2009 Video Game Championships "Good Stuffs" Team

[Mosquito]

This is my first team for the Pokemon Video Game Championships. I plan to go to the Pokemon Video Game Championships (obviously), so I need a team that will let me succeed at the qualifiers. I might make another team, so no one expect me to use that at the actual tournament.

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Lead #1 (Physical Tank)
Metagross@Lum Berry
Clear Body
Adamant
EVs: I'm keeping them a secret
-Meteor Mash
-Bullet Punch
-Earthquake
-Explosion

[Metagross is on almost every Goodstuffs team, and with good attack, defenses, typing, and Bullet Punch it is a great lead. The Lum Berry negates status effects that would shut down Metagross, such as Sleep and Burn. Meteor Mash is for STAB and things like Cresselia/Gengar/Snorlax. Bullet Punch is for Smeargle and Focus Sashers. Earthquake is used with Gyarados and Latios being immune to Ground and not having a reduction in speed. Also, Earthquake hits Electric types and other Metagross hard. Explosion is a last resort move and hit things that resist Metagross' other moves, such as Zapdos.]

Lead #2 (Physical Sweeper)
Gyarados@Wacan Berry
Intimidate
Adamant
EVs: I'm also keeping these a secret
-Waterfall
-Icy Wind
-Taunt
-Protect

[A support/bulky Gyarados. Waterfall is for STAB and Rain Dance teams, Icy Wind is to slow down opponents, Taunt is to stop set-up teams, and Protect is obvious. The EVs are intended to survive many threats, including most electric attacks]

Back-up #1 (Physical Tank)
Snorlax@Leftovers
Thick Fat
Brave
EVs: 40 HP, 252 Attack, 116 Defense, 100 Sp Defense
-Return
-Fire Punch
-Crunch
-Protect

[Snorlax has good defenses and excellent Attack. It is also slow, so i can take advantage of Trick Room teams. Leftovers is on for recovery purposes. Return is for STAB, Fire Punch is for coverage and Sunny Day teams, Crunch is Dusknoir/Gengar/Cresselia, and Protect is for surviving Metagross explosion. The EVs make my Snorlax at a Leftovers number, makes Snorlax's defense stat 100, and makes Zapdos Zap Plate Thunderbolt a 3HKO.]

Back-up #2 (Special Sweeper)
Latios@Haban Berry
Levitate
Timid
EVs: 8 HP, 248 Sp Attack, 252 Speed
-Draco Meteor
-Thunderbolt
-Hidden Power Ground
-Protect

[Latios, with it's outstanding Special Attack and Speed, finishes up my team as the only special attacker. Draco Meteor is for STAB, Thunderbolt is for hitting things such as Gyarados and Togekiss, HP Ground is for Metagross and Heatran. Protect is obvious. The EVs are the standard sweeper 252/252 (There are 8 HP EVs to optimize the EVs since these pokemon are at level 50).]

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This team looks like it would be successful, but I need the recommendation of more experienced players. If you are wondering, this is a modified version of Romancer's team (The Chiba Winner).

 

[Incarnation]

Could you note down the Clauses and rules for this tournament? it would make rating a lot easier instead of the raters having to search it.

 

[Chinese Dood]

I think a person that doesn't even know the VGS rules shouldn't be rating a VGS team anyway.

I'm not that good, but I'll give you my opinions:
Metagross - pretty much standard other than Hammer Arm over Earthquake. Not a big deal, though Gyara/Latios are immune to EQ anyway, so that also works.

Gyarados - Gyarados isn't going to OHKO or even 2HKO many things in VGS even with 252 Attack. People playing VGS use Gyarados in a support role because it's a good pokemon to come into battle to intimidate its opponents while taking a few hits. Your Gyarados wouldn't really be able to switch in and out of battle a lot, and sash on a bulky pokemon isn't really making use of an item slot very well. Well, basically I think a support role for Gyarados will work better than the one you currently have. I mean, you won't want to taunt something and then just die, right? The purpose of good stuffs teams is that the pokemon in those teams are generally bulky offensive, to take a few hits while being able to attack decently hard, so your gyarados is kind of in the middle of no where.

Snorlax - I think that's fine. The most ideal set, I believe, is having Self-Destruct over either Crunch or Fire Punch, but yours is fine. For EVs, you can probably put most of it into SpD, since Gyarados/Latios can take incoming physical fighting attacks. Some into defense is ok too, but you won't need a whole lot in HP (probably just enough for a leftovers # is fine).

Latios: I think that's fine.

 

[Havak]

I don't think Hammer Arm is really that useful on Metagross. Snorlax is going to be slower than Metagross and you're likely doing over 40% damage with Meteor Mash anyway (I doubt many people will go for more than 500 HP and 200 Def on Snorlax). Then you're free to KO with Bullet Punch if you don't want to risk Meteor Mash missing, or of course you can KO with Earthquake which is a better move in general. Hammer Arm just isn't that useful. Earthquake also helps against opposing Metagross, so you can hit them hard and even if they have a Shuca Berry, you can strike them again later with Latios' Hidden Power.

There's not much point in 8 HP EVs on Gyarados, you should just go for 252 Speed so you can at least tie with things in the same Speed bracket when you want to Taunt something. I wouldn't really call your Gyarados much of a sweeper, and I'm not sure if Focus Sash is really that useful other than giving you the ability to survive one Electric-type attack. But seeing as you're not using Earthquake on Gyarados or Metagross you could be getting into a little trouble against Electric-types early on. Sticking Earthquake on Metagross would help, but there is Zapdos who is likely going to survive an unboosted Stone Edge and be faster. If you're sweeping with Gyarados I'd suggest Dragon Dance.

I like Body Slam on Snorlax, a bit of status could help you at some point. But then again, Return may score some important OHKO or 2HKOes. But Return just seems to be your filler STAB attack while the others are more important for combating Trick Room teams.

Latios is fine really, I'm not too fond of Draco Meteor in this environment but the damage pay off is excellent.

This is just a generally good 'goodstuff' team that should fair rather well. Trick Room teams probably won't get the chance to set up. Rain or Sun teams might if they can flinch Gyarados and set up with their other Pokémon, but your team doesn't look like it'll be really devastated by rain or sun. You can hopefully just protect through the majority of it and explode with Metagross. Snorlax has good HP and can hopefully take a hit or two, and you can hit back hard enough.

I'd be worried of lead Zapdos, so I'd EV your Snorlax a little more in the SpD department so you can get that switch-in if you don't want to almost waste Gyarados just to hope Stone Edge hits it. You could alternatively go to Latios and Draco Meteor, but without a boost this may not be enough either, and it'll be terrible for you if Zapdos simply Roosts off the damage before you can KO it (or if their other Pokémon isn't a good match for Latios).

I've spent a lot of time thinking about strategies for this tournament and I can't see any that are going to obviously outclass this team and not give you a chance. So, I'll say that this should be good enough for you to have a good shot at beating the majority of opponents if you choose to use it.

 

[Mosquito]

I don't think Hammer Arm is really that useful on Metagross. Snorlax is going to be slower than Metagross and you're likely doing over 40% damage with Meteor Mash anyway (I doubt many people will go for more than 500 HP and 200 Def on Snorlax). Then you're free to KO with Bullet Punch if you don't want to risk Meteor Mash missing, or of course you can KO with Earthquake which is a better move in general. Hammer Arm just isn't that useful. Earthquake also helps against opposing Metagross, so you can hit them hard and even if they have a Shuca Berry, you can strike them again later with Latios' Hidden Power.

There's not much point in 8 HP EVs on Gyarados, you should just go for 252 Speed so you can at least tie with things in the same Speed bracket when you want to Taunt something. I wouldn't really call your Gyarados much of a sweeper, and I'm not sure if Focus Sash is really that useful other than giving you the ability to survive one Electric-type attack. But seeing as you're not using Earthquake on Gyarados or Metagross you could be getting into a little trouble against Electric-types early on. Sticking Earthquake on Metagross would help, but there is Zapdos who is likely going to survive an unboosted Stone Edge and be faster. If you're sweeping with Gyarados I'd suggest Dragon Dance.

I like Body Slam on Snorlax, a bit of status could help you at some point. But then again, Return may score some important OHKO or 2HKOes. But Return just seems to be your filler STAB attack while the others are more important for combating Trick Room teams.

Latios is fine really, I'm not too fond of Draco Meteor in this environment but the damage pay off is excellent.

This is just a generally good 'goodstuff' team that should fair rather well. Trick Room teams probably won't get the chance to set up. Rain or Sun teams might if they can flinch Gyarados and set up with their other Pokémon, but your team doesn't look like it'll be really devastated by rain or sun. You can hopefully just protect through the majority of it and explode with Metagross. Snorlax has good HP and can hopefully take a hit or two, and you can hit back hard enough.

I'd be worried of lead Zapdos, so I'd EV your Snorlax a little more in the SpD department so you can get that switch-in if you don't want to almost waste Gyarados just to hope Stone Edge hits it. You could alternatively go to Latios and Draco Meteor, but without a boost this may not be enough either, and it'll be terrible for you if Zapdos simply Roosts off the damage before you can KO it (or if their other Pokémon isn't a good match for Latios).

I've spent a lot of time thinking about strategies for this tournament and I can't see any that are going to obviously outclass this team and not give you a chance. So, I'll say that this should be good enough for you to have a good shot at beating the majority of opponents if you choose to use it.

You're right, Earthquake does seem to be better than Hammer Arm, as Gyarados and Latios are immune to it and Hammer Arm is situational for Snorlax

There was 8 HP on Gyarados because mine has a 30 speed IV. Putting 252 wastes those 4 EVs because 30 IV is an even number. It doesn't matter anyways, since I've changed my Gyarados to a support Gyarados.

For Snorlax, I don't think paralysis will help, especially if I have Icy Wind on Gyarados. However, I might replace Return for STAB Selfdestruct or STAB Double-Edge.

For the Zapdos problem, I will try to think of a good Snorlax EV spread to survive it and other threats.

Thanks Chinese Dood and Havak+ for the help.

 

[Chinese Dood]

Hm, yah, I didn't get why you had 248 speed on Gyarados before instead of 252. I thought you didn't like speed ties and just wanted to outspeed neutral base 80s or something lol. That makes sense now, but tbh, magikarps are definitely one of the easiest things to breed for since they hatch so quickly, so if you have time, you can probably breed for a better one.