Featured Doubles Player of the Week #4: Braverius

Hello everyone, welcome to another Smogon Doubles Player of the Week! This project is for newer people to be more acquainted with some of the most knowledgeable players of Doubles.


Featured Player: Braverius (Zach)
Favorite Playstyle: Winning (lol)
Most Known For: Winning VGC regionals, losing to Trick Room
Signature Pokemon: Gourgeist, Mamoswine, Suicune, SCARFTAR

For the fourth week, I'm interviewing Zach. I got a lot of requests to interview Zach, which isn't really a surprise. Zach is a well-known VGC player having won regionals, as well as having a fantastic 7-2 record in SPL. He is a member of the Doubles Council and a wonderful community contributor.

Tell me a little about yourself:
I live just outside of Seattle, Washington, USA. I'm currently attending Bellevue College, majoring in accounting. I grew up in Wisconsin, so I guess I'm still sort of a country kid at heart. I'm pretty big into sports as well as video games, I've coached youth football for the last six years and closely follow the MLB, NFL, and NBA. Other than sports and video games, I usually am hanging with friends or enjoying the great outdoors.

I understand you are a VGC player, so how were you introduced to the doubles meta, and what was your first team? From there, how were you introduced to the doubles community?

I really don't remember how I ended up finding about doubles. I think someone on Nugget Bridge mentioned it and I came over and checked it out. My first team that actually had sustained success was the one I used in the most recent minitour: Tyranitar / Heracross / Kingdra / Amoonguss / Politoed / Excadrill.

I guess I was on the forums a lot and got to know some of the people actively involved in the tier, namely Pwne and Pocket. I took some time to give some crude information to some of the people who were posting about SHUCKLE BEING GOOD or VOLCARONA BEING S TIER. I probably took it too far at times, but it makes for some pretty hilarious memories.

What are some of your favorite elements of the Doubles format? (Doubles and VGC)
Probably the depth to it. Doubles and singles have the same depth to the battle in the big picture, but I like the fact that each turn in Doubles has a lot more weight on the match and involves so many different options.

What is one thing about the current rules (banlist, metagame structure) that you would want to change?
I don't think too much needs to be changed, honestly. I think the TR clause idea that has been well-noted now (limiting only 1 Pokemon to using Trick Room on a team) is a decent idea to stop the whole "my team beats your team regardless of how I play" thing. I think preparing for Trick Room adequately requires too many resources, and it doesn't take a lot of intelligence to run the strategy itself.

What are some Doubles players you think are good examples for newer users to look up to?
Hmm, I'd have to say Biosci, Pwnemon, and Nollan. I'd include R Inanimate here but he isn't as active on the forums.

What do you think is the most successful Pokemon, core, and strategy in the current meta?
I don't think I can really answer this with anything other than opinion, which is a good thing; it shows that the meta is pretty healthy. I think the "best" core is anything that can abuse Follow Me and / or a Choice Scarf, but there's a myriad of other ones that aren't far behind at all.

Can you give some advice to new doubles players on teambuilding and battling?
One thing I've always seen since the birth of this format is people trying to make things fit a mold. "I'm going to build a goodstuffs team" or "I'm want to make a rain team work!" Worry about making a solid team that implements certain concepts you think are good rather than coming up with an archetype and trying to make your team fit it. Create an all-around solid team, and define it after you've made it.

What strategies do you dislike playing against?
I dislike any team that's inflexible and relies purely on matchups. Something like Perish Trap or hard Trick Room will either get completely flattened by the 20% of people who overprepare for it or force constant 50/50s, which is really unhealthy for the game in general.

Can you provide a sample team with explanation on how to use for new players?:
Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Taunt

Was mostly to nuke any non-resistant Grass or Steel-type Pokemon. The damage output was also enough to take care of Pokemon lacking defense EVs (something like 4hp Charizard-Y).


Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 76 SAtk / 252 HP / 180 Def
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam
- Trick Room
- Helping Hand

Served as a pivot Pokemon that could either deal some damage or support. I liked having a TR mode with Cress + Escav and a damage mode with Ice Beam + Psyshock. Helping hand with Scarf Landorus was a key part of the team, allowing Landorus to get some KOs it wouldn't usually get. Helping Hand was also useful for Escavalier in Trick Room, as HH abates any Intimidate Attack drop.

Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 20 SAtk / 24 Spd / 252 HP / 72 Def / 140 SDef
Calm Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Thunderbolt
- Protect

Standard Rotom-W. Covered a lot of ground, WoW helped a little bit more with physical attackers.


Escavalier @ Life Orb
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Iron Head
- Drill Run
- Megahorn
- Protect

This was the only Pokemon I thought was a surprise factor on this team. Escavalier can OHKO Heatran in Trick Room with a Life Orb Drill Run. It also can OHKO 252HP / 76Def Cress 100% of the time with Megahorn. Iron Head is useful for Terrakion and Fairies (and for not missing Tyranitar. By the way, did I mention that Tyranitar is not a big Escav fan?)

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Superpower

Scarf Landorus-T's job is to lock down a lot of the common threats in the metagame while pressuring the heck out of the opponent. It has insane maneuverability on top of that, with scarf U-Turn allowing it to switch around and keep the opponent guessing. I usually like Knock Off, but for this team I wanted Superpower since I didn't have another fighting-type move.

Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 76 SAtk / 180 Spd
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Venusaur walls off a lot of common threats and does some solid damage back. It was mostly to give me a win condition versus certain teams, since it singlehandedly rips through bog rain and bog sand teams that are on the ladder.


Editor's Note: So, that's the 4th featured player, Zach! Feel free to PM me who you think should be the next Player of the Week, and thanks for tuning in to Smogon Doubles Player of the Week!
 

Pocket

be the upgraded version of me
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
Congrats, Braverius for being the top performing SPL Doubles player! Although I probably wont go as far as to clause Trick Room, I can certainly understand where you're coming from. I must have played over 60 games with Randy for SPL, and the only way I consistently beat him was using my full TR team. It's certainly an underestimated strategy. Although with Sleep Clause lifted, I wont jump to any conclusions yet before seeing how this new changes affect full TR teams.

Thanks for the team and the explanation. Would you be considering Sleep Powder > Leech Seed on Venusaur now that Sleep Clause is no more? Also Overcoat on Escavalier may also be in order :d
 

Braverius

snowls
is a Past SPL Champion
Thanks for taking the time to do this, Ultima!

Yeah I'd consider Sleep Powder on Venu. Maybe not mega, but definitely on Chlorosaur.

Escav buff yes :3
 

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