Appa! Yip Yip!: Worlds 2012 Team Analysis
Aloha everyone! Ever since they announced that the 2012 World championships would be in Hawaii, I knew the time had finally come for me to participate in VGC, and I needed to be ready for it. However I waited til after November regionals to actually get my act together and learn the game. I spent months and hours practicing for this with many different teams on the GBU and the doubles battle subway. I usually felt I had a decent understanding of the metagame since I would help people by distributing free VGC mons. However, as surprising as it is, I never really built or stole team ideas from people that I would spend time getting mons for. This team was one of my teams that I made after extensively testing other things in the battle subway. I worked out a lot of the quirks I had with Jio and The Wolf. Both people are amazing, and I owe them a lot for helping me test this team and bouncing around ideas with me on IRC. Anyway enough of that random non-sense, onto the team!
The Team
Damon (Raikou) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 26 HP / 252 SAtk / 232 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Thunderbolt
– Volt Switch
– Shadow Ball
Initially, Raikou was NOT my first choice for this team. However when I was first testing this team on GBU, I noticed something: opposing Electric-types were a huge pain to deal with. I looked extensively at what Electric resistant Pokémon that I wanted to use. I considered Rotom-W, Zapdos, and Thundurus as they would all give me Electric-type coverage, but I opted not to use any of them because they are all hit neutrally by Electric-type attacks themselves. I looked back at the Electric-types and Raikou, Magneton, and Magnezone were the few viable choices that I saw for this team. Now this team used to have Scarf Eruption Heatran and adding another 4x Ground weak Pokémon would be a horrible idea, so I chose Raikou.
When it became time to test Raikou, I was very impressed by the results. You wouldn’t believe the coverage he has and the power that he packs with Choice Specs. Raikou was also wonderful for it’s base 115 Speed which allowed it to be an awesome Choice Specs user. I ran enough Speed EVs to outspeed Max Speed base 111 Pokémon such as Thundurus and Tornadus and moved the extra EVs that weren’t gonna be used in Speed to HP so maybe I could survive some attacks (yes, this did come in handy a few times actually). Raikou was a power house and one of my favorite Pokémon on this team. It could not have done better for me.
Christina (Latias) (F) @ Haban Berry
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 136 SAtk / 84 SDef / 36 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
– Psyshock
– Safeguard
– Ice Beam
– Hidden Power [Ground]
This Latias used to be a Modest Cresselia that ran the same set but with a little more SpA EVs and Lum Berry. Latias wasn’t so much more useful over Cresselia, but the Speed and attacking power that it got from a Flatter boost was incredible. Latias also added key resistances to Water, Electric, Fighting, Ground, Fire, and Psychic which was great for the synergy of the team.
The EV spread allowed it to survive a Modest Latios Dragon Gem Draco Meteor and outspeed neutral max Speed Base 80 Pokémon. I chose Psyshock on the set to be able to hit Calm Thundurus harder and also due to all of the specially defensive Hitmontop that have been roaming around. Ice Beam over Dragon Pulse was a huge addition that allowed it to hit the likes of Garchomp, Landorus, and Salamence way harder. It especially came in handy if I ran into bulky Haban Garchomp which was incredibly popular at Worlds (sadly the only one I faced all weekend was Toler’s when I played him in the lobby on Thursday). Hidden Power Ground was another trick I had up my sleeve. I knew Scizor would be very wary at worlds due to all of the new stuff in the metagame packing Fire-type moves, so HP Fire would be pretty useless, and I wanted some way to hit Metagross and Heatran (who actually was a huge threat to the team).
Cassie (Sableye) (F) @ Mental Herb
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
– Fake Out
– Flatter
– Swagger
– Taunt
Ahh FINALLY an original member of the team. See, the original idea of the team was to lead Cresselia + Sableye, have Cresselia set up Safeguard and then have Sableye Flatter and Swagger the rest of the team. Thing is, I never got to use this combo much if at all. Sadly Sableye was usually only used for Fake Out, Taunt, and then Confusing everything in sight. Fake Out is kind of obvious, but Taunt was one of the moves I liked for Sableye. People just don’t know the threat Taunt can be if used right. You want to set up a Sub, Swords Dance, Calm Mind, Thunder Wave, Trick Room, or not get hit by this Sucker Punch? Too bad. When I had Cresselia on this team, my Sableye+Cresselia lead was actually really solid against the common Thundurus+Cresselia lead, which I could just Fake Out and Safeguard to give my team a huge advantage, no longer able to be paralyzed or confused but able to boost the rest of my team with Flatter and Swagger. Latias could do this somewhat successfully as well, but it did fear Ice- and Dragon-type attacks.
Sableye didn’t really have a unique EV spread, save it for having the 4 EVs in Speed to outspeed other Sableye and Taunt them first. This wasn’t really needed though, as it’s very common to see other Sableye using Lagging Tail which allows my Sableye to auto win the Speed tie. Mental Herb was used beacuse faster Prankster users (Thundurus and Tornadus) could Taunt Sableye, making it would pretty much useless. My only other choice was Sitrus Berry, and I’m gonna be honest and say that Sitrus Berry sucks on Sableye. The recovery isn’t all that good, and I would rather still be able to use it against a Thundurus (or Taunt Gyarados, but more on that later).
Jio (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 204 HP / 84 Atk / 100 Def / 122 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
– Gyro Ball
– Protect
– Power Whip
– Leech Seed
In the battle subway, Ferrothorn constantly save me with it’s defensive synergy. Ferrothorn was really key for this team to take on Water and Dragon types. The moveset is really standard, but it’s really just what my team needed. I had enough Attack EVs to 2HKO Ludicolo, Politoed, Tyranitar, and Kingdra with Power Whip. Jio spent a long time with the EV spread on the Wednesday before I left for Kona side and I really can’t remember what he EVd it to survive specifically (however it did survive some Hydreigon Flamethrowers, so there is that). Ferrothorn was a really last minute addition to the team, but it really did lots of work in all of my matches. It nearly walled dtrain save it for his Hydreigon and when it was taken out game 1, Ferrothorn had no issues with the rest of the team. I can’t really say much else special about Ferrothorn; it just did what you would normally see it do.
Aaron (Crobat) (M) @ Flight Gem
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 24 HP / 252 Atk / 232 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
– Protect
– U-turn
– Acrobatics
– Sunny Day
Crobat was a huge utility mon for the team. It was my main choice against any team with Hitmontop, especially teams with the common “TopMoth” combination. Crobat can KO most Hitmontop and KO everything but 252/252 Volcarona even at -1. Crobat paired with Sableye was my main answer to most teams using Fake Out as both are immune to Fake Out’s flinch. Crobat was amazing with its base 130 Speed and access to U-Turn. If I feared anything from a Cresselia, Hydreigon, Tyranitar, or Latios I could simply U-Turn out into something that resisted the hit like Latias, Sableye, or Ferrothorn. Also an un-intimidated U-Turn is a 2HKO on Latios which is nice.
Crobat was EVd to outspeed max Speed Base 111s, just like Raikou, because Adamant Crobat has a dumb Speed stat with max Speed, which would really be a waste. The extra EVs actually helped me stay alive a few times after living through things like crit Rock Slides and Stone Edge from Heracross. Sunny Day was a fairly important move to help get the field more to my own advantage and force a switch on a Politoed or a Tyranitar. But actually it didn’t get that much use, so whatever.
Metagross @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
– Ice Punch
– Meteor Mash
– Zen Headbutt
– Trick
This guy was just……. bad. I had Scarf Heatran in its place two hours before the LCQ started, but I knew that Ground types were a huge issue for this team. I still needed a Steel-type, so I chose Scarf Metagross. This was no doubt the worst Pokémon on the team, and I lost every game that I tried to use it. There was really no thought process for this Pokémon; I just added it on last minute because I needed a fast Steel-type and somehow Scarf Metagross made sense when I was thinking about it at 5 am in the morning.
Leads
+
Sableye + Crobat
My Anti-Fake Out and TopMoth lead. Crobat’s high Speed and ability of Inner Focus was really key to Crobat’s utility. Crobat was also amazing against Rain teams surprisingly as I could Fake Out their Swift Swim abuser (or whatever Rain abuser that they were using) with Sableye and Sunny Day with Crobat to force out their Politoed to gain some easy offensive momentum from there.
+
Sableye + Raikou
I would use this lead to gain some quick damage if the opponent lacked a Fake Out user and didn’t have a Pokémon that resisted Electric while not being weak Hidden Power Ice. It this happened I would normally just Volt Switch or Thunderbolt for some huge damage. Volt Switch was incredibly useful when I saw the opponent lead Cresselia+Metagross and I knew the Earthquake was coming so I was able to deal lots of damage on the Metagross and still not be affected by the Earthquake.
+
Sableye + Latias
God, Sableye pairs with nearly everything on my team. This was one of the main leads that I actually planned out a lot for this team. Sableye could Fake Out or Taunt the opponent while Latias Safeguards. After this Sableye could just boost the rest of my team with Flatter and Swagger. It wasn’t really used all that much, but when it was used having a +1 Specs Raikou or Latias was awesome.
+
Raikou + Crobat
This lead really abused Volt-Turn. Pretty much, if one of them had a bad match up they would Volt Switch or U-Turn out into something that could resist the incoming move (ie. Latias or Ferrothorn). If I had a good match up, I would just take advantage of the opportunity and go on the offensive and start racking up the KOs. Normally if I used this lead, I wouldn’t even bring Sableye.
+
Sableye + Ferrothorn
This lead was only used if against a Trick Room team or if Ferrothorn had an amazing type advantage against the opponent. This really wasn’t used much at all.
LCQ Matches
Now onto the matches!
Now it all starts. The event I’ve been waiting and preparing for for the past year. It’s also my first VGC event when I actually know what I’m doing unlike Phoenix in 2010. I’m nervous going in because I actually want to do well and show other players that I can play and win at this game too. Living in Hawaii people always counted me lucky for being able to attend Worlds, but really that’s the only event I can attend easily. I don’t have as many shots at winning like other people. Anyway enough of that… It’s starting!
Round 1: Bye
Oh boy did I start out with a tough match. Bye had an incredibly interesting team, and I narrowly pulled out the win in a series of 0-0. It was a good game and both teams played hard.
Round 2: Seroja Marcs
Game 1:
Leads: Cresselia+Zapdos
Back up: Suicune+Terrakion
I really took bad notes and didn’t even note what I brought. If I recall right, I led Metagross and Latias. He starts off by Detecting on his Zapdos and using his Cresselia to Thunder Wave. I went for the Ice Punch on Zapdos and switched Latias for Ferrothorn getting my Ferrothorn paralyzed. He then switches Zapdos for his Suicune and uses Thunder Wave on my Metagross with Cresselia. I’m in a pretty bad position at this point and I have little idea for what I could do after screwing up so bad turn 1. I go for the Ice Punch on his Cresselia, but he switches in his Zapdos, and I get the super effective hit and freeze (though he thaws out the next turn when he moves). He Calm Minds on Suicune as I go for the Power Whip, but I end up being fully paralyzed with Ferrothorn. I then think I could switch in my Latias over Metagross to try and gain some momentum on my end to take advantage of the freeze. He un-thaws on Zapdos to Hidden Power Ice Ferrothorn while Protecting Suicune.
Now I’m in an even worse position and guess that he is using Ice Beam with Suicune. He double targets Latias this turn and KOs it while I get the Power Whip off on Suicune. I send in Raikou to avenge my Latias with a Volt Switch on the Zapdos to kill it and have my Paralyzed Metagross come back in as Suicune Protects. He sends in Terrakion, and I know one of my Pokémon is gonna die this turn. I’m hoping a lot that he wouldn’t use Close Combat on my Ferrothorn. He ends up Surfing with Suicune to kill Metagross while Protecting with Terrakion. Luckily I also get the Power Whip on Suicune and we both send in our last Pokémon. His Terrakion Close Combats my Raikou and doesn’t kill it while I break it down to it’s focus sash. I would’ve taken out his Terrakion here, but sadly Ferrothorn was fully paralyzed and it’s pretty much good game from here as he sets up a Calm Mind on Cresselia. Loss 0-1 gg
Game 2:
Leads: Suicune+Cresselia
Back Up: Zapdos+Tyranitar
After making those kinds of plays while taking notes, I kind of stop my turn by turn play taking notes. All I can remember is I used Sableye+Ferrothorn with Raikou and Latias in the back. If I remember right he fails on a double protect and he misclicks an Ice Beam onto Sableye instead Latias and I end up winning. Win 4-0 gg
Game 3:
Leads: Cresselia+Zapdos
Back Up: Suicune+Terrakion
I pretty much know what to expect from his team at this point, and I lead Sableye+Raikou with Metagross and Ferrothorn in the back. He Electric Gem Discharges and gets a critical hit and paralysis on his own Cresselia. The battle went pretty downhill fast for him as Sableye’s Taunts and Swaggers were crippling all of his set up Pokémon. After he finally kills Sableye, he manages to get his Suicune set up with one Calm Mind. I pretty much have it won as it’s only his +1 Suicune and Cresselia against my Metagross and Ferrothorn with Raikou in the back. However I manage to get really lucky in the last two turns with a Meteor Mash attack raise on the second to last turn followed by a critical hit on his Cresselia which then got killed by his own Surf. I Power Whip to win. Win 3-0
Good games but after losing like this my opponent wasn’t too pleased, cursing his head off during the last game. When I got the Critical Hit on his Cresselia, he literally jumped out of his chair and started cussing even more… He ended up being a good guy, approaching me the next day asking me how I did and complementing me on my team. I also had a good laugh when Duy asked me if I won or not and when I said yes he was like “Yea, America!!!”
Round 3: Chris Hough
This is actually the dad of the 2011 Juniors world champion, Brian Hough (who ended up making it to the finals this year after beating Babbytron!). He used the same team as Brian used for worlds this year.
Game 1:
Leads: Sableye+Rotom-W
Back: Hydreigon+Tyranitar
I actually used to use a team almost exactly the same as this guy, so knew what to expect… kinda. I led Sableye+Raikou with Crobat and Ferrothorn in the back. He actually complements me on using one of his favorite Pokémon, Raikou. I somehow think it’s a smart thing to say that his Sableye won’t Fake Out until I select my moves and realize what terrible mistake I just made. He Fakes Out my Raikou and lands a critical hit on Raikou while I Taunt his Sableye with my own. I switch in Ferrothorn to try and get momentum back. He makes the double switch to Tyranitar and Hydreigon and the battle just doesn’t go like it should because Raikou desperately needed for my team to collect offensive momentum to win. Loss 2-0 gg
Game 2:
Leads: Tyranitar+Hitmontop
Back Up: Hydreigon+Rotom-W
I lead Sableye+Crobat at an attempt to counter any kind of Fake Out that could be coming my way and have Raikou and Ferrothorn in the back. Volt-turn really does work this game and after his Hydreigon is knocked out, and Ferrothorn helps me take it in a good game. Win 3-0 gg
Game 3:
Leads: Hitmontop+Sableye
Back Up: Hydreigon+Tyranitar
I feel pretty comfortable about Crobat’s match up on this guy’s team, so I lead Sableye and Crobat once more with the same back-ups as Game 2. Pretty much what happened in Game 2 happened here. I get to Taunt the Sableye at every instance it’s in battle and because of what an annoyance Flatter and Swagger was he focused so much on killing Sableye, which helped me snag the win. Win 3-0
Some pretty good games. I complement him on his team and I wish his son luck for tomorrow. I actually get to see the guy around the resort during the weekend and we both discuss our teams somewhat briefly with each other.
Round 4: Dan Levinson (dtrain)
Ahh, finally I get to battle someone that I know. I see his team and can already tell it’s gonna be a pain to try and beat all of these bulky Pokémon. My best shot is to use Raikou, Crobat, and Ferrothorn to break it apart. Scizor, Hydreigon, and Rhyperior really discouraged the use of Latias and Metagross, so I had to play with only Sableye/Raikou/Crobat/Ferrothorn at my disposal. Knowing Dan, I knew these would be some pretty tough games ahead of me.
Game 1:
Leads: Gyarados+Cresselia
Back Up: Hydreigon+Rhyperior
I really didn’t take notes on anything done in our battles, just noted what Pokémon that he used. I think I lead Sableye+Crobat and after some time and getting a little lucky with Sableye and my Ferrothorn getting the low damage roll on a Flamethrower, I manage to take out Rhyperior with Ferrothorn. It’s pretty clean sweeping up with Ferrothorn and Raikou to win. Even after winning this game I still know it’s gonna take a lot to win another. Win 2-0 gg
Game 2:
Leads: Gyarados+Cresselia
Back Up: Hydreigon+Rotom-W
At this point, he knows nearly all of the tricks of the Pokémon that I used from last game. He really plays it smart with his switching and even pulls out one of his own surprises, Substitute Leftovers Hydreigon. I knew that Substitute would be huge problem if I wanted to kill it (when I really should have focused more on killing Cresselia). In an effort to break the sub, I try and U-Turn with Crobat on it 3 turns in a row due to a double Protect and finally get it broken on the 3rd turn. Meanwhile, as I was trying to break his sub, his Cresselia was trying to kill my Crobat, but I got really lucky with it hitting itself 3 times in a row from Confusion. By this time, I’m down 3-4 and the timer is getting really close. I send in Raikou because I know I need to kill something if I want to win (if I killed one of his Pokémon I would’ve won due to mine having more HP). Sadly, he predicts everything that I attempted to try and kill and Protects whatever he needs and gives him the timer win. Loss 3-4 gg
Game 3:
Leads: Gyarados+Cresselia
Back Up: Hydreigon + ??? (It was game over before I saw his last Pokémon)
After I noticed that he used his Cresselia+Gyarados lead, I decided to lead Sableye+Raikou and I chose Ferrothorn+Metagross (I have no idea why I even brought Metagross, it didn’t even make sense) in the back. Turn 1 I was extremely nervous, and I can’t stop reliving this turn in my head since Worlds. I somehow thought that switching in Rhyperior would be very bad for me even though I had Ferrothorn. So I try and go for the 2HKO on Cresselia and I double target the Cresselia with a Fake Out from Sableye and Shadow Ball from Raikou. I pay for this turn dearly as a critical hit Waterfall kills Raikou. Right now I know it’s game over because the rest of my Pokémon wouldn’t really be enough to KO two members of his team. I can kick myself so much for not doing the Volt Switch and switching in Ferrothorn. But that’s the end of that after he quickly sweeps my team with his Hydreigon. Loss 0-4.
Good games, Dan. It was funny when someone asked me if I got haxed out from you, but in the long run I got pretty lucky with those confusions. I was rooting for you in top 8, but Scott was just too strong.
Conclusion
Well that’s the end of that. The team had a decent run, and I had a blast using it to make it to the top 16 of the LCQ. I really wish I would’ve made it onto top 8 to play Scott, especially considering I had a fairly good team match up against him with Raikou, Crobat, Ferrothorn, and Latias. Though it’s all in the past, and I was still satisfied with actually making it past round 1 unlike back in 2010! And I even got to use Pokémon that I enjoyed using. When I was starting to learn the game back in November, Huy was my B202 tutor and later on Duy gave me some advice on team building. They really taught me how to think outside of the box with Pokémon that I would enjoy using. I did just that with this team, and it really couldn’t have gone better. Sadly I now can’t stop using teams with Specs Raikou! I guess that’s it for now, thanks for reading about my team and feel free to use any idea you might’ve read about that you thought was interesting. I guess that’s it for now, so long!
Article image created by ryuzaki for Nugget Bridge. See more of ryuzaki’s artwork on deviantART.
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