UU Tricks - Erazor vs. Lemmiwinks MkII

Erazor

✓ Just Doug It
is a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Hey guys, haven't done a warstory in a while.

So one day I was laddering on UU, getting firsthand experience with the suspects, and my first opponent is ggGerbil, who I knew to be Lemmiwinks MkII. So I groaned, and then started a really good match... enjoy!

ggGerbil's (Lemmiwinks) moves will look like this.
lolnublet's (Erazor's) moves will look like this.
other text will look like this.
Leftovers will be removed.
Nicknames will be removed.
Sandstorm/hail damage will be removed.
Scores will be shown after each KO.

Teams:

Mine:


Lemmiwinks:


Rules: Ladder Match, Sleep Clause, Freeze Clause, OHKO Clause, Evasion Clause, Species Clause, Strict Damage Clause
ggGerbil sent out Sceptile (lvl 100 Sceptile ?).
lolnublet sent out Spiritomb (lvl 100 Spiritomb ?).
Spiritomb is exerting its pressure!

I am using the new anti-lead Spiritomb, which was coincidentally introduced by Lemmiwinks(at least, I got the idea from him). It's a Choiced Banded Pursuiter / Shadow Sneaker that works great in this metagame at the moment with all those damn Froslass running around. Meanwhile, Lemmiwinks starts things off with his own anti-lead, Sceptile. I know that this is a mixed attacking Sceptile, and hence it will not like being tricked a Choice Band. So I choose to Trick, hoping to put Sceptile out of commission.

I’ve been trying out mixed Sceptile as a lead on this new team of mine, and has been working out moderately well so far. With Leaf Storm, Earthquake, Rock Slide and Quick Attack, it covers plenty of Pokemon both on the lead front and late game. However, against Spiritomb leads it doesn’t fare all that well one-on-one. Leaf Storm is my most powerful option, but it probably won’t 2HKO and its PP will be drained quickly with Pressure, plus Spiritomb can just Pain Split off the damage. My best option is therefore to switch, and Umbreon seems like the ideal Pokemon to scout, resisting Spiritomb’s STAB moves and able to bounce back a WoW. I just hope it is running something close to the standard set….

Sceptile - 100%
Spiritomb - 100%

ggGerbil switched in Umbreon (lvl 100 Umbreon ?).
Spiritomb used Trick.
Spiritomb obtained Leftovers!
Umbreon obtained Choice Band!

Well, Trick didn't hit its intended target, but I'm really happy that Umbreon switched in. Like any other supporting pokemon, Umbreon hates being Choice locked. This pretty much cripples Umbreon. So Spiritomb's job is done for now, time to switch. I choose Registeel because it can take anything Umbreon can throw at it, even though it can't hurt Umbreon back. I don't even have to worry about Trap-passing due to the Choice Band.

….which it isn’t, and Erazor reads my switch perfectly, effectively crippling Umbreon for the rest of the match. I have to say though that I am getting a bit of a taste of my own medicine here, as I contributed heavily to the popularization of that set. It seems that staying in to Leaf Storm was my best option after all, as Sceptile could actually get some decent use out of Choice Band later in the match. As it stands though, all Umbreon is useful for now is boosted Paybacks, and perhaps the occasional Heal Bell. No Wish unfortunately, as just before this match I switched from Wish / Protect to a boosting tank set with Curse and Moonlight. I doubt that Erazor will keep Spiritomb in here, as it is probably not running Pain Split, so I just use Payback to scout for whatever comes in next.

Umbreon - 100%
Spiritomb - 100%
---
iamthelaw has entered the room.
lolnublet switched in Registeel (lvl 100 Registeel).
Umbreon used Payback.
It's not very effective...
Registeel lost 12% of its health.

Registeel comes in safely, taking a tiny amount of damage from Payback. I now have a free turn here, since Umbreon sure as hell isn't staying in. I decide to set up those ever-so-important Stealth Rocks.

Erazor naturally reveals his Dark resist with the knowledge that Payback is my only useful option. Registeel could turn out to be quite the pain in the butt for my team now, particularly if it’s a T-Wave variant. This team lacks a Ground type, therefore I have no reliable T-Wave absorber, and so I often try and play around it with Umbreon’s Heal Bell. Obviously that will be much more difficult now as I have to switch in and out just for that one move, leaving me heavily prone to setups. Still, Registeel isn’t often much of an offensive threat, and will probably be using this turn to set up SR, so I switch in my Uxie to respond in kind.

Umbreon - 100%
Registeel - 94%
---
ggGerbil switched in Uxie (lvl 100 Uxie).
Registeel used Stealth Rock.
Pointed stones float in the air around the foe's team!

SR goes up on my side, while Lemmiwinks sends in Uxie. Now, Uxie will probably do one of two things here: set up SR, or Trick a Scarf onto me. I'm assuming that it's a Stealth Rocker, since Registeel provides a perfect opportunity to set up Rocks. But then again, Registeel is crippled badly by a Scarf....
I decide on using Thunder Wave. If Uxie tricks me, then at least I somewhat cripple it in return. If he sets up SR, no harm done, since SR doesn't particularly bother my team. I could use Shadow Claw, but with Registeel's mediocre attack and Uxie's bulk, it's not going to do much. Plus, I don't want to reveal that I have Shadow Claw, in case Lemmi has a SubCharge Rotom waiting in the wings(hey, you never know...).


Uxie - 100%
Registeel - 100%
---
Uxie used Stealth Rock.
Pointed stones float in the air around the foe's team!
Registeel used Thunder Wave.
Uxie is paralysed! It may be unable to move!

Yup, this turn goes as expected.
Now, I have to remove Uxie from the game, since it walls my Gallade to no end. I go to Spiritomb, hoping to weaken it with Pursuit. Uxie can't do anything to Spiritomb in return anyway.


Turns out it is carrying Thunder Wave, so I have to play this match very carefully from now on. This Uxie of mine is carrying Reflect, which is the best option right now for cushioning Registeel’s physical blows as well as a possible Pursuit from Spiritomb, or indeed any other physical threat looking to come in and do some damage.

Uxie - 100%
Registeel - 100%
---
lolnublet switched in Spiritomb (lvl 100 Spiritomb ?).
Spiritomb is exerting its pressure!
Pointed stones dug into Spiritomb.
Spiritomb lost 12% of its health.
Uxie used Reflect.
A barrier was formed!

Hmmmm, Reflect. This means that this is probably DS Uxie, with either U-turn and Psychic as the attacking move. Reflect means that my Pursuit won't damage Uxie too much, but it still helps wear it down.
(Later I found out that this is a creative set made by Lemmiwinks, but I didn't know that at the time)


Just as I thought, Erazor brings back Spiritomb, probably in the hope of putting a sizeable dent into Uxie with Pursuit. Thankfully with Reflect up, Uxie won’t be taking more than ~30% here on the switch out, while my switch-in will be cushioned against Spiritomb’s physical assaults. This seems like the perfect time to bring in my wall breaking Honchkrow to try and start punching holes into Erazor’s team.

Uxie - 100%
Spiritomb - 94%
---
Spiritomb used Pursuit.
It's super effective!
Uxie lost 23% of its health.
ggGerbil switched in Honchkrow (lvl 100 Honchkrow ?).
Pointed stones dug into Honchkrow.
Honchkrow lost 25% of its health.

I Pursuit Uxie for a measly 23%, but Lemmiwinks has brought in Honchkrow for free. Well, as free as you can when you're SR weak, anyway. Now I am fairly certain that Honchkrow is going to be using its latest toy, Brave Bird. My only real switch-in to it is Registeel, but it would be KOed by Superpower the next turn.
However, I also know that Spiritomb can survive one Brave Bird, and mine carries Will-o-Wisp. A burnt Honchkrow is much easier to handle than a healthy one, so....


Okay, so Honchkrow comes in with only SR damage taken as Uxie absorbs the Pursuit. My Honchkrow is your typical LO wall breaker set with Brave Bird, Superpower, Sucker Punch and HP Grass. I am running HP Grass for the extra coverage against Rhyperior, Donphan and Omastar, who are common adversaries for Honchkrow. Brave Bird is normally my first attack against a largely unrevealed team, and I will definitely be using it here against Spiritomb.

Uxie - 77%
Honchkrow - 75%
Spiritomb - 100%
---
Honchkrow used Brave Bird.
Spiritomb lost 63% of its health.
Honchkrow was hit by recoil!
Honchkrow lost 19% of its health.
Honchkrow lost 10% of its health.
Spiritomb used Will-o-wisp.
Honchkrow was burned!
Honchkrow was hurt by its burn!
Honchkrow lost 12% of its health.

Well, that went as planned. Spiritomb takes a heavy hit, but burns Honchkrow in return. I can now switch in Milotic relatively safely, while Honchkrow will lose even more health to Burn, Life Orb, and Brave Bird recoil.

Given that Brave Bird only did 63%, I can only assume that this is a max Defense Spiritomb I am dealing with here. Worse still, it was carrying WoW all along, so max Defense WoW ‘Tomb with TrickBand? Unorthodox maybe, but it has worked perfectly for Erazor here, and has really put me on the backfoot. I can’t even finish off Spiritomb here without a crit, but given that SR is up and Krow is burned with no reliable way of healing it, my current best option is to just sacrifice Krow and deal as much damage as I can in the process.

Honchkrow - 34%
Spiritomb - 43%
---
lolnublet switched in Milotic (lvl 100 Milotic ?).
Pointed stones dug into Milotic.
Milotic lost 12% of its health.
Honchkrow used Brave Bird.
A critical hit!
Milotic lost 53% of its health.
Honchkrow was hit by recoil!
Honchkrow lost 21% of its health.
Honchkrow lost 10% of its health.
Honchkrow was hurt by its burn!
Honchkrow lost 4% of its health.
ggGerbil's Honchkrow fainted.
(5-6)

Gah. Honchkrow gets a critical on Milotic, and shaves off half its health in one blow. I'm very lucky that Criticals don't ignore burn drops on Shoddy, otherwise I'd be dead. Anyway, Honchkrow faints after dealing one last blow, and I wait for Lemmiwinks to send out his next mon.

A little bit of luck here with the crit, but to be fair it is expected from time to time with Krow. How I would have killed for that crit last turn, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers. Amazingly, despite the circumstances going against it somewhat, my Honchkrow still managed to do its job of punching some major holes into the opponent’s defenses, which is a testament to its overall beastliness.

Honchkrow - X(
Milotic - 53%
---
ggGerbil switched in Sceptile (lvl 100 Sceptile ?).
Pointed stones dug into Sceptile.
Sceptile lost 12% of its health.

He sends in Sceptile. Now, I'm not keeping Milotic in, but I'm not sure what to send out. Registeel is the obvious choice, but Lemmiwinks could easily predict that and use Earthquake instead. Hmmm... I have Spiritomb as death fodder though. There's not much more that it can do, and has already helped cripple one of Lemmiwinks' team members. So Spiritomb it is.

Anyway, I obviously bring in Sceptile to try and scare away a now heavily weakened Milotic, as now is not the time to set up Raikou given that Registeel is still in tip-top shape. However, I hesitate on going with the obvious Leaf Storm, as that will be easily absorbed by Registeel. Instead, I am going to take a risk and use Earthquake, hoping that I can bait Erazor’s Registeel into it for a decent chunk of damage. The more I can wear that thing down early-game, the easier it will be for Raikou late-game, assuming that it is Erazor’s best counter. All I can do is hope that Erazor doesn’t see my plan coming one way or the other.

Sceptile - 88%
Milotic - 53%

lolnublet switched in Spiritomb (lvl 100 Spiritomb ?).
Spiritomb is exerting its pressure!
Pointed stones dug into Spiritomb.
Spiritomb lost 12% of its health.
Sceptile used Earthquake.
Spiritomb lost 19% of its health.
Sceptile's reflect wore off!

Spiritomb shrugs off the Earthquake, but it's now on its last legs and will not survive another hit. I Shadow Sneak for one last hit on Sceptile.

Well, he kind of did, though the result may just be incidental. Nonetheless, this was a good move from Erazor, realizing that Spiritomb was next to deadweight now and therefore using it as a sacrificial buffer to avoid having one of his healthier Pokemon caught out on the switch. Earthquake will (hopefully!) KO next turn, which is the best move as I neither want to switch again nor let my special attack drop unnecessarily. Sceptile can easily take a Shadow Sneak at this point, so that isn’t a problem.

Sceptile - 88%
Spiritomb - 17%
---
Spiritomb used Shadow Sneak.
Sceptile lost 25% of its health.
Sceptile used Earthquake.
Spiritomb lost 17% of its health.
lolnublet's Spiritomb fainted.
(5-5)

Spiritomb pokes Sceptile once before it dies. I now have a free switch, so Registeel can come in safely. He can afford to take one Earthquake, and can cripple Sceptile with Thunder Wave. Also, Lemmi hasn't yet revealed a T-Wave-immune pokemon, so it's a safe option.

Sceptile - 63%
Spiritomb - X(

---
iamthelaw has left the room.
lolnublet switched in Registeel (lvl 100 Registeel).
Pointed stones dug into Registeel.
Registeel lost 6% of its health.

As expected, Erazor sacrifices Spiritomb, doing as much damage as possible in the process. Registeel now comes back in, and I’m expecting Thunder Wave to try and neuter Sceptile. However, I am in a little bit of a tight situation here, as Uxie is the only Pokemon I can switch to that won’t hate the paralysis, but can’t actually do anything back to Registeel, with Zen Headbutt and Grass Knot as the attacks. It has therefore come to the point where I need to start being aggressive against Registeel at every possible opportunity. My Sceptile’s Earthquake only does about 30% to standard Registeel, but if I can get two or even three hits in it might make all the difference in the end, even if Sceptile has to be sacrificed to do so.

Sceptile - 63%
Registeel - 94%

Sceptile used Earthquake.
It's super effective!
Registeel lost 32% of its health.
Registeel used Thunder Wave.
Sceptile is paralysed! It may be unable to move!

Perfect. Now, Registeel can't actually hurt Sceptile in return(lol Shadow Claw), and I need it for later, in case Lemmiwinks has been hiding a Raikou or something. But what to switch in, that can finish off Sceptile? Mmmmm... Sceptile is nearly certain to use Earthquake, to keep denting Registeel. Hence, a Leaf Storm is unlikely to be coming Registeel's way. This means that Milotic can switch in, and use Ice Beam for the KO. So in you go, Milo! (hey, that rhymed!)

As expected, Sceptile has to take the Thunder Wave, but nevertheless I have to keep piling on as much pressure on Regi as possible, so another Earthquake is coming, I just have to hope it doesn’t flinch-hax me. I could go to Kabutops on a predicted Iron Head and try to Low Kick it, particularly attractive given that Milotic is now heavily weakened, but I cannot afford the possibility of Erazor anticipating this and crippling yet another of my hard-hitters. If this happens it could well be gg right there, so it is too risky right now.

Sceptile - 63%
Registeel - 68%
---
lolnublet switched in Milotic (lvl 100 Milotic ?).
Pointed stones dug into Milotic.
Milotic lost 12% of its health.
Sceptile is paralysed! It can't move!

Parahax strikes, but unless Lemmi was using Leaf Storm, I don't think that it was too important. Now however, I have a couple of choices. I can kill Sceptile straight away with Ice Beam. However, Milotic has taken a beating due to Honchkrow's Brave Bird, and I need to heal. Maybe Lemmi will switch out Sceptile to use it as death fodder later? So I make the risky choice of Resting(this is a RestTalk Milo btw) . I'm fairly sure that Milo can survive a Leaf Storm if worst comes to worst, since Lemmi has split his EVs between the offenses.

A seemingly odd move here from Erazor, switching Milotic directly into Sceptile of all things. A bit of parahax here, which I guess goes some way to evening out the crit from Honchkrow before, although Earthquake would not have KO’d Milotic despite coming in at ~28%. I can only assume that Erazor knew very well that Leaf Storm wasn’t coming and was bringing in Milotic to either get a KO on a paralyzed Sceppy with Ice Beam, or get a chance to Recover on the double-switch to a slower or weak opponent. Given the former mentioned scenario, I should probably switch out in order to avoid getting Ice Beamed to death. But wait, perhaps that is what Erazor wants me to think, and will therefore try his luck with Recover. And what is one of the golden rules of maintaining offensive momentum: never let your opponent recover wherever possible? No, I’m not going to let him do that, Leaf Storm it is!

Sceptile - 63%
Milotic - 47%
---
Milotic used Rest.
Milotic fell asleep!
Milotic restored 66% of its health.
Sceptile used Leaf Storm.
It's super effective!
Milotic lost 88% of its health.
Sceptile's special attack was harshly lowered.

Ok, that definitely did not work out very well. However, Milo survives, and can still kill Sceptile if Sleep Talk selects Ice Beam, albeit leaving it as complete set-up fodder.

I have to say that I wasn’t expecting a ResTalk variant, but that doesn’t protect it against special onslaughts so I’m not too bothered in this particular case, with Leaf Storm bringing it right back down to critical health. This is probably the first good move I have made so far that has worked in my favor. I could still get killed by Ice Beam through Sleep Talk, but the odds are very much now in my favor for taking it out unscathed.

Sceptile - 63%
Milotic - 18%
---
Milotic is fast asleep!
Milotic used Sleep Talk.
Milotic used Surf.
It's not very effective...
Sceptile lost 23% of its health.
Sceptile is paralysed! It can't move!

Our misfortunes cancel each other out; Sceptile is parahaxed, but only eats a NVE Surf, as opposed to the Ice Beam I was hoping for. There's still a chance that Sceptile dies however. In a way, I'm glad that Sceptile survived, since Ice Beam would have given me an unfair kill.

Argh, yet another parahax moment, which definitely cancels out the earlier hax from before. Nothing I can do about that though, I just have to hope it doesn’t happen twice in a row. If it does, Erazor’s Milotic will have just gotten away with murder, and I may be forced into revealing Raikou early.

Sceptile - 40%
Milotic - 24%
---
Milotic is fast asleep!
Milotic used Sleep Talk.
Milotic used Rest.
But it failed!
Sceptile used Leaf Storm.
It's super effective!
Milotic lost 25% of its health.
lolnublet's Milotic fainted.
(5-4)
Sceptile's special attack was harshly lowered.

Sleep Talk fails me yet again, and Milotic goes down sleeping. However, Sceptile is at -4 SpA and paralyzed... which means that Raikou can start setting up on it for what will hopefully be a sweep. Or, I can just finish off Sceptile once and for all, and weaken Lemmiwinks' Raikou checks, and work on eliminating those to ensure a successful sweep for Raikou. However, I run Shuca Raikou, so I can't set up a sub.

Sceptile - 40%
Milotic - X(
---
lolnublet switched in Raikou (lvl 100 Raikou).
Raikou is exerting its pressure!
Pointed stones dug into Raikou.
Raikou lost 12% of its health.

Fortunately, this wasn’t to be the case, and Milotic is no more. It turns out however that Erazor also had Raikou waiting in the wings. Now if I wasn’t paralyzed I would not hesitate in going for the quick Earthquake, but since it is right now I am forced to switch. The only other Pokemon I have that can take Raikou’s hits and strike back hard is Umbreon, so that is my only option here.

ggGerbil switched in Umbreon (lvl 100 Umbreon ?).
Pointed stones dug into Umbreon.
Umbreon lost 12% of its health.
Raikou used Shadow Ball.
It's not very effective...
Umbreon lost 7% of its health.

I don't have HP Ice/Fire, so Shadow Ball would have to suffice. However, Lemmiwinks opts to keep Sceptile for later, and sends out what is practically a full stop to Raikou - Umbreon. I need to get rid of it, since Raikou won't sweep while this guy is around. In my haste to get rid of it, I make quite a rash move...

Not sure who the random Shadow Ball was directed at, I guess it is because his Raikou isn’t running a super-effective Hidden power for Grass types, as Shadow Ball was certainly no guarantee of a KO there. Still, it means that Umbreon gets to come in on the weakest possible attack, and now it is ready to throw out another Banded Payback. Registeel will most likely be coming back in, but it least it will be another little chunk of damage inflicted. Just denting it bit by bit is the best I can do now.

Umbreon - 81%
Raikou - 88%
---
lolnublet switched in Gallade (lvl 100 Gallade ?).
Pointed stones dug into Gallade.
Gallade lost 6% of its health.
Umbreon used Payback.
Gallade lost 73% of its health.

Ouch! Gallade takes quite a beating on the way in, courtesy of a Choice Banded boosted Payback. But Umbreon is not staying in on Gallade anytime soon, so he's going to swtich. So I can set up an SD, and then sweep....sorry, get walled by Uxie. So that's not going to work....
That is if I used SD Gallade in the first place.
I use a CB Gallade with Trick, used to cripple Gallade's usual switch ins. Now, Lemmiwinks probably expects an SD version (don't we all). So Uxie is the most probable switch in. Heh heh.....


Another slightly odd move from Erazor here, who decides that it is worth letting his Gallade take nearly 80% damage just to get in on Umbreon. I obviously can’t risk staying in here, but I am happy with the result as I scout one more member of his team whilst doing lots of free damage. Uxie is naturally the safest option I have for switching in to Gallade, so this turn is a no-brainer.

Umbreon - 81%
Gallade - 21%
---
ggGerbil switched in Uxie (lvl 100 Uxie).
Pointed stones dug into Uxie.
Uxie lost 12% of its health.
Gallade used Trick.
Gallade obtained Leftovers!
Uxie obtained Choice Band!

That worked perfectly, and now Uxie is crippled as well. Gotta love Trick!
Now, I can't hurt Uxie, unless I use Shadow Sneak. But on the other hand, Gallade is at low health, without his CB, and prone to a revenge kill. I can just sac him here, and see what Uxie locks itself into. So one last hit...


Double TrickBand eh? Never seen that before, but it has turned out to be quite effective in this particular match as my versatility is cut down even shorter. Thankfully I have a physical move in Zen Headbutt that gets a boost, so the item isn’t completely useless for Uxie. Once again I’m expecting Registeel to come back in, but it is getting increasingly difficult to predict what Erazor will decide to do next. All I can do meanwhile is Zen Headbutt and see what he does next.

Uxie - 65%
Gallade - 27%
---
Gallade used Shadow Sneak.
It's super effective!
Uxie lost 22% of its health.
Uxie used Zen Headbutt.
Gallade lost 27% of its health.
lolnublet's Gallade fainted.

Ah, Uxie is running Zen Headbutt. Makes sense with all the Gallade running around. Anyway, I can get in Raikou safely now.

Uxie - 43%
Gallade - X(

(5-3)
---
lolnublet switched in Raikou (lvl 100 Raikou).
Raikou is exerting its pressure!
Pointed stones dug into Raikou.
Raikou lost 12% of its health.

As he has already done before, Erazor sacrifices what’s in to scout, but Raikou is a strange choice for bringing in on the Choiced Zen Headbutt. An unboosted Shadow Ball cannot OHKO a 43% Uxie, so it will need to Calm Mind first. Perhaps Erazor is trying to bait Umbreon into taking more SR damage for very little, but with both it and Uxie now having no Leftovers, I can’t afford to let him lure me into his bait-and-switch tactics. Zen Headbutt should strip off half of Raikou’s health here, leaving it in easy KO range of Kabutops’ Aqua Jet. But of course Erazor doesn’t know this, and may think that Sceptile is my only revenge-killer, who is now out of commission with paralysis. Hopefully Zen Headbutt won’t miss.

Uxie - 43%
Raikou - 75%

Raikou used Calm Mind.
Raikou's special attack was raised.
Raikou's special defence was raised.
Uxie used Zen Headbutt.
Raikou lost 45% of its health.

Hmm, Raikou is at pretty decent health right now. I doubt that I can KO Uxie at its current health, but I should be able to get at least one Calm Mind before attacking Uxie. He has only an Umbreon, that is being worn down, that can stop Raikou, but I don't know about his two unrevealed Pokemon. So hopefully, a sweep is on....

Miss it does not, so now Erazor is forced to just finish off Uxie and let me bring in Kabutops safely to revenge-kill. Hopefully with Kabutops I can bait his Registeel into a Low Kick, as it is quite an uncommon move that he might not be expecting. That alone may allow me to win the match in the end.

Uxie - 43%
Raikou - 30%
---
Raikou used Shadow Ball.
It's super effective!
Uxie lost 43% of its health.
ggGerbil's Uxie fainted.

Bam, Uxie goes down. Nothing to say here.

Raikou - 30%
Uxie - X(

(4-3)
---
ggGerbil switched in Kabutops (lvl 100 Kabutops ?).
Pointed stones dug into Kabutops.
Kabutops lost 12% of its health.

Fuck. There goes my Raikou sweep. And even worse, Kabutops threatens my team greatly at this point. I have no option but to sac Raikou.

Kabutops used Aqua Jet.
Raikou lost 30% of its health.
lolnublet's Raikou fainted.

I have to reveal Donphan now. My only hope of winning this game rests on his ability to take a Waterfall from Kabutops. I know that it can survive a Waterfall, since Kabutops is not carrying Life Orb. I just hope that it doesn't do enough to leave me too exposed to the rest of the team's attacks, especially the boosted Paybacks of Umbreon.

Kabutops - 88%
Raikou - X(

(4-2)
---
lolnublet switched in Donphan (lvl 100 Donphan ?).
Pointed stones dug into Donphan.
Donphan lost 6% of its health.

All goes according to plan here, as Uxie is sacrificed and Kabutops revenges. But now I have another problem, as Erazor reveals a full-health Donphan as his final Pokemon. Uxie, my usual switch-in if I can’t OHKO, is down, so I have no choice but to Waterfall here for as much damage as possible. Only a 20% flinch chance will save Kabutops here, but no matter what happens it will be doing a good 50 or 70% depending on the EV spread.

Kabutops used Waterfall.
It's super effective!
Donphan lost 69% of its health.
Donphan used Earthquake.
It's super effective!
Kabutops lost 88% of its health.
ggGerbil's Kabutops fainted.

Donphan takes the hit like a man and delivers a brutal KO with Earthquake. I wait to see what is brought out...

Turns out he is using the max Attack variant. Despite being 3-2 up in Pokemon, the odds are still very much stacked against me, with Sceptile paralyzed, Umbreon choice crippled, and Raikou unable to clean up with Registeel still healthy. I need to think very carefully here in order to successfully negotiate my way out of this mess. Sceptile is a no-go right now as Donphan can easily finish it off, and I am still wary about bringing out Raikou as I would need to get the 50/50 prediction between HP Ice and Calm Mind right to have the advantage. I therefore decide to bring in Umbreon for what would probably be a sacrificial Heal Bell in order to bring my Sceptile back into contention.

Kabutops - X(
Donphan - 31%

(3-2)
---
ggGerbil switched in Umbreon (lvl 100 Umbreon ?).
Pointed stones dug into Umbreon.
Umbreon lost 12% of its health.

Umbreon is the natural choice. Being able to take an Earthquake and do some damage to Donphan is great, considering that his Sceptile is paralyzed. I want to keep Donphan for the final blows, since he is the one with the best chance to win me the game, so I switch in my only remaining team member, Registeel, to just soften up Umbreon a bit, and to take the Payback aimed at Donphan...

lolnublet switched in Registeel (lvl 100 Registeel).
Pointed stones dug into Registeel.
Registeel lost 6% of its health.
Umbreon used Heal Bell.

...However, Lemmiwinks uses Heal Bell! This means that his Sceptile is back in commission. That's why he didn't let it die earlier in the game. The good thing is, Umbreon has to switch out now, or just sit there and achieve absolutely nothing. Lemmi still hasn't revealed a ground immune yet, so Thunder Wave is the best option here.

Not sure why he switched there, but now I have an important prediction to make. What I need to do is somehow try and bait a Thunder Wave from Registeel for Umbreon to switch into, whilst at the same time conserving Umbreon’s HP so it can switch back into Donphan to heal once more if needed. This way I can get a Raikou setup against a paralyzed Regi, which will significantly increase my chances of beating it. Now the question is this: switch now or scout first? The problem with staying in to Heal Bell again is that if Umbreon takes an Iron Head or Earthquake through misprediction, it probably won’t have enough HP to take Donphan’s Earthquake when it comes back in again. Also, I think that Erazor will anticipate me expecting a Thunder Wave and therefore keeping Umbreon in, so I take a chance and switch to Raikou now.

Umbreon - 69%
Registeel - 68%

---
ggGerbil switched in Raikou (lvl 100 Raikou).
Raikou is exerting its pressure!
Pointed stones dug into Raikou.
Raikou lost 12% of its health.
Registeel used Thunder Wave.
Raikou is paralysed! It may be unable to move!

Lemmiwinks reveals his final pokemon, and it's Raikou. However, it is greeted by a Thunder Wave, and it is almost a non issue now. Registeel handily beats Raikou, so here goes...

Shit, out-predicted once again, and I get my just desserts for over-thinking the situation. Oh well, no holding back now, I just have to sacrifice Raikou while doing as much damage as possible. The Shuca Berry will make EQ a 3HKO if it has it, which it probably does, as well as protect me from Donphan’s once at my current health.

Raikou - 88%
Registeel - 74%
---
Registeel used Earthquake.
It's super effective!
Raikou lost 27% of its health.
The Shuca Berry weakened Earthquake's power!
Raikou used Calm Mind.
Raikou's special attack was raised.
Raikou's special defence was raised.

Shuca Raikou. It's a great pokemon and as dangerous as SubCM, but EQ is still a 3 HKO. Raikou isn't beating me unless he crits....

In hindsight, I should probably have just used Thunderbolt here as it would do more damage over two turns and Donphan will be killed by an unboosted HP Ice anyway. Anyway, definitely going with Thunderbolt next turn, but if Erazor anticipates this and brings Donphan back I am definitely screwed.

Raikou - 61%
Registeel - 80%
---
Registeel used Earthquake.
It's super effective!
Raikou lost 55% of its health.
Raikou used Thunderbolt.
A critical hit!
Registeel lost 73% of its health.

Which of course, it does. This majorly weakens Registeel, but it's still alive. Time to finish off Raikou.

Wow! Just wow. At just the right time for me, the hax gods decided to let me off the hook for my previous mistakes in quite a big way, and in fact that crit actually justifies my initial Calm Mind from a twisted perspective. Bad luck for Erazor, but it doesn’t give me the win just yet, far from it. Registeel will finish off Raikou here, and if his Donphan has Ice Shard, it will come down to whether Umbreon can finish off Donphan with faster Paybacks.

Raikou - 6%
Registeel - 13%

---
Registeel used Earthquake.
It's super effective!
Raikou lost 6% of its health.
ggGerbil's Raikou fainted.

Raikou - X(
Registeel - 19%

(2-2)
---
ggGerbil switched in Sceptile (lvl 100 Sceptile ?).
Pointed stones dug into Sceptile.
Sceptile lost 12% of its health.

We now have Lemmiwinks' Sceptile and Umbreon versus my near-dead Registeel and worn down Donphan. My path to victory is simple - sac Registeel, kill Sceptile with Donphan, and then hope that Donphan can beat Umbreon. Registeel isn't surviving this one. Great work Registeel, you performed brilliantly this game. Buh bye...

Sceptile used Earthquake.
It's super effective!
Registeel lost 20% of its health.
lolnublet's Registeel fainted.

Sceptile - 28%
Registeel - X(

(2-1)

---
lolnublet switched in Donphan (lvl 100 Donphan ?).
Pointed stones dug into Donphan.
Donphan lost 6% of its health.

Donphan is my last hope. I'm sure that Ice Shard will KO now, so that's the obvious choice.

Naturally I bring in Sceptile after the kill to finish off Registeel, but now the entire match could rest on whether his Donphan knows Ice Shard or not. Most do, but I have seen the odd variant with just Assurance and Earthquake as attacks, so who knows? Not that I would ever use Donphan without Ice Shard in UU: no way.

Sceptile - 28%
Donphan - 25%

Donphan used Ice Shard.
It's super effective!
A critical hit!
Sceptile lost 27% of its health.
ggGerbil's Sceptile fainted.

Sceptile - X(
Donphan - 31%

(1-1)
---
ggGerbil switched in Umbreon (lvl 100 Umbreon ?).
Pointed stones dug into Umbreon.
Umbreon lost 12% of its health.

This is it. If Donphan can survive a CB Payback at this health, then I win, since Earthquake is a 2HKO at best, and Umbreon is faster.

Yeah ok, no surprises here, it does have Ice Shard after all. So now it is crunch time, or should I say payback time (get it? Umbreon doesn’t get Crunch….ah, forget it, really bad joke anyway)? Given that Umbreon has enough health left (I think) to survive EQ + Ice Shard, all depends on whether Umbreon’s CB Payback can 2HKO a Donphan at 31%. Even I am not sure of that, and why should I? Umbreon using Payback with a tricked Choice Band on Donphan has got to be the most obscurely situational scenario imaginable, though I think it will be close.

Umbreon - 57%
Donphan - 31%

Umbreon used Payback.
Donphan lost 16% of its health.
Donphan used Earthquake.
Umbreon lost 42% of its health.

Umbreon - 15%
Donphan - 21%
---
YES! Donphan, you beast. Leftovers puts me into the safety zone, and only a crit can save Lemmiwinks now. But he's already got a crit when he needed it...Thank god that Donphan is slow, and that Umbreon didn't stay in that time. Otherwise, Payback would be boosted, and probably would have KOed.

Not enough after all, but interestingly, if Umbreon was paralyzed this would be an OHKO, as Payback would hit for double power and do 32%. An interesting reminder as to how all the little things throughout the match can add up and make all the difference in the end. As it stands though, the Leftovers saves Donphan and only another crit can give me the win here. How will it end…..

Umbreon used Payback.
Donphan lost 15% of its health.
Donphan used Earthquake.
Umbreon lost 13% of its health.
ggGerbil's Umbreon fainted.
lolnublet wins!

Umbreon - X(
Donphan - :)


Nah, sorry folks. No crit. GG Lemmiwinks, I really enjoyed this game, and hope to have even better matches against you!

Of course there was no crit! Did you really think we would warstory a match in which I won undeservedly due to two extremely lucky instances of hax? Anyway, gg Erazor, and congratulations on a good performance in what was one of the closest and most tense matches I have played in a very long time.

ggGerbil: gg
lolnublet: gg

Props:

+ Spiritomb and Gallade for effectively utilizing TrickBand and crippling 2 members of Lemmi's team.

+ Registeel. This guy was just superb. Paralyzing Sceptile and Raikou, and surviving till the end earns this guy the MVP of my team.

+ Donphan, for surviving Waterfall and then KOing Umbreon for the win.

+ Lemmiwinks Kabutops for ending Raikou's sweep prematurely.

+ Lemmiwinks, for a great game and agreeing to co-narrate this.



+ Erazor for his double TrickBand strategy that crippled two of my defensive Pokemon and played a large part towards his eventual win.

+ My Honchkrow for pulling his weight offensively even when crippled. Very rarely lets me down.

+ Erazor’s Registeel for putting huge pressure on my team with constant paralysis support, taking full advantage of the fact that my Umbreon was crippled from the start.

+ Erazor’s Donphan, pulling through for him late game with its combination of high attack, decent bulk and priority.

+ My Kabutops, for cutting Raikou’s rampage short and putting Donphan into critical range. Its impact was almost enough to win me the match.

Slops:


- My Milotic. Usually such a bitch to teams, she didn't pull her weight today.

- My Raikou - for not being able to sweep this game.


- Me for over-predicting on a few too many occasions. Quite a common flaw of mine really.

- A little bit of hax towards the end that nearly gave me the win I wouldn’t really have deserved.

- Erazor’s Milotic. Didn’t do much this game except take one for the team and be a punching bag. Was rather fortunate to last as long as it did.

- My Raikou. Didn’t get much of an opportunity to shine in this match, and again was fortunate to have as much of an impact as it did.


This log was formatted using Warmachine Version 1.0
 
I liked this match, and both teams. Double Trick teams are always great for annoying the hell out of your opponents. Not to mention it demonstrated how to correctly use several major players in the current UU.
 
The comments and the battle itself was great.I gotta try double trick someday(Due to the fact that i rarely use trick in UU)

8.8/10
 
I thought it was a pretty good battle, with good prediction on both sides.

If I had to criticize anything, it's kinda hard to read two blocks of text at once. In a double commentary, it would help for there to only be one massive wall of text at once, or save it for big moments.

I wasn't as drawn into this as I should be. But nice story nonetheless.
 
Erazor said:
I'm very lucky that Criticals don't ignore burn drops on Shoddy, otherwise I'd be dead.
Actually, they don't ignore them In-Game as well.

Good game, it enlightened me about UU, so I will have a good base for when i build an UU team soon
 
I think you should try running -spe nature on Umbreon to power up payback you (lemmi) would have won if you had.

Nice warstory
 
I saw the title of the thread, and was immediately incredibly excited. The match itself did not disappoint one bit, though the hax left a slight distaste in my mouth. Excellent warstory!
 
The comments were great (though a bit long X/), and you two played fairly well. It probably took a lot of time making this, great job you two!
 
I think you should try running -spe nature on Umbreon to power up payback you (lemmi) would have won if you had.
I normally do on the Wish set, but just before this battle I switched sets in order to try out the Curse boosting tank. My mentality was that Umbreon would be better off with the speed to get the first Curse before base 50 physical attackers like Donphan and Azumarill, but that decision obviously bit me in the ass in this match lol.

Anyway, many thanks for all the positive comments so far guys, and particular thanks to Erazor! I loved reading the battle again from your point of view, and you did a great job presenting this.
 
I didn't know those were your alts. I played you, Erazor, on Abelkip.

Great battle. Shows Raikou, although strong, can be checked and definitely doesn't sweep with little or no effort.
 
Great Battle, Great Commentary. Lemmi where are your gimmicks!?!?!
Haha, I see what you did there! But wait, Sceptile can beat standard lead Froslass, doesn't that automatically classify it as a gimmick in your eyes?! Lol, just kidding!

Glad you enjoyed it anyway.
 

Erazor

✓ Just Doug It
is a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Hey guys, thanks a lot for the positive reviews!

I saw the title of the thread, and was immediately incredibly excited. The match itself did not disappoint one bit, though the hax left a slight distaste in my mouth. Excellent warstory!
The hax on both sides didn't make too much difference, although we could have done without it.

I was originally going to send this for the Smog, lol, but Lemmiwinks persuaded me to post it here :)
 
Amazing warstory, it was really cool to see DoubleTrickBand working in a team. The only downside is the hax, which cant be avoided, sadly. 4.9* for an almost perfect warstory.
 

Xia

On porpoise
is a Contributor Alumnus
That Trick Gallade sounds very enticing; I'll have to try my hand with it.

Great warstory you two. The battle itself was great, and the commetns were very engaging. Hope to see another warstory from either of you. =]
 

Bluewind

GIVE EO WARSTORY
is a Top Contributor Alumnus
It's always great to read a good warstory, especially on this stage of metagame, showing how our soon-to-be suspects perform in it and the different ways of exploring their strenghts.
Keep it up guys, and I hope you post a new one soon =)
 
I really liked the warstory, the creativity examplified by both players really made the battle more interesting. I sort of like when one player is at an immediate disadvantage at the beginning of the match, only to turn the tables and put the opposition in the tight spot. Got to love Umbreon too, that thing is a complete monster when played right. Great warstory!

Oh, and props for using Milotic in a Venusaur, Sceptile, and Raikou infested metagame. Sadly, she didn't do too well in this match :(
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top