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

[MSK]

Lol, signed up at 4am this morning (UK time). Now gotta wait til next week
In the meantime I might RNG a few more possible team members

[Zachmac]

Actually, I'm happy about the wait. My team still isn't ready...

I better put Fire Emblem down and get my lazy rear to work if I want to be in this tourny.

[Bestgamepearl]

I guess i should work on a team, kinda thinking of doing hail this time and mixing it up rather than tweaking the old team. Will post form when i have a team ready or i remember to

[jstinftw!]

Edited a few teams yesterday, fyi. I'll try to do more soon, yeah? (:
And welcome back, familiar faces! I look forward to battling alongside you all! Hopefully I can get this team done so we can finally get some practice battles done and over with. Shout outs to Shreyas, Morpher01, Bestgamepearl(for not having a sign up yet. xD), Zachmac (Garbodor is boss), Kuzkan, Joltik-Kid, joej m, MSK and anyone else I missed. It's so nice to see people consistently playing in these tournaments, like me.

I've gone through like, 3 team changes (and a total of 4 teams) in the time span that this tournament was announced. All with the premise of NOT running Trick Room, which I'd been running since the Autumn Friendly of 2011, when it was the hipster thing to do. xD

I had a super slow team without Trick Room (for some God forsaken reason), utilizing old star Follow Me Togekiss, Wide Guard Conkeldurr, Substitute Harvest Exeggutor, and Gastrodon (of course among other things but they weren't really my shine). And Empoleon.

Nixed that when I noticed that the speed of my team was huge problem, and I just couldn't find a way to really exploit anything for the better.

Came up with two teams at this time; a sand team that didn't abuse Sand at all, running Mold Breaker Excadrill, IntimiMence, and Choice Scarf T-tar (and Togekiss of course). I decided I liked my other team better though, comprised of Hone Claws+Dragon Rush Garchomp, Overheat+Fire Gem Rotom-Heat, Gastro (cos this thing is super cute), Bug Gem Heracross, and, of course, Follow Me Togekiss. And Empoleon.

    Spoiler:- Empoleon Rant:

Show Spoiler

 
I never talk about how good Empoleon is, but Empoleon is frickin boss. I love this thing, and I never regret running it. I just never talk about it, cos I never have much to say that I haven't said anymore. I used one on my Trick Room team like, last year, and afterwards, I've just never found a team build where I didn't appreciate it over other Steel types. #Empoleon4eva
 

But I was in the shower, and a spark of creativity just washed over me, and I all but lept out of the shower (of course after cleaning up and stuff, doing shower stuff) to go and punch it into Pokemon Showdown. And that team is the team you see in the OP, the updated version of the last team above. (: BUT I LOST TOGEKISS CREYS

So ready for this tournament. I just need to finish breeding this Nidoran f for my friend so he can trade me my Rotom, and then I can EV train it and Timburr, plus re-EV my Volcarona and Empoleon.

[Bestgamepearl]

    Spoiler:- Empoleon Rant:

Show Spoiler

 
I never talk about how good Empoleon is, but Empoleon is frickin boss. I love this thing, and I never regret running it. I just never talk about it, cos I never have much to say that I haven't said anymore. I used one on my Trick Room team like, last year, and afterwards, I've just never found a team build where I didn't appreciate it over other Steel types. #Empoleon4eva
 

But I was in the shower, and a spark of creativity just washed over me, and I all but lept out of the shower (of course after cleaning up and stuff, doing shower stuff) to go and punch it into Pokemon Showdown. And that team is the team you see in the OP, the updated version of the last team above. (: BUT I LOST TOGEKISS CREYS

So ready for this tournament. I just need to finish breeding this Nidoran f for my friend so he can trade me my Rotom, and then I can EV train it and Timburr, plus re-EV my Volcarona and Empoleon.

I know empoleon is alright in singles, especially in UU. Might be worth a try, always liked him since gen 4

[jstinftw!]

I know empoleon is alright in singles, especially in UU. Might be worth a try, always liked him since gen 4

The main thing with Empoleon is removing its threats. Thundurus is a huge pain in the rear, both Incarnate and Therian formes, and every Fighting type that outspeeds can give it trouble. In Trick Room he was much more of a sweeper, but without it, he's more of a really good switch in, able to take any non-Super effective hit like a champ. He's great for screwing with your opponent's strategy, and forcing them to either make a bad play or go onto the defensive, and ultimately, in the end (hopefully not in a situation where you're like, on your last Pokemon and they have like 3 left), a great late game sweeper.

[KuzKan]

You know what they say justin... All the great ideas come in the shower (almost all of them xD)
You actually insiped me to use togekiss for the first time ever xD
I probably wont use him in this tournament yet idk... i might still change my team x)

[jstinftw!]

You know what they say justin... All the great ideas come in the shower (almost all of them xD)
You actually insiped me to use togekiss for the first time ever xD
I probably wont use him in this tournament yet idk... i might still change my team x)

Hahah fair enough! I don't think Togekiss works on every team, that's for sure. But Togekiss is definitely great for helping set up sweepers, speed control, and overall support. Not to mention a really nice Special Attack stat, great movepool, and some much appreciated flinch hax An interesting thing I saw online was Choice Scarf Togekiss with Air Slash. Super fast flinch hax that has some decent bulk? Man.

If you can fit it on your team, and find use for it, you can't go wrong with Togekiss. (:

Im sorry but who? Never heard of that person...
But anyway which kind of team you guys think might do the best this time? My vote goes to TR :P

Just saw this, haha.

As much as I love Trick Room, and how viable I think it is, I do not think Trick Room will be the best team in the format. It's a great team, and I love it (I had to consciously stop myself from making another Trick Room team), but there are so many flaws to them to prevent them from being the best. Setting it up is one really big problem; there are so many ways to stop it (OHKO, double target, Taunt, Imprison, counter-Trick Room). Keeping it up is also a big problem; Double Protect, switch, Substitute, Double Protect, alternating Protects. You have essentially 4 turns to defeat your opponent, and unfortunately, if your opponent plays smart (not too hard to do), they will drop your Trick Room. And lastly, most teams have Trick Room counters. Koreans, for example, commonly have Escavalier, which deals big damage to like EVERYTHING. Setting up Trick Room is like setting up your doom. Some players have Pokemon with middle speed, or one or two slow Pokemon, so that if Trick Room goes up, they can still have a fighting chance.

In the end, Trick Room is too hard to pilot for it to be the over most effective team. Honestly, Rain or Sand is going to be the winningest teams. It really just depends on what everyone is preparing for; if the overall consensus is to counter Rain, Sand will most likely be the winningest team. If everyone's trying to counter Sand, Rain will be the winningest team. Goodstuffs will come in between, and then Randomstuff (probably in-game teams). Or Trick Room, if the Japanese and maybe Koreans play a big part in the tournament.

[KuzKan]

I never used any evolution of togepi in my life and i feel kinda bad for it actually xD
After seeing all that potential...
Idk which pokemon i will use with him yet, i dont have that good of imagination so i need some time but ill definetely gonna use him in the next friendly

[joej m]

I never used any evolution of togepi in my life and i feel kinda bad for it actually xD
After seeing all that potential...
Idk which pokemon i will use with him yet, i dont have that good of imagination so i need some time but ill definetely gonna use him in the next friendly

togekiss is evil with breloom.
two reason why they are amazing together:
one: tailwind from togekiss makes breloom a huge threat.
two: follow me makes it even more annoying. if they think they have your brelom with a priority move, think again, togekiss can tank that hit.

for togekiss run this set:
Togekiss @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 164 SDef / 12 Speed
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Follow Me
- Air Slash
- Thunder Wave / Reflect
- Softboiled / Roost

i got it from this article off NB: http://nuggetbridge.com/beginners/fo...-do-they-work/
i have been trying to find partners for it other than breloom... but its pairing with breloom is just so good i can't find anything else xD

for breloom run:
12 hp/252 attack/244 speed
jolly nature
focus sash
technician abilty
mach punch
bullet seed
spore
protect
set goal: spore everything, and good weather canceler. its typing and speed is great for weather canceling. its typing can get rid of sand and rain inducers, two highly used tactics, as well as being a semi check to hail. technician is also a blessing, making dat bullet seed kill of a ton of pokemon. seed bomb could be used. but if you do the math 3 bullet seeds is a lot stronger than a seed bomb. and two is pretty close to it due to technician.

dont put sand or hail on the team because it kills the point of the sash. life orb could also be used on it, but sash is usually a bit better.

your welcome in advance :3

[Shreyas]

Back when I used to run Togekiss on my team, it worked so well with my Heracross set. Follow Me, and Thunder Wave/Tailwind really does help Heracross pull off a sweep.

[KuzKan]

i could probably fit him quite well with volcarona aswell hmmm
we still got a week until the tournament... to be honest im not glad with my team because of 2 obvious pokemons, im considering them because i wanna try something out.
maybe ill trade off both of them to fit togekiss and another one idk...

[Morpher01]

Well, I'm now registered and all set to go.

As much as I love Trick Room, and how viable I think it is, I do not think Trick Room will be the best team in the format. It's a great team, and I love it (I had to consciously stop myself from making another Trick Room team), but there are so many flaws to them to prevent them from being the best. Setting it up is one really big problem; there are so many ways to stop it (OHKO, double target, Taunt, Imprison, counter-Trick Room). Keeping it up is also a big problem; Double Protect, switch, Substitute, Double Protect, alternating Protects. You have essentially 4 turns to defeat your opponent, and unfortunately, if your opponent plays smart (not too hard to do), they will drop your Trick Room. And lastly, most teams have Trick Room counters. Koreans, for example, commonly have Escavalier, which deals big damage to like EVERYTHING. Setting up Trick Room is like setting up your doom. Some players have Pokemon with middle speed, or one or two slow Pokemon, so that if Trick Room goes up, they can still have a fighting chance.

Even with this in mind...I'm still using a TR team. I want to cycle through various team types until I find one that works for me (and ISN'T Rain or Sandstorm). Currently on Trick Room, next tourney will probably be Sun. I'm just glad I have a back-up plan in case Trick Room goes south. XD

[Joltik-Kid]

I normally like being a bit more original then Sand Room, but I understand that these competitions can get quite serious XD That's why Lileep is on the team, to give me a bit of that creative flare while also being an underated tank. And the better news about the team is it doesn't have any specific flaw that can't be countered, though fighting types will always be a problem. Regardless though, hopefully this will be like last competition where I was able to get in way more battles then ever due to people actually accepting their loses.

I'll definitely be on during the tourney, but if I don't happen to not stop by here till that time, just wanna wish everyone the best of luck

[Fire Hero]

Registered and ready

In January I lost a lot of times to Trick Room so now I'll be trying a Trick Room reverser in a bulky form of Gallade. It will help me control the battle and gain momentum and also counter Tyranitar and some other physical and special threats.

Good luck everyone!

[zombieoverkill12]

@Fire Hero

TR can be a pain Dx but a bulky gallade is interesting ^_^
GL to you as well

[Greatemboar]

Good luck to everyone may the best man/woman win.

[MSK]

I'm currently RNGing some new Wobbuffet's for my team. My current Wob didn't have encore so needed to sort that out. Plus gonna try a few different EV combo's and see which works out best against the usual threats I expect to see. Hopefully will have a fully trained one ready for next week
Other than that I'm all set

[jstinftw!]

Well, I'm now registered and all set to go.



Even with this in mind...I'm still using a TR team. I want to cycle through various team types until I find one that works for me (and ISN'T Rain or Sandstorm). Currently on Trick Room, next tourney will probably be Sun. I'm just glad I have a back-up plan in case Trick Room goes south. XD

Oh, I wasn't saying that to say not to use it. I was just stating that there's a small chance it will be the winningest team. Trick Room is great! In my opinion, it's the best anti-meta team. But there are a lot of flaws, and it can be really inconsistent when not played properly.

Registered and ready

In January I lost a lot of times to Trick Room so now I'll be trying a Trick Room reverser in a bulky form of Gallade. It will help me control the battle and gain momentum and also counter Tyranitar and some other physical and special threats.

Good luck everyone!

Good luck! I did that last tournament, with Gallade, and it had decent results. Just don't expect it to take physical hits well. That was my main problem with it; any non-Super Effective physical attack that it didn't resist almost always almost took it out. But it played its role outstandingly well when I played correctly.

[Shneak]

Entered. Anyone have good guides for double battles? I have a few Pokemon laying around my pc that are EV trained, but I don't normally do doubles.

I'll be in the masters division. I'll fill out the entry form once I figure out my team (and recheck my friend code).