As you might know, I'm a competitive Pokémon battler and I run a small draft based league with a few friends. At the beginning of each season, we all draft a team and then battle it out throughout the season to see who is the best and last season I ended up winning! If you're at all interested, here's how I took the Southend Stoutlands to victory in the Pokédex Holders League Season 4.

As always, the season began with the draft. Each coach drafts 11 Pokémon for their team based on a tier list, essentially forcing you to choose a variety of Pokémon. Out of 8 coaches, my pick was last but as the draft order was a snake style, it meant I had the wheel pick so I could always pick 2 Pokémon in a row. Thankfully, nothing that I really wanted was taken, allowing me to piece together a fast team with a very strong volt-turn core with a few good walls and clerics. I ticked all of the boxes. I had multiple Stealth Rock users, I had a Fire/Water/Grass core, I had a Fairy/Dragon/Steel core, I had hazard removal, I had everything. It was a lot different from my usual bulky style of play but I was very pleased with my draft.

https://youtu.be/3ES48vTaGNc

Week 1 was against my good friend Bre, coach of the Norwich City Ninetales who had a lot of threats against me including the destructive Nidoqueen which had the potential to 2HKO my entire team. This coupled with things such as Latios and Tapu Fini looked to be extremely problematic but I went into this battle with a plan and executed it to perfection (if I do say so myself). Leading with Hathi (Donphan) to bluff the Stealth Rock, baiting the Nidoqueen to simply set hazards, I attacked with Earthquake, knocking out the biggest threat to my team turn 1. A quick Calm Mind war between Rose Tyler (Florges) and Tapu Fini which I knew I could win every single time set me up perfectly for a nice 4-0 victory. The season had started very well.

https://youtu.be/vjCB5uKv0Yg

Up next was a battle against one of my best friends in the world, and somebody who I've been mentoring for years to become a better battler. Lee, coach of the Rayleigh Raichus had what I believed to be the strongest out of all of the teams but I had a good match up. Despite the incredible power boasted by his Kyurem and Darmanitan, I had just enough bulk between Bellend (Bronzong) and Melchett (Jellicent) to take his attacks whereas he had nothing for the combination of Beavis (Mega Beedrill), Ohm's Law (Jolteon) and Caesar (Infernape). My volt-turn core proved to be too powerful as I scooped up a 6-0 win.

https://youtu.be/7T8eDeFTQvw

Week 3 looked to be more challenging. Sean, coach of the Kyurem All Blacks had a very good match up against me. The bulky core of Skarmory/Cresselia/Mega Audino was always going to be tough for me to beat and yet his offenses of Weavile and Nidoking could destroy my wall core as if it was nothing. Combine this with potential Sticky Webs from Galvantula and I was in for a rough ride. Unfortunately, I heavily prepped for the webs but he didn't even bring Galvantula, immediately setting me on the back foot and a glitch on Pokémon Showdown meant that Minerva (Alolan Persian) wasn't the correct set and was running Twinkle Tackle. An Ice Beam freeze on my Wingman (Tornadus Therian) had me in all sorts of trouble. What developed was the most bizarre game of Pokémon I've ever played. After 54 minutes and 77 turns of gruelling switches, slowly dwindling each other down and some incredible moments such as Rose Tyler surviving a hit from Nidoking thanks to her Kebia berry and finishing it off with a Psychic, the battle came down to one decisive moment. I had finally managed to whittle down the annoyingly bulky Cresselia but I exhausted all of my resources. Sean was left with Cresselia, Skarmory and a full health Weavile whilst I only had Caesar. Fortunately, everything left on Sean's team was in range of my attacks and victory somehow looked as though it was mine. I got too excited and made my move too quickly, going for Fire Blast on the Skarmory when I immediately realised that the correct play was Stealth Rock, to break the potential Focus Sash on the Weavile. When the Weavile hit the field, I could only watch in horror as it barely lived Mach Punch and finished me off, handing me defeat. It turned out to be a max Hp invested Weavile, specifically to live my Mach Punch. Had I have thought about my play before and clicked Stealth Rock, I would've won the match. It was a costly error.

https://youtu.be/DusHRdNI_Kc

Looking to bounce back in Week 4, I battled Yoshi, coach of the St Louis Fletchinders. However, as he's a seasoned veteran and had a very scary team with the likes of Landorus Therian and Tapu Lele, I knew it wouldn't be easy. I started the battle extremely poorly, making a series of misplays that cost me my Bellend who was my only Tapu Lele response and my Melchett soon followed suit, being KO'd after my misplay. Triple Velvet (Shaymin) did its best to try and claw my way back into this match and with a Choice Scarfed Caesar in the back, I knew I was always in with a shout. However, it wasn't to be and after I missed Leech Seed, Stone Edge and Gunk Shot, there was no way back and I was handed a devastating 4-0 loss. I'm not saying that I would've won had I landed those attacks but it certainly wouldn't have hurt. In any case, my recent form had shown that change was necessary so I opted to activate my 3 trades that I was allowed to make during the season. I swapped Mega Beedrill, Jolteon and Zygarde 10% for Mamoswine, Mega Manectric and Alolan Muk. I had realised that the frail volt-turn core wasn't really my style of play and the wall breaking prowess of Mamoswine was something I had been lacking. These 3 new team members were all strong and bulky and I hoped that they were going to turn my season around.

https://youtu.be/wV1-CBT2eyY

Sitting at a 2-2 record in 4th place with my playoff life on the line, I headed into Week 5 desperate for a win but with my opponent being Sil, coach of the Birmingham City Blastoise, I knew it would be hard fought. Me and Sil have proven to be very equally matched in the past and his team posed a few tricky problems such as the destructive Mega Medicham and bulky nuisances like Gastrodon and Shuckle. Determined to win, every play I made was calculated and well thought out. Hathi got the ball rolling with a surprise Seed Bomb to dispatch his Gastrodon as well as dealing hefty damage to Mimikyu with Heavy Slam. In the end, all I had to do was keep hazards off of my side of the field and find a good opportunity to unleash Choice Banded Caesar who tore a huge hole in Sil's team, earning me a narrow 2-0 victory. I was back on track.

https://youtu.be/O3x-OSFCqBA

I headed into Week 6 knowing that a big win would more than likely secure my playoff spot and thankfully the match up seemed to be in my favour. Rev, coach of the Hamilton Honchkrows had been improving all season thanks to the powerful offensive duo of Excadrill and Mega Houndoom, the latter of which was top of the kill leader board. Still, my new team members were up for the challenge and an impressive showing from Radioactive (Alolan Muk) put me in a position for the rest of my team to clean up. I took the 6-0 win and secured my playoff spot. Sadly, my final opponent was forced to forfeit which automatically gave me a 3-0 win, leaving me with a 5-2 record and an impressive +15 differential. Incredibly enough though, Lee had bounced back from an 0-2 start to also finish 5-2, beating me for top of the table my 1 differential point. This meant I would be forced to play Yoshi in the semi finals of playoffs in order to have a shot at the title.

https://youtu.be/gvdmltzOCtg

We had both made several team changes since he thrashed me in Week 4 and it was a very different match up. Manny (Mamoswine) looked to rip through his team as the combination of Ice and Ground STAB gave him all sorts of problems. Despite this. I soon found myself in trouble. An ingenious Landorus Therian set dispatched my Bellend after a Swords Dance and was then able to live Minerva's Hidden Power Ice thanks to its Yache Berry and proceeded to Agility. I was able to threaten it out with Manny's Ice Shard but it had put a severe dent into my team and put me on the back foot. Some smart play from Triple Velvet helped to bring the match back into my favour and I was eventually able to find the opportunity to bring in Pack Leader (Mega Manectric) and clean up. I had made it to the finals.

https://youtu.be/sSeesb4POeg

In order to win I would have to face my old friend Lee once again who by now had evolved into a talented battler. It wouldn't be easy, especially as I had traded away several Pokémon that had a very good match up against him since we had last played. Now it seemed as though Lee had the upper hand. It was very much a punch for punch battle. Choice Banded Manny could obliterate Lee's entire team but Choice Scarfed Darmanitan could destroy my entire team. A clever Necrozma set had me on the back foot, desperately looking for switch ins to the powerful Pangoro. I was forced to sack off several Pokémon before a fortunate Hammer Arm miss had me back in the game. Pack Leader made good use of this slice of luck, hitting Necrozma with an extremely hard Volt Switch, preventing Trick Room from going back up. From that point on, I had the tools I needed to win and eventually found a way to get Caesar in and clean up the game, earning me the title of Pokédex Holders League Champion. It was a fun season filled with exciting battles, twist and turns. In the end though, I was very happy with my performance and loved the team that I ended up using. I liked it so much that I commissioned a piece of art of the team members and couldn't be too much happier with the result! Credit goes to TextFont on Twitter https://twitter.com/TextFont .