Just like for the Teal Mask, I made a new team for the Indigo Disk. Even after my three previous teams, there were a lot of new Pokémon left that I wanted to use, and this was a good opportunity to use some more of them.
Like for my previous team, I set some rules. New Pokémon only, no overlapping types, and the team should have a good balance between Physical and Special. I also wanted to use the few remaining types I hadn’t used anywhere on my previous in-game teams, and I decided that all of the members of this team should be dual-typed, just for fun.
I made sure all team members had good movesets, good Natures, useful Abilities and useful items. I also Hyper Trained them this time around. Since I had heard the battles in the Indigo Disk were going to be tougher than in the main game or the Teal Mask, and since some of the team members had pretty bad IVs, it felt like the right thing to do. I didn’t properly EV-train them, but I pumped them full of EVs though Wings, Vitamins and Mochi before I started, just so their EVs would be maxed out. I mostly focused on putting EVs in the stats they needed the most. In retrospect, I wish I had EV-trained them properly, but it worked anyway. They did not have any special Tera types, just one of their STAB types as usual. I used Paradoxes, but I didn’t use any legendaries. There was one I considered, but I decided to not use it.
I was very surprised when I heard that the Indigo Disk would only feature Double battles, it was totally unexpected. I had already planned the team before I heard about this, and I didn’t want to change any team members. I kept the Pokémon I had planned for the team, but I made some small changes to their movesets. I’ll go over these changes when discussing the team in detail.
The team is named
ID:009. Unlike last time, I settled for a short name which contains a slight mystery. If you want to know what it means:
ID is for Indigo Disk, and 009 because it is Gen 9.
Here’s a team preview:
I mentioned previously that I had an MVP on the team. But the MVP is not who you think it is.
Here are the full details for the team:
Skeledirge (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Tera type: Fire
IVs: 31/x/31/31/31/31 (Hyper Trained)
Nature: Quiet (Minted to Modest)
- Torch Song
- Shadow Ball
- Earth Power
- Slack Off
The obvious first member of the team as it was the only Paldea starter I hadn’t used. Fuecoco and its evolutions are my least favorite Paldea starters, but I think Skeledirge on its own is fine, even if it isn’t on the same level as Meowscarada or Quaquaval. It is also a Fire-type, which is great as Fire was one of the three types I hadn’t used on any of my previous in-game teams.
Torch Song for Fire STAB, it is powerful enough and boosts Sp.att, allowing me to attack and setup at the same time, which is fantastic. All three of the Paldea starters have really great signature moves. Shadow Ball for secondary STAB, Earth Power for coverage, which helps against opposing Fire-, Electric- and Rock-types. Slack Off in the last slot to heal if necessary, Skeledirge is fairly bulky so it could often heal if given the opportunity.
Skeledirge doesn’t have the greatest offensive movepool, so there’s not a whole lot of other options. There’s Hyper Voice, but it doesn’t offer any valuable coverage. Solar Beam could be used alongside Sunny Day, but it didn’t feel worth it. It also has Hex which can be combined with Will-O-Wisp for high damage, but I felt that Shadow Ball was better. Snarl and Disarming Voice are other options, but they have too low base power. It also gets a bunch of Physical moves, but it only has 75 Base Attack, which is too low. There are also other support moves like Encore and Yawn, but three offensive moves and Slack Off felt like the superior set.
I gave it a Leftovers to heal itself even more, it felt like a good idea since Skeledirge is a slow and defensive Pokémon. Unaware is the superior Ability, allowing it to ignore opposing stat boosts. I minted it to Modest since it is a Special attacker.
Overall, Skeledirge was great. It was very strong and bulky, it could also set up with Torch Song, hitting even harder afterwards. It was a bit slow though, and would often move after the opponent. But despite that, it was great. It is still my least favorite Paldea starter, but I can appreciate it a lot more now that I have actually used it to great success.
Lokix (M) @ Muscle Band
Ability: Tinted Lens
Tera type: Bug
IVs: 31/31/31/x/31/31 (Hyper Trained)
Nature: Adamant
- Leech Life
- Throat Chop
- Low Kick
- U-Turn
Bug was another type I had yet to use, so I decided to use one here. But which one? Spidops was out of question, and I decided to not use Rabsca or Slither Wing. The last one left was Lokix. A superhero grasshopper, how cool isn’t that? And a Dark-type too, which is neat.
Leech Life and Throat Chop for STAB, the former also heals, which is never bad. Low Kick for coverage. I was considering Axe Kick or Brick Break, but Low Kick felt like it could be useful to hit heavy targets. U-Turn in the last slot if it needed to make an emergency exit from battles, which ended up being extremely useful at times.
Lokix doesn’t have a lot of other options. Lunge, First Impression and X-Scissor are other alternatives for Bug STAB, but Leech Life and U-Turn felt better. Sucker Punch, Knock Off and Lash Out are other alternatives for Dark STAB, but Throat Chop felt better due to higher base power, consistent damage, and guaranteed success. As for other coverage options, it learns Bounce/Aerial Ace and Trailblaze, but they didn’t feel worth it. It also gets Swords Dance to boost, but I didn’t go with that either.
I gave it a Muscle Band to hold since it is a Physical attacker, powering up its moves a bit. It has an Adamant Nature to hit even harder. Tinted Lens is the superior Ability since it allows Lokix to deal extra damage opponents that resist its moves. I managed to get a HA Nymble from the GTS, thankfully.
Overall, Lokix was great. It was strong and fast, it could heal itself and get out of battle with U-Turn if necessary. It was very frail though, so it was usually at the risk of being defeated if it was up against an opponent it was weak against.
Flamigo (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Scrappy
Tera type: Flying
IVs: 31/31/31/x/31/31 (Hyper Trained)
Nature: Timid (Minted to Adamant)
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
- Throat Chop
- U-Turn
For my third team member, I went with this cool bird. I had thought about using it on my previous team, but since I ended up using Bombirdier there, I decided to use Flamigo here instead.
Brave Bird and Close Combat for STAB, both of them hit hard at the cost of causing recoil or lowering defenses. Throat Chop for coverage, it was useful against Psychic-types. I was originally going to have Roost in the last slot, but after I learned that the Indigo Disk would focus on Double battles, I changed it to U-Turn. Just like for Lokix, it would allow Flamigo to make a quick exit in difficult situations, which ended up being very useful.
Flamigo doesn’t have a lot of other alternatives. It can use various other moves for STAB, but they are considerably weaker than Brave Bird and Close Combat. Another coverage option would be Liquidation, but Throat Chop offers better coverage. It gets Roost as mentioned, as well as Bulk Up and Swords Dance to boost, plus Tailwind for support, but the moves I went with felt like the better choices.
Scrappy is the superior Ability as it allows Flamigo to hit Ghost-types with Close Combat, though it never came into use. However, it was extremely useful for blocking Intimidates. I minted it to Adamant since it is a physical attacker. I wasn’t sure which hold item to go with, I considered many different ones but I ended up going with Life Orb to power up its moves a bit, and I wanted to use something slightly different for once.
Overall, Flamigo was great. It was very strong, but it was frail and quickly got worn down due to the recoil from Life Orb and Brave Bird. It was also slower than I had expected, I thought it would be faster since it has 90 Base Speed. Maybe a Jolly Nature would have been better than Adamant? Hard to say. But it worked fine anyway, and it contributed to victory in many important battles.
Tatsugiri (F) @ Wise Glasses
Ability: Storm Drain
Tera type: Water
IVs: 31/x/31/31/31/31 (Hyper Trained)
Nature: Modest
- Dragon Pulse
- Muddy Water
- Hydro Pump
- Nasty Plot
This little dragon became the fourth member of the team, although it was the final one I decided on. I needed a Special attacker that didn’t have any overlapping types with the rest of the team, and of the remaining Pokémon that fulfilled those requirements, I settled for Tatsugiri. I went with the Droopy form since I like it the best in terms of design.
Dragon Pulse for Dragon STAB, it is strong and accurate. I was originally going to use Surf and Draco Meteor in the second and third slots, but after learning that the Indigo Disk focused on Double battles, I had to make some changes. I scrapped Draco Meteor completely, and instead of Surf, I went with Muddy Water and Hydro Pump. Which of them I used depended on how much power I needed, and whether I wanted to hit just one or both opponents. Both of them are inaccurate, but for the most part, it wasn’t that much of an issue. They rarely missed, though it was annoying when they did. When I fought the Stellar Tera Garganacl at Area Zero, I used Tatsugiri, and Hydro Pump missed three times in a row! Nasty Plot in the last slot to boost, but I rarely used it. Most of the time, it was better to just attack right away, and Tatsugiri was often strong enough to the point that it rarely needed a boost.
Sadly, this little dragon doesn’t have a lot of other options. There’s Draco Meteor and Surf as mentioned, plus Icy Wind I guess. I suppose it could have been useful to lower the Speed of opponents, but I’m not sure if it would have made much of a difference. Apart from that, there’s nothing else that stands out when I look at Tatsugiri’s movepool.
Since it is a Special attacker, I gave it the Wise Glasses to power up its moves a bit. Storm Drain was the Ability I chose since it gives it an immunity to Water-type moves and draws them in Doubles, allowing it to shield its partner. I managed to get a HA Droopy form Tatsugiri from the GTS after some chain trading. Commander was out of question since I wasn’t going to use Dondozo. This Tatsugiri was originally going to be Timid, but since the extra Tatsugiri I caught to use as a parent for breeding was Modest, I decided to stick with that. And even with a Modest Nature, it was pretty fast.
Overall, Tatsugiri was great. Despite the lack of coverage, it could hit hard, it was fast enough, and it had good enough bulk as well. It was useful in many battles, notably against Kieran. It seems like the AI (or at least Kieran) ignored Storm Drain, as his Politoed kept spamming Weather Ball when I had Tatsugiri out on the field, allowing it to gather many boosts and KO several of Kieran’s Pokémon.
Iron Treads @ Expert Belt
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera type: Steel
IVs: 31/31/31/x/31/31 (Hyper Trained)
Nature: Brave (Minted to Adamant)
- High Horsepower
- Iron Head
- Wild Charge
- Ice Spinner
Ground was the third and final type I had yet to properly use on any of my teams. While I used Clodsire as a reserve member on my in-game team, it didn’t really count. I wanted to use a Ground-type for real somewhere. Out of the remaining new non-legendary ones, I didn’t want to use Toedscruel. Which meant that the only ones that remained were three Paradoxes. I couldn’t use Great Tusk as I already had a Fighting-type in Flamigo, so the choice stood between Iron Treads and Sandy Shocks. I thought it over, and in the end, I settled for Future Donphan. It was a also Violet exclusive, which was nice as that meant I could catch one myself instead of getting it from the GTS.
High Horsepower and Iron Head for STAB. I was originally going to use Earthquake, but when I learned that the Indigo Disk would focus on Double battles, I changed it. High Horsepower has slightly less power and accuracy compared to Earthquake, but it only hits one opponent instead of the whole field. Heavy Slam could have been an alternative over Iron Head, but I prefer consistent damage most of the time, and it felt like it would be strong enough. Wild Charge and Ice Spinner for coverage, they give it a Physical BoltBeam.
Iron Treads have a ton of other options, though. Steel Roller is yet another Steel-STAB option, but Iron Head felt better. It also gets Knock Off, Megahorn, Zen Headbutt, Rock Slide/Stone Edge and Body Press for coverage, but just like I did for Flutter Mane last time, I did some very serious
coverage calculations and found that Wild Charge/Ice Spinner gave the best coverage in conjunction with its STABs.
I gave it an Expert Belt since it is going to hit a ton of Pokémon for super effective damage. I minted it to Adamant to make it more powerful. Quark Drive is the only Ability it has, though it never came into use.
Overall, Iron Treads was great. It was powerful with great coverage, yet bulky and fast at the same time, having all the good qualities you could ask for. It offered very valuable coverage at times, making it a very solid and useful member of the team.
Scream Tail @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera type: Fairy
IVs: 31/x/31/31/31/31 (Hyper Trained)
Nature: Relaxed (Minted to Modest)
- Dazzling Gleam
- Psyshock
- Flamethrower
- Calm Mind
The last member of the team was actually the second one I planned. As always, I needed a Fairy-type. The only two new ones I had yet to use anywhere were Scream Tail and Fezandipiti. Since I didn’t want to use legendaries, I went with Ancient Jiggly. A Scarlet exclusive just like Flutter Mane, so I had to get one from the GTS, but it went easy as I just offered a random shiny and got it immediately.
Scream Tail is really weird since it is a fast and defensive Pokémon with low offenses. That didn’t feel suitable for in-game use, and especially not for Double battles. But what else could I do? Not using a Fairy-type was out of question, and I didn’t want to use an old one or a new one I had already used on a previous team.
Dazzling Gleam and Psyshock for STAB. It doesn’t learn Moonblast, but Dazzling Gleam was pretty good since it hits both opponents in Double battles. I chose Psyshock over Psychic to nail Special walls, which was great because of the high amount of wild Chansey and Blissey in the Terarium. Flamethrower for coverage, it was helpful against Steel-types. Calm Mind in the last slot to boost, Scream Tail doesn’t have the highest Sp.att and I felt that it could be a good idea to boost before attacking, even if it could be risky in Double battles. Boosting its Sp.def even further was also great.
Other options would have been Boomburst, Grass Knot, Psychic, Thunderbolt and Ice Beam, but Flamethrower offered better coverage. It also gets Wish, which is a solid support option. I suppose it can also go Physical since it has equal Attack and Sp.att, but I went with a Special set to keep the team balanced.
I gave it a Leftovers to hold since my plan was to boost before attacking, meaning it would often take a hit before attacking. But when I played, I rarely set up, attacking right away was often the better option. Though the Leftovers was still very useful as Scream Tail often had to take a hit after attacking, which allowed it to recover with Leftovers afterwards. I minted it to Modest to boost its Sp.att even further. It has Protosynthesis like all the ancient paradoxes, and it actually came into use a few times. Notably against Crispin, since he used Sunny Day when I battled him. Scream Tail got its Sp.def boosted by Protosynthesis, allowing it to tank Special hits even better. My Scream Tail initially had a 0 IV in Sp.att, and I realized that I couldn’t go with that, so I Hyper Trained it and the rest of the team as well.
Before I started, I expected Scream Tail to be a burden and a disappointment. A defensive Pokémon with weak offenses, there was no way it was going to be useful, right? But it was the total opposite. Scream Tail was surprisingly good. Amazing bulk coupled with high Speed meant that it could pretty much always act first, tank a hit and usually live with more than 50% HP left, thus allowing it to attack again and again. And even if it didn’t live all the way to the end, it would often contribute enough for the rest of the team to win the battle. To my own surprise, it became the MVP of the team.
It was amazing in three of the E4 battles. It did really well against both Crispin and Lacey, it was also fantastic against Drayton. It was great in the last parts of the battle against Kieran, managing to 2HKO his Hydrapple while it couldn’t do much in return, Earth Power did very little. Scream Tail also landed the final hit against Terapagos. Overall, it surpassed my expectations by far, and it has become one of my new favorites from Gen 9.
Since it was traded, it got more Exp. than the others and was always a few levels above the rest of the team. It was also the first member of the team to reach level 100.
And that’s what I have to say about ID:009. As usual, I checked the defensive synergy of the team just for fun.
And it is pretty good! I have a weakness to all types except Normal and Grass. I have 1-3 resists/immunities to every type, but only one more weakness than a resist at most, which isn’t too shabby. That said, having three weaknesses to Fairy became very notable in my battle against Lacey. Other than that, it was fine.
Wait until you see the Lion King rock in the Savanna Biome
