Reports

Published on July 12th, 2013 | by TeeJay

11

Fire the Octillery – US Nationals Report

Hello Nuggetbridge! My name is Tom, but many just call me TeeJay. One of my opponents at Nationals asked me how long I’ve been playing Pokémon competitively, and he was surprised to hear “since 1998.” But it’s true! I purchased Pokémon Blue on launch day in the US and we immediately formed a league at school. The first Nintendo tournaments were in 1999 and many online tournaments started in 2000.

But I must admit that my time investment has significantly dropped off with age. It’s been hard to accept this, but I have to adapt to the fact that I can’t practice and play as frequently as many people. It was this reality that helped me define a vision for my newest team.

It’s been over a decade since I’ve had the chance to give back to the online community, and I would like to take the time to share my team from this month’s tournament with you. I only went 6-3, missing top cut by one win (along with ~60 others). But I am proud of this result because I used a unique team that I can proudly call my own. I believe it has more potential with better practice and tweaking. I hope you are inspired to think outside the sandstorm as well!

Team Vision & Goals

Vision

Use obscure and/or rarely used Pokémon to catch my opponents off guard during Team Preview and the opening turns of the match, in order to make up for my lack of current metagame battle experience.

Goals

• Use moves with 100% accuracy, including spread attacks.
• Use as many of the original 151 Pokémon as possible.
• Stop Breloom and Amoonguss.
• Maintain some bulk to account for the unknown.

The Team

Octillery @ Water Gem
Trait: Moody
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
– Water Spout
– Energy Ball
– Fire Blast
– Protect

I came across Octillery while browsing replays on Pokecheck. It met the conditions of my team vision. It’s rarely seen by anyone, has a powerful 100% spread move, and Moody will keep things unpredictable (hopefully more frequently for opponents than me). The move selection is for optimum coverage. Energy Ball is a solid choice for types that resist Water Spout. Fire Blast is a great surprise that can hit Grass types hard. It also becomes the primary attack when HP is low, with relatively high accuracy for a base power 120 attack (compare to Thunder, Blizzard, Hydro Pump).

Moody is a controversial choice that may seem to conflict with my 100% accuracy goal. Statistically things will go my way the longer Octillery is on the field. Of the seven attributes that can change, only one really hurts me (Special Attack). Another one (accuracy) can be a nuisance but is not a deal-breaker. The odds of getting an accuracy drop and missing a subsequent 100% attack are very slim – 3.6%. I am more worried about rock slide flinches and other status the opponent may throw at me. Contrast these potential issues with the potential benefits: +2 Special Attack, Defense, Special Defense, or Evasion. The chance I will see one of these rise on the first turn is 57%. To me, the good tradeoffs significantly outweighed the bad.

Obviously to make this octopus work some Trick Room is required. Hence my next two choices:

Dusclops @ Eviolite
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
– Night Shade
– Trick Room
– Pain Split
– Taunt

Inspired by araluen7‘s team analysis. Ghost typing means I only need worry about Taunt. EVs were full special defense to help survive double targeting by many fast sweepers. Conveniently, this spread survives Tyranitar Dark Gem with 1 HP. I opted for Taunt over Will-O-Wisp after losing to a back row Amoonguss on GBU, and to satisfy my 100% accuracy goal. Taunt proved useful for preventing TR stall and shutting down support Cresselia.

Gallade @ Focus Sash
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Att / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Att, -SAtt)
– Close Combat
– Night Slash
– Trick Room
– Feint

Again, taken from a Nuggetbridge team analysis by lucariojr. I felt like Justified Gallade was a good backup for Dusclops. I was also very interested in using Feint to stop TR stall and ensure that my hits land. I replaced Psycho Cut with Night Slash after looking at my overall type coverage – I had nothing that was super effective on Ghost and Psychic. Gallade is a little more fragile than Dusclops and susceptible to Fake Out. So I often paired it with:

Togekiss @ Eject Button
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 68 Def / 184 SDef / 4 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Att)
– Follow Me
– Aura Sphere
– Air Slash
– Helping Hand

Eject Button was a lot of fun. The basic idea is that Togekiss has served its purpose after TR is set up. This gives me a free switch into a sweeper and the opportunity to scout at least one of the opponent’s leads. For the record, Follow Me no longer has an effect once Eject Button is used. Therefore, the slower attack from the opponent can still land on the original target.

Togekiss is able to outspeed most popular Fake Out users and soak up Taunts with Follow Me. Usually there is an attack to go with Taunt, but no big deal! Togekiss is no longer on the field come turn 2. The 4 Speed EVs break the speed tie with my Gallade.

If I were to do this team again, I might consider using Volcarona or Amoonguss for “Follow Me” support instead of Togekiss. He was mostly deadweight during Trick Room or severely weakened by super effective attacks. However, I would keep the Eject Button combo.

Two more Pokémon, and I have yet to satisfy my original 151 and Breloom goals. Time for:

Dragonite @ Yache Berry
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 182 HP / 148 Att / 180 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtt)
– Dragon Claw
– ExtremeSpeed
– Safeguard
– Protect

One of my all-time favorites. The Jolly nature is required to outspeed Breloom. The Attack EVs give guaranteed OHKO on Latios. Inner Focus vs Multiscale was a tough decision. Both are great. In the end, I needed Dragonite to fulfill his role outside of Trick Room and shut down status. ExtremeSpeed helps a lot inside TR. Speaking of, I could really use some more slow firepower…

Machamp @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Att / 4 SDef
Brave Nature (+Att, -Spd)
– DynamicPunch
– Ice Punch
– Stone Edge
– Encore

Look at those guns. Fairly self-explanatory moveset. Encore is a personal favorite of mine and can throw off support Pokémon that tried to set up during Turn 1 and now find themselves stuck in Trick Room. It’s much harder to execute without Prankster, but you can still lock enemies into Protects if you move before them.

One issue was Machamp’s speed. He’s a bit too fast. Rhyperior is likely a better alternative, especially with LightningRod support for Octillery. But Machamp definitely carried his weight. Stone Edge and DynamicPunch inflicted serious punishment, and I didn’t have to worry about accuracy. Also, RBY pride.

The Tournament

This team materialized Thursday afternoon. I had time for 10 GBU matches to shake out the cobwebs. Hilariously, I ran into another Eject Button/Trick Room user. I took careful notes and pondered them during the 8 hour drive to Indy on Friday, made a few adjustments (Taunt and Night Slash) upon arrival and registered.

Round 1

Breloom already! I led Dusclops and Dragonite, while he led Tyranitar and Breloom. Turn 1: Safeguard > Spore > Rock Slide > Flinch. He double-targeted Dusclops on Turn 2 and it went downhill from there. I can hardly blame luck. In retrospect, I should have led Gallade over Dusclops and challenged his team outside of Trick Room. I would have realized this had I practiced more.

Moody stages: Acc++ Def- SAtt- Spd++

0-1

Round 2

She led Thundurus+Whimsicott against my Dusclops+Togekiss setup. Turn 1: Follow Me > Tailwind > Thunder Wave > Trick Room. Perfect. Now my paralyzed Togekiss can actually operate in TR! He did work against Whimsicott while I switched to Octillery. Moody was perfect this game, taking his Speed to +4 right as TR expired, which allowed me to get a jump on Chandelure.

Moody stages: Eva+ Acc++ Att- SAtt- SDef- Spd++++   

1-1

Round 3

It was a good match. He outlasted my Trick Room, and I failed to predict a switch to Excadrill on the last slow turn with Machamp on the field. More practice would have helped me see this coming. Moody was hilarious this game.

Moody stages: Att++++ Def- Spd-

1-2

Round 4

He led with Whimsicott/Heatran and a Tailwind opening. I fired the Octillery.

Moody stages: Eva++ Acc- Att- Def+ SDef++ Spd+ 

2-2

Round 5

Battle Video: 26-72323-99368

I did not see the Dark Gem Crunch coming and spent the entire game out of Trick Room. Yet again, I should have led Gallade against the Tyranitar. Octillery almost won it for me – it comes down to the wire. In hindsight, I protected too much! Should have taken some risks.

Moody stages: Eva– Acc+++ Att- Def++ SAtt+++ SDef++ Spd+

2-3

Round 6

So many RBY mons! Machamp did work.

3-3

Round 7: macle

This was a close match. I was super worried he would bring Ferrothorn but did not, which let sweepers go mostly unchecked. Afterwards Macle told me that the Team Preview threw him off. Success!

Moody stages: Eva- Att- Def++ SDef- Spd++++

4-3

Round 8

His Cresselia undid my Trick Room on Turn 2 after Safeguarding Turn 1. I kicked myself for not using Encore, because Machamp was on the field after an Eject Button switch. The tradeoff was getting a Zapdos kill. Without a major threat to Dusclops, I was able to reset the Room. I think this is the match where Octillery did about 80% to Cresselia.

Moody stages: Eva++ Att+ Spd-

5-3

Round 9

Tough match that I regrettably don’t remember well.

Moody stages: Eva++ Acc- Att– Def++++ SAtt- Spd++

6-3

Conclusion

I managed to salvage a terrible start with a 4-0 streak to put myself at 87th in the final standings. I had poor resistance since my first 6 matches were against .500 or less players. I am proud of where I finished but of course wanted more. I feel like my errors kept this team from seeing its true potential. Only once was my Trick Room strategically shut down. Few people had an answer for the Gallade+Octillery combo.

Most of all – I had fun using a unique team. It was encouraging to see so many diverse teams at the Top 32. It’s easy to get caught up in the online metagame and forget about the many other Pokémon that can be competitive. These exciting and unknown strategies make for a much more interesting viewer experience and can help Pokémon evolve as a spectator e-sport. You never know – you may become famous for a moveset someday!

Props:

• Tournament format and organization.
• Precise 7-2 top cut.
• All of my opponents for being quality human beings and good sports.
• Seeing all my friends and staying out way too late. I must be getting old.
• All six finalists for putting on entertaining and thrilling matches, and displaying good sportsmanship.
• The Junior champion for his impressive on-the-fly adjustments while down 0-1.
• Excellent professional commentary for finals matches.
• TPCi embracing Nicksanity.
• Bringing Octillery out in every match.
• My wife for beating me in a serious match for the first time. My life is complete.
• Moody.

Slops:

• Moody.
• Mental errors.
• Short registration windows.
• Waiting until next year.

Article image created by feathers for Nugget Bridge. View more of her artwork on her tumblr or Nugget Bridge forums thread.

About the Author

TeeJay is a washed up has-been who purchased Pokémon Blue the day it came out in 1998. In 2000 he helped maintain and run the Internet's first online battle simulator. He won't stop talking about it.

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