Kiss of Death
Champion's League Online Competition
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Why hello! Its been a hot minute since I've posted one of these and I certainly haven't posted for a weekend competition before. Nonetheless, here we are, and its because I'm excited to share my most successful run with a team that I've ever had. I placed in the top 50, and I even peaked right below 1800 rating! That was a huge milestone for me, and motivation enough to throw another wall of text down here in the RMT forum. And I did it all while forgetting to give my Lapras GMax soup! Wait, should I be bragging about that? Actually, let's just focus on the fact that I got to use shiny Jolteon a lot instead. That's a win, right? Right? Champion's League Online Competition
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Pokepaste : https://pokepast.es/e0851f7001af0afd
Peak rating. So close to 1800. So. close.
Teambuilding Process
As per usual, I started thinking about what peculiarities I wanted to use on my team: Sash cripple Aurorus, Endure Custap Magneton and Focus Energy Cinderace were all “anti-meta” spice that I was rubbing my hands over. For example, how cool would it be to hit Focus Energy on an incoming Gyarados/Arcanine/Salamence Intimidate? That would be some delicious cheese! But frankly, I couldn’t get the juices flowing beyond those initial big ideas. How exactly do I build a team around that?
Frankly, after all of this time, I still kind of look at myself as a bit of a noob when it comes to teambuilding… or am I? I have four significant teambuilding efforts that have gotten me results:
Sand Bluff (Pre-DLC) :
Fire & Ice :
Super Bird Bros. :
Fini Force :
I had plenty of experience to draw from; I just needed to take a step back and actually use it. So I went back to the three things I talked about in my Super Bird Bros. RMT and carried into Fini Force (sadly no posted RMT for that one:) Role Identity, Type Synergy and Meta Knowledge.
Let’s start with a pair of Pokemon that complement each other well from a typing and meta perspective. For this, I went with Garchomp and Togekiss. Seeing as both of them had mouth-related terminology associated with their names, this is what led me to the team name “Kiss of Death.”
Garchomp resists or outright walls three of the significant weaknesses Togekiss has, (or four if you want to count Poison, but lul who's running Poison in this weekender? Venusaur?) and puts significant pressure on the steel types seeking to block Togekiss. Togekiss can revenge opposing Dragon-types who get the advantage on Garchomp and was set to just be an all-around terror given the culled list of Pokemon.
Now at this point, this is where a lack of practice and personal experience could’ve gotten the better of me. But since I’d metaphorically put my ear to the ground, I knew that several of the Togekiss counters–Rhyperior, Tyranitar and Metagross–were all commonly running Ice moves to fire back on the Dragon-types the meta was likely to see. I realized I needed something to support Garchomp in handling these. This led me to choose Skarmory as the primary wall of the team, leading us to a tidy Dragon-Fairy-Steel (DFS) core.
Garchomp and Togekiss both have reliable sweeping power capable of taking over games, and Skarmory provided a defensive backbone. We’ve got roles and type synergy and it's backed by a cursory understanding of what the meta should look like. Furthermore, I started with consistency rather than trying to be excessively cheeky. Now I can’t start to get a little more off-trend, if necessary.
With a solid main core, the next three picks were selected based on a spread of factors. There were three big things that stood out:
- Stopping offensive momentum, particularly mons that Skarmory loses to. Ya' know, like this guy...
- Togekiss and Skarmory having a shared weakness to Electric.
- Garchomp and Togekiss having a shared weakness to Ice.
Instead of going with another Steel or even Tyranitar, I landed on my own Cinderace with Assault Vest and Iron Head. Certainly a better choice than Focus Energy Cinderace: even with Iron Head I could run ample coverage and with a smidge of bulk investment, AV Cinderace could also check GMax Lapras. That was two very big birds with one powerful stone.
Now let’s talk about the double-weakness to Electric-types. Jolteon and Magneton–the two valid Electrics–were very big threats to Togekiss and Skarmory and at least one of them (Magneton) could actually hit Garchomp decently well. But then again, there was only two of them. What could I bring that would cover those two while still having greater meta relevance? I decided to play into the weakness via Weakness Policy Lapras. It’s overall coverage causes fits for the team and the GMax Resonance is a nice thing to ha– ahem, right. No GMax soup. Let’s just move on…
One potentially fatal flaw at this point was that I still didn’t have a dedicated Cinderace cushion. Again, I was struggling to nail something down because nearly all of the most popular cushions (Gyarados, Salamence, Milotic) would exacerbate my Electric weakness, Ice/Freeze-Dry weakness (I expected to see a lot of Lapras) or both. It was here that I ended up with my oddball sleeper pick: Sash Jolteon with Thunder Wave plus Charm. It gave the team not only a second buffer option outside of Skarmory but some interesting anti-lead/anti-meta applications I will detail below.
Two physical sweepers, two special sweepers and two tank/cripple options. I still had my doubts, but it was what I had and for once I had a determination to see this thing through from beginning to end. It was time to trust the process and see what happens!
Team Breakdown
Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 12 HP / 212 Atk / 28 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Scale Shot
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Brick Break
Key Targets : Steel-types, Dragon-types, Magneton
Defensive Calc :
- 252 Atk Dragapult Dragon Darts (2 hits) vs. 12 HP / 28 Def Garchomp: 168-196 (90.8 - 105.9%) -- approx. 12.5% chance to OHKO
Some attack EV’s were sacrificed to give Garchomp a decent chance at surviving Pult Dragon Darts from the lead; Dragapult was going to be too popular so I needed Garchomp to still be leadable. While Garchomp will likely die to LO recoil at the end of the turn, it at least gets to fire back and potentially trade with Scale Shot. At the very least I don’t switch to Skarmory while still being at the mercy of the “what set is Dragapult?” roulette.
Togekiss @ Lum Berry
Ability: Serene Grace
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Air Slash
- Flamethrower
- Nasty Plot
Key Targets : Dragon-types, Rillaboom, Gastrodon, Milotic
With the culling of defensive answers in this meta, it seemed obvious that Gastrodon would do significant work in filling that vacuum; this proved very true the higher on ladder I got. It seemed imperative to have a dedicated Gastrodon counter, so I changed my initial crithax Togekiss set to a Lum Berry + Serene Grace flinch hax. Since Togekiss was the only mon on the team with a dedicated setup move (Nasty Plot,) it was a no-nonsense decision.
But as many of the BSS vets can tell you, this set is still every bit capable of dominating games in and out of the tankier matchups. Much like Garchomp, what you see is what you get but with a little bit extra spice to cover some specific threats.
Skarmory @ Occa Berry
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 188 Def / 68 Spe
Impish Nature
- Drill Peck
- Rock Tomb
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
Key Targets : Dragonite, Tyranitar, Metagross, Rillaboom
Defensive Calcs:
- 252 Atk Life Orb Cinderace-Gmax G-Max Fireball (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 188+ Def Occa Berry Skarmory: 99-117 (57.5 - 68%)
- 252 Atk Life Orb Libero Cinderace-Gmax Max Airstream (130 BP) vs. 252 HP / 188+ Def Skarmory: 39-47 (22.6 - 27.3%)
- After a Rock Tomb, 68 Spe outspeeds up to base 81 mons (Gyarados, Dragonite, Togekiss, etc.)
Looking at the defensive calculations above, you can see that Cinderace doesn’t kill full HP Skarmory with GMax Fireball -> Max Airstream. This puts it in a quandary: it either expends its entire Dynamax to stay even on speed (Fireball -> Airstream -> Airstream) or it goes into a Garchomp/Togekiss/Ace mirror at -1.
More importantly, Occa Berry makes Skarmory a far more consistent switch in to intended targets such as Metagross, as it isn’t required to immediately click Roost on a predicted Ace/Kiss/etc. switch in. This allows it to immediately click Rock Tomb or Stealth Rocks and not get immediately blown up. And believe me, Stealth Rocks was absolutely critical in a Flying-heavy meta such as this one. In particular Skarmory loves to come for potential Dragonite matchups, breaking its Multiscale with Stealth Rock or hard Rock Tombing it into revengable territory.
Speaking of Rock Tomb, that’s a big reason for the speed EVs. While the extra speed is useful for creeping mons like Metagross and Lapras, it also heavily punishes some of the lower base speed mons who rely on Max Airstream to function. Going back to Dragonite (seriously, Skarmory loves this matchup,) at some point it either has to attack or Roost back up, and that normally lands it behind in the speed race with most of the other sweepers. Togekiss and Gyarados also get messed up by the speed creep. This Skarmory set is built heavily around stopping offensive momentum in places it normally wouldn’t.
I did make one mistake though: Drill Peck. Drill Peck was mostly for making sure I didn’t get completely ganked by Clear Body Dragapult from the lead, particularly Sub + DD. As it turned out, Skarmory rarely led and I don’t think I saw one Substitute Dragapult. Drill Peck could have just as easily been Body Press and would have been significantly more useful for damage, most notably on Tyranitar. Somehow, it was only a minor inconvenience and didn’t really cost me much in the long run.
Cinderace-Gmax @ Assault Vest
Ability: Libero
Level: 50
EVs: 20 HP / 204 Atk / 4 Def / 36 SpD / 244 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pyro Ball
- High Jump Kick
- Bounce
- Iron Head
Key Targets : Steel-types, Tyranitar, Togekiss, Lapras
Defensive Calcs:
- 252 SpA Togekiss Max Airstream (130 BP) vs. 20 HP / 36 SpD Assault Vest Dynamax Cinderace-Gmax on a critical hit: 127-150 (40.1 - 47.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
- +2 252+ SpA Lapras-Gmax Max Hailstorm (120 BP) vs. 20 HP / 36 SpD Assault Vest Dynamax Cinderace-Gmax (neutral Libero typing): 135-160 (42.7 - 50.6%) -- 2% chance to 2HKO
- 244 Spe outruns max Jolly Garchomp by 1 point
But while Cinderace’s main claim to fame is fighting back down momentum versus a potential Lapras or Togekiss sweep, its pairing with Skarmory and Jolteon speed control is what really helps it get away with running a bulkier set. Even beyond that, the only native speed tier losses that frequently crop up are opposing Timid Cinderace and Dragapult. In other words, this Cinderace is still effortlessly smashing through other high profile threats such as Tyranitar and Metagross, and even tankier sets like Milotic can be muscled through with Max Knuckle.
While this set was initially a compromise for not wanting to bring another Steel-type, it turned out that the cost wasn’t actually that steep. In the end, AV Cinderace as a late-match Dynamax option was able to dominate because of its impressive coverage over the meta’s top threats. I suppose that shouldn’t come as a surprise, but it still felt revelatory in a way that I’ll expand on later.
Lapras @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Hydration
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Freeze-Dry
- Ice Shard
- Sparkling Aria
- Thunder
Key Targets : Dragon-types, Electric-types, Skarmory
Here it is, folks. Non-GMax Lapras. Beautiful, isn’t it?
Thankfully, Aurora Veil was always a “nice to have” option and was never meant to be the first option for the team; the main core simply isn’t built to take advantage of it. What Lapras was really here for was (a) to surprise super-effective opposition with a Weakness Policy revenge hit and (b) to use its wide coverage and natural bulk to pester things that can’t outright OHKO it. The disappearance of Urshifu, Ferrothorn and other heavy hitters in the Champions League meta basically meant that Lapras was nearly back in its peak from before the DLC.
In short, Lapras normally doesn’t want the Dynamax, opting instead to lead where it hopes to trade out something or force a switch. It does suck that it's basically LO Cinderace fodder, but surprisingly this matchup was either scarce or the lead Cinderace was something like Sash + Counter with no HJK. Beyond that though, its trading from the front was good.
Jolteon @ Focus Sash
Ability: Volt Absorb
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Thunder Wave
- Charm
Key Targets : Skarmory, Aggron, Milotic, Gyarados
Set Notes:
- -1 Jolteon outruns non-Timid bulky Togekiss.
Let’s start with why I even considered it in the first place: Cinderace. Feeling constricted with my teambuilding choices, I went with Sash Jolteon due to its native speed tier of 130 being faster than Cinderace and because access to Thunder Wave + Charm meant that Jolteon could cripple nearly every physical threat in the metagame. It also helps that Jolteon puts another prominent sweeper in Gyarados on notice, threatening to just outright shred it with x4 super-effective STAB.
But as things panned out, Jolteon ended up being a huge beneficiary of the meta’s restricted list. Many of the defensive answers left in the meta (Milotic, Skarmory, etc.) have no business sitting in front of Jolteon. Even targets like Dragapult (resists Electric) and Metagross (Clear Body; doesn’t care as much about paralysis) were still taking decent damage from Jolteon’s Shadow Ball. It is worth noting that Gastrodon comfortably checks it, but the team is prepared for that elsewhere.
The result was a cripple option that was very difficult to switch into or around. Electric + Ghost coverage ended up being unironically good. And should it actually land a frag, it still remained hard to revenge thanks to its incredible speed tier. Jolteon ended up being extremely pivotal in my climb to the higher ranks; be it far from me to call him a “compromise.”
Gameplay & Cores
Most compositions were pretty straightforward in assembly: one physical sweeper, one special sweeper and one cushion. While Skarmory and Jolteon can lead, they also perform well in the back either as a switch-in or mid/late-game Dynamax cushion. Since our cushions are specifically designed towards setting up a Dynamax sweep, the team operated pretty much exclusively on a “Dynamax last” scheme. The one notable exception to this is Nasty Plot Togekiss, but even that should be played carefully. Otherwise, your lead sweeper (usually Garchomp or Lapras) is there to trade or force a reaction from the opponent.
While the team did have a very fluid combination of pieces to work with, there were essentially two modes that emerged as I climbed, with one specific core of mons being particularly instrumental at the top.
DFS Core (Skarmory Mode) :
(lead) + + The core upon which the team was conceived. Lead Garchomp is often going to get a favorable trade off the cuff or bait in something that enables a Skarmory switch, leading into our endgame setup (rocks & speed control.) It helps that something like lead Cinderace should be a bit hesitant to do anything particularly rash, as Garchomp wins the hypothetical Dynamax duel. Should a switch be obvious, Garchomp can often opt to click Scale Shot not only for a boost in speed, but to hit something that might have been expecting to wall Earthquake. Even U-Turn shenanigans help our cause thanks to Garchomp’s Rough Skin.
Scale Shot Garchomp benefits from this setup the most, since it uses the Skarmory speed control and instant offense to avoid tanking hits when possible. Of course, Togekiss is still incredibly capable without a Nasty Plot boost and especially so with rocks down, so it’s just a turn-by-turn decision as to who gets the Dynamax.
Both sweepers are swappable with their physical/special counterparts, but the DFS composition was the trademark as far as “Skarmory” mode was concerned. That being said, this core is super weak against Lapras, so swapping in AV Cinderace or even cushioning with a Lapras mirror is a good reason to switch things around.
Jolteon Mode :
+ ( / ) + ( / )Deploying Jolteon in place of Skarmory as our cushion drastically changes how the match is played, and there are two main ways he is deployed.
The first mode is just straight leading it. This can happen when you predict a favorable opening matchup such as Skarmory, but also because Jolteon’s favorable meta spread just makes him the safest choice. Ideally, you want Jolteon trading one and a half mons: one mon such as an easy Skarmory or Aggron, and “half a mon” in that he cripples whatever comes in next. This is where the main weakness of this mode comes from: if all Jolteon gets is a cripple, that leaves you in a 2v3 scenario where Dynamaxing may not yet be ideal.
The second mode is to deploy something like Garchomp or Lapras to trade from the front with Jolteon as the planned second mon out. The idea here is to provoke a Dynamax response which Jolteon can then neuter for the backline sweeper. Even barring Dynamax, this still can put you ahead by allowing Togekiss or Cinderace to get an Airstream up before the opposing backline gets up and running. Togekiss might also get a Nasty Plot opportunity in front of a -2 attacker. Rocks are also less of a concern if Lapras is the first one out, as it matches up decently with those setup leads thanks to good coverage and Ice Shard. That being said, an opponent that opts to get Rocks down even at the expense of a trade does endanger Jolteon’s cushioning, which is the main drawback of this mode.
Thankfully, Jolteon’s versatility combined with the team’s wide coverage makes playing around the weaknesses above totally manageable.
“JoltKiss” Anti-Meta Core :
(lead) + + A specific variation on Jolteon Mode, but one that is worth elaborating on since it specifically counters a lot of high ladder teams. In particular, it targets the higher usage of Yawn Gastrodon towards the top.
Jolteon leads comfortably in this situation because baiting in Yawn Gastrodon is desirable: this is a free switch to Togekiss who can then Nasty Plot. From here though, playing around fully invested SpD Gastrodon is important since +2 Airstream is not an OHKO. Instead, Togekiss should normally fish for at least one 60% Air Slash flinch.
And what happens if Togekiss doesn’t get the flinch and gets yawned again? Normally, we’re still in it. If all went well, Jolteon warded off any Rocks play and still has Sash intact to stop whatever tries to abuse Togekiss. Gastrodon is either dead or very hurt, and in the latter situation is likely not self-healing since the opponent will want to insert their sweeper before +2 Togekiss wakes up. Either outcome–awake Togekiss or asleep Togekiss–is still very much playable.
As for Cinderace, he simply makes the most sense in a lot of meta comp situations. Togekiss, Lapras and Tyranitar were all very common endgame mons and Cinderace handles them all efficiently. After Jolteon lands a cripple, Cinderace is usually off to the races for a smooth clean-up.
Notable Threats & Battles
Let's start by discussing the most dangerous threats to our team as a whole.
Cinderace momentum is hard to come back from with this team unless you have Sash Jolteon online in the back. The main thing to avoid is letting Cinderace take you down to a 1v3 scenario, even if you ended up in a best case scenario of it being paralyzed and charmed by Jolteon.
My last two losses both came at the hands of Cinderace, one of which was from lead Dynamax Cinderace. It was probably one of the few occasions where I should have just pressed the big red button from turn 1 with Garchomp, who can normally win the Dynamax exchange from even. In some ways it's kind of surprising I didn’t get punished more by opposing bunnies since there is no Milotic/Gyarados/Salamence cushion to scare it at team preview, but then again I saw almost no lead Dynamax for most of the climb. I suppose when balance/hyper offense with "free" Stealth Rocks is the norm, you have to play more carefully around a potential reverse sweep.
Tyranitar had a variety of looks in this meta–Ice Fang, Fire Fang, Sash Thunder Wave and even Dragon Dance–and that made it very difficult to play around. It can end up benching Jolteon and Lapras with its massive special bulk, and even Togekiss can’t cleave through it at +2 if it Dynamaxes back. It’s probably one of the best overall traders against this team composition and was a common sight on a lot of the Gastrodon teams I faced.
Thankfully, it’s still basically free real estate for HJK Cinderace, who enjoys getting the Max Knuckle boost to start a sweep. Skarmory is usually a pretty free switch and doubly so if deployed next to Togekiss, who can scare Tyranitar into a premature Dynamax when it switches into Nasty Plot. Once it has been chipped away at, Garchomp can clean it up without fear of it living and retaliating with Ice Fang.
Skarmory almost did lose to one of these because I didn’t prioritize speed controlling it; come to find out, the bugger had Dragon Dance and started spamming it after Dynamax. But for whatever reason, it started attacking at I believe +4 attack, missing a Stone Edge and failing to kill with another. Those misfires ultimately let me get its speed back under control so it could be revenged. Definitely a "Dude, where's my Body Press?" moment.
Problematic for the same reason Tyranitar is, though to a lesser extent. Even so, Ice Punch is more than enough to blast away ordinary Garchomp, and it has a few other unique tools to play around like Bullet Punch. But at the end of the day, you handle it in much the same way as Tyranitar. It does help that Lapras has a much more tolerable matchup here as well, especially since Thunder Punch and Brick Break options provide that Weakness Policy boost.
Near the end of my climb, I still saw this thing in team preview but it came a lot less. An interesting shift and I’m not entirely sure what happened.
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Now for those who are interested, here are some of the more interesting battles I had.
Choo choo, it's the hax train!
My very first battle on the ladder saw me bring Jolteon to a Cinderace fight, only for his grand debut to end with a missed Thunder Wave. Gotta love it, am I right? It ended up coming down to my severely wounded Togekiss with one turn of Dynamax versus opposing Togekiss. Togekiss was a love tap away from fainting and I knew if the opponent was bulky I couldn’t OHKO it, so I Max Guarded on my last turn (it used Morning Sun, so it was bulky and the turn might not have even mattered) and played the flinch hax roulette.
I got three consecutive flinches to put the opponent in Dazzling Gleam range. Gamer moment. Considering it was only a 10% chance to miss Thunder Wave, I’ll take the approximate 21% chance to land three consecutive Serene Grace flinches.
Garchomp also had a very interesting ending to a battle. My brings had been Skarmory + Lapras + Garchomp. Through a terrible misplay on my part, I ended up in a 1v3 with Garchomp versus a slowed but very attack boosted Dragonite who had used up its Dynamax. I popped my Dynamax to guarantee no Scale Shot shenanigans getting in the way.
Out comes what I can only assume is Shell Smash Blastoise. This is bad. I have no way to boost my speed and it is likely packing an ice attack. I honestly could not remember if Blastoise was normally physical or special, so I went with my gut and went for Max Quake. Hopefully the SpD boost would help me out. Well, I must have been right because he doubled to Charizard and avoided the damage altogether. Now he was guaranteed a non-Dynamax 1v1 with Blastoise. Well played.
Recognizing the situation I was in, I Max Knuckle into Charizard before going back to normal and finishing it off with Stone Edge. I quickly run some calcs and realize that +1 Earthquake is not enough to down Blastoise. I have to roll for a 5-hit Scale Shot or get a 4-hit with a critical mixed in. Earthquake crit would obviously do it as well but at least with Scale Shot I can roll for the crit several times.
So I click Scale Shot and… get the 4-hit with a critical mixed in. I was beside myself. I can only imagine what my opponent was feeling at that moment.
In this game, I’ve learned that you have got to know your outs. Even if they’re slim, you give yourself the tools and a chance to come back and sometimes the wind will metaphorically blow your way. Both situations above would have been easy for me to just click an attack and hope for the best, but I took a moment to square up the situation and distinguish between what was unwinnable versus marginally winnable. One is still better than the other! Hax are going to happen, but knowing when and when not to play for it is a skill that will help you win more battles.
Lapras Shenanigans
Ordinary Lapras had its fair share of interesting situations, and not just the odd Freeze Dry freeze happening… which it did. There was one match where I led Lapras to the tune of an opponent immediately disconnecting. Guess that’s what happens when you bring an entire team weak to it.
But it wasn’t all flowers and candy. One match I led Lapras into… Dynamax LO Arcanine?! Yep, that happened. Max Lightning or Max Knuckle would have been fantastic for sending back a +2 Sparkling Aria… if I hadn’t gotten critted. Really? This is how I lose? To offensive Arcanine of all things? Didn’t end up coming back from that one even with Togekiss in the wings.
As for the omission of GMax Resonance? Didn't really miss it. In the very small number of matches I maxxed Lapras, playing for GMax Resonance would have arguably lost me the match. One match saw a DMax Cinderace die to Hail chip, and another where playing full offense fragged out a Metagross + Moxie Salamence before my Dynamax ended. In the end, regular old Lapras did its job just fine.
Red Card? Meet Red Bunny in a Red Vest.
Not once but twice I encountered Red Card : one on a Skarmory and one on a Gastrodon, and if I recall correctly these were both day 3 battles where I was in the thick of the 1700’s. The Skarmory one ended up being interesting because Jolteon’s Shadow Ball (Shadow Ball -> Thunderbolt was frequently used to avoid proccing Custap) red carded in Cinderace to eat a Rock Tomb for nearly half of its health. I went back to Jolteon who took another Rock Tomb and... Skarmory is fully speed invested. What a chadlad. He gets in a Stealth Rock before Jolteon cuts him down with Thunderbolt.
In comes opposing Togekiss and… its bulky Kiss. That’s right fam: the Skarmory was faster than the Togekiss. -1 Jolteon smacks it with Thunder Wave before going down. Cinderace comes in to some more chip from rock damage and is sitting at about 25% health. Its not over, right? I can certainly hope. Jolteon’s para support let’s Cinderace move first and I get off my Max Steelspike. Will the combination of Assault Vest and steel-typing keep me alive?
252 SpA Togekiss Max Airstream (130 BP) vs. 20 HP / 36 SpD Assault Vest Dynamax Cinderace-Gmax (Steel-type) on a critical hit: 63-75 (19.9 - 23.7%)
Paralysis would offset the +2 speed on Togekiss. The opponent forfeited. AV Cinderace was a boss.
Reflection and Conclusion
To say I was ecstatic over this performance is an understatement. I don’t think I’ve ever had a team that has dominated so consistently, and this was all without any prior hands-on practice and after forgetting to GMax soup my Lapras. Did I mention I didn’t GMax soup my Lapras? Because I definitely forgot to GMax soup my Lapras. How ironic that I had considered giving up right there; there was another event going on that weekend in Splatoon 3, so I had an excuse. Obviously I pressed on and it was worth it.
My experience with this team, if only for a weekend, felt like turning a corner. Personally, I’m beginning to think that balance offense is the playstyle that suits me most. Establishing the DFS core for this team meant I was already covering a lot of bases, which gave me the freedom to make small, unique tweaks (Occas Skarmory, Lum Togekiss) that covered blindspots without compromising the overall vision. Starting with that solid foundation gave way to the other unique pieces of the team as well.
I was floored by how well AV Cinderace performed. It wasn't the catch-all behemoth that LO sets to tend to be, but it didn't have to be. It filled a dedicated role as the Togekiss/Lapras counter while still operating as a powerful generalized sweeper when the team needed it. I made a "compromise" based on team needs and actually got it to work. Seeing these "micro" decisions pay off consistently across the team feels like a vindication of the work I've put in.
And Jolteon! Jolteon was such a champ. I suppose it would be nice to say I saw it coming, but despite the pleasant surprise Jolteon's inclusion was still made based on several sound premises: Electric STAB and a 130 base speed were hot commodities, and Thunder Wave + Charm was extremely consistent in a physical-heavy meta. I played to the balance aspect of the team. Not only did this give me a solid all-around pick, but some of the more "gimmicky" stuff I like naturally surfaced. The JoltKiss core truly did stand out, letting me bait and sucker those Yawn Gastrodons.
So with this unexpected turn of events, I guess you could say I'm happy and sad? I'm happy for the stellar performance and looking forward to a new experience that is upcoming with generation 9. But I'm also sad because, much like the rotating rulesets, I found success right as things are winding down. Dynamax format is on its way out, and Terrastalization format is on its way in. One way or another, its gonna be something.
Until next time, thanks for reading!
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