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!