Pikachu Cup [Online Competition]

Theorymon

Have a wonderful day, wahoo!
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Normally Im not even bitter about hax, but I'm going to have to make an exception this time. I started out great in this tournament, with it seeming likely that I was gonna be around 1850 to 1900. At around 1754 early on, I managed to get the worst hax streak I've ever gotten in my life, losing a shit ton of matches over stuff like double critical Blizzards, Swagger, Rock Slide misses. I started at 18-3 from my peak to 26-19 and below 1620. So basically, I lost about 150 points because of rotten luck, so I'm rather sad despite the fun I've had with Pikachu Cup Hopefully VGC will make me feel better :(
 
I tried 3 games this morning and was having awful luck too. Critical hits, 1hp remaining without a sash, my rock slides missing and then me flinching from an opponents.
Decided to leave the last 12 games until later. Currently rated 1690 after a peak of 1750ish. 24-9 in my first tournament has really surprised me
 

cant say

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Well I'm honestly pretty devastated, turns out for whatever reason my registration hasn't worked for this comp and the game won't recognise that I'm trying to play it (just keeps saying that the "previous competition [Circle of Legends] has finished" and redirects me to the main Battle Spot page on the PSS... I know I definitely registered on the PGL but I'm not sure if an error or something occurred since I did do it on pretty shoddy hotel wifi, lol. It's not like this is the first comp I've tried to enter and I don't know what I'm doing, just something has gone wrong for me at some stage! Since I can't play but spent quite a reasonable amount of time prepping on PS! I thought I would share my team now:
The Setup:


Electrode @ Air Balloon
Ability: Soundproof
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 28 HP / 228 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Magnetic Flux
- Protect
- Explosion


Minun (F) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Minus
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Agility
- Nasty Plot
- Protect
- Baton Pass

I ran into a select few people running Magnetic Flux booster strats on PS! and then had the good fortune of encountering one genius doing it with Baton Pass Minun, it destroyed me and it was then I realised it was what I wanted to do. Electrode ideally just spams Magnetic Flux, repeatedly increasing Minun's defensive stats (even through Protect!!) while Minun boosts its offensive stats itself. The EVs give electrode max speed and the highest physical bulk available to help it stomach Earthquakes better, and give Minun enough speed to outspeed Jolly ScarfVire at +2 (iirc) so you can Baton Pass out before it kills you. The only thing that kinda sucked about Minun was that it was total Taunt bait, meaning I'd have to first Taunt opposing users (and hope to win the speed tie against opposing Electrodes) to stop it from being neutered. Not having any attacks on Minun also sucked for when it had to come back into the battle when I only had two mons left, as it could only spam Protect...

The Recipient(s):


Rotom @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 180 HP / 248 SpA / 80 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 17 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 30 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Protect
- Substitute


Ampharos (F) @ Ampharosite
Ability: Plus
Level: 50
EVs: 132 HP / 4 Def / 248 SpA / 124 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Dragon Pulse
- Protect
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Magnetic Flux

So I needed something solid to pass to and sweep the opponent, which pretty much required something with a strong secondary STAB move to spam since Electric-type moves are basically useless.. Mega Ampharos was my first choice since Dragon Pulse hits everything really damn hard and is the only offensive options it needs, except I threw in HP Ground to hit Magnezone/ton incase I ended up being stuck in a 1v2/1v1 match with one. Everyone knows that Protect is great in Doubles, and I threw in Magnetic Flux incase Electrode went down / I found Ampharos being next to Minun and wanted to continue boosting. Ampharos can also take advantage of it and boost its own defenses before Mega Evolving (but it's mostly a filler move since you really only need the first three). HOWEVER; Rotom quickly became my go-to recipient. He has a great STAB move to spam in Shadow Ball, and is immune to both Electivire's Earthquake (and Earth Power from Stunfisk + random HP Grounds) and Heliolisk's Hyper Voice / whatever other Normal-type move it's trying to spam. I threw HP Fighting on there specifically for Heliolisk, Protect is Protect, and Sub is Sub. The EVs on Rotom allow him to outspeed Jolly Scarf Electivire at +2, and Ampharos to get plain old Jolly Electivire at +2 itself. The problem with Amph is that I found it too slow, and often needed to be at +4 speed to be able to sweep (which wasn't alwats feasible, whereas +2 Rotom does much better).

The Backups / Support:


Electivire (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Motor Drive
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Facade
- Protect


Manectric (M) @ Manectite
Ability: Minus
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Def / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Snarl
- Protect
- Magnet Rise

So since my main three mons were going to be Electrode+Minun+[recipient] I needed a solid fourth to bring to each battle. I originally had Electivire since he is stupidly good in this meta and can sit next to Rotom and spam EQ all he wants, but I found that Manectric was a great supporter, softening attacks coming at Rotom with Intimidate and Snarl (I would often save evolving for when I needed the Intimidate on things like Evire / Eelektross and just bluff a non-mega set until then. Worked good when Electrode died and Mane came out next to Minun as I got the boost in SpA from their abilities). EVs are straight forward with these guys, I gave Electivire a 29 in his HP IV so that he instead had 149 HP instead of 150, and therefore took 14 HP recoil from LO instead of 15....

Overall, this was a really fun team to use on PS! and I'm pretty disappointed that I couldn't do it on cart... It wasn't designed to win every battle, more so just have fun with a weird meta that I was having a lot of trouble with in the beginning. I at least won a lot more matches than I lost on PS! so I feel like this could have done some damage ingame


Also, to all the people mentioning the "bad luck from opponents surviving with such little health," in this meta where there are very specific threats to account for (ie: Electivire's Earthquake, Heliolisk's Hyper Voice, Rotom-F's Blizzard, Mega Ampharos' Dragon Pulse) it's very easy to just build custom EV spreads to survive those key attacks and retaliate back with your own move. It's a thing the Japanese / VGC community have been doing for a while now. It's like the Serperior EV spread I built for BSS that guarantees to live M-Kang's Double-Edge with basically 1HP left... Just remember that it's not always bad luck, just some inventive teambuilding!

Good luck to all those still competing, hopefully we can get another Smogoner to top the rankings again!

edit: shoutout to Timey + Scrying Stan + LeopardTalon for helping me get my team on-cart with their RNG / breeding skills. So, so sorry that it was all in vain ;_;
 

Demantoid

APMS Founder
is a Top Tiering Contributor
Well I'm honestly pretty devastated, turns out for whatever reason my registration hasn't worked for this comp and the game won't recognise that I'm trying to play it (just keeps saying that the "previous competition [Circle of Legends] has finished" and redirects me to the main Battle Spot page on the PSS... I know I definitely registered on the PGL but I'm not sure if an error or something occurred since I did do it on pretty shoddy hotel wifi, lol. It's not like this is the first comp I've tried to enter and I don't know what I'm doing, just something has gone wrong for me at some stage! Since I can't play but spent quite a reasonable amount of time prepping on PS! I thought I would share my team now:
The Setup:


Electrode @ Air Balloon
Ability: Soundproof
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 28 HP / 228 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Magnetic Flux
- Protect
- Explosion


Minun (F) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Minus
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Agility
- Nasty Plot
- Protect
- Baton Pass

I ran into a select few people running Magnetic Flux booster strats on PS! and then had the good fortune of encountering one genius doing it with Baton Pass Minun, it destroyed me and it was then I realised it was what I wanted to do. Electrode ideally just spams Magnetic Flux, repeatedly increasing Minun's defensive stats (even through Protect!!) while Minun boosts its offensive stats itself. The EVs give electrode max speed and the highest physical bulk available to help it stomach Earthquakes better, and give Minun enough speed to outspeed Jolly ScarfVire at +2 (iirc) so you can Baton Pass out before it kills you. The only thing that kinda sucked about Minun was that it was total Taunt bait, meaning I'd have to first Taunt opposing users (and hope to win the speed tie against opposing Electrodes) to stop it from being neutered. Not having any attacks on Minun also sucked for when it had to come back into the battle when I only had two mons left, as it could only spam Protect...

The Recipient(s):


Rotom @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 180 HP / 248 SpA / 80 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 17 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 30 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Protect
- Substitute


Ampharos (F) @ Ampharosite
Ability: Plus
Level: 50
EVs: 132 HP / 4 Def / 248 SpA / 124 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Dragon Pulse
- Protect
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Magnetic Flux

So I needed something solid to pass to and sweep the opponent, which pretty much required something with a strong secondary STAB move to spam since Electric-type moves are basically useless.. Mega Ampharos was my first choice since Dragon Pulse hits everything really damn hard and is the only offensive options it needs, except I threw in HP Ground to hit Magnezone/ton incase I ended up being stuck in a 1v2/1v1 match with one. Everyone knows that Protect is great in Doubles, and I threw in Magnetic Flux incase Electrode went down / I found Ampharos being next to Minun and wanted to continue boosting. Ampharos can also take advantage of it and boost its own defenses before Mega Evolving (but it's mostly a filler move since you really only need the first three). HOWEVER; Rotom quickly became my go-to recipient. He has a great STAB move to spam in Shadow Ball, and is immune to both Electivire's Earthquake (and Earth Power from Stunfisk + random HP Grounds) and Heliolisk's Hyper Voice / whatever other Normal-type move it's trying to spam. I threw HP Fighting on there specifically for Heliolisk, Protect is Protect, and Sub is Sub. The EVs on Rotom allow him to outspeed Jolly Scarf Electivire at +2, and Ampharos to get plain old Jolly Electivire at +2 itself. The problem with Amph is that I found it too slow, and often needed to be at +4 speed to be able to sweep (which wasn't alwats feasible, whereas +2 Rotom does much better).

The Backups / Support:


Electivire (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Motor Drive
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Facade
- Protect


Manectric (M) @ Manectite
Ability: Minus
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Def / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Snarl
- Protect
- Magnet Rise

So since my main three mons were going to be Electrode+Minun+[recipient] I needed a solid fourth to bring to each battle. I originally had Electivire since he is stupidly good in this meta and can sit next to Rotom and spam EQ all he wants, but I found that Manectric was a great supporter, softening attacks coming at Rotom with Intimidate and Snarl (I would often save evolving for when I needed the Intimidate on things like Evire / Eelektross and just bluff a non-mega set until then. Worked good when Electrode died and Mane came out next to Minun as I got the boost in SpA from their abilities). EVs are straight forward with these guys, I gave Electivire a 29 in his HP IV so that he instead had 149 HP instead of 150, and therefore took 14 HP recoil from LO instead of 15....

Overall, this was a really fun team to use on PS! and I'm pretty disappointed that I couldn't do it on cart... It wasn't designed to win every battle, more so just have fun with a weird meta that I was having a lot of trouble with in the beginning. I at least won a lot more matches than I lost on PS! so I feel like this could have done some damage ingame


Also, to all the people mentioning the "bad luck from opponents surviving with such little health," in this meta where there are very specific threats to account for (ie: Electivire's Earthquake, Heliolisk's Hyper Voice, Rotom-F's Blizzard, Mega Ampharos' Dragon Pulse) it's very easy to just build custom EV spreads to survive those key attacks and retaliate back with your own move. It's a thing the Japanese / VGC community have been doing for a while now. It's like the Serperior EV spread I built for BSS that guarantees to live M-Kang's Double-Edge with basically 1HP left... Just remember that it's not always bad luck, just some inventive teambuilding!

Good luck to all those still competing, hopefully we can get another Smogoner to top the rankings again!

edit: shoutout to Timey + Scrying Stan + LeopardTalon for helping me get my team on-cart with their RNG / breeding skills. So, so sorry that it was all in vain ;_;
Do you need to cancel participation in the Circle of Legends on cart?
 

cant say

twitch.tv/jakecantsay
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Do you need to cancel participation in the Circle of Legends on cart?
Already done that (if you go to 'Previous Competition' it gives my result for CoL), but it's like it thinks I'm still trying to play it / Pikachu Cup doesn't exist. I'm sure it's just a simple error from not registering properly...
 
Pikacounter:
45 matches
25 had one in team preview
14 brought into the match

This prize ain't looking too hot, though to be fair it was mostly uncommon the higher I got on the ladder which is the minority so who knows. Ampharos/Electivire/Eelektross felt like they were on every team so I'll go ahead and predict they'll be top 3 and Pikachu will just fall short at 4 or 5. I did bring my own Pikachu when my opponent also had one, I thought that would be a fair way to contribute and still have even matches :p

cant say that's very bizarre, sorry to hear that. I'm sure I've had times where I haven't cancelled/unlocked battle box until the next comp started and nothing's ever gone wrong. Does the PGL say you've registered on the competitions page?
 
I was going strong at 33-4 with an 1861 rating, then swagger happend...repeatedly lol So after a losing streak I manage to finish 35-10 Not sure on my rating I think around 1770.

My team was:
Rotom-C@weakness policy
Modest
116 Hp 104 Def 108 Sp.A 180 Speed
30 Def IV
Leaf Storm
HP Ice
Protect
Snatch

Odd spread and moveset the hp and def investment let it survive adamant helping hand life orb Ice punch from electivire and picking up unexpected knockouts with the weakness policy and snach was for stealing tailwind from emolga which happend once lol

Electrode@Air Balloon
Soundproof
252 hp 4 def 252 speed
Timid
Foul play
protect
taunt
Swagger

I regret nothing, I know how the Japanese players love to spam their swagger strats so I decided to give them a tase of their own medicine and it back fired big time thanks to my abysmal luck with the dice rolls. Natually Swagger worked for my opponent most of the time. Sound proof to troll helioisk.

Electivire@lum berry
12 Hp 228 Atk 12 sp.def 252 speed
Motor Drive
Jolly
Earthquake
Ice punch
Rock slide
protect

Standard set but the ev's let it survive Helioisk spread hyper voice in the sun.

Eelektross@Assualt vest
Don't remember ev spread but had speed investment to outspeed opposing eelektross
Adamant
Power-Up-Punch
Drain Punch
Rock Slide
Dragon Claw

Standard pup set, I put Rock Slide over Knock off because I like spread attacks and rock slide is obviously the best move in the game lol.

Ampharos@Amphrosite
68 Hp 188 Speed 212 Special Attack
Plus
Timid
Dragon Pulse
Power Gem
Cotton Spore
Protect

Speed investment to outspeed most things after the speed drop from cotton spore, Very underrated move in this format with the lack of reliable speed control and a 100% hit rate and takes them down 2 stages. The only counter to the move is safety googles and rotom-c.

Luxray@Sitrus Berry
Intimidate
252 Hp 92 Def 168 Sp.def
Careful
Snarl
Baby-doll eyes
protect
return

My main supporter, I love how dispruptive and how it provided eelektross with many swepping opportunites and trolling electivire with baby doll eyes. lolz

Anyway I had fun for the most part. But I never want to see another Electivire or screaming lizard again though.
 

Theorymon

Have a wonderful day, wahoo!
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Pikacounter:
45 matches
25 had one in team preview
14 brought into the match

This prize ain't looking too hot, though to be fair it was mostly uncommon the higher I got on the ladder which is the minority so who knows. Ampharos/Electivire/Eelektross felt like they were on every team so I'll go ahead and predict they'll be top 3 and Pikachu will just fall short at 4 or 5. I did bring my own Pikachu when my opponent also had one, I thought that would be a fair way to contribute and still have even matches :p

cant say that's very bizarre, sorry to hear that. I'm sure I've had times where I haven't cancelled/unlocked battle box until the next comp started and nothing's ever gone wrong. Does the PGL say you've registered on the competitions page?
Yep I had a similar experience, Pikachu usage kept falling the higher I got. To be fair though, there could easily be a ton of people not taking the tournament seriously and using Pikachu just to get the event Pikachu, they might just have been hanging around the lower rating!

Also, cant say damn dude, I dunno what happened there, that sucks worse than what happened to me x_x.

Btw Im feeling a lot better about the hax now, because I just realized how much fun I had writing that article lol. Hopefully in the future my luck doesn't get that amazingly bad, it made me feel like a fool for investing to survive stuff lol.
 
I finished 29-15, and even though I lost I few close games due to hax (I won't bore you with the details) I'm still going to beat my previous best score at a competition by at least 100 points (I'll end close to 1690) so I'm very happy with the competition even though that's still a lot worse than most other people here. If you really want to know here's my team. I'm not going to go through everything in detail because most of it is quite obvious, but I've commented on some key parts.
Stunfisk @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Limber
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Muddy Water
- Protect
- Sludge Bomb

Eelektross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Coil
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Light Screen

Jolteon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Synchronoise
- Hyper Voice
- Discharge
- Helping Hand
Specs Jolteon with synchronoise was also a big success even though it is so predictable because it outspeeds everything but mega manectric and electrode and scarfed pokemon and deals a big chunk of damage.

Electivire @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Motor Drive
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 15 Spe
- Earthquake
- Facade
- Rock Slide
- Ice Punch

Ampharos-Mega @ Ampharosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Modest Nature
- Cotton Spore
- Dragon Pulse
- Protect
- Ion Deluge
Ion deluge on ampharos was really useful for shutting down heliolisk and healing jolteon or setting up electivire.

Rotom-Frost @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Blizzard
- Protect
- Dark Pulse
- Snatch
I actually had a lot of success with snatch rotom because emolga is so predictable with tailwind and the entire team tends to be centred around it and completely crumbles when it is snatched (happened 5-10 times) and I can't explain how, but somehow I just had this feeling my opponent was going to use light screen and I snatched that as well (happened maybe 3 times) and I was only wrong once, but there were some times I wished I had used snatch but I didn't.

I forgot about saving battle videos until the very last battle, but this one does show snatch rotom working to perfection: JF9G-WWWW-WW2L-329X
Choosing lead pokemon is something I found very difficult, because Jolteon is and excellent lead except against electrivire so sometimes I just gambled and sometimes I went with safer leads. The problem is if I lead with electivire checks, and my opponent doesn't send out electivire it was hard to do any significant damage without risking a switch. Scarf electivire was nice for finishing off oppponents, but sometimes being choice-locked forced to ko a teammate or get stuck locked into earthquake while facing a levitator. I'm still confused why I never got a win or loss for a disconnect and was only allowed to play 44 battles that counted, but once again, I had fun and I'm pleased with the results.
 
Last edited:
This was my first competition. I will say that even though pachirisu wasn't too common, it saved my but in many battles here. 5 of my opponents disconnected on the last move when I clearly had the match... H-Rotom was useful with its life orb overheat, and it teamed up with my pachirisu for a Will-o-wisp sweet kiss combination.
 

Demantoid

APMS Founder
is a Top Tiering Contributor
My VGC knowledge ended up doing really well here. Ended 41-4 with a rating of around 1850 (should've been 42-3 with 1880 if I didn't dc at the last possible moment after a battle). Here is the team I used:
PGL Pikachu Cup Battle Box.jpg
(Thunderbolt on Ampharos should've been something else)
Emolga @ Yache Berry
Ability: Motor Drive
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 60 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Encore
- Helping Hand
- Tailwind

Outspeeds jolly Electivire
252+ Atk Electivire Ice Punch vs. 244 HP / 4 Def Emolga: 136-160 (84.4 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (I put on Yache at the last second)
252+ SpA Mold Breaker Mega Ampharos Thunderbolt vs. 244 HP / 60 SpD Emolga: 138-163 (85.7 - 101.2%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

Eelektross @ Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 40 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest Nature
- Flamethrower
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Super Fang

Outspeeds 252 Mega Ampharos
252+ SpA Mold Breaker Mega Ampharos Dragon Pulse vs. 244 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Eelektross: 76-91 (39.7 - 47.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
40+ SpA Eelektross Hidden Power Ground vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Mega Ampharos: 50-60 (25.5 - 30.6%) -- guaranteed 4HKO (Super Fang + 2 HP Grounds kos)
252+ Atk Choice Band Electivire Ice Punch vs. 244 HP / 4 Def Eelektross: 81-96 (42.4 - 50.2%) -- 1.2% chance to 2HKO

Electivire @ Life Orb
Ability: Motor Drive
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Ice Punch
- Protect

Max Speed and Attack for max damage. Something sad I found out though:
252+ Atk Electivire Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Electivire: 124-148 (82.1 - 98%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Rotom-Mow @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 51
EVs: 244 HP / 20 Def / 164 SpA / 76 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Toxic
- Protect

252+ Atk Choice Band Electivire Ice Punch vs. 244 HP / 20 Def Rotom-C: 126-150 (80.7 - 96.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Mold Breaker Mega Ampharos Dragon Pulse vs. 244 HP / 76 SpD Rotom-C: 84-99 (53.8 - 63.4%) -- 2.7% chance to 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery

Ampharos @ Ampharosite
Ability: Static
Level: 50
EVs: 68 HP / 52 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 132 Spe
Modest Nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Power Gem
- Thunderbolt
- Protect

Outspeeds Jolly Electivire in Tailwind when Mega evolved
Higher chance to survive Helping Hand Life orb Earthquake form Electivire

Stunfisk @ Expert Belt
Ability: Static
Level: 50
EVs: 132 HP / 68 Def / 148 SpA / 124 SpD / 36 Spe
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Sludge Bomb
- Scald
- Protect

148+ SpA Expert Belt Stunfisk Earth Power vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Electivire: 154-182 (101.9 - 120.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Mold Breaker Mega Ampharos Dragon Pulse vs. 132 HP / 124 SpD Stunfisk: 84-100 (41.7 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Rotom-C Leaf Storm vs. 132 HP / 124 SpD Stunfisk: 170-204 (84.5 - 101.4%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
Calm would actually be better since I didn't need that much SpA to Ohko Electivire but I had already bred for modest and didn't feel like anymore after breeding all these mons.

The best battle I had in the tourney: V27G-WWWW-WW2K-U8B8
 
Last edited:
My VGC knowledge ended up doing really well here. Ended 41-4 with a rating of around 1850 (should've been 42-3 with 1880 if I didn't dc at the last possible moment after a battle). Here is the team I used:View attachment 48390(Thunderbolt on Ampharos should've been something else)
That's an amazing record, you might finish in the top 10, because the last 45 battle top 10 cutoff was 1847! I wish I'd thought of using assault vest and expert belt because those look like excellent items. Honestly, congratulations on your performance, I wish I could do nearly that well.
 

Demantoid

APMS Founder
is a Top Tiering Contributor
That's an amazing record, you might finish in the top 10, because the last 45 battle top 10 cutoff was 1847! I wish I'd thought of using assault vest and expert belt because those look like excellent items. Honestly, congratulations on your performance, I wish I could do nearly that well.
I might actually get top 3 because I am in the junior division and 3rd place in little cup was 1851. Also put battle video in other post.

On Pikachu I saw a person desperate enough for the event they had a lv. 24 one with no item on a team with 5 competitive pokemon.
 
I asked the people who made the competition; it apparently isn't how much pikachu is used, but how many participants registered it in their battlebox. Still, I have a feeling we're just gonna get a lousy Light Ball (as the proverbial room seems divided between people who want the event pikachu/are playing for fun, and the ones who want the pokemiles/the serious competitive folk).
 
I managed to get 26 wins and 19 losses, not to shabby considering this was my first competition and I'm still relatively new to the whole vgc doubles. Not to mention hax costed me like 8 of those battles but I digress...

Here is my team
Ampharos-Mega (M) @ Ampharosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 120 Def / 252 SpA / 132 Spe
Modest Nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Bulldoze
- Protect


Electrode @ Air Balloon
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magnet Rise
- Light Screen
- Foul Play
- Swagger

Rotom-Mow @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 108 SpD
- Hex
- Leaf Storm
- Protect
- Will-O-Wisp

Electivire (F) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Motor Drive
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Protect
- Brick Break
- Rock Slide

Stunfisk @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 36 HP / 196 Def / 224 SpA / 52 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Earthquake
- Sludge
- Earth Power
- Protect

Raichu (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Lightning Rod
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 4 SpA / 248 SpD
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Encore
- Helping Hand
- Knock Off

I'm happy with how this team turned out, I wish I could have fit in eelektross , I had a really cool set that I wanted to try out. It's a rest/sleep talk set with coil and drain punch and maranga berry has It's hold item.
Unfortunately I meant to have either fire punch or facade on my electivire to counter rotom-M or getting burned but I forgot to change It before registering for the cup. It's a shame because that cost me 2 games, and the only time I used brick break was to ohko a heliolisk with air balloon. Shuca berry on the electivire was amazing because I managed to catch alot of other electivires of guard and proceed to OHKO them with my own earthquake.

Ampharos did alright during the cup, managed to catch a couple of rotom-H and magnezones of guard with HP ground aswell as getting some sweeps with dragon pulse, I putted bulldoze to give some support for my electivire but I don't think I have ever found a situation that I needed to use It, maybe I should of went with magnetic flux but oh well.

I chose stunfisk for my team to counter the emolga tailwind strategy that I kept seeing on showdown but I never runned into anyone using It on the cup lol. Still, stunfisk managed to put in work and the weakness policy saved my ass a couple of times, here's a battle I had on showdown were I maneged to turn the tides at the last second http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/pikachucup-259735954. 224 EVs in spattack and a quiet nature is enough to OHKO an electivire, the rest went in defence so It could easilly live a super efective move and activate It's weakness policy, that's why It has a odd EV spread.My only regret with stunfisk was putting sludge wave instead of sludge bomb.

Rotom-M was a basic bulky rotom set with will o wisp to shut down electivire and physical eelektross, I gave It hex because It doubles in power if the opponent has a status condition and It worked out well and leaf storm was usually enough to finish of any lanturn or rotom-W.

Now the true MVPs of my team have to be electrode and raichu, these two worked so well together as a lead they were usually enough for me to win the match, fake out swagger someone then helping hand foul play the next turn, It was enough to OHKO eelektross and manectric which are two very annoying pokemon to deal with. Anyone foolish enough to protect the first turn would get encored, or I would knock of any item they had or set up a light screen.

Soundproof on electrode was one of the best ideas I had in years,It's basically immune to manectric's snarl galvantula's bug buzz and heliolisk's hyper voice, speaking of heliolisk I had a match where I was left with a quarter health electrode and my opponent had a full health heliolisk, he used hyper voice and then imediatly forfeited lol ( most likely was specs ), I swear I was the first person to use a soundproof swagger foulplay electrode because before I made It nobody was using electrode but after I made him part of my team I had people ask me It's EV spread and moves and I runned into a couple people that were using the exact same set I was using on showdown. Thankfully I didn't see any electrodes like mine on the cup...
 

Attachments

Pyritie

TAMAGO
is an Artist
21W, 6L. Two losses were because of disconnects, one was because of hax, the other three were due to misplays etc.

Here's my team:



Not really a lot to say about it but I do wish I put protect on my emolga. Many, many times I led with emolga/electivire and my opponent led with electivire and non-balloon pikachu. And every single time they immediately fake out + ice punched emolga. Oh well.

There's not really a whole lot I'd change about my team except maybe switching rotom-cut for rotom-heat. Leaf storm was nice for hitting stunfisk, wash, and lanturn, but there were a few times when I wished I didn't have all those ice weaknesses. On the other hand, if I didn't have mow, those aforementioned three would've been a lot more of a pain to deal with, so...

At least rotom didn't miss a single will-o-wisp the entire tournament!

I would've done more battles if I didn't spend most of the tournament in an airport + planes :(
 
Like I said before, I stopped around the second day as I was getting tired of facing rotom forms. Plus, I was sort of drawn in by FFXIV:ARR Heavensward, and though I like Pokemon, it was all about what I had more fun doing.
Went 12-4 in the end. I prolly could have continued, most likely with a ratio similar to that, but I just got bored of it. My team was:



I registered the wrong pikachu (had another one trained up with Fake Out; forgot to put it in the box), so that's why the moveset is weird. Still, it did save me from a Heliolisk once. Also, it deals more damage than one'd think.

I typically led with Emolga + Luxray.
Luxray is slow compared to the other major threats, but with a tailwind up, it outsped said threats and pretty much could OHKO with Facade. The only thing it struggled against was a bulky Rotom-W; I lost a game due to a Rotom-W surviving with 1 HP, so in the next game, instead of using Helping Hand with Emolga, I had it do some chip damage with Knock Off, which gave me a win.
Learn from your mistakes, in other words.

I nearly put a Yache Berry on Emolga, but decided with Bright Powder. It actually allowed me to win a game, as my Emolga managed to take down the final pokemon (Rotom-W) on someone's team. Its not built to be a powerhouse, but Hydro Pump isn't very accurate as it is (same with Will-o, though that was the one and only match a Will-o actually missed one of my mons).
It also saved Emolga a couple times besides that.

My typical four were: Emolga + Luxray, Electivire, Eelektross. Sometimes, Pikachu went in for Electivire, and Stunfisk went in for either Emolga or Eelektross if the opponent didn't bring an Electivire or Stunfisk of their own (as I was not afraid of a Bulldoze from Ampharos). Depending on the opposing team, one of them would also replace Emolga if the opponent had an Electrode (typically Stunfisk would come in, since I was wary of Taunt and Foul Play).
 
Didn't battle as much, but had fun with the team. FEAR Stunfisk was MVP of the team.

Will talk about the team later

TheJanitor (Electivire) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Motor Drive
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 116 HP / 252 Atk / 140 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Rock Slide
- Protect

SuperSaiyan (Manectric) @ Manectite
Ability: Minus
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Def / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Snarl
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Flamethrower
- Protect

Hikari (Raichu) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Lightning Rod
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Fake Out
- Feint
- Knock Off
- Encore

FlatStanley (Stunfisk) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Veil
Level: 1
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA
Rash Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Def / 0 SpD / 0 Spe
- Infestation
- Swagger
- Endeavor
- Protect

Electrode @ Air Balloon
Ability: Soundproof
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Foul Play
- Swagger
- Taunt
- Protect

Eelektross @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Coil
- Rock Slide
- Drain Punch
- Rest
 

Hulavuta

keeps the varmints on the run
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
I really wanted to play in this, but unfortunately my family was visiting and we went on vacation, so I didn't have time to breed my team. I still wanted to get the prize though, I used Pikachu and played three games. But just so you all can have a good laugh, here's my joke of a team!



Obviously I lost all three, and my friend suggested I actually take out my own Pokemon to make my opponent laugh, but unfortunately I actually never got a chance, they died too quickly to Hyper Voices and my only Focus Blast missed.
 

cant say

twitch.tv/jakecantsay
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
I should have traded you my team and you could have won the whole thing!!

Mind sharing what your real team was going to be, Hulavuta?

holy crap balm mushroom
 
I really wanted to play in this, but unfortunately my family was visiting and we went on vacation, so I didn't have time to breed my team. I still wanted to get the prize though, I used Pikachu and played three games. But just so you all can have a good laugh, here's my joke of a team!.
Heh, still better than mine:

-
both at level 1
 

Psynergy

Triumph and Glory
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
Battle Stadium Head
So the rankings are out. Looks like Pikachu edged into 3rd place after all. Electivire handily taking the 1st spot and only Rotom-Mow making the Top 12 out of the Rotom forms. Shame I didn't get to play this either since getting a chance to use Stunfisk in a format where it's good was a huge missed opportunity.
 
Nice, we got the special Pikachu! GJ guys =)

I wish they hooked us up with jolly as its fixed nature, though. I don't like staying in Soft Reset Hell (though it comes with 2 perfect IVs, randomly chosen, so hopefully none of us have to stay in there TOO long...)
 

CTNC

Doesn't know how to attack
I got Ranked 559? Wow, did I overestimate the competitive crowd for this or did I just underestimate myself? Probably both. :P

Anyway, my rank was 1676 and my team and notes are is in the Hide Box. The strategy was spamming Helping Hand and spread moves.
Better Pika (Raichu) (M) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Lightning Rod
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Knock Off
- Helping Hand
- Protect

Raichu is better than Pikachu. Just admit it.

Mr. OP (Electivire) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Motor Drive
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Facade
- Protect

Yes, I used Protect on a Scarf set. I figured It would be used more than Ice Punch and would help after getting hit with Knock Off. I only used Mr. OP if the opponent had less than two Levitaters.

ScreamingEft (Heliolisk) (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Solar Power
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Hyper Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Protect

Look up Red Efts. They're really cool looking lizards! I never used Dark Pulse and Hyper Beam was only used when my opponent had Electrode out and that one time I wanted to finish with style. Again I figured Protect would be used more than the alternative because of Knock Off. The funny thing is that I did use Protect in one battle... while the Screaming Lizard still had the Specs! To make that even better, I KNEW that it would be choice locked AND I believed that it was the best move at the time.

NeedNickname (Jolteon) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
Level: 50
EVs: 28 HP / 252 SpA / 228 Spe
Modest Nature
- Synchronoise
- Helping Hand
- Shadow Ball
- Protect

NeedNickname's nickname grew on me while I was supposed to think of a better one. I didn't use Hidden Power because of how annoying it would be to breed for, but surprisingly, Shadow Ball actually felt like the better choice because of the number of Levitaters. The Nature and EVs were chosen because I noticed that when switching to a Modest nature, the only thing it got outsped by that it wasn't with a Timid Nature was Zebstrika. I put enough EVs in Speed to outspeed every thing it could with a Modest Nature and put the rest in HP. NeedNickname was simultaneously a spare Better Pika and a spare ScreamingEft.

Face Leach (Eelektross) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Facade
- Knock Off
- Power-Up Punch

This guy is the best Pokemon in the cup that's immune to Earthquake. There's not much else to say.

Dry Cleaner (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Will-O-Wisp
- Light Screen

I used a two Levitaters to discourage Electivire from being used against my team due to its weakness to ScarfVire. Rotom was mostly filler.
 

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