Reports

Published on November 2nd, 2015 | by Sam

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What the Duck? A Top 16 Fort Wayne Regionals and 1st Place Premier Challenge Team Report

Hello Nugget Bridge, my name is Sam Schweitzer, known on Twitter and Showdown as SamVGC (You can follow me here). For those who don’t know anything about me, Fort Wayne 2014 was my first live event, but I had been playing VGC since the beginning of VGC 2014 and played Smogon Singles since about 2012. The weekend of October 17th was the 2015 Fort Wayne Regional Championships, and I was looking to improve upon my performance last year, going 4-4. Last year’s tournament was not what I had hoped for obviously, but there were definitely positives to be drawn from it. I got paired with Zach Droegkamp (Braverius) Round 3, who has become one of my best friends in the community and is a large part of me talking to many of the people I speak to and interact with on a daily basis now. In this report I’ll be covering the team I used to win the 94-man Premier Challenge before Regionals, the opponents I played there, changes I made to the team between the PC and Regionals, and my schedule for the Regional. I hope you enjoy!

The Team – Premier Challenge Edition

Salamence @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 20 HP / 108 Atk / 4 Def / 124 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
– Double-Edge
– Hyper Voice
– Draco Meteor
– Protect

The team began with Mega Salamence. After attending Houston Regionals and achieving Top 64, I took a look at what was doing well there and what I played in swiss and noticed that Salamence had very favorable matchups when played correctly. This led to me choosing it as a starting point for a team, and it was extremely useful. I never felt very let down by Salamence, as I brought it to every match save for one or two. The set is really the only Salamence set I’ve used all year, and the comfort level with it was apparent in how I played all my matches. I felt comfortable with knowing when to nuke with Double-Edge and when to get spread chip with Hyper Voice, while Draco provided some nice coverage on opposing Salamence, especially if they weren’t running max speed. Speaking of the EV spread, I opted for a set that would guarantee to at least speed tie other Salamence and provide a good balance of damage between Hyper Voice and Double-Edge.

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Rock Slide
– Assurance
– Superpower
– Ice Punch

Tyranitar is another Pokemon I’ve used quite a bit of this year, so it seemed like a logical choice to use. I had been noticing a trend of a lot of players picking up the Kangaskhan and Volcarona combo, and having both Tyranitar and Salamence to deal with that was incredibly useful. I tossed up between using Stone Edge or Ice Punch, and really I don’t think it would have mattered either way, as I didn’t end up using Ice Punch much and I never felt myself wishing I had Stone Edge.

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Analytic
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 92 Def / 148 SpA / 24 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 1 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 1 Spe
– Ice Beam
– Hidden Power [Ground]
– Recover
– Toxic

Next up came easily my favorite Pokemon from the weekend, Porygon2. I brought Porygon2 to every single game at the Premier Challenge and a vast majority of games at the Regional. It fits incredibly well into the current metagame, OHKO’ing Landorus-T with ease, dealing significant damage to Thundurus and Heatran, and being able to Toxic the rising Calm Mind Cresselia. Porygon2 worked extremely well as a win condition if I could take out the opposing Pokemon able to beat Porygon2 in a 1 vs 1 situation. I got a lot of questions about why I used Porygon2 over Cresselia so here it is: I needed more power and the ability to remove genies quickly, Porygon2’s typing was more beneficial, and Recover was more conistent than Moonlight given the presence of Tyranitar on my team. All in all, I recommend Porygon2 to everyone, it was absolutely my best Pokemon all weeekend and I think more people need to use it. The EV spread takes a Banded Landorus Superpower, and Adamant Landorus Superpower + Thundurus Thunderbolt is a roll in your favor.

Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 164 SpA / 20 SpD / 76 Spe
Modest Nature
– Shadow Ball
– Flash Cannon
– Substitute
– King’s Shield

Ah Aegislash. It wouldn’t be a tournament without me using Aegislash. I’ve managed to keep a streak of using Aegislash in every tournament I’ve entered since Winter Regionals, and with good reason. I think Aegislash is easily in the Top 5 Pokemon in this format, perhaps even Top 3. Its unique typing, great stats, and unique ability combine to make it something that should be seriously considered on any team. The spread is one I got from my good friend Felix (fxelxy), it had about the amount of Speed I was looking for and a good amount of bulk. Aegislash was instrumental in the Gardevoir matchup and patched a number of holes in the team.

Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 164 Def / 124 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Giga Drain
– Spore
– Rage Powder
– Protect

Pretty standard Amoonguss, shouldn’t be surprising anybody at this point. Sludge Bomb was a consideration over Giga Drain, but I opted against it. Amoonguss helped a ton with holding the team together and giving me switch options.

Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Rush
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
– Iron Head
– Protect

Excadrill was the final member of the Premier Challenge team, and was definitely used the least. Excadrill is something I had never used until I played with it in this tournament, but it did alright when I needed it to. The set and spread are about what you would expect, so hopefully don’t require any further explanation. I don’t think Excadrill was the right call, but the rest of the team good enough and I played well enough to make up for it and ended up winning the Premier Challenge, so obviously it wasn’t too bad!

Fort Wayne Premier Challenge 10/17, 94 Masters

I’m not going to go into detail about every match, but wanted to highlight what my opponents used to give a clear picture of what the metagame looked like for Fort Wayne.

Round 1 vs: Mario Serrano (Mario C) (Win)

Round 2 vs: Jacob Beard (Win)

Round 3 vs: Garrett Yee (Win)

Round 4 vs: Dane Zieman (Agentorangejulius) (Win)

Round 5 vs: Kevin Reed (Win)

Round 6 vs: Jake White (squirrelboy1225) (Win)

Round 7 vs: Jeremy Rodrigues (Serapis) (Win)

Top 8 vs: Jake White (squirrelboy1225) (Win 2-0)

Top 4 vs: Brandon Tang (Win 2-1)

Finals vs: Justin Crubaugh (iMagikarp) (Win 2-0)

Overall, I ended up with a 13-1 record! I was extremely tired by the end, given that it ended at midnight, but it was a very rewarding experience and filled me with a ton of confidence for the day ahead. The match against Justin in finals was also one of the funniest I’ve had in a while, so props to him for being a great opponent. With the day finished, I went back to the hotel and helped get my friend Andew Burley (Andykins) his team in game for the next day, then it was off to bed for the real thing.

Fort Wayne Regionals Team At A Glance

From the makers of CHALK, we now bring you PASTAA! After a dominating run at the Premier Challenge the day before, I went to bed with no intentions of changing anything. However, about 15 minutes before registration ended, me and Zach decided we wanted to run Azumarill on the team, so we rapidly made the change and got it ready to go. Outside of Azumarill and Tyranitar’s moveset, the team remained the same, so I’ll only go into those changes.

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Rock Slide
– Crunch
– Superpower
– Ice Punch

I ended up changing Assurance for Crunch as I only used the move once the day before, and never in such a way to gain the boost from Assurance. I decided Crunch would end up likely being more useful. I only used Crunch once at the regional as well, so I suppose the change really didn’t mean much.

Azumarill @ Assault Vest
Ability: Huge Power
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Atk / 92 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 18 Spe
– Aqua Jet
– Waterfall
– Play Rough
– Knock Off

The final swap I made was to change Excadrill entirely for Assault Vest Azumarill. I felt that Conkeldurr, Heatran, and Landorus were more of issues than I liked, and Assault Vest Azumarill would help me out much more than Excadrill with these problem matchups. I never regretted the change throughout the day, and highly recommend you try out this Azumarill. Given our preperation time, this isn’t the exact spread we used (I still don’t know what EV spread I was using in the regional). The 18 Speed IV’s listed are important, as Azumarill is able to catch minimum speed Aegislash in Blade forme and Knock Off and outspeed minimum speed Scrafty and use Play Rough.

Once again, I don’t have a ton to say about the matchups themselves, each of my opponents were pretty cool people and I was glad to be able to meet so many wonderful people throughout the day.

Fort Wayne Regionals 10/18: 236 Masters, 8 Rounds of Swiss, Top 16 Cut

Round 1 vs: Ted Rankin (Finished 4-4) (Win)

Round 2 vs: Isaac Wilson (Finished 4-4) (Win)

Round 3 vs: Evan Bates (Veteran Padgett) (Finished 5-3) (Win)

Round 4 vs: Lucas Johnson (ThunderPunch) (Finished 7-1, Top 16) (Win)

Round 5 vs: PJ Bradley (Finished 7-1, Top 16) (Win)

Round 6 vs: Mario Serrano (Mario C) (Finished 7-1, Top 16) (Loss)

Round 7 vs:  Martin Gajdosz (Finsihed 6-2, Top 16) (Loss)

Round 8 vs: Miroslawa Morioka (Finished 5-3) (Win)

Top 16 vs: Caitlin Beach (RandomVGC) (Finished 7-1, Top 4) (Loss 1-2)

Overall this was a pretty fun regional. Going out to Rock Slide Flinches, Thunder Wave full paralysis, and Swagger isn’t what I was hoping for, but that’s just the game we play. I had a great time hanging out with friends, meeting new people, and getting to just have a fantastic weekend as a whole.

Shoutouts

• Huge shoutouts go to Zach Droegkamp for getting a hotel for us and working on the team a bit with me, and thanks for just being a great friend.
• Shoutouts to all my friends who influnced the team and helped me practice or build it, including Luke Curtale (Dawg), Felix Rössler (fxelxy), and Zach.
• Team Michigan for having such a strong showing! None of us finished below 6-2, and Andy made Finals while Alec Beljanski (Polecat) and Caitlin made Top 4, so congratulations go out to them and thanks to them for being supportive of me.
• Thanks to everyone who supported me on Twitter throughout the day, it really meant a lot to me and helped me keep going. Particular shoutouts in this area go to Felix, Andy Anderson (TwiddleDee), Adit Selvaraj (LithiumAcid), and Blake Hopper (Bopper).
• Thanks to all of my Australian friends who I talk to on a daily basis now and Skype with frequently, primarily Luke, Saamid Zikria (Yourf), and Matthew Bockman (Zyihk). Shoutout to all the Pear.
• Big name dump for everyone I hung out with over the weekend, thanks for making it special: Jake Muller (MajorBowman), Ian McLaughlin (Raikoo), Evan Deligiannis (Nave), Abe Brath (Seaco), Ian Combs (Jakuzure), Chance Alexander (Paragon), Whitney Johnson (brokestupidlonely), Alex Underhill (Lexicon), Grant Weldon (Velocity), Alec Rubin (amr97), Jonathan McMillan (MrEobo), Aaron Leibersbach (Arch), Michael Garrett (YungsterMIKEY), Pat Ball (pball0010), Ashton Cox (linkyoshimario), Wilson Chen (ReviNocturne), Andy Himes (Amarillo), Dane Zieman (Agentorangejulius), Nick Navarre (Nails), Kyle Beggovich, Mario Serrano (Mario C), and probably more that I’m forgetting. Thanks again!
• Huge thanks to Kelly Kato for doing the art for this article! Check her out on Twitter @KellyUsedHoenn or here on Nugget Bridge on iRRRRRRRRECONCILA8LE!
• And a huge thanks to you for reading this report! I hope you enjoyed it, and if you have any questions feel free to contact me here or on Twitter @SamVGC if you have any questions. Hope to see everyone again soon!

About the Author

Sam Been playing VGC since 2014, Singles since 2012, and Pokemon ever since Yellow! n_n Follow me on Twitter @SamVGC!

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