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Published on January 31st, 2014 | by crobert

20

Top 16 with Perish Rain at Tokyo’s 15th Arena Off Tournament

This is an analysis of the Perish Trap Rain team by the Japanese player YT (Twitter account and blog) who used it to achieve 1st place on the Showdown VGC 2014 ladder under the player names igrek and Showme. He also used it at the 15th Pokémon Arena Off which is a major grassroots event in Tokyo where he finished in the Top 16 out of 109 players. This particular Arena event also served as the Kanto region qualifier for Battle Road Gloria which is an unofficial national tournament for Japan leading to the unofficial Pokémon Asia Cup Spring 2014. The article has been edited and re-posted with permission from the original author. The original article is available on his blog here.

Team Details

politoed
Politoed @ BrightPowder
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 204 HP / 148 Def / 156 SDef
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Scald
– Perish Song
– Hypnosis
– Protect

This is a bulky Politoed which is used to set up both rain and Perish Song. The HP EVs ensures that the actual in-game HP stat will be 1 less than a multiple of 16 which serves to minimize hail and sand damage. Defensive EVs allow it to survive a Play Rough from an Adamant Mega Mawile on the physical side and a Thunder from Timid Mega Manectric on the special side. The actual EVs necessary are less than the listed values but the extra EVs were put in for more bulk.

On its moveset, I chose Scald because it is a solid STAB attack with 100% Accuracy with the bonus of possible burn for the opponent. I found Sleep to be more useful for the team so I gave it Hypnosis as opposed to other moves such as Ice Beam and Encore. Perish Song is to have a backup singer aside from Gengar and Protect is to stall out turns to advance the perish count.

For the item, since both Sitrus Berry and Leftovers were already taken by other team members, I needed something different. The defensive EVs ensure it can survive a Thunder from Mega Manectric, therefore it’s not necessary to give it Wacan Berry, so I gave it Bright Powder to slightly increase turn the odds in my favour.

kingdra
Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Muddy Water
– Hydro Pump
– Protect

The EVs are very standard. I chose Timid nature as opposed to Modest since this team can’t risk a speed tie loss against an opposing Kingdra. The role of Kingdra is essentially a backup win condition when Perish Trapping is not viable. In this case the team plays very much like a standard Rain team with high base power moves chosen to increase the chance of OHKOs. I gave it Life Orb since Choice items are incompatible with the team concept but I still needed increased power and the flexibility that Protect offers. Indeed, Kingdra in rain tends to draw a lot of hate so being able to Protect allows for smoother playing.

gengar-mega
Gengar @ Gengarite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 188 HP / 20 Def / 44 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
– Perish Song
– Shadow Ball
– Substitute
– Protect

HP EVs are adjusted to minimize hail and sand damage. Defense EVs did not have any particular goals but it allows Gengar to survive a Crunch from an Intimidated Tyranitar and one hit of sand damage. Special Attack EVs are the least required to achieve a 13/16 probability of OHKOing a Chandelure with 252 EVs invested in HP and 4 EVs in Special Defense. Special Defense ensures it will survive a Hydro Pump from Politoed in the rain, and finally 252 Speed EVs ensure fastest Perish Song.

Perish Song is a self-explanatory move choice and Shadow Ball allows it to hit Ghost types which can now switch out of Shadow Tag due to the mechanic changes in this gen. Substitute is very useful to have in many situations, for example when Gengar has already Protected the previous turn or when faced with a Gengar mirror match and you predict the opponent will Protect. Finally, Protect is also a clear choice which helps stall out turns.

gothitelle
Gothitelle @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 236 HP / 188 Def / 84 SDef
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Trick Room
– Reflect
– Psybeam
– Protect

HP EVs are adjusted to minimize sand and hail damage exactly like Politoed and Gengar. Defense EVs have no particular objective but it allows a high probability of surviving a Crunch from Adamant Mega Tyranitar. Special Defense EVs along with Sitrus Berry recovery allow Gothitelle to survive a focused hit in the rain from Modest Specs Kingdra’s Hydro Pump and Modest Politoed’s Hydro Pump.

Trick Room is to support Amoonguss and Perish Song from Politoed. Reflect allows the team to survive longer. I chose Reflect over Charm since its effects remain in place even if the opponent leaves play either by switching or fainting. Gothitelle also needs an attacking move since it is vulnerable to Taunt. I chose Psybeam due to the possible confusion bonus, but other choices such as Psyshock (which has synergy with Scrafty’s Crunch) and Psychic (high base power) are also viable. And finally Protect is there for reasons outlined in previous paragraphs. Since Gothitelle must remain in play in order to activate Shadow Tag I gave it Sitrus Berry to maximize chances of survival.

amoonguss
Amoonguss @ Eject Button
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 236 HP / 68 Def / 204 SDef
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Rage Powder
– Spore
– Giga Drain
– Protect

HP EVs makes actual in-game values divisible by 3 which optimizes Regenerator recovery. Defense EVs have no specific targets but the Special Defense EVs allow it to survive a Heat Wave in the sun from a Timid Mega Charizard Y. The moveset is very standard and needs no explanation. For its item I gave it Eject Button since I can use its effect to send in either Politoed which sets up rain or Scrafty which can Fake Out next turn for easy perish count gain. In addition, Eject Button cancels the switching effect from opposing Volt Switch and U-turn.

scrafty
Scrafty @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Atk / 44 Def / 116 SDef / 4 Spd
Careful Nature
– Fake Out
– Drain Punch
– Crunch
– Protect

Attack EVs allow Scrafty’s Crunch and Mega Gengar’s Shadow Ball together to take out a Careful Trevenant with 244 HP, 156 Defense, 108 Special Defense EV investments taking Sitrus Berry recovery into account.
Defense EVs lets Scrafty survive a Brave Bird from Adamant Talonflame and Special Defense EVs allows for surviving a rain-boosted Hydro Pump from Specs Kingdra. The EVs are actually more than necessary for these targets but I added them for the extra bulk. Also apparently this Scrafty has a 75% chance of surviving Dazzling Gleam from Timid Gardevoir, so this is a very solid spread.

Fake Out is to stop various opposing Pokémon where the order of importance is outlined in the next section. I chose Drain Punch for its Fighting move because the healing effect has synergy with the team concept. Crunch is for attacking Ghost types.
Protect is for reasons written previously but one can use Detect instead if worried about Imprison. Using Protect along with Scrafty’s bulk allows for more than four instances of Leftovers recovery.

Playing the Team

scraftygengar-megagothitellepolitoed

The standard opening for this team is Scrafty and Gengar followed by Gothitelle and Politoed in the back. For the first turn Fake Out an opponent with Scrafty and Perish Song with Gengar while Mega Evolving. The order of importance of the Fake Out target is as follows: first target any possible disruptions to Perish Song. Secondly, any possible OHKO threats. Thirdly, any Pokémon with high damage potential, and at last all other threats.
For the second turn Protect both Pokémon to gain perish count. Third turn switch out both Pokémon to remove perish count and next turn Protect with both.

amoongussgengar-megagothitellepolitoed

This selection is chosen when the opponent either has a Pokémon with Fake Out, Greninja, or a Taunt user such as Liepard. For the first turn the usual play is to Protect on both Pokémon while Mega Evolving and Rage Powder + Perish Song on the following turn. Proceed to play as in the previous case.

Dealing with Threats

trevenantgourgeistchandelure

Against Trevenant, Gourgeist, and Chandelure, focusing on the opponent with both Scrafty and Gengar will take them out so the standard selection is OK. However caution is needed against Scarfed Chandelure.

gengar-megasableye
When faced with an opposing Gengar or Sableye, send out Gengar first. Keep in mind to play flexibly to win this matchup.

aegislash
For Aegislash, you must correctly predict whether it will use Shadow Ball, Substitute, or King’s Shield. If you play correctly you will be able to win.

manectric-megascizor
Do not try to Perish Trap against Volt Switch and U-turn users. Instead you can win by simply hitting hard and playing well.

Achievements

This team achieved 1st place in the Showdown VGC 2014 ladder playing as igrek and Showme.

igrekshowme

This team also ranked in the Top 16 of the 15th Arena Off.


About the Author

is Nugget Bridge's Japanese correspondent. His fluency in English and Japanese helps keep the English-speaking Pokémon community informed about the going-ons in Japan. He is also an accomplished battler placing highly at both the 2012 Ontario Regional and Canadian National tournaments.



20 Responses to Top 16 with Perish Rain at Tokyo’s 15th Arena Off Tournament

  1. R Inanimate says:

    Question: Why is this in the Q&A forum?
     
    More seriously, congrats to YT for a T16 finish. Perish Trap teams are not the easiest type of team to run successfully. What Perish Trap teams have gain in XY with Mega Gengar’s access to Shadow Tag and Perish Song, they lose in how Ghost-types can switch around freely, thus making you have to work a fair bit harder to win, so it was interesting to read what sort of measures he used to deal with that. Grass Types being unaffected by Rage Powder or Spore doesn’t do you many favours either.

  2. Hibiki says:

    I was fooling around with a Rain/Perish trap team a while ago on Showdown, never realized it could be this successful if fleshed out properly.. props to the guy, seems very intense to play because you have to read your opponent correctly a lot.

  3. Scott says:

    Man, I was trying to figure out why I couldn’t find it on the forum forever, freaking Rushan… I moved it to Competitive, since I feel safe assuming that was a mistake.
     
    I enjoyed reading this a lot. While Perish Trap in general is one of those things I’d probably be happier in a world without, Mega Gengar existing and the change to Ghost-types and Shadow Tag makes it a little more strategically interesting to me this generation, and as someone who hasn’t played with it at all, it was interesting to read about a version that has been reasonably successful. I was rooting against the guy using it in Worlds last year pretty hard just because I think it tends to be incredibly uninteresting to watch, but I think Perish Trap is probably the most technical of VGC matchups in the sense that winning or losing requires a lot of specific knowledge to make the best plays moreso than prediction, so it’s a good sign for a player if you can do well with this stuff against people who know how to play against it, I think. I know I’ve battled this particular team a few times but don’t remember too much about the games… pretty solid version of what it is, though.

  4. Szymoninho says:

    Perish Trap is what makes Gourgeist even more fantastic.

    Thanks for putting this on.

  5. P3DS says:

    Congrat to YT. Man… seriously, the team is nasty. Played it a few times, and it hurts.

  6. shinryu says:

    Perish Trap is nasty if you don’t have a decent counter for it or just a bad matchup against it in general. Would be pretty fun to run one.

  7. This was a great read, extremely helpful. I actually used Perish Song at the Florida Regionals and finished with a 6-3 record, and now I can make some adjustments to my team. :) Not too bad for my first VGC event, but I could have perform better if I had known the metagame a bit more (my prediction could use some work too). It really does take a lot of specific knowledge to used correctly. but Perish Song is an incredibly fun team to pilot, just because it’s so different.
     
    Also, I would just like to bring up how the disdain for Perish Song is really unjustified, with people saying that it’s a cheap team to use. Again, it requires the person to know very specific details about the metagame, and needs a skilled player to know exactly when to switch or to use Protect. I’m not saying I’m amazing with Perish Song (far from it, haha), but the team deserves more credit than it gets.

  8. LSpark says:

    The team has certainly some flaws but how the hell can you counter it with a standard team? If you build a team just to counter this thing you will lose firepower to deal with the rest of the meta.

  9. DaWoblefet says:

    The team has certainly some flaws but how the hell can you counter it with a standard team? If you build a team just to counter this thing you will lose firepower to deal with the rest of the meta.

    Knowing what it does and not playing right into their hands. Did you notice the section where he talked about double Protecting, then switching? During the double Protect, you can take the time to set up with your own Pokemon. Boosting moves come to mind, like Swords Dance, Dragon Dance, or even Power-Up Punching your own Pokemon to get a boost. During that double switch, you have a golden opportunity to smash his switch-ins for some free damage. Also, a Perish Trap team is not hard to spot in Team Preview – Pokemon that YT has are usually present, so the strategy shouldn’t catch you off guard.
     
    Most importantly though, don’t bring support Pokemon like Amoonguss, because they’ll love setting up all over you. Bringing your most offensive Pokemon usually is what works best for me.

  10. LSpark says:

    Knowing what it does and not playing right into their hands. Did you notice the section where he talked about double Protecting, then switching? During the double Protect, you can take the time to set up with your own Pokemon. Boosting moves come to mind, like Swords Dance, Dragon Dance, or even Power-Up Punching your own Pokemon to get a boost. During that double switch, you have a golden opportunity to smash his switch-ins for some free damage. Also, a Perish Trap team is not hard to spot in Team Preview – Pokemon that YT has are usually present, so the strategy shouldn’t catch you off guard.
     
    Most importantly though, don’t bring support Pokemon like Amoonguss, because they’ll love setting up all over you. Bringing your most offensive Pokemon usually is what works best for me.
     

    I see, that makes sense. Thanks for the tip.

  11. Terrakhaos says:

    Well,this article explains perfectly WHY I hate perish trap :/

  12. break says:

    Fantastic article !!

    * I always wanted to see a successful team with Gothitelle on it *

    Those EV-Spreads are something else ^_^”

  13. Koke says:

    I’d say the loss of gems this gen almost counteracts the buff to ghosts against Perish Trap. This team is something I would not like to play against.

  14. yusakuSHO says:

    In my team I ran a Klefki instead of gothitelle
    fairy lock / draining kiss / safeguard / protect :p

  15. camzeee says:

    It’s a tough team to play against, but I find it’s even tougher to play with.  The person who plays it has to know the metagame very well and gain an advantage turn 1.  If it leads wrong, gets outpredicted even one turn, it all falls apart.  Against inexperienced players it will do great, but against experienced players it takes real skill to beat them.

  16. Lajo says:

    Knowing what it does and not playing right into their hands. Did you notice the section where he talked about double Protecting, then switching? During the double Protect, you can take the time to set up with your own Pokemon. Boosting moves come to mind, like Swords Dance, Dragon Dance, or even Power-Up Punching your own Pokemon to get a boost. During that double switch, you have a golden opportunity to smash his switch-ins for some free damage. Also, a Perish Trap team is not hard to spot in Team Preview – Pokemon that YT has are usually present, so the strategy shouldn’t catch you off guard.
     
    Most importantly though, don’t bring support Pokemon like Amoonguss, because they’ll love setting up all over you. Bringing your most offensive Pokemon usually is what works best for me.

     
    Perish song really don´t like strong attacks, especially spread moves like Dazzling gleam or Earth quake- but don´t forget the Rain mode of this team. Bringing Amoonguss can save you against that, plus I would not say Amoonguss is bad against Perish trap in general, since some Gengars will run disable to stop Bisharp from night slashing or whatever, were rage powder surely helps. (and variants with Liepard>Scrafty are pretty common, too). Plus, putting one target to sleep can be crucial for perish trap. I even would say Amoonguss is a good call against it.

  17. FamousDeaf says:

    Don’t use bulky defensive pokemon without status moves and offensive stats against it because Perish trap team would love to play against them. Perish Trap Team need a strong prediction against the strong offensive teams to win the games. if it’s wrong predict, it’s all fall apart by lost a pokemon or heavy damage.
    Amoonguss is a good call against Perish Trap Team because of Rage Powder/Spore. Scarfed Pokemon is good against Perish Trap team sometime unless Amoonguss on field.

  18. nUmbreon999 says:

    “Indeed, Kingdra in rain tends to draw a lot of hate so being able to Protect allows for smoother playing.” Wait what?

  19. 13Yoshi37 says:

    “Indeed, Kingdra in rain tends to draw a lot of hate so being able to Protect allows for smoother playing.” Wait what?

     
    It should be that Kingdra draws a lot of attention because it is threatening in rain.

  20. moobs98 says:

    How did you go about the turns following the innitial perish trap? Did you switch and start again or just play on depending on the current position? I’d just really like to know

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