Reports

Published on July 2nd, 2014 | by R Inanimate

6

Antique Terror Team Report

This is R Inanimate here to report about a team that I’ve been running for the past month or two. While the team wasn’t used in a big way, such as at a Regional or National. I ran it in a number of smaller tournaments, including a few live tournaments, the No Megas tournament, and during a Premier Challenge. It was also what I used exclusively during the Summer Scramble.

The team started out with the simple thought of “I want to try out Mega Aerodactyl.” This led me to initially running some similar ideas to Sejun Park’s Korean Regional winning team by using Bisharp, Aerodactyl, and Amoonguss. While this worked well, it didn’t feel like it it had the spark I was looking for in my team, thus leading me towards trying a different team approach. What I changed my team into, took a few ideas from a number of teams that I have had used in past years.

This team was used in a wide variety of settings, so it went through more than one set of nicknames throughout the tournaments it was played in. If you’ve faced someone on Pokémon Showdown that had Pokémon nicknamed “Misaka, Mikasa, Misaki, Misawa, Misato, Misa Room”, it was probably me. Nicknames used on cart were different, and were based off of Touhou song titles.

The Team

Aerodactyl (M) @ Aerodactylite ***Old World
Ability: Unnerve -> Tough Claws
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Rock Slide
– Ice Fang
– Sky Drop
– Protect

***Held an Expert Belt instead for No Megas tournament.

The Mega of the team. I’ve used Aerodactyl a bit in the past in 2013. For some reason, I’ve always gravitated towards using Aerodactyl as an attacker, rather than a supporter, even with all the support moves that Aerodactyl has at its disposal.

This time is no different from the last; the Aerodactyl on this team is all about attacking the opponent straight up. While there are some merits to going with a Jolly nature, I chose to go Adamant to just further increase my damage output, as having Adamant 252 Speed still lets Mega Aerodactyl move before most of the competition in 2014. -1 Mega Aerodactyl will still OHKO 4 HP EV Salamence with Ice Fang, guaranteeed, when Adamant. When I used this Aerodactyl during the No Mega tournament, I swapped its Mega Stone out for an Expert Belt. This allowed Aerodactyl to still have a 75% chance to OHKO Garchomp with Ice Fang, and kept its Rock Slides hitting strong against the many Rock-weak Pokémon in the field.

Playing Aerodactyl aggressively also leads to a lot of points in battles where I can draw up Rock slide flinches and shift the battle in my favour. Coming off of 205 Attack with STAB, Mega Aerodactyl’s Rock Slides aren’t something you can just shrug off as a mere chip damage.

Staraptor (F) @ Choice Scarf ***Night Bird
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Atk / 156 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Brave Bird
– Close Combat
– Final Gambit
– U-turn

Staraptor Final Gambit Bomb. Another Pokémon that I’ve had the pleasure of working with back in 2013. HP is maximized to dish out 192 damage with Final Gambit, along with Speed EVs to reach 140 Speed to outspeed Choice Scarf Smeargle. Staraptor is a pretty vital member of this team, as its Intimidate can provide me a bit more room to switch around for my team, while Final Gambit can give me a way to threaten taking out a large threat if my opponent isn’t careful.

One thing that is important when running Staraptor is to make sure to properly manage when I want it to make a Final Gambit exit, or to decide to commit to using it simply for its other attacks. It can be pretty rough for me to make a big KO only to find myself pushed down by hard hitting physical attackers after sacrificing my high speed Intimidate support.

Amoonguss (F) @ Rocky Helmet ***Dream War
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 236 HP / 100 Def / 172 SDef
Calm Nature
– Rage Powder
– Spore
– Giga Drain
– Protect

***Sometimes had Effect Spore when playing on PS!

Rocky Helmet Amoonguss has beeing something that’s grown in popularity over time in 2014, and for pretty good reason. Amoonguss redirects away Mega Kangaskhan’s heavy hitting single target attacks, and causes it to lose 1/3 of its HP by swinging twice into the helm. Even if you end up sacrificing Amoonguss in the process, it makes Mega Kangashkan much easier to deal with.

While people will often go for a full 252 HP / 252 Def Bold to further harass Mega Kangaskhan, I felt the need to run a more Special Defensive Amoonguss for my team. The EVs I have survives Modest 252 SpA Rotom-H’s Overheat 7/8 times. Don’t ask why I didn’t just make it 8/8. I don’t know either. Amoonguss is the only defensively oriented Pokémon on my team. In short, a number of battles will be decided based on how well, or how poorly I manage the usage of my Amoonguss.

On one of my team versions for PS, I was lazy and forgot to switch Effect Spore for Regenerator. Both abilities have their merits, but I do feel that Regenerator is better for how my team operates. Amoonguss sponging away damage for the team allows me to sustain my offense-oriented pressure. My playstyle involves a lot of aggressive switching, which allows Amoonguss to heal up.

Chandelure (F) @ Life Orb ***BurnInVioIet
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 132 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 116 Spd
Modest Nature
– Overheat
– Shadow Ball
– Heat Wave
– Protect

Chandelure holds a rather specific in role for this team. Originally, the team had a set up where I was trying to mislead my opponents into thinking I had a Trick Room option on my team preview. Too bad the amount of people that probably thought I had Trick Room was all of zero.

While the Trick Room bluff failed, Chandelure plays a role in countering Trick Room in itself, along with Aegislash. Infiltrator lets Chandelure bypass Substitute, and the usage of Substitute will leave Aegislash in range to be KO’d by Shadow Ball 100% of the time, even after recovering with leftovers for a turn. Even so, if I want to make sure I get the KO, I can always use Overheat instead. Speaking of which, Overheat has an 11/16 chance to OHKO 4HP Mega Kangaskhan.

I have to be a bit careful when running Chandelure, since it is not particularly fast, nor durable, so it relys pretty heavily on some cover support from its ally to let it incinerate the opposition with Life Orb Heat Waves.

Garchomp (F) @ Lum Berry ***GraveOfBeing
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
– Earthquake
– Dragon Claw
– Rock Slide
– Protect

Standard Lum Berry Garchomp. Wanted an Earthquake user. Didn’t want to be weak to Water. Chose Garchomp.

Rotom-W @ Choice Specs ***MagicalStorm
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 36 SAtk / 24 SDef / 148 Spd
Modest Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Hydro Pump
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Volt Switch

Choice Specs Rotom-W. I added in this Rotom-W over an Abomasnow just after the start of the Summer Scramble. Its EVs provide it with 125 Speed to get ahead of Timid/Jolly Tyranitar, 144 Special Attack to OHKO Garchomp with Hidden Power Ice, HP and Defense to survive Mega Mawile’s Play Rough, and the rest into Special Defense. Although I’ve never actually played using a Cresselia, I sort of feel like the use of a Specs Rotom-W here is somewhat similar to the thought of using Life Orb or Choice Specs Cresselia back in 2013. People expect Rotom to not hit that hard, and to be more focused on spreading status, or relying on type effectivity to get out its damage. So they can be in for a rough time if they let me pick up any surprise KOs with this thing.

But who cares about all of that? All you’ll remember about this thing is that it is the little washer that could; who dodged 4 Fire Blasts in a row, while hitting 4 Hydro Pumps in a row like a champ in that one battle on stream at the BC Premier Challenge #2.

Abomasnow (F) @ Focus Sash ***Tabula Rasa
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
– Blizzard
– Energy Ball
– Focus Blast
– Protect

***Used during the No Megas tournament, and in some earlier Scramble matches over Rotom-W

I might as well talk about my former 6th team member, Abomasnow as it was a pretty key player for my team during the No Mega tournament . My original idea for having Abomasnow was that it could cause people to think that I had a Trick Room play on my team, involving Mega Abomasnow, Chandelure, and Amoonguss causing people to prepare for something that didn’t exist. But, as I mentioned, nobody was fooled. I did find out that a lot of people seem to forget that Sash used to be a standard item on Abomasnow though.

The moveset isn’t anything special. I opted to run Focus Blast instead of Ice Shard to try to handle Pokémon like Bisharp, but didn’t really work out as I would have liked. Abomasnow played a larger role for the team during the No Megas tournament, as it did not have to deal with the common Mega Pokémon such as Charizard, Kangaskhan, and Mawile who would normally give Abomasnow a tough time. It also serves as a stronger answer to Rain, which I felt would be a lot stronger in a tournament without Megas.

Overall

“PS! ladder does a really poor job of convincing me not to use gimmick train wreck teams…” -April 30th

That was a forum status update I had regarding this team, which at the time still ran Abomasnow, and thus had four Pokémon weak to Rock, and four Pokémon weak to Ice. I had a situation where I had brought all 4 Pokémon that were weak to Ice, but still managed to win against a team that had Mamoswine on it. If you told me then that I’d be writing an article about this team based on its successful performances a little over a month later, I’d think that you were lying. But when I think about it… if the opponent doesn’t have much of a way to exploit my team’s widespread Rock/Ice weaknesses, it actually is pretty difficult to face against.

In any case, the team is about pressuring with damaging attacks with Amoonguss as the defensive anchor for the team. As I’ve said a number of times, the team has a lot of common weaknesses, particularly to Rock and Ice, and not that much in terms of defensive bulk outside of Amoonguss. The lack of Steel- or Fairy-types gives Dragons a bit of free reign, but at least the addition of Rotom-W over Abomasnow completes a Fire-Water-Grass triangle to create a proper defensive core within the team. When I had Abomasnow I pretty much wrote the team off as a “defensive train wreck”, but now it’s just on the borderline of being one.

Team Strategy

With Amoonguss, Staraptor’s Intimidate, and a small handful of scattered immunities and resistances, the team runs on a skeleton crew when it comes to its ability to switch around during battle. You’ll need to bank on some sharp team reading skill, and a bit of predictive play in order to sustain your offensive presence and corner the opponent. Some surprises in the form of unexpected Mega Aerodactyl, or Specs Hidden Power Rotom certainly made life easier for me as well. Here are a few points of note for team usage:

Aerodactyl + Amoonguss

As Aerodactyl is the sole Mega on this team, it is often brought into battle. On the other hand, Amoonguss is the defensive anchor to the team. As such, for team selections I’ll often have both Aerodactyl and Amoonguss on the team, and choose two more. I usually try to lead with Aerodactyl in order to have it in safely to become Mega Aerodactyl, as otherwise it can be tough to get Aerodactyl into play. Amoonguss can be placed anywhere on the team, as it is easier to switch in on attacks.

Staraptor, Rotom-W, Amoonguss

Staraptor and Rotom-W have U-Turn and Volt switch, respectively. When this is used along with Amoonguss with Regenerator, I can play a strategy where I can slowly chip away and wear down my opponents with the switching moves, allowing me to pile on Intimidates, or recover HP for Amoonguss.

Chandelure + Amoonguss

Anti-TR set up. Also, even if I’m not facing Trick Room, Chandelure relies very heavily on Amoonguss’s redirection to work effectively. Otherwise, Chandelure is at the mercy of the many Pokémon with Sucker Punch.

Threats

Have I mentioned how this team is a bit of a defensive trainwreck? Most of the time, I can try to keep myself a step or two ahead of my defeat, but some Pokémon just make my chances of survival much, much, worse. There are two huge threats, and a few more lesser, but still noteworthy mentions.

Mamoswine

When Mamoswine can do a huge amount of damage to 5/6 of your Pokémon, you know that you are in some trouble. Staraptor and Rotom-W are pretty much a mandatory choice for me to bring against a team with Mamoswine. From there, I need to do quite a bit of fancy footwork to try to steer the battle towards a victory.

Ludicolo

At some point, I found out that my team has a gigantic weakness to Ludicolo in the rain. I think my only way to deal with a Ludicolo in the rain is to try to KO it by double target, and sacrificing one of my own. In the rain, it can outspeed and OHKO 4/6 of my Pokémon, and it doesn’t get redirected by Rage Powder. I’m pretty sure I flat out lose against this, but somehow I did win one battle with a Ludicolo, and didn’t ever face another. I probably lose on turn 0 against R’s Rain Beat Down.

Mega Tyranitar

Not nearly as potent as the first two, but it tends to come with the team support they need to make it quite difficult for me to get a clean hit in to deal with it. If Mega Tyranitar gets off a Dragon Dance, or two, I’ll be unable to handle it.

Mega Manectric

It outspeeds Aerodactyl, and can do a lot of damage to my Pokémon. However, its attacks are single target, so it can be relatively contained by Amoonguss.

Safety Goggles

Redirection is pretty vital for my team. With how much I feel like I need to plan ahead for my moves, ignoring Rage Powder unexpectedly can put me in a serious disadvantage.

Results and Conclusion

Premier Challenge

I didn’t really face anyone who had a team that could heavily exploit my teams major weaknesses, at least until the person I faced in the last round of Swiss and the Finals, who had Mamoswine. However, since his Mamoswine only had Ice Shard for an Ice Move, it was something that I could manage when I figured that out. I also had to face Phenac in Round 3, where that match pretty much came down to choosing the right move in the final turns.

No Mega tournament

In the end, I won the entire tournament. While there were a lot of activity issues throughout the No Mega tournament, I only had one match where I didn’t end up playing for a round. I sort of feel like I had a ton of lucky breaks during this tournament, as there were so many times where I either got just the right amount of luck, or was able to make just enough of a gutsy play in order to take a victory.

Live Tournaments

This team broke my situation of either going out in R2, or winning the tournament. Had a pretty solid T2, and two T4 finishes I believe.

Scramble

I didn’t really play as many games as I could have, so I ended up missing cut. At one point, I had a record of something like 18W – 1 L, but then played people with a lot of Mamoswine, Mega Tyranitar, and stuff, then dropped to a more reasonable 24-8 or so.

In the end, this was a pretty fun team for me to play. It has blatant flaws in it, but was extremely satisfying to go into mismatched situations, and pull some crazy magical plays in order to come out of the match victorious. While not the kind of team I’d bring to Nationals or Worlds, it was a nice change of pace from my other team this year.

About the Author

R Inanimate R Inanimate is a long time participant in official Pokemon Tournaments, first attending the 2005 Battle in Seattle Tournament. Known for using teams that are a bit off from the standard, and not using RNG'd Pokemon. Avid Battle Frontier fan. Worlds 2013 competitor, known for running Togekiss and Mold Breaker Excadrill.

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