I shoulda asked you for that before yesterday's event but oh well. I'm still interested in it though.
Lotsa text incoming though:
POKEMON GYM LEADER CHALLENGE (at my university)
I was pretty excited to participate in this event since it was first announced. Some time after our Video Game club brought it up I was trying to think of what I'll run.
About a few weeks ago was our local anime/geek con where there was also a Gym Leader challenge but these guys operate separately from the University group. I challenged these guys over the weekend and it turns out I was the first to beat all 8 they had. That in itself was awesome because I haven't really done much competitive Pokemon yet. Sure they were mostly forced to go monotype but most knew what they were doing.
For that I ran the following set (this is from memory and keep in mind this is still my early foray into the scene):
Greninja Protean @focus Sash
Timid SpA Spe, 4 HP
Taunt
Spikes
Dark Pulse
Ice Beam/Scald/Toxic Spikes/Grass Knot (can't remember since this guy changed several times in terms of role and movesets)
Jellicent Cursed Body @leftovers
Bold HP Def, 4 SpD
Recover
Taunt
Will o' Wisp
Scald/Ice Beam
Bisharp Defiant @muscle Band?/Lum Berry
Adamant Atk Spe, 4 HP
Swords Dance
Iron Head
Stone Edge
Sucker Punch
Talonflame Gale Wing @life Orb
Adamant Atk Spe, 4 HP
Brave Bird
Flare Blitz
Roost
Steel Wing
Excadrill Mold Breaker @air Balloon
Adamant Atk Spe, 4 HP
Rapid Spin
Swords Dance
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Gardevoir Trace @gardevoirite
Modest SpA Spe, 4 HP
Calm Mind
Psyshock
Focus Blast/Shadow Ball
Moonblast
So yeah. That run was fun. I barely got to use Garde because Bisharp basically sweeps most pokes. Most of the time, smogonbird also took out minimum 2 pokes. When I finally did use Gardevoie, it was because of me forgetting the Grass gym led with Ferrothorn and put up SR. I can't believe I forgot they were there and didn't prioritize getting Excadrill in there to deal with them. Instead I got Talonflame in BUT it still took out 2 pokes (after Greninja fainted, Talonflame came in on Breloom, then took out Torterra OHKO). Gardevoir eventually finished off the last two: M-Venusaur and Roserade.
I won this certificate thingy, another pin to go with my 8 badges, then a Charizard plush! For a free event that was certainly quite the experience.
So that's that...
www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/20fedf/picture_my_university_is_the_best/You can tell some of the rules on the flyer but there were more not detailed there:
docs.google.com/document/d/1iO4EleI8XHZpfnxhNPzdVxdh2uqsrMCuGuE_ZgY_iag/editNow onto yesterday's event. I just finished two Politoed's so I really wanted to try a Rain team. In hindsight it lacked some fundamental stuff that I'll mention later. Here's what it looked like at the start of the day.
Politoed Drizzle @damp Rock (would be Leftovers but there was an Item clause)
Bold HP DEF, 4 SpD
Scald
Protect
Toxic (was Hypnosis because I forgot to change it before the first gym)
Ice Beam (was Hydro Pump like above)
Dragonite Multi Scale @assault Vest
Hurricane
Thunder
Surf/Ice Beam
Dragon Pulse
Bouffalant Sap Sipper @choice Scarf
Adamant Atk Spe, 4 HP
Head Charge
Megahorn
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Swampert Torrent @life Orb
Adamant HP ATK, 4 Spe
Waterfall
Earthquake
Hammer Arm
Stone Edge
Rotom-W Levitate @choice Specs
Dark Pulse
Volt Switch
Trick
Hydro Pump
Jellicent (same as before)
Greninja (same as before)
Funnily enough, I decided this team before I realize the first gym I hit up was Water too. So it was hilarious when we both led off with Politoeds. His (and some of his other pokemon) were shiny though. Politoed, Ludicolo, Azumarill are the ones I recall he has Shinies of. I also managed to get a read off the Ludicolo, getting Afrohead a free switch and buff, killing his Ludi next turn. Can't remember the rest of his team though, I didn't really save almost any game at the event.
The second was supposed to be Dragon, but the queue line deferred our challenge to the next nearest gym, which was Ghost. I say nearest, but finding the location of the guy was in itself a challenge. Anyways, that was the Ghost gym, and I would've lost too if not for Dark Pulse on Rotom-W. I got nailed by Hypnosis from Gengar which meant I was basically left with just Rotom in the end. He got a read that I was gonna EQ with Afrohead to get a free switch in with Gengar, I switched out to reset the Choice, but eventually Afrohead gets hit by Focus Blast anyways.
Back to the Dragon gym we were deferred from. Still packing the same rain team, I was concerned because that doesn't really make things better against the Dragon matchup. I managed to keep the Kingdra from doing much after Focus Energy because I flinched him when it mattered. Too bad in the end, Moxiemence (shiny too) ate the rest of my team up. I'll have to face someone else first before the rematch.
I went to the Electric gym next, and I decided to drop the rain team for now and basically counterpick for the gym. I first thought this was the Fairy one because the friend I was going around with mentioned Fairy badge, making me think this was a Fairy matchup. Anyways, the gym leader was free and I came in with basically all my relevant Electric hate that I managed to set up. I won't list the pokes in detail since that was a one-time thing, but they were Tyranitar, Garchomp, Excadrill, Swampert, Rotom-W, Chesnaught (lmk if you do wanna know the details). Needless to say, she didn't like all the Earthquakes.
Off to the Fairy gym next since it was kinda closer and on the way back to Dragons (and my friend really wanted to go after the badge). Now, considering how close we are to the end of the day, the gym leaders realized that there were some faults that made the event slower than anticipated. Every gym typically had lineups and beyond that, you sometimes still needed to find the gyms, though most were in obvious areas. However, one loss and you basically waste your chance to get another badge if you have to rematch. Because of the number of folks at this gym, they implemented "show 6, pick 3" so as to move things along until there were less challengers to which the challengers remaining can decide if they want a 6v6 again. For this one I packed Skarmory, Bisharp, Excadrill, Talonflame, Mawile, and Gardevoir. I picked Bisharp, Mawile and Gardevoir I think... for sure I had the Bisharp. I know that because it resulted in the fastest 3v3 sweep: Iron Head against Azumarill, flinch. Iron Head again for the 2HKO. Iron Head on Togekiss OHKO, Iron Head on Sylveon OHKO.
Finally, I went to the Steel gym next door. There was a decent lineup, so I went back to the Dragon gym which basically was also finishing up its previous challengers. Soon it was my turn with the following:
Tyrantrum Strong Jaw @focus Sash
Jolly HP ATK, 4 Spe
Dragon Dance
Ice Fang
Rock Slide
Fire Fang
Skarmory Sturdy @leftovers
Impish HP DEF, 4 SpD
Roost
Whirlwind
Spikes
Brave Bird
Bisharp (same as before)
Politoed (same as before)
Excadrill (same as before)
Gardevoir (same as before, but with Choice Scarf [didn't manage to remove Calm Mind beforehand, but that wasn't necessary])
This one I got a replay of:
Tyrantrum met off with his Goodra, surviving with Sash against Goodra's Draco Meteor, then I beat it with Ice Fang
I forgot about the Dragonite's E-Speed so there goes Tyrantrum
Dragonite then faced off against Bisharp, got a DDance in while I turned off MScale with Stone Edge doing only less than half
Fire Punch then killed off Bisharp
Politoed then comes in seeing as I learned about Fire Punch, I protect to see what he'll use (Dragon Claw)
I then switch off to Skarmory, he gets the Claw again and tanks it
Fire Punch then came next, to which I managed to get Roost
I whirlwind Dragonite away only to see Salamence
I switch off to Excadrill to see if I can figure out something to do about him, he goes for Outrage
I manage to survive the second one and land a Rock Slide, his Lum Berry made him get out of confusion
Predicting another Outrage, I walked in with Gardevoir for a free switch, but he actually went for EQ
Gardevoir survived to outspeed Mence with Moonblast (Trace'd Moxie so she got Atk buff, lol)
Dragonite comes in, so ESpeed is a threat to my damaged Garevoir
I switch out to Politoed to soak up the damage from ESpeed and put up Rain for Fire Punch
Dragon Claw came next, so I retaliated with Ice Beam killing Dragonite
Next up was Hydreigon, so I Protect to see what he's up to, Dragon Pulse
I got no better switch in against that so I let Politoed faint, and Gardevoir comes in
Tracing Levitate (not that it mattered), she swept the rest of the team (Hydreigon, Garchomp and Tyrantrum), earning me the badge
I finish the day with 5 /8 badges which is not bad considering things (could've been 6).
The person with the most only had 7 anyways, and there was still the 9th mystery gym leader too. We can continue hunting for the badges later during the weekly console meetings and at other future events like the LAN party or another Gym Leader Challenge. They know better now too (this is their first run of an event of this caliber), so I can't wait for the future challenges.