Reports

Published on October 8th, 2013 | by dingram

28

Second to One: A 2nd Place US Nationals & 10th Place Worlds Team Report

Introduction

Hello everyone! I am DeVon Ingram (dingram). This year, I went to my second National Championship and my first World Championship. I had a decent season becoming the US National Senior Division Runner-Up and placing 10th at the Pokemon World Championships afterwards. At Nationals, I accomplished what I had aimed for, making at least top four. By placing second at Nationals, I was overjoyed since I had achieved more than I hoped for. Sadly, I didn’t do as well at Worlds and had four wins and two losses during Swiss rounds.

Teambuilding

While I was preparing for Nationals, I was contemplating different ideas for a team. I was conversing with my friend, Brandon Mitchell (Bisty), when he mentioned that I should use something original for Nationals so that I can use unpredictability to my advantage. So, I took his advice and made a team utilizing Snarl Raikou on March 16th, 2013.

raikouhydreigonterrakiongyaradosmetagrossamoonguss

I mostly laddered on Pokemon Showdown with it. I enjoyed the feel of the team even though it had inherent weaknesses.

However, I soon realized that Raikou wasn’t just another Pokemon that was overshadowed by other Pokemon. Raikou had a unique niche with Snarl and Electric/Ice coverage combined with a great Speed stat and respectable Special Attack stat. Thus, the idea of using a team revolving around Raikou for Nationals.

On April 26th, I began teambuilding with Ryan Brooker (lolfailsnail) and Nitesh Manem (nachocheese999). First, I started off with Raikou.

raikou

I chose my signature bulky Gyarados set as well since that was the other Pokemon that worked incredibly well on the first team.

raikougyarados

I then added Garchomp and Scizor to the team since they had good synergy with the other two Pokemon. In the past, I have seen Swords Dance Scizor perform well in battle, so I wanted to try it as well.

raikougyaradosgarchompscizor

After looking at what I currently had, I realized that I wanted a Fake Out user. Because of experiences facing Tornadus and Bisharp, I absolutely despised Defiant. So, I decided to use Moxie Scrafty instead of the standard Intimidate Scrafty.

raikougyaradosgarchompscizorscrafty

Lastly, I saw how easily losing to rain was with this team. So, I decided to use a specialized Rain counter just to assist with Rain that later was utilized for scenarios other than Rain as well. That “specialized counter” was Latias.

raikougyaradosgarchompscizorscraftylatias

The team obviously wasn’t perfect at this point in time, so I decided to make some changes. First off, I changed Garchomp to Rhyperior. To this day, I still have no idea why I switched Garchomp to Rhyperior, so for my explanation, I will present to you this log from a Private Message with a friend:

(16:58) 1337: i originally had garchomp over rhyperior (16:58) 1337: but i needed something more op

raikougyaradosrhyperiorscizorscraftylatias

Next, I realized that Scizor was weak did not fit the team. I felt that I needed something in place of Scizor to help with Liepard/Breloom shenanigans. This is largely due to me getting beaten 4-0 by Cybertron utilizing this combination in an online VGC tournament. I then asked another friend of mine, Jun Tumaneng (Cypher), for advice. He suggested using his bulky Volcarona set. This ended up working phenomenally after I changed Fire Gem Overheat with Quiver Dance to Rage Powder and Heat Wave with Lum Berry.

raikougyaradosrhyperiorvolcaronascraftylatias

The Team

scrafty

SSL (Scrafty) (M) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Fake Out
– Drain Punch
– Crunch
– Detect

Moves, Item, EVs, Ability & Nature:

This is a standard Scrafty. There aren’t any moves that would surprise an opponent, and the EVs don’t do anything special and the Item is standard as well. Originally, I had planned to use Benji Irons’s (benjitheGREAT) Scrafty, but I used an Adamant Nature instead of a Careful Nature. I had not realized my mistake until around two months later when I realized I should be surviving Timid Latios Draco Meteors. When I had realized this, Nationals was extremely close and I needed to handle Trick Room teams better. So I decided to keep an Attack-boosting Nature while choosing a Speed-hindering nature with zero Speed IVs in order to underspeed Jellicent while Trick Room is up. Paired with Moxie, this Scrafty was quite a threat under Trick Room.

Role:

Since Scrafty lacks Intimidate, it filled a more offensive role on the team than a defensive one. Fake Out support allowed me to obtain momentum right from the start from one of my more common leads, Scrafty and Raikou. Also, Scrafty’s STAB attacks allowed me to take on a few troublesome and common Pokemon such as Bisharp, Tyranitar, and Cresselia. In addition to being a Fake Out user, it also functions offensively while Trick Room is up. With a Brave Nature and zero Speed IVs, Scrafty underspeeds many threats in Trick Room while threatening a sweep with the constant threat of Scrafty obtaining a Moxie boost.

Downsides:

Since I was a little hasty with the EV spread, Scrafty was not as bulky as it was expected to be. I usually never let it take a Draco Meteor unless the opposing Dragon-types were at -1 from Snarl. Because Scrafty was unable to survive Draco Meteors, I had fewer options during the battle. In order to win, I had to play around the Dragon-Types successfully.

Nickname:

Scrafty’s nickname derives from the strongest clan that has ever existed, SSL (Superior Skill Link). In a clan war against SL (Skill Link), the leader of SSL, Wolfe Glick (Wolfey) did not lose a single best-of-three and swept the entire clan. Since Scrafty has sweeping potential with its ability Moxie, I chose the name SSL.

raikou

Integral (Raikou) @ Shuca Berry
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 28 HP / 252 SAtk / 228 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
– Protect
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Snarl

Moves, Item, EVs, Ability & Nature:

Protect is essential in VGC and I chose Thunderbolt and Hidden Power Ice for Electric/Ice coverage. I have tried both Hidden Power Grass and Hidden Power Ice, but in practice, Hidden Power Ice was more useful. I wanted to use Snarl since theoretically, it seemed like a great offensive way to increase the bulk of my team. Paired with Intimidate, it could be difficult at times to knock out my Pokemon. Snarl was also one of the ways I could deal with Dragon Gem Latios and Hydreigon. I used a Shuca Berry to check Ground-Types that were weak to Ice such as Landorus-T and Garchomp. Especially when paired with Intimidate, Raikou was able to survive an Earthquake and retaliate with Hidden Power Ice. The EVs are fairly simple. With its EV spread, Raikou outspeeds Jolly Tornadus-I and Thundurus-I with 252 speed EVs and a positive Nature. The leftover EVs were dumped into HP.

Role:

Raikou either took on an offensive role or support role depending on the team match-up. Against teams where Electric/Ice coverage was less useful, Raikou either stayed behind or was used primarily for Snarl. Against teams with Pokemon such as Breloom, Tornadus, and Mamoswine, Raikou could be paired with Scrafty and cause a lot of damage to the opposing team. The flexibility of Raikou came in handy many times throughout my season.

Downsides:

Sometimes, Raikou just could not cause enough damage, so the team’s coordination was hindered. If I wasn’t careful, I could use Snarl against a Pokemon with Defiant. Afterwards, it’d be a very tough match to get through.

Nickname:

Raikou is the star player of the team while Integration is my favorite mathematical operation. So, I named Raikou after the operation.

gyarados

LoLfailnob (Gyarados) (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 SDef
Impish Nature
– Protect
– Waterfall
– Ice Fang
– Thunder Wave

Moves, Item, EVs, Ability & Nature:

The notable moves on this Gyarados are Ice Fang and Thunder Wave. Ice Fang is a reliable coverage move I chose for hitting Pokemon that resist Waterfall, but are hit harder with Ice Fang. Thunder Wave was used for Speed control. I didn’t mind not having Speed control for Ground-Types since I had checks for all of the common Ground-Types. On my original team, I tried out Icy Wind and Taunt, but neither of the moves proved to be useful. Since I wanted Gyarados to fill a more defensive role, I gave it Sitrus Berry. The HP and Special Defense EVs allow Gyarados to survive a Timid Latios Dragon Gem Draco Meteor. The rest of the EVs were thrown into Defense with an Impish Nature so Gyarados can switch into attacks such as non-STAB Rock Slides a lot easier.

Role:

As previously stated, Gyarados functions as a defensive pivot for the team. Gyarados isn’t the Pokemon I’d use if I wanted fast KOs, but I used it for Intimidate support and the ability to switch into several attacks that threaten other Pokemon on the team.

Downsides:

Sometimes, I wished Gyarados had a slot for Taunt, but that was only a minor setback. What really bothered me was the fact Modest Hydreigon with a Dragon Gem could OHKO my Gyarados with a Draco Meteor. When I saw that my opponent had a Hydreigon, Snarl Raikou was a necessity since I couldn’t survive an attack without the Hydreigon’s Special Attack stage being at -1.

Nickname:

Originally, the entire team referenced something in Calculus, but my fellow Goon Squad members demanded that I name some Pokemon after them. So, I asked everyone who wanted to be the Gyarados. Lolfailsnail had been the first and only person to reply. The two L’s are capitalized in order to bug him about League of Legends even though he doesn’t play it.

rhyperior

Derivative (Rhyperior) (F) @ Ground Gem
Trait: Solid Rock
EVs: 244 HP / 188 Atk / 4 Def / 68 SDef / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Protect
– Fire Punch
– Rock Slide
– Earthquake

Moves, Item, EVs, Ability & Nature:

The moves on Rhyperior were pretty normal. Fire Punch was placed there for additional coverage against Steel-Types such as Ferrothorn and Escavalier. Initially, Rhyperior had Megahorn instead of Fire Punch, but it was prone to missing and I rarely used it. Fire Punch gave me a quicker option of getting rid of Scizor without having to bring Volcarona. This was helpful when Scizor was partnered with Pokemon such as Tyranitar and Excadrill. The EVs allow Rhyperior to survive a 252 Special Attack Modest Bug Gem Bug Buzz from Volcarona and to outspeed 4 Speed Gastrodon. The reason Rhyperior survives that attack from Volcarona was because of a match I had with Enosh Shachar (Human) using a team he used at the Massachusetts Regional Championship. From that match, I discovered that Rhyperior could not survive the aforementioned attack at full health. I thought that Rhyperior should be able to survive that, so I modified the EVs accordingly. The 4 Speed on Rhyperior was a suggestion from Gavin Michaels (kingofmars) in order play around Gastrodon a little bit easier. Gastrodon gave me some problems, so I chose to EV Rhyperior so that it outspeeds Gastrodon sets that people would normally run in order to get a Ground Gem Earthquake off and finish it with another Pokemon.

Role:

Rhyperior always played the role of a bulky sweeper. SOLID ROCK allows Rhyperior to survive a variety of different attacks from opposing Pokemon. At Nationals, I felt the best way to use Rhyperior was to bluff Lightningrod while utilizing SOLID ROCK. I enjoyed situations where Gyarados and Rhyperior were out at the same time when I haven’t used an Electric-type move around Rhyperior because my opponents were afraid to risk wasting a turn being redirected by Lightningrod. Rhyperior was able to survive the attacks thrown at it because of SOLID ROCK while Gyarados chipped away at stuff as well.

Downsides:

Although it has an amazing Defense stat, Rhyperior’s Special Defense stat is quite lacking. Not even SOLID ROCK is good enough to prevent Rhyperior from getting KOed from attacks like Muddy Water or Giga Drain without the use of Snarl. Rhyperior’s other weaknesses were remedied with SOLID ROCK.

Nickname:

After I nicknamed Raikou Integral, I contemplated the best candidate to be nicknamed Derivative. Since an integral is an antiderivative, I decided to give name Rhyperior Derivative since Rhyperior and Raikou negate each other since they both have ways to win in one-on-one.

volcarona

HAWTKiwi (Volcarona) (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 36 SAtk / 52 SDef / 164 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Protect
– Rage Powder
– Bug Buzz
– Heat Wave

Moves, Item, EVs, Ability & Nature:

Protect, Heat Wave, and Bug Buzz are all standard moves on Volcarona. However, Rage Powder is an interesting replacement for Quiver Dance or Hidden Power as the last move. Originally, the Volcarona set Cypher suggested had Fire Gem, Overheat, and Quiver Dance. Unfortunately, none of those options worked out since my team needed a form of redirection. So, I used a combination of Rage Powder and Lum Berry to redirect forms of status such as Paralysis and Sleep. I replaced Overheat with Heat Wave so Volcarona could fire off STAB attacks without its offensive potential being hindered. The EV spread allowed Volcarona to take Draco Meteors and outspeed 252 Speed Adamant Excadrill outside of Sand. A Modest Nature gives Volcarona a higher Special Attack stat to fire off attacks with and makes up for its lack of Special Attack investment.

Role:

In my games, Volcarona functioned as a way to neutralize Spore and other forms of status through the use of Rage Powder. Also, Volcarona provided crucial coverage against Steel-Types such as Metagross, Escavalier, and Scizor. Volcarona did not see as much use in my games since many of the teams I faced were either Sand teams or Rain teams, but Volcarona pulled its weight whenever I had to face Breloom or Amoonguss.

Downsides:

Although the addition of Volcarona had many benefits, the Rock-Type weakness it shares with Gyarados and its vulnerability in many common match-ups really hindered its team presence. However, Volcarona’s role in a battle may only require it to survive one turn just to get a key Rage Powder off or prevent Spore from going down. Even if Volcarona was used less, it was still an important member of the team.

Nickname:

Eujin Jang (KiwiDawg7) is HAWT. I also had to acknowledge her since we both know the secrets of SUNNY DANCE and we win every Multi Battle.

latias

Euler (Latias) (F) @ Haban Berry
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 188 SAtk / 28 SDef / 36 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Dragon Pulse
– Recover
– Psyshock
– Sunny Day

Moves, Item, EVs, Ability & Nature:

This set is particularly interesting. I chose Dragon Pulse and Psyshock because they are some of Latias’s main STAB attacks. I chose Recover for sustainability and Sunny Day as an interesting answer to Rain teams and to also boost the power of Volcarona’s Heat Wave. The reason I ran 188 Special Attack EVs with a Modest Nature on the Latias is because I wanted Dragon Pulse to KO 4 HP Kingdra 100% of the time. This allowed Dragon Pulse and Psyshock to do enough consistent damage so that Latias could spend time attacking instead of getting off one Draco Meteor and being a hindrance. Psyshock also gave the team another answer to Breloom and Amoonguss since 36 Speed EVs allowed Latias to outspeed Breloom. Lastly, the 252 HP EVs, the 28 Special Defense EVs, and a Haban Berry maximized Latias’s chances of surviving a Helping Hand-boosted Draco Meteor from a Life Orb Modest 252 Special Attack Kingdra.

252+ SpA Life Orb Kingdra Helping Hand Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 28 SpD Haban Berry Latias: 161-191 (86.09 – 102.13%) — 18.75% chance to OHKO

Role:

Latias mainly filled a supporting role when I brought it to a battle. Against Rain, I’d pair it with Scrafty to almost guarantee Sunny Day getting off and then keep it on the field so the threat of changing the weather is always there. I’m aware that extra bulk from reducing the Special Attack EVs and replacing Dragon Pulse with Draco Meteor could have helped, I appreciated the damage output from Latias. This also continued the trend of the offense of the team coming from where you’d least expect it.

Downsides:

Despite the fact that Latias saved me from painfully losing to Rain every time I faced it, its downsides could easily match the benefits that come from the use of Latias. Dragons that outspeed Latias could 2HKO with a Draco Meteor which would force me to play predictably in order to keep Latias in play. Also, Latias does not have a way of hitting Steel-Types such as Scizor and Metagross. This proved to be troublesome in my match against Paul Chua (pwny person) at Nationals. Lastly, Latias did not have Protect so I only had two options every turn instead of three. Latias had to either take a hit, or get out.

Nickname:

To be honest, I just named Latias after Euler just to have another Calculus-related nickname. But, I still tried to draw a connection between the two. Euler introduced the mathematical constants e and i. Latias introduces an alternate way to deal with rain while running a petite amount of Speed EVs. Since constants like e and i are unique, they can easily be compared to Latias.

Synergy

scraftyraikou

Scrafty and Raikou were the two Pokemon I lead with the most. This combination covered many common threats at the time and if they were pitted up against a troublesome lead, I had other Pokemon in the back of my party to switch in. I could put pressure on opponents by using Fake Out and Thunderbolt or take a more defensive route with Fake Out and Snarl.

gyaradosrhyperior

With Intimidate, Rhyperior never faints because of SOLID ROCK and Rhyperior has the potential to bluff Lightningrod. Bluffing Lightningrod makes opponents fearful to Thunderbolt Gyarados when Rhyperior is out so I can get free damage or Paralysis on the opposing Pokemon. Also, this combination is mainly what I used to combat Sand teams since Gyarados Intimidates many Physical Attackers and Rhyperior is bulky enough to get a few strong attacks off. I used this combo to great success against Tyler Allen (Elite4Allen) and Edward Fan (iss) in my top four and top 16 best-of-threes respectively

raikouvolcarona

I rarely led with this combo, but this is a combination I would normally use against Trick Room teams when Trick Room is not active and offensive combinations such as Liepard and Breloom. These two Pokemon could put some quick pressure on the other team and Rage Powder could protect Raikou from non-spread moves such as Close Combat from Hitmontop.

scraftylatias

When I faced a Rain team, I lead Scrafty and Latias almost 100% of the time. The most common lead I faced was Politoed and Kingdra. With a Fake Out user and a Dragon, this combination put fear into users of Kingdra, so my opponents usually protected Kingdra turn one. So, I’d use Fake Out on Politoed, use Sunny Day, and threaten a KO on Kingdra. This usually worked fantastically. I rarely lost to Rain in practice. An example of this combination in action is the US National Championship Senior Division Finals located here.

Match-ups

Sand

tyranitarexcadrillgarchomplandorus-therian

Against Sand in general, I’m usually anxious to get Gyarados and Rhyperior out since they demolish threats such as Landorus-T and Excadrill. Raikou Also has Hidden Power Ice to defeat Garchomp and Snarl for special attackers the team may have. Moxie Scrafty also has a Super Effective STAB attack on Tyranitar and Excadrill and threatens to obtain a Moxie Boost.

Rain

politoedkingdraludicolothundurus-therian

This was my favorite team to play against since I knew exactly what I had to do to win with ease. Scrafty and Latias were great against Rain-based leads my opponents would use. Since from team preview I seemingly have no way to change the weather, Sunny Day Latias surprises my opponents and weakens their main Muddy Waters and Scalds from Kingdra and Politoed respectively. Haban Berry makes it possible for Latias to defeat Kingdra one on one and Recover ensures that I can keep setting up Sunny Day as the battle goes on.

Trick Room

scraftyjellicentescavaliercresselia

Against Trick Room teams, the general idea was to use a combination of fast and slow Pokemon to punish my opponent in any condition. This was one of the main reasons why I enjoyed using Moxie Scrafty. Scrafty had good coverage and usually had Super Effective STAB against many Pokemon on the team, and Rhyperior was able to take advantage of Trick Room as well. Outside of Trick Room, Raikou and Volcarona reigned supreme. If needed, I brought Gyarados to take a few hits and to chip away at opposing Pokemon.

Threats

Lajo Sun

ninetalesscraftythundurusheatran

From the vivid memories of losing to Lajos Kowalewski (Lajo), I have come to dislike facing Sun. My three resists to Fire were Rhyperior, Gyarados, and Latias. The match-up was difficult since Gyarados’s STAB attack was weakened in Sun and Rhyperior was weak to Solarbeam. So, I mainly relied on Snarl and Latias’s durability as a fighting chance.

Here’s a replay of my team pitted against Lajo’s Sun team.

Gastrodon

gastrodon

Gastrodon was really more of an annoyance than a threat. I could not take it down easily and it rendered Gyarados and Rhyperior near useless. I’d either have to depend on Latias to wall it if it lacks Ice Beam, or utilize Scrafty and Rhyperior to damage it for something else to take it down.

Thundurus-T

thundurus-therian

Thundurus-T is a powerhouse with its monstrous base 145 Special Attack stat. Specs Thundurus-T gives me a lot of trouble since if it has Hidden Power Flying, it will have a Super Effective move against four Pokemon on my team. Thankfully, Raikou can lower Thundurus-T’s damage output with Snarl and combat Thundurus-T with Hidden Power Ice.

Changes

scraftyraikougyaradosrhyperiorlatiosamoonguss

amoonguss

SunnyDance (Amoonguss) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SDef
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 2 Spd
– Protect
– Spore
– Rage Powder
– Giga Drain

Why was the change made?

Amoonguss ended up replacing Volcarona on my team since I began to have trouble with RainRoom teams that had Amoonguss since people began to adjust to Sunny Day Haban Latias and Spore was threatening since Volcarona wasn’t really a Pokemon I’d want to bring against Rain. Amoonguss was a great addition to the team.

Moves, Item, EVs, Ability & Nature:

This right here is standard Amoonguss. The moves aren’t anything unexpected and the spread survives a Zen Headbutt from Adamant 252 Attack Metagross with the rest dumped in Special Defense. The 2 Speed IVs were there to outspeed 0 Speed IV Amoonguss with a hindering nature outside of Trick Room while still being as slow as possible. I figured that Lum Berry on Amoonguss would buy me a turn against Spore users since I can Rage Powder without punishment.

Role:

Amoonguss was mainly used for its redirection potential. Rage Powder allowed me to redirect to not only Spore, but other attacks aimed for Amoonguss’s partner. I commonly paired Amoonguss and Latios together as an offensive combination where Latios fired off a Modest Dragon Gem Draco Meteor and Amoonguss took hits and could heal with Regenerator.

Downsides:

Because I’m using Lum Berry over a recovery item, I find myself switching out Amoonguss often in order to preserve it. This makes me slightly more predictable. Also, Amoonguss has many weaknesses that sometimes prevent me from bringing it to a battle. The addition of Amoonguss created a 3x Ice-Type weakness on this team, but I didn’t expect much Hail at Worlds so I was not worried.

Nickname:

Secret.

latios

GeeGeeNoRe (Latios) @ Dragon Gem
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 36 HP / 248 SAtk / 224 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 Spd
– Protect
– Draco Meteor
– Psyshock
– Hidden Power [Fire]

Why was the change made?

Latias was replaced with Latios and I did not regret this change. When conversing with a friend, the idea of Modest Latios came up. I recalled that Modest Latios was successful at Worlds in 2012 in the hands of Snake and I wanted to give it a try. In practice, it was a very menacing threat I was thankful to have. One of the tips I had received from people after my shameful defeat in the Nationals final was that my team needed more offensive potential. Well, HERE IT IS.

Moves, Item, EVs, Ability & Nature:

Protect, Draco Meteor, and Psyshock aren’t very shocking. The one notable move is Hidden Power Fire. I noticed that I had no Fire-Type attack at all and I wanted the coverage. I ended up putting Hidden Power Fire on Latios as a filler move. The move was incredibly useful since it OHKOed Scizor and Escavalier while providing extra damage to Metagross, a common threat. The move also freed a spot for Rhyperior since I didn’t use Fire Punch or Megahorn very often. I utilized Modest Latios along with Dragon Gem to boost the power of Draco Meteor to OHKO the bulky Rotom-W people liked to use as well as several other Pokemon. The purpose of the EVs is to outspeed Jolly Landorus-T.

Role:

Latios usually had an offensive role in battles because of its great offensive potential. Against Rain, I paired it with Amoonguss to strike fear into Kingdra forcing the opponent to play predictably. Also, Latios provided extra damage against common Steel-Types.

Downsides:

Latios shared an Ice-Type weakness with Amoonguss and Rhyperior. Also, its Modest Nature placed it into an awkward speed tier. I often had to play carefully around other Dragons since there was a good chance of the opposing Dragon outspeeding Latios.

Nickname:

Modest Dragon Gem Draco Meteor hurts so badly that it’s GG the moment hits something. Thus, Latios received the nickname GeeGeeNoRe.

rhyperior

Derivative (Rhyperior) @ Ground Gem
Trait: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Atk / 20 SDef
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SAtk
– Protect
– Drill Run
– Rock Slide
– Earthquake

Why was the change made?

In the period of time between the Nationals and Worlds, I began to see Metagross a bit more often. Also, I’d often lose to a Swagger and Lum Metagross combination even though I could see it coming from a mile away. I brought up this problem to Wolfey and he suggested that I use Drill Run since it could OHKO 252 HP /4 Def Metagross 100% of the time without full Attack investment.

Moves, Item, EVs, Ability & Nature:

I know it may seem weird to run BOTH Drill Run AND Earthquake, but I did have a reason for that. Drill Run was to be used when single target damage was absolutely necessary such as when I am pitted against Lum Metagross with Swagger Cresselia. If Cresselia ever decided to use Trick Room, Rhyperior would underspeed Metagross and OHKO it. Rhyperior makes it dangerous for the Cresselia to use Trick Room so that the faster Pokemon on my team can damage Metagross without the fear of moving last. Earthquake was used when I could not identify which Pokemon would Protect in a given situation, or if Rhyperior was up against two Pokemon that were weak to Ground-Type moves. Earthquake often functioned as a “safe” move since it hits both opposing Pokemon. Fire Punch and Megahorn were not needed for me since in practice I used Drill Run more than both options combined.

Synergy

amoongussraikou

Amoonguss and Raikou ended up being my most common lead against Rain teams. Amoonguss has the threat of Spore and can redirect non-spread moves while Raikou can utilize Snarl to decrease the amount of damage the opposing Pokemon dish out. Also, both Raikou and Amoonguss have a Super Effective STAB Attack against Politoed.

latios + scraftyamoongussraikou

Latios was able to pair well with many teammates since the main idea was to buy time for Latios to fire off its Draco Meteor. Scrafty neutralized one Pokemon for a turn, Amoonguss could redirect all attacks, and Raikou could either Snarl or attack alongside Latios.

Matchups

Rain

politoedkingdraludicolothundurus-therian

My Rain match-up was one of two match-ups that actually changed due to the modifications of my Nationals team. Against Rain, I usually used a lineup consisting of Amoonguss, Raikou, Latios, and Gyarados. Gyarados’ slot was usually first to change depending on what they had. Amoonguss and Gyarados both utilized Status to hinder Pokemon such as Kingdra while Raikou and Latios put on offensive pressure.

Trick Room

scraftyjellicentescavaliercresselia

The addition of Amoonguss is pretty much the only change to this match-up. Amoonguss underspeeds a large portion of Trick Room users and abusers and threatens to hinder opposing Pokemon with Spore. This eases the match-up quite a bit since my opponents are even less inclined to set up Trick Room against this team.

Threats

Gastrodon, Heatran, and Amoonguss

gastrodonheatranamoonguss

Defensive cores like these were tough to break with my Worlds team. Aniclan Ackos (BillaBro) used a core similar to this in our Swiss best-of-three. Game number one is located here.

Abomasnow

abomasnow

Abomasnow was very frightening when Scrafty was nullified. Scarf variants would caused trouble as well. At Worlds, I banked on the fact that Seniors tend to stray away from the use of Hail when using this team. The only ways for me to reliably take out Abomasnow was to get a Drain Punch off on it, or stall until Latios has an oppurtunity to use Hidden Power Fire on it.

Replays

First Team

Loss against Daniel Cardenas (KermitTheFrog14)

Win against Panzerfahren

Nationals Team

Loss against Lajo

Win against Otterz

Win against joej m

Win against Topher Jones

Win against rdj5933mile5

Worlds Team

Win against Aaron Zheng (Cybertron)

Loss against Kochanski

Conclusion

I enjoyed using Raikou. I’m glad Bisty had convinced me to use something original at Nationals since it ended up paying off. Shoutouts to Cypher, lolfailsnail, Daniel Litvin (TalkingLion), KiwiDawg, Bisty, and nachocheese999 for helping me with my Worlds team. Nacho was probably the most influential figure during the teambuilding process since I would consult him for almost every problem I had. I’m also thankful that Wolfey offered to train me for Worlds as well. I had fun facing his Worlds team. Also, special thanks to Human for offering practice battles as preparation for Worlds. If I recall correctly, we played 23 times in the period of time between Nationals and Worlds. My overall record against Human was 10-13 (5-11 with my Nationals team and 5-2 with my Worlds team).


About the Author

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28 Responses to Second to One: A 2nd Place US Nationals & 10th Place Worlds Team Report

  1. Baz Anderson says:

    Congratulations on doing so well… I think it’s important to stick with a team and develop it, and that’s what you did here. I must have seen you play with this a million times on PS!, haha.
     
    Nice collection of battles too… I’m sure you had a good idea that “Kochanski” was me. (testing that team for the NB Major)

  2. Scott says:

    While I was definitely one of those people who was wondering how you managed to knock anything out with the original roster, I actually really liked this team. I can’t really think of anyone who used anything similar to this to much success in North America or Europe, so it was cool both that you did so well and did well using some stuff that I think was pretty undervalued by most of the other players in the community. Raikou stands out to me because it is my favorite Pokemon and this was probably the best team that used it in Generation 5, but Latias, Rhyperior, Gyarados, and Moxie Scrafty were all pretty uncommon too and they played together pretty nicely here. It was a fun team to watch, and I’m glad you had success with it.

  3. R Inanimate says:

    Congrats on your performance in 2013. It was a nice getting to watch you battle on the stage during Nationals.

  4. LPFan says:

    Congrats this season, it was nice to have you as a tough contender this season as I wish you best of luck in the masters division!

  5. BrewCrew says:

    Very nice team props for seeing a fellow snarlkou user.

  6. Abaris says:

    Very nice team. I really enjoyed watching you play and playing against you as well.
    Raikou is a thing. Probably the best pure electric type Pokémon, and as Scott said, very underused.
    Congratulaions on your performance, and best of luck this season ^^

    2 Speed IV’s Amoonguss, you just copied me, you scrub >.>

  7. dingram says:

    Thanks for the replies! I surely enjoyed my final year in Seniors.
     

    Congratulations on doing so well… I think it’s important to stick with a team and develop it, and that’s what you did here. I must have seen you play with this a million times on PS!, haha.
     
    Nice collection of battles too… I’m sure you had a good idea that “Kochanski” was me. (testing that team for the NB Major)

    Haha… I had a feeling it was you after I saw you battle on stream.

  8. tlyee61 says:

     Latios shared an Ice-Type weakness with Amoonguss and Rhyperior. Also, its Modest Nature placed it into an akward speed tier.

     
    dEvOn pls I thought you skipped a grade
     
    also, nice team :D

  9. dingram says:

    dEvOn pls I thought you skipped a grade
     
    also, nice team :D

     
    Thank you for pointing out that mistake.

  10. feathers says:

    that would be my fault, i’m supposed to edit that kind of thing lol

  11. Dreykopff says:

    Isn’t it more like second to…ten? :P

    Congratulations on a good season. Your team building style always made me curious, and I somehow never noticed you were actually using defensive mons with offensive spreads. Also, pretty much every version of your team looks like it would have one or even more setup plans at preview (Raikou could (double) Screen or Calm Mind, Volcarona could Quiver Dance or protect something with Rage Powder or do both at the same time, Scrafty could Bulk Up, Gyarados could Dragon Dance etc., there is a ridiculous amount of options), but instead there are none. Alas, only very little time left to actually play around with those ideas, if you haven’t already considered them before.

  12. dingram says:

    Isn’t it more like second to…ten? :P

    Congratulations on a good season. Your team building style always made me curious, and I somehow never noticed you were actually using defensive mons with offensive spreads. Also, pretty much every version of your team looks like it would have one or even more setup plans at preview (Raikou could (double) Screen or Calm Mind, Volcarona could Quiver Dance or protect something with Rage Powder or do both at the same time, Scrafty could Bulk Up, Gyarados could Dragon Dance etc., there is a ridiculous amount of options), but instead there are none. Alas, only very little time left to actually play around with those ideas, if you haven’t already considered them before.

     
    Actually, the title is referencing Mr. Fox’s season in 2012 since he also got 2nd place at Nats and 10th place at worlds. Also, thanks for the ideas! I will take those into consideration.

  13. MrFox says:

    I loved your team, great job [s]stealing my spots[/s] doing so well at nats and worlds! You really earned it, it was fun to see your team in action, and may we carry the Cones together!

    Also, thanks for the reference!

  14. Technoz says:

    Great report man! Good luck in masters next year!

  15. kingofmars says:

    Just throwing out there that I totally called everything. Huge props for using a weird team in seniors, with it being a weaker field the temptation to use a well tested team as a safe option is tempting, glad to see creativity do so well in spite of this. Dont worry about masters, its an easier division anyways.

  16. pball0010 says:

    Congrats, and we definitely had a small cheering section going for Raikou. We need to start a club.

    ~Raikou forever <3<3<3

  17. BlueMaster23 says:

    Congrats too Sir! Hope we had a good start when Pokemon X and Y comes…VGC Rules….

  18. Lajo says:

    I love defensive teams, and if they are creative like yours, I like them even more.
    The problem with those teams is its lack of power, so I think you came to a good solution for this by making use of modest Latios.
     
    I was always wondering how your Raikou spread would look like, thinking that it was bulky and now I see it did not have much bulk at all! I think your team makes the most out of Raikou, and I´m glad you did so well with it this year.
    I also like the fact that you worked on this team quite a lot. Like Baz did with his Nats team or me with my sun team, it shows that a team which is really well builded (thanks to improvements against its flaws) can´t be outteamed easily, even if you know it in and out- I was afraid that a lot of players would know that your Rhyperior had SOLID ROCK and not Lightningrod, because you tested it in and out on PS- but thankfully I was wrong and you made an impressive apperance at Nats.
     
    It just seems like even your improved version can´t do much against my sun, though :P
    But thanks for mentioning it and good luck for next year, you will do well at masters, I´m sure ;)

  19. KiwiDawg says:

    Yess 1337 so strong. I’m proud that you represented #TEAMKOREA well and I promise we will win every multibattle again this season. I would say more but I think this sums it all up:

    SUNNY DANCE

  20. dtrain says:

    Congrats on a great season! Great report too I’ll add. It was fun watching a unique team make its way to the finals.

  21. Technoz says:

     I promise we will win every multibattle again this season.

     
    Challenge Accepted, #TeamTechnoPenguin will be waiting at nats ;).

  22. dingram says:

    Challenge Accepted, #TeamTechnoPenguin will be waiting at nats ;).

     
    Getting carried by the Worlds Runner-Up I see.

  23. MrFox says:

    I call Bisty, but I will multibattle with anyone. 
     
    As long as they’re not Allen.

  24. Kyle says:

    Needs moar Swaggah. Haha xD

  25. Kyle says:

    *CoUgH* TM 87 *CoUGh*

  26. Kyle says:

    You must really love bacon, my friend…

  27. Biosci says:

    Hi even though you’re trying to be funny, there’s no need to triple post.
     
    Said it to you already on IRC, but quality team/team article Dingram! Almost makes me want to go back to using Raikou ;_;

  28. nickofpokemon says:

    hmmm your scrafty has a adamant nature I thought it was brave…

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