A Cut Below: Nationals Report
As many people know, the past few VGC events that I have attended, I have generally not cared so much how well I did and used things such as Fissure Stunfisk and Choice Specs Psyduck instead of more “viable” teams. However, this time I wanted to change that and give myself a good chance at Top Cutting while still keeping some originality to my team. I did have a team in mind that resembled Paul’s old TopOgre team with a 2012 twist since Kyogre couldn’t be used, but I knew that by the time Nationals rolled around I would want a new team since that’s what always happens. So instead of sticking with this one team, I browsed Serebii for awhile looking for something that seemed interesting but was not commonly used.
I stumbled across Scyther and realized that it has the same Base HP and Special Defense stats as Scizor, and only 20 less Defense — very usable with Eviolite. Scyther also offers a much higher Speed stat with a minimal loss in Attack. All around it seemed like just what I was looking for. I decided this would be a good thing to center the team around and contacted one of my Teambuilding associates, Human, who suggested Krookodile as a partner. Now that I had a core to build around, I decided to work on spreads.
THE TEAM:
At first glance, the team looks rather bad defensively as I have 3 weak to Ice, 3 weak to Fire, 3 weak to Rock, 3 weak to Bug, and the list goes on and on. This is true. I did recognize this as a problem with my team, but I was confident that I could play around these weaknesses due to the build of my team, killing off all threats before they had a chance to do massive damage.
Enosh (Scyther) (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Technician
EVs: 220 HP / 148 Atk / 36 Def / 4 SDef / 100 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
– Roost
– Protect
– Bug Bite
– Aerial Ace
As stated before, I mainly picked Scyther due to its bulk and the fact that no one had been using it, helping with my “Element of Surprise” playstyle. Scyther’s EVs may seem a bit random at first glance, but each had a purpose. The Speed EVs let it outpace max Speed Neutral Base 85s, such as Cresselia. This Scyther is also EV’d to always live Latios Dragon Gem Draco Meteor unless it were to be a Critical Hit. Defense EVs are there to help take Rock Slides with an Intimidate partner, like Krookodile. The remaining EVs were put into Attack to deal a decent amount of damage to anything that didn’t resist a hit.
Matthew (Regice) @ Ice Gem
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 88 SAtk / 8 Spd
IVs: 31 Atk, 30 Def
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
– Protect
– Ice Beam
– Thunder Wave
– Hidden Power [Fire]
I chose Regice because I noticed the team couldn’t reliably kill Zapdos easily and decided this was the best Ice type to use based on its Special Attack and bulk. This Regice spread allows it to survive Fighting Gem Close Combat from Hitmontop 100% of the time after Hitmontop has been Intimidated once. The Special Attack stat then allows Regice to OHKO Hitmontop back if rolls max damage after the Close Combat drop. Ice Gem Ice Beam also OHKO’s “Standard” 140 HP/252 SAtk/116 Speed Zapdos 100% of the time as long as Zapdos is not running Yache Berry. Even if Zapdos is running Yache Berry, I believe that Heat Wave ends up being a 3HKO. The remaining 8 EVs went into Speed to outspeed no investment Base 50s.
Cassie (Leafeon) (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Leaf Guard
EVs: 200 HP / 56 Atk / 112 SDef / 140 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
– Detect
– X-Scissor
– Leaf Blade
– Quick Attack
I knew that my team also needed a strong Pokemon to deal with Gastrodon and Rain teams in general. Leafeon looked right for me because it has high Base Attack and Defense so it can do damage to anything weak to its STAB. While re-running calcs to see the exact EVs of this set, I think I messed up, but the general premise is to live Ludicolo Ice Beam and KO. Based on median damage from Ludicolo Fake Out + Politoed Surf (Modest Max SAtk) + Luidcolo Ice Beam, it should do around 168 HP to this Leafeon which only has 165 HP. I probably messed up somewhere or forgot what it was actually intended to live, but you could make adjustments as needed. This Leafeon hits 133 speed to outspeed Max Netural Base 80’s, but 134 is Max Beneficial Base 70’s so you could make that change as well. With Life Orb and the Attack EVs on Leafeon, X-Scissor OHKO’s offensive Ludicolo if it rolls max damage. This probably should have been tweaked, but it’s just a general Rain counter.
Kenan (Rotom-H) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 100 SAtk
Ivs: 30 Speed
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
– Protect
– Overheat
– Thunderbolt
– Thunder Wave
There isn’t much thought behind this Rotom-H. I needed a Fire and Ice resist and chose Rotom-H over Heatran because of Krookodile and Earthquake. This Rotom-H is EVd to be 3HKOd by Tyranitar Rock Slide when at -1 including Sandstorm, but if you receive one -1 Rock Slide and the rest are at -2, the Rotom-H is 4HKOd by Tyranitar Rock Slide. 30 Speed IV in case I wanted to run HP Ice later, and it doesn’t change the Speed stat. It also gives a 31 IV in Defense for an extra point that can be used elsewhere.
Natalie (Cresselia) (F) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 100 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 152 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
– Psychic
– Ice Beam
– Energy Ball
– Hidden Power [Fire]
I had played around with the thought of Specs Cress back in the winter as a joke, when I don’t think offensive Cresselia was very common, and it worked surprisingly well. I made some changes but this spread is wrong as well. I should’ve been running 160 EVs to outspeed Max Beneficial Base 61’s (Tyranitar) but accidentally tied them with this spread. I might have also had Trick on the previous set, but I found Energy Ball more useful against Gastrodon in case something happened to Leafeon. HP Fire hits Scizor hard and kills if it’s not running Occa Berry. This Cress outspeeds Hitmontop, which almost always Fake Outs Krookodile over Cress, and OHKOs Hitmontop with Psychic. Lastly, Ice Beam is there for coverage to do decent damage against Pokemon such as Zapdos and Dragons.
Jio (Krookodile) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 100 HP / 252 Atk / 156 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
– Crunch
– Rock Slide
– Low Sweep
– Earthquake
This was suggested to use in conjunction with Scyther. It can outspeed and Earthquake, which Scyther is immune to, and also allows Scyther to reliably Roost without getting hit by Earthquake. A lot of the other members came after Krookodile and many were either immune or resistant to Earthquake so I could just spam it and do reliable damage to most of the metagame.
There wasn’t too much thought behind this Krookodile. It hits 132 Speed, so after Choice Scarf boost that’s 198. This outspeeds Max Beneficial 125s but is beaten by Max Beneficial 130ss by 2 points and could be changed, but I didn’t see why it would be a problem. The rest just went into HP to allow more bulk to switch in for more Intimidates since I didn’t see any point in running a 252/252 spread when it doesn’t outspeed anything very notable. I guess you could run Max Speed, but even then if you are running Adamant you only tie Max Beneficial Base 145s like Accelgor so there isn’t any point in flipping a coin for a speed tie and losing bulk.
The general goal of the team was to allow Scyther and Krookodile lead and just do lots of damage and have others in the back to clean up. However, after playtesting I usually lead Cress and Krookodile to combat Hitmontop. I also found that I switched a lot more with this team than any other to get my favorable match-ups, and their bulk helped them do that. There were also several instances that their bulk allowed them to live attacks with very small amounts of HP that they wouldn’t have had if they were just running 252/252 spreads.
THE BATTLES:
This was the one event in which I did not take notes, so some of these might be more vague than others depending on what details I remember.
ROUND ONE: Unknown (I didn’t take note of names in the majority of these)
Opponent: Zapdos/Volcarona/Creselia/X
Myself: X/Krookodile/Regice/Scyther
During Team Preview, I was a little bit worried. I saw that my opponent had a Volcarona, which is one of the few things my team has trouble dealing with, and if it manages to get a Quiver Dance up, it will be nearly impossible to come back.
I don’t quite remember what my opponent lead with, but I think I might have lead Cresselia + Krookodile. I know I had to do some switching until I got my Regice in and then I got a Thunder Wave off on their Volcarona. Regice then Ice Beamed their Zapdos for a kill and everything was looking good.
I then Thunder Waved everything on their team and brought Krookodile in. I started spamming Rock Slide, Thunder Wave, and Ice Beam until everything was dead. I had a lot of para-flinching going on but all it did was make it a 3-0 win over a 2-0 as I had Scyther in the back to clean up.
The staff then ran hack checks and apparently my opponent’s Zapdos was hacked or tutored in B2W2 or something and was then disqualified.
Great. Already off to a terrible start when it comes to resistance.
W: 3-0
Record: 1-0
ROUND TWO: Unknown
Opponent: Weavile/Cobalion/Cresselia/Scrafty
Myself: Krookodile/Rotom-H/Scyther/Leafeon
Another match in which I was frightened a bit by Team Preview. I see Politoed and Kingdra and know those two can breeze through most of my team. I also see Cobalion, Cresselia, Weavile, and Scrafty, so I’m starting to think rain room.
However, my opponent decides to lead Weavile + Cobalion so I’m starting to get confused.
I lead Krookodile and Rotom-H. Why did I lead Rotom-H if I was expecting rain? I was sort of assuming Politoed + Fake Out Lead and I wanted to get a nice Thunderbolt off. Anyway, I’m expecting a bait to use Overheat and a switch to Politoed to get Drizzle up, so I just Earthquake and Thunderbolt the Cobalion. Weavile doesn’t go for Fake Out like I expected, but rather uses Beat Up on his Cobalion and Sacred Swords my Krookodile. I then use Thunderbolt on Cobalion for the kill and everything is starting to look up.
I think he then sent out Scrafty, and I don’t remember it using Fake Out. I take an Ice Punch from Weavile on Scyther with over half HP remaining which surprised my opponent, then finished his Weavile off with Thunderbolt and I believe KOd his Scrafty with Aerial Ace. He then sends out Cresselia, and I Bug Bite + Overheat for the kill.
W: 3-0
Record: 2-0
Everything has been looking great so far, but I have a feeling that all of the Smogoners/Skarmblissers etc. are going to be paired up Rounds 3/4 and that my next opponent will be someone I know or really good.
ROUND THREE: Trista Medine (Ryuzaki)
Opponent: Rotom-H/Tyranitar/Salamence/Metagross
Myself: Cresselia/Krookodile/Scyther/Leafeon
Seeing the name on the Pairings board got me a bit down since I knew I had to play an opponent that was consistent at winning and would be a tough opponent. However, I also knew that I should be able to compete and have a chance, rather than getting 4-0’d or something.
Team Preview was difficult since I knew that there were certain things that I had to bring otherwise I would lose, such as Krookodile to beat Metagross. Anyway, I finally picked my 4 to bring and face Rotom-H and Tyranitar leads. I know that Krookodile can’t do much, so I predict an HP Ice and go to Scyther since it would take it the best. Little did I know I was about to get hit with a Fire Gem Overheat. I Psychic Rotom for about 66-75% and Tyranitar switched to Salamence. Just great; already in a 3-4 hole.
I know I can’t kill Rotom-H yet with Leaf Blade, so I decide to Psychic Salamence and protect my Leafeon so that Overheat wouldn’t kill. However, Rotom-H protects and Salamence fails to get a Flamethrower off on my Leafeon. Psychic does about maybe 70% to Salamence and things are looking better.
I then decide that Leaf Blade has a good chance to KO Rotom-H now that it is only at about 30% or less, so I go for it and it does, but I am still locked into Psychic on Cresselia. Metagross switches in for Salamance so the Psychic doesn’t do anything at all.
I know that I need Cress later so I switch it out for Krookodile and easily sponge a -1 Fire Punch from Tyranitar on Leafeon, but die to an Iron Head after I take Life Orb recoil from Leaf Blading Tryanitar for about 90%. I’m now down to just Cress/Krook and both are Choiced. I know that I need to Earthquake for any hopes at killing Metagross, and I need to Ice Beam to kill Salamence. The question was though, which will she switch out: Metagross or Tyranitar?
Since I didn’t know anything about her team, I had no idea Tyranitar was Scarfed so I predicted her to leave it and keep Metagross. She does the opposite and takes Tyranitar out and I Ice Beam her Metagross and Earthquake as Salamence comes in. The next turn I Earthquake but Metagross protects and I die to a Dragon Gem Draco Meteor from Salamence. Cress Ice Beams Salamence to make it 2-1. I know that I have lost now even without knowing that Tyranitar is Choice Scarfed because Ice Beam won’t do anything to Metagross. It was a close game, but I was outplayed.
L: 0-2
Record: 2-1
The loss was a bit of a set-back and I was kind of disappointed in myself because I knew that I could only lose 1 more if I wanted to make Top Cut. I just had to hope my next opponent wasn’t as good.
Video Number: 93-70560-91780
ROUND FOUR: Jonathan Englebert (LonelyNess)
Opponent: Hairyama/Chandelure/Nidoking/Metagross
Myself: Krookodile/Cresselia/Leafeon/Rotom-H
I think that the previous loss to Ryuzaki had me shaken up a bit still because I felt a lot more pressure to win more games if I wanted to Top Cut. I get to my table and as we start Team Preview, I can easily tell that his team is Trick Room based and I should know how to counter it. Another problem is that at the time I didn’t realize it was Fishy’s regional team, which I don’t think made an impact, but this was definitely the turning point of the day.
While in Team Preview, I notice all the elements screaming Trick Room, such as Hairyama, Chandelure, but most importantly, Gastrodon. Fearing Gastrodon, my immediate reaction was to bring Leafeon, but other than that Leafeon couldn’t touch his team, so it was a bad decision.
Anyway, leads go out and it’s my Cresselia and Krookodile facing a Hairyama and Chandelure. I was really tempted to Psychic the Hairyama, but I knew that Chandelure would have a Focus Sash, so I use Earthquake and Psychic in attempts to kill Chandelure. Hairyama decides to Fake Out Krookodile and Cresselia gets a crit Psychic on Chandelure. I thought this would help me later because I could bluff that I wasn’t Specs at the time. Chandelure sets up Trick Room and things aren’t looking great.
I know that to beat this team I need Krookodile, so I switch it out for Rotom-H, if memory serves me correctly and take a Close Combat from Hairyama as predicted. I take take a Shadow Ball on Cress from Chandelure and Psychic Hairyama. I still think that I might be able to bluff the Specs since Hairyama isn’t the bulkiest Pokemon, and it had -1 defenses from the Close Combat drop.
My opponent now brings in Nidoking for their fallen Hairyama, and I’m starting to worry a bit. I switch my Cresselia out for Leafeon, and take a Shadow Ball, which does a large amount. Nidoking Sludge Bombs my Rotom-H and kills it to my surprise. Now things are REALLY looking bad. If only I brought Regice it would outspeed Nidoking in Trick Room and be able to kill that, and I wouldn’t be having problems.
I send out Cresselia for my Rotom-H that just fainted and know that Shadow Ball will most likely kill. I use Detect on Leafeon and Cresselia dies to a Shadow Ball before I am able to get an attack off. I know that my only chance now is if Trick Room runs out, but I have a feeling there is only 1 turn of it left.
I send out Krookodile and know that all is lost. I try to get the double Detect with Leafeon but it fails and it dies to a Sludge Bomb. I’m waiting for Krookodile to die, but Chandelure misses it’s Overheat! I now have about a 3% chance to win, but it’s something. I Earthquake and it kills Nidoking and Chandelure.
Trick Room ends now and it’s my Krookodile vs. their Metagross. I know that I probably can’t kill it in one hit unless I get a crit, and that since he said he had Steel Gem, Bullet Punch will probably 2HKO. However, my opponent knows that Steel Gem Meteor Mash will OHKO, so he risks getting critted or missing to try to win. Unfortunately for me, Earthquake only does about 50%, and I die to a Meteor Mash.
L: 0-1
Record: 2-2
Now my confidence has dropped to an all-time low. I know that for any chance at Top Cutting I have to win 4 matches in a row, which I’m not confident I can do. My opponent states how that with Leafeon and Regice on my team, he didn’t bring Gastrodon. I should have realized this and taken Regice since Gastrodon, Nidoking, and Chandelure can’t kill it due to Base 200 Special Defense, and I had ways to deal with Hairyama and Metagross. However, hindsight is always 20/20 so there was nothing I could do but try my best to keep winning.
ROUND FIVE: Nexus
Opponent: Thundurus/Metagross/Skarmbliss Special Stuff
Myself: Cress/Krook/Probably Scyther/Regice
The majority of this is a bit hazy but not much really happened until the end.
It was getting close, and I had a paralyzed Cresselia and Krookodile left. I think Nexus had just Metagross left. I Earthquaked and I think he had Shuca so it did 30-40% and was left with maybe 30% at most. Cresselia gets one Ice Beam off.
Based on Meteor Mash’s damage the previous turn I think I can live a Bullet Punch, but I don’t and Cresselia gets Fully Paralyzed and I think I have it lost. Also, based on Ice Beam damage Variation I don’t know if I can kill it but it will be close.
The next turn comes and he Meteor Mashes Cresselia and my HP keeps dropping and I think he has won, but Cresselia lives on 3 and gets off a last Ice Beam that managed to kill. Super close game that I was worried I would lose.
W: 1-0
Record: 3-2
ROUND SIX: Unknown
Opponent: Zapdos/Garchomp/Togekiss/Hitmontop
Myself: Cresselia/Krookodile/Regice/Scyther
While in Team Preview for this match, I thought I should be able to be able to take control of this match earlier seeing as that it is what my team was made to beat. I just need to keep note of Togekiss because that thing can be really bulky and is a Special Defense wall.
My opponent decides to lead with Zapdos and Garchomp as I lead with Cresselia and Krookodile. My first reaction is to think DisQuake, as that is common with Zap-Chomp leads and I do not know what kind of player my opponent is. Since I lead Krookodile and got the Intimidate off, I’m not worried about Discharge due to immunity or Earthquake as it should be weaker now. I opt to just go for Earthquake and Ice Beam and kill Garchomp, but I see Zapdos go for Hidden Power. I assume it’s going to be HP Ice directed towards Krookodile, but instead it hits Cresselia… for super-effective damage. Immediately I assume HP Bug just because that’s what people joke around about the most. This is problematic because both of my leads are weak to Bug.
My opponent sends out Togekiss to replace Garchomp. I’m not 100% sure on my thought process, but I didn’t want anything taking an “HP Bug” (which people pointed out after that it was probably actually Dark), so I switched both of my Pokemon out to Scyther and Regice. Togekiss uses Follow Me, which I have no problem with, and Zapdos catches me off guard with Heat Wave. Regice aviods the Heat Wave, which might come into play later. Now I can’t tell how she would have possibly predicted that, so I’m going to shrug it off for now, but now I’m starting to panic a bit.
I know that Regice will be needed to beat Zapdos somehow, so I protect and they Heat Wave and Follow Me again. I go for Aerial Ace on Togekiss and get a critical hit that takes it down to the red, but it gets the Sitrus Berry back up to about half health. I’m thinking that I might be able to kill Togekiss this turn based on damage variation, but it will be close.
Knowing that I still need Regice, I switch it out for (I think) Krookodile. Aerial Ace fails to kill Togekiss and Heat Wave + Air Slash kills Scyther. I’m a bit fuzzy on what happens next, but I think but I send out Cresselia and am only able to kill Togekiss before I die to “HP Bug”.
Anyway, after forgetting nonessential details, it’s down to my Regice vs. Zapdos and Hitmontop. My opponent is running Technitop, not Intimitop, so I know that it has to die if I want any chance at winning. This turn is the deciding turn. Hitmontop uses Mach Punch and Regice takes it well. Zapdos uses Heat Wave and I tank that too. Now all I need to do is kill Hitmontop with Ice Beam and then manage to avoid a Heat Wave, and Ice Beam *might* have a chance to kill without a crit. It’s not looking very good from here.
Regice fires off an Ice Gem Ice Beam at the Hitmontop. It’s HP is going down, down, down, and stops with small red. I was disappointed, but I was running it to beat Intimitop not Technitop. Next turn I die to another Mach Punch. I think Hitmontop then dies to Life Orb recoil, but I’m not sure.
L: 1-0 (Or maybe 2-0, I don’t remember.)
Record: 3-3
ROUND SEVEN: Unknown
Opponent: Rather Common Stuff (I think)
Myself: (Assuming) Krookodile/Cresselia/Scyther/Regice
So, maybe if I wrote this earlier and didn’t put this off, I might remember what happened. However, since I didn’t take notes and don’t remember anything, that must mean that they didn’t have anything interesting, and nothing really happened. I think that they might have used Taunt Thundurus on my Cresselia, and I assume that I just auto-piloted through this match and they used common stuff I played on GBU, and stuff that people expect to see. So, probably Metagross, Thundurus, Hitmontop, and something else. I easily won. Probably 2-0 or 3-0. Really wish I knew more, but I just remember that I was upset because they dropped right after they lost with a 3-4 record.
Probably didn’t help that I just lost to that crazy Zapdos and was focused on that. HP Dark Zapdos, Never Forget. Going to need counters for it from now on.
W: 2-0 (I assume)
Record: 4-3
ROUND EIGHT: Chalkey
Opponent: Scizor/Thundurus/Rotom-W/Chandelure
Myself: Cresselia/Krookodile/Scyther/Regice
Some assumptions were made on the turns, but I think I remember most of it. All of the deciding factors were pretty much made in the first turn though.
My opponent decides to lead with Scizor and Thundurus as I lead Krookodile and Cresselia. I’m not too worried about the leads and I think I have the advantage. There were some problems in communications after the first turn, as his side received no feed and the turn had already passed for me, but basically, Thundurus Swaggered Scizor, and a Lum Berry cured the confusion. I then Rock Slided with Krookodile to hit Thundurus for a decent amount and used HP Fire on Scizor, which kills. I’m now up to an early 4-3 lead.
He then brings in Rotom-W, so I switch Cresselia out to Scyther and switch Krookodile out to Regice. I then Ice Beam Thundurus and Bug Bite Rotom-W. Thundurus goes down and out comes Chandelure. I Bug Bite to finish Rotom-W off and sack Regice. I send out Krookodile and Earthquake to win.
W: 3-0 (I think.)
Final Record: 5-3
RESULTS:
This year, due to it being Open Nationals, there were more people to place higher than me, so while I performed a lot better than last year, I only managed to place at 50th, while last year I went 3-4 in Seniors and placed around 47. I was pleased that I ended positive, but I really wanted to go at least 6-2, and also Top Cut. However, I feel that most people showing up to these events have the same goal, and in the end, only 16 can Top Cut from each flight. I was disappointed since I knew I made mistakes that I shouldn’t have, that cost me games. This just means that I need to train harder for next year and work on not making dumb mistakes, and everything should go better. I was glad that the opponents I lost to were good, but I was really disappointed with all the other people that I played, seeing as how one was disqualified and one dropped, which basically ruined any chance at Top Cut with a 6-2 right there. Anyway, while I was disappointed, I still had a great time outside of playing Pokemon which was the main reason I went. I hope that if they do Play! Points for Nationals next year I’ll have enough to participate and see everyone again. Until then, I’ll have to look deeper into more unique ways I might be able to win for next year, but I will have to wait for rules to be fully announced for that.
About the Author
Dillon is relatively new to VGC, with last year being his first. He started out by playing singles and enjoying the 4th Gen UU Metagame before the transition to Black and White. Dillon also previously helped out with Wi-Fi related activities such as trading, but has now made battling his priority. He is also associated with his VGC 2011 Nationals team in which he used Fissure Stunfisk on screens.
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