Individual Pokemon Analysis - Garchomp

Hey guys! Today I really wanted to do a write up on one of my favorite Pokemon, Garchomp! Garchomp is an interesting Pokemon as it has always been seen as a worse Landorus. Garchomp Has a few specific niches over Landorus however, which should make you consider it for your team, as a few others have in the past.

Base Stats

HP: 108 Attack: 130 Defense: 95 Sp.Atk: 80 Sp.Def: 85 Speed: 102 Total: 600

As you can see, Garchomp has quite the set of base stats to support an offensive set. Base 102 Speed is very helpful as it allows you to get over several Pokemon that would commonly threaten Landorus such as Charizard-Y and Kangaskhan. 

Garchomp also has much better natural bulk than Landorus. Landorus does however gain artificial bulk from a much better ability in Intimidate, but Rough Skin can help with weakening other Pokemon for KO's. Garchomps 108, 95, 85 is 29 base stat points better than Landorus' 89, 90, 80. This allows it to take Ice Beams better from Pokemon such as Thundurus and Cresselia.

Usable Moves

-Protect: Protect is Protect. If you don't understand the concept of why this move is good by now, I'm sorry but I've given up hope on helping you. 

-Rock Slide: This is a neat move that helps with Pokemon such as Charizard, Zapdos, and Thundurus (depending on how fast they are). Also with the base 102 Speed stat, it can allow you to flinch Pokemon like Kangaskhan without having to use a Choice Scarfed Landorus.

-Dragon Claw: A strong single-target STAB move is never a bad thing. This is also something Garchomp has over Landorus, a usable secondary STAB option. Does respectable damage to anything on neutral, and can allow you to hit Salamence hard if they don't carry Draco Meteor.

- Earthquake: A strong STAB spread option. Just does solid damage, and has great synergy if you have plenty of Flying Types/Levitaters or Pokemon with Protect on your team. 

-Stone Edge: An option to run over Rock Slide. Not too common but can be useful for getting past an opponents Wide Guard in order to KO an enemy Volcarona or Charizard. It also has the potential to KO non-Bold Nature Thundurus if you carry a Life Orb.

Abilities

-Sand Veil: This has some synergy with Tyranitar. An oldy but goody is to slap Bright Powder onto it and have Tyranitar out at the same time in order to make Garchomp a big nuisance for the opponent to deal with.

-Rough Skin: This gives you an artificial offensive option too, as it can do some respectable damage to opponents, especially if switched in on say a Kangaskhan's Fake Out. With either a Life Orb or a Rocky Helmet, the Rough Skin damage onto Kangaskhan will usually put it into Dragon Claw KO range if they are not too bulky.

Usable Items

-Lum Berry: This is just a solid item in general. Helps with Rotom's that like to try and burn you, and can help against random status inflictions such as freeze and that random Glare Serperior you'll run into eventually.

-Rocky Helmet: More of a 2014 item which was used for some powerful Kangaskhan hate. After switching in or a Fake Out or a Return (Depending on how strong they are) usually won't put you into Sucker Punch range and will allow you to KO them back with a Dragon Claw.

-Life Orb: This just helps you do some solid damage. Once again, it was more of a 2014 thing so it would be able to KO bulkier Hydreigon's but now the main appeal of it is the ability to KO bulkier Charizard's and Volcarnoa's, even at -1 Attack.

-Focus Sash: Helps Garchomp take an extra Ice hit that it normally wouldn't. The main appeal is to give you a second chance against offensive Life Orb Thundurus and the occasional Mamoswine.

-Bright Powder: Once again only used on the set that is trying to abuse Sand and Sand Veil. This is relatively weaker, and relies much more on luck, so I suggest against it.

Threats

Offensive Thundurus is an obvious threat due to the fact that it out speeds you and can OHKO you with a HP Ice, as simple as that. Also if you can't 2hko it with your Rock Slide, you will definitely be going down to 2 HP Ice's 

Ice Types in general are also a problem. Mamoswine has the option of being Choice Scarfed or carrying Ice Shard, as well as Weavile always being able to OHKO, both of which can be temporarily remedied by utilizing the Focus Sash. Other Pokemon that carry Ice Type moves such as Cresselia and Suicune can be problematic because of the fact that Garchomp can't touch them hard, and will usually be 2hko'd by them. 

Sample Set

Garchomp @ Lum Berry

Ability: Rough Skin

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Protect

- Rock Slide

- Dragon Claw

- Earthquake

Nothing too strange here. This is what you should normally expect to see on a Garchomp if you ever see one in competition. You can make the argument to drop 8 EVs in Speed to put them in bulk, and I would say that is just fine as nothing relevant hits the 101 tier, and you are still outspeeding base 100's. Other Garchomp aren't common enough to worry about, so I would say that is just fine.

Welp, I hope you guys enjoyed! I worked hard on this, and I was able to finish it in one class time with some time to spare to play Clash Of Clans, so that makes me really happy. Let me know what you think of Garchomp over at my twitter: @_LightCore , and let me know what Pokemon you would like to see next! See you all next time!

Individual Pokemon Analysis - Raikou

So as a follow up to my Entei analysis, I thought it would be really fun to do one on a similar Pokemon in concept. Raikoo is a really interesting Pokemon, and it doesn't seem to fill the role you would expect of a very fast Electric type. Besides that Ian is also enjoys being best vgc, and oo'ing is his best attack.

Base Stats

Stat Range At Lv. 50 At Lv. 100 HP: 90 150 - 197 290 - 384 Attack: 85 81 - 150 157 - 295 Defense: 75 72 - 139 139 - 273 Sp.Atk: 115 108 - 183 211 - 361 Sp.Def: 100 94 - 167 184 - 328 Speed: 115 108 - 183 211 - 361 Total: 580

Now Raikou may seem like it has pretty good offensive stats, with a blistering base 115 speed and a respectable 115 special attack stat. This, however, is not the conventional way that people have used Raikou in the past. It usually plays with a supportive role due to it having the tools it needs to pull it off.

Raikou's speed stat is also very nice due to the fact that it naturally out speeds Thundurus. This allows you to run a bit more bulk than you normally would on a Pokemon like Raikou, due to the fact that it has a higher than normal speed stat. This also allows Raikou to pair well with other fast damaging Pokemon such as Salamence, due to them covering each others weaknesses with their STAB's and coverage moves.

Usable Moves

-Thunderbolt: Just a standard STAB move. It does respectable damage and it it's most consistent STAB move that is available. 

-Volt Switch: Another STAB option, but relatively weaker in my opinion due to the fact that you are forced to switch every single time you want to use a STAB move. This can be helpful though when you are trying to see what your opponent will do, and can give you more momentum than you previously had in the game.

-Hidden Power [Ice]: Another move that most people like to carry on Raikou. This helps with your Landorus match up, and considering the best item for Raikou is the Shuca Berry, being able to 2HKO landorus before it can 2HKO is pretty nice.

-Snarl: This helps get into the more supportive role of most Raikou. It's very nice and allows general support for your team by being able to weaken strong special attackers such as Charizard, Sylveon and Gardevoir.

-Light Screen: Functions the same as Snarl, except it doesn't do damage to pick up KO's on weakened Pokemon, but it does last longer if your opponent decides to switch, It's really up to personal preference.

-Reflect: This is essentially a must have on Raikou, as the combination of Reflect and Shuca Berry makes it so Landorus doesn't do much to any damage to you with Earthquake.

-Protect: What do I really need to say about this anymore? A Pokemon like Raikou needs this move most of the time to function properly.

-Toxic: This move can help you wear down annoyingly bulky Pokemon like Cresselia and Maranga Berry Milotic.

-Rain Dance: Just a supportive move that should only be used on very specific teams. Helps that Charizard-Y and Tyranitar matchup. 

Usable Items

-Shuca Berry: This allows it to beat Landorus and Garchomp if you carry HP Ice, which can be very useful.

-Sitrus Berry: This allows Raikou to take a wider varity of hits from anything not named Scarfed Landorus. This helps the Kangaskhan match up, as well as taking general attacks and allows more switching.

Weaknesses

Thundurus is a threat in a different sort of sense. Thundurus is the standard choice for a  fast bulky Electric type in this format, and its not too hard to see why. With access to a useful ability in Prankster, as well as Swagger and Taunt, it simply out classes Raikou in most ways. This is why Raikou has more of an offensive buffer support role, and the reason why Thunder Wave was left off the usable moves list. Thundurus' being a more common, and often seen better supporter is what keeps Raikou from hitting the spot light it could very well have.

Sample Sets

Raikou @ Shuca Berry

Ability: Pressure

EVs: 4 HP / 92 Def / 180 SpA / 4 SpD / 228 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def

- Thunderbolt

- Hidden Power [Ice]

- Snarl

- Reflect

This set has some nice general bulk, with the Shuca Berry it allows you to take a Choice Banded Landorus-T's Eearthquake, and if they are Life Orb it does around 60% and then you KO with your own HP Ice. 228 Speed allows you to outspeed Timid max speed Thundurus so you can get off a Snarl before it attacks.

Raikou @ Sitrus Berry  

Ability: Pressure  

Level: 50  

EVs: 204 HP / 52 Def / 20 SpA / 4 SpD / 228 Spe  

Timid Nature  

- Thunderbolt  

- Reflect  

- Snarl  

- Protect

This is Angel Miranda's (CTMikotoMisaka) spread. I'm not entirely sure what it's meant to do, but as you can see it meets the same speed stat that the first one has, as well as a large chunk of bulk. Obviously this one is for when you want Raikou to take more general hits, and not to deal much damage, which can be very helpful through the course of a battle.

I hope you guys enjoyed this little write up. Once again Raikou is severaly underused, and thus there has not been one way that is definitive the best. Let me know what you think about Raikou over at my Twitter @_LightCore

Individual Pokemon Analysis - Entei

Hey guys! So as per request, I'm doing a Pokemon analysis on Entei. Entei has always been a confusing Pokemon for me (and I've been using it on almost every team lately), and that's because of it's very specific niche, and also the fact that it can work in several situations despite that niche.

Base Stats

Stat Range At Lv. 50 At Lv. 100 HP: 115 175 - 222 340 - 434 Attack: 115 108 - 183 211 - 361 Defense: 85 81 - 150 157 - 295 Sp.Atk: 90 85 - 156 166 - 306 Sp.Def: 75 72 - 139 139 - 273 Speed: 100 94 - 167 184 - 328 Total: 580

As you can see, Entei's base stats are pretty average overall, with nothing sticking out. That however, by no means a bad thing, as it means that it is a fairly well rounded Pokemon.

Entei has the coveted, yet cluttered speed stat of 100, which can be very nice for getting over Pokemon such as Landorus-T, Arcanine, and Kangaskhan prior to Mega Evolution. This blessing is also a curse, as it puts you at a tie with Pokemon such as post-Mega Kangaskhan, and below Pokemon like Garchomp and Mega Metagross.

Entei also has respectable bulk, with a bit of investment it can survive Adamant Landrorus' spread Earthquake, and bulky Rotom-W's Hydro Pump.  Jolly Nature seems almost mandatory in order for Entei to do its job effectively, and get off timely burns. However World Championships Top 4 Competitor Naohito Mizobachi would disagree, as he used an Adamant Entei with significant bulk invested into it.

Usable Moves

-Sacred Fire: A must have on Entei. There is absolutely no reason for you to be using Entei without it. It can do solid damage, as well as getting a potentially crucial burn.

-Stone Edge: In my opinion, if you arn't using Stone Edge, you might as well be using another Fire Type such as Arcanine. Stone Edge gives you a nice way to hit Pokemon like Thundurus and Salamence for solid damage, as well as opposing Fire Types.

-Protect: A mandatory move, as it allows you to basically stall a turn for burn damage, or just for the general uses. Protect is Protect

-Substitute:  Another certainly viable move. Allows Entei to function similarly to how HEatran used to function early in the season. This can help endgame situations, or even just make Entei more of a priority to KO to your opponent.

-Snarl: This helps several different match ups, but it is rather situation and very team specific. Snarl should only be used on teams with problems to common Pokemon such as Sylveon and even Heatran.

-Will-o-Wisp: A relatively weaker option in my opinion, This is only used when you desperately need that burn onto your opponents Landorus and Azumarill. In my opinion, you should just be using Arcanine at that point.

-Toxic: This is a cool option that has been used lately. This is probably the best option for Entei to beat Calm Mind Cresselia as well as bulky Water types, both of which are big problems for Entei.

-Rest: This is a good option to recover off all your lost HP, when used with a Chesto Berry, this can turn around some momentum and make your opponents efforts in vain. This helps against Amoonguss as well, but should only be used with a Chesto Berry.

Usable Items

-Safety Goggles: My personal favorite item. This allows you to become an an Amoonguss counter, as well as help in several other match ups against Breloom and such. This set decimates Amoonguss + Kangakshan, and helps against Amoonguss + Azumarill as well.

-Leftovers: This should really only be used by sets that want to go the Substitute route. Once again, this allows Entei to function similarly to Heatran, but obviously different in aspects of Attacking Stat and Speed.

-Sitrus Berry: Sitrus Berry adds just a bit of short-term bulk. It may come in handy, but a lot of the attacks that are going to be activating Sitrus, will be 2HKO'ing through it anyway, such as Landorus' Earthquake and Heatran's Earth Power.

-Charcoal: Now this is probably the mosti interesting item I will ever recommend. It has only had one notable use, and that was on Luka Trejgut (Zephyl)'s  Fort Wayne Senior Division winning team. It adds some extra damage, allowing you to OHKO Amoonguss and 2HKO Landorus at -1 without having to snag a burn.

-Chesto Berry: Helps with the set that utilizes Rest. This also helps you Amoonguss match up if your Safety Goggles are taken, but obviously not to the same degree.

Weaknesses

Entei simply can't touch them hard. Sure you can burn a Rotom-W or Milotic, but afterwards Stone Edge isn't doing enough damage to beat them, especially since most carry a recovery move or item. If you carry Toxic, this problem can be alleviated to a certain degree, and won't be helping too much very fast.

Entei once again, can't hit Heatran for good damage. Snarl helps this a bit, but by no means is a solid answer. This match up requires smart playing with Entei's team mares in order to do well.

Sample Sets

Naohito Mizobachi's 2015 World Championships Top 4 Entei

Entei @ Leftovers

Ability: Pressure

EVs: (Unknown)

Adamant Nature

- Protect

- Substitute

- Sacred Fire

- Stone Edge

As you can see here, Naohito went with a slower Entei, probably investing on a bit more bulk and attack. 

My Entei from Lancaster Regionals

Entei @ Safety Goggles

Ability: Pressure

EVs: 36 HP / 124 Atk / 44 Def / 52 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Protect

- Snarl

- Sacred Fire

- Stone Edge

My Entei was very team specific. As you see I had Snarl, which was to help my horrid Heatran match up. The spread takes some attacks like a spread Landorus' Earthquake and a bulky Rotom-W's Hydro Pump. 

Luka Trejgut (Zephyl)'s from Fort Wayne Regionals

Entei @ Charcoal

Ability: Pressure

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Protect

- Substitute

- Sacred Fire

- Stone Edge

Essentially here Luka wanted a more offensive variant of Entei, and it ended up working for him. I was skeptical at first, but the damage output really turned me onto it. I definitely recommend testing it out.

Thank you guys for reading! I had a great time writing this, and the next analysis will probably be up next time I have free time during class, or during a free block. I have a few already in the works, so look out!

Individual Pokemon Analysis - Jellicent

Hey guys! So today I'm going to be starting something new on my blog which is basically an analysis of some underused pokemon that I think can be extremely good in this metagame. Today's post will be on the topic of Jellicent.

Base Stats

HP: 100	160 - 207	310 - 404
Attack: 60	58 - 123	112 - 240
Defense: 70	67 - 134	130 - 262
Sp.Atk: 85	81 - 150	157 - 295
Sp.Def: 105	99 - 172	193 - 339
Speed: 60	58 - 123	112 - 240

So as you can see, Jellicent has very good stats for bulk, but do not match that of another Pokemon such as Cresselia. Depending on how you train Jellicent, it can survive attacks from both Charizard-Y and non-Life Orb Bisharp. It also has a respectable special attack stat which can be nice to pick up some key KO's on Pokemon such as Landorus.

The speed stat is also very unique, making it slow enough to abuse and set Trick Room effectivly, although that tends to not be how most people use it do to the fact that it is very weak to Pokemon that are used to commonly check other Trick Room users such as Bisharp and Hydreigon. Back in 2011-13 a Choice Scarf variant was certainly viable, but it just doesn't hit common threats as hard as it needs to anymore, especially on Pokemon such as Kangaskhan, as well as the fact that it doesn't out speed Salamence after Mega Evolution, quite detrimental to a Choice Scarf Variants job.

Usable Moves

-Water Spout: A very strong move that allows you to have a very nice damage output, but its rather inconsistent on a slow Pokemon like Jellicent.

-Recover: A very great move on Jellicent that allows you to be a wall and be very hard for opposing Pokemon to knock you out. In My opinion this move is almost mandatory on Jellicent.

-Toxic: Can help wear down other bulky Pokemon such as Milotic and Cresselia, which helps win games a bit faster due to the mechanics of the Badly Poisoned status.

-Taunt: A useful move to help slow down your opponents shenanigans. Not too useful as Jellicent is usually too slow to actually stop something, but can help in certain situations in instances Jellicent is faster, such as Taunting Azumarill before it can set up a Belly Drum.

-Ice Beam: An awesome secondary attacking move on Jellicent. It allows you to knock out or get respectable damage onto Landorus, as well as a way to hit Pokemon like Thundurus and Amoonguss for super effective damage.

-Protect: Just an overall great move, not necessarily needed on a Pokemon like Jellicent who needs all 4 of its moves to be doing other things, but is never a bad option if other moves don't seem appealing.

-Scald: Once again a move that is almost mandatory on Jellicent. It is far more consistent than something like Water Spout. Burns can always be helpful, and it just gets off solid & consistent damage on Heatran and Landorus.

-Will-o-Wisp: Again an amazing move. Burns allow it to cripple things such as Kangaskhan and Mawile, and over time, it can 1v1 a lot of the Pokemon due to Brun chipping away at their health, Jellicent be really naturally bulky, and the ability to regain HP through Recover.

-Trick Room: A weaker option in my opinion, but certainly usable. Can help support a team through Speed Control, and allows Pokemon such as Mega Mawile, Abomasnow, and Camerupt to become all the more strong.

-Icy Wind: A very nice move that can provide speed control for your team. Is usually a weaker option due to not being able to pick up the KO on some Pokemon such as Landorus, but can still be useful nonetheless.

Usable Items

-Leftovers: The only item on a Jellicent that has done well at a regional this year. This allows Jellicent to Recover HP a bit faster, even on the turns that it is not using Recover, which can be invaluable in the end game of a match.

-Sitrus Berry: Can be very helpful on Trick Room variants that do not carry Recover. Sitrus Berry and Recover are kind of redundant, do I suggest only using it when you cannot seem to fit Recover onto your move set.

-Safety Goggles: The "Anti-Meta" option, which I have been loving lately. This allows you to beat a lot of the common Chalk cores that have been running around lately. The Safety Goggles allows you to Will-o-Wisp Kangaskhan and Landorus even through Amoonguss Rage Powder, which can help a lot in taking certain hits. This also allows you to beat Amoonguss 1v1 in theory and under the correct circumstances due to the combination of Will-o-Wisp, Recover and Ice Beam. 

Abilities

Water Absorb: Probably the more consistent ability. It gives you an extra imunity and helps many of the match ups against other Bulky Water types such as Suicune and Miltoic, by them having no way to burn Jellicent and get some consistent Chip Damage.

Cursed Body: The "best" ability for Jellicent. This ability can allow you to win games, and even beat some Pokemon you normally wouldn't such as Hydreigon, Bisharp, Scrafty, Zapdos, Thundurus and Amoonguss. Can give you some nice win conditions in the endgame, and can force your opponent to switch early game if they have no way to hit you otherwise, or if they are Choice Locked.

Threats

Dark Types: Pokemon such as Bisharp, Scrafty and Hydreigon are the most troublesome to Jellicent as they can hit it with several high powered super effective attacks. It is also very hard to stall most of these Pokemon due to how hard they hit you naturally, but it is possible if they have been weakened enough or have other targets they are attacking.

Electric Types: Thundurus and Zapdos mainly fall into this category, but other Pokemon such as Rotom-W & H can do very well against Jellicent. This problem can be alleaved however if you get a lucky and rightly timed Cursed Body activation.

Sample Sets

Zach Droegkamp's Winter Regionals Jellicent:

Jellicent (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Cursed Body
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 116 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Scald
– Recover
– Will-O-Wisp
– Taunt

You can find out what this specific spread does in Zach's report over at NuggetBridge titled: L’Anse-aux-Méduses: A Missouri Regionals 2nd Place Report

My Premier Challenge Set:

Jellicent (M) @ Safety Goggles

Ability: Cursed Body

Level: 50

EVs: 236 HP / 148 Def / 8 SpA / 116 SpD

Calm Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Will-o-Wisp

- Recover

- Scald

- Ice Beam

I will release what this spread does later, but I'm too lazy to write it up right now, as well as the fact that I'm running out of time before class ends, so I want to get this finished. I will be posting a team report on the team I used later, so look out for that. 

I hope you enjoyed! I will try to keep this types of analysis' once a week, as they take a while to type up and I don't always have free time in class. Let me know via my twitter @LightCores on what Pokemon I should analyze next. See ya next time!

NY/NJ Invitational Team and Tournament Report

Hello people! My name is Nicholas Borghi, better known as LightCore, and today I'm going to take you through my tournament run and the team which I used to win the recent NY/NJ Invitational. The preview article can be found here, and it was written by our amazing Tournament Organizer Jen Badamo (JenBamo).

Going into this tournament, I had tested out several different teams but I hated everything I built. Nothing was working, and I just couldn't stand it anymore. I decided to go as standard as possible.

The team started out as a simple Double Genie Core, as I thought it would give me the most positive match ups against opposing leads due to Landorus' U-Turn and Thundurus' ability to Taunt and Thunder Wave respectively.

Next I had wanted a Pokemon with plenty of resistances, and the common Ice weakness in both of these Pokemon was something that needed to be addressed ASAP. Azumarill was the next Pokemon I added due to her natural bulk and power as well as her switching synergy.

I still needed another Ice Type resist, as it would really make switching easier. I added Aegislash next mainly for this fact, even though I used it more offensively than I probably should have for this team.

By this point, I felt that it was time for a Mega Evolution on the team. I love using Mega Salamence so it was added to the original draft of this team.

However at this point I had deemed that the Ice Type weakness was too much, so I unfortunately had to replace Salamence for another Mega Pokemon. Kangaskhan fit perfectly here without giving up any ground on my type chart.

Next, I added Scrafty, because it filled out my type chart, except for a slight weakness to Rock, but I felt that Wide Guard on Aegislash and Intimidate from Landorus would help against most of the common Rock Slide users.

Now with my team complete, I went to the Pokemon Showdown! ladder for testing. The team was preforming exceptionally well, however it lacked offensive pressure. I talked a bit more with Kelly Mercier-White (KellisterCartier), and he suggested I try out Heatran over Scrafty, as Scarfty didn't give too much to the team overall.

And with that, the team was finished. I had found a team that worked well, but that I absolutely hated.

The Team

xXRetroKatie (Thundurus) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 4 SpA / 76 SpD / 84 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Taunt

The first part of the infamous Double Genie Core. I feel like Thundurus is a very strong Pokemon, and that it would work amazingly when played correctly.

The move set is very standard. I personally do not like Hidden Power Ice on Thundurus, but I was having issues with Landorus, and this was an easy fix to that problem. I do know that while Hidden Power does not get the KO on standard Choice Scarf Landorus, I also knew that I had plenty of ways to get off chip damage before going for the Hidden Power, such as Aqua Jet from Azumarill and Rock Slide from my own Scarfed Landorus.

The EV spread is a bit of a mess. I started off immediately knowing that I wanted to use Timid Thundurus. I hate having the Thundurus mirror match, and knowing that I would most likely out speed opposing Thundurus to let me Taunt them was just amazing. The speed EVs on Thundurus allow it to out speed max speed neutral natured Garchomp, even though they were meant to out speed max speed non-Choice Scarf Jolly Landorus-T. This was just a huge blunder on my part, but luckily it didn't come into effect. The HP was to maximize general bulk, as well as the rest of the EVs. I added a bit more into defense in order to handle opposing Kangaskhan and Salamence better. The Special Attack EVs were left over, and really didn't have any place to go. But once again this was an error on my part, as with the 30 Defense IVs from Hidden Power, I could have gotten one more point into Defense.

There is one last thing that I would like to clear up. Yes, during the tournament I did use Thunder Wave a lot. I think that Thunder Wave is the second best move in the game. It is a move that essentially guarantees that you are faster than your opponent, when they can be Thunder Waved. But it also has a 25% chance to give you a ton of momentum each turn, so I never understood why if you can Thunder Wave something, you wouldn't. That's just my unpopular opinion, and I have gotten a lot of hate for it, but it's undeniably effective.

The nickname was named after my good friend Katie. While I was working on getting the Thundurus, I was in a Skype call with her, and she said I should name it after her.

Dionysus (Landorus-Therian) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 108 HP / 156 Atk / 28 Def / 12 SpD / 204 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Superpower

Landorus-T completes the Double Genie Core. Before moving on though, I do want to clear up some misconceptions about Choice Scarfed Landorus-Therian.

The way that most people use Landorus is completely idiotic. Staying in from the beginning grossely limits Landorus' potential seeing as the way that Landorus should be used is to spread Intimidate. I would usually start off by leading with Landorus to get off an early Intimidate, as it helps its team mates stay around longer and help provide survivability.  Turn One I almost always immediately try to U-Turn out. This preserves Landorus so that it can help support the rest of the team through aggressive switches. You bring it in to get off Intimidates, maybe fire off an attack or two, and switch it back out. Then you bring Landorus in towards the end of the battle to start picking off weakened opponents through Rock Slide, Earthquake and Superpower respectively. This is, in my opinion, the most optimal way to use Landorus-Therian.

I simply used Blake Hopper (Bopper)'s spread, as it has an amazing combination of bulk and speed, which felt perfect for how I like to play Landorus. (Add a link to his article if it goes up before mine)

Dionysus is the Greek God of wine and finer things, a God of finesse and cunning.

Energizer (Azumarill) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Huge Power
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Def / 36 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 3 Spe
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- Play Rough
- Aqua Jet

Azumarill is such a strange Pokemon to me. During the tournament it was definetly the most under-preforming member on the team. I only brought it to one set all day, for a total of 2 games.

I had been using a very strange Lum Berry Protect Azumarill up until the morning of the competition, but I had been getting in a few last minute practice games with Sam Schweitzer (Sam) and he suggested that Assault Vest would be better suited to my needs. He also pointed out that it would help in my Kangaskhan match-up, as Superpower + Aqua Jet knocks out 4 HP Kangaskhan 100% of the time, and sometimes Superpower just straight up one-shots on its own.

The EV spread is just an adapted version of Alec Rubin (Amr97)'s Azumarill from his article: Today Our Future Is Born. While the set was meant for Sitrus Berry, it worked for Assault Vest as well. I simply took the speed EVs out and added them to Special Defense. This made it so that Life Orb Aegislash's Flash Cannon/Shadow Ball was never a 2HKO. The Speed IVs are where this gets a bit interesting. They allow me to under speed minimum speed Aegislash, letting KO with a Knock Off in Blade-Forme. This does get risky however, because hitting just once into a King's Shield by accident can ruin your entire game plan.

I'm sorry but if you don't understand the misspelled nickname, then you need to go back to the 90's you yung un's.

Hectate (Aegislash) @ Life Orb
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 164 HP / 252 SpA / 92 Spe
Modest Nature
- King's Shield
- Wide Guard
- Flash Cannon
- Shadow Ball

Now before we riot for all the speed, there was a reason for it. It was a meta call that I spent a lot of time consulting with James Baek (Jamesspeed1) about. We decided to run enough speed to out speed any Aegislash, even ones speed creeping Angel's Aegislash from Nationals.

I love offensive Aegislash with Life Orb. Getting the damage off with Life Orb is just so good and it chunks almost everything it hits. Very few things like to come in on a neutral Shadow Ball or Flash Cannon respectively. The HP EVs were simply thrown in, although they did help me survive an Overheat from Jun's Rotom-H in the finals.

Hectate was a Greek God, I can't remember what he was the God of exactly, but I loved the nickname and all my Aegislash this year have been named Hectate.

Kitsune (Kangaskhan-Mega) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Parental Bond
Level: 50
Happiness: 0
EVs: 212 HP / 116 Atk / 36 Def / 20 SpD / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Power-Up Punch
- Frustration
- Sucker Punch

Personally my least favorite Mega I've used all year. I just prefer Salamence due to its greater speed and pressure, but Salamence just didn't work here unfortunately.

I went with a move set that I felt comfortable with, even though it probably wasn't the most optimal set. I only say that because I didn't use Power-Up Punch once all day. Then again I never saw a reason to use a Fighting move, so Low Kick wouldn't have helped me very much either. Protect is just a move I love so much on Kangaskhan, because it allows you to stall a turn where your opponent would be trying to take your Mega down. It just provides so many more opportunities.

The EV spread is something I screwed up on once again. It was supposed to be a spread of 228 HP / 116 Atk / 36 Def / 4 SpD / 124 Spe. That spread' s HP and Defense allowed you to take an opposing Adamant Kangaskhan's Low Kick most of the time. I say most of the time because Low Kick would actually have a better chance to land a Critical Hit, rather than get the damage roll for Low Kick to KO. The Special Defense was to take a Choice Specs Hydreigon's Draco Meteor 100% of the time. The Speed allows me to out speed max speed Jolly Breloom by 2 points, which also in turn out speeds most other bulky Kangaskhan's by 1. This actually happened during my finals match against Jun, in which landing the Sucker Punch before his own Kangaskhan could land a Sucker Punch, won me the first game. The Attack EVs are just for the best damage output possible.

The Kitsune is a Japanese fox. It  was also seen as an animal of great power and cunning.

Lava Cookie (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Protect
- Substitute
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power

Heatran was the sole MVP of the tournament. Picking up at least 2 KO's in every game that I brought it. It single handedly won me my Round 2 match against Kazi, once I had eliminated/neutered his Rain.

We went with a simple spread of Timid max speed, as we saw no reason not to. We chose the Sub/Lefties set over something else like Shuca mainly because Substitute can the turn momentum of games around completely. Once Heatran puts up a Substitute, it usually becomes the main target of the opponent, giving me the chance to knock out or to halt an opponents shenanigans. Back when I had Scrafty in this slot, I was having huge Amoonguss problems, and Substitute Heatran helped so much against Spore users. Thank you once again Kelly for the help with this.

The nickname is stupid and the only reason I used it is because I was desperate and Kelly gave me this one.

The Tournament 

Round 1 Vs. Danny Hemchand (IAmJabberowcky) (2-1 Win)

His Team: 

I had thought that I lost Round 1. Before the day of the competition, I had never beaten Danny seriously in a live competition. Unfortunately I don't remember much about my first round, mainly because of the nerves, but I do remember my other battles quite well, so this should not be a repeat. Also, just to note, this set contained the only 2 games in which I brought Azumarill all day.

The battles were simple, game 1 I lost due to me playing too passively, and my nerves didn't help either. Game 2 however I think I played very well; I was able to weaken his entire team and then bring Landorus and Aegislash to clean up the game. He had played very well at the beginning of the battle, using his Volcarona well and making it a giant threat with Quiver Dance. He played off my misplays because of how big of a threat Volcarona was. Fortunately, I was still able to clean up the game despite this. Game 3 was played similarly to the second. Thundurus weakened everything for Landorus, and by the end it was Landorus locked into Rock Slide and Azumarill left against his Volcarona.

Top 16 Vs. Kazi Rahman (AwakenedCity) (2-0 Win)

His Team:

Kazi was running hard Rain. This was a match up that my team did not like very well, but it was one I practiced against a good amount. James and I were talking about how I would play against this type of team in case I ran into it, and my plan worked perfectly.

The plan was that they would most likely lead Rain against me. To counter act their leads, I would lead Thundurus and Kangaskhan, as this would force my opponent to Fake Out one Pokemon, but allow the other to be Thunder Waved, or knocked out with Frustration. This worked both games, as we both lead the same thing both times. By the end of both games, it was his Mega Metagross and paralyzed Gengar left against my lone Heatran which is to say that it was a very favorable position for me in both games. It's very rare for your game plan to play out perfectly in both games of a set.

Top 8 Vs. Trista Medine (Ryuzaki) (2-1 Win)

Her Team:

I was really nervous going into this Round. It was stressful, and unfortunately I do not remember exactly what had happened during our game before being streamed. I also do not remember why I chose the moves I did, but I definitely remember the information about my other streamed matches. Here is the video from when we played on stream. This and the future two games were streamed by Aaron Zheng (Cybertron), Mike Suleski (OmegaDonut), and Justin Carris (Azazel) respectively.

Top 4 Vs. Joshua Lorcy (LorcyLovesYou) (Win 2-0)

His Team: 

Oh my lord I was so excited to see Josh make it so far. Now to start off, Josh didn't technically qualify for this tournament. Paul Chua got a players choice pick to come play, but when Paul could not come, he gave his spot to Josh. But Josh showed that he deserved to be here. He had an amazing tournament, and this was the most stressful game I've had all day. I knew that Josh had been on fire all day, so this match up scared me the most.

From team preview I was excited for the games to come. It seemed like it would be a fun set, and I think I had a great match up in terms of teams. I lead with Thundurus and Heatran because I knew that if he lead Breloom I would be in a good spot. This battle just required safe and risk free plays, so going for easy moves such as expecting the Breloom to be conserved was easy enough for me. I think I played really well this game, and it was a clean game at that.

Game 2 was just awful. I have gotten a lot of hate for this set, as the Random Number Generator was just in my favor here. I played this horribly, and Josh made all the right adjustments. He played amazingly, reading me perfectly for the first 2 turns, as well as getting a bit lucky himself. If I had the option to replay this set, I would.

Finals Vs. Arbin "Jun" Tumeneng (DotCypher) (2-0 Win)

His Team: 

Jun is a pretty good friend of mine, at least I like to think so. We had a PC earlier in the season where the top 4 was Me Vs. Jon Evans (Ezrael) and Jun Vs. Chuppa (Chuppa). In that, Jun had lost to Chuppa, but this time it was the other way around with Jun wining in Semis. We always talk about how Jersey is the best state for competitive Pokemon, and we were exited when we found out it was Jersey V Jersey  in the finals.

Game one I played a bit poorly. Going for the obvious moves really put me in a less than ideal position for most of the game. Towards the end I saw what my win condition was, and the fact that he misplayed by locking his Landorus into Earthquake instead of Superpower gave me a chance. My Kangaskhan being faster than his helped a great deal, as it ensured that I won the game by getting a Sucker Punch onto his Kangaskhan before he could land one on my own.

Game two was very sloppy. It was annoying for me particularly, because I hate winning like that, especially during such a high level tournament. I absolutely hate free wins, and wins where it comes to extreme luck and RNG.  On the other hand, Arbin is currently about 20-1 against me in Random Monotype Battles on Showdown because I keep getting Mono-Ice while he gets either Mono-Steel or Mono-Fighting.

So overall, I had a fun tournament. It was a great day, and I got to meet some awesome people who I had never met in real life before.

Thank You's:

-To all of my Skype groups such as the Team Building For Worlds, and raikoo Dictatorship groups for helping with the team building, as well as KellsterCartier for helping me theorymon, team build, and fine tune the team last minute.

-To Serapis, Zephyl, Pephan, Boomguy, Sam, Pokebeys and megachar10 for testing and practicing with me.

-To Serapis for editing this article!

I hope to do better this upcoming season, and to get the worlds invite that I was so close to this year. See you all next time!