[MANDATORY] TEAM BUILDING HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

[Debo37]

I went with Dylan Salvanera's 15th place team from Dallas:

Looking at the mons, terrain control is a positive, and bulk is the notable standout that ties a lot of these Pokemon together. The theme I went for in this team was "keeping the opponent off balance" - I approached it offensively with strong sweepers like Tapu Koko, Kartana, and Garchomp, and defensively/supportively in bulky tanks like Tapu Fini, Muk-Alola, and Arcanine.

As a whole, this team is set up for bulky offense, and packs a variety of checks and counters to common meta offerings that may be served up. Its versatility allows for a wide array of lead pairings, meaning that the picking mindgame at battle's start actually gives this team a little advantage - using it, you can conceivably run most permutations of four given the right matchups. I wanted to build on the non-obviousness of the four that will be brought to any given game by setting up lots of opportunities to wear down opposing teams - including stuff like Nature's Madness on Fini, Knock Off on Muk, Snarl on Arcanine, and three recovery items to really give opposing teams a hard time breaking through the bulky core of this squad.

Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Taunt
- Protect

Standard Life Orb Koko set. Only has one viable Discharge partner on the team so Thunderbolt is used instead. Dazzling Gleam gets good STAB and the spread damage fits with the team theme of wearing down opposing cores. Taunt is there to shut down Trick Room or other bulky setups (CM Fini, Curse Muk, DD Gyarados), or even to screw with Pelipper's Tailwind if facing a double duck lead. EVs are standard with the last 4 in HP for bulk (putting it in a defense stat doesn't change LO recoil or hail/sand damage at all).

Tapu Fini @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Misty Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 68 Def / 140 SpA / 52 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Moonblast
- Nature's Madness
- Heal Pulse

Fini is fat and hits hard, making it the perfect mon for this Bulky Offense team. It underspeeds Koko (so it can set up Misty Terrain in a double Tapu lead), and generally gives a lot of support utility to the rest of the team with Misty Terrain. Hydro Pump and Moonblast are hard-hitting single-target STABs - I imagine Tapu Fini will elicit lots of Wide Guards from opponents expecting Surf or Muddy Water, which can hopefully throw them off balance. Given Misty Terrain, Hydro Pump is picked over Scald as the single-target move of choice since the burn wouldn't usually happen anyway. Nature's Madness dents anything I don't have a dedicated answer for. Since Fini underspeeds everything bar Muk on this team, proper prediction around Heal Pulse can refill Koko, Kartana, Arcanine, or Garchomp on a predicted non-fatal hit, and of course giving Muk a top-off isn't the worst idea either. Given HP EVs make it divisible by 16, given SpA EVs assure the Hydro Pump OHKO on 252/0 Alolawak and 36/0 Krookodile. 52 SpD prevents the OHKO from a Modest Tapu Koko Thunderbolt in Electric Terrain and a Modest Xurkitree Thunderbolt, allowing Fini to put a big dent in something on its last legs. 4 Speed EVs creeps other Fini; the rest is thrown into Defense.

Kartana @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Protect

Standard Kartana with a Sash is a hard counter for double duck (I'll gladly sack a Kartana for your Golduck, tyvm). It also ruins Gastrodon with Leaf Blade, hits the Tapus hard with Smart Strike, and chunks P2 for almost half with Sacred Sword. Since it's so fast, it functions best as a lategame cleaner, hanging out in the back and coming in to finish the job. Oftentimes the threat of it even being brought will keep Gastrodon out, clearing the way for Fini to spam Hydro Pump (and possibly freeing up Koko to spam Thunderbolt). EVs are max Attack & Speed, with 4 HP to hit an odd number.

Muk-Alola @ Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
Level: 50
EVs: 188 HP / 244 Atk / 44 Def / 20 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Shadow Sneak
- Protect

This is basically just PokeAlex's London International set, with Curse swapped for Shadow Sneak. Knock Off fits well with the team's motto of "keep them reeling," and Poison Jab plus the given 244 Attack EVs snags the OHKO on opposing Tapu Koko sans Defense investment. Shadow Sneak lets it pile on another chunk of chip damage before going down, and also lets it pick off sashed foes who unexpectedly survived. The rest of the EVs maximize its bulk for a whole host of defensive scenarios - taking Gyarados Hydro Vortex, Tapu Lele Moonblasts, Sun Specs Torkoal Eruptions, Araquanid Liquidations, and Alolawak Bonemerangs. Gluttony + Figy Berry + an even HP stat mean that Figy gets set off when Muk dips to half or below, setting it off on Nature's Madness or Super Fang. Removing foes' items can be super useful to the rest of the team, and allows Muk to play hell with obvious enemy switches.

Arcanine @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 212 HP / 132 SpA / 164 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Snarl
- Roar
- Protect

Arcanine is my multipurpose "weakener" Pokemon - using Intimidate and Snarl to reduce the damage output of enemy teams quickly. Burns aren't useful with Misty Terrain around, so Roar replaces Will-O-Wisp from the standard set and serves as a secondary counter to Trick Room setters (as well as a very balance-shifting move to click when you know your opponent is going to switch their Intimidated Pokemon out to an Arcanine counter). I went with Overheat here instead of Burn Up because of its reusability. HP EVs bring Arcanine to 192, a Leftovers number. Speed EVs put Arcanine at 149, outspeeding max Xurkitree, and the rest are thrown into SpAtk - with the added bonus of nabbing a clean 2HKO on standard 180/148 Celesteela, and an OHKO on 252/0 Tapu Bulu 93% of the time.

Garchomp @ Groundium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Poison Jab
- Protect

Standard Z-Garchomp is a terror. EQ always hits things hard, and the ability to turn it into a one-time single-target nuke is worth its weight in gold, especially in Grassy Terrain. Dragon Claw minces other Dragons and hits neutral targets and switch-ins decently hard, while Poison Jab cleans up Tapus. EV spread is standard, bar the 4 put into SpD in lieu of HP so Chomp keeps an odd HP stat. With 4 EQ-weak teammates he has to be careful spamming it, but can usually get a KO or two in a given match. Chomp is a very threatening lead, and really keeps the offensive pressure on opposing teams.

So that's my Homework Assignment! I think I have a decent grasp of the VGC meta, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there are things I'm missing. Please fill me in!

 

[blubobebabi]

I have literally no clue where to start in this meta after being local-champ good at 16. For my first team, I'm going to be tackling Collin Heier's second-place team at Dallas.

Hide

Tapu Fini (N) Leftovers
Modest nature, Misty Surge
some kind of bulky special attacker spread (252 HP / 252 Spatk / 4 Speed to creep?)
Hydro Pump
Aqua Ring
Protect
Dazzling Gleam

Aqua Ring doubles up with leftovers to make something that's really hard to get rid of. Modest is chosen over Timid to make its attacks stronger and to underspeed some things in trick room. Hydro Pump is chosen for much needed power since misty terrain blocks scald's burn hax, Protect and Dazzling Gleam are there as safety blankets, and getting back 1/8 guaranteed with protect sounds really good. The idea is to get Aqua Ring rolling first to create a moderately competent special attacker that's hard to KO. When misty terrain expires or is replaced, I'd look for a chance to get Fini out and back in. Stopping status is very important to this team.

Arcanine(M) @Firium Z
Adamant nature, Intimidate
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
Flare Blitz
Morning Sun
Snarl
Extremespeed

Meant to accompany Fini as the lead in most matchups, RK9 offers much needed attack-nerfing support in both Intimidate and Snarl. Firium Z is chosen to create an extremely strong Z-move without the issue of flare blitz's recoil, which lets him do it more later. Snarl can even be used to make an incoming hit survivable, letting him go out in a blitz of glory or even pick off faster foes. Priority isn't too common in this gen of vgc, so Espeed can be an important tool. If you can catch a breather in slower matches, Morning Sun lets Arcanine heal off recoil and keep dealing out the hurt.

Garchomp(F)@ Life Orb
Jolly nature, Rough Skin
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
Dragon Claw
Crunch
Rock Slide
Earthquake

Life Orb's bonus makes up for the multi-target damage penalty, Rock Slide is a solid spread move, has flinch hax, and it has great coverage alongside his other moves? YES. Jolly is chosen to take advantage of Garchomp's amazing speed tier. Earthquake should be saved for special situations due to the collateral damage. Rough Skin is chosen as the ability because sand veil is pretty useless in a weatherless meta. Crunch is a welcome tool Garchomp gets this gen that lets him reduce defense and hit TR setters like Oranguru and Mimikyu hard. This is meant to go alongside Arcanine to wear down physical checks.

Metagross(N) Choice Scarf
Timid nature, Clear Body
can I outrun koko with scarf? if not, outruns next one down, max spatk, rest in hp
Flash Cannon
Psychic
Bullet Punch
Explosion

Metagross has a serviceable 95 Spatk, plus his physical stabs have a nasty miss chance associated with them. So why take the risk when the only knock against his specials are the lack of muscle behind them? Bullet punch is there because fuck Scizor, I can do it too. Keep in mind that you will lose the tiebreak if your Explosion causes it, so make sure you have a protector on the field--this is for when you see something boosting in your face and it needs to die NOW. Flash Cannon is mainly there as an anti-tapu measure, but remember koko and fini are neutral to it. This guy is a beatstick, intended to come in and immediately make a difference. It works with Fini to wear down special checks.

Vikavolt(M) Choice Specs
Modest nature, Levitate
just enough spdef to trigger attack boost on download, max spatk, rest in hp
Thunderbolt
Bug Buzz
Energy Ball
Volt Switch

Again, the moves and nature are chosen for immediate beatstick-like impact on entry. If you can't make up your mind, or if the time isn't right, Volt Switch is a good security blanket. Great if there's a Koko on the field for frying its teammate, or for breaking through P2, or for just wrecking a rain setter.

Porygon2(N) eviolite
something bulky? IDK nature or EVs for this, never used this before in my life, Analytic ability
Thunderbolt
Tri Attack
Magic Coat
Shadow Ball

Thunderbolt for more coverage in case of Koko. Analytic takes away the gamesmanship of raising spdef evs to give it an attack boost, in favor of a smaller damage boost if it moves after its target. with minimum 60 speed that shouldn't be a problem. even in TR it fries araquanid. tri attack and shadow ball have amazing coverage together, and since it's so bulky, people may try to status it...the answer is magic coat to fuck THEM over.

I would recommend Poison Jab over Crunch for Garchomp to deal with the Tapus that are running around.
Metagross should have max Atk & max Spe with a Jolly nature and a Choice Band for the most damage output because I don't see Koko as a major threat to your team since you can resist & Bullet Punch (its SpA is not going to do much to anything), and I'm not really sure about Explosion there...it can work but requires accurate predictions to make sure you don't just KO your own Pokémon while your opponent Protects.
I don't really understand this part, please explain: "Vikavolt(M)@Choice Specs
Modest nature, Levitate
just enough spdef to trigger attack boost on download, max spatk, rest in hp"
Porygon2 set is questionable since Trick Room could be used to reverse TR from opposing teams and it is generally there for bulk and not offense, so if you want a bulky EV spread but mostly attacking moves...
Since you said you don't know much about this meta, you should take a team that did well in a tournament and practice using it on Showdown in addition to watching some Poketubers and their thought process about matches and teams.

 

[MyCheeseMonster]

I went with Nick Navere's 4th place Dallas team.

4th Nick Navarre:

Tapu Fini @ Icium Z

Ability: Misty Surge

Level: 50

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA

Bold Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Blizzard

- Moonblast

- Protect

- Scald


I went with a Z-blizzard set for Fini because it makes quick work of several pokemon in the format, including a OHKO on Garchomp, Tapu Bulu, Kartana, as well as giving Fini a solid spread move. Moonblast takes care of ghosts like gengar, and mimikyu as well as some dragons. I fully invested in HP and SpA to make sure it hits hard and can take a few hits.


Kartana @ Focus Sash

Ability: Beast Boost

Level: 50

EVs: 156 HP / 96 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Smart Strike

- Leaf Blade

- Sacred Sword

- Protect
This is a pretty standard Kartana set. There’s not really much to say here, but i used a focus sash to make sure it can survive to attack. Smart strike takes care of the tapus that will give my Tapu Fini and Arcanine guff. Leaf blade takes care of castrodon and other ground types, and sacred sword catches porygon2 with it’s pants down, especially after it loses it’s eviolite.


Arcanine @ Power Herb

Ability: Intimidate

Level: 50

EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD

Modest Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Snarl

- Burn Up

- Flamethrower

- Solar Beam


I really like this arcanine. It’s like the un-cola - or rather the un-fire fire type of my team. I added Power Herb SolarBeam to take care of some things that like to give it challenges. Most of the time Gastrodons switch out or protect against kartana, which allows an interesting strategy: pair Arcanine with Kartana, and when gastro protects, use smart strike or sacred sword against their partner. Then pick up the KO with solar beam on the next turn. Solar beam also allows me to sometimes leave kartana behind in favor of another member of the team. Burn up is there to quickly shed my fire typing when I’m in a situation that i don’t have a safe switch in or i’d really like to KO the partner of whatever is causing ‘nine strife. Snarl does a good job of breaking mimikyu’s decoy and dropping the SpA of opponent’s mons.

Mandibuzz @ Leftovers

Ability: Overcoat

Level: 50

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe

Impish Nature

- Knock Off

- Protect

- Tailwind

- Foul Play

Mandibuzz is actually surprisingly fun. I tried to make it as bulky as possible, so that it can stick around as long as possible to cause trouble. It makes a pretty good lead partner with mudsdale, it can set up tailwind or knock off porygon2’s eviolites while muds EQs and forces fire steel, and electric types to switch out. Foul play lets it put some pressure on those max attack mons.


Garchomp @ Dragonium Z

Ability: Rough Skin

Level: 50

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Fire Fang

- Protect

- Dragon Rush

- Shadow Claw


Garchomp gave me a little bit of trouble to figure out a role for it. I gave it Fire Fang for when it’s too dangerous to take Arcanine, and shadow claw to take out psychic or ghost type type trick room setters. Z-Dragon rush is there when i really need it.

Mudsdale @ Figy Berry

Ability: Stamina

Level: 50

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Earthquake

- Protect

- High Horsepower

- Superpower



This is a pretty standard Mudsdale, but i like to have it stick around, so as it builds defense with stamina it can heal back half of it’s HP and come back to do more damage. It makes a good switch in for fini against tapu koko, and superpower can take out porygon2 before it can ice beam. It covers some of the weaknesses of tapu fini, arcanine, and kartana, so it makes a great partner for each.

 

[MuskratTuck]

Yeray Arrivi’s Team 9th place London:

While looking at this team, I was happy to see the porygon2. As a lover of trick room I could see the potential applications that could be utilized within this team. There is also the element of terrain control though koko, a typical intimidate user, and the use of one of the most interesting new Pokémon Araquinid.

Although it would be easy to strap a life orb on koko, and make him the star of this team, I feel that Kartana has the tools to lead this team to victory. I included some interesting choices on Muk-A, Curse, and Araquinid, Aqua Ring, to provide utility to the team and create a very bulky TR core.

The two core design was very intriguing to me as Muk/Araquinid/Pory2 and Koko/Kartana/Salamence provide different forms of speed control. Both parties would utilize Porygon2 to keep and maintain the speed, while providing different options. A very fun team to build.

Kartana @ Assault Vest
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 116 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 132 SpD / 252 Spe
Serious Nature
- Sacred Sword
- Smart Strike
- Leaf Blade
- Aerial Ace

Kartana Analysis

Before doing this assignment, I had been messing with teams on Showdown, and arrived on Kartana. This EV spread is borrowed from previously done cals. This stat spread allows you to, in addition to the Assault Vest:

Survive a max attack Garchomp Techonomic rage, A max Special Attack Golduck Hydro Vortex in rain, A max Attack Garchomp fire fang, and A max attack Araquinid Liquidation is brought down to 4HKO.

Why these calcs are important: Groundinium Z is a huge threat from Garchomp, as it’s the most common item run in VGC for it. Also with the amount of double duck being seen, being able to survive a hydro vortex, and being able to respond with a leaf blade is very powerful. Chose to use assault vest to allow the sash to fall onto Koko.

Kartana has amazing defensive typing, only weak to fire and fighting both which have answers on the team.

Muk-Alola @ Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
Level: 50
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Atk / 12 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Curse
- Poison Jab
- Knock Off
- Protect

Muk-A Analysis

One of the best Alolan forms that I believe came out of SuMo, Muk-A finds a very nice home on this team. Bosting an amazing typing of Dark/Poison, creating only a 2x weakness to ground, while becoming immune to Psychic. This positions Muk-A very nicely to deal with some of the biggest threats in the meta game. The first EV 244, adamant nature allows Muk-A to comfortably OHKO Tapu-Koko with Poison Jab. Although I could probably better allocate the EV’s this seemed to be a good attack cap. Knock off is useful, apart from the utility of knocking off some items, to provide a way to deal with fighting and bug, since Porygon2 is so weak to fighting. Very solid move. Now I’m not sure how much boosting gets done in VGC, but I think Curse synergizes very well with this set. While it has the speed stat to beat Marowak before Trick Room, with access to curse it can speed boost in Trick room, surpassing all un-boosted TR spreads, while also gaining attack and defense is amazing. This also allows Muk-A to 3HKO Celesteela after a Curse assuming a standard 228/166 spread. Protect is again included to allow for Trick Room set and meta play. Gluttony/Figy Berry allows Muk-A to become the tank of legends. Being able to heal 50% when pushed to 50% is an amazing ability. I think this would be more viable on this team than A life orb play.

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 12 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Recover
- Trick Room
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam

Porygon2 Analysis

This reigning king of trick room, this porygon2 seems like a perfect addition to the team. With the added bulk of Eviolite, Porygon2 can shrug off many blows that would cripple other setters. Recover is added to this set instead of something like protect so that in a longer fight, porygon2 can reset Trick room, and provide status support to its team. It is very important to note that TR can be brought with the faster members of the team to reverse an enemies own TR. This would provide the speed control to keep the speed core functioning at max efficiency Thunderbolt is also included to the synergy with Koko Electric terrain. Although terrains will be highly contested during the fight, having an attack that is boosted by such a large threat is important. Instead if Tri attack, since the goal is to be slower than the opponents, Ice Beam is included, a very strong attack that hits a large variety of the meta game, without worrying about wide guard. EV spread to keep the HP stat odd to increase recovery and keep Porygon2 alive and helping the team.

Araquanid @ Waterium Z
Ability: Water Bubble
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Liquidation
- Protect
- Leech Life
- Aqua Ring

Araquanid Analysis

Araquanid is one of the strongest attackers out there, with its Water Bubble ability. Allowing liquidation to reach a staggering 170 BP with the chance to lower defenses of anything that survives is unrivaled. A unique twist I feel that could greatly assist this team in wall breaking would be the Warterium Z. A 320 BP Hydro Vortex after Water Bubble is not easily ignored by most foes, allowing for a surprise factor to blow holes in an opponent’s comp. Leach life is the obligatory bug move, after its buffs for Gen 7. Allowing Araquanid to become quite tanky. Protect was included for TR setups and stall. And instead of a more common substitute, I opted for Aqua Ring. With the inclusion of protect, and the recovery Leach Life provides, this should insure that Araquanid is healthy. This is one of the few things that I feel could be changed to provide more coverage. Because of its speed stat, I have reduced its IV to 0 to work under trick room as best as it can. This allows it to only be out sped in Trick Room by: Gastrodon, Drampa, Mudsdale, Clefary, Gigalith, Torkoal, and Pyukumuku.

Salamence @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Protect
- Hydro Pump

Salamence Analysis

One of the threats of the meta, possessing the coveted Intimidate ability. Instead of using a physical based set, I decided to utilize a special set due to the distribution of physical to special attackers on the team. Timid was chosen to further boost its speed, placing it near the top of speed tiers, only behind Tauros as an Intimidate user. It would allow it to out speed a Garchomp without max speed investment/nature. Z crystal is added to further boost the power of Draco Meteor without suffering the loss of special attack. When no switch is avalible this is crucial to remain a threat. Draco Meteor is the standard Dragon move that provides the highest damage at the cost of losing special attack. Protect provides coverage to stall TR, Weather, prevent some damage from Z moves, and allows Salamence to gain momentum. Even with water coverage on Araquinid, the utility Hydro Pump provides allows it to threaten Marowak-A, Arcanine, Torkol, and others that may threaten Kartana. Fire Blast helps cover the opposite spectrum by providing coverage for steels and grass that may be threatening Koko and Araquinid. The last benefit of running Salamance is its immunity to Earthquake. As two members of the team have a weakness, it is important to have a counter for common users and provide a switch in, also lowering their attack.

Tapu Koko @ Focus Sash
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dazzling Gleam
- Taunt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt

Tapu Koko Analysis

To begin, I feel the item choice needs some justification. As can be observed Tapu Koko is one of the most utilized Pokémon in the VGC meta, usually running life orb. Due to the weakness of Earthquake on this team, I decided that having a defense against this move could prove to be useful and keep Koko on the field. The moves are fairly standard for this Pokémon, forgoing protect for one of the fastest taunts in the meta. This helps keep TR off the field and prevents setups from a variety of threats from occurring. Dazzling Gleam is an amazing move that can threaten both opposing Pokémon and provides great coverage for threats like Marowak. Thunder bolt is a fairly standard move to run as well, due to the power of the terrain and the stab coverage. This can help control flying threats: Celesteela, Salamence, and Gyarados. HP ice is one of the most beneficial HP on a Tapu as it allows it to hit other fairys very hard, while providing coverage to fire, fighting, and notably steel. The EV spread could probably be optimized, but it does its job boosting the attack and allowing it to speed tie other Koko.

Although I know my knowledge of EV spreads in VGC is lacking, I hope that my set building and explainations show that I can build a team, and undstand the meta of VGC. Thank you!

 

[RebornFX]

Let's work through some more of these :P

Ashtray
Very solid looking team (maybe because all of the sets are the same as Ben's, I'm not sure). The only issues I have with it is your Kartana set. I don't feel you've justified your attack investment at all. Every offensive calc that you've given can be achieved with a lower attack investment (116 EVs ensure the KO on Lele, the rest require less), and as we have seen with the popularity of Ray Rizzo's set, Kartana can still for the most part pick up all of the KOs it needs to without any attack investment. Of course, this was posted before Ray even popularized the set and in all likelihood your set is probably closer to what Ben brought, but I still think you could have come to the conclusion on your own that maybe that much attack isn't necessary when you were running those calcs.

lucariomaster2
This looks decent overall, though there are some things I find questionable. I'm not totally sold on Energy Ball on Lele since Psychic always 2HKOs anyway Gastro, but I definitely see why it's on there. Honestly I think the Gastro weakness is pretty awful. I wouldn't be surprised if he ran Energy Ball on Xurkitree just so that he has 4 members that just straight up lose to it. The Xurkitree spread seems very arbitrary. The only relevant thing it does is survive Garchomp EQ, since nobody is running LO Mence (Even Dragonium Z Mence seems dwindling in popularity nowadays), and nobody is running max speed Celesteela. Some calcs justifying Wacan berry on Araquanid would be nice, as would your reasoning behind Poison Jab over something like Wide Guard. Finally Trace Porygon-2 is bad, as is Protect on it.

Max_Ibuki
Pretty great looking team. Just a few things. It's important to note that your Koko spread allows Koko to take a hit from Bulu in Electric terrain, which will rarely be the case since Bulu underspeeds and Bulu is far more likely to switch in to Koko than the other way around. I feel like Brave 0 speed IV Marowak works better under TR. 252 HP, 84 Sp.def on Mudsdale guarantees you survive 2 Modest non-LO Psychics from Lele (and 1 Z-Psychic). And yeah I agree bulkier Oranguru is by far the better way to go. If you're looking for damage, P2 is much better. Otherwise Instruct should be your main source of damage output.

RlyCoolCat
Rly solid team. I'm not sure all of that attack investment is necessary on Celesteela since Lele very rarely runs more than 252HP and that investment might be better spent in speed to outspeed opposing Celesteela. I'm not sure about Burn Up and Flamethrower on Arcanine, seems like a waste of a moveslot. I generally only go with Burn up on Firium sets. The last slot can be filled with a whole bunch of things, like w-o-w, Helping Hand, Morning Sun, Roar etc. I think a spread of 28 HP / 172 Atk / 4 Def / 52 SpD / 252 Spe on AV chomp guarantees that you survive a rain boosted z-Hydro Pump from Modest duck while preventing the Gleam 2HKO from Timid LO Koko and I believe Miguel ran Sand Veil to synergise with Gigalith.

C.ViperIsBestWaifu
I'm not sure about no speed Tapu Lele. Running a little bit of speed can often just allow Lele to outspeed Pokemon hoping to speed creep the uninvested base 95s (Like Arcanine). I personally dislike going under 60 speed EVs without a reliable form of speed control as that allows max speed Adamant Metagross to outspeed you. There are some other benchmarks that you can be hitting, just look at your speed since a little bit of investment can often go a long way. I'm not sure about specs Torkoal. I know it can be strong but I feel like once your opponent knows that you're locked in to Eruption/Heat Wave it is a lot easier to play around (for instance they can keep spamming Wide Guard without fear of a Flamethrower). This could just be my lack of experience using specs Torkoal. I also imagine it would be a lot stronger in bo1 than bo3. Are you sure about Sitrus Lilligant? I can't imagine it coming in handy that often considering it is relatively frail with a fairly poor defensive typing. Grassium Z can be useful to KO bulky waters if you know that you won't be needing your Psychium Z that match. And I believe Explosion Silvally is what he was probably using, since with Telepathy it allows Oranguru to quite safely set up TR for a Torkoal sweep.

Karyu
You haven't completed the task. You made your own team using a few Pokemon from somebody else's team and haven't left any descriptions.

Ptcdbrown
Another pretty good looking team. I would prefer a bit more clarification on Lele's spread, what does it actually do? Saying it makes it bulky and outspeeds things isn't helpful, like at all. Celesteela spread can definitely be optimised. I would lean towards Toxic on Gastrodon. again you haven't explained your spread at all. All you have provided is a fairly obscure calc (very rarely do Tapu Koko run Grass Knot as it already has 4MSS). Poison Jab would probably be more beneficial than Rock Slide on Chomp for Bulu to help Gastro. Again is both Flamethrower and Burn Up really necessary? Arcanine gets a lot of really great moves to fill its slots and running both just seems like a waste. I'm also not sure why the OHKO on Celesteela is so important anyway. Your team isn't all that weak to hit and surely a Flamethrower 2HKO should suffice? I think the spread could use a lot of work, as could the item choice. The most common items on it are Sitrus Berry and Firium Z, but Safety Goggles has been used to take on Torkoal + Lilligant teams.

Raahxen
Other than Protect on AV Kartana this doesn't look half bad. Again, I would suggest at least some investment on Lele and potentially a bit more bulk on Kartana since it generally doesn't need all of that attack investment. I'm not sure that much special defence investment is worthwhile considering how rare specs Lele is (and you don't want to take a Psychic in the first place), especially considering it doesn't live anyway (This is a calc for timid specs, modest does more obviously)
252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 252 HP / 132+ SpD Marowak-Alola in Psychic Terrain: 163-193 (97.6 - 115.5%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
I personally run a spread of 244 HP / 92 Atk / 4 Def / 84 SpD / 84 Spe as the defence allows me to survive 2 -1 Garchomp Earthquakes, but there are other spreads you can use. Also keep in mind that Marowak really doesn't appreciate the rain all that much, though it does pair well with Pelipper thanks to Lightningrod. I don't think 0 speed Muk is necessary, as it makes you get outsped by Adamant Marowak and you can Curse if you need speed drops.

I think that's me done for the day.

 

[Ashtray]

Let's work through some more of these :P

Ashtray
Very solid looking team (maybe because all of the sets are the same as Ben's, I'm not sure). The only issues I have with it is your Kartana set. I don't feel you've justified your attack investment at all. Every offensive calc that you've given can be achieved with a lower attack investment (116 EVs ensure the KO on Lele, the rest require less), and as we have seen with the popularity of Ray Rizzo's set, Kartana can still for the most part pick up all of the KOs it needs to without any attack investment. Of course, this was posted before Ray even popularized the set and in all likelihood your set is probably closer to what Ben brought, but I still think you could have come to the conclusion on your own that maybe that much attack isn't necessary when you were running those calcs.

Thank you for your comments :) as for the sets, I really wouldn't know about Ben EVs; I saw the Hariyama moves somewhere, the EV spreads are the standard ones with a little tinkering to fit the team.
The reasoning about Kartana was "to hit as hard as possible while surviving specific hits", I really didn't think of investing that much in bulk since I tended to prioritize Aurora Veil if I brought the "fast mode".
Having said that, I'm currently playing around with the Fini, Arcanine, Kartana core and holy hell, bulky Kartana is amazing and far superior to the one I was running.

 

[RebornFX]

okanail
I feel like Tapu Bulu could benefit with 20 speed EVs to outspeed opposing 4 speed Bulus which aren't too rare and to outspeed max speed Adamant Marowak (esentially meaning you outspeed all Marowak other than the rare Jolly Marowak). Poison Touch Muk is kind of just inferior to Gluttony + Figy Muk. Choice Specs T Wave is an interesting option...Is max special attack P2 really the best way to go? Also download > trace. And why is Shadow Ball necessary on this team? Why Dragon Dance Mence, and why did you choose Draco as your STAB on a DD set? Mence also doesn't get Aerialate since it doesn't get a mega. And finally why Ice Beam on Politoed? 'Coverage' isn't a good enough reason.

If it were up to me I would get you to do this again because honestly it looks like you have put as little effort in to the task as you can, either that or you really don't have a good grasp on the format or the current meta. But Blarajan has the final say on that.

Van0li
If you hadn't told me this was your first team in the format I couldn't tell. I'll probably skip over most standard sets since there isn't much to say. Just to clear something up, your set doesn't OHKO Garchomp with Gleam (especially if they are AV). You have a better chance of OHKOing with Psychic.
252 SpA Life Orb Tapu Lele Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 151-179 (82.5 - 97.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp in Psychic Terrain: 169-200 (92.3 - 109.2%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
Garchomp also doesn't OHKO Lele with EQ. The Wide Guard isn't considered a priority move just as Protect isn't really a priority move. It has increased priority, but the term priority moves almost always refers to attacks like Extremespeed for example. I understand why Wide Guard Celesteela would be beneficial here, but I do feel the lack of substitute limits its ability to function as a late game win condition. I'm assuming you meant your Marowak set to be something like 196 HP / 156 Atk / 4 Def / 108 SpD / 44 Spe since it hits the same stats with less wasted EVs. I would have liked some reasoning as to why you prefer physically defensive p2 over specially defensive. No right or wrong answer, just your thoughts would be nice.

Reukyr
Again, cool looking team. Definitely not shitty. I don't think Aerodactyl has the moveslots to fit on protect since it really values having Sky Drop and/or Taunt/Roar. I feel like Taunt is almost mandatory on a team like this. I'm not sure Volt Switch is worth a slot on a LO set. It has a lot better options like Discharge/Taunt/HP Ice/Nature's Madness, and it can be rather risky if you Volt Switch in to a Protect against a lead like Koko+Garchomp. I feel like a bit of speed on Marowak and Metagross could allow them to function better in tailwind, and the AV set can almost certainly be optimised to live certain attacks with the sp.def boost. Why Blizzard on Milotic? It has much better options in Toxic and Protect, especially on a set with Ice beam. And what does Crunch on Silvally hit? As for looking for hits to live, trainertower is an amazing resource. They are now hosting the VGC17 calc as of today with a lot of fairly up to date spreads on there for you to calc against, and they have an article of a metagame snapshot with sample sets for you to calc on. And Lucario is really just outclassed by Hariyama and Pheromosa. Inner Focus really doesn't justify the other ways it is outclassed.

Unbreakable
I'm sorry but you're going to have to do this again. It would take too long to go through all of the issues I have with this team. I understand getting in to a new metagame can be difficult but I feel there are fundamental issues with your understanding of the format. Your lack of Protect on sets where it is very easy to slot in, random EV spreads, move and item choices are worrying. Before making your sets, you probably want to look at some team reports of successful teams on sources such as Trainer Tower. There's a great team report by SamVGC for his Dallas regionals team that is very similar to Collin's (Replace P2 for Kartana and replace Garchomp for Gigalith and you're there) with all of the common Pokemon between the team sharing very similar sets.

kimlitevin
I really like your descriptions and formatting for this write up and it's clear you've put a lot of thought in to this. I can't wait to see your less restricted posts (it was quite clear you weren't happy with the original composition of the team and it would be interesting to see what you can come up with without the limitations). There are definitely some decisions you've made that I find questionable, but definitely nothing flat out bad. I'm really not sure Gengar gains all that much from Scarf, and compared to sash I feel like it loses more than it gains. Gengar really does value being able to switch between its STABs and slapping a Scarf on it really doesn't allow it to outspeed all that much. Other than Koko and Neutral Pheromosa the extra speed doesn't allow Gengar to outspeed that much relative stuff. I feel like if you're going to slap a scarf on it you at least want enough speed to outspeed Adamant Scarfchomp (not a good set, but nonetheless a relatively common one), which costs 196 and while you're at it you might as well invest enough to outspeed Timid Scarf Lele which requires 252 EVs. I'm not convinced the extra bulk does all that much to affect any defensive benchmarks (since you haven't listed any) and you haven't provided any offensive benchmarks that Modest allows you to hit that Timid doesn't. I'm just really not convinced Scarf is the way to go, and I feel like Sash opens up a lot of options for coverage moves and support options which you would otherwise be afraid of locking yourself in to. Protect P2 isn't good. Whatever situation Protect would be useful in, Recover or a switch out would usually be better. I'm also not sure about how relevant the Physical defence investment is. Calcing for such an arbitrary benchmark like Banded Bulu seems strange. Physically bulky P2 isn't bad, Gavin Michaels won San Jose with it and that thing could take a Guts boosted Close Combat from Hariyama and Jolly LO Close Combats from Pheromosa. I just think you'd be better off calcing for relevant attacks. For example, a max attack Z-Wood Hammer from Bulu can be survived with a spread of 244HP 188 Def (neutral def nature) if you're worried about Bulu since that's about as hard as they're ever going to be able to hit you. I'm not saying that's a good amount of investment, I'm just saying it's more relevant to what people are actually running. Of course most tend to be Meadow Plate, but you can live an attack from that with no investment so...Correct me if I'm wrong, but you'll pretty much never survive an EQ + Rough Skin + FB recoil against no bulk Jolly Garchomp right? FB does 45% min, making the recoil 15%, rough skin is 12% and EQ does 71% min. So supposing you both get min rolls, at best you'll be left at 2%. I might be wrong but that's what it looks like to me. I'm not sold on HP Grass Araquanid. I definitely see the issue that Gastro can pose on this team. This calc is what troubles me however.
252 SpA Araquanid Hidden Power Grass vs. 228 HP / 60+ SpD Gastrodon: 80-96 (37.2 - 44.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
This is probably the least specially defensive Gastro set that I've seen and HP Grass can't even 2HKO and without quite a bit of prior damage Gastro can reasonably comfortably Recover off the damage and may eventually beat you 1v1 if it can get a Toxic off on you. Honestly I'd probably keep it since the teams Gastro weakness is pretty ridiculous. Again, if you ran Sash Gengar you could potentially run Energy Ball to deal a significant amount of damage, having a 75% chance to OHKO that Gastro set. I'm also not sure how necessary/beneficial running min speed on Bulu is. Between no investment (stat of 95) and no investment (stat of 72) the only relevant things are uninvested Incineroar and Magnezone (both of which generally run a bit of speed). I'm also not sure how necessary Sash Sableye is. While its bulk isn't amazing, it's not awful either. I feel like more special defence could be a bit more useful considering how specially offensive this format is and the fact that its Physical defensive ability is improved by Prankster w-o-w. I would say a Sitrus berry set with a spread of something like 244 HP / 52 Def / 212 SpD could be strong. The HP gives you an EV HP stat to activate Sitrus berry sooner, while the special defence survives a Tbolt from Modest LO Koko (which is rather common). I also feel like it has much better options than Protect, such as Quash for use outside of Trick Room or to outspeed slower Pokemon inside of Trick Room, or Feint to prevent Pokemon from stalling out your TR turns with Protect. Sorry for the very long response and probable rambling, most of this stuff is very nitpicky and I probably got a bit ahead of myself on this.

Okay that's it for today. I've got exams all next week so don't expect any more responses until Friday.

 

[Chouru]

Ok here's some calcs:

For Garchomp with Poisonium Z

252 Atk Garchomp Acid Downpour vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tapu Lele: 442-522 (157.2 - 185.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

For Garchomp with AV

252 Atk Garchomp Poison Jab vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tapu Lele: 222-262 (79 - 93.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Jolly Garchomp is faster than Timid Lele, so the next calcs will only matter on the switch in I guess:

Garchomp with Poisonium Z

252 SpA Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 356-422 (99.7 - 118.2%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

Garchomp with AV

252 SpA Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Garchomp: 236-282 (66.1 - 78.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO



I realize that Outrage on Garchomp was ludicrous. Dragon Claw would be a much better choice. Rough Skin feels like it belongs on a tanky Garchomp, but I understand how it is more beneficial than a niche Sand Veil, so I would switch to Rough Skin. I felt like Krookodile's main role in the team was to get intimidate up, so I felt like scarfing him wasn't such a bad idea. I'm not so sure on the Celesteela, because that one has so many sets and as I said I forgot to put EVs on it before I tested, like a dummy. Even without EVs it seemed to do just fine. But if the mirror match really is an issue, than I could look into changing the EVs for some extra speed. As for Specs Lele, again I don't mind having to switch and reset the psychic terrain, but I felt like the extra power over life orb was useful.

Anyway, thank you for looking at my team and giving me some insights. Hope I can get cleared to post some actual ideas for a team. But this was very helpful.

 

[Van0li]

Van0li
If you hadn't told me this was your first team in the format I couldn't tell. I'll probably skip over most standard sets since there isn't much to say. Just to clear something up, your set doesn't OHKO Garchomp with Gleam (especially if they are AV). You have a better chance of OHKOing with Psychic.
252 SpA Life Orb Tapu Lele Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 151-179 (82.5 - 97.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp in Psychic Terrain: 169-200 (92.3 - 109.2%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
Garchomp also doesn't OHKO Lele with EQ. The Wide Guard isn't considered a priority move just as Protect isn't really a priority move. It has increased priority, but the term priority moves almost always refers to attacks like Extremespeed for example. I understand why Wide Guard Celesteela would be beneficial here, but I do feel the lack of substitute limits its ability to function as a late game win condition. I'm assuming you meant your Marowak set to be something like 196 HP / 156 Atk / 4 Def / 108 SpD / 44 Spe since it hits the same stats with less wasted EVs. I would have liked some reasoning as to why you prefer physically defensive p2 over specially defensive. No right or wrong answer, just your thoughts would be nice.

Thanks for looking over my team. As you pointed out, a lot of my calcs were off and this is because I didn't even realise the damage drop with spread moves at the time! It's also why I had the Wide Guard on Celesteela, as I was afraid of such powerful attacks. It didn't take long to realise I was missing out on OHKOs and receiving less damage from the spread moves before finding out and using a VGC damage calc. So I will go back over the team and re-evaluate the EV spreads.

I've started watching VGC matches and have decided to swap P2 to Spd. My original thought was that because its only weakness was fighting and the majority of fighting pokemon were physical then to go physically defensive. But after watching more matches, and seeing how rare fighting pokemon are in VGC 2017, it seems the biggest nukes are special attackers, hence the swap. I'll probably change Celesteela to either physical offensive or defensive too, as Marowak on the team should help it out with the Electric weakness and I'd be more afraid of opposing Marowak in turn.

PS. Good luck with exams.

 

[Reukyr]

okanail

Reukyr
Again, cool looking team. Definitely not shitty. I don't think Aerodactyl has the moveslots to fit on protect since it really values having Sky Drop and/or Taunt/Roar. I feel like Taunt is almost mandatory on a team like this. I'm not sure Volt Switch is worth a slot on a LO set. It has a lot better options like Discharge/Taunt/HP Ice/Nature's Madness, and it can be rather risky if you Volt Switch in to a Protect against a lead like Koko+Garchomp. I feel like a bit of speed on Marowak and Metagross could allow them to function better in tailwind, and the AV set can almost certainly be optimised to live certain attacks with the sp.def boost. Why Blizzard on Milotic? It has much better options in Toxic and Protect, especially on a set with Ice beam. And what does Crunch on Silvally hit? As for looking for hits to live, trainertower is an amazing resource. They are now hosting the VGC17 calc as of today with a lot of fairly up to date spreads on there for you to calc against, and they have an article of a metagame snapshot with sample sets for you to calc on. And Lucario is really just outclassed by Hariyama and Pheromosa. Inner Focus really doesn't justify the other ways it is outclassed.

Hey, thanks for help, I did as you said and changed Volt Switch into Taunt on Tapu Koko, as for Blizzard on Milotic, I'm not really sure why it's here, I was sure I had protect there, but I was changing her EVs few times so I might have just pasted it accidentally from some ready showdown moveset or something like that, as for Metagross and A-Marowak, I read few articles on trainertower, and changed their moveset around to this:

Metagross @ Assault Vest
Ability: Clear Body
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Atk / 20 Def / 116 SpD / 92 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Zen Headbutt
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Hammer Arm

92 Speed let's it outspeed most pokemons in the format with tailwind, up to Pheromosa with negative speed nature,
252 HP along with 116 SpDef with AV, makes him get faint in 3 instead of 2 Thunderbolts from Xurkitree, the chance to knocked out by Tapu Koko in 2 Thunderbolts is really low and allows to survive 2 Fire blasts or Flamethrowers from non- Specs Salamance

Hide

252 SpA Life Orb Tapu Koko Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 116 SpD Assault Vest Metagross in Electric Terrain: 79-95 (42.2 - 50.8%) -- 3.5% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Xurkitree Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 116 SpD Assault Vest Metagross: 67-81 (35.8 - 43.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Salamence Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 116 SpD Assault Vest Metagross: 72-86 (38.5 - 45.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252 HP with 20 Def lowers the chance to get OHKO by Attack invested Arcanine or getting killed in two Night Slashes from Kartana and makes Metagross survive 2 Crunches from jolly Gyarados,

Hide

252+ Atk Arcanine Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 20 Def Metagross: 158-188 (84.4 - 100.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Kartana Night Slash vs. 252 HP / 20 Def Metagross: 80-96 (42.7 - 51.3%) -- 5.1% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Gyarados Crunch vs. 252 HP / 20 Def Metagross: 78-92 (41.7 - 49.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

The rest goes into Attack, even though it's not a lot, Metagross still can 2HKO pokemons like, Tapu Bulu, Koko, Kartana, Salamence and few others.

Hide

28+ Atk Metagross Meteor Mash vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tapu Bulu: 132-156 (74.5 - 88.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
28+ Atk Metagross Meteor Mash vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Tapu Koko: 84-100 (57.5 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
28+ Atk Metagross Meteor Mash vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Tapu Koko: 84-100 (57.5 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
28+ Atk Metagross Hammer Arm vs. 84 HP / 4 Def Kartana: 88-104 (60.6 - 71.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
28+ Atk Metagross Meteor Mash vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Salamence: 88-105 (51.4 - 61.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
28+ Atk Metagross Zen Headbutt vs. 236 HP / 4 Def Xurkitree: 85-102 (45.2 - 54.2%) -- 43.8% chance to 2HKO
-1 28+ Atk Metagross Hammer Arm vs. 28 HP / 0 Def Krookodile: 90-106 (51.7 - 60.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
28+ Atk Metagross Zen Headbutt vs. 0 HP / 0- Def Pheromosa: 308-366 (210.9 - 250.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

As for Marowak and Silvally, they are something that I still need to work on,I'm trying diffrent set ups etc. so I still haven't decided how to change them, I gave Crunch to Silvally with Gengar in mind, but now I see that it doesn't really make sense, as it can't even OHKO it

So again, thanks for replying, it really helped me :)

 

[valeasr123]

Guys i wanted you to let me know if this team should be ok:

Pelipper @ Focus sash
Drizzle
Evs: 252 sp.at. 252 vel 4 sp.def
Modest nature
-Wide guard
-Scald
-Tailwind
-Hurricane

Golduck @ Waterium Z
Swift Swim
Evs: 252 sp.att. 252 vel 4 sp.def
Modest nature
-Ice beam
-Hydro pump
-Scald
-Protect

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Beast boost
Evs: 252 hp 244 att 12 spe
Adamant nature
-Substitute
-Protect
-Heavy slam
-Leech seed

Tapu lele Life Orb
Timid nature
-Psychic
-Moonblast
-Protect
-Dazzling gleam (maybe thunderbolt here?)

Krookodile @ Darkinium Z (I'm looking for better set maybe... i'm not sure with just 4 HP)
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 240 Atk / 76 Def / 188 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Taunt
- Protect


Goodra @ Assault vest
Ability: sap slipper
Modest nature
Evs: 248 HP 244 sp.att 12 sp.def 8 spee
-Draco meteor
-Fire blast
-Sludge bomb
-Ice beam (maybe thunderbolt?)


maybe i could suffer gastrodon? what else? thanks

 

[Robyn]

I decided to go with Michele Gavelli's 3rd place London team because I used the the team earlier in the season, this is my first year playing competitive Pokémon and I am open to any suggestions anyone has.

Xurkitree @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 4 Sp. Def, 252 Spe
Moves:
Thunderbolt
Discharge
Energy Ball
Protect

I chose to use Sash on Xurkitree because it allowed him to stay in on many threats that his teammates could deal with, other than that everything is standard, Thunderbolt and Discharge for STAB, Energy Ball for Gastrodon. I tend to lead Xurkitree with either Porygon2 or Marowak

Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
Nature: Modest
EVs: 236 HP, 252 Sp. Atk, 20 Spe
Moves:
Psychic
Moonblast
Dazzling Gleam
Thunderbolt

I went with Specs Lele because it allowed it to do more damage without needing to worry about recoil. I believe everything is standard for Specs.

Gyarados @ Waterium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
Waterfall
Dragon Dance
Earthquake
Protect

Fairly standard Gyarados, I chose to use earthquake over Ice Fang because I did not find Garchomp and Salamence to be large threats to this team. After a Dragon Dance, this guy can sweep teams with help from his teammates.


Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightningrod
Nature: Brave
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Sp. Def
Moves:
Flare Blitz
Shadow Bone
Bonemerang
Protect

Nothing special here, just a standard Marowak.

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
Nature: Relaxed
EVs: 252 HP, 96 Def, 92 Sp. Atk, 68 Sp. Def
Moves:
Ice Beam
Trick Room
Recover
Shadow Ball

In all honesty, this is the set from the ORAS Strategy Pokedex for Battle Spot Doubles, but it still works fine, Ice Beam is for Dragons, Shadow Ball for Lele and Marowak.

Araquanid @ Life Orb
Ability: Water Bubble
Nature: Brave
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Sp. Def
Moves:
Liquidation
Lunge
Poison Jab
Protect

I used Poison Jab on Araquanid to deal with Bulu, aside from that, fairly standard set, Lunge helps to defeat opposing Araquanids 1v1.

Leads:
The way I usually lead this team is Xurkitree with Marowak or Porygon2 if they have Garchomp, but on occasion I will lead Porygon2 and Araquanid or Xurkitree and Lele.

 

[Unbreakable]

I would recommend Poison Jab over Crunch for Garchomp to deal with the Tapus that are running around.
Metagross should have max Atk & max Spe with a Jolly nature and a Choice Band for the most damage output because I don't see Koko as a major threat to your team since you can resist & Bullet Punch (its SpA is not going to do much to anything), and I'm not really sure about Explosion there...it can work but requires accurate predictions to make sure you don't just KO your own Pokémon while your opponent Protects.
I don't really understand this part, please explain: "Vikavolt(M)@Choice Specs
Modest nature, Levitate
just enough spdef to trigger attack boost on download, max spatk, rest in hp"
Porygon2 set is questionable since Trick Room could be used to reverse TR from opposing teams and it is generally there for bulk and not offense, so if you want a bulky EV spread but mostly attacking moves...
Since you said you don't know much about this meta, you should take a team that did well in a tournament and practice using it on Showdown in addition to watching some Poketubers and their thought process about matches and teams.

tl;dr: git gud?

 

[Kyrk]

My take on Arash Ommati's 26th placing team at the European International Challenge:

I was really intrigued by the versatility of this offensive team at first glance due to it having a fast mode with Tapu Lele and Pheromosa, a Trick Room mode with Araquanid and Oranguru, and support for both options with Ninetales and Incineroar.

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 44 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 204 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Dazzling Gleam

Scarf Tapu Lele serves as a solid revenge killer. The speed investment creeps scarfed Adamant Garchomp.
I'm lacking coverage since most of the time you'll be using Psychic.
I have Psyshock as well for the more specially-defensive Pokémon and to avoid the damage reduction from Calm Mind boosters such as Tapu Fini.

Pheromosa @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 44 SpA / 212 Spe
Hasty Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Poison Jab
- Blizzard
- Protect

While Pheromosa is very, very frail, it's also ridiculously fast and powerful on both sides of the attacking spectrum, making it a very competent mixed attacker.
While offensive stat-boosting natures such as Adamant or Naughty are more popular to increase its already high damage output, I prefer Hasty so I can outspeed additional threats.

The speed investment speed creeps Timid Scarf Vanilluxe with the remaining EVs invested in my second offensive stat; however, I'm considering increasing the speed to 236 to also outspeed Modest Scarf Tapu Lele.

Fightinium Z is used over Focus Sash for a few reasons:
1. To guarantee my fighting move to hit
2. To guarantee a 1hko on Porygon2 after an Intimidate
3. Hail is not a good combination with Focus Sash.

Poison Jab is used for Fairy and Grass coverage, although I lose my bug STAB in the process, leaving Incineroar to handle Psychic types. While Ice Beam is more popular, I prefer the idea of Blizzard due to the 100% accuracy in hail.

Ninetales-Alola @ Focus Sash
Ability: Snow Cloak
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Encore
- Freeze-Dry
- Aurora Veil
- Protect

Ninetales is a very nice support Pokémon. Aurora Veil is arguably the best supporting move in the game, and Hail allows one to reduce the damage output of opposing weather cores such as Golduck+Pelipper.

Freeze Dry destroys the likes of Gastrodon, Gyarados, and at least inflicts heavy damage on other water types. While Blizzard spam is always nice, Encore is used over to shut down the many slower Pokémon that try Protecting or setting up in front of me.

While Light Clay in theory would be great for longer battles, Focus Sash greatly increases the chance of getting Aurora Veil up or allows one to still offensively react to a boosted or randomly scarfed Pokémon such as Garchomp or Krookodile. Protect and the EV spread are straightforward.

Incineroar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Darkest Lariat
- Fake Out
- Snarl

Despite not having Intimidate (yet), Incineroar still makes for a great bulky offensive support Pokémon, especially with Assault Vest.

An Adamant nature is used since Snarl isn't exactly meant to rake in the damage, and I don't want to reduce my speed or defenses just to increase the damage of that attack.

Fake Out allows Incineroar to put pressure on the opponent while simultaneously giving its partners a bigger chance of using their support moves.
The speed investment creeps 4 Spd Celesteela.

Araquanid @ Waterium Z
Ability: Water Bubble
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Liquidation
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Wide Guard

Araquanid allows the team to react to Trick Room and Sun teams by being slow and hitting ridiculously hard with Water Bubble-boosted Liquidation. Waterium Z is used since there aren't many opportunities where Araquanid and Pheromosa are used in the same match.

I like the idea of SubToxic for a few reasons:
1. Araquanid's non-Water moves have a low damage output, even with a Brave nature.
2. If Substitute is set up, Araquanid can avoid being hit by opposing Will-O-Wisps, Toxics, and Leech Seeds (among other attacks), allowing it to handle more stall-oriented teams.
3. Toxic allows Araquanid to beat bulky water Pokémon such as Gastrodon, Lapras, and Tapu Fini (assuming Misty Terrain is not up), as well as crippling Pokémon with recovery moves such as Porygon2.

While Protect is probably the better choice for this set, Wide Guard lets Araquanid block the infamous Discharge+Earthquake combo, Rock Slides, and other spread moves.

Oranguru @ Mental Herb
Ability: Inner Focus
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 24 SpA / 92 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Psychic
- Foul Play
- Instruct
- Trick Room

While I think other Pokémon are better suited for this role, Oranguru is still a very strong support Pokémon in conjunction with Araquanid due to Instruct and Trick Room, allowing the team to have an answer to opposing Trick Room teams as well as handling teams obviously weak to Trick Room.

A healing item such as Sitrus Berry may be preferred over Mental Herb since Taunt isn't the most common move and due to me not running Protect, but Mental Herb provides the security of guaranteeing Trick Room is set up and Instruct can support the team.

While 3/4 of the move slots are standard, Foul Play is used over Protect for a few reasons:
1. Foul Play allows Oranguru to damage many Pokémon it wouldn't be able to lay a finger on otherwise such as Metagross.
2. Foul Play gives Oranguru the opportunity to punish physical attackers for trying to set up on it with moves such as Dragon Dance or Swords Dance.
3. While an obviously important move, Protect seems like a move that isn't necessarily NEEDED on something as bulky as Oranguru, especially when it has access to so many other useful support moves.

I don't really know the calcs for this spread; I just saw it being popular on Showdown. I just know that it's bulky and lets Psychic hit a lot harder than a spread that invests solely in defenses.

Changed the spread to where it always survives Marowak's Flare Blitz. With Foul Play, I definitely don't need that much special attack investment.

 

[blubobebabi]

tl;dr: git gud?

Tried to help you, you didn't want it; fine by me

 

[RebornFX]

Okay my exams are all over now! :D Back to going through some of these then.

Just something I would like to see people including in their assignments from now on. Please include why the Pokemon actually synergise together. What do certain Pokemon/move choices/EV spreads allow your Pokemon to beat that otherwise threaten your team/certain members? If I think your descriptions are lacking even if the teams themselves look solid, I will ask you to do it again. If I ask you to do it again, you can chose to do it again or just to fix your previous attempt. There is always something you can write about for a set even if it is standard. Even if it is just why you didn't chose some of the more niche options.

Debo37
Definitely a cool looking squad. All of the sets seem fine (though I have some personal preferences over some of the moves on some of the sets), but I do think there are some issues with your justifications for certain sets. For example, taunt Tapu Koko. Against all of the setup mons you list, you'd probably be better off just OHKOing/2HKOing with Thunderbolt, and in the case of Muk you probably won't want to stay in fearing the OHKO from Poison Jab. Against Double Duck you'll just die to Z-Hydro Pump before they set up TW in your face. Of course it helps your TR matchup, but you don't mention that. If you aren't afraid of the TR matchup you have plenty of other options, like HP Ice (for Garchomp which looks very threatening to this team), Discharge (nobody runs mono discharge btw, Koko always has another electric STAB), Volt Switch, Nature's Madness, Sky Drop etc. Not saying that any of these are better, just saying they're options. I'm not too sure about Heal Pulse on Fini. I just don't see too many situations where you have the opportunity to click it. I personally value protect more highly. I would also personally value the accuracy of Scald over the OHKO on Marowak 80% of the time (assuming they're uninvested). Your description says Fini survives Modest Tapu Koko, but this really isn't a useful calc considering pretty much all Modest Koko's are boosted in some way. Also, if your defences investment is a dump, you'd be better off dumping a bit of that in to speed. Only 20 Defence EVs are required to live uninvested kartana's Leaf Blade, while 36 EVs in speed allows you to outspeed the standard specs Tapu Fini set. That leaves 16 EVs to do what you like with. If the trade of Kartana for Golduck is all you are using Sash for, would you not be better off running an AV set? It would fit better on to this team too with Heal Pulse Fini and being able to switch in to moves allowing your FWG defensive core to actually function. You still live a rain boosted Modest Z-Hydro Pump and OHKO with an uninvested Leaf Blade. Of course sash has its benefits like OHKOing Fini and not risking the z-Hydro Pump crit, but it also makes Kartana less comfortable dealing with Ninetales and Gigalith and generally less comfortable switching in all willy nilly. I definitely would have liked to see a bit more comparison between the two sets.
0 Atk Kartana Leaf Blade vs. 252 HP / 108 Def Golduck: 186-218 (99.4 - 116.5%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Golduck Hydro Vortex (185 BP) vs. 84 HP / 164 SpD Assault Vest Kartana in Rain: 117-138 (80.6 - 95.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
I'm not quite sure why you switched the standard items of Arcanine and Fini around. You never really did explain it. Also what does Overheat allow you to do that Flamethrower can't, since if you're looking for re usability that should have been the alternative. After Lefties recovery, assuming you get a max roll on your first Overheat, Celesteela should survive the next Overheat after the sp.atk drop 50% of the time (if I calced it right). That's obviously assuming they don't Protect for another turn of lefties, in which case you never 2HKO. Also if 2HKOing Celesteela was such an important calc why wouldn't you invest more in sp.atk and 2HKO it with flamethrower? 220 EVs gives you a 92% chance of 2HKOing assuming they don't Protect the next turn. I'm also not sure how important the Bulu calc is. Bulu will most likely be intimidated and is unikely to want to stay in and it's not all that common or threatening to your team. But yeah, really cool looking team and I would definitely say you have a good grasp of the meta from the looks of it.

MyCheeseMonster
Sorry, but you're going to have to do this again. Your sets are just unviable and for the most part don't really make sense. All of your spreads are 252,252 except for the one set where it would be justifiable, and you don't even explain what the EV spread does saying that it is standard when it is not. Your descriptions are lacking in everything but the obvious. If you attempt this again, could you also fix your formatting? It's a bit unsightly.

MuskratTuck
Oh god, a serious Kartana. But in all seriousness this isn't a bad team other than that mistake. I'm not a fan of the fact that you don't credit Ray Rizzo for the AV Kartana set and instead saying it is from 'previously done calcs'. Oh and, why the hell do you have aerial ace on it? I don't see a reason to ever click Aqua Ring on Araquanid since you'd just be stalling out your own TR turns and the recovery really isn't all that significant. Liquidation is the move you wan to be spamming, not leech life. I would definitely value Protect over Taunt on Koko, considering sash's aren't all that difficult to break in this format, Taunt isn't too useful on Koko other than for the TR matchup and you have a TR core of your own. Other than that the team looks alright, fairly standard. I definitely would like to have seen a more optimised Muk and P2 spread.

valeasr123
Read the OP and look through other people's posts. This isn't the place for a personal team. Also fix your formatting.

jedirb
Again, you're going to need to redo this. It looks like you put the least amount of effort possible in completing this.

Kyrk
Really great looking team, just a few comments. Pheromosa never OHKOs P2 after an Intimidate. Snow Cloak Ninetales. Also I'm not convinced Encore is more valuable than Blizzard. Blizzard is just more useful in more situations, bringing things in to Psychic/Pheromosa KO range, while of course the Freeze chance is also nice. I definitely think Protect is more valuable than Wide Guard. Staying in on Koko+Garchomp expecting the Discharge is ballsy and the only pair that can properly DisQuake are Ground+Vikavolt, which isn't all that common despite placing well in Dallas. I'm not sure how necessary both Psychic and Foul Play are, surely you can use one or the other. I would personally probably go with Foul Play since Gross eats this team other than Incineroar, but terrain boosted Psychics are really nice.

Rayquaza64
Sorry, you're also going to have to redo this. Your descriptions are lacking, you don't explain any spreads and your sets are so strange that without justification they just don't make sense.

Wow I got through them all. Go me :)

 

[Rayquaza64]

Okay my exams are all over now! :D Back to going through some of these then.

Just something I would like to see people including in their assignments from now on. Please include why the Pokemon actually synergise together. What do certain Pokemon/move choices/EV spreads allow your Pokemon to beat that otherwise threaten your team/certain members? If I think your descriptions are lacking even if the teams themselves look solid, I will ask you to do it again. If I ask you to do it again, you can chose to do it again or just to fix your previous attempt. There is always something you can write about for a set even if it is standard. Even if it is just why you didn't chose some of the more niche options.

Debo37
Definitely a cool looking squad. All of the sets seem fine (though I have some personal preferences over some of the moves on some of the sets), but I do think there are some issues with your justifications for certain sets. For example, taunt Tapu Koko. Against all of the setup mons you list, you'd probably be better off just OHKOing/2HKOing with Thunderbolt, and in the case of Muk you probably won't want to stay in fearing the OHKO from Poison Jab. Against Double Duck you'll just die to Z-Hydro Pump before they set up TW in your face. Of course it helps your TR matchup, but you don't mention that. If you aren't afraid of the TR matchup you have plenty of other options, like HP Ice (for Garchomp which looks very threatening to this team), Discharge (nobody runs mono discharge btw, Koko always has another electric STAB), Volt Switch, Nature's Madness, Sky Drop etc. Not saying that any of these are better, just saying they're options. I'm not too sure about Heal Pulse on Fini. I just don't see too many situations where you have the opportunity to click it. I personally value protect more highly. I would also personally value the accuracy of Scald over the OHKO on Marowak 80% of the time (assuming they're uninvested). Your description says Fini survives Modest Tapu Koko, but this really isn't a useful calc considering pretty much all Modest Koko's are boosted in some way. Also, if your defences investment is a dump, you'd be better off dumping a bit of that in to speed. Only 20 Defence EVs are required to live uninvested kartana's Leaf Blade, while 36 EVs in speed allows you to outspeed the standard specs Tapu Fini set. That leaves 16 EVs to do what you like with. If the trade of Kartana for Golduck is all you are using Sash for, would you not be better off running an AV set? It would fit better on to this team too with Heal Pulse Fini and being able to switch in to moves allowing your FWG defensive core to actually function. You still live a rain boosted Modest Z-Hydro Pump and OHKO with an uninvested Leaf Blade. Of course sash has its benefits like OHKOing Fini and not risking the z-Hydro Pump crit, but it also makes Kartana less comfortable dealing with Ninetales and Gigalith and generally less comfortable switching in all willy nilly. I definitely would have liked to see a bit more comparison between the two sets.
0 Atk Kartana Leaf Blade vs. 252 HP / 108 Def Golduck: 186-218 (99.4 - 116.5%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Golduck Hydro Vortex (185 BP) vs. 84 HP / 164 SpD Assault Vest Kartana in Rain: 117-138 (80.6 - 95.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
I'm not quite sure why you switched the standard items of Arcanine and Fini around. You never really did explain it. Also what does Overheat allow you to do that Flamethrower can't, since if you're looking for re usability that should have been the alternative. After Lefties recovery, assuming you get a max roll on your first Overheat, Celesteela should survive the next Overheat after the sp.atk drop 50% of the time (if I calced it right). That's obviously assuming they don't Protect for another turn of lefties, in which case you never 2HKO. Also if 2HKOing Celesteela was such an important calc why wouldn't you invest more in sp.atk and 2HKO it with flamethrower? 220 EVs gives you a 92% chance of 2HKOing assuming they don't Protect the next turn. I'm also not sure how important the Bulu calc is. Bulu will most likely be intimidated and is unikely to want to stay in and it's not all that common or threatening to your team. But yeah, really cool looking team and I would definitely say you have a good grasp of the meta from the looks of it.

MyCheeseMonster
Sorry, but you're going to have to do this again. Your sets are just unviable and for the most part don't really make sense. All of your spreads are 252,252 except for the one set where it would be justifiable, and you don't even explain what the EV spread does saying that it is standard when it is not. Your descriptions are lacking in everything but the obvious. If you attempt this again, could you also fix your formatting? It's a bit unsightly.

MuskratTuck
Oh god, a serious Kartana. But in all seriousness this isn't a bad team other than that mistake. I'm not a fan of the fact that you don't credit Ray Rizzo for the AV Kartana set and instead saying it is from 'previously done calcs'. Oh and, why the hell do you have aerial ace on it? I don't see a reason to ever click Aqua Ring on Araquanid since you'd just be stalling out your own TR turns and the recovery really isn't all that significant. Liquidation is the move you wan to be spamming, not leech life. I would definitely value Protect over Taunt on Koko, considering sash's aren't all that difficult to break in this format, Taunt isn't too useful on Koko other than for the TR matchup and you have a TR core of your own. Other than that the team looks alright, fairly standard. I definitely would like to have seen a more optimised Muk and P2 spread.

valeasr123
Read the OP and look through other people's posts. This isn't the place for a personal team. Also fix your formatting.

jedirb
Again, you're going to need to redo this. It looks like you put the least amount of effort possible in completing this.

Kyrk
Really great looking team, just a few comments. Pheromosa never OHKOs P2 after an Intimidate. Snow Cloak Ninetales. Also I'm not convinced Encore is more valuable than Blizzard. Blizzard is just more useful in more situations, bringing things in to Psychic/Pheromosa KO range, while of course the Freeze chance is also nice. I definitely think Protect is more valuable than Wide Guard. Staying in on Koko+Garchomp expecting the Discharge is ballsy and the only pair that can properly DisQuake are Ground+Vikavolt, which isn't all that common despite placing well in Dallas. I'm not sure how necessary both Psychic and Foul Play are, surely you can use one or the other. I would personally probably go with Foul Play since Gross eats this team other than Incineroar, but terrain boosted Psychics are really nice.

Rayquaza64
Sorry, you're also going to have to redo this. Your descriptions are lacking, you don't explain any spreads and your sets are so strange that without justification they just don't make sense.

Wow I got through them all. Go me :)

Kms, I guess I'll restart

 

[Robyn]

RebornFX: To be honest, I don't like analyzing teams, I have found that I have learned more through trial and error with my own teams, however, I understand it is required to be able to post in this thread and I will redo it, I did not write anything much about Marowak and other things like that because I did not have much to say, I have several of my own successful teams but when it comes down to analyzing others... I don't get how people do it, but still, thanks for the reply! :-)

 

[RebornFX]

RebornFX: To be honest, I don't like analyzing teams, I have found that I have learned more through trial and error with my own teams, however, I understand it is required to be able to post in this thread and I will redo it, I did not write anything much about Marowak and other things like that because I did not have much to say, I have several of my own successful teams but when it comes down to analyzing others... I don't get how people do it, but still, thanks for the reply! :-)

I get what you mean but there's literally always something to say that isn't just stating the obvious. Just talk through your thought process when deciding your sets. There must be a reason why you chose Specs on Tapu Lele for example. Why did you not choose another option like Life Orb, Psychium Z, Scarf, Sitrus Berry, Psychic Seed etc. Did you not value Protect that highly? Did you think the Life Orb recoil would be too costly? Did you feel Z crystals could be better utilised by other members? Did you think the raw damage was more valuable than a speed boost? Why such a slow and bulky EV spread? Given the fact that you don't have a form of speed control outside of trick room, what Pokemon does the minimal speed investment cause Tapu Lele to get outsped by and why do you value the additional bulk higher than being able to outspeed these Pokemon. Is it their lack of usage, the fact that the rest of the team handles them comfortably or Lele is able to deal with them fine without needing to outspeed them? I don't know these are just off the top of my head and that's at least a paragraph to write about.

In terms of looking at the team as a whole, you should be writing about particularly good and bad matchups for each Pokemon, explaining how the good matchups help to cover other Pokemons weaknesses and just generally function in the metagame, while also talking about the other team members that patch that Pokemon's weaknesses. Doing this will help you see the particularly bad matchups for the team, and from there you can adapt sets to improve these matchups so that at least you have outs when it comes to that matchup. Or at least being able to identify these issues makes it much easier for people trying to improve your team to see what changes can be made to fix your issues.

I find it kind of insulting that my response to somebody else's assignment was 3x as long as your assignment. If you aren't able to at least answer the questions that somebody trying to provide help for your team might ask then you probably haven't put as much thought into your team as you should expecting somebody to spend their time helping you and shouldn't be allowed to post for help. If the issue is analyzing other people's teams, you had a choice of 91 teams, surely one of these teams had a similar composition to one of your 'successful' teams (I'm not exactly sure what you define as successful) and you had full control over the sets of each of them, surely you could have based your assignment on a team you have made previously with a few alterations to fit their team comp. You could have even explained the differences between your previously made team and your assignment team and explained what matchups are improved and worsened by the change in team comp and what alterations you had to make to sets to make up for this. Basically what I'm saying is if the quality of what you intend to post after you have completed the assignment is the same as the quality of your first attempt, don't expect too many well thought out responses.

 

[Robyn]

I get what you mean but there's literally always something to say that isn't just stating the obvious. Just talk through your thought process when deciding your sets. There must be a reason why you chose Specs on Tapu Lele for example. Why did you not choose another option like Life Orb, Psychium Z, Scarf, Sitrus Berry, Psychic Seed etc. Did you not value Protect that highly? Did you think the Life Orb recoil would be too costly? Did you feel Z crystals could be better utilised by other members? Did you think the raw damage was more valuable than a speed boost? Why such a slow and bulky EV spread? Given the fact that you don't have a form of speed control outside of trick room, what Pokemon does the minimal speed investment cause Tapu Lele to get outsped by and why do you value the additional bulk higher than being able to outspeed these Pokemon. Is it their lack of usage, the fact that the rest of the team handles them comfortably or Lele is able to deal with them fine without needing to outspeed them? I don't know these are just off the top of my head and that's at least a paragraph to write about.

In terms of looking at the team as a whole, you should be writing about particularly good and bad matchups for each Pokemon, explaining how the good matchups help to cover other Pokemons weaknesses and just generally function in the metagame, while also talking about the other team members that patch that Pokemon's weaknesses. Doing this will help you see the particularly bad matchups for the team, and from there you can adapt sets to improve these matchups so that at least you have outs when it comes to that matchup. Or at least being able to identify these issues makes it much easier for people trying to improve your team to see what changes can be made to fix your issues.

I find it kind of insulting that my response to somebody else's assignment was 3x as long as your assignment. If you aren't able to at least answer the questions that somebody trying to provide help for your team might ask then you probably haven't put as much thought into your team as you should expecting somebody to spend their time helping you and shouldn't be allowed to post for help. If the issue is analyzing other people's teams, you had a choice of 91 teams, surely one of these teams had a similar composition to one of your 'successful' teams (I'm not exactly sure what you define as successful) and you had full control over the sets of each of them, surely you could have based your assignment on a team you have made previously with a few alterations to fit their team comp. You could have even explained the differences between your previously made team and your assignment team and explained what matchups are improved and worsened by the change in team comp and what alterations you had to make to sets to make up for this. Basically what I'm saying is if the quality of what you intend to post after you have completed the assignment is the same as the quality of your first attempt, don't expect too many well thought out responses.

You have a point, I chose Michele's team because I thought it would be easy to analyze and for that I am sorry, I should have put more thought into the process. I understand that "successful" might have been the wrong word to use, :-) but what I meant was teams that have done well on the Pokémon Showdown! Ladder, I am now considering maybe doing Wolfe Glick's team instead, because, as it turns out, he uses five of my six Pokémon, I will put more effort into my next analysis, and hopefully that one will be better, Thanks, :-) However, I have one question, what should I say about a Pokémon I think the team would be better without? For example, when I used this team I switched out Gyarados for Kartana, because I was never bringing Gyarados into battles and I felt that Araquanid could benefit from the Z Crystal, and my team eventually evolved into a hard trick room team, so that's why I was so blunt about Gyarados but I am curious as to your answer. And also, this may sound rude, but my later posts, with my own teams, will be much better quality, I can assure you of that! :-) and, this may sound like a odd thing for a team, but, I found that it did not have any particularly good matchups or particularly bad matchups, the only truly bad one that I saw was Torkoal/Oranguru/Lilligant teams, and occasionally Muk.

EDIT NUMBER LIKE 75: Way too many spelling errors!!!
Edit: Removed something that I was wrong about

 

[RebornFX]

You have a point, I chose Michele's team because I thought it would be easy to analyze and for that I am sorry, I should have put more thought into the process. I understand that "successful" might have been the wrong word to use, :-) but what I meant was teams that have done well on the Pokémon Showdown! Ladder, I am now considering maybe doing Wolfe Glick's team instead, because, as it turns out, he uses five of my six Pokémon, I will put more effort into my next analysis, and hopefully that one will be better, Thanks, :-) However, I have one question, what should I say about a Pokémon I think the team would be better without? For example, when I used this team I switched out Gyarados for Kartana, because I was never bringing Gyarados into battles and I felt that Araquanid could benefit from the Z Crystal, and my team eventually evolved into a hard trick room team, so that's why I was so blunt about Gyarados but I am curious as to your answer. And also, this may sound rude, but my later posts, with my own teams, will be much better quality, I can assure you of that! :-) and, this may sound like a odd thing for a team, but, I found that it did not have any particularly good matchups or particularly bad matchups, the only truly bad one that I saw was Torkoal/Oranguru/Lilligant teams, and occasionally Muk.

EDIT NUMBER LIKE 75: Way too many spelling errors!!!
Edit: Removed something that I was wrong about

I don't really mind why you chose the team, it doesn't really matter to the analysis. Honestly I'm not sure Wolfe's team is the best option for your own analysis. I feel his team is very unique even now and trying to improve on it will be difficult, or at least making a team of similar quality. If you feel confident in doing an analysis on his team I implore you to do so, but he definitely put a lot of hard work in to his decisions for the team (what else would you expect from a world champ?) If you do choose Wolfe's team I definitely look forward to reading it, I freaking love his team.

The way I go about replacing Pokemon A (Gyarados in this case) with Pokemon B (Kartana) is that Pokemon A is strong against mons C, D and E, and weak against F, while Pokemon B is strong against mons W, X and Y, and weak against Z. Pokemon C and D are covered by the rest of my team, while E is low in usage and can be played around. W on the other hand is rather common right now (in this particular case I'm thinking of Tapu Fini) so having a strong answer to that is more valuable to my team than a check to C, D and E. X and Y are also issues to my other teammates, while the rest of my team has a strong matchup versus Z.

Sorry if I explained that really strangely, that's just how I would explain my thinking without going in to a specific example. C, D, E, F, W, X, Y and Z can be individual Pokemon, common cores or leads or a certain Archetype. In your specific example you could go in to the pros and cons about the fact that your change caused the team to evolve in to a hard trick room team.

And it's not rude, I hope they will be and I look forward to reading them :P Honestly it can be difficult to find a lot of difficult matchups before testing due to the fact that when theorising you often look at a matchup in a vacuum rather than in an actual game situation. What happens to this matchup if TR is set, or TW, or my opponent pairs this Pokemon with that Pokemon, or I get burned/frozen/para'd/crit etc. What happens if I let this mon get too low. There's so many things to consider which is why testing is so important. No team was made perfectly the first time, or at least not to my knowledge. That's why you see team building progressions in nearly every team report. I do think that going through the thought process I showed above does definitely help identify glaring weaknesses, but not so much with specific scenarios. Of course it's important to analyse your test matches to determine which losses were caused by poor playing or by poor team building (or unavoidable hax).

 

[Robyn]

16th. Alejandro Gomez:

Okay, so I ended up going with Alejandro Gomez's 16th place London team because I love Muk, and Salamence.... and maybe Araquanid, and okay I love Kartana too... ;D

Okay, so I personally love to lead Salamence and Muk in most situations on my own teams, and with the format being the way it is, I think it's a great idea to have a strong Trick Room core along with it, Salamence obviously has a hard time with Tapu Fini, and Tapu Koko and Kartana help to deal with that weakness, whether or not that was the point at the time, so without further ado, let's get into this! (Pokémon are in the order that made descriptions make sense)

Salamence @ Draconium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 4 Sp. Def, 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Substitute
- Protect

Now, Salamence is the first member of my Fast Mode, adding a good number of resistances and immunities for my other Pokémon, including immunities to earthquake for Muk and Koko, and thanks to much needed intimidate it makes Garchomp's EQ a 3HKO on Muk after Figy Berry recovery, and a 2HKO on Koko, Draco Meteor is the best move to use with the Z Crystal, and, thanks to the lack of recoil on the Z Move, it can hit hard again with another Draco Meteor, Flamethrower helps greatly with my Kartana matchup, obviously OHKOing it, and 2HKOs 252 HP Bulu, along with helping me against Celesteela, and the now very uncommon but still occasional Ice Types, Substitute is there for when a Pokémon is clearly doing a "passive play" (not a term I knew until recently...) and allows Salamence to avoid nasty Status moves like Will-o-Wisp and Toxic, or the now very rare Thunderwave, I chose it over Hydro Pump because of the bad accuracy, and over roar because I did not think I needed it, this Pokémon works wonderfully with Muk, who I most often lead with as they help with eachothers weaknesses, since Muk can remove 3 of the 4 Tapu fairly easily, which Salamence cannot touch, I ran a simple EV spread because I felt that max Speed was needed due to the fact that he is not super fast, now, onto the blob in question, Muk.

Muk-Alola @ Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
Level: 50
EVs: 188HP / 244 Atk / 44 Def / 20 SpDef / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Shadow Sneak
- Protect

Muk is the other half of my infamous lead, destroying Tapu Lele, Porygon2, and countless others for Salamence, allowing him to kill other Pokémon on the opposing team, this guy can tank hits from just about anything not super effective, he synergizes very well with salamence, as often times, Salamence can't take down Garchomp for Muk, so that's muk doesn't need to worry about a EQ, also, Araquanid helps Muk, being able to stop burns from Arcanine, Knock Off is a needed STAB, while also helping the teams matchup against opposing Muk and Snorlax, knocking off their berries, which allows another Pokémon to take them down in the coming turns much easier, Poison Jab is STAB as well, and without it, Muk would not be able to kill the tapu, and it has a bit more power than Knock Off which is handy at times, I chose Shadow Sneak over more niche options like Flamethrower, for example, because it could take down Sash Pheromosa after she took a hit, or to break a Sash so a more powerful Pokémon could finish off the opponent. I don't know what to say on the EVs, a friend gave me the set a little while ago, and I never found a time that it did not work, although I might add Calcs later. I also find that this guy, depending on the opponent's team, can work in fast or slow modes.

Araquanid @ Waterium Z
Ability: Water Bubble
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Sp. Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Liquidation
- Lunge
- Wide Guard
- Protect

The first member of my Trick Room core,
I just love this guy! I tend to bring him into matches where Salamence would stand no chance, like the now common Tapu Fini and Vanniluxe teams, he works great with Muk and Kartana, being able to take a burn from Arcanine, and then punish anyone who doesn't switch Arc out, Liquidation is the clear choice of STAB, and with the Z Crystal it just kills pretty much everything, including Hariyama for Porygon2 so that he can set up Trick Room, I chose Lunge over Leech Life to deal with tough 1v1s, such as other Araquanids, I went with Wide Guard to help Muk against Earthquakes and against Torkoals, but now maybe I am thinking that's maybe Poison Jab is a better option, I went with a simple EV Spread because I don't know of any others for Z Araquanid, but if there are better ones I would love to hear them! When's I don't bring Salamence, I will often lead Araquanid and Porygon2, as it is a very strong trick room core, and more times then not, this guy has stopped the opponent from blocking my trick room from going up, either by them using Taunt or their own setter to reset it, I feel this is a great Pokémon that works well on most teams.

Porygon2, Eviolite
Ability: Download
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP, 96 Def, 92 Sp. Atk, 68 Sp. Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk, 0 Spe
- Ice Beam
- Trick Room
- Recover
- Shadow Ball

Well, if we have Araquanid we kinda need Porygon2, right? And this is my set, run on all my teams that have him and it works excellently, now, it would be hard to talk about all of porygon2's resistances in one paragraph, am I right? ;-) but his moves do help with team synergy overall, Ice Beam can remove Garchomp for Koko, and Muk, while also doing some damage to Krookodile and others, Trick Room needs no explanation, and Recover lets this little duck-thing stay in the game for longer, Shadow Ball is what I used on the fourth slot, simply because it helps with Marowak, but I may end up switching it eventually, the EV spread, as I said, this is just my spread, using it since gen 6, but I have not run any more recent calcs, when I do I will add them, but it is nice and bulky while still having some power, as this mon is supposed to be.

Kartana @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk, 4 Sp. Def, 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Protect

Now, I know people like AV now, but I don't get it... anyway, this guy helps to break stuff that annoy Salamence like Tapu Lele and Tapu Fini, along with just having raw power, that's about all I use him for, but I am sure he is useful in other ways too, I just don't use him much so I don't know, Leaf Blade is STAB and is my main Fini answer, also 2HKOing many neutral mons, Smart Strike is also STAB, dealing with things that resist Leaf Blade, along with Tapu Lele and Ninetales, Sacred Sword is supposed to deal with Porygon2, but we all know how that really goes... The EV spread is very standard, but is the only thing I will ever try with a sash, but now I am considering that maybe I should follow the masses and use Ray Rizzo's AV spread, as it is probably much better. Now he is obviously part of the fast mode, and a much needed member, despite my low usage of him.

Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 60
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk, 4 Sp. Def, 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Discharge
- Dazzling Gleam
- Protect

This guy is very handy, as he resets terrain for Salamence, hits Water Types and Flying types for huge damage, and has a good spread move with Dazzling Gleam, however that's about all I use him for, although he is strong, he lacks great bulk, although Salamence allows him to survive a Garchomp EQ, Thunderbolt lets him takedown Double Duck teams, with Kartana's help on the actual duck in the Double Duck core, and I opted for Discharge instead of Taunt because it can save the game when it's down to a 2v1, Dazzling Gleam is secondary STAB, hitting Garchomp for super effective damage, and many others, I use this guy as a Fini counter (Check?) along with Kartana, and him and Kartana can support the team really well by KOing various threats, I don't love Koko by any means, and I think there are better Pokémon, but he does set the terrain away from Misty, which I very much do need, the EVs, nature and Item allow Koko to have as much power as possible, as I don't find the extra speed that Timid would give to be needed.

Conclusion: Woo! I did it, anyway, I will put boring stuff like how I tend to lead and stuff here. I tend to lead Salamence and Muk unless the opposing team is completely against that, then I will often lead Kartana with just about anyone, or Araquanid with P2, depending on the team, and usually only bringing Araquanid if I don't need Salamence. I think it's a great team, and I hope you all agree, if there is any information I am missing, I am sure I can give it to you, I may add calcs later when I have the time to do them.

What I would have done going into London if I were the creator: Now this is purely about mons, and you can skip this part, but I probably would have taken out Kartana and Koko, and put in Bulu and Magnezone, respectively, but that's just my preference, aside from that, I think it's a great team.

Tagging RebornFX not sure if it will notify you, but I changed stuff, and I hope you like it better, like I said earlier in the analysis, if there is anything I am missing, I will definitely add it.

EDIT: Added a lot of new stuff into descriptions, and might have thrown autocorrect against a wall somewhere in between here... :-)

 

[RebornFX]

jedirb
A better attempt, but honestly not by a whole lot. Your descriptions are only marginally better and still don't include any information outside of the obvious. You include no information about your EV spreads at all and no information about the synergy between the Pokemon. This is an example of what you can squeeze out of a description of just one team member.

Salamence @ Draconium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Sp. Atk, 4 Sp. Def
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Substitute
- Protect

Salamence adds another member to the 'fast mode' of my team, as well as much appreciated Intimidate, making Garchomp's -1 EQ a 3HKO against Muk after Figy Berry recovery and a 2HKO on Koko. It provides the team with a Fire and Fighting resistance for Kartana, as well as a ground immunity for Muk and Koko. In return, Kartana and Muk can comfortably deal with Tapu Lele and Tapu Fini, and Muk can fairly comfortably deal with Koko all of which Mence can't touch. Draco Meteor is the obligatory STAB option, which when paired with the Z crystal can deal a large chunk to any unresisted target without suffering the sp.atk drop. Flamethrower is used to KO Kartana, 2HKOing 252HP Bulu and improving my Celesteela matchup. Substitute is used to capitalise on obvious passive play (protects and switches), avoid will-o-wisps and Toxics from the likes of Arcanine for the former and Gastrodon, P2 and Milotic for the latter, as well as setting up in the face of Pokemon that are unable to break the sub. I chose this over the alternatives as I didn't believe roar was all that necessary due to the team having a trick room mode of its own, with P2 available to reverse trick room if need be, Hydro Pump having rather shaky accuracy and the trick room mode of my team having a pretty solid matchup vs Marowak, and Dragon Pulse not really fitting with the intended playstyle of mence, often valuing being switched out to recycle its Intimidate. I decided to run a simple 252,252 spread (with max HP instead of speed for who knows what reason) as I didn't believe there were any significant benchmarks that a more complicated EV spread would allow me to hit.

That's the sort of thing I'm expecting for each description. If you haven't put this much thought in to why each member would be there and what moves compliment the other members then you're frankly wasting my time.

 

[Robyn]

RebornFX The HP on salamence thing was a honest mistake... I am embarrassed that I did not catch it, but it is one. I also did not write anything that huge, frankly because I am not a great writer, but if I decide to try again, which I am doubting I will do at this point, I will try and do something similar, sorry if I wasted your time. Also, might just be me over reacting but, another user wrote descriptions about as long as mine, and you say that his is great, I don't know if that's, like I said, just me over reacting or if you are slightly biased. And, you know what, I won't try again, I don't need someone else's approval to be good at the game I love and enjoy, enough is enough, I will follow the rules of the forum and not post any threads here, but I have had enough. I will now stop typing so I don't say anything I don't mean.

 

[RebornFX]

RebornFX The HP on salamence thing was a honest mistake... I am embarrassed that I did not catch it, but it is one. I also did not write anything that huge, frankly because I am not a great writer, but if I decide to try again, which I am doubting I will do at this point, I will try and do something similar, sorry if I wasted your time. Also, might just be me over reacting but, another user wrote descriptions about as long as mine, and you say that his is great, I don't know if that's, like I said, just me over reacting or if you are slightly biased. And, you know what, I won't try again, I don't need someone else's approval to be good at the game I love and enjoy, enough is enough, I will follow the rules of the forum and not post any threads here, but I have had enough. I will now stop typing so I don't say anything I don't mean.

I'm sorry if I made you upset. I assume by the fact that you've edited your previous post and apologised (even though you didn't really do anything wrong) to me on my profile you want to post threads here. I'm glad if that's the case. Just clearing something up, it's not the length of descriptions that I am concerned with (even though I probably made it sound that way from my comparison between your assignment and my responses), it's the content itself. I don't think I have let anybody start posting if they haven't even commented on their EV spread for example. Especially complicated ones like your P2 one, saying that it's your go to one that can probably be optimised to perform better in this metagame is far more valuable to me than not mentioning it at all. If I do seem biased, it's probably because my free-time situation has changed quite drastically between my responses. I just finished my exams and so I have a lot more time to look through these assignments whereas before I was really just looking for particularly bad mistakes and general misunderstanding of the format.

By the way, if you ever have any questions about anything feel free to PM me any time, I'm happy to talk about pretty much. This goes for anybody.

Anyway on to looking at your updated assignment.

jedirb
A much better attempt. The team itself seemed pretty solid (though fairly standard, not saying that's a bad thing or anything), it was just the descriptions that were lacking as I said. Just a few comments on some things. First off, more full stops or periods (depending on where you are in the world) would be much appreciated. Not too important it just breaks up sections better and is just better grammar :P. The inclusion of Ice types being things that Flamethrower allows Mence to beat is kind of untrue, given the fact that every viable Ice type outspeeds and OHKO's Mence (assuming Sandslash is in hail and Vanilluxe is Scarf, which they all are lol). Granted I suppose Wide Guard on Araquanid could be used to protect Mence from Blizzard, but you'd be better off switching out not risking the Freeze Dry predicting the Wide Guard, and the fact that you say it yourself that you tend to bring Araquanid when you don't bring Mence. By 'passive play', I just meant more defensive play. Protecting to scout what move you intend to use/lock yourself in to, defensive switching etc. As opposed to aggressive play like aggressive double switches, double targets etc. Both can be exploited and generally players tend to lean one way or another (for example Wolfe's teams often rely on defensive switching and setting up future win conditions, or setting up a Pokemon for a sweep such as with his most recent Georgia team). The Muk EV spread is standard right now, made by PokeAlex. Here are the defensive benchmarks (thanks trainertower.com <3)

Hide

252+ Atk Gyarados Hydro Vortex (160 BP) vs. 188 HP / 44 Def Muk-Alola: 174-205 (85.2 - 100.4%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

252+ SpA Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 188 HP / 20 SpD Muk-Alola: 87-103 (42.6 - 50.4%) -- 1.6% chance to 2HKO, 0.3% chance to 3HKO after Gluttony Figy Berry recovery

252+ SpA Life Orb Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 188 HP / 20 SpD Muk-Alola: 113-134 (55.3 - 65.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Gluttony Figy Berry recovery

252+ SpA Choice Specs Torkoal Eruption (150 BP) vs. 188 HP / 20 SpD Muk-Alola in Sun: 172-204 (84.3 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

252+ SpA Charcoal Torkoal Heat Wave vs. 188 HP / 20 SpD Muk-Alola in Sun: 88-105 (43.1 - 51.4%) -- 5.9% chance to 2HKO, 2.1% chance to 3HKO after Gluttony Figy Berry recovery

252+ Atk Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 188 HP / 44 Def Muk-Alola: 127-151 (62.2 - 74%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Gluttony Figy Berry recovery

252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Bonemerang (2 hits) vs. 188 HP / 44 Def Muk-Alola: 220-260 (107.8 - 127.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Gluttony Figy Berry recovery

252+ Atk Tapu Bulu Wood Hammer vs. 188 HP / 44 Def Muk-Alola in Grassy Terrain: 101-119 (49.5 - 58.3%) -- 1.6% chance to 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery and Gluttony Figy Berry recovery

I don't think Poison Jab on Araquanid is all that necessary considering it only hits Bulu and I wouldn't say you have too bad of a Bulu matchup. Other options are Substitute and Z-Stockpile (used on Enosh's San Jose team). Your P2 set can definitely be optimised if it doesn't hit any particular benchmarks and it was a set from last year. The standard set is a specially defensive set of 244 HP / 92 Def / 28 SpA / 140 SpD with a Sassy nature, allowing P2 to survive a rain boosted Modest Z-Hydro Pump from Golduck + Modest Scald from Pelipper most of the time and makes Timid LO Lele's Psychic a 3HKO (and therefore Modest unboosted Psychic a 3HKO) while having a slightly better than a flip coin of a chance for unboosted Ice Beam to OHKO no bulk Chomp. There are certainly other spreads and really it is so bulky that you can make it survive pretty much anything you want. I'm not so sure about the necessity of Shadow Ball, considering Mence, Araquanid and Muk all have a strong matchup against it. There are other options you could consider, such as Thunderbolt, Tri attack, Toxic and Return/Frustration (shout out blarajan). AV vs Sash on Kartana is still a rather contested point and really depends on the person's playstyle and preferences. Do you value Protect, hitting harder and guaranteed survival of one move greater than better switch potential, being less worried about Hail, an extra moveslot and more bulk? Some do, some don't. Not sure why Koko is level 60, but yeah other than that Koko looks fine. Koko can be made to be surprisingly bulky however, AV and Choice Specs sets can be ridiculously bulky at times, though they each have their drawbacks, the one they share being the lack of Protect.

Phew, but yeah I'm much happier with this attempt. I feel comfortable saying you can post your own threads now. As always, blarajan has the final say, but due to his inactivity (too busy Top Cutting Georgia regionals and law school stuff) you can feel free to start posting. If he disagrees with me he'll probably lock it but I don't see why he would.