2013 International Challenge - March (Official Play! Pokemon Wi-Fi Tournament)

[joej m]

And that's why I almost never Exploded on the first turn ^_^ unless I knew someone didn't see it coming. (I only got 4 wins and 2 loses because DCs really turned me off)

Agh... at least don't use the Absorb Bulb, that item is too common now.

Maybe not you, but I could see why other American players might use a lot of Rain teams, because it's April after all XD

naw i am not going absorb bulb
i have 5 members, and i am struggling with a last one, which i do want to be a lesser used pokemon. i just realized that zapdos is better in rain than thundurus-t
i like it because of heat wave... although it is weekend, if rain isn't up it can help me sweep through scizor's and ferrothorns that rain teams hate.

 

[Joltik-Kid]

naw i am not going absorb bulb
i have 5 members, and i am struggling with a last one, which i do want to be a lesser used pokemon. i just realized that zapdos is better in rain than thundurus-t
i like it because of heat wave... although it is weekend, if rain isn't up it can help me sweep through scizor's and ferrothorns that rain teams hate.

If I knew the team I could likely give a suggestion...but at the same time, it's your own team so it's probably best you decide (same for MSK)

As for me I have my team chosen: Metagross, Rotom-W, Scrafty, Cresselia (yeah it's the most used), Amoonguss, and Landorus-I

 

[joej m]

If I knew the team I could likely give a suggestion...but at the same time, it's your own team so it's probably best you decide (same for MSK)

As for me I have my team chosen: Metagross, Rotom-W, Scrafty, Cresselia (yeah it's the most used), Amoonguss, and Landorus-I

and you said you used less common pokemon xP
you have 3 pokemon on the team in the top 10 most used pokemon in the last tourney btw, rotom metagross and cresselia
but i am not one to judge, because i have made my fair share of standard teams.

 

[Joltik-Kid]

and you said you used less common pokemon xP
you have 3 pokemon on the team in the top 10 most used pokemon in the last tourney btw, rotom metagross and cresselia
but i am not one to judge, because i have made my fair share of standard teams.

I wanted to use Metagross for sometime and it just so happens the it and Rotom-W have perfect synergy. I was gonna use Latias over Cresselia, but I found in testing that Cresselia has just more to offer. I'm not using Trick Room though, so it's still got a creative flare to it's play style. Amoonguss have dropped in usesage and Landorus-T overshadows Landorus-I thanks to Intimidate.

 

[joej m]

landorus-I is definitely not super common anymore. i would run a special set with sheer force if i were you, that + life orb and hp flying/ice, earth power, psychic, protect is a great set. while amoonguss does have a slight drop, they are still pretty common pokemon to use, but are super deadly.
either way, nice team
as i said, i am not one to judge on common pokemon, because i use quite a few of them.
anyway, two pokemon i can never get to work are rotom-w and metagross xD
i am so much better using zapdos and scizor, in almost all scenarios.

 

[MSK]

landorus-I is definitely not super common anymore. i would run a special set with sheer force if i were you, that + life orb and hp flying/ice, earth power, psychic, protect is a great set. while amoonguss does have a slight drop, they are still pretty common pokemon to use, but are super deadly.
either way, nice team
as i said, i am not one to judge on common pokemon, because i use quite a few of them.
anyway, two pokemon i can never get to work are rotom-w and metagross xD
i am so much better using zapdos and scizor, in almost all scenarios.

Hmm good idea, I run a special Landorus with Earth Power, HP Ice, Protect and Grass Knot (for water types) but it wasn't doing much damage. Perhaps swapping GK out for Psychic would help me with my fighting weakness

 

[Joltik-Kid]

landorus-I is definitely not super common anymore. i would run a special set with sheer force if i were you, that + life orb and hp flying/ice, earth power, psychic, protect is a great set.

That's actually a real interesting idea there... though I'll have to use it next tournament, I already decided on Physical Landorus with Earthquake, Rock Slide, Explosion, and Protect. Though Sheer Force Landorus is something to be reckoned with.

while amoonguss does have a slight drop, they are still pretty common pokemon to use, but are super deadly.
either way, nice team

I didn't face one at all in the March tournament, but I'm not sure why it's is decline... I guess Ferrothorn is better defensive-wise, but the mushroom has a nice niche of Rage Powder + Spore. My team is designed around switching so I'm actually carrying the rarer Regenerator ability.

as i said, i am not one to judge on common pokemon, because i use quite a few of them.
anyway, two pokemon i can never get to work are rotom-w and metagross xD
i am so much better using zapdos and scizor, in almost all scenarios.

I tend to work well with everything, I used the even popular Garchomp + Zapdos combo back in the day... Can't remember how I did in that tournament (can't remember which one is was either) but I'm certain I still had DCs causing me to end up not completing many matches. I not gonna let DCs stop me this time though, I'm gonna aim for at least 40 complete matches this time around.

 

[joej m]

That's actually a real interesting idea there... though I'll have to use it next tournament, I already decided on Physical Landorus with Earthquake, Rock Slide, Explosion, and Protect. Though Sheer Force Landorus is something to be reckoned with.


I didn't face one at all in the March tournament, but I'm not sure why it's is decline... I guess Ferrothorn is better defensive-wise, but the mushroom has a nice niche of Rage Powder + Spore. My team is designed around switching so I'm actually carrying the rarer Regenerator ability.


I tend to work well with everything, I used the even popular Garchomp + Zapdos combo back in the day... Can't remember how I did in that tournament (can't remember which one is was either) but I'm certain I still had DCs causing me to end up not completing many matches. I not gonna let DCs stop me this time though, I'm gonna aim for at least 40 complete matches this time around.

everyone uses regenerator who is good... i dont know one person who is a competent competitive battler who doesnt use regenerator. that being said, there is a reason for that. healing is awesome on amoonguss, and what if you poison the foe with effect spore? you can't put them to sleep now .-.

i can use metagross pretty well, but i always have a better outcome with scizor or ferrothorn.

sheer force is not my idea at all. like regenerator, almost all competent players run a special set, for it doesnt need the sand to make it as much of a potent sweeper. and a lot of less experienced players dont think it is coming and think hitmontop will counter it, which it can't because intimidate doesnt ruin it

 

[Joltik-Kid]

everyone uses regenerator who is good... i dont know one person who is a competent competitive battler who doesnt use regenerator. that being said, there is a reason for that. healing is awesome on amoonguss, and what if you poison the foe with effect spore? you can't put them to sleep now .-.

i can use metagross pretty well, but i always have a better outcome with scizor or ferrothorn.

sheer force is not my idea at all. like regenerator, almost all competent players run a special set, for it doesnt need the sand to make it as much of a potent sweeper. and a lot of less experienced players dont think it is coming and think hitmontop will counter it, which it can't because intimidate doesnt ruin it

We must be playing different VGC's XD

 

[joej m]

no you are just playing on the smogon server

 

[MSK]

Well I just finished Dream Radar and transferred the therian's across. Now I can use the reveal glass on my shiny Landorus ready to add to my team

 

[Joltik-Kid]

no you are just playing on the smogon server

I did go to Nugget Bridge to test a bit... didn't see either Amoonguss or regular Landorus

Well I just finished Dream Radar and transferred the therian's across. Now I can use the reveal glass on my shiny Landorus ready to add to my team

Why Shiny? To run the clock...there's a pretty easy to do that without RNG for shininess in the form of PokeStar

 

[MSK]

I did go to Nugget Bridge to test a bit... didn't see either Amoonguss or regular Landorus


Why Shiny? To run the clock...there's a pretty easy to do that without RNG for shininess in the form of PokeStar

No, just cos I'm in the process of RNGing an entire Shiny Pokedex and as I knew you couldn't get shinies from Dream Radar I went and caught a new Shiny Landorus ready to turn into Therian.
(On that note gotta catch another shiny Thundurus and 2 shiny Tornadus still which is hard work!)

 

[joej m]

if you play there regularly you should see some amoonguss, not too many landorus-I though, but they are there with special sets.

anyway i created an awesome team that i am in love with, after just one game *-*

It is:
Politoed-Ludicolo-Sableye-Latios-Infernape-Scizor
Pretty standard, other than infernape (inspiration by NB mod Biosci) and sableye. it is a team that was built around hypnosis politoed and gravity sableye... it is so freaking awesome

 

[MSK]

Hey Joej / Joltik

What do you guys think of Sun teams? I finally managed to catch a female Vulpix in the Dream World so I'm thinking of trying out sun. Was going to go Ninetales, Shiftry, Whimsicott, Hitmontop, plus 2 others (haven't got a decent Zapdos which is a major shame).
Any suggestions?

 

[Joltik-Kid]

Hey Joej / Joltik

What do you guys think of Sun teams? I finally managed to catch a female Vulpix in the Dream World so I'm thinking of trying out sun. Was going to go Ninetales, Shiftry, Whimsicott, Hitmontop, plus 2 others (haven't got a decent Zapdos which is a major shame).
Any suggestions?

Sun isn't that great in VGC's given all the Earthquakes and Rock Slides, but it might make for an interesting surprise. Those Heat Waves sure will cause some dents in anything and occasional Hail team will have something to worry about. Maybe try out Rotom-H, sure the Rock weakness is a bite, but immunity to Earthquake is something special, although you might find it redundant because you have Zapdos planned. Hmm...some other things could include Scarf Typhlosion with Eruption, Exeggutor with Harvest, Cherrim's ability is quite nice, Infernape's got some use, Arcanine, Darmanitan, maybe Salamance thanks to it's access to Fire moves and just being all-around awesome.

If you were lucky enough (stupid Japan), Blaziken and Venasaur could help you big time

 

[MSK]

Sun isn't that great in VGC's given all the Earthquakes and Rock Slides, but it might make for an interesting surprise. Those Heat Waves sure will cause some dents in anything and occasional Hail team will have something to worry about. Maybe try out Rotom-H, sure the Rock weakness is a bite, but immunity to Earthquake is something special, although you might find it redundant because you have Zapdos planned. Hmm...some other things could include Scarf Typhlosion with Eruption, Exeggutor with Harvest, Cherrim's ability is quite nice, Infernape's got some use, Arcanine, Darmanitan, maybe Salamance thanks to it's access to Fire moves and just being all-around awesome.

If you were lucky enough (stupid Japan), Blaziken and Venasaur could help you big time

Tell me about it!!! I would love a speed boost Blaziken or a Chlorophyll Venusaur.
Salamence has always died far too easily to HP Ice or Ice Beam when I've played against it
Hmm Arcanine with Extremespeed sounds like a plan.

 

[Joltik-Kid]

Tell me about it!!! I would love a speed boost Blaziken or a Chlorophyll Venusaur.
Salamence has always died far too easily to HP Ice or Ice Beam when I've played against it
Hmm Arcanine with Extremespeed sounds like a plan.

All we've gotten so far is one choice of the Sinnoh starters, which you have to buy from Walmart to get the code. Of coarse Infernape got the best ability, but Defiant Empoleon has some sort of niche I guess

Salamance is unlucky for that, but those moves shouldn't give you a problem if you get rid of the users, that extra Intimidate could the opponent a lot of trouble. Arcanine also can carry Close Combat and that Flare Blitz is wicked in Sun. the question is ability, do you carry Flash Fire or Intimidate, given Heat Waves usage, Flash Fire wouldn't be all that bad, just need to have a decent prediction rate. It's always good to carry something that can counter an opposing teams strategy, but I forget Whimsicott does have access to Taunt, so you might just be well off

 

[joej m]

Hey Joej / Joltik

What do you guys think of Sun teams? I finally managed to catch a female Vulpix in the Dream World so I'm thinking of trying out sun. Was going to go Ninetales, Shiftry, Whimsicott, Hitmontop, plus 2 others (haven't got a decent Zapdos which is a major shame).
Any suggestions?

sun teams are pretty fun actually.
i once ran a team that could set up manual sun, and had a venasaur with sleep powder. that thing did its job and did it will. with good bulk, nice grass typing, and great ability it is a force to be recon with. another pokemon that could work is sawsbuck. it also gets chlorophyl, and has more of an offensive presence.

for defensive synergy i would use gastrodon without muddy water/scald. It can support your team by drawing in the water moves, and then venasaur can do a sweep/put them to sleep, after a nine tails switch (possibly)

also, if you want a TR side i would use an amoonguss also. why? it gets synthesis, which, if i am correct restores the entire health bar if not almost all of it.
sun teams sure to have there place in the metagame, and can fill that place very well.

 

[Heliotrope]

I've decided to try and use a rain team in the April global link tournament - I kept getting destroyed by rain teams in the March one...

And so after finally picking up my DW Poliwag from the entra link, and spending the past couple of days breeding I've finally got a Poliwag that I'm happy with.

Poliwag
Bold nature
HP: 31
Att: 5
Def: 26
SP.Att: 31
SP.Def: 31
Spe: 30

I also hatched a male Poliwag with these IV's, but I prefer the female one because of its much better speed, and only slightly worse defence:
HP: 31
Att: 22, 24
Def: 28
SP.Att: 31
SP.Def: 31
Spe: 8