Kinda sorta indirectly approved by TheMantyke here
The 2015 International Challenge June is another one of PGL's online competitions, this one bearing the VGC 2015 ruleset and awarding Championship Points to top players. Last International to award CP this year, iirc.
Registration is NOW CLOSED.
Competition runs June 25 to June 28. Battles are OVER.
Battles per Day: 10 (wat. Yes, they roll over if you don't get all 10 in one day)
Ruleset and Eligible Pokemon
Never done an international before? Here's how to sign up.
I'm taking notes during, and recording, every battle (assuming no D/C). If I fight anyone from here, your team / anything I learn WILL NOT be publicized. Will be unveiling my team after the tourney. Will write up a summary / something of that sort at competition's end.
Battle Spot Doubles makes good practice. May hax have mercy upon us all.
Titan's Team and observations
Charizard @ Charizardite-Y
Modest, 228 HP, 28 Def, 212 Sp. Atk, 4 Sp. Def, 36 Speed
Ability: Blaze → Drought
- Heat Wave
- Protect
- Fire Pledge
- Ancientpower
Tanks Garchomp Rock Slide, most T-bolts.
Outruns max Speed Adamant Bisharp/Breloom/Metaboss, speed creeps bulky Zapdos/Khan/Char-Y.
Outruns Scarf Timid Hydreigon with Tailwind.
Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Bold, 252 HP, 132 Def, 4 Sp. Atk, 36 Sp. Def, 84 Speed
Ability: Chlorophyll → Thick Fat
- Grass Pledge
- Protect
- Leech Seed
- Sludge Bomb
Outruns Scarf Landog + creepers. Survives Jolly 252 MegaKhan's critical Double-Edge in Mega. Yes, I assume hax in my calcs. I've never seen a MegaKhan use Return/Double-Edge and not get a crit.
Swampert @ Life Orb
Modest, 188 HP, 4 Def, 236 Sp. Atk, 4 Sp. Def, 76 Speed.
Ability: Torrent
- Water Pledge
- Wide Guard
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
Outruns +111 with Tailwind. Dodges 2HKO from Scarf Lando-T's EQ.
OHKO's: Garchomp, Heatran, Mega Mawile, Terrakion, Mega Manectric, Mega Mence, Landog, Talonflame.
2HKO's: Thundy, MegaGross, Hydreigon, Aegislash, Zapdos, Hydreigon.
LO helps secure some KO's that Expert Belt lacks, massively helps on neutral hits / switchins, and even helps activate Torrent (which has won games, Torrent+STAB+LO Water Pledge = pain). Makes Water + Grass Pledge much more useful too.
Togekiss @ Sitrus Berry
Calm, 252 HP, 52 Def, 4 Sp. Atk, 116 Sp. Def, 76 Speed
Ability: Serene Grace
- Air Slash
- Tailwind
- Follow Me
- Dazzling Gleam
Outruns Adamant Scarf Landog and +1 252+ Gyarados in Tailwind. Supporter.
Raichu @ Focus Sash
Timid, 4 HP, 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Speed
Ability: Lightningrod
- Thunderbolt
- Encore
- Fake Out
- Nuzzle
Standard spread / set for supporting Charizard. Kills Gyarados, which shits on my team if you didn't notice.
Terrakion @ Lum Berry
Jolly, 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Speed
Ability: Justified
- Close Combat
- Quick Guard
- Protect
- Rock Slide
Very standard. Here to kill MegaKhan, Heatran, Charizard, Ttar, Bisharp, etc. in theory, at least. In practice, it's failed against and been killed by all of the above.
Now, I'd first like to comment: I only did 12 battles. I lost almost all of them, peaking at 1518 and finally bottoming at 1460 at best. Which is absolutely disgraceful for a team currently running 1676 on the ORAS Battle Spot Doubles ladder. Absolutely absurd levels of hax are to blame on this one - I lost one match to a Japanese trollteam of Minimize Chansey + Psych Up Mega Sableye and Psych Up Suicune. Lucky for me, I lack Taunt, Topsy-Turvy, Haze, and No Guard so I was quite fucked. The other loss, I was actually, and legitimately, outplayed. No debate or excuses on that one, he did very well.
The other 6-7 losses, was all criticals. If you think I'm joking or exaggerating, I recorded every battle.
In terms of teams, I wasn't surprised by any of them. 9 were Goodstuff, one was Japanese Chansey Troll, and one was a Ninetales + Exeggutor team similar to mine, but shittier. I lost, of course. His luck was better.
Oh, and the Japanese guy with the unstoppable Scarf Sleep Powder Vivillion + Mega Medicham lead. The Swords Dance Landog was a surprise but he didn't exactly need a +2 boost to sweep 3 sleeping pokemon and a dead Venusaur. Troll, yes, but legit.
Megas, I saw:
Gardevoir (2)
Char-Y (2)
Medicham (1)
Venusaur (1)
Sableye (1)
Khan (1)
Mawile (1)
Scizor (1)
Now, notice something: Ancientpower Char-Y slaughters every single one of these. Except Medicham, I was sleeping and lead badly. So, contrary to the last International, I ended up almost always using Charizard as my Mega. I mainly ran the Starter trio + Raichu/Kiss, depending on which was more useful. The Pledges were just as amazing as they are on BS Doubles, either firing off a high-speed OHKO (Char+Venu) or a surprisingly powerful, Speed-destroying Swamp (Venu+Swampy). Honestly, the three of them synergize so well that I very rarely regret bringing all three. Togekiss provided a bulky Tailwind when I needed it, and pretty much deleted Hydreigon as a threat entirely. Raichu, I was very skeptical of, but I'm being quite serious when I say "I haven't lost a single match on BS Dubz since I started using it". Fake Out, Encore, and lightningrod is amazing support for Char-Y.
Thundurus used to be a threat - but between Quick Guard, Lightningrod, and Swampy, it's literally a liability for my opponent. Terrakion... honestly, it's just there to kill Kangaskhan and Talonflame for Mega Venusaur and spends 95% of matches on the bench.
Swampy, Char-Y, and Raichu were stunning, Venusaur's support lets Swampy and Charizard pull some absolutely amazing shit. I 2HKO'd a Cresselia, in the Sun, with Swampy's Water Pledge. I outsped, and OHKO'd, a Scarf Landog, with no Tailwind/speed control at all, with Char-Y's Fire Pledge. Sea of Fire and Swamp's speed reduction saves my ass on a regular basis. Terrakion... I used in one match, and lemme tell ya, it failed. STAB Rock Slide and 129 Atk is nice and all, but when you can't flinch your foe it's not so hot. I guess it helps in Team Preview though, it baits Sylveon and looks like the main way to kill opposing Zard-Y so they never, ever see Ancientpower coming. Togekiss, does exactly as expected of it, no more, no less; dearly misses Aegislash as a partner but does enjoy Raichu's Lightningrod, Fake Out, and paralysis support. Aside form Terrakion I am pleased with my team - hax is not their fault. That said, I need to drop Nuzzle for Lucky Chant.
Honorable mentions:
- The guy with bulky Arcanine + Feint Mega Scizor, my final battle. He outplayed me, and that Arcanine was something I was very much weak to. Snarl on a bulky Fire mon really crippled the team, and Ancientpower Togekiss did a number to Char-Y. Only crit was irrelevent; a Snarl. Raichu, even at -3 Sp. Atk, was still a dick with Encore and Nuzzle. I must of been braindead this battle, as I did not bring Swampy or Terrakion despite his massive weakness to both.
- The guy with Latias. He was 1515, a mere 2 hours before tourney's end, when I beat him.
His team, I liked though: Mega Mawile / Latias / Landog / Togekiss / Milotic / Aegislash. Latias was amazing support for Mawile, Landog, and Aegislash, while the same 3 mons synergized well in return. Swampert tore him to pieces, since he brought Mawile + Togekiss as the lead with Landog and Latias in back. I got a critical Sludge Bomb on the Togekiss, which killed it on turn one after the Heat Wave chip. It was the only crit I got the entire tourny, lol.
- The guy running Char-Y + Venusaur + Pachirisu. The other 3 teammates were bad ideas (Malamar, Staraptor, and... something else along those lines) but the first three did give me a surprisingly tough battle despite Char-Y + Raichu's synergy. Respect where respect is due.
- My curse, for completely fucking over months of hard work, experience, and the first Saturday I've had off work in months. I didn't battle on Saturday because I spent the entire day without power. Even the most skilled of my opponents had a notably difficult time against my Pledge power, but none compared to the truly awe-inspiring, crushing defeat I suffered from this 3 month curse. It's not just Pokemon either, it bled into other hobbies and even daily life, which even auto-crit Mega Khan can't kill. idk what greater power is piss-drunk mad at me but damn.
Discuss!
Last edited:
