The Dark Horse Project (HUGE Update Post #121)

I did it! Lucked out a bunch of people right from 1300 rating up. Winning +18 through +20 battles made it much easier.

Pokemon Online Username:The Empoleon
Dark Horse Pokemon: Empoleon
Screenshot of Top 80 Ladder Ranking:

Dark Horse Pokemon Complete Set:

Matthew (Empoleon) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 156 SDef / 96 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Scald
- Ice Beam

The set is a variant of the sub tentacruel sets and the subtran sets. It wasn't seeing much action until I faced stuff like latias or an occasional kingdra. Unoriginal people using stuff that was already tried.

The team. May post RMT later.

A log Its against another dark horse team lol
http://pokemon.aesoft.org/replay-A-Thousand-Years-vs-The-Empoleon--2012-02-11-private674277923

Good match - it's cool to see 2 awesome dark horse teams pitted against each other! Your Empoleon actually pulled its weight, which I'm surprised, and it complemented well with the sand. CB Stoutland was no slacker either - quite an under-appreciated mon.

Updated my original post with a RMT

Imma join this now.

PO Username: Dornier Do
Hall of Fame Standing: ... I just noticed this project yesterday... so none
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Tangrowth/Archeops - but I have a question about this. As long as I pick one of them to never leave the team, as long as I keep one of them constant for the entire time, I am allowed to change the other, right? Cuz I haven't actually built a team yet.....
Curent LadderStanding: ... I just made the alt... 1000

Yes, I imagine you are allowed to drop one of them but not the other if you choose to do so without restarting. If you decided to swap one of them to sign up with another dark horse pokemon, you will have to restart though.

SlimMan said:

but I have a question about this. As long as I pick one of them to never leave the team, as long as I keep one of them constant for the entire time, I am allowed to change the other, right? Cuz I haven't actually built a team yet.....

Click to expand...

You are allowed to drop one of them throughout the process, yes. You just must always have one Dark Horse Pokemon on your team from start to finish. I hope that clears things up!

Also, I am so sorry for giving this topic such neglect; this definitely won't happen again. Time to step up the responsibility to give you guys the project that you deserve. I'm glad to see so many entries into the Hall of Fame and new participants! I'll be working today and tomorrow to get everything up to date. Thank you so much for your patience. Keep on laddering!

Just posting an update on my Dark Horse Pokemons, here's the info again plus the updated Ladder Standing with a pic. Overall its going extremely well and I've saved all the logs.

Pokemon Online Username: All Hail Da King2
Hall of Fame Standing: N/A
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Froslass, Abomasnow, Poliwrath, Jynx, Mamoswine.
Current Ladder Standing: 1116

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/948/1100darkhorse.jpg


Does anyone know how to post a small like thumbnail of the image without a huge old pic showing up?

Changing Crobat to Shaymin

Pokemon Online Username: Bruno Magno
Hall of Fame Standing: //
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Shaymin
Current Ladder Standing: 1000

Click to expand...

Pokemon Online Username: article
Hall of Fame Standing: none
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Hippowdon, Deoxys-D
Current Ladder Standing: 1032

Since someone already got HoF with Hippowdon this month, does only Deoxys-D count?

Dropping Poliwrath from my roster.


EDIT: Definitely happy with the replacement(who also is a Dark Horse but too late to add him). Made 1185 in a few games from being back down to 1080 or so.

EDIT 2: With updated form and photo of 1200

1000>1116>1204

Pokemon Online Username: All Hail Da King2
Hall of Fame Standing: N/A
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Froslass, Abomasnow,Jynx, Mamoswine.
Current Ladder Standing: 1204

@ Pidge, if you are referring to YAYtears, then no, Hippowdon is still fair game, since he hasn't registered it.

Pokemon Online Username: Deepened Barrows
Hall of Fame Standing: none
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Sceptile
Current Ladder Standing: somewhere

Opening a second "account"

he's referring to Pearl.

also, @Truth, you have to start with a new alt.

Pokemon Online Username - Soon to be created
Hall of Fame Standing- None
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Blastoise
Current Ladder Standing - 1402.( Will create a new alt at 1000)

I got to 95th with Eelektross before hax capped my points. Taking a break at 1305, but i was so darn excited about making top 100 til i realized the new requirement ;(

Name: Razza
Dark Horse Pokemon: Azelf, cloysters
Ladder ranking: 1361 rank 71, on alt "Razza 2.0"
Sets:

Azelf @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Flamethrower
- Explosion

Cloyster (M) @ White Herb
Trait: Skill Link
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Shell Smash
- Razor Shell

aw shit
They deleted un-registered alts... which included mine. So I'm involuntarily starting over >_>. It sucks because I was at like 1300 too.... granted I had an exceptionally lucky streak, but hey, maybe I can replicate that. My team was functioning pretty well, so I'll probably still make it to 1350 assuming I don't go inactive again.

The king of no weakness... the big bringer of THUNDER with an intense Flamethrower for those pesky industrial insectoids and the Hidden Power of ice ages unknown...Eelektross is my first entry into the Hall of Fame, coming in after a number of grueling attempts and heavy tilts, from 965 to 1352, i have a new love for the NU beast :D

Proof:


I will see how high i get but man am i happy. I'll register a new mon tomorrow and see if i ca get two in. I used Mamoswine (a freaking beast) but didnt register him. EDIT: Nope, right back down XD Im happy though, onto the questions

How did you choose your Dark Horse Pokemon for this project?
I wanted something from NU that wouldn't seem like an obvious choice. I liked Rotom-W's immunity to EQ and thought Eelektross would work rather similiarly. I tried a mix set at first, but Brick Break was really lacking, and i wanted more special power. So i made him a BoltTurn core with Scizor and made him Life Orb Special monster, running Thunder to OHKO Vaporeon and Tentecruel, much to my opponent's surprise. At 1300, i found i needed to keep him alive longer and stay in more, so i actually ran Magnet over LO to preseve exsisting OHKOs and keep him around.

How did you go about building a team for your Dark Horse Pokemon?
I tried a stallish team with him as a big wall breaker, but found hyper offensively i could bring him in easier off of OHKOs. I set him beside Scizor and a Scarfed Infernape with great results. I found i needed a backup Rain wrecker, as Ape helped me beat Sansdtorm teams (with CC, HP Ice wreckage), Hail teams and even Sun teams, so i ran Rotom-w for water resist, killer, and Trick specialist. I had a CS Cloyster originally, allowing me to wreck Dragonite, but my lead changed into Mamoswine making Ice an overly covered type. I was also having trouble hitting faster things on the special side and not always beign able to get off a hit. Focus Sash Alakazam rounded off the spot and proved his worth with Energy Ball and the standard Psy/Ghost/Fighting coverage.

Do you think it is more difficult or less difficult to ladder with a Dark Horse Pokemon? Why?
Absolutely. Tross played well on the team, but he wasnt the MVP. Some things in the 3% and above range arent such a challenge, but when you gow ith a true NU, you have a lot more on the line. Tross loved dealing with "bulky" water types, Ferro/Scizor/Forretress and x4 Ice weak Ground types but Leaf Storms and Outrages just did him in, and T-Tar walled him to death. I often felt like replacing him, but the long struggle just made his shinning moments that much better. I'd say its a challenge, but a good challenge.

(For Hall of Fame members only) How did you reach the Hall of Fame?
Tross, adn mamo for that matter, were great Pokes to have, and they held their weight. But it was no easy measure. I spent week one tweaking at around 1100-990 and i had one heck of a jounrey out of there. The first time out of 1100, i skyrocketed to 1290 only to fall back down to exactly 1100. This is where most of the team switches occured. After that, i managed to get up to 1300 and fo between 1348 (i was soooo close!) and 1280 on Hydro Pump/Focus Blast misses, insanely bad critical hits, bad status and both (Scald crits and burns Etross, Rotom and Kazam in one game). But after a a powergouse night of predictions (garnering one extremely upset ragequit), i managed to bearly break my cap at 1352 and end up in the Hall, falling right back down in a legitimate and thoughful game. BoltBeamThrower is one amazing combination, but every single member of my team pulled off games where they swept up to 4 Pokemon with no help. Hyper Offensive for the win!

kk well
I'm bored and might as well do this :P

Pokemon Online Username: -SubZer0-
Hall of Fame Standing: None
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Mightyena
Current Ladder Standing: 1000

guess ill try this time :P

I already made dark horse this month with dugtrio.

mightyena seems pretty cool
but im pretty gay making alts cause i suck
Pokemon Online Username: WOLF COCK
Hall of Fame Standing: None
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Mightyena
Current Ladder Standing: 1000

Updating my Dark Horse challenge, dropped Froslass for another pokemon(Dark Horse but I don't think it counts because I'm already started, kinda like my pokemon i switched in for Poliwrath) anywho so that leaves me with 3 Dark Horse left from the original team(5 still since the new people are below 5% but w/e):

1000>1116>1204>1308

To be honest I'm worried I'm going to tilt and its keeping me from wanting to play for extended periods. Anyway here's the updated form with a screen shot.

Pokemon Online Username: All Hail Da King2
Hall of Fame Standing: N/A
Dark Horse Pokemon Currently Working With: Abomasnow,Jynx, Mamoswine.
Current Ladder Standing: 1308

Zoap said:

To be honest I'm worried I'm going to tilt and its keeping me from wanting to play for extended periods.

Click to expand...

You just have to grit your teeth and hope for the best xD. I just ended up doing it in one sitting this time to avoid that prolonged feeling of doubt lol. The last 3 or 4 matches are the worst because you know that if you lose you're going to be set waaay back.

This pretty much explains how I feel right now!


Lol that outta the way, I made 1364(Rank 63 on OU Ladder) which means Hall of Fame!

Pokemon Online Username: All Hail Da King2
Dark Horse Pokemon: Abomasnow, Jynx, Mamoswine
Screenshot of Top 80 Ladder Ranking:

Dark Horse Pokemon Complete Set:

Abomasnow (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Leech Seed
- Seed Bomb
- Ice Shard


Jynx (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Lovely Kiss
- Psychic
- Blizzard
- Grass Knot

Mamoswine (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Snow Cloak
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock


Hitmontop (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Rapid Spin
- Mach Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Close Combat


Magnezone @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Substitute


Yanmega (F) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Air Slash
- Bug Buzz
- Giga Drain
- Shadow Ball


I know I was only required to list my Dark Horse Pokemon but I figured I'd list the whole team. Hitmontop was my replacement for Poliwrath(he sits at 76 on OU Stats list or 1.5%) and I replaced Frolass with Yanmega(he sits at 118 at .575%), meaning that although I don't get credit for them, my team consisted of 5/6 Dark Horse Pokemon!

I'll continue laddering, but I feel I'll probably tilt now because I no longer really have anything at stake XD. I'll upload all of the battle logs I have in an edit to this post(there are a lot be warned!), as well as maybe a RMT if I feel like writing one up.

I'll also edit in those questions with my answers from the 3rd post.

Thanks Lady Alex, I took your advice and powered through(turns out I just needed to win 4 matches, but I did it 4 in a row!), without you I probably woulda just went like 1-2 matches a day lol.