The Beginning
Coming into the suspect ladder, I was completely unaware of the new meta-game, what to expect, and most importantly what the hell a Latios was. Of course I’m kidding, as I’m a resourceful smogoner who goes beyond the casual lurking and actually posts…okay, casual lurking is the extent of it. But I did prepare, and build a team that proved awfully successful for a battler who’d never really risen above the “average” ranks. I will say though, I’m very proud of what I built here. Sure the team has its weaknesses, and sure my playing style has its weaknesses as well, but you can bet it has quite its share of some synergetic sexiness, seductive speed and a whole lot of penetrating power.
I think I’ll leave the rest for you to find out from my battling experience.
I’m going to post both my team and each of their respective movesets for your viewing pleasure.
The Mission
Yes you have a mission
I’ve got a task for you though as you read.
I call it the 6 point system to war-story reading and receiving a consequential arousal.
a) Put yourself in my shoes (or keyboard, whatever).
b) Imagine your first battle on the new suspect ladder, and this is it.
c) Remember your first time facing/using a Latios.
d) Try and re-establish in your mind that exhillirating excitement of testing out an old uber in a new metagame, fort the first time.
e) Feel the nostalgic happiness
f) And most importantly, have some Gorilla Zoe playing in the background.
Do this correctly, and your next hour on a pokemon site will be more enjoyable than a 20 minute session of porn after spending 3 weeks in a secluded all-male boarding school in Indonesia.
The Team
EV's Omitted
The Seducer (Spike + Destiny Bond)
Froslass@ Focus Sash
-Spikes
-Taunt
-Shadow Ball
-Destiny Bond
The Tease (U-turn Lure)
Infernape @ Choice Band
-Close Combat
-U-Turn
-Flare Blitz
-Stone Edge
The Sex Toy (The vibrations just keep on coming)
Porygon-2 @ Leftovers
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Thunder Wave
-Recover
The Penguin (Who doesn’t love one of these?)
Empoleon @ Leftovers
-Ice Beam
-Surf
-Grass Knot
-Stealth Rock
The Piledriver (Because we could all use a nice piledrive here and there)
Heracross @ Choice Scarf
-Close Combat
-Mega Horn
-Stone Edge
-Toxic
The Big Pimp Daddy Himself (The Suspect)
Latios @ Life Orb
-Calm Mind
-Dragon Pule
-Surf
-Recover
The Process
Let’s finally begin, shall we?
Rules: Ladder Match, Sleep Clause, Freeze Clause, OHKO Clause, Evasion Clause, Species Clause, Strict Damage Clause, Soul Dew Clause
Standard Rules. I always read these at the beginning of every battle for some reason, maybe to see if I might learn anything new from, or possibly use them for something productive. After a full 3 months of battling, I’ve yet to be rewarded with some useful knowledge from observing these. Still, the Soul Dew Clause popping up somewhat pumped me up, as I knew I was ready to compete in a brand new ladder for not only voting rights and competitive experience, but too the greatest reward of all. Fucking bragging rights.
misa-chan sent out Latios (lvl 100 Latios ?).
subtrack sent out nothing clever (lvl 100 Froslass ?).
Okay how fantastic. Matched up with the suspect in testing on the first round of battle. I’m not exactly sure what to expect here. Possibly a hard-hitting Draco Meteor coming from Choice Specs or an orb, but I figure he expects a focus sash from a leading pokemon, especially one as predictable as a Froslass. However, I’ve read quite a lot into the suggestions of effective movesets for both Latios and Latias, and learned of the applicability of the double screen set. Whatever it is, I’ll find out soon enough. I don’t really have any other choice in this situation, and fortunately for me that’s a good thing, as there’s not much his lead can do from stopping what Froslass is best at: setting up now for some pain later.
nothing clever used Spikes.
Spikes were scattered everywhere!
Spikes were scattered around the foe's team!
Latios used Draco Meteor.
A critical hit!
nothing clever lost 100% of its health.
nothing clever hung on using its Focus Sash!
Latios's special attack was harshly lowered.
Froslass: 1%
Latios: 90% (life orb)
For the huge amount of hype this pokemon has gotten for unpredictability, it sure was easy to predict. Not that the prediction did much good, I would have set up with a first turn of spikes either way. At this point I know not to fear a scarf and can’t really see Latios doing much to me other than killing me. I figure if he was going to set up a shield, or actually throw up any kind of support, he would have done it already. I spike for the second time expecting a draco meteor to finish me off.
nothing clever used Spikes.
Spikes were scattered around the foe's team!
Latios used Safeguard.
Your team became cloaked in a mystic veil!
Froslass: 1%
Latios: 90%
Okay wrong prediction on my part, still no harm. I figure I’ve tested the waters for these past 2 rounds of battle and I’m somewhat getting a feel for both his strategy of play and Latios Moveset. He’s already used safeguard once, so I’m expecting his next move to support his team in someway or another as well, as he’s clearly not afraid of my froslass’s attack power, having stayed in twice now against what he knows is one of TWO potential supereffective, stab moves. Expecting a support move on his part, I apt to avoid using my suicidal destiny bond, and instead decide to hammer a destructive shadow ball right into the left eye of this flamboyantly colored dragon.
nothing clever used Shadow Ball.
It's super effective!
Latios lost 60% of its health.
Latios used Calm Mind.
Latios's special attack was raised.
Latios's special defence was raised.
Froslass: 1%
Latios: 30%
Successful move there. Took off a good chunk of his health and he has failed to hit me back even once so far. I realized I still have at least one turn guaranteed in my froslass against a slower Latios, and am currently considering going on a full out attack to take out his Latios. Still, he might be hiding a recover in his moveset, and I really need to figure out whether he does or not to see how I can proceed in this battle without letting his latios set up to the point where it can demolish my whole team. It’s at -1 attack now, and I decide to throw another shadow ball out there to “scout” for a potential recover, and hopefully negate at least part of its benefits. I realize I always have the ability to spike again, but analyzing both the risks and the rewards, I see that a recover now would put him at nearly full health again, in which case he can calm mind up a few times and sweep me later, especially if he has a rapid spinner on his team, allowing him to completely waste my past few turns in battle considering this was my one and only spin resist.
nothing clever used Shadow Ball.
It's super effective!
A critical hit!
Latios lost 30% of its health.
misa-chan's Latios fainted.
Latios has been finished off with a well-placed attack!
Froslass: 1%
Latios: 0%
6-5
Ahh my luck’s actually good here on shoddy! I wish it were so everywhere else in life. FML. Okay so his Latios is out of the way, and I really didn’t lose anything at all, and set up my 2 layers of spikes. Thinking back I don’t know why he even stayed in on me in the first place, considering most froslasses are pretty much guaranteed to have destiny bond and that would have killed him regardless of anything he did. Maybe he wasn’t aware of the tricks of a nice froslass lead, underrated and yet definitely not underpowered. Start using it more people J It gives you some form of advantage 100% of the time, whether it be through setting up spikes, or playing with the opponent so that he shuffles his pokemon around to avoid a destiny bond, in turn revealing to you his entire team.
misa-chan switched in Scizor (lvl 100 Scizor ?).
Scizor was hurt by Spikes!
Scizor lost 19% of its health.
Froslass: 1%
Scizor: 81%
Okay, a Scizor, I’ve never seen one of those before…I think I know how a Scizor works better than I know my girlfriend’s menstruation cycle, and that’s saying a lot considering her periods are BAD and I like to get prepared. Anyways, I could taunt a potential swords dance, but he might hit me with a bullet punch. Shadow Balling or using Destiny Bond wouldn’t do much here, he resists the first, and could either set up on me with a swords dance or bullet punch me before I get the chance to even attack. I’ve only set up 2 layers of spikes, so I’m thinking froslass could be useful later in either suiciding into a pokemon with destiny bond, or setting up that elusive third layer. So I switch to a proper counter.
subtrack switched in jungle fever (lvl 100 Infernape ?).
Scizor used Swords Dance.
Scizor's attack was sharply raised.
Infernape: 100%
Scizor: 81%
I suppose he expected either the Destiny Bond or the switch and set up. He doesn’t have much he can do here, so now I’M expecting a switch. I love scouts, and so I decide to U-Turn to get a proper one-up on his next move in battle.
misa-chan switched in Gyarados (lvl 100 Gyarados ?).
Gyarados's intimidate cut jungle fever's attack!
jungle fever used U-turn.
It's not very effective...
Gyarados lost 12% of its health.
Infernape: 100%
Gyarados: 88%
Decisions Decisions…. Okay not really. I’ve got a great counter on my team that he can’t even touch.
subtrack switched in boytoy (lvl 100 Porygon2).
boytoy traced Gyarados's Intimidate!
boytoy's intimidate cut Gyarados's attack!
Your team is no longer protected by Safeguard!
Porygon-2: 100%
Gyarados: 88%
Tracing his intimidate back in his face, threatening him with a thunderbolt and leaving him with no other option, I’m quite sure my Porygon has the opponent just about guaranteed to switch. Conveniently, his safeguard just wore off, so let’s thunder-wave the incoming poke, slowing them down for me to kill off later.
misa-chan switched in Scizor (lvl 100 Scizor ?).
Scizor was hurt by Spikes!
Scizor lost 19% of its health.
boytoy used Thunder Wave.
Scizor is paralysed! It may be unable to move!
Porygon-2: 100%
Scizor: 62%
Scizor may be crippled, but even from a wheel chair this sneaky bastard knows how to force a sweep with priority. I really hate scizor.
Now let’s see. At this point I really have to figure out what he’s going to do next here. Nearly all scizors pack that 120 BP superpower, which would just BARELY miss a KO if not KOing me outright, but would probably cause severe damage to the infernape I would switch in again at this situation, which would put me in KO range for a bullet punch on him as well.
I’m stumped.
He’s probably predicting that I do switch in infernape, but regardless, hitting me with a superpower is the most logical decision he could make considering my switch in would be potentially killed, and my stay in would as well.
I’m thinking that to take this scizor down I’ll have to get infernape in there safely. So, I’m going to try and keep porygon 2 in to take the superpower and therefore give him that -1 attack drop, definitely taking away his chances of stopping my infernape switch in. Let’s do this shit.
boytoy used Thunderbolt.
Scizor lost 34% of its health.
Scizor used Superpower.
It's super effective!
boytoy lost 94% of its health.
Scizor's attack was lowered.
Scizor's defence was lowered.
Scizor: 18% (Life Orb)
Porygon-2: 12% (Leftovers)
So far so good…
subtrack switched in jungle fever (lvl 100 Infernape ?).
Scizor used Bullet Punch.
It's not very effective...
jungle fever lost 22% of its health.
Scizor: 8% (life orb)
Infernape: 78%
Annnnnd infernape’s in safely. Plan “do whatever the hell it takes to get the damn monkey in” came out successful. He didn’t use superpower in the hopes of taking out my Porygon with a speedy bullet punch, and that bullet punch was weakened enough to cause hardly any damage to my infernape. And now that I KNOW he’s going to be switching again, not wanting to get his late game sweeper killed off so soon, I shall initiate another U-turn out of there!
misa-chan switched in Gyarados (lvl 100 Gyarados ?).
Gyarados's intimidate cut jungle fever's attack!
jungle fever used U-turn.
It's not very effective...
Gyarados lost 12% of its health.
Okay he brought in his Gyarados again. At this point, I decide that bringing in my surefire counter would do me the most good. I’ll send Porygon-2 out, to be explained in a second.
subtrack switched in boytoy (lvl 100 Porygon2).
boytoy traced Gyarados's Intimidate!
boytoy's intimidate cut Gyarados's attack!
Porygon-2: 18% (Leftovers)
Gyarados: 76%
He’s going to get trigger-happy and juice himself up with a dragondance, and I’ll KO him with a thunderbolt. Or I could recover, KO him with a thunderbolt, and have some HP to spare. Or he could kill me off with a waterfall right now. I’m not so sure what he’s going to do, but this is my best plan for possibly killing his gyara right now, as porygon-2 isn’t going to be doing much good in the rest of the battle at this health anyway. Might as well take a shot and possibly kill his sweeper at basically no cost to me.
Gyarados used Waterfall.
boytoy lost 19% of its health.
subtrack's boytoy fainted.
And porygon-2’s been knocked out!
Gyarados: 66% (life orb)
Porygon-2: 0%
5-5
Okay porygon’s dead. So that plan failed, now I can go ahead and try another! I’ll just send my froslass in to beat him off with destiny bond regardless of what he does. If I destiny bond every turn after sending my ice ghost in, there’s no way he can avoid getting killed.
subtrack switched in nothing clever (lvl 100 Froslass ?).
But on the other hand, maybe I can outsmart this guy and possibly set up another layer of spikes before taking him down? I could Spike now as he definitely DDances to avoid my revenging him, and then assuming his overconfidence, I’d destiny bond after his SECOND Dragon Dance to take him down regardless of what he does after that. Some costly prediction, but it has yet to fail me before in this battle.
nothing clever used Spikes.
Spikes were scattered around the foe's team!
Gyarados used Dragon Dance.
Gyarados's attack was raised.
Gyarados's speed was raised.
Okay step one complete. It’s interesting to note that I now have all three layers of spikes on the field, and he’s yet to bring out any type of Rapid Spinner. Thankfully for me, that probably means he doesn’t own one. I’m really hoping these entre hazards are going to do me well later on. Now let’s just hope he Dragon Dances again..
Gyarados used Waterfall.
nothing clever lost 0% of its health.
subtrack's nothing clever fainted.
Froslass has been drowned by a massive torrent! KO’d!
Froslass: 0%
Gyarados: 56% (life orb)
4-5
Fuck. Dead. Okay no big deal, I set up another layer of spikes, lost two low health pokes is all, and he just has a massive water dragon with +1 attack and speed threatening a sweep. Okay… yes big deal. I still have 4 pokemon that remain unknown to him though, and thankfully a combination of the 2 is sure to stop him. I may lose another pokemon in the process, but we’ll be tied up in that scenario, with me leading by that significant margin of 3 layers of spikes all set up. I’ll be bringing in my dragon counter next, Empoleon, who I don’t mind losing all that much, considering his main use on my team, the desecration of dragons, has been fulfilled by Frossy with her clean kill on Latios. Maybe he doesn’t even have earthquake or anything damaging, so he won’t be able to do much at all.
subtrack switched in Empoleon (lvl 100 Empoleon ?).
Oh the suspense is killing me…
Gyarados used Earthquake.
It's super effective!
Fuck.
Empoleon lost 71% of its health.
Empoleon used Grass Knot.
Gyarados lost 30% of its health.
Empoleon: 35% (leftovers)
Gyarados: 16% (life orb)
Double fuck. Not as much damaged as I’d hoped, but hopefully it’ll be enough of a dent to assist me in a later death of this dancing idiot. I could switch right now on the predicted earthquake, but my low health might be enough of a reason for him to use a waterfall to kill me instead, in which case I’d be taking some damage on my switch-in, which is one risk I’d rather not take. Empoleon’s nigh-useless at this health with his low speed late game, so I decide to ceremoniously offer this Penguin as a religious sacrifice to God/Allah/Brahman/Liam Neeson. Enjoy your Ecoli Infested Penguin Meat, Misa.
Gyarados used Earthquake.
It's super effective!
Empoleon lost 35% of its health.
subtrack's Empoleon fainted.
Gyarados lost 10% of its health.
Empoleon’s been fissured straight to hell!
3-5
Okay the Penguin has been defecated on and thrown into hell, and now I can continue on with the battle in hopes of defeating Gyarados. I’ve also come to realize something at this point in the battle: From the very beginning of DP, until the release of platinum and up until now, Gyarados has remained that annoying bitch-of-a-threat that he’s always been and continues to pester me in all my battles. He’s really one pokemon that has not lost an ounce of effectiveness in the single moveset he’s bolstered since day one. Perhaps this new suspect we’ve been so anxiously coveting can prove a suitable counter? Well, maybe, I’m willing to find out. He’s definitely my best switch in now.
subtrack switched in too strong (lvl 100 Latios ?).
I know with the EVs I’ve stocked into him he can take a +1 Ice Fang, in which case I could hit him back with a dragon pulse, hope to crit, and kill him. But that’s unlikely. Oh no, am I going to lose?
Gyarados used Ice Fang.
It's super effective!
too strong lost 79% of its health.
Ohhhhhh no what am I going to do? Is his sweep going to sweep the battle in his favor?
Gyarados lost 7% of its health.
misa-chan's Gyarados fainted.
And Gyarados is out of there!
3-4
I guess not. And you see kids, this is why we put the leftovers on our tanks rather than make them into the fragile sweepers they shouldn’t be by latching on a life-orb. Take that you free-loading, sphere-holding, down-syndrome snake fuck!
too strong used Recover.
too strong restored 50% of its health.
Latios: 71%
Of course I expected that death, and fearing the “but there was no target!” line, I recover off his futile damage. I guess he really didn’t have much to do in that situation other than let his gyarados die. To his defense, this does for the first time in the battle switch the battle-start momentum towards his side, as it’s now his turn to switch in his own pokemon on my own teammates unexpectedly. I’m not exactly sure what he’ll bring in next.
misa-chan switched in Scizor (lvl 100 Scizor ?).
Scizor was hurt by Spikes!
Scizor lost 9% of its health.
misa-chan's Scizor fainted.
Scizor has been jabbed to death on the Switch!
Latios: 71%
Scizor: 0%
3-3
I’m guessing at this point he was just tired of seeing a useless team member in the selection screen for his remaining teammates, and switched in the Scizor to rid himself of dead weight. He might have just forgotten the spikes, but I’m not sure what a paralyzed scizor could have really done to my Latios anyway. I’m still expecting his counter-threat at this point. Hopefully it’s not a Choice Band, Pursuit, Ice Shard Weavile with just enough EVs to KO a 71% latios!
misa-chan switched in Heatran (lvl 100 Heatran ?).
Heatran was hurt by Spikes!
Heatran lost 25% of its health.
So it’s not a weavile he switched in, but something that’s still equally (okay not equally, but at least potentially) threatening to my Latios. He could explode at this point ending my Latios’s potential sweep and setting up his own for the next turn, or he might be choiced and geared towards demolishing me with a beefed up Spec’d or Scarf’d HP Ice.
I’m not too sure of what he plans to do it, but I’m pretty sure that whatever it is, my Latios isn’t going to survive it, or be able do anything back for that matter. I’m going to switch in Heracross and threaten him off with a Scarf’d Close Combat. I understand he might predict me and Fireblast away at my flammable critter, but considering his desperate position at the losing-end of my momentum in the battle, I’m going to rely on his staying conservative with his remaining decisions.
subtrack switched in step on me (lvl 100 Heracross ?).
Heatran used Hidden Power.
step on me lost 29% of its health.
Heracross: 71%
Heatran: 75%
Okay, the hidden power comes and is barely strong enough to 4HKO me. If he’s scarf’d, he’s definitely going to switch. If he’s not, he’ll still likely switch considering a good percentage of Heracross’s in the standard game come equipped with the scarf, which would allow me to outspeed him and KO with a close combat. I could predict here and use a toxic, but I’m not sure of what’s coming next, and I’d rather stay cool and not potentially fail at poisoning a steel who can send a super effective, stab, 120 BP fireblast at my lategame cleaner. Let’s throw a close combat out there.
misa-chan switched in Dusknoir (lvl 100 Dusknoir ?).
Ugh. I’m actually really upset right now. I tried to stay conservative and reap the pay, but as usual I get nothing out of it. I’m sticking to prediction tactics from now on.
Dusknoir is exerting its pressure!
Dusknoir was hurt by Spikes!
Dusknoir lost 25% of its health.
step on me used Close Combat.
It doesn't affect Dusknoir...
Heracross: 71%
Dusknoir: 81% (leftovers)
Okay, so it’s time for some prediction now. I have to switch, I’m not even going to bother explaining why. Other than Heracross, I only have 2 remaining pokemon in my line-up, my Infernape, and the Suspect Latios. He’s definitely expecting this switch from me, so I’m betting on him not Firepunching if he even has the option. I’m guessing he has shadow sneak, but I can’t see anyone using a priority move on a switch-in.. he might pain split, but that isn’t really going to get him much and will give me just about a free switch considering both of my remaining pokemon are around his health percentage. So I’m guessing he’ll hit me with a status move, and I know dusknoir frequently carry that wil-o-wisp. I'd really prefer not to see any of my other pokemon burned, so in comes Latios to eat up…well..whatever he sends at me!
subtrack switched in too strong (lvl 100 Latios ?).
Dusknoir used Pain Split.
Dusknoir lost 4% of its health.
too strong restored 4% of its health.
Latios: 79%
Dusknoir: 83% (leftovers)
Surprisingly, he used Pain Split! Maaybe he wasn’t sure about the possible choice item on my pokemon and feared wil-o-wisping a Guts Heracross. Or he didn’t have Wil-O-Wisp. Or, I suppose, this might have net him some sort of benefit if I had switched in infernape instead. But I didn’t, so I got a free switch. Small mistake on his part. Okay now comes the hard part. I’m betting he has shadow sneak on his Dusknoir, but Latios’s natural bulk should hold through for hopefully a 2hko from this point. Sadly for me, his pokemon is a lot bulkier than mine, and will most likely require a lot more than a non-boosted dragon pulse to kill off. My current HP will allow me to do the following: Calm mind up this time, and recover off his next hit after that. From there I’ll rely on my remaining HP to proceed forward in stalling out his Bulky Ghost.
Dusknoir used Shadow Sneak.
It's super effective!
too strong lost 36% of its health.
too strong used Calm Mind.
too strong's special attack was raised.
too strong's special defence was raised.
Latios: 43%
Dusknoir: 89% (leftovers)
He managed to hit me for 36%, which coming off of minimal attack investment is hopefully somewhere near his maximum damage output. If I wanna kill this guy off I’m going to run a risk here. If his Dusknoir’s a consistent a duck a hits for near the same damage as before without scoring a critical (12.5% chance per incidence) , I should be able to recover for the net few turns until I have enough health to take 3 shadow sneaks before dying, at which point I’ll calm mind up and beat him down with dragon pulse.
I’m really hating that probability thread right now. Please let it fail, gods, I made you a sacrifice!
Dusknoir used Shadow Sneak.
It's super effective!
too strong lost 36% of its health.
too strong used Recover.
too strong restored 50% of its health.
Dusknoir's leftovers restored its health a little!
Dusknoir restored 6% of its health.
Latios: 57%
Dusknoir: 95% (leftovers)
This is what should be happening for the next few turns, I really hope. Dusknoir’ll send a punch flying and Latios should laugh in its face and heal off the scab wounds. With the right calculations…it should take 3-4 turns before I can attack and pulse him to death. Again, this is factoring no criticals. I’m REALLY hoping for no criticals at this point.
Dusknoir used Shadow Sneak.
It's super effective!
too strong lost 40% of its health.
too strong used Recover.
too strong restored 50% of its health.
Dusknoir's leftovers restored its health a little!
Dusknoir restored 5% of its health.
Dusknoir used Shadow Sneak.
It's super effective!
too strong lost 38% of its health.
too strong used Recover.
too strong restored 50% of its health.
Latios: 79%
Dusknoir: 100% (leftovers)
Dusknoir used Shadow Sneak.
It's super effective!
too strong lost 41% of its health.
too strong used Recover.
too strong restored 50% of its health.
Latios: 88%
Dusknoir: 100% (leftovers)
Okay I’m at the point of that 3hko if he’s maxing out at 41%! I’m at the edge of my seat at this point and I really need to relieve my bladder. I could get greedy and hold out one more turn before I attack, but I’m thinking I might as well end this right here, right now.
Come on Latios, let’s wreck shit up
Dusknoir used Shadow Sneak.
It's super effective!
A critical hit!
too strong lost 72% of its health.
too strong used Dragon Pulse.
Dusknoir lost 89% of its health.
Latios: 6% (life orb)
Dusknoir: 17% (leftovers)
AH! That dirty fucker hit me with a critical! Ohh that practically throws away the past 5 turns I’ve spent plotting his death. And what’s worse, he’ll kill me next turn. What the hell do I do now? I need to conserve Latios for later in case I need his speed, and thankfully both of my remaining pokemon resist what I HOPE is dusknoir’s only damaging attack. If he predicts me and Wil-o-Wisps I’m not sure where the battle will go. I’m counting on him trying to finish off my latios though, as his misprediction there would cost him the battle immediately. I’ll send in infernape, hoping that Scarfcross can come in later to revenge his final pokemon.
subtrack switched in jungle fever (lvl 100 Infernape ?).
Dusknoir used Shadow Sneak.
A critical hit!
jungle fever lost 46% of its health.
Infernape: 32%
Dusknoir: 23% (leftovers)
Yes! *twitch* I switch in getting hit with only 23% and get ready to finish him off with a nice choice banded flare blitz to his ugly face *twitch*.
What’s that? He got a critical hit on me? No he didn’t silly reader *twitch*!
The battle is perfectly fair *twitch* and I got hit for the damage I should have been hit with! *twitch* NO I’m not in denial, please stop! *twitch*
…
I’m guessing he’ll be switching out next turn to save his Dusknoir’s ass from utter annihilation, and fearing using the wrong move on the wrong pokemon, especially a flare-blitz on the heatran I saw quickly earlier in the battle, and having to switch again giving him ample time to set up, I’ll go ahead and scout once again.
Dusknoir used Shadow Sneak.
jungle fever lost 22% of its health.
jungle fever used U-turn.
It's not very effective...
Dusknoir lost 11% of its health.
Ah I guess we all score some predictions every once in a while. He successfully outpredicted me and kept his resistant Dusknoir in against my Infernape. If I had stayed in and attacked with a flare blitz I could have killed him too, which makes me feel even less comfortable with the battle thus far. What’s worse is that I can only bring in Heracross now, who’s only attacking moves both low accuracy! I can’t bring Latios in however, as he’ll be KO’d by a single Shadow Sneak. I’ll have to send out the shaky beetle once again.
subtrack switched in step on me (lvl 100 Heracross ?).
Heracross: 100%
Dusknoir: 18% (leftovers)
Now I can only stone edge or Megahorn, and I’m not about to let Megahorn hit only to have it not be powerful enough to kill Dusknoir, as he resists it. With that in mind, I go ahead and rely on the somewhat low accuracy of the non-stabbed stone edge to kill off the weakened opponent.
misa-chan switched in Heatran (lvl 100 Heatran ?).
Heatran was hurt by Spikes!
Heatran lost 25% of its health.
step on me used Stone Edge.
Heatran lost 40% of its health.
But Misa predicts adequately again and has left me face to face with Heatran once again.
His Choice Specs or Choice Scarf FireBlast is enough to kill every single one of my pokemon at this point. I can only hope now that he gets at least one miss with the stabbed move of choice. I’m going to have to leave Heracross in to take the Fireblast, increase the chances of him missing the FireBlast on the next turn, and leave me a safe switch to my HOPEFULLY faster Latios. Maybe there’ll be a miss right here and I’ll kill with the stone edge?
Heatran used Fire Blast.
It's super effective!
step on me lost 71% of its health.
subtrack's step on me fainted.
Heracross: 0%
Heatran: 10%
2-3
No luck this time. This is game time. He’s going to have to miss on either of my next two pokemon for me to possibly win this battle. It doesn’t matter which I send in first, as his outspeeding of my heracross has shown me that he is indeed scarf’d and will outspeed both Infernape and Latios.
subtrack switched in too strong (lvl 100 Latios ?).
I’ve sent in Latios. Now I’ll hit recover and pray for a miss. PLEASE!
Heatran used Fire Blast.
It's not very effective...
JUST KIDDING!
Heatran’s attack missed!
too strong used Recover.
too strong restored 50% of its health.
Latios: 56%
Heatran: 10%
There is a god! For all you agnostic readers, throw away your religious hatred, pick up an injured penguin, build a nice bonfire, and toast the hell out of that bird. My latios is now back at half-full (or half-empty?) health and ready to throw down again. There’s 2 possibilities at this point.
a) He keeps heatran in and hopes to hit me hard enough (or critical) with a resisted fire blast
b) He switches out for his final pokemon
Obvious, I know, but I presented this to show that both of his options are easily answered by recover. If he stays in and waits for a crit with fireblast, I can attempt to stall him out with recovers and misses until he struggles to death. If he switches, I’ll be facing down his final pokemon with a 100% healthy Latios. Recover it is.
misa-chan switched in Dusknoir (lvl 100 Dusknoir ?).
Dusknoir is exerting its pressure!
Dusknoir was hurt by Spikes!
Dusknoir lost 19% of its health.
misa-chan's Dusknoir fainted.
Dusknoir’s blacked out on his way in!
2-2
Again, ridding himself of some dead weight. Or he’s forgetting about the spikes. I’m so glad I put froslass on the team to help me out with the spikes. Two kills attributed to her thus far.
too strong used Recover.
too strong restored 49% of its health.
Latios: 100%
Dusknoir: 0%
I’m back at full health and anxiously anticipating his final pokemon. At this point I’m thinking, if his final pokemon is either fast enough to kill Latios first or Bulky enough to sustain a hit and kill me afterwards, his Heatran will be able to revenge both of my final pokemon with Fire blast. I sincerely hope his final pokemon isn’t that weavile I mentioned before. I’d kill myself. I cross my fingers and anticipate the final switch in.
misa-chan switched in Magnezone (lvl 100 Magnezone).
Magnezone was hurt by Spikes!
Magnezone lost 25% of its health.
Ohhhh dear. Final prediction opportunity here. Assuming his final four moves are selected out of the following options:
a)Thunderbolt
b)HP Ice
c)Explosion
d)ThunderWave
e)Substitute
He could either expect me to switch, in which case he’ll either Twave either of my final pokemon and finish them off with a Thunderbolt, Substitute on the switch and Tbolt on the two remaining pokemon while exploding on Latios, or Thunderbolt right off the bat and finish off my remaining pokemon..
He could also expect me to stay in, in which case he could HP ice, potentially killing me if he’s spec’d, or explode on me, and then revenge my final two pokemon with fireblast.
This again, all depends on whether he’s scarf’d, spec’d, or has a shed shell. Switching out won’t do me any good, as he’ll kill me regardless. I just need to hope that I’m faster than him, hit him with the surf for a 2hko, he HP ices uselessly, and I finish him off with another surf, then survive the heatran fire blast or hope for a miss and kill from there.
too strong used Surf.
Magnezone lost 51% of its health.
So far so good.
Magnezone used Explosion.
too strong lost 90% of its health.
subtrack's too strong fainted.
misa-chan's Magnezone fainted.
Magenzone’s exploded himself out of the arena!
Latios fainted from impact with the Blast!
Latios: 0% (life orb)
Magenzone: 0%
1-1
So that’s about it. He exploded on my Latios, leaving my remaining pokemon to be fireblast bait. I don’t have anything to do at this point but hope and prey for a miss, but I’ve gotten plenty of luck this game already and don’t really expect more.
Well, I guess thanks for reading! Here’s the final part just for kicks I guess.
misa-chan switched in Heatran (lvl 100 Heatran ?).
subtrack switched in jungle fever (lvl 100 Infernape ?).
Heatran was hurt by Spikes!
Wait, what?
Heatran lost 10% of its health.
misa-chan's Heatran fainted.
subtrack wins!
Oh would you look at that! A win after all! And you didn't expect a thing I'm sure =)
1-0
The Hoorays
-------------
Hooray! Froslass's Three layers of spikes succesfully killed off three pokemon and weakened several others!
Hooray! Latios is definately a threat in this meta-game and proved succesful in this battle, but not enough to warrant overpowering!
Hooray! Infernape's Bounce, Bounce, Bouncing around offered me some excellent switches!
Hooray! Porygon-2 took one for the team to protect its yummy teammates!
What the F's
--------------
What the F? Empoleon did Jack Shit
What the F? Heracross doesn't even deserves Jack's shit
What the F? Critical hits?
What the F? Latios didn't sweep?
And that's just another day battling under my account!
I hope you enjoyed your read!
And thanks for bothering!
Hopefully this gives you some insight into what it's like to be Edough323
But more importantly, I hope this offers some insight into the Suspect Metagame
AND I sincerely hope you leave this thread remembering the Viability of Spikes!
Bye bye now!
Coming into the suspect ladder, I was completely unaware of the new meta-game, what to expect, and most importantly what the hell a Latios was. Of course I’m kidding, as I’m a resourceful smogoner who goes beyond the casual lurking and actually posts…okay, casual lurking is the extent of it. But I did prepare, and build a team that proved awfully successful for a battler who’d never really risen above the “average” ranks. I will say though, I’m very proud of what I built here. Sure the team has its weaknesses, and sure my playing style has its weaknesses as well, but you can bet it has quite its share of some synergetic sexiness, seductive speed and a whole lot of penetrating power.
I think I’ll leave the rest for you to find out from my battling experience.
I’m going to post both my team and each of their respective movesets for your viewing pleasure.
The Mission
Yes you have a mission
I’ve got a task for you though as you read.
I call it the 6 point system to war-story reading and receiving a consequential arousal.
a) Put yourself in my shoes (or keyboard, whatever).
b) Imagine your first battle on the new suspect ladder, and this is it.
c) Remember your first time facing/using a Latios.
d) Try and re-establish in your mind that exhillirating excitement of testing out an old uber in a new metagame, fort the first time.
e) Feel the nostalgic happiness
f) And most importantly, have some Gorilla Zoe playing in the background.
Do this correctly, and your next hour on a pokemon site will be more enjoyable than a 20 minute session of porn after spending 3 weeks in a secluded all-male boarding school in Indonesia.
The Team
EV's Omitted
The Seducer (Spike + Destiny Bond)
Froslass@ Focus Sash
-Spikes
-Taunt
-Shadow Ball
-Destiny Bond
The Tease (U-turn Lure)
Infernape @ Choice Band
-Close Combat
-U-Turn
-Flare Blitz
-Stone Edge
The Sex Toy (The vibrations just keep on coming)
Porygon-2 @ Leftovers
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Thunder Wave
-Recover
The Penguin (Who doesn’t love one of these?)
Empoleon @ Leftovers
-Ice Beam
-Surf
-Grass Knot
-Stealth Rock
The Piledriver (Because we could all use a nice piledrive here and there)
Heracross @ Choice Scarf
-Close Combat
-Mega Horn
-Stone Edge
-Toxic
The Big Pimp Daddy Himself (The Suspect)
Latios @ Life Orb
-Calm Mind
-Dragon Pule
-Surf
-Recover
The Process
Let’s finally begin, shall we?
Rules: Ladder Match, Sleep Clause, Freeze Clause, OHKO Clause, Evasion Clause, Species Clause, Strict Damage Clause, Soul Dew Clause
Standard Rules. I always read these at the beginning of every battle for some reason, maybe to see if I might learn anything new from, or possibly use them for something productive. After a full 3 months of battling, I’ve yet to be rewarded with some useful knowledge from observing these. Still, the Soul Dew Clause popping up somewhat pumped me up, as I knew I was ready to compete in a brand new ladder for not only voting rights and competitive experience, but too the greatest reward of all. Fucking bragging rights.
misa-chan sent out Latios (lvl 100 Latios ?).
subtrack sent out nothing clever (lvl 100 Froslass ?).
Okay how fantastic. Matched up with the suspect in testing on the first round of battle. I’m not exactly sure what to expect here. Possibly a hard-hitting Draco Meteor coming from Choice Specs or an orb, but I figure he expects a focus sash from a leading pokemon, especially one as predictable as a Froslass. However, I’ve read quite a lot into the suggestions of effective movesets for both Latios and Latias, and learned of the applicability of the double screen set. Whatever it is, I’ll find out soon enough. I don’t really have any other choice in this situation, and fortunately for me that’s a good thing, as there’s not much his lead can do from stopping what Froslass is best at: setting up now for some pain later.
nothing clever used Spikes.
Spikes were scattered everywhere!
Spikes were scattered around the foe's team!
Latios used Draco Meteor.
A critical hit!
nothing clever lost 100% of its health.
nothing clever hung on using its Focus Sash!
Latios's special attack was harshly lowered.
Froslass: 1%
Latios: 90% (life orb)
For the huge amount of hype this pokemon has gotten for unpredictability, it sure was easy to predict. Not that the prediction did much good, I would have set up with a first turn of spikes either way. At this point I know not to fear a scarf and can’t really see Latios doing much to me other than killing me. I figure if he was going to set up a shield, or actually throw up any kind of support, he would have done it already. I spike for the second time expecting a draco meteor to finish me off.
nothing clever used Spikes.
Spikes were scattered around the foe's team!
Latios used Safeguard.
Your team became cloaked in a mystic veil!
Froslass: 1%
Latios: 90%
Okay wrong prediction on my part, still no harm. I figure I’ve tested the waters for these past 2 rounds of battle and I’m somewhat getting a feel for both his strategy of play and Latios Moveset. He’s already used safeguard once, so I’m expecting his next move to support his team in someway or another as well, as he’s clearly not afraid of my froslass’s attack power, having stayed in twice now against what he knows is one of TWO potential supereffective, stab moves. Expecting a support move on his part, I apt to avoid using my suicidal destiny bond, and instead decide to hammer a destructive shadow ball right into the left eye of this flamboyantly colored dragon.
nothing clever used Shadow Ball.
It's super effective!
Latios lost 60% of its health.
Latios used Calm Mind.
Latios's special attack was raised.
Latios's special defence was raised.
Froslass: 1%
Latios: 30%
Successful move there. Took off a good chunk of his health and he has failed to hit me back even once so far. I realized I still have at least one turn guaranteed in my froslass against a slower Latios, and am currently considering going on a full out attack to take out his Latios. Still, he might be hiding a recover in his moveset, and I really need to figure out whether he does or not to see how I can proceed in this battle without letting his latios set up to the point where it can demolish my whole team. It’s at -1 attack now, and I decide to throw another shadow ball out there to “scout” for a potential recover, and hopefully negate at least part of its benefits. I realize I always have the ability to spike again, but analyzing both the risks and the rewards, I see that a recover now would put him at nearly full health again, in which case he can calm mind up a few times and sweep me later, especially if he has a rapid spinner on his team, allowing him to completely waste my past few turns in battle considering this was my one and only spin resist.
nothing clever used Shadow Ball.
It's super effective!
A critical hit!
Latios lost 30% of its health.
misa-chan's Latios fainted.
Latios has been finished off with a well-placed attack!
Froslass: 1%
Latios: 0%
6-5
Ahh my luck’s actually good here on shoddy! I wish it were so everywhere else in life. FML. Okay so his Latios is out of the way, and I really didn’t lose anything at all, and set up my 2 layers of spikes. Thinking back I don’t know why he even stayed in on me in the first place, considering most froslasses are pretty much guaranteed to have destiny bond and that would have killed him regardless of anything he did. Maybe he wasn’t aware of the tricks of a nice froslass lead, underrated and yet definitely not underpowered. Start using it more people J It gives you some form of advantage 100% of the time, whether it be through setting up spikes, or playing with the opponent so that he shuffles his pokemon around to avoid a destiny bond, in turn revealing to you his entire team.
misa-chan switched in Scizor (lvl 100 Scizor ?).
Scizor was hurt by Spikes!
Scizor lost 19% of its health.
Froslass: 1%
Scizor: 81%
Okay, a Scizor, I’ve never seen one of those before…I think I know how a Scizor works better than I know my girlfriend’s menstruation cycle, and that’s saying a lot considering her periods are BAD and I like to get prepared. Anyways, I could taunt a potential swords dance, but he might hit me with a bullet punch. Shadow Balling or using Destiny Bond wouldn’t do much here, he resists the first, and could either set up on me with a swords dance or bullet punch me before I get the chance to even attack. I’ve only set up 2 layers of spikes, so I’m thinking froslass could be useful later in either suiciding into a pokemon with destiny bond, or setting up that elusive third layer. So I switch to a proper counter.
subtrack switched in jungle fever (lvl 100 Infernape ?).
Scizor used Swords Dance.
Scizor's attack was sharply raised.
Infernape: 100%
Scizor: 81%
I suppose he expected either the Destiny Bond or the switch and set up. He doesn’t have much he can do here, so now I’M expecting a switch. I love scouts, and so I decide to U-Turn to get a proper one-up on his next move in battle.
misa-chan switched in Gyarados (lvl 100 Gyarados ?).
Gyarados's intimidate cut jungle fever's attack!
jungle fever used U-turn.
It's not very effective...
Gyarados lost 12% of its health.
Infernape: 100%
Gyarados: 88%
Decisions Decisions…. Okay not really. I’ve got a great counter on my team that he can’t even touch.
subtrack switched in boytoy (lvl 100 Porygon2).
boytoy traced Gyarados's Intimidate!
boytoy's intimidate cut Gyarados's attack!
Your team is no longer protected by Safeguard!
Porygon-2: 100%
Gyarados: 88%
Tracing his intimidate back in his face, threatening him with a thunderbolt and leaving him with no other option, I’m quite sure my Porygon has the opponent just about guaranteed to switch. Conveniently, his safeguard just wore off, so let’s thunder-wave the incoming poke, slowing them down for me to kill off later.
misa-chan switched in Scizor (lvl 100 Scizor ?).
Scizor was hurt by Spikes!
Scizor lost 19% of its health.
boytoy used Thunder Wave.
Scizor is paralysed! It may be unable to move!
Porygon-2: 100%
Scizor: 62%
Scizor may be crippled, but even from a wheel chair this sneaky bastard knows how to force a sweep with priority. I really hate scizor.
Now let’s see. At this point I really have to figure out what he’s going to do next here. Nearly all scizors pack that 120 BP superpower, which would just BARELY miss a KO if not KOing me outright, but would probably cause severe damage to the infernape I would switch in again at this situation, which would put me in KO range for a bullet punch on him as well.
I’m stumped.
He’s probably predicting that I do switch in infernape, but regardless, hitting me with a superpower is the most logical decision he could make considering my switch in would be potentially killed, and my stay in would as well.
I’m thinking that to take this scizor down I’ll have to get infernape in there safely. So, I’m going to try and keep porygon 2 in to take the superpower and therefore give him that -1 attack drop, definitely taking away his chances of stopping my infernape switch in. Let’s do this shit.
boytoy used Thunderbolt.
Scizor lost 34% of its health.
Scizor used Superpower.
It's super effective!
boytoy lost 94% of its health.
Scizor's attack was lowered.
Scizor's defence was lowered.
Scizor: 18% (Life Orb)
Porygon-2: 12% (Leftovers)
So far so good…
subtrack switched in jungle fever (lvl 100 Infernape ?).
Scizor used Bullet Punch.
It's not very effective...
jungle fever lost 22% of its health.
Scizor: 8% (life orb)
Infernape: 78%
Annnnnd infernape’s in safely. Plan “do whatever the hell it takes to get the damn monkey in” came out successful. He didn’t use superpower in the hopes of taking out my Porygon with a speedy bullet punch, and that bullet punch was weakened enough to cause hardly any damage to my infernape. And now that I KNOW he’s going to be switching again, not wanting to get his late game sweeper killed off so soon, I shall initiate another U-turn out of there!
misa-chan switched in Gyarados (lvl 100 Gyarados ?).
Gyarados's intimidate cut jungle fever's attack!
jungle fever used U-turn.
It's not very effective...
Gyarados lost 12% of its health.
Okay he brought in his Gyarados again. At this point, I decide that bringing in my surefire counter would do me the most good. I’ll send Porygon-2 out, to be explained in a second.
subtrack switched in boytoy (lvl 100 Porygon2).
boytoy traced Gyarados's Intimidate!
boytoy's intimidate cut Gyarados's attack!
Porygon-2: 18% (Leftovers)
Gyarados: 76%
He’s going to get trigger-happy and juice himself up with a dragondance, and I’ll KO him with a thunderbolt. Or I could recover, KO him with a thunderbolt, and have some HP to spare. Or he could kill me off with a waterfall right now. I’m not so sure what he’s going to do, but this is my best plan for possibly killing his gyara right now, as porygon-2 isn’t going to be doing much good in the rest of the battle at this health anyway. Might as well take a shot and possibly kill his sweeper at basically no cost to me.
Gyarados used Waterfall.
boytoy lost 19% of its health.
subtrack's boytoy fainted.
And porygon-2’s been knocked out!
Gyarados: 66% (life orb)
Porygon-2: 0%
5-5
Okay porygon’s dead. So that plan failed, now I can go ahead and try another! I’ll just send my froslass in to beat him off with destiny bond regardless of what he does. If I destiny bond every turn after sending my ice ghost in, there’s no way he can avoid getting killed.
subtrack switched in nothing clever (lvl 100 Froslass ?).
But on the other hand, maybe I can outsmart this guy and possibly set up another layer of spikes before taking him down? I could Spike now as he definitely DDances to avoid my revenging him, and then assuming his overconfidence, I’d destiny bond after his SECOND Dragon Dance to take him down regardless of what he does after that. Some costly prediction, but it has yet to fail me before in this battle.
nothing clever used Spikes.
Spikes were scattered around the foe's team!
Gyarados used Dragon Dance.
Gyarados's attack was raised.
Gyarados's speed was raised.
Okay step one complete. It’s interesting to note that I now have all three layers of spikes on the field, and he’s yet to bring out any type of Rapid Spinner. Thankfully for me, that probably means he doesn’t own one. I’m really hoping these entre hazards are going to do me well later on. Now let’s just hope he Dragon Dances again..
Gyarados used Waterfall.
nothing clever lost 0% of its health.
subtrack's nothing clever fainted.
Froslass has been drowned by a massive torrent! KO’d!
Froslass: 0%
Gyarados: 56% (life orb)
4-5
Fuck. Dead. Okay no big deal, I set up another layer of spikes, lost two low health pokes is all, and he just has a massive water dragon with +1 attack and speed threatening a sweep. Okay… yes big deal. I still have 4 pokemon that remain unknown to him though, and thankfully a combination of the 2 is sure to stop him. I may lose another pokemon in the process, but we’ll be tied up in that scenario, with me leading by that significant margin of 3 layers of spikes all set up. I’ll be bringing in my dragon counter next, Empoleon, who I don’t mind losing all that much, considering his main use on my team, the desecration of dragons, has been fulfilled by Frossy with her clean kill on Latios. Maybe he doesn’t even have earthquake or anything damaging, so he won’t be able to do much at all.
subtrack switched in Empoleon (lvl 100 Empoleon ?).
Oh the suspense is killing me…
Gyarados used Earthquake.
It's super effective!
Fuck.
Empoleon lost 71% of its health.
Empoleon used Grass Knot.
Gyarados lost 30% of its health.
Empoleon: 35% (leftovers)
Gyarados: 16% (life orb)
Double fuck. Not as much damaged as I’d hoped, but hopefully it’ll be enough of a dent to assist me in a later death of this dancing idiot. I could switch right now on the predicted earthquake, but my low health might be enough of a reason for him to use a waterfall to kill me instead, in which case I’d be taking some damage on my switch-in, which is one risk I’d rather not take. Empoleon’s nigh-useless at this health with his low speed late game, so I decide to ceremoniously offer this Penguin as a religious sacrifice to God/Allah/Brahman/Liam Neeson. Enjoy your Ecoli Infested Penguin Meat, Misa.
Gyarados used Earthquake.
It's super effective!
Empoleon lost 35% of its health.
subtrack's Empoleon fainted.
Gyarados lost 10% of its health.
Empoleon’s been fissured straight to hell!
3-5
Okay the Penguin has been defecated on and thrown into hell, and now I can continue on with the battle in hopes of defeating Gyarados. I’ve also come to realize something at this point in the battle: From the very beginning of DP, until the release of platinum and up until now, Gyarados has remained that annoying bitch-of-a-threat that he’s always been and continues to pester me in all my battles. He’s really one pokemon that has not lost an ounce of effectiveness in the single moveset he’s bolstered since day one. Perhaps this new suspect we’ve been so anxiously coveting can prove a suitable counter? Well, maybe, I’m willing to find out. He’s definitely my best switch in now.
subtrack switched in too strong (lvl 100 Latios ?).
I know with the EVs I’ve stocked into him he can take a +1 Ice Fang, in which case I could hit him back with a dragon pulse, hope to crit, and kill him. But that’s unlikely. Oh no, am I going to lose?
Gyarados used Ice Fang.
It's super effective!
too strong lost 79% of its health.
Ohhhhhh no what am I going to do? Is his sweep going to sweep the battle in his favor?
Gyarados lost 7% of its health.
misa-chan's Gyarados fainted.
And Gyarados is out of there!
3-4
I guess not. And you see kids, this is why we put the leftovers on our tanks rather than make them into the fragile sweepers they shouldn’t be by latching on a life-orb. Take that you free-loading, sphere-holding, down-syndrome snake fuck!
too strong used Recover.
too strong restored 50% of its health.
Latios: 71%
Of course I expected that death, and fearing the “but there was no target!” line, I recover off his futile damage. I guess he really didn’t have much to do in that situation other than let his gyarados die. To his defense, this does for the first time in the battle switch the battle-start momentum towards his side, as it’s now his turn to switch in his own pokemon on my own teammates unexpectedly. I’m not exactly sure what he’ll bring in next.
misa-chan switched in Scizor (lvl 100 Scizor ?).
Scizor was hurt by Spikes!
Scizor lost 9% of its health.
misa-chan's Scizor fainted.
Scizor has been jabbed to death on the Switch!
Latios: 71%
Scizor: 0%
3-3
I’m guessing at this point he was just tired of seeing a useless team member in the selection screen for his remaining teammates, and switched in the Scizor to rid himself of dead weight. He might have just forgotten the spikes, but I’m not sure what a paralyzed scizor could have really done to my Latios anyway. I’m still expecting his counter-threat at this point. Hopefully it’s not a Choice Band, Pursuit, Ice Shard Weavile with just enough EVs to KO a 71% latios!
misa-chan switched in Heatran (lvl 100 Heatran ?).
Heatran was hurt by Spikes!
Heatran lost 25% of its health.
So it’s not a weavile he switched in, but something that’s still equally (okay not equally, but at least potentially) threatening to my Latios. He could explode at this point ending my Latios’s potential sweep and setting up his own for the next turn, or he might be choiced and geared towards demolishing me with a beefed up Spec’d or Scarf’d HP Ice.
I’m not too sure of what he plans to do it, but I’m pretty sure that whatever it is, my Latios isn’t going to survive it, or be able do anything back for that matter. I’m going to switch in Heracross and threaten him off with a Scarf’d Close Combat. I understand he might predict me and Fireblast away at my flammable critter, but considering his desperate position at the losing-end of my momentum in the battle, I’m going to rely on his staying conservative with his remaining decisions.
subtrack switched in step on me (lvl 100 Heracross ?).
Heatran used Hidden Power.
step on me lost 29% of its health.
Heracross: 71%
Heatran: 75%
Okay, the hidden power comes and is barely strong enough to 4HKO me. If he’s scarf’d, he’s definitely going to switch. If he’s not, he’ll still likely switch considering a good percentage of Heracross’s in the standard game come equipped with the scarf, which would allow me to outspeed him and KO with a close combat. I could predict here and use a toxic, but I’m not sure of what’s coming next, and I’d rather stay cool and not potentially fail at poisoning a steel who can send a super effective, stab, 120 BP fireblast at my lategame cleaner. Let’s throw a close combat out there.
misa-chan switched in Dusknoir (lvl 100 Dusknoir ?).
Ugh. I’m actually really upset right now. I tried to stay conservative and reap the pay, but as usual I get nothing out of it. I’m sticking to prediction tactics from now on.
Dusknoir is exerting its pressure!
Dusknoir was hurt by Spikes!
Dusknoir lost 25% of its health.
step on me used Close Combat.
It doesn't affect Dusknoir...
Heracross: 71%
Dusknoir: 81% (leftovers)
Okay, so it’s time for some prediction now. I have to switch, I’m not even going to bother explaining why. Other than Heracross, I only have 2 remaining pokemon in my line-up, my Infernape, and the Suspect Latios. He’s definitely expecting this switch from me, so I’m betting on him not Firepunching if he even has the option. I’m guessing he has shadow sneak, but I can’t see anyone using a priority move on a switch-in.. he might pain split, but that isn’t really going to get him much and will give me just about a free switch considering both of my remaining pokemon are around his health percentage. So I’m guessing he’ll hit me with a status move, and I know dusknoir frequently carry that wil-o-wisp. I'd really prefer not to see any of my other pokemon burned, so in comes Latios to eat up…well..whatever he sends at me!
subtrack switched in too strong (lvl 100 Latios ?).
Dusknoir used Pain Split.
Dusknoir lost 4% of its health.
too strong restored 4% of its health.
Latios: 79%
Dusknoir: 83% (leftovers)
Surprisingly, he used Pain Split! Maaybe he wasn’t sure about the possible choice item on my pokemon and feared wil-o-wisping a Guts Heracross. Or he didn’t have Wil-O-Wisp. Or, I suppose, this might have net him some sort of benefit if I had switched in infernape instead. But I didn’t, so I got a free switch. Small mistake on his part. Okay now comes the hard part. I’m betting he has shadow sneak on his Dusknoir, but Latios’s natural bulk should hold through for hopefully a 2hko from this point. Sadly for me, his pokemon is a lot bulkier than mine, and will most likely require a lot more than a non-boosted dragon pulse to kill off. My current HP will allow me to do the following: Calm mind up this time, and recover off his next hit after that. From there I’ll rely on my remaining HP to proceed forward in stalling out his Bulky Ghost.
Dusknoir used Shadow Sneak.
It's super effective!
too strong lost 36% of its health.
too strong used Calm Mind.
too strong's special attack was raised.
too strong's special defence was raised.
Latios: 43%
Dusknoir: 89% (leftovers)
He managed to hit me for 36%, which coming off of minimal attack investment is hopefully somewhere near his maximum damage output. If I wanna kill this guy off I’m going to run a risk here. If his Dusknoir’s a consistent a duck a hits for near the same damage as before without scoring a critical (12.5% chance per incidence) , I should be able to recover for the net few turns until I have enough health to take 3 shadow sneaks before dying, at which point I’ll calm mind up and beat him down with dragon pulse.
I’m really hating that probability thread right now. Please let it fail, gods, I made you a sacrifice!
Dusknoir used Shadow Sneak.
It's super effective!
too strong lost 36% of its health.
too strong used Recover.
too strong restored 50% of its health.
Dusknoir's leftovers restored its health a little!
Dusknoir restored 6% of its health.
Latios: 57%
Dusknoir: 95% (leftovers)
This is what should be happening for the next few turns, I really hope. Dusknoir’ll send a punch flying and Latios should laugh in its face and heal off the scab wounds. With the right calculations…it should take 3-4 turns before I can attack and pulse him to death. Again, this is factoring no criticals. I’m REALLY hoping for no criticals at this point.
Dusknoir used Shadow Sneak.
It's super effective!
too strong lost 40% of its health.
too strong used Recover.
too strong restored 50% of its health.
Dusknoir's leftovers restored its health a little!
Dusknoir restored 5% of its health.
Dusknoir used Shadow Sneak.
It's super effective!
too strong lost 38% of its health.
too strong used Recover.
too strong restored 50% of its health.
Latios: 79%
Dusknoir: 100% (leftovers)
Dusknoir used Shadow Sneak.
It's super effective!
too strong lost 41% of its health.
too strong used Recover.
too strong restored 50% of its health.
Latios: 88%
Dusknoir: 100% (leftovers)
Okay I’m at the point of that 3hko if he’s maxing out at 41%! I’m at the edge of my seat at this point and I really need to relieve my bladder. I could get greedy and hold out one more turn before I attack, but I’m thinking I might as well end this right here, right now.
Come on Latios, let’s wreck shit up
Dusknoir used Shadow Sneak.
It's super effective!
A critical hit!
too strong lost 72% of its health.
too strong used Dragon Pulse.
Dusknoir lost 89% of its health.
Latios: 6% (life orb)
Dusknoir: 17% (leftovers)
AH! That dirty fucker hit me with a critical! Ohh that practically throws away the past 5 turns I’ve spent plotting his death. And what’s worse, he’ll kill me next turn. What the hell do I do now? I need to conserve Latios for later in case I need his speed, and thankfully both of my remaining pokemon resist what I HOPE is dusknoir’s only damaging attack. If he predicts me and Wil-o-Wisps I’m not sure where the battle will go. I’m counting on him trying to finish off my latios though, as his misprediction there would cost him the battle immediately. I’ll send in infernape, hoping that Scarfcross can come in later to revenge his final pokemon.
subtrack switched in jungle fever (lvl 100 Infernape ?).
Dusknoir used Shadow Sneak.
A critical hit!
jungle fever lost 46% of its health.
Infernape: 32%
Dusknoir: 23% (leftovers)
Yes! *twitch* I switch in getting hit with only 23% and get ready to finish him off with a nice choice banded flare blitz to his ugly face *twitch*.
What’s that? He got a critical hit on me? No he didn’t silly reader *twitch*!
The battle is perfectly fair *twitch* and I got hit for the damage I should have been hit with! *twitch* NO I’m not in denial, please stop! *twitch*
…
I’m guessing he’ll be switching out next turn to save his Dusknoir’s ass from utter annihilation, and fearing using the wrong move on the wrong pokemon, especially a flare-blitz on the heatran I saw quickly earlier in the battle, and having to switch again giving him ample time to set up, I’ll go ahead and scout once again.
Dusknoir used Shadow Sneak.
jungle fever lost 22% of its health.
jungle fever used U-turn.
It's not very effective...
Dusknoir lost 11% of its health.
Ah I guess we all score some predictions every once in a while. He successfully outpredicted me and kept his resistant Dusknoir in against my Infernape. If I had stayed in and attacked with a flare blitz I could have killed him too, which makes me feel even less comfortable with the battle thus far. What’s worse is that I can only bring in Heracross now, who’s only attacking moves both low accuracy! I can’t bring Latios in however, as he’ll be KO’d by a single Shadow Sneak. I’ll have to send out the shaky beetle once again.
subtrack switched in step on me (lvl 100 Heracross ?).
Heracross: 100%
Dusknoir: 18% (leftovers)
Now I can only stone edge or Megahorn, and I’m not about to let Megahorn hit only to have it not be powerful enough to kill Dusknoir, as he resists it. With that in mind, I go ahead and rely on the somewhat low accuracy of the non-stabbed stone edge to kill off the weakened opponent.
misa-chan switched in Heatran (lvl 100 Heatran ?).
Heatran was hurt by Spikes!
Heatran lost 25% of its health.
step on me used Stone Edge.
Heatran lost 40% of its health.
But Misa predicts adequately again and has left me face to face with Heatran once again.
His Choice Specs or Choice Scarf FireBlast is enough to kill every single one of my pokemon at this point. I can only hope now that he gets at least one miss with the stabbed move of choice. I’m going to have to leave Heracross in to take the Fireblast, increase the chances of him missing the FireBlast on the next turn, and leave me a safe switch to my HOPEFULLY faster Latios. Maybe there’ll be a miss right here and I’ll kill with the stone edge?
Heatran used Fire Blast.
It's super effective!
step on me lost 71% of its health.
subtrack's step on me fainted.
Heracross: 0%
Heatran: 10%
2-3
No luck this time. This is game time. He’s going to have to miss on either of my next two pokemon for me to possibly win this battle. It doesn’t matter which I send in first, as his outspeeding of my heracross has shown me that he is indeed scarf’d and will outspeed both Infernape and Latios.
subtrack switched in too strong (lvl 100 Latios ?).
I’ve sent in Latios. Now I’ll hit recover and pray for a miss. PLEASE!
Heatran used Fire Blast.
It's not very effective...
JUST KIDDING!
Heatran’s attack missed!
too strong used Recover.
too strong restored 50% of its health.
Latios: 56%
Heatran: 10%
There is a god! For all you agnostic readers, throw away your religious hatred, pick up an injured penguin, build a nice bonfire, and toast the hell out of that bird. My latios is now back at half-full (or half-empty?) health and ready to throw down again. There’s 2 possibilities at this point.
a) He keeps heatran in and hopes to hit me hard enough (or critical) with a resisted fire blast
b) He switches out for his final pokemon
Obvious, I know, but I presented this to show that both of his options are easily answered by recover. If he stays in and waits for a crit with fireblast, I can attempt to stall him out with recovers and misses until he struggles to death. If he switches, I’ll be facing down his final pokemon with a 100% healthy Latios. Recover it is.
misa-chan switched in Dusknoir (lvl 100 Dusknoir ?).
Dusknoir is exerting its pressure!
Dusknoir was hurt by Spikes!
Dusknoir lost 19% of its health.
misa-chan's Dusknoir fainted.
Dusknoir’s blacked out on his way in!
2-2
Again, ridding himself of some dead weight. Or he’s forgetting about the spikes. I’m so glad I put froslass on the team to help me out with the spikes. Two kills attributed to her thus far.
too strong used Recover.
too strong restored 49% of its health.
Latios: 100%
Dusknoir: 0%
I’m back at full health and anxiously anticipating his final pokemon. At this point I’m thinking, if his final pokemon is either fast enough to kill Latios first or Bulky enough to sustain a hit and kill me afterwards, his Heatran will be able to revenge both of my final pokemon with Fire blast. I sincerely hope his final pokemon isn’t that weavile I mentioned before. I’d kill myself. I cross my fingers and anticipate the final switch in.
misa-chan switched in Magnezone (lvl 100 Magnezone).
Magnezone was hurt by Spikes!
Magnezone lost 25% of its health.
Ohhhh dear. Final prediction opportunity here. Assuming his final four moves are selected out of the following options:
a)Thunderbolt
b)HP Ice
c)Explosion
d)ThunderWave
e)Substitute
He could either expect me to switch, in which case he’ll either Twave either of my final pokemon and finish them off with a Thunderbolt, Substitute on the switch and Tbolt on the two remaining pokemon while exploding on Latios, or Thunderbolt right off the bat and finish off my remaining pokemon..
He could also expect me to stay in, in which case he could HP ice, potentially killing me if he’s spec’d, or explode on me, and then revenge my final two pokemon with fireblast.
This again, all depends on whether he’s scarf’d, spec’d, or has a shed shell. Switching out won’t do me any good, as he’ll kill me regardless. I just need to hope that I’m faster than him, hit him with the surf for a 2hko, he HP ices uselessly, and I finish him off with another surf, then survive the heatran fire blast or hope for a miss and kill from there.
too strong used Surf.
Magnezone lost 51% of its health.
So far so good.
Magnezone used Explosion.
too strong lost 90% of its health.
subtrack's too strong fainted.
misa-chan's Magnezone fainted.
Magenzone’s exploded himself out of the arena!
Latios fainted from impact with the Blast!
Latios: 0% (life orb)
Magenzone: 0%
1-1
So that’s about it. He exploded on my Latios, leaving my remaining pokemon to be fireblast bait. I don’t have anything to do at this point but hope and prey for a miss, but I’ve gotten plenty of luck this game already and don’t really expect more.
Well, I guess thanks for reading! Here’s the final part just for kicks I guess.
misa-chan switched in Heatran (lvl 100 Heatran ?).
subtrack switched in jungle fever (lvl 100 Infernape ?).
Heatran was hurt by Spikes!
Wait, what?
Heatran lost 10% of its health.
misa-chan's Heatran fainted.
subtrack wins!
Oh would you look at that! A win after all! And you didn't expect a thing I'm sure =)
1-0
The Hoorays
-------------
Hooray! Froslass's Three layers of spikes succesfully killed off three pokemon and weakened several others!
Hooray! Latios is definately a threat in this meta-game and proved succesful in this battle, but not enough to warrant overpowering!
Hooray! Infernape's Bounce, Bounce, Bouncing around offered me some excellent switches!
Hooray! Porygon-2 took one for the team to protect its yummy teammates!
What the F's
--------------
What the F? Empoleon did Jack Shit
What the F? Heracross doesn't even deserves Jack's shit
What the F? Critical hits?
What the F? Latios didn't sweep?
And that's just another day battling under my account!
I hope you enjoyed your read!
And thanks for bothering!
Hopefully this gives you some insight into what it's like to be Edough323
But more importantly, I hope this offers some insight into the Suspect Metagame
AND I sincerely hope you leave this thread remembering the Viability of Spikes!
Bye bye now!
