Let's start at the beginning with the evolution of my team. I don't know why I like the team that much but it's simplicity and sometimes efficiency were just awesome.
It started early this year when there was no team preview. I played a little bit Black and White OU as the games were released in Japan so I knew a little bit about the Pokemon. I tested some basic Thundurus/Landorus strategies when I remembered how good Kyogres Water Spout was last year and how much damage Draco Meteors could cause.
I knew that Jellicents Spout wasn't as hard hitting as Kyogres but could at least 2hko most Pokemon, which didn't resist water. It had to be scarfed to get one full powered Spout almost all the time and Amoonguss was just the right partner to let it survive the first turn with much health. In the back Hydreigon could absorb all ghost and dark attacks coming from a troublesome Chandelure+Scrafty lead. It has the hardest Draco Meteor in the metagame and thanks to a White Herb it could attack two times with full power. It took some time to find a good forth Pokemon. I tried the fake outers but it didn't really work. Than came Volcarona, which worked pretty good, but with it I had huge trouble against Trickroom teams. So the next Pokemon was Foongus. It was nearly as good as Amoonguss in surviving hit after hit to keep the hard hitters Jellicent and Hydreigon alive and it's even better against Trickroom teams because it's slower than Musharna.
The team of Jellicent/Amoonguss/Foongus/Hydreigon fared pretty well and got me in the top 10 of the skarmbliss server with a little bit of luck just before team preview was announced. Than it all came crumbling down. I had huge problems with adjusting to team preview but thanks to druck_duck I found the right Pokemon to keep the team theme and start winning again. I remembered that Volcarona was good and helped me a lot and with team preview I could guess if my opponent had a Trickroom team. Life Orb Terrakion was a nice hard hitter, which complements the team well. Surprisingly, I got in the top 10 again and stayed there a few days so I thought, I had my team, started to rng it and developed a team for my brother.
Around three or two weeks ago I decided on a simple Trickroom team for my brother because he had experience with them. I restarted playing with my team to get the feeling for the team back and I kept losing and losing to my horror. I tried out many other Pokemon like Thundurus, Scrafty, fast Amoonguss ... but I never stayed long over 1200 points and fell back to even under 1100 pretty often. In the end I decided to use my old team which was at least successful a month ago so here it is:
DROPSI (Foongus) @ Eviolite
Trait: Effect Spore
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Protect
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Spore
Simple max HP and even defenses EV-spread to survive as long as possible.
STOPSI (Amoonguss) @ Coba Berry
Trait: Effect Spore
EVs: 156 HP / 132 Def / 4 SAtk / 196 SDef / 20 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Protect
Max speed Amoonguss is to frail for this kind of team but the little bit speed creep has to be against other mushrooms. Coba Berry helps mostly against physical Acrobatics so there are more special defense EVs.
FLAPPSI (Volcarona) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rage Powder
- Heat Wave
- Bug Buzz
- Protect
Bulky spreads don't help much with its rock and flying weaknesses so max special attack and speed are quite obvious.
MOPSI (Hydreigon) @ White Herb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Surf
- Protect
Modest and White Herb to hit as hard as possible with Draco Meteor. Surf is a relict of the time without team preview as the team needed the spread move but thanks to Volcarona there isn't the need for a fire attack so it stayed.
STUPSI (Terrakion) @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Rock Slide
- Close Combat
- Quick Attack
- Protect
The decision between Life Orb and Chople Berry was hard but the mushrooms and Volcarona should keep the fighting attacks away from Terrakion.
KLOPSI (Jellicent) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Water Spout
- Blizzard
- Shadow Ball
- Hydro Pump
Blizzard is needed against something like Amoonguss + Haxorus and the game is already much luck so why not? Hydro Pump is necessary too because Scald doesn't hit hard enough.
The week before the VGC stop in Cologne was pretty chaotic. I still had to rng and train the whole team for my brother and there were some misunderstandings between my brother and me so nobody booked tickets the weeks before. I looked up the night train, which we wanted to take, in the internet on monday and saw that there were no places free in the sleeper car. I couldn't book the tickets then because I don't have a credit card. Tuesday, I wanted to buy the tickets for the normal cars just to see that there weren't any left so we had to take the first train in the morning on saturday and hope that there isn't to much delay or have a 4 hours waiting period in the night in a train station. After long discussions we decided to take the first option, with which we would be around 11 a.m. at the VGC venue. Friday was a big fire near the railway so they had to redirect the trains to Cologne, which caused over 90 minutes delay. Thankfully they got the fire under control in the evening.
On saturday, I get up around 3 a.m. after 2 hours of sleep and meet up with my brother on the way to the central station. Mc Donald's was the only open shop before 5 a.m. so we had a nice burger breakfast before boarding the train. The last Pokemon was battle ready an hour later so we tried to get some sleep, which wouldn't really come. Around half the way the train stopped suddenly and stood there for about half an hour. They had problems with the second part of the train but we could travel further just not at maximum speed. We had around an hour delay in Cologne so we went direct to the venue without lunch. Thankfully we weren't to late, got our wristbands and meet up with the Bavarians and some other people. Thanks to all the delays we hadn't to wait long and it came the time to battle.
First battle vs. Julian with Hydreigon, Eelektross, Scrafty, ?
His team was full of standard Pokemons. He sends out an Eelektross and a shiny Hydreigon and I started to get really nervous because I thought he knew of the rng. I started with Amoonguss and Jellicent and go for the Water Spout and Rage Powder to get the 2hko on Eelektross and damage the Hydreigon a little bit. His Hydreigon used Hyper Voice and I got more comfortable. I manage the 4-0 with a nearly ko Amoonguss. He knew about EVs but hadn't EV trained because he came to the vgc spontaneously.
gg
Second battle vs. Diana with Chandelure, Samurott, ?, ?
She had many standard Pokemons in her team too and I got pretty nervous again. I choose Amoonguss and Jellicent for the second time as starters. She started with Chandelure and Samurott if I remember right. I go for the Water Spout and Spore on Samurott. Her Chandelure survives thanks to a Focus Sash and nearly kos my Jellicent with a Shadow Ball. I don't remember what Samurott did but it gets 2hkot in the next turns with Giga Drain. She gets my Jellicent down but Terrakion can ko her last two Pokemon.
gg
I stand there waiting before the third battle together with MewMisaki and Fatum but thankfully there was no table free and three other people got their battles over in time so they let us friend rule.
Third battle vs. "Luz" with Hydreigon, Carracosta, Landorus, ?
I get seated at the same table as my brother who was the last to finish the first round and got a bye in the second because there was no opponent left. The person responsible for our table sees that we are brothers and starts to wishs us luck and goes on about how I look like Jesus and Kurt Cobain but now to the battle. I started a third time with Amoonguss and Jellicent and he started with Hydreigon and Carracosta. I go for the Blizzard and miss his Hydreigon but get the hit on Carracosta. I put his Hydreigon to sleep in the first turn after it nearly kos my Jellicent. I believe his Carracosta used Blizzard too in the first turn and got a chritical hit on Amoonguss which didn't matter because it survived and got his health back in the second turn with Giga Drain as his Carracosta used Wide Guard. The Blizzard missed his Hydreigon again in the third turn but ohkos his Landorus. His Hydreigon wakes up and finishes my Jellicent just to get spored the second time. I don't remember his last Pokemon but I believe Volcarona kos it and finally his Hydreigon.
gg
We hadn't to play a forth round and were just 28 people in the Finalists Lounge. I believe there would have been one more finalist but the 29. had hacked Pokemon. I believe over 20 of this 28 people knew each other in some way so everybody knew that the rest of the competition would be pretty tough. I wasn't one of the lucky four to get a bye and had to go at a table together with drug_duck. Of course we sat next to each other so that we hadn't to battle each other. It was the same table as in the third round but this time I had to play on the TV. My one and only fan informs me that none who had been broadcasted at this staton won that day as I wait for my opponent. To my horror a short time later DaFlo takes the seat opposite to me.
Top 32 vs. DaFlo
I don't know if this battle finds its way to youtube but since DaFlo will be at the LCQ at worlds I won't write much about the battle. I think I had a little team advantage with my choice of Pokemon. I predicted the first two or three turns right and get two lucky burns from Heat Wave and Flame Body. After that he couldn't do much so I won my first VGC match against an opponent, who is good and known, after losing to Fatum in the first and to a Belgian in the second VGC.
gg DaFlo
Top16 vs. Flame with Tornadus, Darmanitan, Terrakion, Cinccino
I didn't know what to choose. In the end I started with Amoonguss and Jellicent with Volcarona and Terrakion in the back. I should have used Protect with Amoonguss in the first round but I wasn't sure how much damage Darmanitans Flare Blitz can do to my Jellicent so I choose Rage Powder and Water Spout. His Tornadus used Substitute in the first turn. I bring Volcarona and he brings Cinccino. In the next turn Volcarona and Cinccino protect while Tornados gets the Tailwind up and survives the Water Spout. Now I know that my only hope is that his Cinccino is adamant and slower than Tornadus. It wasn't so it could ko my Rage Powdering Volcarona with Rock Blast before Tornadus ohkoed my Jellicent. My Terrakion hadn't a chance against the Bullet Seed.
It's a little bit annoying that I made this huge mistake in the first round but who knows if I wouldn't have lost regardless.
gg Flame
After the battling, I saw the Bavarians dominate the last three rounds and cheered them on with the others. The semifinals were quiet nice to watch. The final was decided after the third turn with a misspredict from Hilikus and a flinch if I remember right. Before I forget to mention it: Congratulations to MewMisaki and Hilikus
My brother and I stayed as long as we could but we had to drive home the same day. Sadly, the interviews and so on took much time so that we had to go even before the probably awesome celebration started. On the way home the train had a delay too because of police investigation and people on the railway so that I wasn't home before midnight. After 13 hours of sleep, I started to write this warstory instead of working on my master thesis. I hope it was readable despite all the error404s.
Pros:
+ Top16
+ first win against a good and known opponent
+ people I know won
+ awesome staff member who cheered me on
+ placed better than my brother for the first time
+
my team
Cons:
- no time to celebrate
- probably losing because of my own mistake (for the third VGC in a row)
- Deutsche Bahn
- lunch at 5 p.m. after breakfast at 4:30 a.m.
- neither my brother nor me in the top2 so no 3DS for me
It started early this year when there was no team preview. I played a little bit Black and White OU as the games were released in Japan so I knew a little bit about the Pokemon. I tested some basic Thundurus/Landorus strategies when I remembered how good Kyogres Water Spout was last year and how much damage Draco Meteors could cause.
I knew that Jellicents Spout wasn't as hard hitting as Kyogres but could at least 2hko most Pokemon, which didn't resist water. It had to be scarfed to get one full powered Spout almost all the time and Amoonguss was just the right partner to let it survive the first turn with much health. In the back Hydreigon could absorb all ghost and dark attacks coming from a troublesome Chandelure+Scrafty lead. It has the hardest Draco Meteor in the metagame and thanks to a White Herb it could attack two times with full power. It took some time to find a good forth Pokemon. I tried the fake outers but it didn't really work. Than came Volcarona, which worked pretty good, but with it I had huge trouble against Trickroom teams. So the next Pokemon was Foongus. It was nearly as good as Amoonguss in surviving hit after hit to keep the hard hitters Jellicent and Hydreigon alive and it's even better against Trickroom teams because it's slower than Musharna.
The team of Jellicent/Amoonguss/Foongus/Hydreigon fared pretty well and got me in the top 10 of the skarmbliss server with a little bit of luck just before team preview was announced. Than it all came crumbling down. I had huge problems with adjusting to team preview but thanks to druck_duck I found the right Pokemon to keep the team theme and start winning again. I remembered that Volcarona was good and helped me a lot and with team preview I could guess if my opponent had a Trickroom team. Life Orb Terrakion was a nice hard hitter, which complements the team well. Surprisingly, I got in the top 10 again and stayed there a few days so I thought, I had my team, started to rng it and developed a team for my brother.
Around three or two weeks ago I decided on a simple Trickroom team for my brother because he had experience with them. I restarted playing with my team to get the feeling for the team back and I kept losing and losing to my horror. I tried out many other Pokemon like Thundurus, Scrafty, fast Amoonguss ... but I never stayed long over 1200 points and fell back to even under 1100 pretty often. In the end I decided to use my old team which was at least successful a month ago so here it is:
DROPSI (Foongus) @ Eviolite
Trait: Effect Spore
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Protect
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Spore
Simple max HP and even defenses EV-spread to survive as long as possible.
STOPSI (Amoonguss) @ Coba Berry
Trait: Effect Spore
EVs: 156 HP / 132 Def / 4 SAtk / 196 SDef / 20 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Protect
Max speed Amoonguss is to frail for this kind of team but the little bit speed creep has to be against other mushrooms. Coba Berry helps mostly against physical Acrobatics so there are more special defense EVs.
FLAPPSI (Volcarona) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rage Powder
- Heat Wave
- Bug Buzz
- Protect
Bulky spreads don't help much with its rock and flying weaknesses so max special attack and speed are quite obvious.
MOPSI (Hydreigon) @ White Herb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Surf
- Protect
Modest and White Herb to hit as hard as possible with Draco Meteor. Surf is a relict of the time without team preview as the team needed the spread move but thanks to Volcarona there isn't the need for a fire attack so it stayed.
STUPSI (Terrakion) @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Rock Slide
- Close Combat
- Quick Attack
- Protect
The decision between Life Orb and Chople Berry was hard but the mushrooms and Volcarona should keep the fighting attacks away from Terrakion.
KLOPSI (Jellicent) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Water Spout
- Blizzard
- Shadow Ball
- Hydro Pump
Blizzard is needed against something like Amoonguss + Haxorus and the game is already much luck so why not? Hydro Pump is necessary too because Scald doesn't hit hard enough.
The week before the VGC stop in Cologne was pretty chaotic. I still had to rng and train the whole team for my brother and there were some misunderstandings between my brother and me so nobody booked tickets the weeks before. I looked up the night train, which we wanted to take, in the internet on monday and saw that there were no places free in the sleeper car. I couldn't book the tickets then because I don't have a credit card. Tuesday, I wanted to buy the tickets for the normal cars just to see that there weren't any left so we had to take the first train in the morning on saturday and hope that there isn't to much delay or have a 4 hours waiting period in the night in a train station. After long discussions we decided to take the first option, with which we would be around 11 a.m. at the VGC venue. Friday was a big fire near the railway so they had to redirect the trains to Cologne, which caused over 90 minutes delay. Thankfully they got the fire under control in the evening.
On saturday, I get up around 3 a.m. after 2 hours of sleep and meet up with my brother on the way to the central station. Mc Donald's was the only open shop before 5 a.m. so we had a nice burger breakfast before boarding the train. The last Pokemon was battle ready an hour later so we tried to get some sleep, which wouldn't really come. Around half the way the train stopped suddenly and stood there for about half an hour. They had problems with the second part of the train but we could travel further just not at maximum speed. We had around an hour delay in Cologne so we went direct to the venue without lunch. Thankfully we weren't to late, got our wristbands and meet up with the Bavarians and some other people. Thanks to all the delays we hadn't to wait long and it came the time to battle.
First battle vs. Julian with Hydreigon, Eelektross, Scrafty, ?
His team was full of standard Pokemons. He sends out an Eelektross and a shiny Hydreigon and I started to get really nervous because I thought he knew of the rng. I started with Amoonguss and Jellicent and go for the Water Spout and Rage Powder to get the 2hko on Eelektross and damage the Hydreigon a little bit. His Hydreigon used Hyper Voice and I got more comfortable. I manage the 4-0 with a nearly ko Amoonguss. He knew about EVs but hadn't EV trained because he came to the vgc spontaneously.
gg
Second battle vs. Diana with Chandelure, Samurott, ?, ?
She had many standard Pokemons in her team too and I got pretty nervous again. I choose Amoonguss and Jellicent for the second time as starters. She started with Chandelure and Samurott if I remember right. I go for the Water Spout and Spore on Samurott. Her Chandelure survives thanks to a Focus Sash and nearly kos my Jellicent with a Shadow Ball. I don't remember what Samurott did but it gets 2hkot in the next turns with Giga Drain. She gets my Jellicent down but Terrakion can ko her last two Pokemon.
gg
I stand there waiting before the third battle together with MewMisaki and Fatum but thankfully there was no table free and three other people got their battles over in time so they let us friend rule.
Third battle vs. "Luz" with Hydreigon, Carracosta, Landorus, ?
I get seated at the same table as my brother who was the last to finish the first round and got a bye in the second because there was no opponent left. The person responsible for our table sees that we are brothers and starts to wishs us luck and goes on about how I look like Jesus and Kurt Cobain but now to the battle. I started a third time with Amoonguss and Jellicent and he started with Hydreigon and Carracosta. I go for the Blizzard and miss his Hydreigon but get the hit on Carracosta. I put his Hydreigon to sleep in the first turn after it nearly kos my Jellicent. I believe his Carracosta used Blizzard too in the first turn and got a chritical hit on Amoonguss which didn't matter because it survived and got his health back in the second turn with Giga Drain as his Carracosta used Wide Guard. The Blizzard missed his Hydreigon again in the third turn but ohkos his Landorus. His Hydreigon wakes up and finishes my Jellicent just to get spored the second time. I don't remember his last Pokemon but I believe Volcarona kos it and finally his Hydreigon.
gg
We hadn't to play a forth round and were just 28 people in the Finalists Lounge. I believe there would have been one more finalist but the 29. had hacked Pokemon. I believe over 20 of this 28 people knew each other in some way so everybody knew that the rest of the competition would be pretty tough. I wasn't one of the lucky four to get a bye and had to go at a table together with drug_duck. Of course we sat next to each other so that we hadn't to battle each other. It was the same table as in the third round but this time I had to play on the TV. My one and only fan informs me that none who had been broadcasted at this staton won that day as I wait for my opponent. To my horror a short time later DaFlo takes the seat opposite to me.
Top 32 vs. DaFlo
I don't know if this battle finds its way to youtube but since DaFlo will be at the LCQ at worlds I won't write much about the battle. I think I had a little team advantage with my choice of Pokemon. I predicted the first two or three turns right and get two lucky burns from Heat Wave and Flame Body. After that he couldn't do much so I won my first VGC match against an opponent, who is good and known, after losing to Fatum in the first and to a Belgian in the second VGC.
gg DaFlo
Top16 vs. Flame with Tornadus, Darmanitan, Terrakion, Cinccino
I didn't know what to choose. In the end I started with Amoonguss and Jellicent with Volcarona and Terrakion in the back. I should have used Protect with Amoonguss in the first round but I wasn't sure how much damage Darmanitans Flare Blitz can do to my Jellicent so I choose Rage Powder and Water Spout. His Tornadus used Substitute in the first turn. I bring Volcarona and he brings Cinccino. In the next turn Volcarona and Cinccino protect while Tornados gets the Tailwind up and survives the Water Spout. Now I know that my only hope is that his Cinccino is adamant and slower than Tornadus. It wasn't so it could ko my Rage Powdering Volcarona with Rock Blast before Tornadus ohkoed my Jellicent. My Terrakion hadn't a chance against the Bullet Seed.
It's a little bit annoying that I made this huge mistake in the first round but who knows if I wouldn't have lost regardless.
gg Flame
After the battling, I saw the Bavarians dominate the last three rounds and cheered them on with the others. The semifinals were quiet nice to watch. The final was decided after the third turn with a misspredict from Hilikus and a flinch if I remember right. Before I forget to mention it: Congratulations to MewMisaki and Hilikus
My brother and I stayed as long as we could but we had to drive home the same day. Sadly, the interviews and so on took much time so that we had to go even before the probably awesome celebration started. On the way home the train had a delay too because of police investigation and people on the railway so that I wasn't home before midnight. After 13 hours of sleep, I started to write this warstory instead of working on my master thesis. I hope it was readable despite all the error404s.
Pros:
+ Top16
+ first win against a good and known opponent
+ people I know won
+ awesome staff member who cheered me on
+ placed better than my brother for the first time
+
my teamCons:
- no time to celebrate
- probably losing because of my own mistake (for the third VGC in a row)
- Deutsche Bahn
- lunch at 5 p.m. after breakfast at 4:30 a.m.
- neither my brother nor me in the top2 so no 3DS for me
