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Project National Dex Puzzles

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Dead by Daylight

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National Dex Puzzles
co-hosted by Dead by Daylight and Ineros
(art coming soon, hopefully)


Welcome!
The aim of this thread is to help you all improve gamesense, threat recognition, and overall become a better player.

How does this work?
Every week, this thread will be updated with a new puzzle from a game (it'll be a game from ladder, a friendly, or a tournament game).
Please do not post in this thread if you have an answer - instead, DM me and/or Ineros on Smogon with your proposed solution.
The day before the next puzzle is due to be put up, all of the winning solutions will be revealed along with the users who got it correct.


Rules
1. Follow all subforum and forum rules.
2. Do not post in this thread - all answers will be accepted ONLY if they are DM'ed to me or Ineros.
3. There may be multiple correct answers to a puzzle, or just one.

Week
Correct Answerers
 
Without further ado, here is week 1's puzzle! Can you find a line that leads to a win in the long run?

Screenshot 2024-05-07 191712.png

Can you find a winpath against the weakened opposing team?
You have your Terastallization available.
Your opponent has Terastallized Corviknight to Dragon.
Available Information (pokepast.es)
Note: Tera Stellar means unknown Tera.
Your Iron Moth is paralyzed.
The opposing Gliscor is badly poisoned.
Your team
Tapu Koko: 68%
Mega Medicham: 94%
Ferro, Iron Moth, Weav, Lando: 100%

Your opponent's team
Corviknight: 72%
Toxapex: 97% (will be 100% next switch-in)
Kartana & Glisc: 100%
 
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man ive actually been thinking of something almost exactly like this (what if chess puzzles, but pokemon?) for a long time now, this has amazing potential and im looking forward to seeing this progress altho i dont think ill participate much myself anyway uhh do stuff with weav and koko i guess
 
Hey all, here were the potential solutions people came up with for the puzzle
winning the game is dependent on good positioning with the Medicham
hard switch to Lando and then into Ferrothorn in order to force out the obvious Scarf Kartana.
immediately click leech seed on the switch out
if either Corv or Gliscor switch in
then hard switch to weavile
neither are staying in and Pex is the only thing that can stand up to Band Weavile so you can hard switch into Mega Medicham in order to force damage against the opponent by spamming Zen Headbutt
(reading the kart switch in can force more progress but there isn't a huge need since you have multiple outs against it in the back and you're still forcing damage on it anyways)
whatever mon they switch into, progress is forced and it will eventually circle back to Kartana needing to come back on the field to deal with Medicham
go back to step 1
If Toxapex switches in
Stay in with Ferro for as long as feels comfortable (risking scald isn't that important)
catching Toxapex as it recovers, switch into Tapu Koko
there is no reason Pex would stay in with Weavile existing so click u-turn into Weavile on the Gliscor/Corv switch in
proceed to step 3.2
repeat this until Kartana is worn down, then proceed to clean up with Medicham
By Runo

tapu koko can elec-z pex, if glisc is brought in then weav beats it. if kart stays in iron moth forces it out / tapu koko can elec-z pex, if glisc is brought in then weav beats it. if kart stays in iron moth forces it out
By About15gals

From the screenshot position, Kartana has been sent in to eliminate Mega Medicham, so you can expect it will be either CB or SD or Lorb (sets which will ohko medicham from this position).

Medicham must be conserved to break gliscor/pex/corv – must switch out here.

Going into lando is best here, as a CB kartana will ohko moth.

Depending on how much damage you take if it attacks, you can determine the kartana’s item and how to retaliate in future.

Click u-turn, going to moth if kartana is still in.

Kartana will switch out if moth, so use u-turn to bring in koko.

Else, koko and use defog. (koko doesn't have it)

At this point, corviknight is likely to be in – use u-turn and get in lando to use toxic.

From here, you can use u-turn again into koko and use roost to stall out its brave birds and recovery as corv succumbs to toxic.

Now that hazards are gone, you’re free to (safely) switch between weavile, lando to deal with corv, gliscor and pex.

Upon each kartana switch in, you will be able to go to moth and remove it through a pivot with lando-t.

Sorry, this was a bit spammy lol
By Kieraemilia

For this week, me and Dead By Daylight have decided to declare kieraemilia and Runo the winners! Congrats!

and by the way, we also made a solution of our own that was the baseline for our decision. Here it is:

Our solution was to have Weav break through most of the team besides pex since kart can’t revenge kill since it’s not scarf. When pex would come in, Mmedi would come in and start to force progress immediately, thus leading to a repeat cycle and eventually winning the game.
Our solution

Thanks for participating!
 
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We're back, sorry for the long wait time. This week, we have a puzzle from a key NDWC game.

Week 2
Screenshot 2024-05-28 225801.png

From an outsider's perspective, who has the advantage here?

No information is given as you are a spectator. The game has not started yet.
Team 1 is the one closest to you (the viewer) marked with a 1, while Team 2 is the one farther away marked with a 2.
 
Uhhh, it’s been a while, so I’mma commit the cardinal sin and state my answer

Team 1:
  • Tapu Lele(probably specs or scarf) just clowns on this team, the only pokemon that don’t get wrecked by choiced lele is Diancie-Mega (Also Torkoal and Venus Aur if locked into a choice move)
  • Landorus-Therian‘s defensive, can easily u-turn into lele to brutally destroy, and can deal with Raging Bolt, and can KO Torkoal to not deal with Chlorophyll Venusaur.
  • Heatran gets up stealth rocks, which team 2 is really weak too, as the team can easily force Great Tusk out to prevent spinning(Also Torkoal maybe but gets really chipped down.)
  • Zamazenta looks really threatening if able to get an IronPress off, but is always stopped by Corv dead in it’s tracks.
  • Samurott-Hisui sets up spikes, which again, team 2 is really weak to hazards when your only spinner is getting threatened out in 3 ways, including Hamurott.
  • Mega Venusaur walls Venusaur, so that helps, but overall, it dosen’t do much other than that.
Team 2
  • Mega Diancie is literally the only thing that can feasibly switch into Lele, and can kill if it can get enough chip from SR and other pokemon, and also deals with Heatran, easing up the hazards weakness,
  • Torkoal sets up sun, which is really helpful cause:
  • Venusaur is probably the biggest threat into team 1, sweeps and does the dishes with sun up.
  • Corviknight is really the only thing that can 1v1 Zamazenta, probably Iron Defense instead of Defog, cause Great Tusk + Probably Torkoal + Mega Diancie is way too much removal.
  • Great Tusk is Offensive, breaks down stuff like Heatran, but other than that is kinda useless as it just brings in Lando-T to switch into Lele and one of your pokemon’s gone.
  • Raging bolt does Raging bolt things, lele annoys it a bit but dosen’t wanna switch in, so it kinda just breaks.
Analysis + Answer
Team 1’s
got the lead here,choiced Lele breaks everything and Landorus-Therian deals with the things it can’t, while also letting Tapu Lele switch in to break. I don’t think this is a crazy upset, as Mega Diancie can deal with Lele and Raging Bolt kinda has an easy time after that, especially in sun, however, team 2 is kinda rock weak, and Great Tusk and possibly Torkoal can’t reliably spin here due to Tusk getting threatened by like half the team, and Torkoal gets chipped down easily.

-Lightniong, have a great day
(listen to mr morale and the big steppers by Kendrick Lamar)
 
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Hello again after a couple of months. The answer I came up with for this puzzle is as follows:

Biggest threats:

Team 1
Zamazenta: IDBP rolls over Team 2 if Venusaur is down or even if Sun can't go up again, which can be easy to force. It also threatens out Corviknight, which is a huge plus. It could also be the AoA set, which allows it to deal massive damage to everything barring Torkoal, which hates being chipped anyways. Overall, I'd say Zamazenta is one of, if not the, biggest threats here. The main way to deal with Zama would probably be by chipping it down with Venusaur in Sun and finishing it off with Raging Bolt, but that's harder said than done and it can run away with the game or break the door down for Scarf Lele to win the endgame.

Tapu Lele: Quite a lot of you latched onto the idea that Tapu Lele was the biggest scare to the opponent and I can see why. My thinking here is that Corviknight is very overloaded with defensive duties here, as it has to Defog so that Torkoal doesn't die and come in to answer Mega Venusaur, Landorus-T (which both can Knock Off Corv's HDB, meaning it takes Stealth Rock damage as it comes in repeatedly), and Tapu Lele. I think this composition looks like Scarf Lele and some other Hisuian Samurott set (probably Black Glasses 3A), considering that this team has a robust defensive backbone that aims to wear down Steel-types for Scarf Lele rather than flat-out rip through them (although Heatran does just that). Corviknight is fine here, but it struggles to take on all 3 things it wants to while Defogging without its Boots.

Team 2

Venusaur: Team 1 horribly struggles to switch into Venusaur, with a Heatran that I could easily see being offensive and a Lando that gets flat-out 2HKOed by Weather Ball in Sun. However, Mega Venusaur is actually a surprisingly decent counter, with Weather Ball only having a 0.4% chance to 2HKO and Sludge Bomb from Mega Venusaur having a 88.4% to do so in return. Additionally, 75% Synthesis allows Mega Venusaur to mow through sun turns and neutralize the biggest threat. Unfortunately, if it sets up a Growth, it becomes a game of sacrifices, but it can't go for a Growth on Mega Venusaur or Heatran considering a +2 Weather Ball in Sun just barely misses out on a OHKO and Sludge Bomb 2HKOs back most of the time while Magma Storm evaporates Venusaur. The only real Growth target is Lando-T. This is handicapped by Sun though.

Raging Bolt: Mega Venusaur is actually a rather capable answer to the standard CM set, never being OHKOed by Proto-boosted Draco while 2HKOing back with EP. Unfortunately, Dragonium Z decimates Mega Venu and the rest of the team is pretty weak to it, meaning it's overall a larger threat on the team. This does, however, become a massive issue if Tapu Lele comes in and blocks Thunderclap.

Overall, I'd say Team 1 has the advantage here. Growth Venusaur and Raging Bolt are impossible to stop over the long run, true - however, the fact that Scarf Tapu Lele and Zamazenta (or Specs, as some suggested) completely steamroll the opposing team by forcing chip damage on their common answers while being able to be brought in by safe pivots means that Team 1 likely has the advantage here. This is a puzzle that I'd say has no definitive answer on team preview and answers went both ways; however, the crux for me is that correct prediction (or Air Balloon offensive Heatran) makes it hell for Torkoal to set sun up and to get into Venusaur without taking major chip damage or sacrificing something else to force this progress. Additionally, Team 1 does have limited-time checks and things it can burn in order to make dealing with the two biggest threats in Venusaur and Raging Bolt, while Team 2 really doesn't have much besides Mega Diancie and Great Tusk before it starts sacrificing things it really needs for its gameplan. Additionally, Corviknight being the only safe pivot opens up a whole host of opportunities for Heatran to come in and throw off attacks, and considering it's a major threat, that is not what Team 2 wants to allow to happen. Overall, if both players play just as well as one another, Team 1 should win, but there is certainly room for an outplay.

Shoutouts to all of those who submitted an answer:

Duck Chris
kieraemilia
NightEmerald
Medasus
Lightniong
sh0shin
Nish the Great

This week, everyone made quite compelling arguments for why either team should win to the point where I don't think anyone is necessarily right or wrong here. Thanks for the participation and opinions.

Another puzzle will be up soon. Sorry for the long hiatus.
 
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