To put into context, my involvement in the competitive Pokemon VGC is relatively still new. This tournament is my second one after Alpha series in last January. So there's not much achievement to be said.
The Team
Before finalizing my team, I tried a lot of things. But one main thing that I wanted to try is to build a team around Mega-Blastoise. I feel Mega-Blastoise didn't get the love it deserves and I try to not using common pokemon like Kangaskhan, Terrakion etc since I want to avoid speed ties as much as possible. I tried several different strategies including rain and finally after hit and miss in Pokemon Showdown and ratings battle, I content with my final team.
Gengar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Hp/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
Timid nature
-Taunt
-Icy wind
-Sludge bomb
-Shadow ball
Gengar in my opinion is one of the best support pokemon out there. Base speed of 110 enables it to out speed common Pokemon such as Terrakion and Thundurus. Its role is to spread icy wind for speed control or taunt those annoying pranksters or Smeargle. Sludge bomb is a good check on fairy Pokemon and poison chance is not too bad sometimes. For the fourth slot, I went with shadow ball. Not really sure if it was necessary or not. I should probably use protect instead just to ensure Gengar could survive longer in the battlefield.
Talonflame @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Gale wings
EVs: 252 Atk/ 4 SpA/ 252 Spe
Naive nature
- Brave bird
- Tailwind
-Will-O-Wisp
- Overheat
The ultimate suicider. Yes, this Talonflame is born to die. Its main role is to set up tailwind and die to get free switch in for my main attackers at the back. In the events that my opponent didn't knock it out in the first turn, well brace yourself for brave bird and will-o-wisp spam. Overheat is a nice check for steel type Pokemon. Safety goggles is used to prevent any powder shenanigans from Amoonguss and Breloom.
Blastoise @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Rain dish / Mega launcher
EVs: 132 HP/ 252 SpA/ 124 Spe
Modest nature
- Protect
- Water spout
- Ice beam
- Aura sphere
Ah yes, Mega Blastoise. The haters gonna hate. Of course it's not the most overpowered pokemon out there but I just comfortable using it. Its lower base speed compare to other pokemon like Kangaskhan makes speed control is necessary in my team. Full investment in SpA so it can dish out max possible damage to opponents. 132 HP ensures it to survive timid thunderbolt from mega Manectric though its quite rare to see it but just in case something bad happens. 124 Spe enables it to out speed neutral 44 Spe Rotom and when you include the tailwind from Talonflame, it is enough to out speed most Pokemon out there. I was contemplating whether to use water pulse or water spout for my STAB water attack. Both had their own merits but after considering the tailwind support that I get from Talonflame, I choose water spout since it can dish out a lot more damage than water pulse as long as my Blastoise able to hit first.
Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Evs: 4 HP/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
Modest nature
- Earth power
- Draco meteor
- Dark pulse
- Fire blast
Standard Hydreigon build. I think Hydreigon is one of the best special attacker available right now. It have relatively high bulk and dish out a lot damage. Modest choice specs can easily OHKO Mega Kangaskhan with Draco Meteor and possibly Rotom-W also. Choice specs truly an awesome item on Hydreigon but it makes the plays that I could make quite limited since you are locked into one move.
Virizion @ Life orb
Ability: Justified
Evs: 4 HP/ 252 Atk/ 252 Spe
Jolly nature
- Close combat
- Leaf blade
- Protect
- Stone edge
At this point my team lacks physical type attacker and initially I was using Terrakion. But using Terrakion makes my team too weak against fighting type so I went for its sibling Virizion. Its typing is quite nice providing coverage for my team. Plus being a grass type, it will not be affected by spore and rage powder. However I do miss those rock slides from Terrakion since it has better accuracy than stone edge and the flinch hax- the bane for every trainer's existence.
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate / Huge power
Evs: 60 HP/ 252 Atk/ 196 Spe
Adamant nature
- Protect
- Iron head
- Play rough
- Sucker punch
Another physical attacker for the team. Having Mawile in my team provide more coverage in terms of attack and solves my fighting weakness. Due to its typing , its quite bulky and hits pretty hard even for neutral damage. It also has intimidate which is welcomed when against physical opponennts. 196 Spe ensures it to out speed Jolly Mega Salamence under the tailwind. Not the most common Mega Mawile build as most Mega Mawile invest more on bulk. Having two Megas on the team provides more flexibility but in the events I require both Blastoise and Mawile, I'm locked to choose one. Having said that, I think both are still functional without their megas but priority is given to Mawile since it can dish out more damage and it rarely occurs though ( I did not use both pokemon in a single match-up throughout the tournament).
The Matches
Game 1
Vs Mervin Lee (Z)
His Team
Mega-Kangaskhan, Blaziken, Galvantula, Smeargle / Liepard, Gengar
My team
Talonflame, Gengar, Blastoise, Hydreigon
Seeing Smeargle and Liepard in team preview made me instantly picked Gengar as my lead as I would not like to get myself trapped in prankster / dark void shenanigans. My opponent decided to lead with Galvantula and Smeargle; Galvantula being the odd one. I managed to prevent dark void shenanigans and control the tempo of the match.
1-0
Battle code: JPHG-WWWW-WWXL-86WA
Game 2
His Team
Mega-Kangaskhan, Rotom-W, Sylveon, Cresselia / Amoonguss, Talonflame
My Team
Talonflame, Hydreigon, Mawile, Virizion
His team comprises typical Pokemon that you would expect from current metagame. 5 out 6 of his Pokemon are quite slow in move speed which makes me think of possible trick room. I'm certain he will lead with Cresselia which is why I lead with Talonflame and Hydreigon. Virizion and Mawile at the back are really good in this match-up. He did lead with Cresselia paired with Sylveon. This duo confirmed my suspicion of trick room. Sylveon threatened my Hydreigon so I switched it with Mawile. Brave bird does nice damage on the Sylveon and my team hangs on after the hyper voice. Cresselia did go for the trick room but at this point it did not matter as another brave bird will knocked off his Sylveon. He switched out his Sylveon with Rotom-W and brave bird did nothing on it. My Mawile attacked first before his Cresselia which is odd considering him using a trick room team. Cresselia went for another trick room to revert the dimension back is quite odd. I set up my tailwind the next turn, Talonflame gets knocked off, Rotom-W missed its will-o-wisp and my Mega-Mawile knocked off his Cresselia. Virizion comes in on my side and Kangaskhan for his. From here onwards, I pretty much control the pace of the game as I easily knocked off his remaining Pokemon.
2-0
Battle code: 9NEG-WWWW-WWXM-G6WP
Game 3
Vs Aqlif
His Team
Rotom-W, Landorus, Charizard, Conkeldurr / Bisharp, Amoonguss
My Team
Hydreigon, Talonflame, Virizion, Blastoise
This match could be the worse throughout the tournament. From turn 1 till the end, all I ever did was misplays. My lead matchup is not too bad but my first misplay is going for tailwind and not preserving Talonflame for potential Conkeldurr at the back. Failure to anticipate my opponent's switches also cost me the game. His frequent switches made me thinking that he should just go for baton pass on his Pokemon LOL. Either way I lost the game really hard.
2-1
Battle code: G2RW-WWWW-WWXM-G68C
Game 4
Vs Kenny
His Team
Cresselia, Mega-Kangaskhan, Heatran, Sylveon / Thundurus, Conkeldurr
My Team
Gengar, Talonflame, Blastoise, Hydreigon
Another trick room user. However I feel that I had strong match up against his team. Misplays at the end where I locked my specs Hydreigon on dark pulse instead of earth power and not protecting with Blastoise really cost me the game. Fake out onto Blastoise is too obvious yet my over-predictions got over my head. Lose a pretty close match and I should not lose this game.
2-2
Battle code: AWTG-WWWW-WWXM-G6DX
Game 5
vs Hanief Aziz
His Team
Mega-Metagross, Garchomp, Milotic, Conkeldurr / Volcarona, Greninja
I have to be honest his team really looks scary at first glance. Garchomp and Metagross were definitely a threat against my team. Tailwind on my part was definitely necessary in this match-up. This game is one game that I felt glad I used water spout on Blastoise instead of water pulse. My Mega-Blastoise able to dish out max power water spout throughout the game with him preferred to target my other Pokemon.
3-2
Battle code: Forgot to save, sorry about that guys
Game 6
Vs Eugene Tan
His Team
Breloom, Mega-Salamence, Heatran, Swampert / Gothitelle, Terrakion
My Team
Gengar, Virizion, Blastoise, Hydreigon
A very good match to conclude the swiss round. I really like his team especially that support Swampert. His Mega-Salamence is special variant which I didn't mind at all (I'm much more scared of physical variant). Speed control is done by Gengar in this match. My opponent didn't bother to preserve his Mega-Salamence which his major damage dealer and it is what I need to win this match.
4-2
Battle code: ZVVG-WWWW-WWXM-G9XE
Closing Thoughts
This was definitely precious experience on my part. Though I failed to made it to top cut stages, it was not all wasted. I really like my team, it's really offensive in play style and really suits my style.
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| So close yet so far |
Shout out to Prof Wilson and the organizing team for making this event possible. Also to other Pokemon Trainers, thanks for being cool and nice. Really looking forward to Malaysia Regionals and Indonesia Regionals in May. Here hoping the VGC community in Malaysia to grow larger.
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