Hi! My name is Brandon Ikin, but you can call me Toquill. You might know me from ‘Pokemon Showdown!’, where I often host small practice tournaments. After winning at the Northampton qualifier (getting lucky against Baz Anderson in the finals), I got an invitation to the main event. On December 7th, I participated in the Nintendo UK Winter Championships and won, which is probably the biggest accomplishment in my VGC career so far.
The Team
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Buy1Get1Free (Kangaskhan) (F) @Kangaskhanite
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -Sp. Atk)
IV’s: 31/31/31/x/31/31
EV’s: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Ability: Scrappy -> Parental Bond
Moveset:
- Return
- Power-Up Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Fake Out
This was the starting point, your run-of-the-mill, bog standard Kangaskhan. For those who don’t know, Kangaskhan’s Mega Evolution gets Parental Bond, an ability which lets Kangaskhan attack twice, with the second hit dealing half of the damage the first hit deals. This, paired with nice base 125 Attack and base 100 Speed stats makes Mega Kangaskhan a huge threat. The EVs are also standard. I didn’t feel the need for a Jolly Nature since things like Garchomp were still going to outspeed me, and I wanted to hit as hard and fast as I could, relying on it’s natural bulk. It was nicknamed “Buy1Get1Free” because it’s one of the cheesiest nicknames you could ever possibly give a Mega Kangaskhan. This Kangaskhan is also really good at getting critical hits on Salamence.
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Bad Blood (Scizor) (M) @Lum Berry
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -Sp. Atk)
IV’s: 31/31/31/x/31/31
EV’s: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Sp. Def
Ability: Technician
Moveset:
- Bullet Punch
- X-Scissor
- Swords Dance
- Protect
After realizing that Kangaskhan offers Fake Out support, I knew I wanted to have a Pokemon to set up some stat boosts to take advantage of the free turn. Quiver Dance Volcarona was out of the picture, so I tried out Swords Dance Scizor. Like Kangaskhan, Scizor is also pretty standard. I didn’t want a fancy EV spread because I felt it was unnecessary. Bullet Punch and X-Scissor are the strongest STABs Scizor can learn for the VGC 2014 season, Swords Dance raises Scizor’s Attack stat to great heights, and Protect is there because of all the utility Protect provides, primarily to allow Scizor to block an attack and have the partner Pokemon help neutralize the threat. This Scizor was bred by Ian McLaughlin (raikoo), but didn’t get used once in the entire tournament. It’s named after the Bastille album, since I love Bastille and they empower me. <3
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SAILOR DAZ (Rotom-W) @Sitrus Berry
Nature: Calm (+Sp. Def, -Atk)
IV’s: 31/x/31/31/31/29
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 4 Sp. Atk / 180 Sp. Def / 28 Spd
Ability: Levitate
Moveset:
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Light Screen
The next Pokemon I wanted had to be something that had good synergy with Scizor, and could support it even further. Rotom-W was a perfect fit. This is the same moveset Aaron Zheng (Cybertron) used to place 3rd at Worlds last season (Cybertron’s report), but with a much more defensive EV spread. 252 HP and 44 Def always survives Mega Mawile’s Play Rough, so that’s where I started. I had recently read tanzying‘s article that he translated from Japanese (tanzying’s article) and discovered that 20 Speed EVs on Rotom was popular to speed creep other Rotom. My Speed IV was 29, since I got some pretty bad luck in breeding, so 28 Speed EVs with a 29 Speed IV hits the equivalent of 20 EVs with a 31 Speed IV. I was running a Calm Nature to survive Mega Charizard Y’s Solar Beam, so I just dumped the rest of the EVs into Special Defense, with 4 in Special Attack for EV spread optimization purposes. Rotom-W was nicknamed after an inside joke I have with some IRL friends with sailing, and the detergent brand ‘Daz’.
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キリモン (Garchomp) (F) @Focus Sash
Nature: Jolly (+Spd, -Sp. Atk)
IV’s: 31/31/31/x/31/31
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Ability: Rough Skin
Moveset:
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Protect
Like Kangaskhan and Scizor, Garchomp is not particularly original. Despite its lack of creativity though, I’m so glad it was on the team. If it wasn’t here I would’ve likely lost the first round and semi-finals. I used to favour Sand Veil as Garchomp’s Ability for when I face opposing Tyranitar, but as Lajos Kowalewski (Lajo) pointed out to me, in a metagame where physical attackers are running amuck, Rough Skin is very strong. I think now is a good time to give credit to my friend Dennis Moberg (Chauzu). I was struggling to get a Garchomp a day before the event, but he came to my rescue with a swagtastic Japanese one. I love you man! He nicknamed it himself, and apparently it translates to ‘Kirimon’, Kiri meaning ‘Cut’.
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fab jackson♥ (Talonflame) (M) @Life Orb
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -Sp. Atk)
IV’s: 31/31/31/x/31/31
EV’s: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spd
Ability: Gale Wings
Moveset:
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Tailwind
- Protect
Gale Wings Talonflame is scary in our current metagame, because with priority Brave Bird and Tailwind it supports the team and hits really hard at the same time. With max Attack and a Life Orb, it can OHKO Pokemon such as Amoonguss and Scrafty effortlessly with Brave Bird, as well as leave a decent dent in most others that don’t resist the attack. Flare Blitz wrapped things up in the dual STAB department nicely, giving me a way to hit Steel types. Protect is there for the same reason it was on Garchomp and Scizor: it’s a great utility move. The EV spread can take a 4 Special Attack Neutral Rotom-W Thunderbolt, including Sandstorm damage. I have to admit that the spread isn’t optimal, and could easily be improved; for instance, 172 HP EVs would’ve given me the same result without the Sandstorm damage, but sadly this was the only Talonflame I had at the time. He was nicknamed ‘fab jackson♥’ after the fabulous Jackson7 D.
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==RAILERS== (Amoonguss) (F) @Black Sludge
Nature: Sassy (+Sp. Def, -Spd)
IV’s: 31/x/31/31/31/6
EVs: 116 HP / 212 Def / 180 Sp. Def
Ability: Regenerator
Moveset:
- Giga Drain
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Protect
Amoonguss was definitely the least used Pokemon in testing, with it mainly being there for redirection and for helping with my matchup against Rain and Trick Room. I’d also bring it to games where I felt I had a disadvantage right from Team Preview, and try to use Spore to gain the upper hand by temporarily disabling any threats. The EV spread was made by the EV doctor himself, Tommy Yee (tlyee61), and it’s a really great spread. It can take a regular Talonflame’s unboosted Brave Bird or Flare Blitz 100% of the time, and has a ton of special bulk to help take attacks overall. It’s nicknamed after the strongest miniNPA team to play in our little circuit, the Anville Railers. Great team. Amoonguss is our mascot.
Teams Played
R1 vs Ben Kyriakou (Kyriakou)
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R2 vs Jamie Miller (Blaze King7)
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R3 vs Tyler Bakhtiari (pokeguru01)
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Quarter-Finals vs Maurice Samuels (TheFear)
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Semi-Finals vs Alex Monks
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Finals vs Justin Miller (ThrillerMiller9)
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Closing Words
I’m so thrilled to have won this tournament! I doubted myself a lot going into it, even though everyone around me said I’d place well. For winning I earned myself £500, £100 in Nintendo eShop credit and a new 3DS XL (that’s the equivalent of $817 dollars and $164 eShop credit for all of you Americans out there). I can’t finish this report without giving credit to everyone who helped me to get here, which is pretty much everybody who regularly plays on Pokemon Showdown! Also credit to pro blaze, dingram, raikoo, araluen7 and Chauzu for being a huge help in breeding my team, and DaWoblefet for proofreading this article and helping to make it as bearable as possible! Thanks so much everyone!
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