Reports

Published on April 30th, 2013 | by Eiganjo

9

A Game of Throhs: March International Challenge Team Analysis

So here I am again with a March International Challenge report! I wanted to do something different for this tournament and have a good time with it. I had my eye on some Pokémon for a while and wanted to try them out in a competitive environment. After some careful testing, I found they needed Trick Room to perform. I didn’t have a lot of experience with Trick Room before this so it was an interesting experience! Some trusty team members came back for an encore from my previous teams that just happenned to work well enough in and out of a Trick Room environment as well. All in all, I would say that it held its own against most teams, yet there are still some weaknesses in that I’ll talk about further down the line. But enough introduction, you want to read about the team, so here we go.

The Team

throhcresseliajellicenttogekissabomasnowchandelure

throh
Throh (M) @ Fighting Gem
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 HP/180 Atk/76 Sp.Def
Careful Nature (+SpDef, -SpAtk)
– Storm Throw
– Helping Hand
– Pain Split
– Protect

Black and White 2 has been good to Throh. Previously it did not possess many offensive or defensive options, but Black and White 2 has made sure to boost it in both departments. Throh was the main damage sponge and the only way I had to reliably deal with Tyranitar. The spread here was mainly chosen to always survive a Modest Hydreigon’s Dragon Gem Draco Meteor (and in that regard, Modest Latios as well) and OHKO back with Fighting Gem Storm Throw. The same spread also allows it to OHKO non Chople Berry Tyranitars 100% of the time as well. The reason why I picked up Storm Throw over Low Kick (another addition it got in BW2) is mainly because it does more damage to a larger number of relevant Pokémon than Low Kick and because it had no stat drops associated with it like Superpower. Storm Throw comes with the added benefit of always landing a critical hit — bypassing Intimidate users such as Hitmontop. Helping Hand was a really good addition to Throh as well. Pain Split was nice as well since it is the only form of recovery Throh gets apart from rest. Inner Focus is a great ability. Throh isnt a very fast Pokémon with a base Speed stat of 45, and being unable to get flinched really helps against Fake Out — though both Guts and Mold Breaker have their own merits on Throh.

cresselia
Cresselia (F) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Levitate
EV’s: 188 HP/ 72 Def/248 Sp.Atk
Quiet Nature (+SpAtk, -Spd)
– Icy Wind
– Psyshock
– Hidden Power [Fire]
– Trick Room

Cresselia was mostly used as a secondary Trick Room setter next to Jellicent, who I preferred to use more. I used a Quiet nature to make it as fast as possible under Trick Room, but have Icy Wind as well for situations where they stop the setup. The set itself is fairly straightforward, with Psyshock as its main STAB attack and Hidden Power Fire for the likes of Scizor and Ferrothorn. Icy wind was used for the previously mentioned situations where I needed some form of speed control during a Taunt, as most of the Pokémon I use are either mediocre in their speed stats or very slow. All in all most people still don’t expect offensive Cresselia, and it got a few good KOs on things I needed to KO.

jellicent
Jellicent (F) @ Water Gem
Trait: Cursed Body
EV’s: 252 HP/236 Def/20 Sp.Def
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
– Water Spout
– Ice Beam
– Recover
– Trick Room

First off, let me thank Fatum for the EV spread. It worked wonders for a Trick Room lead, even it does not offer much offensive force. The only thing I did change slightly was the moveset, foregoing Blizzard for the more reliable Ice Beam. Cursed Body also worked wonders, disabling enemies moves when I needed it most. As Tyranitar was a bother to the team I went with this spread as to be able to reliably set up Trick Room without fear of getting OHKO’d by Crunch barring a critical hit. Being able to Recover off prior to most other damage under Trick Room also helped Jellicent survive a good deal of attacks. I went with Ice Beam because I knew most of the time weather would either not be in my favour and when it did, it would probably not last long enough. Being totally blocked by Wide Guard was also a bit off-putting for me. Throh helped in this regard, powering up Jellicent’s moves to get more power into them. Jellicent’s usual partner was Togekiss, who made sure that Jellicent was able to set up Trick Room a lot to turn things into my favour. Water Spout was there for damage, although it did not do that much without the Water Gem or Throh’s Helping Hand.

togekiss
Togekiss (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Serene Grace
EV’s: 252 HP / 84 Def / 168 Sp.Def / 4 Spe
Calm Nature (+SpDef, -Atk)
– Air Slash
– Follow Me
– Thunder Wave
– Protect

This is basically R Inanimate’s original Togekiss. I had tried multiple Pokémon before I figured this was the glue to keep the team together. Several Pokémon had this spot, one of which was Unnerve Tyranitar. Follow Me was essential in getting up Trick Room consistently so Togekiss was used in a lot of my battles. It’s a straightforward spread and moveset, but it works. Thunder Wave was mainly there for paralyzing opponents when Trick Room wasn’t up, but it didn’t see much use and I think Reflect, Safeguard, or Heal Bell (which is now a BW2 Tutor move) would have been more useful in its spot for me. Air Slash always annoys people with Serene Grace, and it got a good amount of flinches whenever I used it, sometimes even critical ones that helped turn around the tide of battle. The only worry I had when running it were faster Fake Out users that could throw me off my gameplan of getting Trick Room up.

abomasnow
Abomasnow (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Snow Warning
EV’s: 252 HP/4 Def/ 252 Sp.Atk
Quiet nature (+SpAtk, – Spd)
– Blizzard
– Giga Drain
– Hidden Power [Fire]
– Protect

Abomasnow doesn’t need an introduction anymore. For those of you who have read my earlier articles, Abomasnow is a staple on many of my teams and has held its own in each and every one of them. This team is no exception and with Trick Room, it became even more of a danger to opponents. Being able to go first and fire off Blizzards at will is nothing to scoff at. Although Abomasnow in my other teams usually led, this one was mainly used in the back, coming in on weaker not very effective attacks to start wreaking havoc. Helping Hand from Throh worked wonders to boost Blizzard and its other moves to get more damage in. The moveset still speaks for itself: Blizzard and Giga Drain for a strong STAB attack combination. Hidden Power Fire is still there for the ever present pesky steel types. With the team revolving around being able to set up Trick Room, Abomasnow played its role well and is very likely to return in other teams I build as well.

chandelure
Chandelure (M) @ Fire Gem
Trait: Flash Fire
EV’s: 252 HP/ 252 Sp.Atk/ 6 Sp.Def
Modest Nature (+SpAtk, – Atk)
– Heat Wave
– Energy Ball
– Shadow Ball
– Protect

Chandelure is in a mediocre speed tier which allows it to work inside and outside of Trick Room. It was a valuable asset as an offensive threat, which I needed due to the more defensive nature of the team. Shadow Ball and Heat Wave are the STAB moves of choice, with Energy Ball as backup against any Gastrodon willing to take a stand against Chandelure. Again, Throh helping out was a nice to boost its already impressive attacking power. Chandelure is a pretty standard Pokémon, but it does what it is supposed to do: taking down enemies that threaten its teammates.

Threats

Of course, this team isn’t without weaknesses. There were a couple of things that could destroy my gameplan and these were the most common:

tyranitar hydreigon

1) Tyranitar and Hydreigon

These two could thoroughly wreck my team if left unchecked. Tyranitar hitting five of my Pokémon for super effective damage and Hydreigon with four were a real pain. Throh fortunately could sponge attacks from these two well enough — especially from Tyranitar who basically could not do anything to it. Throh singlehandedly took these two on and OHKO’d most of the ones I saw.

infernapeliepardsableye thundurus

2) Fast Fake Out paired up with Taunt

Fake Out was the bane of the original setup which was a simple Follow Me followed by Trick Room from either Cresselia or Jellicent. Faster Fake Outs on Togekiss allowed other Pokémon to Taunt whatever they wished to Taunt, messing up the gameplan. Most of the time I’d combat this by not using Trick Room in the first place and switching out after leaving their Pokémon damaged. Although this did not always work, it was less of a nuisance than having to face Tyranitar or Hydreigon.

Team Synergies

Of course most Pokémon worked well together in pairs, but I’ll show you some of my often used combinations.

togekiss + jellicentcresselia

It should be no surprise to see this combo up here as Togekiss’ primary function is to allow Cresselia and Jellicent to set up Trick Room with ease. Next to that it could provide Thunder Wave support or even flinches with Air Slash.

throh+abomasnowchandelurejellicentcresselia

Throh had good synergy with the rest mostly because it resisted everything Tyranitar could possibly throw at it. That and being able to boost its partners attacks so they did more damage and get some crucial KOs they otherwise would not be able to get.

chandelure+jellicent

This was a nice combination as people knew this was a Trick Room based team. Leading with these 2 meant Fake Out immunity and kept opponents guessing which would set up Trick Room.

Conclusion

The team overall was pretty fun to build as well as play. Throh was throwing people off as to what it could do, and I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had playing this team. Ciao and see you next time!

Article image created by feathers for Nugget Bridge. View more of her artwork on her tumblr or Nugget Bridge forums thread.


About the Author

is one of the few dutch Pokémon players playing some VGC via wifi since 2009. Originally starting out as a collector instead of battling, he likes his quirky Pokémon, and poised to get better with VGC battling and hopefully win something.



9 Responses to A Game of Throhs: March International Challenge Team Analysis

  1. Firestorm says:

    When you play the Game of Throhs, you win or you di[sconnect].

  2. Dat Throh
     
    Dat art
     
    I’m in love with this

  3. mattj says:

    I dearly appreciate original teams like this. Fantastic team and fantastic writeup.

  4. seasicknesss says:

    Very creative and interesting Throh set. I can see how its purpose was to sponge hits and scare of ttar, but did it ever give you problems with its lack of offensive pressure? I would probably feel safer using the guts set with storm throw, but kudos for using a mono-fighting mon as a semi-tank. Also guts/flame orb would give you a mon that wouldnt be afraid of spore users who try and shut down your TR sweepers.

  5. Baz Anderson says:

    I like the picture, and I like the theme… but in all reality if your opponent has a Tyranitar and can play well, you will lose. 
     
    You should name Throh Jaime Lannister for all the pushing out of windows goodness,,,

  6. Zubat says:

    Aw yeah. Putting Throh on the map.
    I want to say Bjorn is an underdog, but really he’s up there with the top players.
    I’m always rooting for him because his interesting teams.
    Good write-up.

  7. bearsfan092 says:

    This is definitely one of the more interesting teams, but you are one fearless dude when it comes to Tyranitar.  Having Throh as arguably your only check puts you on a tightrope against one of the most common Pokemon in the metagame.  I’d love to watch a battle video or two of you dancing around Ttar.  If you got one, please share!

  8. Pokerob says:

    THE KING IN THE NORTH!

  9. Eiganjo says:

    Dat Throh
     
    Dat art
     
    I’m in love with this

     
    Dat art indeed. Feathers did a great job, I agree :)
     

    I dearly appreciate original teams like this. Fantastic team and fantastic writeup.

     
    lol, originality only works if the actual sets and moves work. Which I’m sure can be done for lots of other Pokémon, like kecleon, but I’ll save that for the April challenge videos since another user used one :)
     

    Very creative and interesting Throh set. I can see how its purpose was to sponge hits and scare of ttar, but did it ever give you problems with its lack of offensive pressure? I would probably feel safer using the guts set with storm throw, but kudos for using a mono-fighting mon as a semi-tank. Also guts/flame orb would give you a mon that wouldnt be afraid of spore users who try and shut down your TR sweepers.

     
    Not so much. Remember it does have Helping Hand to give its partner Pokémon a boost in the right direction. That, and I value Inner focus a lot, rock slides can be pretty painful if they flinch at crucial moments
     

    I like the picture, and I like the theme… but in all reality if your opponent has a Tyranitar and can play well, you will lose. 
     
    You should name Throh Jaime Lannister for all the pushing out of windows goodness,,,

     
    Of course, so it was up to me to play around that. Never said no to a challenge either way. TTar really was a bane but still :)
     

    Aw yeah. Putting Throh on the map.
    I want to say Bjorn is an underdog, but really he’s up there with the top players.
    I’m always rooting for him because his interesting teams.
    Good write-up.

     
    I wouldnt say top player just yet, although I’m trying to get there though. Thanks for rooting for me though :D.
     

    This is definitely one of the more interesting teams, but you are one fearless dude when it comes to Tyranitar.  Having Throh as arguably your only check puts you on a tightrope against one of the most common Pokemon in the metagame.  I’d love to watch a battle video or two of you dancing around Ttar.  If you got one, please share!

     
    Perhaps the April Challenge videos, I do think I have one starring a TTar at least. Call me fearless, i guess this fun team turned out great in the end. Couldve used Escavalier instead of Chandelure if need be, but I stuck with chandy anyway :)

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