VGC Regieleki, Ground's Bane (Peak 1718 ELO, top 200)

[1_TrickPhony]

Hey everyone, I'm 1TP, longtime cartridge Battle Spot/Stadium main, and this is my first time doing a RMT! I'm also doing one in a secondary format of mine nonetheless in VGC, so cut me some slack! I was able to achieve top 200 on the VGC showdown ladder using a team of my own creation after a couple weeks of VGC experimentation. I'm sure this score isn't anything too impressive to some of you VGC veterans, but considering the circumstance where I decided upon a rather gimmicky setup, using Ring Target to hit Ground-types with Regieleki, I'm really happy with how my team turned out.

Ground's Bane

Before the start of the Crown Tundra metagame, Ethan06 demonstrated the use of Ring Target Prankster on Grimmsnarl to allow his Regieleki to hit opposing Ground-types. However, what he showcased was in BSS (a singles format as opposed to doubles), and I noticed immediately it was a slow, situational strategy that required just too much setup time to be successful. This inspired me to take the strategy to VGC, where Regieleki and Prankster Pokemon are much more significant in viability, and I could initiate an Electric attack on a Ground-type immediately without giving my opponent any time to react or play around it. Starting with a core of Regieleki and Whimsicott, I began to plan my team composition.

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Regieleki @ Magnet
Ability: Transistor
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Electroweb
- Volt Switch
- Rising Voltage / Thunderbolt
- Reflect / Protect

Regieleki is the main star of the show. Electroweb and Volt Switch were a must on it, with Electroweb providing fantastic chip and speed control, and Transistor Volt Switch providing one of the most powerful pivoting options available. With Magnet and Dynamax, Regieleki can blow back any Pokemon that does not resist it with either Rising Voltage (better under Dynamax) or Thunderbolt (better if opting to not Dynamax). Reflect provides modest team protection, and gives access to a Max Guard, although Protect is certainly a perfectly fine option in its slot, especially when pairing with teammate #6 later.



Whimsicott @ Ring Target
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Switcheroo
- Dazzling Gleam
- Fake Tears
- Tailwind

Whimsicott for this team is Regieleki's partner in crime. Switcheroo with priority and a fantastic Speed allows Whimsicott to outspeed other Prankster Pokemon that could otherwise Taunt it. When Ring Target is not needed, Whimsicott has Tailwind for Speed support, Dazzling Gleam to break Focus Sashes and not be 100% passive, and Fake Tears to completely demolish even resisted targets of Regieleki's Max Lightning. It also allows other special attackers to also blow up their opposition. Speaking of other special attackers, lets introduce the next teammate.



Moltres-Galar @ Life Orb
Ability: Berserk
Level: 50
EVs: 60 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 188 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fiery Wrath
- Hurricane
- Protect
- Nasty Plot

Moltres is the secondary abuser of Whimsicott Fake Tears, and also very much appreciates the Tailwind support as well. But Moltres is far more than just a beneficiary of Whimsicott; it is the main wallbreaker of this team, dealing immense damage with Life Orb boosts, and if it gets a Nasty Plot off, it trucks through everything. Fiery Wrath is also a broken move, as Dark-type spread flinch is unbearable for too much of this metagame, and is very spammable after Dynamax expires or if you choose to support another Pokemon Dynamaxing.



Bronzong @ Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick Room
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- Ally Switch

Bronzong, which was originally a Cresselia but changed after the advice of Marilli, joins the fold as the secondary support of this team. Bronzong provides redirection with Ally Switch, and can get serious damage output and physical walling of important key threat like Glastrier and Metagross through its Iron Defense + Body Press combo. Most importantly, however, this team, without Taunt, and with many Pokemon like opposing Cresselia opting for Mental Herb anyways, has no protection against Trick Room. Bronzong runs Trick Room on its own to set Trick Room the same turn an opposing setter sets it for no net effect, or on first Trick Room turn with its teammate using Protect.

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Tapu Fini @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Misty Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Muddy Water
- Moonblast
- Protect
- Calm Mind

Frankly, it's very hard to justify not bringing Tapu Fini in the current metagame. Tapu Fini represents one of the only answers to Glastrier on this team, and represents a fantastic wincon in the long game through setting up Calm Mind. Its typing in general also covers a lot of the weaknesses this team has, and is an excellent glue Pokemon. The move set is pretty standard for Fini, with Muddy Water and Moonblast as STABs, Calm Mind to increase its damage output to terrifying levels, and Protect to not get nuked too easily by obvious super effective attacks.

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Landorus-Therian (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Rock Slide
- Fly

Finally, Landorus-T, the last teammate, takes full advantage of the fact that half the team is off the ground or has Protect. The given EVs allow it to outspeed Nihilego after a +1 boost, and Assault Vest allows it to take on some of the most potent special attackers when Dynamaxed, such as Tapu Fini. If you aren't clicking Earthquake, U-turn allows nice pivoting, and when it gets speed boosts, Rock Slide flinches become particularly annoying, especially when paired alongside Moltres.

Weaknesses
1. : This Pokemon is broken, I don't know what else to say. Its bulk and abuse of Weakness Policy under Trick Room, along with a snowballing ability, presents a huge problem for this team. It goes without saying, but if you see this at preview, you need to bring Tapu Fini, as it is the only thing that resists its monsterous STAB. Bronzong helps a lot too to deny TR, but you need to be comfortable with clicking TR before it is even up to pre-empt theirs, and can also wall it after using Iron Defense.

2. : Maybe not a weakness, but you definitely have to be careful with playing around it because it has great coverage against the whole team and cant be stat dropped by Max Darkness on its teammates nor by Fake Tears/Intimidate.

3. : Similar issues to Metagross, you cannot stat drop it with Whimsicott and it pseudo-resists all of the special attackers. Bring Landorus and hope that it is a slower version that is not under Trick Room.

4. : Having most of my Pokemon in the air presents a huge problem against Sleep, which Tapu Fini cannot protect against with Misty Terrain. Venusaur outspeeds and sleeps Moltres, my main check to Grass-types, and Amoonguss under Trick Room sleeps basically everything (redirecting Max Lightning is also annoying). Luckily, Venusaur and Amoonguss do not appreciate getting Special Defense dropped, so you can still take them out if you pre-empt with Fake Tears and hit with Max Lightning (which also sets terrain to prevent grounded Sleep for Regieleki.

5. Lightning Rod: Lightning Rod invalidates lead Regieleki, so if you see it, never lead Regieleki. It also enables opposing Flying-types to spiral out of control, with the main check of Regieleki taken out. You can consider Fake Tears Electroweb to still hit Flying-types significantly if it comes down to it.

Replays
1. Vs. Max Mamoswine: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8vgc2021-1227411215
2. Vs. Vs. P2 Trick Room: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8vgc2021-1227270375
3. Vs. Ttar Sand: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8vgc2021-1217221140
4. Vs. Eleki Offense: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8vgc2021-1228107911

Hope everyone enjoyed my take on Regieleki offense! Feel free to leave any feedback below, I'm especially interested in spreads (which are not a strong area of understanding for me by any means).

Special thanks to two other longtime fans but also rookies in VGC, Machao752 and Clxsh (KingClash) for playtesting and bouncing ideas with me!

 

[marilli]

I think this team is weak enough to TR Glastrier that you probably can't afford to rely on Trick Room Cresselia flipping the speed back. Fini resists Glastrier's STAB but you're still leaving open a slot for Glastrier to smash into. Fini don't do enough damage onto Glastrier. The consequences are obvious: after Dynamax runs out Glastrier has a bunch of boosts and Dusclops Night Shade + boosted Heavy Slam finish Fini off. You don't have Fake Out either, nor Indeedee. Something like Incineroar or Rillaboom leading with a TR setter can make your only out getting the wild guessing game of setting and resetting TR in your favor (this is not a mindgame in your favor)

If you're going to rely on a TR setter as a TR counterplay, why not use Dusclops of your instead? You get to actually punish your problematic TR sweepers by beating it to the punch with Will-O-Wisp if TR is set (and if not, they are easier to manage). Or you could use Bronzong, a TR setter that has better defensive matchup vs both Glastrier and Metagross. It makes Dynamax snowballing hard when you can actually wall both slots.

Or you can actually just add a slow attacker that works in TR instead of just having the Cresselia. You could incorporate a Torkoal mode onto the team with the Cresselia - Torkoal is one of the best ways to check Glastrier. Or use Shuca Incineroar and try to outplay the Ground moves.

So what do you pick? Any of those will help against the big problems Glastier and Metagross. It feels like the team has 1 big decision to make, but the big problem with this team is that you have not picked any of the above.

Cheers,