Quarter Final vs Matteo Dorrell
Team: MManectric - Politoed - Kabutops - Serperior - Ferrothorn - Talonflame
Match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6BtR_hSa7U
Look at this guy, he was so ready to be on the blog.
Another successful newcomer with his 10th place at UK Nats. This was a game I was really looking forward to, especially since I had never played a Kabutops before. Thankfully for me, the report on his team had been posted on Nugget Bridge a few days prior, so I knew all his moves and spreads... or so I thought, but we will get to that.
Before the match, I discussed with other Jamie what my tactics should be going into the match, and we determined that his most likely lead would be Serperior and Talonflame since both had Taunt which could stop TR, so the best lead would be Talonflame and Scrafty, and turns out we got it spot on. He called the Fake Out correctly, but Brave Bird halves the incoming Ferrothorn, but also halves Talonflame thanks to all the recoil. I end up having to sacrifice Talonflame to take out Ferro as I had no other good way of dealing with it, but it was worth it, as I also get to chunk the Manectric switch with Super Fang. Cress then makes him too paranoid about me setting TR, so he goes for the Choice Band Taunt, which could have worked out really well for me, but I end up knocking off the Choice Band, letting him attack again. However, this ends up working out for me, as if Talonflame couldn't attack the next turn, I don't think he would have predicted my Ferrothorn switch and revealed that his Manectric was actually carrying Flamethrower, something he wasn't carrying at Nats. This makes my match up so much worse, as I was relying and Ferrothorn somewhat to carry the match, but that wasn't really an option anymore. But again, because of the previous move, I can make a prediction, as I feel like he would want to try and conserve his Manectric as it was his only way of stopping Ferrothorn, and I thought he would think I would Protect Ferrothorn, so I'm rewarded with the Protect, and end up knocking out Serperior with the double target. The match is then over as I have 3 Pokes left to take on his Manectric.
Game 1 was 7 turns long. Game 2 ended up being twice as long with 14 turns, so I'm not going to go into every move as that would take forever, watch the video if you are curious, it was a great game. The key moments were me calling the first turn, predicting which slot the Ferro would come in on, Talonflame KOing his +2 Def Ferrothorn, which would have been a damage roll, but I had got some crucial chip on it before, me overpredicting on the turn he Flamethrowers my Ferrothorn, Matteo missing a crucial Leaf Storm, and me attacking the correct Poke on the second to last turn. This was a lot of fun, especially for how vocal Matteo was when playing, so I'm very pleased I got to play him.
Semi Final vs Ethan Hall
Team: MHeracross - Hydreigon - Terrakion - Suicune - RotomH - Aegislash
Match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkimM0e7MB8
It's this guy again. Talonflame is seeming like an excellent addition to the team at this point, since I would be playing a MHeracross for the second time. The main focus of the match for me is to once again catch the MHera with a BB, and, thanks to the mind games from the previous game, I feel comfortable BBing it at the first opportunity as I predict him to predict me to predict the Protect or switch, which ends up working out for me, as I am able to KO it straight away with the BB. After that, I'm able to set up TR and sweep the rest of his team.
Game 2, the mind games happen again straight away, as I go for the Fake Out through the potential Quick Guard, and successfully set up TR, although Scrafty gets critted and KOed straight away, but this does mean I get a free switch into Swampert, which in TR, can do a lot of work, and ends up KOing Terrakion, Heracross, and Rotom, leaving Aegislash against Swampert and Talonflame, and because I had Swords Dance, it was checkmate.
Final vs Daniel Oztekin
Team: MKangaskhan - Politoed - Kingdra - Thundurus - LandorusT - Ferrothorn
Match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k-RqZmbqm8
Why are you so Photogenic Daniel?
What could have been the UK Regionals final if I wasn't so outplayed in the Semi. I was hoping that Daniel would be my opponent, as I did not want to face MGengar again. Turns out his team had a horrible time against Ferrothorn, so I felt really good about my match up, I just had to be smart about not taking any unnecessary Low Kicks or Superpowers. I call the Taunt turn 1 and get a good bit of damage onto Thundurus, but next turn miss the KO next turn as it Fully Paralyses my Cress. He predicts my Swampert switch nicely, but predicted Talonflame, so ends up Thunderbolting my Ferro switch and misses his Leech Seed as Cress is paralysed again. Scrafty replaces Ferro as Cress KOes Thundurus and takes a Leech Seed. His Landorus ends up having an Assault Vest as Ice Beam fails to KO it after it is Faked Out, and Cress takes a Power Whip, which is actually beneficial for me, as I chip away at Ferro with my Rocky Helmet. Luckily Cress isn't in KO range of Knock Off, and gets off an Ice Beam, KOing Landorus. Ferrothorn then tanks a Low Kick, letting Gyro Ball KO the Kang, leaving his Ferrothorn against 3 of mine, so he forfeits to avoid a stall war, but the game was mine anyway,
Game 2 he leads with rain as I lead with my Swampert, so I can finally use the fast mode of my team for the first time in the tournament without even having to set it up myself. I predict the Politoed to switch, so Super Fang into it hoping to catch a Ferrothorn, but catch a Landorus instead, which works out pretty well as the other two Pokes Protect. Ferrothorn then becomes a very safe switch, as he switches back to Poli and surfs, doing alright damage to everything, but Scrafty Knocks Off the Kingdra's Life Orb, which is crucial, as next turn it is able to survive a HH Draco Meteor, which I'm sure both of us weren't expecting, and Kingdra goes down to the double target. Scrafty then goes down a turn later than it should have to the Kang FO, and Ferro halves its hp with a Gyro Ball. With 1 turn of rain left, Swampert can come in and very safely Waterfall the Kang slot, as if it stays in it gets KOed, and if it switches to Lando, which ends up happening, that gets KOed. HH Double-Edge is enough to KO Swampert, but since I connect with my Power Whip, Talonflame is able to come in and finish the Kang. Success.
(I need a hairbrush)
So I think that I proved the theory that MSwampert is viable in a TR team, especially since I didn't use Rain Dance once, and only brought Thundurus once in the tournament, and I lost the game. Not bad for a theorymon team, I was definitely not expecting 1st place at this tournament, but hey, I'll take it. It was a particularly fun one. I faced 7 people and faced 7 different Megas, 3 of which are almost never seen, so that was really cool. I also ended up qualifying for the Streetpass Battlemaster tournament, so quite the successful day.
I'll leave you with this, the only person to beat me at this tournament was this guy:
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