Reports

Published on May 6th, 2015 | by Braverius

21

L’Anse-aux-Méduses: A Missouri Regionals 2nd Place Report

Hi, I’m Zach Droegkamp, and I recently took 2nd place at the St. Louis Missouri Regional.

I’ll cut right to the chase with how I decided on the team I did.

The Teambuilding

The weeks before, I was working on Clefairy + Breloom + Metagross as Harrison (Crow) got me interested in it after watching a few games of his on Showdown where they did a lot of work.

The Metagross had Hammer Arm / Bullet Punch / Zen Headbutt (was Ice Punch > Zen Headbutt for a bit, too.) I loved the core and the Metagross set, but I could never find three other Pokemon that worked well enough with it. After practicing the weekend before with Jake (Majorbowman), I started to become keen on the idea of running Cybertron’s core of Terrakion / Bisharp / Gengar with Metagross, along with Suicune and Scarf Thundurus-Therian as it had a slightly positive matchup against a wide variety of things, especially Mega Venusaur, which I was admittedly a little overly-cautious about after it won Apex finals against a Metagross.

It was working decently well in practice, but had some issues with sustaining versus bulkier teams and lacked some board control, mostly because of the Thundurus-T. I couldn’t really find a suitable replacement for it and rearranging the team made it lose its identity. At this point, I decided that I liked the Clefairy / Breloom / Metagross core more, but wanted Quick Guard on the team. I felt that I couldn’t give up Breloom, so I turned Landorus-T into a Crobat and Milotic / Suicune / whatever was in that slot over those few days I used it into a Rotom-W since I didn’t need a method of speed control due to Crobat being on the team now.

I kind of liked the team, but it had some consistency issues and was way better in theory than it was in play. After practicing with Jake more, I decided to test something similar to his team with the same six Pokemon. I felt like he had something good going on with the double genies paired with the Hydreigon / Metagross / fighting type core.

After testing for a while, I realized that Ludicolo was pretty much useless in most of my games. I didn’t like the prospect of having a weak matchup against bulky Water-types, but I realized that Ludicolo’s slowplaying versus them wasn’t the problem; the main issue I had was that while Ludicolo could slowplay and win one-versus-one against the bulky Water-types, it couldn’t take on the common partners. Landorus-T dented it with U-turn, Kangaskhan smacked it around, and if Thundurus packed Thunder Wave and Swagger, it opened the door to some low probability scenarios that ideally I’d like to avoid. I tried Suicune, but I still noticed the Kangaskhan problems with the team as I couldn’t bring down Kangaskhan + Heatran + Landorus-T + bulky Water-type with Suicune + partners very easily. It looks okay on paper with Terrakion, but it’s hard to Switch anything into a Kangaskhan Double Edge, and it’s not fun trying to play around Landorus-T Switching. If I could get around those things, I’d still be left with a shaky matchup with the bulky Water-type, and bringing Thundurus vs Landorus-T and Kangaskhan is very tough, especially since it doesn’t OHKO bulky Water-types. I wanted something that could stay on the field regardless of what switched in.

I added Jellicent as it matches up well versus all four of those (barring Rotom-W, which I had enough options for.) It also aided the Sylveon matchup a bit, which wasn’t too fun for me either, as it stonewalled Choice Specs sets late-game with Cursed Body + Recover. It had very good switch synergy with Hydreigon and Terrakion, so it fit the team’s defensive side well enough for me to want it on the team.

I felt pretty confident with the team even though I didn’t get to play more than a couple dozen games with it. It seemed to put me in winning position versus most of the well-built teams I was playing. I didn’t worry about my team too much before the tournament for the first time in as long as I can remember.

The Team

Metagross @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Iron Head
– Zen Headbutt
– Substitute
– Protect

Usage: 95%
Win Percentage: 70%
Lead Percentage: 67%
Win Percentage When Lead: 64%
Back Percentage: 29%
Win Percentage When Back: 83%

As I explained before, I thought Metagross was the key to what I wanted to do with a team at St. Louis and I made sure that I kept it in all of my plans with my teams. I had tested a few sets and didn’t really like Substitute on most of the teams I had, but I think on this team it had a much better application as the core of the team was capable of switching around and getting Metagross on the field in good board position, which often forced switches that I’d be able to Substitute up on. The Iron Head and Zen Headbutt are pretty self-explanatory; Meteor Mash doesn’t get any extra KOs that Iron Head does, and I didn’t want to unnecessarily sacrifice accuracy. I probably would go with Jake’s spread if I did it all over again, but I’m okay with how the 252/252 worked out for me; the lack of a little extra bulk was never an issue during either day of Regionals.

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Dark Pulse
– Earth Power
– Protect

Usage: 57%
Win Percentage: 58%
Lead Percentage: 33%
Win Percentage When Lead: 57%
Back Percentage: 24%
Win Percentage When Back: 60%

This is the one Pokemon I struggled with most of the week before and ended up not liking a lot during Swiss. It had the lowest win percentage on the team, and it felt like it wasn’t pulling its weight offensively most of the day. The speed tier it’s in is kind of weird and made me hesitant to run any bulk on it, so I didn’t put a whole lot of thought into the spread. I wish I would have run Timid in hindsight as it can pressure Kangaskhan before it Mega-Evolves and naturally outspeeds fast Adamant. The set was pretty okay for what I needed it to do. In practice I realized that Protect was very important without having a way to redirect or Fake Out, so I opted for Life Orb over Choice Specs. The positive behind Hydreigon, though, is its type synergy with Metagross and Jellicent. It’s able to effectively switch in on Ghost and Dark-type moves and aid Jellicent with its Electric and Grass weaknesses and Metagross with its Ground and Fire weaknesses, respectively. On paper it looks a lot better than it is in play, but I do feel like I made the correct decision to stick with it regardless of how underwhelming it was on other teams in practice.

Terrakion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Justified
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Rock Slide
– Close Combat
– Protect
– Quick Guard

Usage: 48%
Win Percentage: 70%
Lead Percentage: 19%
Win Percentage When Lead: 75%
Back Percentage: 24%
Win Percentage When Back: 60%

Terrakion was one of the strangest things not only about the team, but about the Missouri Regional in general. I ended up playing a plague of Terrakion (over half of my opponents had it on their team) so it was a little hard to find a good time to bring it given that it didn’t have Focus Sash. It fits what I need this slot to take care of given the other five Pokemon, but it wasn’t able to do that a lot of the time and due to this, I felt like I ended up having to rely on Landorus-T and Thundurus a lot instead which ended up making my games a lot messier. The moveset was basic, but although Quick Guard was decently useful in practice, I never used it once during the entire tournament.

Jellicent (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Cursed Body
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 116 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Scald
– Recover
– Will-O-Wisp
– Taunt

Usage: 86%
Win Percentage: 61%
Lead Percentage: 29%
Win Percentage When Lead: 67%
Back Percentage: 57%
Win Percentage When Back: 58%

Jellicent was kind of a last-minute addition to the team (I had a decent amount of practice with it and had some time to theory matchups with it, but it was only on the last edition of the team.) I was really comfortable with how it played, though, so the lack of experience didn’t matter much. This type of Jellicent won me 2013 Fort Wayne Regionals, and I think the familiarity from how it played on that team helped me out a bit here. Its purpose was, as explained above, to be able to shrug off hits from Kangaskhan, Landorus-T, Terrakion, Sylveon, and Heatran while slowplaying bulky Water-type Pokemon and providing a solid mid to late-game win condition for the team. It ended up performing way better in Top Cut than it did in Swiss; I’m not sure if that’s because I faced more favorable matchups or because teams were slightly less offensive, but for whatever reason, it was solid for me in best-of-three for the second time in a row I’ve used it. It wasn’t so good in Swiss, however, and I think running either Hex or Trick Room over Taunt would have helped a little bit more in Swiss as I Tauned into a few things with either Mental Herb or that didn’t have the Taunt-able move I thought they did.

Jellicent was quite the roller coaster ride all day. It had its games where it absolutely locked things down, and others where it probably shouldn’t have been brought but the other members of the team took care of things. I liked it enough to keep it in my mind when building for the future, but I don’t think it’s by any means something that will become a “staple”. The types of teams it works with are much more limited than many of the other Pokemon on this team.

Now the thing everyone’s been bugging me about: the spread. Well…it’s for a Sitrus Berry Jellicent, it takes two Shadow Balls from Gengar with the Sitrus recovery. The issue? The Pokemon below is holding the Sitrus Berry and needs it a lot more. This led me to throw Leftovers on Jellicent as it was typically staying on the field 4-5+ turns when I brought it anyways. However, I simply forgot to adjust the spread when I did so, and would definitely tweak it a bit if I were to run Leftovers again. Oops.

Thundurus @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 188 HP / 192 Def / 92 SpD / 36 Spe
Bold Nature
– Thunderbolt
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Swagger
– Thunder Wave

Usage: 57%
Win Percentage: 67%
Lead Percentage: 33%
Win Percentage When Lead: 57%
Back Percentage: 24%
Win Percentage When Back: 80%

Thundurus was the Pokemon that surprised me the most as I got used to the team. In theory, it really doesn’t fit on this team and I tried pretty hard to replace it when theory-ing through the team’s matchups, but the more I practiced with it, the more I liked it. However, I had Taunt for most of the week over Swagger and kept Taunting either into Aegislash and not being able to do much afterward, or relying on it too much vs hard Trick Room and ended up Taunting into Mental Herbs. Since I already had Lum Berry on Terrakion, I figured Swagger could be a nifty option for when both were on the field at the same time, which I noticed was happening a lot when practicing with the team. It also helped a bit with the Aegislash problem the team had; Swagger was generally a more effective move versus it than Taunt was. It came in very handy during one game during the day, and bought me a chance that I otherwise wouldn’t have had in Game 2 of Top 16. I initially planned to bring Thundurus + Terrakion vs Aaron (Unreality) in Finals, but I suspected he wouldn’t bring Conkeldurr with Jellicent probably coming to that game, so I hesitated (+2 Close Combat is a 15/16 KO on Conkeldurr).

The spread gave Thundurus a 98% chance of surviving Adamant Kangaskhan Return + Fake Out, allowed it to easily take an Adamant Double Edge. It also took two Aegislash Shadow Balls 100% of the time assuming no Special Defense drop. It outsped things that were speed creeping Breloom by 1 point. I didn’t see a need to invest in Special Attack as I wasn’t very concerned with getting OHKOs on things with Thunderbolt or HP Ice, and my EVs already left me pretty inflexible to move any around.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 164 HP / 124 Atk / 12 Def / 28 SpD / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Earthquake
– U-turn
– Rock Slide
– Superpower

Usage: 62%
Win Percentage: 77%
Lead Percentage: 19%
Win Percentage When Lead: 100%
Back Percentage: 43%
Win Percentage When Back: 67%

Landorus-T wasn’t brought to as many games as Jellicent and Metagross, but it seemed to be helping out a lot every time I was able to bring it. It had far and away the highest win percentage on the team with 77%, and I felt it played a large role in the games it was winning. There were multiple times during the day where I was able to survive a move that a typical 4HP Landorus-T could not take, and that ended up winning me at least 1 game in Swiss and helping a lot in my series vs Primitive in Top 4. The spread allowed it to survive a Life Orb Bisharp Sucker Punch, Adamant Kangaskhan Return + Sucker Punch, and Timid 252 Special Attack Thundurus HP Ice 100% of the time, as well as bulky Rotom-W Hydro Pump the vast majority of the time (depending on the SpAtk; it took anything with up to 44 SpAtk 15/16).

I got a chuckle out of Scott’s comment on stream about me constantly talking about how Rock Slide is the best move on Landorus most of the time, and while I think it’s mostly in jest, I feel like it did have some truth to it because of the situations I was putting Landorus in with all the teams I tested with. I think the way the team played, it was typically going to be on the field versus things it was going to want to use Rock Slide against anyways, so the best play most of the time really was to Rock Slide and any flinches I got were simply a cherry on top.

Team Conclusion

To wrap things up, I felt the team played much more steady than the teams I’ve done well with at Regionals in the past, and I think I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. At the end of the day, I caught quite a few lucky breaks and ended up winning a couple games that I shouldn’t have, but I felt I played the matchups that I could handle pretty well for the most part. I think if I were to go through that event again I likely would make some changes and prepare a bit more, but I felt that the team had a solid base to it and that my understanding of how Mega Metagross played and what kind of team it needed around it helped me a lot during the course of the event.

I’ve heard some people talk about how my team (or even more directly, my strategy) was to rely on the RNG a bit because of the team having five moves that could flinch, Thunder Wave, Swagger, and Cursed Body. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t help me out in a few games, but I think it’s a very bad idea to go into games relying on those types of things to come through for you. It’s better to play the team as you would any other team and let those somewhat-unlikely benefits come as they may. I don’t want this team or my success at the event to give the wrong impression that you’re going to be just fine if you get lucky and play for the flinch / paralysis / Cursed Body. It isn’t sustainable to rely on those things, and the fortunate things that happened for me on stream changed the entire scope of how those games were played. I did have a gameplan in place if I didn’t end up getting those 30% chances to come through for me, but ended up playing a lot differently after they did happen because of how they changed the board position and my win conditions.

The Tournament

I’m not going to be able to remember exactly how every single game went, but here are the matchups and the scores of each game I played during the tournament and about as much as I actually do remember about each one. Also, I’m not sure it’s something I’m exactly proud of, but I somehow ended up playing 21 total matches over the course of the event and got 2nd place with winning only 2/3 of my games (basically, I lost the maximum amount of games as possible at a regional while still making Top Cut).

Round 1: Dustin Miller (5-4, 115th)

His team:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

I saw a Mamoswine in team preview and was a little worried about it, and knew that plus Scrafty would be quite a problem for me. I wasn’t exactly sure what to lead or bring in back here, but it ended up working out in the end. I think the Mamoswine was Scarfed, which made it easier to handle once it locked into a move. Things got close, but Metagross did a good job of handling the threats in the back and Hydreigon finished the Venusaur 1-vs-1 late to seal the game for me.

WIN 1-0

[1-0]

Round 2: John Thrasher (5-4, 81st)

His team:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

This was probably the messiest game I played all tournament. I led poorly, nearly timed out turn 2 and rushed a move because I couldn’t get through my thought process quickly enough with the plethora of options Gengar presented against Terrakion + Thundurus due to it outspeeding them and me needing to eliminate it to ensure no Speed tie on Metagross, then got smacked with an Icy Wind on Landorus-T which put me in a scenario in which I lost the game if his moves simply hit. Well, I avoided one of the Heat Waves that I needed to avoid to stay in the game, and then got another avoid which improved my win condition a bit. I then got a full paralysis on Charizard to make my win condition 90% as all I had to do was hit a Zen Headbutt, which I missed. After that, I think it came down to calling what his Bisharp did, and I called it correctly, and Metagross ended up able to 1-vs-1 Bisharp as it was behind a Substitute and Bisharp was Life Orb. A game I definitely didn’t deserve, and I was legitimately not sure I wanted to continue playing in the tournament if things went downhill too quickly because the 45-second timer was giving me a lot of problems early in games.

WIN 1-0

[2-0]

Round 3: Tyler Hagan [Tyler] (4-5, 145th)

His team:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

This one was over before it ever started, but I’m only saying that because of how stupid turn 1 and turn 2 were, not because of matchup or because of Tyler. I wish this would have been a little bit less messy and a little closer, but such is Pokemon. If I remember correctly, I flinch + full paralyzed him turn 1, and full paralyzed him again turn 2 while he switched. At that point, there wasn’t much of a chance for him to rebound or anything else. At this point, I’m wondering when the downfall starts to happen due to how these last two games weren’t at all decided by me playing well.

WIN 3-0

[3-0]

Round 4: Cody Bernheisel [CodeUmbreon] (6-3, 26th)

His team:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

I saw the team and it was pretty clearly dedicated Trick Room, and he led pretty much what I expected him to. I figured the Jellicent wasn’t Mental Herb, so I’d Iron Head Clefable and Scald it as well to either get close to the KO or entirely KO it if it wasn’t Sitrus. He switched into Escavalier, and I pick up the Scald burn as he gets Trick Room up. I maneuver around the powerful Escavalier attacks, and think I’m in good position the last turn of Trick Room when he switches in Abomasnow next to Jellicent and Blizzards, KOing my Thundurus that was supposed to KO the Jellicent. All was well as long as I could Taunt his Jellicent and stop Trick Room, though, so I Taunted the next turn…right into the Mental Herb. He sealed the game up from there.

LOSS 0-3

[3-1]

Round 5: Max Albeiker [CatzVGC] (5-4, 70th)

His team:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

I saw the team and figured it’s mostly what I prepared for all week, but was scared of Aegislash more than anything. I didn’t want to bring Landorus, though, because of the Suicune + Breloom + Salamence giving it too many issues versus the rest of the team, and due to Aegislash probably having Weakness Policy if I were ever able to fire off an Earthquake. I led Thundurus and Metagross into his Kangaskhan and Breloom, and he made a really good read and Fake Out + Spored Thundurus while Metagross protected. I feel like I shouldn’t have played so passively there as I really had nothing to gain by Protecting, but kudos to him on making that play as it was definitely the best he could have done. From there on out, I tried to juggle things around to end up in good position late-game, but never ended up rebounding enough to finish of Breloom in the end. Max played really well all game, and it was one of the more enjoyable games I played at this event, even if I was on the losing end of it.

LOSS 0-1

[3-2]

Round 6: Jake Hockemeyer (5-4, 102nd)

His team:

He brought:

  / 

I brought:

  / 

I saw that he could potentially have four Mega Pokemon and figured that someone who’s 3-2 probably isn’t running…four megas…so I figured I’d take a bit to think through what was going on here. The Tornadus hinted at the Swampert being Mega, but the Azumarill hinted that maybe the Gengar was Mega (Perish maybe? I’m not sure.) I banked on the Swampert Mega and led Thundurus and Landorus into what I guessed would be Swampert and Tornadus, and guessed it correctly. I planned to switch around a bit to keep Landorus-T and its Intimidate fresh to make sure Swampert wouldn’t be able to do too much damage. I ended up KOing Gengar on the Switch turn 2 and got Tornadus the next turn, making it 4-2 in my favor and putting me in position where I had a 100% win condition by turn 4. I played carefully and finished off the game.

WIN 2-0

[4-2]

Round 7: Mark Grubbs (5-4, 105th)

His team:

He brought:

  / 

I brought:

/ 

My plan versus Mega Venusaur + “bulk squad” was to play carefully with Metagross and Hydreigon and try to pin them in a bad position where I can pick up KOs in a lot of scenarios, since those were the two hardest-hitting Pokemon versus this type of team. I noticed the Talonflame in team preview, though, and figured it might be more of an issue than even Aegislash here due to its role on the team, and I remembered having a hard time versus Lunar’s in the Nugget Bridge Live a week before, so I decided to bring Thundurus over Landorus-T in case of Tailwind, and so that I could potentially ring up a +2 Terrakion Turn 1 in the event he led Rotom-W. I started off by Swaggering my own Terrakion as he did lead the Rotom-W, Close Combatted into a Protect, and took a Giga Drain on Terrakion, putting me in questionable position. I then Swaggered the Venusaur and used Rock Slide, as the Venusaur hit itself in confusion and Rotom-W either flinched or missed a move (I don’t remember which). I Swaggered into Rotom-W the next turn which Protected, and finished off Venusaur with a Rock Slide. He brought in Hydreigon which I assumed was Scarfed or would be next to a Talonflame under Tailwind shortly, so I protected Terrakion and Thunder Waved it. The next turn, I used Close Combat on the Hydreigon which switched into Talonflame, and took about 90% health off of Talonflame. I pretty much cruised from there as I was able to take Talonflame out and Metagross and Hydreigon outsped and KOd his last two Pokemon.

WIN 3-0

[5-2]

Round 8: Stephen Morioka [Stephen] (6-3, 25th)

His team:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

Stephen and I have faced off in finals and top four before, so it was odd having to play an elimination match so soon. I noticed that I had a very good matchup with Metagross + Jellicent + Hydreigon + Landorus-T. I made a point to play rather carefully as I knew although Stephen is more than capable of pulling out a tough win, I thought the edge I had based on matchup was going to work in my favor. I got some decent chip damage on Blastoise early and once I noticed he didn’t bring the Zapdos, which I was most worried about, I played a little more aggressively and got in good position versus Amoonguss and Tyranitar to take KOs and end up sealing the game.

WIN 3-0

[6-2]

Round 9: Steven Burton [PikaPastor] (6-3, 31st)

His team:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

Before this match, I had never ever once played against a Smeargle in an official competition. Of all the times to run into one, it’s in 2015 in Round 9 of Swiss, about the last place I’d ever expected to see it. However, the team looked pretty sound in team preview, so I wasn’t taking this lightly at all, and I knew Steven was a solid player. I got lucky early in the match by dodging a Hydro Pump that would have put him in a lot better position later in the game. While I don’t remember everything about the rest as I was pretty exhausted by this point of the day, I know he had a Timid Thundurus that gave me a lot of problems late in the match. I caught a couple breaks here and ended up winning my last four to have a shot at Top Cut.

WIN 2-0

[7-2]

Top 16: Jake Muller [MajorBowman] (9-0 Swiss, 1st, 9th Overall)

His team:

I made it in as the 16th seed somehow, but I knew who I’d be facing before I even read who the first seed was since I knew Jake went 9-0. I knew most of his team because I’d been practicing with and against it all week, but the Jellicent and Ludicolo and how they played against the mirror was going to be a big part of the set. I figured he wouldn’t bring Ludicolo as it didn’t help a lot versus my team even though on first glance it appears to, but needed to account for it a little anyways.

Game 1:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

I felt my best chance here was to lead Landorus and Jellicent to help put pressure on Metagross if he led it. He didn’t lead Metagross, but I was still in a very good position against Thundurus + Terrakion. I knew I could take a Rock Slide + Thunderbolt with Jellicent and a Rock Slide + HP Ice with Landorus-T, and I wanted to get a lot of damage off onto the Thundurus to make sure Metagross would be in better position to handle Hydreigon late-game if I could get any chip on it. I went for the Rock Slide + Scald as I figured his Thundurus would get KOd by two Rock Slides + Scald. I ended up getting two flinches and a burn on the Terrakion, which put me in excellent position right from the start. He switched Terrakion into Hydreigon and I Rock Slid again since Rock Slide + burn damage would finish off Terrakion if he kept it in, and I wanted to make sure Thundurus was close to getting KOd. I was a little concerned about a Landorus-T switch there, but I opened up another turn of taking Thundurus damage with the previous flinch, so I felt comfortable Rock Sliding again. Thundurus flinched yet again, and Jellicent nearly got the KO on Thundurus with a Scald. I figured he’d try and Thunder Wave Jellicent as a last-ditch effort and felt having Thundurus in against him would give me better position after Hydreigon chose its move (if it was Dark Pulse, I felt more comfortable having Thundurus take that as I incorrectly assumed Jellicent couldn’t), so I switched and Rock Slid as he KOd my Landorus with a Draco Meteor. I then switched Thundurus back into Jellicent as he was locked into Draco Meteor and I had an easy play on his other slot, but he Critical Hit the Jellicent and gave himself a slightly better chance of clawing his way back into the game. I managed the rest of the game pretty well from here on out, though, and ended up sealing the victory. I also got to scout his speed on Hydreigon, which I realized was slower than my Thundurus which was at 136 – this would come in very handy game 3. The lead I gained early on with the flinches ended up working in my favor, allowing me room to take that Critical Hit Draco Meteor.

WIN

(1-0)

Game 2:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

I underprepared for the Metagross lead this game, but I saw one way out that I felt was sort of risky but worth a shot. I Thunderbolted it turn 1 fully expecting the Substitute, and I played to him not attacking Terrakion turn 2 because it was a near-telegraphed switch. I knew that the minimum damage roll on uninvested Metagross was 58, and I assumed he was running 4HP or 12HP so if I got anything above two minimum rolls, I’d have the KO with Thunderbolt + Substitute + Thunderbolt as I’d break the Substitute with Close Combat (58 + 39 + 58 = 155 / 157, so if either of the two rolls was a 60 I’d have the KO.) I still had about an 80% chance to 2HKO given that he was running 44HP, so I’d have likely made the same plays regardless if I knew about the odds, but he managed to pull through with the 20% chance and hang on with a sliver of health, which ended up making me have to play a bit differently from there on out. I still had a chance, but I made a poor play by Scalding into the Thundurus when I should have Will-o-Wisped or Scalded the Hydreigon for chip damage / covering the potential switch. The play would have been sort of okay, but I ended up burning it which allowed him to switch in Metagross for free, which hurt me much more than it helped. I had a chance to pull it back that after that, too that I didn’t even see as I didn’t know Jellicent survived a Specs Dark Pulse (I thought he was running Modest 252 Special Attack and I thought it had more than a 30% chance to KO). Ironically enough, I ended up throwing away a chance to seal the series game two because I didn’t know my damage calculations after playing to the ones that I did know. Jake played well all game and made an especially good play by doubling the Jellicent and calling the Terrakion Protect and deserved to take the game in the end. I tried to Swagger my way back into it as a last-ditch effort as it was my only win condition remaining, but no dice.

LOSS

(1-1)

Game 3:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

  / 

I saw the Ludicolo and I saw a pretty good opportunity to jump out to an early lead if he didn’t switch. I knew my matchup against him if he brought it was pretty good, so I just needed to make sure Landorus-T was safe and sound in the back until it was either removed or in position for Landorus to handle it itself. I assumed he brought Terrakion and Metagross in the back as he needed a way to hit my Hydreigon and Terrakion outside of the two things he had, and those were the only two that could tag-team that task. I knew from game 1 that my Hydreigon outsped his, so not having to worry about the speed tie there helped me immensely. Turn 1 I double protected as I didn’t lose anything by doing so. I was expecting a switch into Metagross turn 2, but Draco Meteor plus a -2 Dark Pulse nets the KO on it anyways, so I wasn’t too concerned with that play if he made it. I wanted to dent Ludicolo to put it in KO range for Landorus-T and potentially for -2 Hydreigon as well, so I made pretty offensive plays right away there. I took out the Hydreigon and knocked Ludicolo down to about 30% health while he Scalded my Metagross. I didn’t get burned, and that about sealed the game. I had to do some maneuvering in the end in order to make sure Landorus-T was able to Earthquake both of his Pokemon without needing to Earthquake my own Jellicent (Cursed Bodying myself was not the way I wanted to lose this tournament), and I managed to get into winning position and took game three of a pretty intense set.

WIN

(2-1)

Top 8: Ammar Baig [Knife] (7-2 Swiss, 8th, 6th Overall)

His team:

I had heard about this team throughout the day because of the tricks it had, and I wasn’t really thrilled of the prospect of facing it. It sounded like a really fun team to use, but trying to play against it with a lot on the line was one of the last things I wanted to have to do. I was very worried about my matchup since I didn’t have a whole lot to deal with Gastrodon + Camerupt under Trick Room, and I spent a lot of time the night before trying to figure out how to go about playing the matches.

Game 1:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

Ammar led Gardevoir and Cofagrigus, which I definitely didn’t expect given that his best lead seemed to be Hariyama + Cofagrigus. I figured the Gardevoir might have Trick Room, but wasn’t sure, so I had to play passively. I don’t remember how he started off this game, but I got into bad position at the end after allowing him to get Trick Room up and ended up losing. I wish I remember the turn one, but I know Ammar played better than I did here and I was not very confident going into game 2, although I did have some sort of a gameplan ready.

LOSS

(0-1)

Game 2:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

This is where things started getting kind of crazy. Turn 1 he led Gardevoir and Ferrothorn into the same lead I had from last game. I Protect Hydreigon and go for the KO on Gardevoir assuming nothing could go wrong with the play, but he Swords Danced with Ferrothorn. He switched in Cofagrigus and I realize there are two plays he had: either Ally Switch and attack something, or Trick Room and Protect the Ferrothorn. I realize that because I have Metagross and Hydreigon on the field and because I’m going to Iron Head + Dark Pulse regardless of what happened, double attacking Cofagrigus was the best play possible. He Ally Switched, I chunk the Ferrothorn for about 70% damage and end up getting the flinch on it, which pretty much ended up deciding the game right then and there.

WIN

(1-1)

Game 3:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

Seeing his lead, I was almost 100% sure he had Trick Room on the Gardevoir. I decided to Protect and KO the Hariyama, though, because regardless, I couldn’t afford to lose Hydreigon Turn 1 and had enough switch potential assuming he didn’t bring Ferrothorn in the back to be able to stall out any Trick Room. Instead of using Fake Out, though, he used Feint on my Hydreigon and took the KO with Moonblast as I KOd the Hariyama with Zen Headbutt. He brought in Camerupt as I brought in Landorus-T. I decided to go for the Rock Slide here given that I really didn’t have any other way to play this turn as if I locked myself into Earthquake, I had to switch out Landorus the next turn, and if Camerupt used Protect, I was in a very bad position (either would have to Earthquake my own Jellicent on a switch or switch out Landorus-T and Substitute up.) I KOd the Gardevoir with Iron Head and the Camerupt did attack, and I flinched it with Rock Slide. Looking back, I regret that play a lot and think the Earthquake probably would have been safer, but hindsight 20/20. Either way, I got pretty lucky and probably didn’t deserve this set as Ammar played better and had the better matchup. The team was incredibly hard to play against and was well-crafted, the amount of cool tricks he was pulling out during that set surprised me.

WIN

(2-1)

Top 4: Michael Fladung [Primitive] (7-2 Swiss, 13th, 4th Overall)

His team:

When I saw the team, I was a little more than terrified of the Aegislash + Thundurus paired with Tailwind and I wasn’t too keen on my matchup. I liked how Jellicent dealt with a lot of his team, but I wasn’t so sure I would be able to handle Aegislash alongside Terrakion and Kangaskhan under Tailwind if he were to get into that position. I needed to play carefully to heavily punish any Tailwind setup and bring everything I had for Aegislash, as it was arguably the biggest thorn in my team’s side.

Game 1:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

He led Suicune and Kangaskhan right out of the gate, arguably his best lead, and I led Landorus-T and Metagross to either put myself in decent position turn 1 if he led Arcanine or to allow myself to switch into better position turn 2 if he led the Kangaskhan + Landorus. I got a lucky Critical Hit on the Kangaskhan with Superpower and ended up KOing it after he used Fake Out on Metagross, and he got the Tailwind up. I had a plan in place if the Kangaskhan didn’t end up getting KOd because I’d have a free switch-in with Jellicent. He wisely sent in Aegislash, which posed a major threat to Metagross and Landorus-T locked into Superpower. I sort of wanted to Superpower the Suicune as I didn’t expect him to Ice Beam me, but in the event that he did and given that I didn’t know if he had any investment in Special Attack or not, I switched out into Jellicent. I Zen Headbutted the Suicune in order to get as much damage off onto it as I could, and he Scalded the Metagross and hit the Jellicent hard with a Shadow Ball. I wanted to be able to keep all four Pokemon alive going into the last turn of Tailwind, so I switched Thundurus in for Jellicent and Protected Metagross as he Scalded Metagross and Shadow Balled Thundurus. He revealed Protect on Suicune the next turn which I didn’t expect, and I missed a Swagger on the Aegislash as he took my Thundurus down to low health by hitting it with another Shadow Ball. I doubled the Suicune the next turn, which he switched into Terrakion, and missed a Zen Headbutt and hit it with a Thunderbolt as he KOd my Metagross with Shadow Ball. I wasn’t as disappointed about missing Zen Headbutt for the KO as much as I was that I didn’t get to see if it had a Focus Sash or not. I ended up switching in Landorus-T and KOing the Terrakion with a Superpower as I Swaggered the Aegislash, which used Wide Guard. I switched out Landorus-T for Jellicent as I expected him to Shadow Ball the Thundurus, and Thunderbolted the Aegislash as I predicted the Suicune to Protect. Since Aegislash either had to attack through confusion and the possibility of a flinch or Wide Guard / King’s Shield, I went for the Rock Slide and Scald on it and knocked it out as it Wide Guarded my Rock Slide as Suicune put up a Tailwind. From here, Suicune ended up in a stall war with Jellicent and Jellicent came out on top.

WIN

(1-0)

Game 2:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

He again wisely led Kangaskhan and Suicune, and I was a bit more prepared from the outset this time with Thundurus and Jellicent in front rather than in back as I liked this prospect a bit more. His Kangaskhan got a revenge turn 1 Critical Hit on the Thundurus that knocked it into Ice Beam KO range while I got a burn off onto Kangaskhan. I thought turn two he’d go for the Tailwind and switch into Aegislash or Thundurus, but he ended up Protecting and made the right play as I doubled into Suicune. I probably should have thrown up a Substitute here either way. The next turn I did put up a Sub as he switched in Arcanine, and got around the Sucker Punch. He made a good read the next turn by doubling into Jellicent as I Scalded the Kangaskhan. Then I made a pretty crucial misclick, I thought I clicked Iron Head on Kangaskhan but apparently straight up missed that it didn’t prompt me to select a target after I pressed my move, so I Substituted and he doubled into my Metagross, which ultimately lost me any chance of pulling this game out. Jellicent wasn’t able to tag-team the rest of what he had with Landorus-T.

LOSS

(1-1)

Game 3:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

Game three Michael went with Kangaskhan + Thundurus as a lead and I expected him to try to put himself in better late-game board position with Thunder Wave this time around rather than relying on Suicune, so I switched Metagross out to Thundurus expecting the Thunder Wave, and Jellicent into Landorus expecting an Aegislash switch from the Kangaskhan slot. Turn 2 he wisely Wide Guarded my Rock Slide and Taunted my Thundurus as I took a little chip damage on his Thundurus with my own Thunderbolt. I thought long and hard about the next turn and considered calling a potential bluff and Rock Sliding again as I could take a HP Ice from Thundurus, but I felt a bit more strongly about switching into Jellicent as he had more incentive to Wide Guard than to attack. I called it correctly, as he HP Iced the Jellicent on the Switch and I picked up a bit more damage on Thundurus, putting it into KO range for Metagross and Landorus-T. I expected either a Taunt or a Thunderbolt on Jellicent as well as a Shadow Ball, so I switched back into Landorus-T and Thunderbolted his Thundurus again as he did what I expected, and I landed a Critical Hit on the Thundurus, scoring a KO. I figured here it would be a bit risky to Earthquake, but I also didn’t expect him to Fake Out + Wide Guard or King’s Shield and attack Landorus as he risked playing games with Taunt, and I expected him to not expect me to EQ here, so I made a pretty risky play and went all in and it paid off as I scored the Aegislash KO. He tried to make a neat play by Sucker Punching his own Terrakion which unfortunately got ruined by a full Paralysis, and after that I was able to seal the third game of a really close, intense series.

WIN

(2-1)

Finals: Aaron Traylor [Unreality] (7-2 Swiss, 7th, 1st Overall)

His team:

I knew a few things about Aaron’s team and was confident in how to approach the games after watching Andy play him on the big screen before our match, but I wasn’t sure how everything would pan out early to mid-game. There were a few things that I saw as roadblocks (mostly the Bisharp + Clefable pairing and Kangaskhan in general) and needed to be on top of my game if I wanted to come away with this series.

Game 1:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

I led Metagross and Hydreigon expecting either Landorus-T + Clefable or Kangaskhan + Clefable, and he ended up bringing the former. I predicted him to not Protect or switch with Clefable, so I double attacked it since Earth Power + Iron Head would KO. It looked like a poor play at first, but I didn’t know the Clefable had Protect, so that caught me off guard – had I known this, I’d have attacked the Landorus instead. I was expecting a Clefable switch the next turn given that I wasn’t sure Clefable survived an Iron Head, but he kept in Clefable and switched out the Landorus-T, which ended up paying off for him. I tickled Heatran with an Iron Head and missed a Draco Meteor on it which potentially would have mattered in a prospective situation where I landed a Rock Slide and got an alright damage roll later in the game due to the timer, but since I didn’t hit and it went Minimizing away, he ended up being able to seal the game by running the timer out regardless of if I landed two Critical Hits or not, so I forfeited.

LOSS

(0-1)

Game 2:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

This one was pretty ugly from the start. I saw a Bisharp Landorus-T lead and figured if I preserved the Metagross and was able to allow Terrakion onto the field without sacrificing too much, I’d be in good position early on. I obviously didn’t think throwing Hydreigon turn 1 was the best play I had, but I thought he would Earthquake the Metagross again, so I ended up Draco Meteoring the Landorus-T in the event that he did as I didn’t expect Bisharp to attack and didn’t think Landorus-T would go for a Superpower Turn 1 given his positioning. He made a good play and KOd Hydreigon, and I was down 4-3 turn 1. I switched in Terrakion and figured he’d probably not attack it with Bisharp, so I doubled the Landorus-T and ended up KOing a Kangaskhan switch. I still was in poor position unless I could land a flinch on one of his Pokemon the next turn. Landorus-T avoided the Rock Slide, but it landed on Bisharp and flinched it, so I still had a chance assuming I could flinch the Bisharp with Iron Head. I ended up getting the flinch the next turn, and Jellicent was able to finish the job. Definitely didn’t deserve this one, but I’ll take it after the Game 1.

WIN

(1-1)

Game 3:

He brought:

/ 

I brought:

/ 

As soon as I saw the leads, I realized the plays I had to make through the first two or three turns regardless of what he did as I felt I let appropriately to deal with what he had. I went straight for the Iron Head on Clefable and Draco Meteor on Kangaskhan, and he used Fake Out on Metagross and KOd the Hydreigon after I knocked his Kangaskhan down to 8 HP. I realized I was in very good position this turn and figured he wouldn’t leave the Clefable open to getting KOd, so I Substituted with Metagross and used Rock Slide in order to knock out the Kangaskhan in the event that it didn’t switch. I ended up missing Rock Slide, though, and everything went downhill from here since I now a) had Kangaskhan around, which could Sucker Punch the Metagross and b) had Kangaskhan around, which means I couldn’t see another Pokemon he brought and figure out how to better play the rest of the game. I ended up playing into his Sucker Punch and shook his hand as it pretty much ended the game. Had I knocked out the Kangaskhan and had a Substitute up with Metagross, I was in really good position down the stretch, but such is the game. I finished it off with a Quick Guard with Terrakion since I hadn’t used the move the entire tournament and wanted to fire it off once. I could have probably went for the bazillion flinches and hoped to not get hit once, but given the unrealistic scenario and that he probably could have timered me out anyways, it wasn’t really worth playing out. He KOd the Jellicent with Knock Off and took the series.

LOSS

(1-2)

It marked the first time I’d ever lost a best-of-three finals in a sanctioned tournament, which was an odd feeling, but Aaron played the set well and there’s no shame in losing to a player like him.

Shoutouts

• MajorBowman – for the team core, and for dealing with my teasing and crap all weekend. I really appreciated the testing beforehand, and know I’ll be seeing you getting past Top 16 sometime soon!
• Crow – for showing me how darn good Mega Metagross is and for throwing a ton of cores at me throughout the year
• The BAGEL BEATS – for the teambuilding help throughout the season
• Nave – for offering me a spot on the ride down and also dealing with my crap all weekend and for ten hours in the car. You da best
• Illuminatimon – for booking the hotel room and saving my dirt poor college student self from the despair of having to book another room, as well as for the drinks and conversation Saturday night
• Andykins – for helping me not have nightmares on Saturday night
• TM Gold – for the lift to the event Sunday and for holding onto my bag for me while I played
• TM Ruby & Gold – for some fun convos Saturday night
• Jio – for trading me the Thundurus about five minutes before I had to head to the train station. Thanks, you’re a life saver
• Unreality – for being amazing person and bringing me chicken nuggets at lunch break after I lost my 3DS. Congrats on the regional win again, too!
• ReviNoctre – for helping me catch my train home on time, and I guess also a second shoutout to Nave for somehow getting me to the station with five minutes to spare

About the Author

Braverius started playing competitive Pokemon in April 2011. Since then he has been fortunate enough to compete in numerous official live events, qualifying for Worlds in 2013 and winning four Regionals along the way.

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