VGC Roses and Thorns: A Mega Gardevoir RMT

[Steven Stone]

What's up RMT forum! This is Steven Stone, back again with another RMT. It's been a long time since i've ever posted one of these, so i guess some of you might have missed them! Well, without further ado, let's get started:

Teambuilding Process

Gardevoir was one of the megas i didn't have much experience with, so i guess this was a completely new experience for me. Gardevoir is one of the best Mega Evolutions around, being on both sides at US Nationals and having one of the most complete coverages in the form of Pixilate Hyper Voice and Psychic

Heatran was added to complete the Gardevoir + Heatran core, which is an amazing core both offensively and defensively. Heatran was able to take care of Steel-types that threaten Gardevoir such as Aegislash and Mega Mawile, while also resisting Poison-type attacks and switching into attacks that are directed to Gardevoir like Iron Head from Bisharp and Return from Kangaskhan,

No Heatran can be without its blind friend, Rotom-W. Rotom-W and Heatran also share an amazing synergy, as Rotom-W can beat bulky waters that usually threaten Heatran and also beats one of its most common checks: Landorus-T.

I felt like the team needed a Rain answer, so i added Ferrothorn. Although having 2 Steel-types is sort of bad as they share that particular Fighting-type weakness, Ferrothorn is one of the best rain counters around, and Gardevoir could take care of most Fighting-types so i guess it was OK to deal with it.

Scrafty is another of the plenty of Pokemon that have amazing typing synergy with Gardevoir. Scrafty was added to help against Kangaskhan thanks to Intimidate and also get another check for Steel-types, mainly Aegislash.

Talonflame is the weakest link on the team, and it acts as a Tailwind setter while also providing a secondary role option to most of the Pokemon that are here. It also acts like another check of Volcarona, Fighting-types and Mega Metagross (Hammer Arm variants). I guess Talonflame isn't that bad as i thought.

The Team:

Rose (Gardevoir) (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Level: 50
EVs: 108 HP / 124 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Hyper Voice
- Trick Room
- Protect

Gardevoir's moveset is one that i wanted to test for so long. Psychic as... well, Psychic STAB move, hits Amoonguss and Venusaur harder due to how physically oriented the metagame is. Hyper Voice is one of the strongest spreads moves in the game, and has amazing coverage against many threats in the VGC format. It also hits pretty hard, even on neutral targets. Trick Room is the surprise factor on this Gardevoir... yeah, you're right. This team is a Semi-room team, so a Trick Room setter was needed, and Gardevoir does that role pretty well.

The EV spread allows Gardevoir to outspeed neutral nature base 70s, and the bulk lets it take anything that does less damage than LO Adamant Talonflame Brave Bird.

Volcano (Heatran) (M) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
EVs: 44 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 204 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Ancient Power
- Protect

Heat Wave is the main STAB move that Heatran will be using most of the time due to reasons. It has 95 BP, which is amazing and it's a wide range move, which is also amazing. Earth Power as coverage, allows Heatran to win the mirror against Modest non-Shuca Berry Heatran, while also hitting Wide Guard Aegislash. Ancient Power is the fun part of the set: i added it because i knew it wouldn't be enough to have Talonflame to check sun teams, and this Heatran is what i heavily rely on for beating sun, so Ancient Power was the natural pick. Stone Edge might seems as a better alternative as it OHKOs most Charizard, but to be honest, Stone Edge's accuracy will make it miss more often, and those misses could make the difference between a win and a lose. However, Ancient Power also has a luck factor, but this one is positive. Try to beat a +1 in all stats Heatran.

The EV spread allows it to outspeed base 70s, while also being able to take a Low Kick from an Adamant Mega Kangaskhan at -1.

Cybertron (Rotom-Wash) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Def / 60 SpA / 36 SpD / 140 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

Rotom-W set is pretty straight forward. Thunderbolt allows it to have a pretty balanced Electric-type STAB, while Hydro Pump...... ehhh..... whatever. Will-O-Wisp allows it to cripple the so common physical attackers in the VGC metagame.

The EV spread allows Rotom-W to survive Kangaskhan's Double Edge and Timid Zard Y's Solarbeam 100% of the time, while outspeeding neutral nature base 70s by 2 points, and outspeeding everything that creeps them by 1 point (biggest benchmark is Heatran i guess).

Thorns (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Atk / 4 Def / 28 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Power Whip was the Grass-type STAB move of choice due to its amazing power, being able to OHKO Rotom-W (if i don't get burned) and 2HKO Ludicolo, while Gyro Ball abuses Ferrothorn's natural low speed to do a lot of damage to naturally fast Pokemon like Terrakion and opposing Gardevoir. Leech Seed allows Ferrothorn to win certain 1v1 situations.

The EV spread is pretty straight forward, just that with a bit of Sp.Def to take Ice Beam from bulky waters a lot better.

Captain Falcon (Talonflame) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 164 Atk / 92 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Brave Bird
- Overheat
- Tailwind
- Protect

Brave Bird 'cause its amazing. Literally, every Talonflame runs Brave Bird. Overheat allows me to hit Aegislash and Ferrothorn more reliably than Flare Blitz thanks to its special category n_n. Tailwind is a cookie-cutter move that is there in case i need to use my team in a fast mode (usually against sun, with Gardevoir, Heatran and WashTom as partners)

The EV spread allows me to OHKO 4 HP Mega Metagross with Overheat, while the rest is just invested in Attack 'cause Talonflame can't really take many hits.

Michaella (Scrafty) (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 236 Atk / 52 Def / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
- Snarl

Drain Punch is the chosen Fighting move due to its healing properties, which Scrafty wants thanks to its bulk. Knock Off is by far the best Dark-type move in the game, having 97.5 BP and knocking off any item, which can also be crucial in best-of-three sets. Fake Out provides... well, Fake Out support so Pokemon like Gardevoir or Talonflame set up their speed control method with more safety. Snarl is there so i can hinder Special Attackers that can't do much damage by their own, like Suicune and Cresselia, and make them momentum killers, forcing the switch out and hopefully catch it on.

Threats

This thing, even with Ancient Power Heatran, it's a pretty big threat. It can hit 3/6 of my Pokemon for Super Effective damage, and only got 1 resist to both Grass and Fire coverage. A pretty big threat in general.

I don't really have many answers for this. Yeah, Heatran can Heat Wave and Talonflame can Brave Bird, but the Focus Sash will always keep it alive for another turn, which is annoying. If the opponent makes the HUGE mistake of going for Spore against Heatran, he's pretty much done for, as i'm Timid and he won't be able to get more damage or do much than a Mach Punch, but to be honest, if Landorus-T is together with this thing, my life becomes a nightmare. Speaking of which....

Besides Intimidate on Scrafty and having one of the best checks for this, Landorus is still a pretty huge threat. It can obviously be handled, but i got to play carefully around it. Otherwise, i'm done for.

As many other Semi Room Mega Gardevoir teams, this team is pretty weak to Mawile. I mean, yeah, Ferrothorn can win the 1v1, but you always got to assume that getting to a 1v1 situation in VGC is pretty complex, even for experts. Mawile has literally only 2 checks on my team, and i literally had to put Overheat on Talonflame because of how bad my matchup was against it.

Well, hope you liked this new team i've made. Any feedback is as always appreciated. Have a nice day!

Importable:

Rose (Gardevoir) (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Level: 50
EVs: 108 HP / 124 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Hyper Voice
- Trick Room
- Protect

Thorns (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Atk / 4 Def / 28 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Volcano (Heatran) (M) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
EVs: 44 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 204 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Ancient Power
- Protect

Cybertron (Rotom-Wash) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Def / 60 SpA / 36 SpD / 140 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

Captain Falcon (Talonflame) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 164 Atk / 92 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Brave Bird
- Overheat
- Tailwind
- Protect

Michaella (Scrafty) (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 236 Atk / 52 Def / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
- Snarl

Shotouts

Shoutouts to:
DaAwesomeDude1 'cause he's... well, awesome! He also build the skeleton of the team n_n
shaian for giving me the core idea
Serapis for being an amazing VGC player and helping me out with some of the Breloom issues

 

[Draconid997]

This is an amazing mega gardevoir team :)
there are very few faults in it, but i would like to recommend a slight change to the talonflame spread. having a lonely nature means that most other talonflame can OHKO you with brave bird, so i would suggest this spread to give you the edge over other talonflame :)

Talonflame (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 172 Atk / 60 Def / 92 SpA / 180 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Brave Bird
- Overheat
- Tailwind
- Protect

this spread allows you to outspeed max speed base 100's by two points, meaning you dodge max speed mega kangaskhan's sucker punch when using brave bird and outspeed max speed timid thundurus-therian as well as most other mons EV'd to speed creep base 100s when overheating. the investment in SpA allows you to still get the OHKO on 4 HP mega metagross and most importantly, the defensive investment means talonflame will survive an adamant max attack life orb talonflame brave bird from full health, and after it takes recoil damage from LO and BB, you are guaranteed to OHKO it back (unfortunately this will also KO your own talonflame after recoil damage).

i would also suggest lum berry>leftovers on ferrothorn, as it guarantees that you OHKO rotom-wash after it will-o-wisps you :) this would improve your matchup versus rotom-w quite a bit as without ferrothorn, not much on your team can hit it for good damage.
also have you thought about super fang on scrafty? it would allow you to get consistent damage off onto threats that resist/take little damage from its STABs like mega charizard y etc :)

hope this helps :)

 

[Steven Stone]

...but i would like to recommend a slight change to the talonflame spread. having a lonely nature means that most other talonflame can OHKO you with brave bird, so i would suggest this spread to give you the edge over other talonflame :)

Talonflame (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 172 Atk / 60 Def / 92 SpA / 180 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Brave Bird
- Overheat
- Tailwind
- Protect

...the defensive investment means talonflame will survive an adamant max attack life orb talonflame brave bird from full health, and after it takes recoil damage from LO and BB, you are guaranteed to OHKO it back (unfortunately this will also KO your own talonflame after recoil damage).

To be honest, i considered that option, but seeing that Talonflame usually are either max max or the other EV spread, i told myself "why am i using it when both Talonflame are gonna die anyways?" Also, Talonflame's relevance in the metagame is so low, that i'm not really worried about it. Plus, i got Heatran (standard Heatran can't do much, but Ancient Power does) and Rotom-W to handle it
I did discuss this issue with other VGC players, and they said "Talonflame wants to keep that ability of switching into some special attacks, and it also wants to exert the pressure into Rotom-W so its forced to Hydro Pump to get the guaranteed OHKO"

i would also suggest lum berry>leftovers on ferrothorn, as it guarantees that you OHKO rotom-wash after it will-o-wisps you :)

I tested Lum Berry before Leftovers, however after testing, i noticed how little use it has for my team, as i put Lum Berry so i can win against Rotom-W 85% of the time, while Leftovers can win me really big 1v1s that my team appreciates, like Metagross, Mawile (mainly steel-types, tbh), etc.

I will test Super Fang on Scrafty, although i personally like Snarl a lot, specially when i'm staring against a -2 Sub Aegislash.
Thanks for the advice!

 

[Draconid997]

To be honest, i considered that option, but seeing that Talonflame usually are either max max or the other EV spread, i told myself "why am i using it when both Talonflame are gonna die anyways?" Also, Talonflame's relevance in the metagame is so low, that i'm not really worried about it. Plus, i got Heatran (standard Heatran can't do much, but Ancient Power does) and Rotom-W to handle it
I did discuss this issue with other VGC players, and they said "Talonflame wants to keep that ability of switching into some special attacks, and it also wants to exert the pressure into Rotom-W so its forced to Hydro Pump to get the guaranteed OHKO"


I tested Lum Berry before Leftovers, however after testing, i noticed how little use it has for my team, as i put Lum Berry so i can win against Rotom-W 85% of the time, while Leftovers can win me really big 1v1s that my team appreciates, like Metagross, Mawile (mainly steel-types, tbh), etc.

I will test Super Fang on Scrafty, although i personally like Snarl a lot, specially when i'm staring against a -2 Sub Aegislash.
Thanks for the advice!

As long as you're comfortable with the team that you're playing with thats what really matters :) so given that you've tested everything out that i've suggested thats awesome :) thanks for the reply, its an amazing team you've made

Also do you reckon it would be better to run a modest heatran since you have both major forms of speed control? I find timid nature a bit counterproductive, even though you would be able to outspeed base 70's before tailwind/TR. Investing 204 Speed would still allow heatran to outspeed max speed adamant bisharp, so the current spread would still be very viable :)

An alternative, more bulky EV spread i usually use on heatran on this sort of team is:

172 HP / 68 Def / 60 SpA / 4 SpD / 204 Spe
Modest Nature

This will allow you to survive a -1 Life Orb Close Combat from jolly terrakion, usually i run double intimidate on a mega gardevoir team to make this calc more achievable but mono intimidate should suffice since heatran would often be used with scrafty in a trick room core :)

 

[DaAwesomeDude1]

Yo Skarm, sweet team man! I've played with this team for a bit so I know somewhat how it functions and its definitely a lot of fun to play! There are a few minor changes I suggest you make though. For starters, I suggest switching Talonflame's EV spread to 252 Atk / 92 SpA / 164 Spe with a Naive Nature. I actually found this out the other day but 252 Spe Adamant Talonflame actually only speed ties with Mega Metagross, which is pretty risky considering you're counting on Talonflame to OHKO it. 164 Spe with a Naive Nature allows Talonflame to outrun Mega Metagross by 5 points. I had a lot of leftover EVs so I just slapped it into Speed haha; you can definitely take a few points out of Speed and add it to Special Attack so that you can OHKO bulkier Mega Metagross spreads but that's up to you. I usually prefer a -SpD nature over a -Def nature because most priority moves are physical, so it's much better to have a higher Defense so you can tank those better.

Finally I suggest switching out Snarl on Scrafty for Stone Edge. I know that you're not a fan of Stone Edge because of the accuracy, but honestly it is really needed for your team, as it is SUPER weak to Charizard Y and Rock Slide unfortunately doesn't OHKO. Snarl Scrafty is cool and all, but personally, for Trick Room/semi-room teams, focusing on getting off as much damage as possible is more important than support.

Once again man, sweet team; nothing else I can really suggest to be honest! Watch out for Fighting-types haha. Hope I helped man and good luck with the team!!! :]
-DaAwesomeDude1

Sets

Captain Falcon (Talonflame) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 92 SpA / 164 Spe
Naive Nature
- Brave Bird
- Overheat
- Tailwind
- Protect

Michaella (Scrafty) (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 236 Atk / 52 Def / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
- Stone Edge

 

[Steven Stone]

Finally I suggest switching out Snarl on Scrafty for Stone Edge. I know that you're not a fan of Stone Edge because of the accuracy, but honestly it is really needed for your team, as it is SUPER weak to Charizard Y and Rock Slide unfortunately doesn't OHKO. Snarl Scrafty is cool and all, but personally, for Trick Room/semi-room teams, focusing on getting off as much damage as possible is more important than support.
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EWWW. To think i spent 3 hours breeding for a 6IV Scrafty....