Reports

Published on May 8th, 2014 | by squirtwo

18

Mime Time: A Long Beach 16th Place and Salt Lake 3rd Place Report

Hello, my name is Bridger Snow, known as squirtwo here on Nugget Bridge. I am going to give you a look at a slightly different, yet highly effective Trick Room team that I used to take 16^th place at the SoCal Regional and 3^rd at the Utah Regional.

The Beginning

I started out with a hard Trick Room team based around Exploud’s STAB Boomburst.  Trevenant was used to set up Trick Room and Mr. Mime was able to avoid damage from Boomburst through its Soundproof Ability. Scrafty’s job was to help set up Trick Room with Fake Out, and dish out damage once Trick Room was in effect. Azumarill functioned well in the twisted dimensions and was still able to use Aqua Jet after speed returned to normal.  Arcanine added a second Intimidate to the team, as well as working well if I couldn’t get Trick Room up. I practiced a lot on the Battle Spot Doubles Ladder before any official VGC format had been announced. I got used to how the team functioned, but it just wasn’t working as well as I wanted it to.

After the format was announced, I had to replace Arcanine. I also took out Azumarill because I was still too weak to Intimidate, and I wanted to have a Mega Evolution on my team.  This led me to Blastoise with his strong Water Spout and Bisharp with his anti-Intimidate ability in Defiant. These two didn’t last long, however, because I found myself losing any time my opponent had a good Trick Room counter such as Amoongus or Mawile.  Addressing this weakness would greatly increase the strength of my team; I just had to figure out how to do it.

I realized that almost all of the counters to Trick Room were either Steel- or Grass-types, which both share the common weakness against strong Fire-type moves. Who is the strongest Fire type as of X and Y? Mega Charizard-Y, of course! Forgoing the usual EV spread for Charizard, I added as much bulk as I could without sacrificing its power. With no Speed investment, he could still hold his own under Trick Room against many of the Pokémon in the primarily fast-paced metgame. With max HP and a few Defense EVs, my Charizard found himself able to survive both Rock Slides from Jolly Garchomp and Thunderbolts from Manectric, sitting in the yellow HP range after either attack. Rhydon wasn’t as useful to the team, but he supported Charizard well with his Lightning Rod Ability and he could hit like a truck in Trick Room. Ben Gould (Ben91293) gave me the inspiration to use Rhydon after I read his Top 4 finish at World’s with Rhydon. So, after two modifications to the original six Pokémon, I finally settled on the team I used at the SoCal Regional in Long Beach, California.

Long Beach Team: A Closer Look

Exploud @ Life Orb
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Sp. Atk / 4 Def
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/1
Quiet Nature
– Boomburst
– Hammer Arm
– Ice Beam
– Protect

Ahh, Exploud: the very reason I started creating this team. There honestly isn’t much to say about him. His main point is to hit hard under Trick Room with Boomburst.  People often did not realize that he had the Scrappy Ability and were confused when Boomburst destroyed their frail Ghost-type Pokémon. Although Exploud was the original heart of the team, when I added Charizard to the team, Exploud was overshadowed. His role instead shifted to a back-up attacker for when I noticed Pokémon that Charizard could not handle during Team Preview, such as Tyranitar, Rotom-H, Garchomp, and Pokémon that resisted Charizard’s Fire-, Grass-, and Rock- moveset.

Mr. Mime @ Lum Bery
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 12 Sp. Atk / 84 SDef
IVs: 31/10/31/31/31/0
Relaxed Nature
– Dazzling Gleam
– Trick Room
– Wide Guard
– Quick Guard

Mr. Mime is generally used alongside Exploud or Charizard. His Soundproof stops him from taking damage from Boomburst and any other sound-based moves, which is especially nice thing to have when staring down a PerishTrap team.  Mr. Mime has good special bulk, but he is lacking on the physical side, so I added a lot of EVs there along with a Relaxed nature. The Lum Berry allows Mr. Mime to work around Kangaskhan and Smeargle leads, and also allows me to undo my own Trick Room in the face of Amoongus.

What really makes Mr. Mime shine is how well he partners with Charizard-Y. Wide Guard blocks Rock Slides that scare Charizard, as well as Muddy Waters and Surfs that could otherwise deal significant damage in against a Rain team. Since my Charizard is unusually slow, Mr. Mime can set up Trick Room against the likes of Garchomp, Kangaskhan, and other Charizards which leads my Charizard to the top with its higher defensive EV investment. Mr. Mime works well with Charizard from a typing standpoint as well. Mr. Mime can hit the Dragons that resist Fire-type moves with a super effective Dazzling Gleam, while Charizard can roast the Steel-types that inherently give Fairies trouble.

X and Y introduced a big change to Wide Guard and Quick Guard that made running a set like this possible. I can now use both of them indefinitely with no chance of failing, even if I switch between them. This comes up surprisingly often with almost every member of my team being weak to either a spread move or a priority move. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stopped a Talonflame from finishing off a partner with Brave Bird, then stopped a Rock Slide or Dazzling Gleam immediately after that.  At one point I had Fake Out on Mr. Mime, but I found that I didn’t use it very often, so I went with Quick Guard since it could be used after the first turn. Mr. Mime always finds ways to be valuable no matter what the situation. He is the surprising MVP of the team even though he rarely is the one scoring knockouts.

Trevenant @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 112 Def / 78 SDef
IVs: 31/31/31/16/31/0
Brave Nature
– Wood Hammer
– Will-O-Wisp
– Trick Room
– Protect

Trevenant serves multiple purposes for my team. His main goal is generally to set up Trick Room. He also makes a fantastic counter for those troubling Kangaskhan, Rotom-W, Tyranitar, and physical attackers in general. With good overall bulk and the ability to infinitely use his Sitrus Berry, Trevenant can stay on the field for a very long time. Oftentimes he is my last Pokémon standing and can win games all by himself if the opponent is not prepared.

The few Trevenant I have seen before have always had Horn Leech over Wood Hammer. I started that way with mine, but I wanted to be able to hit harder and actually get the KO on Rotom-W, Tyranitar, and Politoed.  With the Attack EVs I can take out bulkier Tyranitars and hit other things with a bit more force. I found that the way Trevenant takes attacks and heals HP back with Sitrus, often leaves him sitting a little above half HP, which means that the recoil I take is usually healed off during the same turn. Wood Hammer also sets Trevenant apart from his twin Ghost/Grass-type, Gourgeist, making him more of a power hitter compared to Gourgeist’s slow, HP-draining strategy.

Scrafty @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
IVs: 31/31/31/27/31/0
Brave Nature
– Fake Out
– Drain Punch
– Ice Punch
– Detect

Scrafty acts as glue for the team. Intimidate and Fake Out combined with a pretty good defensive typing make Scrafty great for switching in and out. He makes for a great core that I often lean on, consisting of Scrafty, Mr. Mime, Rhydon, and Charizard. Scrafty can take the Rock moves aimed at Charizard really well with his resistant typing and Intimidate Ability.

Fake Out is mainly used to set up Trick Room. It does not have to be used every time that Scrafty is switched onto the field. I often don’t use Fake Out if Trick Room is already up; I normally opt to just start attacking.  You may notice that I have Ice Punch over Crunch, which is what makes this Scrafty slightly different from normal. I honestly was having more trouble with Dragons than I wanted, and I hated when I would be left with Scrafty versus an Intimidated Garchomp — I would often lose because I couldn’t hit it hard enough. Detect is pretty standard, as it helps Scrafty protect itself for a turn.

Rocky Helmet, I think, is a really good item for Scrafty. It punishes a Kangaskhan who tries to Fake Out Scrafty before getting Faked Out herself, and ends up dealing more damage to Kangaskhan in the long run than the damage that Scrafty receives. This also puts most Kangaskhan in knockout range from Drain Punch after attacking Scrafty with any move.

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze –> Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Sp. Atk / 4 Def
IVs: 31/12/31/31/31/0
Quiet Nature
– Heat Wave
– Solar Beam
– Ancient Power
– Protect

Charizard is what makes this team work. I bring him to 99% of battles, quite often as a lead. Just about every Trick Room counter is taken down by Charizard’s immense power and convenient typing. The most common way that I’ve seen for people to deal with Trick Room is to tack an Amoonguss, Mawile, Aegislash, Ferrothorn, or something similar on to their team and proceed as if Trick Room was no big deal. Well, when Charizard is on the field, the opponent has to think twice about how haphazardly they throw around their Fire-weak counters. Once their Trick Room counter is out of the way, then I can spam high-powered moves until Charizard faints. Afterwards, I clean up with the other Trick Room friendly members of the team.

I feel that Heat Wave is a must on Charizard Y. Heat Wave’s 90% accuracy does cause problems occasionally, but I find that the risk is still worth the high damage output. Solar Beam is really good when I can almost guarantee the Sun being up the turn that I Mega Evolve. Ancient Power is an odd choice that I mainly used to hit other Fire-types for respectable damage such as Charizard-Y and Talonflame.

Rhydon @ Eviolite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 228 HP / 156 Atk / 4 Def / 120 SDef
IVs: 31/31/31/22/31/0
Brave Nature
– Drill Run
– Rock Slide
– Substitute
– Protect

It is insane how much damage Rhydon can take from the physical attackers. In my top 32 match he was able to take a super-effective, critical hit Iron Head from a non-burned Mega Mawile and then hit back with a super-effective Drill Run. His special tanking ability is pretty incredible as well — fainting only to high power, super-effective moves such as Solar Beam or STAB Giga Drain. Under the sun, not even Rotom-W’s Hydro Pump can take him down.

Aside from taking hits extremely well, Rhydon also has strong offensive capabilites. While he may not be able to OHKO many things without a super-effective hit, he does solid damage to pretty much everything with great STAB coverage. Rock Slide is able to eliminate pesky Talonflame, Rotom-H, and Charizard, while Drill Run threatens the likes of Mawile and Aegislash.

I must give credit to Ben for coming up with this great set. Even though I used it for a slightly different purpose, it was still highly effective.  When I first read about how Ben used Substitute I was skeptical, because I wanted to add another coverage move to Rhydon. After testing it out, however, I realized just how strong Substitute can be. Trick Room very often causes people to play more defensively by switching, Protecting, and trying to stall out the five turns of reversed speed. With Substitute, I can capitalize on that defensive approach by setting up a Substitute, which also helps Rhydon avoid crippling status moves such as Will-O-Wisp and Spore.

Strategy and Combos

The overall goal of the team has slowly evolved from its original “hit hard with this absurd move” strategy. I have multiple Pokémon who can create a nice win condition by themselves as long as my opponent’s main threat to that Pokémon is neutralized. Charizard has the power to rip through an unprepared opponent, Trevenant can out-stall anything that can’t quickly knock it out, Mr. Mime turns threats into dead weight by blocking their potent moves, and Trick Room in general can take a match by storm once the opponent’s slow Pokémon are gone. The beauty of these different win conditions is that I can bring any and all of them into a single match and then change my strategy depending on which threats I can eliminate soonest. For example, if my opponent has Amoonguss and Rotom-H on their team. I can either eliminate the Amoonguss and safely proceed with Trick Room and let Rhydon walk all over the Rotom. Alternatively, I can focus on the Rotom and then let Charizard proceed in safety, not caring about the Amoonguss. The strategy for each match would depend on the opponent’s Pokémon team of four Pokémon and the leads we chose. Here are a few of the more common leads and combos I used:

This is my preferred lead when I’m not really sure what else to do. It gives me speed control, power, and a great combination of offensive and defensive synergy. Mr. Mime protects Charizard with Wide and Quick Guard. He also threatens Dragons that resist Charizard’s moves, while Charizard can easily take out the Steel-types that Mr. Mime fears. This duo can handle a wide range of things, and Pokémon that threaten both Mr. Mime and Charizard are surprisingly hard to come by.

If I see a fast team with multiple physical attackers, this is the g0-to lead. It is especially effective against Kangaskhan / Smeargle leads, where Scrafty draws the Fake Out while Mr. Mime freely sets up Trick Room. Dark Void is not an issue since he carries a Lum Berry. This combo also fares well against the double-Dragon lead, with both members hitting for super-effective damage.

This is very similar to the above lead, with a little more offensive capability and the nice combination of burn and Intimidate. This is one of my main ways to handle opposing weather as well. Trevenant scares away Politoed and sets up Trick Room easily, and both Scrafty and Trevenant threaten Tyranitar.

Really, any two Pokémon on my team can work together in a lead position. Rhydon is the only one who doesn’t see much time as a lead, and that is primarily because I like having him available as a switch-in. Setting up Trick Room is completely optional; sometimes I prefer to rely on the the natural bulk and good switch-in opportunities that the team provides.

Battle Highlights from Long Beach

I’m not going to go over every match because I didn’t take good notes and can’t remember everything. The first couple rounds I played against local guys who were attending their first event. I handily beat them and encouraged them to do well and have fun the rest of the day at their first event. In round three, I came across my first good battle of the day, and I met Matt Souerbry (matt).  He used Charizard, Mienshao, Salamence, and Venusaur to take me down 2-0 in a pretty close match and my first loss. I continued to win my next two matches and make friends with both of my opponents.

Round six came and I was feeling pretty confident. I looked at my opponent’s team of Tyrantrum, Escavalier, Carbink, Slowking, Clawitzer, and Mawile and I decided it would be a simple victory with me reversing his Trick Room and stomping all over with Charizard.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple.  The battle started well with me letting him set up Trick Room as my Exploud used Hammer Arm to underspeed pretty much everything. Things went bad when I was left in a situation with his Mawile and Escavalier versus my Charizard and Scrafty with Trick Room up.  I expected a Play Rough to hit Scrafty so I Detected, but then his Mawile revealed Stone Edge, knocking out Charizard. After that, I had no way to deal with his two Steel-types and I slowly got swept away. Looking back at this battle, I think I was not focused and I should have aimed to undo his Trick Room rather than abuse it when my Pokémon were, for the most part, faster than his.

My seventh, eighth, and ninth rounds were all good games with a lot of pressure to win.  I was able to win them and made it into the Top Cut of 32 as 15th seed in my flight.  At this point I was very tired, yet extremely happy to have made the Top Cut at my first VGC Regional. I went over to check the standings to see who my opponent would be and was upset to find out that I would be playing against fellow Utah player Len Deuel (Alaka).  I didn’t know Len super well, but I didn’t like that the two Utah players to make cut had to play in the first round. He used the following six Pokémon:

After waiting almost an hour for the staff to figure out the issues with TOM, we started our best-of-three match.  Len handily won the first game, but I learned a lot about his team, including the fact that he used a Guts Ability Heracross carrying a Choice Scarf with Rock Slide as a move. In game two, I turned things around and won 4-0 using Charizard and Mr. Mime to sweep through his Charizard-weak team. In the third game, he adapted well to my surprise from last game, but he still hadn’t seen Quick Guard on Mr. Mime. We were down to my Mr. Mime and Charizard both with about half HP versus his Heracross and Mawile with something still left in the back. I predicted his Sucker Punch and used Quick Guard and Heat Wave as he Sucker Punched into my Quick Guard and Mega Horned my Mr. Mime. Everything on the field was knocked out except my Charizard, and I just had to pray that his last Pokémon wasn’t able to take on Charizard. It was an Amoongus. I smiled as it fainted to a Heat Wave and I won the series.

My next opponent was Jackson Daugherty (Jackson7 D), who went on to make the top 4. I had no idea who he was, but I was excited to play him. By now it was around midnight and I was perfectly happy whether I won or lost, because the hotel bed seemed pretty inviting. Unfortunately, that mentality showed up in my games. Take a look at the team he used to knock me out of the tournament:

Our first of three games was very much in my favor. I started out with a good guess that his Tyranitar would be fast, so I Protected Charizard and went straight for Trick Room. He hadn’t brought Amoonguss, so he had no way to deal with the Trick Room and I just swept through. The second game was much more interesting. We traded Pokémon throughout the game, with me setting up Trick Room pretty early, hoping for a repeat of last time. He was ready for Trick Room this time, although he still didn’t bring Amoonguss. The game ended with my Charizard left against his Rotom-H with one turn left of Trick Room. I go for the Ancient Power, doing about 65% damage, while he Thunderbolts, doing about the same. Then the dimensions returned to normal just in time for him to outspeed and knock out Charizard. Our third and final game is where my tiredness really started to kick in. I just assumed that since he had not brought Amoonguss the last two games that he wouldn’t bring it this time. I Protected with Charizard turn one, opting not to Mega Evolve.  Jackson didn’t realize that I hadn’t Mega Evolved, so turn two he switched his Blastoise out for Tyranitar, wanting to change the weather. I had aimed a Solar Beam at that Blastoise, but it hit Tyranitar instead, knocking out one of his biggest threats to my team. I was confident after that lucky lapse in Jackson’s judgement, so I started playing sloppy and I set up Trick Room with Amoonguss sitting right in front of me, ready to Spore everything.  My nice lead turned into an sleep-filled nightmare and I could do nothing to recover.  I was out of the tournament and jealous that my Pokémon had more sleep than I had in that last game.  

Regardless of the loss, I was excited that I had made it so far with the little experience that I had. I left California with high hopes for my odd little team, and I knew what adjustments I needed to make for my next tournament.

Salt Lake Team and Changes from Long Beach

The Changes

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze –> Drought
EVs: 228 HP /  4 Def / 236 SpAtk / 4SDef / 36 SPeed
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31
Modest Nature
– Heat Wave
– Solar Beam
– Overheat
– Protect

Charizard took a few modifications, but still remained the same beast as before. After facing a lot of Tyranitar with different amounts of Speed, I was sick of having to guess whether or not I should use Trick Room. I decided to forgo the absolute minimum Speed Charizard that I used in California in order to be sure that I would outspeed all non-Choice-Scarf Tyranitar. It only took a small amount of Speed investment after changing the IVs and Nature, so I took a little out of bulk and a little out of Special Attack in order to preserve the hard-hitting and surprisingly resiliant Charizard I had grown used to.

The other change on Charizard was replacing Ancient Power with Overheat. While I liked having the coverage against opposing Fire-types, the ability to destroy anything that did not resist Fire moves was just too appealing, especially with the problems I had been having against Kangaskhan. It was also an easier decision to take off Ancient Power with the addition of my next Pokémon to the team.

Kecleon @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 200 Def / 4 SDef
IVs: 31/31/31/8/31/0
Relaxed Nature
– Skill Swap
– Sucker Punch
– Rock Slide
– Trick Room

I finally retired the original idea of Exploud and Boomburst in favor of this type-changing chameleon. I needed a Trick Room setter who didn’t share any common weaknesses with Trevenant and Mr. Mime. Last generation, I had success with Porygon2 and his sole Fighting-type weakness, but he sadly wasn’t legal in the current VGC rules. I wanted something that had the same good typing and bulk, who could still pose a threat since I had dropped Exploud. Kecleon, while not as bulky as Porygon2, fit the bill pretty well and he offered a lot of different options to the team.

It isn’t very often that a single Pokémon can offer as much as Kecleon. He gave a STAB priority move, a STAB spread move, and speed control all in one tricky little package! Skill Swap was the icing on the cake. Rock Slide helped scare away opposing Charizard, Talonflame, and Rotom-H just as Ancient Power had once done and Sucker Punch let Kecleon pose a threat even when Trick Room wasn’t up. Trick Room, of course, was the main reason for adding him in the first place, which allowed me to set it up even when facing Ghost-, Dark-, Steel-, and Fire-types who put too much pressure on Mr. Mime and Trevenant. The Life Orb and Attack investment allowed me to do damage after setting up Trick Room and not have to waste a turn switching into a stronger Pokémon.

Skill Swap opened up so many ridiculous strategies. Kecleon has the perfect ability for Skill Swap, allowing me to use the move both offensively and defensively at the same time.  Many of the Mega Pokémon are good because they gain some powerful new ability. I could use this to my advantage by stealing Huge Power, Thick Fat, Parental Bond or Shadow Tag and using it against my opponent. If my opponent didn’t have any juicy abilities to steal, I could go ahead and shuffle around my own Drought, Intimidate, Lightning Rod, and Protean. Perhaps the best example of when this was useful was against rain teams where I could reactivate Drought and give Charizard a STAB Solar Beam at the same time.

Mr. Mime @ Lum Bery
Ability: Filter
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 12 Sp. Atk / 4 SDef / 36 Speed
IVs: 31/0/31/31/31/31
Bold Nature
– Dazzling Gleam
– Trick Room
– Wide Guard
– Quick Guard

Mr. Mime benefited hugely from removing Exploud. Without the need to have Soundproof I was free to run the vastly superior Filter Ability. I changed the EV spread to allow Mr. Mime to take Bisharp Iron Heads. I decreased the now-redundant Special Defense EVs that were originally used to survive Mega Gengar’s Sludge Bomb. Similarly to Charizard, I changed the nature to speed neutral and put in a few EVs and IVs in order to work better outside of Trick Room. Even with the EV changes, Mr. Mime’s function on the team remained the same:he just did it better than before.

These three didn’t receive any changes between Long Beach and Salt Lake, so I won’t bother restating what they do, although it is good to note that the addition of Kecleon did help all three of them in some way or another. Skill Swap paired very well with Scrafty’s Intimidate, Rock Slide reduced my dependence on Rhydon, and the extra Trick Room option made it so Trevenant could avoid bad situations.

Battles from Salt Lake

After judging for the TCG event the day before, I was pretty tired to begin this event, but I was determined to do well and earn the stipend I would need in order to go to Nationals. I showed up early to finish off my staff duties and help with registration for the video game event. Once registration was over and I was done scanning QR codes, I walked around trying to find my friends before pairings went up. I was able to say hi quickly, but pairings were up pretty fast and I found out who my first opponent of the day would be.

(Note: The last two Pokémon listed for each swiss round were not brought to our match.)

Round 1 Vs: Spencer Trujillo

I don’t remember much from this round. Trick Room was obvious from Team Preview, so I brought Charizard and Mr. Mime to outspeed and counter his Trick Room with my own. He couldn’t handle the raw power of Charizard without his speed control, so it was a pretty easy 4-0 victory.

1-0

Round 2 Vs: Tyler Hagan (Tyler)

His team looked fairly standard (with the exception of Staraptor) and it didn’t seem to have any way of dealing with Trick Room.  He started with Staraptor and something else versus my Charizard and Mr. Mime. I was afraid of Final Gambit taking out Charizard early, so I Protected while going straight for Trick Room with Mr. Mime. He instead used Final Gambit on Mr. Mime, which was fine by me, because I had also brought Trevenant and could still set up Trick Room anyway. Like I said, he didn’t have much of an answer to Trick Room, so  I took a nice 2-0 victory.

2-0

Round 3 Vs: James Sorge

After the fairly tough opponent I played last game, I was surprised to see this strange team sitting at a 2-0 win record. I realized, however, that people probably thought similar things about my own team, so I didn’t let my guard down. I led with Charizard and Mr. Mime again versus his Gardevoir and Kangaskhan. While some of his Pokémon were slower, I decided that Trick Room was still the way to go in this match. The combination of Rhydon and Charizard was able to easily take down everything but Garchomp, who was burned by Trevenant which led me to victory.

3-0

Round 4 Vs: Erik Holmstrom

This match was on stream, and I wish I could show it here, but apparently the streamed videos were not able to be archived because of the shaky internet connection at the event. His team posed some major threats to my team in Tyranitar, Rotom-H, and Amoonguss. The game started with my typical Charizard and Mr. Mime lead against his Lucario and Rotom-H. Lucario could potentially threaten both of my leads if it carried a Rock move, so I was very careful at the start. I Protected with Charizard and used Dazzling Gleam just to get out some damage and hurt any potential Tyranitar or Garchomp switches, while his Lucario also Protected and Mega Evolved while Rotom hit Mr. Mime with an Overheat. Still scared of a Rock Slide, I used Wide Guard with Mr. Mime, Mega Evolved Charizard, and dealt out a Heat Wave. It turns out Lucario didn’t have Rock Slide and he switched to Tyranitar while my Charizard took a weak Thunderbolt to the face and did little damage to both foes with Heat Wave. Thinking that Tyranitar could be Scarfed at worst, I Wide Guarded again and used Solar Beam right into his Protect while his Rotom got a free switch to Garchomp. This turn, I switched Charizard for Scrafty and used Dazzling Gleam with Mr. Mime as he double targeted Scrafty with Dragon Claw and Dark Pulse, revealing a Life Orb on Tyranitar. Scrafty was in a very strong position now, so I Faked Out Garchomp and set up Trick Room as Tyranitar switched back to Rotom. Scrafty could handle everything he had left with Drain Punch and Ice Punch as long as he didn’t get burned, so I focused my attacks on Rotom. Once the toaster was gone Scrafty cleaned up nicely.

4-0

Round 5 Vs. Ben Hickey (Darkpenguin67)

I was very happy to be 4-0 in the tournament, as I knew that making the Top Cut of 8 would most likely give me a stipend to Nationals in July. Before the match started I was talking to Ben about where he was from and if he was chasing points for an invite.  He let me know that he was from Maryland, and he was just after a Nationals stipend because his Worlds invite was locked from taking second place at Worlds last year in the Seniors division. After hearing this, I knew he must be a very good player. Once Team Preview came up, I immediately noticed Chandelure as the only thing that really threatened my team. He must have noticed this too, since he started with Chandelure and Mienshao versus my Charizard and Mr. Mime. I Protected Charizard and went straight for Trick Room out of the gate, trying to lure in his Mawile, but he OHKOd Mr. Mime with Shadow Ball while Mienshao’s Fake Out did nothing to my Protecting Charizard. I knew my only hope at dealing with that Chandelure was to use Rhydon, so I sent him out even though Trick Room wasn’t up. He focused on Rhydon with a Low Kick and Shadow Ball as my Charizard gave Chandelure a Flash Fire boost and Mienshao hung on with its Focus Sash. My last Pokémon was Trevenant and I knew that I had lost for sure. He used Shadow Ball, sending Trevenant into oblivion while Protecting Mienshao from Charizard’s Solar Beam. I Solar Beamed Chandelure on the next turn just to see how much damage it would do and he knocked out Charizard for a clean 4-0 victory. (I later found out that his Chandelure was holding Choice Specs, which is why it easily knocked out Mr. Mime, who could normally take that Shadow Ball.)

4-1

Round 6 Vs: Anthony Jimenez

After seeing the perfect duo to destroy my team last round, I was a little worried going into this one. I don’t remember exactly what he led with, but I knew that taking out Tyranitar would be the key to victory. I was able to do that and Charizard handled everything else without needing to set up Trick Room at all. I do remember that his Talonflame was completely dead weight because it got locked into Brave Bird while my Mr. Mime could consistently counter with Quick Guard, which pretty much sealed the game in my favor.

5-1

Round 7 Vs. Joshua Hardy

For the first time today I was facing somebody that I actually knew.  Having played Josh before at the Utah State Championships I knew he was a strong player.  I also recognized his team as mattj‘s first place team in Missouri.  While I had watched mattj’s report, I didn’t remember all the specifics of his team, and I wasn’t sure how much Josh had changed it.  For the second time that day I was greeted with a Chandelure / Mienshao lead, which I responded to with Charizard and Mr. Mime. I decided to go straight for the Chandelure this time, switching Charizard out for Rhydon and trying to set up Trick Room with Mr. Mime. The switch worked to block the Fake Out aimed at Charizard but Chandelure’s Imprison blocked Trick Room. The next turn, I used Protect and Dazzling Gleam as his Mienshao Hi Jump Kicked into my Protect and Mr. Mime took a Shadow Ball to the face. Josh replaced his Mienshao with Kangaskhan. The next part is sort of fuzzy and I don’t remember exactly what happened, but I ended up trading my Rhydon with his Chandelure, losing Mr. Mime and Kecleon to the Kangaskhan although I had brought it down to fairly low health. This left us in a position of his full-health Abomasnow and less-than-half-health Kangaskhan at -2 speed against my full-health, un-evolved Charizard.  I knew that a single Heat Wave could win me the game as long as Heat Wave didn’t miss and Josh didn’t get any lucky critical hits. He Sucker Punched Charizard, putting me around half HP. His Abomasnow revealed its Choice Scarf and used Ice Beam, taking me to the low yellow range. Heat Wave went off without missing and I won my seventh match.

6-1

Round 8 Vs: Joey McGinley (joej m)

There was only one person left undefeated now and I was playing him. I was pretty confident that my tie-breakers would help put me in the Top Cut whether I won or not, so there wasn’t much pressure going into the match.  We shook hands, and the battle began with Charizard and Mr. Mime against his Kangaskhan and Rotom-H.  I decided that if this guy was undefeated then he would probably be smart enough to know that my Charizard should Protect in this situation. Naturally, I switched out Mr. Mime into Rhydon and Overheated his Kangaskhan for the KO as his Fake Out and Thunderbolt did close to nothing to Rhydon. He replaced Kangaskhan with Azumarill. Rhydon and Azumarill both went for the Protect as I Solar Beamed and he Will-O-Wisped, which both hit the Protecting Pokémon. Next, I decided to double switch into Scrafty and Mr. Mime, as he used Belly Drum and burned Mr. Mime’s Lum Berry. On the next turn, Scrafty Faked Out Rotom and Mr. Mime used Dazzling Gleam for a bit of damage as Scrafty went down fast to a +6 Play Rough. Charizard replaced Scrafty and I used Quick Guard to block the incoming Aqua Jet, but he switched Azumarill with Amoonguss, who fainted to Charizard’s Heat Wave on the same turn. Azumarill came back in without his dangerous Belly Drum boosts. I failed to notice that the Sun had disappeared on the next turn, but luckily I went for an Overheat on Rotom rather than a Solar Beam. Dazzling Gleam chipped away at the low HP Rotom and put Azumarill just below half HP. I switched Charizard back into Rhydon and finished off Rotom with another Dazzling Gleam. His Azumarill couldn’t stand up to all three of my Pokémon and I ended the match with one last Dazzling Gleam.

7-1

I had done it! I had played the last undefeated player and won! After celebrating with my friends, I went to check the standings and see what seed I was. I ended up fifth seed, right behind my friend John Steffen (Legend). Immediately I realized that, once again, the two Utah players to make Top Cut would be playing in the first round.  I was determined to win, but I would be okay with having John continue in my place. My games with John were on stream, but again the videos are not usable so I’ll have to remember them.

Top Cut

Top 8 Vs. John Steffen (Legend)

Game 1

He used: Rotom-H, Pinsir, Tyranitar, Ludicolo

I used: Charizard, Mr. Mime, Rhydon, Scrafty

This game started out with John showing off his Mega Pinsir along with Rotom-H. Having tested out Mega Pinsir, I knew that the speed gained from Mega Evolving was essential, and he would more than likely Protect.  I used this to my advantage, switching Charizard for Rhydon and using Trick Room from the beginning while his Rotom’s Thunderbolt did nothing due to Rhydon’s Lightning Rod Ability and his Pinsir Protected, just as I thought it would.  I was now in an extremely good position. Rhydon used Rock Slide to hit both of his Pokémon hard and Mr. Mime used Dazzling Gleam to hit a potential Garchomp or Tyranitar switch-in. Pinsir switched to Ludicolo and Rotom flinched as both of his Pokémon were brought down to less-than-half HP from my combined attacks. I predicted a Fake Out next, so I used Quick Guard and Rock Slide. He didn’t Fake Out, but Rock Slide still took out his Rotom before Rhydon went down to a Giga Drain. I don’t remember exactly what happened next, but my Scrafty and Charizard were able to deal with Pinsir, Ludicolo, and Tyranitar pretty easily from there.

1-0

Game 2

He used: Tyranitar, Ludicolo, Pinsir, Garchomp

I used: Charizard, Mr. Mime, Scrafty, Rhydon

I unfortunately don’t remember much from the second game, as I was relying on having the stream to look back on later.  I had learned in the first game that his Tyranitar was holding a Choice Scarf, which made me much less scared of it, which allowed me to set up Trick Room and have a field day. He also didn’t bring Rotom, which surprised me because Rotom-H has such a great matchup against Charizard-Y. I really wish I remembered more about this game, but I do remember that it was a closer game than our first. It ended with his lone Tyranitar against my Scrafty and Rhydon. His only hope was to get critical hits and flinches on both of my Pokémon multiple turns in a row. He, of course, didn’t get such insane luck and I took out the Tyranitar with Drain Punch to put me into the next round of cut. Thank you, John, for the good games, and I look forward to training with you for Nationals.

2-0

Top 4 Vs: Ben Hickey (Darkpenguin67)

Game 1

He used: Mienshao, Chandelure, Mawile, ???

I used: Kecleon, Trevenant, Charizard, Rhydon

I am not sure how, but I convinced myself before this game started that my Trevenant could survive a Heat Wave from Chandelure. I somehow concluded that that was my best way of setting up Trick Room, which basically threw out my chances of winning this game. Even so, I fought well and did better this match than I did against Ben in Swiss (at least getting to see his next Pokémon) and realizing that the Chandelure had to have Choice Specs because it continued to use Heat Wave on my Charizard and Rhydon. Now I understood how my Mr. Mime had gone down so easily, and I started formulating a plan for our next match while destroyed my team in this first game.

0-1

Game 2

He used: Mienshao, Chandelure, Rotom-W, Mawile

I used: Charizard, Mr. Mime, Kecleon, Rhydon

This time, I was finally ready to deal with his lead after he had punished me with it twice.  I started Charizard and Mr. Mime, knowing that he would Shadow Ball Mr. Mime. I switched to Kecleon to absorb the Shadow Ball and lock him in to using it while Charizard took a Fake Out from Mienshao. I wanted to go for Trick Room with Kecleon, but I was scared of Hi Jump Kick, and I still wanted to get rid of that Chandelure. So, I Sucker Punched right into Mienshao’s Quick Guard. Charizard hit Mienshao with Solar Beam, activating its Focus Sash, and Chandelure threw a Shadow Ball at Charizard. I made a smart decision on the next turn, letting Mienshao uselessly Quick Guard as I Protected Charizard and Rock Slided, knocking out Mienshao and seriously damaging Chandelure. The next couple tuns are blurred together, but I do remember setting up Trick Room and then taking it back down again in order for Charizard to be faster than Mawile.  It didn’t matte because Mawile eventually took out Charizard with a Sucker Punch, only for me to Skill Swap and take away Mawile’s Huge Power. I was down to a highly damaged Kecleon and fresh Mr. Mime against his low health Rotom-W and healthy Mawile with Protean.  Hope had mostly been lost for me, but I continued to play on and try my hardest. I predicted his Mawile Sucker Puching Kecleon and blocked it with Quick Guard, while I Sucker Punched Rotom and Mr. Mime took a Thunderbolt.  I hit Mawile with a super-effective Dazzling Gleam the next turn, but it wasn’t enough as Kecleon fell to Thunderbolt and Mr. Mime took an Iron Head.  Without Huge Power active, Mr. Mime survived, but there was nothing I could do against Ben’s last two Pokémon.  Mawile used one last Sucker Punch and I was out of the tournament.

0-2

So, I finished the day in 3rd place, with my only losses against Ben and his Choice Specs Chandelure. I am happy with my team; it has taken me far and earned a lot of respect.  It goes to show that with enough practice, any team can work well. While the “big six” may be popular, they aren’t the only viable Pokémon by a long shot. Thank you to anyone who has read this long report and I sincerely hope you learned something from it.

About the Author

squirtwo squirtwo is a long time TCG player from Salt Lake City, UT. Since he turned 18, he has also been trying his hand at Judging the TCG up to a regional level. He started getting into VG when X and Y came out, quickly catching on to the new format. squirtwo enjoys using quirky strategies, whether they are popular or not. Especially Trick Room and Gravity. Outside of Pokemon he is a student at the University of Utah, where he is studying physics, music, and Japanese.

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