Reports

Published on July 20th, 2015 | by mewmart

2

The Boss You Can’t Take Down: A Top 32 Singapore National Championship Report

This is posted and translated by Martin Tan (mewmart) from Singapore on behalf of Hugo Ng Chi Yat (hugo0379) from Hong Kong.

Greetings from Hong Kong! I’m Hugo Ng, an avid VGC player starting since 2014. First I would like to express my appreciation to Martin Tan who helped me to translate my report into English. I’d also like to thank HIMTE from Hong Kong, who has taught me tons about VGC. This report is for me to introduce to everyone the team that I’ve been using for the past year. It’s the result of my hard work and dedication in creating and play-testing this team. With the conclusion of the VGC 2015 season, it’s a good time to retire this team and move on to the next season with new ideas, new beginnings and hopefully new strategies! I certainly feel rather attached and emotional with the team’s retirement and bidding farewell, but as the Chinese saying goes, it is necessary to renew ideas and it can only be possible with the departure of the old and obsolete. So yeah, let’s get to the introduction of my team members!

My results with this team are as follows:

1. 1st for 2 Premier Challenges in Hong Kong
2. 12th place finish for the 1st Hong Kong Regional Championships (with 3 – 3 record)
3. 25th place finish for the 1st Singapore National Championships (with 5 – 2 record)

I wanted a team that reduced the likelihood for me to be in a losing position even with one mistake made in-between turns and preventing unforeseen factors from breaking my momentum. This provided the inspiration and objective of the team! I also wanted a team that was able to deal with the ever annoying Sylveon, and also exercise better speed control for opponents who go “auto-pilot” in their plays.

Hence Mega Venusaur was my pick, with its superb bulk and versatility.

Eventually, the 1st Premier Challenge that I won was with a team of:

Through some play-testing I also tried other variants to try and find the team synergy and balance, the team variants included:

and

Eventually, before the Singapore Nationals, I landed with this as the final version, which I’m very happy with!

Without further ado, let’s dive into the team members and their individual analysis!

The Team

>

Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Def / 76 SpA / 44 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
– Giga Drain
– Sludge Bomb
– Protect
– Leech Seed

Here are some damage calculations to illustrate Mega Venusaur’s bulk:

• 252+ Atk Life Orb Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Mega Venusaur: 148-174 (79.1 – 93%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Mega Venusaur: 168-200 (89.8 – 106.9%) — 37.5% chance to OHKO
• 252+ SpA Mega Gardevoir Psychic vs. 252 HP / 44 SpD Mega Venusaur: 168-198 (89.8 – 105.8%) — 31.3% chance to OHKO
• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Sylveon Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Mega Venusaur: 92-110 (49.1 – 58.8%) — 98% chance to 2HKO
• 252+ SpA Aerilate Mega Salamence Hyper Voice vs. 252 HP / 44 SpD Mega Venusaur: 128-152 (68.4 – 81.2%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• -1 252+ Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Mega Venusaur: 146-174 (78 – 93%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252 Atk Tough Claws Mega Metagross Zen Headbutt vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Mega Venusaur: 134-162 (71.6 – 86.6%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Sylveon Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Mega Venusaur: 92-110 (49.1 – 58.8%) — 98% chance to 2HKO
• 76 SpA Mega Venusaur Sludge Bomb vs. 244 HP / 0 SpD Sylveon: 104-126 (51.7 – 62.6%) — guaranteed 2HKO

The main objective for Mega Venusaur in this team is to act as a lure for the ever annoying Sylveon and other Fairy-types. Its natural bulk coupled with its Thick Fat ability makes it a superb tank for its teammates. After its teammates get rid of its adversaries; Mega Salamence, Mega Metagross and Talonflame to name a few, it can single-handedly control a game, just like a boss that doesn’t go down at all!

Although it can be stopped by a lot of popular megas such as Mega Kangaskhan, Mega Salamence or even Mega Metagross, it can also be a bane for rain teams, Japanese sand and bulky Waters such as Rotom-W, with its Grass STAB Giga Drain. It improves my matchup against Sylveon with Sludge Bomb as well.

Notably, before mega-evolving it’s not really bulky, so my way of optimizing its use is mega evolve as soon as possible, or to have a window of opportunity to switch in.

Landorus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 140 HP / 148 Atk / 12 Def / 112 SpD / 96 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 SpD
– Earthquake
– U-turn
– Rock Slide
– Superpower

Some notable calculations about this set:

• +1 252+ Atk Life Orb Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 140 HP / 12 Def Landorus-T: 153-181 (84 – 99.4%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• +1 252+ Atk Bisharp Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 140 HP / 12 Def Landorus-T: 142-168 (78 – 92.3%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 148+ Atk Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Bisharp: 144-170 (102.1 – 120.5%) — guaranteed OHKO
  Outspeeds 252 Speed Bisharp by 1 point
• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Pixilate Sylveon Hyper Voice vs. 140 HP / 112 SpD Assault Vest Landorus-T: 76-91 (41.7 – 50%) — 0.4%(1/256) chance to 2HKO
• 148+ Atk Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Sylveon: 100-118 (49.7 – 58.7%) — 98.4% chance to 2HKO
• Same speed as 252 Speed+ Sylveon

The reason I picked Assault Vest for Landorus-Therian was with the following objectives in mind. Firstly, Landorus-Therian has a superb coverage it offers in terms of moves. Second, the Assault Vest allows me to fully exploit the coverage by not being locked into a single move that you see on most variants because of the Choice items they tend to hold. Finally, its able to tank hits like a boss; just look at the damage calculations!

At full health, it can deal with Steel and Dark types with no issues and can even survive a 252+ SpA Hyper Voice from Sylveon! It can also deal with Mega Kangaskhan Double Edge and fire back a SuperPower to nab the crucial OHKO. Its bulk is certainly not a walk in the park. It is also capable of surviving non-STAB Ice Beams fired by the likes of Suicune, Ludicolo, Milotic, etc.

Being able to U-Turn to Mega Venusaur to gain momentum is also another role that it can play in this team. However, this is really very situational, as Venusaur before mega-evolving is much more frail than I would have liked.

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Dark Pulse
– Earth Power
– Draco Meteor
– Hidden Power [Ice]

In the beginning, I opted for Choice Scarf with minimal speed investment to outspeed Choice Scarf Landorus T and Mega Sceptile. However, as time went by, I had issues with speedier Dragons and I didn’t want to risk any under-speeding and hence I decided to max Speed to prevent any unnecessary speed ties. Hydriegon is my solution to Heatran, Landorus-Therian via Earth Power. It is also my solution to Salamence and Latios via Hidden Power Ice, of which these 2 can cause major issues for my Mega Venusaur.

Hidden Power Ice to me has a great surprise factor that I can use, and certainly improves my match-up against Landorus-Therian. At the same time, it provides defensive synergy against Fairies and Psychic attacks against my key player Mega Venusaur. Furthermore, a speedy Hydriegon provides the momentum, initiative and certainly a surprise factor for this team.

Milotic @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Competitive
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 244 Def / 20 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
– Ice Beam
– Scald
– Recover
– Toxic

Initially, I was using Suicune in this slot as I believed that it could help me in a Rain match-up. For instance, under Rain, it powers up Water moves against the powerhouses such as Salamence, Gardevoir, Hydriegon and Heatran which again are key nemeses of Mega Venusaur. The objective for my plays and game plan is always to get rid of the hard counters for Mega Venusaur using its teammates to allow it to dominate. However, I found that I was encountering difficulties with Calm Mind Cresselia which grew in popularity as the season went by, and hence I found a unique solution: Toxic Milotic.

I started to play-test Milotic, to very interesting but positive results. It could be a good counter to Salamence due to its ability Competitive acting as a strong deterrent. Since the team revolves around a strategy of attrition, bulk is absolutely essential.

Her EV spread just outspeeds Mega Venusaur by 1 point, so that it can help to thaw Mega Venusaur via Scald in the event of a freeze hax! It was a reliable option, but certainly very situational.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 56 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
– Heat Wave
– Flash Cannon
– Protect
– Substitute
*Note that the HP EVs should be 212 such that it’s HP should be 16n+1 while it is going with substitute and leftovers. It is a mistake while building this team*

Standard bulky Heatran set. It is certainly a core member in my team, completing the Fire, Water and Grass core. In terms of defensive and offensive synergy, it pairs up with Mega Venusaur flawlessly. Its Steel typing resists Aerilate boosted attacks from Mega Salamence, Mega Metagross and Mega Gardevoir (or non Mega, but who would use non-Mega?). The reason I dropped Earth Power is because of its very limited use other than to deal with opposing Heatran. By opting for Flash Cannon, it certainly improves my match-up against Fairies in general. The defensive synergy with Venusaur was my prime consideration.

Although Aegislash is an excellent candidate as the steel-type partner of Mega Venusaur, Heatran, being non-ghost type, works a better role of utilising types complement and makes an easier switch-in for Mega Venusaur and bringing it to the field when necessary.

Terrakion @ Focus Sash
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Rock Slide
– Close Combat
– Protect
– Safeguard

Terrakion’s pick was simple: Hard counter against Mega Charizard Y and Mega Kangaskhan. Similarly it has great switching synergy with Venusaur, which boosts its chance of survival. The choice of Focus Sash is to ensure the 1HKO on opposing Terrakion in the event of a speed tie.

As for Safeguard, its main role: To stop Smeargle’s Dark Void, which is a major weakness to my team due to the team’s speed range generally. It certainly was very situational however, compared to the more popular Quick Guard or even the occasional Substitute or Taunt, Safeguard fits the team’s requirements really well.

Common Matchups

Rain

Certainly Venusaur in Rain is a match for the Rain meisters Politoed and Ludicolo with its Giga Drain and Sludge Bombs respectively. However, it is almost given that such teams would have counters for Venusaur as well, such as Metagross, Salamence, Gardevoir, Talonflame, etc.

Therefore in team preview, I would exercise caution as to my team member’s choice in order to get rid of such counters before I let my Venusaur run rampant. For Gardevoir, Heatran is certainly a good counter to warrant me bringing it to the party even though my opponent will make use of Rain to swing things in his/her favor. In terms of plays, they could drop their guard as they may have assumed that it was a mistake to bring Heatran in view of Rain during team preview, assuming that the rain was a bluff.

Japanese Sand

Venusaur doesn’t even need to be on the field when dealing with Japanese Sand teams. Certainly, to counter Mega Salamence and Excadrill, Hydriegon and Landorus-T is a must for me. However, team mate selection during team preview has to expand beyond just considering about Salamence and Excadrill. Selection largely depends on the remaining composition of the opposing team.

Mega Salamence

Usually for teams built around Salamence, they will almost certainly contain Pokemon that will be countered by Venusaur, so Sylveon, Amoonguss or Rotom-W for example. Hence, in order to remove Salamence from the field, preservation and utilizing Venusaur to its full potential is the key to stop Salamence from doing its thing. So as long I make the right calls, my win condition would be me having Venusaur and my opponent biting the dust with all the above.

Trick Room

Substitute and Leech Seed are my main tactics to out-stall Trick Room. I aim to win the battle of attrition by slowly inching my way towards victory via Leech Seed. Coupled with Protects, Substitutes and smart switching, I can burn the Trick Room turns and regain momentum with the opponent not being able to optimize the turns of Trick Room.

Mega Kangaskhan

Against Mega Kangaskhan teams, its hard counter Terrakion acts as a lure for Landorus-T to appear to Intimidate. Never would they expect that when paired with Hydriegon, I can drop a surprise HP Ice on Landorus-T and gaining considerable momentum. This limits their ability to switch freely as well.

From my perspective, I would aim to use Landorus-T to drop Kangaskhan’s attack, while Milotic acts as an Intimidate deterrent against other opposing Landorus-T or Salamence.

Charizard Y

In the case I run into a Mega Charizard-Y, my main leads would be Terrakion and Hydreigon with Heatran and Landorus-T as the main checks in the back. Venusaur would occasionally debut but it is often situational, depending on the team preview.

Mega Gardevoir (with Heatran, Amoonguss, Landorus-T)

Mega Venusaur and Hydreigon are the core for the match up because of the typing to switch in and out while taking a Psychic or Hyper Voice. At the same time, Mega Venusaur is EVed such a way that it can always survive a Psychic from Mega Gardevoir and deal tons of damage back to Gardevoir via Sludge Bomb.

Assault Vest Landorus-T can also take hits from Mega Gardevoir. Similarly, Heatran can also help to seal a win condition by walling opposing Gardevoir, provided that the opposing Heatran is gone too.

Nationals

Here are some of the replays during the VGC Nationals held in Singapore on 29th June 2015.

Round 1: Win

• Game 1
• Game 2

Round 2: Lose

• Game 1
• Game 2
• Game 3

Round 3: Win

Game 1: Disconnection when winning soon and opponent give up.
Game 2

Round 4: Lose

*The guy who helped to translate this report*

• Game 1
• Game 2
• Game 3

Round 5: Win

• Game 1
• Game 2

Round 6: Win

• Game 1
• Game 2
• Game 3

Round 7: Win

• Game 1
• Game 2
• Game 3

Closing thoughts

Overall, I finished 25th out of 130+ Masters, which I felt wasn’t too bad a result. I’m glad that I made the trip to Singapore to meet new friends who share the same interest as me and I hope to come back stronger in VGC 2016! Thanks everyone and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed penning them down! Hope to see you guys next year!

Shoutouts

• Credit to Juliet Kong for the featured art
• Credit to Martin Tan (mewmart) for the translation
• Dedicated to HIMTE for all the help that he has rendered for my VGC journey

About the Author

mewmart Is a VGC player in Singapore. His favourite pokemon is Sylveon and mega is Mega Salamence. Best finishes to date: Top 8 VGC 17 Malaysia Open Outside Pokemon, he enjoys football (Manchester United is his favourite club) and he's a process engineer at MSD a.k.a Merck and Co. in US/Canada.

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