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

[Skore]

Had a disappointing 7 wins 3 losses, 2 of which were complete misjudgements of my own; the other was a Sleep Powder miss on turn 1 that kinda set the tone for the match :(
Got a lot better idea of what my team is capable of and where I needed to up my game today so hopefully I can improve tomorrow and Sunday :)

Here's my lineup:

Donphan @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 50
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Counter

My MVP.
A great all rounder, he was present in 9/10 of my matches and all of the moves saw use. People do tend to underestimate how hard he can hit and the Liechi boost after activating Sturdy turned quite a few 2HKO's into OHKO's which is always an awesome feeling :)

Roserade @ Focus Sash
Ability: Natural Cure
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Giga Drain
- Dazzling Gleam
- Sludge Bomb
- Sleep Powder

I was originally dubious about adding this little flower but she's really done good work for me. Do people not know she can learn Dazzling Gleam? The amount of Sableyes and dragons that sat in front of me and just let me KO them was a bit silly. Sleep Powder only missed once which was unfortunate but I used this little babe in about half my matches and she did everything I needed her to.

Sableye @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Recover

Wow. I've never used M-Sableye until this competition but I am super impressed. My very first match I led with this guy and my opponent ended up forfeiting as he couldn't put a dent in me between my CM boosts and burns. Used him in 8 of my 10 matches and was very happy with his performance.

Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Zen Headbutt

I was a little disappointed with this one, I didn't use it as much as I thought I would, or at least in the manner I did. It was HARD to find openings to bring him in due to everyone being super prepeared for M-Salamence. The one time I found a perfect opportunity to send him in it's vs a Froslass, my opponents lead who dodged a sleep powder and ate my Roserade. I click Outrage and BAM! Cursed Fecking Body! Needless to say I lost that one....

Pinsir @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- X-Scissor
- Quick Attack
- Double Hit

Added to the team purely to take out Breloom. Which he did twice for me and I went on to win those matches. People get very overconfident in their Focus Sashes and on both occasions where the opponent had a Breloom in their 6, they led with it allowing me to pick them off with ease.

Regirock @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Careful Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide

Yes, I have a 5IV Regirock that I SR'ed like fuck to get, yay me! This was my own M-Salamence counter which also saw use vs other physical threats. He can take any hit then T-Wave shuts down M-Salamence, Clear Body laughs at intimidate and Ice Punch KO's. Didn't always see use but was definietely worth adding to my team. The Careful nature isn't 100% ideal however 100 base Special Defense and full HP investment is still a decent amount of special bulk which let me take a special hit if needed to get the T-Wave off.

 

[edavis707]

For a Mega Gyarados, would I want to run Waterfall / DD / Earthquake / Crunch (Walled by Breloom, otherwise great coverage) or Ice Fang (Weaker, but hits Breloom/Salamence)?
Probably not going to have everything EV'd by the end of the day but eh, this is for a Tyrunt anyway.

Crunch actually really comes in handy. Yes Breloom is a problem, but Ice Fang doesn't matter as the standard set is usually sashed and always run Mach Punch. Super Effective Ice Fang also only hits 10 BP more than neutral Crunch so that's something to consider. Unless of course you're deathly afraid of Salamence. I know this was already answered but I'm just adding my 2 cents as well :)

 

[ProjectTitan313]

Crunch actually really comes in handy. Yes Breloom is a problem, but Ice Fang doesn't matter as the standard set is usually sashed and always run Mach Punch. Super Effective Ice Fang also only hits 10 BP more than neutral Crunch so that's something to consider. Unless of course you're deathly afraid of Salamence. I know this was already answered but I'm just adding my 2 cents as well :)

Ok, I think JP players are psychic, that was not predictable. >_>
ALready registered battle box, but good point.

Edit: Yeah, I should not of lost like that. Oh well. FOR TYRUNT

 

[JES]

Because this is played on a global scale it uses UTC as the standard time, so the 'day' resets at midnight UTC (so yeah, every 24 hours, for me it's 11am)



8-2 is really good for the first day of the first competition you've taken this seriously, I'm really happy for you! What was your main lineup that you've used and what have you been running into? Also, how does it compare to the Maison? ;)



Ice Fang is really good for obvious reasons so I would try getting it on there somehow. Crunch is the most dispensable move on the set due to it really only hitting Dusclops/Noir, Starmie and Banette hard, which don't seem too prominent anyway. Either way, Sash Breloom still walks all over you, the only way to remedy it is with a Lum Berry / Safety Goggles and Substitute (Bullet Seed will break it and hit you with its additional hits though) so like mhykah said, it really depends on what your team can handle and chose coverage based on that

I wouldn't say that this isn't the first competition that I've taken this seriously, I just didn't have the knowledge at the time that I have now, let alone able to get any advice, seeing as how I wasn't a member on any forums. I thought I could figure things out all by myself, but that turned out to not be entirely accurate. ;)

Anyways, I'd have to say that amongst the most prominent Pokemon that I've had to battle is Salamence (mostly non-megas), Metagross (mostly megas, including this one Mega Metagross Vs. Shiny Mega Metagross battle), and a few Sableyes here and there. Oh, and Azumarills and Mega Mawiles, which have shown up in hordes. Huge Power's secret is out, and now every other team seems to have one. Quite a few Brelooms too, but most people seem to be discouraged against using them against me.

Less common, but of note includes a Roserade a Skarmory, and some Gardevoirs too, one of each which was handled masterfully by the opponent (and by that, I mean they were on the teams that defeated me). I've even encountered some Frosslasses, Gyarados, a Machamp, and some Swamperts too.

Surprisingly, I've yet to see a Mega Manetric. I guess many of the other Megas are preferred.

No surprise, since I've found myself depending mostly on Kachaenk and Azumarill, who would plain destroy them, not to mention South Fried. I depend mostly on Sableye and Cradily for support, and though I've had some losses, and even this close Cradily on Azumarill action, in which I 2KOed an Azumarill while in the red, when I depended on either one of them, half the time, they haven't let me down.

As for how it compares to what I'm used to: it has ranged from trainers who are probably worse than who I've usually faced, to trainers as tough and smarter than I've faced in my hardest Frontier and Maison battles, with similar results (either I win, but it is close, or do no better than most of my opponents have done against me, and get totally outmaneuvered).

There is this one particular episode of note, where I switched out into Kacheank against his Gardevoir, and anticipating a switch used Earthquake, figuring I'd have nothing to lose, since if Rocky Helmet Skarmory switched back out, and I used Bullet Punch, I'd take more damage, and probably get knocked out by that, considering Kanchaenk didn't have much HP left, and I have to hand it to the crazy bastard, he kept Gardevoir in, and outsped me with Moonblast. After that, things fell apart real quickly in that match.

The very first match taught me that I shouldn't Belly Drum just because I have the type advantage and anticipate a switch out, since the opponent will just bring in a Pokemon to outsped or out-last me, namely a Roserade.

 

[ProjectTitan313]

I wouldn't say that this isn't the first competition that I've taken this seriously, I just didn't have the knowledge at the time that I have now, let alone able to get any advice, seeing as how I wasn't a member on any forums. I thought I could figure things out all by myself, but that turned out to not be entirely accurate. ;)

Anyways, I'd have to say that amongst the most prominent Pokemon that I've had to battle is Salamence (mostly non-megas), Metagross (mostly megas, including this one Mega Metagross Vs. Shiny Mega Metagross battle), and a few Sableyes here and there. Oh, and Azumarills and Mega Mawiles, which have shown up in hordes. Huge Power's secret is out, and now every other team seems to have one. Quite a few Brelooms too, but most people seem to be discouraged against using them against me.

Less common, but of note includes a Roserade a Skarmory, and some Gardevoirs too, one of each which was handled masterfully by the opponent (and by that, I mean they were on the teams that defeated me). I've even encountered some Frosslasses, Gyarados, a Machamp, and some Swamperts too.

Surprisingly, I've yet to see a Mega Manetric. I guess many of the other Megas are preferred.

No surprise, since I've found myself depending mostly on Kachaenk and Azumarill, who would plain destroy them, not to mention South Fried. I depend mostly on Sableye and Cradily for support, and though I've had some losses, and even this close Cradily on Azumarill action, in which I 2KOed an Azumarill while in the red, when I depended on either one of them, half the time, they haven't let me down.

As for how it compares to what I'm used to: it has ranged from trainers who are probably worse than who I've usually faced, to trainers as tough and smarter than I've faced in my hardest Frontier and Maison battles, with similar results (either I win, but it is close, or do no better than most of my opponents have done against me, and get totally outmaneuvered).

There is this one particular episode of note, where I switched out into Kacheank against his Gardevoir, and anticipating a switch used Earthquake, figuring I'd have nothing to lose, since if Rocky Helmet Skarmory switched back out, and I used Bullet Punch, I'd take more damage, and probably get knocked out by that, considering Kanchaenk didn't have much HP left, and I have to hand it to the crazy bastard, he kept Gardevoir in, and outsped me with Moonblast. After that, things fell apart real quickly in that match.

The very first match taught me that I shouldn't Belly Drum just because I have the type advantage and anticipate a switch out, since the opponent will just bring in a Pokemon to outsped or out-last me, namely a Roserade.

I've seen two Mega Manectrics out of 6 battles so far - and neither had Volt Switch. Not sure if these guys had any idea what they were doing with it though, JP guy had a Flash Mega Manectric.

I've won 2 matches out of 7. Outsmarting and beffudling my foes is moot when they have a Mega Metagross that gets two consecutive critical Meteor Mashes and gets +2 atk off of it to 2HKO your Mega Gyarados after an Intimidate. After battle number one where my foe won by absolutely nothing beyond hax, I've decided to take the hint and stop now while I'm still at ~1470. SpeedPassing to an AssVest Gardevoir ripped shit apart on one match, and Mega Gyara ate an ingame team for lunch, I'm appearently too shitty to win against anything tougher than a Mega Latias that spams Psychic against a Mega Gyarados.

Swampert's been on every team I've seen, none Mega'd though. Same with Sableye, none Mega'd and.. they kinda just sucked and died.

And Substitute LO Blaziken is grand, Sash Breloom loves to Spore it, and Manectric loves to switch in to Mega+Intimidate next turn while you "Protect".

tl;dr Team's fine, I just suck.

 

[Superbobbobbob3]

I had the best time trolling with my not very competitive In game (all but one) team winning 3 of 5 battles today, i dont have time to do the rest today, probably tomorrow i will do more

 

[Adsiduus]

I've managed to go 8-2 today. It's not bad but I feel like I easily could have went 10-0 if I just didnt screw up.

One match I had Ludiculo out against a salamence. I'd assumed it was his mega so I switched to aggron to take the possible double edge/return. Instead he goes for fire blast maiming me and to top it all off burns my aggron.

it was a fully special life orb salamence. If I stood in and rain danced I could have ice beamed and then possibly sweep with ludiculo.

Other game I lost because of a crit. So far I'm enjoying this tournament. I just hope I can avoid making any future mistakes.

Btw this tournament started today right? Cuase I checked the leader boards and some Japanese guy has like 1700+ points right now. Did I somehow start a day late? I'm central time btw.

This battle could have been a potential loss

HFTG-WWWW-WWX4-AAAP

 

[cant say]

Btw this tournament started today right? Cuase I checked the leader boards and some Japanese guy has like 1700+ points right now. Did I somehow start a day late? I'm central time btw

The competition has been going for 24 hours now. There isn't a leaderboard for this either, so I'm not sure where you're looking. You might be looking at the Special Ladder leaderboard which is another competition entirely (because there's a JPN player at no.1 with 1700+ points). Results for this competition won't be announced until the Friday the 30th

 

[Adsiduus]

The competition has been going for 24 hours now. There isn't a leaderboard for this either, so I'm not sure where you're looking. You might be looking at the Special Ladder leaderboard which is another competition entirely (because there's a JPN player at no.1 with 1700+ points). Results for this competition won't be announced until the Friday the 30th

Ah okay. I was on pgl ealier. I forgot to mention that.

 

[ProjectTitan313]

Oh wow. I started a battle 2-3 due to hax on turn 1 and actually managed to win by surviving a Bullet Punch from a Mega Metagross with my Gardevoir. Its a pretty bulky spread but... I'm very surprised. Brought this thing in every match and it doesn't disappoint: it hilariously killed a Mega Gardevoir by switching into a Thunderbolt, surviving 2 Moonblasts (Why this guy isn't using Hyper Voice..?) and then 2HKOing with my own Moonblast.
Still on a tossup whether I keep Ice Fang after this tourney or not; its more useful than Crunch in its non-Mega form but I never had to use it outside the Mega, and the Mega could really use Crunch more.

And I found that glaring weakness: Saftey Goggles Metagross with Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Earthquake, and Bullet Punch.
How many battles do we need for Tyrunt, btw? I've done.. 8 I think. I'd rather just do enough battles to get Tyrunt and then get back to working out a VGC 2015 team. Singles is not my forte, done Doubles for years.

 

[vzxt]

I have run into an awful lot of special speed boost Blazikens with Overheat/FireBlast and HP Ice. They rek my mega mawile and scarf salamence T_T

 

[Tortoise]

Oh wow. I started a battle 2-3 due to hax on turn 1 and actually managed to win by surviving a Bullet Punch from a Mega Metagross with my Gardevoir. Its a pretty bulky spread but... I'm very surprised. Brought this thing in every match and it doesn't disappoint: it hilariously killed a Mega Gardevoir by switching into a Thunderbolt, surviving 2 Moonblasts (Why this guy isn't using Hyper Voice..?) and then 2HKOing with my own Moonblast.
Still on a tossup whether I keep Ice Fang after this tourney or not; its more useful than Crunch in its non-Mega form but I never had to use it outside the Mega, and the Mega could really use Crunch more.

And I found that glaring weakness: Saftey Goggles Metagross with Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Earthquake, and Bullet Punch.
How many battles do we need for Tyrunt, btw? I've done.. 8 I think. I'd rather just do enough battles to get Tyrunt and then get back to working out a VGC 2015 team. Singles is not my forte, done Doubles for years.

Need just 3 battles for Tyrunt, so I guess you can go back to VGC 2015? :)

I have run into an awful lot of special speed boost Blazikens with Overheat/FireBlast and HP Ice. They rek my mega mawile and scarf salamence T_T

I ran into several such Blaziken as well. Destroyers of Mawile/Salamence/Altaria/Breloom/Metagross/etc (i.e. lots of common threats in the competition this time round)

 

[Adsiduus]

Need just 3 battles for Tyrunt, so I guess you can go back to VGC 2015? :)


I ran into several such Blaziken as well. Destroyers of Mawile/Salamence/Altaria/Breloom/Metagross/etc (i.e. lots of common threats in the competition this time round)

This idea is actually brilliant. I've never considered running a special set. i can also see how that would counter a lot of the meta. I'm actually kinda mad i didnt think of it myself.

 

[Pyritie]

6-4 so far. I'd be doing better if my latias had a rocky helmet and shadow ball over sitrus and ice beam. Really should've tested this team before I threw it together.

 

[cant say]

6-4 so far. I'd be doing better if my latias had a rocky helmet and shadow ball over sitrus and ice beam. Really should've tested this team before I threw it together.

Pretty ballsy posting your team mid-comp! Everything looks pretty standard apart from Latias which had really got my attention. Reflect Type is such a weird move but I'm seeing the benefits right now! Stops Breloom from Sporing you, and (the biggest I can think of) becoming a Levitating Steel type in front of Metagross / Aggron which will make it super hard to take down. Have you had any other cool uses for it?

edit: I may steal this

 

[Pyritie]

Pretty ballsy posting your team mid-comp! Everything looks pretty standard apart from Latias which had really got my attention. Reflect Type is such a weird move but I'm seeing the benefits right now! Stops Breloom from Sporing you, and (the biggest I can think of) becoming a Levitating Steel type in front of Metagross / Aggron which will make it super hard to take down. Have you had any other cool uses for it?

That's pretty much the gist of it. There's a ton of pokemon that don't have moves that are SE against themselves, which lets me easily boost in front of them. Well except when they're physical attackers that do about 45% which is why I wish I had a rocky helmet on it instead. And so many of the things I want it to counter aren't weak to or resist ice, whereas shadow ball is neutral on tons of things.

It's pretty fun though, and of course nobody sees it coming!

 

[Inconspicuosaurus]

I'm at 3 wins to 5 losses at the moment, but considering this is my second ever competitive tournament (first being the Halloween Ghost tournament), and all of my losses except maybe one have been very close, I'm pretty happy. :) One even came down to a quick-draw between two Mega-Manectric, where I must have just lucked out on the RNG, unless they ran Timid for some strange reason (like outspeeding other M-Manectric >.>).

One surprise so far has been the huge number of Shedinja. Has anyone else noticed this? My last fight I only won because I carefully calculated the PP I needed to dummy out its Endure and Phantom Force and still have an Overheat left on my Manectric, which was the only move left on my team that could touch it. This after it very cleverly tricked a Choice Scarf to my Rhyperior and gradually whittled it down with burn while I was locked into Rock Blasting his Mega-Gyarados -__-

 

[JES]

Ugh, it seems that all of the crazy tough trainers come out of the woodwork in the morning.

I've had myself outmaneuvered, and had my team sweeped by a Mega Salamence, had my Azumarill Encored by a Wobbuffett, and had my Sableye burned and Choice Banded by a Trickster Shedinja.

Now I absolutely loathe Wobbuffetts and Shedinjas.

Today, I think I only won half of my battles. And for some strange reason, before I started my first battle today, I noticed that I was apparently given a 3rd loss, making for a total of 8 to 3. I have no idea what kind of glitch that was. All I know is that I could've sworn that I didn't lose my first battle today. I could've sworn that I could reach that 1600 mark today, but it has remained just out of reach.

 

[cant say]

... One even came down to a quick-draw between two Mega-Manectric, where I must have just lucked out on the RNG, unless they ran Timid for some strange reason (like outspeeding other M-Manectric >.>).

Timid is the standard for M-Manectric so I would be too surprised if it was

... I've had myself outmaneuvered, and had my team sweeped by a Mega Salamence, had my Azumarill Encored by a Wobbuffett, and had my Sableye burned and Choice Banded by a Trickster Shedinja.

Now I absolutely loathe Wobbuffetts and Shedinjas.

Wobbuffet will always Encore something that is known to set up, or lock it into an attacking move which will make using Counter / Mirror Coat easier, so don't fall for that trap! As for Shedinja, I would always Taunt it with Sableye to prevent those gimmicky sets from working. It doesn't threaten Sableye offensively so even if it attacks you instead Sableye won't be crippled too much...

 

[JES]

Timid is the standard for M-Manectric so I would be too surprised if it was



Wobbuffet will always Encore something that is known to set up, or lock it into an attacking move which will make using Counter / Mirror Coat easier, so don't fall for that trap! As for Shedinja, I would always Taunt it with Sableye to prevent those gimmicky sets from working. It doesn't threaten Sableye offensively so even if it attacks you instead Sableye won't be crippled too much...

Yeah, well, at least I never fall for the same trick twice! And I switch Hopskinville into Shedinja because Kachaenk couldn't touch him, only to be paid with a Burn, and for that cowardly cicada to switch out before I could return the favor! Now I know that I'm probably just going to have to sacrifice whatever Pokemon that happens to be out to Shedinja.

And yeah, I was not expecting that Encore. I should've used Aqua Jet! I probably would've won if I did!!

 

[mirage_drag0n]

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...

 

[JES]

^^Wow, that's pretty awful.

Now you know how to hate.

 

[mirage_drag0n]

^^Wow, that's pretty awful.

Now you know how to hate.

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

 

[JES]

Correction, according to the battles that I recorded, I only lost 3 battles today, making for a total of 5 losses.

 

[Tortoise]

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

LOL. Now I've learnt something new (i.e. Final Gambit Ninjask) to annoy people on regular WiFi battles :p