The Power of Gothitelle: A Top 16 UK National Report
Hi! My name is Cláudio Serpa, also known as TrickSage. Almost no one in the VGC community knows me because I’m too lazy to interact on the forums and IRC chat! But first let me introduce myself a little bit further! I’ve been playing Pokémon since Red and Blue, though my first VGC event was in the year Pokémon Black & White came out. I felt like my VGC story so far is an unlucky one, including having to leave a competition in the last round in order to make my train. This year, I was set on making a statement. I decided to do what I always do, which was use a unique team true to my play style and try to get to Top Cut.
The year before I had run a Trick Room team with Sableye and Dusclops, catching a lot of players off guard, so this year I was set on also doing something unique. I love Shadow Tag and I’ve been working on teams taking advantage of the Ability since almost the beginning of X and Y. I also love Gothitelle as a Pokemon, so I finally decided on building a team around it, instead of building around a Mega or a weather condition. And I Goth to telle you, I couldn’t find a team more fitting for me!
I will spare you all the versions of the team I tested, and just show you the version I used in Manchester:
Gothitelle (F) aka Meema @ Leftovers
Ability: Shadow Tag
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 156 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Heal Pulse
– Thunder Wave
– Psychic
– Protect
The EV’s are distributed so that Gothitelle is as bulky as possible after an Intimidate. I could have adjusted the HP to a number divisible by 16 to maximize Leftovers recovery, though. The only damage calculation I did when designing this spread was to survive an Aqua Jet from a +6 Azumarill. I felt that I needed to survive at least one of those at full HP. However, the spread was doing its job so I didn’t felt the need to change it.
What really made Gothitelle powerful was its moves and Ability. Shadow Tag is just so powerful if used well. You can dominate the game simply by not letting your enemy switch. Thunder Wave was used as a great form of Speed control. Heal Pulse could punish my adversaries when they think that it’s fine to ignore Gothitelle and focus on its partner. Protect was there to stall and recover HP with Leftovers, so that Gothitelle was even more difficult to put down. I chose Psychic in the last slot for chip damage and to ensure I wasn’t Taunt bait.
Conkeldurr (M) aka DracoeyeZz @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 180 SDef
Adamant Nature
– Drain Punch
– Payback
– Mach Punch
– Poison Jab
These Attack EVs enable Conkeldurr to deal considerable damage to a bulky Mega Kangaskhan with Drain Punch, and then knock it out with Mach Punch the next turn. The HP and Special Defense EVs with Assault Vest allowed Conkeldurr to take Special hits like a truck, sometimes allowing it to wall entire teams. Rotom formes couldn’t do a thing to Conkeldurr, and Guts would allow me to benefit from them and other Pokemon trying to Burn me. Even better, this Conkeldurr has only 50% probability of being KOed by a Moonblast from a max Special Attack Modest Choice Specs Gardevoir.
Poison Jab was my secret weapon against paralyzed Fairies, as it could 2HKO Azumarill and Gardevoir. Payback was used as coverage against Ghost types.
Manectric-Mega aka Rubi ◊ (M) @ Manectite
Ability: Lighting Rod
Level: 50 EVs: 92 HP / 24 Def / 252 SAtk / 140 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
– Volt Switch
– Protect
– Hidden Power Ice
– Flamethrower
Manectric was a great Pokémon to abuse Gothitelle’s Shadow Tag. Lightning Rod before the Mega Evolution let me absorb possible Volt Switches, preventing my opponent from switching. Once Manectric did Mega Evolve, I could spam Intimidate with Volt Switch and switch to a Pokemon that better dealt with whatever was trapped.
The Nature and Special Attack EVs allowed me to OHKO Garchomp with Hidden Power Ice, and gave the additional benefit of letting Volt Switch do enough damage to Azumarill to prevent Belly Drum from being used. The 140 Speed EVs made me faster than Mienshao, but I ended up regretting not being faster than Gengar after Mega Evolving! The HP and Defense EVs made Manectric bulky enough to survive an Earthquake from Jolly Garchomp, even without Intimidate.
This EV spread was made by my friend João Pires.
Gengar (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50 EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
– Shadow Ball
– Taunt
– Will-O-Wisp
– Protect
I felt like I needed a fast Ghost type with Taunt and Will-o-Wisp, so why not Gengar? This is the same Gengar that Yoshi used at German Nationals, so I don’t think I need to explain it.
Azumarill (M) aka Necro <3 @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Play Rough
– Aqua Jet
– Belly Drum
– Protect
This one doesn’t require much explanation either. It’s a standard Belly Drum Azumarill set, with an HP divisible by two in order to activate my Sitrus after the Belly Drum. I have max Attack to do as much damage as possible.
Pyroar (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Unnerve
Level: 50
EVs: 20 HP / 8 Def / 252 SAtk / 228 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
– Hyper Voice
– Protect
– Overheat
– Hidden Power
Pyroar did what Pyroar does best. Destroy Steel types, do a lot of damage to Rotom formes, finish off Mega Kangaskhans, and destroy Garchomp and Salamence. The EV spread was designed to outspeed Jolly Garchomp by one point, and to survive a Timid Scarf Salamence Draco Meteor 100% of the time.
You’re possible thinking, with all of these powerful Pokémon, how is the team built around Gothitelle? Why would I use Gothitelle with so many Pokémon that are possibly better choices? Well, I’ll start by letting you know that I used Gothitelle in ALL of my matches. So how does the team work? Let’s start with the lead!
Gothitelle + Something
I always started with Gothitelle except against Trick Room. Why?
First of all, most people underestimate what Gothitelle can do. That alone will give you an early advantage where you can just do some damage, Paralyze your opponent, or play some mind games. Shadow Tag lets you dominate the game from the very beginning, controlling what the adversary can do and letting you play mind games. You can break Shadow Tag yourself to let your opponent think he can switch, just so you can control the next Pokémon coming in and lock that incoming Pokémon at the same time, or just clean it as he’s coming in.
You can also do a sort of pseudo-Ally Switch by switching out Gothitelle and Volt Switching from Manectric back to Gothitelle, letting you stall and maintain the lock longer. One of my best leads was Gothitelle and Manectric, because I could just do some quick damage and switch to a different, more suitable Pokémon to go against the lead the opponent chose. It also helped that a Psychic and Flamethrower double target would knock out most Amoonguss, and two Psychics and a Volt Switch KO a lot of Mega Venusaur.
When I had the chance to trap two Pokémon that would do less than 50% damage to Azumarill, I would Paralyze one of them and set up Belly Drum. After that, I just had to keep the Paralyzed Pokémon in and Heal Pulse Azumarill when needed while KOing the entire enemy team.
Against Trick Room, I would never lead Gothitelle, since the opponent wouldn’t want to waste turns switching anyway. If I couldn’t stop Trick Room from being set up I would bring in Gothitelle on turn two or three in order to lock his Trick Room setter.From there I’d focus on KOing his setter and stalling out the remaining turns of Trick Room. Once that is accomplished, I’d just need to sweep up the rest of the team.
The team has a lot more options available to it, but instead of going into them I would rather just tell you about my battles. I don’t remember everything, so I’ll just do a quick description of the battles.
Day 1
Game 1: Vs Karl
- He used Mega Aggron, Dragonite, Gengar and Blastoise
- I used Gothitelle, Manectric, Azumarill and Conkeldurr
Turn 1 I started with Gothitelle and Manectric and he led with Dragonite and Aggron. We both Mega Evolved, and I Paralyzed his Dragonite while bringing Azumarill to the field with Volt Switch. His Dragonite had Thunder Punch, and I mistakenly let him KO Azumarill. After that I defeated all his Pokemon with Conkeldurr and Gothitelle for a 3-0 win.
Game 2: Vs Oliver
- He used Chandelure, Mega Kanga, Goodra and Malamar
I don’t really remember this game. He had Shadow Claw on Mega Kangaskhan to counter Gengar. I think I missed a Will-O-Wisp and two Play Roughs but ended up winning 3-0.
Game 3: Vs Nico Platz (Wushi)
- He used Politoed, Kingdra, Mega Manectric and Escavalier
He started with Politoed and Kingdra and I led with Gothitelle and Manectric. I didn’t take many notes. I paralyzed his Pokémon and stalled out the Rain. Manectric and Conkeldurr were able to take down his team with Gothitelle’s support. Ended up winning 4-0.
Game 4: Vs Max Strachan
- He used Greninja, Mega Ampharos, Talonflame and Mamoswine
He started with Greninja and Ampharos. Gothitelle went down to a critical hit on the first turn, and I didn’t know that Mold Breaker didn’t let Lightning Rod absorb Thunderbolt (thanks Showdown!). I lost my mind and ended up giving him the game with all the mistakes I made. Lost 2-0.
Game 5: Vs Marcel Kapelle (Massi)
- He used Amoonguss, Rotom-H, Salamence and Mega Mawile
I only took notes on Massi’s Pokemon and their respective attacks. I remember starting with Gothitelle and Manectric, and he started with Amoonguss and Rotom-H. I didn’t Mega Evolve at first, electing to Protect in the hope that he might try to Thunderbolt me. I Psychiced his Amoonguss, and he Spored into Manectric’s Protect while Will-o-Wisping my Gothitelle. The next turn I KOed Amoonguss, and he brought Mawile onto the field. I break Shadow Tag so he would think I was trying to protect Gothitelle, and switched in Pyroar. I anticipated him switching his Mega Mawile out for Salamence, so I used Hidden Power Ice on his Mega Mawile and KOed the incoming Salamence. Then with just Mega Mawile and Rotom-H and me with my entire party, it was game. I don’t really remember if the game ended up 3-0 or 4-0.
Game 6: Vs Niall Crallan (TheLastSheikah)
- He used Slowking, Scrafty, Mega Abomasnow and Nidoqueen
This was a match I didn’t want to play! I love Trick Room so battling against a Trick Room team when I’m not running one made me feel guilty. He started with Scrafty and Slowking and I started with Gengar and Manetric. I knew that I couldn’t risk using Taunt because it could be an Oblivious Slowking, so I just Shadow Balled him to get some damage and tried to Volt Switch on his Slowking just in case he was predicting my Protect. He ended up using Fake Out on Scrafty and got Trick Room set up.
I knew he was not going to double target Gengar so I tried to Will-o-Wisp his Scrafty, but I missed, and I Volt Switched on his Slowking and brought in Gothitelle to lock in his Slowking and his -1 Scrafty. I brought in Conkeldurr because I knew that he would think it was an easy target, and that I could just Heal Pulse all his damage away while taking care of Scrafty. I stalled and was doing some passive damage. I remember that Trick Room was almost finished and Conkeldurr had more damage than I would like, so I switched and sacrificed Gengar so I could Psychic and Mach Punch his Slowking to knock it out. Trick Room ended just as he lost his setter. I remember bringing Mega Manectric to KO his Mega Abomasnow with Flamethrower while I just Heal Pulsed the passive damage. We ended up with my three Pokémon against his Nidoqueen so it was game. I won 3-0.
Game 7: Vs Joe Wilson (Russian)
- He used Politoed, Ludicolo, Manectric and Talonflame.
I was happy when I saw this matchup because I love battling Rain teams. He started with Politoed and Ludicolo, and I led with Gothitelle and Manectric. I knew he saw Manectric as something to KO as soon as possible so I just Protected Manectric and Thunder Waved his Ludicolo while he tried to Fake Out and Scald into my Protect. I then Volt Switched on his Politoed and brought out Conkeldurr, and slowly KOed both his Pokémon with the support of Heal Pulse until the Rain ended. When the Rain ended we were four against two in my favor. I just had to play around his team from there. I don’t remember if we ended up 4-0 or 3-0, but it was a good game.
Game 8: Vs Matthew Harwood (Matt)
- He used Sableye, Mienshao, Mega Manectric and Staraptor.
He started with Sableye and Mienshao and I led with Azumarill and Gothitelle. I just double Protected to start, and then Psychiced his Mienshao and Belly Drumed with Azumarill while he Will-O-Wisped Azumarill and High Jump Kicked my Gothitelle. Next turn he tried to Swagger me but failed, and I KOed his Sableye with Play Rough. From there I just ignored his Mienshao and proceeded to Aqua Jet everything with Heal Pulse support. When I knew I wouldn’t be able to deal enough damage to KO my target, I just Protected Azumarill and Psychiced the target instead. He was able to bring Azumarill down with Staraptor, but all I had to do was bring Manectric to the battle and the victory was mine. 3-0 win.
With this, the first day was over. I was 7-1 and in 4th place in my flight. I was quite happy and anxious to play in the top 32!
Day 2
We arrived early at the event. I was playing against Guillermo Sanavia from Spain to get to top 16.
Top 32
Game 1: The moment I saw his team I knew that I had the game. He was running double Mega and neither of them were especially strong against my team. He led with Mega Venusaur and Rotom-H, and I started with Gothitelle and Manetric. I Psychiced his Venusaur and Protected with Manectric, choosing not to Mega Evolve, and Manectric avoided a double target attack. Next turn I tried to double target his Venusaur, while he Protected and Overheated my Manectric that had just Mega Evolved. I double targeted him again with Psychic and Volt Switch, KOing his Mega Venusaur. He Volt Switched to Aegislash and brought Rotom-H again the next turn. I brought in Conkeldurr and just played around his Aegislash with Thunder Wave and Payback. Once in a while I just Drain Punched his Rotom or Heal Pulsed my Conkeldurr to keep my HP up. I don’t remember the details, but we ended up with all four of my Pokémon remaining against his Aegislash. I won the first game 4-0 after his forfeit.
Game 2: I have the video of this battle, so I’m just going to let you guys watch it. My Pyroar KOed himself in the last turn with Life Orb damage, but the game counted the match as a 4-0 victory.
Top 16
My next opponent was Miguel Marti, also known as Sekiam, and he was friends with my previous opponent. Guillermo showed our battle to Sekiam, as well as all his notes on my team. I felt like I lost the surprise factor my team had, and that made me nervous. I became even more nervous when I saw his team. Gengar and Aegislash together would mean trouble for me because my Mega Manectric wasn’t faster than his Gengar. I made a lot of mistakes in these games, and ended up giving him the set. Rather than describing our matches, I’ll just let you watch them instead:
- Part 1 – http://youtu.be/j8kKMwRGMNo
- Part 2 – http://youtu.be/rjROsFeQt4Y
- Part 3 – http://youtu.be/og9L32DgDVY
- Part 4 – http://youtu.be/grLY_IGztbA
I feel that if I had played it right, I could have been able to win. This shows I still need to improve! And to make it worse, I was unable to go to Milan, making this my only chance to get into Worlds, and the rest of the top cut was just Rain teams, a matchup my team did very well against.
So this was my road in Manchester. I improved my team afterwards, and I was quite confident in it, but unfortunately I couldn’t afford the trip to Milan. Maybe next year I’ll be able to make it to Worlds with a freaky and unique team like this one, and represent Portugal even better! I’ll look forward to using Mega Sableye!
I hope I can meet more people in the future! Every year I always get to meet a lot of cool people and make new friends! I’d like to give special thanks to Jamie Miller and Ruben (WorldBestKebab), both of whom helped me put together this team. Ruben gave me a special Manectric to give me luck! Another really big thanks goes to Cíntia Luz (aka Meema) that made my Gothitelle named Meema and made an AWESOME Sableye that was my good luck charm! Thank you to my rival and really good friend Miguel Vicêncio (also known as Dracoeye) for making my Conkeldurr. I also have to thank Tiago Soares (also known as Necro), who made my Azumarill which almost won me some games by itself! I still have to thank Rui Pedro! He was ready to help me and made me a Hidden Power Ice Delphox that I ended up switching for Pyroar that was the son of the Pyroar he had sent me before. And last but not least, a big thanks to everyone that supported me and gave me strength! João Pires, Eduardo Cunha, the annoying pessimist Pedro Lima, Miguel who went to the airport to say good bye, and everyone in Portugal! Forgive me if I forgot any names! I love you all!
About the Author
TrickSage Pokémon Blue was his first game and he never stop playing Pokémon ever since. He Discovered the VGC meta when Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver came out and never stop dreaming of one day becoming the very best ever since. Loves to use unique teams and loves to troll.
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22 Responses to The Power of Gothitelle: A Top 16 UK National Report
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Keep going Trick! I love to see that my Manectric went on a rampage in Manchester ♥ Next year it’ll be my turn 😀
Don’t feel bad that you can’t make Worlds – you’ve still really made a name for yourself this season with your excellent performances! The unique factor of your team also seemed to help a lot in your battle – people often expect Perish Trap upon seeing Gothitelle and Gengar together (Azumarill can learn Perish Song as well) so this works as an effective trap in your favour too. Great to see Conkeldurr getting some usage too ^^ I wish you the best of luck next season and I’ll be on chat if you need any practise buddies!
Thanks Guys!
Let’s have another UK VS Portugal next month and have some fun! I want to troll Jamie and Justin! Hehehe 😀
I love to play against PBC players! You’re all really cool and received me so well as always! I felt like I was home! 🙂
My only loss in swiss! Shadow Tag really screwed me over, I couldn’t get my Trick Room abusers out in time.
I remember you saying you had a really bad matchup against other Trick Room teams, and wasn’t sure if you just said that for mind games…
Sorry I think you misunderstand that. It was not that my match up was bad, but that I was feeling guilty and didn’t want to face Trick Room. 😛
Like I’ve said above I really love Trick Room and seeing someone using Trick Room and having such a good score made me feel really guilty for not using a trick room myself!
But like I think I’ve said to you after that, because I’ve used Trick Room for so much time I really knew how to go around your team and exploit your weaknesses. But your team was great! I really liked it! 😀
Great to see a gothitelle get some play. It has a lot of tools and bulk at its disposal and I always thought it looked fun to use. Thanks for the report!
Love the team, was great to meet you, and congratulations on the Top Cut!
I love Gothitelle and had a few novel ideas regarding her that I never got to test, nice to see someone using her so well- your team looks like it works really brilliantly :3
(oh and if there is another UKvsPT, count me in this time! :’D)
It was 3-0, you missed out the part where Ludi was fully paralysed further prolonging manectrics existence. I Lead really stupidly that game and shadow tag screwed me over. You played that match really nicely.
GG.
Yeah. Sorry Russian! But to be fair I don’t think Ludi being paralyzed make much difference. I could just use poison jab to finish it quicker with the aid of heal pulse. But that lead was what give me the game. I were afraid you would lead Manectric with politoad. That would had given me much more troubles!
I had much fun in our match! And sorry again but I really like the troll factor in my teams! X)
I’ll tell you the same I said to you personally: as a Portuguese guy, thank you for your work in developing the Portuguese VGC community! Great team and creativity!
Ahahaha, my boy Claudio posting this report makes me so proud… you have no idea :’)
I had already read the whole article back when it was just a baby written in Word format, and seeing it here makes it even more beautiful!
Congratulations once again on that finish. I was so happy when you told me you had won your last match! Trust me, you getting 4th in swiss made me forget my poor finish x)
As I said before, you make us proud, not only for this, but also for putting together an unofficial National Event, bringing Premier Challenges to Portugal and doing so well on this last International Challenge.
Ah “my rival and really good friend” Claudio! As Portuguese (and the one who started all this VGC thing in Portugal together with you), I’m really pleased to see you accomplishing such great feats!
I truly believe that, had you won that last match, you would make it to the very end. It’s a shame that you can’t go to worlds even though you (probably with the IC) got an invite :/
Congrats again! Always rooting for you bro!
I like that I’m mentioned after someone who thinks a Jumpluff can take an Ice Punch from a Weavile and survive with around 30% HP left.
Nop missing 20 or so point to the invite… X)
If only I had managed to go to Italy… oh well… next year there’s more!
Focused on growing VGC in Portugal to the Max now! 😀
Lima aka Findow… complain less and I’ll put you first next time! XD
Jk I was following an order and I was speaking of the Pokés first, and the order doesn’t mean anything in terms of importance! XD
Now focus on training to the Pokémon Battle Tour final so I don’t have to ear you complaining about everything! Hahahahaha XD
Great report and gj on reaching top cut. I like to play with unique teams myself, and that Gothitelle ev spread looks like it would fit great in my Gravity team for OU doubles.
Using Cresellia atm but I find opponents who switch often some what annoying. Since Gothitella has Shadow Tag and learns the exact same moves my Cresellia has, this set could just be the final nail to their coffin. 😀
Nice report and a nice Team! We battled in the IC june and it was a very strong match against you.
Congrats for your top16 finish!
That was one of my team ideas months ago. in this metagame are really good matchups that with a tag trapper you can take all de adventatge
I am really really glad to see you doing that well with this team, TrickSage.
We battled from time to time on the PS server and I had a strong matchup with my Trick Room thanks to Trevenant being a ghost type which you can´t take out easily, haha.
Still, I really love your team and how your building process behind worked out. Also, thank you for letting people know how to use Gothitelle in the most effective way. Two good friends of mine, Timo Koppetsch and Eloy Hahn were also using Gothitelle and top cuttet in Bochum and Milan respectively, showing how strong it works with the right team mates. Timo used Snarl on his Manectric which is a really mean way to punish Aegislashes and Gengar(and adding more bulk to the team overall, which Gothitelle really appreciates). Have you ever considered using it? Give it a try, it might works out!
Yeah we battled when I was testing the version before this one and that version had a really big problem with ghost trick room setters! That was one of the reasons I was frustrated playing on showdown at that time against u! Hahaha xD
Now I feel much more confident with the match, the team is much more solid than the version u battled with ttar, gyarados and so on.
At that time I was using snarl but the HP ice is really good and I also really need protect. So it was a really hard choice between the 2 moves… but I don’t think I regret this cause HP ice on mane won me many games. Especialy when my pyroar ended up paralized! Hahaha x)
I have a stronger version of this team already and I’m working on another even stronger version! Too bad I don’t have anything big where to use it! 😛
I’m organizing VGC events in Portugal and because of that I can’t play on then! X)
Next year I have to go to Worlds! 😀
Congratulations on your success. I really like the concept of the team. Quite effective according to your success as well as very unique in its own right.
I believe I battled you sometime ago in the Bisafan Sping Open. You used what looked like a standard TR team. Granted you didn’t win our battle, it did look like you knew exactly what you were doing regardless. It was more in lieu that the match-up was simply unfavorable for you, nothing wrong with the player. I think it shows with this Top 16; you put a good player with a team he strategized and knows its match-ups, and you get a very unique concept that can get really far, as well as opening the eyes of many aspiring players to look for these nice strategies.
Tks KLVkboom. 🙂
I like to test a lot of crazy strategies and team, and some are doom to fail! X)
But that is what helps me getting to a good team like this one. 😛
Unless I’m at Nats I will always troll a little on the not so safe side so I get more losses than maybe a serious player would get hehehe. But I really love to troll and have some fun! X)