[RATE MY TEAM] Crescent Offense: My First VGC 2015 Team

[Black117]

Hello Everyone! Black117 aka Kiev697 here and today I have a VGC team to showcase to everyone. Usually I partake in 6v6 smogon singles but until recently I decided to get myself into the VGC doubles. The way I wanted to structure my pokemon team was essentially to take advantage of their natural bulk while retaining offensive presence. As a result, this is what I got so far.



Apple Jacks (M-Salamence) @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate/Aerilate
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 6 Def
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Protect

Aw Mega-Salamence, IMO the best mega in the game baring the Mega Mewtwo X/Y, and Mega Rayquaza. It's a menace in singles and I know Salamence can leave a mark in the VGC metagame. First, intimidate is used as its main pre-mega, kinda self-explanatory as adds to its physical bulk (95/130/90) and locks down opposing physical attacks on the field. Thanks to its new aerilate ability, Salamence joins a exclusive club of pokemon (Sylveon and Gardevoir) how are able to spam hyper voice to its avail. Flying stab boosted hyper voice from a Mega Salamence coming off at a whopping 175 total power and with base 120 max special attack investment, I can almost guarantee this will leave a mark against the opposing two pokemon. Draco meteor is my second main stab option saved against any electric types (i.e Rotom-W, Zapdos, Thundurus-I, etc) or bulky pokemon who are resistant to aerilate hyper voice. Fire Blast is my last option if I happen to come across any steel types barring opposing Heatrans like M-Mawile, Ferrothorn, Scizor, etc. Lastly, protect is there to scout and stall out any attacks my opponents make. I'll get into detail about this when I get to Cresselia.



Jayne Cobb (Landorus-Therian) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD -> 184 HP / 232 Atk / 92 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Rock Slide
- Knock Off  -> Currently testing u-turn

Landorus-therian fulfills the second part of my main duel intimidate core as well as being the main physical attacker for the team. I opted to run max attack, max hp investment, along with assault vest to give Landorus-t bulk from both defense (thanks to the intimidate drop) and the 50% special attack increase from AV. Earthquake is Landorus-T's main stab option against nonresistant pokemon on the field which not much to say. Superpower is my answer to Tyranitar and particular Mega-Kangaskan as with max attack investment inflict about 90% to the kangaroo. Rock slide is there to just as my answer to pokemon like Talonflame or Charizard-Y and for flinch hax if in case I need it. Rounding out the moveset is knock off which acts as a utility to removes any item enemy pokemon carries such as a sitrus, chesto berry, choice items, etc. Usually Landorus-t is used as a defensive pivot to lower the opposing physical attackers while providing a offensive pressure with its all-out attacking options.




Fruit Loops (Rotom-Wash) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 60 SpA / 148 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Light Screen

First off I needed a pokemon that's able to pivot against the some of the main offensive attackers in the game while being my main water type check/counter. That's when Rotom-W comes in play. As of right now, Rotom-W offensive attacks consist of stab thunderbolt and hydro pump. Will-O-Wisp allows Rotom-W to spread burn status across my opponents team while adding artificial defense bulk to the rest of my team. Light screen is an interesting choice on my team but essentially adds to my teams special bulk for five-four turns. This is probably the move I'll go with Rotom-W first considering the amount of special attackers I face often. This ev spread is one of the suggested smogon doubles from their pokedex so don't give me credit for this spread. All I know is with an ev investment of max hp and 44 defense evs is enough to survive either a return/play rough from max attack Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Mawile. Calm nature along with a 252 hp and 148 SpD spread allows Rotom-W to survive some of the most strongest special attacks in the VGC. Essentially Rotom-W main role for this team can be summarized into the following pivot in, setup light screen, inflict burn status, and damage as much as possible against the enemy team.


Here are some damage calculations:

252+ Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Rotom-W: 132-156 (84 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Return vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Rotom-W: 114-136 (72.6 - 86.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Return vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Rotom-W: 114-136 (72.6 - 86.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Thundurus Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 148+ SpD Rotom-W: 57-67 (36.3 - 42.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 148+ SpD Rotom-W: 120-142 (76.4 - 90.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 148+ SpD Rotom-W through Light Screen: 60-71 (38.2 - 45.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Pixilate Mega Gardevoir Hyper Voice vs. 252 HP / 148+ SpD Rotom-W: 90-106 (57.3 - 67.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Pixilate Mega Gardevoir Hyper Voice vs. 252 HP / 148+ SpD Rotom-W through Light Screen: 45-53 (28.6 - 33.7%) -- 0.4% chance to
3HKO





Quaker Oaks (Heatran) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 6 Def --> 52 HP / 252 SpA / 204 Spd
Modest Nature   --> Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Heat Wave
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Protect

Immediately, I realized that the team was relatively weak to fairy types, particularly pixilate hyper voices from M-Gardevoir and Sylveon. The first pokemon that came to mind was Heatran since it has a x4 resistance to fairy as well as eight other types (not to mention poison immunity). Heat wave is the main offensive spread attack for Heatran as its guaranteed to leave a dent on the opposing pokemon with max special attack investment. Flash Cannon my answer is for any pesky fairys, rock types, and other pokemon resistant to Heatran's heat wave attacks. Hidden power Ice in conjunction with the shuca berry works as my main lure against opposing Garchomp and Landorus-t thinking they can have their way against Heatran with an earthquake. The shuca berry allows Heatran to take one ground attack (earthquake or hp ground) while giving it the opportunity to retaliate with the appropriate move. Once again, protect is there to scout/stall against my opponents attacks or field conditions.




Sharpener (Bisharp) @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Protect
- Iron Head

If any of you guys watched my finals match against Italiang92, you'll know how intimidated I was facing off against a Bisharp (pun not intended though it is hilariously ironic considering how I ran a duel intimidate core of Gyarados and M-Manetric). Anyways Bisharp is my main form of priority, intimidate deterrent, and check to opposing Cresselias with stab knock off. Like in the singles format, Bisharp doesn't need any other coverage moves other than its main stab options: knock off, sucker punch, and iron head. Knock off is my strongest attack against bulky pokemon like Suicune, Cresselia, Rotom-W, etc and as a utility to remove any items. Sucker punch is my main form of priority for this team though its shaky at times because I have to predict whether or not my opponent will attack. Iron head is there to handle any fairy, rock, ice type pokemon I need to get rid of instantly. Bisharp is there on my team as a intimidate/stat drop deterrent since thanks to its ability defiant, one stat drop will increase its attack by two stages.


And now for the main defensive anchor of the team.



Birdo (Cresselia) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Icy Wind
- Moonblast    <-----Mega Soon with Fairy typing? Remember Altaria? kappa
- Helping Hand
- Protect -> Currently testing skill swap

This pokemon is probably gonna be the FACE of the early VGC 2015 metagame. Cresselia has the honor of being one of the most bulkiest psychic type pokemon not named Lugia. Enough stalling now let get into the moveset. I decided to have both icy wind and moonblast as my main attacking options for several reasons. Icy wind is my main form of speed control as it hits both of my opponents pokemon and drops their speed by one stage or to two/thirds of their original speed. This move is the reason why I don't invest into speed natures for my pokemon as the gradually icy wind attacks will be enough to slow down my opponent's pokemon. For instance, this is helpful in combination with a well-timed protect from Salamence as it can eventually outspeed both opponents and attack with a helping hand boosted hyper voice. The only times I don't go with icy wind is when I'm facing against a trick room team or if they have a defiant/competitive pokemon like opposing bisharp. Icy wind spam practically is my main check any speed enhancing strategies (tailwind, drizzle/swift swim,choice scarfers) This is all what Cresselia needs to do other than use helping hand since getting off speed drops against my opponent will force their mindset to either switch out or risk being out speed my one of my Pokemon the next turn. I figured moonblast is Cresselia's best offensive attack since it can hit dark type pokemon such as Hydreigon, Tyranitar, etc while being a secondary utility option to drop the opponent's special attack. Helping hand is often used in conjunction with hyper voice, earthquake, heat wave, knock off, rock slide, or any attack from my pokemon to help inflict as much damage as possible.

Ranking from Pokemon Showdown (as of 12/23/14)(Kiev509) Edit: Only one photo I had left was around the time



Here I'll include some replays soon

So that's my first VGC 2015 team. Hopefully everyone can provide some input and criticism on any faults my team has such as suggestive ev spreads, move changes, etc. Thanks for everyone for reading my first RMT ever.

Edit 1: I made some changes to the ev spreads to allow my pokemon to outspeed enemy Bisharps. It came clear to me after realizing how many times I needed to defeat Bisharp yet most of my team could outspeed it. Currently testing out some move for a couple of my pokemon team members as well.

From September 16, 2015

Edit 2: Image doesn't pop up anymore so I added a photo. Not gonna edit the post for crap like grammar since this is my first RMT and I'll keep it that way.

Edit 3: OK....why the hell did I not see the Heatran spread... the speed was suppose to be 204 Spe EVs and 52 HP.

[Rogue]

This is honestly an incredibly powerful team. They all work together while they strong move sets/EV's. The only real weakness I can see on this team is that it fears Jolly Mega Metagross. Being able to beat Salamence/Landorus with ice punch and bisharp/heatran with Hammer Arm. That being said however, you can work around it with smart plays with helping hand/icy wind cress and will-o rotom. Once again, excellent team. [:

[doonan]

it worries me that your heatran can lose to other heatrans simply because it doesn't carry earth power :X not suggesting that you remove hp ice or protect for it, i just think you need to be okay with your heatran losing the mirror 1v1.

also, i would go psyshock over moonblast on cress. psyshock will help out against any fighting pokes, such as av hariyama, that are about to go swinging into bisharp or heatran. sure it loses its ability to hit darks, but i think your other mons should be able to handle any dark threats currently in the format.

[Black117]

Chalk at its finest IMO ( if you happen to replace Kang with Mence). This team really brings me back since I started out here on the site and VGC in general. Running Hyper Voice Mega Salamence before it was even a thing on the ladder months later probably was the best feeling about this team. For sure this team eventually changed to be one of my better teams to date. If anyone is interested, here's how the team looks like.

http://www.teammagma.net/teambuilder/#?3...85|645|625

Edit: I only revisited this since the images weren't working btw