Reports

Published on April 11th, 2014 | by Sapphire Birch

13

A Certain Sword Rains Supreme: An NYU Grassroots Tournament 1st Place Report

Hi, I’m cute user Sapphire Birch! I’ve been playing VGC since 2008 but in the last year or so I’ve started playing less and less since I often played the Pokémon TCG instead. Since I am usually playing in the Top Cut for TCG Regionals, I don’t often get the chance to play VGC anymore. I haven’t really played in any XY live events and the only real exposure to the metagame I’ve gotten is from talking to my friends Soulsurvivor, Cypher, Zach, Biosci, and Nickscor.

Since I don’t really get the chance to play in many live events, I really wanted to come to the NYU grassroots tournament and win. There wasn’t much on the line but with players like ryuzaki, Soul Survivor, dtrain, kingofmars, and Chuppa coming to this event I felt like it was a good chance to show that I can compete at a high level. It was also a great chance to hang out with some good friends of mine. Before the event I met up with Chuppa, SoulSur, and Ryuzaki to get breakfast at IHOP together. This would be a good chance to relax and enjoy myself before getting into game mode.

The Team

When making the team I wanted to center it around my favorite Pokémon in this format (and in my opinion the best non-mega Pokémon) : Aegislash. Aegislash if left unchecked would win games on its own, so the basic strategy for the team was basically to “protect the prince”(or in this case princess). I added Pokémon that would deal with threats to Aegislash, allowing the princess to go on its merry way and tear through teams once those threats had been taken care of. Before going into the details of the team, I should note that since I got all the Pokémon for this team at 3AM the night before the event and I was too lazy to re-EV some of the Pokémon, the EV spreads I used aren’t optimal. Anyway, here’s the team:

Imouto’s Rain

Aegislash (<3Kanzaki<3)

Ability: Stance Change
Nature: Quiet
Item: Leftovers
EVs: 252HP | 174 Sp. Atk | 76 Sp. Def | 4 Atk | 4 Def
Moveset: Shadow Ball | Sacred Sword | King’s Shield | Substitute

The center of the team. It’s a fairly standard Aegislash set. I used Sacred Sword over Flash Cannon in order to hit Kangaskhan and Tyranitar harder. I also felt that Fighting/Ghost provided better coverage than Steel/Ghost. I’d gone back and forth on which move to use, and I think the deciding factor was that I could be cute and utilize the Safeguard+Swagger strategy with my Meowstic in order to OHKO a Kangaskhan at +2 Attack. I never had the opportunity to use this strategy, but I still don’t regret my choice of move. The fourth move on Aegislash is usually considered a “filler” move, but I think every Aegislash should run Substitute. Hidden Power Ice and Wide Guard are cute gimmicks, but Substitute has the potential to steal games, and has the added benefit of allowing Aegislash to beat Kangaskhan and Mawile one on one. Aegislash without Substitute are easier targets, and are more easily taken down. I wanted my Aegislash to stay on the field as long as possible, and Substitute helped me “protect the princess”.

Politoed (Gekomon) <—(SHOULD BE Gekota, but my esteemed friend Simon gave it an erroneous nickname)

Ability: Drizzle
Nature: Calm
Item: Damp Rock
EVs: 252HP | 252 Sp. Atk | 4 Speed
Moveset: Scald | Encore | Ice Beam | Protect

I needed a Politoed at the last minute, and I ended up asking Simon for one. This was the spread he used when X and Y first came out. I had intended to use a bulkier spread, but this one ended up doing a fine job. Politoed answers Talonflame, double Dragon teams, and of course provides Rain support for Aegislash. Damp Rock was originally a filler item, but it proved to be an excellent choice. Players without their own means of changing the weather would try to play around the Rain and have a plan for after the fifth turn when Rain usually ends. The Damp Rock allowed me to have extra turns of Rain, throwing my opponents off and allowing me to keep my advantage. With the Aegislash’s ability to outlast opponents bolstered by removing one of its weaknesses, the extra turns were golden.

Kingdra (no nickname)

Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Modest
Item: Life Orb
EVs: 252sp.atk | 252 Speed | 4 HP
Moveset: Hydro Pump | Muddy Water | Draco Meteor | Protect

Of course, I needed something else to abuse the Rain. The decision was a toss up between Kingdra and Ludicolo, but what ended making me choose Kingdra is the sheer power it has. I wanted something that could just nuke problems, and Kingdra performs that role admirably. Kingdra also deals more damage to Mega Venusaur, which my team struggled against. I decided to use Hydro Pump over Substitute for that same reason of wanting things to faint fast. Hydro Pump in Rain KOs so many things, and even Pokémon that resist a Hydro Pump will take huge chunks of damage from it. I never actually hit a Hydro Pump during the event, but I don’t regret using it.

Zapdos(Sparrowmon) <———-(Should be MikotoMisaka but I’m too lazy to catch another Zapdos)

Ability: Pressure
Nature: Modest
Item: Expert Belt
EVs: 76 HP | 80 Def | 180 Sp.atk | 174 Speed
Moveset: Thunderbolt | Hidden Power Ice | Protect | Thunder

Zapdos is one of the Pokémon I feel doesn’t get as much love as it should. It lost Heat Wave and Tailwind in the transition between generations, but it is still a powerhouse. I feel as though everyone and their mother is using Choice Specs on their Zapdos, but I didn’t feel like that was the right way to go. I don’t like Choiced Pokémon too much because a Choice item limits the more options available to me. Protect is still one of the best moves in VGC, and it’s even better when it’s on a Pokémon that’s not expected to use it . Since most Zapdos are Choiced, it was easy to put myself in situations where I was able to punish an opponent who thought they were safe, thinking I was locked into Hidden Power. The funny thing is, I didn’t even use the Zapdos I worked so hard to get. I ended up using Simon’s, since his was Modest and I wanted the extra firepower.

Meowstic (Sakuyamon) <———(Should be Sphinx but again my dear friend Simon erred in the nickname department)

Ability: Prankster
Nature: Bold
Item: Sitrus Berry
EVs: 252 hp | 212 Defense | 44 Sp.def
Moveset: Swagger | Charm | Rain Dance | Safeguard

Finally! I’m using something with Swagger. Most people who know me know that I’m a huge Swagger supporter. I think it’s a great move, though up until now I’ve never used it! When choosing a Pokémon for this slot, I loved the idea of Prankster Charm, which can shut down many Pokémon on its own. It’s also a tool to help Aegislash stay around longer. Meowstic filled another role on my team in that it protected my team from status. Safeguard prevents my Kingdra from getting Thunder Waved, protects Aegislash and the last Pokémon on my team from burns, and shuts down Dark Void Smeargle. Rain Dance was another cool move I liked. Unlike last generation, Politoed can’t keep Rain up by itself, between the five-turn limit on Drizzle and other weather setters like Mega Tyranitar and Mega Charizard Y. Prankster Rain Dance shuts down Charizard Y down HARD, especially if they try to Solarbeam Politoed. Rain Dance also lets me bring Kingdra to games without Politoed without having to worry about never having Rain. Rain Dance Meowstic was clutch all day. The spread was another Simon spread that I was too lazy to change the night before.

Kangaskhan (#imoutos)

Ability: Scrappy
Nature: Jolly
Item: Kangaskhanite
EVs: 4 HP | 252 Attack | 252 Speed
Moveset: Fake Out | Return | Sucker Punch | Power-Up Punch

The standard Kangaskhan. This was supposed to be a bulkier Adamant Kangaskhan, but I didn’t feel like Super Training in the morning so I just used this. I think we all know how good Kangaskhan is. It’s easily one of the best Mega Pokémon. It’s also a great target for Safeguard+Swagger. Even though I wanted a bulkier, stronger Kangaskhan, this Jolly-Natured one came in handy because I was able to Fake Out slower Kangaskhan. My Kangaskhan was also one of my best answers to Mega Venusaur. At +2, Kangaskhan pretty much KOs whatever it wants.

The Tournament

Once we got to NYU I met up with Dtrain, Pd0nz, Lunar, and KingofMars. We waited about two hours before the event started. I got bored and decided to spin a pen around the table, and say “Whoever this lands on is winning the event.” Of course, it landed on me. We spun it a few more times and they all landed on me (destiny I tell ya). Anyway, the tournament began and I was paired up with someone I didn’t know.

Round 1: Vs ???

This guy didn’t have any Pokémon at Level 50. He found out about this tournament two days before and decided to enter for fun. I remember him having a Jolteon, a Greninja, and a Shiny Zoroark. I’m sorry I can’t give much detail but this was a quick 4-0, and I started the tournament 1-0.

Round 2: Vs ryuzaki:

Battle Video: NPDW-WWWW-WWW6-G7HU

Of course I got to play Ryuzaki so early. This was only my second XY event, and I played Ryuzaki at my first where I won a really close game. This time, it was her chance at revenge. She told me before the event that she had problems with Aegislash, so I knew this match wasn’t going to be good for her. I just played “protect the Aegislash”, and she couldn’t deal with it. Once I eliminated her Aegislash counter, it was an easy victory from there. 2-0

Round 3: Vs kingofmars

Battle Video: V64G-WWWW-WWW6-G7HV

Ha, it just gets harder, right? I was up against the reigning US National Champion. I was actually kind of excited for this matchup because I felt as though dedicated Sun was a free win for me, especially since he didn’t know about Rain Dance Meowstic. He Mega Evolved into my Rain and couldn’t really win from there. Charm Meowstic shut down his Scrafty as well. Even with Kingdra going down early to two critical hits, my Politoed and Kangaskhan were able to clean up his team from there. 3-0

Round 4: Vs CrazyBlissey

Battle Video: 962G-WWWW-WWW6-G7YF

This matchup was weird. My Aegislash dealt with his team pretty well in the Rain, but he had an Aegislash of his own! He got a +3 Kangaskhan which meant I was in trouble. My only hope was to make him think I was going to Substitute with Kingdra so he wouldn’t Sucker Punch it. He fell for it and tried to use Return on my Kingdra, only to be outsped and KO’d by Muddy Water. I took the game easily from there. 4-0.

Round 5: Vs Chuppa

This battle was on stream, so I wasn’t able to save it since I wasn’t using my 3ds. This matchup was basically everything I wanted to avoid in one team. Mega Venusaur gives my team tons of trouble, and his Meowstic checks my Kangaskhan really well with Charm. I forced a situation where I had my low HP Kangaskhan and my Aegislash afflicted with Leech Seed versus his Mega Venusaur. A Return from Kangaskhan and a Shadow Ball from Aegislash do enough damage to get it into KO range, and Shadow Ball gets the Special Defense drop to seal the deal. 5-0

Round 6: Vs Pd0nZ

Battle video: CTZW-WWWW-WWW6-HR53

This game didn’t matter at all to me since I was locked into top cut at this point, and with the opponents I played I was probably locked in as the first seed as well. I still wanted to play it out though, since this was literally my sixth game with the team and I wanted to get more experience with it. I got demolished. I won’t go into too much detail, but you can watch the replay to see me get destroyed. 5-1

Top 8 is announced. and I was playing Crazysnorlax. We were also told that we would have a double elimination top 8 bracket, which I liked a lot. Here were the standings going into the cut:

Top 8 Winner’s Bracket: Vs CrazySnorlax

Battle Videos

Game 1: DBLG-WWWW-WWW6-G7YN
Game 2: 7Y7G-WWWW-WWW6-G7YQ
Game 3: TCNG-WWWW-WWW6-G7JW

Crazysnorlax and I played for the Nugget Bridge Major, so I already knew most of his team. His team was pretty much Aegislash food if I could get Rain up. I didn’t have much of a strategy outside of getting Rain up and dealing with his Fire types there. I ended up winning a close set here and advancing to the top 5 winner’s side.

Top 5 Winner’s Bracket: Vs Chuppa

Again, the matchup I wanted to avoid. I felt as though I could handle anyone in the room, but Chuppa would definitely give me the most issues. I had better luck in the first game, which helped me take that game. The second game didn’t go my way at first, but a key critical hit wins me the game at the end. I think Chuppa had one of the best teams there (despite not using Swagger Meowstic!) and with a bit of luck I was able to beat him again.

Winner’s Finals: Vs CrazyBlissey

This set was streamed and will end up on Youtube later, so I wont talk much about it. I made a few key mistakes in both games, and got really unlucky in the second game which pretty much wins him the set. He ended up having to leave, though, so I advanced to the grand finals instead.

Loser’s Finals/Grand Finals: Vs Pd0nz

I got to have my rematch after the destruction I received in the last round of Swiss. This time, I was prepared. I was able to anticipate most of his plays, allowing me to take huge leads early. Zapdos put in tons of work this set as my opponent’s Politoed set up Rain for me to spam Thunder. I took this set 2-0 to win the tournament!

After the tournament Soulsur/Ezrael/KingofMars/Pd0nz/Jtails hung out at McDonalds to watch KingofMars play his Nugget Bridge Major match, and then headed over to Ezrael’s house to chill for a bit and get out of the rain. Funny how it was raining pretty hard in New York that day.

Closing Thoughts

I had tons of fun playing this format. I think its a really solid format where you can think outside of the box and come up with tons of cool things to use. I haven’t had this much fun teambuilding in my life. I’m glad I could actually put that teambuilding to some use, since I probably won’t be able to play in any VGC events that award Championship Points. I definitely think Aegislash is one of the best Pokémon in the game, and I expect it to increase in popularity by the time Nationals comes.

About the Author

Sapphire Birch Formly Sapphire Birch, MikotoMisaka has been playing VGC since 2008 and is known mostly for playing Pokemon TCG. Outside of Pokemon MikotoMisaka is a big competitive Smash Bros player and is sponsored by ClashTournaments.

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