Battle of Hoenn [Online Competition] - Finished! Erebyssial Wins!

[Inconspicuosaurus]

Went against an all Flying Team - Ninjask/Pelipper/Crobat/Salamence/Skarmory/Gyarados

Lead with Mega-Manectric thinking it would sweep his whole team and went up against his Ninjask. But I totally got OHKO by FINAL GAMBIT! My Manectric went down and I lost to his 2 other pokes...

Oh wow, now that's an innovative strategy. That's the kind of thing I don't even mind losing to. XD

After completing all 20 possible so far, I am at 8W/12L, which I can definitely live with. The only one I'm really annoyed about is my last battle, where I outplayed the opponent completely, predicting a switch to Latios and Megahorning with my Rhyperior, but it missed... and so Latios lived to destroy all but my Walrein, who valiantly KO'd it with Frost Breath before falling to his Blaziken.

 

[JES]

It's actually a really good surprise. With the exception of Ghosts, you actually OHKO the whole metagame that doesn't invest in HP EVs including Mega Salamence/Mega Metagross

Oh, so it was a pleasant surprise! Oh good for you!

Oh wow, now that's an innovative strategy. That's the kind of thing I don't even mind losing to. XD

After completing all 20 possible so far, I am at 8W/12L, which I can definitely live with. The only one I'm really annoyed about is my last battle, where I outplayed the opponent completely, predicting a switch to Latios and Megahorning with my Rhyperior, but it missed... and so Latios lived to destroy all but my Walrein, who valiantly KO'd it with Frost Breath before falling to his Blaziken.

Oh, aren't there just time where you could just swear the game is giving you the middle finger, and smiling?
I bet that made your opponents day though.

 

[stonerchris]

I am in the Master's Division but seem to be getting extremely lucky with my opponents and battling people who arent that serious. Had a couple battles where some of the mons weren't even at level 50, and many that obviously are not EV trained. People sure love that shiny metagross. Had some great battles too but I guess because I do my battling after midnight I miss most north american players, I'm going against mostly europeans and japanese. Sitting at 11-4 right now. Dont think I've battled any other smogoners...Rich the 3rd rings a bell, had a good match with him.

 

[Tortoise]

I am in the Master's Division but seem to be getting extremely lucky with my opponents and battling people who arent that serious. Had a couple battles where some of the mons weren't even at level 50, and many that obviously are not EV trained. People sure love that shiny metagross. Had some great battles too but I guess because I do my battling after midnight I miss most north american players, I'm going against mostly europeans and japanese. Sitting at 11-4 right now. Dont think I've battled any other smogoners...Rich the 3rd rings a bell, had a good match with him.

Lucky you then! Been seeing all sorts of fully EV-ed and equipped opponents (read: Japanese). Not sure why your experience is so different :p

 

[Tox]

16-4 (around 1660 points) after two days with what I posted on page 6. Only memorable moment was getting absolutely demolished by a turn one Sleep Talk Heracross. Should have lost a game to a misclick against Skarmory, but its Red Card saved my Scarf Gardevoir from being locked into Thunderbolt against Manectric.

 

[Blitz099]

17-3, so pleased with myself! not even using salamence, even though it is quite boring playing against them on pretty much every team. My scarfed latios and milotic have saved me on loads of occasions from getting swept

 

[JES]

Actually, I miscounted before, so I have lost 6 times so far. I thought that the two battles with the Skarmorys were the same one, because I lost my spot.

 

[ProjectTitan313]

lol, there goes this guy's 1620 ranking. Ice Fang freeze with a +2/+2 Mega Gyara + 2 crits and the guy still loses. AssVest Gardevoir is serious business:
3L2W-WWWW-WWX4-N53C

Its cool to see Mega Gyara getting some love from people.

 

[JES]

lol, there goes this guy's 1620 ranking. Ice Fang freeze with a +2/+2 Mega Gyara + 2 crits and the guy still loses. AssVest Gardevoir is serious business:
3L2W-WWWW-WWX4-N53C

Its cool to see Mega Gyara getting some love from people.

Yeah, unfortunately, there are usually other Water types that most people think of first, but Gyarados really is a great Pokemon. At least the guy still has over 1600. I think I'm currently stuck around 1580. Don't know how to check though, since I finished my quota for the day.

 

[ProjectTitan313]

Yeah, unfortunately, there are usually other Water types that most people think of first, but Gyarados really is a great Pokemon. At least the guy still has over 1600. I think I'm currently stuck around 1580. Don't know how to check though, since I finished my quota for the day.

You can't check without hitting "battle" and locking yourself into a battle search. Really need a "check rating" option :/
He was 1602 I think - since my rating was pitiful, he probably took a 20+ point loss. So he may not get back up to 1600 this late in the tourney :P

 

[JES]

You can't check without hitting "battle" and locking yourself into a battle search. Really need a "check rating" option :/
He was 1602 I think - since my rating was pitiful, he probably took a 20+ point loss. So he may not get back up to 1600 this late in the tourney :P

How pitiful, if I may ask? And is the points that you earn or receive really determined by your score and that of your opponent's?

 

[ProjectTitan313]

How pitiful, if I may ask? And is the points that you earn or receive really determined by your score and that of your opponent's?

If you have a high rating (1580+) and beat an opponent of lower score, lets say 1520, you get very few points for it. Like, +4. However, if you have a high rating and lose to a low one, lets say my case of 1602 losing to 1490, that hits a painful loss of ~20 points to my foe and about +14 to me. Not exactly sure how the system woks, but you do get a large penalty for losing in just about any circumstance; its smaller if both you and the foe have a similar ranking though (ie, 1560 loses to 1550, you only lose like 7 points, winner gets about 4 points). Usually, 2 losses will offset 3-4 wins in terms of points. No idea if winning 1-0 gets you less points than winning 3-0, I assume it doesn't matter outside of BW2's PWT.

tl;dr yes, but I don't know the exact formula. My rating is about 1520 right now, I won a bit. Did bad, but I put minimal effort in so I can't really complain or be surprised. :P

 

[stonerchris]

Lucky you then! Been seeing all sorts of fully EV-ed and equipped opponents (read: Japanese). Not sure why your experience is so different :p

I think it's just the time of day I was playing. I expect my battles this evening will be much tougher. I'm finding mega gyarados very useful, while my salamence isn't getting much use as everyone is prepared for it.

 

[Sakuretsu]

I might as well share some of my experiences and thoughts after reading several of yours. Since there is only one day left and the chances we'd meet each other on the battlefield is pretty slim, I'll go ahead and share my team (though not the EV spreads, simply for the fact I don't remember them...). Be warned that you'll be here for quite some time, should you decide to hear read my tale.

Want to hear a story?

I'll start off by stating that I've never really considered myself a battler in this franchise. Sure, I watch along and try to predict with my PokeTuber, ShadyPenguinn, and seldom try my hand in random battles on PS, but in-game I've not done much battling. I guess you could say I've always been too "afraid of losing, so why bother battling?" This competition changed that. At first, I thought I'd simply get my obligatory 3 battles in for my Sturdy Tyrunt, and be done with it. I also decided that I would at least try to build a team, regardless of how many battles I'd participate in. So I went to team-building. The entire time, I'd like to say I was deathly afraid of Mega Salamence. I did a few quick calcs and determined that one of my best checks to this uber monster would be Milotic - though not simply by itself with any of the standard Smogon sets. Even though It's painfully obvious that it would be situational, I came up with a spread that would still outspeed max speed adamant Breloom and survive a hit from neutral (assuming mixed with Draco Meteor) max attack Double-Edge Mega Salamence. The calculations came out to be 100% chance of survival at full health, whilst being able to OHKO back. Later did I determine that a Life Orb might not have been the best item of choice for my MegaMence check, but it has come in handy against many a foe. Milotic proves to be an invaluable asset and has a scent of stall against many opponents that can't outright 2HKO back. +1 for one of my favorite 'mons, now that I've used her (well, sadly, him).

I also wanted to ensure I had a Sableye on my team, because priority WoW seemed invaluable against all the theoretical physical MegaMence (and later would i find out, all the Gyarados, Metagross and other physical threats or 'mons that simply do not appreciate residual damage). I pretty much immediately determined that Prankster (and Leftovers) was too good to relinquish for running a Mega Sableye. I also wanted to ensure I had the upper hand in burning all those MegaMence (at the stake) I was sure I'd come across. I felt that, that with Prankster, a modified version of the Calm Mind MegaLeye set would make for a decent tank (though that only works against something solely special and relatively weak - Thunder Wave-less Lanturn comes to mind). I opted to go for a special attack instead of Foul Play or Knock Off, since I thought that it'd be useless against all the Mega 'mons I'd face (naturally...). I figured that Shadow Ball would be the best choice, as it had the most neutrality versus Dark Pulse, and has a slim chance to lower the target's Sp.Def... and also fairies. I guess I hate fairies... I don't even know. With max HP and most defense investment, the remainder went into Sp.Def and Sp.Atk, with a bias towards Sp.Def - not until later did I really determine that Sableye can't really take any super-effective hits (I'll remind you that I'm rather fresh on the competitive scene; a long way away from sitting on eggs all day with useless flavor moves). Still, this little demonic gem-muncher has proven to be extremely valuable in many situations. Along with Milotic, he comes to almost every battle, disregarding the fact that his presence on the battlefield is pretty obvious to most opponents.

For once, in my few competitive teams, I believed that I should have a Scarf user. After scrolling through the available Hoenn 'mons, I remembered an old set I heard about - ScarfCross. Heracross was then quickly solicited. Not much to say about the bugger, but like the rest of the team, status was a real detriment unless Toxic - especially paralysis. He also quickly found his rival in the form of the flying leviathan - Gyarados. Though Heracross hasn't seen all that much use, I'd say the times he did, he was mostly shaking things up only to be sent home crying when a flying or levitating foe arrived blaring MC Hammer. I guess that's the price you pay when you're stubbornly fast. Oh well...

Next up, I told myself I'd dabble in a bit of psychology. I picked up Salamence because I thought he'd be the go-to Mega seen going rampant in this competition and decided to do something unbelievable with him. Instead of a physically-oriented monster, I opted for the rare special 'Mence. Not only that, I opted for a MixMence, with a special bias. Luckily, one of my many, many WT specimens was a Bagon with Hydro Pump and Dragon Pulse as egg moves and so cut my breeding time down a bit (I was also blessed by the RNGods with a hex-flawless soon after). In addition, since this 'Mence was to be... um, special, I couldn't exactly comfort him with draconic meteors, so Dragon Pulse stayed - though calculations proved that even neutral max sp.atk Dpulse would never OHKO a MegaMence. Sad, I know. So now I had myself a special Salamence with the powers of water, fire, drake... and earthquakes (I've yet to use it, so I guess it's just filler). Now he needed an item. With all the fairies, other dragons and frigid attacks surely to batter the battlefields and destroy my 'Mence, I thought that maybe a Focus Sash would do the job. The answer to that would be yes... to an extent. Unfortunately, the combination of 'Mence's average speed and mildly weak special attacks mean that he can't do much back to assailants after taking their would-be fatal attacks. Still, I'm quite proud of the surprise factor whenever it works, but I guess 'Mence was only ever there in the beginning to play with my adversary's mind. Not so much of a lose, if I'd have to make a claim...

For my last two slots, I wanted to play a bit with my foes' minds once more and embrace two megas. Ever since its reveal, I wanted to use MegaGross, so this phase of my quest was already 50% complete. Since the other mega had to be a Hoenn [Dex] native, contenders for a hard hitting beast were middling. Eventually I settled for MegaDos, with the added benefit of pulling its weight even when not going for the increase in power and type change. Moreover, I wanted nontraditional specimens and had Ice Punch tutored on 'Gross because I hate dragons and flying types in general for coverage (even though Thunder Punch might have been others' preferred elemental punch) and Iron Head on 'Dos because I don't believe in fairies fairies wouldn't expect it.

As can be seen further down in the next hide tag, should you decide not to skim through the above, my entire team is view-able by anyone in the detail as provided by the Global Link website. Now as for some closing comments on my team, I'd like to confirm your fears. Yes, I did not see until it was much too late that this team has a serious fairy problem even with all the care I took to mitigate my fairy weakness in Sableye and Heracross and finally MegaDos. I also had an unseen electricity weakness - well, I saw it, but didn't make the connection until it came back to haunt me... Fire was also a bit of a problem, but due to the 3-man team limit, I only ever had that once when I brought both Heracross and Metagross. I also found out through battles that without (or even with, I don't know) MegaDos' Crunch, Eviolite Dusclops could destroy my team unless I had Milotic to muscle over the Pain Split and burn damage. Ludicolo also proved to be a problem, though I only met one - I do not remember the exact details, though I do believe I lost that battle. Of course there are other weaknesses, either by type or species, that I'm probably missing, such as 'Gross' ground and dark weaknesses...

As for my battles, I suffered immensely in my first two, almost proving to myself what I stated above - that I shouldn't even bother trying to "compete." Still, I was determined to get at least my three battles in and see how it fares. My third battle is what I'd say elicited my desire to battle more. I'll tell you this, my third battle is not something to be proud of, even though it was my first "win." My "opponent" merely only had 3 'mons, consisting of a level 3 Poochyena, Zigzagoon and Wurmple. I'm not going to say it crushed me, but being paired with someone like this in a competition felt like an insult (even though it was not). "How dare you be my final opponent before granting me a Sturdy Tyrunt at the end of the month?!" And so, after that match I continued to battle to the best of my ability... and surprisingly, even though some matches were tough or seemingly at my disadvantage, I won every single one. To be honest, even though it was only yesterday, I don't think I can recall a single match - everything seems like a blur. I do recall, however, some weird choices on my opponents' part, such as a few instances of Rhyperior, even though two of my members could easily rip through it. Or the match where the opponent thought that Stealth Rocks would be a good, tactical choice. Or the match-up against a Mega Blaziken that didn't have protect to outspeed and KO the following turn my weakened MegaGross.

Day 1: 8:2 Win/Loss

For today's matches, I must concede that my memory is pretty terrible, for I do not really remember the details of these matches either. Perhaps it is due to the adrenaline during these matches that causes a seemingly blank state and only very notable or surprising events remain in my head? To further my previous comment, I will admit that one of the matches I lost was partially due to missing two Meteor Mashes in a row - though my last opponent's 'mon was too a MegaGross, and a healthy one at that. Or the occasion in which a Gardevoir survived an Iron Head with 1 HP (non Focus Sash and did not have Trace) from Gyarados (un-evolved) and OHKO'd back with a Tbolt - even though that was mostly my fault for not Mega-evolving (I figured the Hyper Voice/Moonblast was coming in anticipation of the MegaDos). At the end of it all, my record either proves that I'm not as dreadful a battler as I previously presumed or that luck was on my side and granted me opponents with hampering strategic intelligence - as I do not wish to insult my opponents, I guess my money's on me "not sucking as much as I'd thought."

Day 2: 8:2 Win/Loss

Total Record (as of Day 2):
16 Wins: 4 Losses

Battle 20 video code:
ZJKG-WWWW-WWX4-GCFX

Current Rating:
~1650

Now for my team recap:

Meet the Contenders

I might come back to this post at the end of day 3 and try to recount some of my battles in more depth...

Thanks for reading (if you did decide to read my colossal wall of text ^_^) and I wouldn't mind any comments or questions! I hope I can learn more, either from you guys or from myself! I've had a lot of fun with my first competition, so far. Everything from picking out the members from a relatively small pool of 'mons to quickly breeding the members to finally putting them to the test on the battlefield!

 

[Roadagain]

Well, done with the event.

Gonna sum it up real fast.

I built up most of the team over a week. However, my last slot was causing me issues.
Technically speaking, Milotic would be a relatively solid choice for my intents, however... I absolutely despise Milotic for reason that are best left aside. I ended up getting an idea from this very thread actually.
So, the final team ended up looking like this:
Mega-Aggron/Breloom/Gardevoir/Machamp/Crobat/Wigglytuff.
I could go to a greater detail on this team, but it's actually really similar to this post (Which is where I ultimately got the idea for Wigglytuff), and I think it does a good job explaining a lot of my thoughts. There were a few differences here and there, but nothing too major.
The only exception is the lack of Ludicolo, replaced by Breloom, which is a rather self-explanatory team-mate.

As far as matches went, I went 8-2 on Day 1 and and Day 2, which, for being the first competition I've taken part, I'd say is rather decent. However, for the last day, I took a bit of a nosedive to a rather abysmal 5-5. While there were a few matches that involved hax of some variety, there were definitely a few matches I should have won by playing better.

These last day matches also involved a lot of weird/cool strategies.
I also liked how most Sableye players were rather predictable against Breloom. They start with Taunt nearly every single time. The second hit is Will-o-wisp.
I took advantage of that multiple times.

In hindsight:
Most of the matches involved Breloom-Gardevoir-MAggron.
Early on, I used Crobat a bit more, but ultimately, he didn't usually come too handy, as most of the things he could handle could also be handled by Gardevoir. Machamp was, from the get-go, a fairly situational Pokemon, especially as I only ever saw two Aggron, neither which were used. When he was on the team, he pulled his weight though.
Now, the big issue with the team was, in fact, Wigglytuff. I think I didn't use the thing once. The main reason he was on the team was to do something against Sableye and I guess Salamence. But neither of these were, for the most part, an issue. Metagross was also ridiculously rampant in most matches, so it didn't work out.
I think I would've been better off with another solid special attacker instead.

Ultimately, 21-9 was less than I hoped, especially after the first few days going so smoothly, but I enjoyed some really solid, exciting battles.

 

[The Ordinary]

Ended the competition with a 19-11. Approximately 1630s... Eugh.... could've done better if I took careful consideration with team preview.

My team & details if anyone is interested

Salamence (M) @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 12 Atk / 240 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Return
- Hyper Voice
- Fire Blast
- Draco Meteor

Decided to go a mixed set so I can make KO physical tanks and catch them off guard; however, I feel like Salamence is slightly weaker than what I expected. I didn't use Salamence often because my opponent had many checks against it, such as Azumarill, Scarf Gardevoir, Rhyperior, and even Metagross. Still, it's still useful against the amount of Blazikens I've encountered

Aggron (M) @ Aggronite
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Thunder Wave

Probably one of the best Pokemon in this competition, I decided to use my favorite Pokemon. It was able to Counter/Check Metagross, Salamence, Azumarill, Physical Blaziken, and Gardevoir. However, it does easily get worn off throughout the match. I could've added 12 ev to Speed so I can speed creep on Azumarill and Mawile whenever they're the two Pokemon last standing. Nevertheless, it's a valuable Mega Pokemon on my team.

Gardevoir (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball

A neat Sableye, Salamence, Blaziken (barely), and Manectric check. I used Modest instead of Timid so I can get a little extra Power against my opponent. With a choice scarf, it still outspeeds positive 120s, although there are times when I wished I could've replace Thunderbolt/Shadow Ball with Trick so I can troll Sableyes (No Mega, surprisingly) and Skarmorys.

Gyarados (F) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 92 HP / 188 Atk / 4 Def/ 224 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Bounce
- Ice Fang
- Dragon Dance

Gyarados was a neat pokemon with its Water/flying type. I used Safety Goggles so I can get Brelooms off guard with their failed Spore; however, I haven't encountered many Brelooms, which makes the Goggles a wasted item slot. I could've used Lum berry so I can defeat Sableye, Yawn Swampert, and other status inflicting Pokemon easier, or give it a Mega Stone so I can change its typing.

Roserade (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Natural Cure
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Shadow Ball
- Sleep Powder

Underrated, yet effective. She could be the Dark Horse of this Competition. I once was using Dazzling Gleam instead of Shadow Ball so I can easily damage Salamence, but I decided to use Shadow Ball so it has an option against Metagross and Magnezone, in case the opponent leads with them. I usually lead with this Pokemon because her coverage is amazing along with her Sleep Powder.

Sableye (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Taunt
- Knock Off
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover

This is a situational Pokemon, and I could've replace it with another Pokemon. All I remember being it useful is against Skarmory, Gyarados, and Metagross, but that's it. Its Will-O-Wisp is useful, but I can handle physical attackers just fine with my other 5 Pokemon. What would be a better option if this competition starts again?

Surprises in my Experience:
*
*Magnezones. Magnezones everywhere (I had to rely on Roserade, Salamence or Aggron to kill it and even then, it'll punch holes on my 3 mon core)
*No Lati@s (I almost considered using one of them and replace Sableye, but I didn't)
*No opposing Roserade. My opponents underestimated Roserade's power (Sludge Bomb is very powerful and Sleep Powder is devastating).
*Expected Mega-Mawile to be the most popular Steel Mega. I only encountered 2.
*No Mega-Altaria :(

 

[flash]

Ended 21-9, kind of disappointed in my performance for this torunament. My last torunament was the battle of legends and I did way better in that one.

Here's my team

Hide

Thoughts:
-Latios sucks.. well at least for me. Almost every time I brought him in I lost and it doesnt have enough bulk to survive the threats that I need it too
-I should of had yawn on swampert. I already bred a 6 iv relaxed mudkip and was too lazy to go rebreed another. This was a big mistake because Swampert became bait for opposing Mega Gyarados. I think I used 7 scalds on them total in different battles and none of them burned.
-My team is not as prepared for mega gyarados, should have brought something better.
-My team wasnt that prepared for special Salamence either
-I should have either replaced dragon dance with facade/hyper voice for salamence.
-Lost to some weird metagross like one non mega one had grass knot and another had a normal gen + explosion
-I should have used Salamence more

Videos:
Best battle i had in the tournament, K98W-WWWW-WWX4-SVP5
Highest Rating person i faced (1672), 3N3G-WWWW-WWX4-TW79

Shoutout to whoever this was:

Well, this was the most disappointing loss in the tourney for me. I missed a crucial draco meteor and lost. I dont even know if the Sabeleye was +def or +sp def... No offence but this loss was just very frustrating.
252 SpA Choice Specs Latios Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Sableye: 156-184 (99.3 - 117.1%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

 

[mhykah]

Game 11 win: Overpredicted the opponent turn 1 expecting Rhyperior to switch in on Exploud but managed to turn things around in time
Game 12 loss: Swept by Mega Salamence, after a Dragon Dance my checks aren't enough
Game 13 loss: Swept by Mega Salamence, after a Dragon Dance my checks aren't enough. Again.
Game 14 win: Not a lot likes to get hit by Choice Specs Boomburst. Not even Dusclops. Beating an opponent in the 1600s is going to help my ranking
Game 15 win: Swampert breaststrokes through the rain for a decisive victory
Game 16 loss: Swept by Mega Sceptile, I made a mistake in choosing my lead
Game 17 loss: Out of his 6 potential megas, I didn't think it was Sableye
Game 18 win: I knocked out her Mega Salamence. She would've won had she Dragon Danced
Game 19 loss: Her Mega Aggron had ~10 HP remaining. 0-1. These things happen
Game 20 win: 1-0. Manectric wins game with 5 HP and is hailed as team hero

Day 2: 5 Win - 5 Loss. 1563 -> 1567

Day 1+2: 12 Win - 8 Loss

There goes my chance to be in the leaderboards but that's ok, it's been a fun run with 10 more games to go now!

 

[cant say]

Game 18 loss: I knocked out her Mega Salamence. She would've won had she Dragon Danced
Game 19 win: Her Mega Aggron had ~10 HP remaining. 0-1. These things happen

I think you've got the results the wrong way around, hehe

Anyway, I've made a quick team for this to play in the last 12 hours of the comp, how many games I'll get to do and/or win is the mystery though. My team is far from perfect and has a few oddities which I'll post about when the comp is over

 

[mhykah]

cant say haha thanks for the correction!

Game 21 loss: Breloom+Blazkien is hard for me to deal with
Game 22 win: The best game of my run so far. Opponent's Mega Gardevoir had Destiny Bond and I only had Swampert left. It was difficult, but I managed to get it within burn range so I wouldn't go down. With just enough rain turns, Swampert then knocks out the opposing Rhyperior and Exploud going from 1-3 to 1-0 to take the win.
Game 23 loss: Milotic was a problem and made me run out of rain turns
Game 24 win: Opponent disconnected :/
Game 25 loss: My opponent had a Level 1 Phanphy which forced me to pick Sableye. Although Phanphy never made an appearance, it won the game by dictating my picks
Game 26 loss: Magic Bounce Gallade wasn't a problem, but Destiny Bond Sharpedo was
Game 27 win: First Slaking I've seen here, it didn't do much though. I can tell how low my rating has dropped
Game 28 win: 1-0. Manectric wins game with 19 HP and is hailed as team hero once again
Game 29 win: "The opposing Machamp's Quick Claw activated!" Just what ranking have I gotten into?? 3-0
Game 30 win: 1 Boomburst. 2 Boomburst. 3 Boomburst. Win.

Day 3: 6 Win - 4 Loss. 1567 -> ~1570

Overall: 18 Win - 12 Loss.

And that's the end of the competition for me! I didn't do particularly well, but I definitely learnt a lot from the games, and have all 30 games recorded for me to re-watch and learn! I feel like my losses weren't so much my fault of my team, but rather my inexperience which is something I'm always going to be improving. One idea which I would've liked to try is Focus Sash Metagross which can do a lot of damage to threats then pick them off with Bullet Punch. This however would mean that I would need to redo the whole team to put in a Breloom counter. Although I didn't reach 1600 I have no regrets, this was a fun competition! Congrats to those who have put in the work and done well, looking forward to seeing some leaderboard winners from our community!

I haven't seen a single Aron or Shedinja. Lucky me?

 

[Sakuretsu]

Well, today's battles were not as invigorating as the last two. Starting off my day, I was completely walled by an extremely lucky Freeze-Dry Substitute Leftovers Moody Glalie. The entire time was something along the lines of: +2 evasiveness -attack, +2 speed -attack, +2 Accuracy -defense, +2 evasiveness -special defense, +2 special attack -attack... and so on and on, all the while being behind a sub and recovering all lost health. Disregarding the luck factor, my opponent did have a 1770-something rating, so I should have expected to lose (just not to dumb luck -_-#). Most battles were usually pretty decent, though I lost every battle in which I brought Heracross or Gyarados (didn't even bother bringing sashed 'Mence), I believe. I made some stupid plays, but I'm still not that good of a player, so it's fine. I once again faced up against a Mega Altaria. I guess people think that MegAria checks or counter MegaGross, but then again most 'Gross don't run Ice Punch, I'd imagine. One battle (#27, 28, or 29, I can't remember) was so poor due to me picking the wrong members that I basically lost from the start, and another I literally had to forfeit due to, once again, poor match-ups. I even once saw a special Azumarill with Scald, so that was a thing. One person even disconnected after they lost, but I was still able to save the battle for it.

My 30th and final battle was very disappointing, however. Even though it was pretty well-matched, it was pretty obvious that I was going to win due to my beast of a Milotic and my opponent's reluctance to switch out his/her scarfed Gardevoir locked into Moonblast (and subsequently boosting Milotic's Sp.Atk). Once Moonblast boosted Milotic's special attack to +4 (-1 +2, -1 +2, -1 +2, -1 +2) they disconnected.

All in all, this competition was rather fun. I learned a bit and got to use some very fun 'mons, along with some non-standard movesets and spreads.

Even though I don't know what my final rating is, I believe it's about 1680. I mean, that's not bad - it may actually even be above average, but I couldn't say. Around battle 23 or 24 is where my rating peaked at a modest 1712 or so.

I forgot to mention in my last post that after determining and breeding all members for this competition did I realize that all but one member were capable of mega-evolving. I guess that also helped win some battles, with all the extra stress my opponents must have gone through to determine who the mega would be. ^_^

Battle 23 video code:
RYJG-WWWW-WWX5-2J3E

Day 3: 6:4 Win/Loss

Total Record:
22 Wins: 8 Losses
(If that last battle counts as a win. I can't battle anymore and it's not showing up on the Global Link...)

Peak Rating:
~1712

Overall Rating:
~1680

 

[JES]

On another note, do any of you like to listen to a specific theme while battling to keep you psyched and alert, and if so, which one?

I've found myself selecting #23: Frontier Brain.

 

[Sakuretsu]

On another note, do any of you like to listen to a specific theme while battling to keep you psyched and alert, and if so, which one?

I've found myself selecting #23: Frontier Brain.

Considering the fact that I haven't even really started the Delta Episode nor caught/battled any of the legendaries, I only had a choice between numbers 1 through 9. I'd say I chose number 9 the most, but sometimes I chose 5 because I kept thinking it was the theme for the Lysandre battle in X and Y...

I really wish the music wasn't titled "Music 2" or some such, but rather what the actual song is supposed to be - like "Rival Theme" or something. u_u

 

[JES]

I never even considered that the choices could be decided by who you encounter. I could be listening to the Three Legendary Beast's theme if I had caught one of them!

 

[ethan06]

On another note, do any of you like to listen to a specific theme while battling to keep you psyched and alert, and if so, which one?

I've found myself selecting #23: Frontier Brain.

I mostly pick number #21 which is Zinnia's theme, but sometimes I'll go for either #3 (Rival Battle) or #24 (I think that's the right number... either way, the Deoxys Encounter one). I find a lot of the music in OR/AS to be a little contrived sometimes, or to use instrumentation or take melodic directions that rub me the wrong way.

re the competition, after my first day my interest sort of dwindled which was a shame. I forced myself to do some battles yesterday but lost a bunch and stopped at six matches, while I was still ahead. My final score was 11-5, which is a good enough score for someone whose main motivation was the Tyrunt lol.

my lineup