Online Competitive Pokemon Battle Showdown Happy Fun Times

[Heather]

Have you missed out on me using Lando for the past few weeks? I mean unless I get a bunch of shitmons and half their team is legends in a randbat you won't see me complaining, I know Randbats is Übers anyway.

[Cloneblazer12]

Originally Posted by Talon87

Wherein I bring more legends. (Random Battle, 24 turns)

Spoiler: show

Calm down, Myles. Legends aren't always that good in Random Battles.

You actually see that here with my Manaphy. Too slow and too weak, it loses to Dragon Dance Whiscash despite Tail Glow boosting my SpAtk to 2.5x and my use of Grass Knot against a Water/Ground Pokémon. He's low enough in weight and just bulky enough that he doesn't die in one hit. (This doesn't stop my opponent from complaining about taking 80%HP damage though.)

You also kind of see it with Giratina, who despite boasting nominally awesome defensive bulk is still somewhat easily 3HKOed by most threats he brings to the table and who lacks the offensive power necessary to 3HKO much of anything itself.

But I luck out in that my opponent's own legends consist solely of Celebi (and with what is apparently a super shitty moveset, too) and his own Giratina. Well, my Giratina pretty much walls half of his team elementally, so that's nice. And my Latias is a good answer to his Espeon and Celebi. Even to his Giratina, really! And then waiting in the wings I've still got a Fighting-type Arceus who knows not only Fighting-type Judgment but who also knows Dark Pulse. Fighting and Dark make for a nice tag team combo, the Dark pwning Ghosts and Psychics, the Fighting hitting Normals, Rocks, and Steels. So yeah, all in all I am happy with my team.

My opponent is decidedly less happy. Not sure whether it was a typo or he really meant to type it, but after a "good fucking game" on Turn 22 he quits on Turn 24, the score 3-1 but imminently 3-0.

With this, I think all three of my accounts are above 1700 now in Random Battle. Which I guess means it's time to aim for the stars with one of them -- try and snag 1800+.

Spoiler: show

only putting this in spoiler tags cuz it deals with the outcome.

I'm pretty sure that he forfeited to not drag the battle out. It was obvious that he was gonna lose in two turns, so he probably didn't want to wait. That's my guess at least.

On an unrelated note, ladder decay is a bitch, and I tell it to fuck off

Spoiler: show

Ill admit it was a haxy game on my side (got a Flinch that win me the game), but I still feel that I played well. Now that I'm in the 1700s, I'm going up against a lot of good players. On top of that, this was my first game on this account since I posted my other replay of me getting to the 1700s, and even though its only been two days, I lost about 10 ELO. It's annoying, and I'm gonna have to play consistently to keep my ranking. (Not to mention that this is the highest that I've ever gotten on the Ladder).

[rotomotorz]

RMT go!

[Talon87]

We have an RMT subforum. If you want.

[Princess Ana]

We do!

...someone should comment on my Gen V NU team or something.

[KamenAeons]

Oh, speaking of teambuilding and all that, someone suggest to me how I should run a Lonely Giratina? I need to get him out of my PC so he can make some friends. And maybe eat them.

[Princess Ana]

Greninja @ Life Orb
-Power-Up Punch
-Shadow Sneak
-Waterfall
-filler

[KamenAeons]

Originally Posted by blazeVA

Greninja @ Life Orb
-Power-Up Punch
-Shadow Sneak
-Waterfall
-filler

Physical Greninja is nice. Although it was a Giratina. As in the Ubers one?

[Princess Ana]

I misread!

[rotomotorz]

I did not know these things

[Red Panda]

>Giratina

Shadow Sneak, Earthquake, Dragon Tail/Outrage, Iron Head? I dunno Ubers well at all so yeah this probably isn't good at all.

[Heather]

After an embarassing loss, I'll take this any day! (VGC, 7 turns)

Spoiler: show

THANK YOU BASED STARAPTOR FOR KOING MEGAZARD Y I LOVE YOU.
Flygon and Greninja were slightly annoying at the end, but yay, we won! not trying to ladder in this format, didnt expect to ever win, lol.

This time, Pac Man is the hero, with a little help from Lady Luck. (VGC, 7 turns)

What I like about playing this team in VGC is that I don't always feel the need to Mega Pac Man all the time, I can take some Mega Power and invest in Juslikoltimes if I feel like it. The freedom of choice is a great freedom, indeed.

[Shuckle]

So I was just thinking: We should play Ubers! So I made an Ubers team here goes:

literally the first competent battler I've encountered on the whole ladder

Everything else is composed of 3 categories: Those who just translate their OU team into Ubers, those who are just 8 year olds who get to have arceus, and those who aren't very good and wanted to try their luck on a ladder where everything is OP (in their defense, that counts for me, too).

I've kept my Mewtwo on standby in case of pesky Darkrais, but I don't think I'll ever really need to be worried; it seems Darkrai isn't meta anymore, and anyone who runs it now is sure to be prepared for the Insomnia to happen. Oh well.

>Lady Luck

Let this be a lesson: If they don't seem to have any intention of switching, and if you wouldn't be gaining anything of value by burning the switch in - KILL THE FRIGGING GARCHOMP AND WORRY ABOUT THE SWITCH IN LATER.

Your lead is very nice - Greninja for Instant Threatotron 3000, Scolipede for "ohcrapilose" 2 turns later. Your opponent did an excellent job of dealing with Garchomp once he showed up, but ultimately his Rotom misplays cost him the match.

[Heather]

IMO the crit cost him. Even boosted, the burn would have made it take too long for Chomp to kill roty, and SCOLITRAIN only has Steamroller to attack.

[Cloneblazer12]

That Genesect set made me cringe. He already gets Ice Beam, and that's powerful enough for him and allows you to use a more useful item such as a Scarf or Life Orb. Secondly, why the hell are you using Signal Beam? It does absolutely nothing better than Bug Buzz, which is more powerful and also hits thru subs.

Secondly, I'm hard pressed to call that guy competent. His Garchomp was outsped by a Genesect, he was using REGULAR Lucario (which is terrible in Ubers), and NORMAL Blaziken (Mega Blaziken hits harder than normal even with LO, and also has a higher base speed that allows you to run HP investment). His team was also terrible altogether.

[Shuckle]

It was a lot better than the other guys. Trust me.

"Halfway decent" would have been closer. At least he was trying to be competitive.

>Genesect

I like techno blast it's strong

but I'll change it. I didn't know he got bug buzz (thanks teambuilder!)

[Heather]

So since all of us have sat out VGCs this year, who's on for next? I think I'm going to go for it, you can't learn jack if you don't try.

Who's with me?

[Cloneblazer12]

Honestly I have no interest in doubles. I played a few VGC matches with a friend from Serebii, and lost horribly because my mindset is too focused on singles, which is where I like to think that I excel at. Maybe if VGC had a singles option I would go, but until that happens, count me out.

[Talon87]

Wherein I fight back against hax with the ultimate hax. (Random Doubles, 7 turns)

Spoiler: show

Will-o-Wisp: 85% accuracy.

Megahorn: 85% accuracy.

Fire Blast: 85% accuracy.

Each move had only a 1-in-8 chance of missing. And yet when I needed them most to hit -- when it threatened to cost me the game if they should fail -- they each and every last one of them missed their mark (save for Turn 3 where Fire Blast crucially did OHKO his Shell Smash-boosted Victreebel). Ridiculously bad luck.

Yet I have one ace up my sleeve: apparently, my opponent has not one single attack on his team save the ever-predictable Sucker Punch with which to dispel my Shedinja. When he switches in Ferrothorn on Turn 1, what immediately goes through my mind are these thoughts:

1. Leech Seed? Y/N
2. Stealth Rock? Y/N
3. If both, which will he use first?

I assume he has Leech Seed and plans to OHKO Shedinja with that. If I'm right, then that means I should call Shedinja back. But, I reason, what if it's a bluff? What if he plans to set up Stealth Rock this next turn (Turn 2) instead? Then I'd be screwed. Maybe I should just leave Shedinja out to get in one final attack before it dies. And, so reasoning, I leave Shedinja out. Which proves to be crucial since:

1. He did not have Leech Seed. :o
2. He did have Stealth Rock.
3. He did (eventually) put Stealth Rock up on the field.

Fearing a Sucker Punch on Turn 2 from Huntail, I decide to use Will-o-Wisp against Ferrothorn. I figure it's my best bet. "We'll leave Samurott to KO Huntail and we'll leave Shedinja to burn Ferrothorn so that Samurott hopefully doesn't get OHKOed by a possible Power Whip." Well, he doesn't order Sucker Punch ... and Megahorn misses ... and so too does Will-o-Wisp ... and Power Whip connects, OHKOing my Samurott ... and so I'm thinking, "Weeeeeeeeell shit."

Between Turns 2 and 3, he sends out Victreebel (Huntail's Baton Pass) and I send out Houndoom to replace Samurott. I figure that he will call Ferrothorn back, and so I target Victreebel with my Fire Blast. I also figure he will Sucker Punch Shedinja, and so I decide to use Will-o-Wisp again. Sure enough, I was right: he does try to Sucker Punch Shedinja! He fails thanks to me not using a standard attack, and he soon loses his pitcher plant to fiery retribution from my hellhound.

After missing Ferrothorn on Turn 4, I can't restrain myself from being grouchy about the hax. To which my opponent replies:

i don't have anything against your shedinja

Wait, seriously? O-o :o Am I seriously going to win so long as I spam WoW when you send out Sucker Punchers? Is that all this is going to take? :o

Turn 5. Will-o-Wisp whilst Cinccino takes care of the Sucker Punch-threatening Huntail. (He doesn't use it though.)

Turn 6. Shadow Sneaking a Vanilluxe since I know it doesn't have Sucker Punch.

Turn 7. Shadow Sneaking a Venomoth because I can't risk losing to Quiver Dance and I know he doesn't have Sucker Punch either. WE CAN DO THIS!

And then my opponent finally forfeits. Not sure why he didn't forfeit sooner (since he was apparently telling the truth), but yeah: apparently the hax the server gifted him with my moves all missing was supremely outdone by the hax it gifted its chosen child: a Shedinja for me and no non-Sucker Punch means for him to get rid of it.

Current Elo score is 1572. This puts me at 32nd place on the Random Doubles ladder. GXE is 78.9, Glicko is 1750 ± 42.

[rotomotorz]

Originally Posted by Myles Fowl II

So since all of us have sat out VGCs this year, who's on for next? I think I'm going to go for it, you can't learn jack if you don't try.

Who's with me?

WHo the fuck said I'm done. I'm only getting started! LCQ is still up for grabs!

>Lady Luck

Part of it was your opponent's fault too, such as not targeting Greninja with Noivern and not running Sucker Punch on Mega Kangaskhan. And what is Stone Edge? Rock Slide has a chance to flinch both Pokemon and still does massive damage to fire and flying types.

[Heather]

I did minimal editing when translating from OU to VGC. I'll fix that.

[Talon87]

Not sure if I've ever gotten this high before, though I think I might have. Oh well, will share anyway just in case: 1358 on VGC 2014.

There've been an insane number of pro players on recently. I guess it's because it's the peak of the tournament season right now, with Nationals having just wrapped up and Worlds approaching. I've been matched several times with players who have VGC 2014 scores in the 1500s. It has not been pretty. -.-;

EDIT: Disappointing loss. (VGC 2014) Was right down to the wire.

Spoiler: show

In hindsight, I really should have used Dazzling Gleam instead of Psyshock against his Rotom-W there at the end. Would've given me just enough chip damage to snag the win in the end. But I was worried, perhaps irrationally so, that Dazzling Gleam juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust might barely not do enough to kill Rotom-W in one hit. And I absolutely did not want to lose Talonflame if I could help it. (Goddamn that Shadow Ball killing him anyway. ) So I opted for Psyshock instead. Because ...

Well, someone correct if I'm wrong, but do attacks that hit multiple targets still do less damage in Doubles than they do in Singles? I remember it being that way back in the day. Is it still that way now? If I'm wrong to think that it works this way, then I've been battling wrong and need to adjust my strategies accordingly.

[dirkac]

And so, Aegislash is Suspect Tested by Smogon

I'm a bit on edge on this one. Though the fact that Aegislash essentially has a BST of 720 and is an immense threat, debilitating any other Pokémon that my see usage is obviously bad, I just can't help but feel that Aegislash really is too easily disposable outside it's Shield Forme, which is obviouly what Aegislash spends less of its time in, as it's pretty easily debilitated by Mandibuzz, Bisharp, or Heatran to extent, but of course, running any of those three (which are still very common) just to stop this is obviously unhealthy, even worsened by the fact that they all counter specific sets, which, of course, means that if you mispredicted the set it runs, you've essentially thrown away a Pokémon, which is rather easy to happen because of how many sets this thing can utilize.

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by dirkac

And so, Aegislash is Suspect Tested by Smogon

Talon claims the current generation of Smogon brass are systematically trying to retrofit the Gen VI OU meta to match the Gen V OU meta.

Talon is berated, ridiculed by Smogon fanboys.

Smogon continues to systematically ban the creatures which transformed the Gen V meta into the Gen VI meta.

Talon puts on his cool guy shades.

But seriously, Aegislash is probably the single best counter to Terrakion. With the ghost sword and shield gone, Terrakion usage is sure to spike.

[Shuckle]

Well if GenVI had introduced any good Pokemon besides Talonflame and Aegislash MAYBE WE'D SEE THEM???

Jokes aside, people should start using some of these new toys more seriously. Malamar could be really good in an Intimidate meta!