Reports

Published on April 29th, 2014 | by MangoSol

23

No Hax Assurance! 2nd Place Madison Regionals Team Report

What’s good Pokémon community?

I spent a good 10 minutes thinking about how to creatively start this report, but in the end I gave up. I guess an introduction is a good start. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m MangoSol (Manoj Sunny) from Illinois. For the past few years I’ve only attended the regionals in Madison for practical reasons, so I’m shamelessly on the low end of the CP system.  With the Madison and Utah regionals being spaced a week after the other spring regionals, I knew that I’d be going into a room where many of the top players had already participated in a tournament the week before, so I’d be a bit rusty in comparison. To make matters worse, the player roster boasted names like Human , Ryuzaki, and Scott. Sometimes you just need to ignore the names and battle like you always do and hope that your skills (and luck) win out. Speaking of luck, there is no BrightPowder for reasons I’ll explain below! Like the title says, I’ll be going over the team that got me through 8 rounds of swiss and 3 rounds of top cut before falling to TheBattleRoom in the finals.

Without further ado, let’s begin!

The Team at a Glance

When constructing the team, the first thing I wanted to ensure was that most of my Pokémon were bulky. When looking at all the teams that placed highly, whether it be from a Winter Regionals or the Battle Road Circuit, the recurring theme was that the majority of the team was bulky. Extra survivability always trumps a hyper-offensive strategy when the cookie crumbles, so I went along with a team that had a mix of both, but tried my best to use naturally bulky Pokémon. Also, most successful teams had a Dragon/Steel/Fairy type core- the defensive synergy between the three made it obvious why it was such a popular combination.

A week before Madison, I was struggling to make a decision between my last two Pokémon. It was a toss-up between Azumarill/Rotom-H and Gardevoir/Talonflame. If I chose the former, I would have slapped Trick Room on Gourgeist and gone down that path. Even though Rotom and Azumarill are bulkier, I ended up using the latter because that fit my play-style better and the 90% accuracy of Play Rough and Overheat made me abnormally paranoid. Really, when constructing a team, there is no “best” team- it’s just a matter of picking the right combination of types and a speed tier that you are most comfortable playing in. From previous experiences I know that I’m not the best at Trick Room, so I opted out of that. I’ll begin with the boring part of this team and then escalate to the more original ideas. Oh, also, the nicknames are chess themed.

-Before round 7-
Matt Coyle: So are you really using BrightPowder Garchomp?
Me: Nahhh. Don’t tell anyone yet, though.
Matt: So what are you running?
Me: What do you think?
Matt: Rocky Helmet.
Me: !…How’d you figure it out that fast??!!
Matt: That’s just the kind of item you’d use.

Garchomp (KNIGHTblade7k) (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
– Rock Slide
– Dragon Claw
– Protect
– Earthquake

So here we are, with the most boring Pokémon on the team. It is physically impossible for me to make a team without Garchomp, so with a heavy heart I had to opt for a standard set. With the advent of limited weather (lasting only 5 turns) it would be hard pressed for Sand Veil BrightPowder Garchomp to fully abuse sand the way I was able to in 2012-2013. For those of you that still are opposed to the logic I gave in my previous team article regarding BrightPowder Garchomp, the only reason I switched to Rocky Helmet was for the reason mentioned above. Also, the aspect of BrightPowder I really liked, was that I had an always on item. Yache or Haban berries had a single use which was almost never activated anyway. Rocky Helmet was exactly the kind of item I desired: an always on item. In fact, when deciding between BrightPowder and Rocky Helmet, it was the fact that Rocky Helmet would be on for a longer duration of the battle than Sand Veil which swayed me. Also, the chances of getting hit by a physical attack outweighed the chances of dodging an attack, so again, logic dictated that Rocky Helmet be used. A difficulty that we’ve all faced is the reluctance of NOT using a Pokémon that we love, but winning sometimes takes precedence over favoritism. I mean, come on, we’ve all felt a little attraction to those tiny digital critters…

The move set on Garchomp is standard, obviously. I used Rock Slide instead of Swords Dance because of the greater presence of Rotom-H, Talonflame, and Charizard. Also, since this team used Will-o-Wisp over Thunder Wave as its status infliction of choice, there weren’t many openings to set up a Swords Dance. I experimented with different EVs for Garchomp, always erring on the side of a bulky variant. Practice showed that the max Speed stat was critical for outspeeding common threats like Charizard and non-scarfed Salamence/Hydreigon. Also, it was really important to ensure Garchomp mirror speed-ties. In one of my middling rounds, my opponent and I both led with Garchomp. We both protected the partners, but proceeded to kill off both of our Garchomps with a combination of Dragon Claws and Rough Skin/Rocky Helmet damage on that same turn. A good chuckle was in order.

Also, later the next round, my opponent and I were down to his Mawile vs. my Garchomp. I had about 60% health left, and his Mawile had around 90%. I expected him to go for the Sucker Punch (we both admitted to not knowing what the damage roll would have been after the round), but instead he went for a Play Rough and survived with about 20% health remaining after my Earthquake hit. His Play Rough KO’d my Garchomp, but the Rough Skin and Rocky Helmet provided just enough damage to also knock him out. We both held our breaths as we waited for the screen to show who won that match, and I let out a (manly) squeal when it claimed it as my victory. Firm handshakes and GGGGGGs were in order.

So anyway, it was a nice mental advantage to unnerve people and throw them off by my item of choice. Rocky Helmet is also a great item and you should check it out if you’re one of the 51+ percent that use Garchomp!

Gourgeist (PumpKING) @ Leftovers
Ability: Frisk
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Def / 220 SDef
Careful Nature
– Leech Seed
– Will-O-Wisp
– Protect
– Phantom Force

I’ll be honest- this is the first Pokémon EV spread I’ve ever ripped from someone else. This is Zach’s Vacation on Gourgeist Island‘s Gourgeist. When reading his article, I was surprised at our team’s similarity in playstyle, and wanted something that could serve as my team’s primary tank. So I experimented with Gourgeist. This thing has won me matches (in practice) even when it’s 1-3 in my opponent favor. By burning and seeding everything (oftentimes sacrificing other Pokémon to get into a position where the opponent’s team is completely crippled) Gourgeist thrives on the amazing recovery Leftovers+Leech Seed brings. Being an uncommon and overlooked Pokémon, it can drain the life out of any team that isn’t prepared for it. Also, it pretty much hard counters any rain team and the ubiquitous Kangaskhan. Zach’s description of Gourgeist pretty much sums everything up, but the difference was our metagame calls.

Like I said earlier, I didn’t expect that many Talonflame or Charizard Y users. Though I was correct, I failed to capitalize on the fact that the metagame had already shifted to a more special attack-oriented metagame. Without being able to cripple the rare physical attackers, Gourgeist pretty much lost half of its capabilities. I was worried about that metagame call and would’ve switched to something else like Salamence or Aegislash had I known how badly Gourgeist would fare at regionals, but oh well. To be honest, every match I brought Gourgeist in resulted in a loss. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad Pokémon, it’s just when only 1-2 of the opponent’s Pokémon are physical attackers…

Check out Gourgeist doing its job in the finals (and Bisharp T1 of game 2):

Kangaskhan (ROOKout!) (F) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy <—– (Scrappy Doo… Scooby Doo reference… “rook out!!!” no…? Okay…T_T )
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Fake Out
– Return
– Hammer Arm
– Sucker Punch

I originally had two mega evolutions on some prototype teams, but soon discovered that team flexibility would be greatly cut down if both mega evolutions were in a battle and only one could mega evolve. After testing between Mawile, Kangaskhan, and even Heracross, I settled on Kangaskhan. It’s the most consistent and versatile mega evolution, in my opinion, and fits well with almost any team. There isn’t much you don’t already know about Kangaskhan’s ridiculous stats and ability, so I won’t go into that.

Again, comparing my team to Zach’s, I felt that his Kangaskhan wasn’t getting the job done well enough. The amount of Kangaskhan mirrors is just absurd, and I don’t believe that a Jolly Kangaskhan with maxed Speed is the way to go. That only incites coin flip games where a game can be decided early on by who has the first Fake Out. Kangaskhan is a Pokémon that is meant to be bulky, and its potential is truly maximized when it takes a hit and hits back twice as hard. And for that, you need an Adamant nature.

Jolly Kangaskhan doesn’t really do much to my Kangaskhan with Power-Up Punch. On the other hand, I can KO back with a Hammer Arm. Hammer Arm actually had a two-fold purpose: it was also a check against Trick Room. By lowering my Speed by 2 stages, I would “outspeed” some Pokémon in TR that would otherwise breeze through my team.  All the other moves are standard, so I won’t explain them. I would rarely use Fake Out in a Kangaskhan mirror and instead go for the Hammer Arm. But yeah, Kangaskhan. The strongest Pokémon in the metagame.

Gardevoir (Queen)  (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Telepathy
EVs: 4HP/ 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
– Moonblast
– Dazzling Gleam
– Thunderbolt
– Psychic

Scarf Gardevoir, not very common, but expected nonetheless. Gardevoir has a lot of options it could use, so opponents can’t really do anything safely until they’ve protected a bit and scouted. Failure to do this would be punished with a swift KO to one of their Pokémon. There are a couple things you might notice about this Gardevoir. First off, is its ability. Instead of using Trace I opted for Telepathy. Although the rare Parental Bond Gardevoir could quickly steamroll teams, I used Telepathy because it was almost never expected. When taunting Darkeness that I could beat him early in the season, he quickly demolished me with a Garchomp/Gardevoir combination. By spamming earthquake and speedy dazzling gleams, my team became mincemeat. It never occurred to me that Garchomp could Earthquake without worrying about hurting his own Gardevoir, and my third round opponent had the same mindset when it also made quick work of his team.  Although Earthquake damage on Gourgeist was almost negligible, my team only had one member with the Levitate ability (and only 2 Pokémon that could Protect X_X) so I wanted to make sure I could Earthquake without being impeded by my own Pokémon. So a big thanks to Darkeness for inspiring me to use this brilliant strategy.

The second thing you might notice about my Gardevoir is its EV spread. No, I was not lazy when I went the 252/252 route. The standard spread for Scarf Gardevoir has about 84 HP EVs invested at the cost of Special Attack and Speed in order to survive a Life Orb Brave Bird from Talonflame. Fortunately, I made the right metagame call by pooling all its EVs into Special Attack and Speed. I didn’t expect many Talonflames to be present, and I really wanted that speed tie with Scarf Salamence. Furthermore, I wanted the maximum firepower I could get out of her. Even though 196 SAtk could comfortably KO all of the Dragon-types, raw calculations like that are hardly ever in use when you’re actually in the middle of a drawn out battle. Sometimes it can be the difference between knocking out your opponents 55% Kangaskhan with 252 SAtk or 196 SAtk, and for that reason I allocated offensive EVs to a Pokémon with a purely offensive purpose.

The move set is standard. Thunderbolt was the best coverage move. I might have gone with Shadow Ball for Aegislash, but chances are I wouldn’t bring a Gardevoir in those situations.

Talonflame (Blitz) @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Brave Bird
– Flare Blitz
– Quick Guard
– Taunt

Talonflame is one of the best Pokémon to come out of the Kalosdex. With a blistering base 126 Speed and a respectable base 81 Attack stat, this fire bird can either weaken Pokémon for my other attackers to finish off, or clean up weakened Pokémon late game. Earlier in this season Talonflame experienced extremely high usage, but it quickly plateaued later on in the season for the more defensive choice of Rotom- H. Although it was easy to see why people opted for the little toaster, with Intimidate being rampant and all, Talonflame fits a niche that no other Pokémon could do as well as on this team.

The king of priority, it could either block incoming priority moves, courtesy of Quick Guard, or hit back with its own priority move. By boasting its ability, Gale Wings, Talonflame also sports the highest base damage priority move in Brave Bird. Flare Blitz is an equally powerful attack with a great attack typing so that it hit anything that Brave Bird couldn’t. I didn’t go with Tailwind because Zach and I both came to the conclusion that it was a pretty useless move with a true effective speed boost of only one turn. So instead…

…we have Taunt. When testing with SuperIntegration a few weeks before Regionals, he played me with a semi- TR team. By just popping a TR in the middle of battle, my team fell a lot quicker than it should have. After losing to the same team for about 4 matches, I had enough.

SuperIntegration: The way the metagame is right now, random TR will screw over everyone. I know you’re a nob, but Don’t feel bad about it.

Ben7000: Yea, no one accounts for TR.

There was indeed wisdom in his words, and as I mentioned at the beginning, this was one of the reasons I was considering Rotom-H/Azumarill over Talonflame/Gardevoir. I also noticed a slight weakness to Aegislash and other Pokémon that focused on setting up, and I was stumped for the longest of times trying to figure out how I could solve all these problems. When I messed around on Showdown and saw that Talonflame could learn Taunt, I tried it on and quickly erased any previous weaknesses. Since King’s Shield didn’t stop non-attack moves, Taunt went through it and eased prediction the next turn. Being able to stop Smeargle dead in its tracks was also a big plus. Taunt seems to have almost disappeared from this metagame, so when I tossed it out in the middle of a battle, my opponents were more than surprised. Especially when it came from a Talonflame.

SuperIntegration: Did I really scare you that much with my TR that you’re using a Talonflame with taunt?
Ben7000: ORLF!

EV spread was basic. Hit hard and fast. Get the speed tie in worse-case scenarios. Even with Taunt and Quick guard, it seemed almost useless to invest any EVs defensively. If my opponent wanted Talonflame dead, it’d probably be dead regardless of the spread I gave it. But anyway, Talonflame served more of a support role than an offensive role counter to its EV spread. It’s all about using the most overused Pokémon in the most underused way!

Bisharp (#Checkmate) @ Choice Band
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 48 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def / 200 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Brick Break
– Sucker Punch
– Assurance
– Iron Head

The hero. At first glance, Bisharp doesn’t look like a top-tier threat. It’s got decent stats at most. Sure, it’s attack is nothing to laugh at, but its speed is just too pitiful to exploit its dual Dark/Steel offensive prowess. You’d expect it’s defenses to make up for its middling speed- after all, on paper it seems to be able to take a few hits. But strangely, it seems to be knocked out by every move that hits it super effectively, and heavily dented by those that aren’t. But then you look at its move pool. And ability. And typing. Bisharp is one of those few Pokémon that don’t have the greatest stats, but maximizes what little it’s given.

Originally, this slot was taken by a mixed Tyranitar. But I hated it. Its attacks were pitifully weak (I wanted Fire & Ice coverage), and unless a move was super effective, Tyranitar had no offensive presence on the field. Besides, I wasn’t even running Sand Veil Garchomp, so Tyranitar packed its bags and went to vacation (on Gourgeist Island) until Gamefreak decides to revive permanent weather. The Dark/Steel offense had less coverage than the Fire/Ice brought by Tyranitar, but the sheer power Bisharp bought to the table overlooked that seemingly minor flaw. One of Tyranitar’s primary purpose was to get rid of Salamence (which were a pain for my team with all the physical attackers), but Bisharp did a better job of that. The look on my round 6 opponent’s face when my unboosted Bisharp OHKO’d his Manectric T1… Priceless.

This impressive power was brought about by a CHOICE BAND. This inspiration was based off of R Inanimate‘s 2013 team and playing chess with SuperIntegration (because Bisharp=Bishop… get it…?). Half of R Inanimate’s ideas are crazy, and I was a bit hesitant on using CB Bisharp, especially in a completely different metagame. I used R Inanimate’s Battle Tower team to get through 100 battles in the battle tower way back when I was a wee child playing Pearl Version, so something tugged at my guts to use it.

So we got our standard move set in Brick Break, Iron Head, and Sucker Punch. But then we got Assurance. For those of you who don’t know what Assurance is, it’s a 60 base power move that doubles damage to a target that has already received damage. So in other words, it has a base power of 120 if your opponent had received chip damage earlier that turn. Now, add a Choice Band, a possible Defiant boost, a base 125 Attack stat, and we’re looking at instant KOs. And really, a lot of my opponents asked what that move was after matches. It truly is an underused move. To put things into perspective, this combo one-shotted TheBattleRoom’s Hydreigon. Check out game 2 of the video below. This combo (even without a Defiant boost) was very useful in taking out any Rotom which my team had difficulty dealing with. I wanted to outspeed said Rotoms and other middling-speed Pokémon, so I invested a lot of speed in it.

I actually have no idea as to what I outspeed. I kind of just assigned an arbitrary number of EVs in all of its stats except Attack. Choice Band does a greater job of maximizing attack output when Attack EVs are maximized. Basic math. But really, I have no idea what 48 HP + 8 Def does. It’s actually a waste of 2 EVs. Oops.

I’m not even sure if my Pokémon supplier EV’d it like that. In fact, the Bisharp I used at Regionals didn’t even have Brick Break. It ran Night Slash instead. I really didn’t care to switch it to Brick Break, as if I were in a position where I had to use Brick Break, I’d probably be lost anyway.

No hero ever PLANNED on saving the day. So I’ll just settle on that.

Putting it all together:

Team Synergy

Taunt+ Sucker Punch. By forcing the opponent to attack, Bisharp could quickly lay waste to the opponent with Sucker Punch. This combo especially worked when the opponent had nowhere to switch out. These two also have a way of cleaning up teams before they can even move with Brave Bird and Sucker Punch.

I already mentioned this earlier, but Dazzling Gleam and Earthquake/Rock Slide spam. Since these 2 are most likely the fastest on the field, they can quickly bring down a lot of enemies just like Talonflame and Bisharp. Fairy and Dragon also have excellent coverage, so sometimes I double targeted an oppnent with Moonblast and Dragon Claw for the KO should they choose to stay in or switch out. You’ll see a lot of Earthquake on Gardevoir action in the videos.

My anti-lead combo, this duo primarily served to counter any other opposing Kangaskhan leads. By Quick Guarding against their Fake Out and killing off opposing Kangaskhan, I turned games into decisive victories by turn 1. Really, megas are the kings in the metagame and your objective should be to neutralize them as fast as possible.

Having an offensive threat on the field made it easier for Gourgeist to fire off Will-o-Wisps and Leech Seeds. Garchomp also eased the threat of Fire and Flying Pokémon with its Rock/Ground coverage. Also, I could comfortably Earthquake without protecting Gourgeist and let the pumpkin recover the damage off within the next turn.

 Everyone with Everyone

What kind of team would work well without entire team synergy?! Although I’ll admit I was hard pressed in some situations due to being choice- locked and lacking Protect, this team had great opportunities to switch around and absorb attacks.

Conclusion

As you saw throughout the report, I referenced a multitude of people. By no means was this team my own product, and I owe a bunch of people for helping me come up with a great team that carried me through Regionals.

First, I want to give a shoutout to my hometown crew, Team DP. Rafal Gladysz, for being my secretary and making sure I know what’s going on in the Pokémon world. Ian Eklof, for breeding half of my team and EVing them on such short demand while being the best sport out there. Eric Brooks, for taking the time to stop by even with a hectic college schedule and cheer me on throughout topcut. George Treviranus, for being a good older brother and letting me use his team. Wink wink. And finally, my big brother, Manu Sunny, for going 6-2 with a team he was working on ever since the season started. I’m amazed at the leaps he’s made trying to learn this game, despite a rigorous college schedule, so for anyone that’s going to face him at Nationals I’m giving you a fair warning right now. Also, I apologize, again, to Keegan for Manu’s defensive reaction.

-Fire Blast misses Garchomp in top 8-

Keegan: Man, screw Mango and his BrightPowder!!!!

Manu: Man, shut up. You’re just jealous you didn’t top cut.

Must’ve been awkward for the spectating crowd, but now you guys are buddies. So yay.

Also a big thanks to Keegan Beljanski — I owe him for sparking some creative ideas, especially the Garchomp/Gardevoir combo. You kept my creative juices flowing and always was a great person to theorymon with. You also taught me a valuable skill which I was able to apply to real world situations. The power of Lickilicky. Same goes to Zach. Your Gourgeist was yams, but I was able to figure things out through your help. #Boof.

Michael Lanzano, for giving me crucial last minute advice and helping me perfect my team. Both of us suffer from being overlooked by other players, so we were able to weep on each other’s shoulders and curse the world. Sam Bentham, for sparring with me and enlightening me on his European playstyle. It’s nice to have someone that plays both Pokémon AND chess. I’m sure it must be more satisfying when you beat me on both fronts. Jonathan Evans, for editing this report and helping me realize the importance of never giving up.

Enosh, for making sure I’m at my best. Trista, for giving me a free shiny, taking terrible selfies, and also helping me out between rounds. Oh, and Matt Coyle, I’m sorry I can’t play online matches as well as I can in person. You’re still a terrible NPA manager. Eh. Fine. The best NPA manager.

Collin Heier, for having a great set of matches in the finals even though your sub Chandelure walled/killed half my team. Regardless of the matchup, you definitely played well enough to deserve the title. After preventing you from top cutting last year, I’m impressed at the leaps you’ve taken to improve your game. 1-1. We’ll settle it at nationals…? And also, Oliver Valenti and Andrew Burley for giving one heck of a top cut series.

Alex Buell, for breeding and EVing the other half of my team, painstakingly editing the mute battle videos in which our commentators had technical difficulties with, and keeping me going throughout the season. I loved the audience’s reaction to the shiny Gourgeist. And yes, be proud that you gave birth to that Kangaskhan. TS + AB

Ben Rothman, for being the best friend and battle buddy any trainer could have. I can’t begin to explain how many school nights he’s stayed up trying to sort through my frustration and patch holes in my team. And of course, the power of ORLF doesn’t just stop there.

Jimmy Ballard, for running an extremely smooth Madison Regionals. I’ve attended three times, and all three times the event ran perfectly with no delays. Truly, he is the finest of tournament organizers, and TPCi did a good job of putting him in charge.

And finally, you, the Pokémon community, for being the awesome community you are. Play for a couple years, make connections for life. The depth of character, charisma, and camaraderie I’ve seen at these events make me proud to be part of it all.

Thanks for reading and see you at Nationals!

About the Author

MangoSol

Related Posts

Memoirs of a World Champion: by 2015 World Champion SHADEviera →

The Other Fire Doge: A Top 8 Lancaster Report →

Blazing Forward! A Malaysian Regionals 2nd Place Report →

Top 4, Top 4, We’ve Never Used This Team Before →