#pikachu cup

Minun What I consider to be my mascot Pokemon, so I absolutely had to bring it along. Minun was part of the Plus/Minus setup, and in fact was the Pokemon to inspire it.

Unfortunately, even though I will use Minun if I ever get the excuse, I really don't know how to use one well. Iron Ball was from an idea to Fling it at opponents, but I didn't realize that it only did damage. I assumed it actually would replace the opponent's item with the Iron Ball, allowing Grass Knot to do more damage, and slowing down big threats like Electivire. Minun was a great support Pokemon, but couldn't attack to save its life.

Manetric Easily the central and most important member of my team. Manetric was a quick attacker, mainly using Flamethrower, but picking up a kill and attacking another opponent with Snarl. Swagger was mostly because I really didn't know what else to put on a Special Manetric, and I used it against Electivire for a bit before I realized that was a stupid idea.

As part of the Plus/Minus core of the team, Manetric spend a lot of the time as just Manetric. But, once an Electivire came out, or her partner fainted, she got to be Mega Manetric, using the Intimidate ability to lower the opponents chances of sweeping.

Ampharos The third member of the Plus/Minus core, and was a more offensive support as supposed to just support like Minun was. Magnetic Flux was what I initially brought it along for, and it did get some use, but for the most part, Ampharos was a second attacker to try to get opposing threats such as Electivire down. Occasionally, Ampharos was able to Mega-Evolve, but it was more to increase her power rather than any particular reason to do so. A lot of opponents brought ice-type moves to use against Mega Ampharos.

Pikachu Can't have a Pikachu Cup without Pikachu! Honestly, I didn't expect much of it, and wouldn't have used it at all if it weren't for the chance of getting a special prize if it was one of the top three Pokemon this tournament. Pikachu came into every battle, and honestly surprised me. Maybe my opponents weren't EV training or IV breeding their Pokemon like I did, but despite having no defensive EVs aside from a measly 4 HP, it survived a lot of attacks. I don't think it singlehandedly won any battles, but it certainly took some hits and dealt some damage.

Rotom (Lawnmower) After I filled up my must-brings, I chose the last two of my team based on what I thought might do good. I don't like Rotom all that much, but since its signature Leaf Storm was good against Lanturn, Stunfisk and Water-type Rotom, I thought it'd be a good idea to bring one along. It did really good, although it wasn't brought into that many battles.

Luxray Again, based more on strategy than what I actually like. Although, Luxray is one of the few fourth-gen Pokemon I'll admit to liking a bit. I noticed that the only physical attacker on my team was the lackluster Pikachu, and since I don't have a safe way to trade with myself at the moment, Electivire was out of the question. So, Luxray it was, and it was a pretty good choice. Ice Fang was good against enemy Ampharos and Stunfisk. Crunch was a pretty solid move that was neutral on almost everything. Intimidate allowed it to switch into Electivire and take its attack down a notch, and the Air Balloon made it so Electivire and Stunfisk had to either spend an extra turn attacking it, or have it's partner waste a move and popping the balloon.

Battle Videos

Manetric/Minun/Pikachu/Luxray(Unused) vs. Emolga/Pikachu/Electivire/Ampheros 4DLG-WWWW-WW2L-3UUT

The opponent clearly had no idea how Fake Out worked, but it allowed a good demonstration for how my basic team worked. Minus boost from the very beginning, with Minun helping out. I swapped out Manetric for Pikachu to sacrifice the rodent to get Luxray out unharmed, but Pikachu really worked well on its own. In the end, Minun fainted and I brought Manetric out for it's second role: Intimidator.

Manetric/Minun/Pikachu(Unused)/Rotom vs. Electivire/Eelectross/Ampheros/Lanturn BEGG-WWWW-WW2L-3VXH

I really got to hate Electivire/Eelectross leads over the course of this tournament. Fortunately, this one worked out alright. Here I used a Swagger strategy that I later modified, then abandoned as the tournament went on. Everyone got a chance to shine in this battle and it was really close. I admit I got a lot lucky, though.

Manetric/Ampheros/Pikachu/Luxray vs. Pikachu/Eelectross/Electivire/Rotom 4BBG-WWWW-WW2L-3V3J

This one I'm particularly proud of. I was attempting to set up Magnetic Flux with Ampharos as per usual, and my opponent was able to completely shut down that strategy. Practically everything I tried to do, my opponent had an answer for, and the fact that I won, fairly well at that, makes me proud. Also, this has another time I intended to sacrifice Pikachu and it showed me that Pikachus aren't as weak as I expect them to be.

Manetric/Ampharos/Pikachu/Rotom vs. Emolga/Electivire/Rotom/Lanturn KGVW-WWWW-WW2L-3V6J

This is one where my opponent played well, but I still beat them. I was actually considering bringing Luxray instead of Rotom to ensure the Electivire went down, but decided to use Rotom because they had at least the two water-types on their team preview. Really glad I chose to do that, since I probably would have lost otherwise.

Manetric/Minun/Pikachu/Luxray vs. Eelectric/Pikachu/Manetric/Luxray YR5W-WWWW-WW2L-3V94

Okay, I mostly saved this one because of the fact that this was nearly a mirror match. I had just been watching the VGC Worlds (where most people have permutations of the exact same team), so having that happen to me was pretty entertaining.

Manetric/Ampharos/Pikachu/Luxray vs. Manetric/Stunfisk/Pikachu/Electivire WMKW-WWWW-WW2L-3VAC

I had been on a rediculous losing streak right before this one, so I clearly wasn't fighting the best of opponents. Shows off my Magnetic Flux strategy really well, though. And seriously, why ddi they bring both Stunfisk and Electivire, but not use any Ground-type moves?

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Day 1: 12 Wins | 3 Losses

I faced a lot of very weak opponents. It was sad. A lot of them didn’t even have fully leveled Pokemon. Although, I did face a lot of very good trainers. Some put up very worthy fights. Others were wrecked. However, I would’ve had one more win if I didn’t get cocky. 

I am very pleased with the amount of Pikachu in the tournament. I am also very pleased with the amount of times I beat someone that use Swagger on one of my Pokemon (all). Also, the amount of battles you can play is upped so that’s great because I always thought ten battles per day was too limiting. I worked very hard to breed these Pokemon in a week and I want to use them. I had one or two rage quits that probably would’ve led to easy wins, but I digress.

Let me just say there has been a lot of hax this tournament. One time this opponent’s Electivire landed two Ice Punches and froze both times. Another time, an opponent’s Quick Claw worked in their favor far too much. Like three times in a match. I froze them once, though. Regardless, it would’ve been a completely different match if it didn’t activate on turn one. Not to mention I’ve gotten super unlucky with confusion from not only Swagger, but Signal Beam. At least I always hit under the Signal Beam confusion because if I lost because of that, I would’ve been super mad.

My strategies are working pretty well. Although, I’m starting to regret changing Minun’s item from an Air Balloon to a Sitrus Berry. It would’ve come in handy many times and the Sitrus Berry is not helping as much as I’d like. Also, I greatly underestimated the power of my Heliolisk. It’s pretty strong and I partner it with my Minun to get tons of Special Attack boosts. 

Things are a little harder than I thought they would be. Fighting Rotom and Eelektross on the same team is very difficult if I’m relying on Electivire to dominate their team because I have so much faith in my Entrainment strategy. However, it falls aparty too quickly. Too many loose links. Still, my numbers are pretty good. I can only complain about the people that didn’t level their Pokemon up to 50 and offer a truly exciting battle. It’s truly a shame.

Day 2: 18 Wins | 12 Losses (5 Wins | 10 Losses)

As you can see, today was significantly harder, which I like. However, today was also filled with hax. There was this one guy with an all shiny team that got a crit every single time on my Mega Ampharos. It was ridiculous. Another time, a crit determined the outcome again on my Mega Ampharos. I’m beginning to believe she has bad luck. Either way, I hope to turn it around tomorrow. Also, today, there were way less Pikachus. More cosplay Pikachus, but they don’t count towards the Pikachu goal so that sucks. Luckily, teams have been unique enough to the point I think Pikachu will be high on the list, but maybe not the top 3. The Light Ball, however, is a very disappointing reward for participating. I have so many of them from preparing for the competition. I would rather take the 1000 PokeMiles.

Day 3: 29 Wins |16 Losses (11 Wins | 4 Losses)

The final day. I had two disconnects because of my internet or something and I would’ve won the one, so that’s a big regret. One of the things I regretted earlier was my item choice for Minun, but the Sitrus Berry has been a little helpful. I still think it would’ve helped on Day 2 and I’m not aware of how significant the berry has been, but I think it came in clutch once. 

Once again, I get wrecked by hax from the a Japanese player. Two freezes from Blizzard. And he lands on at least one Pokemon each time. The Pokemon he misses is frozen and never defrosts. Completely insane. Not only that, but he also got constant crits on my Pokemon. I don’t understand why I have such bad luck against these people. Although, I have had some easy battles. So, I guess that balances that out.