Good idea on the change in strategy. Lapras is definitely one of Whimsicott's weaknesses relative to Sableye. I usually let Lapras trap Whimsicott (Encoring the Mean Look until it runs out), it eventually uses Perish Song, and I use Memento on Whimsicott's last turn alive. This creates a winning scenario in most battles, since most things with Protect either can't beat Drapion anyway or will attack twice in a row once they get Durant into the KO range. On rare occasions, it doesn't use Perish Song (it just KOs Whimsicott with Body Slam), and there's always the risk of being fully paralyzed on the turn I try to use Memento, but that hasn't happened yet. I'm not super worried about Speed Boost Yanmega switching into the Memento, because Drapion has beaten it when it was at -2 and didn't have Truant on at least two occasions (when it KO'd Durant on the switch-in with a crit). But it's certainly not a guaranteed win with the risk of Bug Buzz SpDef drops and King's Rock flinches, and if Lapras DOESN'T trap Whimsicott and I switch out on the last Perish Song turn, Speed Boost Yanmega could cause real problems. I'll probably start using your strategy (switch out with 2 turns to go) in the event that I manage to Encore the Perish Song and Whimsicott isn't trapped. The only risk there is that Magic Bounce Espeon switches into the Entrainment and Whimsicott isn't healthy enough to survive its attack, but the odds of that are overwhelmingly low (esp. since Durant resists its STAB).
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Battle Maison Discussion & Records
- Thread starter NoCheese
- Start date
I think the Poker term for this is "a bad beat." It all looks like it was played correctly to me, the RNG gods just did not smile on you this day.
Sorry you busted out. Sometimes the cards just fall that way. =\
You gonna buy back in, or sit out a round?
It feels a little dodgy posting this considering it will be the only one below 100 on the leader-board, but hell the minimum is 70 so I may as well. Recently got a 93 win streak in super singles. Guess I'll start with the team, and add some general comments afterwards.
Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Multiscale
Adamant
252Atk/252Spe
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Roost
I love Dragonite so much. The combination of Lum Berry/Multiscale makes me feel so secure. Other than strong STAB Ice moves and a Banded Head Smash that caught me off guard, this thing isn't going down in one hit. And Lum Berry means those who would seek to undermine greatness with a sneaky T-wave will promptly get a +1 Outrage/EQ to the face. Anyways it regularly sweeps entire teams as you would expect. Even +1 Outrage is enough to KO most things, and beyond that the only issues are sashes/sturdy really. Roost is there to reactivate Multiscale, and to help set up more DD's against weaker attackers. Might change it to Protect for scouting purposes. I did have Fire Punch to begin with, but wasn't getting much use out of it.
Aegislash @ Leftovers
Stance Change
Sassy
252HP/252Sp.Def
- King's Shield
- Sword's Dance
- Sacred Sword
- Shadow Sneak
Brings balance and stability to the team. If Dragonite falls unexpectedly, Aegislash can not only salvage the situation, but put it back in my favor. A good example would be the aforementioned Banded Head Smash (Tyrantrum) that took me off guard by ripping right through Multiscale for the OHKO. Since the Maison AI are magnanimous enough to balance their shameless hax with self-imposed anime Gym leader rules, Aegislash can have them at -6 and itself at +6 in no time flat. Sassy with max Sp.Def investment to tank special attacks better, as obviously King's Shield doesn't cover that side quite as well. Has some issues with status as you would expect, but otherwise incredibly solid.
Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Blaze/Drought
Timid
252SpAtk/252Spe
- Flamethrower
- Solarbeam
- Dragon Pulse
- Roost
Uh...I like Charizard? No where near as useful as the other two members, but I liked the idea of using Charizard in a mostly SR-free environment. Flamethrower over Fire Blast as moves with imperfect accuracy are disaster waiting to happen. I'm not even comfortable using Rock Slide as I've had to in the past. It hits hard, has decent coverage and deals with some Steel types that may otherwise be annoying.
A few general things about this team. First and foremost it's set up to win matches very quickly. Some people in here seem to have the patience of a saint with the teams they use, and it's a credit to them. However when it comes to AI gauntlet battles I just can't bring myself to use such a team (I wouldn't mind so much for the odd Showdown battle or something). But for streak building I just can't help but wanna rush things a little. Of course if my back is against the wall in a particular match I'll take my time to worm my way out of it (especially when Aegislash is involved), but generally speaking I finish things quickly where I can. This is especially true early on in the streak. I've quickly gone back up to 10 wins, this time using Charizard in the lead spot. Not for tactical reasons, just to speed things up even further by removing the need for set up in many matches. This naive preference for speed does have one side benefit of minimizing the effect hax can have on your team. In previous gens I've tried defensive Pokemon, but they always seem to succumb to crits and whatever else.
As for the members, well part of the reason I chose them is they were...there. I got a decent Dratini/Honedge/Charmander from Wonder Trade, and decided to go with them. With Dragonite I'm actually using the Dratini I got straight from WT, the other two I bred a little to get a slightly better one. Originally I was Tyranitar, and was thinking of good teammates for it. Aegislash obviously, but I was struggling to think of a 3rd. When I thought of Dragonite I decided to just scrap Ttar entirely and build around Dragonite. The IV's aren't perfect, but they're close enough. 31 in speed for Char/Dragonite, 0 for Aegislash. They all have 31 for their relevant attacking stat, and each has some 31 IVs in HP/Def/Sp.Def (They each have 1-2 missing iirc).
Losing after 93 wins was strange for me, as it was the exact same streak I ended on last time I did Super Singles, which was a Sandstorm team in Gen 5 Battle Subway.
Incidentally another reason I decided against Tyranitar (or using Garchomp again), was the desire to try something different. Anyways unlike there where I stopped after that streak, I plan to try again here. And technically I've improved. That gen 5 93 streak was my second attempt, the first ended at 40-something iirc. This time 93 was my first effort, so hopefully the trend continues and I can improve on 93 next time.
I've hinted at this already, but I feel Charizard is a definite weak link for me. Dragonite/Aegislash are near insurmountable obstacles for the opposition. They are hard to take down, can wipe out entire teams effortlessly and both cover eachother's weaknesses well. It's very rare they both get KO'd, in fact I could probably count the amount of times that happened with one hand. While Charizard is a good Pokemon, I don't feel it adds sufficient back-up in the rare cases the opposition breaches both Dragonite/Aegislash. I'm considering a few other options, and am also open to suggestions; but for now I'm keeping it in the team. I have the mega slot open, which broadens my options.
The code is Q4PW-WWWW-WWXJ-W5Z4. If you want me to take a picture too just let me know.
In hindsight I should have switched to Aegislash straight away. He can take Brave Bird, crit and all. In fact he was crit twice in a row iirc and was fine. But I was caught off guard by both Crobat out-speeding +1 Dragonite (obvious enough in hindsight but I was playing this on the train ride home after a long day; didn't think it through that far) and of course the decisive, untimely crit. The second thing was +6 Shadow Sneak not doing in Togekiss. This is where a Brave nature/Atk EV's could have come in handy I guess. Then of course Staraptor outspeeding and OHKO'ing Charizard. That was a bit of a sinking feeling, and is part of what contributes to my desire to switch Char out for something else.
Rock/Ground gives this team some issues in theory, but in practice it doesn't seem to be that crippling a weakness. Flinch hax Rock Slide Aerodactyl gave me some trouble, but other that I didn't have too many close calls before the loss. In fact funnily enough I think my closest call was the match before I lost. I've found the veteran battles easier than the rest on average, but bizarrely the one legendary to trouble me was Regigigas. Used Confuse Ray on +6 Aegislash, which made me paranoid enough to switch to Char; who was promptly OHKO'd. Won eventually, but it was a tense battle.
After losing I considered going for all 5 trophies, but 3 battles into Doubles I was already bored out of my mind. Just unlocking the super modes for each battle type seems like a pain in the ass, but I guess I can do it while multi-tasking. For now though, I'm giving Super Singles a 2nd try. If you read all that nonsense you're clinically insane, but thanks anyway. :) Will update again if I beat this streak, just without all the rambling.
Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Multiscale
Adamant
252Atk/252Spe
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Roost
I love Dragonite so much. The combination of Lum Berry/Multiscale makes me feel so secure. Other than strong STAB Ice moves and a Banded Head Smash that caught me off guard, this thing isn't going down in one hit. And Lum Berry means those who would seek to undermine greatness with a sneaky T-wave will promptly get a +1 Outrage/EQ to the face. Anyways it regularly sweeps entire teams as you would expect. Even +1 Outrage is enough to KO most things, and beyond that the only issues are sashes/sturdy really. Roost is there to reactivate Multiscale, and to help set up more DD's against weaker attackers. Might change it to Protect for scouting purposes. I did have Fire Punch to begin with, but wasn't getting much use out of it.
Aegislash @ Leftovers
Stance Change
Sassy
252HP/252Sp.Def
- King's Shield
- Sword's Dance
- Sacred Sword
- Shadow Sneak
Brings balance and stability to the team. If Dragonite falls unexpectedly, Aegislash can not only salvage the situation, but put it back in my favor. A good example would be the aforementioned Banded Head Smash (Tyrantrum) that took me off guard by ripping right through Multiscale for the OHKO. Since the Maison AI are magnanimous enough to balance their shameless hax with self-imposed anime Gym leader rules, Aegislash can have them at -6 and itself at +6 in no time flat. Sassy with max Sp.Def investment to tank special attacks better, as obviously King's Shield doesn't cover that side quite as well. Has some issues with status as you would expect, but otherwise incredibly solid.
Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Blaze/Drought
Timid
252SpAtk/252Spe
- Flamethrower
- Solarbeam
- Dragon Pulse
- Roost
Uh...I like Charizard? No where near as useful as the other two members, but I liked the idea of using Charizard in a mostly SR-free environment. Flamethrower over Fire Blast as moves with imperfect accuracy are disaster waiting to happen. I'm not even comfortable using Rock Slide as I've had to in the past. It hits hard, has decent coverage and deals with some Steel types that may otherwise be annoying.
A few general things about this team. First and foremost it's set up to win matches very quickly. Some people in here seem to have the patience of a saint with the teams they use, and it's a credit to them. However when it comes to AI gauntlet battles I just can't bring myself to use such a team (I wouldn't mind so much for the odd Showdown battle or something). But for streak building I just can't help but wanna rush things a little. Of course if my back is against the wall in a particular match I'll take my time to worm my way out of it (especially when Aegislash is involved), but generally speaking I finish things quickly where I can. This is especially true early on in the streak. I've quickly gone back up to 10 wins, this time using Charizard in the lead spot. Not for tactical reasons, just to speed things up even further by removing the need for set up in many matches. This naive preference for speed does have one side benefit of minimizing the effect hax can have on your team. In previous gens I've tried defensive Pokemon, but they always seem to succumb to crits and whatever else.
As for the members, well part of the reason I chose them is they were...there. I got a decent Dratini/Honedge/Charmander from Wonder Trade, and decided to go with them. With Dragonite I'm actually using the Dratini I got straight from WT, the other two I bred a little to get a slightly better one. Originally I was Tyranitar, and was thinking of good teammates for it. Aegislash obviously, but I was struggling to think of a 3rd. When I thought of Dragonite I decided to just scrap Ttar entirely and build around Dragonite. The IV's aren't perfect, but they're close enough. 31 in speed for Char/Dragonite, 0 for Aegislash. They all have 31 for their relevant attacking stat, and each has some 31 IVs in HP/Def/Sp.Def (They each have 1-2 missing iirc).
Losing after 93 wins was strange for me, as it was the exact same streak I ended on last time I did Super Singles, which was a Sandstorm team in Gen 5 Battle Subway.
Incidentally another reason I decided against Tyranitar (or using Garchomp again), was the desire to try something different. Anyways unlike there where I stopped after that streak, I plan to try again here. And technically I've improved. That gen 5 93 streak was my second attempt, the first ended at 40-something iirc. This time 93 was my first effort, so hopefully the trend continues and I can improve on 93 next time.
I've hinted at this already, but I feel Charizard is a definite weak link for me. Dragonite/Aegislash are near insurmountable obstacles for the opposition. They are hard to take down, can wipe out entire teams effortlessly and both cover eachother's weaknesses well. It's very rare they both get KO'd, in fact I could probably count the amount of times that happened with one hand. While Charizard is a good Pokemon, I don't feel it adds sufficient back-up in the rare cases the opposition breaches both Dragonite/Aegislash. I'm considering a few other options, and am also open to suggestions; but for now I'm keeping it in the team. I have the mega slot open, which broadens my options.
The code is Q4PW-WWWW-WWXJ-W5Z4. If you want me to take a picture too just let me know.
In hindsight I should have switched to Aegislash straight away. He can take Brave Bird, crit and all. In fact he was crit twice in a row iirc and was fine. But I was caught off guard by both Crobat out-speeding +1 Dragonite (obvious enough in hindsight but I was playing this on the train ride home after a long day; didn't think it through that far) and of course the decisive, untimely crit. The second thing was +6 Shadow Sneak not doing in Togekiss. This is where a Brave nature/Atk EV's could have come in handy I guess. Then of course Staraptor outspeeding and OHKO'ing Charizard. That was a bit of a sinking feeling, and is part of what contributes to my desire to switch Char out for something else.
Rock/Ground gives this team some issues in theory, but in practice it doesn't seem to be that crippling a weakness. Flinch hax Rock Slide Aerodactyl gave me some trouble, but other that I didn't have too many close calls before the loss. In fact funnily enough I think my closest call was the match before I lost. I've found the veteran battles easier than the rest on average, but bizarrely the one legendary to trouble me was Regigigas. Used Confuse Ray on +6 Aegislash, which made me paranoid enough to switch to Char; who was promptly OHKO'd. Won eventually, but it was a tense battle.
After losing I considered going for all 5 trophies, but 3 battles into Doubles I was already bored out of my mind. Just unlocking the super modes for each battle type seems like a pain in the ass, but I guess I can do it while multi-tasking. For now though, I'm giving Super Singles a 2nd try. If you read all that nonsense you're clinically insane, but thanks anyway. :) Will update again if I beat this streak, just without all the rambling.
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Just lost at battle 120 in Super Doubles to some pretty annoying hax using some pretty stupid stuff that probably had no right making it as far as I did. The battle is Z87G-WWWW-WWXJ-7LJA
The team I was using was mostly just based around trying out M-Mence with Hyper Voice, the rest of the team just being mostly thrown together and I'd really appreciate if anyone could help maybe make it slightly viable.
Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Aerilate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Protect
- Hyper Voice
- Dragon Pulse
- Flamethrower
Garchomp @ Expert Belt
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Rock Slide
The dual leads. Almost every battle starts off with Hyper Voice+Earthquake for one, if not two, KOs. Running two 4x Ice weaks really shouldn't work as well as it was especially with the amount of mons who love to just throw out a Blizzard and kill both if it hits. But most the the mons who would do this can usually be outsped at KOed by a combination of either HV/Flamethrower+EQ/RS. Rock Slide is the bane of my existence on this team, and I've thought about running Wide Lens on Garchomp a lot, but EBelt gives Rock Slide and Earthquake a nice boost from what I've seen. I've also considered Poison Jab over Protect on Garchomp, but Protect, while not used overly much on this mon, is just so clutch when it is used.
Rotom-Wash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 84 SpA / 228 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Shadow Ball
- Trick
I grabbed this from my box because I figured I'd need an Ice resist that could also take on Waters, and having Levitate to work alongside Garchomp made Rotom the obvious choice. I prefer the power of Specs to the defensive boost of AV and have very rarely found myself in a postition where I was locked into a non-desirable move. Also Hydro Pump is very iffy, but I usually try to plan and play assuming that it could miss twice in a row. I previously ran Aegislash here, to cover Ice types, but felt like it wasn't doing much and I needed something to beat Waters.
Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Bug Bite
- Brick Break
- Bullet Punch
Scizor was another lad that I just pulled out of my box, mostly to take on Fairies and have another Ice resist. Speed lets it beat all Excadrill, which can be nice at times. Otherwise it's pretty bog standard and hits hard.
The team I was using was mostly just based around trying out M-Mence with Hyper Voice, the rest of the team just being mostly thrown together and I'd really appreciate if anyone could help maybe make it slightly viable.
Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Aerilate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Protect
- Hyper Voice
- Dragon Pulse
- Flamethrower
Garchomp @ Expert Belt
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Rock Slide
The dual leads. Almost every battle starts off with Hyper Voice+Earthquake for one, if not two, KOs. Running two 4x Ice weaks really shouldn't work as well as it was especially with the amount of mons who love to just throw out a Blizzard and kill both if it hits. But most the the mons who would do this can usually be outsped at KOed by a combination of either HV/Flamethrower+EQ/RS. Rock Slide is the bane of my existence on this team, and I've thought about running Wide Lens on Garchomp a lot, but EBelt gives Rock Slide and Earthquake a nice boost from what I've seen. I've also considered Poison Jab over Protect on Garchomp, but Protect, while not used overly much on this mon, is just so clutch when it is used.
Rotom-Wash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 84 SpA / 228 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Shadow Ball
- Trick
I grabbed this from my box because I figured I'd need an Ice resist that could also take on Waters, and having Levitate to work alongside Garchomp made Rotom the obvious choice. I prefer the power of Specs to the defensive boost of AV and have very rarely found myself in a postition where I was locked into a non-desirable move. Also Hydro Pump is very iffy, but I usually try to plan and play assuming that it could miss twice in a row. I previously ran Aegislash here, to cover Ice types, but felt like it wasn't doing much and I needed something to beat Waters.
Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Bug Bite
- Brick Break
- Bullet Punch
Scizor was another lad that I just pulled out of my box, mostly to take on Fairies and have another Ice resist. Speed lets it beat all Excadrill, which can be nice at times. Otherwise it's pretty bog standard and hits hard.
Yes, they still switch on the last turn if it's technically possible to do so. They don't preemptively try to get out of it unless you trigger their switching mechanic (such as using a non-fatal attack while they've got an immunity in reserve.)
But it means bringing in Wobbuffet on the second turn of PS, since you can't cockblock a switch with Shadow Tag on a turn that both of you opt to switch.
But it means bringing in Wobbuffet on the second turn of PS, since you can't cockblock a switch with Shadow Tag on a turn that both of you opt to switch.
I think someone used a Mega Gengar set with perish song a while ago in this thread. Another idea to using perish song that comes to mind is using Lapras or Politoed with perish song + whirlpool (the latter must be transferred from gen 4 I think). Not sure how that would work out though especially with water absorb and storm drain users.
Okay then here's my rough plan, as cool as a whirlpool trap sounds I really couldn't be bothered trying to breed in gen 4 any more:
Greninja @ Focus Sash PROTEAN (4HP / 252SPATK / 252SPEED)
-Mat Block
-Protect
-Surf
-Dark Pulse
Smeargle @ (need some "good" item here) [Is moody worth it? or just go own tempo] (4 HP/ 252 ATK OR SPATK depending on filler / 252 SPEED)
-Spiky Shield
-Dark Void
-2 filler moves (Knock Off, Nuzzle, Spore, Mean Look, Memento, Lunar Dance, Doom Desire)
Altaria @ Altarianite CLOUD NINE > PIXILATE (Bulky Special Attack)
-Perish Song
-Protect Not really sure about this set
-Heal Bell-------------------> Might Scrap this for Flamethrower or something
-Hyper Voice
Aegislash @(idk) STANCE CHANGE (I think the one I have is 252 HP / 252 ATK / 4 SPDEF or something like that)
-King's Shield
-Sacred Sword
-Swords Dance
-Shadow Sneak
Gothitelle @ Leftovers SHADOW TAG (some HP/some DEF/ some SPATK/ some SPEED idk )
-Protect
-Calm Mind
-Psychic
-Thunderbolt
So the goal is:
TURN 1: Mat Block/Dark Void/Perish Song
TURN 2: Protect/Spiky Shield/Protect
TURN 3: Switch Someone to Gothitelle other two just waste time
TURN 4: Switch other two, maybe bring back in the original switch whatever
I originally had Gengar on here but to use Gengar is to sacrifice him pretty much and I didn't want to do that. I'm open to options on the 6th Pokemon, I was originally thinking a Soundproof mon or Aron for easiness sake.
My Doubles Team is going alright atm, I'm at about 170 Wins but it's nothing particularly new. In short Dusclops/Aron/MegaMawile/Conkeldurr. I'll write it up properly if it actually works beyond similar teams already on the leaderboard or if it goes that far.
Greninja @ Focus Sash PROTEAN (4HP / 252SPATK / 252SPEED)
-Mat Block
-Protect
-Surf
-Dark Pulse
Smeargle @ (need some "good" item here) [Is moody worth it? or just go own tempo] (4 HP/ 252 ATK OR SPATK depending on filler / 252 SPEED)
-Spiky Shield
-Dark Void
-2 filler moves (Knock Off, Nuzzle, Spore, Mean Look, Memento, Lunar Dance, Doom Desire)
Altaria @ Altarianite CLOUD NINE > PIXILATE (Bulky Special Attack)
-Perish Song
-Protect Not really sure about this set
-Heal Bell-------------------> Might Scrap this for Flamethrower or something
-Hyper Voice
Aegislash @(idk) STANCE CHANGE (I think the one I have is 252 HP / 252 ATK / 4 SPDEF or something like that)
-King's Shield
-Sacred Sword
-Swords Dance
-Shadow Sneak
Gothitelle @ Leftovers SHADOW TAG (some HP/some DEF/ some SPATK/ some SPEED idk )
-Protect
-Calm Mind
-Psychic
-Thunderbolt
So the goal is:
TURN 1: Mat Block/Dark Void/Perish Song
TURN 2: Protect/Spiky Shield/Protect
TURN 3: Switch Someone to Gothitelle other two just waste time
TURN 4: Switch other two, maybe bring back in the original switch whatever
I originally had Gengar on here but to use Gengar is to sacrifice him pretty much and I didn't want to do that. I'm open to options on the 6th Pokemon, I was originally thinking a Soundproof mon or Aron for easiness sake.
My Doubles Team is going alright atm, I'm at about 170 Wins but it's nothing particularly new. In short Dusclops/Aron/MegaMawile/Conkeldurr. I'll write it up properly if it actually works beyond similar teams already on the leaderboard or if it goes that far.
Whirlpool is an egg move for Lapras in Gen VI. Lapras also learns Block since, y'know, Lapras4 uses that exact strategy.
King's Shield is generally better for Smeargle if you're going to try to use it as "protect bait." The damage that Spiky Shield does isn't huge, but a -2 Attack drop can be. This goes double for you since you don't care about how much damage the opponent has before the Perish Song KOs them, but you do care how much of a beating Gothitelle takes on the turn she switches in. Because you're using Smeargle as part of a gambit, I would recommend Focus Sash for a chance to try to set the gambit back up in case it fails the first time. Moody is not going to be helpful for this set, since it will be switching out by necessity - the odds of Moody giving you some sort of helpful boost in the 2-3 turns Smeargle is in are exactly equivalent to the odds Moody hits you with a stat drop that interferes with your gambit, and a failed opening gambit is really bad for this team.
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In my experience grinding Restaurant le Yeah with a Darkrai, Dark Void will miss one of the three foes about half the time. With a Wide Lens, missing happens much less often. It also looks like you'd want either a second Perish Song user, another trapper, or another ghost killer.
Does Shadow Tag only affect the opponents? I thought it might affect your own team as well (excluding Gothitelle, of course).
You could try using Murkrow for a prankster perish song (which is only prevented by prankster taunt from Tornadus and Thunderus), then get it killed to bring in your shadow tag Pokemon unharmed?
As for soundproof, fighting coverage gets Exploud, Abomasnow, Bouffalant, and Bastiodon (watch for sturdy + metal burst), and Mr. Mime and Electrode aren't that bulky (at least on the physical side for the former).
As for soundproof, fighting coverage gets Exploud, Abomasnow, Bouffalant, and Bastiodon (watch for sturdy + metal burst), and Mr. Mime and Electrode aren't that bulky (at least on the physical side for the former).
Bulbapedia notes that allies are unaffected.
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I had been playing this one alongside the triples grind and lost it Saturday night. Not entirely sure if I should be happy with it because of the way I lost, but I guess it did more than alright for a placeholder team, lol - here's another one doing a lot better than I expected at first, even though it should be capable of more. Posting a 283 win streak in ORAS Super Doubles, with the same team from my five trophy post.
#284: KQSG-WWWW-WWXJ-FAPT
I kinda threw this team together for my trophy run and polished it a bit afterwards. My first ORAS breeding projects involved a bunch of Pokemon with tutor moves - which I didn't have access to with perfect IVs before ORAS because of the lack of move tutors in XY and my lack of RNG skills during my XY maison endeavours - as well as some Pokemon I generally liked, hadn't thought up a use for just yet, but could potentially see myself using at some point. This team features six tutor moves altogether so I guess I did try something new for ORAS ^^
Gardevoir @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace -> Pixilate
Nature: Timid
IVs: 31/14-15/31/30/30/31
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Def / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
-Faerie Scream of Death
-Psyshock
-Hidden Power Ground
-Protect
Because Pixilate Hyper Voice is supposedly pretty devastating, Mega Gardevoir was one of the pokemon I really wanted to try in the ORAS maison. I used it in multis first but then brought it to doubles because I also wanted to use it in a less obnoxious format. The set should be straightforward for the most part: Timid because you want to kill stuff before it kills you and max SpA and Spe in order to hit hard and fast, with the four EVs that the imperfect SpA IV would cause to go to waste going into a defensive stat, and Trace because it's a pretty sweet scouting tool (especially against potential Inner Focus users Protect is Protect, while Hyper Voice and Psyshock are the obvious STAB moves; I chose Psyshock over Psychic because Hyper Voice already wrecks so disgustingly hard that the secondary STAB move is basically reduced to a coverage move, and then it makes more sense to pick the option that also helps Garde beat special walls in addition to offering type coverage. I chose Hidden Power Ground as the coverage move in order to cover the fat, obnoxious Steel-types that resist both STAB moves, specifically Heatran, Magnezone, Bastiodon, Aggron, and Probopass. It admittedly is a bit redundant with a Gastrodon backup but at least it allows me to beat those Steel-types relatively easily without forfeiting a shitton of momentum (especially because Weavile will be using Protect quite often on their attacks), and it's not like the other options have much more to offer. Shadow Ball is completely and utterly redundant with a Weavile partner, Focus Blast is lolFocus Blast, and while Taunt is an option I'd certainly consider, Fake Out already does a decent job at stopping what I usually use Taunt for (the main exception being Stockpilers, which are handled by Clear Smog if need be.) Lastly, Biosci (seriously what happened to his current streak) has been chewing off faces with Substitute in this slot, but I prefer the imo more consistent momentum provided by the coverage on those Steel-types, and I guess it fits this team/my playstyle better.
Catweazle (Weavile) @ Focus Sash (11/04 edit: thought up this new nickname, this one looks worth sticking with :3 )
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Jolly
IVs: 31/31/31/26-27/31/31
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Fake Out
-Knock Off
-Ice Punch
-Protect
Seriously why is nobody using this guy...
I honestly just wanted to use Weavile haha, it's such a cool Pokemon but it sucks in singles because of its terrible bulk - fortunately that's turned into a valuable asset in doubles, where bait has proven its worth, usually in the form of a lv. 1 Aron. turskain's Mega Gardevoir triples team has already shown that pairing up Mega Garde with Weavile isn't necessarily a bad idea, and damn this tandem put in some work o.0
The moveset should be straightforward: Knock Off and Ice Punch are Weavile's best STAB moves, while Fake Out is invaluable support and Protect is Protect; Attack and Speed are maximised because those are the only stats Weavile uses. Focus Sash allows Weavile to keel over from two hits rather than one, but more importantly, it also turns it into terrific bait when at 1 HP. My doubles experience was basically limited to Greninja/Mega Blaziken so I hadn't really used bait such as Aron or Sharpedo yet, but this was just stupid, lol. Weavile is at 1HP quite often because the AI often opts to attack it because of its dreadful defensive typing and bulk, and then Weavile can buy MegaGarde so much time it's just silly. In quite a lot of battles MegaGarde was able to fire off three Hyper Voices without being so much as touched: often it went like this:
1) Fake Out the foe most threatening to Mega Garde, Weavile is knocked down to 1HP, Mega Garde uses Hyper Voice
2) Protect; both foes attack Weavile in vain, Mega Garde fires off another free Hyper Voice
3) use Knock Off+Hyper Voice and oversee how much of the opposing team is left
If I'm not mistaken, turskain considers Fake Out Weavile to be kind of a poor man's Mat Block Greninja, but while Greninja undeniably is better, I don't agree entirely with this - Greninja lacks Weavile's bait qualities to an extent because it's less guaranteed to take an early hit, and Fake Out has the advantage of stopping support moves over Mat Block. While Greninja/Mega Blaziken is kinda fucked if like an opposing Luxray4 leads, Mega Gardevoir/Weavile can play around it a lot more reliably. Fake Out + Knock Off is also disgustingly good at stopping opposing TR, and as someone whose archnemesis is Mara I kinda really appreciated that haha. Ironically I wasn't too worried about TR this time around because of..
Gary (Gastrodon) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Storm Drain
Nature: Quiet
IVs: 31/22-23/31/31/31/0
EVs: 164 HP / 108 Def / 220 SpA / 12 SpD
-Scald
-Earth Power
-Icy Wind
-Clear Smog
I first used this in multis as a Garde partner because it provided resistances to Poison and Steel as well as a Trick Room check, while also protecting Steven's Aerodactyl from Water-type moves. While that didn't work out at the time because Gastrodon -needs- support in the form of the removal of Grass-types and you flat-out shouldn't rely on an AI partner to provide that, its alright synergy with Gardevoir and general goodness made it an obvious pick for this team. Storm Drain isn't that important for this team, but obviously it never hurts, lol. The EV spread and most of the set is courtesy of turskain, who first used it as a backup for his Greninja/Mega Lucario team. The EV spread and the Assault Vest maximise overall bulk (while I don't recall which specific benchmark turskain used), a Quiet nature with a 0 Spe IV maximises its performance under TR while it doesn't really care if 90% or 95% of the maison outspeeds it outside of TR, and because of its good bulk and only one weakness it can more or less afford not to run Protect. Scald and Earth Power are the obvious STAB moves. turskain used Ice Beam as the Ice-type move, but I found that kinda redundant with Weavile on the same team; instead, I opted for Icy Wind because I thought that would be more useful on a team with the only moderately fast Gardevoir and the slowish Scizor. If Gardevoir could outspeed and KO both opponents on the second turn, I'd often switch out Weavile for Gastrodon in order to both reset Fake Out and immediately have Icy Wind available if it would prove necessary - I don't recall if I've actually had a battle play out like this, but having the possibility is kinda nifty I guess. Lastly, Clear Smog is honestly pretty cool on Gastrodon and allows it to keep shitfaces such as Volcarona and -especially- Gyarados in check, which would otherwise be huge problems for this team.
Gene (Scizor) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
IVs: 31/31/31/6-7/31/31
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spe
-Bullet Punch
-Bug Bite
-Superpower
-Protect
Dabbling around in doubles in X with Greninja/Mega Blaziken/Hydreigon/Azumarill taught me a bunch of things, one of which was that a bulky-ish priority user is a terrific backup for a doubles team. Because Azumarill and Gastrodon don't pair well for hopefully blatantly obvious reasons, I turned to Scizor. The moveset is hopefully completely standard for doubles, with the amazing Bullet Punch and the secondary STAB move Bug Bite, as well as the coverage move Superpower, which hits a bunch of fat, annoying targets such as Blissey and Lickilicky while also being by far this team's best move against Ferrothorn. 44 Spe EVs put Scizor at 91 Spe, allowing it to outpace the crowded 90 tier as well as the shitface Lanturn4. There's probably not much else to say about Scizor haha, other than that it's another excellent switch-in to Poison- and Steel-type moves. Such a good Pokemon...
I lost to Chef Cobb, whose name I managed to miss when the battle started. He led off with Snow Warning Abomasnow and Beartic, so thinking it was Beartic4, I opted to skip Fake Out and Knock Off its Assault Vest (which was a terrible idea even if it had been Beartic4 because of the threat of Icy Wind lol). Beartic dodged Knock Off via Snow Cloak, but fortunately Hyper Voice did hit (bringing down Aboma to 50% and Beartic to 75% because of Sitrus Berry) while Focus Blast missed Weavile (yaay) and Stone Edge took it down to 1HP. The next turn I clicked Knock Off on Beartic + Hyper Voice in order to KO both of them, skillfully forgetting about Abomasnow's Ice Shard and thus losing Weavile, while Hyper Voice KOed Abomasnow but Beartic once again dodged it. Out came Glaceon, while I sent out Scizor. Scizor KOed Beartic, while Hyper Voice missed Glaceon ( -.- ), which KOed Gardevoir and froze Scizor with Blizzard. Cobb sent out Samurott but at this point it's pretty much over unless Scizor unfreezes like really quickly, which it didn't at all. Gastrodon couldn't take both Glaceon and Samurott at the same time (Glaceon even rubbed salt into the wound by Detecting on my Scald - which I naturally was using because it was the safest option in case of yet another freeze) and so I lost... This was the sort of loss that leaves me pissed lol, I probably might have won this even with the hax if I just hadn't screwed up those first two turns so badly, but this was also your typical 'come on just one more before I go to sleep' battle. Not the greatest idea.
The greatest threats to this team are Pokemon that trouble Garde and are not likely to target Weavile - specifically, Poison-types and physical Fire-types, as well as strong physical attackers in general. While I didn't get to play enough battles before losing to figure out a more elaborate threatlist, Crobat is probably the one I'm least keen on facing, outspeeding both Garde and Weavile and having Inner Focus 2/3 of the time (Trace occasionally came in rather handy here lol); fortunately Cross Poison fails to OHKO Garde, otherwise it would be even more of a threat than it is. Aerodactyl is once again a shitface, outspeeding and OHKOing both Garde and Weavile; in the lead position I handle it by Fake Out + immediate Garde - Scizor switch (except that time when the other lead was Darmanitan4 lol, that was fun, don't really recall it in detail but it required me to get creative with Protect and rely a bit more on Gastrodon+Scizor's resiliency than I'd like), but it gets kinda annoying if it comes out as a backup. Glaceon (obviously) is really really annoying as well, being hard to kill, freezing everything on sight, and skillfully using Protect (which was responsible for another close battle, where I had Scizor use Protect against an opposing Rapidash+Glaceon - while Rapidash targeted Gardevoir - and then Glaceon Detected on BP, allowing Rapidash to take down Scizor; I would have lost then and there if the backup Mienshao hadn't been spamming Wide Guard like a complete idiot or I hadn't been using my previous, Protect, Gastrodon lol) Bulky hardhitters that resist Fairy and status users are generally annoying, but I don't really remember more specific examples :\.
#244: DXEG-WWWW-WWXJ-FBW7 This one is just stupid haha, abusing Weavile's baiting qualities to have Gardevoir Hyper Voice his way through Regigigas and freaking Entei and come out unscathed...
#266: CY9W-WWWW-WWXJ-FAUF Probably the most tense battle that wasn't an altogether screwup, featuring multiple dangerous foes. The lead pair was the (very threatening) Muk+Luxray, and because getting something paralyzed is still less bad than having a Quick Claw Gunk Shot/Explosion wipe out everything, I remove Muk via Fake Out+Psyshock; Luxray paralyzes Gardevoir, out comes Aerodactyl. lol. I do the best I can come up with, which is target Aerodactyl with Ice Punch - because it's frankly a toss-up which one he's gonna OHKO - and click Hyper Voice - if that works, Aerodactyl is dead, Luxray is dented, and it's 2-0. Aero targets Weavile (good...) Luxray paralyzes Weavile (well that was to be expected)... and Gardevoir is fully paralyzed. Rinse and repeat while abusing baiting qualities - click Protect on Weavile, click Hyper Voice again. Weavile is double targeted (yay..)... and Gardevoir is fully paralyzed. Again. Next turn both Gardevoir and Weavile are killed, so out come Gastrodon and Scizor. It's pretty glaringly obvious Scizor is gonna be TWaved and most likely Aero is gonna target him as well, so I click Protect on Scizor, while clicking Icy Wind to finish off Aero and pop Luxray's balloon so I can hit it with Earth Power next turn and hope I can manage the mystery lastmon. Luxray targets Scizor, as does Aero (with Struggle, oh yeah Weavile has Pressure lol), and Icy Wind hits both. The last mon is Vaporeon4, which should be manageable for Gastrodon/Scizor and is indeed. Scizor hits it with Bug Bite, albeit getting paralyzed in the process, while Gastrodon OHKOes Luxray (supercharged by a Storm Drain boost from Vaporeon) and also finishes the battle. yay.
I was and still am pretty miffed about the screwups in my loss and I kinda was aiming for 325+, but between triples, school, and the new Greninja/Mega Blaziken team I plan on trying in doubles it could be a llllooong time before I can take this team for another spin and it is a pretty significant improvement over my longest doubles streak yet, so I can't be too unhappy with this I guess. I'm probably not gonna have the time to try -everything- I was planning on trying in the ORAS maison, but this definitely will be the first team I revisit after finishing my current streaks, because judging by the dumb loss I'm pretty sure it can go further and it was fun as hell to play. It's kinda ironic really, I've always glorified Greninja/Mega Blaziken's prowess in this thread and Mega Gardevoir/Weavile was just a placeholder that I'd use for the trophy while my 'real' ORAS doubles streak would have to be set by Greninja/Mega Blaziken, but I'm afraid that Mega Gardevoir/Weavile just might be outright better, lol. If a team like this does so much better than Greninja/Mega Blaziken have so far I can't help but fear they have some sort of 'Greninja/YZard syndrome', terrific offensive prowess but also gaps that are too hard to reliably cover for a really long streak. In that light the positive side of this loss may be that Mega Gardevoir/Weavile didn't set a streak that Greninja/Mega Blaziken can't beat haha, not to mention that it's much better to have this sort of brain failure occur here than in triples because that streak is a liiittle bit harder to restore. Oh well, my current backups for Greninja/Mega Blaziken probably are a lot better than anything I've used so far so let's see how they'll fare. I know what the next team will be I'm gonna be using alongside the triples grind ^^
#284: KQSG-WWWW-WWXJ-FAPT
I kinda threw this team together for my trophy run and polished it a bit afterwards. My first ORAS breeding projects involved a bunch of Pokemon with tutor moves - which I didn't have access to with perfect IVs before ORAS because of the lack of move tutors in XY and my lack of RNG skills during my XY maison endeavours - as well as some Pokemon I generally liked, hadn't thought up a use for just yet, but could potentially see myself using at some point. This team features six tutor moves altogether so I guess I did try something new for ORAS ^^
Gardevoir @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace -> Pixilate
Nature: Timid
IVs: 31/14-15/31/30/30/31
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Def / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
-Faerie Scream of Death
-Psyshock
-Hidden Power Ground
-Protect
Because Pixilate Hyper Voice is supposedly pretty devastating, Mega Gardevoir was one of the pokemon I really wanted to try in the ORAS maison. I used it in multis first but then brought it to doubles because I also wanted to use it in a less obnoxious format. The set should be straightforward for the most part: Timid because you want to kill stuff before it kills you and max SpA and Spe in order to hit hard and fast, with the four EVs that the imperfect SpA IV would cause to go to waste going into a defensive stat, and Trace because it's a pretty sweet scouting tool (especially against potential Inner Focus users Protect is Protect, while Hyper Voice and Psyshock are the obvious STAB moves; I chose Psyshock over Psychic because Hyper Voice already wrecks so disgustingly hard that the secondary STAB move is basically reduced to a coverage move, and then it makes more sense to pick the option that also helps Garde beat special walls in addition to offering type coverage. I chose Hidden Power Ground as the coverage move in order to cover the fat, obnoxious Steel-types that resist both STAB moves, specifically Heatran, Magnezone, Bastiodon, Aggron, and Probopass. It admittedly is a bit redundant with a Gastrodon backup but at least it allows me to beat those Steel-types relatively easily without forfeiting a shitton of momentum (especially because Weavile will be using Protect quite often on their attacks), and it's not like the other options have much more to offer. Shadow Ball is completely and utterly redundant with a Weavile partner, Focus Blast is lolFocus Blast, and while Taunt is an option I'd certainly consider, Fake Out already does a decent job at stopping what I usually use Taunt for (the main exception being Stockpilers, which are handled by Clear Smog if need be.) Lastly, Biosci (seriously what happened to his current streak) has been chewing off faces with Substitute in this slot, but I prefer the imo more consistent momentum provided by the coverage on those Steel-types, and I guess it fits this team/my playstyle better.
Catweazle (Weavile) @ Focus Sash (11/04 edit: thought up this new nickname, this one looks worth sticking with :3 )
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Jolly
IVs: 31/31/31/26-27/31/31
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Fake Out
-Knock Off
-Ice Punch
-Protect
I honestly just wanted to use Weavile haha, it's such a cool Pokemon but it sucks in singles because of its terrible bulk - fortunately that's turned into a valuable asset in doubles, where bait has proven its worth, usually in the form of a lv. 1 Aron. turskain's Mega Gardevoir triples team has already shown that pairing up Mega Garde with Weavile isn't necessarily a bad idea, and damn this tandem put in some work o.0
The moveset should be straightforward: Knock Off and Ice Punch are Weavile's best STAB moves, while Fake Out is invaluable support and Protect is Protect; Attack and Speed are maximised because those are the only stats Weavile uses. Focus Sash allows Weavile to keel over from two hits rather than one, but more importantly, it also turns it into terrific bait when at 1 HP. My doubles experience was basically limited to Greninja/Mega Blaziken so I hadn't really used bait such as Aron or Sharpedo yet, but this was just stupid, lol. Weavile is at 1HP quite often because the AI often opts to attack it because of its dreadful defensive typing and bulk, and then Weavile can buy MegaGarde so much time it's just silly. In quite a lot of battles MegaGarde was able to fire off three Hyper Voices without being so much as touched: often it went like this:
1) Fake Out the foe most threatening to Mega Garde, Weavile is knocked down to 1HP, Mega Garde uses Hyper Voice
2) Protect; both foes attack Weavile in vain, Mega Garde fires off another free Hyper Voice
3) use Knock Off+Hyper Voice and oversee how much of the opposing team is left
If I'm not mistaken, turskain considers Fake Out Weavile to be kind of a poor man's Mat Block Greninja, but while Greninja undeniably is better, I don't agree entirely with this - Greninja lacks Weavile's bait qualities to an extent because it's less guaranteed to take an early hit, and Fake Out has the advantage of stopping support moves over Mat Block. While Greninja/Mega Blaziken is kinda fucked if like an opposing Luxray4 leads, Mega Gardevoir/Weavile can play around it a lot more reliably. Fake Out + Knock Off is also disgustingly good at stopping opposing TR, and as someone whose archnemesis is Mara I kinda really appreciated that haha. Ironically I wasn't too worried about TR this time around because of..
Gary (Gastrodon) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Storm Drain
Nature: Quiet
IVs: 31/22-23/31/31/31/0
EVs: 164 HP / 108 Def / 220 SpA / 12 SpD
-Scald
-Earth Power
-Icy Wind
-Clear Smog
I first used this in multis as a Garde partner because it provided resistances to Poison and Steel as well as a Trick Room check, while also protecting Steven's Aerodactyl from Water-type moves. While that didn't work out at the time because Gastrodon -needs- support in the form of the removal of Grass-types and you flat-out shouldn't rely on an AI partner to provide that, its alright synergy with Gardevoir and general goodness made it an obvious pick for this team. Storm Drain isn't that important for this team, but obviously it never hurts, lol. The EV spread and most of the set is courtesy of turskain, who first used it as a backup for his Greninja/Mega Lucario team. The EV spread and the Assault Vest maximise overall bulk (while I don't recall which specific benchmark turskain used), a Quiet nature with a 0 Spe IV maximises its performance under TR while it doesn't really care if 90% or 95% of the maison outspeeds it outside of TR, and because of its good bulk and only one weakness it can more or less afford not to run Protect. Scald and Earth Power are the obvious STAB moves. turskain used Ice Beam as the Ice-type move, but I found that kinda redundant with Weavile on the same team; instead, I opted for Icy Wind because I thought that would be more useful on a team with the only moderately fast Gardevoir and the slowish Scizor. If Gardevoir could outspeed and KO both opponents on the second turn, I'd often switch out Weavile for Gastrodon in order to both reset Fake Out and immediately have Icy Wind available if it would prove necessary - I don't recall if I've actually had a battle play out like this, but having the possibility is kinda nifty I guess. Lastly, Clear Smog is honestly pretty cool on Gastrodon and allows it to keep shitfaces such as Volcarona and -especially- Gyarados in check, which would otherwise be huge problems for this team.
Gene (Scizor) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
IVs: 31/31/31/6-7/31/31
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spe
-Bullet Punch
-Bug Bite
-Superpower
-Protect
Dabbling around in doubles in X with Greninja/Mega Blaziken/Hydreigon/Azumarill taught me a bunch of things, one of which was that a bulky-ish priority user is a terrific backup for a doubles team. Because Azumarill and Gastrodon don't pair well for hopefully blatantly obvious reasons, I turned to Scizor. The moveset is hopefully completely standard for doubles, with the amazing Bullet Punch and the secondary STAB move Bug Bite, as well as the coverage move Superpower, which hits a bunch of fat, annoying targets such as Blissey and Lickilicky while also being by far this team's best move against Ferrothorn. 44 Spe EVs put Scizor at 91 Spe, allowing it to outpace the crowded 90 tier as well as the shitface Lanturn4. There's probably not much else to say about Scizor haha, other than that it's another excellent switch-in to Poison- and Steel-type moves. Such a good Pokemon...
I lost to Chef Cobb, whose name I managed to miss when the battle started. He led off with Snow Warning Abomasnow and Beartic, so thinking it was Beartic4, I opted to skip Fake Out and Knock Off its Assault Vest (which was a terrible idea even if it had been Beartic4 because of the threat of Icy Wind lol). Beartic dodged Knock Off via Snow Cloak, but fortunately Hyper Voice did hit (bringing down Aboma to 50% and Beartic to 75% because of Sitrus Berry) while Focus Blast missed Weavile (yaay) and Stone Edge took it down to 1HP. The next turn I clicked Knock Off on Beartic + Hyper Voice in order to KO both of them, skillfully forgetting about Abomasnow's Ice Shard and thus losing Weavile, while Hyper Voice KOed Abomasnow but Beartic once again dodged it. Out came Glaceon, while I sent out Scizor. Scizor KOed Beartic, while Hyper Voice missed Glaceon ( -.- ), which KOed Gardevoir and froze Scizor with Blizzard. Cobb sent out Samurott but at this point it's pretty much over unless Scizor unfreezes like really quickly, which it didn't at all. Gastrodon couldn't take both Glaceon and Samurott at the same time (Glaceon even rubbed salt into the wound by Detecting on my Scald - which I naturally was using because it was the safest option in case of yet another freeze) and so I lost... This was the sort of loss that leaves me pissed lol, I probably might have won this even with the hax if I just hadn't screwed up those first two turns so badly, but this was also your typical 'come on just one more before I go to sleep' battle. Not the greatest idea.
The greatest threats to this team are Pokemon that trouble Garde and are not likely to target Weavile - specifically, Poison-types and physical Fire-types, as well as strong physical attackers in general. While I didn't get to play enough battles before losing to figure out a more elaborate threatlist, Crobat is probably the one I'm least keen on facing, outspeeding both Garde and Weavile and having Inner Focus 2/3 of the time (Trace occasionally came in rather handy here lol); fortunately Cross Poison fails to OHKO Garde, otherwise it would be even more of a threat than it is. Aerodactyl is once again a shitface, outspeeding and OHKOing both Garde and Weavile; in the lead position I handle it by Fake Out + immediate Garde - Scizor switch (except that time when the other lead was Darmanitan4 lol, that was fun, don't really recall it in detail but it required me to get creative with Protect and rely a bit more on Gastrodon+Scizor's resiliency than I'd like), but it gets kinda annoying if it comes out as a backup. Glaceon (obviously) is really really annoying as well, being hard to kill, freezing everything on sight, and skillfully using Protect (which was responsible for another close battle, where I had Scizor use Protect against an opposing Rapidash+Glaceon - while Rapidash targeted Gardevoir - and then Glaceon Detected on BP, allowing Rapidash to take down Scizor; I would have lost then and there if the backup Mienshao hadn't been spamming Wide Guard like a complete idiot or I hadn't been using my previous, Protect, Gastrodon lol) Bulky hardhitters that resist Fairy and status users are generally annoying, but I don't really remember more specific examples :\.
#244: DXEG-WWWW-WWXJ-FBW7 This one is just stupid haha, abusing Weavile's baiting qualities to have Gardevoir Hyper Voice his way through Regigigas and freaking Entei and come out unscathed...
#266: CY9W-WWWW-WWXJ-FAUF Probably the most tense battle that wasn't an altogether screwup, featuring multiple dangerous foes. The lead pair was the (very threatening) Muk+Luxray, and because getting something paralyzed is still less bad than having a Quick Claw Gunk Shot/Explosion wipe out everything, I remove Muk via Fake Out+Psyshock; Luxray paralyzes Gardevoir, out comes Aerodactyl. lol. I do the best I can come up with, which is target Aerodactyl with Ice Punch - because it's frankly a toss-up which one he's gonna OHKO - and click Hyper Voice - if that works, Aerodactyl is dead, Luxray is dented, and it's 2-0. Aero targets Weavile (good...) Luxray paralyzes Weavile (well that was to be expected)... and Gardevoir is fully paralyzed. Rinse and repeat while abusing baiting qualities - click Protect on Weavile, click Hyper Voice again. Weavile is double targeted (yay..)... and Gardevoir is fully paralyzed. Again. Next turn both Gardevoir and Weavile are killed, so out come Gastrodon and Scizor. It's pretty glaringly obvious Scizor is gonna be TWaved and most likely Aero is gonna target him as well, so I click Protect on Scizor, while clicking Icy Wind to finish off Aero and pop Luxray's balloon so I can hit it with Earth Power next turn and hope I can manage the mystery lastmon. Luxray targets Scizor, as does Aero (with Struggle, oh yeah Weavile has Pressure lol), and Icy Wind hits both. The last mon is Vaporeon4, which should be manageable for Gastrodon/Scizor and is indeed. Scizor hits it with Bug Bite, albeit getting paralyzed in the process, while Gastrodon OHKOes Luxray (supercharged by a Storm Drain boost from Vaporeon) and also finishes the battle. yay.
I was and still am pretty miffed about the screwups in my loss and I kinda was aiming for 325+, but between triples, school, and the new Greninja/Mega Blaziken team I plan on trying in doubles it could be a llllooong time before I can take this team for another spin and it is a pretty significant improvement over my longest doubles streak yet, so I can't be too unhappy with this I guess. I'm probably not gonna have the time to try -everything- I was planning on trying in the ORAS maison, but this definitely will be the first team I revisit after finishing my current streaks, because judging by the dumb loss I'm pretty sure it can go further and it was fun as hell to play. It's kinda ironic really, I've always glorified Greninja/Mega Blaziken's prowess in this thread and Mega Gardevoir/Weavile was just a placeholder that I'd use for the trophy while my 'real' ORAS doubles streak would have to be set by Greninja/Mega Blaziken, but I'm afraid that Mega Gardevoir/Weavile just might be outright better, lol. If a team like this does so much better than Greninja/Mega Blaziken have so far I can't help but fear they have some sort of 'Greninja/YZard syndrome', terrific offensive prowess but also gaps that are too hard to reliably cover for a really long streak. In that light the positive side of this loss may be that Mega Gardevoir/Weavile didn't set a streak that Greninja/Mega Blaziken can't beat haha, not to mention that it's much better to have this sort of brain failure occur here than in triples because that streak is a liiittle bit harder to restore. Oh well, my current backups for Greninja/Mega Blaziken probably are a lot better than anything I've used so far so let's see how they'll fare. I know what the next team will be I'm gonna be using alongside the triples grind ^^
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Lost battle #237 in a rather upsetting fashion, since it involved extremely little hax, but instead a poor guess that had dire consequences.
My team: Claydol/Feraligatr/M-Sableye/Glaceon/Aegislash/Aurorus
Breeder Gudrun's team: Bronzong/Luxray/Gyarados/Volcarona/Lucario/Scizor
This was the first time I got to play with Sheer Force Feraligatr, every bit as powerful as I'd hoped, and what it can't kill after a Swords Dance generally can't threaten it back; it's also the first time I played with Hyper Voice Aurorus, who has made me glad I spent an aggravatingly long time breeding one for a TR-capable IV spread (I recall Aurorus and Ampharos being two of the worst to hatch with 0 speed plus 31 in the necessities.)
As for my loss, it came down to Bronzong first wanting to set up TR and then never using it again despite it having no attacks to really dent any of my Pokemon over a few turns. It's that failure to use it a second time that I had relied upon at my own peril, and because it never did, I never had a safe opportunity to bring Claydol back in.
I did make a mistake in using TR with Claydol right off the bat, which allowed it to be immediately shut back off. However, with Bronzong spending the next three turns using Rock Slide-Rock Slide-Safeguard for low double-digit damage to my own teammates, instead of setting up another TR, I'm left thinking it wasn't necessarily safe to expect it to use it the first turn, either. Luxray had used Light Screen its first turn, which ended up screwing me further.
After that blown first turn, my immediate plan of action was to kill Bronzong and get Claydol back in away from Gyarados... ...until running the calc for Dark Pulse under Light Screen and realising that even at +2, it wouldn't do the job. Gyarados would also survive Life Orb Freeze Dry, a 4x effective attack, so killing it then and there was also out of the question. There also remained Luxray, who could target Claydol with Ice Fang to finish it off.
Both Gyarados and Luxray ran Intimidate, crippling Feraligatr out of the box, who likely would have tried to put some damage onto Luxray without setting up right away. I had switched for Aurorus since I didn't expect TR to be killed and knew it wouldn't be targeted by anything too dangerous (hence being unable to slaughter Gyarados as plan B either.)
When all's said and done, I wouldn't have known Volcarona4 would be part of her backup, and should she have sent it in immediately following one of them (Lucario and Scizor were #4 and #5, actually, though amusingly Aurorus was off the field on both occasions) Claydol still would have been boned.
Like most unsynergetic and beatable teams, I had forced Gudrun down to her last poke, Volcarona vs Aegislash. It was at 2/2/2 at this point and I was for the most part fucked, but eh, the AI's been screwed before- I was wondering if Heat Wave would miss, and if so, my Head Smash could connect, OHKOing Volcarona and making me faint last (Scizor had Bullet Punched it three times for poor damage even in attack mode.) That obviously did not happen, but it was fun to live long enough to roll that dice. I've won "I need them to miss and my own poke to something" gambles before :)
I managed to win my first mock battle under similar circumstances, made easy to replicate by the fact that 1. Bronzong decided not to open with TR and 2. when it finally fucking did, it's when I'd decided to set it up myself. Of course.
That said, what made a difference this time, and what carried me to the auto-center 1v1 earlier, was the easy bait-and-switch between Aurorus and Aegislash. Volcarona came out fourth this time while Feraligatr was present and was killed that same turn, which I think also made a big difference. When I won this one, I had Claydol (low) Glaceon (full) and Sableye (close to full) remaining. Glaceon's bulk plus Lucario's 170/170/170 spread took an Aura Sphere OHKO off the table.
Second mock battle, Bronzong erases TR first turn, but no Light Screen from Luxray (paralyzes Aurorus though) and a crit Aqua Tail leaves Claydol at 3 HP. The following turn, however, Luxray opts to Light Screen instead of killing Claydol, which spares Bronzong from Dark Pulse, allowing it to activate TR a second time. Gudrun is steamrolled from here, fainting none of my Pokemon. I note that Scizor4 isn't Technician, explaining why it can't even do 50% to Glaceon with Bullet Punch.
Eh, two mock battles is all I really need. The shitty scenario was winnable, pending some AI decisions (and perhaps not losing a turn with Sableye due to a Rock Slide flinch, which really hurt during the real battle) and the "ideal" outcome of TR staying in play meant that her team stood practically no chance.
I still haven't broken 300 like my opening post's streak, but I'm proud that I lasted as long as I did without letting one team play more than ten battles. Back to the crummy Set 1-3s for a little while.
My team: Claydol/Feraligatr/M-Sableye/Glaceon/Aegislash/Aurorus
Breeder Gudrun's team: Bronzong/Luxray/Gyarados/Volcarona/Lucario/Scizor
This was the first time I got to play with Sheer Force Feraligatr, every bit as powerful as I'd hoped, and what it can't kill after a Swords Dance generally can't threaten it back; it's also the first time I played with Hyper Voice Aurorus, who has made me glad I spent an aggravatingly long time breeding one for a TR-capable IV spread (I recall Aurorus and Ampharos being two of the worst to hatch with 0 speed plus 31 in the necessities.)
As for my loss, it came down to Bronzong first wanting to set up TR and then never using it again despite it having no attacks to really dent any of my Pokemon over a few turns. It's that failure to use it a second time that I had relied upon at my own peril, and because it never did, I never had a safe opportunity to bring Claydol back in.
I did make a mistake in using TR with Claydol right off the bat, which allowed it to be immediately shut back off. However, with Bronzong spending the next three turns using Rock Slide-Rock Slide-Safeguard for low double-digit damage to my own teammates, instead of setting up another TR, I'm left thinking it wasn't necessarily safe to expect it to use it the first turn, either. Luxray had used Light Screen its first turn, which ended up screwing me further.
After that blown first turn, my immediate plan of action was to kill Bronzong and get Claydol back in away from Gyarados... ...until running the calc for Dark Pulse under Light Screen and realising that even at +2, it wouldn't do the job. Gyarados would also survive Life Orb Freeze Dry, a 4x effective attack, so killing it then and there was also out of the question. There also remained Luxray, who could target Claydol with Ice Fang to finish it off.
Both Gyarados and Luxray ran Intimidate, crippling Feraligatr out of the box, who likely would have tried to put some damage onto Luxray without setting up right away. I had switched for Aurorus since I didn't expect TR to be killed and knew it wouldn't be targeted by anything too dangerous (hence being unable to slaughter Gyarados as plan B either.)
When all's said and done, I wouldn't have known Volcarona4 would be part of her backup, and should she have sent it in immediately following one of them (Lucario and Scizor were #4 and #5, actually, though amusingly Aurorus was off the field on both occasions) Claydol still would have been boned.
Like most unsynergetic and beatable teams, I had forced Gudrun down to her last poke, Volcarona vs Aegislash. It was at 2/2/2 at this point and I was for the most part fucked, but eh, the AI's been screwed before- I was wondering if Heat Wave would miss, and if so, my Head Smash could connect, OHKOing Volcarona and making me faint last (Scizor had Bullet Punched it three times for poor damage even in attack mode.) That obviously did not happen, but it was fun to live long enough to roll that dice. I've won "I need them to miss and my own poke to something" gambles before :)
I managed to win my first mock battle under similar circumstances, made easy to replicate by the fact that 1. Bronzong decided not to open with TR and 2. when it finally fucking did, it's when I'd decided to set it up myself. Of course.
That said, what made a difference this time, and what carried me to the auto-center 1v1 earlier, was the easy bait-and-switch between Aurorus and Aegislash. Volcarona came out fourth this time while Feraligatr was present and was killed that same turn, which I think also made a big difference. When I won this one, I had Claydol (low) Glaceon (full) and Sableye (close to full) remaining. Glaceon's bulk plus Lucario's 170/170/170 spread took an Aura Sphere OHKO off the table.
Second mock battle, Bronzong erases TR first turn, but no Light Screen from Luxray (paralyzes Aurorus though) and a crit Aqua Tail leaves Claydol at 3 HP. The following turn, however, Luxray opts to Light Screen instead of killing Claydol, which spares Bronzong from Dark Pulse, allowing it to activate TR a second time. Gudrun is steamrolled from here, fainting none of my Pokemon. I note that Scizor4 isn't Technician, explaining why it can't even do 50% to Glaceon with Bullet Punch.
Eh, two mock battles is all I really need. The shitty scenario was winnable, pending some AI decisions (and perhaps not losing a turn with Sableye due to a Rock Slide flinch, which really hurt during the real battle) and the "ideal" outcome of TR staying in play meant that her team stood practically no chance.
I still haven't broken 300 like my opening post's streak, but I'm proud that I lasted as long as I did without letting one team play more than ten battles. Back to the crummy Set 1-3s for a little while.
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Yeah, good thing it was the "funny bone" kind of painful that, upon a few seconds to reflect on what really just occurred, doesn't really linger that much and you can kind of chuckle it off. This, of course, is 100% because it was battle #175, and not a thousand battles later (which would have been hilariously symmetrical with two singles streaks busted now at that #1,175 number). I literally laughed about a minute later because I had a feeling just how improbable everything that had just happened was. So just for kicks, I'd like to show how unlikely it really was (it doesn't warrant full-blown analysis "100% because it was battle #175").
For those who couldn't be bothered to watch (I don't blame you one bit), the scenario is a +6SpA/+6SpD, burned Suicune against Entei1 (Fire Fang, Sash) with Kanga and Gliscor a 100% health. When Entei burns Suicune on the last turn before I Scald (which kiiiiiiind of matters but not too much), Suicune was at 150 HP right? How many pokemon can OHKO Suicune in this position? Yes, it's Isabella, no one's favorite trainer by any means, and she has the whole legendary gamut at her disposal (except for Heatran1 which hold the same Focus Sash Entei1 does). But as much as "Calm Mind Suicune has no weak" doesn't have much of a place in ingame 3v3 play since you absolutely must account for CHes, the answer to this question is still very, very few pokemon. Obviously Grass and Electric pokemon are our first candidates, but check this out:
252 Atk Virizion Leaf Blade vs. 196 HP / 252+ Def Suicune on a critical hit: 120-144 (60 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(120, 122, 122, 126, 126, 128, 128, 132, 132, 134, 134, 138, 138, 140, 140, 144)
Virizion is a weak piece of shit that even a 12 Def EV, slower, no-flying-move Gliscor beats literally every time—I only care about Virizion4 if it SDes or if I miss a couple Toxics against the CM one (Virizion2). So even with a CH I was guaranteed to get a move off on it (and I might Scald cause I kind of don't want to miss it and 3/4 are physical, but it is just Battle #175 and I'm not sure I'd be so paranoid about an Icy Wind miss).
And there's only one Grass-type ledge. So that leaves the Electrics, a sizable bunch of course. Except Careful Gliscor gives negative fucks about any of them even if they CH Suicune, which they all need to do to fully CMed Cune, even the physical Thundurus3:
0 Atk Thundurus Wild Charge vs. 196 HP / 252+ Def Suicune on a critical hit: 116-138 (58 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(116, 116, 120, 120, 120, 122, 122, 126, 126, 128, 128, 132, 132, 134, 134, 138)
A good part of why Kangliscune is so good is the defensive synergy that indeed allows me to fairly say "ok, fine, legendary electrics couldve killed suicune in that spot but i win if they do".
So what does that leave? We've already eliminated all STAB SE moves, so you then have to go to strong neutral moves. Given Suicune's typing (resists Eruption and Blizzard), you have to go to Draco Meteor:
252 SpA Latios Draco Meteor vs. 196 HP / 0 SpD Suicune on a critical hit: 150-177 (75 - 88.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(150, 151, 153, 154, 157, 159, 160, 162, 163, 165, 168, 169, 171, 172, 174, 177)
This DM from Latios2 will kill 150 HP Cune every time with a CH, which is where that last-ditch Fire Fang Burn starts to matter because I would have been at 175 HP, not 150. And if this DM kills, certainly Specs DM does at well from either Lati twin (and White Herb Latias's CH DM can kill 150 HP Cune 5/16 times, for completeness). Except there's the part where Gliscor again shits all over any almost any pokemon that dares threaten its bro Suicune, thanks importantly to Pressure. While Specs Lati@s can off Suicune relatively "easily" (if you're talking about looking for a big streak), what happens next? They have three DM PP left, two after I go to Gliscor and Protect, and one chance to CH yet again (which would be pretty lol, have fun taking multiple Specs DM CHes). Might even double- and triple-Protect if I'm paranoid about that. Otherwise, I switch to Kanga on Struggle (after Gliscor Subs after DM #4 and Protects on DM #5), and PuP up to like +3. Then I only "fear" Terrakion and Virizion since they outspeed and OHKO a ~70% HP Kanga, except I'd gladly "sacrifice" Kanga here because Gliscor beats all Terra and Viriz that Kanga can't kill—remember, I only care about Virizion4 and its SD, and it's the only one of the eight that Kanga outspeeds (Kanga outspeeds Cobalion1 and 2 and Kanga/Gliscor really can't lose to Coba3-4).
You get my point, and this is getting long but I love this so who cares. What's next, Explosion?
252+ Atk Landorus Explosion vs. 196 HP / 252+ Def Suicune on a critical hit: 150-177 (75 - 88.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(150, 152, 153, 155, 157, 159, 161, 162, 164, 166, 168, 169, 171, 173, 175, 177)
Look familiar? Again with the "last-ditch Fire Fang Burn", and this is the most I can take. LO Cobalion CH CC can't do as much as this, so we're running out of options...until we get ot Tornadus, of course.
252+ SpA Tornadus Hurricane vs. 196 HP / 0 SpD Suicune on a critical hit: 135-159 (67.5 - 79.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(135, 136, 138, 139, 141, 142, 144, 145, 147, 148, 150, 151, 153, 154, 156, 159)
That burn again, but whatever. This isn't the Hurrrnadus that everyone hates.
252 SpA Life Orb Tornadus Hurricane vs. 196 HP / 0 SpD Suicune on a critical hit: 160-188 (80 - 94%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
(160, 161, 164, 165, 168, 169, 172, 173, 175, 177, 179, 181, 183, 185, 187, 188)
252 SpA Life Orb Tornadus Grass Knot (100 BP) vs. 196 HP / 0 SpD Suicune on a critical hit: 192-229 (96 - 114.5%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
(192, 195, 198, 200, 203, 205, 208, 208, 211, 213, 216, 218, 221, 224, 226, 229)
The first thing I calced was the GK CH, and when I saw it did 192 min, that is when I laughed. I've since re-EVed to 205 HP, but even in a completely unreasonable situation where Suicune is literally 100% HP after stalling out Entei, when "the Maison just decides 'you lose,'" you just lose. Much farther beyond battle #175, I probably take better care to have Suicune as healthy as possible...and it still wouldn't matter if Hurrrrrrrnadus decides to be a dick.
Obviously the battle isn't over after this, I've EVed Gliscor specifically with Hurrrrrrrrndaus in mind...and I just lolled anew rewatching what it did to Gliscor, rofllll. After Protecting, Hurrrnadus actually literally hit-CH-confused, I thought it had just hit-confused. A CH LO Hurricane actually kills 1/8 times but the AI surely thought this would be funnier, and this of course means a non-CH allows me to sub if I'm not confused. Gliscor hit itself in Confusion the next turn trying to Protect, after being unable to make its Sub due to the CH the turn prior, and what does the AI use? Hurricane, when Dark Pulse or Extrasensory kill the 27 HP Gliscor easily...just because the AI surely thought this would be funnier.
Now, I know full well that Kanga only does 63% min with +0 Sucker Punch, and of course Hurrnadus is sitting at 70% after three instances of LO recoil. I also know I have a very slim chance of winning with +0 Kanga even at 100% against basically every ledge possible, but the chance I CH Tornadus with either Parental Bond Sucker Punch hit (matters slightly more than a single-hit move since I benefit from the doubled chance of a hit CHing) pushes me in favor of trying that, plus the part where Focus Blast only kills Mega Kanga 3/4 times. I don't kill, but neither does it and I have a ray of hope!
Even brighter when Heatran comes out! "Don't be the scarf one...don't be the scarf one"... +2 Sucker Punch never kills any Heatran, so I don't have to lament the 20/20 hindsight of "why didn't you just PuP on Tornadus". I have to EQ...and sure enough, it's the scarf one. I feel a little sick even though it's only battle #175 because "fuck this game lol". Except...it uses Magma Storm! Ray of hope?! Of course not, why would it miss lol.
I also didn't have time to realize, at the time, that Entei1 removed Heatran1 from consideration, and that it was a 1/3 chance it was "the scarf one", not 1/4, but who cares. To sum up the hilarity:
- As I detailed, Isabella used the literal only pokemon of her 78 remaining options (80-2 sash pokes) that she could that threatens fully CMed 150 HP Suicune + 100% HP Kanga/Gliscor in Hurrrrnadus
- dat LO GK CH doe
- Hurricane hit-CH-confuse on Gliscor (the confuse matters in a way because there's an outside chance I double-Protect up to 49 HP where I can chance getting behind a Sub, since Hurrrrrrnadus is a retard and doesn't use the always-fatal DP-Extrasensory at 27 HP so why would it at 49 HP etc [both do 51 HP min])
- Hurrrrrrrnadus used its least accurate move on an in-the-red pokemon and hit anyway
- Hurricane hit Kanga
- Heatran was Heatran3 (I'm aware I lose to a lot of things at 3 HP, but Heatran and six Lati@s sets are the only things I can beat in that position outside of CHing something like Moltres1-2, so it is a hilarious tease)
- Heatran3 used its least accurate move on an in-the-red pokemon and hit anyway
I'm not the guy who's maintaining the leaderboards, but based on previous experience, it should be fine so long as you document all the teams used, all the changes made, and why you made the changes. For long streaks, your streak will only be as good as the worst team you've used for the streak, so you only gain a benefit by switching if you've pinpointed weaknesses within your team that you want to shore up... which is sort of the point of discussing teams and streaks and whatnot.
There might be some edge cases that would be frowned upon (for example, switching to a radically different team to tackle the Battle Chatelaines because you know your team has a rough time against them), but I think in principle making small, logical changes to your team shouldn't invalidate the streak.
All that being said, if you've gotten to 100 with a team, there's no real reason not to keep going with that team to see how far you can get with it. That's part of the point of this thread: observing patterns and trying to learn what works and what doesn't, and how well the things that do work... well... work. Reaching battle 100 demonstrates that your team is good enough to pass at least 60 battles of the toughest opponents the Maison can throw at you - why not find out if it can do better than that?
Yeah, as faith_grins notes, changing things up midstreak is fine, so long as you discuss what changes you made and why, and aren't trying to game things (such as fighting almost all battles with a good team, then fight a losing battle with some horrid team and then claim the whole streak for the bad team, so you can brag that you have a 200 win streak with Farfetch'd or what have you).
Dragonite/Aegislash/Farfetch'd? Farfetch'd makes a good switch in to Ghost-type moves and Earthquake, allowing Aegislash+Farfetch'd to switch-stall out Blizzard (from stuff like Froslass that run Ice+Ghost coverage)/Rock Slide/Stone Edge/Earthquake. Just a tip for people who want to take their Farfetch'd team to 200.
http://i.imgur.com/UD1RAoTl.jpg
Carbink4 EVs doesn't seem right..
What is it supposed to be? Lol
Edit: This is better
Carbink4 EVs doesn't seem right..
What is it supposed to be? Lol
Edit: This is better
Posting a streak of 610 wins in ORAS Super Rotations.
Team Substitute V3
ninjaethan, Carbink4 probably has Atk/SAtk EVs because it has both Explosion and special attacks. Thanks to the investment, its Explosion is only the second weakest in the Maison, behind Cryogonal4's Explosion.
Team Substitute V3
Battle video: #611 - 2GRG-WWWW-WWXK-JLQX vs. Weavile/Tangrowth/Mienshao/Excadrill
Weavile uses Taunt on Turn 3. The AI instantly rotates Mienshao, saccing it to bring in Excadrill - without Excadrill coming in, Klefki is not in danger of being OHKO'd even while Taunted. The situation is dire, so I rotate Dragonite to use Dragon Dance while Excadrill breaks Multiscale with Rock Slide. I then rotate in Klefki for its last turn of Taunt, and Excadrill finishes it off with Earthquake just in time.
Kangaskhan still has a good chance of sweeping, though. Weavile used Ice Punch, freezing Kangaskhan with a faster blow.
Even now, there's a slim chance to win - I have Gengar at 1hp and if Weavile uses Taunt or Night Slash over Ice Punch on Dragonite, I can still win. It doesn't happen, and Dragonite dies to Ice Punch.
Afterwards, a frozen Kangaskhan that has taken an Ice Punch duels Weavile - if Kangaskhan thaws out in time, I still win, and Weavile might use Taunt to give it another chance to thaw out. Weavile does not use Taunt and Kangaskhan does not thaw out in time, and I lose.
Battle video: #215 - XPDW-WWWW-WWXK-JS8P vs. Hydreigon/Crobat/Haxorus/Drifblim
A loss from an earlier attempt prior to re-EVing Dragonite and changing party order. Features Taunt, Hypnosis, Mold Breaker Haxorus, and saccing Hydreigon to bring in Drifblim - it wasn't very different from the loss on this streak, with Taunt, good match-ups, and good luck/rotations from the AI. It was because of this loss that I realized Dragonite could use extra bulk to survive Sawk4 Stone Edge and boost its stall.
Weavile uses Taunt on Turn 3. The AI instantly rotates Mienshao, saccing it to bring in Excadrill - without Excadrill coming in, Klefki is not in danger of being OHKO'd even while Taunted. The situation is dire, so I rotate Dragonite to use Dragon Dance while Excadrill breaks Multiscale with Rock Slide. I then rotate in Klefki for its last turn of Taunt, and Excadrill finishes it off with Earthquake just in time.
Kangaskhan still has a good chance of sweeping, though. Weavile used Ice Punch, freezing Kangaskhan with a faster blow.
Even now, there's a slim chance to win - I have Gengar at 1hp and if Weavile uses Taunt or Night Slash over Ice Punch on Dragonite, I can still win. It doesn't happen, and Dragonite dies to Ice Punch.
Afterwards, a frozen Kangaskhan that has taken an Ice Punch duels Weavile - if Kangaskhan thaws out in time, I still win, and Weavile might use Taunt to give it another chance to thaw out. Weavile does not use Taunt and Kangaskhan does not thaw out in time, and I lose.
Battle video: #215 - XPDW-WWWW-WWXK-JS8P vs. Hydreigon/Crobat/Haxorus/Drifblim
A loss from an earlier attempt prior to re-EVing Dragonite and changing party order. Features Taunt, Hypnosis, Mold Breaker Haxorus, and saccing Hydreigon to bring in Drifblim - it wasn't very different from the loss on this streak, with Taunt, good match-ups, and good luck/rotations from the AI. It was because of this loss that I realized Dragonite could use extra bulk to survive Sawk4 Stone Edge and boost its stall.
Gengar @ Focus Sash ** Dread-Not
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 Def, 252 SAtk, 252 Spe
-Shadow Ball
-Sludge Bomb
-Destiny Bond
-Toxic
Dragonite @ Lum Berry ** Nosedrip
Ability: Multiscale
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 212 HP, 88 Atk, 12 Def, 12 SDef, 188 Spe
-Outrage
-Substitute
-Roost
-Dragon Dance
Klefki @ Leftovers ** Mint-O-Ship
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Bold
EVs: 228 HP, 252 Def, 28 SDef
-Dazzling Gleam
-Calm Mind
-Substitute
-Protect
Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite ** Stalker-C
Ability: Scrappy
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
-Double-Edge
-Sucker Punch
-Earthquake
-Fake Out
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 Def, 252 SAtk, 252 Spe
-Shadow Ball
-Sludge Bomb
-Destiny Bond
-Toxic
Dragonite @ Lum Berry ** Nosedrip
Ability: Multiscale
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 212 HP, 88 Atk, 12 Def, 12 SDef, 188 Spe
-Outrage
-Substitute
-Roost
-Dragon Dance
Klefki @ Leftovers ** Mint-O-Ship
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Bold
EVs: 228 HP, 252 Def, 28 SDef
-Dazzling Gleam
-Calm Mind
-Substitute
-Protect
Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite ** Stalker-C
Ability: Scrappy
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
-Double-Edge
-Sucker Punch
-Earthquake
-Fake Out
I posted about Toxic and Dragonite's new EV spread already. For a final tweak, I lead with Gengar instead of Klefki - this gives Download P2 and P-Z an Attack boost instead of Special Attack, and avoids giving away Prankster to foes with Trace. I have not noticed changes in AI behaviour from having a different active Pokémon on Turn 1.
In the V1 write-up, I thought Destiny Bond was very difficult to counter-play. With Toxic, it is much more feasible - Froslass and Drifblim, the most dangerous Destiny Bond users, are both killed by Toxic if it hits. PP stalling Destiny Bond is also more viable than I thought - it takes a long time, and the success rate isn't high, with Klefki sometimes failing to do it while wasting all Calm Mind PP, but it is feasible. Driflim3/4, Froslass4, and Gengar4 are the primary Destiny Bond threats, since everything else is slower than Klefki - for Dusknoir4, attack only when Trick Room is not in effect.
Toxic is a bit like Wish passing, except it is passing 100% accurate death to opponents for Klefki to stall with Sub/Protect instead of giving HP to allies. Before the change, I considered changing the team to run Sharpedo instead, but the addition of a perfectly accurate Toxic makes Gengar a much better choice for this team. If you have Gliscor or another Toxic staller, Sharpedo could still be preferable.
This team has a W/L record of around 1800-4. Two of those losses were to misplaying against Destiny Bond, and the two losses to Taunt are briefly described with their battle videos. Discounting Destiny Bond misplays, that's two nasty losses in 1800 - I still think 1000+ is reachable with this team.
I don't think that the active Pokémon affects the AI's move choices - but I've noticed that whether or not the active Pokémon has a Substitute does seem to affect it slightly. If your active Pokémon has a Substitute, the AI seems less likely to use status moves - this mostly means that when Klefki does not have a Substitute and the AI has status moves, it has a greater chance of getting up a free Substitute. Against foes that you'd like to use Toxic against but wouldn't want to rotate Gengar into Thunder Wave or Confuse Ray for, setting up Substitute on Klefki and then rotating in Gengar for Toxic seems to minimize the odds of Gengar being hit with Status. This is a pretty negligible play, but with Cloyster or Mega Kangaskhan, getting a Substitute up before rotating them in to discourage status moves could be an effective adjustment. This behaviour also applies to Taunt - if your active Pokémon is already Taunted, the AI is less likely to do so, so rotating to other Pokémon when you are taunted (which you're probably doing in the first place already) may also buy you extra turns.
In the V1 write-up, I thought Destiny Bond was very difficult to counter-play. With Toxic, it is much more feasible - Froslass and Drifblim, the most dangerous Destiny Bond users, are both killed by Toxic if it hits. PP stalling Destiny Bond is also more viable than I thought - it takes a long time, and the success rate isn't high, with Klefki sometimes failing to do it while wasting all Calm Mind PP, but it is feasible. Driflim3/4, Froslass4, and Gengar4 are the primary Destiny Bond threats, since everything else is slower than Klefki - for Dusknoir4, attack only when Trick Room is not in effect.
Toxic is a bit like Wish passing, except it is passing 100% accurate death to opponents for Klefki to stall with Sub/Protect instead of giving HP to allies. Before the change, I considered changing the team to run Sharpedo instead, but the addition of a perfectly accurate Toxic makes Gengar a much better choice for this team. If you have Gliscor or another Toxic staller, Sharpedo could still be preferable.
This team has a W/L record of around 1800-4. Two of those losses were to misplaying against Destiny Bond, and the two losses to Taunt are briefly described with their battle videos. Discounting Destiny Bond misplays, that's two nasty losses in 1800 - I still think 1000+ is reachable with this team.
I don't think that the active Pokémon affects the AI's move choices - but I've noticed that whether or not the active Pokémon has a Substitute does seem to affect it slightly. If your active Pokémon has a Substitute, the AI seems less likely to use status moves - this mostly means that when Klefki does not have a Substitute and the AI has status moves, it has a greater chance of getting up a free Substitute. Against foes that you'd like to use Toxic against but wouldn't want to rotate Gengar into Thunder Wave or Confuse Ray for, setting up Substitute on Klefki and then rotating in Gengar for Toxic seems to minimize the odds of Gengar being hit with Status. This is a pretty negligible play, but with Cloyster or Mega Kangaskhan, getting a Substitute up before rotating them in to discourage status moves could be an effective adjustment. This behaviour also applies to Taunt - if your active Pokémon is already Taunted, the AI is less likely to do so, so rotating to other Pokémon when you are taunted (which you're probably doing in the first place already) may also buy you extra turns.
ninjaethan, Carbink4 probably has Atk/SAtk EVs because it has both Explosion and special attacks. Thanks to the investment, its Explosion is only the second weakest in the Maison, behind Cryogonal4's Explosion.
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Ah, my bad xD
I thought Explosion was Special lol..
This is more than a bit awkward... but it's the good kind of awkward haha. I was right in thinking this team could do it. Here's another one of those 'did I actually just do this' moments:
(it's really 1001 because out of excitement I forgot to save the video for #1000 so I had to play one more battle)
#1001: 8MMG-WWWW-WWXL-XYW4
#1253: MPGG-WWWW-WWXQ-EDN3
The team is the same one I've using in triples for many months now, and nothing has changed since that ejected 606 streak.
~leads~
By-Tor (Greninja) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Protean
Nature: Timid
IVs: 31/4-5/31/31/31/31
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Mat Block
-Dark Pulse
-Ice Beam
-Grass Knot
Completely standard Mat Block Greninja, commonly considered the best set in terms of coverage, utility, and reliability.
The Snow Dog (Manectric) @ Manectite
Ability: Lightningrod -> Intimidate
IVs: 31/17-20/31/31/31/31
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Thunderbolt
-Flamethrower
-Volt Switch
-Protect
Before building this team I had already played with Mat Block Greninja a fair bit, and naturally faster Electrics are public enemy number 1. As such, when Mega Sceptile was announced, I had been musing a bit over pairing it with Greninja for its ability Lightningrod, but at the time (around early September iirc) Mega Sceptile obviously hadn't been released yet. It was when turskain posted his Greninja/Lucario triples team that an alternate, glaringly obvious, Lightningrod user hit me in the face: Mega Manectric. For those who aren't familiar with his team, it features a Greninja/Specs Rotom-W/Mega Lucario lead and capitalises on the Mat Block / Volt Switch combo, which effectively lets you choose your own middle lead - naturally Manectric performs that role just fine as well. It becomes clearer if you think of a Mat Block opening as a two-turn affairs, and instead of just 'Thunderbolt+Thunderbolt', you also get access to:
-Volt Switch+Waterfall/Play Rough
-Volt Switch+Aqua Jet
-Volt Switch+STAB Flare Blitz/Low Kick
-Volt Switch+Earth Power / STAB Dragon Pulse/Dark Pulse
... and let me tell you, the AI is hard-pressed to come up with a team that walls that. Regular Manectric's Lightningrod is an amazing advantage over Rotom-W and protects Greninja and Talonflame from those annoying faster Electrics, absorbs opposing Thunder Waves, and occasionally protects them from slower Electric-types the second turn as well (by not Mega Evolving right away and having Lightningrod trigger through Mat Block). Obviously Intimidate isn't bad either. The moves are pretty self-explanatory I reckon: Thunderbolt is the go-to STAB move, Volt Switch is arguably the most important move on the team, and Protect is Protect. I opted for Flamethrower over HP Ice for two reasons: I already had Ice coverage in Greninja's Ice Beam, and HP Ice is so disgustingly weak when not 4x SE that it makes Manectric flat-out deadweight against opposing Lightningrod users.
Bob (Talonflame) @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
Nature: Adamant
IVs: 31/31/31/17-18/31/31
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
-Brave Bird
-Taunt
-Tailwind
-Protect
Fairly standard Talonflame, max HP investment in order to be able to take more BB recoil and survive more attacks; no Speed investment because there aren't any relevant Taunt targets worth creeping for. Even though the set has Tailwind, I hardly use it anymore -once every fifteen/twenty battles?- because the team usually has the speed advantage anyway and outright attacking is often just more useful; however, in dire situations and against Roller Skaters and Veterans and the like, the possibility of an emergency / suicide Tailwind is extremely useful for turning the battle back in your favour, especially if Hydreigon is out.
Taunt is sort of an anomaly on this set because most people prefer to run Flare Blitz; however, I'd go as far as to say that Taunt is objectively better. The amount of stuff this move stops is so huge it's not even funny - it dates all the way back from my first teams, when I added it to stop Trick Room, but it also stops other common annoyances such as Stockpile users, Double Teamers (Cresselia2 lol, from a streak-ender to a liability Struggling to death with just one move), and status users (e.g. Swagger). It is not only useful in stopping these kinds of opponents, but it also often turns them into liabilities - Taunt something like Weezing4/Cradily4/Blissey4 and you're essentially fighting 2-on-3 while they're Struggling to death or being unable to do anything other than tickle your team and wait to be finished off later. For additional hilarity, Taunt opposing Electrode4 - with Thunder as its only attacking move - while keeping Manectric unevolved. As for Flare Blitz, I agree that Fire-type coverage is extremely useful on a lead trio (e.g. for Bug/Steels, such as Escavalier4), but since that's taken care of by Manectric's Flamethrower, there's nothing stopping me from running Taunt.
These three beautifully synergising Pokemon are the perfect cogs in this clockwork - the possibility of Mat Block + Volt Switch + Tailwind allows you to set bring yourself in a favourable position for turn 2 in so very, very many battles by freely inflicting the appropriate chip damage, bringing in the appropriate middle 'lead', or gaining a necessary Speed advantage. Additionally, Greninja/Manectric/Talonflame's offensive synergy is nothing to scoff at either - the one free turn granted by Mat Block in tandem with their huge Speed and excellent combined coverage was enough to demolish many a team as well, and a first turn Volt Switch often wasn't the go-to play at all.
~backups~
Galbatorix (Azumarill) @ Wide Lens
Ability: Huge Power
Nature: Adamant
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 4 Spe
-Waterfall
-Play Rough
-Aqua Jet
-Protect
The EVs may seem a tad convoluted, but they simply maximise power and bulk while putting Azumarill at 71 Spe, 1 point above the many, many 70s, and making SpD > Def for random Download boosts. Wide Lens is the only item that should be considered on Azu, in order to patch up Play Rough's accuracy. Even 99% isn't all that desirable, but I generally can get away with it because most targets of that move don't pose an immediate threat (think Umbreon/Scrafty) while others are also covered by other moves (e.g. Conkeldurr); however, there were also a couple of cases where I had to use Play Rough to 2HKO a threatening foe. I've missed three or four Play Roughs during these 1000 battles iirc; had that been more, I don't know if I would've made it this far. The moveset should be straightforward otherwise; I ran Protect > Superpower because the latter is basically only for Empoleon, Blissey, and Ferrothorn, which are sufficiently covered by my other mons. Azumarill generally isn't the first option to Volt Switch out to simply because it's so darn slow, but it complements Talonflame/Greninja excellently and is obviously a fine option if an opposing Pokemon is among its targets (or if the opponent is a Black Belt lol, Azu eats those for breakfast). Otherwise, Azu was mainly added as a glue mon; with my front line, a physical sweeper+a special sweeper made sense as backups, so the final backup needed to be preferably physical (to balance things out), be slow and bulky (in order to function adequately under Trick Room), and be a secondary blanket check to an obscene amount of stuff. Azumarill fills all these characteristics just fine, being renowned for defeating an obscene amount of offensive Pokemon one-on-one (such as every single one of the maison's Raikou sets lol.) Its Aqua Jet comes in especially handy when considering this team can often fall just a bit short of a KO.
Flashheart (Blaziken) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Speed Boost
Nature: Adamant
IVs: 31/31/31/21-24/31/31
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Flare Blitz
-Low Kick
-Rock Slide
-Protect
Originally this used to be Garchomp, but with bad super effective coverage + general difficulty to use Earthquake without too many airborne teammates + non-Life Orb (which was taken by Nidoking att) Garchomp being a weak, pathetic piece of shit, that just didn't cut it. I was looking for a reliable, fast physical breaker with great super effective coverage, and I found it in the one Pokemon I always seem to end up with for this sort of team but nobody else really uses: Blaziken. Fire and Fighting are two of the best STAB types in the battle maison, especially the latter, covering a bunch of fat, annoying stuff like the Regis, Snorlax, Blissey, Regigigas, Slaking, and Regigigas, while Speed Boost often makes a first-turn Tailwind unnecessary. The set is probably completely standard. Flare Blitz and Low Kick are the best and most reliable STAB options available, Protect is not only useful for being Protect but also for Speed Boost, and Rock Slide is the least useless coverage option available. It's the only really inaccurate move on the team, but I only use it like once every thirty battles, so it's fine. It can be a clutch move for finishing off multiple opponents at once, or it's useful when Blaziken is out against a Veteran who happens to send out Moltres, but the situations where it /needs/ to hit are so few and far between (once every 500 battles, and that's being really generous) that I don't think it's a real problem. It's also the only spread move on the team, which is kinda funny when comparing this team to the many TailSpout teams in the higher rankings haha. Expert Belt is a poor man's Life Orb, which was way more useful for Hydreigon; Blaziken's super effective STAB coverage is easily good enough to make EBelt a viable alternative.
Eddie (Hydreigon) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Modest
IVs: 31/25/31/31/31/31
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Dragon Pulse
-Dark Pulse
-Earth Power
-Protect
My special breaker used to be Nidoking, which performed its duties excellently but has terrible defensive synergy and rather redundant offensive coverage with Blaziken. Their shared Water and Psychic weaknesses are especially problematic against Trick Room, which caused me to lose my first streak. turskain and ReptoAbysmal helped me diagnose why my backups sucked, and from their advice I deduced the missing piece of the puzzle: Hydreigon. Hydreigon not only has near-perfect defensive synergy with Blaziken, it also has the typing and movepool to tear Trick Room teams apart (except Aromatisse4, fiiine, rub it in), as well as an Earthquake immunity. This is a lot cooler than it sounds, because it allows a safe Volt Switch option for Manectric even after the Mat Block turn in many, many battles. Hydreigon's cross-field moves were the icing on the cake, gaving my team even more flexibility, and while Greninja's Dark Pulse and Talon's Brave Bird were pretty damn useful for sniping stuff across the field, there's even less that can argue with Modest Hydreigon's Life Orb-boosted STAB Pulse moves. The moveset is completely standard I suppose; Earth Power is there over something like Flamethrower because I didn't have a Ground-type move otherwise in order to cover Electrics and had enough Fire coverage, and I chose Modest over Timid because I have Tailwind anyway and there isn't that much that Timid gains over Modest.
The biggest threat to this team is easily Trick Room, with Mara as the main offender - she's basically the only trainer with a consistently decent at least matchup against my team. In case of only one setter, I 'can' basically always avoid TR by either Taunting or killing it - things do get sticky in the event of multiple setters (basically only against Mara) or Fake Out support (basically only from Jynx). Easily the most dangerous setters are Aromatisse4 (Aroma Veil, can only be KOed by triple targeting, and slaughters Hydreigon), Bronzong1 (more annoying utility moves+Sitrus Berry and possible Heatproof making it nigh unkillable in the left position), and Cresselia4 (stupid bulk+Moonblast for Hydreigon+legendary teammates lol. I thought that, if not Mara, Cress4 in the left position would be the opponent I'd eventually lose to). Another potential downfall is trying too rigidly to Taunt+kill setters in a convoluted situation with multiple setters, which cost me my previous streak; honestly, often it's just better to bite the bullet, assess if there are any dangerous opponents on the field / how much it'll cost you to actually triple target that setter/those setters, and fight the battle within TR; conveniently the most resilient setters have hardly any offensive presence so you're effectively fighting 2v3 within said TR. That's not so bad.
Opponents that outspeed Greninja are obvious annoyances as well. Electrics are neutered by Lightningrod, Aerodactyl and Crobat are conveniently outsped by Manectric in its Mega forme; the standard play is Protect with Manectric and Ice Beam with Greninja (which always survives because Sash), in the right position they're beaten by a second turn Thunderbolt. Choice Scarf users can be kept in check via clever use of Protect and Talon's Brave Bird (e.g. Protect with Manectric and Talon against Darm4 and Dark Pulse it, then kill it with BB; or use BB first turn to substantially weaken Entei3's Eruption, yada yada). Fake Out from the likes of Infernape, Ludicolo, and Jynx is annoying as well, but it only got really hairy one time when I misplayed and Mat Block got disrupted and I got to eat a +1 Torrent-boosted Surf from a center Empoleon4. Individual threats include the traditional Zapdos2 (only hit super effectively by Ice Beam and Double Team sucks, so must be muscled through quickly; Taunting it works as well, but there's nothing more annoying than inadvertently Taunting Zapdos1 and giving some other dangerous legendary a free turn), Cresselia2 in the left position (Taunt bait otherwise, but again there's the possibility of inadvertently Taunting an innocent set). Continuing on the Zapdos note, Ampharos4 is surprisingly annoying, as it's one of the very few Electrics not neutered by Manectric (because it prefers Focus Blast and Power Gem regardless) and while Hydreigon easily beats it with Earthquake, it can't switch in because of Focus Blast and the rest of my team has trouble hitting through Ampharos without taking a huge chunk of damage. I also hate Glaceon because it's strong as fuck, is difficult to OHKO, hits my entire team with Blizzard, freezes everything on sight, and has Brightpowder for additional hilarity; fortunately Manectric's Flamethrower and Blaziken (with Flare Blitz's thawing side effect) go a long way towards combating it. A really annoying miscellaneous Mat Block disruptor is Shiftry4; Fake Out + Protect + Focus Sash + STAB Sucker Punch makes it a pain to deal with without wasting a lot of momentum. (A funny thing about that Shiftry is that, since Maison pokes can now have their HAs, it can have Sucker Punch + Pickpocket, which is an illegal set [PtHGSS tutor move + HA]. As if the dual Iron Ball scandal, where I lost to Mara when she used two Iron Ball holders on her team, wasn't enough huehuehue, what more mostly innocent programming oversights will await us?) May add more later.
Traditional threats such as status and Quick Claw users are covered relatively well imo. Quick Claw users are covered by Mega Manectric's Intimidate, which prevents Muk's Explosion and Ursaring's Earthquake from OHKOing any of my leads on the Mat Block turn; Leafeon has a terrible matchup against my leads anyway, while Donphan admittedly is dangerous. Talonflame's Brave Bird 2HKOes all of them at worst as well, so I'm not afraid of a QC proc on the second turn. Status is covered remarkably well between Manectric's Lightningrod absorbing Thunder Waves, Talon's Taunt preventing basically everything from the mid and right positions, and Talon's cross-field Brave Bird OHKOing asshats like Lilligant, Vileplume, and (often) Absol. Sleep is pretty rare anyway (Greninja beats Altaria and Crobat - which always Taunts Greninja anyway, in the right position simply Protect+Mega with Manectric turn 1 and kill it turn 2 - Drifblim sucks, Jynx opens with Fake Out and is dead before it can use Lovely Kiss, and Politoed always uses Focus Blast/Hydro Pump), and my team doesn't really give a fuck about Will-O-Wisp (two of the physical attackers are immune to it; only Azu hates it). May add more later
There were several other battles that had the potential to turn out wrong but didn't because not 'everything' that could go wrong did, though. Right before this battle there was a battle with a triple Brightpowder miss against Zapdos2 (which fortunately preferred to spam Heat Wave rather than set up Double Team) in addition to one with a triple Lax Incense miss against Latias1 (which fortunately was in the endgame). Even in the last 100 battles, there was this battle where Taunt missed Regigigas as I Volt Switched to Blaziken and it got confused - and proceeded to hit itself three consecutive times (I decided to take the coinflip rather than switch Blaziken out, Taunt again, and not KO that Virizion or something nearby); that battle came down to Cobalion (left) and Regigigas (middle) vs. Azumarill (middle) and Hydreigon (right), but I was never in real danger. Worse was a battle in the last 50 that I ended up winning rather comfortably but could have gone badly wrong when Latias2 came out in against Blaziken (both in the right position) while I had already lost Greninja and Talonflame (i.e. no SE hits and no Tailwind available) and Azumarill was all the way in the left position. I was forced to switch to Hydreigon in order to take the Psychic attack (which also identified the set) and shift Azumarill to the middle - as the opposing Entei2 burned it. As such, Play Rough was only a 2HKO while Hydreigon was completely helpless - I 'had to' either double Protect or just eat the Draco Meteor regardless, heh. Anyway, Hydreigon and Azu pulled it off and disaster was averted (and the last mon was Articuno while I obviously had Blaziken in reserve so I guess I would have won regardless, but that's beside the point). The Ivan near-loss was good for me though, I needed something to remind me that the team wasn't actually invincible, no matter its W/L ratio, and I remained incredibly focused ever since.
Other replays:
#112: TD7G-WWWW-WWXB-SCX7
A random battle against another pretty darn bad lineup from Mara; however, this time I approached it more flexibly and won just fine. Dat slow Volt Switch btw ^^
#952: K7RW-WWWW-WWXL-XYFZ
The double Protect replay mentioned above.
#985: X8VW-WWWW-WWXL-XY4M
A somewhat generic replay that I wanted to add because it shows the leads dismantling a generally difficult opponent (Punk Guy Jensen) by themselves.
I'm not even that scared of Mara anymore. I've built up the necessary experience, I guess, and now I know better how to battle in TR - and honestly, yes it sucks if that Dusknoir4 sets up TR, but that set is so bad otherwise that you're fighting two-on-three in said TR so just capitalise on that. I've had TR go up a couple more times during this streak, usually because I didn't want to go out of my way in order to kill a left-side Dusknoir4 and lose two mons in the process. As for Mara, I've got Azumarill and Hydreigon to run through most of her team. Yes, it's still gonna be difficult and they need their checks taken care of (in Gourgeist/Trevenant/Cofagrigus and Conkeldurr/Aromatisse respectively), but I can handle those, and then how is it any different from a difficult Veteran battle? 2000+ battles altogether with this team in its different iterations can't have hurt in figuring out what it can and can't do. When I first started playing this team, the standard first turn consisted of Mat Block + Volt Switch + Tailwind, not recognising if it actually was the best play; during the 900s, I Volt Switched out roughly half the time, and I used Tailwind only five times, none of which were on the first turn. I guess I've improved.
These last 100 or so battles were... intense, nothing less. I mostly got over that game eject on X, but I'd be lying if I were to say I hadn't been counting a 'technical' streak length every now and then, and when I hit 394 (606+394=1000 obviously), I felt a strange melancholy ('so here it is, 1000 consecutive wins in one format... happy?' It was especially creepy when during that battle my computer randomly started playing Rush - Clockwork Angels -that very song I named this team after- from a 400-song playlist haha), and if you're then coming closer and closer to your goal, it gets really hard to process. From 950 to 1000 doesn't look so far, does it? On the other hand, it's just as far as it is from 150 to 200 (and I still remember how much of a pain that was the first time around) - but at the same time it is not, not really at least, because a team reaching 950 wins has shown considerably more consistency than a team reaching 150. I also knew damn sure this team had the potential of reaching 1000 - I mean, it had literally, objectively, won 1500+ battles in a row - but then that one bad matchup + choke + bit of hax happens and everything has been for naught. Even just in the maison several streaks have been bopped in those same 900s, and I'm just so very, very glad I got past them, even though all this is still really hard to fathom. It's just so weird that I'm posting this and it isn't over yet.
This is the longest win streak featuring Azumarill and Blaziken. After 1000 naturally comes 2000, so especially considering the axis of my team I guess it makes sense I should try reaching the longest Mega Manectric + Hydreigon streak as well, but damn that's gonna be hard... I know, if you can win 1000 consecutive battles once you can also do it twice, and my team can't be that bad, but Mercury's team is nothing short of art, and only a little has to go wrong. I guess I can't walk away from that challenge though, but first I need some time to regain my focus haha, I've only beaten one dungeon yet on Majora's Mask 3D and maybe I've been cranking out a little too many battles the past month and a half-ish ^^ I know I'm just standing on the shoulders of giants here, but it's been a pretty amazing run so far and I intend to bring it a little further. It's nice to see things you love perform well.
Good luck, everyone!
(it's really 1001 because out of excitement I forgot to save the video for #1000 so I had to play one more battle)
#1253: MPGG-WWWW-WWXQ-EDN3
The team is the same one I've using in triples for many months now, and nothing has changed since that ejected 606 streak.
232 win streak with the team's first serious version, still featuring Nidoking
theorymon post about Nidoking's replacement
298 win streak with a more or less final version, with Hydreigon but with somewhat inefficient EV spreads and no Protect on Azumarill
theorymon post about Nidoking's replacement
298 win streak with a more or less final version, with Hydreigon but with somewhat inefficient EV spreads and no Protect on Azumarill
~leads~
By-Tor (Greninja) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Protean
Nature: Timid
IVs: 31/4-5/31/31/31/31
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Mat Block
-Dark Pulse
-Ice Beam
-Grass Knot
Completely standard Mat Block Greninja, commonly considered the best set in terms of coverage, utility, and reliability.
The Snow Dog (Manectric) @ Manectite
Ability: Lightningrod -> Intimidate
IVs: 31/17-20/31/31/31/31
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Thunderbolt
-Flamethrower
-Volt Switch
-Protect
Before building this team I had already played with Mat Block Greninja a fair bit, and naturally faster Electrics are public enemy number 1. As such, when Mega Sceptile was announced, I had been musing a bit over pairing it with Greninja for its ability Lightningrod, but at the time (around early September iirc) Mega Sceptile obviously hadn't been released yet. It was when turskain posted his Greninja/Lucario triples team that an alternate, glaringly obvious, Lightningrod user hit me in the face: Mega Manectric. For those who aren't familiar with his team, it features a Greninja/Specs Rotom-W/Mega Lucario lead and capitalises on the Mat Block / Volt Switch combo, which effectively lets you choose your own middle lead - naturally Manectric performs that role just fine as well. It becomes clearer if you think of a Mat Block opening as a two-turn affairs, and instead of just 'Thunderbolt+Thunderbolt', you also get access to:
-Volt Switch+Waterfall/Play Rough
-Volt Switch+Aqua Jet
-Volt Switch+STAB Flare Blitz/Low Kick
-Volt Switch+Earth Power / STAB Dragon Pulse/Dark Pulse
... and let me tell you, the AI is hard-pressed to come up with a team that walls that. Regular Manectric's Lightningrod is an amazing advantage over Rotom-W and protects Greninja and Talonflame from those annoying faster Electrics, absorbs opposing Thunder Waves, and occasionally protects them from slower Electric-types the second turn as well (by not Mega Evolving right away and having Lightningrod trigger through Mat Block). Obviously Intimidate isn't bad either. The moves are pretty self-explanatory I reckon: Thunderbolt is the go-to STAB move, Volt Switch is arguably the most important move on the team, and Protect is Protect. I opted for Flamethrower over HP Ice for two reasons: I already had Ice coverage in Greninja's Ice Beam, and HP Ice is so disgustingly weak when not 4x SE that it makes Manectric flat-out deadweight against opposing Lightningrod users.
Bob (Talonflame) @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
Nature: Adamant
IVs: 31/31/31/17-18/31/31
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
-Brave Bird
-Taunt
-Tailwind
-Protect
Fairly standard Talonflame, max HP investment in order to be able to take more BB recoil and survive more attacks; no Speed investment because there aren't any relevant Taunt targets worth creeping for. Even though the set has Tailwind, I hardly use it anymore -once every fifteen/twenty battles?- because the team usually has the speed advantage anyway and outright attacking is often just more useful; however, in dire situations and against Roller Skaters and Veterans and the like, the possibility of an emergency / suicide Tailwind is extremely useful for turning the battle back in your favour, especially if Hydreigon is out.
Taunt is sort of an anomaly on this set because most people prefer to run Flare Blitz; however, I'd go as far as to say that Taunt is objectively better. The amount of stuff this move stops is so huge it's not even funny - it dates all the way back from my first teams, when I added it to stop Trick Room, but it also stops other common annoyances such as Stockpile users, Double Teamers (Cresselia2 lol, from a streak-ender to a liability Struggling to death with just one move), and status users (e.g. Swagger). It is not only useful in stopping these kinds of opponents, but it also often turns them into liabilities - Taunt something like Weezing4/Cradily4/Blissey4 and you're essentially fighting 2-on-3 while they're Struggling to death or being unable to do anything other than tickle your team and wait to be finished off later. For additional hilarity, Taunt opposing Electrode4 - with Thunder as its only attacking move - while keeping Manectric unevolved. As for Flare Blitz, I agree that Fire-type coverage is extremely useful on a lead trio (e.g. for Bug/Steels, such as Escavalier4), but since that's taken care of by Manectric's Flamethrower, there's nothing stopping me from running Taunt.
These three beautifully synergising Pokemon are the perfect cogs in this clockwork - the possibility of Mat Block + Volt Switch + Tailwind allows you to set bring yourself in a favourable position for turn 2 in so very, very many battles by freely inflicting the appropriate chip damage, bringing in the appropriate middle 'lead', or gaining a necessary Speed advantage. Additionally, Greninja/Manectric/Talonflame's offensive synergy is nothing to scoff at either - the one free turn granted by Mat Block in tandem with their huge Speed and excellent combined coverage was enough to demolish many a team as well, and a first turn Volt Switch often wasn't the go-to play at all.
~backups~
Galbatorix (Azumarill) @ Wide Lens
Ability: Huge Power
Nature: Adamant
IVs: 31/31/31/31/31/31
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 4 Spe
-Waterfall
-Play Rough
-Aqua Jet
-Protect
The EVs may seem a tad convoluted, but they simply maximise power and bulk while putting Azumarill at 71 Spe, 1 point above the many, many 70s, and making SpD > Def for random Download boosts. Wide Lens is the only item that should be considered on Azu, in order to patch up Play Rough's accuracy. Even 99% isn't all that desirable, but I generally can get away with it because most targets of that move don't pose an immediate threat (think Umbreon/Scrafty) while others are also covered by other moves (e.g. Conkeldurr); however, there were also a couple of cases where I had to use Play Rough to 2HKO a threatening foe. I've missed three or four Play Roughs during these 1000 battles iirc; had that been more, I don't know if I would've made it this far. The moveset should be straightforward otherwise; I ran Protect > Superpower because the latter is basically only for Empoleon, Blissey, and Ferrothorn, which are sufficiently covered by my other mons. Azumarill generally isn't the first option to Volt Switch out to simply because it's so darn slow, but it complements Talonflame/Greninja excellently and is obviously a fine option if an opposing Pokemon is among its targets (or if the opponent is a Black Belt lol, Azu eats those for breakfast). Otherwise, Azu was mainly added as a glue mon; with my front line, a physical sweeper+a special sweeper made sense as backups, so the final backup needed to be preferably physical (to balance things out), be slow and bulky (in order to function adequately under Trick Room), and be a secondary blanket check to an obscene amount of stuff. Azumarill fills all these characteristics just fine, being renowned for defeating an obscene amount of offensive Pokemon one-on-one (such as every single one of the maison's Raikou sets lol.) Its Aqua Jet comes in especially handy when considering this team can often fall just a bit short of a KO.
Flashheart (Blaziken) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Speed Boost
Nature: Adamant
IVs: 31/31/31/21-24/31/31
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Flare Blitz
-Low Kick
-Rock Slide
-Protect
Originally this used to be Garchomp, but with bad super effective coverage + general difficulty to use Earthquake without too many airborne teammates + non-Life Orb (which was taken by Nidoking att) Garchomp being a weak, pathetic piece of shit, that just didn't cut it. I was looking for a reliable, fast physical breaker with great super effective coverage, and I found it in the one Pokemon I always seem to end up with for this sort of team but nobody else really uses: Blaziken. Fire and Fighting are two of the best STAB types in the battle maison, especially the latter, covering a bunch of fat, annoying stuff like the Regis, Snorlax, Blissey, Regigigas, Slaking, and Regigigas, while Speed Boost often makes a first-turn Tailwind unnecessary. The set is probably completely standard. Flare Blitz and Low Kick are the best and most reliable STAB options available, Protect is not only useful for being Protect but also for Speed Boost, and Rock Slide is the least useless coverage option available. It's the only really inaccurate move on the team, but I only use it like once every thirty battles, so it's fine. It can be a clutch move for finishing off multiple opponents at once, or it's useful when Blaziken is out against a Veteran who happens to send out Moltres, but the situations where it /needs/ to hit are so few and far between (once every 500 battles, and that's being really generous) that I don't think it's a real problem. It's also the only spread move on the team, which is kinda funny when comparing this team to the many TailSpout teams in the higher rankings haha. Expert Belt is a poor man's Life Orb, which was way more useful for Hydreigon; Blaziken's super effective STAB coverage is easily good enough to make EBelt a viable alternative.
Eddie (Hydreigon) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Modest
IVs: 31/25/31/31/31/31
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
-Dragon Pulse
-Dark Pulse
-Earth Power
-Protect
My special breaker used to be Nidoking, which performed its duties excellently but has terrible defensive synergy and rather redundant offensive coverage with Blaziken. Their shared Water and Psychic weaknesses are especially problematic against Trick Room, which caused me to lose my first streak. turskain and ReptoAbysmal helped me diagnose why my backups sucked, and from their advice I deduced the missing piece of the puzzle: Hydreigon. Hydreigon not only has near-perfect defensive synergy with Blaziken, it also has the typing and movepool to tear Trick Room teams apart (except Aromatisse4, fiiine, rub it in), as well as an Earthquake immunity. This is a lot cooler than it sounds, because it allows a safe Volt Switch option for Manectric even after the Mat Block turn in many, many battles. Hydreigon's cross-field moves were the icing on the cake, gaving my team even more flexibility, and while Greninja's Dark Pulse and Talon's Brave Bird were pretty damn useful for sniping stuff across the field, there's even less that can argue with Modest Hydreigon's Life Orb-boosted STAB Pulse moves. The moveset is completely standard I suppose; Earth Power is there over something like Flamethrower because I didn't have a Ground-type move otherwise in order to cover Electrics and had enough Fire coverage, and I chose Modest over Timid because I have Tailwind anyway and there isn't that much that Timid gains over Modest.
The biggest threat to this team is easily Trick Room, with Mara as the main offender - she's basically the only trainer with a consistently decent at least matchup against my team. In case of only one setter, I 'can' basically always avoid TR by either Taunting or killing it - things do get sticky in the event of multiple setters (basically only against Mara) or Fake Out support (basically only from Jynx). Easily the most dangerous setters are Aromatisse4 (Aroma Veil, can only be KOed by triple targeting, and slaughters Hydreigon), Bronzong1 (more annoying utility moves+Sitrus Berry and possible Heatproof making it nigh unkillable in the left position), and Cresselia4 (stupid bulk+Moonblast for Hydreigon+legendary teammates lol. I thought that, if not Mara, Cress4 in the left position would be the opponent I'd eventually lose to). Another potential downfall is trying too rigidly to Taunt+kill setters in a convoluted situation with multiple setters, which cost me my previous streak; honestly, often it's just better to bite the bullet, assess if there are any dangerous opponents on the field / how much it'll cost you to actually triple target that setter/those setters, and fight the battle within TR; conveniently the most resilient setters have hardly any offensive presence so you're effectively fighting 2v3 within said TR. That's not so bad.
Opponents that outspeed Greninja are obvious annoyances as well. Electrics are neutered by Lightningrod, Aerodactyl and Crobat are conveniently outsped by Manectric in its Mega forme; the standard play is Protect with Manectric and Ice Beam with Greninja (which always survives because Sash), in the right position they're beaten by a second turn Thunderbolt. Choice Scarf users can be kept in check via clever use of Protect and Talon's Brave Bird (e.g. Protect with Manectric and Talon against Darm4 and Dark Pulse it, then kill it with BB; or use BB first turn to substantially weaken Entei3's Eruption, yada yada). Fake Out from the likes of Infernape, Ludicolo, and Jynx is annoying as well, but it only got really hairy one time when I misplayed and Mat Block got disrupted and I got to eat a +1 Torrent-boosted Surf from a center Empoleon4. Individual threats include the traditional Zapdos2 (only hit super effectively by Ice Beam and Double Team sucks, so must be muscled through quickly; Taunting it works as well, but there's nothing more annoying than inadvertently Taunting Zapdos1 and giving some other dangerous legendary a free turn), Cresselia2 in the left position (Taunt bait otherwise, but again there's the possibility of inadvertently Taunting an innocent set). Continuing on the Zapdos note, Ampharos4 is surprisingly annoying, as it's one of the very few Electrics not neutered by Manectric (because it prefers Focus Blast and Power Gem regardless) and while Hydreigon easily beats it with Earthquake, it can't switch in because of Focus Blast and the rest of my team has trouble hitting through Ampharos without taking a huge chunk of damage. I also hate Glaceon because it's strong as fuck, is difficult to OHKO, hits my entire team with Blizzard, freezes everything on sight, and has Brightpowder for additional hilarity; fortunately Manectric's Flamethrower and Blaziken (with Flare Blitz's thawing side effect) go a long way towards combating it. A really annoying miscellaneous Mat Block disruptor is Shiftry4; Fake Out + Protect + Focus Sash + STAB Sucker Punch makes it a pain to deal with without wasting a lot of momentum. (A funny thing about that Shiftry is that, since Maison pokes can now have their HAs, it can have Sucker Punch + Pickpocket, which is an illegal set [PtHGSS tutor move + HA]. As if the dual Iron Ball scandal, where I lost to Mara when she used two Iron Ball holders on her team, wasn't enough huehuehue, what more mostly innocent programming oversights will await us?) May add more later.
Traditional threats such as status and Quick Claw users are covered relatively well imo. Quick Claw users are covered by Mega Manectric's Intimidate, which prevents Muk's Explosion and Ursaring's Earthquake from OHKOing any of my leads on the Mat Block turn; Leafeon has a terrible matchup against my leads anyway, while Donphan admittedly is dangerous. Talonflame's Brave Bird 2HKOes all of them at worst as well, so I'm not afraid of a QC proc on the second turn. Status is covered remarkably well between Manectric's Lightningrod absorbing Thunder Waves, Talon's Taunt preventing basically everything from the mid and right positions, and Talon's cross-field Brave Bird OHKOing asshats like Lilligant, Vileplume, and (often) Absol. Sleep is pretty rare anyway (Greninja beats Altaria and Crobat - which always Taunts Greninja anyway, in the right position simply Protect+Mega with Manectric turn 1 and kill it turn 2 - Drifblim sucks, Jynx opens with Fake Out and is dead before it can use Lovely Kiss, and Politoed always uses Focus Blast/Hydro Pump), and my team doesn't really give a fuck about Will-O-Wisp (two of the physical attackers are immune to it; only Azu hates it). May add more later
Anyway, I've already rambled so much about this team that I feel I need to add a little something to make this post worthwhile, so I've decided to narrate what's easily the closest battle out of the past 1001 (or 1607 when including the ejected X streak). Stealing turskain's warstory format because I like it ^^
#651: TZLW-WWWW-WWXL-XYYK, vs. Worker Ivan.
(yea I know those percentages aren't entirely accurate, it's hard to monitor properly k)
Turn 1
vs.
This isn't good... Donphan4 with its Quick Claw and possible Sturdy in the left position, Marowak4 with possible opposing Lightningrod in the middle, and Tyranitar4 with its Focus Sash and generally unpleasant sand in the right. All of these can be handled fine when alone - Donphan by assuming its Quick Claw will trigger, skipping Mat Block and using Protect on both Manectric and Talonflame, using Grass Knot, and finishing it off with Brave Bird turn 2; Marowak by killing it with Flamethrower + Brave Bird under Mat Block -or whatever depending on the circumstances, because it likes to use Detect so double targeting isn't always smart; and Tyranitar by bopping its Sash via Volt Switch and bringing in Blaziken. Because Donphan is the more immediate threat, I decide to deal with it first and click Grass Knot+Protect+Protect. I decide to leave Manectric unevolved so that Greninja still outspeeds it turn 2, allowing it to safely Volt Switch out of Tyranitar as Greninja kills Marowak - in hindsight this wasn't that smart because the spread moves from Donphan+Marowak are likely to kill Greninja anyway, especially without Intimidate, rendering this whole plan void, not to mention the possibility of Detect. With Intimidate, Greninja most likely would have survived these, judging by the damage output.
-The opposing Donphan's Quick Claw made it move first!
-Manectric uses Protect
-Talonflame uses Protect
-Donphan uses Earthquake - Greninja 40% remaining, Marowak 50% remaining
-Greninja uses Grass Knot on Donphan - miss
-Marowak uses Rock Slide - Greninja KO, Manectric protected itself
-Tyranitar uses Rock Slide - Manectric protected itself, Talonflame protected itself.
-Go! Azumarill!
Turn 2
50%
vs.
92%
92%
...crap. It may be only a 1/3 chance, but Donphan's ability is Sand Veil, which otherwise would have allowed Greninja to OHKO it outright but now causes me to lose Greninja without even scratching it. Plan B for Donphan is to target it with Azumarill + Talonflame's potent dual priority, which stands a solid chance of KOing it - as for Manectric, I'll just have to bite the bullet and Volt Switch to Blaziken to break the Sash while praying Marowak's ability isn't Lightningrod, which still is a 2/3 chance. Blaziken can take the dual Rock Slide after Intimidate, while Talonflame isn't gonna survive this turn, but that was obvious as soon as I saw the lineups, so whatever I guess.
-Manectric has Mega Evolved into Mega Manectric
-Talonflame uses Brave Bird on Donphan - 50%
-Azumarill uses Aqua Jet on Donphan - miss
-Mega Manectric uses Volt Switch on Tyranitar - The opposing Marowak took the attack! It doesn't affect the opposing Marowak...
-Marowak uses Rock Slide - Mega Manectric 75%, Talonflame KO, Azumarill 80%
-Tyranitar uses Rock Slide - Mega Manectric 30%
-Donphan uses Earthquake - Mega Manectric KO, Marowak 20%, Azumarill 50%
-Go! Hydreigon (middle); Go! Blaziken (right)
Turn 3
50%
20%
vs.
45%
This is the first 'ok something has just gone spectacularly badly wrong' moment during the 1250+ battles of this streak and the previous one. My terrific threesome crumbled, and while Azumarill / Hydreigon / Blaziken is a pretty strong field during a cleanup at least and the three of them generally perform very well against Workers, being 3-0 down during a sandstorm with three mystery backups and being impossible to OHKO all three foes in return - fuck that Sash - is generally a losing proposition. I send out Hydreigon and Blaziken, with Hydreigon in the middle because squishy Blaziken prefers the relative safety of the side position. Azumarill's KO on Donphan isn't secure so I have to target it with Hydreigon, while Marowak obviously is in KO range for literally everything and I'll just have to knock Tyranitar down to its Sash. I click the appropriate attacks and cross my fingers.
-Marowak uses Detect
-Azumarill uses Aqua Jet - Marowak protected itself
-Hydreigon uses Dragon Pulse on Donphan - KO
-Blaziken uses Low Kick on Tyranitar - 1 HP
-Tyranitar uses Earthquake - It doesn't affect Hydreigon, Blaziken 40%, Marowak protected itself
-Ivan sends out Escavalier (left)
Turn 4
20%
1 HP
vs.
40%
82%
40%
252+ Atk Tyranitar Superpower vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Hydreigon: 168-198 (100.5 - 118.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Intimidate pretty much saved my ass here, causing Tyranitar to use a less lethal move.. but Escavalier isn't something I wanted to see. It has a KO on both Hydreigon and Azumarill, so Protect baiting is no use. Aside from going for the obvious KOs on Marowak and Tyranitar, I just attack it with Hydreigon in hope something cool happens - it can 2HKO it, so if I were to Protect with Hydreigon while it kills Azu, I'd pretty much lose. I click the appropriate attacks and once again cross my fingers.
-Azumarill uses Aqua Jet on Marowak - KO
-Blaziken uses Low Kick on Tyranitar - KO
-Hydreigon uses Dark Pulse on Escavalier - 50%
-Escavalier uses Megahorn on Hydreigon - KO
-Ivan sends out Magnezone (center) and Probopass (right)
Turn 5
50%
vs.
35% (center is empty)
35%
Now that the final mystery pokes have been identified as Magnezone and Probopass, this looks winnable... but it's firmly out of my control. Blaziken OHKOes everything that's left on the field, but both Magnezone and Probopass can have Sturdy - and Blaziken will obviously keel over if it takes one more hit, and he's my last hope. I can bop Magnezone's Sturdy with Azumarill, but if Probopass has Sturdy, I lose. Worse, even though Azumarill probably still looks more appetising, Magnezone also has a KO on Blaziken - if it KOes Blaziken, I lose. So the situation is as follows: if Escavalier and Magnezone double target Azumarill while it Protects and Probopass doesn't have Sturdy, I win - everything else results in a 'mission failed'. I click the appropriate attacks and cross my fingers.
-Azumarill uses Protect
-Blaziken uses Low Kick on Probopass - KO
-Magnezone uses Thunderbolt - Azumarill protected itself
-Escavalier uses Iron Head - Azumarill protected itself
Turn 6
50%
vs.
35% (center is empty)
35%
Merry mother of Azelf, YES!!
-Azumarill uses Aqua Jet on Magnezone - 80%
-Blaziken uses Low Kick on Magnezone - KO
-Escavalier uses Iron Head on Azumarill - KO
-Automatic center!
Turn 7
50%
vs.
35%
-Blaziken uses Flare Blitz on Escavalier - KO
-Blaziken survives with 21 HP
There will be a day when the Maison just decides 'you lose' and you just lose. But today is not that day.
I'm not too sure what's the logic behind narrating that one battle out of more than a thousand where Greninja / Manectric / Talonflame was ruthlessly dismantled. On the other hand, I guess it does say something when it takes such a lineup of a Mat Block disruptor + Volt Switch disruptor + general annoyance in addition to a double Sand Veil miss to actually bring it down - and even then, the backups pulled through. The leads struggling against a Worker of all trainers isn't that surprising because admittedly their matchup isn't GREAT, but the backups do have a generally good matchup against them, and I usually can bring the appropriate one in via Volt Switch so against them the battles tend to turn out rather forgettable as well. In addition to my misplays in the opening turns, the matchup here was just a bit too disruptive I guess.
#651: TZLW-WWWW-WWXL-XYYK, vs. Worker Ivan.
(yea I know those percentages aren't entirely accurate, it's hard to monitor properly k)
Turn 1
vs.
This isn't good... Donphan4 with its Quick Claw and possible Sturdy in the left position, Marowak4 with possible opposing Lightningrod in the middle, and Tyranitar4 with its Focus Sash and generally unpleasant sand in the right. All of these can be handled fine when alone - Donphan by assuming its Quick Claw will trigger, skipping Mat Block and using Protect on both Manectric and Talonflame, using Grass Knot, and finishing it off with Brave Bird turn 2; Marowak by killing it with Flamethrower + Brave Bird under Mat Block -or whatever depending on the circumstances, because it likes to use Detect so double targeting isn't always smart; and Tyranitar by bopping its Sash via Volt Switch and bringing in Blaziken. Because Donphan is the more immediate threat, I decide to deal with it first and click Grass Knot+Protect+Protect. I decide to leave Manectric unevolved so that Greninja still outspeeds it turn 2, allowing it to safely Volt Switch out of Tyranitar as Greninja kills Marowak - in hindsight this wasn't that smart because the spread moves from Donphan+Marowak are likely to kill Greninja anyway, especially without Intimidate, rendering this whole plan void, not to mention the possibility of Detect. With Intimidate, Greninja most likely would have survived these, judging by the damage output.
-The opposing Donphan's Quick Claw made it move first!
-Manectric uses Protect
-Talonflame uses Protect
-Donphan uses Earthquake - Greninja 40% remaining, Marowak 50% remaining
-Greninja uses Grass Knot on Donphan - miss
-Marowak uses Rock Slide - Greninja KO, Manectric protected itself
-Tyranitar uses Rock Slide - Manectric protected itself, Talonflame protected itself.
-Go! Azumarill!
Turn 2
vs.
...crap. It may be only a 1/3 chance, but Donphan's ability is Sand Veil, which otherwise would have allowed Greninja to OHKO it outright but now causes me to lose Greninja without even scratching it. Plan B for Donphan is to target it with Azumarill + Talonflame's potent dual priority, which stands a solid chance of KOing it - as for Manectric, I'll just have to bite the bullet and Volt Switch to Blaziken to break the Sash while praying Marowak's ability isn't Lightningrod, which still is a 2/3 chance. Blaziken can take the dual Rock Slide after Intimidate, while Talonflame isn't gonna survive this turn, but that was obvious as soon as I saw the lineups, so whatever I guess.
-Manectric has Mega Evolved into Mega Manectric
-Talonflame uses Brave Bird on Donphan - 50%
-Azumarill uses Aqua Jet on Donphan - miss
-Mega Manectric uses Volt Switch on Tyranitar - The opposing Marowak took the attack! It doesn't affect the opposing Marowak...
-Marowak uses Rock Slide - Mega Manectric 75%, Talonflame KO, Azumarill 80%
-Tyranitar uses Rock Slide - Mega Manectric 30%
-Donphan uses Earthquake - Mega Manectric KO, Marowak 20%, Azumarill 50%
-Go! Hydreigon (middle); Go! Blaziken (right)
Turn 3
vs.
This is the first 'ok something has just gone spectacularly badly wrong' moment during the 1250+ battles of this streak and the previous one. My terrific threesome crumbled, and while Azumarill / Hydreigon / Blaziken is a pretty strong field during a cleanup at least and the three of them generally perform very well against Workers, being 3-0 down during a sandstorm with three mystery backups and being impossible to OHKO all three foes in return - fuck that Sash - is generally a losing proposition. I send out Hydreigon and Blaziken, with Hydreigon in the middle because squishy Blaziken prefers the relative safety of the side position. Azumarill's KO on Donphan isn't secure so I have to target it with Hydreigon, while Marowak obviously is in KO range for literally everything and I'll just have to knock Tyranitar down to its Sash. I click the appropriate attacks and cross my fingers.
-Marowak uses Detect
-Azumarill uses Aqua Jet - Marowak protected itself
-Hydreigon uses Dragon Pulse on Donphan - KO
-Blaziken uses Low Kick on Tyranitar - 1 HP
-Tyranitar uses Earthquake - It doesn't affect Hydreigon, Blaziken 40%, Marowak protected itself
-Ivan sends out Escavalier (left)
Turn 4
vs.
252+ Atk Tyranitar Superpower vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Hydreigon: 168-198 (100.5 - 118.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Intimidate pretty much saved my ass here, causing Tyranitar to use a less lethal move.. but Escavalier isn't something I wanted to see. It has a KO on both Hydreigon and Azumarill, so Protect baiting is no use. Aside from going for the obvious KOs on Marowak and Tyranitar, I just attack it with Hydreigon in hope something cool happens - it can 2HKO it, so if I were to Protect with Hydreigon while it kills Azu, I'd pretty much lose. I click the appropriate attacks and once again cross my fingers.
-Azumarill uses Aqua Jet on Marowak - KO
-Blaziken uses Low Kick on Tyranitar - KO
-Hydreigon uses Dark Pulse on Escavalier - 50%
-Escavalier uses Megahorn on Hydreigon - KO
-Ivan sends out Magnezone (center) and Probopass (right)
Turn 5
vs.
Now that the final mystery pokes have been identified as Magnezone and Probopass, this looks winnable... but it's firmly out of my control. Blaziken OHKOes everything that's left on the field, but both Magnezone and Probopass can have Sturdy - and Blaziken will obviously keel over if it takes one more hit, and he's my last hope. I can bop Magnezone's Sturdy with Azumarill, but if Probopass has Sturdy, I lose. Worse, even though Azumarill probably still looks more appetising, Magnezone also has a KO on Blaziken - if it KOes Blaziken, I lose. So the situation is as follows: if Escavalier and Magnezone double target Azumarill while it Protects and Probopass doesn't have Sturdy, I win - everything else results in a 'mission failed'. I click the appropriate attacks and cross my fingers.
-Azumarill uses Protect
-Blaziken uses Low Kick on Probopass - KO
-Magnezone uses Thunderbolt - Azumarill protected itself
-Escavalier uses Iron Head - Azumarill protected itself
Turn 6
vs.
Merry mother of Azelf, YES!!
-Azumarill uses Aqua Jet on Magnezone - 80%
-Blaziken uses Low Kick on Magnezone - KO
-Escavalier uses Iron Head on Azumarill - KO
-Automatic center!
Turn 7
vs.
-Blaziken uses Flare Blitz on Escavalier - KO
-Blaziken survives with 21 HP
There will be a day when the Maison just decides 'you lose' and you just lose. But today is not that day.
I'm not too sure what's the logic behind narrating that one battle out of more than a thousand where Greninja / Manectric / Talonflame was ruthlessly dismantled. On the other hand, I guess it does say something when it takes such a lineup of a Mat Block disruptor + Volt Switch disruptor + general annoyance in addition to a double Sand Veil miss to actually bring it down - and even then, the backups pulled through. The leads struggling against a Worker of all trainers isn't that surprising because admittedly their matchup isn't GREAT, but the backups do have a generally good matchup against them, and I usually can bring the appropriate one in via Volt Switch so against them the battles tend to turn out rather forgettable as well. In addition to my misplays in the opening turns, the matchup here was just a bit too disruptive I guess.
There were several other battles that had the potential to turn out wrong but didn't because not 'everything' that could go wrong did, though. Right before this battle there was a battle with a triple Brightpowder miss against Zapdos2 (which fortunately preferred to spam Heat Wave rather than set up Double Team) in addition to one with a triple Lax Incense miss against Latias1 (which fortunately was in the endgame). Even in the last 100 battles, there was this battle where Taunt missed Regigigas as I Volt Switched to Blaziken and it got confused - and proceeded to hit itself three consecutive times (I decided to take the coinflip rather than switch Blaziken out, Taunt again, and not KO that Virizion or something nearby); that battle came down to Cobalion (left) and Regigigas (middle) vs. Azumarill (middle) and Hydreigon (right), but I was never in real danger. Worse was a battle in the last 50 that I ended up winning rather comfortably but could have gone badly wrong when Latias2 came out in against Blaziken (both in the right position) while I had already lost Greninja and Talonflame (i.e. no SE hits and no Tailwind available) and Azumarill was all the way in the left position. I was forced to switch to Hydreigon in order to take the Psychic attack (which also identified the set) and shift Azumarill to the middle - as the opposing Entei2 burned it. As such, Play Rough was only a 2HKO while Hydreigon was completely helpless - I 'had to' either double Protect or just eat the Draco Meteor regardless, heh. Anyway, Hydreigon and Azu pulled it off and disaster was averted (and the last mon was Articuno while I obviously had Blaziken in reserve so I guess I would have won regardless, but that's beside the point). The Ivan near-loss was good for me though, I needed something to remind me that the team wasn't actually invincible, no matter its W/L ratio, and I remained incredibly focused ever since.
Other replays:
#112: TD7G-WWWW-WWXB-SCX7
A random battle against another pretty darn bad lineup from Mara; however, this time I approached it more flexibly and won just fine. Dat slow Volt Switch btw ^^
#952: K7RW-WWWW-WWXL-XYFZ
The double Protect replay mentioned above.
#985: X8VW-WWWW-WWXL-XY4M
A somewhat generic replay that I wanted to add because it shows the leads dismantling a generally difficult opponent (Punk Guy Jensen) by themselves.
I'm not even that scared of Mara anymore. I've built up the necessary experience, I guess, and now I know better how to battle in TR - and honestly, yes it sucks if that Dusknoir4 sets up TR, but that set is so bad otherwise that you're fighting two-on-three in said TR so just capitalise on that. I've had TR go up a couple more times during this streak, usually because I didn't want to go out of my way in order to kill a left-side Dusknoir4 and lose two mons in the process. As for Mara, I've got Azumarill and Hydreigon to run through most of her team. Yes, it's still gonna be difficult and they need their checks taken care of (in Gourgeist/Trevenant/Cofagrigus and Conkeldurr/Aromatisse respectively), but I can handle those, and then how is it any different from a difficult Veteran battle? 2000+ battles altogether with this team in its different iterations can't have hurt in figuring out what it can and can't do. When I first started playing this team, the standard first turn consisted of Mat Block + Volt Switch + Tailwind, not recognising if it actually was the best play; during the 900s, I Volt Switched out roughly half the time, and I used Tailwind only five times, none of which were on the first turn. I guess I've improved.
These last 100 or so battles were... intense, nothing less. I mostly got over that game eject on X, but I'd be lying if I were to say I hadn't been counting a 'technical' streak length every now and then, and when I hit 394 (606+394=1000 obviously), I felt a strange melancholy ('so here it is, 1000 consecutive wins in one format... happy?' It was especially creepy when during that battle my computer randomly started playing Rush - Clockwork Angels -that very song I named this team after- from a 400-song playlist haha), and if you're then coming closer and closer to your goal, it gets really hard to process. From 950 to 1000 doesn't look so far, does it? On the other hand, it's just as far as it is from 150 to 200 (and I still remember how much of a pain that was the first time around) - but at the same time it is not, not really at least, because a team reaching 950 wins has shown considerably more consistency than a team reaching 150. I also knew damn sure this team had the potential of reaching 1000 - I mean, it had literally, objectively, won 1500+ battles in a row - but then that one bad matchup + choke + bit of hax happens and everything has been for naught. Even just in the maison several streaks have been bopped in those same 900s, and I'm just so very, very glad I got past them, even though all this is still really hard to fathom. It's just so weird that I'm posting this and it isn't over yet.
This is the longest win streak featuring Azumarill and Blaziken. After 1000 naturally comes 2000, so especially considering the axis of my team I guess it makes sense I should try reaching the longest Mega Manectric + Hydreigon streak as well, but damn that's gonna be hard... I know, if you can win 1000 consecutive battles once you can also do it twice, and my team can't be that bad, but Mercury's team is nothing short of art, and only a little has to go wrong. I guess I can't walk away from that challenge though, but first I need some time to regain my focus haha, I've only beaten one dungeon yet on Majora's Mask 3D and maybe I've been cranking out a little too many battles the past month and a half-ish ^^ I know I'm just standing on the shoulders of giants here, but it's been a pretty amazing run so far and I intend to bring it a little further. It's nice to see things you love perform well.
Good luck, everyone!
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