Other Better Battlers Project

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I feel like you played fine considering you had a tough matchup with this team. The biggest mistake I see was not saving Mawile for the Clefable.

Turn 8: This was your biggest mistake that kept you from winning the game. I think letting Garchomp die here was the better play since Zard Y was gone and it already took the Fire Blast you needed it to. After letting Garchomp die, sending Mawile and going for a Play Rough would have been better. Since he doesnt really have much that will appreciate taking a hit from your Mawile.

Turn 29: After getting the Intimidates on Excadrill, and Liligant died, you should have gone to Greninja rather than Arcanine. Greninja is always going to be faster than Excadrill barring Scarf Exca, which it wasnt. Going to Greninja and going for a Hydro Pump would have taken out the Excadrill.

Barring the big misplay of not letting Garchomp die, to bring in Mawile safely, I think you played fine. Not doing this was the reason you lost since your team can't really break Clefable without Mawile.
Well, sadly I tend to overestimate mawile's bulk so I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the tip.
 
You're right about the Venusaur part. Looking at team matchup, you had no real answer to Gliscor, which is a teambuilding issue I'll address later. You heavily relied on Mandibuzz and Reuniclus to beat your opponent, and while you played well overall, you made some heavy mistakes. I'll pick a few turns and comment.

Turn 1: Matchup turns out great, not sure why your opponent chose sleep powder, but you made the right play.
Turn 7: As you said, you should've just gone for Psychic here. A switch to Greninja was unlikely since he didn't really seem like a good player judged on his play turn 1. Mega Venusaur gone means a way easier time sweeping for Mawile. Also, after you were put to sleep, you let Reuniclus die, which was not a smart play since now MVenusaur was free to put another pokemon to sleep. Also, Mandibuzz walls that thing hard, so there was no reason not to switch.
Turn 19: You played pretty well between 7 and 19, dealing with Rotom-W, which was a threat to your team, and with Dragonite, which can't touch Mandibuzz. However, on turn 19 you switch to Mawile, and while it turned out fine, it was a big risk. You should just have Taunted, which had no big risks. You did switch back to Mandi immediately and taunted, so it wasn't really a big deal, but I still think it was odd.
Turn 23: You didn't really have an answer to Gliscor any more, which is a big deal here.
Turn 24: You switch to Regirock, which is again odd. Mandibuzz was the best play.
Turn 31: Crucial play here. Sacking your most valuable player at this moment was really game-changing. You really should have sent in something that wasn't so valuable this match. Regirock probably. You did send in Mawile and set up SD, which was a good play. However, you missed the Play Rough, which then cost you the game. Hax :(

In general: You had no 'good plays' you could have made when Gliscor was on the field, since you had no real answer to it. You had chances to win, but the matchup was not in your favor (also because he had a lot of checks & counters to your main sweepers Mawile and Stoutland).

Now, addressing teambuilding: Imo, Regirock needs to go. This battle is the perfect example to show how useless it is. You lacked answers to water types (greninja) and bulky grounds (gliscor). I suggest you find a pokemon that can deal with those pokemon to replace Regirock. (tip: try a bulky grass type like Celebi or Roserade, who can both also deal with Toxic).
Regirock is my go-to 'everything wall' with its massive base Def, Assault Vest and Snad patching up its Sp Def. It's also sort of a panic button as it can take almost any 1 hit and Explode. I've found that it can reliably take out Greninja if Sand is up and can take it out if he doesn't have to switch in on a water move if Sand is down. But it's damage output is pretty disappointing and I agree that it may be the weak link. My one worry about slapping a Grass type on there is that a) the Sand is detrimental to it and b) I'll lose my panic button, which lowers the acceptable margin of error I have in a battle. Am I just being silly, or are there other options besides a Grass type I could look into (maybe Gastrodon or something?)
 
Battle:http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-98137650

PS! Username: CycloTJ

Team:

  1. Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
    Ability: Mold Breaker
    EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spd
    Adamant Nature
    - Dragon Dance
    - Earthquake
    - Waterfall
    - Ice Fang

    Clefable @ Leftovers
    Ability: Unaware
    EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
    Bold Nature
    - Heal Bell
    - Moonblast
    - Moonlight
    - Calm Mind

    Skarmory @ Leftovers
    Ability: Sturdy
    EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
    Impish Nature
    - Stealth Rock
    - Whirlwind
    - Brave Bird
    - Roost

    Latias (F) @ Life Orb
    Ability: Levitate
    EVs: 72 HP / 184 SAtk / 252 Spd
    Calm Nature
    - Psyshock
    - Defog
    - Draco Meteor
    - Recover

    Thundurus (M) @ Life Orb
    Ability: Prankster
    EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
    Timid Nature
    - Hidden Power [Ice]
    - Thunder Wave
    - Thunderbolt
    - Focus Blast

    Bisharp @ Black Glasses
    Ability: Defiant
    EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
    Adamant Nature
    - Knock Off
    - Swords Dance
    - Sucker Punch
    - Iron Head


Summary: I'm testing out some changes to my team to see how it went, and looking at his team, but the only real option to handle ferrothorn was keeping alive my thundurus carrying focus blast. Once I took out mons like ferro and thundurus-T, I would be able to sweep with mega gyarados. First turn not sure why he volt switched into garchomp, probably predicting me to switch into latias? Again really not sure why. The fact I had only one way to get rid of ferro made the battle quite difficult for me.
 
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Turn 1: I'm assuming he thought you were going to use Volt Switch too but he had Volt Absorb so yeah that was weird. If you were going to switch into Latias he would have seen that before picking Garchomp.

Turn 17: You could've easily switched out your Bisharp for Clefable. With Thundurus-T being Choice Scarfed and your SR up it would've been easy to patiently wait for it to die out than to sac your heavy hitter just to damage one pokemon. Bisharp was probably your second best way to deal with Ferrothorn.

Turn 33: Losing Skarmory hurt but you could have turned that into a positive by switching into Thundurus instead of Gyarados. With his Rapid Spinner out and still alive, he wouldn't want to switch into Thundurus-T since Stealth Rock was up so he was going to have to switch in either Conk or Ferro to save Tentacruel. Most likely he would've brought out Ferro to resist Thunderbolt and you could have, although risky, used Focus Blast on the next turn to get rid of your biggest obstacle.

Turn 47: You should have switched out your Clefable against Tentacruel and sacrificed your Thundurus instead. That would've let you bring Latias back in to get rid of Tentracruel, leaving you with Latias and Clefable to easily take down Conk.

Even after losing Gyarados and Bisharp you actually still could've won. That's impressive. You might want to consider running HP Fire on Latias to deal with Ferrothorns, Scizors and even Bisharps who think they can get a free SD. If you want to keep your team as is I think that'd be a way to catch your opponent off guard and deal with those pokes.
 
AwsomeBiz there was definitely a real possibility for you to win at certain points in the battle, especially at the end. Unfortunately you made a couple of key misplays that ended up losing you the game.

Pre-Turn 1: At this point you should recognize that Ferrothorn is going to be difficult to remove and that Thundurus-I's Focus Blast is the only immediately way to hit it hard. In addition, you should also recognize that Thundurus-I can check his two primary sweepers, Garchomp and Pinsir, and can immediately remove Pinsir. Your Thundurus-I won't be able to KO Pinsir until it Mega-Evolves, Ferrothorn will be at enough to take FB, and he has two checks in AV Conkeldurr and Thundurus-T. So I would have brought it out in the middle of the game, not the very beginning. I would have led with Skarmory to get SR up as quickly as possible. This move would put heavy pressure on your opponent since it greatly limits Mega-Pinsir and Thundurus-T's ability to come in. Laying down SR is a good move even with Tentacruel, since it forces him to bring in Tentacruel eventually (losing momentum) and the Rapid Spin gives you a free turn to switch in whatever you want (particularly Thundurus-I). You could set up SR safely against Conkeldurr, Pinsir, and Ferrothorn. Garchomp is a bit risky because Lead Chomp tend to run Fire Blast.

Now you have to consider what will be your win condition. You chose Gyarados, which IMO is a pretty poor choice. He has a hard counter in Ferrothorn, Mach Punch Conkeldurr (if you are forced to Mega-Evolve to hit Ferrothorn harder / KO), and a potentially Scarf Thundurus-T (double dance is the most popular). If you removed Conkeldurr, SD Bisharp has a decent shot at sweeping your opponent's team. In a situation where there is a defensive threat that you will find difficult to remove, which is the case with Ferrothorn in this battle, the best tactic is to apply heavy pressure on it (attacking, attacking, attacking) and to limit its recovery. Spamming Knock Off with Bisharp would have been a good idea in this battle. You would remove Conkeldurr's Assault Vest (limiting its ability to tank) when forcing it in and Ferrothorn's Leftovers (at this point you don't know yet whether or not it has Leftovers). Setting up SR would also take away its Leftovers recovery, which contributes to the goal of pressuring Ferrothorn. In your battle, Ferrothorn would have lost health.

Now with that out of the way. The actual battle...

Turn 1: You leave Thundurus-I in on Thundurus-T. This is a bad play because Thundurus-I is your most important Pokemon on your team at this point, so you need to conserves its health. Even without the knowledge that it was Scarf'ed, you should have known there was no way for you to OHKO his Thundurus-T. Without a way to OHKO Thundurus-T, you were going to take heavy damage. You got the bad end the deal with Thundurus-O being Scarf'ed, getting good damage off, then immediately switching into a counter. Switching to Latias was your best play since you could repsond to Conkeldurr with Clefable / Skarmory and Ferrothorn with Skarm (setting up Rocks).

Turn 2: You switch in Clefable instead of Latias. You have Moonlight on Clefable, so you should try to minimize the amount of damage you are taking so you can save Moonlight for an endgame situation with CM. More on Clefable latter. Same logic for opponent's Latias switchin's as Turn 1.

Turn 6: Knowing that the opponent's Thundurus-T's was Scarf'ed, you could have recovered to see what move it would lock itself into as well as gain health. Observe: 252 SpA Thundurus-T Hidden Power Ice vs. 72 HP / 0 SpD Latias: 114-136 (35.7 - 42.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
This puts momentum in your hands or stops the opponent from getting it with Volt Switch. This forced you to use Moonlight on Clefable.

And to reassure you. Even though he had Dark Pulse (why idk), at worst you would have lost 6% of health as you Roost:
252 SpA Thundurus-T Dark Pulse vs. 72 HP / 0 SpD Latias: 152-180 (47.6 - 56.4%) -- 83.6% chance to 2HKO

Turn 17: One of the biggest misplays of the battle: sacking your SD Bisharp to get damage with Sucker Punch. Bisharp at this point was your best chance to win, if you could get Conkeldurr removed. Even without Conkeldurr removed, you could have gotten an SD off on Ferrothorn and heavily crippled / KO one of his pokes OR use / spam Knock Off to get Conkeldurr to come in and lose his Assault Vest. I would have switch in Latias here, since the possibility of him using Dark Pulse is unlikely. If he KO's Latias with Dark Pulse, you Knock Off / Iron Head the Conk that comes in or set up a SR with Skarm.

Turn 24-25: Instead of using Psyshock / DM'ing Ferrothorn, switch to Skarmory to set up SR again. Latias is now your most important member because it KO's Tentacruel and Conekeldurr with Psyshock and stops a Scarf Thundurus-T Thunderbolt sweep. With 20% damage on Clefable you would lose.

Turn 29: Tough call but Whirlwind I don't think is your best play. You are losing health while there is no net lose of health from SR on the opponent's team except for Thundurus-I. I would have risked it and pulled a double switch to Thundurus-I. Your opponent was unlikely going to Gyro Ball Skarmory, nor try to Leech Seed again (basically you hard wall him so he wouldn't expect a switch). At Ferrothorn's range of health, you can now cleanly OHKO with Focus Blast.

Turn 35: WHY DID YOU NOT EQ! By using Earthquake, you could have KO'ed Tentacruel to prevent the Rapid Spin. At this point, the Thundurus-T is below 25% meaning it will get KO'ed by SR. The opponent can not try to switch in Thundy-T to doge the EQ because he will die from SR. You would get a good chunk of damage on Ferrothorn if it switches in. Also you know Ferrothorn has Gyro Ball and no lefties. So you could wear it does with EQ even with Leech Seed.

252+ Atk Gyarados Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 240+ Def Tentacruel: 222-262 (60.9 - 71.9%) -- He was at 61%. You had a very high chance to KO with normal Gyarados and a guaranteed one with Mega-Gyarados
252+ Atk Gyarados Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 48+ Def Ferrothorn: 81-96 (23 - 27.2%)
252+ Atk Mold Breaker Mega Gyarados Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 48+ Def Ferrothorn: 95-112 (26.9 - 31.8%)

Turn 39: Just to let you know if you were desperate in a lategame situation, you could have potentially get heavy damage off on Ferrothorn with a couple of CM's, but you would have had to play very carefully. Gyro Ball wouldn't be enough: 4 Atk Ferrothorn Gyro Ball (51 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 92-110 (23.3 - 27.9%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery

Turn 42: He still has Conkeldurr, but you still have Clefable. Getting the most damgage off by Mega-Evolving is what you should have done.

Turn 47-49: This is the biggest misplay of the match: not sacking Thundurus-I and sacking Clefable instead. Thundurus-I can't attack Conkeldurr since it is so low on health that Mach Punch KO's. You can't bring it in safely either and can only fire off one attack. So even if you brought it in on Tentacruel after Clefable / Latias dies, the opponent can just switch into Conkeldurr to safely take the hit. Thundurus-I was useless. Here is what you should have done...

  • Turn 47: Sack Thundurus-I. Clefable is at nearly full health.
  • Turn 48: Use Psyshock to KO Tentacruel or force Conkeldurr in take heavy damage. Opponent makes optimal play and sends in Conkeldurr.
  • Turn 49: Clefable is now in for free on Conkeldurr since Latias died to Life Orb. This gives you an oppurtunity to get off 1 free Calm Mind. Opponent switches out to Tentacruel. Any turns Conkeldurr stays in, even Knocking Off Lefties is a free CM.
  • Turn 50-end: Tentacruel now needs a crit to break Clefable and win. With only one CM this is how much Tentacruel does: 0 SpA Tentacruel Sludge Bomb vs. +1 252 HP / 4 SpD Clefable: 116-140 (29.4 - 35.5%) -- 100% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery. Since you are at full health you can easily grab more CM boosts and restore health to the point where you will be above 25% health so Conkeldurr's Ice Punch does not KO. At +4 you can 2HKO the Tentacruel and win.
__________

So there is my full comprehensive review. Your team needs something that can reliably KO Steel-types or handle them (ex. Taunt + Wil-o-Wisp user, Fighting-type). Your opponent made a lot of misplays too that you should have capitalized on, such as sacking his two main sweepers: Garchomp and Mega-Pinsir. He only won because you made a lot more misplays yourself. Hope I helped.
 
Battle: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-98233388
Galvantula (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunder Wave

Gardevoir (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Will-O-Wisp

Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roar
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Protect

Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Icy Wind
- Hidden Power [Electric]

Mandibuzz (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- Knock Off
- Roost
- Defog

Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Username: IIlllIIIlllII
Summary:
Overall team strategy is to set up Sticky Web with Galvantula at some point (not at the beginning since Skarmory is still around and can clear it easily) and then sweep with whatever seems appropriate.
The reason why I sort of count this as a personal loss is because a critical decision at turn 69 is literally the only reason I won. If the opposing Clefable went for soft-boiled instead of another Cosmic Power, I probably would have died due to being unable to actually kill a +5 Clefable. Or actually attacked at some point. Then the opposing Garchomp would be able to paste the remainder of my team all over the walls. Throughout the match, I made multiple wrong decisions, some of which I attempted to cancel but that sometimes fails, such as turn 10 where I thought Mega Gardevoir would be able to bust through Clefable's defense stats. Probably a bunch of other stupid decisions that I can't see. Overall, I really should have lost this one if not for that one extra Cosmic Power. I should also get a legitimate way to get around Cosmic Power Clefable instead of SD Garchomp and praying he doesn't actually attack.
 
Battle: http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-97896939 Name:payjay

And team:
Scotty Backwoodz (Whimsicott) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Encore
- Stun Spore
- U-turn
- Moonblast

Manicero del norte (Heatran) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
- Ancient Power
- Will-O-Wisp

Medi H.A.M. (Medicham-Mega) @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch
- Fake Out

Where are my arms? (Skarmory) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 30 Atk / 226 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Spikes
- Brave Bird

Killer (Porygon2) @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Magic Coat

Crusty (Crawdaunt) @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet
- Crabhammer
- Swords Dance


Summary: I'm pretty new to competitive battling, so feel free to rip into my strategy and/or team building. The match started off poorly, as I was outpredicted badly and played around with Tran and LandoT then stupidly left my Skarm in to die (I was thinking he'd earth power predicting a switch to my scarf Tran). In general, I think I often lost the prediction battle, but a few mistakes by the opponent (like healing my porygon when it had traced water absorb) and some luck (focus miss and parahax when vaporeon attempted to wish recover) let me win surprisingly after a poor start. Have at it, and thanks for the input.
 

Ash Borer

I've heard they're short of room in hell
Battle: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-98233388
Galvantula (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunder Wave

Gardevoir (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Will-O-Wisp

Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roar
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Protect

Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Icy Wind
- Hidden Power [Electric]

Mandibuzz (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- Knock Off
- Roost
- Defog

Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Username: IIlllIIIlllII
Summary:
Overall team strategy is to set up Sticky Web with Galvantula at some point (not at the beginning since Skarmory is still around and can clear it easily) and then sweep with whatever seems appropriate.
The reason why I sort of count this as a personal loss is because a critical decision at turn 69 is literally the only reason I won. If the opposing Clefable went for soft-boiled instead of another Cosmic Power, I probably would have died due to being unable to actually kill a +5 Clefable. Or actually attacked at some point. Then the opposing Garchomp would be able to paste the remainder of my team all over the walls. Throughout the match, I made multiple wrong decisions, some of which I attempted to cancel but that sometimes fails, such as turn 10 where I thought Mega Gardevoir would be able to bust through Clefable's defense stats. Probably a bunch of other stupid decisions that I can't see. Overall, I really should have lost this one if not for that one extra Cosmic Power. I should also get a legitimate way to get around Cosmic Power Clefable instead of SD Garchomp and praying he doesn't actually attack.
There's a couple questionable plays through the match on your side, but I wouldnt say you handled this battle all too poorly.

On turn 8 you Roared your opponents tyranitar out when you earlier had knocked off its assault vest. There's really no point in roaring in this situation, itsn ot going to boost, nor are there hazards up to rack up some damage. All you did was risk getting destroyed by a superpower, and losing heatran is not an option for your team

As for good plays you handled the opponent's azumarill and aegislash quite well, though specially defensive heatran is a better answer to flash cannon / shadow ball AEgislash than mandibuzz, after you saw that was your opponent's set Heatran may have been the better pokemon to play to, though mandibuzz still countered it. Contrary to what you might htink your handling of Clefable wasn't too bad, toxic heatran completely destroys unaware variants, while roar keeps magic guard at bay until you can set up next to it with Garchomp (this is how you handle magic guard cosmic power, set up next to it). Tyranitar gave you team some trouble but you have keldeo, a very strong check to it, so its not a huge issue for your team, the hydro pump miss was unlucky, though you could have played it safe and went for the sword. Personally because of stuff like this I like to run both scald and hydro pump on my keldeo, the burns annoy switch ins like Azumarill, and even though hp electric is useful its a pretty bad move to lock yourself into unless you absolutely need to while scald is easy to spam. I recommend you change that.

I think the main issues here are teambuilding. Firstly, you should notice that galvantula was complete dead weight here other than the free turns it got on t-tar thanks to hax. Your opps garchomp was obviously scarfed, and other than that nothing on his team cared about sticky web, they were all either slow as shit or not grounded. Even then a sticky webbed garchomp against your team simply forces a speed tie with Garchomp and underspeed keldeo, which is alright, but barely worth an entire team slot.

YOur team lacks stealth rock. Stealth rock would ahve won you that match much sooner, and sticky web didnt do shit. I suggest replacing galvantula with something that can set up stealth rock.

To expand upon this your team has a couple flaws I'd like try and address. Firstly, I see some weaknesses to common set up sweepers and attackers. Firstly, you're quite weak to mega pinsir. It isnt impossible for it to set up against your team, for example if the opponent gains sitch advantage on Heatran, or Keldeo you might be forced out in fear of earthquake or quick attack, then, if the opponent swords dances you have little options. KEldeo is beat by quick attack, heatran by earthquake, Garchomp is 1 shot by return, as is Gardevoir, and Mandibuzz is BARELY able to take the hit, meaning that if it is worn down at all or SR is up, then you just lose right there and then. This is a pretty big flaw. Azumarill is another large issue for your team. It doesnt have trouble forcing out Heatran, or Keldeo and when it does watch out. Your team isn't very strong against offensive water types like Azumarill, Greninja, or Keldeo. All of these pokemon have the tools to break down your Heatran / Mandibuzz core, while also having moves that threaten the rest of your team immensly. Greninja outright beats Garchomp, KEldeo (extrasensory), Mandibuzz, and Heatran with its best coverage moves and 2 shots Gardevoir meaning it cant switch in at all. Azumarill in that match was only beaten due to the fact that it was choiced, however unchoiced azumarill is not uncommon and not possible for you to switch mandibuzz into, other than that it beats your whole team almost.

Other than that, sticky web is very unreliable, you have no priority users nor do you have a scarf user. Because of this with mandibuzz sufficiently weakened your team is very, very open to speed boosting or priority based sweepers like Mega Charizard X as you dont have a direct offensive check to it. Mandibuzz has immense pressure put on it to stop a lot of threats, and if that breaks down, you can lose pretty fast.

So I would say you played that a battle alright and your team should try and strive for

a) Replacing sticky web; it's just not that good, galvantula is dead weight too often
b) Adding Stealth Rock somewhere. IT will help you immensely
c) Adding some priority, or speed. REvenge killing helps "plug holes"
d) ADding to your defensive core so that it not vulnerable to some key pokemon like Azumarill, or Mega Pinsir

As far as teambuilding philosophy your team is what we call "Balance". You have a defensive core that deals with big threats and provides utilities, you have some wall breakers like specs keldeo that can take advantage of momentum and break down the opponent, and you have your set up sweeper garchomp. Galvantula here is a weak link, I cant stress this enough. Balance thrives on sustainability balanced with power, Galvantula is something that doesnt persist in the match really. In theory I would say that SD garchomp and Gardevoir are great sticky web abusers as they are amazing agaisnt offense if the entire opposing team is at -1 speed, I think that as a good idea, however this is something that simply is too unlikely to happen as Galvantula will die setting up sticky web, then rapid spin, defog, or just counterplay like lead taunt users will leave you unable to use these poeks effectively. Because of this I suggest you look for replacements to Gardevoir who is a good attacker, but not really a sweeper. Dragon Dance Mega Charizard X is something I think would fit your team quite well because it is functional without sticky web support but fits well on balanced teams that can be built around it. Its a good partner to Garchomp who acts as a wall breaker for it drawing in and beating the likes of LAndorus-T, Mandibuzz, Hippowdon and such or at least doing so mcuh damage ot them Zard X can just plow through later.
 
Name: Waffington. Replay: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-98268284

Code:
Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SDef / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
- Leech Seed
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Toxic
- Roar

Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hydro Pump
- Trick

Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 8 HP / 248 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Extrasensory
Summary/Strategy: Mix of Semi-Stall/Bulky Attackers, I play this team as it is almost the same I play on cartridge (not that it matters, but still) in order to test it out. I don't carry any spinner/defogger as any of my mons' is weak to common hazards, maybe should I make room for one?

I completely did not expect opponent's Blissey's set at all; the first Ice Beam on my Landorus caught me off guard, then its Counter ruined my Conkel's Knock Off expecting the switch. I also think my oponent misplayed at some points, but oh well. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!
 
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First time poster here, I'm pretty new to competitive battling. I've been toying with a defensive team that looks like this:

Tyranitar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

Talonflame @ Leftovers
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Roost
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flare Blitz
- Brave Bird

Chesnaught @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Earthquake
- Hammer Arm
- Synthesis

Gardevoir @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Heal Bell
- Hyper Voice
- Protect

Mamoswine @ Focus Sash
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 64 SAtk / 248 HP / 196 Def
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Defog
- Roost
- Thunderbolt


Although it skews towards the defensive side, the idea is still to have pokes that hit reasonably hard and to slowly wear down the opposition with SR/statuses/attacks. AV Tyranitar and Physically Defensive Talonflame form a nice core, and the rest is more or less built around them (Chesnaught doesn't really like Sand Stream because of Synthesis, but so far that hasn't really been a problem). I tried Heatran for a while in the Mamoswine slot, but it didn't work out very well. I had Mandibuzz instead of Zapdos, too, and loved it, but I wanted to try something that would help against Water pokes (in the same vein, I should perhaps swap out Chesnaught's Earthquake for Wood Hammer). I usually run into trouble against teams that are more defensive than mine, because I have a hard time breaking through their walls. Skarmory and the blobs can be huge pains, etc.

Anyway, here's the replay: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-98399729 (I'm Soulplex in that)

Rewatching that game, I see his Volt-turn core is giving me a lot of trouble, gaining him so much momentum. I think my first mistake comes on turn 7, when I go for Thunderbolt with Zapdos instead of Toxic again as he switches into Landorus-T (although not going straight for Bolt on turn 6 against Togekiss might have been a mistake already, regardless of the Protect). Kudos to him for predicting I would switch to Bolt (or not caring that his Landorus might get Toxic'd, since his Togekiss is a full-on Cleric with Heal Bell). Not that it would have mattered all that much in the long run, but that's still a wasted turn. Similarly, staying on Lando to Toxic it might have been a mistake, given that I should have seen the Heal Bell coming. Staying on Greninja on turn 10 to T-Bolt looks like a mistake, too, but I wonder if it wasn't actually worth it because Greninja lacks any reliable means of recovery and I was able to Roost off most of the damage to Zapdos later on.

Next big mistake is turn 22, when I stay in on Lando-T with Zapdos to Toxic (even if it hadn't missed, it would have had little effect), only to eat a Stone Edge to the face and have Zapdos go down to 13%, basically being crippled for the rest of the game. Then on turn 40 I leave Talonflame in on Lando, hoping to WoW and instead getting KO'd by Stone Edge (I should have recognized that his Lando was Scarfed by then, and even if I'd been able to get the WoW off first, it would probably have been too costly anyway). It all goes downhill from there, although I think I could have tried to salvage it on the next turn if I'd used anything but Ice Shard and managed to KO Greninja on the switch in. At this point three of his four remaining pokes are weak to Ice, so I know Mamoswine is my best weapon, but because I let Greninja get an attack off, it's at 1hp. After that, I make a bunch of mistakes brought on by those two big ones, fail to pass a Wish to Zapdos when I could have, etc, but I don't think I could have done anything but stave off the inevitable for a bit at that point.

Am I missing anything?
 
Before i start, I just want to say thank you to whoever started this project, I'm deeply grateful that other players take time to better other players. With that said, I would love to help but I dont think I'm good enough.

Replay: http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-98098798

Name: DaiGuren

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Toxic
- Pain Split
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Punch
- Outrage
- Earthquake
Entei @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Extreme Speed
- Bulldoze
- Stone Edge
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Draco Meteor
- Defog
- Healing Wish
Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Reversal
- Earthquake
- Sucker Punch
- Memento
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SDef / 148 Def / 104 Spd
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Rock Slide
- Stealth Rock


Description:
My team is something I've been trying to work out, it's a VoltTurn team with a double Fire core, and everybody else just provides momentum for the core. I posted this specific match because i believe the opponent's team contained one of my worst match-ups(Ditto, Air Balloon Heatran) and I wanted input on how I did. Admittedly the opponent made some bad plays, but still.
 
Battle: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-98424597
Manectric (M) @ Manectite
Ability: Lightningrod
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast

Deoxys-Defense @ Mental Herb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Def
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Thunder Wave

Kyurem-Black @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature
- Fusion Bolt
- Outrage
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam

Talonflame (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Will-O-Wisp

Excadrill (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Spd / 180 Atk / 76 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
- Iron Head

Username: I'm g-reco

Summary: A little premise: i've returned to competitive battling from about 3 month after a 2 tears period, do i have to relearn everything form scratch.
Anyway, the match didn't start in the best of manners (i should have gone directly to SR and then spikes or thunder wave on the switch) and i made a lot of mistakes during the match.
M-Medicham gave me a lot of problems, 'cause i didn't have anything other than Talonflame that resists both ice and fighting, but, with SR down, talon comes in at 50%. The rest of the match is me making a lot of bad choices in a row.
The overall strategy was to set hazards and then pressure the opponent with heavy offense.
 
First time poster here, I'm pretty new to competitive battling. I've been toying with a defensive team that looks like this:

Tyranitar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

Talonflame @ Leftovers
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Roost
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flare Blitz
- Brave Bird

Chesnaught @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Earthquake
- Hammer Arm
- Synthesis

Gardevoir @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Heal Bell
- Hyper Voice
- Protect

Mamoswine @ Focus Sash
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 64 SAtk / 248 HP / 196 Def
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Defog
- Roost
- Thunderbolt


Although it skews towards the defensive side, the idea is still to have pokes that hit reasonably hard and to slowly wear down the opposition with SR/statuses/attacks. AV Tyranitar and Physically Defensive Talonflame form a nice core, and the rest is more or less built around them (Chesnaught doesn't really like Sand Stream because of Synthesis, but so far that hasn't really been a problem). I tried Heatran for a while in the Mamoswine slot, but it didn't work out very well. I had Mandibuzz instead of Zapdos, too, and loved it, but I wanted to try something that would help against Water pokes (in the same vein, I should perhaps swap out Chesnaught's Earthquake for Wood Hammer). I usually run into trouble against teams that are more defensive than mine, because I have a hard time breaking through their walls. Skarmory and the blobs can be huge pains, etc.

Anyway, here's the replay: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-98399729 (I'm Soulplex in that)

Rewatching that game, I see his Volt-turn core is giving me a lot of trouble, gaining him so much momentum. I think my first mistake comes on turn 7, when I go for Thunderbolt with Zapdos instead of Toxic again as he switches into Landorus-T (although not going straight for Bolt on turn 6 against Togekiss might have been a mistake already, regardless of the Protect). Kudos to him for predicting I would switch to Bolt (or not caring that his Landorus might get Toxic'd, since his Togekiss is a full-on Cleric with Heal Bell). Not that it would have mattered all that much in the long run, but that's still a wasted turn. Similarly, staying on Lando to Toxic it might have been a mistake, given that I should have seen the Heal Bell coming. Staying on Greninja on turn 10 to T-Bolt looks like a mistake, too, but I wonder if it wasn't actually worth it because Greninja lacks any reliable means of recovery and I was able to Roost off most of the damage to Zapdos later on.

Next big mistake is turn 22, when I stay in on Lando-T with Zapdos to Toxic (even if it hadn't missed, it would have had little effect), only to eat a Stone Edge to the face and have Zapdos go down to 13%, basically being crippled for the rest of the game. Then on turn 40 I leave Talonflame in on Lando, hoping to WoW and instead getting KO'd by Stone Edge (I should have recognized that his Lando was Scarfed by then, and even if I'd been able to get the WoW off first, it would probably have been too costly anyway). It all goes downhill from there, although I think I could have tried to salvage it on the next turn if I'd used anything but Ice Shard and managed to KO Greninja on the switch in. At this point three of his four remaining pokes are weak to Ice, so I know Mamoswine is my best weapon, but because I let Greninja get an attack off, it's at 1hp. After that, I make a bunch of mistakes brought on by those two big ones, fail to pass a Wish to Zapdos when I could have, etc, but I don't think I could have done anything but stave off the inevitable for a bit at that point.

Am I missing anything?
Turn 1: I really do not know what was the right choice in this situation, I think i would have wanted to see a zapdos switch in rather than talonflame in case of brave bird, but it gets hit really hard by flare blitz. I do feel you made the correct decision by switching because of the posibility of kiss holding defog.

Turn 2: I think youu go lucky here that he dod not WoW you (because who is going to keep in talonflame?) I think zapdos would have been the better switch in here because of its ability to roost off the damage that rotom would dish out and does not hate burn as much as tyranitar because it is special attacking tank and has reliable recovery.

Turns 6 & 7: You should have toxiced here because there is no risk doing it and getting something fully poisoned is more essential than getting some damage on something that has the possibility to just recover it off (nothing on the enemy team is steel or poison there there was very little risk).

Turn 10: most greninja carry ice beam and it does significant damage to zapdos. It is risky to leave in zapdos and probably not worth it because of the likelihood of landorus-T having stealth rock leaving zapdos unable to take any hits. probably should have sent in gardevoir at this point.

Turn 15: should have passed that wish to zapdos so it can come in on future attacks from rotom.

Turn 22: You probably should not have gone for the toxic and risked getting hit by stone edge when you knew that togekiss had heal bell at this point. Switching into chesnaught would have been your best course of action.

Turn 30: since this was your second time switching in talonflame vs lando I am going to point it out. talonflame does not want to take a stone edge (even if lando gets burned) i'd reccomend just going for chesnaught.

Turn 40: Yeah. 3rd time was the charm for him, why switch in talonflame when you have a perfectly good scarf lando counter in chesnaught? not worth the risk 3 times.

Turn 44: Should have gone with gardevoir or something else that would take significant recoil.

after this point there was not much you could have done other than maybe saced something and brought in zapdos to roost.


IMO, the turns that lost you the match were 10, 15 (ttar was healthy enough at that point), 22, 30 (lead to 40), and 40. Turns 10 15 and 22 combined lead to the demise of zapdos who was actually an important part of keeping togekiss and rotom in check. Turn 30 was a really risky switch into something that can OHKO talonflame while you have a very solid counter for the pokemon you were switching in on sitting one the sidelines and turn 40 it actually happened.

The other turns I feel didnt greatly impact the battle as much as these but they were turns where you risked a lot for little reward.

I also feel like I need to explain my reasoning on turn 7 a little more, toxic would be the better option most of the time because 1. the opposing team was mostly defensive and that risidual damage would have helped a lot, and 2. you didnt know he had heal bell and togekiss would be hard for you to take out otherwise. Even with heal bell I still feel toxic actually is the right choice because it almost guarantees a free turn for you in the future where he has to heal bell something, plus heal bell only has 8 PP so it is easy to stall out.


Battle: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-98424597
Manectric (M) @ Manectite
Ability: Lightningrod
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast

Deoxys-Defense @ Mental Herb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Def
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Thunder Wave

Kyurem-Black @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature
- Fusion Bolt
- Outrage
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam

Talonflame (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Will-O-Wisp

Excadrill (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Spd / 180 Atk / 76 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
- Iron Head

Username: I'm g-reco

Summary: A little premise: i've returned to competitive battling from about 3 month after a 2 tears period, do i have to relearn everything form scratch.
Anyway, the match didn't start in the best of manners (i should have gone directly to SR and then spikes or thunder wave on the switch) and i made a lot of mistakes during the match.
M-Medicham gave me a lot of problems, 'cause i didn't have anything other than Talonflame that resists both ice and fighting, but, with SR down, talon comes in at 50%. The rest of the match is me making a lot of bad choices in a row.
The overall strategy was to set hazards and then pressure the opponent with heavy offense.
Turn 1: Probably just need to learn the speed tiers :) sucks to be rusty lol.

Turn 3: Dat crit.... I really do think you made the right choice here but that crit ruined you. this could also be an indirect result of your totally lost turn on turn 1.

Turn 5: I think manectric would have been a good choice to put in here instead of talonflame, it would have given you the chance to mega evolve -> volt switch -> lando.

Turn 7: I think you should have saced talonflame over manectric. talon wasnt going to do much of anything that battle with SR up and no roost. this is because excadrill really had no safe switch in against that team.

Turn 10: see below

Turn 14: you should have sacrraficed excadrill and hoped for the landorus sweep. at this point the battle was pretty much over, but your best bet was to lose Excadrill and allow lando to OHKO his whole team. However between bullt punch, sucker punch and garchomp's higher speed, it would have been unlikely that landorus would survive.

In my opinion you should change your Kyurem-B's eve spread to something more specially biased. Most of the time Kyu-b is spamming ice beam or earth power while fusion bolt is just for coverage. I'd also suggest switching out outrage for substitute as with kyurem's speed and horrible defensive typing it's just too risky to outrage. This is the set i'd recommend.

Kyurem-Black @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 Atk / 252 Spd
Rash/Naive Nature
- Fusion Bolt
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]
 
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Battle: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-98455704

The Juggernaut, bitch (Pinsir) (M) @ Pinsirite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Quick Attack
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance

6.022 x 10^23 (Excadrill) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
- Iron Head

Jet Jaguar (Bisharp) (M) @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Pursuit

no Aegislash pls (Latios) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Earthquake

Bruce (Garchomp) (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Stealth Rock

Dan Castellaneta (Thundurus) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunder Wave


Username: Reverend

Well, I played a little carelessly with my steel types considering he had a Magnezone on his team. I didn't really think about it being there specifically to make a Clefable sweep easier, so even thought I'm up 3 to 1 at the end I don't have anything that can really Clefable at all. I also get a little too hungry for a Mega Pinsir sweep and make a huge misprediction against his Landorus-T on turn 12 that means I lose my biggest threat to his team. Shout out to Thundurus for doing absolutely nothing all battle.
 
So, as a primarily cartridge player, would it be alright to post a cartridge replay code for the vs recorder??
 
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Battle: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-98455704

The Juggernaut, bitch (Pinsir) (M) @ Pinsirite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Quick Attack
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance

6.022 x 10^23 (Excadrill) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
- Iron Head

Jet Jaguar (Bisharp) (M) @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Pursuit

no Aegislash pls (Latios) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Earthquake

Bruce (Garchomp) (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Stealth Rock

Dan Castellaneta (Thundurus) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunder Wave


Username: Reverend

Well, I played a little carelessly with my steel types considering he had a Magnezone on his team. I didn't really think about it being there specifically to make a Clefable sweep easier, so even thought I'm up 3 to 1 at the end I don't have anything that can really Clefable at all. I also get a little too hungry for a Mega Pinsir sweep and make a huge misprediction against his Landorus-T on turn 12 that means I lose my biggest threat to his team. Shout out to Thundurus for doing absolutely nothing all battle.
I think it was more than a miss prediction and just the wrong move in general. Pinsir could OHKO the rest of the opponents team bsides clefable w/o the SD boost (which wouldnt help vs clefable) you shoulda just spammed return.

252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Quick Attack vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Pinsir: 168-198 (61.7 - 72.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
-1 252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Return vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Pinsir: 284-336 (104.4 - 123.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Return vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 217-256 (55 - 64.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

I didn't think you used bisharp nor excadrill carelessly, I just think that SDing was a bad choice when unboosted return was enough to sweep.

I truly think the real reason you lost though was that crit on bisharp. 252+ SpA Magnezone Volt Switch vs. 32 HP / 0 SpD Bisharp: 169-199 (60.5 - 71.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

The battle could have gone either way with what I am saying but w/o the crit and without using SD the probablility of you winning was hugely in your favor.
 
So, as a primarily cartridge player, would it be alright to post a cartridge replay? I believe it's possible through PGL.
As I said on the previous page, most of us do not have the capability to view your matches through a DS.

Since it wasn't explicitly said...

New Rule: Pokemon Showdown replays and Pokemon Online logs only. Put into the OP.
 
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Battle: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-98455704

The Juggernaut, bitch (Pinsir) (M) @ Pinsirite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Quick Attack
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance

6.022 x 10^23 (Excadrill) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
- Iron Head

Jet Jaguar (Bisharp) (M) @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Pursuit

no Aegislash pls (Latios) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Earthquake

Bruce (Garchomp) (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Stealth Rock

Dan Castellaneta (Thundurus) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunder Wave


Username: Reverend

Well, I played a little carelessly with my steel types considering he had a Magnezone on his team. I didn't really think about it being there specifically to make a Clefable sweep easier, so even thought I'm up 3 to 1 at the end I don't have anything that can really Clefable at all. I also get a little too hungry for a Mega Pinsir sweep and make a huge misprediction against his Landorus-T on turn 12 that means I lose my biggest threat to his team. Shout out to Thundurus for doing absolutely nothing all battle.

I guess you pretty much pointed it out already but yeah that Pinsir mess-up really did screw you over. Hopefully this helps but never assume that your opponent doesn't have the move to take you out if its possible. Greatest example being Lando-T having a rock move. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. You never know! Try to test these sort of things before rushing in(ex: switching in/out to see if it had rock slide/stone edge). And I guess not being overly greedy lol.And as others said, crits kinda turned things in your opponents favor. :[

Perhaps its just me but I probably would have just tried to iron head turn 11
-2 252+ Atk Mold Breaker Excadrill Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Landorus-T: 63-75 (16.4 - 19.6%) (Lando was 27%,clean 2HKO)
or plain switched out to something that could have handled a Lando-T switch(Thundurus does have hp ice after all). He most likely knew Clefable was his central win condition and wanted to keep it alive. This battle definitely had many different paths depending what moves were made for sure but you did well! [:

Another piece of advice that's helped me, try to make a gameplan from team preview if you haven't been. Ex: he has a Clefable -> dangerous ->must take it out -> steel move -> steel types needed -> play cautiously vs Magnezone.

Great battle mr Reverend!
 
Battle:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-98664053
Username: vyomov
Team:
Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature
- Slack Off
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast

Roserade @ Black Sludge
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
- Extrasensory
- Rest
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb

Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 112 Atk / 148 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Defog
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
- Air Slash

Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Hyper Voice
- Shadow Ball

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 172 Def / 88 Spd / 248 HP
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Knock Off

The general strategy of the team is to sweep with Charizard-Y, with the whole team being centered around Bulky Offense, where every team member can take a hit and retaliate. Although I won the match, I feel it is far from perfect and that I certainly made a few misplays to say the least, such as switching to Roserade at the start(which almost cost me the game) and losing Charizard-Y to Skamory.
 

Windsong

stumbling down elysian fields
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Battle:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-98664053
Username: vyomov
Team:
Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature
- Slack Off
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast

Roserade @ Black Sludge
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
- Extrasensory
- Rest
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb

Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 112 Atk / 148 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Defog
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
- Air Slash

Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Hyper Voice
- Shadow Ball

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 172 Def / 88 Spd / 248 HP
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Knock Off

The general strategy of the team is to sweep with Charizard-Y, with the whole team being centered around Bulky Offense, where every team member can take a hit and retaliate. Although I won the match, I feel it is far from perfect and that I certainly made a few misplays to say the least, such as switching to Roserade at the start(which almost cost me the game) and losing Charizard-Y to Skamory.
You played this way too passively early on and played stupidly aggressively with your most clear win condition in the midgame. ZardY could literally 1-2HKO every single mon on your opponent's team, yet you didn't aggressively push with double switches and similar plays, instead wasting turns with useless plays (using knock off on the skarm, for example, when you could have gone to Zardy and made a push). When you had a clear win scenario set up after first damaging Florges you toss it away by playing too safely and only manage to win off a lucky burn + your opponent's poor moveset choice.

Midgame you needlessly let Zard eat a Draco Meteor when you have two completely solid Latios switch-ins, neither of which you need for lategame. There's no fear of the Latios pulling a Roost or something since it was scarf, so you could just bring in Scizor or Sylveon everytime Latios comes out and let Latios wear itself down switching in on Solarbeams from Zard. Finally, lategame you unnecessarily sack zard and then play rather risky with rade when rade could legitimately be your win condition.

tl;dr risk v reward. Think about it and play aggressively or passively as fits the situation, not just at a whim.
 
Last edited:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-98874318

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Iron Head

Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Scald
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Secret Sword

Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Dragon Pulse
- Earthquake

Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Defog

Thundurus (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance


Username: ndj14

I feel like I made several misplays in the early game. The early goal was to weaken the Ferro and Clefable with Charizard and Thundurus for a Keldeo sweep, but I let both of them take large amounts of damage in the first few turns without doing a whole lot back. I made a huge misplay on turn 8 by letting him burn Bisharp for basically no reward, and then made an overly risky switch to Latios on the very next turn. I decided to end up sacking Charizard on turn 14 in order to bring in Garchomp and either kill his Charizard or threaten it out. I managed to get a bit of momentum back after that, but lost it again by unnecessarily risking Keldeo in an attempt to burn the Ferro. I managed to pull it out thanks to the crit on his Clefable, but without that, I probably would have lost.
 
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