Reports

Published on September 4th, 2015 | by tanzying

6

Scar’s Mega Gardevoir with Goodstuffs: A 2015 World Championships 6th Place Team Report

This is a translation of Daichi Kumabe (Scar)‘s team from the 2015 World Championships, where he placed sixth in the Masters Division. A returning Japanese representative from last year’s World Championships, Scar was part of the Japanese day one contingent this year and advanced to day two with a 4-2 record, where he made it into the top cut. We would like to thank him for permission to translate and publish this. The original can be found at his blog.

Here’s the team that achieved sixth place at the 2015 World Championships in Boston, as well as a summary of the events that led up to the tournament.

This year was my second consecutive year playing at Worlds. Building on experience gained from last year, my goal was to bring a team that retained its strength even if its details were exposed. I decided that I would use both Thunder Wave and Trick Room, two methods of speed control that could restrict my opponents’ options right from the start. Roughly two months ago, I had been considering a Mega Salamence-centric build, and up until a week prior to my departure from Japan I was planning to use the following six Pokémon:

I was confident in the team, as it was made up of six very strong Pokémon. Yet, up until the middle of July, I was unable to play Pokémon, and when I finally began refining the team one week before the tournament I was completely unable to win with it, so I panicked. One reason for my poor performance was simply that the team had not been sufficiently optimized. All of the 4x weaknesses on the team, which were especially important due to Salamence, really restricted the plays I could make. In particular, I was totally unable to deal with Milotic, which became extremely popular before I realized it. At this point, I hurriedly switched to a standard Mega Kangaskhan team. I experimented with the common team of Kangaskhan/Landorus-T/Cresselia/Heatran/Amoonguss, but due to my complete lack of experience with using Kangaskhan in this format, I was at a severe disadvantage in the mirror. After discussing these issues with my friends, I decided to use the same Mega Gardevoir team that I had been playing with since March. I made this decision on the very day I left Japan.

However, the Gardevoir variations I had on hand had all been revealed publicly on my blog, and had all been built with the best-of-1 format in mind for tournaments such as the Japan Cup and Japan Nationals. This made me uneasy, and making a few modifications was necessary. The foundation I started with was the team I used to take 3rd place in March’s Victoria League Tokyo tournament:

For day one of Worlds, at least, I would battle with these six members. Changes were made to all movesets and EV spreads except Gardevoir’s. The complete team is as follows:

2015 World Championships Day 1 team: Scar’s Gardevoir Amoonguss Switch 2.0

TN: Scar omitted EV spreads and natures.

The Thundurus and Heatran used here are the same ones used in the aforementioned Mega Salamence team. I was a big fan of them for their individual strength, and chose them to be able to execute a Thundurus-centric playstyle that reduce my reliance on Trick Room. In the end, I only managed to play two games with friends with the above team before I boarded my flight to Boston and made the team in-game.

On day one, I was lucky enough to barely advance to day two with a 4-2 record. Up until Worlds, my Mega Gardevoir teams had a heavy reliance on Trick Room, and I was very uncomfortable with using Thunder Wave instead. However, by analyzing my battles as I played them, I grew more familiar with the strategy and somehow managed to win four sets. Both the Thunder Wave and Trick Room leads worked well, which told me that I did something right by using both methods of Speed control on the team. At the same time, however, I discovered a few big problems, namely my inability to break through Charizard with Wide Guard support, Azumarill not being used outside of the sun matchup, and a lack of concrete ways to deal with rain (although I didn’t run into it on day one).

Luckily, we were allowed to change our teams before the second day, so I immediately set about making adjustments. I replaced the seldom-brought Azumarill with Tyranitar, which gave me a fantastic tool in the weather war. At first, I considered leaving the rest of the team untouched and simply slap on a Choice Scarf Tyranitar. However, I realized that this wouldn’t help in the problematic Charizard + Wide Guard matchup, and it would also leave me at a disadvantage against non-Scarf Politoed. Additionally, it had bad synergy with Trick Room. Then I remembered the Life Orb set that I had been using on the Salamence team; it was powerful, and it worked well with both Thunder Wave and Trick Room. This did force me to change my Landorus-T’s set, so I took the opportunity to deal with Charizard by adding Rock Tomb. I wanted to keep Rock Slide due to its great effectiveness against paralyzed opponents, so I ended up with two Rock-type moves on my Assault Vest Landorus-T. I had planned on using Stone Edge to OHKO Charizard even after being Intimidated, but fears about its accuracy and lack of use in other matchups pushed me onto Rock Tomb, which gave me yet another form of Speed control. Thus, my day two team was completed at 8 AM on the day itself. Of course, there wasn’t any time to test my changes before the real games started, but I knew exactly why I had made the changes I did, and that was good enough for me.

So, after that incredibly long foreword, here’s the team I used on day two of Worlds.

Gardevoir @ Gardevoirite
Modest | Trace / Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 116 SpA / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
– Hyper Voice
– Psychic
– Trick Room
– Protect

• 2HKOs 4 HP/0 SpD Mega Kangaskhan with Hyper Voice
• KOs 4 HP/0 SpD Mega Kangaskhan with Hyper Voice after two hits of Rocky Helmet damage + Double-Edge recoil on Amoonguss
• KOs 4 HP/0 SpD Bisharp with Hyper Voice after Rocky Helmet damage
• OHKOs 252 HP/0 SpD Amoonguss with Psychic (except for a minimum damage roll)
• Survives Brave Bird from Adamant 252 Atk Choice Band Talonflame
• Outspeeds 252 Speed neutral-natured base 70s

This is my favorite, most used Gardevoir, and is unchanged from my Japan Cup and Nationals teams. I regard Mega Gardevoir very highly due to its ability to hit many Pokémon for large amounts of damage, something that the most common Trick Room user, Cresselia, cannot do. A Speed stat of 123 allows it to underspeed nearly all common Pokémon, yet still makes it faster than Bisharp outside of Trick Room, allowing it to pick up the knockout after Rocky Helmet damage. I made my Gardevoir more physically bulky than a standard set, allowing it to withstand weaker hits even without the aid of Landorus-T’s Intimidate. During day two, I ran into a maximum Speed Tyranitar (124 Speed) and it was difficult for me to win, so bumping up its Speed to 125 might be a good idea. I brought Gardevoir to every single battle at Worlds.

Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Bold | Regenerator
252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD
IVs: 6 Spe
– Giga Drain
– Spore
– Rage Powder
– Protect

• Survives a +1 Parental Bond Return from 252 Atk neutral-natured Mega Kangaskhan
• Survives a +6 Play Rough from 252 Atk Adamant Azumarill
• Survives two Life Orb-boosted Hidden Power Ices from 252 SpA neutral-natured Thundurus
• Survives a Life Orb-boosted Protean Ice Beam from 252 SpA neutral-natured Greninja
• Has a high probability to survive a Choice Specs-boosted Draco Meteor from 252 SpA Hydreigon
• Underspeeds minimum speed Base 39s (Gastrodon)

This is a fairly standard Amoonguss set. This EV spread is my favorite, and I’ve used it throughout the season. One change I made was switching back to Giga Drain from Hidden Power Ground. While the latter is indeed a fantastic move on the mushroom, it meant that I lost an effective method of dealing with Gastrodon, which poses a large threat to the team. Additionally, unlike my former teams, this team relies less on Trick Room, giving me fewer opportunities to effectively use the move. As can be expected from the popular moniker “Sanabareru” (TN: “Gardymoonguss”), the Gardevoir/Amoonguss combination is extremely effective, especially when Amoonguss gets to spam Spore under Trick Room.

Thundurus @ Sitrus Berry
Modest | Prankster
244 HP / 40 Def / 36 SpA / 156 SpD / 28 Spe
– Thunderbolt
– Thunder Wave
– Swagger
– Protect

• KOs opposing 4 HP/0 SpD Shuca Berry Heatran with Thunderbolt when used in conjunction with my Heatran’s Earth Power
• 2HKOs 252 HP/0 SpD Sitrus Berry Suicune
• Has a high chance to survive two Rock Slides from 252 Atk Adamant Landorus-T (with Sitrus Berry)
• Has a 15/16 chance to survive Life Orb + rain-boosted Hydro Pump from 252 SpA Modest Ludicolo

It is rare in Japan, but I used a Modest Thundurus. This Pokémon’s most important roles were dealing with rain teams and bulky Water-types (Suicune, Milotic) while dishing out disruption, which is why I made the EV spread very specially bulky. A Modest nature allowed it to finish off opposing Shuca Berry Heatran after my own’s Earth power, which was enough reason for me to use the non-standard spread. I originally had Hidden Power Ice as well, but against Kangaskhan leads, I despised eating Fake Out damage, so I switched to Protect. Swagger is a fantastic move, especially against Aegislash, which is always problematic for Gardevoir teams. It also gave me opportunities to win games that I had no business winning. In the day one variant, Azumarill had taken the Sitrus Berry so Thundurus had Leftovers, but I switched to the berry on day two to allow it to withstand Kangaskhan’s attacks. This was a fantastic moveset; I used Swagger on many Pokémon and gained huge advantages because of it. One final thing: SWAGGER IS GOD!!

Landorus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Adamant | Intimidate
4 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
– Knock Off
– Rock Tomb

• OHKOs up to 252 HP/60 Def Mega Charizard Y with Rock Tomb
• Has a 15/16 chance to survive Life Orb-boosted Hidden Power Ice from 252 SpA neutral-natured Thundurus

I came up with this Landorus-Therian set on the morning of day two. I think Choiced Landorus-T in this format is weak in high-level battles for two reasons: it often gives opponents advantages when it gets locked into the wrong move, and if its U-turn gets blocked by Protect, it is very easy for opponents to make predictions on the following turn. On day one, it held a Life Orb and had Protect, and as I previously mentioned, I was planning on keeping it that way. However, I really wanted the Life Orb on Tyranitar as well as a single-target Rock-type move, so I switched to Assault Vest and Rock Tomb. The Speed drop from the move is very valuable to the team; for example, after a single hit, Gardevoir can outspeed maximum Speed Thundurus, and my Heatran can outspeed opposing maximum Speed Heatran, giving it the first Earth Power. The EV spread is fairly simple because I wanted the additional offensive power for the mirror; the defensive investment is the bare minimum to withstand Life Orb Thundurus’s Hidden Power Ice.

Heatran @ Shuca Berry
Modest | Flash Fire
196 HP / 56 Def / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
– Heat Wave
– Earth Power
– Hidden Power Ice
– Protect

• Has a 15/16 chance to OHKO 4 HP/76 SpD Mega Salamence with Hidden Power Ice
• KOs 4 HP/0 SpD Shuca Berry Heatran with Earth Power in conjunction with Thundurus’s Thunderbolt
• Has a 14/16 chance to survive Life Orb-boosted Earthquake from 228 Atk neutral-natured Landorus-T with Shuca Berry
• Speed creeps uninvested Heatran

Heatran is one of the strongest Pokémon in the format. I liked Heat Wave’s ability to deal solid chip damage while dissuading many switches, so I made it as powerful as possible. I seriously considered using minimum Speed for the best Trick Room advantage, but I realized that any Aegislash I would run into would not be faster than the current spread, and knowing the Speed priority beforehand made it easier to play against it. I added an extra point to Speed creep in case there were any uninvested Modest Heatran around. Hidden Power Ice was great against opposing Salamence and Landorus-T, especially when paired with Shuca Berry and Rock Tomb. Being able to take on even Life Orb Landorus-T without Intimidate support made it quite easy to play around it. This Pokémon took down innumerable Ice-weak Pokémon during the tournament—honestly, it might even be my MVP.

Tyranitar @ Life Orb
Adamant | Sand Stream
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
IVs: 12 Spe
– Rock Slide
– Crunch
– Low Kick
– Protect

• Has a 15/16 chance to OHKO 4 HP/0 SpD Mega Kangaskhan with Low Kick together with Sand damage
• Has a 3/4 chance to OHKO 12 HP/0 Def Heatran with Low Kick
• OHKOs 252 HP/0 Def Thundurus-I with Rock Slide
• Underspeeds minimum speed Heatran

I had Azumarill here for day one, but I quickly switched to Tyranitar to deal with both sun and rain. Life Orb gives this set overwhelming power in Trick Room or against paralyzed Pokémon, especially when boosting Rock Slide. Additionally, its ability to take a huge chunk out of Aegislash was crucial to this team’s success.

That’s all for the details. With a bit of luck, I got through Swiss with an excellent 6-1 record, finishing in fifth place. Landorus-T and Tyranitar, the two changed Pokémon, put in a lot of work. Losing in the quarterfinals to BIDC (Hideyuki Taida) and finishing in sixth was regrettable, but I’m satisfied and simultaneously shocked that I was able to get this far with such a hastily assembled team. To be honest, I really wanted to win, considering that a semifinal appearance would have given me an invite to next year’s tournament, but Hideyuki played really well, and I’m not too bitter about it. Next year, I think I’ll prepare properly and take another crack at the title!

My fourth round match against Yuichi Sasaki and my fifth round match against Lajos Woltersdorf (Lajo) were both streamed, as well as my interview after the latter match. It was a great experience to be able to play in front of the whole world. The videos are below.

Swiss Round 4 vs Yuichi [JP]

Swiss Round 5 vs Lajo [DE]

Swiss Round 5 Winner’s Interview

Honestly, I didn’t think I’d achieve such a good result given my lack of preparation, and being sixth in the world still kind of feels like a dream. I’m really grateful to my friends, who helped me refine the team and gave me great advice. Thanks to all who wished me well and congratulated me! I’m looking forward to being able to battle more players next year in San Francisco.

About the Author

tanzying 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.

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