So I made this team back in early November for WCS 2010 in Japan. As you might not have heard, limited Ubers were allowed in VGC this year, and so I was ecstatic to jump into this year's metagame. Unfortunately, I had no knowledge of the Uber metagame, which might have proved helpful to me during the first few weeks of this team's rigorous testing on PBR and Netbattle. I initially had the idea of making a Trick Room team, due to my belief that most threatening Ubers were very speedy, which I would take to my advantage. Here's what my initial draft of my team looked like:
What I slapped on were Pokemon whom I feel could take advantage of Trick Room and abused the rain. I had TR Dialga and Taunt Gallade as my leads, and Kyogre and Ludicolo as my backup. However, I tested it on PBR, and was absolutely wrecked. I hardly ever set up Trick Room and the rest of my party faltered without TR. I then switched Ludicolo to my lead and Gallade as backup. The team fared better with Gallade as backup, since I freed up Taunt for Shadow Sneak to deal with threats without TR; Ludicolo did its job about 75% of the time, flinching out the more threatening to let Dialga set up. However, I still felt that Gallade was bringing this team down a lot. So I tested slow things with priority. I was down to Shedinja, Abomasnow, Mamoswine, and Dusknoir. In this next stage of testing, I came up with this:
With this new change, I felt that my team was a bit better. I had pretty much everything set, until a friend of mine suggested a move that I had never heard of before: Follow Me. I was ecstatic to hear about this move, and its effects, and I needed something to distract while Dialga began setting up. My options were limited. I had Clefable and Mr. Mime listed, which seemed horrible to add to my team, but I did see Lucario. Lucario caught my attention because he held Extremespeed, which could prove to be vital should I fail to set up Trick Room, but in the end of this stage's testing, my team looked like this:
Okay, I admit it. This was by far the most noobish mistake I could ever make. I thought that FEAR Clefable would work well on my team, but it was only an effective paper strategy. I would get a LOL from my opponent as he wrecked me, never letting me even use Endeavor. The positive note, however, was that I always set up Trick Room, but I was still at a disadvantage at the start with 3-4. So I tested out more things. I liked the idea of Follow Me, since it practically guaranteed TR 80% of the time. So I ultimately went with Clefable over Clefairy. But I did notice one thing: I practically lost every time whenever I faced a Rayquaza or Giratina. Shedinja could only deal with Giratina, but it never lived long enough to kill Giratina. Rayquaza was instant GG. To fix this, I decided to test out an Ice Shard user. Unlike previous stages, I didn't really choose one over others. I tested every single one of them because they seemed viable enough to deal with these threats. Near the end of this stage, I preferred Weavile and Abomasnow over the others. Ultimately, Abomasnow won and this was what my team looked like:
With every stage, my team began to look a little bit more of its current form every day. I had many threats covered, but still had trouble with some, particularly Dual Screens Cresselia and CM Cresselia. Cresselia practically walled my whole team to death and I couldn't do anything to it. Screens lasted longer than TR did, and that ultimately fucked me over. I would waste more turns trying to kill Cresselia than anything else. Kyogre can do fairly well against Cresselia in singles Ubers, but in doubles, Water Spout's power is cut in half due to double opponents, thus reducing Kyogre's effectiveness. I did not want to shove a CB Ttar in here, fearing that it would ruin the work of my previous stages. However, while lurking on Marriland one day, I noticed a discussion about Super Fang's effectiveness. I was intrigued by it, and with Cresselia's HP cut in half, I could deal with it more efficiently. Unfortunately, Clefable could not learn Super Fang, nor could any of the Super Fang users learn Follow Me, so I turned to the only answer I could find, and thus the final form of my team emerged.
What I slapped on were Pokemon whom I feel could take advantage of Trick Room and abused the rain. I had TR Dialga and Taunt Gallade as my leads, and Kyogre and Ludicolo as my backup. However, I tested it on PBR, and was absolutely wrecked. I hardly ever set up Trick Room and the rest of my party faltered without TR. I then switched Ludicolo to my lead and Gallade as backup. The team fared better with Gallade as backup, since I freed up Taunt for Shadow Sneak to deal with threats without TR; Ludicolo did its job about 75% of the time, flinching out the more threatening to let Dialga set up. However, I still felt that Gallade was bringing this team down a lot. So I tested slow things with priority. I was down to Shedinja, Abomasnow, Mamoswine, and Dusknoir. In this next stage of testing, I came up with this:
With this new change, I felt that my team was a bit better. I had pretty much everything set, until a friend of mine suggested a move that I had never heard of before: Follow Me. I was ecstatic to hear about this move, and its effects, and I needed something to distract while Dialga began setting up. My options were limited. I had Clefable and Mr. Mime listed, which seemed horrible to add to my team, but I did see Lucario. Lucario caught my attention because he held Extremespeed, which could prove to be vital should I fail to set up Trick Room, but in the end of this stage's testing, my team looked like this:
Okay, I admit it. This was by far the most noobish mistake I could ever make. I thought that FEAR Clefable would work well on my team, but it was only an effective paper strategy. I would get a LOL from my opponent as he wrecked me, never letting me even use Endeavor. The positive note, however, was that I always set up Trick Room, but I was still at a disadvantage at the start with 3-4. So I tested out more things. I liked the idea of Follow Me, since it practically guaranteed TR 80% of the time. So I ultimately went with Clefable over Clefairy. But I did notice one thing: I practically lost every time whenever I faced a Rayquaza or Giratina. Shedinja could only deal with Giratina, but it never lived long enough to kill Giratina. Rayquaza was instant GG. To fix this, I decided to test out an Ice Shard user. Unlike previous stages, I didn't really choose one over others. I tested every single one of them because they seemed viable enough to deal with these threats. Near the end of this stage, I preferred Weavile and Abomasnow over the others. Ultimately, Abomasnow won and this was what my team looked like:
With every stage, my team began to look a little bit more of its current form every day. I had many threats covered, but still had trouble with some, particularly Dual Screens Cresselia and CM Cresselia. Cresselia practically walled my whole team to death and I couldn't do anything to it. Screens lasted longer than TR did, and that ultimately fucked me over. I would waste more turns trying to kill Cresselia than anything else. Kyogre can do fairly well against Cresselia in singles Ubers, but in doubles, Water Spout's power is cut in half due to double opponents, thus reducing Kyogre's effectiveness. I did not want to shove a CB Ttar in here, fearing that it would ruin the work of my previous stages. However, while lurking on Marriland one day, I noticed a discussion about Super Fang's effectiveness. I was intrigued by it, and with Cresselia's HP cut in half, I could deal with it more efficiently. Unfortunately, Clefable could not learn Super Fang, nor could any of the Super Fang users learn Follow Me, so I turned to the only answer I could find, and thus the final form of my team emerged.
Team Tokyo Drift - Speeding in the Land of the Rising Sun
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Dialga l Chesto Berry
Quiet l 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Def
- Trick Room
- Rest
- Dragon Pulse
- Flamethrower / Blizzard
Smeargle l Focus Sash
LOL l 252 HP / 252 Spe / 4 Def
- Protect
- Dark Void
- Super Fang
- Follow Me
Kyogre l Wacan Berry / Lum Berry
Quiet l 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Def
- Water Spout
- Protect
- Thunder
- Blizzard
Abomasnow l Sitrus Berry
Quiet l 252 HP / 252 SpA / 6 Atk
- Ice Shard
- Protect
- Grass Knot
- Blizzard
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This team was put to the test on 2 February, 2010. Although it had great success at Tokyo VGC, its efficiency level has dropped ever since VGC began to arrive in the States. I feel that this team was my best product in team building, since I spent to much time perfecting the little things. Of course, there was a reason why I wrote up this RMT: to see if there were any tiny kinks I missed. Like I said on IRC, I am officially retiring this team. So steal it, rate it, hate it, IDGAF.
