Super Versus 9/4/14

Before we begin today, let's start by covering what the Super Versus segment of this blog will be.
I will randomly pick 2 Pokemon and using various methods I will decide, out of the two, which is the better Pokemon.

Out of sheer favoritism, I must pick Altaria to be our starting champion. Of course not much of a champion considering nothings has occurred for him to overcome, but in my heart Altaria will always be the winner.

ALTARIA

Dragon/Flying

Natural Cure (Cloud Nine)

Pros- Amazing Special Defense

Cons- Sub-par move pool and massive 4x ice weakness

Sadly, my darling Altaria can talk the talk but can't walk the walk. Before the amazing announcement of his mega evolution, Altaria's crippling 4x ice weakness doesn't bring a lot to the competitive battling table. The best use for Altaria, which isn't very luxurious, is a dragon dance set. I'm giving this darling fluffy dragon bird max EVs in speed and attack, and putting the rest into defense for maximum swag. Besides the obvious move of dragon dance also make sure to toss in roost, dragon claw, and lastly, earthquake as a wild card to mess up those pesky ice types. Let this baby get his sloppy claws all over a life orb and adamant nature and we're pickled as peaches. 

Moving on to our randomly selected competitor......

ESPEON

Psychic

Synchronize (Magic Bounce) 

Pros- Great speed and attack for support or stealth rocks

Cons- A lot of room for error in its best battling sets

So my old favorite strikes again. As Espeon used to be my favorite pokemon, this will be an interesting showdown indeed. Espeon is a cult classic in the sense of you really can't overlook how ADORABLE all of the evolutions of eevee are. Not to mention how amazing having a typing wild card handed to you free of charge in all the main series games via eevee. Need a water type? Eevee. Need a good attacker? Eevee. Need the cutest damn pokemon on earth? Eevee, Although Espeon is obviously dwarfed by his brother, Vaporeon, he's still got the goods. For this battle I'll be decking him out  with maxed HP and speed EV's (the rest into special attack), magic bounce for ability, giving him psychic, toxic, light screen and reflect, and letting his timid paws mess around with some light clay. 

So now for the battle...

UggleBuggle vrs Lady Killer

Turn 1+2) I set up both babies with their respective reflect and light screen for Espeon and dual dragon dance for Altaria. 

Turn 3) Altaria had reign over speed and knocked Espeon down to about half health with a STAB dragon claw, but Espeon managed to get a nice toxic up. 

Turn 4) With a swift blow to the ego, Altaria took down Espeon with the STAB dragon claw and that was that.

If I were really using Espeon for competitive I would have swapped toxic for baton pass and perhaps psychic for yawn. Obviously the offensive pokemon will win a battle against a non-offensive pokemon, but at the end of the day Espeon did his job by setting up the light screen and reflect and normally, getting the heck out of dodge.

Now for the real question, who is the winner?

ESPEON

Despite my obvious favoritism towards Altaria, Espeon is over all a much more versatile pokemon in both casual gameplay and competitive usage. Altaria's movepool and typing is such a crippling factor that outside of casual gameplay, he's not of much use in the present (but that mega evolution will turn the tables). If you really need a dragon type, there are so many better options. For now, get friendly with your eevees and get yourself an Espeon.

Whatever you want, cheeky bastard. 

Sources: 

Altaria and Espeon Sprites: http://pldh.net/ ( (c) The Pokemon Company)
Research: http://www.smogon.com/   http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Main_Page
Pokemon Randomizer: http://randompokemon.com/

Pokemon battle Simulator: http://play.pokemonshowdown.com/

Pokemon amie espeon: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/pokemon-amie-thread.3490772/page-3