Before diving in, I want to step back and talk about my pre-season free agency acquisition: Gyarados. Pac noted in his week 2 preview that Gyarados helps to alleviate the ground weakness of the team. That was, indeed, part of the intention. However, the primary motivation behind the switch was to bring in another bulky, versatile, heavy-hitting Pokemon. Toxapex, which was waived in the Gyarados acquisition, was something of an impulsive pick during the draft. As the dust settled, it was evident that Toxapex wasn't a good fit (not just for the team—Toxapex wasn't a great fit for my playstyle, either). Gyarados has solid synergy playing alongside Tapu Bulu and Heatran, and Intimidate and Moxie are fantastic abilities that benefit the team. As we'll discuss in a moment, this game was an excellent welcome-to-the-team moment for Gyarados.
Week 2: Battle vs. Cossak11 and the Detroit Lairons (DET)
Preparing for Cossak's Detroit Lairons was an meticulous exercise. I spent hours this week trying to cover as many bases as possible, debating EV spreads, taking notes on calcs and potential movesets, and making sure I had a check and a double check for every possible Lairon win condition I could foresee. Leading up to the battle, I was nervous. Last week's disconnect had me afraid that I'd suffer the same fate, and a few of my sets relied heavily on the element of surprise. Thank the heavens above that, this week, there was no mid-match disconnect (for me, at least—sorry, Emerson & Clutch).
It felt good to get the win, especially given the disappointment of last week's DC, and the must-win nature of this game. Falling to 0-2 in conference matches wouldn't bode well for the Klinks' playoff hopes, especially with a hell of a tough match coming next week.
Let's talk about a few of my match thoughts:
- Pac's week 2 preview (linked above) stated that the Klinks "need Bulu to prevent a Gliscor sweep, but with grassy terrain out, the stall gets better." I chose not to bring Bulu, because I firmly believed the team could survive without the grassy guardian (also, maaaaaaybe I'm a tiny bit petty). Cloyster, Bewear, and Gyarados all posed threats to Gliscor, especially if it lacked Stone Edge. Also, despite disagreeing with the first half of Pac's statement, I agreed that Grassy Terrain would benefit my opponent more than it would me. The recovery would have been a massive boon for Cossak's team. Plus, combined with Black Sludge and passive terrain recovery, terrain-boosted Giga Drains from Amoongus could have been an unmitigated disaster for the team, even without any SpA investment for Amoongus.
- Amoongus was surprisingly tough to prepare for. Heatran was capable of obliterating it, but couldn't switch in early on for fear of being put to sleep. To that end, I built my Gyarados set specifically to set up on Amoongus, with uninvested Giga Drains failing to break Gyarados' Substitute.
- The low speed tiers of most of Cossak's team freed me up to run plus-attack natures on five of my six team members. The addition of Latios in Cossak's lineup makes this far less safe to abuse.
- Barring a Choice Scarf or a few Speed Boosts for Sharpedo, Diancie outsped the entire lineup while firing off Diamond Storms off positive-natured, max EV'd, base 160 attack.
M-Diancie is still, in my opinion, absolutely disgusting. - Stealth Rock was vital for me with so many bulky Pokemon on the opposite side of the field. I wanted something to help mitigate the effect of Regenerator on Amoongus and Alomomola, plus the lack of Rock resists on Cossak's team meant everything would take at least 12.5% on the switch, helping turn a few 2HKOs to OHKOs. It also helped in scouting Clefable, letting me know on its first switch-in that Clef wasn't running a Magic Guard set.
- I led with Diancie so that I could Mega Evolve ASAP. The threat of a Magic Bounce switch-in is just as important as Magic Bounce itself, especially against a defensive team that's likely to be packing hazards and status moves. It makes opponents think twice about moves that would otherwise be obvious, and making your opponents' decision-making more difficult is always in your best interest.
- I have to give Cossak credit for what I consider to be the best read of the match. After switching to Amoongus and breaking Diancie's substitute at turn 6, I chose to sub again. My thought process was simple: scout to see if he's spamming Giga Drain. If he predicts the switch too soon and goes for a Spore, Diancie will be behind a substitute and he'll have wasted a turn. If he breaks the sub again, he's likely to continue to spam Giga Drain, fearing another Substitute. Instead, he went for one more Giga Drain to break the next sub, then predicted a switch and went for Spore on my incoming Gyarados—a fantastic prediction that put pressure on me early on.
- I was pleasantly surprised when Cossak's team lacked both Turtonator and Lapras. Despite both being Tier 5, they both posed substantial threats to my team. I suspect the reason Cossak didn't bring them was due to the substantial presence of hard-hitting Rock types on my team. I had contingency plans for both, but even, so, the combination of Hydro Pump, Freeze-Dry, and Thunderbolt on Lapras could threaten everything on my team, with only my Bewear successfully tanking hits (and not particularly well, at that).
Speaking of Bewear... - Submitted, without comment, is Bewear's Ultra Sun Pokedex entry:
It waves its hands wildly in intimidation and warning. Life is over for anyone who doesn’t run away as fast as possible.
Bewear is terrifying. Bewear will show up at your house just to kick your dog. Bewear's favorite rap duo is Run the Jewels (and he never skips Love Again). When Bewear wasn't the 107th caller at the local radio station giveaway, he showed up to the station and ate the security guard. - I planned big-time for Scizor. It's a fantastic Pokemon with a well-suited moveset. What I knew for certain, coming in, were two things: Rotom-W outspeeds any Scizor set, and Scizor is capable of packing exactly zero commonly-used moves that threaten bulky Gyarados. One of my victory conditions was using Scizor or Amoongus as setup fodder for Gyarados, which is exactly what happened.
- Rather than trying to set up on Gyarados with an already-burned Scizor, a pre-emptive switch to Clefable would have scared off my still-sleeping Gyarados with the threat of a 4x Thunderbolt, giving Clefabe the opportunity to use Heal Bell. Leaving his Scizor in and allowing Gyarados to wake up and Dragon Dance was, in my opinion, Cossak's biggest misplay.
- I'm happy Gyarados got a chance to shine. It's a fantastic mon with bulk and versatility that catches even skilled players off-guard from time to time. Moreover, it fits with my team and playstyle incredibly well. I'm so glad I snagged it.
Phew. Lots of thoughts. I'll be back tomorrow with some non-Klink commentary, in a format that I think will prove both fun and intriguing.
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