Melbourne Battle Association: Week Six
Week Six vs East Side Excadrill
Hi guys,
This week I battled against the reigning champions of the MBA, the Tottenham Espurr. We kicked off the week, so this update comes fairly early as well. You can find the results both by scrolling through this post, or in the League's Google Doc.
Firstly, here is East Side's squad.
| Gyarados |
| Diancie |
| Kyurem-B |
| Heliolisk |
| Chesnaught |
| Moltres |
| Uxie |
| Meloetta |
| Golbat |
| Electivire |
| Swoobat |
| Gurdurr |
This week was trade week, and East Side's makeup completely changed with one fell swoop, when they added Mega Diancie to their lineup at the expense of Excadrill and Gyarados' mega stone. Diancie, alongside Dragonite, is one of the biggest threats my team faces, and it immediately made my matchup a lot more difficult. I may have mentioned this when discussing my teambuilding plans against my week two opponents Blackburn, who formerly had Diancie without its mega stone.
Here was my planning:
Watch out for Diancie, it's really threatening – Need to slow it down somehow. As well, Light Screen makes its Moonblasts less threatening. May need to team up on it to take it down. If Josh is smart, he'll look after it as a win condition, so try to make use of that to improve your own board position, avoid getting Sticky Web reflected.
Gyarados will probably be a nuisance Pokemon
Latias does very well if it can get a couple of CM's set up, especially if Sticky Web is up. Can even tank Mega Diancie OK
Rocks are nice – Rely on Bisharp setting them up in a free turn? Vulnerable to hazards and doesn't have a defogger with offensive presence.
If Scarf Keldeo, can I keep the surprise up for long? Any KO's I should target? (Kyurem-B/Diancie)? Use it to clear threats to Latias, imo.
Look after Galvantula – Web, Energy Ball, Thunder, Bug Buzz. Can hit a lot of his team pretty solidly aside from setting up Web
Sub on stuff will be great for avoiding Thunder Waves from Gyarados. Keldeo pretty strong, can set up on Gyarados. Has to be scared of Heliolisk and Scarf Moltres. Also can cleric it away.
Bisharp is decent now that no excadrill and no mega gyarados. Still won't like Chesnaught
Fairys are decent – Aromatisse with Aromatherapy? And Wish.
Arcanine's best moves seem to include Wild Charge and Flare Blitz. WoW for Kyurem too? Morning sun and Leftover
Many things taken out by Accelgor. Pick whichever one you want.
Don't waste Galvantula unless its job is safely done with the web.
Lots of ways for me to take out Chesnaught, might not bring it.
Number 1 priority is looking after Latias and getting it to a position to sweep (Main threats: Diancie, Kyurem-B if scarfed). Bisharp at +1/2 is scary to him. Web being reflected isn't the end of the world in that case. Try to look after Bisharp, but can be sacrificed for the greater good. Make sure Keldeo gets free opportunities to pick off its targets. Arcanine and Aromatisse are your switch ins, maintain them while you set up your board position. Don't be afraid to go hard early with Latias if there's an opportunity, you can cleric it back to health if necessary.
Get Rocks up to help you pick up KO's – many of his guys weak to rocks.
Use Aromatisse to pivot and cleric for you. Arcanine can also do that, prefer not to make Latias do it, but it can.
Expect to see: Diancie, Moltres, Gyarados (Support?), Kyurem B. And probably some random ass ones there, possibly a bunch of his RU and NU picks. Many guys off the ground, not vulnerable to Web, but strongest attackers are vulnerable, and those that dodge web get hit by rocks.
Expect to see him counter lead for Galvantula, possibly with Diancie. Arcanine or Aromatisse can be a good lead in that case, or perhaps Bisharp if you get a strong feeling about Diancie – You can Stealth Rock on the switch in that case. Light Screen up with Aromatisse before switching in to Latias if you need to shut down Diancie – play carefully with his Kyurem, try to scout the item before letting Latias stay in on it.
With that in mind, this was my team
Skynet (Latias) @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 120 SpA / 136 Spe
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Dragon Pulse
- PsychicPony Express (Keldeo-Resolute) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Taunt
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Surf
- Secret SwordDiagonals (Bisharp) @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 24 HP / 252 Atk / 232 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Stealth RockMeow (Arcanine) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flare Blitz
- Wild Charge
- Morning SunGo Go Dancer (Aromatisse) @ Leftovers
Ability: Aroma Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Wish
- Aromatherapy
- Moonblast
- Light Screen8 Eyes to See You (Galvantula) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- Thunder
- Bug Buzz
- Energy Ball
Team Caps: 6 - Keldeo, Latias, Arcanine; 5 - Bisharp; 4 - Shuckle; 2 - Claydol, Aromatisse
I ran Choice Scarf Keldeo to get around a potential Scarf Kyurem, and to negate speed tier problems coming from facing Diancie and Heliolisk in particular. HP Electric was there because I didn't really have much need for moves outside of Surf (Slightly higher damage than Scald) and Secret Sword, as I dislike Hydro Pump and Focus Blast's accuracy, and could then sneakily hit Gyarados hard, and Taunt was there to stop annoying mons being annoying if I had nothing better to do.
I put Stealth Rocks on Bisharp in case I got the opportunity to set them up, as it chipped things like Kyurem-B, Gyarados, and Golbat pretty well. Originally, I would have left out Bisharp, but with Diancie and Heliolisk coming in for Excadrill and Hoopa, I suddenly felt like Bisharp was a lot more necessary in the matchup.
Arcanine got a more defensive set to try to act as a bit of a pivot, with me feeling that Wild Charge gave the best all around coverage, particularly giving me a good way to finish off Gyarados before it got too annoying, with Close Combat unlikely to KO Kyurem-B anyway.
Aromatisse was brought in to act as a cleric, and I gave it Light Screen as a way to help things like Bisharp, Keldeo and Latias all take Moonblasts better if need be given the threat Diancie posed.
Galvantula got Energy Ball and Bug Buzz for coverage as I felt they were the next most appropriate move options..
Replay Result: 0-3 LOSS
Key Moments:
I was made to pay early with me not betting hard enough on an opposing Diancie lead, expecting Josh to think that I would lead harder against Diancie. Aromatisse and Arcanine taking such large damage at the start set me back a long way, as it meant my switch in options were much more limited. To complicate things further, Josh inexplicably ran Iron Head on his Gyarados as his only attacking move, incorrectly logicing that it would hit more of my team harder. Unfortunately for me, it did hit Aromatisse harder, and flinched me, preventing me from getting some cleric work on Latias, which I had been a bit too aggressive with in letting it get Thunder Waved, which I should have seen coming from Josh's previous battles. This Iron Head damage also put me in KO range to Gurdurr's Rock Slide later in the battle, something Waterfall would not have done. I guess things just work out like that. Josh also intelligently defogged when he got a solid opportunity against Latias, with me not using Bisharp as aggressively as I could have. Further, I did not set up Stealth Rocks when I got the chance, something that came back to haunt me a bit later in the battle when Keldeo failed to KO Kyurem-B. Although I was able to pick together some KO's, falling so far behind at the start left me with no way back against a team that looks a lot more threatening offensively, while remaining solid defensively, after its trades. The battle ended as an 0-3 LOSS. While that one Iron Head Flinch was influential, I'm not convinced that it ultimately made much of a difference - I've been unhappy with the way I've been battling for a few weeks, and today I had an opponent who was playing really well, and made me pay. Having a post match chat, Josh did say a couple of things that rankled with me in my post-loss state, so I'll address them a little now before I dissect my loss and what I'd do differently next time.
Firstly, Josh asserted that I am predictable, partly because we've battled so much in the past. Whether or not such a comment has valid grounds, I feel that this vastly undersells the effect that having such an early lead, as well as a Pokemon that my team just really struggles to stop through defensive switch ins, has on the outcomes of battles. It can be a lot easier to predict and make safe moves when one is ahead in the battle, particularly when it comes to being able to look after win conditions.
Secondly, Josh stated that my team starts to struggle if it's not allowed to get Hazards, like my Sticky Web, or Stealth Rocks, up. I feel like this is a pretty general statement. While Sticky Web is one of the key components of my team's efforts to control the board against the opponent, and helps secure win conditions, stopping it is not a magic key to beating me. Against a team with lots of threats that are at 110 speed or above, Sticky Web is certainly useful, especially for making Arcanine and Bisharp a lot less reliant on priority, but there are quite a few matchups, as I'm sure we'll see throughout the rest of this season, where hazards are far less important to me in trying to earn a victory, especially when I have to face against slow bulky teams that I naturally outspeed anyway.
After the battle, I made some dot points dissecting my loss. At the risk of facing Josh again and him reading in to any adjustments I will have made, here is what I came up with as lacking on my part (Josh's excellent play non-withstanding):
Led wrong, fell behind from the start.
Lost Aromatisse too early because didn't conserve it and that iron head flinch :(
Made Arcanine irrelevant thanks to early switch in.
Treating both pivots like that so early gave me too little leeway to switch around against his bulky slow guys.
Should have switched out Latias to Galvantula expecting the Thunder Wave.
Missed having substitute for playing Gyarados.
Never got a chance to use Keldeo as planned
Let Latias get para'd too early after effectively losing Aromatisse.
Didn't set up Stealth Rocks using Bisharp when I had an opportunity.
Probably should have bet harder on a Diancie lead with a Bisharp lead to safely set up rocks.
Hopefully I wasn't too salty here in presenting my loss. Nobody likes losing, but I was a bit disappointed not to hold off Josh despite knowing that he'd be extra pumped up to try to steal a win off of me given the rivalry we share. Hopefully I can bounce back stronger next week, one cannot let one loss get to their head and stuff up future matches as a result.
Team Golden Fist
Week Five: 1- Keldeo, Bisharp, Latias
Overall: 8 - Bisharp, Latias; 7 - Arcanine; Keldeo; 1 - Shuckle, Aromatisse
Team MVP Votes:
This week being a loss made it a bit more difficult to pick an MVP. Latias and Bisharp probably did the most work to keep me in the game, while Galvantula was the only pokemon that I can categorically say did the job planned for it, while Keldeo was able to at least be threatening, if not as sucessful as I would have liked.
Week Six: 2 Latias, Bisharp; 1 - Keldeo, Galvantula
Overall: 9 - Bisharp, Latias; 6 - Arcanine; 5 - Keldeo; 4 - Shuckle; 1 - Claydol, Aromatisse, Galvantula
Art found on smogon.com. Sue me.
Season Results:
Week 6: 0-3 LOSS vs East Side Excadrill (Replay)
Week 5: 2-0 WIN vs Tottenham Espurr (Replay)
Week 4: 3-0 WIN vs Tullamarine Auras (Replay)
Week 3: 2-0 WIN vs New York Klefkis (Replay)
Week 2: 4-0 WIN vs Blackburn (Replay)
Week 1: 3-0 WIN vs Wildwood (Replay)
Vs Epping Eevees (Chris)
| Sylveon |
| Ninetales |
| Politoed |
| Espeon |
| Dragalge |
| Umbreon |
| Scrafty |
| Banette |
| Bronzong |
| Kabutops |
| Lanturn |
| Leafeon |
While Week 7 is Rivalry Week, this will effectively be my second rivalry grudge match in a row, so I'll need to work hard to get back up for a third tough match after my close win against Mark, and my loss against Josh. Chris has had some excellent unconventional strategies so far this season, and I look forward to having a bit of fun mixing it up myself in taking him on, especially since I feel like my last few matchups have forced me to run my bread and butter Pokemon at the expense of being able to showcase my lower-tier picks.
Melbourne Battle Association: Week Five
Week Five vs Tottenham Espurr
Hi guys,
This week I battled against the reigning champions of the MBA, the Tottenham Espurr. We kicked off the week, so this update comes fairly early as well. You can find the results both by scrolling through this post, or in the League's Google Doc. I have to apologise for this blog being otherwise ghostly quiet otherwise, I've just found my writing time a bit squeezed, and inspiration a little lacking too. Rest assured a new Art of (Pokemon) War post is nearly ready to be presented.
Firstly, here is Tottenham's squad.
| Hippowdon |
| Victini |
| Alakazam |
| Hydreigon |
| Mienshao |
| Empoleon |
| Tangrowth |
| Hitmontop |
| Magneton |
| Miltank |
| Lilligant |
| Linoone |
When we look at the lineup, we see a lot of really fast threats, with massive nukes on both sides of the attacking spectrum, as well as quite strong defensive options, again on both sides of the spectrum. There are lots of things to be frightened and careful of, so I had to cover a lot of bases, and not overcommit to guessing any one particular lineup, even though some picks on his side were more likely than others.
On paper I feel like I've got enough lineup advantages to have the upper hand in the matchup, but it is really close, and poor/spectacular play on either end could turn the tide of the battle very easily, especially knowing the caliber of Mark's play based on his performance last season.
Large tracts of Marks team can't do much about Water/Fighting coverage in terms of switching in, but additionally, set up and webs would be required to make full use of that. Other than use of Toxic, Phazing, and Hydreigon, Mark doesn't have much to answer bulky psychic types either in my opinion - for me that is Latias, but for others this might include pokemon like Cresselia, Reuniclus and Musharna, and possibly Clefable even though that's a fairy. Of course, there are ways and means of playing around this, but it seems one of the few weaknesses I can find.
Although it isn't a part of my team, combined Flying/FIghting coverage also seems to match up pretty well against Tottenham, as does Fire/Fighting, which my Arcanine can use. I'm just putting that out there for any other coach thinking of ways to try to beat Tottenham - just keep in mind that you'll need to break through Hippowdon with these to truly secure win conditions, which isn't an easy task.
Without further ado, here were my notes:
Web up immediately if possible Look after Bisharp and Keldeo as they do well in general. Keep Bisharp away from (fast) Mienshao, Hippowdon unless really weakened (<30% HP). Also watch out for Magneton (Magnet Pull esp), Hitmontop, Hydreigon. Probably won't bring all 5 of these.
Keep Keldeo away from Victini, Alakazam early game, High HP Tangrowth and other things unless boosted.
Stop Empoleon from Defogging with Bisharp. Don't let Linoone happen – watch out if he switches it in on Shuckle for free – or have encore. Target Hippowdon down as a priority – gets wrecked by Shuckle for eg. Need chip damage/substitute to be sure of taking out Alakazam and Victini with Keldeo.
Tangrowth is Physically bulky, as is Hippowdon (Arcanine flare blitz not a 2hko unless >20% chip). Magneton better physical defence, as does Miltank. Keep this in mind when attacking. Keldeo gets essentially a free switch in on Hydreigon and Empoleon. Keldeo can only deal with Victini, Alakazam using substitute, or with web and >=+1 boost. Magneton also a potential issue, as can be Mienshao if no boosts. Latias handles Mienshao, Alakazam ok, should trade ok with magneton, empoleon (provided no freeze) Shuckle is great after a few boosts, if a slow way of grinding this team down. Also won't handle Magneton/Empoleon as well since they're immune to poison. Rocks hopefully not too important.
Hydreigon not affected by web – A bit threatening, but can only run one set of Specs/Scarf/LO, and one of Timid/Modest, so play carefully and accordingly. If you can, use Bisharp to Pursuit trap Victini/Alakazam and remove them, they're annoying. Be careful switching in on Empoleon, but +2 Knock Off KO's it – good chance even on max physical bulk version.
Win Cons: Keldeo to +2, Web up. Latias +1, Empoleon and Hydreigon gone/heavily damaged. Bisharp in, Hippo/Hydreigon gone, or Bish at +2 and those guys heavily damaged. Conserve these three as considered necessary. Don't lose Galvantula until Defog threat is gone if possible. Shuckle can be used to sponge hits or grind down HP, whichever you think is best. Mostly don't try to switch in on Victini, esp with Latias as you need the HP. Shuckle can tank everything if Shell Smash is set up and Phazing threats are gone.
From that detailed plan, this is the team I went with:
Horny Beast (Keldeo-Resolute) @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Scald
- Secret SwordHoenn Airlines (Latias) @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 76 SpA / 180 Spe
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Dragon Pulse
- PsychicChopped (Bisharp) @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- PursuitFluffy (Arcanine) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Morning Sun
- Extreme Speed
- Flare Blitz
- Close CombatEggshells (Shuckle) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Calm Nature
- Encore
- Shell Smash
- Rest
- InfestationTesla (Galvantula) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- Bug Buzz
- Energy Ball
- Thunder
Season Team Caps: 5 - Keldeo, Latias, Arcanine, 4 - Bisharp, Galvantula, Shuckle; 2 - Claydol, 1 - Aromatisse
You can see that there aren't too many bolded items here - that is in part because of the risk averse nature of my build this week, and in part because I felt like bringing more or less my standard best six would be the best answer to whatever Mark woud bring.
Due to experience with substitute in the past, I put Encore on Shuckle as a way to hamper his play and earn myself time to improve my positioning.
I also gave Pursuit to Bisharp on the off chance I could pursuit-trap one of Mark's scary Psychic types, particularly Victini if it managed to get in safely enough to KO one of my team-members.
Arcanine was given Morning Sun, and Leftovers, because I felt like having the ability to keep it around longer would be ideal, rather than Kamikaze attacking, because I knew from the preseason keeping it around to Extremespeed in the late game was a vital option to keep wins open. Apart from that it's just a strong attacking set, designed to make use of Sticky Web and dent opponents where possible.
I put Bug Buzz and Energy Ball on Galvantula on the off chance that it would have time to sit around and attack something, allowing it better coverage against Mark's team, which didn't have great answers to combined Bug/Grass/Electric coverage. Mostly it was there for its Sticky Web, which greatly enhanced my matchup against Magneton, Victini, Alakazam and Mienshao
Arguably I could have tried a Scarf Keldeo again this week, but I'm not really comfortable with using it in that way just yet, and don't like relying on Hydro Pump's shaky accuracy to pick up KO's. Latias as well was a bog standard CM+Recover set as I felt it covered what it needed to. I would have loved a Refresh/Heal Bell fifth move slot, but alas, that is why 4MSS exists.
Replay Result: 2-0 WIN
Key Moments:
I was certainly caught off guard by Substitute Magneton to start with, but was very happy to be allowed a free Sticky Web to start off the battle. Galvantula then scouted out Magneton's spread - it appeared to be decently bulky based on Thunder not breaking through the substitute. Latias then seemed pretty free to switch in and start threatening with a set up. It was a little annoying to have Arcanine sent out by Hippowdon's Whirlwind, but some switching around led to the effective trade of Galvantula for Hydreigon. In hindsight I could well have pursuit trapped Alakazam with Bisharp when it switched in to my Keldeo, but I preferred to make the less risky switch in to Latias. I could have also set up a calm mind with Keldeo, as I was only two Calm Minds away from one of my noted win conditions, and Hydreigon's damage output with leftovers meant that unless Mark made a clever switch in or got a critical I could have easily got up to it and won from there. Ah, hindsight.
Around this time I had to answer a skype call from my girlfriend, who is back in Melbourne while I am on a diet study and training camp in Canberra. I don't think this distracted me overly, but it may have led to some sub par plays, and I could definitely blame a potential loss on it if I wanted to be a salty bad loser. I probably made a mistake in letting Latias get toxiced, and in letting Tottenham get a free Defog off, but Roar on Empoleon caught me out a bit as I was otherwise expecting to win the damage trade with Empoleon and come out the other side with some sweeping potential from my Latias. Bisharp was brought in, so I decided to just finish off Empoleon, forgetting of course that I couldn't KO an Eviolite Magneton from its HP range, and of course in turn being revenge KO'd by Magneton with Magnet Pull. I'm not really happy with this passage of play, but at least in getting rid of Empoleon and heavily damaging Magneton and Hippowdon, I was most of the way through Tottenham's bulk - the question remained as to whether I could now withstand their offense.When Alakazam put Latias in KO range to Toxic damage, I decided to switch in my Shuckle as I felt it was well placed to deal with remaining Pokemon with that. While I could have Encored Alakazam in to Substitute, I decided to Shell Smash first turn in case he didn't have substitute. While I was in a good position to stall out Alakazam at that point, I did make a mistake in not encoring HIppowdon in to Stealth Rocks after it switched in to do just that.
Although Keldeo was able to KO Victini after being put in a good position against Hippowdon, the end game was quite tricky in trying to get rid of the Hippo while still having the bulk to survive and finish off Alakazam, a predicament my earlier plays had put me in to. After sacking off Shuckle to put Arcanine in, the game hinged on either Tottenham or myself making a superior read. I ended up making the right play for the wrong reasons, imo, by staying in with Arcanine and Flare Blitzing Hippowdon, and getting a burn, while he Whirlwinded me out in to Keldeo, predicting me to switch out in to Keldeo and trying to get some free chip damage with Stealth Rocks. I think I had in my mind that I could use Substitute on Keldeo as a win condition. While I was confident mine was a winning play at the time, in hindsight losing Arcanine to an EQ would have lost me the game, since Keldeo couldn't keep its substitute up in the face of Hippowdon EQ's, which is what I would have needed to have up to survive Alakazam. Arcanine ended up picking up the last two KO's of the battle, and some credit for having nerves of steel and staying in where it really shouldn't have. This was inadvertantly one of the only and best reads that I made this battle, and it paid off.
In the end, I finished with a close 2-0 victory. My own conservative and passive plays for most of the battle, and Mark's own good plays meant that even though I felt like I was in front for most of the battle, he really could and possibly should have won it (Those 50-50 calls) after successfully removing many of my win conditions and conserving his own. I played pretty well, but I still feel like there was room for improvement. In the end I'm just glad I came out on top, with a 5-0 record putting me in a great position for the rest of the season. Hopefully now I can experiment a bit more with team setups, and sets, and get to work focusing on improving my play so that should I make the finals, I won't be tripped up by my own mistakes like I have been close to doing in the last few weeks.
Team Golden Fist
Week Five: 2 - Keldeo, Arcanine, 1- Bisharp, Latias
Overall: 7 - Bisharp, Latias, Arcanine; 6 - Keldeo; 1 - Shuckle, Aromatisse
Team MVP Votes:
It was really hard to pick votes here as I felt the load was spread pretty evenly across the team and that basically everyone did a good job, even if the pilot could have performed better. Latias and Arcanine shared top spot - Arcanine rewarded for its clutch end game, while Latias was rewarded for being such a thorn - sticking around and picking up a lot of neat chip damage
Week Five: 2 - Arcanine, Latias; 1 - Keldeo, Shuckle
Overall: 7 - Bisharp, Latias; 6 - Arcanine; 4 - Keldeo; Shuckle; 1 - Claydol, Aromatisse
Latias Art by Macuarrorro. Check out more of his work at http://macuarrorro.deviantart.com/
Arcanine Art by Side34. Check out more of his work at http://side34.deviantart.com/
Season Results:
Week 5: 2-0 WIN vs Tottenham Espurr (Replay)
Week 4: 3-0 WIN vs Tullamarine Auras (Replay)
Week 3: 2-0 WIN vs New York Klefkis (Replay)
Week 2: 4-0 WIN vs Blackburn (Replay)
Week 1: 3-0 WIN vs Wildwood (Replay)
Vs East Side Excadrill (Josh)
| Gyarados |
| Excadrill |
| Kyurem-B |
| Hoopa |
| Chesnaught |
| Moltres |
| Uxie |
| Meloetta |
| Golbat |
| Electivire |
| Swoobat |
| Gurdurr |
East Side did knock me off once in preseason testing, so I'll have to be careful with how I approach and play this one - especially since we're fierce rivals, so I know that Josh will be pumped up to try to beat me.
Melbourne Battle Association: Week Four
Week Four vs Tullamarine Auras (Ethan)
Hi guys,
As I got my battle done very early again this week, it's time to update you with the results of my MBA Week Four battle against yet another newcomer to the league, the Tullamarine Auras. You can find the results both by scrolling through this post, or in the League's Google Doc.
Firstly, here is Tullamarine's squad.
| Dragonite |
| Talonflame |
| Lopunny |
| Lucario |
| Sceptile |
| Forretress |
| Rhyperior |
| Eelektross |
| Medicham |
| Ludicolo |
| Skuntank |
| Torkoal |
Now although Tullamarine came in to this round at 0-3, with a -10 differential, my team has often been rolled by Dragonites during testing, so I was quite worried about choking this battle and getting my first loss of the season. Not only with Dragonite, but also with Talonflame, as its Swords Dance or Bulk Up sets could potentially run through me too. I wasn't as concerned about the rest of Tullamarine's lineup, but I knew they could potentially do enough to clear a path for Dragonite or Talonflame to sweep, so I would have to be careful. With that in mind, here were my notes:
Talonflame + Dragonite – really need rocks up. If that happens, Latias with decent speed investment can dominate.Scarf Keldeo might be useful against Lopunny, Dragonite to revenge KO.
Shuckle can fuckle with them provided no bs substitute shenanigans.
Lopunny is wrecked by Web, not much else is. Electross will be bulky, find a way to deal with. Arcanine will be good for intimidate. Toxic can be decent.
Need a way to beat annoying Ludicolo, esp if Shuckle not around. Many Physical attackers, so Reflect = good. Bulky Fairies also good?
Make sure you get in to positions where you don't let Talonflame or Dragonite get set up. If you can stop that, will probably win. Have to make use of Keldeo sparingly, making use of multiple defensive pivots for it, and keep it away from Talonflame until its gone. Make sure you don't leave yourself open to a late sweep.
Based off of that, this was the team I came up with to bring:
Inigo Montoya (Keldeo-Resolute) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Scald
- Hydro Pump
- Secret SwordHoenn Airlines (Latias) @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 136 SpA / 120 Spe
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Dragon Pulse
- PsyshockBetterthanEntei (Arcanine) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flare Blitz
- Morning Sun
- Close CombatKeep Spinning (Claydol) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Reflect
- Psychic
- Ice BeamScarecrow (Aromatisse) @ Leftovers
Ability: Aroma Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 24 SpA / 84 SpD
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Heal Bell
- Moonblast
- Charge BeamBlue Cheese (Shuckle) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Contrary
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 188 Def / 68 SpD
Bold Nature
- Shell Smash
- Rest
- Toxic
- Encore
Season Team Caps: 4 - Keldeo, Latias, Arcanine, 3 - Bisharp, Galvantula, Shuckle; 2 - Claydol, 1 - Aromatisse
You may notice that my Claydol had only three moves, and was missing Stealth Rocks. A large oversight by myself during the teambuilding process, and almost a very costly one. While I noticed this in team preview, I battled on regardless because I don't want to make a habit of having false starts where I've got to fix things or what have you. If that costs me, that's my fault, and I'll have to learn to not make those mistakes when building my team in the future. Regardless, Reflect was brought to counter the many physical attackers I expected to face, with Ice Beam brought for Dragonite, and Psychic for its decent matchup against the likes of Lopunny and such.
I brought a Choice Scarf Keldeo this time because I felt like it would probably do better than a Substitute version against Tullamarine. This allowed me to run Hidden Power Ice for Dragonite, as well as Hydro Pump if I needed massive damage output depending on if it was required at certain points of the battle.
Latias was kept basically as normal, aside from being built to outspeed max speed Dragonite by 1 point, again to try to limit its effectiveness. Both that and HP Ice Keldeo had in mind that I might have Stealth Rocks up, so the above mentioned oversight in teambuilding really stuffed me around a bit.
I made Arcanine much bulkier than usual and with a Rocky Helmet in order to function much better as Physical Wall and to be able to be a more reliable and long lived defensive pivot.
Aromatisse was brought to this battle as well, in its debut for Glen Waverley, in order to further contain the threat of Dragonite, as it could switch in to Outrages with ease, and support its teammates with Wish and Heal Bell, as well as offering reasonable damage output against many opposing Pokemon, especially when used in conjunction with Charge Beam and Heal Bell, say against things like Forretress, or Ludicolo, who Tullamarine like to run as a Toxic+Leech Seed Stallmon.
Given the low amount of Poison immunities I felt would be brought, I decided to drop Infestation on Shuckle to run Encore, potentially annoying set up mons and defensive mons alike, while keeping the Shell Smash Contrary +Rest set otherwise the same as it appeared to have a reasonable matchup all around.
Replay Result: 3-0 WIN
Key Moments:
I couldn't have asked for a better start as Arcanine completely shut down the opposing Lopunny for a quick 6-5 lead, but I did err in leaving Arcanine to be revenge KO'd by Dragonite - I'm not sure what I was thinking there, but I guess I didn't want to give him a free Dragon Dance (Even though his Lum Berry would have made a Will-O-Wisp irrelevant), nor take any damage on a switch. Additionally, because of a lack of Stealth Rock on Claydol, I hadn't been able to make use of Lopunny's demise by setting them up, so Dragonite's Multiscale was unbroken. Luckily, Shuckle was able to annoy Dragonite a bit, getting Toxic off and encoring his Outrage so that Aromatisse could get a free switch in.
In hindsight, I should have used Scald on Forretress with my Keldeo after switching it in for Aromatisse, instead locking in to Secret Sword, but neither would have done that much to Dragonite. Definitely an oversight later in the battle though, as you may see, especially since Keldeo is still keen to add to its week one tally.
Once Aromatisse was able to finish off Dragonite, Latias was much happier, but I still had a Forretress to get past before it would be truly happy, especially with the threat of Toxic.
Latias saw its first action, chipping away at Forretress, and then again I for some reason chose to attack Forretress' higher physical defense with Keldeo. Sceptile then switch in on a Secret Sword and took a lot of damage, but allowed Shuckle to faint to Stealth Rocks while I forgot about the unburden boost, causing me to needlessly lose Keldeo after switching it back in confident with my Choice Scarf. Another case of me seeming to be not at my best this battle.
Latias made the most of a free turn to Calm Mind up, allowing it to finish off Forretress, and then still have enough health to live against Talonflame's Brave Bird, transforming a poor 3-4 deficit in to a 3-2 lead, with neither Ludicolo nor Sceptile truly threatening Latias, but Latias being my last line of offense with which to win the battle.
It also turned out that my relatively slow Latias speed tied with Tullamarine's Sceptile, and from there it was a simple matter of keeping on clicking psyshock in order to finish of Ludicolo, with Latias having plenty enough HP to survive the attempted Toxic Stall, and hitting hard enough for an easy 2HKO. Latias picked up the last 4 KO's, and landed me a 3-0 victory which was probably closer than in needed to be thanks to some of my mistakes, but also understates how close I was to choking the battle and losing. The bulk and survivability that Latias demonstrated today, especially once its threats were cleared or weakened, is one of the reasons it was on my shortlist to pick up as my mega, and why I have been very happy having her on my team despite her having a quiet first few weeks of this league.
Team Golden Fist
Week Four: 4 - Latias, 1- Aromatisse, Arcanine
Overall: 6 - Bisharp, Latias; 5 - Arcanine; 4- Keldeo; 1 - Shuckle, Aromatisse
Team MVP Votes:
Week Four: 3 - Latias, 1 - Aromatisse, Shuckle, Arcanine
Overall: 7 - Bisharp; 5 - Latias; 4 - Arcanine; 3 - Keldeo; Shuckle; 1 - Claydol, Aromatisse
Art by Ryota Murayama. Check out more of his work at http://ovopack.tumblr.com/
Season Results:
Week 4: 3-0 WIN vs Tullamarine Auras (Replay)
Week 3: 2-0 WIN vs New York Klefkis (Replay)
Week 2: 4-0 WIN vs Blackburn (Replay)
Week 1: 3-0 WIN vs Wildwood (Replay)
Vs Tottenham Espurr (Mark)
| Hippowdon |
| Victini |
| Alakazam |
| Hydreigon |
| Mienshao |
| Empoleon |
| Tangrowth |
| Hitmontop |
| Magneton |
| Miltank |
| Lilligant |
| Linoone |
Assuming that he wins his Week Four battle, this will be a clash of two undefeated sides, top of the table too. In preseason battles we split it 1-1, and as last season's champion with a very similar team, Mark will be a really tough opponent. I will need to be more switched on to make the most of my chances and minimise mistakes if I want to win this one, but I'm up for the challenge, and I'm confident that my team has what it takes if I pilot it well.
Melbourne Battle Association: Week Three
Week Three vs New York Klefkis (Travis)
Hi guys,
As I got my battle done very early this week, it's time to update you with the results of my MBA Week 3 battle against another newcomer to the league, the New York Klefkis - you may recognise Travis from my Audition Battle to become a coach of the league. You can find the results both by scrolling through this post, or in the League's Google Doc.
Firstly, here is New York's squad.
| Scizor |
| Landorus-T |
| Latios |
| Darmanitan |
| Mandibuzz |
| Dragalge |
| Rotom-Mow |
| Sigilyph |
| Omastar |
| Mismagius |
| Volbeat |
| Xatu |
The first thing I noticed was the extremely strong offensive options combined with multiple good ways to clear hazards on this team. Darmanitan in particular had potential to be a good revenge killer and late game sweeper with its damage potential, so while hazards weren't too strong here, I still wanted ways to blunt Darmanitan's attack. Here were my notes:
Bisharp is nice. Latias has a few potential issues in Latios, Scizor, Lando-T, Dragalge – can get around scizor with hp fire.
Watch out for Psycho Shift on Sigilyph. Arcanine likes this team a bit if it can hang around. Mandibuzz pretty threatened by Bisharp when it comes to Defog, Latios even more so. Keldeo sort of ok if can switch in safely. Accelgod can pick off many dudes/significantly dent them, and can also lol @ Latios.
Keldeo's best two moves are Scald + Icy Wind - Secret Sword doesn't do a lot.
Not much weak to my web as either flying or already slow.
Malamar ok after some boosts.
The good thing about Landorus-T was that it could only run one set, and I know the advantages and disadvantages of its offensive and defensive sets. Additionally, Darmanitan could only run one of Life Orb or Choice Scarf, and I knew I could exploit that once I had scouted its set. Much of the opposing team was frail, particularly if Mandibuzz wasn't brought, and much was potentially weak to ice type coverage.
With that in mind, here was the team I brought (interesting points in bold):
Little Big Horn (Keldeo) @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Icy Wind
- ScaldSky Rocket (Latias) @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 104 SpA / 76 Spe
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Dragon PulseWebslinger (Galvantula) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- Thunder
- Bug Buzz
- Volt Switchwowsuchdoge (Arcanine) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Flare Blitz
- Will-O-Wisp
- CrunchDark Knight (Bisharp) @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Taunt
- Stealth RockChuckles (Shuckle) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Encore
- Infestation
- Rest
Season Team Caps: 3 - Keldeo, Latias, Bisharp, Arcanine, Galvantula; 2 - Shuckle; 1 - Claydol
As mentioned before, due to the opposing weakness to ice moves, and relatively good ability to take fighting moves, I put Icy Wind on Keldeo. I still felt that the Sub+CM set was good, and that Icy Wind would be better than HP ice because of its ability to drop speed on fast threats, like Latios, enabling me to beat them from a stronger defensive position.
Latias ran HP Fire because I felt that it didn't really need psychic coverage, as there were no dragon resists on the opposing side, and I needed another good way to beat Scizor besides Arcanine. The Calm Mind+Recover set was otherwise kept because of its ability to stay around and clean up teams.
Galvantula had Volt Switch over something like Thunder Wave just because I didn't feel like I would be able to make use of Thunder Wave very well, with the option to pivot out probably better if Galvantula didn't have much to do.
Because of the amount of Psychic types on the opposing team, I put Crunch on Arcanine, but also decided to run a Leftovers set with Wil-O-Wisp as I needed good ways to slow down opposing physical attackers, with the exception of Darmanitan, which I felt confident of the 1v1 matchup against.
Bisharp was given Stealth Rocks and Taunt, as Dark Type coverage seemed enough, and I wanted a way to keep Rocks up to get switch pressure happening. I also wanted to stop set up or potential status infliction, so I figured I'd go for that. In hindsight, someting like Iron Head would have been fine too, and maybe Swords Dance, but I felt like it wouldn't be a big deal.
I put Shuckle in the last slot, and didn't opt for the full troll set, although I think I could have made that work. Again, Stealth Rocks were viewed as useful, and Encore was run for allowing Shuckle to annoy status setters and allow me safe switches out to set up potentially good field position for guys like Keldeo and Latias.
Key Moments:
What I thought to be a strange choice to switch Darmanitan in to Xatu allowed for my opponent to reflect back my Stealth Rocks, much to my chagrin, but Bisharp was able to come in and KO it quickly to help my case for hazards for the rest of the match, with Scizor and Latios the only other way of keeping hazards off New York's side of the field, but both needing to sacrifice an attacking turn to do so. Shuckle was unfortunately KO'd by Latios after getting rocks up, but Bisharp was again able to come in and KO this potential threat on a Sucker Punch prediction, giving me a 5-4 lead. Fortunately Latios had lost enough health, as well as having lackluster physical bulk, to allow Bisharp an easy KO through reflect, although it did land a critical hit for good measure.
With Scizor switching in on Bisharp, Arcanine scared away Scizor to force a double switch, and eventually took Landorus-T down with it thanks to a Wil-O-Wisp burn and New York's preference for using Toxic rather than landing the obvious Earthquake KO on Arcanine until it was too late. Knowing that Latias could still handle Scizor allowed me to not be too upset at trading Arcanine for Landorus-T, as that guy can be a bit of a bugger to take down otherwise. Galvantula was then sacrificed to find out that Darmanitan was indeed Choice Scarfed, letting me formulate a plan of attack against it. involving taking advantage of the move it would lock in to. Latias' Hidden Power Fire soon came in handy as Darmanitan switched out in to Scizor, but an Assault Vest on the opposing Dragalge meant that Latias couldn't pick up a KO at +1 after taking the time to use calm mind earlier. Rather than risk losing Latias to a critical hit, I allowed it to finish off Dragalge, then had to sacrifice it to Darmanitan to allow Bisharp to pick up the final KO of the battle with Sucker Punch and give me a solid 2-0 win.
Keldeo was disappointed to not have anything much to do this battle aside from needlessly switch in to a Flare Blitz, its second quiet week in a row, but this did mean I had a decent amount in reserve for the end game if need be as it still matched up well if it could earn a free switch in - sometimes the threat posed by a Pokemon is enough for it to be useful even if it isn't needed to actually win the battle.
Team Golden Fist
Week Three: 3 - Bisharp, 2 - Latias, 1 - Arcanine
Overall: 6 - Bisharp; 4- Keldeo, Arcanine; 2 - Latias; 1 - Shuckle
Team MVP Votes:
Week Three: 3 - Bisharp, 2 - Latias, 1 - Shuckle
Overall: 7 - Bisharp; 3 - Keldeo, Arcanine; 2- Latias, Shuckle; 1 - Claydol
Art by zerochan. Check out their work at http://www.zerochan.net/
Season Results:
Week 3: 2-0 WIN vs New York Klefkis (Replay)
Week 2: 4-0 WIN vs Blackburn (Replay)
Week 1: 3-0 WIN vs Wildwood (Replay)
Vs Tullamarine Auras (Ethan)
| Dragonite |
| Talonflame |
| Lopunny |
| Lucario |
| Sceptile |
| Forretress |
| Rhyperior |
| Eelektross |
| Medicham |
| Ludicolo |
| Skuntank |
| Torkoal |
While the Auras are 0-3 to start the season, their team is full of powerful threats that can get out of hand if given any room to set up, so in the between now and next week I will need to think long and hard about how to stop said threats and make good use of my own in order to keep up my good start to the season.
Melbourne Battle Association: Week Two
Week 2 vs Blackburn Brelooms (Ben Munroe)
Hi guys,
It's time to update you with the results of my MBA Week 2 battle against fellow newcomer to the league, the Blackburn Brelooms. You can find the results both by scrolling through this post, or in the League's Google Doc.
Firstly, here is Blackburn's squad.
| Tyranitar |
| Diancie |
| Jirachi |
| Rotom-Heat |
| Kyurem |
| Machamp |
| Tyrantrum |
| Smeargle |
| Virizion |
| Klinklang |
| Scyther |
| Stoutland |
Personally, I feel like Blackburn missed a trick in not picking Mega Diancie, that thing has worried me so much in ladder testing. The team overall has a big weakness to Ground moves, as well as Water/Ice combinations, which can be more easily exploited once Virizion and Rotom-H are out of the way, both by bulky water types and fast boosting water types. Being mostly grounded also opens it up to opposing hazards, with few reliable ways to clear them, and the team is largely full of Physical attackers that can be burned and nerfed with Reflect. While these weaknesses aren't utterly crippling, many teams should be able to find ways to make use of them as a part of a gameplan against Blackburn while also building to limit the offensive output of the sand core. Still, here were my pregame notes.
A lot weak to Keldeo. Keldeo has to watch out for Jirachi though (only a 3hko at neutral if no burn, potential scarf), and Virizion potentially. And scary scarf Rotom-H if no sub is up/that is scarfed. Machamp can potentially 1v1 it if no sub up as well. Conserve it well until it gets good field position.
Sticky Web very useful, esp if Scarf Jirachi. Scout for Scarf on that, and make use of the choice lock.
Latias is solid, as is Bisharp. Don't give them up easily, as you may lose your win condition that way
Machamp is annoying, but will be KO'able due to its speed tier, provided you conserve the right things to deal with it.
Offensive Arcanine dents a lot of stuff, but also many physical mons can get burned. Maybe run pseudo support – Flare Blitz, CC, WoW, Morning Sun with Rocky Helmet/leftovers? Flare Blitz and CC cover everything Arcanine needs to hit anyway. How much bulk to run? Fast set is still handy. Keep in mind that Sand nerfs Morning Sun.
Blackburn lacks effective ways to clear hazards. - Scyther and Smeargle can Defog/Spin though, so be careful. Scyther will be annoying, but weak to Arcanine. Smeargle might also be Spore/Geopass/Smashpass, so watch out for that. Keep Bisharp around to use priority if necessary, especially if against Smashpass.
Rocks will be good to break potential sashes on stupid Smeargle, Kingklang, whatever else, particularly Rotom-H.
Many things weak to ground – Claydol useful? Consider Earthquake over Earth Power, as Sand improves Tyranitar and Diancie's SpDef.
Also vulnerable to spikes, perhaps more so. Accelgor can do that and pick up cheeky KO/damage if need be. But is it worth a slot?
Watch out for fast sand Stoutland being scary - Watch that it doesn't have access to much sand without Web up in the late game, as it could run through things as a result. From 50-60% health, Bisharp can deal with it.
Game plan - hazards up early as possible. Bisharp great for late game. Scout Jirachi's item asap. Make use of any opportunity to get Keldeo set up. Get rid of Sand setting asap.
Smeargle can also set up sticky web, so make sure you stop that from being an issue. At the least, keep Bisharp around to discourage it - dat +2 boost will be deadly if no Tyranitar/Diancie around to tank hits.
Keldeo is a great switch in for DD Tyranitar, need to be careful of Thunder Punch though.
Based on that, this is the team I went with (Bolded are noteworthy choices that I'll discuss):
Ferrari (Keldeo-Resolute) @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Scald
- Secret SwordGolden Delicious (Latias) @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 80 SpA / 176 Spe
Bold Nature
- Reflect Type
- Psychic
- Surf
- RecoverBlunt Force Trauma (Bisharp) @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Psycho CutTigerdog (Arcanine) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Morning SunZerg Rush (Galvantula) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- Thunder Wave
- Bug Buzz
- Energy BallGizmo (Claydol) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Reflect
- Psychic
Season Caps: 2 - Keldeo, Latias, Arcanine, Bisharp, Galvantula, 1 - Claydol, Shuckle
Keldeo was the same old one I've been running through preseason as I though that set was still good enough here.
Latias, I decided that Surf would hit harder than Dragon Pulse on enough things, since I knew I could hit Tyrantrum and Kyurem hard with many other things, like Keldeo. I also went for Reflect Type over Calm Mind as I didn't feel like the boosting was that necessary, while I also felt that I could make use of changing type to get out of potential pursuit traps, as well as negating the offensive potential of Jirachi and Diancie in particular, as well as Scyther.
I opted for Psycho Cut on Bisharp as a 4th move to hit Virizion and Machamp harder, and I didn't feel like I really needed Low Kick, given Iron Head largely did the same job. While Psycho Cut wasn't going to be an OHKO on Virizion or Machamp from full HP, it would be enough after chip damage, and could also punish a switch in more if I threatened out something like Jirachi.
Arcanine still had an offensive spread, but I opted for Leftovers, Wil-o-Wisp and Morning Sun in order to be able to keep it around longer, make use of free turns to preserve Arcanine, as well as nerf the multitude of Physical attackers on Blackburn's team.
With Sand around, I felt like Thunder would be largely wasted on Galvantula both in terms of accuracy, and ability to hit hard, so I gave it Swarm, and Energy Ball instead, as well as Thunder Wave over Volt Switch in case I had nothing better to do, or needed to slow down a boosting Pokemon.
Claydol came in here over Shuckle, as it could set up Stealth Rocks and get off a little bit of offense against a ground weak team, as well as setting up a Reflect to further neuter the opposing physical attackers.
Replay. Result: 4-0 WIN
Key Moments:
The battle had a false start as I was attempting to record and commentate the battle using OBS, but in doing so accidentally brought the wrong team to respond to Ben's challenge, realising this only as we got to team preview. I was happy to continue using it, but Ben was really nice about it since we hadn't actually started the battle at that point, and let me bring the team I'd planned. I have to thank him for that, I think a non-specific team from me would have made the battle a little more difficult. As a side note, I don't know how people manage to battle and commentate at the same time, it's very stressful and I feel like even though you're thinking aloud, you lose a bit of concentration and ability to multi-task on things such as damage calcs. Also, my computer seems to struggle with it.
Anyway, to the battle. I was able to scout the scarf on Jirachi straight away as it led against my Galvantula. Fortunately, I didn't flinch and was able to get my web up, then get a free switch in with Bisharp on the Zen Headbutt. Knowing a switch had to happen, I'm proud of my call to Psycho Cut the incoming Virizion switch. I didn't have to Sucker Punch it, but I didn't want to lose Bisharp to a Scarf set, so finished it that way. Ben then courageously Defogged with his Scyther in front of my Bisharp, but Galvantula paralysed it and neutered it for the rest of the battle from there. Under Tailwind, Tyranitar was a little threatening, but fortunately Keldeo took the Superpower well enough, and Claydol was later able to safely come in on a -2 attack Tyranitar and get my own rocks and Reflect up.
Arcanine picked up a couple of KO's with Tailwind down, but not before Stealth Rocks came up from Tyranitar. Scyther also went down, and I had a 6-3 lead and was in a good position. Stoutland was able to switch in at that point, but Claydol was able to be sacrificed, having done its job, and being scared of my Arcanine once at -1 attack meant that Stoutland left Machamp to be Arcanine's third KO of the battle.
Jirachi came back in only to U-Turn out, but with the sand down, Stoutland was unable to do anything other than KO itself against my Latias, who I was frankly wasteful with. Jirachi finished off Latias, allowing my Bisharp to come in and KO it with Sucker Punch, clinching the battle 4-0 for me. Considering how important I had felt Keldeo would be, it ended up not really being needed, as Arcanine, Claydol and Bisharp together seemed to be enough to run through Blackburn this time, perhaps aided by the fact that he surprisingly didn't bring Rotom-H or Diancie, the former of which could have been very useful in a number of roles, in my opinion, while Diancie would have been difficult to switch in against.
I'm happy with how I played most of this battle, despite feeling distracted by my recording, especially when I noticed it froze. I'll try recording and streaming again in the coming weeks, but the quality of the recording will need to improve drastically for me to consider it worthwhile. Perhaps I will commentate a different battle to reduce the stress on myself.
Team Golden Fist
Arcanine 3, Bisharp 2
Overall: 4 - Keldeo, 3 - Arcanine, Bisharp, 1 - Shuckle
Team MVP Votes:
Arcanine 3, Bisharp 2, Claydol 1
Overall: 4 - Bisharp, 3 - Keldeo, Arcanine, 1 - Shuckle, Claydol
Art thanks to tsaoshin, check out the gallery at tsaoshin.deviantart.com
Results:
Week 2: 4-0 WIN vs Blackburn (Replay)
Week 1: 3-0 WIN vs Wildwood (Replay)
Vs New York Klefkis (Travis)
| Scizor |
| Landorus-T |
| Latios |
| Darmanitan |
| Mandibuzz |
| Dragalge |
| Rotom-Mow |
| Sigilyph |
| Omastar |
| Mismagius |
| Volbeat |
| Xatu |
The Art of (Pokemon) War: Weak Points and Strong
Previous: Energy
G'day all, welcome back after the break.
VI. Weak Points and Strong
1. Sun Tzu said: Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.
2. Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.
This point connects quite strongly with picking leads well in battle. When choosing your four pokemon in team preview, consider which leads will give your opponent the most trouble, and will enable you to keep out of trouble against their leads, without you needing to lose precious time switching to make up for poor initial positioning.
If you have the ability to start the battle on the front foot because of good leads, this will better allow you to execute your plans and strategies, rather than trying to react to your opponent's strategies, and having to sacrifice damage opportunities just to regain field position.
3. By holding out advantages to him, he can cause the enemy to approach of his own accord; or, by inflicting damage, he can make it impossible for the enemy to draw near.
Some opponents can be baited to chase after shadows, by having to target a threat, or a really annoying pokemon such as Thundurus, or risk being punished. You can use this knowledge to then make your read of the battle and your opponent a little clearer and more accurate.
By getting a large lead in the damage trade through forcing free turns for yourself, in some matchups this can be enough to ensure victory simply by getting in to a lead that your opponent cannot catch up to. While you cannot rely on early damage or pokemon leads to win you battles, you can be confident that this puts you ahead, and gives your opponent less room for movement and error.
7. You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended.You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked.
Most obvious example to illustrate this point of attacking places that are undefended would be something like this: an opposiing pokemon that is slower than you, has just protected, and is threatened with the knockout, will either be switched or sacrificed (barring a double protect). You can be certain of landing your attacks on that slot, and so often can be rewarded if you double in to that slot with a second move that may hit a switch in super effectively, and punish it. Any other time, unless you happen to know what your opponent's moveset is, you cannot always predict their behaviour 100% of the time
Additionally, you cannot always be certain that your pokemon will be ok unless you specifically click protect, or are certain of your opponents moveset, as they may otherwise make a fantastic read and punish your presumption of being safe to do as you like on a given turn.
16. The spot where we intend to fight must not be made known; for then the enemy will have to prepare against a possible attack at several different points; and his forces being thus distributed in many directions, the numbers we shall have to face at any given point will be proportionately few.
This comes down to making obvious plays, or rather, not making them. If you have multiple good options for hitting an opponent at any given time, and they try to hedge their bets, you can punish them for it. This can be applied both on given turns, and in team preview - since a team may have multiple modes available to it, your opponent must prepare for some, but in trying to cover all of them at once, may be overwhelmed by whatever you do choose.
17. For should the enemy strengthen his van, he will weaken his rear; should he strengthen his rear, he will weaken his van; should he strengthen his left, he will weaken his right; should he strengthen his right, he will weaken his left. If he sends reinforcements everywhere, he will everywhere be weak.
18. Numerical weakness comes from having to prepare against possible attacks; numerical strength, from compelling our adversary to make these preparations against us.
All teams have strengths and weaknesses, and team preview allows you the flexibility to cover some of these, or at least leave out weak pokemon in the main matchup - however, sometimes to cover a threat, they may be forced to bring a pokemon with a poor matchup otherwise, weakening their overall position. A great example of this is having a Ferrothorn on a rain team, where your opponent's only way to beat Ferrothorn is a Heatran. Heatran is not very useful at all in the rain matchup, so to prevent losing to Ferrothorn, your opponent must weaken his rain matchup.
By having a team with many strong combinations, you can force your opponent to overprepare for one which they are weak to, which you can exploit should you be alert to this. While mind games can eventuate if you have a smart opponent who can see through this, even a clever opponent can be punished should you get a read on them.
23. Rouse him, and learn the principle of his activity or inactivity. Force him to reveal himself, so as to find out his vulnerable spots.
24. Carefully compare the opposing army with your own, so that you may know where strength is superabundant and where it is deficient.
25. In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them; conceal your dispositions, and you will be safe from the prying of the subtlest spies, from the machinations of the wisest brains.
This is especially pertinant to best of three matches, but also against high rated players who you may battle on a frequent basis at big events in a best of one setting. If you can learn whether your opponent likes to play safe, or make riskier calls, and exploit that, this will be to your advantage. However, this advantage can be turned around - opponents may able to get a read on your decision making process, trying to follow the same method as yourself. Hence, you should be able to change and adapt your dispositions such that your opponents can neither use your high profile, nor previous battles in a set to be 100% certain on how you will make your decision, and hence how to read your plays and counter them. It may not be easy, especially as it may boil down to 'levelling', which describes the decision making made in many strategy games (in the link, it's poker). Another, more pokemon relevant link, is this article by Thage on Nugget Bridge, which covers the levelling concept a bit.
Knowing where your opponent and your own strengths and weaknesses are is a key skill that comes from team preview. However, in a best of three set, this also comes down to finding out your opponents sets, as well as playstyle, to be able to further manipulate the battle to suit your own strengths against their weaknesses, particularly if keeping a particular pokemon alive, or getting rid of one, forms a key part of a win condition.
28. Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.
29. Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards.
32. Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions.
33. He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.
This is twofold. Firstly, this comes between tournaments and teambuilding for them. Secondly, this refers to decisions made within battles and within best of three sets
As Barry Anderson may attest, regarding his famous LieLoom team - if you have success with one strategy in one tournament, especially a big one, you can be sure that people will know the teams makeup and how you play with it. If you don't change things up a bit between tournaments, you can be caught off guard with a knowledge disadvantage in the future should you bring exactly the same team, and meet someone who has considered how to play your team already.
Wolfe Glick's 2015 season is an example of modifying ones tactics in terms of being able to have success with a wide variety of teams, winning two regionals and getting a big finish at US nationals with three very different teams, and then winning an early 2016 season regional as well with a completely different team. It is not easy to be so adaptable with teambuilding and piloting, but it is an art that is worth practicing as it means you can potentially stay one step ahead of the metagame with some good calls.
Regarding making changes within battles and within best of three sets, if you win a battle or a turn on a gutsy call, or because of bringing certain leads, you should expect your opponent to adjust for that if they have room to. In being able to preemptively adjust to changes in your opponents team choice or in battle decision making, you can keep the initiative and stay one step ahead of them.
At the same time, if a certain approach or tactic does not work early in the battle, or in the first battle, be prepared to adjust as necessary in order to mount a comeback. While a strong unifying aim is good for a team, being able to adjust to the various opponents one might face is crucial - and so the water metaphor here is a really good one to keep in mind.
Thanks for tuning in again, hope you found this useful!
Next: Maneuvering
Melbourne Battle Association: Week One
G'day everyone, good news! The MBA Season 2 kicked off this week, and I've had my battle for week one already. I won't ruin the surprise/result just yet, but if you want to know how I ended up, you can probably find it in the league's Google Doc, or by scrolling to the end of this article.
Wildwood Wobbuffets' lineup:
| Wobbuffet |
| Gliscor |
| Charizard Y |
| Blissey |
| Donphan |
| Slowking |
| Cinccino |
| Seismitoad |
| Spiritomb |
| Dusknoir |
| Vivillon |
|
Ditto |
Coming in to this week, I'd already had a taste of the Wobbuffets in the preseason, so we both had some experience to draw on in preparing. My notes were as follows:
Be careful of Wobbuffet - physically defensive set can tank LO Bisharp. Bisharp bring Swords Dance. Keldeo can't do much to Wobbuffet, but also Wobb can't exactly stop a Keldeo either. Opposing team will get worn down by hazards and status. Shuckle good mon here.
Keldeo good apart from Slowking, maybe Ditto. Ditto less effective in early game as more counters to myself are available.
Sun only really nerfs Keldeo – can stall it out though, and at +2 won't matter. +1 with rocks. Substitute from full health can also stall it out thanks to leftied.
Arcanine will be good for stopping Char-Y, as will Stealth Rocks. Arcanine can also boss Blissey, and deal out decent chip damage. Wild Charge can also do huge damage to Slowking. Maybe include Wil-o-wisp as well for residual damage.
Cinccino is very fast. Be careful of it if you haven't got web out yet. Arcanine can also greatly limit Cinccino's damage output. Needs to be Jolly to outrun Keldeo and Galvantula though, so it is either slower than them, or can't hit as hard. Band and Life Orb also limit its sweeping potential until late game. Bisharp also OHKO's after Stealth Rock.
Web is mainly to gimp Cinccino and Ditto's potential, but need to be brought
Need rocks to break sturdy on Donphan – can carry annoying red card otherwise, or at least fire off annoying damage. Try to stop Donphan from spinning if you lose hazard set up potential.
With the opposing team in mind, here is what I brought, with notable choices in bold:
Inigo Montoya (Keldeo-Resolute) @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Calm MindAragog (Galvantula) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- Thunder
- Energy Ball
- Thunder WaveMoldy Peaches (Shuckle) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 100 SpD
Calm Nature
- Infestation
- Toxic
- Shell Smash
- RestCheckmate (Bisharp) @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Knock OffCruise Control (Latias) @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 120 SpA / 136 Spe
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- PsyshockGuard Doge (Arcanine) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Extreme Speed
- Flare Blitz
- Wild Charge
By opting for a full annoying Shuckle set, which would of course work best with Gliscor out of the way, I had no other way to bring Stealth Rocks with that lineup other than to put it on Bisharp. Fortunately, that isn't expected, and I had no real need for Iron Head this week, so that was easy to fit on. I also gave it Swords Dance to counter burns, and to potentially wallbreak if given the chance to set up against something more passive, like Wobbuffet or Blissey.
Galvantula got Thunder Wave to slow down opposing flying types like Charizard or Vivillon, and Energy Ball as its 4th move to give it a better option for hitting Donphan or Seismitoad should it need it.
Arcanine wasn't going to be hitting much hard with Close Combat based on the opposing lineup, so I still opted for a physically offensive set, but I gave it Wil-o-Wisp as a way to slow down many of the physical threats Wildwood had, as well as to chip away at things like Blissey and Wobbuffet. I chose Adamant for more damage output.
All the other sets were pretty much standard fare as far as I'm aware, aside perhaps from the EV spreads on Shuckle and Latias.
Season caps: 1 Keldeo, Galvantula, Latias, Bisharp, Arcanine, Shuckle
Wildwood brought: Vivillon, Charizard (Mega Y), Donphan, Wobbuffet, Spiritomb, Gliscor.
Upon seeing this, I was very happy for Keldeo, as under the right circumstances it could really bust through this team, even taking the sun from Charizard Y in to account. I also knew that Stealth Rocks would be as important as I thought. I felt Arcanine answered most potential leads pretty well.
Unfortunately, my decision to be Adamant meant that Vivillon outsped my Arcanine and got a sleep powder off. a 30% confusion infliction then 50% chance to hit myself in confusion meant that Galvantula was sacrificed as I attempted to switch it in and slow down Vivillon with Thunder Wave, using my sash as a shield. I really underprepared for Vivillon, and had to calculate things on the fly to find a way to stop it. With things looking like they would head south for me very quickly given Arcanine's sleepy state, I relied on Bisharp to bail me out. While Vivillon's focus sash came in handy for it, it wasn't able to KO Bisharp even with Life Orb Recoil - having put that in to the damage calculator, I think I was a bit lucky in that regard:
+1 252 SpA Vivillon Bug Buzz vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Bisharp: 229-271 (84.1 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Fortunately, Wildwood switched out Vivillon at that point, allowing me to set up Stealth Rocks as a last act before Spiritomb KO'd Bisharp. Latias or Shuckle would have been the next called in to stop Vivillon, but the battle would have been a lot more difficult without my entry hazards around to niggle.
In against Spiritomb, Keldeo was then in a decent position to tank a burn and start setting up Calm Minds. From +3, I decided to make the most of my remaining turns with burn in mind. Fortunately, Wildwood did not switch in their signature Wobbuffet until I had mown through the rest of the team, by which point Keldeo was ready to have a good rest, having taken 4 names - avenging Bisharp and Galvantula in a way the real Inigo Montoya would have been proud of. I let Shuckle finish off Wobbuffet, because why not, and I like Shuckle.
The end result was a 3-0 WIN
At 18 turns, it was quite a quick battle, but I think it demonstrates both the strengths and weaknesses of my team - while I can use priority to stop setup sweeps, they're also really threatening when they can earn free turns like Vivillon did with Sleep Powder, as I don't always have good ways to tank hits. Fortunately, the hole punched this week was not too big, so I was able to get by and execute my gameplan after dealing with the problem (which Focus Sash exacerbated), as I also have the ability to set up quickly and mow through teams if given enough free turns where I'm not fussed about what my opponent does.
I felt that I successfully managed to exploit Wildwood's weakness to entry hazards, especially Stealth Rocks, and water types, as well as pokemon that can hit on both sides of the spectrum (as Secret Sword or Psyshock would have taken care of Blissey) while setting up - while there are good dedicated Physical and Special Walls in the team, neither can really handle that kind of strong mixed attacking. As well, the team only has one member naturally exceed base 100 speed, so will often will have to take hits before it can dish them back out when you look at the amount of opposing teams that run faster than that. Without Donphan, Wildwood has no way to clear entry hazards, and it has precious little to take strong Dark Type attacks, which many teams have access to.
KO's: Keldeo 4, Shuckle 1, Bisharp 1 (through Stealth Rocks)
Season KO's: As Above
Team MVP Votes: Keldeo (3), Bisharp (2), Shuckle (1)
Season Team MVP Votes: As Above
Art courtesy of Aonik. Check them out at http://aonik.deviantart.com/
Season Results:
3-0 WIN vs Wildwood Wobbuffets (Replay)
Next Week: vs Blackburn Brelooms
| Tyranitar |
| Diancie |
| Jirachi |
| Rotom-Heat |
| Kyurem |
| Machamp |
| Tyrantrum |
| Smeargle |
| Virizion |
| Klinklang |
| Scyther |
| Stoutland |
