Pokemon of the Month - Febuary 2016

This Month We have decided to go with a twist, as there will be a rerelease of Pokémon Blue and Red the Pokémon of the month will be the starters from those games!

About Bulbasaur
Bulbasaur can often be seen sleeping in bright sunlight. The bulb on its back, planted there at birth provides Bulbasaur nourishment and grows progressivly larger as the pokemon grows.

Stats
HP:45
Attack:49
Defense:49
Sp. Atk:65
Sp. Def:65
Speed:45


Abilities
Overgrow: When HP is below 1/3rd its maximum, power of Grass-type moves is increased by 50%.
Hidden Ability
Chlorophyll: When sunny, the Pokémon’s Speed doubles. However, Speed will not double on the turn weather becomes Strong Sunlight

Bulbasaur in competitive play
Bulbasaur sits in the lowest tier in the metagame, Little Cup. Despite this he rules the competitive scene as the fastest Sun sweeper in the tier. With good bulk and blinding speed and access to Growth, it can tear holes in teams not prepared for it. Despite this it does struggle to switch in onto attacks.

There are two main sets you will see Bulbasaur running.
Example Set
Life Orb Sun Sweeper

Sludge Bomb
Solar Beam/Giga Drain
Sleep Powder
Hidden Power Fire

Item: Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Nature: Modest
EVs: 240 SAtk / 240Speed

This set makes Bulbasaur as fast as Timid Bellsprout, but much more powerful. With Sludge bomb giving a powerful stab to tear through fairy types with a 30% chance to poison, Which is deadly in LC. You can chose between Solar Beam and Giga Drain in the next slot, Solar Beam is a very powerful stab move but requires the sun to be effective, while giga drain offers reliable stab with a little recovery. Sleep powder gives Bulbasaur a couple of turns to break through some of the Pokémon its having trouble with or allows you a free turn to switch out to get the sun back up. Lastly HP Fire means you can hit steel types for super effective sun boosted damage.
Its EV's mean it will get HP Fire as well as giving it the maximum attack power and speed.

About Charmander
The Flame at the tip of Charmander's tail indicates its emotion as well as its life force. If the flame were to go out then Charmander would die. When Charmander is happy the flame on its tail wavers.

Stats
HP:39
Attack:52
Defense:43
Sp. Atk:60
Sp. Def:50
Speed:65


Abilities
Blaze: When HP is below 1/3rd its maximum, power of Fire-type moves is increased by 50%.
Hidden Ability
Solar Power: During sunshine, the Pokémon’s Special Attack raises to 1.5 times but HP decreases by 1/8th the maximum HP every turn.

Charmander in competitive play
Much like Bulbasaur, Charmander sits in the lowest tier in the metagame, Little Cup.
Charmander is the perfect definition of a glass cannon. It has one of the fastest speed stats able to reach 24 speed with a modest nature, able to outspeed all unboosted Pokémon in the tier. It also has access to solar power. Sadly Charmander has a shallow special move pool and under the sun has limited time due to solorpower recoil. Combining chamander with a Life orb will drastically reduce survivability however a solorpowered, life orbed/Choice specs Charmander's fire blast will OHKO almost anything, but you sacrifice your ability to outspeed most of the tier without a choice scarf.

Example Set
Sun Sweeper, Charmander's bread and butter, able to punch huge holes in your team.

Fire Blast/Flamethrower
Hidden Power Grass/ Overheat
Ancient Power
Dragon pulse

Item: Life Orb/Choice Scarf
Ability: Solar power
Nature: Modest/Timid
EVs: 44 HP/12 Def/200 SpA/236 Spe


This is the most common set Charmander runs.
Running a life orb will mean you hit much harder but with increased damage per turn under the sun, however Tirtouga can be OHKO'd with HP grass with a life orb in sunshine. The Choice scarf means that even after the Tirtouga shell smashes you will still outspeed and can still 2HKO with HP grass. The nature is dependant on what you need. Charmander can hit 25 speed with a timid nature, outspeeding a lot of threats of the tier but you lose power in return.

Solarpowered Fireblast rips holes in teams. Flamethrower can be used in its place for a more accurate choice but with a lot less power. Hidden power Grass helps Charmander go toe to toe with Pokémon such as Tirtouga who might feel they can come in and set up on you. Overheat gives you incredible damage at the cost of Charmander's usability. Ancient power is for other fire types with flash fire who want to try to take advantage of you. Lastly Dragon pulse hits the dragons of the tier such as Gible.

The main issue here is that Charmander is weak to stealth rocks and needs the sun to have any chance of being useful. He also has very little survivability so can never really be switched in, you need either a low volt-turner or to lose a Pokémon to get it in safely.

About Squrtle
Squrtle's Shell isn't just for protections, its groves and rounded shape make it so this Pokémon can swim at high speeds in water. From the water it will shoot jets of water to stun pray. When endangered this Pokémon will withdraw into its hardened Shell where it will shoot spouts of water at its foe at every chance.

Stats
HP:44
Attack:48
Defense:65
Sp.Atk:50
Sp. Def:64
Speed:43


Abilities
Torrent: When HP is below 1/3rd its maximum, power of Water-type moves is increased by 50%.
Hidden Ability
Rain Dish: If Heavy Rain weather is in effect, recovers 1/16th max Hit Points at the end of the turn.

Squrtle in competitive play
Squrtle's main role in LC is a rapid spinner, although its slow speed and poor attack often means its left behind in favor of staryu. Squrtle is very much more bulky however and has access to Fake out and Aqua Jet, it does however lack a reliable form of recovery outside of Rain dish and Rest.


Example Set
Rapid Spinner

Rapid Spin
Fake Out
Waterfall
Ice Punch/Aqua Jet/Forsight

Item: Eviolite/Berry Juice
Ability:Torent
Nature: Impish
EVs:84 HP/52 Atk/156 Def/84 SpD/92 Spe

This is the typical set you will see Squrtle run. With an Eviolite it can take many hits and reliably get off rapid spin. This means Squrtle can easily take knock off however berry juice can be used in its place for some form of recovery. Because Squrtle lacks recovery, Torrent is preferred for the added damage boost at low hp.
Fake out can provide chip damage as well as preventing a Pokémon damaging or setting up right away. Waterfall is your go to stab but due to Squrtle speed its rare you'll get the flitch. The last slot if a choice. Ice punch lets you hit the many grass Types in LC but for little damage, Aqua Jet helps reduce the effect of low speed but for little damage. Forsight means you can rapid spin against ghosts, making Squrtle incredibly reliable at spinning away hazards.

Different kind of Pokemon of the month but I like it!

Three pokemon for pokemon of the month nice,

I've never actually done a little cup battle before, would be fun to try out actually

You seriously havent? were have you been haha. It more or less like any other tiers. just battling with infant pokemon....

Little cup is currently my favourite tier! All the pokemon are SO CUTE!

Haha, just been so enveloped in competitive play that I have never thought about it