The Return of the Blazing

[BlazingBarrager]

Hey peeps! I'm back...again! lol This time I've started to look into the VGC metagame as I hope to someday enter an actual tourney. Anyway, enough about me. Let's get to the build.

The Team

In-Depth Look

@ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace/Pixilate
EVs: 164 HP / 116 Def / 108 SAtk / 60 SDef / 60 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
Psyshock
Protect
Skill Swap
Moonblast

Gardevoir is who I consider the star of the team, although not the primary Pokemon. She starts off the FSD (Fairy, Steel, Dragon) core in my team. Now Gardevoir's primary purpose is simple: use Skill Swap to mess up other Pokemon. This includes Mega Kangaskan, Mega Mawile, and so on. Due to Pixilate's ability, rarely any Pokemon will be able to take advantage of their swapped ability. This not only lowers their potiential or power, but it can also force a switch. In addition, Gardevoir can also make use of some abilities as her own. The EV spread insures that Gardevoir will have the bulk to survive being OHKOed by a variety of Pokemon before getting the switch. Move wise, Psyshock works as her STAB to take care of Amoongus and Mega-Venusaur while Moonblast acts as a reliable and powerful STAB.

@ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 172 SAtk / 76 SDef
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
Shadow Ball
King's Shield
Wide Guard
Sacred Sword

The second member of the FSD core. I opted for Aegislash because of his great offensive and defensive capabilities as well as his ability to check Mega Kang. and other Pokemon. This is pretty much your standard Mixed set with Shadow Ball acting as a reliable STAB, Wide Guard to block spread moves, and Sacred Sword for hitting Mega Kang and other Pokemon weak to Fighting hard.

@ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Spd / 4 HP / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
Dragon Pulse
Fire Blast
Hydro Pump
Draco Meteor

The final member of the FSD core. I opted for Salamence because of his great offensive pressure as well as his ability Intimidate. I went with the standard Choice Scarf spread as I noticed a lot of members of my team are slow, though I opted for Hydro Pump over Rock Slide/Stone Edge due to the presence of Rock types like Aerodactyl and Tyranatar. Hydro Pump also does more damage and takes advantage of Salamence's high SpA.

@ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze/Tough Claws
EVs: 196 HP / 108 Atk / 4 Def / 44 Sp.Def / 156 Spe
Adamant nature
Dragon Claw
Flare Blitz
Dragon Dance
Protect

One of the things Mega Gardevoir is weak to is the fact she doesn't have a reliable way of dealing major damage due to only having two attacks. This makes it difficult to take down certain threats such as Mega Mawile. Enter Charizard X, my secondary Mega. He takes Mega Gardevoir's place whenever I need brute, physical power. I copied NinjaSyao's spread (hope you don't mind) to give him a bulky spread that will allow him to deal major damage. He also partners well with the next member of the team.

@ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 228 HP / 100 Def / 180 Sp.Def
Calm nature
Charm
Swagger
Safeguard
Quick Guard

One of the problems my team faced was weakness to status. I went back and forth between what supporter to use, but I ended up using NinjaSyao's Meowstic as it does an incredible job as what it does. Not only does it come with the SwagGuard combo, but with Quick Guard he can insure that Mega Gardevoir doesn't get hit with Fake Out before getting off a Skill Swap.

@ Charti Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 36 SAtk / 44 SDef / 4 Spd
Bold Nature
Freeze-Dry
Roost
Protect
Tailwind

The last member of the team. I opted for NinjaSyao's Articuno (sorry for the copying ^^ ;) because its bulk and access to Tailwind allows me to have a bit of speed control, which helps my team out tremendously. It also comes with Freeze-Dry, which gives Articuno excellent coverage as well as an answer to Dragons. I also put Charti Berry on to ensure that Articuno doesn't take much damage from Rock attacks.

Conclusion

Well I hope you enjoyed my team. Please leave comments and critics, and don't be afraid to get harsh. This is my first ever VGC team and I want to be able to learn from any mistakes that I make.​

 

[Haki]

Hey, I got your request to rate this team, BlazingBarrager! For your first ever VGC team, I'm very impressed; it is well-constructed and your team has great synergy with no noticeable weaknesses. I'm really liking Ancient Power on Charizard, as it allows him to 2HKO Max HP Rotom-Heat while OHKOing Talonflame and opposing Charizards. Good choice!

One improvement I would make to your team is to change Aegislash's EV spread to 252 HP / 172 SAtk / 76 SDef / 4 Def / 4 Atk with 20 Speed IVs. The 76 SDef EVs allow Aegislash to survive a Heat Wave from a max Special Attack Timid Mega-Charizard-Y 100% of the time, while also allowing Aegislash to survive an Overheat from a max Special Attack Modest Rotom-Heat 93.7% of the time. The 4 Defense and Attack EVs make for a slight defensive and attacking power boost respectively, and since Aegislash is mainly a special attacker, the 172 SAtk EVs invested maximizes his offensive potential. Finally, the 20 Speed IVs invested allow Aegislash to outspeed standard opposing Aegislashes, and also allows him to be slower than most Mega-Tyranitars and Mega-Mawiles, letting him take a hit in Shield form and strike back hard in its Blade form.

Seeing as you already carry Sacred Sword to deal with the likes of Mega-Kangaskhan and Mega-Tyranitar, Flash Cannon won't be necessary. With that said, I recommend replacing Flash Cannon with Substitute, giving Aegislash the ability to evade an incoming Sucker Punch from either Mega-Kangaskhan and Mega-Mawile while setting up a decoy for protection. Substitute Aegislash is probably one of the best counters to Mega-Kangaskhan and Mega-Mawile, defeating both of them one-on-one as only Sucker Punch will be able to deal significant damage to Aegislash. I also suggest using Leftovers over Weakness Policy for gradual HP recovery behind Substitute (if you consider using it) and King's Shield.

Overall, your VGC team is very solid! :D There wasn't really anything that needed to be changed besides Aegislash. Hope I helped, and good luck. :]

tl;dr

Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 172 SAtk / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 76 SDef
Quiet Nature
IVs: 20 Spd
- Shadow Ball
- Sacred Sword
- Substitute
- King's Shield

 

[tlyee61]

i would also try upping your venusaur's speed to 60 speed EV's at least. this lets it outspeed rotom forms and gyarados that dont invest in speed very heavily. this allows you to get a good chunk off on them or put those pesky rotom heat to sleep! also, I would change your charY's moveset slightly. since you're not running max speed timid, I would change ancientpower. STAB overheat in the sun nukes things and while the stat boost may seem appealing, you already have a really fast rock slide in aerodactyl. also, I would change flamethrower to overheat. much to pinoy pwnage's dismay, i think the strong spread move is better on charizard. it allows you to get a massive amount of damage on both pokemon. you already have a strong single target fire move in overheat if you choose to replace it. also, most aegislash do not run wide guard these days, opting for sacred sword / sub / shadow ball / king's shield. however, i do admit that it is probably the 5th most common move. overall, test these changes!

~tommy

 

[BlazingBarrager]

I'm using my bump due to the fact that I updated my team majorly and felt like letting everyone know.