My First Online Tournament Experience

[Pookaveli]

I decided to embarrass myself by entering the Smogon tournament. Fortunately, I was able to sub in for someone who didn't make it. I was prepared to get utterly demolished, but at least I would learn a bit and gain some valuable experience.

After surprisingly winning a very close match first round against Darkraider, I went up against Ash Ra Tempel. I was not expecting to win (to say the least).

Too lazy to type all the rules... go here.

My fellas:

His guys:

Well, here we go...

Pooka sent out Infernape!
Ash sent out Jolteon!

Jolteon? I may not have battled much, but I read somewhere that people usually use Substitute with Jolteon to scout. I know Jolteon is a lot faster than me, so I figure I can U-Turn to a counter Pokemon and break his Substitute without taking any damage. Sounds good to me.

Ash's Jolteon used Thunderbolt (80%)!
Pooka's Infernape used U-Turn (60%)!
Infernape went back to Pooka!

Yuck, that's not what I wanted. Well, at least it did enough damage where pretty much anything can KO Jolteon. Now I just have to find a way to get it dead. I'm afraid of HP Ice, so Garchomp isn't the best option. Oh, I know!

Pooka sent out Gengar!

Now, I trained my Gengar quite poorly (wrong nature X\), so I had to make up for its subpar speed with Choice Scarf. I know Gengar is slower than Jolteon, so this should be a good surprise and a good way to take it out.

Pooka's Gengar used Shadow Ball (40%)!
Ash's Jolteon fainted.

6-5

Hey, it worked! It's not looking so bad...

Ash sent out Metagross!

Metagross? Ew. Again, I'm not a very experienced battler, so I don't know what to expect. However, I did hear about Agility being quite popular on Metagross. Yeah, an Agility and Zen Headbutt would do me in, so that make sense. I'm certain that this is what's going on. Fortunately, I have Choice Scarf, so I can outspeed it after an Agility. I should be way ahead after this.

Pooka's Gengar used Shadow Ball (55%)!
Ash's Metagross used Pursuit (100%)!
Pooka's Gengar fainted.

5-5

Eww, Pursuit. I didn't see that coming... I was pretty surprised my Gengar was OHKO'd by that, but it isn't very gifted in the Defensive department, so oh well. I figure my Ape can handle this monkey business (sorry, had to fit a bad joke in somewhere).

Pooka sent out Infernape!
Ash withdrew Metagross.
Ash sent out Garchomp!
Pooka's Infernape used Close Combat (85%)!

All right, I knew Close Combat would KO Metagross, and he would probably switch into a Fire resistant guy, so Close Combat seemed right. Thanks to Choice Band, I did a heavy amount of damage. However, I'm guessing his Chompy is Scarfed, so...

Pooka withdrew the dumb baboon.
Pooka sent out Slowbro!
Ash's Garchomp used Outrage...
Critical Hit (80%)!
Slowbro eats some Leftovers, knowing it's his last meal.

Ugh, exactly what I didn't want. This is a horrible turn of events. I was planning on just using Slack Off to see what he would switch in, but now my Physical wall is down... bleh. No point in switching it out; Slowbro is... slow.

Ash's Garchomp used Outrage (~20%)!
Pooka's Slowbro fainted.
Garchomp became confused.

4-5

Yuck. At least he's confused.

Pooka sent out Togekiss!
Ash withdrew the ugly THING.
Ash sent out Bronzong!
Pooka's Togekiss used Aura Sphere (~20%)!
Bronzong restored a little HP using Leftovers.

Ugh, and I just took Fire Blast off Togekiss in favor of Roost.. damn it! Well, I can't switch into anything really... My life-size paper airplane will just have to deal with this giant piece of scrap metal. Not looking too good, though. Here comes the ugliest part of the battle.

Pooka's Togekiss used Aura Sphere (~20%)!
Ash's Bronzong used Hypnosis.
But it failed!
Bronzong eats an apple and recovers.

Yuck, Hypnosis. Fortunately, I'm packing a Lum Berry, so I might be able to get this thing out of here with a little... a lot of luck.

The exact same thing happens!

Wow, he missed again.

Pooka's Togekiss spit a giant ball of light at Bronzong (~20%)!
Ash's Bronzong realizes it sucks at hypnotizing, so it uses Stealth Rock.
Leftovers again.

I don't like Stealth Rock. At all. Boo Stealth Rock.

Pooka's Togekiss used Aura Sphere (~20%)!
Ash's Bronzong uses Hypnosis!
Togekiss fell asleep.
Leftovers for Bronzong.

I can only imagine the sigh of relief he must have breathed out when this happened. Then again, I can only imagine the blood boiling in his veins when he saw this...

Togekiss does a little jig, eats a berry, and wakes up!
Boo Stealth Rock. Hooray Lum Berry!

It's probably a good thing voice chat was off, because I'm sure a swearing tyrade was on the other end lol. It looks like my next hit will finally send this piece of scrap metal to the dumpster.

Pooka's Togekiss uses Kamehameha (Bronzong survives with what literally looks like 1 HP)!
Ash's Bronzong used Hypnosis!
But it failed at life once again.
Irrelevant Leftovers recovery.

I was SO surprised that I didn't KO it, but he missed again, so it was cool. He missed Hypnosis 3/4 times - ouch. ;x

Togekiss gathers all the energy from the earth and uses Spirit Bomb to finally destroy Bronzong.

4-4

Things aren't looking too bad now! His Metagross is at about 45% health, Garchomp is at about 15% health, and he has two Pokemon I haven't seen yet.

Ash sent out Garchomp.
Ash's Garchomp used Outrage (~75%)!
Pooka's Togekiss used Aura Sphere (15%)!
Ash's Garchomp fainted.

4-3

All right, just like I had expected. I knew Togekiss could easily surive anything Garchomp threw at it (barring a Stone Edge CH). Let's see what's next...

Ash sent out Metagross.

I was still thinking Agility Metagross for some reason. So, I figured I would Roost, let him Agility, and T-Wave it next turn. I'm still thinking I'm in a good spot.

Ash's Metagross used Bullet Punch (25%)!
Pooka's Togekiss crashed to the ground.

3-3

Woah, not good. If a Bullet Punch was coming, I definitely was not expecting it to KO me. At this point, I came to the realization that it had a Choice Band... which also explains Gengar getting OHKO'd by Pursuit. D'oh. Well, since all he can do is Bullet Punch, I might as well get rid of the damn Stealth Rock so my Garchomp can actually use its Focus Sash.

Pooka sent out Tentacruel.
Pointed stones dug into Tentacruel (12.5%)!
Ash withdrew Metagross.
Ash sent out Gyarados!
Pooka's Tentacruel used Rapid Spin (1%)!
The jagged stones sitting beneath my team magically disappeared!

Gyarados? NOT good. Usually I use my Gengar to T-Bolt the thing to hell, but that's gone... I can tell I'm probably not going to win at this point. I knew he would Dragon Dance, and my Infernape wouldn't be fast enough to land a Thunderpunch after a DD. So, Tentacruel is gonna have to take one for the team here.

Pooka's Tentacruel used Ice Beam (~15%)!
Ash's Gyarados used Dragon Dance!

Yeah, I figured. I was hoping for a freeze there, but oh well. I had to set it up with Ice Beam, because eventually I'd have to Stone Edge this monster with Garchomp, and that wouldn't KO Gyarados at 100% health. I was wondering if he'd get greedy and DD again...

Ash's Gyarados used Earthquake (~88%)!
Pooka's Tentacruel fainted.

2-3

But he went with EQ, and I'm in big trouble. I still have a small chance... Please don't flinch/freeze. Better yet, please miss!

Pooka sent out Garchomp.
Ash's Gyarados used Ice Fang (99%)!
Pooka's Garchomp hung on with Focus Sash!
Pooka's Garchomp used Stone Edge (85%)!
Ash's Gyarados was sliced into bits.

2-2

Ice Fang didn't miss, but at least I didn't flinch or freeze. If that damn Metagross didn't have Bullet Punch, I'd be fine. Unfortunately...

Ash sent out Metagross.
Ash's Metagross used Bullet Punch (1%)!
Pooka's Garchomp fainted.

1-2

I'm hoping that Infernape's resistance allows me to live through a Bullet Punch; then, my Choice Banded Close Combat will KO Metagross and take out his last Pokemon if it's a good matchup... but I haven't even seen that yet, so my chances are amazingly small.

Pooka sent out Infernape.
Ash's Metagross used Bullet Punch (20%)!
Pooka's Infernape fainted.

0-2

Oh well, it was a great game, and I gained some valuable experience. Looking back, had Garchomp not hit Slowbro with a CH, it would have been a completely different game... but it happens. The tournament was ran amazingly well (thanks Surgo and everyone else for all the hard work!), and I look forward to battling more in the future. Hey, at least I gave the champ a run for his money! :P

 

[VashTheStampede]

Way too many silly comments like:

Pooka's Togekiss uses Kamehameha (Bronzong survives with what literally looks like 1 HP)!
The jagged stones sitting beneath my team magically disappeared!
Pooka's Togekiss spit a giant ball of light at Bronzong (~20%)!
Ash's Bronzong realizes it sucks at hypnotizing, so it uses Stealth Rock.
Etc.

Other then that, I liked it. This is the first Revenge-killing Metagross I have seen played. And you did a pretty good job countering a good opponent, imo.

Props:
- Togekiss. Nuff sed.
- Revenge-gros was nice.
- You did pretty good.
- Posting a losing Warstory, have only seen like 1-2 of those.

Slops:
- Bronzong was next to useless, and it missed 3 Hypnosis.
- Poor Gengar. :(
- CH Outrage? Hax.

 

[TVboyCanti]

Good battle, you did well against the guy who went on to win the tourney, though hypnosis missing 3 times really helped you. Your only mistake was in the beginning. Jolteon only uses sub if they know their opponent is going to switch or status them. Close Combat would have saved your gengar from dying early, and would have allowed you to kill gyardos without sacrificing two of your pokemon. And dont rely on freeze hax to save you from something like gyarados lol. Minor mistakes though, you did well.

 

[Bam]

Way too many silly comments like:

Pooka's Togekiss uses Kamehameha (Bronzong survives with what literally looks like 1 HP)!
The jagged stones sitting beneath my team magically disappeared!
Pooka's Togekiss spit a giant ball of light at Bronzong (~20%)!
Ash's Bronzong realizes it sucks at hypnotizing, so it uses Stealth Rock.
Etc.

Other then that, I liked it. This is the first Revenge-killing Metagross I have seen played. And you did a pretty good job countering a good opponent, imo.

Props:
- Togekiss. Nuff sed.
- Revenge-gros was nice.
- You did pretty good.
- Posting a losing Warstory, have only seen like 1-2 of those.

Slops:
- Bronzong was next to useless, and it missed 3 Hypnosis.
- Poor Gengar. :(
- CH Outrage? Hax.

I've found that CB Metagross as a lead with Bullet Punch, Pursuit, Meteor Mash, and Explosion works pretty well. It OHKOs Weavile, Aerodactyl, any common BP leads, and if I think they're going to switch, Pursuit takes out a big chunk too.

Nice battle!
~Bam

 

[Surgo]

I'd say the CH Outrage was more than made up for by the Hypnosis misses. Anyway good battle, unlike the first reply I thought the commentary was fine. It's not exactly a "standard OU" battle seeing as how it's a warstory from a tournament against the eventual winner.

 

[SNX7]

Great battle, it was a fun read. I don't think the commentary was excessive, you put it in at parts where the same stuff happened 3x+ in a row, like the Bronzong/Togekiss standoff.

 

[Cooper]

Decent battle for someone who's as unexperienced as you say you are. I'm definately in that boat....

The commentary of the story was okay. I think what Vash is getting at, and what I noticed as well, is sometimes you break the tone of the story. You're all serious commentator and then "Togekiss performs Spirit Bomb, summoning the power of the earth to KO his lousy, ugly opponent!" When you write a warstory, it's wise to pick the tone your story will follow throughout its duration, and not deviate, even for comic relief during a boring move exchange. Also, for the first half of your story, you basically started every line with "Eww" or "Yuck." It was sort of annoying, but at least easy to follow.

 

[Juuka]

That was a good battle and you did very well against the eventual champion. Good job and I agree the Hypnosis missing was enough to make up for the CH Outrage. Props for using Tentacruel!

 

[Pablo]

wow Pooka you're getting really serious about WiFi battling huh? We need to battle sometime :).

Great read :)

 

[Ash Ra Tempel]

This was my first battle of the tournament since my round one opponent decided to quit before our battle took place. The team I was going to use against him included Mix Swampert and DD Salamence instead of Gyarados and Garchomp. I will never know how far my original team would have gone in the tournament, but going all physical (barring jolteon and weezing) saved my skin plenty of times. Which leads me to make the presumptuous remark that the d/p metagame currently favors physical teams over defensive ones. Some of the opponents I went on to face did not expect Bullet Punch and Explosion on Metagross. I often felt like an evil and smooth bastard when Metagross OHKO'ed one Slowbro and left two Skarmorys with crumbs of bread for HP. Bullet Punch was also highly useful, a sort of trump card. Carrying a first hit priority move has been a must in all of the D/P teams I have made so far, and I would vehemently recommend it to anyone seeking my advice.

As for this battle, Garchomp's critical hit on Slowbro was nasty and truly turned the pace of the battle in my favor, although you really ought to have sacrificed Infernape in order for Slowbro to have come in safely for the kill. The same Garchomp would go on to save my skin in the Final against MrE, where I committed an act of lunacy by leaving Garchomp in to Outrage for a second time, defying the odds of confusion, and thus proving Virgil's remark that "Hax favors the bold."

The Tokegiss vs Bronzong part was embarrassing to me, and that's stating it mildly. I did not raise my fist to the heavens and cursed, since I am usually a calm person during times of shitstorm. I kept trying to hypnotize Togekiss mindlessly because I play Bronzong as a Special wall and no one else in my team would have taken aura sphere well. When I saw Togekiss activate its Lum Berry I was obviously surprised, but also relieved that you didn't nasty plot on me. I then decided to let the disappointing Bronzong die to bring in the Bullet Punch trump card that went on to save the battle for me.

I appreciate that you took the time to write a wartstory of our battle. It never occurred to me to write warstories throughout the tournament, but I shall do so if the opportunity presents itself again. You played this match well, and I am certainly open to a rematch should you want one. As Ryu from Street Fighter would say if he played the pokemon metagame, "The fight is all."

 

[Dragontamer]

You have 3 of my Team members :-/

WTF?

EDIT: for reference they are:

 

[Th3Legend]

You'll get em next time pooka :\
Hell, I should have embarassed myself too and tried to signup

 

[Too_Hungry35]

Good story, IMO. Looks liek you did well for your first competition. I still yet have to join my first. It sucks that I'm still getting my team ready, however.

 

[ToysRUsKid]

wtg Pooka. Wheres Meganium tho? =((

You soon will break the format for the GBA as well :D

 

[CardRaider]

POOOOOOOOKA

That is all.

 

[Shank]

You have 3 of my Team members :-/

WTF?

EDIT: for reference they are:

Well they are pretty common.

 

[A Curbst0mp]

I have a question for you. Why wouldn't you use flare blitz/wahtever fire attack Infernape has on Metagross if hes part steel?

 

[Synecdoche]

He predicted a switch to a fire resistant pokemon and made a correct call. :o No Metagross, especially not a CBgross with 0 Speed would stay in against an Infernape.

 

[A Curbst0mp]

Ahh, right, i forgot about his infernape being choice banded there.

 

[Mr.E]

As for this battle, Garchomp's critical hit on Slowbro was nasty and truly turned the pace of the battle in my favor, although you really ought to have sacrificed Infernape in order for Slowbro to have come in safely for the kill. The same Garchomp would go on to save my skin in the Final against MrE, where I committed an act of lunacy by leaving Garchomp in to Outrage for a second time, defying the odds of confusion, and thus proving Virgil's remark that "Hax favors the bold."

That said, much like the super-missing Hypnosis here I froze your Bronzong and killed it without it taking an action so I suppose it's only fair luck came back to bite me in the end. Man, your Bronzong has bad luck. :(

I'm more curious Infernape didn't do something else in the first place. Jolteon probably had no need to (and didn't) Substitute scout against an Infernape but just in case it did, Infernape would've just lowered its defenses with Close Combat and gotten killed by Tbolt. Flare Blitz would've recoiled and done the same thing, so U-Turn probably was the best option.

 

[Ash Ra Tempel]

That said, much like the super-missing Hypnosis here I froze your Bronzong and killed it without it taking an action so I suppose it's only fair luck came back to bite me in the end. Man, your Bronzong has bad luck. :(

My Bronzong's bad luck has ranged from the comical to the downright stupid. There are many times I have wanted to retire the silly bell of steel, but its many resistances are too useful to give up.

 

[Pookaveli]

At the time, I was trying to save my Infernape. In the few times I've used it, I've been able to KO multiple things at the end of games with it, so I wanted to keep it handy. In addition, I knew Slowbro could easily shrug off an Outrage from Garchomp, so it seemed safe to me at the time. If I had known your team was filled with Physical powerhouses, I probably would have been more careful. Oh well, live and learn.

Oh, and that Metagross is nasty. I was shocked when Pursuit OHKO'd my Gengar. It definitely changed the entire structure of the game. Again, great game - one of the best I've had in all my years of playing Pokemon. :P

Thanks everyone for the kind comments! I'm always looking for more practice; so, anyone who wants to play, you know how to reach me.

Pablo - Pokemon runs in my blood, what can I say?

TRUK - I'm training it, don't worry. ;)