Left Behind: 2013 Houston Seniors Champion Team Analysis and Tournament Report
With the influx of incredible players graduating to the Masters division this year, people have turned a blind eye toward the Senior division. With some of the best players in the division, such as Aaron Zheng (Cybertron) and Toler Webb (Dimsun) moving up, the field has been cleared. Before Fall Regionals, Gavin Michaels (kingofkongs) told me on the #seniors IRC channel that he wanted me to make this season my own while I still had the chance. That got me thinking how this was my last year. I needed to do well this year, or I would never be given any respect as a Master. Doing well at a Regional was the first step in this goal, and I was determined to accomplish it. This is the beginning of my 2013 VGC season.
First off, I can’t take credit for most of this team. I was inspired by a lot of different teams that have been posted on this site to create it. The person mainly responsible for the creation of this team is actually Gavin himself. Two months before the Regional Championships he asked all of the remaining players in the Senior division online on #seniors if we wanted any help creating our teams. I jumped on the opportunity, as I tend to build better teams if I have someone who I can bounce ideas off of. He was extremely helpful in building the team and he was always willing to help me out. For that, I must give him credit.
I think this team really represents me as a player. I’ve found that when I play, I want two things on my teams. They need to have solid defensive and offensive synergy and have a lot of solid lead combinations. Having both of these things make it so that the person you are playing is always on their toes. This mentality has sculpted my play style into a switching game. That is why I start most of my teams with a solid core with defensive and offensive synergy. I need to know that the Pokémon I am using can switch to cover each other’s weaknesses. The team I used for the Fall Regional Championships in Houston was no exception. As all the World Championship tournament reports came in, I found a recurring theme. Hydreigon was being used a ridiculous amount, as well as Heatran. Not only were they highly-used, they were effective! I looked at them and found that they have very good defensive synergy, outside of Fighting types wrecking both their days. The main flaw of these two is that they are both in an awkward speed bracket, being not quite fast, but not quite slow.
To fix the problem of speed, I knew I needed a solid way to control it. My favorite speed control Pokémon in the format is definitely Cresselia. Not only could she use Trick Room to gain the speed advantage over faster teams, I had also gained a solid way to check Fighting types! It just seemed like the perfect fit. We then found that I was weak to Bug- and Fighting-types. The obvious choice is a Flying-type Pokémon, who resists and can hit both of these types for high damage. I was struggling between Gyarados and Thundurus, as they would both give me valuable speed control. I ended up springing for Thundurus just because it opens up a lot of room for strong lead match ups.
Although I had solid coverage and decent control over speed, I knew there would be times where I couldn’t rely on it. I decided I should add something that could threaten my opponent early in the game and make them think twice about bringing some Pokémon. The main Pokémon that came to mind were Garchomp and Terrakion. Even though I knew that Garchomp could really shine on the team, I just couldn’t afford another Pokémon weak to Ice-type attacks. I decided on using Terrakion, and I’ve never looked back since. It was extremely useful in countering many of the faster threats that could really mess with my team. Also, it helped me to form a tried and true lead combo straight out of VGC 2011 with Thundurus.
The last Pokémon stumped me. I just threw on a Choice Specs Rotom-W that I thought would work well and headed on Pokémon Online to play-test. I quickly found that some aspects of the team felt clunky and out of sync. After the World Championship in Hawaii, everyone had realized how dangerous Heatran could be if taken lightly. A lot of people ran strange counters to Heatran. Instead of the common Hidden Power Fire to counter Scizor at the US National Championships, people were running Hidden Power Ground. Also, use of Gyarados and Rotom-W to hit it hard rose dramatically. I decided I should drop Heatran for a while. I made a switch to Metagross, who had similar resistances, but I found that it was also very effective and could lead it well with Thundurus, Hydreigon, and Cresselia.
At this point I began looking for the dreaded 6th Pokémon. I had a bunch of holes in the team to fit, and I couldn’t find anything to beat them all. I was using Rotom-W for a while, but I really wasn’t a fan of it as it really conflicted with the offensive Thundurus I was running at the time. I tested an offensive Gastrodon, which wasn’t great but had its uses. At one point I asked Gavin what he thought I should run to beat my threats. The main ones were Trick Room, Escavalier, Scizor, and other slow but bulky Pokémon. He recommended running Heatran again. I was reluctant, but I decided that I would test it. I found that surprisingly, it worked great!
However, I knew I was still weak to Trick Room. Gavin recommended I run Taunt on something. My choices were Hydreigon, Terrakion, Thundurus, and Heatran. I knew I couldn’t run it on Hydreigon, because a Fire-type coverage move was too valuable. Terrakion was viable, but it really was somewhat obvious if I lead Terrakion against a team where their Trick Room user is Cresselia and I super-effectively hit one Pokémon. Thundurus was decent, but I preferred Substitute. Finally, I used Heatran. It did the job very well, as no one thinks that Heatran is a threat to a Trick Room, so they ignore it. Finally, I had my team. Here is a more detailed explanation of each Pokémon.
Team Analysis
Thundurus (M) @ Flying Gem
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Flying]
– Substitute
– Thunder Wave
Thundurus was probably the co-MVP of this team. Offensive Thundurus is extremely viable in the current metagame, and I fell in love the first time I used it. When I was running a bulkier Thundurus, I really didn’t like how I couldn’t do a lot of damage, and I was often stuck relying on Paralysis to let my other Pokémon do damage. I took the idea from Flash directly from his World Championship team that placed 3rd place. However, I decided I wanted a quicker version with less bulk. Many opposing Thundurus would try and use either Thunder Wave or Taunt on me and shut me down, but Substitute would put me in a favorable position. After that they would really have to struggle as I did massive damage to them and their partner. It also was very effective at spreading Paralysis using Thunder Wave and allowing my partner to outspeed threats to it. Thunderbolt is obviously very helpful as it does a lot of damage quickly. The best part about this threat is Flying Gem Hidden Power Flying, which allows me to unexpectedly OHKO opposing Ludicolo and Hitmontop. Because I had a lot of threatening Pokémon on this team, I would generally give myself an early 4-3 lead which really gave me an advantage at Regionals. Overall, Thundurus was a very great Pokémon on this team. It gave me a solid lead matchup with everything except for Hydreigon, and that wasn’t a terrible combination anyways.
Metagross @ Choice Band
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 116 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 132 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
– Earthquake
– Meteor Mash
– Zen Headbutt
– Bullet Punch
Once again, a Pokémon used in by Flash in the World Championship. This was definitely the MVP of the entire tournament. The power of Choice Band Metagross is disgusting. A Banded Meteor Mash does over 50% to opposing Cresselia. That is a neutral move against a Cresselia. Anyone can attest to the fact that Cresselia is extremely defensive. There is also the fact that it just about OHKOs anything super effective and most things that are neutral. Earthquake was really useful because it let me hit Pokémon on the ground for massive damage. Also, it is kind of annoying when you find yourself with all this power and no way to clean up two Pokémon with low HP. Flash used Ice Punch to great effect, and I used it for a while as well. While I agree that it has its uses, I simply prefer to have a STAB move with a little less shaky accuracy than Meteor Mash. I mainly used it to hit Thundurus, Rotom-W, and other Pokémon that resisted my other moves. It definitely paid off in the tournament I played in. Bullet Punch was really obvious on this set. I wanted a priority move, and this was the only option. Choice Band Bullet Punch actually does about 50% to most Latios. It was really useful in the late game when they had a fast threat at low HP, and I needed to end their rampage.
The Steel typing gives me a lot of resistances that the team appreciated. The EV spread may look a little strange, but it really isn’t very complicated. I decided I should max out the Attack stat. From, there, I heaped some EVs into the Special Defense stat. From there I dumped the rest into HP. I had 6 EVs left, so I dumped four of them into Defense. Overall, this was definitely the MVP of the team and I’m glad I used it.
Hydreigon (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
– Draco Meteor
– Dark Pulse
– Flamethrower
– Protect
Honestly this is probably the most straightforward Pokémon on my entire team. With all the usage at the World Championship, I couldn’t help but try this Pokémon out. I know that Dragon Gem is the norm for most Hydreigon, but I found that Life Orb was also incredibly effective, adding a lot more bite to its Dark Pulse. A Meteor Mash-Dark Pulse attack combo on most Sitrus Berry Cresselia was able to KO it. Most teams with Cresselia are extremely reliant on it (setting up Trick Room, Thunder Waving faster threats, etc.) and when it is KO’d early game their plans tend to fall apart. Draco Meteor is really useful for doing massive damage to Rotom forms. They are really one of the main flaws to this team, especially Rotom-W. Flamethower actually OHKO’d standard 252/0 Metagross after just a little prior damage. Protect is definitely a must on Hydreigon, where its main threats are the things that can outspeed it, such as Garchomp, Salamence, and Latios.
Cresselia (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 220 HP / 128 Def / 100 SAtk / 60 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
– Trick Room
– Ice Beam
– Psyshock
– Sunny Day
You could say this is a mixed up Cresselia. At one point I was running Icy Wind over Ice Beam, but I found I needed to be able to do a lot of damage to Garchomp. Trick Room was my speed control of choice for Cresselia. It is the reason I decided not to run any speed on Metagross. Hydreigon also appreciated Trick Room when I saw the now common double Dragon-type leads which my team struggled under the pure power of. Psyshock was best used against Volcarona, Chansey, and Hitmontop, the main Pokémon with lower base defense than special defense. As you may have noticed, my team was really weak to Drizzle. I decided that I would use Sunny Day early on in the team building process to power up Hydreigon’s Flamethrower and Heatran’s Heat Wave.
I opted to use Sitrus Berry because I really liked the burst recovery to get 3HKO’d (narrowly) by Tyranitar Crunches and Scizor Bug Bites. The EV spread was actually kind of random, but building a really solid Cresselia spread is kind of confusing. The main thing you should note is that I put 100 EVs in Special Attack to do some decent damage with Ice Beam and Psyshock.
Heatran (F) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 52 HP / 252 SAtk / 204 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
– Heat Wave
– Earth Power
– Taunt
– Protect
I already explained why I ran Heatran in the intro: my team was weak to Trick Room and most of the major Steel-types (and Escavalier under Trick Room). Heat Wave and Earth Power cover said Steel types pretty nicely. Metagross was the main Steel-type threat other than Excadrill because I couldn’t OHKO it past an Occa Berry, and it would Earthquake me. That is why Protect is an extremely important move to have on Heatran. There are some Pokémon that just need to have Protect, and others don’t. Heatran is definitely one of them. When you get OHKO’d by most Water moves and any Ground move, a little insurance that you didn’t waste a Pokémon is pretty big. Alright, maybe I’m over explaining this… Anyways, Taunt was mainly used to counter Trick Room, but it also was really fun to Taunt Thundurus who are trying to slow down my partner. Honestly, how many Taunt Heatrans have been seen? Most people run Substitute (which I’m not bashing, Substitute is one of my favorite moves) but for this team Taunt was a huge factor.
The EV spread allowed me to outspeed and do a big chunk to all neutral nature 252 EVs in speed base 70 Pokémon. The main ones of these are Hitmontop and Metagross. Chople Berry is mandatory on Heatran so it can live Close Combats and then take advantage of their Special Defense drops.
Terrakion @ Focus Sash
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
– Stone Edge
– Rock Slide
– Close Combat
– Protect
Terrakion is a monster. At one point I was running Adamant, and it did some decent work, however I couldn’t handle the lack of speed when a couple of games came down to me getting outsped by a Garchomp or other Terrakion who were Jolly. I ran Focus Sash so I could Close Combat to my heart’s content without having to worry about those crippling defensive drops which let Metagross Bullet Punches do over 60%. Which brings me to Close Combat. Really, is it that hard to figure out why I used it? STAB Close Combat does a heaping ton to everything that doesn’t resist it! Without it, I would’ve been walled by Steel-types and, in return, quickly dispatched. It really came in handy when I was facing those pesky Minimize Chanseys on the Global Battle Union. My other strategy to beat those was stall as much as possible, but thankfully I didn’t see any at the event.
Next is Rock Slide, the bane of VGC 2011. Paired with Thundurus’ Thunder Waves and occasionally Hydreigon’s Dark Pulse, I could do a lot of damage to some Pokémon while they were shocked to be flinched. No, I don’t use it only for hax. I am not using a Choice Scarf Togekiss with Air Slash. I wanted to be able to do damage to two Pokémon at once, something very useful in double battles, but the secondary effect can’t be ignored.
Last comes Stone Edge. I am not ashamed to say I took the idea from Kenan Nerad’s (Lucien) 2012 Nationals Championship team. Although he wasn’t able to bring out it his team’s full potential due to an unfortunate early round pairing (he’s too nice of a person for this cut-throat game we play) I decided I would run it for the same reasons. Although he used it to OHKO Charti Volcarona and most variants of Zapdos, it was really useful in the VGC 2013 Regionals metagame to OHKO the bulkiest of Thundurus. Instead of taking two hits with Rock Slide to kill them, I would rely on hitting one Stone Edge (#YOLO as Kenan would say) to take them down. Terrakion is one of those Pokémon who rely on outspeeding their opponents to KO them, so predicting the Thunder Waves and Icy Winds with Protect was big.
Instead of running Kenan’s Adamant, bulkier take on Terrakion, I went with a more straightforward approach and went with the ever-so-boring 252/252 spread with a +Speed nature. As I’ve said, I ran Adamant but being outspeed by Garchomp was a big no-no for this team when it can do so much damage to my Metagross, Heatran, Thundurus, Hydreigon, and even Terrakion. Only two of these can out speed, and neither of them can OHKO it.
Pre-Tournament
Because I live in Texas, I was able to drive to Houston instead of take a plane. The disadvantage of that is I have to take a five hour drive. I’ve had worse drives for road trips, so I can handle it. Before we left, I picked up a copy of Pokémon Black 2 to play during the trip. I waited until we got out of Dallas so that I wouldn’t be playing while changing directions and speeds as that gets me extremely car sick. I got as far as the 3rd Pokémon Gym before I got bored and called it quits. I had killed a good 3 hours of the trip, plus getting out of Dallas, so I just took in the sights. It was pretty cool seeing the giant marble statue of Sam Houston, who we had studied in 7th grade. Soon, we got deep into Houston and I started freaking out because of the random palm trees. I love palm trees, they just get me really pumped because I feel like I am farther away than I am.
We checked into the hotel where the tournament was being held at about 7:30 PM. Unfortunately, we had to check into a different room because our automated keys wouldn’t work in the elevator and didn’t open our room. We ended up getting into the room around 8:00 PM, and we unpacked. Shortly after, we went to eat at the wonderfully limited continental breakfast. I was only able to eat a little because we had eaten at Subway a little while ago. I went downstairs to look at the Pokémon dedicated floor, Floor 4. I walked in and saw that a there wasn’t anyone I knew there, just TCG people. I walked around awkwardly for a little bit until I got bored and went to our room. I got ready for bed, and hopped in. I was excited for the tournament, which kept me up just a little bit longer than usual.
I woke up early to the sound of an alarm. I rushed to the bathroom and brushed my teeth before I got in the shower. Scrub-a-dub-dub, I like to scrub. Anyways, I’m not going to describe that anymore. I dried off and got my clothes on. I pulled on a shirt with Nike shoes forming a brain, representing the Royal Blue Crew. I grabbed some basketball shorts (they’re comfy and easy to wear!), threw on a Rangers baseball cap and headed out the door. I went downstairs and looked around for some of the players. I found Aaron Grubbs (LPFan) and lolfailsnail, whose full name I don’t know yet for some reason. I’ll refer to him as Snail for this instance. We talked about our hopes for the tournament. LPFan told me he wanted a Finals battle with me, which I agreed would be good. He said that he had given his brother his Nationals team, which I knew was a relatively standard team built around Swagger. I really wasn’t scared because my team could hit hard, and I could stop the use of Swagger with Taunt on Heatran. Snail introduced us to his cousin, who he had insisted online would 4-0 Reverse One-Handed 360 Dunk us all with his Tentacruel team. I honestly doubted that because every member on my team except Terrakion could hit Tentacruel hard, and I could stop his funny business with Heatran. I stated that I just wanted to get Top 4 so I could earn some respect points from the community.
After we sparked each other macho competitive spirit for a child’s game (seems legit) we saw some people with Team Magma t-shirts. I decided not to feel socially awkward, and I went to talk to them. I learned that one of them was Benji Irons (BenjiTheGreat) and the other was MrBopper. We had a somewhat lengthy conversation about how Scrafty would be pretty good when it got Intimidate. Benji argued that Scrafty was already good. He obviously won that argument, as he ended up winning the tournament in the Masters division, with Scrafty being influential in his finals battles against Smith.
Soon, sign-ups for Seniors started. It was then we realized how there was barely anyone there. There ended up being only 38 Seniors and 11 Juniors. Although this meant that the people with a lower ranking would get in, it also meant that we would be more likely to play each other as we got farther along. After the whole sign-up process was done, we got our Battle Box loaded and our games hack checked. I rely on people to trade me my Pokémon, so I’m always scared something won’t come up clean. Anyways, we wait a while before the player-check pairings come up. As soon as they confirm who is here and who isn’t, they bring up the new pairings. We sit down and wish our competitors luck, and we start the connections between each other. I wish everyone I know the best of luck in the name of good sportsmanship. Let the battles begin!
Swiss Battles and Everything In-Between
Battle #1: 0-0 (Random Team)
I’ll tell you right now, this was the easiest match of the day. The only somewhat frightening Pokémon on his team are Reuniclus and Zapdos. I lead with Heatran-Thundurus, one of my many Thundurus leads. I chose it because it did work against most of his team, but I also didn’t want that Reuniclus getting Trick Room up, so I packed a Taunt and Substitute lead. He leads Reuniclus-Samurott, which I know will be easy to cover. I decide not to play games so I Thunderbolt the Samurott and Taunt the Reuniclus, just in case. I end up getting a critical hit on Samurott, which may or may not have mattered. The Reuniclus doesn’t end up going for Trick Room, and it instead Psychics my Thundurus, doing a little over 50%.
He brings in Flygon, which I recognize as a big threat. He Earth Powers my Heatran, which I protected, and a Hidden Power Flying from Thundurus brings it to around 30%, while Psychic ends up taking down my Thundurus. I bring in Terrakion to finish off Flygon with Close Combat while I Heat Wave the Reuniclus, and he brings Terrakion to its Focus Sash with Psychic. He brings in Zapdos, which I Rock Slide and Heat Wave to finish the game 3-0.
Masters registration seems to be starting, but I don’t have time to say hi to anyone as the pairings go up. I go to the bathroom before, and I come back to find the entrance locked. I begin freaking out. I walk past Kenan and Jonathon Rankin (JRank), but I don’t say hi as I try to ask someone to help me get in. They show me a door that isn’t unlocked, and I thank them. Crisis averted. I also learn that LPFan lost to his brother that round due to some hax. I sympathize for him. You have to admit that is a terrible R1 match up.
Record: 1-0
Battle #2: 1-0 (Strange Sandstorm)
I look at my opponent and see he is wearing a Houston hat. Hat buddies! I shake his hand and say good luck before we see each other teams. I ask him what my trainer message is, which he responds “Take it Easy, Trainer!” I set that for Nationals 2012, and I’m glad it isn’t something too stupid. Anyways, I see that all the Pokémon on his team are Sandstorm Pokémon. I look around for an Excadrill, but there isn’t one to be seen. Everything is a Rock type, so I know that I have the advantage. He does have a Rhyperior, which makes me know I can’t use Trick Room with Cresselia.
I decide I should lead Cresselia-Terrakion, as my leads are tailored to beat standard Pokémon, not a random Sandstorm team. He leads with Tyranitar-Terrakion, which I am really glad about. I don’t overpredict on the first turn of the game, so I Close Combat his Terrakion, who Protects. I Sunny Day with Cresselia while his Tyranitar Crunches my Cresselia, leaving it at about 60% after Sitrus Berry. I know I can start hitting his team hard with Cresselia’s Ice Beam at this point. I Psyshock the Terrakion, who tries to Protect. He fails, and I deal a little over half to him as my Close Combat OHKO’s his Tyranitar, meaning I likely have canceled his weather.
He brings in Rhyperior. I figure that his Terrakion will probably use Protect, so I double target his Rhyperior with Ice Beam and Close Combat. It pays off as his Focus Band (yes, Focus Band) activates, but I still net the KO. At this point I have a substantial lead. He brings in Archeops, and I Rock Slide and Psyshock for the win. 4-0 in my favor. It wasn’t as challenging match, but at least I knew I my predictions were doing well.
I see Kenan and Jonathon rocking the #seniors shirts. I walk over to them and say hey. I tell them the strong team I had just played. I joke that the Rhyperior was probably Choice Scarfed because he was using it over the Excadrill. The pairings go up for Seniors, and I have to leave. They wish me luck, and I tell them the same.
Record: 2-0
Battle #3: 2-0 (Telepathy Rain Room)
I don’t remember his name, but this person gave me a decent fight. In Team Preview I see they have some slow Pokémon like Politoed, Snorlax, Metagross, and Musharna. Obviously I know they have a Trick Room tech to their team. Also, the only reason to run Musharna over Cresselia is to spam spread moves, mainly Explosion and Surf, and I see multiple users of these moves. However, they also have a Ludicolo, so I know I need to be ready for fast rain.
I decide the best lead I have is Hydreigon-Thundurus, one of my least favorite leads because it tends to be ineffective at times — if he had led with Snorlax, for example, I would have been in a pretty bad position. Fortunately, he doesn’t, instead sending out Ludicolo-Musharna. I decide to Dark Pulse his Musharna and Hidden Power Flying his Ludicolo, predicting him to expect Taunt on Thundurus. That could have bit me, but it ends up working well. His Ludicolo doesn’t Fake Out and goes to the red, while his Musharna is put in the red by Hydreigon. He double targets Thundurus with Ice Beam and Psychic, and I narrowly live. I clean up his both his Pokémon left in.
He sends out Metagross and Politoed. I realize I need to prioritize taking out the Metagross because Flamethrower won’t do much in Rain. I Thunderbolt Metagross and Protect with Hydreigon. He lives with about 65% left and finished my Thundurus off with Ice Beam and Meteor Mashes Hydreigon. I bring out Metagross to clean up. I use Earthquake and Dark Pulse the Politoed, bringing both to the red. Then I start laughing.
His Metagross uses Explosion. Both my Pokémon live it, and both his die. I tell him I had 3 left and he tells me he is stupid. He didn’t really have a way to come back regardless, but still, it was hilarious. I win 3-0. I later learn that he places Top 8. I walk over to Kenan and tell him how I do. He congratulates and pairings for Masters and Seniors go up. I wish him good luck, but he ends up losing R1. I walk over to the table and learn who I am playing.3-0
Record: 3-0
Battle #4: 3-0 (Magma Metagame)
I am playing 2010 Junior Nationals Champion, Wade Stanley — I believe he is Shiloh’s (from Team Magma) little brother. I played him at Regionals last year and won because I got a critical hit on his Rotom-W with my Zapdos Thunderbolt. It was important because it was my only real threat to my Metagross he had. Anyways, after some conversation, in which he assures me he will beat me, we begin.
I see his team is based around the Team Magma metagame of Mesprit and Virizion. His full team is Mesprit, Virizion, Tyranitar, Tornadus, Volcarona, and Rotom-W. I am assuming that Shiloh gave him the team, but I can’t be sure. The game itself is fuzzy, but the main things I remember is I predict early game he will Protect with his Tyranitar in the face of my Terrakion and hit his Rotom-W, putting him in a terrible position. He also set up Trick Room with Mesprit late game while I had a Metagross and Heatran in the back that could clean him out under Trick Room. He uselessly missed a Stone Edge on my Thundurus’ Substitute. I am able to scout his Tyranitar set, learning that he carries Counter-Focus Sash. In the end since I know him, I switch out some of my Pokémon to make it a 4-0. Yes, not a very nice thing to do, but he was grumpy the whole game and the rest of the day because of the Stone Edge miss and the fact I Close Combat crit his Focus Sash Tyranitar.
At this point I’m feeling pretty confident, as I know I only need to win 1 more battle to guarantee I will make Top 8. However, it was this confidence that would really hurt me. I’ll start off by saying this next match humbled me.
Record: 4-0
Battle #5: 4-0 (Haxorus is a Big Threat)
I find out I’m playing some guy named Teddy Heinem. I see he is somewhat weak to Trick Room Cresselia, but there is that Metagross that scares me. His team has some big threats, like Garchomp, Haxorus, PorygonZ, and Terrakion. He also has a Rotom-W. The game is unfortunately hard to remember. Yes, I know. I’m sorry, I just didn’t take good notes. The battle is really hazy, but I do remember he had a good lead match up because I didn’t bring Cresselia, so he walks all over me with Garchomp and Haxorus. It ends up with his Scarfed Haxorus at Full HP vs. my Terrakion and Heatran. He uses Earthquake which brings me to my Sash and KOs Heatran. I go for Close Combat which leaves him with a little. In retrospect I should’ve pulled a Kenan and #YOLO’d with Stone Edge and hoped for a critical hit, but hindsight is 20/20. Anyways, I lose 0-1 against a Haxorus. I suck. The next pairings go up, and I get really scared when I learn I have to play…
Record: 4-1
Battle #6: 4-1 (Dat Cresselia!)
Ian McLaughlin. For those of you who don’t know, I believe Ian is Raikoo’s little brother. I see he has an incredibly solid team. He is running Cresselia, Heatran, Togekiss, Latias, Hitmontop, and Rotom-W. I know from him sitting near me that he is running a Calm Mind Cresselia. I can assume from his team that his Cresselia also runs Trick Room or some type of speed control. Same for Latias, but I’m guessing it is bulky with Recover. Anyways, I played him last year and I only won because he missed a crucial Heat Wave against my Metagross. Basically, I am unprepared for some of his Pokémon.
His Cresselia ends up also having Skill Swap and Ice Beam for a set of Skill Swap, Ice Beam, Calm Mind, and Trick Room. Weird, huh. He gets Trick Room up early and Skill Swaps the Heatran Levitate. From there I have almost no way to hit him. I get it down to low HP Cresselia and low HP-Paralyzed Heatran vs. Low HP Thundurus and Terrakion. I bank on Rock Slide flinch hax to win it. I almost do, but unfortunately I miss one Rock Slide on his Heatran, but KO his Cresselia. He brings in Hitmontop and it is good game. I almost won it with hax, but there is no honor in that. I will admit I was trying to get the ParaFlinch, but when it comes down to it I’ll do what it takes to win. I lose 0-1.
Record: 5-2
At this point I know I choked and I probably won’t make Top 8. I take the walk of shame toward Kenan and Jonathon and tell them I lost, and I only have a small chance to get Top 8. They tell me that I suck and I should get better. It is a total reality check, and I’m glad they tried to snap me out of my funk. I ask them how they are doing and they end up doing decently, with Kenan at 1-1 and JRank at 2-0. The pairings go up and I slowly approach the standings board. I close my eyes, and look at the brilliant green standings. I scan the sheet, dreading I may ride the bubble and get 9th place. I am filled with joy as I find I had ranked lucky seed 7. I return to the #seniors gang and they congratulate me and tell me I have to win it for the Team #seniors. I agree and tell them I’ll try my hardest to bring great honor upon us all. I look at 3rd place and learn I’m playing Teddy Heinem, my R5 loss.
Top 8, B2o3
Battle 1 and 2: (Comeback King)
This is the battle I remember least, but I have the general gist of it. Game 1 I lead a bluff lead with Cresselia-Thundurus while he leads Metagross-Terrakion. I knew how weak his team was now to Trick Room, so I pulled back Thundurus for Metagross. He Stone Edges my Metagross, which does very little, and Meteor Mashes my Cresselia, which does about 35%, but he gets the +1 attack boost. This is terrible for me. I Earthquake, doing massive damage to both, while he uses X-Scissor on Cresselia. Terrakion is KO’d this turn. From here on it is me making smart switches and witling down his Pokémon, trying to play around the Meteor Mash attack boost. In the end I win 2-0.
Game 2 is a much easier game. I play my cards well, making sure to use Thundurus to Paralyze his faster Pokémon, mainly Haxorus. I bring in Terrakion and Hydreigon and double KO his Rotom-W and Haxorus. I win that game 2-0.
I was so excited I had been able to win, even though he had beaten me earlier in Swiss. I had analyzed his team, played my cards right, and in the end I came up on top. The whole time Wade Stanley was playing his opponent beside me, singing a weird song about how he was sweeping his opponent with Virizion. He kept telling my opponent that he needed to beat me. It was probably because I had a good team match-up against him, and he didn’t want us to meet in Top 4/2.
I walked over to talk to Kenan and Jonathon. Kenan ended up playing his friend that Round, but was able to win because of Effect Spore early on. We started talking about how Effect Spore was one of the most rage-inducing abilities in the game. JRank tells us how he (or someone else, I forget) had achieved the wonderful 8-0 in two games. We prepare what lead I should use to have the best time against Ian. Mike Cook calls us up and asks us if we want a lunch break. He tells us the standings and who we are going to play in the Top 4. To my surprise, I am playing Wade again. I get some Chicken Strips outside of the battle room. I accidentally put on Tabasco sauce, thinking it is ketchup. Anyways, we soon get back to the Top 4 and start the battles.
Top 4, B2o3
Battle 1: (I Take Sportsmanship Seriously)
A supervisor comes over and tells us we may begin. We begin searching for each other’s DS’s, and I reach out my hand and say “Good luck.” He proceeds to slap me hand around, while the supervisor stands there open-mouthed. I say that sportsmanship is extremely important to me, and he has disrespected me. I must defeat him and bring great dishonor to his family for trying to shame me.
I know I have a good shot at this with Terrakion if I don’t let him set up Trick Room, so I lead with Terrakion-Heatran against Mesprit-Tyranitar. I know that he values that Tyranitar too much to not Protect, so I Rock Slide/Taunt the Mesprit. This turn works out wonderfully as this ends up being a dead turn for him, since he went for the Trick Room. I follow up with a Heat Wave and Close Combat the Tyranitar to take an early 4-2 lead with no damage on my Pokémon.
He brings in Virizion and Rotom-W. I double Protect to wear down his bulky Pokémon with his own Sandstorm. I switch in Hydreigon on a Rotom-W Hydro Pump coming at Heatran, and I Close Combat the Virizion, bringing it to half, while he brings my Terrakion to its Focus Sash with a Life Orb Leaf Blade. I realize if I can just let Sandstorm do work on him, I have this in the bag. I Protect with my two Pokémon and CC his Virizion while Draco Meteoring his Rotom-W. The Virizion faints and Rotom-W is within Sandstorm range. He KOs Terrakion and I win 3-0. He gets serious at this point, as I guess he figured out that I can play well while he sings weird songs and shows unsportsmanlike conduct.
Battle 2: (Power Has Left the Field)
We start the next battle, but I really don’t remember. I cruised right through the battle, cleanly winning 3-0. The only interesting thing that happened that game is the electricity went out mid-battle and he asked if we could restart the battle because he missed something. Nothing really happened, all I just KO’d one of his Pokémon. He was really just scrambling to play another game and get another chance.
Finals Battle: Ian McLaughlin
LPFan (who had gone 3-3 due to some really rotten luck)’s brother had gone 6-0 in Swiss and was still playing Ian. I was really hoping I would play Mark as I am not weak to Swagger, especially when I know what is coming. Unfortunately, Ian wins on some time stalling. Completely legal now, no hate! Honestly, whenever I’ve seen someone who is good at this Regional, I took at least 40 seconds to move, just in case. Anyways, I had had plenty of time to plan out the perfect lead to counter his team. Suddenly I realized most of the leads I had theorized earlier hadn’t been used often. I saw then that my team was really good at covering each other’s weaknesses. I could lead with almost anything. That is why I chose to lead with Hydreigon-Terrakion. Not only could I ParaFlinch to match his Togekiss, but I could cover most of his Pokémon. I knew for a fact he was running a slow, Fire Gem Eruption Heatran so Terrakion was could really do work. We are taken to the back corner of the convention center, where almost no one knew there was a finals battle taking place, and we began.
Battle 1: (INTENSITY)
Ian leads with Latias and Heatran, while I bring in my Terrakion-Hydreigon. I am incredibly glad my plan had given me an incredible lead match-up. This lead had allowed me to execute one of the biggest parts on my play style – an incredible lead match-up. I knew it still wouldn’t be an easy battle, so I began.
I took my time making my moves so I could take the match to time if it got close but I had more Pokémon left. I remember the first and last parts of the battle, but the middle is hard to remember. Turn one I use Close Combat on Heatran, which switches into a Togekiss. I risk out speeding his Latias with Hydreigon, and go with Dark Pulse. Close Combat does 50% to Togekiss and Latias takes 80%, then it Thunder Waves my Terrakion. I use Rock Slide next turn before being reduced to 30% HP, KOing both of his Pokémon at the end of the turn. I bring in Metagross to take a hit from Togekiss, which turns out to be Scarfed. He brings in Rotom-W and Heatran.
From there, I lose bits and pieces. What I do know is in the end, it comes down to Paralyzed Terrakion and Hydreigon within Life Orb range vs. a full HP Rotom-W and a Paralyzed Heatran. I KO the Rotom-W with a Draco Meteor. I Protect with Terrakion, just in case the DM hadn’t KO’d the Rotom-W. He Earth Powers the Protected Terrakion. I know that if Terrakion gets paralyzed, I lose the game. I click Close Combat, wait for him to pick his move… and I am not paralyzed! I KO him for the win on Game 1. I was happy with my performance. Now he is against the wall, and I know he will be going on the offensive.
Battle 2: (Finish Him)
The way I usually come at people in a best of 3 series was kind of messed up by the fact we had played in Swiss. Normally regardless of how well I did the previous game, I would switch to one of my top 3 lead combos. For this team, these combinations were Thundurus-Metagross/Terrakion and Cresselia-Metagross. However, I really needed to take advantage of Ian being backed up in a corner. He wouldn’t be playing defensively or safely at this point, but instead he would likely try to put offensive pressure on me early or try to gain the speed advantage. I figured I could counter this by doing the same thing as last game. I would lead with Terrakion-Hydreigon so I could do massive damage to his Pokémon early. If I had a good lead matchup I could finish the series and win the Regional.
I was so close to accomplishing my first goal of the season. My heart was pumping and I was extremely excited. I shook Ian’s hand and we selected our leads. I sent out Terrakion-Hydreigon, and he led off with Latias-Togekiss. I know there are two main sets on Togekiss: Choice Scarf and Follow Me. The Choice Scarf set basically spams Air Slash, doing heavy damage while also hoping for flinches., which will happen more often than not thanks to Serene Grace bumping the flinch rate to 60%, so I know I have to be careful. There is also the chance he led with it to prevent me from KOing his Latias early with a Rock Slide-Dark Pulse combo by using Follow Me. I decide I can’t risk losing Hydreigon this early in the game, and I Protect it while using Rock Slide with Terrakion.
It works out perfectly. Ian out speeds my Terrakion, proving it is Choice Scarfed, and goes for the Air Slash on Hydreigon. My Protect blocks it, and Rock Slide does about 30% to Latias and over 50% to the Togekiss. Latias uses Thunder Wave on Terrakion. I make the assumption that he would’ve used Psychic if he had it, so he likely runs Dragon Pulse. Next turn I hope that I don’t get flinched by Air Slash or Paralysed. RNG, don’t fail me now! I Dark Pulse the Latias, hoping to out speed and finish it off and go for the Rock Slide with Terrakion, hoping I can get the extremely crucial 4-2 lead.
He goes for the Air Slash on Terrakion, going for the extremely likely ParaFlinch. Hydreigon is able to KO Latias with Dark Pulse, bringing it to 4-3. I whisper under my breath, “No para, no flinch, no para, no flinch…” and I am surprised to see that my Terrakion is able to get off the Rock Slide to bring it to 4-2. I thank the RNG Gods for allowing me to move that turn.
He brings in a Hitmontop which Intimidates Terrakion, which is now Paralyzed and at -1, so I know it is really useless. He also brings in Heatran, making me wonder if I should keep Terrakion alive. I realize I can’t out speed anyways, so I can sack my Terrakion. I Protect with Hydreigon, wanting it alive to KO the Hitmontop. Heatran is out sped by his own Hitmontop, further telling me I can out speed it and KO with those in the back of my party. Hitmontop tries to Close Combat my Hydreigon, but obviously I Protected. Heatran KOs my Terrakion with Earth Power. I think he got a high damage roll because I wasn’t at -1 special defense, but maybe not.
Anyways, I bring in Metagross, who I expect to out speed his Heatran. I hope that my knowledge that he is low-speed Heatran pays off as I click Earthquake with Metagross to try and seal the win. I Draco Meteor the Hitmontop, but he Detects. I see Metagross move next. I am pretty much positive that Earthquake will OHKO him because I’ve seen he is using Fire Gem. His HP drops quickly to 0. I know at this point I have the win click my moves and Hydreigon OHKOs him for a decisive 3-0 victory.
Post-Tournament Shenanigans
Mike Cook grabs the microphone and announces that I had won the Houston Fall Regional, to which there was (some) applause. We received the prizes for winning, which contained a Darkrai binder, a TCG playmat, a red Victini hat, and a Championship trophy. They also tell us about the travel awards. I won a paid trip to Nationals this summer, so I guess I’ll see everyone there. They take our pictures, to which I refuse to take off my Ranger’s cap for the Victini cap. I’m sorry, but that shade of red doesn’t match my clothes. I don’t want to look too stupid in the picture. Ian sports his Play! Pokémon World Championship Finalist for 2011 hat, and they snap the picture with us holding our trophies.
I walk over and talk to Aaron who congratulates me on winning. He says he wishes his brother and I could’ve played in the finals. Anyways, I walk over to Jonathon and Kenan and they tell me I did well and they forgive me for choking in Swiss. It is getting late, and I have to leave. I say good bye to everyone I know there, and we take our bags and load up the car. I’m not going to bore you on the tedious drive, but I will tell you that Freebirds Burritos are amazing.
Conclusion
I’ve already told you why I wanted to do well at the Houston. I really want to emphasize how helpful Gavin was to me. He was always extremely nice and he helped test the team. He even built a Rain team for me to practice against. Not only that, but we played a lot with his actual Regionals team. Also big thanks should also be given to TheMantyke, Biosci, Dillon, and Cassie for supplying me Pokémon throughout the season, this and last year. They are really good people to give their Pokémon out for free. People like them are the reason people who can’t grasp how to RNG, such as myself, are able to succeed at VGC events. I’m glad I was able to build a team with Gavin that has fit my play style better than anything I have ever built before.
Special thanks also to everyone on the #seniors server for supporting me and giving me constructive criticism (also everything Gavin touches isn’t terrible, I proved it guys). I was able to start off the VGC 2013 season strong and I am proud I was able to earn at least a little respect this season. Or maybe the fact that I was able to win a Regional just shows that the Seniors division this year IS terrible. All joking aside, I had a wonderful time at Fall Regionals at Houston this year. I did my best, I have no regrets!
Article image created by ryuzaki and used with permission by Nugget Bridge. See more of ryuzaki’s artwork on deviantART.
About the Author
Talon started competing in the Pokemon Video Game Championship in 2010. He is a Houston Regional Champion and will be moving into the Masters division in 2014.
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