Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Top 8 Battle Road Gloria Black Sludge Gengar Team

Original Post from ニコル日和: http://d.hatena.ne.jp/nicolday/20140202/1391343923

Attended 5.5th Bifu-off (Battle road gloria convention) with result of top 8 out of 47 participants. I'm not fully satisfied with the team itself, however I was glad about how far it got me.
This tournament was set to special doubles rule, which I had not played at all, so I quickly got together a team I had posted recently and modified it.
I had been testing other teams as well, but I had a miraculous 7 win streak with this team on battle spot, which motivated me to use it.
Improvement points of this team would be to counter Rotom W, hail teams and Meowsticks with safe swag.

Manectric (M) @ Manectite
Trait: Lightningrod
EVs: 236 HP / 20 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Snarl
- Protect

I would almost always mega evolve mantric on the first turn to get better stats and Intimidate. Manectric's main role is to nerf the opposing team's fire power and support ally pokemons with Snarl and Intimidate.
Unfortunately, Hidden Power Ice had to go for Snarl, however Scarf Gyarados can help resolve that.
Goodra (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Sap Sipper
EVs: 172 HP / 52 Def / 76 SAtk / 4 SDef / 204 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Bomb


As stated in the summary, this team was made for Normal Doubles rule so the defense line is set against Metagross and Latios. The speed was set to outspeed Tyranitar and most Rotoms that are set to outspeed Tyranitar by 1, therefore Tyranitar +2. 
For the moves, Draco Meteor was useful for dealing a fair amount of damage on Rotom, and also for Goodra mirrors, which this team has a bit of trouble with.
Dragon Pulse synergies well with Choice Specs for consecutive use.
I chose Flamethrower instead of Fire Blast for better accuracy.
Sludge Bomb was there to at least deal some damage to fairy types if the situation occurs.
 
Gyarados (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 20 HP / 228 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Thunder Wave
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Ice Fang



With Manectric with no Hidden Power Ice and Goodra, who has relatively slow speed and physical defense, I needed a pokemon that could counter Garchomp really hard. Scarf Gyarados was perfect for the job with great typing synergy with Manectric and a great counter to sand teams, which made it a comfortable ally to bring into battle.
Gyarados is also strong against rain teams, surviving Choice Specs Draco Meteor from Kingdra and able to paralyze it with Thunder Wave.
I chose Stone Edge for the last slot to deal fatal damage to Mega Charizard Y and fair damage to Rotom. 
 
Scizor (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Technician
EVs: 236 HP / 252 SDef / 20 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- X-Scissor
- Protect

I used Scizor to counter psychic and fairy types, such as Meowstick and hail teams.
Scizor was the strongest answer to hail in my team, so I set the defenses very high with Sword Dance to boost attack in order to minimize risks.
Lum Berry to counter against Will-O-Wisp and freeze from Blizzard.
Bringing some EV from defense to Attack may be considered because maybe I invested too much in defense.
 
Gengar (F) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 204 HP / 20 Def / 4 SAtk / 28 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Ball
- Protect
- Sludge Bomb

Intimidate was the main method to deal with physical attackers, however broken Pokemon such as Mega Mawile and Mega Kangaskhan still couldn't be ignored with just Intimidate, so I decided to bring in Gengar, who is able to burn these two with Will-O-Wisp while avoiding Sucker Punch and Power up Punch.
One of the few floating pokemons in this rule set as well.
The typing of Ghost and Poison is also great for attacking. 
 
Azumarill (F) @ Wacan Berry
Trait: Huge Power
EVs: 236 HP / 164 Atk / 4 Def / 92 SDef / 12 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Waterfall
- Play Rough
- Aqua Jet
- Protect

I had been trying to find a fire type for this slot, but I couldn't find one that fit this team, so I used Azumarill which I have some trust in from prior team experiences.
However, there were many situations where I felt the need of a fire type pokemon instead. Wacan Berry reduced the electric type weakness shared with Gyarados.
The spread allowed it to make LO Hydro Pump from Kingdra a 3HKO.
I'm certainly going to change this slot for something else.


 Wolfe's Analysis
Out of all the teams I've seen so far, I think this one is definitely one of my favorites, if not my favorite just from looking at it. This team capitalizes I think on the trap that many players fall into that is extremely dangerous: assumption. Markus and I were discussing the team before we knew any details, and we assumed that based on the use of both Gengar and Azumarill that it was extremely that this team had a Perish Trap mode. I therefore would assume Azumaril is Sap Sipper and Gengar has Substitute or Disable. These basic mistakes to make can be extremely costly when facing a team like this. The whole team capitalizes on the unexpected, whether it be a Choice Scarf Gyarados with the unexpected Stone Edge or Goodra, who is often seen with Assault Vest, sporting a Choice Spex and doing major damage. Once an opponent begins to lose momentum, this team has the ability to turn a small disadvantage into a game loss. Gengar's Will-O-Wisp can cripple essential Physical Attackers, and Scizor's Swords Dance provides offensive pressure combined with priority. Manectric as the choice of Mega Pokemon was a very good choice I feel as well, as with investment in bulk, Snarl, and Intimidate as well as great switching capacity it is able to remain a presence in the game longer than is usual for everyones favorite lightning bolt.

Markus' Analysis
First of all, I have to say that, when I wrote down the Top16 teams, I really had no clue at all A) how this team works and B) how it could get far. Both questions have been answered by the team analysis above. I think it is a very good idea to use uncommon Pokémon that hard-counter very common meta Pokémon and use unexpected sets on them. However, I am not one hundred percent convinced that teams like the above are what it takes to win a Regional or even Nats. While I know that it definitely must be a lot of fun to play with Specs Goodra and Scarf Gyarados, I think in an environment where information is spread fast amongst friends, you wouldn't be as successful with a team like that. By no means does this mean, that this team cannot function when its surprises are revealed, but it is definitely more difficult to play with it in a Bo3 scenario rather than in a Bo1 tournament. I still like the team a lot, but that should be kept in mind. Apart from that, I especially enjoy Specs Goodra which is supported by bulky Mega Manectric, as well as the Gengar set which would have caught me off guard for sure, if I had to play it! Very impressive proof that VGC14 has a lot more to offer than Salamence Garchomp Aegislash Gardevoir, even in Japan!

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