Reports

Published on April 28th, 2014 | by LPFan

9

Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures: Kansas Regionals Top 8 Team Report

Hello guys! It’s LPFan here bringing you a VGC team report. The final wave of regionals was gruesome, but I managed to place 5th at the VGC ’14 Kansas Regionals, which is my very first top cut of the season. This team finished strong in swiss, taking the 2nd seed, and I’m very proud of it. I’ll just be writing about the team itself because some of the matches I had throughout the day would put me to shame, but I have to admit that luck is a part of this game.

Building the Team

I had been working on this team since December 2013 after I played a solid Japanese player on Battle Spot who sparked my interest in using a team based around the core of Kangaskhan, Rotom-Heat, Tyranitar, and Salamence. I playtested together with PM649 and his team of Kangaskhan, Rotom-Heat, Amoonguss, Manectric, Gyarados, Garchomp and felt really comfortable playing with it, but chose to use a different team at winter regionals. Unfortunately for me, he managed to top cut at his regional and I didn’t, which left me bitter for quite some time.

Flustered, but feeling confident for the future, I revisited the core of Kangaskhan, Rotom-Heat, Tyranitar, and Salamence once again. This time, I decided to mix it with my playstyle and made a solid team consisting of Kangaskhan, Rotom-Heat, Tyranitar, Salamence, Amoonguss, and Meowstic. I really liked using the new team and played as many matches as possible on Pokemon Showdown in order to get used to it. Another reason why I really liked the team is because it had a unique, hyper-offensive style compared to all the other offensive teams that I had used comfortably beforehand. I find comfort to be the most important factor when it comes to competition, especially in X and Y, in which being one step ahead of your opponent is crucial. So, here’s the team:

The Team

Salamence @ Choice Specs
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Hydro Pump
– Fire Blast
– Dragon Pulse

This Choice Specs Salamence was the heavy hitter of the team. Many players would expect Choice Scarf Salamence and would play safely against it, so I decided to use Choice Specs instead as it helped grab a few knockouts that Choice Scarf could not. Also, Choice Specs meant Salamence could deal a huge chunk of damage to anything that was not immune to Draco Meteor, which was very helpful in matches where I needed extra damage to get a step ahead of my opponent. I opted for as many powerhouse moves as possible and decided to keep only one consistent move to ensure victory against pesky Garchomp: Dragon Pulse. Hydro Pump could OHKO most Rotom-Heat (especially those with a Modest nature), Fire Blast allowed me to OHKO non-Careful natured Mawile and other common Steel-types, and Draco Meteor would 2HKO most Rotom-Wash, bar those with a Calm nature and bulky Special Defense EV investment. I chose Modest nature for Salamence because I wanted as much strength as possible.

Amoonguss @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 236 HP / 108 Def / 164 SDef
Calm Nature
– Spore
– Protect
– Giga Drain
– Rage Powder

Amoonguss is one of those popular “hit me” Pokemon that perfectly functions as a support Pokemon. Rage Powder benefitted all of Amoonguss’s teammates, whether by redirecting heavy hits or allowing its teammate to set up. Amoonguss’s bulk pressured players to double target it, allowing the other half to have a free opportunity to attack. The EVs were created to survive an Overheat from Rotom-Heat at full HP and recover HP back with a Sitrus Berry, allowing it to then retaliate with a Spore. The Regenerator Ability always helped in tough match-ups, especially against Rain teams or Dragon-types.  I felt that a 0 Speed IV to help in Trick Room wasn’t worth it, so I instead decided to go with a Calm nature and 31 Speed IV.

Rotom-Heat @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 164 SAtk / 20 SDef / 60 Spd
Modest Nature
– Overheat
– Thunderbolt
– Protect
– Will-O-Wisp

A really solid Pokemon in generation 6, Rotom-Heat is an excellent core-building Pokemon. On my previous team, I used an EV spread that was more offensive because I had double Intimidate support to back me up. On my new team, however, I had to change that in order to survive, and received help from PM649 to create the perfect EV spread. The 252 HP / 12 Def combination gave it a chance to survive a non-boosted Return from Kangaskhan without the help of Intimidate. This spread also helped Rotom-Heat tank -1 Attack Garchomp’s Rock Slide with the help of Intimidate. The 252 HP / 20 SDef also gave Rotom an 81%  chance to survive Timid Choice Specs Salamence’s Draco Meteor. With its decent bulk, I gave Rotom Safety Goggles as a held item; the Goggles helped solve any problems against Amoonguss and also countered sun teams that run rampant in swiss.

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 60 HP / 160 Atk / 4 Def / 34 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
– Ice Beam
– Fire Blast
– Crunch
– Rock Slide

Mixed Choice Scarf Tyranitar is a surprising Pokemon that catches players off guard and greatly helps in the popular double Dragon matchup. This team had a tough time tanking Draco Meteors and Dragon Claws and still having enough HP to survive other strong attacks, so I had to incorporate a Pokemon capable of tanking a hit and countering the opponent at the same time. The EV spread could have been better, but I ended up keeping it as it is. The EV spread gave me a enough HP to tank Earthquake from Garchomp with the help of Intimidate while still having enough Special Attack EVs to knock out Garchomp with the help of chip damage. Also, it allowed me to invest a good amount of EVs into Attack in order to do decent damage with Crunch and Rock Slide. I had previously used a Dragon Dance Tyranitar holding Weakness Policy, but I found it less reliable in most games and instead chose Choice Scarf mixed Tyranitar that allowed me to easily knock out Garchomp, Salamence, and Noivern.

Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
– Fake Out
– Power-Up Punch
– Sucker Punch
– Return

Kangaskhan is a core Pokemon that I felt was important to use on my team, due to its reputation as a hyper-offensive threat in this metagame with Parental Bond. Before using Power-Up Punch, I had tested Hammer Arm but was unhappy with its inconsistent accuracy. Hammer Arm also seemed to be meant for a slower, Adamant-natured Kangaskhan with a bulky EV spread. Even though Hammer Arm guarantees OHKOs on any Tyranitar that does not carry Tyranitarite or Chople Berry, I felt that Power-Up Punch was better due to it’s consistency and ability to sneak in a free boost on switch-ins against unprepared players. Inner Focus was a ability I found to be better than Scrappy, because it helps against Weavile and other opposing Fake Out Pokemon. Return is the best STAB Normal-type move (over Double-Edge and Facade), because it does not risk recoil damage nor rely on a status condition in order to deal out high damage.

Scizor @ Lum Berry
Ability: Technician
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 SDef
Adamant Nature
– Bullet Punch
– X-Scissor
– Swords Dance
– Protect

The final Pokemon on this team was the toughest decision to make, and, believe it or not, this was originally a Meowstic. Although Meowstic helped against the Kangaskhan/Smeargle combination that manipulated a lot of players’ playstyles, I felt it wasn’t worth it, so I took it out. I also noticed that I was incredibly weak to Choice Scarf Gardevoir weak, so I felt like it was necessary to replace Meowstic with a Steel-type Pokemon.

At first, I tested Mawile. Mawile is a fantastic, hard-hitting Pokemon in its Mega Evolved state, but I felt that I needed both Mega Kangaskhan and a strong Steel-type in many situations. The Mega Evolution conflict was pretty problematic, so I searched for a different Steel-type and tested out Bisharp. I found Bisharp to be a great Pokemon because of its ability to pressure my opponents to not bring Intimidate users into our match because of Bisharp’s Defiant Ability. Unfortunately, using Bisharp meant that I would lose against Power-Up Punch Kangaskhan’s, so I still needed to find a different Steel-type Pokemon.

I finally found the perfect teammate: Lum Berry Scizor. Scizor was an excellent Pokemon in previous VGC seasons, as demonstrated by Aaron Zheng (Cybertron). The EV spread was pretty standard; it was EVd to survive Talonflame’s Brave Bird and tank Rock Slides while still having the power to attack problematic Pokemon (like Gardevoir, Smeargle, and other Fairy-types) with a Bullet Punch. I could also set up Scizor to be a major threat on the field by using Swords Dance.  Even though Aegislash or Azumarill could have easily been a better choice, I felt Scizor was still pretty decent despite it being an underwhelming Pokemon.

Conclusion

So that’s the team, standard with a little spice to it. I’m so fortunate and grateful to top cut a regional in masters after being on bubble twice. Out of all the matches I played at Kansas, I felt that I had played pretty well the whole day with a solid team. I also admired most of my opponents’ teams, too, as they all gave me fights to remember. I’m currently at 150 CP, which puts me  in the top 32 standings with a $700 stipend for Nationals, so I’ll definitely be in attendance. I hope you enjoyed my team report and hopefully next time I’ll feel just as confident enough to write another report. See you all at Nationals!

About the Author

LPFan Playing VGC since 2009, Aaron Grubbs is a seasonal player who is mainly up and down. Ever since he took a disqualification in 2009, he never looked back. He has had many accomplishments in the junior and senior categories including an excellent 7th place finish at the 2010 Pokemon World Championships, top cut USA nationals in 2010, 2012, 2013, two regional wins, and two worlds invites. He is finally in the masters division and is trying to earn his third invite to be one of those guys with a worlds invite in all three age divisions.

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