SirScrubbington's 2017 Format Writeup!
Hey guys! My name is Damon Murdoch, also known as Sir Scrubbington in the VGC community. Overall my results at big live events have been pretty mediocre this season, but I had a lot of fun with this format and love writing about VGC so I wanted to share a little on the teams I used. This format was extremely different to past formats I had played such as VGC15' and 16' so I would say it was very difficult for me to adapt to the new format, and to be completely honest I actually really disliked it early on. However, as we progressed through the year and I found teams I really enjoyed playing it actually grew on me quite a lot, and despite my worse performances at events compared to 2016 I actually had a lot of fun with this metagame.
Lets take a look at the teams!
December PC: Top 4 Finish
At the time this was pretty much the most standard team in the metagame and it seemed really strong to me so I felt like it was a pretty safe pick going into my first event of the season. For the most part I was right, I felt like the team performed extremely well in most matchups but I lost two times during the tournament to the same player - who was piloting Bulu Arcanine Celesteela stall. It turned out to be a pretty big issue for the team to deal with, and if I were to change one thing about this team it would be to put perish song on Marowak over bonemerang for that matchup, as well as general utility against matchups such as Eevee.
I ran fast bulky Marowak as I felt like Marowak was the kind of Pokemon that didn't really need the attack investment, as it already gets a massive boost from thick club and I wanted to make sure I was faster than most other Marowak. The benchmark my Marowak hits is one point faster than neutral natured Porygon2, and this felt like an acceptable benchmark because Shadow Ball Porygon2 was reasonably common at the time, and being able to hit it first for sure was pretty nice.
January PC: Top 2 Finish & Zelda's Melbourne Invitational (x-3)
During January, Pheromosa Lele started picking up usage, and I was really interested in the idea of using Lele + Banded Metagross to pick up knockouts. I threw P2 on the team as a safe switch-in from Phromosas u-turns, and it was solid trick room counter the other 3 Pokemon really wanted. I was stuck on what the last two Pokemon should be for a little while, but after thinking of double duck it became an extremely obvious choice for the team. In the PC, the team worked extremely well and I was very satisfied with it, however during finals I got fully paralysed almost every turn game three and lost the event as a result of that. That said, my opponent played very well and my team had a general weakness to my opponent's Togedemaru - So I can't complain too much.
After testing the team more online, I felt that I was comfortable piloting it and decided to use it in Zelda's Melbourne Invitational tournament. I had a really solid start in the tournament, one of my favorite matches of the year being my win against Giovanni Costa at x-1 however during the final two rounds I faced extremely difficult matchups (Black0VGC's Sun Team and Mx0's Koko Raichu team) and finished my tournament run at x-3.
I used this team at a few other events also - I piloted it to 25-5 in one of the international challenges, however I couldn't finish it as I had an event the next day. I also used this team a few weeks during the smogon tournament, but I lost both weeks and decided to stop using it.
Overall, despite a dissapointing finish in the Zelda tournament and the Smogon Tournament I was really satisfied with how this team performed. However, I ended up retiring it as I felt like the team was too read reliant, and I decided I'd rather use teams that were more positioning based rather than being forced to make reads most turns.
January PC & Melbourne Challenge
The Metagross EV spread used on this team was originally made by @CybertronVGC, and I felt like it was really good at the time and decided to use it on my own team.
February PC (X-2 - 10th Place)
This team was basically the team BlackOVGC used in the Melbourne Challenge, which I really took a liking to at the time. After what I just said about not wanting to make reads, picking this team probably looks pretty odd - But I felt like this team was pretty good in the metagame at the time of the event. As it turns out, Brisbane didn't really care about whatever the VGC metagame is at the time and I turned out to be completely wrong, losing both of my games in rounds one and three to prevent me cutting the event. Despite this, I actually think this team is really cool - I felt like it was extremely difficult for my opponent to play at team preview, but I could set pretty clear gameplans for myself which I really liked.
March PC (Top 4) & Aus Internationals 2016 (5-4)
I learned my lesson from the previous to events I'd played at, and decided to use a much bulkier team which made it easier for me to make safe, consistent plays. I started off building this with the idea of using offensive wild charge Arcanine to check Fini and Gyarados, and Ninetales to check Garchomp. Aurora veil was also really nice on the team, as it made it extremely difficult to break my calm mind Tapu Fini. Originally I had assault vest Kartana at the PC, however I felt like I was weaker to faster teams so I swapped it to choice scarf for internationals. Curse Snorlax was really good on this team, as it gave me a good check to trick room which this team really struggled against without it.
At the PC, I felt like the team functioned really well, and I was very comfortable piloting it. However, at nationals the matchups I faced with the team were naturally much harder to beat. Although I feel like the team handled itself pretty well, I had an almost autoloss matchup to Gavin Michael's trick room team - Which I ended up facing twice during the event and lost both times. My other losses were to Sebastian Escalente, who played extremely well against me and Matthew Bockman, who I had a really good set with but unfortunately I got a little unlucky in game 3, and it ended up coming down to a minute difference in HP remaining on time.
Overall for the time, I felt like this team was pretty decent - But it definitely could have been better if I had taken the time to test it more before the event. Gavin room was something I really should have expected to see more of, and it taught me that I needed to prepare a lot more leading into large events in the future. While I was dissapointed by my performance at this event, it was a pretty big learning experience for me and I don't think it would be right to regret that.
At the Miseason Showdown on day two of internationals (which was actually my 19th birthday!) I ended up using the same team I'd used at the February PC, with Oricorio Pheromosa as I didn't really feel like taking the event seriously. I ended up going 4-3, but I wasn't too upset as I lost to really hard matchups.
Smogon Tournament Swiss
For the first few rounds of the Smogon Tournament, I used the double ducks team I posted above. However, after reaching the x-2 bracket in the first 4 rounds I decided to make a different team, which I used for the remaining 5 swiss rounds. I based the team off the team Markus Stadter used to win the Dreamhack regional, only I decided to use Life Orb Nature Power Tapu Koko, as I was really fond of that set and found it really effective during practise. I dropped the Snorlax slot for Tapu Koko, and as a result used roar over helping hand on Arcanine to ensure I still had at least an answer to trick room. I never had to play against a hard trick room team during the tournament, however so it never became an issue.
In all honesty I got extremely lucky in the last 5 rounds after I reached x-2, at least two rounds my opponent just never messaged me and I got the win off that - and a few times during sets I got a lot of hax in my favour, which definitely helped me make cut. I liked this team while I was using it, however I wasn't 100% satisfied that I would be able to pilot it against the calibre of players I was expecting to face in top cut - and that's why I used the team we'll be discussing next in Top 64 and Top 32.
April -> August
I've grouped this whole section together because as far as I can remember, I used effectively the same 6 Pokemon at all of these events, except for a few minor set changes between events. This team was formed during a discussion with my friend Nils Dunlop (@Invicnati) and we actually built it by taking FAKEPG and dropping Porygon2 Gigalith for Mimikyu Snorlax as the trick room mode, as I didn't feel comfortable piloting P2 Gigalith at the time and felt like it was stronger for me to run Mimikyu Snorlax instead, after seeing how incredibly effective it was on Gavin Michael's Trick Room team. This team, in its many different versions over the time I used it is probably one of my favorite VGC teams of all time - It was extremely consistent in most matchups at this point in the metagame, and I never played against a matchup that I felt like was completely unwinnable.
This team saw many different versions, however the final version of the team I have saved can be seen below. The only major differences in early versions of the team and this final version were the speed stats were mostly changing Mimikyu's spread for different points of the metagame. At first, I ran very fast and then slowly shifted to a slower, bulkier Mimikyu as it became convenient in my local metagame. If I played this team at a large event, I would change back to fast (which points towards the team I used at Brisbane Regionals).
The results I had with this team are as follows:
Top 32 Smogon Tournament (Used in T64, T32)
I faced Mx0 (@maximumzerovgc) in top 64, and I won mostly due to having an extremely good matchup to his team. However, I lost to Lukas Muller (@KnappiKing) in a really good set, which saw a little bit of hax going against me but it was a pretty voliatile mirror match and he played well so I don't think I can complain.
Top 2 MSS
The team worked really well during this tournament, and I only dropped 1 set (finals) after my mimikyu got iron head flinched by a Garchomp in game 3 :^)
I placed at a few other PCs with this team as well, but I can't find anything confirming my placings on my Play! Pokemon page so I'm just going to leave them off so I don't make any mistakes.
October PC (Top 8)
I was kind of tired of using the same team, as I felt like Brisbane players were starting to counterteam me a little bit - So for this event, I ended up switching to this team as it had been really effective for me on the ladder at the time, and wanted to try using it at a live event to see how I could perform with it. Due to odd circumstances, I actually ended up showing up late to this event - But thanks to some fantastic stroke of luck I got paired with one of the best players in Brisbane round one so his resistance carried me into top cut, even after taking another loss in round two and then winning out. Unfortunately, I dropped my top 8 set to Graham Amedee after he crit my Mimikyu on the Ice Beam for the KO, when I went for a trick room which would have won me the game. This ended up being really important, as I ended up winning game two but he adjusted well and won game 3.
November MSS (Top 2)
For this event, I wasn't entirely sure what to use, so with his permission I ended up using the team Nils used at worlds. This team worked extremely well, and I was very satisfied with it - I'd been practising with and against this team for several months before this event, so I felt really comfortable in knowing how to play it. However, I dropped round 5 and finals to good friend and fantastic player Malcolm (@MogarVGC), as he had the matchup advantage and played well to maintain it during both sets. I can't provide a pastebin of this team, as I didn't make it - However if you're interested, you can check it out in the Top 8 teams at the 2017 World Championships.
December PC (Top 4)
Around a month before this event happened, Brisbane regionals was announced and I was certain I wanted to use something which was very good, but not necessarily similar to the team I had in mind for regionals at the time for this event. Nils gave me a team he had used to win a midseason showdown in Sweden, which I had helped him test and ended up really liking it - However, he had told me he had retired it as he felt like it was too reads-based for his liking, and I think overall I would have to agree with him there. I ended up losing in top cut against Graham Amedee, who played really well and honestly completely bodied me in both games! The team was very strong, but I definitely felt like I was playing to my opponents plays more than I generally like to. Once again, this team wasn't mine so I can't share the specific spreads. Sorry!
Brisbane Regionals (4-2, 21st Place)
This team probably looks familiar, doesn't it? This team is a little different from the Mimi Lax AFK variants posted above, and I think this is definitely my favorite way to play the team. I built this team with Nils going into the London International Championships, however he and I ended up using very different spreads going into our respective events. The first major difference between this version and my previous versions of the team was that I was using the scarf Tapu Fini + Grassium Kartana core, which became common on FAKEPG geams later in the format. I really liked this core, as it gave you a means to take really cheap knockouts game 1, and grassium Kartana is able to hit pretty insane numbers by itself. Assault vest Togedemaru is actually one of my favorite sets, and I felt like it put in extremely good work on this team. U-turn allows you to prevent opposing Koko from using an electric move that turn, but then switch out and bring in another Pokemon afterward which I thought was extremely useful in a lot of matchups. I opted to use Special Mimikyu at this event, because I was really worried about the MetaMence + Gastrodon matchup, and I felt like Special Mimikyu helped against that significantly.
On the day of the event, I felt like the team performed well - However I ended up losing round 1 and 3, which ruined my resistance and prevented me from getting points at x-2. I lost round 1 to a pretty odd matchup which I really wasn't prepared for, and round 3 to my friend Jack Buckley (@Arahpthos) who played very well in addition to already knowing how to play against my team. I was pretty dissapointed in my finish at this event, as I felt like I really needed the points to maintain a reasonable chance at getting a world invite in this format - However I had a really fun time playing with this team, and while I regret a few of my plays it's something that I will have to learn from in the future.
Conclusion
That pretty much sums up my 2017 VGC season! I didn't do as well at local events as I have in the past VGC formats, however I'm really excited to start proving myself again during the VGC 2018 format. In the past year, we've had a lot of really good players start attending events in Brisbane - And it's actually really exciting for me to watch our playerbase get stronger. It means I have no choice but to keep trying to improve myself as well! Thanks for reading and I really hope you enjoyed my writeup. Before I finish the report, I'd like to write a few shoutouts to people who have helped me a lot, and to some players who have really proved themselves in our local scene this year.
Jack (@Arahpthos)
An amazing player and an even better friend, it's a shame that Jack hasn't had much fun with Pokemon this year and has decided to take a break going into 2018. I really hope that we can continue to be good friends outside of Pokemon, and if you do eventually return I hope you know we'll all welcome you back with open arms!
Graham & Brain Amedee
Given how new both of these players are, cutting Sydney and Brisbane regionals as well as Graham winning the EXP Invitational is extremely impressive. These two players taught me to respect hyper offense as much as any other archetype when piloted well, and watching both of them improve at the game so quickly has been extremely humbling. I look forward to seeing what both of them are able to achieve in the 2018 format!
Malcolm (@MogarVGC)
Another relatively new player who shows great promise, Malcolm has been a good friend and practice partner who has really proved himself with his past few performances at events. I'm also looking forward to seeing what you can achieve in 2018!
Nils (@Invicnati)
It's amazing the different people we meet through Pokemon, huh? I first spoke with Nils before worlds in 2016, and we've been practising for events together ever since. Playing against you has helped me improve so much in the past few years, and the teams he makes are always amazing. I can't thank him enough, and I'm looking forward to building together more this year!
Joe (@Splozion101)
A really close friend of mine, who has always been there for me when I've needed it. Also, he's actually pretty good at Pokemon when he practises! I believe in him going into the 2018 format.
Mitch (Pretenti0us)
Great guy, and a good Pokemon Fan Club President! I haven't written about it here, but I've also had a lot of fun attending unofficial Pokemon events run through the Pokemon Fan Club of UQ this year - and I'm looking forward to another great year of events next year!
Masto (@BB_Mastodon)
AnGeRy
Thanks for not banning me from the Swoles discord!
The Plum
I love you guys, hanging out with you all at events is always so much fun. I can't wait to see you guys at Sydney in February!
P.S Someone please convince Kats not to use Chansey in 2018, I'm very afraid of the dark times to come
All of the Buzzwole Boys
Honestly, all of you are amazing, and are the main reason why people keep coming back to play at Brisbane Pokemon events. The discord is always a great place to hang out and do gay things Play Pokemon with friends :)
This has been a really big year for me, both in my personal life and in Pokemon and I'm really glad that all of you have been here with me. Thanks to all of you!
Quick Update
Hey guys! I'm planning on reviving this blog pretty soon, it originally started out as an outlet for writing about my teams in 2015 but I switched to writing articles on Nuggetbridge during 2016. As the Nuggetbridge blog system has now closed, I'll be writing about my teams here again in the future. I will also be reposting my old Nuggetbridge articles on this page too when I get them back. I'll mostly be writing about the teams I've used at events so far in the season, but in the leadup to Australian Internationals I may consider writing some other articles related to that as well. Thanks for reading guys, I'm looking forward to writing for you!
Brisbane Sceptile Series #2
Hey guys! This is the team I used to win the Brisbane Sceptile Series Premier Challenge #2. Throughout the day I faced a number of really interesting teams, and played some really great games! I was very happy with the team, and incredibly satisfied with my final result! The team is a modified version of the team I had used the previous week, although unfortunately I came 11th and missed making cut during that event. In this post I will write about my team, the teambuilding process and my tournament run. Without further ado, here is the team:
At a glance, it's a standard Gardevoir goodstuffs team which I based off Scar's 6th Place VGC15 World Championships team, running Azumarill over Tyranitar. However, there are a few surprises in the movesets that I used to keep my opponents on their toes :^)
Team can be found in plain text here.
The Team:
Gardevoir-Mega @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Pixilate
Level: 50
EVs: 172 HP / 12 Def / 236 SpA / 60 SpD / 28 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psychic
- Trick Room
- Protect
This is a relatively standard Mega Gardevoir spread, with minimal defensive benchmarks to ensure it survives attacks from a number of intimidated physical attackers and some special attackers. I ran a highly offensive spread because I like pressuring my opponent with high damage output, and felt that my team could adequately support my Gardevoir without me needing to run a highly defensive spread. Gardevoir was an incredibly threatening pokemon on my team, and posed a major threat to my opponent's team in many games I brought it. When supported properly, it was often able to clear through the major threats in my opponent's team for my back pokemon to clean up, or I could deal chip with the rest of my party and sweep with Gardevoir. Overall, Gardevoir was an incredibly powerful member of the team and provided strong offensive pressure in many matchups.
A few spread calcs can be found here.
Landorus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- U-turn
This is the Landorus EV spread that Scar used in his worlds team, but I changed knock off and rock tomb to superpower and U-Turn because I like the switching utility provided by u-turn and the offensive output offered by superpower. The EV spread hits all the targets it needs to, while having a higher base stat total than 252 - 252 variants. I rarely brought Landorus in swiss, as I am often fearful of having surprise moves pick up easy KOs on him and swinging the match in my opponent's favour. However, this is more due to misplays on my end than any problems with the Pokemon itself, and he was an incredibly strong pokemon in the games I used him.
Thundurus @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 40 Def / 36 SpA / 156 SpD / 28 Spe
Modest Nature
- Swagger
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Protect
Once again, this is Scar's thundurus spread however due to Azumarill needing the sitrus berry I am running safety goggles Thundurus. Thundurus was mostly used for firing off swaggers during swiss, however this rarely resulted in a good outcome for me. Of the five turns of confusion I had on my opponents they only hit themselves once, and swagger missed a few times as well. This demonstrates the voliatility of swagger, and that it should definitely not be relied on as a winning stragegy. Overall, Thundurus was probably one of the weakest members of my team, although I feel that I could have definitely played better with him to improve his potential.
Heatran @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 252 SpA / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Overheat
- Protect
This heatran spread did a lot of work during the tournament, and was definitely one of the strongest Pokemon my team. The EV spread is simple, and provides him with strong offensive pressure and bulk while speed creeping opposing bulky heatrans with low speed investment. However, I found throughout the tournament that overheat was an unecessary move which I never needed to use, and in future events I will most likely run flash cannon in order to improve my matchup against opposing Mega Gardevoirs and Sylveons. I brought heatran to almost every game during the event, and found it performed exceptionally in every game. He has a good matchup with a lot of the Australian metagame, and dealt with a number of major threats to my team.
Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Def / 12 SpD / 24 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Knock Off
- Belly Drum
- Protect
This is the standard Nuggetbridge damage calc Azumarill EV spread, because I've been too lazy to design my own spread and this one seems to work well for me. I didn't use Azumarill too much during Swiss, but I brought it to most of my games during top cut and it performed phenomenally, getting belly drum off in both games during my top 8 match and hitting hard in the later matches. In the previous event I had been using Life Orb Tyranitar in this slot, however I never brought it to a single game and felt that it was dead weight against many matchups, given I already had Landorus as a powerful rock slide user. I decided to use Azumarill because my team needs at least 2 strong physical attackers to be balanced, and Azumarill fulfills this role well as it is one of the most threatening pokemon in the game at the moment, with belly drum and powerful damage output thanks to priority aqua jet. It also gives my team a water type attacker, which I was previously lacking and completes my Fire-Water-Grass core. Azumarill was definitely a strong member of the team, and pulled its weight throughout the event.
Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Sunny Day
With Tyranitar gone, I needed another method for dealing with weather conditions. For me, the perfect answer to this was Sunny Day Amoonguss. I rarely ever used protect on Amoonguss, and found that often I would have to just let him sit there and do nothing for my team on some turns, and Sunny Day allowed me to take advantage of them instead of wasting them. Sunny day allowed me to deal with rain teams, although I never faced one in the tournament and provided a way for me to deal with other weather conditions like hail and sand. In addition to this, it supported my Heatran and allowed me to weaken opposing water types which threaten my Heatran and Landorus. The EV spread is Scar's worlds spread, which worked well for me during the event and the rest of the moves are standard. Overall, Amoonguss was definitely my team's MVP and supported my entire team extremely well in every game I used it.
Okay, that's the team! If interested, the team can be found in plain text here. Now I will discuss my tournament run and my experiences at the event.
Round 1: David Palfrey (2-3, 14th Overall)
His Team: 
He Brought:
I brought:
Being the first round of the tournament, I was pretty nervous about this matchup. CharY + Venusaur on my opponent's team frightens me a little, given that it can threaten my Gardevoir and the double ghost types made me a little concerned about Gardevoir's matchup. Thundurus surviving with clutch 1HP from Gastrodon's second Ice Beam definitely helped me out, and Gastrodon hitting itself in confusion helped keep Thundurus alive longer. This was a pretty long match, taking ten turns to play through and mostly involved me swaggering everything with Thundurus and dealing big damage to my opponent's team with Gardevoir and Heatran. I ended up taking a 3-0 win in this game, giving me a good start to the tournament.
Win: 1-0
Round 2: Luke Milligan (5-0, Top 8)
His Team:
He Brought:
I brought:
This game, I was strongly outplayed by my opponent and definitely could have played better. I traced levitate and avoided an earthquake with Gardevoir first turn, killing his Gengar with a combination of psychic and heat wave however took massive damage with both Gardevoir and Heatran in the process. He brings in Kangaskhan and I switch Heatran for Amoonguss and protect Gardevoir, and he power-up punches the Amoonguss. I switch out Gardevoir for Azumarill and Rage Powder and he returns, Killing Amoonguss and U-Turns out Landorus for Sylveon. I aqua jet Kangaskhan and he protects it, hyper voicing with his Sylveon and revealing the life orb. I then protect Azumarill and he Power-up punches Gardevoir for the KO. He then cleans up my remaining two members with sucker punch and hyper voice.
I definitely could have played this game better, bringing Landorus would have helped with many of the matchups against his team. However, I decided against bringing it because of Weavile scaring him off at team preview, even though he didn’t bring it to our game. Gardevoir and Heatran help with the Weavile matchup, so Landorus definitely would have been a better choice over Azumarill in this matchup.
Loss: 1-1
Round 3: Harrison Fielder (4-1, Top 4)
His Team: 
He Brought:
I brought:
As soon as team preview opened I knew I was going to have a rough matchup against this team. I swaggered Sylveon first turn, and brought out Heatran over Gardevoir, while he predicted this and switched Scizor for Rotom-W using U-Turn and hits with the hyper voice. I then switch Thundurus to Amoonguss and protect Heatran, while Sylveon gets off another hyper voice and Rotom hydro pumps the Amoonguss slot. Mamoswine then comes in on the Sylveon slot and he protects Rotom, while I rage powder and heat wave predicting the hydro pump. I then protect Heatran and Giga Drain the Mamoswine, but Amoonguss is KOed before he has a chance to hit from Earthquake and Thunderbolt damage. I then bring in Gardevoir, who traces levitate and I switch in Thundurus to avoid the earthquake and psychic the Mamoswine, picking up the KO while Thundurus is KOed by Hydro Pump damage. Sylveon then comes back out, and I misplay going straight for the Hyper Voice and Heat Wave. I then lose Gardevoir and Heatran to hydro pump from Rotom and Shadow Ball from Sylveon.
I definitely could have played this game better, I needed to deal with Rotom Wash much faster and focus on taking it out, as it was a much greater threat to my team than the Mamoswine was. Landorus definitely would have been useful in this matchup, as he would have been able to provide offensive pressure against the Sylveon and Mamoswine. I generally let my Pokémon take too much unnecessary damage too quickly and lost resultantly.
Loss: 1-2
There was then an hour break before the next pairings, which I used to get something to eat and reflect on my previous matches. I knew that I really needed to perform extremely well if I was to make top cut, and I realised that I had not been using Landorus nearly as much as I should have been throughout the event, and that my reliance on swaggering with Thundurus was not the best method for dealing with many of the threats on my opponent’s team. As break ended I returned to the venue, determined to make a big comeback and make top cut.
Round 4: Sam (0-5)
His Team:
He Brought:
I brought:
This was definitely an interesting match, to say the least. Being 1-2 at the time, I was matched against one of the lowest rated players in the event (0-3 at the time) and managed to easily perform a 4-0 sweep, given his entire team was weak to Landorus. I lead with double genies and practically just Earthquaked every turn to close up the match. I offered to help give him some competitive Pokémon to help him out, but he left the venue during top cut before I had a chance to do so.
Win: 2-2
Round 5: Ryan Currie (3-2, Top 8)
His Team:
He Brought:
I brought:
When I faced Ryan, his win-loss ratio was 3-1. This made me extremely excited, because it meant that I was at the top of the 2-2s and had a chance of coming back to make top cut, but I had to win this match. Unfortunately it seems that I had forgotten to save the battle replay of this match, so I cannot recall exactly how the battle went but I remember that I was able to predict my opponent correctly and ended up winning the match 3-0, the game finishing with his Thundurus against my remaining three Pokémon, who attempted to fire off swaggers to come back into the game but was unable to finish off my team.
Win: 3-2
When the rankings were announced, I was told that I had made 6th place overall, which landed me a spot in top cut. This was the furthest I had gone in an event before, and I was extremely excited! Although I was happy with simply making cut, I was determined to go as far as I could.
Top cut games for this event were streamed on the Nugget Bridge channel, although only my final match was displayed on the stream. The stream for the other matches in top cut can be seen here. My finals match is at 00:54:00.
Top Cut:
Top 8: Richard Buckley
His Team:
This game was against a fellow Gold Coast player, using a team which I was definitely not expecting to face. At team preview I really had no idea what I was looking at, as many of these Pokemon are incredibly rare and have had very little experience playing against them in the past. I tried to play carefully against him, taking as few risks as posssible against his team as I was unsure how he would play with it.
Game 1:
He Brought:
I brought:
This game opens with rock slide from Aerodactyl and Landorus, Azumarill setting up belly drum and his Hippowdon flinching. He switches in storm drain Cradily to deal with my Azumarill while I protect and rock slide, again flinching the Hippowdon. I superpower the Cradily and reveal its weakness policy, and knock off the Hippowdon to pick up the KO and reveal its rocky helmet. Azumarill then dies to a Giga Drain from Cradily. I then bring out Gardevoir and he brings in Scrafty, which fakes out the Gardevoir and Landorus KOs the Cradily with superpower. Aerodactyl comes back in, and Gardevoir-Landorus close up the game.
Win: 1-0
Battle Video: 2KQ2-WWWW-WW34-U5CJ
Game 2:
He Brought:
I brought:
He goes for the icy wind with Milotic and protects Aerodactyl, while I knock off Milotic and switch Landorus for Gardevoir. Milotic switches out for Hippowdon and Aerodactyl Mega Evolves, using sky drop on Azumarill while I use hyper voice with Mega Gardevoir. Gardevoir then hyper voices again the next turn, picking up both KOs and Azumarill gets a free belly drum after returning from sky drop. Milotic then scalds and Cradily giga drains Azumarill for the KO while Gardevoir hyper voices. Heatran comes in, and Heatran-Gardevoir sweep up the remaining members of his team. GGs Richard!
Win: 2-0
Battle Video: JUGG-WWWW-WW34-U5B4
Top 4: Paul Amadee
His Team:
Paulo is a great player, and it is always fun to face the teams he brings to these events. I was really excited to play against him in top cut, and we played some really great games! At team preview, he had a few pokemon which I had tested myself before, as well as a few other rarer pokemon which I had a little experience with.
Game 1:
He Brought:
I brought:
The game opens with me picking up a double rock slide flinch on his side of the field, and hyper voicing with Gardevoir to bring both members of his team to less than 30%. This puts him in a very rough position right from game one, and in turn two he loses both of his leads while my Pokémon have only taken damage from sand. Gastrodon and Ferrothorn then come in, while Landorus U-turns the Gastrodon and switches in to Amoonguss, which takes an ice beam from Amoonguss. I then hyper voice, and giga drain, bringing both of his Pokémon down to heat wave range but losing my two Pokémon. I then clean up the game with heat wave from Heatran and superpower from Landorus.
Win: 1-0
Battle Video: NNWW-WWWW-WW34-U5AD
Game 2:
He Brought:
I brought:
This game was a much rougher matchup with me, and opens with Mienshao using wide guard to block both my rock slide and hyper voice while Salamence hyper voices. Next turn, Gardevoir protects while Salamence hyper voices, and Mienshao rock slides while Landorus U-turns out for Amoonguss. Amoonguss rage powders, Salamence hyper voices and Mienshao rock slides, KOing Amoonguss however Gardevoir survives to pick up the double KO on Salamence and Mienshao. Landorus comes in and superpowers the Gastrodon, Hyper voice picks up the KO on Gastrodon and deals 40% to Tyranitar. Heatran comes in and takes a low kick from Tyranitar before cleaning up the game. GGs Paulo!
Win: 2-0
Battle Video: 6XSW-WWWW-WW34-U59D
Finals: Matthew Trapp
His Team:
At team preview this looked like a pretty standard team, and I had plenty of experience facing teams similar to this before. However, CHALK is always a rough matchup so I still had to be careful and make sure I played the best I could.
Game 1:
He Brought:
I brought:
Charizard protects turn 1 and Cresselia sets up trick room, while I switch Landorus out for Heatran using U-Turn on Cresselia and protect Azumarill. I then switch Azumarill for Amoonguss, while Heatran takes a skill swap + flamethrower from Cresselia and Charizard Y. I then switch out Heatran for Landorus and spore the Charizard, while Cresselia attacks Amoonguss with psychic. Cresselia switches for Amoonguss and Charizard Y for Landorus while I attempt to spore the Amoonguss and switch Landorus for Heatran. I then spore the Landorus and Heat Wave with Heatran, while Cresselia comes back in and takes a spore from Amoonguss. I switch Landorus into the heatran slot while I spore the Landorus slot, preparing for a wake up. I then rock slide, flinching his Landorus as it wakes up. I then continue to rock slide, chipping his Cresselia and Landorus while Amoonguss takes attacks from his Landorus. The remaining members of his team are then cleaned up by Landorus and Heatran, after my Amoonguss faints to a giga drain
Win: 1-0
Battle Video: 2KQ2-WWWW-WW34-U5CJ
Game 2:
He Brought:
I brought:
He fakes out the Landorus, predicting the Azumarill protect and I switch Landorus for Azumarill, expecting the Landorus fake out and spore on the Landorus slot. I then switch Azumarill for Landorus and spore the Kangaskhan, while he double-edges the Heatran slot and rage powders. He then switches his Amoonguss for Heatran as I set up sunny day and Heat wave with Heatran, leaving his sleeping Kangaskhan with very low HP. I then rage powder a low kick from the Kangaskhan, which dies to rocky helmet recoil while Amoonguss dies from a heat wave from the opposing Heatran, and his Heatran dies to an earth power from mine. He then brings out Amonguss and Landorus, protecting his Amoonguss and Earthquaking while I heat wave and rock slide. I then rock slide and protect with heatran, while his Landorus flinches and my Landorus is spored by his Amoonguss. I then heat wave with Heatran, taking a rock slide without flinching to close up the game. GGs Matthew!
Win: 2-0
Battle Video: MBQG-WWWW-WW34-TBZR
Conclusion
Thanks for reading my report! I feel like Australian events need more coverage, so I hope that this article is useful and informative to anyone who wants a better understanding of the Australian metagame. If you have any feedback on either the team or the report, or if I have missed something really stupid while proofreading please don't hesitate to ask me or tell me in the comments or via PM. Thanks!
Shout outs:
- Pockycat for being bae <3
- Splozion and Zoingy101 for being great friends who really helped out during the team building process :^)
- Brendan Webb (Florist the Budew) for being a great friend and an amazing player who really helped out with team building and testing
- Phil Nguyen (Boomguy) for being an awesome tournament host:^)
- Everyone who I played against for being a really good sport and for helping me improve my game. GGs everyone! See you all at the next events!
[Update Fix 1: Had Flash Cannon over Earth Power. Whoops!]
Mega Metagross Rain
I've been messing with this team for a little while, and it has been excellent for practising with rain and has demonstrated how strong rain can be in the current metagame when unchecked, or its counters are played around effectively.
This team was inspired by a a team I faced in the first round of a Brisbane Bisharps tournament in August used by Paulo, which featured Mega Metagross and Politoed. His team also had Defiant Braviary, but I decided against using that on my team :^)
Generally the focus for this team is dealing a lot of damage with my offensive pokemon, and if I still have three or four of my pokemon left against their two I set up perish song with Politoed. I usually close up the game by using Amoonguss and Politoed to rage powder + perish song, double protect, double switch and double protect.
Mega Metagross
Metagross @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Zen Headbutt
- Substitute
- Protect
Mega Metagross is the Pokemon this team was built around, and has ironically been brought to the least games of any of them. He's mainly useful when dealing with poison types such as Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur, and deals major damage to opposing weather setters such as Tyranitar and Mega Charizard Y. He's also the main Gardevoir and Sylveon counter for the team, although many Sylveon spreads now invest EVs into HP and Def in order to take an Iron Head from jolly Metagross. Because of this, when I am given the opportunity I generally helping hand + Iron Head in order to Garuantee the KO. Against most teams that don't involve Gardevoir or Sylveon, the other members of the team are more important to the game than Mega Metagross.
Politoed
Politoed @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 220 HP / 172 Def / 4 SpA / 92 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Helping Hand
- Perish Song
- Protect
My rain setter and the main member of the perish core, this Pokemon is mainly used as a bulky switch-in to resisted attacks and helping hand supporter for my offensive Pokemon. Scald is a rarely used offensive move, but is placed on the moveset to prevent him from becoming taunt bait, and to give him the ability to thaw out if he were to be frozen. I usually try to prevent him from taking too much damage early game where possible, so he can be used to set up perish song late game and survive long enough for the opposing pokemon to be fainted. His low speed investment means that in most situations, he is the slowest Pokemon on the field and faints last to perish song when I have no options to switch. The EV spread is Wolfe Glick's perish trap Politoed spread, for which I opted to use Helping Hand over encore as it provides greater support for my attacking Pokemon in Metagross, Talonflame and Kingdra.
Kingdra
Kingdra @ Lum Berry
Ability: Swift Swim
Evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Muddy Water
- Ice Beam
- Dragon Pulse
- Protect
Kingdra acts as one of my main offensive Pokemon, and provides coverage against common Pokemon such as Landorus, Heatran, Talonflame and Salamence. Dragon pulse was chosen over draco meteor as I felt that I needed a reliable STAB move, given that I already have a 90% accuracy STAB move in Muddy Water. Lum berry was chosen as the item because Kingdra's strong offensive pressure and speed means that it attracts a lot of status conditions, and this item prevents them from afflicting him for at least one turn. It also helps me deal with void cats and dark void smeargle. EV spread is simple, and was designed to hit as hard and fast as possible.
Scrafty
Scrafty @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Intimidate
IVs: 0 Spe
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 6 SpD
Brave Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
- Protect
The second member of the perish core, I opted for a more offensive Scrafty variant in part because I felt that I needed a strong fighting type physical attacker on my team, as well as me being simply too lazy to design an actual bulky Scrafty set. He hits many normal and steel type pokemon hard such as Kangaskhan Heatran and Aegislash, as well as hitting most common trick room setters for Super Effective damage such as Cresselia, Chandelure and Reuniclus. He has minimum speed in order to serve as a counter to trick room, as most of my team is very fast. In addition to this, his slow speed means that usually dies last under perish song. Safety goggles was chosen as the item as lum berry was already taken by Kingdra, and it prevents him from being afflicted by sand / hail damage or being affected by spore or rage powder. This has been incredibly useful in many games, where my opponent has attempted to spore my Scrafty under trick room and Safety Goggles has prevented this from happening.
Talonflame
Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Evs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Brave Bird
- Overheat
- Quick Guard
- Protect
Due to the lack of fake out on this team apart from Scrafty, Quick Guard was chosen to provide another way around prankster users such as Thundurus and Sableye, as well as common Fake Out users such as Mega Kangaskhan. It also allows me to prevent opposing Talonflame from using Brave Bird on my Pokemon. Naughty was chosen with Overheat to be able to hit hard without damage being reduced by intimidate, as well as being able to hit Ferrothorn without doing insane amounts of damage to myself through rocky helmet and iron barbs damage. brave bird provides offensive pressure against fighting and grass types such as Conkeldurr and Amoonguss, and has powerful priority to clean up my opponent's weakened Pokemon late game.
Amoonguss
Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
IVs: 0 Spe
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Spore
- Protect
Standard Amoonguss spread, provides another counter to trick room teams through fast spores and redirects attacks away from my frailer Pokemon such as Talonflame and Kingdra. Giga Drain was chosen as the offensive option as my team has very few other options for dealing with Water / Ground types, and without Amoonguss they have the potential to wall my entire team. Amoonguss also provides another way to deal with Fairy Types defensively, as he can switch into fairy attacks easily without taking too much damage. However, he is easily susceptible to psychic type attacks from Mega Gardevoir, and generally requires support from Metagross in order to operate effectively against it. Amoonguss also functions as a member of my perish core, as he allows me to redirect an attack away from my Politoed in order to set up perish song, and in most cases can take attacks long enough for perish song to faint my opponent's pokemon easily.
Team in Plain Text:
Politoed @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 220 HP / 172 Def / 4 SpA / 92 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Helping Hand
- Perish Song
- Protect
Kingdra @ Lum Berry
Ability: Swift Swim
Evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Muddy Water
- Ice Beam
- Dragon Pulse
- Protect
Metagross @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Zen Headbutt
- Substitute
- Protect
Scrafty @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Intimidate
IVs: 0 Spe
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 6 SpD
Brave Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
- Protect
Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Evs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Brave Bird
- Overheat
- Quick Guard
- Protect
Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
IVs: 0 Spe
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Spore
- Protect
First post :^)
Hi! I'm Damon M, and thanks for checking out my blog! I'm a 17 year old Australian Competitive VGC playerwho started out with Smogon Singles in 2014, and Moved on to VGC just before Brisbane Regionals in April 2015. Due to my short time playing, I'm pretty inexperienced but with practise, hopefully I'll be able to improve that in the future :^) I think what I'll mostly do with my blog is discuss the more interesting teams I've made, and my opinionson certain Pokemon and topics which are important in the VGC community.
#MiltonMiltanks!
