VGC's New Prankster – Top 32 Oceania International Report

Hi guys, my name is Gabriel Agati (@AgatiGa on Twitter) and I’m here to show you my team from 2020 Oceania Internationals! I finished 18th out of 288 players after going 7-2 on Day 1 Swiss. It’s a very fun team to play, so I hope you enjoy it.

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Teambuilding Process

I started building it on Wednesday two days before the event, as I had no teams I was confident with. It’s based on the Dallas Regionals winning team because I thought Conkeldurr + bulky Water-type would be a strong, safe call for Melbourne. I played around 30 matches with it on Pokémon Showdown and it felt good, making some small changes before the battle box lock, which was happening on Thursday.

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The Team

Link to Paste

Duraludon @ Life Orb
Ability: Stalwart
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
–  Draco Meteor
–  Flash Cannon
–  Thunderbolt
–  Protect

I wanted it to be faster than every Togekiss and do as much damage as possible. At this point, everyone knows how scary Duraludon can be as an offensive threat with proper support. It is usually brought as a lead because 1) it's a bad defensive switch-in most of the time and 2) you often want it to do as much damage as possible earlier so you can clean late game with Conkeldurr or even Togekiss.

Meowstic @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
–  Psychic
–  Thunder Wave
–  Fake Tears

–  Fake Out

Meowstic may not be as bulky as Grimmsnarl, but it's faster and does more consistent damage. Fake Tears is such a good move in this format because of Dynamax: it pairs well with yours and it's good against your opponent's too. I think this slot could be very well a Whimsicott, although the team overall benefits more from Fake Out and Thunder Wave rather than Tailwind. Meowstic felt super strong against the right teams and I expect its usage to increase in the coming months.

Arcanine @ Aguav Berry

Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Atk / 36 Def / 4 SpD / 220 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Flare Blitz
– Snarl
– Will-O-Wisp
– Helping Hand

Arcanine was my MVP in the tournament. Maybe it was due to me facing few proper counters like Milotic, but it always did what is supposed to. I wanted it to be bulkier, but outspeeding every Duraludon and Excadrill is just too important; since I was already there, I decided to outspeed Lucario, too. I choose Flare Blitz over other STABs so I could hit Togekiss and Sylveon harder. Helping Hand is, in my opinion, especially good in this format (for the same reason as Fake Tears), as shown in both of my stream games.

Togekiss @ Scope Lens

Ability: Super Luck

Level: 50

EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 76 SpA / 4 SpD / 116 Spe

Modest Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

– Air Slash

– Dazzling Gleam

– Follow Me

– Protect

This Togekiss needed to be more offensively oriented because otherwise, Duraludon is the only Pokémon on the team that can consistently do big damage. A 50% critical hit chance is super good if you see it as a bonus rather than something you rely on as making game plans. Protect is somehow an underrated move on Togekiss (not sure why) and the STABs were a must in this set. The speed allows me to creep things that outspeed Charizard at +1 by a good margin.

Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest

Ability: Guts

Level: 50

EVs: 252 HP / 156 Atk / 100 SpD

Adamant Nature

– Drain Punch

– Ice Punch

– Thunder Punch

– Mach Punch

It was almost always brought in the back. Once Conkeldurr's threats are gone or weakened, it can just clean late games. It's great versus sand, bulky waters and most special attackers that don't deal STAB super effective damage, like Inteleon or Vanilluxe. The ability could be Iron Fist, but Guts is just really good to punish Will-O-Wisp and random status in general, so I guess it's just personal preference. Conkeldurr's set is the only one of the entire team that I would change for the tournament if I could, with it having Poison Jab over Thunder Punch to hit Sylveon (which this team is really weak to).

Jellicent @ Weakness Policy

Ability: Water Absorb

Level: 50

EVs: 204 HP / 108 Def / 196 SpA

Quiet Nature

IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe

– Water Spout

– Shadow Ball

– Strength Sap

– Trick Room

Even though I didn't use it much, Jellicent was always useful when I brought it. It felt especially strong in a best of 3, as I could adapt to a much slower, bulkier game plan if needed. It can set up Trick Room for Conkeldurr and itself but works fine outside Trick Room to thanks to Strength Sap. Weakness Policy is super good to punish Snarl and ended up being a strong surprise factor in the tournament.

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Common Leads

The most offensive lead of the team. Good against most teams that don't have Excadrill.

 +

The most balanced leads of the team. You should probably start with that if you don't know what to do.

I brought it on stream for some reason and it worked. I also brought it on Swiss and it worked. I guess it's used when you want a slower start but still needs Fake Out pressure.

Safe way to set up Trick Room if needed. Not really common in practice.

The team has a very strong synergy overall so any leads should be considered, especially in a best of 3.

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Team's Threats

Only Duraludon can hit it hard but it takes a ton of damage from Hyper Voice anyways. Paired up with Trick Room is especially scary because you can't Snarl or Flash Cannon first.

(Swords Dance) Very annoying to deal with, especially when paired up with Togekiss and Tyranitar because they can deal with Arcanine and Jellicent.

(Scope Lens or Weakness Policy) It's not an actual bad matchup, you just need to be really careful about it and pay attention to its spread and item during a best of 3 scenarios. A well-played Togekiss is good against any team, and this one isn't an exception.

Once again, not exactly a bad matchup, but this team has no Ghost resists and 2 Pokémon weak to it, therefore be careful when facing this Pokémon.

I don't think this team is weak to sand, but all my 5 losses were to that archetype (4 of them had either Sylveon or Swords Dance Excadrill, though). I guess I just need to play better versus that (and have Poison Jab on Conkeldurr!).

I didn't play much with the team so I wouldn't be surprised if there are other Pokémon I'm weak to.

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My Tournament Run

Round 1 – vs. Nihal Raju

I lost game 1 by taking unnecessary risks but managed to come back.

Result: LWW | Record: 1-0

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Round 2 – vs. Corey Main

Jellicent was amazing in this set.

Result: WW | Record: 2-0

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Round 3 – vs. Joseph Ugarte (JoeUX9)

I spammed Thunder Wave all 3 games since the matchup was hard and eventually haxxed Joe on game 3.

Result: WLW | Record: 3-0

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Round 4 – vs. Giovanni Piscitelli (Genius)

This match was streamed.

Result: WW | Record: 4-0

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Round 5 – vs. Yuya Tada (YT)

Yuya reveals Earth Power on Tyranitar in game 3 and OHKOes my Dynamaxed Duraludon with Helping Hand Max Quake turn 1.

Result: WLL | Record: 4-1

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Round 6 – vs. Matthew Hamilton

I got quite unlucky this set but I still managed to take the win by making some smart switches. Arcanine was a beast.

Result: LWW | Record: 5-1

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Round 7 – vs. Daiki Sudo

Daiki reveals Hyper Beam on Sylveon in game 3 and OHKOes my Dynamaxed Duraludon at -1 Special Defense.

Result: LWL | Record: 5-2

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Round 8 – vs. Justice Surjan (Jussy)

I got quite unlucky this set but still managed to take the win by making some smart switches. I brought Jellicent instead of Meowstic in game 3 and it paid off.

Result: LWW | Record: 6-2

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Round 9 – vs. Felix Kwok

I choked game 2 by not considering that Excadrill could by carrying Weakness Policy (Shadow Ball was safe but I went for Water Spout). Game 3, I had to Dynamax Arcanine and won by making some smart reads.

Result: WLW | Record: 7-2 (Advances to Day 2)

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Round 10 – vs. Yuya Tada (YT)

This match was streamed.

Result: WLL | Record: 7-3

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Round 11 – vs. Teru Nakajima

I won game 3 by Dynamaxing Meowstic so I could avoid Fake Out from Hitmontop and doubled into Mimikyu to pick up the KO turn 1. Without Trick Room, Teru couldn't come back even after a critical hit from his -1 Rotom-Wash into my Arcanine.

Result: WLW | Record: 8-3

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Round 12 – vs. Diego Ferreira (Platypusferri)

I doubled into Weezing turn 1 at both games to get the KO before it moves and managed to snowball after that.

Result: WW | Record: 9-3

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Round 13 – vs. Yusuke Ikeda

Game 2, Yusuke used Ally Switch 3 times in a row and I wasn't able to call it; he wins the Gastrodon vs. Jellcent 1v1 on timer. Game 3, I made a play assuming my Togekiss was faster than his Rotom-Heat (I attacked first before in the match) but it turns out it was an actual speed tie and I lose, immediately costing me the game. Very frustrating way to get eliminated.

Result: WLL | Record: 9-4

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Round 14 – vs. Kevin Ngim

I didn't play focused at all in this set. I misclicked on team preview in game 3 and from the leads, Arcanine and Conkeldurr vs. Togekiss and Swords Dance Excadrill, I knew I had already lost.

Result: WLL | Record: 9-5 (18th Place Overall)

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Conclusion

Top 32 honestly sounds super unfair for this team, because it felt strong during the tournament. I wish I had a bit more time to practice with it, however, that's 100% my fault.

I had tons of fun in Australia and I'm grateful for that experience. When writing this team report, I realized that in 4 of my 5 losses I won game 1, which makes me think I need to start playing more wisely when I'm ahead, especially in this format where things can suddenly change with Dynamax.

This event was especially fun to play because I had many intense, high-level battles, while I was also discovering my team’s matchups and calculations through the tournament (I probably should’ve known that before but still). I also had a great time with my friends from all around the world.

After this result, I’m almost locked for a Day 2 Worlds invite! See you guys in London!