Reports

Published on November 8th, 2014 | by mrbdog46

6

Nuzzle, A Love Story: 1st Place USA Fairy Face-Off Report

Hey Nugget Bridge! I’m mrbdog46, and I’m stoked (and really honored) to be writing my first Nugget Bridge article. I have a ton of respect for this community and I’m really excited to make a contribution.

I’ve been playing Pokémon since kindergarten in 1998, right around the release of Red and Blue. I played every chance I could get at my after school program, and was officially hooked when I got my very own Game Boy and Red Version for my 6th birthday. Since then, I’ve played every generation at release (with the exception of Diamond and Pearl because my dad said I was too old; later I played it anyway), but focused mainly on breeding. I only recently got into competitive battling and was planning to participate in the 2014 VGC season until life got in the way. Unable to do this, I settled for a much more convenient target: online friendlies I could play from the comfort of my bed.

The Fairy Face-Off was my very first foray into official competitive battling and I was super excited to finally have some sort of objective measure to place on my battling skills. To my delight, I was able to take 1st in the USA and 32nd in the world at this friendly. This report is for a team in a fairly bizarre format, so I’m going to go into the metagame a bit before diving into my team. I hope you enjoy!

Mawile: A Metagame

The Fairy Face-Off, as can be gleaned from its title, was a format where only Kalos-origin Fairy types were allowed. Each trainer was allowed a team of 6, but would select 3 for each battle. All Pokémon were rounded down or up (meaning no Focus Sash Endeavor Cottonee *sad face*) to level 30. While this format may have seemed restrictive due to the limited number of Pokémon available (and it was), it had a way of breeding creativity in strong players as they spawned unique answers to various threats.

Speaking of threats, this format began and ended with the behemoth that is Mega Mawile. This thing is a beast in essentially every format it can be used in. That said, you can imagine how fierce it was in a metagame where its STAB Huge Power Iron Head hit almost everything for super effective damage. Because of the power of this monster, every team that hoped to win needed a bona fide way of dealing with Mega Mawile (and it helped to have it on your own team too). The most successful teams had multiple ways of dealing with opposing Mawile while having ways to allow their own to succeed.

The other half of the metagame was dedicated to managing luck. Some people say that luck is just a part of Pokémon: can’t be controlled, can be avoided by superior counterplay, etc. but the one certainty I know is that it was an integral part of this metagame. With the non-Mawile denizens of the Fairy Face-Off being the likes of Togekiss, Klefki, Whimsicott, and Gardevoir, status—particularly confusion and paralysis—was being thrown all over the place, and speed ties were incredibly common. As such, there were some matches that simply came down to luck, and, while this can be the case in many formats, it was even more so in this one. The small size of teams, the prevalence of status, and the massive strength of Mawile meant that a single turn of paralysis could easily cost you a match.

Now onto my team!

Building the Team

When this format was announced, I immediately knew that it would be dominated by Mega Mawile, and that my team would have to be built accordingly. So naturally the first thing I did was add Mawile.

Next, I needed ways to be able to effectively deal with other Mawiles. I quickly found an easy way to dispatch Mawile in the form of the only (non-boosted) OHKO on Mawile in the metagame: Choice Specs Togekiss. Togekiss ended up getting tweaked a little bit to better suit my needs, but the Pokémon itself remained.

I decided that I needed another answer to Mawile and found it in Entrainment Dedenne. The little mouse had the added bonus of reliable paralysis, and was a natural fit.

The team still struggled with Gardevoir, so I decided to fight fire with fire. Adding Gardevoir gave me a more reliable lead option and the ability to make a match 2v2 in a hurry with Destiny Bond.

These guys formed the core 4. I found that it was easier to use a dedicated core rather than try to pick 3 different Pokémon every match in Team Preview. To round out my team, I added 2 “decoys”: Klefki and Azumarill.

The sets that I used changed leading up to the tournament, but the team never really changed. Now we’ll move on to the individual members.

Team Nuzzle: Spreading Love to the World

Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Atk / 12 Def / 184 SpD / 24 Spe
Careful Nature
– Swords Dance
– Iron Head
– Play Rough
– Sucker Punch

• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Togekiss Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 184+ SpD Mega Mawile: 80-96 (81.6 – 97.9%) — guaranteed 2HKO

Mawile was the powerhouse of this team, and of the metagame. The inspiration for this set was drawn from Ray Rizzo’s now-famous Mawile. In a format filled with things Mawile hits super effectively, I decided that it didn’t need investment in its already huge Attack stat, but rather investment in guarding it from attacks that could knock it out. Thus, I EV’d it to take a Specs Togekiss Flamethrower, allowing for the OHKO back with Iron Head (barring a burn). The Speed EVs allow me to creep 0 Speed Mawile and Azumarill, with 36 EVs dumped into Attack and 12 EVs into Defense to maintain efficiency at Level 30.

The moveset was something that I debated for a long time. With Iron Head and Sucker Punch as the only mainstays, I went back and forth on the remaining two moveslots. Fire Fang was a good option due to the presence of other Mawiles, but was still only a 2HKO on Mawile and brought no other OHKOs. It gave me little advantage over Iron Head. I ultimately chose Play Rough over Fire Fang because it did more damage (and had a chance at an OHKO) on Pokémon that took neutral damage from Iron Head such as Dedenne and Azumarill. The final slot belonged to Substitute until about a week before the tournament. Substitute and Swords Dance both had their merits, but I ultimately settled on Swords Dance for a couple reasons. First, it was able to offset Will-O-Wisp from Gardevoir, which saved me at least twice throughout the tournament. Second, it allowed me to prepare for Mawile mirror matches in the end game that I would not have won otherwise. For instance, if I was paralyzed at +0, the opponent’s Mawile always wins due to having the faster Iron Head. However, at +2, I can be slower, take a hit, and OHKO back. Finally, I could use it to avoid Sucker Punches from faster Mawile, and turn a match that might have been a 100% loss for me into a 50/50 mind game.

Mawile was almost always the last Pokémon standing on my team, picking up numerous late game cleanups after the other two Pokémon grabbed a few KOs or set up Mawile’s sweep with paralysis.

Togekiss @ Babiri Berry
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 36 SpA / 104 Spe
Modest Nature
– Flamethrower
– Air Slash
– Encore
– Nasty Plot

• 252+ Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 116 Def Babiri Berry Togekiss: 76-90 (63.8 – 75.6%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Sucker Punch vs. 252 HP / 116 Def Togekiss: 25-30 (21 – 25.2%) — 0% chance to 4HKO

Togekiss functioned as a conditional lead on my team, and I often brought it when I saw a team packing Whimsicott and/or Klefki that lacked Gardevoir (Togekiss has a really tough time with Gardevoir). The EV spread was designed so I could defeat Mawile in a 1v1. Max HP, 116 Defense, and Babiri Berry allow me to always survive an Iron Head and a Sucker Punch, and the Speed EVs outspeed Jolly max Speed Mawile, which was very common in this format. In the tournament, I only ended up using Togekiss against a small handful of Mawile, and the max HP and Babiri Berry were actually more effective for dealing with Klefki. The rest of the EVs were dumped into maximizing damage output.

The moveset is a little weird, but it ended up working out pretty well for me. Flamethrower was useful for hitting the uber-present Mawile and Klefki super effectively, and Air Slash dealt neutral damage on just about everything else, with a nice bonus flinch chance if I went first. Encore dealt with pesky Klefki, Whimsicott, or Carbink leads, locking them into whatever move they used turn 1 and allowing me to get up a Nasty Plot or two before roasting them. Nasty Plot filled out the set so I could deal more damage (what a concept).

I ended up not using Togekiss very much simply because of its bad matchup with Gardevoir. However, I was more than happy to bring it against any teams lacking Gardevoir, and I believe I won every match where I got to bring Togekiss.

Gardevoir @ Focus Sash
Ability: Trace
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Destiny Bond
– Encore
– Disable
– Synchronoise

Gardevoir was one of the team’s two leads, and her job was basically to be a giant pain in the rear to opposing teams. Her EV spread is pretty basic: outspeed or speed tie everything in the metagame and maximize Synchronoise damage. There wasn’t much use in bringing any bulk with a Focus Sash, although I did occasionally find myself wishing I had run a bulky Lum Berry set. I had a difficult time deciding between Trace and Synchronize because of how prevalent paralysis was, but Trace ended up being incredibly useful for Tracing Prankster (which would have made Substitute insanely useful vs Klefki, but hindsight is 20/20).

The moveset is designed to just mess with opposing Pokémon. This is the one metagame that Synchronoise will ever be viable in, and it did its job really well. It was primarily used for chip damage, but it also OHKO’d some Dedenne and Togekiss. Encore and Disable were the cruxes of this set, allowing me to shut down Klefki, other Gardevoir, and pretty much everything else. Destiny Bond rounded out the set, and ensured at the very least that I could trade 1 for 1 and let my main core, Dedenne and Mawile, take on a 2v2. I was always more than happy to trade Gardevoir for an opposing Klefki or Mawile.

Gardevoir gave me a much better matchup against opposing Gardevoir, Togekiss, and Dedenne, all popular Pokémon in this tournament. Thus, Gardevoir was the go-to lead, with Togekiss waiting in the wings.

Dedenne @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Cheek Pouch
EVs: 248 HP / 156 Def / 8 SpD / 96 Spe
Timid Nature
– Entrainment
– Nuzzle
– Thunderbolt
– Swagger

This little guy was an absolute monster. Much like Gardevoir’s Synchronoise, this is probably the only format that Generation 6 token Electric-type rodent will ever be viable in, but man was he a force. The EVs allow him to take hits from Mawile more reliably, with a decent chance to avoid a KO from a max Attack Iron Head. This meant that, if need be, I could actually switch into a Mawile Iron Head, heal up with Sitrus Berry and Cheek Pouch, then Entrainment and Nuzzle Mawile, effectively removing it as a threat. The 96 Speed EVs let me outspeed Timid max Speed Gardevoir and Togekiss, meaning Dedenne was a good way of handling them too.

Nuzzle, as you might have guessed from the team name, was a huge reason why the team was so successful. Paralysis made everything slow enough that I could clean up with Mawile, while (as a bonus) breaking Sashes. Even if Dedenne was knocked out after only getting off a single Nuzzle, this was often enough for Mawile to take the free switch and proceed to clean up. Entrainment, as I mentioned, was primarily for taking Huge Power away from Mawile, but also worked well on Prankster users. Thunderbolt was a surprisingly great chip damage move in a metagame where more people chose Speed over bulk. In several matches (with a little help from Nuzzle and Swagger), Dedenne was able to pull off pseudo-sweeps with Thunderbolt. Most notably, Thunderbolt often did enough damage to opposing Mawile to put it into OHKO range for my Mawile or Togekiss. Swagger rounded out the set, and served several purposes. Firstly, it gave me the edge in a Dedenne mirror match. Secondly, it formed half of the infamous para-fusion strategy, which gave me a huge edge in the luck war. And finally, it was effectively my final gambit, giving me a luck-reliant chance of winning a bad match instead of just losing outright.

Overall, Dedenne was the key team member that allowed Mawile to do its cleanup job. It dealt with other Mawile, crippling them before going down in an adorable blaze of glory. It also threw paralysis around like nobody’s business, which was key to allow my Mawile to come in and wreak uncontested havoc.

The last two Pokémon were a freshly caught Klefki that I slapped a Full Heal on and my in-game HM Slave Azumarill. Seeing Klefki at Team Preview was something that always made me pause, so I figured I’d throw one of my own in there too. Azumarill got the nod over Whimsicott because, well, I didn’t have a Whimsicott. These two performed their roles effectively 100% of the time, never once failing to be seen in Team Preview.

The Team in Action

Here are the codes for a few battle videos if you’re interested in checking out the team in action (I’m Erin in-game):

3NGG-WWWW-WWW9-ST9V

VS 

This battle was probably as close to a “typical” game for this team as you’ll see. Gardevoir, Dedenne, and Mawile all do pretty much exactly what they’re designed to do.

B2ZG-WWWW-WWW9-SA2S

VS 

This one has some Togekiss action, and was a prime example of some of the game-altering luck that 0ften occurred. I end up taking the win here thanks to full paralysis and flinch.

JQ5G-WWWW-WWW9-SAC9

VS 

Classic example of how evil Klefki is. This is pretty much why I was delighted with trading Gardevoir for Klefki on turn one in so many games. It has the chance to steal wins like no other Pokémon in the format.

88QG-WWWW-WWW9-SAYD

VS 

A good example of how good Gardevoir could be with Encore shenanigans. It deserved to do a bit more, but I got hit with the luck hammer. In the end, Dedenne and Gardevoir team up to put Mawile in perfect position to finish it.

“Why didn’t you show any losses?” Because I’m a sore loser, alright? There actually isn’t really a good reason for not being able to show a loss, but I was a little heated during some of these matches, and I never really had a blowout loss, meaning I was likely upset over losing a close one. An omission for sure, but I’m only human.

The End

Overall, I had a ton of fun participating in this tournament (although the confusion, paralysis, and flinching was maddening at times) and enjoyed writing this article. At some point I hope to make it to some VGC tournaments, but for now I’ll stick to these friendlies which I really enjoy.

A big thank you to the guys on the forums who participated in the lively Fairy Garden discussion, and to the community over at /r/stunfisk who put up with my constant posts about this tournament and actually seemed to embrace them.

Thanks to all of you for reading and good luck in your Pokémon endeavors!

About the Author

mrbdog46 has been playing Pokemon since 1998, shortly after the release of Red/Blue. He has played casually as a breeder until recently, when he became interested in VGC. Unable to participate in the 2014 season, he has instead competed in the online friendlies, placing 1st in the USA in the Fairy Face-Off.

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