Reports

Published on July 18th, 2014 | by Decretum

7

Boom! Shake the Room: UK Nationals Report

Hello, I’m Nick Bailey. I go by Decretum here, but beforehand I used to go by Teh_Black_Mage. I’m relatively new to VGC, only starting to play around the time of the Winter Event Qualifiers after having been convinced to get into the metagame. I used to play a fair amount of UU Singles and a small amount of OU Singles in generation five, and I’ve played the games casually since Red and Blue. While this was technically the second VGC event I’ve attended, it was the first I competed in, and I have to say in the few weeks leading up to the event I really wasn’t in the right mindset for Pokémon. I played a few practice matches about a week before the actual event, using a team I’d made almost one or two months prior to booking a hotel room. I might as well get down to it and go into detail about the team and how I came about making it!

The Background to the Final Team

Following the Winter Event Finals last year, I decided I’d take some of the ideas I got from my team I used then and rework them, now that I had a better idea of what was successful. Over the following months I tried making various teams based on certain ideas, like using Mega Blastoise alongside Prankster Rain Dance, for example. Another such team was devised around the time that Mega Charizard Y and Venusaur were a common lead pair, again using Mega Blastoise as a bait for Grass-type moves while running Goodra and Gogoat as a Sap Sipper core. By the time the Battle Tournament heats had passed, however, I realised I needed a more relevant team.

It was around this time I returned to a team I came up with in February, which was fondly nicknamed ‘The Exploudening’ for its ridiculous strategy. After considering how I could make my Leftovers Exploud stronger from my Winter team, the obvious choice occurred to me. By running Choice Specs on Exploud, its damage output made running this slow and (slightly) bulky Pokémon much more worth doing. I spent the next few days researching how I could build a team around Exploud.

The Exploudening

exploud

Lucifer (Exploud) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Boomburst
– Ice Beam
– Focus Blast
– Protect

aggron-mega

Raphael (Aggron) @ Aggronite
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 SDef
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Protect
– Heavy Slam
– Earthquake
– Dragon Claw

mr-mime

Uriel (Mr. Mime) @ Leftovers
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Fake Out
– Trick Room
– Safeguard
– Dazzling Gleam

gardevoir

Fierte (Gardevoir) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Telepathy
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Trick Room
– Rest
– Moonblast
– Psychic

tyrantrum

Michael (Tyrantrum) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 SDef
Brave Nature
– Dragon Claw
– Crunch
– Fire Fang
– Rock Slide

shuckle

Gabriel (Shuckle) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Def
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Guard Split
– Helping Hand
– Knock Off
– Gastro Acid

Without going into too much detail, the ideal battle for this team followed a general pattern. Trick Room would be set up by either Gardevoir or Mr.Mime on the first turn, while either Shuckle is switched into the other position out front or uses Knock Off or Gastro Acid on whatever might give me an advantage without its item or Ability, respectively. Exploud would then come in to replace the Trick Room setter while Shuckle uses Guard Split on Exploud, improving its bulk considerably. From there, Shuckle can use Helping Hand to give Boomburst an extreme boost. Given this setup, the team would then win within two or three turns.

There were many flaws with this team, of course. Requiring a two turn setup to reliably win meant that not only was the team inconsistent, but the movepools of the selected Pokémon meant that my choices for bringing Pokémon to each game were extremely limited: essentially, I had to use Exploud, Shuckle, Gardevoir or Mr.Mime, and Aggron or Tyrantrum each battle. Couple this with rarely finding a reason to run Gardevoir over Mr.Mime (as the latter provided Fake Out support), and the fact that Tyrantrum tended to accomplish more than Mega Aggron ever did, including taking Boomburst better in the event Exploud is locked into it and no switch ins are available, and suddenly the team has no variation. The conclusion I reached with this team was fairly simple: Exploud couldn’t viably be run in a team as the core strategy with current movepools being the way they are. I didn’t want to drop Exploud just yet, though.

The Final Team

As I finalised my team, I first focused more on Pokémon that I wanted to use, rather than which Pokémon would provide synergy with the rest of my team. Having used Mega Blastoise on all of my teams to date bar The Exploudening, I wanted to try something a little different. I thought back to when X and Y were first released and my days as a Singles-only player, when I was testing out Mega Mawile. In regards to the nicknames, since the team was still inspired by Exploud I decided to go with song titles, and settled on various Girls Dead Monster songs since a few names fit particularly well.

reuniclus

MySoul (Reuniclus) @ Leftovers

Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 116 HP / 140 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Helping Hand
– Trick Room
– Psyshock
– Focus Blast

When making the team, I figured I wanted a Trick Room user, especially since I still had Exploud and Mega Mawile in mind. Couple that with calculations I made with The Exploudening for Helping Hand boosted Boomburst, and it was just a matter of searching for the right support Pokémon that could do both. As a plain Psychic type, Reuniclus is weak only to Bug, Ghost and Dark types, meaning the range of Super Effective STAB moves it has to look out for is certainly narrowed down. Combine this with Reuniclus’ not insignificant bulk, a sluggish Speed stat, and access to both Helping Hand and Trick Room, and my choice for a support Pokémon was clear. With Leftovers and Regenerator, my Trick Room setter was able to survive longer than my opponents might have wanted.

Normally I’m not a huge fan of running a dedicated support Pokémon, which is why I ran Psyshock and Focus Blast to round off the moveset rather than run any more support moves. In a metagame where burns, Intimidate, and Prankster Charm are everywhere, the advantage on having a Specially bulky Pokémon to deal with non-Physical threats is greater than it would otherwise be. I chose Psyshock over Psychic to exploit these Specially bulky Pokémon. As for Focus Blast, while the accuracy is only 70%, I felt as though I needed a Fighting-type coverage move. While Energy Ball and Flash Cannon were other alternatives for coverage, a fair share of Pokémon that Fighting/Psychic coverage can’t hit at least neutrally aren’t readily used, with the exception of Aegislash, Meowstic, Gardevoir, Sableye, and occasionally other Reuniclus. The other reason I couldn’t help but use two offensive moves on Reuniclus is its hefty Special Attack (125 base), making it an offensive powerhouse against the right teams during Trick Room.

In regards to the EV spread, I wanted to create a spread that could unexpectedly survive attacks in order to more reliably get off Trick Room. I’m a firm believer of capitalising on the advantages you already have, and Reuniclus’ already impressive Special bulk coupled with the double Intimidate in my team made the choice to go Specially bulky obvious. After prioritising the bulk, the remaining EVs could then be invested into Reuniclus’ Special Attack. Using the following a combination of the following calculations I reached the above spread of 116HP/140SpA/252SpD with a Calm Nature:

  • 252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Shadow Ball vs. 116 HP / 252+ SpD Reuniclus: 134-162 (67 – 81%) — guaranteed 2HKO
  • 252 SpA Hydreigon Dark Pulse vs. 116 HP / 252+ SpD Reuniclus: 108-128 (54 – 64%) — guaranteed 2HKO
  • 252+ SpA Tyranitar Dark Pulse vs. 116 HP / 252+ SpD Reuniclus: 98-116 (49 – 58%) — 96.5% chance to 2HKO
  • 252 SpA Mega Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 116 HP / 252+ SpD Reuniclus: 134-162 (67 – 81%) — guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
  • 252+ SpA Mega Gardevoir Shadow Ball vs. 116 HP / 252+ SpD Reuniclus: 96-114 (48 – 57%) — 40.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

By dumping the remaining EVs into Special Attack, Reuniclus can pick up OHKOs on some non-Assault Vest Tyranitar variants with Focus Blast, as well as putting hefty dents into a number of commonly used Pokémon.

scrafty

YourBeats (Scrafty) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Fake Out
– Drain Punch
– Crunch
– Quick Guard

Moving onto the second part to the common dual lead. I previously ran a similar Scrafty back at the Winter Event. The main differences between the two are that this one has a 0 Speed IV for Trick Room, and that it’s running Quick Guard over Protect. While some Pokémon who capitalised on priority moves, such as Talonflame, are used nowhere near as much as they were back in Winter, I’ve found that running Quick Guard is still useful. Quick Guard won’t help me against Fake Out, unfortunately, but it does still provide a defense against Prankster users, the occasional Talonflame, and other priority such as Extremespeed, Aqua Jet and Mach Punch. The only downside is a lack of Protect as a result, although I’ve found that this for the most part doesn’t seem to be a huge problem. On the occasion that Scrafty is threatened and consequently OHKO’d due to the plays I make, I’ve found that I can often trade to get a return OHKO. With a fairly simple spread, Scrafty was designed from the beginning to generally take hits if necessary and hit back as hard as possible. With Intimidate and access to Fake Out, I’ve found it to be a strong lead (or turn one switch in) that can threaten even Mega Kangaskhan if you play it right. Some general calculations to go with its offensive power:

  • 252+ Atk Life Orb Scrafty Drain Punch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mega Kangaskhan: 143-172 (67.4 – 81.1%) — guaranteed 2HKO
  • 252+ Atk Life Orb Scrafty Crunch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Meowstic: 195-229 (107.7 – 126.5%) — guaranteed OHKO
  • 252+ Atk Life Orb Scrafty Drain Punch vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tyranitar: 265-317 (128 – 153.1%) — guaranteed OHKO

If I didn’t use a Life Orb for the extra damage output, I would definitely consider a Lum Berry since Scrafty often attracts a lot of Will O Wisp attention.

exploud

CrowSong (Exploud) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Boomburst
– Flamethrower
– Ice Beam
– Focus Blast

Coming on to one of the selling point of the team, I decided to use a fairly routine set that I’ve used on almost every occasion beforehand. While on some teams Soundproof may be preferred to Scrappy, I felt the added utility of being able to hit Ghost types with Boomburst and Focus Blast is more useful. I’ve considered using Fire Blast over Flamethrower before, as well as potentially using Blizzard over Ice Beam. However, I felt as though both moves were incredibly inconsistent. One thing I’ve enjoyed about this team is that most of the team is built specifically to be bulky enough to not necessarily need Trick Room. However, I feel Exploud requires Reuniclus alongside it for optimal use. Like Scrafty, the EV spread, items, and Nature were chosen simply to try and maximise general bulk while still providing adequate damage output. There are some interesting things to note about the damage that can be dealt with this setup:

  • 252+ SpA Choice Specs Exploud Helping Hand Boomburst vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 198-234 (107.6 – 127.1%) — guaranteed OHKO
  • 252+ SpA Choice Specs Exploud Helping Hand Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Mega Kangaskhan: 172-204 (81.1 – 96.2%) — guaranteed 2HKO
  • 252+ SpA Choice Specs Exploud Helping Hand Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Rotom-W: 118-141 (75.1 – 89.8%) — guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
  • 252+ SpA Choice Specs Exploud Helping Hand Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Aegislash-Shield: 186-220 (111.3 – 131.7%) — guaranteed OHKO
  • 252+ SpA Choice Specs Exploud Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Ferrothorn: 236-280 (130.3 – 154.6%) — guaranteed OHKO

Throughout testing this team, Exploud proved to be a nice cannon in the background. Given the right situation, I could bring Exploud into a battle knowing that it would comfortably take a few hits before going down, and at the very least create a dent in the opposing team. Using it requires a bit of time to get used to knowing when to use it, and mispredicting ever so slightly might cost you your own partner Pokémon while not even hitting both of the opposing Pokémon.

tyranitar

Alchemy (Tyranitar) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 108 Atk / 252 SAtk / 148 SDef
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Rock Slide
– Crunch
– Ice Beam
– Flamethrower

Ever since Gen 6 was released and Assault Vest came into existence, I’ve been a bit of a fan of it. I’ve previously run Assault Vest on Goodra, and to a slightly less successful extent on Tyrantrum. With defenses of 100/110/100 and a Special Defense boost in sand, Assault Vest turns Tyranitar from a bulky monster into a Special wall that couldn’t really care less about any Special attacks. Since the rest of my team consisted of three Physical attackers already, I decided I’d run a mixed Tyranitar, as its ability to be either Physical or Special gives me an advantage in that I could bluff one attacking type, only to surprise with the other.

Originally Dark Pulse was going to be my Dark move of choice, however I was quite unlucky when trying to breed a Larvitar with the move. The 108 Attack EVs were invested so that Rock Slide was a guaranteed OHKO on Mega Charizard Y, even after an Intimidate, while the maximum investment into Special Attack was to boost the latter two attacks. The remaining EVs were invested in Special Defense with the intention of abusing the Assault Vest and Sand Boost to its Special Defense. Below are just some examples for calculations that show its worth:

  • 252+ SpA Tyranitar Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Ferrothorn: 160-192 (88.3 – 106%) — 31.3% chance to OHKO
  • 252+ SpA Tyranitar Ice Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 208-248 (113 – 134.7%) — guaranteed OHKO
  • 108 Atk Tyranitar Rock Slide vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Charizard Y: 216-256 (140.2 – 166.2%) — guaranteed OHKO
  • 252 SpA Lucario Aura Sphere vs. 0 HP / 148 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 148-180 (84.5 – 102.8%) — 6.3% chance to OHKO
  • 252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Flash Cannon vs. 0 HP / 148 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 98-116 (56 – 66.2%) — guaranteed 2HKO
  • 252 SpA Gardevoir Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 148 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 92-110 (52.5 – 62.8%) — guaranteed 2HKO
  • 252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoking Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 148 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 112-135 (64 – 77.1%) — guaranteed 2HKO

I’ve found from playing in the Nationals, as well as in testing, that mixed Tyranitar still catches people off guard. It’s also worth noting that Helping Hand from Reuniclus can turn some of those near OHKOs into guaranteed OHKOs more often than not.

druddigon

ShineDays (Druddigon) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Atk / 148 Def / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Dragon Claw
– Rock Slide
– Superpower
– Sucker Punch

The decision to run Druddigon mostly came from wanting to run a Dragon in the team that could reliably check Mega Kangaskhan. After looking through a list of VGC-allowed Dragons, I came to the conclusion that Druddigon might actually have some use in my team. With a base Attack stat of 120 and a Speed of 48, Druddigon felt like the ideal physical Dragon to use in Trick Room. As it’s probably quite clear, the main idea behind this set was punish Mega Kangaskhan with Rough Skin and Rocky Helmet and finish it off with a Superpower. The EVs were calculated for this in mind, resulting in a Pokémon that was definitely a situational pickup in my team. Sucker Punch allows Druddigon to hit with priority if Trick Room isn’t up, while its STAB allows it to hit many Pokémon reasonably hard neutrally. There aren’t many relevant calculations to add bar the following:

  • 252+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 148 Def Druddigon: 153-181 (83.1 – 98.3%) — guaranteed 2HKO
  • 104+ Atk Druddigon Superpower vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mega Kangaskhan: 126-150 (59.4 – 70.7%) — guaranteed 2HKO
  • 252 Atk Garchomp Dragon Claw vs. 252 HP / 148 Def Druddigon: 128-152 (69.5 – 82.6%) — guaranteed 2HKO
  • 104+ Atk Druddigon Dragon Claw vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 134-158 (72.8 – 85.8%) — guaranteed 2HKO

Ultimately after the event I felt as though Druddigon didn’t accomplish much. Druddigon was a dedicated Mega Kangaskhan counter, but it seemed as though my team was able to handle Kangaskhan without Druddigon to a fairly safe degree.

mawile-mega

LittleBraver (Mawile) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Protect
– Play Rough
– Swords Dance
– Iron Head

This might be my favourite Pokémon on the team. When I first considered running Mega Mawile on this team, I decided I’d run (almost) the same set I used back when I first used it this generation, with the differences being Protect, a 0 Speed IV, and the Nature. LittleBraver certainly lives up to its name, taking Physical hits thrown at it and soldiering on. The premise of this set is simple. Mawile’s Mega Evolution gives both Defenses a boost of 40 base points. Factoring in Intimidate, Mawile is surprisingly bulky on the Physical side. The only real thing to be aware of is that there’s no Special Defense investment, so Mawile will fall to things like Rotom-H Overheat. Another thing to note is Mawile’s Attack. Even without any real Attack investment, this Mawile can output hefty damage. Of course, the lack of Attack investment is made up for by the Swords Dance. Its impressive and underestimated bulk allows Mawile to spend a turn boosting its Attack before hitting incredibly hard with its dual STABs in Trick Room. The fact that the team has three Fighting weaknesses is covered by Mawile alone. One thing I found interesting during the event and in testing was the Mawile vs. Mawile mirror. For simplicity I’ve used Ray Rizzo’s Mawile as a comparison, as well as assuming both Mawile have no stat changes:

  • 52 Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Mawile: 117-138 (38.4 – 45.3%) — guaranteed 3HKO

So Rizzo’s Mawile would 3HKO mine, and in return?

  • 4 Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Mega Mawile: 148-175 (48.6 – 57.5%) — 94.9% chance to 2HKO

Almost guaranteed a 2HKO, and that’s without any boost, which is one thing my Mawile set definitely specialises in. This physically bulky Mawile can also take other attacks while hitting hard back, varying in levels of how prepared you are to take that much damage on Mawile:

  • 252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Mawile: 152-180 (50 – 59.2%) — guaranteed 2HKO
  • 4 Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Play Rough vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 422-500 (117.8 – 139.6%) — guaranteed OHKO

And if you really want to:

  • 252 Atk Choice Band Talonflame Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Mawile: 264-312 (86.8 – 102.6%) — 12.5% chance to OHKO
  • +2 4 Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Play Rough vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Talonflame: 267-315 (89.5 – 105.7%) — 37.5% chance to OHKO

That last situation is obviously a last ditch one, but shows that it’s definitely possible to tank a Flare Blitz even without the Intimidate if necessary. The key to running Swords Dance on Mawile like this really is just to know when you need a +2 Attack boost and when the boost is not necessary.

That is the team I ran at the UK Nationals. Generally in most battles I just stuck with Mawile, Tyranitar, Reuniclus and Scrafty, although in a few battle I switched out Reuniclus or Tyranitar for Exploud and Scrafty or Tyranitar for Druddigon.

UK Nationals 2014

I’d like to apologise in advance for how vague the following section might be at times. I didn’t have anything on me to record any of the battles and I have a pretty dire memory, so I ask that you humour me and pretend the attention to detail is superb. Having only booked at a hotel for Saturday night, it only occurred to me on the Friday that I’d need to wake up early enough to actually travel down to Manchester in time. It was with my deepest regret that I still stayed up till the early hours before trying to sleep, because going out to see the new X-Men film was obviously more important than going to sleep at a reasonable time. Following this I then spent the few hours of sleep I could get before 5am waking up and thinking I missed my alarm, only to find I had another hour or two left before I had to get ready and head off for a train from York.

After a relatively uneventful trip down, the next couple of hours went by as planned, meeting up with people I knew and saying hi before heading into the queue to register. Half an hour after signups closed, people started to look around in confusion. Weren’t pairings supposed to be put up 15 minutes ago? Over the next few hours very little happened that can’t be summarised by “If only I could’ve had more sleep, then I’d be fine waiting this long,” aside from a speedy excursion into the Trafford Centre to obtain food. We got back with plenty of time to spare, and before too long the division finally started. There’s not really any point in going into much detail about the organisation considering there’s been enough slating for it all over the internet without me contributing to it, and for a company that apparently is only used to doing TCG tourneys beforehand they did pretty well once the ball got rolling a couple of rounds in. Here’s the time for the vague details about my battles.

Round 2 – Rina Purdy

Of Rina’s team I’m afraid I can only remember Mawile, Gyarados, Kecleon, and Chandelure. I also want to say there was a Hydreigon, but the main details I remember from matches are why the games transpired with their results in the end. My first thought when I saw the Chandelure in this team was that it might be running Trick Room and Imprison, and decided that I’d make the potentially risky play of not taking Reuniclus into battle. Doing so meant that I didn’t have any Speed control, and would almost always attack last each turn. Instead of taking Reuniclus, I figured Exploud might provide a nice advantage if I could get a well timed Boomburst off, especially if the Chandelure was out and my opponent wasn’t expecting Scrappy.

The battle itself was incredibly close, with both of us outpredicting each other on occasion, until it was my Mawile and Scrafty against her Mawile and Gyarados. As Scrafty had just come in, I decided to double target Mawile with Fake Out and Iron Head, only realising after I’d made that decision that a double Protect was the more probable play since both her Pokémon outsped mine. Had I used Swords Dance and capitalised on a free turn, my Mawile could OHKO either of her remaining team members. Because I hadn’t, I needed Scrafty to help get the kill on the Mawile if I wanted to win. Luckily for me Rina’s Mawile missed its Play Rough, allowing me to KO it and go 2v1 against the Gyarados and narrowly take the win.

Round 3

Looking at Team Preview put me on edge before the game even got underway. I remember my opponent having Aurorus, Chandelure, and Jolteon, and I think he used a Wigglytuff but I’m not sure. Due to some of my opponent’s more interesting Pokémon not really being used in this format, I had to consider what movesets they might possibly run. One thing I was certain of was that, again, I did not want to bring my Reuniclus to the battle because of Chandelure. At the same time, I remember Jolteon as a glass cannon back from my days of playing singles, which made me cautious of potentially not Reuniclus after all. In the end, my relevant choices that I used were Scrafty, Mawile and Druddigon, which makes me assume he probably had a Mega Kangaskhan.

In hindsight I was more worried about this match than I needed to be, although I’d rather be careful and hesitant because of unknown factors rather than rush in head first. The match was fairly uneventful, with the only notable things I remember being that I baited a Flamethrower from his Chandelure into my Protecting Mawile, allowing my Druddigon to Sucker Punch it. The next turn he tried to use Flamethrower again, despite being comfortably 2HKO’d by Druddigon’s Sucker Punch. In the end, he used Round on Jolteon and Aurorus, which was only interesting because Round really hurts from Aurorus when you get the power boost.

Round 4

My next opponent came at me with notable Pokémon such as Gengar and Gyarados. In this match I ran with my basic core of Reuniclus, Mawile, Tyranitar, and Scrafty. The battle ended up being drawn out, with me winning by a sliver of HP. The thing I remember most about this match isn’t the battle at all. The most memorable thing was that my opponent’s 3DS was on critically low battery, and after a few minutes of sorting out what to do with the staff, ended up having our match over by the charging station with a personal judge making sure no one came over to confer with us. By coincidence it happened to be Kay Dyson (Cambria), the now ex-head of York PokeSoc, which ended up being the one time I actually caught up with her during the event.

Round 5

Just before Round 5 began, a small group of us on the front table had a little chat about how the tournament was starting to become an endurance test, considering how tired we all were. After a brief amiable chat, the battle commenced. My opponent this round ended up using Mega Gengar, Tyranitar, Ferrothorn and a Rotom-Wash. Again, I used my standard picks of Reuniclus, Tyranitar, Scrafty, and Mawile.

The first turn was a little odd, as I had faced a Gengar or two previously that day and all of them had used Shadow Ball on my Reuniclus. I switched out Reuniclus for Scrafty, expecting a Shadow Ball, only to get KOed immediately by Dazzling Gleam. On the other hand, my Tyranitar successfully used Crunch on his Gengar, equalising the score at 3-3 at turn one. Later in the battle, I finally got Trick Room up as he burned my Tyranitar with Will o Wisp, thinking my Tyranitar was a physical variant. I gave Tyranitar a Helping Hand boost, OHKOing his Ferrothorn with Flamethrower. From there I wore down his Tyranitar and Rotom-Wash before my own Tyranitar was KOed, and my Mawile cleaned up from there. I was now 5-0, and my friends told me I could easily Top Cut if I performed similarly throughout the rest of the tournament. It was at this point that my record took a turn.

Round 6 – Tyler Bakhtiari (pokeguru101)

Sat at position 1 was a good feeling, even if it was in the less prestigious flight, and it was at this point that we were asked if we wanted to play on the big screen. Funnily enough, Tyler was sat across from me in the previous round, and just before our games I mentioned I would never want to go on the big screen because I felt as though I’d just screw up completely. However, now I was feeling more up to it, so I said why not and we both moved to the screen. Tyler’s team for the event consisted of Kangaskhan, Gyarados, Rotom-Heat, Gardevoir, Gourgeist-Super and Garchomp. Looking at his team, I immediately decided I wanted to bring Druddigon along due to the presence of Kangaskhan, and after also choosing Mawile, I was left with two choices for my final Pokémon. In the end, I went with Reuniclus and Scrafty.

I led with Druddigon and Reuniclus, expecting a Kangaskhan, but he never brought it to the fight. He led with Gyarados and Gardevoir, and I realised I should probably switch Druddigon out due to the threat of a strong Fairy move from Gardevoir. I figured Gyarados was going to Taunt my Reuniclus, so I just used Psyshock on Gyarados. I figured Mawile was my only real choice to switch into a Fairy move, but I did not expect Gardevoir to have Will O Wisp. I switched Mawile in, and it got burnt for its troubles. Tyler played safe throughout the match. I was never able to get Trick Room up with Reuniclus, and Mawile was burned from the get go. This meant I was on the back foot as it was, and combining that with the fact that Druddigon didn’t do much damage to the Pokémon he brought, I lost 3-0 in a war of attrition.

It was a good game, and Tyler was pretty cool, even mentioning that my team was interesting. I was now 5-1, and I had a brief encounter with not other than Ben Kyriakou while he was talking to my girlfriend. He mentioned how the Top Cut matchups were organised, and I made a rather confident declaration that I’d fight him in the Top Cut.

Round 7 – Luke Chaplin

This round was really quick for me. I greeted my opponent, and we chatted briefly about the potential to reach Top Cut with certain records. Looking at his team, I saw a Kangaskhan and without really thinking much about the rest of his team, I decided to bring Druddigon, along with Mawile, Scrafty, and probably Reuniclus. I led Druddigon and Scrafty against his Kangaskhan and Salamence. I was worried about being hit by a Draco Meteor, so I withdrew Druddigon for Mawile and realised as I did it that he probably predicted such an obvious play. Turns out that I was right, as my Mawile ate a Fire Blast, leaving me 4-3 on the first turn without my mega. The rest of the battle followed suit, with me falling right into his hands. I don’t even think I took down a single member of his team.

Final Round – Kelly M

It was the final round, and I sat across from someone who was also 5-2. If either of us won, we would most likely make it into the Top Cut. The stakes were high and we were both aware of that fact, so without much waiting we wished each other luck and the battle commenced. After some quick deliberation I decided to play it safe and stick with Mawile, Tyranitar, Reuniclus and Scrafty, while my opponent went with Rotom-H, Tyranitar, Mienshao and Venusaur.

Early on I got distracted and managed to mess up my turn, with my Mawile falling to Rotom-Heat’s Overheat and my Scrafty using Crunch on his Mienshao due to timeout, instead of my planned Drain Punch on Rotom-Heat. Later in the battle I was down two Pokémon to his four. With Reuniclus and Tyranitar out on the field I figured I could Rock Slide to KO his Rotom-H and add some chip damage to his Tyranitar, and Reuniclus could set up Trick Room. Before getting KOed, however, his Rotom-Heat managed to get a critical hit on my Reuniclus with Thunderbolt, making the earlier stat drop from Overheat not count . He apologised for the crit, but it’s part of the game so I said there’s no point feeling sorry about it because it happens. The following turn my Tyranitar now outsped his own and got a timely Rock Slide flinch, saving my Reuniclus and allowing it to knock out his Tyranitar. At this point, it was just Mienshao and Venusaur against Reuniclus and Tyranitar. I managed to KO his Mienshao with a Psyshock, but the next turn another Psyshock was not enough to do KO his Venusaur, and he KOed Reuniclus in return, leaving me in a position where I had to take down a Mega Venusaur with my Tyranitar. In the end it was a narrow loss, but it was a good game like most of my games so I didn’t mind.

That was the end of my Nationals run this year. Our group of friends hung around to see the standings posted. I was 30-something in Flight A, and 68th overall. We hen headed to the hotel for the night, getting takeaway and playing some Mario Kart 7 before resting for the next day. For the most part, we just hung around, watching Top Cut and catching up with people we hadn’t talked to the previous day. I may not have gotten a significant result in the end, but considering how I went not really motivated to play Pokémon I was suddenly back in the right mindset. I met some great people for the first time, and I saw a bunch of people I knew otherwise again. I’ll look forward to the next event.

Shoutouts to my girlfriend Jade Batchelor (evilpinkdragon) for helping me breed my team as well as helping optimise a couple of EV spreads, since I couldn’t really think of where to begin. Another shoutout goes to her brother Eden (Xenoblade Hero) for offering the odd suggestion for my team, and I’d like to thank both of them for encouraging me to get into VGC in the first place. Also shoutouts to York Pokesoc, and all of the guys I hung around during the Saturday that I didn’t mention individually because there’s too many.


About the Author

I started playing Pokemon as a kid with Red and Blue however long ago it was, playing competitively during 5th gen with singles, before finally starting to play VGC format at the beginning of 6th gen. Aside from playing Pokemon I also tend to play a lot of DotA



7 Responses to Boom! Shake the Room: UK Nationals Report

  1. Jacob8771 says:

    great team I like your use of drudigon.

  2. droughtboi says:

    in your calculations on tyranitar you didn’t put on the assault vest ?
    Also with 252 HP on your tyranitar it would be better to survive a aegislash flashcannon

  3. RAV44 says:

    Love The title! I’ve been singing the son ever since 😀

  4. Woo! York PokéSoc!
     
    My VGC Nationals team was originally built around Exploud too. It hurt me so much to remove it.

  5. liz7 says:

    One of the most unique teams I have seen so far :O hope you don’t mind me testing this team out 😀

  6. Finally it’s published~! x3 
    So proud of how well you did considering it was your first VGC and you approached it so casually, it was a really great weekend. <3
    Oh and I’m pretty proud of what I got that Druddigon to do haha, just a shame he’s not more useful bless ‘im.
    EXPLOUD IS LOVE, EXPLOUD IS LIFE.
  7. Gazooki666 says:

    Suppose as one of the fellas who was there for most of Saturday (and a bit of Sunday) with you, might as well drop some feedback. 
     
    Love the idea of Exploud, that Boomburst can seriously lay on the pain if it gets chance to use it. Even with the drop in power from being a spread move it doesn’t really matter because nothing else can match it. Always had a soft spot for Druddigon so was pleased to see him in there, but sad to hear he didn’t really do much in the end. Was fun meeting up with you guys and hanging out afterwards too. Hopefully more of the same next year eh? :D

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