Sena is a shit

Your daily reminder that Sena is a shit.
Literally, shit.

The #imoutos Guide to Nicknaming Pokémon

So you've just finished breeding your team in-game and want to show off how much of a weeaboo you are your good taste in anime by nicknaming your Pokémon after your favorite characters. However, there are 5 golden rules you should keep in mind so that you don't become the laughingstock out of your group of friends.

1. Don't Nickname After Shitty Anime

Many people tend to make this mistake when starting out. For example, the Buncha Bulls' very own Snake nicknamed his Aegislash after Asuna, but doesn't recognize Sword Art Online for the garbage that it is. Generally, you'll want to avoid naming your precious Pokémon after anime that you should be avoiding: such as Naruto, Sword Art Online, Shingeki no Kyojin, etc.

Nothing makes me cringe more than seeing a poor Tyranitar or Hippowdon being named 'Gaara'. It's not the Pokémon's fault here, the trainer's poor taste is to blame.

2. Your Nickname Choices Have To Make Some Sense

This isn't as much of a common problem as the first rule, but still something to keep in mind. Naming your Pokémon after somebody some to make at least some kind of logical sense that doesn't require too much explaining. For example, naming your Kingdra after Kamijou Touma from To Aru Majutsu no Index makes absolutely no sense since Kingdra is seahorse while Touma is known for breaking illusions and punching bitches. However, nicknaming your Kingdra after Misaka Misuzu would make more sense because they're both drunk.

Nicknames shouldn't be restricted to characters either—you can use attacks or special moves as well. For example naming a Gardevoir after Shokuhou Misaki's Mental Out works.

3. Don't Ever Use X's

This should be self-explanatory, but if it was I wouldn't have to make this a rule. This also goes hand-in-hand with Rule 1 since people that tend to do this also have shit taste in anime. A nickname such as "xX[name]Xx" displays poor taste and possibly an indication of being underage. However, the various symbols in the game's keyboard such as ♥ and ♪ are completely acceptable.

4. Don't Get A Big Boner Over Your Nicknames

Remember that these are just nicknames, and not the actual anime or characters they are named after. Nothing makes you look like a weeaboo more than circlejerking over how well a Pokémon's nickname matches. It's okay to include your explanations in your reports much like R_Inanimate and the #imoutos do, but there should be limits to how much you should express your nickname choices.

5. When In Doubt, Nickname Your Pokémon After Digimon

A rule made up by my baka aniki Simon. Just make sure you're following Rule 2 when going this route.

Conclusion

So there you have it, the 5 golden rules that the #imoutos have created to ensure that your friends won't laugh at you when they look at your nicknames. Always remember to never use shitty anime, make sense with your nicknames, avoid X's, keep it in your pants, and to use Digimon as a last resort. And don't forget to follow me @NickscorVGC!

The Neighbor's Club - Apex 2014 1st Place Team Report

Intro Intro:

Hi this is Cypher this was meant for other places but I never posted it. But since this is a personal blog with friends, might as well post it now! Also, this was written some months ago so whatever. Also nickscor has a similar team since great minds think alike obviously.

Introduction

Hey there everyone, this is Jun (short for Junko) T. (intial for tunafish) (Cypher). If you don’t know me, well, I’m the worst mod on the Nuggetbridge PS! Server, a former Nuggetbridge forum mod, and currently a tournament director. Like the rest of the imoutos, I am a cute girl that got into anime a long time ago.  I actually have a notable qualification now (besides top 16 nats for masters last year), by winning Apex 2014’s Pokemon tournament on January 18th. If you didn’t know about that, Apex is currently the biggest grassroots tournament for Pokemon VGC in the country. Although it was a small tournament with 123 participants, it was stacked with well-known players and you only had two chances to survive through the tournament. Too bad I suck and still the worst.

Also, I prefer explaining with bullets rather than paragraphs.

Background behind the name

• I received my Pokemon from dingram at 1am the day of the tournament
• I instantly ran into big problems
• I still had to breed for a penta-flawless Timid Bulbasaur (which I accidentally fell asleep on)
• I had to ReEV some Pokemon but I didn’t have any Reset Bags nor EV-reducing berries
• I had to EV everything but I didn’t have PKRS nor EV-training items, so EV training would be very time consuming
• As a result, I got really upset and contacted TalkingLion if I can borrow his team during the tournament despite never using his team before
• He complied and gave me his team. He also told me the basics of the team and how to use it
• Suddenly, dingram gets on IRC and I raged at him for providing me Pokemon this late when I asked him for it before
• TalkingLion and dingram then offer to help me out, but I believed it was too late at this point because I had to leave for the tournament in ~4 hours
• I obliged anyways and I traded them
• LudiImpact and PM649 get on around this point, and they assisted me with EV training
• They all managed to help me finish my team an hour before I had to leave for Apex!
• I realized how I have friends and this reminded me of the anime Haganai, which is an anime about having friends
• I named my team after said anime
• Thus shoutouts to imoutos and goonsquad
• Talkinglion, Soulsur, MikotoMisaka, Chuppa
• dingram, pm649, ludiimpact
• ESPECIALLY TALKINGLION
• ESPECIALLY TALKINGLION!!!

 

Building the Team

• I have a heavy preference towards Anti-Meta types of team as those types of teams bring me the most success
• Therefore I kept that in mind and tried to develop a team that can beat standard teams while holding its ground
• I also wanted to use 2 Mega Evolutions because I like how you can confuse the opponent on which Pokemon will Mega Evolve and thus play mindgames
• Also one Mega Evolution may be more useful in one situation than in another
• I wasn’t up-to-date with the current VGC 2014 metagame
•  I developed a simple to use team to research it
• The team consisted of Mega-Tyranitar / Mega-Garchomp / Scarf Gardevoir / Specs Rotom-H / Sash Mamoswine / Zapdos
• The team was a simple DisQuake team, which I believed was good at this point of the Meta since it was the start of the Meta and thus not as developed it was
• As I played, I learned what I liked and what I disliked about the meta, and swapped my team accordingly
• The team at this point consisted of Mega-Kangaskhan / Zapdos  / Mega-Gyarados / Rotom-H / Garchomp / Scarf Gardevoir
• I discovered the overpowered DisQuake core of Garchomp / Zapdos / Mega-Kangaskhan / Scarf Gardevoir
• This core won me a majority of my games on PS! so I dubbed this core “Press buttons and win!” due to a lot of PS! users succumbing to Earthquake/Discharge/Dazzling Gleam/Return
• I rotated some Pokemon out for others in order to cover some weaknesses
• The team was Garchomp / Mega-Kangaskhan / Mega-Mawile / Scarf Gardevoir / Zapdos / Amoonguss
• Although the team was doing well on PS! it started to lose more often, and I saw this as a problem
• I had to look for the weak points of this team, and I discovered it was Zapdos / Mega-Mawile / Amoonguss because my team couldn’t deal with Talonflame and friends that well
• I rotated some Pokemon in and out of the team again to solve these problems
• The team was Garchomp / Mega-Kangaskhan / Mega-Gyarados / Scarf Gardevoir / Rotom-H / Safety Goggles Meowstic
• The team was performing well, but I kept on having problems, especially against Rotom-W which was annoying to handle. Thus, I looked for a solution for my problem, and found my answer
• I switched Meowstic for Venusaur, and this helped my team a lot
• Venusaur created a useful F/W/G core for my team, which assisted a lot in defensive synergy
• I removed the mega stone from Gyarados, and put it on Venusaur instead
• This made Venusaur quite bulky while removing its Fire- and Ice-type weakness
• In the end
• the team was Garchomp / Mega-Kangaskhan / Mega-Venusaur  / Scarf Gardevoir / Rotom-H / Band Gyarados
• I call the team DisQuake still, despite not using Discharge anymore
• I had 43 different variations of the team, ranging from subtle changes such as changing an EV spread, to complex changes such as swapping Pokemon, having different EV spreads, and trying out niche moves.
• I only trained via the Nuggetbridge PS! server because I did not have enough time to test on Battle Spot. On PS, I managed to keep a ~3-4:1 win record throughout ~8 alts, each ranking high on the ladder before the ladder reset.

The Neighbor's Club

Sena (Garchomp) (M) @ Lum Berry

Trait: Rough Skin

EVs: 60 HP / 164 Atk / 4 Def / 28 SDef / 252 Spd

IVs: 31/x/31/31/31/31

Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)

- Earthquake

- Dragon Claw

- Rock Tomb

- Protect

• Sena is a shit
• Literally, shit
• No really, shit
• Lum Berry to prevent Burns and Sleep. Also nice to get hit by the opponent’s Swagger and get the free +2 Attack
• Yache Berry was an option over Lum to prevent Garchomp from getting KOed from most Ice moves, but Lum’s utility fitted better for my team
• Max Speed Garchomp to ensure Garchomp outspeeds Charizard-Y and speed tie with other Garchomps
• 60 HP to minimize Hail damage
• 60 HP / 4 Def is used to survive Adamant Garchomp’s Dragon Claw 100% of the time
• 60 HP / 28 SDef is used to survive Mega-Manetric’s HP Ice 33% of the time
• Rest of the EVs are dumped into Attack
• Earthquake and Dragon Claw are standard STAB moves
• Rock Tomb over Rock Slide for Deagle-level mindgames and strategies
• Bypasses Wide Guard unlike Rock Slide
• Higher chance to KO Charizard who’s EVed to take a non-boosted Rock Slide
• 100% Speed drop, useful to catch Garchomp and friends on the switch so I can always outspeed
• Requires great prediction to utilize it effectively, compared to Rock Slide
• Protect is Protect

Kate & Maria (Kangaskhan) (F) @ Kangaskhanite

Trait: Scrappy --> Parental Bond

EVs: 200 HP / 172 Atk / 100 SDef / 36 Spd

IVs: 31/31/25/x/31/31

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Fake Out

- Return

- Power-Up Punch

- Sucker Punch

• Kangaskhanite for Mega Evolution
• Inner Focus was supposed to be used over Scrappy in order to not get flinched by opposing Fake Out. However, I was unable to get one on time and thus settled on Scrappy.
• Bulky Kangaskhan is great
• 200 HP / 100 SDef survives non-boosted Mega Lucario’s Aura Sphere 100% of the time
• Special bulk helps against annoying Rain teams
• Adamant 172 Atk allows Mega Kangaskhan to KO 4/0 Kingdra majority of the time
• Rest of the EVs are dumped into Speed in order to outspeed standard Rotom-formes
• Fake Out for utility and to do some damage
• I was using Protect over Fake Out before, but Fake Out’s utility was too good to pass and it helped dealt with Greninja by preventing it from using Mat Block
• Return is standard consistent STAB and to ensure KOs at +0 Attack unlike Facade
• Power-Up Punch is for the Attack boosts and to negate the Intimidate drops
• Sucker Punch is priority and to hit Ghost-Types

Yukimura (Venusaur) (M) @ Venusaurite

Trait: Chlorophyll --> Thick Fat

EVs: 84 HP / 4 Def / 196 SAtk / 4 SDef / 220 Spd

IVs: 31/x/31/31/31/31

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Giga Drain

- Sludge Bomb

- Sleep Powder

- Protect

• Venusaurite for Mega Evolution
• Chlorophyll over Overgrow so opponents will think twice about bringing in their Charizard-Y
• Timid 220 Speed allows Venusaur to outspeed max speed non-scarf Smeargle
• It also allow Venusaur to outspeed majority of Rotoms, especially Rotom-W
• 84 HP / 4 Def allows Venusaur to survive Adamant Talonflame’s Brave Bird 100% after Intimidate
• Allows Mega-Venusaur to survive Adamant Talonflame’s Brave Bird 100% without Intimidate
• Allows Mega-Venusaur to survive LO Adamant Talonflame’s Brave Bird 100% after Intimidate
• Rest of the EVs are dumped into SAtk
• Allows Mega-Venusaur to KO 4/0 Mamoswine 100% with Giga Drain
• Giga Drain over Energy Ball for siphoning opponent’s HP
• Sludge Bomb is standard STAB and hits Fairy-types
• Sleep Powder for utility to stop threatening Pokemon, such as opposing Mega-Kangaskhans
• Leaf Storm was an option over Sleep Powder due to being able to KO Specially-Bulky Rotom-W majority of the time, but the utility from Sleep Powder was more useful overall.
• Protect is Protect

Kobato (Gardevoir) (M) @ Choice Scarf

Trait: Telepathy

EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd

IVs: 31/x/31/31/31/31

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Dazzling Gleam

- Moonblast

- Psyshock

- Shadow Ball

•  Male Gardevoir
• Choice Scarf was used to be fast in order to outspeed fast threats such as Garchomp, Mega-Manetric, or Greninja and hit them with tons of damage
• Telepathy instead of Trace due to having two EQ users and having another Pokemon to switch in while using Earthquake is pretty useful.
• Standard 252 SAtk / 252 Spd for maximum damage out and speed in order to slay Dragon-types
• Dazzling Gleam for STAB and spread damage
• Was the main STAB move
• Moonblast for a strong STAB move when I need to get a lot of damage/OHKO a certain target
• Psyshock for STAB and maybe hit harder
• Psyshock over Psychic because I felt that due to large usage of Intimidate and Burns used in this meta, more Pokemon would run more SDef EVs than Def Evs
• Shadow Ball was a filler move. It was used to chunk Aegislash for some damage compared to Thunderbolt
• Thunderbolt could be used instead, but I didn’t really use either moves a lot during practice
• Also fuck MikotoMisaka btw because Scarf Gardevoir was really useful at Apex

Rika (Rotom-H) @ Chesto Berry

Trait: Levitate

EVs: 216 HP / 48 Def / 4 SAtk / 4 SDef / 236 Spd

IVs: 30/x/31/31/31/31

Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Thunderbolt

- Overheat

- Will-O-Wisp

- Rest

• Chesto Berry is used to prevent Rotom-H from being put to Sleep from Amoonguss and Venusaur
• Helps against Dark Void
• Used in conjunction with Rest
• 216 HP / 48 Def is used to survive non-CB Gyarados’s Waterfall majority of the time
• Allows it to survive CB Gyarados’ Waterfall majority of the time after Intimidate
• 236 Speed allows Rotom-H to outspeed neutral Base 80s and Positive Base 70s
• Most notably outspeeds Mamoswine while outspeeding and KOing Gyarados
• Modest 4 SAtk allows Rotom-H to KO 4/0 Venusaur 100% with Overheat
• Thunderbolt over Volt Switch for stronger STAB
• Overheat is standard strong STAB
• Will-o-Wisp is utility which burns Mega-Kangaskhan, Mega-Mawile, Garchomp, Scrafty, and other physical attackers that inhibit this meta
• Rest is used so I can have a use for the Chesto Berry if the opponent lacks a Sleep move
• No Protect so I can have a use for Chesto Berry
• Avoids Sucker Punch at low HP and can recover itself
• Allows Rotom-H to wall Talonflame by repetitive usage of Rest

Yozora (Gyarados) (F) @ Choice Band

Trait: Intimidate

EVs: 36 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 220 Spd

IVs: 31/31/31/x/31/31

Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)

- Waterfall

- Ice Fang

- Earthquake

- Thunder Wave

• Choice Band is for tons of damage
• No really, it hurts a lot. It provided my team a consistent source of heavy damage.
• Intimidate over Moxie for utility, making sure that certain physical attacks don’t KO
• Jolly 220 Speed hits 141 Speed, which outspeeds my Venusaur while outspeeding the same threats, most importantly the Rotom-formes
• Rest of EVs are dumped into Attack then into HP
• Waterfall is standard STAB
• Used over Aqua Tail due to 100% accuracy and the flinch chance
• Ice Fang is for coverage and to hit Dragon-types and Grass-types, most notably Salamence and Amoonguss
• Earthquake is a spread move that can hit Mawile for a good amount of damage, and to use in conjunction with Telepathy
• Thunder Wave is a filler move. It helped against fast Pokemon such as Greninja
• Used over Stone Edge because I wasn’t using Stone Edge a lot during practice, and CB Waterfall
• Thunder Wave helped deal with the annoying Greninja+Mega Lucario combo by bypassing Mat Block and paralyzing the Mega Lucario, which made it easier to deal with.

Interesting things to note about the team:

• Every Pokemon has a different type
• Everybody has different type attacks
• Only exception is Garchomp and Gyarados – Earthquake
• 5/6 of the team can Mega-Evolve – Only two members of the team has Mega Stones equipped however
• I opted for 2 Mega Evolutions instead of 1 – Kangaskhan and Venusaur – so I don’t have to rely on one Mega evolution throughout the battle and my opponents won’t know which Pokemon I will Mega-Evolve
• There was no Sitrus Berry. There used to be on earlier variations, but there was no need for it in the end
• There’s only two Pokemon with Protect – Garchomp and Venusaur – They had an empty slot open and for the others I could not fit Protect
• Two Pokemon with Choice Items – Gardevoir and Gyarados
• I utilized Deagle tactics by not using moves under 90%
• The exception to this are the two status moves – Will-o-Wisp and Sleep Powder

Cores/Combos

• Venusaur / Rotom-H / Gyarados
• FWG core
• Outspeed neutral Base 80s, which was the most important speed tier imo after Base 100s
• Each member supported one another
• Venusaur dealth with Rotom-W, which threatened Rotom-H and Gyarados
• Gyarados dealth with Mamoswine, Chandelure, Rotom-H
• Garchomp / Rotom-H
• Anti-Sun lead
• Both threaten Charizard-Y
• Both cannot be stopped by Venusaur’s Sleep Powder due to Chesto/Lum berry
• Rotom-H can KO Venusaur
• Garchomp can threaten Rock-types and other Garchomps to help Rotom-H
• Rotom-H can burn other physical attackers to help Garchomp
• Threatens some Water-types and Ice-types
• Kangaskhan  / Gardevoir
• Gardevoir, according to DeagleBeagle, threatens majority of Intimidate users, even chunking Mawile for a bunch of damage, a Pokemon that threatens Kangaskhan
• Kangaskhan can set up with Gardevoir’s assistance and wreck the opponent’s team
• Dazzling Gleam / Return did a lot of damage
• Kangaskhan / Venusaur
• Fake Out + Sleep Powder
• Bulky mons
• Who’s going to Mega-evolve?!? Only I know which one will
• Garchomp / Gardevoir / Gyarados
• EQ + 2 EQ immunes
• Ground + Fairy = nice coverage
• They hit hard

 Battle Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GQxkyilfNM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhasFS_OvlQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EReFSlpYWuo

 Conclusion:

No copy pasterino plz. The team feels outdated IMO, but I still like to use it regardless.
This is such a shitty report though.

@CypherVGC because self-promotion is cool.

The #imoutos Special - Nugget Bridge Major 3 Top Cut Team Report

Hello, I'm Nickscor/NEETscor/Marco/whatever obscure alt I'm using on Showdown. As most of you know, I am a cute anime girl and a part-time NEET. I sold my soul to anime and manga in late July 2011 which means I've been an anime girl longer than my baka aniki Simon Yop, who has only been an anime girl for about a month during the time this post was made. What some of you may not know is that I do play VGC, contrary to what the whooping 0 CP I've amassed over the past two seasons might indicate. Heading in the Nugget Bridge Major, I didn't really care too much about winning until it was announced that the prizes for the top finishing players was dirty money. And being the (part-time) NEET I am, I wanted money that didn't require going outside and working.

The team itself is nothing spectacular, but was something I was confident in using for my matches. The nickname theme is based off the #imoutos, thus the name "#imoutos Special".

Venusaur ♂ @ Venusaurite **Birchy

Ability: Chlorophyll → Thick Fat

252 HP / 76 Def / 60 SAtk / 52 SDef / 68 Spe

Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)

- Giga Drain

- Sludge Bomb

- Sleep Powder

- Protect

I consider Mega Venusaur to be one of the best Mega Evolutions in the current format because of its excellent stat allocations. While it may not have the capability of hitting for ridiculous damage like Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Mawile can, it definitely has the bulk to stay in for a good portion of the match, and can create many win conditions with help from its teammates. Mega Venusaur's bulk is also enhanced by its Ability Thick Fat, which halves damage taken from Fire and Ice-type attacks—essentially leaving Flying and Psychic as its only weaknesses. The EV spread was stolen off the EV Doctor tlyee61 (who I still think should change his username to tyler16). It survives non-choiced Talonflame Brave Birds among other things that I'm too lazy to list off.

I chose to nickname Venusaur after SapphireBirch/CT MikotoMisaka because we both tend to circlejerk about how good it is, even before Chuppa and R_Inanimate both finished 2nd at Massachusetts and Washington with it, respectively.

Gyarados ♂ @ Choice Band **SoulSur

Ability: Intimidate

36 HP / 220 Atk / 140 Def / 4 SDef / 108 Spe

Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Waterfall

- Earthquake

- Stone Edge

- Ice Fang

When XY first came out Choice Band Gyarados was a member of the team I originally used for Battle Spot Doubles, mainly at the suggestion of SoulSurvivor (which is also the reason I named it after him). I ran a boring 252/252 spread, but after running calcs I deemed it inefficient since the Speed didn't do much for me. The Speed EVs hits 115, which enables Gyarados to outrun max speed neutral Tyranitar since the Modest mixed attacker is a thing now. The Attack ensures Waterfall can 2HKO 4 HP Mega Kangaskhan assuming it could avoid Intimidates and Meowstic Charms. The rest was invested towards Defense so that he could survive moves he couldn't with the 252/252 spread such as Talonflame's Choice Band Brave Bird and Mega Kangaskhan's +1 Return.

Gardevoir ♀ @ Sitrus Berry **ryuzaki

Ability: Telepathy → Trace

#1 - 124 HP / 156 Def / 148 SAtk / 4 SDef / 76 Spe
#2 - 68 HP / 244 Def / 140 SAtk / 52 SDef / 4 Spe

Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Moonblast

- Psychic

- Taunt → Protect

- Ally Switch

Gardevoir, the Waifu Pokémon. From reading some of the Japanese usage stats from Eggy Emporium, I noticed how Gardevoir is a consistently used Pokémon that is common amongst high-placing teams. Seeing as the Japanese are usually competent at making metagame calls, I decided to give her a try after canning Follow Me Lucario.

The first spread enables it to survive Life Orb Talonflame Brave Bird and Mega Kangaskhan Return if you account Sitrus Berry recovery after the first hit. It also has enough Special Attack to OHKO 4 HP Garchomp with Moonblast which helped out in a few situations. The second spread that I used sacrificed HP and Speed for better Defense, which let it survive Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird. The first spread actually had a little extra Special Attack, so I removed that as well, while still being able to get the surprise OHKO on Garchomp.

Initially, I ran Taunt to stop Meowstic in its tracks, but the lack of Protect really hurt me more than Taunt helped me. Ally Switch was my ace card in some games, as it would allow me to keep my Dragons safe while Gardevoir would take a Meteor or Ice Beam for them.

For the nickname I named Gardevoir after ryuzaki since she's the only girl in #imoutos. Being an anime girl does not constitute counting as a female in this case.

 

Aerodactyl ♂ @ Focus Sash **Chuppa

Ability: Unnerve

4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Jolly nature (+Spe, -SAtk)

- Rock Slide

- Sky Drop

- Tailwind

- Protect

Utility Aerodactyl. During testing, I found that Garchomp was the fastest Pokémon on my team, with 4/6 of my members having speed stats between 109 and 115. Rock Slide flinches bitches gets the drop on Charizard Y, while Sky Drop was used to temporarily remove a target to make it safe for his partner to attack. For example, Aerodactyl can Sky Drop an opposing Rotom-W, making it safe for my Rotom-H to roast the opposing Mawile or something. Tailwind also helps with my team's speed problems as long as I don't hilariously set it up while they set up Trick Room (which actually happened during Round 7 of Swiss).

Aerodactyl is nicknamed after Chuppa because I was running out of ideas.

Garchomp ♂ @ Lum Berry **kingofmars

Ability: Rough Skin

4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Jolly nature (+Spe, -SAtk)

- Dragon Claw

- Earthquake

- Rock Slide

- Protect

Standard Garchomp with a standard 252/252 spread and standard moves. It would've held Rocky Helmet to cheese Kangaskhan, but I needed a Lum Berry user on my team.

I chose to name it after KOMaeda kingofmars because I really couldn't think of anyone else. If it was a Charizard Y, that would be a different story.

Rotom-Heat @ Safety Goggles **.Cypher
Ability: Levitate
252 HP / 4 Def / 116 SAtk / 116 SDef / 20 Spe

Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Thunderbolt

- Overheat

- Will-o-Wisp

- Protect

Somewhat standard Rotom-Heat. Safety Goggles is the most notable part of this set, as it allows Rotom to hard-counter Amoonguss by negating its Spores and Rage Powders. It also serves as my answer to the California Sun combination (Mega Charizard Y and Venusaur) as it can shrug off Venusaur's Sleep Powder and resists Heat Wave while being able to OHKO Venusaur with Overheat or dealing good damage to Charizard. The EV spread was copied from so thread on Nugget Bridge and I never really put much thought into changing it. In retrospect, that would've been a smart idea.

As for the nickname, it's a rule that SoulSur and I made up that all Rotom must be named after DotCypher. It just fits.

Hono(u)rable Mentions

These are Pokémon I've used at least once during the tournament even though they're not technically part of the #imoutos Special.

Salamence ♂ @ Choice Specs **SilentLion

Ability: Intimidate

4 HP / 4 Def / 244 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe

Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

- Draco Meteor

- Fire Blast

- Dragon Pulse

- Hydro Pump

Okay I lied because for the first few weeks before I used Aerodactyl, Specsmence was part of the #imoutos Special. I think Scarfmence isn't that great despite what usage stats say otherwise, so I went the power route with Specs. After an Intimidate, Salamence always survives unboosted Garchomp's Dragon Claw and can KO back with Dragon Pulse—something Scarfmence can't do, meaning it has to launch a Meteor to get the drop on Chomp. In addition, Specs Meteor and Fire Blast deals massive damage to Kangaskhan and Mawile, respectively. As a result of running Specs, it auto-loses to Scarf variants. Hydro Pump was only used for Rotom-H, so Stone Edge might've been better. However at the time of posting this, I still don't have a 6 IV Salamence.

Used during Rounds 2 and 8 of Swiss.
Used during Round 2 of Swiss.
Used during the 8th Round of Swiss since I didn't really care anymore.
Used in my Top Cut Match with EDDCHRIS

Problems With The Team

This team isn't perfect, nor will I ever try to say it is. During many of my games, I saw that I was over-reliant on Rotom-H to take care of Steel-types such as Mega Mawile and Aegislash since my other team members aside from maybe Gyarados and Garchomp couldn't do a whole lot against them. If Mega Kangaskhan gets in at least 1 Power-Up Punch, things tend to get messy for my team. The team also has a hard time against hard Trick Room, which I didn't face too much of. Most importantly Rock Slide flinches, Sleep Powder misses, and Dark Void are the bane of my existence.

Final Thoughts

I hope you found this a little bit informative. I'll try and have this up on my WordPress blog because Blogger sucks so fucking much that even Eggy Emporium ditched it for personal reference. And don't forget to follow me @NickscorVGC!

A Saint, 2 Kings and 3 Espers: A Nuggetbridge Major Top 16 Team Analysis

My name is Simon and I just got Top 16 in the Nuggetbridge Major. I've had a rough season in the Real CP Circuit and the only thing keeping my spirits up was the Major and "I was happy with how I performed. I wish I could've gone deeper but DeVon just played much better than I did. I wanted to post a team report because I think I should finally "retire" the team after 4 months of playing nothing else.

I'll first introduce my Team as well as explain their sets and Spreads before moving on to Team Synergy.

All my Pokemon are named after characters from the Accel World and Index/Railgun Series. I'm also going to "pull a Randy" and explain nicknames now that I'm apparently an anime girl now.

The article name comes from the two Mega's on my team being "Kings" from Accel World and the other 4 being  from the To Aru series. This was not intended but ended up happening anyways so why not.

Garchomp(<3Kinuhata<3) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 204 Atk / 252 Spd / 12 HP / 36 SDef / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Protect
This Garchomp uses a fairly standard moveset with a slightly modified EV Spread. The small amount of bulk will always allow it to survive a Timid Mega Manectric HP Ice. The speed was maxed to outspeed base 100's and tie with other Garchomp(might as well speed tie with them since it's 1 point anyways). The remaining 204 Attack EVs allow it to always OHKO 4 HP 0 Def Charizard with Rock Slide.

Kinuhata is an esper that has an ability called "Offense Armor" which allows her to control nitrogen and use it to reflect attacks, similar to how Rough Skin  deals damage to anything that tries to hit Garchomp.

Salamence(Accelerator) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 220 Spd / 124 SAtk / 20 HP / 140 SDef / 4 Def
Modest Nature
- Stone Edge
- Draco Meteor
- Sleep Talk
- Fire Blast
A fairly standard Scarf Salamence set. EV's allow it to outpseed Jolly Mega Aerodactyl. The bulk prevents it from being OHKO'd by Timid Mega Manectric HP Ice and 2HKO'd by Max Sp. Attack Rotom Forme Thunderbolts. I chose Stone Edge over other Rock-type moves because it has the best chance of OHKO'ing Charizard and Talonflame even if they run some bulk. I added Sleep Talk because I decided that Lum Berry on Garchomp (to beat Smeargle) wasn't paying off as much as I wanted it to.
I couldn't really think of a good name for Salamence so I chose Accelerator because they both have wings or something.

Charizard(<3Yuniko<3) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
EVs: 164 Spd / 12 SAtk / 108 Def / 4 SDef / 220 HP
Modest Nature
- Heat Wave
- Overheat
- Solar Beam
- Protect
The moveset for my Charizard is nothing special so I'll just get straight to the EV Spread.
164 Speed hits a speed stat of 141 which speed creeps anything that just wants to outspeed max speed Smeargle. The HP and Defense allows it to always survive Adamant Rock Slide from Mamoswine and everything weaker than it including Garchomp. It also survives Mega Kangaskahn Returns as well as Aerodactyl Rock Slides after Intimidate. A Modest Mega Manectric only has a 7/8 chance to OHKO my Charizard with Thunderbolt. The remainder was put into Special Attack.

Yuniko is The Red King and has the Dual Avatar; Scarlet Rain. Scarlet Rain is the Duel Avatar that just hides in a huge Mecha thing and shoots endless rounds of Firepower, similar to how my Charizard is set up.

Gardevoir(<3Misaki<3) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Trace
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 108 SAtk / 4 Spd / 20 SDef / 124 Def
Modest Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Protect
Gardevoir's moveset is different from most. It's very defense oriented as opposed to most. I chose Dazzling Gleam because it allowed me to hit Dragon's on a switch regardless of which position in addition to being able to hit Scrafty and Dragons in the face of a Rage Powder Amoonguss. Trick Room gave my team another options in case I played a team that was ridiculously fast and is often unexpected from a Gardevoir.
The EV Spread allows it to take a Adamant Mega Kangaskhan Return after Sitrus Berry activates. It also always survives a Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird/Flare Blitz and a max Special Attack Aegislash Shadowball/Flash Cannon. The Special Attacks allows it to KO standard Dragons as well as KO 4HP Talonflame after Brave Bird Recoil ~91% of the time.
Misaki is an esper with the "Mental Out" ability which allows her to manipulate and control the minds of just about anyone that isn't stronger than her. Being a psychic-type, Gardevoir has similar abilities.

Mawile(Kuroyukihime) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 196 SDef / 16 Atk / 44 Def
Careful Nature
IVs: 4 Spd
- Play Rough
- Rock Slide
- Sucker Punch
- Protect
You'll notice a couple of things that are different from the usual Mawile. First, it has Rock Slide instead of Iron Head. I noticed that I would only ever use Iron Head when I didn't want Play Rough to miss. I also had problem with Charizard when I used my Trick Room Mode so I needed an easy way to deal with it. Rotom-H is probably the single biggest threat to my team and Rock Slide gave me to option to nail one on a presumed safe switch in.
The EV spread is very similar to Ray's but I didn't really value the 15/16 chance to KO 252 HP Tyranitar and had other priorities. The 44 Defense ensures that it would survive a Choice Band Talonflame Flare Blitz after Intimidate. The Special Defense guarantees that it will survives a Timid Choice Specs Fire Blast from Salamence and a Modest Mega Manectric Overheat. You'll also notice that it has a 4 Speed IV, this is was to ensure that I would always move after Aegislash so I could nail it with a Play Rough for about 60% of its health after it switched to Blade Forme.

Mawile is named after Kuroyukihime whose Duel Avatar is Black Lotus aka The Black King. Black Lotus is one of the strongest DAs in the series just like how Mawile is also one of the strongest.

Aegislash(<3Kanzaki<3) @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 172 SAtk / 76 SDef / 4 Def / 4 Atk
Quiet Nature
IVs: 20 Spd
- King's Shield
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Sacred Sword
This is a faily standard Substitute Leftovers Aegislash. I chose Sacred Sword over Flash Cannon because my team has problems with Tyranitar and Pyroar. The 76 Special Defense is NOT for Timid Charizard Heat Wave as most people seem to think. It's for max Special Attack Modest Rotom-H Overheat (which it survives 15/16 times) as well as a couple Rain Boosted moves that aren't as relevant. The 20 Speed lets it speed other Aegislash and underspeeds minimum speed Mega Tyranitar as well as Neutral Mawile and Azumarill so I would get hit in Shield Forme before switching to Sword Forme to attack.
Kanzaki is a Saint/magician that uses a Katana and Metal Wires to destroy things in her path. I named my Aegislash Kanzaki because it's metal... and is half sword.

Honorary Mention

I used Noivern in the first half of the swiss rounds but switched to Salamence because I felt I needed Intimidate as well as another rock-type move.

Noivern @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Infiltrator
Level: 50
EVs: 4 Def / 36 HP / 4 SDef / 252 SAtk / 212 Spd
Modest Nature
- Super Fang
- Flamethrower
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
Noivern was used in a way that was very similar to a Scarf Salamence. The difference is that a Modest Noivern actually has more Special Attack and Speed than a Timid Salamence which eliminates the speed tie factor. Noivern had Infiltrator instead of the superior Frisk because I wanted to hide the fact that it was Choice Scarf and get a surprise KO on Scarf Salamences. I actually ran enough speed to Outspeed Scarf Garchomp just in case that showed up. Infiltrator was also useful in hitting Aegislash through Substitute. I used Super Fang when I just wanted to chip large chunksof  health off of my opponent's Pokemon without having to predict too hard.
Noivern didn't have a nickname because I wan't an anime girl at the time but I would probably name it after the Infinite Stratos Unit SilentZephyr or Blue Tears.

Team Synergy/Selection

First I want to talk about the Team as a whole and Team Preview. Most players don't like 2 Mega's on their team because it "limits their options" but I disagree. If anything, running 2 Mega widen's the range of options I have. When you only have one Mega, you're almost forced to select the one Mega every game. You get to pick 1 Mega and then 3 out of 5. With 2 Megas, you get to pick 1 of 2 and then 3 of 4. Megas are arguably the strongest Pokemon in the game and having the variety of choosing between them is in my eyes a bigger asset than being able to select from a wider range of none megas.

The Charizard Mawile Double Mega

I really enjoyed using the both Charizard and Mawile. Charizard had a strong Sun and Rain Matchup while Mawile excels in Sand, Trick Room and Hail. I also enjoyed that both Mega's had the ability to wipe out Mega Kangaskahn from the start.
Gardevoir was probably my most brought Pokemon. It complimented both of my Megas really well. It threatened Dragons that wanted to KO my Charizard and also had the option to set up Trick Room for Mawile.

Double Dragon Double Steel Double Fairy

My team had a very strong Synergy between types because I always had a good switch in due to how Fairy/Steel compliments Dragon or the other way around. I would always be able to switch in Mawile, Gardevoir or Aegislash into Salamence and Garchomp because of this though it was starting to become predictable which is something I feel constributed to my loss.

Trick Room Mode

I used my Trick Room option in about 25% of my games. Most of these games involved Scarf Pokemon and Aerodactyl with Tailwind. I would lead Salamence Gardevoir and they would try to set up Tailwind wanting to outspeed my Salamence and be decimated by a Mawile/Aegislash switch in conjunction with a Trick Room.

Biggest Threats

Rotom-H was by far the biggest threat to my team. They were generally bulky enough to survive multiple Rock Slides from Garchomp and threated the KO on both of my Mega Pokemon as well as my Steels.
Tyranitar was the second biggest threat to my team. I didn't really have an answer to ones with Ice Beam and even with Sacred Sword from Aegislash and Mawile, I'd still have to take a huge chunk of damage to KO. Tyranitar was tricky to beat because it could be a variety of sets, trying to defend against a special set only to have it Dragon Dance is pretty devastating.

Closing Thoughts

I really enjoyed the Major and it helped remind me that I'm still a really good player despite my performances in events "that count." I noticed that my team has a similar playstyle to the one I used in 2013 and that I need to expand my skillset with differnt strategies. I hope I get enough points to qualify for the Nuggetbridge Invitation so I can have another run at the elusive Tournament Win that I've never gotten.

Self promotion time, follow me on twitter at @YopYopVGC