Sunday, July 26, 2015

Mega Glalie Team #Explosion

Introduction - Mega Glalie is a very interesting Mega Evolution that was introduced in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. With average stats in all fields, a Pokémon many people were not willing to try. Thus I began the journey to find a team that could show off Mega Glalie and see how viable it was. Also a friend of mine in Japan was using a Mega Glalie team and ended up in the 1900's on Battle Spot with it. I decided to modify his team in order to work around with the same concept ideas but could function with my play style a bit better.

The Team -

Glalie @ Glalitite
Ability: Moody
Level: 50
Happiness: ?
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 244 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Explosion
- Frustration
- Earthquake
- Protect

  • Outspeeds Modest Hydreigon
  • Has Max Attack for Maximum Power
  • #Explosion

Well here's the Mega Evolution. My friend actually didn't have Explosion on his team as he ran Substitute which is a cool option but I really didn't think it would be good in many situations. My friend used the ability Moody in order to gain stat buffs to make up for Mega Glalie's poor stats. Mega Glalie can be either physical or special but I wanted the ability to have Earthquake for Heatran and to knock out Pokémon like Thundurus in one hit. The special side does have some decent options with Freeze Dry and Hyper Voice for people wanting to run special and it has the same damage as special Mega Salamence. Mega Glalie is in a speed tier of base 100's so finding a speed stat to hit was annoying as I just decided that outspeeding Hydreigon would be good enough. Adamant is a nature that is needed because Mega Glalie has a underwhelming attack stat for a Mega Evolution. You might notice the Happiness is a ? mark. I got the Glalie last minute before recording and didn't have time to max out its happiness so I just stuck Frustration on there. The last move slot was a blank to me but I saw Explosion which could be a huge turn point in the as I could trade one Pokémon for two of my opponents. Explosion does crazy damage and can even knock out Mega Kangaskhan at full health. Overall it was a huge crowd pleaser and I could not be more proud of Explosion.

Rotom-Wash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 140 HP / 112 Def / 28 SpA / 228 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch

  • Outspeeds positive base 70's (Breloom & Bisharp)
  • Okhos 4Hp Garchomp with Hidden Power
  • Hp stat reduces weather damage
  • Survives Adamant Mega Mawile's Play Rough 13/16 times 

The next Pokémon my friend has was a Choice Specs Rotom-W. The synergy with this Pokémon and Glalie is Volt Switching into Glalie which allows Glalie to gain a Moody boost at the end of the turn. I didn't really utilize this option much because Glalie was usually a lead or couldn't really switch in at a good moment but it was still a cool idea. Also I fell in love once again by the damage output of Specs Rotom Wash which I haven't used since Spring Regionals of 2013.

Aegislash @ Focus Sash
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 100 SpA / 156 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield

  • Lives Choice Specs Dark Pulse from Hydreigon with the Sash...

Aegislash will always be one of the hardest Pokémon for me to use. My friend was telling me how many times Focus Sash Aegislash saved him and I can actually agree with him. Ironically Focus Sash is probably my favorite Item on Aegislash. This was the only Aegislash I had with Wide Guard otherwise I probably would have went with a more speedy Aegislash but it still got the job done. Wide Guard and Explosion was the combo in my mind while using Aegislash while my friend used Shadow Sneak. I wish I had max special attack but Aegislash still did damage at the end of the day.

Garchomp @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Veil
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Stone Edge
- Rock Tomb

  • Standard Garchomp

I love Choice Band Garchomp but as you can see there are quite a few things wrong with this Garchomp. I ended up losing my Rough Skin Garchomp and was forced to use Sand Veil which didn't me too badly but Rough Skin is definitely the way to go. Also you might question why I have both Rock Tomb and Stone Edge. I had Rock Tomb as a form of speed control so I could allow Mega Glalie to outspeed certain Pokémon and to avoid Charizard Y paired up with Wide Guard. I didn't have the TMs for Poison Jab or Rock Slide but I figured that it would allow me to knock out any kind of Thundurus using Stone Edge and it did work out all right. I would recommend using Rough Skin though as Sand Veil doesn't help much even with the rising of Japan Sand but this was before Sand was popular.

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 28 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 44 SpA / 188 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Brave Bird
- Overheat
- Tailwind
- Protect


  • Okhos 4 Hp Greninja with Brave Bird 15/16 times
  • Okhos 252 Hp/ 44 Sp Def Mega Mawile  with Overheat
  • Outspeeds Jolly Garchomp

So my friend had Gyarados and Amoonguss as his last two Pokémon slots which did offer speed control, Intimidate and a way to deal with Trick Room. However I did notice a huge problem with rain for the team so I still wanted the support his last 2 members offered while dealing with some problems. Talonflame came into mind as it checks Ludicolo as well as other Pokémon such as Mega Venusaur and Ferrothorn which was important. I also like Tailwind as the form of speed control so I could get a fast Explosion off which was insane while having 2 turns or Tailwind left.

Scrafty @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Atk / 12 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Super Fang
- Fake Out

  • Survives -1 Choice Band Talonflame's Brave Bird.

Scrafty provided the team with bulk, Fake Out pressure and a user to use in Trick Room. Scrafty is an amazing Pokémon even with all the Fairy types out there because it gets access to recovery and unless you are hitting it with super effective attacks, Scrafty will sponge up those attacks. The moveset is pretty standard except Super Fang which was a cool gimmick I intended to put Pokémon in k.o. range for Mega Glalie's Frustration.

Videos of the Team -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM0SiCtkYoo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBXqXaH4GTs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ3uazVpVvc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPMr8VxPIMk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2_vzNPZnWk (Against Aaron Zheng)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98NtDGD0zk4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTJw17b8GPI

Showdown Pastebin -

Glalie @ Glalitite
Ability: Moody
Level: 50
Happiness: 0
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 244 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Explosion
- Frustration
- Earthquake
- Protect

Rotom-Wash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 140 HP / 112 Def / 28 SpA / 228 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch

Aegislash @ Focus Sash
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 100 SpA / 156 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield

Garchomp @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Veil
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Stone Edge
- Rock Tomb

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 28 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 44 SpA / 188 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Brave Bird
- Overheat
- Tailwind
- Protect

Scrafty @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Atk / 12 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Super Fang
- Fake Out
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Sunday, March 15, 2015

Trick Room Mega Camerupt Team Analysis and a 9th Place Brooklyn PC Report

Mega Camerupt Team

 Presented by James Baek/Jamesspeed1

 Introduction

 During the post-winter regionals time period, I noticed a lot of Trick Room teams did very well at all the regionals so I decided to start using Trick Room again. I also was meaning to try out Mega Camerupt again except with no Eruption this time and ended up with an all right team.

The Team

 Cofagrigus @ Mental Herb
Ability: Mummy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 108 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Will-O-Wisp
- Night Shade
- Trick Room
- Protect/Disable

In my opinion, I think Cofagrigus is a really underated Pokemon as it has amazing bulk and the ghost typing just really helps it. I choose Cofagrigus instead of Cresselia because it is a ghost type so it is immune to Fake Outs except Scrappy ones. Also the fact that it can survive a Bisharp's Life Orb Knock Off while being able to have a free item slot for the Mental Herb unlike Eviolite Misdreavous or Dusclops. The Ev Spread allows Cofagrigus to take a Life Orb Knock Off from Bisharp while the rest of the evs went into special defense. I choose Trick Room and Will-O-Wisp as my first 2 move choices as they really benefited my team with how slow and bulky my team would soon become. I chose Night Shade instead of Shadow Ball because I like how reliable the damage from Night Shade does to certain tanks such as Suicune or Mega Venusaur. On YouTube, I used Disable as it is a really good disrupter and sometimes I could use Disable on a Pokemon holding a choice item or just prevent a powerful attack from occuring to my teammates. I decided to switch up Disable for Protect at the Premier Challenge because I noticed how Life Orb Aegislash can knock out Cofagrigus and I had no way to stop it (Funny how that turned out).

Hariyama @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 52 HP / 92 Atk / 108 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Brave Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge/Helping Hand
- Knock Off
- Fake Out

Obviously with a Trick Room team, the best support would be a Fake Out user. I didn't want to use Scrafty since I would be giving Bisharp a free Defiant boost so I ended up with Hariyama as my bulky fighting type. The Ev spread is an edited version of Aaron Zheng's/PokeAlex's Hariyama from the 2014 Pokemon World Championship with the Hp evs adjusted so Super Fang would activate my Sitrus Berry. Fake Out is obvious in order to set up Trick Room easily. Close Combat allows Hariyama to dish out heavy damage being it's best stab move. Knock Off was for Aegislash and is useful to scout for items in a Best of 3 set. For YouTube, I used Helping Hand because I used it at Fall Regionals and it allowed my partners to dish out some very heavy damage. I decided to switch over for Stone Edge because I never really used Helping Hand at all and I needed a way to hit Charizard. The reason for Stone Edge over Rock Slide or Rock Tomb is because they don't get the OHKO on bulky Charizard so i was willing to use Stone Edge despite the accuracy (Fun Fact: I ended up hitting 2 Stone Edges and missed 3 Will-O-Wisps at the PC)

Camerupt @ Cameruptite
Ability: Solid Rock
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Protect

Finally, let's get to the mega of this team. I was really interested with Mega Camerupt because it has overall amazing stats for a Trick Room Pokemon with 2 amazing stabs and even an ability to boost the power even farther. The Ev Spread was simple yet highly effective on this Pokemon to do heavy damage while having decent bulk as well. Earth Power and Heat Wave are strong move choices and when boosted by Sheer Force are able to 2 hit ko Bulky Pokemon such as Thundurus and Mega Gardevoir. I chose Hidden Power over Ancient Power because I felt like I would be needing the ice coverage for all the dragons and ground types around. Protect because it is a good move as always.

Gastrodon @ Expert Belt
Ability: Storm Drain
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 36 SpA / 220 SpD
Modest Nature
- Muddy Water
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Recover

As good as Mega Camerupt is, the 4x water weakness is a huge pain to deal with so Gastrodon is there as support. I ended up using a very special bulky Gastrodon in order to completely wall other water types so Camerupt is able to get some heavy damage off. I chose Expert Belt as my item instead of Rhindo Berry because I wanted Gastrodon to get off some decent damage with little investment in special attack. Muddy Water over Scald is because I don't have to predict a Pokemon to switch out when using Muddy Water and the chance to lower accuracy has helped me out in a few games. I went with Earth Power just to help with Mega Mawile in Rain if I can't bring Camerupt. Ice Beam in order to hit genies and dragons. Recover was an interesting move choice but it allows me to completely wall Pokemon such as Rotom-Wash and Suicune and I didn't feel like Protect was necessary on this Pokemon.

Escavalier @ Choice Band
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Megahorn
- X-Scissor
- Iron Head
- Drill Run

Now for a grass type counter and I felt I wanted a switch into Spore because Amoonguss was an annoying issue. Ludicolo was an annoying Pokemon that can easily break through Gastrodon and Camerupt. It also didn't help that I had nothing to hit Cresselia very hard. Escavalier is a perfect Pokemon for all the issues. The ability for being able to OHKO a Cresselia is absolutely fantastic and the fact that it does pretty well against Kangaskhan and Mawile too. I think Escavalier deserves more credit as it is a powerful Pokemon under Trick Room and has amazing combinations of offense and defense. Megahorn picks up the OHKO on Cresselia and will pretty much hurt anything even if it is resisted. X-Scissor as a backup incase I couldn't afford a miss on Hydreigon and Ludicolo. Iron Head for the annoying Sylveon who puts a dent in my team. Drill Run for Heatran and other Pokemon that could annoy me.

Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Protect

Amoonguss was basically my insurance for a few holes in my team. Rage Powder support allows me to set up Trick Room if I can't lead Hariyama such as a scenario with 2 ghost types staring down my Cofagrigus. Also this team had very little ways to hit bulky water types such as Suicune and Rotom-Wash which is annoying to deal with. So I decided to go Amoonguss in order to fix the small holes and the moveset and Ev Spread is standard. The item I wasn't sure of because all items were situational but Rocky Helmet seemed like the best choice.

Conclusion

This team did very well during my testing and I was able to do well with the team in general. I managed to get 9th at the PC choking the first round due to I had thought Trick Room ended but it didn't and lost the last round to Aaron Zheng (4/4 losses to Aaron at Brooklyn :(). However the team didn't have a good answer to Mega Venusaur and Suicune as well as Aegislash who are easily able to stall out Trick Room and my Pokemon couldn't touch them. Be sure to check out the videos with this team.

Videos of the Team








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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Mega Lopunny Team Report

Mega Lopunny Team


Presented by James Baek/Jamesspeed1



Introduction


So one day I decided that I would actually make a team that I would use for a couple of VGC episodes on my channel. A lot of people wanted to see me use an interesting mega especially a new mega from Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire. I decided to go with Mega Lopunny because at the time, Kangaskhan, Heatran, Landorus, Garchomp, Aegislash, Salamence, etc were all very common during the early stages on Battle Spot and Mega Lopunny could pick up ko's or at least do a lot of damage.

The Team


Lopunny @ Lopunnite
Ability: Cute Charm
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Punch
- Protect

We have the mega right here. I got this Lopunny from a friend so I didn't have a choice on the ability but I probably would have gone with Limber to switch into Thunder Waves. The ev spread was pretty standard but I wouldn't know what to outspeed and Mega Lopunny doesn't have the best attack so I just went with a safe 252/252 spread. Jolly because Lopunny has a lot of speed when it mega evolves and I could outspeed almost everything on the field and do heavy damage. Fake Out is a great move to have because it allows the partner to set up or maybe get some damage off onto the opposing side. I chose High Jump Kick since it allowed me to knock out Kangaskhan 100% of the time but I quickly regretted using it as I missed so many High Jump Kicks that costed me the game. Also it is a risky move as if you predict the Protect wrong, you end up losing half of Lopunny's health which is not good. I would probably use Low Kick next time since I did have Helping Hand to help boost attacks if I wanted to get the knock outs. I chose Ice Punch as my third move because it allowed me to hit Dragons and Landorus very hard and since Mega Lopunny is able to outspeed about every dragon, it could pick up some fast ohkos. As for my last move, I just went with a safe Protect. Protect is always a safe move and there is nothing wrong by choosing it. I did debate about having a normal stab but really it doesn't hit hard as Kangaskhan and Mega Lopunny usually does underwhelming damage unless it is supper effective.

Sylveon @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 92 SpA / 4 SpD / 36 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Heal Bell
- Helping Hand
- Protect

Next Pokemon was Sylveon. I wanted to try out Sylveon out for a while and it does give me a decent switch in against Fighting attacks targeting Lopunny. The ev's allow Sylveon to take a Jolly mega Salamence's Double Edge 15/16% of the time. The speed ev's allow me to outspeed Garchomp and Pokemon who underspeed Garchomp like Kangaskhan and Charizard under Tailwind. The rest of the ev's were dumped into special attack in order for Sylveon to still be a offensive threat. I chose a support Sylveon since I do like the support moves Sylveon gets and a Sitrus Berry to increase it's bulk. For the Moveset, Hyper Voice is a must since it is Sylveon's Best stab move with Pixilate. Heal Bell was definitely interesting and I like the move. It allows protection for my Pokemon from Status such as burns and paralysis which is nice since Mega Lopunny hates about every status out there. Helping Hand was the next move as I am a huge fan of using Helping Hand as it allows me to get a lot of damage and pickup ohko's that some Pokemon might have been able to live. Protect was my last move even though I did consider Skill Swap, I was more of a fan of Protect.

Latias (F) @ Haban Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 156 HP / 20 Def / 84 SpA / 4 SpD / 244 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Icy Wind
- Heal Pulse
- Recover

Oh the Latias that had the wrong ev's in the first three videos of this team. I've been using this spread every since since it is very efficient. The Hp ev's is 1 less than a multiple of 16 which reduces sand and hail damage. 244 speed allows me to outspeed positive base 108's such as Terrakion and Infernape. Along with the Haban Berry, Latias can live any Dragon Type move. The rest were pretty much dumped into special attack. For the moves I chose Draco Meteor in order to pick up ko's on other Dragon Pokemon. Icy Wind allowed me some speed control which is really nice in the metagame. Heal Pulse and Recover are great moves since they allow my team to heal back health after taking damage and is nice in case I miss a High Jump kick with Lopunny.

Bisharp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 188 HP / 252 Atk / 68 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Protect
All right Bisharp is always a great Pokemon. A Defiant user really scares away Pokemon who have Intimidate and if they did bring it, I would punish them by having a plus 1 Bisharp. As for the ev's: don't ask me about them since even I don't know what they are as this was apparently the weird ev spread I had on mine but I would have used a 252/252 spread on Bisharp. I chose Lum Berry on my Bisharp because I don't like Focus Sash and I had my Life Orb taken by another member so I thought Lum Berry might help me against 1v1's against Rotom-Wash. For the moves, Knock Off is such a great stab move that allows me to gain information about what items my opponent has and allows me to think about their ev spreads as well. Sucker Punch is nice priority and Iron Head is a way to check fairies that oppose my Lopunny. Protect was my last move because it is a move most VGC Pokemon should have.

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 28 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 44 SpA / 188 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Brave Bird
- Overheat
- Tailwind
- Protect

Talonflame was a Pokemon that had a lot of potential with Mega Lopunny as it provided Tailwind support. The attack evs allow Talonflame to okho 4Hp Greninja 15/16% of the time with Brave Bird. 44 special attack allows an Overheat to knock out Mega Mawiles who don't invest much into special defense. 188 speed allows me to outspeed Jolly Garchomp. Brave Bird and Tailwind were obvious moves for Talonflame as it gains the priority from Gale Wings and Overheat allowed me to knock out Steel types and I don't have to worry about Intimidate and recoil. For the last move, I was wondering if I should have put Taunt or maybe Quick Guard since they both help support Lopunny but I wanted to make sure I could deal with Rain so I decided to have Protect to avoid being double targeted by a Ludicolo's Fake Out and Politoed's Scald combination.

Ludicolo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 132 HP / 20 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 100 Spe
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Giga Drain
- Fake Out

So I ended up bringing the wrong Ludicolo to the team and used Sejun Park's Sitrus Berry set from the 2014 Korean Nationals. It ended up working alright for me even though I meant to bring a bulkier Ludicolo instead. The moveset was pretty standard for Assault Vest Ludicolo with Scald over Hydro Pump since I hate the accuracy and the rest of the moves are self explanatory with Giga Drain as a reliable Grass stab that recovers health, Ice Beam to hit Dragons and of course Landorus and Fake Out for support.

Videos of the team:









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