Reports

Published on September 26th, 2014 | by Osirus

10

Prepare for Trouble, Make it Double! A 7th Place Worlds Report

Hi everyone, my name is Lee Provost or some of you may know me as Osirus on here. I’m a UK player and I recently finished 7^th in the 2014 Pokémon World Championships after going 5-1 in Swiss. I have been playing Pokémon for a very long time. I started out playing R/B/Y when the games were first released and haven’t really looked back since.

My first real season playing competitively was in 2010 where I earned an invite to Worlds by placing 3^rd in that year’s UK Nationals although I couldn’t attend as only 1^st and 2^nd places got the paid trips and I just couldn’t afford to pay my own way to Hawaii being a poor student at the time. I eventually made my first official Worlds appearance last year in Vancouver at the 2013 World Championships after finishing 3^rd again in the UK Nationals (this time winning a paid trip) but followed it up with a very disappointing and underwhelming performance finishing 37^th at the event.

And with that, it brings us on to this season and even though I’ve had a pretty tough time finding my feet within this year’s metagame, I seem to have somehow finished my season much better than I really saw it panning out. Whether it being down to luck or not I seem to have eventually found a team I am happy, proud, and comfortable with — which leads me on to my first ever Nugget Bridge team report so without dragging this on any longer, here it is.

Picking the Team

In the run up to Worlds my thoughts were heavily based around the weather. With Rain dominating a number of Nationals in the months leading up to the World Championships it really defined a lot of my thoughts around the metagame and helped contribute to how the team eventually came together. The concept I wanted to implement within the team was to be based around utilising two weather modes (hence the cheesy title). I felt having a dual weather team would give me more flexibility and choice going into the best of three format that Worlds is. The two methods I chose to base this concept around were Rain and Sand — one offering a fast offensive mode and the latter playing a more disruptive one.

With the lack of reliable speed control we have available and how match up based this year’s metagame has become I felt it was quite important to implement a fast mode within my team and ideally something that took as little setting up as possible. Choosing Rain as my first point of call, with the inclusion of Politoed and Ludicolo, fit this mold perfectly. I knew it was potentially quite risky bringing this combination to Worlds especially with any heavy reliance on it as many players would have good solid counters for this pair in light of their recent success, but as I was conscious of the other components I would be trying to include within the team I didn’t think this would be a weak decision.

From here I opted to add Tyranitar as my sand user and main weather disruptor; his ability, natural bulk, and great offensive presence made him a great candidate to fill this role. Tyranitar also offered really nice options against many common threats within the metagame I knew I needed an answer for — including Charizard (Y), Zapdos, and Talonflame along with the common ghosts and Psychic types I may come across. To complement Tyranitar I elected to round off this core of four with Garchomp. Garchomp’s Ground/Dragon typing with its amazing base stats made it one of the best Pokémon in the format which helped make this decision quite easy. Garchomp also offered the core some nice defensive synergy as well as being one of my main offensive tools to combat Steel types for strong and reliable super effective damage.

At this point the core four of Politoed, Ludicolo, Tyranitar and Garchomp offered a nice balance of special and physical offence which I felt was a solid base to move on from. The last two spots in my opinion were probably the most important choices to bring the team concept together. Both Pokémon needed to complement the four already chosen as well as being able to operate efficiently within both a Sand and Rain environment.

I definitely needed a Mega Pokémon to fill one of these slots, so looking through all of the options available I ended up short listing Mega Mawile, Mega Lucario, and Mega Scizor. All three could take advantage of the rain, could operate without any residual damage in Sand and were supported well by the other team members when considering their most common threats. They all had strong match ups against Mega Kangaskhan which was of huge importance but I think the Intimidate support Mawile offered along with its secondary Fairy typing were the factors that really swung the choice in its favour.

When looking at rounding off the team I elected Zapdos to fill my final slot. It gave the team a nice Ground and Grass resistance as well as some strong Electric STAB attacks for additional support. With its versatile and excellent base stat distribution I knew it would be very easy to mold Zapdos to fit perfectly within how I needed it to operate and perform.

The Final Six

The Team In-Depth

Zapdos @ Choice Scarf
Modest
Pressure
EVs: 132 HP / 44 Def / 172 SpAtk / 20 SpDef / 140 Spd
IVs: 31/31/31/30/30/30
– Thunder
– Discharge
– Volt Switch
– Hidden Power Flying

• The IV Spread I ended up having to use: 31/31/31/24/0/26
• The Actual EV Spread: 140 HP / 12 Def / 184 SpAtk / 8 SpDef / 160Spd

As the actual IV spread I ended up using was pretty terrible, I think it definitely needs at least a little explanation. I started soft resetting for my Hidden Power Flying Zapdos about three weeks before Worlds, at the time I thought this would give me plenty of time to hit the spread I wanted or at least get something as close to perfect as possible. Oh my friends, how I was wrong! So wrong! I was spending around 4 hours per day on my commute to work and back soft resetting plus some additional hours on evenings when I could. Now, I was either incredibly unlucky or this is what I think to be probably one of the hardest Hidden Powers to get. Over what turned out to be a pretty horrible and tenuous three week period I managed to only get two (out of probably thousands) Hidden Power Flying spreads. The first one was a Quiet nature with a 0 Speed IV (great for trick room right?!??) which was useless for what I needed and the second one was what I settled on and can be seen above. The reason I really had no option but to settle on such poor IVs was because I caught the above Zapdos in the hotel room on the Thursday morning before Worlds started. It was Modest and I worked out I could move EVs around to compensate for the lower Speed and Special attack IVs to hit the numbers I needed as they were probably the key stats for how I wanted Zapdos to operate. The Special Defence literally couldn’t have been any worse but when I thought about continuing on for a better spread I thought doing this would mean I realistically wouldn’t be running it at Worlds. So with that in mind, I promptly saved and that was that. I definitely think having such a low Special Defence IV hurt in a few matches but over the course of the tournament it didn’t make as big an impact as I thought it may have. I really was quite lucky to actually get the Hidden Power when I did. This whole process meant I had very little time to play or get comfortable with the team; I think I had about 5 practice matches before Worlds started which wasn’t ideal. I am currently trying to soft reset for a better spread but at a much more casual pace, so if and when I do get one as near to perfect as possible I may do a giveaway if anyone would be interested.

In any case, I constructed this Zapdos with the main intention to operate it as the team’s main pivot point — helping support both weather modes with fast damage and giving good options for gaining board control, keeping momentum and overall allowing for easier team maneuverability.

The 140 Speed EVs ensured I would get the jump on Scarfed max Speed Politoeds, neutral natured up to 100 Speed ev invested Ludicolos in the rain and all max Speed base 135s and below. I wasn’t too concerned about outspeeding Scarfed Smeargles as I had other methods to deal with it, hence the reason for not investing any further.

The Special Attack investment guaranteed a 1HKO on standard Scarfed Politoeds and 252HP / 4SpDef Azumarills with Thunder.

The Defence EVs allowed me to always survive an adamant Mega Kangaskhan’s Return and with Intimidate support helped boost its longevity in general.

I opted to run Thunder over Thunderbolt mainly for the increase in base power which helped turn a lot of close or near 1hkos with Thunderbolt into guaranteed ones and gave me a stronger option against opposing Rain teams. Thunder’s accuracy outside of rain was a lot less desirable than I would normally be comfortable running but I had my own rain mode to support and complement this as well as other electric attacks I could rely on in other field conditions.

Volt Switch was chosen for a number of reasons. Zapdos was holding a Choice Scarf so it now had the Speed stat to actually make real use of the attack to move relatively freely on the field, getting the jump on a majority of the metagame and avoiding super effective attacks whilst picking up at worst some chip damage along the way. I also liked the options it gave me when facing trapping teams, allowing me to quickly change momentum when I otherwise wouldn’t be able to. My favourite and primary use for Volt Switch though was to be used in conjunction with my Tyranitar and Politoed and using the fast switch to manipulate and disrupt the weather in my favour.

Although Discharge is the third Electric type attack I have elected to use on Zapdos, it again is here for a good reason. I knew from experience I would sooner or later come across one or more of those cute teams carrying a Lightningrod, Rage Powder or Follow Me user to protect their Electric-weak partner setting up and as simple as it is, Discharge was there to combat that. Its other advantages are it has a pretty decent 30% secondary effect to paralyze the opponent and as I was also running Garchomp, I had the option to really overwhelm the opponent with the old ‘DisQuake’ combo if the opportunity presented itself — although the latter was an afterthought.

Why Hidden Power Flying? I originally had Hidden Power Ice on Zapdos as a way of hitting many of the metagame’s Ice-weak threats but when reviewing the team I noticed I had a huge problem in particular with my matchup against Mega Venusaur. This really put a ‘spanner in the works’ as I thought a lot of players would be inclined to bring it to Worlds because of how good a match up it has against Rain. I was also uncomfortable that Mawile was currently my only real way of hitting Venusaur hard as it was almost guaranteed to have a nasty Fire type partner that Mawile would prefer to avoid. So when looking at all of my options to resolve this problem (of which I didn’t have many throughout the team), I realised that Zapdos was realistically one of the only Pokémon that I could alter to turn this matchup into a more favourable one. I decided I didn’t necessarily need Hidden Power Ice as I had Ludicolo and Politoed to deal with the threats I would be hitting with it anyway so Hidden Power Flying just made perfect sense. It also added another STAB move to my arsenal giving additional ways to surprise my opponents and hit many other common threats I previously had no reliable answer for.

I also took full advantage of the fact that in most battles my opponents would be assuming I was running HP Ice. In some games it was nice to reveal the scarf early and not the hidden power type, especially when I was facing off against opposing Garchomp and Salamence where I could almost force switching late game due to their thoughts of ‘not wanting to take an easy KO’ which really helped gain momentum at times. In the same respect, HP Flying was also very effective especially against Mega Venusaur. I found players would happily leave it on the field to eat up the expected HP Ice with the help of its Thick Fat Ability only to take up to, and sometimes over, 50% damage from the incoming HP Flying attack.

Overall I felt my decision to run HP Flying over HP Ice was the right one and it turned out to be extremely effective. Zapdos was definitely my MVP of the tournament and was brought to every game I played.

Damage Calculations

• 252+ Atk Adamant Parental Bond Kangaskhan-Mega Return vs. 132 HP / 44 Def Zapdos: 153-180 (84 – 98.9%)
• 172+ SpA Modest Ludicolo Ice Beam vs. 132 HP / 20 SpD Zapdos: 90-106 (49.4 – 58.2%)
• 252+ SpA Life Orb Modest Ludicolo Ice Beam vs. 132 HP / 20 SpD Zapdos: 125-148 (68.6 – 81.3%)
• 252 Atk Jolly Garchomp Rock Slide vs. 132 HP / 44 Def Zapdos: 70-84 (38.4 – 46.1%) 3HKO
• 252+ Atk Adamant Life Orb Tyranitar Rock Slide vs. 132 HP / 44 Def Zapdos: 151-179 (82.9 – 98.3%)
• 172+ SpA Modest Zapdos Thunder vs. 4 HP / 4 SpD Politoed: 186-222 (112 – 133.7%) 1HKO
• 172+ SpA Modest Zapdos Thunder vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Azumarill: 224-266 (108.2 – 128.5%) 1HKO
• 172+ SpA Modest Zapdos Hidden Power (Flying) vs. 4 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Ludicolo: 68-84 (43.5 – 53.8%)
• 172+ SpA Modest Zapdos Hidden Power (Flying) vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Ludicolo: 104-126 (66.6 – 80.7%)
• 172+ SpA Modest Zapdos Hidden Power (Flying) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Venusaur-Mega: 90-108 (48.1 – 57.7%)
• 172+ SpA Modest Zapdos Volt Switch vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Talonflame: 162-192 (105.1 – 124.6%)

Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Adamant
Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 188 Att / 36 Def / 20 SpDef / 12 Spd
– Taunt
– Thunder Wave
– Rock Slide
– Assurance

Tyranitar offered the team weather disruption, good offence, and helped play a specific support role within the team.

When looking at the different options I had for a Taunt user, one of my main goals was to not force or dedicate a specific slot on the team to something that could perform this support role and offer nothing else. I wanted something that could potentially operate similarly to how Thundurus was used in past formats offering both good support and decent offense. In my opinion Tyranitar has the typing, ability, natural bulk, and offensive presence that can actually allow it to operate effectively as this multi-functional Pokémon within this year’s metagame.

Taunt was elected as a way to stop any annoying status moves like Will-o-Wisp, Spore, Thunder Wave, Swagger and Dark Void (to name a few) that could potential neuter my team. It was also a nice tech to have as a way of stopping Trick Room and although Aromattisse could have caused problems I had Mawile to help with this match up. One drawback I found was that with Tyranitar’s low base speed, ideally you want to be getting your Taunt off before your opponent can move but in most situations this wasn’t possible. Lum Berry was elected to help alleviate this problem. Tyranitar was also my main method to combat sashed Smeargles; with the residual damage from sand and Taunt + Lum Berry I was able to shut it down and break its sash all in the same turn which was very appealing.

Having Thunder Wave on Tyranitar was amazing. It helped support the rest of the team to no end and gave me another option of speed control outside of my rain mode which at times could feel a bit one dimensional. It especially helped against certain problematic match ups I had; being able to paralyze these threats and create an opening for other slower team members to come in and clean-up was a great help. Thunder Wave was also something I liked to use to stop any Dragon Dancers in their tracks — with Thunder Wave + Intimidate from Mawile this combination really helped against this strategy. Thunder Wave also gave me options against many faster opponents in general as well as scarfed Pokémon that were prone to paralysis and anything that had a speed boosting ability to take their advantage away.

Rock Slide was chosen as my initial STAB move as it offered good spread damage and hit many common threats for super effective damage. It also combined well with Thunder Wave for the chance of picking up some nice paraflinching.

I have to admit and give a lot of credit to Simon for my decision to run Assurance on my Tyranitar. After watching him use it on his own Tyranitar during one of his top cut matches on stream at US Nationals I immediately fell in love with the idea — especially with the synergy it has with Thunder Wave.

Tyranitar’s EV spread was designed to try and find a good balance between both defence and offence. The defence EVs allowed Tyranitar to survive a Sacred Sword from a Quiet 0 EV Attack invested Aegislash 100% of the time, as well as a Play Rough from an Intimidated Adamant 252 attack EVed Mega Mawile. The HP and Special Defence investment allowed Tyranitar to survive a modest Mega Charizard (Y) Solar Beam in the sun 100% of the time as well as a Scald from a Standard Modest 172 Special Attack EVed Assault Vest Ludicolo in the rain. The Attack investment made it possible to 1HKO 252HP/4Def Aegislash in defence mode with Assurance after an initial Rock Slide from Garchomp.

I originally had Protect in the Thunder Wave slot, but because of all the switching I would be doing with Tyranitar it seemed more beneficial to elect another tool I could use to support the rest of the team with. Not having Protect did have its drawbacks and did cause issues by restricting my options whenever I had Garchomp Earthquaking, but the pros of having Thunder Wave in place of Protect did outweigh the cons overall in regards to how I wanted Tyranitar to operate.

Damage Calc’s

• Quiet 252HP / 4Def / 252SpAtt Aegislash Sacred Sword vs Tyranitar 252HP / 36Def / 20SpDef = 83% – 98% (2HKO)
• Quiet 252HP / 4Def / 252SpAtt Aegislash Flash Cannon (In Sand) vs Tyranitar 252HP / 36Def / 20SpDef = 53% – 63% (2HKO)
• Quiet 252HP / 4Def / 252SpAtt Aegislash Flash Cannon (without Sand) vs Tyranitar 252HP / 36Def / 20SpDef = 79% – 93% (2HKO)
• Adamant 198Att Ev’s Garchomp Rock Slide (Double Target) Vs Quiet 252HP / 4Def / 252 SpAtt Aegislash in Defence mode = 7% – 8%
• Adamant 188 Att Ev’s Tyrnaitar Assurance (After Rock Slide) Vs Quiet 252HP / 4Def / 252 SpAtt Aegislash in Defence mode = 94% – 114% – Rock Slide followed by Assurance Minimum = 101% Damage (1HKO)
• 252+ SpA Modest Charizard-Mega-Y Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Tyranitar: 170-202 (82.1 – 97.5%)
• Vs Adamant (Huge Power) Azumarill 252 Att Play Rough = 81% – 96% (2HKO)
• Vs Adamant (Huge Power) Azumarill 252 Att Aqua Jet = 17% – 21% (After Belly Drum +6) = 72% – 85% (2HKO)
• -1 252+ Atk Adamant Huge Power Mawile-Mega Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 36 Def Tyranitar: 174-206 (84 – 99.5%)
• 252+ SpA Modest Life Orb Ludicolo Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 140-166 (67.6 – 80.1%)
• 172+ SpA Swift Swim Modest Ludicolo Scald vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Tyranitar in Rain: 162-192 (78.2 – 92.7%)

Garchomp @ Roseli Berry
Adamant
Rough Skin
EVs: 12 HP / 198 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpDef / 228 Spd
– Dragon Claw
– Rock Slide
– Earthquake
– Protect

Garchomp offered the team good Ground and Dragon STAB attacks as well as Rock Slide for nice coverage and additional spread damage. Its typing gave me a nice defensive synergy alongside the other members of the team and was an overall reliable choice with its speed and bulk . I didn’t feel it was necessary to run a Jolly max speed spread with how the rest of the team shaped up and therefore opted for slightly more offense instead.

The Speed EVs allowed Garchomp to outspeed Modest max Speed invested Hydreigon by 1 point and all max Speed base 85s and below. The other EVs invested were used to hit specific defensive targets. 12HP / 36 SpDef is one we all know and allowed Garchomp to always survive a Hidden Power Ice from a Timid Mega Manetric. The 36 Def EVs with a Roseli Berry ensured I could always survive a Play Rough from a Mega Mawile. I calculated this more specifically so Garchomp could always survive a Play Rough and Sucker Punch in succession from an Intimidated Mega Mawile which allowed me to hit at least two Earthquakes in between moves picking up a KO 100% of the time with Rough Skin damage even after an Intimidate. The remaining EVs were placed in Attack to maximise Garchomp’s overall damage output.

The Roseli Berry may seem a bit strange but without having a wealth of hard offensive options against opposing Mega Mawiles and knowing how popular it would probably be at Worlds, it gave me more confidence in my general play and more of an advantage in any one-on-one matchups I was involved with.

This probably isn’t the most innovative Garchomp set you will see but it was created to help perform a set role which in my opinion it did incredibly well. I don’t think this is something you can just slap on any team but I have no regrets and feel it was the correct choice.

Damage Calculations

• (-1) After Intimidate Mega Mawile (Adamant) 252Att Ev’s Play Rough Vs Garchomp 12HP/36Def W Roseli Berry= 52% – 62%
• (-1) After Intimidate Mega Mawile (Adamant) 252Att Ev’s Sucker Punch Vs Garchomp 12HP/36Def = 31% – 37% = Max Damage 99% (3HKO)
• Mega Mawile (Adamant) 252Att Ev’s Play Rough Vs Garchomp 12HP/36Def W Roseli Berry = 78% – 92% (2HKO)
• Adamant Garchomp 198Att Ev’s Earthquake Vs Single Target Mega Mawile 252HP / 4Def = 96% – 114%
• (-1) After Intimidate Adamant Garchomp 198Att Ev’s Vs Single Target Mega Mawile 252HP / 4Def = 64% – 76% (2HKO)
• Azumarill (Adamanat) 252 Att Ev’s Play Rough Vs Garchomp 12HP/36Def With Roseli Berry = 50% – 60% (2HKO)
• Gardevoir (Modest) @ Choice Specs 252 SpAtt Ev’s Moonblast Vs Garchomp 12HP/36Def W Roseli Berry = 76% – 90% (2HKO)

Politoed @ Eject Button
Bold
Drizzle
EVs: 252HP / 116Def / 52SpAtt /84Spdef / 4Spd
– Scald
– Ice Beam
– Protect
– Encore

With Zapdos as my Choice Scarf user it was no longer an option to run on Politoed and although I saw the benefits to Scarf the little toed, especially within this metagame, I have always personally preferred a more defensively orientated spread.

As well as bringing the weather, Politoed offered nice resistances to Ice and Steel attacks which other members of the team didn’t appreciate having to take.

Politoed’s EV spread was designed to try and survive even the strongest attacks from the likes of Mega Kangaskhan, Choice Specs Hydreigon and other common metagame big hitters which allowed me to get the rain back on the field, hit some decent offensive damage, or disrupt with Encore for additional turns. I think a Sitrus Berry would have been another beneficial item to give Politoed but as this was already taken I had to look further afield.

I chose Eject Button as I felt its synergy with my Volt Switching Zapdos would be extremely useful to help maintain the weather on my side of the field as well as being another nice option to have against opposing trapping teams. I think rather than waffle on and try to describe how I foresaw primarily using this item in combination with Volt Switch it can be better seen in my first round match against Jeudy. You can see how I played around his Mega Evolving Charizard (Y) to maintain the weather and keep momentum on my side of the field.

Encore was a nice tech for being able to shut down and punish some of the slower threats in the metagame; being able to Encore an Azumarill’s Belly Drum or Aegislash’s Substitute or King’s Shield gave the move some nice appeal.

I chose Scald as my main STAB attack because of its reliable accuracy and really nice secondary effect of a 30% chance to burn the target. Boosted with the rain, it was a nice move which let Politoed do some respectable damage with very little special attack investment.

Ice Beam was mainly for additional support against Garchomps, Salamence and other Ice weak opponents as well as giving me the opportunity to double up on opponents like Hydreigon, Amoongus and Zapdos with Ludicolo to ensure a KO when a single hit wasn’t quite enough.

Damage Calculations

• Modest Mega Charizard (Y) 252 Sp Att Ev’s Solar Beam Vs 252HP/84Sp def Politoed = 74% -88% (2HKO)
• Adamant Mega Mawile 252 Att Ev’s Play Rough Vs 252HP/116 def Bold Politoed = 73% – 86% (2HKO)
• Modest Zapdos 252 Sp Att Ev’s Thunder Bolt Vs 252HP/84Sp def Politoed = 77% – 91% (2HKO)
• Modest Mega Manetric 252 Sp Att Ev’s Thunder Bolt Vs 252HP/84Sp def Politoed = 80% – 95% (2HKO)
• Adamant Mega Kangaskhan 252 Att ev’s Double Edge Vs 252HP/116 def Bold Politoed = 82% – 97% (2HKO)
• Modest Hydreigon252 Sp Att Ev’s Choice Specs Draco Meteor Vs 252HP/84Sp def Politoed = 82% – 97% (2HKO)
• Mega Tyranitar 252 Att Ev’s (+1 After Dragon Dancing) Stone Edge Vs 252HP/116 def Bold Politoed = 84% – 99% (2HKO)

Ludicolo @ Sitrus Berry
Modest
Swift Swim
EVs: 132 HP / 20 Def / 212 SpAtk / 28 SpDef / 116 Spd
– Fake Out
– Ice Beam
– Hydro Pump
– Giga Drain

Ludicolo offered the team quick offence in the rain with an array of Water, Grass and Ice attacks as well as good Fake Out support. Ludicolo’s role was to take full advantage of Politoed’s Drizzle abilty and start firing off damage as quick and hard as possible. Ludicolo also gave the team nice defensive options against incoming Ground and Water type attacks as well as being a great switch into Spore or helping combat any Rage Powder abusers.

Assualt Vest was an option I did consider using and would have worked extremely well, but I felt that I would need to overexert with my EVs in defence and HP for Ludicolo to not be an easy one shot for Mega Kangaskhan which I was slightly uncomfortable with. A way of overcoming this was to run a Sitrus Berry. The HP and Defence EVs with the Sitrus berry guaranteed I would be able to survive an Adamant Kangaskhan’s Return. In the rain, a Hydro Pump and Scald combination from Ludicolo and Politoed respectively guaranteed a 1HKO on 4hp/4spef variants.

I chose Hydro Pump over Scald for the additional damage it offered. Giga Drain gave me a nice STAB grass attack and way to further prolong Ludicolo’s life while Ice Beam was there mainly for Garchomp, Salamence, and other Ice-weak opponents.

The 116 Speed EVs allowed me the get the jump on all positive natured base 135s and all positive natured max Speed +1 base 75s and below. I had previously tested another team with a faster Ludicolo to ensure I got the jump on the likes of Timid Scarfed Salamence and other +1 base 100 Pokémon but I never really found the additional speed was needed and decided that the EVs would be more beneficial invested in defence.

Ludicolo also offered a nice option against Spore and Rage Powder users as well as additional defensive support for other team members against incoming Ground, steel and water attacks.

Damage Calculations

• Vs Adamant Mega Kangaskhan Return = 69% – 82% (First Hit)
• Vs Adamant Mega Kangaskhan Return = 34% – 41% (Second Hit)
• 82% Max Damage (First Hit) = 18% Health Ludicolo + Sitrus Berry = 25% = 43% Health – 41% Max Damage (Second hit) = 1% Health Ludicolo (Adamant Mega Kangaskhan 252 Att Return (2HKO))
• 212+ SpA Modest Ludicolo Hydro Pump vs. 4 HP / 4 SpD Kangaskhan-Mega in Rain: 118-139 (65.1 – 76.7%)
• 52 SpA Bold Politoed Scald vs. 4 HP / 4 SpD Kangaskhan-Mega in Rain: 67-81 (37 – 44.7%)
• -1 252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Play Rough vs. 132 HP / 20 Def Ludicolo in Rain: 126-148 (73.2 – 86%)
• 212+ SpA Ludicolo Ice Beam vs. 12 HP / 36 SpD Garchomp in Rain: 188-224 (101.6 – 121%)
• Ludicolo Modest 212 Sp att Ev’s Hydro Pump (In the rain) vs 252Hp/4Spdef Mega Kangaskhan = 55% – 65%
• Ludicolo Modest 212 Sp att Ev’s Hydro Pump (In the rain) vs 252HP/4Spdef Mega Mawile = 77% – 91% (2HKO)
• Azumarill Adamant 252 Att Ev’s Play Rough vs Ludicolo Modest 132Hp/20Def = 71% – 84% (2HKO)
• Ludicolo Modest 212 Sp Att Ev’s Giga Drain vs Azumarill 252HP/4Spdef = 61% -73% (2HKO)
• Ludicolo Modest 212 Sp att Ev’s Hydro Pump (In the rain) vs. 252 Hp/4 SpD Aegislash (Defence Mode) = 50% – 59% (2HKO)

Mawile @ Mawilite
Adamant
Intimidate/Huge Power
EVs: 252HP / 196Att / 4Def / 12SpDef / 44Spd
– Iron Head
– Play Rough
– Protect
– Sucker Punch

I chose Mawile as my Mega and it really seemed to be a perfect fit on the team. I initially couldn’t decide whether or not to run a more defensive or offensive spread but when looking at the team support Mawile had around it with the rain, Ludicolo, Politoed and support from Tyranitar, I almost felt the additional defence investment was wasteful and not necessary.

Mawile offered nice team support with Intimidate, a dual Fairy and Steel typing, and offered good offence with its huge Attack stat. It is one of the best checks for Mega Kangaskhan which was one of the major sways in selecting Mawile over another Mega. Its Dragon and Ice resistances helped complement Garchomp especially and gave me a lot of attacking coverage against the common metagame threats my other team members struggled against.

The Special Defence EVs allowed Mawile survive a max Special Attack invested Timid Mega Charizard (Y)’s Overheat in the rain and a it had a 50% chance to survive the same attack from a Modest variant. The Speed investment was there to creep other slightly Speed invested base 60s. The rest were dumped into Attack to maximise damage.

Play Rough, although having obvious accuracy issues, was the only real STAB physical Fairy attack I had to pick from. Though I swear its accuracy in the actual game is less than 90%, it didn’t warrant dropping it for an alternative move and considering the guaranteed KO on pretty much anything it hit for super effective damage. Out of the 12 Play Roughs I used throughout the tournament, only 5 ended up hitting.

Iron Head was my secondary STAB attack which was primarily there to nuke any other Fairies and give me a more reliable attacking option when Play Rough wasn’t worth risking to pick up easy KOs.

Sucker Punch gave me a nice method of priority and worked well to clean up at the end of matches or pick up any last ditch damage on a turn Mawile was going down.

Tyranitar was Mawile’s primary support partner with Taunt and Thunder Wave. Mawile has a pretty terrible base speed which is definitely one of its biggest draw backs; having Thunder Wave allowed me to paralyze opposing threats and set Mawile up to operate as a very effective sweeper. Taunt helped prevent burns, sleep and other annoying status based effects that would otherwise neuter its effectiveness. Taunt was also a nice tool to use in combination with Sucker Punch, forcing attacks and preventing any stalling.

Looking back after the event, I think Mawile would be the only Pokémon (besides possibly Garchomp) that I would make any changes on. The team in general has a few issues dealing with Ferrothorn and by replacing Iron Head with Fire Fang it would help with this matchup. By no means is this change a reliable check but it does give the team a better method for dealing with this matchup than I currently have.

Damage Calculations

• 252 SpA Timid Charizard-Mega-Y Overheat vs. 252 HP / 12 SpD Mawile-Mega (in Rain): 132-156 (84 – 99.3%)
• 252+ SpA Modest Charizard-Mega-Y Overheat vs. 252 HP / 12 SpD Mawile-Mega (in Rain): 144-170 (91.7 – 108.2%) 50% Chance to 1HKO
• 212+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Sucker Punch vs. 252 HP / 76 Def Charizard-Mega-Y: 93-110 (50.2 – 59.4%) Guaranteed 2HKO
• -1 252 Atk Jolly Garchomp Earthquake (Double Target) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Mawile-Mega: 68-84 (43.3 – 53.5%)
• 252+ Atk Adamant Choice Band Talonflame Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Mawile-Mega in Rain: 102-120 (64.9 – 76.4%)
• 204 Atk Adamant Mawile-Mega Sucker Punch vs. 4 HP / 132 Def Ludicolo in Rain: 94-111 (60.2 – 71.1%)
• 196+ Atk Adamant Mawile-Mega Play Rough vs. 4 HP / 132 Def Ludicolo in Rain: 157-186 (100.6 – 119.2%)
• 196+ Atk Adamant Mawile-Mega Play Rough vs. 4 HP / 4 Def Politoed: 175-207 (105.4 – 124.6%)

Closing Thoughts

Overall I was very happy with how the team performed and my eventual finish — I just hope this report makes some sort of sense! If you have any questions or opinions on anything I’ve said please PM me or even better post your comments and questions below and I’ll get back to you.

As far as the actual tournament went, I feel I performed quite well on a whole. I still have the same problems keeping my nerves and concentration in check during Swiss rounds when things seem to be going well but hopefully this is something I can overcome and improve on. Of course I would have liked to have gone deeper in the tournament (who wouldn’t?) but hopefully I’ll be there or thereabouts next year for another crack at the title. If not I am just very grateful and lucky to have had the opportunity.

On a whole I do feel I have learned a lot this year about the game and myself as a player in general. I gained a lot of insight from my Worlds experience last year which I think helped and had a lot of bearing on how I prepared and approached this year’s tournament. Hopefully, I can take what I have learned from this season and build on it for next year. Another aspect that has really helped me this season is eventually overcoming the ridiculous “scrub” mentality I have had hanging over my head (for way too long), which I think has being a major factor for me personally not making any real progress as a player in the past. I do think a lot of players still have this “bad” persona around not wanting to use common strategies or certain Pokémon simply because of how popular they are within a specific format. All I will say on this is “get over it.” This is a game. You play to win and use the best tools available. The sooner you realise this, the sooner you will start to see improvements. The only person you are really affecting by not allowing yourself to use the best or most popular Pokémon is yourself, so do yourself a favour and stop making this game harder than it has to be.

I hope my run at Worlds wasn’t a simple “one off” and I will be trying extremely hard to build on this going into next season. I still have a lot of growing to do as a player and I will try to make the right steps to do this going into next year and future seasons.

Shout Outs

Firstly I need to say a huge thank you and shout out to my good friend Koryo. Without his help I would have never made it to Worlds this year! You’re a legend!

There are far too many of you to thank individually and for those of you who are still with me at this point of the report you would probably appreciate a short and sweet ending so:

I just want to thank everyone I have met, played and spoken with this season at Worlds and throughout Europe. You are all what makes the VGC circuit so amazing. Since I started attending these events I have met some of the most incredible people and I feel so privileged to be even the smallest part of this amazing community. I love you all and can’t wait to hopefully see you all again next season.

One last side note, if anyone would like to test or try out the team please feel free! Thanks for reading!

About the Author

Osirus is a UK based Pokémon player, achieving 3 World Championship invitations since 2010. Obtaining two invites from placing 3rd at the UK Nationals in 2010 & 2013 and the other after finishing 26th in the European CP Rankings during the 2014 season which was followed by a 7th Place finish at that years World Championships in Washington D.C.

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