ORAS UU Why people can't quit Pokemon: Explained (Gyarados Balance)

[DaSpoofy]

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To be honest, this all seems really funny now. People, including myself, have made their "quitting" from Pokemon so dramatic. They get all these people they call friends to wish them a farewell and then, months later, they come back. Like, they just start playing again. It is so silly and I'm probably the biggest culprit of it. Well since I have gone through this whole process of quitting and un-quitting pokemon and quitting again, I feel like I can speak for all these people that want to stop playing pokemon and then start playing it again. Maybe I can shed some light on why people do this. I hope you guys enjoy the RMT!

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I don't really play pokemon anymore so making and testing this team was a massive pain. I hate laddering with a passion. I really just don't like this game anymore. Anyway, I did manage to build a pretty solid team. I figured if I was to write an RMT, I should have a decent team to showcase.

-----Team Building Process-----

I was throwing some ideas around in the builder and pursuit Mega Absol seemed like a pretty neat idea to build off of. Pursuit trapping in this meta just seems really really good and Mega Absol is a nice surprise pokemon to be using it.

From there I went with spDef Empoleon because its Sylveon meta and I'm comfortable building with it. I put toxic on it to limit the time Celebi stays in and to catch Cresselia which seems pretty popular right now.

Needed a ground resist and a wincon so I went with the best. Celebi just destroys and it fit. Celebi is not a great fighting type counter so I added defensive Nidoqueen. Both just standard smogon sets. They worked well.

Lastly, I needed some more wincons and Krookodile switch ins. When I was watching UU open, I noticed that a certain Gyarados set just destroys so I added that. Best addition. Cobalion with shuca seemed appropriate. I added the little X-scissor new meta thing too.

There is not a lot of innovation. Like I said, I just wanted to make a solid squad.

---Quitting Pokemon Explained---
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Pokemon is really fun when it is not competitive. There are some competitive aspects I miss. Countering your opponent is a new level of research and strategy. Being apart of a team is in theory a nice thing. Being known as 'good' by other people is probably the most enticing part of playing this game competitive. Although these things are nice, I will not believe that this game was meant to be competitive. Most competitive players have doubted the competitiveness of pokemon through countless cheated victories and hours of research and contributions becoming seemingly useless as you lose to a shitty gimmick from a player that spends little to no time on pokemon compared to yourself. Too many games are decided by coin flips for this game to seem competitively applicable.

Now, the reason I quit this game (and I think it goes for most people that 'quit') is because I felt like I needed to. I was spending probably 40+ hours a week on forums, PS, and Youtube trying my best to be one of the top players in UU. Don't get me wrong, I was having a lot of fun along the way, but I felt like potential was being wasted. I spend all this time doing something that does not and will not matter. Of course, entertainment is a luxury and does not have to mean anything. It can be a time killer and still be fine. But who realistically can kill 40 hours a week and still not feel like a loser? This game isn't helping my intelligence, physique, bills, spirituality... nothing. Most importantly, the people around me noticed my addiction to this game. It feels nice calling it an addiction now since I never could admit it earlier. Eventually my parents noticed the problem and made me give up pokemon. I made a super dramatic good bye thread in the UU forums and acted as though I had gone.

Now I believe that most people that are 'quitting' pokemon are doing it for similiar reasons. They feel they should quit because it takes up so much of their life but they really don't want to quit. They are involved in so many of these responsibilities and earned their little forum badges just to make this game seem like a job. They like the game but not everything that comes with it. They like the people that admire them, but they don't want to always check their team and correct their thinking. That's not a game anymore. That is a job. A job that does not benefit you in any sort of way. In fact, I lost money doing forum tournaments because of the prizes I gave away to the winners. I do not regret that though. I love to give. I wanted to set an example for other hosts to possibly do something special and give out prizes. Although that didn't happen, there were times where the UU council was offering to help out with the cost of these prizes. That alone gave me happiness knowing there was people that were willing to give. Most people are not like me and I can understand them. It's fine.

People say they quit and come back because they really didn't want to quit but they felt it was something they had to do. After weeks (or even days) without pokemon, they make up a reason to jump back into it, promising themselves that they will not spend as much time and effort on it. The truth is that they love the game. They hate all this forum badge bull shit and all the time they wasted trying to be a top forum user, but they love the game. They also love the community. They are considered helpers, teachers, and smart people. They like the feeling of others admiring them. Everyone likes that. These things combined make players want to come back to pokemon. Maybe not to be a contributor but just to do what they want and hang out.

---The Team---
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Mega Absol: Triple Stabsol
Pursuit works very well even without the surprise factor. People fear the sucker punch on their celebi, azelf, chandelure, and switch to avoid that. These pokemon usually threaten the remainder of my team quite a bit, so being risky with them is not in my opponents best interest, however, it is risky of myself to click pursuit and I usually do it only when I am behind. Knock off and sucker punch are basic stabs that every mega absol has. Obviously pursuit cannot out perform these stab attacks so I did not replace them. Play rough has been picked over superpower because of sableye. The rest of my team performs quite poorly with sableye.

Absol

Absol @ Absolite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pursuit
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Play Rough

Empoleon: Spdef Support
This is a basic spdef Empoleon. I wanted a sure switch into Sylveon. Technically, this is a counter, but if you go through the motions of toxic and scalds, then you are left with 8% health at the end. I like toxic over flash cannon because it is not specific to just one mon but can be used against a multitude of pokemon empoleon counters such as Cresselia, Alolomola, and Whimsicott. I would rather put rocks on empoleon than nidoqueen but the team did not turn out that way. Putting rocks on defensive nidoqueen is just a little bit worse but better over all to compliment the rest of the team's synergies.

Empoleon

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Defog
- Roar

Celebi: Offensive Nasty Plot
The addition of Celebi was quite simple. The only big decision about this set was whether to have leftovers or life orb on this set. After adding gyarados, the descision was quite clear. The defensive synergy it had with the rest of my team meant I wanted to have some recovery even if it was just a little. Leftovers meant I could still set up with it after a few switch ins to EQs or waterfalls. The set is really standard. It fits well with Absol because celebi has no coverage for steel types and common steal types right now are bronzong and metagross. Dual stab. Gigadrain makes me able to beat t wave blissey one on one. Dazzle is for hydreigon and umbreon.

Celebi

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Giga Drain
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam

Nidoqueen: Defensive Roar
A set like this is pretty underrated. Nidoqueen has the typing to come in a multitude of attacks and resist them. After that nidoqueen has the freedom to set up rocks and threatens removal. Because bulky nidoqueen is significantly weaker than the LO set, roar is a must. Earthpower is stab and ice beam is coverage for things EP can't hit. Both attacks hit most removal for super effective damage. Nidoqueen works really well with Empoleon because it resists powerful fighting attacks while empoleon resists psychic and water attacks.

Nidoqueen

Nidoqueen @ Black Sludge
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 248 HP / 232 Def / 28 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power

Gyarados: Life Orb 3 Attacks
Ground types with coverage for celebi are pretty scary at this point. Gyarados is a great addition as an offensive check to most pokemon that threaten my team including Entei. It also serves as a straight out balance destroyer. The rest of my team does a great job of weakening Gyarados counters so the sweep is a lot easier to pull off. Life orb provides the power to sweep teams after one boost. Having eq over anything else is to hit empoleon, mega ampharos, and metagross without having to boost. I think people always assume you are hitting other pokemon at plus 1, but you really have to consider if you can't set up and what you will be hitting.

Gyarados

Gyarados @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Bounce
- Dragon Dance

Cobalion: SD 3 Attacks
My dark resist is an absol. I also didn't want Haxorus to just win after one DD so I added this cobalion. Granted I am considering making it some sort of T wave support set over SD but it has worked out so far. Cobalion 3 attacks gives my opponent a lot of pressure on their defensive core coupled with me two other set up sweepers and pursuit trapper. X-scissor is more than just hitting celebi, but it also can kill off dark types without lowering defenses. The rest are basic stabs.

Cobalion

Cobalion @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- X-Scissor
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head

---Conclusion---
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Thank you guys for reading. Although I talked a while about some other stuff, I would really appreciate a rate on this team. It performs really well, but I feel there might be some minor tweaks that it can benefit from. I don't really like playing this game, but I do like being apart of this community so I will probably do a few more of these before I ship out. Also, each banner includes a link to some of my favorite songs if you are interested. Thank you guys again. Have a great day.

 

[Kink]

That is a job. A job that does not benefit you in any sort of way. In fact, I lost money doing forum tournaments because of the prizes I gave away to the winners. I do not regret that though. I love to give.​

No one forced you in any way to do that. Saying "in fact" presupposes some sort of underlying pressure to put money into this game when you don't have to.

People contribute because they enjoy it. They hang out on Smogon because they enjoy Smogon. The passive aggressive undertones in your speech insult a lot of people that have different reasons for contributing and quitting. Repeating the same post twice in two different forums seems a little redundant. If you want to post RMTs, go ahead. I'm pretty sure it goes against some sort of rule to use the RMT forum as your personal venting platform...

Your team has no Hydreigon switch ins.​

 

[ryan]

legendary.

 

[DaSpoofy]

No one forced you in any way to do that. Saying "in fact" presupposes some sort of underlying pressure to put money into this game when you don't have to.

People contribute because they enjoy it. They hang out on Smogon because they enjoy Smogon. The passive aggressive undertones in your speech insult a lot of people that have different reasons for contributing and quitting. Repeating the same post twice in two different forums seems a little redundant. If you want to post RMTs, go ahead. I'm pretty sure it goes against some sort of rule to use the RMT forum as your personal venting platform...

Your team has no Hydreigon switch ins.​

Venting lol. Me putting money into the game was specific to... me. And I addressed that so I don't know where you are coming from. I realize that I'm speaking to an audience that will disagree with me because you guys are contributors. It may sound insulting because you don't believe it to be true. I'm not forcing you to takes these words to be true I'm simply talking and making you think. It's healthy.

"Your team has no Hydreigon switch ins."

Spdef Empoleon. I also have like playrough on absol, dazzle on celebi, a cobalion... you probably saw no fairy type and was auto "weak to hydreigon"

 

[Celticpride]

I don't like the tone or where this thread is headed, and I'm going to lock this as a result. There's some leeway as far as what you want to put in a RMT but judging by the title you just wanted to write a small manifesto with some pointed comments and I'm not for this kind of hostility or atmosphere being present in RMT.