Playing Pokemon Competitively

[Fractral]

(Skip to the bottom if you want. This is just an explanation of Pokemon's competitive side)
I really like pokemon. It has plenty of flaws, which I am more than happy to point out to people, but in the end the gameplay is very satisfying. But you can only do so much against the AI, as once you get to around 60 hours in you probably have a bunch of Level 100's sitting in your party and you can curbstomp anything the game can throw at you. That's where, for many people, the game stops being interesting, so they put it down, or start a new game, and never see the extra content thats hidden in the game's relatively unknown multiplayer mode- the competitve side of pokemon battling.
Now, everyone knows that trading is a fundamental part of pokemon games, and that battling other people is too- but it goes deeper than just doing a simple battle with the team you beat the league with. You may get a few wins against a friend who knows nothing about IV's, EV's, and so on- which I won't go into here- but when you play against someone who knows the mechanics of the game, then thats when it gets very exciting.
Competive pokemon battling is a very tactical game, considering how simplistically the game presents itself. It takes time to build a team, breeding them for natures, movesets and IV's and then training them so that they develop the way you desire. Once you have your team you're set to battle, but only part of your success comes from your pokemon- in the actual battle, you have to evaluate strategies, work out percentage chances against potential gains, and above all try and predict what your opponent is going to do, and then predict what they expect you to do, and so on. In many competive battles turns can take up to 5 minutes to take, as both players try to outsmart the other, and get that super effective hit in that can turn the tide of the game in an instant.
Its not all about what moves you use, either, as even a pokemon which looks to be at a type disadvantage in a match can be the better of the two- base stats, movesets and typing affects a pokemons usefulness and their role in the game. Ferrothorn, for example, is a brilliant wall, thanks to its defensive typing and stats, while something like Kyurem has the stats to make it into the top tier, but lacks the movepool and typing to make it work. Knowledge of these weaknesses and strengths is a must to be able to fluidly counter your opponents strategies.
So now you all know, hopefully, what competitive pokemon battling is like, what is your opinion on it? Do you play competitively, in game or in a simulator? What teams do you use, and what stories do you have about memorable losses/victories?

And please, please, don't say that pokemon is shit, or for children, or make stupid comments about the game without reason or qualification.

 

[Fractral]

As well as showing me one child that uses the Toxic Orb.

Its surprisingly useful, actually. Poison Heal Gliscor needs it- it gives it status immunity and a 1/8 healing each turn. Guts Conkeldurr can use it- unlike Burn it doesn't reduce attack, giving 'Durr a 1.5* attack boost right off the bat. Synchronize Alakazm can also use it, although it reduces special attack so generally Flame orb is better.

 

[Comic Sans]

Sub-Punch Breloom with a Toxic Orb and Poison Heal can be a menace to kill once it gets going.

 

[krazykidd]

I did play pokemon competitively in diamond and pearl . I had over 50 pokemon IV bred and EV trained from scratch . I spend hours getting the right nature , move set , IV ( in the stat i wanted ), leveling them up how i wanted to . I LOVED it . Thinking up new strategies and combination . Now i have never been to a pokemon tournament , but i have played against. A LOT of people ( over the internet and such ). There were forums dedicated to battling and such . People like me who poores their blook sweat and tears into the pokemon to see them fights .

My favorite team ( since i had 50 pokemon TRained to mix and match ) was easily my trick room team .

1.smeargle (destiny bond , trick room , explosion , spore)
2.Machamp ( dynamic punch , shadow claw , thunderpunch , icepunch )
3.Porygone Z ( trick room , tri attack , hyperbeam , shadowball)
4.Slacking ( hammer fist , earthquake , giga impact , sleep)
5.Slowking( trick room , flame blast , surf , psychic)
6. Rampardos .( can't remember moveset , but it was ( rock , ground , fight , shadowclaw))

All pokemon except slacking are trained to have the lowest possible speed and their nature to reduce speed by 10%. Slacking ( which is awsome but no one uses , is my quick heavy hitter , that i use once my initial trick room is gone . He slacks off ever other turn but if you use giga impact ( 150 base normal
Damage + stab ) he needs to recharge the next turn , which is the turn where he slacks off , so you don't really lose anything . He has extremly high stats, and can kill anythig not resistant to normal with 1 giga impact .

Start battle with smeargle with focus sash .

Turn 1: trick room .

Turn2 a) If opponent attacks me ( survive with 1 hp ) use destiny bond ( i will go first due to trick room ) we both die .

Turn2 b) if opponent doesn't attack me , use spore ( 100% sleep )

Turn3 a) bring in machamp ( EV trained in attack and HP , high IV in attack defense and sp defense ) ONE HIT EVERYTHING that is super effective , anything i can't hit with super effective use dynamic punch to confuse and do a good chunk of damage .

Turn 3 b) Use Explosion with smeargle , and bring in machamp next turn and see step 3 a.

Turn4- end . BEATDOWN everyone with machamp ( who has a speed of 100 thus ALWAYS. Goes first due to trick room) Until trick room wares off 5 turns . When trick rooms wares off , ( usually by this time it's 5 against 2 for me ) , switch to slacking and use giga impact , which will KILL ANYTHING not resistant to normal .

Iv'e won 90% of my games with that team.

 

[Fractral]

As well as showing me one child that uses the Toxic Orb.

Its surprisingly useful, actually. Poison Heal Gliscor needs it- it gives it status immunity and a 1/8 healing each turn. Guts Conkeldurr can use it- unlike Burn it doesn't reduce attack, giving 'Durr a 1.5* attack boost right off the bat. Synchronize Alakazm can also use it, although it reduces special attack so generally Flame orb is better.

*cough*

I meant show me one child that took the time in understanding the usefullness of the Toxic Orb

Also, on a Poke with Guts Flame Orb is the better choice due to less damage because with Guts the attack drop does not occur.

Thats me, misinterpreter of the year :/ Also I did not know that guts negated the burn attack drop effect. Learn something new every day!

Snip

I use a pretty standard team in game- think Jellicent and Ferrothorn defensive core, with 4 sweepers depending on what I feel like, normally with either volt swtich or U-Turn. Stuff like Hydreigon, Volcarona, Terrakion and so on.
I've never succesfully used a smeargle, they always seem to die too fast. Also with team preview they lost a lot of their usage as leads, as people can just counter them right from the start.

 

[The Rookie Gamer]

I love Pokemon competitively, and have been active in it since the 4th gen, but I mostly stick to the Uber tier. I do have forays into OU and UU from time to time, but I enjoy the sheer destructive qualities of Ubers. On that note, anyone here use Pokemon showdown to battle?

 

[Ice Car]

I don't play it competitively but I have an intimate knowledge of the metagame. The only thing keeping me from going online and playing is experience and team building.

I've also just never been good at predicting either, though I'm getting better at it.

Playing in the Battle Subway and other in-game battle facilities is just about as competitive as I get, but I'm good enough to get a streak of 35 in the Super Singles.

Spoiler: Team

(Adamant) Flygon (Choice Scarf) 6 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spd
U-Turn
Outrage
Earthquake
Stone Eddge

(Modest) Rotom-W (Choice Specs) 112 HP, 252 Sp Atk, 144 Spd
Will-O-Wisp
Trick
Thunderbolt
Hydro Pump

(Modest) (Speed Boost) Yanmega (Life Orb) 6 Def, 252 Sp Atk, 252 Spd
Protect
Bug Buzz
Air Slash
AncientPower

 

[The_Great_Galendo]

I haven't played Pokemon since the first game, but two buddies and I got the game at around the same time, and I remember watching the first human-against-human battle we ever played (between my two friends). It went something like this:

Mewtwo vs. Mewtwo!

Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Recover!
Mewtwo uses Recover!
Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Recover!
Mewtwo uses Recover!
(repeat the above about two times)

At this point my buddies and I are getting rather bored, so they reset their Gameboys and we all agree on the "No Mewtwo" rule. They fiddle around with their teams for a bit, and start up the next battle:

Alakazam vs. Alakazam!

We all get a brief chuckle out of this. Gameboys are powered down without a single word spoken, and we all immediately agree on the "No Psychics" rule.

To be fair, after the "No Psychics" rule was adopted, the battling was at least semi-interesting, but we quickly found out that there were some strictly dominant strategies. The battling never seemed all that strategic, just a matter of being the first to find the next broken strategy.

 

[Ice Car]

I haven't played Pokemon since the first game, but two buddies and I got the game at around the same time, and I remember watching the first human-against-human battle we ever played (between my two friends). It went something like this:

Mewtwo vs. Mewtwo!

Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Recover!
Mewtwo uses Recover!
Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Recover!
Mewtwo uses Recover!
(repeat the above about two times)

At this point my buddies and I are getting rather bored, so they reset their Gameboys and we all agree on the "No Mewtwo" rule. They fiddle around with their teams for a bit, and start up the next battle:

Alakazam vs. Alakazam!

We all get a brief chuckle out of this. Gameboys are powered down without a single word spoken, and we all immediately agree on the "No Psychics" rule.

To be fair, after the "No Psychics" rule was adopted, the battling was at least semi-interesting, but we quickly found out that there were some strictly dominant strategies. The battling never seemed all that strategic, just a matter of being the first to find the next broken strategy.

The metagame actually has a lot of depth. If you jump online and meet the wrong guy he could actually sweep your team of Legendaries with, say, a Shedinja.

 

[Comic Sans]

I haven't done competitive in years. I was very active on Smogon during Diamond/Pearl and nearly broke top 50 on Shoddy, and then played some more into Platinum but didn't like the meta as much, what with Salamence, Scizor, and Trick being everywhere. I don't remember the whole team, since I was always changing things, but my cores that were always there were Smeargle lead, a Tyranitar, a Cradily, and a Starmie for a Sandstream based team. My Smeargle carried a Choice Scarf and had Trick, Spore, Will-o-Wisp, and Rapid Spin. This was before Platinum where Trick was still rare, so it was a very surprise way to lead and screwed the enemy startup badly. The Tyranitar was a end sweeper who after setting up sand I saved for the end for a Dragon Dance sweep. The Starmie used a custom EV spread with a Choice Scarf that made it exactly faster than a Jolly Salamence after Dragon Dance with the rest in Special Attack and HP, meaning I could take those DDMences no matter what they did. I used a lot of anti-meta stuff like that. When Lucario was popular I gave my Gliscor speed EVs to outrun Lucario and enough Attack EVs to kill it in one EQ, so they would stay in to HP Ice then get KOed. I was a big believer in surprise unorthodox strats. I managed to get on Policy Review in Smogon back when it was basically only moderators, an accomplishment I still hold dear.

 

[The_Great_Galendo]

*snip*

The metagame actually has a lot of depth. If you jump online and meet the wrong guy he could actually sweep your team of Legendaries with, say, a Shedinja.

Well, I have no clue what a Shedinja is, but I'm glad to hear the metagame's improved, at least. The first game didn't have a meta -- or even game balance -- to speak of. Mewtwo, Alakazam, Hypno...these were just better than any non-psychic option you could pick, since pure psychic Pokemon had no weaknesses (and Mewtwo was strictly better than the other psychics). The only things that could even pretend to be competitive were a properly tricked out Chancy or Snorelax, but unless you got pretty lucky with the RNG, it was still a losing proposition.

 

[Ghaleon640]

Not truly competitive, but my friend put on a tournament a few years back, planning a second one that we've prepared for.

Most of us don't EV train, I've recently started just to kill time when I was preparing and scrolling through serebii.net.

Ended up getting a pokemon that noone wants to fight and downright fears. My unevolved Yanma. With its pokepower it has increased acurracy so my hypnosis hits almost every time, I've EV trained it in speed and SP. Attack. I've given it a focus sash so it isn't one hit killed when the opponent wakes up.

It is such a troll, and they may ban it before I can use it.

Btw- I hate legendaries. It takes out all the fun in coming up with awesome tactics with normal pokemon. You have this incredible variety to choose from, so why should everyone hop on the bandwagon of only 15 or so? I don't actually know, and to keep the game fun, I don't want to.

 

[The Rookie Gamer]

Not truly competitive, but my friend put on a tournament a few years back, planning a second one that we've prepared for.

Most of us don't EV train, I've recently started just to kill time when I was preparing and scrolling through serebii.net.

Ended up getting a pokemon that noone wants to fight and downright fears. My unevolved Yanma. With its pokepower it has increased acurracy so my hypnosis hits almost every time, I've EV trained it in speed and SP. Attack. I've given it a focus sash so it isn't one hit killed when the opponent wakes up.

It is such a troll, and they may ban it before I can use it.

Btw- I hate legendaries. It takes out all the fun in coming up with awesome tactics with normal pokemon. You have this incredible variety to choose from, so why should everyone hop on the bandwagon of only 15 or so? I don't actually know, and to keep the game fun, I don't want to.

Legendaries are fun in their own tier, Ubers. They tend to be more evenly matched due to similar stats, but still highly destructive compared to other pokemon.

On the topic of EV's, if you actually use that stuff versus people who have no idea, then it just gets cruel. And hilarious.

 

[Terminate421]

I got alot of my guys onto my copy of Pokemon: White but I mainly would play it for the double battles. I use the simulators for single battles, as soon as double battles are made available, boom will it be fun.

 

[Terminate421]

Not truly competitive, but my friend put on a tournament a few years back, planning a second one that we've prepared for.

Most of us don't EV train, I've recently started just to kill time when I was preparing and scrolling through serebii.net.

Ended up getting a pokemon that noone wants to fight and downright fears. My unevolved Yanma. With its pokepower it has increased acurracy so my hypnosis hits almost every time, I've EV trained it in speed and SP. Attack. I've given it a focus sash so it isn't one hit killed when the opponent wakes up.

It is such a troll, and they may ban it before I can use it.

Btw- I hate legendaries. It takes out all the fun in coming up with awesome tactics with normal pokemon. You have this incredible variety to choose from, so why should everyone hop on the bandwagon of only 15 or so? I don't actually know, and to keep the game fun, I don't want to.

Legendaries are fun in their own tier, Ubers. They tend to be more evenly matched due to similar stats, but still highly destructive compared to other pokemon.

On the topic of EV's, if you actually use that stuff versus people who have no idea, then it just gets cruel. And hilarious.

That sort of thing happened in Pokemon: Battle Revolution.

Here's what I'd use:

Starmie and Empoleon out first (EV trained in their proper spots, Starmie for Special Sweeping and Empoleon for Tanking/Yawning). Then something like Sceptile, Garchomp, Weavile, or Swampert as back up.

Then here is what I'd see:

Youngster player model with:
1 starter
Dialga/Palkia
Staraptor
Lucario
Luxray
Floatzel/Giratina

At which point they couldn't scratch Empoleon and I'd wipe the floor with them as they JUST learned about how to battle online.

 

[Guffe]

I haven't played pokemon games since Ruby and I was so young then so I just played the normal way having no idea about these IVs Evs and everything else but just what's supereffectical against what. Might be interesting but I've understood that it's pretty much to read into.

 

[sextus the crazy]

I haven't played Pokemon since the first game, but two buddies and I got the game at around the same time, and I remember watching the first human-against-human battle we ever played (between my two friends). It went something like this:

Mewtwo vs. Mewtwo!

Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Recover!
Mewtwo uses Recover!
Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Swift!
Mewtwo uses Recover!
Mewtwo uses Recover!
(repeat the above about two times)

At this point my buddies and I are getting rather bored, so they reset their Gameboys and we all agree on the "No Mewtwo" rule. They fiddle around with their teams for a bit, and start up the next battle:

Alakazam vs. Alakazam!

We all get a brief chuckle out of this. Gameboys are powered down without a single word spoken, and we all immediately agree on the "No Psychics" rule.

To be fair, after the "No Psychics" rule was adopted, the battling was at least semi-interesting, but we quickly found out that there were some strictly dominant strategies. The battling never seemed all that strategic, just a matter of being the first to find the next broken strategy.

Yeah 1st gen was famous for being really fucking unbalanced and dominated by like 2 or 3 mons. Each generation get more balanced and the most recent ones are really fun to play.

I've been around since the early gen 4 days, back during the reign of garchomp and his unstoppable brokenness. I'm just glad that now he's got some competition now.

As far as memorible stories go, I don't have to many, but my first gen 5 team got me to 1500 ranking level on pokemon showdown. turns out celebi is way more useful than I could ever imagine.

 

[Ice Car]

*snip*

The metagame actually has a lot of depth. If you jump online and meet the wrong guy he could actually sweep your team of Legendaries with, say, a Shedinja.

Well, I have no clue what a Shedinja is, but I'm glad to hear the metagame's improved, at least. The first game didn't have a meta -- or even game balance -- to speak of. Mewtwo, Alakazam, Hypno...these were just better than any non-psychic option you could pick, since pure psychic Pokemon had no weaknesses (and Mewtwo was strictly better than the other psychics). The only things that could even pretend to be competitive were a properly tricked out Chancy or Snorelax, but unless you got pretty lucky with the RNG, it was still a losing proposition.

Has only 1 HP but an ability "Wonder Guard" which prevents it from taking any damage unless it is hit by a super-effective move. A very gimmicky and circumstantial Pokemon. It has 5 weaknesses and they're pretty common. Or at least Rock.