Wolfe's Regional Team [Kalos-Double]

For a Japanese Translation: http://poketaroimo.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-238.html
Hey there, Ill be writing about the team I used to get Top 8 in Virginia and Top 32 in Florida. This team had several weaknesses and lacked the capacity to do hard damage fast, but I was still pleased overall with its performance. I think this team would likely have worked better at Nationals than Regionals.

The Team

Salamence (M) @ Choice Scarf

Trait: Intimidate

EVs: 4 HP / 4 Def / 244 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Draco Meteor

- Dragon Pulse

- Flamethrower

- Rock Slide

Probably the most straightforward set, Choice Scarf Salamence appealed to me for a number of reasons. I liked having Intimidate support on my team, and Salamence's ability to outspeed the other Dragons came in handy often. I chose Rock Slide despite a Modest nature because I found Talonflame and Charizard to be fairly common in testing, and because the Flinch chance was appealing. I originally was using Hydro Pump instead of Dragon Pulse, but that left me with my only 100 percent accurate attack as flamethrower, which was often a pain when Draco Meteor would miss and I would lose because of it, when Dragon Pulse would get the Knock Out. Dragon Pulse was also useful late game when I was unable or unwilling to switch and wanted to remain a presence on the field. I originally used an EV spread that allowed me to outspeed Mega Manectric, but Scarf Salamence was too popular and I would always lose against it so I switched to maximum speed.

Amoonguss (F) @ Lum Berry

Trait: Regenerator

EVs: 212 HP / 116 Def / 180 SDef

Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)

- Rage Powder

- Giga Drain

- Protect

- Spore

Another standard choice, Amoongus is one of the most useful supporting Pokemon thus far this year and I was impressed with how he performed overall. While Lum Berry may seem redundant when he is already immune to Spore, I used Amoongus as my counter to strategies that involved more luck than I was comfortable with. Often I would switch Amoongus in while my Lucario Nasty Plotted and then Rage Powdered away any Thunder Waves or Swaggers. I also used Amoongus to beat a Dark Void Smeargle, which was part of why I chose Lum. Rage Powder was very useful in helping to set up Lucario or in Florida Tyranitar for a sweep, and then to protect them while they knocked out Pokemon. Spore is a good move obviously, but it is a little too inconsistent for my taste and I lived in constant fear of a one turn sleep whenever I brought Amoongus.

Lucario (M) @ Lucarionite

Trait: Inner Focus

Virginia Spread: EVs: 60 HP / 92 Def / 108 SAtk / 4 SDef / 244 Spd 

Florida Spread: EVs: 60 HP / 60 Def / 176 SAtk / 28 SDef / 180 Spd

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Nasty Plot

- Aura Sphere

- Flash Cannon

- Protect

  Mega Lucario has been the subject of many peoples curiosity, so Ill include the theory behind him as well. My team originally was focused around Liepard and Gengar, but after countless games it became apparent that Liepard and Gengar would have to go, leaving me Vaporeon Amoongus and Salamence. That core was slightly weak to Kangaskhan and Rock moves, so I began looking into a mega to replace Gengar. I found Lucario, and despite thinking it would likely be very bad or gimmicky, I decided to test it. I was instantly blown away. Mega-Lucario had an insane amount of power: at +2 he was able to OHKO Garchomp, Rotom-w, Meowstic, and many others. With Amoongus supporting the team with Rage Powder, I was able to get a Nasty Plot up nearly every time I brought him and then eliminate the threats. Lucario appreciated the Intimidate support Salamence provided, as well as the Fake Out support Mr. Mime brought. I chose to use Aura Sphere over Vacuum Wave because somebody loaned me a Lucario to breed with and told me it had Vacuum Wave but then when I hatched a perfect Rioulu I looked and it didn't have Vacuum Wave so I decided to stick with Aura Sphere. In testing, Aura Sphere was much more useful than Vacuum Wave as Aura Sphere is able to get OHKO's as opposed to 2HKO's. The only time I wanted Vacuum Wave was versus Mega Manectric. The first EV spread was the one I used in Virginia. It outspeeds regular Gengar, Scarf Machamp, and Garchomp. The defensive EV's aim to make Jolly Garchomp never an OHKO with Earthquake. The remainder was placed into Special Attack. On the Florida EV spread, I decided that because I had already lost to Choice Scarf Machamp I could drop some Speed and just make it outrun Garchomp. I then decided to make Modest Salamence Flamethrower never OHKO and decided to drop some defense because of my Intimidate Support. I dont feel that one spread is necessarily better than the other as it all depends on what your individual team needs.

Vaporeon (F) @ Sitrus Berry

Trait: Water Absorb

EVs: 156 HP / 252 Def / 76 SAtk / 20 SDef / 4 Spd

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

-Celebrate/Protect

-Rest/Wish

- Scald

-Sleep Talk/Helping Hand

Vaporeon is another Pokemon that people are very interested in, though it was very difficult to get. I used the defensive Ev's to make Life Orb Talonflame Brave Bird a 3HKO, and put the remainder into the Special Attack stat with a little in Special Defense for no particular reason. Vaporeon has very good natural bulk, and I had games where it would live Mega Manectric Thunder or Life Orb Talonflame+Volt Switch Mega Manectric in the same turn. In Virginia I used the first moveset and in Florida the second. Celebrate might seem like a waste of a move, but it has a very long animation and was used when I wanted to run out the timer when I already had a substantial lead over my opponent. When paired with Sleep Talk, Celebrate took an extremely long time to finish. The IV's I had to use on my Celebrate Vaporeon were bad however as it was difficult to get, and I only got to use it a few times in Virginia so for Florida I decided to switch to a moveset that was more conventional. I changed Rest to Wish for less dedicated Recovery, and added Protect instead of Sleep Talk. I then decided to use Helping Hand instead of Celebrate to help my Sweepers and Salamence to get unexpected KO's. I was pleased with how Vaporeon worked overall, though he ended up getting Critical Hit often due to his tendancy to stay on the field longer and because he is a fish, so that definitely took away from his overall utility.

Mr. Mime (F) @ Safety Goggles

Trait: Filter

EVs: 212 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk / 12 SDef / 28 Spd

Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)

- Wide Guard

- Icy Wind

- Fake Out

- Psyshock

I almost never brought Mr. Mime in practice, so I expected him to be a throwaway slot on my team during the tournament. The night before Virginia, I was talking to Enfuego about Mr. Mime and how I didn't think my moves were very good. He told me I should add Fake Out over Safeguard and Psyshock over Dazzling Gleam, and switch my Leftovers to Lum Berry to beat Amoongus. I thought about it, and decided that I wanted to keep Lum on Amoongus so I used Safety Goggles instead, which ended up being very useful. I had to rebreed, EV, and level my Mr. Mime up the day before because Fake Out was an egg move, but I am very glad I did. Mr. Mime ended up being my MVP in Virginia, and I didn't lose a single game I brought him too during that Tournament. Fake Out Support was so useful on my team, and helped not only set up Lucario but also protect Pokemon late game. Icy Wind was an excellent way to deal with the Double Dragon lead I saw often of Garchomp and Salamence, as Mr. Mime decimates that combination. Psyshock was also much much better than Dazzling Gleam, as it does a decent amount of damage coming off Mr. Mime's base 100 Special Attack stat. Wide Guard was not used that often, but it did lock me down a game of Top 16 and I feel that I didn't use it as often as I could have more due to my own inexperience with Mr. Mime than the sets fault. The given EV's live Jolly Mega Kanga Return and Timid Mega Gengar Sludge Bomb 100 percent of the time. I put the remainder more in speed than Special Attack because I wanted to Outspeed Garchomp after an Icy Wind.

Virginia Tyranitar: 

Tyranitar (F) @ Weakness Policy

Trait: Sand Stream

EVs: 252 HP / 20 Def / 220 SAtk / 12 SDef / 4 Spd

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Dark Pulse

- Protect

- Ice Beam

- Flamethrower

This was the Tyranitar set I used in Virginia. It lives -1 Mega Mawile Play Rough 100 Percent of the time, and Charizard-Y Solarbeam 100 Percent of the time as well. I knew I wanted to use Modest Tyranitar because I hated Intimidate, although that did leave me with an all Special Attacking team. I chose not to run a Rock move because I liked the coverage the other moves provided in practice. Once at the tournament, I played teams with both Charizard and Talonflame on them every round for the first three rounds, so I regretted that decision afterwords. This Tyranitar was great, but it left my team without any Physical Attackers as I already mentioned, which meant that when I played a Ludicolo in my Top 8 match I struggled  immensely. Because of this, I changed my Tyranitar in Florida too:

Tyranitar (F) @ Weakness Policy

Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Crunch
- Protect
- Rock Slide
- Dragon Dance

This Tyranitar was one I'd been using since Regionals 2012, minus a few changes that 2014 brought along, so I was relatively comfortable with it. I originally was using Tyranitarite on it, but I hated having two Mega Stones on my team so I switched to Weakness Policy despite not investing in bulk at all. Weakness Policy was good because at +3 Attack +1 Speed Tyranitar OHKO'd no bulk Garchomp as well as outsped it. This Tyranitar worked well paired with Amoongus and Mr. Mime as well, as he could set up and sweep relatively easily. In the end, I liked both Tyranitar sets I used and would use either of them again in the future if I thought they were well suited to my purpose.

I wont go into detail for my matches because I played poorly throughout Florida and I didn't take notes in Virginia. Sorry!

Overall, I felt I could have performed better with my team, especially in Florida. I think the fact that I lacked strong attacks without setting up made me weak to Hax, and I dont feel that this team was especially suited for a Regionals. If I learned anything from these past few weekends, it is that who you practice against is extremely important when preparing for an event. I trained mostly on Battle Spot, playing against powerful Japanese opponents, and I had a very high win ratio against them, so I felt confident. If I had really thought about it however, I did not play a single Japanese opponent at Regionals, and the teams I played against were not at all what I had prepared for. In the future for Regionals I will aim to bring more power so as to not open myself up to bad luck.

-Wolfe