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2018 International Challenge November

Silent_Jay

Well-Known Member
I've just registered and ready to go. This will be my very first competitive competition. As I've only really played Battle Spot Singles up to this point, my knowledge of Doubles and of the VGC meta in anyway is low. So I've just thrown together an eligible team that I have no idea how viable it'll be (if at all!). Played a couple of practise battles on the Battle Spot which I won both times (even a 100% clean sweep, somehow!?) so can't be all bad. I'm just in it for the shiny Tapu Lele gift in all honesty but if things go well I may do others in the future.

Who else will be participating in the 2018 International Challenge November? What are you thinking of using? Are you going all out or just in it for the shiny Tapu Lele gift?
 

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
I'm participating. Not sure yet how well I'll do, but it's likely a lot of people will be running Kyogre, it's the most popular pokémon in the VGC meta right now and this runs on the same rules. Xerneas and Incineroar are also very popular. If you want to do well, you'll have to know how to deal with those three at the very least. I'm going to run with Xerneas, Incineroar, Kyogre, Scizor, Tsareena, and Araquanid, but I'm running Kyogre a bit differently from most people. Most people Scarf it and try to hit fast with Water Spout with it for heavy damage, but I'll be running a more bulky set with Psych Up to run next to Xerneas's Geomancy, and then rely on Origin Pulse for damage. It takes a turn to set up but after that it hits harder and faster than Scarf Water Spout. Tsareena and Scizor are my Feint users. Feint removes enemy Wide Guards so that Origin Pulse and Xerneas's Dazzling Gleam won't get blocked. Tsareena also blocks enemy priority and has Power Whip to attack enemy Kyogre with, while Scizor has Bullet Punch to damage Xerneas and Bug Bite to remove berries and destroy Ludicolo, which is often used to wall Kyogre.
 

Silent_Jay

Well-Known Member
I'm taking Nidoking, Cloyster, Snorlax, Chansey, Dragonite and Mewtwo... literally randomly put it together, from my selection of first gen BR mons, in haste this evening to make registration deadline. Little to no thought what so ever.

I'm ****ed. o_O

But like I said, I'm only in it for the Lele. :p

EDIT: 3 battles cleared, 3-0! For anyone who is interested here are some battle videos so far (comments and feedback appreciated)...

Battle 1: QVEW-WWWW-WWXW-CYUY (Too easy)

Battle 2: NUNW-WWWW-WWXW-CJW3 (Meh, Kyogre isn't all that)

Battle 3: G8DW-WWWW-WWXW-CJWJ (Close but it was inevitable)
 
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Zhydra

Master of Chaos!
When I realized I couldn't use old XD (Lugia with psycho boost.)

I had to make due with Power construct Zygarde... not that I used him.

This is my team composition.

Intimidate Incineroar, Prankster Sableye (Taunt, will-o-wisp, foul play and recover!) Friend Guard Clefairy, Multi scale Dragonite with that weakness policy. (SO good of a combo if topped with dragon dance and supported with a Clefairy for damage control or damage boost with helping hand.) Mewtwo with a life orb :) and Power Construct Shiny Zygarde.

As of the three rounds.
1. He didn't even try to bring an uber legendary and fell apart once Hariyama went down.

2. She actually raged quit after the following happened. I had her at half her pokemon after being reduced to half myself. Dragonite and Mewtwo. She had, a Mamoswine and Porygon2 with a download boosted ice beam. She set up a trick room during then and had her Porygon2 use ice beam on Dragonite. Weakness policy was activated and she had Mamoswine use rock slide... it missed the Dragonite and I finished the Porygon2 off with outrage.

Mewtwo used aura sphere on the lone Mamoswine that had a focus sash. (Less damage than focus blast, but it has the benefit of never missing!)

3. Barely a contest when Incineroar had an expert belt, a Clefairy with follow me and helping hand, along with anything that translates into.... annoying! (He used a Kartana, Giratina, DM Necrozma and a Mimikyu. Only Giratina had an item and the instant helping hand came into play, he just crumbled!)

I might continue this and see how well this team can work on a team that has a Xerneas. (Sable taunt! Because it is worth it!)
 
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Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
I've done 15 battles so far. I'm already at my upload limit so can't upload more battle videos right now. But I've won 10 and lost 5. Realised that using Scizor as anti-Ludicolo weapon doesn't really work when Ludicolo outspeeds and has Life Orb Hydro Pump in the rain. Overestimated how much Wide Guard there would be. On the other hand, Araquanid is very solid. Incineroar U-Turning into Kyogre while Araquanid sets up Entrainment is a neat set up for a hard-hitting Kyogre, and alternatively Geomancy Xerneas next to Psych Up Kyogre can be terrifying if set up. The problem is that setting up isn't all that easy.
 

Silent_Jay

Well-Known Member
I'm currently at 11 Wins and 4 Loses. A couple of loses should of been wins if I hadn't had messed up so bad but whatever. Still good going for my thrown together team.

I'm leading mostly with a Skill Link Cloyster w/Focus Sash and Sheer Force Nidoking w/Life Orb. Aslong as I get Shell Smash up these two have been laying waste to most things. Multiscale Dragonite w/Lum Berry (good pick on my part, its been needed several times) for back up and Mewtwo w/Weakness Policy for clean up. Chansey w/Eviolite has only been used a couple of times and one of those was a really bad loss. Thick Fat Snorlax w/Leftovers has not been used at all.

I'm finding that I have coverage for most types and sometimes having to relay on missteps on the opponents part. Dragonite could be much more effective if he had something else other than Earthquake, as most of the time using it would sacrifice Cloyster who is the MVP of this team. I don't think many players expect a weakness policy Mewtwo but he's won a few battles for me when needed.

I've had a few legit forfeits, 1 immediate forfit (clearly just playing for the gift) and some close calls. I might post some of them later.
 

Silent_Jay

Well-Known Member
15 battles each on days 1 and 2 but only managed to squeeze in 6 within the last 40mins of day 3.
Total wins = 19
Total losses = 16

Wins should be higher as with at least 3 battles that I was about to win there was a connection error on my end. There was also a battle where the opponent disconnected, whilst I was winning, and it isn't even registered as a win or loss at all. Though I did win about 4 by immediate forfeit. All in all far better than I ever expected with this thrown together team and I now know what Pokemon are more commonly used, which will help prepare for better results in the next competition (if there is going to be one).
 

Silent_Jay

Well-Known Member
International Challenge November 2018 Results
------------------------------------------------
Number of Participants - 73,060

Points - 1518
Worldwide Ranking - 20,369.
UK Ranking - 246 (out of 981)

Battles - 36
Wins - 19
Loses - 16
Disconnect - 1

Not a great result. Done the full 15 match limit on the first 2 days but was only able to do 6 out of my 15 matches of the last day. Some of those loses should of been wins if it wasn't for silly mistakes, RNG favouring the opponent and disconnects on my end. One match wasn't even recorded because of a disconnect on their end, which I was literally just about to win.

However I did do a lot better than I was expecting. I only really play Battle Spot Singles and have very little experience playing Doubles. The team I selected was put together in a rush (less than 30 mins away from registration deadline) from my collection of self-trained Battle Ready Pokemon only from the first generation, which are all optimised for Singles in mind and not for Doubles. Very little thought was put into it and I didn't have much of a strategy other than try to set-up and then sweep.

No word on the shiny Tapu Lele gift yet. Hopefully not much longer though.
 

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
That's not too bad. I ended up with 1650 points. Worldwide ranking 2,082 (top 3%), and 5th place (out of 170 entrants, so also top 3%) in the Netherlands. I did 34 battles, 23 wins and 11 losses.

In the end I didn't really use Tsareena much. It just didn't really offer me all that much that I needed, and with hindsight I should probably have run Tapu Koko/Bulu or something instead there as Tapu Lele was quite annoying to my team and blocked Scizor's Bullet Punch. Scizor did redeem itself quite well, it did its job well to check Xerneas and destroy the ones already set up with Bullet Punch, and Bug Bite and U-Turn were useful utility, Bug Bite hitting quite hard. I should probably run Adamant over Jolly next time though, I think with Adamant it can OHKO Tapu Lele with Bug Bite. Araquanid was really a powerhouse, even without accounting for Entrainment. I ran it with Wacan Berry which came in handy quite a few times taking Thunder from Kyogres and with all the rain its Liquidation hit really hard and scared a lot of Xerneas, Dusk Mane Necrozma, and Incineroar while its Bug Bite was decent damage against Ludicolo. It's slow, but it is surprisingly bulky and just hits hard, as a bulky tanky attacker it just worked really well and I'm surprised so few people use it.
 
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