Fighting against time (Trick Room team)

[NormalNavi]

So.. since X and Y just came out, I decided it was time to put the first competitive team I ever made up on my Black and Black 2 cartridge for rating. It's a Trick Room team I managed to put together after discovering RNG Abuse (I'd like to thank the Pokécheck staff), understanding EVs, and seeing that, since Speed oriented teams were the most common in VGC, why not try to turn their advantage into a problem?

Before you start reading, I'd like to note I try not to use Legendaries ; First for the fact you can only get them once per game, making them kinda hard to Abuse, and for the fact it makes wins against teams using legendaries more satisfying.

I'd also like to note this team was mainly made for Randoms and the Pokémon Global Link competitions hosted over Wi-Fi, as I don't remember Smogon having Doubles at the time of B2W2's releases, and I mainly took info from the VGC section for the sets.

Team Preview :

Dota

Brongzong @ Normal Gem
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/254 Sp.Def/4 Atk
IVs: 0 Speed
Nature: Relaxed
~ Trick Room
~ Gyro Ball
~ Earthquake
~ Explosion

My standard Trick Room setter and Suicide Lead.
It's always the first Pokémon I send out, along with Lich. His EV Spread and Nature is a bit particular - it originally was just me having accidentally checked the wrong Nature when I was RNGing him, but it turned out to be rather beneficial as, so far, it never got OHKOed.

When it's out, the usual course of action is activating Trick Room, then a Normal Gem-boosted Explosion on the next turn. Gyro Ball and Earthquake are mainly there for a minimal offensive presence (Hey, Gyro Ball on Choice Scarf Terrakion, or even normal Terrakion hurts. A lot.) or to throw off the opponent if he tries using his own Trick Room, intending to cancel mine.

Lich

Chandelure @ Fire Gem
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 254 HP/252 Sp.Atk/4 Sp.Def
IVs: 4 Atk/0 Speed
Nature: Quiet
~ Trick Room
~ Shadow Ball
~ Heat Wave
~ Protect

My other lead, and my first Special Sweeper.
It's always the second Pokémon I send out, kind of like a partner to Dota, taking advantage of his Ghost typing to have Dota use Explosion safely. The fact I don't need to invest in Speed allowed me to max out his HP, making him a little bit more bulky. His Atk IVs were deliberately chosen to be low to lower damage potentially inflicted by confusion.

With him, I usually Protect on the first turn, while Dota readies Trick Room, to avoid attacks hitting both Pokémon, then I start sweeping hard with a boosted Heat Wave to get rid of the opponent's first two Pokémon or at least do huge damage, or a Shadow Ball if a nuisance able to cancel Trick Room or an opposite Ghost/Psychic-type Pokémon is out. Then, if Lich survived that turn, it's just normal sweeping.

In particular cases where the opponent may use Fake Out on Dota, Lich uses Trick Room instead.

Slowdown

Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 130 HP/252 Atk/128 Sp.Def
IVs: 0 Speed
Nature: Brave
~ Mach Punch
~ Hammer Arm
~ Stone Edge
~ Facade

One of my two physical sweepers. There's nothing really particular about him, it's a standard Guts set, but it works very well.

Slowdown usually stays in the back, unless I spot a troublesome Dark Pokémon or a Special Wall.
If I need him, he switches on a physical or not very effective attack destined to one of my Pokémon weak to Dark, Ghost, or Insect, and he starts wrecking everything in sight with Hammer Arm, Stone Edge in case a Flying Pokémon is out, Facade if the target does not resist Normal or just Mach Punch to get that tiny sliver of HP off before my opponent's attack.

Cyto

Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 194 HP/64 Def/252 Sp.Atk
IVs: 0 Speed
Nature: Quiet
~ Trick Room
~ Psyshock
~ Focus Blast
~ Shadow Ball

The other Special Sweeper of the team.
Well, it's another simple but effective set. Psyshock for STAB, Focus Blast and Shadow Ball for coverage, Trick Room as a failsafe if the match lasts too long, Life Orb for massive damage, Magic Guard to stop taking damage from Life Orb and laughing off Burn or Poison. Due to being perfectly fit for Trick Room and hitting like a truck while having the defenses of a tank, it's pretty much my trump card.

Excalibur

Escavalier @ Bug Gem
Trait: Swarm
EVs: 250 HP/252 Atk/8 Sp.Def
IVs: 0 Speed
Nature: Brave
~ Megahorn
~ Iron Head
~ Pursuit
~ Protect

Excalibur is the other Physical Sweeper, and the Pokémon that gave me the idea of making a Trick Room team. His Megahorn, boosted by the Bug Gem, is more or less sure to OHKO any Pokémon that is not a Physical Wall or resistant to Bug. Iron Head and Pursuit are here for coverage and, in Pursuit's case, having the opponent think twice before trying to use a Ghost.

Trojan

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Trait: Trace
EVs: 254 HP/252 Sp.Atk/4 Sp.Def
IVs: 0 Speed
~ Trick Room
~ Thunderbolt
~ Ice Beam
~ Recover

That guy.. is a little bit odd. While not really being defense-oriented, he serves the purpose of a tank allowing me to put Trick Room back on if the battle is lasting too long, and also has offensive power and BoltBeam coverage, and while he isn't my most used Pokémon on the team, he saved my butt several times against Rain teams.

Well, that's all. I'll try to put up a little chapter on Team History when I get more time. Thanks for having taken your time to rate my team!

 

[Grey Knight]

hi navi ,i noticed that none rated yet so i decided to rate your tr team my self ,

Try using scizor instead of escavalier, standard CB set its priority will help you in off tr situations and the fact that it is much better than escavalier will improve your team's overall quality

Replace Tbolt to Tri attack on your pory2, tbolt since tri attack already gets decent damage against most water types that usually run physical defensive spreads.

Replace stone edge or fecade to ice punch on your konkeldurr, ice punch 1hko's almost every pokemon that stone edge is supposed to, but it does so while being a 100% accurate move plus it gets some extra 1hkos on troublesome pokemon like gligar, facade from the other hand offers no extra coverage.

 

[RotomPoison]

Facade is it's strongest move, how is that useless?

 

[tlyee61]

Hi, you have a very "2012-looking" team, which is not bad, but could easily be tailored to fit this metagame. Even though you mentioned that you don't like using legendaries, I am still going to mention a few as replacements. (you don't have to listen to any suggestions :P)

First of all, you have a whooping 4 TR setters, which only 2 or 3 of are offensive. TR is all about getting the most out of your 5 turns and because of that, I would use more offensive Pokemon. Life Orb Hammer Arm Conkeldurr could be a great addition to your teams, absolutely crushing foes with Hammer Arm after Hammer Arm. Here is an example of a set:

Conkeldurr (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 188 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Def / 20 SDef
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Hammer Arm
- Mach Punch
- Ice Punch
- Detect

It lives a Max Attack Metagross Zen Headbutt.

Next, I see that only a few of your Pokemon have Protect. It is the most important move in Doubles, and I definitely think every non-choiced Pokemon should carry it. Because of this, I would put protect on every almost every mon, maybe excluding Bronzong and Porygon2.

Another nice TR sweeper is Heatran. Even though you don't like legendaries, I think it's really strong and you can obtain one from pokecheck. I would recommend replacing Chandelure for it. Also, maybe try Sunny Day > Explosion on 'zong so that you can launch super powerful Eruptions! Just make sure Bronzong is 1 point faster than Heatran in TR! con Here is an example of a common Eruption TR set:

Heatran @ Fire Gem
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature
- Protect
- Eruption
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power

Lastly, most TR teams nowadays have 2 setters and 4 sweepers. Also, since you currently lack a rain counter, I would try Tyranitar > Porygon2. It has phenomenal synergy with the rest of your team, functions as a nice TR sweeper and even counters rain :D Here is an example of a common set:

Tyranitar (M) @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Atk / 20 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Crunch
- Rock Slide
- Low Kick
- Protect

This set lives a Max Attack Meteor Mash from Adamant Metagross.

Sorry that I mentioned a legendary, but I still hope this advice helps! :D

~tlyee61

 

[Grey Knight]

Facade is it's strongest move, how is that useless?

Hammer Arm=100*stab=150>140=facede*2

also those are the pokemon that fecade hits for SE damage

Hide

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and those are the pokemon that fecade can it can hit for natural damage when ice punch/stone edge or hammer arm fail to do so

Hide

.

its easy to understand why it is a totally useless move for that set

 

[NormalNavi]

I'll try the Tyranitar - I have one ready, it dosen't have investement in Def but I guess one or two Berries and Vitamins will do.
As for Conkeldurr.. your suggestion looks nice, but it's not going to pass the Item Clause since Reuniclus already has a Life Orb, and I don't really think getting it off will do good - Life Orb with no recoil IS one of Magic Guard Reuniclus' main selling points.

For Heatran.. I'll see. I haven't caught him yet anyway. But I'm definitively keeping Escavalier on my team - even if it has trouble outside of TR, his Megahorn is REALLY destructive... I doubt Scizor can do that much damage on one attack.