[S/M] PFA Week 12 Results: Toronto Maple Leafeons

[AbruptFury]

It's the final week of the regular season! Alas! This is Coach Abrupt of the Toronto Maple Leafeons, here to give you a rundown on week 12 of the PFA. The field is thinning out, as playoffs is becoming more cemented. Basically, the only one who has a chance of getting in that is not in the top 8 is Danny of the New York Islandorus. If I beat my opponent this week, then he might be able to get in. Then it would be 5 blue conference teams vs 3 red conference. All hail the blue conference!

My opponent this week however is Bruno of the Elite Four of the Ottawa Dracos. A fellow Canadian I met back in another league called IBL. He was a very promising trainer then, and has only been dishing out results since entering the PFA as well. Including the accolade of being the only one to beat top team, the Orlando Magikarp, coached by Ralker. Definitely a task ahead of me. Interestingly enough, I could potentially eliminate him right here from playoff contention, because he does not have his 8 wins due to technical difficulties with his computer. Making it hard to schedule matches. We figured that he probably gave up on this league by week 12 since we heard nothing from him, but he messaged me on Sunday telling me that he was interested. So let's see how it went, shall we.

The Team Line-ups

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

Wenwuk (Ottawa Dracos): M-Scizor, Thundurus-T, Mamoswine, Tyrantrum, Blastoise, Uxie, Lanturn, Silvally, Virizion, Chandelure, Greninja

The Game Plan

Graci (Clefable) @ Kebia Berry
Ability: Unaware
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 4 SpA / 76 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Moonlight
- Heal Bell

First up, my Stealth Rocker for the week. This Clefable was designed to be a support and a switch-in for certain Pokemon of his, like Swords Dance Virizion. Moonblast was my sole damaging move. Good for hitting most things. I considered another move to damage or cripple like Flamethrower or Thunder Wave, but ultimately decided against them because of immunities that could take advantage of it like Flash Fire Chandelure, Volt Absorb Thundurus-T, and Mamoswine (probably the best attacker in league). Moonlight for the healing. Didn't bring weather, so no complications for Clefable. Heal Bell could clear up any status ailments that my Pokemon might face. Kebia Berry was used to take Greninja's Gunk Shot a lot better, then I could just beat it down with Moonblast.

With Clefable's massive physical defense investment, it could tank hits, or at least a hit, from Pokemon like Tyrantrum and Virizion. Then KO them back (or at least Tyrantrum) with Moonblast. I pumped the rest into special defense to allow me to tank those hits better from Thundurus-T and Greninja, except for 4 special attack and speed EVs which I used to creep on damage and speed. The 4 Special Attack EVs allowed Clefable to OHKO Tyrantrum 100% of the time.

Offensive Calcs:

4 SpA Clefable Moonblast vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Tyrantrum: 158-188 (100 - 118.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
4 SpA Clefable Moonblast vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Greninja: 138-164 (93.2 - 110.8%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
4 SpA Clefable Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Virizion: 84-102 (50.6 - 61.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Defensive Calcs:

252 Atk Virizion Leaf Blade vs. 252 HP / 172 Def Clefable: 63-75 (31.1 - 37.1%) -- 77.8% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Tyrantrum Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 172 Def Clefable: 127-151 (62.8 - 74.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Thundurus-Therian Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 76+ SpD Clefable: 76-91 (37.6 - 45%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
4 Atk Life Orb Protean Greninja Gunk Shot vs. 252 HP / 172 Def Kebia Berry Clefable: 90-107 (44.5 - 52.9%) -- 24.2% chance to 2HKO

IAmLegendary (Arcanine) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 148 SpD / 100 Spe
Careful Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Bulldoze
- Morning Sun
- Toxic

You've probably seen the defensive Arcanine set on Smogon or in battle on Pokemon Showdown. I figured, what's stopping me from running it specially defensive? This set helps my matchup against Chandelure greatly. Arcanine already walls Mega Scizor well with Intimidate and it's Fire typing, so making it more specially defensive wouldn't hurt me much. Flare Blitz is for Mega Scizor and Virizion. Bulldoze is for Chandelure. The menace to my team. Choice Scarf Chandelure could very easily run through my team. I have no trapped like Dugtrio or Tyranitar to stop it. Morning Sun is for recovery. And Toxic is used to put a timer on bulkier Pokemon like Lanturn.

I started off by taking the Smogon set and switching the physical defensive investments to it's special side. Then I made changes for my matchup. 100 Speed EVs allowed Arcanine to outspeed the offensive Swords Dance Mega Scizor set by 1 point. That way, even if he were running Superpower. I would be able to stall it out if I lost a big chunk of health beforehand. I had 4 EVs leftover after that, so I put them back into Defense.

Offensive Calcs:

4 Atk Arcanine Bulldoze vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Chandelure: 56-66 (41.4 - 48.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
4 Atk Arcanine Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Virizion: 192-228 (115.6 - 137.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
4 Atk Arcanine Flare Blitz vs. 248 HP / 116+ Def Scizor-Mega: 16524-19440 (127107.6 - 149538.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Ahhh. Nice and OHKO

Defensive Calcs:

-1 252+ Atk Scizor-Mega Superpower vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Arcanine: 67-79 (34 - 40.1%) -- 35% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Chandelure Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 148+ SpD Arcanine: 69-82 (35 - 41.6%) -- 77.9% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Virizion Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Arcanine: 306-360 (79.6 - 93.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Beyblade (Hitmontop) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Atk / 116 Def
Impish Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Revenge
- Stone Edge

Let it rip! My Hitmontop is ready to tear up some enemies with this heat set. Hitmontop can take on the toughest of Bruno's physical attackers while being able to dish out some of it's own. As well as being able to heal the damage dealt to it all the way off with Rest. In conjunction, Sleep Talk can allow it to keep swinging it's fist, even while asleep. Revenge does a massive amount of damage when it goes last, which isn't hard to do for Hitmontop. It's pretty slow already, and I didn't invest any speed in it. Besides, most coaches/trainers shoot for faster to take out a Pokemon before RNGesus has his way with them. Stone Edge beats Chandelure and Thundurus-T's butts.

I knew I wanted Hitmontop to tank Tyrantrum and Mamoswine, so I invested in it's physical bulk first. Then moved some EVs into Attack for better damage output vs certain Pokemon. Pretty simple, really. Advice to someone getting into teambuilding: work with what ya got to beat all that you need to. And ofc course, some Pokemon are more concerning than others. Like the top 50 or top 5 of a list of mons. So you don't feel like you have to stop everything, because you can't. Every team has a bad matchup.

Offensive Calcs:

140 Atk Hitmontop Revenge vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mamoswine: 182-216 (97.8 - 116.1%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
140 Atk Hitmontop Stone Edge vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Chandelure: 92-110 (67.6 - 80.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
140 Atk Hitmontop Revenge vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Tyrantrum: 132-156 (84 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Defensive Calcs:

-1 240 Atk Life Orb Mamoswine Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 116+ Def Hitmontop: 62-74 (39.4 - 47.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
after Leftovers recovery
-1 252 Atk Virizion Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 116+ Def Hitmontop: 45-54 (28.6 - 34.3%) -- 99.5% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Tyrantrum Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 116+ Def Hitmontop: 56-66 (35.6 - 42%) -- 94.4% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

Rupert (Dhelmise) @ Kasib Berry
Ability: Steelworker
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Anchor Shot
- Power Whip
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin

Dhelmise was my Rapid Spinner for the week. It also gave me a switch-in to the Water types of Bruno's team. Anchor Shot would allow me to stop pivoting and to trap the bulky Water types in with me. This way, I could finish them off with Power Whip best segway ever. It also beats down Mamoswine. And Anchor Shot was actually Dhelmise's best way to deal with Virizion. Earthquake was useful for Chandelure. Didn't want to run Shadow Claw because Silvally was a good switch-in for Shadow Claw. Thundurus-T would be less likely to switch in on Earthquake. Rapid Spin gets rid of my opponent's hazards. He had a lot of potential for setting hazards up. Greninja get Toxic Spikes and Spikes. Mamoswine gets Stealth Rock.

I just went for general bulk and damage output this time around. Nothing special. I did however slap a Kasib Berry onto Dhelmise to beat Chandelure before it beat me.

Offensive Calcs:

252+ Atk Dhelmise Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Chandelure: 138-164 (101.4 - 120.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Dhelmise Power Whip vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mamoswine: 270-320 (145.9 - 172.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Dhelmise Power Whip vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blastoise: 164-194 (88.1 - 104.3%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Dhelmise Power Whip vs. 104 HP / 192 Def Lanturn: 270-318 (126.7 - 149.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Defensive Calcs:

252+ SpA Blastoise Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Dhelmise: 92-110 (51.9 - 62.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Chandelure Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Kasib Berry Dhelmise: 81-96 (45.7 - 54.2%) -- 47.3% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Chandelure Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Kasib Berry Dhelmise: 120-142 (67.7 - 80.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Chandelure Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Kasib Berry Dhelmise: 81-96 (45.7 - 54.2%) -- 47.3% chance to 2HKO

Geico (Heliolisk) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Dry Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 12 SpA / 164 SpD / 84 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 Atk
- U-turn
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Dark Pulse

I wanted something to make him think twice about locking his Chandelure into Shadow Ball. Something that could punish it. Malamar doesn't resist Ghost because it is part Psychic. But Heliolisk is immune. It could also tank another fast, hard-hitting Electric type in Thundurus-T. Something my Arcanine could not do dependably. I put U-turn on Heliolisk for a situation where I expected him to switch his Pokemon out so that I may keep my momentum. Thunderbolt beats Blastoise and Greninja. Hidden Power Fire is for Mega Scizor. And Dark Pulse hits Chandelure, Uxie, and Thundurus-T for some good damage.

Same old Heliolisk set, but with some minor tweaks for the specific matchup. A bit less speed for special attack. It was still fast enough to outspeed all variants of Mega Scizor. I love this Pokemon, with this set. It is so good at walling fast Electric types, which are very good in league format.

Offensive Calcs:

12+ SpA Heliolisk Hidden Power Fire vs. 248 HP / 128 SpD Scizor-Mega: 96-116 (54.5 - 65.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
12+ SpA Heliolisk Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Chandelure: 78-94 (57.7 - 69.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
12+ SpA Heliolisk Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Greninja: 158-188 (107.4 - 127.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Defensive Calcs:

252 SpA Chandelure Fire Blast vs. 244 HP / 164 SpD Assault Vest Dry Skin Heliolisk: 76-90 (45.2 - 53.5%) -- 34% chance to 2HKO
0 SpA Uxie Psychic vs. 244 HP / 164 SpD Assault Vest Heliolisk: 25-30 (14.8 - 17.8%) -- possible 6HKO
252+ SpA Blastoise Aura Sphere vs. 244 HP / 164 SpD Assault Vest Heliolisk: 46-56 (27.3 - 33.3%) -- 0% chance to 3HKO

Oryx (Zygarde) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Aura Break
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 116 SpA / 140 Spe
Naive Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Outrage
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power [Fire]

A mixed Scarf Zygarde set. Made to take on Bruno's faster threats, while still having a way to hit Mega Scizor. Thousand Arrows destroys Chandelure, Tyrantrum, and Lanturn. Outrage can sweep through things better than Thousand Arrows because of it's higher base power. And Bruno didn't have any Fairy or Steel types. Stone Edge hits Thundurus-T for supereffective without requiring two hits like Thousand Arrows. And Hidden Power Fire is another way of hitting Mega Scizor for good damage because it can be really bulky and has recovery in Roost.

I went all in on Attack and enough into speed to outspeed max speed Choice Scarf Chandelure. The rest went into making the best of HP Fire.

Offensive Calcs:

252 Atk Zygarde Thousand Arrows vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Chandelure: 140-168 (102.9 - 123.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Zygarde Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Thundurus-Therian: 126-150 (81.8 - 97.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
116 SpA Zygarde Hidden Power Fire vs. 248 HP / 128 SpD Scizor-Mega: 80-96 (45.4 - 54.5%) -- 49.6% chance to 2HKO

The Aftermath

Here is the battle link: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7cu...-586228489
Week 11: Toronto Maple Leafeons (AbruptFury) .vs. Ottawa Dracos (Wenwuk)
Team Bruno brought: Mamoswine, Thundurus-Therian, Silvally-*, Uxie, Greninja, Chandelure
*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.*

It's a shame how much battles have been coming in on 3DS, though it's probably more convenient for you. You don't have to pull out your 3DS and connect to online just to see them. Anyway, onto the battle.

Turn 0: Looking at his team, I know that there's no way he can get rid of hazards once they are up. So I lead off with Clefable immediately to set them up. Bruno leads Silvally.
Turn 1: He Parting Shot's out into Greninja as I put the Stealth Rock up.
Turn 2: Greninja uses Hydro Pump as I throw off a Moonblast. I'm not afraid of Gunk Shot because Clefable is holding a Kebia Berry.
Turn 3: Greninja uses it's Z move and knocks out Clefable. I didn't really take that into account when I let Clefable go, but I was able to put Stealth Rock up, so I wasn't feeling too bad about it. Into Heliolisk, I go-go!
Turn 4: Greninja U-turns outta there for Silvally, as I follow suit and get Heliolisk out of there myself. I didn't expect him to stay in. I go into Hitmontop.
Turn 5: He throws off a Tri Attack and gets demolished by Revenge. One kill for Hitmontop! He sends in Uxie.
Turn 6: I don't want Hitmontop to take a hit from Uxie, so I switch into Dhelmise and take a Toxic.
Turn 7: Uxie U-turns out into Thundurus-T as I go for Anchor Shot. Now Thundurus-T is trapped unless it has Volt Switch.
Turn 8: I go into my Thundurus-T check, Heliolisk, to take whatever it wants to go for. As well as to stop Toxic damage from racking up on Dhelmise. And Heliolisk takes a Dark Pulse. It crits and does nothing! Heliolisk 2 stronk!
Turn 9: Bruno decides to just stay in and beat on my Heliolisk. I figure he must've saw it as a real threat. I stay in with Heliolisk and show him what a real Dark Pulse looks like.
Turn 10: Heliolisk takes another Thunderbolt before Thundurus-T goes down to Heliolisk. One kill for Heliolisk. Uxie comes in.
Turn 11: It's faster and takes down Heliolisk. I wanted to try and get damage off on it, but my Heliolisk is a lot more bulky than fast. I go into Arcanine after seeing that this Uxie is holding Leftovers. I figured it would be a bulkier set.
Turn 12: Uxie and Arcanine trade Toxics on each other. Unfortunately, my cleric fainted turn 2 lol.
Turn 13: I switch into Zygarde and take a Psychic. I wanted to get this Uxie out of the way quickly. It was starting to become a problem with it's Toxic.
Turn 14: Uxie U-turns out after Zygarde hits it with a Thousand Arrows for alright damage. He switches into Mamoswine. He was probably expected a setup sweep and wanted to be able to end it quickly with Ice Shard.
Turn 15: I decided to switch into Arcanine to take an Ice Shard and get an Intimidate off, but Bruno predicts this and goes for Earthquake.
Turn 16: Arcanine is finished off by another Earthquake. RIP. I send in Hitmontop and get a double Intimidate off.
Turn 17: Knowing he wouldn't want to stay in with Mamoswine's crippled Attack stat, I go for Stone Edge to damage whatever comes in as much as possible. I was really hoping Chandelure would come in and I could KO it, but Bruno sacs off his Greninja. Two kills for Hitmontop. In comes Uxie.
Turn 18: I switched into Zygarde to tank another Psychic and get some damage off later. It takes the Psychic.
Turn 19: I went for the move that could do the most damage, Outrage. It barely misses out on the KO. So does Psychic from his Uxie.
Turn 20: One more Outrage takes it out and Zygarde is confused. One kill for Zygarde. Bruno brings in Chandelure.
Turn 21: Rather than risk the confusion, I see my end game. It comes down to Zygarde taking out Chandelure and Hitmontop finishing off Mamoswine. I switch into Dhelmise to sack it off. It actually lives thanks to it's Kasib Berry.
Turn 22: Dhelmise falls to another Shadow Ball from Chandelure. I send out Zygarde again.
Turn 23: Chandelure takes out Zygarde. Apparently when I made my Zygarde set on Showdown, I used levels 50s. And the IVs get messed up because Hyper Training can only happen with level 100s. So I switch it to level 100. Then back to level 50 for our match, but I forgot to change the IVs back in the first place. So it was a speed tie, and I lost. Not just the speed tie, but the game. I send out Hitmontop.
Turn 24: Hitmontop takes a Shadow Ball well enough as I have it use Rest to recover off all it's damage.
Turn 25: Time to pulls moves out of a hat with Sleep Talk. I was hoping to close the differential at the very least, but my first Sleep Talk hits Rest.
Turn 26: I get Stone Edge on the second Sleep Talk, and it misses.
Turn 27: Chandelure takes out Hitmontop and the Ottawa Dracos will be making playoffs. Drat.

In Conclusion

Good game @Wenwuk . You are a very good battler. I hate to think of what you would've had cooked up for me to face if you had had more than 20 minutes to prepare. I knew it would be hard to play against your team, but my fatal error in teambuilding really messed things up as well. You've got a powerful team and I wouldn't be surprised to see you win the whole dang thing. But I will try to stop you

We end our season off with an 8-4. That's probably my best record in league yet. And it could've just as easily have been a 9-3. I've been loving my team so much. No changes throughout the whole season. Hopefully this season I can get passed the quarter finals. I got beat by Marcusube last time DansGame Oh, and last years champion, Danny AKA Drub89 isn't going to be in the playoffs. So we are guaranteed a new champion. Here's how playoffs seeding looks:



I face the Indianapolis Keldeo first. The team that beat me down the hardest with a 5-0 :/ Wish me luck. And I hope you are looking forward to playoffs! If I lose early, I will still post results on how the other coaches battles went down and who will become the new Pokemon Forever Association league champion. Stay tuned for my analysis on my quarter finals match! And have a good day!

Wait! There's More!

Vanilluxe took the award for 'Best 7th Pokemon'. It was the 7th best in the MVP race and got this nifty little title. Not a particularly amazing title, but still something to go home with. For probably my favourite Pokemon on my team all season.