Pulling the Iron Curtain over Battles

Getting off of work early, I rushed to my room and turned on my 3DS. Yeah, sounds like any other day. But the 2014 April Friendly, an official Pokémon battle competition, was already underway and my team wasn't ready yet! After a 4-hour grind session, my Pokémon were ready to proceed online. I could only pray that my hastily built team could pull some victories.

My team for April Friendly. I didn't have time to nickname them.

The rules of April Friendly differ from previous VGC rules. Each battle is singles, where trainers choose 3 out of 6 Pokémon per battle. Every Pokémon in the Kalos Pokédex were eligible. Yep, that means legendaries like Xerneas, Yveltal and Mewtwo were permitted to wreck havoc on unsuspecting trainers.

The legendary deer in all its glory

I always say fight fire with fire...just make sure you have coverage against Fire-types. With that, I picked Xerneas as my legendary of choice. The set wasn't anything special, just the usual Power Herb+Geomancy combo. Geomancy is Xerneas's signature move that increases its Special Attack, Speed and Special Defense by 2 stages. It usually requires 2 turns to activate, but consuming a Power Herb changes that to 1. As this set was common, I had to prepare myself for counters like Scizor and Talonflame.



Mega Aggron, the Greatest Wall of Ever

And thus, I give you the star of my team, Mega Aggron. He's more of a "Super Ultra Mega Titan Behemoth" Aggron. Seriously, Close Combat tickles him. The idea was to use this Great Wall of Pure Steel to slowly wear down opponents until Xerneas could come in and proceed to sweep. When Mega Aggron's HP got low, I just used Rest and Sleep Talk. Very few Pokémon can reliably 2HKO him. I mainly paired Mega Aggron with Florges or Rotom-Wash to deal with really strong special attackers.

Besides that, I had a Greninja and Talonflame whose task was to break down walls. While straightforward, they did their job well.

Delirious, I recorded my first set of battles. I look quite pathetic, so feel free to laugh and cringe as I perform my rendition of "New York." First match in, I throw away a 3-1 lead by clicking Psyshock instead of Moonblast! I'll never live that down.

The next day, I managed to maintain a winning record. While most of the teams consisted of the same standard Pokémon, I was impressed by the few creative movesets I ran into. Rest Quagsire, a Greninja with King's Rock, and even a Pikachu! Unfortunately, Pikachu couldn't scratch Aggron, but it's the thought that counts.

Sorry Pikachu, you just don't mess with Mega Aggron.

The number of matches dwindled on the last day of battling. Don't get me wrong, I had fun competing. But after fighting match after match of faceless opponents and recording virtually every match, competing became a chore. With my Pokémon-playing friends out of town and my brother deciding not to play, it got lonely. This competition lacked the atmosphere and excitement of a live competition. There was one brief shining moment when I convinced my mom to commentate a battle with me. I felt bad though; I constantly talked over her and I could tell that half the things I said went over her head.

For throwing my team together at the last minute, I managed to squeeze in a decent record and placed in the top 9%. I earned a final rating of 1647 with 27 wins and 18 losses. The inclusion of legendaries was an interesting twist, but most trainers stuck with standard teams. This battle competition was fun, but maybe it's time I take a small break from Pokémon. My fighting spirit has all but vanished, and the time away might be just what I need to reflect and refresh myself for the next competition. At the very least, April Friendly gave me the opportunity to experience Mega Aggron's girth, and I look forward to using him in future teams.

You can watch more battles on my YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/smiles6857)

Bringing New Variables in Battles with X and Y

With the introduction of Fairy-type Pokémon, the type-chart saw its first overhaul since Gold and Silver. But how will this affect Pokémon battles in the futures? Not much about this new type was known until the type-chart's official confirmation through Coro Coro Magazine.

New type-chart for X and Y. Props to Pokémon XY News for the chart.

Here's a summary of the changes. Fairy is super effective against Fighting, Dark and Dragon Pokémon. Fairy is not very effective against Fire, Poison and Steel Pokémon. Fairy is weak to Poison and Steel-type moves. Fairy is resistant against Fighting, Bug and Dark-type moves. And Fairy is IMMUNE to Dragon-type moves. Talk about a hard counter! Game Freak also sneaked in a slight nerf for Steel-types. Steel Pokémon no longer resist Dark and Ghost-type attacks.

It's obvious that Fairy-type Pokémon will play a key role in shaping the metagame. Sylveon's ribbons slaps Dragonite right in the face. And to think, I made that prediction about Xerneas being one of the best competitive Pokémon in jest. Fairy-type's lucky immunity to Dragon-type moves prevent Draco Meteor and Outrage spam.

I'd hate to see Iris encounter a Flabébé

Imagine Gardevoir switching in on Salamence's Outrage. Your Trace activates, throwing his Intimidate right back at him. Salamence will probably switch out, giving you ample time to set up a Calm Mind and possibly sweep.

Besides their ruthless thirst for dragon blood, Fairy-types also have it in for Dark and Fighting-types. Their resistance allows them to switch in on powerful moves and immediately threaten tough Pokémon out. Hydreigon and Scrafty now sport a nasty 4x weakness after a generation of favorable typing. STAB options for strong Pokémon like Scrafty and Heracross are severely limited.

It's hard out here for a pimp

Fairy's only weakness to Poison and Steel-type moves makes it a strong defensive type, especially since Poison and Steel moves are quite uncommon. While people might predict that Poison-type moves would be on the rise, I will have to disagree on this. Besides Fairy, Poison only hits Grass-types for super effective coverage. But why would you use a Poison move to knock out a Grass-type? You have Ice, Fire, Flying, Bug...you get the point! There are better options. Furthermore, many types resist Poison, including Steel which is actually immune to it. Defensively, Poison gets a boost which is great for Pokémon like Weezing.

Now only if it could do something about that horrendous cough...

Steel's loss of resistance might not seem like much, but it does cause problems for some Pokémon. The haunted sword Honedge now has to contend with two weaknesses in Ghost and Dark-type moves. Being as smart as a supercomputer gives Metagross a hard time. Everyone's coming up to it asking for help with taxes, quantum physics and damage calculations. Now it has to worry about things that go bump in the night. Metagross's Steel/Psychic type now becomes a hinderence. Tyranitar, Absol and Pangoro now can rely on their STAB moves to take on the four-brained behemoth.

It's not all bad for Steel-types though. The resistance to Fairy-type attacks and their super effective coverage against them will be what shapes the metagame. In 4th gen, a concept called "4 Drag, 2 Mag" was introduced. Basically, the only thing that stood in a Dragon's way were Steel-types. So Magneton and Magnezone were used to trap and knock them out. This concept can easily make a comeback to counter Fairy-types as well, but with a few modifications. Heatran's Steel/Fire type gives him a 4x resistance to Fairy. Plus, he can finally find a use for Flash Cannon to immediately threaten any Fairy-types out. Heatran's Fire-type moves can burn up most Steels and either Hidden Power Ice or Dragon Pulse can take on opposing Dragons. I wouldn't be surprised if Heatran's usage skyrocketed. Scizor also finds itself in a similar situation. Bullet Punch from Scizor is already a strong move, but the additional super effective coverage is icing on the cake. If you feel the opponent will switch out, simply use U-turn to maintain momentum.

The updated type chart for X and Y creates an interesting shift in the game. This post barely scratches the surface of what to expect in future battles, and rightfully so. What happens if Fairy moves have wide distribution like Flamethrower and Thunderbolt? What new tools can Dragons use to help outmaneuver these pixies of doom? Will the recent setback for Dark and Fighting-types lead to a reemergence of Psychic and Normal-types? Will Dunsparce get an evolution (or God forbid mega evolution) so grand that not even Arceus can stand up to it? Only the future will tell...or you can have Xatu use Future Sight. Whatever.

These trainers are way ahead of their time