Reports

Published on January 6th, 2014 | by Xenoblade Hero

12

Deus Ex Machina – A Nintendo UK Winter Event Report

Overview

Hello there, I’m Xenoblade Hero (also known as Xeno’s Test on Showdown, I’m usually on the VGC server) and this is my post about my experiences leading up to and at the Pokémon Winter Event, and the teams that I used.

I first found out about the Nottingham Streetpass qualifier event through word of mouth. I turned up with my sister and a couple of friends and was rather shocked to find Ben Kyriakou and Baz Anderson at what I assumed would just be a “casual” event! Thankfully I had prepared a well-built team beforehand with the assistance of the Showdown VGC Chat members and Jamie Miller, who helped me with drafting and testing a lot of the team’s synergies.

Qualifying team

Chandelure @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Timid Nature
– Overheat
– Shadow Ball
– Energy Ball
– Will-O-Wisp

This lil’ Chandelure ended up becoming the star of the show in the qualifying rounds. Outspeeding every mega form without base 150 Speed, Chandy’s Overheat unleashed huge amounts of damage on the opposition, managing to OHKO Amoonguss, whilst Heat Wave (though not yet legal) does not. Shadow Ball and Energy Ball were placed for coverage, the latter cleaning up a weakened Rotom-W and the former managing to outpace and OHKO all variants of Gengar.

Will-O-Wisp was placed for shock factor, and was also a tactical move to tackle a Mega Mawile abusing Sucker Punch. Whilst the powerful attack KOs Chandelure, the same can’t be said when it’s burned. With the heavy presence of physical attackers, Will-O-Wisp was, and is a godsend in Generation VI, especially with the accuracy increase.

Aromatisse @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Aroma Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 72 SDef / 180 Def
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Trick Room
– Misty Terrain
– Moonblast
– Protect

This was my standard Trick Room setter. The spread was kindly borrowed from Jamie and it gives Aromatisse optimal bulk. A Sitrus Berry was provided to give her that extra bulk to take constant attacks. It’s much more useful than Leftovers in a fast paced metagame; if Aromatisse survives two or more turns, it’s generally done its job of setting up Trick Room and preventing status. Moonblast KOs all but the bulkiest of Scrafty immediately and has general presence against some big threats. The move is also boosted from STAB, and Fairy is resisted by very few types (something that I took advantage of in the qualifying rounds). Aroma Veil is a brilliant ability in high level play; protecting your team from moves like Taunt and Torment as well as rendering Rage Powder useless. The widespread coverage across both Pokémon on your side of the field (unlike Oblivious, which only shields a single target) is why I chose Aromatisse as my setter rather than, say, Slowbro (which my sister evilpinkdragon used rather well). It also has a much more useful typing than the similarly bulky Reuniclus, with more resistances, less weaknesses and an immunity to the omnipresent Dragon type.

Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate – – > Huge Power
EVs: 76 SDef / 252 HP / 180 Atk
Adamant Nature
– Sucker Punch
– Iron Head
– Play Rough
– Protect

The Special Defence investment allows Mawile to survive two of Rotom’s Thunderbolts the majority of the time and let loose with a hugely powerful Play Rough. My mega form of choice through playtesting, Mega Mawile requires plenty of prediction to use correctly. He can 2HKO the majority of the metagame though so it was generally worthwhile using him in almost every game I played. Sucker Punch outpaces and smashes weakened threats, the other moves generally OHKO the correct target upon impact, and his coverage deals with anything that isn’t Steel type effectively. I didn’t place 0 speed IVs onto any of my Pokémon as I wanted them to deal with threats outside of the Trick Room environment. If an opponent’s two Pokémon on the field have a speed advantage, then is the time to use Trick Room; it shouldn’t be a necessity for the team to operate.

Azumarill @ Lum Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
– Play Rough
– Double Edge
– Aqua Jet
– Protect

With the lack of knowledge about Rotom’s greatness at the time, I could get away with using Huge Power Azumarill as there were few that could tank its moves well. Double Edge was placed so Amoonguss could not wall the set. Aqua Jet was excellent against Talonflame in qualifying, and Play Rough is a powerful base 90 STAB move that many of the usual weather cores feared. Azumarill’s typing was exceptional for taking on Politoed/Kingdra and Tyranitar/Garchomp cores that plagued a metagame where people liked to play safe.

A Lum Berry was placed to protect Azumarill from a single Will-O-Wisp, or the effects of sleep. It also was useful in other situational circumstances, such as a predicted Swagger on a special attacker of mine. If I had more time, a dedicated spread could have been used to accurately tank Mega Kangashan, Greninja and Mega Lucario so Azumarill would be almost guaranteed to check them despite being initially slower.

Dragonite @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 176 HP / 128 Atk / 12 SDef / 192 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Dragon Claw
– Earthquake
– Dragon Dance
– Protect

The speed EVs allow Dragonite to outspeed Greninja after a Dragon Dance and OHKO non-sashed variants with Dragon Claw. Weakness Policy is one of the best new items that has been released in XY and Dragonite’s Multiscale works brilliantly in conjunction as it allows him to tank most super effective attacks that aren’t Blizzard. Dragonite also highlights two vital contrasts in the team I created to keep opponents guessing; a slow Trick Room core and a faster core that can function outside of the environment. Speed control is always something I like to have on my side of the field, regardless of the opponent’s team.

Amoonguss @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
IVs: 0 Spd
– Rage Powder
– Spore
– Sludge Bomb
– Protect

Standard Amoonguss, standard EVs, but this mushroom still causes shenanigans like no other Pokemon. Rage Powder gives Chandelure and Dragonite time to burn or set up respectively, and Spore can be used to detain troublesome opponents. Additionally, I found the added power and coverage of Sludge Bomb (*cough* Fairies *cough*) much more useful than the healing properties of Giga Drain. I cannot stress enough just how useful the combination of Rage Powder and Spore was in the tournament; if the opponent’s side of the field doesn’t include something named Talonflame, Amoonguss is easily able to switch in and assist with meddling. I also picked Regenerator over Effect Spore, despite the limited switching in doubles environment. This was because I found the 33% recovery on switch out incredibly useful; that’s usually enough to take unbanded Garchomp’s Earthquake!

Streetpass East Midlands Tournament

Round One: Xeno vs James

I can’t remember much about this battle as unfortunately I forgot to save it! I can only remember the lead matchups. Starting with Azumarill and Aromatisse, predicting Greninja as a lead, I immediately Aqua Jetted the Barbaracle’s Sturdy off, correctly predicting that it would Shell Smash behind a Mat Block. In the same turn Trick Room was set up by Aromatisse, making the speed boost from Shell Smash a sudden hindrance. With the opponent having no priority moves and not wanting to switch out and lose the boosts, I manage to dispatch of Barbaracle with the combined presence of my leads. Ultimately I believe that the match was won 3-0 but my memory of what happened after the first two turns is limited. Moral of the story is always save your battle replays!

Round Two: Xeno vs Bye

Yes, I was lucky enough to get a bye in the second round. Not many people signed up to the tournament, and there were just over twenty people competing overall so several of us ended up with a lucky bye. The timing of this was invaluable though as it got me straight to the quarter-final. Watching the other battles that were going on I managed to see EPD doing well. Kyriakou was having a heated battle that was easily the longest of the day, and it gathered the majority of the crowd. Most of my friends had managed to knock each other out by the end of the second round!

Semi-Final: Xeno vs Jake (WhiteAfroKing92)

vs

This is where things started to get heated. I seemingly had the upper hand from the lead matchup with two Fairy type Pokemon to combat Scrafty, but Rotom’s bulk could prove problematic. Intimidate was fired off from both sides of the field as my Mawile Mega Evolves the first turn, reason for this being I wanted to intimidate the leads and force a switch. I protect so my stats become increased and to scout. Thankfully I scouted a Will-O-Wisp coming in my direction. Scrafty used Fake Out on Aromatisse.

I didn’t want to be burned so early on so I switched to Amoonguss to soak up a Will-O-Wisp. Aromatisse and Scrafty protect. A good looking turn for me as my current matchup allows Amoonguss to detain the threats on the field.

I wanted to detain the Scrafty with Spore this turn, but Jake ends up switching to his Talonflame, so I put that to sleep instead. Stopping one of his biggest threats in the early game is a pretty big move, and he’s presented little that can take on Amoonguss so far. I finally get the Trick Room up on this turn too so both of my Pokemon can outspeed everything bar Brave Bird. The next turn I use Moonblast and Sludge Bomb on Talonflame in an effort to harm the bird before it wakes up, putting “Eddie” on about 33% health. Rotom-W, after missing last turn, manages to accomplish its goal of burning everything on the field with Will-O-Wisp.

I switch out Amoonguss for Azumarill just in case Talonflame wakes up (and so I can get a clean KO with Play Rough on Rotom). Rotom misses with a Hydro Pump, luck not being on his side currently. With Trick Room still up I manage to OHKO his Rotom with a Play Rough. Jake claimed that a critical hit mattered, so he must have been running a bulky spread on the thing. Rather unfortunate, but lucky for me as I just KO’d his Will-O-Wisper, and Mawile has much greater field presence. Kangashan is revealed, which I thankfully Moonblast, and Scrafty switches in. I fear the worst though.

Predictably, Fake Out is done on one of my Pokemon (Azumarill) and I protect with Aromatisse, gambling with the 50/50 chance of him getting a heavy attack in with Kangashan. Luckily I predicted correctly and I’m only an Intimidate worse off. However; Trick Room fades away, and I know something is going to get hurt. Scrafty protects and predicts a Play Rough heading in its direction whilst I set up Trick Room. The now Mega’d Kangashan uses Return on Azumarill, and I only just manage to survive it on 2 HP after receiving a Fake Out on the previous turn!

Scrafty and Kanga then take out both of my Pokémon in the next two turns with their presence, as Aromatisse was forced to take several turns of burn. Trick Room was still up, and Jake’s Talonflame was still asleep. The match could have gone either way at this point.

Switching in Mawile and Amoonguss as Aromatisse bites the dust, I KO Kangashan (the bigger threat) with a Huge Power Iron Head. Next turn I Sucker Punch the Talonflame, predicting a Flare Blitz from it rather than Brave Bird if it wakes up. This leaves only Scrafty on the field, which Mawile and Amoonguss detain. Unbelievably, I’m through to the final… at this stage, I’m guaranteed a ticket to London! It was difficult to take it all in!

Final: Xeno vs Ben (Kyriakou)

vs

Seeing Amoonguss in the lead matchup, I knew that I had to bring something that could consistently check it, otherwise my team would be in a daze. With Scizor on the preview as well I bought Chandelure with me. Mawile was there to check his Tyranitar (which could have been a Mega form along with Scizor, but Scizor didn’t see much use as its mega variant in playtesting) and Scrafty; as far as I saw it didn’t look like he had a consistent check for it but I could have been wrong. Ben chose to lead with Scrafty for the Intimidate, despite my team consisting of mostly fairies, and Azumarill. A Fake Out user with an Azumarill? I called Belly Drum.

The Intimidate on my Mawile would make its attacks pretty weak, and his physical attackers mean that I save Mawile for later to intimidate again. I use Will-O-Wisp on Azumarill, predicting the correct (Sitrus Berry) variant. He uses Waterfall on Chandelure which does half damage with a burn and -1 attack. I switch in Mawile again to replace Chandelure as I predict a switch from Scrafty on Ben’s end. He switches to Amoonguss, which troubles both of my leads.

A massive play happens here where I Play Rough the opposing Azumarill, it recovers with Sitrus Berry, and Belly Drums itself just in range for the burn to finish it off. I knew that Play Rough would 2HKO, but I didn’t think he would Belly Drum this turn. I was very lucky that I used the right move at the right time!

Scizor, surprisingly, is switched in next. My team didn’t have a lot for this guy either with my lack of fire coverage. With Azumarill and Mawile on the field, I could only pile onto Amoonguss, just to make sure it didn’t use Spore on anything. It’s thankfully knocked out with the combination of Double Edge and Iron Head.

Scrafty is now sent in, intimidating both my attackers. I made a misplay and aim a Sucker Punch at Scizor as it boosts up to +3. Azumarill flinches to a Fake Out. However; the next turn Ben underestimates Mawile’s bulk and uses Bullet Punch in an attempt to OHKO. It barely survived the attack, which allows me to Play Rough the Scrafty and OHKO it off the bat. My opponent only has Scizor left and I’m 4-1 up. What worries me though is that Scizor, if Ben predicted correctly, he had the potential to wipe out my entire team. I didn’t want a repeat of VGC’13, where he managed to sweep me with his Volcarona when I was 3-1 up!

All I can say is that from here, sheer presence won me the match. Scizor lacked spread moves so I kept chipping away at its health bar, bit by bit. When I switched Dragonite in, Multiscale meant that he couldn’t OHKO it immediately. For this reason alone, my Dragonite manages to finish it off with a well-timed Dragon Claw. I’d won the tournament. Free plushies, eShop vouchers and revenge for Nationals was served, like a well-cooked dish.

Onto the main event!

I felt that going to this tournament was quite an honour. Unfortunately my sister evilpinkdragon just missed out on qualifying after an insanely close match against WhiteAfroKing92, but she still joined three good friends and myself on a great road trip to London. There were Krispy Kremes, there were Pokemon plushies, but there was also an hour long loop of the Kalos bicycle theme that I would rather not talk about… Just about drove us all insane!

We got to London and the venue did not disappoint. Talked to a couple of guys from the Showdown VGC server before the event – even Toquill, who went and won the darn thing! After that we entered the facility where we would all commence battle (the building was like some sort of TARDIS) all of the people competing and the spectators were engulfed in this fantastic space underneath a seemingly modest shop. We all got registered, and then waited for the draws.

My UK Winter Championship Team

Spin Cycle (Rotom-Wash) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 184 SAtk / 252 HP / 28 Def / 44 SDef
Modest Nature
– Will-O-Wisp
– Hydro Pump
– Thunderbolt
– Protect

“Washing machines live longer with Calgon!”

The EV spread was a bit of a failure on my part – it was created to be able to 2HKO Bulky Mega Gengar with Hydro Pump (fearing Destiny Bond) but unfortunately that won’t exist until Pokébank! 44 SDef was to take two Sludge Bombs from Gengar and the defence was left over (but it did allow me to take Garchomp’s Rock Slides very comfortably in testing).

You could say that this is a replacement for my Will-O-Wisping Chandelure I used earlier in the qualifiers; Rotom has much more survivability than Chandy ever packed though, and the coverage moves he bought to the table were provided by the other Pokémon in my team.

The moveset isn’t very surprising. Will-O-Wisp is used to cripple opposing physical attackers (namely the omnipresent Mega Mawile and Mega Kanga, Garchomp, Tyranitar, etc). It also made Rotom seem much bulkier than it actually was when used! Hydro Pump and Thunderbolt have excellent coverage between them and the presence of both made dealing with both bulky and banded Talonflame much easier. Talonflame’s usage had hit the roof by the time this tournament started, so I’m very pleased that I had something to counter all variants. Hydro Pump also deals around 50% to standard Chomp and well over half to Tyranitar, both of which were commonly used cores. Rotom-W’s typing made him very easy to switch in multiple times during a match. Sitrus Berry added to its bulk further as Rotom isn’t generally OHKO’d. Contrary to what many people thought at the time though, Rotom wasn’t a good check to the rampant Mega Charizard that were used throughout the event; I had to rely on the presence of my other team members to get around it.

Moegami (Talonflame) @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
– Brave Bird
– Flare Blitz
– U-turn
– Tailwind

“Burn a new source of light into the obscuring darkness!”

Talonflame tore through all unprepared teams, the dreadful Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur, and served as a brilliant late game cleaner. I only lead with Talonflame when sensing a lead that Talonflame can deal with, and for the other surprise that will be explained shortly. U-Turn is for pivoting on a misplay. Everything seems very standard but you may be thinking; why is Tailwind, or a fast attacker for that matter, placed on what appears to be a Trick Room team?

The answer is, my team is more of a goodstuffs than a standard TR core that relies entirely on Aromatisse to set up. Gale Wings has priority even when the room of doom is active, meaning it still has sweeping presence. And the last move, Tailwind, is the icing on the cake, and also why I didn’t invest in Brave/Quiet natures for the majority of my Pokémon. It allowed my slow Pokémon to out-speed top tier threats and gave my team members a massive advantage. Suddenly, Mawile starts to outpace that Garchomp which threatens a STAB Earthquake. Conkeldurr can get the OHKO on a Jolly +2 Kangashan which is forced to resort to Sucker Punch. The possibilities and synergy was endless.

Talonflame also seemed to operate better as a choiced attacker than Chandelure due to having a 120 base power STAB Priority move and pivoting potential.

Heavy (Conkeldurr) @ Life Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 36 Atk / 252 HP / 220 SDef
Adamant Nature
– Drain Punch
– Mach Punch
– Rock Slide
– Protect

“I am full of sandvich, and I am coming for you!”

My very own spread was used for this guy. 36 Attack was used to OHKO 4 HP/ 0 DEF Mega Kanga around 50% of the time. The rest was put into special bulk to take Mega Charizard’s and Rotom-W’s attacks very well. Life Orb was used as a trick, and it also meant that I could invest much less in attack to OHKO some threats. I was also burned many a time as opponents suspected an Iron Fist variant w/Life Orb, and I was usually burned out of this assumption. Drain Punch and Mach Punch go arm in arm with dealing consistent damage and retaining solid field presence- Mach Punch picking off weak threats and Drain Punch restoring health and allowing Conk to take more hits that would otherwise KO if he used Hammer Arm. The massive special defence investment made his overall defences extremely balanced.

Gloomtail (Hydreigon) @ Haban Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 76 SDef / 36 Def / 252 HP / 144 SAtk
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Fire Blast
– Dark Pulse
– Protect

“Quake in fear, mortals! For I am Gloomtail!”

Here’s one beauty of an EV spread! I was disappointed that the spread didn’t get used on the day, but it enabled Hydreigon to easily take any Draco Meteor and Dragon Claw coming towards it and retaliate back with a DM of its own. It didn’t matter if an opponent had speed advantage generally because Hydreigon could take hits very well. Fire Blast was my “last resort” when Talonflame was out, 2HKO’ing Amoonguss and Venusaur and OHKO’ing Mega Mawile with no investment. It also dealt with Scizor as long as something else could attack it with a spread move (in fear of Focus Sash). I considered running Stone Edge over Dark Pulse for the OHKO on Mega Charizard but I needed the more consistent damage output (and a move with 100% accuracy so luck didn’t screw me over!). I chose Hydreigon over all of the other dragons because of its important resistances to electric, grass, fire and water, all of which saw very common use and the rest of my team didn’t patch up resistance-wise.

Estus (Aromatisse) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Aroma Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 72 SDef / 180 Def
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Trick Room
– Misty Terrain
– Moonblast
– Protect

“So, what do you say? Why not help one another on this lonely journey?”

This was the same Aromatisse that was used in the qualifiers. The only difference in set is that I gave Aromatisse a Lum Berry to enable a temporary status block whilst Misty Terrain is being set up. Amoonguss usage was at a massive high whilst playtesting, so I had to take extra defensive measures.

Mr Jensen (Mawile) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate – – > Huge Power
EVs: 76 SDef / 252 HP / 180 Atk
Adamant Nature
– Sucker Punch
– Iron Head
– Play Rough
– Protect

“I never asked for this…”

I used the same Mawile set as I did in qualifying. It’s an excellent moveset and the extra special bulk was much appreciated when testing in Showdown. However, more and more players were becoming aware of Mega Mawile’s potential. How would it fare on the day?

The Tournament

I didn’t get very far… Actually, I lost in the first round! But these things happen – after all, the competition was excellent, and throughout my match I made some terrible misplays.

Xeno vs Darren

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I didn’t even entertain the thought that stall teams might be a thing in XY/VGC ’14! For this reason, I chose Hydreigon for the elemental resistances and Mawile for presence against much of his team. Using Aromatisse here would have easily won me the match, but I didn’t think I would need it as his team was generally slow paced. What a mistake I made there!

The lead matchup seemed workable. I knew that Sableye would go and burn my Mawile at the first opportunity so I wanted to save him for later; I switched him out for Rotom-W. I protected with Hydreigon to see what he was going to do next. Sableye attempted to Confuse Ray Hydreigon and Flare Blitz was used on Rotom. So far, a good matchup.

Then Quagsire was switched in. This worried me as I didn’t have much for it other than strong STAB moves. Sableye on the field meant that I had to risk a burn to switch anything in. Hydreigon attacks itself in confusion.

Next turn I realise what this guy’s team was up to. I go for a burn to put pressure on Quagsire, and in the same turn he burns and Toxic’s both of my Pokémon. The next few turns revolve around me try to take down Sableye, but it takes a Draco Meteor and Thunderbolt in separate turns whilst Recovering. From here, I do some terrible plays (switching in Conkeldurr AND Mawile so Talon got a switch in when I managed to OHKO his Sableye through burn as Hydreigon was barely doing anything with Draco Meteor).

I also underestimated Talonflame’s bulk, trying to Play Rough and Sucker Punch on a Brave Bird/Flare Blitz and not KO’ing. From here, I had nothing for his Quagsire, and he proceeded to stall me to death, switching in Rotom-W to clean up Conkeldurr. Was his team viable? I’m not sure, but I got caught completely off guard, and he’d got this far into the tournament. Disappointing for me after all this training, but only one person can go through each round, so I wished him luck in his next battle and proceeded to eat a fresh delivery of Domino’s pizza that Nintendo had ordered. Chicken and sweetcorn… Very nice.

The rest of the day overall was brilliant. I got a £20 eshop voucher and a snazzy T-shirt just for competing. Two of my very good friends (plus an adorable little brother) managed to win the cosplay competition; a complete surprise for them! It was a shame that the entire event was single elimination as a lot of the favourites were knocked out near the start. On the contrary though, it allowed lesser known players to make a name for themselves. Regardless of my tournament misfortune I had a brilliant time, and the entire day was an experience I very much hope Nintendo replicate.

Shout-outs to EPD, WhiteAfroKing92, Toquill for his well-deserved victory, Jamie Miller for helping me with teambuilding for the qualifiers, Andrew and Francis for winning the cosplay competition/the best road trip ever, and to you guys and girls for reading this.

About the Author

Xenoblade Hero Xenoblade Hero first appeared on the Pokemon scene at VGC '12. From there, he's been consistently practising and team building to become the trainer he is today. Xeno is also a rhythm-action game fanatic, eagerly awaiting Rock Band 4. He also studies video game design at University.

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