Exploding Sun (my first VGC team)

[subverbo16]

This is my next revision to my Sunny Day team, please comment. :) It won't be "Exploding Sun" anymore as I'll be removing my Explosion Pokemon. We can simply call it "The Sunny Day Abusers".

THE TEAM

Shiftry (picture to come)

Heatran (picture to come)

FORMER:

THE TEAM BREAKDOWN

Ninetales (F) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Drought
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Speed, -Attack)
- Sunny Day
- Fire Blast ---> Changed to Heat Wave
- Solar Beam ---> Changed to Energy Ball
- Protect ---> Changed to Hypnosis

Description: The sun summoner. She's there in the lead to give Sunny Day. In case another weather inducing Pokemon comes in (i.e Tyranitar, Politoed), she does the Sunny Day move. Hypnosis temporarily stops an opponent for a few turns. Heat Wave is a good spread move. Finally, Energy Ball is a preferred grass move instead of Solar Beam because it allows Ninetales to attack without the sun.

Shiftry (picture to come)

Shiftry (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
- Fake Out
- Sucker Punch
- Seed Bomb
- Rock Slide

Description: Along with Ninetales, she's one of staple openers for my team. Chlorophyll allows Shiftry to become the fastest Fake Out user as long as the sun is up. Fake out temporarily stops one opponent in their tracks while Ninetales puts the other opponent to sleep via Hypnosis. Since Ninetales' speed isn't to shabby as well, on the 2nd turn, Shiftry attacks while Ninetales uses Hypnosis on the other opponent. Fake out on a Sand Rush or Swift Swim Pokemon also gives Ninetales time to set up Sunny Day (Focus Sash saves Ninetales in case the other opponent tries to OHKO her), bringing the weather back to your favor. Sucker Punch allows priority in Trick Room teams (along with Fake out). Seed Bomb is another major STAB that doesn't need the sun. Rock Slide finally deals damage to pesky Flying types such as Volcarona.

Venusaur @ Grass Gem
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Sp / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Sleep Powder
- Solar Beam
- Earthquake
- Growth

Description: My main sweeper under the sun. Venusaur with Chlorophyll up can out speed almost any Pokemon, save for quick attacks (fake out, extreme speed, etc). In case Ninetales paved the way for Venusaur by making both opponents sleep, he's free to use growth once or twice, powering up solar beam to give monstrous damage. Sleep Powder would also stop one opponent temporarily if there is only one sleeping opponent.

Cloyster (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Skill Link
EVs: 252 Speed / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Rock Blast
- Icicle Spear
- Razor Shell
- Explosion

Description: Dragons are really hard to kill with my first 3 Pokemon so he's there in case Flying/Dragon types come out. With Choice Scarf, he would outspeed any dragon. Icicle Spear would be his main attack, ignoring Focus Sash and Multi type.


These four - Ninetales, Shiftry, Venusaur, and Cloyster would comprise my Speed team. Speed and Power, supported by Hypnosis and Sleep Powder would be the key to winning. The next two Pokemon replaces Venusaur and Cloyster in a predicted Trick Room/Psychic team.

Snorlax (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 12 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Def / 180 SpD
IV: 0 Speed
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spe)
- Body Slam ---> Return
- Self Destruct ---> Fire Punch
- Earthquake
- Sunny Day ---> Crunch

Description: He's bulky, and he moves fast under Trick Room. My trick room beast. Fire Punch gives a Pseudo STAB under the sun. Return would be his main STAB. Crunch is needed to deal with Cresselia, Chandelure, or any other Psychics who would just do small damage to Snorlax. Earthquake would just be an extra move for Tyranitar.

Heatran (Picture to be added)

Heatran (F) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 244 HP / 52 Def / 76 SAtk / 4 SDef / 132 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Protect
- Substitute

Description: The Wolfe build. Offers several resistances that wouldn't be a problem in a trick room team. Sunny Day powers up Heat Wave. Earth Power kills Tyranitar. Chople Berry saves him from a close combat, making him counter with his own attack. Substitute and Protect prolongs Heatran in the battle field.


BROUGHT OUT FROM THE TEAM:

Exeggutor (M) @ Normal Gem
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Attack/ 132 HP / 124 Speed
Adamant Nature (+Attack, -SAtk)
- Sleep Powder
- Wood Hammer
- Explosion
- Sunny Day ---> Changed to Protect

Description: With Chlorophyll up, Exeggutor gets really speedy. In case a Tyranitar or Politoed comes in, he does Wood Hammer while Ninetales does Sunny Day. With Ninetales' Speed, Sunny Day comes first, after which, activates Chlorophyll, making Exeggutor move next. Sleep Powder is used for any bulky or hard hitting Pokemon on the opponent's team, thereby stopping one opponent temporarily while Ninetales attacks the other one. Another surprise would be a quick strong Explosion paired with Protect. In case Ninetales is busy with something (doing Sunny Day or Attacking a bulky Pokemon so that KO from explosion would be guaranteed), focus sash would save him for another round.

Edit: Adamant Exeggutor really surprises opponents, thinking it's a Special Attacker, so it has been a target of SpA lowering attacks, fearing a Leaf Storm or Psychic. Then boom... Wood Hammer/Explosion! Replaced Sunny Day to Protect in case there's a weather disadvantage. Ninetales will do Sunny Day while the opponent usually targets Exeggutor to get rid of the Chlorophyll powered monster. Once the sun is back up, either Explosion or Sleep Powder.

Blaziken (M) @ Fighting Gem
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Flare Blitz
- High Jump Kick
- Swords Dance ---> Changed to Rock Slide
- Protect

Description: Sunny Day gives stronger power to Flare Blitz + STAB. Fighting gem strengthens High Jump Kick + STAB. In case I predict some non-attack from the opponent, I use Swords Dance. Protect not only gives me a free speed up, it also protects Blaziken from another incoming Explosion/Earthquake. Faster Blaziken = A OK!

Edit: Retaining High Jump Kick, I'd rather risk the self damage on a miss in exchange for stronger power. Anyway, Blaziken comes late in the game. Changed Swords Dance to Rock Slide to beat pesky Flying Pokemon (Dragonite, Volcano, etc)

Hydreigon (M) @ Dragon Gem
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Sunny Day

Description: Added recently to take care of Cresselia/Psychic types, has good synergy with the team as suggested by "The Knights of Wario Land". However, weakness to fighting types (usually Hitmontop/Scrafty paired with Cresselia) really poses a problem so he doesn't last long.

​

 

[The Knights of Wario Land]

-Heat Wave > Fire Blast on Ninetales
-You might want to try out a bulkier Harvest spread for Exeggutor like Wolfey used for his Worlds team, it might be hard to use initially but the unlimited Sitrus Berries pay off.
-Do NOT use Hi Jump Kick in VGC, due to the overabundance in Protect. Replace it with Sky Uppercut, and your third slot should be Rock Slide to rid of Volcarona, which looks to crap on your whole team.
-I really don't see the point of having both Exeggutor and Venusaur on a team; however, if you still insist on using them both, I suggest swapping Earthquake out for Hidden Power Ice, and Growth for Protect.
-All Snorlax should have Thick Fat, no question. Poison is such a rare status in VGC anyways, and the extra resistance against Fire and Ice is a tremendous asset to a team. Also, you shouldn't merely rely on Body Slam for paralysis, as you can never guarantee the 33% chance it will work; I would instead opt for the more powerful Return.

My suggestion is that your team would benefit with Hydreigon, as it forms good synergy with your team and deals with the omnipresent Cresselia well.

 

[subverbo16]

Who should I axe to make way for Hydreigon? Actually, you're right with Cresselia's threat. Tried tested this vs several teams alread, winning mostly, but Trick Room Cresselia really messes this up. Im thinking to let Snorlax go.

 

[DEOXYS attack forme]

Interesting team. I would like to see how well this does in the VGC.

Who should I axe to make way for Hydreigon? Actually, you're right with Cresselia's threat. Tried tested this vs several teams alread, winning mostly, but Trick Room Cresselia really messes this up. Im thinking to let Snorlax go.

Personally, I would take out Exeggutor. It provides redundant coverage with Venusaur.

 

[subverbo16]

Recently scored a 4 win - 3 loss record at the round robin local competition I've joined using the updated team (Venusaur, Exeggutor, Blaziken, Ninetales, Hydreigon, Cloyster). While mostly winning the weather wars even at a disadvantage because of extra equipped Sunny Days, I easily lost to Trick Room users (who incidentally placed 1st and 2nd at the competition). The other lost was a close one which I could probably win (though a lost is a lost). That one involve a Chandeleur and a Jolteon, but that's another story. So what can I do to improve the fight against Cresselia/Trick Room users? The 5 turns seemed like eternity at VGC. Should I bring a Prankster Whimsicott with Taunt?

 

[voodoo pimp]

Whimsicott is kinda bad, to be honest, plus you already have two Grass-types; if you want Prankster Taunt, pretty much every other mon that gets both would be a better choice.

Cresselia itself shouldn't give you too much trouble as long as you keep Hydreigon healthy (or can hit it consistently with Sleep Powder), so the real threat here is Trick Room. The thing is, there's really no hard counter to it, because any well-made TR team will have taken those things into account. So unless you pack so many counters that you sacrifice your ability to deal with other teams, you'll have to accept that it will go up sometimes. Once it goes up, the best way to deal with it is through bulk, something your team sorely lacks - everything except Exeggutor is running max Speed, and most of them really don't need to. For instance, when I did a sun team with Venusaur, I only ran 180 Speed EVs (enough to outspeed 252 Modest Politoed in the rain), and the added bulk let it survive a lot of attacks that would have KO'd a faster spread. I suggest looking at a speed tier list, decide which threats you want to be able to outspeed, and tweak your EV spreads to match.

As for keeping TR from going up in the first place...Taunt is fairly reliable, since it seems like Mental Herb has gone down in popularity lately, but you really don't need Prankster for it (unless you want to try to Encore or Mirror Move to reverse it on the following turn). You'll always go before the TR user because of its negative priority, and Fake Out users will stop you either way. Imprison usually works, but most of the good users either don't fit you team or have redundant typing. The third good option, which I think will be easiest for your team to adapt to, is just straight-up KOing the user before they can use it - Hydreigon can hit almost every viable user super effectively, so it's just a matter of picking the right partner to help finish off the bulkier ones - Blaziken handles Porygon2 and Chandelure, Exeggutor beats Jellicent, etc. Try to figure out in Team Preview what your opponent's primary TR user is going to be, and plan to beat that.

 

[subverbo16]

Did some revisions. Please comment. :D

In case an opponent uses Chandelure in his opening, Shiftry Fakes out the other Pokemon while Ninetales uses Hypnosis on Chandelure. Ninetales is free to use Hypnosis on the other Pokemon on the next turn while Shiftry Rock Slides. I usually use Snorlax and Cloyster along with them so that I would have a back up bulky Pokemon.

 

[BlankZero]

Something I'm running on my current Sun VGC team is antilead Weaville with Fake Out. It flinches Cress first turn and breaks sash, and can pair up with its team mate (Ninetales sometimes, or Blaziken or anything else that hits ridiculously hard right away) to put offensive pressure on it or any other usual Trick Room users.

Another thing you can do is try out Tank Ferrothorn. It is so naturally slow it can "outspeed" a lot of usual TR users, and it resists almost every single rain threat and threatens with Power Whip and Gyro Ball, while double Seeding.

Trick Room is always going to be difficult as it is very Anti Metagame at the moment as we are so focused on fast and frail mons, whereas Bulky Offense with less speed does very well, but is less Easy Button (that's neither here nor there). I like the team though. I might have to steal some ideas just because I like it so much. Good Luck!

 

[subverbo16]

Im considering Tank Ferrothorn because it does sound very useful, and its several resistances helps a lot. However, it brings me to the dilemma on who should I replace. Ninetales and Shiftry are essential. Cloyster almost never fails to kill dragons. And Snorlax is bulky enough to withstand spread moves, and is very useful in trick room, doing crunch and fire punch. That leaves venusaur and heatran. If i remove venusaur, I'll have 5 Pokemon weak to Fighting (Cloyster, Heatran, Ferrothorn, Snorlax, Shiftry). If i remove heatran, then I'd lose an additional Fire boosted Sunny Day attack and I'll have 3 grass Pokemon that are Weak to Fire.