Reports

Published on March 3rd, 2014 | by tanzying

21

You Think Darkness is Your Ally? 5.5th Bibu Off Top 4 Team Report

This is a translation of Arue’s team, who placed in the Top 4 at the 5.5th Bibu Offline Tournament with it, by Tan Zong Ying (tanzying). The original is located at Arue’s blog, and we would like to thank him for his permission to post this translation. The 5.5th Bibu Off acted as the Chushikoku regional qualifier for Japan’s unofficial Battle Road Gloria tournament circuit. 47 players took part in this tournament. Arue topped his round robin preliminary group at 6 wins and 1 loss, and won his Top 8 and Top 4 matches before losing in the semifinals to the eventual winner of the tournament.

This team report was published on Arue’s personal blog. Given that most Japanese team reports are posted through similar individual channels instead of large communal platforms, the tone of this report and many others are much more casual than many of the team reports Nugget Bridge usually publishes. I have, to the best of my limited ability, attempted to recreate the tone that Arue conveyed in his original post.

The article artwork is my own.

Originally posted at http://ameblo.jp/rei-arue/entry-11763145931.html

So, top 4 it was. I guess I was in the same league as everyone else in the top 4 except the winner.

In the morning, I tore through my group in the preliminaries 6-1 and advanced. Since I recorded all the battle videos, I’ll just list them here instead of writing about the battle contents myself.

Preliminaries

Herega-san

GL6G-WWWW-WWW5-4R3Z

Kuro-san

KC8W-WWWW-WWW5-4R4L

IXI-san

4BAW-WWWW-WWW5-4R52

Onaki-san

VCBW-WWWW-WWW5-4R5D

Hashidamu-san

B2PG-WWWW-WWW5-4R5J

Ryou-san

65UG-WWWW-WWW5-4R6C

(TanZYinG: One video seems to be missing)

Top Cut

1st Match: Suraili-san

GDNG-WWWW-WWW5-4R6U

2nd Match: Marou-san

PBPG-WWWW-WWW5-4R89

Semi-Finals: The Winner

Blanked out and didn’t save the video

I won my matches with Kanga Talon Chomp and Gardy.
But I feel my skills are still not good enough…
Well, so much for the battle videos.

So, on to the Team Details

Kangaskhan @ Mega Stone
(the usual, Rotom-outspeeding spread)
– Fake Out
– Return
– Power Up Punch
– Sucker Punch

In all honesty it would probably be better to change this but in the end I couldn’t think of anything so I just used the spread with the damage rolls I was familiar with.

Smeargle @ Focus Sash
100 HP, 84 Def, 252 Spe, rest in SDef
– Fake Out
– Dark Void
– Follow Me
– Encore

I fine-tuned its endurance by using a 16n-1 HP.
In my opinion this spread is good for both Sashed and Scarfed versions.
Of course, if it has Transform then HP and Speed is the way to go.
I mean, it’s not as if this is some crazy weird spread or anything but you can’t possibly go too wrong with Smeargle, can you?

(TanZYinG: When I asked Arue for permission to translate this article, he very kindly offered to write additional details on what I thought overseas players would find interesting. He ended up writing an entire new blog post on playing Smeargle which I have translated and appended to the end of the article. To my knowledge, Arue ladders and livestreams on Battle Spot Special regularly with Smeargle, and I believe what he has to say on the subject of Smeargle is worth a read!)

Talonflame @ Life Orb
(the standard spread)
– Brave Bird
– Taunt
– Quick Guard
– Tailwind

Garchomp @ Choice Band
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
– Dragon Claw
– Poison Jab

199 Garchomp.

TanZYinG: The 199 Garchomp is a well known alternative/anti-metagame Garchomp set in Japan created by Arue himself, which is designed to win the Garchomp mirror match by surviving up to a Life Orb-boosted Dragon Claw even if it loses the speed tie, and OHKO in return with Choice Band Dragon Claw. The set is Jolly, Choice Band, 124 HP / 44 Atk / 84 Def / 4 Sdef / 252 Spe with Earthquake / Rock Slide / Dragon Claw / Filler. Details can be found in this blog post. Similar to Smeargle, Arue also wrote a new blog post on the subject of his experiences with the set, which can also be found at the end of this article.

Krookodile @ Choice Scarf
Adamant
252 Atk / 180 Spe / 4 Def and SDef / rest in HP
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
– Stone Edge
– Crunch

Adjusted to outspeed Modest Scarf Gardevoir. As for the spread’s other reasons, I couldn’t cut back on attack so Adamant it was for sure, and then since it would be switching in and out quite often to Intimidate things I wanted it to be as bulky as it could be (with whatever EVs I had left to spare).

I didn’t have any particularly problematic issues with this.

Gardevoir @ Choice Specs
(TanZYinG: Nature unspecified by author)
252 HP / 116 Def / 20 SDef / 60 Spe / rest in SAtk
– Dazzling Gleam
– Psychic
– Shadow Ball
– Focus Blast (not needed!)

To be frank, the last moveslot was superfluous. This is a Specs Gardevoir spread that feels very similar to 199 Garchomp.

• HP and Def – survives CB Talonflame’s Brave Bird
• HP and SDef – survives positive natured Aegislash’s Shadow Ball
• Speed – Outspeeds neutral natured 12 Speed EVs Rotom

Bulky Rotoms usually run 4 Speed, and because of that there might be stuff that tries to speed creep it so I made mine outspeed 12 Speed Rotom. That’s what I felt was best.

I think this is a team that can handle all the currently existing standard teams, but in the end I lost because I made mistakes while selecting Pokemon in preview.

There were other incidents like Hammer Arm critical hitting right after an Intimidate, but really, the way I blanked out at team preview was unacceptable. Therefore I must say that I didn’t lose because of hax; the tournament winner was simply stronger.

So as I said, I believe this is a team that can deal with standard teams well. I wonder if I should write a little on the reasons behind using Krookodile?

With Salamence, there were a number of concerns I had:

• No way to hit Gardevoir well
• Being weak to Dragon
• Being neutral to Electric
• Being weak to Rock Slide
• Being neutral to Sucker Punch

Krookodile dealt with all of these issues for me so I chose to use it instead.

Above all, Ground types are obviously strong in the current metagame. Also, with its Scarf it had the ability to create lucky breaks with Rock Slide flinch shenanigans. Those were my considerations.

Incidentally during the semi-finals if I had just gotten a single flinch off I would have been able to win, which was kind of what I was secretly hoping for.

I’ll probably get asked something like how did I deal with the popular Rotom, so I’ll answer in advance:

How many of those Rotoms actually outspeed Smeargle?

I rest my case.

Up until the very last moment I was dithering over whether to put things like Zapdos or Aegislash in Krookodile’s slot, but I think the decision to go with Krookodile ended up going well.

Well, what else is there to say, I wonder… With Krookodile being able to avoid the negative aspects of Salamence, I think it can really shine depending on the team it is in.

Oh also in case I get asked how I dealt with Trick Room teams,  Marou-san (Note: in the battle videos above) was using Trick Room, so watch that and leave a comment if you still don’t understand.

If there are any other questions as well please feel free.

Encore on Smeargle

Question asked by komaaru in the comments section:

With regards to Smeargle’s moveset, I would have thought you would want to use Dark Void against slower opponents, so what situations were you considering when you decided to use Encore?

Arue’s answer:

Thanks for commenting.

Dark Void itself is a move with imperfect accuracy. Because of that I didn’t want to use it if it could be avoided so I added Encore to increase my options.

It opens up the number of plays you can make. For example, against Safeguarding opponents or Aegislash using Substitute or King’s Shield, you can just Encore them.

In situations where Dark Void missing may well mean losing the game, I believe using Encore to lock down the opponent’s options is a strong play.

Most of all, even in the rare case where a Lum-holding Pokemon protects in front of Kangaskhan and Smeargle in order to dodge the Fake Out, you have the option of locking it into Protect on the next turn.

Those are my reasons.

Further Points

TanZYinG: As earlier mentioned, Arue took my input on what additional details would interest foreign readers, and produced new blog entries on Smeargle and 199 Garchomp. With regards to Smeargle, our exchange went something like this:

Arue: If you could please tell me what foreign players found interesting about the article I will be happy to provide more details.

TanZYinG: Right now not many foreign players have read this report, but if I had to guess what they would be interested in if they had it would be Smeargle. Over here, many players seem to have the conception that “Sleep turns are random, Dark Void’s accuracy isn’t perfect, et cetera et cetera, there are many reasons why Smeargle is an unreliable Pokemon.” When two Smeargle teams including yours placed in the top 4 of the Bibu tournament, there was surprise as well as doubts over whether it was merely because opponents were insufficiently prepared to counter it. So, if you could elaborate further about Smeargle (especially with regards to how you handle it in battle) it would be a very useful insight.

Arue: I’ve gone and written a new post on it!

Further Points on Playing Smeargle

Originally posted at http://ameblo.jp/rei-arue/entry-11783259472.html

It seems that players outside Japan have a negative impression of Smeargle, so I guess I’ll write an entry on it. In particular, I want to talk about how to handle Smeargle in battle.

Firstly, I’ll say this: if you have any kind of team or playstyle that loses if Dark Void does not hit, please throw it away. Smeargle’s role is that of reducing the damage its partner on the field has to take, so you must not allow yourself to be reluctant to let Smeargle be knocked out if necessary.

Also, an important thing is to properly anticipate which Pokemon your opponent will choose in order to counter Smeargle, and send Pokemon of your own which do well against those Pokemon. People build their teams and choose their Pokemon while considering what kind of opposition they are likely to face, and I think that the necessity of being able to deal with the Kangaskhan-Smeargle lead combination is something most people agree on.

Naturally, when considering common holders of Lum/Chesto berry that are also faster than maximum speed Smeargle, Garchomp comes to mind. Therefore, it is important when making decisions in battle to go ahead and Fake Out things you suspect are carrying Lum Berry while Dark Voiding, even if you would rather not do so because of Rough Skin or Iron Barbs. In the case of Iron Barbs (Ferrothorn), after it Protects, forget about Dark Void and all its associated risks and simply shut it down with Encore.

Against a Trick Room setup involving a Fake Out user and Trick Room user, you can also use Smeargle’s Fake Out to stop the Trick Roomer while boosting up with Kangaskhan’s Power-up Punch to apply pressure on them the following turn. If they then Protect, there’s no need to use Dark Void anymore. Lock them down with Encore, rack up the Power-up Punches. Checkmate.

However, in the end I feel that the easiest way to play Kangaskhan + Smeargle is to have them in the back and eliminate the Scarf Salamences, Lum Garchomps, Scarf Gardevoirs and whatever else the opponents bring to counter them. They will be able to operate much more easily that way.

In this way, when thinking about how to win during the team building stage, isn’t putting Smeargle, who learns every single move, complements the team well and simultaneously forces opponents to be wary of Dark Void into the team a good thing after all?

Experiences with 199 Garchomp

Originally posted at http://ameblo.jp/rei-arue/entry-11783242961.html

http://ameblo.jp/rei-arue/entry-11710407587.html
For the details of the spread please see the link above.

So let me write about my thoughts and miscellaneous impressions while actually using this.

When considering how easily Garchomp is able to operate in an environment, I think the question to ask is how popular Gardevoir is in said environment.

To tell the truth, I still entertain the notion of going for easy wins by using DisQuake or putting a Scarf Gardevoir alongside Garchomp sometimes.

The concept of spread damage was to win the exchange in the damage race by means of Smeargle, Kangaskhan, Talonflame and others — it doesn’t matter even if the opponents survive because if they do they fall into CB Garchomp’s KO range — and after that send 199 Garchomp (who due to the Choice Band has more firepower than normal Garchomp) to mop everything up in one hit and get the job done.

Garchomp’s strong point and main reason for its use lies in its 102 base speed outspeeding the popular Mega Evolutions (Kangaskhan, Charizard etc). Against Perish Song teams and Rain teams, I would use Tailwind to recover Garchomp’s speed advantage and regain the initiative.

Factoring all of these in, I designed my spread.

However, is it possible for me to say that within the context of the current metagame, 199 Garchomp is still a strong Pokemon? Personally, I don’t think so at all. The reasons being Gardevoir’s rise to prominence, Aegislash’s Wide Guard, and the increase in usage of Tailwind Talonflame. I suppose the decreasing frequency of Garchomp mirror matchups also count as a significant factor.

Those are the points that I can give.

Which is why in my opinion, for the sake of future metagame considerations, this set should be treated as a relic from the past.

From now on in my teambuilding, I expect that I will focus more on Garchomp’s 102 base speed as its primary selling point, rather than trying to anti-metagame so much with it.

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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