Reports

Published on May 5th, 2014 | by Sprocket

9

Defiant Swagger in the Emerald City: Top 16 Seattle Regionals Report

Introduction

I’m Sprocket, also known by my real name of Matthew Crews. I hail from Phoenix City in the Arizona Region, a relatively obscure city somewhere in the southwest United States. The weather here is Sunny Day 300 days out of the year, often with the occasional Drought, and rarely do the weather folk issue a Snow Warning or a chance of Drizzle, though the native peoples often perform a Rain Dance. I’ve played Pokemon since the days of Red and Blue, but only recently started playing competitively. My VGC experience includes the Spring 2012 Regional in Colorado Springs (5-1-1 record) and Fall 2013 Regional here in Phoenix (4-3 record), where I played average both times and never made top cut. This time I decided to travel away from my desert dwellings to Emerald City, known to some as Seattle, to compete in the Northwest Regional.

Seattle ended up being a much, much larger Regional than anyone had expected: 249 Masters, 71 Seniors, and 25 Juniors. The attendance meant that the top cut for Masters would feature 16 people rather than the expected 8, and participants would have to play 8 rounds of Swiss. My goal was to make top cut, which meant if I wanted to secure top cut, I would need to win seven games to guarantee making it in, or six to make it a possibility.

Team Analysis

My team building process is haphazard at best, random at worst, and downright insane all the time. I don’t recommend it. I was fiddling with my team up until the very last minute, breeding possible candidates the night before, and finalizing movesets while in line to register. I don’t like playing on Pokemon Showdown, instead preferring to test in a “live” environment whenever possible. I experimented with all sorts of different combinations, trying out Infiltrator Jumpluff, Kangaskhan, different Rotom builds, and even a mixed Scarf Garchomp at one point, before finally settling on a more balanced team that didn’t rely on gimmicks and just performed well consistently.

Meowstic-M @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Impish
252 HP / 252 Defense / 4 Sp.Defense
-Safeguard
-Swagger
-Quick Guard
-Thunder Wave

Meowstic is a Pokemon I knew I had to use on my team because of its utility. Its nickname, Purrball, is the same as my real life cat’s name. Quick Guard is used to stop Fake Out and rival Prankster users, Safeguard to put a stop to status, and Swagger and Thunder Wave to round out the set. One might think that I had the makings of a SafeSwag team, and indeed I do, but in practice I was rarely able to make use of the strategy. Instead, I found myself using Thunder Wave and Swagger in a more defensive posture.

The combination of Thunder Wave and Swagger is extremely potent when it can be used. Thunder Wave is an excellent form of Speed control against all but Ground and Electric types, neutralizing an opponent’s Choice Scarf, Tailwind, or Chlorophyll (all very common), and with Prankster it is almost always guaranteed to connect. Swagger, though prone to missing at inopportune times, often forces switches on its own. Combine the two and it cripples opponent, reducing their chance to act to 37.5%. This is better than using evasion boosts, and better in my opinion than relying on Sleep moves like Dark Void or Spore to prevent opponents from acting.

Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
Nature: Jolly
4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed
-Dragon Claw
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Protect

There isn’t a lot to be said about Garchomp that hasn’t already been said. Garchomp is fast, it has reasonable bulk, it has two of the best spread moves in the game, and its hard to stop. I didn’t feel as though I needed to use a Lum Berry because of Meowstic, and Rocky Helmet felt gimmicky, even though it is a fantastic Kangaskhan punisher. Instead, I opted to use a Life Orb, which turns some key 2HKOs into guaranteed OHKOs. It also partially counteracts Intimidate.

Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Adamant
252 HP / 252 Attack / 4 Sp.Def
-Play Rough
-Iron Head
-Sucker Punch
-Protect

My Mega Pokemon of choice. It was a tough call between Mawile and Kangaskhan, but ultimately Mawile won because of the Intimidate support it provides. I opted for a pure offensive build. While there is merit to using a bulky Mawile, the number of Intimidates floating around meant that I preferred Mawile to hit as hard as possible. Mawile is fairly predictable, but even against good prediction it is a force to be reckoned with.

Chandelure @ Focus Sash
Ability: Flash Fire
Nature: Modest
4 HP / 252 Sp.Attack / 252 Speed
-Heat Wave
-Shadow Ball
-Overheat
-Protect

Chandelure was brought in as my answer to Aegislash, as well as a check for Gardevoir. Overheat from Chandelure is a guaranteed OHKO on every Aegislash, every time, short of a defensive boost or a Coba Berry, while Shadow Ball and Heat Wave are general purpose attacks. The Focus Sash was used to ensure Chandelure always got at least one hit off. I ran Flash Fire as Chandelure’s ability in order to punish predicted Flare Blitzes and Overheats directed at my Mawile and Bisharp, but Infiltrator is also an equally good choice. 252 Speed EVs guarantee I outspeed all common Rotom formes and at worst speed tie with other unboosted base 80 Speed Pokemon.

Bisharp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Defiant
Nature: Adamant
252 HP / 252 Attack / 4 Sp.Def
-Iron Head
-Night Slash
-Sucker Punch
-Protect

I wanted to somehow incorporate Bisharp onto my team as an Intimidate deterrent, and for the most part it seemed to work. I didn’t feel the need to run a fast Bisharp due to Sucker Punch. Instead, I opted for a bulky offensive build. Lum Berry was more of a backup plan in case I couldn’t run Meowstic, since Life Orb was taken by Garchomp and Focus Sash by Chandelure. Ultimately, I didn’t need the Lum Berry.

Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus Berry
Nature: Calm
252 HP / 44 Def / 12 Sp.Atk / 180 Sp.Def / 20 Speed
-Hydro Pump
-Thunderbolt
-Will-O-Wisp
-Protect

Originally this was going to be an offensive Rotom-Wash, but I decided to run a bulky build instead. This Rotom-Wash is similar to other bulky Rotoms, and surprisingly durable and hard to take down. However, without Special Attack investment, this Rotom-Wash felt as though it lacked something. Rotom-W spent most of its time spreading Will-O-Wisps and being a target, rather than actually attacking.

Common Leads (based on actual usage)

+

Meowstic + Anything

Meowstic makes a fantastic lead, as it able to set up Safeguard, establish speed control with Thunder Wave, and of course block Fake Out with Prankster Quick Guard. It provides nice synergy with pretty much every Pokemon on my team, with the possible exception of Rotom-Wash due to overlapping status (Thunder Wave vs Will-O-Wisp). Another aspect of Meowstic is its unpredictable nature: until it reveals its moveset, you can’t know for certain what it will do, and a smart player will use this uncertainty to his advantage.

Meowstic + Chandelure

In particular Meowstic + Chandelure is a tough combo for my opponent to predict against. With Focus Sash, Chandelure is free to fire off at least one attack (barring a double target), or to Protect, which leaves Meowstic open to do what it does best. Chandelure is also somewhat annoying to predict against, because it can run several viable sets, and until I reveal its moveset, I have the upper hand.

Chandelure + Mawile

Another interesting combination to use as a lead. Though they both share a Ground-type weakness, both Mawile and Chandelure could score an early KO or go for misdirection and switch to a Pokemon waiting in the back. Mawile also establishes an early Intimidate, and often forces a switch on its own.

Swiss Rounds

Round 1 vs Nathan Rojas (0-0)

His Team: Gardevoir, Mawile, Hydreigon, Meowstic, Tyranitar, Charizard

He brought Gardevoir, Meowstic, Hydreigon, Mawile
I brought Bisharp, Garchomp, Mawile, Chandelure

Battles are often decided before the first turn begins, but in this case this battle was decided because of the first turn. His Gardevoir’s Moonblast triggered a Special Attack drop on Bisharp, which triggered Defiant and allowed me to OHKO his Meowstic and nearly OHKO his Gardevoir with Sucker Punch. From there it was cleanup for the remaining members of my team, resulting in a 3-0 win.

Round 2 vs Kenny Ho (1-0)

His Team: Charizard, Venusaur, Scrafty, Rotom-Wash, Garchomp, Nidoking

He brought Venusaur, Scrafty, Garchomp, Nidoking
I brought Meowstic, Rotom, Chandelure, Bisharp

I lost Chandelure and Rotom fairly early, but I was able to recover thanks to Meowstic spreading Thunder Wave and Swagger. It also saw my only chance in the tournament to use Swagger to boost Bisharp’s attack to +4. Venusaur was carrying a Lum Berry which meant Charizard was likely Charizard Y, and that Nidoking was likely Choiced, but it fell to a +4 Sucker Punch before it could attack. I won 2-0.

Round 3 vs Adam Moyer (2-0)

His Team: Garchomp, Rotom-Wash, Mienshao, Gardevoir, Talonflame, Charizard

He used Mienshao, Talonflame, Rotom-Wash, Gardevoir
I used Meowstic, Chandelure, Garchomp, Rotom

Adam led with his Mienshao and Talonflame, while I led with Meowstic and Chandelure. He played very well, but I was able to stop Brave Bird shenanigans with Quick Guard. When Gardevoir switched in, it traced Chandelure’s Flash Fire, and I made the rookie mistake of Overheating it the next turn, bringing me down 2-3. Garchomp and Rotom-Wash were able to clean up though, and I won 1-0.

Round 4 vs Gabby Snyder (3-0)

Her team: Rotom-Heat, Chesnaught, Aerodactyl, Aegislash, Kangaskhan, Sylveon

She brought Kangaskhan, Sylveon, Chesaught, Aerodactyl
I brought Chandelure, Mawile, Garchomp, Rotom

This ended up being a very interesting battle, with Gabby using a Mega Kangaskhan with Rock Tomb, Sylveon with Skill Swap and Misty Terrain, and a shiny Chesnaught which is rarely seen due to the abundance of Talonflame. Sylveon ended up Skill Swapping Huge Power away from Mawile, while her Chesnaught avoided the Will-O-Wisp and promptly KO’d both Rotom-W and Garchomp with Wood Hammer. Mawile and Chandelure were able to salvage the match, however, and I won 2-0.

Round 5 vs Alberto Lara (4-0), eventual 7-1 and 2^nd place in Swiss

His Team: Talonflame, Kangaskhan, Meowstic, Salamence, Charizard, Garchomp

He brought Talonflame, Meowstic, Charizard-Y, Garchomp
I brought Meowstic, Chandelure, Garchomp, Rotom

As I’ve said, Meowstic is one of those Pokemon that you can’t predict on the first turn. This a battle where I regretted my choice of Flash Fire Chandelure over Infiltrator. I open with Quick Guard to block his Brave Bird, but he opens with Light Screen which prevents Chandelure’s Shadow Ball from OHKOing his Meowstic. He ends up setting up Double Screens and Safeguard, blocking my attempt to spread status, and hampering my ability to score easy KOs. I lose 0-2.

Round 6 vs Brett Wyborney (4-1)

His Team: Gengar, Lucario, Kangaskhan, Haxorus, Garchomp, Talonflame

He brings Kangaskhan, Lucario, Haxorus, Talonflame
I bring Chandelure, Mawile, Garchomp, Meowstic

He opens the battle with a Kangaskhan and Lucario lead, a combination I’ve never encountered. To my surprise his Lucario Mega Evolves, and he scores an easy OHKO on my switch-in Garchomp with Flash Cannon, while Kangaskhan is able to Fake Out Chandelure and disrupt me from the start. The next turn Haxorus switches in and is paralyzed by Meowstic’s Thunder Wave, and Kangaskhan is burned by Chandelure’s Heat Wave. Lucario scores a clean OHKO on Mawile with Flash Cannon (I was not able to Mega Evolve it), while Chandelure continues to Heat Wave and chip away at my opponent until it comes down to his Talonflame vs Chandelure and Meowstic. I win 2-0.

Round 7 vs Niv Shachaf (5-1)

His Team: Sableye, Garchomp, Charizard Y, Mamoswine, Greninja, Aegislash

He brings Garchomp, Charizard Y, Mamoswine, Aegislash
I bring Meowstic, Mawile, Rotom, Garchomp

Seeing his Sableye, I know my Meowstic will be required to neutralize it, so its an obvious lead. First turn he leads with Charizard and Garchomp, I with Meowstic and Mawile. First turn is a wash with three Protects and my revealed Thunder Wave, but the second turn ends up being quite interesting. I Swagger the Charizard spot while he switches in Mamoswine, which proceeds to KO itself across three turns of confusion, effectively making it useless the entire battle. I forgot to use PP Up on Mawile, so I actually ran out of Sucker Punch uses, another rookie mistake that almost cost me the match! Eventually it came down to Swagger and Thunder Wave winning me the game versus his Charizard Y, with the final score being 2-0.

Round 8 vs Tony “Chinese Dood” Cheung (6-1), eventual tournament winner

His Team: Gengar, Scizor, Gyarados, Staraptor, Rotom-H, Raichu

He brought Gengar, Raichu, Staraptor, Rotom-H
I brought Bisharp, Meowstic, Chandelure, Garchomp

Going into this battle, I didn’t know I would be battling the eventual tournament champion. Nugget Bridge streamed several of his battles in top cut rounds, and he plays very impressively every time. Admittedly his team is extremely impressive and unique.

What I did know is that he has Gengar, which screamed Perish Trap to me; also Raichu is a major annoyer with Encore and Fake Out. Most people didn’t seem to be familiar with Raichu; however I knew Raichu inside out. Meowstic’s utility will be key, and Bisharp will also be needed to counter his two Intimidators, so I lead with them versus his Mega Gengar and Raichu.

I open with Quick Guard to block his predicted Fake Out, and Bisharp manages to OHKO his Mega Gengar with a critical hit Night Slash on the first turn! I later ran the damage calculations and a non-critical hit had a 56% chance of OHKOing anyway, so that critical hit may not have mattered. This stopped Tony from setting up “Perish Encore” on the first turn, and I imagine it threw him for a loop. From there it was a matter of simply outplaying and overpowering him. Not running Infiltrator on Chandelure could have cost me versus his Rotom-H due to his Substitute, but he Overheated into my Chandelure switch in. With the Flash Fire boost, Heat Wave was then enough to keep his Substitutes down. After the battle he admitted that he probably wasn’t playing his A game, since he likely made Top Cut anyway regardless of the outcome. I won 4-0, sweeping him.

Top 16 battle

My record at the end of Swiss was 7-1, putting me in 5^th place for Swiss rounds and securing my Top Cut placement. This would be my first time making Top Cut at a Regional, and I’ll admit I was rather nervous. I had studied up on best-of-three tactics, so I had a fairly good idea what to do: Game 1, gather information. Game 2 and 3, turn that information around for the win.

My battle for top 16 would be against Jason “Arti” Wynja, a Nugget Bridge regular.

Top 16 battle vs Jason “Arti” Wynja (6-2)

His team: Talonflame, Lanturn, Manectric, Salamence, Ferrothorn, Azumarill

Battle 1
He brought Talonflame, Azumarill, Mega Manectric, Lanturn
I brought Meowstic, Garchomp, Bisharp, Mawile

The first battle went rather poorly for me. I didn’t have an answer for Mega Manectric, since a Mega Manectric’s HP Ice will OHKO Garchomp, and it was my only Ground type. Azumarill is another Pokemon I didn’t want to battle, since only my Rotom-Wash could really do any damage to it. Lanturn also surprised me by revealing it was wearing a Choice Scarf and knew Ice Beam, scoring a clean OHKO on Garchomp before I could Earthquake. I lost the first battle 0-2.

The second battle is the highlight of my entire night. You can watch the replay here, recorded after the fact with my cell phone:

Yes, that’s right. Choice Scarf Lanturn with Soak! Admittedly Jason outplayed me on a couple turns, but Choice Scarf Lanturn with Soak! Absolutely crazy way for my opponent to win! I’m not even mad, I’m impressed!

Probably the most impressive part though is Jason scoring a Paralysis on Garchomp, something every Electric type dreams of.

So that’s the end of my Washington VGC Regionals run. Top 16 out of 249 Masters is a good way to end any way you look at it, and I’m quite happy.

Post Mortem Team Analysis

Looking back at my usage statistics, my four core Pokemon were Garchomp (9 out of 10 battles, lead 2/10), Meowstic (7 out of 10 battles, lead 6/10), Mawile (6 out of 10 battles, lead 4/10), and Chandelure (7 out of 10 battles, lead 4/10). Rotom-W (6 out of 10 battles, lead 2/10) was a reluctant fifth, while Bisharp was a sixth (5 out of 10, lead 2/10). The four core Pokemon performed the best and were used to their fullest extent, despite a few misplays.

Meowstic

Meowstic is easily my MVP of the tournament. If I had to change anything about it, I would change its nature from Impish to Bold and maybe balance its defenses (Impish was its nature only because this specific Meowstic tried a Fake Out set in the past, and I didn’t feel like re-breeding). Thunder Wave and Swagger proved valuable and I’m happy I ran with those options. Quick Guard is also one of the best reasons to use Meowstic at all, and in my opinion any Meowstic not running it should be replaced with a different Pokemon.

Usage – 7/10

Garchomp

Garchomp is a formidable offensive presence, and no one likes to take a Life Orb boosted Earthquake or Rock Slide. It also draws a lot of attention to itself and care must be used when dealing with it. I rarely led with Garchomp, preferring to put it in the back until it was safe to switch in.

Usage – 9/10

Mawile

As a Mega Pokemon, Mawile puts pressure on my opponent to take it out, neutralize it, or play to avoid a hard hitting Sucker Punch. As an Intimidate lead Mawile is fantastic, and I feel that support justified my choice to use it over Kangaskhan. I never felt the need to run Fire Fang, nor did I feel that I needed to run a bulky Mega Mawile, but I might try it in future tournaments.

Usage – 6/10

Chandelure

Chandelure performed exactly as I wanted it to perform, with one caveat. Running Flash Fire instead of Infiltrator cost me in my fifth match, and could have cost me in my second and eighth matches as well. I wasn’t able to utilize Overheat as much as I hoped, but the combination of Shadow Ball and Heat Wave proved sufficient for me. In the future, I might run Fire Blast over Overheat (I don’t like the Special Attack drop from Overheat), or even try an Imprison set.

Usage – 7/10

Rotom-W

I was not terribly happy using Rotom-W. A lot of times I felt it was more of a liability or a target than a benefit to my team. Rotom-W was extremely bulky and could take hits like a champ, but I felt the lack of offensive presence could have cost me a few battles. Will-O-Wisp also didn’t always mesh well with Meowstic’s Thunder Wave, forcing me to choose between crippling my opponent’s Speed or their Attack.

Usage – 6/10

Bisharp

Bisharp sadly was my LVP. It scored a few key KOs when it needed to, but Defiant put pressure on my opponents to not bring Intimidators, negating its reason for being on my team. I could have easily replaced Bisharp with a different Dark or Steel type such as Lucario, Aegislash, or Weavile. With any of those, I would still be able to counter key threats such as Gardevoir, Meowstic, and Mega Gengar.

Usage – 5/10

Opposing Team Statistics

I kept excellent notes on what my opponents brought, and which Pokemon were Megas. The whole Seattle metagame is very strange when you think about it. Some people reported seeing more Machamp than Kangaskhan! Not to mention someone winning with a Raichu of all things!

The big names — Garchomp, Talonflame, Kangaskhan, Charizard, Rotom, and Gardevoir — are well represented. If your opponent has them, its very likely they will bring them. Salamence was very underused in my opinion, as was Aegislash and Gengar (though Chandelure and Bisharp are both strong threats). Overall its refreshing to see the kind of diversity we have; it means the metagame is healthy and people are inventing creative sets, and its not completely dominated by the big names.

Final Thoughts

This Regional was an awful lot of fun, and I’m glad I attended. Though I didn’t win, I did make 5^th place in Swiss, which I couldn’t be happier with. Making top cut was a major achievement. I will be making some adjustments to this team to counter a few key threats, but the core seems fairly solid and I’m happy with it.

About the Author

Sprocket Sprocket hails from Phoenix, a warm desert city in the southwestern United States. He has been playing VGC since 2012

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