(Credit goes to Senso88 on Deviantart for the sprites used in this post)
Another year and a half and 500 (and 95...) posts after my last milestone-related RMT, another time to look back on what's changed over that time. My last couple RMTs have highlighted Pet Mods, the community I'm a moderator for and where I play the majority of my games. As a matter of fact, for pretty much the entire last year of Generation 8, I exclusively played Pet Mods, ignoring all Smogon and official formats. But, with Scarlet and Violet's release, I wanted to try something new. Pet Mods take time to get on their feet, so while I waited for new Pet Mod formats to develop, I figured I'd try playing OU again and also seriously look into playing VGC for the first time, especially with the numerous quality of life changes Scarlet and Violet introduced to make teambuilding in-game easier. I've previously dabbled a bit in VGC in both ORAS and SwSh, but never really got into it, so this generation I wanted to make a serious attempt at it. While I didn't end up playing OU much (outside of a Pet Mod that just bans stuff from the OU format, shoutouts to Banhammers), I've had a ton of fun playing VGC across the entire generation so far, so I'm extremely excited to share some of my favorite teams from across Series A to D, including the subject of this RMT!
TEAMBUILDING PROCESS
Step 1:
I personally have the most fun building around super niche or gimmicky strategies, or at the very least one super niche mon, so when I recently saw a video that reminded me that the pledge moves exist in my recommended, I figured it'd be fun to find a way to use them. The team in the specific video I saw used Charizard, Greninja, and Rillaboom for the pledges, but I decided to forgo using any of them for a few reasons. While Greninja being the fastest starter makes it great at enabling pledge combinations, I don't really like either of Water Pledge's effects. Swamp, which halves the foe's team's Speed for 4 turns, is probably the best of the 3 pledge effects if I'm being honest, but you can get basically the same value out of just using Tailwind, while Rainbow, which applies a Serene Grace effect for your team for 4 turns, just kinda sucks. Thus, I knew if I wanted to use pledges, I have to find a way to get good use out of Sea of Fire, which damages non-Fire-types by 1/8th of their max HP for 4 turns, so I opted to use the fastest Fire starter and the Grass starter with the highest Special Attack stat. Doing the inverse with Meowscarada and Typhlosion-H probably would've worked as well, but I liked Decidueye and Cinderace's typings a lot more, especially Decidueye's, plus I figured that Cinderace wouldn't miss the slot that it needs for a Pledge move as much as Meowscarada would.
Step 2:
My first thought with Sea of Fire was that Dondozo and Tatsugiri would appreciate the chip damage, much in the way as Glimmora's Toxic Spikes but not permanent, as well as the Pledge combo's good Amoonguss matchup, so I added the core next. While definitely worse in Reg D, I've always liked using the combo, so I jumped at the opportunity to do so again. Plus, Dondozo threatens a lot of the things that beat Decidueye + Cinderace naturally, namely Heatran (before Tera).
Step 3:
Lastly, I looked for another core to add-on, mainly as an alternate lead when I have Dondozo in the back against teams that the Pledge combo won't work against. I figured I wanted some sort of status spreading since Dondozo loves that, so I went with a Sneasler combo, adding in Indeedee as the terrain setter. I was also considering Glimmora + Flutter Mane, but I didn't want to stack special Ghosts (though truthfully you can't go wrong with Flutter so I could've done it anyway), and I felt that Sneasler + Indeedee would be better alongside the Pledge combo in games where I don't bring Dondozo.
THE TEAM
.
Decidueye @ Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 124 HP / 252 SpA / 132 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Grass Pledge
- Shadow Ball
- Tailwind
- Protect
Decidueye makes up the Grass part of the Pledge combo, with its decent 100 SpA being what the combined Grass/Fire Pledge hits off of, making it the special breaker of the team. Grass Pledge facilitates the Pledge combo while being an adequate Grass STAB move, hitting Water-types that Dondozo can't Wave Crash through hard and being boosted to pretty insane power when Overgrow is activated. Shadow Ball hits the likes of Dragapult and Flutter Mane, which Decidueye can outspeed under Tailwind or Tera and KO after eating a hit. Ghost STAB is also useful for Psychic-types like Cresselia and Grass resists like Tornadus. Along with the aforementioned benefits, Tailwind lets me match the opponent's Tailwind so they can't outspeed my Dondozo or Sneasler in the back after they get activated. Protect is Protect, great for scouting, stalling, and positioning, while also letting me get Sea of Fire damage for free. Life Orb pushes Decidueye's decent power to surprisingly high levels, while Overgrow is the only useful ability for a special Decidueye and boosts non-combined Grass Pledge if Decidueye gets low. While it was originally Tera Fire (as seen in the replays below), I switched Decidueye to Tera Water after learning that Pledge combo moves can't have their power boosted by Tera, providing the same defensive benefits I liked from Tera Fire (namely resisting Steel, Ice, and Fire), while also retaining its Water resistance against Urshifu-Rapid. Lastly, the Speed EVs allow Decidueye to outspeed Dragapult under Tailwind while the rest maximize power and bulk.
Cinderace @ Focus Sash
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pyro Ball
- Fire Pledge
- High Jump Kick
- Protect
Cinderace is the other half of the Pledge combo, allowing it to go off quickly with its good 119 Speed, notably outspeeding most SpA Booster Flutter Manes. Fire Pledge is of course needed for the Pledge combo and while it's mostly useless outside of that, it can be used to guarantee a KO on a very weakened mon since both Pyro Ball and HJK are inaccurate. Pyro Ball is an extremely powerful and spammable STAB move, dealing with the Grass-types that Dondozo and Decidueye hates like Amoonguss and Rillaboom, while also hitting the likes of Gholdengo and Flutter Mane super hard. High Jump Kick isn't a good move, but it's needed to deal a significant amount of damage to Heatran, which is otherwise super annoying, while guaranteeing an OHKO on Chi-Yu, who otherwise destroys the Pledge combo and threatens Dondozo if given a Speed advantage, which is why I can't use Low Kick instead. Protect helps with positioning, accelerating Sea of Fire damage, and scouting. Focus Sash, Tera Fire, and Blaze all maximize Pyro Ball's damage to make it even more ridiculous, while Sash also makes it more likely that I can get off the Pledge combo. I also valued keeping Cinderace's Fire-typing against the likes of Flutter Mane and Chien-Pao, so I opted for Blaze over Libero for that reason as well.
Dondozo @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Level: 50
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 68 HP / 172 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wave Crash
- Order Up
- Earthquake
- Protect
Dondozo is very simple. It comes in, preferably after the Pledge combo or Sneasler kills something, Tatsugiri jumps in its mouth, and then it deals damage. Dondozo normally serves as a mid- or late-game cleaner between its huge amount of power and coverage. Wave Crash is the main STAB move, OHKOing many neutral targets, Order Up with default Tatsugiri makes Dondozo even stronger while hitting Water-resistant Dragons like Regidrago, and Earthquake hits threatening Electric-types like Iron Hands while being a spread move to get rid of multiple things at once. Leftovers + Protect gives Dozo enough health to live a couple more hits with its crazy bulk, Tera Grass keeps Dondozo from getting Spore'd by Amoonguss while also resisting Rillaboom's Drum Beating, and Unaware is essential to beat Acid Armor Hisuian Goodra teams, letting me ignore it for the whole game and then beat it at the end. The EV spread maximizes Dondozo's Speed, outspeeding almost everything at +2, letting Dozo get off its strong attacks before the opponent has a chance to chip it.
Tatsugiri @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Commander
Level: 50
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Muddy Water
- Icy Wind
A very standard Tatsugiri set, mostly there to enable Dondozo but can also clean up lategame after Dozo weakens everything, outspeeding everything unboosted (that's not a Regieleki or Electrode-H). Both of its STABs work really well with either Decidueye or Cinderace, with Muddy Water covering Fire-types and Dragon moves covering Dragon-types. Draco Meteor can KO reasonably bulky Pokemon from higher HP amounts, while Dragon Pulse can make endgame scenarios safer with its good accuracy and lack of downside. Icy Wind is always nice for Speed control, especially if I ever need to lead Tatsugiri for some reason, while also chipping Grass-types. Tera Steel allows Tatsugiri to resist both of its usual weaknesses, which is especially nice against Dragons like Dragonite and Regidrago.
Indeedee-F @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Follow Me
- Trick Room
- Imprison
Indeedee is an essential support mon, not only enabling Sneasler, but keeping the rest of the team safe in multiple other ways. Psychic Surge activates Sneasler's Unburden with its Psychic Seed while also protecting against priority moves like Aqua Jet, Extreme Speed, and Sucker Punch that would threaten Sneasler, Cinderace, or Decidueye. Psychic hits Urshifu-Rapid and Poison-types that Sneasler can't get through, Follow Me redirects attacks and pairs with Rocky Helmet against physical attackers and Tera Grass against Amoonguss, and the combo of Trick Room + Imprison helps against Trick Room teams, which this fast and frail team would hate otherwise. Trick Room can also rarely be used in a pinch to take back Speed control against Tailwind or Regieleki. Full physical Defense investment helps against Urshifu-Rapid, whose attacks you'll be redirecting often.
Sneasler (F) @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Unburden
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 28 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 220 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dire Claw
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
- Protect
Sneasler serves as an early game breaker and Speed control, outspeeding basically everything after Unburden activates. Dire Claw is its main STAB move, spreading potential devastating status 50% of the time and dealing a lot of damage to Flutter Mane and Tera Grass Heatran. Close Combat hits Steel, Dark, and Rock-types extremely hard, and Rock Slide deals decent spread damage, especially if boosted by Tera Rock, while hitting Flying-types like Tornadus. Protect is again great for positioning, scouting, and stalling. The EV spread maximizes power while also outspeeding base 100 Speed mons like Chi-Yu before Unburden activates, which means that Sneasler still outspeeds most mons on Tailwind teams when Unburden activates.
WEAKNESSES
Tera Grass Flash Fire Pokemon
Tera Grass Flash Fire Pokemon, mainly Heatran, can be extremely annoying to play around as, if the opponent plays right, Tera Grass + Flash Fire shuts down the Fire/Water/Grass core of offense I have. Worse case scenario, Heatran preserves its Tera while Cinderace and Decidueye can't do much to it, then Teras and forces Dondozo to take multiple turns to beat it. To a lesser extent, Ceruledge and Armarouge can do the same thing, though at the very least they're both threatened by Decidueye's Shadow Ball. That said, Ceruledge can be particularly annoying with Ally Switch. As for Heatran, I can either try to beat it or bait Tera with Indeedee/Sneasler or chip it down with Cinderace's HJK into Decidueye's Shadow Ball or Dondozo's Order Up.
Regidrago
This team has no Fairy-type or Fairy Tera, so Regidrago is naturally terrifying to face, especially with Tailwind support. The best I can do is lead Indeedee and Dondozo and immediately switch to Tatsugiri so I can take a hit and then kill it with Order Up, though a Steel Tera can ruin this. This also applies to Tatsugiri without having to go all in with Dondozo immediately (or in the very rare case that I bring Tatsugiri without Dondozo), but I have to commit Tera to make it safe. Weakening it with Sneasler can also work, though Dragon Pulse and Draco Meteor are still scary to play against.
Gyarados
Intimidate in general is somewhat annoying for Dondozo, since I'm not Oblivious or Clear Amulet, but at least it naturally threatens the Arcanines and Landorus. Gyarados is another story, as nothing on my team can significantly damage it thanks to its typing and Intimidate cutting Sneasler's Rock Slide damage. DDance sets are very threatening but Dondozo can take it on, while support sets are generally extremely annoying and just have to be chipped down or ignored and dealt with later.
Iron Hands
Another bulky mon that runs Tera Grass, certain Iron Hands sets are naturally a threat to Dondozo, but the rest of the team doesn't particularly like it either. While it can't OHKO the entire team unboosted or anything, it requires multiple hits to break through, usually Cinderace's Pyro Ball or Dondozo's Order Up, which lets it weaken my team easily.
REPLAYS
Replays from a VGC Room Tour:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9vgc2023regulationd-1921170590
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9vgc2023regulationd-1921176635
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9vgc2023regulationd-1921181132 (Finals)
Other:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9vgc2023regulationd-1921153405
PASTE & IN-GAME RENTAL CODE
Paste: https://pokepast.es/ab243106cc3742a1
OTHER TEAMS I'VE BUILT OVER THE GENERATION
.While this team is the most recent team that I've had a lot of fun with, I'd also like to share some older teams that I've had a lot of fun with over my first generation playing VGC that I didn't get a chance to earlier, especially for the Reg A-C ones.
Fairly standard TTar + Lycanroc team from Series A, with a niche pick in Gallade. Probably first genuinely good team I built in this generation and it was the first team that I won a roomtour with.
Looking back, none of my Reg B teams were particularly notable, so here's my funniest one. Veluza sucks, but it was a super funny Dondozo counter with the combination of Stored Power, Mold Breaker, Fillet Away, and Mirror Herb, OHKOing Dozo with a Fillet Away + Mirror Herb boost. Was pretty hard to pull off, but when it worked it was hilarious. The team also had Scrappy Flamigo + Dragapult, which was a combination I loved using.
(Rental)
A fairly weird Reg C team featuring Veil Iron Bundle, Espathra, Iron Treads, and Eject Pack Abomasnow, but it was surprisingly effective. During the one season I played Ranked in-game, this team got me to Master Rank for the first time, including a 15-0 start. It fell off by the end of the run since it gets destroyed by Iron Bundle (I ended changing Aboma to Life Orb because of this, as well as dropping Icy Wind on Bundle for Protect) but it was super fun while it lasted.
(Rental)
A different Dondozo team from Reg C featuring Hawlucha, who was a great anti-meta pick. During the season I played Ranked, this team helped me keep a fairly high ladder rating (I believe I ended that season around Top 450?), was the second team I used to win a roomtour, and was probably my overall favorite team to use this generation. Was originally gonna make a RMT for this team, but then I procrastinated for 2 months and Reg C became too outdated lol.
(Rental)
Probably the best team I've built this gen, this is a pretty standard Reg D team but with a fun pick in Samurott-H. I had a Shiny Oshawott from Pokemon GO that I sent over to Legends: Arceus to become a Hisuian Samurott and I wanted to find a use for it. After many trials and tribulations, I eventually just decided to stick it on a team with 5 broken mons and it worked wonders. Even with the talent around it, Hamurott by itself puts in a lot of work.
Very fun Rain team featuring the same Tatsugiri and Dondozo from this team. Toxicroak is a very funny Urshifu-Rapid counter thanks to resisting Fighting and having Dry Skin (helped by the fact that some Urshifus aren't even running a Fighting move anymore).
SHOUTOUTS & CONCLUSION
Just like my last RMT, I want to thank you for reading this obscenely long RMT, so shoutouts to you!
For specific shoutouts, first I want to shoutout the Pet Mods community as always for being my home on Smogon for most of my seven years on this website. There are truly too many people to tag that this applies to, as the entire Pet Mods community has contributed to making it the most fun corner of Smogon, so to everyone who considers themselves part of the Pet Mods community, thank you!
I also wanna shoutout Talvaca (I'm hoping this is the right Smogon account cuz ik you don't use this website but also who else would use this name lol), who's been a friend of mine since even before I joined Smogon when I used to do draft leagues, who's helped me get more and more into VGC this generation and has been a great help on some of my other teams, specifically the Toxicroak team in the above section.
And lastly, it feels a bit weird to do this next shoutout since none of them know who I am, but I'd also like to shoutout VGC content creators like Cybertron, Wolfey, James Baek, and Moxie Boosted, as well as freezai's VGC videos, as their videos have been an immense help in getting me into VGC in this generation, giving me a ton of inspiration and allowing me to really keep up with the scene for the first time.
And that's everything! Giving VGC a shot has been a ton of fun so far and I look forward to how VGC's gonna evolve as the generation goes on!
Another year and a half and 500 (and 95...) posts after my last milestone-related RMT, another time to look back on what's changed over that time. My last couple RMTs have highlighted Pet Mods, the community I'm a moderator for and where I play the majority of my games. As a matter of fact, for pretty much the entire last year of Generation 8, I exclusively played Pet Mods, ignoring all Smogon and official formats. But, with Scarlet and Violet's release, I wanted to try something new. Pet Mods take time to get on their feet, so while I waited for new Pet Mod formats to develop, I figured I'd try playing OU again and also seriously look into playing VGC for the first time, especially with the numerous quality of life changes Scarlet and Violet introduced to make teambuilding in-game easier. I've previously dabbled a bit in VGC in both ORAS and SwSh, but never really got into it, so this generation I wanted to make a serious attempt at it. While I didn't end up playing OU much (outside of a Pet Mod that just bans stuff from the OU format, shoutouts to Banhammers), I've had a ton of fun playing VGC across the entire generation so far, so I'm extremely excited to share some of my favorite teams from across Series A to D, including the subject of this RMT!
Step 1:
I personally have the most fun building around super niche or gimmicky strategies, or at the very least one super niche mon, so when I recently saw a video that reminded me that the pledge moves exist in my recommended, I figured it'd be fun to find a way to use them. The team in the specific video I saw used Charizard, Greninja, and Rillaboom for the pledges, but I decided to forgo using any of them for a few reasons. While Greninja being the fastest starter makes it great at enabling pledge combinations, I don't really like either of Water Pledge's effects. Swamp, which halves the foe's team's Speed for 4 turns, is probably the best of the 3 pledge effects if I'm being honest, but you can get basically the same value out of just using Tailwind, while Rainbow, which applies a Serene Grace effect for your team for 4 turns, just kinda sucks. Thus, I knew if I wanted to use pledges, I have to find a way to get good use out of Sea of Fire, which damages non-Fire-types by 1/8th of their max HP for 4 turns, so I opted to use the fastest Fire starter and the Grass starter with the highest Special Attack stat. Doing the inverse with Meowscarada and Typhlosion-H probably would've worked as well, but I liked Decidueye and Cinderace's typings a lot more, especially Decidueye's, plus I figured that Cinderace wouldn't miss the slot that it needs for a Pledge move as much as Meowscarada would.
Step 2:
My first thought with Sea of Fire was that Dondozo and Tatsugiri would appreciate the chip damage, much in the way as Glimmora's Toxic Spikes but not permanent, as well as the Pledge combo's good Amoonguss matchup, so I added the core next. While definitely worse in Reg D, I've always liked using the combo, so I jumped at the opportunity to do so again. Plus, Dondozo threatens a lot of the things that beat Decidueye + Cinderace naturally, namely Heatran (before Tera).
Step 3:
Lastly, I looked for another core to add-on, mainly as an alternate lead when I have Dondozo in the back against teams that the Pledge combo won't work against. I figured I wanted some sort of status spreading since Dondozo loves that, so I went with a Sneasler combo, adding in Indeedee as the terrain setter. I was also considering Glimmora + Flutter Mane, but I didn't want to stack special Ghosts (though truthfully you can't go wrong with Flutter so I could've done it anyway), and I felt that Sneasler + Indeedee would be better alongside the Pledge combo in games where I don't bring Dondozo.
.
Decidueye @ Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 124 HP / 252 SpA / 132 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Grass Pledge
- Shadow Ball
- Tailwind
- Protect
Decidueye makes up the Grass part of the Pledge combo, with its decent 100 SpA being what the combined Grass/Fire Pledge hits off of, making it the special breaker of the team. Grass Pledge facilitates the Pledge combo while being an adequate Grass STAB move, hitting Water-types that Dondozo can't Wave Crash through hard and being boosted to pretty insane power when Overgrow is activated. Shadow Ball hits the likes of Dragapult and Flutter Mane, which Decidueye can outspeed under Tailwind or Tera and KO after eating a hit. Ghost STAB is also useful for Psychic-types like Cresselia and Grass resists like Tornadus. Along with the aforementioned benefits, Tailwind lets me match the opponent's Tailwind so they can't outspeed my Dondozo or Sneasler in the back after they get activated. Protect is Protect, great for scouting, stalling, and positioning, while also letting me get Sea of Fire damage for free. Life Orb pushes Decidueye's decent power to surprisingly high levels, while Overgrow is the only useful ability for a special Decidueye and boosts non-combined Grass Pledge if Decidueye gets low. While it was originally Tera Fire (as seen in the replays below), I switched Decidueye to Tera Water after learning that Pledge combo moves can't have their power boosted by Tera, providing the same defensive benefits I liked from Tera Fire (namely resisting Steel, Ice, and Fire), while also retaining its Water resistance against Urshifu-Rapid. Lastly, the Speed EVs allow Decidueye to outspeed Dragapult under Tailwind while the rest maximize power and bulk.
Cinderace @ Focus Sash
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pyro Ball
- Fire Pledge
- High Jump Kick
- Protect
Cinderace is the other half of the Pledge combo, allowing it to go off quickly with its good 119 Speed, notably outspeeding most SpA Booster Flutter Manes. Fire Pledge is of course needed for the Pledge combo and while it's mostly useless outside of that, it can be used to guarantee a KO on a very weakened mon since both Pyro Ball and HJK are inaccurate. Pyro Ball is an extremely powerful and spammable STAB move, dealing with the Grass-types that Dondozo and Decidueye hates like Amoonguss and Rillaboom, while also hitting the likes of Gholdengo and Flutter Mane super hard. High Jump Kick isn't a good move, but it's needed to deal a significant amount of damage to Heatran, which is otherwise super annoying, while guaranteeing an OHKO on Chi-Yu, who otherwise destroys the Pledge combo and threatens Dondozo if given a Speed advantage, which is why I can't use Low Kick instead. Protect helps with positioning, accelerating Sea of Fire damage, and scouting. Focus Sash, Tera Fire, and Blaze all maximize Pyro Ball's damage to make it even more ridiculous, while Sash also makes it more likely that I can get off the Pledge combo. I also valued keeping Cinderace's Fire-typing against the likes of Flutter Mane and Chien-Pao, so I opted for Blaze over Libero for that reason as well.
Dondozo @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Level: 50
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 68 HP / 172 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wave Crash
- Order Up
- Earthquake
- Protect
Dondozo is very simple. It comes in, preferably after the Pledge combo or Sneasler kills something, Tatsugiri jumps in its mouth, and then it deals damage. Dondozo normally serves as a mid- or late-game cleaner between its huge amount of power and coverage. Wave Crash is the main STAB move, OHKOing many neutral targets, Order Up with default Tatsugiri makes Dondozo even stronger while hitting Water-resistant Dragons like Regidrago, and Earthquake hits threatening Electric-types like Iron Hands while being a spread move to get rid of multiple things at once. Leftovers + Protect gives Dozo enough health to live a couple more hits with its crazy bulk, Tera Grass keeps Dondozo from getting Spore'd by Amoonguss while also resisting Rillaboom's Drum Beating, and Unaware is essential to beat Acid Armor Hisuian Goodra teams, letting me ignore it for the whole game and then beat it at the end. The EV spread maximizes Dondozo's Speed, outspeeding almost everything at +2, letting Dozo get off its strong attacks before the opponent has a chance to chip it.
Tatsugiri @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Commander
Level: 50
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Muddy Water
- Icy Wind
A very standard Tatsugiri set, mostly there to enable Dondozo but can also clean up lategame after Dozo weakens everything, outspeeding everything unboosted (that's not a Regieleki or Electrode-H). Both of its STABs work really well with either Decidueye or Cinderace, with Muddy Water covering Fire-types and Dragon moves covering Dragon-types. Draco Meteor can KO reasonably bulky Pokemon from higher HP amounts, while Dragon Pulse can make endgame scenarios safer with its good accuracy and lack of downside. Icy Wind is always nice for Speed control, especially if I ever need to lead Tatsugiri for some reason, while also chipping Grass-types. Tera Steel allows Tatsugiri to resist both of its usual weaknesses, which is especially nice against Dragons like Dragonite and Regidrago.
Indeedee-F @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Follow Me
- Trick Room
- Imprison
Indeedee is an essential support mon, not only enabling Sneasler, but keeping the rest of the team safe in multiple other ways. Psychic Surge activates Sneasler's Unburden with its Psychic Seed while also protecting against priority moves like Aqua Jet, Extreme Speed, and Sucker Punch that would threaten Sneasler, Cinderace, or Decidueye. Psychic hits Urshifu-Rapid and Poison-types that Sneasler can't get through, Follow Me redirects attacks and pairs with Rocky Helmet against physical attackers and Tera Grass against Amoonguss, and the combo of Trick Room + Imprison helps against Trick Room teams, which this fast and frail team would hate otherwise. Trick Room can also rarely be used in a pinch to take back Speed control against Tailwind or Regieleki. Full physical Defense investment helps against Urshifu-Rapid, whose attacks you'll be redirecting often.
Sneasler (F) @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Unburden
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 28 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 220 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dire Claw
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
- Protect
Sneasler serves as an early game breaker and Speed control, outspeeding basically everything after Unburden activates. Dire Claw is its main STAB move, spreading potential devastating status 50% of the time and dealing a lot of damage to Flutter Mane and Tera Grass Heatran. Close Combat hits Steel, Dark, and Rock-types extremely hard, and Rock Slide deals decent spread damage, especially if boosted by Tera Rock, while hitting Flying-types like Tornadus. Protect is again great for positioning, scouting, and stalling. The EV spread maximizes power while also outspeeding base 100 Speed mons like Chi-Yu before Unburden activates, which means that Sneasler still outspeeds most mons on Tailwind teams when Unburden activates.
Tera Grass Flash Fire Pokemon
Tera Grass Flash Fire Pokemon, mainly Heatran, can be extremely annoying to play around as, if the opponent plays right, Tera Grass + Flash Fire shuts down the Fire/Water/Grass core of offense I have. Worse case scenario, Heatran preserves its Tera while Cinderace and Decidueye can't do much to it, then Teras and forces Dondozo to take multiple turns to beat it. To a lesser extent, Ceruledge and Armarouge can do the same thing, though at the very least they're both threatened by Decidueye's Shadow Ball. That said, Ceruledge can be particularly annoying with Ally Switch. As for Heatran, I can either try to beat it or bait Tera with Indeedee/Sneasler or chip it down with Cinderace's HJK into Decidueye's Shadow Ball or Dondozo's Order Up.
Regidrago
This team has no Fairy-type or Fairy Tera, so Regidrago is naturally terrifying to face, especially with Tailwind support. The best I can do is lead Indeedee and Dondozo and immediately switch to Tatsugiri so I can take a hit and then kill it with Order Up, though a Steel Tera can ruin this. This also applies to Tatsugiri without having to go all in with Dondozo immediately (or in the very rare case that I bring Tatsugiri without Dondozo), but I have to commit Tera to make it safe. Weakening it with Sneasler can also work, though Dragon Pulse and Draco Meteor are still scary to play against.
Gyarados
Intimidate in general is somewhat annoying for Dondozo, since I'm not Oblivious or Clear Amulet, but at least it naturally threatens the Arcanines and Landorus. Gyarados is another story, as nothing on my team can significantly damage it thanks to its typing and Intimidate cutting Sneasler's Rock Slide damage. DDance sets are very threatening but Dondozo can take it on, while support sets are generally extremely annoying and just have to be chipped down or ignored and dealt with later.
Iron Hands
Another bulky mon that runs Tera Grass, certain Iron Hands sets are naturally a threat to Dondozo, but the rest of the team doesn't particularly like it either. While it can't OHKO the entire team unboosted or anything, it requires multiple hits to break through, usually Cinderace's Pyro Ball or Dondozo's Order Up, which lets it weaken my team easily.
Replays from a VGC Room Tour:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9vgc2023regulationd-1921170590
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9vgc2023regulationd-1921176635
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9vgc2023regulationd-1921181132 (Finals)
Other:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9vgc2023regulationd-1921153405
Paste: https://pokepast.es/ab243106cc3742a1
Code: 39J31M
.While this team is the most recent team that I've had a lot of fun with, I'd also like to share some older teams that I've had a lot of fun with over my first generation playing VGC that I didn't get a chance to earlier, especially for the Reg A-C ones.
Fairly standard TTar + Lycanroc team from Series A, with a niche pick in Gallade. Probably first genuinely good team I built in this generation and it was the first team that I won a roomtour with.
Looking back, none of my Reg B teams were particularly notable, so here's my funniest one. Veluza sucks, but it was a super funny Dondozo counter with the combination of Stored Power, Mold Breaker, Fillet Away, and Mirror Herb, OHKOing Dozo with a Fillet Away + Mirror Herb boost. Was pretty hard to pull off, but when it worked it was hilarious. The team also had Scrappy Flamigo + Dragapult, which was a combination I loved using.
(Rental)A fairly weird Reg C team featuring Veil Iron Bundle, Espathra, Iron Treads, and Eject Pack Abomasnow, but it was surprisingly effective. During the one season I played Ranked in-game, this team got me to Master Rank for the first time, including a 15-0 start. It fell off by the end of the run since it gets destroyed by Iron Bundle (I ended changing Aboma to Life Orb because of this, as well as dropping Icy Wind on Bundle for Protect) but it was super fun while it lasted.
(Rental)A different Dondozo team from Reg C featuring Hawlucha, who was a great anti-meta pick. During the season I played Ranked, this team helped me keep a fairly high ladder rating (I believe I ended that season around Top 450?), was the second team I used to win a roomtour, and was probably my overall favorite team to use this generation. Was originally gonna make a RMT for this team, but then I procrastinated for 2 months and Reg C became too outdated lol.
(Rental)Probably the best team I've built this gen, this is a pretty standard Reg D team but with a fun pick in Samurott-H. I had a Shiny Oshawott from Pokemon GO that I sent over to Legends: Arceus to become a Hisuian Samurott and I wanted to find a use for it. After many trials and tribulations, I eventually just decided to stick it on a team with 5 broken mons and it worked wonders. Even with the talent around it, Hamurott by itself puts in a lot of work.
Very fun Rain team featuring the same Tatsugiri and Dondozo from this team. Toxicroak is a very funny Urshifu-Rapid counter thanks to resisting Fighting and having Dry Skin (helped by the fact that some Urshifus aren't even running a Fighting move anymore).
Just like my last RMT, I want to thank you for reading this obscenely long RMT, so shoutouts to you!
For specific shoutouts, first I want to shoutout the Pet Mods community as always for being my home on Smogon for most of my seven years on this website. There are truly too many people to tag that this applies to, as the entire Pet Mods community has contributed to making it the most fun corner of Smogon, so to everyone who considers themselves part of the Pet Mods community, thank you!
I also wanna shoutout Talvaca (I'm hoping this is the right Smogon account cuz ik you don't use this website but also who else would use this name lol), who's been a friend of mine since even before I joined Smogon when I used to do draft leagues, who's helped me get more and more into VGC this generation and has been a great help on some of my other teams, specifically the Toxicroak team in the above section.
And lastly, it feels a bit weird to do this next shoutout since none of them know who I am, but I'd also like to shoutout VGC content creators like Cybertron, Wolfey, James Baek, and Moxie Boosted, as well as freezai's VGC videos, as their videos have been an immense help in getting me into VGC in this generation, giving me a ton of inspiration and allowing me to really keep up with the scene for the first time.
And that's everything! Giving VGC a shot has been a ton of fun so far and I look forward to how VGC's gonna evolve as the generation goes on!
