VGC VGC 2015 Trick room: Mega steelix MVP

[osmething2]

First of all, thanks a lot to Fluze3 for helping me make the team a lot better than the original.

So, Mega steelix is a super underused Mega introdouced in ORAS, and I really wanted to find a use for him. The obvious answer was; trick room. His attack isnt half bad in mega, and seeing as his HP and defense is completely insane, he does do fairly good in a trick room team. The problem is his weakness to common types like fighting, ground and fire, and so the rest of the team needs to be picked out with that in mind.

First, the trick room setters:

Aromatisse @Safety Goggles
Ability: Aroma Veil
Nature: Sassy
IV's: 0 Speed
EV's: 252 HP/ 4 Def/ 252 Sp. Def
- Moonblast
- Trick Room
- Heal Pulse
- Protect​

As a trick room setter, aromatisse is amazing. The fairy typing and generally good bulk makes her good, but her ability aroma veil stops her and her teamamtes from being taunted, hit by swaggers, etc etc, making a thundurus with prankster lead useless vs her right of the bat. This makes it a lot more comfortable to lead with her and steelix, instead of feeling the need to go into heatran to throw out a taunt of my own instantly. It also stops other prankster users like Liepard and Sableye from doing the same.
One problem I've encountered is life orb Bisharp and mega mawile; one iron head is
enough to shred her. Also, Bisharp tends to run knock off as well, which is super effective against cresselia, potentially knocking out both my trick room setters.
Other than that, aromatisse is a great trick room setter, and her low speed makes her a great asset to my team, with her being able to use heal pulse before almost anything else inside a trick room, she offers great support, and with moonblasts hitting common dragon types like Garchomp, Salmence/Salamence mega, and other common dark pokemon like Sableye, Tyranitar and so on super effectivly, it opened me to add a different move than ice beam on cresselia, for more support from her. Over to cresselia's set:

Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Sassy
IV's: 0 Speed
EVs: 252 HP/ 4 Sp Def/ 252 Sp Atk
- Psyshock
- Trick room
- Helping Hand
- Protect​

This is a set that I bring in if mega mawile or other steel types or poison types threathen Aromatisse a lot as potential leads. Cresselia gets a lot of bulk, and an insane base HP, and can take almost any neutural hits like a champ, and super effective hits quite badly. Again a life orb Bisharp is bad, but how I deal with that will be explained shortly.
With some good SP. Atk investement, Cresselia can help out with some Psyshocks, which is very helpful as a neutural damager, but it also does good vs things like Charizard Y, Talonflame, Gengar/Mega gengar etc. Also, running helping hand on her lets her help out steelix and Heatran with powering up their moves, doing a lot more damage than they already would. Seeing as Aromatisse is a full on SP. Tank, we didnt need to put the Sp. Def EV's on Cresselia, so she can work more in a flexible role.

Now, the "sweepers":

Steelix @ Steelixite
Ability: Sand Force
Nature: Brave
IV's: 0 speed
EV's: 252 Attack/ 4 Sp. Def/ 252 Attack
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Protect​

Steelix is the MVP of my team. At least its a lot of fun to use him!
Mega steelix gets super low speed with brave nature, letting him outspeed other trick room users like hariyama, which is a super common trick room poke in VGC 2015. Mega
camerupt does outspeed steeelix, but the flash fire support from Heatran makes it very easy to deal with, and so its not a big problem. Steelix gets rock slide to hit Charizard Y/ Talonflame, should he be forced to stay in for one of them, although thats not ideal. His main STAB attacks are Gyro ball, which powers up a lot due to his extremly low speed, and Earthquake, which hits a lot of pokemon neuturally very hard, but also hits common threats such as heatran, Aegislash, Tyranitar, Bisharp etc etc. For super effective damage.
Now, to cover Steelix' big weakness to fire, and also help out sponging ground moves, we bring heatran with Air baloon:

Heatran @ Air baloon
Ability: Flash fire
Nature: Quiet
EV's: 252 Sp. Atk/ 4 Sp Def/ 252 HP
IV's: 0 Speed.
- Heat wave
- Ancient power
- Taunt
- Protect​

Being able to avoid Earth power/ erthquakes from Mega Camerupt or whatever else will be throwing it our way, as well as having flash fire to soak up all fire moves, Heatran does an amazing job coupling with Steelix in a trick room. Heat wave does a good job vs Ferrethorn, Aegislash, bisharp, any steel type really, and hits a lot of pokemon for good neutural damage. It also does a great job of potentially sweeping when powered up by a flash fire boost coupled with a helping hand.
Ancient power is picked over earth power, in order to more effectively deal with Talonflame and Charizard-Y, which really are tough to take out with Steelix. The before mentioned Rock slides are fairly unpredictable, and so an ancient power can do a good job of finishing them. Taunt is there in order to protect Cressilia, should I lead with her instead of Aromatisse, and its also there to stop potential Will-O-wisps from hitting Tyranitar when I bring him.
One thing that I havent really adressed at all so far is weather teams, so for our 5th spot, we bring in tyranitar:

Now for some support options that I picked.

Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Brave
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 SpD
IVs: 0 Speed
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
- Ice Punch
- Protect​

Doing a good job of stopping weather teams with his sand, and hitting Landrous-T etc with Ice punch thanks to ORAS tutors, he does a good job of supporting the team even further. Although he shares many weaknesses alongside Heatran and Steelix, the three actually do a great job of balancing each other out, with the use of flash fire mind games, trick room to almost always go first, potentially sweeping teams, and sand force on Steelix to boost up his moves even more in the sand. Tyranitar is just a solid support choice for the team, and is brought whenever I need to stop common weather teams etc.

Rotom Wash @ Sitrus berry
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 HP / 136 SpA / 120 SpD
- Hydro pump
- Thunderbolt
- Will-o-wisp
- Protect​

Rotom-Wash is just a solid pokemon overall, with good bulk, access to will-o-wisp, and a good typing that makes him neutural/resisting almost all common attacks, and with the levitate ability, he completely ignores earthquakes from Steelix, making a good companion next to him. It's a good tank to soak up a lot of hits I don't want the rest of the team to take, and he hits a lot of pokemon for good neutural damage.

So far this team is doing wonderfully on ladder. It's difficult to counter, seeing as most teams are fairly weak to trick room, but it also does an awesome job of handling other people's trick room sets, and its also widely unpredictable because of the strange pokemon choice. I'm loving it, and I think you will as well, so go ahead and give it a try! ;)

 

[Fluze3]

Wow. Someone trying to use Mega Steelix in a Trick Room Team? I LOVE IT! But, Trick Room teams require a little more than what you have; I'm basically talking about the fact that you only have one Trick Room setter. That's quite... ineffective. I only say that because if Cresselia were to faint, your team would be stuck without Trick Room... which is horrible on your side.

First thing's first: some rather major changes that will benefit your team. But first, in order to initiate the change (as to why), there's a minor change first.
1. Replace Rotom's EV spread to 252 HP / 136 SpA / 120 SpD with a Calm Nature so that Suicune becomes obsolete.

Now, we have a free spot to put anything we want!

I suggest running Trick Room Tyranitar. You might be thinking "Why Tyranitar? It just adds more weaknesses that Steelix has!" Well, technically, that's true; but, it's support that your team already gives is enough for it to shine in your team. Also, Its ability to bring Sand makes it a valuable anti-weather pokemon, able to remove Sun or Rain, making your team more powerful. Also, Steelix's Mega Ability provides it with more power in the sand, just making it a whole lot more threatening. Plus, its added Special Defense from Sand also benefit it from taking weaker Electric, Fire and Ice moves for your team, supporting Steelix EVEN MORE.

Now, in terms of Clefable, it's quite gimmicky. What happens if you Trick a Pokemon and it happens to hold an Assault Vest? You're basically screwed. That's why I think you should change it to a pokemon that compliements Cresselia's typing just as well while being able to set up Trick Room as well. Hence, I suggest you run Trick Room Aromatisse. Being immune to taunt, all it needs are Safety Goggles and you've got a fool-proof plan for setting up trick room! Isn't that great! I'm going to give you are more specially-defensive set so it still fits the role of Clefable.

Now, for some more minor changes that will benefit your team just a bit; but, a bit is what differentiates a win from a loss.
1. Due to Aromatisse holding Safety Goggles now, Cresselia needs to change its item. That's why I suggest it runs Safety Goggles > Mental Herb to avoid a Taunt that may be coming your way.
2. Run 252 HP / 12 Def / 228 SpA / 16 SpD with 0 IVs and a Sassy Nature on Cresselia, to get the most from your Trick Room setter.
3. Run a more offensive set on Steelix, by having 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef and a Brave Nature with 0 IVs to Power up Gyro Ball.
4. I suggest running Taunt > Ancient Power/Stone Edge on Heatran to take on Char Y and Talonflame better.

Also, make sure all your pokemon are running -Speed Natures to make them 'faster' in Trick Room.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
- Protect
- Fire Punch

Aromatisse @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Aroma Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SDef
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Moonblast
- Heal Pulse
- Protect

 

[osmething2]

Ah yes I like the idea of using tyranitar. I'll also definitely look into making a new rotom set. It does make me feel slightly more vounrable to fighting moves if I also were to remove clefable.
I'll look into all the changes you reccomended tommorow for sure though. Never considered aromatisse, but I guess you got a point; 2 trick room setters gotta be better than 1! ;)

Thanks for the detailed feedback! Just you wait, next year Mega steelix will be on the winning team of VGC 2015!
.. (Maybe... Most likely not..)

 

[osmething2]

So I spent some time making the new sets, and I feel so silly not thinking of +Sp Def - Speed etc instead of -Sp Atk natures. Can't believe I derped that much. Doing better now with the new sets, really like the ancient power on heatran; makes it easier to deal with the plying types like you said, seeing as rock slide can be unpredictable. Haven't really had much use for Tyranitar yet, but I'll see how it goes. Will update the entire team with all the new sets soon so it's up to date with what I'm using ;)

 

[osmething2]

I've edited the entire team to make it up to date, and a lot better! ;)