Plasmagica - 2nd place NY/NJ Invitional mini-team report

Creator: Cypher

Results: 2^nd (4-1) in the 2015 NY/NJ Invitational @ Matawan NJ 8/8/15

Hey there everyone, Cypher here again. This time, I actually did well at another event, the NY/NJ Invitational (not a sanctioned event however). I’m just going to type a short team report about the team I used.

Details about the NY/NJ Invitational: http://nuggetbridge.com/articles/new-york-new-jersey-invitational-preview/

The bracket is listed here: http://challonge.com/nynjinvitational

For this tournament, I took a boring team because I couldn’t think of anything fun to use in time for the tournament.

 Team's theme: Show by Rock!! Title taken from the main band.

9/5 edit: I forgot this was a thing so I am uploading it pretty late. Whoops. Anyways, it's a bit outdated so it should be edited for future uses.

Team building process:

So once upon a [long] time [ago], I talked to Enosh about Pokemon. He mentioned how Rotom-W / Landorus-T / Bisharp core was annoying to battle. So I started with that.

 

I wondered what was good with that core. The first Pokemon that came to mind was Kangaskhan. But then I couldn’t think of two Pokemon that would help.

 

So I scrapped Kangaskhan. The next Pokemon I thought of was Gardevoir because Gardevoir is popular now. Of course, Amoonguss was a natural fit as the next Pokemon. But I couldn’t think what Pokemon was good for the last spot.

 

And then I had a genius moment. What if I took the Kangaskhan idea and the Gardevoir idea… and combined them! BOOM! Team created.

 

However, I had Charizard problem. So I asked friends for advice, and I think it was Jio that suggested Rotom-H over Rotom-W. And then it worked.

 

Finally, I took amr’s spreads from his team report because his team so happens to look like this team right here. It’s pretty much the same team execution except Gardevoir over Azumarill. His report: http://nuggetbridge.com/reports/today-future-born-3rd-place-vgc-15-virginia-regional-championships/

The team

 

Kangaskhan (F) @ Kangaskhanite *** Angelica

Level: 50

Trait: Scrappy

EVs: 252 HP / 188 Atk / 44 Def / 4 SDef / 20 Spd

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Fake Out

- Return

- Low Kick

- Sucker Punch

Kangaskhan was supposed to be this team’s main mega evolution. However, it was the opposite, it was the least-used Pokemon on the team ironically.

Kangaskhan’s job was to take hits and just do damage. I opted for Return instead of Double-Edge because it defeats the point of bulky Kangaskhan. I also opted for Low Kick instead of Power-Up Punch because I felt like I needed the immediate damage, especially for Heatran.

 

Amoonguss (F) @ Rocky Helmet *** Maple

Level: 50

Trait: Regenerator

EVs: 188 HP / 164 Def / 156 SDef

Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)

- Giga Drain

- Spore

- Rage Powder

- Protect

Amoonguss’s job is to put Pokemon to sleep and redirect attacks. I just went with amr’s Specially Defensive spread instead of the more common Physically Defensive spread because this spread has a chance to live Mega Gardevoir’s Psychic.

Rotom-H @ Sitrus Berry *** Moa

Level: 50

Trait: Levitate

EVs: 252 HP / 116 SAtk / 140 Spd

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Thunderbolt

- Overheat

- Light Screen

- Will-O-Wisp

Standard Rotom-H except with Light Screen over Protect. I had Light Screen because it helps the team against Mega Gardevoir. Rotom-H was pretty awesome since it allows my team to have another out to Aegislash. I like this spread since although it loses bulk, it can deal a whole bunch of damage in return.  

If I could, I would have replace Light Screen with Protect since Rotom-H would take a lot of damage sometimes, and having Protect would have let me saved it for the future.

Landorus-T (M) @ Choice Scarf *** Retoree

Level: 50

Trait: Intimidate

EVs: 12 HP / 236 Atk / 92 Def / 4 SDef / 164 Spd

Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)

- Earthquake

- Rock Slide

- Superpower

- Stone Edge

Standard Scarf Landorus-T. I opted for Jolly over Adamant so it can beat opposing Blazikens, ayy lmao. Stone Edge over U-Turn so Landorus-T doesn’t get blocked by Wide Guard. Even though I missed the damage output from Adamant, I think having Jolly was better due to outspeeding neutral Scarf Landorus and anything else that was aiming to outspeed it.
 

Bisharp (F) @ Life Orb *** ChuChu

Level: 50

Trait: Defiant

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Sucker Punch

- Iron Head

- Assurance

- Protect

Standard Bisharp with Assurance over Knock Off. Assurance does more damage, especially with the whole team having ways to do damage before Bisharp attacks. I really liked Bisharp since it caused a lot of pressure with Sucker Punch and Defiant, as well as causing a lot of damage due to Life Orb and Assurance.

 

Gardevoir (F) @ Gardevoirite *** Cyan

Level: 50

Trait: Trace

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd

IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 SDef

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Hyper Voice

- Psychic

- Hidden Power [Ground]

- Protect

Common fast Gardevoir so it can scream at you and KO you before you can do something about it. HP Ground for Heatran. I was supposed to use Gardevoir when I felt something on my opponent's team would threaten Mega Kangaskhan, e.g. Conkeldurr, but instead I just brought it more often than I would thought. I would say it was MVP of this team and the team’s true main mega evolution. Also, it was supposed to Telepathy but I forgot to ask Jio for it so I got Trace instead. 

Opponents

R1: Mihrab Samad | 2-1 Win
Lapras / Landorus-I / Aegislash / Charizard / Mienshao / Salamence

R2: Brendan Zheng | 2-1 Win
Landorus-T / Tyranitar / Escavalier / Cresselia / Charizard / Thundurus

R3: Jeudy Azzarelli | 2-0 Win
Amoonguss / Gardevoir / Landorus-T / Tyranitar / Rotom-W / Braviary

R4: Chuppa Cross | 2-1 Win
Kangaskhan / Blaziken / Aegislash / Amoonguss / Landorus-T / Thundurus

Finals: Nick Borghi | 0-2 Lose
Kangaskhan / Heatran / Thundurus / Landorus / Azumarill / Aegislash

Conclusion

As you can see, this team is quite boring. I also should have brought Gardevoir over Kangaskhan instead in the finals, but oh well. In the end though, I am quite happy with the team since it performed well.

Shoutouts

Enosh for the team idea.

Jio for the Rotom-H idea, giving me the Gardevoir, and teaching it Hyper Voice.

Imoutos for support.

Nick for being cool and giving me the Mega Rayquaza plush.