Reports

Published on February 4th, 2013 | by MrFox

0

Spears and Dragons: 2013 Virginia Regionals Champion Team Analysis (Seniors)

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

Hi everyone! I am Jonathan Hiller, and I’m writing my first (very long overdue) team analysis. For those of you who don’t know I attended the Sandston, VA, Winter Regional last weekend and ended up placing first even though I was completely unprepared and my team was weak to Tyranitar which is something you do not want to be weak to in this meta. Despite all of that I guess this is just another one of those humbling experiences where I do well in an event I feel I have no right to place well in. I felt unprepared for Newark Regionals 2011 and Nationals 2012, which went really well for me, but I went into all of the 2012 Regionals cocky and completely bombed. Never be overconfident guys!

Anyway, you came here to see a team I have admitted isn’t as good as it could’ve been. Without further ado:

The Core

This is the strongest 3 Pokemon core that shares a common weakness I’ve ever seen. This was an idea I had had before fall Regionals, but I didn’t have enough time to develop it into a full team then. Mamoswine has been one of my favorite mons all of last year and Fall Regionals, and it continued to impress on this team. I’ve always liked it’s synergy with the Levitating/Flying Dragons, as it can Earthquake with them and they generally provide coverage against things he can’t hit. I decided to go with Hydreigon over the others because I feel every team needs a reliable way to hit Cresselia, and Hydrei certainly provided that. Heatran was originally the 3rd wheel, but it proved it’s worth many times over, completely walling some teams, being able to be switched in on all of Hydra’s weaknesses save Fighting (sometimes even that with Chople), and providing strong Fire coverage. The rest of the team was built around this to try and fill gaps, counter problem Pokemon, etc.

The Team

Mamoswine (F) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Ice Shard
– Icicle Spear
– Earthquake
– Protect

I mentioned him before, but I just want to reiterate how strong Mamoswine is. In a meta with a ton of Ice weaknesses but few Ice-types that can do anything before they die, Mamo stands out by being immune to both damaging weathers, having amazing offensive coverage with Ground STAB along with Ice and Icicle Spear, which can hit through Substitutes and Yache Berries. He also has priority. Focus Sash is my preferred item on Mamo since weather can never break it and he is a bit frail on the Special side. Thick Fat is also my preferred ability, and it’s actually saved my butt quite a bit when it survives Cresselia’s Ice Beams with 2 HP from low yellow/red. The EV spread is incredibly basic, but really I don’t have to run anything else because Sash gives me all of the bulk I need.

Also, you would be shocked at the amount of people who forget it has Thick Fat and target it with HP Fire over Psyshock/Psychic with Cress.

Hydreigon (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Dark Pulse
– Earth Power
– Protect

Another pillar of this team, Hydreigon and Mamoswine have great offensive coverage together. Life Orb is, in my opinion, superior to Gems because it allows me to Helping Hand Dark Pulse to KO all but the most Specially bulky Cresselia while still getting the extra power on Draco Meteor. I used Earth Power over Flamethrower/Heat Wave because I felt like I needed another way to hit Tyranitar and Heatran, and I was right. Earth Power + Earthquake from Mamoswine will always KO Tyranitar, and it comes as a surprise to many people because it’s not something you would expect to KO. Once again the spread is really basic, but I felt like putting excess Speed into HP wasn’t worth it and I’d rather outspeed Ray’s Hydreigon. Hydreigon also has great synergy with Heatran, resisting all of its weaknesses save Fighting.

Heatran (M) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 244 HP / 52 Def / 76 SAtk / 4 SDef / 132 Spd
Modest Nature
– Heat Wave
– Earth Power
– Substitute
– Protect

Heatran’s role is as the defensive part of the core, tanking everything that Hydreigon and Mamoswine can’t kill. This is Wolfe’s worlds set, ripped right out of his team, item and all, (this is part of what I meant by being unprepared) because I was lazy but also because it works. Chople Berry remains my item choice on him because despite Mamo having Focus Sash, I am still 3x Fighting weak. If he can switch in on something that can’t really hurt him and get a free sub up he’s extremely deadly. I’m surprised he isn’t used more.

Cresselia (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 220 HP / 108 Def / 180 SAtk
Calm Nature
– Psyshock
– Ice Beam
– Trick Room
– Helping Hand

Cresselia was added because I needed Speed control and because Mamoswine and Hydreigon both benefit immensely from Helping Hand support. Trick Room was my Speed control of choice because of the middle Speed tier nature of this team, allowing me to outspeed faster teams and reverse opposing TR. I stole Ray’s spread from his Worlds team because I wanted to keep Sitrus while being offensive and being the bum I was I took the spread that was already proven to work.

Tornadus (M) @ Flying Gem
Trait: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
– Acrobatics
– Superpower
– U-turn
– Protect

I LOVE DEFIANT!!! In my opinion it’s the best ability in the game due to the popularity of Intimidate and moves like Icy Wind and, more recently, Snarl. It seems like a lot of people still don’t realize that Tornadus gets Defiant because I know I was paired against at least two people at Regionals who led with Hitmontop and immediately died to +1 Tornadus with nothing to outspeed it. I felt like Flying coverage was important for this team considering its fighting weakness and  lack of a reliable way to kill stuff like Volcarona (Heatran can wall it, but I didn’t really feel like sitting there and 3HKOing it while it destroys the rest of the team with it’s STAB). In the Winter Battle build of this team I had a Choice Scarf Final Gambit Staraptor, which I liked a lot and almost used because with Tornadus the team is super Choice Scarf Tyranitar weak, but I felt like while the potential reward was greater with Staraptor, it was something I would need more practice with to use well enough at a competitive event and Tornadus was the safer option.

Amoonguss (M) @ Mental Herb
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 52 SAtk / 116 SDef / 4 Spd
Calm Nature
– Spore
– Rage Powder
– Giga Drain
– Sunny Day

Amoonguss was, sadly, my least used Pokemon. Sunny Day was a poor move choice on all accounts by me, but I was paranoid about Sand Veil Garchomp ruining my day once again, so I decided I had to put a weather move on one of my Pokemon, and it came down to Rain Dance on Tornadus or Sunny Day on Amoonguss. I put Sunny Day over Protect on Amoonguss without realizing that that means Mamoswine can never Earthquake with it out and Amoonguss is too slow to use Sunny Day before dying or Rock Slide flinching. I realized this after Cybertron beat me with Sand Veil before the event, but I was locked and it was too late to change it.  In testing with Protect (what I should’ve used) Amoonguss was often the MVP of the team, tanking damage that would kill Hydreigon or Tornadus and Sporing everything, while also being my main Trick Room and Rain counter.  Regenerator was just the icing on the cake.  I have won games by careful Regenerator switching, and it is one of the best feelings I’ve had playing this game.

Example battle: 15-61212-16138

This was against Paul Chua (Whatarandomname) in the 4th round of Swiss.  This was my closest match of the day and my favorite.  I started out leading Tornadus and Amoonguss into his Tyranitar and Scizor.  His team already was already a tough matchup for me, so when his leads countered mine so badly I thought it was “good game” already. I protect Tornadus and Spore with Amoonguss, hoping to put Tyranitar to sleep long enough to KO it with Superpower. Amoonguss survives the Bug Bite and Rock Slide like I thought it would, but it flinches.

Trying to save my Amoonguss, I switch it out turn 2 into Heatran on a Bullet Punch and have Tornadus Superpower even though I know it won’t KO through Chople because I figured there isn’t much it can do against his team anyway. After Tornadus dies, I send in Mamoswine, so I have Mamoswine and 63% Heatran against his low yellow Tyranitar and full health Scizor.  Predicting a Bullet Punch Rock Slide to hit through Mamoswine’s Focus Sash, I protect Mamoswine and Heat Wave with Heatran.  He does Bullet Punch Mamowine, and I KO Scizor before taking a Low Kick from Tyranitar that would have KOed had I not had Chople.

He switches in Garchomp, and I am praying for no Sand Veil as I Icicle Spear Garchomp.  He double protects as I protect Heatran (probably predicting Earthquake + Protect), so the turn is null.  I switch Heatran for Amoonguss while he switches Tyranitar for Cresselia and Earthquakes, KOing Amoonguss as I Icicle Spear and hit through Sand Veil, KOing Garchomp.

Now it’s just his Tyranitar and Cresselia against my Heatran and Mamoswine.  I predict him protecting Tyranitar to prevent Earthquake and he does, so I Icicle Spear Cresselia, bringing it almost to half health as he icy winds and Heatran gets a sub up with 2 HP left.  I take a bit of a gamble because I think I remember outspeeding Tyranitar with -1 Mamoswine.  I protect Heatran and Earthquake while he Calm Minds with Cresselia. Fortunately, I do outspeed his Tyranitar and KO Tyranitar with Earthquake.

I predict the Psyshock on Mamoswine, Protect, and Heat Wave.  Mamoswine is going to die this turn, so I Ice Shard, he KOs Mamoswine, and Heat Wave KOs him for the 1-0 win.

International Challenge

I wasn’t originally going to write anything about this, considering I dropped at 1800 to play League of Legends, but I figured since the team was so similar I might as well mention my changes.  For the International Challenge I decided to go with what I wanted to do Regionals morning and switch Superpower for Rain Dance on Tornadus and Sunny Day for Protect on Amoonguss.  I think overall that it was a good idea.  There were a few times I wanted Superpower, but I won matches because of both Rain Dance and Protect so it was a good change.

Thanks for reading this team analysis!  I had a great time at Regionals, and I can’t wait to see everyone again at Massachusetts!


About the Author

Jonathan Hiller has been really playing competitive Pokemon since 2011, although he attended an event in 2010 with his in-game team and died round two. He's currently in the seniors age division, and is home schooled, a Christian, and plays other games as well.


Related Posts



Back to Top ↑

© 2012 - 2014 Nugget Bridge



Back to Top ↑