[TEAM REPORT] Every Rose Has Its Thorns: A 2nd Place Team from the 32 Person Tourney Report

[Justin]

(Aug 18, 2015, 05:41 PM)sng Wrote: great team! enjoyed watching the match. Was frustrating just watching that ferrothorn from the sidelines!

try playing against it lol!!!

[Black117]

Thanks to everyone who has commented regarding the team so far. I definitely want to give shoutouts to Xenoblade Hero, Calisweeper, and our very own GMX since I did based my team heavily from their own squads. Honestly if it wasn't for them I would never have piloted such a good team in my opinion since I was press for time in making one for the tourney. From what I learned from the tournament and from the players, we're increasingly become more competitive and skilled based on the tournament hosted here so Justin expect great battles from now on. It just a shame certain real-life issues just had to happen from my end as well.

Now the only reason why I covered the response in a "show spoiler" section, mainly because 1) I want to say my side as to what happen during the battle and my thought process. 2) Well vaguely say why "it" happen (though some people already know the whole truth). 3) Don't want to have a good portion of the post to be about the "misclick", rather the team itself. Finally 4) to shut up anyone saying I don't have any "skill" or knows how to play Pokemon competitively. Yeah I admit the section was a bit overboard, but it was my response to any doubters, not to Justin. He outplayed my in Game 2, I played like crap. There end of story.

Back to the team, I think the problems it had was the lack of speed control options since I only had Icy Wind and/or fast Pokemon in general. At one point, I was very tempted to try out Scarf Timid Milotic so I can always outspeed Adamant Landorus-T scarf, Salamence, and Terrakion and OHKO them with either Hydro Pump, Icy Wind, or Ice Beam. Though I don't regret that decision because defensive Milotic was an excellent buffer against Pd0nz sand team, even though it didn't do much but stall out sand turns which was important for my wins against him. By the way, Pd0nz got top 8 at the Nugget Bridge Major and is a very skilled VGC opponent so I knew I had to play at my best against him. So yeah, speed control was something I needed like maybe a Tailwind option since spread burn status was part of the plan. I guess Bulldoze from Entei might have helped me, but I remember now +2 Bisharp can just go for Sucker Punches from that point.

I really think people should try out screen support like Reflect/Light Screen since both are probably the most undervalued support options in VGC due to their ability to cut the substantial portion of the opponent's offensive power. These moves forces the opponent to play by "your terms" and can definitely influence a match especially considering how VGC battles don't take as long as singles. Best part is there a great distribution from even common VGC Pokemon and is a great surprise tactic so if your team needs a little more defensive options, consider adding it.

[GiMYz]

I've just watched some of your matches (credits to Twitch for the Past Broadcasts option) and.. honestly i didn't expect Entei to perform so well.. Sacred Fire is incredibly strong and threatening, even forcing switches ^^ Ferrothorn is not a surprise for me, it's one of the best win condition in the format along with Heatran and Aegislash and while it's boring to see it in action, sometimes it's not easy to set up the end game for it.

Intimidate, Snarl, Light Screen, Reflect.... these things also make Roost M-Mence and Aegislash incredibly hard to take down.

Great performance after all, even if this team deserved the 1st place :P but mistakes happen.