This past weekend I went to Otakon in Baltimore, MD and checked out the game room to see what kind of Poké-action was to be had. The first thing I noticed was that the underground has a constant stream of explorers hunting for flags and laying intricate trap patterns. I was actually able to upgrade my secret base to silver status and eliminate about 5 stones. I was even able to talk to enough people to get my own Spiritomb.
 
Pokemon: Battle Revolution was set up as well with a large crowd battling on the big screen and on their DSs. I was disappointed because this was the perfect place to try out my Team Twilight, but they aren’t fully leveled up or evolved yet, though they have been fully EV trained. One trainer had a Gyarados which dominated by using Dragon Dance twice to always go first. He then used Earthquake, Ice Beam and Hydro Pump. Since everybody seemed to have at least three steel types on their team, he hit for double damage most of the time. I was especially ticked since my Nameless (Shedninja) would have been totally immune to his strategy (not to mention all of his attacks).
 
Other popular strategies included something called a “Tauntrados” and using Baton Pass (particularly with Swords Dance). I was also surprised to hear that many people consider Wobbuffet to be cheap. I’ll go into more detail in the next show, but I’m actually away training in the woods this week, so there won’t be a regular show this week. But when I come back we’ll talk more about these strategies and other things I picked up at the convention.

It works! Out of strife of my one shiny pokémon ever caught being a Raticate (for trade, if anyone wants) I have experimented with a system that supposedly raises the chances significantly of catching a shiny pokémon. The best part is, I was even able to do it while simultaneously EV training my pokémon.

In order to boost the attack of my Shedinja, I was hunting Bellsprouts on route 230. To make sure that I fought them consistently though, I used the Pokéradar and built up a chain of them. I wasn’t even concerned with getting a shiny, but I followed the rules for building up a chain, and before I knew it, I was up to 40. Suddenly I became paranoid, not wanting to lose the chain I hadn’t realized I built. So I saved my progress and decided to just keep resetting the radar for the next half hour till I had to leave work. If I caught one, that would be great, but if I didn’t, I would just continue my training.

Well, 25 minutes later, I saw a glimmering patch of bush and ran towards it with dilated eyes and behold! A shiny Bellsprout! So, what I thought might be just the new generation’s “How to catch Pikablue and Mew” trick, turned out to be legit and I plan to go into it in more detail in out next podcast.

Today I trained Helba to full EV. It didn’t take as long as I thought. I spent a lot on Carbos and Calcium to give her 100 EV in Speed and Sp.Atk to start (each vitamin gives 10 EV). Then I took her to the Old Chateu and gave her the Exp. Share while I stomped out Ghastlys for 2 Sp.Atk EV each (since I have the PokeRus).

I doubled the affect by giving my Roserade (Rapier) Kelpsy and Pomeg berries to lower his Atk and HP EV, then had him do the actual fighting. I call it my retro-training technique. So in effect, I gained 4 EV per battle. I copied this technique in the Survival Zone with the Spearow and Rattata family for speed.

I’m probably going to go to the Battle Tower next to get one of the training items – Power Anklet for Speed, Power Band for Sp. Def, Power Belt for Def, Power Brace for Attack, Power Lens for Sp.Atk and Power Weight for HP. I’ll see if any of them can make this process even faster, but as long as I still have to tweak the stats of my original party pokémon, this method will probably be my favorite.

I began work on it about a week ago, but I’m nearing completion of my first structured team. I call it “Team Twilight” and it is an all ghost ensemble. I got the names from an epic poem called “Epitaph of Twilight.” If you know of it, you are awesome. If not, go play .hack.

My current roster is below (all at level 1 except for Giratina). I still need to choose the items some will hold, and I haven’t even bred the right Rotom yet. I may change aspects of this, so I’m open to suggestions in the meanwhile.

Team Twilight:


1) Giratina (Sheraton)
EV Training – Atk, SpAtk
Moves – Shadow Force / Heal Block / Draco Meteor / Earth Force
Item – ?
Nature – Sassy
Purpose – Anchor

2) Mismagius (Skeith)
EV Training – SpATK, DEF/SpDEF
Moves – Final Song / Shadow Ball / Mean Look / Pain Split
Item – Spooky Plate
Nature: Bold
Purpose: Assassinate anything with too much HP or Def.

3) Shedinja (Nameless)
EV Training – ATK, SPD
Moves – U-Turn / Giga Impact / Shadow Claw / Swagger
Item – ?
Nature – Lonely
Purpose – Torment anything that can’t hurt it.

4) Froslass (Helba)
EV Training – SATK, SPD
Moves – Blizzard / Destiny Bond / Hail / Double Team
Item – Icy Rock
Nature – Hasty
Purpose – Damage over time while staying unhittable.

5) Spiritomb (The Wave)
EV Training – DEF / SDEF
Moves – Pursuit / Curse / Hypnosis / Dream Eater
Item – ?
Nature – Bashful
Purpose – Opener with no weakness

6)Dusknoir (Bith)
EV Training – ATK, HP
Moves – Fire Punch / Ice Punch / Earthquake / Shadow Punch
Item – ?
Nature – Adamant
Purpose – Varied physical damage

Alternate (In case I choose not to use a Legendary):

Rotom (Fili)
EV Training – S.Atk, Spd
Moves – Reflect / Light Screen / Thunderbolt / Shadow Ball
Item – Light Clay
Nature – Modest or Timid
Purpose – Protect others (Skeith particularly)