atk / 70 Def / 125 SAtk / 80 SDef / 111 Spd (Incarnate)

Typing: Electric / Flying

Key Moves: Thunderbolt (95.3%), Taunt (85.3%), Thunder Wave (84.6%), Hidden Power (63.1%), Protect (33%), Swagger (17.8%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (49.1%), Life Orb (18.9%)

• While Thundurus took a bunch of little hits that will tone it down with the removal of Gems, Thunder Wave no longer working on Electric-type Pokémon, and the reduction in power of Hidden Power, it’s still a very strong Pokémon with a movepool full of aces.
• Incarnate Thundurus has to have the least interesting Global Link page I’ve ever seen, with only six moves and two items over 10%. Bizarrely, even though one of those items is Life Orb, only two attacks are seen above. Such is the strength of Thundurus’ utility that even the offensive sets are opting for Thundurus’ powerful support moves. The complete lack of Substitute is pretty strange, however, given that it works fairly well with both supportive sets and more offensive ones.
• Thundurus offers some of the game’s most reliable Speed control in Prankster Thunder Wave backed up by decent stats. Thunder Wave makes it much easier to defeat Pokémon relying on their Speed to avoid being hit, such as Mega Salamence, on top of ruining strategies involving Tailwind or Speed Boost. Paralysis’ 1/4 chance to stop a Pokémon from moving combined with Swagger can also lead to targets winding up in a situation where it’s more like they won’t be able to attack than that they will.
• Prankster Taunt is one thing that really sets Thundurus apart from similar Pokémon. While players tend to remember it more for its Swagger antics(IS BAD BOY), the fast Taunt lets Thundurus shut down many of the cheesier strategies that frustrate players just as well as it executes them.
• Thundurus isn’t typically used for its offense, but losing Electric Gem (and even Flying Gem with the old Hidden Power) really hurt the option to use Thundurus to put out some pressure while supporting its team. Sitrus Berry is now almost completely mandatory on the typical defensive Thundurus set featuring Thunderbolt, Thunder Wave, and two of Taunt, Swagger, Protect, and Hidden Power. Hidden Power Ice is the most common of those moves, enabling Thundurus to do damage to Ground-type Pokémon, especially to Landorus, and to chunk Dragons. Leftovers seems like it should be a third item here, particularly if Substitute gets involved.
• Thundurus typically uses Timid Nature (48.4%), enabling it to … Taunt faster … and … still not outrun Landorus with Hidden Power Ice, because Landorus normally has Choice Scarf? Timid and max Speed does allow Thundurus to go before most Dragons and fire off Hidden Power Ice, only falling below Mega Salamence. Unless it’s holding something like Life Orb where Timid is reasonable, advanced players typically use a defensive Nature on Thundurus and avoid investing so much in Speed. Bold Thundurus is showing up around 19.3% of the time right now, with 26% of players trying to figure out what the deal is with Calm Thundurus. While Calm was deservedly the more common Nature in 2013’s Dragon Gem Draco Meteor-filled metagame, I’m curious if Bold won’t reclaim its throne with how much more physically-based 2015 seems to be.

Cresselia

Base stats: 120 HP / 70 Atk / 120 Def / 75 SAtk / 130 SDef / 85 Spd

Typing: Psychic

Key Moves: Helping Hand (67.5%), Trick Room (58.6%), Ice Beam (56.2%), Psychic (55.5%), Icy Wind (38.9%), Moonlight (17.3%), Thunder Wave (16.2%), Psyshock (15.9%), Skill Swap (14.2%), Sunny Day (10.8%), Swagger (?%), Safeguard (?%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (35.9%), Rocky Helmet (29.9%), Mental Herb (9.3%), Leftovers (8.6%)

• Perhaps the best designed conventional support Pokémon in VGC history, Cresselia remains one of the safer Pokémon in 2015 in spite of a mild dip in power this year due to the buff to Knock Off, the addition of some new counters like Aegislash, and the power creep of many Megas making it less invulnerable than it once was.
• A big part of Cresselia’s power comes from the fact it is probably the best user of two of the four main Speed control moves, and for a bonus it has access to a third. Cresselia is almost always the best choice for Trick Room barring situations where another Pokémon brings a very specific combination of desired traits, and Cresselia is by far the best Pokémon with access to Icy Wind, as well. Cresselia also has access to Thunder Wave, though it can’t spread it quite as easily as Thundurus can. Like Thundurus, it isn’t unheard of to see it use Thunder Wave along with Swagger to disrupt opponents.
• Cresselia’s biggest weakness is that its offensive stats are among the worst of any high-end competitive Pokémon. It tends to create relatively little pressure unless it can hit supereffective Ice Beams or Psychics. As a result, it can wind up wasting a spot on the field against neutral targets. One way Cresselia gets around this is through Helping Hand, since 50% of its partner’s damage is usually more than Cresselia would do on its own. I think being used a little over 2/3 of the time is about right for Helping Hand’s power, but it has always been most popular in Japan, which probably accounts for most of the stats on Global Link right now. I’d expect to see less of it in the West.
• Cresselia has a handful of interesting support moves that it can use on top of a Speed control move and one or two of Psychic/Psyshock and Ice Beam. Moonlight is pretty bizarre in the context of 2013 but extremely annoying next to Mega Charizard Y and its Drought. Skill Swap was popularized by Wolfe Glick in the 2012 World Championships and is normally used with Heatran, but it has a variety of disruptive uses beyond helping Heatran in the hands of a resourceful player and is among the most fun moves in the game. Sunny Day also helps support Heatran and now Mega Camerupt, who is frequently seen with Cresselia. The old Swagger-teammate-holding-Lum-Berry thing seems to have died off a little with Metagross getting weaker and wanting to hold Metagrossite, but it’s something that may see a resurgence as it is the best excuse to carry an item that stops Dark Void. Safeguard is rarely seen, but it stops many other support Pokémon cold, especially Amoonguss.
• Sitrus Berry is by far the best item on Cresselia, restoring a huge chunk of HP from something that is pretty difficult to whittle down to begin with. I would have expected to see Leftovers over Rocky Helmet, which seems to be second on almost every defensive Pokémon right now for some reason, but Cresselia is a Pokémon that can easily make physical attackers eat three hits from the Rocky Helmet without too much trouble. Rocky Helmet would be pretty funny with Moonlight next to Mega Charizard Y, I imagine…
• Cresselia is most commonly Bold (43.8%), which makes some sense in spite of Cresselia having a higher base Special Defense in this physically-based metagame, especially with so many Rocky Helmets being used. The classic Sassy (20.5%) is the second most common Nature, with Relaxed (14.1%) in third. Strangely, the two Speed-reducing Natures add up to only about 20% less than the amount of Cresselia running Trick Room. The last common Nature is Calm, clocking in at 12.9%.

Ludicolo

Base stats: 80 HP / 70 Atk / 70 Def / 90 SAtk / 100 SDef / 70 Spd

Typing: Water / Grass

Key Moves: Fake Out (91.4%), Giga Drain (89.3%), Ice Beam (88.7%), Scald (60.7%), Hydro Pump (34.5%), Protect (17%), Energy Ball (10.4%)

Common Items: Assault Vest (61.7%), Life Orb (11.3%)

• Once just a weaker alternative to Kingdra for Swift Swim with better coverage, mostly because of the addition of Assault Vest Ludicolo has become one of the better Pokémon in VGC. It provides a support attack that still works through Assault Vest in Fake Out, maintains its excellent coverage, and has strong enough natural Special Defense and HP to hang around against Pokémon who only have special attacks for several turns.
• Ludicolo typically uses Fake Out, Ice Beam, Scald, and Giga Drain with its Assault Vest. It fits well on most teams, it slows down enemy Rain teams very well, and it causes problems for most common Pokémon because it can hit so many of them supereffectively. Ludicolo struggles a little against teams full of physical attackers if they aren’t Intimidated, and really doesn’t want to be led against Kangaskhan, but it is otherwise a Pokémon with a lot of positive matchups.
• Ludicolo has also supplanted Kingdra as the main sweeper on Rain teams. Unlike Kingdra, Ludicolo is still a good Pokémon in matchups where a Rain mode isn’t going to work, so it is selected over it for flexibility, as well as due to Kingdra being weakened significantly by the introduction of the Fairy type. It sometimes uses Life Orb instead of Assault Vest on Rain depending on how hard its team wants to commit to Rain, and can switch Scald to Hydro Pump (and rarely even Giga Drain to Energy Ball) for even more power.
• Modest Nature is selected for Ludicolo 91.8% of the time, as Calm is unnecessary with the Assault Vest and its low Defense is normally better improved through training rather than through Nature. Speaking of training, Ludicolo typically has big chunks of HP invested, as its HP tends to be the limiting factor in most of its defensive calculations due to how ridiculous its Special Defense stat gets after Assault Vest.

Azumarill

Base stats: 100 HP / 50 Atk / 80 Def / 60 SAtk / 80 SDef / 50 Spd

Typing: Water / Fairy

Key Moves: Aqua Jet (92.6%), Play Rough (91.6%), Protect (57.3%), Waterfall (42.2%), Belly Drum (37%), Superpower (33.8%), Knock Off (13.2%), Perish Song (10.5%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (57.4%), Assault Vest (20.9%), Choice Band (8.3%)

• Azumarill ends up with a 2015 format slightly more favorable to it than 2014’s format. It is helped by the increase in Water-type Pokémon like Milotic and Suicune it walls and the introduction of Fire-type Pokémon that it actually beats cleanly thanks to realistic options existing beyond Talonflame and Heat Rotom. There’s also still some special Dragons for Azumarill to exploit, though it has to be a little more careful around Salamence than it used to and Latios hits Azumarill noticeably harder than special Salamence did last year.
• Azumarill also benefits from the metagame focusing on other targets instead of it. Its trademark Belly Drum set is no longer one of the first priorities to deal with when teambuilding, so more teams are likely to find they don’t have a very appropriate counter to Azumarill next to Pokémon like Kangaskhan, Amoonguss, or Togekiss. The Belly Drum set is completed by Sitrus Berry, Protect, Aqua Jet, and Play Rough.
• Assault Vest and Choice Band both work pretty well on Azumarill. It has the bulk to take a couple of hits, and has decent coverage with Play Rough, Aqua Jet and/or Waterfall, Superpower, and potentially Knock Off giving it solid variety.
• One last trick Azumarill has up its sleeve is Perish Song. Perish Trap teams typically select Azumarill as one of the team’s last members. Azumarill’s low Speed allows it to underspeed most other Pokémon and win ties when every Pokémon remaining goes down to Perish Song. Additionally, its typing and HP make it difficult to quickly remove before Perish Song expires.
• 84.7% of Azumarill are Adamant, with players looking to get every point of attack out of Huge Power (and potentially Belly Drum) possible. Brave is sometimes seen on Trick Room teams, while Sassy or Relaxed make more sense for Perish Song teams.

Terrakion

Base stats: 91 HP / 129 Atk / 90 Def / 72 SAtk / 90 SDef / 108 Spd

Typing: Rock / Fighting

Key Moves: Rock Slide (96.6%), Close Combat (88%), Protect (86.4%), Quick Guard (43.3%), Earthquake (28.5%), Sacred Sword (14.8%), Taunt (14.2%)

Common Items: Lum Berry (33.5%), Focus Sash (31.9%), Life Orb (16.8%), Choice Scarf (7.7%)

• In spite of an incredibly shallow movepool for a Legendary Pokémon, Terrakion is once again a good option this year due to having STAB on two of the game’s best offensive types. It may be able to take a step up into that range of truly great VGC Pokémon this year depending on how the metagame settles, as it also has a really fantastic matchup with both Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Charizard Y, two of the game’s more important Megas. The addition of two important Steel-types that aren’t actually weak to Fighting in Aegislash and Mega Mawile will slow it down a little, but Terrakion is in a good spot this year.
• Terrakion basically always uses Rock Slide, Close Combat, and Protect, but there isn’t a standout fourth move. Quick Guard is solid in generation 6, stopping Prankster, Azumarill Aqua Jet, and Sucker Punches from Kangaskhan and Mawile aimed at its teammates. Taunt potentially eases the Aegislash matchup, though the hit Terrakion has to take to get the Taunt off may not be worth it, and it’s not like Terrakion wants to stay in to Taunt Cresselia or Wash Rotom, either.
• One other thing that hurts Terrakion is the loss of Fighting Gem, which makes its item situation a little underwhelming. Lum Berry isn’t very exciting, but helps with the barrage of Will-O-Wisps, makes Terrakion an extremely hard counter to Kangaskhan+Smeargle duos, and lets it smash Thundurus without being paralyzed. Focus Sash is a classic item and it ensures Terrakion will at least survive one attack, but wastes Terrakion’s above average defensive stats. Life Orb is a bold offensive option, while Choice Scarf allows it to outrun the new Pokémon that outspeed it at the cost of flexibility and having to deal with not being able to Protect against Pokémon like Landorus and Cresselia constantly.
• Terrakion is almost exclusively Jolly (92.4%), which isn’t much of a decision given how important it is for it to get over base 100s. The only real reason to pick Adamant is Choice Scarf.

Politoed

Base stats: 90 HP / 75 Atk / 75 Def / 90 SAtk / 100 SDef / 70 Spd

Typing: Water

Key Moves: Ice Beam (79%), Scald (74.6%), Protect (62.8%), Hydro Pump (32.5%), Helping Hand (28.4%), Surf (26.5%), Rain Dance (24.8%), Perish Song (24.7%), Encore (15.8%), Icy Wind (8.9%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (32.3%), Choice Scarf (27.7%), Eject Button (14.5%)

• After a year of being without its tutor moves, Politoed is back to full power. Already bolstered by Ludicolo being radically improved in 2014, Politoed now regains access to Helping Hand and Icy Wind, allowing it function is a true support Pokémon again. Even last year, where it almost had to be a mediocre Choice Scarf user to be successful, Rain won a lot of major tournaments. With Politoed buffed, Rain will again be an important strategy to counter in 2015.
• Politoed has a wider variety of Swift Swim friends than ever before. Ludicolo is still the best generalist option, working well in or out of rain. Kingdra is a little underwhelming in a world with Fairy-types but is available, and now there’s even a strong Mega with Swift Swim in Mega Swampert. Stacking a team with all of them is likely to make Politoed win or lose hard (and against good players, it’s mostly going to lose), but the variety in potential teammates gives Politoed teams much more flexibility than in 2013 or even 2014.
• With its movepool restored, Sitrus Berry is again Politoed’s most common item. Typically it uses Scald, Ice Beam or Icy Wind, Protect, and one of Helping Hand, Rain Dance, Perish Song, and Encore. Helping Hand’s usage seems awfully low right now; I would expect it to spike above the others once people adjust to 2015.
• Choice Scarf is still there for Politoed that don’t trust their teammates and want to try to get their own KOs. It ended up winning a couple National tournaments last year, so it’s strong in its own right. Outside of Ice Beam, the move options for Choice Scarf are pretty terrible, however, to the point I’ve seen people use all three viable Water-type moves.
• Politoed can also veer away from the more offensive Rain and help Pokémon like Mega Gengar and Gothitelle play the Perish Trap game. It has Perish Song and Encore to offer Perish Trap teams, and is often seen with Eject Button or Leftovers instead of Sitrus Berry (which is normally reserved for Azumarill or Gothitelle).
• With Choice Scarf, Politoed typically runs Modest (32%) or Timid (21%) Natures. All other Politoed are typically better off with Bold (20%) or Calm (19.4%), bar Perish Song Politoed considering a Speed-reducing Nature. The stats would indicate a decent amount of Modest Sitrus Berry Politoed at this point, however.

Whimsicott

Base stats: 60 HP / 67 Atk / 85 Def / 77 SAtk / 75 SDef / 116 Spd

Typing: Grass / Fairy

Key Moves: Encore (83.6%), Tailwind (59.7%), Protect (44.4%), Taunt (30.1%), Beat Up (25.7%), Moonblast (24.3%)

Common Items: Focus Sash (60.7%)

• I will never understand why someone thought Prankster Encore was something that would make Pokémon a better game, but Whimsicott’s trademark trick (well, shared with Liepard) is almost enough to make it worth using on its own. Whimsicott is now even more dangerous in Generation 6 with new teammates like Mega Gengar and new Fairy/Grass typing.
• Whimsicott is nearly always Timid (83.6%), which is almost mandatory so that it can outrun Timid Thundurus and attack before it Taunts. Whimsicott can even Taunt Thundurus first as a result.
• Tailwind allows Whimsicott to set up its friends to get some damage out while the opponent is restricted by the fear of Encore and more likely to try to KO Whimsicott instead of its partner. If it survives using Tailwind, it becomes particularly effective because Protecting in front of Whimsicott to stall Tailwind will be met with an easy Encore.
• Fake Tears is pretty silly, but it enables Whimsicott to indirectly do damage by essentially being a better Helping Hand that only works with Special Attackers. Moonblast allows it to do some piddly direct damage, while Beat Up mostly lets it perform even more cheese by boosting a friendly Terrakion’s Attack through Justified.
• The only item seen on more than 10% of Whimsicott is Focus Sash, which makes it much harder for opponents simply to fire a supereffective attack at Whimsicott and remove the threat of Encore. Mental Herb was basically tied for 2nd at 8.5%, but it seems like a probable fallback if Tyranitar or other Whimsicott become too popular.

Metagross

Base stats: 80 HP / 135 -> 145 Atk / 130 -> 150 Def / 95 -> 105 SAtk / 90 -> 110 SDef / 70 -> 110 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Almost 3 in 4 are Megas at present. Numbers may drop as novelty wears off.

Typing: Steel / Psychic

Key Moves: Zen Headbutt (82.3%), Protect (63.1%), Meteor Mash (62.4%), Ice Punch (57.4%), Bullet Punch (44.9%), Iron Head (27.1%), Earthquake (25.9%), Hammer Arm (17.5%)

Common Items: Metagrossite (73.7%), Assault Vest (8%), Choice Band (5.1%), Lum Berry (3.6%)

• The premier Steel-type Pokémon for 2012-2013, Metagross has fallen off pretty significantly in generation 6 thanks to Steel losing a couple of resistances, Meteor Mash getting nerfed, Fire becoming a relevant type, and Mega Mawile and Aegislash existing. Normal Metagross is still a pretty solid Pokémon, but the new Mega Metagross is the way most people are trying to get it back on the field right now. Base 110 Speed does get it over some key Pokémon like Terrakion and basically every relevant Mega except Salamence, though raw Speed is a little less important this year with all the Speed control back.
• Mega Metagross is a very interesting Pokémon. It doesn’t have the following fellow newbie Mega Salamence does yet, but it has a lot of power with 145 Attack and Tough Claws, solid Speed, and unlike Salamence it can function very well without an item. As teams mature, Metagross may find itself on more teams as a secondary Mega. Clear Body is also a spectacularly good ability for a Mega Evolving physical Pokémon, allowing it to be led into Intimidate before it Mega Evolves at no cost.
• Metagross’s movepool hasn’t changed much beyond Iron Head becoming a very competitive alternative to the nerfed Meteor Mash. Zen Headbutt gives it a Psychic STAB option that is now useful mostly for hitting for neutral damage on Water-, Electric-, and Fire-types rather than actually hitting anything supereffectively, while the last slot is typically occupied by Ice Punch for coverage, Bullet Punch for priority, or Hammer Arm because Metagross’ trainer is particularly sick of Mega Kangaskhan.
• Choice Band and Assault Vest are the most common items for non-Mega Metagross. Both allow it to pick up a fourth attack, with Bullet Punch almost always included as one of the two fillers.
• Lum Berry Swagger seems to have disappeared so far this year in favor of simpler setups using Megas, but Metagross remains one of the better options to carry Lum Berry and the temporary Dark Void immunity it provides.
• Metagross is fairly evenly Adamant (49.6%) and Jolly (48.2%). Jolly is necessary for Mega Metagross to outspeed Jolly/Timid base 100s, but Adamant gives it significantly more power. It’s an interesting decision, as at 110 there isn’t really anything else Jolly gets Metagross over other than Mega Lucario sacrificing its own Speed with Adamant, Terrakion, base 100s like Charizard and Kangaskhan, and Garchomp. Adamant is much more cleanly the best Nature for normal Metagross, so it’s probably actually more like 67% of Mega Metagross are Jolly and almost all normal Metagross are Adamant.

Milotic

Base stats: 95 HP / 60 Atk / 79 Def / 100 SAtk / 125 SDef / 81 Spd

Typing: Water

Key Moves: Scald (91.6%), Ice Beam (63.6%), Icy Wind (53.8%), Protect (50.1%), Recover (46.5%), Mirror Coat (27.4%), Hydro Pump (13.4%)

Common Items: Leftovers (27.4%), Sitrus Berry (26.4%), Assault Vest (19.8%)

• The Ability Competitive takes Milotic from completely unused to nearly part of THE BIG SIX. Nearly every team has at least one Intimidate Pokémon and many have two, so Milotic tends to find itself on a lot of teams that don’t want to use Bisharp but do want to deter Intimidate for big physical attackers like Kangaskhan, Mawile, Landorus, and Salamence.
• Unlike Bisharp, Milotic isn’t going to start taking out neutral targets in a single blow after Intimidate, even though it gets two levels of boost off Intimidates to Defiant Bisharp’s one. However, also unlike Bisharp, Milotic is pretty difficult to KO, so a +2 Special Attack Milotic can create a lot of pressure on the field and deter Intimidate for several turns.
• 95 HP and 125 Special Defense makes for pretty immense special bulk. If Milotic’s weaker physical defense is supported by the very Intimidate it is used to counter, it winds up with impressive staying power, particularly if Recover gets involved.
• Milotic’s bulk is increased by all of its most common items. Leftovers being more common than Sitrus Berry is a little strange, but with teams getting more defensive again many teams have more than one Pokémon that would like Sitrus Berry. Milotic does have the bulk to survive long enough for the sustained healing of Leftovers to match Sitrus’s big burst of healing during some games.
• Icy Wind, when selected, enables Milotic to accomplish more than it would with direct attacks in many games where it does not get the Competitive boost to turn on the offense by allowing it to lower the opposition’s Speed to support its teammates. Ice Beam is selected beside it with surprising frequency because of how popular Dragon-types and Landorus are, as Icy Wind doesn’t allow Milotic to threaten an instant KO on most of those Pokémon.
• While Mirror Coat is a really risky move and its presence in the stats at all is indicative of Milotic’s underwhelming movepool, its naturally high Special Defense allows it to survive most special attacks safely. With the similarly common Assault Vest, even boosted supereffective attacks tend not to KO Milotic from full health.
• Milotic is typically Modest (46.7%) to try to squeak out a little more damage, but Bold (36.7%) is also common to improve its weaker Defense.

Arcanine

Base stats: 90 HP / 110 Atk / 80 Def / 100 SAtk / 80 SDef / 95 Spd

Typing: Fire

Key Moves: Extreme Speed (60.0%), Flare Blitz (53.5%), Protect (52.4%), Close Combat (48.2%), Will-O-Wisp (47.1%), Snarl (42.5%), Flamethrower (24%), Wild Charge (18.3%), Morning Sun (16.5%), Heat Wave (15.5%), Overheat (?%), Helping Hand (?%)

Common Items: Life Orb (25.2%), Rocky Helmet (20%), Leftovers (18.8%), Choice Band (12.9%), Sitrus Berry (8%)

• A Pokémon that has been below par competitively for the entirety of the Pokémon franchise’s existence, Arcanine is finally a solid Pokémon in VGC 2015 thanks to Fire becoming a better defensive type in Generation 6 than in the past, Will-O-Wisp’s accuracy being increased, and Intimidate somehow becoming even more important.
• While players seem to agree Arcanine is solid, the lack of consensus on both moves and items would indicate players are still trying to figure out exactly how to best utilize Arcanine. This is partially because Arcanine can effectively play either offense or defense.
• Offensive Arcanine typically runs Adamant Nature (45.3% of all Arcanine), which likely accounts for all of the Choice Bands and nearly all of the Life Orbs. Flare Blitz, Extreme Speed, Close Combat, and potentially Wild Charge round out a surprisingly varied moveset for a quadruped animal-like Pokémon without having to sink to biting moves.
• Typically, I expect to see Arcanine run a more defensive set, where slowing down the opposition’s offense is the focus. On top of Intimidate, Arcanine can use both Will-O-Wisp and Snarl to weaken the opposition, and it even has Morning Sun for reliable healing. It is strange to see Sitrus Berry so low, but Arcanine may be able to last long enough to pull Leftovers off and free up the more valuable Sitrus Berry for a teammate. Defensive Arcanine variants can use a huge variety of Natures, but Timid (23.2%) and Bold (14.1%) are most prevalent presently.
• Support Arcanine can get away with any of the Fire-type attacks (and probably doesn’t have room for a second for coverage), but I was a little surprised to see Overheat hasn’t made the stats yet. Getting one big hit out of your support Pokémon is something the more defensive Volcarona sets have shown us is valuable in past years. Helping Hand is also available if Arcanine wants to be a more offensive support.

Tyranitar

Base stats: 100 HP / 134->164 Atk / 110->150 Def / 95 SAtk / 100 ->120 SDef / 61->71 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Only about one in five, though I’d expect it turn into more like 50/50 from experienced players quickly.

Typing: Rock / Dark

Key Moves: Rock Slide (90.7%), Crunch (74.2%), Protect (50.4%), Ice Punch (35.4%), Low Kick (26.8%), Dragon Dance (17.3%), Earthquake (15.7%), Ice Beam (15.4%), Superpower (13%), Dark Pulse (12.6%)

Common Items: Choice Scarf (30.5%), Tyranitarite (17.5%), Weakness Policy (10.2%)

• Tyranitar is a Pokémon that has proven to be incredibly adaptable. With solid stats an an excellent movepool, it seems that there’s always a way to make Tyranitar one of the game’s better Pokémon. Sandstream effectively giving it a higher base stat total than any other non-Mega certainly doesn’t hurt things, either.
• Tyranitar’s most common build is Choice Scarf right now, which can be either physical or special. It does need to be Jolly (44.6%) or Timid (3.6%) to get over some big threats like Garchomp. Both sets tend to run Rock Slide, Ice Beam or Ice Punch, Crunch or Dark Pulse, and a mystery move that is typically Low Kick, Superpower, Fire Blast, or Stone Edge. The Choice Scarf version has more trouble in 2015 now that Choice Scarf Landorus is so common and can easily outrun Tyranitar and KO it with Superpower.
• Mega Tyranitar is typically used for Dragon Dance with support from Pokémon like Amoonguss. STAB Rock Slide off of 164 Attack is very difficult to deal with after a Dragon Dance, and Mega Tyranitar is just quick enough that it can normally get away with being Adamant. Crunch and Protect traditionally fill out the set, though it has more choices now that its Fighting-type attacks are available again.
• The remaining Tyranitar are kind of all over the place right now. Weakness Policy was gaining traction again toward the end of 2014, but it is definitely one of those things that stops working once people know it is there and it has little chance of winning a Regional tournament or higher as a result. Tyranitar can get away with a variety of defensive items and even mixed sets if it desires. Going into the season, Tyranitar will again probably need to find a way to reinvent itself to fit better in the 2015 format’s metagame.
• Jolly (44.6%) is Tyranitar’s most common Nature, which likely accounts for most of the Choice Scarf sets, followed by Adamant (28.5%), which likely accounts for most of the Tyranitarite. The third most common Nature isn’t one of the Special Attack-boosting Natures, but Brave (9.2%), showing trainers are trying to return Tyranitar to its Trick Room roots. Modest (6%), Timid (3.6%) and Quiet (3.4%) only combine for 13%, which would have been expected in 2013, but is strange to see now given that most of the problems that forced Tyranitar off of physical sets in 2014 haven’t gone away.

Togekiss

Base stats: 85 HP / 50 Atk / 95 Def / 120 SAtk / 115 SDef / 80 Spd

Typing: Fairy / Flying

Key Moves: Air Slash (85.4%), Follow Me (74.5%), Dazzling Gleam (68.3%), Tailwind (31.3%), Protect (22%), Fire Blast (16.3%), Thunder Wave (16.2%), Flamethrower (15.7%), Aura Sphere (14.9%), Heat Wave (13.1%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (32%), Rocky Helmet (22.5%), Choice Scarf (14.8%), Choice Specs (9%)

• At least by usage, Togekiss was kind of the best of a second tier of support Pokémon in 2013, finding itself outshone by Cresselia, Thundurus, and Amoonguss, but standing above the rest. Togekiss has improved significantly in 2015 thanks to replacing its partial Normal-typing with Fairy. It now has a double resistance to Fighting, resistance to Dark, and full immunity to Dragon instead of neutrality to all of them at the cost of a weakness to Steel, which vastly improves its typing matchup with much of the metagame.
• Togekiss may now be the best Pokémon in the game at pure redirection with its Follow Me. It also has the option of providing Speed control with Tailwind or Thunder Wave. Thanks to Serene Grace, it also offers a unique support function with Air Slash having a 60% chance to flinch targets it hits.
• Being a Fairy-type instead of a Normal-type also greatly improves Togekiss’ offense. Dazzling Gleam does decent spread damage to the format’s many Dragon-, Dark-, and Fighting-types. Togekiss also carries a Fire-type attack almost half the time, though that information is a little diluted in the stats because the usage is split over three moves.
• Typically Togekiss uses Sitrus Berry to absorb as many attacks as possible with Follow Me or to set Tailwind up safely, but Rocky Helmet has also been pretty popular. I’d imagine that comes half from there only being one Sitrus Berry to go around and half to guarantee extra damage on Pokémon like Kangaskhan in a similar vein to Rocky Helmet Amoonguss.
• While the Follow Me set is Togekiss’ best use, both Choice Scarf and Choice Specs see some use, aiming to surprise players expecting the normal set. Togekiss can pull off the Choice sets surprisingly well now due to its excellent base 120 Special Attack and its new STAB-boosted Fairy-type attack Dazzling Gleam. Aura Sphere is sometimes selected as a fourth attack on the Choice sets due to covering a handful of dual-type Pokémon like Heatran a little better than the other moves.
• Togekiss’s most common Nature is actually Modest (31.9%), which makes sense for the Choice sets, but is a little surprising otherwise for a Pokémon with a primarily defensive function. Bold finishes second at 29.3%, with Timid third at 20.5%, probably belonging to Togekiss without a Speed control move trying to get the jump for Air Slash. In spite of boosting Togekiss’ highest defensive stat, Calm doesn’t show up until fourth at 15%.

Raichu

Base stats: 60 HP / 90 Atk / 55 Def / 90 SAtk / 80 SDef / 110 Spd

Typing: Electric

Key Moves: Fake Out (98.3%), Encore (84.1%), Thunderbolt (72.7%), Protect (43.7%), Hidden Power (18.8%), Feint (17.2%), Nuzzle (15.4%), Grass Knot (14.5%)

Common Items: Focus Sash (62.9%), Air Balloon (15.9%)

• While Raichu is a Pokémon I really want to write something positive about as the evolution of the franchise’s mascot, the truth is that Raichu is a really annoying Pokémon in VGC. The only meaningful change for Raichu since 2013 was gaining 10 base Speed, but that was enough to make it a pretty strong niche support option in 2014. It has maintained a relevant amount of use so far in 2015.
• Raichu has a similar kit to Liepard and Whimsicott, except instead of using Prankster for its support moves it has to rely on its Speed. The trade-off for this is that it gets Lightningrod, which allows it to passively protect its teammates from Thunder Waves, as well as protect Pokémon like Azumarill and Talonflame from Electric-type attacks.
• Raichu most frequently uses Fake Out, Encore, Thunderbolt, and Protect to try to keep its Lightningrod on the field as long as possible and protect its teammates. It also has some interesting niche alternatives that can be used mostly in place of Protect, such as Hidden Power Ice, Feint, Nuzzle, and Helping Hand.
• Focus Sash is typically Raichu’s best item by far, as it definitely isn’t going to survive any physical attacks without it. Air Balloon is used to “counter” Landorus and Garchomp’s Earthquake, but it is ultimately not something that should be on a serious team.
• Raichu needs a Speed-boosting Nature to outrun Garchomp, Terrakion, and the base 100s, so Timid (82%), Jolly (11.2%), and Naive (6.4%) are predictably the only common Natures.

Gyarados

Base stats: 95 HP / 125 Atk -> 155 Atk / 79->109 Def / 60->70 SAtk / 100 -> 130 SDef / 81 Spd

Typing: Water / Flying -> Water / Dark

Probability of Mega Evolving: Only about 1 in 4, unless there is an Electric-type rodent on the team.

Key Moves: Waterfall (87.7%), Protect (55.4%), Earthquake (42.1%), Dragon Dance (41.2%), Ice Fang (37.8%), Taunt (37.1%), Thunder Wave (31.4%), Stone Edge (18.3%), Crunch (10.5%)

Common Items: Gyaradosite (27.6%), Rocky Helmet (18.7%), Lum Berry (16.2%), Sitrus Berry (15%)

• Gyarados is a strange Pokémon in the sense it can do a lot of things pretty well, but isn’t really amazing at anything. It has a couple of great supportive moves and Intimidate, but it’s hard to find situations where Gyarados is really the best option to support a team. It is one of the few viable users of Dragon Dance in VGC, but Mega Salamence and both normal and Mega Tyranitar tend to be selected first for that role. Gyarados is a generally powerful Pokémon, but it just doesn’t stand out much in spite of being the Mega that won it all in 2014.
• Mega Gyarados actually got a new trick in Crunch this year, giving a Gyarados two strong STAB attacks at the same time for the first time ever. Only about 2/5 of Mega Gyarados are choosing to use it right now, however. As Mega Gyarados typically run Dragon Dance, having Earthquake as the second attack on top of Waterfall vastly increases its sweeping potential compared to Crunch. At least the option is there!
• Support Gyarados typically uses Waterfall, Protect, and two of Taunt, Thunder Wave, and a coverage move like Ice Fang or Stone Edge. Gyarados is one of the game’s safer Taunt users, though it is also slower than most other users of Taunt.
• Non-Mega Gyarados is bizarrely using Rocky Helmet most frequently right now, which seems like it is one of the most common items on almost everything right now. Lum Berry works well for Dragon Dancing regular Gyarados trying to avoid Thunder Wave and Will-O-Wisp, while Sitrus Berry is probably the best choice for support Gyarados when it is available.
• Gyarados is most commonly Adamant (46.3%), which is a solid choice for any set. Jolly (31.9%) is the second most common Nature, while Impish (15.3%) is sometimes used for support sets.

Gardevoir

Base stats: 68 HP / 65->85 Atk / 65->65 Def / 125->165 SAtk / 115->135 SDef / 80->100 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Now Mega Evolves about 2/3 of the time thanks to Hyper Voice.

Typing: Psychic / Fairy

Key Moves: Protect (69%), Hyper Voice (68.2%), Psychic (59.6%), Moonblast (24.2%), Psyshock (23%), Dazzling Gleam (18.9%), Shadow Ball (17.4%), Icy Wind (14%), Trick Room (13.6%), Imprison (13.3%)

Common Items: Gardevoirite (68.2%), Choice Scarf (16.8%)

• One of XY’s weakest Megas, Mega Gardevoir is suddenly very formidable in ORAS thanks to gaining Pixilate Hyper Voice off of 165 base Special Attack. Gardevoir is still extremely physically frail, which is worrisome with several physical attackers above the 100 base Speed benchmark and with a decent amount of physical priority in the format. If Gardevoir can get off a few Hyper Voices off, however, it can absolutely devastate teams. Similar to Mega Blastoise, Gardevoir is a Mega that really needs to be protected, but it is capable of sweeping enemy teams on its own if it gets adequate support.
• Mega Gardevoir doesn’t have a deep offensive movepool, but it also doesn’t really need it. Hyper Voice and Protect are by far the moves it uses most commonly, with a Psychic move to remove Poison-types and then one of Shadow Ball for Aegislash or a utility move. As far as potential utility options, Imprison Hyper Voice makes enemy Sylveon pretty useless, while Trick Room or Icy Wind can allow Gardevoir to give some rare support from the Mega slot.
• The only other common Gardevoir set is Choice Scarf. Choice Scarf Gardevoir can outrun and nuke unsuspecting Dragons, but I think the odds of that actually succeeding tend to be pretty low against competent opponents, even with Mega Gardevoir now being the expected set. It’s not a coincidence that Sejun used it with Gothitelle to win Worlds: for Choice Scarf Gardevoir to be a major player, it needs some help from its team to actually catch the things it wants to KO. With Choice Scarf, Gardevoir normally uses Psychic or Psyshock, Moonblast, Dazzling Gleam, and Shadow Ball.
• Gardevoir is most commonly Modest (73.2%), which optimizes its power. On the Choice Scarf set this is relatively safe, but for Mega Gardevoir it comes at the risk of staying slower than the base 100 crowd even after Mega Evolving. 17.4% of Gardevoir go for Timid to at least play for those ties instead.

Suicune

Base stats: 100 HP / 75 Atk / 115 Def / 90 SAtk / 115 SDef / 85 Spd

Typing: Water

Key Moves: Scald (96.8%), Ice Beam (76.8%), Tailwind (74.8%), Snarl (54%), Protect (34.8%), Icy Wind (17.6%), Rest (13.3%), Calm Mind (13.2%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (35.9%), Rocky Helmet (30.9%), Chesto Berry (12.6%), Leftovers (12.2%)

• While Suicune was kind of always one of those Pokémon that was considered to be pretty good but rarely actually seen in tournaments, it continues to have significant potential. It has excellent defensive stats and a solid support movepool, only faltering with its mediocre Special Attack and shallow offensive movepool. There’s some extra competition from Water-type Pokémon this year with Milotic and Ludicolo improving so much from 2013, but Suicune has some unique niches with its defenses, Calm Mind, Snarl, and being a pure Water-type Pokémon with access to Tailwind.
• Suicune has access to three great ways to control the field. It is one of the few Pokémon that aren’t part Flying-type to get Tailwind, which allows it to boost the Speed of midspeed teammates that would normally share weaknesses with a Tailwind user. Like most Water-type Pokémon, Suicune can also use Icy Wind to slow down the opposition instead, which was more popular in 2013. Suicune also gets access to the relatively rare Snarl, one of the only ways of inhibiting the damage of enemy Special Attacking Pokémon.
• One of Suicune’s tricks — and one that it used in two of its three appearances in Nugget Bridge reports during generation five — is Calm Mind. While Calm Mind doesn’t quite make it has no weak the way it did in the old days, Suicune with a Calm Mind or two becomes nearly impervious to Special Attacks and finally dish out some decent damage of its own. Calm Mind can punish players who ignore Suicune because they expect it to focus on support.
• Suicune is traditionally seen with a Sitrus Berry or Leftovers. Chesto Berry is usable with Rest, typically on a Calm Mind set that forgoes Protect. Rocky Helmet is a new addition, but with Suicune’s bulk it can certainly make most physical attackers take at least a couple hits from it, compensating for some of its weak innate offense. Staying on the field longer through a healing item to use more support moves or Calm Mind is probably more valuable, however.
• Bold (53%) is Suicune’s most common Nature right now, which makes sense, given that Defense is its highest stat and it has two ways to reduce its incoming special damage with Snarl and Calm Mind. Modest (26.1%) is the next most common Nature, enabling Suicune to put out a little more damage in spite of its mediocre base Special Attack, with most remaining Suicune stacking Special Defense with Calm (13.5%).

Camerupt

Base stats: 70 HP / 100 -> 120 Atk / 70 -> 100 Def / 105 -> 145 SAtk / 75 -> 105 SDef / 40 -> 20 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Be honest: did you even remember Camerupt was a Pokémon before it could Mega Evolve?

Typing: Fire / Ground

Key Moves: Earth Power (99.7%), Protect (96.8%), Heat Wave (82%), Eruption (39.5%), Hidden Power (20.6%), Ancient Power 18%), Rock Slide (14.5%), Fire Blast (7.2%)

Common Items: Cameruptite (99.6%)

• Camerupt is one of the more interesting of the Megas that probably aren’t among the top group. It’s not something that is strong enough to survive the game centralizing around it like Mawile, Kangaskhan, Charizard, or Salamence, but it has some of the best immediate power of any Pokémon available and can tear through teams that aren’t prepared for it. Mega Camerupt requires support from Trick Room to be effective and really likes Sunny Day or Helping Hand on top of that, which causes it to need a little too much support to be as consistent as the top Mega Pokémon.
• Mega Camerupt has taken the role Quiet Eruption Heatran previously occupied on teams in 2013. It is much better suited to this offensively than Heatran because of its lower Speed, Sheer Force, and STAB on Earth Power. This comes at a cost of somewhat inferior defensive typing, since Camerupt’s Electric immunity isn’t as good as Heatran’s resistance to Dragon. Camerupt’s weaker defensive typing restricts it to needing Trick Room to be effective instead of functioning fairly well outside of it the way Heatran does.
• Camerupt is basically guaranteed to be carrying Earth Power and Protect, but it has some decisions to make from there. Eruption is relatively popular, but outside of its improved accuracy it doesn’t offer much over Heat Wave. If Camerupt is missing basically any HP at all, Heat Wave outdamages Eruption because of Sheer Force. For players who don’t want Eruption, the best options are probably Hidden Power Ice to cover Dragons, particularly Salamence, or Fire Blast for a massive burst of single target damage. Ancient Power and Rock Slide are options mostly to damage Charizard and Talonflame effectively, but without STAB on Rock there aren’t many other situations where it wouldn’t be better for Camerupt to just spam Heat Wave instead.
• At least it isn’t Torkoal.
• Camerupt nearly always chooses to be Quiet (91.4%), as it is really only effective as a Trick Room Pokémon and normally wants to be as slow as possible. Perhaps some of the remaining Modest (7.9%) Camerupt are using some sort of antic where it is useful for Camerupt to outspeed the Pokémon providing Trick Room for it.

Heat Rotom

Base stats: 50 HP / 65 Atk / 107 Def / 105 SAtk / 107 SDef / 86 Spd

Typing: Electric / Fire

Key Moves: Overheat (100%), Thunderbolt (87.7%), Protect (66.5%), Will-O-Wisp (49.1%), Hidden Power (29.2%), Volt Switch (20%), Discharge (11.8%), Trick (10.5%), Thunder Wave (8.9%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (36%), Leftovers (13%), Choice Specs (11.5%), Choice Scarf (9.6%)

• No longer thrown on teams by default due to being the only viable non-Mega Fire-type available that could take a hit in a world where Fire was really strong in VGC 2014, Rotom’s kitchen-friendly Forme has seen a significant drop in use in 2015. Its unique typing is still solid, and there are some teams where it will still be the best choice for players, but with competition from Arcanine, Heatran, Entei, and Camerupt it’ll be less common this year.
• Rotom is most often used for defensive sets. Like its Wash Forme, Rotom’s Heat Forme is one of the game’s safer Pokémon for spreading Will-O-Wisp. Overheat, Thunderbolt, and Protect typically round out the set.
• This is the best Rotom Forme at using offensive sets. Choice Specs and Choice Scarf are common enough to be worth considering, and even Life Orb is a solid item. Hidden Power Ice typically joins Thunderbolt and Overheat on these sets, along with one of Trick, Volt Switch, or Discharge.
• Heat Rotom is most commonly Modest (69.2%) Nature, allowing it to pick up some KOs with Overheat it might not otherwise and synergizing well with Choice sets. As with many Pokémon, its Defense-boosting option, Bold (13.5%), is the next most popular in this format. A few Rotom are still going Calm (10.2%), perhaps to survive boosted Draco Meteors.

Mamoswine

Base stats: 110 HP / 130 Atk / 80 Def / 70 SAtk / 70 SDef / 80 Spd

Typing: Ice / Ground

Key Moves: Earthquake (99.3%), Ice Shard (65.5%), Icicle Crash (59.6%), Rock Slide (53.7%), Icicle Spear (45.5%), Protect (42.5%), Superpower (19%)

Common Items: Choice Scarf (43.5%), Life Orb (31.3%), Focus Sash (12.5%)

• While Mamoswine didn’t have too large of an impact in 2014, it was a world champion in 2013. A big part of the reason for that was Mamoswine’s ability to deal with some of the Ice-weak Pokémon that are being reintroduced this year, so Mamoswine might be able to rebound a little. It doesn’t gain or lose much with ORAS otherwise, though its partner in crime on Arash’s winning team, Defiant Tornadus, isn’t legal. At least Rotom is a little less common now!
• Mamoswine is most commonly seen using Choice Scarf, the set it won Worlds with. This allows it to outspeed and KO Pokémon like Landorus, Salamence, and Thundurus. Landorus runs Choice Scarf much more frequently than it did in 2013, however, which limits Mamoswine’s ability to actually KO it before it U-turns. Mamoswine can at least train to survive Landorus Superpower and KO it back if it stays in, but the metagame fit isn’t quite as good now as it was late in 2013. Earthquake and Icicle Crash or Icicle Spear are mandatory on the Choice Scarf set, with the second Ice-type STAB, Superpower, Ice Shard, and Rock Slide competing for the last slots depending on what Mamoswine’s trainer wants to cover.
• When not holding Choice Scarf Mamoswine runs Life Orb or Focus Sash, which both function similarly to each other. Typically for both sets Mamoswine uses Earthquake, Ice Shard, Icicle Crash or Icicle Spear, and Protect. It has some issues getting attacks off because of its middling Speed, but it often only requires one of of its main attacks to put targets in KO range of Ice Shard with Mamoswine’s solid power and excellent offensive typing. Without Choice Scarf, Mamoswine really needs support from some Speed control moves or redirection, but it has some of the game’s better offensive potential if it gets to attack. With Life Orb Mamoswine does truly impressive damage but is more difficult to keep alive, while with Focus Sash it’s a little easier to preserve but loses several OHKOs outright and maintains fewer OHKOs after Intimidate.
• Over half of all Mamoswine are Adamant (56.4%) Natured, which is pretty mandatory for Choice Scarf to actually do damage, as well as a decent option for the other sets because of Ice Shard circumventing Speed issues somewhat. Jolly (39.4%) allows the Mamoswine using Focus Sash or Life Orb to actually outrun some of the other Pokémon in the middle Speed tiers and hopefully get KOs before it is hit.

Conkeldurr

Base stats: 105 HP / 140 Atk / 95 Def / 55 SAtk / 65 SDef / 45 Spd

Typing: Fighting

Key Moves: Mach Punch (90.7%), Drain Punch (88.1%), Knock Off (73.3%), Ice Punch (66.8%), Protect (18%), Rock Slide (13.72%), Stone Edge (12.2%), Poison Jab (10.1%), Hammer Arm (9.1%)

Common Items: Assault Vest (65.4%), Life Orb (16.8%), Sitrus Berry (7.4%)

• Conkeldurr is one of the most historically successful Pokémon of the fifth generation, winning Worlds in both 2011 and 2013. Conkeldurr fell off hard in 2014, however, suffering from Trick Room not being very strong and the loss of Ice Punch and Knock Off. Regaining the now-useful Knock Off, Ice Punch, and better Trick Room teammates has made Conkeldurr relevant again.
• Unlike in 2013, when Conkeldurr didn’t really become a premier Pokémon until after Iron Fist was released, most of the players on Battle Spot are actually using Guts (60%) now instead. With so much Will-O-Wisp Guts may be the better play, though Iron Fist Conkeldurr can benefit a little from players being timid about burning it as a result.
• Conkeldurr now typically uses Assault Vest along with its Guts to become a very difficult Pokémon to remove from the field. It has solid natural physical bulk, so with Assault Vest patching up its Special Defense and Guts preventing its damage from being destroyed by burns, it is a very stable Pokémon. Assault Vest Pokémon tend to be strongest when they can offer some utility in spite of being forced to only use attacking moves. Conkeldurr can now do so through Knock Off’s item removal, a move that also helps it out against Aegislash a little. Mach Punch is another neat trick, with Drain Punch serving as the final mandatory move and playing off the set’s bulk. Ice Punch, a Rock-type attack, or Poison Jab can all fill the set depending on what needs to be covered, though Ice Punch is the best option in most situations.
• Iron Fist is still a plenty viable ability. As in 2013, Iron Fist Conkeldurr can grab a Life Orb (or even something like Safety Goggles), Hammer Arm, Ice Punch, Mach Punch, and Protect and dish out some truly outrageous damage with its massive Attack stat. The Iron Fist version of Conkeldurr needs Trick Room support much more than the Assault Vest version because it needs to stay away from the barrage of burns in VGC 2015, but it’s also the variant more likely to sweep teams.
• With its massive Attack stat, there is little choice but to use an Attack-boosting Nature on Conkeldurr. 76% of players do this with Adamant, while 20.4% use Brave instead to exploit or counter Trick Room.

Breloom

Base stats: 60 HP / 130 Atk / 80 Def / 60 SAtk / 60 SDef / 70 Spd

Typing: Grass / Fighting

Key Moves: Bullet Seed (95.7%), Spore (92.9%), Mach Punch (87%), Protect (77.2%), Rock Tomb (25.5%), Superpower (11.9%)

Common Items: Focus Sash (75%), Choice Scarf (12.3%), Iron Ball (6.6%)

• The other of the two viable Spore-using Pokémon, Breloom dishes out pretty solid damage with Technician and offers solid support with Spore at the cost of having terrible defenses and mediocre Speed. It can be difficult to actually get many turns with Breloom, especially since its low Speed can’t really be supported with the Spore-blocking Thunder Wave or Trick Room, which it’s a little too fast for. Breloom can have  a massive impact on a game if it gets to attack a few times, but especially with there being so many more useful Fire-type Pokémon in 2015, Talonflame in particular, it is difficult for it to actually get those attacks off.
• Breloom has among the least varied statistics pages of any Pokémon. It basically always uses Bullet Seed, Spore, Mach Punch, Protect, and Focus Sash. If it can’t instantly KO something, or if something it can KO is likely to switch, it has Spore available. Otherwise, Bullet Seed and Mach Punch are there to dish out some damage. Breloom is a Pokémon that tends to require a lot of support, particularly redirection, or a distraction from a high value target like Kangaskhan to actually get those attacks off. Focus Sash allows it to take one hit, though it is a Pokémon that draws a lot of double targets.
• I don’t think I’ve seen a Choice Scarf Breloom in my life, but 12% is common enough that I guess it should be considered. Without the ability to Protect or a Focus Sash it somehow gets even frailer, but at least it can actually outrun things to Spore them.
• A little over half of Breloom opt for Jolly (58.5%) Natures, hoping to get Spore off before being turned into salad. A bold 34.5 are not actually Bold but instead Adamant, trading safety for damage output and serving as the only real option for the users of Choice Scarf. While not high enough that I’d normally mention it, the remaining 7% are all Brave and likely holding those Iron Balls. Apparently Breloom is a little out of season and trying to dress up as Amoonguss for Halloween.

Swampert

Base stats: 100 HP / 110 -> 150 Atk / 90 -> 110 Def / 85 -> 95 SAtk / 90 -> 110 SDef / 60 -> 70 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: 4 in 5 right now, which should probably actually be even higher when you remove people trying to play with in-game teams.

Typing: Water / Ground

Key Moves: Waterfall (88.8%), Protect (81.9%), Earthquake (80.3%), Ice Punch (69.3%), Rock Slide (27.4%), Wide Guard (12.6%)

Common Items: Swampertite (80.6%)

• I remember thinking it was pretty cool that a couple Spanish players in the 2012 World Championships made Swampert work, and with a Mega Forme now Swampert should be even better in 2015. Swampert is now one of the sturdier Megas, has a cool unique trick with Swift Swim, and a really respectable Attack stat thanks to its beastly muscles. However, its middling Speed is a problem in a game with so much Will-O-Wisp, the Intimidates the more popular physical Megas have forced into the metagame impair Swampert significantly, and Swampert’s offensive typing is pretty mediocre. Swampert can be strong in a perfect situation, but it’s always going to be a Ludicolo fad or a couple unexpected Grass-type attacks away from dropping from rogue hero to goat.
• Weaknesses aside, Swampert should settle nicely into that second tier of Megas that are consistently playable without ever dominating the format. Swampert is most commonly used alongside Politoed because of its Swift Swim right now, which tends to create a lot of redundant typing, especially since Ludicolo is also often used with them, but the three combine for a lot of power. While a touch slow, Swampert does function reasonably well without Swift Swim against most teams, so it does offer some flexibility to Rain teams during team preview in a similar way as Ludicolo.
• Waterfall and Protect are almost mandatory, and Earthquake is keeping up with them in usage so far, leaving Ice Punch and Rock Slide fighting for the last slot. Being able to smash Dragons is always helpful, so I would imagine Ice Punch will stay the more common final move. Rock Slide is probably particularly worth considering on Politoed teams, as it gives Swampert a way to deal with Charizard on the turn it weakens Waterfall with Drought. Rock Slide also has some great flinch potential with Swift Swim, though the impact of it being a spread move is lower with STAB Earthquake also likely to be on the set. Wide Guard is a fantastic move in this format, but typically utility moves are best left for non-Megas, especially since one of the best users of spread moves, Charizard, is likely to Solar Beam Swampert if it Wide Guards.
• Nearly all Swampert are Adamant (74.1%), maximizing its damage by boosting its highest base stat. A handful of Swampert use Jolly (9.6%) and Brave (7%).

Gothitelle

Base stats: 70 HP / 55 Atk / 95 Def / 95 SAtk / 110 SDef / 65 Spd

Typing: Psychic

Key Moves: Protect (84.5%), Trick Room (82%), Psychic (63.2%), Psyshock (29.8%), Helping Hand (26.8%), Heal Pulse (24.5%), Reflect (20.1%), Tickle (12.8%), Charm (10.3%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (69.7%), Leftovers (13.2%)

• One of those Pokémon that stays useful only because of its Ability, Shadow Tag Gothitelle is a Pokémon that offers its team a lot of control at the expense of Gothitelle not being as individually powerful as otherwise similar Pokémon like Cresselia. Gothitelle does regain Helping Hand this year, vastly increasing its offensive contribution outside of Trick Room, though Trick Room is still used on it almost exclusively. Gothitelle wasn’t very popular in 2013 outside of teams based around Shadow Tag and a gimmick because of how much frailer it was than its alternatives, It’ll be interesting to see if Gothitelle fades back into obscurity or if Shadow Tag is worth it to players now considering how dominant Gothitelle was late in 2014.
• Protect, Trick Room, Psychic or Psyshock, and a second support move round out Gothitelle’s moveset nearly all of the time right now. Helping Hand may be the best support move in the game, but Charm and Tickle are both really amazing with Shadow Tag and can effectively end games early if Gothitelle can trap and weaken the right targets. Heal Pulse is really fun but a little gimmicky on teams that don’t rely on something like Perish Song considering how strong the alternatives are.
• Due to the focus on Shadow Tag, Gothitelle is a Pokémon that requires a little more planning to use well and to counter than most other Pokémon. Much of the Gothitelle matchup is one player trying to wear down Gothitelle while the other tries to get unavoidable KOs with Gothitelle’s partner due to Shadow Tag preventing switching. As a result, Gothitelle can work well both inside Trick Room, where it is harder to set up KOs for its partners but easier to chain them, or out of Trick Room, where it is easier to get a Speed advantage and KO a single target but harder to sweep the field.
• In addition to working with more standard teams, Gothitelle is an excellent Pokémon for synergizing with some of VGC’s nastier tricks. It is a common member of Perish Trap teams due to being the only viable non-Mega Pokémon with Shadow Tag (well, Gothitelle and its preevolution Gothorita), and it functions nicely with Encore/Disable shenanigans as well. Reflect tends to make its appearances on this sort of team, as Gothitelle rarely has room for it otherwise.
• Gothitelle is most commonly Sassy (55.2%), making it one of the few Pokémon where the most common Nature boosting Defense, Relaxed (15.5%), isn’t even close. Calm (14.5%) is actually nearly as popular as Relaxed is, with Bold (13%) being the final common Nature.

Hitmontop

Base stats: 50 HP / 95 Atk / 95 Def / 35 SAtk / 110 SDef / 70 Spd

Typing: Fighting

Key Moves: Fake Out (97%), Close Combat (88.5%), Wide Guard (66.5%), Quick Guard (46.5%), Feint (32.1%), Helping Hand (22.1%), Detect (13.9%), Stone Edge (12.5%)

Common Items: Eject Button (22.7%), Sitrus Berry (18.7%), Lum Berry (17.5%), Black Belt (11.1%)

• Once the key to half of 2013’s newbie-friendly strategies, Hitmontop has fallen a long way in 2015. It lost both Fighting Gem and Sucker Punch, vastly reducing its offensive power. It also gained a new weakness to Fairy, was hurt by both new competition using Intimidate in Arcanine and opposition countering Intimidate in Milotic, hurt by the introduction of two powerful new Flying-type attackers in Mega Salamence and Talonflame, and now it even has to compete with Mega Kangaskhan and the vastly improved Ludicolo when Fake Out is desired for teams. Hitmontop does bring some cool tricks like both Wide and Quick Guard, Helping Hand, and Feint, but it feels pretty gutted this generation. Even the shift toward more physical Pokémon hurts Hitmontop, giving it fewer opportunities to use its highest base stat with its 110 Special Defense.
• The ghost of Hitmontop still needs Fake Out and Close Combat to even resemble its corporeal self, with its remaining slots typically dedicated to support moves. Access to Helping Hand really helps Hitmontop avoid becoming a dead spot on the field with Fighting Gem gone and more teams having an extra Fighting-type resistance now with a Fairy-type. Wide Guard is a fantastic move right now and is probably the main reason to use Hitmontop, though Sylveon can still Moonblast Hitmontop, so there’s a prediction game involved. Quick Guard is neat with all the priority around and it can save Hitmontop from Talonflame for a while, but it probably isn’t as practical as the other moves for most teams. Feint is also an extremely strong move for offensive teams, particularly those that create predictable Protects through moves like Tailwind.
• Hitmontop’s item statistics are just a mess with Fighting Gem gone. Eject Button, the most common item, lets Hitmontop flee to Intimidate and Fake Out a second time, which is pretty annoying, but not necessarily something I’d think of as super powerful. Sitrus Berry and Lum Berry increase Hitmontop’s staying power, with the latter helping to preserve its offensive power as it definitely isn’t going to be OHKOing Rotom or Arcanine before it gets burned. Black Belt is a pretty poor choice on something that is mostly a support Pokémon, but at least it boosts the only real attack available.
• Hitmontop is most frequently Adamant (61.8%), which allows it to dish out pretty respectable damage with Close Combat. The remaining Careful (26.5%) Hitmontop have perhaps opted to avoid “respectable” and focus on supporting teammates that output “good” damage instead.

Volcarona

Base stats: 85 HP / 60 Atk / 65 Def / 135 SAtk / 105 SDef / 100 Spd

Typing: Fire / Bug

Key Moves: Bug Buzz (77.7%), Heat Wave (65.7%), Quiver Dance (50.2%), Protect (41.1%), Rage Powder (31%), Giga Drain (25.2%), Hidden Power (21.5%), Tailwind (17.9%), Fire Blast (14.4%), Flamethrower (13.3%), Will-O-Wisp (?%)

Common Items: Rocky Helmet (19.3%), Life Orb (13.9%), Lum Berry (13.7%), Focus Sash (12.2%), Sitrus Berry (11.9%), Choice Scarf (11.5%)

• Volcarona is a Pokémon I would consider to be one of the better designs in VGC. It can run a handful of sets effectively, but none of them are overwhelming. It has really great offensive typing, but it comes at the cost of some big weaknesses to Rock and Flying. It’s a Pokémon I think is underplayed at this point in the season, but it has enough options that I think it should be coming back here. Like Hitmontop, it doesn’t enjoy Mega Salamence or Talonflame existing much, but at least picking up a resistance to Fairy balances things out for the moth.
• The most interesting Volcarona set right now may actually be the one that has changed the most since 2013: Rage Powder. Flame Body, once a nearly useless ability, is actually really strong with all the physical attackers flying around now. If Kangaskhan wants to target it, it has to take two 30% chances at burning itself, in addition to potentially losing 1/3 of its health to Rocky Helmet. Even when Adamant, Kangaskhan can’t KO defensively trained Bold Volcarona with Return. Even when Bold, Volcarona needs very little investment (52) to OHKO even Mawile as bulky as Ray’s Regionals Mawile with Overheat. Losing Fire/Bug Gem hurts the offensive pressure from Rage Powder Volcarona a little, but Rocky Helmet may be more format-appropriate anyway.
• Quiver Dance still exists! Given Volcarona’s excellent natural Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed, gaining a level in all of three stats makes it extremely powerful if it can be kept away from physical attacks. It’s a little harder to do that successfully in 2015 than in 2013 with so many more physical Pokémon, but the damage output is still crazy. Quiver Dance sets typically go with Lum Berry to stop Thunder Wave or Focus Sash so that Volcarona is basically guaranteed to get a Quiver Dance off next to a Fake Out Pokémon.
• Volcarona can also run a plainer offensive set with Life Orb or Choice Scarf. While it doesn’t have amazing fantastic coverage, Bug Buzz, Heat Wave, Hidden Power Ice or Ground, Giga Drain, or Fire Blast are typically good enough thanks to Volcarona’s STABs being so strong. Tailwind is also a niche option for Life Orb or even for Rage Powder Volcarona.
• 43.4% of Volcarona are Modest, the Nature best suited for Choice Scarf and Quiver Dancing Volcarona. Timid is next at 26.3%, which synergizes particularly well with Life Orb and allows Speed ties with other base 100s like Mega Kangaskhan.. Finally, Bold Volcarona the dream clocks in at a respectable 22%, soon to rise to 220%.

Scrafty

Base stats: 65 HP / 90 Atk / 115 Def / 45 SAtk / 115 SDef / 58 Spd

Typing: Dark / Fighting

Key Moves: Fake Out (93.9%), Drain Punch (86.8%), Crunch (48.4%), Knock Off (42.8%), Protect (33.5%), Ice Punch (28.2%), Quick Guard (15.6%), Hi Jump Kick (10.3%)

Common Items: Lum Berry (21.1%), Assault Vest (19.2%), Eject Button (14.7%), Leftovers (11.7%), Sitrus Berry (9.6%), Rocky Helmet (7.5%)

• Once Hitmontop’s more defensive, less popular cousin, Scrafty may now be the better Pokémon, since now Hitmontop doesn’t do any damage either. Scrafty is in some ways now the more aggressive alternative, featuring higher defensive stats but a more offensive movepool featuring Knock Off, Crunch, and Ice Punch instead of Hitmontop’s Wide Guard, Helping Hand, and Feint. I don’t think either of them are among the format’s premier Fighting-types, but Scrafty is still a viable Pokémon for teams looking for Intimidate, particularly for teams aiming to play a slower tempo. Like with Hitmontop, the influx of Flying- and Fairy-type Pokémon, as well as all of the Intimidate and Will-O-Wisp, have really reduced the potential impact of Scrafty in the current metagame.
• Scrafty most commonly uses a defensive item like Lum Berry, Leftovers, or Sitrus Berry with Fake Out, Drain Punch, Crunch or Knock Off, and Protect, though Protect is sometimes dropped for Quick Guard or another attack. Scrafty is pretty sturdy, so it can get off its fair share of Knock Offs to disrupt the enemy after getting in an early Fake Out and Intimidate. Like Hitmontop, it can also spread Intimidates more with Eject Button, though it’s likely to get its Knock Off interrupted by doing so due to its low Speed, which isn’t always a good trade for Scrafty.
• The other option for Scrafty is for it to do its best impression of Conkeldurr with Assault Vest. Without Guts, it’s very prone to being burned, and the extra weaknesses from Scrafty’s partial Dark typing make it easier to KO than Conkeldurr. Fake Out and Intimidate make Scrafty’s version of the set much more supportive than Conkeldurr’s however, and with STAB on Knock Off Scrafty gets some extra damage with it compared to Conkeldurr in spite of Scrafty’s much lower Attack.
• Adamant (51.7%) is the most common Nature for Scrafty, with fellow Attack-booster Brave third at 15.8%. Second is Careful (20.3%), the only common Nature that boosts one of Scrafty’s highest stats.

Greninja

Base stats: 72 HP / 95 Atk / 67 Def / 103 SAtk / 71 SDef / 122 Spd

Typing: Water / Dark

Key Moves: Ice Beam (83.4%), Protect (50.5%), Dark Pulse (48.3%), Gunk Shot (44.3%), Low Kick (34.8%), Grass Knot (22.4%), Hydro Pump (20.6%), Scald (20%, Rock Slide (17.6%), Mat Block (14.8%)

Common Items: Life Orb (48.5%), Focus Sash (27%), Expert Belt (10%), Choice Scarf (9.9%)

• Greninja has to be the silliest competitive Pokémon ever. While its presence in singles has become a little… suspect… because of its wall-breaking ability, in VGC it is a very risky, frail, and high-damage Pokémon. It was typically favored by newer players in VGC 2014, except in the post-ORAS version of VGC 2014, where it was favored by people who wanted to win without working very hard. In the context of the more defensive 2015 format, Greninja is probably not going to be a top tier threat, but if it can get a couple unresisted attacks off it’s very capable of trading better than 1-for-1 because of Protean giving it STAB on everything. Plus, Greninja is just fun to use. There’s not many plays in VGC like changing Greninja’s type with Protean to survive an attack that would otherwise have KOd it.
• Greninja can use either Life Orb or Expert Belt for some added damage to pick up KOs, or Focus Sash to be able to survive a hit. The offensive items tend to be a little stronger, since if you predict well with them you’re going to KO whatever you’re targeting before you get hit anyway. With that said, Focus Sash is definitely safer if you’re having a hard time anticipating your opponent’s moves. Greninja can use any of its high BP attacks well thanks to Protean, with the moves above largely being listed in order of how strong their offensive typing is. One of Greninja’s strengths is that it can pick up a coverage move to help its team if it doesn’t have coverage with a particular type, so experiment with it. Ice Beam for Dragons and Landorus, Dark Pulse for Aegislash and Cresselia, and Gunk Shot for Sylveon drive the three most common attacks right now, with Low Kick for Kangaskhan being the next most common. Protect is only used about half the time, but I would strongly suggest it since Greninja applies a lot of pressure that its opponents will definitely try to react to.
• It’s fast, it’s fun!
• Greninja’s most common Natures all increase its Speed, allowing it to activate Protean and attack before its opponents. In fact, Greninja’s common Natures are every Speed-increase Nature: Timid (41.2%), Naive (30.4%), Hasty (11.3%), and Jolly (10.2%).

Latios

Base stats: 80 HP / 90 -> 130 Atk / 80 -> 100 Def / 130 -> 160 SAtk / 110 -> 120 SDef / 110 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Poor stat distribution means there’s usually better uses of both Mega Evolution and Latios. About one in four Latios currently Mega Evolve.

Typing: Dragon / Psychic

Key Moves: Draco Meteor (85.1%), Psychic (55.6%), Protect (32.8%), Psyshock (32.5%), Ice Beam (31%), Thunderbolt (20.3%), Tailwind (18.8%), Shadow Ball (14.6%), Light Screen (14.1%), Dragon Pulse (11.4%)

Common Items: Latiosite (22.9%), Focus Sash (17.6%), Choice Specs (15%), Choice Scarf (13.8%), Life Orb (11.2%)

• Popular in the past for being the fastest Dragon, Latios’ plans have hit a kink as it is, well, no longer the fastest Dragon. Choice Scarf Hydreigon and Salamence are more common than ever and Mega Salamence existing at all makes things a lot trickier for Latios. That’s without mentioning the loss of Dragon Gem,which was by far the most common item for Latios in the West in 2013. Latios is still one of the fastest viable Pokémon in the format, but with its strengths reduced its weaknesses are more pronounced. While Latios has better coverage than most Dragons, it lacks a Fire-type attack stronger than Hidden Power, which is a big problem this year. Psychic is also just not a very good STAB any longer with so few Fighting-type Pokémon around, and Dragon also got worse thanks to Fairy-types existing. Latios’ Mega Forme is also almost never used, which isn’t too surprising, since it got a weaker stat spread than Latias’ did.
• It’s too early in the season for Hydreigon to reclaim the Iron Throne, so it should be Latios’ time to shine.
• Latios can still prey on non-Scarf Hydreigon, Garchomp, Salamence, and Terrakion pretty effectively, and it does a decent chunk of damage to most of the field. Many slower Pokémon like Aegislash and Sylveon can easily KO it back, however, so it needs a lot more support than it used to — particularly support in the form of Helping Hand to vastly increase the damage threshold it can KO opponents at to avoid taking a return hit. Choice Specs can also help a lot with this, though it also makes Latios much more dangerous to play.
• Draco Meteor and Psychic or Psyshock are a given, but things get murky from there. Protect should really be at 100% for all non-Choice Latios, as failing to scout a Choice Scarf from Hydreigon or Salamence will result in Latios’ game ending prematurely. The last slot has a bunch of mediocre coverage options — Thunderbolt for… Gyarados?, Ice Beam for Landorus, Energy Ball for Swampert, Shadow Ball for Aegislash — but all of them are a little niche for common use. Tailwind gives Latios some support potential if it isn’t Choiced, though it’s difficult enough to get free turns for Latios without spending one to set up.
• When not using a Choice item, Latiosite or Life Orb are by far the strongest items. Life Orb was pretty popular in 2012-13 in Japan, and frankly I think it was stronger than Dragon Gem even in 2013 once most players realized they needed to EV to survive Dragon Gem Meteors to begin with. With Dragon Gem gone, I’m surprised more people haven’t adjusted to it as the default item yet.
• Latios is overwhelmingly Timid (91.4%), with Timid’s Speed boost allowing Latios to capitalize on its base Speed being higher than the non-Mega Dragons.

Blastoise

Base stats: 79 HP / 83 -> 103 Atk / 100 -> 120 Def / 85 -> 135 SAtk / 105 -> 115 SDef / 78 Spd

Typing: Water

Probability of Mega Evolving: Blastoisinite is the only thing keeping it out of your PC.

Key Moves: Protect (79.5%), Aura Sphere (77.9%), Water Spout (76.1%), Ice Beam (46.5%), Dark Pulse (33.6%), Dragon Pulse (27%), Fake Out (20.1%), Water Pulse (19.5%)

Common Items: Blastoisinite (96.1%)

• On this list almost exclusively because of its weighted top 20 usage on the Showdown’s ladder, Blastoise still has one of the better and more reliable special spread attacks. It is still just as reliant on having support from Follow Me, Rage Powder, or some form of Speed control as ever to actually use that spread damage, however. Blastoise is one of the less consistent viable mega Pokémon as a result of the support it needs, but having a powerful, reliable spread move like Water Spout on your Mega can be worth the required support.
• Blastoise nearly always uses Protect, Aura Sphere, and Water Spout, with the last move being Ice Beam for Dragons (better) or Dark Pulse for Aegislash (crazy). Dragon Pulse does slightly more damage to Dragons that aren’t 4x weak to Ice than Ice Beam, but results in an overall loss of coverage.
• The Blastoise on Battle Spot are almost exclusively Modest (80.6%), but given that nearly all of the competitive Blastoise in VGC 2014 were Timid (9.3%), I would take that with a grain of salt. More interesting are the Quiet Blastoise (9.7%), showing that at least someone somewhere is trying it in Trick Room instead of Camerupt for some reason.
• The metagame early in the format seems to be built around an Intimidate and anti-Intimidate arms race, so there’s certainly some merit to using special-based Mega Pokémon right now. With 120 Defense, Blastoise is able to win the one-on-one with Mega Salamence fairly easily, though it typically loses to Mega Kangaskhan over two turns in that duel.

Excadrill

Base stats: 100 HP / 135 Atk / 60 Def / 50 SAtk / 65 SDef / 88 Spd

Typing: Steel / Ground

Key Moves: Rock Slide (90.4%), Iron Head (90.1%), Earthquake (70.1%), Protect (69.2%), Drill Run (46.7%), Magnet Rise (?%)

Common Items: Life Orb (45%), Choice Scarf (23.8%), Focus Sash (19.5%)

• Excadrill is a strange Pokémon. It has unique typing, a horrible movepool, good STABs, good attack, and stats that are otherwise OK but not optimized especially well. However, Excadrill is just good enough that it has a couple of classic pairings centered around it. One uses Sand Rush to combine with Sandstream Tyranitar, while the other uses Mold Breaker and combines with redirection from Togekiss. As long as Excadrill can be given the support to let it actually attack, it has proven to be an effective Pokémon in both 2012 and 2013. Now that Steel is actually a useful STAB in 2015, it should get a little better.
• While many people look at Excadrill and expect it to be paired with Tyranitar to abuse Sand Rush (41.2%), it’s actually Randy-mode Mold Breaker that’s been more popular so far at 57.6%. With Tyranitar not seeming to be as strong as it was in 2013, it makes sense Excadrill has adapted. There are still plenty of Levitating Pokémon to Earthquake.
• With such a shallow movepool, there is little deviation in Excadrill’s build. Without Ground Gem, it basically has to go Life Orb or Focus Sash on a standard set unless you want to go crazy with Choice Band. Rock Slide, Iron Head, and Earthquake or Drill Run are basically necessary, though Magnet Rise won a couple tournaments in 2013.
• While Choice Band has been more popular traditionally than Choice Scarf, Excadrill can certainly pull off the Choice Scarf look. Adamant Mold Breaker Choice Scarf Earthquake irritates a lot of teams that are using Levitate to counter Ground-type Pokémon, though Excadrill must be careful not to give away its Scarf with its Ability activation message. For Excadrill not looking to carry two Ground-type attacks, Protect can instead be replaced by some fantastic attacks like Horn Drill (8.8%!) and X-Scissor on Choice sets.
• Excadrill is nearly always Adamant (82.1%), with a hint of Jolly (17.9%). Excadrill is fast enough that the Speed does help from Jolly, but it’s just slow enough that since Jolly is outrun by the base 90s and 100s anyway (and because it so frequently supported by Pokémon like Tyrantiar and Togekiss) getting the extra damage is often worth the loss in Speed.

Manectric

Base stats: 70 HP / 75 Atk / 60 -> 80 Def / 105 -> 135 SAtk / 60 -> 80 SDef / 105 -> 135 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Nearly guaranteed, though it often delays its Mega Evolving and can function reasonably as a non-Mega on teams with two Megas.

Typing: Electric

Key Moves: Protect (84.8%), Hidden Power (83.5%), Thunderbolt (58.6%), Overheat (55.3%), Volt Switch (59.8%), Flamethrower (32.3%), Thunder (14.9%), Snarl (3.8%)

Common Items: Manectricite (85.3%)

• While not part of the top group of Megas, Manectric is a very strong Pokémon and probably wound up a little undervalued late in 2014. It can function effectively as a non-Mega when needed thanks to Lightningrod, which will be in much higher demand in 2015 thanks to the return of Thundurus. Functioning as a second Mega will probably be necessary for Manectric now, as with an increased pool of top Megas it’s going to be harder for players to justify building around it exclusively. Manectric is in the competition with Landorus for the best Pokémon in the game at spreading Intimidate thanks to Volt Switch, and it even gets the unique ability to Intimidate after switches happen on the turn it Mega Evolves. Manectric’s weakness is its frailty, so it must play very defensively with Protect and Volt Switch most of the time.
• Manectric has a limited movepool, but thanks to being one of the only Electric-type Pokémon with access to Flamethrower and Overheat it has what it needs. Protect and Volt Switch are pretty integral to Manectric being the Intimidate spreading monster it was born to be, while Overheat or Flamethrower and Hidden Power Ice give it the coverage it would choose over basically anything else. Snarl is used very infrequently, but can make Manectric extremely annoying combined with Intimidate.
• Volt Switch is sometimes replaced by a stronger Electric-type attack so Manectric can focus on offense, though at that point I’d wonder why a stronger Mega wasn’t selected instead of Manectric.
• Speed is important to Manectric, so it nearly always goes Timid (82.4%) even though it hurts some of its XHKOs. Modest (15.5%) is selected infrequently to add power.

Smeargle

Base stats: 55 HP / 20 Atk / 35 Def / 20 SAtk / 45 SDef / 75 Spd

Typing: Normal

Key Moves: Dark Void (98.8%), Follow Me (50.3%), Transform (43.2%), Spiky Shield (40.6%), King’s Shield (37.6%), Sheer Cold (23.5%), Fake Out (20.1%), Wide Guard (11.4%), Tailwind (11%)

Common Items: Focus Sash (70.2%), Choice Scarf (13.6), Mental Herb (12.7%)

• Forget Pokémon that are used only for their Abilities, Smeargle is used only for one move! While many players were hoping to see Dark Void get banned this year, it didn’t have especially impressive tournament results in 2014 due to so few players choosing to play it, so it seems to be here to stay. It is pretty telling that while Smeargle can learn literally every move in the game, Dark Void is still appearing at a 99% clip, even on Battle Spot. Smeargle’s frailty is even easier to exploit in 2015 than it was in 2014, and the addition of more Prankster Taunt users may offer relief to some teams, but underprepared teams will continue to fall the Dark Voiding menace.
• Smeargle is most commonly paired with Kangaskhan, as Fake Out makes it easy for Smeargle to Dark Void or Tailwind. Tailwind in that scenario best illustrates the difficulty of playing against Smeargle: Dark Void forces most teams to play very predictably. If you double Protect to stop Fake Out, Smeargle can get a free Tailwind as you do, allowing it to threaten an even easier Dark Void on turn 2 and freeing Kangaskhan up to Power-Up Punch. This goes all the way to team preview as well — even if you have a great counter to Smeargle, the Smeargle player doesn’t need to bring it. Smeargle creates more pressure and forces more predictable plays than any other Pokémon in the format because of Dark Void.
• Smeargle usually grabs Focus Sash, Follow Me, and one of Spiky Shield and King’s Shield to go with Dark Void. King’s Shield not blocking status moves and especially Taunt is a big drawback, but the double Attack lower can really mess with players who try to rush Smeargle down before Dark Void hits. Follow Me lets Smeargle continue to support in situations where it can’t use Dark Void by redirecting attacks away from its teammates. While Smeargle is much more frail than traditional users of Follow Me, it can take two hits with Focus Sash and prevent things like Sucker Punch and Will-O-Wisp from hitting more important Pokémon. The last slot is a grab bag, with Transform (usually used on its Kangaskhan partner) and Tailwind being the ones I think are actually most commonly seen.
• While Focus Sash is by far the most common item choice, Choice Scarf is occasionally seen, throwing a wrench into the plans of teams who planned on stopping Smeargle by outrunning it. The high probability of Smeargle being OHKOd with Choice Scarf makes it not an especially powerful set, but the threat of Choice Scarf compounds the problems Smeargle creates as yet another way that standard solutions to Smeargle can fail.
• Smeargle typically wants to be max Speed even with Choice Scarf, since it isn’t going to do any damage anyway. As a result, Jolly (51.8%) and Timid (30.3%) are the most common Natures. No other Nature really has a noteworthy amount of usage.

Lucario

Base stats: 70 HP / 110 -> 145 Atk / 70 -> 88 Def / 115 -> 140 SAtk / 70 SDef / 90 -> 112 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: About 50/50, with higher odds of holding the Mega Stone in high level play and a greater chance of not using it when it’s there.

Typing: Steel / Fighting

Key Moves: Close Combat (59.6%), Protect (56.9%), Follow Me (38.8%), Bullet Punch (34.7%), Rock Slide (23.8%), Flash Cannon (24.5%) Aura Sphere (23.1%), Vacuum Wave (15.2%), Final Gambit (14.9%), Extreme Speed (14%), Substitute (?%)

Common Items: Lucarionite (51.7%), Focus Sash (16.8%), Choice Scarf (14.8%)

• Originally one of those Pokémon that appeared on Wi-Fi tournament teams from players that didn’t really know what they were doing yet, Lucario is now actually one of the game’s better Pokémon. I don’t think any Pokémon functions as well as a secondary Mega than Lucario does, as Mega Lucario can get by on two attacks fairly easily to free up a spot for Follow Me. Jeudy Azzarelli put an exclamation point on this line of thought by getting to the finals of last year’s World Championships with a Mega Lucario team that also featured Mega Charizard Y, and I think that team had a lot to teach players about how to play in Worlds in generation 6. Mega Lucario itself still counters Kangaskhan nicely and does strong neutral damage to most targets.
• Mega Lucario can go special or physical, with Close Combat and Bullet Punch or Aura Sphere and Flash Cannon. After adding Protect, there is a lot of flexibility for the last move. Early in 2014 we often saw attacks, with some experienced players trying Substitute later in the year and the Follow Me set showing it was probably the best choice on teams using more than one Mega at Worlds.
• Normal Lucario is still playable and has some tricks of its own. One of Lucario’s other cool moves is Final Gambit, which can net some surprise KOs against opponents playing defensively to play around an expected Mega Lucario. Since supportive Lucario would have wanted to train its HP to take more hits with Follow Me anyway, Final Gambit is pretty easy to throw on. As with Follow Me Mega Lucario, the Final Gambit / Follow Me normal Lucario had a big standout performance last summer that showed its value, this time from Simon Yip at US Nationals.
• 15% of Lucario using Choice Scarf makes it something worth looking out for if seen on team preview, but Lucario is a strange Pokémon to Scarf. It doesn’t have fantastic offensive typing or a massive Attack score. What it can do is use Choice Scarf Final Gambit, which is certainly capable of getting some cheap KOs, as well as use Inner Focus to outrun Kangaskhan, block Fake Out, and then Close Combat it like Sawk can. Close Combat, Rock Slide, Final Gambit, and one of Follow Me, Bullet Punch, and Extreme Speed wind up being the set for physical Choice Scarf Lucario most of the time.
• Lucario is most frequently Jolly because of some other Pokémon near its Speed stats before and after Mega Evolution, including Kangaskhan, Thundurus, Terrakion, and other Lucario. Adamant is sometimes used for more power and is always used with Choice Scarf. Timid (15.9%), Naive (6.9%), and Modest (4.4%) occasionally appear for specially-based Lucario.

Weavile

Base stats: 70 HP / 120 Atk / 65 Def / 45 SAtk / 85 SDef / 125 Spd

Typing: Dark / Ice

Key Moves: Fake Out (95.3%), Knock Off (85.8%), Icicle Crash (57.1%), Low Kick (54.2%), Ice Shard (31.1%), Ice Punch (24%), Protect (13.5%), Beat Up (12.1%)

Common Items: Focus Sash (69.1%), Life Orb (18.3%)

• Like Lucario, Weavile is a Pokémon that would have gone under the category “badstuffs” for most experienced players during generation 5. Unlike Lucario, it didn’t improve that much with generation 6. However, due to Dark-type being better STAB than it used to be, Ice-type staying amazing, and Knock Off being vastly buffed, Weavile now shows up so frequently on Battle Spot that I had to include it on this list.
• Weavile’s main tricks are Fake Out and being the fastest user of STAB Knock Off in the format. With 120 Attack, its Knock Off actually does a lot of damage. If it can get a Fake Out and a couple of Knock Offs off with the help of a partner and its Focus Sash before it faints, it has probably traded well enough that it was worth using. Icicle Crash lets it smear the format’s many Ice-weak Pokémon, Low Kick can do the same for Kangaskhan (though even with Life Orb it can’t OHKO), Ice Shard gives it an excellent priority move if its Speed isn’t going to be enough to let it move before it faints, and Beat Up lets it turn Terrakion into a monster.
• Focus Sash is almost always used on Weavile to allow it to take two hits, ensuring that it will at least survive until towards the end of turn 2 in most scenarios. Knock Off or Icicle Crash + an attack from its partner creates a lot of pressure against most Pokémon in the format, so unlike in 2013, Weavile is actually plenty capable of staying on the field longer than that.
• A Pokémon famed for its Speed, Weavile is predominantly Jolly (93.7%) by one of the biggest margins on this list. Adamant only manages 5.6%.

The post An Early VGC 2015 Metagame Overview: 50 Pokémon to Prepare For appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hi, I’m Demitrios Kaguras, and I managed to place 3rd at the San Jose Regional Championship. I was very happy with this, considering it was my first tournament as a master. I’ve been working on basically the same team since February, so I’m glad I had some success with it. I’ll talk about the team first, then go over the games I played throughout the tournament.

Origin and Evolution

When I first created this team, I was completely new to VGC. I just saw a few Pokémon next to each other in my box, and decided to take them to my first regional.

This was my first VGC team ever, and I took it to the Seattle regional last Spring. It consisted of Mega Garchomp, physical Chople Berry Tyranitar, Liechi Berry Talonflame, Thunder Wave/Taunt Gyarados, Focus Sash Alakazam, and Light Clay Klefki. At the time, I didn’t know that Mega Garchomp was generally considered inferior to its non-mega counterpart, and I didn’t really have a justification for using it. I somehow managed to get 2nd place in the Senior division with this strange team, but I still wasn’t satisfied with how it performed. I did not like Klefki at all, and Alakazam never seemed to carry its weight, even with a focus sash. I loved Mega Garchomp though. I edited the team a bit, using some more standard Pokemon.

I swapped Klefki and Alakazam for Substitute Leftovers Aegislash and Choice Specs Gardevoir. I also changed Tyranitar to a Dragon Dance Lum Berry variant, and gave Talonflame a Life Orb. These changes were made to adjust to the metagame, which I was finally beginning to understand, while still keeping the original type synergy of the team. I used this version of the team through US Nationals, up until Worlds LCQ, where I made another change.

Life Orb Substitute Chandelure took Talonflame’s spot, and I gave Aegislash a Weakness Policy. After removing Talonflame, I came to realize how much I missed its powerful priority Brave Birds. I lost in the first round in LCQ, partly due to my DS freezing, which was very disappointing. I still won a couple side tournaments with the team and had a lot of fun with it. But, after Worlds, I decided the team still needed improvement.

I got rid of Chandelure and went back to Talonflame right away. I also changed Gyarados to Choice Scarf Staraptor to help with my poor Rotom-Wash matchup, and to take out Pokémon like Garchomp if they were causing trouble. I also gave Tyranitar a mixed Weakness Policy set, and changed Aegislash’s item back to Leftovers. I honestly liked Aegislash better with Weakness Policy, and only changed it due to item clause. I changed Garchomp from solely physical to mixed with Draco Meteor. This was the team I used against my friends and online until the night before regionals, where I made another last second change.

This was the final version of the team that I brought to regionals.

The Team

Garchomp @Garchompite
Ability: Sand Veil
EVS: 20 HP/ 208 Atk / 28 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
-Draco Meteor
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Protect

Mega Garchomp is my favorite mega in X and Y, and my favorite to use competitively. I used a mixed set due to the huge amount of Intimidate and Will-O-Wisp in VGC. The EVs allow it to survive Modest Zapdos HP Ice 100% of the time and Modest Mega Manectric HP Ice 68.7% of the time. It also gives it a bit of additional overall bulk. This came in handy during one of my matches in Swiss, where I won with 3 HP left on my Mega Garchomp. It can also survive weaker Ice Beams from Pokémon like Politoed. The Special Attack basically allows it to OHKO all relevant dragons, besides Goodra, all the time. Some bulkier Hydreigons have a chance to survive, but this hasn’t been an issue so far. I maxed out speed to speed tie other Garchomps and outspeed all base 100s before or on the first turn of mega evolving. Even if I lose the speed tie with other Garchomp, I can take a Dragon Claw and KO back. The rest of the EVs were dumped into attack, to really give that Sand Force boosted Earthquake some power. Mega Garchomp has worked really well for me. Most people assume Tyranitar or Gyarados to be my primary mega when they first see the team, so Mega Garchomp gives the otherwise standard team a surprise factor. Those prepared for a regular Garchomp’s Earthquake are surprised when it mega evolves and picks up two KOs with Earthquake that a regular Garchomp could never have achieved. Its Earthquake is one of the most powerful spread attacks in the game, and that’s what I try to take advantage of.

208 Atk Sand Force Mega Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mega Mawile in Sand: 164-194 (104.4 – 123.5%) — guaranteed OHKO

Mega Garchomp packs a punch, and backs it up with solid bulk and a respectable speed. This Pokémon is the star of the team, no doubt.

Tyranitar @Weakness Policy
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 100 HP / 252 Atk / 40 Def / 68 SpA / 48 SpD
Brave Nature
– Rock Slide
– Crunch
– Ice Beam
– Protect

Tyranitar has always been a reliable member of my team, and I love how many different sets it can run. Special Tyranitar has been popular lately, but I prefer a more physically-focused one. This Pokémon is scary after a Weakness Policy boost, even when Intimidated. Ice Beam takes out Garchomp and Salamence, and can KO Hydreigon at +2. On this team, Tyranitar also had the role of setting up sand to activate Garchomp’s Sand Force. I chose a Brave nature to boost Attack without compromising Special Attack, since Speed wasn’t that important for Tyranitar. I honestly don’t remember what the EVs were designed to survive, but the point was to help Tyranitar take hits easily and get the great Weakness Policy boost. Weakness Policy allows Tyranitar to get some surprise KOs, which helps a lot, especially in combination with Mega Garchomp’s power. I did not lead with Tyranitar Garchomp very often, due to some bad synergy between the two, but they were both used in almost every battle, since I love Sand Force boosted Earthquake. Tyranitar also helps against rain, which is really important considering rain’s surge in popularity

+2 252+ Atk Mega Tyranitar Crunch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Kangaskhan: 178-211 (98.3 – 116.5%) — 93.8% chance to OHKO

If Kangaskhan tries to set up with Power Up Punch, I can gain an easy KO on fast sets.

Surprise KOs are always nice, especially in best of one games. Weakness Policy is obviously a lot less effective in best of three, but I still thought it was a really good item choice, and fit Tyranitar really well. Tyranitar’s great bulk, huge amount of weakness, and its ability to go mixed makes it the perfect candidate for this item, and I thought it worked really well. Overall, Tyranitar was a Pokémon I brought to almost all of my matches, and every time it did its job well.

Talonflame @Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 64 Def / 12 SpA / 176 Spe
Naughty Nature
– Brave Bird
– Overheat
– Taunt
– Protect

I really love using this Pokémon. The pressure it can apply with priority Brave Birds is great, and its Fire typing was also very helpful. I initially had Flare Blitz, but changed it to Overheat after seeing it at Worlds. This was definitely a good choice, as Overheat can take down things like Ferrothorn without recoil damage. This happened during one of my swiss matches, where it came down to my 3 HP Talonflame vs. a full HP Ferrothorn.  Talonflame’s Flying type was useful as well, allowing it to dodge Garchomp’s Earthquakes and KO any fighting types or switch in on Fighting-Type moves threatening Tyranitar. Taunt was used as a filler simply because I did not have Taunt on the team. I feel like Taunt is a really strong and necessary move, and I wanted it somewhere on the team. It can stop Trick Room and prevent Will-O-Wisp users from threatening my powerful physical attackers. Talonflame’s EVs allow it to outspeed Kangaskhan’s Sucker Punch, and to survive Life Orb Brave Bird from other Talonflame and KO back. Overall, I’d say Talonflame is my favorite Fire Type in the VGC ’14 metagame. It was a very valuable member of this team, and I brought it to almost all of my battles.

Gyarados @Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 20 Atk / 28 SpD / 212 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Waterfall
– Earthquake
– Dragon Dance
– Protect

This mega was a last-second choice. I bred and trained it the night before regionals after bouncing ideas around with my friend the day before. It was put on the team because I didn’t feel that Staraptor was reliable enough. I also wanted the flexibility of two megas. I chose Gyarados because I felt it worked both in and out of mega form. I could bring both Gyarados and Garchomp to one match and choose which to mega evolve depending on the circumstances of the match, since both Pokémon could work well in their regular forms as well. I also wanted something on the team that could set up, since none of my other Pokémon had boosting moves. Since my team already revolved around a strong Earthquake user, levitate was nice to have. The only problem was that, after mega evolving, Gyarados’ Earthquake was not dodged by Gardevoir’s Telepathy. Thankfully, I was never in a situation where this caused problems for me. The moves are standard, and I don’t remember the purpose of the EV spread to be honest. I built this at the last minute, so I didn’t write down explanations for the EVs, but the spread seemed to work well. Gyarados also brought Intimidate support to the team, which is pretty important.

Aegislash @Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVS: 252 HP / 116 Atk / 140 SpA
Quiet Nature
– Shadow Ball
– Sacred Sword
– Substitute
– King’s Shield

This is probably my least favorite Pokémon on the team. Despite this, it still played an important role. It had a crucial Steel typing, which I like to have on all of my teams. It also has a pretty favorable matchup against standard Kangaskhan, and it had good synergy with the rest of my team. Ghost typing helps with Tyranitar’s Fighting weakness, and Steel allows it to switch in on Ice attacks aimed at Garchomp. My Aegislash is a standard Substitute variant with Sacred Sword. I like Aegislash’s overall awesome bulk and power. I’ve used Weakness Policy Aegislash in the past, and I honestly preferred it to this set, but I felt a Weakness Policy on Tyranitar was more important. The EVs allow for a 2HKO on Kangaskhan with Sacred Sword. One thing to note is that my Aegislash’s speed IV is not zero. There are certain situations where I would much rather have a faster Aegslash than my opponent. I know that if my full HP Aegislash takes on another full HP Aegislash it will most likely lose, but I like knowing that rather than being urged to take the risk with the speed tie, and I can KO other Aegislash that have prior damage before they can hit me. Otherwise, this is your standard Aegislash. It completes the Steel-Fairy-Dragon core that you see a lot of in VGC ’14. It did its job and helped in my top 8 match and during one of my swiss battles, but it was still my least used Pokémon.

Gardevoir @Choice Specs
Ability: Telepathy
EVs: 196 HP / 164 Def / 84 SpA / 60 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
– Dazzling Gleam
– Psychic
– Energy Ball
– Moonblast

Gardevoir is my Fairy Pokémon of choice. I love the power of its Choice Specs boosted attacks. It isn’t hindered by intimidate, which is really important since a lot of my team is physical. Dazzling Gleam is a very strong spread move, and Psychic helps especially against Mega Venusaur.  Energy Ball was added as a very niche move, and it helps deal with Rotom-Wash. Moonblast was used to secure a OHKO on Garchomp. The EVs allow for Gardevoir to survive a 252+ Attack Choice Band Talonflame’s Brave Bird, but also OHKO Salamence with a two-target Dazzling Gleam. Gardevoir fit very well onto my team. Fairy typing is key, and Telepathy allowed it to dodge Garchomp’s Earthquake. With Telepathy, I had three different Pokémon that could switch in when my Garchomp used Earthquake. This allows me to move to a favorable position while still being able to deal massive amounts of damage with Garchomp. Gardevoir could also switch in well for Tyranitar due to its double fighting resistance. One of my favorite positions to be in is to have both Mega Garchomp and Gardevoir on the field with sandstorm up. They can dish out so much damage between Dazzling Gleam and Earthquake. I initially debated using Choice Scarf instead, but I preferred the damage output Choice Specs brings to the table.

Team Playstyle

From the start, there was a specific way I liked to use the team. I would dish out damage and take out threats to Garchomp, with my foes not knowing that it would Mega Evove. When the opportunity arose, I would mega evolve my Garchomp and KO some unsuspecting Pokémon. I have had multiple battles where my opponent had what looked like an easy victory with a 4-1 lead, but I was in a position where Garchomp could KO all four of my opponents Pokémon. Players would identify their win condition, but no one took into account the possibility of Garchomp going mega. This did not always work, of course, as I could easily make bad predictions and lose the way to my own Mega Garchomp win condition. I also struggled a little in best-of-three matches, since my opponents knew Mega Garchomp was coming after game one. This is why I added Mega Gyarados, giving me some more options.

Identifying the Mega Evolution’s Win Condition

Team preview was very important for me. I would look at my opponents team, and see what I had to do in order to get my mega Pokémon into a good position, whether it be winning a weather war for Garchomp to take advantage of Sand Force, taking out that Rotom, or whatever else I had to do. If I saw a very unfavorable matchup, I would bring Gyarados and try to get into a position where I could set up Dragon Dances.

Talonflame Pressure

Talonflame was very important to the team as a whole. I mainly used it as a way to pressure certain foes, forcing them to Protect or to switch. I could pin down my foes and put them in unfavorable positions. A well played switch into Talonflame can change the flow of a battle immensely. Take my round 8 match for example. I had a Garchomp encored into Protect and a Gyarados against a Azumarill at max attack, but in Brave Bird range, and a Raichu. I protected Gyarados from a double target, and brought Talonflame in safely, pressuring the Azumarill. He protected Azumarill, but I attacked Raichu, getting the KO.

Playing Safe and Mind Games

I rarely make super crazy predictions that can make or break a game. Whenever I make a risky play, I try to back it up well enough so I feel I can come back if it goes as wrong as possible. Of course, there are some situations where this isn’t possible. Sometimes, it all comes down to mind games, like whether or not someone will use protect. This is part of why I lost my semifinals match. In game two, I predicted and protected well with my leads. But game three, I ran into the exact same situation. This is what would be called a mind game. I did not know what to do. It was 50-50. Do they go for the same move, or do they predict me predicting that and actually do something else? What if they predict me trying to predict them trying to predict me and they make the right move? What if I predict at too high of a level and make an error? In the end, there were only two moves, but no way to know for sure which one to choose. It felt more like a luck-based decision to me. There wasn’t really a way to know what to do, and I did not have reliable switches. I ultimately made the wrong decision, and they made the right one, and that’s part of why I lost that match. I try to avoid mind games whenever possible, and I try to play it safe. I only make risky predictions when necessary. In my round 8 match, I used Waterfall and Brave Bird on my opponent’s Mega Tyranitar, knowing even if he Protected, I’d still have Mega Garchomp to finish up. (I did not take into account Wide Guard on his Aegislash, but I’ll talk about that later.) Making safe plays allowed me to win in the most reliable way.

Weather

I loved having a slow Tyranitar because I would always have the weather advantage against Politoed. Charizard-Y could be handled easily with some switching, and hail was never a problem. This meant I was battling in my weather most of the time. My team did not revolve completely around weather however. It had a type of weather mode, with one Pokémon being dedicated to setting up sand, and one to abusing it. My other Pokémon could function well in and out of sand. I like to have multiple options available and choose my game plan at team preview.

Battles

My notes only included what my opponents had and what they brought, so sorry about my lack of in-depth information. Sorry if you’re mentioned and I don’t have your name.

Round 1

I was sort of scared at team preview, because this looked like a really strong team. I felt pretty confident with my matchup, however. I knew I wanted Talonflame for Conkeldurr and Amoonguss. Garchomp would be able to do quite a bit of damage as well. Tyranitar could deal with Chandelure and set up sand, and Gardevoir could take out Amoongus, Conkeldurr, or Hydreigon. Gyarados and Aegislash didn’t look as useful, so I didn’t bring them to the battle. My opponent did not bring his Kangaskhan or his Amoonguss. Early into  the match, my opponent switched Conkeldurr in on a Brave Bird. He also missed a Draco Meteor, but I don’t think that mattered.

WIN (Record is 1-0)

Round 2

This was a very close match. I’m not entirely sure which Pokémon I brought to the match, but I know I brought Tyranitar and Garchomp. My opponent brought Gardevoir, Staraptor,Tyranitar, and Garchomp. Early in the battle, my opponent’s Gardevoir used Ally Switch, which caught me seriously off guard and messed with my thought process. At the time, I didn’t know Ally Switch had Priority, so I thought he was holding a Choice Scarf and would switch, but I was completely wrong and misplayed a bit. My Garchomp took a Rock Slide and a Crunch from the +1 Tyranitar throughout the battle, and won me the match with 3 HP remaining. It was my last Pokémon. I was really thankful I invested those 20 EVs in HP, or I probably wouldn’t be writing this right now.

WIN (Record is 2-0)

Round 3

I remember my opponent saying that he hadn’t been to many events, so that put me at a bit of ease. I told him I had taken second at an event last year, and he started to say that there was no way he would win. But, judging by his record and team, he was at least a competent foe. I played extremely well for most of this match, making perfect reads. But when I had the game locked down, his ferrothorn Critical Hit my Garchomp after it and Talonflame took a hit from Heat Wave. My Talonflame managed to survive that turn with 3 HP, and it was my last Pokémon. But, all that was left was the full HP Ferrothorn. My opponent asked if Iron Barbs activated before or after Ferrothorn was KO’d. I told him before, and he got pretty excited. Thank god for Overheat.

WIN (Record is 3-0)

Round 4

I was really surprised to see a team like this make it this far. One word popped into my head as soon as I saw team preview: Talonflame. Talonflame could  OHKO Everything besides Aegislash, barring Focus Sash. I think I led Tyranitar and Talonflame, breaking sash with Sandstorm, and then proceeding to Brave Bird his team to death. I won against his team of Vileplume, Machamp, Aegislash, and Weavile rather quickly, and I was relieved to have some time to relax before round 5.

WIN (Record is 4-0)

Round 5 vs Daniel C.

The first opponent I actually recognized. I remembered using Rock Slide to flinch his Mawile and winning in top 8 at Seattle Regionals last year. It was really cool to see a fellow first year master doing well. This was the first battle where I brought Mega Gyarados, in order to hit Rotom and Hydreigon. I set Gyarados up and used Earthquake a lot to win. I was really happy to see my last-second choice do really well, as I may not have been able to win otherwise. Mega Mawile was scary as always, and this was actually the first one I had seen so far.

WIN (Record is 5-0)

Round 6 vs Mitchell

I don’t remember this guy’s last name, but he was a nice guy and I talked with him and his friend a bit throughout the tournament. At a side event the day before, I had lost to him, so I was feeling really nervous right away. I saw the team and expected Trick Room right away. I was feeling good about taunting with Talonflame and letting it faint, then letting Mega Gyarados and Garchomp Earthquake through the rest of his team. Turn 1 went really well, just as planned. I used Taunt on Gardevoir, mega evolved and used Dragon Dance with Gyarados, and brought in Garchomp after Talonflame was KOd by Mega Tyranitar’s Rock Slide. I was really sure Earthquake from both of my Pokémon would take out his. This didn’t happen. I was so nervous this far into the tournament, and I was not playing as well as I could have. I didn’t take into account the fact that Gardevoir probably had a Sitrus Berry, and that Tyranitar would have a lot bulkier of a spread than Dragon Dance ones. Both of his Pokémon survived with a sliver of health each, and both of my Pokémon fell. I was crushed.

LOSS (Record is 5-1)

Round 7

Mitchell and one of his friends gave me some words of encouragement before this match, and it actually helped a lot. I went into this match confident. I was up against a sun team. I was prepared for this matchup. I was extremely nervous at this point, more than I probably have ever been before. I knew that I just had to get my sand up, and I should be able to win. This match turned into a huge weather war, with lots of switches. It was a really long battle. But, I felt I was in control the whole time. I knew that I’d be able to seal up victory if I didn’t miss a Rock Slide at the end, and thankfully, I didn’t. After winning, I tried to take the cap off of a pen to mark the match slip, but I couldn’t. My hands were so sweaty… I realized that I now had only one more match to win. It was do or die.

WIN (Record is 6-1)

Round 8 vs Andre E.

This video pretty much shows it all. The match was cut off, but I won it. I was unbelievably nervous at this point. I had never been streamed before, and did not want to fail in front of everyone. But, I recognized the team and it looked like I could win it. When I made the switch to Talonflame, I thought I had it sealed. Azumarill was pressured, Mega Garchomp was ready to come back in and finish the game. It looked great. But when Aegislash used Wide Guard, my heart skipped a beat. I still felt confident however, as I had Draco meteor. But then it missed. My heart skipped another beat. I thought everything was over. I decided to stall and bank on my opponent going for Rock slide and missing. I had a chance to take out Tyranitar, but missed it. I was never expecting him to go for another Dragon Dance when he almost had the game sealed up. Anyway, I was still hoping for justice. Rock Slide had to miss, and thankfully it did. I ended up having just slightly more HP than my opponent’s Aegislash did, so I won. I was heading for top cut!

WIN (Record is 7-1)

Top Cut

Top 8 vs Colten L.

I really don’t remember these matches very well. I know I won game one, and lost game two, so game three was really intense. My spirits were crushed as I instantly lost my Talonflame to Scald on a switch, and I still had to deal with Ferrothorn. But I managed to battle back and take down Ferrothorn with Mega Garchomp’s brute force. This set was really fun to play, and I was beyond relieved when I emerged victorious.

WIN (Set was 2-1)

Top 4 vs Shreyas R.

It all finally came to an end here. Part of this was due to nervousness, and part of it was because my opponent played games two and three really well. I took game one, as Shreyas used Kangaskhan and Jumpluff. I knew this combo really well, as I had tried it out online before. I knew about Rage Powder, Helping Hand, Encore, and Sleep Powder already, so his surprise did not work against me. Games two and three, Shreyas brought Mawile and Hydreigon instead, while I led Talonflame and Tyranitar. Game two I predicted well, protecting Talonflame from Hydreigon’s attack and Ice Beaming Hydreigon while Mawile protected. But I played the rest of the game badly, ultimately losing to Azumarill and Rotom-Heat. Game three, I was far too nervous when met with the same lead matchup. What was I supoosed to do now? Does he expect me to make the same moves as last time? Or should I predict that? It felt like more of a random decision than a mind game, and I played it wrong. There might have been something I could have done, but I was too nervous to play at my prime. I lost rather decisively.

LOSS (Set was 1-2)

Closing Thoughts on Tournament

I had a lot of fun throughout the entire tournament. It was fun to make it so far and do so well. I’m looking forward to future events where I can carry this momentum to some more good performances. On a personal level, I have to work on my nerves, as it was affecting my play farther in the tournament. The tournament ran pretty well overall and I had a blast getting to do what I love and do it well. GGs to everyone.

Closing Thoughts on VGC ’14

I am going to miss this format. It was the first VGC format I played seriously, and I really liked it. The breeding changes are what really got me in to competitive play this generation. I enjoyed the limited format, as there were a lot less things to prepare for, making teambuilding easier. I really liked watching the metagame evolve. Mega evolution spiced things up quite a bit, and I really loved using a mega that wasn’t considered viable. Even the absence of move tutors was kind of nice. The metagame was really fast paced, with the major threats being hard hitters like Kangaskhan and Mawile. We’ll probably see more defensive playstyles next year, with Pokémon like Cresellia back. Speed control had quite the absence though, and I’m looking forward to using Icy Wind next year. This was my favorite format, probably since this is the first VGC format I’ve played seriously. Despite all this, I’m looking forward to playing VGC ’15 next year and doing the same thing all over again.

If you made it all the way through, thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed my report.

The post A Different Garchomp: NorCal Regionals 3rd Place Team Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

In competitive Pokémon, as well as in many other competitive games, a player must make a series of judgments in order to create situations that benefit the player, with the ultimate goal of winning a game. In the interest of time, a player must decide what they can afford to assume in order to free up time for more important choices. These assumptions are examples of cognitive biases.

A cognitive bias, put simply, is a mental shortcut in which a person makes a judgment on something happening and quickly comes to a conclusion, despite not considering the logic of how that conclusion was reached. This isn’t always a bad thing; in fact, even in Pokémon, quickly jumping to a conclusion based on limited information to save time is often preferred. When you have 45 seconds to make a move in your match against your opponent who has a Garchomp on their side of the field, you’d more often that not be correct in assuming that the Garchomp is max Speed with a Jolly nature and using a moveset along the lines of Protect, Earthquake, Rock Slide, and Dragon Claw. If you spend time considering every possibility of moveset, Nature, and Speed on that Garchomp, you’re wasting valuable time in which you could be considering more important information (i.e. its item, which move Garchomp is likely to execute this turn, etc), especially when assuming that the Garchomp will be somewhat standard allows you to make a play that’s “good enough”, even if it’s not optimal.

However, there are quite a few cognitive biases that many players experience while playing that actually hurt their chances of winning or getting better at the game. I could go on for several thousand words about each and every cognitive bias that a player might experience or run into, but instead, I will talk about three common biases in particular: The Dunning-Kruger Effect, confirmation bias, and the Gambler’s Fallacy.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect

I’m sure you’ve noticed this in various aspects of life: someone who has no idea what they’re talking about acting as though they’re an expert on a topic. This behavior has a name in academia: the Dunning-Kruger Effect. This effect, first postulated by Drs. David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University in 1999, basically states that a person who is incompetent at a certain thing will often greatly overestimate how good they are at that thing. An incompetent person will also have no idea how just how incompetent they are at a subject, and often can’t identify other people who are skilled at that subject because they lack the proper reference for how skilled that person really is. In addition, Dunning and Kruger found that people who were really incompetent would have a bigger gap in their perceived competence than people who were only slightly incompetent. Interestingly, they also found that a person who is really good at a certain thing will often underestimate how competent they actually are at it.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect can affect a player’s growth in skill level at Pokémon (and at any other game or activity). A lower- or mid-level player may perceive themselves to be much better than they actually are and come to the conclusion that what they’re doing is optimal, correct, or otherwise infallible. Whether this is a team building issue or a playstyle issue, a player who thinks that they have no room for improvement is often right, not because they’ve reached a skill cap but because they’ve unwittingly imposed a roadblock in their own way. No one will become a better player if they don’t think they can improve any further.

On the flip side, a high-level player might find themselves a terrible teacher, should they decide to help out a lower-level player. Team building and battling have become second nature to this player, and as such they perceive those two concepts to be easier to grasp than they actually are. As a result, there can be some frustration on the part of both the teacher and the student, as the teacher wonders why the student can’t grasp (to the teacher) an almost self-evident concept, and in turn the student gets annoyed with a teacher who seems to be going too fast.

There are several ways to combat the Dunning-Kruger Effect when playing Pokémon. The first step is to consider what level of player you truly are, and one way to do this is to battle a wide variety of people. Research has shown that people that are less competent at a subject are more likely to rate themselves in line with reality if they’re exposed to people that are very competent at that same subject. Battling and sharing team ideas with more experienced players is a good way to gauge how good you really are as a player. Pokémon is a game of probability, and a less skilled player may defeat a more skilled player from time to time. However, the probability that this will happen consistently is quite low, so keeping track of wins and losses when battling other players over and over again may be an objective means of determining how good you really are.

One bit of good news is that Dunning and Kruger found that with proper training in a skill, a person will likely recognize and acknowledge their previous level of incompetence. Once a player elevates their skill to a point where they can look back and see how bad they used to be, that player can keep that recognition in mind when appraising their current skill level, knowing that with even more improvement, they’ll look back at their intermediate skill level in the future the same way that they look back at their lower-skilled past in the present.

Confirmation Bias

One of the most important aspects of teambuilding in VGC is the testing stage, where once the team is actually made a player tries playing a number of games with it to see whether or not the team is effective. It’s at this stage that players can be influenced by another cognitive bias. Confirmation bias occurs when a person interprets, remembers, or searches for information in a way that agrees with or confirms their already held beliefs or hypotheses. This bias is often stronger when dealing with emotionally charged issues or deeply held beliefs.

Confirmation bias often manifests itself in competitive Pokémon in the teambuilding phase, specifically the testing phase. If a player were to come up with the hypothesis that Eviolite Magneton would be a good way to clear out the Steel types that threaten their team, they might unconsciously only take notice of the times when that strategy actually worked, even if on average the strategy is more likely to fail than to succeed. The emotional aspect of this can present itself when a player decides to use one of their “bros”, a Pokémon that for whatever reason provokes an emotional response in that player. Perhaps that Pokémon was instrumental in an in-game run, or perhaps the player had won a previous competition with that Pokémon. This emotional attachment will likely be detrimental to that player’s chances for success, however, as it will make the player even less likely to pay attention to the failures that Pokémon encounters.

The best way to limit the effect of confirmation bias is to make sure you are being objective whenever possible. If you are testing a single Pokémon on a team, you could try recording whether or not you won when it was brought, how many Pokémon that Pokémon KOed, or some other more objective measure than “I felt like it did a lot of work.” When you are finished testing, you’ll be able to look at your notes and determine whether or not that Pokémon was actually effective with the hard data that you collected.

The Gambler’s Fallacy

Competitive Pokémon is a game that involves a fair element of chance. In addition to executing their game plan, a competitive Pokémon player must also take into consideration the probabilities of certain events that can affect whether or not the player or their opponent will be able to execute that game plan. For instance, a player may elect to use a move such as Rock Slide instead of a more powerful move, as the 30% chance of flinch making their opponent’s useless for that turn may lead to a win condition being fulfilled. What gets players into trouble, however, is thinking that the RNG “owes” them a flinch. This is the heart of the Gambler’s Fallacy, which is the belief that if an event with a set probability happens (or doesn’t happen), then it will be less (or more) likely to happen in the future. Scald’s 30% Burn rate means that on average, you’ll burn the opponent three times every ten times you use the move. This does not mean, however, that after Scald number eight you’ll burn the opponent on the next two Scalds if you’ve gotten only one Burn so far. Each time you use Scald, you still have a 30% chance of burning the opponent, regardless of how many times you’ve used it before.

This fallacy is most commonly seen while actually battling. A player may decide to choose a less than optimal move due to the fact that it has a chance of triggering a beneficial effect and because the player feels “due” to trigger that effect. A player may also feel that the game is treating them “unfairly” if an event happens for them less than the event’s probability suggests (or if an opponent gets an event to happen more often than its probability suggests). Perhaps a player’s Togekiss does not manage to flinch the opponent at all with Air Slash after using it four times in a match. A player’s frustration may build with each “failed” flinch, and while the probability of not getting a flinch in four attempts is a measly 2.56%, the possibility is not outside the realm of probability. The chance of getting an Air Slash flinch with Togekiss, after adjusting for Serene Grace and the move’s accuracy, is 57% no matter how many times it is used. Likewise, an opponent’s Entei burning one of a player’s Pokémon with Sacred Fire does not mean that Entei is less likely to burn the other Pokémon if it successfully uses Sacred Fire on the other Pokémon. The chance of triggering a Burn is 50%, regardless of whether or not the secondary effect triggered in previous turns and even though on average there is only a 25% chance of two consecutive Burns occurring. The frustration that builds from such events may cause a player to go on tilt, and this can be accelerated if the player feels that things are unjustly not going the way they are supposed to.

It is important to remember that each time that you use a move, you have exactly the same chance of proccing a secondary effect as every other time you use that move. Rock Slide will always have a 30% flinch chance (before factoring in accuracy). Likewise, secondary effects that affect the ability of your Pokémon to act in a turn will always have the same base chance of triggering. Your Swaggered Rotom will always have a 50% chance of acting in a turn, so long as it is still confused. A paralyzed Mega Salamence will still only act 75% of the time, even if it’s been fully paralyzed the turn before. It is important to remember that this chance is static, and that the RNG will never “owe” you anything. One way to help deal with this fallacy is to ignore previous turns when considering a move choice. If you treat every move with a secondary effect as though it’s the first time you’re using it, or every turn where you’re affected by Paralysis or Confusion as the first turn you’re experiencing the status, you will be less likely to make plays in such a way that count on an erroneous grasp of probability.

Conclusion

Cognitive biases can be powerful forces in determining how a player plays the game of competitive Pokémon. As long as a player keeps these biases in mind, that player can help minimize the effect that these biases have on their play. This will arguably make them a stronger player in the long run. While the above are not the only cognitive biases that affect players, I believe that being cognizant of these three biases in particular will allow players to more easily achieve greater results while playing competitively.

The post Common Cognitive Biases in Competitive Pokémon appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

This is a translation of 2014 World Championships Masters Champion Sejun Park’s team report by Edward Fan (iss) and Y. J. Kim. The original is located at Sejun’s blog and we would like to thank him for his permission to post this translation. Sejun earned his invite to Worlds by winning the 2014 Korean National Championships and blazed through the tournament, defeating Jeudy Azzarelli (SoulSurvivor) 2-0 in the finals.

Hello! I want to apologize for how late this team report is, as 2014 is already ending. To those who cheered for me and made drawings, I’m sorry for being late, and thank you very much—I was very moved.

Teambuilding Process

The Korean National Championships were in June. Afterwards, however, I was very busy since it was the end of the school semester, so I didn’t have much time to prepare for Worlds in August. I considered using my Nationals team since it worked very well during the tournament, but then I decided to build a new team in a short amount of time, and the first Pokémon I considered was Mega Gyarados. Mega Gyarados was pretty common early in the metagame, and it was good then. Since many international players hadn’t seen it often, I thought it would provide a nice surprise factor. To it I added a trio that many players considered powerful: Scarf Gardevoir, Garchomp, and Talonflame, along with Rotom. In order to take advantage of Gyarados’s power, I needed a Pokémon that had Rage Powder or Follow Me. In the past, I had used Amoonguss, but I ran into an issue: Zapdos and Ludicolo were very strong against this combination, so I decided to use Pachirisu instead. Finally, there were certain Pokémon that Mega Gyarados was weak against, so I used Gothitelle to remedy this weakness.

World Championships

Hence, this was the logic I used to choose my team. I knew that there were some weaknesses, but overall I felt it was very stable. I thought I would have a smooth ride to top cut. However, two players in the Last Chance Qualifier, America’s Wolfe Glick and Japan’s Shota Yamamoto, had teams with a strategy that I was weak to: Trick Room Gothitelle. As a result, I was very worried the day before Worlds. The fact that seven other people were also using Gothitelle was strange—I think that other people used it because Gothitelle was a good hidden card against Garchomp. I ended up playing against Gothitelle in round 2 and round 4 of the Swiss rounds. I lost the first set, but I managed to play really carefully and get past it in the second.

I wanted to write commentary for each match, but I didn’t have enough time, so here are some recordings of my games. (Thanks to Jimmy Kwa (Team Rocket Elite) for recording my top 8 and top 4 matches.)

• Swiss Round 5 vs. Omari Travis (BadIntent)
• Top 8, Game 3 vs. Miguel Marti de la Torre (Sekiam)
• Top 4, Game 1 and Game 2 vs. Collin Heier (TheBattleRoom)
• Finals vs. Jeudy Azzarelli (SoulSurvivor)

Team Analysis

Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Intimidate / Mold Breaker | Adamant
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
– Dragon Dance
– Waterfall
– Earthquake
– Protect

This is the party’s ace. Mega Gyarados is a very serious threat in double battles, especially after a Dragon Dance. When combined with Talonflame, it is even more threatening. Additionally, the ability to hit Rotom formes with Earthquake due to Mold Breaker is extremely useful in this format. After a single Dragon Dance, Gyarados can knock out Rotom with Earthquake and Mega Tyranitar with Waterfall.

Since this power is very important, I chose not to focus on defensive investment—instead, I used Gyarados’s Attack and Speed to defend it. Before using Dragon Dance, Mega Gyarados sits at 133 Speed, which outspeeds standard Rotom. After a Dragon Dance, it outspeeds standard Scarf Gardevoir.

Pachirisu @ Sitrus Berry
Volt Absorb | Impish
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
– Nuzzle
– Follow Me
– Super Fang
– Protect

Unlike Amoonguss, this squirrel has an attack that ignores the enemy’s defenses. With Super Fang, I can quickly lower the opponent’s HP, making it easy for Pachirisu’s teammates (such as Talonflame and its Brave Bird) to pick up KOs. Additionally, Nuzzle and Super Fang are attacks, so Taunt does not impede Pachirisu very much. Pachirisu is very good against Electric-types due to Volt Absorb, especially in the later stages of a game. Therefore, it dissuades my opponent from using those attacks in the first place, so I don’t actually have to use Follow Me very often. As such, I can use Nuzzle and Super Fang very often, which makes Pachirisu amazing in doubles.

In order to improve my matchup against Amoonguss, I originally considered using Safety Goggles. However, this situation did not come up very often, and since Pachirisu is very versatile, I decided to use Sitrus Berry instead. Since Pachirisu does not have very good base HP, Sitrus Berry is a huge benefit. When Pachirisu is able to stay on the field for a long time, the entire team benefits.

Since there are a lot of physical attacks in the metagame, I invested all of my EVs into HP and Defense. Thankfully, Pachirisu was able to handle Mega Kangaskhan’s Double-Edge and Mega Mawile’s Play Rough. Pachirisu has good base Special Defense, so I didn’t invest into it. Even strong attacks such as Aegislash’s Shadow Ball are only a 3HKO with Sitrus, as long as Pachirisu’s Special Defense isn’t lowered.

Gothitelle @ Leftovers
Shadow Tag | Calm
252 HP / 172 Def / 4 SpA / 76 SpD / 4 Spe
– Psyshock
– Thunder Wave
– Tickle
– Protect

Originally this team didn’t have Gothitelle, but I added it as a late response to new threats in the metagame. Gothitelle is very good for weakening the Pokémon Gyarados is weak against, such as Salamence and Mawile. I thought paralysis was incredibly useful in the metagame, so I wanted a second way to inflict it. Tickle was great for weakening my opponent’s physical attackers so that Gyarados or Talonflame could easily finish them off. Psyshock synergizes well with Tickle, and deals significant damage to Assault Vest Ludicolo.

To be honest, I didn’t mess around with the EVs. Gothitelle has pretty good all-around stats. I knew that many opponents would have Choice Specs Hydreigon. Other Gothitelle users dealt with this problem by investing heavily into Special Defense. Rather than giving up Defense, my solution was to simply prevent the situation from occurring. Due to Shadow Tag, my opponent would have to lead with Hydreigon in order for the situation to occur. In response, I would lead with Gothitelle and Gardevoir and use Dazzling Gleam to immediately knock out Hydreigon. If they chose not to lead with Hydreigon, I had a variety of options. One common one was to lead with Gothitelle and Gyarados for Intimidate, switch Gyarados out to Pachirisu in order to weaken my opponent’s Pokémon with Tickle and Super Fang, then bring Gyarados back in to finish the job with Dragon Dance.

I considered using Life Orb Gothitelle to defeat some threats. Even without using Competitive, I could have used Psyshock to OHKO Amoonguss. With Competitive, Gothitelle could knock out 252 HP Mega Mawile with Hidden Power Fire, which was fantastic! But then Gothitelle would always faint first to Sucker Punch.

Gardevoir @ Choice Scarf
Telepathy | Timid
4 HP / 44 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 204 Spe
– Dazzling Gleam
– Psychic
– Moonblast
– Swagger

Throughout this metagame, I constantly used Gardevoir. Its high Special Attack stat and powerful Fairy-type attacks make it consistent and unique. Moonblast OHKOes 4 HP Garchomp 7/8ths of the time, and Psychic deals a heavy blow to Amoonguss and Venusaur.

In order to outspeed Mega Tyranitar after a Dragon Dance, Mega Manectric, and Aerodactyl, I had to use a Timid nature. I invested heavily into Speed in order to outspeed Mega Manectric and Ludicolo after a Swift Swim boost. Since Gardevoir’s low Defense can make it very risky, I decided to invest the remaining EVs into Defense instead of HP. In the finals, Gardevoir was able to take a Bullet Punch from Mega Lucario, and investing into Defense instead of HP maximized my chances.

The first three moves were set in place. I put a lot of thought into the final move—I considered Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Healing Wish, Destiny Bond, Will-O-Wisp, and Ally Switch. But what I found was that I almost never used the fourth move, no matter what it was. In the end, I chose Swagger, so I could potentially turn around a disadvantageous situation. I didn’t end up using Swagger at all during Worlds. Looking back, I think I should have picked Focus Blast, as it is quite versatile.

Garchomp @ Focus Sash
Rough Skin | Jolly
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
– Earthquake
– Dragon Claw
– Rock Slide
– Protect

Garchomp was the most common Pokémon in VGC 2014 for good reason. As a Dragon-type, it is naturally an amazing counter to so many Pokémon. Due to Focus Sash, I could freely attack without much fear of retaliation. There isn’t much else to say about this Pokémon.

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Gale Wings | Naive
252 Atk / 164 SpA / 92 Spe
– Brave Bird
– Overheat
– Taunt
– Quick Guard

Fighting-type Pokémon are very good against Mega Gyarados, so I wanted a Pokémon that could easily defeat them. As such, I chose Talonflame. Quick Guard was very good for blocking opposing Brave Bird and Prankster, which were often used against Gyarados. I added Taunt to deal with Trick Room teams, but I didn’t end up using it very often—there was one time where it was almost very useful, but it was blocked. In hindsight, I could have used a defensive move in place of Taunt.

Overheat, unlike Flare Blitz, isn’t hindered by Intimidate, so it is very effective against Mega Mawile. It also doesn’t have any recoil damage, so it is a great choice when Talonflame’s HP is low. It can even OHKO physically defensive Amoonguss most of the time. Overheat is also safe to use against Aegislash’s King’s Shield. However, there are two big weaknesses. The first is that Overheat can miss. The second is that I had to invest heavily into Special Attack instead of Speed in order to properly use Overheat. (Also, Overheat doesn’t defrost Talonflame.)

In order to maximize Brave Bird’s damage, I maximized Attack. Then, I invested enough Speed to outspeed base 105 Speed Pokémon such as Mienshao, so that I could block its Fake Out with Quick Guard. I placed the rest of the EVs into Special Attack to maximize Overheat’s effectiveness.

Conclusion

This was my 2014 World Championships team report. I know that this might not be the clearest writing, but I hope you enjoyed it. For a long time my dream was to become World Champion, and I successfully accomplished that. Don’t worry, I’m not done yet—I’ll be back next year. Thanks to everyone who cheered for me, and have a happy New Year!

The post Follow Me: 2014 Pokémon World Champion Team Report appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hi everyone, my name is Emma Williams and this is the team I used to win 2^nd place at a local grassroots tournament in Melbourne, Australia. These grassroots tournaments are held about 3-4 times every year and always attract a fair amount of competitors, this one in particular with 100 Masters. I struggled a lot during the VGC ’14 season, placing pretty averagely at official events this season, so if felt good to finally do well with a team I felt comfortable with.

This team originated largely because I wanted to try something involving Staraptor. This Pokemon had gained popularity in the country after having a successful Nationals and Worlds run piloted by fellow player Dayne O’Meara (Prof Teak). I remembered creating a team earlier in the season that included Staraptor, Rotom-H, Garchomp, Gardevoir and Raichu. The main strength of that team came from firing off strong spread moves, creating situations of overwhelming offensive pressure on both opposing Pokemon. Around the time, teams based around Mega Blastoise and Pachirisu were also becoming quite popular for Premier Challenges in the US. Combining these two ideas, with Pachirisu replacing Raichu, I started testing and was very pleased with the results, making very few changes from the initial concept.

The Team

Staraptor (M) @ Choice Scarf ***GeneralBoris
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 196 HP / 156 Atk / 156 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
– Close Combat
– Brave Bird
– Final Gambit
– U-turn

Used in 7/11 battles

It’s the bird that started it all! Staraptor’s HP EVs allow it to nab 12HP Garchomps with a Final Gambit and adds some general bulk. The speed investment combined with Choice Scarf allows Staraptor to outspeed Scarfed Jolly Smeargle for a Close Combat KO. The rest of the EVs were dumped into attack for the following calculations:

• 156+ Atk Staraptor Close Combat vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Kangaskhan: 134-158 (74 – 87.2%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 156+ Atk Staraptor Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Lucario: 148-176 (102 – 121.3%) — guaranteed OHKO
• 156+ Atk Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 180 Def Amoonguss: 212-252 (95.9 – 114%) — 75% chance to OHKO
• 156+ Atk Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Amoonguss: 180-212 (81.4 – 95.9%) — guaranteed 2HKO

Some of those calculations might seem a bit strange where attacks do ~75% of damage at minimum, but they were used to line up KOs when necessary.

Rotom-Heat @ Leftovers ***Major Hottie
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 116 SAtk / 4 SDef / 132 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
– Overheat
– Thunderbolt
– Discharge
– Protect

Used in 5/11 battles

This is very similar to the set that I ran at Australian Nationals, except with Leftovers and Discharge. Rotom-Heat can fire off Discharges freely without having to worry about 3 of the other team members taking any damage from it, even healing Pachirisu, so only my opponents have to worry about taking the 30% paralysis chance. I used 156 Speed EVs to outspeed Adamant max speed Bisharps. The bulk is rather simple but let me take multiple attacks from common Pokemon such as Adamant Mega Kangaskhan, Adamant Mawile and Jolly Garchomp.

With 116 SpA EVs, Overheat OHKOs physically bulky Amoonguss and Thunderbolt deals over 75% damage to most Charizard-Y.

Gardevoir (F) @ Choice Specs ***Lucette
Trait: Telepathy
EVs: 236 HP / 116 Def / 36 SAtk / 4 SDef / 116 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

– Dazzling Gleam
– Moonblast
– Shadow Ball
– Psychic

Used in 5/11 battles

I don’t remember exactly where I got the concept for this Choice Specs set. It’s a variation of a rather common 60 SpA one that was going around Nugget Bridge at some point.

116 Speed EVs puts Gardevoir above my Mega Blastoise by one point to avoid awkward speed ties. I had to sacrifice a 100% guarantee to take some attacks, but with tinkering I managed to get it to a very acceptable compromise of:

• 252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 236 HP / 116 Def Gardevoir: 148-175 (85.5 – 101.1%) — 6.3% chance to OHKO
• 252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Flash Cannon/Shadow Ball vs. 236 HP / 4 SpD Gardevoir: 150-176 (86.7 – 101.7%) — 12.5% chance to OHKO

On the offensive side, 36 SpA comes a bit short on some guaranteed OHKOs, but comes very close on the following:

• 36+ SpA Choice Specs Gardevoir Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Salamence: 168-198 (98.8 – 116.4%) — 87.5% chance to OHKO
• 36+ SpA Choice Specs Gardevoir Psychic vs. 252 HP / 72+ SpD Amoonguss: 212-252 (95.9 – 114%) — 75% chance to OHKO
• 36+ SpA Choice Specs Gardevoir Psychic vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Mega Venusaur: 180-212 (96.2 – 113.3%) — 75% chance to OHKO

Garchomp (M) @ Life Orb ***Pluto
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 12 HP / 204 Atk / 4 Def / 36 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Protect
- Substitute

Used in 11/11 battles

Good old Life Orb Garchomp, famed for disrupting opponents when they have calculated their Pokemon’s defenses for a Lum Berry variant.

With this set, I chose Substitute over Rock Slide. At one stage, Garchomp had 3 attacks and Substitute, but I found myself in many situations where Protect could have been helpful. I was a little worried that I would run into a lot of Charizard-Y which can really threaten this team if I’m not careful, and Rock Slide is always nice to fish for flinches, but Substitute proved itself very effective in testing.

Pachirisu (M) @ Sitrus Berry ***Sejun Spark
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -Atk)
– Follow Me
– Nuzzle
– Super Fang
– Protect

Used in 6/11 battles

Pachi-fever spreads Down Under! The popular rodent suits my playstyle well by adding some more defensive elements to this team than Raichu did. I ran maximum physical bulk after realizing that Pachirisu functions on my team pretty similarly to how it did in Sejun Park’s team: tanking physical attacks while supported by Intimidate and shielding other members from electric attacks.

Super Fang proved useful not just for spreading damage, but also by giving me information about my opponent’s HP EVs, usually whether they were maxed or not. With 4 Speed EVs, Pachirisu outspeeds my own Mega Blastoise and Gardevoir so I can use the move before they attack. When Pachirisu didn’t really have too much to do, I would just use Nuzzle for disruption.

Blastoise (M) @ Blastoisinite ***Boogie
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 132 HP / 252 SAtk / 124 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
– Ice Beam
– Water Pulse
– Aura Sphere
– Protect

Used in 10/11 battles

Blastoise was added last to the team when I realised I didn’t have a Mega Evolution, but it fits in just fine. Mega Blastoise can be a nuisance to a fair range of common Pokemon used in Australia.

Rain Dish was just chosen because I thought it’d be more useful on a switch-in than Torrent. I went with maximum Special Attack investment to dish out as much damage as possible. 124 Speed EVs outpaces 44 Speed EV Rotoms to hit first. As for the bulk, 132 HP survives a Timid Thunderbolt from Mega Manectric if worst comes to worst.

The Tournament

I met up with my friends and fellow competitors in the venue and registered. Looking around, at least 100 other trainers had shown up for their shot at the title and some post-season fun. There were quite a few notable regulars missing though which though sad.

The initial announcements before round 1 revealed that for Masters we would be having 7 best-of-1 Swiss rounds with a top cut of 8. I was a little apprehensive at this because I was already a bit tired, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage on what was an unusually warm spring day inside with so many people, but I tried not to focus on that and take it one round at a time.

Round 1 vs Chris Taylor

I had time to chat with my opponents a little bit before each round while we waited for everyone to find theirs. Chris told me he had gone to Nationals and finished about 5-3.

Battle Video code: B9DW-WWWW-WWW9-T37Q

My team:  + /
Chris’ team: + /

I’m not really too sure there’s much to say about this one. Chris brought Azumarill, and I picked 3 Pokemon that could either OHKO or 2HKO it. He played this game fairly well compared to my shaky reads. A first round loss is never really a great feeling, but I just had to pick myself up and shake it off for round 2.

LOSS 0-1

Round 2 vs Alex Dug

Battle Video code: ZH5G-WWWW-WWW9-T37K

My team: + /
Alex’s team: + /

For some reason, I didn’t realise that I had brought both of my fastest Pokemon to a Trick Room party on turn 1.

On turn 2, I decide to conserve my Intimidate for later and swap Staraptor for Rotom-Heat. Gallade reveals Helping Hand as Mawile Mega Evolves and tries to Play Rough Rotom-Heat, missing. Knowing that this combination is probably what my opponent is going to rely to deal significant damage without needing to switch out and risk losing momentum, I swap out Garchomp for Staraptor again to put both of my opponent’s Pokemon at -2 Attack. The Helping Hand + Play Rough combination comes out again but this time on Staraptor, which survives on 20HP. Rotom-Heat Thunderbolts Gallade to put it in the yellow again.

Alex withdraws Mawile and brings in Talonflame, correctly predicting that I will aim an Overheat in its direction. However, he forgets that Ghost-type moves don’t affect Normal types and tries to Shadow Sneak Staraptor. This costs him his Gallade.

I send out Garchomp and Alex sends out Mega Mawile. I Protect Garchomp as this is the last turn of Trick Room, and Talonflame uses a rather surprising move on Rotom-Heat…Acrobatics. I didn’t catch if the bird had an item on it in Team Preview, I guess it did due to the low damage output. Mega Mawile also shows an interesting move when it Crunches Rotom-Heat for over 50% HP. Mawile takes an Overheat for about 75% HP.

On the next turn, my opponent swaps out Talonflame for Aegislash. Mawile Protects and I Earthquake and Thunderbolt the Aegislash slot. Alex mentions he didn’t expect me to do that, maybe he predicted a switch? Now I know I can hit all his Pokemon with super effective moves and clean the rest of the field up for the win.

WIN 1-1

Round 3 vs Jordan Guthrie

Battle Video code: D2XG-WWWW-WWW9-T37E

My team: + /
Jordan’s team: + /

I picked Staraptor as a lead due to the dual grass types, and Blastoise to cover Gigalith. These choices work out well as Jordan sends out Gigalith and Amoonguss. I double-targeted the Amoonguss expecting Rage Powder shenanigans, but instead it Protects and Gigalith uses Explosion. At -1 attack, this isn’t as effective as my opponent would have hoped. Jordan replaces Gigalith with his own Staraptor.

I wasn’t really sure whether my Staraptor outsped his, but I figured I didn’t really have too much to lose by leaving it in. Jordan’s Staraptor moves first to knock mine out, so I assume it had an EV spread of 252 Attack / 252 Speed. Mega Blastoise Ice Beams Amoonguss which retaliates with a Giga Drain, putting Mega Blastoise in the red and healing back up to 55% HP. I send out Pachirisu.

On the next turn, I manage to Nuzzle a Venusaur that had switched in for Staraptor. I assumed this was his Mega, so this turned out okay for me as from experience, paralysis was really inconvenient for Mega Venusaur when it needed to be doing something every turn to apply pressure. I Protect Mega Blastoise from an incoming Spore.

I Protect Pachirisu and decide to target Amoonguss with Ice Beam, figuring I’ll rid the field of it and afterwards either get a free switch-in for Garchomp in the back should Blastoise go down, or a free turn of damage. I got a free turn instead with Mega Venusaur targeting Pachirisu with Sludge Bomb. The fainted Amoonguss is replaced with Staraptor.

I’m in a pretty good position now with Garchomp sitting in the back against a paralysed Mega Venusaur and a Staraptor. I wasn’t exactly sure whether Pachirisu could resist a Final Gambit, but there wasn’t too much risk in using Follow Me to possibly draw away attacks aimed at Mega Blastoise. Staraptor uses Final Gambit and… Pachirisu survives on 3HP, healing itself back up with Sitrus Berry. Mega Blastoise Ice Beams Mega Venusaur, and it then is fully paralyzed this turn. I use a combination of Super Fang and Ice Beams to win the game from here.

WIN 2-1

Round 4 vs Ashley Lang

Battle Video code: D66W-WWWW-WWW9-T36V

My team: + /
Ashley’s team: + /

I’m a little less than proud of this match, as I made some careless plays that really weighed things in Ashley’s favour.

I decide to let Mega Blastoise attack Vaporeon for some minor damage and take a Thunderbolt from Starmie, which does about 55%. Gardevoir locks into Shadow Ball on the Starmie, which shows a Focus Sash. After Mega Blastoise’s Aura Sphere, Vaporeon reveals the Red Card which forces Blastoise to switch for Garchomp, and then uses Toxic on that slot.

I Protect Garchomp from an incoming Ice Beam (Vaporeon’s, in this case). Starmie uses Surf to heal Vaporeon and does 30% damage to Gardevoir, which retaliates with a Shadow Ball for the knock out. Ashley sends out Tyranitar.

I was a little worried about a mixed special Tyranitar and Ashley double-targeting my Garchomp to negate Substitute, which is kinda nonsensical when I haven’t revealed it. Garchomp Earthquakes and puts Tyranitar in red HP, with Vaporeon in the same state after a Shadow Ball. Vaporeon’s Ice Beam knocks out Garchomp and Tyranitar’s Rock Slide sends Gardevoir into the red. I send out Mega Blastoise. I know both of my Pokemon are faster than Ashley’s and attack them both. Ashley sends out her last Pokemon, Garchomp.

I know I’m not out of the woods yet with a Garchomp sitting in the sand… I swap out Mega Blastoise for Staraptor to get an Intimidate off, figuring Ashley would Earthquake. This works out, as Gardevoir goes down, though Ashley has Mega Evolved her Garchomp. I’m pretty worried at this point, I had been having a few conversations earlier in the day about people running into Mega Garchomp, where one tends to think it’s bad to use due to the middling speed and then get beaten by the overpowering attacks.

I don’t know if Ashley knew what Scarf Staraptor does, so I opted for the Final Gambit to take the match. It seems I forgot Staraptor had already taken some sandstorm damage on the switch-in. Then, she Protects, locking me into losing Staraptor next turn. I don’t think I’ll ever try and do that again on a Chomp in the sand against anyone, whether I think they know how Final Gambit works or not. On the next turn, I’m forced to Final Gambit the Mega Garchomp into the red and cross my fingers for some sort of low HP on the Mega Garchomp or a low damage roll from the heavens, knowing that after losing the first round I probably won’t make it into Top Cut as a 6-2. Mega Garchomp uses Dragon Claw… Mega Blastoise survives on 8HP! It then Ice Beams for victory.

WIN 3-1

Round 5 vs Brent Crowford

Battle Video code: 7VKW-WWWW-WWW9-T36Y

My team: + /
Brent’s team: + /

From turn 1 I assume that Chandelure is some sort of speedy variant, most likely Scarfed if it’s sitting next to Weavile. I Protect Mega Blastoise from an incoming Fake Out + Energy Ball. Chandelure moving before Rotom-H confirms my Scarf suspicions and I Discharge to get some spread damage and break a potential Focus Sash on Weavile. Unfortunately for Brent, Discharge paralyses Weavile.

I switch out Mega Blastoise for Staraptor to take the locked-in Energy Ball. Rotom-H Overheats Weavile for the KO. Brent sends out Kangaskhan.

I expect Chandelure to switch out, so I send in Garchomp in place of Staraptor hoping my opponent will use Fake Out on that slot. Chandelure switches out for Magnezone. Mega Kangaskhan uses Fake Out on Garchomp, taking Rough Skin damage. Rotom-H is at -2, not really being able to do significant damage, so I use Discharge again and get the paralysis on Mega Kangaskhan.

Garchomp Earthquakes to OHKO Magnezone and leave Mega Kang with about 30% HP left. Rotom-H uses Discharge again for minor damage. Brent reveals Façade on the paralysed Kangaskhan, which OHKOs Rotom-H. I send out Staraptor and Brent sends out Chandelure.

Mega Kangaskhan fails to do significant damage with a -1 Sucker Punch, and I clean up Brent’s last two Pokemon with Scarfed Brave Bird and Earthquake.

WIN 4-1

At this stage I’m starting to get more confident in my ability to cut. I’m playing a bit better by each round and starting to get more focused. I hear that we might be having only 6 rounds instead of the original 7, so I think I just need to win the next match to cut.

Round 6 vs Jordan Saunders

We were both pretty excited at the prospect of one of us making the top cut, I may have said that it was 6 rounds (genuine mistake), oops…

Battle Video code: 8M7G-WWWW-WWW9-T363

My team: + /
Jordan’s team: + /

Rotom-W gets swapped out for Mawile while Meowstic-M uses Safeguard. Mega Blastoise Protects and Pachirisu gets a Super Fang off on the switched-in Mawile.

I picked Follow Me on Pachirisu to avoid the possibility of Meowstic using Swagger for a quick +2 on a Mega Mawile and attack it with Water Pulse. Jordan Protects Mega Mawile from any attacks and targets Pachirisu with Swagger anyway.

Meowstic is switched out for Rotom-W. Pachirisu manages to use Follow Me through the confusion, fishing for any extra Swaggers aimed at Mega Blastoise. Mega Blastoise KOs Mega Mawile with Water Pulse. Tyranitar is sent out in its place.

Tyranitar Crunches Pachirisu for around 40% damage and manages to get a defense drop. Pachirisu hits itself in confusion. Mega Blastoise uses Aura Sphere on Tyranitar for a OHKO and Rotom-W burns Pachirisu with Will-O-Wisp. Pachirisu heals itself with a Sitrus Berry back to around 70% HP remaining before taking some burn damage. Meowstic-M is sent out.

My plan from here is to try and set up a situation where I can ignore Meowstic safely and take down Rotom-W. Mega Blastoise Protects from an incoming Swagger and Pachirisu uses Super Fang on the washing machine, activating a Sitrus Berry. It takes a Hydro Pump in return and succumbs to the residual sandstorm and burn damage. As there are only special attackers left on the field, I send out Gardevoir.

The rest of the match involves Jordan trying to get some sort of reprieve with Meowstic-M through Swagger and Thunder Wave, but it isn’t enough for him to come back. I take down the Prankster cat first and then follow through with Rotom-W being knocked out on the next turn.

WIN 5-1

I feel relieved thinking I’m in cut and find out we still have the seventh round as originally planned. Just one more…

Round 7 vs Leigh Biggerstaff

During one of the usual post-round discussions of how everyone went, one of my friends had mentioned that he had a close battle with a Leigh something-staff. I expected this to be a tough one.

Battle Video code: EL4W-WWWW-WWW9-T35L

My team: + /
Leigh’s team: + /

I needed to get rid of these two strong Steel types if my Gardevoir was to be of any use. Aegislash had an Air Balloon as well, making my Garchomp lead a bit less effective.

Mawile doesn’t Mega Evolve and is switched out for Salamence. I Protected Garchomp and used Super Fang on the slot that Salamence now occupies. Aegislash sets up a Substitute.

Salamence is switched out for Tyranitar. Pachirisu uses Follow Me, because I don’t think switching it is the best of ideas next to a -2 Garchomp that needs some attention and I can’t think of anything else for it to do. Garchomp Dragon Claws the Tyranitar for minimal damage. Aegislash uses Shadow Ball on Pachirisu for just over 50%, activating Sitrus healing. Tyranitar reveals that it has Leftovers.

I switch Garchomp for Blastoise, deciding to use Pachirisu as a bit of a sacrifice to get Garchomp back in with normal attack. Pachirisu Nuzzles Tyranitar and gets the full paralysis before going down to Aegislash’s Shadow Ball.

Now that Mega Blastoise is in, I decide to use it to get rid of Aegislash’s sub and Air Balloon with Water Pulse. Garchomp Dragon Claws the Tyranitar and puts it in yellow HP, while Aegislash Shadow Balls Mega Blastoise and gets a special defense drop. Tyranitar is fully paralysed again.

Mega Blastoise is swapped out for Gardevoir to prepare for any Salamence switch-ins. Aegislash uses King’s Shield and Tyranitar Protects. On the next turn, Garchomp uses Earthquake and Gardevoir uses Dazzling Gleam for the double knock-out. Leigh sends out Salamence and Mawile.

I switch Garchomp for Mega Blastoise, using it as another sacrifice to clear the effects of Intimidate. Mega Mawile Protects while Salamence’s Draco Meteor takes out the weakened Mega Blastoise. Gardevoir Dazzling Gleams to KO Salamence.

Mega Mawile could only really Sucker Punch to take out my Garchomp sitting at ¾ HP remaining, so I decide to use Substitute. There weren’t any drawbacks to doing this. If he Iron Headed Gardevoir, I still get to sit pretty behind the sub. Leigh chose to Sucker Punch. I Earthquake and Dazzling Gleam the last turns to win.

WIN 6-1

Hoorah, I made top cut! That was my main goal. Now I could relax a bit more and just enjoy the battles ahead.  I was the bottom 6-1 sitting at 6^th seed. This pitted me against the 3^rd seed who turned out to be none other than Sam Pandelis (Cypress). I hadn’t beaten him the few times we’d had to battle during the season, so hopefully I could buck the trend. Due to time limitations, all the top cut matches bar the final were to be best of 1.

Quarterfinals (Top 8) vs Sam Pandelis (Cypress)

Some of the finals matches were being shown on the TV behind us using my capture card 3DS, this was one of them.

Battle Video code: VFGG-WWWW-WWW9-T346

My team: + /
Sam’s team: + /

On turn 1, Pachirisu uses Follow Me and Bisharp Protects itself from my Mega Blastoise’s Aura Sphere. Talonflame U-Turns into Pachirisu and switches out to Rotom-W.

Bisharp switches out for Kangaskhan. Pachirisu Super Fangs the Rotom-W and doesn’t activate a Sitrus Berry, so I assume it’s likely a 252HP spread of some kind with no speed investment. Mega Blastoise Aura Spheres Rotom-W and after Sitrus recovery it sits at around 40% HP. Rotom-W burns Pachirisu, hoping for residual damage.

The next turn was a bit of a slop on my behalf. I double Protect in the face of a Mega Kangaskhan Fake Out, but Cypress switches Rotom-W for Talonflame and Power-Up Punches it for +2. The burn activates Pachirisu’s Sitrus Berry.

Poor Pachirisu is once again delegated sacrificial lamb as I opt to redirect all attacks and try to deal some good damage with Mega Blastoise’s Aura Sphere. Pachirisu takes a Brave Bird and is defeated by +2 Return. Aura Sphere crits Mega Kangaskhan for the guaranteed OHKO. Sam sends out Bisharp and I send out Garchomp.

Sam uses a combination of Brave Bird and Sucker Punch to knock out my Garchomp straight away, which I’m not terribly concerned about. Bisharp is OHKO’d by Aura Sphere. I send out Rotom-H against Sam’s Rotom-W.

I Protect Mega Blastoise against a potential double-target and Discharge to safely KO Talonflame, securing the win with Rotom-W left in red HP.

WIN 7-1

I was pretty nervous about this battle so I was relieved it worked out well. I just hoped I didn’t have to battle fellow Delphox Cub FamousDeaf for my top 4 match and knock one of us out. We don’t, thankfully.

Semi-finals (Top 4) vs Joshua Spriggins

I knew a little bit of what to expect after Dayne had mentioned losing to Josh with the help of a Confuse Ray Sableye.

Battle Video code: 6UKW-WWWW-WWW9-T32X

My team: + /
Josh’s team: + /

My initial plan was just to get rid of the Sableye as soon as possible. Although Gardevoir can survive a Mega Kangaskhan Return, it probably wouldn’t with Fake Out, so Staraptor was chosen as the partner here.

Mega Kangaskhan Fake Outs Staraptor and Sableye confuses Gardevoir, not quite what I expected. Gardevoir hits itself in confusion. On the next turn, Sableye burns Staraptor before it uses Close Combat on Kangaskhan for around 40% damage. Mega Kangaskhan uses Return on Gardevoir to put it into the yellow. Gardevoir thankfully snaps out of confusion and Dazzling Gleams both of Josh’s Pokemon into red HP, activating Sableye’s Sitrus Berry.

Sableye confuses Gardevoir again, and Staraptor attacks Mega Kangaskhan to knock it out. Gardevoir hits itself into red HP, while Staraptor’s burn puts it just below half. Josh sends out Talonflame.

Thinking that he might target Staraptor, which I needed in case of a Ludicolo, I swapped it out for Rotom-H. Sableye’s Shadow Sneak fails to KO Gardevoir and Talonflame’s Flare Blitz hits Rotom-H. Gardevoir snaps out of confusion and Dazzling Gleam finishes off Sableye. Josh sends out Ludicolo.

I Protect Rotom-H this turn and let Josh take out Gardevoir so that I can safely send in Staraptor against Ludicolo. The most common set for a Ludicolo is one with Assault Vest, so it’s unlikely to have Protect. I double-target it to knock it out and Staraptor goes down to Flare Blitz. I send out Garchomp. Talonflame can’t do much here, and I take down the bird to win this game.

WIN 8-1

The other top 4 match was still underway and being shown on the TV. I managed to catch the end of the match, where FamousDeaf was up against a Smeargle + Mega Kangaskhan ‘KhanArtist’ team. I’ve faced this combination only once before and was beaten pretty soundly with it, so I needed to think of some ways I could counter it. KhanArtist had done well at a few Regional Championships across Australia, though I didn’t expect to see it in Melbourne several months later. The matchup against my team really wasn’t in my favour, as I only really had 2 Pokemon that could be considered fast, and no Lum Berry.

KhanArtist made it to the finals and I know I really have to play well to get around this one.

Final vs Ben Veltmeyer

I recognised Ben as having played this team throughout Regionals, so he definitely had a fair amount of experience with it.

Game 1

I was a bit fatigued by this point and had a few mental slip ups which meant I failed to take advantage of the position I was in. KhanArtist is a team that mine struggles against, but there were some points where I feel I could have potentially turned the first game into a win for me. I end up relying on a speed tie between the Garchomps, which I lose.

LOSS

Game 2

I definitely tilted a bit in this game, not Protecting Garchomp once I got the initial Substitute up. There wasn’t much that could be done once there were double +2 Mega Kangaskhans with Tailwind. Ben adjusted really well this game to any countering plans I may have come up with, so props to him.

LOSS

But it’s not all bad! Second place  means I get this fancy trophy!

Conclusion

I’m pretty happy with the team overall and how it performed. It reminded me to have a simpler fast and offensive mode in my team, which I neglected a bit this year in building my own teams and probably had to suffer because of it.

I ran this team without any changes in two much smaller local tournaments and managed to take the title at both of them, which was nice. I had thought about taking the HP off Blastoise to make it faster and changing Gardevoir’s spread somehow, but that wasn’t necessary for those victories.

As for improving the Smeargle matchup, Lum Berry on Rotom-Heat could be a quick fix for now but it’s not the best when Rotom can just be smacked with Returns. I would probably have to make significant changes by replacing some Pokemon with faster ones.

Although it has been successful for me, I don’t think I’m likely to be running this exact team again in VGC15. The team has had it’s run and I have other ideas on what could be more effective in this new format.

Thanks are in order!

• Thanks to the PokeMelbourne team for holding the event, it was smooth from start to finish.
• To EB Games Swanston Street who let us use that space for the whole day and their continued support.
• You think I forgot about you guys? Cat-Gonk, Prof Teak, Boomguy, FamousDeaf, are just a few of the fantastic people that make up the most glorious Delphox Cubs. I probably wouldn’t be at this sort of renewed stage without all of your ongoing support.

The post The Dynamic Duo: Runner-Up at PokéMelbourne’s Spring Tournament appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hey readers, how have you been enjoying ORAS so far? After doing a bunch of in-game activities, I eventually found myself back at the Battle Maison. Although disappointed that the Battle Frontier had not returned, and the fact that opponent movesets have not changed since XY for the Battle Maison, I still ended up feeling compelled to at least get some sort of decent record on my cart. Got to boost those in-game statistics that show up between turns in link battles, right?

While you may have collected a decent stock of BP in XY, items cannot be transferred between games via Pokémon Bank. As such, unless you manually trade items between your games one-by-one, you’ll likely have to leave behind all your items in XY and rebuild a supply of items in ORAS. In addition to this, you’ll need BP for the Move Tutors in the Battle Resort. While these moves come pretty cheap, often at 8 or 12 BP a pop, the points required do add up when tinkering with movesets.

About a year ago, I hit 1000 wins in the Battle Maison in triples with a team involving a highly AI-exploitative strategy in order to obtain easy victories. Once again, I’ve hit 1000 wins (on my first attempt), but this time I used a different team. Instead of the AI abuse-centric style of my previous team, this one is a little bit more straightforward and intuitive to use. As you may have guessed from the title and art, it is a rain team. Perhaps you feel like you need a change of pace from Greninja + Aron, or already have some of these Pokémon already at your disposal from VGC 2014. In any case, here is another 1000-win team you may want to give a try:

Team Members

No nickname theme this time.

Politoed (M) @ Choice Scarf ***Araragi
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Surf
– Ice Beam
– Hydro Pump
– Rain Dance

Scarf Politoed, rain setter. Pretty straightforward stuff—it’s a familiar face from the latter half of VGC 2014. You can’t start a rain party without some drinks, and Politoed is happy to oblige by quenching our thirst. Surf is for spread damage, Ice Beam is for coverage. Hydro Pump is for the rare cases when I need some extra power, and Rain Dance resets the rain if my opponent leads with a different auto-weather Pokémon. Unlike in VGC, I often have very little to worry about in regards to weather wars in the Maison. If they lead with auto-weather, I can reset my rain. If they have one in the back, that often means that I’m already in a large lead. As such, Politoed is pretty content with just using Surf 90% of the time or so.

Ludicolo (F) @ Absorb Bulb ***RideTheDucks
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Surf
– Fake Out
– Ice Beam
– Grass Knot

Swift Swim attacker number one. Another straightforward set, and a blast from the VGC 2012 past. Ludicolo gets a Special Attack boost from the Absorb Bulb when hit by its ally’s Surf. Once at +1, Rain boosted Surf deals a considerable amount of damage to opponents (and allies, too). Ice Beam and Grass Knot provide coverage, and Fake Out provides a small support option when the lead matchup is unfavorable. Since Ludicolo will have its Speed doubled most of the time by Swift Swim, its Fake Out will go before any opponent’s attempt at the same. A simple EV spread is used here. I needed at least 121 Speed to outspeed Scarf Terrakion, which would have required 244 EVs in Speed. As such, I decided to simply use maximum Speed, as that gave me a Speed tie with any opposing Fake Out Ludicolo.

Nicknamed after my Subway Double Battle Ludicolo with the same name, which is nicknamed after a tour in Seattle. *quack* *quack* *quack*

Grass Knot, Energy Ball or Giga Drain?

I chose Grass Knot as my Grass-type move. Many of the targets that I would use a Grass-type attack on are heavy, making Grass Knot the highest-damage option. Additionally, this team is mostly focused on raw power, so Giga Drain’s healing was not nearly as attractive as it usually would be. Energy Ball, after its buff in XY, is slightly stronger than Grass Knot in a number of situations, particularly against Vaporeon and Lanturn. But it is weaker against a large variety of other, heavier Pokémon, such as Suicune, Walrein, and Gyarados. Vaporeon can be a bit threatening due to Water Absorb and Signal Beam (which hits Ludicolo hard), but Grass Knot’s advantages often make it the better choice overall.

Kingdra (F) @ Life Orb ***Misdirection
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Surf
– Hydro Pump
– Draco Meteor
– Dragon Pulse

Swift Swim attacker number two. Since this is triples, I might as well lead with another Swift Swim friend. I ended up with a set having two Water-type and two Dragon-type attacks. Surf and Dragon Pulse are my typical moves, while Draco Meteor and Hydro Pump give me a bit of extra power for sticky situations. I had Ice Beam over Dragon Pulse for a bit of time, but Dragon Pulse is able to reach across the field, which is extremely useful. One quirk of the AI is that it will always replace Pokémon on the right first; since Kingdra is more powerful than Politoed, I placed it on the right side.

Gastrodon (M) @ Rindo Berry ***Totenblume
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 100 HP / 92 Def / 252 SpA / 64 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Muddy Water
– Earth Power
– Ice Beam
– Protect

Storm Drain offense and Trick Room check. Gastrodon was a member of my Subway Doubles rain team, and it is used here for similar reasons. Storm Drain and its Ground-type make Gastrodon immune to both Water- and Electric-type moves. This allows it to be a relatively safe switch-in, even while I spam Surf. Storm Drain also provides Gastrodon with free Special Attack boosts. Very often, when Gastrodon enters play, it piles up a ton of boosts from friendly Surfs, increasing its Special Attack to the point where any Pokémon it hits is usually OHKOed. Rindo Berry allows it to avoid being automatically OHKOed by Grass-type attacks. Humorously enough, due to the nerf to critical hits in XY, Rindo Berry actually allows Gastrodon to survive critical hit Grass-type attacks from more defensive Pokémon. Muddy Water provides a spread move. I had Surf back in BW, but boosted Surfs dealt too much damage to Gastrodon’s teammates, so I switched to Muddy Water despite the accuracy. Earth Power and Ice Beam provide it a secondary STAB attack and coverage move respectively, but more importantly two 100% accurate attacks to use. The defensive EVs provide a slight increase in bulk compared to 252 HP.

Bisharp (F) @ Focus Sash ***Bismarck
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 108 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 140 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Sucker Punch
– Iron Head
– Knock Off
– Protect

Focus Sash Bisharp provides a Trick Room check and Knock Off support. This team needed a Steel-type, and I decided to go with Bisharp instead of Scizor (which I used in BW). Scizor’s typical item, Life Orb, was already taken by Kingdra, and Bisharp has a better matchup against Trick Room setters. The moveset isn’t anything groundbreaking. The Speed EVs allow Bisharp to hit 108 Speed while allowing for a small amount of bulk. Knock Off is pretty helpful against some of the more annoying stall/setup Pokémon. Removing their Leftovers, Chesto Berry, etc. definitely makes life easier for this team. Bisharp’s typing allows it to draw Fighting-type moves into Protect. And if it reaches 1 HP (via Sash), it can draw away all opponent moves in a similar fashion to L1 Aron.

Conkeldurr (F) @ Assault Vest ***GONG
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Atk / 28 Def / 28 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 24 Spe
– Mach Punch
– Drain Punch
– Payback
– Ice Punch

To round out my roster, I wanted another physical attacker. I didn’t want to allow some of the specially bulky Pokémon to get the better of me, and I felt like I wanted something that could help when I needed to reset the weather. I arbitrarily decided to go with Assault Vest Conkeldurr, and it sort of stuck. Conkeldurr’s impressive bulk allowed it to roll with the punches, then slug back with a Drain Punch to restore HP. Most of the time, Conkeldurr merely picks off low-health Pokémon with Mach Punch, cleaning up the opponent’s team. But when times get tough, it really ends up being something I can fall back on to stand its ground and start a comeback. EVs here, once again, are marginally better than a simple 252/252. I suppose the fact that my total HP is a bit lower does make Drain Punch’s recovery a bit more valuable.

Strategy

This team’s strategy is an adaptation of that of my Subway Doubles rain team. The primary strategy is pretty straightforward: mash A, Surf Surf Surf, and wash away the opponents. My team’s back half helps to combat threats such as Trick Room and specially defensive Pokémon. The priority moves of Conkeldurr and Bisharp also keep me from falling behind against faster teams that get past my initial offense.

Due to how the team works, it is sometimes even more mindless than my previous Aron team, as you literally just hit the A button until everything faints. No targeting, no fancy plays, just raw damage. However, since you aren’t tricking the CPU into attacking a L1 decoy, there are definitely a few more things to pay attention to. Once again, the team ended up without a Mega. I can’t say for sure whether this was the right call or not, but I guess if I’ve made it to at least 1000 wins, it can’t be too bad. Besides, it saves me from having to watch the Mega Evolution animation hundreds of times. Similarly to my Aron team, I’d say that the leads are pretty well defined, but you can try substituting your own ideas for the latter half of the team.

How to Play

Due to the fast and powerful leads, you have quite a lot of control over the battle right from the start. From being familiar with opponent Pokémon and movesets, I’d say a good 80-90% of battles boil down to a simple game of what moves to use such that opponent does little or nothing on their turn. About 40% of the time, the answer is “mash A”. Every 100-200 battles or so, you’ll probably have to play a battle where you actually do have a real chance of losing if things go wrong. Since a lot of trainers have only one moveset for any given species of Pokémon, a look at some of the moveset and trainer resources available online can help save you from tricky spots.

Basically, you want to ask yourself:
Q1: Can you reliably KO all of the opponent’s active Pokémon?
Q2: If not, can you KO 2/3?
Q3: Which opposing Pokémon is the least threatening? Which are difficult to take down?
Q4: Are the any threats (see below) that you need to pay attention to?

Threats

Here are some various factors to pay attention to that might prevent full Surf spam mode. These are listed in no particular order. This list should cover just about everything you may need to watch out for, even if some might be somewhat minor. The list really isn’t that long, and some of it is pretty obvious. Don’t worry.

1. Grass-types

Grass is one of three types that resists Water. Naturally, that means that they won’t fall easily to the crashing waves. Grass-type Pokémon are far more abundant than Dragon-types, and are a lot more likely to be able to do significant damage compared to Water-types. Most of them will be able to take a non-STAB Ice Beam, but the combination of an Ice Beam and a Life Orb/+1 boosted Surf is often enough to take out offensive ones. There are a number of them that are more defensive, such as Venusaur, Meganium, and Cradily; these will easily be able to withstand a Surf+Ice Beam, but they don’t deal nearly as much damage and often use Protect. As such, they can usually be ignored. Virizion gets a special mention, as it has high Special Defense and often has offensive movesets. Fortunately, it doesn’t hit extremely hard, but it should be a priority target. It is very difficult to get Virizion down in one turn, but using Surf once and then focusing it usually does the trick. Use Fake Out on Virizion if you feel like you need to gain some extra ground.

2. Dragon-types

Dragon-types are typically more damaging than Grass-types, but are much easier to take out. Many of the common Dragon-type Pokémon are four times weak to Ice-type moves, and almost all of them are KOed by a single Dragon Pulse. Kingdra pretty much makes quick work of Dragons you’ll see; if not, a +1 Ludicolo is often more than enough to handle them. Be aware that Garchomp has a Focus Sash, so you’ll need two hits to KO it in any case. Haxorus holds a Yache Berry and will outspeed Ludicolo after a Dragon Dance, so quickly down it with Dragon Pulse. Latios/Latias have varying sets: for both, one set has an evasion item, and another has enough Special Defense to take a Dragon Pulse. Sometimes, using Fake Out on Latios/Latias is necessary. Dragonite may have Multiscale, so it should be targeted with two attacks.

3. Water-types

Water-type Pokémon are the most abundant of types that resist Water, but they are often the least threatening. It’s usually a pretty safe play to just use Surf on them, then follow up with Ludicolo’s Grass Knot at the first opening. There are a number of exceptions that will need a bit of extra attention, but many of them will be covered later in this section.

4. Lax Incense / Bright Powder

It’s just a 10% chance. No big deal. This team often just attacks everything indiscriminately with Surf anyways. Tangrowth, Lickilicky, Latios, Latias, and Regigigas are a few noteworthy Pokémon that may hold evasion items.

5. Quick Claw

Once an item that you’d probably see on something every other battle, Quick Claw is now an item you’ll likely only see on three Pokémon. Leafeon and Donphan are typically harmless. Muk can be a pain, as it will usually use Gunk Shot on Ludicolo if possible, so switching Ludicolo out for Gastrodon or Bisharp against Muk to avoid a Gunk Shot is something you may want to consider if you don’t want to risk the 20% roll.

6.Storm Drain / Water Absorb / Dry Skin

If Surf spam can knock out two opposing Pokémon, I often take a risk and ignore the possibility of these abilities. Otherwise, I might try to play around it. Poliwrath deserves a special mention, because I sometimes want to guarantee a hit to avoid Focus Punch. Storm Drain Cradily can cause serious issues if it gains too many boosts. Toxicroak and Jynx deal a lot of damage if they stay on the field, so it’s important to play with caution against them as well.

7. Swift Swim

Opposing Kingdra are more or less KOed on sight by my own Kingdra. The other Swift Swim users are largely non-factors. Note that if Seismitoad has Swift Swim, it will outspeed Kingdra, but even Poison Jab doens’t OHKO Ludicolo.

8. Cloud Nine

Weather negation sucks. Fortunately, there are only two Pokémon with Cloud Nine in the Battle Maison. Altaria is pretty easy to deal with; Ice Beam and Dragon Pulse make short work of it. Lickilicky is a bit more tricky. Against Lickilicky, I’ll likely switch out my leads, as its first move is often Explosion. Once it disposes of itself, I can bring back my weather Pokémon.

9. Drought / Sunny Day

This basically refers to Ninetales (whenever it actually shows up with Drought) and those Chefs with Fire-/Grass-type Sunny Day teams. Usually I try to switch out Politoed as soon as possible to prepare for a possible rain reset. Alternatively, I focus on taking out anything that potentially has Sunny Day before it can change the weather.

10. Sand Stream / Sandstorm

I honestly can’t remember the last time something has used manual sand, so this pretty much just refers to Hippowdon and Tyranitar. There are Sandstorm users, but the move is very rarely used. Conkeldurr is a great help against Tyranitar. Since sand teams are typically inherently Water weak and slow, sand is usually not too hard to handle when Politoed can just use Rain Dance to restart the downpour.

11. Snow Warning / Hail

The most dangerous weather. Usually Abomasnow, but sometimes Aurorus. I sometimes feel that Pokémon with two abilities (one standard, one hidden) have a 2/3 chance of having their standard ability, as it always seems that Abomasnow, Tyranitar, and Hippowdon have their standard weather abilities, but Ninetales often simply has Flash Fire. Since Hail makes Blizzard 100% accurate, even Bisharp isn’t a very safe switch in due to the possiblity of a freeze. Sometimes it’s better to not switch too hastily against hail teams; sacrificing one of the leads or Gastrodon to get Bisharp or Conkeldurr safely onto the field is occasionally the best play .

12. Wide Guard

You know what feels really bad? Surf, Surf, Surf… all into Wide Guard! You deal a bunch of damage to yourself, none to the opponent, and give the other two opposing Pokémon a free turn to attack. Maison Triples is very heavy on offensive momentum, and Surf spam into Wide Guard is a very quick way to lose all of it. There are three Wide Guard users you’ll encounter: Bastiodon, Regigigas and Mienshao. Mienshao quite literally never uses it and I believe the Regigigas is only used by one or two of the Veterans, so the big threat is Bastiodon. I usually use single-target attacks to rid the field of it as soon as possible.

13. Trick Room

If Trick Room goes up, it’s usually time to switch in Gastrodon. If it looks like I’m in enough of a lead, I may just sacrifice my leads in order to safely get Bisharp or Conkeldurr into the fray. Since Trick Room teams will usually be used by Hex Maniacs or Psychics, Bisharp can easily tear things apart. Just make sure you pay enough attention to realize that Trick Room has gone up.

14. Protect

There are actually quite a few Pokémon that carry Protect. Since this team doesn’t have a L1 Aron throwing the AI into a blind attacking rage, they will actually use Protect. It doesn’t matter too much most of the time, but keep it in mind when planning a single-target attack.

15. Fake Out

Fake Out users exist. Similarly to Protect users, they usually aren’t too bad, and in some cases they won’t even use it because they can OHKO one of my Pokémon with another move. Ludicolo does have a faster Fake Out in rain, so you are in control of the opening turn of the battle. Use Fake Out on a threat, use Fake Out on the opposing Fake Out user, or not use Fake Out at all. It’s up to you.

16. Miscellaneous

Other notable mentions include:

• Assault Vest Magnezone and Snorlax: Extreme special bulk.
• Blissey: Minimize is dumb.
• Venusaur, Tentacruel, Roserade, Meganium, Lanturn: Have the potential to stall. While none of these are too threatening, they take a while to KO.
• Registeel, Cresselia, Latios, Latias, Regice, Virizion: High special bulk. As previously mentioned, there is a Latios/Latias set with an evasion item. These Pokémon tend to be priority threats when facing veterans.
• Talonflame: Due to Gale Wings, the proper play is to Fake Out and Surf it on sight. If it comes in late game, just spam Surf and hope for a trade.

Conclusion

This should cover most of what you need to know about playing this team. This team generally takes less thought to play compared to my Aron team. But naturally, there is a bit more risk of losing as there are more threats that can disrupt the strategy. With another 1000 wins down, perhaps it’s time for me to start playing for real on Battle Spot? I’m running out of excuses on why I haven’t by now…

The post Here at the Battle Resort, We Do Nothing but Surf: A Return to 1000 Wins in the Battle Maison appeared first on Nugget Bridge.

Hey guys, Hashegi’s here again! Today I won’t be talking about International Friendly matches. Rather, I would like to tell you a story about Indonesia’s ORAS Season Opening Tournament. Even though this tournament was not worth Championship Points, Trainers came from all over Indonesia to find their place at the top.

Held on the 14th of December, this was one of the biggest VGC tournaments Indonesia has ever seen, second only to last year’s XY opening event. Here’s how it all started: a high school in North Jakarta was holding a Japanese Event called Tozka, which stands for Tokyo in Alazka. One of the committee members mentioned that we should hold a tournament for the ORAS season opening. At first, we only targeted around 30 Trainers, but things changed. Long story short, we got permission from the principal to use the school’s auditorium. Well, things just got real! We pushed and promoted our event, we printed banners, nametags, and everything else. Many problems arose leading up to the tournament. In particular, many trainers decided to cancel their participation on day one. I panicked and thought the Tournament would fail to be as epic as I had imagined, but I turned out to be wrong.

On Sunday morning, the team from Tozka and I started preparing everything around 07:00 a.m. The auditorium we used for the tournament opened at 11:30. Around 09:00, I was kind of nervous, but then participants started flooding in and queuing up in front of the entrance gate. Happiness and excitement is what I felt.

Never ending lines.

I started preparing the POP ID form (because there were so many first timers in Indonesia, preparing and describing IDs consumes a lot of time), coordinating the committee into their positions, and started the registration process. During the process, I saw many familiar faces, and a lot of new faces. Over time, my nervousness disappeared.

Packed auditoriums.

The tournament started at 12:00. After we finished all the registration, I started giving opening speeches. There were also speeches from the Tozka chief of committee, and Premier Tournament Organizer Ng Soon Aik, describing how Southeast Asia had gotten their Premier Challenge. The crowd went wild, thinking that they finally got a chance to go for Worlds! But the most important part was that I explained to all 71 trainers the rules for this tournament in a kindly reminder, mainly because Pokemon Competitive Battling is quite new here in Indonesia. After explaining all the rules, the battles started. This tournament used modified Double Flat rules using ORAS cartridges, and each team was required to bring two Hoenn native Pokemon, just to mess around with the format before VGC 15 was out. The usages of Legendaries was forbidden, even though they can be caught in both ORAS games; we didn’t want to see early Cresselia and Heatrans. But of course, as it turns out, ORAS legendaries are allowed in VGC 2015.

Preliminaries were Swiss rounds (with 71 trainers). Rules were best-of-one with a 10 minute limit for each game (due to lack of time and player experience) and best-of-three for Top 8 Cut. It took 7 battles to get 8 people in top cut. We had a break after swiss rounds ended. After the break, around 4 o’clock, Top Cut started. We also did some trivia quizzes for trainers who didn’t make it into top cut. It contained pokemon trivia such as “What is the number of citizens in Castelia City” or “List 5 Professors excluding Oak, Elm, Birch, etc.” The responses from participants about this trivia quizzes were quite good, even though most of them said it was hard, but they had fun! So maybe we’ll do it again in the next event.

Before Round 1

The Organizers (me on the far left)

Finals were between Oktavian Jason and Fakhrirozi Sulaiman, two players already well known in the Indonesian VGC community. Especially Jason, who won all three of his International matches between Indonesia and Taiwan, Malaysia and also Phillipines. The battle happened around 6:00 p.m., and ended at 6:30 p.m. The atmosphere was really cool. People were shouting at the big screen. Loud shouts happened when one of them get an unexpected OHKO by critical hit or when misses happened. The tournament hype, along with the chance to commentate, were both new to me. It was such an adrenaline rush!. This tournament ended with Oktavian Jason winning and get the prize.

Teams

1. Oktavian Jason

2. Fakhrurozi Sulaiman

3. Jonathan Ramlan

4. Edward Ang

5. Ibnu Wiharja

6. Randy Tenderan

7. Jonathan Chandranegara:

8. Janitra Lomorov:

And here are the overall usage statistics of the tournament:

More Photos

At least something to show

Of course it won’t be complete without a video!

Honorable Mentions:

• One of the participants prepared his team in XY then transferred it to ORAS, and then he realized he hadn’t got the Mega Bracelet in-game yet. So he finished two gyms and rushed to reach the point where Steven gives you the mega bracelet. One of the participants who observed at the process said he was playing ‘Metal Gear Solid’, in the sense that he avoided as many trainer as he could.
• This tournament had zero Smeargles! Maybe some of the players thought Dark Void was banned.
• The top cut usage statistics have quite a bit of variety, with some of the single-use Pokemon in the tournament reaching the top cut, one of them even get the runner up position.
• In total, 68 Masters and 3 Seniors participant were present. However, because Seniors had fewer than 6 participants, it was automatically combined with Masters division.
• All Trainers with 5-2 record were in the Top 16!
• This was the first sanctioned VGC Tournament in Indonesia with more than 64 participants! I am surprised that they are coordinating events so well.
• This was also the first time I got to be the MC for a tournament.

Shout Outs

• Michael Pond Wijaya as the Tournament Organizer!
• Ng Soon Aik who came from Singapore to see and helping us with the set up and technical issues!
• The Bon Brothers, Aya and Ama for convincing us to make this huge event a success in your High School! You guys rocks!
• Bima Amalsyah for helping with (more like doing) this report and for all the statistics!
• Congratulations again to Oktavian Jason for winning another Tournament! You should spare some titles for the others!
• Naoya Takahashi, who is Japanese, with no ORAS but still came to join the event (our committee lent him a 3DS)
• 2 Players came all over from the other island of Sulawesi to Java and joining this epic event.
• Huy, for letting me post this awesome Tournament.
• Alifka Yudhis, who made the awesome video!
• Adrian Adi, who was originally a TCG Professor but came to help, and no one in Indonesia could handle TOM faster than he could.
• All of the Tozka committee. Even though you guys don’t understand Pokemon, you helped us make this tournament work, especially the runner!
• PSe as I used some of their Photos to publicize
• So many people helped, and I can’t name them all.
• You guys who joined the tournament.
• AND You Guys! Those who are still reading this post ! Congrats.

By the way, if you see those pokeball-with-wings logos, that is the Indonesian VGC Community logo!

Upcoming schedule is on the 11th of January which will also be a BIG event for us! It is the Asia Cup 2015 qualifier and also the first Premier Challenge for Indonesia! It’s an exciting time for our community. I hope it all goes well. Keep track of our updates, and Get Your Game ON!

The post One Year of VGC and Counting: Indonesia’s ORAS Opening Tournament appeared first on Nugget Bridge.