Rain is not so broken!! [UU Warstory]

[shrang]

So everyone, with all the debate on the “brokenness” of Rain, I'd like to tell you guys a Warstory of a Rain team versus a standard UU team. Since everyone is like “How the hell do I counter a Rain team”, maybe this battle will provide some insight. This is my 1st Warstory, so hopefully people won't criticise me too much.

shrang's team:

So, gather around, children, for the battle is about to begin. Sit tight, get your popcorn ready and enjoy!! This battle is between my cool little UU team (I think it's cool) and FlareBlitz's famed Rain Dance team (Probably the best in the business). (I am blue, Flare is red, chat comments in green)


Rules: Ladder Match, Sleep Clause, Freeze Clause, OHKO Clause, Evasion Clause, Species Clause, Strict Damage Clause


shrang sent out Kabutops (lvl 100 Kabutops ?).
RainFlare sent out Quinn (lvl 100 Qwilfish ?).

Kabutops: 100%

Qwilfish: 100%

Flare sends out his lead Qwilfish, so I believe it is either going to lay down Spikes, or set up the Rain. Either way, Kabutops doesn't care. If Rain is up, I get +2 Speed, if he sets up Spikes, I'll just Spin them away. My Kabutops is a support Kabutops, with the same EVs as a standard Adamant Rain Dance Kabutops, but with SR/Stone Edge/Aqua Jet/Rapid Spin, mainly to take out Froslass. So, I am interested in which set-up he decides to do, Rain Dance or Spikes. So, to scout for his move, I decide to just hit this piece of shit with a hefty Stone Edge.

Kabutops used Stone Edge.
A critical hit!
Quinn lost 100% of its health.
RainFlare's Quinn fainted.
shrang: sorry
RainFlare: It happens

BAM!! Well that was rather unfortunate for him. I did a calc later, and the Qwilfish would have survived. Hax coming in the start of the battle is never fun, but rest assured, there pretty isn't any more of it coming your way.

Kabutops: 100%

Qwilfish: Stoned

6-5 shrang

RainFlare switched in Lamia (lvl 100 Ludicolo ?).
shrang switched in Venusaur (lvl 100 Venusaur ?).

Obviously I'm not going to stay in against it. Venusaur can take any unboosted attack from Ludicolo anyway.

Kabutops: 100%

Ludicolo: 100%

Lamia used Seed Bomb.
It's not very effective...
Venusaur lost 15% of its health.
Lamia lost 10% of its health.
Venusaur's Black Sludge restored a little health!
Venusaur restored 6% of its health.

So Venusaur takes it like a champ, and I notice it's a physical Ludicolo, most likely SD. This means if he doesn't get a boost, Ludicolo isn't going to be that dangerous. I decide to Sleep Powder something, because this is just what Venusaur does all the time. If I Sleep Powder Ludicolo, great, if I Sleep Powder something else, well that's fine too.

Venusaur: 91%

Ludicolo: 90%

RainFlare switched in Misty (lvl 100 Mesprit).
Venusaur used Sleep Powder.
Misty fell asleep!
Venusaur's Black Sludge restored a little health!
Venusaur restored 6% of its health.

So I put to sleep a Mesprit, which is likely a Rain Dancer. Excellent. The less Rain Flare gets the better. Now time to do what Venusaur does best, hehe.

Venusaur: 97%

Mesprit: 100% (Asleep)

RainFlare switched in Gabriella (lvl 100 Gorebyss ?).
Venusaur used Leech Seed.
Gabriella was seeded!
Venusaur's Black Sludge restored a little health!
Venusaur restored 3% of its health.
Gabriella's health was sapped by leech seed!
Gabriella lost 12% of its health.
Venusaur regained health!

So I get the incoming Leech Seed. I have no idea what Flare is thinking here. Rain is not up, so Gorebyss is going be slow like hell here. I don't think Ice Beam would kill me here. Time to Power Whip your ass (If Gorebyss has an ass).

Venusaur: 100%

Gorebyss: 100%

Venusaur used Power Whip.
It's super effective!
Gabriella lost 88% of its health.
RainFlare's Gabriella fainted.

As I thought. Gorebyss sinks to the bottom of the ocean, never to be found again. Going quite well here, two Swift Swimmers KO'd and all of my Pokemon are still in perfect condition.

Venusaur: 100%

Gorebyss: Whipped

6-4 shrang

RainFlare switched in Uxie (lvl 100 Uxie).

Uxie. I'm thinking Rain Dance here, as if Flare doesn't get it up, he's going to go nowhere. I can't put it to sleep or anything, neither Sludge Bomb nor Power Whip would do much, and he probably has Psychic moves to hit me anyway. So therefore, I go to my broken-ass Moltres, since Stealth Rock isn't up (And isn't likely to be up in this match).

shrang switched in Moltres (lvl 100 Moltres).
Moltres is exerting its pressure!
Uxie used Yawn.
Moltres became drowsy!

Damn. I hate Yawn. Now I give him a free turn. I was really hoping to press the advantage here, while I had it.

Moltres: 100%

Uxie: 100%

shrang switched in Drapion (lvl 100 Drapion ?).
Uxie used Rain Dance.
Rain began to fall!
The rain continues to fall.

Uh, now Rain is up. Not cool. I switch to Drapion to set up some Toxic Spikes, the next best option to Moltres chucking up Sub and spreading some Toxic himself.

Drapion: 100%

Uxie: 100%

Uxie used U-turn.
Drapion lost 12% of its health.
RainFlare switched in Kandy (lvl 100 Kabutops ?).
Drapion used Toxic Spikes.
Toxic Spikes were scattered around the foe's team!
The rain continues to fall.
Drapion's leftovers restored its health a little!
Drapion restored 6% of its health.

So Kabutops goes “inb4ToxicSpikes”. Now I'm torn in what to do. I could switch to Venusaur to take a Waterfall, but what if he SD's up?? That would fuck me up massively. I'd much rather let Drapion cop it rather than that happening. I select Whirlwind just in case he SD's, in which case I'd laugh.

Drapion: 94%

Kabutops: 100%

Kandy used Waterfall.
Drapion lost 70% of its health.
Kandy lost 10% of its health.
Drapion used Whirlwind.
RainFlare switched in Lamia (lvl 100 Ludicolo ?).
Lamia was poisoned!
Lamia was poisoned by the Toxic Spikes!
The rain continues to fall.
Lamia is hurt by poison!
Lamia lost 12% of its health.
Drapion's leftovers restored its health a little!
Drapion restored 6% of its health.

Flare doesn't fall for it and decides to punch a massive hole in my Drapion. At least it wasn't a total loss. I got that annoying Ludicolo poisoned. So now, I don't think he'll go for SD knowing that I can phaze him, so I go to Venusaur to take the obvious Waterfall.

Drapion: 30%

Ludicolo: 78%

shrang switched in Venusaur (lvl 100 Venusaur ?).
Lamia used Waterfall.
It's not very effective...
Venusaur lost 42% of its health.
Lamia lost 10% of its health.
The rain continues to fall.
Lamia is hurt by poison!
Lamia lost 12% of its health.
Venusaur's Black Sludge restored a little health!
Venusaur restored 6% of its health.

Venusaur comes in and takes a Waterfall, not too well. I am hoping that Venusaur can take an Ice Punch, but I highly doubt it. Still, risk vs reward kicks in and tells me that I cannot let this fucker SD up. So I stay in go for the Shit Bomb (Sludge Bomb), hoping to cut down the time this thing can sweep.

Venusaur: 64%

Ludicolo: 56%

Lamia used Zen Headbutt.
It's super effective!
Venusaur lost 64% of its health.
shrang's Venusaur fainted.
Lamia lost 10% of its health.
The rain continues to fall.
Lamia is hurt by poison!
Lamia lost 12% of its health.
shrang: o_0
shrang: thats interesting
RainFlare: xP
shrang: to get rid of toxicroak??
RainFlare: Y

Ow. Not expecting Zen Headbutt. Whatever, I didn't really expect Venusaur to live anyway. Good work Venusaur, you made me proud. On the plus side, only 3 more turns of Rain left and that Ludicolo is really getting raped by poison and Life Orb.

Venusaur: Zidane'd

Ludicolo: 34%
5-4 shrang

shrang switched in Hitmontop (lvl 100 Hitmontop ?).

Time to remove this ridiculous Ludicolo from this world. MACH PAWNCH!!!

RainFlare switched in Uxie (lvl 100 Uxie).
Hitmontop used Mach Punch.
It's not very effective...
Uxie lost 9% of its health.
The rain continues to fall.

And so Flare decides to save his drugged Ludicolo for later, possibly as death fodder. Mach Punch does absolutely jack shit to the incoming Uxie. Time to get Drapion in to set up more Toxic Spikes and phaze for more poison.

Hitmontop: 100%

Uxie: 91%

shrang switched in Drapion (lvl 100 Drapion ?).
Uxie used Yawn.
Drapion became drowsy!
The rain continues to fall.
Drapion's leftovers restored its health a little!
Drapion restored 6% of its health.

Again. That's getting really annoying. Oh well, time to go to Moltres.

Drapion: 36%

Uxie: 91%

shrang switched in Moltres (lvl 100 Moltres).
Moltres is exerting its pressure!
Uxie used Rain Dance.
The rain stopped.

And so the downpour finishes, time to put pile on some pain.

Moltres: 100%

Uxie: 91%

Moltres used Substitute.
Moltres lost 25% of its health.
Moltres made a substitute!
Uxie used Rain Dance.
Rain began to fall!
The rain continues to fall.
Moltres's leftovers restored its health a little!
Moltres restored 6% of its health.

Hehe, this thing is so beast. Time to spread more Poison to Flare's team. He got Rain back up, but whatever. I got a Sub up, so eat shit.

Moltres: 81%

Uxie: 91%

Moltres used Toxic.
Uxie was badly poisoned!
Uxie used Heal Bell.
The rain continues to fall.
Moltres's leftovers restored its health a little!
Moltres restored 6% of its health.

Motherfucker. This Uxie is pissing me off quite badly.

Moltres: 87%

Uxie: 91%

Moltres used Flamethrower.
Uxie lost 13% of its health.
Uxie used U-turn.
It's not very effective...
The substitute took damage for Moltres!
RainFlare switched in Kandy (lvl 100 Kabutops ?).
Kandy was poisoned!
Kandy was poisoned by the Toxic Spikes!
The rain continues to fall.
Kandy is hurt by poison!
Kandy lost 12% of its health.
Moltres's leftovers restored its health a little!
Moltres restored 6% of its health.

Okay, so Kabutops comes back in and gets poisoned. As Emperor Palpatine would say: Gooooood.

Moltres: 93%

Kabutops: 78%

Kandy used Waterfall.
It's super effective!
The substitute took damage for Moltres!
Moltres's substitute faded!
Moltres used Toxic.
But it failed!
The rain continues to fall.
Kandy is hurt by poison!
Kandy lost 12% of its health.
Moltres's leftovers restored its health a little!
Moltres restored 6% of its health.

And here I make my first big mistake. Completely forgot that he was already poisoned. I feel like such a retard. I could have SubStalled this thing until it was around 30%, which would be easy picking for Hitmontop. Whatever, time to death fodder Drapion.

Moltres: 99%

Kabutops: 66%

shrang switched in Drapion (lvl 100 Drapion ?).
Kandy used Waterfall.
Drapion lost 36% of its health.
shrang's Drapion fainted.
Kandy lost 10% of its health.
The rain continues to fall.
Kandy is hurt by poison!
Kandy lost 12% of its health.

And so Drapion bites the dust. Good work Drapion, your Toxic Spikes helped so much in this game. Time to go to Hitmontop for the kill.

Drapion: Waterfall'd

Kabutops: 44%

4-4 tied

shrang switched in Hitmontop (lvl 100 Hitmontop ?).
RainFlare switched in Misty (lvl 100 Mesprit).
Hitmontop used Mach Punch.
It's not very effective...
Misty lost 12% of its health.
The rain continues to fall.

And Hitmontop misses his target again. I really need to get Stealth Rock up or something, so Flare can't switch out for free.

Hitmontop: 100%

Mesprit: 88%

Misty used Zen Headbutt.
It's super effective!
Hitmontop lost 68% of its health.
Hitmontop used Bulk Up.
Hitmontop's attack was raised.
Hitmontop's defence was raised.
The rain continues to fall.
Hitmontop's leftovers restored its health a little!
Hitmontop restored 6% of its health.
shrang: shit bad move
RainFlare: :\

Fuck. 2nd bad move of this game. The noob inside me has appeared once again. I completely forgot that he Heal Belled his team. What's worse, I can't pick off his Kabutops with Mach Punch now because Aqua Jet would beat me to it. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!!!

Hitmontop: 38%

Mesprit: 88%

shrang switched in Moltres (lvl 100 Moltres).
Moltres is exerting its pressure!
Misty used Zen Headbutt.
Moltres lost 24% of its health.
The rain stopped.
Moltres's leftovers restored its health a little!
Moltres restored 6% of its health.

Obviously, I don't want Hitmontop to die to a Rain Dancer, Flare needs to earn them with his Rain sweepers. Time to go for another Sub.

Moltres: 81%

Mesprit: 88%

Moltres used Substitute.
Moltres lost 25% of its health.
Moltres made a substitute!
Misty used Rain Dance.
Rain began to fall!
The rain continues to fall.
Moltres's leftovers restored its health a little!
Moltres restored 6% of its health.

Sub is safely up, time to annoy again.

Moltres: 63%

Mesprit: 88%

Moltres used Roost.
Moltres restored 37% of its health.
Misty used U-turn.
It's not very effective...
The substitute took damage for Moltres!
RainFlare switched in Lamia (lvl 100 Ludicolo ?).
Lamia was poisoned!
Lamia was poisoned by the Toxic Spikes!
The rain continues to fall.
Lamia is hurt by poison!
Lamia lost 12% of its health.

So Flare decides to bring in Ludicolo. Time to die.

Moltres: 100%

Ludicolo: 22%

Lamia used Waterfall.
It's super effective!
The substitute took damage for Moltres!
Moltres's substitute faded!
Moltres used Flamethrower.
Lamia lost 22% of its health.
RainFlare's Lamia fainted.
The rain continues to fall.

On hindsight, this is another crappy move by me. Moltres has no Sub to deal with Kabutops. Should have SubStalled again. Lesson to everyone is patience. This is probably something I lacked in this battle. Oh well, whatever, that damn Ludicolo is dead.

Moltres: 100%

Ludicolo: Fried

4-3 shrang

RainFlare switched in Kandy (lvl 100 Kabutops ?).

Well that was obvious. I highly doubt he will SD here, seeing as he has jack shit health left anyway. Time to kill off Hitmontop. I have a feeling that Moltres can still be useful to me yet.

shrang switched in Hitmontop (lvl 100 Hitmontop ?).
Kandy used Waterfall.
Hitmontop lost 38% of its health.
shrang's Hitmontop fainted.
Kandy lost 10% of its health.
The rain continues to fall.
Kandy is hurt by poison!
Kandy lost 12% of its health.

So long, Hitmontop, my bad play meant you had to die early. Time to bring Kabutops in for the kill.

Hitmontop: Waterfall'd

Kabutops: 22%

3-3 tied

shrang switched in Kabutops (lvl 100 Kabutops ?).
RainFlare switched in Misty (lvl 100 Mesprit).
Kabutops used Aqua Jet.
Misty lost 24% of its health.
The rain continues to fall.

Again. Kabutops without Life Orb does absolutely jack shit. Time to switch to Moltres again.

Kabutops: 100%

Mesprit: 74%

shrang switched in Moltres (lvl 100 Moltres).
Moltres is exerting its pressure!
Misty used Healing Wish.
RainFlare's Misty fainted.
RainFlare switched in Kandy (lvl 100 Kabutops ?).
Kandy restored 79% of its health.
The rain continues to fall.

OH SHIT. Not expecting that. That pretty much won him the game. My team is going to be very hard pressed to deal with a 100% Kabutops this late in the game. So here, I look to my one last hope: There are only 2 turns of rain left. Hopefully I stall out those two turns (Death fodder both Moltres and Kabutops) and bring in my ScarfRotom for the kill. I am very relieved that he has no SD up. I got for the Sub just in case he does SD. Incidentally, he doesn't Poisoned by Toxic Spikes after getting Healing Wish'd back??

Moltres: 100%

Mesprit: Emo'd

Kabutops: 100%

3-2 shrang

Kandy used Waterfall.
It's super effective!
Moltres lost 100% of its health.
shrang's Moltres fainted.
Kandy lost 10% of its health.
The rain continues to fall.

But he doesn't SD, and wastes Moltres.

Moltres: Waterfall'd

Kabutops: 90%

2-2 tied

shrang switched in Kabutops (lvl 100 Kabutops ?).
Kandy used Waterfall.
Kabutops lost 92% of its health.
Kandy lost 10% of its health.
Kabutops used Stone Edge.
Kandy lost 70% of its health.
The rain stopped.
Kabutops's leftovers restored its health a little!
Kabutops restored 6% of its health.

Yes!! Good old Kabutops and his Base 105 Defense, just surviving and knocking Flare's Kabutops to a point where he's not going to sweep me. Thank God Stone Edge hit!!

Kabutops (The cool one): 14%

Kabutops (Flare's): 10%

Kandy used Aqua Jet.
Kabutops lost 14% of its health.
shrang's Kabutops fainted.
Kandy lost 10% of its health.
RainFlare's Kandy fainted.
shrang: o_0

So both Kabutops bite the dust, mine from a faster Aqua Jet and Flare's from Life Orb recoil. This is pretty much gg Flare, it was a very intense match.

Kabutops (The cool one): Aqua Jet'd

Kabutops (Flare's): Life drained

1-1 tied

shrang switched in Rotom (lvl 100 Rotom).
RainFlare switched in Uxie (lvl 100 Uxie).
Rotom used Shadow Ball.
It's super effective!
Uxie lost 55% of its health.
Uxie used Yawn.
Rotom became drowsy!

Too late for that. Unless he has Protect and U-Turn gets Grass Knot glitched, Uxie is dead.

Rotom: 100%

Uxie: 23%

Rotom used Shadow Ball.
It's super effective!
Uxie lost 23% of its health.
RainFlare's Uxie fainted.
shrang wins!

Excellent. GG Flare, good game.

Rotom: 100%

Uxie: Shadow Ballz'd

1-0 shrang

RainFlare: gg.
shrang: gg
shrang: healing wish almost fucked me up
shrang: =D
RainFlare: xP


Flare's team (In no particular order):

Props:
-Relatively low hax
-Mesprit, for valiantly sacrificing himself so Kabutops gets another chance to storm my team
-Drapion, for setting up those nifty Toxic Spikes
-My Kabutops, for taking out Qwilfish early (albeit with a crit) and prematurely ending Flare's Kabutops' sweep
-Flare's Kabutops, for taking out 2/3 on my team (So guys, if you think anything is broken, LOOK HERE!!)
-Uxie, for being a piece of shit with Yawn, Heal Bell and Rain Dance
-Flare, for being such a good player
-Me, for winning =D

Slops:
-My first crit, the only bit of hax was probably quite important
-Hitmontop, for not being very productive, but that is due to
-My poor play, which cost Hitmontop and giving Kabutops the chance to wipe out 2/3 of my Pokemon
-Gorebyss, for doing absolutely jack shit

And so, my MVP is:

Drapion!! It was really hard to try and find an MVP, since this win really was a team effort. However, Drapion's Toxic Spikes really helped with Flare's sweepers, especially Ludicolo.

 

[dbcb]

This was not a good or well played rain team...

 

[SJCrew]

Dude...you have GOT to be the funniest commentator ever. Thanks for posting this and letting other know that Rain isn't an easy sweep, you have to work for it if you're facing a knowledgeable opponent. Without those few tactical errors, you could have had a much easier win.

5/5 purely for humor

(inb4 a series of prudes complaining about swearing)

EDIT:

This was not a good or well played rain team...

k, I'm tired of reading this

He had two defensive cores, three offensive cores, and a lead Spikes/Rain summoner. If that's not a good rain team to you, I don't even want to see what yours looks like.

As for Flare, he played the battle very well, but he lost against a well-prepared opponent fair and square. If you're going to hang onto your superstition about Rain being broken, at least provide some legitimate basis, rather then calling into question every other irrelevant factor.

 

[Banedon]

Fairly decent warstory, but pointing this out ...

shrang switched in Kabutops (lvl 100 Kabutops ?).
Kandy used Waterfall.
Kabutops lost 92% of its health.
Kandy lost 10% of its health.
Kabutops used Stone Edge.
Kandy lost 70% of its health.
The rain stopped.
Kabutops's leftovers restored its health a little!
Kabutops restored 6% of its health.

I met this same situation once as well, although I had the misfortune of missing Stone Edge ... then my opponent pointed out, why not just use Waterfall? It's raining, and it hits Kabutops for neutral damage, and has perfect accuracy. Calcs:

Max attack Adamant Kabutops vs. min/min Kabutops with Stone Edge: 60.9% - 71.6%
I used Adamant because Jolly Kabutops does 55.2% - 65.5%, which can't hit for 70%. Against that:
Max attack Adamant Kabutops vs. min/min Kabutops with Waterfall with rain up: 72.4% - 85.4%

 

[shrang]

Fairly decent warstory, but pointing this out ...



I met this same situation once as well, although I had the misfortune of missing Stone Edge ... then my opponent pointed out, why not just use Waterfall? It's raining, and it hits Kabutops for neutral damage, and has perfect accuracy. Calcs:

Max attack Adamant Kabutops vs. min/min Kabutops with Stone Edge: 60.9% - 71.6%
I used Adamant because Jolly Kabutops does 55.2% - 65.5%, which can't hit for 70%. Against that ...
Max attack Adamant Kabutops vs. min/min Kabutops with Waterfall with rain up: 72.4% - 85.4%

I don't have Waterfall on my Kabutops, unfortunately, so Stone Edge would have to do. My Kabutops runs SR/Stone Edge/Aqua Jet/Rapid Spin, mainly to beat Froslass

 

[Golden Sun]

nice warstory I like how Vena got Zidane'd 8/10

 

[Banedon]

You were very lucky you rolled almost max damage then, because if FlareBlitz's Kabutops had had an extra 1% HP, it would've KOed your Kabutops, then gotten one attack before it fainted on Rotom. I see no Leftovers recovery on Rotom so I'm assuming it's choiced? If so then max attack Adamant Life Orb Kabutops vs. Rotom would probably result in a clean OHKO ...

PS: No offense or anything meant by the way, just pointing things out in relation to the "rain is broken" debate.

 

[shrang]

Rotom was Scarfed, yeah. However, Rain stopped when I brought in Rotom, so Kabutops would have had to Aqua Jet. That would have done 43.80% - 52.07%, which might have put me into kill range with Uxie, I guess.

 

[Banedon]

Oh didn't notice that - in that case you won cleanly, because Uxie's moveset was (judging from the warstory) Yawn, Rain Dance, U-turn and Heal Bell. Since Rotom resists U-turn, there's no way Uxie will KO Rotom before Rotom KOes Uxie.

So gg :)

 

[flashbolt]

I think its context in the middle of a rain debate doesnt help as its going to be seen as an arguement against rain being broken; one warstory doesnt prove much, especially with a bit of significent hax at the beginning. Alot of people will be overly critical and sceptical towards it.
I rather just see it as a great warstory with the best commentary i have ever read.
5/5

 

[Darkvirus]

tbh for a rain team i thought the opponent dident play all taht well it took him along time to get rain up and let 2 of his rain aubsers get Ko'ed before the game really started

 

[whistle]

it was a pretty good battle and I liked your explanations in the commentary but the misplays and lack of "exciting" predictions put me off a bit...

four stars though!

 

[flashbolt]

@Darkvirus
Flareblitz is one of the best rain users; he got unlucky with Qwilfish and seems to have misplayed with Gorebyss. He has never played rain in a reckless style seen with other users, thats just his style.
(its worth also saying that it may have been losing Qwilfish so early that stopped him getting rain up early).

It does seem clear that shrang has the team advantage here; he is "prepared for rain". I wonder if that had damaged his team outside of rain; toxic spikes drapion generally seem like an inferior choice due to many viable poison types (venasaur, drapion, toxicroak, nidoquen etc.).
Not really the place to discuss it, unless he posts an RMT.

 

[Erazor]

I really liked this warstory, but you were quite lucky with the crit on Qwilfish.

Great commentary as well, giving it 4 stars!

 

[Acritter]

I'd say this is proof of Rain's strength, if anything. It lost a member to hax VERY early on and still came back against a team with multiple checks and brought the game down to the wire. That's not proof of being overpowered, but it certainly isn't weak.

Oh, and besides the first turn, great warstory.

 

[shrang]

I might post an RMT, but I really didn't make this team with Rain in mind. My idea was to kill the opponent's TSpikes absorber or Spinner, litter the field with Toxic Spikes and stall them out with Moltres. It's more of a Stall-based balanced team (Incidentally, one Smurf said had best chance of countering a Rain team), where I basically stall out the opponent's enough so that Rotom or Hitmontop can sweep. It works fine against other teams. Having rain checks doesn't mean that your team would be raped by other teams. (Now I'm getting off-topic).

EDIT: Just to make this clear. This is not an attempt to undermine Rain or Flare. My first paragraph says it very clearly. While this Warstory is posted at the same time as a controversial Rain debate, its purpose is to i) Entertain and ii) Show methods of countering Rain teams. It's not enough to know "What" counters a Rain team, but it is also very important to know "How". Hopefully this Warstory sheds a bit more light.

 

[YaM]

I'm sorry but letting Gorebyss die like that was really bad... *poof, 33% of Rain offense gone* but after that the battle was better... but I get the feeling Gorebyss would really have made the difference and help out enough for a win. First turn Hax couldn't be helped with, oh well.

Props on shrang's team.

 

[alamaster]

Yeah the whole Moltres bit could have been so much better! It would have won you the game earlier had you remembered the ts...maybe you felt bad for the crit early in the game? Lol either way this was well written, and other than the couple of bad plays (on both sides) it was a decent warstory.

 

[HR.]

Critting Qwilfish early really put FB at a disadvantage as he had no rain for a while, and there were a few obvious mistakes here and there, but overall, it was a decent warstory and I look forward to seeing more from you =].

 

[SJCrew]

I skimmed over the logs, and there is no instance in which he's entered a 12% or lower with any of his grounded Pokemon, so the match would have occurred exactly the same way even with a layer of Spikes down. But the move Flare was gonna use is unknown, so in essence, your theories are about as good as mine.

 

[FlareBlitz]

Ah, thanks for posting this Shrang. Regarding my misplay with Gorebyss, I had forgotten that Qwilfish had died before getting rain up, so I thought it would outspeed (and for future reference Specs Ice Beam is an ohko). And for the curious, this is also an older variation of my team; it has serious Raikou and SD Venusaur problems, which my current team does not. All that said though, this was still a good battle. gg.

 

[Nas]

That crit on Qwilfish put Flareblitz at a huge disadvantage, my guess is Shrang probably would have lost if Flare had got RD up on turn one seeing as nothing on his team could take 2 attacks from Specs Gorebyss...nevertheless it was a decent warstory, though I don't think it proves Rain Dance as not being broken.

 

[Stellar]

Although the battle wasn't that great, your team does make a good example of how to "work around" rain without centralizing the team too much.

 

[Alan]

Good read. I liked your commentary. Nice battle.

I still think rain is broken

9/10

 

[Delko]

So it isn't impossible ...