PFA Season 3 Finals VS The Indy Latis Epiclolz53



(Artist: Sa-Zurri)

 (Ducktales... Whoo Whoo)

 

 

 

---

Team Building

Bloo (Manaphy) @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
Level: 50
EVs: 228 HP / 76 Def / 4 SpA / 76 SpD / 124 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Calm Mind
- Rain Dance
- Rest

Milestones:
-Outspeed Jolly Tyranturm by one point.
-Takes a +1 Adamant Head Smash from Tyrantrum.
-Takes two Close Combats/Stone Edge from Terrakion (Jolly and non-boosted)
-Download isn't activated after 1 CM boost (important)

Well Bloo... if there was a battle it absolutely needed to perform 100%, most definitely this one. Originally wanted to run Tail Glow set with some coverage moves, though figured Manaphy can serve as a pseudo-wall as very little on my team can take most of Epic's offense aside Bloo. This set is a RIP from the standard CM Rain which abuses Hydration, but the only thing is Bloo has to at a certain boost, with decent HP, and Rain up to be able potentially wall break Epic. Scald was opted over Surf to inflict crucial burn chip damage as well as possibly save me in case Bloo gets frozen (since we all know what happens to a frozen Manaphy right). The thought did occur of Epic pulling the same Psych Up shenanigans against Kash's CM Suicune, but crunch for time, decided to focus on only getting one or two boosts. For this set to work, Amoonguss had to be "dealt with", so figured I bring other Pokemon who can support Bloo in dealing chip damage against the opposing team.



mjölnir (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 4 Def / 4 SpA / 156 SpD / 124 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Heat Wave
- Toxic
- Roost

Milestones:
-Enough Speed to outspeed Jolly Tyranturm
-Can take two Consecutive Draco Meteors from Life Orb Latias.
-Ice Beam from non-invested Porygon2 is a 4HKO. (3HKO if Modest)
-Download isn't activated for SpA as Porygon2 can 2HKO Zapdos

Sorta figured Zapdos was going to be my main pivot Pokemon for this battle given Epic's draft is mainly special attackers. Another contributing factor into using Specially Defensive Zapdos was it feared only main physical Rock-type attackers in Terrakion and Tyranturm, while Scizor is moderately countered. What made me chose Zapdos immediately out of most of my mons was its potential to wall some of Epic's main special attackers, spread some Toxic status, and pressure stall him. Volt Switch was opted as Thunderbolt didn't achieve notable 2HKOs with significant investment, but Volt Switch allows for potential switch initiative, unless Epic blocks this with Mega Camerupt. The use of Volt Turn was probably one of the reason why in my 2nd game with Epic, he had a harder time dealing with my mons as I kept momentum, doing chip damages with Spikes, and maintaining the right matchups. Figured if I can try to replicate the same type of success as before.



Flora (Altaria-Mega) @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 100 Def / 16 SpA / 148 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Return
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Water]
- Roost

Milestones:
-Takes an Iron Head from Terrakion
-Takes a two Flash Cannons M-Camerupt and two LO Bullet Punches in "Non-Mega" Form
-Pixilate Return OHKOs Terrakion, Latias, and Tyrantrum (after rocks)
-Pixilate Hyper Voice doesn't get the OHKO on the Terrakion/Latias, but against Tyrantrum.
-Download doesn't trigger SpA raise (ok I think you are seeing a pattern)

Possibly the worse Mega Altaria set I've used all season....maybe. The milestone explanations kinda says it all, but let me elaborate. This Mega Altaria has to gets the OHKOs on Terrakion and Latias period. The usual standard Hyper Voice set doesn't achieve this as both can live with moderate investment, or possibly AV. Running this "mixed" set might convince Epic that I'm either a Physically, or Specially-oriented Mega Altaria as usually the rare mix set is used, but with Earthquake for Steel-types. Flamethrower was opted instead of Fire Blast to consistently hit Scizor and Amoonguss for super effective damage against would be responses. HP Water is there for the Mega Camerupt as my team didn't have a decent "counter", but I realized something.... what if....

....I don't Mega Evolve my Altaria at all? Technically speaking for this season, the standard first turn Mega Evolve rule was removed, but as long as the Pokemon itself was carrying the Mega Stone item, not any other item. There have been multiple uses of people using their non-mega forms, with the reason case with Altaria setting up a Dragon Dance on a Heatran as it uses Flash Cannon. Now taking this to a whole new level.

Altaria in its regular form can wall Mega Camerupt... provided Epic doesn't bring Ancient Power. Sheer Force-boosted Earth Power cannot touch my regular Altaria thanks to its part "Flying-type".Bullet Punch from Scizor will deal neutral damage as will Sludge Bombs from Amoonguss. Heck even Natural Cure can help Mega Altaria by "absorbing" status like Spore and Thunder Wave. Guess one can say this Altaria has a muli-purpose role to be the main "glue" of the team, and honestly won't have thought of without further testing.



Gatekeeper (Bronzong) @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Atk / 188 Def / 4 SpA / 60 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Reflect
- Light Screen

Milestone:
-Takes 3 Head Smashes from Adamant Tyantrum
-Takes 2 Close Combats From Jolly Terrakion.
-Just there for Latias....

Perhaps the most "restricted" member of the team. Absolutely didn't want to bring Bronzong, however with the teams plagued weakness in Ice-type offensively, and it weakness to an offensive Latias, the Steel/Psychic-type had to be brought. Light Clay Screens was brought once again to supplement the team's defense, though I "lacked" a strong offensive wall break aside the "slow" CM Bloo to abuse. The rest of the moveset is self - explanatory as Rocks are my onl hazards and Gyro Ball is to 2HKO Terrakion, Latias, and Tyrantrum. Again didn't want to bring Bronzong...but with the lack of Dragon-, Psychic, and Rock-type resists on the current roster, there was no reason not to.



Spirit (Mesprit) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 68 Def / 4 SpA / 196 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
- Psychic
- U-turn
- Thunder Wave
- Healing Wish

Milestones:
-.........
-I don't know
-Well it doesn't trigger Download...right?

Mesprit was extreme last minute change given I'd realize the team had four Pokemon weak to Ice-type attacks with Roserade prior and still lack some responses for Latias. The goal of this Mesprit set was to Thunder Wave as many "fast" stuff as possible, U-Turn for momentum, and finally sacrifice itself for Healing Wish. Out of all the times Mesprit was brought, only two time this season I'd brought Healing Wish, however this was no exception. The idea for Healing Wish occurred when I realized "what if" one I still need one of my mons like Manaphy or Mega Altaria for the late game and have a lingering half HP Mesprit that's might be useless. Still was uncertain about this change, but I felt Healing Wish support was far more important than Spikes from Roserade (I'll get to Why...I even considered that...)



Lucina (Flygon) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- U-turn
- Defog

Milestones
-Outspeeds most non scarf mons.
-Doesn't Trigger Download SpA raise (for the 5th time)

Aside Bronzong, Scarf Flygon was the other Pokemon that was "there", but at least to outspeed most of Epic's mons. Moveset is a classic bread-and-butter Flygon, though I need to be careful if facing a Trace Porygon2. Most of the time Flygon is going for U-Turn, but if there's a scenario where STAB Outrage can finish the rest of the opposing team, I'll go for it. Defog is on there just as filler, in case Sticky Webs was brought. Last thing to point out is Flygon's Levitate ability should enable it to "bypass" the Sticky Webs and keep its speed boost from Choice Scarf. Not much to say though I'd expect Flygon to come clutch late game.

Indigo (Roserade) @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 204 HP / 36 Def / 40 SpA / 20 SpD / 208 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Dazzling Gleam / Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Synthesis
- Spikes

Kinda forgot the milestones for this Roserade set, but it can mainly outspeed the Tyranturm and take some Sludge Bombs from an Amoonguss. Definitely this was the one Pokemon I worked on the most aside the multiple Victini sets given how "weak" Epic's team was to Spikes. Part of the initial plan was to "hazard stack with Roserade / Bronzong and attempt to wall out or pretty much Semi Stall Epic's team until it was time to bring in Bloo. Synthesis was opted to 1v1 the Amoonguss and setup Spikes against this as other mons can easily beat Rose. What made me doubt Roserade potential in this battle was the "Defog" nullifying hazards. After winning the 2nd matchup against Epic with Spikes and some Volt Turn maneuvering, there was a legitimate chance either Latias or Scizor was going carry Defog to prevent the same strategy. Against the Scizor, Roserade can beat it easily with a Technician HP Fire itself, but Latias was a different story. Latias has free rain on Roserade and it can either Defog hazards, or attack one of my following Pokemon like Bronzong on the switch in. I will say this, changing Roserade, especially this late into the team preparation was rather dumb on my end, and I'll get to "why" that is.

 

---

ROUND 3 FINALS

( ......... )

 

My Team: Manaphy, Mega Altaria, Zapdos, Flygon, Mesprit, Bronzong

Epic's Team: Latias, Scizor, Porygon2, Amoonguss, Slowking, and Tyranturm

Immediately notice the lack of Terrakion, Galvantula, and Mega Camerupt and breath in a huge sigh of relief. As expected, Epic brought Latias, Porygon2, Amoonguss, and the Tyrantrum as those were the mons I prepared for the most. Scizor was there, but given my direct counter is Zapdos and Altaria can stay in its regular form, it was a non issue. If anything, completely forgot about Slowking as it was the one last transaction Epic made before entering playoffs and it actually formed a decent regenerator core with Amoonguss. After like a minute reviewing his team, Zapdos was the primary lead for both games as I can Volt Switch out and possibly Toxic something. Will like to say this one last thing, I won't do a PLAY-BY-PLAY. Instead going to summarize what happen in Games 1 and 2 into bullets discussing my thoughts. Spoilers: both games totaled took 129 turns total on the cartridge.

 
 

1. No Ducktales Here: Missing Toxic is always fun against Porygon2, especially on turn 1 of the series. As expected, Porygon2 does have the Download ability to possibly raise its Special Attack, but most of my team has its EVs into Special Defense to avert the boosts. Strangely enough, Porygon2 was almost a "non-factor" throughout the series given Epic never used Recover once and got pressured / forced out many times. It was mostly there to take hits, T-Wave stuff, but never did much.
   
   
2. Amoonguss has Quick Claw....: WTH is this. Ok I'm not going to lie, Quick Claw Amoonguss was the single most annoying thing I didn't think of, or prepare for. Now I have to worry about one of my Mons getting put to sleep with Quick Claw and this forced me into Mesprit on many occasions. This also puts the potential CM Bloo matchup in jeopardy, as I'll explain later.
   
   
3. Bronzong Limbo: Well for some reason, I forgot to click Stealth Rocks in this battle, possibly might have mitigate the length of the battle. The lack of moves to hit both Slowking and Amoonguss with Psychic/Toxic was a pain. The Light Clay Light Screen / Reflect did prove helpful in mitigating Epic's own offense, heck ensuring Zapdos's survival at one point.
   
   
4. The Slowking - Amoonguss Wall: This is what I get for not paying attention to Smogon for almost one year and a half now, and should have figured this was a possible core Epic bring. The lack of strong attackers like Victini, Gengar, or even Gyarados allowed these two Pokemon to thrive against my team and let them do what they want. Pretty much the game plan was to "faint" one of these two Pokemon as it was the essential backbone of the Indy Latis... speaking of which...
   
   
5. Scouting for Latias Moveset: Every time the female Eon Dragon hit the battlefield, it became my priority to scout for her moveset, and possibly neutralize it with damage or Paralysis. By the time it was extremely late game, only three moves were shown in STAB Psyshock, Shadow Ball for Bronzong, and Ice Beam for my mostly Ice-type weak team. It did occur to me what was Epic's last moveslot, especially with Latias's item being Life Orb. The last moveslot could have been either Healing Wish, Recover/Roost, Defog, or something much different, but this did assured me later on in Game 2.
   
   
6. Almost Lost Zapdos: As the title explains, almost lost Zapdos due to residual damage from the Scald burn + the combination of Knock Off and Bullet Punch from Scizor. If it wasn't for the Reflect, I think Zapdos might have died right there, but we manage to Roost off the damage, and get a surprise OHKO with Heat Wave against Scizor.
   
   
7. Mega Altaria is Shut Down: Thanks to the Regen Duo that is Amoonguss and Slowking, I'm not able to Wall-Break against Epic's team. Flamethrower does almost crap, same with Return, and HP Water is effectively a dead moveslot. There was a few turns where I'd manage to Flamethrower an Amoonguss (get a crit) and hit the Slowking in the process, but the Thunder Wave paralysis soon gets to Mega Altaria, removing my last bastions of defense.
   
   
8. Regretting the Roserade Drop...: Without Roserade to setup Spikes and threaten Amoonguss and maybe Slowking to a degree, they'll recover more HP as they switch in. If I had brought Rose and potentially setup to three layer of Spikes (unlikely but possible), the Epic's Regen core wouldn't recover as much as they did. Probably would have mitigate the whole length of the battles, especially the lack of Black Sludge Amoonguss on Epic's end.
   
   
9. Well....: ...it becomes apparent to me the only way to win this battle was to setup Calm Minds with Bloo, somehow maintain rain up to prevent any Spore shenanigans thanks to Hydration, and hope Amoonguss doesn't get something crazy like consecutive Quick Claws or crits. For this scenario to work, the Amoonguss needs be significant damaged, and maybe have some full paralysis turns. The only problem is Bloo has to switch out in on the last turn of rain to Zapdos/Mesprit to prevent the Spore. There are multiple engagements between Manaphy and Amoonguss in this battle, but most of them end with Bloo retreating.
   
   
10.  "Bob the Destroyer": One point in the battle, Bloo gets paralyzed by the Slowking, and Epic tries to setup on it via switching into Tyranturm and possibly work off the paralysis to end the game. Forunately for me, 1) Bloo setups the Rain to cure the paralysis, 2) can 2HKO Tyrantrum now, and 3) can take a +1 Adamant Head Smash. Thankfully no crits, Tyranturm fails to OHKO Bloo as it 2HKOs it with the Rain-boosted Scald.
    
    
11. Healing Wish Time: With Bloo at low HP, figured it was time to reveal my tech move for this battle. Decide to sack Bronzong to the incoming Latias's Shadow Ball. After forcing out Latias with my Choice Scarf Flygon, manage to get the matchup between Slowking and Mesprit, which then I use Healing Wish. Now Bloo is back in the game at 100% HP, but time is running out...
    
    
12. The Timer War: At this point, there was only 20 mintutes left on the timer, and realized Epic can win based on this as part of the league ruling. The Amoonguss - Slowking core was still intact, Latias could have Roost, and Porygon2 can recover so if Epic was playing for time, he definitely played it well enough. Now I have to figure how to reverse this in my favor as the score was "tied 4-4", but clearly in Epic's favor.
    
    
13. One Final Effort: With time running down, figured the only way to "win" this game was to beat the Amoonguss, and possibly faint as many things with a boosted Bloo as possible. Thanks to some eventful paralysis and Heat Waves on Zapdos's end, I'm finally able to get the Amoonguss at around 50% HP.
    
    
14. Breakthrough: After setting up Rain and getting to +1/2 CM, Bloo manages to beat the half HP Amoonguss in a Scald - Giga Drain exchange, thought at being reasonable low HP. Thankfully not one turn when Epic used Spore on Bloo did the Quick Claw didn't activate, which if it did would have gave Epic the win.
    
    
15. The Final Stand and Time: Latias is sent out and Bloo is almost low HP, so I figured it was fine to sack it off to the incoming Psyshock. For some reason, Bloo lives the attack, and manages to get a Scald Burn, severely reducing Latias HP to where LO + Burn + Scald will faint, if I mange to live. In a strange twist, Epic goes for Ice Beam on Bloo the Manaphy, freezes me, but it Scalds to faint the Latias. Now the game is 4-2 in my favor with less than three minutes on the clock. Even if Epic manages to crit Bloo, my best play was to technically timer stall the last few turn with Rest, and end the the game in a timer win. It wasn't easy at all, but we manage to steal that game from Epic which puts us in a good positioning to take either Game 2 or Game 3.
    
    

 

1. Rinse and Repeat (with Crits): Well repeat points 1-5 and 7-9 from Game 1, as this basically all happens of this same crap occurs about 20 turns in. The only difference is I lose Mesprit and Bronzong too early due to a couple of crits.
   
   
2. But before Bronzong / Mesprit Dies...: Lets get some Stealth Rocks on the field, and T-Wave the Amoonguss. Should have setup Rocks in the first place to get off some residual damage. As for going for paralysis on Amoonguss again, it was mainly to get some eventful hax going.
   
   
3. When in Doubt, Volt Turn it Out: With our backs turned against the wall down 6-4, felt it was time to get some Volt-Turn action going, and surprisingly this works out in my favor by doing residual damage and the consistent Stealth Rocks switches. This ends as soon as Slowbro tanks an incoming EQ from Flygon, but Porygon2 is really low as a result of this.
   
   
4. Staring Down a Dragon: Now I tried to setup with CMs Rain Dance with Bloo against the Latias. Tested the waters to see if this was a 4-attack Life Orb Latias with Thunderbolt, but it seems like STAB Psyshock is the only move to hit me with. From this process, Bloo gets to +2 CM and eventually faces a half HP Amoonguss.
   
   
5. Bloo vs One Final Hi: Thankfully the Quick Claw doesn't activate, Bloo is able to setup Rain Dance and begin the slow process it started last game. Everything almost went to plan, bar the Amoonguss critting Bloo and the game now banking on a high roll or crit on my end. As Bloo Scalds the Amoonguss at around 31% HP, and I do get the high roll. Now the tides have definitely turned in my favor.
   
   
6. Bloo's Rampage: With Amoonguss finally gone, Bloo can do some quick work to Epic's team. Immediately Epic calls in Scizor, however after doing some Calcs, a +2 Rain-boosted Scald easily OHKOs Scizor with Rocks. Went for the Scald attack and Scizor drops as the score is now 4-3 in my favor. Latias is sent back out, but its considerably low to where +2 Scald (no rain) and LO recoil can faint the Eon Dragon. Without Roost to recover back HP, Epic is forced to commit with Latias's Psyshock, but fails to OHKO Bloo. In retaliation, we managed to faint the Latias, and now the game is 4-2 in our favor.
   
   
7. The "Other Dragon": As soon as Slowking is sent out, Bloo immediately goes for Rest as I knew it was extremely vital for winning the series, but this came with a "cost". Epic's only chance to win the game was if he managed to setup two Dragon Dances from Tyranitrum, and sweep me from there. The remainder of the game was mostly double switches on both our parts, though my Volt Turn from Zapdos and Flygon is still intact. Despite Tyranitrum getting to +1 Dragon Dance, and fainting Mega Altaria with Head Smash, it is quickly routed by Scarf Flygon's Earthquake. Now its just a Slowking that can't setup vs a Manaphy, Pressure Zapdos with Toxic, and this... bug dragon (its ok Flygon you did something meaningful).
   
   
8. 47/62 Turns: At this point, both Epic and I knew it was over. There was nothing really Epic can do as I tried to end the battle with Bloo on a lasting note. Well maybe that wasn't the smartest idea, but at least we got some laughs out of it.
   
   
9. Repeat: After 129 turns of rather stupid plays on my end, we managed to beat Epiclolz in two games and win the Season 3 title. The Final Record Count is 20 Wins and 1 Loss.
   
   

Not going to elaborate much about the finals, as both Epic and I played well even to the very end. We were both "exhausted" from thinking constantly on nearly each of our plays, play-by-play turns, games plans, and eventual end games. Will admit it to everyone in public Epic  "out prep" me in terms of the matchup, but it came down to whether who can last the longest. It was incredibly funny enough how we both dreaded key Pokemon like Mega Camerupt and Terrakion on my end, and Victini and Roserade on his own. Both our teams were suited to tank any possible hits from each other, just that we might have over did it... Well if anyone wants to see Epic's team, here's a pastebin.

Not sure what the situation might be had Latias used Psyshock on Bloo late Game 1, maybe I've might lost as all my Pokemon were at low HP. Same thing goes for not selecting Roserade last minute as Spikes alone just rendered the Amoonguss / Slowking Regen core near useless, though I'm sure Epic can say the same thing if he brought Defog/Roost on Latias. While I definitely lamented about Epic bringing Quick Claw Amoonguss, if he had gotten off the Quick Claw Spore at any given point in the battle against Bloo, I'm certain he'd probably win in one of those games. Won't criticize it any further, though I'll admit it was random, yet funny as hell.

Well Good Games to Epiclolz as we complete the Season 3 run with a record of 20 wins and 1 loss. While could post about Season 4, I can't. After doing about 9 Weeks into PFA Season 4, some circumstances rose which I felt took priority before the battles themselves. It definitely sucks leaving Mid-Season with another strong season in the works, just time wasn't my ally and certain obligations arose. The one thing about Draft Leagues I'll credit is how diverse my team building has modified over the course of one year doing this. Now if only I be this comfortable team building in both VGC or Singles, maybe soon. At least I've enjoyed my time with Draft Leagues, as the Nidokings don't plan on joining one until months after Su/Mo's initial release. 

With all that said, thanks for reading this team report of sorts. This will be the last team report on my end before Pokemon Su/Mo releases, so until then cya later.