Reports

Published on October 2nd, 2014 | by tanzying

9

The Queen of Juniors: A Junior Division 2014 Worlds 3rd Place Report

This is a translation of the 2014 World Championships Top 4 Junior division player Haruka Narita’s team report by Tan Zong Ying (tanzying). Haruka first qualified for Worlds in 2013 by being part of the winning 3-person team (“Team Rules”) from the 2013 Coro Coro Cup in Japan. She took Top 4 at Worlds in 2013, earning her an invitation to return to this year’s tournament, where she managed to achieve the same result. I had the pleasure of meeting her and her father, @tugaaaru, in Washington D.C., and they kindly approached me with a report that they wanted to have translated and shared on Nugget Bridge. I’d like to thank them for the opportunity, as well as Taroimo (@taroimo_poke), my English-Japanese translator counterpart for his coordination efforts.

Artwork and photos were provided by Tugaaaru, whose blog is located at http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/haruemi1218


politoedludicoloamoongusstyranitarmanectric-megatalonflame

Hello Nugget Bridge!

I am Haruka Narita and my in-game name is Rulue. I’d like to introduce my  2014 World Championships team. With it, I managed to reach the Top 4 of Worlds this year, defending my spot from 2013. I think that the only other Juniors who have made Top 4 at least twice are Santa Ito, Kippei Takaki, Brian Hough and Brendan Zheng. Seeing these names alone kind of gives me goosebumps, so it is such a great honour to be included in such esteemed company!

I had my invitation to the 2014 Pokémon World Championships confirmed from last year, so paying Nationals no heed I battled repeatedly in-game and on Pokémon Showdown in earnest. I probably logged more than 2500 battles. There probably isn’t any other Junior who exceeded this! I was happy that my blood and sweat produced results in the end. Perhaps I just needed that little extra bit of luck to become the champion? Anyway the champion was strong!

My Team

politoed

Politoed @ Eject Button
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 76 SpD
Calm Nature
– Scald
– Ice Beam
– Protect
– Encore

This team originated from the team known as “Korean Rain.” I researched how to play it by watching the Battle Videos of it that were released many times. Thank you Sensei ^^(I’m taking the liberty of calling Keewan-san Sensei here).

I send Politoed out against opponents weak against rain and grab the weather. Encore handles things like Aegislash’s Substitute. It needed to not faint before ejecting itself, so I bulked it up to survive various attacks.

ludicolo

Ludicolo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 124 Def / 204 SpA / 4 SpD / 172 Spe
Modest Nature
– Fake Out
– Hydro Pump
– Ice Beam
– Giga Drain

This was Kingdra for a long time, but I changed it to Ludicolo around July because having Tyranitar and Kingdra together accumulated too many Fairy-type weaknesses. Assault Vest and a recovery method together was a good combination. It is faster than Mega Aerodactyl in Rain.

amoonguss

Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Giga Drain
– Rage Powder
– Spore
– Protect

Amoonguss is a staple of Kalos Doubles. It is Relaxed with maximum physical defenses. This cute little guy has been shielding my team ever since the 2013 World Championships. It exists to bring despair to its opponents and hope to its allies. It is the nucleus of my team: protecting Tyranitar with Rage Powder, depriving my opponents of their freedom with Spore, and tormenting Kangaskhan with its Rocky Helmet.

tyranitar

Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Rock Slide
– Brick Break
– Dragon Dance
– Protect

I put a Lum Berry on a Dragon Dance Tyranitar. Some time ago, Dragon Dance Mega Tyranitar had become popular. With support from Amoonguss and other Pokémon with redirection, it was very strong if it could get a Dragon Dance up. I did actually test it out, but when I used it I kept getting targeted by Will-O-Wisps and other status ailments at an unusually high rate. This made me change my plans. If I could instead lure in status ailments and Dragon Dance while recovering from them with Lum Berry, then its Speed and firepower would be perfect even without mega evolving.

Brick Brick was for hitting Kangaskhan and Bisharp hard. Rock Slide is the strongest move. It has no Dark-type moves, but I could bluff one by using the mentality that Tyranitars usually carry one.

manectric-mega

Manectric @ Manectite
Ability: Lightningrod
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Overheat
– Volt Switch
– Protect
– Hidden Power [Ice]

I used Manectric for my Mega slot. Overheat does big damage against Ferrothorn, Aegislash and company. I use it alongside Talonflame a lot. Using Volt Switch and U-Turn to get Intimidates off while maintaining the weather correctly is necessary.

talonflame

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Brave Bird
– Flare Blitz
– Protect
– U-turn

Adamant with Life Orb. I use it with Manectric often. I tested out Taunt, Tailwind and more but the move that fit my team the best was U-Turn. Priority Brave Bird is too strong.

Member Selection and Tactics

I often led with Manectric + Talonflame or Tyranitar + Amoonguss often. With Manectric and Talonflame, I would get Intimidate off and Volt Switch or U-turn to set up either Rain or Sand. I had to practice hard to develop a reliable intuition as to which slot my opponents would aim Fake Outs at so that I could switch Amoonguss into them. Even when leading Tyranitar and Amoonguss, predicting Fake Outs is important. If I can get momentum going by Dragon Dancing and Rage Powdering together, I move one step closer to victory.

This is a video of my quarterfinals match against Miranda at Worlds:



 

I was able to keep Brick Brick unrevealed and predict Fake Out thanks to the experience I accumulated in practice.

Lastly…

After the Kalos Doubles-based Battle Spot Special ladder disappeared in May, I could not have gotten my battles done if not for Pokémon Showdown. I’d like to say thank you to everyone who battled me on both platforms! Sadly I didn’t manage to become the World Champion, but I feel that I managed to proved my strength.

However, I’m all burned out from battling too much so I don’t know whether I will come back to Worlds next year, though I still have an invite in the Junior Division next year, though. For now I’m going to concentrate on basketball ^^

Going to Worlds, I was able to meet many excellent acquaintances, and I am grateful to all of them. Thank you so much 🙂

ZV5SfNBr.jpg small


About the Author

is a VGC player hailing from the tropical island of Singapore. Previously involved mostly in translating Japanese VGC blog articles for the rest of the world, organising official VGC events and friendlies with other countries for Singapore has come to be his primary role.



9 Responses to The Queen of Juniors: A Junior Division 2014 Worlds 3rd Place Report

  1. woopahking says:

    Wow, when I was in juniors everyone was using terracott except the finalists made teams on their own. It has certainly come a long way. Well done on 4th. It’s better than I got in juniors 🙂

  2. Scott says:

    Certainly a lot more here than I’d expect from a player of that age, pretty cool. I think doing that well twice in a row in the Junior division is almost harder than the others in a sense that’s it’s often tough for kids that age to focus on anything for very long, let alone playing enough Pokemon to be that good two years in a row. Pretty cool. Good to see the report, and thanks for doing the translation.
     
    The team itself is pretty interesting, too. Sort of a step between Keewan’s Rain team and something like Bopper’s team with the Grass-types and DDTar. Interesting way to get multiple looks in a best-of-three team without making it so complicated it’d be unrealistic for a player that age to get good mileage out of it. Good strategy, and a nice finish.

  3. LithiumAcid says:

    I really loved this team since I had the pleasure of watching Haruka’s battle against Miranda live at Worlds and reading the original article from my Twitter feed early in September.

    I have played with this team and it’s absolutely beautifully built. Congratulations on your finish, and thank you so much for the translation Tanzying!

  4. Snormax Miltank says:

    Wow…..This little kid is a better writer, player, and team-builder than I am. Time to quit VGC and/or life :3

  5. Cybertron says:

    Really adorable report, thanks for translating. I’m really glad to have met Haruka and her father last year, they’re incredibly kind and I hope they can both make it back next year, especially since she’s still a Junior and has an invite!

  6. R Inanimate says:

    Well done on consecutive 4th place finishes. The team had a few interesting choices to it, but overall kept it simple and effective.
     
    Babbytron went 3rd, 3rd, 1st in his Junior Career…
    Provided that Haruka is still in Juniors next year, is there a champ in the making right here?

  7. kibago11 says:

    DD Insurance Lum Berry is a great idea. Imagine all the scared opponents hoping to burn through and have a boosted Tyranitar staring them down. Nice work.

    What a fantastic young talent – hope she returns to the game when she is ready and if not takes basketball by storm!

  8. Jogemian says:

    Nice Report and quite impressing. We have look out for her if she still is active with playing VGC when she is a Master. The 4/252/252 spreads surprised me but that just shows how making plays is the key to winning Games more then spreads and teams that work well on paper.

  9. Boomguy says:

    Haruka clearly shows some good skills in her battle with Miranda and she kept that Brick Break surprise so well that not many masters do it so well.    The team is nice and simple.  It’s great to see where she got her ideas.  She will be no doubt become a junior world champion for sure

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