Reports

Published on July 16th, 2013 | by JRank

13

Punches of Steel: JRank’s 2013 U.S. Nationals Report

Hello everyone, my name is Jonathan Rankin, although you probably know me as my screen name, JRank (wonder how I came up with that one, huh?). As you should be able to tell from the title, I attended the United States Pokemon National Championships this past July and this is a report about my team and battles there.

Background / Building The Team

All the way back in October, on the Friday before the first set of VGC Regionals, I needed a team. I really liked Scott’s Worlds team (a modification of a Japanese player that went by R’s team), so I took it and modified it a bit (bulky Rage Powder Volcarona over Latios and Stone Edge on Hitmontop) and got 14th at the Houston Regional. The Winter Regionals then rolled around and I changed the same team slightly (Rotom-C over Hitmontop and a few B2W2 tutor moves) and got 6th place there.

Then came summer and Nationals was fast approaching and this RainRoom team was about all I was able to use, although I could use it well due to my playing a large amount of games with it. I was pretty much dead set on using it (for those of you wondering, it was CB Scrafty / Timid Specs Kingdra / Politoed / Cresselia / LO Thundurus-T / Metagross) when my friend Kenan (Lucien Lachance) got into Arkansas the Thursday before Nationals to stay with me and wanted to team build that night. I said ok and didn’t expect to come up with anything I wanted to use, but I wound up liking it a lot and eventually deciding to use it.

Because we built it on such short notice, we only got around 10 battles to test it a piece, and so I was basically finding new ways to use it on the fly. I really enjoyed using it, and it didn’t really let me down all tournament long.

The Team

We started with Conkeldurr and Jellicent because of Conkeldurr’s great power under Trick Room with Iron Fist and a Life Orb, and we liked Jellicent for its ability to be defensive but still pack a punch with Water Gem Water Spout. After we got those two we just added things that went well with and took care of things that they struggled with, like Zapdos and Tyranitar to have a faster mode, and Amoonguss to help with Trick Room set up and redirecting Fighting- and Water-type moves.

Because we made it in one night and it ran somewhat on theory, there weren’t really any “roles” or any clearly defined strategies and in-depth ideas about the team like you generally see on good teams. Due to this I wouldn’t look for any of those because a lot of the reasoning behind Pokemon and moves was just “sounds good” or “covers weaknesses” and I feel like it relied a lot more on skill and reading your opponent than being able to revert to “modes” outside of maybe Zapdos / Tyranitar or Amoonguss / Jellicent.

Conkeldurr (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 124 Def / 64 SDef
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
IVs: 0 Spe
– Hammer Arm
– Mach Punch
– Ice Punch
– Detect

The star of the show in theory and in practice (along with Zapdos). With a Life Orb and Iron Fist, it hits ridiculously hard and damages pretty much everything, with Hammer Arm 2HKOing even resists like Volcarona. Mach Punch was fantastic for picking off weakened foes, or even frailer ones with a considerable amount of health left. Ice Punch smacked Landorus and Thundurus for OHKOes and nearly OHKOed a Multiscale Dragonite! Detect is obvious because of its great utility in VGC.

Conkeldurr was probably my favorite Pokemon on the team to use. I actually brought it in every single battle during Nationals, and it never let me down. The EV spread is ripped straight from the winner of Japan’s Nationals, because Kenan and I didn’t really have much better. It worked well for me all day, but I think I’ll change it if I use it again.

Jellicent (M) @ Water Gem
Trait: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 132 SAtk 252 HP / 124 Def / 80 SAtk / 52 SDef
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
IVs: 0 Spe
– Water Spout
– Shadow Ball
– Recover
– Trick Room

Supposed to be the star of the show in theory but somewhat disappointing in actual usage. Water Gem Water Spout could deal a lot of damage as long as I kept it healthy, but with all the Tyranitar and Thundurus I faced that was pretty hard to do. Shadow Ball was just there for coverage and I think I only used it once all day. I think if I could do it again I’d go to Ice Beam because only having two other Ice-type moves and having them be hindered by Intimidate did not make me comfortable. Recover was nice to try and get back in Water Spout range, but again I wasn’t able to use it often. Trick Room was great the few times I used it but once more I didn’t use it much.

Jellicent wound up being dead weight a lot unfortunately, as it was too slow to get off Water Spouts but fast enough that I didn’t want to Trick Room. I think I needed a lot more experience playing with it than I had in order to use it effectively. The EVs let it survive a Tyranitar Crunch and the rest went into Special Attack to boost Water Spout, or at least I thought they did. Apparently I didn’t reduce the Special Defense EVs all the way to zero so we wound up with a Jellicent with less Special Attack and a bit of Special Defense. However, the extra Special Defense EVs incidentally allow it to always live a Modest Life Orb Hydreigon’s Dark Pulse with at least 2 HP, so I’m going to pretend that was the intention all along.

Zapdos @ Choice Specs
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 120 SAtk / 140 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
IVs: 30 HP / 30 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SAtk / 30 SDef / 31 Spe
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Flying]
– Heat Wave
– Volt Switch

Starred alongside Conkeldurr. It hit stupidly hard with Specs and survived pretty much everything thrown at it. Thunderbolt and HP Flying were STAB and dented everything they touched. Heat Wave gave me a way to hit Steel-types while Volt Switch let me deal damage while also switching. I loved using it because I could take several hits and just continually dish out damage. It pretty much won me my Round 8 game against Firestorm. The EVs outsped max Speed Breloom and Modest Kingdra out of rain, and the rest went into HP with only 248 because of the 30 IV, with the leftovers from that going into Special Attack to boost its attacks even further.

I really like Choiced Pokemon in this metagame (as shown by the two on my team), because being able to hit hard, switch out, and come back in later and hit hard again with a different move is a great asset to have. As long as I played smart I never really had trouble with being locked into the wrong move, and the few times I did the game was already pretty much over one way or another.

Volcarona (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 244 HP / 160 SAtk / 68 SDef / 36 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
– Heat Wave
– Bug Buzz
– Quiver Dance
– Protect

We actually changed this Pokemon slot entirely about 15 minutes before registration started on Saturday, but I never looked back. Originally a Heatran that was basically never used, we wanted another way to beat Breloom and also another fast mode with Quiver Dance. Heat Wave and Bug Buzz were STAB so not much explanation there. Quiver Dance gave us a way to play the Speed game a little bit and take Special attacks even easier.

I really liked the EV spread, it’s one I’ve been running for a while now on pretty much any Volcarona I use. The HP and Special Defense allow it to survive a Dragon Gem Draco Meteor from Timid Latios which is the standard benchmark for Special Defense these days, and the Speed puts it at 125, one above the max Speed Focus Sash Tyranitar that is so popular these days. It also allows it to outspeed Choice Scarfed Tyranitar after one Quiver Dance. The rest went into Special Attack to give it more power. The Lum Berry allowed us to run less Speed than Breloom, because as long as sand was up or it wasn’t Sashed, Volcarona could beat it pretty much all the time.

Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
– Rock Slide
– Crunch
– Superpower
– Ice Punch

Scarf Tyranitar is one of my favorite Pokemon to use in this metagame because of its great blend of power and Speed. The moves are all pretty standard, with Superpower instead of Low Kick for Hydreigon and Scrafty, and Ice Punch for Landorus-T and other Flying-types, especially when I wanted to seal a match and not miss Rock Slide. The EVs let it be a Scarfed Tyranitar, basically, not much to be said otherwise.

It fit in really well with the team, because outside of Zapdos we lacked very much Speed and Tyranitar allowed us to have slower Pokemon like Amoonguss and Conkeldurr because of how threatening it was to pretty much anything.

Amoonguss (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
IVs: 0 Spe
– Rage Powder
– Spore
– Giga Drain
– Protect

Slapped on as glue and to round out defensive coverage but wound up being incredibly solid for me in the later rounds. Everyone knows what this does by now, Rage Powder away attacks from teammates and Spore when it’s not doing that. The EV spread makes it bulky and lets it survive certain attacks that I don’t remember because it was Kenan’s spread, I just know it worked well.

I didn’t use it a whole lot in my first few games but later on I wound up bringing it to most of my matches and having it play a vital role. Being able to get stuff in and out for free and always threaten with Spore was a great thing to have.

Team Combos

+ + +

I ended up unconsciously defaulting to this several times when I wasn’t really sure what else to do. The two Choiced Pokemon in the front gave me immediate Speed and power and the ability to usually pick up at least one KO in the first few turns of the game. Conkeldurr in the back worked well with these two because he handled the few things they had trouble with such as Landorus-T and Trick Room, while I could bring any of the other three along with Conkeldurr depending on what the opponent had.

+ + +

While I used the previous combo mainly in my first few games, Amoonguss / Jellicent / Conkeldurr / x ended up being my go-to more often than not as the tournament went on. It gave me the ability to do pretty much anything depending on what the opponent did, whether that be spreading sleep with Amoonguss, Rage Powdering to set up Trick Room, going straight for the Water Spout, or switching Conkeldurr in on a Dark-type move, it gave me a lot of options. I usually liked to pair Volcarona or Zapdos in the back with Conkeldurr to provide some Speed and bulk should Trick Room not get set up or run out.

Swiss Rounds

Round 1: Kelly Johnson

vs

I see the Whimsicott and Terrakion and immediately expect Beat Up shenanigans, so I go with Conkeldurr and Tyranitar to shut it down while having coverage on anything else she could bring. Volcarona and Amoonguss came along for late game, as I knew if it came down to it I could Protect and Spore a Terrakion or Garchomp in order to Quiver Dance and clean up.

I do get the Whimsicott lead but instead of Terrakion it’s Thundurus, which I don’t mind too much as it leaves her without a way to do much to my own leads. Turn one she Tailwinds with Whimsicott and Thunder Waves Conkeldurr, which left me scratching my head because the only reason to Tailwind would be if she guessed my Scarf, in which case Thunder Waving Tyranitar would be the right move. Disaster strikes anyway, as Rock Slide misses Thundurus after taking Whimsicott to around 50%, and Conkeldurr is fully paralyzed and can’t take out Thundurus with Ice Punch. Things go better the next turn though as Rock Slide takes the double KO after Thundurus Thunderbolts Conkeldurr for little damage and Whimsicott does something inconsequential, maybe Giga Drain. She sends in Terrakion and Metagross, so I bring Tyranitar back for Amoonguss in order to take a CC or Meteor Mash while Detecting with Conkeldurr to try and bait out a Terrakion Protect. She Close Combats Amoonguss and does something with Metagross, and next turn I Mach Punch Terrakion for the OHKO, faint to Zen Headbutt, and put Metagross to sleep. Volcarona comes in and Heat Waves for the win.
W 1-0

Round 2: Greg Bergen

vs

Greg was a super nice guy but he told me before the match he didn’t play very seriously and that I wouldn’t need any luck to win. He’s got what looks like an ingame team with Dewott instead of Samurott, even though they were all Level 50. I go Conkeldurr / Tyranitar again because Tyranitar can Rock Slide pretty much everything on his team except Cobalion and Conkeldurr can Mach Punch that.

He leads Dewott / Tornadus-T, and I have no idea what move he will make. I Detect Conkeldurr in case Rock Slide misses or doesn’t KO and us my own Rock Slide. Tornadus survives the Rock Slide with very little HP and Rain Dances, while Dewott Surfs and KOs the Tornadus and brings Tyranitar to about half damage. He brings in Cobalion and I switch Tyranitar to Zapdos while Mach Punching Cobalion, which survives with a little bit of health while Dewott Surfs and takes out the Cobalion. He sends in Magmortar and the details get a little bit fuzzy here, but I think I Volt Switch to finish off Dewott and get Tyranitar back in, and end it with a Rock Slide. It was funny to me that I only actually got 2 KOs, as his Surf picked off two of his own Pokemon that Mach Punch couldn’t OHKO.
W 2-0

Round 3: Scott Glaza (Scott)

vs

My first real test comes here and this is where my lack of experience with the team really hurt me. His six were similar to something I would see on the GBU from Japanese players (but with an American spin on it like Volcarona, which I would guess was a bulky Rage Powder variant), something I had played a lot against with my rain team, and thus would know how to attack it. As it was, I didn’t really know what I wanted in that situation and went with something that had worked well in what little practice I had, Zapdos / Tyranitar, with Conkeldurr and Jellicent in the back to turn on the Trick Room when the first two went down.

I don’t remember very much about this game because I initially saved the Battle Video so I thought I wouldn’t need to remember too much, but it got written over later so I didn’t have it. (I was also banking on Scott having some notes but he didn’t have anything more than what I did) I do know that he lead Thundurus / Landorus-T against my Zapdos / Tyranitar, and I was able to tell his Landorus was Scarfed because Intimidate went before Sand Stream, although he probably realized my Tyranitar was Scarfed, too, because Sand Stream activated before Pressure.

I think I switched Tyranitar for Conkeldurr in order to avoid a Thunder Wave or Earthquake, while Volt Switching (either that or Thunderbolt) with Zapdos onto Thundurus to get some damage in and set it up for a knockout later. He Stone Edges Zapdos and gives me a heart attack as I have no idea whether or not it can OHKO (I calculated it later and it cannot), but I do survive it with around 40 HP and my Electric move goes off onto Thundurus which Thunder Waved Conkeldurr…maybe, I’m not sure. The details definitely get hazy after that point, which is unfortunate because outside of my final two games it’s probably the one I want to remember the most. At some point I Mach Punch his 80% or so Tyranitar for the KO, and he informs me he thought it had a Chople Berry, and something about him being a bad trainer or skarm being bad at giving out Pokemon (although at least they were legit!). I wind up making some pretty poor plays down the stretch in regards to Speed control and whether or not to Water Spout or Trick Room on one of the final turns, and I think there is some luck with me getting a critical hit and him missing a Hammer Arm that would’ve finished off my own Conkeldurr.

The game winds up coming down to Jellicent setting Trick Room so my Tyranitar can outspeed his Landorus and Ice Punch it, which it does while Conkeldurr thankfully targets Jellicent (the correct play on his part anyway, I think). Jellicent is at 56 HP and I think that if I could’ve taken an Ice Punch I could Recover off the damage for a few turns and eventually get off a Water Spout, but it lands a critical hit and ends any hope of a win. However I had been in a good spot because of luck on my side and I made some bad plays in the last turns of the game, so I didn’t feel like I particularly deserved to get a win here, anyway.
L 2-1

I was a little shaken at this point because of how poorly I had played the last few turns of that game and I went from feeling pretty good about my chances to doubting I would be able to go x-1 the rest of the way, and the next game did nothing to persuade me otherwise.

Round 4: Jacob Beard

vs

I see a team that reminds me of MrFox/sp67 with Mamoswine, Breloom, and Infernape, and don’t like my matchup very much against such hyper offense. I decide on Amoonguss / Volcarona to sleep a Rotom-W or Tyranitar or Rage Powder away a Spore in order to get a Quiver Dance up and go to town on him.

He leads Rotom-W / Mamoswine against Amoonguss / Volcarona and I make a pretty bad play turn one, as I Spore Rotom-W instead of Mamoswine and Protect Volcarona. I should’ve Spored the Mamoswine because while it probably didn’t have Rock Slide, it would be able to do damage the next turn with Earthquake whereas I could always Rage Powder away a Hydro Pump from Rotom-W. I get lucky though, as his Mamoswine’s Ice Gem Icicle Spear only hits twice on Amoonguss and it survives with about 50% HP after Sitrus, and the Spore goes off on Rotom. I stupidly decide to think the rest of the match that Mamoswine has a Focus Sash even though it’s shown Ice Gem. I switch Amoonguss to Conkeldurr to KO Mamoswine the turn after with Mach Punch / Heat Wave, and be able to Hammer Arm Rotom-W later, while Quiver Dancing with Volcarona. Unfortunately it was not to be, as Mamoswine Earthquakes and lands a critical hit on both Conkeldurr and Volcarona, OHKOing Volcarona and bringing Conkeldurr to 56 HP. This pretty much ends the game, but I could’ve played a lot better and maybe pulled it out, but I keep thinking Mamoswine has a Focus Sash and stupidly double target it into an obvious Protect. To make things worse I wind up missing a Hammer Arm on Rotom-W later in the match and lose without even seeing his last Pokemon.
L 2-2

I’m pretty upset at this point because I know I could’ve won easily if Earthquake hadn’t been a critical hit, even though I misplayed by Sporing the Rotom instead of Mamoswine. I also know I have to go 5-0 in order to make Top Cut and am very discouraged, especially when I see my next opponent’s name on the pairings.

Round 5: Michael Lanzano (JiveTime)

vs

Again a very Japanese-looking team, which worries me after my play against Scott. I decide on Zapdos / Tyranitar again because I feel it gives me at least a decent matchup against almost anything he could bring, particularly Tornadus because of how Flying-weak half my team was.

He brings Metagross / Cresselia and I assume that he realizes my Tyranitar is Choice Scarfed due to the order of Sand Stream and Pressure, and decide to double target Cresselia to try and stop a Trick Room setup, even though I had Conkeldurr in the back, because I knew he could just Protect and undo Trick Room if I tried to get it in. Thankfully his Cresselia winds up being Expert Belt, because Crunch takes it below 50% and he doesn’t get any recovery, so Thunderbolt finishes it off as Metagross does nothing behind a Protect. He replaces Cresselia with Landorus so I go to Conkeldurr to set up a Mach Punch KO the next turn after a Thunderbolt on Metagross. I think he Rock Slides and Zen Headbutts Zapdos, so it goes down but only after decking Metagross to around 30%. I bring Tyranitar back in and Ice Punch the Landorus while Mach Punching the Metagross. Ice Punch takes Landorus down to its Focus Sash while Metagross faints. JiveTime smartly U-Turns Landorus out to Rotom-W to get Intimidate back onto my two physical attackers. Obviously Landorus comes back in after the Metagross KO because it’s his last Pokemon. I switch Tyranitar to Jellicent and Detect Conkeldurr because while I can kill Landorus with either of mine I expect a Protect from it in order to pick up a KO on Tyranitar or damage on Conkeldurr. He doesn’t Protect, instead Earthquaking(I think?) and Thunderbolting into Conkeldurr’s Detect. The next turn I Mach Punch Landorus for the KO and Recover with Jellicent while Rotom Thunderbolts Conkeldurr and paralyzes it.

It gets dicey here as I don’t know whether or not I want to set Trick Room, as if I do Tyranitar will lose to Rotom when it comes in but if I don’t he keeps the advantage with Jellicent being unable to do much to Rotom. I decide to Hammer Arm and Shadow Ball, which would’ve won me the game because Conkeldurr survived the Thunderbolt the previous turn with enough HP to last that turn of sand plus the next two, but Conkeldurr remains fully paralyzed and Shadow Ball does little to nothing to Rotom after Thunderbolt takes Jellicent to around 40%. I try to Mach Punch next turn in order to definitely get damage on it to set it up for a Crunch KO, but I remain paralyzed again and Jellicent faints from Thunderbolt with Conkeldurr going down to sand damage. My only hope now is that Rotom is holding a Choice item so he won’t be able to Hydro Pump Tyranitar, but it shows Protect as it takes a turn of sand while I try to Crunch so it gets below 50% and heals up with Sitrus. My chances of Top Cut flash before my eyes as I click Crunch and hope for a critical hit…which I actually get and take the game.

I apologize even though he says he would’ve felt bad winning on the paralysis, even as I felt bad winning on the critical hit.
W 3-2

I feel a bit better at this point as even though I needed a crit to win I still felt like I was playing pretty well, but I still had to get 4 more wins without dropping another game.

Round 6: Rafal Gladysz

vs

He’s got a very 2012-looking team (suspiciously similar to MangoSol’s, actually), and I go Zapdos / Volcarona to avoid any Intimidate shenanigans and keep Conkeldurr in the back to deal with Garchomp or Tyranitar.

He leads Hitmontop and Scizor to get the Intimidate like I suspected. I Hidden Power Flying Hitmontop and Protect with Volcarona to avoid a Fake Out and because I had a nasty hunch that Scizor was Flying Gem with Acrobatics. He does try to Fake Out Volcarona while Protecting Scizor to avoid an obvious Fire move and HP Flying OHKOes Top. He sends in Tyranitar and I’m faced with a dilemna. I don’t know for sure what Scizor’s third move is, but I decide to play as if it’s Swords Dance with a Steel Gem and switch to Conkeldurr while HP Flying what I think was Scizor to get some damage in. Unfortunately my suspicion is confirmed as Acrobatics OHKOes Conkeldurr while Rock Slide OHKOes Zapdos (I think) because it’s single target with Conkeldurr gone. I get Jellicent and Volcarona in and Protect Volcarona while Water Spouting to try and get Tyranitar into Bug Buzz range. Scizor burns a Bullet Punch into the Protect while Tyranitar Rock Slides again for little damage on Jellicent, while Cursed Body activates and disables it, giving me a huge advantage and probably winning me the match. Water Spout finishes off Scizor and land a critical hit on Tyranitar to bring it down to very low health, leaving me with a great turn. He brings in Zapdos, setting up for a tense last few turns even with him unable to Rock Slide. I Quiver Dance and try to Recover with Jellicent, but Dark Gem Crunch finishes it off and Thunderbolt hits Volcarona for around 50%. I successfully Quiver Dance and Heat Wave the next turn brings Zapdos below 50% as Tyranitar Protects, but a Sitrus brings Zapdos back into the green range on his HP bar. Thunderbolt hits again and leaves Volcarona with around 40 HP, but paralyzes it. He apologizes as my heart sinks in sadness, but I remember I have a Lum Berry and shake off the paralysis. Thankfully the next turn Heat Wave doesn’t miss and finishes off both, giving me the win. Unfortunately it took a critical hit and a Cursed Body activation to do it, but Rafal didn’t seem too upset and I obviously wasn’t going to complain, either.
W 4-2

Round 7: Adam Dunworth

vs

I unfortunately don’t remember much at all about this battle (I’m not even sure what he lead with), but I remember he had Torterra and Samurott in Team Preview and that it wound up being pretty close in spite of another clutch Cursed Body activation on something and HP Flying critting Landorus-T to OHKO it. I wound up with the win here again thanks in part to some good luck.
W 5-2

Round 8: Rushan Shekar (Firestorm)

vs

I get to face another NB administrator as well as my first Canadian, so I definitely want to win here (oh, and I only needed two more wins to Top Cut, too). He’s running Trick Room with Slowking that I recognize from his 2012 Last Chance Qualifier Report, but I don’t remember much about it so I’m not at very much of an advantage at all. I bring Amoonguss / Zapdos to threaten pretty much anything he had and make him think twice about setting Trick Room with Amoonguss there.

He brings Slowking / Togekiss and I go for the Thunderbolt and Spore on Slowking fully expecting a Follow Me from Togekiss, but I’m surprised when Thunderbolt is allowed to hit Slowking, which has a Wacan Berry and so avoids fainting by electrocution for the moment with around 50% HP. Togekiss Safeguards, which I think is really cool but also not what I wanted to see at the moment, so Amoonguss Spores but doesn’t do anything as Slowking gets off Trick Room. I Protect Amoonguss next turn to keep it healthy in case I need to Rage Powder later, and go for the Thunderbolt on Slowking again because I’m not in any immediate danger. Rushan swaps Slowking for Chandelure and Air Slashes into Protect, so I get a free turn of damage as Thunderbolt smacks Chandelure for nearly 90%. I Rage Powder and Thunderbolt again the next turn because Amoonguss doesn’t have much better to do, and I don’t want to switch Conkeldurr or Volcarona into an Air Slash any time soon. Togekiss uses Follow Me, though, and Heat Wave does over half to both Amoonguss and Zapdos, as Thunderbolt leaves Togekiss at about the same HP as Chandelure. I swap Zapdos for Volcarona and maybe Protect to hopefully survive a Heat Wave and still redirect Air Slash the next turn.

I get  a little fuzzy here, but I think he Follow Mes again and Shadow Balls the incoming Volcarona. I try to Rage Powder but Heat Wave KOes and Air Slash hits Volcarona, because I had stupidly decided to try and Quiver Dance so I could get the win for sure when Trick Room ended. I did survive the Air Slash but was flinched so I took lots of damage for nothing. I bring in Zapdos as Trick Room ends and Thunderbolt + Bug Buzz nets me a KO on Togekiss and Chandelure. Rushan brings in Gastrodon and Slowking. I Thunderbolt Slowking and Protect Volcarona to avoid it taking any damage, as Slowking faints and Gastrodon Muddy Waters. I Thunderbolt again for no damage to let Conkeldurr come in for free, as Bug Buzz damages Gastro and Muddy Water picks up the double KO. I bring in Conkeldurr and finish Gastrodon off with Ice Punch.

I pick up the win, bringing myself one away from making Top Cut and putting me at 1-1 against admins, as well as defending my country with a 1-0 record against Canada.
W 6-2

Round 9: Dominik Gliatis (Kinderlew)

vs

Dom has some things that would work against my Trick Room with Conkeldurr and Rhyperior, but I decided to bring Amoonguss / Jellicent anyway and force him to break it down.

He leads Dragonite / Cresselia and I go for a Spore and Shadow Ball on Dragonite to put it out of commission and break a possible Multiscale. He switches to Heatran, though, and Psyshocks onto Amoonguss for around 40%, as Heatran goes to sleep and takes almost nothing from the Shadow Ball. Next turn I Protect Shroom and Trick Room as Heatran sleeps and Cresselia sets up Sunny Day. I decide to Water Spout the next turn anyway and am rewarded with a critical hit on Heatran for the OHKO as Cresselia gets slept by Spore. He brings in Rotom-W and I Spore it and switch to Conkeldurr. I go from Amoonguss to Volcarona and Hammer Arm Rotom for the OHKO as Cress continues to sleep. Dragonite comes in and I Quiver Dance and Ice Punch, which nearly OHKOes despite Multiscale. Trick Room ends and Volcarona cleans up with Heat Wave and Bug Buzz.
W 7-2

I was 7-2 and would make Cut! Unfortunately my opponents’ win percentage was a horrendous 51%, so I was seeded 32nd and would be playing the only player to go undefeated in Swiss, Stephen Morioka.

Top Cut Rounds

Top 32: Stephen Morioka (Stephen)

Game 1

vs

I had talked to Aaron Zheng (Cybertron) before the game about what Stephen had, and decided I would lead Amoonguss / Jellicent with Conkeldurr and Zapdos in the back and my move would depend on his leads.

He brings Tyranitar and a Thundurus that I know are Choice Scarf and Flying Gem. I Protect Amoonguss and switch to Conkeldurr, as HP Flying hits Protect and Crunch does little damage to Conkeldurr. Next turn I expect a switch on Tyranitar and get it, as he goes into Cresselia while I Rage Powder and Ice Punch. HP Flying takes Amoonguss to below 50% and Ice Punch OHKOes Thundurus. Breloom comes in to replace Thundurus. I don’t remember exactly what happened after this point but I got Zapdos and Conkeldurr out together and whiffed a double target into a Breloom Protect, and made a few other poor plays. Eventually I lost Conkeldurr and at that point I couldn’t take down Tyranitar.
L 0-1

Game 2

vs

I stupidly lead Amoonguss / Conkeldurr anticipating Thundurus / Tyranitar again, running into a Cresselia lead after I had thought to myself in the last match that I didn’t need to leave these two out against a Cresselia.

I am forced to make a risky play turn one in order to have any chance of winning and Detect Conkeldurr and Spore Cresselia, which works out perfectly as Stephen Protects Breloom to prevent the Ice Punch and Psyshocks onto Conkeldurr. The next turn I could take a big lead but am stupid and Rage Powder + Mach Punch, because I didn’t want to Ice Punch a Tyranitar switch. I should’ve Hammer Armed at the very least because that would OHKO Breloom or Tyranitar, and deal hefty damage to Thundurus should it come in. I realized this after I’d sent in my moves, so I kicked myself as Amoonguss took the Spore and the Psyshock and Mach Punch did around 55% to Breloom. Again I am stupid and forget Breloom has Mach Punch, too, so Conkeldurr takes a Fighting Gem Mach Punch before it can finish off the Breloom. Extra damage on Conkeldurr is something I really didn’t need, but due to my bad play the turn before I had to take a lot as well as a Psyshock. Again I don’t remember the details after this turn too well, but after Conkeldurr eventually goes down I again don’t have the power to beat his Tyranitar, because I have to lock mine into Rock Slide to get a KO on Thundurus.
L 0-2, 32nd Place finish

Looking back I probably should’ve brought Volcarona / Conkeldurr to at least one of the games and tried to get a Quiver Dance off, but due to not having played with the team a lot and only having the Swiss games to use Volcarona, I didn’t think of it and again didn’t really realize I had a Lum to prevent Thunder Wave.

I still walked out of the series pretty happy though, because I felt like I lost the game more in picking which four I brought and not so much in how I played. I thought turn to turn I was better early in both games, as I pulled off a few pretty much perfect turns, but late in both games I fell apart and made bad decisions. Overall I felt like I had more really strong plays that gave me huge advantages for the turn, but I also had several turns where I made bad plays, and Stephen didn’t really make a bad play throughout the entire series. Safe plays, yes, but they were all high percentage plays and his consistency coupled with my bad Pokemon selection in Team Preview netted him a rightful victory. It was a fun set, although I wish I could’ve taken at least a game from him, but seeing that he won the next set 2-0 before finally dropping a game in Top Eight, I’m glad it was him I lost to.

Wrap-up

I feel like I could’ve gone deeper in the tournament than I did (probably a shocking idea to most people considering even my friends are acting surprised I cut), but pairings in Top Cut can decide everything and I wasn’t as comfortable with my team as I should’ve been and Stephen was obviously comfortable with his. I’m satisfied with my performance, though, because I felt like I won games I should’ve won and lost to better players (aside from Earthquake double critical hit but I had put myself in a position that it could happen anyway), and they were close losses to good players. I think in order to improve I need to work on consistently making good plays, instead of having some great ones wind up being wasted by a bad play or two later in the game, but I definitely feel I’ve improved quite a lot since Nationals last year and even Winter Regionals (the most recent tournament I attended before Nationals).

I’d like to thank Edward Fan (iss) for providing me with several Pokemon on super short notice Thursday night, and Aaron Traylor (Unreality) for giving me advice Friday night and practicing with me to see if I wanted to use the team or not. Finally, thank you, the reader, for sticking with me for this long and reading my entire report, and as you’ve probably noticed by now, my many run on sentences. Hopefully the next time you read one of my reports it will be when I’ve gotten much higher than 32nd.

Article image created by feathers for Nugget Bridge. View more of her artwork on her tumblr or Nugget Bridge forums thread.

About the Author

JRank is currently 18 and a freshman at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Known for living in Arkansas, he spends his time eating food with his fingers and saying "y'all" and "ain't".

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