hello all! this is my first time posting on the smogon forums (and interacting with the outside pokemon competitive community in general). i have this team here that i really like that I've been using for a while, and i'd like to have someone look at it! just because I'm curious how good or bad this silly little team i have actually is. in case you're wondering, i've been watching videos about competitive Pokémon for a while and I've been playing for a little while (a month i think) and i think its really cool. i made this team myself. yes, my win ratio is only 1 out of every 3 on average. uhhh..
. and all of the Pokémon on my team are cats! because of course they are
some general notes first. this team is primarily meant to switch between is members. a LOT. that's why most of the crew has moves that switch them out. to keep up 'momentum,' so to speak. that's what they call it, right? anyways, because of this, aside from the one support I have, there really is no 'leader' or central figure of this team. everyone works together! hopefully. okay now i can talk about the individual members
Incineroar (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Parting Shot
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
the final evolution of my favorite Pokémon ever! incineroar is just. really cool.. also, in this team, he's a bulky physical attacker for fire coverage. slow, but oh well. he has heavy-duty boots because he's weak to steath rock so i needed to remedy that. for his moves, he has fake out for extra chip damage, parting shot as his switching move AND lowering the stats of the opponent, flare blitz for a LOT of stab fire damage, and knock off because that's a really useful utility move (and it gets stab). to be honest, I'm not too sure about fake out; i could probably replace that with something else, but I'm not sure with what. and also the recoil damage from flare blitz hurts a little, but hopefully it isn't too bad.
Meowscarada (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Protean
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flower Trick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Triple Axel
the new cat! from the most recent generation. she's kinda like incineroar, but VERY fast. and also grass coverage. a fast physical fighter! she has a focus sash because she has a 4x weakness to bug and is in general quite frail, so I'm hoping to have her survive for at last a little while. hopefully. anyways, for moves, she has flower trick because it's just. a really REALLY good move. never misses, AND always crits. she has knock off because, like incineroar, she gets stab with it and it's a really useful tool, she has U-turn as her switching move and for bug-type coverage, and triple axel as ice! having ice-type moves here is actually really important because, while i haven't said it yet, for a while with this team i was really struggling with toxic/protect stalling Gliscors, so Meowscarada and one other team member that I'll get to later were designated ice-type moves to hit them for 4x damage, and she's actually the weaker of the two for this, so it's sort of a 'break glass in case of emergency' thing. but still useful!
Espeon (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Calm Mind
my favorite eeveelution! in this team, espeon is a fast special attacker with a lot of coverage. of course, espeon is quite frail, so i gave her leftovers to provide passive healing, which i think is quite useful. for moves, she has psyshock for psychic coverage, shadow ball for ghost coverage, and dazzling gleam for fairy coverage! all special moves. and, of course, calm mind, to make this already very strong special attacker even stronger. i do kinda wish that dazzling gleam had an extra effect, like psyshock and shadow ball do, but oh well.
Raikou @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Inner Focus
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Tera Blast
- Calm Mind
if i had to name the one member from my crew that was the MOST useful, Raikou would be it. that's because they are the MOST well-equipped to handle my biggest issue for a while, but more on that soon. raikou is, like espeon, a fast special attacker. they have heavy-duty boots because, like incineroar, they're weak to stealth rock, so being immune to entry hazards is crucial. they have thunderbolt for good, hard-hitting electric stab coverage, volt switch as their switching move (and stab), and Tera Blast and Calm Mind. this is the other team member that was designated an ice move that i mentioned earlier, and unlike meowscarada, raikou actually has a stat-boosting move. they're the only team member for which i actually changed their tera type, and that's all specifically to hit Gliscor. with tera blast, combining stab from the tera type AND a calm mind boost can be DEVASTATING for gliscors; and it isn't just them. ice, in general, is very good offensively, for me; it hits ground/flying for 4x damage (say, landorus) and hits dragon/flying for 4x damage (say, dragonite), and can hit dragons and grasses for 2x damage (for that last one, in case incineroar is gone by now). i actually really like what i have here! i'm not sure if it's actually good, but it's worked somewhat okay for me, so... also, because the very strong Ice-type move is on the ELECTRIC type, people using gliscors (or other ground types) will naturally want to switch in to them, not expecting an ice-type attack, and raikou usually outspeeds!
Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
hey, it's technically a cat, alright? it counts! but anyways, in this team, landorus is a fast physical attacker for ground and rock coverage. he has a rocky helmet because, combined with intimidate, landorus can be DEVASTATING for physical attackers. he has earthquake because it's a powerful ground-type stab move, stone edge to hit flying-types that would be immune to earthquake, u-turn as his switching move, and stealth rock because that's a very useful entry hazard and i wanted at least one team member to have it.
Meowstic @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
and, finally, we have our specially defensive support! meowstic's job is to set up the screens at the start of the battle, and most of the time he's my lead. he has a light clay to boost the time that his screens are up. then, for moves, he has the two screens, reflect and light screen, and thunder wave in case i feel it necessary to paralyze my opponent. also, psychic, just so that he isn't rendered completely useless if he gets hit by a taunt. also, he almost always goes first because of Prankster. so yeah
now, as for my general strategy, i pretty much always lead with meowstic to, as previously stated, set up the screens. then, i send in one of my 5 other members based on type advantage, and i make sure to frequently switch between my Pokémon using their switching moves; at most, 3-4 turns for each one. that's what i was thinking, anyway!
so, unless I've forgotten something, that's all i have for this post. thanks so much for reading! admittedly, this team was mostly made just for fun, because i thought it would be fun to play while having a theme, and i wanted to get into competitive Pokémon! at least a little bit. but i am also genuinely looking to improve! for this team in particular, i don't think i want to switch out any of my team members, but i would probably like to optimize their moves. so hopefully someone has good advice for that! peace.
. and all of the Pokémon on my team are cats! because of course they are
some general notes first. this team is primarily meant to switch between is members. a LOT. that's why most of the crew has moves that switch them out. to keep up 'momentum,' so to speak. that's what they call it, right? anyways, because of this, aside from the one support I have, there really is no 'leader' or central figure of this team. everyone works together! hopefully. okay now i can talk about the individual members
Incineroar (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Parting Shot
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
the final evolution of my favorite Pokémon ever! incineroar is just. really cool.. also, in this team, he's a bulky physical attacker for fire coverage. slow, but oh well. he has heavy-duty boots because he's weak to steath rock so i needed to remedy that. for his moves, he has fake out for extra chip damage, parting shot as his switching move AND lowering the stats of the opponent, flare blitz for a LOT of stab fire damage, and knock off because that's a really useful utility move (and it gets stab). to be honest, I'm not too sure about fake out; i could probably replace that with something else, but I'm not sure with what. and also the recoil damage from flare blitz hurts a little, but hopefully it isn't too bad.
Meowscarada (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Protean
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flower Trick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Triple Axel
the new cat! from the most recent generation. she's kinda like incineroar, but VERY fast. and also grass coverage. a fast physical fighter! she has a focus sash because she has a 4x weakness to bug and is in general quite frail, so I'm hoping to have her survive for at last a little while. hopefully. anyways, for moves, she has flower trick because it's just. a really REALLY good move. never misses, AND always crits. she has knock off because, like incineroar, she gets stab with it and it's a really useful tool, she has U-turn as her switching move and for bug-type coverage, and triple axel as ice! having ice-type moves here is actually really important because, while i haven't said it yet, for a while with this team i was really struggling with toxic/protect stalling Gliscors, so Meowscarada and one other team member that I'll get to later were designated ice-type moves to hit them for 4x damage, and she's actually the weaker of the two for this, so it's sort of a 'break glass in case of emergency' thing. but still useful!
Espeon (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Calm Mind
my favorite eeveelution! in this team, espeon is a fast special attacker with a lot of coverage. of course, espeon is quite frail, so i gave her leftovers to provide passive healing, which i think is quite useful. for moves, she has psyshock for psychic coverage, shadow ball for ghost coverage, and dazzling gleam for fairy coverage! all special moves. and, of course, calm mind, to make this already very strong special attacker even stronger. i do kinda wish that dazzling gleam had an extra effect, like psyshock and shadow ball do, but oh well.
Raikou @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Inner Focus
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Tera Blast
- Calm Mind
if i had to name the one member from my crew that was the MOST useful, Raikou would be it. that's because they are the MOST well-equipped to handle my biggest issue for a while, but more on that soon. raikou is, like espeon, a fast special attacker. they have heavy-duty boots because, like incineroar, they're weak to stealth rock, so being immune to entry hazards is crucial. they have thunderbolt for good, hard-hitting electric stab coverage, volt switch as their switching move (and stab), and Tera Blast and Calm Mind. this is the other team member that was designated an ice move that i mentioned earlier, and unlike meowscarada, raikou actually has a stat-boosting move. they're the only team member for which i actually changed their tera type, and that's all specifically to hit Gliscor. with tera blast, combining stab from the tera type AND a calm mind boost can be DEVASTATING for gliscors; and it isn't just them. ice, in general, is very good offensively, for me; it hits ground/flying for 4x damage (say, landorus) and hits dragon/flying for 4x damage (say, dragonite), and can hit dragons and grasses for 2x damage (for that last one, in case incineroar is gone by now). i actually really like what i have here! i'm not sure if it's actually good, but it's worked somewhat okay for me, so... also, because the very strong Ice-type move is on the ELECTRIC type, people using gliscors (or other ground types) will naturally want to switch in to them, not expecting an ice-type attack, and raikou usually outspeeds!
Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
hey, it's technically a cat, alright? it counts! but anyways, in this team, landorus is a fast physical attacker for ground and rock coverage. he has a rocky helmet because, combined with intimidate, landorus can be DEVASTATING for physical attackers. he has earthquake because it's a powerful ground-type stab move, stone edge to hit flying-types that would be immune to earthquake, u-turn as his switching move, and stealth rock because that's a very useful entry hazard and i wanted at least one team member to have it.
Meowstic @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
and, finally, we have our specially defensive support! meowstic's job is to set up the screens at the start of the battle, and most of the time he's my lead. he has a light clay to boost the time that his screens are up. then, for moves, he has the two screens, reflect and light screen, and thunder wave in case i feel it necessary to paralyze my opponent. also, psychic, just so that he isn't rendered completely useless if he gets hit by a taunt. also, he almost always goes first because of Prankster. so yeah
now, as for my general strategy, i pretty much always lead with meowstic to, as previously stated, set up the screens. then, i send in one of my 5 other members based on type advantage, and i make sure to frequently switch between my Pokémon using their switching moves; at most, 3-4 turns for each one. that's what i was thinking, anyway!
so, unless I've forgotten something, that's all i have for this post. thanks so much for reading! admittedly, this team was mostly made just for fun, because i thought it would be fun to play while having a theme, and i wanted to get into competitive Pokémon! at least a little bit. but i am also genuinely looking to improve! for this team in particular, i don't think i want to switch out any of my team members, but i would probably like to optimize their moves. so hopefully someone has good advice for that! peace.
: Incin mostly functions as a defensive pivot so I'll put it's EVs in defense instead of attack, but with enough speed to outspeed 
since its an important speed tier. For the moves you should have Will-O-Wisp over Fake Out. Fake Out is pretty bad in singles since the opp can switch to avoid the flinch and Wisp lets you cripple physical attackers
: Mostly fine, you can go Boots over Sash for a more consistent option and Sucker Punch over Axel since you dont have priority on your team
: I'll change it to a Choice Scarf set with Stealth Rocks, your team is pretty offensive and as a rule of thumb offensive teams should have at least 2 fast mons (only Meow is fast rn)
, 
and 
: The sets are fine as is
and 
. 
in case they forget their tera at home
