So a club at my University is holding a tournament this Friday with their own ruleset. Games will be played on the actual Pokemon cartridge, so it's unlikely that people are going to have 5/6 IV pokes from gens 3-5 due to how much harder it was to IV breed back then. Over the past two times that I've been to these tournaments, I haven't even seen any BW2 tutor moves. With that in mind, the rest of the rules are as follows:
"1) No hacks (duh)
2) No legendary pokemon
3) No evasion increasing moves (such as double team or minimize), abilities (such as sand veil or snow cloak), or items (such as brightpowder or lax incense)
4) In the event of a battle ending with a double KO:
If the double KO was caused by a recoil attack, the person who used the recoil move wins. If the double KO was caused by someone using a move like destiny bond or explosion, the person who used that move will be the loser.
5) All pokemon will be scaled to level 50
6) Each participant can use up to six pokemon
7) The battles will all be Single Battles.
8) No doubles, or triples, or teams of 5 shuckles and a zoroark :'( this rule applies to items and pokemon"
So basically, I'm looking at 6v6 singles with no legendary Pokemon or duplicates of any kind. Unlike in OU, pretty much all of the megas are allowed, however. Anyway, without further ado, the team is as follows.
Aegislash @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Shadow Sneak
- Shadow Ball
- Sacred Sword
- King's Shield
Aegislash has been one of the most prominent Pokemon since this generation's inception, so I pretty much had to work it into my team somehow. While most aegislashes went physical at the time when blaziken and gengar were still allowed, mine is mixed to allow for hard-hitting shadow balls, which make it incredibly dangerous for skarmory or gliscor to switch into. This also helps diversify the range of attacking types present on my team.
As far as the biggest threats of this metagame go, Aegislash mostly helps to take care of mega kanga and mega gengar. Any mega kanga without earthquake (quite a number of them, considering the common fake out/return/sucker punch/power up punch set) will be forced to rely on sucker punch to take my aegislash down. Fortunately, the attack's measly 8 PP means that I can still it out pretty handily and then take it down with sacred sword. Gengar, on the other hand, takes 68-80% from my shadow sneak, meaning that it gets either revenge-killed or simply taken out without a casualty if I can volt turn out on it with my rotom first. Additionally, aegislash can take a shadow ball in shield form if it's at full health and then counterattack with its own shadow ball.
Aegislash also serves as my team's premier spin-blocker, though it admittedly with excadrill, not unlike most spin-blockers this generation.
Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Calm Nature
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave
- Aromatherapy
- Seismic Toss
Chansey sponges special hits like a champ and also serves as my team's cleric. Aromatherapy removes nasty burns and toxics from its teammates, giving them a second chance to sweep. Softboiled is obvious for its healing potential, whereas seismic toss is really chansey's only choice as far as offense goes. I opted for thunder wave over toxic due to the fact that I can generally hit electric-immune pokemon with seismic toss. This also gives it an option against skarmory, who then cannot rely on roost as much for reliable healing.
By and large, special pokemon cannot take it down, whatsoever and even some special-based tanks will have trouble out-damaging it granted that seismic toss doesn't take defenses into account.
Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 232 Def / 252 HP / 24 Spd
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Roost
Of course, chansey is nothing without something to take those nasty physical hits for it. Skarmory sets up stealth rock, phazes out set-up sweepers and is an all-around tough guy. Rocky helmet in tandem with stealth rock seriously problematizes pokemon that rely on u-turn to gain momentum, as they'll often take 25% (if not more) just by switching in and attacking if I predict correctly.
Skarmory also serves as a pretty solid mega-kanga counter, since granted that the latter is only powerful because it can attack twice, it racks up rocky helmet damage extremely quickly. Switching in on a fake out is particularly fortuitous if I can manage. Otherwise, skarmory just checks physical threats and accrues damage by whirlwinding the opponent's team into SR>
Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
One of the less-appreciated of the mega evolutions, gyarados actually checks a huge swathe of the major threats that aren't covered by other members of the team. Mega blaziken, in particular, needs stone edge or thunder punch to be able to do much of anything to it before it mega-evolves and gains a fighting weakness. Both of these are pretty rare due to the fact that most blazikens run protect and SD rather than going for a 3rd attacking move in singles. Furthermore, t-punch speed boost blaziken is only available via dream world and BW2 move tutor in gen 5, so I'm not anticipating a lot of them at the tournament. Additionally, gyarados handles most of aegislash's fairly neatly and doesn't have to worry about king's shield since EQ doesn't make contact.
Apart from checking those offensive threats, Gyarados tears teams apart after a dragon dance, boosting up to nearly 400 speed and gaining a massive sum of attack. It's diverse coverage means that there's very little in the game that can resist it, especially with mold breaker in play. Rotom in particular is extremely susceptible to earth quake once I've negated its ability to levitate. Ice fang handles dragons and some flying types, which effectively supplements its otherwise solid ground-water coverage.
Rotom-Wash @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Rest
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
Can't have a 5th gen team without Rotom-W! Rotom helps absorb status with its chesto rest (even after chansey is down) and helps me pivot with volt turn to gain momentum as I check whatever is switching into it. I prefer the chesto rest set because of its capacity for huge bursts of healing and nigh-immunity to toxic. Will-O-Wisp neuters physical attacks and hydro pump does fair damage against pokemon without a lot of special defense.
Alakazam @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
Sort of an odd choice at a glance, this alakazam is actually one of the best revenge killers against (boosting) sweepers in the game, particularly prior to when m-blaziken and m-gengar were banned. Magic guard keeps its focus sash intact so that it can take a single hit from anything no matter how strong it is. Psychic neatly OHKOs both of the aforementioned megas, puts a huge dent in fighting types in general and serves as a potent STAB attack. HP ice often catches people by surprise, but absolutely annihilates pretty much any dragon in the game short of multiscale dragonite at full health (which I usually break via volt turn, will-o-wisp or SR). Additionally, it wrecks gliscor if it chooses to stay in for whatever reason. Furthermore, alakazam blows up garchomp without even breaking its sash, which is pretty handy. Shadow ball is there for finishing off aegislashes that are giving me trouble or putting a dent in other ghosts or even psychic-types. Focus blast is a necessary choice for tyrannitar and steel types in general.
"1) No hacks (duh)
2) No legendary pokemon
3) No evasion increasing moves (such as double team or minimize), abilities (such as sand veil or snow cloak), or items (such as brightpowder or lax incense)
4) In the event of a battle ending with a double KO:
If the double KO was caused by a recoil attack, the person who used the recoil move wins. If the double KO was caused by someone using a move like destiny bond or explosion, the person who used that move will be the loser.
5) All pokemon will be scaled to level 50
6) Each participant can use up to six pokemon
7) The battles will all be Single Battles.
8) No doubles, or triples, or teams of 5 shuckles and a zoroark :'( this rule applies to items and pokemon"
So basically, I'm looking at 6v6 singles with no legendary Pokemon or duplicates of any kind. Unlike in OU, pretty much all of the megas are allowed, however. Anyway, without further ado, the team is as follows.
Aegislash @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Shadow Sneak
- Shadow Ball
- Sacred Sword
- King's Shield
Aegislash has been one of the most prominent Pokemon since this generation's inception, so I pretty much had to work it into my team somehow. While most aegislashes went physical at the time when blaziken and gengar were still allowed, mine is mixed to allow for hard-hitting shadow balls, which make it incredibly dangerous for skarmory or gliscor to switch into. This also helps diversify the range of attacking types present on my team.
As far as the biggest threats of this metagame go, Aegislash mostly helps to take care of mega kanga and mega gengar. Any mega kanga without earthquake (quite a number of them, considering the common fake out/return/sucker punch/power up punch set) will be forced to rely on sucker punch to take my aegislash down. Fortunately, the attack's measly 8 PP means that I can still it out pretty handily and then take it down with sacred sword. Gengar, on the other hand, takes 68-80% from my shadow sneak, meaning that it gets either revenge-killed or simply taken out without a casualty if I can volt turn out on it with my rotom first. Additionally, aegislash can take a shadow ball in shield form if it's at full health and then counterattack with its own shadow ball.
Aegislash also serves as my team's premier spin-blocker, though it admittedly with excadrill, not unlike most spin-blockers this generation.
Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Calm Nature
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave
- Aromatherapy
- Seismic Toss
Chansey sponges special hits like a champ and also serves as my team's cleric. Aromatherapy removes nasty burns and toxics from its teammates, giving them a second chance to sweep. Softboiled is obvious for its healing potential, whereas seismic toss is really chansey's only choice as far as offense goes. I opted for thunder wave over toxic due to the fact that I can generally hit electric-immune pokemon with seismic toss. This also gives it an option against skarmory, who then cannot rely on roost as much for reliable healing.
By and large, special pokemon cannot take it down, whatsoever and even some special-based tanks will have trouble out-damaging it granted that seismic toss doesn't take defenses into account.
Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 232 Def / 252 HP / 24 Spd
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Roost
Of course, chansey is nothing without something to take those nasty physical hits for it. Skarmory sets up stealth rock, phazes out set-up sweepers and is an all-around tough guy. Rocky helmet in tandem with stealth rock seriously problematizes pokemon that rely on u-turn to gain momentum, as they'll often take 25% (if not more) just by switching in and attacking if I predict correctly.
Skarmory also serves as a pretty solid mega-kanga counter, since granted that the latter is only powerful because it can attack twice, it racks up rocky helmet damage extremely quickly. Switching in on a fake out is particularly fortuitous if I can manage. Otherwise, skarmory just checks physical threats and accrues damage by whirlwinding the opponent's team into SR>
Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
One of the less-appreciated of the mega evolutions, gyarados actually checks a huge swathe of the major threats that aren't covered by other members of the team. Mega blaziken, in particular, needs stone edge or thunder punch to be able to do much of anything to it before it mega-evolves and gains a fighting weakness. Both of these are pretty rare due to the fact that most blazikens run protect and SD rather than going for a 3rd attacking move in singles. Furthermore, t-punch speed boost blaziken is only available via dream world and BW2 move tutor in gen 5, so I'm not anticipating a lot of them at the tournament. Additionally, gyarados handles most of aegislash's fairly neatly and doesn't have to worry about king's shield since EQ doesn't make contact.
Apart from checking those offensive threats, Gyarados tears teams apart after a dragon dance, boosting up to nearly 400 speed and gaining a massive sum of attack. It's diverse coverage means that there's very little in the game that can resist it, especially with mold breaker in play. Rotom in particular is extremely susceptible to earth quake once I've negated its ability to levitate. Ice fang handles dragons and some flying types, which effectively supplements its otherwise solid ground-water coverage.
Rotom-Wash @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Rest
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
Can't have a 5th gen team without Rotom-W! Rotom helps absorb status with its chesto rest (even after chansey is down) and helps me pivot with volt turn to gain momentum as I check whatever is switching into it. I prefer the chesto rest set because of its capacity for huge bursts of healing and nigh-immunity to toxic. Will-O-Wisp neuters physical attacks and hydro pump does fair damage against pokemon without a lot of special defense.
Alakazam @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
Sort of an odd choice at a glance, this alakazam is actually one of the best revenge killers against (boosting) sweepers in the game, particularly prior to when m-blaziken and m-gengar were banned. Magic guard keeps its focus sash intact so that it can take a single hit from anything no matter how strong it is. Psychic neatly OHKOs both of the aforementioned megas, puts a huge dent in fighting types in general and serves as a potent STAB attack. HP ice often catches people by surprise, but absolutely annihilates pretty much any dragon in the game short of multiscale dragonite at full health (which I usually break via volt turn, will-o-wisp or SR). Additionally, it wrecks gliscor if it chooses to stay in for whatever reason. Furthermore, alakazam blows up garchomp without even breaking its sash, which is pretty handy. Shadow ball is there for finishing off aegislashes that are giving me trouble or putting a dent in other ghosts or even psychic-types. Focus blast is a necessary choice for tyrannitar and steel types in general.
