Final team: Mienshao, Nidoking, Jellicent Strategy: Shrike is going to hedge his bets here and send out Mienshao first. And of course discover that the 1 in 3 chance worked against him after all.
That's fine, though, he can still work with this. He'll start out with a Fake Out just on principle, followed by Detect, just to see what that Pidgeot tries to throw at him. Then he'll swap out for Nidoking.
Now, if Nidoking gets hit by whirling... well, it won't actually matter, Shrike will just swap it back in again. Maybe waste another turn with Detect if it happens to be Mienshao who's swapped, maybe not. Anyway, Nidoking will promptly use Attract, then Rain Dance, then Thunder. Assuming it hasn't taken much damage thanks to Attract, Thunder will continue to be spammed to take out that bird. If it looks like Pidgeot is getting lucky though, Shrike will swap over to Jellicent for Ice Beam and Recover to finish it off.
The rest of the battle will go as follows:
Against Serperior, Shrike will use Nidoking if it's already out, or switch to Mienshao if Jellicent was out. And then proceeded to use Poison Jab. In Nidoking's case this will be boosted by Rivalry; if Mienshao is out and Serperior gets poisoned, Shrike will promptly switch to alternating between jabs and Detect to maximize damage. Jellicent will be sitting this one out.
Against Empoleon, this depends a lot on which 'mon is out when Empoleon comes into play. If it's Jellicent, and Serperior has already been taken care of, then Shrike will first refresh Rain Dance, then switch to Nidoking to bring on a Thunder. Since Nidoking will probably only get one of those in before getting KO'd, or if Serperior hasn't come out yet, Mienshao is next up, using High Jump Kick and, once its health gets low, Reversal. And, of course, Jellicent is there for cleanup if necessary, especially if Empoleon is the second 'mon out instead of the third.
Essentially Shrike will focus on keeping most of his team healthy until Pidgeot goes down, then depending on Ryner's next choice will either take down Serperior with Nidoking and/or Mienshao while holding Jellicent back, or whittle down Empoleon with Mienshao and Jellicent while keeping Nidoking for cleanup. Then when Ryner has only one left, Shrike will pull out all the stops with whatever he has left, whether it be with sheer offensive or a stall. Ideally he's aiming to win without even needing to resort to healing items, though he'll have some on hand just in case.
Look, just because he thinks he has a winning plan doesn't mean he's stupid enough not to have a backup one, okay?
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Strategy: Shrike is going to hedge his bets here and send out Mienshao first. And of course discover that the 1 in 3 chance worked against him after all.
That's fine, though, he can still work with this. He'll start out with a Fake Out just on principle, followed by Detect, just to see what that Pidgeot tries to throw at him. Then he'll swap out for Nidoking.
Now, if Nidoking gets hit by whirling... well, it won't actually matter, Shrike will just swap it back in again. Maybe waste another turn with Detect if it happens to be Mienshao who's swapped, maybe not. Anyway, Nidoking will promptly use Attract, then Rain Dance, then Thunder. Assuming it hasn't taken much damage thanks to Attract, Thunder will continue to be spammed to take out that bird. If it looks like Pidgeot is getting lucky though, Shrike will swap over to Jellicent for Ice Beam and Recover to finish it off.
The rest of the battle will go as follows:
Against Serperior, Shrike will use Nidoking if it's already out, or switch to Mienshao if Jellicent was out. And then proceeded to use Poison Jab. In Nidoking's case this will be boosted by Rivalry; if Mienshao is out and Serperior gets poisoned, Shrike will promptly switch to alternating between jabs and Detect to maximize damage. Jellicent will be sitting this one out.
Against Empoleon, this depends a lot on which 'mon is out when Empoleon comes into play. If it's Jellicent, and Serperior has already been taken care of, then Shrike will first refresh Rain Dance, then switch to Nidoking to bring on a Thunder. Since Nidoking will probably only get one of those in before getting KO'd, or if Serperior hasn't come out yet, Mienshao is next up, using High Jump Kick and, once its health gets low, Reversal. And, of course, Jellicent is there for cleanup if necessary, especially if Empoleon is the second 'mon out instead of the third.
Essentially Shrike will focus on keeping most of his team healthy until Pidgeot goes down, then depending on Ryner's next choice will either take down Serperior with Nidoking and/or Mienshao while holding Jellicent back, or whittle down Empoleon with Mienshao and Jellicent while keeping Nidoking for cleanup. Then when Ryner has only one left, Shrike will pull out all the stops with whatever he has left, whether it be with sheer offensive or a stall. Ideally he's aiming to win without even needing to resort to healing items, though he'll have some on hand just in case.
Look, just because he thinks he has a winning plan doesn't mean he's stupid enough not to have a backup one, okay?