What's up guys, Benja299 here, with what will most likely be my final serious contribution to the Smogon forums (some people might say it's my first/only serious contribution, but that's rude :P). Recent events have lead me to believe that I'm not liked or accepted within the Smogon Doubles community, and therefore, I have decided to take my leave for the good of the community. Before I vanish, however, I would like to leave this community with my experience on this wonderful site (AKA teams + some boring anecdotes zzzz), and document my experience on the PS! server. I first joined PS! after learning of its existence from a good friend of mine. I had always wanted to participate in VGC tournaments, but due to my situation at home, I was unable to. In PS!, my friend had shown me the gateway to competitive battling, just like I had always wanted. After stealing some teams from RMTs, I was beginning to think that I was pretty good at the game, and I didn't think there was anything that could hold me back. One day, I was reading through Nuggetbridge articles, when I just happened to come across Wolfe Glicke's article http://nuggetbridge.com/reports/eggscelent-execution/. His use of Exeggutor fascinated me, and I wanted to use his team as soon as possible. To my dismay, some of the Pokemon on his team were not legal for VGC 2014 use. I had to turn to a different format of battling: Battle Spot Doubles. Clicking "Find Battle" on the Battle Spot Doubles ladder was going to change my experience dramatically, as it was most likely the single event that led me to even participate in Smogon Doubles. In the first battle I found, the user Kortex joined my battle. He silently watched me defeat my opponent, and as soon as the battle ended, he asked me if I wanted to battle him. I confidently accepted, because there was no reason for me not to. In the following replay of our battle http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/xybattlespotdoubles-124709406, I got completely rolled up and tossed aside. I had never suffered such a humiliating defeat, and I was in complete awe at my opponent. Long story short, Kortex thought I had potential, so he decided to help me improve. He made me my very first own team team, which I was to use for my entire Battle Spot Doubles career. Under his guidance, I very quickly reached the top ten of the Battle Spot ladder, and then the top 5. Kortex quickly became my best friend on this site, and it was he who prompted me to join the Doubles room for the first time. Upon joining, I was greeted by the extremely friendly Pinoy Pwnage, Memoric, and Shaian. These people are responsible for some of my best memories (get it ;]) in the Doubles room, and I <3 them forever. I soon became a Doubles room regular, and it became easily my favorite place to hang out on the internet.
Shortly after I joined the Doubles room, Pinoy started a clan called WPE. The requirements for joining were achieving a ranking of 1500 or higher on a doubles ladder. I didn't quite have the requirements due to losing a large number of consecutive games, but after some dedicated laddering, I achieved a ranking of 1502. The WPE clan turned out to be a disaster--getting shut down after only a couple days--but it allowed me to cement my friendship with Pinoy. He and I remained great friends for the rest of my time on his site, and I'll be there to watch his invitational battles. After perusing the sample teams thread, I was able to make my own team by changing a couple of the pokemon on Lolk's sample team. The RMT for this team can be found here: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/teamalts-wreckage-my-first-doubles-team.3510980/.
I began laddering with this team, and in a short amount of time, I ran into finally on the ladder. We had an amazing match, and if I remember correctly, I won by an extremely slim margin ( I didn't save this replay, so finally can confirm the result if it matters to anyone). Since he had never seen me before, he invited me to make a Smogon account. He also invited me to skype with him and the rest of the crew (KyleCole, Haruno, shrop05, yohoE, TGMD, and Lady Gaga). They very quickly became very good friends of mine (Haruno and yohoE constantly talked shit to me at first, but I quickly realized that this way their way of expressing friendship :P), and they're my fave buddies <3. The next body of events are all a blur to me, and lots of my descriptions of the next time period may be innaccurate/half-assed, so bear with me. After being a positive room presence for a long time, I was promoted to Roomvoice. During the next month or two, I became friends with Hashtag, thebagman, SpaceBass, qsns, wllmagic, xzern, Anty, Nollan, Qwertypops, Dashspin, champetero, SocialSocialSocial, Pikov, 13ulbasaur, pomodoro, Makolicious, and many others. I treasure all of these people and the ones I may have forgotten to name, and it's really hard to say goodbye. The following paragraphs are just detailed discussions of important thing that occurred during the period of me being voice.
My youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAE4vQAiMqjUz2qB9SgUwiQ :]
In the words of Arcticblast: "Thats all, folks!" This writing is but an abbreviation of my experience on Smogon and PS!, but I'm pretty sure I covered all of the important parts. Also, I would like to leave the community with the teams that I not only had a lot of success with, but that shaped me as a player and as a teambuilder. Although I have many teams that I would consider my best teams (the amount of time I spend teambuilding is crazy o.0), these three teams stand out for me. The first one is probably my favorite team that I've ever built, the second one is a team chosen from 6 or so that I made at the peak of my teambuilding/battling experience, and the third is the team that marks an era of building successful teams with unorthodox mons/sets.
My beloved Mega Gyarados team. I used this team against TRC in g3 of our legendary series, but rock slide is uncompetitive. I then used this team in botw, and won with it. This is an extremely solid Mega Gyarados team, which is centered around redirection with set-up, and bulky offense. One must remove Mega Gyarados' checks, and then dance to win!
The idea of using dual swift swim rain fascinated me, and led me to make this gem of a team. I like to think that this is a really solid team, but it loses to Sand Semi TR (lol memoric). Haruno beat Pwnemon with this team in doubles major, and I've used it a ton of times to win roomtour matches and other fun games.
This is the last/latest successful team that I made for the XY doubles format, and it is one of my favorite teams. It is a balance team based around Mega Blastoise, and it is extremely fun to use. Also, I heard that some random somehow got their hands on this team (probably via KyleCole) and beat Arcticblast with it, which I thought was really funny.
Additional shoutouts:
Pwnemon you're an awesome and skilled tier leader :]
Arcticblast Very cool guy and amazing battler
Level 51 <3 my fave GMT +3478932 buddy :] You always made the room not be boring at night
Electrolyte Cool RO, always puts the perspective back in PS!
Audiosurfer Awesome RO, you taught me showdown etiquette, and we had some cool discussions :]
Mizuhime We had lots of really fun battles. You are the definition of an amazing "sparring partner", always using fun teams, but still challenging me to play at my highest level!
Joryn and mouse de frank and GiraGoomy for being literally the cutest
Everyone else. If I forgot you, it isn't because I don't love you. It's because I am remembering so many people that it's hard to keep track lol.
Shortly after I joined the Doubles room, Pinoy started a clan called WPE. The requirements for joining were achieving a ranking of 1500 or higher on a doubles ladder. I didn't quite have the requirements due to losing a large number of consecutive games, but after some dedicated laddering, I achieved a ranking of 1502. The WPE clan turned out to be a disaster--getting shut down after only a couple days--but it allowed me to cement my friendship with Pinoy. He and I remained great friends for the rest of my time on his site, and I'll be there to watch his invitational battles. After perusing the sample teams thread, I was able to make my own team by changing a couple of the pokemon on Lolk's sample team. The RMT for this team can be found here: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/teamalts-wreckage-my-first-doubles-team.3510980/.
I began laddering with this team, and in a short amount of time, I ran into finally on the ladder. We had an amazing match, and if I remember correctly, I won by an extremely slim margin ( I didn't save this replay, so finally can confirm the result if it matters to anyone). Since he had never seen me before, he invited me to make a Smogon account. He also invited me to skype with him and the rest of the crew (KyleCole, Haruno, shrop05, yohoE, TGMD, and Lady Gaga). They very quickly became very good friends of mine (Haruno and yohoE constantly talked shit to me at first, but I quickly realized that this way their way of expressing friendship :P), and they're my fave buddies <3. The next body of events are all a blur to me, and lots of my descriptions of the next time period may be innaccurate/half-assed, so bear with me. After being a positive room presence for a long time, I was promoted to Roomvoice. During the next month or two, I became friends with Hashtag, thebagman, SpaceBass, qsns, wllmagic, xzern, Anty, Nollan, Qwertypops, Dashspin, champetero, SocialSocialSocial, Pikov, 13ulbasaur, pomodoro, Makolicious, and many others. I treasure all of these people and the ones I may have forgotten to name, and it's really hard to say goodbye. The following paragraphs are just detailed discussions of important thing that occurred during the period of me being voice.
Skip this paragraph if you hate idiots (you've been warned)
Many people have asked me what the word "eZ" means. Well, I guess you could say, it's a personal quest. It's a sort of red herring; it can mean anything and everything. For me, it was the source of life and happiness. Nah just kidding, it literally means "easy", but in a more insulting way. However, due to many people saying eZ after me introducing it, it almost did become a way of life. If you say "eZ", you're affiliated with Benja: either as a friend, or an acquaintance. eZ helped me to determine friend from foe, and it also set a fun trend in the chat that still continues to this day. Also, eZiolite is the best item; it literally wins games.Banjotown Craze
After the the user Piexplode (<3) brought the existence of the pokecommunity server to my attention, I got a crazy idea. Why not make my own room, where my friends and I could hang out without having a single care in the "world"? This room, dubbed "Banjotown", had extreme success. One time, we had almost as many users as the main chat. I was in complete awe at the quality of the chat; one time, we had an extensive discussion on the merits of different megas, and everyone had an amazing time. I'll definitely be there more often now, so it would be amazing if all the old Banjotown homies could hop on more often as well! :DNew Tier Exploration
Although I can never claimed that I have ever found doubles to be boring, it is understandable that after playing the same tier for a long time, one would want to explore new tiers. Besides doubles, I have played Ubers, OU, and Gen 4 OU. I extremely enjoy all three of those, and out of them, Ubers is most likely my favorite. My relationship with the Ubers room is like the definition of tsundere. While I do love trolling my Ubers homies, they know as well as I do that I can be serious, and contribute to the room in a positive way. I'm garbage at teambuilding for Ubers, but I've played some good games, and I always have fun when playing the tier (it's my favorite tier besides Doubles). Shoutout to Steeljackal<3 for trying to help me get good, but ultimately failing, because I'd rather click moves than make plays n_n. Gen 4 OU is an amazing tier. If not for the lack of opponents to play against, it would most likely be my favorite tier besides Doubles. I've battled finally in that tier countless times, but I eventually got sick of losing to Celebi. Also, shoutout to yohoE for 6-0ing me with Serene Grace Parafullpara master Raikou; Thunderbolt is truly an overpowered move. Gen 6 OU is a very fun tier, but I'm not a big fan of 50/50s, so I'm not very good at it. Shoutout to my boy Shunz for trying to help me get good at OU, but achieving similar results to Steeljackal.My youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAE4vQAiMqjUz2qB9SgUwiQ :]
Doubles Major
Doubles major marked the beginning of my downfall. I signed up, thinking that this would be my big chance to prove myself. With a 4-2 record in the group stage, (thanks finally, Dashspin, and TRC for the great games), I was feeling reasonably confident. I had to play TRC again to determine whether or not I would move on to the elimination stages. For anyone who doesn't know the story of Benja299 vs TRC, it was the most dramatic series I've ever played, and an unbelievable amount of hax lead to my loss, and elimination from the doubles major tournament. After this, I began to doubt Pokemon, and I began to be in a much worse mood every day on PS! People quickly realized what was going on, and a lot of people were calling me out for being shitty. Shortly after my battle vs TRC, I was promoted to Room Driver, but it was clear that there were other things on my mind besides being a positive chat presence. It didn't help that many of the awful users that plague the Doubles room would torment me, and call me out every time I used any of the commands available to me when moderating the chat. I took my anger out on the forums, posting bad rates on the teams of users partially responsible for my bad mood, and getting into unnecessary arguments in threads such as he np thread. Eventually, the Room Owners had had enough of me being but a shadow of my former self, and my rank of Room Driver was stripped from me. The shame of getting demoted was too much for me, just like the realization of how much my personality had deteriorated.In the words of Arcticblast: "Thats all, folks!" This writing is but an abbreviation of my experience on Smogon and PS!, but I'm pretty sure I covered all of the important parts. Also, I would like to leave the community with the teams that I not only had a lot of success with, but that shaped me as a player and as a teambuilder. Although I have many teams that I would consider my best teams (the amount of time I spend teambuilding is crazy o.0), these three teams stand out for me. The first one is probably my favorite team that I've ever built, the second one is a team chosen from 6 or so that I made at the peak of my teambuilding/battling experience, and the third is the team that marks an era of building successful teams with unorthodox mons/sets.
Mylogenesis (Gyarados-Mega) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 208 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Protect
Qomodo (Amoonguss) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Rage Powder
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Protect
Quando (Heatran) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 180 HP / 124 SpA / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
- Ancient Power
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Protect
Imperfecta (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Superpower
Cogito (Latios) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 32 HP / 224 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Protect
Quo Vadis (Conkeldurr) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
EVs: 108 HP / 168 Atk / 104 Def / 128 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Ice Punch
- Knock Off
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 208 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Protect
Qomodo (Amoonguss) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Rage Powder
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Protect
Quando (Heatran) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 180 HP / 124 SpA / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
- Ancient Power
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Protect
Imperfecta (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Superpower
Cogito (Latios) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 32 HP / 224 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Protect
Quo Vadis (Conkeldurr) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
EVs: 108 HP / 168 Atk / 104 Def / 128 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Ice Punch
- Knock Off
My beloved Mega Gyarados team. I used this team against TRC in g3 of our legendary series, but rock slide is uncompetitive. I then used this team in botw, and won with it. This is an extremely solid Mega Gyarados team, which is centered around redirection with set-up, and bulky offense. One must remove Mega Gyarados' checks, and then dance to win!
Prejac Scum (Talonflame) @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 208 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost
- Protect
Resilience (Aegislash) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
- King's Shield
- Wide Guard
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
HC King (Politoed) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 68 SpD / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Helping Hand
- Icy Wind
- Protect
Imagine ______ (Kingdra) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 232 HP / 252 SpA / 24 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Muddy Water
- Disable
- Protect
The New Age (Manectric) @ Manectite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Protect
- Snarl
Lazy As Fuck (Ludicolo) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 108 HP / 252 SpA / 148 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fake Out
- Giga Drain
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 208 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost
- Protect
Resilience (Aegislash) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
- King's Shield
- Wide Guard
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
HC King (Politoed) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 68 SpD / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Helping Hand
- Icy Wind
- Protect
Imagine ______ (Kingdra) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 232 HP / 252 SpA / 24 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Muddy Water
- Disable
- Protect
The New Age (Manectric) @ Manectite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Protect
- Snarl
Lazy As Fuck (Ludicolo) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 108 HP / 252 SpA / 148 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fake Out
- Giga Drain
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
The idea of using dual swift swim rain fascinated me, and led me to make this gem of a team. I like to think that this is a really solid team, but it loses to Sand Semi TR (lol memoric). Haruno beat Pwnemon with this team in doubles major, and I've used it a ton of times to win roomtour matches and other fun games.
Greninja (Blastoise-Mega) @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 144 HP / 252 SpA / 40 SpD / 72 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Aura Sphere
- Dragon Pulse
- Protect
Whimsicott (Amoonguss) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 80 Def / 180 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Protect
Fletchinder (Talonflame) @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Tailwind
- Protect
Terrakion (Tyranitar) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Rock Slide
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
Metagross (Cresselia) (F) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 224 SpA / 16 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Trick Room
- Helping Hand
- Ice Beam
- Psyshock
Klefki (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Superpower
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 144 HP / 252 SpA / 40 SpD / 72 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Aura Sphere
- Dragon Pulse
- Protect
Whimsicott (Amoonguss) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 80 Def / 180 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Protect
Fletchinder (Talonflame) @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Tailwind
- Protect
Terrakion (Tyranitar) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Rock Slide
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
Metagross (Cresselia) (F) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 224 SpA / 16 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Trick Room
- Helping Hand
- Ice Beam
- Psyshock
Klefki (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Superpower
This is the last/latest successful team that I made for the XY doubles format, and it is one of my favorite teams. It is a balance team based around Mega Blastoise, and it is extremely fun to use. Also, I heard that some random somehow got their hands on this team (probably via KyleCole) and beat Arcticblast with it, which I thought was really funny.
Additional shoutouts:
Pwnemon you're an awesome and skilled tier leader :]
Arcticblast Very cool guy and amazing battler
Level 51 <3 my fave GMT +3478932 buddy :] You always made the room not be boring at night
Electrolyte Cool RO, always puts the perspective back in PS!
Audiosurfer Awesome RO, you taught me showdown etiquette, and we had some cool discussions :]
Mizuhime We had lots of really fun battles. You are the definition of an amazing "sparring partner", always using fun teams, but still challenging me to play at my highest level!
Joryn and mouse de frank and GiraGoomy for being literally the cutest
Everyone else. If I forgot you, it isn't because I don't love you. It's because I am remembering so many people that it's hard to keep track lol.
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