(4th Gen) Doubles Warstory: Predictable Protection

[TheMaskedNitpicker]

Well, it's time for me to finally take a crack at warstory writing. As a bit of background, I play most of my games on PBR random Wi-Fi. You tend to see a lot of kids with crappy, un-EVed Uber teams, but there are also a good number of decent players with quality teams. I chose this battle partly because it was easy to remember, but also because it contains an important lesson: don't overuse Protect.

For those of you who don't know, PBR staduim-mode matches allow you to see your oppoent's team of six Pokémon before you pick four for the battle. This particular opponent was rare in that they only had a team of four Pokémon to choose from, making it fairly easy to predict which four they would use. Their team consisted of:



I used my current favorite team, Worm Food:



It wasn't hard to predict my opponent's two leads. Crobat was born to be a setup Pokémon with 130 base Speed and Inner Focus. It would be the Rain Dance user. Azelf is a popular Explosion user, and it doesn't do much good to blow up when you're the last Pokémon standing. The match starts like so:

Alakazam and Infernape vs. Azelf and Crobat

Bingo. One of a few things is going to happen here. The Azelf could use Explosion while the Crobat uses Protect. Perhaps the Azelf will use Explosion and the Crobat will have a Focus Sash. In this case, the Croabt will use Rain Dance. Regardles, there's really no way that I can prevent the Rain Dance from eventually happening, thanks to Crobat being faster than Alakazam and having Inner Focus (so Infernape can't use Fake Out to flinch it).

Turn 1:
Azelf uses Protect.
Infernape uses Fake Out against Azelf, but Azelf protects itself.
Crobat uses Rain Dance.
Alakazam uses Psychic on Crobat. (100% damage)
Crobat faints.

Opponent sends out Kingdra.

Well, I hadn't guessed that exactly right, but it worked out pretty well. One Pokémon down. It's raining, but that was unavoidable. (The Crobat must have held a Damp Rock because the rain continued to fall for the remainder of the battle.) It's pretty clear that an Explosion is imminent, and I have just the thing for that.

Turn 2:
Infernape switches to Politoed.
Kingdra uses Protect.
Alakazam uses Shadow Ball on Azelf. (99% damage, saved by Focus Sash)
Azelf uses Explosion, but it fails due to Politoed's Damp ability.

Well, my opponent seems to be playing pretty conservatively, so I'm guessing that they're not about to let their Azelf be finished off by my faster Alakazam. It'll either switch out or Protect. In the meantime I plan to concentrate on dealing as much damage to the Kingdra as possible. It's the biggest threat to my team and I need it out of the way. On the off-chance that Azelf does decide to chance an attack, Politoed's Blizzard should finish it off (if it hits).

Turn 3:
Azelf switches to Jolteon.
Kingdra uses Hydro Pump on Alakzam. (99% damage, saved by Focus Sash)
Alakazam uses Psychic on Kingdra. (≈ 65% damage)
Politoed uses Blizzard, hits Kingdra (≈ 30% damage), misses Jolteon.

OK, this is not a great position for me. Both of my Pokémon are slower than both of their Pokémon. It looks like I'll be losing both unless I switch out. Politoed has Protect, so I could save it from Thunder that way. I decide, however, that my other two Pokémon are the best candidates for finishing up this battle. I don't want them to take damage on the way in and I want them to enter the match at the same time. So as wasteful as it seems, it's goodnight for Alakazam and Politoed.

Turn 4:
Kingdra uses Hydro Pump on Alakazam. (1%)
Alakazam faints.
Jolteon uses Thunder on Politoed. (100%)
Jolteon takes Life Orb damage. (10%)
Politoed faints.

I send out Infernape and Leafeon.

OK, this is going to be a cinch, thanks to Kingdra's low health (≈ 5% left). I'll finish it off with Leafeon's Quick Attack and Infernape will Fake Out Jolteon in the meantime, nullifying its threat for the round. If either switches to Azelf, that'll go down too. It's the perfect plan!

Turn 5:
Kingdra uses Protect.
Jolteon uses Protect.
Infernape uses Fake Out on Jolteon, but Jolteon is protecting itself.
Leafeon uses Quick Attack on Kingdra, but Kingdra is protecting itself.

OK. I guess that's one way to make sure Fake Out doesn't succeed. This eliminates part of my advantage, but Leafeon can still safely use Quick Attack and Infernape should be able to finish Jolteon off with a single Close Combat. My Infernape has a lot of EVs in HP, so it should probably survive a Life Orb Thunder unless it's a critical hit.

Turn 6:
Leafeon uses Quick Attack on Kingdra. (5% damage)
Kingdra faints.
Jolteon uses Thunder on Infernape. Critical hit! (100% damage)
Jolteon takes Life Orb damage. (10%)
Infernape faints.

Opponent sends out Azelf.

The astute reader will now notice that my opponent has this match in the bag. All they have to do is attack with both their Pokémon on the same turn. My Leafeon can take out the Azelf with Quick Attack before it can act, but then the faster Jolteon will then get two attacks before I can finish it off. I could instead target the Jolteon with Leaf Blade, but then both opponents get to take a crack at me. I can beat the Azelf and I can beat the Jolteon, but I can't do both at the same time.

If you didn't figure this out, don't feel bad; my opponent didn't figure it out either. It's clear by this point in the match that they've fallen prey to the Protect mentality. It's likely that they will try to predict which Pokémon I'll target and Protect with it in order to avoid damage. Since the only attack my Leafeon had used so far was Quick Attack, my opponent probably assumes I'm going to take out the Azelf.

Turn 7:
Azelf uses Protect.
Jolteon uses Hidden Power (presumably Ice) on Leafeon. (≈ 87% damage)
Jolteon takes Life Orb damage. (10%)
Leafeon uses Leaf Blade on Jolteon. (70% damage)
Jolteon faints.

At this point, my opponent disconnects.

My opponent had a solid, well-executed strategy. They had what appeared to be powerful, well-trained Pokémon. I'd even claim that luck was mostly on their side. In the end, they still lost because on every turn they took what appeared to be the 'safe' action without thinking forward a few turns to the probable consequences.

Protect is a powerful tool when used effectively. Make sure you don't fall into the trap of using it too predictably.

Hopefully you Doubles fans out there found this story enjoyable. If you'd like me to change the format in any way, please tell me. Thanks.

[notorious]

This was very entertaining and makes me want to try out PBR stadium mode. I was really happy to see politoed in the mix and after I read this I immediatly went to the anylysis to look at what it said about politoed. To bad its down.

Anyways great read and I really like your team. It was short and sweet which is alot better then those long war stories and your comments were well thought out and describe alot. Thanks for posting this.

[Bologo]

That was pretty cool, though it was extremely short as well (though matches like this could be meant to be super-fast). I really enjoyed your commentary, since it was quite in-depth for each turn. I don't normally enjoy doubles all that much, but the way you read your opponent's mind like that and watched Protect get to their head was magnificent.

Kudos to you, MaskedNitpicker.

I do have one question, are all PBR doubles battles usually this fast-paced? I'm not too familiar with PBR or doubles, or both combined, so I'd like to know if this pace is normal for a PBR 2v2 match, or if it was just this particular match. Heh, I'm just curious.

Good job though, especially for your first warstory! :]

[Fatality]

Very nice read. There aren't enough Doubles Warstories (or Battles for that matter) around.

EDIT: @Bologo, Yes. Like he said many PBR Randoms suck, those that don't are usually quick due to the either 4v4 Doubles or 3v3 Singles.

[TheMaskedNitpicker]

Originally Posted by Fat notorious

This was very entertaining and makes me want to try out PBR stadium mode. I was really happy to see politoed in the mix and after I read this I immediatly went to the anylysis to look at what it said about politoed. To bad its down.

You don't see too many Politoed in Singles, but it's my preferred Damp Pokemon for Doubles. It's bulkier than Golduck and doesn't have the 4x Grass weakness like Quagsire or Psychic and Flying weaknesses like Poliwrath. Mine has a Zoom Lens, which means it has pretty good accuracy for Hydro Pump (96%), Blizzard (84%), and Hypnosis (84%), assuming its target has already moved that round.

Originally Posted by Fat Bologo

I do have one question, are all PBR doubles battles usually this fast-paced? I'm not too familiar with PBR or doubles, or both combined, so I'd like to know if this pace is normal for a PBR 2v2 match, or if it was just this particular match. Heh, I'm just curious.

Most matches are about this fast in 4v4 Doubles. Both of our teams were pretty offense-oriented, so that sped things up. My opponent used Protect a lot, which slowed things down a bit. Overall I'd say it was about average.

I play so many Doubles matches that it doesn't really seem fast-paced to me. You have to keep in mind that each round of a Doubles match is about twice as long as a round in Singles, so this 8-round match was really about the equivalent of a 15-round Singles battle. Each round of Doubles also tends to be very intense. Each player has a lot more options than in Singles, so prediction is no walk in the park. One mistake can make or break a game, so the pressure's on to predict well.

The nice part about short matches is that you can use that time to play a rematch or two. Pokemon should always be played at least best two out of three, especially in Doubles, to mitigate the luck factor.

Bologo, you always struck me as someone who could really excel at Doubles. You already use a lot of creative movesets that require good prediction and you know how to make the best of a wide variety of Pokemon. If that doesn't make you a good candidate for an excellent Doubles player, I don't know what does.

[BARON9]

Wow - great prediction, TMN. I really enjoyed reading this! It really makes me want to train a Politoed because of all the Explosion-based teams for doubles.

Your first paragraph pretty much sums up why I don't play PBR regularly anymore. If I see one more team with 2 scarfed Kyogres, a Darkrai, and Palkia, I think I will punch a kitten in the face.

Great warstory - I hope that double battle logs like this become more frequent in the forums!

[Dalevl]

Great Warstory, Damp Politoed was unexpected but that's a nice way to block Exploders. Feint Pokemon should really be used more often in doubles, and this warstory proves it.

@Baron: There seems to be more Life Orb/Scarf Darkrai + Scarf Darkrai leads in PBR Wi-F :P

[Train Man]

Awesome Warstory. I loved the way you set it out, it made it very easy to read and understand. Your insights and the commentary was great as well, as not having much experience with Doubles, I didn't really 'understand' your moves.

******

[umbarsc]

One thing that bothered me, I don't see how Infernape could actually live through a Life Orb STAB Thunder, even with HP EVs. I don't think the crit was really necessary.

Otherwise, solid warstory. I thought it was quite short, but then, that's probably to be expected with only 4 Pokemon and having 2 out at a time. I actually want to try Doubles now. Good job! (I wish they had doubles on Shoddy)

[BlueCookies]

Excellent warstory! I really think that your commentary was what made it so enjoyable to read. It was very in depth and explained thoroughly what was going through your head at the time. I faced four of those guys when we had that one practice match for the Showdown. Your team seems very well thought out and creative too, I honestly never expected Wrap Shuckle or Future Sight Alakazam. I would love to read some more warstories by you. I was actually thinking the same thing, that Bologo seems to be just the kind of person who would do very well in Doubles.

[Venom]

I should give Doubles a try one of these days, good warstory though.

[TheMaskedNitpicker]

Originally Posted by Fat Dalevl

Feint Pokemon should really be used more often in doubles, and this warstory proves it.

Hmm... I wonder if I should teach Feint to my Infernape. I barely ever use Grass Knot. The big risk with Feint is that if you mispredict, it does nothing. In this battle my opponent was very easy to predict, but not all my battles go so smoothly and my prediction record is definitely not 100%. Maybe I've gotten good enough to give Feint another shot, though.

Originally Posted by Fat umbarsc

One thing that bothered me, I don't see how Infernape could actually live through a Life Orb STAB Thunder, even with HP EVs. I don't think the crit was really necessary.

According to Metalkid's damage calculator, a neutral-natured, 252 SpAtk EV Jolteon with Life Orb does 86.89% - 102.19% damage to a 252 HP EV Infernape with Thunder, so it's true that the crit may not have been necessary. It definitely would have been close, but I had a chance to live.

Of course, that's assuming that Metalkid's calculator is accurate, and I've heard it's not. Can anybody recommend another one?

Also, thanks everybody for the feedback. I'm glad the story was so well-received!

[Jimbo]

This was only like the 5th warstory where I read the entire thing (low attention span is go). Amazing comments and an awesome battle, doubles sounds really cool. Great warstory :)

[darkie]

I really liked the story! Nice predictions.

Originally Posted by Fat TheMaskedNitpicker

According to Metalkid's damage calculator, a neutral-natured, 252 SpAtk EV Jolteon with Life Orb does 86.89% - 102.19% damage to a 252 HP EV Infernape with Thunder, so it's true that the crit may not have been necessary. It definitely would have been close, but I had a chance to live.

Of course, that's assuming that Metalkid's calculator is accurate, and I've heard it's not. Can anybody recommend another one?

It's not accurate (overshoots damage). This calculator gave me 319 Atk vs 178 Def & 356 HP (120 base power): 300 - 354 (84.27% - 99.44%) | Multipliers: 1.3 * 1.5, so it's not a OHKO.

[TheMaskedNitpicker]

Thanks for the link to the damage calculator! However, PBR battles are at Level 50, so the results I got are:

162 Atk vs 91 Def & 183 HP (120 base power): 156 - 184 (85.25% - 100.55%) | Multipliers: 1.3 * 1.5

So, it would have had a 2.56% chance to OHKO if I had maximum IVs and EVs in HP. As it turns out, my Infernape doesn't have nearly maximum HP, so the Jolteon actually had about an 80% to OHKO Infernape, assuming it had 31 IVs and 252 EVs in SpAtk (which seems likely, considering how easily it fell to Leaf Blade).

So I guess the upshot is, 'good call, umbarsc!'

[StarmanXL]

Great warstory, glad to see another doubles one--beats the heck outta mine, anyway! Maybe it's because I don't play PBR, but I've honestly never worried too much about Explosion leads unless it was painfully obvious (although I always did have a plan for them). Anyway, neat team, and I'm glad you're using Leafeon and Politoed, although I did find your Infernape a little odd with the EVs.

Interesting that you decided to make this a little lesson for the non-doubles players, but it seems like you kinda gave away the ending in the beginning. Perhaps you could save the advice for after the warstory to make it more suspenseful?

[Unreal Ice]

Awesome warstory. I've never read a doubles one before. I really liked your commentary, and this sounded like a cool battle.

[Odinwolf]

I got really tired of PBR Wifi because most players either run full teams of hacked legendaries or are random n00bs that have their D/P starter and a bunch of random pogeys on their team. It's rare to find really good competitive matches and I find 3v3 pretty boring.

However, I really liked this doubles battle and it makes me think about putting together a team and getting into PBR doubles. Thanks for the warstory. Hopefully it inspires others to pick up doubles too!

[Youkai Enslaver]

Hey, I think I've battled you before. I have a Friend Pass from someone named Footnote that has that exact team. If that's you, I was Raine. My avatar is the Cool Girl with the crown and Pikachu shirt. I don't remember what team I used on you, but if you still have my pass, that's me. =D I pretty much exclusively double battle.

EDIT: I remember what team I used now. It was my paralysis team of Ampharos, Shedinja, Seviper, Muk, Hitmontop, and Volbeat.

[Gymdude]

Great Warstory and good idea for using Politoad as an explosion deferrer. You defenitely know how to take a bad situation and put it to your advantage, I didn't know how you were going to get out of that situation with Jolteon and Azelf.

I actually do PBR Wi-Fi doubles all of the time as well and I'm surprised the person disconnected, I haven't run into many of those. I record my battles so perhaps I'll take a shot at a warstory sometime.

[Xyra]

Your team seemed like "My favorite Pokes" but you still won through cool MOvesets and Abilities :P *looks at Politoed*
The Tactic he had was nearly too predictable

[TheMaskedNitpicker]

Originally Posted by Fat StarmanXL

Interesting that you decided to make this a little lesson for the non-doubles players, but it seems like you kinda gave away the ending in the beginning. Perhaps you could save the advice for after the warstory to make it more suspenseful?

Thanks, Starman. I'll take your advice if I write another warstory with a lesson. We should really have another battle. It's been awhile. This Rain Dance team I fought was OK, but it's no match for yours.

Originally Posted by Fat Youkai Enslaver

Hey, I think I've battled you before. I have a Friend Pass from someone named Footnote that has that exact team. If that's you, I was Raine. My avatar is the Cool Girl with the crown and Pikachu shirt. I don't remember what team I used on you, but if you still have my pass, that's me. =D I pretty much exclusively double battle.

EDIT: I remember what team I used now. It was my paralysis team of Ampharos, Shedinja, Seviper, Muk, Hitmontop, and Volbeat.

Yeah, that was me. I remember your team! I saw the Seviper and remember thinking, "Huh. A Seviper. That's pretty cool." I don't remember how the match ended, though. We should exchange Friend Codes and have another match sometime.

My PBR Friend Code: 4639-5995-1666

Originally Posted by Fat Gymdude

Great Warstory and good idea for using Politoad as an explosion deferrer. You defenitely know how to take a bad situation and put it to your advantage, I didn't know how you were going to get out of that situation with Jolteon and Azelf.

I actually do PBR Wi-Fi doubles all of the time as well and I'm surprised the person disconnected, I haven't run into many of those. I record my battles so perhaps I'll take a shot at a warstory sometime.

Gymdude, you're the one with that awesome Sunny Day team, right? We should also have a battle sometime.

Originally Posted by Fat Xyra

Your team seemed like "My favorite Pokes" but you still won through cool MOvesets and Abilities :P *looks at Politoed*
The Tactic he had was nearly too predictable

This may look like a team of favorites, but every Pokémon was chosen because it's the best at what I want it to do (within the tier system I abide by). I'm not a big Infernape fan, for instance, but it was perfect for my needs, so I use it. I must admit, though, that I've grown to like it more as I've used this team.

[Dalevl]

Ha, your Footnote...

That was a great match we had last night on PBR Doubles, I even sent you a PM on the Footnote account ;)
We had two matches, one against my PBR In-game Singles Team and another against my Sunny Day Team. My PBR Name was Dale and I lead with a Ninjask and Jolteon ;)

[Stallion]

I am now going to build a doubles team cause this warstory has inspired me. Very nicely done

[Youkai Enslaver]

Originally Posted by Fat TheMaskedNitpicker

Yeah, that was me. I remember your team! I saw the Seviper and remember thinking, "Huh. A Seviper. That's pretty cool." I don't remember how the match ended, though. We should exchange Friend Codes and have another match sometime.

My PBR Friend Code: 4639-5995-1666

I'd love to battle you again. FC is in my signature.

I remember I got pissed off during our battle because your Shuckle had Encored my Seviper's Sludge Bomb and all it had to do was hit your Slaking, but all it kept hitting was Shuckle. >_<