Reports

Published on July 18th, 2015 | by Jhoqk

41

Mega Absol Brings a Disaster! A Seattle Top Cut Report

Hello, My name is Jake Hwang-Twigg, although I’m known as Jake HT or Jhoqk mostly. I have been playing Pokemon competitively since 2009, where I finished in 5th place at my first regional, and have been hooked ever since. My first real accomplishment was in 2012, where I ended up winning the Oregon Regional in Salem, got to travel to Nationals, where I finished in 35th place. I came back the next year in Salem for another regional win, but I ended at 64th in nationals that year, which was a bit of a letdown for me.

Fast forward to 2014, my first year in the Masters division, I ended with a 3-5 record at the Salem regional, and 6-2 at the Seattle one. I had really hoped to transition smoothly into the Masters division, but that simply isn’t what happened. I really wanted to step up my game in 2015, as I knew I could do better than I had in 2014.

With that in mind, I put more effort into the game than in 2014, and did what I did best; making a team based around an uncommon or underused Pokemon. This year, I started with Mega Absol, and with that in mind, I built my team around it, and this was what I came up with.

The Team Building Process

The team started out with Mega Absol, whose set I still hadn’t decided on. I just knew I wanted to use it, and I make the best teams when I have a goal from the very start.

With an amazing 1/6th of my team (somewhat) done, I looked for inspiration for the rest of my team. It came from two of my friends, who has been running Sableye for the longest time. It provides Fake Out support, Will-o-Wisp, and Foul Play as a source of damage for a support. So I went with it to try and test it out. In the end, I loved it, and it became a permanent addition to my team.

With double Dark-types, I knew that I needed something with Wide Guard to protect me from Sylveon and Gardevoir, along with a Steel type to either wall or knock out any fairies I might see. I added Swampert for its amazing coverage and Wide Guard, and Heatran for the Steel type, as it takes almost no damage from the loudmouths of the metagame. I also usually like to have solid switch options and a bulky team, so I chose those as my next two.

From here, I didn’t have much to beat rain or defensive teams. I ended up adding Mega Venusaur, as it beat rain, as well as making defensive teams struggle to break through it. Heatran was not working out for me, so I needed to find something else to replace it with. Excadrill provided the Steel typing I was looking for, as well as being able to offensively pressure Fairy types.

With my team nearly complete, I still had a few important choices to make. I still had not decided on what to run on my Absol, and with a team based around it, it is somewhat important. I had a rough idea of what I was going to do, but it wasn’t solidified. The other big choice was figuring out what to run in my last team spot. I ended up trying so many other pokemon, from Blaziken to Lapras, Clefable to Virizion, I couldn’t find something that fit well. About a week before the tournament, I knew what I wanted, but hadn’t been able to find it. I wanted a pokemon with Helping Hand, to pick up KOs the rest of my team couldn’t get, and a Fire type to complete my Fire/Water/Grass core. I looked, and I found Arcanine, who I tested and immediately liked. So with that, I had my finished team!

The Team

CryWolf (Absol) @ Absolite
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 148 Def / 124 SpA / 236 Spe
Naive Nature
– Foul Play
– Ice Beam
– Superpower
– Protect

(Used in 1/10 games)

“Once I was afraid I’d find you, your patient trembling eyes would unwind me, and all I’ve become”

I can already hear it through the internet, and I can explain. When I was looking over my team, I was relying on Venusaur to beat defensive teams, and Absol to beat offensive ones. I also wanted Absol to cover for Venusaur’s weaknesses, which were Mega-Metagross and Mega-Salamence. Metagross was easy, as I had a natural typing advantage, but no Dark type attack would OHKO, so I would have to settle with a 2HKO. Of my options, I liked Foul Play the most; it let me invest in other stats, while still doing good damage to other physical threats. For M-Salamence, I chose Ice Beam, as M-Absol has a usable Base Special Attack stat of 115, so I wouldn’t have to invest too much into it to have it KO Salamence. For my last spot, it was a choice of Flamethrower to hit Steel-types (mostly Aegislash), or Superpower, to hit Heatran primarily. I chose Superpower as it allowed me to hit Heatran as well as being able to pressure M-Kangaskhan and Terrakion.

The EV spread is something I worked carefully to balance. The offensive EVs allow me to one-shot M-Salamence, and have 50% chance to OHKO Lightcore’s bulky Salamence. It also guarantees a clean knock-out on Landorus-T, which is nice. I can 2HKO M-Kangaskhan, with Foul Play followed by Superpower, or OHKO with Superpower and Helping Hand assistance. Defensively, I can take a M-Metagross Iron Head, Landorus-T U-Turn, an intimidated M-Salamence return, and a damage roll on M-Kangaskhan Low Kick, where I survive 72% of the time. It also allows for general physical bulk, which helped in testing. I ran enough speed to outspeed M-Lucario, which I didn’t think would be popular, but better safe than sorry.

M-Absol was one of those things that works well in theory, decent in testing, then when it gets to the main event it flops. I only got to use it once in the main event, and I ended up losing that game due to a low damage roll. Was definitely fun though. And here is your disclaimer, don’t just throw this set onto your team and expect it to work. In fact, don’t use M-Absol unless you have a VERY specific purpose for it, as it takes a lot of support and doesn’t really fit anywhere in this metagame.

As for the nickname, I was reading Zog’s articles from last year, and fell in love with the idea of nicknaming my pokemon after songs. Sorry! But Absol’s nickname isn’t after a song, but a producer, and I felt that it fit. Quote is from one of his releases, titled “Angels”, as I would need a miracle for this to work out well.

DISCOnnected (Sableye) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 212 SpD
Careful Nature
– Will-O-Wisp
– Foul Play
– Fake Out
– Quash

(Used in 10/10 games)

“D-d-d-d-d-DISCONNECTED!”

Part of the original core, I knew generally what I wanted to run on Sableye. Fake Out, since I love the pressure it brings, Will-O-Wisp to burn opposing physical attackers, and Foul Play to be able to do something when I’m Taunted. The last moveslot is something I had played around with, and I decided to run Quash. It allowed me to have a form of pseudo Speed control, so Absol could “outspeed” Salamence, and other members could also take advantage of this. It allowed my medium speed team to tear apart faster ones, and is definitely a great addition to this team. It was always useful to this team, which is why I brought it to every single battle in the tournament, and I never regretted the decision.

A lot of people asked me in testing why I didn’t run Taunt on Sableye. I feel like while Taunt is good, and definitely has its place on SOME Sableye’s, I feel that it wasn’t necessary on mine. The only thing it really helped with was Trick Room, which I felt I already had a decent matchup with. It helped neutralize other support pokemon, but I felt that it wasn’t enough of a reason to run it. The utility of Quash had a higher priority over Taunt.

The EV spread is simple, it gave a bit more Physical bulk, and let me survive attacks. I can’t remember what specifically, but it let me live some notable hits. I would have added more physical bulk to live more attacks, as I can’t survive a positive-nature M-Salamence Return, so I would go back and calc for that. Otherwise, the EV spread is very simple, nothing much to explain.

Sableye is named after this specific song because I can see Sableye being one of those people going absolutely ham at a rave, and this song fits that pretty well. It also is somewhat twitchy, also like Sableye, plus Sableye lives in a cave for crying out loud, how much more Disconnected from society could you get?

CityOfDreams (Swampert) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Torrent
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 228 SpA / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
– Earth Power
– Ice Beam
– Scald
– Wide Guard

(Used in 8/10 battles)

“Everything seems like a City of Dreams, I never know why, but I still miss you”

I really wish I had some imaginative, spark of creativity here. Something to rival my Scarf Amoonguss from 2012, or the full Special Garchomp I was running earlier this season. Nope. Same old Swampert set that everyone has ingrained into their mind by now. Thanks to CT MikotoMisaka for creating this set, it’s truly a wonderful, amazing thing.

As for the purpose of Swampert on this team, it provides Wide Guard support to protect Sableye and Absol from any fairies who have the need to yell incredibly loud. It also protects from general spread moves, which I believe is a must in this metagame where Rock Slide, Earthquake, Heatwave, and Hyper Voice are commonplace. Swampert also gave me a way of beating the infamous double-genie lead, which I despise with my whole being. And in addition to being a fantastic addition to the team support wise, it also strengthened various match-ups, such as, but not limited to, those against Aegislash, Heatran, Terrakion, Salamence, Metagross, and so many other match-ups. This is compounded by Sableye’s Quash, so I can “outspeed” those pokemon, and OHKO them. This surprised some people, and is definitely a neat trick. I’m honestly surprised at Swampert’s lack of usage, as against almost every team it is useful in some way, and it puts a lot of pressure on the opposing team if they lack a Grass-type.

The nickname is from the song, City of Dreams, simply because when you believe in something, anything can happen. Seriously though, Swampert simply carried me through several games, completely decimating the opposing team. So it definitely earned the title of this name.

Thru (Excadrill) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
Level: 50
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Earthquake
– Drill Run
– Rock Slide
– Iron Head

(Used in 6/10 battles)

“Don’t know about you, but I can feel it Thru and Thru”

Excadrill, old friend. I missed you, and would have given almost anything for your offensive presence last season. I added Excadrill, not only for time lost, but as a way to OHKO fairies I might encounter, as well as pressuring Terrakion, Aegislash, Salamence, Charizard-Y, and Metagross. Seeing a pattern of what pokemon I hate? But it’s role on the team was simple, was to be a fast offensive Pokemon designed to put pressure on the enemy team. It’s moveset is very standard, with Drill Run in case I didn’t want to hit my own team, or just slam a single target harder.

The EV spread is simple, but effective. It allows me to hit 135 Speed, which lets me outspeed base 130s, any random stuff that is scarfed and trying to outspeed base 130s, and lets me outspeed Breloom in case I got hit with Knock Off, Trick or something similar. Max Attack for big damage, and the rest was dumped in HP, which actually let me live several important attacks, such as Kangaskhan Low Kick, Heatran Earth Power, and a chance to live bulky Politoed Scald.

Excadrill’s nickname is Thru, ’cause it can and will tear right Thru unprepared teams.

Begin Again (Venusaur) @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
Level: 50
EVs: 156 HP / 12 Def / 172 SpA / 100 SpD / 68 Spe
Modest Nature
– Giga Drain
– Sludge Bomb
– Protect
– Hidden Power [Ice]

(Used in 9/10 battles)

“You’ll be the moon, I’ll be the earth, and when we both start over, oh darling, Begin Again, begin again, begin again”

The secondary mega that ended up being the MVP of the tournament, Venusaur has the power to break both defensive and some offensive teams, which is invaluable in this metagame. It has so many good matchups, it is crazy. The only problem, is that it has bad matchups with the popular megas of this format, Kangaskhan, Metagross, and Salamence. The original solution to this problem was Absol, but Absol has bad matchups to so many things, that it was usually better to just bring this monster of a pokemon. The rest of the team was (unintentionally) prepared to deal with the big threats to Venusaur, which let me bring it in almost every game, which it was always able to do work.

The moveset is somewhat standard. Sludge Bomb and Giga Drain for offensive STABs, Protect for Protect, and the last slot I always have trouble figuring out. I decided on Hidden Power Ice, which I have valid reasoning for. I believe that double-genie + rain is absolutely terrifying, and Swampert can’t deal with the Rain portion of that combination. Venusaur on the other hand, can easily deal with it, being able to pretty much ignore all of their attacks. My offensive EVs almost always guarantee the OHKO on 4 HP Landorus-T, along with giving me a 31% chance to OHKO 4 HP M-Salamence. You may think, I would have to take a hit to get that damage off, but with Sableye having Quash, I could easily dismantle both Salamence and Landorus, which is amazing for a Venusaur to do.

The EV spread is also fairly unique, so I’ll elaborate. I know bulk is very important on Venusaur, but I needed the offensive EVs to get KOs with Hidden Power Ice. And the extra damage was useful too, as it allowed me to hurt the opponents much more than they expected. The bulk allows me to take an intimidated Salamence Return, burned Salamence Double-Edge, a possible 3HKO from a burned Metagross, Adamant Kangaskhan Double-Edge, which became a 3HKO when Kang is burned, 3HKO from Landorus-T Earthquake, have a 2HKO from Level51’s Charizard-Y Overheat, 3HKO from Aegislash Flash Cannon and Shadow Ball, and just a lot of general bulk. The Speed allows me to Speed creep neutral no investment Rotom-A by 3 points, just in case people were afraid of Rotom.

Overall, Venusaur was the MVP of the team, allowing me to win many matchups just from the defensive pressure it gives me. Let let me comfortably combat rain, which is a matchup I have struggled with in the past, and Venusaur was one of the best checks to rain in the format, which I am grateful for.

The song that Venusaur is named after, Begin Again, references that Venusaur is a plant, and will keep rising from the ashes or something or another. I had run out of ideas at this point, and I made the loose connection that in the song it says “I’ll be the earth”, which made me think of Venusaur. I really need to get better at this nicknaming thing.

OneForAll (Arcanine) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 156 Spe
Bold Nature
– Helping Hand
– Snarl
– Flamethrower
– Protect

(Used in 6/10 battles)

“Are you ready?”

The last minute addition to the team, I wanted Helping Hand to get some surprise OHKOs, Intimidate because it is my favorite ability in the entire game, and a Fire type to round out a Fire/Water/Grass core. Even though it was the last minute addition to the team, it worked wonderfully, and definitely earned its place on the team.

The moveset is a bit of standard, and a bit of non-standard. Helping Hand is a move rarely seen on Arcanine, and it worked great to get surprise OHKOs, which is amazing. Snarl not only allowed me to control both the physical attackers on the enemy team with Intimidate, but also let me control the special attackers. It generally added bulk to my team, which is always a good thing. I chose Flamethrower as my Fire-type STAB, as it is the most consistent. Heat Wave has spread, but can backfire against Heatran, and can miss. Overheat is a good one-time nuke, but again can miss, and can only be used once per switch, and with no investment it can’t get many important OHKOs, as it only has a chance to OHKO M-Metagross. Flamethrower can 2HKO all the threats I needed to beat with Arcanine, and for a support Pokemon I find that absolutely amazing. Protect is mandatory, as it gives me a free turn, and many focused Arcanine to stop it from controlling the pace of the match.

The nickname is not only because it is one of the supports for the team, but because it provides support for the whole team by reducing the enemy’s offences. It really does support the entire team for one team slot, which is great. Also, another weird connection with the song is that the video is four minutes and 20 seconds long, which is somehow fitting seeing that Arcanine is a Fire type.

Common Leads

+

This was one of my safe leads; it gives me a lot of safety with Fake Out, Will-O-Wisp, and Wide Guard, along with being able to pressure the enemy offensively with Quash and Swampert’s coverage. I was able to safely take control of the match with this lead, and it was one of my favorites.

+

This is my other safe lead, and I lead it when there is nothing the enemy can do about Venusaur. Sableye again can take control of the match, while Venusaur was this undying wall that still chunked the enemies. I again have offensive pressure with Quash + Coverage, but it isn’t as good as Swampert’s damage wise. Sableye also could burn the opposing threats to Venusaur, which just made the game a whole lot easier.

+ Everything

While I could put the above two leads under this category, those were the ones I used the most in the tournament. In practice, I lead every Pokemon + Sableye, each having their own reason, and Sableye acted very much like the glue to this team, and there was always a reason to bring it.

Match Ups for the Team

Goodstuffs

I had a pretty good match-up versus goodstuffs, and while it varied based on the team, I had answers to almost everything on a standard goodstuffs team. I had multiple ways of checking all the popular megas, barring Mega-Kangaskhan, but thankfully I didn’t face any in my Regionals run.

Trick Room

I felt that I had a decent matched against Trick Room, as none of my Pokemon are outrageously fast barring Absol and Excadrill, and I could still use Quash as a means of Speed control. I was used to my Pokemon not going first, so it wasn’t that bad.

Sand/Japanese Sand

Sand is a match-up I am very comfortable with, as my entire team can either hit the opposing Pokemon for super effective, or control the match very easily. Swampert and Venusaur especially help with the matchup, and while Japanese sand has Salamence to deal with Venusaur, I have Swampert to deal with it, along with generally having a good match-up against it.

Rain

I have a decent match-up against rain, with me relying on Venusaur to carry me through those match-ups, with the help of Swampert and possibly Excadrill to deal with any Metagross I might see. Otherwise, this is a pretty balanced match-up, but if I can take control of the match early I can stay in control the rest of the game.

Random Stuff

My team has a general good match-up against pretty much everything, and so I can deal with anything thrown at me, with the amount of control my team has over the pace of the match. The only match-up I was scared of was Charizard-Y, as I had no solid answer for it. I didn’t face any during the tournament though, so all ended well.

Closing Thoughts on the Team

I ended up really enjoying the team, as well as being glad that I could place as high as I did with one of my favorite Pokemon. After the event, I went onto Showdown to try out some changes, so if you consider running this team, or something similar, here is what I changed post tournament. I ended up swapping Absol for Terrakion, as it made my Kangaskhan match-up better, along with allowing me to deal with Charizard-Y better, as well as being more consistent in general. I switched Venusaur’s EV spread to a bulkier one, and changed Hidden Power for Leech Seed, as it helped me play the “Venusaur win condition” that I had somewhat wanted in an earlier iteration of this team. I gave Sableye a more physically bulky EV spread, as I fail to survive a neutral 252 Attack M-Salamence Return, and that cost me a game later in the tournament. Protect was exchanged for Roar on Arcanine, as while Trick Room isn’t a bad match-up, it isn’t the best one either, so that helps a bit.

The Tournament

I was able to take some notes about each battle, and along with my wonderful(ly bad) memory, here are my matches from the tournament.

Round 1 vs. Daniel Tapp

His team: +

My team:

I had the early advantage, as I get a lot of free damage onto his Jellicent, and Conkeldurr can’t do anything due to Fake Out. He sets up Trick Room, but he doesn’t have anything out to pressure my Venusaur. He swaps in Mawile, which I predicted and ended up burning, and from there he has nothing to take care of Venusaur as the match ends 4-0 due me controlling all of his offensive pressure.

1-0

Round 2 vs. Tony Cheung

His team: +

My team:

This match was really fun, and also had a lot of pressure (not the ability thankfully) on me, facing last years Seattle Regional champ. As far as the game goes, I can’t remember much, but he ended up swapping Infernape for Gyarados turn 1, as I got a Fake Out and Ice Beam onto his Thundurus, when ends up freezing. Next turn I KO his Thundurus, his Gyarados sets up a Dragon Dance, and I then OHKO’d it with a Foul Play from Sableye. After that, I can limit hit offensive pressure with Arcanine, and the match ended 3-0 in my favor

2-0

Round 3 vs. Ben Demian

His team: +

My team:

Yay, another trick room team! I ended up using Fake Out on his Reuniclus turn 1 to prevent his Trick Room from going up, while Conkeldurr protected and I hit Reuniclus with a Sludge Bomb, which ended up scoring a critical hit and getting his Reuniclus in KO range next turn. After that, he struggled to gain control over the match, with Venusaur pretty much soaking up all of his damage while Arcanine (again) kept control over this game.

3-0

Round 4 vs. Gabby Snyder

Her team: +

My team:

I had joked with Gabby the round before, as we were sitting next to each other and her table won hats, that she needed to win so we could get paired up together to win prizes. Well, it happened, and while we didn’t get prizes, we got our game on stream. So here is the game, and there isn’t much else, was a great game, and I really had fun!

4-0

Round 5 vs. Mitchell Moscrop

His team: +

My team:

I was against a somewhat standard sand team, and there wasn’t anything big that happened in this match. He Overheated my Sableye turn 1, and swapped out his Gastrodon for Landorus. His Landorus started spamming Rock Slide, while I burned it and started to work on the rest of his team. I predicted his switch out of Landorus, and OHKO’d Gastrodon that was coming in. From there, his Tyranitar came out, and I burned it immediately. With him down to his last two, both burned, and now intimidated from me switching in Arcanine. I swapped it out for Swampert, and from there it was a slow grind for the 3-0 win.

5-0

Round 6 vs. Nikolai Zielinski

His team: +

My team:

At the pairings I was both worried, and excited. Facing last year’s Senior World Champ is pretty cool, but also hard knowing that he is a fantastic player. And he is running Trick Room. Great. The game pretty much went his way the entire game, as I go for the safe plays, while he punished me with good defensive switches. The game comes down to my Excadrill, full health, and Swampert, half health, against his Gardevoir in the red, half health Heatran, and Jellicent in the red. Excadrill can easily clean up the game, but his trick room is 1 turn from ending, and he cleans up the game. This game was great, even though I lost, as it really came down to the wire, and was an intense match all the way. it ended 0-3 for me, but I wasn’t to mad. I just needed to win 1 of my next 2 games to make it into cut, as I have fairly high resistance at this point.

5-1

Round 7 vs. Gary Qian

His team: +

My team:

It is time. This is the team that Absol dreams he could face. I didn’t want to lead it however, as he has multiple things that can KO Absol, so I go for the safe Excadrill + Sableye lead. His Terrakion has Quick Guard, which stops Sableye’s Fake Out, and I can’t remember what I do with Excadrill, as he sets up a Dragon Dance with Salamence. The next turn, I go for the Foul Play with Sableye, and swap in Arcanine to lower Salamence’s attack. His Terrakion Quick Guards, and Sableye fails to live the neutral Return. I swap in my Absol, mega-evolve, and double Protect as his Salamence Protects. I manage to KO his Salamence an Ice Beam the next turn, after Arcanine takes a Return and lives. This sparked quite a reaction from Gary, which was very entertaining to watch, as he didn’t expect Ice Beam from a Mega Absol. It comes down to Arcanine and Absol, Excadrill in the back, against his Terrakion and Smeargle with an unknown Pokemon in the back. Arcanine has 6 health left at this point, but I can still turn this. His Smeargle goes for the Fake Out on Arcanine, which I should have seen coming, and it faints. His Terrakion is at 90%, as it had taken Life Orb recoil earlier this game. I go for the Superpower with Absol, knowing that I can KO his Terrakion… As I get the lowest possible damage roll, fail to KO Terrakion, and he takes Absol out with a Close Combat, then faints from Life Orb Recoil. It becomes my Excadrill against his Scizor and Smeargle. I can turn this, I say to myself. I go for the EQ, Smeargle lives from Focus Sash, then Transforms into Excadrill, while Scizor KO’s me with a Superpower. It was a good game, but it puts me on edge, as I need to with my next game to make it into cut. 0-2

5-2

Round 8 vs. Paul Hornak

His team: +

My team:

Japanese Sand! I had actually wanted to play against this team, as I have heard good things about it, and I have a good match-up against it. The game is fairly anticlimactic though, as I go for the safe plays, and it ended very easily in my win, as I had control almost the entire match, and he couldn’t do anything to Venusaur once I took care of his Salamence.

6-2

I had ended 6-2, and hoped that I didn’t bubble from cut. They post the standings, and in no rush, I try to get in close to see who cut. With me being fairly tall, I was able to see from afar that I had cut at 15th seed, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I walk over to the other standings, to look for some of my friends, and I see Gabby screaming, running to her group of friends. I guessed correctly that she had cut, which was awesome, as she was a good player and I wanted her to cut. After that, I hung around, got my DS checked and then went home, planning on how to play my matches the next day.

Dawn of the Second Day

After getting a decent night’s sleep, I head over to the venue. I show up early, and get to chill out for a while, and meet up with Gabby and her group of friends. After waiting a really long time, We finally got into the pairings, and I’m up against Nikolai Zielinski as my first top cut opponent. After yesterday, I reviewed the matchup and what I could do to improve it, so here are the games!

Round 1 vs. Nikolai Zielinski

Game 1

His team: +

My team:

I know from our battle yesterday that he is running minimum Speed Gardevoir, as my Venusaur can outspeed it. The leads look about even, and my general plan is to not take too much damage, and have Arcanine gain offensive control with Snarl, as his team is mostly special attackers. This ends up not working out, as he predicts my every move, and he wins this game 3-0

0-1

Game 2

His team:

My team:

With me having the momentum turn 1, things are looking good. I manage to get a little bit of control, but it slips away as he was able to get Trick Room up, and from there things go downhill, as I lose 0-2.

The Aftermath

It was somewhat disappointing to get knocked out of top cut in the first round, but I had fun, and I top cut, so I can’t really complain about anything. Pretty much all of my games were good, and none were really decided on chance. Overall, it was a good tournament, and I am glad I was able to cut after being pretty much non-existent (I’ll probably still be non-existent).

Big thanks to-

• My friends, for believing in the Mega-Absol dream, and inspiring some of this team
• The editors, as well as my friend Jared, who helped with this monstrosity of an article
• The NB community, as you guys have been a great help in my teams in the past, and are really fun to hang around with
• The tournament organizers, even though the tournament didn’t start until like 2 PM on the first day

And again, disclaimer, don’t run my M-Absol set, it was specifically for this team, so unless you run this team, don’t run this Absol. Ever.

Thanks to Kagekabuki for the awesome article art!

About the Author

Jhoqk I am known Jhoqk, or Jake HT, and I have been a competitive pokemon player since 2009, I hope to eventually make it to Worlds, and end up competing. I like to use unusual stuff on my teams, and have won several regionals so far (Seniors), and have competed in nationals twice.

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