Smogon Wifi Tournament #1 Team, Story, Reflection

[makiri]

I'm breaking this warstory up into 3 sections, the team, the story, the reflection. Hope you enjoy it (also kinda long as I ramble a bit).

THE TEAM:

Please give me your thoughts on the team aka rate it for me if you have the chance to do so.

Wobbuffet @ Lum Berry ** 4SKIN
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def -Atk)
- Encore
- Safeguard
- Mirror Coat
- Counter

The centerpiece of the team, I wanted to abuse Wobbuffet when there was no mention of it being banned, I contemplated abusing evasion as well, but Wobbuffet seemed a whole lot more fun to use. No Leftovers limited its ability to Mirror Coat and Counter, but this wasn't his first role, Lum had more possibilities behind it as I could survive a Hypnosis to be able to Encore, and then Safeguard, this opened up opportunities to sweep and for the opponent to break Sleep clause and even the creator himself couldn't answer what would happen:

<zerowing> wobb vs zong
<zerowing> so uh
<zerowing> what happens if i encore hypnosis
<zerowing> and switch
<skarm> ...
<skarm> erm

Only one sleep move was Encored, and the following use of the move missed so there was no opportunity for Sleep Clause to be broken.

Smeargle @ Salac Berry ** PICASO
Trait: Own Tempo
EVs: 228 HP / 28 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd -SAtk)
- Spore
- Belly Drum
- Substitute
- Baton Pass

A member of the old team I had originally planned (see below), albeit in a different form (@Scarf,Spore/HealingWish/StealthRock/WoW). I actually trained this in Emerald while waiting for D/P, since I decided Healing Wish was terrible, I needed to do something quick and decided to bring this guy up. Love this guy (2nd favourite Pokemon).

Lucario @ Life Orb ** SKYWALKER
Trait: Steadfast
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Extremespeed
- Rock Slide
- Crunch

SKYWALKER was originally an Endure/Reversal Lucario on the old team, I quickly converted it to the main Belly Drum receiver with some Heart Scales and a Rock Slide TM. Stone Edge was never an option as I have a severe dislike for something missing when I had the game wrapped up, Rock Slide has more accuracy and even then I made absolutely sure Close Combat wouldn't 1HKO (damage calculations with the worst possible scenario on every Flying Pokemon). Extremespeed for the Choice Scarfers I can't outspeed.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 240 HP / 56 Atk / 76 Def / 136 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def -Spd)
- U-Turn
- Wish
- Reflect
- Zen Headbutt

Another member of the old team (Healing Wish over Wish), but was a bit different, the best Jirachi I could find at the time that wasn't EV trained and had decent IVs and Relaxed actually fit quite well into my strategy for this guy, gives Smeargle a second chance at Belly Drumming in case something happens to the first try, hopefully I was slower than the other Pokemon so Smeargle didn't get hit. I used the other two moves on only one occasion so they weren't a major factor.

Garchomp @ Brightpowder ** STRETSHARK
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Dragon Claw
- Swords Dance

Looking back making this guy Adamant may have cost me the tournament, and I don't know what I was thinking going for Adamant as it was the other Belly Drum receiver. Jolly would've been best, and I'm pretty disappointed at it, that said pretty standard not much to say.

Salamence @ Choice Specs ** GEEDORAH
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Hydro Pump

Who hasn't seen this guy? Well me, in the whole tournament I saw 2 other Salamences, neither Specs. I needed some special presence and SpecsMence fit it quite well as it could Draco Meteor things I can't deal with, and also bring in Blisseys that are great for Smeargle to set up on.

My goal in the tournament was to abuse Wobbuffet, this wasn't the first team I had created and was very last second and actually came together quite well, very little changes were needed. The original team was something like Wobbuffet/Smeargle/Jirachi/Cresselia/Lucario/Rampardos. It focused on keeping Wobbuffet alive while letting it beat the other team. Smeargle, Jirachi, and Cresselia had either Healing Wish or Lunar Dance to help accomplish this. Rampardos was there to break any stall that happened to break out and Lucario was an Endure/Reversal set that would take advantadge of a good Encore to get an easy Swords Dance.

This idea was fun, but after testing HW/LD turned out to be very bad moves, as the incoming Pokemon would still be attacked if the HW/LD went first, thus making Wobbuffet take more damage than needed, forcing me to make rash predictions. I also had the idea of using Swagger/PsychUp Regigigas with a Yawn/MeanLook/BatonPass Umbreon in an attempt to make Regigigas look somewhat usable, this never became anything other than an idea as I no time to breed and catch a decent Regigigas.

 

[makiri]

THE STORY:

Pretournament:
Woke up at 10am ready to check in in the chatroom, my team completed the night before. I neglected getting dressed and just stayed in my boxers (important for later) as I planned staying home the whole day. I played some Club Live Search while I waited for Round 1 to be posted.

Round 1: zerowing vs Giga Punch
After I heard several BYEs were to be given out, I hoped for the best, but got the worst. The only player I didn't want to play first round, Giga Punch, happened to be my first round opponent, also touted as being the best match of the round. Started out with Wobbuffet vs his Heatran, Wobb Mirror Coated a Fire Blast, and KOed Heatran. Giga Punch brings out Suicune, and starts to Calm Mind, I encore, I begin setting up Smeargle, he never switches and Lucario sweeps with Close Combat. 6-0 Win

Round 2: zerowing vs Psi Umbreon
After I had to eliminate a good friend, it was time for another tough match. Psi Umbreon knocked me out of another Wifi tournament in the later rounds, time for some payback. I think he was surprised right away at the sight of Wobbuffet and never really had a chance. His Bronzong used Hypnosis, it hit and Lum cured, I Encore and Safeguard. Smeargle comes in, sets up and Lucario sweeps once again. 6-0 Win

Round 3: zerowing vs StrikeJP
2 tough players in a row, maybe I would get a break? Nope StrikeJP could hold his/her own as well. Wobbuffet vs Vaporeon first turn, I know Vaporeons have a good mix of moves, so I decided to Encore to see what he was planning, I encored Surf. Now seeing my oppurtunity to set up on a slower Pokemon, I only Mirror Coated once, which was enough to bring him to about 25%, after he KOed Wobb, I brought out Smeargle, set up the Belly Drum pass and Lucario sweeps. 5-0 Win

Round 4: zerowing vs futuresuperstar
Hacker part 1. All was going well, I encored a Dragon Dance from Gyarados, Smeargle set up for Lucario, Gyarados switches out and then back in, I assume hes doing the standard Intimidate factor on me when I have a Belly Drummer set up. Nope, it was a Focus Sasher, who takes the hit from Lucario and Earthquakes back. This is where it got tricky, but it eventually turned into a stall war with my Wobbuffet and his Cresselia, while we started stalling, I decided to run some damage calculations and my hits from Specsmence and Garchomp were doing very little, compared to what should be expected, I notified Surgo but continued on, a disconnect eventually happened and Surgo requested to see his team, which he never responded to and was promptly DQed by tournament staff. Win via DQ

Round 5: zerowing vs 3N3MY
This match turned out to be tons of switching and very little attacking, we constantly tried to predict eachother, but eventually I was able to Encore his Blissey's Calm Mind and set up from there, Lucario sweep. 6-0 Win

Final Round Part 1: zerowing vs raidos
Excited at the possibility of winning the first Smogon Wifi Tourney I was ready, I had very little resistance up to this point, and the match was going very smoothly for me and the game was in the bag, I had just Belly Drummed and was ready to sweep with Lucario, I use Close COmbat as he switches to Salamence, who then takes about 25% from an Adamant, 252 EV Attack, Life Orb, +5 Attack, STABed Close Combat, then happened to outspeed my +1 Speed Lucario and KO with an Aerial Ace. Right here I know something is amiss and run damage calculations and find that was completely impossible and I report it to the tournament staff, who also thought something was amiss with raidos earlier in the tournament, they run calculations and promptly DQ him, setting up a totally new final. Sorry to anyone who had to face this clown, but I'm not even sure how he got this far without being caught.

Final Round Part 2: zerowing vs BlueKiKatana
The final match, prior to this match I decided to finally put pants on as it was getting kind of late. I don't remember the early turns, but I recognized he had a Wobbuffet as well, something that could stop me from setting up Smeargle, so my goal was to rid him of that quickly. Salamence managed to Draco Meteor his Wobbuffet knocking it out, so I was in the clear to attempt to set up, but then I ran into some trouble, Garchomp came out and I switched to Jirachi to take any dragon moves, then back to Salamence to get the Intimidate in and attempt to weaken it, Salamence came in on an Earthquake and then I used Draco Meteor, not expecting a Sub which he did do, Draco Missed and Garchomp hit me with a Dragon Claw but didn't KO, I let Mence get KOed and I bring out my own Garchomp. I know I'm not faster, but hopefully the -1 Attack will help me out, but alas a Dragon Claw CH gets the best of my Garchomp.

Right here I fear a Garchomp sweep, but bring out Wobbuffet, maybe I can get out of this jam, he's still sitting behind a Sub, I Encore a Dragon Claw, but I have to take 3 Dragon Claws until I can knock it out. Weavile Pursuits my Wobbuffet and I bring in Jirachi, I U-Turn and he switches to Bronzong, seeing my oppurtunity to end the game I start to set up Smeargle, Weavile comes out when I have no Sub but just Belly Drummed and Salac activated, he Ice Shards and my plan for the game ending sweep ends right there. The game eventually turns into my Sleeping Lucario and Jirachi versus his Gyarados and Weavile, with Gyarados out against Jirachi. I Zen Headbutt which bring him down to 25% and I pray for the flinch, which I don't get and Jirachi is KOed. Lucario comes in, ready to save the day, but is sleeping on the job, I Extremespeed hoping for it to wake, but it doesn't and I am promptly KOed by Earthquake. End game, maybe I should've kept just my boxers on. 0-2 Loss

 

[makiri]

THE REFLECTION:

I loved the tournament, whether or not Wobbuffet was intentionally left off the ban list (skarm said he forgot to put it on), I think I was able to show why it shouldn't be allowed in the OU metagame, I didn't even use Leftovers and I was able to dominate at times. When the two finalists have the same Pokemon who's status remained in limbo, I think we can easily judge what to do with it. Even without Leftovers, its a very deadly Pokemon, and in my opinion could ruin the metagame completely, either there will be things that hit realy hard to KO it (ie SpecsMence, other CBers) or teams set up to abuse it, effectively overcentralizing the metagame.

While Double Team was allowed, I didn't see anyone I face use it, but I heard rumblings of someone else use it who completely demolished another team with it. I don't think Evasion is as bad as something like Wobbuffet, but I really think it needs further testing, possibly in Competitor to come with a final conclusion on it. I've seen arguments that it won't work etcetera, and I can kind of agree, I've never personally had a problem with Evasion based teams, but I've also never seen a Pokemon like Celebi try to pull it off with its amazing defenses. I'm sure this needs further investigation before we can make a decision.

Item Clause is a fantastic creation, while I hate over clausing all kinds of things, I like that Item Clause forces creativity. With all the new items running around, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf, Black Sludge, I like that D/P has a chance to not be the boring stale GSC/ADV Leftovers on every Pokemon unless it's a Choice Bander metagame. People just need to open up and realize this.

Overall I enjoyed the tournament and can't wait for the next one, great job to all who participated and thanks to the tournament staff, skarm, Sonuis, Surgo, Synre, and Misty, who all made this possible.

 

[Turismo2029]

Sounds good, Wobbuffet's obviously going to be banned though. >_>;

 

[ToP]

Yeah, Wobbuffet probably shouldn't have been allowed, but nice job capitalizing on it lol

Good job overall, and the team looks quite solid (for now!).

 

[TheMaster42]

Golden. Great read, thanks for posting this zerowing. Gives an idea of how a branch of the tournament went.

 

[bauer]

Wow nice, should've joined the tourney...

 

[massi4h]

Yay my favourite combo smeargle+wobby. Nice job Zerowing.

 

[ANinyMouse]

GJ zerowing, thanks for the write-up. At first glance your Belly-Passing strategy looked shakey but Wobbuffet really made it possible. Good read. I'm actually going to thank you for using Wobbuffet, too, because I hate it more than anything and I'm glad it's still broken as hell.

 

[Lemmiwinks MkII]

Excellent, this is exactly what I wanted to see. Your Wobbuffet pretty much carried you to the final, so hopefully now the tournament directors will have enough sense to never allow it in again.
Also, I completely agree with your views on Item Clause, as it really does encourage more strategic thinking. I always construct my teams with Item Clause in mind, and it isn't anywhere near as hard as people make it out to be.

 

[BFC]

I liked the way your team was set up you lead with Wobby to try and set up for the Drum pass for the sweep and it worked most of the time. I was thinking of making a Drum pass team

 

[Bluekikatana]

Wobbuffet, still belongs in the uber bracket =D. BTW, the third word in my name is "Katana" with "a" not "i". Not to be a nitpicker, but it does have a meaning XP. For the record, you were the only competitor I used Wobba on. I was in awe when I realized Wobba was allowed for this tournament. I should of kept my team the same the entire tourney (as my other poke would have been more useful), but for the last match my friends wanted me to fight fire with fire and use my Wobba against you.

Well I did, and heh, I was not used to using it on my team, so it just ended up being a good grenade to throw at your Salemence. It did nothing for me XD. Hope you liked my Weavile though, it's one of my favorite Pokes. It was the very first D/P Pokemon I bred for/raised when I first got the Japanese game. It almost has max stats across =). I also think I might of had 3 Pokemon left when I beat you, but I was really drowzy at that point, so I could of been mistaken.

Anyhow, good warstory!

 

[Peterko]

great read, interesting team, props for not using blissey

congrats to user above me

 

[Monco]

Love the team, it seemed to work well throughout the whole tournament.

Congrats to you and BkK.

 

[HotGarbage]

Great read! (I love warstories) :)

 

[GreenPikachu]

good write-up, fun read. hopefully you bring some of that magic to the kabuto kup. =P

 

[Jace the Mind Sculptor]

Awesome job Zerowing. I really loved this. That strategy is indeed very reckless and i hope that through this tourney and maybe one more, it would be placed in ubers. This was a great read.

 

[Sir Spanky]

Nice right up, I certainly wouldn't have expected Ice Shard Weavile!

 

[sanjay120]

Who did the hackers think they were fooling? I don't know how they weren't spotted right away.

Great read. Warstories are fun.

 

[mirza]

I wasn't in this tourney, but from what I've read, cheaters kind of ruined a lot of the tourney. I'm glad they were spotted before getting to the finals but they also eliminated some good players.

Anyway, thanks for writing this up Zerowing. Fun read and I loved the Wobby/Smeargle set up for Lucario.

Hopefully there will be more of these tournaments since I'm hoping to be able to join the next one lol. I think there will still be hackers trying to steal the tourney though, but we have great mods and smart players so I don't think it'll be a big problem!

And lastly, I love the item clause. It makes people have to think a little more instead of dropping 4-6 leftovers on their pokemon. It also makes the game a little faster paced and it seems more fun imo.

Great read and congratz to Zerowing and Bluekikatana.

 

[Firestorm]

About Encore on Sleep, I would assume that since you're the one who forced them to use Sleep repeatedly, that sleep clause wouldn't be broken.

 

[TheMaster42]

Lol, yeah... forcing your opponent to be DQed based on a clause that was meant to protect you seems like... at the very least, not the "spirit" of the clause, haha.

 

[Eo Ut Mortus]

Nice read, and congrats on making it to the finals. However, I don't see how you could abuse sleep clause with Safeguard. Did you just decide not to, or am I missing something?

 

[Surgo]

Nice read, and congrats on making it to the finals. However, I don't see how you could abuse sleep clause with Safeguard. Did you just decide not to, or am I missing something?

Win-win situation, basically. If Hypnosis misses, you've Safeguarded and have a free switch and set-up turn to whatever pokemon you want to go to. If it hits, you switch and let something else get put to sleep, thus winning you the game.

Obi was going to use a similar Wobbuffet strategy in JAA if I recall correctly, but he went with something else instead.

 

[Juuka]

Good read, Wobuffet was an awesome lead. Too bad you had a little bad luck at the wrong time. Congrats to Bluekikatana for winning the first tourney.