Pokémon Sword & Shield - Cushion Your Fall - Dec 2 19 B

Channel:

Overhazard

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Published on December 4, 2019 3:38:07 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUX_foJ63Qc

Game:

Pokémon Sword and Shield (2019)

Duration: 6:00

469 views

19

That first match was a 6-on-6 battle, but the official rules always have you pick 4 Pokémon for double battles, so here's a 4-on-4 match. Not having your full team, and picking based on Team Preview for your opponent, changes things a bunch because the old-fashioned way of battling relies on the surprise presence of folks like Dugtrio and Bisharp; you don't get that surprise here, and instead the surprise factor comes in via what hold items and moves you got on there. That the players can see each other's teams, though, provides another layer of strategy in that you are both trying to pick what will best counter the other person's team, and the victory will more likely be who can outpredict whom. To that end, it is a perfectly viable strategy to put in a bunch of Pokémon weak to a particular type, such as Ground or Fighting, to trick people into using certain Pokémon at the start. I did just that with the Holly Pass in Pokémon Battle Revolution, as four of them were weak to Ground, but those Pokémon were packing Grass and Water moves plus Helping Hand.

Opponent: Emlu (13)
Stadium: Turffield Stadium
Music: Zacian and Zamazenta
My Pokémon: Grimmsnarl, Perrserker, Arctovish, Noivern
Opponent's Pokémon: Cushion (Frosmoth), Gallade, Tea (Inteleon), Baku (Appletun)

There were two things on my opponent's team that immediately caught my attention: Dragapult and Corviknight. These are the two most-used Generation VIII Pokémon in competitive play at the moment, so I expected one or both to be sent out first. I did NOT expect them to be the two my opponent had chosen against using. This team was put together in response to what I have observed in competitive and metagame double battling. There were actually a few initial planned members that turned out to have seen more use lately by the competitive players (Dracovish, Chandelure, Haxorus, Coalossal, etc.), so I decided against them.

So on one hand, my opponent has Dragapult and Corviknight on her team. On the other hand, there's Inteleon and Appletun, which are more characteristic of an in-game team. I couldn't figure out what sort of team this was, considering Dragapult, in particular, evolves from Drakloak at Level 60 and thus isn't that great of a choice going through the game (as you're not expected to be using Pokémon of that level until right before the battle with Leon, if not the postgame), but who knows? Some competitive players use Inteleon and Appletun too, because they have their quirky uses.

In any case, I couldn't afford to hold back, and I shouldn't anyway because this team of mine is in the testing phase and I need to make sure the Pokémon work together as intended. I'm guessing my Pokémon threw Emlu for a loop, because I don't think Grimmsnarl and Perrserker learn any spread moves aside from Brutal Swing via TM, so Wide Guard was an odd opening choice. Gallade likely has Steadfast, so that's why I chose to use Fake Out on Frosmoth even though I feel Gallade was the bigger threat due to super-effective attacks on Perrserker.

Appletun, a Shield Version exclusive, has an interesting signature Ability in Ripen (which it shares with its Sword Version counterpart Flapple), which causes Berries to be twice as powerful when consumed. For instance, a Sitrus Berry would heal 50% of Appletun's HP instead of just 25%, and a Roseli Berry would reduce a super-effective Fairy-type attack by 75% instead of just 50%. But people discovered Leftovers counts as a Berry too, which is what Emlu used for Baku, healing one-eighth of the total HP at the end of each turn instead of one-sixteenth.

And this is the first match I've put up where Dynamax comes into play. Turns out Frosmoth is Emlu's choice for Dynamaxing (rather than switching out, it seems), and that Max Hailstorm caused a bunch of Hail I'd rather not have, even if I have an Ice-type of my own. So I used my own Dynamaxing later on to change the weather to something else. There is an interesting tradeoff, if you ask me, between Dynamaxing early on to get an early lead and Dynamaxing in the later stages to ensure the lingering conditions, like weather and terrain, aren't easily negated. Emlu chose to have an early Dynamax; I chose a later one.

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