Reports

Published on September 25th, 2013 | by CatGonk

6

Requiem For A Team – Dead Last at 2013 Australian Nationals

“I did my best, I have no regrets!”

Preparation

League attendance at Pokeclectic is starting to pick up again, and with my new job restoring my spare time I’m really getting back into things. X and Y are just around the corner, everyone’s trying out new stuff for fun, no-one cares about tournaments anymore, and then suddenly Nationals is announced with…

Three
weeks’
notice.

WA Regionals has been announced as being held in three days’ time and I’ve already booked in a holiday down south. The good news is that I had tickets for PAXAUS months ago. The bad news is that..well, I’m not ready.

Let’s be honest here, I won the 2011 EB Games tournament because my colleagues were ridiculously unprepared, all my bad matchups fell prey to Single Elimination, too many people still thought Whimsicott Terrakion was something worth playing (something people on this website are making fun of our country for to this day), and my opponent in the finals made a horrific mistake that gave me the match. Since then I haven’t been able to put together any real results; something I could blame on a punishing work schedule but that I can only really pin on myself.

I had time to test for Nationals, but not to raise the team I wanted to use. Cresselia and Defiant Tornadus-I were simply out of the question as I barely had time to get a White 2 cart to the point where I could use level 50 Pokemon! Not having access to some of the strongest Pokemon in the format already put me at a disadvantage, but in the past I’d always done well playing with something familiar and lost when using something untested. In addition, my best performances at the local events were when I used the same 3v3 Singles team for something like two years. I needed to play to my strengths, and decided to rework my 2011 team to draw on several hundred test games of practice. With a fairly serious testing schedule I should be able to get the magic back.

The night after of WA Regionals, I won a game of Hearts by feeding the Ace of Hearts to the guy across from me. That same ace cost me a hand of poker later that night when I had a king-high flush. My 2011 team was named for Ladytron – Ace Of Hz, Amoonguss in particular. An omen, or a warning?

One week later (and thank you to my lovely wife for letting me waste several days in the lab), and I’ve got the team together. Having RNG Reporter already set up on my DS really, really helped. With some luck I’ll get through the first few rounds, make it onto the big screen and proudly play in front of all of PAX. With a lot of luck I might even end up in Vancouver, and conveniently I’m off shift that weekend. Without any luck at all I’ll scrub out in the second round to a team with a Level 48 Garchomp after repeatedly missing with Heat Wave (2/8) and Hydro Pump (2/4), being fully paralyzed for two turns while Trick Room is up, and Metagross being OHKOed by a Life Orb Adamant Weavile Night Slash Helping Hand critical hit… but that’s Pokemon!

The Team: Ace Of Hz *REMIX*

Jellicent @ Ice Gem
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 132 HP / 164 Def / 212 SAtk
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
– Ice Beam
– Scald
– Trick Room
– Protect

A bulky Trick Room setter that deals with Hitmontop/Volcarona and can’t be stopped by Politoed/Kingdra, as well as dealing with the less than likely chance that someone dredges up an Imprison Chandelure from 2011.

Water Spout is off the cards since being in the lead almost ensures it won’t be able to use it at full power, and I don’t want to fire it into a Gastrodon then lose. Instead, it packs a unique sting, 212 Special Attack EVs gives Ice Beam a guaranteed OHKO on 4 Special Defense 0 HP Thundurus. I thought about giving it Special Defense but there are already three Pokemon on this team that can soak a Dragon Gem Draco Meteor from Latios, so I instead EV’d it to handle physical attacks.

Given how important a lead it was to me, I spent a lot of time getting the numbers just right. The EVs on this guy let it shake off some interesting things:

• Crunch from 252 Attack Tyranitar 75% of the time, which is quite reliable given how few Tyranitar run max offense.
• Two Zen Headbutts from 252 Attack Metagross 85.55% of the time, and again, not everyone runs max offense.
• Two Sucker Punches from 252 Attack Hitmontop (which Rage Powder absorbs anyway).
• Dark Pulse from Life Orb 252 Special Attack Hydreigon 87.5% of the time.
• Thunderbolt from 252 Special Attack Thundurus (94.79% max).
• Dragon Gem Draco Meteor from 252 Special Attack Kingdra (94.27% max).

There are two things to watch out for, though:

• Despite having heavy Special Attack investment and an Ice Gem, this guy can’t actually deal with bulky Togekiss. It won’t go down in the initial alpha strike, and Sitrus Berry adds insult to injury.
• 252 HP 68 Special Defense Volcarona doesn’t just take Dragon Gem Draco Meteors, it can also take two Scalds from this set. Extra damage will be required.

Scrafty @ Coba Berry
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 188 Atk / 68 SDef
Sassy Nature
– Drain Punch
– Crunch
– Fake Out
– Protect

Big ups to the amazing Lajo who introduced me to this set; as well as wiping the floor with me in testing! I certainly missed Conkeldurr’s raw power, but Scrafty holds the team together by opening up my options for a lead. It also has amazing synergy with Chandelure, which was in danger of getting axed.

Coba Berry is there to address the growing popularity of Acrobatics. A Tyranitar/Gliscor lead is potentially bad news against this team. Defiant boosted Tornadus will be able to OHKO if they have any Attack investment, but given the rest of my team composition I often lead Scrafty against it anyway! It’s rare to see someone online resist their impulses and not fire it off as soon as Scrafty takes to the field, which gives me one setup turn thanks to Fake Out and potentially a second if I switch to Metagross.

Scrafty can tank until the cows come home thanks to Drain Punch, which with 188 Attack is a guaranteed OHKO on Scarf Tyranitar, and Crunch lets it shoot for defense drops in the long run, but Scrafty is not a sweeper. It can still come out late game, especially when they’re down to two Pokemon and are susceptible to Intimidate, but even super-effective STAB damage is not enough in this heavily defensive format. Conversely, it’s best to avoid having Scrafty out at the same time as Amoonguss.

Amoonguss @ Lum Berry
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SDef
Sassy Nature (0 Speed IVs)
– Giga Drain
– Rage Powder
– Spore
– Protect

This set was borrowed from Zach, the Fort Wayne Regionals winner. The EVs ensure it can take a Zen Headbutt from Metagross, something which a lot of the Pokemon on this team were EV’d to accommodate. Giga Drain actually does appreciable damage and is also my only way to deal with Gastrodon, coupled with Regenerator and safe switches to both Metagross and Chandelure, this guy’s not going anywhere. Amoonguss can even take a Heat Wave from a Quiver Dance boosted 196 Special Attack Volcarona. Soaking two hits with Rage Powder then fainting is still value if it lets Trick Room go up to allow a game-winning sweep.

For anyone playing a rain team, or thinking of doing so, have a plan for Amoonguss. 252 Special Attack Politoed will deal 45.24% at worst with Ice Beam, and 252 Special Attack Dragon Gem Kingdra will only Draco Meteor for 76.47%.

The item choice was one I deliberated on for quite a while. I originally ran Mental Herb but Bulky Thundurus seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur online, and I’m not actually too worried about anyone having put one together in time for the tournament. Besides, many Thundurus won’t even run Taunt, and Priority Taunt goes after Rage Powder. Breloom is also a thing now, and the Amoonguss/Jellicent lead is a straight-up loss to that without Lum Berry… but with Lum Berry it’s very, very hard to lose to a Breloom lead.

There isn’t really much more to say about this guy, Amoonguss is a complete monster. However, full disclosure, zero Attack investment Tornadus will still one-shot it with a Flying Gem Acrobatics, as will a Psyshock from Latios. Fortunately, the growing popularity of Conkeldurr has put Psychic back in the spotlight, and only a 252 Special Attack Life Orb Latios can put Amoonguss down.

Chandelure @ Focus Sash
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature
– Heat Wave
– Shadow Ball
– Trick Room
– Protect

Once scheduled for replacement, Chandelure worked so well with Scrafty that I kept it on. Heatran is a better Pokemon, no doubt, but I need a second Trick Room user that I’m familiar with using and Cresselia is unfortunately not an option. Most strategies with Chandelure hinge on its Focus Sash. Some of the best plays rely on taking a hit then setting up Trick Room or striking back with a huge, huge Heat Wave.

I should probably have given Chandelure (and my remaining two Pokemon) somewhat cleverer EV spreads, or one that’s at least calculated to do something since flat 252 HP EVs are sort of wasted. Still, it’s surprising how well it can take hits if it needs to. Being paired with Scrafty also allows for some nice baits against Tyranitar since even with sand breaking the sash a 252 Attack Crunch won’t beat it.

Chandelure is very much a niche Pokemon; it’s bad against double dragons and a potential trap choice if all it does it set up Trick Room then faint, but I don’t think I would have replaced it without redoing the entire team.

Rotom-Wash @ Electric Gem
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
– Hydro Pump
– Thunderbolt
– Volt Switch
– Rain Dance

This Rotom-W hasn’t had its speed tanked in any way. It’s there to act as a mid-speed sweeper; fast enough to outspeed anything it cares about and slow enough to function under Trick Room. Electric Gem is mainly a nod to Togekiss and Thundurus; Water Gem was the original choice but Hydro Pump hitting isn’t the most reliable silver bullet and Togekiss is the bigger threat anyway.

I feel the moves need some explaining. Standard Rotom-W should run Hidden Power Grass, but I have enough outs for the rain matchup and and I am otherwise cold to Perish Trap and Sunny Day. Rain Dance was originally Light Screen but the only time I’d ever really need it on a team full of special walls is if Heatran gets loose, and Rain Dance does pretty much the same thing while letting me punch through Tyranitar if bad things happen. Volt Switch, in addition to being an out for Perish Trap, has the useful side effect of letting me shift Scrafty around for extra Intimidates and Fake Outs while still doing something useful on my turn. Hydro Pump is a necessary evil, and well, it’s probably a good thing I didn’t run Will-O-Wisp either…

Metagross @ Life Orb
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
– Zen Headbutt
– Ice Punch
– Meteor Mash
– Earthquake

I find it really, really awkward to use Metagross without heavy Attack investment; in my opinion if it doesn’t have a Life Orb or a Lum Berry for Swagger it’s not really worth using. The sixth slot on this team took the longest time to finalize, but rather than being a generic filler Pokemon it just so happens that Metagross fills several important roles:

• Tank Latios’ Dragon Gem Draco Meteor.
• Act as a safe switch for Amoonguss (fire moves notwithstanding).
• Sweep under Trick Room against fast teams.
• Sweep out of Trick Room against slow teams.
• Backup lead for when someone tries to predict a Trick Room setup lead.

Zen Headbutt is huge in the current format and probably its main attack. Ice Punch saw surprising amounts of use for its 100% accuracy, with that much attack power I could rely on it for finishing blows. I considered Substitute instead of Earthquake for the last move as it would give me something to do during the inevitable final-turn-of-Trick-Room double Protect, but the ever present threat of Heatran, Excadrill and Bisharp forced my hand.

Again, the EV spread is simple but it does what it does. It can still take a 252+Life Orb Earthquake from Excadrill, and that’s really all I was after.

The Game Plan

The overall strategy is simple:

• Go in with disruption (Amoonguss or Scrafty) and a Trick Room setter (Chandelure or Jellicent).
• Deploy Trick Room and go to work (Amoonguss, Chandelure).
• Finish with a mid-speed sweep so the train can keep rolling once Trick Room wears off (Rotom-W, Metagross).

The plan was to hopefully get lucky in the first few rounds, then eat rain teams all the way to the finals. The team trades raw power for versatility, and focuses on having a great rain matchup since all reports show that the Melbourne metagame is horribly infested with rain. It has no real autolosses other than heavy Heatran based strategies or teams with multiple genies and dragons, all of which are bad against rain. This is now a true predator-prey relationship because I don’t just need to be paired against them, I need them to be paired against my bad matchups! I’ve got the tools to scrape out a win against most lineups if I can read them correctly in Team Preview, but the reverse is true and any bad calls on my part will result in a loss. I wouldn’t play this team without Team Preview, and I wouldn’t play it without testing. Speaking of testing, I’d really like to thank the amazing FamousDeaf for all his help in planning my strategies; forewarned is forearmed with this lineup and having a list of strategies prepared in advance helped amazingly.

Interestingly enough, the three three main lead combinations all came together by themselves. The first fifty or so test games were done with just Amoonguss/Jellicent leading until I realized that there were actually three generic pairs of effective leads I could choose to deal with what was in Team Preview:

Standard Lead, Fake Out with no Taunt, or neither:

This is the typical opener. Good against most of the field, great against many common openers such as Hitmontop/Volcarona and Politoed/Kingdra. Sometimes it’s good to sneak in a Spore on the opening turn, but it’s vital not to pass up a chance to use Trick Room even if Ice Beam will get a guaranteed KO. There’s plenty of time for that once Trick Room goes up, and this team can lose a 3v4 against certain sweepers.

While Jellicent is immune to Fake Out, Fake Out has a higher priority than Rage Powder meaning that whatever their second Pokemon does is going to happen. Most of the time this is allowable due to Jellicent’s bulk, and to make things even better most players will allow the double Protect on the first turn since they know you know Jellicent is immune to Fake Out. Anything anyone sets up on turn one (that isn’t Substitute) is probably going to be irrelevant thanks to the strength of Trick Room, but obvious Substitute users (like Heatran) are a massive threat since they not only stop the sweep but Spore too.

Taunt with no Fake Out:

Chandelure’s Focus Sash plus Fake Out gives multiple guaranteed turns of wreaking havoc, and Taunt is irrelevant after the first turn.

The hard part about this opener is knowing when to use it. There are many situations where it looks good but can’t do anything after setting up Trick Room due to Chandelure’s poor coverage and Scrafty’s poor damage. Amoonguss/Jellicent is the more commonly used opener, but this covers a lot of its bad matchups and it’s also good in case of double Spore.

Heavy Disruption or Heavy non-Tailwind Setup:

There are three main situations where the Trick Room lead goes out the door:

• Against disruption like Togekiss, Crobat, or both Fake Out and Taunt.
• Against a non-tailwind setup such as Cresselia or Bronzong.
• Against teams with no setup or disruption at all, but when the other two lead sets can’t deal with it.

By engaging manmode all their disruption is blanked, there is no time for them to set up, and they will almost always lose in a trade against two of the strongest attackers in the format. It’s very unexpected for a blatantly obvious Trick Room team to come in swinging at 70+ Speed. Taunt, Fake Out and Rage Powder suddenly don’t matter, Trick Room can still come out late game to sweep, and this team strikes first against other Trick Room teams as well as having a minimum speed Amoonguss potentially lurking in reserve.

Matchup-Specific Strategies

Politoed / Kingdra Lead:

This is one of the best possible situations to be in. Their attacks don’t do enough, their speed is meaningless, Jellicent stops Muddy Water and they don’t do enough damage. One game I even found myself deliberately leaving Kingdra on the field while it flailed around attempting to push through Scrafty’s healing.

..but if they bring Ludicolo:

Metagross isn’t ideal against rain but Zen Headbutt leaves a scar, and Ludicolo is kind of a big deal due to Jellicent and Rotom being weak to grass. Tank Ludicolo is actually harder for this team to deal with than Swift Swim Ludicolo due to this team’s lack of a silver bullet to punch through its regeneration; it needs to be burnt down first. Fortunately, with the current metagame being full of Flying Gem Acrobatics, it’s quite likely that none of them will even get played.

Liepard/Breloom:

This is a favourable matchup as Rage Powder + Lum Berry on Amoonguss is difficult for them to deal with. Most of the time you will find yourself going for a double Protect on the first turn then Rage Powder + Heat Wave on the second. Worst-case scenario is that Amoonguss eats both the Swagger and the Spore; best case scenario is that Liepard used Foul Play or Encore and Chandelure can just let rip. Even if this happens it’s not that bad a situation for you. A sleeping Amoonguss behind Trick Room will still draw fire, and Chandelure’s Heat Wave will put both Liepard and Breloom into single digits. They might switch, but that just gives Amoonguss time to wake up.

Hard Sand:

There are actually a lot of options here, though this can be a nasty matchup. Scrafty is the key to winning here, and usually ends up in the lead since both Trick Room setters are weak to Tyranitar but can hack it if Intimidate is out. The only time Scrafty doesn’t come out first is if it’s required to initiate manmode on a predicted Thundurus or Tornadus lead, since Metagross can put the hard word to Tyranitar after all, just not its friends. Also, if Amoonguss is going out first then Scrafty stays in reserve for reasons already discussed.

Jellicent is the Trick Room setter of choice since Chandelure is normally left out against teams built around Tyranitar, but every now and again there will be targets of opportunity, Latios in particular, which is often paired with non-Mold Breaker Excadrill. Excadrill can be troublesome, especially if it’s a Mold Breaker one since there are no flyers on this team, but going in Scrafty/Jellicent is often enough. Speaking of..

Togekiss + Mold Breaker Excadrill:

This can get nasty. Scrafty goes in the lead and the second depends on what its partners are; Chandelure normally ends up in this spot to set up TR but if things are really desperate (see: Heatran) you can lead with Metagross and try for the Hail Mary on Excadrill with Earthquake. All six Pokemon on this team have moves that do nasty things to Excadrill, but the hard part is doing it before it ends you.

Fortunately, this is one of those matchups that the metagame should take care of. Leading with two Pokemon that will be weak to the bulk of a Rain team doesn’t seem like a solid strategy.

Gastrodon:

The good news is that Gastrodon is horrible. The bad news is that it was perfectly suited to the Melbourne meta (both on rain and against rain) and coincidentally great against this team! Suck it up and run Amoonguss no matter what, but don’t put it in the lead. A late game Spore cleanup is still a cleanup. Also don’t get stuck with Rotom-W being the last Pokemon standing, this happens all the time.

Perish Trap:

The only Pokemon on this team that doesn’t have game against them is Jellicent. The choice of Scrafty or Chandelure depends on the rest of their lineup, but Rotom-W, Metagross and Amoonguss are probably going in. Amoonguss gets a free Spore on the switch-in when Perish Song finishes, which is often worth losing it. Remember to run Rotom-W out early so it can actually get some sort of mileage out of Volt Switch.

Heatran: 

Drop everything and remove it because it will wreck this team if it gets out of control! Scrafty/Jellicent lead is a must, RotomW in the rear and either Chandelure to threaten the Flash Fire boost (which is actually not very useful against Heatran, but often works wonders against its teammates) or Rotom-W if someone else can get a Trick Room off. If they don’t lead with Heatran then it often gets muzzled by Rain Dance and/or Trick Room. However, if they go in with it first this team is in a horrible situation because letting it set up Substitute is a death sentence.

Hard Hail:

(don’t choke)

Actually practice this matchup. No, seriously, Abomasnow is good enough for the finals of US Nationals and a team with Sheer Force Nidoqueen made Top 8 in the UK. The margins are just as tight as they are against any other team, so use the tools available and don’t mess up. Keep in mind that most of their team is also mid to low speed, so don’t give them the game by using Trick Room (which led to an embarrassing 4-0 for me last league).

Conclusion

There’s already been enough coverage of the event on Pokemon Australia, and my time in the tournament was quite short so I won’t repeat what’s already been said. The West Australian contingent didn’t do too well, but three of us went out with style on the big screen..and some magnificent man snuck a Pokeclectic flier onto the middle of the stage that didn’t get removed for about two hours.

It was an amazing weekend at PAXAUS, truly an experience of a lifetime and it was great to meet so many people from the local community. Oh, and the Protomen rocked.

Everyone in the Australian Pokemon community is nothing but thrilled that we finally get to participate in Worlds, and all our representatives performed admirably. I’ve got no-one to blame but myself for my own performance, I chose not to have an RNGed team from White 2 ready in advance, and I chose to use moves with less than 100% accuracy. But hey, I can’t be mad when my very presence in the tournament cowed no less than three dudes behind me taking notes during my first match..and I’d already posted my team online several days before!

I am looking forward to next year. With any luck, Nintendo Australia will be able to take the time to run a full tournament with Best-of-three swiss rounds and a top cut. Jamie and the rest of the staff did a fantastic job putting together not only the tournament itself but also five Regional events in separate states with less time than most of us had to scrape together a team. One can only imagine how big a spectacle Australian Nationals 2014 will be, and with everyone prepared in advance, the real Main Event is going to be the after party.

See you all in 2014!

Photo Credit: Maxi Geek

About the Author

CatGonk might be a familiar face to anyone who played in the days of Red and Blue. After taking his leave from Azure Heights during RSE, Cat-Gonk entered the ring again in 2007 and has been part of the West Australian scene ever since.

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