Celestial Beings
The depths of space are home to extrasolar objects with power and energy far, far beyond any human's greatest comprehension. Quasars that hold a brightness two trillion times greater than that of our sun, Pulsars that rotate fully in mere milliseconds, and supermassive black holes 21 billion times the mass of our sun sit in the neighboring galaxies of the Milky Way. Scientists can measure these values, but not comprehend them. It's impossible to put such massive comparisons in context. While building the team I'm about to share with you, I kept this in mind. I wanted to take a concept that I had worked with and loved for a long time, since its release in generation four, and extrapolate its overlooked ability into incomprehensible power. While that is a vast exaggeration of what ended up, I feel as though I have at least done my favorite play style justice in an attempt to bring it some use in today's metagame and the ever developing metagame of the future. Without further adieu, let's get into the team.
Night Sky of the Naked Eye--The Preview
Method of Discovery-- The Building Process
The View Through the Hubble Telescope-- The Team
The depths of space are home to extrasolar objects with power and energy far, far beyond any human's greatest comprehension. Quasars that hold a brightness two trillion times greater than that of our sun, Pulsars that rotate fully in mere milliseconds, and supermassive black holes 21 billion times the mass of our sun sit in the neighboring galaxies of the Milky Way. Scientists can measure these values, but not comprehend them. It's impossible to put such massive comparisons in context. While building the team I'm about to share with you, I kept this in mind. I wanted to take a concept that I had worked with and loved for a long time, since its release in generation four, and extrapolate its overlooked ability into incomprehensible power. While that is a vast exaggeration of what ended up, I feel as though I have at least done my favorite play style justice in an attempt to bring it some use in today's metagame and the ever developing metagame of the future. Without further adieu, let's get into the team.
The idea for this team to be based entirely around Trick Room was not new to me, and have a lot of experience with such teams. However, I wanted this room to be entirely Trick Room based, rather than having five pokemon in the core of the team and one "Wild Card" so to speak. With that in mind, I began with the foundation of the team.
Porygon2 and Reuniclus-- ask the majority of those who have used Trick Room and they will tell you that they are all but essential to the success of any team of this nature. They were the starting two and the only two that, at one point or another, weren't removed in any way. Reuniclus and Porygon 2 are great, bulky on both ends of the spectrum, and have great coverage in terms of movetype. From there it was onto the next Trick Room setter.
Initially, Jirachi was chosen as the third member of the ever important core. This was due to Wish. With Wish in my arsenal, it would allow for heavier offense from porygon2, allowing the use of a hidden power along with the BoltBeam combination. Jirachi's place was essentially a glue in the team. A great defensive pivot that had utility to help out everyone, and a moveset that allowed me to cover any remaining threats at the end of the team. However, I was still going to have a huge problem with statuses in the team thus far.
Enter Exeggutor. Exeggutor holding a Lum Berry with the Harvest ability is a superb way to deal with status. Essentially it's a more efficient Shed Skin, only it negates the ability of Leftover use. At first, I saw Exeggutor as a liability, as many who will read this will agree. However, when compared to Celebi, Exeggutor can reach very comparable bulk with the same special attack and lesser speed-- perfect for a Trick Room team. With the four table setters in place, it was time to focus on the abusers.
Conkeldurr and Tyranitar were the initial abusers on the team. Both very solid choices who had a lot of success. However, their typings just didn't cover the teams needed weakness, and I knew tweaking was in order.
Dragonite was placed in over Conkeldurr to retain Priority, but add a large range of resistances and an extra mixed prowess to the abuser category. The team at this point was functioning well, but it was obvious that adjustments were still needed. Back to the drawing board.
Bronzong was traded for Jirachi, as the extra bulk was necessary. Wish was much better on paper than it was in practice. Slowbro was then traded in for Exeggutor, because despite how hard I wanted Exeggutor to work, he simply couldn't carry the weight as well as Slowbro would and does. I still miss Exeggutor, but this isn't a game of favorites.
Conkeldurr was placed back in Tyranitar's spot, because Dragonite was breaking most of the same walls that Tyranitar was, and Conkeldurr had access to very strong priority, which was needed. Additionally, Conkeldurr's fighting type has much better usage than Tyranitar's, and Conkeldurr doesn't start detrimental Sand Storms.
Porygon2 and Reuniclus-- ask the majority of those who have used Trick Room and they will tell you that they are all but essential to the success of any team of this nature. They were the starting two and the only two that, at one point or another, weren't removed in any way. Reuniclus and Porygon 2 are great, bulky on both ends of the spectrum, and have great coverage in terms of movetype. From there it was onto the next Trick Room setter.
Initially, Jirachi was chosen as the third member of the ever important core. This was due to Wish. With Wish in my arsenal, it would allow for heavier offense from porygon2, allowing the use of a hidden power along with the BoltBeam combination. Jirachi's place was essentially a glue in the team. A great defensive pivot that had utility to help out everyone, and a moveset that allowed me to cover any remaining threats at the end of the team. However, I was still going to have a huge problem with statuses in the team thus far.
Enter Exeggutor. Exeggutor holding a Lum Berry with the Harvest ability is a superb way to deal with status. Essentially it's a more efficient Shed Skin, only it negates the ability of Leftover use. At first, I saw Exeggutor as a liability, as many who will read this will agree. However, when compared to Celebi, Exeggutor can reach very comparable bulk with the same special attack and lesser speed-- perfect for a Trick Room team. With the four table setters in place, it was time to focus on the abusers.
Conkeldurr and Tyranitar were the initial abusers on the team. Both very solid choices who had a lot of success. However, their typings just didn't cover the teams needed weakness, and I knew tweaking was in order.
Dragonite was placed in over Conkeldurr to retain Priority, but add a large range of resistances and an extra mixed prowess to the abuser category. The team at this point was functioning well, but it was obvious that adjustments were still needed. Back to the drawing board.
Bronzong was traded for Jirachi, as the extra bulk was necessary. Wish was much better on paper than it was in practice. Slowbro was then traded in for Exeggutor, because despite how hard I wanted Exeggutor to work, he simply couldn't carry the weight as well as Slowbro would and does. I still miss Exeggutor, but this isn't a game of favorites.
Conkeldurr was placed back in Tyranitar's spot, because Dragonite was breaking most of the same walls that Tyranitar was, and Conkeldurr had access to very strong priority, which was needed. Additionally, Conkeldurr's fighting type has much better usage than Tyranitar's, and Conkeldurr doesn't start detrimental Sand Storms.
@Leftovers
-Levitate-
Brave Nature
252 HP/188 Atk/ 68 SpD Def
~Earthquake
~Gyroball
~Trick Room
~Stealth Rocks
Being the sole steel type on the team, Bronzong has a large duty to do. It is essentially the defensive "I'm not sure what to do" button. Boasting the well known bulkiness through both stats and typing, Bronzong acts as a way to patch up all the other-wise uncovered attacking types one may see in any given battle. His resistance to Stealth Rocks is also quite welcome. More often than no, Bronzong ends up as lead, because he packs with him Stealth Rocks. As experienced battlers will tell you, one of Trick Room's biggest banes is chain switching, and Bronzong's Stealth Rocks helps with this immensely, hammering every non-Magic Guard Pokemon for at least some damage.
Earthquake and Gyroball are Bronzong's sources of direct damage. While the coverage isn't great, Gyroball is a very strong STAB move on many of the Metagames fast sweepers, partially making up for its mediocre coverage. Earthquake rounds out the two-attack combo with its reliability and consistency. The EV spread on Bronzong is slightly interesting. Brave Nature with 188 Atk EVs allows Bronzong to OHKO any standard Heatran after Stealth Rocks (before Leftovers), as well as Magnezones. The rest of the EVs were pumped into maximizing overall bulk, with the 68 that won't fit into HP going into Special Defense over Physical Defense mostly as a preference of my own.
Thinking of the team in "pairs" is a way that often comes to my mind as I play and while I was developing it. Bronzong and Slowbro, Porygon2 and Reuniclus, and Dragonite and Conkeldurr are those pairs. Bronzong and Slowbro are pairs mostly because of the current state of the Metagame being so weather heavy. Looking at Bronzong's half of BronBro pair, we see that he packs Earthquake and Gyroball-- both of which are super effective against Tyranitar and Abomasnow-- while also resisting all the STAB moves of the said Pokemon. Now, while there is no "weather war" to win with this team, it's not as big of a deal when compared to weather teams having answers to the other starters, but it is still nice to know that I have a somewhat acceptable answer to Pokemon that are central pieces to the strategies of others. Which brings me back to the Special Defense investment-- Tyranitar is most threatening when it carries Fire Blast. The Special Defense EVs help soften that blow ever so slightly.
Earthquake and Gyroball are Bronzong's sources of direct damage. While the coverage isn't great, Gyroball is a very strong STAB move on many of the Metagames fast sweepers, partially making up for its mediocre coverage. Earthquake rounds out the two-attack combo with its reliability and consistency. The EV spread on Bronzong is slightly interesting. Brave Nature with 188 Atk EVs allows Bronzong to OHKO any standard Heatran after Stealth Rocks (before Leftovers), as well as Magnezones. The rest of the EVs were pumped into maximizing overall bulk, with the 68 that won't fit into HP going into Special Defense over Physical Defense mostly as a preference of my own.
Thinking of the team in "pairs" is a way that often comes to my mind as I play and while I was developing it. Bronzong and Slowbro, Porygon2 and Reuniclus, and Dragonite and Conkeldurr are those pairs. Bronzong and Slowbro are pairs mostly because of the current state of the Metagame being so weather heavy. Looking at Bronzong's half of BronBro pair, we see that he packs Earthquake and Gyroball-- both of which are super effective against Tyranitar and Abomasnow-- while also resisting all the STAB moves of the said Pokemon. Now, while there is no "weather war" to win with this team, it's not as big of a deal when compared to weather teams having answers to the other starters, but it is still nice to know that I have a somewhat acceptable answer to Pokemon that are central pieces to the strategies of others. Which brings me back to the Special Defense investment-- Tyranitar is most threatening when it carries Fire Blast. The Special Defense EVs help soften that blow ever so slightly.
@Life Orb
-Multiscale-
Quiet Nature
252 Atk/252 SpA/4 HP
~Draco Meteor
~Fire Blast
~Superpower
~Extreme Speed
Dragonite is the mixed abuser of the team. However, unlike Conkeldurr, he tends to hit-and-run much more often. Extreme Speed is there to pick off a weakened but powerful and fast Pokemon when Trick Room is down, hopefully making the opponent send in a Pokemon that can be set up on by one of my Trick Room setters. Dragon-Fire-Fighting, the remaining three moves, of course hit every Pokemon for at least neutral and all have stellar base powers.
As far as the item is concerned, Dragon Gem is(was) my answer to bulky waters that otherwise give this team massive troubles. A Dragon Gem boosted Draco Meteor followed by Extreme Speed can KO nearly all (if not all) of the bulky waters in use today (and so can Life Orb, kind of. Not quite as efficiently, but more than once, so I use it now), whether they be physically based or specially based. The boosted Draco Meteor, thanks to the team preview mechanics of Generation 5 battles, is rarely wasted on the wrong Pokemon, often taking out the biggest threat to the team before it causes too much havoc. The EVs are simple and, of course, used to max damage.
Looking at the "pairs" again, Dragonite and Conkeldurr have their movesets for fairly significant reasons-- they both have great coverage without too much overlap. Often when building this room I ran into the rut of having both abusers have great coverage, but too similar of coverage so they were walled by the same pokemon. I have done my best to avoid this, but the slight overlap of fighting type is mostly negated due to the insane amounts of Attack from Conkeldurr and the mixed nature of Dragonite.
As far as the item is concerned, Dragon Gem is(was) my answer to bulky waters that otherwise give this team massive troubles. A Dragon Gem boosted Draco Meteor followed by Extreme Speed can KO nearly all (if not all) of the bulky waters in use today (and so can Life Orb, kind of. Not quite as efficiently, but more than once, so I use it now), whether they be physically based or specially based. The boosted Draco Meteor, thanks to the team preview mechanics of Generation 5 battles, is rarely wasted on the wrong Pokemon, often taking out the biggest threat to the team before it causes too much havoc. The EVs are simple and, of course, used to max damage.
Looking at the "pairs" again, Dragonite and Conkeldurr have their movesets for fairly significant reasons-- they both have great coverage without too much overlap. Often when building this room I ran into the rut of having both abusers have great coverage, but too similar of coverage so they were walled by the same pokemon. I have done my best to avoid this, but the slight overlap of fighting type is mostly negated due to the insane amounts of Attack from Conkeldurr and the mixed nature of Dragonite.
@Leftovers
-Regenerator-
Relaxed Nature
252 HP/248 SpA/8 Def
~Surf
~Fire Blast
~Trick Room
~Yawn
Slowbro's moveset is a little funky, but with the addition of Regenerator through the Dream World, it is feasible. Surf, Fireblast, and Trick Room are standard blah blah, STAB, coverage, and Trick Room. Yawn, however, seems a bit out of place. It's simply another safety net as to being able to have Trick Room up as much as possible. While I wish it was Spore, of even the Sleep Powder of Exeggutor, it has worked much better than I originally expected it to, and has found a warm spot in my heart. It is often used by on the last turn of Trick Room. That way, they have to either choose-- Stay in and KO or hurt Slowbro, forcing themselves to sleep while I put up Trick Room, or switching out while I put up Trick Room. Either way, it perfectly leads to its goal of having the time warp in place once again.
The EVs of Slowbro are hardly exciting, but he has 248 SpA instead of 252 because 248 is all it takes to OHKO a standard Ferrothorn. The extra point in defense is negligible, but it would be in Special Attack as well. I personally use this spread because I get tired of 252/252/4 spreads, and this at least adds a little bit of diversity to my world. Speaking of Defense, Slowbro's natural physical bulk is a godsend for Trick Room teams. The majority of viable Trick Room users are focused upon Special Defense and Special Attack, and as such, the niche Slowbro fills is immeasurably valuable. After all, the goal is often to simply get Trick Room up before being KO'ed. The Leftovers are used over my first choice of Lum Berry, as the consistency of them is too much to pass up. Slowbro with Regenerator and Leftovers isn't too entirely threatened by any status, other than the ever-annoying sleep, as Paralysis doesn't end his sweep, and Burn and Toxic damage can be Regeneratored off.
Completing the BronBro pair, Slowbro once again attempts to pick on weather teams. Slowbro not only resists the STAB of Ninetales and Politoed, he also can abuse their weather with his moves, however slightly. The boost provided to Surf in the rain and Fire Blast in the sun is often an appreciable difference on the match. Additionally, Slowbro is a physical wall, while Bronzong has those Special Defense EVs invested, making the pair a bit more synergistic.
The EVs of Slowbro are hardly exciting, but he has 248 SpA instead of 252 because 248 is all it takes to OHKO a standard Ferrothorn. The extra point in defense is negligible, but it would be in Special Attack as well. I personally use this spread because I get tired of 252/252/4 spreads, and this at least adds a little bit of diversity to my world. Speaking of Defense, Slowbro's natural physical bulk is a godsend for Trick Room teams. The majority of viable Trick Room users are focused upon Special Defense and Special Attack, and as such, the niche Slowbro fills is immeasurably valuable. After all, the goal is often to simply get Trick Room up before being KO'ed. The Leftovers are used over my first choice of Lum Berry, as the consistency of them is too much to pass up. Slowbro with Regenerator and Leftovers isn't too entirely threatened by any status, other than the ever-annoying sleep, as Paralysis doesn't end his sweep, and Burn and Toxic damage can be Regeneratored off.
Completing the BronBro pair, Slowbro once again attempts to pick on weather teams. Slowbro not only resists the STAB of Ninetales and Politoed, he also can abuse their weather with his moves, however slightly. The boost provided to Surf in the rain and Fire Blast in the sun is often an appreciable difference on the match. Additionally, Slowbro is a physical wall, while Bronzong has those Special Defense EVs invested, making the pair a bit more synergistic.
@Eviolite
-Download-
Quiet Nature
252 HP/252 SpA/4 Def
~Thunderbolt
~Ice Beam
~Trick Room
~Recovery
Porygon2-- the utility counter. Porygon's normal typing is absolutely critical, as it that precious ghost immunity, as well as only taking super effective damage from the Fighting moves that 3 members of the team resist. The move set is very, very standard-- BoltBeam with Recovery and of course Trick Room. Download is the most interesting part of this Porygon2 set. Initially it was Trace. However, with Moxie running around on Salamence and Gyarados, Slowbro hanging around to meet Heatran, and the general bulkiness of my team, I wasn't finding Trace to be as useful as well placed switches with Download as the trait. Recovery was also not in the move set for a lot of the testing process of this team. In its place sat Hidden Power [Fire] some of the time and Hidden Power [Ground] the rest. Neither move was being used nearly enough to justify being in the slot of a move as useful as Recovery.
The EVs are, once again, boring. Maximized damage and then HP for bulkiness. Eviolite is what really turns Porygon2 into a beast. It truly is the only thing that keeps it relevant with the new super-powered attackers of the fifth generation. This, coupled with base 105 Special Attack, BoltBeam, and a decent chance at being +1 to sweep is what makes Porygon2 earn not only a slot on this team, but a slot in my heart. (That's a lie, it had its place in my heart before Eviolite existed.)
Porygon and Reuniclus are the final "pair" of my team. They really are only paired because they are absolute staples of the team. They are nigh irreplaceable in Trick Room teams, and for good reason. They're both essentially Jack-of-all-Trades for the team. Both can set up and abuse Trick Room, and both are bulky from both ends of the spectrum. A small amount of synergy comes from Reuniclus's trait of Magic Guard, allowing Reuniclus to absorb burns and toxics flying at Porygon. Speaking of which, Porygon2 is the only member of my team that absolutely hates Toxic Spikes, followed by Slowbro who also has a general distaste for them.
The EVs are, once again, boring. Maximized damage and then HP for bulkiness. Eviolite is what really turns Porygon2 into a beast. It truly is the only thing that keeps it relevant with the new super-powered attackers of the fifth generation. This, coupled with base 105 Special Attack, BoltBeam, and a decent chance at being +1 to sweep is what makes Porygon2 earn not only a slot on this team, but a slot in my heart. (That's a lie, it had its place in my heart before Eviolite existed.)
Porygon and Reuniclus are the final "pair" of my team. They really are only paired because they are absolute staples of the team. They are nigh irreplaceable in Trick Room teams, and for good reason. They're both essentially Jack-of-all-Trades for the team. Both can set up and abuse Trick Room, and both are bulky from both ends of the spectrum. A small amount of synergy comes from Reuniclus's trait of Magic Guard, allowing Reuniclus to absorb burns and toxics flying at Porygon. Speaking of which, Porygon2 is the only member of my team that absolutely hates Toxic Spikes, followed by Slowbro who also has a general distaste for them.
@Toxic Orb
-Guts-
Brave Nature
252 Atk/224 HP/32 SpD
~Hammer Arm
~Mach Punch
~Stone Edge
~Facade
Conkeldurr is probably my least favorite member of the team. That is solely because he looks like some kind of crazy idiot carni that should be in a horror movie, and has nothing to do with what he does for the team, as that aspect is actually quite extensive. He's my second abuser. The second addition of priority makes all six of my members useful outside of Trick Room, whether that be by setting up Trick Room again, or by having priority. The move set is based around my needs at the time. I can't exactly recall all the threats that each move hits, but this set is the best set I've found to pair with Dragonite and cover the most pertinent threats of the current metagame. The genies were a major concern, and between Stone Edge and Ice Punch, they're more than covered. With 140 Base Attack maxed and boosted from guts, neutral coverage was an important thing to consider, as anything from that is probably going to hurt all but the bulkiest of physical walls. And then Pocket came along a noted that Facade would have much more utility than Ice Punch, while retaining the ability to achieve many important KOs. Luckily, Fighting Normal and Rock cover every Pokemon in the game for at least neutral damage, other than Golurk. Hammer Arm allows for a few important OHKOs or 2HKOs over Drain Punch, most notably Ferrothorn and Skarmory. While Ice Punch allowed me double coverage on Flying types, allowing me to hit pretty much all of them for some sort of Super Effective damage, Facade replaced Ice Punch and has a mere 10 less Base Power on a neutral hit than Ice Punch does on a 2x effective hit.
The EVs are a little more interesting on this Conkeldurr, as opposed to the normal 252/252/4. Pocket shared a spread that allowed for minimum Toxic damage, while maintaining the bulk necessary in this type of a team. The reduced Toxic damage is a small difference, but why not get it as good as possible? Pokemon is a game of numbers, I want to make the most of them. The rest is dumped into the lower defensive stat, Special Defense. While Conkeldurr's defenses aren't spectacular, his high HP helps make up for their mediocrity and he tends to be quite bulky. Toxic Orb is to activate Guts and render Conkeldurr immune to other statuses. Occasionally, if the situation calls for it, I lead with Conkeldurr just to activate the Toxic Orb while the opponent (generally) sets up hazards, to allow me to absorb any incoming sleep.
Pairing with Dragonite was not an easy task to do. I needed something that had great coverage but not redundant coverage. Luckily, Conkeldurr fits the build nicely and doesn't share any weaknesses. Pair this with their duo-priorities, Dragonite's mixed abilities, and Conkeldurr's sky high attack boosted further by Guts, and the two wreck most everything they can get at when under Trick Room. Conkeldurr easily gets after Dragonite's inability to take out Blissey and loves doing so himself.
The EVs are a little more interesting on this Conkeldurr, as opposed to the normal 252/252/4. Pocket shared a spread that allowed for minimum Toxic damage, while maintaining the bulk necessary in this type of a team. The reduced Toxic damage is a small difference, but why not get it as good as possible? Pokemon is a game of numbers, I want to make the most of them. The rest is dumped into the lower defensive stat, Special Defense. While Conkeldurr's defenses aren't spectacular, his high HP helps make up for their mediocrity and he tends to be quite bulky. Toxic Orb is to activate Guts and render Conkeldurr immune to other statuses. Occasionally, if the situation calls for it, I lead with Conkeldurr just to activate the Toxic Orb while the opponent (generally) sets up hazards, to allow me to absorb any incoming sleep.
Pairing with Dragonite was not an easy task to do. I needed something that had great coverage but not redundant coverage. Luckily, Conkeldurr fits the build nicely and doesn't share any weaknesses. Pair this with their duo-priorities, Dragonite's mixed abilities, and Conkeldurr's sky high attack boosted further by Guts, and the two wreck most everything they can get at when under Trick Room. Conkeldurr easily gets after Dragonite's inability to take out Blissey and loves doing so himself.
@Life Orb
-Magic Guard-
Quiet Nature
252 SpA/160 HP/96 Def
~Psyshock
~Focus Blast
~Shadow Ball
~Trick Room
Reuniclus is likely the MVP of the team, as he is with many Trick Room teams. He is the single best abuser of Trick Room that can also set it up in the game. (At least most consistent. Bulk Up Drain Punch Gallade can have his moments of unmatched dominance occasionally) The Psychic Fighting Ghost combination hits many Pokemon that would otherwise give my team trouble for super effective, such as the Lati twins, Gengar, and Hydreigon. The coverage would be nothing without the 135 base Special Attack though, and Magic Guard allows it to be boosted further with Life Orb free of charge! Psyshock really is a necessity, regardless of the higher sustained damage output Psychic. The ability to hit from both sides of the spectrum on demand is incomparably useful.
The EVs allow for maxed Special Attack, 401 HP (to eat Chansey's fourth Seismic Toss), and the rest pumped into the physical defense that is lacking compared to the special spectrum. The Magic Guard allows Reuniclus to often help the team with Status control, by taking a burn of poison directed elsewhere. It also helps with SubSeeders, who are annoying as they stall out my Trick Room duration. All of this damage that Magic Guard blocks benefits Reuniclus more than any of the other Trick Room setters on the team, as Reuniclus is the only one with no form of recovery.
Rounding out the team and the Porygon2 Reuniclus duo, Reuniclus really does it all for the team. Reuniclus can take fighting moved directed at Porygon2 and shrug them off. However, Reuniclus's lack of recovery often makes it more suicidal than Porygon2, but only if he will do the damage necessary to open a hole for further disruption. Reuniclus occasionally leads for the team due to his overall bulkiness and superb cover on things that often use Stealth Rock.
Returning Home-- The Closing
The team, as a whole, I am very proud of. Trick Room is something I've been working with for a while, and while I don't believe it can honestly compete with the best of the top players, I do believe it can be viable and competitive to a high level of success. This team has broken the top 100 on Pokemon Showdown!'s ladders, and above all is very fun to play. Oddly enough, it unintentionally fits the item clause, which is cool. (But not really because I switched out the Lum Berry on Slowbro in favor of Leftovers) I won't be making a threat list for this thread, as Trick Room turns everything upon its head and counters and checks are weird to discuss in such a team.
The hardships of this team, I feel, are nearly necessary evils of the Trick Room strategy. Taunt, stall teams, and chain switching are all concerns that I don't have a legitimate answer to without changing strategies, which I am not prepared to do.
My biggest goal with this thread was to inspire even just a couple people to really look into Trick Room. The more people we have trying out teams, the more innovations we have in the Trick Room world and further it will develop and become a respectable strategy. Not upon the same caliber as Rain teams are currently, but to a level that it is not considered a joke or a gimmick.
I hope you enjoyed (Luvdisc if you did!) and thank you in advance!
The EVs allow for maxed Special Attack, 401 HP (to eat Chansey's fourth Seismic Toss), and the rest pumped into the physical defense that is lacking compared to the special spectrum. The Magic Guard allows Reuniclus to often help the team with Status control, by taking a burn of poison directed elsewhere. It also helps with SubSeeders, who are annoying as they stall out my Trick Room duration. All of this damage that Magic Guard blocks benefits Reuniclus more than any of the other Trick Room setters on the team, as Reuniclus is the only one with no form of recovery.
Rounding out the team and the Porygon2 Reuniclus duo, Reuniclus really does it all for the team. Reuniclus can take fighting moved directed at Porygon2 and shrug them off. However, Reuniclus's lack of recovery often makes it more suicidal than Porygon2, but only if he will do the damage necessary to open a hole for further disruption. Reuniclus occasionally leads for the team due to his overall bulkiness and superb cover on things that often use Stealth Rock.
The team, as a whole, I am very proud of. Trick Room is something I've been working with for a while, and while I don't believe it can honestly compete with the best of the top players, I do believe it can be viable and competitive to a high level of success. This team has broken the top 100 on Pokemon Showdown!'s ladders, and above all is very fun to play. Oddly enough, it unintentionally fits the item clause, which is cool. (But not really because I switched out the Lum Berry on Slowbro in favor of Leftovers) I won't be making a threat list for this thread, as Trick Room turns everything upon its head and counters and checks are weird to discuss in such a team.
The hardships of this team, I feel, are nearly necessary evils of the Trick Room strategy. Taunt, stall teams, and chain switching are all concerns that I don't have a legitimate answer to without changing strategies, which I am not prepared to do.
My biggest goal with this thread was to inspire even just a couple people to really look into Trick Room. The more people we have trying out teams, the more innovations we have in the Trick Room world and further it will develop and become a respectable strategy. Not upon the same caliber as Rain teams are currently, but to a level that it is not considered a joke or a gimmick.
I hope you enjoyed (Luvdisc if you did!) and thank you in advance!
Now available: The Import!
Pulsar (Bronzong) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 68 SDef / 188 Atk
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Earthquake
- Trick Room
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
Supernova (Porygon2) @ Eviolite
Trait: Download
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Def
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Trick Room
Black Hole (Reuniclus) @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SAtk / 160 HP / 96 Def
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Trick Room
ΓRay Burst (Conkeldurr) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 224 HP / 32 SDef
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Mach Punch
- Hammer Arm
- Stone Edge
- Facade
Event Hori (Slowbro) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 248 SAtk / 8 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Surf
- Fire Blast
- Trick Room
- Yawn
Quasar (Dragonite) @ Life Orb
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 SAtk
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Draco Meteor
- ExtremeSpeed
- Fire Blast
- Superpower
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 68 SDef / 188 Atk
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Earthquake
- Trick Room
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
Supernova (Porygon2) @ Eviolite
Trait: Download
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Def
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Trick Room
Black Hole (Reuniclus) @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SAtk / 160 HP / 96 Def
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Trick Room
ΓRay Burst (Conkeldurr) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 224 HP / 32 SDef
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Mach Punch
- Hammer Arm
- Stone Edge
- Facade
Event Hori (Slowbro) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 248 SAtk / 8 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Surf
- Fire Blast
- Trick Room
- Yawn
Quasar (Dragonite) @ Life Orb
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 SAtk
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Draco Meteor
- ExtremeSpeed
- Fire Blast
- Superpower
Credits:
Arceus Nui for letting me bounce ideas off him, and keeping me motivated.
Pocket for the consistent, and great, feedback.
Pokemonelite2000.com for the sprites, both Smoke Ball and Pokemon
Smoke Ball for looking so damn good with the color scheme
Serebii for general move set resources
Smogon of course for threat lists, common move sets, etc.
MOST IMPORTANTLY everyone who has Luvdisk'd, given feedback, and/or enjoyed this read for being sexy badasses. I ain't even frontin', y'all look good.
. Enough of me, I do have some advice for your team.
