Reports

Published on June 18th, 2013 | by araluen7

9

Slowly Hailing in the South – Regional Top 18th Team Analysis

Hey Nugget Bridge! I’m looking back on my Hailroom team that I used at Spring Regionals at Athens, Georgia. This article is long overdue, and I still debated on whether or not to write an article on it, as I wanted to keep using the team. I really enjoyed this team, as it wasn’t super complicated to pick up and control, and it only had 2 functions which made it easier to autopilot, especially through the early swiss rounds. I had a lot of fun with it, but I think it’s time to retire it as I prepare for Nationals. There were a lot of things that went through my mind the entire day on what could be added to patch the team up, but I feel like I wouldn’t have changed it beforehand anyway because I had been practicing a lot with it, and felt comfortable with it. On with the team!

There was nothing here that made the team stand out in particular, Team Preview just screams Trick Room.

Abomasnow @ Ice Gem
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 132 Atk / 248 SAtk / 128 Def
Quiet Nature (+SpA, -Spe)
IVs: 0 Spd
– Blizzard
– Ice Shard
– Wood Hammer
– Protect

Can’t have a Hailroom team without a Hail setter. Ice Gem gives me the strongest Blizzard I could hope for, and Trick Room helps me get it off first, and assures that I can keep firing off Blizzard’s as long as I’m in. Ice Shard was useful in that I could still deal a very good chunk of damage to less bulky Dragon- and Flying-types with my gem even outside of Trick Room. I opted to use Wood Hammer because it is way more useful than Giga Drain ever could be for Abomasnow; Wood Hammer let me hit Tyranitar harder. Wood Hammer is always a 2HKO, dealing a little over half HP on a bulky Tyranitar. It’s one of those moves where you do have to be careful because it’s a double-edged sword. It can hurt you more than it can help you, if you don’t play it right. The EV’s are straightforward. I always survive a bullet punch from Scizor/Metagross and the Attack will let me 2HKO the biggest threats that Blizzard wouldn’t, such as Kingdra, Politoed, Gastrodon, Tyranitar.

Scrafty @ Chople Berry
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Atk / 58 Def
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spe)
IVs: 0 Spd
– Fake Out
– Drain Punch
– Crunch
– Detect

Scrafty helps set up Trick Room as Fake Out + Intimidate Support, and he also packs a punch of his own. The reason I chose Scrafty was because he is a lot like Hitmontop, but with a little higher defenses, and he is a good matchup against Cresselia which I really liked. Drain Punch was chosen as the Fighting STAB move, with base 75 power, it can still put a hole in Pokémon that were weak to Fighting-types. The EV’s were a little weird to look at, but he was already trained when I picked him up, and the only things I can remember is that with Chople he will survive any Close Combat (at -1, or even +0 Attack) and he will deal back hefty damage when they get the defense drop. Detect was chosen over Protect, because I didn’t want some gimmick using Protect/Trick Room + Imprison to stop me from using my moves, so I felt I needed at least some kind of defense against that.

Chandelure @ Fire Gem
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 188 HP / 20 Def / 252 SAtk / 28 SDef / 20 Spd
Modest Nature (+SpA, -Atk)
– Trick Room
– Heat Wave
– Protect
– Shadow Ball

Chandelure was the last minute change, and was decided on the way up to Georgia. The spread was the one used by Mathias in his Hailroom article. The main thing I liked about Chandelure is the immunity to Fake Out, and the ability to help out Abomasnow with Flash Fire. Fire Gem Heat Wave after a Flash Fire Boost is probably the strongest attack available to me on this team, and in Round 3 my opponent played into a Fire Fang switch in, letting me OHKO his Rotom-W with that attack, although I suspect he hadn’t EV trained his Pokémon, so the feat loses some value. I liked the addition Chandelure brought to the team, but I hardly used him at all the entire day.

Dusclops @ Eviolite
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 90 HP / 200 Def / 220 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SpD, -Spe)
IVs: 0 Spd
– Night Shade
– Trick Room
– Pain Split
– Will-O-Wisp

This was probably my favorite Pokémon on the entire team. Dusclops could do so much for me; he nabbed me so many KO’s in this tournament, and the wifi tourney the week after. At level 50, he has 27 Speed, so he will always move first under Trick Room, no matter how slow opposing Metagross were. With an Eviolite he has base 190 Defenses, which is what drew me to him in the first place, and adding Trick Room into that was the icing on the cake. He can survive a Timid Helping Hand Gem Boosted Latios Draco Meteor and survive 4/5 times as well as a Helping Hand boosted max attack Crunch from Tyranitar. This Pokémon was built to take the biggest hits, and then recover back health with Pain Split. I had wanted to put in a bit more HP to fully minimize weather damage, but I didn’t want to add to much to where Pain Split would be inefficient. Will-O-Wisp helped nerf Physical attackers that were hostile to Abomasnow.

I want to go more in depth to how Pain Split functions, so you get an idea of just how menacing this Pokémon can be if left unchecked. Of course the first thing you want to do with him is set up Trick Room so he can do something before the opponent starts setting up, but I know exactly how much HP my Dusclops has, and how much I would take from burn, sand/hail damage, confusion, etc. Yeah, every good trainer will always know that and unconsciously have those numbers in mind, but when you’re playing with Dusclops, those numbers are key to his success. Pain Split takes both targets HP, and returns the average to both Pokémon. So when I do take and survive that huge Draco Meteor from Latios, I Pain Split back, so if I were left with 5 Hp, I would regain back to 80 Hp. Now that may not seem like that big of a number, but you have to remember that my defenses are sky high with Eviolite, and that 80 Hp will still be hard to knock out. Now couple this with his last move, Night Shade, and that’s a deadly combo if you play your cards right. Night Shade deals damage equal to the user’s level. With VGC level cap rules, Night Shade will deal 50 damage every time. So in a turn where I Pain Split, I then know how much HP my foe has, down to the exact number. In the case of the Latios who had used Draco Meteor. Assuming nothing else had happen to either Pokémon, you can reverse the equation to find out how much Total HP they had. Dusclops had 5 before the split, so it becomes 80*2=160. 160-5=155. Since Pokémon rounds down, his Total HP could be either 156 or 155, but I just happened to know that 4 EV Latios will have 156 HP. Now that I know how much he will take from Hail damage (156/16=9 or 155/16=9) Night Shade will still not be enough for me to net the KO, so I can make educated plays based on that.

On top of Pain Split being able to tell me how much HP the opponent has, healing myself back up, it also has usefulness in healing my own Pokémon with it. Such as bringing my Abomasnow back up above half hp so I can eat another Bullet Punch while he dies to hail+burn, and get off another Blizzard. Pain Split is such a useful move, and I want to continue using it, and plan to whenever I get around to updating this Hailroom team to fit the metagame better.

I had a match in Swiss in Round 6 when I needed to know how much HP his Garchomp would be left with at the end of the turn with Hail damage, and I knew that I could survive his Earthquake/Dragon Claw and heal myself back up to finish it off. I had eaten the Dragon Claw, and healed myself back up to 53 HP. I didn’t even have to calculate Hail damage here, that was enough information for me to know I could KO him with Dusclops alone.

Togekiss @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Serene Grace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 244 HP / 96 Def / 116 SDef / 52 Spd
Calm Nature (+SpD, -Atk)
– Air Slash
– Tailwind
– Follow Me
– Roost

With Togekiss the team takes a different curve. When I was originally designing the team, I had wanted to have 2 forms of Speed control; Trick Room for Abomasnow and Tailwind for a fast mode. I had made a lot of changes to the team, dating back before the March friendly so Togekiss, Abomasnow, and Dusclops are the only remaining original members. This spread was taken from R Inanimate‘s Togekiss, as well as the moveset and item. A lot of my spreads at this point were copied or slightly modified from proven teams as EV spreads were the weakest part of my game, but I feel like I’ve since improved from that. I’d like to attribute all of my success to Nugget Bridge, and I know I would be nowhere without this website and those of you who have helped me along the way. Before this turns into a big thank you article, I want to continue on to the next Pokémon.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 138 HP / 252 Atk / 18 SDef / 100 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
– U-turn
– Rock Slide
– Protect
– Earthquake

Landorus played the role of being the Tailwind attacker. He would help set up with Togekiss, and kill anything that got in his way. I choose Expert Belt instead of Life Orb because I didn’t want him to lose a lot of HP in one turn since Hail damage was also a factor here. Expert Belt helped me hit a lot of things harder than they would normally expect, and it got the jump on a few opponents that weren’t expecting it at all. The 100 EVs in Speed let me outspeed a lot under Tailwind, and I also wanted to hit a number where I could out-speed threats under Trick Room as well, but I never used him in that fashion at Regionals anyway. The little invested in HP and SpD was because some Cresselia would 2HKO with Icy Wind, and that just drove me crazy; I didn’t want to take too much away from attack, and I realize without Yache, I will almost always be 2-3HKO by Icy Wind anyway. I liked using Landorus and would consider using him again, just with an updated spread.

Team Synergy

This would be my Tailwind fast mode I was talking about earlier on. It was more of a read and react situation, as I may not need Tailwind until turns 3-4 or even at all in a battle. It was easy to set up here though, as a lot of lower level players would look at assume Rock Slide+Thunder Wave. Getting the jump on turn 1 really helped me get ahead. I really like how well these two supported each other. Landorus helped keep Togekiss alive by killing off all the Electric- and Rock-types, as well as moving fast enough to outspeed those who use Ice type Attacks, most notably Cresselia. Togekiss supports Landorus by being able to draw away that Ice Beam, or Hidden Power Ice so he can continue on his rampage.

A lot of times I would lead with this as my Trick Room set up, and even in Regionals I led this combo 5/8 battles. I generally used Fake Out+Trick Room, or Detect+Trick Room if they had a faster Fake Outer on the field. This would open the field up for me to set up Hail and start attacking, or to scout. This is one of my favorite leads.

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Intimidate support goes a long way with Abomasnow, as does Flash Fire. I liked leading this way to set up Hail on a weatherless team, and then the rest of the battle would snowball from there (pun intended), for me to either start Blizzarding, or to switch and set up Trick Room. There are numerous first turn combinations to do with this lead.

Swiss Matchups

Round 1

I led Scrafty+Dusclops here, looking to set up Trick Room early and finish him off quickly, and he sent out Tyranitar and Excadrill, which put me in a good position. He Protects Excadrill and I Fake Out into it, as Tyranitar Earthquakes and I get Trick Room up. I burn the Tyranitar and Drain Punch the Excadrill. Tyranitar had Choice Scarf and KOed the Excadrill for me, and the next turn he also KOed the Terrakion he sent out afterwards. Carnivine was his last Pokémon, and I had the game locked up from there.

1-0

Round 2

I started with Abomasnow and Scrafty this time, looking to get an early KO on the Salamence or Milotic, as those were the two biggest threats that I didn’t really want to have to put up with. He led Braviary and Milotic, so I was at an impasse as to whom I wanted to KO first. Fake Out+Blizzard and down goes the bird. I left the Milotic untouched for the better part of the battle, considering how much I wanted it gone. Salamence is sent out, then switched out to Eelektross, as I switch out to Landorus-T. The battle goes back and forth until it’s just his Salamence and Eelektross against my Togekiss and Landorus-T. I was debating as to whether or not to switch back into Abomasnow here, but I figured out he had Choice items on both of his remaining Pokémon. He was spamming Earthquake with Salamence, and Thunderbolt with Eelektross, but he kept targeting Landorus-T. He told me after the battle that he didn’t know Landorus was a Flying/Ground-type.

2-0

Round 3

I figured I was a lot better off going with Trick Room here, as that was the portion of my team I was most comfortable using. He led Dragonite and Terrakion, as I led Scrafty and Dusclops again. This battle was closer than the previous 2 battles, but after he had used Fire Fang trying to catch my Abomasnow, I had actually switched into Chandelure for the Flash Fire boost. The next turn I used Fire Gem Flash Fire Heat Wave for the win.

3-0

Round 4

This was one of those teams where I knew what to expect as soon as I saw Team Preview. Instead of going back to my friends at the end of each round and talking about my battle, then their battle, then congratulating on the victories, I liked to walk around and listen to all the other groups talk, although I did eventually end up with my friends before pairings were posted again. So this was one of those teams I heard talked about a few times throughout the afternoon, specifically an old man with a ‘Eviolite Swords Dance Scyther and Heatran, so I had a really good feeling that this was that man. He led Hydreigon and Rotom-W as I led yet again Dusclops and Scrafty. Fake out+Trick Room to get the momentum swinging in my direction. His Rotom started Thunderwaving everything as he switches into Scyther, and I burn the Rotom. Fearing a Swords Dance coming on, I switch in Landorus-T who also happened to take a Thunderbolt. Hydro Pump misses and he pulls out Scyther for Hydreigon. Trick Room ends the following turn, and I’m able to U-Turn Landorus out, KO’ing the Hydreigon in the process. It’s now my Duslcops and Scrafty against his Scyther and Heatran, as Trick Room comes back up. He gets the Paralysis trigger on my Scrafty so I can’t Fake Out, and uses Acrobatics on it. Both of us are 3-3 now. We both play a Protect, and his Heatran gets a Substitute up. I’m aware that Dusclops can clear out the Substitute before Landorus can Earthquake, but I was expecting a Protect on that end, so I Rock Slide to remove the Scyther. Heat Wave puts me in a bad position health wise with Landorus, so I Protect again and Pain Split my health back up. Expecting Protect on Heatran again I switch in Abomasnow. His Heat Wave KO’d both my Pokémon, leaving me only with an 11 HP Landorus. Hail+Burn had killed the Rotom that turn. I knew my only choice was to Earthquake here. Turns out his Heatran didn’t even have protect. I had almost lost this round because I heard big things from this team, and I overestimated him. I didn’t want to come this close again, this early in the tourney.

4-0

Round 5

This was the round where my nerves got the best of me. After coming off that close of a win last round, I knew I had to play harder, but not to start second guessing myself. I didn’t really have much of a problem dealing with other Trick Room teams, but Escavalier+Amoongus+Chandelure really spelt trouble for my team. I figured he would bring in all of these, plus either Tyranitar to try to counter my Hail, or Cresselia to help support. So I had led Dusclops Scrafty again, with Chandelure and Togekiss in the back. He led Cresselia and Landorus-I. I made 3 mistakes, in the span of 3 turns, and he 4-0’d me, without getting to see what he had in the back. I was really disappointed with myself in this matchup, and I felt like a jerk afterwards, because he apologized for getting a Critical Hit or something like that, but he had the game anyway, so I think I just brushed him off and walked off.

4-1

Round 6

I had to walk away and clear my head before the round began, but I came back in just as pairs were being posted. There wasn’t too much noteworthy about this battle, but I just led Abomasnow and Dusclops and set things in my favor with Trick Room to win. I was more focused on the recent loss I had suffered, and the actual thought of me missing Top Cut became very real for me then. Before I knew it, I had won and the round was over.

5-1

Round 7

I hated this matchup. The entire time I was looking at it, I knew that Chansey was going to Minimize, and I’d just sit here trying to play and it’ll go to time. But I hadn’t heard anything all day about minimize, so I put it in the back of my mind and played as if he wouldn’t Minimize, and I had let him go to +4. I literally sat here trying to think of a way to win over timer, but he had used toxic on a few of my Pokémon, so I knew even with my hail being up that I wouldn’t have enough HP at the end of 15 minutes to win. I had forfeited 4-4.

5-2

Round 8

I knew I blew my chances at Top Cut for sure. I played too much on instinct earlier, and then I played too heavily disregarding my instinct. I felt like maybe if my breakers were really good I may have a shot at top 16.  Anyway, this was another one of those teams I had heard about earlier in the day. He utilized Gravity+ Trick Room, but he spent too much time using Hypnosis on Pokémon I used Protect on, that he never actually hurt any of my team. He was more focused on putting me to sleep then he was on KO’ing me, which made it easy for me to play around and beat him with little effort. The win didn’t feel nearly as good as it did a few rounds ago, and I still felt very down about my performance.

6-2

Closing Remarks

I really liked how this team interacted with each other, but I feel like there’s still a lot to be done to improve this team. It carried me 6-2 in the tournament, losing to cakesofspan (the only Nugget Bridge player I know I played) from a bad matchup. We were both 4-0 at the time so I think that I had let my nerves get to me, and made me second guess myself a lot at that point, but he had beat me without even seeing what was behind his leads. After that round, I calmed down enough to start playing on key again, losing to a Minimize Chansey gimmick. The entire team preview I had a gut instinct that that was what he was going to do, but I ignored it, and played as if he was going to just sit and wall me in some other fashion. I’m still happy with my performance, 18th place in a tournament of around 180 players. I would say my favorite part of the entire day was getting to meet half of Team Magma, Dim, Scott, Evan, Benji, Trista, and everyone else that was there, you are all amazing and made the trip that much more worthwhile.

Article Image created by Ashley Farr for Nugget Bridge and used with permission. See more of Ashley’s artwork on her tumblr

About the Author

araluen7 has been playing Pokémon casually until January 2012, but didn't buckle down in it seriously until November. His first competition was Winter Regionals at Lake Buena Vista, and he's only looking forward in the competitive field ready to take on the next challenges.

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