First VGC 2016 Team!

[DanielJames]

Hey guys! It's been awhile since I've been on the forums. I took a short break from competitive battling, but I'm back. To be honest, I'm still not completely knowledgable on what's popular in VGC 2016 yet, but I think I have a decent idea. My biggest room for improvement is figuring out what EV spreads are optimal in the format. I put together a quick team and found success testing it out on Showdown. I know that it's a very vanilla team, but I figure this year I'll go with the flow of the Meta instead of trying to swim against it. I'd like to know your thoughts on what I should change. I'm going to use this team as a starting point and see how it evolves throughout the year.

Kyogre @ Blue Orb
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
EVs: 156 HP / 104 Def / 84 SpA / 164 Spe
Timid Nature
- Origin Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Calm Mind
- Protect

Kyogre and Groudon are staples in the format this year, both being completely OP. I went with Kyogre simply for the fact that I haven't used him a lot. I pulled this set from one of the mods on here so I'm not going to go into damage calcs, but I like the idea of using Calm Mind+Origin Pulse. It hits just about everything for heavy damage.

Whimsicott @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Worry Seed
- Tailwind
- Fake Tears
- Taunt

Whimsicott is a troll, paired primarily with Kyogre. Worry Seed changes abilities that prove troublesome for Kyogre while Fake Tears lets Origin Pulse pretty much OHKO anything. Tailwind/Taunt are standard moves for a Prankster user.

Kangaskhan-Mega @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Parental Bond
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Sucker Punch
- Return
- Power-Up Punch

Not going to go into detail on this one, we all know what M-Kang can do.

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Superpower

See description for M-Kang.

Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 4 Def / 140 SpA / 76 SpD / 52 Spe
Modest Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield

Standard Wide Guard user. I pulled this set from one of my VGC2015 teams. It worked well for me then, figured it'd do well now.

Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 92 HP / 76 Def / 220 SpA / 4 SpD / 116 Spe
Bold Nature
- Psychic
- Helping Hand
- Ice Beam
- Moonlight

Helping Hand is useful when paired with Origin Pulse or Landorus' Earthquake/Rock Slide. Like Aegislash, I took the EV spread from an older set I used in VGC2015. Can't remember the damage calcs, but it's always ran solid for me.

[Excalibur0126]

A lot of people have been talking about bringing Groudon, Kyogre, Mega Kangaskhan, and Mega Mawile. Not on the same team but that's the pokemon I've heard about most.

[Marcusube]

Moonlight is hindered by the weather condition, Ice Beam isn't doing any more than Psychic in this meta so you probably would be better off running Thunder Wave or another support move. I'd love to give you the go ahead but scarf Landorus doesn't seem as good in this meta. Assault Vest would be a more optimal item, it or Life Orb.

Otherwise, good team man

[Excalibur0126]

Oh and also, your team is weak to Fire, Ice, and Dark

[DanielJames]

(Jan 27, 2016, 04:54 PM)Excalibur0126 Wrote: A lot of people have been talking about bringing Groudon, Kyogre, Mega Kangaskhan, and Mega Mawile. Not on the same team but that's the pokemon I've heard about most.

Mega Mawile is an interesting choice. Any reason in particular as to why more people are using him?

[DanielJames]

(Jan 27, 2016, 06:11 PM)Marcusube Wrote: Moonlight is hindered by the weather condition, Ice Beam isn't doing any more than Psychic in this meta so you probably would be better off running Thunder Wave or another support move. I'd love to give you the go ahead but scarf Landorus doesn't seem as good in this meta. Assault Vest would be a more optimal item, it or Life Orb.

Otherwise, good team man

Thanks for the feedback! I'll definitely try AV on Landorus.

[Marcusube]

Mawile beats a majority of the metagame and outside of the Primals, nothing really OHKOs it with ease. It's mostly popular as a Xerneas counter and having only a Ground weakness in the rain

[MagnusHexem]

You're allowed to use 2 restricted Pokemon this format, so be sure to take advantage of that. Lugia instead of Cresselia can be an easy fix to that.