VGC Testing the Waters

[Draconid997]

Testing the Waters
~A Return to VGC~

Hey everyone! It's been such a long time since I last played Pokemon, or VGC for that matter, so I thought I'd have a go at seeing what sort of team I can make in this new format. Since legendaries are back, it seemed right to return to VGC this year given how much I loved playing in 2016.

Team-building Process

Given that the metagame is centralized around combinations of 2 of the most powerful legendaries available, I decided that Dusk-Mane Necrozma and Kyogre had the most potential. Being able to check a Xerneas set up, whilst providing a decent counter to Kyogre meant that the biggest threats to the two were legendaries of a slightly lower calibre, such as Yveltal and Ho-Oh. I also really loved the idea of using a PsySpam core inside Trick Room, as this would allow Necrozma-DM to gain access to greater offense and defense from turn one.

Now I needed a defensive core. Kyogre/Incineroar/Ferrothorn all have incredible synergy and function well inside and out of trick room conditions. Incineroar provided excellent support for a Trick Room set up in Fake Out+Intimidate, and Ferrothorn allowed for better late-game coverage against Kyogre and Xerneas.

Given the slower nature of the team, I chose Tapu Koko to help alleviate the weakness against Yveltal and Ho-Oh outside of Trick Room. It also helps gain leverage over other Tapus with Electric Surge, allowing Incineroar to use Fake Out if Psychic Terrain is active.


The Team

Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Prism Armor
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Photon Geyser
- Sunsteel Strike
- Trick Room
- Protect

I'll keep the descriptions brief - Psychic Seed capitalizes on Psychic Terrain, which helps against special attacking threats like Kyogre. The EV spread is pretty self-explanatory, capitalizing on bulk and offense whilst maximizing speed under Trick Room, if you have any suggestions for improvement please let me know.​

• 252+ Atk Dusk Mane Necrozma Photon Geyser vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Kyogre in Psychic Terrain: 177-208 (100.5 - 118.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
• 252+ Atk Dusk Mane Necrozma Sunsteel Strike vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Xerneas: 224-266 (110.8 - 131.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Tapu Lele @ Life Orb
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 36 SpA / 52 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Nature's Madness
- Protect

No Z-Crystal really hurts this little guy. I chose to run a slower, bulkier variant for better use inside Trick Room conditions, which helps it spam powerful Psyshocks alongside Necrozma-DM. Even so it's more of a terrain setter than anything else, so nothing too out of the blue here. Again, feel free to make suggestions if you disagree.​

• 36+ SpA Life Orb Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Yveltal: 203-242 (100.4 - 119.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
• 252+ SpA Kyogre Water Spout (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 52 SpD Tapu Lele in Rain: 150-177 (84.7 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
• -1 252+ Atk Dusk Mane Necrozma Sunsteel Strike vs. 252 HP / 164 Def Tapu Lele: 150-176 (84.7 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Kyogre @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 12 SpA / 236 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Origin Pulse
- Scald
- Thunder
- Protect

Bulky Kyogre. More bulk helps Kyogre clean up in the late game, gaining a favourable matchup against other Kyogre. Scald hits through Wide Guard for massive damage, plus the burn chance is always satisfying. EVs optimised against Xerneas/Necrozma-DM/Kyogre with the rest dumped into SpA/Spe.​

• 252+ Atk Dusk Mane Necrozma Photon Geyser vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Kyogre in Psychic Terrain: 175-207 (84.5 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
• +2 252 SpA Fairy Aura Xerneas Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 236 SpD Kyogre: 85-102 (41 - 49.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
• +2 252 SpA Xerneas Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 236 SpD Kyogre: 174-206 (84 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
• 252 SpA Kyogre Thunder vs. 252 HP / 236 SpD Kyogre: 90-106 (43.4 - 51.2%) -- 3.1% chance to 2HKO

Incineroar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- Snarl

Having not played VGC for about 2 years, it's fascinating to see Pokemon like Incineroar rise to power. The set is pretty self explanatory - Fake Out support with Snarl for stuff like Xerneas. It gets access to Roar too, which is fun to play around with against opposing TR/Set-ups, but it means sacrificing Assault Vest. Otherwise, pretty standard all round. 20 Spe allows it to outspeed 4 Spe Tyranitar/Celesteela and min speed Cresselia, and the rest is dumped into Atk/Def/SpD.​

• 252 SpA Kyogre Origin Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Incineroar in Rain: 168-200 (83.1 - 99%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
• +2 252+ SpA Fairy Aura Xerneas Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Incineroar: 172-204 (85.1 - 100.9%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Atk / 28 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Protect

One of the best anti-meta Pokemon. It handles Xerneas, Kyogre, Necrozma-DM, the Tapus... Plus, it has fantastic synergy with the whole of the team. Pretty standard set, with just enough investment to OHKO most Kyogre.​

• 228 Atk Ferrothorn Power Whip vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Kyogre: 176-210 (100 - 119.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Tapu Koko @ Focus Sash
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Nature's Madness
- Volt Switch
- Protect

Finally, Koko. Standard set and spread, Nature's Madness again coming in handy due to lack of Z-Crystals. It also helps a lot against Lightningrod users in the matchup against teams with Yveltal or Ho-Oh.


And there you have it! Loving this new season already, I can't wait to see what you guys think of the team and the metagame :)

Importable

Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Prism Armor
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Photon Geyser
- Sunsteel Strike
- Trick Room
- Protect

Tapu Lele @ Life Orb
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 36 SpA / 52 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Nature's Madness
- Protect

Kyogre @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 12 SpA / 236 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Origin Pulse
- Scald
- Thunder
- Protect

Incineroar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- Snarl

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Atk / 28 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Tapu Koko @ Focus Sash
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder
- Nature's Madness
- Volt Switch
- Protect

 

[The Ice Cream]

I'll add some points about each Pokemon individually:

DM Necrozma: Pretty good although I would not recommend Trick Room since the only Pokemon that really benefits from Trick Room is Ferrothorn. A coverage move such as Earthquake would be better. From seeing the rest of your team, I'm assuming this is with the no Z-Crystal/Mega season. When the Z-Crystals are allowed, I could recommend using the Solgalium Z or even the Ultranecrozium Z since Ultra Necrozma would be a great Pokemon to use.

Tapu Lele: Actually, I prefer Life Orb on T-Lele. When the season comes around, I'd recommend keeping it. As for moves, I've always preferred using Psychic rather than Psyshock but either work. Also, a coverage move is usually better than Nature's Madness, despite your bulky EV spread.

Kyogre: Without the Blue Orb (It would be the better item when it's allowed), the Wiki berry can have some good use although offensive Kyogre is generally better. Also, I wouldn't recommend Scald since it's better to have another coverage move such as Ice Beam rather than have 2 water moves. Just stick with Origin Pulse.

Incineroar: Yeah, that's a pretty good set. Be careful of using Incineroar around Kyogre, especially since that without the Blue Orb, you can't control how long your Rain lasts.

Ferrothorn: Great set, runs well with Kyogre (even better when you get the Blue Orb), and is the only Pokemon that gets help from the Trick Room. Good choice. (When the Red Orb becomes available, make sure that you keep Ferrothorn away from Primal Groudon).

Tapu Koko: I'm not sure about your Koko. First, if you're utilizing Tapu Lele and Trick Room, then the fast speed wouldn't be that useful. Also, just like with Lele, it's better to run Dazzling Gleam than Nature's Madness, especially when your Tapu Koko is less defensive than your Tapu Lele.

Other than your Tapu Koko, I'd say that's a good team for the first season. To be honest, I suck as team building although I can say that some of your Pokemon do go together. Make a couple of changes and that's a good team.

 

[Yuichi]

DM Necrozma: Pretty good although I would not recommend Trick Room since the only Pokemon that really benefits from Trick Room is Ferrothorn. A coverage move such as Earthquake would be better. From seeing the rest of your team, I'm assuming this is with the no Z-Crystal/Mega season. When the Z-Crystals are allowed, I could recommend using the Solgalium Z or even the Ultranecrozium Z since Ultra Necrozma would be a great Pokemon to use.

Trick room is a great speed control option against faster opposing teams and also good on its own to reverse opposing trick rooms, it is the most common filler move on Dusk Mane Necrozma currently. Necrozma usually prefers Weakness Policy to take advantage of its ability, prism armour to take super effective hits and get free attack boosts. Z crystals are rather uncommon on Dusk Mane Necrozma due to this. However that being said, Psychic Seed is fine currently due to the prevalence of Scarfed Kyogres as it lets Necrozma take Water Spouts more easily and set up Trick Room in front of it, along with being able to better wall Xerneas and take on Yveltels more comfortably

The rest of the team looks pretty standard, although ill suggest Shadow Ball/Taunt over Natures Madness on Lele. Shadow Ball allows u to deal damage back to opposing Lunalas and not be forced to switch Lele out when u lead Lele+Necrozma while the latter allows u to stop opposing mons from setting up

I would also run U-Turn on Incineroar over Snarl allowing Incineroar to pivot out and bring in something that is frailer in the back. You could also choose to run Passho Berry over Assault Vest on Incineroar to allow Incineroar to take a potential Water Spout with some SpD investment and bring something else in with U-Turn/Knock off opposing Kyogre's scarf

Rocky Helmet on Ferrothorn isn't something too commonly seen and for good reason as Ferrothorn usually prefers Leftovers for longevity rather than dealing back a little bit of chip damage against opposing physical attackers, although you could keep it if u really want to and it shouldn't affect the team's functionality in a huge way.

Koko's set isnt really optimal here, I feel like Thunderbolt doesnt really hit that much. You would probably want something like Electroweb/Volt-Switch/Taunt/Protect if youre running sash on Koko
Alternatively if u choose to free up the Assault Vest on Incineroar, you could instead choose to put it onto Koko instead, as Assault Vest allows Koko to live Water Spouts from Kyogres and OHKO back non-invested Kyogres with Grass Knot, it also allows u to hit opposing Groudons as well. You could run something like Electroweb/Volt-switch/Grass Knot/filler on Assault Vest Koko should you decide to run that. Koko is also free to run Modest in the current format due to the absence of Mega Gengars and some other threats that were common previously which Koko needs Timid to outspeed, with the only relevant mon being Crobat that is able to speed tie with Koko in this format. (other than opposing Kokos but its not too significant)

One other thing that I've also noticed is the lack of Incineroar/Ho-oh checks that your team has, with Kyogre being the only thing able to completely check both of them defensively. As such, i would also propose changing Tapu Koko to Araquanid, as Araquanid not only walls Incineroar completely, it also provides valuable Wide Guard support. It can also hold its ground against common Ludicolo + Kyogre leads, and can deal tons of damage back to both of them with Liquidation and Bug Bite.

Big Spider

Araquanid @ Mystic Water
Ability: Water Bubble
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Leech Life
- Wide Guard
- Protect

That would be all for now, hope this helped and good luck with the team!

 

[MDK]

I suggest changing Tapu Koko for Ludicolo, Kyogre is your only counter to a well played Groudon and Incineroar and without that you have nothing to hit it for hard damage before hits you for big damage

 

[RebornFX]

Great to see you back man! Yeah this looks like a really solid team for the early format. One potential problem I see with the team could be opposing Ferrothorn. Both Necrozma and Ogre struggle with it and you only have Incineroar to hit it super effectively and every other mon loses 1v1, and considering Incineroar is likely going to be in the rain Ferro would need some prior damage for Blitz to OHKO assuming they would let ferro get hit with it in the first place, and considering everybody is using Incineroar people will have their counters ready. I don't really know what suggestions I could make that wouldn't totally change the playstyle of the team. For example, you could replace Ferro with AV Kartana to 2HKO opposing Ferro with Sacred Sword (as well as having a steel STAB that doesn't get redirected with Rage Powder), but that kind of ruins your FWG defensive core you were going for. You could try to emulate what Enosh used in the Philly regionals and run a bulky trick room Solgaleo with Superpower over Necrozma. This could allow you to 2HKO (you could try to EV it so that the first Superpower doesn't proc a pinch berry), or a combo of Nature's Madness and Superpower could take the KO. This would also provide a good option for Incineroar (immune to Intimidate and doesn't need a tonne of prior damage to get a clean KO). Naturally, a big con is that you don't have access to Photon Geyser, and wouldn't really have room for it anyway, so that would ruin your PsySpam hopes. If you were to do this however, I would recommend going a bulkier route with one of your tapus, probably AV Koko, as this would open the doors for a lot of options like Electroweb, Volt Switch, Thunder, Nature's Madness, Sky Drop, Brave Bird, Grass Knot and Gleam and being able to play more of a support role. You could also consider running a support Tapu Fini over Koko, as it still provides immunity to sleep which is pretty important so that Amoonguss doesn't run you over in trick room, as well as with how common Groudon + Venu is atm (and lovely kiss Smeargle is a thing now, so grass types/safety goggles mons aren't even safe anymore), still hitting (though not outspeeding) Yveltal decently hard, having better overall defensive typing, not having a weakness to Groudon and having Icy Wind over Electroweb which can actually hit Groudon, and having cool options like Heal Pulse (which could allow you to run Water Spout over Origin Pulse on ogre, though you would probably want fini to outspeed your ogre) and side Swagger.

I'm just rambling like I always do lol, maybe Ferro isn't even such a big problem for the team. It's interesting comparing this team to Michael D'Angelo's Philly team, the only DM Necro + Ogre team in top 32, as he doesn't run any Tapus, instead opting for Zapdos, Amoonguss and Kartana. I don't think any of his games were streamed so I don't know his sets, but he seemingly had both trick room and tailwind options.