Desert Mindgames. An OU Warstory

ginganinja

It's all coming back to me now
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Hi everyone. This is my first OU warstory and my second one overall. This was a very close battle between me and a skilled opponent. This battle occurs before the banning of Salamence (which kinda sucks considering on the 1 day I have enough time to write this, Salamence becomes Uber...great). Anyway I hope you enjoy this battle.

Ginganinja's Team



Rules

• Ladder Match
• Sleep Clause
• Freeze Clause
• OHKO Clause
• Evasion Clause
• Species Clause
• Strict Damage Clause

Battle text will be in BOLD
Score will be shown after each KO (my score first followed by my opponent.
My forum name will be subbed in for my alt name for readability.
My opponents name will be John (for anonymity)
my comments will be in Blue

Ginganinja sent out Azelf (lvl 100 Azelf).
John sent out Azelf (lvl 100 Azelf).

:100%
:100%

O.K its Azelf vs Azelf. I don't really have too much of a problem with this since I run max speed on my Azelf which means he can only speed tie with me. Therefore I decide to taunt. If I win the speed tie then I can prevent him from setting up SR. If I lose the speed tie it sucks but I can always set it up later.

John switched in Flygon (lvl 100 Flygon ?).
Azelf used Taunt.
Flygon fell for the taunt!

:100%
:100%

Turns out my opponent does neither and instead does not want to chance a speed tie, preferring to go with Flygon to break my sash and get early momentum. I have a sash so I can survive anything it can do. I decide to set up Stealth Rock and weather the storm. Its also important to note that it is very likely that his Azelf does not run U-turn otherwise he would have used it.

---
Flygon used U-turn.
It's super effective!
Azelf lost 65% of its health.
John switched in Azelf (lvl 100 Azelf).
Azelf used Stealth Rock.
Pointed stones float in the air around the foe's team!

*
:35%
:100%

*the Ginga one

O.K Stealth Rocks are up meaning that I can limit his switches. His Azelf still has a sash so there is not really anything I can do to stop him setting up Stealth Rock. I realise that his Flygon is Scarfed, (based on the damage it did) which is always nice to know. I could taunt his Azelf but I could lose the speed tie. I decide to explode seeing that will hurt his switch in if he tries to be sneaky and double switch back to Flygon.

---
Azelf used Psychic.
It's not very effective...
A critical hit!
Azelf lost 35% of its health.
Ginganinja's Azelf fainted.
(5-6)

:0% killed.....Sylar style (you know with the top of the skull ripped off and everything)
:100%

Well that is interesting. John evidently passed up the opportunity to lay Stealth Rock to kill off my Azelf. The critical hit did not matter as 35% is around psychics middle range of damage variation. I have a few options as to what I could do here. I could switch in Scizor but I don't want it hit by a Fire Blast so I go to Heatran since it does not fear too much from Azelf

---
Ginganinja switched in Heatran (lvl 100 Heatran ?).

Azelf is not threatening Heatran so Fire Blast is perhaps the move of choice. It can still hit the switch in pretty hard too. With this in mind I decide to use...

John switched in Vaporeon (lvl 100 Vaporeon ?).
Pointed stones dug into Vaporeon.
Vaporeon lost 12% of its health.
Heatran used Substitute.
Heatran lost 25% of its health.
Heatran made a substitute!
Vaporeon's leftovers restored its health a little!
Vaporeon restored 6% of its health.

:75% and grinning
:94% and somewhat less confident than it was previously

Yep that worked out perfectly. Substitute is easily the best move in the game hands down. I don't run HP Grass so I cannot hit Vaporeon for super effective damage. However unfortunately my Heatran (and Azelf) have been to Al Qaeda's I hate America 101 training facility and has thus gained the ability to strap a few Kilograms of C4 explosion to his person. Vaporeon is not dangerous to this team as a whole but it could have Ice Beam which would limit Salamence and Flygon in switching in. Also even if it does not have Ice Beam then its wish passing could become a critical issue later in the match. Thus I feel no shred of remorse in pressing the Self-Destruct button.

---
Heatran used Explosion.
Vaporeon lost 94% of its health.
John's Vaporeon fainted.
(5-5)
Ginganinja's Heatran fainted.
(4-5)

:0% Its a fucking crater
:0% and in the words of panamaxis™: "YOU GOT KNOCKED THE FUCK OUT!"

That worked well. I now have a double switch to look forward to. Its very likely Azelf or Flygon unless he wants to reveal one of his unknowns. I decide to go to my own Flygon and see what he will do.

---
Ginganinja switched in Flygon (lvl 100 Flygon ?).
John switched in Azelf (lvl 100 Azelf).
Pointed stones dug into Azelf.
Azelf lost 12% of its health.

:100%
:88%

And he sends in Azlef. I believe that he may set up Stealth Rock now so I decide just to attack. Azelf poses little threat (except for Explosion which I should have been more careful about I guess).

Azelf used Trick.
Azelf obtained Expert Belt!
Flygon obtained Choice Specs!
Flygon used Draco Meteor.
Azelf lost 88% of its health.
John's Azelf fainted.
(4-4)
Flygon's special attack was harshly lowered.

:100% and admiring his new gangsta look
: totally and utterly obliterated

oh Snap! No fancy Scarfed Flygon for me. John attempts to cripple something but instead gets something more dangerous. My Flygon has traded his nice belt for a pair of very sexy shades. I am relatively happy with this development. 1/2 my moves are boosted by Specs (Fire Blast and Draco Meteor) so this works out nicely. In addition I am EV'ed in SpA more than I am in attack so this is only a positive for me. The negative is that I am now locked into Draco Meteor and than Roost is more difficult for me to use due to my Specs. Also he now knows that his Flygon outspeeds mine. In fact his Scarfed Flygon outspeeds my entire team so I have to be on guard. Its obvious what wil come in now

---
John switched in Jirachi (lvl 100 Jirachi).
Pointed stones dug into Jirachi.
Jirachi lost 6% of its health.

Yes he sends in a Jirachi. After all why would he send in Flygon? That would be silly. I am a little annoyed about his Jirachi. I had the perfect Jirachi counter however it is currently an epicentre (fancy word for hole in the ground) at the moment so I cannot use him. I doubt that his Jirachi is scarfed since it will overlap somewhat with Flygon's duties so I assume its a Wish + CM version or something since I see those all the time. I go to Scizor to scout what it does and then U-turn out to a counter.

Ginganinja switched in Scizor (lvl 100 Scizor ?).
Jirachi used Substitute.
Jirachi lost 25% of its health.
Jirachi made a substitute!
Jirachi's leftovers restored its health a little!
Jirachi restored 6% of its health.

:100%
:75%

Substitute eh? Well this can be bad news since a Sub Thunder Wave Jirachi really sucks and although it has issues with Flygon, its still going to be annoying to take down. Anyway Scizor is getting outta there. I hope it does not have Fire Punch...
---
Jirachi used Calm Mind.
Jirachi's special attack was raised.
Jirachi's special defence was raised.
Scizor used U-turn.
The substitute took damage for Jirachi!
Jirachi's substitute faded!
Ginganinja switched in Salamence (lvl 100 Salamence ?).
Salamence's Intimidate cut Jirachi's attack!
Jirachi's leftovers restored its health a little!
Jirachi restored 6% of its health.

:100%
:81%

Salamence gets in safely and I decide to hit that Jirachi hard. In hindsight Flygon may have been a better choice but since SR was not up on his side I decided that I could make use of my free turns as soon as I could. The fact that it has CM leads be to believe that is a Sub CM Jirachi. This Jirachi could prove trouble so I decide just to hit the pixie with an Earthquake.

---
Salamence used Earthquake.
It's super effective!
Jirachi lost 65% of its health.
Salamence lost 10% of its health.
Jirachi used Thunderbolt.
Salamence lost 51% of its health.
Salamence is paralysed! It may be unable to move!
Jirachi's leftovers restored its health a little!
Jirachi restored 6% of its health.

:39%
:22%

Well that just wrecked Salamence. salamence is sitting on 39% at the moment and its safe to assume that pretty much everything outspeeds it on Johns team. I debate sacrificing or switching it out. Salamence can still act as death fodder or something to lower the attack of one of Johns pokemon. However Jirachi could get up a Sub if I switch out or Flygon could take a massive hit from a psychic. I decide to sac Salamence for a free switch in since I don't want that Jirachi giving me more trouble.

---
Jirachi used Flash Cannon.
Salamence lost 39% of its health.
Ginganinja's Salamence fainted.
(3-4)
Jirachi's leftovers restored its health a little!
Jirachi restored 6% of its health.

:0% and blasted otta the sky
:28%

Jirachi revenges and Flygon is my best option. Currently I am very glad Vaporeon is gone now since it wish healing Jirachi would have been very bad for me not to mention it could take a Flygon DM if it had to. I Fire Blast here since then his Flygon can not gather as many free switches .
---
Ginganinja switched in Flygon (lvl 100 Flygon ?).
John switched in Gliscor (lvl 100 Gliscor ?).
Pointed stones dug into Gliscor.
Gliscor lost 12% of its health.
Flygon used Fire Blast.
Gliscor lost 66% of its health.
Gliscor's leftovers restored its health a little!
Gliscor restored 6% of its health.

:100%
:28%

Oh just perfect. He has the perfect counter for Lucario and I begin to doubt my chances of setting up a Lucario sweep. I am now more afraid of his Flygon than ever since my dragon resists have issues with Gliscor. On the plus side however I just crippled it which means I can no longer logically prevent Lucario from sweeping since it will die to a +2 Extreme Speed. I assume that John will switch Gliscor out for his Flygon to come in on its Fire resist. I go to Scizor to scout.

---
Ginganinja switched in Scizor (lvl 100 Scizor ?).
Gliscor used Roost.
Gliscor restored 50% of its health.
Gliscor's leftovers restored its health a little!
Gliscor restored 6% of its health.

:100%
:84%

Crap. Right now I am furious since I had the stupid scorpion at my mercy and I should have just killed it. But noo I had to be soo clever and predict something. Quite obviously my prediction skills really suck so I decide to U-turn back to Flygon and try and kill the damn thing a second time.

---
Gliscor used Earthquake.
Scizor lost 33% of its health.
Scizor used U-turn.
It's not very effective...
Gliscor lost 18% of its health.
Ginganinja switched in Flygon (lvl 100 Flygon ?).
Gliscor's leftovers restored its health a little!
Gliscor restored 6% of its health.

:100%
:72%

Flygon is back in and this time I am straight up attacking. My choice is limited to Fire Blast or Draco Meteor. I decide to use Fire Blast since it gets nice coverage on his team so far and will not lower my spA.
---
John switched in Jirachi (lvl 100 Jirachi).
Pointed stones dug into Jirachi.
Jirachi lost 6% of its health.
Flygon used Fire Blast.
Flygon's attack missed!
Jirachi's leftovers restored its health a little!
Jirachi restored 6% of its health.

:100%
:28%

Nice move by John here. He obviously did not want to rush his Flygon switching in on a Draco Meteor and there acted accordingly, sacrificing Jirachi. Still, staring at that evil pixie I swear its laughing at me. I am also damn sure Serene Grace contributed to my Fire Blast missing. After all Jirachi is the "hax whore" of pokemon. I run the same number of Speed Ev's on Flygon as the standard Sub + CM Jirachi but I do not run a speed boosting nature. So Flygon will be taking a rather heavy hit.
---
Jirachi used Flash Cannon.
Flygon lost 44% of its health.
Flygon used Fire Blast.
It's super effective!
Jirachi lost 28% of its health.
John's Jirachi fainted.
(3-3)

:56%
:0% and SUPERNOVAED

That really hurt I am glad he switched Jirachi out on Flygon a few turns before. A Flash Cannon with a CM boost would have pretty much wrecked Flygon especially if he managed to got SR up later. Anyway Jirachi is finally down and I can guess what he will switch in.
---
John switched in Flygon (lvl 100 Flygon ?).
Pointed stones dug into Flygon.
Flygon lost 6% of its health.

The battle is coming into its final stages now and John brings in his Flygon. John has played his Flygon rather well realising that it could be his key to winning. I cannot risk switching onto an Outrage so I go to Scizor to take a hit and scout what he does.

Ginganinja switched in Scizor (lvl 100 Scizor ?).
Flygon used U-turn.
It's not very effective...
Scizor lost 12% of its health.
John switched in Infernape (lvl 100 Infernape ?).
Pointed stones dug into Infernape.
Infernape lost 12% of its health.

:55%
88%

John makes another nice play by scouting my response and sending in his final sweeper. Infernape can outspeed and KO my entire team if it is the specially based Mixape set. However I do have an Infernape Plan for sorts. However it involves sacrificing Scizor to build up LO damage...

---
Scizor used Bullet Punch.
It's not very effective...
Infernape lost 37% of its health.
Infernape used Fire Blast.
It's super effective!
Scizor lost 55% of its health.
Ginganinja's Scizor fainted.
(2-3)
Infernape lost 10% of its health.

: cooked to Medium Rare
:41%

I did not need to Bullet Punch here but I did mainly for a confidence boost and to have scizor actually do something for a change. Scizor fires off a swift jab below the belt which Infernape shrugs off and roasts Scizor with a Fire Blast. Time to reveal my final sweeper.
---
Ginganinja switched in Lucario (lvl 100 Lucario ?).

Yes I have Lucario as my late game sweeper and it is Adamant. This means I can grab a quick KO on Infernape after SR and one round of LO damage. John has little choice but to sacrifice Infernape since Gliscor and Flygon with fall to 2 Extreme Speeds.

Lucario used Extremespeed.
Infernape lost 41% of its health.
John's Infernape fainted.
(2-2)
Lucario lost 10% of its health.

:90% and faster than Usain Bolt
:0% and got hit into the middle of next week

Infernape falls and now I have to wait. I know that there will be a mind game very soon since we have only 2 pokemon left.
---
John switched in Flygon (lvl 100 Flygon ?).
Pointed stones dug into Flygon.
Flygon lost 6% of its health.

Right and John sends on his own Flygon so let the mind games begin. This is also a fairly ironic situation. in a straight up 1v1 battle (no switching) Johns team trumps mine thanks to Gliscor beating Lucario and Flygon outspeeding my own Flygon. However in this postition I still have a chance. Flygon is not in the kill range for my Extreme Speed yet and is only barely in range if it switchs in and then back out. Even so I am glad that I have SR up so that he canot keep switching between Gliscor and Flygon.

O.K I decide to run a quick matrix (yes I did this in the actual battle)

If he uses Earthquake and stay in I lose
If he uses Earthquake and I go to Flygon then I actually win
If he uses Outrage and I switch to Flygon then he wins
If he uses Outrage and I stay in then I win.

U-turn I ignore as it will lead to another Mind game later on if it occurs no matter what. Regardless of the turn ahead this is the climax of the match where everything converges.

Its 50/50 either way so I decide to aproach the issue from is POV. So far he has played conservatory with Flygon but I think that he will predict that I will try and switch in on the Earthquake since its "the Logical Move". Therefore I will grow a pair and stay in.





Suspense.....


Just kidding I would not do that to you!


Flygon used Outrage.
Flygon went on a rampage!
It's not very effective...
Lucario lost 44% of its health.
Lucario used Swords Dance.
Lucario's attack was sharply raised.

: 46% and doing the 'Soulja Boy'.
:88% and screwed


OMG I cannot believe that worked!
Its over now. Gliscor cannot switch in on an Extreme Speed so Lucario can finally do its job.
---
Lucario used Extremespeed.
Flygon lost 88% of its health.
John's Flygon fainted.
(2-1)
Lucario lost 10% of its health.

: 80%
:0% and flattened

Lucario does its duty and finally takes out that flying dragon. (the folowing log between Gliscor and Lucario will be made smaller. It is basically a skirmish between Gliscor stalling Lucario out of health via LO in an effort to regain enough health to attempt to survive a Draco Meteor.
---
John switched in Gliscor (lvl 100 Gliscor ?).
Pointed stones dug into Gliscor.
Gliscor lost 12% of its health.
Lucario used Close Combat.
It's not very effective...
Gliscor lost 47% of its health.
Lucario's defence was lowered.
Lucario's special defence was lowered.
Lucario lost 10% of its health.
Gliscor used Roost.
Gliscor restored 50% of its health.
Gliscor's leftovers restored its health a little!
Gliscor restored 6% of its health.
---
Lucario used Extremespeed.
Gliscor lost 47% of its health.
Lucario lost 10% of its health.
Gliscor used Roost.
Gliscor restored 50% of its health.
Gliscor's leftovers restored its health a little!
Gliscor restored 6% of its health.
---
Lucario used Extremespeed.
Gliscor lost 41% of its health.
Lucario lost 10% of its health.
Gliscor used Roost.
Gliscor restored 50% of its health.
Gliscor's leftovers restored its health a little!
Gliscor restored 6% of its health.
---
Lucario used Swords Dance.
Lucario's attack was sharply raised.
Gliscor used Roost.
Gliscor restored 6% of its health.
---
Lucario used Close Combat.
It's not very effective...
Gliscor lost 73% of its health.
Lucario's defence was lowered.
Lucario's special defence was lowered.
Lucario lost 6% of its health.
Ginganinja's Lucario fainted.
(1-1)
Gliscor used Roost.
Gliscor restored 50% of its health.
Gliscor's leftovers restored its health a little!
Gliscor restored 6% of its health.

Lucario bites the dust with not even a +4 Adamant Close Combat finishing Gliscor, its still over now.
---
Ginganinja switched in Flygon (lvl 100 Flygon ?).
Flygon used Draco Meteor.
Flygon's attack missed!

Meh next turn then.

Gliscor used Ice Fang.

Oh crap you have got to be kidding me......

Flygon lost 66% of its health.
Ginganinja's Flygon fainted.

:0% and now an Iceberg
: 83% and dancing over Flygon's dead body

(0-1)
John wins!


heh bet you did not see that coming did you?

Time for Props and Slops!

















































O.K I fail at faking logs. If you think that I should have lost then GO NO FURTHER. Enjoy the happy delusion. For the rest of you however this is what really occured.



Ginganinja switched in Flygon (lvl 100 Flygon ?).
Flygon used Draco Meteor.
Gliscor lost 83% of its health.
John's Gliscor fainted.

:66% and doing a victory lap
:0% and Meteor'ed

(1-0)
Ginganinja wins!


The REAL Props and Slops

Props

-John for being such a good battler
-Both of us for predicting well in certain areas
-My Flygon for blasting things apart
-John's Flygon for threatening to
-Lucario for being a badass
-Small amount of hax

Slops

-Mispredicts
-Salamence for failing
-Infernape for failing
-Hax


and the MVP is....




@ Expert Belt
Rash
80 Atk / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
Draco Meteor
Fire Blast
Earthquake
Roost




And finally

Johns Team!









This log was formatted using Warmachine Version 1.0
 
A lot of weird comments and moves really made me stopped reading this. Tricking a Flygon? Switching Specsgon out while you can finish of Gliscor that, through your comments, gives your team hell? Honestly. Also, you assumed his Flygon was Scarfed based on the... damage? He outsped your Azelf, of course he's Scarfed.
 
Some questionable plays on your side, namely switching Flygon out of his Gliscor when there was nothing on his side that would like taking a Fire Blast. Even resisted, it takes 30% out of his Flygon, plus another 6% from switching in. Not to mention that you still had Scizor, which is one of the best Flygon counters out there.

Also, I would never, ever switch Scizor into a Jirachi behind a sub. If his Jirachi were the Fire Punch version, he would have wrecked you. You would have to bring Flygon or Salamence in to break the sub, and Flygon is likely outsped and 2HKO'ed by Iron Head, and Mence is crippled by Twave and 2HKO'ed by Iron Head.

Exploding on Vaporeon is risky, as he could easily Protect for free to gain some Lefties recovery.

Last thing: Why would he Trick you Specs when he can Psychic and nearly OHKO? Or Explode and surely OHKO?

Questionable plays on both sides and a relatively uneventful match earn this a 5/10.
 

Fatecrashers

acta est fabula
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The match itself was above average in my opinion, and while your thought processes were explained well the attempts at a colourful commentary were honestly quite distracting.

Please look up the definitions of the words 'epicentre', 'supernova', 'conservatory' and 'ironic' for future reference.

6/10
 
i have much of the same qualms as the above posters have, but it wasn't a bad attempt by any means. hopefully you can improve the battle and comments in the future, but good first try (for ou).
 
Thanks for sharing your Warstory, though some users might not feel that it was epic enough to deserve a trip to the archives it was still enjoyable to read . . . .

. . . except for the fake out. I feel like I've seen the "lol j/k that didnt' happen" ending a couple of times now and am not enjoying them. I was glad to read your warstory and thought it would have been interesting to see you lose ( just b/c people dont' typically post warstories where they lose ).
 
6/10 in my opinion. The battle was alright, but the comments were not helping your cause. The fake ending card has been played to death. The comments upon Pokemon deaths were particularly dumb. The way you handled Gliscor was weird, especially on a team with Lucario.
 
In all of it's pokedex entries it is known as "The desert spirit."

This warstory was ok. I mean the commentary was nice but some moves were obvious and it didn't seem like it occured to you that azelf was anti lead until it was to late or even after that. Switching out with gliscor at that health btw was discuraging.

6/10

Epicenter: (Taken From wikipedia lol) The epicenter is the point on the earth's surface that is directly above the hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or underground explosion originates.

You sorta got that right though an earthquake from flygon would've better fit the discription.
 
I loved it, the lay out was great. The comments were pretty swell as well and the battle itself was pretty good. I enjoyed reading it.

9/10
 
I liked the story and the comments. You both seemed pretty evenly matched, which makes for close battles. The only thing I would have done differently is to attack Gliscor when you had it on the ropes. 8/10

A comment on the opponent's Azelf tricking Flygon: he likely predicted a U-turn from a Scarfgon (the most popular version by far and the version his own was running) and tried to cripple the switch in, knowing he would survive. His Gliscor counters Scarfgon pretty well so he has little reason to fear it.
 
"The fact that it has CM leads be to believe that is a Sub CM Jirachi."

At this point, you've already seen Sub and CM, so believing it to be a Sub CM Jirachi was a very good guess on your part.
 
A lot of weird comments and moves really made me stopped reading this. Tricking a Flygon? Switching Specsgon out while you can finish of Gliscor that, through your comments, gives your team hell? Honestly. Also, you assumed his Flygon was Scarfed based on the... damage? He outsped your Azelf, of course he's Scarfed.
That was exactly what I was thinking. ESPECIALLY the Flygon comment. I mean it outsped you... Obviously it was scarfed -_____-
 
I gave you 4 stars, the battle was decent, and the teams were good. Just that the comments were fairly sparse, and at times just repeated the log.
 
Interesting read. I don't know if it was on purpose or not, but I actually enjoyed the overly cheesy comments that were associated with the sprites. There was nothing that was extremely exciting about either team and some of the moves made by both parties were questionable, but the battle itself was pretty nice. Not too shabby for the first time!
 
It wasn't too bad for your first OU story. The fake ending kind of made me mad, just because I've seen it before. You have some good ideas, though, and the battle wasn't bad. I suggest working on commentary and then you're good to go!

6/10 and I await your next one.
 
Like others have said, it was kind of a mixed bag but overall still decent. Seeing a Flygon wind up with Specs but then use it to it's advantage was...not expected, to say the least.

Also in defense of the Azelf Tricking Flygon, I'm pretty sure John was expecting a Scarfgon to U-Turn out, and then hoping to catch the switch in with an unexpected Trick.
 

kokoloko

what matters is our plan!
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Subpar battle between two subpar players using subpar teams. On top of that, the commentary was just plain bad - Flygon outspeeds Azelf but you figure it's scarfed because of the damage it dealt? Amazing.
 
You really should've attacked Gliscor, but at least you justified the reasoning behind your choice to switch. Also, how did Flygon gain 10% of its health?

I enjoyed this warstory and feel it deserved 7/10.
 
"However unfortunately my Heatran (and Azelf) have been to Al Qaeda's I hate America 101 training facility and has thus gained the ability to strap a few Kilograms of C4 explosion to his person."

Just for this 9/10
 

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