Time for the big post-battles analysis and team dumping!
Finished 21-9 but probably barely broke 1650 rating (was 1639 before my last game + win). My peak was ~1680 but I essentially threw some games because I was playing like shit. I didn't intentionally put off my games but it was hardly points farming because all the higher rated players probably finished their matches sooner. Either way, I didn't do terribly since I had no practice and my entire team was the product of theorymoning.
Here is my team, in order of importance to my play:
David Bowie (Sylveon) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pixilate
Level: 30
EVs: 230 HP / 252 SpA / 24 Spe
Modest Nature
- Moonblast
- Echoed Voice
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
MVP by far and brought nearly every game. Specs Xerneas was very fun to play with in the April Friendly and I decided to run the little baby version. Specs Echoed Voice is seriously incredible and swept entire teams on its own on multiple occasions. My last match I had someone repeatedly Protect until it became powerful enough to OHKO his entire team lol. I hardly ever used Moonblast, but it was there for burst if I needed a quick KO. I never understood the Hyper Beam craze especially on account of poor accuracy (as the sole Hyper Beam Sylveon I faced found out before its swift demise) and that you're giving your opponent a free turn for a KO you could've gotten if you were just patient and spent a few more turns setting up a favorable position for you.
The only thing that I didn't realize is that this is base 60 instead of 65, and thus is the second slowest mon in the tier after Eevee itself. Led to a few oops moments and feeling like I wasted those speed EVs but no big deal in the end.
fork road (Espeon) @ Light Clay
Ability: Magic Bounce
Level: 30
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Dazzling Gleam
- Reflect
- Light Screen
Brought this every single game as my lead to set up screens. Screens were invaluable to me as they helped me check and outmaneuver SD Leafeon, Flareon, Sylveon, and kept my low health Eevees alive. When screens were down, it was basically a moment of panic since my play decisions were centered on them, and there were a few occasions where Espeon went down on turn 1 and it was an uphill battle for me (I won one game and lost the other two). Espeon herself (
from this post) however wasn't terribly when screens were safely up on the field. She could break Sylveon subs and deal some decent damage to Flareon so it could be brought low enough to stall Toxic or revenge, but other than that, she was kept in the background or offered as a late game sacrifice.
elfie! (Leafeon) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Chlorophyll
Level: 30
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Return
- X-Scissor
- Swords Dance
I forgot about Scope Lens but in the end, Lum Berry was the best accident I could have asked for. Lum Berry saved me from all kinds of situations (and in many allowing me to get an SD in), from recovering from paralysis to get in a kill, eating poison to boost, eating Yawn, and even the one WoW Flareon I faced. I would pick this as the co-king of this tier alongside Sylveon because although it isn't as versatile, it has solid physical defense and a good sweeping repertoire on the physical side that are really rare positive traits to be found amongst Eevees. Unfortunately +2 Jolly was sometimes not enough to punch out enemy Leafeon and really bulky other things but I still prefer having had Lum Berry over Scope Lens.
Fountaine (Vaporeon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Level: 30
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 64 SpD / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
- Surf
- Toxic
- Wish
- Protect
Thank you to
Bedlington for the EVs, I really liked them so I had to steal the spread :P
I talked shit about this at first and honestly I originally just put this on the team because I didn't want to run Glaceon or Umbreon and this won out being the sole real Flareon check. This really impressed me with its performance and won me a few games because Toxic Vaporeon dominates the field when there is no Umbreon, Espeon, or Leafeon on the field. Wish was ok, the problem is that nothing else I ran had Protect and so its healing properties were limited to "can it survive the next turn? probably not". Best check to support Sylveon imo, I can buy a few turns against offensive ones due to its incredible bulk as well. I ran Surf over Scald because Leafeon is an unfavorable matchup you don't want to gamble against, Flareon can't be burned, Umbreon burns you right back, and Vaporeon is immune if you get too trigger-happy. Also, I would prefer to maintain Toxic over a burn because of the lack of turn resetting. All in all, I am happy with this set and exceeded expectations.
Summer Wool (Flareon) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Guts
Level: 30
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 104 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Facade
- Quick Attack
- Flame Charge
Flareon is a great Pokemon in this tier who is really hard to use and play properly. Toxic Orb and Flame Charge look great on paper but in practice, recoil, poison damage, and the occasional Rocky Helmet made life short for it. As a result, if I expected the game to last somewhat long, I didn't take Flareon. Flareon's best niche is to check the fucking ribbon bastard, Flare Blitz scores an OHKO on most variants. I stuck with Toxic Orb because I didn't want to rely on enemy status and I thought AV wouldn't hit hard enough so idk. It's by no means bad, just this tier's equivalent of 4th/5th gen DDMence.
The EVs given were the most efficient ones I could concoct on my own: 104 Speed outruns Leafeon after a Flame Charge, I forgot about Espeon but I didn't feel it was necessary to run more Speed EVs. Running Adamant with more Speed didn't score any additional OHKOs or 2HKOs so I felt it was more efficient to stick with Jolly instead of Adamant for that extra bulk by spending less EVs in Speed and more in HP.
In the end, I found this unreliable because its sheer fragility means that it often couldn't do the things I wanted it to. Leafeon and Sylveon ended up carrying the offensive burden of the team. Some people ran defensive sets with this, or ones that didn't use Toxic Orb so if there is ever an Eevee tournament again I'll likely experiment with those instead.
be the leaf (Jolteon) @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
Level: 30
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Protect
Utter piece of shit, brought this a total of one match out of 30 only to die and only do 40% to everything with LO. I probably should have run a different set but overall, there were almost no situations where running a Jolteon was advantageous. Actually fuck running another set, I should have run Umbreon or AV Glaceon instead.
Some interesting games (with summaries since it would be narcissist of me to expect people to watch all the videos, admit it!):
Already posted the first one but it was still my favorite match:
SBZG-WWWW-WWW8-YXNE
Brought back from the brink of defeat from sloppy playing that cost me Espeon and Leafeon, it was down to 2v4 with my Vaporeon and Sylveon. I managed to eke out a win because Echoed Voice went through sub and KO'd his Leafeon; Vappy tanked an Eevee Double-Edge and Flareon's assaults until they killed themselves with recoil. This match really highlighted Vaporeon's staying power and Sylveon's....strength power. The end part where my Vaporeon Toxi-stalled their Sylveon featured rage-timer stall lol.
5E5G-WWWW-WWW8-YXMS
I successfully defeated a status team featuring the likes of Thunder Jolteon, Attract female Sylveon, and Toxic everything. Thunder paralyzed my Leafeon twice, which was the key to my victory. His Umbreon and Vaporeon couldn't really damage me without Toxic, so I was free to set up SD even if I was fully paralyzed with the help of my poisoned Vaporeon sending out a last minute Wish.
EE6G-WWWW-WWW8-YXN4
Echoed Voice vs Echoed Voice lol. Don't use Echoed Voice on anything other than Sylveon. Then you lose the 1690 rating you worked so hard for.
I only saved one of my losses, there was sloppy playing on my end that wouldn't be interesting to watch at all.
I might type up another analysis talking about what I faced and how I dealt with them but for now I never want to see another fucking Eevee for the rest of my life.
