Unfortunately I was quite busy this weekend, so only managed 15 battles over the three days. Finished with a record of 10-5, although one of the defeats was due to my internet cutting out while I was cruising to victory, so like to think of it as 10-4
For a while it looked like I might make 1600 for the first time, but a couple of defeats on the last day scuppered that. Still, a very enjoyable tournament.
Went all in on Trick Room, which turned out to be a great decision. Had three setters, one to bypass each of the common counters; Chandelure, (Fake Out), Exeggutor, (Spore) and Oblivious Slowbro, (Taunt). Only once failed to get it up, if I remember correctly, and that was because of Rock Slide flinching Slowbro two turns in row. And when it was up, we were pretty invincible, sweeping teams 3 or 4 nil more often than not. Just lost once with Trick Room up. That was against a pretty skilled Japanese player who had a Gigalith. Really should have prepared more for that.
We did decently outside of Trick Room too, which was nice. Held off using it against some slower teams, with mixed results. One time I really should have, forgot how fast Gorluck, (sp?) is, and another time I was just outplayed by another Trick Room team, (fun game though, as we both tried to work around each other). On a couple of occasions we were very successful though.
Chandelure - Given how hyped it had been coming into the tournament, I didn’t particularly expect it to live up to its billing. And it didn’t fail to disappoint. To be fair, it was more due to the way the meta developed than anything wrong with Chandelure. I’d been expecting a lot of Tapu Bulu, spreading Grassy Terrain, and a bunch of Grass types to take advantage, but that never really came to pass. Saw a few Serperior and a Sceptile or two, but apart from that Grass types were pretty scarce. Similarly, I surprisingly didn’t see any Weaville, so there was no need to lead with a Fake Out immune setter. Don’t regret bringing it, if my matchups were different it would have come in very handy, but as it was Chandy just never got the chance to shine.
3/5
Crabomidable - Inside the Trick Room, he really packed a punch. Literally. Deliciously anti-meta, dealing with, or having the potential to deal with, a lot of the common threats. But, I messed up on the moveset, giving him Power-up Punch instead of Protect. He's decently bulky, but Ice/Fighting is a horrible defensive typing. Never felt confident enough to set up with Power-up Punch, and the lack of Protect meant I couldn’t really use him as a lead. When he was bought into battle, it was as a late game sweeper, which didn’t suit so well given his reliance on the Trick Room. That said, scored me a fantastic victory in my final battle. Stuck outside Trick Room against an Aerodactyl, he tanked a Air Slash with single digit HP to spare (after lowering his own defences KOing a Tyranitar with Close Combat, and having taken damage the previous turn), before KOing it with an Ice Punch. Maybe he was more bulky than I gave him credit for after all.
3/5
Dhelmise - A bit of a victim of the team’s success. In general, Tyranitar turned out to be the more effective lead sweeper, so Dhelmise often had to settle for a place in the back field, when it was bought at all. Given I was able to more or less sweep with my leads once Trick Room was up, Dhelmise never really got a change to shine. Did a good job when called upon, and the STAB Anchor Shot provided by Steelworker was a nice option to have on the table.
3/5
Exeggutor - Pleasantly surprised with how effective this guy was. A really solid Trick Room setter, who turned into an incredibly potent special sweeper once it was up. Formed a great partnership with Tyranitar, with the two of them more or less taking down entire teams in a lot of matches.
5/5
Slowbro - Another great Trick Room setter, mostly due to her fantastic bulk. Tanked a load of super effective hits with ease. Whilst she wasn’t as potent as Exeggutor, Scald and Physic provided good coverage to help Tyranitar sweep. Did a good job coming in late game and re-setting Trick Room too, which won me a couple of matches that could have gone astray. In particularly one against a very good player from New York with a high 1600 score. Pretty proud of that one.
4/5
Tyranitar - A last minute addition to the team in place of Guzzlord, which turned out to be a tournament defining decision. Unquestionably the MVP. Went with a min Spd build so she'd be effective inside a Trick Room. Was a absolute beast of a physical sweeper, and more than capable of tanking a super effective hit to get its Weakness Policy activated. But more valuable than her sweeping prowess was the offensive pressure she applied at the start of matches. Going into the tournament, the lack of redirection on the team left me very nervous about my setters being double targeting. That didn’t happen once with Tyranitar on the field, even against better players with high 1500 or 1600 ratings. More often she was actually double targeted while Protecting, basically giving me a free Trick Room and allowing Exeggutor or Slowbro to join the fun. Pursuit was a mistake. Didn’t use it once, and there was a couple of occasions some more coverage would have been appreciated. A minor criticism though.
5/5
