Halloween Party Competition

[Kong Harald]

We've talked about Spiritomb extensively on the first few pages or so, so check that out. I honestly think it's going to be the best Pokemon in this meta, it hits everything except Sableye super effectively while being neutral to Ghost moves. It's not really set-up bait for anything since it can KO most ghosts quickly, mind sharing some examples of what you meant? I'm not sure if any of the ghosts in this meta set anything up, the only non-attacking move it really has to worry about is Will-o-Wisp.

Will check out the first pages, thanks!

With set up bait, I basically only meant Sableye and, to a cartain degree, Aegislash. Spiritomb's immediate power isn't high enough to OHKO Aegislash without Foul Play (from the top of my head), activating its Weakness policy (not so common anymore, but still). This is in my experience possible to play around though.

More importantly is that sableye can taunt spiritomb without fearing the OHKO (or often even 2HKOs), and recover from any damage taken. It can then use its countless of support options to further cripple the spiritomb or the eventual switch-in, wearing it down slowly but steadily. I think the real threat towards spiritomb is that it is "initiative-bait" against Sableye, and I'm not sure if I should build my Spiritomb to have some tricks against sableye (at the cost of other useful options), or simply try to play around Sableye with its teammates. I am tempted to go for the latter one...

 

[thatgirl]

Any tips on how to use spiritomb succesfully? CM rest talk often needs a "free" CM to get going in my experience, and Assault vest is is setup bait for several pokes... any ideas or experiences? :)

I use Assault Vest tomb and I think it's really good. Feint Attack is a nice surprise for Minimize Driftblim / Chandelure.

 

[Hulavuta]

Will check out the first pages, thanks!

With set up bait, I basically only meant Sableye and, to a cartain degree, Aegislash. Spiritomb's immediate power isn't high enough to OHKO Aegislash without Foul Play (from the top of my head), activating its Weakness policy (not so common anymore, but still). This is in my experience possible to play around though.

More importantly is that sableye can taunt spiritomb without fearing the OHKO (or often even 2HKOs), and recover from any damage taken. It can then use its countless of support options to further cripple the spiritomb or the eventual switch-in, wearing it down slowly but steadily. I think the real threat towards spiritomb is that it is "initiative-bait" against Sableye, and I'm not sure if I should build my Spiritomb to have some tricks against sableye (at the cost of other useful options), or simply try to play around Sableye with its teammates. I am tempted to go for the latter one...

It can take it out with Sucker Punch I believe. I think someone posted the calcs on page 2 or so.

I get your point about Sableye, although that's not set-up bait, that's just walling. Set-up bait is when they use the opportunity to use boosting moves. Anyway yes, I'd go for a teammate to take care of Sableye. Specs Chandelure can OHKO Sableye with Overheat, and it's also a good teammate to take those Will-O-Wisps, so that could work.

 

[Gourmont]

WARNING :
Each team MUST contains a Gourgeist (not the six-team, the three-team !), so don't bring fool Gourgeist since you WILL have to use it ! PS rules were wrong about it !

 

[thatgirl]

WARNING :
Each team MUST contains a Gourgeist (not the six-team, the three-team !), so don't bring fool Gourgeist since you WILL have to use it ! PS rules were wrong about it !

NOOOOOOOOOOO!! Damn. Wow. That sucks!

Really glad you made a warning though =)

 

[Age of Kings]

Wtf.....that sucks. I guess you can't stack Sableye / Spiritomb / Gengar (or Banette) every game. Thanks for the heads up, I'll add it to the OP.

Will also update Twitter.

EDIT: I double checked the official rules and it said only that the Gourgeist must be in your Battle Box, not that it needs to be taken every game. They wrote the rules poorly and failed to communicate beforehand. Thanks again for letting us all know!

http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-news/register-to-play-in-the-trick-or-treat-friendly/

 

[Gourmont]

Nice to know I helped ! That really sucks indeed, this tournament is going to be tough to me :(

 

[cant say]

Wow I wonder how many people actually brought competitive Gourgiests? I know I would have had a joke set! If you haven't locked your battle box yet GET TRAINING

ps real good job nintendo

 

[Oma]

This is a huge game changer. Most people built their strategies around not using Gourgeist, so the idea of seeing it in every battle intrigues me. Many great players on the wifi might have really tough battles simply because their Gourgeist either wasn't bred for IVs or was running a joke set. Although i like my Gourgeist, i'm really upset that i have to sacrifice a slot on my team (space was already at a premium) just to fit an inferior Pokemon in. Looks like all the practicing on PS didn't prepare me for this as well as i'd have hoped....

 

[thatgirl]

This is a huge game changer. Most people built their strategies around not using Gourgeist, so the idea of seeing it in every battle intrigues me. Many great players on the wifi might have really tough battles simply because their Gourgeist either wasn't bred for IVs or was running a joke set. Although i like my Gourgeist, i'm really upset that i have to sacrifice a slot on my team (space was already at a premium) just to fit an inferior Pokemon in. Looks like all the practicing on PS didn't prepare me for this as well as i'd have hoped....

Agreed. My squad was Chandelure, Spiritomb, and Gengar. Worked like a charm. Now I don't know what to do >_>

 

[Zetsumei-Sensei]

Yep, stay classy, Gamefreak... nice communication skills there, fellas...

My wife learned this too late, but I was able to quickly EV train my Mystery Gift Gourgeist and give it a Choice Band set.

Best of luck to all. We will definitely need it now!

EDIT: All things considered, not a bad first night... I guess... 5-5

I hate Gourgeist so much...

 

[Missingno. Master]

I actually didn't have much in the way of problems with the unexpected rule. Among my team of six was an EV trained Gourgeist, all set to go, and he did pretty well for himself, saved my ass once or twice. 9 wins to 1 loss thus far (and the one losing battle, the opponent passed two Minimizes and an Amnesia from Drifblim to a Spiritomb). Already I got a particularly awesome Battle Video I wish to post, but I'm gonna hold off on that until this tournament's over, lest someone watch the video, then find themselves up against me and know what to expect from one of my Pokémon, y'know?

 

[Worker]

Wow, that's unbelievable... Fortunately I haven't locked my team in just yet. What time does the day end EST time? I'll have to breed a legit Gourgeist now.

 

[Erebyssial]

wtf...

The team running the PGL really needs to step it up. Constant rule inconsistencies between English and Japanese sites ever since the first competition and now a miscommunication of the rules entirely. Luckily I got into this comp a little late so I still have to train some things up today before playing, otherwise I would have locked in my battle box straight away. All I have for Gourgeists is some 4IV Impish one from pre-bank which I don't think will cut it with all the strong special ghost attacks going around. -.-

 

[cant say]

Worker / anyone else stressing about retraining etc.

If your battle box is not locked yet you have up until the competition is over to lock your battle box and begin battling. I've done this in things like the Eevee Friendly and Battle of Legends where I wasn't planning on competing but had registered and thought why not with a few hours left. You don't need to have played your first 10 battles on the first day, and battles you have left over will be added onto the next day's total so you can always play 30 games no matter when you start. Eg: if you play 4 today then you can play 16 tomorrow to make 20 for the first 2 days...

So I would not rush, take your time, get a set you're happy with, play with it on PS! and then jump in and play 20 games on the second day

 

[Caldera]

My Gourgeist was properly trained already so I'm good on that note, but in the end real life obligations did get in the way of training for this. Oh well, I'll just go for it and see how I do.

 

[Max Carvalho]

Wait, this is 3-3, not 6-6???!!

 

[cannibal]

I still need to get things together for this... Hopefully it won't be like the fairy tourney where I got a team but ended up not competing.

In other news, I've finally made a doubles team that might actually work decently for regular Battle Spot. ^__^;

 

[cant say]

Wait, this is 3-3, not 6-6???!!

Standard Battle Spot singles is always 3v3, same as every other weekend tourney they have. One thing they actually did get right in the rules was that it's 3v3, it's also 3v3 on the PS! ladder... Not sure where the confusion is coming from tbh

 

[Worker]

What gourgeist sets are people running? Who has the best synergy with him?

 

[thatgirl]

What gourgeist sets are people running? Who has the best synergy with him?

I'm running scarf, personally. I'm not sure who else to use with him. So far I'm going with Gourgeist, Spiritomb, but I'm not sure whether to bring Gengar or Chandelure, or another ghost at this point.

 

[Frank_Jeager]

Did someone has a Spiritomb with foul play for trade ?

I want to bring an assault vest Spiritomb but I have not a foul play one :s

 

[Caldera]

Played all of my matches today and won 7. I'm pretty happy, all things considered, so hopefully I can keep it up. So far I'm using Lead Banette, Assault vest Gourgeist(Maybe a bit strange but I was going for bulk so eh.) and Chandelure. In theory there's synergy in that I use Banette to sucker punch the lead gengars to death and taunt + sucker punch other stuff while switching into wisps with Chandy, but my prediction skills aren't always the best and I'm not really sure what do to when there's an opposing Banette or something faster than Banette that could use something like taunt or confuse ray. Also, Spiritomb is the biggest threat cause I frankly have to idea what to expect half the time. Wisp? Sucker punch? Dark pulse? Snarl? Who knows.

 

[Worker]

Played all of my matches today and won 7. I'm pretty happy, all things considered, so hopefully I can keep it up. So far I'm using Lead Banette, Assault vest Gourgeist(Maybe a bit strange but I was going for bulk so eh.) and Chandelure. In theory there's synergy in that I use Banette to sucker punch the lead gengars to death and taunt + sucker punch other stuff while switching into wisps with Chandy, but my prediction skills aren't always the best and I'm not really sure what do to when there's an opposing Banette or something faster than Banette that could use something like taunt or confuse ray. Also, Spiritomb is the biggest threat cause I frankly have to idea what to expect half the time. Wisp? Sucker punch? Dark pulse? Snarl? Who knows.

Does lead sableye fuck you or do you carry protect?

 

[Caldera]

Does lead sableye fuck you or do you carry protect?

I haven't encountered a lead Sableye yet, but now that you mention it there's a pretty good chance it could fuck me over. The only Sableye I've faced so far was a weird not lead set with Wisp, metal burst, detect and recover that I could stall out with my chandelure(I run it with sub to protect against sucker punch and confuse ray shenanigans and stuff like that). I guess if I do encounter a lead Sableye I'll probably just try to switch into chandy and hope for a wisp to activate flash fire.