VGC 2013 Rain Team 2.0

[Polifroeg]

2.1
I've been reading stratigies for about a year so I posted a team, give me your thoughts or tell me what option should I choose or maybe a new team member. I have all members of team but have not yet been ev trained but I have all with right ability and nature at lv1, some male and female but I want to be sure before I EV train. Constructive critisism is appreciated!

Politoed (Polifroeg)
Ivs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 3 Spe
Evs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Drizzle
Quiet
Iron ball

Surf
Ice beam
Hypnois
Protect

Polifroeg as you most likely know sets up rain. He has Iron ball to slow himself down so he can get his weather up. I chose quiet to lower speed . He will use hypnois and Cresselia will use gravity so I can have a 100 accuracy hypnois. Most of the time he will lead out with Pizza, he will use surf and give Pizza a boost while Pizza will use fake out to help slow down the opponent with their strategy/ stall a threat to the team.On other occasions perticulary with sandstorm teams he will be paired with Venom once again he will use surf to heal him while he like pizza will use fake out, then he will more than likely use substitute. He has Ice beam for coverage.

Ludicolo (Pizza)
4HP 252SpA 252 Spe
Swift Swim
Modest
Absorb Bulb

Fake Out
Ice beam
Giga Drain
Hydro Pump

Pizza combined with Swift Swim is a fast and powerful threat this with good rain typing can be great on any rain team. As said before he works with 'polifroeg' receiving surf and stalling with fake out to either protect polifroeg or stall an enemy strategy. He has a very powerful stab in hydro pump when rain is up and with swift swim he will be a threat to many pokemon who may threaten my team.

Kingdra (Triton)
4 HP 252 SpA 252 Spe
Swift Swim
Modest
Life orb

Hydro pump
Ice beam
Draco meteor
Protect

My second and final swift swimmer Triton is named after the son of the sea god for a reason! With the boost of swift swim great typing and mostly even stats he is really powerful. I gave him life orb and not haban berry so he could be more powerful and with swift swim he will outspeed most dragon types anyway. He will usually be used with Cresselia though not as often as the other members of the team he is used when my enemy has a rain team because of his big resistance to water and to take out other kingdra's who my other team members may not be able to take out with icebeam which is their usual dragon counter. In such cases he will be paired with Cesselia so he will use helping hand to defeat the enemy kingdra.

Toxicroak (Venom)
252HP 252Atk 4Spe
Dry Skin
Adamant
Black Sludge

Fake Out
Sucker Punch
Drain Punch
Substitute

Venom is agood switch in aswell as being very handy with combined black sluge and Dry skins 2 effects.His main partner would be king dra though i may start him with poli.
Drain punch heals even more life aswell as being a STAB and good on tyranitar and abomnasnow.
Fake out will be handy when he switches in.
Sucker punch give him a quick move aswell as helping with ghost and psychic types.
Substitute will be healed with his healing capabilities and could help a lot.
He will be used against enemy sandstorm teams swapping with politoed.

Scizor
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Technician
Adamant
Occa Berry

Bullet punch
Superpower
Bug bite
Protect

Scizor has only one weakness, fire which as you should no is weakened in rain.Because he still has weakness in rain and If another weather goes up he can use it. With technition his STAB bug bite goes from 60 to 135 and 100 accuracy! He can OHKO enemies such as abomnasnow, ludicolo, latios and 2HKO cresselia who can all damage my team, especially hail teams because of his steel typing. Bullet punch always goes first and with STAB and technician it's power is 90. Superpower is for steel type threats like Heatran, Protect is on nearly every one in vgc.

Cresselia (She-T)
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Levitate
Calm
Mental herb

Psyshock
Gravity
Icy Wind
Protect

Cresselia is a very common pokemon in VGC and will almost always be used in every one of my battles! I have already mentioned her strategies above so I will only go through them briefly. First we have my Polifroeg strategy which she uses Gravity which means 100 accuracy hypnois ! We also have kingra for rain team's which is basically just boosting with helping hand. Her other moves are thunder wave which can paralyze the opponent which can mess up enemy teams, and finally she has psychic which is a decent STAB.

I hope the descriptions are detailed enough here is a quick idea of what i'll do against many teams.

I replaced Mettagross with Scizor this was his strategy

Metagross (Anville)
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Clear Body
Adamant
Lum berry

Meteor mash
Earthquake
Bullet punch
Protect

Anville has a great strategy combined with She-T, She-T uses Swagger on him which he quickly eliminates the confusion with his lum berry, on this go he will usually attack because he will get swagger but sometimes he can stall. After this he will more than likely receive a helping hand and deal massive dammage!

Basically:
Usually: Politoed Ludicolo Cresselia Scizor
Against Sandstorm, Hail or trick room team:Politoed Toxicroak Cresselia Scizor
Against Rain: Politoed/Toxicroak Ludicolo Kingdra Cresselia
Against Sun: Politoed Ludicolo Kingdra Cresselia
Against Hail: Politoed Toxicroak Cresselia Scizor

 

[Golden Piloswine]

Hello, I'll rate this the best I can.

I think the reason rain teams were so plentiful in VGC'12 because it was a new strategy that some people just couldn't beat. Now I think it's different. While it's not super-standard rain, it's still easy to counter because during team preview it's easy to tell it's rain, while some other teams are a little more disguised. This team still looks good though. :)

Politoed: Read my Cresselia set first to better understand this one.

Hide

Item: Iron Ball
Nature: Quiet
EV: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD

Surf/Scald
Ice Beam/HP Grass
Hypnosis
Protect

Same as yours except I think that a status move is more useful in place of the Hidden Power, but never the less, it is still a good offensive option. It should be considered over Ice Beam because the status moves work really well with Politoed. Hypnosis is amazing with Gravity. It is not usually expected and is a good WOW factor to have on your team. Sleep is one of the best status' you can inflict on your opponent. Scald can be used not only for more power over surf, and the chance to burn. Because sometimes it might have to go out with Meta, or Cress.

Ludicolo looks great. However if you would like to opt for bulky...

Hide

Ability: Rain Dish
Nature: Calm
Item: Leftovers/Sitrus Berry
EV: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD

Leech Seed
Icy Wind/Substitute
Substitute/Giga Drain
Protect

Substitute is really good when you are using a bulky Pokemon. Since you have plenty of attacking Pokemon, I think it's a good idea to do something different. Giga Drain or Icy Wind. Either or, it's all about what you want Ludicolo to do. But don't have Icy Wind and Giga Drain.

Kingdra looks fine. If you decide on Scald for Politoed then you might want to use Surf in place of Hydro Pump, or keep it the same. Also it you really want to pack the power you can use Choice Specs. And replace Protect with Signal Beam, but your set is better than that.

Toxicroak appears to be good.

On Metagross I find Zen Headbutt to be a superior option to Earthquake. So you can replace EQ with that, or Meteor Mash. But Meteor Mash is still an excellent move, so I say replace EQ with ZH.

This set is meant to work in conjuction with Politoed. So if there are Fake Out users on the other team, have Protect on Cress. It is a good lead to start, and I highly recommend it.

Hide

Item: Mental Herb
Nature: Sassy/Relaxed
EV: 252 HP/60 Def/196SpD

Icy Wind
Psyshock
Gravity
Protect

Gravity decreases evasion by two stages, or all moves accuracy is increased by 5/3. Giving the Hypnosis on Politoed an accuracy of 100%! Other than that, Mental Herb is to avoid Taunt which is common because Taunt will ruin the set of Politoed. The rest is fairly obvious with Psyshock > Psychic for the ever-so-common Hitmontop, and Icy Wind for a spread move, to hit dragons, and for speed control. Protect is for Fake Out.

I really hope this helps. I hope I'm not changing your team too much, so I didn't really suggest any other Pokemon. Good luck in VGC!! :D

 

[Polifroeg]

Hello, I'll rate this the best I can.

I think the reason rain teams were so plentiful in VGC'12 because it was a new strategy that some people just couldn't beat. Now I think it's different. While it's not super-standard rain, it's still easy to counter because during team preview it's easy to tell it's rain, while some other teams are a little more disguised. This team still looks good though. :)

Politoed: Read my Cresselia set first to better understand this one.

Hide

Item: Iron Ball
Nature: Quiet
EV: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD

Surf/Scald
Ice Beam/HP Grass
Hypnosis
Protect

Same as yours except I think that a status move is more useful in place of the Hidden Power, but never the less, it is still a good offensive option. It should be considered over Ice Beam because the status moves work really well with Politoed. Hypnosis is amazing with Gravity. It is not usually expected and is a good WOW factor to have on your team. Sleep is one of the best status' you can inflict on your opponent. Scald can be used not only for more power over surf, and the chance to burn. Because sometimes it might have to go out with Meta, or Cress.

Ludicolo looks great. However if you would like to opt for bulky...

Hide

Ability: Rain Dish
Nature: Calm
Item: Leftovers/Sitrus Berry
EV: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD

Leech Seed
Icy Wind/Substitute
Substitute/Giga Drain
Protect

Substitute is really good when you are using a bulky Pokemon. Since you have plenty of attacking Pokemon, I think it's a good idea to do something different. Giga Drain or Icy Wind. Either or, it's all about what you want Ludicolo to do. But don't have Icy Wind and Giga Drain.

Kingdra looks fine. If you decide on Scald for Politoed then you might want to use Surf in place of Hydro Pump, or keep it the same. Also it you really want to pack the power you can use Choice Specs. And replace Protect with Signal Beam, but your set is better than that.

Toxicroak appears to be good.

On Metagross I find Zen Headbutt to be a superior option to Earthquake. So you can replace EQ with that, or Meteor Mash. But Meteor Mash is still an excellent move, so I say replace EQ with ZH.

This set is meant to work in conjuction with Politoed. So if there are Fake Out users on the other team, have Protect on Cress. It is a good lead to start, and I highly recommend it.

Hide

Item: Mental Herb
Nature: Sassy/Relaxed
EV: 252 HP/60 Def/196SpD

Icy Wind
Psyshock
Gravity
Protect

Gravity decreases evasion by two stages, or all moves accuracy is increased by 5/3. Giving the Hypnosis on Politoed an accuracy of 100%! Other than that, Mental Herb is to avoid Taunt which is common because Taunt will ruin the set of Politoed. The rest is fairly obvious with Psyshock > Psychic for the ever-so-common Hitmontop, and Icy Wind for a spread move, to hit dragons, and for speed control. Protect is for Fake Out.

I really hope this helps. I hope I'm not changing your team too much, so I didn't really suggest any other Pokemon. Good luck in VGC!! :D

I like the cresselia idea but are It goes against the mettagross strategy by eliminating swagger and levitate, I could replace mettagross with scizor for this strategy though, as for ludicolo i am kinda more aiming for offense rather but if you really think so I will change it.

 

[Golden Piloswine]

You can replace Icy Wind for Swagger then. Or keep it and replace meta with Scizor. Take or leave defensive Ludicolo whatever works best for you.

 

[Polifroeg]

I got rid of HP grass on politoed because he will be paired with Ludicolo a lot, However I am undecided on Ludicolo but I will train both because ther is plenty of time before the nationals in uk (I think)

 

[Golden Piloswine]

I got rid of HP grass on politoed because he will be paired with Ludicolo a lot, However I am undecided on Ludicolo but I will train both because ther is plenty of time before the nationals in uk (I think)

Ok. Mostly play test Ludicolo to see what is more effective. If you canned HP Grass I would suggest Offensive Ludicolo, but it's completely up to what you feel more comfortable with. Not sure when UK nationals are, but I assume they might be around the same time as North America. (July)

 

[Polifroeg]

Ok. Mostly play test Ludicolo to see what is more effective. If you canned HP Grass I would suggest Offensive Ludicolo, but it's completely up to what you feel more comfortable with. Not sure when UK nationals are, but I assume they might be around the same time as North America. (July)

Thanks 4 da advice. Hope u do well 2