Preview
Now that the Los Angeles Nidoking have drafted the team selection, I'd like to review some of the major rules of the league first off. To start, players have 2 weeks to do their "week 1" battles within that time frame, otherwise they will suffer a -3 drop in their own differential if they don't do the battle as planned. Of course anyone can maintain arrangements, I still have to be vigilant about this rule considering this "almost" bite me in the ass in one game (will say later). Transactions in this league start within Week 2 and end Week 6, so essentially anyone has an ample amount of time to arrange trades with people and do free agent transactions. At the time writing this piece, the Los Angeles Nidokings have made 3 trades/FA pickups so there will be a brief explanation on these Pokemon and why I feel they better "synergize" with the overall team. On one final note, I'm not going to be sharing my EV spreads and movesets, but I'll say whatever relevant information and sets which helped me win the game. Any Pokemon sets or moves not shown or revealed chance are won't be discussed at all for potentially using it in a future battle. All my opponent's teams will be posted here with a bold emphasis on the exact six Pokemon they brought. With all that said aside, lets begin the Week 1 recap of the CIL regular season.
As a last minute decision, I decided to divided these segments into individual weeks to avoid having lengthy posts from like the past 4 post now. Here we won't cover the Celebi or Empoleon transactions since I've already cover this and why the Nidokings made those transactions. Without further delay, here's CIL Week 1!
As a last minute decision, I decided to divided these segments into individual weeks to avoid having lengthy posts from like the past 4 post now. Here we won't cover the Celebi or Empoleon transactions since I've already cover this and why the Nidokings made those transactions. Without further delay, here's CIL Week 1!
Week 1: vs Mighty Mamoswine
The Blazikens: Mega Venusuar, Tyranitar, Talonflame, Landorus-I, Blastiose, Azelf, Sableye, Dragalge, Gardevoir, Mienshao, Gyarados
The first opponent of the CIL is actually one of the more accomplished players in the Draft-style format and one of the GBA Analyst in Mighty Mamoswine or Nick. Automatically, our opponent was going the most difficult by far the Nidokings have faced given I've only done this league stuff with members of the former Flynn/Replay/Forum community while not some as seasoned as Nick is. Having to battle someone who's actually was part of the GBA (well at least in operations and D-League) for me could help improve my outlook into this format as Nick isn't a slouch by being in the finals in the D-League and more recently here in the CIL. Looking at the Blaziken's team, Nick has a plethora of threats from offensive wall breakers, revenge killers, versatile walls/pivots, and great defensive synergy going with the Mega Venusaur. Landorus stuck out as a sore thumb given I know how dangerous it can be with its Sheer Force-boosted attacks, setup options, and wall breaking capability. Tyranitar was the only other Pokemon I kinda feared given its versatility of being a wall, a scarfer, choice band user, setup, or an all-out attacker set. Talonflame was the other threat I feared from his team as if I didn't have proper checks to Flying and the bird can beat out this team assuming I let the main checks go down. Everything else I kinda felt like most of my team can handle them assuming if they can take the hits or
For the battle, well the team I brought was a Colbur Berry Latias, "semi-standard" Diancie, a CM Suicune with Roar, defensive Chesnaught (again strange moveset), Weavile, and our specially defensive AV Pivot Tornadus-T. Most of these Pokemon where designed to handle some of the more specially oriented members of the Blaziken team such as the Gardevoir, Mega Venusaur, and even the Landorus-I. One thing to note is the lack of Charizard X on this team given I felt Nick would have some kinda of revenge and/or walls that can tank such hits like the Tyranitar, Landorus-T, Talonflame, or even the Gyarados. The plan was attempt to were down Nick's team with our own to the point where Weavile can revenge kill or clean up the battle in the end. Latias can also do this, however I felt given it was my only Defog user Nick would very likely bring Tyranitar with Pursuit. The only Pokemon which honestly felt out of place was Diancie but it was the main check to Talonflame. The Diancie even had Lum Berry max attack to net the kill on Talonflame assuming Nick tries to burn it via Will-O-Wisp.
The Blaziken Team: Landorus-I, Tyranitar, Talonflame, Sableye, Gyarados, and Azelf
Our Team: Latias, Weavile, Suicune, Chesnaught, Diancie, Tornadus-T
Even after the battle was over, I still kinda shocked there was no Mega Venusaur given it could act as a semi-decent wall against me. Maybe the same thoughts occurred to Nick but who knows. One important observations was the lack of Blastiose as it was Nick's only hazard removal Pokemon plus he has a Talonflame, therefore getting rocks up fast was a priority Anyways the first turns, we were able a slight edge with the Scald burn on the Sableye and knock out Azelf with the Beat Up Weavile to break the save and the potential Colbur Berry. The early to middle stages of the match, Gyarados became a slight problem as it turns out Nick was running Rest-Talk with Dragon Tail to counter the potential Char X. Fortunately Chesnaught completely walled his defensive Gyarados as we continuously countered the Dragon Tail phaze with Leech Seeds. At Turn 11, I tried to predict the Talonflame given his aggressive plays and revealed the Rock Slide which from that point on Nick never swapped in his revenge killer until possibly the late game. Latias does enter the battle to attempt to force out the Gyarados to the Lati counter Tyranitar. On that switch out, I Thunder Waved the Tyranitar (will come to play later on), attempted to switch freely before being caught by the Pursuit T-tar. Thanks to the Colbur Berry, Latias is free to enter the battle again for a option Healing Wish option.
The Chesnaught - Gyarados stalemate continued on which there were points where we both kinda had enough by sending in our best mons (Suicune for me and Landorus for Nick), and as a result both were severely weaken. Honestly, the main turning point of the battle was Turn 22 when Gyarados "missed" a Dragon Tail on my Chesnaught since I still have all 5 mons with me and any Pokemon he swapped for anyone of them. Funny enough Diancie got Dragon Tailed out like about 2 times this battle. Later on, Suicune gets weaken by Tyranitar from a defense drop and Nick punishes my switch by using Pursuit again. I switched into Diancie figuring this Pokemon was useless at this range of HP, except I go for the Endeavor and attempt a Healing Wish to my Suicune from Latias. Nick goes into Sableye to block the Endeavor and honestly we both go down to a Moonblast and a Wisp since Diancie was below 1/8th HP.
Given Nick got a free switch, I'm kinda forced into Chesnaught as if he switches into Talonflame, I'm kinda lose Latias to a Brave Bird. Tyranitar switches in and now I kinda regret not having a Fighting or Grass-type attack this battle since Tyranitar has Fire Blast which would do enough damage to 2HKO. On Turn 32, Chesnaught goes for Leech Seed, connect, but Nick's Tyranitar misses honestly a crucial Fire Blast. Still fearing the Talonflame switch in, I decide to play the odds by going for the para flinch with the Fire Blast miss chance to which his Tyranitar gets paralyzed again. With Tyranitar gone, Talonflame finally enters the battlefield and I knew these turns would decided the battle as well as the sets we both brought for our respected Pokemon. Chesnaught continuously Rock Slides the Talonflame as it continues to roost off the damage with the help the leftovers. Seeing the Leftovers animation, the Talonflame could be some specially defensive setup set so that's worth noting.
Finally on turn 32, Talonflame attempts to Sword Dance as Chesnaught catches the Fire-/Flying bird with a Rock Slide, OHKOing the biggest threat to the team. Without any major walls aside Gyarados to protect it, a 52% Landorus-I was Nick's best chance at winning the battle. Chesnaught was offered as a sack to an HP Flying / Ice, but strangely enough it lives by 16%. With Landorus getting lower in HP, Gyarados is sent out on the Spikey Shield, however now Chesnaught can easily spam Leech Seeds the remainder of the battle. On the last Dragon Tail, Gyarados "conveniently" phazes out Chesnaught for my Weavile, though I think we both knew the battle was over given All I had to do was get in Weavile safely even from a Dragon Tail so it can clean up the team with an Ice Punch and Ice Shard to end the game.
Afterthoughts
Despite the LA Nidokings getting their first CIL win on a 5-0, the battle was far closer than it was given how damaged most of my Pokemon were or were about to be on via rocks entry. For sure, if Nick had Brave Bird the Chesnaught at any given point and OHKOed, I think it was his match to win from there. Getting those unfortunate Fire Blast miss and the Paralysis on consecutive turns made this battle far difficult for Nick to kill the Chesnaught, as I'm certain any chip damage would be good enough for the Brave Bird knock out. From the double knock out, I wanted to get a free switch for Latias to get a Healing Wish off for Suicune since it could take on Tyranitar, Landorus-I, and even Talonflame with near full HP investment and a potential CM or two. I still defend going into Chesnaught instead of Latias as I thought he'd switch out for the Talonflame and maybe I could have gotten the prediction Rock Slide call there. Then again all these hypothetical scenarios have the potential RNG factor whether its on my end or Nick's.
To be fair, Nick was a really offensive battler based on all the plays he was making with the double switches, the pursuits trap calls, and even the attempted Sword Dance towards the end. I don't take anything away from Nick at all and can see why he's one of the main analysts for the GBA League. Again the score doesn't reflect upon how great of a battle this was against the two of us as it basically came down to one turn. Meanwhile I did in fact "risk" the third Fire Blast attack on Chesnaught since I felt he'd still switch into the bird and the odds based on the miss, flinch, and paralysis chance were in my favor. Had Chesnaught taken damage, I'd would have sent in Latias to Healing Wish the Suicune and the game would came down to a 3v4 essentially but with Landorus, Gyarados, Talonflame, and Tyranitar at low to moderate HP.
Either way, I have a strong feeling this won't be the only encounter we'll due battle in the CIL until possibly the playoffs, assuming we both make it in. Nick was in the Finals of the CIL so chances are this will be the case in the forseeable future. Next time, I'll cover my battle with Sanyer1124 of the his Pinsirs team. You don't want to miss out on the outcome of me vs Sanyer in the next CIL post.
Either way, I have a strong feeling this won't be the only encounter we'll due battle in the CIL until possibly the playoffs, assuming we both make it in. Nick was in the Finals of the CIL so chances are this will be the case in the forseeable future. Next time, I'll cover my battle with Sanyer1124 of the his Pinsirs team. You don't want to miss out on the outcome of me vs Sanyer in the next CIL post.
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