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2016 March International Challenge

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I've been using a Special Groudon. It is Modest with Eruption, Earth Power, Fire Blast, and Protect. It's EVs outspeed Smeargle and can survive a 252 SpA Groudon's Earth Power. People have been talking about how Special Groudon can't touch Kyogre. Is there a better option?
 
Jake0743 said:
I've been using a Special Groudon. It is Modest with Eruption, Earth Power, Fire Blast, and Protect. It's EVs outspeed Smeargle and can survive a 252 SpA Groudon's Earth Power. People have been talking about how Special Groudon can't touch Kyogre. Is there a better option?
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physical or mixed
 
Jake0743 said:
What part should be mixed? Should Earth Power become Precipice Blades? I'd have to check my Groudon's Attack IVs.
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If you're going mixed, go either precipice blades + earth power + flamethrower/overheat/fire blast, or precipice blades + eruption + flamethrower. Another option is precipice blades + rock move (rock slide, stone edge, rock tomb, etc) + overheat. (this one needs more physical investment which is why you choose overheat instead)

Eruption is really powerful but it sucks if your groudon is at low health and there's something you want to hit with a 100% accurate fire move, which is why lots of people run flamethrower as well.

Earth power's main niche is OHKOing other groudons. Precipice blades is much more spammable, especially if you've got gravity on your team somewhere.
 
So Fire Blast vs Flamethrower is just a power/accuracy argument. Precipice Blades instead of Eruption in my case? That's not a bad idea, but the amount of Flying types and not 31 IVs in Attack is limiting. And I don't have Gravity on my team, yet at least.
And does a negative nature affect the Attack stat too much? Groudon's base Attack is 180 compared to 150 SpA I think.
 
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Jibaku said:
Thing is that while Kyogre may take quite a bit of supp to function properly, the investment always worth it as it gives so much back in return. When properly supported, it becomes one of the best shields against Groudon in the game (not necessarily for itself, but between itself and the rest of the team thanks to Primordial Sea), which no other Pokemon can really claim with the same amount of support. In the event that an Groudon receives a similar amount of support, the matchup advantage usually goes to Kyogre as Groudon desperately needs the sunlight to not get destroyed and cannot OHKO Kyogre.

Kyogre's extremely high base Special Attack and the ability to downright blow up so many things in the game often means it doesn't require much, if any, Special Attack investment to be successful. Physical defensive investment is ideal in a lot of cases so Kyogre can take multiple Pblades if it has to, ensuring maximum Primordial Sea uptime. Kyogre can even take a combined LO Adamant Talon BB and Max Atk+ Groudon PBlades and survive, while eliminating both with Origin Pulse.

Kyogre has seen successful pairings with Groudon (obviously), Xerneas (won St Louis regionals), Yveltal (won NJ MSS which was kindof stacked), Dialga (Wolfe), Kyurem-W (St Louis t4), and if you count the earlier season, Ho-Oh. As for Giratina-O, a japanese player made it to 1900 last season on the special ladder with Kyogre + Giratina-O. You don't have to pair it with Rayquaza to be successful.
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Yeah, it's probably my unrestricted nucleus that needs work.

I'm currently trying out Meowstic (for Smeargle and general support) with Ferrothorn either getting replaced or I may have to go full Trick Room as it's just not that great in normal conditions, but my Kyorge is Timid, so I I have to just hope my frontline can clean up. I also wish my Giratina was Brave or Quite so I could run Earth Power on it, but I have another crack at it in my other game.

Meowstic thankfully learns Role Play as well which is perfect with Prankster as the main issue I was having was the ability swap happening way too late.

I also have a Smeargle of my own, but I really want to avoid using the Dark Void set.

Edit: And I broke down and Sketched DV and started using it on Special. I can definitely see why people run it now as it's the only thing that can suppress the raw power of the restricted mons.

The only issue is, if the opponent prevents the Dark Void from getting off, Smeargle is pretty much dead weight and it almost becomes an automatic loss unless you get lucky and get a free turn.

I'm not sure how far a DV team can go, but it's no question this strat can be deadly if used correctly.
 
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#209 worldwide, #45 U.S., 1699 ranking.

I'm positive I could've gone higher, but it was a really busy weekend and I was starting to play inconsistently. I stopped at 20-5, when I knew I was right around 1700 so I wouldn't have to deal with the possibility of hitting a losing streak and climbing back up.

Highlight was a match against Patrick (SalaMenace on NB), who took #5 overall with a really cool team.

Above, Jake0743, are your numbers above right? There's no way those rankings are accurate. (Never mind; big mistake; left only for posts below.)

upload_2016-4-8_17-6-58.png
 
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Whiskey Tango said:
#209 worldwide, #45 U.S., 1699 ranking.

I'm positive I could've gone higher, but it was a really busy weekend and I was starting to play inconsistently. I stopped at 20-5, when I knew I was right around 1700 so I wouldn't have to deal with the possibility of hitting a losing streak and climbing back up.

Highlight was a match against Patrick (SalaMenace on NB), who took #5 overall with a really cool team.

Above, Jake0743, are your numbers above right? There's no way those rankings are accurate.

View attachment 60016
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Jake is in the Junior division. Are you in the same?
 
Whiskey Tango said:
Noooope! Everything makes sense now. I should read signatures before posting.
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I never read signatures either. I was trying to find a way to relay the info without it sounding like I was trying to make it an issue.

I only remember his Junior Division status because in the Kanto Classic thread when I mentioned my son being ranked 7th in the event, 1st in the USA, Jake said he was in the Junior Division as well.

You both did great in this International Challenge. My son was once again ranked higher than I was. Junior division had fewer participants in this event than I would have thought they would. Although Kanto Classic was giving away Dragonite, so that would be why it had so many participants, that and the format was incredibly fun.
 
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