#577 Solosis

AbruptFury · (This post was last modified: Apr 3, 2017, 06:36 AM by AbruptFury.)

Who can it be? It's Tommy! Back for the results of week 3. I'm the coach of the Toronto Maple Leafeons. Currently, our team is 2-0 in the season looking to pick up more wins. So far we've been off to a great start. But what about this match? :O

The Team Line-ups

My Team: M-Pinsir, Clefable, Zygarde-50%, Empoleon, Arcanine, Hitmontop, Vanilluxe, Dhelmise, Heliolisk, Jellicent, Malamar

Zigzagger456 (Mississauga Mences): Victini, Garchomp, Slowbro, Whimsicott, Gardevoir, Trevenant, Vivillion, Scizor, Tauros,
Zebstrika, Bronzong

The Game Plan

Squishy (Jellicent) @ Wacan Berry
Ability: Water Absorb
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Def / 4 SpA / 116 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick Room
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Ball
- Recover

"I will call Squishy. And he will be mine. And he will be my Squishy." - Dory, Finding Nemo. This thing was my bread and butter this week. It was good for walling/checking threats like Choice item Victini, Garchomp, Bronzong, Slowbro, and Tauros. Even better against his team in general under Trick Room. Most of the aforementioned were physical attackers, so I wanted Will-o-Wisp to be able to cripple them. It could also be used on Trevenant and Scizor, which can be a pain with Knock Off. Shadow Ball would be used to deal damage to Victini (which can't be burned), Slowbro, Trevenant, Gardevoir, and Bronzong. Recover can be used to stall out such threats while they try to damage Jellicent. And it keeps my Trick Room setter alive to be able to come in and set it up again later. For the item choice, I have the Wacan Berry. This would be used to disrupt Victini's best way to take on Jellicent. Bolt Strike. A very powerful Electric type attack. I have a soft spot for this jellyfish Pokemon. It has so many options in it's movepool. I'm definitely going to have to bring it again sometime.

Jellicent could also work as a switch-in for Slowbro's Scalds. Something my other Pokemon don't really want to take.

Offensive Calcs:

Defensive Calcs:

IAmLegendary (Arcanine) @ Grassium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 212 Atk / 156 SpA / 140 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Flamethrower
- Solar Beam
- Iron Tail
- Morning Sun

This here is my Naughty Dog set 4Head A mixed attacking Arcanine with the ability to stick around in Morning Sun. Arcanine was meant to help my matchup against Pokemon like Scizor and Trevenant, mainly. Flamethrower would be used to take care of the two, as well as Whimsicott and Vivillon. Solar Beam was there for Bloom Doom, and Bloom Doom was there to beat Slowbro. I knew I couldn't just have a special attacking Arcanine. I needed it to help deal with Gardevoir. Originally, I had Iron Head on Arcanine for Gardevoir, but realized that it wasn't enough to do the job. So I switched it for Iron Tail. Sure you can only count on it 75% of the time, but the damage would be enough to OHKO Gardevoir (without heavy defensive investment or Babiri Berry). Iron Tail could also give me a way to damage Vivillon outside of Flamethrower since it gets Powder. A move that would make my Fire type attacks blow up in my face. Very tricky. And Morning Sun was used to keep Arcanine healthy since it was my best switch-in for Scizor and Trevenant.

Oh. And the speed is to outspeed Modest Gardevoir by one point. I figured I should have at least one decently fast mon.

Offensive Calcs:

Defensive Calcs:

Tatl (Clefable) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Moonlight
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave

My Clefable was used to help me out with my Garchomp matchup. Your standard Swords Dance or Dragon Dance set could not penetrate this wall! Stealth Rock was there for the hazard support. Which is good to have against possible Sash mons, like Whimsicott. As well as Victini, the biggest threat to my team. Yes, you will hear about it a lot during this report. Moonlight could be used for healing. I didn't bring Vanilluxe this week and Ziggy didn't really have anything that set up weather. Moonblast could be used to damage Pokemon like Garchomp, Gardevoir, and Zebstrika. The last two could also take a special attack drop which could be quite helpful in Clefable's survival. Thunder Wave could be used to cripple threats when Trick Room isn't an option. Something like Victini or Gardevoir would not appreciate it. Leftovers would help it move out of KO range and heal without having to use Moonlight.

Defensive Calcs:

Rupert (Dhelmise) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Steelworker
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Shadow Claw
- Earthquake
- Anchor Shot
- Rapid Spin

standard.dhelmiseset. It's nothing spectacular, but it did what I wanted it too. There was a lot that it could cover under Trick Room with it's movepool, as well as providing me a method of hazard removal. Shadow Claw was my main STAB option. There was a lot of Ghost weakness on my opponent's team (which should be patched by next week). The only thing that could take it was his immunity in Tauros. However, Anchor Shot could be used to beat that down. Tauros isn't particularly bulky. Anchor Shot could also be used to trap something and take it down. Or it could be used to bypass double switches because maybe me switching Dhelmise out is very predictable under certain circumstances. Earthquake would be used to guarantee with KO on Zebstrika, which might take a boost from Power Whip if I say, Power Whip'd into Slowbro and he switched. Shadow Claw was better against Victini than Earthquake and Zebstrika didn't seem likely to show though. So it might've been a waste of a move option. Maybe I could've had something else there. And of course, Rapid Spin. Hazard removal. Important against Garchomp or Bronzong which can setup Stealth Rock.

Offensive Calcs:

Defensive Calcs:

Oryx (Zygarde) @ Life Orb
Ability: Aura Break
Level: 50
EVs: 140 HP / 220 Atk / 20 Def / 116 SpA / 12 SpD
Brave Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Sludge Wave
- Crunch
- Draco Meteor

I know this is a freaky set for sure. Similar to Arcanine. Zygarde could be used as a somewhat slow Trick Room attacker. With a perfect Life Orb recoil number, it could launch off some poweful attacks against Ziggy's team. I was considering Choice Band, but Trevenant made me think otherwise since I didn't have the best things to take hits from it. That spooky tree gets Earthquake, so Arcanine can't take much of that. So I decided on being able to adjust for switch-ins. Thousand Arrows could still pack a punch against most things on his team. I remembered that defensive Whimsicott could potentially be a problem with it's Substitute + Leech Seed shenanigans. So I decided to run Sludge Wave. Hit it for the 4x weakness. I actually didn't even know it got Sludge Wave until I looked into it's movepool. Crunch was mainly for Trevenant. Could also hit Slowbro for supereffective as well. And Draco Meteor has been set to be able to OHKO TankChomp so that I may have that thing out of my hair. If that were the Garchomp set, there is no way it could take my bulky best Zygarde out with anything. And Zygarde could likely just kill it right there. There is the chance to miss of course. Bleh. I really like making these kinds of mixed attacker sets that can cover so many things.

While Zygarde does a great job taking most of Victini's attacks, I was still pressured by Glaciate on Victini. Being 4x weak to it. So I hope you can see why I was so fixated on it during my teambuilding process.

Offensive Calcs:

Defensive Calcs:

The Kraken (Malamar) @ Tanga Berry
Ability: Contrary
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 180 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- Pluck

Introducing my last crazy set. I chose to bring a second Trick Room setter so that I wouldn't just get creamed without it by Ziggy's fast and powerful Pokemon. It could also be used itself as a Trick Room attacker. Superpower, combined with Contrary, can make this thing very bulky and very strong. And with relatively few weaknesses, it can sweep while simultaneously walling the opponent. Knock Off would be used to Victini, Gardevoir, and Vivillon. Ya know? The Pokemon that resist Fighting. It could also get rid of items on Pokemon like Victini (which can be REALLY annoying if it is Choiced or Life Orb or something like that). But for Whimsicott, it resists both. So my last move was Pluck, to be able to hit it for supereffective damage while set up. Otherwise, it could just beat me down with Moonblast. Even a defensive, support heavy set would just blow through this thing. I could take away resist berries (which Knock Off can also do), and take healing items too. Now it's time to RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!

Offensive Calcs:

Defensive Calcs:

The Aftermath

Here is the battle link (this time it was on Pokemon Showdown): http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7cu...-553098173
Week 3: Toronto Maple Leafeons (Tommy) .vs. Mississauga Mences (Ziggy)
Team Ziggy brought: Victini, Scizor, Garchomp, Gardevoir, Bronzong, Tauros
*Don't read the next spoiler or below unless you want to know the outcome or what I was thinking during the match.*

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Turn by Turn Analysis

This week, the turns won't be all wonky because we're using Showdown. I will once again guide you through my turns. What I was thinking and stuffs. There is a chat this week, however.

*WARNING: The following battle chat may contain coarse language, and memes. Viewer discretion is advised.*

I figured I should do that since this site is rather PG, because some of you may be a bit younger than others. Alright! Let's get into it.

The Match:

Before the match, I was considering my best lead. I decided to Arcanine would be a good bet. I could get Intimidate off or maybe wall something. In this case, I could have a good lead against Bronzong (a likely Stealth Rock setter), Scizor (a setup mon incredibly weak to Arc), Victini (who probably wouldn't like an Intimidate), or Gardevoir (who could be dropped by an Iron Tail). So I led off with it, and got the best lead matchup, as he led Scizor.
Turn 1: I decide Arcanine should throw off a Flamethrower because it's pretty free. No need to predict so early. Scizor switches to Garchomp to take the incoming Flamethrower.
Turn 2: I don't want Arcanine to take an Earthquake, so I switch to Clefable. Garchomp sets up a Swords Dance.
Turn 3: I have Clefable throw off a Moonblast because I can't afford to mess with Garchomp. I don't have the best switches for it.Garchomp switches into Bronzong to tank the attack.
Turn 4: Seems like a good time to setup Stealth Rock. Ziggy thought the same thing.
Turn 5: I switch into Dhelmise to spin away the rocks or potentially take on his Bronzong. Bronzong surprises me by setting up a Reflect.
Turn 6: Ziggy decides to go into his Ghost immunity, Tauros. And Dhelmise just spins away the hazards.
Turn 7: Ziggy pulls a double switch by going into Scizor as Dhelmise uses Anchor Shot. Now Scizor is trapped.
Turn 8: I swap Dhelmise into Arcanine for the Intimidate and pressure of a Fire type attack. Arcanine takes a Knock Off. So now Ziggy knows Arcanine is holding a Z crystal.
Turn 9: I switch Jellicent in for Arcanine predicting Garchomp to come back out. Sure enough, it's does.
Turn 10: Ziggy decides to double into Bronzong, while I set up Trick Room.
Turn 11: Bronzong goes for Toxic on Jellicent, while Jellicent goes for the burn.
Turn 12: I decide I want this thing out of the way. I have Jellicent go for Shadow Ball, while Bronzong sets back up it's Stealth Rock.
Turn 13: It sets up another Reflect before going down to another Shadow Ball. And there is Jellicent's first kill of the season. Gardevoir enters.
Turn 14: It's too early to lose Jellicent. Victini hasn't even come in yet. I switch it out for Clefable in hopes that it can tank Gardevoir. Unfortunately, it's Moonblast does quite a bit.
Turn 15: Gardevoir throws off another Moonblast. Clefable lives on low health and I'm able to cripple Gardevoir with Thunder Wave. Scarf Gardevoir was one of my biggest fears, so I had to slow it down to make sure I wouldn't get swept.
Turn 16: Gardevoir was actually still faster than Clefable, which is unfortunate for me. I lose Clefable before it can recover or Heal Bell off Jellicent's poison. I think I went for the latter. I send in Zygarde.
Turn 17: I forgot that there were still a few turns of Reflect left, so I didn't feel so confident in Zygarde's ability to finish Gardevoir off before Gardevoir finished it off. So I switched into Arcanine to take the incoming Moonblast.
Turn 18: This thing is a threat. Arcanine goes for Bloom Doom in an attempt to take it out, but falls short. Down goes Arcanine to another Moonblast. I send in Dhelmise to tank a Moonblast and take out this Gardevoir.
Turn 19: I make a missplay by going for Shadow Claw instead of Anchor Shot again. In comes Tauros for free.
Turn 20: Tauros goes for Work Up. I wasn't expecting that at all. Feeling safe against it though, I spin away the rocks again.
Turn 21: Ziggy makes a missplay by underestimating Steelworker. He sets up another Work Up and Dhelmise takes out the Tauros. That's one kill for Dhelmise this game. Scizor enters.
Turn 22: I think I can take one Knock Off and hopefully get a lot of damage off on Scizor. Dhelmise does a good amount of damage with Shadow Claw, but Scizor reveals it's Swords Dance.
Turn 23: I switch in Jellicent predicting a Roost from Scizor. I can't have Scizor stall me out. My intent was to try and burn it, but Scizor uses Knock Off and kills my Jellicent. I send out Zygarde.
Turn 24: I go for Thousand Arrows, knowing that it hits pretty hard. Scizor lives on 4% and my heart sinks. Scizor does a number with Bullet Punch.
Turn 25: Scizor takes out Zygarde with Bullet Punch. At this point, I'm pretty sure I've lost while staring down Ziggy's team on the side. I send in Malamar.
Turn 26: With my Tanga Berry, I hope to try and take whatever this Scizor wants to throw at me and I have Malamar go for Superpower to knock it out. Malamar takes a Bullet Punch and puts an end to Scizor. Malamar's first kill of the season. At this point, I'm hoping for two of three Pokemon to enter. Either Gardevoir, which is paralyzed, or Garchomp, which might not kill Malamar with Earthquake. Gardevoir enters.
Turn 27: Gardevoir gets paralyzed and I'm so happy. The only wincon I had left was getting up Trick Room with Malamar.
Turn 28: I finish off Gardevoir with Superpower, in an attempt to become strong enough to take out Garchomp. The second kill for Malamar. Garchomp enters.
Turn 29: I have Malamar throw off a Knock Off, but Garchomp holds on by 3% and down goes Malamar. Good work, Malamar! I send in my only Pokemon left, Dhelmise.
Turn 30: Dhelmise uses Shadow Claw and beats the Garchomp. Two kills for Dhelmise this game. Finally, the Victini enters.
Turn 31: This was the only point in the match where I decided to pull out the damage calculator. I was curious about which move did more. Earthquake or Shadow Claw. I know Earthquake is stronger in Base Power, but Shadow Claw did just a bit more. With Stealth Rock damage on Victini, Dhelmise does pick up it's third kill of the match on Victini. Giving me the victory and a 3-0 record!

In Conclusion

That was, by far, the most intense league match I've ever had. And perhaps the hardest match I've had yet. My heart hurt after that match from getting so wound up. Holy Miltank! Good game @Zigzagger456 . It's abundantly clear that both of us made some mistakes. My biggest being: 1) Not taking into account the paralysis speed reduction nerf and losing my Clefable because of it. 2) And going for Shadow Claw on the Tauros switch in.

I think your most crucial, Ziggy, was going into Gardevoir instead of Victini around the end. I'm sure you know that now though. But despite the fact that you are on a bit of a losing right now, I think you should still remain confident. You are only -3 in differential. That's better than Amant, and he's won one. A couple good wins could easily put you in the playoffs qualification range. And of course, you have @Black117 who is willing to help you with your teams. Oh my god. That team you had was so scary. But yeah. If there's any piece of advice I can give, it's to always consider your wincons. Either the best way to get out of trouble or what you can do to give you the best outcome of winning. That match was extremely close.

So I guess that's it for all. I hope you guys enjoyed my report and I'm interested in hearing your feedback. Stay tuned for week 4!

Credit

- Lady Luck for I could have easily gotten beaten down this week.
- My Grampy Rupert, who helped me out when I needed it in the past. And in anchor form, helped me out again. He was always so proud of me, even if I failed Big Grin

May you rest in peace Angel

If you would like to follow along with the results of the Pokemon Forever Association, here is the link to the document where we keep our results : http://bit.ly/2nKRg0Y

Black117 · Mar 27, 2017, 01:33 AM

Good game to you abrupt given the circumstances in the battle. I will admit, was rooting for Zig to win this game, though the there were a number of plays he made which kinda didn't make too much sense, but not going to harp on that than we already did. IMO at least, Scizor could have won the game from there if Zig had setup and went for roost on the turn the Jellicent came in, which puts it at a better chance at sweeping most of your team. The Gardevoir switch in was definitely a lapse in judgement since Victini was specs with Blue Flare which OHKO the remaining mons at the end, just that he as a 6% chance of missing compare to the 25% paralysis. Given the amount of assistance I've helped with teambuilding in the past, the team we made was good, though the execution wasn't there towards the end.

Anyways on to your side of the battle. Not bringing Mega Pinsir was kinda questionable, given how weak we were to the flying bug that honestly tears apart this team. The best answer we can think of was Reflect with Light Clay to mitigate the damage of your physical attacks in half and stop your momentum if any of them attempt to setup. Personally bringing your ghost-types with a Trick Room response was the right call in this battle as we didn't prepare for Trick Room and how weak the team was to Ghost-type attacks. Still think Scizor could have clinched it out in the end since it was designed to setup on Dhelmise and maybe Zygarde, but idk.

Anyways I do think you have to keep some of your preparation a bit more realistic instead of going out there to counter act one or two mons. Like you definitely had the right matchup here, though the moveset choices on some of these mons were kinda weird to me, especially the lack of e-speed on Zygarde which might have helped you out. Also sacking Clefable and Arcanine too earlier was kind of what brought the whole potential Scizor sweep to happen. At that point, you have to keep Arcanine, Clefable, Jellicent around to maintain certain mons for matchup purposes, though again things worked out,

Well anyways good game to you abrupt since I think you are now 3-0 in the PFA with some people, which is a good achievement.

LonerBird · (This post was last modified: Apr 10, 2017, 01:37 PM by LonerBird.)

wow, that's so cool. I've never used jellicent before, in fact, the only time I saw them were in the battle tree. Also, setting clefable up as a wall/support, brilliant!!!

LonerBird · Apr 10, 2017, 01:32 PM

I didnt find out about Pokemon Showdown until about a week ago, Its so useful, I dont how I lived without it!!!!!

RetroTyphlosion · Apr 14, 2017, 08:38 PM

I need to pay more attention to these tourneys...

AbruptFury · May 16, 2017, 05:19 PM

(Apr 10, 2017, 01:31 PM)LonerBird Wrote: wow, that's so cool. I've never used jellicent before, in fact, the only time I saw them were in the battle tree. Also, setting clefable up as a wall/support, brilliant!!!

Jellicent was an amazing D tier pick for me. It might not be highly praised, but it is not a bad mon at all. Same with Hitmontop. Fantastic spinner with cool abilities.

I like wall/support Clefable. It's been helping out my team a lot. I wish I had another form of healing support though so I could run it as a Calm Mind sweeper once in a while :P Or Life Orb with Magic Guard. That's a cool set too. All the damage with none of the recoil from Life Orb.

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