Got 94 wins using this. Unless something changes once you get past 100 wins I feel pretty confident in this team since I got a good ways past 50 and only lost due to being a bonehead.
Porygon-Z @ Normalium Z
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power Ground
- Conversion
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate/Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Earthquake
Kartana @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Smart Strike
- Swords Dance
The underlying logic behind this team is "Battle Tree can't hax you if they don't get a chance to move." As such the strategy is to concede turn 1 to setting up with Porygon-Z's Z-Conversion so that the opponent won't be able to do anything on the next 3 turns. Thunderbolt will be able to oneshot most things, Ice Beam is often super effective against things Thunderbolt isn't effective against, and Hidden Power Ground works in the rare cases that Thunderbolt and Ice Beam aren't very effective. I tried Recover for a while but I think HP Ground is just a little bit better because it makes things like Magnezone and Togedemaru easier to breakthrough.
Gyarados is the back up and can usually sweep off of the pokemon Porygon-Z has trouble setting up on. It's a very nice partner to Porygon-Z because it can eat the fighting attacks for normal Porygon-Z as well as the ground attacks for electric Porygon-Z. Being effectively 2 different pokemon at once is also quite handy in a 3 pokemon format and allows me to game the A.I. depending on when I choose to mega evolve (psychic types are usually a free dragon dance). Waterfall and Crunch are stabs with good coverange, and Earthquake is to hit all dragon type pokemon not weak to ice beam, so basically this move is only for Charizard X and it is entirely worth using over ice fang since Porygon-Z has the ice beam to deal with all of the other dragons. It also gets a bit more mileage out of Mold Breaker this way by being able to hit levitating pokemon. I'm sure I'm forgetting other little things that makes Gyarados good because I've found that it fills a bunch of small niches at once that add up quite a bit.
Kartana is the cleaner. Once Porygon-Z has set up it does not leave until it has either routed the other team or died. In the case of the latter, Kartana comes in because Porygon-Z usually doesn't go out without having done a huge chunk of damage leaving Kartana with a weakened pokemon to boost off of into a sweep. Focus Sash is crucial to keeping Kartana in the game, and it has pretty good coverage in Leaf Blade, Sacred Sword and Smart Strike which can often take care of the pokemon Porygon-Z and Gyarados are uncomfortable fighting. Swords Dance is a good fourth move because even when all of Kartana's moves are not very effective it can potentially power through with Swords Dance provided it can live long enough to set up.
DSLG-WWWW-WWW3-QGJ4
This is how I lost. I really wasn't thinking and by the time I realized that Lycanroc would have Accelrock it was already too late, although in my defense all the Lycanrocs I've fought so far like to start with Z-Stealth Rock. Then I mega evolved Gyarados against an Alakazam firing Focus Blasts when as it turns out the only non mega set is the Specs set. Oops.
As far as counters to this team goes the only thing to truly scare me has been Thundurus. The first time I fought Thundurus it caught me by surprise and if it didn't miss Focus Blast twice on my Kartana it would have ended my run 20 battles earlier. It has two sets with Focus Blast, one with specs and one with Electrium Z, and while the specs set is easy enough to handle I basically have to sack my Porygon-Z to figure out which set I'm fighting, because I need to switch to Gyarados to take the Focus Blast, switch back to Porygon-Z to see if I get another Focus Blast or the Gigavolt Havoc, and then switch back to Gyarados to start setting up. Thankfully the Electrium Z set only has discharge and volt switch which can't oneshot Mega Gyarados even after the Focus Blast damage on regular Gyarados.
Porygon-Z @ Normalium Z
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power Ground
- Conversion
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate/Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Earthquake
Kartana @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Smart Strike
- Swords Dance
The underlying logic behind this team is "Battle Tree can't hax you if they don't get a chance to move." As such the strategy is to concede turn 1 to setting up with Porygon-Z's Z-Conversion so that the opponent won't be able to do anything on the next 3 turns. Thunderbolt will be able to oneshot most things, Ice Beam is often super effective against things Thunderbolt isn't effective against, and Hidden Power Ground works in the rare cases that Thunderbolt and Ice Beam aren't very effective. I tried Recover for a while but I think HP Ground is just a little bit better because it makes things like Magnezone and Togedemaru easier to breakthrough.
Gyarados is the back up and can usually sweep off of the pokemon Porygon-Z has trouble setting up on. It's a very nice partner to Porygon-Z because it can eat the fighting attacks for normal Porygon-Z as well as the ground attacks for electric Porygon-Z. Being effectively 2 different pokemon at once is also quite handy in a 3 pokemon format and allows me to game the A.I. depending on when I choose to mega evolve (psychic types are usually a free dragon dance). Waterfall and Crunch are stabs with good coverange, and Earthquake is to hit all dragon type pokemon not weak to ice beam, so basically this move is only for Charizard X and it is entirely worth using over ice fang since Porygon-Z has the ice beam to deal with all of the other dragons. It also gets a bit more mileage out of Mold Breaker this way by being able to hit levitating pokemon. I'm sure I'm forgetting other little things that makes Gyarados good because I've found that it fills a bunch of small niches at once that add up quite a bit.
Kartana is the cleaner. Once Porygon-Z has set up it does not leave until it has either routed the other team or died. In the case of the latter, Kartana comes in because Porygon-Z usually doesn't go out without having done a huge chunk of damage leaving Kartana with a weakened pokemon to boost off of into a sweep. Focus Sash is crucial to keeping Kartana in the game, and it has pretty good coverage in Leaf Blade, Sacred Sword and Smart Strike which can often take care of the pokemon Porygon-Z and Gyarados are uncomfortable fighting. Swords Dance is a good fourth move because even when all of Kartana's moves are not very effective it can potentially power through with Swords Dance provided it can live long enough to set up.
DSLG-WWWW-WWW3-QGJ4
This is how I lost. I really wasn't thinking and by the time I realized that Lycanroc would have Accelrock it was already too late, although in my defense all the Lycanrocs I've fought so far like to start with Z-Stealth Rock. Then I mega evolved Gyarados against an Alakazam firing Focus Blasts when as it turns out the only non mega set is the Specs set. Oops.
As far as counters to this team goes the only thing to truly scare me has been Thundurus. The first time I fought Thundurus it caught me by surprise and if it didn't miss Focus Blast twice on my Kartana it would have ended my run 20 battles earlier. It has two sets with Focus Blast, one with specs and one with Electrium Z, and while the specs set is easy enough to handle I basically have to sack my Porygon-Z to figure out which set I'm fighting, because I need to switch to Gyarados to take the Focus Blast, switch back to Porygon-Z to see if I get another Focus Blast or the Gigavolt Havoc, and then switch back to Gyarados to start setting up. Thankfully the Electrium Z set only has discharge and volt switch which can't oneshot Mega Gyarados even after the Focus Blast damage on regular Gyarados.