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Charizard-Mega-Y (M) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
- Roost
Bisharp (F) @ Dread Plate
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 Spd
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- U-turn
Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Flying]
Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Stone Edge
- Dragon Claw
Username: aaargh
Summary: This is a battle I played a couple days ago. As you can see, I am using a pretty standard team with an offensive core of Zard Y - Keldeo - Pursuit user (which is not seen much anymore but still pretty good imo). I changed Landorus to Ferrothorn as my Stealth Rock setter because two mons 4x weak to ice sucked and I was too weak to Azumarill. It also handles non-HP fire Greninja well enough.
My opponent was pretty good and I think I played decently (especially in the first part of the match) but there's room for improvement. First off, I don't think I played around Diggersby well enough, i had to resort to a 50/50 to beat it before it could hurt my team. And then...I almost choked the endgame scenario, as I had to rely on landing 3 focus blasts in a row (a 35% chance more or less). In my opinion I could win this game more easily if I played differently, so any suggestion in this regard is appreciated.
Tyranitar-Mega @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 132 SAtk / 124 Spd
Rash Nature
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def / 216 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 50 HP / 252 Atk / 208 Spd
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Tailwind
Thundurus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Taunt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 8 SDef / 248 HP / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Healing Wish
- Heal Bell
- Leech Seed
- U-turn
Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Explosion
- Knock Off
I technically won this, but it was solely due to some serious freezehax at the end. My team had a fantastic matchup against his, with Umbreon essentially being "Free Sub: The Pokémon" for Mega TyraniBOAH and Sand Rush Exca winning vs Heatran, Greninja, AND Latias pretty reliably, yet, like I said, I totally should have lost. Is there some serious issue in the teambuilder I haven't addressed, or did I just play terribly? I feel like my major misplay was saccing Excadrill to MMawile. I didn't want it to get a SD up, but in retrospect the Sucker Punch was pretty obvious.
Things I did well:
The double switch that won me the game.
Lead with Mega Alakazam to force Conk to switch.
I made him think my latias had psyshock when it's moveset is: defog, recover, dragon pulse and surf.
Switching in latias to take those hits.
Having Ferrothorn force the Mega Venusaur to sythesis while I switch.
Foddering my Ferrothorn to leave me with Terrakion and Mega Alakazam.
Things that I could have done better:
Preditcting the obvious switches near the start.
Not staying in on Mega Venusaur with Ferrothorn
Not subbing as much with Ferro.
I sacked Gyarados unecessarily.
(Turn 21) Shadow Balling instead of Psyshocking.
Not letting my Mega Alakazam take all that toxic damage.
My main goal was to get Mega Alakazam one on one with Mega Venusaur and Terrakion to kill Blissey. The rest of his pokes were easier for my team to kill.
Summary: I generally prefer to play with a balanced sort of team as I am not really an aggressive player nor do I think I can play stall teams very well. The way I use this team is using bulky pivots and volt-turning for free turns to set up and weaken the opposing team. While Mega Scizor is the main reason I built my team I don't like to rely solely on him. I am new to competitive battling as X and Y is my first pokemon game.
What i thnk i did right:
- predictions (some of them)
- use death fodder properly
What I think I did wrong:
- Choose the wrong lead
- WoW ZardX (could have used hydro pump then volt switch the following turn)
- using Drain Punch instead of Knock Off on Turn 7
What I know i did wrong:
Forget to give latios a nature and EVs
My Team:
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Reviving this thread partly because it shouldn't be drowned, partly because I'd like to improve. And I heard the best way to do that was Battling 101. (But that mentoring stuff is hardcore man, I'm a student and can't make changes to my timetable) So I'm here. And like everyone else, I'll post a game which I win in because we all have huge egos. Obviously there are still questionable plays by me and I'd really like to get some comments on how to improve my battling style. Like, what I did wrong, was I too aggressive/hasty etc.
Incoming wall of text that might answer some questions
I led off with greninja cause it threatened most of his team, and I was anticipating Tyranitar or Mamoswine to have Stealth Rocks. Didn't turn out too good for me, obviously.
Turn 1: Revealing the spikes so early was kind of questionable, since it probably showed my opponent that greninja will not be able to OHKO espeon without Dark Pulse (shit move on ninja imo). Staying in with ninja was also stupid (who does that against ferro) but I kinda anticipated that he would set up SR, and I didn't want to give him a free turn of sorts.
Turn 2: I switched into talonflame anticipating a Power Whip, but my opponent goes for the safe and smart play by Leech Seeding
Turn 3: I roost, expecting him to Protect for recovery or switch. (Ignore that immature comment pl0x omg)
Turn 4: I Will o wisp, predicting a T-tar switchin. But he stayed in with ferro.
Turn 5: My opponent probably predicted my obvious Roost and switched to Vaporeon to gain momentum.
Turn 6: At this point my best option was to switch to Latias.
Turn 7: I switched to Terrakion predicting T-tar to come in to trap Latias. But my opponent goes for a Toxic intended to cripple Latias.
Turn 8: My opponent uses Protect to rack up Poison damage and scout, while I used Stealth Rocks. I'm not sure if this was an unnecessarily risky play as I needed terrakion for T-tar, ferrothorn and Mamoswine.
Turn 9: I decided to Taunt the Vaporeon so that Latias could come in later and set up on it. If he decided to wish that turn, even better. Again, sacking terrakion was pretty questionable.
Turn 10: Yeah... CMtias.. Probably didn't see that thing since Gen V. Suggestions would be welcome.
Turn 11: I didn't want to risk switching out since my teammates could be killed with appropriate coverage moves from Mamo. I decided to sack latias (wow 2 mons in 2 turns) and dragon pulse to weaken it, but turns out that thing was scarfed.
Turn 12: I sent out greninja to force a switch while I set up more spikes (6.25% was probably not worth it but I thought he'd switch to vaporeon to absorb my attacks anyway)
Turn 13: Kind of choked here and sent out excadrill in a panic since greninja was toxic and wish bait for vaporeon, so avoiding toxic would have been a plus for me. I'm not sure if Pinsir would've been a better switch.
Turn 14: Saccing my 3rd mon in like 5 turns haha. But I thought I needed that vaporeon weakened for the rest of my team to have any chances of winning.
Turn 15: I knew Pinsir would draw in Mamoswine later, but there wasn't anything else that could kill vaporeon and was expendable. I thought Pinsir couldn't have set up on that team reliably, and my pseudo-bulky Talonflame could be saved later for wearing down his team. Again, I'd like comments on this.
Turn 16: Just getting some damage on that mamoswine before I die.
Turn 17: This was when my opponent started to misplay badly. I'm sure he had quite a few chances to win the game with intelligent switches but he didn't. Talonflame took out mamoswine and he sent in ferrothorn. If he sent in T-tar the game would've been over. I'm a lucky guy (who am I kidding I get 3 mons frozen before).
Turn 18: At 30% HP, I was tempted to roost since if he switched in T-tar right now I'd be healthy enough to take his assaults. But seeing that he just switched ferrothorn in I didn't think that he noticed his mistake. Maybe it was because he noticed I had no flare blitz and he wanted the fun of walling talonflame with ferrothorn. Serves him right for being evil :p So I taunted him, as his most beneficial move against Talonflame was obviously Leech seed.
Turn 19: He finally decided to bring in T-tar while I roost back to nearly full health.
Turn 20: I personally wouldn't have tried to dragon dance with T-tar since it didn't need to kill greninja. He would've won as long as he took out talonflame. Ferrothorn was healthy enough to survive greninja. (Actually, maybe not, entry hazards would've brought it down to a measly 27%. Anyway that 3rd layer of spikes turned out to matter, since I could OHKO espeon with ice beam without relying on hydro pump, which I'm already having to take my chances with against tyranitar and volcarona)
Turn 21: predicting a stone edge, I proceed to roost to PP stall him. He goes for a second dance though.
Turn 22: I taunted him since he would've set up enough to kill me before burn finished him off. He decides to start attacking, unfortunately, and does a hefty chunk.
Turns 23-25: Basically stalling his crunches (No stone edge? Phew) and killing him with a Brave Bird before he can make use of that Defense drop.
Turn 26: He could've sent in espeon to force me to suicide with brave bird, but he didn't. I roosted in this case as I couldn't risk taunting. My opponent also seemed wary of falling victim to taunt again, so I took advantage of that.
Turn 27: NOW I decide to taunt the incoming leech seed.
Turns 28-30: Basically stalling with roost. I have the game, essentially, after a hard won comeback. Knowing this, my opponent forfeited. (Thankfully my end-game didn't have to involve hydro miss like I originally thought)
This isn't a RMT thread but I think becoming better battlers also involves good teambuilding. And I know I've got some unorthodox (and probably straight up bad) sets right there. I'm not sure if they really work because heh, I still can't go beyond 1700. So comments would be really appreciated.
Reviving this thread partly because it shouldn't be drowned, partly because I'd like to improve. And I heard the best way to do that was Battling 101. (But that mentoring stuff is hardcore man, I'm a student and can't make changes to my timetable) So I'm here. And like everyone else, I'll post a game which I win in because we all have huge egos. Obviously there are still questionable plays by me and I'd really like to get some comments on how to improve my battling style. Like, what I did wrong, was I too aggressive/hasty etc.
Incoming wall of text that might answer some questions
I led off with greninja cause it threatened most of his team, and I was anticipating Tyranitar or Mamoswine to have Stealth Rocks. Didn't turn out too good for me, obviously.
Turn 1: Revealing the spikes so early was kind of questionable, since it probably showed my opponent that greninja will not be able to OHKO espeon without Dark Pulse (shit move on ninja imo). Staying in with ninja was also stupid (who does that against ferro) but I kinda anticipated that he would set up SR, and I didn't want to give him a free turn of sorts.
Turn 2: I switched into talonflame anticipating a Power Whip, but my opponent goes for the safe and smart play by Leech Seeding
Turn 3: I roost, expecting him to Protect for recovery or switch. (Ignore that immature comment pl0x omg)
Turn 4: I Will o wisp, predicting a T-tar switchin. But he stayed in with ferro.
Turn 5: My opponent probably predicted my obvious Roost and switched to Vaporeon to gain momentum.
Turn 6: At this point my best option was to switch to Latias.
Turn 7: I switched to Terrakion predicting T-tar to come in to trap Latias. But my opponent goes for a Toxic intended to cripple Latias.
Turn 8: My opponent uses Protect to rack up Poison damage and scout, while I used Stealth Rocks. I'm not sure if this was an unnecessarily risky play as I needed terrakion for T-tar, ferrothorn and Mamoswine.
Turn 9: I decided to Taunt the Vaporeon so that Latias could come in later and set up on it. If he decided to wish that turn, even better. Again, sacking terrakion was pretty questionable.
Turn 10: Yeah... CMtias.. Probably didn't see that thing since Gen V. Suggestions would be welcome.
Turn 11: I didn't want to risk switching out since my teammates could be killed with appropriate coverage moves from Mamo. I decided to sack latias (wow 2 mons in 2 turns) and dragon pulse to weaken it, but turns out that thing was scarfed.
Turn 12: I sent out greninja to force a switch while I set up more spikes (6.25% was probably not worth it but I thought he'd switch to vaporeon to absorb my attacks anyway)
Turn 13: Kind of choked here and sent out excadrill in a panic since greninja was toxic and wish bait for vaporeon, so avoiding toxic would have been a plus for me. I'm not sure if Pinsir would've been a better switch.
Turn 14: Saccing my 3rd mon in like 5 turns haha. But I thought I needed that vaporeon weakened for the rest of my team to have any chances of winning.
Turn 15: I knew Pinsir would draw in Mamoswine later, but there wasn't anything else that could kill vaporeon and was expendable. I thought Pinsir couldn't have set up on that team reliably, and my pseudo-bulky Talonflame could be saved later for wearing down his team. Again, I'd like comments on this.
Turn 16: Just getting some damage on that mamoswine before I die.
Turn 17: This was when my opponent started to misplay badly. I'm sure he had quite a few chances to win the game with intelligent switches but he didn't. Talonflame took out mamoswine and he sent in ferrothorn. If he sent in T-tar the game would've been over. I'm a lucky guy (who am I kidding I get 3 mons frozen before).
Turn 18: At 30% HP, I was tempted to roost since if he switched in T-tar right now I'd be healthy enough to take his assaults. But seeing that he just switched ferrothorn in I didn't think that he noticed his mistake. Maybe it was because he noticed I had no flare blitz and he wanted the fun of walling talonflame with ferrothorn. Serves him right for being evil :p So I taunted him, as his most beneficial move against Talonflame was obviously Leech seed.
Turn 19: He finally decided to bring in T-tar while I roost back to nearly full health.
Turn 20: I personally wouldn't have tried to dragon dance with T-tar since it didn't need to kill greninja. He would've won as long as he took out talonflame. Ferrothorn was healthy enough to survive greninja. (Actually, maybe not, entry hazards would've brought it down to a measly 27%. Anyway that 3rd layer of spikes turned out to matter, since I could OHKO espeon with ice beam without relying on hydro pump, which I'm already having to take my chances with against tyranitar and volcarona)
Turn 21: predicting a stone edge, I proceed to roost to PP stall him. He goes for a second dance though.
Turn 22: I taunted him since he would've set up enough to kill me before burn finished him off. He decides to start attacking, unfortunately, and does a hefty chunk.
Turns 23-25: Basically stalling his crunches (No stone edge? Phew) and killing him with a Brave Bird before he can make use of that Defense drop.
Turn 26: He could've sent in espeon to force me to suicide with brave bird, but he didn't. I roosted in this case as I couldn't risk taunting. My opponent also seemed wary of falling victim to taunt again, so I took advantage of that.
Turn 27: NOW I decide to taunt the incoming leech seed.
Turns 28-30: Basically stalling with roost. I have the game, essentially, after a hard won comeback. Knowing this, my opponent forfeited. (Thankfully my end-game didn't have to involve hydro miss like I originally thought)
This isn't a RMT thread but I think becoming better battlers also involves good teambuilding. And I know I've got some unorthodox (and probably straight up bad) sets right there. I'm not sure if they really work because heh, I still can't go beyond 1700. So comments would be really appreciated.
On a side not, I just kinda rated this as I went so ya lol
T1: Greninja wasn't a bad lead per say, but you had no business staying in on Ferrothorn, lol. Even if you did predict SR, forcing your Tflame to Roost is not worth the layer of Spikes, as if he were smart he would have gave himself a free switch-in to Vaporeon or Ttar instead of staying in so long.
Yeah Greninja actually was a bad lead; Terrak put pressure on your opponents team and got up Stealth Rock early for Volcarona. Even Espeon doesn't matter considering you (should) have Sash and Stone Edge has a good chance to OHKO (CC + Stone Edge guarantee's the OHKO.)
T7: There was no reason to make such a play. Even if he did go into Ttar, you can just Defog away hazards with Latias, and then proceed to get a free switch-in to Terrakion which puts huge amounts of pressure against his team. I think you really need to consider your players skill level when playing them, too; he was using mons like Espeon and Vaporeon (aka not so good mons) which should have alerted you he wouldn't have made such a play. Also, like I've said, risking Vaporeon going for Scald was a bad idea considering how well Terrak does against his team.
Turns out you were running Lead Terrak and CM Latias so this doesn't even matter, lol
T8: If you were SR Taunt lead, you really should have just lead with this thing. I mean, like I've said previously, Terrak puts an immense amount of pressure against your opponents team and insures that Ferro either won't be getting up SR do to Taunt, or will be KO'd by CC allowing you to Defog later.
T9: Yeah no reason to Taunt here; Latias getting poisoned / Scaled isn't a big deal seeing as there is no way it'll pull off a sweep with Mamoswine and Ferrothorn, lol.
T10: Calm Mind Latias?! That set is really old and not very good... I'd try Psyshock / Defog / Draco Meteor / Healing Wish if I were you. Two 4x SR weak mons NEED hazard support, even if it stacks with Excadrill.
T11: I really wish you weren't running Spikes Greninja, as something like HP Grass would have came in handy there.
T14: I think you should have used Rapid Spin here. Yes, I know that it didn't end up mattering, but if that TTar had Stone Edge (Like 95% of them do) then you would have lost, as +2 cancels out burn and 252 Atk Mega Tyranitar Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Talonflame: 696-820 (193.3 - 227.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO. I seriously think your only chance to win this was with Mega Pinsir, and you needed it to have as much health as possible. Basically, if you had used Rapid Spin here, all you needed was Vaporeon not to burn with Scald and just Swords Dance all over it. From there, as long as you were running Close Combat (which you should be now that Aegi's gone) you had a very high chance of straight up cleaning through his team.
The rest of the battle involves you predicting correctly with Taunt and getting lucky with him not having Stone Edge on his Tyranitar.
Basically, to sum up what I think you could have done better:
-Lead with Terrakion
-Removed SR ASAP
As for team suggestions... I like the idea of Bird Spam, but I don't think you're utilizing it correctly. Firstly, I'd get rid of Calm Mind Latias and change it to standard offensive Life Orb with Defog / Draco Meteor / Healing Wish / Psyshock, as it can clear hazards and in general puts a lot more offensive pressure against your opponents team. Secondly, I don't like your Talonflame set either. While stallbreaker Talonflame isn't necessarily bad, I don't think it fits a Bird Spam team like this. Bird Spam is focused around wearing down common counters through powerful attacks, and stallbreaker doesn't do this. Instead, I'd try a Choice Band set with U-turn / Brave Bird / Flare Blitz / Tailwind. Now, I don't like Greninja on your team. Greninja usually plays the role of a cleaner on a team, but you already have Mega Pinsir, who is, like, THE Mega cleaner, making Greninja's support unnecessary. I second Water resist would be nice, as would a second setup sweeper. I would try Belly Drum Azumarill, but I think that might make your team too physically offensive. Instead, I'd give Tail Glow Manaphy a try with Tail Glow / Energy Ball / Surf / Ice Beam with Wacan Berry in order to beat Thundurus. Finally, because you've lost the main Speed of your team in Greninja, I'd make Excadrill a Choice Scarf set if it isn't already with Earthquake / Rock Slide / Rapid Spin / Iron Head.
Hope this helps, and sorry if my thoughts were pretty rambled lol
Summary of Match:
The match, on a whole, felt very one-sided. Because he kept trying to set up and I just end up making risky plays. Like staying in on the Gengar expecting him to expect a switch, etc. etc. I usually play more Hyper Offence than any other types of playstyle, so I decided that I would make something that was fairly balanced and was able to pick up even if I was at a disadvantage (Of course more aggresive switches would've been required if I were down by a foot but double switching and predicting forward is something that is very fun to do so I would've survived nonetheless)
Summary of Team:
The team concept is fairly simple (I will probably make an RMT about it because I peaked at 157x and I just slided down). It is to force switches and wear my opponent down with the other team members, before MPinsir/Landorus comes in and cleans up. Mew and Zapdos are there for stallbreaking and fly spam checking. Ferrothorn to set up rocks and annoy physical attackers. Scarfed Keldeo is to ensure I don't 100% lose to Greninja and faster threats.
EDIT: The team is actually quite weak to RotomW, Lati@s, Zard X and other threats so I might have to alter the team composition a bit.
End notes:
Please do take a bit of your time to guide me along. I have been playing competitively for quite a while and I want to improve my game. Thank you ^^
Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 248 HP / 108 SpD / 152 Spe
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Roost
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Roost
Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 244 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Draco Meteor
- Healing Wish
- Psyshock
Azumarill @ Assault Vest
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 4 HP / 240 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off
- Waterfall
Breloom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 168 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Swords Dance
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Ice Beam
- Stone Edge
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch
- U-turn
- Trick
Overview: A unique and fun team that I came up with in my spare time to break loose and use some of the more fun pokemon. I'm posting this because although I lost, I felt that I could've had a shot at winning, so if it wasn't extreme hax or anything like that, it was my bad play, so if I could know where I made my mistakes it'll be great. Thanks. The team revolves around a Mega Charizard X coming to sweep mid-late game after a DD or two, and I backed it up with a FWG core to make it more balanced and sturdy. Thanks in advance! :)
Raikou @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SpA / 224 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball
Ferrothorn (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Stealth Rock
- Power Whip
- Thunder Wave
Kabutops (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Jet
Username: Talenhiem
Summary:
Turn 1: Politoed as a lead, becauase I was a little bit tired. The sand cancelling was pretty nice, though.
Turn 3: I misclick, and select Hurricane instead of Focus Blast. FML.
Turn 4: I switch in Ferro, then switch back out, expecting a Magnezone switch-in. Instead, he stays in, and gets some damage off on my Raikou.
Turn 5: Since I was positive he was scarfed, I switch back in to Ferro so TTar can take some chip damage. Since I outsped, though, he wasn't.
Turn 6: He sacks his TTar.
Turn 7: Gets Magnezone out for free, but due to rain, fails the HP Fire OHKO, allowing me to set up Rocks (which I should have done the last turn).
Turn 9: I set up rain again, and go for another Hypnosis, hoping to sleep Mag, taking away pressure from M-Zor. I missed, but I wasn't too worried, as I was positive I'd survive anything Azu did to me.
Turn 10: I hit Hypnosis.
Turn 11: I switch in Raikou, as I was not expecting him to switch out.
Turn 12: Maybe should have gone for TBolt, but I'm not sure. I switch to Kabutops, because Swift Swim.
Turn 13: He wakes up and hits me with an Aqua Jet, as I had expected a switch, and so opted for the stronger STAB.
Turn 14: This was where I got scared. My two flyspam checks - Kabutops and Raikou - were low enough to get knocked out by Quick Attack. So, I switch to Zor, expecting a Quick attack and therefore an almost free switch-in. It was also my only good switch. However, I was not expecting the Close combat, which hit me hard.
turn 15: I was not expecting to live this turn, so I opted for Bullet Punch to get as much damage as possible off. However, I somehow survive due to the increase in Defense the MEvo gave me.
Turn 16: here, I forget that bullet Punch is not +2 priority, but is +1. I don't even know how I confuse that.
Turn 17: I set up rain again, so my Kabutops might actually do something now with Aqua Jet. I go for another Hypno, because if I sleep M-pinsir, that's a lot of weight off my back. However, he OHKO's first.
Turn 18: Swift Swim Aqua Jet should knock it out, so I opt for it, and get the KO. However, now he gets a free switch into Latios.
Turn 19: My only possible play is to hope for flinch hax, which of course I don't get.
Turn 20: No way I can win.
I'm pretty sure I choked multiple times, but I can't identify them. Any help would be appreciated.
Raikou @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SpA / 224 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball
Ferrothorn (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Stealth Rock
- Power Whip
- Thunder Wave
Kabutops (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Jet
Username: Talenhiem
Summary:
Turn 1: Politoed as a lead, becauase I was a little bit tired. The sand cancelling was pretty nice, though.
Turn 3: I misclick, and select Hurricane instead of Focus Blast. FML.
Turn 4: I switch in Ferro, then switch back out, expecting a Magnezone switch-in. Instead, he stays in, and gets some damage off on my Raikou.
Turn 5: Since I was positive he was scarfed, I switch back in to Ferro so TTar can take some chip damage. Since I outsped, though, he wasn't.
Turn 6: He sacks his TTar.
Turn 7: Gets Magnezone out for free, but due to rain, fails the HP Fire OHKO, allowing me to set up Rocks (which I should have done the last turn).
Turn 9: I set up rain again, and go for another Hypnosis, hoping to sleep Mag, taking away pressure from M-Zor. I missed, but I wasn't too worried, as I was positive I'd survive anything Azu did to me.
Turn 10: I hit Hypnosis.
Turn 11: I switch in Raikou, as I was not expecting him to switch out.
Turn 12: Maybe should have gone for TBolt, but I'm not sure. I switch to Kabutops, because Swift Swim.
Turn 13: He wakes up and hits me with an Aqua Jet, as I had expected a switch, and so opted for the stronger STAB.
Turn 14: This was where I got scared. My two flyspam checks - Kabutops and Raikou - were low enough to get knocked out by Quick Attack. So, I switch to Zor, expecting a Quick attack and therefore an almost free switch-in. It was also my only good switch. However, I was not expecting the Close combat, which hit me hard.
turn 15: I was not expecting to live this turn, so I opted for Bullet Punch to get as much damage as possible off. However, I somehow survive due to the increase in Defense the MEvo gave me.
Turn 16: here, I forget that bullet Punch is not +2 priority, but is +1. I don't even know how I confuse that.
Turn 17: I set up rain again, so my Kabutops might actually do something now with Aqua Jet. I go for another Hypno, because if I sleep M-pinsir, that's a lot of weight off my back. However, he OHKO's first.
Turn 18: Swift Swim Aqua Jet should knock it out, so I opt for it, and get the KO. However, now he gets a free switch into Latios.
Turn 19: My only possible play is to hope for flinch hax, which of course I don't get.
Turn 20: No way I can win.
I'm pretty sure I choked multiple times, but I can't identify them. Any help would be appreciated.
turn 2: u send out tornadus. theres no reason to send out tornadus against ttar. kabutops was your best play, as he had nothing for him.
turn 4: u switched out ferro. good play baiting in the magnezone, but it didnt work out for you. scizor wouldve been a better switch than raikou.
turn 14: not entirely sure why u switched kabutops out on pinsir, as he lives a quick attack and OHKOes with stone edge. this is p much where u choked and lost the battle
turn 18: stone edge was the better play. 252+ Atk Life Orb Kabutops Stone Edge vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Latios: 257-304 (85 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO with the crit chance and damage, the least you wouldve done was traded. at that point you needed to make the high risk play if u wanted a shot at winning again. having a 20 flinch rate is severely outweighed by an 80% chance to trade with him at the very least.
overall you played decently but you made a few bad plays, most notably sending in tornadus against tyranitar when kabutops was your best possibly play. you did almost turn it around but choked when he sent out pinsir and you didnt outright KO him when u lived a quick attack.
turn 2: u send out tornadus. theres no reason to send out tornadus against ttar. kabutops was your best play, as he had nothing for him.
turn 4: u switched out ferro. good play baiting in the magnezone, but it didnt work out for you. scizor wouldve been a better switch than raikou.
turn 14: not entirely sure why u switched kabutops out on pinsir, as he lives a quick attack and OHKOes with stone edge. this is p much where u choked and lost the battle
turn 18: stone edge was the better play. 252+ Atk Life Orb Kabutops Stone Edge vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Latios: 257-304 (85 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO with the crit chance and damage, the least you wouldve done was traded. at that point you needed to make the high risk play if u wanted a shot at winning again. having a 20 flinch rate is severely outweighed by an 80% chance to trade with him at the very least.
overall you played decently but you made a few bad plays, most notably sending in tornadus against tyranitar when kabutops was your best possibly play. you did almost turn it around but choked when he sent out pinsir and you didnt outright KO him when u lived a quick attack.
Yes, it does. On turn 2, I completely forgot about TTar's water weakness. I just immediately thought "focus blast wrecks him" and switched in torn. You're right on turn 4. On turn 14, I did not think I would survive. Now I know. And on turn 18, I had kinda given up, so I didn't bother figuring out which was better, so that was a big choke on me.
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Roost
Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 244 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Draco Meteor
- Healing Wish
- Psyshock
Azumarill @ Assault Vest
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 4 HP / 240 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off
- Waterfall
Breloom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 168 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Swords Dance
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Ice Beam
- Stone Edge
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch
- U-turn
- Trick
Overview: A unique and fun team that I came up with in my spare time to break loose and use some of the more fun pokemon. I'm posting this because although I lost, I felt that I could've had a shot at winning, so if it wasn't extreme hax or anything like that, it was my bad play, so if I could know where I made my mistakes it'll be great. Thanks. The team revolves around a Mega Charizard X coming to sweep mid-late game after a DD or two, and I backed it up with a FWG core to make it more balanced and sturdy. Thanks in advance! :)
First off: take a look at your own import. There's the number one problem. Note how breloom & azumarill & latias are missing a substantial amount of EVs. Your charizard x has max spatk investment, and all physical attacks.
Turns 1-6: you putz around on how to deal with ferrothorn. After the spore nerf this gen, most breloom sets are not actually equipped to take on ferrothorn anymore, as you kind of learned the hard way. You're actually very lucky the guy wasn't carrying gyro ball, which can do up to 80% to jolly breloom in one hit. I think a better move Turn 2 would have been going straight to Zard to scare him out and get the mega evo. I know you don't have any Fire STAB (which is a sin in itself, srsly) but the bluff could force him into gyarados, which has no business trying to eat up a dragon claw. It'd also mean Zard X would lose that 4x rocks weakness for later.
Turns 12-14: same story; you don't know how to deal with ferrothorn, and the opponent gains momentum. Don't be afraid to take your time and run calcs, rather than hope your ice beam will do enough (when in fact it's just not going to). Most importantly, you lose sight of priorities. Ttar is your rocks setter, and the opp has a volcarona. You should be way focused at that point on getting those rocks up.
Turn 23: Volcarona is going to QD on your Latias, but you have a Zard X in the back. Your priorities should have been to Defog so that Zard can come in at full, set up, and sweep. Try to remember what your wincon is as you're playing - that is, "what exactly do I need to do to win this match." Yours was a +1 Zard X.
Turn 25: the first major choke, where you go for Knock Off on the +1 volc. Rule #1: don't mess around with threats. You can't afford to predict his switch when you're staring at a boosted volc. Waterfall + Aqua Jet on the volc was the only real play, and you could safely follow it up with Knock Off / Play Rough if he did actually switch to latias for whatever reason.
Turn 27: wups. Scarf jirachi does not outspeed a +2 volcarona. And you had a Zard X in the back ! You actually still could have won right here by going into Zard X to finish the volcarona with Dragon Claw, and letting scarf jirachi clean up the latias.
Turn 28: You STILL had a chance to win after the jirachi mishap, if you'd roosted rather than boosted first turn with Zard X. That'd potentially give you enough HP to secure the +1 boost for the win.
-x-
Sorry I write so much x.x Basically you stumbled around a bit with your priorities. Going for chip damage on ferrothorn & volcarona accomplished nothing (as they could both recover more than you dealt) while hazard control should have been your main focus.
Your wincon as soon as garchomp went down was a +1 Zard X sweep. You had a whole boatload of opportunities to get that boost (e.g. versus Volcarona) but you went for it way, way too late in the game.
Also you didn't need to sack breloom so early in the match. Charizard & ttar both are hard stops to volcarona, and you had a Healing Wish latias in the back to cure breloom's status.
Overview: A really good match imo, managed to scrape the win with a couple of low rolls that occurred throughout the match. Great match overall, got really close. Both of us made some misplays, but it was a good match. He had a pretty offensive team with Mega Pinsir and Magnezone, while I had a bulkier team with Mega Aggron (lol). Hoping someone can show me some things I missed that could help me battling, as I've been playing a lot worse lately and want to get better. My team has a few odd sets that work kinda well, so idk if I'm changing it soon. Thanks to anyone who helps! ^^
Alright, lets see what I can do to help you Croven . With the sets: most of the EVs are good, but change Mega Aggron's HP to 248 and put the extra EVs in Speed, as 252 and 248 will leave you with the same HP after you switch into hazards once, and 248 will give you more if you switch in twice. Also, I really don't like Reflect Type, as it is very situational. If you find it works then keep it, but Psyshock might help you get through Mega Venusaur and Amoongus better. On to the battle...
Turn 3: This was very risky. It was a prediction that worked out, but if he had gone for a Choice Band Waterfall or Superpower (which I doubt he had and I know he wasn't CB, but never make assumptions) would have crippled a pokemon you needed to beat Mega Pinsir and that Azumarill (once you had mega evolved safely) and to set up Stealth Rocks, since his team was very weak to them.
Turn 6: Again you were risking Mega Aggron if it had Hidden Power Fire or a powerful special move, you would have lost your Mega Pinsir counter and that would be a very bad thing (even if he made a very bad use of his Pinsir)
Turn 31: Reflect Type was the best move here, as it gave you a huge advantage over either Magnezone or Azumarill, which you could have them had a better chance to beat.
You actually did a very good job, but should remember to keep Mega Aggron safe so you are protected from the rampage of Mega Pinsir.
Reflect type starmie is really good, in fact, it should have been used more in this battle, seeing as you outspeed both Scarfzone (not exactly sure given your speed investment but should outspeed, im too lazy to check) and Azu and reflect their typings, allowing for more residual damage on either of them.
At turn 3, you should have definitely went for reflect type, Azu was obviously AV and the Knock Off could be seen from a mile away, allowing you to fish for Scald burns and apply more pressure.
You played very recklessly with your Aggron, who you should've preserved for Pinsir. You had Raikou for it as well but that requires you to sac something to bring in 100% safely, not ideal for balanced teams, not to mention the opponent was steadily wearing that down too.
You could actually have won that match much more convincingly if you sacced your Gyara to Azu and Reflect typed it with Starmie, spamming Scald and Reflecting again when Zone comes in, beating both of them and saving raikou incase of hax. Other than these, I see no real issues in this battle, it was fine. That choke at the end nearly cost you the match though.
Lately been having a hell of a time with predictions, I think because my rating dropped to such a low tier, I'm anticipating reads from my opponents that they aren't making.
