PKMN of the Week: Whiscash
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Cash money, baby, cash money.
So, folks, I had a pretty decent plan for VGC Nationals. Yes, I was going to copy a little from my friend Gabe but I was also planning on throwing a little bit of my own spice in. If you read my travelogue, you know that I wasn't able to get my intended team up and ready in time for Nationals. Instead, I used my goofing team that I just fool around with. Kind of surprising that I won twice, huh?
Over the next few weeks I will cover the Pokémon I used in VGC Nationals and indicate some changes I could have made that might have improved my chances. The team I ended up with was Terrakion, Hydreigon, Volcarona, Whiscash, Zoroark, and Eelektross. I've already covered Hydreigon, and he was actually one of my top performers, so you may want to look back for that article. This week I am going to cover the Pokémon I named my team after: Tickles the Whiscash.
Tickles is a lady with a problem - she has a terrible, tickling, mustache. Unfortunately, lip waxes are not available in the Pokémon world. Here's the deal, though - most of the people I battled did not know what Whiscash was. She evolved from Barboach and has Water/Ground typing. She is definitely not the most famous or powerful Pokémon with this typing - Wooper/Quagsire, Marshtomp/Swampert, Gastrodon, and Palpitoad/Seismitoad all have her beat (for fame, that is, their base stats all range between 78 and 83 average with Quagsire coming in lowest at 72). I am not kidding, some people tried not only one, but multiple electric attacks against her. They just never paid attention when the game told them it had no effect!
Tickles has a Docile nature and the Anticipation ability. The Docile nature is ok, it means that none of her base stats are hindered or improved. Anticipation, though, is kind of a bunk ability. Basically, you get a warning at the start of battle if one of your opponent's Pokémon is carrying a super-effective move against Whiscash. If you don't have an idea of your competitors potential when you engage in battle it means you need to get back to the books, not have your Pokémon "Shudder with Anticipation."
Whiscash's best base stat is her HP with Attack coming in next. Speed is the worst base stat. Honestly, Whiscash's move set is evenly divided among physical and special attacks, if you can't decide whether you want her to be a physical or special attacker then you should go for a non-hindering nature. If you edge one way or the other, put your IVs, EVs, and Nature towards that. Tickles had a little secret to her. She was actually bred for Speed! Why you may ask? Well . . .
Have you ever heard me utter the phrase "Choice Scarf Whiscash Fissure?"
Basically, Tickles two primary moves were Earthquake and Fissure. Aqua Tail was on there too in case I was up against Flying-types or Levitators. Since I had two levitators on my team (Hydreigon and Eelektross), Earthquake was going to be my primary option leveraging that physical Attack stat. Fissure was there for hopelessness - if in preview I saw my competitor was more powerful than I could face I knew I was going down the Fissure route. Her fourth move, well, the less said about that the better (Future Sight).
Tickles was wearing a Choice Scarf. This boosted her Speed by 50%. Honestly and truly, this helped. I may have done better to have her hold a Quick Claw but Choice Scarf was not wasted. I could manage that 50% boost by EV training her for Speed as much as possible. Although it restricted her to only one move, being able to choose among Aqua Tail, Earthquake, and Fissure was sufficient (yes, I one hit KOed a Tyranitar and a Metagross with Fissure before they could get a move in). If you do Choice Scarf Fissure, after your five Fissures are used up you Struggle. In retrospect, I should have had Ice Beam or Blizzard on Tickles to help diversify her move set. In general, Whiscash does have a more diverse list of move options than the other Water/Ground types. She can adjust to suit any fashion! Note - Whiscash can learn Spark, an Electric-type move, which is rare for a Ground-type. An Ice-type move is pretty sweet, though, to counteract Whiscash's four times weakness to Grass-types.
I've said the Anticipation ability is not very good, I am also not a fan of Oblivious. Whiscash's Hidden ability is Hydration, which could turn out pretty cool. If it is raining, any status conditions disappear at the end of the turn (including Sleep, which works with the move Rest). Something to think about.
While I was at Nationals my Pokémon Podcast colleagues started getting me interested in the Trading Card Game (TCG) so I will try to add some TCG notes into these articles. I shall remind everyone again - I know nothing and please do not take advice from me!
There currently is not a valid Whiscash card in play. Whiscash was available through the Rising Rivals, Mysterious Treasures, EX Holon Phantoms, EX Deoxys, and EX Dragon series. It has twice been a Water-type and three times a Fighting-type. HP is either 80 or 90. Whiscash is always weak to Grass-types. It used to have a resistance to Lightning (seriously, it's not called Electric-type) but not in the recent series. When it is listed as a Water-type it has carried both Fighting energy and Water energy attacks - as Fighting-type it only carries Colorless and Fighting attacks.
I did go to my first league for play today and was kind of surprised that the TCG players really had little idea of the VGC concepts. When I was playing and pulled Cilan, I asked if anyone knew who the other Striaton City gym leaders. No one did. While this may seem harmless, I noticed that it could have helped them in other ways. The deck I was using was primarily based on Water-types, but included Kyurem and Cryogonal. In TCG, Water-types are typically weak to Lightning-types (as expected) but Kyurem and Cryogonal are not. They are weak to Metal-type attacks. One of the kids was surprised when his Tynamo did not do extra damage to my Cryogonal.
That's it for this week kids - know your Pokémon!
