1. What did you think was the biggest challenge when not being allowed to use any of the restricted Pokemon? Was it overcomeable?
- The biggest challenge, at least for me, was refraining from using them. More than once, my eyes looked at at least one of those ten and hoped to use it on my team. There's a reason why they are top ten. They each cover a lot of top threats. Since I do not like Hippowdon that much, I would especially have liked to use Tyranitar, since Rain teams got on my nerves.
2. How did you feel the challenge tested your metagame skill? Did it make playing much harder, or were you still able to leaderboard with relative ease.
- Actually, I may have found out something about myself. I've always been the type of offensive type concerning Pokemon, though every single team I made, became boring after a while. But the team I used to get 1850 was actually funny to use. I laddered with quite ease, though I found out, that Rain Stall teams should just burn somewhere hot. Annoying as.. You decide.
3. What is your opinion on how overpowered the Pokemon that you were not allowed to use, but were required to face? Were they too strong to deal with, are there metagame shifts you would consider to correct this? Please don't derail the thread with a constant debate over this point, only reply once you've won!
- Okay. I faced Breloom in the 3 or 4 last matches I played to get 1850. LO TechniLoom is really annoying, but I got lucky with him only hitting 2 Bullet Seeds every time he used it (Except one time where 3 hit). I think I faced Starmie once, which wasn't really a problem at all. I haven't used it that much, so I do not know what it is supposed to do, besides spinning. Gliscor, met him once or twice, not a problem - I have got both an Ice Beam user and an Ice Punch Guts user. I faced Jirachi twice, which didn't accomplish much else than setting up Rocks and annoying me with Body Slam + Iron Head. Tyranitar was not that popular - Sandstorm teams was not a problem at all. After throwing away Machamp and adding Porygon2 with Trace, Heatran didn't annoy me at all. I faced a lot of Dragonites, but my team handled it well. Scizor - Not seen that much in the 18 matches I played (Plus those when testing - Which may be around 15 to 20), could have been a problem, luckily he kept his face away. Then there's Ferrothorn, which kept annoying me. The standard set walled me much, though he lacks some kind of recovery move instead of Leech Seed (A Skarmory stalled me for 10-15 turns once, because of Sturdy and Roost - I had 3 'mons with Super Effective moves left when it started). Politoed should just burn. Really. I HATE Rain Stall teams, which gave me the most troubles. I almost got Swept once by a Acid Armor Vaporeon with Hydration under Rain. The one game I lost was to a Chansey + Rain Dish Tentacruel core, which I couldn't hit at all. I almost changed my team to check that combo, but kept it the way it started out. I hope Rain teams fall out of favor - Mostly the Defensive ones. Offensive Rain teams were easily handled
4. What team style did you use, and how did it fare against the metagame? Were there team styles you couldn't beat? (As an aside, please share your team with an importable! It'll be fun to disect those, and you may even be featured in a Smog article!)
- I used Trick Room! And it fared very well. For the first 5 matches, my Chandelure was the main sweeper. Then I started seeing Rain teams where he couldn't do much and after that, I got too pressured to switch him in. Really, what kept me in the match most of the times, was the offensive pressure from Reuniclus, GutsConkeldurr and ScarfMoxieMence and the defensive side EvioliteP2 brought to the time, tanking everything. Bronzong was there to start off the match with Trick Room and go BOOM! most of the times. Though Bronzong was good enough at coming in later to tank a hit from Dragonite, set up Trick Room and go BOOM!.. I didn't use him that much.
5. What is your personal opinion on this challenge?
- It was REALLY fun to play. Before making the Trick Room team, I scratched 2 other teams (Though one of them had D-nite on it, so it wouldn't count anyways). Being restricted helped me come up with a team that I liked, so I enjoyed this challenge. Though it was intense, since I am the kind of guy that gets nervous - "What if I lose this one?" went through my mind, every time I clicked the "Find a battle" button - But hey! I got to 1850!
