Reports

Published on November 22nd, 2014 | by linkyoshimario

11

A Look into the Mind of a Weirdo: My 2014 Season

Sorry for the length of this article. This report covers my entire season. If you don’t want to read the whole thing, I recommend skipping to the Nationals section and going from there.

Hey! So lets just start this by saying that this is my first year in the Masters division and my first year of actually trying for Championship Points. Last year, I was a garbage player in Seniors and I was struggling at the start of this season as well. I literally couldn’t get one win with standard teams like Mega Kangaskhan, Hydreigon, Politoed, Ludicolo, Talonflame, and Aegislash even if I tried. They just seem to not work for me. Trust me, I’ve really tried running “good stuff” but I felt that good stuff was easily countered, especially by my own ideas. People might say that I’m not original or the first to try these strategies, but I developed them on my own. The only other people that I know of that I’ll give credit to for running this kind of stuff on purpose and doing well are as follows:

  • Talkinglion – <3 Thanks for the Sawk idea, even though you originally ran Sawk to counter team me!
  • KillerOrcas – Biggest bae for weird mons. Ever.

Fall Regionals

Anyways, I started out this season in my basement with Mancuso. We were watching the 2013 World Championship on stream. I remember hating on all the common stuff because it all just kind of beat itself but, when I saw one guy running Magmar, I thought, “Whoa, he’s cool!” From then on, I wanted to emulate that guy and always considered any Pokemon for a team. My first regionals for the 2013-2014 season was the Ft. Wayne Indiana Fall Regionals, which was still using the VGC 2013 ruleset for Black and White. I had far more options than with the 2014 format and my first team looked like this:

weavile
Weavile @ Ice Gem
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Ice Punch
– Fake Out
– Night Slash
– Protect

This is the basis of the Weavile that would carry me with flying colors through the rest of the season. In this team, it was basically just an attacker and didn’t serve a complex purpose.

infernape
Infernape @ Fire Gem
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
– Heat Wave
– Fake Out
– Will-O-Wisp
– Helping Hand

Yet again, nothing special, just another Fake Out user. You can never have too much Fake Out and Helping Hand/Will-O-Wisp support is great.

hydreigon
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Dark Pulse
– Heat Wave
– Earth Power

Scarf Hydreigon is boss. I loved this thing and it was just too good not to use. The Heat Wave was for coverage and Dark Pulse was for Cresselia, as well as being a nice STAB attack that fit well with the rest of the team.

mienshao
Mienshao @ Fighting Gem
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– High Jump Kitck
– U-turn
– Fake Out
– Acrobatics

More Fake Out? Um…YES. Fake Out is god. I’m exaggerating, but Mienshao probably pulled off some of the most clutch KOs for me. From doing major damage, even on resisted hits, to almost OHKOing non-bulky Metagross. It was just beautiful.

thundurus
Thundurus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Thunder Wave
– Swagger
– Hidden Power [Ice]

Full out assault is the best option. Ever. The end.

archeops
Archeops @ Flying Gem
Ability: Defeatist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Acrobatics
– Rock Slide
– Roost
– Protect

Don’t ask. I don’t even know. This was in my box and then it was on my team. Magic!

So that’s the team. I ended up going 6-2 and bubbled at around 12th place or something, missing out of a top 8 cut. This was pretty cool to me considering I had expected to do terrible in Masters. Mancuso made cut and then lost after missing an Icy Wind on something, I think. The highlight of the tournament for me was Critting Scott Glaza’s (Scott) Cresselia with a High Jump Kick from my Mienshao when he switched it in for his Heatran. The attack put the Cresselia into KO range with U-Turn and this is what I’ll always remember about the first time I met Scott.

After this, with the introduction of the VGC 2014 format, I put away my old team and got right to work on a new team for the new format. I was really excited for the chance to use new Pokemon. Now you will get to see the weirdness that is my XY team(s).

First Winter Regionals

Before the first regionals of the new format, which was when the metagame started taking form, I was testing Shell Smash Cloyster and I was trying to figure out how I could support it and keep it on the field after stat drops. I still loved Weavile and wanted to use my old spread, but gems were not allowed anymore so I had to look for a new item. Additionally, I checked out the new egg moves in Weavile’s movepool and saw that Icicle Crash, which I had thought only Mamoswine could learn, was now available. I immediately switched Ice Punch to Icicle Crash and then my mom, who actually plays in tournaments and knows the game quite well, asks me, “Why is Fling a move? It has to be the most useless thing I’ve ever seen!” That pique my interest and I looked into the things that you could Fling and stumbled upon the King’s Rock Fling idea. It was really nice for shutting down opponents for multiple turns and supporting my other Pokemon. So, going into the first winter regionals, my team looked like this:

Fair warning: I wasn’t very good at breeding and ended up with Pokemon with less than stellar IVs, but I still performed well at the tournament. Take from that what you will.

weavile
~COVERGURRRLLL~ (Weavile) @ King’s Rock
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs:  xHP /  xDef /  xSpA /  xSpD
– Fake Out
– Fling
– Icicle Crash
– Protect

As I mentioned, Weavile had turned into more of a support Pokemon rather than an attacker and I utilized it as such.

charizard-mega-y
Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: xHP /  xAtk /  xDef /  xSpA /  xSpD
– Heat Wave
– SolarBeam
– Overheat
– Protect

Ah, Charizard where do I begin? First off, thanks to my eighth grade friends, as Charizard would have never popped into my head without them. I had loved Charizard since forever and they were like, “if you don’t use Charizard, we’re going to shame you and your family.” So, naturally I knew what had to be done. Charizard was instantly added onto my team and I loved it forever (and ever and ever). It has been a proud member of my team all season. I want to say that DeVon and I were the first people to use Overheat on Charizard way early in the season, but that’s questionable.

garchomp
Garchomp @ Leftovers
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs:  xSpA
– Substitute
– Protect
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide

Probably as close to standard as a Pokemon can get on my team.

clawitzer
Clawitzer @ Assault Vest
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: xAtk / xDef
– Aura Sphere
– Dark Pulse
– Water Pulse
– Dragon Pulse

A new Pokemon! It looked cool and I really liked the bulk and coverage.

diggersby
Diggersby @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: xSpA
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
– Return
– Brick Break

This ended up being my signature Pokemon. It was the best Pokemon I’ve ever used so far. Major thanks to Ian (KittyKatterz) for the wonderful idea. It carried me through winter regionals and was a large reason for my success. Diggersby was super fast, around 200 with the Scarf, and it had amazing coverage for its odd typing.

absol
Absol @ Focus Sash
Ability: Super Luck
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Sucker Punch
– Feint
– Swords Dance
– Psycho Cut

I’m greedy and wanted another dark type. That is all.

I ended up making top 16 and got knocked out in the first round. It was a frustrating loss because I had Diggersby locked into Rock Slide and Charizard-Y against a 1 health Mamoswine and a non-scarfed Salamence. All I needed was to nail a Heat Wave or Rock Slide on either opposing Pokemon, but instead I completely miss with both moves. Needless to say, I was disappointed and was eager to move onto the next major tournament.

Second Winter Regionals

The next winter regional was a week or so after the first one. I didn’t really change the team much, except that I swapped out Absol and added

chesnaught
Chesnaught @ Expert Belt
Ability: Bulletproof
Level: 50
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 80 Def / 80 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
– Wood Hammer
– Brick Break
– Spiky Shield
– Quick Guard

I’m not going to lie, this was totally inspired by Enosh. Talonflame was becoming a huge thing and Quick Guard was valued. For the EV spread, I decided to max the Attack and then evenly distributed the remainder into bulk.

This regionals tournament was fun and it was the second one that I made top cut. I was pretty much in shock because I thought I was a terrible player. I don’t remember the swiss rounds or the top 16 very well, but my top 8 match was against the one and only Blake Hopper (Bopper). I made a good prediction, using Brick Break on his Rotom-W slot to nail his Lucario switching in. This essentially ended the match but it was still a really close match and it opened my eyes to the competitive side of Pokemon. Up to this point, I had figured that this year would just be one where I could beat some random people before being destroyed by the great players. However, when I realized that I actually stood a chance, I was ecstatic! I remember Mancuso telling me that I was screwed when he found out that I was facing Blake Hopper and I honestly thought I would lose, but I ended up moving onto top 4.

I had absolutely no idea who my top 4 opponent was besides the fact that his name was Matt. I was wondering how good he was when we sat down and I remember complimenting his Zelda shirt. Matt replied with a “thanks” and asked if I knew who he was because of the shirt. I was like, “noooooooo…should I?” And that’s how I met mattj. But yeah, Matt won game one because of Meinshao. I took game two, partially thanks to Matt timing out and both his Meinshao and Kangaskhan using Fake out on turn three. In game three it came down to a 25% damage roll with his Zapdos and I was on the losing side of the roll. Still, I thought it was pretty cool to reach top 4 at a regionals and I had some pretty cool ideas in mind for the next tournament.

Florida Regionals

The next regional was in Florida. It may seems like a long trip, but we did it for the love of the game. I was comfortable with CP under my belt from two top 16s and a top 4 and I just wanted to see if I could get any more. I arrived at the tournament thinking that, if I fought any of my friends, I’d definitely scoop to them because they all needed CP more than I did. Thankfully, I didn’t pair against anyone I knew and went 7-2, making the top cut again.

My team for the event was mostly the same, except for a few small changes. I swapped in Swords Dance for Protect on Garchomp and Ice Beam for Dragon Pulse on Clawitzer. At the time, the only common dragons were 4x weak to ice. I decided the switch to Ice Beam would definitely be worth it since I would be able to OHKO Garchomp and Salamence. I also put Wild Charge on Diggersby in lieu of Brick Break because I wasn’t too afraid of Kangaskhan anymore. Instead, I was more afraid of Gyarados, which Wild Charge could usually handle.

The last change I made was to add a whole new Pokemon, one inspired by MattJ. Zapdos was a very awesome addition to the team because I was running the Modest Choice Specs set and it just added a whole new level of unexpected power. The moveset was a pretty easy choice, with Discharge being only moderately unorthodox. I had two ground types on the team, making Disquake a viable strategy to fall back on in some tough situations. All my Pokemon still had their garbage IVs though.

In Florida, I started off the day 0-1 because my first opponent was Stephen Morioko. I was so bummed that I was already one down and basically had given up at that point. However, my day wasn’t over yet. I fought back and ended up getting to top 16. Again, I don’t remember much about all my matches. I did remember playing against someone who was running Mega Garchomp, which I thought was cool. I only ended up winning that match due to some crazy predictions and shenanigans with Substitute on my own Garchomp and I moved on to top 4, where I got destroyed by the one and only Zach Droegkamp (zach). My team was completely obliterated by his Kangaskhan/Talonflame combination and I felt that, no matter what I did, it was  over when he led with that combination, which he did for both games. At least I got to say that I lost to the eventual winner of the whole tournament, which is cool. Last thing about this tournament, I wanted to give a huge shout out to Garrett, who had the smart idea of using Thunderwave on my Diggersby and was confused when it didn’t work. It was the main reason I was able to beat him late in the swiss rounds.

Spring Regionals

The next  regional tournament turned out to be the only spring regional that I actually attended. It was a bad and weird time in my life. I honestly can’t tell you what I was thinking when I put this team together, but here it is:

One thing I will note, however, I did manage to get Pokemon with perfect IVs this time around. Oh, and they were also shiny.

weavile
~COVER GURLL~ (Weavile) @ King’s Rock
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Fake Out
– Fling
– Icicle Crash
– Protect

Same old Weavile set. Trust me, it really doesn’t change much during the season.

vivillon
Vivillon @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Sleep Powder
– Quiver Dance
– Bug Buzz
– Hurricane

I thought this thing was good, but it ended up getting knocked out by the stupidest things, such as Choice Scarf Tyranitar.

charizard-mega-y
Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 104 HP / 252 SpA / 152 Spe
Modest Nature
– Heat Wave
– SolarBeam
– Overheat
– Protect

Again, the same Charizard set except that it is on a Pokemon with good IVs. It also boasts a new EV spread.

garchomp-mega
Garchomp @ Garchompite
Ability: Rough Skin
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Substitute
– Swords Dance
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide

I don’t know why I thought this was a good idea, I really don’t. I just slapped a mega stone on it and didn’t use it once during the whole tournament.

diggersby
Diggersby @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Huge Power
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
– Return
– Wild Charge

Same Diggersby. At this point in the season, I really thought that I would never part with this thing.

steelix
Steelix @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
– Rock Slide
– Ice Fang
– Heavy Slam
– Protect

Shout Out to Adib Alam for hooking me up with this awesome Steelix before it made a bigger splash during Nationals. It was awesome and I came back from a 3-1 with it and won that match. Did I mention that this thing was awesome?

I bubbled out of cut with a 6-2 record and ended up a little frustrated because I took a bad loss to Angel and a Choice Scarf Tyranitar. Shout out to Mancuso for going 6-0 before finishing 6-2. Thankfully, after this tournament I was still in the top 16 for CP and well on my way to a Nationals invite. However, with the recent announcement of Premier Challenges, I knew that I would have to step up my game and get some points.

US Nationals

My Nationals team went through several iterations. I put a lot of thought into creating a core of four and then looked into covering the core’s trouble match ups. Once again, the team started with Weavile, but it then moved in a different direction.

weavile
Weavile @ King’s Rock
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Fake Out
– Fling
– Icicle Crash
– Assurance

Basially the same Weavile with the exception of Assurance over Protect because I was having trouble dealing with Aegislash leads. It also combo well with Rock Slide from Sawk, having a good chance to quickly KO many Pokemon, which was really useful.

sawk
fighting intensifies (Sawk) @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Close Combat
– Double Kick
– Rock Slide
– Poison Jab

My whole team was destroyed by this Pokemon in the Dodrio Cup. I fell in love with it immediately and knew I had to use it. Sawk was present in almost every single match during Nationals. It is the best Kangaskhan counter and is just powerful overall. Double Kick was for Smeargle and Poison Jab was just for any fairy types.

charizard-mega-y
Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 104 HP / 252 SpA / 152 Spe
Modest Nature
– Heat Wave
– SolarBeam
– Substitute
– Protect

Before anyone asks, I had never seen anyone else use Substitute on Charizard prior to this and I definitely didn’t get the idea from anyone else. I got the idea when I noticed that player frequently double Protected against me. Substitute was awesome at Nationals, I managed to set it up against Andy’s (Amarillo) Smeargle before he went for the Dark Void, which essentially won me game 3. It also helped that I got 13 burns off Heat Wave during my day two best-of-three matches. I distinctly remember bringing an Aegislash down to low red health, its Weakness Policy activating, and then it fainting to burn damage on the same turn.

espeon
Espeon @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Psychic
– Shadow Ball
– Calm Mind
– Protect

A few days before Regionals, I realized that I needed a good counter to Mega Venusaur. Espeon’s Magic Bounce ability would bounce back the Sleep Powder and would let me set up or proceed to KO the threat. It was also very handy against Sableyes that tried to Taunt me, as it bounced back to them and rendered their Prankster ability useless. Espeon also did a lot of big damage after one Calm Mind. It could survive a Shadow Ball from Aegislash 100% of the time and then KO it in return with my own Shadow Ball and still have enough HP to survive the Life Orb damage.

gigalith
Gigalith @ Weakness Policy

Ability: Sturdy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Atk / 44 Def
Brave Nature
– Rock Slide
– Earthquake
– Wide Guard
– Protect

Originally, the last 2 Pokemons chosen for the team didn’t have any special synergy with the rest of the team. I had picked them for one job and they did it. Ironically, I ended up bringing them in just as much or even more than the original core.The only reason I considered Gigalith is that I knew that I needed a Wide Guard user and he was one of the Pokemon on the list that I had no idea could learn Wide Guard. I suspected that most of my opponents would also be caught off guard by this. Weakness Policy was a good way to abuse Gigalith’s Sturdy ability and add some extra damage. The EVs simply boosted the Attack stat up to an even 200 and the rest were tossed into Defence.

heliolisk
Heliolisk @ Choice Specs
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Volt Switch
– Focus Blast
– Dark Pulse

Ahhhhh, Heliolisk! This wonderful Pokemon caught almost everyone off guard. It was the most wonderful, random last minute addition to my team that I could have ever picked. I was thinking, “Oh Solar Power Heliolisk would be great in sun!”  Thus, I played with it on Showdown the night before registration and really liked it. However, as I was waiting in line for registration, I realized that I didn’t have one with the right ability. So, down the drain went the plans for a Life Orb Solar Power Heliolisk. I decided to totally scrap the idea with minutes left before I had to lock my battle box. Nothing else I looked at fit in the team and time was running out. So, instead, I just took the Dry Skin Heliolisk, slapped Choice Specs onto it, taught it Focus Blast and, I’m sure you all know now how amazing it ended up being. I probably used Focus Blast more than Thunderbolt. Anyways, Heliolisk was an amazing answer to the ever growing use of rain, Azumarill, and Tyranitar. Additionally, Dark Pulse had a chance to pick up a KO on Mega Gengars, which I was having trouble with a week prior.

Going into Nationals, I wasn’t even expecting to do well. I thought it would just be like every other year where I would end up making it to Nationals and then suck a lot and go 5-4. But starting the day off with a round one bye wasn’t too bad. Going into my actual first match as a 1-0 who hadn’t even played a match yet was really nerve racking. I knew almost everyone had already played a match and were warmed up. Of course, the night before Nationals, I was with Mancuso and friends, which happened to include Greyson (Greysong). Greyson was my first actual opponent. He led with the only things that beat my team in form of Kangaskhan and Talonflame, but I had a way to beat that now with Gigalith. As I go for the Rock Slide, I was shocked to see the Talonflame survive thanks to Focus Sash. That basically won him the match right there. Now I was 1-1. I was hard on myself, thinking that I didn’t stand a chance against anyone “good”. I got super depressed about my run after that, but cheered up a bit after playing against some really cool people. My opponents ran things like Electrode and Poliwrath, which inspired me to do better and I ended up making it to day 2 with an 8-1 record. Shout out to Mancuso for having an awesome record as well, but still missing cut.

After round 9, a Pokemon official comes up to me and asks if I would like to be featured on the website. I wanted to keep my team a secret and made sure that it would not be up that night, to which he responded, “Why would it go up tonight? That’s stupid!” Well guess what. They put my team up that night anyway. I still had to play the next day and my whole team, including items, moves, and everything was out there. Long story short, I requested for it to be taken down within the hour it was put up.

On day 2, my first match was against Huy. He had a really cool Trick Room team with Audino and stuff, but I ended up beating him 2-0 thanks to the Icicle Crash that was targeting his Rotom-W hitting Hydreigon on the switch in and getting the free KO. After that, I fought Adib. It was a really close match that I could have won if I wasn’t an idiot. I locked myself into Rock Slide when I should have gone for close combat. Game 3 ended with Sawk locked into Rock Slide against a Tyranitar locked into Rock Tomb, which took forever but he eventually won.

Later on, I fought Andy Himes (Amarillo) who, in all respect, definitely deserved the win but I was on a blind rampage and didn’t care at the time (sorry!). We were the featured stream match and I remembered that we drew so many people to the TV that they filled up the whole side passageway where we were playing and more people couldn’t even get in to watch. He told me that he was only pulling Smeargle because the crowd wanted him to and I really played differently because of that. I ended up getting a Heat Wave burn on his Kangaskhan in 2 of our 3 games and my Charizard at the time was actually EV’d to speed tie with Smeargle instead outspeeding it. Thus, in game 3, it came down to whether or not I could out speed Smeargle and set up a Substitute before he could get off a Dark Void. Luckily, I won the speed tie and it was game from there because he couldn’t touch me.

I don’t remember my next two matches too much but, as you all probably know, I ended up fighting Simon Yip on the big screen in my last match. This match was huge because it decided who moved onto top 8 and who got top 16. I finished at a cool 11th place, ensuring me a worlds invite thanks to the CP earned. This was pretty cool considering it was my first year in Masters and first year really playing competitively.

Worlds

This team is so last minute it makes me want to cry. Ok, lets start with some back story. Originally, the team going into Worlds was going to be Weavile, Sawk, Charizard Y, Aggron, Gengar, Talonflame. I was using the same spreads that I had used at nationals, but the Aggron carried Weakness Policy and the Gengar and Talonflame were standard. By now, you should know that I’m not about that life. Each Pokemon has a story of how they got from what they were originally to what they were going in to Worlds.

weavile
~COVER<3GURL~ (Weavile) @ King’s Rock
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Fake Out
– Fling
– Icicle Crash
– Feint

Oh god, you don’t know stress until you’re breeding a Weavile the night before registration (that’s early the next morning). It was around midnight and I was in a friend’s room when I complained that Weavile really didn’t have any good move for the 4th slot. I began looking into it and saw that Weavile could learn Feint as an egg move. I freaked out and rapidly started breeding so that I could use Feint Weavile the next day in the tournament. I’m glad to say that it was the best decision I had ever made. People liked to double protect against me to try and make me waste my Fake Out, making Feint a great option. It greatly helped me in game one against Timo. He double protected with his Mega-Manectric and Gothitelle and I used Feint on his Manecrtic and fired off a Heat Wave that almost knocked it out. It was definitely game changing and I most likely would have lost without it in a couple of my matches.

sawk
fighting intensifies (Sawk) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Inner Focus
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Close Combat
– Stone Edge
– Rock Slide
– Low Sweep

Next was Sawk. A day or two before the event, I heard rain was still slightly popular and that all the Japanese players were using Mega Tyranitar or Mega Aerodactyl. So, instead of keeping Poison Jab or Double Kick, I went to a more useful option in my opinion. Low kick helped my rain match up because I would lower the speed of the any Swift Swim users, setting up for a KO with something in the back. Even though I didn’t battle any Mega Aerodactyl, Stone Edge was still great for dishing out a good amount more damage than Rock Slide when I needed more damage.

charizard-mega-y
Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 220 HP / 44 Def / 84 SpA / 4 SpD / 156 Spe
Modest Nature
– Heat Wave
– SolarBeam
– Substitute
– Protect

This is the only Pokemon that didn’t change.

gengar
Gengar @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 76 SpA / 20 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 4 Atk / 30 Def / 5 Spe
– Shadow Ball
– Sludge Bomb
– Focus Blast
– Hidden Power [Ice]

This was fun and, surprisingly, I wasn’t the only one who thought bulky Gengar was a good idea *cough cough* senior world champ *cough cough*. The bulk took a 252+ Brave Bird from Talonflame using Choice Band plus one turn in sand and it also survived Sucker Punch from some Kangaskhan and Mawile builds. It was beautiful. I knew that I had to keep running Focus Blast after having success with it on Heliolisk. The Hidden Power ice was a pain to get, I had someone try for weeks to get it and eventually they got it, but with 4 Speed IVs. Thankfully, I wasn’t trying to out speed anything anyways.

Overall, the damage output was amazing and the bulk that it also had was amazing. Here’s an example of what I mean:

  • 220+ SpA Politoed Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Gengar in Rain: 144-171 (86.2 – 102.3%) — 12.5% chance to OHKO.

This saved me in game 6 against Alex Oglaza. Needless to say, I was really impressed by the bulk.

aggron
Aggron @ Assault Vest
Ability: Rock Head
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Atk / 28 Def / 4 SpA / 28 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Rock Tomb
– Iron Head
– Head Smash
– Fire Blast

Well, this was interesting conceptualizing. This originally started as a joke, a non-serious way to beat Talonflame, but in the end it really had more power than anticipated. I loved this so much as a concept, but I ended up only bringing Aggron into two of my matches. Here are some calcs to show you the power.

Defensive side:

  • 252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 28 Def Aggron: 156-184 (88.1 – 103.9%) — 25% chance to OHKO
  • 232+ SpA Rotom-H Overheat vs. 252 HP / 28 SpD Assault Vest Aggron in Sun: 148-175 (83.6 – 98.8%) — guaranteed 2HKO
  • 252 SpA Politoed Scald vs. 252 HP / 28 SpD Assault Vest Aggron in Rain: 152-182 (85.8 – 102.8%) — 12.5% chance to OHKO

Offensive side:

  • 196+ Atk Aggron Head Smash vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Politoed: 153-180 (92.1 – 108.4%) — 50% chance to OHKO
  • -1 196+ Atk Aggron Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Gyarados: 192-228 (95 – 112.8%) — 68.8% chance to OHKO
  • 196+ Atk Aggron Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 220+ Def Zapdos: 198-234 (100.5 – 118.7%) — guaranteed OHKO

And remember, no recoil damage thanks to the Rock Head ability!

staraptor
Staraptor @ Choice Band
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Brave Bird
– Double-Edge
– Close Combat
– U-turn

  • There is no amount of thanks to my friend for giving me this beautiful idea. Words cannot describe the perfection. Let me show you some damage calculations that will make you cry rainbows of happiness:
    252 Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Rotom-H: 157-186 (100 – 118.4%) — guaranteed OHKO
  • 252 Atk Choice Band Staraptor Close Combat vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Kangaskhan: 194-230 (107.1 – 127%) — guaranteed OHKO
  • 252 Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 220 HP / 44 Def Mega Charizard Y: 202-238 (111.6 – 131.4%) — guaranteed OHKO
  • 252 Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 180-213 (98.3 – 116.3%) — 93.8% chance to OHKO

Just is just a small portion of all the relevant calcs, but going into them would take too long and this report should have been done a month ago.

In the end, I finished Worlds at 4-2. It wasn’t too shabby for my first year in Masters. Here’s a quick summary of my swiss round matches:

Round 1 vs Timo Koppetsch (37TimoK1)

Coincidentally, the day before the swiss rounds my friend Adit (LithiumAcid) was telling me how much he loved Timo’s rain team and he actually had a copy of it, so I kind of had an advantage going into this match. Just having team knowledge in general was good. For example, I did know his Mega Manectric was bulky, which lessened some confusion when it required so many hits to go down.

His team was:

  • Politoed
  • Kingdra
  • Manectric
  • Gothitelle
  • Escavalier
  • Amoongus

I’m not going to say anything about the moveset, just in case Timo wanted some to maintain some secrecy. The match was definitely very good and very close, coming down to the last turn. In game one, he leads Mega Manectric and Gothitelle and I lead Weavile and Charizard. It was obvious that he was going to double protect and usually I would be unable to do anything about it. However, having recently added Feint to my Weavile, I proceeded to Feint the Manectric and fire off a Heat Wave that put it in range for a second Feint to KO it. Removing such a big threat so quickly basically decided the game. He did manage to get Trick Room up, but it was ill-timed since he was forced to bring out his Kindra out in rain and in Trick Room.

In game two he made the same leads and I’m not quite sure what he did (my notes are bad), but he had Politoed and Kingdra in the back and Charizard had been knocked out, so the duo just destroyed my team. In game 3, I was so nervous about losing my first round at worlds. I knew I really had to step it up to win. Timo used the exact same leads with the exact same two in the back and it looked like his game, but eventually I knocked out his Manectric with a bunch of Heat Waves in the rain and it came down to a full health bulky Politoed and my Staraptor. We both thought it was his win but, after I clicked the button for Double Edge, that beautiful bird charged full force at the Politoed it ended up doing enough damage to OHKO and win me the game. It was an intense first match, but I was up 1-0.

Round 2 vs Jeudy Azzarelli (SoulSurvivor)

No words can be said about how upset I was to fight someone I knew. Jeudy had been really good this season, especially since Nationals, and I feared his team a lot. It also didn’t help that I made the worst possible plays ever. I don’t think it mattered too much in the end though, as he had a really good team match up and the games were pretty straightforward and not really that interesting. And I’m sure you all already know his team since he was runner-up and all. Now I was 1-1.

Round 3 vs Florian Wurdack (DaFlo)

I’m sorry to say that the only word to describe this match is “destruction”. There was really nothing he could do to stand up to my Staraptor. I beat him 2-1 the first game and 4-0 the second game.

His team was:

  • Hydreigon
  • Lucario
  • Venusaur
  • Gengar
  • Azumaraill
  • Rotom-W

Seemed pretty Talonflame weak aside from the Rotom-W, which Staraptor had a way of OHKOing. Once it was defeated, the game was basically mine, but I was still surprised to 4-0 him the second game. Still, it was a really fun set and my record was now 2-1.

Round 4 vs Namanja Sandic (Porengan)

I’m still kind of salty about this match even though there isn’t too much that I can complain about. The first game I should’ve won. It came down to Aggron vs his Mega Tyranitar and Smeargle choice locked into Dark Void. I attacked the Smeargle instead of the low health Tyranitar, which was my own stupid mistake. Before that, a Flare Blitz critical hit on my Aggron put it into a health range where two Crunch from Tyranitar could finish me. Sure enough, he used Crunch on the turn I knocked out the Smeargle and then outsped me to take game one. I had figured that it wouldn’t be too hard to come back, considering how close game one was, but then he proceeds to critical hit and burn my Aggron in game two with the same Flare Blitz doing at least 50% to my bulky monster again. That basically lost the game for me, but I knew it wasn’t the fault of my team. Now I was 2-2.

Round 5 vs Michael W.

This was the cool Australian with the Rotom-F. I’m not sure if he has a Nugget Bridge account, but I absolutely loved his team. It was really creative and I loved the fact that I encountered it at Worlds.

His team was:

  • Gyarados
  • Rotom-F
  • Nidoqueen
  • Ferrothorn
  • Lapras
  • Tyranitar

Even after seeing his battle on the big screen the match before, the only thing I knew about his team was that the Gyarados was the mega. Our match was the cleanest one I had ever played. There was not an instance of hax from either side of the field and it was just really fun to play. I won game one, he won game 2, and then I took game 3 and the match, putting me now at 3-2

R6:VS Alex Oglaza (Evan Falco) I was so upset when I saw this pairing. I was certain that I would end the day 3-3. I knew he had a rain team and I still didn’t have a really good answer to rain and he knew that.

His team was:

  • Ludicolo
  • Politoed
  • Aegislash
  • Hydriegon
  • Kangaskhan
  • Zapdos

I knew he had Mega Kangaskhan, but I was super sure he wouldn’t bring it in because of my Sawk threat, so I actually never even bothered to bring Sawk due to its minimal use in other situations. Amazingly, at the start of game 1, he leads Politoed/Ludicolo and I lead Weavile/Gengar. I knew he was going to Fake Out my Weavile and most likely Scald or Hydro Pump my Gengar. I had minimal Special Defense investment on Gengar, so I was certain that it would be a OHKO. I was surprised that my Gengar survived with 17 hp to spare after taking a Hydro Pump to the face. Since Gengar survive, it fired off a Specs Sludge Bomb that OHKOs the Luidcolo thanks to fact it wasn’t carrying Assault Vest. Game 2 started with the same leads, but this time he got the damage roll he needed and picked up the KO on my Gengar , which won him the game. In game 3 however, the damage roll was a null issue because Hydro Pump missed and I got the crucial KO for the momentum and the game. With this win, I was 4-2 and was hoping to cut, but I knew it was really a long stretch.

After a long day of playing and stressing out about every single decision, it still ended up being one of the best days of my life. I ended up placing 13th in the World, which was pretty cool for my first year in Masters. Going into this tournament I had so many people rooting against me. Rumor was that, if I managed to get a positive record at Worlds, people would stop giving me flack for my teams and finally acknowledge me as a decent player. Hopefully that’s true, since I got the positive record!

There weren’t only haters however, there were also people that had backed me the whole season and were friends with me before anyone thought I would have a chance to get anywhere. So, shout outs to them and wherever it’s due. It’s been a long report, so I’ll just wrap it up here. Thanks for reading!


About the Author



11 Responses to A Look into the Mind of a Weirdo: My 2014 Season

  1. LithiumAcid says:

    Ashton ILY <3

    In all seriousness congratulations on an amazing season. Meeting you and Mancuso at Florida Regionals was wonderful, and I'm so glad I was able to stay with you guys at Worlds.

    I'm really glad David and I convinced you to use Staraptor instead of running Swagger Talonflame like you intended.

  2. LightCore says:

    Congratulations on your amazing season. You used so many pokemon that were unorthodox or even just “bad.” But some of your ideas were actually semi-metagame defining. Sawk and Weavile are things I have sense seen all season, and you got me in a lot of hot water when my friend found out that you were running Aggron. I had told him Aggron was bad several times, and he hasn’t let me hear the last of it since. Amazing season, and you are definetly a worlds caliber player and I cant wait to see what you do next season.

  3. Scrappy says:

    Big fan of all the teams, congratulations on a great season Ashton

  4. Zlatant says:

    Finally someone who understand the clearly superiority of Fake Out in Pokémon
     
    I have followed your teams since i hear about some crazy guy running Sawk, Absols and Gigalith. Great Creativity, Congratulations!!

  5. JHufself says:

    It’s great to finally get a peek inside that wonderful mind of yours Ashton. It’s still surprising to me that this is your first year in the Masters Division! It’s clear to me that your ideas surpass the definition of gimmick, a term that I’d like to call “gimmick”-breaker would better serve the type of teams you run. Your report actually reminds me of how I used to play not too long ago… but with better results. Let’s keep on keeping on with the weird stuffs! If we ever run into each other in battle, it sure will be interesting to see the outcome.

  6. Anghelo says:

    Well done dude, you really surprised me when you used Absol on your team due it’s my favourite Pokémon from all generations. I’ve been trying to find out the best way to use it on VGC and I won’t give up until find it. And I’m pretty sure you did your best on Worlds.

  7. pball0010 says:

    >misses like 50 focus blasts at penn state premier challenge
    >still uses it at nationals

    It’s a good thing you don’t learn your lessons or that amazing moment v Simon would’ve never happened.

    Glad to cheer ya on cause (and probably sounds super cheesy) but I see you like a little brother in the greater nugget bridge family and it was cool to see you find success despite the criticism that came to you during the season. ily bro and you’d probably say:

    Gjgjgjgjgjgjgjgjgj

    But seriously: t16 worlds isn’t too shabby

  8. Serapis says:

    You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this. Awesome article. I really love your playstyle and the fact that you play with what you want to play with. Some people get to hung up on the meta and forget to have fun. I’ll probably expand this comment later, but I’ve been up for about 20 straight hours and I’m starting to see things that aren’t there.

  9. BlitznBurst says:

    No credit for Staraptor? I see you…

  10. Thank Swalot says:

    When i first met you, i thought you wouldn’t do that well at tournaments, AND THEN THIS HAPPENED, lol anyway, glad that you were my friend and I’m glad you did well at the tournaments

  11. SublimeInterface says:

    Officially my favorite VGC player

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