Reports

Published on August 2nd, 2013 | by Bopper

13

Team Dancing Queen: 1st Place Nugget Bridge Invitational Report

Why hello there! I’m Blake Hopper also known as Mrbopper here on Nugget Bridge, and I recently placed first in the Nugget Bridge Invitational with the following team. The original draft of this team was made with Smith on a car ride back from St. Louis winter regionals in January. Through multiple months of editing (and losing multiple times on streams), I finally managed to get a solid version of the team that I felt could catch my opponents off guard and could really apply pressure to the teams that I faced.

 

The Team

 

tyranitar

Ganon (Tyranitar) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
– Rock Slide
– Crunch
– Dragon Dance
– Protect

The star of the show! Suggested to me by benjitheGREAT an hour prior to the tournament, Tyranitar really showed its worth in the invitational when it allowed me to force win conditions against both TKOWL and Darkeness. Once it got up a Dragon Dance, it was capable of OHKOing Cresselia with Helping Hand Crunch, Thundurus with Rock Slide, and many other Pokémon that are weak to Tyranitar’s powerful STAB attacks. The spread may seem boring, but it served its purpose. After a Dragon Dance, it allowed Tyranitar to hit the same speed as Scarf Tyranitar which outspeeds max speed base 116s and everything slower, most notably Tornadus and Latios. Focus Sash was extremely important for Tyranitar to have which allowed it to survive strong hits that a Chople Berry couldn’t help with, then get up a Dragon Dance.

 It was very important to get rid of the priority users on the opponent’s team in order for Tyranitar to sweep. I must admit, Low Kick would have likely been better on this Tyranitar for dealing with Bisharps, opposing Tyranitars, and Terrakions- all of which I faced in the invitational, and were extremely annoying to deal with, when I only had completely resisted attacks to work with. Overall though, Tyranitar was the stand out Pokemon through the entire tournament, I took a standard Pokemon and used it in a really different way that people wouldn’t expect.

 

gyarados

Loch Ness (Gyarados) @ Water Gem
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 12 Atk / 4 Def / 52 SDef / 188 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Waterfall
– Ice Fang
– Dragon Dance
– Protect

 With its outstanding base 125 attack, Gyarados was a huge offensive threat in many of my matches. Not only did it apply offensive pressure, it helped out the team with its ability, Intimidate. After a Dragon Dance, much like Tyranitar, Gyarados outspeeds Latios and Tornadus, but unlike Tyranitar, also outspeeds scarfed Tyranitar or opposing +1 Tyranitar. Water Gem was mainly for removing bulky Tyranitar from the field which threaten most of my team. Ice Fang was mainly only for Garchomps and Thundurus, but Water Gem Waterfall was more reliable and still OHKOd bulky Thundurus (a calculation that featured prominently against Baz Anderson, when I was able to OHKO his Thundurus from full health). I would have probably used Stone Edge over Ice Fang if I could have changed the set mainly to get some strong, neutral damage on anything that I couldn’t hit hard with Waterfall. Gyarados was a really big stand out Pokemon on this team because after the Dragon Dance, Gyarados just puts so much pressure on the opponent. After getting to plus 1 speed, the outstanding attack in conjunction with the water gem is immensely threatening to anything that sits in front of it, which makes it an amazing sweeper.

 amoonguss

Shaniqua (Amoonguss) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SDef
Calm Nature
– Protect
– Giga Drain
– Rage Powder
– Spore

 Amoonguss was the perfect partner for a set up Tyranitar and Gyarados. Amoonguss resists a large majority of the attacks that are good against Tyranitar and Gyarados, most notably Close Combats and Thunderbolts. The spread allows Amoonguss to survive Metagross’ Zen Headbutts from full HP. Lum Berry was also pretty important to prevent the possibility of getting paralyzed after Rage Powdering Thunder Waves away and allowing me to stay in with Amoonguss against Breloom and put them to sleep. Due to the high overall speed of the team, Amoonguss was also good for putting pressure on Trick Room teams, making them think twice prior to setting up Trick Room.

 cresselia

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

Again, a pretty standard set and spread. If you haven’t seen this spread about 100 times already, the spread for Cresselia is just Ray’s worlds spread, which was nice to have some offense to deal some slightly heavier damage than a regular Cresselia. Cresselia was mainly there for going into Trick Room with Amoonguss and anything else that is naturally slower than faster teams. I never actually got the chance to use Trick Room to take advantage of my speed, but it came in rather handy when facing Plusle and allowed me to reverse Trick Room when needed (or, alternatively, set it up for him when not). Helping Hand was probably the best reason for having Cresselia on this team. With Helping Hand, it granted me access to huge surprise KOs such as Helping Hand +1 Crunch with Tyranitar to OHKO Cresselia, a Helping Hand Specs Grass Knot from Thundurus-t to OHKO Tyranitar, and Helping Hand Ice Fang from Gyarados to take out Latios.

 

thundurus-therian

Photon (Thundurus-T) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Volt Absorb
IVs: 31/31/31/30/30/30
EVs: 12 HP / 248 SAtk / 248 Spd
Timid Nature
– Grass Knot
– Thunderbolt
– Volt Switch
– Hidden Power [Flying]

 This is just a typical, standard, boring specs Thundurus-T. On the original draft of this team, I really needed something to hit hard to make up for a lack of offense. Thundurus-T was very important to this particular iteration of the team, since it allowed me to absorb the thunderbolts that Gyarados attracts. The sheer firepower was really important for KOing important threats such as opposing Gyarados with Thunderbolts, Tyranitar with Helping Hand Grass Knot, as well as Hitmontops and Conkeldurr with Hidden Power.

 

excadrill

Mole Squad (Excadrill) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 188 HP / 76 Atk / 204 Def / 4 SDef / 36 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Protect
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
– Substitute

Excadrill is definitely a Pokemon that has not graced the high tier competitive scene in quite a while due to the large spike in Breloom. I figured I would try using a bulky Leftovers Substitute Excadrill inspired by Snake’s worlds team, but the basic spread was given to me by TheBattleRoom which I then touched up a bit. Excadrill was a great choice for checkmate situations where the opponent could scarcely touch Excadrill and I would be able to stall them out with Substitute and Protect. Slowly gaining health while they slowly lose health was surprisingly useful and allowed Pokemon to get into KO range from Earthquake and/or Rock Slide. With Substitute and Protect, Excadrill is a surprisingly difficult Pokemon to take down. The spread on this Excadrill allowed it to survive Adamant Earthquake from Landorus-Ts, Life Orb Mach Punches from Adamant Breloom, and Fighting Gem Mach Punch from Jolly Breloom. Another big perk is that the HP that Excadrill hits allows it to use Substitute five times when Leftovers is factored in. Excadrill performed much better than I expected, getting a very important win condition against Baz Anderson in the semi-finals.

Team Synergies

 

 amoonguss +  tyranitar

Amoonguss + Tyranitar

With Tyranitar being such a huge attacker for the team, it needed the proper support. Amoonguss was by far the best  partner for Tyranitar. If Tyranitar was threatened by Landorus-T or Rotom-W, use spore. If I saw a Close Combat coming, Rage Powder. All of these helped me get up my Dragon Dances more easily. This lead was capable of sweeping through entire teams if left to set up.

 amoonguss +  gyarados

Amoonguss + Gyarados

Same story as Tyranitar. Whatever Gyarados has issues with, Amoonguss can Rage Powder away. The most important attacks to get rid of were by far the Thunderbolts, which Gyarados loathes. Amoonguss really helps Gyarados get up a Dragon Dance, then OHKO Thundurus with +1 Water Gem Waterfall before he can take another attack. Another potent combination.

 thundurus-therian +  cresselia

Thundurus-T + Cresselia

Thundurus-T and Cresselia offer a lot of power. Thundurus-T really appreciates the Helping Hand support that Cresselia offers, which increases his already high special attack to truly absurd levels. Important KOs that this pair picks up include Rotom-W, bulky Thundurus and Tyranitar

 excadrill +  tyranitar ,  thundurus-therian

Excadrill + Tyranitar , Thundurus-T

Tyranitar and Excadrill put pressure on unprepared teams, which is admittedly rather rare nowadays, but the two still work pretty well together even when the matchup isn’t the best. If Thundurus-T can muscle its way through Rotom-W and bulkier fighting types, Tyranitar and Excadrill have a much easier time.

 

Closing Thoughts

I’m really glad this team finally did well in a significant tournament after all of the months of it not doing as well as I had hoped. It was a team that I loved using and was comfortable with, and after months of it doing poorly, I feel like this team shows that if a concept is edited and refined enough, anything can turn into a quality team . Even though there was the last minute Dragon Dance Tyranitar slapped on the team, everything else was tested extensively prior to the competition day, in some cases as early as January.

The key to this team was definitely the dual Dragon Dancers, which turned relatively mild attackers into fearsome foes that dominated the focus of the game. It was a different mode that was fairly new to me, but very entertaining. Thank you to everybody who ran the Invitational, it was very well run and the stream was something I was glad to be a part of.

Thank you for reading!


About the Author

started playing competitive VGC in 2012. He now looks at VGC as not only a competition, but a great way to meet up with friends and meet new people who share the same interests as him. Outside of Pokemon, Mrbopper is studying Mechanical Engineering at Texas Tech Univeristy



13 Responses to Team Dancing Queen: 1st Place Nugget Bridge Invitational Report

  1. Cybertron says:

    DAT PICTURE
     
    Congrats fellow Nugget Bridge Invitational champ! Really liked the use of Dragon Dance on this team and I had a lot of fun watching you play with the team. Thanks for sharing with everyone!

  2. feathers says:

    can you believe that tyranitar is only seventeen

  3. Bopper says:

    I really loved the way the art turned out for this one. Huge props to feathers for doing it.
     
    Also, I want to mention how awesome the invitational was this year. I felt it went much more smoothly than it did last year. Thank you to Scott, bears, makiri, duy, and everybody else who helped  with the streams and commentating for 3+ hours!

  4. I am in love with that art. Great article, well done in the invitational  

  5. Adib says:

    You didn’t use Swords Dance Excadrill R Inanimate-style to have three dancers on the team. On that note, you obviously should have also used Lunar Dance Cresselia.
     
    My rate: 2/10, one for each dancer.
     
    Kidding aside, I love Ganon the Tyranitar and Dragon Dance Water Gem Gyarados. I like how this team has a nice balance of offense and defense that gives you a lot of different options in battle even if the RNG isn’t going your way.
     
    I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: you are a MAN for Dragon Dancing with Gyarados right in front of a Rotom-W AND THEN ATTACKING IT as it switched out. Congratulations on taking 1st place!

  6. R Inanimate says:

    There’s probably too many one liners with regards to this team. eg “A Dance with Dragons (even though there were no dragons)” and “SHOW ME YOUR MOVES!” amongst others.
    Congrats on taking the 2nd Season of the Nugget Bridge Invitationals, and keep dancin’!

  7. Tan says:

    The art is 2Uguu4Youguu….uguu

  8. That gyarados danced and he danced, and he danced his way into our hearts.  

  9. TKOWL says:

    Again, you have gained infinite respect in my book for making dual Dragon Dance work this well. I loved/hated that Excadrill too, definitely making me reconsider the guy.
     
    This reminds me that I still have to finish my report DX

  10. Darkeness says:

    That TTar/Excadrill/Thundurus-T combo really rustled my jimmies.  Awesome team and really well executed

  11. araluen7 says:

    Gyardos without Steelix? What even is this. 
     
    In all seriousness though, It’s really refreshing to see something as creative as this work and function incredibly well. A few weeks ago, I was actually thinking about using a Dragon Dance Tar myself, but I wasn’t even sure how it would turn out, and rather than avoid that disaster and then having to re-EV train back to what I had, I decided I would stick to what I know. Now that you’ve showcased exactly what it can do, you’ve given me a lot more confidence in going ahead and practicing with it. :) 
     
    Good Job on the team and Congrats on the Finish!

  12. Recon X says:

    Nice team and artwork. Congrats Mrbopper!

  13. Foob says:

    You should have used a Quiver Dance and Fiery Dance Volcarona because of the dancing theme.The more dancing mons the better.

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