Hi everyone, my name is Km. This is my first time winning the Druddigon Cup, an offline local VGC tournament in Hong Kong. I have been the finalist of several offline tournaments before, and therefore winning this tournament meant a lot to me.
The Druddigon Cup was played with Regulation Set C, consisting 6 swiss rounds, followed by single elimination for top cut, and all matches played in the Best-of-3(Bo3) format. Since it has the same format as last year’s Hong Kong National, I intended it to be a preparation for the upcoming National. However, just a week before the tournament, The Pokémon Company (TPC) announced that this year’s National will be conducted in a top-64-Best-of-1(bo1) single elimination format. Despite the fact, this tournament is still a valuable opportunity to communicate and exchange with the local VGC community.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at what I have brought to the Druddigon Cup!
Team Builing Process
Regulation Set C officially began on 1st April, which I had around a month to prepare. Compared to Regulation Set B, the inclusion of the four Treasures of Ruin Pokémon
in the competitive format has drastically impacted the current meta game; a lot of damage calculations had to be readjust. During this 2-3 weeks of adaptation from Set B to Set C, I had been trying out different teams, for example the offensive duo of Chien-Pao and Dragonite
; Justin Tang’s champion team with Dragapult
and Chien-Pao; and the very popular standard team with Ting-Lu
. I found it not quite satisfactory; I kept stuck in the 1400s when I was practicing in Showdown.
I started to get the hang of the current meta with James Evan’s tailwind team with Talonflame
and Garchomp
, which was also the first team ever I reached 1500s with 70%GXE. Though not an outstanding result, still this was a key milestone for my practices for the new ruleset.
According to past experience, reaching 1500s with 70%GXE is still not good enough to secure top standings in official tournaments. To put it simple, I was not comfortable with the current results. Since the beginning of the Scarlet-Violet series, GXE (Glicko X-Act Estimate) and Elo (the main ladder rating) in showdown are benchmarks and indicators to judge whether I am compatible with certain teams (probably influenced by a very experienced VGC senior in Taiwan). My tournament team will be a team able to reach 1700s with 75%GXE in Showdown.
Until the second Global Challenge held in late April, I came across a famous Taiwanese VGC player Wu Zhen who had achieved good results with “toxic sushi”
(In Japan and other Asian regions, the Dondozo-Tatsugiri combination is referred as the “sushi duo”, which Dondozo resembles to “Itamae” – sushi chef, and Tatsugiri resembles the nigiri sushi). That was when I developed a strong interest in this team. Since I had been using the Dondozo-Tatsugiri duo in both Regulation Set A and B, I had been familiar with the pasting of this duo. My team has the same 6 as the top 4 teams from EUIC (European International Championship), composed of Dondozo, Tatsugiri, Glimmora, Iron Bundle
, Chi-Yu and Dragonite. I felt great when practicing with it in Showdown, which peaked with rating 1855, with 76.6%GXE, reaching top 11 in the Showdown ladder. To further test the team under Bo3 open team sheet format, I participated in an online tour “Whale Cup”, held by Taiwanese VGC player Jaylun on 30th April at the Limitless platform, and achieved second in the tournament. I was certain that the “toxic sushi” was my optimal answer.
The Team
Dondozo @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Unaware
Level: 50
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 12 HP / 236 Atk / 4 Def / 76 SpD / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Wave Crash
– Earthquake
– Tera Blast
– Protect
As one of the core members of the team, it is mainly use for:
- dishing out lots of damage when combining with Tatsugiri
- a counter against Palafin
- a strong counter against Ting-Lu
Dondozos in Regulation Set C are slightly different from previous rulesets. The overall offensive power of Pokémon in Regulation Set A and B is comparatively smaller, Dondozos can stay on the field for much longer, therefore the leftovers variant with rest was common to further boost its longevity on the field, and Steel tera type is common as well. With threats like increased appearance of haze Chien-Pao, the sudden massive damage output with Chi-Yu’ ability, and Wo-Chien able to limit damage output of physical attackers; considering the above factors, many opt for sets to maximize its damage output instead of extending its time on the field in the current meta. It is pretty much a job done if Dondozo is able to knock out 2 opposing Pokémon before going down.
Due to the increased usage of haze Palafin, grass tera type is intended for knocking out Palafin with grass tera blast before Palafin uses haze. Therefore, this Dondozo is trained to outspeed Adamant Palafin with 252 speed EV investments after boosting speed stat by two stages.
My choice of item is the clear amulet. I started off with the leftover oblivious set, which leftovers allows gradual recovery from the recoil damage from wave crash. However, I found that I had a difficult time facing the surf variant Dondozo
, so I decided to opt for the clear amulet, which allows my Dondozo to negate attack drops from opposing intimidate; and the unaware ability to ignore stat boost from opposing Dondozos. In fact, I went up against a surf Dondozo at top 4 in this tournament, which proves that the above adjustment is the correct choice in this match-up.
There are much more to consider while using Dondozo in Regulation Set C.
- Dondozo is often the pick against Ting-Lu in standard teams.
- Whether the opposing Palafin is a water tera set, or Amoonguss does not have clear smog are some of the criterias to consider using the Dondozo-Tatsugiri combo. (Should always presume opposing Amoonguss have clear smog in close team sheets).
- Teams with Gyarados
, Amoonguss and Ting-Lu, can opt for Dondozo itself but not the combo. - Avoid using Dondozo against opposing tera grass Dondozo.
Offensive calcs
+2 236+ Atk Dondozo Wave Crash vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Ting-Lu: 306-362 (116.7 – 138.1%) — guaranteed OHKO
Tatsugiri @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Commander
Level: 50
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Muddy Water
– Icy Wind
– Sleep Talk
Tatsugiri is chosen mainly for the commander boost. Since there are a lot of speedy attackers in the current meta, the majority runs choice scarf on max speed Tatsugiri, outspeeding max speed Dragapult. It also makes a good combo with Chi-yu, the combination of icy wind and heatwave can be used as speed control, as well as dishing out a lot of damage across the board. Draco meteor could do significant damage with the special defense drop by the beads of ruin ability. Since Tatsugiri is pretty frail, usually it is used together with Dondozo.
Steel tera type helps resisting attacks from major threats like Flutter Mane and Iron Bundle. Especially for the specially weak Iron Bundle, if Tatsugiri is able to survive hits from Iron Bundle, then it can retaliate back with a big special attack move to knock it out.
One thing I would like to highlight is that this Tatsugiri runs sleep talk, and this move is not PP maxed. Tatsugiri is likely put into sleep by spore from Amoonguss when it is ejected once Dondozo is knocked out. Running sleep talk allows it to attack when it is asleep. But why not maxing sleep talk’s PP? I was considering an endgame situation, where Tatsugiri is choice locked into sleep talk, against a not very healthy Amoonguss. With the steel tera, it can take around 8 pollen puffs from Amoonguss. Assume that Tatsugiri is not taking too much damage, using struggle after depleting sleep talk’s PP could be the key to win this endgame. Though such endgame is very unlikely to happen, I have encountered this once during my practice.
Defensive calcs
252 Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tatsugiri: 114-135 (79.7 – 94.4%) — guaranteed 2HKO
Chi-Yu @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beads of Ruin
Level: 50
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
– Overheat
– Heat Wave
– Dark Pulse
– Protect
Chi-Yu is the main damage dealer in the team. Since tera grass Dondozo will be walled by grass type Pokémon, a strong attacker against grass types like Chi-Yu will come in handy. With beads of ruins and high base power STAB move overheat, Chi-Yu can almost one-hit KO any Pokémon that is weak to fire.
Since Chi-Yu is not too speedy, and can be easily targeted by opposing Chien-Pao and Iron Bundle, running focus sash provides Chi-Yu a lifeline that it can at least get a chance to attack.
The ghost tera type provides immunity to attacks like Dragonite’s extreme speed, Chien-Pao’s sacred sword, and Iron Hands
’ drain punch. In trick room match-ups, with Iron Hands and Hatterene
as leads, the ghost tera helps dodging fake out from Iron Hands, enabling significant damage to Hatterene.
Offensive calcs
252+ SpA Beads of Ruin Chi-Yu Overheat vs. 100 HP / 4 SpD Flutter Mane: 129-153 (90.2 – 106.9%) — 37.5% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Beads of Ruin Chi-Yu Heat Wave vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Iron Bundle: 135-159 (103 – 121.3%) — guaranteed OHKO
Iron Bundle @ Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Level: 50
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Hydro Pump
– Icy Wind
– Freeze-Dry
– Protect
Iron Bundle is another damage dealer in the team. Quark Drive speed boosted Iron Bundle is the fastest Pokémon in this format that always moves first(except priority moves). Other than Tatsugiri, another potential partner next to Chi-Yu for the Icy wind and heatwave combination for speed control and damage output. It is much more flexible than Tatsugiri, and one of the most powerful Freeze-Dry users in this format, which gives pressure to Pokémon like Amoonguss, Gyarados, grass tera Dondozo and Palafin.
Ice tera type is used to boost freeze-dry further. With only 70 base power, freeze-dry may not be enough even for super effective hits for certain Pokémon. With beads of ruins, an ice tera type boosted freeze-dry can one-hit KO physically bulky Amoonguss. One thing to keep in mind is that the above is not enough for specially trained Amoonguss. The freeze-dry will trigger the berry held by the Amoonguss, so to secure its knockout, follow up a dark pulse with Chi-Yu. If uncertain, always assume that all Amoonguss are specially bulky.
Using Iron Bundle is all about positioning. For example, Iron Bundle gives pressure to Palafin, Arcanine and Amoonguss, the common fire, grass, water core in some of the standard teams with Ting-Lu. On the other hand, it will be difficult to deal damage when facing Ting-Lu and Flutter Mane, as Iron Bundle is not as bulky. So there are a lot to consider: when should I trigger the booster energy? What kind of Pokemon are suitable for it to handle?
In general, most speedy attackers are overall not too bulky. Iron Bundle cannot deal as much damage as Flutter Mane, and this set does not have focus sash for a longer lifeline. However, it has decent coverage moves and speed control, and therefore adjusting the optimal board position is important for it to maximize its damage output and enabling its strengths to full.
Offensive calcs
252 SpA Beads of Ruin Tera Ice Iron Bundle Freeze-Dry vs. 236 HP / 116 SpD Amoonguss: 220-260 (100.4 – 118.7%) — guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Beads of Ruin Tera Ice Iron Bundle Freeze-Dry vs. 236 HP / 196+ SpD Amoonguss: 180-216 (82.1 – 98.6%) — guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Beads of Ruin Tera Ice Iron Bundle Freeze-Dry vs. +2 12 HP / 76 SpD Dondozo: 136-160 (59.9 – 70.4%) — guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Beads of Ruin Tera Ice Iron Bundle Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Palafin-Hero: 228-272 (110.1 – 131.4%) — guaranteed OHKO
Defensive calcs
252 Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Ice Iron Bundle: 67-81 (51.1 – 61.8%) — guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Sword of Ruin Tera Normal Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Ice Iron Bundle: 138-163 (105.3 – 124.4%) — guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Tera Normal Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Ice Iron Bundle: 103-123 (78.6 – 93.8%) — guaranteed 2HKO
Glimmora @ Assault Vest
Ability: Toxic Debris
Level: 50
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 228 HP / 236 Def / 4 SpA / 20 SpD / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
– Mortal Spin
– Power Gem
– Earth Power
– Energy Ball
Glimmora is for spreading the poison status, and a wall for physical attackers, since any physical attack on it will activate the toxic debris. The bulk of other members in this team is overall mediocre, therefore this Glimmora defensively trained, with almost max HP and defense, and with assault vest to add bulk on the special side. The only target for this Glimmora is Iron Bundle, as it can 0 hit KO Iron Bundle with just 4 SpA EV investment, so remaining EVs can be invested to increase its overall bulk.
This Glimmora is running standard moves sets like mortal spin, power gem, earth power and energy ball, with grass coverage against water types like Palafin. Glimmora is weak to water, ground, steel, and psychic, considering that there are comparatively less psychic and steel type attacks in the current format, grass tera is an ideal tera type for Glimmora; with good resistance to water and ground types attacks, as well as negating spores from Amoonguss.
Glimmora has a terrible match-up against Ting-Lu. Glimmora is almost forced to terastallize, and some Ting-Lu with poison tera can even neglect the posion status from mortal spin. Therefore, Glimmora is often left behind with Ting-Lu match-ups. It is strong against snow teams, sun teams, trick room teams, tailwind teams, or teams with Chi-Yu as the main damage dealer.
Offensive calcs
4 SpA Glimmora Power Gem vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Iron Bundle: 168-200 (128.2 – 152.6%) — guaranteed OHKO
Defensive calcs
252 SpA Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 228 HP / 20 SpD Assault Vest Glimmora: 140-168 (74.8 – 89.8%) — guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Ice Spinner vs. 228 HP / 236+ Def Glimmora: 67-81 (35.8 – 43.3%) — guaranteed 3HKO
Dragonite @ Choice Band
Ability: Multiscale
Level: 50
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 180 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Outrage
– Ice Spinner
– Extreme Speed
– Earthquake
Dragonite is the glue in this team, with decent bulk, does great damage output and is nice for securing endgames. It can pressure opposing Ting-Lu with its immunity to ground type attacks. Since it will be affected by opposing intimidates, lowering its overall damage output, I tend to have it in the back for securing endgames.
This Dragonite runs outrage, ice spinner, extreme speed and earthquake. With 120 base power STAB move, it is able to 1-hit knockout anything with outrage. Ice spinner is a coverage move for Ting-Lu; tera normal boosted extreme speed can take down some Pokémon that are not too bulky. Earthquake is seldom used except for spread damage. There is another way to make use of it is to earthquake into grass tera Glimmora to self-activate toxic spikes.
Offensive calcs
252+ Atk Choice Band Tera Normal Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tatsugiri: 172-204 (120.2 – 142.6%) — guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Tera Normal Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Chi-Yu: 136-162 (104.6 – 124.6%) — guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Tera Normal Dragonite Ice Spinner vs. 100 HP / 244 Def Flutter Mane: 87-103 (60.8 – 72%) — guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Tera Normal Dragonite Ice Spinner vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Flutter Mane: 121-143 (74.6 – 88.2%) — guaranteed 2HKO
Defensive calcs
252 SpA Iron Bundle Freeze-Dry vs. 180 HP / 12 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 116-138 (61.3 – 73%) — guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Tera Fairy Flutter Mane Moonblast vs. 180 HP / 12 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 164-194 (86.7 – 102.6%) — 18.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Ice Spinner vs. 180 HP / 4 Def Multiscale Dragonite: 180-212 (95.2 – 112.1%) — 62.5% chance to OHKO
| Opponent’s team | Comments |
| General | Lead Dondozo + Chi-Yu, with Tatsugiri and Iron Bundle in the back.These are the standard picks (except for hard Dondozo counters like Haze Chien-Pao, Clear smog Amoonguss, and tera grass Ting-Lu. |
| Balance teams withTing-Lu, or teams with Dragapult and Chien-Pao | Lead Iron Bundle + Chi-Yu, with Dondozo and Tatsugiri in the back. |
| Speedy offensive teams like teams with Dragonite and Chien-Pao, or sand rush Pokémon(ie. Tyranitar and Lycanroc) | Lead Dondozo + Glimmora, with Tatsugiri and Iron Bundle in the back. |
| Teams with Ting-Lu, Gyarados, Amoonguss | Lead Dondozo + Chi-Yu, with Dragonite and Iron Bundle in the back. |
| Tailwind teams with Talonflame and Garchomp | Lead Dondozo + Iron Bundle, with Dragonite and Chi-Yu in the back. |
| Teams with Dondozo counters, but without Ting-Lu, or Dondozo mirrors | Lead Chi-Yu + Iron Bundle, with Dragonite and Glimmora in the back. |
| Teams with Dondozo counters, but without Ting-Lu, and with Pokémon that threatens both Chi-Yu and Iron Bundle (ie. Iron Hands) | Lead Chi-Yu + Glimmora, with Dragonite and Iron Bundle in the back. |
Tournament run
Unfortunately, I did not make notes for match-ups in each round, so I would like to share my thoughts about the finals.
(Replay for the final is in the link down below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTZzTiujnbk (Start from 8:31:52)
The team I was facing was a standard set, with Gyarados, Flutter Mane, Amoonguss, Chi-Yu, Baxcalibur
and Iron Hands.
When looking at the team sheet, knowing that the opposing Amoonguss had clear smog, I decided to battle with the other four Pokémon and not use the Dondozo-Tatsugiri duo. Chi-Yu will be the lead, but should I lead Iron Bundle, or Glimmora next to it? Iron Bundle can pressure Gyarados and Flutter Mane, but if he leads Iron Hands, then I will be forced to switch Iron Bundle out. In the first game, I led with Chi-Yu and Iron Bundle, to see what my opponent went for.
Game 1 
Chi-Yu + Iron Bundle @ Glimmora + Dragonite
vs
Chi-Yu + Amoonguss @ Iron Hands + Gyarados
He led with Chi-Yu and Amoonguss. The first thing I had to make sure was whether the Amoonguss would terastallize, so I double protected at the first turn to see what he went for, but he did not commit the tera. I switched out my Iron Bundle at turn 2, went for overheat on to the Amoonguss, and this time he committed the tera onto his Amoonguss, which survived the hit and spored my Chi-Yu. I knew his Amoonguss was physically trained in exchange. After a few rounds of back and forth, with Iron Bundle and Chi-Yu as my remaining two, sealed up the endgame with intense damage output. There was a debate whether Iron Bundle should be switched out at turn 2. He could switch out his Amoonguss to Iron Hands or Gyarados, and Iron Bundle was at risk of being knocked out if it took Chi-Yu’s heatwave, there was a high chance that I would lose my Iron Bundle at that turn. As a result, that was not a bad turn and Iron Bundle was able to play its strength.
Game 2 (L)
Gilmmora + Chi-Yu @ Iron Bundle + Dragonite
vs
Chi-Yu + Amoonguss @ Flutter Mane + Iron Hands
Since the opposing Chi-Yu had focus sash, it could retaliate back to knock out my Iron Bundle, therefore I led Glimmora instead. He led with the same lead, but this time, I was banking on him that he would not terastallize his Amoonguss at first turn and observe what I decided to do. This time I successfully took down his Amoonguss with overheat. Unfortunately, icy wind did not connect and missed the knock out on Chi-Yu, resulting in a powerful heart wave from his end that knocked out both of my Pokémon, which cost me game 2. When facing both Flutter Mane and Chi-Yu, suppose icy wind and heat wave is the optimal solution for this situation. However, I could not presume the opposing Flutter Mane to protect when I made the above move. A good call is a judgment based on every possible move the opponent will make.
Game 3
Gilmmora + Chi-Yu @ Iron Bundle + Dragonite
vs
Chi-Yu + Iron Hands @ Flutter Mane + Amoonguss
In the final game, he changed his lead to Iron Hands and Chi-Yu, which gave me quite a lot of pressure. I predicted that there were probably 2 possible outcomes: (1) fake out Glimmora and follow up with dark pulse; (2) drain punch Chi-Yu and spam heat wave. I immediately terastallized my Chi-Yu, and clicked heat wave. I did not expect him to click heat wave, since both of my Pokémon resist fire type attacks. In turn 2, he switched out his Iron Hands to Amoonguss. My Chi-Yu lost the speed tie and could not get damage off the Amoonguss before going down. It was not over yet, I still had Dragonite at the back, and I had to make a breakthrough. Dragonite’s outrage and Glimmora’s power gem doubling up the Amoonguss was my only way out. I opted for outrage over ice spinner because it would be difficult to take down Chi-Yu later on with my Dragonite choice locked to ice spinner. It will be a 50-50 chance to hit the right target with outrage. Between 50% and 0% chance to win, it is obvious to opt for the 50%. I successfully took down both of his Pokémon, with Flutter Mane and Iron Hands as his last two. Since Dragonite was choice locked, I gave up Iron Bundle so I could reset its moves again. I chose earthquake at first, but with second thought, I had been practicing with this team for so many times and took down so many Flutter Mane, my experience told me that the damage of earthquake was not enough. His Flutter Mane was carrying booster energy instead of choice specs, which meant that Dragonite could take a dazzling gleam and a wild charge with multiscale. As a result, I clicked ice spinner targeting the Flutter Mane, and it was just enough to take it down with the poison damage. His Iron Hands fainted after the recoil. I managed to come back, and what a wild game it was.
Closing Words
Though I had champ various online tournaments before, winning an offline tournament was far more different. I was thrilled and overjoyed when the outrage made its mark, and my come back at the last turn of the final game. This is the joy of playing VGC, and the fun of competitive Pokémon. Thank you to Fung for discussing strategies with me and helping me prepare for the tournament. Shoutouts to Yakumo and other VGC friends in Taiwan who helped me prepare my team. Improving my skills, and finally winning my very first tournament.
The VGC community in Hong Kong is now facing a big challenge. The change of the tournament structure discourages players from participating in VGC and the exchange between players. With the new tournament structure, the process to determine a competitor for Worlds will be, to a great extent, luck based. During the past 2 years when I have been deeply involved in VCG, I made new friends with VGC and it has broadened my horizon. These are some treasures that are irreplaceable. Will enjoyable moments where players communicate and exchange happily after matches reappear under the new ruleset? Can high-level competition be seen in Hong Kong once more?
Glossary
Elo – main ladder rating in Pokémon showdown. It’s a pretty normal ladder rating: goes up when you win and down when you lose.
GXE – Glicko X-Act Estimate, is an estimate of your win chance against an average ladder player.
EV – Effort Values, are the hidden numbers which help define the strength of a Pokémon’s given stat. EVs denote the amount of training a Pokémon has in the stat in question.
STAB – same-type attack bonus, is a damage boost that is applied to moves used by a Pokémon of the same type.
English translation by Yakumo
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