Author: Starmetroid

Early VGC 2016 Metagame Primer

Hello Hat Lovers!

Before we officially start the 2016 format I’m going to look at some of the top Pokemon in the early VGC 2016 metagame. This is meant to be a guide for anyone unfamiliar with the format to help bring them up to speed with the most common threats in the metagame.

Restricted Pokemon:

The biggest part about figuring out the format so far is understanding how the restricted Pokemon interact with it. We only get two restricted Pokemon per team so a big aspect of team-building will be figuring out what combinations of restricted Pokemon are good.

I think almost all of the restricted Pokemon are usable, but since we only get to use two per team the most powerful ones will make it harder to justify using the rest. Here are the four restricted Pokemon that are currently the most used and will likely stay at the top throughout the season:

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VGC 2016 First Impressions:

Hello Hat Lovers!

As I’m sure you’ve seen the VGC 2016 ruleset has been announced. The rules are the same as last year except now we get to use two of the following on our team: Mewtwo, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde. 

This format is effectively VGC 2010 on steroids, what with Primals, Mega evolutions, and a greater diversity of Legendaries and powerful Pokemon. Here are some first impressions from the VGC w/Hats crew: (more…)

An Intriguing Aegislash EV Spread

Hello Hat Lovers!

When we make EV spreads more complex than the simple 4/252/252 we often have to make some interesting choices based on our goals. Today I bring to you an interesting situation I encountered. Recently I was making an Aegislash spread. I wanted a specially defensive Aegislash that could survive other Aegislash’s Life Orb Shadow Ball. I didn’t know how much speed I wanted to use, so I decided to dump the rest in special attack. My first thought was that I would need a Calm nature, here is the spread I came up with:

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 172 SpA / 76 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature

These are the stats Aegislash achieved (note that the special attack stat is in Blade form since you can never utilize it in shield form):

167 / 63 / 171 / 192 / 198 / 81

Out of curiosity I decided to make a Modest spread to see if I could achieve the same stats. I came up with the following:

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 36 SpA /212 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature

This spread reached the following stats:

167 / 63 / 171 / 192 / 197 / 81

shiny_aegislash_global_link_art_by_trainerparshen-d6te1gqAt a cursory glance it appears that the Calm nature is superior to Modest, but the Modest spread is arguably the better spread. The reason for this is what these spreads do for Blade form. In Blade form the Calm set’s special defence stat is 88. The Modest spread reaches 97. Anyone who has played Aegislash before knows that while you always try to avoid taking hits in Blade form is does happen and you can still survive weaker hits. For this reason I consider the Modest nature to be better for this set. Calm nature still has merit for Aegislash, but not for what I was trying to do with it.

So when making an EV spread for Aegislash, keep in mind what stats it reaches in both of its forms.

~Max

 

Crawdaunt is Amazing

Hello Hat Lovers!

Do you know the true meaning of fear? If not you haven’t faced Crawdaunt! Lets take a look at this monster. Crawdaunt has these big meaty claws ready to Crab Hammer your puny Pokemon into the dirt where they belong. Crawdaunt even has a star on its head so you know its the best Pokemon around.

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