Reports

Published on August 20th, 2013 | by Baz Anderson

11

European Nationals Triple Top Cut & World Masters 9th Place Team Analysis

My name is Barry Anderson (Baz Anderson), and 2013 has been the year I have made a name for myself in the VGC community. I am the only person to top cut all three European Nationals this year, and managed to place 9th at Worlds in Vancouver – one spot off top cut. Here is a report covering my teams used at both the European Nationals, and at Worlds.

First and foremost, this is my team. Despite the similarities to the team of South Korea’s finest, I spent months building this team after my good buddy Ben Kyriakou (Kyriakou) and myself saw Liepard and Breloom partnered together on Showdown at the start of the year. We both set ourselves the challenge to build a team around this pair; Ben soon dropped his team, but this article contains the final result of what I came up with after falling in love with the purple cat.

A small UK vs Italy live stream in the first months of the year saw an early version of this team get its first public showing, it was here I knew I had something good. Things started to get strange, however, when I bumped into an incognito Cybertron on a simulator testing a freakishly similar team. It became frustratingly apparent that my team was not unique and I would have to enter the European Nationals with opponents wiser to my team members than they might have been otherwise, but I’d come this far – there was no going back.

European Nationals

liepard
Liepard @ Dark Gem
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 68 HP / 4 Atk / 92 Def / 92 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
– Foul Play
– Fake Out
– Swagger
– Encore

It would be easy to look at Liepard as somewhat of a gimmick, especially by the time of the European Nationals because its tricks had already become common knowledge. The trick to using Liepard is knowing exactly when it is needed, rather than blindly throwing it out into each battle. Liepard usually has the fastest Fake Out, and along with Encore and Swagger makes for a superb disrupting Pokémon enabling its partners to set up. The Dark Gem Foul Play allows it to OHKO threats like Latios and Landorus-T most of the time, and puts a heavy dent in everything else, especially after a Swagger. Liepard is great for mind games with the ever present Encore; it forces switches and a reluctance to Protect, and with Swagger Liepard becomes an oppressive Pokémon that doesn’t allow opponents to play their usual game plans.

volcarona
Volcarona @ Charti Berry
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 60 SAtk / 52 SDef / 140 Spd
Calm Nature
– Heat Wave
– Bug Buzz
– Rage Powder
– Quiver Dance

volcarona
Volcarona @ Charti Berry
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 40 SAtk / 72 SDef / 140 Spd
Modest Nature
– Heat Wave
– Bug Buzz
– Hidden Power [Ground]
– Quiver Dance

My Volcarona has never had Protect, but has always been bulky. In Milan and Bochum I used Rage Powder, which was used to re-direct things like Fake Out and potentially Burn or the priority punches away from Terrakion. I found through these two Nationals that I wasn’t using Rage Powder, and Volcarona was one of the big sweeping forces of the team. After having problems with Heatran in Milan and Bochum I switched to Hidden Power Ground, which caught out every Heatran and Chandelure in practice, but unfortunately ended up having little use in Birmingham. The item was always a tough decision; with Rage Powder, Sitrus Berry worked out great, but as Volcarona became more offensive within the team, Lum Berry and Bug Gem were tempting, as well as Charti Berry, allowing it to survive some nice hits with the bulk it had – often winning the games when activated. Volcarona was vital to this team for metagame regulars like Cresselia and Metagross, and often put in a lot of work when taken.

breloom
Breloom @ Focus Sash
Trait: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
– Mach Punch
– Bullet Seed
– Spore
– Protect

Perhaps the most standard Breloom set there is, but there is a reason it is so popular. Disregarding Sand and Hail, the Focus Sash allowed Breloom to put something to Sleep and add to Liepard’s disruption allowing partners to set up. Technician-boosted Bullet Seed does a good chunk to opponents, as did the ever-useful Mach Punch OHKOing the surge of Scarfed Tyranitars and the like. Breloom was a vital member of the team, not only for the disruption, but for usefulness against Rain teams, which were still ever-present at this time. The Spore is so helpful to this team, but using Breloom you have to always count Sleep turns and be aware when opponents can wake up and play smartly or at least weigh up the odds of your play if the opponent were to wake.

cresselia
Cresselia @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 136 SAtk / 76 SDef
Calm Nature
– Psychic
– Hidden Power [Fire]
– Icy Wind
– Calm Mind

cresselia
Cresselia @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 4 Def / 128 SAtk / 76 SDef / 64 Spd
Calm Nature
– Psychic
– Hidden Power [Fire]
– Icy Wind
– Calm Mind

Calm Mind Cresselia is a beast. One of the three set-up Pokémon on this team, Cresselia was able to turn a 1-4 situation in Milan into a win after setting up. I always preferred Psychic over Psyshock for threats such as Conkeldurr, who were beginning to get a bit more use at this time. The offensive EVs allowed Hidden Power to OHKO a standard Scizor at +1, and also do a nice chunk to things like Metagross and Excadrill who might otherwise have felt they were safe in front of Cresselia. Icy Wind is the important move on this Pokémon, however. Icy Wind was the only Speed control on here before Thundurus turned up to the party, which made this an absolutely vital member of the team. With Calm Mind and Leftovers it could easily handle Special attacking teams, its biggest problem being Scald Burns and Critical Hits. The EVs were changed slightly between Bochum and Birmingham, taking out a little bulk in favour of enough Speed to outpace Jolly Garchomp after an Icy Wind drop.

rotom-wash
Rotom @ Electric Gem
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 116 SAtk / 140 SDef
Modest Nature
– Hydro Pump
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Sunny Day

thundurus
Thundurus @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 192 SDef / 64 Spd
Calm Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Flying]
– Swagger
– Thunder Wave

Starting out with a Rotom in this slot, my reluctance to use the inaccurate Hydro Pump was outweighed by Volcarona in particular being a huge threat to this team. This team also struggled a bit with Excadrill in Sand and Kingdra in Rain, both of which were good matchups for Rotom. Perhaps the strangest move here is Sunny Day, which worked out brilliantly to get rid of Rain or Sand neutralizing the aforementioned threats. When Cresselia had no Speed investment Rotom was one Speed point higher, which allowed it to get a Sunny Day before the Hidden Power Fire to OHKO the Scizor without the need for Calm Mind. It also preserved Breloom’s Focus Sash on occasions. Rotom’s middling Speed often left it underwhelming however, so after Milan I changed to Thundurus. Thundurus brought the infamous Swagger & Foul Play possibility, and kept the pressure on Rain teams and Volcarona to some extent. It did however make the team very weak to Sand teams with Excadrill.

terrakion
Terrakion @ Lum Berry
Trait: Justified
EVs: 180 HP / 76 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
– Close Combat
– Rock Slide
– Swords Dance
– Protect

terrakion
Terrakion @ Lum Berry
Trait: Justified
EVs: 136 HP / 124 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
– Close Combat
– Rock Slide
– Swords Dance
– Protect

Terrakion is one of my favourite members of this team, but has never had a standard spread. It started out bulkiest, enabling it to always survive an Adamant, spread damage Earthquake from Excadrill. With Swords Dance it was able to compensate for its lack of Attack investment, and boost up on predicted Intimidate switch-ins. With two Pokémon with Priority Swagger on the team, Lum Berry was a nice choice to grab a free +2. Terrakion did get Frozen in both Bochum and Birmingham, which meant the Lum Berry saved the game in these instances. It also allowed Terrakion to soak up a Thunder Wave from opposing Thundurus, or even take a Will-O-Wisp or Spore if needed. After Milan, the EVs got a little more offensive, after it failed to OHKO a particularly Physically bulky Hitmontop at +1, which is something I did need to rely on.

I had a bye for every National this season, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t make it difficult for myself. In my first battle of the Milan National I was paired with eventual finalist Eloy, and frustratingly went 1-1 right from the start. I managed to pull my Swiss record to 6-2, win the first game of the top cut and reach the top 8, where I was paired with Eloy once more. His Heatran and Thundurus gave me problems, but in hindsight I needed to bring Breloom for a much easier time.

Bochum started out in a similar way, losing my first game to an Outrage Critical Hit OHKOing my Cresselia. Unimpressed with this start, I did press forward and win every other Swiss game ending with a 6-1 record. In the top 16 I was facing another Heatran, but a reckless over-prediction in the third game threw away my chances again.

Thankfully I won my first game in Birmingham, and proceeded to win more games. OmegaDonut’s team seemed almost overly-prepared to play mine, which was fairly common knowledge by this time, which lead to my first loss in round five. My other loss was through two Critical Hits on Cresselia, and a Critical Hit on my boosted Volcarona, which would have ensured victory otherwise. Ending with a 7-2 record, my top 16 game is honestly best forgotten. Unlucky doesn’t seem to cover it, although my opponent’s two Choiced Pokémon did catch me off-guard in the first game. Left being the highest ranked person in Europe without a paid trip, it was a bitter pill to take.

As you would expect, I did a lot of testing before Worlds. The team as it was seemed a lot less viable than it had done, either because of the shift in the metagame towards things like Landorus-T, or I just had a bad patch of playing. Scizor has always been a Pokémon I have enjoyed using, and I was desperate to shoehorn it in the team somehow. Volcarona seemed like the weakest link, and I wanted to try out life without Liepard once more, so for the Nugget Bridge invitational I swapped these two members for Chandelure and Scizor, who in theory covered the team well type-wise. The team reached 3rd place in the Invitational, but Liepard’s utility and Speed were greatly missed. Liepard’s role became even more apparent, allowing me to control games and be able to work around faster threats – where Chandelure was often out-sped and knocked out. Especially for Worlds I felt it was most important to use a team I am totally comfortable and have lots of experience with. Just a few days before setting off for Vancouver I finally had something I was happy with again.

Worlds

liepard
Liepard @ Dark Gem
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 132 HP / 4 Atk / 116 Def / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
– Foul Play
– Fake Out
– Swagger
– Encore

I couldn’t leave Liepard behind. Even though it isn’t vital for every game, it was used in most games to great effect. Again, fulfilling the role of disrupting enemy Pokémon, Liepard helped me control games from the start and oppress opponents into making plays they would otherwise not wish to make. Liepard is capable of so much more than people realize if you are experienced enough with it; I am sure my first round opponent did not expect his mid-game Fake Out on Liepard’s partner to land him Encored into it on the very same turn, a risky but high-reward play. The EV spread has changed to accommodate Landorus-T, one of the biggest swings in the metagame. Keeping the maximum Speed, Liepard will always survive an Adamant U-turn. If not Scarfed, Liepard will out-speed and the Dark Gem Foul Play will either OHKO or bring them down very low depending on their investment. It will also survive Metagross’ max-Attack Meteor Mash four times out of five.

scizor
Scizor @ Steel Gem
Trait: Technician
EVs: 212 HP / 60 Atk / 4 Def / 172 SDef / 60 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Bug Bite
– Bullet Punch
– Swords Dance
– Protect

I had a huge urge to use Scizor, and being another set-up Pokémon had a great place in this team. Scizor kept my Bug coverage Volcarona provided, but also packed another strong Priority attack allowing me to not be threatened by Trick Room quite so much as I was. Tyranitar became even more popular in the run-up to Worlds, and Scizor gave me another great option to combat them if Breloom and Terrakion didn’t fancy the rest of their team. Swords Dance puts so much pressure on the opponent to deal with Scizor, perhaps more so than the Quiver Dance on Volcarona with the popularity of Trick Room at Worlds. Even with the relatively low Attack investment, a +2 Steel Gem Bullet Punch was doing damage – especially with Cresselia’s Helping Hand if the need was there. Quite a bulky spread, this Scizor survives rogue Hidden Power Fires from offensive Cresselia, as it is my main member to deal with the pink moon duck.

breloom
Breloom @ Focus Sash
Trait: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
– Mach Punch
– Bullet Seed
– Spore
– Protect

Forever the same set, Breloom was tempted into trying a few different items in the run-up to Worlds, but nothing works better for this team than Focus Sash. The further rise in Tyranitar did make Life Orb a tempting option for the added damage output and prevent the wastage of an item, but Focus Sash was missed too much in non-Weather games. The ability to get a Spore off from 1HP has often won games, not only because it allows partners to set up, but if Breloom is slower and gets a Spore off thanks to the Sash – it means the Sleeping Pokémon will have a guaranteed Sleep turn next turn as opposed to if Breloom gets its Spore off first. Lum Berry and Chesto Berry became even more popular alongside Breloom’s rise in popularity, but having used this team for so long I can usually see which Pokémon have these items and play accordingly. Cresselia is still going to be going to Sleep holding a Lum Berry if Liepard uses Swagger to use it up first, for example.

cresselia
Cresselia @ Expert Belt
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 92 HP / 4 Def / 248 SAtk / 20 SDef / 144 Spd
Modest Nature
– Psychic
– Hidden Power [Fire]
– Icy Wind
– Helping Hand

So this is where I have started to take some influence from the Korean team, with the use of a more offensive Cresselia. The Calm Mind variant was usually between two modes: Icy Wind or start boosting. This Cresselia set doesn’t have to bother with boosting because with the Expert Belt it does nice damage from turn one. The added frailty was sometimes an issue, but I do prefer this set for the initial jump on opponents. The Speed investment reaches 123, which is a nice number to Speed-creep other things in the same area, and also enable Cresselia to out-speed things like Tornadus after an Icy Wind. The last move is my own added twist. Helping Hand is such a useful move, especially to have something on a different Priority level to give it more options. Four Pokémon on this team are holding Gems; Helping Hand and Gem boosted attacks do a lot of damage, often securing KOs on unsuspecting opponents and is especially great with the two Priority attacks Breloom and Scizor bring.

terrakion
Terrakion @ Fighting Gem
Trait: Justified
EVs: 124 HP / 124 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
– Close Combat
– Rock Slide
– Substitute
– Protect

The second influence I took was to change Swords Dance on Terrakion to Substitute and add a Fighting Gem. The spread is just a slightly more optimized version of the Birmingham one, which allows it to survive Excadrill’s Earthquake nine times out of ten, and Latios’ Psyshock. The added bulk worked out nicely; at no point wishing I had some more Attack investment in there. Providing there is no Intimidate, Fighting Gem gives Terrakion an effective, instant +1 Close Combat, which with Helping Hand can take some surprise OHKOs. The Attack investment and Gem also makes sure non-Chople Berry Scrafty are OHKOed slightly more than four times out of five. Substitute helped much more than Swords Dance in the case of a faster threat switching in, especially against big threats like Excadrill in the Sand. Volcarona is a massive threat to this team, so I need to make sure I play with Terrakion very carefully if I see one at the team preview.

thundurus
Thundurus @ Electric Gem
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 168 HP / 32 Def / 56 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Flying]
– Taunt
– Thunder Wave

I expected to see a lot of Thundurus at Worlds, and my team being a pretty fast and offensive one, I couldn’t take chances with my own Thundurus not being able to outspeed other ones. I don’t know how I managed to make it through the Nationals without Taunt on this Thundurus, as it shuts down so many troublesome Pokémon to this team and prevents others from setting up their own Speed control, mainly Trick Room, which can be lethal to this team at the right time. Thunder Wave is, again, my only other Speed control next to Cresselia’s Icy Wind, and the Electric Gem adds a punch to the Thunderbolt given the spread isn’t heavily invested in offense. This Thundurus is guaranteed to survive Tyranitar’s Rock Slide plus the Sandstorm damage, and Hidden Power Flying gives me some second options for Volcarona and especially Fighting types like Scrafty and Conkeldurr that can otherwise be a little problematic. The loss in bulk was noticeable, but not to the point where I think it mattered too much.

Kicking off Worlds, I am drawn against the Australian National Champion Ben Kilby in the first round and play on one of the TVs to make my Worlds debut match even more nerve-wracking. His Mamoswine causes me a few problems, and a +6 Bug Bite fails to OHKO his Ferrothorn taking it into a deciding game, which I won to start with a 1-0 record.

Round two against third place in Bochum Luigi Lo Giudice goes by quickly with a 2-0 win, but my game against Arash Ommati (Mean) in round three goes into a deciding game where I make an over-prediction which costs me my first game. With a 2-1 record I am drawn against training partner Ben Kyriakou, which again goes into a deciding game. I ended up losing, no thanks to a Rock Slide miss on his Volcarona along the way, which would have secured victory. In round five I don’t know what to expect from Japan’s Shota Nakata, but roll out a 2-0 win, as I did against Daniel Nolan (Zog) in the last round, taking my final record to 4-2 (10-5) and landing me at the unfortunate 9th place.

Not a bad record, but one I feel could have been better given the chance. I love this team, and have had such a journey with it from the beginning of the year when I started building something around Liepard and Breloom. Little did I know it would take me to Worlds, let alone a respectable 9th place finish. VGC 2013 and the fifth generation games have been a pleasure to play, let’s hope X & Y live up to the standard!


About the Author

has a wealth of knowledge and experience playing Pokémon VGC, most notably placing 9th at Worlds in 2013 and becoming Nugget Bridge Invitational Champion in 2014. He works as an animal ranger, writes as a heavy metal critic and has a degree in Psychology.



11 Responses to European Nationals Triple Top Cut & World Masters 9th Place Team Analysis

  1. TKOWL says:

    Absolutely love this team man, faced it like 17 times or something but still only barely beat it twice. Congratulations on getting 9th in the world, you definitely deserved getting that high :)

  2. Osirus says:

    TEAM STEALER :P
     
    But being serious Great read Baz, congrats on your great season and I hope it only continues into next year!

  3. Die2Distroy says:

    Haven’t read through this yet, but this will be interesting, looking forward to 2014 and wish you luck for then.

  4. Hurricane says:

    DAT ARTICLE ART
     
    But awesome team and well done top cutting 3 times! :)

  5. Layell says:

    That +6 Bug Bite may have been the most devastating thing I have ever seen, good work and worlds and it was fun to see your team.

  6. woopahking says:

    Ahhhhh great article Baz. I remember beating the original team on showdown with heatran only to lose to HP ground Volcarona in the major. Well done on 9th(even if it is really annoying) I’m sure you’ll do better at Nats and maybe even worlds next year.

  7. TitoVic says:

    congratulation with the success, was a pride meet you. I hope see you next season.

  8. R Inanimate says:

    You know what this article needs? A title pun.
     
    The team may look very similar to Sejun’s team, yet largely discovered independantly. You know that a team is something when 2 strong players can independantly end up with a similar conclusion. Bubbling at worlds is unfortunate, but you and your team showed a strong performance. I was nice meeting you at Worlds, and hopefully we can meet again in DC.

  9. Dreykopff says:

    Most annoying team I had to play this year. I…want…that…Prankster…nerf… :(

    At least congrats on 9th doesn’t sound like taunting with there being prize support for top 16 for the first time ever.

    I wonder how a (mirror?) match against Sejun would have played out.

  10. Lajo says:

    You know I know your team really well, and thanks to our sparring, I changed some things on my team (most notably stone edge Scrafty and Lum Cress)- it is so annoying to play against it, and if there are no countermeasures you can be wracked in no time(like I was before the changes).

    It doesn´t surprise me to see you high ranked again at worlds- most successful teams there need set-up, and that´s exactly what this team makes so good- destroy set-up like no other. It just seems like mother fortune won´t let you climb the top.

    I personally think taunt thundurus is a huge improvement and made a big difference here, since your team is really TR weak and you get more fans if you have less Swag 😛

    And last but not least I´m curious who would win a Bo3 series if I would play this team with my current sun team version- so I´m looking forward to our next sparring session 😉

  11. Baz Anderson says:

    Thanks guys, it’s really nice to read your comments.
     
    Yes, I would have loved to play Sejun in top 8 because I think I would have had a big team advantage over the one he took.
     
    Haha, I have no shame in using Swagger if it’s the best thing to do, but the Taunt was pretty necessary. I do miss being able to bosh things with a +2 Foul Play in one turn with the Worlds version though.
     
    Yeh, I couldn’t really think of anything amusing for the title… but then Pokémon is serious business after all! :D

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