Reports

Published on July 13th, 2015 | by brokestupidlonely

8

Kings and Kahns: Kansas Regional Top 4 Report

Hey, I’m Whitney Johnson and I’m relatively new to the whole competitive Pokemon scene. I’ve been playing since good ol’ Red and Blue but didn’t get into competitive battling until the release of X/Y when I found out that there was a regional tournament fairly close to where I live. After having some success in 2014 (cutting at the Kansas regional to finish 6th) and a fairly lackluster 2015 season prior to the Kansas regional (with 2 top 64 regional finishes) I was ready for a strong performance at my home regional.

While I had a really disappointing finish (4-3) at the Premier Challenge the day before the Regional in Overland Park, it gave me some good practice, and helped to calm some nerves going into the main event. I made one change overnight and was ready to go.

The Team

togekiss

Togekiss @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 228 HP / 164 Def / 116 SpD
Bold Nature
– Air Slash
– Follow Me
– Tailwind
– Encore

I started the team with Togekiss and Kangaskhan, because I liked Togekiss’ ability to eat the fighting moves aimed at Kangaskhan like nobody’s business, as well as the Tailwind support allowing me to run a slightly bulkier Kangaskhan anyways because I could set up Tailwind to make up for the lack of speed investment. I decided to use Encore over Protect or Roost because prior to building this team I had been using a team featuring Whimsicott where Encore was able to lock down games for me. I knew that it would be unexpected on Togekiss which would help for baiting Protects or other similar moves that I want to lock my opponent into, and with the pressure Kangaskhan put on the opponent I was able to set up a free Tailwind on the double Protect, and then Encore the opposing Pokemon that Kangaskhan couldn’t KO on turn 2. The EV spread on this Togekiss survive Jolly 252 Mega Metagross Iron Head and Timid 252 Life Orb Thundurus-I Thunderbolt.

kangaskhan-mega

Kangaskhan (F) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Fake Out
– Double-Edge
– Low Kick
– Crunch 

Originally I had Power-Up Punch and Return on this Kangaskhan, thinking I could Power-Up Punch my own Togekiss on turn 1 when I predicted a double Protect, but that just didn’t ever pan out in practice and so I decided to go for the more immediate power offered by Double-Edge and Low Kick. Nearly everyone who looked at this team for me prior to Regionals had something to say about not using Sucker Punch. The thing that Crunch does is prevents end game Ghost type stall fests. With Tailwind support I didn’t feel like I was ever losing much due to not having the priority, and since I made the team with the main goal being to be able to navigate through swiss I was able to exploit obvious predictions that my opponents had to make assuming I had Sucker Punch. The EV’s outspeed +1 Mega Salamence under Tailwind, this also puts her above max speed base 70s for nailing Bisharp and being able to beat the common weather abusers once I get Tailwind up.

hydreigon 

Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Dark Pulse
– Earth Power
– Fire Blast

Choice Specs Hydreigon hits like an absolute monster, and it’s speed tier is another that can really take advantage of Tailwind. It’s another Pokemon that greatly benefits from Togekiss’ Follow Me thanks to Togekiss being immune to Dragon types and 4x resisting Fighting types. Obviously the shared Ice weakness is unfortunate, but I guess I can’t have everything. The moves are pretty straight forward, and I opted for Fire Blast over Flamethrower because Earth Power hits all of the relevant Steel types for the same damage, and Fire Blast is able to OHKO Amoonguss variants that are EVed to survive the Draco Meteor.

ferrothorn

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Atk / 84 Def / 12 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Power Whip
– Gyro Ball
– Leech Seed
– Protect

While the team started out as being focused around Mega Kangaskhan and a supporting cast to help her sweep opposing teams, once I added Ferrothorn it really turned into a “remove all fire types and win with Leech Seed” type of team. Originally I just added Ferrothorn to the team to help against Sylveon and as a second Dragon resist, but man does this guy just do work. He was a premier check to Rotom-W last season and he still functions as a great way to 2HKO (shaky accuracy aside) the bulky waters in the meta. I went with Rocky Helmet because switching him in to take a Fake Out from Kangaskhan was fantastic, and Rocky Helmet directly won me a match when Ferrothorn was 1v1 against a Conkeldurr, but I’d probably stick to lefties most of the time, as keeping Ferrothorn around for extra turns is in general going to be better than a little extra chip damage. The EVs survive Jolly Terrakion Close Combat and Modest Zapdos Heatwave 100% of the time, with the rest in attack which is enough to 2HKO Sitrus Suicune 100% of the time.

terrakion 

Terrakion @ Focus Sash
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Close Combat
– Rock Slide
– Taunt
– Protect

I don’t have a lot to say about Terrakion, as it’s pretty standard and was the least used Pokemon on my team. Personally I think Focus Sash is the best item to give him, due to his frailty and since so many run Lum Berry anyways you’re going to be fairly safe from status already. As far as the 3rd move goes I picked Taunt because without it I had little hope of keeping Trick Room from being set up, although since this team has little priority the case could be made for Quick Guard.

nidoking

Nidoking (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 52 Atk / 252 SpA / 204 Spe
Naive Nature
– Sludge Bomb
– Ice Beam
– Earth Power
– Rock Slide

This slot was originally a Choice Scarf Rotom-W as a way to out-speed and KO Choice Scarf Landorus but after missing a Hydro Pump at the Premier Challenge for a loss I started looking for a more reliable way to handle the flying lion. Choice Scarf Nidoking fit the bill nicely, as he deals with both Choice Scarf Landorus and Assault Vest Landorus. Nidoking outspeeds and OHKOs both, which is fantastic. Sludge Bomb and Earth Power are it’s move that receive Same Type Attack Bonus, which help deal with Fairies and ground weak Pokemon like Aegislash and Terrakion. I went ahead and ran mixed with Rock Slide for hitting Charizards in a pinch and for that juicy spread attack. The EVs allow it to outspeed Adamant Landorus with maximum Special Attack and the extras dumped in Attack for extra damage on Rock Slide.

Battles

Unfortunately I didn’t take clear enough notes and had a lot of life between the tournament and my writing of this piece, so I don’t have a complete war story. I was lucky enough to be featured on stream once during swiss and once during top cut so I do have those battles if you want to check it out.

In Round 7 of Swiss I played Andrew Burley (Andykins) which you can watch here:



In this match I feel like I made a big mistake in not bringing Terrakion, because not having Taunt left me with only Air Slash flinches as a way to keep Trick Room from getting set up. On turn six I had a chance to make a great play but didn’t go for it. I thought that Scrafty was in Air Slash KO range so I went for that when I should have either predicted the Fake Out and gone for an Encore or targetted down Cresselia with another Air Slash and hope for another flinch. Either play would have given me a better chance to stay in that match.

My Top 4 match versus Michael Garret (YungstrMIKEY) hasn’t been uploaded to youtube yet but can be seen here starting at the 44:00 mark.

In game 1 Nidoking showed exactly why he got me that far getting the KO against Landorus for a 1 for 1 trade, which I’ll take any day of the week. Other than that Ferrothorn really carried the game. Had I been thinking I would have not gone for any Power Whips once I was down to a 3v2 just to keep the information and try and mis lead my opponent into thinking I didn’t have it. For Kangaskhan since I had the game wrapped up I just went with Fake Out to reveal as little as possible, for whatever that was worth.

In game two I choked away to game at the end by not being 100% sure on damage calcs thinking I was safe to use Dark Pulse to pick up KOs. The game could have also gone a different way had I put some more speed on my Togekiss as well, but I feel like the extra bulk served me better throughout the day so I can’t complain about that too much. All I can is do is make sure I’m more aware of potential damage rolls so I can make more informed plays.

Game 3 was very frustrating. On turn 2 I correctly predicted the Fake Out onto my own Kangaskhan and went for Encore on his Kangaskhan while Togekiss was fully paralyzed. That on top of my Kangaskhan getting paralyzed by the Thunderbolt was just a lot of bad luck, and Togekiss decided to go ahead and be fully paralyzed 2 more turns in a row which really hurt. I was pretty salty over all the hax that went against me that game, but I had games throughout the day where it was the other way around and since my motto is to never apologize for hax because it’s a part of the game we play I have to accept when it doesn’t go in my favor either. Instead of focusing on that game and blaming the RNG I have to think about how had I played game 2 better I never would have been in that situation anyways. Moving forward, I definitely think I’ll want to be packing some Prankster Taunter to help to mitigate that.

Closing Thoughts

  • Huge thank you to Mattj for helping keep an eye on my brother while I was battling, that helped me focus more on my battles not having to worry about losing him somewhere.
  • Thanks to Jessica for cosplaying with me, and in general putting up with my Pokemon obsession.
  • Shoutout to Tehfatpanda for suggesting Nidoking the night before when I was fed up with Rotom missing Hydro Pumps, Nidoking was exactly the ‘mon I needed and he earned a special place in my heart that day.
  • Thanks to Reddit user Demoyon for constantly looking over changes I had made and giving me good practice battles.
  • Shameless plug to my practice community /r/PokemonLeague3DS. You guys got me into competitive battling and have been a great asset for team building ideas and practice.
  • All in all taking 4th at my home regional is a great accomplishment and I couldn’t be happier with the results.


About the Author



8 Responses to Kings and Kahns: Kansas Regional Top 4 Report

  1. Galvatron says:

    I love this article,thank you!

    p.s. I’ve been thinking about using crunch too. 😉

  2. U scrubs why u use Crunch Kang Sucker Punch 4 lief

    Amazing read. I will admit seeing Nidoking at the end surprised and thrilled me (he’s my favorite Scarfer). Congrats!

  3. jlpsaxophonist says:

    Ive been waiting for a report of this team! It was really nice meeting you at the premier challenge in independence, you were a really nice guy and your team was really cool. I had no idea you were brokestupidlonely back then! Congrats on placing so high with such an inventive team. All the best to you in future seasons!

  4. Solid reasoning for using crunch. Only players I have versed that had crunch never used it well. But this was an excellent reason :D

    Congrats on top 4. That is a great accomplishment.

  5. mattj says:

    Never a problem.
     
    This is an A+ team.  Wow.

  6. Witchard says:

    Awesome team dude and a great read!

  7. Shamrock says:

    Absolutely love the team. That Ferrothorn spread is excellent, and Nidoking looks really solid. Nice job!

  8. Architeuthis says:

    So this is why I’ve started seeing so many crunch kangaskan on showdown. Awesome team congrats on the finish.

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