Battle Stadium Singles blog — Dragon King Cup (Special Edition)

Another singles weekender to play in, this time with the twist of BSS + 1 uber per team. For this one, I even took the nigh unprecedented step of doing some legwork in the form of almost 20 practice games on Showdown, as well as consulting the results from Pokesol's preliminary tournaments run on the format.

   My sense of what was to come came to be as follows: the optimal non-Toxic stall (Eternatus-Celesteela) team would contain either Ditto or Mimikyu, Zapdos-K, Urshifu-Single-Strike, the allotted uber, and answers for Zacian + Cinderace, Zapdos-K, and Kyogre. With this in mind, I eventually arrived at the team below.

Eerie Impulse Zapdos — works just fine outside of its normal BSS-context.

Trick Room Groudon mode.

Got deservedly 3-0'd from the lead by Glare/Substitute/Coil Zygarde despite some questionable plays from the opponent, like not playing around Counter while Dynamaxed, but then Max Guarding when it didn't make sense to do so. Loss 6.

The rare and possibly cursed picture of Choice Scarf Ditto-as-Zapdos getting Earthquaked while trying to slow-roll Roost into the HP-based tie-breaking win. Talk about being in zugzwang.

Announcement: https://battle.pokemon-home.com/regulation/000000107/en

Thread: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/dragon-king-cup.3673851/

Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/60423297a2960197

1) Team overview

Necrozma Dusk-Mane

For my uber, I decided on Necrozma Dusk-Mane after a few underwhelming games of Ho-Oh (Sacred Fire / Dual Wingbeat / Recover / Giga Drain) and Calyrex-Shadow (Taunt / Nasty Plot). Dragon Dance + Moonlight/Morning Sun abuses passive opponents while being immune to Toxic and cutting through Unaware with Sunsteel Strike (stall).               

   Defensively, Dusk Mane has some problems with Yveltal, especially against defensive Foul Play sets. And reactively, 252 Att Cinderace Life Orb G-Max-Fireball is comfortably survivable in Dynamax form (65.6 – 78.4%) if need be, but things get more difficult if Cinderace is allowed to open Max Knuckle.

   After a Dragon Dance, this set only hits the Tapu Koko and Eternatus beating real stat of 201, so having to keep an eye out for Choice Scarf Cinderace/Kyogre, as well as anything natively faster — especially offensive Regieleki (a legitimate option against Yveltal/Zapdos), Calyrex-Shadow, and Zacian — were all potential pitfalls I tried to be mindful of going into this.

   Going for Earthquake as the second form of offensive coverage, although making Celesteela a tough nut to crack with only 8 PP on Sunsteel Strike, was intended cover Toxapex, the Dusk Mane mirror, as well as boosting SpDef for any kind of post-Dynamax healing and Dragon Dancing scenario.

   Not having good coverage against Zapdos was intentional, as one of the ways to overcome Ditto when it comes in to revenge Dusk Mane after some mild boosting was with my own Zapdos.

Ferrothorn

This was intended as a Kyogre check that outspeeds and beats a Ferrothorn mirror and doesn't become set up bait for opposing Dragon Dance Dusk Mane, as well as being marginally better against Calyrex-Ice, and ideally having a deterrent effect on Ditto.

   My original set employed the far more conservative Bullet Seed + Protect instead of the Body Press package, but I ended up going for greed after landing on Dusk Mane.

Urshifu-Single-Strike

Going into this, I considered Urshifu-Single-Strike to be mandatory on any offensive team not employing Yveltal, so it was one of two pokemon, alongside Zapdos, that survived both of my prior team iterations alluded to above.

   Essentially, this was intended to function as a kind of discount Yveltal in Sucker Punching the many part Psychic or Ghost-type ubers in the format, while simultaneously being able to trade 1-for-1 against purely offensive teams without Stealth Rock support thanks to the combination of Focus Sash and Counter.

   Wicked Blow's guaranteed critical was also planned to be employed against teams with screens mode, although this team has some options for wasting screens turns in the form of Yawn spam, Ferrothorn, and, to a lesser extent, Mimikyu.

Swampert

Against an assumed onslaught of Zacian-Cinderace, I went for Swampert over something like Hippowdon as a physical check for the Behemoth Blade resist, and Flip Turn, which is absolutely bananas when you stand to get momentum with a Dragon Dancing uber with Mold Breaker attached to its main offensive move.

Mimikyu

In a format full of Mold Breaker-effects (G-Max Cinderace, Dusk-Mane, Dawn-Wings, Kyurem-B/W, Zekrom, Reshiram), I nevertheless brought Mimikyu in the hope of finding a place for it in keeping offensive Dynamax momentum teams honest.

   And with Swords Dance and Shadow Sneak, Mimikyu is also, of course, part of the universal gen 8 BSS offensive plan of Focus Sash user + Mimikyu + Dynamax user, which is a tried and true method of cheesing out wins.

   Max Speed Life Orb set with Curse found its way onto this team specifically as a secondary Yveltal response, alongside Zapdos, that also does decently against both Calyrex forms, with Curse in the Phantom Force/Substitute/Trick Room slot as an anti-jank option against dedicated set-up strategies (e.g. Baton Pass/screens set up for an uber, Cosmic Power Toxic stall Eternatus as final mon, Butterfree) — and let's be honest, when thrown in to exhaust two opposing Dynamax turns, a good deal of the uber bulk in this format takes more damage from two ticks of Curse + Shadow Sneak than from two attacks.

   Ditto also feels supremely awful to pilot to me, so Mimikyu it was, no matter how questionable this set might be.

Zapdos-K

An offensively EV'd Zapdos with Hurricane as its primary sweeping move, this set features the momentum tool Volt Switch, as well as Eerie Impulse + Roost to contest the mirror, and potentially cripple or just exhaust an extra Dynamax turn against something that seeks to reverse-sweep after Zapdos' Max Airstream turns (Weakness Policy Yveltal, offensive Eternatus, Kyurem-W, Calyrex-Shadow).

   Eerie Impulse, like Volt Switch, also helps empower Dusk Mane to get into sweeping position, which makes bringing both primary Dynamax options ever so slightly more consistent.

2) Tournament

I've once again taken the liberty of describing my losses for posterity, this time with the addition of a tally of how often Eerie Impulse and Curse were clicked out of curiosity.

Day 1

Win / Loss: 11 – 4

Eerie Impulse counter: 5

Curse counter: 4

First game of the tournament, and it's Butterfree mode.

Loss 1: Swampert-Zapdos-Ferrothorn vs. Yveltal-Nihilego-Garchomp

Offensive Yveltal with Taunt Dark Pulse flinched Swampert and Max Darkness crit Ferrothorn.

Loss 2: Swampert-Neczozma-Urshifu vs Jellicent-Xerneas-?

60% health Taunt Jellicent Scald burned Urshifu on the switch during the second double-switch roundabout between Swampert-Urshifu and a revealed Necrozma, and Jellicent-Xerneas, but the game was still recoverable. +2 Xerneas critting Necrozma promptly put me away, though.

After almost losing a third game to getting hard counterled on Swampert immediately after the previous loss, this time by Lum Berry Landorus, I decided to bench it whenever possible from now on.

It took a full 11 games for me to break 1600.

Loss 3: Urshifu-Mimikyu-Necrozma vs Buzzwole-Haxorus-Calyrex-Shadow.

Losing Mimikyu's Disguise on a Play Rough miss on a sub-40% Dual Wingbeat Buzzwole cost the game immediately by allowing Calyrex to put Necrozma into Earthquake range for Life Orb Haxorus in the back. Possibility of Ditto in the back so I didn't revenge Buzzwole with Necrozma with Mimikyu on the team.

Loss 3.

I clicked Counter on that turn. And Sucker Punch on the subsequent one, likewise beset by full-paralysis. As luck would have it, it turned out to be the Power Herb Meteor Beam special attacker set, so it just got oneshotted by Max Quake.

Loss 4: Zapdos-Necrozma-Ferrothorn vs Yveltal-Nihilego-Kartana

Ferrothorn got crit by Taunt Yveltal Dark Pulse, as a result of which the endgame was Life Orb Kartana and 40% Yveltal against Necrozma. Kartana's Max Strike-Max Knuckle-Max Strike put +1 Att Necrozma at 60% with +2 Def, which the now +2 Sacred Sword cut through after Necrozma's Dynamax turns.

   Not happy about losing a game where Necrozma gets to Dragon Dance for free on a +1 Att Giga Impact Kartana recharge turn — especially because Necrozma would have 3-0'd if I just kept Dragon Dancing on it instead of Dynamaxing like a complete baboon.

Overall thoughts after the first day: the match-making was noticeably more competitive than normally in these tournaments, which perhaps speaks to the added prestige this particular tournament has in Japan — this being the first time the rest of the world gets to participate, to my knowledge.

   Another thing that needs to be mentioned is the fact that Swampert started to feel heavy to carry right out of the gate after featuring prominently in my first two losses. Admittedly, I was clearly using it incorrectly to try to greedily Stealth Rock lead instead of cushioning a physical sweeper, but even still.

   At least I think I only really misplayed — once actually ingame — in a way that cost the game once, in loss 4, so there's at least that going into day 2.

   Interestingly (?), Ferrothorn was benched against the only Kyogre I played all day.

Day 2

Win / Loss: 9 - 1

Eerie Impulse counter: 0

Curse counter: 1

Loss 5: Swampert-Necrozma-Zapdos vs Celesteela-Landorus-Eternatus

Substitute + Leech Seed Celesteela had Flamethrower instead of Air Slash as its lone offensive move and managed to trade into Necrozma due to Leech Seed and trading Dynamax despite +5 Att on Necrozma. I Dynamaxed Necrozma instead of Zapdos because this looked like an Eternatrus Toxic stall team, but 8 PP was not enough to overcome Celesteela, and it was fully offensive Eternatus (3/3 times I assumed it was Eternatus Toxic stall) in the back anyways.

   Another game where Swampert got counterled and abused, though in my defense, this was a really good Swampert game. Missing Hurricane on Landorus didn't help, but didn't end up factoring in the outcome, either. No, I lost when I decided to Dragon Dance set up on Substitute + Leech Seed Celesteela instead of just going Zapdos mode, and Celesteela ending up being mono-Flamethrower.

Broke 1700 after 25 games.

Attended a small family gathering, getting so gorged, any desire to click buttons in a children's video game evaporated for the rest of the evening.

   Although I ended 9-1 for the day, at least 3-4 of my wins could have gone either way against slightly more competent opponents, who would have identified the correct win-conditions based on what they'd seen.

   Still almost no Zacian-Cinderace, but I had the fortune of hitting multiple teams with Kyogre-Landorus (fat defensive pivot), a decent match up. Highlight of the day was a game where both players benched their uber (Mimikyu-Zapdos-Urshifu vs Corviknight-Garchomp-Ditto).

Day 3

Win / Loss: 7 - 4

Eerie Impulse counter: 2

Curse counter: 1

Exclusive behind-the-scenes picture of battle report preparation for day 3.

Loss 6: Urshifu-Ferrothorn-Necrozma vs Zygarde- (hard stall with Chansey, Quagsire, Celesteela, Shedinja)

3-0'd from the lead by Glare + Coil + Substitute Zygarde-C with Leftovers.

Loss 7: Urshifu-Ferrothorn-Necrozma vs Rillaboom-Dubwool-Urshifu-Single-Strike

This opponent suicided Rillaboom into Counter on turn 1 by Drain Punching (!), and their Urshifu wasn't Gmax (!). Still, they did at least play around Weakness Policy by Max Knuckling twice before Max Darknessing. I lost because I disrespected Dubwool despite knowing better, and benched Mimikyu, bringing Ferrothorn instead.

Another game that, in all honesty, should have been a loss: turn 1 physical attacker Ho-Oh Max Overgrowths down Swampert, so I have to sacrifice Mimikyu as well to attempt a post-KO half-health burned Zapdos reverse-sweep (this was a Tyranitar team). For some reason, the opponent brought Landorus and Urshifu-Rapid-Strike in the back.

Loss 8: Urshifu-Necrozma-Zapdos vs Tyranitar-Cinderace-? (alternate mode of an Eternatus-Celesteela Toxic-stall team?)

I let Foul Play/Rock Tomb/Stealth Rock/Taunt suicide lead Tyranitar cripple Urshifu and Necrozma. Cinderace went through everything. This was a team preview screen throw, there's no other way to put it — I have Swampert, but tunnelvisioned into playing against Toxic stall again.

Loss 9: Urshifu-Necrozma-Zapdos vs Lapras-Landorus-Zacian (Ditto team)

Threw the game to a completely free win by Max Airstreaming for no reason against Zacian in the back with two full turns of Dynamax left on my +1 Speed full HP Zapdos, which meant Max Lightning barely missed the KO. Realizing how bad I was playing, I decided to call it quits if I managed to make it back to the mid 1700s, and that's just what ended up happening I'm afraid.

This is where I stopped.

Win / Loss: 27 – 9

Eerie Impulse counter: 7

Curse counter: 6

Final ranking.

The HOME app did not update the results for this until 05-Jan so we could see to the total number of participants.

3) In Conclusion

So there you have it, I had the good sense to quit after getting a decent rating this time around with 9 games left after noticing just how bad I was starting to play, unlike in the previous few tournaments.

   Do I have any regrets not trying to push higher? Not really, because as regards the team, I'm not sure I could have made it much above 1800 with perfect luck anyway, especially given the painful slog I had to go in my final five games, three of which were grindy Toxic-stall nightmares. And as far as I'm concerned, if you're going to free ubers for one of these tournaments, just do everyone a favor and do it No Holds Barred style, so we can experience the full glory and splendour of 6x Eternatus or whatever.

   With this out of the way, the next BSS-entry will likely cover either a defensive Zapdos pivot team (currently 26-8), or something with the new (old) SpDeffy Substitute + Leftovers, Nihilego-abusing, Excadrill.

 - Tox

SW-0021-9848-8999