Pokemon NA International Championships Team Report(6-3):The Discount Buzzwole

Hello, my name is Brian Youm and you might know me as @Seven_Poke, and today I will be writing a report about the team I went 6-3 at the North American Pokemon International Championships.

Team Building Process:

Original Team:

NA Internats team:

My friend Joseph Selmer(@MG_ModernGamer) suggested this team for my NY/NJ Mid Season Showdown so I started testing it out on ladder and Battle Spot, and noticed that Hariyama instead of Buzzwole helps my matchup against a lot of common threats on paper, so I tested them out in the end and decided to use this team in the end 5 minutes before team registration ended and barely got the team registered in the end.

Team 1:

Team 2:

Team 3:

These are the teams my friends and I built while we were on our way to Indianapolis, the grand stage. I really wanted to use team 2 but I didn’t have many resources to make the team happen, so I went with this team.

Team I used in the Grand Stage, NA International Championships:

D.N.Angel-OP (Tapu Koko) @ Choice Specs  

Ability: Electric Surge  

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe  

Modest Nature  

IVs: 0 Atk  

- Thunderbolt  

- Discharge  

- Dazzling Gleam  

- Volt Switch

Tapu Koko’s destructive power of electric attacks in electric terrain is nothing to mess with. Especially with Choice specs and modest nature, even outside of terrain it can dish out a lot of damage. Volt switching out for better match conditions and chip damaging opponent’s pokemon, it’s just an amazing attacks.I didn’t use Discharge, I kind of wished it was Electro Ball or Hidden Power Ice.

After even a -1 Attack Feint from Hariyama, Tapu Koko KO’s Tapu Fini even in misty terrain.

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Koko Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 44 SpD Tapu Fini: 158-188 (89.2 - 106.2%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

And if it’s 4Hp Garchomp, after even a -1 Attack Hariyama’s Feint, Dazzling Gleam KO’s it.

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Koko Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 152-182 (83 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Prototype 2B (Celesteela) @ Aguav Berry  

Ability: Beast Boost  

EVs: 220 HP / 12 Atk / 108 Def / 164 SpD / 4 Spe  

Careful Nature  

- Heavy Slam  

- Flamethrower  

- Leech Seed  

- Protect

Originally meant to be:

Prototype 2B (Celesteela) @ Aguav Berry  

Ability: Beast Boost  

EVs: 220 Hp / 4 Atk / 252 Def / 28 SpD / 4 Spe

Impish Nature

IVs: 0 SpA  

- Heavy Slam  

- Wide Guard  

- Leech Seed  

- Protect

The main defense of the team, Celesteela...kind of did nothing. I was originally planning to use the 2nd Celesteela however I didn’t have enough time and resources to get it on time, so oh well. But it’s purpose was being a wall and stalling out opponents, and Wide Guarding from spread moves like Earthquake, Rock Slide, Blizzard and etc, and also chipping opponent’s health with Heavy Slam and Leech Seed.

4 Atk Celesteela Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Tapu Lele: 174-206 (119.1 - 141%) -- guaranteed OHKO

0- SpA Celesteela Flamethrower vs. 108 HP / 132 SpD Assault Vest Kartana: 156-184 (105.4 - 124.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Renegade (Marowak-Alola) (M) @ Thick Club  

Ability: Lightning Rod  

EVs: 252 HP / 12 Atk / 140 Def / 100 SpD / 4 Spe  

Adamant Nature  

IVs: 0 SpA / 0 Spe

- Flare Blitz  

- Shadow Bone  

- Perish Song  

- Protect

Originally meant to be:

Renegade (Marowak-Alola) (M) @ Thick Club  

Ability: Lightning Rod  

EVs: 252 HP / 12 Atk / 12 Def / 100 SpD / 132 Spe  

Adamant Nature  

IVs: 0 SpA

- Flare Blitz  

- Shadow Bone  

- Perish Song  

- Protect

My friend Louis Millich(@UncleLou21) screwed up my Marowak horribly. I don’t know how, but he did. BUT IT SOMEHOW ENDED UP HELPING ME OUT??? When opponent set up Trick Room, my Marowak was surprisingly slower than everything so I wondered what was going on, so I checked and he screwed it up horriblyyyyyyy. It actually ended up helping out, for some reason. It’s role was to redirect away electric attacks from Gyarados and Celesteela, and basically my only Eevee matchup, and with it’s strong physical attacks it helps out against a lot of things.

12+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Flare Blitz vs. 220 HP / 108 Def Celesteela: 222-264 (111 - 132%) -- guaranteed OHKO

12+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Shadow Bone vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Marowak-Alola: 164-194 (98.2 - 116.1%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 252 HP / 100 SpD Marowak-Alola: 135-160 (80.8 - 95.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Cephadrome (Garchomp) (M) @ Choice Scarf  

Ability: Rough Skin   

EVs: 60 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 36 SpD / 156 Spe  

Jolly Nature  

IVs: 0 SpA  

- Earthquake  

- Rock Slide  

- Fire Fang  

- Poison Jab

I wanted to go Adamant but went Jolly and made the speed outspeed Modest Scarfed Nihilego and withstand a 28 Sp.A neutral Porygon2 Ice Beam, but not only did I face a scarfed Nihilego being jolly nature basically made me do less damage and make it do almost nothing the whole game. I should have went Adamant with less bulk, would have helped out a lot of more during the tournament.

252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Tapu Koko in Electric Terrain: 146-174 (100 - 119.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

28 SpA Porygon2 Ice Beam vs. 60 HP / 36 SpD Garchomp: 160-192 (83.7 - 100.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

252 Atk Garchomp Fire Fang vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Pheromosa: 158-186 (107.4 - 126.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Imperium (Hariyama) (M) @ Assault Vest  

Ability: Thick Fat

EVs: 28 HP / 172 Atk / 180 Def / 84 SpD / 44 Spe  

Adamant Nature  

IVs: 0 SpA  

- Fake Out  

- Feint  

- Close Combat  

- Bulldoze

Probably the last second choice, or the best MVP was Hariyama all the way. The Fake out pressure was just amazing, and being able to break Protects were extremely supportive to my pokemons like Tapu Koko and Gyarados, and it just had amazing bulk to begin with. It took hits and lowered opponent’s speed and broke Focus Sashes with Bulldoze, which came in handy so many times. It was probably the highlight of the team along with Gyarados, just like the Buzzwole of my T16 GA regionals team.

252 SpA Life Orb Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 28 HP / 84 SpD Assault Vest Hariyama: 187-221 (83.8 - 99.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Garchomp Tectonic Rage (180 BP) vs. 28 HP / 180 Def Hariyama: 178-211 (79.8 - 94.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Life Orb Tapu Koko Dazzling Gleam vs. 28 HP / 84 SpD Assault Vest Hariyama: 96-117 (43 - 52.4%) -- 8.6% chance to 2HKO

Gyarados (M) @ Flyinium Z  

Ability: Intimidate

EVs: 28 HP / 180 Atk / 4 Def / 132 SpD / 164 Spe  

Jolly Nature  

IVs: 0 SpA  

- Waterfall  

- Bounce  

- Dragon Dance  

- Protect

I always had trouble choosing between Flynium Z or Waterium Z on Gyarados. Both were good choices for my team, but me worrying about opponent’s Hariyama, Buzzwole, Tapu Koko and etc I went with Flynium, which was the correct choice for me. OHKOing Tapu Fini after Hariyama’s feint damage after a dragon dance was the major part of why I liked Flynium Gyarados so much. This spread lets it live a Life Orb Nihilego Power Gem most of the time and outspeeds opponent Tapu Koko.

252 SpA Life Orb Nihilego Power Gem vs. 28 HP / 132 SpD Gyarados: 151-182 (86.7 - 104.5%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

+1 180 Atk Gyarados Supersonic Skystrike (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 20 Def Tapu Fini: 165-195 (93.2 - 110.1%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO

The matches begin!
R1:VS. Ian Tyler

Games:(XX)

Swiss Record:(0-1)

Opponent’s Team:

G1 he brought:

G1 I brought:

G2 he brought:

G2 I brought:

This team was quite hard to deal with since Stoutland had every damn coverage I needed it to not have. I personally considered him my personal assassin since his team was kind of made to bring me down. Celesteela not being defensive lost me the round, it was very tilting to lose against a no-name but I had to pull through, this was my biggest competition of the year and I couldn’t flop, especially not nationals.

R2:VS. ???

Games:(OO)

Swiss Record:(1-1)

Opponent’s Team:

G1 he brought:

G1 I brought:

G2 he brought:

G2 I brought:

Standard PZ Smeargle Trick Room spam team, and learning his Smeargle didn’t have Fake Out was the key to winning the game. Strangely he had a Life Orb Gigalith though, which helped my Hariyama take it down with Close Combat after the recoils. He missed a hyper beam on my Gyarados G1 which let me get a Dragon dance up which lost him the game, but 2nd game Hariyama’s Feint and Tapu Koko’s Thunderbolt just broke through Smeargle P-Z lead while they double protected T1 and the 2nd game ended in 3 turns.

R3:VS. ???

Games:(OO)

Swiss Record:(2-1)

Opponent’s Team:

G1 she brought:

G1 I brought:

G2 she brought:

G2 I brought:

She had quite a weird team. Her crobat was really scary since it was choice banded, it did huge damage to my Garchomp, Tapu and Koko G1 and I almost lost the game because my Garchomp missed Rock slide on her Crobat, but it flinched the Marowak and killed the Crobat next turn with successful Rock slide connection so I barely won G1, and G2 I just went autopilot Scarfed Chomp Gyarados mode and won the G2. It was a really interesting set.

R4:Zheyuan Huang/@KenVGC

Games:(OO)

Swiss Record:(3-1)

Opponent’s Team:

G1 he brought:

G1 I brought:

G2 he brought:

G2 I brought:

I was really scared that I had to fight a 2 time regional top cutter, but he had nothing to touch the Gyarados Marowak combo. And since I had Hariyama’s fake out I could easily get an automatic Dragon dance turn 1 and damage his team. His Garchomp not having Rock Slide let my Gyarados do work and set up and sweep his team with Marowak’s support.

R5:VS.Clayton ???/@ZubatVGC

Games:(XOO)

Swiss Record:(4-1)

Opponent’s Team:

G1 he brought:

G1 I brought:

G2 he brought:

G2 I brought:

G3 he brought:

G3 I brought:

It was an extremely scary set, after losing G1 I knew I needed to literally make plays out of my mind. G2, the plays I made blew my own mind. I predicted every mode of my opponent so hard at the point G2 was over in a breeze and I was sweating so hard. G3, Scarfed Chomp Rock slide spam flinched me but luckily in the last turn Gyarados didn’t flinch and KO’d the Scarfed Garchomp and Tapu Koko had enough HP to take a rock slide, and live 2 turns of Sandstorm damage by exactly 1Hp. It was an intense set, I wanted to cry after I won, it was a roller coaster of emotion, excitement and anger. It was quite a mind blowing set.

R6:Jake Skurchak/@Pokebeys

Games:(XOO)

Swiss Record:(5-1)

Opponent’s Team:

G1 he brought:

G1 I brought:

G2 he brought:

G2 I brought:

G3 he brought:

G3 I brought:

Gyarados was the clutch of this matchup. I lost G1 because I choked and pressed Perish Song instead of Flare Blitz on Jake’s Tapu Koko but Gyarados Hariyama Marowak pulled through and destroyed the match. His Mudsdale was FIWAM(50%) berry without Rock slide which let me set up with Gyarados all over him, since his Fini, P2, Mudsdale and Arcanine couldn’t touch my gyarados I just autopilot and made few predictions and won the set. Gyarados and Hariyama is the MVP.

R7:VS. Chuppa Cross/@ChuppaVGC

Games:(XOX)

Swiss Record:(5-2)

Opponent’s Team:

G1 he brought:

G1 I brought:

G2 he brought:

G2 I brought:

G3 he brought:

G3 I brought:

It was tough for me, he switched in and out with Arcanine to recycle intimidate and him having Will-O-Wisp on Arc meant he could burn my Gyarados. He also had Normalium Z Tapu Koko so he could switch around between Gigavolt or Twinkle Tackle, which was annoying. I lost G1 and G3 because I played too safely, I should have been aggressive like how I was against Clayton, but oh well.

R8:VS. Melvin Keh/@ShamanVGC

Game Record:(OXO)

Swiss Record:(6-2)

Opponent’s Team:

G1 he brought:

G1 I brought:

G2 he brought:

G2 I brought:

G3 he brought:

G3 I brought:

After easily winning G1 with Perish Song and losing to G2 due to Melvin outpredicting me, I decided that I became sick of playing defensively and went out all out aggression on G3.

He brought the tailwind mode, which I successfully stalled out Tailwind by aggressive switch-ins and defensive protects and just swept with Garchomp and Celesteela. I was so close to Day 2 that I could feel it! I almost passed out due to sudden rush but...next round…

R9:VS. Paul Chua/@Paul_Chua_1

Games:(OXX)

Swiss Record:(6-3)

Opponent’s Team:

G1 he brought:

G1 I brought:

G2 he brought:

G2 I brought:

G3 he brought:

G3 I brought:

The dream has been crushed by the one and only Paul Chua. I had the wrong Celesteela(explanation up there) but after winning G1 by simple plays Paul Chua went all out aggression on me and won the set. My team struggled with Scarfed Chomp due to my own Celesteela being the wrong one, but oh well. Good Games to Paul Chua and every one of my opponents!

In the end, I’m thankful to everyone for making my weekend. I’d like to thank

@MG_ModernGamer for helping me out with the team!

@Pretzel_VGC and @WavelessVGC for hanging out with me and hyping me up before each rounds!

@UnicornLlamaVGC and @FocusSashedIt_ for stalking me and making me less nervous!

@SefranekVGC and @EshiVGC for always talking to me and cheering me on!

@Pball0010 for the backrubs in R9!

@UncleLou21 for helping me get the mons and watching Attack On Titan with me the night before!

@Zyphdefien for getting me a ride to Indy and back home!

@Pikapip1010 for touching my shoes!

@KotoriVGC for letting me cut in line like 1000 times!

My mother for letting me go to this grand stage!

And everyone else I forgot for giving me a wonderful weekend, thank you very much everyone! I hope to see you guys soon again!