Tricky Rain: VGC 2013 Philadelphia Masters Analysis
Hello everyone, this is Ryan G., also known as The Knights of Wario Land, or “Knights” as I was called at points during the tournament, bringing you my analysis for my Philadelphia Autumn Regionals team for Masters.
Now, some backstory. I’ve played VGC for almost three years, starting back in Newark in the 2011 season. However, I was absolutely horrendous back then, being relatively new to competitive Pokemon and not knowing anything about EVs, IVs, etc. With an un-EV’d team of Scrafty, Haxorus, Reuniclus, Galvantula, Chandelure, and Ferrothorn, I lost Round 1 and since, back then, the tournaments were running on Single Elimination, I was swiftly defeated. But just being at the expo made me excited to come back next year with newfound knowledge and not do so horrid.
Fast-forward about a year to the 2012 Philadelphia Regionals, which were MUCH more convenient to get to than the Newark regionals. This time, I learned about EVs, IVs, and proper strategies, hand-raising my team from scratch. However, I didn’t know the proper methods of RNG, resulting in a team with imperfect IVs. Going ahead with a team of Tornadus, Garchomp, Milotic, Durant, Porygon2, and Infernape, and with the new Swiss system implemented, I came out with a record of 3 wins/4 losses, 74th place in my flight. Discouraged, and with my parents not wanting to take me all the way to Indiana for Nationals, I again promised myself I would do better next time. Immediately after Regionals, I finally said “screw it”, and trusted others to RNG my team because I can’t do it myself. Immediately I started to get better during testing, gaining more and more knowledge of the proper form of VGC playing.
The team below has been in testing ever since the end of last August, and has a nice little strategy I call “Trick Rain”. I’ve found that people’s eyes immediately focus on Politoed on the team preview like a man wandering in the desert seeing a trace of water from miles away: immediate assumption that the team will run exclusively on Rain. They bring in Pokemon in order to counter both Politoed and Ludicolo, as I can see which ones will fulfill that role in the team preview. Then I lead with different Pokemon in the team that will throw off the opponent’s immediate assumption of Politoed and Ludicolo leading, screwing up their strategy. For example, the opponent could bring in their Tyranitar to cancel the Rain, but I could start out with Scizor and Garchomp to completely end Tyranitar’s fun, and I could possibly bring in Politoed later to remove the Sand.
Team Trick Rain
Politoed (M) @ Wacan Berry
Nature: Timid
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Sp.A / 252 Spe
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Rain Dance
-Protect
When I first started making this team, I always knew that I wanted to use Rain. I’ve seen its power everywhere on the GBU, saving Steel-types from possible Fire-type OHKOs and turning Hydro Pumps into Explosion-like hits. Back in 2012, I used a Milotic as my Water-type of choice, but even though she was bulky with Recover, something just felt… off with her. Although she did work, I never felt like she was a huge enough presence on the field. Politoed, on the other hand, is an eye magnet in Team Preview: usually the first thing anyone sees. If a team has Politoed, it’s gonna use all the Rain strategies in the book. Most Politoed are Quiet in order to ensure they get up their rain, but makes them kind of punching bags for incoming hits. Timid Politoed, however, outspeeds Tyranitar and Ninetales a large percentage of the time, hitting both of them hard with STAB Hydro Pump. I decided to go with Hydro Pump over Surf because a) the spread damage of Surf could be harmful to my allies and wasn’t as powerful as I’d like it, and b) ‘cause it looks cool, and Ice Beam is obviously to hit Dragon-types.
Rain Dance was an odd choice for a slot, some might call it redundant. I tried Hypnosis earlier, but found it to be far too unreliable. Perish Song wasn’t very good due to the surprising amount of switches in any given VGC match, and Psychic would only hit the extremely rare Toxicroak well. Since Politoed is bait for a Tyranitar switch in, Politoed can just set up his Rain again, crippling Tyranitar’s defenses and making sure Ludicolo outspeeds everything in its path. For my held item, I originally had Sitrus Berry, which worked for a bit, but when I added Cress to the team, it had to be put on her instead. Politoed instead got a Wacan Berry, ensuring its survival against common Thunderbolts.
Ludicolo “ルンパッパ”(F) @ Lum Berry
Nature: Modest
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Sp.A / 252 Spe
-Hydro Pump
-Giga Drain
-Ice Beam
-Protect
Now, what’s Politoed without Ludicolo? This thing is a great offensive monster, KOing things swiftly with STAB Rain-boosted Hydro Pump, Giga Drain, and Ice Beam. Now, the oddest thing you may notice about this Ludicolo is that, unlike every other Ludicolo, this one doesn’t have Fake Out. I always found Fake Out incredibly redundant on Ludicolo: Is it really necessary to flinch Hitmontop first? Instead, I went for all-out offense, with Protect over Fake Out to make sure rogue Crobat and Tornadus don’t ruin Ludicolo’s fun. Another tradition my Ludicolo breaks is its held item: no Gems, no Absorb Bulb, no resist berry. I had initially tried a Coba Berry to take Acrobatics, but its usage never really came up to often. Lum Berry is an ingenious item for Ludicolo to hold because it’s prime target for incoming Thunder Waves or Spores, immediately recovering itself and keeping in shape for more attacks.
Hydreigon (M) @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Modest
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Sp.A / 252 Spe
-Dark Pulse
-Draco Meteor
-Fire Blast
-Charge Beam
Choice Scarf Hydreigon was actually a late addition to my team: after seeing its pure power in one match during the Autumn Friendly, I just HAD to put it on my team. My original scarfer was Rotom-H, but its bulk and typing were a bit miserable for my team. Hydreigon, however, has mega-fast Draco Meteor, OHKOing a lot of things. Dark Pulse is its other STAB so it can hit Cresselia easily, Fire Blast is the obligatory Fire-type move for the team (it was originally Flamethrower, but I preferred the power of Fire Blast, especially in the Rain), and Charge Beam was only there to hit the rare Gyarados and other Flying-types. Scarfed Hydreigon actually ended up being the breakout star of my team, befuddling teams as to how their Latios was just outsped and OHKO’d by Draco Meteor. It’s definitely a set of Hydreigon that’s highly underrated. Everyone should try it sometime if they’re doubtful as to what this German dragon can really do. I thought about Scarfed Salamence during my teambuilding, but after testing, the Dark Pulse STAB was essential in a metagame filled with Cresselia, plus it was great for neutral damage on a lot of Pokemon.
Scizor “Joyce”(F) @ Steel Gem
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
-Bug Bite
-Bullet Punch
-Superpower
-Protect
I’ve always much preferred this set of Scizor over anything else: Acrobatics seemed a bit redundant with Bug Bite and my team already had Hitmontop countered. Scizor provides some good roles for the team: a switch-in to Draco Meteors, a solid counter to Cresselia, and a professional Berry eliminator. During training, I can’t tell you the number of times that stealing an opponent’s Sitrus Berry saved my butt. Steel Gem Bullet Punch is a fantastic priority, hitting Tyranitar and Abomasnow incredibly hard. Superpower is the speciality on Scizor, allowing it to hit other Scizor, Bisharp, or Ferrothorn like Acrobatics simply can’t. I considered copying Cybertron’s Scizor and using Swords Dance instead, but it never seemed to work with my playstyle, as the opponent would take that time to switch into something that would resist everything Scizor could throw at it, basically wasting a turn.
Garchomp (M) @ Haban Berry
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
-Dragon Claw
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Protect
I love me some Chomp. Garchomp is my only VGC veteran, having also been used last season as my main offensive threat. This is about as standard of a Garchomp spread as you’re going to get: the essential Dragon and Ground STABS and Rock Slide to hit Volcarona and cause flinch hax. I was initially running Yache Berry, but I would always end up just being KO’d next turn anyways by another Icy Wind, so I substituted it with a Haban Berry the last minute, to better take the ever-popular Draco Meteors. Garchomp also loved being paired with Hydreigon, free to fire off Earthquakes as Hydreigon would Choice Scarf Draco Meteor any Dragon types getting in their way.
Cresselia (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Nature: Calm
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
-Psyshock
-Icy Wind
-Thunder Wave
-Helping Hand
(Big thanks to Biosci for this Cresselia btw!)
Initially, the last member of my team was Sableye, as I loved the fact he could instantly disable Metagross, Terrakion, and others, while annoying the foe with Recover. However, the more and more I modified the team, the less Sableye became useful as he couldn’t take Gem moves at all and most physical sweepers were carrying a Lum Berry. I really needed an extremely bulky supporter. So who other than Cresselia? Boasting a HUGE amount of Special Defense, Latios’ Gem Draco Meteor could only do HALF to her. She was an easy switch-in for incoming moves, taking everything like the boss she is. Psyshock was to counter Hitmontop, Icy Wind was to make sure my team always had the upper-hand, Thunder Wave was good to possibly disable a foe, and Helping Hand was to put the little “oomph” to her partner’s moves that would lead to an OHKO. Sitrus Berry restores Cress’ HP in a pinch, which is tremendously helpful. Admittedly, I could’ve invested a bit more in special attack (especially with my story with Round 6), but I wanted to break the recent trend and make my Cresselia take the fullest advantage of her bulk.
Regionals
Now that you know how my team works, here’s the main attraction: the Regionals themselves.
The day before Regionals, I had an art class downtown, so I decided to slide on down to the Convention Center to watch the TCG championships / get a feel of this new location before Sunday. Turns out, the Regionals were taking place in a building opposite of last years, with an escalator that took two minutes (!) to wait on, and a much bigger convention hall.
A summary of the day can be seen in this video:
After that, I was ready for the next day.
Oh man, I’m so incredibly hyped. Two months of preparation finally are about to pay off, as I get there at 7 in the morning. I register, and we wait for the next five hours to start. More and more Masters start to roll in before 11, including Wolfey himself, in a completely pink ensemble. I also chat a lot with Stormfront about the metagame and other things, as the Nugget Bridgers invade the McDonald’s across the street (after we found out there would be no lunch break). After that, we head back on in, and take our seats. At 12, the hack checkers start to walk down the aisle and end up disqualifying a lot of players before we begin (likely because of BW2 tutors). We were left with about 120 or so players, all were great opponents, and the games began!
ROUND 1: Jio
Me: Garchomp, Hydreigon, Scizor, Cresselia
Opposing team: 
While we were waiting for the hack check to be done, I talked to my first opponent, Jio, a bit (who also had a box of cookies for Nugget Bridgers, which was really nice). He had seen one of my previous Smogon avatars I drew of a Choice Scarf Hydreigon, which scared me at first because that was my big bruiser and he already knew about it. When the match finally started, I saw he was running Kingdra, so my Trick Rain strategy would come into great effect. He lead with Cresselia and Kingdra on the field first, thinking I was going to bring in Politoed and Ludicolo, but I instead went for Garchomp and Hydreigon. I then swiftly took out his Kingdra, as he had switched to Zapdos. I remembered getting about two Rock Slide flinches on the Zapdos with Garchomp, which helped out in the long run. After a few more turns, I was able to take down the rest of his team, winning my first round 3-0. It was good game, he even admitted that he fell for the Trick Rain. I was off to a good start.
3-0 win
Current record: 1-0
ROUND 2: Expert Evan
Me: Garchomp, Scizor, Hydreigon, Cresselia
Opposing Team: 
First, I’d like to say, I’d never have thought Expert Evan would look almost like his avatar (age makes you truly look like the Expert).
Second, to the battle. When I saw Ferrothorn on the team preview, I was immediately scared. This thing had wrecked my entire team in a NuggetBridge circuit the week before, and I did not want to lose to it again. Turns out, this match ended up being my longest and best match of the day, lasting 15 turns and filled with a ton of predictions. In an effort to save time, here’s the battle video, but with a few notes:
- I go for Bug Bite on the Thundurus because I was thinking it was going to be a bulky Sitrus Berry set, but turns out I was wrong
- The Bullet Punch on Rotom was my own mistake, I derped for a second, forgetting that Rotom-W was quad resistant to Bullet Punch.
- The three paralyses probably saved me the game.
- I sacked Garchomp into Close Combat because he already had served his purpose on the team.
Very very close match, came out by the skin of my teeth, and I was now with a 2-0 record. Onto Round 3!
1-0 win
Current record: 2-0
ROUND 3: Mark
Me: Politoed, Ludicolo, Hydreigon, Scizor
Opposing Team: 
This match. Oh my gosh. THIS MATCH.
So I see the opponent having a Regigigas, which I mostly have seen to be support, so I didn’t think much of it. The main threats I was paying attention to were Chandelure and Archeops on Team Preview, so I decided to actually lead out with rain for once.
When the match started, it was Politoed and Ludicolo vs. his Whimsicott and Regigigas. I double-targeted the Whimsicott with Ice Beam, expecting it to go for Stun Spore or Tailwind.
Except it didn’t.
It went for Worry Seed.
On Regigigas.
For those who don’t know, this is basically what happened on the first move of the match:
After I saw that happened, I just laughed. I’d never seen this strategy before, I’d never even considered it. It was just too hilarious of a gimmick, but the thing is, it actually worked.
After that hilarious move, I KO’d Whimsicott that turn with two Ice Beams, as Regigigas OHKO’d Ludicolo with Crush Grip. Next turn, I send out Hydreigon and he sends out Archeops. I Draco Meteor Archeops for the OHKO, and then Regigigas outspeeds my Politoed and OHKOs him with another Crush Grip. The match was 2-2. I send in my last Pokemon (Scizor) while he does the same (Gastrodon).
Now with my Hydreigon locked into -2 Draco Meteor, it can’t really do much anymore, so it puts about 40% on the Gastrodon next turn. Regigigas then Drain Punches my Hydreigon, but surprisingly it lives with 20 HP, making me assume that this Regigigas doesn’t have max Attack investment. I then go for Superpower with Scizor… but the Reigigigas is holding the Chople Berry. It only takes about 40%, and then Gastrodon goes for Scald on Scizor and takes away 85%. Mark immediately confirms my suspicions that this Gastrodon is Specs, and I realize it’s basically good game from there. The final turn, I Draco Meteor the Reigigigas for pathetic damage at -4 and go for the Steel Gem Bullet Punch with Scizor, hoping for the crit, but I don’t get it. Regigigas then finishes off Hydreigon as Gastrodon finishes off Scizor.
Thing is, I really didn’t mind losing this game. I was up against such a hilariously good gimmick that I didn’t care. After the match, I told a ton of other people about it, and they were as in disbelief and shock as I was, some even calling it “brilliant”. I think Mark ended up going 6-2 at the end of it, only being beaten by Cybertron and Sapphire Birch, posing a true testament to Regigigas’ power.
0-2 loss
Current record: 2-1
ROUND 4: InfiniteParalysis (Craig)
Me: Hydreigon, Cresselia, Garchomp, Scizor (can’t remember if that was the exact order)
Opposing Team: 
Now here’s a funny predicament. As I was sitting down at the table, I saw a guy coming forward with a ton of huge Pokemon bead necklaces, and I immediately recognized him as InfiniteParalysis, a friend I’d made at VGCs last year. Being the only person of the day I battled that day I actually knew outside of battle beforehand, that was a bit of a coincidence. I don’t exactly remember the details of the match, but I ended up beating his team 3-0, we both had fun battling though. Also, fun fact, this was the first Latios I’ve faced in months, but I had no real trouble against it.
3-0win
Current record: 3-1
ROUND 5: The Nightwing (Justin Gums)
Me: Hydreigon, Garchomp, Scizor, Ludicolo (Can’t remember if those were the exact same mons)
Opposing Team: 
Looking at Team Preview, I saw he had almost the exact same mons as me, right down to the rain. This match was also a bit of a blur, but I do remember the last few turns like clockwork. With three of our Pokemon down, it was my Ludicolo vs. his Ludicolo, both Modest, both with 252 Speed EVs. It was a contest to see who could Giga Drain the fastest, but whoever used their Giga Drain last could potentially just recover all the HP they had been drained of. It went for two turns, until we both were at about 30 HP. It was down to this last move, who would win the speed tie…
And low and behold, my premiere Ludicolo got off the finishing Giga Drain. That was a very close game, one that was decided entirely at the end on the roll of a dice, mere chance.
1-0win
Current record: 4-1
ROUND 6: Dubulous (Alan)
Me: Politoed, Ludicolo, Scizor, Cresselia
Opposing Team: 
Now, I had heard about this guy by some random people, that he was really strong, so there was already some tension going in. From the first look at Team Preview, I saw an Exeggutor, Cresselia and Heatran, and I immediately thought: Wolfe team. I had bad experience with them on GBU, Garchomp being near useless against a Levitating Heatran. So, thinking he would go for the Skill Swappin’ game, I didn’t bring in Garchomp, which would turn out to be a big mistake, as he never Skill Swapped the entire game. The first few turns I was able to take out both Gastrodon and Cresselia easily, the former with a critical hit Giga Drain even when the Gastrodon was holding a Rindo Berry. Alan told me shortly after that the Gastrodon was going to use Mirror Coat, so I was extremely thankful I was able to take it out. Terrakion comes in and unfortunately takes out the rest of my team, but is killed off by Cress, until it’s only his Heatran vs. my Cress. Heatran then sets up a Substitute, and it was pretty much good game from there. Psyshock doesn’t even take out the sub in two turns, as Heatran was free to Heat Wave spam Cress to death. It was an expected loss, though, as Cress probably couldn’t have done anything to Heatran even without a Sub.
0-1loss
Current record: 4-2
ROUND 7: Lord Dude
Me: Garchomp, Hydreigon, Scizor, Cresselia
Opposing Team: 
Now this was a particularly funny match. From team preview he tells me to bring in Garchomp while he brings in his Chomp and Tyranitar. So naturally, I do, along with Hydreigon. Except, at the start of the match, both Tyranitar and Salamence come out, and then he freaks out because he forgot to put Garchomp on his team AT ALL. I’m easily able to take out Salamence turn 1 with Draco Meteor, as I switch out my Garchomp to Scizor to take the predicted Ice move from Tyranitar, which turns out to be true. The next few turns I just knock out all of his mons (including one I don’t remember but was majorly Scizor or Cress weak), and he takes out both my Hydreigon and Scizor, until it’s just my Cress and Chomp vs. his Tyranitar and Metagross. I go for the Helping Hand Earthquake and KO the Tyranitar and get about 90% off on Metagross. Metagross then Meteor Mashes Garchomp for 50%, then next turn goes for 25% with Bullet Punch, as I finally KO that thing with Earthquake for the 2-0 win. After the match, he complains he didn’t get to go boom with Metagross, which is funny.
2-0win
Current record: 5-2
ROUND 8: Conner
Me: Politoed, Ludicolo, Hydreigon, Scizor
Opposing team: 
Oh look, it’s my once-ally, Sableye, here to take his revenge for my leaving him off the roster. Although the only thing he did was burn my Scizor, it was still a stark reminder as to who I left behind. But that wasn’t even the biggest mistake: on Team Preview, I selected my team, BUT FORGOT TO PRESS CONFIRM. I wondered why it was taking so long for Conner to choose, but it was my fault, and because of that, the game went with my first four mons selected (which was fine, as I planned on using Rain this match, but I had Ludicolo in different order). I was able to take out Zapdos and Sableye easily (Scizor actually survived a Heat Wave under rain), but he took out my Politoed and Ludicolo. The final few turns were my Scizor and Hydreigon vs. Suicune and Latios. I expected to take down Suicune fairly easily due to its average power… but it turns out this Suicune was Life Orbed, and easily took out Scizor. Hydreigon got the KO on Latios with Dark Pulse, so it was me vs. Suicune. I don’t even think a critical could take out Suicine from near full health, so it was basically good game from there, as Hydreigon fell to a Life Orbed Ice Beam.
1-0 loss
Final record: 5-3
After the last match, I went up to the board, and saw my place:
29th, which was within my goal of reaching the Top 32. I had a feeling I wouldn’t have Top Cutted, but I was happy I reached my goal.
I stayed a bit for the Top 8 top cut, but then decided I was waaaaaay too tired to sit through about 9 more Swiss matches, and my parents probably wanted to go home. I stayed long enough to see Round 3 of the Top 8, then I decided to head on out.
Here’s some pictures of the day (warning: contains pink-clad Wolfey):
PROS:
- The new convention hall, which had a MUCH higher roof, making it feel less claustrophobic than last year’s and more spacious and quieter.
- The staff was much more friendly this year, and made us all feel engaged. I think they’ve learned from last year.
- REGISTRATION IMMEDIATELY. I cannot tell you how much of a godsend that was. Instead of awkwardly waiting in a huge line for hours, everyone just registered themselves and their Battle Box at the door, making everything much more smoothly.
- The 8 swiss rounds went incredibly smoothly, Swiss is still the way to go.
- How refined this meta has become. I encountered a whole host of strategies.
- Meeting all of you NuggetBridgers and other people, who were incredibly kind and incredibly funny
Specific shoutouts:
- Wolfey: For being incredibly fun for being around, and for making me laugh my ass off for using Lileep, Special Garchomp, and Stoutland so (sorta) successfully
- Cybertron: For just being Aaron, being such a fun person to be around
- Stormfront: For sharing a ton of fun conversations before, in-between, and after matches
- Dimsun: For making every single photo you dove into. Also, for Mudkip
- Sapphire Birch: For still being awesome, and top cutting TCG and playing VGC this year after all (despite me believing the lies I heard before that you wouldn’t show up)
- Evan: For being supremely cool, and just being a great guy.
- Expert Evan: For giving me a great 2nd round match, and being the coolest old guy there.
- SoulSurvivor and InfiniteParalysis: For finally being able to meet the former, and having a good match with the latter, but making good friends with the both.
CONS:
- Initially, how far away this new location was. It was quite a hefty walk from the original location to a new one.
- Hack checks RIGHT BEFORE we played, it would’ve saved us about 30 minutes if we had done them at the Battle Box registration
- No lunch breaks, so everyone had to live off a breakfast meal from McDonald’s
- Despite a ton of rumors, no TVs were at Regionals (which I understand are a money and setup issue, but still)
These are really minor mistakes, as this is (as others agree) the best regional I’ve been too.
Conclusion
As this might possibly be the last tournament with this ruleset (as VGC will switch to BW2 come winter, bringing a lot of new changes such as move tutors and the Therian Formes), I was happy to take a part of it for this long. This is definitely the most fun, most engaging meta, which has changed a lot since its conception. The presentation of VGC has also gone a long way too, from cluttered and unorganized six months ago to streamlined and much more fun now. TPCi has definitely been listening to our suggestions, and it makes me think positively as to what is to come of VGC in the future. As for how I played, I again state that I reached my goal, and can only hope in the future that I rise even higher.
You might say that I did my best, and I have no regrets! (except for Round 8, but whatever)
About the Author
TKOWL Ryan G. has been playing Pokemon competitively since 2011. He placed decently in 2013 Regionals and Nationals, and recently finished 15th in the top cut of Virginia Regionals. He is currently attending University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
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