VGC Ultra Series Team (Probably a bit ahead of myself but I want to get back into the game)

[robsta109]

Introduction:

Hello everyone! I have not battled competitively since Gen IV. I've played almost all of the new games casually but after seeing a bit of the ideas people have about the new meta I thought I'd like to try to get back into competitive battling. I have tested this team on Pokemon Showdown and so far have had more success than I thought I would. I have outlined a few questions I had in the descriptions for some of the Pokemon and would love any and all input from people more familiar with the scene.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Aerial Ace
- Brutal Swing
- Bug Bite

Description: I chose Scizor as the primary physical sweeper for the team because I like the synergy between technician and bullet punch. His EV spread is such because I’ve found it gives him the best combination of bulk and power.

Eelektross @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Coil
- Wild Charge

Description: An electric Pokemon with levitate (and "no weakness Pokemon") is an interesting thing that has always intrigued me. I'm taking a page out of my old Suicune setup and using a rest/talk set with wild charge and coil instead of scald and calm mind. It's working pretty good so far and when paired with Primal Groudon he can stay in without taking major damage. Is obviously walled by any electric immunity so another move might be better.

Suicune @ Shell Bell
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Rest
- Calm Mind
- Sleep Talk
- Scald

Description: Old Faithful both in name and ability. Scald lowers attack because of burn calm mind raises special and special defense. Rest, sleeptalk, rinse, repeat.

Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpA
Naughty Nature
- Brick Break
- Overheat
- Precipice Blades
- Swords Dance

Description: You get two restricted pokemon and I thought what better pair then a levitating bulky mofo than the king of the ground himself. Double weakness to water means he can get toasted pretty quick but if he gets off a precipice blades against two people it’s consistently done a ton of damage. Could use some advice on the other moves and might make a better decision the more I play.

Mewtwo-Mega-Y @ Mewtwonite Y
Ability: Insomnia
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Focus Blast
- Psychic
- Psystrike
- Shadow Ball

Description: I went with this bad boy because of the coverage it provides as well as just the fact it’s god damn mewtwo and you’re allowed to use it. Is a great special attacker that can often one hit ko anything it’s super effective against. I’ve been running into kyogre and rayquaza a lot though so another choice might be better.

Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rage Powder
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Protect
Description: This last slot was a toss up between this and something else. I figure if I’m against a trick room team amoonguss is a good counter and the stall type of plan works well with eelektross and suicune. I’d probably use scizor in the last slot since he’s bulky too. Definitely can use some evaluation.



In conclusion I'm sure I have a lot to learn but am open to anything anyone has to say. Thank you all!

 

[RebornFX]

So as one of your first teams for the new format, I don't think this is a bad start. I think the main issues you're having is your justification for having certain mons on the team. Instead of having Scizor on the team because technician bullet punch is strong, you should be thinking how it functions in the metagame, how it matches up against different threats in different scenarios. While the metagame isn't well defined right now as there hasn't been any events for the ultra series yet and all we have to go off of are showdown stats, we have a pretty good idea of some of the main threats, being things like the Primals, Mega Ray, Xerneas, Necrozma, Mega Gengar, Mega mence, Yveltal, the Tapus, Incineroar etc. So Scizor provides a strong priority option to take out Xerneas after some prior damage, which is pretty important considering Amoonguss doesn't have clear smog and Groudon is your only other resist.

Fundamentally having the idea of using a 'stall' strategy in a doubles format with restricteds is going to be very difficult, particularly using mons which are just bad like Eelektross. This is because everything hits incredibly hard and you have to remember that every turn 4 Pokemon are moving, not just 2 so naturally games are much faster paced than in singles.

Honestly it's going to be difficult to critique the whole team as a whole as there seems to be little to no synergy between the team members. I'll just look at the movesets individually and say how they could be improved.

So for Scizor I'm assuming your thought process is lock yourself in to BP 90% of the time and get off a decent chunk of damage on anything that doesn't resist to hopefully bring it in range of a P Blades. One of the main problems with using a band here is that it doesn't allow Scizor to run Protect, or have options like Swords Dance to set up alongside a Xerneas so you can OHKO it the next turn. The set you're running also struggles to hit Incineroar (which if sun series is anything to go off of, will be very dominant in the ultra series), meaning it can't take advantage of the fact that it can outspeed it. I would say Life Orb is better in general because of these reasons. It's actually a pretty versatile mon. I would use a set something a long these lines:

Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn/Bug Bite
- Superpower/Swords Dance
- Protect

Pretty simple set. U-turn is very nice to improve your board positioning while also getting off a nice chunk of damage, even without the technician boost. Superpower is a nice coverage option for Incineroar and steels like Stakakata (not sure if this will be relevant for ultra), Ferrothorn and Kartana. At neutral it should OHKO Incineroar depending on the spread, though you'll want to do about 30% of it's health before taking it out at -1, as otherwise you could bring it in to berry range.

Unfortunately Eelektross is just bad. It doesn't really do anything particularly well. It's slow, pretty frail, doesn't hit awfully hard, doesn't have any notable resistances and just kind of sits there. Only recommendation here is to replace it.

Suicune is a reasonable choice, though it hasn't performed exceptionally well in restricted formats in the past. When it is used, it's certainly not run as CroCune (mono water in a format swarming with Primal Groudon is terrible). It's generally ran as a tailwind support mon. I can't really give a sample set, but moves that it could run are Tailwind, Roar, Icy Wind, Snarl, Scald and Protect.

So Groudon is generally ran as either pure physical, pure special or on trick room teams it can be mixed. It never runs Brick Break (because what does that hit that P Blades doesn't). On Special sets, eruption is generally featured, and Earth Power is used over P Blades as it is single target and consistent. Some special sets would opt for HP Ice to hit Mence and Lando-T (may be less used than in VGC16). Some physical groudon would opt for Rock Tomb as a speed control option. This year, I imagine some will run Stomping Tantrum as a less powerful but single target and consistent physical alternative to P Blades. I really can't one of these options for this team as honestly there isn't really a coherent strategy here.

Mega Mewtwo is kind of a difficult mon. It's alright, but the fact that it takes up both your restricted and your mega slot is a bit...eh. Mega Ray has this problem to, but on teams that it features on it is integral to the team's functionality, and the fact that it can run an item means that it can be used alongside a different mega if necessary. If you do chose to keep Mewtwo, my main suggestion would be drop Psychic and run Protect.

And finally Amoonguss is a pretty standard choice. Just for these formats Grass Knot is used over Giga Drain (as everything is pretty heavy) and Clear Smog is used over Protect.

So tl;dr, try to choose mons that compliment each other well, while also having strong options to beat the prominent Poemon in the meta. Look at what higher ranked players are doing and try to think why they are using those Pokemon and use a similar thought process when working on your teams.