Pikachu Cup

[BugCatcher6]

I'm actually surprised with how many "legitimate" players. I'm finding it hard to believe that there are so many teams will all shiny pokemon - with what seems to be perfect IV/EV stats (like, earthquake does next to no damage on pure electric types, and my Pokemon get knocked out instantly with weaker attacks). I mean, it's obviously all legit as it's got through Nintendo's anti-cheat processes, but I seriously find it hard to believe that a team full of all shiny pokemon with perfect iv/ev's are a COMMON occurrence without some sort of cheat. I've battled like 18 teams like this already.

I know there are a lot of shiny Pokémon, but TSV/ESV might attribute to most of them.

 

[3fiddy]

Pikachu w/ Fake out + Knock off is what I played almost Everytime. Heliolisk is a tough competitor. Electivire on almost every team. Havnt seen much set up Lanturn , maybe because I am pretty close to the bottom of the ladder @1600 w/ 8-3 record. 1 loss bad decision on my part , 1 loss @ turn 1.

 

[BugCatcher6]

Pikachu w/ Fake out + Knock off is what I played almost Everytime. Heliolisk is a tough competitor. Electivire on almost every team. Havnt seen much set up Lanturn , maybe because I am pretty close to the bottom of the ladder 1600 w/ 8-3 record. 1 loss bad decision on my part , 1 loss turn 1.

My son is running Lanturn/Heliolisk combo.

At my last check he was 25-10 and called it a day.

He was upset that it seemed like anyone above 1650 and in the 1700 just spammed attacks and everything OHKO his Pokémon. The one battle the guy just alternated his switching and he never got a solid hit on anything.

He had a few 4-0 wins and at last count 7 forfeits, but OHKO's he had very few.

 

[Gelatini Jejunator]

The second day was awful.

I lost two thirds of my matches to better players. Now I'm currently sitting at 19 wins and 11 losses, with a rating of 1584 - lower than yesterdays rating.

Hopefully the third day will pan out better. :]

 

[Otjenyn]

My son is running Lanturn/Heliolisk combo.
At my last check he was 25-10 and called it a day.
He was upset that it seemed like anyone above 1650 and in the 1700 just spammed attacks and everything OHKO his Pokémon. The one battle the guy just alternated his switching and he never got a solid hit on anything.
He had a few 4-0 wins and at last count 7 forfeits, but OHKO's he had very few.

I'm doing Lanturn's soak + Elektross Wild Charge combo. OHKO's everything. Elektross is just a click slower than lanturn, so I can use it in the same turn.
9-4 now for me (rotom-mow blasts my lanturn and stunfisk away).

Encountering a lot of pikachu's with fly and surf

 

[Flamer]

Was out most of the weekend, so didn't get many battles done in the end. Finished up with a 5-10 record. A couple of the defeats were down to mistakes on my part, but in general I think my team had a few fundamental flaws.

Considering it often ended up my only Pokemon capable of dishing out attacks, (Emolga was needed to set up Tailwind, Magneton was often needed for Gravity and Pikachu was largely dead weight), Stunfisk's EV spread was too offensive. I reckon with the Expert Belt and STAB Earth Power it probably could have got most of OHKOs off without the full Atk investment I gave it. Pikachu's Helping Hand was often a option too if needed. As it was, it rarely survived the whole battle, even when Magenton was able to back it up with a Light Screen. which left me incapable of inflicting any real damage on the opponent. When Gravity wasn't needed, I was able to bring in Galvantula. With support from Pikachu's Helping Hand, it turned out to be a very potent special sweeper using STAB Bug Buzz. Definitely had more success with Stunfish/Emolga and Galvantula/Pikachu than I did with Magneton/Emolga and Stunfisk/Pikachu

The other issue was having Volt Switch instead of U-Turn on Emolga, (didn't find the TM in time). A lot of teams had at least one Pokemon with Lightning Rod, Motor Drive etc on the field at any given time, (or at least a Pokemon with the potential to carry one of these) so if was never really safe to Volt Switch out. Considering Emolga could do very little apart from set Tailwind, that often left it as a bit of a dead weight.

Despite the flaws with my team, I had a lot of fun competing in this. Had some really close battles. Won one by literally 1 Hp, not due to a ability or item, just great luck. Didn't pull it off successfully very often, but it felt great when the Tailwind/Graivty/Stunfisk strategy worked. And just in general it was good fun to play a completely different format for a change. Hope GameFreak do more of these in the future.

 

[BugCatcher6]

I did horrible. I think I was 23-12 before I got bored.

I tested really well on Showdown, so 12 losses was a disappointment for me.

I looked at this tournament wrong. I did not use Pikachu because I wanted to win. I should have had more fun with it and I know people did not like the prize, but collecting a rarity should have been the goal for this, and for this reason I failed.


I cannot figure out how to make the jump from average battler to good battler, let alone consider the idea of great battler.


My goal is always to find something fun to play and be competitive, but losing to teams that do nothing special just irritates me. Most teams I lost to were scarf'd Electivire teams. Just spam EQ as fast as possible.

I truthfully did not use my Electivire too much. I was shocked at the number of shiny Pokémon in this event. Now I know that TSV/ESV guarantees a shiny offspring, but the testing I did it could take days or even weeks to find a matching TSV, so I am not sure how these people got a TSV hatch for this tournament so quickly. I'm not saying they were hacked, but the numbers were astounding.

I have a goal to eventually one day be in the Top 100 ranking, I just don't know what more to do. I don't get many battles anymore. Random Battle Spot is not a good testing ground. Smogon rules are not a good testing ground for VGC rules. Showdown is not an accurate simulator, it is good, but it is missing something that real game has. Like Showdown Scald is much higher for burns and less accurate on moves like Focus Blast. The amount of times I was hit by less accurate moves in this tournament was a shocked when on Showdown they missed more times than hit.


My son, however, did pretty well. I think he was 25-10 and had a mid 1,600 rank.

 

[3fiddy]

I ended like 17-4. Lower 1700s rating. I lost 2 I should have won and then held on to a few that could have gone the other way. 2 wins with 1-15 hp left. So I'm happy. I mainly ran:

Electivire *Choice Scarf
Jolly , Vital Spirit 252 att / 252 Speed / 4 Hp
-EQ
-Fire Punch
-Ice Punch
-Qwik attack

Usually lead with Rotom-W. Spam the fastest EQ. Or ice punch a mower or Stunfisk.

Rotom-W *Chesto Berry
Bold , Levitate 252 HP/ 252def / 4 Speed
-Rest
-Light Screen
-WoW
-Hex

First tourney with Rotom and I really like it. I was referring to Rotom in my head as a transmission (Sorry Kling-Klang). She could shift gears on a match to get slightly more level situations. I could burn trouble some foes for chip damage , cut attack of course , and throw up a light screen. I felt the Light Screen was more desirable against electric opponents. Recover on a dime and start over.

Mega Ampharos " Fonzi" * Ampharosite
Modest , Static 252 Hp / 252 SpA / 4 Speed
-Dragon Pulse
-Power Gem "Emolga Killer"
-Cotton Guard
-Agility

Fonzi turned out to be a power house. Idk how Everytime I won the Speed tie with other Amphys. Maybe their pokemon wasn't iv'd but I was cautious at first lost because I was too careful. Then I banked on going first Everytime and I did. Dragon Pulse OHKO other Amoharos. Power gem was for when I knew Emolga would lead and I would One Shot those Squirrels like Squirrel Season. Agility if I knew I might have a chance to set up. Never once Cotton Guarded. Doubles is too fast.

Manectric *Air Baloon
Timid , Volt Absorb 252 Speed / 252 SpA / 4 Hp
-Snarl
-Flamethrower
-Theif
-Round

Manectric works great on turn 2 when the opponent led with Electivire. Switch my Electivire for Manectric as their Electivire EQs , Rotom Burns their Electivire. Both of my pokes are un scathed with a burnt opponent. That's when they disconnected lol. The air Baloon was Manectrics biggest niche. No attacks do much damage but always caught them by surprise. Snarl helped in 1 battle. Round was to be paired with Dendenne but the pair never came to fruition. Figured the Baloon would pop early but by the time it did items were not usually available on the field.

Dendenne * Sitrus Berry
Modest , Cheek Pouch 252 Hp / 252 Speed / 4 SpA
-Grass knot
-Charge Beam
-Round
-Protect

So this is my signature Dendenne i had to bring. She usually takes a hit that go's at least to the yellow if not OHKO. Then Sitrus Berry heals some damage then Cheek Pouch kicks in and fills the health bar full . Hopefully I put someone in striking range at this time And I can finish it soon. Any time I saw Eelektross I brought Dendenne. Knock off + Drain Punch lets me set up Charge beams to get my SpA to something real. Grass knot was not worth it for Stunfisk or Rotom- W.

Last But not least

Raichu *Focus Sash
Jolly , Static 252 Speed / 252 Hp / 4 att
-Endure
-Endeavor
-Quick Attack
-Dig

Endure + Endeavor is her only trick. It failed one game , the one where I tried this instead of OHKO Mega Amoharos with mine. So she didn't see much action after that.


I had a lot of fun and liked my silly movesets. Definately should have had more protect but I just did my best

 

[Flamer]

So, turns out Pikachu ended up in the top 3 after all. Based on what I saw, (scientific I know), I was sure it wasn't going to make the top 3. Glad that it did

Got my code, but don't have my 3DS to hand so I'll redeem it when I get home. The move set actually looks like it would work quite well on a Raichu. Given my loathing for breeding having all those egg moves and HA given to you is a pretty good gift as far as I'm concerned

 

[Crazy Buniri Lady]

So, turns out Pikachu ended up in the top 3 after all. Based on what I saw, (scientific I know), I was sure it wasn't going to make the top 3. Glad that it did

Got my code, but don't have my 3DS to hand so I'll redeem it when I get home. The move set actually looks like it would work quite well on a Raichu. Given my loathing for breeding having all those egg moves and HA given to you is a pretty good gift as far as I'm concerned

Hello,
Been a frequent lurker to the site but haven't posted before. I hope I could find some help regarding the special Pikachu.
So I have my code for Pikachu, but although I've put it in and tried to redeem, my game tells me I can't receive the gift with the card I competed with. Is anyone else having this problem?
Many thanks in advance for all replies.

ETA: Oh good grief...nevermind, please...just realized my X is in, not my Alpha...*foreheadslap*

Please disregard this (very embarrassing) post. *blush*

If anyone could suggest a good nature for him, I would appreciate it.

 

[Otjenyn]

Before the tournament I was afraid of those electrive's with scarfs. But I was actually going quite well on those electrive's. Soak + Wild Charge combo (Lanturn + elektross) turned out great.
They also had trouble with my pikachu + electrode combo. And stunfisk handled those earthquakes quite well, and attacked in return with earth power.

The doombringers for my team were those nasty snarl's from magnetric and luxray. Or rotom-mow.