Reports

Published on July 15th, 2015 | by Footballfreak99

15

They all be Jelly of my Power: A Kansas Regionals First Place Senior Division Report

Hey guys, my name is Carson, better known as Footballfreak99. I started playing VGC this year after watching the Nationals and Worlds streams. I have racked up an impressive amount of CP, but mostly from small PCs. My only regional finishes had been subpar, with 14^th and 27^th at Ft. Wayne and St. Louis respectively. After my 3-3 flop in St. Louis, I was determined to make a better team that could get me into Top Cut. After working with a terrible Trick Room team, a good, but outdated, regionals team, and a bad Choice Scarf Milotic team, I finally settled on this team.

Teambuilding Process

I tried using Metagross on my friend Justin (Spurrific)’s regionals team, and immediately fell in love. It had speed, bulk, power, and coverage against many common pokemon.

After mulling over some core ideas, my friend Rapha (rapha) suggested I use Togekiss Metagross. It looked good on paper and he had results with it, so I just went from there.

Landorus-Therian is one of the most powerful pokemon in the meta, and synergizes well with Togekiss.

I needed a Fighting-Type Pokemon, and also wanted him to be able to beat bulky water-type Pokemon and abuse Spore, so I chose Breloom.

Breloom is one of the most common Pokemon in the Seniors Division, so I needed another way to stop it, so I turned to a really cool idea I saw in amr97’s report: Safety Goggles Rotom-Heat

Last but certainly not least, Jellicent. During St. Louis Regionals, Trick Room was very common, and was a deciding factor in most of my losses, so I needed a Trick Room counter. I also wanted to complete the Fire-Water-Grass core, so I turned to Jellicent.

The Team

Breloom @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Bullet Seed
– Mach Punch
– Spore
– Protect

This guy is the seniors metagame right now. He has good Fighting-type STAB, counters bulky waters, and can spore everything. I opted for the standard set, as it accomplished all of my goals. Focus Sash was used almost every battle I brought Breloom to, and in my opinion is necessary for Breloom to function.

Togekiss @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 4 SpA / 60 SpD / 76 Spe
Bold Nature
– Air Slash
– Tailwind
– Follow Me
– Protect

This set was given to me my good friend Rapha (rapha). This set was written about in his report No Substitute for Rain in the Northwest. This set survives an Iron Head from Bisharp, activates the Sitrus Berry after a Super Fang, and outspeeds defensive Rotom. The rest were dumped into Special Defense. Air Slash dug me out of a hole many times with its flinching power during the tournament, and after a Tailwind was just evil. Tailwind was to speed up, and Follow Me was to redirect Ground and Dark type attacks away from Metagross.  Speaking of Metagross…

Metagross @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Iron Head
– Zen Headbutt
– Ice Punch
– Protect

Ah, nothing like a Shiny Metagross. When I was building this team, my friends told me to go the route of bulky Substitute, but it really wasn’t my playstyle. Another problem was the lack of powerful Ice coverage on this team. I decided that since I was running a slower team, to use the standard Jolly 252/252 set, to capitalize on Mega-Metagross’s best stats. Iron Head and Zen Headbutt were my two mandatory STAB moves, and I chose Ice Punch for coverage. My Round Three opponent Matt F. (aerodactyl) was dumbfounded when I revealed Ice Punch and One Hit KOed his Salamence and Landorus-Therian.

Landorus-Therian @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
– Superpower
– Protect

Now you may be saying, “Life Orb Landorus-T? Who does he think he is?!” I tested Choice Scarf Landorus-T, and found it underwhelming and that it didn’t synergize well with Metagross. I decided to try out Life Orb, so that I could switch moves while gaining a higher damage output. Life Orb Landorus was amazing, and it performed its job beautifully. It checked many Pokemon weak to its moves, and was able to chip many Pokemon to set them up for a KO.

Rotom-Heat @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 108 SpA / 4 SpD / 140 Spe
Modest Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Overheat
– Thunder Wave
– Protect

Another spread I shamefully stole, this time from amr97’s report Today Our Future is Born. This spread outspeeds Adamant Bisharp by two points, has maximum HP to be bulkier, and the rest went into special attack to hit harder. I only recall being hit by one Spore and no Rage Powders with Rotom-H, but he did his job as offensive Fire-type well.

Jellicent @ Power Lens
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 72 SpA / 36 SpD
Calm Nature
– Scald
– Ice Beam
– Will-O-Wisp
– Trick Room

Last but certainly not least, we have the wonderful Power Lens Jellicent. I eved this guy in the car on the way, and must have forgot to change his item. Power Lens did end up saving me in the Finals, where I was able to do 40% to a Blade-Form Aegislash. This spread is made for Colbur Berry, and is 3HKOed by Timid Scarf Hydreigon Dark Pulse, survives all other Dark attacks, and survives Leaf Blade from Life Orb Virizion. If I were able to do it over again, I would use Sassy 0 Speed with the same spread and Colbur, so I could at least speed tie Quiet 0 Speed Aegislash. For move choices, I chose Ice Beam and Scald as basic attacks, capable of hitting a lot of things for decent damage. Will-O-Wisp was chosen to neuter physical attackers, primarily Kangaskhan. Trick Room was a tech I put on there for two reasons.

1. Trick Room was incredibly common at St. Louis Regionals, so I could reverse their Trick Room.
2. Some members of my team are slow, and Trick Room could be used to speed them up, or punish a Tailwind.

At the Event

After only going 3-3 at St. Louis and letting myself get depressed during the event, I decided to approach this event very differently. I built my team and practiced many times, and when I got to the event, I just told myself to not stress, have fun, and be nice. During the tournament, I tried to follow those three things at all times. These three things are what allowed me to be 4-0 by the team Round Five came around. However, I lost this Round to a great player by the name of Kylie, and an extremely good Rain team. Round Six, however, the opponent ran a Sand Team, which I luckily was strong against. I won this round, and I was shocked to see that I was the second seed after Swiss, the highest 5-1. My Round Six opponent was also the seventh seed, so I knew I would play him in the first Round of Top Cut. After a 45 minute lunch break, I battled him. They were incredibly close matches. Good games to you, Caleb. Afterwards, I found out Kylie had lost her Top 8 match, and that I wasn’t going to have to face her. I was overjoyed, because I can almost guarantee had I played her she would have ended my run. I ended up battling Tristan, my Round Four opponent. After some incredibly close games, we parted ways. I couldn’t believe it! I was in the Finals of Regionals! My opponent was Max S. (Maxdeese), who hadn’t dropped a game all day. Going in, I kept my eyes on the prize, and focused, trying my best to get that 120 CP and a New 3DS XL. We had the two closest and most nerve-wracking games I have ever played. I somehow came out on top, and then after some announcements and prize-getting, we took some pictures, parted with friends, and drove home. One of my favorite memories is the TO handing me my trophy and me being afraid I would drop it since my hands wouldn’t stop shaking. It was probably the most fun I have ever had, and now cannot wait to go to Nationals. See you all there!

Shoutouts

• Justin (Spurrific), Aaron (LPFan), Rapha (rapha), and Tim(6iv) for being great friends and for hanging out with me at the event and helping me teambuild.
• Also Arsal (OneTrueKing), Sohaib(sohaib), and Evan (FlashSentry) for also helping me teambuild.
• My parents for letting me attend.
• My dad for driving through a storm the whole way here and for sitting there all day.
• My brother who made me realize you can relax and have fun while competing.
• Anyone who I faced at the event or on Pokemon Showdown!
• Thowra for the beautiful Article Art.
• Rapha for introducing me to Togekiss.

Thanks for reading this far, it really means a lot to me. Good Luck in all your future endeavors, and Play Pokemon!

About the Author

Footballfreak99 Footballfreak99 is a Senior who is looking to make it to Worlds. After winning Kansas Regionals, he has a renewed interest in the game and is hungry for more CP. Outside of Pokemon, he enjoys Academic Team, reading, playing the piano, and listening to EDM.

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