Reports

Published on January 22nd, 2014 | by Darkeness

18

Wide Guarding to the Top Cut: St. Louis Masters Undefeated Swiss Team Report

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the VGC Winter Regional Championships in St. Louis, Missouri, which had the honor of being the biggest Winter Regional Championship with 239 players until the Southern California Regionals more than doubled our attendance. I went undefeated in the Swiss rounds and then lost in the first round of 16-person Top Cut.

The Team at a Glance

The “Core”

Before I made this team, I was using a strange Toxic-stall team that employed Hippowdon, Reuniclus, Mega-Manectric, and Gourgeist-Super.  It had been working pretty well for a while, but I came across someone on Pokemon Showdown that was utilizing Wigglytuff, Ludicolo, Mega-Charizard Y, and Rhyperior.  While I wasn’t particularly impressed by Wigglytuff, I found that the Ludicolo/Mega-Charizard Y/Rhyperior core had pretty fantastic defensive synergy.  I decided to take that group and add some modifications of my own.

Charizard @ Charizardite Y “’tilthesun”
Ability: Blaze (Drought)
EVs: 100 Def/ 252 SAtk / 156 Spd
Modest Nature
– Flamethrower
– Solar Beam
– Ancientpower
– Protect

Charizard was my most utilized pokemon at this tournament, deployed in every match I played.  The complicated EV spread is designed to be faster than most Rotoms without Choice Scarf and OHKO or near OHKO Rotom-W with Solar Beam, while still surviving Rock Slides from Jolly Garchomp most of the time.  I opted for Flamethrower over Heat Wave because it hits slightly harder, allowing me to knock out things that are built to survive Heat Wave, while hitting 100% of the time and through Wide Guard.  There were a few times that I found myself wishing I could hit both of my opponent’s Pokemon, but the accuracy increase and never missing an Amoonguss that was about to shove a Spore down my throat was totally worth it.  Ancientpower allowed me to 2HKO most Rotom-H, and OHKO Talonflames and opposing Charizards.  It also was a good option for finishing off Pokemon because it gave me a 10% chance of getting all of my stats boosted by one.  This never happened at the event, but it did happen a few times in practice and it was pretty much an automatic win.

Ludicolo @ Life Orb “good fun”
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
Modest Nature
– Fake Out
– Giga Drain
– Ice Beam
– Protect

The first thing you’ll probably notice about this Ludicolo is that it lacks any Water-type moves.  Since I was using Sun on this team, most of the time Water-type moves would be weakened anyway, so I chose Protect instead to give me the opportunity to stall out a turn and grab the OHKO on any opposing Talonflames. Ludicolo was essentially my counter for any type of Rain or water-based strategies.  Rhydon and Charizard had trouble with Muddy Water and Surf, so Ludicolo would be used to knock out any opposing threats.  I invested in HP rather than Speed because Ludicolo cannot outspeed any of the Pokemon that threaten it (namely Talonflame), even when investing 252 Speed EVs. Plus, being able to Giga Drain away as much HP as possible while keeping myself pretty bulky was great.   In addition, the lack of speed was somewhat mitigated by my use of Tailwind on Aerodactyl.  It also is a good defensive switch-in on predicted Hydro Pumps and water attacks aimed at my next Pokemon.

Rhydon @ Eviolite “get some”
Ability: Lightningrod
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SDef
Brave Nature
– Rock Slide
– Earthquake
– Megahorn
– Protect

An often-overlooked Pokemon, Eviolite Rhydon has only 10 base HP less than Rhyperior, 10 fewer base Attack, yet is still far bulkier and is 5 base Speed slower to help take advantage of Trick Room.  This allowed me to keep most of the bulk Rhyperior’s Solid Rock Ability would afford me, and still draw away Electric-type attacks.  Rhydon was a total beast, and had amazing synergy with Charizard.  Charizard’s Drought ability automatically causes Sunny Day to be in effect, decreasing the power of all incoming water moves to where Rhydon could easily survive them.  Charizard also outspeeds and KOs most Grass-types with Flamethrower, save for Ludicolo, in order to protect Rhydon from its 4x grass weakness.  In return, Rhydon’s Lightningrod diverted all Electric attacks away from Charizard.  The moveset is pretty standard; Rock Slide and Earthquake are two powerful STABs that have really decent coverage in the current metagame. Megahorn was the best option available to increase coverage, which pretty easily OHKOs Malamar, although I didn’t see any Malamar at this event.  In hindsight, this spread probably could have been marginally more efficient if I had utilized 12 HP / 244 SDef, as 252 SDef puts me at 145.5 Def with the Eviolite boost, which is rounded down.

The Immediate Additions

After looking at my core, I saw two really huge vulnerabilities to two very common Pokemon.

The popularity of Garchomp and Kangaskhan was the reason I chose my next two Pokemon.

Salamence @ Choice Scarf “to the stars”
Ability: Intimidate
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Dragon Pulse
– Fire Blast
– Hydro Pump

This is pretty much the most basic Salamence spread in existence.  I prefer Modest nature over Timid because it allows me to hit harder, which is especially important when facing down a Kangaskhan I’ve only attacked with minimal damage.  I usually did not use my Salamence against opposing Salamences unless I was certain they were not carrying Choice Scarf, because losing my Salamence to a faster one is a far too easy KO to give up in a match.  Fire Blast had the added bonus of being boosted by Sun and OHKOs most Mega-Mawiles. I used Dragon Pulse for a number of reasons, especially for Focus Sash users and Pokemon with the Multiscale Ability.  I only used Hydro Pump once this event, but it was a good coverage move to have during practice.

Gourgeist-Super @ Sitrus Berry “up all night”
Ability: Frisk
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Relaxed Nature
– Will-o-Wisp
– Leech Seed
– Phantom Force
– Protect

Gourgeist: the hardest Kangaskhan counter ever.  The 252 HP and 4 Def EVs with a Relaxed nature allowed me to survive an Adamant Life Orb Talonflame Brave Bird 100% of the time, so I dumped the rest into Special Defense to mitigate damage from Ice Beam, Dark Pulse, and other moves that could potentially be harmful to Gourgeist.  Gourgeist was one of my less deployed Pokemon at this event, but was definitely a great asset whenever he participated in battles and acted as a fantastic closer.  Once the opponent can no longer switch out Pokemon, Gourgeist is bulky enough with the Sitrus Berry to survive most attacks, allowing it to set up Leech Seed and Will-o-Wisp on opponents and then utilize Phantom Force and Protect to take damage only once out of every three turns.  Gourgeist especially came in handy when I was dealing with Mega-Kangaskhan.  The standard Mega Kangaskhan spread utilizes Return (does not effect), Power-Up-Punch (does not effect), and Sucker Punch (which only works if I use Phantom Force).  In any one-on-one scenario of Kangaskhan versus Gourgeist, Gourgeist would win every single time.  There have also been times that I could eliminate my opponent’s threats to Gourgeist and secured a win even in a three to one scenario as long as there were no critical hits or flinches.

The Final Piece of the Puzzle

I tried out a lot of different Pokemon and spreads before arriving at this one.  Two weeks before Missouri Regionals I had arrived at a sort of strange Aerodactyl.

Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unnerve
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
– Rock Slide
– Tailwind
– Ice Fang
– Taunt

This Aerodactyl worked pretty well, but definitely left a lot to be desired.  In my playtests before starting the in-game teambuilding process, I still felt that I was pretty weak to Jolly Garchomp Rock Slides, even though my Charizard was designed to survive them. Plus, getting flinched by a Rock Slide was pretty much game over.  There were three Pokemon weak to Rock-type moves on my team, meaning anything fast and using Rock Slide could really do a number on my team.  In addition, though it was less common, I found that Hail and Blizzard spam was even more difficult to deal with, hitting four of my Pokemon for super-effective damage.

Then, the magic happened.  I went to Zach to get a breeding spitback, which is a four or five IV Pokemon that a player isn’t going to use, of an Unnerve Aerodactyl when he told me that the ones he had already had Tailwind and Wide Guard as egg moves.  I almost immediately came up with a new moveset, and it ended up being probably my MVP for this tournament.

Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash “get lucky”
Ability: Unnerve
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
– Rock Slide
– Tailwind
– Wide Guard
– Protect

This Aerodactyl was amazing.  In generation VI, moves like Wide Guard and Quick Guard can now be used on consecutive turns without failing.  If I was facing a Garchomp, I could continually use Wide Guard so that its Rock Slides would do no damage at all. Then, Mega Charizard – Y could focus all of its attention on eliminating Garchomp’s partner.  Usually the partner assumes that my Mega Charizard – Y will be either use Protect or be KOd by Rock Slide, which often led to a pretty easy KO for me.  This was especially effective when my opponent locked himself into a Choice Scarf Rock Slide.  I brought Aerodactyl to most of my later round matches, which were typically against more skilled players.

The Tournament

For once in my Pokemon-playing life I felt like I had almost gotten a decent amount of sleep the night before the event.  Almost seven hours!  Anyway, we arrived at the event about 45 minutes before registration ended and walked right to the front of the pretty long line because we all pre-registered.

After a pretty long wait and the players meeting, the pairings were up and I went to meet my first opponent.

Round 1: Josh Cosentino

I used:

Glad to see a name I didn’t recognize in the first round, I was still pretty wary considering my track record of nearly losing to Choice Band Bibarels in round 1.  He said that he had been practicing with FonicFrog and bearsfan092, so I assumed he would be a reasonably capable opponent.

He sent out Clawitzer and Dragonite, I led Salamence and Charizard, which I Mega Evolved turn 1.  I was relatively certain that his Dragonite would be a Weakness Policy set, but I went ahead and Dragon Pulsed and Solar Beamed at the Dragonite and Clawitzer anyway, knowing that I probably would be able to pick up the KO on Dragonite with either Charizard or Salamence the next turn if he attacked or had Extremespeed.  Weakness Policy activated, and then he used Dragon Dance with Dragonite and Water Pulsed at my Charizard, dealing about 40%.  I Dragon Pulsed again, a bit surprised that he didn’t have Extremespeed, and used Ancientpower to pick up the KO on Clawitzer. He sent in Amoonguss and Charizard (Mega Evolved immediately) and I was reasonably certain I had the game, taking out Amoonguss with Flamethrower and Dragon Pulsing the Charizard.  He continued to Heat Wave with Charizard and managed to take out my Charizard and Salamence. Eventually, I finished his Charizard off with a Rock Slide from Rhydon.

2-0 Win

Match Record 1-0

Round 2 Brent Wessel

I used:

Another player I didn’t know, he led Cloyster and Klefki and I led with Salamence and Charizard.  I Mega Evolved, his Klefki Thunderwaved my Charizard, my Salamence Draco Meteored his Cloyster, which survived with a Focus Band.  He didn’t seem to be aware that move order was determined at the beginning of the turn, so my Charizard Flamethrowered and knocked out his Klefki while his Cloyster Rock Blasted and knocked out my Charizard.  I sent in Rhydon and he sent in Mawile.  I’m not certain what happened after this, but I know I ended up with Rhydon at about 15% HP and a Gourgeist that had already disappeared for Phantom Force against a Greninja.  My Rhydon used Protect, Greninja used Mat Block, and Gourgeist dealt about 50% with Phantom Force, because it hits through protecting moves.  The next turn he used Surf to take out Rhydon and I disappeared for Phantom Force again.  He revealed Blizzard on Greninja, so I’m assuming he had no Dark Pulse, but Phantom Force KOd him the next turn.

I asked him after the match why he had a Focus Band on Cloyster, it turned out that he accidentally bought the wrong item in the Battle Maison the night before at 3am.

1-0 Win

Match Record 2-0

Round 3 Jonathan Neville (TM_Gold)

I used:

The first person on my schedule I knew of; I had seen him cosplaying as Giovanni at every Regional and Nationals I had attended.  I knew that he had made top cut US Nationals in 2013, so I was pretty sure he was a solid player.  From team preview it looked like Charizard and Aerodactyl would be really effective at stopping anything he could be using, so I led with them.  He led Mamoswine and Amoonguss, the former of which I was assuming was holding a Choice Scarf.  His Amoonguss used Rage Powder, while I used Wide Guard and blocked the incoming Rock Slide from the definitely Choice Scarfed Mamoswine, allowing Charizard to pick up an easy turn one knock out with Flamethrower on Amoonguss.  The next turn I was relatively certain he would switch out Mamoswine and protect with Yanmega to get the Speed Boost buff, but I used Wide Guard just in case, and made what probably wasn’t my best move of the day and used Flamethrower on Mamoswine instead of Solar Beam.  He switched out to his Rotom-W and Protected his Yanmega, so the turn was pretty much neutral, save for about 35% damage on his Rotom-W.  I expected an incoming Thunderbolt from Rotom-W and knew I could pick up the knock out on his Yanmega with a Rock Slide from Aerodactyl the next turn, so I chose to switch Charizard out for Rhydon.  Surprisingly, his Yanmega reveals Ancientpower directly into Rhydon, Aerodactyl’s Rock Slide picks up the KO on Yanmega but misses Rotom-W, and Lightningrod diverts the Thunderbolt aimed at Aerodactyl.  He brings in his Mamoswine, and very intelligently he chooses to Icicle Spear my Aerodactyl and scores enough hits to knock it out. His Rotom-W Hydro Pumps my Rhydon and I tank it pretty easily with about 30% HP remaining.  Rhydon uses Rock Slide and scores a critical hit on Mamoswine for about 50% damage, but again misses the Rotom-W.  I bring in Charizard now that there is no fear of Rock Slide from Mamoswine.  At this point I know that I have Gourgeist in the back, so I just need to knock out his Mamoswine and I will win the game.  I think he chose to Icicle Spear to knoc out my Rhydon, while I Solar Beamed at his Mamoswine to knock it out, and his Rotom-W knocks out my Charizard with Thunderbolt.  This leaves me one-on-one with Gourgeist against Rotom-W. I set up Leech Seed and Phantom Force until the life is slowly drained away from his Rotom-W.

1-0 Win

Match Record 3-0

Lunch Break

We went to Cracker Barrel.  I ate vegetables.  They were okay.

Round 4: Joseph Brummet (lucariojr, eventual 13^th place)

I used:

Another player I knew of, but had never played before.  He had two Rock Sliders and a Rotom, so I selected Charizard and Aerodactyl as leads with Rhydon in the back. I chose Salamence because he would be able to score at least decent damage on any of his Pokemon, and would only be threatened by anything if Trick Room was up.  He led Garchomp and Gothitelle, so I used Wide Guard to block the incoming Rock Slide from Garchomp and targeted Gothitelle with Flamethrower.  He used Rock Slide and Protect, so it was an insignificant turn.  The next turn he decided to Rock Slide again. I continued to Wide Guard and pulled off the Flamethrower. His Gothitelle ate its Sitrus Berry and set up Trick Room.  I went to switch out my Charizard for Rhydon when I realized that he had a Shadow Tag Gothitelle.  I don’t remember what happened much after this, but I know that at some point he switched out his Gothitelle for Tyranitar, which allowed me to bring in Rhydon with one turn of Trick Room remaining.  There was a lot of shuffling after this, but as far as I remember I knocked out his Mawile with Fire Blast from Salamence, Tyranitar with Earthquake, Gothitelle with Flamethrower, and Garchomp with Dragon Pulse.

2-0 Win

Match Record 4-0

Round 5: Ashton Cox (linkyoshimario, eventual 3^rd place)

I used:

I recognized his name from the Virginia Top 16 group, and knew that he was using a Choice Scarf Diggersby, which definitely looks like an attractive option when playing against my team.  He led Diggersby/Weavile and I led Aerodactyl/Charizard.  Turn one I used Protect with both of my Pokemon to scout what he would lock himself into with the Choice Scarf and block the Fake Out coming from Weavile.  To my delight, Diggersby used Rock Slide.  I use Wide Guard to block Diggersby’s Rock Slide, and went for Flamethrower on Weavile but he used Fling to throw a King’s Rock at my Charizard, so I flinched and it was an insignicant turn, although now I knew he did not have a Focus Sash on Weavile.  I continued to Wide Guard and I think he switched Diggersby into Clawitzer.  His Weavile used Icicle Crash to break Aerodactyl’s Focus Sash, and I scored the knock out on Weavile with Flamethrower.  At this point I think he brought in Charizard, which Mega-Evolved into Mega Charizard Y.  I don’t remember the details of everything from here on out, but I knocked out his Charizard with either Rock Slide or Ancientpower. I definitely used Draco Meteor on Clawitzer, who retaliated with Ice Beam to knock out my Salamence.  Ludicolo faked out Diggersby, and my Charizard knocked it out with Solar Beam, and it ended with I think a one-on-one of Ludicolo versus Clawitzer at ~50% health, which Ludicolo outsped and knocked out with Giga Drain.

1-0 Win

Match Record 5-0

Round 6: Justin Doonan

I used:

Apparently he only started playing a few months ago, but was having a great tournament.  This match was recorded, you can watch it here (match begins around 6:40)

2-0 Win

Match Record 6-0

Round 7: Matthew Carter (mattj, eventual winner)

I used:

The eventual winner of the tournament, I felt really prepared for most of the things he could have possibly thrown at me. This match was recorded, you can watch it here (match begins around 2:30) 

3-0 Win

Match Record 7-0

Round 8: Blake Hopper (mrbopper, eventual 5^th place)

Blake and I were the only undefeated players going into the eighth round of Swiss.  The tournament organizer told Blake that we could intentionally draw if we wanted to.  We both knew that it would ensure that there was no way we could miss top cut if we did, so we decided to do it.  No further comment.

4-4 Draw

Match Record 7-0-1

Round 9: Joseph Darby (eventual 14^th place)

I used:

I was certain I was in Top Cut at this point, but decided to play and do a bit of scouting against a possible future opponent.  I had never heard of him, but he was 7-1, so he was definitely a solid player.  I don’t remember too much about this match, but I know I led Charizard and Rhydon, while he led Rotom-H and Gyarados.  I used Ancientpower on Gyarados and his Rotom-H missed Will-o-Wisp on my Rhydon.  He used Dragon Dance with Gyarados, but I scored a critical hit on his Gyarados, knocking it out before it could do anything. Some things happened, and the match ended up with my Charizard facing his Tyranitar at about 40% health in the Sun.  My opponent decided not to stall out the Sunny Day with protect and I knocked out his Tyranitar with Solar Beam.

1-0 Win

Match Record: 8-0-1

Top Cut

I was pretty exhilarated at going undefeated in Swiss and emerging as the top seed going into Top Cut.  Unfortunately I was also completely exhausted. It was something like 8PM by the time we started the Top Cut matches, so we had all been playing for more than eight hours at that point.  This was my first Top Cut ever, so I was pretty unsure of how things would turn out.

Round of 16: Leonard Craft III (DaWoblefet, eventual 8^th place)

All I knew about my first Top Cut opponent was that LPFan was really unhappy about their match in Round 9, where a Meowstic apparently Swaggered his Pokemon, who hit itself in confusion five out of six times. I was wary about Meowstic because I don’t run Safeguard and generally hate getting Swaggered in practice, but it was the game I had to play.

Game 1

He used:
I used:

He led with Salamence and Kangaskhan, and I led Aerodactyl and Charizard.  I double Protected to block Fake Out and scout a potential Choice Scarf.  He used Fake Out with Kangaskhan and Rock Slide with Salamence.  I definitely didn’t think my Charizard was safe, so I switched it into Gourgeist and used Wide Guard with Aerodactyl.  To my surprise, it was actually a mixed Life Orb Salamence that used Flamethrower right at my Gourgeist.  Thankfully, Gourgeist barely survived. I don’t remember much after that, but I played myself back into the game with some Tailwind and Rhydon magic, but I definitely missed an important Rock Slide on his Kangaskhan. His Rotom-H managed to knock out my Rhydon from a pretty questionable damage range. It ended up with my Charizard and Gourgeist against his +4 Attack Kangaskhan and -2 Sp Attack Rotom-H with a Tailwind blowing behind me.  Surprisingly, my Gourgeist was faster than his Rotom-H with Tailwind up, so I managed to burn his Kangaskhan with Will-o-Wisp, which allowed me to survive a Sucker Punch the next turn.  Unfortunately, his Rotom-H proceeded to hit my Gourgeist with Overheat, otherwise I definitely would have won.  The last turn was possibly decided on damage rolls, with his two Sucker Punches leaving me at 41 HP, enough to maybe survive a -4 Rotom-H Thunderbolt depending on his spread.  I knocked out his Kangaskhan with Flamethrower.  I knew that I would be able to pick up the knock out on Rotom-H if I survived the Thunderbolt, but I did not.

0-1 Loss

0-1 Match

Game 2

He used:

I used:

I was really confident going into this round that I had gathered enough information to take the next two games.  I had left Salamence off of the field because I was afraid of facing another Choice Scarf Salamence, so this time I made sure to bring it because it would do well against his Life Orb Salamence.  Ludicolo would pair really well with it, giving me Fake Out support and countering his last lead perfectly.  He chose to lead Rotom-H and Meowstic.  I thought he would Quick Guard turn one with Meowstic, so I chose to Giga Drain at Meowstic instead and Hydro Pump his Rotom-H.  This ended up being a bad decision, because Meowstic just went ahead and Swaggered my Ludicolo the first turn.  Hydro Pump connected, dealing ~70% damage to his Rotom-H, which proceeded to Thunderbolt at Ludicolo.  Ludicolo hit itself in confusion.  Meowstic Swaggered my Salamence, which hit itself in confusion.  Rotom-H used Thunderbolt and paralyzed my Ludicolo, which hit itself in confusion.  I probably could have salvaged the game if I had been more focused, but I was already angry about my Pokemon’s inability to move, and Meowstic’s Charm had shut down my Rhydon’s offensive capabilities pretty well.  I totally lost my focus this game and got into a situation where I would be able to take the game with two Rock Slide critical hits, but that was about it.

0-4 Loss

0-2 Match Loss

Wrap-Up

Overall, I had a really great day with a lousy finish.  The length of the tournament day, from a 10am registration time to an 8PM Top Cut start, was definitely a bit longer than I was mentally prepared to handle, and it started getting to me in my last few matches.  My team’s makeup required me to play really well every round if I didn’t want things to spiral out of control.  My nerves at my first ever top cut, complete exhaustion, and lack of focus in the Top 16 definitely got to me, and I feel that I played very poorly in both matches.  Hopefully I will be able to come up with another quality team for spring regionals.

Big thanks go out to a bunch of people: mrbopper for trading me the spitbacks I needed to build my team and helping me with the conceptual part of the teambuilding,  Zach for trading me the Unnerve Aerodactyl spitback and accidentally giving me one of the most important parts of my team,  Andykins for helping me with the conceptual teambuilding process and being a good practice partner, honchkro13 for trading MrEobo the flawless shiny Ditto that moved breeding along a great deal (and MrEobo for trading me that Ditto),  and finally Kyomen for driving me to the event.  Also a big shoutout to GreySong for providing me with a few great feel-better hugs after I was eliminated from Top Cut.

About the Author

Darkeness Keegan B. has been playing competitive Pokemon since 2010, but started competing in VGC in 2012, and has been improving his swiss records with every event he goes to. When not playing Pokemon, Keegan is a student at the University of Michigan, entrepreneur, and game designer.

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