[RATE MY TEAM] 0kamii's 1st Place Emolga Team (Locals)

[0kamii]

Hey, everybody! It's 0kamii, and I suppose this post has been a long time coming.

Once more I apologize for not making this post sooner, but I'd like to remind my readers that the reason I never initially posted this team is because I thought it was too gimmicky. But it seems some people wanted to see it anyway, and so here we are exactly two months later. This team placed first at a local tournament in a hobby shop around where I live on Sunday, March 19th 2017. The competition was steep, even though there were only twelve participants total. I saw all kinds of interesting strategies that day. I saw an Arquanid with Soak, I saw Porygon-Z with Tri Attack, and even a Milotic running Hidden Power - Poison. But apparently, despite all the diversity present in the store that day, my six mons reigned supreme. Was it luck? Maybe. Was it skill? Probably not. Like I've mentioned before, I'm awful at prediction. But either way, we scaled the ladder and came out on top. I haven't won any tournaments since, so it's very possible that this team was a one-trick pony. However, you guys asked, and now I'm answering. Here's my 1st place Emolga team!
 

The Team

 

 

 

 

 This team is a mix of VGC standard and VGC not-so-standard. Obviously, when the competition began and our teams were accounted for, just to make sure there were no discrepencies, I got quite a few weird looks when the other players noticed I had an Emolga floating around on my team. I even heard a few guys whispering and chuckling softly to themselves. Joke's on them, I guess. This team wasn't entirely of my own creation either. A friend of mine, who's also a much more experienced VGC player helped me out with this lineup, and frankly both of us were surprised when I won the tournament. Especially since my hobby shop is known for cancellations, as with the January tournament I mentioned in my Emolga forum. But anyhow, let's get into the movesets and the EV spreads.
 

Emolga (Kili)

Nature: Timid
Ability: Motor Drive
Item: Focus Sash
EVs: 88 HP/ 164 Def/ 4 Sp. Atk/ 252 Speed
Moveset:
Protect
Volt Switch
Nuzzle
Speed Swap

Basically, the concept for this Emolga  comes from way back when I initially made my Emolga post in January, about a month before the tournament in question. The spread, as I'm sure my astute readers have noticed, is the same as the first one I posted. The idea for the Focus Sash came from reader @Marcusube, who suggested that because Emolga lacks natural bulk, a Focus Sash guaranteed that Kili stay around for at least one turn. It definitely helped, so I won't say that it didn't work. Excellent suggestion, my friend. Also, having Nuzzle on a mon as fast as Kili really put pressure on the other competitors. They often needed to debate whether they wanted to switch out into an Electric sponge like Garchomp, or maintain their staying power and get paralyzed. Indecision seemed to be a recurring theme once she hit the field, and often times it was enough to give me a one-turn advantage. Which we all know can turn the tide of a game. Also, Volt Switch hit all opposing Celesteela very hard, and left me plenty of momentum to keep my team moving. And last, Speed Swap was there only as a secret weapon. The idea was to pair it with Snorlax after it had used Belly Drum. That was actually the strategy that won me the finals, because I'd saved Emolga's fourth move for the end. I didn't want to deal my hand too soon. The finals started with Emolga and Snorlax, and very quick my opponent was overwhelmed by a +6 speedy Snorlax. The match was over in a matter of turns.

 

Gastrodon

Nature: Relaxed
Ability: Storm Drain
Item: Maranga Berry
EVs: 252 HP/ 12 Atk/ 104 Def/ 140 Sp. Def
Moveset:
Recover
Earthquake
Scald
Toxic

 


I do believe that Gastrodon's placement on this team is rather self-explanatory. Trick Room setters were as rampant as they always were back in March, and since my team didn't have a Trick Room setter itself I needed some kind of answer for when my opponent used it. Snorlax was one of those answers, Gastrodon was another. Toxic provided much the same utility as Nuzzle on Emolga, Earthquake is just good STAB, Scald has a beautiful burn chance, and Recover replaces Protect because I have a Maranga Berry instead of a Figy, Iapapa, or Sitrus Berry for recovery. With a Speed of 53, Gastrodon was one of the slowest mons on the team, and thanks to Earthqauke having the minimal investment of 12 EVs, opposing Tapu Koko stood no chance. While I had to watch out for Freeze-Dry and anything from Tapu Bulu, Lurantis, and Lilligant, Gastrodon was still a valuable team member.

 

Celesteela

 
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Beast Boost
Item: Leftovers
EVs: 228 HP/ 44 Atk/ 116 Def/ 116 Sp. Def/ 4 Speed
Moveset:
Protect
Heavy Slam
Flamethrower
Leech Seed

 

Oh, Celesteela! How you vex me so! I can't stand to go up against one, but yet I can't deny that it was a fantastic addition to my team. Celesteela wins games, for it has incredible stalling power. This set is pulled from the Competitive Moveset forums, originally credited to @Black117. I take no credit for it, so you should go support them. I only used it because it fit the bill for my team. My core was lacking some physcial prescence, and Celesteela played the part to a tee. There's really not much to say here, Celesteela is a VGC 2017 monster, and while it may not have been the MVP of any particular game, its contribution to the team as a whole is undeniable. Also, the only reason it has Flamethrower is because of opposing Kartana. Damn paper sword!

 

Snorlax

Nature: Adamant
Ability: Gluttony
Item: Figy Berry
EVs: 244 HP/ 252 Atk/ 12 Sp. Def
Moveset:
Recycle
High Horsepower
Return
Belly Drum

 

Another standard VGC set that I didn't see much of a few months ago. I was the only person in the tournament that used a Snorlax intended to be paired with an Emolga, but it could still function without it. My Snorlax is running an Adamant nature, and I didn't bother breeding its Speed IV to 0 because that would cripple my Emolga. It still had a Speed stat of 50, making it the slowest mon on the entire team and letting it underspeed just about everything else, sans the usual Gigalith, Torkoal, et cetera. High Horsepower was excellent for high single-target damage, and Return hit anything that wasn't immune to it very hard. I know maxing Attack EVs may seem redundant with a Belly Drum set, but you'd be surprised what it can't OHKO, even with maximized Attack. The full-investment was merely a fail-safe, one that paid off it seems.

 

Ninetales-Alola

 
Nature: Timid
Ability: Snow Warning
Item: Choice Specs
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk/ 4 Sp. Def/ 252 Speed
Moveset:
Moonblast
Blizzard
Freeze-Dry
Hidden Power - Fire

And here we go back to that not-so-standard format I was talking about earlier. Obviously, the two most common items to use on an Alolan Ninetales is a Light Clay or a Focus Sash, but on this team, Emolga was the wielder of the Focus Sash, so my friend and I decided to go bold with my Ninetales. I love Ninetales, and I'd never see it misused, but I have to say...this Ninetales did some damage! My gosh, opposing Garchomps stood no chance, even the ones with an Assualt Vest! And Hidden Power - Fire assured the instantaneous OHKO of any Kartana. Minus the ones holding the Focus Sash of course. Overall, I do not, I would not EVER recommend using this set. The only reason my friend and I decided to go for it is because we needed some Special offensive power, someone that could rack up the damage, and with the chip damage from Hail, this Ninetales did all of that and more. Choice Specs Ninetales, I love you, but you're getting a Focus Sash in the future! Promise!
 

Garchomp

Nature: Jolly
Ability: Rough Skin
Item: Groundium Z
EVs: 252 Atk/ 4 Sp. Def/ 252 Speed
Moveset:
Protect
Earthquake
Poison Jab
Rock Slide

 

Easily the most standard VGC mon on this entire team, my Groundium Z Garchomp filled the only role remaining during teambuilding. The Z-move user. No other pokemon on my team filled the role, which only left Garchomp to pickup the pieces. Personally, I love to hate Garchomp. There's no denying that this mon is good, great even, at what it does. But much like Celesteela, I wish there were others that could do what it does just as well. Garchomp has basically been a stable through every metagame ever, and it seems this year is no different. In terms of moves, I didn't run Dragon Claw because I have Ninetales and Celesteela to sponge those hits, and I figured adding Rock Slide gave me more coverage as well as a nice flinch chance. Poison Jab is there to combat the presence of the Tapus, and Earthquake is obviously Garchomp's best STAB move. Every VGC player and their dog has used this set at least once this format, so I don't think it requires too much explanation.

As with any [RATE MY TEAM] post, I'll provide a link to the Damage Calculator so that any curious trainer can punch in the numbers and see the calcs for my team on their own. I find that letting people do the calcs themselves snubs the chances of skepticism. Here's the link: (https://pokemonshowdown.com/damagecalc)

 

My Core 

 

   

 

And finally, the last thing I want to go over are the three mons that comprised the core of this, oddly surprising team. If this arrangement of types looks familiar, it should. My core is a perversion of the Fantasy core (Tapu Koko-Celesteela-Garchomp) made popular by Miguel Marti de la Torre at the London Internationals last December. Emolga replaces Tapu Koko, and Gastrodon replaces Garchomp, but the core functions virtually the same way, just with fewer weaknesses and focusing on more defensive plays intended to wear down the opponent before coming in with the big guns and doing some damage. Emolga covers Celesteela's Electric-Type weakness with Motor Drive, as well as resisting Gastrodon's singular Grass-Type weakness. Gastrodon resists Rock and Fire-Types, weaknesses of Emolga and Celesteela respectively, and obviously Celesteela resists Grass-Types as well as countering Emolga's Ice-Type weakness with the hardest hitting Heavy Slam in the format.

Well, that's all folks. As with any [RATE MY TEAM], feel free to make comments and suggestions in the comments below. I'll try to respond to as many as I can, and I thank you in advance for all the help and support I've been getting for my VGC posts over the last few months. Thanks so much for reading, and I promise I'll post another VGC analysis sometime soon. Battle onwards, friends!

- 0kamii

Update: 5/23/2017 - 6:15pm

For those of you wondering, I no longer use images from Bulbapedia because they have a tendency to glitch out or get blocked. That's understandable, and thus I've started using images from PokemonForever's archive. As for my title card images, like the ones I have at the start of my other posts, those are pulled from free websites that have no copyright and are free to be used by the public. If anyone knows anything otherwise, let me know. I have a new VGC analysis planned for next week, and I have a different post planned for either Thursday or Friday. I also have another new and exciting project in development, and I thank everyone for the support over the last few months. I hope to update these posts again soon with further news. Thanks again, and battle onwards friends!

- 0kamii

[Justin]

hey @0kamii I really love your post! It looks like the images aren't working because we can't "share" images from bulba. use our images by typing :*emolga*: or :*icon-emolga*: without the stars *. You can also double click an icon to change it's size.

regular regular-resized icon 

I'll edit a few for you just do you can see, but feel free to do whatever you want =)

[0kamii]

@Justin Thanks so much for the tip. If it wasn't obvious, I'm still struggling with the layout for these types of posts. Also, if I make something bigger, I notice that it gets blurrier. No good. I hope there's a solution for that. But I'm going to keep fiddling with it until it's just right. My readers deserve the best, and I intend to deliver it!

- 0kamii

[Skyla]

Congrats on the win the team looks very unusual but I'm glad it worked out. What Pokemon do you think gave you the most trouble throughout the event? Alolan Ninetales is one of my favorite Pokemon to use ^^

[Justin]

(May 19, 2017, 12:53 PM)0kamii Wrote: @Justin Thanks so much for the tip. If it wasn't obvious, I'm still struggling with the layout for these types of posts. Also, if I make something bigger, I notice that it gets blurrier. No good. I hope there's a solution for that. But I'm going to keep fiddling with it until it's just right. My readers deserve the best, and I intend to deliver it!

- 0kamii

For our site images I find that it's best to stay at or below a height of 120, and to leave the icons how they are.

(emolga 120)  (Emolga 100)  (icon) 

[Kidakairis]

Congratulations with your win. I love when competitive teams use electric rodents.

[0kamii]

@Skyla Hey there, Skyla! Nice to see you again!

Across the entire tournament, there were three distinct mons I remember that really gave me trouble. The first was Arcanine, specifically the bulky variant, or 'Bulkanine,' as the players called it. Even with the coverage provided by Garchomp and Gastrodon, I didn't always have the advantage when Bulkanine hit the field. Despite no Sp. Atk investment, it could still obilterate my Ninetales in two hits, and I was forced to either let my Ninetales go down, or try and switch to save it. Not to mention it took a sizeable chunk of HP out of my Celesteela as well.

Another mon that gave me problems was the Lilligant/Torkoal combination, specifically Lilligant. Obviously, Gastrodon is one of my two walls, and since Lilligant is a standard lead with its partner Torkoal, getting stuck with a Gastrodon on the field almost always spelled doom for my poor slug. I'm lucky Snorlax always OHKOs Torkoal at +6, or else my team would've been ripped apart by those two.

And the last mon that gave me agita was Kartana. That's why I referred to it as a 'damn paper sword!' in my post. Half my team is weak to its standard moveset, being Leaf Blade, Smart Strike, Night Slash, and Sacred Sword. So if I was unfortunate enough to be facing one without Celesteela or Ninetales on the field, I was doomed. And believe me, there were no rounds where I won 2:0. Virtually every match was won by the skin of my teeth, which tells me that this team is far from perfect. It's good, but I'm sure there's a way to improve it so that matches aren't so close in the future.

And last, I love Alolan Ninetales too. Personally, I still prefer the Kanto variant, but I can't deny that Alolan Ninetales packs a punch. He put in a lot of work.

- 0kamii

[ChaseInfinity]

Really cool to see a uncommon mon work on a team, good job on your first place!

[EemsRoro]

The post I've been waiting for! YAY! Sweet team! How do you think this team compares with Ashton Cox's Virginia Regionals Team? I'm pretty in love with it after you shared about it in your other thread, so much I'm gonna try it out for the next IC and see how it does and use it for the final tournament in my city before Worlds. Sad I just got into VGC and it's almost over without any events this summer.

[0kamii]

@Kidakairis Thanks so much! I love to you the electric mice too. I'm particularly fond of Dedenne as well as Emolga. I've been experiementing with Togedemaru, and I'll be sure to post anything on it if I make a working set.

@ChaseInfinity Hey, that's what I've been trying to do! There's no point in telling people to use an uncommon mon if they don't believe it can work. I may be scrutenized for suggesting that a Pokemon like Emolga could be a star, but I don't care! Like Elite Four Karen says:

"Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled Trainers should try to win with the Pokémon they love best."

@EemsRoro I think before long we should have a battle between our Emolga teams, Eems. You and I have been working very hard on this, you probably more than I. I'd love to see who's Emolga team reigns supreme. Also yeah, Worlds will be here before long. There aren't many opportunities left to get CP. Oh well. Maybe next year, huh?

- 0kamii