Gen 6 Twilight: A Mega Gardevoir Sand team

[737373elj]

Twilight
—A Mega Gardevoir Sand team —

Hi all!
It’s been a while since I did an RMT right?
Recently I participated in the ORAS OU tournament, and I constructed a Mega Gardevoir team for it. Being the noob player that I am, I lost (to Always!). But I just wanted to create an RMT. So I decided to use this team. Enjoy!

Teambuilding Process

So I just wanted to build a team around Gardevoir, and seeing how Tapu Lele outclassed Gardevoir totally, I looked back to when it was first introduced and viable. Aka Gen 6 OU.

Pursuit was absolutely necessary to get rid of Pokemon the prey on it, like Jirachi, Victini and the ever-present Mega Metagross. As such, I turned to the two best Pursuit users in the tier. I was originally deciding between Tyranitar and Bisharp, but Tyranitar takes care of Flying-types, especially Talonflame, that use Gardevoir, while Bisharp forms a Dragon-Fairy-Steel core with Gardevoir. However, these two Pokemon on my team may hinder more than help...

Latios is here for the Tailwind and Defog Support, forms a Dragon-Fairy-Steel core, and puts of Ground-types that could otherwise kill Tyranitar and Bisharp.

Talonflame is a backup Tailwind setter and pressures many of Gardevoir’s checks, and forms a good core with it overall.

Lastly, Excadrill is my Sand abuser, and takes care of many of Gardevoir’s checks except Bronzong, which can be easily taken advantage of. It is also the only way to possibly KO Heatran outside of Focus Blast from Gardevoir hitting.

The team
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Gardevoir-Mega (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
Pokeball: moonball
EVs: 16 HP / 8 Def / 232 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Calm Mind
Gardevoir is the main Pokemon on my team. As one of the best wallbreakers in the tier, it is also my favorite Pokemon. However, the coming of Tapu Lele (which I don’t like, apart from Psychic Surge and their surrounding strategies) meant that Gardevoir was cast into the depths of oblivion, ignored and left for the dust. But I wanted to create a team round it. So I went back to the time when it was more common. Back in Gen 6 OU when it was first introduced.
There is a reason why I like it. By virtue of its sky-high Special Attack, access to Pixilate making Hyper Voice ridiculously spammable, and moves like Calm Mind and Will-O-Wisp, allows it to become one of the best wallbreakers in Gen 6 OU, but I just prefer Calm Mind for stat boosts and the added benefit of breaking by through opponents that could otherwise tank a hit.
Gardevoir’s (only?) flaw is it’s average speed, which allows it to be outsped by Pokemon it can — by right — defeat, like Weavile. As such, Tailwind support is crucial.

​

Bisharp (M) @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
Shiny: Yes
Pokeball: healball
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
Bisharp is here because of Pursuit. Pursuit support is necessary in order for Gardevoir to sweep the opponent without fear of Pokemon that can take advantage of it like Metagross, Victini, and Jirachi that could KO it or set up on it. Knock Off helps against opponents that rely on items, like Chansey, and helps Gardevoir sweep, while... well, Pursuit has been explained. Iron Head is for coverage, as it is not meant to switch into Fairy-types. Sucker Punch is for priority. There are generally quite a number of item choices that can be run, but as the majority of moves on Bisharp are Dark-type, I prefer to run Black Glasses. Bisharp also forms a Dragon-Fairy-Steel core with Gardevoir. However, Bisharp compounds a weakness to Fighting- and Ground-type moves, which is not helped by the presence of Tyranitar and Excadrill on this team. Also, a low Speed also means it is reliant on Tailwind support.
Pursuit was actually placed over Swords Dance to Pursuit trap other Pokemon, and I would like to know it two Pursuit setters are negligible, so that I can run Swords Dance instead, or even replace Bisharp altogether.​

​

Tyranitar (M) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
Pokeball: healball
EVs: 248 HP / 80 Def / 180 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Ice Beam
Tyranitar is rather similar to Bisharp in a number of ways. Firstly, it is also here because of Pursuit. Pursuit support is necessary in order for Gardevoir to sweep the opponent without fear of Pokemon that can take advantage of it like Metagross, Victini, and Jirachi that could KO it or set up on it.
Tyranitar functions as my Stealth Rock setter, and my only entry hazard setter overall.
Tyranitar’s secondary roll is as a counter to Flying-types — especially Talonflame — that prey on Gardevoir due to its low defenses. Tyranitar takes care of this with SE Stone Edge.
However, like Bisharp, it compounds a weakness to Fighting- and Ground-type moves, which is not helped by the presence of Tyranitar and Excadrill on this team. Also, a low Speed also means it is reliant on Tailwind support. Common weaknesses to Water and Grass also doesn’t help it.

​

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
Pokeball: ultraball
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Tailwind
- Recover
Latios is one of the more important members of this team. As the main Tailwind setter, it has a lot of pressure on it. It is also a backup Psychic attacker in case Gardevoir is killed (in which case this team is most likely dead and Latios will be making a last stand :)).
It is also one of the sole Ground-immune Pokemon. Latios also forms a Dragon-Fairy-Steel core with Gardevoir.
I really don’t want to explain all the moves, because you know them already, but I have to take up three lines. Draco Meteor is for STAB and a high BP attack, Psyshock for the Psychic-type move, and Tailwind... has been explained. Recover is for recovery. There’s actually not much to say about it; this set is well-known and Latios itself is quite common.​

Talonflame (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
Pokeball: healball
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Tailwind
Talonflame was infamous for it’s time in OU, where Gale Wings allowed it Flying-type priority. With the SM nerf to Gale Wings (and the nerf to Soul Dew, which is sad and I don’t like — but that’s irrelevant.), Talonflame is now in RU (correct me if I’m wrong, folks) but it lives on — in Gen 6 OU. Talonflame functions as a backup Tailwind setter, but having Choice Band rather makes me use Tailwind rather reluctantly. Besides this, Talonflame is also my Physical attacker, and also my only VoltTurn pivot (Always! does a good job with pivoting as I found out, and made me realize how important pivoting can actually be).
Talonflame is also one of my best options against Fighting-type attackers (but don’t Switch it into Keldeo!) and my only other Ground immunity. Talonflame also helps counter some of Gardevoir’s counters, forming a good core with it.

Excadrill (M) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
Shiny: Yes
Pokeball: healball
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
Excadrill is — truly — the only Sand abuser here, with Sand Rush making it a formidable foe. Excadrill is my only Ground-type, and therefore my best counter to Heatran, and Steel-types as a whole. It is also my only hazard remover, without it, Toxic Spikes setters like Dragalge (yes Dragalge) could potentially ruin my entire team. Excadrill also helps check a number of Gardevoir’s checks, and forms a good core with it.
There really isn’t much to say about Excadrill, as its quite common.
​

Threatlist

Landorus-Therian: KOes Tyranitar and Bisharp, and Excadrill isn’t safe either. If it has Stone Edge, Talonflame goes down too. Only Latios is safe enough, and Pursuit Support from the opponent may discourage it too. Gardevoir can KO it with Hyper Voice after Stealth Rock.

Heatran: Flash Cannon? Gardevoir and Tyranitar down. Magma Storm? Bisharp down too. Talonflame can’t counter it thanks to Flash Fire. Excadrill is the only reliable counter to it, with Earthquake.

Importable (just click on the sprites :):


Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen6ou-954686632
(Thanks Always for allowing me to use this replay!)
Mega Heracross sweeps, i sacrifice 4 of my Pokemon, Ttar kills it with Sand, Lando-T then kills it with Earthquake. Mega Gardevoir kills Lando-T after Hyper Voice and Weavile kills me after outspeeding and Knock Off, which shows how important it is to set up Tailwind.

Thanks for reading! Please give helpful advice to this poor noob here ;)

P.S. for those who want to know, to get shiny sprites, add -shiny behind the type of sprite you want, and you will get the shiny version of it.

P.P.S. You can tell Twilight (the user) that someone did an RMT with the same name. Lol, I only just found out there was such a user :)​

 

[Vulpix03]

Hi, after looking over your team I thought i'd leave some suggestions because i think mega gardevoir has some potential in the current oras ou meta. I will give you two potential options; with one of those options making more drastic changes to the team and making it more "standard" and with one of the options keeping the original tailwind idea intact. So first, i'll start with the more drastic changes.

Team #1)
I think you have a decent idea going with garde+pursuit. As you said mega garde dislikes the steel types in the tier like metagross and jirachi (with metagross being public enemy #1), however, both of your pursuit trappers can only trap metagross with tailwind up, and this is an issue. One option is to pair garde with scarf magnezone, but that would require a complete team overhaul so i will refrain from doing that.
The first change I would make would be to make T-tar scarf. This allows you to more effectively check metagross. I will be adding another stealth rocker later on, so don't worry about that.
I think dual pursuit is totally unnecessary, so i would change bisharp to rocky helmet Tangrowth.

>

This does a few things for you. For starters, your team lacked a solid switch in to mons like metagross and lopunny, as well as a solid sd gliscor answer. Tangrowth checks all of these and allows you to chip away at matagross with RH so that tyranitar can trap it later on. I would recommend using leech seed, giga drain, hidden power fire, and stun spore. Stun spore allows you to paralyze av tornadus, giving your gardevoir an easier time.

Next i would change talonflame to heatran.

>

This gives you stealth rocks while also giving you a dragon resist and fairy/psychic resist. I would run stealth rocks, lava plume, toxic and earth power.

My last pokemon change would be AV Torn over latios.

>

This gives you a solid switch in to most special attackers, such as mega zam, and also helps you lure mons such as scarf t-tar to give gardevoir a better time. I would run superpower, hurricane, knock off and u-turn.

Finally i would make a few set changes. I would make excadrill Leftovers > air balloon. This allows it to better check mons such as clefable. I would also make it swords dance > rock slide. Rock slide is only really needed for zapdos and talonflame, and this team deals with both quite well. Swords dance gives you a solid late game cleaner when sand is up, as well as the ability to break fatter teams.
lastly i would make gardevoir protect > calm mind. This allows you to scout and see what moves mons such as weavile and tyranitar are clicking, so you can avoid being pursuit trapped.

https://pokepast.es/640117e516a0b8ea

With these changes it takes away a lot of weaknesses from the original team, but there are still a few annoying pokemon.

This mon Can 2 hit ko everything on your team if played correctly. However, if you can keep rocks up and limit it's switch ins, it's very manageable.

Mega Heracross isn't that common nowadays, and both garde and torn can revenge kill it. This mon is threatening though.

Manaphy is similar to heracross. Gard eats a +3 hit and does a lot in return. You may have to sack a mon in order to revenge kill it.

Volcanion is very rare in today's meta, however it is a threat and should be noted.


Team #2)
This version will keep the tailwind idea intact. I think the big problem with your original team is that it's very hard to keep tailwind up, as lati can easily be pursuit trapped and banded talonflame loses all momentum when clicking tailwind. Because of this i'm going to replace talonflame and lati with what i believe to be two more optimal tailwind setters.

>

Putting a defensive volt switch zapdos on the team over talon allows you to have a more reliable tailwind setter, and volt switch gives you more momentum then talonflame would.

>

Whimsicott is another tailwind setter that can reliably set tailwind with prankster and that has access to u-turn for momentum. Encore also stops opposing set up mons, and can allow one of your heavy hitters in for free

>

As I said before I think two pursuit trappers are unnecessary. Keldeo gives you a weavile switch in as well as a fire type check.

Finally I would make tyranitar a bit more offensive. 116 atk with an adamant nature ensures that stone edge + sand kills mega alakazam, and insures that non boosted pursuit kills regular zam. I put fire blast > ice beam to lure scizor, as that is one of the biggest threats to gardevoir under tailwind. I also made the tyranitar chople berry. With sand+tailwind smooth rock is unnecessary, and chople allows you to better check the likes of zam, zard y, and gengar.
Lastly I made excadrill lefties+sd for the same reasons that I listed on the other team.

https://pokepast.es/86da033589727fbb

I hope these suggestions helped! (this is my first time rating a team so pls forgive me for any sloppiness)

 

[737373elj]

Thanks a ton! This team hasn’t seen much suggestions, and I’m really glad you saw this and took the time to rate it! Glad that the double Pursuit idea is out, didn’t really like that as both Ttar and Bisharp overlapped type weaknesses but was unsure whether I should change them. I’ll be using this next time I’m playing Gen 6! Thanks a ton!!!

 

[Fated Keys]

Hey, my thoughts on the team are somewhat similar to Vulpix's, agreeing to swapping bish/latios for tangrowth and torn. One of the biggest threats to your current team is Keldeo, due to nothing (except Latios) being able to switch in. Once Lati is burned, that chip + sand isn't too friendly for your Lati, and the odds get slimmer when your opponent sets up rocks against you. So with that being stated, tangrowth + torn suits you nicely, considering dual regenerator helps pivot around Keldeo nicely. AV torn handles all but hydro pump well, but you also need tangrowth as your physical pivot for things like Meta/Lopunny as stated above. One of the biggest points in using a wallbreaker like Mega Gardevoir is somewhat similar to Mega Medicham, and that is to bring it in as often and safely as possible. Wallbreakers are designed to shatter teams, and if your opponent needs to double into Metagross pre mega'd, taking a hypervoice on a Modest Gardevoir is roughly 44-53% + stealth rock chip. On top of that, you're faster than pre mega'd Metagross, so if you land a Focus Blast, you eliminate it from game (you do risk missing FB, so its not always the best situation). Now typically a bulky steel type always is needed with Gardevoir, due to how well steel's manage to handle Gardevoirs counters. Heatran is the most common pair for gardevoir, as it handles the steel/poison types well, but also is a bulky pokemon that can burn/setup hazards. If you'd like to try something similar (which i know isn't common and most players would disagree), Empoleon has alot more potential than what the community might give. Empoleon unfortunately doesn't have an ability like Heatrans. granting fire immunity but it does have access to scald, stealth rocks, toxic, defog (which heatran doesn't have) along with moves like roar and knock off. Regardless though, Heatran is a solid pick, so it's really more of what seems to work for you with your playstyle. Just a side note, if you were to run Empoleon, either run Shuca berry or leftovers, because honestly there really isn't any other reasonable set to run in oras ou than those two items. Empoleon is best as a spdef supporting pokemon.