Every Rose Has Its Thorns: A 2nd Place Team from the 32 Person Tourney Report
Hello guys! Kevin (yes my real name is Kevin ) here and I'm going to provide in detail the team I used that got 2nd place at this recent tourney. Rather than talk about "how" I played what I've should have "done" (since I know for a fact everyone will make a comment about this), I'll just discuss the team building process here. So let's get to it!
PRE TOURNEY IDEAS & TEAM BUILDING PROCESS
Though we don't feature "best teams" or the "best players" to compete live on twitch, I knew our small community had became increasingly knowledgeable of the VGC 2015 format rules. After hearing this tourney was gonna be a 32 person tourney just the week before Worlds, I knew I'd wanted to perform better than the last two tourneys despite the bad matchups here and there. Throughout the 2nd week of August, I discussed the possibility of using Mega Gardevoir with numerous players like Rogue, Z2Porygon, MudkipLegend, Tygaa2, GMX and others. The only problem is I wasn't too comfortable using Mega Gardevoir despite laddering in 1600+ a few times on Showdown the past 2 months. Mega Gardevoir might likely dominate the Worlds metagame, but she wasn't the Mega Evolution or Pokemon I wanted for a somewhat serious tourney. In short, I wanted a bulky synergistic team based on the teammates respective typing and apply immediate offensive/defensive pressure capable of winning any type matchups.
It wasn't long before I looked into GMX's Italian Nationals Report and ultimately decided Dragon Dance Roost Mega Salamence was a great win condition to build around. Since GMX's Mega Salamence used only 1 attacking move in Aerilate Return (I'll explain later), it had to to protected at all cost. Next up I used a moderate speed creep LO Aegislash to avoid losing the Aegislash mirrors and shields the team, most notably Mega Salamence, from Rock Slide and Hyper Voice attacks. IMO Aegislash is the de facto partner to Mega Salamance just for these aftermentioned reasons alone as well as how it can beat threats like Terrakion, Mega Metagross, opposing Mega Salamence, Sylveon, Mega Gardevoir, etc. Despite dropping Mega Gardevoir, I chose Sylveon to 1) compensate as the main Fairy special tank of the team providing Helping Hand/Light Screen support and 2) creating offensive pressure with Pixilate Hyper Voice. With my Steel-Dragon-Fairy core finalized, the team still had a moderate weakness in some of the "elemental" typings (Fire/Water/Electric/Dark/Fairy). Since the team revolved around DD Mence, it needed a "scarecrow" against Intimidate users like Landorus-T, Mawile, Gyarados, and others while still being relatively bulky. Milotic was added to deter Intimidate spam, provide speed control in Icy Winds, and practically be the special wall of the team with a particular berry. The team still at this point needed a way to stop weather based teams like Rain/Sand so I'd chose Ferrothorn easily. Thanks to it being only a quad weak to Fire and a regular weakness to Fighting, Ferrothorn can be nice Pokemon win out the long battles in case Mega Salamence can't. To top it off, Ferrothorn can handle the common Mega Gardevoir/Azumarill Amoonguss core as it can easily take out with a Gyro Ball or Power Whip as while Mega Salamence beats Amoonguss handily.
For the last Pokemon, I'd kept debating what type of Fire Pokemon I should incorporate for this team and there wasn't a clear answer at first. Rotom-H was honestly the best candidate for the role thanks to its immunity to Ground type attacks, paralysis and burns along with key resistances in Fire, Grass, Fairy, and Electric (useful against Thundurus/Zapdos). Arcanine can provide the team with either an offensive pressure (Flare Blitz, Extreme Speed, Close Combat) and/or defensive support (Will-O-Wisp, Snarl, Morning Sun, Helping Hand) and can be used as a primary intimidate user other than Mega Salamence. Heatran beats Amoonguss-Mega Gardevoir by itself (unless Garde has HP Ground/Focus Blast), wall Fire types like Mega Charizard Y, and helps give Mega Salamence a potential switch in against Fairy, Dragon, and Ice moves. After some thought, I looked into Entei and eventually it became clear who I wanted for the team. Entei doesn't give Defiant/Competitive users like Bisharp/Milotic a +1/+2 boost into their respective attack stats, doesn't have a 2x weaknesses to Fighting (or a quad weakness to ground at least), and can potentially beat Focus Sash Pokemon (Bisharp, Breloom, and Excadrill) with arguably the best Fire move in the game in Sacred Fire. Any competitive battling enthusiast knows Entei received a massive buff by receiving Sacred Fire that's 100 BP with a 50% chance to burn any target. Just burning a physical target on a switch in alone adds to my team's overall bulk and gives Mega Salamence opportunities to sweep.
Honestly most of the EV spreads and sets (except possibly Aegislash) were taken from numerous sources so I'll link their pages for credit. Now here's the team.
The Team
Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Aerilate
Level: 50
EVs: 100 HP / 196 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Protect
The main offensive of my team and... unfortunately the Pokemon that's most likely will suffer the same counter play fate as Mega Kangaskhan leading to worlds (though I hope I'm wrong). Mega Salamence is the best ORAS Mega to come with the new 2015 ruleset, no question asked to due it massive defensive capabilities (95/130/90), a damn good pre-Mega ability in Intimidate, access to one of the best abilities in the game with Aerilate, and its vast unpredictability since it can either be a physical, special, mixed or even a setup sweeper. Well I chose the latter mainly because I realized Mega Salamence can easily win games by itself if I manage to get off at least +1 Dragon Dance (attack and speed) on any "free turn". While Double-Edge assured me more "secured kills" on certain Pokemon, Return just fits the team better since the recoil damage forces Mega Salamance to Roost more than often than just attacking. Speaking of Roost, this allows Mega Salamence to recover 50% of its health at a cost of losing its Flying typing, though a singular Dragon typing allows Mega Salamence to take Rock Slides, Electric attacks, and even Ice moves better since it with its already impressive bulk. The combination of Roost and Dragon Dance allows Mega Salamence to avoid any Sucker Punch mind games, and hopefully stall out the opposition as my supporting cast provide cover or defensive enhancements for Mega Mence.
If anyone hasn't realized, the main objective I hoped to achieve with Mega Salamence was to pressure my opponent into making switches as I can easily get a potential free Dragon Dance boosts and start attacking with +1 ( or more) Returns. Due to Mega Salamence being ridiculously difficult to predict because of its wide array of potential sets, I use this fact to my advantage and go for as many Dragon Dances as possible until its finally time to attack. Alternatively I wanted Mega Salamence to be my main win condition as the Mono-Flying attack set with Roost and Dragon Dance can sustain itself potential throughout the whole match, if guarded well. After +1 attack, Mega Salamence's Aerilate Return is capable of OHKOing numerous targets like most bulky Mega Gardevoir, Landorus-T (assuming it went with 2 DDs), Terrakion, 252 HP Charizard Y, and even 4 HP Mega Kangaskhan 7/8ths of the time. At +1 speed (or basically 1.5x its original speed) Mega Salamence is able to outspeed most 111 Timid Scarfers, as well as any Pokemon with a actual speed of 135 under Tailwind so "Breloom" speed creep like Zapdos. Thinking back, I should have came up with my own EV spread but pressed for time, I decided to utilize GMX's Mega Salamence since I couldn't think of a better EV spread without compensating too much attack, bulk, and even speed. The only notable defensive achievement for this Mega Salamence set is it can survive an Ice Beam from neutral 100 SpA Suicune and HP Ice from Thundurus (non boosted of course). Didn't want to add any other defensive achievements since most of my Pokemon can enhance it for Mega Salamence as I explain later.
Aegislash @ Life Orb
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 204 SpA / 68 Spe
Modest Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- King's Shield
- Wide Guard
Let me just say this: LO Aegislash will be the new standard given how powerful it hits initially against most of its target. Over the course of 3 months, I realize how good Aegislash is with the eventual rise of Mega Evolutions like Gardevoir and opposing Salamences so I started using it more often in my teams featuring Mega Salamence. Shadow Ball and Flash Cannon are Aegislash's main special STAB attacks that's unresisted by only 15 Pokemon (Greninja, Mega Houndoom, Mega Gyarados, Bisharp being great examples). Wide Guard is a great utility move to prevent any spread damage done to my entire team. Threats like Mega Gardevoir, Terrakion, Sylveon, Landorus-T, Excadrill, and other spread damage dealers can't spam their main attacks without thinking twice. A well timed Wide Guard is good enough to get a Dragon Dance boost for Mega Salamence or setup screens from either Sylveon or Entei. Life Orb was chosen over Weakness Policy since I feel as though people can play around the item by just dealing strong hits against Aegislash before hitting it with a super effective attack. Though at the cost of 10% of its health, Aegislash can effectively start wallbreaking to to point where the others can clean up.
The Aegislash set is the only Pokemon that wasn't shamelessly ripped off, though I could be wrong since someone might have have came up with the exact EV spread. Eventually I realized Aegislash was losing the speed creep wars in most of my matches couldn't understand why. Around the week during US Nationals, it became clear to me that most VGC players have started opting for Modest variants with a small speed creeps to try and win Aegislash mirrors and at best outspeed and knock out opposing Sylveons with Flash Cannons. Since most Sylveon standards were around the 48 Spe EVs, I settled with a speed creep of about 68 speed EVs so my Aegislash can outspeed and snipe out Sylveon and Aegislash (well with prior damage of course).
Sylveon @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Pixilate
Level: 50
EVs: 228 HP / 148 Def / 80 SpA / 16 SpD / 36 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Light Screen (Tourney) / Helping Hand (Showdown)
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Protect
After throwing out the possibility of using Mega Gardevoir, I turned to the next best thing (or Pixilate user) in Sylveon. From what I heard during early VGC 14.5 and early VGC 2015 (with Move Tutors from ORAS), Sylveon was one of the most frightening Pokemon to face but eventually she became manageable with the rise of Steel types and Wide Guard users. Sylveon is just so powerful with Pixilate Hyper Voice and can theoretically hit harder than Mega Gardevoir with access to Life Orb, Choice Specs and the item I settled with, Pixie Plate. The pressure of Pixilate Hyper Voice alone allows me to take advantage of luring Steel and Fire types (aka Heatran) into Hidden Power Ground attacks. Fairy/Ground is a great offensive coverage only to be shut down by Mega Charizard Y and Skarmory (well there was a guy I faced on Battle Spot who used Skarmory). The final moveslot for Sylveon was a toss up between Helping Hand and Light Screen. Helping Hand in tandem with Aegislash is able to faint a vast majority of Trick Room setters bar full specially defensive Cresselia and Kasib Berry holders. Helping Hand has a priority speed of +5 and Fake Out has +3, so I can always power up my Life Orb Aegislash (who can't be Fake Out bar Scrappy users) to do heavy damage. In the end, I felt as though the team needed additional special bulk so Light Screen added the last second and I don't regret that decision. With Light Screen setup I have 4-5 turns to abuse the the team's new found special bulk and even allow Sylveon to take a LO Flash Cannon from Aegislash.
This Sylveon set was heavily based on Calisweeper's Sylveon though with a slight increase in speed stat to creep against opposing Sylveons and possibly Modest 20 Spe Aegislash. As you can see from his post on Nugget Bridge, Calisweeper's Pixie Plate Sylveon is able to either OHKO or 2HKO key targets like 4 HP Naive Mega Mence, Terrakion, and 252 HP Assault Vest Scrafty while 2HKOing 4 HP Landorus-T and Tyranitar.
Milotic @ Maranga Berry
Ability: Competitive
Level: 50
EVs: 228 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA / 20 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Icy Wind
- Recover
- Protect
The premier bulky Water type Pokemon in the current meta (thanks Alex Ogolza) and the main Intimidate deter of the team: Maranga Berry Milotic. This particular set was based on Alex's Milotic (F4F on Youtube) and Wolfey's use of Maranga Berry for his own Milotic set during US Nationals). After taking a single special hit, Milotic can easily sponge most of the strongest special hits in the game, even strong super-effective attacks from the likes of Thundurus, Zapdos, Amoonguss, etc. Of Course, Milotic has to Recover any time I feel it can easily be knocked out the next couple of turns. The moveset is pretty basic since all Milotic must do is scare off Fire, Ground, and Rock types as well as common Intimdators like Salamence, Mawile, Landorus-T and others with +2 Competitive boosted Scalds and Icy Winds. Speaking of of its ability, this allows Milotic to help out Mega Salamence, Entei and Ferrothorn by frightening away Intimidate users. This is especially important for Mega Salamence as it needs to setup a couple of Dragon Dances as possible. If my opponent leads or use their Intimdate user as I counter with Miotic, she can easily get to +2 and start causing havoc with with its boosted Scalds. Icy Wind was placed since it is the team's only form of speed control and it punishes opposing switch ins.
This Milotic set is derived from Alex's own which he featured numerous times on the Battle Spot ladder and even on his Youtube channel so check him out for VGC advice and sets.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Protect
The true MVP of my tourney run. Well if there's a Pokemon that has made many people rage at me for utilizing damn well, its definitely Ferrothorn. Without question, Ferrothorn is the best and overall bulky monster to come from BW considering it can wall teams but itself if my opponent doesn't have a Fire move or a strong Fighting attack. Whoever wrote the Smogon Dex analysis of Ferrothorn's VGC entry clearly summed this Grass/Steel type Pokemon correctly: "Ferrothorn is a Pokemon of extremes; you either can't touch it or it can't touch you". This Grass/Steel type Pokemon completes my duel Steel core with Aegislash and is the team's main weather (Rain/Sand), Fairy/Water check, and the secondary win condition if I notice my opponents' team has a poor matchup against it. Thinking about it now, Ferrothorn was the reason why I was able to pressure both Pdonz and Flynn in several battle situation to my defensive play style as they were forced to make switches or take unnecessary damage with Iron Barbs damage, or simply stalling out their health from the Life Orb. I went standard on Ferrothorn and simply went with Power Whip, Gyro Ball, Leech Seed, and Protect simply because it is just so damn good. Ferrothorn has a respectively base 94 attack so it can already start hitting Water, Ground, and Rock types with high powered Power Whips and Gyro Ball easily becomes a high base 150 before STAB for anyone Pokemon with an exact speed stat of 132 or above. Leech Seed + Leftovers/Protect stalling is what Ferrothorn does best and it can get potentially 2 Leech Seed hits (3 including its ally) so I can wear down the opposing team while the Pokemon can knock them out. Leech Seed stall imo is a great win conditon for Ferrothorn as most teams have a Pokemon or coverage move designated for Ferrothorn so if I can take out those threats, Ferrothorn can easily clean up late game provided it doesn't get heavily damaged.
This set and EV spread is directly a product of Calisweeper's own Ferrothorn set as it bulky enough to take even a Close Combat from standard Terrakion, and Low Kick from Mega Kangaskhan. There wasn't any changes to the spread as I wanted Ferrothorn to be as bulky and physically defensive as possible.
Entei @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50EVs: 116 HP / 132 Atk / 4 Def / 92 SpD / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Snarl
- Reflect
- Protect
Well the only legendary (or mystic Pokemon... I guess that's what the TPCi are referring side legends as) on the team and the underrated Legends in competitive Pokemon: Entei. Though Entei wasn't my first choice of Fire type for this 32 person tourney, I thought it alongside with Ferrothorn were my best Pokemon on Saturday. Sacred Fire is IMO the best Fire moves in the game and it has transformed Entei into a sub-par defensive Fire type (if only Flash Fire and Extreme Speed were legal on the same set). By hitting Sacred Fire's 95% accuracy, Entei has a 50% chance to burn any target so its a perfect move to spam fishing for burns. Snarl is a base 55 Dark type spread damage that helps deal with influx of special attackers currently and effectively cut their special attacking potential by a considerable amount after consecutive usage. Snarl in tandem with Sacred Fire is enough for Entei to be a viable Fire type user in the current VGC meta as it forces switches and more opportunities to burn physical attackers on the switch. The last move I debated whether or not Entei should run a select number of moves like Toxic, Stone Edge, Substitute, Bulldoze, Will-O-Wisp, Swagger and even Quash (at this point Game Freak just release E-Speed Entei). Eventually I settled with a safe option of Reflect since it only adds to Entei and the team's overall physical bulk. Just the combination of Sacred Fire burns, Snarl attacks, and Reflect makes Entei incredibly difficult to handle and can provide the switches and free turns needed for a Mega Salemence sweep.
The set and EV spread (as well as the the core FWG +Sylveon) was taken from Xenoblade Hero's Entei so a huge credits to him and his teambuilding. The speed investment allows Entei to not only outspeed Smearlge but Adamant 252 Speed Excadrill (no boost from Sand Rush) by one point so Entei can take out the mole.
Thoughts Regarding Finals Match Against Flynn
If you don't like to read my take on the finals ....aka "long rants" and/or don't want to be "spoiled" well just don't click this button... (Basically "real talk")
Battle Videos
Here are all the battle videos from the tournament
Closing Thought
So that's my team and I quite like it since it fits my playstyle. If anyone if you guys have a suggestion, let me hear it. Thanks for reading my rather long Team Report!