Grats on the win Duy, really only know (of) you through Paul but from what I hear, it'd be hard to find someone more deserving.
Also: Grats on nats invite Huy and Rory. Good day for names and/or aliases that end in y.
=| Well thanks, lol
This was a pretty awesome event; ducks made a huge showing. Probably my favorite thing (beside Duy winning) is that Rory made top 16 with pretty much zero VGC experience. He played VGC for the first time on Friday, and his round 1 match in SF was his third match ever. So big congrats to him, and also to Huy and Duy and anyone else who helped me test on NBS and made a showing. See y'all in Indy!
Here is the rundown of my matches. My team was:
Zapdos @ Yache Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Spd/252 SAtk/4 SDef
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Light Screen
- Detect
---
Groudon @ Lum Berry/Rindo Berry/Focus Sash
Ability: Drought
EVs: 36 HP/252 Atk/68 Spd/152 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rock Polish
- Protect
---
Abomasnow (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 12 Spd/252 SAtk/244 SDef
Mild nature (+SAtk, -Def)
- Blizzard
- Grass Knot
- Ice Shard
- Protect
---
Dialga @ Chople Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Dragon Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Blizzard
- Protect
Very similar to Fish's Seattle team, but I like the speed tie with Palkia that Zapdos Gives me. I was definitely hoping I would not run into Blissey; if I had run into that minimize Blissey that Kikuichimonji was talking about I likely would have lost. Also Rock Polish wound up being totally useless, and in fact the one time I used it it almost caused me to lose, lol.
Everyone I played had a reasonably competitive team, so in that sense I didn't have any super easy matches, but most of my opponents also were not the best at in-battle strategy, while I made very few mistakes (though there were some definite fuck-ups in round 5, lol).
Round 1:
She led Kyogre and Scizor, but Groudon got its drought up so I wasn't too scared of Water Spout. I went for Discharge + Earthquake as she switched her Kyogre out for a Jolteon which was obviously KOd, and Earthquake crit Scizor to take it down as well. She sent in Ludicolo and Kyogre which were easily handled by Abomasnow.
Round 2: He told me beforehand he wasn't using any legends, so I wasn't too worried. He led with Snorlax and Kingdra, and since Kingdra wasn't doing jack shit in the sun I focused more on a potential explosion. Turn 1 I Discharged and Protected, and paralyzed his Kingdra, but he body slammed Zapdos and Paralyzed there too. I alternated protects to avoid explosion, since his Zen Headbutt Snorlax wasn't exactly doing a lot of damage. Kingdra went down to my second Earthquake and he sent out Breloom. Instead of Sporing my Lum Groudon he decided to Seed Bomb which dealt about 75%, and Groudon EQd to finish Snorlax and Zapdos Heat Waved to take out Breloom. I don't remember his last but it was 4v1 at that point so it would have been pretty hard for him to win!
Round 3: This was my near loss. She led Weavile and Mewtwo, and went for Fake Out + Psychic on Groudon as it protected, and I Discharged, paralyzing Weavile. I decided to go for Rock Polish, easily the dumbest thing I could do, and Mewtwo's Psychic + Weavile's avalanche took out Groudon as Zapdos used Light Screen. I sent out Dialga and used Dragon Pulse on Mewtwo as Zapdos used Heat Wave. Mewtwo unfortunately crit my Dialga with Aura Sphere, leaving it with a sliver of health. She sends out Azelf and Gengar and takes out Dialga as I stupidly protect with Zapdos. So I have full health Zapdos + Abomasnow against her Azelf and Gengar. Some weird stuff happens and eventually Light Screen expires as she explodes with Azelf, I protect with Aboma, and Gengar tries to use Sludge Bomb. So I thought I was out at this point, but it turns out 240 SpDef EV Abomasnow is never OHKOd by Gengar Sludge Bomb. Abomasnow survived and OHKOd with Blizzard.
Round 4: After that last match I was pretty scared, but after turn 1 my fear subsided quite a bit: Zapdos protects as my Groudon (faster than both his mons) uses Earthquake against his TTar and Groudon as he double Rock Slides, dealing negligible damage to my Groudon. Next turn he protects with his 15% HP TTar, EQs with Groudon as Zapdos uses Light Screen and Groudon uses EQ. Turn after that he switches out TTar for Gengar as I heat wave + EQ, and I think he protects with Groudon. I go for Discharge + EQ (not so worried about Gengar since Light Screen is up) as he Protects with Gengar, and from the order of damage on EQ I see that my Zapdos is faster than his Gengar. It was pretty easy from there.
After I made it to the finalists lounge, Nck McCord came to talk with us and Huy told him that Rory and I were "honorary Ducks". Since FedEx messed up and didn't get me my shirt in time, Nick gave me his Ducks shirt that he had with him, lol. So I had a Ducks shirt for the final rounds!
Round 5 (round of 32): He led with Dialga and I think a Hitmontop (whatever it was had Fake Out), so I went for Light Screen + Earthquake. Groudon got Faked out; Zapdos used Light Screen as Dialga used Flamethrower on it. Next turn Dialga went down to Heat Wave + EQ as his other mon protected, and he sent out Giratina-O. I used Discharge + EQ (forgetting Levitate, lol), and when my Groudon outsped his Giratina it became pretty clear that he had been running a TR team. Discharge takes out his other mon as he Protects with Giratina. He sends out Abomasnow, and I go for Heat Wave + Rock Slide as he Protects with Aboma and uses Shadow Ball with Giratina. I fuck up again by using Light Screen the turn my old one exprires, but Groudon Rock Slide deals good damage to Aboma as he takes out both my mons with Shadow Ball and Blizzard. I send out Dialga and Abomasnow and double Blizzard for game.
Round 6 (round of 16): He led Top and Palkia, and I went for Light Screen + Earthquake, hoping to get the screen up in front of Specs Meteor, or else helping deal with Trick Room. He Fakes out Zapdos and I get and EQ off as he uses Trick Room. Next turn I double protect to stall out TR some more. Unfortunately I forgot a lot of this match; I know he took out Groudon with Mach Punch + Meteor; I know his Metagross + Top took out Dialga with Mach Punch + Hammer Arm; and I know at some point his Hitmontop dodged a Heat Wave to survive as he switched his Metagross out for Palkia. It came down to my full health Zapdos and Abomasnow against his 75% Metagross and 30% Palkia with one Pokemon in the back and no TR up. I go for Heat Wave + Blizzard, thinking that he will either try for Explosion + Protect or [Anything] + TR. Well I must have missed when it said "it's a critical hit" because his Metagross OHKOd my Abomasnow with Bullet Punch (which is impossible according to the Smogon Damage calc, even with -def and 0 HP Aboma. I don't think he was running Band since his Metagross used Protect in in his finals match against Duy, and he definitely wasn't running LO). Anyway, with Abomasnow gone Palkia was able to use Trick Room again after Zapdos used heat wave for massive damage on Gross and negligible damage on Palkia. I protect as Hail takes out his Metagross and he sends out Togekiss, so at this point I will probably win if I can protect against his Draco Meteors, or if his Meteor misses (after that attack he had 4 left against my Pressure Zapdos), so at this point I have a 21.25% chance to win. I get the first Protect, but not the second, and Zapdos goes down against his last Draco Meteor. GG, guy who got 2nd place!
I was honestly surprised to lose here, since TR is a pretty good match for this team. But I'm not too upset; he played well and it was a good match (though I'm still trying to figure out how his Gross OHKOd my Aboma, lol).
Hope this helps some people!