[MANDATORY] TEAM BUILDING HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

[Derith96]

For my third shot at this, I'm taking Robbie Moore's second place team at the Roanoke regionals. Fake PG should be pretty hard to screw up...let's see how badly I do.

Tapu Fini @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Misty Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpAtk / 4 SpDef
Bold Nature
-Muddy Water
-Moonblast
-Protect
-Soak

As one-third of the popular AFK core, Fini's job is to be the bulkiest of the three while dishing out respectably strong special attacks. Muddy Water is chosen as the water stab because of its spread targeting and chance of accuracy drop on hit, both of which make up for the lack of damage output. Moonblast is the fairy stab of choice, Protect is used to scout for an opponent's intentions and buy time on the clock, and Soak is a rather gimmicky move to be sure which is incredibly useful against all manner of threats, taking away their stabs and setting them up to be cut to ribbons by a well-placed Leaf Blade or Thunderbolt from one of its partners. Misty Surge is incredibly useful in shutting down enemy fake outs, so it's a good lead choice in order to make sure the enemy doesn't gain momentum right off the bat. Bold is chosen to boost its otherwise uninvested defense, though it still doesn't want to take a poison jab unless it absolutely has to. Wiki Berry allows it to gain back health and continue doing its job of bulky offense to wear down the foe and set them up for a devastating blow.

Arcanine @ Firium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
Jolly Nature
-Flare Blitz
-Wild Charge
-Extreme Speed
-Protect

Attack doggo is an obvious and excellent set. Intimidate support is extremely valuable to undo opposing beast boosts and further shore up the team's general lack of physical defense. While Extremespeed doesn't work in misty terrain, it still has plenty of utility and versatility, especially if Trick Room comes into play. Wild Charge lets it function against opposing Fini, but one should take care if Milotic is present in team preview. Firium Z is chosen in order to let the doggo go out with a bang that goes through protects, especially to hammer hail mode teams and get through Tapu Bulu without the problems of potentially having a Gigavolt Havoc getting redirected and absorbed. A Jolly nature is chosen to help scout the opponent's sets, particularly when it comes to speed investment for things like Togedemaru and Mimikyu that just creep over its speed tier.

Kartana @ Assault Vest
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 56 HP / 200 Atk / 252 Speed
Jolly Nature
-Leaf Blade
-Smart Strike
-Detect
-Laser Focus

Kartana's job is simple: Do 9/11 by cutting down towers with one stroke. When it's not committing terrorism, it settles for giving its enemies vicious paper cuts. Leaf Blade and Smart Strike are the obvious choices for stab attacks, Detect is chosen to avoid Imprison problems despite having half the PP, and the unique move Laser Focus guarantees that the next attack will result in a critical hit, which bypasses defense boosts on top of dealing 1.5x damage. The EVs are chosen to give Kartana a little extra breathing room defensively while still letting Beast Boost increase its attack stat. Jolly is chosen in order to outrun Garchomp, though it's still too frail to go without support against things like Celesteela. I was considering Brick Break in the last slot, but the only real screen you see in this format is Aurora Veil and this team has enough ways to deal with Ninetales and Sandslash-A.

Tapu Koko @ Fairium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Speed
Modest Nature
-Thunderbolt
-Dazzling Gleam
-Nature Power
-Protect

The second half of the one-two punch that Soak can provide, alongside Kartana's leaf blade. The great part about Nature Power is that it turns into Thunderbolt in electric terrain, so it's a good move to click on if you're worried about a potential switch or if you've lost the terrain war. Nature Power does grant STAB if the move it turns into matches the user's type (in particular, if misty terrain is out, it turns into Moonblast, something Koko does not ordinarily have access to), so it's applicable in a wide variety of situations. Thunderbolt and Dazzling Gleam are run alongside it for the sake of consistency, though if a Muk-Alola or Garchomp really needs to die, it can pop Twinkle Tackle and really put the hurt on without worrying about a Marowak-A coming in to spoil the fun. Due to Koko's frailty, Protect is a needed investment of a moveslot to help it stay safe. The EVs and nature are chosen because although Koko's physical attack stat is superior, most of its good attacks are special, including everything that Nature Power turns into. It struggles against Kartana, though its neutrality to steel attacks makes up for it somewhat.

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Atk / 252 SpAtk
Quiet Nature
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Return
-Trick Room

In case of trick room setups, pull PG lever. This defensive behemoth can get download boosts to further enhance its impressive special attack and great boltbeam coverage. Return is chosen as the STAB move in case of Download boosting attack instead (also explaining the mild investment in that stat). The Quiet nature is chosen to ensure P2 hits minimum speed. It's possible that a 0 Speed IV could be run to further make use of this, but it too has issues with Kartana, particularly if it has Assault Vest or Sacred Sword.

Gigalith @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 SpDef
Adamant Nature
-Rock Slide
-Heavy Slam
-Wide Guard
-Stone Edge

A sand streamer is needed to offset grassy terrain and leftovers heals from the opposing team. Enter Gigalith, who also takes insane advantage of P2's TR. Heavy Slam is intended as an anti-tapu measure, and Rock Slide is good for causing flinches in TR, so it's a good move in the format despite the lack of damage output (it's barely better than a smack down after the multi-target penalty). Stone Edge is the choice against Celesteela, Arcanine or Marowak-A. Despite its miss chance, its sheer power is unrivaled for rock stab. The EVs are chosen not only so that Gigalith can benefit from his own sand, but also so that he can survive a super effective hit to get the weakness policy going and really start leaving a mark. Adamant nature is chosen to further boost this massive attack stat, enough to offset enemy Arcanine and their attempts to intimidate, or even the rare Parting Shot.

You're just missing the point of explaining your sets: You don't have to tell us that muddy water has chance for accuracy drops, we already know that. Don't explain what the moves do but try to explain why you chose them over other choices. I found a good example how to do it from your post: "Intimidate support is extremely valuable to ... further shore up the team's general lack of physical defense". You're using intimidate over abilities to cover up your team's weakness to physical attack, now that's a good explanation. More of that and you'll definitely pass ;)

 

[Unbreakable]

Edited to make Kartana's set make more sense and built on the kind of explanation you pointed out with Intimidate. Usually with builds or battles I take one thing I did well and try to build on it, so this is great. I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere.

 

[Robyn]

Edited to make Kartana's set make more sense and built on the kind of explanation you pointed out with Intimidate. Usually with builds or battles I take one thing I did well and try to build on it, so this is great. I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere.

It's certainly better, but still not good enough for me, you still don't explain your sets well enough, and don't say what the EVs do, which is certainly important. I know that calcing spreads can be a big jump for a player and it's quite overwhelming at first, however it is very important to do, so if you aren't doing that, you should probably start, for example, you talk about not wanting Fini to take a poison jab if it's not absolutely necessary, however, a Garchomp poison jab for example, onto this sample Fini spread from TrainerTower, doesn't do a ton at all: 252 Atk Garchomp Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 20 Def Tapu Fini: 80-96 (45.1 - 54.2%) -- 44.1% chance to 2HKO. Basically, it's all just little stuff, but it's important stuff that you should be talking about, just to give an example of a few that stood out to me: why no Calm Mind or Specs on Fini? Once again, Why run Firium Z offensive Arcanine instead of a pinch berry (fiwam, 50%, whatever you'd like to call it), now that you've added it, why run scope lens Kartana over a z move or sash or even scarf? it's just stuff like that I'm looking for, and really, please explain your EVs, everyone should do it. A 252/252/4 can be fine, but sometimes you're missing out on valuable defensive calcs, so no matter what EVs you're using, explain them.

 

[Kmdvgc]

Ok so I'm going to jump into this assignment. I decided on Paul Chua's team from Georgia.

First up is Tapu Koko:

Tapu Koko@life orb
Ability: electric surge
Timid Nature
0 Attack IVs
252 SpA/4 SpD/ 252 Spe
-Protect
-Volt Switch
-Thunderbolt
-Dazzling Gleam

The reason that I chose 0 Attack IVs to take less damage from foul play users. i chose life orb so I could do maximum damage

Next is Kartana

Kartana @ Grassium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
Jolly Nature
4 HP/252 Attack/252 Spe
-Protect
-Leaf Blade
-Substitute
-Sacred Sword

I chose a jolly nature to outspeed most threats, with maximum investment in Attack and Speed. I chose substitute to keep opposing fire and electric types from knocking me out. Sacred sword is for Pokémon weak to fighting type moves. I chose max attack and speed so that I can outspeed higher tier pokemon and to be able to sweep.

Next, we have Arcanine

Arcanine @ Choice Band
Ability: intimidate
Jolly Nature
4 HP/ 252 Attack/ 252 Spe
-Flare Blitz
-Wild Charge
-Extreme Speed
-Close Combat

I chose Choice Band because it gives the power of life orb without the extra recoil damage. Flare Blitz under choice band will knock out non bulky steel types. Wild Charge one hits Ko's Gyrados even at -1.Close Combat is for minimally invested Pokémon weak to fighting type moves, and Extreme Speed to knock out low hp Pokémon.

Next is Porygon 2

Porygon 2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
Sassy Nature
0 Attack IVs , 0 Speed IVs
244 HP /156 Defense / 36 SpA / 72 SpD
-Recover
-Tri Attack
-Toxic
-Trick Room

I chose Eviolite to increase Porygon 2's damage dealt. I chose 0 Attack and Speed IVs for foul play users, and to be able to move first, respectively. I chose recover since it's holding eviolite it can't heal through berries. Tri Attack and Toxic to be able to inflict status, and trick room to be able to let my slower Pokémon move first. As for EV Spreads, I wanted to invest as much HP as I could so Porygon 2 can live an earthquake from opposing garchomp/ gigalith, but I knew I had to invest a great deal in Defense against non special attacks, with the remaining amount invested in special Attack and special defense.

Next is Araquanid

Araquanid @ Waterium Z
Ability: Water Bubble
Brave Nature
0 Speed IVs
252 HP /252 Attack /4 SpD
-Liquidation
-Leech Life
-Poison Jab
-Protect

I chose a 0 Speed IV to perform well under Trick Room, with maximum Attack investment so attacks do as much damage as possible, with max hp so that it can live strong attacks. Hydro Vortex can be used to deal with resistant to water types, and poison jab is strong against water types.

Next is Alola Muk

Alolan Muk @Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
Adamant Nature
188 HP / 244 Atk / 44 Def / 20 SpD / 12 Spe
-Poison Jab
-Shadow Sneak
-Knock Off
-Protect

I chose to give a good amount of HP so that it wouldn't be too bulky, with almost max Attack with moderate investment in Defense/ Special Defense, with the rest in Speed. Shadow Sneak to break sashes, and Poison Jab to knock out frail Pokémon. Knock off is to remove eviolite, berries.

 

[Robyn]

Ok so I'm going to jump into this assignment. I decided on Paul Chua's team from Georgia.

First up is Tapu Koko:

Tapu Koko
Item:life orb
Timid Nature
0 Attack IVs
252 SpA/4 SpD/ 248 Spe
-Protect
-Volt Switch
-Thunderbolt
-Dazzling Gleam

The reason for less than max speed is so that their terrain sets up first so yours sets up last. 0 speed IVs to take less damage from foul play users. i chose life orb so I could do maximum damage.

Next is Kartana

Kartana
Item: Grassium Z
Jolly Nature
4 HP/252 Attack/252 Spe
-Protect
-Leaf Blade
-Substitute
-Sacred Sword

I chose a jolly nature to outspeed most threats, with maximum investment in Attack and Speed. I chose substitute to keep opposing fire and electric types from knocking me out. Sacred sword is for Pokémon weak to fighting type moves.

Next, we have Arcanine

Arcanine
Item: Choice Band
Jolly Nature
4 HP/ 252 Attack/ 252 Spe
-Flare Blitz
-Wild Charge
-Extreme Speed
-Close Combat

I chose Choice Band because it gives the power of life orb without the extra recoil damage, and allows you to use it to reduce attack. Flare Blitz under choice band will knock out non bulky steel types. Wild Charge one hits Ko's Gyrados and most water types. Close Combat is for minimally invested Pokémon weak to fighting type moves, and Extreme Speed to knock out low hp Pokémon.

Next is Porygon 2

Porygon 2
Item: Eviolite
Sassy Nature
0 Attack IVs , 0 Speed IVs
244 HP /156 Defense / 36 SpA / 72 SpD
-Recover
-Tri Attack
-Toxic
-Trick Room

I chose Eviolite to increase Porygon 2's damage dealt. I chose 0 Attack and Speed IVs for foul play users and to be able to move first. I chose recover since it's holding eviolite it can't heal through berries. Tri Attack and Toxic to be able to inflict status, and trick room to be able to let my slower Pokémon move first. As for EV Spreads, I wanted to invest as much HP as I could so Porygon 2 can live an earthquake from opposing garchomp/ gigalith, buried knew I had to invest a great deal in Defense against non special attacks, with the remaining amount invested in special Attack and special defense.

Next is Araquanid

Araquanid
Item: Waterium Z
Brave Nature
0 Speed IVs
252 HP /252 Attack /4 SpD
-Liquidation
-Leech Life
-Poison Jab
-Protect

I chose a 0 Speed IV to perform well under Trick Room. Hydro Vortex can be used to deal with resistant to water types, and poison jab is strong against water types.

Next is Alola Muk

Alolan Muk
Item: Figy Berry
Adamant Nature
188 HP / 244 Atk / 44 Def / 20 SpD / 12 Spe
-Poison Jab
-Shadow Sneak
-Knock Off
-Protect

I chose to give a good amount of HP with almost max Attack with moderate investment in Defense/ Special Defense, with the rest in Speed. Shadow Sneak to break sashes, and Poision Jab to knock out frail Pokémon. Knock off is to remove eviolite, etc.

Okay so no offense but I don't even know where to start with this one..

Your (extremely short) descriptions, for starters, have some MASSIVE inaccuracies, so I'll start by addressing those:

1) Running 248 speed on Tapu Koko accomplishes nothing, as electric terrain effects both sides of the field, no matter who sets it, and it wouldn't help you to underspeed any other Tapu, not to mention that 248 hits the same number as 252 at level 50 which VGC is played at.

2) Although I believe this to be a typo, 0 speed IVs does not effect foul play damage, attack does.

3) Choice Band actually increases damage by more than Life Orb, and I'm not sure what you mean by "and allows you to use it to reduce attack".

4) Eviolite actually boosts the defenses, not your damage output.


Now, I wish that was all I had to say on the bad side.. I really wish that was all I had to say... but unfortunately not:

Your descriptions are massively lacking, you hardly explain anything, and the stuff you do explain is just plain wrong, you say that you chose this and chose that, but don't say why you chose this or that over another thing, and once again, you don't explain your EVs, what do they do??

Also your formatting for Pokémon sets is absolutely horrible, and you don't list abilities, which is important. Generally, a set is listed as follows:

Pokemon @ Item
Ability:
Level:
EVs:
A Nature
IVs:
- Move 1
- Move 2
- Move 3
- Move 4


The most important thing however, is descriptions, you need to describe to the reader how the team, and each Pokémon within it works, and if you don't know how it works, then that's another issue.

I hope you'll take my advice to heart and try again, your sets themselves aren't nearly as bad as some I've seen, which is good, it's just how you describe them, forgive me for repeating myself, I just can't press that enough.

 

[Kmdvgc]

Thanks for your feedback. I'm willing to repost with the changes made, and hopefully it can make more sense now that I've reworded things.

 

[Spyro190]

Ok, here I am. This is my version of Dylan Salvanera's team.

Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Discharge
- Protect

A very common set wich works rlly well alongside Garchomp: in most cases the best lead I can choose.

Tapu Fini @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Misty Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 68 Def / 4 SpA / 28 SpD / 188 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Heal Pulse
- Protect

The EVs put in Spe makes it faster than max Spe Pelipper. The leftovers are put in HP and Def for the following calc, or in SpA and SpD without a true reason.
-1 252+ Atk Muk-Alola Poison Jab vs. 220 HP / 68 Def Tapu Fini: 72-86 (41.6 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Its Terrain and its resistance to Torkoal's Eruption make it a good switch-in vs TorkoGant.

Kartana @ Assault Vest
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 116 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 132 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Night Slash

This is the good old (but still gold) AVKartana made by Ray Rizzo. KartaFini is a nice lead wich isn't scared of Waterium Golduck and outspeed and KO Pelipper, shoting down the DDuck.

Muk-Alola (F) @ Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Taunt
- Protect

Not only the best tool vs AMarowak, but also a way to deal with fat Normale type like Snorlax and Porygon2.

Arcanine (F) @ Firium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Wild Charge
- Roar
- Protect

It outspeeds and KOes Gyarados, gives Intimidate support and has a great synergy with Fini and Kartana. Roar is better than AMuk's Taunt vs TR teams because it's not blocked by Mental Herb, but using both of them is needed when the opponent shows an Hariyama in the team preview. Firium Z+Flare Blitz is simply amazing.

Garchomp (M) @ Groundium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance
- Protect

SDance+Groundium gives the sheer power lacking, while Fire Fang covers Arcanine absence in case you prefer not bringing a pokèmon "without any items".

 

[philip holman]

10th. Jackson Hambrick @HambrickMB :

Pheromosa @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Poison Jab
- Ice Beam
- Protect


Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 126 Def / 126 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Wide Guard
- Flamethrower
- Protect


Persian-Alola @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 156 HP / 100 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fake Out
- Snarl
- Foul Play
- Taunt


Goodra @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 92 SpA
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Sludge Bomb
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower


Golem-Alola @ Rockium Z
Ability: Galvanize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Return
- Stone Edge
- Explosion


Lapras @ Waterium Z
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 160 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Ice Shard
- Hydro Pump
- Freeze-Dry
- Protect

I chose this team because of the unique / spicy picks Hambrick made. I like different and Alohan Golem is very interesting.

The Main Pair I would focus on is Pheromosa + Persian-Aloha. They would most likely be my lead pair with Persian having Fake Out, Snarl, and Taunt to setup and disrupt the enemy team, and Pheremosa doing the damage.

The rest of the team is pretty tanky. Celesteela is a staple in the meta and is just a good wall in general. Access to Flamethrower on Cele and Goodra is good to take out other steel type pokemon like Kartana. Goodra with Assault Vest is just a tank, period.

Lapras has good STABS to deal with Garchomp and Goodra even has Ice Beam. Lapras is also decent against Hail teams and Ducks.

Aloha Golem is the most interesting pick on this team. I had to read up on how Hambrick used him. Looks like he used explosion to wipe the field and is used to take out A-Marowak, who is *2 Weak to Rock. And, Stealth Rock is such a useful ability in general.

 

[Robyn]

10th. Jackson Hambrick @HambrickMB :

Pheromosa @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Poison Jab
- Ice Beam
- Protect


Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 126 Def / 126 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Wide Guard
- Flamethrower
- Protect


Persian-Alola @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 156 HP / 100 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fake Out
- Snarl
- Foul Play
- Taunt


Goodra @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 92 SpA
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Sludge Bomb
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower


Golem-Alola @ Rockium Z
Ability: Galvanize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Return
- Stone Edge
- Explosion


Lapras @ Waterium Z
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 160 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Ice Shard
- Hydro Pump
- Freeze-Dry
- Protect

I chose this team because of the unique / spicy picks Hambrick made. I like different and Alohan Golem is very interesting.

The Main Pair I would focus on is Pheromosa + Persian-Aloha. They would most likely be my lead pair with Persian having Fake Out, Snarl, and Taunt to setup and disrupt the enemy team, and Pheremosa doing the damage.

The rest of the team is pretty tanky. Celesteela is a staple in the meta and is just a good wall in general. Access to Flamethrower on Cele and Goodra is good to take out other steel type pokemon like Kartana. Goodra with Assault Vest is just a tank, period.

Lapras has good STABS to deal with Garchomp and Goodra even has Ice Beam. Lapras is also decent against Hail teams and Ducks.

Aloha Golem is the most interesting pick on this team. I had to read up on how Hambrick used him. Looks like he used explosion to wipe the field and is used to take out A-Marowak, who is *2 Weak to Rock. And, Stealth Rock is such a useful ability in general.

No offense, but this is horrible, your EVs are unoptimized, you don't explain anything, your sets don't make sense, stealth rocks in vgc??? No leech seed steela, technician persian, etc. etc. etc., in my opinion, scrap this and try again. Also, as great as this site is, we're kinda lacking in resources, check out TrainerTower, they have great and helpful articles that might help you.

 

[Garris_san]

10th. Jackson Hambrick @HambrickMB :

Pheromosa @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Poison Jab
- Ice Beam
- Protect


Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 126 Def / 126 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Wide Guard
- Flamethrower
- Protect


Persian-Alola @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 156 HP / 100 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fake Out
- Snarl
- Foul Play
- Taunt


Goodra @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 92 SpA
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Sludge Bomb
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower


Golem-Alola @ Rockium Z
Ability: Galvanize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Return
- Stone Edge
- Explosion


Lapras @ Waterium Z
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 160 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Ice Shard
- Hydro Pump
- Freeze-Dry
- Protect

I chose this team because of the unique / spicy picks Hambrick made. I like different and Alohan Golem is very interesting.

The Main Pair I would focus on is Pheromosa + Persian-Aloha. They would most likely be my lead pair with Persian having Fake Out, Snarl, and Taunt to setup and disrupt the enemy team, and Pheremosa doing the damage.

The rest of the team is pretty tanky. Celesteela is a staple in the meta and is just a good wall in general. Access to Flamethrower on Cele and Goodra is good to take out other steel type pokemon like Kartana. Goodra with Assault Vest is just a tank, period.

Lapras has good STABS to deal with Garchomp and Goodra even has Ice Beam. Lapras is also decent against Hail teams and Ducks.

Aloha Golem is the most interesting pick on this team. I had to read up on how Hambrick used him. Looks like he used explosion to wipe the field and is used to take out A-Marowak, who is *2 Weak to Rock. And, Stealth Rock is such a useful ability in general.

Like Jedirb said, the more of the articles you read off of trainer tower the better.

http://trainertower.com/forums/threads/vgc-resource-index.134/

You could also check out the guidelines for writing an rmt because you fail to do much of what is required of you, i.e., expain ev investments, why you may deviate from the standard, etc. Checking out what other people do right was how I learned.

 

[Jiv3ysaur]

So I chose Brian Youm's Georgia Regionals Team since I've played a lot of Hail and wanted to try and put my own spin on it.

The Team:

Sandslash-A (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Protect

This set admittedly seems a little odd compared to most Sandslash sets I've seen, but the theory behind this is quite simple. Since Sandslash has quite a low attack stat compared to what you want from a Z Move attacker, it isn't worth having it hold a Z Crystal as most of the time you will miss important KOs. Instead I gave it Swords Dance so it can boost its mediocre attack stat to a somewhat respectable level and deal significantly more damage than it could otherwise manage. The Focus Sash is used because Sandslash doesn't take Hail or Sand chip damage, meaning all the things that make it less useful do not affect Sandslash. It also gives it a safety net for a free boost. I considered Wide Lens so as to not have to rely on an 85% accurate move as my main STAB, but found the SwordSash set to be more effective.

Ninetales-A (M) @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Timid Nature
- Blizzard
- Freeze-Dry
- Aurora Veil
- Protect

Light Clay Ninetales has shown itself to be successful in recent times, and it worked its way onto this team because it struck me primarily as a team that benefitted from Aurora Veil with the fast Hail attacker as a backup mode. When I was testing Wide Lens on Sandslash I had Roar & Focus Sash over Protect, which worked to an extent, but this set is a lot better in my opinion. Blizzard + Hail damage actually adds up to a fair amount of damage, and this is something Ninetales is very good for, as it provides chip damage to set up KOs with the other Pokémon on the team. Freeze-Dry makes dealing with Pelipper & Gyarados much easier especially, as well as other Water types.

Buzzwole @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 220 HP / 4 Atk/ 28 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Hammer Arm
- Leech Life
- Bulk Up
- Protect

This Buzzwole is quite a cool set, and can accomplish a fair few things. Firstly, it gives me a solid way of dealing with Gigalith, as I can use Fighting moves to remove it from the field and set up my own weather. Secondly it gives me a Pokémon to centre the team around, as I can set up a Buzzwole sweep in the right conditions. I had thought about Rockium Z and Stone Edge over Bulk Up, however I feel it better suits what Buzzwole can do as it boosts its stats to the point of ridiculousness. This has the plus of letting it fire off ridiculously strong Leech Lifes to recover HP.

Tapu Fini @ Choice Specs
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 244 HP / 60 Def / 100 SpA / 60 SpD / 44 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Modest Nature
- Muddy Water
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Swagger

At first this set looks daft, I mean swagger on a Choice Specs Pokemon? However, it worked for Haze Fini, and since this is a mon that I switch often to reset Terrains and such, Swagger suits it quite well, as I have 3 decent Swagger recipients (Buzzwole, Muk and Sandslash) whom I can set up safely under my Terrain, and this gives my team more options. Muddy Water is a good spread move and thus is a particularly solid pick for Fini, while Moonblast and Scald are STAB attacks to round off the moveset.

Muk-A (M) @ Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk/ 4 SpA
IVs: 0 Spe
Brave Nature
- Gunk Shot
- Knock Off
- Flamethrower
- Protect

Muk is a very good Pokémon in this format, and the set is identical to Agati's 3rd Place LATAM set, for the same reasons. Although only 80% accuracy, Gunk Shot is much better at KOing Tapus, making it superior to me; Knock Off is a very very good move in VGC, both in terms of the disruption it causes and the information it lets you play with, and Flamethrower is a good Kartana check. Muk is the team's main Pokemon under Trick Room, and it's very important to keep it alive in this case.

Tapu Koko @ Fairium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 20 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 228 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Roar
- Protect

Another standard Pokemon but a slightly odd moveset this time. Fairium Z is a nice tool to have, and lets me do niche things like KO opposing Pokemon through Marowak / Togedemaru for instance. As a general rule of thumb I always tend to have one Roar user on my teams, and it's a move not many people expect on Tapu Koko, which helps when i want to shut down TR setters or setup mons. Thunderbolt and Protect are staple moves on Tapu Koko, so it was very easy to round off the set. The lack of Volt Switch means Koko is a little less versatile than normal, but this is something that is easier to deal with after a few games.

 

[philip holman]

No offense, but this is horrible, your EVs are unoptimized, you don't explain anything, your sets don't make sense, stealth rocks in vgc??? No leech seed steela, technician persian, etc. etc. etc., in my opinion, scrap this and try again. Also, as great as this site is, we're kinda lacking in resources, check out TrainerTower, they have great and helpful articles that might help you.

Yeah I know my EVs are bad. I have to figure them out. I don't fully understand them yet. I'm pretty new to Competitive Pokemon. I am going to revamp my post. I understand your points. And, I realize now that I should really explain more. Will post try #2 soon.

 

[philip holman]

TRY #2:

10th. Jackson Hambrick @HambrickMB : Pheromosa, Alohan-Persian, Celesteela, Goodra, Alohan-Golem, and Lapras.

I chose this team because of the unique / spicy picks Hambrick made. I like different and Alohan Golem is very interesting.

The Main Pair I would focus on is Pheromosa + Persian-Aloha.


Pheromosa @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Poison Jab
- Ice Beam
- Protect

Pheromosa is my sweeper, and my #1 priority on this team. The rest of this team is here to support her or fill in her weaknesses. High Jump Kick her STAB. Poison Jab is good against Fairy types, who are very popular because of the Tapu’s. Ice Beam for Dragon Types like Garchomp, a huge pick in the meta.

EV Spread: Very straight forward. Boosting the two most important stats in Atk and Speed. 4 in HP is just leftover points, so why not HP.

Persian-Alola @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fake Out
- Snarl
- Foul Play
- Taunt

Persian is the main partner for Pheromosa. I chose Technician to boost the power of Fake Out and Snarl, since both BPs are under 60. These two moves are the primary focus to support Pheromosa as much as possible. Foul Play is a good STAB. And, Taunt is great to stop trick room setups, which would be very detrimental to Pheromosa.

EV Spread: 252 in Speed because it is very important for it to go first. 252 in SpA to boost the damage of Snarl. The reason why we aren’t going Atk is because the damage from Foul Play is based of the target’s Atk, not Persian’s.


Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 52 Def / 4 SpA / 196 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Wide Guard
- Flamethrower
- Protect

Celesteela is a big meta pick. Tanky, Steel typing is great, and is just a pain for a lot of teams to deal with. Heavy Slam is huge STAB being how heavy Cele is. Flamethrower is a good move to beat other Steel type pokemon, such as Kartana, who can rival Pheromosa’s speed. Wide Guard is a very useful ability especially since EQ and Dazzling Gleam are popular in the meta. And, what can go wrong with protect?

EV Spread: This EV spread is highly defensive. Maxing HP and Solidifying both Defenses.

Goodra @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 52 SpA / 36 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Sludge Bomb

Goodra is another Tank, especially with Assault Vest. Draco Meteor is STAB move, and the other moves are there to hit specific weaknesses of my team. Flamethrower for Steel, Thunderbolt for water types which are good against Golem and Flying types like Mandibuzz or an enemy Celesteela. And Sludge Bomb so I have an answer to Fairy types other than Pheromosa.

EV Spread: Maxing HP and Solidifying Def to round out Goodra’s Tankiness. These EV’s let it survive at least one hit from popular physical attackers like Garchomp. The 52 in SpA help with Sludge Bomb against Fairy Types.

Golem-Alola @ Rockium Z
Ability: Galvanize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Double-Edge
- Return
- Stone Edge
- Explosion

The most interesting/spiciest pick on the team, in my opinion. Galvanize makes Double-Edge and Return strong STABs, making them electric typings. Stone Edge is the Rock STAB. And Explosion is used only as a hail mary situation. I see Golem as a revenge killer. Heavy hitting STABs, Interesting Typing, and an unorthodox move in Explosion.


EV Spread: Simple. Max Attack for it’s STABs. And Max Speed to make it a total of 106 with 31 IV at lvl50. A Decent Speed.


Lapras @ Waterium Z
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 92 Def / 116 SpA / 44 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Freeze-Dry
- Protect

Lapras is the Special Attacker to fill in my team. Freeze-Dry and Hydro Pump are the main STABs. The Z Move Hydro Vortex is also a key move, as Lapras can potentially 1-2 HKO many threats to the team like Marowak and Arcanine. Hambrick actually has a lot of spread + calcs data on Lapras from this team. The only difference from his is I am using Thunderbolt instead of Ice Shard. In his Damage calc, Every time I saw Ice Shard, it was very weak and unimpressive. I chose to have another electric answer in thunderbolt.

EV Spread: The 252 in HP is maxing it out and was already Lapras’ strongest stat. The 116 SpA is helping the STABS and allowing it guarantee OHKOs in certain matchups, allowing Lapras to be our SpA Sweeper on the team. And the rest is rounding out the Defenses a bit.

 

[Garris_san]

TRY #2:

10th. Jackson Hambrick @HambrickMB : Pheromosa, Alohan-Persian, Celesteela, Goodra, Alohan-Golem, and Lapras.

I chose this team because of the unique / spicy picks Hambrick made. I like different and Alohan Golem is very interesting.

The Main Pair I would focus on is Pheromosa + Persian-Aloha.


Pheromosa @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Poison Jab
- Ice Beam
- Protect

Pheromosa is my sweeper, and my #1 priority on this team. The rest of this team is here to support her or fill in her weaknesses. High Jump Kick her STAB. Poison Jab is good against Fairy types, who are very popular because of the Tapu’s. Ice Beam for Dragon Types like Garchomp, a huge pick in the meta.

EV Spread: Very straight forward. Boosting the two most important stats in Atk and Speed. 4 in HP is just leftover points, so why not HP.

Persian-Alola @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fake Out
- Snarl
- Foul Play
- Taunt

Persian is the main partner for Pheromosa. I chose Technician to boost the power of Fake Out and Snarl, since both BPs are under 60. These two moves are the primary focus to support Pheromosa as much as possible. Foul Play is a good STAB. And, Taunt is great to stop trick room setups, which would be very detrimental to Pheromosa.

EV Spread: 252 in Speed because it is very important for it to go first. 252 in SpA to boost the damage of Snarl. The reason why we aren’t going Atk is because the damage from Foul Play is based of the target’s Atk, not Persian’s.


Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 52 Def / 4 SpA / 196 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Wide Guard
- Flamethrower
- Protect

Celesteela is a big meta pick. Tanky, Steel typing is great, and is just a pain for a lot of teams to deal with. Heavy Slam is huge STAB being how heavy Cele is. Flamethrower is a good move to beat other Steel type pokemon, such as Kartana, who can rival Pheromosa’s speed. Wide Guard is a very useful ability especially since EQ and Dazzling Gleam are popular in the meta. And, what can go wrong with protect?

EV Spread: This EV spread is highly defensive. Maxing HP and Solidifying both Defenses.

Goodra @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 52 SpA / 36 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Sludge Bomb

Goodra is another Tank, especially with Assault Vest. Draco Meteor is STAB move, and the other moves are there to hit specific weaknesses of my team. Flamethrower for Steel, Thunderbolt for water types which are good against Golem and Flying types like Mandibuzz or an enemy Celesteela. And Sludge Bomb so I have an answer to Fairy types other than Pheromosa.

EV Spread: Maxing HP and Solidifying Def to round out Goodra’s Tankiness. These EV’s let it survive at least one hit from popular physical attackers like Garchomp. The 52 in SpA help with Sludge Bomb against Fairy Types.

Golem-Alola @ Rockium Z
Ability: Galvanize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Double-Edge
- Return
- Stone Edge
- Explosion

The most interesting/spiciest pick on the team, in my opinion. Galvanize makes Double-Edge and Return strong STABs, making them electric typings. Stone Edge is the Rock STAB. And Explosion is used only as a hail mary situation. I see Golem as a revenge killer. Heavy hitting STABs, Interesting Typing, and an unorthodox move in Explosion.


EV Spread: Simple. Max Attack for it’s STABs. And Max Speed to make it a total of 106 with 31 IV at lvl50. A Decent Speed.


Lapras @ Waterium Z
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 92 Def / 116 SpA / 44 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Freeze-Dry
- Protect

Lapras is the Special Attacker to fill in my team. Freeze-Dry and Hydro Pump are the main STABs. The Z Move Hydro Vortex is also a key move, as Lapras can potentially 1-2 HKO many threats to the team like Marowak and Arcanine. Hambrick actually has a lot of spread + calcs data on Lapras from this team. The only difference from his is I am using Thunderbolt instead of Ice Shard. In his Damage calc, Every time I saw Ice Shard, it was very weak and unimpressive. I chose to have another electric answer in thunderbolt.

EV Spread: The 252 in HP is maxing it out and was already Lapras’ strongest stat. The 116 SpA is helping the STABS and allowing it guarantee OHKOs in certain matchups, allowing Lapras to be our SpA Sweeper on the team. And the rest is rounding out the Defenses a bit.

I surmised that you were new and I hope you don't take offense. I don't think that's good enough either. I wanted to get into vgc once upon a time and there was a lot of things to catch up on. Over the years, competent players have internalized a vast amount of otherwise useless skills, such as team building. If you're interested, I'm afraid my only advice for now is to study up.

Hide

:https//web.archive.org/web/20151218061117/http://nuggetbridge.com/beginners/an-introduction-to-team-building/

This here gives you a run down of basic team building strategies that are hard to learn on one's own. Keep in mind that it was written in '12, though

http://www.trainertower.com/vgc-2017-speed-tiers/

This is ungodly helpful for speed creeping. You see, when we ask that you expand upon your ev spreads, we mean we want to know what you outspeed and why you thought you needed to outspeed those mons.

http://www.trainertower.com/WCS-battle-spot-usage/

This is a great place to check for notable threats.

http://www.trainertower.com/damagecalc/

Finally, this should seem self explanatory. You can fine tune your ev spreads and then show us all how you live certain attacks or pick up notable k.o.'s.

I swear, it all gets easier eventually. Anyway, I hope this has made sense. If not, feel free to pm me any questions. I'll be freely available most nights around 7-8 gmt +1.

Edit: By no means am I in a position to declare that you have passed or not, btw, just my own two cents.

 

[Garris_san]

TRY #2:

10th. Jackson Hambrick @HambrickMB : Pheromosa, Alohan-Persian, Celesteela, Goodra, Alohan-Golem, and Lapras.

I chose this team because of the unique / spicy picks Hambrick made. I like different and Alohan Golem is very interesting.

The Main Pair I would focus on is Pheromosa + Persian-Aloha.


Pheromosa @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Poison Jab
- Ice Beam
- Protect

Pheromosa is my sweeper, and my #1 priority on this team. The rest of this team is here to support her or fill in her weaknesses. High Jump Kick her STAB. Poison Jab is good against Fairy types, who are very popular because of the Tapu’s. Ice Beam for Dragon Types like Garchomp, a huge pick in the meta.

EV Spread: Very straight forward. Boosting the two most important stats in Atk and Speed. 4 in HP is just leftover points, so why not HP.

Persian-Alola @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fake Out
- Snarl
- Foul Play
- Taunt

Persian is the main partner for Pheromosa. I chose Technician to boost the power of Fake Out and Snarl, since both BPs are under 60. These two moves are the primary focus to support Pheromosa as much as possible. Foul Play is a good STAB. And, Taunt is great to stop trick room setups, which would be very detrimental to Pheromosa.

EV Spread: 252 in Speed because it is very important for it to go first. 252 in SpA to boost the damage of Snarl. The reason why we aren’t going Atk is because the damage from Foul Play is based of the target’s Atk, not Persian’s.


Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 52 Def / 4 SpA / 196 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Wide Guard
- Flamethrower
- Protect

Celesteela is a big meta pick. Tanky, Steel typing is great, and is just a pain for a lot of teams to deal with. Heavy Slam is huge STAB being how heavy Cele is. Flamethrower is a good move to beat other Steel type pokemon, such as Kartana, who can rival Pheromosa’s speed. Wide Guard is a very useful ability especially since EQ and Dazzling Gleam are popular in the meta. And, what can go wrong with protect?

EV Spread: This EV spread is highly defensive. Maxing HP and Solidifying both Defenses.

Goodra @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 52 SpA / 36 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Sludge Bomb

Goodra is another Tank, especially with Assault Vest. Draco Meteor is STAB move, and the other moves are there to hit specific weaknesses of my team. Flamethrower for Steel, Thunderbolt for water types which are good against Golem and Flying types like Mandibuzz or an enemy Celesteela. And Sludge Bomb so I have an answer to Fairy types other than Pheromosa.

EV Spread: Maxing HP and Solidifying Def to round out Goodra’s Tankiness. These EV’s let it survive at least one hit from popular physical attackers like Garchomp. The 52 in SpA help with Sludge Bomb against Fairy Types.

Golem-Alola @ Rockium Z
Ability: Galvanize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Double-Edge
- Return
- Stone Edge
- Explosion

The most interesting/spiciest pick on the team, in my opinion. Galvanize makes Double-Edge and Return strong STABs, making them electric typings. Stone Edge is the Rock STAB. And Explosion is used only as a hail mary situation. I see Golem as a revenge killer. Heavy hitting STABs, Interesting Typing, and an unorthodox move in Explosion.


EV Spread: Simple. Max Attack for it’s STABs. And Max Speed to make it a total of 106 with 31 IV at lvl50. A Decent Speed.


Lapras @ Waterium Z
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 92 Def / 116 SpA / 44 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Freeze-Dry
- Protect

Lapras is the Special Attacker to fill in my team. Freeze-Dry and Hydro Pump are the main STABs. The Z Move Hydro Vortex is also a key move, as Lapras can potentially 1-2 HKO many threats to the team like Marowak and Arcanine. Hambrick actually has a lot of spread + calcs data on Lapras from this team. The only difference from his is I am using Thunderbolt instead of Ice Shard. In his Damage calc, Every time I saw Ice Shard, it was very weak and unimpressive. I chose to have another electric answer in thunderbolt.

EV Spread: The 252 in HP is maxing it out and was already Lapras’ strongest stat. The 116 SpA is helping the STABS and allowing it guarantee OHKOs in certain matchups, allowing Lapras to be our SpA Sweeper on the team. And the rest is rounding out the Defenses a bit.

Wait, did you just copy his ev spreads? That 4 attack does nothing for your Lapras. Jackson Hambrick had ice shard. I think you are misunderstanding how this assignment works.

 

[Garris_san]

TRY #2:

10th. Jackson Hambrick @HambrickMB : Pheromosa, Alohan-Persian, Celesteela, Goodra, Alohan-Golem, and Lapras.

I chose this team because of the unique / spicy picks Hambrick made. I like different and Alohan Golem is very interesting.

The Main Pair I would focus on is Pheromosa + Persian-Aloha.


Pheromosa @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Poison Jab
- Ice Beam
- Protect

Pheromosa is my sweeper, and my #1 priority on this team. The rest of this team is here to support her or fill in her weaknesses. High Jump Kick her STAB. Poison Jab is good against Fairy types, who are very popular because of the Tapu’s. Ice Beam for Dragon Types like Garchomp, a huge pick in the meta.

EV Spread: Very straight forward. Boosting the two most important stats in Atk and Speed. 4 in HP is just leftover points, so why not HP.

Persian-Alola @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fake Out
- Snarl
- Foul Play
- Taunt

Persian is the main partner for Pheromosa. I chose Technician to boost the power of Fake Out and Snarl, since both BPs are under 60. These two moves are the primary focus to support Pheromosa as much as possible. Foul Play is a good STAB. And, Taunt is great to stop trick room setups, which would be very detrimental to Pheromosa.

EV Spread: 252 in Speed because it is very important for it to go first. 252 in SpA to boost the damage of Snarl. The reason why we aren’t going Atk is because the damage from Foul Play is based of the target’s Atk, not Persian’s.


Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 52 Def / 4 SpA / 196 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Wide Guard
- Flamethrower
- Protect

Celesteela is a big meta pick. Tanky, Steel typing is great, and is just a pain for a lot of teams to deal with. Heavy Slam is huge STAB being how heavy Cele is. Flamethrower is a good move to beat other Steel type pokemon, such as Kartana, who can rival Pheromosa’s speed. Wide Guard is a very useful ability especially since EQ and Dazzling Gleam are popular in the meta. And, what can go wrong with protect?

EV Spread: This EV spread is highly defensive. Maxing HP and Solidifying both Defenses.

Goodra @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 52 SpA / 36 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Sludge Bomb

Goodra is another Tank, especially with Assault Vest. Draco Meteor is STAB move, and the other moves are there to hit specific weaknesses of my team. Flamethrower for Steel, Thunderbolt for water types which are good against Golem and Flying types like Mandibuzz or an enemy Celesteela. And Sludge Bomb so I have an answer to Fairy types other than Pheromosa.

EV Spread: Maxing HP and Solidifying Def to round out Goodra’s Tankiness. These EV’s let it survive at least one hit from popular physical attackers like Garchomp. The 52 in SpA help with Sludge Bomb against Fairy Types.

Golem-Alola @ Rockium Z
Ability: Galvanize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Double-Edge
- Return
- Stone Edge
- Explosion

The most interesting/spiciest pick on the team, in my opinion. Galvanize makes Double-Edge and Return strong STABs, making them electric typings. Stone Edge is the Rock STAB. And Explosion is used only as a hail mary situation. I see Golem as a revenge killer. Heavy hitting STABs, Interesting Typing, and an unorthodox move in Explosion.


EV Spread: Simple. Max Attack for it’s STABs. And Max Speed to make it a total of 106 with 31 IV at lvl50. A Decent Speed.


Lapras @ Waterium Z
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 92 Def / 116 SpA / 44 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Freeze-Dry
- Protect

Lapras is the Special Attacker to fill in my team. Freeze-Dry and Hydro Pump are the main STABs. The Z Move Hydro Vortex is also a key move, as Lapras can potentially 1-2 HKO many threats to the team like Marowak and Arcanine. Hambrick actually has a lot of spread + calcs data on Lapras from this team. The only difference from his is I am using Thunderbolt instead of Ice Shard. In his Damage calc, Every time I saw Ice Shard, it was very weak and unimpressive. I chose to have another electric answer in thunderbolt.

EV Spread: The 252 in HP is maxing it out and was already Lapras’ strongest stat. The 116 SpA is helping the STABS and allowing it guarantee OHKOs in certain matchups, allowing Lapras to be our SpA Sweeper on the team. And the rest is rounding out the Defenses a bit.

Sorry to flood the forum but if you wanted to try this again, you'd need to do a different team as you know what Hambrick did and the point of this assignment is to make sets based on the team composition alone. Personally, with you being a newer competitive player, I'd go with a team that has more common Pokemon to start. The reason these high level players make those "spicy" picks is because they have a clearer knowledge of the meta. That Lapras for example shut down double duck which was very popular at the time. After you have the team finished you can look at what the team did irl to see how your intuition about how it's members functioned together stacks up.

Jiv3ysaur, like I said, I don't have the final say in who passes or not but I think you understand the meta and explain everything well. I like the focus sash on sandslash and light clay on Ninetales. I also like how it's quite obvious that you play tested this team as that is very important and I feel like others may over look that. A few of the ev's could be a little better optimized, sure, for example that Ninetales could have a spread of 4 HP / 28 Def / 212 SpA / 12 SpD / 252 Spe, bc 252+ SpA Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 4 HP / 12 SpD Alolan Ninetales in Psychic Terrain: 126-148 (84.5-99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO. Over all, though, your team is functional and I hate to only focus on the negative. I think you may be good to go, but you should still wait for blarajan's approval before posting an rmt.

 

[Oshni]

I chose the team used by Sam Pandelis as the beginning for my team, as it had the largest number of mons that i hadnt used before, so i didnt reuse sets from other teams as much. and the one i did use (Garchomp) I made certain to use a different set.

Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Blizzard
- Protect
- Encore

Ninetales serves as a form of core to the team. with aurora veil to double the defenses of my team, encore to lock mons into detrimental moves like protect, and protect to avoid damage if i get double targetted, it has a lot of utility to aid my team. blizzard is used to help with damage, and to make sure it can still do something if it gets taunted. i ran light clay to increase the duration of aurora veil, and max HP and max Speed to keep it using its support moves while still giving it a little bit of bulk.

Arcanine @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Snarl
- Roar

Arcanine serves as an aggressive support, taking intimidate to lower the damage of physical opponents, and snarl to deal damage and bully down special attackers. Flare blitz is its primary stab move, and Extreme speed is an all around good priority move. roar serves to shake up the opponent's side of the field by switching in mons in the back, and can help the early game by revealing atleast one other mon my opponent brought


Garchomp @ Groundium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 180 Atk / 116 SpD / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Poison Jab
- Fire Fang

Garchomp serves as a decent coverage attacker while retaining the Groundium-z for a big nuke on a mon that needs to go. the 116 SpD stat allows it to take an ice beam from a P2 and leaves a 6.3 chance to OHKO from a dual target blizzard from a ninetales with no attack investment. the 212 speed allows it to overspeed a max speed positive Xurkitree and a max speed neutral Lele, and the rest was dumped into attack to give it as much damage as possible.

Mandibuzz @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
- Tailwind
- Snarl
- Taunt
- Foul Play

Mandibuzz is the overall best Tailwind setter in the game, and i decided to make the best use of its supportive movepool by giving it Tailwind, Snarl, Taunt, and Foul play. Tailwind is to double speed on my team, Snarl can reduce the presence of special attackers, taunt can force more supportive mons off the field, and Foul play is to give it a damaging presence even without investing. it also serves as a nice special wall, being immune to psychic moves and resisting a few of the other common special types as well. overcoat also prevents it from getting chipped down by hail.

Tapu Lele @ Life Orb
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt

this is a very basic Lele set, taking Calm mind as a possible setup move against non-threatening mons while under aurora veil. Moon blast and Psychic are my 2 STAB moves, with psychic getting a considerable boost with the terrain advantage. t-bolt is used as a coverage move, with a large number of flying and water types in comparison to other types.

Xurkitree @ Air Balloon
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tail Glow
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball
- Dazzling Gleam

Xurkitree is the most threatening offense on my team, with Tailglow giving it 3 stages of SpAtk in one turn. this is best used with aurora veil up, so you have some coverage from damage. T-bolt is its primary stab, with Energy ball being good coverage against certain mons, and D-Gleam being a good spread move to round the set off. I considered running Focus sash, but since it takes hail damage, i decided to take an air balloon instead to remove its only weakness, until it gets hit, anyways.

 

[Garris_san]

I chose the team used by Sam Pandelis as the beginning for my team, as it had the largest number of mons that i hadnt used before, so i didnt reuse sets from other teams as much. and the one i did use (Garchomp) I made certain to use a different set.

Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Blizzard
- Protect
- Encore

Ninetales serves as a form of core to the team. with aurora veil to double the defenses of my team, encore to lock mons into detrimental moves like protect, and protect to avoid damage if i get double targetted, it has a lot of utility to aid my team. blizzard is used to help with damage, and to make sure it can still do something if it gets taunted. i ran light clay to increase the duration of aurora veil, and max HP and max Speed to keep it using its support moves while still giving it a little bit of bulk.

Arcanine @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Snarl
- Roar

Arcanine serves as an aggressive support, taking intimidate to lower the damage of physical opponents, and snarl to deal damage and bully down special attackers. Flare blitz is its primary stab move, and Extreme speed is an all around good priority move. roar serves to shake up the opponent's side of the field by switching in mons in the back, and can help the early game by revealing atleast one other mon my opponent brought


Garchomp @ Groundium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 180 Atk / 116 SpD / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Poison Jab
- Fire Fang

Garchomp serves as a decent coverage attacker while retaining the Groundium-z for a big nuke on a mon that needs to go. the 116 SpD stat allows it to take an ice beam from a P2 and leaves a 6.3 chance to OHKO from a dual target blizzard from a ninetales with no attack investment. the 212 speed allows it to overspeed a max speed positive Xurkitree and a max speed neutral Lele, and the rest was dumped into attack to give it as much damage as possible.

Mandibuzz @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
- Tailwind
- Snarl
- Taunt
- Foul Play

Mandibuzz is the overall best Tailwind setter in the game, and i decided to make the best use of its supportive movepool by giving it Tailwind, Snarl, Taunt, and Foul play. Tailwind is to double speed on my team, Snarl can reduce the presence of special attackers, taunt can force more supportive mons off the field, and Foul play is to give it a damaging presence even without investing. it also serves as a nice special wall, being immune to psychic moves and resisting a few of the other common special types as well. overcoat also prevents it from getting chipped down by hail.

Tapu Lele @ Life Orb
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt

this is a very basic Lele set, taking Calm mind as a possible setup move against non-threatening mons while under aurora veil. Moon blast and Psychic are my 2 STAB moves, with psychic getting a considerable boost with the terrain advantage. t-bolt is used as a coverage move, with a large number of flying and water types in comparison to other types.

Xurkitree @ Air Balloon
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tail Glow
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball
- Dazzling Gleam

Xurkitree is the most threatening offense on my team, with Tailglow giving it 3 stages of SpAtk in one turn. this is best used with aurora veil up, so you have some coverage from damage. T-bolt is its primary stab, with Energy ball being good coverage against certain mons, and D-Gleam being a good spread move to round the set off. I considered running Focus sash, but since it takes hail damage, i decided to take an air balloon instead to remove its only weakness, until it gets hit, anyways.

These ev spreads aren't optimal. Light clay Ninetales should have a little bulk to avoid certain ohkos but it also needs investment in SpA if it wants to ohko garchomp with defensive investment. 0 SpA Ninetales-Alola Blizzard vs. 28 HP / 52 SpD Assault Vest Garchomp: 156-184 (83.4 - 98.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after hail damage

Arcanine is jolly but you don't have any speed investment which begs the question, why not run adamant? A spread of 252 HP / 4 Atk / 60 Def / 28 SpD / 164 Spe Jolly Nature outpaces timid xurkitree and Gyrados, takes a psychic from tapu lele, and Garchomp's eq becomes a 3hko after intimidate and Berry recovery. This Arcanine set is from SekiamVGC and was used to in the London Intercontinental Tournament with a rather suprising twist: Flare Blitz on Arcanine instead of a special Fire-type move like Burn Out. The idea of this set is basically to ensure that Arcanine has a strong Physical Fire-type move for targets that can normally take special hits such as Lele or AV Metagross. With the potential of Snarl wars with opposing Arcanine, this one at least has a move were the Fire-type move isn't reduced in effectiveness.

The garchomp set looks to be the best on the team though a sliver of a chance to survive blizzard from an uninvested Ninetales is hardly relevant. I've yet to see anyone use one to any success. Honestly, a 252/252 spread is probably better for the team to speed tie opposing garchomp and hopefully flinch them first. If you wanted to make it bulkier, take the investment out of attack and add swords dance to the set to make up for the lack of investment.

Leftovers is a bad item. Give it psychic seed, take away that investment in SpD and give it Roost for recovery over taunt. You'll want that on your lele. Speaking of which, you don't have the bulk on that lele set to set up calm minds and the speed investment is redundant when you have tailwind support. Maybe this is just me, but I also feel like air balloon is a bad item. Scarf boosts xurkitree's speed enough to be a threat outside of tailwind or a bulkier spread with a berry that synergizes better with Aurora veil in order to more reliably get off a tail glow and I'd say that's a better choice than air balloon because you have nothing to help set up tailglow except for snarl, intimidate, and Aurora veil. Speaking of which, I see no calcs that take into account Aurora veil.

I assume you know how to use the showdown calculator. Try to work on these spreads. The VGC 17 sample moveset compendium should give you an idea of how to come up with more relevant calcs. Not a bad first try, but there is a lot to learn. I think trainer tower would be an invaluable resource for you to use to improve your assignment here and knowledge of the game in general.

 

[Oshni]

Take 2 of my previous team.

Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 50
EVs: 44 HP / 28 Def / 212 SpA / 12 SpD / 212 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Blizzard
- Protect
- Encore

i decided to lower the speed a bit, and reevaluate my defensive spread. it can take a thunder bolt from a max SpAtk Koko, Psychic from Lele, and wild charge from max Atk koko. the speed takes it over neutral 0 speed Pheromosa and Max speed positive Garchomp, with enough damage to Ohko AV Garchomps and 2hko bulky bulu sets.

Arcanine @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 60 Def / 28 SpD / 164 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Snarl
- Roar

I fixed the spread on it so it outspeeds timid xurkitree and gyrados, takes a psychic from lele, and makes chomp's EQ 3hko after berry, as recommended.

Garchomp @ Groundium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Poison Jab
- Fire Fang

Changed the spread on it so chomp can put out as much pressure as possible and pick up key KO's with groundium-z, without taking as many hits first.

Mandibuzz @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Def / 180 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tailwind
- Snarl
- Roost
- Foul Play

i took the previous advice to fix my spread a bit more, and added the psychic seed over leftovers on mandibuzz for added bulk.. the spread takes 3hkos from Koko's tbolt out of terrain, and 2hkos with electric terrain. 12.1 chance of 2hko from Lele moonblast, 3hko from fini moonblast, and 1.2 chance of 2hko from arcanine flare blitz. i added roost for recovery and decided to shift taunt over to lele instead.

Tapu Lele @ Leftovers
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 28 HP / 44 Def / 228 SpA / 28 SpD / 180 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Taunt

EDIT: Realized i accidentally left Psychium-z on my lele from when i was toying around with a few things. fixed it to lefties.
I swapped taunt over Tbolt on lele to keep the taunt in my team, while leaving mandibuzz a form of recovery. The spread leaves Araquanid liquidation and pheromosa 6.3 chance to Ohko, Xurkitree Tbolt a 2hko, and outspeeds golduck with tailwind. it is also faster than Neutral 252 mimikyu, Positive 252 xurkitree, and positive 252 fini

Xurkitree @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball
- Dazzling Gleam

I decided to put away the air balloon and give it a focus sash, and swap protect for tail glow. this is to make it a little harder to play around if i protect and forces a double target if it wants to be taken down from max health.

 

[Garris_san]

Take 2 of my previous team.

Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 50
EVs: 44 HP / 28 Def / 212 SpA / 12 SpD / 212 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Blizzard
- Protect
- Encore

i decided to lower the speed a bit, and reevaluate my defensive spread. it can take a thunder bolt from a max SpAtk Koko, Psychic from Lele, and wild charge from max Atk koko. the speed takes it over neutral 0 speed Pheromosa and Max speed positive Garchomp, with enough damage to Ohko AV Garchomps and 2hko bulky bulu sets.

Arcanine @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 60 Def / 28 SpD / 164 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Snarl
- Roar

I fixed the spread on it so it outspeeds timid xurkitree and gyrados, takes a psychic from lele, and makes chomp's EQ 3hko after berry, as recommended.

Garchomp @ Groundium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Poison Jab
- Fire Fang

Changed the spread on it so chomp can put out as much pressure as possible and pick up key KO's with groundium-z, without taking as many hits first.

Mandibuzz @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Def / 180 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tailwind
- Snarl
- Roost
- Foul Play

i took the previous advice to fix my spread a bit more, and added the psychic seed over leftovers on mandibuzz for added bulk.. the spread takes 3hkos from Koko's tbolt out of terrain, and 2hkos with electric terrain. 12.1 chance of 2hko from Lele moonblast, 3hko from fini moonblast, and 1.2 chance of 2hko from arcanine flare blitz. i added roost for recovery and decided to shift taunt over to lele instead.

Tapu Lele @ Leftovers
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 28 HP / 44 Def / 228 SpA / 28 SpD / 180 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Taunt

EDIT: Realized i accidentally left Psychium-z on my lele from when i was toying around with a few things. fixed it to lefties.
I swapped taunt over Tbolt on lele to keep the taunt in my team, while leaving mandibuzz a form of recovery. The spread leaves Araquanid liquidation and pheromosa 6.3 chance to Ohko, Xurkitree Tbolt a 2hko, and outspeeds golduck with tailwind. it is also faster than Neutral 252 mimikyu, Positive 252 xurkitree, and positive 252 fini

Xurkitree @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball
- Dazzling Gleam

I decided to put away the air balloon and give it a focus sash, and swap protect for tail glow. this is to make it a little harder to play around if i protect and forces a double target if it wants to be taken down from max health.

These ev spreads are much better, imo. You can put all of your calcs in a hidden tag and explain decisions you made, any justifications you made, or purposes of the mon on the team under each set. If I'm not mistaken, this should be at least 3-4 sentences explaining each mon, not including the obvious, e.g. Protect is the best move in the game so I decided to add it to the moveset. Think, things like, well, you decided to drop tbolt on Lele, did you notice it's completely walled by celesteela without it? If your team can handle a well played celesteela, without it, explain that you thought the extra coverage on Lele was unnecessary because xurkitree handles it for example. I think you're on the right track, though.
Edit: If you explain things as well as you did in your first attempt and show all the effort you put into the ev spreads with the second attempt, there would still be a few minor things that could be changed, but that is the point of a rate. The cool part about this assignment is that a rater doesn't need to consider things like team composition because these teams were already successful and the person on the other end has to try to figure out what made the team so successful in the first place using nothing but their own knowledge of the meta.

 

[Oshni]

Basically just went more in depth with each spread.

Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 50
EVs: 44 HP / 28 Def / 212 SpA / 12 SpD / 212 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Blizzard
- Protect
- Encore

Ninetales is a solid supporting mon on my team, with some decent offensive pressure. Aurora veil gives my whole team a boost to defenses, allowing more hits to do less damage and save from some 1 or 2 hit kos as well. Encore and protect both add more utility to the set, and blizzard rounds it off with enough damage to bring a lot of threats below half health, like AV garchomp, Liligant, Aerodactyl, Z-Crystal Variants of dhelmise, and a 3hko on mandibuzz. the build can also take hits from garchomp's Poison jab, Tapu Lele Moonblast and Tapu Koko TBolt.

Arcanine @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 60 Def / 28 SpD / 164 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Snarl
- Roar

This is a pretty standard bulky arcanine set, with a good spread of utility moves. Intimidate reduces opponent physical damage on switch in, and Snarl decreases special defense with a bit of chip damage. i chose flare blitz over burn up for more consistant damage, and to prevent getting bogged down in snarl wars. Roar lets me shuffle around the opponent's team, and Extreme speed allows me to pick up kills on faster mons. The bulk on the set takes a buzzwole superpower, and Chomp's EQ becomes a 3hit after berry recovery. Tapu Koko's Tbolt and Lele's Psychic both become 3hko's after a snarl, except the life orb variant of lele.

Garchomp @ Groundium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Poison Jab
- Fire Fang

This is a strong offensive set of garchomp, with max attack and speed to hit as hard as possible, as fast as possible. Earth quake and dragon claw are both solid stab moves, and Poison jab and fire fang both provide heavy coverage against top threats. With 2hkos in all of its moves and a powerful nuke with Z-Earthquake, Garchomp becomes a strong all around offensive mon for my team.

Mandibuzz @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Def / 180 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tailwind
- Snarl
- Roost
- Foul Play

Mandibuzz provides a more fast paced support than the ninetales, and allows more aggressive plays with its kit. Tailwind doubles the speed allowing for more kill potential with double targets, Snarl decreases special attack while adding some chip damage to break sash or disguise, Roost can keep Mandibuzz healthy and remove some of its major weaknesses, and Foul Play gives it some offensive pressure against physical attackers by using their attack stat. The specific spread allows me to take Moonblasts from Lele without life orb, Tbolts from Koko, and Flare Blitz from Marowak. the rest was put into speed, which allows it to outspeed neutral 252 pheromosa and positive 252 tapu koko once tailwind is up.

Tapu Lele @ Psychium-Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 28 HP / 44 Def / 228 SpA / 28 SpD / 180 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Taunt

Tapu Lele serves as a second Z-crystal holder, with one of the strongest Z Moves in the game. i considered running the leftovers over it but i felt like having it was important, since having 2 holders made for a bit more flexibility in team selection. Moonblast and Psychic are both strong stab moves, and taunt can shut down other tailwind or trick room setters. the spread allows it to live many of the mid-high range attackers like Koko's Tbolt without terrain, garchomp's Poison jab, and arcanine's flare blitz. the speed investment overspeeds other tailwind and trick room setters, to allow the team uncontested speed control. the attack investment allows it to pick up Ohkos on mons like Garchomp, Nihilego, and pelliper, and brings many mons down close enough to where a snarl will pick them off.

Xurkitree @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball
- Dazzling Gleam

Xurkitree rounds my team off with a strong aggressive finish, having the highest special attack in the game. Thunder bolt, energy ball, and D-Gleam are all around strong moves to have on my team somewhere, with good damage coverage accross the board. with a 50% chance of Ohkoing celesteela, and a focus sash to avoid being 1shot from single focus, Xurkitree closes my team well.

 

[Garris_san]

Basically just went more in depth with each spread.

Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 50
EVs: 44 HP / 28 Def / 212 SpA / 12 SpD / 212 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Blizzard
- Protect
- Encore

Ninetales is a solid supporting mon on my team, with some decent offensive pressure. Aurora veil gives my whole team a boost to defenses, allowing more hits to do less damage and save from some 1 or 2 hit kos as well. Encore and protect both add more utility to the set, and blizzard rounds it off with enough damage to bring a lot of threats below half health, like AV garchomp, Liligant, Aerodactyl, Z-Crystal Variants of dhelmise, and a 3hko on mandibuzz. the build can also take hits from garchomp's Poison jab, Tapu Lele Moonblast and Tapu Koko TBolt.

Arcanine @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 60 Def / 28 SpD / 164 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Snarl
- Roar

This is a pretty standard bulky arcanine set, with a good spread of utility moves. Intimidate reduces opponent physical damage on switch in, and Snarl decreases special defense with a bit of chip damage. i chose flare blitz over burn up for more consistant damage, and to prevent getting bogged down in snarl wars. Roar lets me shuffle around the opponent's team, and Extreme speed allows me to pick up kills on faster mons. The bulk on the set takes a buzzwole superpower, and Chomp's EQ becomes a 3hit after berry recovery. Tapu Koko's Tbolt and Lele's Psychic both become 3hko's after a snarl, except the life orb variant of lele.

Garchomp @ Groundium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Poison Jab
- Fire Fang

This is a strong offensive set of garchomp, with max attack and speed to hit as hard as possible, as fast as possible. Earth quake and dragon claw are both solid stab moves, and Poison jab and fire fang both provide heavy coverage against top threats. With 2hkos in all of its moves and a powerful nuke with Z-Earthquake, Garchomp becomes a strong all around offensive mon for my team.

Mandibuzz @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Def / 180 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tailwind
- Snarl
- Roost
- Foul Play

Mandibuzz provides a more fast paced support than the ninetales, and allows more aggressive plays with its kit. Tailwind doubles the speed allowing for more kill potential with double targets, Snarl decreases special attack while adding some chip damage to break sash or disguise, Roost can keep Mandibuzz healthy and remove some of its major weaknesses, and Foul Play gives it some offensive pressure against physical attackers by using their attack stat. The specific spread allows me to take Moonblasts from Lele without life orb, Tbolts from Koko, and Flare Blitz from Marowak. the rest was put into speed, which allows it to outspeed neutral 252 pheromosa and positive 252 tapu koko once tailwind is up.

Tapu Lele @ Psychium-Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 28 HP / 44 Def / 228 SpA / 28 SpD / 180 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Taunt

Tapu Lele serves as a second Z-crystal holder, with one of the strongest Z Moves in the game. i considered running the leftovers over it but i felt like having it was important, since having 2 holders made for a bit more flexibility in team selection. Moonblast and Psychic are both strong stab moves, and taunt can shut down other tailwind or trick room setters. the spread allows it to live many of the mid-high range attackers like Koko's Tbolt without terrain, garchomp's Poison jab, and arcanine's flare blitz. the speed investment overspeeds other tailwind and trick room setters, to allow the team uncontested speed control. the attack investment allows it to pick up Ohkos on mons like Garchomp, Nihilego, and pelliper, and brings many mons down close enough to where a snarl will pick them off.

Xurkitree @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball
- Dazzling Gleam

Xurkitree rounds my team off with a strong aggressive finish, having the highest special attack in the game. Thunder bolt, energy ball, and D-Gleam are all around strong moves to have on my team somewhere, with good damage coverage accross the board. with a 50% chance of Ohkoing celesteela, and a focus sash to avoid being 1shot from single focus, Xurkitree closes my team well.

Nice job. The only thing I would say you could change about the team would be max speed investment on Ninetales to at least tie kartana (as you aren't sashed and can't take that smart strike, and they are all pm max speed) and I'd drop dragon claw for protect on garchomp. Dragon claw is nice for opposing garchomp and for Goodra, but there's only really room for it on scarf or assvest sets and Groundium Z let's you ohko other garchomp without defensive investment. Plus it seems you forgot 4 EVs on xurkitree.

But, yeah, I think this team would function well. Other things people will add for an actual rmt are the teambuilding process, lists of threats, and lead combinations. These all give raters valuable insight into the team. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you can learn a ton just by lurking around the rmt archive for the level of detail other people provide. A lot of people also add pictures of the team. Makes it look more appealing. Overall, I'm impressed by how quickly you've improved. Best of luck with the assignment and any future rmts.

 

[Counting Sheep]

Never played vgc, watched a couple of matches on twitch and YR. I currently main Ou and I would say I'm decently average having only peaked at 1750. I love teambuilding so VGC attracted me with some really aesthetically pleasing teams:)
I dont know much at all about the VGC meta bar 5 videos of Pokeaims and a few Wolfe. I know Arcanine and Garchomp are very popular but Im also assuming Fini is very common too as well as all the mons in these top teams where I took the team I tried to make: http://www.trainertower.com/european-international-
championships/. I dont plan on fully learning the 17 meta, just getting used to the doubles aspect in battling and building before Vgc18 and Usm as well as having a cool self built team to play vs my friends with.

The team sets I tried to remake was:

I tried to remake this team as it has a similar concept to the team I'm trying to make. A speed mode and a Trick Room mode, though the more I look, the more this seems common place.

Golduck @ Waterium Z
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 50
EVs: 172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Protect

Golduck was the first Pokemon I decided to complete. I originally went for the moves Hydro Pump, Ice Beam and Focus Blast with Protect and FightiumZ to hit P2 as hard as possible to prevent Trick Room counter lead but realised WateriumZ Hydro Pump + Rain hit P2 harder, but still doing little damage to prevent TR. This also allowed me to run the more accurate Scald. Ice Beam is there to hit Grass and Dragon types such as Tapu Bulu, Garchomp, Goodra, Salamence and Whimscott. Protect is used as a last slot helping me gain better positioning throughout the match. The Evs allow me to hit as hard as possible and outpace Adamant Scarf Garchomp while the rest is placed in bulk.

Pelipper @ Focus Sash
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
EVs: 124 HP / 252 SpA / 132 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Hurricane
- Protect
- Tailwind

Peliper was the next choice, supporting Golduck with rain support, and I assume a leading partner too. Sash is there to help Peliper get off an attack supporting in either breaking a bulky grass/providing a double attack or tailwind countering opponents tailwind in there attempt to invalidate swift swim on Golduck, while allowing it to come back in later so reset rain potentially. Without sash Peliper will often be forced to switch turn 1 which is not ideal. I originally had Scald, Hurricane, Knock Off and Tailwind, with Knock Off helping Golduck smash P2 with ZHydro Pump in rain that are trying to counter lead and set up Trick Room. However I noticed P2 was often on teams with Fake Out support or a slow weather setter such as Gigalith or Torkoal, invalidating this. So Protect was the way to go, protecting the sash as well as helping to improve positioning. The speed allows Peliper to outpace 252 Timid Koko and neutral speed nature Pheromosa in a tailwind, while the rest is placed in Bulk to improve longevity.

Tapu Bulu @ Assault Vest
Ability: Grassy Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 204 HP / 252 Atk / 52 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Horn Leech
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

Next was Bulu which I decided to make Assault Vest to help Vs opposing Water spam, as the Rain is a double edged sword boosting opposing Water moves. Bulu also helps Electric moves, which the team attracts with no immunity. Wood Hammer with max attack adamant is used to allow Bulu to hit as hard as possible, allowing it to abuse both Tailwind support and Trick Room somewhat. Horn Leech improves Tapu Bulus longevity allowing it to perform its role as a Water and Electric check for the team. Stone Edge is used to hit Pokemon that Golduck doesnt appreciate, such as Gyarados but also allowing Bulu to hit Alolan Marowak, Arcanine and other Fire types hard. Once again the speed is to allow Bulu to outpace 252+ Koko and 252 Pheromosa with Tailwind support, but also under speeding a large amount of common mons still, for Trick Room.

Tapu Koko @ Tapunium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 44 Def / 208 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Nature's Madness
- Protect

Next was Tapu Koko, providing nice speed for the team so I decided to make it max timid, escaping anything trying to creep modest, and to speed tie with opposing Koko and base 130s. Thunderbolt is used for strong single target damage and Dazzling Gleam for a nice spread move, hitting a few relevant threats. I decided to run Nature's Madness with Tapunium Z to help vs fat targets the team might struggle breaking such as Goodra, but also hitting bulky set up sweepers, trying to somewhat alleviate the problem. Lastly protect is used to help increase positioning during the match. The Evs allow Tapu Koko to always live an adamant Wood Hammer from Bulu not being boosted by an item, allowing Koko to potentially get off essential damage for the team.

Muk-Alola @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Gluttony
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 108 Atk / 148 Def
Adamant Nature
IVs: 25 Spe
- Poison Jab
- Knock Off
- Curse
- Protect

I saw Muk as the main pairing with P2 to abuse Trick Room and the kinda main way of helping Vs Tapu Lele. Knowing this I decided to make Muk a curse set, increasing its bulk and damage while reducing its speed, allowing it to abuse Trick Room better. Poison Jab was the main Poison stab of choice, having decent power when boosted and having 100% acc unlike Gunk Shot. The Poison Chance is also very much appreciated. Knock Off is Muks hardest hitting Dark move at 97.5 Bp when an item is held, but also has the utility of Knocking Off important items such as Thick Club, 50% Berries and Eviolite. This is why 25 Speed Ivs + adamant nature is run over brave 0speed, outpacing 4 Speed Marowak outside of Trick Room, but speed tying with Min speed Marowak after a curse (unless they try creep for Trick Room mirror by using 4iv) and outpacing min speed Porygons outside of Trick Room to try get a Knock Off as soon as possible, crippling these mons. It also under speeds neutral base 50s. The Evs allow Muk to always live adamant Arcanines Flare Blitz into another Flare Blitz after a curse w/o LO, also activating the 50% Berry while Z move at full activates the Berry avoiding the 2hko from Flare Blitz next turn most of the time. The attack investment always allows Muk to Ohko no Bulk Lele with Pjab.

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 76 Def / 188 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 14 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Trick Room

P2 was the last mon for me to complete the set of, and after much calcing for Golduck and Peliper, I knew that the calc spread was designed to live Z Hydro into Scald (Hence I thought of using Knock), so I stole that. The rest of the moves were obvious. Bolt Beam coverage hitting as much as possible, while Return not being necessary for hitting Arcanine and Lele, Recover for longevity allowing as many TR sets as possible and lastly Trick Room for speed control. I chose to run 14 speed Calm Nature to outpace 4speed base 50s outside of Tr room, potentially allowing doubles into a target to avoid being Knock Off or other relevant damage.

Using this team I would have two modes, Trick Room and Rain Offence. The Trick Room mode would be running P2, Alolan Muk, Tapu Bulu and Koko for general speed control and helping break fatter mons as compared to rain, the Trick Room has far less immediate power or Peliper to help vs opposing weather Trick Rooms trying to abuse Torkoal and Gigalith. The Rain mode would have far more options to customise to the opposing team, being able to utilise every mon. Golduck and Peliper are the obvious pairing, with Peliper providing the Rain and Tailwind to not only boost your teams speed, but to nullify opposing Tailwind. Peliper also can help break bulky Grasses for Golduck with Hurricane. Tapu Bulu is an option in the back, being a nice Water, Electric resist, being able to switch in from either mon allowing for future preservation. Alolan Muk pairs well with Bulu appreciating its Grassey Terrain support. Alolan Muk can Knock Off P2 allowing for Golduck to break it while also discouraging the setting of TR as Muk can also abuse this. Tapu Koko can be run too, helping Golduck break through fatter mons such as Goodra. Lastly P2 can be ran to reverse opposing Trick Room, as well as its Bolt Beam coverage helping break bulky Waters and Grasses for Golduck.

Has anyone got an import for this team:

I just see a cool looking team and cant resist wanting it :D

 

[CuriousNopes]

Heyo, alright my nibz ima choose Gavin Michael's San Jose regional TR team for my assignment (because I want help with my own TR team later~~~). Let's get it

Mimikyu @ Mental Herb
Ability: Disguise
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk
IVs: 0 Spe
Brave Nature
- Trick Room
- Shadow Sneak / Shadow Claw
- Play Rough
- Protect

The fundamental Trick Room setter on the team, it's yo boi Pika - I mean Mimikyu. Prety standard stuff, you use him to set up TR with basically zero worries. It can't be Fake-Out'd because of its typing and anyone that would try to taunt you is going to be disappointed because of the Herb. I decided to make it 0 Speed so that it can have some functionality under TR post-disguise. Outside of TR it's going to be slow, so I prefer Sneak so that you can pick off some weaker mon, but if you want more power, feel free to use Claw over Sneak. Although, I think Play Rough should already give you a strong hit. Protect is there to scout out some moves and save your disguise for later. You should watch out for M-Lopunny and Kang because their Fake-Out can you hit thanks to Scrappy!

Mariyama @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Def
IVs: 0 Spe
Brave Nature
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Feint

This is Mimikuy's best friend, Jeff the Hariyama. He's pretty dope because he helps guarantee Mimikyu's TR going off. Once up, Jeff hits like a Truck thanks to his Guts boost. So I decided to max out his Attack and then give him some room to be able to take some hits from other physical attackers. He'll pretty much exclusively be going for OHKOs with CC, but Knock Off is great utility and Feint can support his other teammates in the late game by breaking through Protects. Hariyama is great for the Mimikyu lead or for late game cleanup.

Porygon-2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
Level: 50
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
IVs: 0 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Trick Room
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt

Sometimes Mimikyu just has a really bad matchup... In that case, P2 is an excellent choice to get up room with. Even outside of room, P2 is pretty scary with a +1 on either of its attacks and can easily put in work. Recover only adds onto the longevity of this mon. You can choose this alongside Mimikyu or even on its own as a room setter, but again it can function outside of it. Bolt/Beam coverage is simply too good. I chose to make it completely physically defensive to better take the fighting moves that are coming in (which tend to be Physical) and to eat up EQs better from Lando & Chomp.

Araquanid @ Waterium-Z
Ability: Water Bubble
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
IVs: 0 Spe
Brave Nature
- Liquidation
- Lunge
- Substitute
- Protect

Here's the other mon that isn't Hariyama to help abuse TR. Thanks to Water Bubble, Spider Man can hit crazy powerful Liquidations, so full investment into Attack is necessary. Don't even try to comprehend the power that comes off behind the Z-Liquidation either. Outside of Water Bubble, Araquanid's attack stat is pretty depressing, so I decide to give it more utility with Lunge to assist his partner in battle. Araquanid is pretty predictable on TR, so as long as you can make good reads on those reads, it shouldn't be too hard to punish your foolish opponent. For that, I give it subsitute to punish switch outs. Sub is also really cool as a last-ditch effort on the last room of TR, so you can get in more hit the turn after, free of charge. Beyond that, protect is also a good option to have.

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 252 SpA / 20
Modest
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power (Ground)

This team has a load of physical pressure, but it definitely needs a mon a special sort of presence. So for that, Magnezone is key. Thanks to sturdy you can always take a hit and then hit back HARD with Zone. Volt Switch lets you get some momentum in a format where direct switches are very risky. And flash cannon helps with Fairies. Overall, this is probably one of the greatest anti-Tapu mon out there, so it's also good to have. When it's under TR it's even more scary because even though it isn't geared towards TR, it also isn't too fast. HP ground let's it deal with Heatran and other mon that can resist its other two STAB options. If I didn't already have Araquanid & Hariyama (or the next mon), I would probably fully invest it into TR and make it Quiet nature'd.

Drampa @ Life Orb
Ability: Berserk
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 60 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Protect

This thing is the other special option, but dedicated to TR. Once you get it to half (after taking damage or LO chip) and get that +1, this thing pretty much kills everything in the game. Marowak, Celesteela, Arcanine, and Krook definitely don't want to take a Draco, Voice, or Flamethrower. I chose Flamethrower over Fire Blast, because I am not a lucky player. You'll want use Drampa immediately to do massive damage, because it does not have the best bulk. Still, if you can take a hit and get into Berserk boost before dying, Drampa will definitely pick up a kill at any point.

Overall, this is pretty much a Hard TR setup, with not many other options outside of actual TR. That being said, there are some obvious weaknesses (like not getting up TR and then being outsped by everything). My first VGC team actually is similar to this, so I'm familiar with the weaknesses. I'll get into my team building process and everything on my actual RMT. I have never played doubles before but the team managed to get me the #1 spot in my country, not sure if that really means anything because I'm from Canada lol (can share proof, but it's really not that big of accomplishment). I hope this let's me pass!


Edit: I've got a question; How do you add Mon Sprites (both 3D & 2D) into these posts?

 

[Garris_san]

Edit: I've got a question; How do you add Mon Sprites (both 3D & 2D) into these posts?

http://www.smogon.com/forums/help/bb-codes
http://www.pokestadium.com/tools/sprites

Not sure if you didn't know how to add the sprites or if you didn't know where to find them so hopefully this will suffice. Copy the URL of the image and paste in the image that looks like some mountains. Not a rate or anything but I'm not particularly good at rating teams anyway. Congrats on being number one and on being Canadian.