Project VGC Teambuilding Competition - Week 15 (almost here) - Building (undetermined)

VGC_TMBding_Comp.png


What is the VGC Teambuilding Competition?
The VGC Teambuilding Competition is a weekly competition where people who wish to participate will be given a Pokemon to build a team around. Once the deadline has ended for team submissions, a vote will be held to see who has built the best team (see below for more information on how to vote).

How to participate
To compete all you need to do is simply reply to this thread with your team and the Pokepaste, as well as a quick overview of how it works.

How to vote
Once voting time comes around, all the teams submitted will be labeled with letters (Team A, Team B, etc.). To vote on said teams you will order them in the order of best to worst, so for example, if I thought that Team B was better than Team A, I would write B > A.

Rules
1. The team you first submit is FINAL, so be careful about what you submit.
2. Teams will be built with the current ruleset of VGC (at the moment, Series 10 rules).
3. Please keep one-liners and other fluff such as teambuilding advice and "oh this team is cool!" out of the thread. If you have a question PM Evelyie.
4. This should be common sense, but no plagiarism, even from previous weeks. You will be warned and potentially infracted.​
 
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Hall of Fame - VGC Teambuilding Competition
Week​
Pokémon​
Winner​
Team​
Original Post​
Week 1​
:politoed:
:politoed: :kingdra: :tapu-Lele: :gengar: :zapdos: :incineroar:
:victini:
Week 2​
:spectrier:
:spectrier: :sylveon: :amoonguss: :regieleki: :tyranitar: :landorus-therian:
:victini:
Week 3​
:tyranitar:
:tyranitar: :dusclops: :rotom-heat: :rillaboom: :blastoise: :togekiss:
:victini:
Week 4​
:celesteela:
:celesteela: :garchomp: :raichu: :milotic: :incineroar: :rillaboom:
:victini:
Week 5​
:dragapult:
:dragapult: :mienshao: :mamoswine: :clefairy: :rotom-heat: :rillaboom:
:victini:
Week 6​
:urshifu-rapid-strike-gmax:
:urshifu-rapid-strike-gmax: :zapdos: :tyranitar: :clefable: :excadrill: :ferrothorn:
:victini:
Week 7​
:blastoise-gmax:
:blastoise: :thundurus: :rillaboom: :regidrago: :landorus-therian: :registeel:
:victini:
Week 8​
:zacian-crowned:
:zacian-crowned: :landorus: :tornadus: :rillaboom: :tapu koko: :mienshao:
:tsareena:
Week 9​
:groudon:
:groudon: :weavile: :spectrier: :zapdos: :whimsicott::entei:
:tsareena:
Week 10​
:kyogre:
:kyogre: :tornadus: :ferrothorn: :incineroar: :landorus: :indeedee:
:tsareena:
Week 11​
:calyrex-shadow:
:calyrex-shadow: :sylveon: :araquanid: :incineroar: :regieleki: :rillaboom:
:tsareena:
Week 12​
:eternatus:
:eternatus: :gothitelle: :aegislash: :incineroar: :urshifu-rapid-strike: :rillaboom:
:tsareena:
Week 13​
:smeargle:
:groudon::tapu lele::mandibuzz::rillaboom::incineroar::nihilego:
:tsareena:
Week 14​
:zacian-crowned:
:zacian-crowned: :goodra: :rotom-wash: :moltres-galar: :incineroar: :grimmsnarl:
:victini:
 
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Swift Swim is overrated
:Metagross: :Politoed: :Rillaboom: :Moltres-Galar: :Urshifu-Rapid-Strike:(water) :Raichu:
https://pokepast.es/449c98935fff1079

The idea behind this team is to not be restricted to a swift swim mon, but still be able to utilize rain. Kingdra is good, but is so limiting in that to make it do much you have to max it AND be in rain at all times, which isn't realistic. So this time, I used politoed and rain defensively for metagross from pesky fire type pokemon and moves, while also having the means to do bulldoze WP shenanigans, albeit much much slower. But a wrong lead from the opponent can spell doom for them if they don't expect this combo. WaterShifu in the rain also hits like a truck, its like having a free choice band boost on poli switch in, while being able to keep the sash.

Moltres really carries the other MUs that metagross can't easily handle, namely ghost and dark mons like pult, shifu, and spectrier. Not to mention but it is an absolute pain for sun teams to break if politoed comes in and sets rain at the right times.

Rillaboom helps break opposing water types, which becomes a huge issue, while also handling our fairly poor eleki matchup.

and raichu is here to, similarly to rilla, help our water and electric matchup, but also helps a ton for ThundyFu or spectrier eleki which would otherwise be a pretty big issue for the team.

Hope you like it! And have fun!
 
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yuki

Huh? Me? Not this time...
is a Site Content Manageris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderatoris a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
Moderator
:ss/Politoed: :ss/Kingdra: :ss/Tapu Lele: :ss/Gengar: :ss/Zapdos: :ss/Incineroar:
https://pokepast.es/ef3ffc29e6e9132b

So, I decided to revisit a core that I found super super cool while I was playing in Series 7. Tapu Lele + Gengar just seemed like a super interesting idea, with Scarf Sweet Scent being capable of spreading sleep easily with Gengar's Hypnosis. Sweet Scent also just generally has good synergy with Politoed + Kingdra, allowing them to fire off 100% accurate Muddy Waters. Magic Room can also be helpful as plenty of Pokemon really rely on their items, such as Eviolite Clefairy or any Assault Vests that would otherwise get in the way of a predominantly special team.It also reintroduces the classic Perish Trap idea thanks to G-Max Terror from Gengar and Perish Song from Politoed. Where the original team from S7 had Celesteela and Grimmsnarl, I've decided to switch these up to bring in Zapdos and Incineroar. Zapdos is a Rain stalwart that I've picked with Safety Goggles to further nullify the impact that Sun can have against this team, as well as being good into Tapu Fini. Incineroar acts as a nice glue, decent bulk, and plenty of utility while also removing some of the anti-synergy that is formed by having Prankster Grimmsnarl alongside Psychic Terrain. It also helps improve the matchup against Glastrier a fair bit, as well as using Politoed as an Ice resist.

I had a really fun time building this, and creating the little nuances such as the Perish Trap idea. I hope you have just as much fun using and viewing this team!

Random spread information:
252+ SpA Choice Specs Transistor Regieleki Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 76 SpD Wacan Berry Politoed: 147-174 (74.6 - 88.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 252 HP / 172+ Def Politoed in Grassy Terrain: 156-186 (79.1 - 94.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
252 Atk Life Orb Thundurus Max Lightning vs. 252 HP / 172+ Def Wacan Berry Politoed: 125-148 (63.4 - 75.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Urshifu Wicked Blow vs. 68 HP / 4 Def Tapu Lele on a critical hit: 129-153 (83.7 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Incineroar uses a fairly standard spread for this team.
Kingdra's HP is optimised for Life Orb (i.e. 10n-1) and its Speed outspeeds Regieleki in the rain.
 
https://pokepast.es/a58248879bbb9910

I personally am a big fan of Kingdra as a mon, which is why I am primarily working around it as the mon for this team. Some primarily ideas that bounced around whilst I was building this team included these few things:
  1. Early/Late Game Perish Trap with Politoed Gothithelle (inspired by the Rain Zacian teams that popped up late S8)
  2. Kingdra for its ridiculously high damage output with Modest Life Orb
  3. Metagross for the team's matchup vs Glastrier
With these 3 ideas in mind, I built this team. As time went on, it became clear what more I wanted from this team, and I later added Grimmsnarl for Screens and Metagross WP proc, and Zapdos to help aid the poor matchup against sun.

So some things I noted when I tested this team out quickly in about 20 games:
  1. It beats basically every Glastrier team I came across. They had no option to way of killing a Metagross with +1 def and Reflect, and died to a +2 Max Steelspike under no Reflect. ( +2 252+ Atk Metagross Max Steelspike vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Dynamax Glastrier: 398-470 (96.1 - 113.5%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO )
  2. Unless the enemy was aware that I was running a bulky Kingdra, SpecClef was a rather advantageous matchup for this rain team.
  3. The worst matchup by far, was sun. Even with Zapdos, it was quite hard to deal with sun if the opponent was playing decently well.
  4. Perish Trap late game was extremely potent. I won quite a few games in this manner.
Well, I may update this post later with more information, but this is it for now.
 
https://pokepast.es/d6bb59a03354d03a - The team
Overview: The mons are pretty simple, Kingdra and Zapdos abuse dynamax as the main maxers of the team, with politoed to set up rain to support the team. Incin helps set up tr, while pivoting with parting shot and disrupting opponents with fake out. Ferro is an end game win con, taking advantage of the rain to mitigate its fire weakness to x2 rather than x4, with p2 helping by setting up tr for it and providing another win con with recover stalling.

The sets: Politoed's special attack and mystic water is to ohko the most common incin spread at +1 from max ooze from kingdra with scald. It has perish song for a wincon, and hypnosis so it can't just be ignored. The incin spread is pretty generic, I opted for no flare blitz as with rain being up a lot of the time I didn't find it necessary. Instead I chose taunt to stop set up shenanigans and things like amoonguss from sporing my entire team. Zapdos is generic with its hp stat optimized to take less life orb recoil. Kingdra's spread is to speed creep mons reaching 139 to outspeed eleki after a x2 modifier(it reaches 140 with the ev's and nature). Ferro's set is generic, and p2 has offensive calcs on fini, who threatens this team(aside from zapdos), with thunder.

Calcs:
+2 252 SpA Moltres-Galar Max Darkness vs. 60 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Dynamax Kingdra: 127-151 (40.1 - 47.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Tapu Fini Max Starfall vs. 60 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Dynamax Kingdra: 134-162 (42.4 - 51.2%) -- 3.1% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Transistor Regieleki Thunder vs. 60 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Dynamax Kingdra: 135-159 (42.7 - 50.3%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 60 HP / 4 Def Dynamax Kingdra in Grassy Terrain: 129-153 (40.8 - 48.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
+1 36+ SpA Mystic Water Politoed Scald vs. 244 HP / 188+ SpD Incineroar in Rain: 212-252 (105.4 - 125.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO (+1 from an ooze boost from kingdra)
4 Atk Kartana Leaf Blade vs. 236 HP / 228 Def Politoed: 168-198 (86.1 - 101.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 236 HP / 228 Def Politoed in Grassy Terrain: 162-192 (83 - 98.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
+1 188+ SpA Porygon2 Thunder vs. +1 244 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Fini: 90-108 (51.1 - 61.3%) -- 92.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (same damage as if you are both neutral)
+1 188+ SpA Porygon2 Thunder vs. 244 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Fini: 136-160 (77.2 - 90.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (Calc is to show you 2hko even after a potential sitrus berry)
 
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https://pokepast.es/dbd908015c5c8dca The original AF team...

Ok so my thought process of building:

:politoed::kingdra: OK so this is nothing new. Politoed sets up the rain and kingdra just hits things HARD with LO and rain boost. Politoed coming with a helping hand just adds to this. A solid core that benefits each other.

:metagross: OK so I was looking at polidra's main weakness, and I realised that with s9 removing zacian, bulky fairies were back in business. SO, I needed a fairy check. Obviously, rain benefited steels, so I decided to go with metagross. This bulky behemoth benefits from poli's bulldoze using a WP and clear body and it can take a beating allowing for a bulkier lead. It also does great on its own, and can be brought in the back.

:urshifu: Now, I will admit that Urshifu brings nothing of value to a rain team, but...it's urshifu. A strong balance team killer, which can pose a deadly threat to an offensively oriented rain team Also, it's fairy weakness is coutneracted with the fact that metagross is on the team.

:incineroar: This bad boi, Mr. 90% usage rate, is coming in to stop amoongus and trickroom setters. Incin also helps check dangerous physical threats.

:rillaboom: Last but not least, the monke. Monke adds what this team lacks, and that is a solid water checker. I chose rillaboom since it simply has a reliable GMAX if all goes wrong and it can certainly take a beating


This is my first time doing this so any criticism is appreciated
 
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Hello all! Glad to see the teams getting posted. I figured that even though I am the leader of this that I should still chip in, so here you go. Here is my Politoed team, as well as the building process.

Double Dragon Rain Offense

:politoed: :kingdra: :garchomp: :regieleki: :amoonguss: :incineroar:

:politoed: :kingdra: I started with the tried and true rain core of Politoed Kingdra. For Kingdra I went with a standard Life Orb three attacks, those attacks being Draco Meteor, Hydro Pump, and Hurricane. Its main goal is to sweep unprepared teams under rain, and it does that against a lot of cores, notably having a good matchup versus the potent TRUNK-G. With Politoed I used a variation of Juan Naar's Choice Specs set, simply changing up the EVs to outspeed max speed Jolly Landorus-T at plus one, and then dumping the rest in bulk and special attack.

:politoed: :kingdra: :garchomp: When building a rain team, I believe that your top priorities should be rain setter (Politoed), rain abuser (Kingdra), and sun counter since that is rain's trickiest matchup. For this role, I decided to go with Saftey Goggles Garchomp. This thing sets up for free on unsuspecting Venusaur thanks to Saftey Goggles and can straight up sweep from there, making sun much easier for this otherwise sun weak team. The EV spread is handcrafted to counter sun as well, with the speed investment outspeeding max speed Charizard, and the attack investment always OHKO'ing Dynamaxed Charizard with Max Rockfall at neutral attack. While Garchomp is mainly here for sun, it also helps versus Regieleki, a tough Pokemon for my two water types.

:politoed: :kingdra: :garchomp: :regieleki: The next priority, in my opinion, on every rain team is a way to beat other water types, usually with an electric type. I was debating between Zapdos and Regieleki but ended up going with Eleki since my team already has a bunch of max options. Thunder Regieleki is a monster on my team, blasting through the extremely tough Tapu Fini. For the last three moves, Protect, because duh, Electroweb, helpful for activating my slow offense in Politoed, and Volt Switch for pivoting around and winning the weather war against other weather teams. I went with Magnet over Focus Sash because Thunder actually has no switch-ins besides ground types with it
252 SpA Magnet Transistor Regieleki Thunder vs. 4 HP / 244 SpD Assault Vest Kartana: 69-81 (51.1 - 60%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

:politoed: :kingdra: :garchomp: :regieleki: :amoonguss: For my next slot, I wanted a better switch-in to Rillaboom, as well as a TR counter since my team is pretty fast. Amoonguss does both of these really well, so I added it in. I went with a pretty standard set, with Protect, Rage Powder, Spore, and Giga Drain, which is basically the standard. My EV spread is slightly different, however, it can live a plus one Landorus-T Max Airstream with Coba Berry. This EV spread also has the benefit of not giving Porygon2 a Download boost in its Special Attack while being the bulkiest it possibly can on both sides of the spectrum. Amoonguss also pairs extremely well with Garchomp, letting it safely set up Swords Dance with Rage Powder.

:politoed: :kingdra: :garchomp: :regieleki: :amoonguss: :incineroar: For my sixth and final slot, who would have thought, the VGC king, Incineroar. I added this to help against Coba Berry Amoonguss, completely stuffing it since I have Taunt. Incineroar also helps versus Glastrier and Kartana, both of which can be a tricky matchup for sure. My spread is quite interesting, 140 speed outspeeds 0-speed Heatran and gets the jump on literally every Incin. It lacks on a lot of bulk but in my opinion, it's worth it. Moveset pretty standard, not much to say, and that's about it.

Here's the paste: https://pokepast.es/30d4a9537f8f86fc

Edit: I forgot to mention it but my Kingdra spread is 10n-1 for Life Orb chip and also outspeeds Regieleki in rain.
 
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jonas

put your hands to the constellations
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributor
DPL Champion
I couldn't decide which team to send in, so i guess I'll drop both! Thanks to Raineko for giving me a second mon to build around being ludicolo.

Ludicolo Bulky Offense - https://pokepast.es/7550cf94d76222b2
Ludicolo Hyper Offense - https://pokepast.es/86d55d2ace6f49ae
Ludicolo is a very unique mon bringing both fast speed control and fakeout/max pressure. it is a bulky pivot, and can tank multiple hits from even the strongest threats in the metagame, such as regieleki.

The First Team Features Gothitelle which is very strong for punishing passive leads with mons that deal a ton of damage, Like Zapdos and Glastrier. The hardest thing to play around is sash urshifu, which can live a hit from zap and KO your goth with any damage dealer next to it. that is easily circumventable by going into politoed, with massive bulk can tank a hit always.

The Second Team Features Mixed Eleki, and support thundurus. I think support thundurus is really strong on rain because it gives you damage reduction, reliable weather resets, and stopping trickroom all in one, which rain teams always need. thundurus + eleki is an auto win into sunroom, and with physical eleki also goes hard against other threats like Urshifu.

I hope you enjoy these teams, as i tried to build outside of the box for this fun competition



Submitting: Ludicolo Hyper Offense
 
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:politoed: :kingdra: :entei: :rillaboom: :crobat: :steelix:
Some individuals in the VGC community may describe my teambuilding as "mentally ill".

These people are correct.

Muddy water is an objectively awful move in a game where consistency is king, as it has the accuracy of a toddler kicking a soccer ball. However, it provides excellent spread water damage, which is one of the major attractions of rain. While I loathed using Muddy Water, I still did want to utilize spread water damage in my teambuilding. So, I took surfing lessons.

I like my teams able to function with multiple maxes and modes, so even though I built around Surf spamming Toed and Kingdra, It was important for me to make sure that I didn't have to bring them. The final team turned out not only to be surprisingly decent and fun to play, but it also has a functional shitmon on it for optimal psychological damage, and as we all well know, VGC players are incredibly susceptible to that.

:politoed:
Absorb Bulb Politoed is interesting: It allows both Politoed and Kingdra to enable the other offensively, allowing for the maxing of either. It's a delightful little set, one that is several generations old by now. Politoed's speed evs hits 101, which outspeeds Spectrier in Tailwind or at +2. The rest is dumped into spa and general bulk.
:kingdra:
Standard Kingdra. While I do enjoy Modest's damage output, Timid's ability this year to outspeed Regieleki is just too valuable. Amusingly, I don't actually tend to max Kingdra most of the time: it doesn't tend to pick up the ohkos you want it to. Spreading Surf damage on the board proved a much more efficient time.
:entei:
Deals with Kartana, Sun, Glastrier, etc. I had Incineroar here intially, but wanted something faster that could also ohko charizard while providing the same functions. Basically generic AV Entei with Bulldoze over snarl for a means of speed control + WP abuse for Steelix in the back. Maximum speed evs to tie charizard, with enough attack investment to ohko via flare most fatter venu in sun, and ko Zard with Rockfall. Rest dumped into bulk.
:rillaboom:
Rilla here is an electric resist, as well as means of surf damage mitigation and opposing water obliterator. A decent amount of Special defense and bulk investment to help handle surf damage, with Miracle Seed to help push the role it is supposed to fill even further.
:crobat:
This thing hard shits on venusaur and Rillaboom, and is also able to smack Tapu Fini incredibly hard, which Politoed Kingdra struggles to hit. Thanks to Inner Focus, it is immune to intimidate this generation, so its damage stat is able to stick. Tailwind is self explanatory, but the real interesting thing here is Quick Guard: With Quick Guard, Crobat is not only able to block things like Fake Out, Sucker Punch and Grassy Glide, but also shut down debuffs from opposing prankster Pokemon like Grimmsnarl or Supportive Thundurus. This has proved incredibly valuable to have. Speed evs outspeed offensive Thundurus, with maximum attack and a bit of bulk to help handle Brave Bird recoil.
:steelix:
So this slot has been multiple different mons over the course of building: Metagross, Ferrothorn, Registeel, Garchomp, Mamoswine, Landorus, Zapdos, Regieleki, Regirock, Thundurus-T, Kartana, Togedemaru, Stakataka, Magnezone, Excadrill, etc. I eventually came to the conclusion that I wanted a Pokemon that could answer Glastrier, Regirock, Metagross, Regieleki, Thundurus, etc all in one slot, while also having a good Trick Room matchup. A few things worked for that: Metagross, Stakataka, Ferrothorn, as examples. However, Metagross made my team weaker to Dragapult and Spectrier, so it was off the table. I tried Stakataka and ferrothorn, but staka tended to die way too often to things it was supposed to beat, and ferrothorn made my sun matchup a bit worse, all without provide a flying resist nor a good max option. So I was a bit stumped. I tried out Excadrill for a bit, and while the electric immunity was great, it had barely any physical defense, so it often wasn't able to tank enough hits to abuse its weakness policy and actually beat Regirock and Glastrier. I was about to just go Registeel and call it a day, when I saw something at the bottom of the search window.

Immediately I thought that the idea was stupid. That there was no way that it would work. That it would just be a waste of time.

But....then again, I had nothing but time to spend.

Steelix, as it turns out, provided exactly what I was looking for. It could scrap with Regirock and Glastrier and come out on top, all while having enough bulk to actually be able to switch it into things. It could obliterate Thundurus without maxing, and didn't particularly mind Charizard either with rain on the team. It had an electric immunity and rock resist, which was fantastic for my team. And above all: it was fun to play. Look at how stupid that big metal snake is. You know its bad, I know its bad, and as soon as your eyes land upon it, you sputter breath from your mouth in disbelief. And for a non-tournament team: that's okay!

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8vgc2021series9-1326261696

The above replay is a 100% cherry picked replay from one of the room tours (which are usually not a display of quality vgc). However, it demonstrates Steelix in action pretty amusingly, and is above all a hilarious replay to watch. You'll probably get a chuckle out of it.
 
:Politoed: :Kingdra: :Excadrill: :Rillaboom: :Incineroar: :Mienshao: Click on the pokemon for the team or the paste lol
https://pokepast.es/184e9bdab78c0535
Coaching Excadrill Rain.

The idea of Excadrill + rain is that Excadrill is able to deal with common rain threats in Regieleki, Zapdos, Thundurus, Rotom-W, Tapu fini,(who it can beat quite easily with Max Quake spdf boosts), . Rain is able to handle common threats to Excadrill, Intimidate, Incineroar, Landorus-t, Metagross, Torkoal, Coaching and Intimidate support alongside Weakness Policy allow Excadrill to handle common Trick room threats to rain like Glastrier, and Stakataka can be threatening to rain with a policy boost. Mienshao and Excadril are also able to help VS Regigigas Weezing. Fake Out support from Mienshao and Rillaboom, along with an electric immunity made me feel comfortable enough VS Regieleki to run Modest Kingdra. Incineraor with safety goggles and Taunt is one of the best answers to status moves which is very much appreciated on a team lacking them like this.

Mienshao is pretty much the best Coaching option to support Excadrill. Inner Focus Fake Out immunity lets Mienshao do its job of giving Coaching boosts. Mienshao also has a powerful STAB Close Combat capable of thwarting Incineroar along with Inner Focus to avoid it's Intimitate. Fake Out is very useful in thwarting redirection priority and much more.

Teambuilding prosess was something like this
:Mienshao: :Excadrill:
So i started with Mienshao Excadrill than decided to slap on rain to cover Excadrill's Weaknesses. MIenshao loves being paired with a ground type who doesn't mind Regieleki and matches up well into the Flying-types of the tier enter Excadrill. of course this duo has Issues like Thundurus+ Urshifu, Landours-T, and Urshifu. Excadrill has something unique in being able to destroy Rotom-W with a Mold Breaker Max Quake.

:Mienshao: :Excadrill: :Kingdra: :Politoed:
Rain Covers the threats of Metagross, Landours-T, Urshifu, Incineroar, Thundurus+ Urshifu, Torkoal, Thundurus well. Rain also helps VS Sun who Excadrill struggles with quite a bit. After this i tried to cover the threats of Tapu Fini and status.

:Mienshao: :Excadrill: :Kingdra: :Politoed: :Rillaboom:
Rillaboom is one of the best Tapu Fini answers in the game and loves rains ability to check fire types and landorus-t so well. Rillaboom is AV to best handle opposing Rain teams Coaching support from Mienshao can really help it in handling Rain by dealing with its Intimidate and destroying Incineroar. When not weakned by Intimidate Rillaboom is very strong mauling just about anything that doesn't resist Grass and still doing to resists.

:Mienshao: :Excadrill: :Kingdra: :Politoed: :Rillaboom: :Incineroar:
Incineroar with Safety goggles and Taunt is one of the most reliably answers to status conditions in the game. Incineroar with Safety Goggles is a strong Venusaur answer which rain and Excadrill can struggle with. Incineroar's Intimidate can also help Excadrill in handling pokemon such as Amoonguss, Stakataka and Glastrier.
 
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https://pokepast.es/c7ae8e8b8b72de79
SUBOPTIMAL STAKATAKA RAIN
https://pokepast.es/790eaf522ba4378b
or even better, BELLY DRUM POLITOED RAIN

The coward's rain and the Chad rain. only difference is the Politoed set. I will be submitting the coward's rain (the first paste) because I didn't have time to get any good replays with the second one. Here's a quick overview of the team:

1619103247329.png
1619103266516.png

This team was mostly a copy of the rain team from players cup 2, but with some minor adjustments. I immediately changed the politoed set from specs to a standard support set since Kingdra hits like a suburban white mom without helping hand boosts. The two are pretty self explanatory, Politoed provides the rain, and Kingdra abuses it.

1619104042843.png

But why would you run support Politoed with perish song when it learns belly drum? You're not a coward, are you?
While this set fulfills a similar role, still providing rain and helping hand support, Drum Toed is complete bo1 tech and I feel no shame in running it. The plan is simple, lead it next to Clefairy and drum up, then start killing things with +6 max geyser in the rain. Bounce gives it max airstream and this spread allows politoed to outspeed max speed base 100s after an airstream. This turns Rillaboom and Amoonguss, would be checks, into airstream food and a free +1. I decided to keep helping hand on the set since what I said earlier about Kingdra hitting like a kingdergardener still applies, and its not like Toed needs any coverage with how strong its water moves are at +6. The HP stat is optimized so that sitrus berry will always proc after belly drum.

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The original team had celesteela and raichu, I don't know why, it just did. With none of the team members being anything close to a Glastrier answer, I had several options. I considered Metagross, but decided it made the team too weak against Spectrier. Enter Stakataka, with its immense bulk and weakness to intimidate, something that the rain duo deterred very well. I obviously no longer needed Raichu, so I replaced it with Clefairy. Clef's friend guard ability boosts Stakataka's already absurd bulk up to dangerous levels, meaning KOing stakataka with an earthquake or muddy water before trick room went up, was almost impossible. I decided to give Stak a weakness policy allowing it to benefit even more from friend guard. Stak walls Spectrier for the most part, taking minimal damage from max quake while dynamaxed. Max quake will actually activate the weakness policy, making it even easier to sweep. With this set, Stak creates a 50/50 on lead where it can either dynamax and start killing things with helping hand boosted attacks, or set up trick room and start sweeping afterwards. Stak gets to be shiny because I said so.

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Entei is also here, but I honestly think it could be replaced with incineroar if you wanted. It provides a check to the grass types that otherwise give this team issues such as Rillaboom and Kartana. It was also a good safety net against Ferrothorn, being able to burn it late game and reduce its damage output by a good chunk while also doing big damage with sacred fire. In emergency scenarios, Entei can be used to beat Glastrier outside of trick room with 2 max flares. Also does well vs sun being able to ohko Charizard with rockfall and Venusaur with flare. Does need Clefairy to deal with sleep powder which can be an issue, so goggles could be used over shuca berry here.

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Choice band Rillaboom deals with Tapu fini and Regieleki very handily, being able to ohko both of them with grassy glide should they choose not to dynamax. Its also just a great option to bring late game and clean up with its strong priority. Rillaboom also greatly benefits from Politoed and Kingdra scaring away the two most common intimidate users in Landorus-T and Incineroar.


A couple replays of bo3s using the coward's version of this team:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8vgc2021-1306967882-5krenppkdc84g3fvpal0fyva3u47gqrpw
Kingdra KOs a metagross and incineroar, setting up for an easy Rillaboom endgame
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8vgc2021-1306965895-g4emj4rtewjcrt7veki45f4xasxq3yupw
Opponent clicks muddy water in front of stak, loses the game because of it
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8vgc2021-1310839366-y80divhgd77659j4euvu94sdf3f2x1mpw
Stakataka Clef lead sweeps the entire team
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8vgc2021-1310842968-4ki8hmgkrosvlavjb8sh3eov41jzmdepw
Kingdra stops opposing metagross from getting weakness policy, setting up for a perish song endgame

I always forget to save replays because I'm too busy not remembering to save replays. There are probably some more ask Nexonus or something.
 
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Firstly, thanks for making this competition! I had a ton of fun making this team, and I'm quite happy with what I came up with.

Now, without further ado, I present to you, Rain's Rain Team:
politoed.gifcelesteela.gifrhyperior.gifregieleki.gifincineroar.gifkingdra.gif

PokePaste: https://pokepast.es/192050dfc0f6c39b

Team Breakdown:

Politoed:
Politoed is here to set up rain with its Drizzle ability and then assist its allies by using Helping Hand to boost the power of allies' attacks or Icy Wind to reduce the enemies' speed. The team has both+ fast and slow attackers, so the speed control may or may not be necessary depending on which mons were brought and what the opponent is doing. In the event where it is not needed, Scald is an option to provide some decent damage and possibly a burn. The last move is Protect because Protect is good. Politoed's item is a Damp Rock to extend the duration of rain, and its EVs are specially defensive, which might help it to survive a Thunderbolt here and there. Politoed cannot do much on its own, but it plays a pivotal role on the team by setting up rain, which the rest of the team is poised to abuse.

Celesteela & Rhyperior:
I found this to be a very powerful pairing, but Celesteela is the real star of the show on this team. It has very good bulk and only two weaknesses, both of which can be completely covered up by its allies. It's Fire weakness is effectively eliminated due to the fact that rain halves the power or Fire moves, and it doesn't need to worry about Electric attacks at all due to Rhyperior redirecting them with its Lightning Rod ability. Its considerable offensive strength and proper support can turn it into an unstoppable juggernaut while Dynamaxed. Rhyperior can make quick work of mons such as Torkoal and Regieleki with its STAB Earthquake, and in turn, Celesteela takes out many of Rhyperior's potential threats, such as Rillaboom, with its STAB Max Airstream. The rest of the moves are fairly standard; I chose a physical set for Celesteela, but a special set would probably work almost as well. Celesteela's EVs are focused on Attack and HP to improve its damage and bulk respectively; Rhyperior has done the same, except it invested in its somewhat poor Special Defense instead of HP. Celesteela holds a Weakness Policy (more on that later) and Rhyperior holds a Focus Sash, which allows it to survive a 4x effective hit and fire off one last attack that the opponent was likely not expecting. The only things this duo of colossi fear are strong water attacks, which is somewhat ironic due to their presence on a rain team. However, this is not a problem at all, thanks to the next member of our team.

Regieleki:
Regieleki's role on this team is very simple - to nuke everything with 100% accurate STAB Thunder. It does this job very well thanks to its blistering speed and Transistor ability. It has a Timid nature and EVs fully invested into Special Attack and Speed, and it holds a Magnet to further boost the power of its Electric moves, making them powerful enough that they can even take out foes that resist them! In addition to Thunder, Regieleki has Electroweb for more speed control and Volt Switch to pivot out while doing damage. The final move is, of course, Protect. It's important to note that while Regieleki does an excellent job of covering up Rhyperior's 4x water weakness, it should not be on the field at the same time as Rhyperior. Although it may seem to be a glaring counter-synergy, it is actually surprisingly easy to work around while playing, and will virtually never be a problem as long as you are careful.

Incineroar:
Of course I had to include Incineroar; it's not without reason that he is present on nearly every VGC team. My Incineroar set had one slot taken up by a more unusual move choice, however - Ember. This is here to activate Celesteela's Weakness Policy while dealing minimal damage to it. The other moves are standard support: Fake Out, Snarl, Parting Shot. It doesn't have Flare Blitz because its effectiveness would be reduced by rain, and it doesn't have Darkest Lariat just because that slot was taken up by Ember, which is vital because the Celesteela/Rhyperior duo is so good at covering its own weaknesses that the WP doesn't usually get activated by enemies. EVs and Nature are configured to give it good physical and special bulk, and it holds a Sitrus Berry to stay alive longer. Similar to Politoed, it's role on the team is vital, subtle though it may be.

Kingdra:
I wasn't originally planning to bring Kingdra, but as we all know, it synergizes incredibly well with Politoed and rain, so I decided to run it after all as a secondary Dynamax option. Kingdra has the standard Life Orb set with Hurricane (100% accurate in rain), Scald, and Draco Meteor. It has all its EVs invested into Special Attack and Speed to make it hit as hard as possible, and a Modest nature because I'd rather have more damage over more speed. Ability is of course Swift Swim, which will make it fast enough that a Timid Nature isn't necessary. Last move slot is Protect to help it stay alive longer. It's a very good option for an attacker in the event that the Celesteela/Rhyperior core isn't suitable, and although I call it a fallback option, it isn't by any means a downgrade. Kingdra is also very good against Sun teams, which the rest of the team tends to struggle against. In the event that the enemy sets up sun, you can easily turn the tables with a Max Geyser from Kingdra, hopefully killing the sun setter in the process.

Playstyle:

As a whole, the team is pretty balanced, with a mixture of glass cannons and bulky attackers. It can hold its own inside of TR, and even against enemy Tailwind. Like most rain teams, it struggles a bit against sun teams, but the disadvantage is not so large that it can't be surmounted. The general strategy is to lead with Politoed and Kingdra, Eleki, or Incineroar. The former two provide a good offensive pressure, and the latter can take the edge away from aggressive enemy teams. Often, the opponent will predictably target Politoed with a Grass attack, which makes for the perfect opportunity to safely switch into Celesteela. When you switch into Steela, you will generally want to have either Incineroar (for WP activation) or Rhyperior (for attack redirection) as a partner. If you didn't Max Kingdra, then you will usually want to Dynamax Celesteela as soon as possible to start stacking up boosts with Airstream, Knuckle, and of course its ability Beast Boost (its EVs are such that it will receive an Attack boost after KOing a foe). If you have Rhyperior as a partner, then you can take advantage of Celesteela's Max Knuckle to fire off some powerful Earthquakes and pick up any KOs that Celesteela missed. The more defensive alternative is to keep Incineroar in, using Snarl and Parting shot to neutralize potential threats to Celesteela. Once Celesteela goes down, it is probably time to switch into your secondar attacker (Eleki or Kingdra) and sweep through the remains of your enemy's team.

Replays:

Against another rain team. Rhyperior's Sash was essential to winning here. (I accidentally used an older version of my team which had Kartana instead of Incineroar, but that doesn't matter because I didn't bring it and all of the movesets are the same.)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8vgc2021series9-1326914948

In this match, a WP-boosted Celesteela singlehandedly smashed through the entire enemy team with its powerful Max Moves.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8vgc2021series9-1326997426

In this match, the Celesteela and Rhyperior duo worked exactly as intended Rhyperior redirected super-effective moves and finished off weakened foes, while Celesteela dealt out provided boosts with its Max Moves.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8vgc2021series9-1327182085

Against a sun team. No time to write anymore description because the submission deadline is in 2 minutes!
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8vgc2021series9-1327183013

Thanks for reading!
 
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Okay so i whipped this up in like 10 minutes, meat aggron rain (idk i just wanted to use aggron)
Paste: https://pokepast.es/f673360457c44bd5
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
|TEAM REPORT|

:ss/politoed:

We get the point, you the big star of this competition, but your just standard politoed, this set is simple enough, survive attacks with 252 Hp, burn things with somewhat powerful scalds, stop dynamax with haze, protect... is just protect, rindo is there for You-Know-Who, eleki will be dealt with later, lets focus on the REAL star of this team.

:ss/aggron:

THIS BAD BOI, it sadly has 2 big weaknesses, so those had to be hard covered, water types hit ground, and our next mon will hit the fighting types (i gues kingdra counts) aggron is cool with av it's very bulky and rock head and head smash, a glorius combination no recoil with strong head smashes that ANNIHILATE any flying type that threatens our next mon, and is so strong, iron head is an amazing stab, ice punch hits grass types, earthquake is earthquake, and this bad boi is just a cool guy

:ss/urshifu-rapid-strike:

here's urshi, of course water urshi would be on a rain team, rain boosted surging strikes and hitting fighting type for aggron as well as additionally using coaching for peak damage output on aggron, this mon is a menace in rain paired with aggron, and aggron destroys flying types for it making for an excellent duo

:ss/kingdra:

You knew it was bound to be seen, kingdra is overrated, specs kingdra has amazing damage output and it's another way to hit fighting and ground types for aggron, while i do have my bias for the other mons on this team, specs kingdra is a must when ur using politoed, well not specs but you get the point, kingdra is overrated.

:ss/excadrill:

taking insperaiton from what of the other commenters, excadrill is here to ht elekis, now the interesting part here is scope lens drill run, a guranteed crit ground move paried with swords dance and a staggering attack stat, its a very good move, and the coaching from urshi only gets it to peak preformance and its a good pick for this team

:ss/rillaboom:

RILLLABOOOM-BOOM-BOOM, simple why he's here, he deals with water types for excadrill, hes also very powerful, priority grassy glide and miracle seed with stab is amazing, fake out allows free kills for aggron or urshifu, and grassy terrain ony adds to aggrons bulkiness, rilla is overrated though but hes a good fit on this team
 
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Hey look at me actually posting for once

https://pokepast.es/b296dc9f5afde8ab

Politoed
Politoed is the main mon here. There isn't really a lot to say about Politoed that most of us wouldn't already know. Drizzle + naturally decent bulk makes for a reliable addition for any rain team. In fact, it is the go-to for rain teams. Muddy Water was the STAB move of choice here for usable damage output in the rain as well as potential accuracy drops against non-max mons. Protect gives Politoed more longevity on the field and potential to survive max moves to activate the Sitrus Berry. Helping Hand allows Politoed to increase the damage from its partner; in the heat of battle this can sway the situation into your favour. The last move chosen here is Icy Wind. Icy Wind is present as a form of speed control. Given how Max Airstream is one of, if not the best of the max moves it made sense to have a way to deal with it. While not the most reliable way to manage speed it does well in tangent with your other modes.

The EV spread here is for only one calc in particular:
252+ Atk Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 196 HP / 244 Def Politoed in Grassy Terrain: 158-188 (83.1 - 98.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
The HP can be lower but that leaves Politoed with 189 HP meaning that your Sitrus Berry does not activate at 50% like it would with an even number. While it is also true that you could run Rindo Berry in place of Sitrus Berry you end up in many cases where the held item is not useful. Thus, Sitrus Berry is the better item.

Omastar
Omastar was an interesting pick here. With a higher damage output than Kingdra (base 115 vs 95) and Meteor Beam I decided to give it a try. Omastar is only ever brought when you have Politoed. Rain + Muddy Water is a great way to get a fast start to heavy damage. Alternatively, you can click Meteor Beam for the immediate and devastating power. Earth Power was chosen as the last move mostly for the Max Quake boosts it can provide. Against teams lacking a Rillaboom/Venusaur Omastar becomes a phenomenal max option. Swift Swim + Rain allows you to outspeed a solid portion of the meta by hitting a speed of 214 (exactly 1 point faster than 252+ Dragapult).

The EV spread is simple and clean. Maximum damage, maximum speed, and the rest goes into HP for those instances where you make use of Dynamax Omastar.

Cobalion
When you run rain you almost always run a Steel type. Metagross is usually what you have in this slot but I felt it was too slow for my needs. Kartana is another common choice on rain teams but I decided that I wanted a mode that could be used outside of rain and could potentially help me in some Charizard match-ups which would otherwise be based on weather war predictions.

Close Combat and Iron Head are Cobalion's main STAB attacks. The combination of Max Steelspike boosts and Assault Vest gives Cobalion plenty of bulk, making it an ideal alternative max option. Bounce is fantastic for getting speed boosts to further make Cobalion a threat on the field. Lastly, Stone Edge was chosen for the Charizard match-up. Being base 108 speed vs Charizard's 100 base speed means you can fairly reliably max and take out Charizard.

The EV spread and item are fairly straight-forward here. Maximum your speed and damage output then invest in HP. Assault Vest is used since Cobalion wants to run 4 offensive moves and more often than not will end up maxing. The bulk you get from double HP and 1.5x special defense boosts is too good to pass up.

Dragapult
Dragapult has been selected for the team since it offers a lot of tools to assist nearly everyone on the team in some manner combined with a fantastic typing and ability. Breaking Swipe applies pressure on a lot of physical attackers. Beat Up allows you to instantly boost Cobalion to new heights of damage output without having to worry about being flinched by Fake Out. Due to having Break Swipe I opted for Light Screen to give a special defense boost to the team. With two ways of reducing the opponent's damage output Dragapult was an obvious fit. Lastly, we have Will-O-Wisp. Will-O-Wisp helps against those who are immune to Breaking Swipe's attack drops. While not many are prevalent there is one notable one; the ever popular Clear Body Metagross laughs in the face of Breaking Swipe but with the potential to get burned one must be cautious lest you suffer the fate of a burned Pokemon.

Safety Goggles is being used here to prevent redirection from Rage Powder users. Rather than max attack we run max HP as to reduce Beat Up damage. You could argue Timid over Jolly but with a -Attack nature Dragapult would have no damage output at all against the enemy. Maximum speed with a Jolly nature is used to capitalize on Dragapults blitzing speed. With the remaining EVs they go into attack as they serve no real purpose in any defensive stat.

Rillaboom
What's a rain team without a grass type? Nothing like a funky monkey for the team. Grassy Glide and Wood Hammer are your offensive moves. Between Grassy Terrain, STAB, and Miracle Seed you will devastate with Grassy Glide. For those bulkier pests you can click Wood Hammer for massive damage, if not outright picking up the knockout. Fake Out and Taunt help you keep Trick Room at bay. Fake Out is also great for applying pressure while Taunt can potentially be used to shut down Grimmsnarl and Indeedee-Female.

The EV spread goes all in on attack to make the most out of your grass power. Speed was applied to make Rillaboom faster than all Modest Lapras sets to prevent Lapras from dropping a Resonance. The remaining EVs went into HP with 4 in defense and special defense just to get a little more general bulk.

Moltres
Lastly, we have Galarian Moltres. Galarian Moltres can be used in a few different pairings. With Politoed you can use Helping Hand + 100% accurate Hurricanes. Next to Rillaboom you can threaten a Nasty Plot or immediate Dynamax. Dragapult will make it exponentially easier to set up if you desire. Fiery Wrath is the dark move to use. Spread, STAB, and a chance to flinch makes it too good to pass up. Galarian Moltres also helps vs the Venusaur/Torkoal match up. Venusaur can't safely click Sleep Powder without risk of being hit by Fake Out and in Dynamax Venusaur doesn't apply pressure to a Dynamax Galarian Moltres. Politoed in the back means if Venusaur loses the sun then Galarian Moltres will be faster and can drop Hurricane/Max Airstream.

The EV spread here once again is simple. Go fast, hit hard, and the cherry on top is the added power from Life Orb.
 

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