Online Competition Battle of Alola [POST YOUR RESULTS!]

Run

Poster of the Month
I learned a lot, and had a lot of good times just preparing my team through breeding and SOS battling.
Actually same here. I have been using sims like shoddybattle and showdown off-and-on for years. But this is my first gen actually doing breeding/EV training in the actual game. It's weirdly theraputic and less stressful than shotgunning battles over and over on showdown. Less burn-out too. I'm actually Masuda-ing for a shiny Honedge right now.
 

cant say

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battle of alola team.png

Finished 1710 in ~30 games. I just threw together a team of 6 things I had on cart (shoutouts LegoFigure) that I thought could work and set out to try and have some fun as it was literally my first online cart battles since the games came out. Theorymon challenged me to chase down his rank but getting from 1690 to 1700+ was such a hurdle I decided to retire there and not play on. I pulled an all-nighter to get this far so I didn't want to tilt back down to the 1600s.

The team is basically two cores of Magearna + Incineroar for Trick Room mode, and Ninetales + Tapu Koko for speedy boosting mode, then Mandibuzz and Mimikyu were glue mons that could be used in either core. All the members actually got pretty evenly chosen and used in battle which is pretty cool since I have a habit of choosing the same 3 when I play these things. Magearna + Incineroar was pretty damn beastly though so they get dual MVP. I really liked Tapu Koko though, which was way stronger here than it probably is in normal BSS since Sash or Scarf couldn't be used on Garchomp and end my sweep. Also no one knew how to deal with Encore from Ninetales...

The guy's online on both PS and Discord saw me get pretty salty at some haxy losses, I did have some really bad luck in a lot of the games if I say so myself. I got outplayed in probably 3 games (including getting hard CTed by Nifty Shiftry while I was 1698 and him 1823) but the rest were literally all losses to crits or Fleur Cannon missing which was insanely frustrating as I could have finished a lot higher.

Overall this was pretty fun and I'm glad I put something together last-minute without practice that did sorta ok. I'll post some replays later (of both me winning and losing) but I'm gonna have a nap first!
 
upload_2016-12-18_20-59-10.png


I didn't battle so much as I wanted, but I did a 13-2 record with 1650+ rating. I think this team could do more if I had chance to continue. The first loss was against a Special Silvally which did a freeze at the first turn then 2 crits next (I almost broke my 3DS..) the other loss was against a 1700+ which won the speed tie with lunala.

Anyways, dragonite and lunala were amazing with setup moves thanks to their abilities. Substitute at dragonite was something I learnt at Kanto classic, perfect against TW or WoW. Defensive arcanine was almost my lead everytime, surviving even to max attack garchomp's EQ. Unaware clef against mimikyu, garchomp's swords dance, cloyster, and the majority of setupers. Magnezone did it's job against Celesteela and other steel types (Magearna). Mimikyu as late game sweeper.

Edit: The Magnezone is the same from my BSS team, with speed enough to bybass non-invested Tapu bulu. It has magnet rise because of some Celesteela caring EQ.
 
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Finished 1710 in ~30 games. I just threw together a team of 6 things I had on cart (shoutouts LegoFigure) that I thought could work and set out to try and have some fun as it was literally my first online cart battles since the games came out. Theorymon challenged me to chase down his rank but getting from 1690 to 1700+ was such a hurdle I decided to retire there and not play on. I pulled an all-nighter to get this far so I didn't want to tilt back down to the 1600s.

The team is basically two cores of Magearna + Incineroar for Trick Room mode, and Ninetales + Tapu Koko for speedy boosting mode, then Mandibuzz and Mimikyu were glue mons that could be used in either core. All the members actually got pretty evenly chosen and used in battle which is pretty cool since I have a habit of choosing the same 3 when I play these things. Magearna + Incineroar was pretty damn beastly though so they get dual MVP. I really liked Tapu Koko though, which was way stronger here than it probably is in normal BSS since Sash or Scarf couldn't be used on Garchomp and end my sweep. Also no one knew how to deal with Encore from Ninetales...

The guy's online on both PS and Discord saw me get pretty salty at some haxy losses, I did have some really bad luck in a lot of the games if I say so myself. I got outplayed in probably 3 games (including getting hard CTed by Nifty Shiftry while I was 1698 and him 1823) but the rest were literally all losses to crits or Fleur Cannon missing which was insanely frustrating as I could have finished a lot higher.

Overall this was pretty fun and I'm glad I put something together last-minute without practice that did sorta ok. I'll post some replays later (of both me winning and losing) but I'm gonna have a nap first!

I think i battled you
 
Finished with about 1620 or so, about where I expected to be. My team was rather makeshift, mainly compiled of what I had already. The only one I made specifically for the comp was Hydreigon.

Hydreigon
Levitate
Timid
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Spd, 6 Def
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower

Raichu
Surge Surfer
Modest
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Spd, 6 Def
- Psychic
- Discharge
- Nasty Plot
- Thunderbolt

Tapu Koko
Electric Surge
Timid
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Spd, 6 Hp
- Dazzling Gleam
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot

Magearna
Soul-Heart
Modest
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Spd, 6 Def
- Fleur Cannon
- Flash Cannon
- Shift Gear
- Shadow Ball

Ninetales-A
Snow Warning
Timid
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Spd, 6 Hp
- Aurora Veil
- Moonblast
- Blizzard
- Freeze-Dry

Greninja
Battle Bond
Timid
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Spd, 6 Def
- Water Shuriken
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Dark Pulse

No real synergy aside from the obvious Koko/Raichu duo, and many filler moves. The Raichu was bred for use in Battle Tree doubles, which is why it has Discharge, and I don't think I ever used Water Shuriken on Greninja. Hydreigon's performance was hit or miss; either it put in a ton of work, or winding up being dead weight. Its speed is just enough to outrun even the fastest Solgaleo and Lunala, but falls short of many other relevant threats that can one-shot it. Interestingly it was able to finish off a Tapu Koko in one of my games because my opponent opted for HP Ice instead of Dazzling Gleam, which I thought was jumping the gun a bit. There's still a while yet before Gliscor and Landorus come back. Magearna was surprisingly good, and could sweep entire teams if it was allowed to get a Shift Gear without taking too much damage. I'd say that Tapu Koko and Ninetales-A were my MVPs, and on the last day I rarely went without both of them. Aurora Veil was very useful, and on a few occasions I gladly sacrificed her just to get it off. Garchomp was a big pain to deal with, as I had no reliable switch ins, and I got swept once by a bulky Scizor.

Overall this was a good learning experience, and hopefully I'll have bit more Pokemon to use for the next competition. =)
 
This was my first any sort of competition since like ... DC regionals in 2011.

I was hilariously unprepared for Toxapex and Celesteela, didn't really use Mimikyu. Gastrodon and Hydreigon were my MVPs. Decided to retire when I snuck a win out of my last battle (me at 16something vs. someone rated 1828) with a combination of smart plays and very good luck (ended as a forfeit with my Gastrodon vs. their (physical?) Celesteela after they got Burned and I recovered off Acrobatics damage). I ended 23 wins-12 losses, not sure on the final rating though :)


I had a lot of fun (although now I have an irrational fear of bats)! Gastrodon was the MVP, and I was continually unimpressed by Solgaleo and Tapus.

MVPs:
  • Gastrodon: This thing is amazingly bulky, and neutralizes Tapu Koko. Even Koko carrying Grass Knot don't OHKO and EQ hurts it quite a lot, Koko's special attack stat is too low I guess (and most Koko don't seem to be carrying Grass Knot, so they have no answer for it). Scald Burns are fun. This thing won me many battles.
  • Hydreigon: Taunt saves the day, and Dark Pulse slays Lunala. Fire Blast surprises a lot of things that try to switch in, but you have to watch out for Moonblast from Lunala.
Highlights:
  • 34 turn stall war between Gastrodon and Toxapex
  • Winning even after accidentally hitting Pheromosa's Poison Jab instead of U-Turn on Arcanine (they used will-o-wisp, it missed), proceeding to go Gastrodon v. Arcanine for a while (it used Burn Up ... and got burned by Scald, which made me laugh)
 
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  • Mudsdale can take some special hits! He survived a few ice beams and KOed in return a few times. I found myself relying on him more often than I thought I might.
My Mudsdale was an 11th hour replacement for a Kommo-o I realized wasn't going to accomplish much with all the Fairy and Psychic attacks being thrown around. I actually fully invested in Special Defense because I figured at least one of my Pokemon needed a little special bulk. She survive to either Rest or finish off her opponent several times thanks to that.

Anyway, I went 25-20, though that's probably more like 22-19 after accounting for disconnects. Ranking is probably just under 1600 - I had a good streak last night. For those of you wondering where to look up your W/L, you can manually count it up by going to the PGL website, Online Competitions, and then To Competition Participation Records (My Page).

BATTLE OF ALOLA COMPETITION.jpg


I've already more or less analyzed my team's weaknesses - lots of Ground weakness (offset somewhat by a lot of physical bulk - I think only Golem and Ninetales get OHKO by the typical Earthquake), lots of Water weakness. Mudsdale and Exeggutor had to be around for Earthquakes and Solgaleo and Ninetales had to take the Water moves. Exeggutor and Golem weren't built very cohesively and it showed (I couldn't even tell you their EVs) - apart from an occasional Galvanize Explosion and a surprise Flamethrower or Earthquake, they didn't do a lot of heavy lifting. Exeggutor was also intended to be a Trick Room type, and was once outsped by a Mudsdale because of a poor speed IV. I kept her because I wanted something else that could use special attacks plus being able to hit Fire and Grass weaknesses (namely Water), and an extra Earthquake. Apart from that the only other thing I would have changed is dropping Will o Wisp or Leech Life on Incineroar for an actual Fire damage move. Leech Life never made a difference and I just wasn't able to bring Will o Wisp to bear, which may be more on me than the build. This set also would have loved access to Intimidate but that won't be happening for a while.

Even so, Darkest Lariat was often a potent offensive threat, Psychic immunity is great, and a lot of folks didn't seem to realize that Incineroar is neutral to Fairy attacks. I absolutely love Encore - I made a guy forfeit because his last Pokemon was Lunala, who used Calm Mind and promptly got Encored into it. I agonized over Freeze Dry vs. Blizzard but ultimately decided that it was critical to have more ability to deal with Water types (and that stupid pelican). Solgaleo has full HP and Attack EVs, which makes him difficult to two-shot, Flame Charge puts him ahead of Lunala and enough other threats to be worth it (plus more Fire coverage), and Crunch at least maimed a lot of Lunalas I faced.

As far as Pokemon I fought, the common ones that stood out were nigh-omnipresent Garchomp, a fair number of Pheromosa leads, and Kartana started being remarkably common later. I also fought quite a few Gyarados and a non-trivial number of Pellipers. Apart from that I saw a lot of variety in what was actually used, though I saw a buttload of Lunala and Mimikyu warming benches. When Mimikyu did come out he either got torn a new one by Incineroar (who had no trouble eating even a +2 Play Rough) or Ninetales (nobody expected Encore). A few people tried to be cute with Pukeachu Pyukumuku, but Ninetales also shuts that down with Freeze Dry and Encore.

EDIT:

While I saw a load of UBs (I had to have a crash-course in basically all of them and saw every one but Guzzlord at some point), I saw remarkably few Tapus being fielded, a lot of folks didn't use their cover legendary, and Zygarde was vanishingly rare. Aegislash, for all his nuisance, also only got me once of the three or so times I saw it.

I hope we see these competitions on the regular, and/or that the Friendly Competition ruleset is robust. The idea of 'you can have one Ubers-tier Pokemon' sounded pretty great to me - even if it did wind up that some folks were running around with Aegislash and Magearna and a cover legendary. I echo myself and others when I say this was both fun and a neat learning experience.
 
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Demantoid

APMS Founder
is a Top Tiering Contributor
I finished 25-8 with a rating around 1715. Here was my team:
Battle of Alola Battle Box (December 2016).jpg

Shoutouts to LegoFigure11, Pslana, and Pyritie for giving me almost all my pokemon.

My final team ended up being a combination of the two teams I was using on showdown because Lego and I have bad timezones so I wasn't able to get everything for either one.

Tapu Koko and Pheromosa (even without perfect ivs) were definitely the mvps of the team. I proabably did lose a few games because my Pheromosa was Jolly insteadSolgaleo was pretty mediocre kind of wish I used something else. Mandibuzz checked Lunala decently well but it was pretty bad outside of that for me. Toxapex was okay but never really got used as Pheromosa check which was what it was supposed to be. Tapu Bulu did pretty well as a Koko check until I ran into a physical one.

Solgaleo
Ability: Full Metal Body
Level: 50
EVs: 52 HP / 148 Atk / 4 Def / 52 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sunsteel Strike
- Flame Charge
- Crunch
- Morning Sun

Arcanine
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Morning Sun
- Will-O-Wisp
- Burn Up
- Extreme Speed

Mandibuzz
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Foul Play
- Taunt
- Snarl

Pheromosa
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Poison Jab

Nihilego
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Stealth Rock
- Power Gem
- Sludge Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Tapu Koko
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Dazzling Gleam
- Grass Knot
Magearna-Original
Ability: Soul-Heart
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Fleur Cannon
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Trick Room

Incineroar
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flare Blitz
- Darkest Lariat
- U-turn
- Swords Dance

Toxapex
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Toxic
- Scald
- Haze

Mandibuzz
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Roost
- Foul Play
- Toxic

Tapu Koko
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Dazzling Gleam
- Grass Knot

Pheromosa
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- U-turn
- High Jump Kick
- Poison Jab
- Ice Beam
Pheromosa
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 13 HP / 11 Atk / 23 SpD
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Poison Jab

Tapu Koko
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Dazzling Gleam
- Grass Knot

Toxapex
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Toxic
- Scald
- Haze

Solgaleo
Ability: Full Metal Body
Level: 50
EVs: 52 HP / 148 Atk / 4 Def / 52 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sunsteel Strike
- Flame Charge
- Crunch
- Morning Sun

Tapu Bulu
Ability: Grassy Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Horn Leech
- Superpower
- Stone Edge

Mandibuzz
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Foul Play
- Taunt
- Snarl

 
My team was kind of planned out but didn't get piloted very well. (non perfect IV legends still need to get to 100 etc etc).

Must say the competition was a heap of fun (first foray into battlespot on cart since trying to get into it on ORAS but never completing a team). Will definitely expand my roster and keep playing Battle Spot Singles/Battle Spot Special ladder.

Really want to try that Magearna TR/Inciniroar combo sounds fun, and Inciniroar just looks awesome.

upload_2016-12-19_15-36-20.png


Only played 14 games, bit of ladder anxiety+not ideal timing being Christmas, 7W6L maybe 1530? rating.

Anyone face or use any successful Zygarde teams, decided at the last minute I wanted to use him instead of Lunala but didn't have time to plan around it, he seems really cool however so I'd be curious.

GG's.
 
Here's the team I was using, and by using I mean losing most of my games with.



Either this team's got a lot of exploitable weaknesses, or I'm just bad at playing this game.

I also could've sworn I had Cross Chop on that Incineroar. I don't know why it has Outrage.
 

Eisenherz

επέκεινα της ουσίας
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnus
I decided to enter 1 day before the competition started, so my team was made in a hurry with what I could readily have available, and also what I thought I would have fun playing with. I did a little bit of laddering on Showdown on that same day to test out things, but it was far from optimized. Nonetheless, I had a ton of fun during the event and I finished somewhere in the low 1700s (my guess would be around 1715). Didn't get to play all of my matches on day 2, but I'm not sure I could have climbed much higher with this team.



Here's a quick breakdown of the team with final thoughts:

- Magearna: As soon as I saw Magearna was going to be allowed as a special Pokémon, I knew I was going to base my team around it. I've been using it in OU in the last few weeks and I just love using it. Trick Room allowed it to fully shine in a format full of fast Pokémon, as well as take on Lunala 1v1 most of the time. Flash Cannon was my team's best answer to Mimikyu, which couldn't damage Magearna too heavily, even with the SD. I brought it to at least 80% of the games, and it really delivered. I wish I could have fit Thunderbolt on its moveset, it would have been insanely helpful, but oh well.
- Marowak: Originally, I was planning on running Swords Dance over Will-O-Wisp in order to make up for the absence of the Thick Club, and theoretically, it could set up on Pokémon such as Celesteela, Pheromosa, Vikavolt, and occasionally Toxapex. I decided to change it to Will-O-Wisp last minute to catch Garchomp & co. on the switch. Will-O-Wisp was good on 1 occasion, but otherwise, I really missed not having SD to unleash Marowak's wallbreaking potential. I ended up not bringing it very often, even vs. Tapu Koko, which it was meant to check. However, I systematically brought it against Pheromosa teams, and it worked out beautifully. Played its role well, but probably wasn't the best option for the team.
- Drampa: I juggled between many options for this slot on the team, and I ended up going with Drampa because of its amazing synergy with Magearna (huge shoutout to Slowbrotaku for breeding it so quickly right when I needed it!). Since it was such a last minute addition, I didn't feel too comfortable using it at first and almost never saw it as a strong option when picking my 3. As I progressed through the competition and used it more, though, I saw myself bringing it more than half the time, and it was really good, both in and outside of trick room. The normal typing allowed me to freely switch in on Lunala's Moongeist Beam, and its good bulk meant I usually fired one huge hit while Berserk was activated. Flamethrower was a last second choice over Hyper Voice as I suddenly started being paranoid about Scizor, not wanting to be forced to automatically bring Marowak just because a team had Scizor. I didn't run into a single Scizor.
- Tapu Koko: One of my 2 usual leads along with Magearna. Most people didn't see the screens coming and it allowed me to screw my opponent's plans more than once. Using Koko was always a little nerve-racking because of how frail it is, and how mine was completely walled by ground types, but with careful play and predictions, it worked out nicely most of the time. Along with Magearna, he came to almost all of my matches.
- Kartana: If I had to pick one MVP beside Magearna, it would definitely be Kartana. By the end, my strategy was usually to sacrifice a Pokémon to get a free KO with Kartana and a first Beast Boost, after which it was usually game over. For some curious reason, many of my opponents felt really comfortable with the Kartana vs. Garchomp matchup, and by now, this Kartana must have slayed at least a dozen Garchomp. Night Slash was able to pick up Solgaleo after it has taken a Shadow Ball from either Magearna or Drampa, and Lunala only really needed to have the Shadow Shield broken. Tapu Fini's Nature's Madness was often an immense help in assisting these Kartana sweeps by bringing everything into range.
- Tapu Fini: I brought Tapu Fini to help against Garchomp, but it ended up fulfilling many roles, sometimes as a reliable pivot, sometimes as a stallbreaker, or sometimes to bring everything into range for Kartana. While it didn't score many KOs, it really glued the team together.

Overall, what made me really enjoy using this team was its flexibility. I had both a trick room mode and a very fast mode, and the combination of both was often a fun puzzle to manage. I would definitely change some things to it if I had to do it again, but considering how last minute I was about it all, I had very meagre expectations, and I'm really happy with both the team and its result!

Replays:
For some reason, I saved about 10 matches, but am only able to share 3 of them with codes. Luckily, they were all while I was in the high 1600s and 1700s, so they're pretty good ones.

34AW-WWWW-WWW3-66J6: A tight and exciting match vs. Doobzi
9AVG-WWWW-WWW3-67HV: Carefully setting up for a Kartana sweep
DW5G-WWWW-WWW3-68WB: Magearna showing who's boss (truth be told, I got lucky at the end, but even without it, I think it was in the bag at that point).
 
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Went 7-6 with 2 of today's 15 games being disconnects from the opposing end, so that brought me to 30-13 at a rating of 1690+, having peaked at 1755 on the second day. Today I seemed to not predict things when I needed to, and overthought other things when I shouldn't have, so it was a disappointing last showing but overall not a bad final result for a first competition. Thankfully, I broke a three game losing streak with a win in the final match.



Mimikyu unfortunately, remained useless, while I started using Pheromosa a bit more for clutch wins, notably freeze hax on a Celesteela which wound up in an enemy surrender: ZRSG-WWWW-WWW3-7WFL
Also faced that Unaware Pyukumuku, which was an awful auto-loss :pirate:
 
I think I did pretty good considering I just started playing competitively.
Had a rating of around 1750, but I'm not sure what my final rating was and it doesn't say on the website yet.

Team:



Huge thanks for the tips here! Lunala and Tapu Koko wrecked most teams and Kangaskhan destroyed all enemy Lunalas!
The other three were pretty good too, but I would have replaced Garchomp with Marowak if I could, since there were so many Tapu Koko leads and they would always be faster and OHKO my Garchomp with Dazzling Gleam before he could use Earthquake.

Would love some feedback/tips on how to improve this team for Battle Spot Ranked since I will keep using it after replacing Lunala and adding held items.
 
How i change the language on Global Link site?
I click on english, but when I log in it changes back and so the screen of my team is not in english.
 
I ended with 19/11 on my first competition. I'm more annoyed I didn't get to finish all of the battles, but at least I finished with a positive score. I realized my team is bad and I believe that's why I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have. Minior was definitely my worst member and Marowak wasn't as helpful as I thought. At least it was a learning expirience for me. Here's my sets I used:

Solgaleo
Ability: Full Metal Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 16 SpD / 240 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sunsteel Strike
- Flare Blitz
- Wild Charge
- Earthquake

Tapu Fini
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 16 SpD / 60 Spe
Calm Nature
- Surf
- Moonblast
- Taunt
- Defog

Minior-Meteor
Ability: Shields Down
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def / 4 SpD / 168 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Acrobatics
- Rock Slide
- Substitute

Garchomp
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
- Fire Fang

Marowak-Alola
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 120 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 132 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Bone
- Flare Blitz
- Bonemerang
- Will-O-Wisp

Weavile
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Night Slash
- Ice Shard
- Poison Jab
- Protect
 
Why so many people did just 30 battle or less?
Don't you get a gap if you don't do all the battles?
Was it better if i stop battling when i was at 1680ish before losing many battles then? Lol
 
I entered this competition super last minute so I only had a day or two to put a team together. It may not be perfect, but the team performed better than I expected and this competition was a lot of fun. I had a rough time during the first two days, only reaching a rating of about 1580, but then I had a massive comeback on the last day once I got used to my team and the meta in general, shooting all the way up to finish with a rating around 1720. Here’s the team I used:

Battle of Alola.png


The team ended up working pretty well in the end, although it had a massive ground weakness and I had a lot of trouble dealing with Tapu koko early on.

Solgaleo was great for dealing with fairy’s and steel types with sunsteel strike and earthquake respectively. Crunch was there to hit Lunala, and wild charge was extremely useful for taking on Celesteela as well as bulky waters. The fact that sunsteel strike could OHKO Mimikyu through its disguise was also a great perk.

Marowak was there to take on Pheromosa, as well as electric types such as Xurkitree and Tapu Koko (Although it struggled against variants with natures madness and brave bird.) Will-o-wisp was there to burn physical attackers while shadow bone was Marowak’s main source of dealing damage, and rest-talk was there to give Marowak more longevity.

Ninetails main role was to deal with Garchomp and Zygarde. Blizzard and moonblast are standard coverage and dark pulse let it take out weakened Lunala and Solgaleo as well as gave it a way to hit Alolan Marowak. Aurora veil gave Ninetails the bulk it needed to take some hits and buffed the rest of my team while hail was up.

Gyrados was there to give the team an immunity to ground types and be able to hit them back with waterfall as well as counter Greninja and set up and sweep with dragon dance.

Talonflame was mainly there to give me another option to deal with Pheromosa and Buzzwole and was great for dealing damage to other bug types such as Araquanid, Vikavolt, and Golisopod as well as dealing massive damage to Celesteela. Will-o-wisp let me burn physical attackers such as Garchomp that were giving me trouble and tailwind was there to give my team a speed boost when Talonflame was about to go down. Talonflame wasn’t meant to take many hits so I gave it gale wings despite the nerf, and it actually came in handy a few times against Golisopod and Mimikyu that had priority.

Muk was essential for dealing with Lunala. It could switch in, take a hit, and fire back with a crunch. Gunk shot gave me another option to deal with fairy’s and shadow sneak allowed Muk to take out weakend Pokemon or do a little chip damage before it went down. Explosion allowed Muk to do a large chunk of damage when I didn’t need it anymore and give me a free swich in to one of my other mons.
 

https://gyazo.com/a681a10fe1b2d1af830a70bf877bbcac

Finished with 1822 points. 35-9. I had a lot of success on Showdown so I was kind hoping I would get a little higher but I made some crucial misplays. Lost one game to a DC, but there were only two that I wasn't kicking myself for making a dumb misplay. GG to everyone and let me know if you remember facing me!

As for the team, I had a good amount of practice on the ladder. Got to Top 10 one night before it got so late that only a few people were on so I just logged off.

Lunala - The best mon in the format. Calm Mind and All-Out-Attacker sets are good, I didn't run Calm Mind myself, I had the other sweepers. Honestly, I'm torn between Psyshock, Ice Beam, and Roost on my set. I found that I would have regretted not having Ice Beam and Roost about as often as Psyshock, although its a toss-up. All the relevant teams I faced had a way to deal with Lunala. I won most of my matches by predicting what mons they would bring to counter Lunala and bringing mons to counter those counters

A-Muk - The hardest counter to Lunala. It also beats all the Tapus, I ran it on my own team at first because I thought it was godly, then I found myself never using it. Yeah it beats some things really hard, but there are a wider variety of mons that can beat more things. I think A-Muk is okay, but everyone I faced with it would lead it everytime. EVERYTIME. I simply never brought Lunala against an A-Muk and lead Celesteela. Only lost one match to an A-Muk. Other things can beat Lunala and in my opinion just isn't worth running

Celesteela - Incredible mon. Beats Lunala, Bulu, Lele, and even Koko outside of Electric Terrain. Was likely the MVP of my team, such a good mon.
Tapu Bulu - I ran Max HP, Max SpD and it put in work. Beats Lunala 1v1, counters Koko, beats Gyarados. Loses hard to A-Muk but still puts a dent in it on the switch. Also beats Toxapex and Garchomp lacking Poison Jab (I only saw one with it) I won a lot of games using a defensive core of Bulu and Arcanine/Celesteela. Eventually you wear them down and are able to sustain hits with all the healing you have. I didn't find myself using Bulk Up often so I think its replacable. Although having it is really good for setting up on weaker mons.

Tapu Koko - This mon can be annoyingly good as a lead. My team kind of struggled against it. Although Lunala can beat it 1v1, it would always go for U-turn/volt Switch to break the Shadow Shield. The switch in would be something like Gyarados/Garchomp that could outspeed and kill with Crunch. However, if Lunala has Roost, you can just Roost on the voltturn and then threaten the OHKO on whatever comes in with Shadow Shield intact. I never used this mon as I felt it took up a valuable defensive slot. Koko was the sixth member of my team and switched around a lot. It was originally A-Muk, then A-Greninja, and finally Koko. I never found myself bringing any of them however, so Koko was merely a distraction for me.

Gyarados - I'm most proud of my Gyarados. Although not the team MVP (that spot goes to Celesteela by a hair) Gyarados was a beast. My EV's were 244 HP/128 Atk/12 Def/52 SpD/68 Spe. This gives Gyar just enough bulk to always avoid the 2HKO from Max SpA Timid Lunala using either Psyshock or Moongheist Beam. The speed allows Gyarados to outplace Lunala by one point after a DD (In hindsight I would have EVd it so that he could outpace Chomp after a DD but oh well) This allows Gyar to always (barring a crit) be able to set up a DD and revenge kill Lunala, even with Shadow Shield up. Sub allows Gyar to set up on Toxapex lacking Haze (I only found 1 with it), Celesteela, and Standard Arcanine. I orginally ran EQ to hit Koko (sub on the switch) and Toxapex but the ability to beat Lunala with Crunch was more useful. Intimidate was also huge

Arcanine - Holy hell is this set disgusting. Anyone who laddered on Showdown ran across this set and after getting dunked by it, I went into the Teambuilder and slapped him on my team. Max HP/Max SpD Arcanine even beats Greninja 1v1. You will always live two Hydro Pumps (as long as you use Burn Up after the first one) and can then stall with Morning Sin/WoW/and Snarl. Absolutely annoying af to play against. As he takes hits on both sides with Intimidate/WoW/Max SpD/Snarl. Unfortuantely its damage is pathetic after using Burn Up, but Arcanine's true usefullness lies not in the walling it does, but its ability to set up its sweepers. AAfter crippling an opponent, I could easily bring in Gyarados or Tapu Bulu and begin setting up. More often then not this was my win-con.

OTHER MONS

Tapu Lele - Bad, outclassed and destroyed by Lunala. Losing to both Lunala and Celesteela hard in this format is not good

Garchomp - I wish I had ran him in the last slot. HP Ice from Koko cant kill w/o Life Orb and this mon beats most things with the right moveset. One of the best mons in the format and a pain to face

Tapu Fini - meh, needs recovery to be effective

Nihilego - my team was kind of weak to it so I may have the wrong impression but it seemed surprsingly good, can tank Lunala but needs HP Dark-Ghost to win. Overall a solid mon but not worth bringing imo

Zygarde - didn't face a single one above 1600. I had Tapu Bulu and Lunala ready to beat it but it was barely necessary. Not worth bringing over Lunala

Solgaleo - Okay mon, nothing can switch in depending on the set, but Lunala beats it 1v1, as does Garchomp. Seemed okay but inferior to Lunala

Magearna - Does okay against Lunala lacking Roost. a Max Speed one caught me off-guard once for a W but overall not worth because you can't bring Lunala imo

A-Muk - The hardest counter to Lunala. It also beats all the Tapus, I ran it on my own team at first because I thought it was godly, then I found myself never using it. Yeah it beats some things really hard, but there are a wider variety of mons that can beat more things. I think A-Muk is okay, but everyone I faced with it would lead it everytime. EVERYTIME. I simply never brought Lunala against an A-Muk and lead Celesteela. Only lost one match to an A-Muk. Other things can beat Lunala and in my opinion just isn't worth running

A-Ninetails - Would have liked to see more of this. The Aurora Veil can disrupt would be counters. The lack of Light Clay hurts though. Didn't see enough to form an opinion

Talonflame - I got reverse-swept by a Lunala that had had Tailwind from Gale Wings Talonflame. I would have won but I didn't expect Thunderbolt and thus didn't manage the Tailwind turns properly. Talonflame also counters Arcanine, making it one of the few mons to do so.

Mimikyu - Moongheist Beam ignores Disguise.

Pheromosa - Lunala exist lol. Love this bug but its shit in this format

Incineroar - Thank god I didn't see more of this mon. My team is kind weak to him. Arcanine can beat it but holy hell it takes forever. I think specially defensive Incineroar is actually quite good. Shame it doesn't get Intimidate yet, or I likely would have run it myself. The ability to beat both Celesteela and Lunala makes his relevant.

A-Greninja - Loses to Lunala 1v1. Common strat I saw was to Voltturn into it to break Shadow Shield. Decent mon, but I felt there were better options. Like I said before, I don't really like running any mon that can't beat Celesteela or Lunala 1v1

Aegislash - Edited this one in. Wasn't allowed on Showdown so I was surprised when I saw him on the enemy team. Fortunately my team was prepared for him but not a single one I faced had Shadow Sneak. Would have defintely have run him myself had I known you could haha.

I'm sure there are some other mons I'm missing here, but these were the ones that stood out the most.

Bonus Epic Battle: YECG-WWWW-WWW3-5DBW
 
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lol, if I'd quit at my highest I would've made the top 10 in the US, but after that I went on a losing run and ended with only 1715. Oh well
 
As Prague Kick said in the post above I ranked #27 with 1811 points and 36-9, kind of a shame since I was around 1830 at two battles before the end but I got haxed and dropped to 1807, but I guess that's the game. I also choked against the 7th ranked worldwide and I'm still mad for it lol



This is the team I used after building it with some friends (shoutouts Prague Kick Darkdevil Specterito Tricking Renny_) and testing it on the ps ladder which I topped at some point.

The original strategy was the Ninetales-Ribombee-Lunala core: Ninetales provided Aurora Veil support which was great for Ribombee to set up, and Encore was helpful to either prevent or punish those trying to stall the Aurora Veil turns. Despite its poor bulk, Ribombee with max hp was able to tank a Sunsteel Strike from jolly Solgaleo and Heavy Slam from Celesteela under Aurora Veil, allowing it to Quiver Dance and Baton Pass the boosts to Lunala for an easy sweep.

However I couldn't bring this core against mons which could OHKO Ninetales before it managed to use Aurora Veil, such as Pheromosa, Scizor and Kartana (if it wins the speed tie), and Alola Muk also lived a +2 Moonblast from Lunala so that was a problem too. So this is where the rest of the team comes out.

Celesteela was simply amazing: it destroyed Alola Muk and other mons which were annoying for the initial core (except once when I found a Minimize Rest Muk and I lost because none of my mons could hit it while it "swept" with Knock Off in an itemless competition, ok,,,). With an adamant nature and 252 atk/252 speed evs, after an Autotomize boost it outspeeds the whole tier while still keeping a massive weight for spamming Heavy Slam, and with Beast Boost working as Moxie it proceeded to sweep teams after the first KO.

Tapu Koko and Greninja were both great and fast sweepers which dealt with different mons. Tapu Koko beat mostly opposing Celesteela, Gyarados, non-Ash Greninja and Pheromosa (it always lives a Poison Jab at full health, I actually found a lot of people U-Turning to Garchomp and getting 2HKOed by Dazzling Gleam which was pretty hilarious), while Greninja dealt with basically every special legend in the tier (excluding Magearna but Celesteela and Lunala easily covered that), with Water Shuriken to get easy kills on weakened mons like Tapu Koko and OHKOing Pheromosa in Ash form. Most of the time I only brought one of the two paired with Celesteela and Lunala depending on the opponent's team, but sometimes I had to bring the two of them together and they still worked well.

Despite the Quiver Pass core we still gave Calm Mind to Lunala and it worked really great, being able to set up on a lot of mons including Tapu Koko, Pheromosa and Nihilego (and it was also supposed to easily beat Zygarde 1v1 even though I saw very few of them). Easily the best mon in the tier.

Overall it was a fun competition despite the insane amount of hax this game is, and I hope everyone else had fun as well ^_^
 

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