Reports

Published on June 16th, 2015 | by Qertyk

23

Nidoqueen of Kings: A Washington Regional Seniors Top Cut Report

Hi, I’m Bennett Piercy, also known as Qertyk on Nugget Bridge and Pokemon Showdown and QertykVGC on Twitter, and this is my first Nugget Bridge team report. I started playing VGC in 2014, but I never actually went to an event until the 2015 cycle began. I live in Calgary, so finding VGC events almost always means travelling, thus I’ve only made it to four events throughout my Pokemon career. My first event was a low-attendance Edmonton Premier Challenge in December 2014, where I went 2-2 and finished third. After the 2015 format actually started, I went to another small Edmonton Premier Challenge, this time finishing first. I also ended up winning a bigger Premier Challenge in Seattle the day after the Washington Regional. The team I used for all of my winning events was fairly unique, without using needlessly obscure Pokemon.

Teambuilding

I don’t remember exactly how this team came to be, but to some extent it originated from a team I saw on Nugget Bridge – Evan Feroy’s Oregon Regionals team of Primeape, Crawdaunt, Clefable, Crobat, Arcanine, and Nidoking. I began replacing the team members with Pokemon that I thought provided more important type coverage, and I eventually ended up with this team.

I used this team for quite a while. I thought it was pretty good, and I ended up posting it in Nugget Bridge’s “Rate My Team” section, but it got no replies. Anyway, I decided that Raikou wasn’t very good and that I wanted Fake Out, which I didn’t accommodate for at the time, but eventually led to the addition of Weavile.

This is the version of my team that I used in Edmonton. I love Weakness Policy Lapras, but I really didn’t do well with it.  The Gardevoir was a last minute addition to the team. I gave it Choice Scarf and placed it top left in my Battle Box to bluff Mega Gardevoir. I was actually pretty excited about it at the time, but it flopped during testing.

These five did well in testing, and I began to like them a lot. I only used Weavile in certain situations, meaning I’d use the other four in most games. For the sixth slot, I wanted something that could balance out the team, expecting that the role would go to a bulky water type. I ended up trying out Lapras, Gardevoir, Carracosta, Zapdos, Clauncher, Aegislash, Gigalith, and Milotic. I finally decided on Conkeldurr, but I’m not sure that it was the best choice.

Team at a Glance

The Team

BoJack (Breloom) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Superpower
– Bullet Seed
– Spore
– Protect

I named my Breloom “BoJack”after BoJack Horseman. Probably because Breloom is also a non-human anthropomorphic individual, but I don’t really know.

Breloom is a fairly common Pokemon, especially in the Seniors division. Mine is completely standard, apart from Superpower, which I added to OHKO Mega Kangaskhan. I honestly didn’t even test Mach Punch for more than a few days, so I don’t know whether or not that would have been better. Overall though, I don’t have much to say about Breloom.

Mercury (Nidoqueen) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Level: 50
EVs: 148 HP / 84 Def / 252 SpA / 20 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
– Sludge Bomb
– Earth Power
– Ice Beam
– Protect

Something about naming a Nidoqueen after Queen frontman Freddie Mercury just felt right.

Nidoqueen ended up being my MVP of the tournament. The combination of Sheer Force and Life Orb is amazing, and can make otherwise unviable Pokemon like Nidoqueen into dangerous offensive threats. Sludge Bomb merits a one-hit knockout on most Gardevoir, while always doing at least 90% to Sylveon. Earth Power always knocks out Heatran, Metagross, Bisharp, and just about anything else to weak to Ground. Ice Beam always OHKO’s Landorus-T, Mega Salamence, Garchomp, as well as non-bulky Thundurus. Although Nidoqueen’s offense is impressive, its real merit is its surprising defensive abilities, best expressed in a single calculation:

• 252+ Atk Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 148 HP / 84 Def Nidoqueen: 152-182 (82.6 – 98.9%) — guaranteed 2HKO

Machida Born (Volcarona) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 12 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
– Heat Wave
– Bug Buzz
– Rage Powder
– Tailwind

“Machida Born” is a reference to Satoshi Tajiri’s hometown in Japan. Tajiri credits memories of catching bugs as a child as inspiration for Pokemon, so I thought it was a fitting name for my Bug-type Pokemon.

I brought Nidoqueen and Volcarona to most of my games, normally leading the two as a pair. Volcarona is certainly an underrated Tailwind user in VGC 2015. With Rage Powder and the addition of Tailwind to Volcarona’s move pool thanks to ORAS move tutors, it fits a whole new Togekiss-esque niche. Flame Body is another one of Volcarona’s selling points, thanks to how well Flame Body deals with Kangaskhan. After Sitrus Berry recovery, Volcarona survives Mega Kangaskhan’s Double-Edge 100% of the time and burns the attacking M-Kangaskhan 51% of the time. Even though Volcarona is 4x weak to Rock, my spread allows it to survives nearly all non-STAB Rock Slides in VGC 2015, namely from Scarfed Landorus-T. Here are a few calculations that really highlight Volcarona’s bulk:

• 252+ Atk Landorus-T Rock Slide vs. 252 HP / 236 Def Volcarona: 156-188 (81.2 – 97.9%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252 SpA Politoed Scald vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Volcarona in Rain: 152-182 (79.1 – 94.7%) — guaranteed 2HKO
• 252+ SpA Aerilate Mega Salamence Hyper Voice vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Volcarona: 150-176 (78.1 – 91.6%) — guaranteed 2HKO

Brer Dragon (Salamence) @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Frustration
– Dragon Claw
– Rock Slide
– Protect

“Brer Dragon” is named after the loveable trickster Brer Rabbit, featured in, but not originating from, Disney’s Song of the South.

This was an entirely standard Salamence apart from Rock Slide. Rock Slide often one-shots Mega Charizard Y, as well as being a convenient spread attack. Contrary to most people’s opinions, I appreciated having Dragon Claw on Salamence in many matches, as it deals with fellow Dragons and Pokemon that resist Flying, such as Rotom-Wash. I didn’t have time to max out Salamence’s happiness, so I went the simpler route and minimized his Happiness. There really isn’t much to say about this Salamence, it’s just a standard Physical Mega.

L’Oreal (Weavile) @ King’s Rock
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Fake Out
– Fling
– Icicle Crash
– Knock Off

Apart from Knock Off, I stole this from Ashton Cox’s team report. His was named after Covergirl, so I named mine L’Oreal. For anyone who doesn’t know, Flinging a King’s Rock will make the opponent flinch 100% of the time, making Weavile a uniquely helpful Pokemon. As for actual results, Weavile is kind of iffy, as nearly all teams have multiple ways to take it out in one hit. I think that having Weavile helped a lot during Team Preview, because many opponents think Weavile’s item is Focus Sash, thus implying my Breloom carries Choice Scarf (which in reality, I didn’t use at all on the team).

3 of Spaid (Conkeldurr) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Atk / 116 SpD
Adamant Nature
– Hammer Arm
– Mach Punch
– Ice Punch
– Rock Slide

Conkeldurr’s nickname is an inside joke that you don’t get to know.

I really regret using Conkeldurr in the tournament. I lost every game I brought it to, and I really had never tested it until the week before the tournament. I freaked out last minute because I stopped liking Aegislash, and I ended up breeding this Conkeldurr two days before the tournament. The only discernible feature brought by Conkeldurr was Mach Punch, which makes me wonder why I didn’t just give Breloom Mach Punch and switch Conkeldurr for something more useful.

Washington Regional Swiss

Note: I didn’t keep track of which four I brought to any particular game, so apart from random memories I don’t know what I brought.

Swiss Round 1 vs Jason Wong

My first opponent of the day, and already my extensive viewing of “Road to Ranked” was going to start paying off. I quickly identified Jason’s team as Cybertron’s APEX team. I was confident I could win this game, especially because Nidoqueen and Volcarona counter most of his team, but Jason proved me wrong. For about the first half of the game, I was confident in my play, and all was going well. I found, however, that I was too reliant on Breloom in this game. At one point, Jason’s Venusaur used Sludge Bomb on Breloom, activating Focus Sash, but the secondary effect of Poisoning (10%) picked up the knock out. With that and a rather decisive Heat Wave miss, I lost the game. This wasn’t exactly a fun game, but my opponent was very gracious, even going as for as to apologize for the bad luck. He ended up making Top Cut too, so that’s pretty cool.

0-1

Swiss Round 2 vs Henry Maxon (Snake)

I played really poorly in this game. I played way too aggressively, almost completely ignoring Cresselia. I was somewhat thrown off by the first game, and I took plenty of unnecessary risks. This game wasn’t even close, and Henry won something like 3-0 or 4-0. He also ended up making top cut.

0-2

Swiss Round 3

I was now in an awkward situation. Knowing I had to go X-2 to even get a chance at top cut, I was really nervous. I got lucky, however,  because I had gotten a bye for the third round. Getting a bye means that you don’t play for that round and it counts as an automatic win. I spent this extra time getting a snack and looking at all the merchandise. It definitely relaxed me.

1-2

Swiss Round 4 vs Roman Hatch 

This game was definitely the best one I had played so far, and it really highlighted the power of Nidoqueen. She picked up all four KO’s in this game, with some help from Volcarona’s Rage Powder and Breloom’s Spore.

2-2

Swiss Round 5 vs Jacob Martin 

Jacob had a really interesting team with Mega Alakazam. I quickly identified that Nidoqueen and Volcarona could deal with most of the team very well, and sure enough, they did. I remember that I hit the perfect combination of choosing to Protect, attack and Rage Powder with Nidoqueen and Volcarona on the first few turns, that I took an early 4-2 lead. Apart from that, I don’t know anything other than that I won.

3-2

Swiss Round 6 vs Tiana Kaguras

Before my last swiss match, I checked the records of the other competitors and decided I wouldn’t be making top cut. I almost didn’t pay serious attention in this match, because I thought it was just for fun. I did like the sound of “4-2 record” much more than 3-3, though. My competitor’s last name seemed familiar, so I assume she is related to Demitrios Kaguras (kingdjk) in some way. I don’t really remember what happened in this game, I just don’t. I ended up winning, but again, I didn’t think it mattered.

4-2

When the Top Cut was posted, I was ecstatic. I was posted at eighth seed (top cut of eight), because my opponents’ win percentage was exactly 60%, higher than any other 4-2 player. I was particularly excited because this was my first high-level event, so making Top Cut felt like quite the accomplishment.

Washington Regional Top Cut

Top 8 vs Carson St. Denis (Dorian06)

Game 1

I went with my usual lead, Nidoqueen and Volcarona, because they deal with Thundurus, Heatran, and Sylveon very well. Carson led with Salamence and Mamoswine, and for the first time ever I discovered how terrible my Mamoswine matchup was. I had no answers to the combination of it and physical Mega Salamence, and I dropped the game quickly. I don’t remember if I forfeited or actually lost, but it wasn’t really a close game.

Game 2

Because it worked so well the first time, Carson led Salamence and Mamoswine. I went with Weavile (My backup lead) and something else, probably Nidoqueen. This game seemed to be going better for the first two turns or so, and then it turned into a repeat of game 1.  I actually ended up attempting a double protect with my Salamence at one point, when the risk was not worth the reward and it ended up failing. Not exactly an example of me playing (or team building) well, as this was my worst set ever.

Conclusion

Even though I didn’t make it far into Top Cut, I did get plenty of Trading Cards. I also won the Premier Challenge on the same day as Top Cut, which was cool because a lot of the competitors from the Regional participated in that, too.

Overall, I like this team a lot and I’m excited that it did so well. The main reason I’m not going to bring it to more events is because one of its worst matchups is against Mega Gardevoir, which I expect to be very popular at future events, notably US Nationals. The team may become dated anyway, as this team is very anti-Kangaskhan, which might not be a such a big priority as the 2015 metagame develops.

Special thanks to:

• Andrew Laigo, for helping me practice everyday at school. Maybe I shouldn’t be playing Pokemon at school, but whatever.
• Gavin Gentry and Caden Kamp (scumbagCaden) for hanging out with me on the days of the tournament. They’re both pretty cool.
• My parents, for paying for and taking me to all these events.
• My brother Declan for helping me practice, even though he’s not much of a Pokemon player.
• Andrew Laigo again, because he wouldn’t stop asking for a second mention.

About the Author

Qertyk started playing competitive VGC in February 2014, and has played ever since. When he's not playing Pokemon, Qertyk enjoys collecting trading cards, watching sitcoms, playing Baseball, and being an all-round Cool Cat.

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