Pachirisu- 2014 World Champion?

VGC is a yearly competition of Pokemon games, both TCG and VGC, and this year was held in Washington DC.

The field was full of the usual threats, Garchomp, Charizard, Rotom, Mawhile, and Kangaskhan. But there was one Pokemon that everyone just wrote off as a waste of space, or a "Pika-clone," and that was Pachirisu.

As you see below, this little squirrel was standing alongside a Garchomp and a Talonflame, which was unexpected to say the least. How did this little Pokemon make it this far? In Smogon tier systems its all the way down in NU. Well the eventual winner of the VGC Masters division, Se Jun Park, chose a very interesting role for the Pachirisu.

Moves:
Nuzzle- 100% accurate Paralysis move that deals some damage
Follow Me- Redirects attacks to target Pachirisu and neutralizes Electric type moves due to Volt Absorb
Super Fang- Halves the opponents HP, regardless of set-up or investment
Protect-Keeps Pachirisu safe for a turn

Nature:
Impish- Helps increase Defense, allowing for survivable Earthquakes

Held Item:
Sitrus Berry- Restores 25% of the HP

Ability:
Volt Absorb- Used in conjunction with Follow Me for healing when hit with Electric Moves

Se Jun used this little Pokemon to help win him his first World title, and by the end of the tournament, the crowd was cheering for the little squirrel. This single Pokemon showed that any Pokemon could make it in VGC if used correctly.

YouTube Spotlight- Marriland!

Have you ever wanted to watch a walkthrough of a newly released Pokemon game? Or a Nuzelocke or variant of the challenge? Or just news updates for upcoming Pokemon games? Well, Marriland has all of these!

I first saw this channel while looking for information on the Goldenrod gym in SoulSilver and came upon Marriland's YouTube channel and was instantly hooked.

So far, Marriland has walkthroughs of Pokemon Diamond, Platinum, SoulSilver, Yellow, White, Black 2 (Japanese version), White 2, and X. He also has a walkthrough of a spin off, Pokemon Conquest.

In addition to walkthroughs, he has done a variety of Nuzlocke challenges. He's done an Emerald Nuzlocke, HeartGold Wedlocke, Platinum Nuzlocke, Black Wedlocke, and Black 2 Wedlocke. His most recent is the Pokemon Y Wondertrade Wedlocke challenge, where he catches a random Pokemon (one per route) and immediately Wonder Trades it for a new Pokemon. (art by Sophie-Lou on deviantart)

He also opens boxes of Pokemon cards and Prerelease videos.

He also has a separate channel, More Marriland, where he is doing videos on games other than Pokemon.

In person, he is very nice and takes time out whatever event is going on to talk to fans, take pictures, and sign autographs. He actually said he will give me time to interview him, so that will be coming shortly.

This has been another post on YouTube Spotlight, be sure to check out his channel!

ORAS news August 12, 2014

On the Korean Pokemon official site, two more megas were accidentally leaked.

Mega-Slowbro and Mega-Audino, two which nobody saw coming. Not much is know about these two yet, other than Mega-Slowbro has Shell Armor, which prevents Critical Hits, which when used with Toxic, Protect, Slack Off, and an offensive move, can make Slowbro even more of a reliable tank then before. Mega-Audino got the addition of the Fairy type, which I thought it should be in the first place. It also has the ability Healer.

While these are both good abilities, a couple things will probably prevent these megas from appearing in competitive play too much. First, you only get a single Mega per team, and why would you choose these? Maybe we will get a reason to when they release the stat boosts. Also, both of these Pokemon had a claim to fame, Regenerator. Now with the ability to go back to the trainer and heal taken away, will these be as widely used?

Pictures from Serebii

ORAS Update August 10, 2014

Today we got more information about the upcoming Gen III remakes, updating what we learned a couple days ago through a new trailer posted on the official Pokemon YouTube channel.

First of all, we saw the Stat updates for the Mega's that have been revealed.
Mega-Lopunny gets increased Attack and Speed, Mega-Salamence gets Defense, and Mega-Altaria gets increased Attack, Special Attack, and a small Defense boost.

In addition, Horde battles return, in the wild and against humans, in this case, against Magma Grunts.

We also got news of the return of Contests and Pokeblocks, which means that Feebas can once again evolve if you maximize the Beauty stat and level up, in addition to the Prism Scale trade item.

We also can speculate that the Contest idol named Lisia could have a Mega-Altaria due to the suspicious looking head band she has and the fact that she is seen with her Altaria, Ali, in many screenshots.

Next, we have the most interesting information of all, an update on the Cosplay Pikachu.

Originally thought to be just a costume for a contest, the trailer announced that this is a special Pikachu that you receive after competing in a contest, denoted by a black mark on the tail.

You can use this Pikachu, along with many forms and special moves, in battle along with contests, and can change forms at any time.

Finally, we learned about a special event Beldum, which holds a Mega stone and is shiny, that will run soon after the game's release.

CoroCoro Reveals August 8, 2014- New Megas!

CoroCoro is a magazine that has information on video games over in Japan, and if we're lucky news for Pokemon. Today someone has leaked some huge information! 3 new mega evolutions, special move contest Pikachu, and a special event shiny Beldum (which may be a Preoreder bonus).

First up is Mega-Altaria. In Mega form, it becomes a Dragon/Fairy (the first of its kind) and gains the ability Pixilate. This one should have been more obvious, due to Altaria's fairy-esque design and ability to learn Dazzling Gleam and Moonblast, however these moves getting STAB isn't the best thing about the new typing, but the STAB Pixilate Hyper Voice combo that was used so effectively by Gardevoir and Sylveon can now be accessed by Altaria. It also changes a weakness to Dragon into an immunity.

Next we have Mega-Lopunny. This one is a little more random in my opinion, as Lopunny was just a random pure Normal type from Gen IV and hasn't been too crucial to any game. Now it becomes Normal/Fighting (a type only shared with Pirouette Form Meloetta) and has the ability Scrappy-allowing it to finally hit Ghosts with its Normal and now Fighting STABs. This new ability also allows it to use Fake Out on Ghosts. It also gains access to the move High Jump Kick.

Finally, Mega-Salamence. Not much is known about the Mega other, than it has the ability Aerilate. I predict that Salamence will get access to some stronger Normal type moves in order to take advantage of this ability via Move Tutors or new Egg Moves on the upcoming games.

In addition to the Megas, we found out that Pikachu gains new moves through Contests, though it is not clear if it can use them outside of battle. Pika Ph.D. gets Electric Terrain, Pika Libre gets Flying Press, Pika Belle gets Icicle Crash, Pika Rockstar gets Meteor Mash, and Pika Popstar gets Draining Kiss.

In addition, we found out that Mega-Evolution can be done in contests after a meter is built up. In addition to that, Feebas's evolution once again reverts to being Contest based.

Today was an exciting day in the game of Pokemon, and we can expect more news soon!

(pictures were taken from Serebii.net)

Why was Aegislash banned from the OU tier of Smogon?

Smogon is a website that discusses and plans strategies for each Pokemon, and even creates a tier system based on usage and power of each Pokemon. This ban may not apply if you don't play under Smogon rules, but Aegislash has been banned to the Ubers tier, which is typically filled with legendaries and Pokemon such as Mega Blazekin or Mega Lucario- which are all very difficult to counter, let alone beat. But why Aegislash? Let's look at the Pokemon itself.

Aegislash can switch between Sword and Shield mode, with each mode having these stats-
Shield Stance: 60 / 50 / 150 / 50 / 150 / 60
Sword Stance: 60 / 150 / 50 / 150 / 50 / 60

This Pokemon has several different viable strategies, SubToxic, Physical, or Special.

To begin, his Physical set can be used with Swords Dance to boost his Attack stat by 2 stages in one turn, Shadow Sneak as a priority move to help with his lackluster speed, Shadow Claw for STAB/Sacred Sword for coverage/Iron Head for Fairy Coverage, and finally King's Shield. This is Aegislah's signature move which functions as Protect for offensive moves-which lowers the foes Attack stat if the move makes contact, however it allows status moves to bypass and hit.

For a Special set, Shadow Ball is a very good move to have for STAB along with Flash Cannon, and use Shadow Sneak and King's Shield just like the last set.

You can use the item Weakness Policy for both sets for a +2 stat boost in both Special and Physical Attack stats after being hit for Super Effective damage. With low speed, Aegislash will remain in Shield mode and keep its defensive stats.

If you want to try something else, the SubToxic set is also a good choice. Substitute, Toxic, King's Shield and Shadow Sneak will make Aegislash an effective staller especially with Leftovers.

As you can see with all of the various sets, Aegislash can pull off many different strategies and with such high base stats it is easy to see why it is used in so many teams and was sent to Ubers and used on so many VGC championship teams.