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NBA Season 6 Week 3: Toronto Maple Leafeons - AbruptFury - Jan 29, 2018 Welcome back! This is Tommy aka AbruptFury, coach of the Toronto Maple Leafeons, here! Bringing you my week 3 report my match in the National Battlling Association. This week, I faced the newcomer, MikeWWM8. He has proved that he knows what he is doing by going 2-0 in the first weeks of NBA, with a differential that put him at the top of the leaderboard. Not a bad start at all. So can I overcome this challenge? We'll just have to see, I guess. The Team Line-ups My Team : Kyurem-B, Scizor, Sylveon, Vaporeon, Darmanitan(Z), Drapion, Electivire(Z), Dhelmise, Donphan, Mesprit(Z), Sawk MikeWWM8 (Vegas Aegislash): Mew, Tornadus-T, Ferrothorn, Emboar(Z), Kingdra(Z), Granbull(Z), Linoone, Rotom-F, Buzzwole, Skuntank, Aurorus The Game Plan Trickywi (Sylveon) (F) @ Choice Scarf Ability: Pixilate Shiny: Yes EVs: 40 Def / 252 SpA / 216 Spe Modest Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Moonblast - Hidden Power [Fire] - Baton Pass - Hyper Voice Once again, I noticed that Sylveon has a field day against another league team. Hitting most things for neutral or supereffective damage with it's Fairy type attacks. It puts in exceptionally good work against two of his biggest threats, Buzzwole and Kingdra. There isn't a whole lot that wants to switch in on Buzzwole's attacks. And Kingdra can be pretty menacing with either a Swift Swim set featuring manual rain on one of his Pokemon, or CritDra set which makes use of Focus Energy and Scope Lens to cause every move it uses to become a critical hit. I decided to opt for both Moonblast and Hyper Voice this week instead of just Hyper Voice. Hyper Voice has the ability to bypass Substitutes, but that doesn't matter when it can be completely shutdown by a move like Throat Chop from Linoone. Because I was concerned that Linoone might pack this move, and that Buzzwole might carry Substitute, I figured it would be fine to run both. Besides, on a Choice Scarf Sylveon set, there wasn't much else that I could think of running that would be worth it. |Hidden Power Fire is obviously for the Ferrothorn, though it is barely on the cusp of a 2HKO. Therefore, I would need chip damage on it first. Baton Pass would be used similarly to U-turn or Volt Switch to pivot out and keep up momentum against something that Sylveon has a harder time against, like Ferrothorn. Choice Scarf gave my team a way of dealing with Choice Scarf Adamant Emboar outside of one other Pokemon on my team. Offensive Calcs: Outspeeds Scarf Adamant max speed Emboar by 1 point. 252+ SpA Sylveon Moonblast vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Buzzwole: 504-594 (141.5 - 166.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252+ SpA Sylveon Moonblast vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Kingdra: 318-374 (108.9 - 128%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252+ SpA Sylveon Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Linoone: 226-267 (62.7 - 74.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ SpA Pixilate Sylveon Hyper Voice vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Assault Vest Tornadus-Therian: 126-148 (34.9 - 40.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO 252+ SpA Pixilate Sylveon Hyper Voice vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Tornadus-Therian: 210-247 (70.2 - 82.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO | Mixed Life Orb Tornadus-T. 252+ SpA Pixilate Sylveon Hyper Voice vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Skuntank: 256-303 (73.7 - 87.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery 252+ SpA Sylveon Hidden Power Fire vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn: 196-232 (55.6 - 65.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery 252+ SpA Pixilate Sylveon Hyper Voice vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Granbull: 259-306 (67.4 - 79.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery Defensive Calcs: 0 SpA Tornadus-Therian Sludge Wave vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Sylveon: 120-142 (36.2 - 42.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO 252 SpA Life Orb Tornadus-Therian Sludge Wave vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Sylveon: 192-229 (58 - 69.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ Atk Skuntank Poison Jab vs. 0 HP / 40 Def Sylveon: 306-362 (92.4 - 109.3%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO 0 Atk Ferrothorn Gyro Ball (103 BP) vs. 0 HP / 40 Def Sylveon: 284-336 (85.8 - 101.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO Dr. Claw (Scizor) (M) @ Leftovers Ability: Technician Shiny: Yes EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def Impish Nature - Bullet Punch - U-turn - Counter - Defog This Scizor set was specifically designed with Belly Drum Linoone in mind. I didn't have much that wanted to take hits from it. Other Pokemon that Scizor could help out against were Mew, Buzzwole, Aurorus, and perhaps Granbull (Intimidate + phys def set is hard to break for phys def Scizor). Bullet Punch helps Scizor damage certain Pokemon and revenge kill others. U-turn can keep up momentum while also dealing good damage with STAB boost. Counter was my strategy for dealing with both Linoone and Buzzwole. They would hit Scizor with a boosted or strong attack, and take double the damage for their troubles. Heck, Counter could even help against Fire Punch Granbull. Scizor can take 2 of those. Or even an Emboar locked into anything other than a Fire type move. But obviously the main problems were the ones that I wanted to deal with first. Defog would be my form of hazard removal on the team. Important for keeping health on my Pokemon. Offensive Calcs: 8 Atk Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Linoone: 123-145 (34.1 - 40.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO 8 Atk Scizor U-turn vs. 240 HP / 156 Def Mew: 164-194 (40.8 - 48.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery 8 Atk Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Granbull: 144-170 (37.5 - 44.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery Defensive Calcs: +6 252+ Atk Linoone Shadow Claw vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Scizor: 160-189 (46.6 - 55.1%) -- 14.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery +6 252+ Atk Linoone Extreme Speed vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Scizor: 137-162 (39.9 - 47.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery 252+ Atk Buzzwole Hammer Arm vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Scizor: 136-162 (39.6 - 47.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery +1 252+ Atk Buzzwole Hammer Arm vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Scizor: 204-241 (59.4 - 70.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery Spark Plug (Electivire) (M) @ Electrium Z Ability: Motor Drive Shiny: Yes EVs: 68 Atk / 252 SpA / 188 Spe Naive Nature - Thunderbolt - Flamethrower - Earthquake - Feint Electivire has good coverage against Mike's team. It also walls Rotom-Fan in a way that no other Pokemon on my team does. Thunderbolt helps beat Tornadus-T and chips away at stuff like Rotom-Fan and Kingdra. Flamethrower destroys Buzzwole and Ferrothorn. Earthquake hits Emboar pretty hard. And Feint gives me a Plan Z against Linoone if it is within range and it's looking like game over because of a Belly Drum sweep. As for Electrium Z, I noticed something very important about Mike's team. It doesn't have a Ground type. This is pretty big since it means that he has a hard time with VoltTurn strategies. I considered running Volt Switch on Electivire, but just preferred the sheer power from Thunderbolt and Z Thunderbolt turning into Gigavolt Havoc. The Z move could not be wasted on anything, except for maybe Ferrothorn, but I would just remove that with Flamethrower. A Motor Drive boost onto Electivire from something like Rotom-Fan would be sweet. Electivire could outspeed something it wouldn't normally like Mew, Tornadus-T, or a Choice Scarf user like Buzzwole or Emboar. Offensive Calcs: Outspeeds max speed base 100s WITHOUT the Nature boost by 1 point. 252 SpA Electivire Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Linoone: 178-210 (49.4 - 58.3%) -- 98% chance to 2HKO 68 Atk Electivire Feint vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Linoone: 41-49 (11.3 - 13.6%) -- possible 8HKO 252 SpA Electivire Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Tornadus-Therian: 288-342 (96.3 - 114.3%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO 252 SpA Electivire Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Assault Vest Tornadus-Therian: 170-204 (47 - 56.5%) -- 80.9% chance to 2HKO 252 SpA Electivire Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Assault Vest Tornadus-Therian: 332-392 (91.9 - 108.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock 252 SpA Electivire Thunderbolt vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Kingdra: 124-147 (42.4 - 50.3%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock 68 Atk Electivire Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Emboar: 258-304 (71.4 - 84.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 68 Atk Electivire Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Aurorus: 238-280 (61.4 - 72.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252 SpA Aurorus Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Electivire: 208-246 (71.4 - 84.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after hail damage 252 SpA Electivire Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn: 244-288 (69.3 - 81.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO Defensive Calcs: 8 SpA Rotom-Fan Hidden Power Ground vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Electivire: 116-138 (39.8 - 47.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO 0 Atk Granbull Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Electivire: 234-276 (80.4 - 94.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252 SpA Aurorus Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Electivire: 208-246 (71.4 - 84.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after hail damage 0 Atk Ferrothorn Power Whip vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Electivire: 169-201 (58 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO Koko (Darmanitan) (F) @ Choice Scarf Ability: Sheer Force EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 188 Spe Jolly Nature - Flare Blitz - U-turn - Earthquake - Rock Slide I should actually call this Pokemon "Chris Jericho", because he likes to BREAK THE WALLS DOWN! This hard hitting monster is back for another round. It's main purpose is to keep Buzzwole in line, because if it gets too many boosts, the match is gone. And the main set I'm fearing from Buzzwole is Choice Scarf. What better way to beat it than with a Choice Scarf'd mon myself? Or two. Since I also have Sylveon. But because of Sylveon's low speed stat, it can't hope to keep up with even Adamant Scarf Buzzwole. Flare Blitz can easily take down an uninvested Buzzwole, so he would be to have bulk to hope to survive. U-turn is for keeping up momentum and helping me break Mew, possibly a defensive Mew. Earthquake works against Emboar and perhaps Kingdra if needed. And Rock Slide does wonders against Tornadus-T and Rotom-Fan. Offensive Calcs: Outspeeds max speed base 100s with Scarf, but WITHOUT a boosting Nature, by 1 point. 252 Atk Sheer Force Darmanitan Flare Blitz vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Buzzwole: 408-480 (114.6 - 134.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252 Atk Darmanitan U-turn vs. 240 HP / 156 Def Mew: 140-166 (34.9 - 41.3%) -- 69.5% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery 252 Atk Sheer Force Darmanitan Flare Blitz vs. 240 HP / 156 Def Mew: 231-273 (57.6 - 68%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery 252 Atk Sheer Force Darmanitan Rock Slide vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Tornadus-Therian: 272-322 (90.6 - 107.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock 252 Atk Sheer Force Darmanitan Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 88+ Def Ferrothorn: 724-856 (205.6 - 243.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252 Atk Sheer Force Darmanitan Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Aurorus: 351-414 (90.6 - 106.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock Sting (Drapion) (M) @ Rocky Helmet Ability: Battle Armor EVs: 100 HP / 252 Atk / 28 Def / 128 Spe Adamant Nature - Whirlwind - Poison Jab - Knock Off - Aerial Ace My friend and fellow coach, Black117 aka Kiev aka multiple champion of the PFA (renamed NBA) brought to my attention how Linoone doesn't necessarily have to set up to become a threat. It could just pull a hit and run until the right moment when it wanted to strike. The main purpose of this set was to take some uninvested hits from it and chip it down. Chip could bring it to 50% berry range, no 50% berry means no more recovery, no more recovery means easily revenge killed. If I can get enough chip onto it through Rocky Helmet and attacks, it will either die to priority, or won't even be able to get off the Belly Drum since it requires the 50% of it's health to be lost. Whirlwind could also be used to phaze it out of it's boosts, as well as Buzzwole. The reason I didn't opt for Roar on anything was because Throat Chop stops Roar and Linoone has access to that move. Poison Jab is mainly for Granbull, but can also be used against Z Kingdra or Mew, after it's item has been removed by Knock Off, to do more damage. Drapion can also get away with poisoning Mew without taking one in return from Synchronize. Knock Off removes items and hits Mew hard. Aerial Ace breaks Buzzwole's Substitute and can even take 50% of it's health off, so that it does not become setup fodder for Buzzwole to sweep my team. Offensive Calcs: Outspeeds max speed Adamant Buzzwole by 1 point. 252+ Atk Drapion Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Granbull: 194-230 (50.5 - 59.8%) -- 85.2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery 252+ Atk Drapion Aerial Ace vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Buzzwole: 172-204 (48.3 - 57.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery 252+ Atk Drapion Aerial Ace vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Emboar: 158-188 (43.7 - 52%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock 252+ Atk Drapion Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 240 HP / 156+ Def Mew: 212-252 (52.8 - 62.8%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery Defensive Calcs: 0 Atk Granbull Earthquake vs. 100 HP / 28 Def Drapion: 152-180 (49.6 - 58.8%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO 252+ Atk Buzzwole Earthquake vs. 100 HP / 28 Def Drapion: 226-268 (73.8 - 87.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 0 Atk Mew Earthquake vs. 100 HP / 28 Def Drapion: 130-154 (42.4 - 50.3%) -- 1.2% chance to 2HKO Ariel (Vaporeon) (F) @ Leftovers Ability: Water Absorb EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA Bold Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Scald - Wish - Protect - Toxic Vaporeon is really good as a defensive pivot and support in this match. There are some threats like Ferrothorn, Rotom-Fan, Choice Banded Emboar and Buzzwole, but I think I can play around them. Especially since most of them are physical. And the one that isn't can't do much to Electivire. Scald hits Emboar for good damage and can burns to Mike's other Pokemon. Wish and Protect help Vaporeon heal itself and it's teammates, as well as being able to scout move choices. Toxic can help it break bulkier threats, and ones that resist Scald like Kingdra. I just went with a pretty standard physically defensive set with Leftovers because I did some calcs, and this set really did give him a lot of trouble. Without a boosting item (including Z move), Kingdra couldn't do much for damage and would be stalled out by Toxic, Wish, and Protect. Emboar's Z move wouldn't do more Choice Band damage, but then I could scout which move it wanted to lock itself into and switch accordingly. Buzzwole didn't do a whole lot without boosts and would do even less if it were burnt. And Ferrothorn could be played around really well by my Darmanitan and Electivire sets. The biggest issue might be Choice Specs Freeze-Dry from Aurorus, which can cause freeze and does a lot of damage. Offensive Calcs: 4 SpA Vaporeon Scald vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Emboar: 266-314 (73.6 - 86.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 4 SpA Vaporeon Scald vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Linoone: 141-166 (39.1 - 46.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO 4 SpA Vaporeon Scald vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Aurorus: 204-240 (52.7 - 62%) -- guaranteed 2HKO Defensive Calcs: 252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Emboar Wild Charge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Vaporeon: 366-432 (78.8 - 93.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery 252+ SpA Kingdra Devastating Drake (195 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Vaporeon: 294-346 (63.3 - 74.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery 252+ Atk Buzzwole Thunder Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Vaporeon: 186-220 (40 - 47.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery 0 Atk Ferrothorn Power Whip vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Vaporeon: 242-288 (52.1 - 62%) -- 97.7% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery 252 SpA Rotom-Fan Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Vaporeon: 266-314 (57.3 - 67.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery 252+ Atk Linoone Seed Bomb vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Vaporeon: 126-150 (27.1 - 32.3%) -- 52.7% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery +6 252+ Atk Linoone Extreme Speed vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Vaporeon: 375-442 (80.8 - 95.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery The Aftermath Here is the battle link: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/battlearea-gen7draftleague-29422 Week 3: Toronto Maple Leafeons (AbruptFury) vs. Vegas Aegislash (MikeWWM8) Team that Mike brought: Aurorus, Granbull, Mew, Linoone, Kingdra, Buzzwole -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Match Summary and Explanations I decided to lead off with Darmitan to stop any shenanigans from Buzzwole or Linoone right out of the gate. Mike chooses Aurorus. I figured what with it being his lead, that it would want to go for Stealth Rock. So I pivoted out using U-turn, and went into Scizor. Scizor eats the Earth Power. Knowing that Bullet Punch was too obvious, I decided to U-turn predicting a switch. He does not switch. I went into Vaporeon expecting maybe an HP Fire. But he decides to set up Stealth Rock. I decided to scout what he wanted to do and Wish. Aurorus uses Freeze-Dry and it does quite much damage. I have Vaporeon Protect rather than be KO'd as he goes into Mew. Mew goes for Aurora Veil as I send in my Drapion. I decided to go for Knock Off on Mew and removed the Light Clay, but Drapion takes a Will-o-Wisp; crippling it for the rest of the game. Knowing that Drapion couldn't do much to a presumed defensive Mew, I went back into Vaporeon. He decides to go into Linoone. As a last ditch effort to stop Belly Drum from being a problem to my team, I use Scald and hope to fish for the burn and don't get it. Belly Drum is off. I decided to sac off my crippled Drapion. Linoone takes it out. I send in Scizor. Scizor is fairly low on health because of the Stealth Rock and Earth Power earlier from Aurorus, but it hangs on after the Stomping Tantrum and Counter easily takes out the Linoone. One kill for Scizor and one giant threat out of the way. Mike sends out Kingdra. I wanted to save Scizor for later as a sac, or to heal up with Wish. So I went out into Sylveon. Kindra uses Dragon Pulse and it is blocked by Sylveon's Fairy typing. I threw off a Moonblast hoping for a Special Attack drop maybe, but I don't get it. Kingdra goes for a Corkscrew Crash, which came from Flash Cannon being in it's moveset. Sylveon hangs on and I am so glad. Mike switches in Aurorus to sac it and save his Kingdra for later. Moonblast finishes it off and that's a kill for Sylveon! In comes Mew. I knew he would want to set up the Aurora Veil again, so I switched into Vaporeon because I knew that Mew couldn't do much to it. He does set up the Veil. Buzzwole comes in on my Wish. Thunderpunch comes out from Buzzwole and does okay damage. But Vaporeon's Scald gets a crit and a burn, severely nerfing Buzzwole's potential as Vaporeon gets it's health back. Granbull comes out in place of Buzzwole as I decide to go for Wish again. I don't want a burned Buzzwole breaking Vaporeon. Not after it's best checks were already dealt with so nicely. I knew there was one move that Granbull gets that he would probably go for on that turn. Heal Bell. So I gave the Wish to Scizor. It survives the Stealth Rock entry on 1% of it's health and gains so much back from it. Heal Bell chimes and Buzzwole's burn is healed. I wanted to get rid of the pesky Stealth Rock since Aurorus was gone, so I used Defog. Then, Granbull revealed the Fire Punch and Scizor was back to low health. I saved Scizor again by switching into Vaporeon. Vaporeon takes a burn from Granbull's Fire Punch which isn't too bad at all. It means that I can just Toxic the Mew freely without taking one myself from Mew's Synchronize ability. I have Vaporeon Wish again anticipating an attack from Gtanbull, but Granbull misses it's Play Rough. I decided to wear down Granbull with a Scald and possibly burn it. Play Rough hits this time and does negligible damage. Health is returned by Wish. There is a lot of rinse and repeat through Wish and attacking for a while. Kingdra ends up poisoned by Vaporeon's Toxic Granbull switches out to Heal Bell for Kingdra. Granbull is consistently being worn down by Vaporeon's Scald. Despite being able to finish Granbull off with another Scald, I decided to go for Toxic expecting the Kingdra play and I get it right. FeelsGoodMan More rinse and repeat as Vaporeon stalls out Kingdra with Toxic. One kill for Vaporeon! In comes Buzzwole. Buzzwole uses Thunderpunch as I try and burn it again with Scald. The burn does not show up. I made a ballsy play by switching in Electivire on another Thunderpunch, getting the Motor Drive boost. Mike sacs off Granbull to Electivire's Thunderbolt. One kill for Electivire! In comes Mew. I have my Electivire throw off the Gigavolt Havoc, but it just misses out on the KO. Electivire is able to take the Earthquake from Mew luckily, and finish it off the next turn with Thunderbolt. Electivire gets another kill! Last man Buzzwole, returns to play. Electivire seals the game with Flamethrower and a third kill! The Toronto Maple Leafeons take the game with a 5-0 victory. What a huge win for us! In Conclusion Good game to Mike! He told me during and after the game how much he regretted his preparation for our match. It's a shame when personal obligations get ya. I ended up putting a massive amount of time into figuring out how I was going to beat him and honestly, it still wasn't all that solid. I'm sure that he is going to be in the playoffs. Hopefully I will see him there and I know he would give it everything against me if we were to battle again. He is in the conference. So if we were to meet again, it would have to be in the finals. I think that would be a very interesting match. Since I've shown off my techs, and he's shown off a couple of his. Would I be able to dependably bring something like Counter Scizor again? Who knows? But yeah, I am absolutely ecstatic about this win and can't wait for next week! This should also be a huge leap for me on the leaderboard. I've been gaining some spots since my week 1 loss. Let's see if I can win this whole thing! And I will see you next time. This is AbruptFury, coach of your Toronto Maple Leafeons, signing out! Wait! There's More! Week 3 has come and gone, and I have made a couple of transactions to try and mend weaknesses in my team. The main one I've been looking at was speed. So I got myself two new team members to exchange for two previous ones. There has been no love lost between me and these Pokemon, but I had to do what I had to in trying to make my team the best that it can possibly be. So first off, I will show you who has been removed from the team, and who has taken their place. Without further ado, let's see who was cut. This was easily the hardest of the two to get rid of. Darmanitan is a powerful threat to any team. It has the ability to pivot around when it feels like with U-turn, and makes for a strong attacker and fast one too. Sheer Force was a god-sent for this Pokemon, making it a real terror to deal with it battle. Resists hardly mean a thing when you hit as hard as Darmanitan does. I always loved Azumarill's wallbreaking abilities, but you just can't ignore how insanely powerful Darmanitan is. With coverage to boot in it's movepool. I will miss it for sure. And I hope I'm not making a bad decision by removing it. So who did I replace this cherished powerhouse for? It was the Lizard Queen, Salazzle! This is a very fast Pokemon that hits hard on the special side. It has access to Nasty Plot to boost it's 111 base Special Attack. It also gets moves like Flame Charge, Disable, Knock Off, Dragon Pulse and Dragon Tail, Taunt, Fling, and Snatch. Some interesting moves that could see some play besides the standard Fire and Poison type ones. It is now one of my Z users since Darmanitan was previously a Z captain, so an Inferno Overdrive or Acid Downpour from this Pokemon could certain hurt, as well as being able to use some other non-attacking Z moves. And with access to the ability Corrosion, no Steel type or Poison type is safe from it's Toxic. That could be quite powerful against Pokemon like Heatran or Toxapex. This Pokemon also boasts a 117 base Speed stat. To put that into perspective, that is one point faster than Whimsicott which is renowned for it's insane speed outside of it's ability Prankster. Salazzle can subsequently outspeed Pokemon like Keldeo and Latios. This thing is so dangerous that it might end up giving my opponents an even harder time preparing for my team. They thought Kyurem-Black was bad enough. Things just got a lot tougher with Lisa Simpson the Lizard Queen around! My biggest regret in trading this Pokemon away by far is not having Toxic Spikes access anymore. Salazzle unfortunately does not get it. And also that this thing has done a good job defensively for me. It finished it's time with me with 0 kills and 2 deaths, but it really was quite troublesome defensively, having only one weakness. It's Pursuit Trapping abilities made it so great against a Pokemon like Hoopa. It sucks to see it go, but I think I have picked up something as hard to prep for as Salazzle in it's replacement. It is another Dark type of course. I ain't no Alec. I traded it to the Phantump Thieves, coached by Reed. My week 1 opponent from the last season. There is a stipulation that came with it however, I must always name it "SubToReedIRL" because of his campaign that he has going to raise awareness for...himself I guess. Anyway, the Pokemon I traded him for was... Who is that? The question everyone asks when a Zoroark is on someone's team. You never know what it might be disguised as with it's Illusion ability. This Pokemon also boasts the ability to be a really good mixed attacking option. Those can be hard to come by. It has access to U-turn, where I lost it on Darmanitan. It gets access to boosting moves like Calm Mind (which can help boost it's mediocre Special Defense as well as it's Special Attack), Nasty Plot (just like Salazzle), and Swords Dance. It has so many moves in both sides of the offensive spectrum. Moves such as Dark Pulse, Extrasensory, Flamethrower, Focus Blast, Knock Off, U-turn, Low Kick, Sludge Bomb, Sucker Punch, Taunt, Pursuit, and Throat Chop. Being partnered with Salazzle on a team will make people question which one they might be facing until it's too late and they have already lost a Pokemon. Definitely nice to have that mindgame option at hand. And the best part is that I don't even need to disguise Zoroark as Salazzle. It could work as anything. Lure them into a false sense of security and strike, that is what Zoroark does best. It is a fantastic Pokemon and I really hope it works on my team. The same goes for Salazzle. I hope you enjoyed my report! See you on week 4!