Maintain Weather as Rain to be Fame: Nintendo Korea Battle Runner Up
Hi everyone, my name is Keewan Bae. I think some of you guys probably remember my ridiculous Heatran Explosion Team during the first Korea vs US International Friendly. Last August 11th I was the runner up at the Nintendo Korea Battle Cup so I decided to write this article about the team I used for the tournament.
What is Nintendo Korea Battle Cup?
Nintendo Korea Battle Cup was an offline battle competition held by Nintendo Korea. The rule was same as VGC ’13 except Dark Void was allowed. However, many people didn’t know about this. I only saw one person who actually used Dark Void. There were 48 participants and we had swiss rounds which led to a Top 8 cut.
The Results
Team-Building Process
Since January Ihad wanted to build the perfect Rain Team. I failed to build the perfect team but I decided to use it anyway for the time being. At first, the core members of this team were Thundurus-T, Politoed, Kingdra, and Scizor. After that, I added Choice Scarf Mamoswine because the Choice Scarf Mamoswine can easily OHKO the troublesome Thundurus and this worked out really successfully! I didn’t just work for Thundurus as it could also OHKO Latios, Breloom, and Amoongus.
However, Mamoswine got quite workk when it faced Steel Gem Scizor. Because of this, I gave enough EVs to its defense to most likely endure Scizor’s Steel Gem boosted Bullet Punch. Additionally, I chose Hidden Power Fire Latios to burn Scizor and so, the team was completed.
The Team
Mamoswine @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 156 HP / 52 Atk / 100 Def / 4 SDef / 196 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Icicle Crash
– Icicle Spear
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
From my experience, Mamoswine is the one of the greatest Pokémon to use against Thundurus and it also has effective moves for many rain team counters as Latios, Breloom, and Amoongus. Mamoswine also has great synergy with rain team members and Latios so, I decided to use this awesome sweeper. Mamoswine can OHKO Thundurus and break through Breloom with Icicle Spear. (It needs to hit more than 3 times). It can even delete Volcarona with Rock Slide!
The Meanings for the EVs
- Bulk: To endure a 252 Attack Adamant Scizor’s Steel Gem Bullet Punch more than 87.5% of the time.
- Attack: To KO 252 HP Thundurus with its Icicle Crash.
- Speed: Faster Than Choice Scarf Tyranitar.
Latios @ Focus Sash
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Def / 248 SAtk / 4 SDef / 248 Spd
Timid Nature
– Magic Coat -> Hidden Power [Fire]
– Draco Meteor
– Protect
– Psyshock
Latios was essential for this team because the other members were weak to fighting type Pokémon. In my opinion, Latios is the best Pokemon to pair with Mamoswine because they cover each other’s weak points well. I chose Hidden Power Fire to break Scizor, the largest threat for Mamoswine. I gave Focus Sash to Latios to be strong in mirror matches against other Rain teams.
Politoed @ Iron Ball
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 40 SAtk / 156 SDef
IVs: 0 Spd
Sassy Nature
– Scald
– Ice Beam
– Encore
– Helping Hand
I used this type of Politoed because I built the Rain + Tailwind team which was used by Yu Bin Park. Iron Ball is one of the most appropriate items for Politoed. It has Encore Instead of Protect to Counter Trick Room teams because my team is weak to them. However, the main reason I used this Iron Ball Politoed was to maintain rainy weather when playing against Tyranitar and Abomasnow. Politoed’s role was crucial and lacked Protect, so I gave EVs to make it as bulky as possible.
However, I thought putting all the EVs in bulk was not a good decision. Sometimes, it couldn’t break Kingdra’s Substitute with its Ice Beam. So in the end, I gave some EVs to Its Special Attack to break opposing Kingdras’ substitutes.
Kingdra @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
– Protect
– Substitute
– Muddy Water
– Draco Meteor
I think I don’t have to explain much about this Kingdra. To OHKO Tyranitar without Helping Hand support in the rain, I had to maximize its Special Attack. Along with Politoed, Kingdra was my most picked Pokémon during the competition. Needless to say, Kingdra was a sweeper. Most of the less bulky Pokémon were knocked out by Helping Hand + Life Orb Modest STAB Muddy Water. Even though there’s some accuracy problem with Kingdra’s moves, Kingdra is really a magnificent Pokémon.
Thundurus -T @ Choice Specs
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 96 SAtk / 48 SDef / 112 Spd
Modest Nature
– Thunder
– Thunder Bolt
– Grass Knot
– Hidden Power [Flying]
Thundurus-T is the most fitting electric type Pokémon in my Rain Team. It’s an awesome sweeper and sponge for electric attacks at the same time. I used to use Super Bulky Thundurus which can endure Dragon Gem Timid Latios’s Draco Meteor, but the EV spread for that was quite weak to Breloom and made it hard to OHKO Rotom-W with its Thunder. So because of that, I compromised the EV spread to one that could endure Modest Kingdra’s Life Orb Draco Meteor and KO Gastrodon with its Grass Knot and Scrafty with its Hidden Power Flying. It was also critical for Amoongus. It also can OHKO a lot of Pokémon such as Scizor, Metagross, the ever annoying Suicune, and Kingdra with Thunder.
Scizor @Steel Gem
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Atk / 140 SDef
Adamant Nature
– Swords Dance
– Protect
– Bug Bite
– Bullet Punch
Scizor is my team’s only answr to Cresselia and Iron Ball Tyranitar. The EV spread is meant to endure Helping Hand supported Ground Gem Earth Power from Gastrodon which is very popular in Korea and Japan. Although I gave it only 116 EVs in Attack, it is still a great sweeper. I originally used Choice Band Scizor instead of this, but since that Scizor was flinched and fainted by Garchomp’s Rock Slide at the 2013 Korea National Championships, I started to use this Swords Dance Scizor. Even though it can’t KO Heatran with Superpower, one Swords Dance and Steel Gem Bullet Punch allows Scizor to destroy most Pokémon except the ones resistant to steel. With Helping Hand, it was easy to OHKO Tyranitar with Steel Gem Bullet Punch.
The Tournament
I am sorry but I can’t remember all of my Swiss rounds 
The following report is from Quarter Finals to Finals.
The Quarter Final: Jinwoo Lee (Orin)
Orin was my opponent at Nationals in Seoul and I hate his Garchomp. In this battle my Scizor was hit by a critical hit Rock Slide and his Garchomp avoided Scizor’s Bug Bite. However, my Thundurus-T avoided his Garchomp’s Rock Slide luckily and it OHKOed his Scizor with Thunder. That’s how I won 
!
Result: Win
Semi Final: Roo Yoon
I helped him build his Sand Trick Room team so, I knew a good amount about his team. However, his Dusclops’ Skill Swap was really unpredictable. There were some unlucky moments in the second round but in the third round I was able to overcome it with Scizor’s Swords Dance Bullet Punch.
Result : Win – Lose – Win
Finasl: Ji Hoon Park (FrogSoy)
I have videos of the finals so you can see this:
Result: Win – Lose – Lose
Thanks for reading this report and I am sorry for the scarcity in my vocabulary.
Article image created by feathers for Nugget Bridge. View more of her artwork on her tumblr or Nugget Bridge forums thread.
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One Response to Maintain Weather as Rain to be Fame: Nintendo Korea Battle Runner Up
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So you,re the guy with the mamoswine on his rain team that everyone has copied as of late…regardless nice team. Wish you remembered your Swiss rounds but oh well.