[] Gym Battlers Open

I'm in.

Chocodecide stole the number I was going to take!

Fine. I choose #4.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

No, just post the list once the competition roster is complete. Once participation is finalized, there's not much anyone can do about who has what type. Plus, there's the intrigue of seeing who can pull a silk purse from a sow's ear with a less-than-ideal type (looking at you, Ghost.)

There's nowhere I can't reach.

To be fair to whomever did get Ghost, I think Rotom should be fair game. Its stats aren't so amazing that it's going to unfairly dominate.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I didn't get the type I was hoping for but mine isn't horrible either. I've got options at least. I suppose I'm lucky in that I'd already raised up a bunch that I could use in this, and that raising the last couple won't be too difficult or time consuming.

Once a person's team is done, Kai, do we PM the roster and movesets to you, or what?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

So once all participants are finalized, will there be a spoiler list of who received what type?

I'm curious to see who's going to wipe the floor with me.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Kairyu

Not unless someone uses a fighting type that knows foresight + a fighting attack

I believe that there is a very, very sneaky way around this, meaning that there's a specific Fighting-type Pokemon who should be able to hit Spiritomb with a Cross Chop, yet not require Foresight.

But I won't reveal it because I want to see if Sousuke can figure it out. Sousuke got the type I was hoping for, one I'm experienced with.

So, I'm the Psychic guy. It's one of the better types, offensively. They tend to have low defenses though, and that concerns me somewhat. I'm working on my last guy and then my bench will be set. I've got access to some good dual-types at least. Chaotic's team might pose a challenge but I think I can work around that. Just gotta find me a good Weavile counter because I know I'm gonna be facing that little sumnabitch.

(I guess I'm the lone participant who can shed a tear over Wobbuffet's ban.)

Originally Posted by Generic Badass

I've got Heracross for a no-brainer, but the rest of the list is a little trickier for me.

Yeah, Heracross is a given. I wouldn't underestimate Scizor or Forretress either. Yanmega's always been a top performer for me, and I'd also consider Shuckle. You might laugh but that little guy's a tank and a half. Scyther fills gaps that Scizor's lower speed can't handle, and even Armaldo can be a tough cookie. Plus, Shedinja is always a threat toward the end of a battle.

Originally Posted by Josiah

So, yeah. Normal.

You don't realize how lucky you just might be. Normal was one of my top three preferences coming into this thing.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Because it's moveset is entirely reactionary and mostly unfair.

This is basically the only Wobbuffet moveset you'll ever see, and you'll realize why it's pure cheese:

Counter
Mirror Coat
Encore
Destiny Bond

Its entire purpose seems to be to take something else down with it.

It's pretty slow, so all you have to do is give it a Focus Sash and even if it's OHKO'd before it acts, it'll still get a full-force Counter/Mirror Coat in before it goes down. Pretty cheesy way to play.

FELIPE NO

I will be in Maine for the GFF Meet all of next week, so I don't specifically know when I'll be available. I won't have any direct obligations tying me down, such as work or otherwise but I might be participating in real-life exploits some of the time too.

I'll be packing my laptop and the wi-fi USB adaptor, at any rate. I'll try to get some matches in.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

My friend code is: 0645 2635 1419.

My team is set and ready to rumble. I do have a wi-fi USB adapter, and will take it with me on my trip.

Most amazing jew boots

Alright, after driving 550 miles to Maine, spending a week with other GFFers under one roof, visiting relatives down the coastline, and driving 530 miles the other way, I'm finally home.

The good news is that my Pokemon team is ready for battle. The bad news is that I'm pretty well exhausted tonight and have to work at 9AM in the morning.

So once I'm settled in again, I'll give word and contact people about getting those fights finished.

Meanwhile, I see we're adopting "leader" av/sig themes? I think something with a twisted spoon, on a purplish background, would make a good Psychic Badge. If somebody wouldn't mind designing that, I'd be grateful.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Kairyu

Sounds good. In the mean time I tried my hand at your badge. If you like it I'll go ahead and give it to Icy when he gets back.
Link to the Spoony Badge.

The spoon looks great. Originally, I was leaning toward a more angular background but after looking at the others, there seems to be a lack of circular badges. Even the Poison one is more octagonal.

So yes, that will work nicely. Thank you.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I have Thursday and Friday free from work (finally!), and I've no monumental plans. I can cram some matches in then.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Okay. I'm available right now, and will continue to be available for the remainder of the evening. I have my DS and USB connector ready, all you have to do is PM me. Then we can get the match on.

In case you missed it, my friend code is: 0645 2635 1419.

How ya doing, buddy?

Oh, dang. I was just about to IM you for our battle. Well, I'm off tomorrow also, so we can try for then. I.C. is waiting to fight too, so I'll skip directly to him.

Also: Crash vs. Kairyu!

Spoiler:

Round 1 - 6 vs. 6

The first match was rather lopsided. I almost OHKO'd Kairyu's opener, but not before it held on with a Focus Band and launched a Stealth Rock to annoy me. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to slow my momentum, as I polished off the next few Pokemon. Kairyu threw me off mid-game by using Roar, though the replacement I was given was equally capable of hurting his Ground types. I eventually lost that one Pokemon, but not before it took out a few of his. In the end, I won the battle handily, as my speed and special attacks were more than Kairyu's team could bear.

Winner: Crash
Crash: 1 lost; 6 defeated
Kairyu: 6 lost; 1 defeated

Round 2 - 3 vs.3

Pared down to the essential Pokemon, I led strong with a OHKO. But Kairyu managed to get a Sandstorm brewing, and his last Pokemon managed to dodge everything I could throw. (Friggin' Sand Veil) It was close, but Kairyu haxxed out the victory.

Kairyu wins.
Crash: 3 lost; 2 defeated
Kairyu: 2 lost; 3 defeated

Round 3 - 3 vs.3

This match was nearly a mirror of Round 2. Kairyu brought out the same team and I used two of the same from the previous match, with a third brought in for subterfuge purposes. My attempts at trickery didn't matter, however, as Kairyu chose not to play the hiding game but, rather, lashed out with direct attacks, killing my prankster before it could act. Luckily, I managed to land a heavy blow with my last fighter to claim the win.

Crash wins.
Crash: 2 lost; 3 defeated
Kairyu: 3 lost; 2 defeated

Round 4 - 3 vs.3

Again, Kairyu stuck with the strategy that would give him the best chance of avoiding my heavy attacks. I kept the same strategy as well, but chose to bring in some weather control. As anticipated, Kai hid behind the Sandstorm but I managed to clear the air. Despite his defenses being reduced, he still mysteriously dodged a couple attacks and took out my first two attackers. Thankfully, my finisher connected and victory was claimed.

Crash wins.
Crash: 2 lost; 3 defeated
Kairyu: 3 lost; 2 defeated.

Crash wins! 3-1
Total
Crash: 8 lost, 14 defeated
Kairyu: 14 lost, 8 defeated


This match is compounded proof as to why Sand Veil is broken as hell.

How ya doing, buddy?

That was indeed an epic contest. Who'd expect Psychics to put up such a strong front against the dominant Dragons? I'm not even mad about losing, as it was one hair away from a victory. One life point. That's all that seperated us from exchanging win-loss records. How much closer can any pairing be?

I wish all my battles could be that close. One-sided victories and losses are so dull.

FELIPE NO

I'm checking that now. Hold on one moment.

EDIT: Okay, apparently your friend code changed since last year? I saw your name in my codes and assumed it would be fine. I've updated the information and can see you now.

How ya doing, buddy?

Crash Vs. Josiah!

Spoiler:

Round 1 - 6 vs.6

Josiah unexpectedly got the first strike with a Return, but it wasn't quite enough and I responded with a Close Combat to knock out his opener. We traded blows for a couple turns, waging a battle of attrition. The battle turned, however, when I managed to score a massive blow against one of his powerhouse Pokemon. He answered this by freezing one of my best defenders. I timed my switch well and screwed over his wall with a nasty support move. The rest of the match was spent trying to outpace his last Pokemon's ability to self-heal. It was slow but I took the win.

Round 2 - 3 vs.3

This was kind of unfair. Josiah was unprepared for my tactics and couldn't mount a defense. He went for broke on a switch but the risk failed, as my Pokemon was immune to his strategy. Josiah never recovered and the match was quickly over.

Round 3 - 3 vs.3

Our third battle was closer, as I chose not to reuse the same strategies as before. Josiah threw his most dangerous players at me, hoping to overwhelm me with power, I believe. I had good type coverage, though, and pushed my way through for the third win.


Crash Wins!!
Crash loses 4 Pokemon.
Josiah loses 12 Pokemon.

No explosions!?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Crash Landon Vs. DarkMageOzzie!

Spoiler:

Round 1 - 6 vs.6

I feel poorly for DMOzzie, this wasn't the fairest pairing for him. He opened with one of his fastest but I did too, and I earned a quick kill. Things didn't improve much for Ozzie, as my Psychics were generally too fast for him to fend. A particularly amusing moment came when he used Dig on the same turn that I used Earthquake. That spelled disaster for Ozzie, and the rest of the round was mercifully over within minutes.

Round 2 - 3 vs.3

Again, we did the "immunity shuffle" for a bit, until Ozzie landed a square blow and knocked out one of my better Pokemon. It gave me a chance to bring in something fast, allowing me to clean up the mess. I had the type and speed advantage for the remainder of the match and won.

Round 3 - 3 vs.3

I initially planned to use the same quirky strategy I'd used in previous matches but this wound up being unnecessary. I was able to play it straightfoward and force my way through. He tried to set up a Double Team defense but never got the opportunity. Ozzie also found his Dig thwarted by another Earthquaking Pokemon, and that was pretty much the beginning of the end for him.

Crash Wins!!
Crash lost 3 Pokemon.
DarkMageOzzie lost 12 Pokemon.

Ozzie did the best he could in an uphill battle. I came in with both a type and general speed advantage. I knew it was an unfair fight and don't feel as though I got to see his full potential. A shame there's no Grass leader for him to shine against. It shows how much Poison has been shafted by the designers.

Thanks for the match, Ozzie!


Crash Vs. Sousuke!!

Spoiler:

Round 1 - 6 vs.6

I was a bit apprehensive. In theory, I have the type advantage but I also know that Fighting types are often able to handle type coverage well. Our openers traded blows but neither succeeded in a one-hit-kill. I had the speed advantage and dropped his Pokemon the next turn, then swept another two before finding myself unable to finish off his fourth Pokemon. I was allowed to switch in a replacement and it was powerful enough to cripple Sousuke's defenses. I managed to clear his bench while losing only one of my own.

Round 2 - 3 vs.3

This match was basically an "All-Star" version of the previous match. The same Pokemon opened and swapped blows like before. His fell, then mine fell. I brought in the same finisher and Sousuke's team wasn't fast enough to get a move in edgewise.

Round 3 - 3 vs.3

See Round 2. This time, I tried a different opener, and that was a bad idea. It was slower and was levelled by a Shadow Claw. I brought the finisher out again; he did a good job but was thwarted somewhat when Sousuke brought out a Pokemon whose types made it neutral to my best offenses. I whittled it down but not before an X-Scissor chopped me in half. I was forced to bring in the backup plan. Fortunately for me, Sousuke's last Pokemon didn't have much remaining life, so one attack was the only requirement to victory.

Crash Wins!
Crash lost 4 Pokemon.
Sousuke lost 12 Pokemon.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

That damned Shedinja was a problem throughout our entire match. Knowing it could appear forced me to automatically exclude three or four of my Pokemon from use, as they'd never beat it.

And if you didn't lead with the Shedinja, you'd lead with that other beast. There was no way I could let that thing get powered up. (I noticed you use the same opening combo with it that I do. Props for that.)

Kai: If I don't get any response from radcliff or Black Mage, I won't be able to break any records.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Kairyu

As for the next tournament idea. That's not a bad variation (or improvement even) but how will that stop players from all picking combos like Dragon/[insert alternate type here]. Granted there are only so many decent Dual type dragons to choose from but if a person wants a strong sweeper he or she will pick a dragon. So we may get a lack of variation there. Other than that small issue I wouldn't mind participating in a tournament like that.

Perhaps a limit on how many times a type could be chosen by any participant would work?

Also, a lottery might help determine who gets to choose first? Naturally, the first person might choose Dragon, because it's a potent type. But if each player has no guarantee of making first pick, then he/she will have to come up with an alternate plan. This might prevent a "OMG DRAGON/GROUND!!" blitz right off the bat.

This tourney had a lot of constrictions, mostly because adhering to one type is in itself restrictive. I'd not like to mire the next one down with a bunch of hard-to-remember rules for the sake of superimposing someone's concept of balance onto the whole thing. If there's going to be imbalances (and it's Pokemon, so that's somewhat inevitable), all players should have access to them, or at least an equal initial opportunity to be the one who benefits most (i.e. how I.C. lucked out with Dragons) from the imbalance.

Excessive rulesmongering takes the fun out of competition.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Crash vs. radcliffe13!!

Spoiler:

Round 1 - 6 vs.6

Neither radcliife, nor I had any particular type advantage, so I led strong and sent a barrage of psychic-type attacks. I took out a couple of radcliff's Pokemon while he whittled down my attacker. Eventually my attack wasn't quite enough to sweep and I had to bring in a replacement. Radcliff's Pokemon was unexpectedly faster, and OHKO'd me. At that point, I chose to bring in some watery backup, and flooded radcliff out for the remainder of the match. He couldn't stay afloat and the win was mine.

Round 2 - 3 vs.3

One word describes this match: washout. radcliff almost KO'd my opener but it clung to life with 15HP and proceeded to sweep the rest of his bench.

Round 3 - 3 vs.3

For the third round, I changed my strategy and opened with a rather vulnerable Pokemon. Fortunately, radcliff opened with a support move and I avoided immediate disaster. I was free to set the pace and control the match. Radcliff was sneaky though: although his lead Pokemon fell quickly enough, his second one was packing a Quick Claw, and I got hit. My second Pokemon and his traded blows and both were lost. By that point, it came down to the pair that opened up the second fight, and mine had the edge in speed. I opened the floodgate and the match was over.


Crash Wins!
Crash loses 4 Pokemon.
radcliff13 loses 12 Pokemon.

Radcliff put up a good fight. This was not the easiest match I had, as he made sure to bring one specific Pokemon that was both fast and very resistant to my Psychic attacks. I had to work to remove that thing.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Black Mage

Sorry about my sudden disappearance, guys. I've been on the road these past six days relocating to Washington from New York for the summer. I can see that today is the last day for matches, so I'd be more than happy to entertain what battles I can. And sorry to those of you who had PM'd me, I wasn't ignoring you!

I'm now in Pacific Time, it being 5:30pm right now. I'll try to be available from now to the end of the night, but there may be some periods where I have to take off to get some supplies. We're still in the process of moving in after all!

Sorry again for any troubles, and be sure to let me know if and when you guys are free today.

I'm available all night, until Midnight, Hawaii time. I've got tomorrow off from work, so I can stay up to have a battle. I definitely wanna fight you, Black Mage.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Crash vs. Black Mage

Spoiler:

Round 1 - 6 vs.6

I'll be blunt: this was a totally unfair matchup. I knew what to lead off with and Black Mage had nothing that could deal with its speed and power. I had both Ice Beam and Thunderbolt at my disposal, and that's about all I needed. Procyon swept the match completely.

Round 2 - 3 vs.3

Knowing that he didn't have much that was capable of outspeeding my lead-off from the previous round, I didn't change my strategy. Black Mage still couldn't outspeed me, despite the otherwise impressive bench he was sending out. Ice Beam and Thunderbolt continued to rip him apart.

Round 3 - 3 vs.3

See Rounds 1 & 2; lather, rinse, repeat.


Crash Wins!
Crash loses 0 Pokemon.
Black Mage loses 12 Pokemon.

I feel somewhat poorly about how this match turned out. Of course I should play to win, and I did, but I don't imagine it was all that exciting for Black Mage. There wasn't much he could do about Procyon, and that defined the entire battle.

So that's it. I've played everyone, and went 8-1. My only loss came to Icy, who beat me by a whopping 1 HP. Not bad at all.

FELIPE NO

Frankly, I think your system is unnecessarily complex and moronically pedantic. "Secret rules" my ass. You've managed to convert something fun into a cesspool of by-laws and bureaucracy.

Kairyu won. radcliff knew he had the type disadvantage going in. Luck of the draw. Let's not bog things down with half-points and similar garbage.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I'm in support of calling this finished. Icy beat me. I beat Josiah and Black Mage. Black Mage and Josiah beat Icy. We all had strengths and weaknesses. It's kind of academic at this point and I'd rather not invoke a ton of mathematics just to wear down a point.

So like the others, here's my team. I didn't really have a "main" force, as I adopted different strategies with each opponent and made good use of my entire bench.

Spoiler:

Alakazam (Maelstrom) - Built for pure speed and power. Capable of hitting Dark and Steel types with a Fighting-type attack. Rounded out with Grass Knot. He was instrumental against Josiah's Blissey also; Trick is such a fun move.

Starmie (Procyon) - Armed with four non-Psychic attacks, Procyon was my utility infielder. When Psychic attacks weren't the answer, the Starmie's high speed, power and versatility were often the solution. Poor Black Mage was decimated by it.

Medicham (Zealot) - I got quite lucky with a 282 base speed, so I gave this guy a Choice Scarf, which made him pretty damned fast. He could hit just about anything for super-effective damage due to the wide array of moves he had. Many people didn't expect to be outspeeded and outgunned by a Medicham.

Espeon (Chakra) - Tons faster than many suspected, he was able to come in, power up, hit hard a couple times, then Baton Pass before dying. Of course, there wasn't always reason to; a powered-up Espeon is a force of nature unto itself.

Metagross (Trainwreck) - I didn't get to use this as much as hoped but he was still quite useful in a few clutch situations. There wasn't a ton that DarkMageOzzie could do about it, and the Thunderpunch ability startled a couple others.

Gallade (Desperado) - An alternative to Medicham: slower but also slightly stronger, and without a Choice item, so he could switch attacks if necessary. The combination of Close Combat and Night Slash inflicted some pain on several people.

Bronzong (Ruckus) - This guy pissed a lot of people off for one reason: Trick Room. Nearly everyone was caught in that trap at least once, and I enjoyed springing it. With so many people gunning for speed, Gyro Ball became a weapon of mass destruction. Giving him status problems seemed to be a popular move, and I got to laugh each time since Bronzong was holding a Lum Berry.

Slowking (Savant) - Bronzong's partner in crime, he benefitted greatly from the Trick Room setup and had monstrous defenses to boot. I didn't use him a ton but when Slowking showed up, he worked pretty well. More Surf and Ice Beam usage caused a lot of irritation for some.

Exeggutor (Mondo) - I used this one least, mostly because a lot of people had easy access to Exeggutor's type-weaknesses. On the couple occasions I brought him out, it was mainly to affect the weather and to use Sleep Powder. He had a couple secret weapons but I never truly required them, so oh well.

Jam it back in, in the dark.