Sub/Seed Rules!
Our favorite defensive strategy revolves around Substitute. This move takes 1/3 of your Pokemon's hit points and creates a dummy that can absorb hits. The lost hit points can easily be recovered with Leftovers. This move is immensely useful for several reasons. It protects you from all status attacks, giving you one less thing to worry about in battle. It lets you scout your opponent's moves and team. For certain Pokemon, it can be used to set up strong attacks like Focus Punch. Substitute is a versatile and awesome move that is underappreciated.
Grass Pokemon can further exploit this fine move by using Leech Seed. So not only is a grasser protected with Substitute, it's recovering hit points with Leftovers, while Leech Seed is simultaneously chipping away at the enemy's health and restoring even more hit points! It's a great combination that can make your Pokemon difficult to take out, but we love it because it often annoys the hell out of our opponents.
To celebrate and encourage the absolute awesomeness that is defensive play, we're giving away two great items. First is the TM for Substitute. We want everyone to use this move! However, Substitute isn't complete without Leftovers. Whether you choose to use it with Substitute or not, it is the premiere hold item for defensive Pokemon. For a shot at winning these two excellent items, head on over to our Pokemon general discussion forum and look for a thread called "Pokemusings #38: Win Leftovers and Substitute!!!" We're off to Orlando for WrestleMania. Hopefully we come back with some great pictures of WWE Superstars and Divas with Pokemon dolls, as well as some interesting video interviews.
Mar 27, 2008
