May - Speed Tiers and Damage Calculations

Sorry I was busy on the 1st so I didn't post the blog. And no one asked for it to be posted anyways. This month I will be talking about weights of Unova region pokemon, speed lists for Trick Room and Tailwind pokemon, and a few common damage calculations. I will link some things so that I don't have to write it twice, and to not steal their work and take credit for it, even though it is just stuff they researched and organized into a thread, not like creativity that was made up. So I first want to give a big shout-out for Human, SixOneSix and Magma BSTS for doing some research and posting those valuable links. Human also helped me with the Damage Calculator Probabilities. And thanks to ZachDro for researching weight of each common pokemon.

Here are the weights for the Unova region pokemon. He didn't seem to mention this, but apparently it seems like all the pokemon he didn't list were either too bad to be mentioned, or they were light enough to be put into the 20 power category.

http://www.teammagma.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=d4rvq8jv1rq4ihcl8oqtm8u9g2&topic=179.0

Here is the link to the list of weights for common pokemon:

http://pastebin.com/QT7vdLL6

Now I am going to list speeds in numerical order (lowest number to highest) with the speed stats on level 50, and link to Human's thread to finish the rest. I am going to list the speed of all pokemon that are fully evolved. I will include even bad pokemon and ones not used a lot, because they will be used a lot in regionals. Noobs use noobish pokemon =P.The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, the fruit grows off of the tree, you know, those kind of sayings. Basically just saying a tree is characterized by its fruit, lemons do not grow off of grape trees. And with that said, noobs do not use good pokemon, which is why they are called noobs. And good people use good pokemon, which is why they are called good.

With that said, here is the list:

TR Speeds (Min speed of low speed pokemon)

1. Ferrothorn - 22
2. Escavalier - 22
3. Gigalith - 27
4. Musharna - 30
5. Amoonguss - 31
6. Reuniclus - 31
7. Cofagrigusk - 31
8. Stunfisk - 32
9. Carracosta - 33
10. Beheeyem - 40
11. Crustle - 45
12. Conkeldurr - 45
13. Throh - 45
14. Druddigon - 47
15. Eelektross - 49
16. Beartic - 50
17. Audino - 50
18. Bouffalant - 54
19. Golurk - 54
20. Scrafty - 56
21. Jellicent - 58
22. Heatmore - 65
23. Gothitelle - 65
24. Emboar - 65
25. Bisharp - 67
26. Samurott - 67
27. Seismitoad - 74
28. Vanilluxe - 75
29. Mandibuzz - 76
30. Braviary - 76
31. Chandelure - 76
32. Stoutland - 76

From these min speeds you also know who can out-speed each other if both use max speed. Now I will link to Tailwind speeds with Human's link as well as SixOneSix's:

http://skarmbliss.com/forum/index.php?topic=1148.0

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85308

Random Common Damage Calculations

1. Max HP with Coba berry on Amoonguss to survive Acrobat from Jolly max Atk Tornadus.
2. 168 HP stat and 141 Sp D stat on Scrafty to wall Life Orb max Sp Atk Hydreigon's Dracometeor.
3. 182 Sp Atk Life Orb Hydreigon's Dracometeor OHKO's max HP Genies (All 3 of them).
4. 156 Atk Life Orb Hydreigon's Crunch OHKO's max HP jellicent.
5. Adamant Tornadus does not always OHKO non-HP EV'd Hydreigon, nor Jolly Hydreigon; does between 155 and 183 damage!
6. Heat Wave Chandelure against Amoonguss does 218 damage max if Amoonguss has 4 Sp D Evs. So in other words simply a max HP Amoonguss walls Heat Wave without dying.
7. Impossible to stop Substitute from breaking with Rock Slide from Conkeldurr against an Amoonguss with Substitute.
8. 183 HP and 102 D (Stats) for Tornadus to wall opposing Jolly Tornadus with Acrobatics without getting OHKO'd.
9. Musharna with max Sp Atk Quiet OHKO's max HP Conkeldurr 100% of the time with Psychic.
10. X-Scissor Bug Jewel Crustle vs. Hydreigon does 200 damage min, so it OHKO's max HP Hydreigon.
11. Crunch from Krookodile against Jellicent: Jellicent survives with 193 HP (Stat), 105 D (Stat).
12. 170 Atk (Or higher of course) Terrakion with Rock Gem Rock Slide OHKO's Tornadus and Thundurus.
13. Dragon Pulse Dragon Gem Hydreigon doesn't ohko min HP Thundurus guaranteed.
14. Draco Meteor ohko's min HP Thundurus with Hydreigon.
15. Jolly Terrakion does 157 damage max to Tornadus with Rock Slide.
16. Max Attack Adamant Terrakion Close Combat against Ferrothorn does 183-215 damage.
17. 179 Attack Tornadus ohko's opposing max HP Tornadus with Acrobatics.
18. Adamant max Atk Terrakion's Rock Slide does 144-169 against no defense EV'd Tornadus/Thundurus.
19. Max Sp Atk Modest Eelektross does 140-165 with Electric Gem to Thundurus with Thunderbolt.
20. 181 HP and 110 D survives Jolly Close Combat from Terrakion.
21. 177 Sp Atk (Timid max Sp Atk) Thundurus does 144-169 versus no Sp D Thundurus with Electric Gem Thunderbolt.
22. Volcarona does 177 damage minimum versus Hydreigon with Bug Buzz.
23. Max Sp Atk Reuniclus with Life Orb does 196-231 to Calm Amoonguss with 133 sp D (156 EVs).
24. Max HP 115 D Stoutland walls Max Atk Close Combat from Adamant Terrakion. 
25. Rock Slide from Jolly Terrakion does 64-76 damage to 90 D Amoonguss.

http://pokedex-br.info/damage.html

That was the link to the damage calculator I use. I will explain how to use it.

Damage Calculator Probabilities

It is a 6.25% chance for each specific chance of happening. There will always be 16 different possible damages, and it is 1/16 chance for each one, doesnt matter if it is left or right, all of the chances are the same; it is that simple.

And I could not list common teams people use because in Bring6Pick4, they could lead with anything. I want to thank ZeroWF very much for telling me about this blog site; I've been having a lot of problems with facebook, especially the underlining being messed up.This will be the last blog of this year, I need to focus on battling now.

April - VGC 2011 in a Nutshell

Usable Pokemon List (A-Z Order)

1. Amoonguss
2. Bouffalant
3. Chandelure
4. Conkeldurr
5. Druddigon
6. Eelektross
7. Escavalier
8. Gigalith
9. Haxorus
10. Hydreigon
11. Jellicent
12. Krookodile
13. Landorus
14. Mandibuzz
15. Musharna
16. Reuniclus
17. Samurott
18. Scrafty
19. Terrakion
20. Thundurus
21. Tornadus
22. Volcarona

Here is the list of counters for each highly used pokemon. They are grouped A-Z order.

          Amoonguss

1. Bouffalant
2. Chandelure
3. Musharna
4. Reuniclus
5. Scrafty (Shed Skin only)
6. Tornadus
7. Volcarona
8. Chesto Berry
9. Lum Berry
10. Faster Safeguard
11. Faster Substitute

          Bouffalant

      1. Conkeldurr
      2. Escavalier
      3. Krookodile Check
      4. Gigalith
      5. Terrakion

          Chandelure

1. Druddigon
2. Gigalith
3. Haxorus
4. Hydreigon
5. Krookodile
6. Mandibuzz
7. Samurott
8. Scrafty
9. Terrakion

          Conkeldurr

1. Amoonguss
2. Chandelure
3. Jellicent
4. Landorus
5. Musharna
6. Reuniclus
7. Thundurus w/HP Flying
8. Tornadus (not a switch-in counter but if out at same time then it counters)

          Druddigon

1. Amoonguss
2. Krookodile
3. Escavalier
4. Terrakion @ Fight Jewel
5. Samurott
6. Eelektross w/HP Ice

          Eelektross 

1. Amoonguss
2. Druddigon
3. Haxorus
4. Hydreigon
5. Musharna
6. Reuniclus

          Escavalier

1. Amoonguss
2. Chandelure
3. Conkeldurr
4. Eelektross w/Flamethrower
5. Jellicent
6. Thundurus
7. Volcarona

          Gigalith

1. Amoonguss
2. Conkeldurr
3. Eelektross
4. Escavalier
5. Jellicent
6. Krookodile
7. Landorus
8. Samurott
9. Scrafty
10. Terrakion

          Haxorus

1. Amoonguss
2. Bouffalant
3. Conkeldurr
4. Escavalier
5. Musharna
6. Reuniclus
7. Samurrott
8. Terrakion

          Hydreigon

1. Bouffalant
2. Conkeldurr
3. Escavalier
4. Scrafty
5. Terrakion
6. Volcarona

          Jellicent

1. Amoonguss
2. Boufallant
3. Druddigon
4. Eelektross
5. Hydreigon
6. Reuniclus
7. Samurott
8. Scrafty
9. Thundurus

          Krookodile

1. Amoonguss
2. Conkeldurr
3. Eelektross
4. Escavalier
5. Hydreigon 
6. Samurott

          Landorus

1. Amoonguss
2. Eelektross
3. Hydreigon
4. Jellicent
5. Musharna
6. Reuniclus
7. Samurott
8. Thundurus with HP ice
9. Tornadus with Max Atk Adamant

          Musharna

1. Boufallant
2. Chandelure
3. Druddigon
4. Escavalier
5. Hydreigon
6. Jellicent
7. Krookodile
8. Musharna w/Imprison
9. Reuniclus w/Imprison
10. Scrafty
11. Volcarana
12. Anything that resists Psychic basically.         

          Reuniclus

1. Boufallant
2. Chandelure
3. Druddigon
4. Escavalier
5. Hydreigon
6. Jellicent
   
7. Krookodile
8. Musharna w/Imprison
   
9. Reuniclus w/Imprison
   
10. Scrafty
11. Volcarana
12. Anything that resists Psychic basically.    

          Samurott

1. Amoonguss
2. Conkeldurr
3. Escavalier
4. Hydreigon (Bulky)
5. Musharna
6. Reuniclus

          Scrafty

1. Amoonguss
2. Conkeldurr
3. Eelektross (If Acrobat or Specs)
4. Escavalier
5. Krookodile@Chople Berry
6. Landorus (Unless Ice Punch)
7. Mandibuzz
8. Tornadus
9. Volcarona

          Terrakion

1. Amoonguss
2. Conkeldurr
3. Eelektross@Choice Specs Grass Knot
4. Escavalier
5. Jellicent with Water Gem/Life Orb Scald
6. Krookodile@Chople Berry
7. Landorus
8. Musharna
9. Reuniclus
10. Samurott

         Thundurus

1. Bouffalant
2. Druddigon
3. Eelektross
4. Gigalith
5. Haxorus
6. Hydreigon
7. Musharna
8. Reuniclus 
9. Samurott
10. Terrakion with scarf or high bulk

         Tornadus

1. Gigalith
2. Eelektross
3. Haxorus
4. Musharna
5. Samurott
6. Reuniclus
7. Terrakion (Rock Jewel)
8. Thundurus
9. Anything that walls Acrobat and OHKO's, this includes Band/Specs on a pokemon.

          Volcarona

1. Chandelure
2. Gigalith
3. Haxorus
4. Jellicent
5. Terrakion
6. Samurott

Moves Not to Use in VGC 2011

Accupressure
Aqua Ring
Assist
Assurance
Attract
Beat Up - Gets beat by Rage Powder so Terracot is not something you want to rely on.
Blizzard
Bulldoze
Captivate
Confuse Ray
Dig
Disable
Dive
Electric Net
Encore - Borderline Usable
Explosion - Borderline Usable
Final Gambit
Fire Pledge
Flatter
Fling
Fly
Grass Pledge
Hail
Heal Block
Heal Pulse
Hurricane
Icy Wind
Ingrain
Kinesis
Last Resort
Metronome
Mist
Mud Sport
Outrage - Only if you know how to use it right
Petal Dance - Only if you know how to use it right
Psycho Shock
Psych Up
Razor Wind
Retribution
Snatch
Sonicboom
Splash
Swagger
Sweet Kiss
Sweet Scent
Taunt. (The foe may carry Mental Herb so do not rely on Taunt to phaze anything.)
Telekinesis
Teleport
Thrash - Only if you know how to use it right
Thunder
Uturn
Volt Change
Water Pledge

And these statements in bold describe things in general to avoid:

1. Two Substitute users in the back of a team. Exception: You have Protect AND Substitute on at least one of the pokemon used in the back. 
2. Anything that lowers the offensive stats of foe(s) by one stage at a time (within 1 turn)   
3. Any move that targets an ally (Single attacking, for example swagger lum combo)
4. Any move where high accuracy is dependent on weather 
5. Any move that hits a random target 
6. Any move that raises a defensive stat, or accuracy (Exception is a move that may raise say a defensive stat, but also raises an offensive stat within the same turn. One example of an exception may be Quiver Dance. ) Gravity is not a usable move, because it only raises accuracy; unless you are primarily using it to make the foes vulnerable to a ground move, you should not use it.
7. Any move under 85 accuracy 
8. Any move that could have perfect accuracy but you chose to use say Fire Blast over Flamethrower because it has more power; unless the power is extremely larger, do not go for more power if you can get more accuracy with less power 
9. Any move that recharges (Exception is Eject Button or Whirlwinding your ally so they don't need to recharge.) 
10. Entry Hazards
 11. Any pokemon who relies on a speed tie against other common pokemon of the same speed. Exceptions include: 1. Foe is a pokemon that you can easily wall any of its attacks, For example, you use max speed timid Thundurus against a Tornadus that might have the same speed, knowing you can wall Acrobat and then kill it if Tornadus happens to outspeed. Also in Bring6Pick4 you do not have to use say a Thundurus, so if you see the foe has a pokemon with the same speed as Thundurus, you might want to avoid picking it.
 12. Any pokemon that has a 4x weakness unless Focus Sash or damage reducing berry reduces that 4x weakness 
13. Any pokemon with a more than one 4x weakness without Focus Sash
14. Any move that only works one time, and cannot use the move even after the foe protected the first one. For example, Fling gets your item thrown off even if the foe protects. Then it is gone forever.
15. Any move that is a multi-turn attack that doesn't break protect. Future Sight in Gen V breaks protect, so it is usable. However, Fly is not.
16. Two weaknesses as a lead combo to the same move. For example, Tornadus Chandelure lead is both weak to Rock Slide. Or it doesn't even need to be a spread move. It could be something like Terrakion Conkeldurr lead,(yes I know doesn't make much sense but just an example) that is both weak to Psychic. You don't want to get into a prediction war of who they will Psychic, and if your lead is weak against spread moves that is even worse. If you know in bring6pick4 that they are guaranteed not to have a move that your lead would both share a weakness for, then you can lead like that, but generally speaking avoid using a common weakness as a lead combo.
17. Try to avoid weight-based moves such as grass knot unless the only alternative is a hidden power. For example Grass knot is better on Samurott than HP grass, however Low Kick is not better on Conkeldurr than Hammer Arm or Drain Punch, because you need to do consistently high damage.
18. Try not to use choice items such as Choice Scarf, Choice Band, or Choice Specs. These severely limit your move variety, which is crucial to success. Plus it does not allow for other items to greatly counter your weaknesses.  It makes your wins inconsistent, and the speed increase or power increase is not worth it overall. Choice items are especially bad with moves that hit allies, whether STAB or not. This is because there are many times when it could hit an ally and you are locked in and can't do anything about it. Just avoid a move like Earthquake in general with a choice item. Choiced mons often get revenge killed easily and get picked off with priority with no way to defend itself. 
19. Two pokemon with the same exact typing. For example, Tornadus and Braviary on the same team. 

Counter-Phazing Ideas

1. After You
2. Ally Switch (The Move)
3. Chesto Berry
4. Disable
5. Encore
6. Faster Fake Out than the foe.
7. Lum Berry
8. Magic Coat
9. Mental Herb
10. Prankster
11. Rage Powder
12. Safeguard
13. Snatch
14. Two Fake Out immunities
15. Shed Skin
16. Spore
17. Worry Seed

Phazing Tier

Fake Out > Spore > ImprisonTR > Roar/Whirlwind >Dragon Tail > Fast Guard

Tail Room Criteria

1. Tailwind Lead
2. Trick Room Lead
3. Tailwinder can also be the Trick Roomer, but not required
4. Trick Room or Tailwind is not relied upon in the back to win the speed war

Basically the idea is to get up Tailwind and if the foes happen to have faster pokemon, you would Trick Room instead of Tailwind; or wait until they set up Tailwind sometimes if you don't outspeed them, before you Trick Room. That way they will be twice as slow after Trick Room is up, since they put up a Tailwind. Another use of the theme is to reverse Trick Room that the foe set up in order to maintain the speed advantage against a Trick Room team. Jellicent seems to work really well for Tail Room, as well as Whimiscott, since Whimiscott learns Trick Room, and Tailwind.

Problems with Turbo Room

1. Speed ties
2. Faster opposing pokemon
3. Scarfed foes
4. Opposing pokemon with unexpected speeds (i.e you expect Modest Hydreigon in Tailwind but turns out to be Timid.)
5. The foe has a mixture of speeds, like one super fast one like say Thundurus, and a slower one as well like Amoonguss. This is a problem because you can't simply Trick Room to solve the problem of being outsped by the foes.

Fast Room and Turbo Room Explanations - (4 VS 4 ONLY Not Intended for VGC 11)

I did not have time to put Turbo Room and Fast Room on this month's blog, so I am making another one. The last one I talked mostly about hax, even though all the hax really was just "random variables that add luck into the game". Fast Room and Turbo Room are different from what most people think. I will lump another kind of category of teamstyle into Turbo Room just because it is basically the same idea except with a tiny twist. And the very last things I will be talking about is the many different phazing combinations you can use to prevent Trick Room from setting up.

Fast Room Criteria:

1. Trick Room Lead.
2. Medium Speed Pokes (Faster than normal TR speed but slower than Tailwind pokes).
3. Consistently Prevents TR from setting up, even Fake Out supporting a Trick Room ally, or Anger Powder.
4. Needs to guarantee TR can be set up (excluding say flinch hax from Dark Pulse). For example, Sashed  Imprison Trick Room Shanderaa with Fake Out ally.

Fast Room Explanation:

Fast Room is supposed to solve the prediction problem of two Trick Room teams versus each other. In this dilemma, you do not know who will Trick Room or not Trick Room, so you are unsure of whether to Trick Room yourself or not. Fast Room basically counters their TR team without prediction, so TR is not a problem for it. Then it acts as a regular TR team and is meant to be faster than almost any foe for as long as TR is up. You want faster pokemon than the foe's TR team so that when you prevent their TR, you out-speed their whole team.

Turbo Room Criteria:

1. Trick Room Lead/Snatch.
2. Very High Speed Pokes (Faster than normal TR speed and also faster than Tailwind pokes).
3. Consistently Prevents TR from setting up, even Fake Out supporting a Trick Room ally, or Anger Powder.
4. Needs to guarantee TR can be set up (excluding say flinch hax from Dark Pulse). For example, Sashed  Imprison Trick Room Shanderaa with Fake Out ally. If TR is not used then Snatch needs to be used.

Turbo Room Explanation:

Turbo Room is meant to out-speed Tailwind teams and pokemon that have high speed in non-TW, non-TR. It normally does not want TR up because it normally is comprised of 3 really fast pokemon with a bulky TR ally that is ensuring you always get a speed advantage. It is essentially the rudder of the ship (metaphorically speaking). All the bulky TR user does is make sure the allies get the speed advantage, and it is basically a supporting pokemon with an emphasis on ensuring your allies out-speed the foes =P.

Now basically you shouldn't even care if the foe happens to get up Tailwind. If they happen to get one up, you should be glad, not distraught; because they just made a foolish move. You can just TR to gain the speed advantage even with your super fast pokemon, since Tailwind makes them half  as slow when TR is up. It basically doubles speed outside of TR, but when TR is up, it would be like if a plane got a headwind, so now it is like the wind is pushing against them, not helping them go faster.

Example of a Fast Room lead pasted from exported text:

1. Zuruzukin (M) @ Chople Berry

Trait: Earthquake Spiral
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Fake Out
- Drain Punch
- Crunch
- Detect
Shandera (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Heat Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Imprison
- Trick Room

Examples of Turbo Room teams pasted from exported text:

1. Aakeosu (M) @ Flight Jewel

Trait: Weak-kneed
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Fast Guard
- Protect
- Rock Slide
- Acrobat
Mushaana (M) @ Mental Herb
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 36 SAtk / 76 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Helping Hand
- Psychic
- Trick Room
- Imprison
Urugamosu (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Anger Powder
- Bug Buzz
- Heat Wave
- Protect
Terakion @ Chople Berry
Trait: Justice Heart
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Holy Sword
- Rock Slide
- Protect
- Helping Hand


2.  TheBest (Reparudasu) (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Fake Out
- Assurance
- Encore
- Snatch
2ndBest (Sazandora) (M) @ Dragon Jewel
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Roar
- Protect
3rdBest (Terakion) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Justice Heart
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
- Protect
- Helping Hand
4thBest (Shandera) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 60 HP / 252 SAtk / 196 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball

As you can see, both are offensive and prevent Trick Room if need be. They also outspeed Tailwind Pokes before Tailwind is up.

Now I will list phazing combinations that prevent Trick Room from setting up, some of which are not guaranteed, but if they are not guaranteed I will mention them.

Spore with Morobareru is the only non-perfectly reliable Trick Room counter, along with a few others that might you know, die to random variables but always work otherwise.

Ghost Type Imprison Trick Room works every time unless the foe uses a multi-hitting SE move on your Shanderaa. I say Ghost type to show you the fact that it is immune to Fake Out, thus you don't need ally support to deal with Fake Out. Rock Blast Iwasiperu/Gigaisu is one way to kill Shanderaa and then set up Trick Room with your ally.

Whirlwind/Roar are basically the same exact thing, except Whirlwind hits Soundproof and Roar does not. And since no Soundproof users are in VGC 2011, we will see Roar and Whirlwind as exactly equal.These moves switch the the foe's Trick Room user out before he/she can get TR up.

Fast Guard Is one move used to beat the Fake Out Trick Room combination. Normally it is very bad but you can use it in extraordinary circumstances, in order to prevent TR from being set up by the foe.

Fake Out is one way to beat a Fake Out TR foe. You outspeed the foe and Fake Out him before he can Fake Out you and then your ally deals with the other foe who isn't the Fake Out user, the Trick Room user.

Dragon Tail affects ghosts unlike Overhead Throw, which is why I left OT out. Basically Dragon Tail is like a Roar except with some power and 10 less accuracy.

Now I will list all the possible combinations to use to consistently beat Trick Room:

1. Fake Out Whirlwind
2. Fake Out Roar
3. Fake Out Spore - Loses to Lum Berry TR with Anger Powder Ally
4. Fake Out Dragon Tail
5. Fast Guard Whirlwind - Loses to Anger Powder TR
6. Fast Guard Roar - Loses to Anger Powder TR
7. Fast Guard Dragon Tail - Loses to Anger Powder TR
8. Fast Guard Spore - Loses to Anger Powder or Lum TR user
9. Fast Guard Imprison Trick Room - (Since Fast Guard goes before Imprison, Snatch Steals the Fast Guard, which makes Imprison work everytime unless the foe uses Imprison first).
10. Whirlwind Spore - Loses to Anger Powder/Fake Out plus Lum ally.
11. Roar Spore - Loses to Anger Powder/Fake Out plus Lum ally.
12. Whirlwind Roar
13. Whirlwind Dragon Tail
14. Whirlwind Whirlwind
15. Spore Spore - Lose to Lum Berry or Anger Powder.
16. Ghost Imprison Trick Room - Loses to Snatch or faster Imprison (But a Trick Room team never will use a faster Imprison user, however it is possible).
17. Anger Powder Imprison Trick Room - Loses to Snatch
18. Anger Powder Whirlwind - Loses to Anger Powder
19. Anger Powder Roar- Loses to Anger Powder
20. Anger Powder Spore - Loses to Anger Powder/Lum Berry
21. Anger Powder Dragon Tail - Loses to Anger Powder

Notice how I didn't include Taunt. Mental Herb has a chance to beat Taunt, therefore Taunt is unreliable and if you use it and it works, you just got lucky since the foe could very well use that item. Also most of these lose to Mischievous Heart Trick Room because it has 1 more priority and Erufuun has high speed, I just didn't list it since it was Repetitive. Also even things that always prevent TR doesn't mean it beats TR. After You Trick Room also is gimmicky but you may have trouble preventing that without Fake Out, or if they double protect first turn then After You 2nd turn, that would be hard to beat. What if when you double Whirlwind, they go all out offense and don't use TR first turn? Think about it. Nothing is perfectly reliable in pokemon; most of it is prediction and knowing how the game works.

Now I will list every single pokemon that gets phazing moves just to save you guys time:

Dragon Tail:

1. Archeops
2. Eelektross
3. Haxorus
4. Hydreigon
5. Krookodile
6. Samurott
7. Scrafty

Fake Out:

1. Kojondo
2. Reparadasu
3. Zuruzukin

Fast Guard:

1. Aakeosu
2. Dageki
3. Kobauron
4. Kojondo
5. Shubargo
6. Terakion

Imprison TR:

1. Desukan
2. Kokoromori
3. Mushaana
4. Oobemu
5. Rankurusu
6. Shanderaa

Roar:

1. Aakeosu
2. Birijion
3. Enbuoo
4. Hihidaruma
5. Kobauron
6. Karimugan
7. Muurando
8. Ononokusu
9. Sazandora
10. Shibirudon
11. Stoutland
12. Terakion
13. Tsunbeaa
14. Warubiaru
15. Zoroark
16. Zuruzukin

Spore:

1. Amoonguss

Whirlwind:

1. Barujiina
2. Shinbora
3. Uooguru
4. Urugamosu

I left off some of the pokemon in Isshu that could learn the moves just because they are either Pre-evolutions or just really low-tier pokemon you never want to use. However I added in a lot of not super-low tier guys such as Enbuoo which may be bad but some people think it is usable.

March VGC 2011 - Murphy's Law: Pokemon Edition

Last month didn't have a blog posted due to a lack of new information at that time period. This month I will be describing the various forms of hax, so you can complain about if it happens to you. I will also talk about which moves NOT to use in VGC. Most of these rules are the same as last year.

Hax may come in all sizes and forms, so you should look for any excuse you can to act like the foe got lucky. And well sometimes they do. But hax doesn't have to make sense. If worse comes to worse you can just claim sleep hax after you get spored. It is very important to know what kinds of things are hax. Hax is basically just luck in some sort or fashion; luck that gives you a disadvantage in the game. Even if the foe bases something on strategy, it is still often lucky that it worked. Hax is basically anything that is a 50% chance or under. Now that I've given you a brief introduction about hax, I'll list all the main different kinds of hax someone can get against you.

Game Mechanics Hax List

1. Ability Hax - When an ability that doesn't normally activate, activates by luck somehow, i.e. cursed body disabling.
2. Crit Defensive Stat Hax - When the foe gets a crit while you boost your defenses somehow, crits ignore stat boosts of the foe so it does a lot more than expected. Max hax with this someone can get is 4.0; which means you have plus 6 defense/special defense and the foe lands a critical hit. It is based on a ratio basically.  
3. Crit Hax - When the foe lands a critical hit in general.
4. Crit Kamikaze Hax - When you land a critical hit on the foe on the turn they happen to use Destiny Bond. It can also happen with recoiling moves as well, such as Flare Blitz that crits on a pokemon and since you dont expect it to crit, the extra recoil since it does up to double the damage of what you thought it would do could really screw you in a battle.
5. Deceiving Damage Roll Hax - When a move does either a lot the first hit or does very low. You get upset because you either expect it to kill or expect it not to kill, both of which strategies get messed up by this hax.
6. Double Hax - When a move has 2 haxes that happen in one turn. For example, waterfall critical hitting and getting a flinch in the same turn. It is possible to have more than double hax depending on the move, and how many foes are targeting you. It may be more than double hax.
7. Flinch Hax - This happens when you get flinched in general.
8. Gender Hax - When the foe happens to have an opposite gender pokemon when you have Rivalry or has opposite gender when it has the move Attract. Or it could be when you happen to have the same gender as a foe who has Rivalry, or you happen to have the same gender as a foe and you want to spam Attract.
9. Hit Hax - When the foe happens to hit many times in a row with an inaccurate or even semi-accurate move that happens to hit a lot in a row. For example, 7 Stone Edges hit in a row; or DynamicPunch hits twice in a row.
10. Item Hax - When the foe has an unexpected item, this includes berries.
11. Long Turn Hax - When something happens to hit on the high end of the turns it is locked into. For example, Outrage hits 3 times in a row when you only want it to hit twice in a row.
12. Max Damage Roll Hax - When the foe gets a max damage roll hit versus you in general.
13. Min Damage Roll Hax - When you get a min damage roll in general, or maybe not min but is close to min because the hit before it did a lot more. When you get a low damage roll versus someone and they survive with like just a few %, you can then call it "Survive Hax".
14. Miss Hax - When your move misses more than it should. This can include more than 1 turn. For example, your Megahorn misses on the 3rd time using it.
15. Multiple Hit Hax - When a move used by the foe hits on the high end of hits than it normally does. For example, Rock Blast hits 5 times in a row, with 5 successive hits. Multiple Hit Hax can also refer to you not getting any more hits than 2, when you use the move more than once. 
16. Prediction Hax - When the foe happens to predict what moves you are going to do with your pokemon.
17. Short Turn Hax - When a move hits on the low end of the turns it is locked into. For example, Uproar hits twice in a row when you want it to hit 3 times in a row. 
18. Speed Tie Hax - When the foe either goes last or first in a turn, to his or her favor.
19. Switch Hax - When the foe happens to use a move that Super Affects you when you switch in.
20. Nature Hax - When the foe happens to have the nature you either didn't expect, or didn't want to risk, so you decided to try to counter it assuming it is say Timid/Jolly if it isn't a tailwind team, or assuming it is modest/adamant if on a tailwind team, but turns out to be the opposite nature.

Hax Move List

1. Ancientpower Hax - When the foe gets a +1 stat boost to all his stats.
2. Counter Hax - When the foe happens to use Counter while you use a physical move. Can also refer to you using Counter while the foe happens to use a special move unexpectedly.
3. Double Protect Hax - When the foe protects more than one time in a row. 
4. Explosion Hax - When the foe happens to Protect versus your Explosion.
5. Imprison Hax - When the foe happens to use Imprison versus your team.
6. Metal Burst Hax - When the foe happens to use Metal Burst while you attack with a damaging move. Can also refer to you using Metal Burst but they happen to not attack you with a damaging move that turn.
7. Mirror Coat Hax - When the foe happens to use Mirror Coat while you use a special move. Can also refer to you using Mirror Coat while the foe happens to use a physical move unexpectedly.
8. Ominous Wind Hax - Same as Ancientpower Hax.
9. Random Move Hax - When the foe has a random move that you don't expect and it leaves you with a disadvantage.
10. Silver Wind Hax - Same as Ancientpower Hax.
11. Snatch Hax - When the foe happens to use Snatch and steal your move.
12. Sub Hax - When the foe happens to use Substitute the turn you use a move that sub walls, such as sucker punch or  ThunderWave.
13. Sucker Punch Hax - When the foe happens to get you with sucker punch when you could have used a different move. Is a branch off of the Prediction Hax.
14. Switcheroo Hax - When the foe happens to switch a bad item onto you.
15. Trick Room Hax - The foe happens to use Trick Room in general, and leaves you at a disadvantage, either reversing TR which may be good for you, but also can set up TR which may be bad for you.
16. Trick Hax - Same as Switcheroo.

Stat Hax

1.  Accuracy Lower Hax - Moves that lower Accuracy in general and happen to make you miss because of it.
2. - D Lower Hax - Moves that lower Defense by a lucky chance. For example, Crunch lowered Defense.
3. - Evasion Hax - When the foe spams evasion and you happen to not hit them.
4. - Sp D Lower Hax - Moves that lower Special Defense by a lucky chance. For example, shadow ball lowered Special Defense.
5. Spd Lower Hax - Moves that lower Speed by a lucky chance. For example, Bubblebeam.

 Status Condition Hax List

1. Attract Hax - When the foe gets lucky immobilizes by love.
2. Burn Hax - When the foe happens to burn you with say Boil Over. Or when the foe has Flame Body and burns you when you attack it.
3. Confusion Hax -  When the foe uses a move to confuse you and you happen to hurt yourself in confusion.
4. Freeze Hax - When the foe happens to freeze you by say Ice Beam.
5. Para Hax - When the foe fully paralyzes you or happens to paralyze you with an ability.
6. Poison Hax - When the foe happens to poison you from an ability or move.
7. Status Block Hax (AKA Wrong Hax Hax) - When an ability like effect spore activates and saves your opponent's pokemon from having a different status put on it, such as if an opposing Pokemon is paralyzed by effect spore right before you try to put it to sleep.

January VGC 2011 Team-Building (4 VS 4 ONLY Not Intended for VGC 11)

Last month's blog was deleted since the rules changed to bring6pick4. I took the time to pair each usable Pokemon into a certain category. Since Tailwind and Trick Room are the main strategies used, I will group Pokemon into these categories, and some can be in both since they have that low mediocre speed, with high offense. There are also certain Pokemon that work well on any team, but are mainly filler. Some are more filler than others, and all Pokemon are at least slightly filler, since you can pick 4 out of the 6 Pokemon in a party.

There are only 152 Pokemon to choose from, most of these being first or 2nd stage Pokemon. Only 65 Pokemon are either 3rd stage, or only have one stage, such as Tabunne (not including Pokemon like Genosekuto which are banned from VGC). Since a lot of Pokemon don't have great synergy with one another, since all the unique typings and a lot of the duel typings were not put into 5th gen' Pokemon. We end up with a lot of filler Pokemon as a result, since we don't not have Pokemon that can 4x resist a lot of attacks or have good offensive abilities.

Some may say this VGC season requires less team-building. I don't quite see it that way. Items are fixed to each pokemon and you have to pick a party of 6 the opponent sees beforehand, and everyone has to learn to make a team that has a variety of offensive Pokemon or defensive Pokemon that works well versus the foe's six, because who knows what they will choose. Pokemon this generation seem a lot more balanced, but in turn it makes themed teams not do as well. Themed teams are meant to be a lot better in a particular weather or strategy. The only themes this generation has is really just moves that raise one's own speed. First, I will list all the categories of either Trick Room or Tailwind Pokemon, and whether they set up those moves or not.

Trick Room

Abagoora
Baffuron
Burungeru
Daikenki
Desukan - Sets up Trick Room
Gigaisu
Goruggo
Iwasiperu
Karimugan
Morobareru
Mushaana - Sets up Trick Room
Roobushin
Shanderaa - Could set up Trick Room
Shubargo
Tabunne - Sets up Trick Room
Zuruzurkin

Tailwind

Baffuron
Bajiiron - Sets up Tailwind
Borutorenosu
Burungeru
Doryuuzu
Erufuun - Sets up Tailwind
Goruggo
Hihidaruma
Iwasiperu
Morobareru
Ononokusu
Randorosu
Roobushin
Sazandora
Shanderaa
Terakion
Torenlos - Sets up Tailwind
Urugamosu

Now we are onto the dilemma of which 6 to pick in a team. The most important priority is first of all is to get a themed move set up no matter which Pokemon or moves the foe might use. So it would be a good idea to use two Pokemon that are holding Trick Room, if that is the theme, but in the case of Tailwind, since all the Pokemon that learn Tailwind lack variety, it would not be a good idea to have two Tailwinders. If a 2nd Pokemon has a move to set something up, it should not be used, for a few reasons. All the Tailwinders have similar move-pools and typing, and have not much to offer to the team, no variety. Many Pokemon learn Trick Room. Offensive Pokemon such as Shanderaa can be used either primarily for Trick Room, or as a backup.

Another consideration is about which items to assign to each Pokemon. Remember, items cannot be switched around this year, so picking items will be more difficult. It won't just be 6 good items that work on almost every Pokemon somewhat well. There are some restraints that make picking items more difficult. Item clause may be a burden, but it adds to the originality of a team, and gives educated battlers a greater advantage over someone who doesn't put any thought into picking items that will work in a variety of different situations. Pick items that do a similar function as other moves, if two of the same item is needed. There are many ways to solve this problem. If an approximate 30% boost is needed on one move in order to one hit kill a certain Pokemon, then one can always put a Jewel on that Pokemon in order to boost that move 50%, but since it boosts by 50%, this means less EVs in that stat are needed in order to have the same power.

Here is an example of how a Jewel can be used instead of Life Orb:
Sazandora (M) @ Dragon Jewel
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Atk / 80 SAtk
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Draco Meteor
- Crunch
- Protect
- Rock Slide

With less Sp Atk, Sazandora can still one hit kill what it needs to kill with Dragon Jewel. And Evs are put into Atk, because then it basically spreads out the effect of Dragon Jewel into essentially a Life Orb, since we are not maxing Atk or Sp Atk whenever Life Orb is used.

This is another team, except this one demonstrates how to use Trick Room this time:

Shandera (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Shadow Ball
- Heat Wave
- Protect
- Trick Room

Morobareru (M) @ Mental Herb
Trait: Effect Spore
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Def / 124 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Anger Powder
- Spore
- Protect
- Sludge Bomb

Mushaana (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Telepathy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Psychic
- Trick Room
- Helping Hand
- Light Screen

Crustle (M) @ Rock Gem
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Rock Slide
- Protect
- Swords Dance
- X-Scissor

Burungeru (M) @ Water Jewel
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Water Spout
- Shadow Ball
- Protect
- Ice Beam

Shubarugo (M) @ Bug Jewel
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Iron Head
- Megahorn
- Protect
- Substitute

Mental Herb is used on Morobareru for a reason. It is normally a lead, and always is a lead if the opponent has a Pokemon who commonly carries Taunt. It isn't just for an obvious Spore, even though that is a big benefit of it. But Anger Powder misdirects Taunt to Morobareru and then my Shanderaa doesn't need to carry Mental Herb. Mental Herb doesn't need to be on Morobareru, however. It can be used either just on Shanderaa, or Desukan would be the ideal user of it, because of the bulk and likeliness of the foe to Taunt it. Another benefit from the team, is that I can Spore second turn, after TR is set up, so I outspeed. Notice how I have a backup Trick Roomer that can do more than just Trick Room, but can really help the team as well.

And now for the last kind of team, basically the two before were Tailwind or Trick room, and the only other team left to use is one that somehow beats Trick Room or Tailwind, or prevents the foe from setting it up. One way to do this is Imprison Trick Room. Shanderaa is very good at this, and works well even without this strategy. Imprison TR prevents the foe from Trick Rooming, and it also gives you the option to Trick Room if the foe uses Tailwind. This can be even used as filler, but the preferred way to use it, is to use it with a team that has really fast Pokemon. This way, you will outspeed the foes even without a theme; this strategy is basically an anti-meta that works somewhat reliably.


Thanks for reading this month's edition of DeagleBeagle's Blog. I am running low on requests to cover the following months, so if anyone has requests, please contact me and I will be glad to talk about them in one of the up-coming months.