I'm kinda sad to see the tournament end, but what a way to finish it. You were both awesome!

Congratulations to Storme Hawk, winner of the 2016 Sunflower Cup!



Congratulations also to SeaTurtle, runner-up and winner of the Silver Trophy!



And here are all four cups (as they will be when the gleam of the new names wears off a bit). Fun fact - none of our four trophy-winners this time won one last year, so we have eight unique names. Will that continue next year? Who knows!

Congrats all round.

hS

So I figured I'd put up my team on here just to show people what it was. So, let's get to the Pokemon

Myanmar AKA Hippowdown
Ability: Sand Stream
Moves: Earthquake, Slack Off, Stealth Rock, Toxic
Item: Leftovers

So Myanmar was in some ways the center of the team, it's ability to whip up sandstorms meant that important chip damage would be applied to all non-ground, rock or steel types that tried to take it on. Stealth Rock and Toxic helped build up that chip damage, Slack Off kept it healthy and Earthquake made sure it a) wasn't taunt bait and b) made sure it could threaten any non flying pokemon with its STAB move. Leftovers helped the recovery.

The Blazing Aura AKA Mamoswine
Ability: Thick Fat
Moves: Earthquake, Knock Off, Ice Shard, Avalanche
Items: Assault Vest

Aah my faithful Mamoswine. One of the few sets completely designed by me, anyway. Thick Fat helped it tank Ice and Fire moves, supported by Assault Vest that raised it's Special Defense meant that any Flamerthrowers or the like headed its way weren't going to take it out. It's moves were meant to be able to take out the threats it'd often be face with, Knock Off helped remoe items and was a quite powerful move the first time around. The normal STAB Earthquake would take down most Fire types sent it's way, and could deal with more besides. Ice Shard allowed it to hit first with priority when needed and could still pack a punch. Avalanche revolved around Mamoswine's position as a tank, take a hit and become more powerful because of it, even without the hit it still does decent damage off of Mamoswine attack.

Phoenigetuzstha AKA Gliscor
Ability: Poison Heal
Moves: Earthquake, Facade, Substitute, Swords Dance
Item: Toxic Orb

The set-up attacker with it's own form of recovery. Poison Heal worked well alongside Toxic Orb to allow Gliscor to heal 12% ech turn after it was poisoned, it also prevent burn from affecting it too badly AND went hand in hand with Facade doubling it's power. Substitute allowed Gliscor to tank a move and prepare it's Swords Dance to reach a nice level of attack, and Earthquake was a nice STAB move. It does however have a slight problem with Ghosts that fly or levitate...

Dijifuji AKA Garchomp
Ability: Sand Veil (After Mega evolution, Sand Force)
Moves: Earthquake, Fire Blast, Aqua Tail, Dragon Claw
Item: Garchompite

A mega because I thought I would need one, and boy did it work. Nicely set up to be a physically defensive tank (until a Torterra turned it into mince meat), Garchomp worked a lot better in a sandstorm than out. Sand Veil meant that I could dodge a moe or two, and the 20 extra speed the normal form had was useful on occasion, whilst Sand Force boosted Earthquake's power during a Sandstorm to almost monsterous levels. Earthquake and Dragon Claw were the two STABs that meant it hit every type at least neutrally, Fire Blast was mainly because with Gastrodon my team could take on Skarmory's, and the special fire move circumvented that. It also did wonders in surprising other pokemon. Aqua Tail was (once again until Gastrodon came along) my teams answer to other Ground types, but worked well in other situations that needed it as well. Mega Garchomp is more tanky than normal Garchomp, so it was I suppose a logical choice to take a Garchompite.

Lost Heros AKA Gastrodon
Ability: Storm Drain
Moves: Scald, Clear Smog, Recover, Hidden Power (Grass)
Item: Leftovers

The anti Water-Ground Pokemon of my team and last mintue addition when I realised I could have a substitute. Came in a lot more use than I thought it would and now has a permenant place on my Mono-Ground team. Storm Drain stopped water Pokemon dead, and gave a nice boost to special attack, Scald works as a primary STAB due to it's 30% chance to burn, Clear Smog is a nice (if weak) poison type move that allowed me to stop some set up sweepers along the way, Recover and leftovers gave some life back ot Gastrodon and Hidden Power was my answer to water Pokemon.

SSTxReaper AKA Excadrill
Ability: Sand Rush
Moves: Iron Head, Earthquake, Rapid Spin, Rock Slide
Item: Metronome

Slight variation on the set I'm fairly certain SeaTurtle used for Trident, Metronome allowed Reaper to switch moves if need be, although repeated use of a move made it more powerful, and made it seem to have a Choice Band that could screw with some people's predictions. Sand Rush allowed it to double speed in Sandstorm, which combined with repeated Metronome usage could make it an absolute killer. Rapid Spin let me take out entry hazards, Iron Head alongside the nice 30% flinch chance was a nice STAB move that worked well with Earthquake, whilst Rock Slide completed the coverage and could flinch by itself.

TaQud AKA Krookodile
Ability: Moxie
Moves: Knock Off, Earthquake, Super Power, Stone Edge
Item: Choice Scarf

Good revenge killer and late game sweeper on a team that didn't really need it. Has really given it's place up for Gastrodon most of the time but came out for the final on the educated guess SeaTurtle would keep their Hippowdon on the team and so I could still use sand to my advantage if I needed to. Choice Scarf gave it the speed it need to threaten everything bar other, faster Scarf users, Priority users and Sand Rush users, whilst Moxie gave it the ability to get stronger as it took out pokemon. Knock Off was a STAB move that could take items off, wouldn't have worked so well if the Pokemon survived one Knock Off as it would then half in power, but it's nice to take out Psychic and Ghost team, Earthquake is a powerful STAB move, 'nough said. Stone Edge allowed perfect cover, it's power was needed over Rock Slide's at the cost of accuracy. Super Power gave some more coverage and worked well as the attack decrease could be negated by Moxie and the defense decrease wouldn't matter due to it's speed.

As to names. All seven of the names come from RPers who took part in a series of RP's called the Ultima Tournament about four or fie years ago, it was a Pokemon RP and, indeed my first RP ever and probably the reason I'm here now. Myanmar was the creator of the RP's and so his name matched perfectly to Hippowdon as the center of the team and the reason why all the Pokemon were together.
Reaper, Phoen, TaQud and TBA were the finalists in the first Ultima Tournament, Reaper used very offensive pokemon and so I thought well suited to the role of Excadrill, Phoen was known for her Volcarona which would set up and then wreak havoc, a perfect RPer for my Gliscor to be named after, TaQud fitted Krookodile's personality and usage very well. TBA, or rather, me was a bit of an all rounder and a tank, added to that Mamoswine is my favourite pokemon so I had to put my old username and my RPing name onto my team.
Dijifuji was the RPer who was used during the first Ultima Tournament to get the plot moving and ended up quite central to it spending quite a lot of time with legendary dragon pokemon (or as they called them, dragon broksie's) and so they were perfect for my own dragon broski, Garchomp.
Finally Lost Heros was a RPer who joined in with the second Ultima Torunament, was a finalist in that and was also fairly important to the plot, as the newcomer and the person who fitted the gaps in the current line up of RPers, they were perfect for the Pokemon that did the same for my team, Gastrodon.

So that's it. That's why I said "for Ultima" in the finals and that's what my team was and why they were called that.

Storme Hawk