Hello Raters,
This is my first year I plan to compete in a VGC tournament so please keep in mind that I'm relatively new to the metagame. All my prior knowledge to the format comes from watching 2014 US nationals and worlds, and fiddling around with high ranking teams on pokemon showdown. I'd like to say this is my first team built from scratch which has seen quite commendable success (at least for what play testing on pokemon showdown had to offer). If this post looks familiar, it's because I already posted the team on nugget bridge a few days ago.
The folks who I'm dealing with:
Brief note: The majority of this team was built with countering threatening megas in mind (*cough*salamence and metargoss*cough*) and also a lack of knowledge on non mega threats not present in VGC14.
Analysis:
Altaria @ Altarianite
Ability: Cloud Nine
EVs: 196 HP / 130 Def / 184 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Earthquake
The almighty fluff and spark of this team: Maltaria. The general idea of this set is to capitalize on maltaria's bulk to allow a turn for dragon dance. The EV spread invested in Spec D allow it to survive most stab flash cannons and shrug off coverage ice beams, whilst not sacrificing too much physical bulk so it can survive a garchomp's rockslide with still about 50% of its hp. Pixilate return hits like a brick and takes a formidable chunk out of mega kangaskhan, and with a +1 boost, leaves little but destruction in its wake. Considering fairy and dragon moves hit about the same things for super effective damage, I decided to go with earthquake instead of a second STAB as many types that resist fairy are weak to ground. Earthquakes spread is also a nice boon at times. Roost is used here instead of protect as I trust maltaria's bulk to take hits enough to possibly spare a turn for recovery if necessary.
Mega altaria, in most cases, is simply outclassed by the likes of gardevoir and mega mawile. It would be pretty much pointless to run this cloud were it not for one thing: Cloud nine. Cloud nine is a rather interesting addition to this set and partly responsible for the name of this team. I figured that it would usually make sense to mega evolve at first chance with natural cure, hence making it rather useless (not to mention finding a safe switch can be difficult). With cloud nine though, I'm suddenly provided the option of pausing the weather on a switch in, or if I'm willing to risk it, maybe even another whole turn. This has proved handy in messing with weather teams. Most interestingly, should I fear a solar beam from mega charizard Y, I can switch in altaria and suddenly lock it into a move for a whole turn. Because of this switch in opportunity, maltaria usually hangs in back and lets others lead when I chose to use it.
Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rock Slide
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
Originally a follow me lucario, tyranitar was added to the team for coverage's sake and an OHKO on talonflame and most mega charizard Y which altaria can cripple but not dispose of. Provided I already had other methods of dealing with weather, I decided to make tyranitar as fast as possible. The rest of the moves are there for coverage and don't need much explaining.
Though unnerve does seem rather interesting and worth a fiddle with, sandstorm is pretty much the obvious choice. Most importantly, if all else fails when attempting to remove dark void smeargles, the sandstorm will quietly take it out after the smeargle's focus sash is activated and my pokemon decide to spontaneously start napping. More weather control is always a boon and a 1.5x special defense boost on aegislash and tyranitar is a nice added effect. With the speed and coverage to quickly dispose of many threats and the added boon of attracting solar beams for altaria from zard Y, this lad typically leads the team into the battle.
Lapras @ Assault Vest
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 204 HP / 252 SpA / 52 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Freeze-Dry
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Shard
Takes hits like a champ, swiftly removes threats like ludi, mega swampert, and other dragons, deters hydro pumps coming my way, this blue nessy has been nothing but perfect. Freeze-dry is a godsend when it comes to coverage hitting so many different threats for 4x damage. Thunderbolt is nice for politoeds and birds, and hydro pump is handy when a bit of extra power is necessary. Ice shard threatens many low hp targets and is a nice last resort when lapras is about to get KOed, though it has proven rather ineffective at sniping dragon types off the bat such as garchomp and salamence. Apologies for the inconvinience, but I've unfortunately forgotten where I was going with the EV spread (suggestions for a more fine-tuned EV spread would be nice). Whatever my intended purpose was, this thing eats up thunderbolts and giga drains whilst not taking too much damage from earthquakes and rockslides. This thing works great at any point in the battle as it can eat a hit and often return with super effective damage on anything targeting it.
Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Sacred Sword
The mega khan counter and a reliable last resort, the sword and shield's bulk has won me a good share of battles hanging on by a thread. The EVs invested allow aegislash to take a sucker punch from mega khan and in most cases go last in order to take hits in shield form. Aegislash's bulk along with its weakness policy allow me to sometimes confidently earthquake into it with maltaria at times. Flash cannon and shadow ball hit most things for at least neutral damage, which is all that's needed to OHKO after the weakness policy is activated. Sacred sword is primarily there to dispose of pesky mega khans in one blow. Aegislash also provides me with an interesting win condition against those a little too protective of their mega kangaskhan. The only thing a common mega khan can hit aegislash with is a sucker punch, and hence spamming king's shield to PP stall out sucker punch usually allows for a reliable win against kangaskhan in a 1v1. Because of this win condition and a heavy trust (sometimes even too much) in aegi's bulk, I often keep aegislash in back till the end of the battle and when it does lead, typically is only there to score a quick KO and switch out.
Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Taunt
Flipping coins can sometimes get messy, so why bother with speed ties? This set is ripped directly off of Alex Ogloza's winning team from 2014 Nationals. It's a pretty standard tflame set except the bird is jolly instead adamant which allows it to outspeed and OHKO fellow talonflame 75% of the time while not missing out on any noticeable OHKOs. Taunt is here to force switches on threats like smeargle and meowstic, and hence, I commonly lead with this bird alongside tyranitar. This bird is often the one that get's switched out for a wonderful cloud nine entrance from maltaria.
Sableye @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 108 SpD / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Fake Out
- Taunt
- Protect
- Will-o-Wisp
Last and certainly least: sableye, sableye, sableye. Originally a wash rotom which proved redundant alongside lapras, this fellow was an attempt at shoe-horning fake out support and an threat crippler onto this team. The EV spread was slapped together to provide some better physical bulk in this team and to ensure it survived a talonflame brave bird. Fake out immunity and taunt have proven to make sableye a decent lead but his overall performance has been unsatisfactory. It irks me to often find him against two special attackers which renders it practically useless, especially when a safe switch isn't always available. Even with the invested EVs, this guy still feels fragile, though with enough practice I should be able to get the hang of sableye on this team. I'm very open to suggestions of new EV spreads, or an entirely new pokemon in this slot.
Issues:
Sableye: New EV spread? New mon in general (maybe bringing back a follow me lucario)?
Threats: Although I believe I did a thorough job of covering potentially threatening mega's, I have no clue of non mega threats not present in VGC14 that might wall or counter this team.
Lack of grass moves: Though freeze-dry hits so many otherwise resistant threats for super effective damage, it's my only way of disposing of wash rotom and mega swampert.
Support: Everyone in this team, save sableye, is designed to dish out the pain and often tanking it in return. I'm still new to the metagame so I'm not entirely sure if that's normal, or if the team needs some tweaks in that regard.
I look forward to your critique and suggestions on the team, but also, seeing as this is the first RMT I've written, suggestions on what I can add to these to make them more helpful are gladly appreciated.
This is my first year I plan to compete in a VGC tournament so please keep in mind that I'm relatively new to the metagame. All my prior knowledge to the format comes from watching 2014 US nationals and worlds, and fiddling around with high ranking teams on pokemon showdown. I'd like to say this is my first team built from scratch which has seen quite commendable success (at least for what play testing on pokemon showdown had to offer). If this post looks familiar, it's because I already posted the team on nugget bridge a few days ago.
The folks who I'm dealing with:
Brief note: The majority of this team was built with countering threatening megas in mind (*cough*salamence and metargoss*cough*) and also a lack of knowledge on non mega threats not present in VGC14.
Analysis:
Altaria @ Altarianite
Ability: Cloud Nine
EVs: 196 HP / 130 Def / 184 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Earthquake
The almighty fluff and spark of this team: Maltaria. The general idea of this set is to capitalize on maltaria's bulk to allow a turn for dragon dance. The EV spread invested in Spec D allow it to survive most stab flash cannons and shrug off coverage ice beams, whilst not sacrificing too much physical bulk so it can survive a garchomp's rockslide with still about 50% of its hp. Pixilate return hits like a brick and takes a formidable chunk out of mega kangaskhan, and with a +1 boost, leaves little but destruction in its wake. Considering fairy and dragon moves hit about the same things for super effective damage, I decided to go with earthquake instead of a second STAB as many types that resist fairy are weak to ground. Earthquakes spread is also a nice boon at times. Roost is used here instead of protect as I trust maltaria's bulk to take hits enough to possibly spare a turn for recovery if necessary.
Mega altaria, in most cases, is simply outclassed by the likes of gardevoir and mega mawile. It would be pretty much pointless to run this cloud were it not for one thing: Cloud nine. Cloud nine is a rather interesting addition to this set and partly responsible for the name of this team. I figured that it would usually make sense to mega evolve at first chance with natural cure, hence making it rather useless (not to mention finding a safe switch can be difficult). With cloud nine though, I'm suddenly provided the option of pausing the weather on a switch in, or if I'm willing to risk it, maybe even another whole turn. This has proved handy in messing with weather teams. Most interestingly, should I fear a solar beam from mega charizard Y, I can switch in altaria and suddenly lock it into a move for a whole turn. Because of this switch in opportunity, maltaria usually hangs in back and lets others lead when I chose to use it.
Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rock Slide
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
Originally a follow me lucario, tyranitar was added to the team for coverage's sake and an OHKO on talonflame and most mega charizard Y which altaria can cripple but not dispose of. Provided I already had other methods of dealing with weather, I decided to make tyranitar as fast as possible. The rest of the moves are there for coverage and don't need much explaining.
Though unnerve does seem rather interesting and worth a fiddle with, sandstorm is pretty much the obvious choice. Most importantly, if all else fails when attempting to remove dark void smeargles, the sandstorm will quietly take it out after the smeargle's focus sash is activated and my pokemon decide to spontaneously start napping. More weather control is always a boon and a 1.5x special defense boost on aegislash and tyranitar is a nice added effect. With the speed and coverage to quickly dispose of many threats and the added boon of attracting solar beams for altaria from zard Y, this lad typically leads the team into the battle.
Lapras @ Assault Vest
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 204 HP / 252 SpA / 52 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Freeze-Dry
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Shard
Takes hits like a champ, swiftly removes threats like ludi, mega swampert, and other dragons, deters hydro pumps coming my way, this blue nessy has been nothing but perfect. Freeze-dry is a godsend when it comes to coverage hitting so many different threats for 4x damage. Thunderbolt is nice for politoeds and birds, and hydro pump is handy when a bit of extra power is necessary. Ice shard threatens many low hp targets and is a nice last resort when lapras is about to get KOed, though it has proven rather ineffective at sniping dragon types off the bat such as garchomp and salamence. Apologies for the inconvinience, but I've unfortunately forgotten where I was going with the EV spread (suggestions for a more fine-tuned EV spread would be nice). Whatever my intended purpose was, this thing eats up thunderbolts and giga drains whilst not taking too much damage from earthquakes and rockslides. This thing works great at any point in the battle as it can eat a hit and often return with super effective damage on anything targeting it.
Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Sacred Sword
The mega khan counter and a reliable last resort, the sword and shield's bulk has won me a good share of battles hanging on by a thread. The EVs invested allow aegislash to take a sucker punch from mega khan and in most cases go last in order to take hits in shield form. Aegislash's bulk along with its weakness policy allow me to sometimes confidently earthquake into it with maltaria at times. Flash cannon and shadow ball hit most things for at least neutral damage, which is all that's needed to OHKO after the weakness policy is activated. Sacred sword is primarily there to dispose of pesky mega khans in one blow. Aegislash also provides me with an interesting win condition against those a little too protective of their mega kangaskhan. The only thing a common mega khan can hit aegislash with is a sucker punch, and hence spamming king's shield to PP stall out sucker punch usually allows for a reliable win against kangaskhan in a 1v1. Because of this win condition and a heavy trust (sometimes even too much) in aegi's bulk, I often keep aegislash in back till the end of the battle and when it does lead, typically is only there to score a quick KO and switch out.
Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Taunt
Flipping coins can sometimes get messy, so why bother with speed ties? This set is ripped directly off of Alex Ogloza's winning team from 2014 Nationals. It's a pretty standard tflame set except the bird is jolly instead adamant which allows it to outspeed and OHKO fellow talonflame 75% of the time while not missing out on any noticeable OHKOs. Taunt is here to force switches on threats like smeargle and meowstic, and hence, I commonly lead with this bird alongside tyranitar. This bird is often the one that get's switched out for a wonderful cloud nine entrance from maltaria.
Sableye @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 108 SpD / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Fake Out
- Taunt
- Protect
- Will-o-Wisp
Last and certainly least: sableye, sableye, sableye. Originally a wash rotom which proved redundant alongside lapras, this fellow was an attempt at shoe-horning fake out support and an threat crippler onto this team. The EV spread was slapped together to provide some better physical bulk in this team and to ensure it survived a talonflame brave bird. Fake out immunity and taunt have proven to make sableye a decent lead but his overall performance has been unsatisfactory. It irks me to often find him against two special attackers which renders it practically useless, especially when a safe switch isn't always available. Even with the invested EVs, this guy still feels fragile, though with enough practice I should be able to get the hang of sableye on this team. I'm very open to suggestions of new EV spreads, or an entirely new pokemon in this slot.
Issues:
Sableye: New EV spread? New mon in general (maybe bringing back a follow me lucario)?
Threats: Although I believe I did a thorough job of covering potentially threatening mega's, I have no clue of non mega threats not present in VGC14 that might wall or counter this team.
Lack of grass moves: Though freeze-dry hits so many otherwise resistant threats for super effective damage, it's my only way of disposing of wash rotom and mega swampert.
Support: Everyone in this team, save sableye, is designed to dish out the pain and often tanking it in return. I'm still new to the metagame so I'm not entirely sure if that's normal, or if the team needs some tweaks in that regard.
I look forward to your critique and suggestions on the team, but also, seeing as this is the first RMT I've written, suggestions on what I can add to these to make them more helpful are gladly appreciated.