The Battle Begins!
Over the weekend, there was an online competition held through the pokemon GL website. The format was singles, and the prize was a Tyrunt. I decided that I would put together something of a team for it. Before I begin, I'll explain the rules, and that might explain some of the choices I made, but I'll do a more in-depth analysis of my team as I go in, also keep in mind that I get pretty lazy with in-game stuff, I'll use pokemon who don't have perfect IVs, or who don't have quite the right nature (or I'll find a way to make them work.)
The rules were as follows
1. All pokemon must be from the Hoenn pokedex
2. You may not use the pokemon Jirachi, Groudon, Kyogre, or Rayquaza
3. All VGC rules apply (item clause, species clause, and certain items like Soul Dew are banned)
4. The battles are fought exactly like battle spot singles battles, IE: you can bring up to six, but you only get to battle with three of them at a time.
All I had to do to get the Tyrunt prize was fight 3 battles, I decided that I would do 3 battles a day over the weekend, just to see what the team could do. I ended up going 8-2 (one dude ragequit against me), however, I should point out that I battled a LOT of people using incomplete teams. So my record should be taken with a grain of salt :P
Anyways, THE TEAM!
Blaziken@Blazikenite
Ability: Blaze
Nature: Impish
EV's: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
-Protect
-High Jump Kick
-Flare Blitz
-Stone Edge
My starter from ORAS, since he was the blaziken I had with the best nature (I think the speedboost one I had in XY was Gentle or something) I decided I would use him. Mainly I decided on Mega Blaziken because I felt like it was the strongest mega I had access to. Max speed and max attack since I want him to smash face and I didn't have time to math out how much he would need to outspeed everyone after 1 speed boost. Protect is so that I can mega-evolve, get my stat changes, and then pick up a speed boost as well. Flare Blitz and HJK provide good coverage but they are also his most powerful attacks, since this is a 3v3, I figured that if I got 1 speed boost there was a good chance that he would sweep my opponents. Stone Edge is for Salamence and Pinsir which were the most threatening things in the competition.
Skarmory@Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Jolly
EV's: 252 Def/ 44 spd (?) / 208 HP
-Roost
-Roar
-Brave Bird
-Stealth Rock
Again, nature is strange, but it was the best one I had so I felt "why not?" I bred a ton of skarmory and this guy was the only one who had a nature I felt like I could use. I'm not sure on the speed EVs because it's been a while since I trained him up, but mostly I trained for def and hp to make him a tank. The value of stealth rock cannot be overstated, and I knew that this guy would be important also because of his ground immunity, he can dodge earthquakes that might otherwise go into my blaziken. He's also sturdy, so he has a good chance of getting his rocks up before going down. Brave Bird hits really hard and 1shots most of the offensive grass types and fighting types I kept seeing, as well as OHKOing heracross. It also lets Skarmory tank any hit from Sceptile and hit back hard. Roost allows him to recover and possibly get back into sturdy range. Roar is for phazing since I didn't have whirlwind on him, I basically just didn't want anyone to try and setup on my skarm. I went with rocky helmet as he has no other way of doing damage to metagross, who has to think twice once he starts to take rocky helmet damage. It also makes skarm quite annoying, as every time they hit it, they take damage.
Latios@Lum Berry
Nature:Hasty
EV's: 252 Sp. Atk/ 252 Spd / 4 Sp.Def
-Recover
-Draco Meteor
-Psyshock
-Earthquake
Finally! This one is nearly standard! As a note, I know he technically needs more atk investment in order to score OHKOs against things like Heatran, but heatran wasn't even allowed in this competition and there is NO WAY he's ever going to OHKO Agron. Earthquake is just a basic coverage move then in this case. Psyshock and Draco are the stab moves and they provide good coverage, Psyshock destroys Tentacruel if anyone is using that, but it also hits Blaziken and nails Azumaril hard. Draco was picked because it's my most powerful move and I wanted to score an OHKO against Salamence. Recover lets me soak up a hit or two and heal back the damage. I didn't really matter between this and roost since the battles are so short. Basically, Latios was the other powerhouse of my team. I used a Lum because I was terrified of spore, as Breloom is allowed in this competition and I knew that it could put two or even three of my squad to sleep. Lum lets me come in, absorb the sleep, and KO it with Psyshock. He also served as a decent check to mega-salamence. Every time I saw a salamence I lead with this guy, and if they lead with their mega, it got to eat a draco-meteor to the face. I considered running Latiosite on him but in the end I was happy with my choice.
Crobat@Chesto Berry
Nature:Naive
EV's: 252 Spd/ 12 Sp. Atk/ 240 Atk
-Venoshock
-Toxic
-U-turn
-Acrobatics
Did I mention how big a threat Breloom is in this event? Maybe I was a bit over-prepared, but this guy can also wall Sceptile for days and destroy it with Venoshock. Toxic gives crobat something to do against more defensive pokemon and lets me start putting extra damage on more offensive ones. I was also a bit worried about Azumaril (I wasn't sure what other fairies were in this metagame, but I wanted to be able to answer them with a poison move). U-Turn allows crobat to GTFO of an unfavorable matchup while getting in some damage. Acrobatics is again so I can destroy Breloom, but even without the berry gone he can hit hard with that move.
Tentacruel@Leftovers
Ability: Liquid Ooze
Nature:Modest
EVs: 244 HP/ 8 Sp. Atk/ 252 Def
-Sludge Wave
-Toxic Spikes
-Acid Spray
-Scald
Tentacruel served as a special tank, but is invested in defense so he can wall things like Azumaril. I wanted toxic spikes to help Crobat, but also the poison would help me wear down grounded tanky enemies like swampert. Leftovers is his primary means of recovery. Tentacruel is tanky enough that the leftovers mean he stays around longer. 3HKOs turn into 4HKOs, and it means my opponents have to work that much harder to get rid of him. Sludge Wave is mostly for Azumaril but also as mentioned the poison moves can also nail grass types like Breloom and Sceptile. Acid Spray helped me a couple of times clearing the way for Latios to finish the game. It also lets Scald hit harder against Swampert. Scald was chosen over surf for the burn chance which would be important to let Tentacruel stay around longer.
Breloom@Sitrus Berry
Ability: Technician
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Spd/ 4 HP/ 252 Atk
-Force Palm
-Spore
-Bullet Seed
-Rock Tomb
If you can't beat em, join em. Seriously Breloom is a big threat. In XY I used a choice scarf, but I couldn't transfer over my scarf in time, so I used a Sitrus so I can take at least one hit and get some health back. I felt like this would be better than giving him a slow recovery item like leftovers because the games are a lot faster in Battle Spot and you will take big hits. Spore is an awesome move and can sometimes win games alone. Rock Tomb is for coverage but it can also punish flying types and the speed drop is significant. It means that Breloom can beat things like salamence if it can catch them switching in or asleep. Force Palm is his strongest fighting move but sometimes I really did miss Mach Punch. Bullet Seed kos swampert if it hits 3 times, and it was my best move against Azumaril as well. There were some teams that Breloom could beat by himself because they just didn't have an answer for him.
~Conclusion~
With the competition over, and the ratings being finalized before prizes are distributed, I'm satisfied with the team. Granted, by no means am I the best battler, nor is this the best team, but I had lots of fun with this. With a record of 8-2, I feel like the team performed as well as I could have asked it to. I won about 8 games in a row before losing the 10th game, so I was almost at 1600 rating (so close :( ) I like these little weekend contests that the GL puts up. The next one is gonna be awesome as well, as it will give me a chance to use that Adamant Rayquaza that I couldn't even use in Ubers battles :D!
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