Halloween Party Competition

[Age of Kings]

UPDATE: YOU MUST CHOOSE GOURGEIST IN EVERY BATTLE! Can't just stick it on your team and forget about it.

(No English PGL link yet but this competition is confirmed to be international.)​

Rules:

Registration Period: October 16th - October 23rd 2014
Battle Period: October 24th - October 26th 2014
Battle Type: Single Battle
Pokémon Restrictions: Ghost-type Pokémon only, must have Super Size Gourgeist
Banned Pokémon: Non-Ghost-type Pokémon, Rotom, Giratina, Transferred Pokémon (aka KB-only)
Entry Prize: 5 Rare Candies

Halloween Party is the October Wi-Fi competition based on Halloween; you get candy as a prize, you're required to use a big pumpkin Pokemon, and it's Ghost-types only. Rotom is banned likely because it's easier to ban the species rather than its non-Ghost type formes.

Need a Gourgeist? Tatertot has you covered: http://goo.gl/ZYng9O

---

I'm super excited for this meta largely because this looks to be a fast paced environment where nearly everything has a niche. Unlike the Fairy Faceoff, the stakes are a bit higher because everything is weak to each other with only Spiritomb and Sableye being neutral to Ghost.

You are required to run Super Size Gourgeist on this team, so its other formes may not be run. I'm personally a little sad about the lost of Average Gourgeist, which outspeeds everything in the tier except Misdreavus/Mismagius, Haunter/Gengar, and Froslass. However, SS Gourgeist is by no means bad and people will have plenty of creative uses for it on a team.

Speaking of which, here are some Pokemon I'm excited about to get the discussion rolling (avoiding the obvious Gengar and Aegi):

Mega Banette @ Banettite
Adamant
Prankster
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Speed (idk sloppy spread)

Sucker Punch
Shadow Sneak
Shadow Claw
Destiny Bond

I'm typing this primarily because I don't want people to auto-put their Mega Stone on Gengar. Banette is essentially the Scizor of this meta, picking off the fragile Ghost types that are faster than it while dealing massive damage to the slow moving tanks below it. If that weren't enough, Banette has a fantastic ability in Prankster for priority Destiny Bond or WoW.

To give an idea of Banette's power:

252+ Atk Mega Banette Shadow Sneak vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Gengar: 134-162 (98.5 - 119.1%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Mega Banette Shadow Sneak vs. 156 HP / 0 Def Mega Gengar: 108-128 (69.6 - 82.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Mega Banette Sucker Punch vs. 156 HP / 0 Def Mega Gengar: 144-170 (92.9 - 109.6%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

(I chose to run calcs with 156 HP Mega Gengar because it only needs 100 Speed with Timid to outrun the base 110 group - nothing is faster)

252+ Atk Mega Banette Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Chandelure: 130-154 (96.2 - 114%) -- 75% chance to OHKO

(probably unrealistic for someone to run that little HP on Chandy though)

252+ Atk Mega Banette Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gourgeist-Super: 102-120 (53.1 - 62.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Mega Banette Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Dusclops: 66-78 (44.8 - 53%) -- 9.4% chance to 2HKO

(also probably unrealistic, but the point is to show the massive damage it does to everything that isn't Spiritomb or Sableye.)

Jolly is a decent option to outrun Modest Chandelure and other Banette:
252 Atk Mega Banette Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Chandelure: 156-186 (93.4 - 111.3%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Mega Banette Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mega Banette: 182-216 (106.4 - 126.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Banette has its weaknesses, but it's definitely worth consideration for any team.

A gimmick but potentially viable option is to run WoW / Shadow Ball / Imprison / Destiny Bond and lock out common distributed moves.


What do you guys think the big threats will be? What will be good, bad, hyped, or overrated? Remember, even with the obvious "big" threats in Gengar and Aegi, there is always something that will be surprisingly threatening in the meta.

 

[EnGarde]

I'm betting weakness policy will be one of the most common held items on teams, and the difficulty will be in choosing who gets it.

EDIT: In a vacuum of information, I'd say aegislash is my first choice. ^_^

 

[Hulavuta]

Well one important thing to keep in mind is that everything will be immune to Shadow Tag, so Mega Gengar isn't going to be doing any sort of trapping shenanigans. Banette and Gengar are the only ones with megas though, so yeah, I would say Mega Gengar would still be good for that speed and special attack boost.

 

[Age of Kings]

Mega Gengar is weaker than LO and Specs regular Gengar offensively and just barely beats out Spell Tag by ~.6-1%. Mega Gengar is certainly viable, but I think a more compelling reason to use it is defense, not offense. Without going into a wall of text, Mega Gengar's improved defenses allow it to survive a mess of things Gengar can't especially with several potent priority users. The speed boost definitely helps with its utility options.

 

[Death Phenomeno]

I wonder, since there are no Normal Type Pokémon to worry about, would Phantom Force be viable?

Granted, a Substitute would equal a death sentence (pardon the pun), but then again since everyone is weak to Ghost I also have to wonder if Substitute itself will be viable (other than to stop annoyers and such).

Would anyone seriously consider using Shedinja? Maybe its Shadow Sneak could get a KO or 2, but I seriously doubt it.

 

[EnGarde]

Oooo....substitute + disable will be huge, especially if your opponent is only carrying one attack. Might be worth carrying 2 attacks for this reason. Plus, I wonder how jellicent will fare, with cursed body plus a tasty 100/105 special defense. Might be a good check to all gengar varieties. Would be weak to the required gourgeist, though.

 

[Tatertot]

Hey Battle-Spotters! Since the official date of the Halloween Party Battle Competition has been revealed, I'm hosting a giveaway in the Wifi Giveaway subforum for all who are interested. If you don't want to go through the trouble of breeding yourself a 5 IV Super-Sized Gourgeist, this is the giveaway for you. The link is here, happy haunting!

 

[cant say]

I'm interested in Shadow Ball, Shadow Sneak, Protect, Imprison Mega Banette here. Maybe use it as a revenge killer to take out something with Shadow Sneak, therefore forgoing Protect for Destiny Bond, otherwise you need Protect to survive the non-Prankster turn. Protect/Sub+Disable would be annoying but Imprison essentially does the same thing (90% of things will rely on Shadow Ball/Sneak). I wanted to use Focus Sash Gengar but Shadow Sneak can be run by almost everything so it will get taken out/revenged too easily. He gets Sucker Punch but a non-STAB physical move won't be doing much unfortunately.

Aegislash will be to this comp what Mawile is to the Fairy Face Off...

 

[Pyritie]

Spirtomb looks really interesting here! If you thought m-banette's priority was strong...

252+ Atk Spiritomb Sucker Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Gengar: 180-212 (132.3 - 155.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO (to compare it to the calc in the OP)

Plus it's neutral to all the shadow balls that will inevitably be thrown around

Speaking of which, is this tournament at level 50 or level 30?
Looked at serebii, it's 50. Good!

 

[Valzy]

I wonder, since there are no Normal Type Pokémon to worry about, would Phantom Force be viable?

Granted, a Substitute would equal a death sentence (pardon the pun), but then again since everyone is weak to Ghost I also have to wonder if Substitute itself will be viable (other than to stop annoyers and such).

Would anyone seriously consider using Shedinja? Maybe its Shadow Sneak could get a KO or 2, but I seriously doubt it.

Every single Pokemon will be able to kill Shedninja lol.

 

[Hulavuta]

Yeah, I can't see anyone really getting Shedinja to work, and there isn't really much reason to use it over other physical ghosts like Spiritomb, Gourgeist, or Trevenant that actually can take a hit. I think it's safe to say Bug STAB isn't going to be that useful.

Spirtomb looks really interesting here! If you thought m-banette's priority was strong...

252+ Atk Spiritomb Sucker Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Gengar: 180-212 (132.3 - 155.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO (to compare it to the calc in the OP)

Plus it's neutral to all the shadow balls that will inevitably be thrown around

Speaking of which, is this tournament at level 50 or level 30?
Looked at serebii, it's 50. Good!

I think I definitely want to use Spiritomb, maybe Assault Vest with Sucker Punch/Pursuit/Shadow Sneak/something else (Dark Pulse?). Or maybe a Dark Pulse mono-attacker "CroCune" set, Dark Pulse hits everything at least neutrally. I haven't done any calcs yet but it would depend on whether or not Spiritomb can take enough hits unboosted.

 

[Valzy]

Yeah, I can't see anyone really getting Shedinja to work, and there isn't really much reason to use it over other physical ghosts like Spiritomb, Gourgeist, or Trevenant that actually can take a hit. I think it's safe to say Bug STAB isn't going to be that useful.



I think I definitely want to use Spiritomb, maybe Assault Vest with Sucker Punch/Pursuit/Shadow Sneak/something else (Dark Pulse?). Or maybe a Dark Pulse mono-attacker "CroCune" set, Dark Pulse hits everything at least neutrally. I haven't done any calcs yet but it would depend on whether or not Spiritomb can take enough hits unboosted.

I was thinking Swords Dance/Sucker Punch/Shadow Sneak/Foul Play with an Expert Belt. Spritomb's bulk and nuetrality to Ghost/Dark means it'll probably be able to set up a Swords Dance. Sucker Punch destroys everything not called Sableye or Spritomb after a boost, and Shadow Sneak is a more reliable secondary STAB. Finally, Foul Play is for Aegislash, so you don't have to worry about King's Shield.

 

[NOVED]

I was thinking Swords Dance/Sucker Punch/Shadow Sneak/Foul Play with an Expert Belt. Spritomb's bulk and nuetrality to Ghost/Dark means it'll probably be able to set up a Swords Dance. Sucker Punch destroys everything not called Sableye or Spritomb after a boost, and Shadow Sneak is a more reliable secondary STAB. Finally, Foul Play is for Aegislash, so you don't have to worry about King's Shield.

I feel like pursuit will be so valuable on Spiritomb though. It'll force a lot of switches since it has a great matchup against so many of the ghost types and pursuit will basically guarantee you kills. I think CB or Black Glasses sets are Spiritomb's best way to go. And Spiritomb doesn't need Foul Play to fuck over Aegislash, it can really just spam Sucker Punch against it, especially if it's CB. And if Aegi wants to Sub to avoid that then it'll just get fucked over harder by Spiritomb. Thanks infiltrator. :)

252+ Atk Choice Band Spiritomb Sucker Punch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 240-284 (74 - 87.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Black Glasses Spiritomb Sucker Punch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 192-228 (59.2 - 70.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Spiritomb: 150-177 (49.3 - 58.2%) -- 97.7% chance to 2HKO

Besides, Spiritomb doesn't even get Swords Dance.

It does get Nasty Plot, but if you're running a Special Attacking Spiritomb I feel you should be running CroComb instead because Spiritomb is too slow to rely on an offensive set with no priority unless it's gonna be bulking up and recovering like it will with a CroComb set.

 

[Valzy]

I feel like pursuit will be so valuable on Spiritomb though. It'll force a lot of switches since it has a great matchup against so many of the ghost types and pursuit will basically guarantee you kills. I think CB or Black Glasses sets are Spiritomb's best way to go. And Spiritomb doesn't need Foul Play to fuck over Aegislash, it can really just spam Sucker Punch against it, especially if it's CB. And if Aegi wants to Sub to avoid that then it'll just get fucked over harder by Spiritomb. Thanks infiltrator. :)

252+ Atk Choice Band Spiritomb Sucker Punch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 240-284 (74 - 87.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Black Glasses Spiritomb Sucker Punch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 192-228 (59.2 - 70.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Spiritomb: 150-177 (49.3 - 58.2%) -- 97.7% chance to 2HKO

Besides, Spiritomb doesn't even get Swords Dance.

/Facepalm I'm an idiot

 

[ethan06]

I'm so hyped for this. Ghost is one of my favourite types and I already have a Gourgeist trained up, and Aegislash is one of my favourite Pokémon anyway so yay :3 A Pokémon that I'm interested in running in particular is Scarf Chandelure. Given that Gourgeist is mandatory on every team and Aegislash will undoubtedly be popular as well, Chandelure can happily spam either one of it's STABs with Infiltrator, fearing only Sableye and Spiritomb if it clicks Shadow Ball and Jellicent and opposing Chandelure if it clicks Fire Blast. It's also a handy switch-in to Will-o-Wisp.

Phantom Force will be mandatory on every team to deal with Minimize Drifblim j/s

 

[ToxicPhox]

Do you guys think Mismagius would have any weight in this format? Sableye or Spiritoumb probably wouldn't appreciate a Dazzling Gleam.

 

[NOVED]

Do you guys think Mismagius would have any weight in this format? Sableye or Spiritoumb probably wouldn't appreciate a Dazzling Gleam.

Eh, i'm not too sure about how Mismagius will play out. Tomb can tank one dazzling gleam and Mag can't take a Sucker Punch/2 shadow sneaks.
I'd imagine most Sableye's in this format will be specially defensive and if that's the case it'll be able to take one dazzling gleam and Sableye has a little over 50% chance to KO mag with Knock Off. And can just recover off the damage later as well.

And everything i've said above doesn't even matter because Gengar is an overall better Mismagius anyway.

 

[Hulavuta]

Also keep in mind that Gengar also gets Dazzling Gleam.

 

[Age of Kings]

God, I'm seriously so excited for this meta. There are two Pokemon that get Infiltrator in this tier and both of them are good, offensive-oriented, and effectively carry dual-STAB. Both of Chandelure's ability choices seem pretty good - nothing will like a Flash Fire-boosted Fire Blast easily set off by WoW, but Infiltrator renders Sub useless and might even bring some of the bulkier mons into KO range from Specs. (Btw Infiltrator is another great reason to run Spiritomb because it doesn't care about Sub.)

I don't agree Gengar is outright better than Mismagius. Mismagius is the second fastest mon that gets Imprison (established I hope that this will be a very good move in this tier), the fastest if Prankster doesn't count. That alone should carve out some niche for it. Like Mega Gengar, don't think in terms of how every stacks up as far as offensive prowess goes but consider their utility or defensive properties as well!

I also saw Me First on Missy's repertoire - I couldn't find any resources about it. Is Me First using moves at an increased power contingent on the user's Atk/SpA or the opponent's? Me First is an interesting move because it requires you to be faster (which you are barring Gengar, Froslass, and priority) and uses any attack with 50% greater power. Since every attack in the tier is SE except for the two half Darks - if you're good at prediction then you can throw out Shadow Balls with the potency of Specs or random physical moves. If it's contingent on the user then I'm not sure how useful it will be though the chances are good that most physical moves thrown at Missy will be priority anyways.

Hula, Missy gets Dazzling Gleam as well, but its niche is a fast Imprison and shouldn't use it imo.

 

[NOVED]

Personally I don't think Imprison is good enough to warrant using Mismagius. The only things I see it being useful for are to block Shadow Balls against Aegislash, Non scarf rotom, non scarf chandelure, drifblim, and jellicent. You can't imprison against Gengar because it outspeeds you of course. You can block will-o-wisps too but Mismagius isn't worried about getting burned too much anyway.
So the only really relevant thing you're using it for is Aegislash, and even then..
4 Atk Life Orb Aegislash-Blade Shadow Sneak vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mismagius: 242-289 (92.7 - 110.7%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
ouch.

Me First is interesting and probably the best reason to use Mismagius. But still has issues against Gengar, spiritomb, banette, gourgeist(kinda) and other scarfed mons like rotom & chandy.

 

[Caldera]

I'm pretty interested in trying out a mega Banette in this one like OP suggested. In theory the priority taunt and destiny bond and strong sucker punch could end up being pretty useful. I also have a physically defensive Gourgeist lying around who could burn stuff with Shadow sneak and Sucker punch, so now I have to figure out what to put in the last slot.

 

[Valzy]

Personally I don't think Imprison is good enough to warrant using Mismagius. The only things I see it being useful for are to block Shadow Balls against Aegislash, Non scarf rotom, non scarf chandelure, drifblim, and jellicent. You can't imprison against Gengar because it outspeeds you of course. You can block will-o-wisps too but Mismagius isn't worried about getting burned too much anyway.
So the only really relevant thing you're using it for is Aegislash, and even then..
4 Atk Life Orb Aegislash-Blade Shadow Sneak vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mismagius: 242-289 (92.7 - 110.7%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
ouch.

Me First is interesting and probably the best reason to use Mismagius. But still has issues against Gengar, spiritomb, banette, gourgeist(kinda) and other scarfed mons like rotom & chandy.

Rotom is banned for some reason

 

[NOVED]

Rotom is banned for some reason

Whoops, wasn't aware of that. Well that's one less mon that it deals with/struggles with in that case.

And one less scarfer that scarf chandy will have to worry about, yay :]

 

[Age of Kings]

Rotom is banned because its formes aren't Ghost-type.

 

[Valzy]

Rotom is banned because its formes aren't Ghost-type.

Since only Ghost-types are allowed, wouldn't its appliances formes be banned anyways?