Pokémon

The most unreal VGC match of my career

(This is adapted from a thread I tweeted last night.)

Last night, I won the most UNREAL VGC match ever.

My team:

  • Solgaleo
  • Indeedee-F
  • Rotom-Wash
  • Umbreon
  • Politoed
  • Pincurchin

My opponent’s team:

  • Blastoise
  • Indeedee-F
  • Rillaboom
  • Urshifu (Water)
  • Incineroar
  • Hatterene

The Pokémon we brought are in bold.

Oh, and my opponent’s name was “Dirty Jesus”!

Pre-match

Initially, I was thinking “ah, Indeedee-F and Hatterene… Trick Room!” so I opened with Politoed and Pincurchin. Instead, DJ opened with Indeedee-F and Blastoise. Aite, cool. Except it was far from it.

Turn 1

They went for Follow Me (expected) and Shell Smash. And having run a Blastoise with Shell Smash last year, I knew it had White Herb (spoiler alert: it did). Gulp. I did Helping Hand + Rising Voltage. Decent damage into Indeedee-F.

Turn 2

I’d contemplated a Perish Song to apply pressure but didn’t. Then they Dynamaxed the Blastoise and it was a G-Max. Helping Hand + G-Max Cannonade into Pincurchin. So long, little one. But I did get off a Perish Song because you never know.

Turn 3

I sent out Rotom-Wash and swapped out Politoed for Solgaleo. I used Earthquake to get some spread damage and Thunderbolt. Another Helping Hand + G-Max Cannonade into Solgaleo. OHKO. Yikes. I was down to my last two and they still had ALL FOUR POKÉMON.

Turn 4

So it was Politoed and Rotom-Wash, my old faves. I was close to disconnecting but I thought I’d play it out. Remember that Perish Song? Well, into its final turn, I decided to double Protect and… they didn’t swap out. What?! So both of their Pokémon fainted. We had ourselves a game!

Turn 5

Out came Urshifu and Rillaboom. This was problematic because Rillaboom could annihilate both of my Pokémon but primarily Rotom who was the main attacker. I Dynamaxed Rotom and went for a Max Lightning into Urshifu as I discovered it was Water. Rather than Helping Hand, I used Muddy Water.

Why? Because I knew Urshifu would have Focus Sash… and it did. Sash activated and then Muddy Water hit both of them. Bye, Urshifu! But before that, Rillaboom hit a Grassy Glide into Rotom. A knockout… but no, because Rotom had a Rindo Berry which weakened it!

Turn 6

So it was 2v1—my Politoed (full HP) and Rotom (in the red with like 30HP or something). Rillaboom had chip damage from Muddy Water. Oh, and the rain and electric terrain had just gone. Here we go.

I went for another Muddy Water and Protected Rotom. It hit and lowered ‘Boom’s accuracy even further. But it’s Grassy Glide hit… a big Protect shield, baby!

Turn 7

I decide to take a risk. The Rillaboom had -2 accuracy now so I went for Helping Hand + Thunderbolt. I knew it resisted but I needed all the help I could get and I NEEDED it to hit (I also had Thunder). I was faster so I went first and… THE PARALYSIS! Guess what the chances were? 10%!

They weren’t fully paralysed unfortunately and went for another Grassy Glide… which missed!! The odds were in my favour!

Turn 8

They were in the yellow. I got worried. This could have all been in vain. So I wasted some time since if it went to timer, I’d win. 3 minutes left though…

I double Protected. Grassy Glide hit but no damage of course. Now the Hail Mary play.

Turn 9

Helping Hand + Thunder. 70% of hitting. I needed this to land and hope it KO’d.

IT’S A KNOCKOUT!!! The crowd goes wild (because there’s no COVID-19 in Galar)! From 4-2 down I won the greatest match of my VGC career.

Blastoise, Indeedee-F, Rillaboom, Urshifu (Water)—we have beaten them all. We have beaten them all. Dirty Jesus, can you hear me? Your ‘mon took a hell of a beating! Your ‘mon took a hell of a beating!