Sorry for the delay col49, homework took precedent last night but I found some free time today.
How did you choose your Dark Horse Pokemon for this project? What lead you to choose the Pokemon you did? Did you have regrets or were you happy with your selection?
I looked around first off at using something from NU, as using something from RU that's already very good such as Mesprit seemed to easy. I almost went with Golurk as I'v used it quite a bit before and my normal team focus is on either semi stall or bulky offense so it would have fit very well. However, I'm glad I didn't thanks to the number of people doing him, and instead I decided to go a very different route from my normal team building process with this project. What lead me too it was some conversation on it in the viability thread about how it was a very effective late game cleaner and a very powerful attacker in general, plus just how strong of an attacking type Flying is in this meta. I have no real regrets with Swellow as it was very fun to play with and an deadly threat to most teams team as not many people are aware of just how fast and powerful this thing is.
How did you go about building a team for your Dark Horse Pokemon? Which kinds of teammates did you consider? What factors contributed to the team you created?
I knew right off that I was going to go %110 offense in this challenge and that Swellow wanted a few things: hazards on the other side, no hazards on it's side, a wall breaker to lure in and ko it's counters, and partners who can deal with priority. Hazards were supplied by Smeargle who had no other purpose than to get them down and hopefully cripple something in the process. As an offensive spinner Kabutops was the obvious answer while also giving me another form of priority to play with, and a set up sweeper should the opportunity arise. As far as wall breakers go 2 stood out: Mixed Absol and Mixed Druddigon. Druddigon was very tempting due to his powerful Outrages and better bulk but ultimately bulky psychics were a bigger issue to the team so Absol got the nod, giving me an answer to Uxie, along with stout physical walls such as Steelix by using Fire Blast and even more priority (the strongest priority in the game infact). After that I needed another general wall breaker, Druddigon nearly got the nod again for reasons explained but ultimately I went with Nidoqueen because of the sheer force (pun intended) of it's attacks, and that it's only common counters (Uxie, Clefable) are either worn down by the Queen to be broken through later or destroyed by other members of the team. Finally, as the team was already looking like a physical over load team I looked for something that played very much like Swellow, fast to set up and very fast and powerful once it got going. Ultimately the standered Normal Gem Hitmonlee gave me just that, plus more priority and a very potent late game sweeper, as if most teams can't handle the onslaught of 2 fast and furious sweepers in a match after being softened and worn down through hazards. Also, while priority might not have been really assessed I'm packing 3 forms of priority and just enough bulk and typing balances to win against most threats packing priority, although some things such as opposing Absol can give me trouble without good prediction. Some other things I looked at was Poliwrath to help deal with priority (to much of a momentum killer, just asking to be spun or set up on by anything with a sub), Magneton to trap those annoying steels (to slow, didn't often pull his weight and found that Nidoqueen and Hitmonlee kill all the relevent steels I was facing), Entei for more Priority (sadly didn't add much past that, stacking a Stealth Rock weakness instead; special set outclassed by Nidoqueen), and Duddigon (almost went with him but Absol had the stronger special attacking prowess and better priority, while Nidoqueen was just to good to pass up).
Do you think it is more difficult or less difficult to ladder with a Dark Horse Pokemon? Why? Does the element of surprise play a factor in your battles? Is it easier to fight with a "highly used"" team or with Pokemon that are less common?
I honestly though it was easier as with the team I was using the matches played quicker and more rewarded whoever could make the best early game choices. It was in this fashion that a simple misplay by the opponent could easily be exploited later on. Plus I never felt like my mon was dead weight or lagging behind the other members thanks to it's power and speed. The element of surprise played a huge part of what seems like half of my matches because of one thing: Cinccino. Seriously, every time the opponent saw a Smeargle they got all hyped up and just lead with it thinking oh hey I'm about to keep away these hazards. Only to have me Protect turn one and ko them turn 2, punishing them for thinking their fuzz ball could out speed any no name threat they'v never ran into. Unless they use Scarfcinno, which I never saw and I'm not terribly surprised as most people wouldn't bother to do that. I'm honestly finding that using under rated mons is awesome for surprising things and generally causing mayhem.
(For Hall of Fame members only) How did you reach the Hall of Fame? Was it easy or difficult? Did having a Dark Horse Pokemon on your team benefit you? What advice would you give to those laddering with Dark Horse Pokemon?
Like I said, heavy heavy offense putting a ton of pressure on the opposing team to force mistakes or just over powering the opposition. It seemed very easy as Offense seems to be the dominating play style right now and this team was tailored to destroy most other offensive teams, including hail. Having a dark horse helped me tremendously by giving me an amazing Cinccino answer and just in general beast of a late game sweeper. My advice would be to not only play to your dark horse's best traits but also play to your own strengths as a player, and as always to have fun with it as that's what all of these projects should be about.