This is what I'm using for Battle of Hoenn, thanks to
ethan06 for all his help, I haven't played competitively since Gen IV. Game has changed a lot since GSbot and RSbot.
Breloom (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Tomb
My standard lead. Just Spore and go to Metagross for setup, or switch to Gyarados in the case of opposing Grasses or Breloom counters. Sometimes they have Safety Goggles, or Snore, or Sleep Talk, but then I've already won by them having sub-optimal items and moves on their guys.
Metagross @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Jolly Nature
- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
The heavy hitter, outspeeds a bunch of stuff after an Agility and then just goes to town on them. After a Spore you can basically set up for free if your prayers to the God of Extended Sleep go answered.
Gyarados (M) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 100 HP / 188 Atk / 4 Def / 216 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Bounce
My Breloom counter. Safety Goggles saves it from Spore and Intimidate renders Breloom virtually powerless. Some people also don't catch on to Safety Goggles, trying to Spore again, so a free Dragon Dance. Also for stuff like Roserade and Ludicolo, hence Bounce.
Exploud (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Boomburst
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
- Focus Blast
When the above 3-team combo doesn't work, this guy comes in. The rising star of my team, STAB Boombursts hit incredibly hard, two-shotting almost anything, and OHKOing even more. People struggle to deal with it, I've seen attempts to Intimidate, Burn and switch to Ghost-types fail as Boomburst just wipes the floor with them. In most situations its fine just to click Boomburst and sit back and watch all their stuff die. Exploud can also take a hit and nothing is really safe switching into it.
Gardevoir (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Healing Wish
Gardevoir fills a niche role in being a counter to a few specific threats, some of them being Mega Manectric and Weather teams. I haven't used her much but when I do shes been very solid.
Sableye (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Foul Play
- Recover
The least-used member of my team, I've used Sableye only a few times, and its only memorable moment was taking out a Skarmory, which was nice. Sableye is still very good and I'm sure it has a role, I just don't know what it is. I am considering using the Mega version, if I can figure out if there'd be a situation where I'd need Metagross and Sableye on the same 3 man squad.
So yeah, I haven't played competitively for a long time so I'm pretty rusty but this team has done pretty well on Showdown, but Japanese in the Battle of Hoenn will be a completely different matter and I'll be satisfied if I can come out of it with an equal win-loss record. Thanks again to
ethan06 for all his advice and patience with all my questions.