[SUN/MOON] PFA Week 11 Results: Toronto Maple Leafeons

[S/M] PFA Week 11 Results: Toronto Maple Leafeons - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: [S/M] PFA Week 11 Results: Toronto Maple Leafeons (/Thread-SUN-MOON-PFA-Week-11-Results-Toronto-Maple-Leafeons)

PFA Week 11 Results: Toronto Maple Leafeons - AbruptFury - May 29, 2017

Welcome back to my little weekly segment ~~ain't that a load of barnacles~~ where I give you the breakdown on my team for the week, my reasons for what I chose to do with it, and how it all went down in battle. So with playoffs upon us, every win counts. And the way I figured it out to be. You see - there have been a few coaches that have dropped out, so the bar to get into the playoffs is at least 7 wins in the 12 week leading up to it. This is because of those free wins boosting everyone up. The thing about 7 wins is that that does not guarantee you a spot, but it means you are eligible. It is left up to your differential amongst your battles. I have 7 wins, so if I can capture another one in the last two weeks, I'm golden. I have my ticket to the playoffs. In order to get it however, I must get through either Amant of the Bayern Munchlax, or Bruno of the Ottawa Dracos. Amant has been a solid player in previous seasons. Last season, making it to the semifinals of the playoffs. Bruno, a newcomer, has been making his presence felt in his record this season. He was also the only one to defeat the top coach in the league thus far, Ralker.

Anyway, so my opponent this week is Trafalgarlaw. Or known by his previous alias of Sir Shinny Groudon the First. He has some powerful hitters/wallbreakers on his team. Most notably, Landorus-I. "Where's your Landorus switch-in?" - Danny 2016. It has some nice coverage in it's movepool and good typing for switching in on common attacks such as Thunderbolt and Earthquake, taking literally 0 damage from them. He also has Tapu Koko on his team, which you may remember from my week 1 battle against Reed. They traded Tapus. Amant has Koko and Reed has Fini. So yeah, hopefully I don't get out-muscled in this match...

The Team Line-ups

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

Trafalgarlaw456 (Bayern Munchlax): Tapu Koko, Landorus-I, Mandibuzz, Kyurem, Porygon2, Zoroark, Klinklang, Heracross, Venusaur, Delphox, Plusle

[Image: vanilluxe.gif]

Soft Serve (Vanilluxe) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 76 SpD / 180 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Ice Beam
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Everyone's favourite ice cream cone is back to take some souls! I wanted to use Vanilluxe in a similar way as week 1 because I don't like to switch-in on Tapu Koko. So Choice Scarf Vanilluxe is a good way to outspeed it (as long as it isn't Choice Scarf itself) and take it down to low health. Against a lot of Amant's team, it can just spam Blizzard quite freely. This also works out against non-Scarf Landorus-I. These aren't really the best Pokemon to put a Choice Scarf onto because you want their coverage to take on anything your opponent wants to throw at you without having to just switch it out. Flash Cannon works as a nice way of hitting Kyurem. Hidden Power Ground hits the things that Blizzard doesn't, for supereffective damage. And Ice Beam was just kind of filler. It also works out if I switch out with Vanilluxe and back in later, but hail leaves after Vanilluxe is in. That way, I don't have to risk Blizzard missing the target.

Same old set as week 1. It's very much built around dealing with Tapu Koko. Vanilluxe can KO it before it KOs Vanilluxe. Thunderbolt is a guaranteed 2HKO thanks to the Special Defense investment. Of course, there is the chance to crit. There always is :p

Offensive Calcs:

Defensive Calcs:

Oryx (Zygarde) @ Leftovers
Ability: Aura Break
Level: 50
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Zen Headbutt
- Stone Edge
- Dragon Dance

After a couple Dragon Dances, there wouldn't be much on Amant's team that could stop me. Especially if I got chip earlier on Mandibuzz and Porygon2. Nothing could outspeed me and the damage output would be phenomenal. He only has one form of priority in Zoroark's Sucker Punch, which might not hit all that hard considering Zygarde's physical bulk is really good by default. Thousand Arrows could break most things and can't be avoided. Zen Headbutt hits the only thing that resists Thousand Arrows for supereffective, which is Heracross. Stone Edge beats Mandibuzz more effectively than Thousand Arrows. I could KO it before it could Whirlwind or Toxic Zygarde.

252 EVs into Attack for maximum damage output. I put 180 into Speed to outpace Jolly Heracross. The rest was thrown into bulk just to make this thing take a hit or two better. Nothing really calc'd for the bulk.

Offensive Calcs:

Rupert (Dhelmise) @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Steelworker
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Atk / 36 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Toxic
- Anchor Shot
- Earthquake
- Shadow Claw

Dhelmise makes for a good switch-in to some powerful attacks my opponent might go for. Such as Thunderbolt/Wild Charge from Tapu Koko, Earth Power/Earthquake from Landorus-I, and Close Combat from Heracross. A very good pivot Pokemon in this situation. Toxic would be used to put Amant's bulkier Pokemon, Mandibuzz and Porygon2, on a timer. Making it easier for something else to pick them off. Anchor Shot could be used to damage Kyurem, or just to trap something in general. Stopping any chance of a double switch outside of Pokemon that have a pivot move like Volt Switch or U-turn. Earthquake would beat Tapu Koko and Klinklang. And Shadow Claw can hit a bunch of Pokemon for neutral damage. Those it doesn't, are affected neutrally at the very least by the other moves. Aguav Berry was chosen so that I may use Toxic and Dhelmise can get a lot of health back once it hits 25%.

Wanting to keep a very good chance of OHKOing Tapu Koko with Earthquake, I decreased Dhelmise from max attack to 220 Attack. This would allow me to stick some extra bulk somewhere else. Of course I also invested into it's HP all the way. The rest went into Special Defense. I think what I had in mind was being able to survive Choice Scarf Kyurem's Ice Beam better. It's not by much, but still could definitely matter.

Offensive Calcs:

Defensive Calcs:

The Kraken (Malamar) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Contrary
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Atk / 212 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Psycho Cut
- Knock Off
- Superpower
- Rock Slide

Malamar would help my matchup against Venusaur and Delphox. Without access to Z-Happy Hour, Venusaur wasn't quite as scary of a threat as Delphox. Delphox can terrorize frailer Pokemon with powerful hits and it's high speed, and can cripple walls with a Trick Choice item set. Venusaur could be a problem with it's movepool. Moves like Knock Off, Sleep Powder, and Toxic/Leech Seed can be annoying. A Chlorophyll sweeper set with a manual Sunny Day setter on his team would give Venusaur to capability of outspeeding probably everything but a Choice Scarf Heliolisk set, which lacks damage output. I had to consider all possibilities for my opponent's team. So I chose to straight up wall the poop out of them with a very bulky Malamar will offensive potential. Psycho Cut would help me damage the Venusaur. Knock Off beats Delphox, and removes items. Superpower can build onto Malamar's bulk and help it strong-arm Amant's mons into submission. As well as a way of hitting Zoroark and Klinklang supereffectively. Rock Slide hits Mandibuzz for weakness damage. Which is very useful because it is one of his two best walls.

First thing I wanted to make sure, was that Delphox would always fall to Knock Off. I didn't really have any priority of my team this week, so I didn't really want to risk the roll. Of course, it's also useful to have some damage output against Pokemon like Venusaur to make it harder for them to stall me out, or so I'm less likely to miss out on KOs. It took 44 Attack EVs to accomplish this. I then went with max HP and put the rest into Special Defense. I was interested in being able to survive Choice Specs Signal Beam from Delphox, or Savage Spinout, since that was it's best move to hit me with. I found that I could survive the Spinout, but could only survive Life Orb for boosting item. Being locked into Signal Beam would probably be quite easy to abuse for me anyway.

Offensive Calcs:

Defensive Calcs:

Graci (Clefable) (F) @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Unaware
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 4 SpA / 156 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Ice Beam
- Heal Bell
- Stealth Rock

Clefable was a case of 5 Moves Syndrome this week unfortunately. There were a bunch of moves I wanted it to use, but was limited to the 4. I wanted a healing move on it, so it was definitely a hard thing for me to give up. Moonblast was mainly to damage Mandibuzz and Kyurem. Both very big threat on my opponent's team. I wanted Clefable to be able to function as a bait as well for Landorus-I, so I chose Ice Beam. As another good method of being able to deal with it. The other being Vanilluxe of course. Heal Bell would help heal my Pokemon from status afflictions like Toxic poison from Mandibuzz, Porygon2, and Venusaur. And perhaps paralysis from Tapu Koko or a possible Plusle. Stealth Rock makes Zygarde's job of sweeping a lot easier, and heavily damages some threatening Pokemon on Amant's team. Also, his only form of hazard control is in Mandibuzz, which Clefable beats.

One main reason I chose Clefable was to stop a certain Pokemon named Heracross (and to check Kyurem). Guts-boosted Heracross can seriously brutalize teams. As well as the Choice Scarf set, which outspeeds my Choice Scarf Vanilluxe. Because Clefable's typing already resists Heracross' STAB moves so well, I decided to invest more in it's Special Defense than physical Defense. The rest leftover went into it's Special Attack and Speed for funzies.

Offensive Calcs:

Defensive Calcs:

Beyblade (Hitmontop) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 68 HP / 244 Atk / 196 Def
Impish Nature
- Aerial Ace
- Mach Punch
- Earthquake
- Toxic

As another precaution to Kyurem and Klinklang, as well as Zoroark, I decided to use Technician Hitmontop again! I love this ability so much. And it's cool to see Hitmontop play a more offensive role, rather than a bulk-heavy, support one. Hitmontop is pretty big for checking these fast, powerful threats. They could just kind of push through my team with ease. Definitely helps the matchup. Mach Punch destroys Kyurem, Zoroark, and Klinklang. Earthquake beats Delphox, Tapu Koko, and Plusle. Aerial Ace beats what those two don't pretty effectively. The two Pokemon being Venusaur and Heracross, which takes x4 damage from the move. Toxic allows me to whittle Mandibuzz and Porygon2 down.

Initially, I wanted to run Adamant to get the most out of Hitmontop's Attack stat. However, this did not allow me to dependably take out Zoroark with Mach Punch. But I learned that I could run an Impish set to help Hitmontop take physical hits better, and Expert Belt would end up giving me the damage I was looking for.

Offensive Calcs:

Defensive Calcs:

The Aftermath

Here is the battle link: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7customgame-582542731
Week 11: Toronto Maple Leafeons (AbruptFury) .vs. Bayern Munchlax (Trafalgarlaw)
Team Amant brought: Porygon2, Zoroark, Landorus, Venusaur, Mandibuzz, Tapu Koko
*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.*

Turn 0: Same as week 1, not taking any chances with Tapu Koko. I lead my Scarf Vanilluxe. He leads Porygon2, likely predicting my Vanilluxe, as it is the best thing on his team to take a hit from it.
Turn 1: I switch into Hitmontop on it, but it takes a Thunder Wave for it's troubles. Probably better on it than Vanilluxe though.
Turn 2: Amant makes a safe switch by sending out his Venusaur to take a hit from my Hitmontop. With it being so early on, I didn't want to outpredict anything. I simply go for Toxic, which Venusaur is immune to.
Turn 3: Wanting to preserve my Hitmontop, I switch into the tanky Malamar. It dodges a Sleep Powder.
Turn 4: Sleep Powder connects. ZZ no re.
Turn 5: He switches in Tapu Koko while I burn a sleep turn.
Turn 6: Didn't wanna take hits from this thing on anything else, so I stay in and take a U-turn. To my surprise, Malamar survives this even though it is boosted by Life Orb. Amant sends in his Mandibuzz.
Turn 7: I send in Vanilluxe on the expected Foul Play. I knew I could take it rather well and just wanted to threaten his incredibly Ice-weak team. As well as get a chance to freeze one of his Pokemon.
Turn 8: Porygon2 comes in to take the Blizzard. It takes it very nicely, showing me that this is a more specially defensive set.
Turn 9: I switch into Hitmontop on his Recover.
Turn 10: Porygon2 reveals Reflect while my Hitmontop suffers from it's paralysis.
Turn 11: Hitmontop takes Tri Attack rather poorly as it can still no longer get a move off.
Turn 12: I try and preserve Hitmontop for later by sending in Dhelmise in it's place, while Porygon2 continues to go for Tri Attack.
Turn 13: I wanted to attempt to trap Porygon2 so I could poison it later with Toxic, but it's switches out. This is an interesting play to me, since Porygon2 usually has a hay day walling Ghost types. Venusaur takes it's place. It becomes trapped by the Anchor Shot.
Turn 14: I decide to sac off my sleepy, low health Malamar to the Venusaur. In order to bring in my Vanilluxe and Blizzard spam some more.
Turn 15: Amant allows his Venusaur to go down to Vanilluxe. Presumably so that he wouldn't have to take too much damage on his Porygon2. One kill for Vanilluxe, as P2 hits the field.
Turn 16: I decide to sac Hitmontop this time so that I may get Dhelmise in to deal with this Porygon2.
Turn 17: Once again, P2 switches out of my Dhelmise, into Mandibuzz this time. It becomes trapped by Anchor Shot.
Turn 18: I send out Clefable to take any attack Mandibuzz might want to go for. It puts a timer on my Clefable with Toxic.
Turn 19: I feel like he might want to switch out in fear of Moonblast, so I take the opportunity to get my Stealth Rock up. I feel like this is a no drawback play because Moonblast damage will cause him to Roost as I send out something like Vanilluxe in Clefable's place. He switches into P2.
Turn 20: Knowing by now that Dhelmise walls P2, I go directly into it.
Turn 21: Another switch into Mandibuzz and it is getting rather low from these Anchor Shots.
Turn 22: I see this as the perfect opportunity to get Vanilluxe in again as Mandibuzz Roosts.
Turn 23: Vanilluxe goes for Blizzard. It does a lot, but doesn't kill. However, it does get the freeze.
Turn 24: I take this opportunity to make an aggressive play and go straight into my Zygarde to try and set up Dragon Dances on my frozen opponent.
Turn 26: So after using Dragon Dance, I start getting a little paranoid that the freeze may not last like I hoped. And I was also feeling rather safe going for Thousand Arrows because Zygarde was now faster than everything non-Scarfed. I finish off the Mandibuzz and Zygarde gets a kill. Amant sends in P2.
Turn 27: Testing the waters, I have Zygarde use Thousand Arrows to scout the damage. I believe Porygon2 can survive at least one Ice Beam, but he instead uses Reflect.
Turn 28: Because of the health that P2 is now at, I set up another Dragon Dance. This will also help me break through Porygon2's defenses, along with this Reflect.
Turn 29: I try to damage it again as Amant decides to try and take down this threat with Tri Attack. This has me quite worried because any of the 3 status chances would be quite bad for my sweeper to take.
Turn 30: I continued to set up. I expected him to Recover, but he knows very well that he can't stall Zygarde out. He makes the smart play by going for Tri Attack continuously.
Turn 31: Once again, I go for Thousand Arrows. And once again, Amant goes for Tri Attack. Still no status. I'm so relieved. Also, Reflect wore off. So that's quite nice for my Zygarde.
Turn 32: Porygon2 falls to Zygarde.
Turn 33: Landorus-I falls to Zygarde.
Turn 34: Zoroark falls to Zygarde.
Turn 35: Tapu Koko falls to Zygarde and we make playoffs for the PFA! :D

In Conclusion

Good game to @trafalgarlaw . I felt like I didn't really misplay for once, but my only regret that match is that it means that you won't have enough wins to make it into the playoffs with me :c I know you are a good player, and that you were a little down on yourself for your performance this season, but I think it just some issues with the team. You did make some trades a little prior. It can definitely be hard to adapt to that kind of change when you were so used to running your team one way. Like how Clefable has often been functioning as support for me, even though I would like to use an offensive set sometime. But yeah, your play was not bad during our match. I was a little confused about you not bringing your Ice resists, like Delphox and Klinklang. I did some planning for those two, because they could've really given my team trouble. They still could've, if I had lost certain mons. Your team definitely had mine beat in the speed game. I do hope that you will consider joining PFA again next season Smile

Trio

Alrighty. I think I've wrapped just about everything up here. Gotta get some sleep. I had one crazy shift at work earlier. Thought I'd get this out for you sooner than later. I hope you enjoyed my report and stay tuned for the final week of the PFA scheduled matches! I look forward to seeing who I face in the playoffs.

To stay up to date on the statistics of the Pokemon Forever Association, you can visit the Season 5 spreadsheet : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rtDI8iVtjymGgxlom4GphVjk6U8NTCDcE2Tj_7-Nt5k/edit#gid=0

Personal Note

You may have noticed the name change on Clefable earlier. It was named Graci instead of Tatl. Graci is my sister's name. She was in the hospital for a few weeks because of her heart. It was causing her severe nausea and she was fatigued all the time. We thought that it might've been the flu or possibly even acid reflux disease, like I have. But we eventually found out that it was scar tissue from where she had an operation done as a baby. She had a heart murmur. She's been growing like a weed over the last few years, so her heart has been having a hard time trying to keep up. The doctors say it's a miracle that she didn't have a stroke simply walking up the steps into Yarmouth Hospital. And she was legally dead for 24 minutes as the doctor's struggled to find a pulse, later on in the IWK. No brain damage however. Then after she got a pacemaker, the doctors expected her heart to be healed up in a week or two. She was good in 2 days. She's quite resilient. Graci is doing a lot better now with a combination of pacemaker and medicines. But for about a month, I was scared we might lose her. It was getting really bad. So out of love and respect for my sister, I decided to name one of my Pokemon after her. I think she'd like Clefable. I haven't really asked her. But she does like pink and cute things. A lot of stress from these family issues I've been having recently. I thought I'd share that with you guys because it is important to me. Hopefully, we won't have to worry about anymore problems like that for a while. Thank you for reading :D

RE: PFA Week 11 Results: Toronto Maple Leafeons - croissant - May 29, 2017

Nice analysis Tommy! Really like your use of the 50% berries, I've been using them myself in singles and people definitely sleep on them. Hopefully you can make it to playoffs!

RE: PFA Week 11 Results: Toronto Maple Leafeons - AbruptFury - May 29, 2017

(May 29, 2017, 04:44 AM)écarlate Wrote: Nice analysis Tommy! Really like your use of the 50% berries, I've been using them myself in singles and people definitely sleep on them. Hopefully you can make it to playoffs!

Thank you, Elly :D I do like the effects of them. Especially in VGC. Also, I have made the cut for playoffs. It's guaranteed if you have 8 wins, but comes down to differential if you have 7. My record is 8-3 Smile

RE: PFA Week 11 Results: Toronto Maple Leafeons - croissant - May 29, 2017

Ah, glad to hear that then :D