Belly Drum Snorlax Trick Room
Version one
https://pokepast.es/53d542e2a0b01c54
Version two
https://pokepast.es/171f3f0577271211
Introduction
Hello all, huge fan of vgc/double battles here. I'm here today to show a team I recently cooked up, one heavily inspired by Wolfey VGC's Snorlax team, but with some variations of my own. I really like the use of Snorlax with Sinistcha and Clefairy; however, I believe Wolfey's team was much too support focused, and relied too much on set up. For this reason, I added Archaludon and Chien-Pao/Ogerpon Hearthflame for some more consistent offense, and replaced Lando-T with Incineroar, which I believe to be the best intimidate user for this team, as he pretty much has everything that any other intimidate user has + more. Keep in mind that you may want to read the whole thing, as it gives you a better understanding of the team and possible changes you could make.
The gameplan
This team is mainly focused around setting up Snorlax and getting up trick room, then keeping your Snorlax alive while he sweeps with lots of heals and buffs to his survivability. I would usually lead Snorlax + Incineroar, as fakeout combined with Snorlax's bulk and an indimidate makes getting a belly drum free 99% of the time. Alternatively, you could also parting shot and switch into Sinistcha for an easy trick room. Of course, this lead isn't always effective, so I would suggest looking at an opponent's team and playing accordingly. After setting up belly drum and trick room, the name of the game is keeping Snorlax alive, something this team is very good at. I would suggest a lot of switch outs between your 3 support pokemon, as snorlax can pretty much OHKO anything it attacks, and this also allows you to constantly heal Snorlax with Pharmacist and lower the attacking stats of opposing pokemon with intimidate and parting shot. I would almost never switch into one of my other offensive pokemon, as the healing, bulk, and redirection the supporters give Snorlax is invaluable and he already does more than enough damage on his own.
: As you may have gathered, Snorlax is the core of this team and is usually your most important pokemon. It's both an immovable object and an unstoppable force as its high defenses + support ensures it never dies while its +6 boost from belly drum allows it to pretty much delete anything (besides something like tera ghost Cresselia, who pretty much completely walls it). I gave it the attacking moves of facade and high horse power. Facade is there for stab and so Snorlax doesn't get shut down by burn. Alternatively, you could go body slam for the higher base power and paralyze, but since he one shots everything anyways, I don't see the need for that. High horsepower is simply there as a strong single target coverage move. You could replace it with crunch or rock slide, but then you have nothing for the steel or rock types that resist facade. Protect is a must, as it's basically your only way of insuring Snorlax survives until trick room is active. Without protect, your snorlax can simply get targeted and die before it does anything. Finally, I picked tera ghost because it gives Snorlax an immunity to fake out and fighting type moves, although using tera on Snorlax isn't something you'll commonly do anyways.
: Sinistcha is your trick room setter and an amazing support with Snorlax. Simply, it's a very bulky pokemon whose bulk is even further boosted by strength sap and potential Matcha Gotcha burns. This makes Trick room almost guaranteed, and allows it to spam rage powder safely. Also a very good pair with Incineroar, as constantly switching between the two gives your team insane bulk, as I mentioned before. Sinistcha is given tera fire to remove its weaknesses.
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: Chien-Pao is here simply as a consistent sweeper outside of trick room, usually used to clean up when trick room is down. Its speed and focus sash basically guarantees at least one attack, which when combined with its pretty solid coverage and ability will hit like a truck. Add swords dance onto this, and it hits like a freight train. Combined with Clefable, it deals insane damage with helping hand and also gets redirection support to stay on the field longer. Crunch could be swapped for sucker punch to still be able to outspeed against an opposing tailwind or trickroom, although I figured crunch is better as it is slightly more powerful, has a chance to drop defense, and doesn't require mind games. I gave it tera ghost to give it immunities to fake out and to fighting. Pretty standard set overall
Or
:The alternative to Chien-Pao, also serving as a consistent sweeper outside of trick room. I only recently got back into competitve pokemon, so I am not familiar with the dlc mons, which is why I never thought of using it on this team. I was testing out Ogerpon Hearthflame on an experimental electric terrain motor drive Electivire team (Btw please don't try that, it's shit; not even worth your time. That's not gonna stop me from trying to make it good, but for your sanity don't be like me) and I was impressed with their performance. Paired with Clefairy or Sinistcha , this thing is a MONSTER. The redirection allows it to get off a swords dance and also keeps it alive as it plows through anything in its way. Wood hammer is just for massive damage; with all the healing and bulk from the support pokemon the recoil isn't a huge issue (Although if you want it to have more bulk, switching wood hammer for horn leech isn't a horrible idea). It's not as fast as Chien pao, but when it gets set up, it's neigh unstoppable.
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: Incineroar is your fake out, debuff, and pivot support. As I stated before, intimidate + fake out gives Snorlax a free belly drum, and parting shot into Sinistcha gives you a free trick room. I also gave him knock off and Will-O-Wisp to remove items and make the team even bulkier with burn support. With proper pivoting, it becomes nearly impossible to break through this team due to this stupid overpowered cat and his endless army of debuffs. Safety goggles is there simply to stop redirection/sleep, allowing him to debuff without hinderance. I gave him tera ghost as well to ignore possible fake outs or fighting type moves, although you're probably not going to be using tera on him too much.
:The most unassuming pokemon on this team, yet extremely vital nonetheless. Like every other support pokemon in this comp, Clefairy is here simply to make your pokemon unkillable with friend guard, heal pulse, and follow me. Helping hand is there for your other two offensive pokemon, or for when Snorlax's attack is dropped. I also gave Clefairy Tera fire to remove weaknesses to steel.
:Finally we have Archaludon (Formerly gholdengo), your secondary trickroom sweeper. I swapped out Gholdengo for Archaludon as I wasn't too happy with Gholdengo's performance, and I wanted to try a new pokemon. Archaludon fit this role perfectly being another bulky steel type trick room special sweeper. At first I considered giving it assault vest to offset its mediocre special bulk, but I instead decided to double down on its sweeping capabilities by giving it White Herb + Electro Shot. I also gave it Flash Cannon and Draco Meteor (This can be changed to dragon pulse to avoid dropping its special attack) for the stab and thunderbolt for a consistent electric type move once the white herb has been used. The game plan with this pokemon is simple: bring it out during trick room, get an Electro Shot up, potentially tera it, and sweep.
Conclusion
Well, that's basically it. This is the first team I've ever posted, and the first real team I've made for gen 9 doubles (I made one before but it was very gimmicky. It was fun so who knows, I may bring it back but even stronger.) I hope you all enjoy it and it brings about many wins! Peace out!
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