Reports

Published on July 15th, 2013 | by R Inanimate

11

Seven Star Swordmasters – Top 4 US Nationals Report

Hello again, this is R Inanimate. After an intense weekend of battles at the US Nationals, I managed a Top Four finish, losing the the champion. It was an amazing weekend for meeting up with the community, and just playing some Pokemon with friends. Here is my tournament report.

Team:

Prior to Nationals, I was experimenting with a few teams after the April Regionals. I originally planned to use a team that had a Choice Band Crobat, which some people may have seen me use during the Summer Scramble tournament, but the fact that it has issues with Rain, Trick Room, Landorus-T and Heatran, and was more of a Best of Three style of team, led me to the decision to shelve it away. Instead, I returned back to an older team strategy, with a few adjustments, that I also found was still effective from testing in the Summer Scramble, and the June Wi-Fi International Challenge.

Have you seen enough of Togekiss & Excadrill from me? Not a chance! Now let me reintroduce you to the team. While the team members are the same six Pokemon species, there have been a few changes in moves and items since my previous edition. The nicknaming scheme for my team this time was “Anime Characters (+1 Game Character) with a birthday on July 7th”, Tanabata. It felt fitting since the tournament was on July 6th/7th this year. As Tanabata is a festival that involves making wishes, think of it as me making a wish that I would still be competing in the tourney when July 7th actually arrived.

excadrill
Excadrill (F) @ Focus Sash ***Kagami
Trait: Mold Breaker
IVs: 31/31/28/00/22/31
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
– Swords Dance
– Protect

“Why do I always look so aggressive in your eyes? I’ve been wondering that for a while…”
Deployed in 93/138 Battles in the June International Challenge
Deployed in 13/18 Battles in US Nationals

Mold Breaker Excadrill. You’ve seen it, you’ve read about it, you know what it does. Much like its other metallic Swords Dancing bretheren, let it get off a Swords Dance at your own peril. Excadrill is most often used in the endgame of a battle, in order to clean up after I clear out some of its threats, or when the opponent’s active Pokemon would be hard-pressed to stop a Swords Dance set-up.

togekiss
Togekiss (F) @ Sitrus Berry ***Cordelia
Trait: Serene Grace
IVs: 30/28/30/31/31/31
EVs: 240 HP / 80 Def / 4 SAtk / 116 SDef / 68 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
– Air Slash
– Tailwind
– Protect
– Follow Me

“You know, you sure do spend a lot of time worrying about everyone else, Cordelia.”
“I like to think that’s my most important role here.”
Deployed in 104/138 Battles in the June International Challenge
Deployed in 16/18 Battles in US Nationals

Follow Me + Tailwind Support. How many different Togekiss has it been? If you look back at my previous team articles, you’ll notice that the Togekiss has been a different Togekiss in every report, dispite the moveset remaining exactly the same. But I doubt I can go much further than what I have for this one, so this may be my final Togekiss. Breloom has become a bit too big of a presence, so I decided to run with a Lum Berry instead of Sitrus for Nationals. Togekiss tends to be the target of Spore from Breloom a lot, so it is pretty easy to bait the opponent into activating a Lum Berry, and counter KOing them for it.

HP EVs are for 190HP, so Togekiss take one less damage from Sandstorm while preventing Super Fang from hitting around a Sitrus Berry. Speed EVs are for 109 Speed so Togekiss outspeeds Timid Choice Scarf Chandelure and Togekiss after a Tailwind. Aside from that, it’s what I usually have in terms of defense for a Togekiss. SpDef EVs to reach 165 Special Defense, and the remainder into Defense.

latios
Latios (M) @ Life Orb ***Sousuke
Trait: Levitate
IVs: 23/24/24/30/27/31
EVs: 4 HP / 248 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
– Draco Meteor
– Psyshock
– Helping Hand
– Protect

“Since there was the possibility it was dangerous, I implemented the most reliable means of disposing it… Destruction by means of a high-yield explosive.”
Deployed in 97/138 Battles in the June International Challenge
Deployed in 13/18 Battles in US Nationals

Life Orb Latios. At some point in the last few months, I stopped using Dragon Gem Latios, and opted to using Life Orb Latios instead. Dropping a Dragon Gem-boosted Draco Meteor on something leaves Latios offensively spent and people have more than caught on to this fact, as many Pokemon have made themselves “EV’d to tank a Draco Meteor”, or have a revenge setup Pokemon to come in while Latios’s Special Attack is reduced. Running Life Orb has given my Latios a lot more presence as an offensive force on my team, and it fits better on the team as it better covers Fighting-type Pokemon, as well as Amoonguss.

Helping Hand is a bit of a strange move for a Pokemon that tries to hit hard and fast, but has worked for me in a few situations here and there. When it’s a -2 or -4 Latios on the field, people sometimes leave it alone, thinking it can’t do much, but with Helping Hand it can continue to show presence through its ally.

tyranitar
Tyranitar (F) @ Choice Scarf ***Tsukasa
Trait: Sand Stream
IVs: 31/31/23/xx/31/31
EVs: 4 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
– Rock Slide
– Crunch
– Superpower
– Fire Punch

“Well, rain makes everything wet and clothes take longer to dry so I really hate it… and they give clothes that really weird smell.”
Deployed in 89/138 Battles in the June International Challenge
Deployed in 11/18 Battles in US Nationals

Scarf Tyranitar. I tried to run Ice Punch instead of Earthquake, but changed it back since I never found much use in Ice Punch. Now I changed Earthquake to Superpower, but all that is quite irrelevant, since 99% of the time, Tyranitar is going to choose Rock Slide or Crunch as its attacking move, and I never used Superpower at Nationals. Anyways, Tyranitar was my weather check, and with a Choice Scarf, was able to allow me to sustain offense pressure over my opponent.

breloom
Breloom (M) @ Fighting Gem ***Twenty
Trait: Technician
IVs: 31/31/25/22/25/31
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
– Spore
– Mach Punch
– Bullet Seed
– Protect

“Beautiful things should be in the possession of my beautiful self. Don’t you agree?”
Deployed in 100/138 Battles in the June International Challenge
Deployed in 13/18 Battles in US Nationals

Technician Breloom, Sleeper. Since I needed to give Latios my Life Orb, I needed to find a new item for Breloom. I eventually went with a Fighting Gem. I rarely end up using Bullet Seed, due to Breloom’s knack of running out of bullets to shoot at the times I need them the most, and Breloom doesn’t often have much staying power to launch much more than one or two attacks to begin with. Holding a Fighting Gem gives me a few KOs over LO, as it guarantees a KO on 4HP Hydreigon, Terrakion, Mamoswine provided that they do not hold a Focus Sash.

bisharp
Bisharp (F) @ Dark Gem ***Hitagi
Trait: Defiant
IVs: 28/31/31/31/27/31
EVs: 192 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 60 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
– Sucker Punch
– Iron Head
– Swords Dance
– Protect

“Don’t move.
Ah, let me correct myself. ‘You may move if you want to, but it’s dangerous’ would be more accurate in this situation.”
Deployed in 69/138 Battles in the June International Challenge
Deployed in 06/18 Battles in US Nationals

Swords Dance Bisharp, Intimidate check. If you think it’s still running Choice Band and are worried about Sucker Punch, you’ll have an even bigger worry when you are being stared down by a +2 Bisharp. A +2 Gem Sucker Punch has roughly a 2/3 chance of OHKOing a 252 HP EV Metagross. Definitely not something that you want to be messing around with. The speed EVs are to have a bit of speed over fellow Base 70s, and speed creeps Cybertron’s 2012 Nats Scizor by one point. Bisharp ended up being the member that was least used of my 6, but its ability to handle Landorus-T, and make people think twice about bringing intimidate against me was a tremendous help to my physical attack heavy team.

Overall:

As mentioned, it’s the exact same six as in January. For quick reference, the changes I made to the team since January are as follows:

Excadrill: No change
Togekiss: Sitrus >> Lum Berry, during Nats
Latios: Dragon Gem >> Life Orb
Tyranitar: Earthquake >> Superpower, during Nats
Breloom: Life Orb >> Fighting Gem
Bisharp: Choice Band >> Dark Gem | Night Slash and Stone Edge >> Swords Dance and Protect

For those who are unfamiliar with the team, it is a team that places high value on pressuring the opponents with a strong offense presence. With half the team being weak to Fire, Ice, Ground, and Fighting-type moves the team can fall apart quickly if it loses momentum, so it does require a decent amount of aggressive switching and gutsy plays to bring out its full potential. It has a number of surprise factors in it that you wouldn’t see on the usual teams, which can quickly win games if the opponent isn’t prepared for them, but it doesn’t necessarily need to rely on these tricks to win its games. It may be a strange decision, but yes, there are two Swords Dance users on this team.

I would say that the team pretty much has all the tools I need in order to win matches, although I often feel like I’m in losing situations at first glance. As such, it ends up being up to me to make the correct play to guide my team to victory.

Team Synergy:

Defensive wise, the team is held together by a single Pokemon:

togekiss
Togekiss

While the team has become a bit less reliant on Togekiss, relative to January where Togekiss would participate in almost every single battle I played (98% participation in Wi-Fi, 100% in the Regional). Togekiss is still a major keystone to the success of this team. She’s my only form of speed control, and the use of Follow Me and Air Slash go a long way in aiding the survival of her allies. Obviously, a special mention to the combination of Togekiss and Excadrill, which was the original starting point of the team and is often used as a way to clean up and close a battle.

Offense wise, I have a few ways to go.

latiosbreloom
Latios + Breloom

This is probably my most common lead that doesn’t involve Togekiss. It puts immediate pressure on the opponent with Latios threatening many faster Pokemon with Draco Meteor, covering Breloom who can incapacitate slower Pokemon with Spore. With the threat of both Draco Meteor and Spore, it is also pretty easy for me to switch out either of my Pokemon to try to maintain my control over the battle.

tyranitarlatios
Tyranitar + Latios

This is often my go-to lead when I see a team with little in the form of disruption, weather Pokemon, or Trick Room. It’s a simple duo that hits fast and hits hard, and is the most straightforward lead I can use.

bisharpbreloom
Breloom + Bisharp

Dual Priority + Spore. It’s not a lead I use too often, but the combination of these two Pokemon can be quite something. Bisharp can stop a lot of faster threats from laying a hand on Breloom, opening up opportunities to Spore targets. Breloom’s presense, whether its putting things to sleep or threatening to KO opponents with Mach Punch, opens up some space for Bisharp to get a Swords Dance off. This lead is effective against middle to low speed teams, that have one or two faster Pokemon that can be easily dispatched by Sucker Punch or Mach Punch (eg. Choice Scarf Tyranitar, Latios, Tornadus, Choice Scarf Landorus-T, Salamence). These two can also be effective on certain Trick Room setups. Just be sure to keep this duo away from fire.

Threats:

This is far from a conclusive list of threats, but here’s a few that tend to pop out to me as singular threats to my team:

breloomconkeldurr
Mach Punch

This is likely the biggest flaw the team has. Half the team being OHKO’d by a priority move can put me on the wrong foot in a battle very quickly if I’m not on the top of my game. Breloom and Conkeldurr are the two that float up as some of the Pokemon I am most worried about facing against.

hitmontopterrakionscrafty
Other Fighting-Types

Other Fighting-types, naturally, are an issue as well. Thus, they tend to be Pokemon that I would target to take out as soon as I get the chance. But, since they tend to not run priority moves aside from Fake Out, I can at least perform actions with Pokemon that are fighting weak.

mamoswine
Mamoswine

Has a STAB super effective move against ALL my Pokemon. If that isn’t something scary, I don’t know what is. However, it is also hit back hard by all of my own Pokemon, so there are a number of ways to try to handle Mamoswine if I improvise.

volcarona
Volcarona

Volcarona isn’t too threatening by itself, but the versatility of Quiver Dance, Rage Powder, and Scarfed Volcarona makes it something that I have to play against with caution. If I don’t handle it well, I can quickly find myself in a unrecoverable situation.

zapdosthundurus
Zapdos/Thundurus

For similar, yet different reasons. Both can quickly defeat my Togekiss, and have enough bulk to last for a turn or two. They also have ways of being a pest to the rest of my team, Zapdos with Hidden Power Ice and Heat Wave, while Thundurus has its priority Thunder Waves and Taunt. A combination of Zapdos/Thundurus, along with a Mach Punch user is extremely difficult for my team to handle.

togekiss
Togekiss

Are you surprised? Between the usage of Choice Scarf Togekiss, and a mirror of a Follow Me supporter, Togekiss defend from my team’s offensive pressuring, which can give an opponent a chance to mount a counter-attack. Provided that they can get past my own Togekiss, anyways.

Battles:

The swiss rounds for the VGC Masters Division at the US Nationals started at 9AM Saturday. We had 338 Masters at the start, which was a bit short of the 350 goal for a Top 32 Cut. However, Chris Brown decided to give us a Top 32 Cut anyway, which was very nice. Swiss would be a single flight with 9 rounds.

Round 1: Bye

As I had won in the Salem, OR Regionals, I had obtained a Round one Bye for Nationals. Although it turned out that opponent win % tie breaker was not relevant for achieving Top Cut, at the start of the tournament it definitely felt more reassuring to have that 100% opponent win Bye on my side for my tiebreaker. While I would rather play a battle instead of sitting around, at times, having a bye does mean that I won’t run into someone I know to kick off the tourney with one of us dropping into a 0-1 hole.

1W-0L

Round 2: Kenan Narad (Lucien Lachance)

My first opponent for the Nationals was Kenan. The name was kind of familiar to me, but I did recognize his name when he mentioned that he was Lucien on NB.

Team Preview:
conkeldurrjellicenttyranitarvolcaronaamoongusszapdos

Right off the bat, this was a team that I did not like the looks of based on the Team Preview. It had a look that it was going for a Trick Room setup, but also had Pokemon like Volcarona, and Zapdos that I wasn’t particularly keen on facing. After some thought, and with the timer running short I went with Latios, Breloom leads, with Togekiss and Excadrill in the back.

The match starts with Lucien leading with Conkeldurr and Volcarona, of which I go for the Psyshock on Conkeldurr, and Spore on Volcarona. I worried that there was a chance of Volcarona holding a Choice Scarf, but didn’t let that phase me. Conkeldurr protects, and Volcarona uses Heat Wave taking out Breloom. I was down 3-4 right from the start, but not before noting that Breloom moved before Volcarona and burned up its Lum Berry.

Since Volcarona is slower, I sent out Excadrill. Lucien switches in Tyranitar, and protects Volcarona from the incoming Rock Slide. I felt like the Rock Slide might have done a bit more than I was expecting, so I then switched out Latios for Togekiss, fearing a Scarf. Togekiss gets doubled up by a Crunch and Bug Buzz, while Earthquake drops Volcarona below half and Tyranitar to a sliver of health. Since Tyranitar moved before my Excadrill, I can confirm its held item is indeed a Choice Scarf.

Lucien switches Tyranitar out for Amoonguss, as I protect with Togekiss and continue to use Earthquake. From this point onward, the battle’s momentum swings in my favour, as I think Lucien sacrifices his Tyranitar, and I manage to flinch Amoonguss with Air Slash. I end up taking the match, after a rough start.

2W-0L

Round 3: Brandon Stephens

My next opponent is Brandon Stephens, I didn’t really know much about him, and we were still fairly early in the Swiss rounds, so I came into this battle expecting anything.

Team Preview:
dragoniteseismitoademboarmetagrossmamoswineroserade

This team… doesn’t look like it has much going for it, but it does have Mamoswine, which kind of worries me. It doesn’t look that strong based on the team preview, but I still think I may have to be careful here. I lead Breloom, Latios with Tyranitar, Bisharp in the back.

The Battle opens up with Mamoswine and Dragonite, and I keep on my guard. I switch to Tyranitar, and Protect with Breloom to scout what my opponent’s opening moves will be. Dragonite uses Outrage, into Breloom’s Protect. Mamoswine uses BLIZZARD. And misses Tyranitar. That was… definitely not what I was expecting. I proceed to KO Mamoswine with Mach Punch and damage Dragonite with Rock Slide. It gets a Fire Punch on Breloom, then faints to damage from Sand. Putting me in a comfortable 4-2 lead. Metagross and Emboar are sent out.

Here’s where I end up getting a bit careless. I let my lead two fall as I attack with both Tyranitar and Breloom. Metagross dodged Rock Slide, and Emboar was left with about 1/3 of its HP as both my Pokemon are taken out. I then send out my remaining two Pokemon, Latios and Bisharp. I think about going on the offense, but stop for a bit and think. I’m a bit worried about Hammer Arm on Metagross, so I once again protected with both my Pokemon to see what my opponent would do. Emboar uses Hammer Arm. Metagross uses Hammer Arm. Having seen the Hammer Arms, I just sort of assumed that my opponent would just do the same moves again next turn, so I finished off Emboar and Sucker Punched Metagross. I then finished off Metagross with a Draco Meteor, and prayed that it hit. It hit. I won.

3W-0L

Round 4: Joel Atienza

The name seemed familiar to me, and when I saw who he was I remembered that he was the runner up for the Surrey BC Regionals in 2012. I believe that Surrey 2012 was his first time playing VGC, so it would be quite interesting to see what he brought to the battle.

Team Preview:
metagrosscresseliavolcaronabreloomtogekisslatias

I immediately figured that this match would be tough for me. Togekiss to cover for Breloom would definitely put me in a lot of trouble, but I also had to worry about the potential for Metagross and Cresselia pulling off a Trick Room Swagger combination, as well as the threat of Volcarona. I eventually went with Togekiss and Tyranitar as leads with Latios and Excadrill in the back.

Joel leads with Breloom and Togekiss, and this start off rough for me. I end up having to shuffle around constantly to try to get myself into a better position in the battle. A max turn sleep on my Togekiss really prevents me from getting much momentum in the battle. It was at the point when my Togekiss woke up and protected from Breloom using a Drain Punch that I realized that his Breloom might not even have Mach Punch. Needless to say, I kind of felt completely unsurprised when my Tyranitar got put to sleep by Effect Spore after KOing Breloom with a Fire Punch.

The battle ends up in a situation where I was left with ~50HP Togekiss and a full HP Excadrill with a Tailwind active against a full HP Metagross, a half HP +1 Quiver Dance Volcarona, with a Half HP Togekiss in the back. I take out Volcarona with an Earthquake, and manage to flinch the Metagross. The next turn I double Protect, since I wasn’t sure if Joel’s Metagross had Bullet Punch, or if Togekiss would have a fire move, or if either would be using Protect. He just uses an Air Slash and Meteor Mash, however.

It is at about this point that I suddenly realize something… I’ve yet to see Joel use Protect. After this revelation, I just went straight into the offense, took out his Metagross with Earthquake, and then finished off his Togekiss with a Rock Slide.

4W-0L

Round 5: Geoff Hamilton (PROFESSORLABCOAT)

Round 5 has me up against fellow Canadian player Geoff. Since I know that he’s a team with Simple Swoobat in the past, I am sort of expecting an unorthodox looking team from him for our battle.

Team Preview:
cresseliaheatranexeggutorsableyegastrodonninetales

It looked to me like a sort of Trick Room and Sun Hybrid team, which is certainly unorthodox. Ultimately, I felt like my team had a good match up against this kind of team though. I led with Togekiss and Excadrill, and had Tyranitar and Breloom in the back.

Geoff leads with an Exeggutor and Sableye, and I Follow Me to redirect away a Fake Out and Psyshock as Excadrill set up a Swords Dance. I think I then end up landing a Critical Hit on his Cresselia on a switch in, while my Togekiss gets finished off. +2 Excadrill pretty much ends up overpowering through the remainder of Geoff’s team, with the assistance of Breloom’s usage of Spore, allowing me to coast into a 3-0 victory.

5W-0L

Round 6: Zach Jens

At 5-0, you’d expect a lot of the players to be someone you know, or at least have a name on Nugget Bridge or Pokemon Showdown! to recognize. Zach Jens, however, didn’t really go or know much about Nugget Bridge at all. The fact that he was 5-0, knew nothing about Nugget Bridge, and mentioned that he defeated a few players with Byes already kind of scared me a bit. I wondered what he was going to be using.

Team Preview:
hitmontoppolitoedludicoloscizorkingdramanectric

This looked like an extremely standard-looking straight Rain team. I can sort of see, yet not really see how he reached 5-0 with this team. I took some time to think about which Pokemon to bring, but eventually settled for my usual response to these sorts of teams. Latios, Togekiss lead, Tyranitar and Excadrill in the back.

Zach leads Politoed and Ludicolo, and I immediately switch Latios out for Tyranitar and set up a Tailwind with Togekiss, but not before two Ice Beams drop my Togekiss down to 1/3 of her HP. I take out Ludicolo with an Air Slash and Rock Slide, and Politoed manually resets its rain.

Zach then sends out Kingdra, and I switch back Tyranitar for, Latios who takes a Scald, and Protect with Togekiss, blocking an Ice Beam. Latios takes down Kingdra with a Draco Meteor, KOing through a Haban, while Togekiss Air Slashes Hitmontop on the switch in. I then Follow Me, finish off Hitmontop, then finish off Politoed with Tyranitar. Zach seemed quite surprised at Mold Breaker Excadrill, which he got to see at the very end of the game.

6W-0L

Round 7: Stephen Morioka (Stephen)

I’m up to a 6-0 record, and one more will guarantee to allow me to advance to the Top 32. My next battle would not be an easy one, as I now faced against Stephen Morioka. We were asked whether we wanted to have this battle streamed, and we agreed to it. I’m usually on the opponent side when streamed on Nugget Bridge, so I decided to play on the Players side for once.

Team Preview:
heracrossthundurustyranitarcresseliaheatranbreloom

A tricky team for me to face, once again. Not knowing where Stephen’s Choice Scarf lies is a big issue for me, as it could potentially be on Tyranitar or on Heracross. The threat of Thundurus and Breloom also bring a lot of danger to my team, while Cresselia and Heatran threaten Trick Room + Eruption. I go with Togekiss, and Latios, with Breloom and Excadrill in the back.

Stephen leads with Breloom and Thundurus. I expect that Breloom is not going to try to attack on this turn, not wanting to risk being taken out by a Psyshock so I protect Togekiss, and Psyshock against Thundurus. The first turn goes well for me, as Thundurus tries to Thunderbolt my Togekiss, and Breloom is swapped for his Tyranitar. Worried about the potential ScarfTar, I switch out Togekiss for Breloom and Protect with Latios, but Stephen sees right through my plan, tagging my Breloom with a Fire Punch on the switch in, as Thundurus goes for the THunder Wave on Latios. I switch Latios for Excadrill, as Tyranitar retreats for Breloom, and I finish off Thundurus. My Breloom faints to sandstorm and I send Togekiss back out.

Here’s where I go for a risky move, and I attack with my Excadrill. However, Stephen plays the turn straight, and punishes my aggressive actions, as Excadrill goes down, and things are made worse by my Togekiss being outsped and flinched by a Rock Slide. I think I may have just folded afterwards, but I did get to find out that his Tyranitar is holding his Choice Scarf. Stephen mentions after the battle that I was the player that he was most worried to face against coming into the US Nationals. I congratulated him on clinching a spot in the Top Cut, and we went on our way.

6W-1L

Round 8: Johnathan Neville (PKMN Trainer Gold)

I take my first loss of the tourney, but I do still have a bit of a safety net in terms of trying to get the 7-2 or better record to Top Cut. My next opponent was Johnathan Neville, who goes by PKMN Trainer Gold on the Pokemon Showdown! servers. I’m not sure if he has a name on Nugget Bridge or not.

Team Preview:
cresseliametagrossdragoniteyanmegarotom-washterrakion

To be honest, I can’t quite remember what my impressions about Johnathan’s team was. It has a few lesser used Pokemon in Yanmega and Dragonite which would make Tyranitar a decent choice for the battle, and yet my team choice for the match was Latios and Bisharp, with Togekis and Excadrill in the back. His team did have a large amount of ground weakness, so I likely felt that if I could handle one or two of his Flying-types I’d be in good shape.

This battle does not go down very well for me. I pretty much ended up going against my intuition and am burned badly for it. I suspected that he wouldn’t protect with Yanmega on the first turn, since Terrakion was likely to have Focus Sash, but played the turn straight and lost my Latios. The second turn, I predicted that he would not attack with Terrakion for fear of Sucker Punch, and tried to use Swords Dance, but he attacks anyways. I miss Rock Slide with Excadrill against his Terrakion, so it survived the turn. Togekiss then gets flinched next turn, and just like that I lose 0-3 in 4 turns. A prime example of how quickly I can collapse when I’m off my game.

6W-2L

Round 9: Peter Davis

I took a bit of time to try to focus and calm myself down. Going 6-0, followed by 6-3 wasn’t something that was acceptable to me. Well, maybe it would since it would still be a story. But I didn’t come here to risk bubbling and potentially lose my chance at a Worlds invite. Keep in mind that at this point, we didn’t know that 278 CP would be enough for an invite, and that 6-3 would be guaranteed to be out of Top Cut. My final opponent of Swiss was Peter Davis. I didn’t recognize the name, but later found out that he was a friend of Zach.

Team Preview:
latiosrotom-washmamoswinebisharptogekissheracross

The team looked strong offensive wise against my team, but weak defensively, if I could get Togekiss out of the way. It would come down to team choice, and plays in the early game. I went with Breloom and Togekiss leads, with Tyranitar and Excadrill in the back, and hoped that I didn’t have to face a Choice Scarf Heracross.

Peter leads with Mamoswine and Togekiss. I use Follow Me and Spore, while Peter uses Follow Me and Icicle Spear. 1…2… Two hits, Togekiss loses about half her HP, and I note that my Breloom outspeeds Mamoswine, and that Togekiss had a Lum Berry. I Spore Mamoswine on the next turn, and Air Slash it to break its Focus Sash, while Peter’s Togekiss KOs my Breloom with Air Slash.

I send out Tyranitar and start using Rock Slide. Mamoswine sleeps for this turn, and Peter’s Togekiss flinches, while I set up a Tailwind. This turn was likely the game changer, as I proceed to finish off Mamoswine and Togekiss, and keep up my momentum against his Latios and Rotom-W in the back. I ended up getting another critical and flinch, but they didn’t matter too much as I had Excadrill in the back who could clean up as long as I hit Latios with a Rock Slide. It wasn’t the cleanest way to win the battle, but I’ll take it.

7W-2L

The win puts me at a 7-2 Record, which is guaranteed to be in for the Top 32 Cut. We find out that ALL 7-2s made it in, while ALL 6-3s were out, so the opponent win% tie breaker did not decide anything aside from Top Cut seeding this time. I was seeded 9th, and my first opponent was…

Top 32: Brandon Mitchell (Bisty)

I recognize the name as a person who was formerly in the Seniors Division, although I didn’t really remember what his name on NB was. I’m later told that his name on the forums is Bisty.

Team Preview:
tornadustyranitargastrodoncresseliametagrosssalamence

From the appearances of the team, it looked like a team that had Trick Room elements, along with a fast mode. Games are now best of 3, and it seemed like I would need a fair bit more information on some of Brandon’s Pokemon to make things work well enough for me. The only thing I could think at the beginning was that Bisharp was going to be doing something in this set of matches.

Game 1:

I open the game with Tyranitar and Bisharp, while Brandon goes with Metagross and Tornadus. I don’t know what moves the Metagross has, and I know that Tornadus isn’t always OHKO’d by Gem Sucker Punch. I go for a Rock Slide and Protect with Bisharp, to assess the situation. Tornadus is switched out for Gastrodon, and Metagross takes out my Tyranitar with a Meteor Mash.

3-4

I send out Togekiss, and go for a Follow Me and Swords Dance. Metagross misses with its Meteor Mash, and Gastrodon uses Muddy Water. Bisharp’s accuracy is dropped, but it activates Defiant bringing it to +4 Atk. This will either be really good or really bad for me. About the only thing I can do is go for broke with Sucker Punch, while he has to hope that I miss. Bisharp uses SUCKER PUNCH!… and hits, KOing Metagross (1). Togekiss Air Slashes Gastrodon, but it doesn’t flinch and uses Muddy Water again dealing some more damage to my two Pokemon.

3-3

Tornadus is sent out, and I continue on the offense. Bisharp uses SUCKER PUNCH!… and it hits, KOing Tornadus(2). Tornadus goes down, and Togekiss manages to flinch Gastrodon with Air Slash.

3-2

Salamence is sent out, Bisharp is now at +5 Atk and -1 Acc. Bisharp uses SUCKER PUNCH!… but it misses against Salamence! Salamence takes out my Bisharp with Fire Blast. Togekiss Air Slashes Gastrodon once again, but it survives at an inch of its health and manages to get off a Recover.

2-2

My last Pokemon is Excadrill, but with Gastrodon’s Recover on the previous turn, this match is pretty much over. I try a few attacks here and there, but eventually fall to Brandon’s last two Pokemon. Since Salamence only used Fire Blast, even after Excadrill went down, I sort of expect that it may be scarfed.

0-2

0W-1L

Game 2:

I didn’t receive as much information about Brandon’s Pokemon as I would have liked in game 1, but it did reassure me that my Bisharp would be the right play to bring into the battle. I lead Togekiss and Bisharp this time, while Brandon leads with Metagross and Tornadus again. I go for the Follow Me and Swords Dance, immedately starting my Bisharp off with a +2. Tornadus switches out, once again, for Cresselia, while Metagross Meteor Mashes my Togekiss. Meteor Mash does 75%, so I am certain that it is running a Choice Band.

Next turn, I try to Sucker Punch Metagross, but it switches for Gastrodon. Togekiss Air Slashes Cresselia and it flinches. I’m expecting that Cresselia was trying to set up Trick Room, and go for a double target towards it, but instead reveals a surprise move in Protect. My attacks are wasted and Gastrodon pulls off a Muddy Water. No accuracy drops this time however.

Cresselia is likely going to continue to try to set up Trick Room, but I can’t leave Gastrodon unchecked and risk losing Bisharp. I go for a safer play of Sucker Punching Gastrodon and Air Slashing Cresselia. Gastrodon Protects, and Cresselia successfully activates Trick Room.

I double Protect to burn a turn of Trick Room, then I once again go for a Sucker Punch on Gastrodon, while Air Slashing with Togekiss. Gastrodon does attack this turn, and goes down to Sucker Punch (3). But Togekiss is taken out by Cresselia’s Ice Beam.

3-3

Metagross returns to the field, and I send out Tyranitar. It goes for a Hammer Arm on Bisharp, but I protect and hit it with a Fire Punch. Next turn, I go for a Sucker Punch against Metagross to KO (4) as Trick Room ends. Cresselia switches to Tornadus on this turn in the meantime.

3-2

Cresselia is sent back out. I go for a Sucker Punch on Tornadus, and am successful, taking down the genie (5).

3-1

I end the battle finishing off Cresselia with a Sucker Punch (6). But then realize that I could have used Iron Head instead in order to try to see if I could find out if his Cresselia was holding a Sitrus Berry or not. In any case, I managed to tie things up.

3-0

1W-1L

Game 3:

My lead choice in Game 2 proved effective, so I led again with Bisharp and Togekiss. Knowing Metagross’s item, I decided to bring Breloom and Tyranitar in the back this time. Brandon goes for Cresselia and Metagross this time. Worried about the potential Protect + Explosion opener, I double Protect to start the battle. Metagross doesn’t explode, and goes for a Hammer Arm on Bisharp instead. Cresselia activates Trick Room. Cresselia then switches out for Tyranitar. Togekiss redirects away Metagross’s Hammer Arm, which misses, and Bisharp gets to +2 Atk again. Not knowing Tyranitar’s moveset, I make a safer play in using Sucker Punch against Metagross and Follow Me with Togekiss. Brandon sees through this, and switches out Metagross for Gastrodon and deals damage with a Rock Slide. I sort of suspect that he will attack with Gastrodon on this turn, and perform the same actions as Turn 3. It pays off as Gastrodon takes a Gem +2 Sucker Punch and is KO’d (7), while Togekiss faints to another Rock Slide.

3-3

Cresselia returns to the battle, and I send out Breloom. I double Protect to end the final turn of Trick Room. Then I proceed to KO Tyranitar with Iron Head (8), and Spore against Cresselia. Since I hadn’t actually seen Cresselia’s item, I was hoping it wouldn’t be a Lum. It wasn’t and Cress goes to Sleep.

3-2

Metagross returns to the Battle. Since Metagross can only attack, I can freely wail away on it, I go for a Sucker Punch and Spore on Metagross, while Cresselia continues to snooze. I then finish off Metagross with Sucker Punch (9). Breloom uses Bullet Seed on Cresselia to perfom a small amount of Damage. Bisharp then finishes off Cresselia with one final SUCKER PUNCH (10) to close the series.

3-1

2W-1L

I was feeling like Bisharp was lacking so far in this tourney, as I had ran into all of ZERO Landourus-T, but Bisharp came through for me netting a whopping TEN KOs within 3 Battles. With a win in the Top 32, I know that I’m pretty much garanteed to an invite to Worlds, based on the pre-Nationals projection of needing a little over 300CP to lock an invite. This took a lot of the pressire I was feeling at the time off my shoulders. Canada would be guaranteed to have representation in the Masters Division for VGC.

T16: Adib Alam (honchkro13)

Reaching the Top 16, I’m a lot less pressured to continue onward, as I had secured my Invitation to Worlds, but I didn’t have much intentions of easing up on my competition because of it. My Top 16 opponent was Adib Alam, or honchkro13. Incidently, Adib was the player who eliminated me in the NB Major #2 Tournament, so this was sort of a rematch. Except with different teams.

Team Preview:
gyaradossteelixcresseliahydreigonthundurusconkeldurr

Before the battle, Adib told me he was just happy to be here, getting as far as he could with a Steelix. And looking at his team… there’s a Steelix. Steelix is something that actually works really well against my team, since I only have 3 Special Attacks on my entire team. And one of them is Psyshock. In addition to the Conkeldurr + Thundurus combo, I knew that I’d have to play in top form if I wanted to win this match up.

Game 1:

Conkeldurr and Thundurus are my biggest worries, but Trick Room is also an issue. I decide to lead Latios and Breloom, while Adib leads Conkeldurr and Thundurus. Predicting that Conkeldurr would not be attacking this turn, I Mach Punch and Draco Meteor against Thundurus. Conkeldurr switches out for Cresselia, while Thundurus lands a Taunt on Breloom before going down.

4-3

Conkeldurr returns to the battle. I swap out Breloom for my Togekiss and go for the Psyshock on Conkeldurr, wanting to just do a bit of damage. Instead, I land a Critical and Conkeldurr falls as well. Cresselia sets up a Trick Room.

4-2

The Steelix shows up as Adib’s last Pokemon. I protect with Togekiss, then throw a Draco Meteor with Latios, not really minding if it got KO’d this turn. Cresselia sets up a Light Screen, and Steelix goes for an Ice Fang on Togekiss. Draco Meteor does about 25% at -2 and a Light Screen up. I use Follow Me on the next turn to cover for a switch to Breloom. Unfortunately, for me, Steelix’s Ice Fang goes Critical and OHKOs my Togekiss, causing Cresselia’s Ice Beam to retarget into Breloom. This puts me in a very bad position as I would have to stall another two turns to escape Trick Room, but wouldn’t have much offense or chance to stop a reactivation of Trick Room.

3-2

I double Protect, then try again the next turn. Breloom fails but Latios succeeds, and so Breloom goes down as Trick Room expires.

2-2

My Last is Excadrill. Due to Light Screen being active, I’m unable to KO Cresselia with a Life Orb Meteor and Earthquake. Instead I go for a Helping Hand boosted Earthquake, and hope that he doesn’t protect with Steelix in order to possibly manage to KO. However, Steelix Protects, Cress survives and sets up Trick Room, and Latios is KO’d. Excadrill follows Latios soon after.

0-2

Game 2:

Losing Game 1 hurt, since I missed an opportunity to get ahead in the match set from that critical hit I got. I decided to change my leads up a bit, and went with Latios and Togekiss. Adib goes with Cresselia and Thundurus this time. I am worried about a Gem-boosted Thunderbolt and protect with Togekiss correctly predicting his move, while Latios lands a Psyshock onto Thundurus. Cresselia sets up a Light Screen in the meantime.

I finish off Thundurus with Psyshock as it Taunts my Togekiss. However, I go for the Air Slash, and flinch Cresselia.

4-3

Steelix is sent out. I throw a Draco Meteor at Steelix for about 40% and go for another Air Slash against Cresselia. Steelix uses an Ice Fang on Togekiss dropping it about half its HP, and Cresselia sets up Trick Room this time. I switch out Togekiss for Breloom and Protect with Latios. Breloom takes an Ice Beam, losing about 90% of its HP, while Steelix Ice Fangs into a Protect. I then Protect with Breloom and switch Latios for Togekiss as Steelix tries an Earthquake instead to try to finish off my Breloom and potentially catch one of my switch ins. I take advantage of this move choice to use Mach Punch on Steelix as it uses Earthquake to bypass Follow Me and KO Breloom. The Mach Punch allowed Life Orb damage to finish off Steelix, as Cresselia and Togekiss trade attacks.

3-2

I send out Excadrill, while Adib sends out his Conkeldurr. For the last turn of Trick Room, I decide that I would be better off going on the offense a bit, and I use Follow Me to redirect Conkeldurr’s move, and damaging with an Earthquake. Togekiss goes down and Trick Room ends.

2-2

I send out my Latios. My action here will likely decide the match. I can probably KO Cresselia with a Draco Meteor, but it will leave me in some trouble when facing the remaining Conkeldurr. I end up making a good read and Psyshock to KO his Conkeldurr who tries to attack on the Trick Room set up turn. Afterwards, I finish off Cresselia with Draco Meteor.

2-0

Game 3:

We’re tied 1-1. I decide to play things a bit differently, yet again, and go for Togekiss Excadrill as my leads for Game 3. Adib repeats his choice from Game 2, and leads Cresselia and Thundurus again.

I’m a bit worried about my Excadrill getting Taunted on the Swords Dance setup, so I use Follow Me. Togekiss takes a Gem Thunderbolt for about 85%, and Cresselia sets up a Trick Room. I Protect with Togekiss, and use an Earthquake with Excadrill, predicting a switch out, as neither of his leads can do much to Excadrill. Thundurus stays in to try to finish off Togekiss, while I catch Conkeldurr on the switch in for about 80% of its HP. Next turn, I use Follow Me and Rock Slide. Togekiss is taken out, and Excadrill is hit for about 50 damage from Hidden Power. Conkeldurr does dodge the Rock Slide, however, so it remains in play.

3-3

Steelix is sent out, along with Breloom. I make a gutsy read here, expecting Conkeldurr to not attack, allowing me to pull off a Spore on Steelix. I then switch out Excadrill, to save it from Mach Punch as I use my Gem Mach Punch on Steelix as Trick Room ends. I finish off Conkeldurr with a Mach Punch and go for a Draco Meteor on Steelix. Latios misses however, and Steelix manages to wake up and KO Latios with an Ice Fang.

2-2

With the game drawing to a close, I use Spore to prevent Cresselia from using Trick Room, and Earthquake to finish off Steelix. Then I finish off Adib’s Cresselia at my leisure.

2-0

2W-1L

T8: Stephen Morioka (Stephen)

My Top Eight opponent was Stephen Morioka, again. This would be a rematch from the Swiss Rounds, and as of this point, Stephen was undefeated. I had some time to think of my game plan against his team as the Top Eight and Top Four battles were moved from Saturday night to Sunday morning. Now was time to put those plans in motion and see if they could get me to where others had not.

Team Preview:
heracrossthundurustyranitarcresseliaheatranbreloom

I knew that there was a good chance that he’d use most of the Pokemon that he had used in our first game against me. While he could switch up, the Pokemon he used did pretty well against what I had brought. Although I didn’t see his last pokemon in our match in Swiss, I assumed that it was likely Heracross. I felt that the two Pokemon that I needed to get past, if I wanted to win, was Stephen’s Breloom and his Thundurus. I needed to deal with them without losing my own Breloom, as it would be key to take out the Tyranitar that I knew held a Choice Scarf.

My two plans were A) Bait Breloom into using Spore on Togekiss, and KO it after activating Lum. B) Trade my Choice Scarf Tyranitar for a KO on his Breloom.

Game 1:

I pretty quickly chose my team of Togekiss, Tyranitar Leads, and Latios, Breloom in the back. Stephen leads, once again, with Breloom and Thundurus. I swap Tyranitartar out for Latios immediately, in case he tries a Mach Punch, while I go for the Air Slash on Breloom with Togekiss. Stephen switches Thundurus for his own Tyranitar, and I execute Plan A, taking out his Breloom. Thundurus returns onto the field.

4-3

I know that his Tyranitar is Scarfed, so I use Follow Me with Togekiss in case of a Crunch, and go for the Psyshock on Thundurus. Tyranitar Rock Slides for about 40% to Latios and a bit over half to Togekiss, and Togekiss gets paralyzed by a Thunder Wave. Latios manages to successfully hit Thundurus with Psyshock, to drop it into the red. Next turn I let Togekiss go down, and Protect with Latios. Stephen takes the time to switch out Thundurus for Heracross.

3-3

I send out my Breloom, thus both of Stephen’s Pokemon are at risk of being KO’d. He protects with Heracross and lets my Breloom take out his Tyranitar.

3-2

Thundurus returns onto the field, and Stephen tries one last effort to win the battle, using Feint with Heracross to try to KO my crippled Latios, and Thunder Wave on Breloom in hopes to intercept its oncoming Mach Punch. However, Latios survives the attack with about 8 HP or so, and Breloom does not get paralyzed, allowing me to clean up Stephen’s remaining two Pokemon.

2-0

1W-0L

Game 2:
Battle Vid: 63-77566-03627

My Lum Berry strategy payed off, but Stephen wouldn’t fall for that twice. As such, I took a different approach for this battle, going with Latios, Tyranitar as my leads, with Togekiss and Breloom in the back. Once again, Stephen leads with Breloom and Thundurus.

Turn 1 opens up with a bang as I execute Plan B. Breloom goes for the Mach Punch to KO my Tyranitar, while my Latios KOs Breloom. Thundurus uses a Gem-boosted Hidden Power Flying, likely covering for a potential switch to my own Breloom. I replace my Tyranitar for Breloom, while Stephen replaces his Breloom with Tyranitar.

3-3

I have Stephen’s Tyranitar checked, so I decide without much hesitation to go for a double targetting on his Thundurus. I felt extremely scared when I saw that Stephen’s Tyranitar had the guts to stay in and fight, but was relieved when he didn’t actually go for the Crunch on Latios, instead opting to Fire Punch against my Breloom. Thundurus paralyzes my Latios with Thunder Wave, but it still manages to get the Psyshock off to take it out.

3-2

Heracross is once again sent out onto the field. I know it has Feint, and that it can take out my Breloom with it at this point. I decide to switch out Breloom for my Togekiss, while my Latios goes for a Psyshock on Heracross. I correctly call the use of Feint, and my Togekiss takes a minor amount of damage. Latios survives the Fire Punch, but is fully paralyzed, and can’t finish the job. I let Latios go down, as I protect with Togekiss.

2-2

I bring Breloom back, and go for the Follow Me + Mach Punch to defeat Tyranitar. As the play is quite obvious, Stephen goes for a Close Combat, dropping my Togekiss down to 50 HP.

2-1

Breloom will be KO’d by sand on this turn, but since it is faster than Heracross, I am able to force Stephen to either use Feint on Breloom, or Protect to let it go down. Either way, Togekiss was safe to use a Tailwind.

1-1

Just Togekiss and Heracross. The sand has put my Togekiss at a low amount of HP, but not quite low enough for Feint to KO for another 2-3 turns. Stephen’s only option was to go for the Protect, but it fails. I then finish off Heracross with Air Slash.

Except that I miss with Air Slash. This meant that Heracross would be able to use Protect against then finish off Togekiss. At this point I was all prepared to try to play it out in Game 3. However, Stephen goes for the Feint instead of Protecting. Togekiss barely manages to hang on at 4HP, and finish the job, taking out Heracross with an Air Slash.

1-0

2W-0L

Semifinals: Gavin Michaels (kingofkongs)

With my win over Stephen, I’m now in the Top Four. Winning me at least a 3DS, a trophy, and travel. From Vancouver to… Vancouver. If I can continue on the winner’s path, I may even steal away the US Nationals, for Canada. My semifinals opponent was Gavin Michaels, or kingofkongs. While I had heard bits and pieces about what he was using, I didn’t know, or let myself hear, of any team specifics.

Team Preview:
amoongusslandorusmetagrossludicolovolcaronatyranitar

Not the most orthodox of teams. I can expect Landorus to be Sheer Force + Life Orb, and the rest of the team to be relatively standard. The team looked like it can be hit pretty hard by Flying-type moves, but it felt like the biggest threats to me were the Amoonguss and the Volcarona.

Game 1:

I lead with Latios and Togekiss, while Gavin goes with Amoonguss and Tyranitar. I sort of suspect that his Tyranitar may be Scarfed, but decide that he’s likely not going to try Crunch with my Togekiss on the field, so I go for a switch to Breloom, and use Psyshock on his Amoonguss. This would have been an excellent play, as Tyranitar executes a Stone Edge on my incoming Breloom, but Psyshock ends up falling just short of a KO on Amoonguss, allowing it to use Spore on Breloom before fainting to Sandstorm damage. I’m in the lead for active Pokemon, but am actually in a terrible position for the battle. After finding out the Defenses on Gavin’s Amoonguss, I found out it was a 75% chance that Psyshock would have KO’d.

4-3

Metagross is sent out, and I’m in trouble. I protect with Latios blocking a Stone Edge, and he takes out my Breloom with a Meteor Mash, also giving a +1 Atk boost to Metagross.

3-3

I send out Excadrill. Latios is sort of trapped in this situation, since I know that he’s probably going to Stone Edge it. A switch to Togekiss will cause significant amount of damage, and I don’t know what moves Metagross has in this situation especially when it is at +1 Atk. As such, I felt that my only chance was to go for a suicidal play in Helping Hand and Earthquake, hoping that Gavin would get a bit careless. However, Metagross holds caution and Protects. Tyranitar misses with Stone Edge against Latios, but don’t worry, Excadrill has that covered. Tyranitar and Latios are taken out by the boosted Earthquake.

2-2

I send in my Togekiss, and Gavin sends in Landorus. I go for an Earthquake and Tailwind, while he double targets to take out Togekiss, then finishes off Excadrill, with a Bullet Punch and Earth Power.

0-2

0W-1L

Game 2:

With how Game 1 went, I felt the need to changes things up quite a bit. I lead this battle with Latios and Breloom, with Bisharp and Tyranitar in the back. Gavin leads the same as Game one. I protect with Latios, scouting a Crunch from Tyranitar before it gets put to sleep with Spore. Amoonguss also goes ahead and Spores my Breloom. I switch out Breloom for Bisharp, while Gavin switches out Amoonguss for Metagross to take a Psyshock. I end up spending too much time worrying about whether I had seen all of Metagross’s moves, and made a play here that was probably a huge mistake in hindsight. I end up realizing that his Metagross has nothing to really threaten my Bisharp, so I should have switched and sacrificed my Breloom. Instead, I Draco Meteor against Metagross for about 50% and Metagross KOs Latios in return.

3-4

I send out Tyranitar. I go for a Fire Punch on Metagross and Iron Head on Tyranitar. Metagross Protects and Tyranitar goes down.

3-3

Gavin sends out Landorus. I feel like I should have switched out Tyranitar here and sacrifice Breloom, as I was quite certain that Landorus would Protect this turn. However, instead I just played the turn straight, and played right into Gavin’s hand.

3-2

Amoonguss is sent out. I Protect Bisharp from an Earth Power as Amoonguss Rage Powders a Fire Punch for over half its HP. Gavin then does a good read on the following turn, predicting my Bisharp’s switch, as he Protects with Amoonguss and KOs my Tyranitar with an Earth Power.

2-2

With a Sleeping Breloom and a Bisharp left, Gavin has no trouble wiping out my remaining Pokemon.

0-2

0W-2L

Just like that, the tournament ends for me. It was an amazing run, but myself and the team fell short at the end, continuing my streak of losing to the eventual Champion in the Top Cut. While the dream of taking the US Nationals for Canada fell through, my Team’s wish of still being in the tournament come Sunday, July 7th did come true. It was great to meet everyone from the Nugget Bridge community at Nationals, and I hope to see you in Vancouver for the Worlds!

 

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


About the Author

R Inanimate is a long time participant in official Pokemon Tournaments, first attending the 2005 Battle in Seattle Tournament. Known for using teams that are a bit off from the standard, and not using RNG'd Pokemon. Avid Battle Frontier fan. Worlds 2013 competitor, known for running Togekiss and Mold Breaker Excadrill.



11 Responses to Seven Star Swordmasters – Top 4 US Nationals Report

  1. as always your team themes are the best.

    congrats on top 4 :D

  2. Adib says:

    Help I can’t focus on the team I’m dying laughing at the quotes
     
    Congrats on making Top 4! It’s interesting to see you doing so well with Pokemon that you’ve been running for who knows how long, with only a couple changes here or there. You’d think you’d start losing more as people know more and more about your team but clearly that’s not the case. I also enjoyed our set in Top 16, even though I’m afraid I didn’t give a good 3rd battle.
     
    Good luck at Worlds!
     
    EDIT: forgot to add, but it’s pretty cool how you overcome your giant defensive weaknesses with tricks like Follow Me, Spore, Mold Breaker, etc.

  3. Dreykopff says:

    That Bisharp winning top 32 on its own, priceless. And I thought I had Bisharp nightmares…
     
    May the Togekiss be with you versus the world. ;)

  4. PK Gaming says:

    Oh man
     
    Enjoyable Warstory? Check.
    Awesome team? Check.
    Good opponents? Check.
     
    Congrats on making it to Top 4, and good luck in worlds.

  5. BrewCrew says:

    Nice story was the seven star sword from yugioh by chance? Secondly really surprised you lost to that rogue dragonite team, but I assume you lost your head. Lastly good story nice team(BIG FIGHTING WEAKNESS but you managed to deal with the threats), gl and hope to read about another story of yours if you attend worlds.

  6. Koke says:

    Congrats! I look forward to seeing Togekiss perform team synergy on a world stage.

  7. TKOWL says:

    I’ve always really loved your teams, props on still keeping the same mons solid throughout the season. 
     
    Also, I thought Breloom was dead this Nats as everyone seemed to have him hard-countered but you still kept him fresh. 1 million points of respect right there. 

  8. R Inanimate says:

    as always your team themes are the best.

    congrats on top 4 :D

     
    It might just be me, but I kind of feel like I do better the more I like the nicknaming theme that I am running. If it’s a theme that I like, and the names fit my Pokemon well, watch out!
     

    Help I can’t focus on the team I’m dying laughing at the quotes
     
    Congrats on making Top 4! It’s interesting to see you doing so well with Pokemon that you’ve been running for who knows how long, with only a couple changes here or there. You’d think you’d start losing more as people know more and more about your team but clearly that’s not the case. I also enjoyed our set in Top 16, even though I’m afraid I didn’t give a good 3rd battle.
     
    Good luck at Worlds!
     
    EDIT: forgot to add, but it’s pretty cool how you overcome your giant defensive weaknesses with tricks like Follow Me, Spore, Mold Breaker, etc.

     
    In April I changed a few things for the sake of changing things, but I didn’t really like the end result that came from it. In June with the scramble and Wi-Fi tourney, I ran my old January team because it was a team people should know about, thus I wouldn’t be really revealing much in terms of super secret team info. But then that somehow turned into a decision to just run the old team, and stop caring about team scouting and such. Made me feel a lot less pressured when I was using a team that was still showing strength, and had little to no worry about scouting.
     

    Nice story was the seven star sword from yugioh by chance? Secondly really surprised you lost to that rogue dragonite team, but I assume you lost your head. Lastly good story nice team(BIG FIGHTING WEAKNESS but you managed to deal with the threats), gl and hope to read about another story of yours if you attend worlds.

     
    Seven Star Swordmasters would me referencing my Tanabata nickname theme, and my Dual Sword Dancers. I lost to rogue dragonite team less because of dragonite and all because of Terrakion. Avoid opponent Rock Slides and Flinch with your own!
     

    I’ve always really loved your teams, props on still keeping the same mons solid throughout the season. 
     
    Also, I thought Breloom was dead this Nats as everyone seemed to have him hard-countered but you still kept him fresh. 1 million points of respect right there. 

     
    Breloom is dead. But mushrooms grow back quickly in damp humid climates, so it made a comeback.
     
    Also, I will post some extra thoughts about Nationals and my experience at the event, since the warstory is more focused on my team and my battles.

    Tourney thoughts:
    -I was a bit surprised by the lack of rain I faced. Likewise at the lack of Intimidate I faced.
    -Based on the T32 usage statistics, The Pokemon I had were used by 22, 5, 3, 3, 2, and 2 people. My team had no T32 Unique mons.
    -I felt that I was a bit lucky with opponent draws for Swiss. There were a number of trainers with a team match up that I wasn’t particularly keen on facing. Then again, how many times in the article do I say that my opponent is a tough/trick/etc. matchup? I might just be selling myself short here.
    -I really wonder how I would have felt if I had lost my 9th game of Swiss. Going 6-0 -> 6-3, 33rd Place. But then finding out that I would still have enough CP to barely squeek by qualifying for Worlds would have probably been the weirdest feeling
    -I’m very happy at the diversity of teams I faced and saw at Nats. Especially with all the saying how the metagame is getting stale.
    -Letting some matches be streamed on NB’s twitch, and allowing Scott and Evan to commentate the Finals was a very nice addition to an already great Nationals.
    -Winning a Trip from Vancouver… to Vancouver. It kind of feels bad to take away a plane trip on my war path to take US Nats for Canada, but it had to be done. I continue my streak of losing to the eventual Champion.

    Event Thoughts:
    -Got to see the infamous “Train Hotel” first hand. It’s certainly an… interesting hotel, I approve of it, but only as a Battle Subway fan. Didn’t actually hear any trains running through the hotel since my room was on the opposite side from the tracks. The room that my brother and I stayed in wasn’t too bad. Finding out that it is on the opposite corner from the Fairfield Hotel, where a lot of the other NB were staying, kind of sucked though.
    -The best part about the nicknames was that I decided on which character names to use before deciding to try to give them each a character quotation. I was not expecting to having the character lines fit so well.
    -Pulled a foil Ultra Ball, a Thundurus EX and a Deoxys EX within 10 packs. And another Thundurus EX in the 9 packs won from T4. Was a pretty good haul, aside from the fact that I don’t play TCG. Packs with the first card showing a Pachirisu seem to give me good rares. Packs with Rattata give me grimer. Foil grimer.
    -Played a 6 Togekiss 5 Togekiss + 1 Zoroark Triple Battle. It was hilarious
    -Went 8-1 between 3 Side Tourneys, winning 10 TCG packs total. My only loss was to Ben7000, in a crushing 0-4 Defeat. I should have brought Zoroark. My last Side Tourney match was against MangoSol, where I fall into an early deficit due to Heatran’s Overheat missing, but Heracross clinches it against Hitmontop and a full HP Metagross by going clutch Gem Horn Critical to OHKO Meta, then finish off Hitmontop.
    -picked up about 150-200 spotpasses. Clearing out Fire Emblem Awakening Spotpass teams took forever, since they seem to pile up beyond the ones that are placed onto your world map. (btw, if you ran into a Full Limit Breaker team with a Player character of “Yukari”, that was me)
    -Too bad the new Mii Plaza games came out just AFTER nats.
    -My favourite Nationals moment was that Multibattle I had where me and Biosci swept Chinese Dood and ThGr8 with Togekiss and Excadrill. The turning point was as follows:

    Foe Gyarados switches out for Ferrothorn
    My CB Garchomp Dragon Claws Ferrothorn
    Biosci’s Excadrill uses Swords Dance
    Foe Hitmontop uses Close Combat to KO my Garchomp

    “Biosci, you thinking what I’m thinking?”
    “I’m thinking what you’re thinking!”

    I send out Togekiss. *High Five*

    -Got to meet/remeet with a lot of people. 2011 I was a bit of an unknown to most in the community, and the hotel I was staying at was quite a bit away from the convetion center so I didn’t really get a chance to hang out. After the 2012 CanNats separation year, it was great to be back at US Nationals with everyone else
    -I had an older gentleman mention to me how his son was a big fan of my teams and team articles, and had made a team based off of mine that he showed me. It’s a bit difficult to express the feeling that I feel at that moment.
    -plane arrives in Indianapolis 30 mins early. But I needed to wait at the airport for my brother who’s plane arrived 30 mins after mine was scheduled to land. Plane leaves Indianapolis 30 mins late. I have to run to my connecting flight to go to Vancouver. Would have been nice if they reversed it.
    -A reminder not to buy pizza in the Mall Food Court. 2 Slices and a drink really shouldn’t cost 12.50$.
    -Playing Stadium 2 Quiz Game at Nats, I think I won every time so far, and it often wasn’t close. I think I need to challenge Ray “3 Time World Champion; It’s Always Magmar” Rizzo to a Quiz game at some point, just to see how well I can do.
    -See you guys at Worlds.

  9. Simon says:

    -A reminder not to buy pizza in the Mall Food Court. 2 Slices and a drink really shouldn’t cost 12.50$.
     
    Oh man you got that too? I was expecting like 7$ at most but i was like what??? They even have a deal for an entree,pasta, and salad for like 9 bucks? Should’ve got that instead.

  10. shinryu says:

    Great team and grats on top 4!

  11. Osirus says:

    Great read, great story and great team! It’s been really enjoyable following your progress throughout this season and congratulations on getting top 4 + invite to top things off before worlds. I love this team and really appreciate the mechanics behind everything within it, I wish you all the best for worlds and look forward to seeing how the next chapter in this seasons story plays out for you! See you in Vancouver!

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