Introduction
Hello everyone! After placing 3rd in my regional, I decided it was about time for me to visit my first national championship. Finding time to figure out and breed a team while juggling a new internship and a mountain of requests from others for Pokemon for nats was difficult, but I found the time and I'm happy with what I made. This team only took me to 4-4, but I feel like I can credit most of my losses to untimely misses and bonus effects. My luck had been wicked at regionals and relying on Sleep Powder was asking for it in the first place, so I figured it was a matter of time before luck swung the other way. Still, that's no excuse for my losses. All of my opponents gave me great (hilarious in the case of Bruno's) matches, I'm happy with my performance, and even happier with this team. Check it out and throw it some recommendations!
The Team Preview
I really didn't mean to explain this stuff in pairs, but most of the team requires elaboration from a common partner for its team slot to make any sense. However, they were constantly mixed and matched each battle, don't make the mistake of thinking I felt I needed to always stick them together.
Also, every good VGC team needs a good nickname gimmick. This team is named after old users from the IRC channel #smash. I miss you guys!
The Team
MrEsc | Butterfree
Compoundeyes | 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd | Jolly
Stoo | Kangaskhan
Scrappy | 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spd | Adamant Nature
Nearly 90% of the time, these two are leading the team off; they're just such a wicked pair! They're both out of the every day Pokemon, but allow me to elaborate.
Butterfree is a strange choice, but I feel like it's a great Pokemon in VGC and a fantastic lead. A number of you might have seen the annoying Choice Scarf Breloom set that's been running around PO lately, taking advantage of the lack of sleep clause in VGC by outspeeding and Sporing everything. Butterfree plays exactly like Choice Scarf Breloom with a few key changes. With Butterfree, you trade get weaker defenses and a terrible weakness to Rock Slide for an immunity to Ground-type attacks, more Speed, and a x4 resistance to Fighting. What this means is that Butterfree is a much better team player than Choice Scarf Breloom and can work alongside Pokemon like Garchomp and Mamoswine that love spamming Earthquake. That x4 fighting resistance is huge as it allows me to switch into Mach Punches and even Close Combats without taking much damage.
Don't let the bizarre moveset fool you, 99% of the time, Sleep Powder is all I ever use. CompoundEyes means that Sleep Powder is hardly ever missing and there's really no reason to use any other attack when your ally can dish out the pain. The rest of the moveset was just slapping on options for wild, once in a blue moon opportunities. U-turn was added just in case there was a horrendus turn one match-up. Tail Wind is here to act as suicide support if the team needs a speed boost. Toxic's there just in case I need to deal with a really annoying bulky Pokemon ala Cresselia with nothing left than little Butterfree.
Kangaskhan is nearly as odd a choice as Butterfree, but it too has a lot of reasoning behind it. Fake Out with Spore or Sleep Powder is an amazing combination that will leave most opponents pulling their hair out. Hitmontop could work in this slow, but while playtesting this team, it became glaringly obvious that I was done for once Trick Room was set up. Adding Chandelure as an anti-Trick Room Pokemon help, but I needed something good against leading Trick Room that was still useful in most other matches. The solution was Kangaskhan. Scrappy Fake Out is a huge help against Ghost-types trying to sent up Trick Room or against Sableye just trying to screw with me. With Scrappy, Return and Earthquake make for nearly unresisted coverage with only a handful of uncommon Pokemon like Skarmory resisting it. Hammer Arm or Drain Punch can actually obtain that same awesome unresisted coverage, but I really wanted a super-effective hit against the increasingly common Metagross.
The speed EVs allow me to outrun maximum speed neutral nature base 85 Pokemon like Togekiss, Dragonite, and Mamoswine. From there, the rest is dumped into Attack with the remainder in HP for extra bulk. Kangaskhan really needs the extra power Adamant max attack brings, but even then, it still struggles to score a good amount of damage. I was originally using a Life Orb to ramp up the damage, but it detracted from Kangaskhan's bulk. I opted for a Lum Berry in the end to make sure no Will-o-wisp had its way with me and that Rage Powder Volcarona couldn't ruin my fun with Flame Body.
With individual explanations out of the way, it's time to talk about how these two work together and do so so well. Typically, on turn one, Kangaskhan will Fake Out one opponent while Butterfree Sleep Powders the other one. Thanks to Butterfree's 210+ speed with Choice Scarf, it can usually safely Sleep Powder the other awake opponent while Kangaskhan starts wailing away on either of them. From there, Butterfree can switch out after both foes are counting sheep to make a second round of Sleep Powder abuse later in the game, leaving Kangaskhan and a partner safe to pound the opponent.
ThndrHorse | Mamoswine
Thick Fat | 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd | Adamant
Maku | Latios
Levitate | 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd | Timid
With a Pokemon dedicated to support and another not hitting very hard at all, I needed to pack the rest of the team with extremely hard hitting Pokemon. These two form the main attacking core of the team and work really well alongside either Kangaskhan or Butterfree.
Mamoswine has been a decent choice for a while now, but with the release of Thick Fat, I think it's just on the brink of VGC stardom. Thick Fat is extremely helpful, allowing Mamoswine to deal with Blizzards and Heat Waves much easier than ever before. He's this team's star physical attacker. STAB Earthquake and Ice Shard rarely disappoint, netting some surprising KOs on bulky Pokemon. Icicle Spear was chosen over Icicle Crash for its ability to blast through Yache Berries. Most of the time, it's stronger than Icicle Crash anyway. Ice Gem was chosen over a Focus Sash because I didn't really find Mamoswine threatened by OHKOes as often as Chandelure. The power boost from Ice Gem is also a great plus dealing with a metagame with a gaping Ice weakness.
Like Mamoswine, Latios is the team's other powerhouse, smashing through everything with it's awesome coverage and sky high Special Attack. Latios does a lot for this team. As you've probably noticed, there isn't a single Pokemon here that resists Rock-type attacks. Latios can decimate most of the quicker Rock Slide users out there with a Dragon Pulse (Garchomp) or Psyshock (Terrakion). Tyranitar is also there, but it's not taking Mamoswine's Earthquakes comfortably at all. The EVs are self explanitory, max Speed and max Special Attack for quick and brutal hits. With Mamoswine decimating opposing Latios with Ice Gem Ice Shards, I felt like it was safe to run HP Fire to help deal with some troublesome Steel-types Mamoswine has a tougher time with, primarily Metagross. I opted not to run Draco Meteor as I've been hated the Special Attack drop recently, and with Psyshock and HP Fire filling in moveslots, I didn't like the idea of it being my only Dragon-type move.
Phiddlstix | Rotom-W
Levitate | 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd | Modest
HotGarbage | Chandelure
Flash Fire | 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd | Modest
With the team looking good, I now needed a few Pokemon to help against common team archetypes while still being useful in any given game.
Rotom-W, along with Ferrothorn, is the Anti-Rain king. Generally, I like to have at least two water resists on any team so that Surf isn't spammed around as much. Latios gave me one resist and Rotom-W provided the second. The moveset and EVs are self explanitory. I opted for Hidden Power Grass over Hidden Power Ice as Mamoswine and Latios already take care of Dragons and I couldn't smack Gastrodon with much else on the team. Rotom-W works especially well with Mamoswine thanks to its immunity to Earthquake and the way both cover each other's weaknesses. Rotom-W takes care of any Water-types that try to threaten Mamoswine while Mamoswine takes on most Pokemon that try to overpower Rotom-W as well as the occasional Grass-type. I can't say I was a big fan of Rotom-W before I made this team (and I don't think I'll ever be a fan of Hydro Miss), but it served me well taking rain by storm!
Chandelure is here on the occasion that Kangaskhan and Butterfree fail to stop Trick Room from being set up. The set is extremely standard and needs very little explanation. Heat Wave and Shadow Ball for STAB and Trick Room to reverse it or to do something in a weird late game situation where I'll always be outsped. I opted for Chandelure over, say, Cresselia, primarily because I didn't want two dedicated support Pokemon on the team and needed the raw fire power. Not only is Chandelure my secondary answer to Trick Room, but it serves as a back up defense against a few annoying Steel-types, primarily Metagross and the ever annoying Ferrothorn. It doesn't work especially well with other teammate, but it makes up for it with its raw power.
Try it yourself!
Rating can be a pain for some if you don't have hands on experience. Here are links to let you play with the team yourself!
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MrEsc (Butterfree) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Compoundeyes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Sleep Powder
- Toxic
- Tailwind
- U-turn
Stoo (Kangaskhan) (F) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Scrappy
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Fake Out
- Return
- Earthquake
- Protect
ThndrHorse (Mamoswine) (F) @ Ice Gem
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Icicle Spear
- Protect
Maku (Latios) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Dragon Pulse
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Protect
HotGarbage (Chandelure) (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Heat Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Trick Room
- Protect
Phiddlstix (Rotom-W) @ Electric Gem
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Protect
