World Championship 2015 32nd place Team Report

Top 32. 32nd. In the world...

  

HOW ON EARTH DID THAT HAPPEN?!?!

Only 4 months previous to Worlds, I was attending my first tournament as just a lifelong fan who just thought it would be fun to see if I was any good, and the next thing I know, I top cut two Regionals and a National, qualify for Worlds, and come out of the season as the best player in the UK (By technicality; I was the highest placing Brit in the Masters division. I don't believe I'm even close to the best, but I can technically claim it, so why not?)

  

Teambuilding for Worlds was really tricky because I was trying to make loads of more common things work that I was not very comfortable with, much more normal things like some more standard picks like Gardevoir and CharizardY, all Trick Room, and even some unique Mega picks like Manectric, Blaziken and CharizardX. Blaziken came the closest to working, as it suits my playstyle very well. I had had success with ZardX, so I was considering focusing on it, but ended up deciding that if I were focusing on ZardX, I should focus on Salamence instead, as, apart from the bluff of Y and a few typing advantages, Mence was pretty much straight up superior with more offensive power, faster speed and higher bulk, so it made sense to start building around it in the end.

Starting with Mence, I added Thundurus and Suicune straight away, as they were the two Pokes that is was the most comfortable with as I had used them all season. I then figured that I might as well make a F/W/G core and a fantasy core as I could do it pretty easily with what I already wanted. The choice then effectively became whether the Steel type was either part Fairy, Fire or Grass, so did I want dual Megas with a Mawile, Klefki, Heatran or Ferrothorn. Klefki and Mawile were discarded as I had never run dual Mega, so I didn't feel comfortable with it, and I had never used Klefki, so I wanted to go with what I knew.

I then decided to choose the Fairy type so that I could decide between Tran and Thorn more easily. It was quickly narrowed down to the two Clefs and Sylveon. This did help me choose between the Steels, so I went to the last Poke.

I knew I wanted a Fighting type if I could squeeze it in, so completing the cores would mean either Heatran and Breloom/Virizion, or Ferrothorn and Blaziken/Infernape (/Emboar?!). The choice then became easy, as I had already used Infernape and Ferrothorn to come 2nd in Germany, so I knew I could use it effectively. The final part was then the Fairy, which wasn't decided until the day before the tournament, as all three were working. The final choice was then changed for day 2, which ended up being a bad decision purely because of the spread I chose, which I will go into more detail on shortly.

Suicune became a Milotic for a long time since I was convinced it would be the call for all the Landos that would be about, but after what seemed like a completely unrelated conversation, Suicune came straight back and stuck, which I believe turned out to be the correct choice.

The move choices and spreads came immediately as well, as I knew what I was comfortable with, the only exception being Mence, which was effectively missing a move for a long time, but I found it eventually and didn't regret the choice at all.

So here is the team:

Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite 

Ability: Aerilate 

Level: 50 

EVs: ?

Adamant Nature 

- Return/Double-Edge 

- Dragon Dance 

- Protect

-?

I was completely set on using Dragon Dance as it is by far my favourite Mence. The issue then became what to run. Looking back on every successful Mence, they all had Return or DE, DD, Protect, and then either EQ or Roost. There didn't seem to be any variation, and people were always debating which STAB move was better, and which filler move was better, but never if there was any other option. I did test out these fillers, and pretty much never used them. The problem with EQ was it was pretty much exclusively for Heatran, which were all running Shuca Berry towards Worlds, and I knew it would be the most popular item at Worlds, so I scrapped EQ. Roost also went completely unused as I found that in a situation were it would be good to Roost, it would either be to stop the KO that turn on Mence with an Ice move, where you could just Protect or switch to not take the damage, or because you have a free turn, so you might as well get up another DD, so Roost was also scrapped.

One day, the answer came quite by accident. I was scrolling through the moves Mence could get, trying to figure out any other small possibility of a useful 4th move. I have no idea why, but a certain move stood out, like really stood out, and I had a strange epiphany. It seemed really counter-intuitive, no one had ever considered it, I had never seen anyone use the move at all in VGC, let alone just on Mence. But it just made absolute sense to me, so I tested a little and immediately settled on Mence's moves, and therefore the spread. Here it is:

Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite 

Ability: Aerilate 

Level: 50 

EVs: 84 HP / 196 Atk / 4 Def / 84 SpD / 140 Spe 

Adamant Nature 

- Giga Impact 

- Frustration

- Dragon Dance 

- Protect

I bet you weren't expecting that. Giga Impact, a move that means you can't make an attack on the next turn. In VGC, surely the move makes no sense and should never be used. That's what everyone ever has thought, since it has never had any kind of success. For Mence however, the move makes so much sense, and I don't know why I seem to be the first to stumble upon it.

To start off with, Salamence gets Aerilate, making Giga Impact into a Flying type move and increasing the power by 30%. This gives it 195 base power, so with STAB, Mence gets access to a 292 BP move! Still not convinced by this power? Here are some offensive calculations:

• 196+ Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Giga Impact vs. 84 HP / 0 Def Mega Kangaskhan: 192-226 (100.5 - 118.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

• -1 196+ Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Giga Impact vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mega Gardevoir: 180-213 (102.8 - 121.7%) -- guaranteed

• 196+ Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Giga Impact vs. 156 HP / 4 Def Landorus-T: 207-244 (112.5 - 132.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

• 196+ Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Helping Hand Giga Impact vs. 252 HP / 12 Def Thundurus: 186-220 (100 - 118.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

• 196+ Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Giga Impact vs. anything built to survive +Kang DE depending on base stats varies from 87.5% chance to OHKO to guaranteed OHKO

Need I go on? Giga Impact is a straight up OHKO on around 80% of the metagame, the rest either resist flying, or are naturally bulky enough, and at +1 or with a HH Boost, that figure rises to about 95%. With such a high KO rate, GI has the ability to open up so many win conditions that wouldn't otherwise be there. If one of your team would win if just one of the opposing team would disappear, then an unexpected GI can create that for you in one turn. In a situation where Mence is about to be knocked out and even DE wouldn't be strong enough to KO the opponents Poke that would knock you out? GI can do just that and Mence is around for another turn, meaning spread moves stay at 75% that turn, and the opponent either has to target the recharging Mence to stop another GI, or focus on the partner, who could simply Protect. There are so many things I could say for the benefits of GI, but it's best if you find them out for yourself, it must be said though that GI is not the primary move, Frustration is, GI is there for emergencies and should be treated as such. I will finish about it by saying that no move can be quite so game changing, or straight up game saving as GI has been, with maybe the exception of an unnamed move that is an anagram of waggers, which only works for you 45% of the time anyway.

Finally onto the EV spread. I've already explained the attack investment, but I will also say that it hits "the bump" where you get 2 stat points for 8 Evs. Since I wanted to run Adamant to get the Atk stat I wanted, I knew that my Mence would be slower than other Mences. I also figured that, at Worlds, people would be running neutral speed natures for their 100 base speed pokes, Adamant Kang, Modest Garde etc. Therefore, I didn't feel the need for max speed investment on Mence, and I figured I would be DDing most of the time anyway, so I could get away with lower investment. I originally had 100 Evs, but I was noticing a lot of max speed Jolly Landos, so I up the investment to 140 Evs so that I could creep them, and subsequently Jolly Scarf Landos after a DD if any of them popped up. With the Evs left for Bulk, I wanted to be able to survive 4hp Mence KOing Ice Beams. With what was left however, the best I could achieve was surviving 15/16 times, which, given that I had achieved both my goals with Atk and Speed, was more than acceptable.

Over 1000 words on only my Salamence? Woah, time to move on...

  

Thundurus @ Life Orb 

Ability: Prankster 

Level: 50 

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe 

Timid Nature 

- Thunderbolt 

- Hidden Power [Ice] 

- Nasty Plot 

- Protect

This is the best Thundurus.

Unless you absolutely 100% need your Thundy for support, then Nasty Plot Thundurus is the way to go. With the exception of maybe ZardX, this set makes Thundurus the ultimate bluff Pokémon. Since "the best set" always has Twave and mostly Taunt, people will always make predictions based on those two moves, only to see me get up to +2 and sweep their team. The amount of times I have done this is too many to count, and has let me sweep through two swiss rounds in two different Regionals with a perfect record. If I had to put it down to the main reason why I was able to do that, Nasty Plot Thundurus is it, which still baffles me that NP is a move, like GI, that I have never seen anyone have success with, or even try to run it on Showdown or BS. If I ever had a signature Pokémon with a specific moveset, this is it.

The Ev spread is boring, but it is the best for NP. In my first Regional, I had 84 hp Evs so I could survive Ttar Rock Slides, which then changed to 36 hp for a nice Life Orb number, but after using it so much, I concluded that 252 252 is the best spread as any bulk doesn't help, and you can miss KOs with less than 252 SpAtk. Also, at +2 max SpAtk, Thundy can OHKO pretty much anything in the metagame that isn't called Cresselia.

Use this moveset, you won't regret it.

Suicune @ Sitrus Berry 

Ability: Pressure 

Level: 50 

EVs: 228 HP / 4 Def / 236 SpA / 4 SpD / 36 Spe 

Modest Nature 

IVs: 0 Atk 

- Scald 

- Ice Beam 

- Tailwind 

- Roar

Another unusual spread, but unusual seems to be my thing, and this spread works for me anyway, so I'm not complaining. First the moves. This is the third time that you may have seen three of the moves and thought it was pretty standard, and then seen the 4th move and think I should get my brain examined. Rest assured however, the weird move is actually amazing once again. Roar has become a staple move on pretty much every team I make. I used it to great success at the UK Regionals on a Lucario, which everyone seemed to think was really cool, and I have made my favourite ever move at a tournament, using Roar on my own Ferrothorn to get it out of the Shadow Tag of a Mega Gengar, and this was in the match where if I lost, I didn't qualify for Worlds and if I won I did, so to me, that will probably be the proudest move I will ever make, and will be etched on my memory forever. The match is available to watch on YouTube on Organized PlayAmigo (Arena Cup Bochum Masters Top 8) and I strongly suggest that you go and watch it, as it is a great match, and I manage to clutch it out on a massive prediction at the end, well worth a watch.

Anyway, back to Roar. It is my main Counter to Trick Room, and it is the best counter. Since it has -6 Priority and TR has -7, Roar will go first, getting rid of the setter and there will be no TR. Combine this Fake Out, and you can guarantee TR does not go up. The only things that can stop this combo and still get up TR the same turn, is if what you are using Fake Out on is either a Sableye, as you cant Fake it Out and it can Fake Out your Roarer, or Inner Focus Kang, which can take the FO and respond with its own. Outside of these situations, TR is not going up turn 1, and that puts all the momentum on your side. Roar can also be used to beat Perish Trap as you can Roar out your partner, or even Roar out the Shadow Tag user so you can switch the next turn. Roar is very versatile, and should be considered on every fast team.

For the next part, the credit goes to Eden Batchelor. One day he just happened to post about battling on Showdown and being frustrated about the teams he was facing. At this point, Milotic was my water type. I mentioned in a comment that I admired his Roaring Entei he used at UK Nats. A few minutes after I had posted that, I remembered that he had used Roar on Entei in conjunction with his Hyper Beaming Sylveon so he didn't have to recharge, and something immediately clicked in my brain... I could do that with my Mence's Giga Impact! Sadly, I never got to make this fantasy play, in the tournament, but I just imagined making the play on stream, and suddenly Roar Suicune had to come straight back. Another reason why GI is a good choice on Mence, and another use of Roar.

The Evs may look strange with so much SpAtk and not much bulk, but I have found that, unless you get Scald burns, Suicune has no offensive presence, and it also has amazing natural bulk anyway, so investing almost max SpAtk means that the damage Suicune can do is actually significant, and has come in to play many times, getting surprise KOs on Pokes that thought they would survive. I don't think there was any point that I wanted more bulk, so the SpAtk investment was the right call.

Infernape @ Focus Sash 

Ability: Blaze 

Level: 50 

EVs: 244 Atk / 12 SpA / 252 Spe 

Hasty Nature

- Overheat 

- Close Combat

- Fake Out

- Encore

Did you know that Infernape can learn Encore? No one seems to, they only think about the Fake Out and then double Protect, which means you can have a choice of which Pokémon you want to lock into Protect. Pair Infernape with my Thundurus, and if there is a double Protect, then I can NP, then Encore what I'm not attacking, giving me so much momentum that I almost win straight away on the first turn. Fake Out + Encore is such a good combination, and I think that Infernape is the best user because people know that Liepard and Raichu have Encore, but no one thinks about Encore on Infernape, and the surprise makes it more effective.

Evs are simple, the Atk maximises the chance to knock out a Kang, max Speed and the rest in Spatk.

  

Ferrothorn @ Expert Belt 

Ability: Iron Barbs 

Level: 50 

EVs: 252 HP / 236 Atk / 20 SpD 

Brave Nature 

- Power Whip 

- Gyro Ball 

- Leech Seed 

- Protect

What? A completely standard moveset? Where is the Explosion? Where is the Bulldoze to hit Heatrans? While I do like my originality in teambuilding, you will have to look to the item to see the strange choice here. Expert Belt allows me to pick up KOs on even the bulkiest Milotics, can OHKO Semi- Bulky Gardevoirs at -2 or when burned, and can OHKO most Sylveons, which are all huge threats to Mence. If I had a different Mega, I would choose a different item, but paired with Mence, Expert Belt makes sense. Everything else is pretty self explanatory.

  

Clefable @ Mental Herb 

Ability: Unaware 

Level: 50 

EVs: 244 HP / 228 Def / 36 SpD 

Bold Nature 

- Moonblast 

- Follow Me 

- Helping Hand 

- Protect

I chose Clefable as my Day 1 Fairy, mainly for the redirection support for DD on Mence and NP on Thundy. Mental Herb was chosen since I thought I would come up against a lot of Taunting Thundys and I wanted to get off at least two FMs. I didn't get Taunted once though, and I only brought Clef to one match where it did something, so I decided to change to my other Fairy for Day 2.

  

Sylveon @ Pixie Plate 

Ability: Pixilate 

Level: 50 

Original EVs: 132 HP / 156 Def / 80 SpA / 140 Spe 

Worlds EVs: 180 HP / 108 Def / 80 SpA / 140 Spe 

Modest Nature 

- Hyper Voice 

- Hidden Power [Ground] 

- Helping Hand 

- Protect

I thought that having some sort of offensive Fairy presence would be more useful, and Sylveon was there to help against other Mences, and also to chip Pokes so that Mence could KO with Frustration.

The moves are fairly standard, so I will talk about the Evs. The Speed was the first part, I wanted to outspeed Mence under Tailwind and get the OHKO, which needed 80 SpAtk and 140 Spd. The remaining original Evs let it survive an Adamant Return from a Mence. However, my friend Jamie Miller was competing at Worlds, who I knew was running Staraptor, and I wanted to assert my dominance as the best Jamie. Therefore, I took Evs out of Def and put them into hp until I had 1 more hp point than Max hp Raptor so a Final Gambit would not knock out Sylveon. Don't do this, it makes Sylveon have a very inefficient hp number, it annoyed me everytime I saw it, and it even gave Adamant Mence a chance to KO Syl with Return. Sylveon needs more Spatk than 80 Evs, its damage output was pathetic, definitely run more.

  

There we are, my Worlds team in all its glory. I don't think it is the best team in the world (hence the 32nd place), but it was the best for me as it fit my playstyle perfectly, and I was really comfortable with all the Pokémon, so I don't regret the six (seven?) Pokémon I brought.

Things to take away from this report:

Giga Impact is the best 4th move on Dragon Dance Salamence (unless you REALLY hate Heatran).

Nasty Plot Thundurus is the best Thundurus.

Originality can still be successful at the highest level.

Find out what you are comfortable with and fits your playstyle

Even people who are new to the game can have high level success

Thanks for Reading :)