VGC VGC 2018 team

[The Ice Cream]

So I ended up finding a good team for me to use and here is my explanation of it:

Mega Metagross - Level 50
Ability: Clear Body - Tough Claws
Item: Metagrossite
Nature: Adamant
EV Spread: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
- Iron Head
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch
- Protect

This Metagross is an incredibly versatile set. With Iron Head and Zen Headbutt, these work as two efficient STABs that can help take on many Pokemon including Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu, Kommo-o and others. They can also deal big damage to other Pokemon due to the sheer power. Ice Punch works by OHKOing most forms of Lando T and Salamence or other Pokemon that are weak to ice. Item is to mega evolve and EV spread allows high damage output and allows it to outspeed Pokemon around the 100 Speed mark such as Charizard.

Heatran - Level 50
Ability: Flash Fire
Item: Shuca Berry
Nature: Modest
EV Spread: 252 Sp Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
- Heat Wave
- Flash Cannon
- Earth Power
- Protect

Also an incredibly versatile Pokemon is Heatran. With Heat Wave and Flash Cannon, it can break through many Pokemon that are weak to these STABs such as Mega Scizor, Mega Metagross, Kartana, Tapu Lele, Ferrothorn, Whimsicott, Mega Gardevoir and others. Earth Power helps with Tapu Koko and can secure a 2HKO on an Incineroar whilst also acting a Ground-Type coverage without having to use Earthquake that may hit your ally. Another note about this Heatran is that it's a good counter to Charizard Y. Mega Charizard Y can do very little without Focus Blast whilst falling to a couple sun-boosted Heat Waves despite resistance. Shuca Berry helps it survive an unboosted Earthquake from a Landorus T and the EV spread's Max Speed may sound odd with 77 Speed but it helps outspeed those around base 80 that may not have invested in as much.

Rotom-W - Level 50
Ability: Levitate
Item: Sitrus Berry
Nature: Modest
EV Spread: 252 Sp Attack, 252 HP, 4 Sp Defense
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

So, my last 2 Pokemon both have a glaring Ground weakness. Not great with Earthquake spammers everywhere. Rotom-Wash, however, is a great counter to these said Pokemon. With Levitate, Rotom is immune to any Ground-Type move whilst being able to damage them back severely. Hydro Pump deals great damage to Landorus Therian whist also helping against Incineroar as well. Thunderbolt is another great STAB to help with Tapu Fini, Pelipper and other users that have a water weakness or you just don't want to risk the accuracy of Hydro Pump. Since Rotom isn't the most offensive Pokemon out there (despite my Max-Sp Attack spread), Will-O-Wisp can help with neutering Physical Attacks that can get too dangerous such as Snorlax, which can sponge many hits from Rotom due to its high Sp Defense. The Sitrus Berry helps a bit with recovery although a pinch berry could be used as an alternative. Probably the biggest threat to this set is a strong Grass-Type such as Tapu Bulu or Mega Venusaur but the previous 2 mentioned can deal with them with relative ease.

Buzzwole - Level 50
Ability: Beast Boost
Item: Assault Vest
Nature: Adamant
EV Spread: 252 Attack, 252 HP, 4 Sp Defense
- Superpower
- Leech Life
- Poison Jab
- Ice Punch

I use to run Conkeldurr in Gen VI but then I decided to change that to a Buzzwole. Buzzwole hits very hard with 139 Attack and can take hits fairly well with 107 HP, 139 Attack and despite having only 53 Sp Defense, it's significantly improved with the Assault Vest and HP investment. The moveset allows to to take on many diverse threats such as having Poison Jab against the Tapus, Ice Punch for Lando T or Zapdos, whilst Superpower and Leech Life work as suitable STABs with the latter being able to heal Buzzwole. Some of its weakness are also helped by teammates. The EV Spread also helps me maintain a boost in Attack with Beast Boost.

Kommo-o - Level 50
Ability: Soundproof
Item: Kommonium Z
Nature: Modest
EV Spread: 252 Sp Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
- Clanging Scales
- Focus Blast
- Flamethrower
- Protect

So, my Z-Move user is a Kommo-o. Generally, a strategy I like to use is to fire off Clangorous Soulblaze as quick as possible to get the boosts. A +1 Clanging Scales does around the same amount of damage as an unboosted Clangorous Soulblaze. I'm never really a fan of mixing between Physical and Special so I run Focus Blast over Close Combat, which despite having much lower accuracy; gives me better defenses (doesn't lower then and I can run a -Attack Nature) and is more powerful than a Close Combat even if I partially invest in Attack. Flamethrower helps deal with Pokemon such as Ferrothorn, Mega Scizor, Kartana or just other Steel Types that would otherwise resist my Clanging Scales. The biggest threat are Fairy Types but again, I have three Steel-Types prior that can deal with the said mons.

Ferrothorn - Level 50
Ability: Iron Barbs
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Brave
EV Spread: 252 Attack, 252 HP, 4 Defense
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Protect

My last member is a more of a passive member. I was initially considering Kartana although my only bulky Pokemon is Rotom Wash (and maybe Buzzwole). So, I decided that I would run a Ferrothorn, which is an example of a very bulky member. Having only 2 weaknesses and with Leftovers and Leech Seed, it can be hard to take out this thing without the right moves. Min-Speed helps with Gyro Ball being more powerful and Power Whip acts as a useful STAB to hit Pokemon such as Mega Swampert and Gastrodon. The combo of Leech Seed and Leftovers with Iron Barbs helps whittle down foes that may be otherwise too tough to bring down with attacks. Again, its other weaknesses can be covered by other teammates.

So, overall I think my team is quite solid. I might have 3 Steel-Types, which might seem bad at first, however I make sure that they don't all share the same weakness and that the other teammates can help cover for them. It would be great if I could here some feedback

 

[SlickL7690]

There are a few glaring weaknesses which are very present. Gastrodon has Storm Drain and basically hard counters all your team except for Ferrothorn. If you face up against Kommo-o Gastrodon often has Clear Smog to remove the buffs and Ice Beam to hit 'em after. Incineroar is also run with Gastrodon often, so that puts the integrity of your team at risk. Rotom can't damage Gastrodon besides burn and can only Thunderbolt Incineroar. Also Earthquake can be trouble for some of your team. I'm not sure how else to fix this problem. Maybe a Milotic would be a wise choice to at least try to get the Intimidate users off your back a little, but idk.

 

[The Ice Cream]

There are a few glaring weaknesses which are very present. Gastrodon has Storm Drain and basically hard counters all your team except for Ferrothorn. If you face up against Kommo-o Gastrodon often has Clear Smog to remove the buffs and Ice Beam to hit 'em after. Incineroar is also run with Gastrodon often, so that puts the integrity of your team at risk. Rotom can't damage Gastrodon besides burn and can only Thunderbolt Incineroar. Also Earthquake can be trouble for some of your team. I'm not sure how else to fix this problem. Maybe a Milotic would be a wise choice to at least try to get the Intimidate users off your back a little, but idk.

My main reason of putting Ferrothorn on my team was so I could counter Gastrodon. Also, I made sure that Buzzwole could survive an unboosted Flare Blitz from Incineroar and then OHKO Incineroar back counting in Intimidate and recoil. That's where Buzzwole's use comes in. Also, I usually use Metagross as my counter for Intimidate Pokemon, except from Incineroar when I use Rotom-W instead (you did mention Gastrodon although again, that's why I use Ferrothorn (I usually run Rocky Helmet, not Leftovers) to make it so that Incineroar loses half its health in the event of a flare blitz.)

About Earthquake, Metagross and Heatran (with its Shuca Berry) are both capable of surviving an Earthquake from a Choice-Scarf Landorus T (If it isn't Choice Scarf, Metagross OHKOs with an Ice Punch, ignoring Intimidate because of Clear Body prior to Mega Evolving). That's also why I carry Rotom and Buzzwole for Earthquake.

Thanks for your feedback though. I do appreciate it.

 

[Level 51]

Hi, The Ice Cream! Unfortunately, I got to this rate almost two months late, and the format's rotating now. but since you're still here, a quick review, and some notes for future teambuilding:

• Adamant Mega Metagross (162) doesn't outspeed positive-natured Base 100s like Timid Charizard (167). I'd change to Jolly for this reason.
• Heatran isn't great in the VGC 2018 meta. You already have Metagross as a Steel-type, and for Fire-type defensive coverage / offensive STAB you could try Incineroar instead, which comes with added Fake Out, Intimidate, and Dark STAB.
• Rotom-W also isn't very useful, since it tends to become a momentum suck in a lot of cases due to its generally underwhelming offensive capabilities, and its rather one-dimensional utility can't really justify this. Normally I'd say consider Tapu Fini, but that just kind of gets in the way of Kommo-o's attacks, so instead you could consider something like special Assault Vest Landorus-T, to check opposing Landorus-T, also provide Intimidate, and help to check Fire-types. On the other hand, this makes your team weaker to Rain, so it's a toss-up depending on how common you'd expect Rain to be (not very, imo).
• I personally don't like Buzzwole, but I guess it does have its role. If you make the above change to Landorus-T, consider placing 116 EVs in SpDef to make LO Kingdra's Muddy Water in Rain a 3HKO, since your team would become weaker to Rain.
• Focus Blast on Kommo-o is really scary but I respect your bravery.

If you like Kommo-o teams, you could look into trying out a Kommo-o / Mega Gengar / Tapu Bulu variant too, which I believe is probably the best way to use Kommo-o. The VGC format is changing to VGC 2019 this year, so obviously this team is going to be outmoded and can't really be translated into the new meta, but if you like the VGC 2018 ruleset, you could consider trying out Doubles OU, which has a very similar ruleset with a few bans and some additional Pokemon added in.

Finally: when adding a Pokemon to a team, consider what you want it to do for your team. This will often help to inform its item / moveset and EV spreads, which would aid in teambuilding. For example, suppose I wanted to add a Landorus-T to a team to offensively check opposing Landorus-T. If I didn't think about its moveset, I might just add a standard Groundium Z or a Choice Scarf set. But that doesn't actually deal much damage to opposing Landorus-T, so my team might struggle with that! Instead, I'd add a special-based variant with HP Ice. I noticed a pattern in your descriptions of just listing Pokemon which are hit super-effectively by your Pokemon, or which can't deal much damage to yours, but only rarely did I see some mention of Pokemon working together (e.g. the 3 Steel-types to check Fairy-types for Kommo-o). Doing a bit of reflection would help to strengthen your teambuilding process, which is a useful skill throughout any format.

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some words for SlickL7690 too: generally, for every team, including really good teams, it's possible to find one Pokemon that beats the majority of the team in a 1-on-1 situation. The important distinction here is "1-on-1": firstly, would this Pokemon likely end up in a 1-on-1 situation with the team? For example, Gastrodon gets easily run down by Mega Metagross' Zen Headbutt, Buzzwole's attacks, and especially Kommo-o's Clangorous Soulblaze / Clanging Scales, while it can't do much back to Kommo-o or Buzzwole. Secondly, how common is this Pokemon? Gastrodon isn't seen an awful lot in the meta, apart from being on the Worlds-winning team. Finally, there are pairs of Pokemon which have positive matchups against pretty much the entire format, like Gastrodon / Incineroar, and unless you run something like Energy Ball Primarina you won't get a positive matchup against both of those simultaneously. So mentioning that Gastrodon / Incineroar is a "glaring weakness" is kind of an exaggeration here, imo: yes, it's hard to play against, and some minor changes could make it a better matchup, but it's not a death sentence.

 

[The Ice Cream]

Hi, The Ice Cream! Unfortunately, I got to this rate almost two months late, and the format's rotating now. but since you're still here, a quick review, and some notes for future teambuilding:

• Adamant Mega Metagross (162) doesn't outspeed positive-natured Base 100s like Timid Charizard (167). I'd change to Jolly for this reason.
• Heatran isn't great in the VGC 2018 meta. You already have Metagross as a Steel-type, and for Fire-type defensive coverage / offensive STAB you could try Incineroar instead, which comes with added Fake Out, Intimidate, and Dark STAB.
• Rotom-W also isn't very useful, since it tends to become a momentum suck in a lot of cases due to its generally underwhelming offensive capabilities, and its rather one-dimensional utility can't really justify this. Normally I'd say consider Tapu Fini, but that just kind of gets in the way of Kommo-o's attacks, so instead you could consider something like special Assault Vest Landorus-T, to check opposing Landorus-T, also provide Intimidate, and help to check Fire-types. On the other hand, this makes your team weaker to Rain, so it's a toss-up depending on how common you'd expect Rain to be (not very, imo).
• I personally don't like Buzzwole, but I guess it does have its role. If you make the above change to Landorus-T, consider placing 116 EVs in SpDef to make LO Kingdra's Muddy Water in Rain a 3HKO, since your team would become weaker to Rain.
• Focus Blast on Kommo-o is really scary but I respect your bravery.

I actually thought I put Jolly on Metagross but I apparently didn't. Yeah, I'd agree with Jolly.

The point of Heatran and Rotom-W is that they help counter each other's weaknesses. Rotom is a great counter against common Earthquake Pokemon such as Landorus and Excadrill and both of them get OHKO'd by a Hydro Pump. I initially put Jellicent on there because of its better bulk, Cursed Body and Recover but I thought it wouldn't work well against Tapu Koko. I see your point with Incineroar but I've always wanted Heatran because it's faster, more powerful and ha better bulk. Plus, Heatran's typing helps with so many types of teams. Rotom, in conjunction with Ferrothorn also helps me with Rain Teams.

I'm never really into running Landorus-T because I believe it's very predictable. The Assault Vest variation is very vulnerable since it gets OHKO'd by a Mega Metagross's Ice Punch and it doesn't really fare well against Tapu Fini, whereas Rotom-W does work against Tapu Fini since Thunderbolt is a 2HKO, even after a Calm Mind boost. Plus, I like having an Assault Vest on Buzzwole since it gives Buzzwole some decent Sp Defense.

Buzzwole is mainly used as an all out attacker, whilst having good bulk on both sides. His main use is to help against obscure choices that I may not be prepared for.

I also run Focus Blast because I hate running mixed. Plus, Close Combat doesn't do me any favours for my defenses. If it had Aura Sphere, I would use that over Focus Blast.

The way how I built this team is that I based it around one Pokemon (Mega Metagross) and I added Pokemon to patch any flaws it may have (e.g. Rotom Wash to deal with Earthquake or Heatran to deal with Incineroar or other Fire-Types). For attackers, I usually like running 2 STABs, a coverage move (sometimes a Status Move such as with Ferrothorn) and Protect. You're probably right in that I should've explained a bit more about how they work together but I wasn't sure how I'd explain it, especially with all the threats they would face.

Cheers for your feedback though.