Reports

Published on January 3rd, 2015 | by pokemontcg

17

Follow Me: 2014 Pokémon World Champion Team Report

This is a translation of 2014 World Championships Masters Champion Sejun Park’s team report by Edward Fan (iss) and Y. J. Kim. The original is located at Sejun’s blog and we would like to thank him for his permission to post this translation. Sejun earned his invite to Worlds by winning the 2014 Korean National Championships and blazed through the tournament, defeating Jeudy Azzarelli (SoulSurvivor) 2-0 in the finals.

Hello! I want to apologize for how late this team report is, as 2014 is already ending. To those who cheered for me and made drawings, I’m sorry for being late, and thank you very much—I was very moved.

Teambuilding Process

The Korean National Championships were in June. Afterwards, however, I was very busy since it was the end of the school semester, so I didn’t have much time to prepare for Worlds in August. I considered using my Nationals team since it worked very well during the tournament, but then I decided to build a new team in a short amount of time, and the first Pokémon I considered was Mega Gyarados. Mega Gyarados was pretty common early in the metagame, and it was good then. Since many international players hadn’t seen it often, I thought it would provide a nice surprise factor. To it I added a trio that many players considered powerful: Scarf Gardevoir, Garchomp, and Talonflame, along with Rotom. In order to take advantage of Gyarados’s power, I needed a Pokémon that had Rage Powder or Follow Me. In the past, I had used Amoonguss, but I ran into an issue: Zapdos and Ludicolo were very strong against this combination, so I decided to use Pachirisu instead. Finally, there were certain Pokémon that Mega Gyarados was weak against, so I used Gothitelle to remedy this weakness.

World Championships

Hence, this was the logic I used to choose my team. I knew that there were some weaknesses, but overall I felt it was very stable. I thought I would have a smooth ride to top cut. However, two players in the Last Chance Qualifier, America’s Wolfe Glick and Japan’s Shota Yamamoto, had teams with a strategy that I was weak to: Trick Room Gothitelle. As a result, I was very worried the day before Worlds. The fact that seven other people were also using Gothitelle was strange—I think that other people used it because Gothitelle was a good hidden card against Garchomp. I ended up playing against Gothitelle in round 2 and round 4 of the Swiss rounds. I lost the first set, but I managed to play really carefully and get past it in the second.

I wanted to write commentary for each match, but I didn’t have enough time, so here are some recordings of my games. (Thanks to Jimmy Kwa (Team Rocket Elite) for recording my top 8 and top 4 matches.)

• Swiss Round 5 vs. Omari Travis (BadIntent)
• Top 8, Game 3 vs. Miguel Marti de la Torre (Sekiam)
• Top 4, Game 1 and Game 2 vs. Collin Heier (TheBattleRoom)
• Finals vs. Jeudy Azzarelli (SoulSurvivor)

Team Analysis

Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Intimidate / Mold Breaker | Adamant
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
– Dragon Dance
– Waterfall
– Earthquake
– Protect

This is the party’s ace. Mega Gyarados is a very serious threat in double battles, especially after a Dragon Dance. When combined with Talonflame, it is even more threatening. Additionally, the ability to hit Rotom formes with Earthquake due to Mold Breaker is extremely useful in this format. After a single Dragon Dance, Gyarados can knock out Rotom with Earthquake and Mega Tyranitar with Waterfall.

Since this power is very important, I chose not to focus on defensive investment—instead, I used Gyarados’s Attack and Speed to defend it. Before using Dragon Dance, Mega Gyarados sits at 133 Speed, which outspeeds standard Rotom. After a Dragon Dance, it outspeeds standard Scarf Gardevoir.

Pachirisu @ Sitrus Berry
Volt Absorb | Impish
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
– Nuzzle
– Follow Me
– Super Fang
– Protect

Unlike Amoonguss, this squirrel has an attack that ignores the enemy’s defenses. With Super Fang, I can quickly lower the opponent’s HP, making it easy for Pachirisu’s teammates (such as Talonflame and its Brave Bird) to pick up KOs. Additionally, Nuzzle and Super Fang are attacks, so Taunt does not impede Pachirisu very much. Pachirisu is very good against Electric-types due to Volt Absorb, especially in the later stages of a game. Therefore, it dissuades my opponent from using those attacks in the first place, so I don’t actually have to use Follow Me very often. As such, I can use Nuzzle and Super Fang very often, which makes Pachirisu amazing in doubles.

In order to improve my matchup against Amoonguss, I originally considered using Safety Goggles. However, this situation did not come up very often, and since Pachirisu is very versatile, I decided to use Sitrus Berry instead. Since Pachirisu does not have very good base HP, Sitrus Berry is a huge benefit. When Pachirisu is able to stay on the field for a long time, the entire team benefits.

Since there are a lot of physical attacks in the metagame, I invested all of my EVs into HP and Defense. Thankfully, Pachirisu was able to handle Mega Kangaskhan’s Double-Edge and Mega Mawile’s Play Rough. Pachirisu has good base Special Defense, so I didn’t invest into it. Even strong attacks such as Aegislash’s Shadow Ball are only a 3HKO with Sitrus, as long as Pachirisu’s Special Defense isn’t lowered.

Gothitelle @ Leftovers
Shadow Tag | Calm
252 HP / 172 Def / 4 SpA / 76 SpD / 4 Spe
– Psyshock
– Thunder Wave
– Tickle
– Protect

Originally this team didn’t have Gothitelle, but I added it as a late response to new threats in the metagame. Gothitelle is very good for weakening the Pokémon Gyarados is weak against, such as Salamence and Mawile. I thought paralysis was incredibly useful in the metagame, so I wanted a second way to inflict it. Tickle was great for weakening my opponent’s physical attackers so that Gyarados or Talonflame could easily finish them off. Psyshock synergizes well with Tickle, and deals significant damage to Assault Vest Ludicolo.

To be honest, I didn’t mess around with the EVs. Gothitelle has pretty good all-around stats. I knew that many opponents would have Choice Specs Hydreigon. Other Gothitelle users dealt with this problem by investing heavily into Special Defense. Rather than giving up Defense, my solution was to simply prevent the situation from occurring. Due to Shadow Tag, my opponent would have to lead with Hydreigon in order for the situation to occur. In response, I would lead with Gothitelle and Gardevoir and use Dazzling Gleam to immediately knock out Hydreigon. If they chose not to lead with Hydreigon, I had a variety of options. One common one was to lead with Gothitelle and Gyarados for Intimidate, switch Gyarados out to Pachirisu in order to weaken my opponent’s Pokémon with Tickle and Super Fang, then bring Gyarados back in to finish the job with Dragon Dance.

I considered using Life Orb Gothitelle to defeat some threats. Even without using Competitive, I could have used Psyshock to OHKO Amoonguss. With Competitive, Gothitelle could knock out 252 HP Mega Mawile with Hidden Power Fire, which was fantastic! But then Gothitelle would always faint first to Sucker Punch.

Gardevoir @ Choice Scarf
Telepathy | Timid
4 HP / 44 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 204 Spe
– Dazzling Gleam
– Psychic
– Moonblast
– Swagger

Throughout this metagame, I constantly used Gardevoir. Its high Special Attack stat and powerful Fairy-type attacks make it consistent and unique. Moonblast OHKOes 4 HP Garchomp 7/8ths of the time, and Psychic deals a heavy blow to Amoonguss and Venusaur.

In order to outspeed Mega Tyranitar after a Dragon Dance, Mega Manectric, and Aerodactyl, I had to use a Timid nature. I invested heavily into Speed in order to outspeed Mega Manectric and Ludicolo after a Swift Swim boost. Since Gardevoir’s low Defense can make it very risky, I decided to invest the remaining EVs into Defense instead of HP. In the finals, Gardevoir was able to take a Bullet Punch from Mega Lucario, and investing into Defense instead of HP maximized my chances.

The first three moves were set in place. I put a lot of thought into the final move—I considered Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Healing Wish, Destiny Bond, Will-O-Wisp, and Ally Switch. But what I found was that I almost never used the fourth move, no matter what it was. In the end, I chose Swagger, so I could potentially turn around a disadvantageous situation. I didn’t end up using Swagger at all during Worlds. Looking back, I think I should have picked Focus Blast, as it is quite versatile.

Garchomp @ Focus Sash
Rough Skin | Jolly
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
– Earthquake
– Dragon Claw
– Rock Slide
– Protect

Garchomp was the most common Pokémon in VGC 2014 for good reason. As a Dragon-type, it is naturally an amazing counter to so many Pokémon. Due to Focus Sash, I could freely attack without much fear of retaliation. There isn’t much else to say about this Pokémon.

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Gale Wings | Naive
252 Atk / 164 SpA / 92 Spe
– Brave Bird
– Overheat
– Taunt
– Quick Guard

Fighting-type Pokémon are very good against Mega Gyarados, so I wanted a Pokémon that could easily defeat them. As such, I chose Talonflame. Quick Guard was very good for blocking opposing Brave Bird and Prankster, which were often used against Gyarados. I added Taunt to deal with Trick Room teams, but I didn’t end up using it very often—there was one time where it was almost very useful, but it was blocked. In hindsight, I could have used a defensive move in place of Taunt.

Overheat, unlike Flare Blitz, isn’t hindered by Intimidate, so it is very effective against Mega Mawile. It also doesn’t have any recoil damage, so it is a great choice when Talonflame’s HP is low. It can even OHKO physically defensive Amoonguss most of the time. Overheat is also safe to use against Aegislash’s King’s Shield. However, there are two big weaknesses. The first is that Overheat can miss. The second is that I had to invest heavily into Special Attack instead of Speed in order to properly use Overheat. (Also, Overheat doesn’t defrost Talonflame.)

In order to maximize Brave Bird’s damage, I maximized Attack. Then, I invested enough Speed to outspeed base 105 Speed Pokémon such as Mienshao, so that I could block its Fake Out with Quick Guard. I placed the rest of the EVs into Special Attack to maximize Overheat’s effectiveness.

Conclusion

This was my 2014 World Championships team report. I know that this might not be the clearest writing, but I hope you enjoyed it. For a long time my dream was to become World Champion, and I successfully accomplished that. Don’t worry, I’m not done yet—I’ll be back next year. Thanks to everyone who cheered for me, and have a happy New Year!

About the Author

pokemontcg Sejun is the 2014 Pokémon World Champion. He is also Korea's 2011, 2013, and 2014 National Champion. Additionally he has two Top 8 finishes in the Masters division at Worlds and a 2nd place finish in the Senior division.

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