26 trades
So this was a truly abysmal opening draft. Genuinely one of the worst I think I've ever seen. Miltank4, Ninetales4, Gyarados3, Ludicolo3, Magmar3, Mr Mime3.
After a lot of thought, I went with Gyarados, Miltank, and Ludicolo. In hindsight, this really highlights how my playstyle has improved over time because I don't think I would ever have considered taking this combination in years gone by.
Gyarados3 isn't a great set, but if I couldn't sweep with it I figured Ludicolo3 was a decent Blissey approximation that 1.) appreciates Intimidate support 2.) can actually reliably kill stuff with Leech Seed & 3.) gets a phenomenal amount of healing thanks to having Leftovers, Leech Seed, and this individual having Rain Dish! And it can pass Leech Seed's effect onto Miltank if I want to boost with that.
In the very first battle the lead mon was Blissey. Didn't even bother Earthquaking, just switched straight to Ludicolo, set up Leech Seed and Rain Dance, and started boosting my evasion. It took a few turns for Blissey to attempt attacking, and thanks to the piss-poor accuracy of both Fire Blast and Blizzard I was quite safe. Only one Blizzard hit, and the 3x passive healing that turn was almost equal to the damage it inflicted. Ended up fighting Blissey3 a second time later in the round; this time it hit through +6 evasion to OHKO Ludicolo with a crit Fire Blast. Luckily Miltank was able to come in and enjoy the massive healing a Leech Seeded Blissey provided while it used Curse and Double Team six times each, evading all the remaining Fire Blasts and Blizzards. I was never going to Double-Edge Blissey (why take the recoil?) so just spammed Double Team and Curse once I was maxed until it ran out of Softboiled PP and started using Calm Mind out of concession.
Well, these next few battles truly were the longest ones of my life. Not the most fun experience for someone who loves a quick battle, but definitely a good learning experience. A couple of of bouts here ended with me simply draining something out of PP and letting nature take its course:
- Ludicolo fainted in one match, leaving Miltank and Gyarados up against Gengar. I stalled initially, intending to switch Gyarados in once it was out of Thunderbolt PP and finish it off, but rationalised it was more efficient just to boost evasion, heal when needed, Curse when I could, and wait for both mons to use up all their PP; finally Miltank won with a +6 Struggle
- The final mon in battle 5 was Meganium3: Gyarados was fainted and Ludicolo was on the field with Miltank in the back. Since Leech Seed wasn't going to work, I opted to simply Double Team to the max and just spammed non-functional moves at it until it burned up all its Earthquake and Giga Drain usage. Intended to let Miltank come in, boost up, and safely take it out but ended up just chipping it down with Struggle since even at minimum health Flail is not even a guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers - though it did hit on the last turn, which was alarming.
I didn't swap once all round. These three were an absolutely stellar combination - Ludicolo can set up on so much stuff it's insane. I actually think in a lot of cases this is superior to set4 (which is identical sans Toxic over Giga Drain) because Toxic just puts a timer on how much you can boost, and if you can get Rain Dance AND Leech Seed AND +6 evasion set up before the foe faints, you're in prime position for the next one. The only thing is that forgoing Toxic means that you can't reliably beat Leftovers sets. It's a delicate balance, but as long as you're not trying to sweep with it alone, it's workable. There's very few Leftovers sets in the set 3 band - Shuckle, Cradily, and Breloom would all be pretty much impossible for this set. Managed not to run into the latter two; I did face Vileplume3, but my other two squad members were still active so I simply went down the usual route of evasion boosting and then draining as much PP as I could - it eventually hit me with Sludge Bomb for the KO though.
Battle 6 was the scariest, because it always seems to be. The opponent opened with Salamence; I switched in Ludicolo because none of Salamence3's moves are threatening to it (especially at -1), but I was only able to use Double Team once before it got a critical hit with Double-Edge, knocking me out. Figured the best thing to do was set up on it with Miltank, so I switched Gyarados back in for another Attack nerf and then swapped, but Salamence started using Crunch. The damage was low enough that I could boost evasion, but eventually it got a Sp.Def drop.
Decided it was safest to switch Gyarados in again and then go back to Miltank. This worked, and once Crunch's PP was exhausted none of its other moves made a dent: I safely got Miltank to +6/+6/+6 with full HP. Dropped Salamence with Double-Edge and OHKO'd the Porygon2 that came out second... and of course, the final mon is Misdreavus. Brilliant. Except it is brilliant because it used Perish Song on its first turn! Never mind.
Feeling apprehensive, I prepared to face Noland.
He opened with Shuckle! It has Toxic so wouldn't be safe to set up on; I rationalised it's better to try and kill it as quickly as possible with Gyarados, and 3HKOed with Surf.
His next Pokemon was Electrode. Hmmm. Well, it's obviously going to kill Gyarados. I'm thinking that switching to Ludicolo isn't safe, as Thunderbolt just does too much damage, so I sack Gyarados and let it die to Thunderbolt. Ludicolo vs Electrode: I get off a Double Team, then Leech Seed as it uses Thunder Wave... but then it gets two consecutive crits on top of a turn of full paralysis. Argh argh argh.
Just Miltank left, then. Miltank, then. I've got Leech Seed up, so the best play is to alternate Double Team and Milk Drink, hoping that it'll start missing enough to let me sneak in some Curses. As it happens, I only manage to get two evasion boots and one use of Curse before Electrode goes for broke and uses Explosion - but it misses me.
Noland's last mon turned out to be Golem.
Well, this isn't good. Golem3 knows Brick Break. It uses Earthquake as I Double Team again, so suddenly I wonder if Noland could somehow be running Golem4 instead - but then it uses Brick Break the next turn, confirming my fear. Fortunately, it misses. Okay... is evasion maxing or defence maxing the priority here? Evasion maxing seems best, as I'm already at +1 so a non-critical Brick Break can at best 3HKO if it hits.
I manage to get to +6 evasion and then max with Curse, and miraculously none of Golem's Brick Breaks hit, though it uses Earthquake a couple of times and both connect. I'll take that. Finally, at +6/+6/+6, I take the plunge and go for a Double-Edge, dealing what appears to be the maximum roll which is sadly not quite enough to KO. But that's fine, another one will do it - and then Golem uses Explosion. But this one also misses!
Happily, at +6 it should have done under 50% - but I'm still glad. Massive sigh of relief, what a crazy round that was.
This round really makes it apparent how much stuff will still hit you even when you're at +6 evasion. Fucking Frontier luck.
