[RATE MY TEAM] My 2015 VGC Team (Attempt #1)

[iflytoohigh]

[Edit #1 - Updated Medicham and Torterra, dropped Florges for Blissey]

Alright, so with a lot of guidance and points of reference, I've finally slapped together my first team ever. I'm sure it's awful in a lot of ways, but I'm proud of it, anyway. *tear*

On a serious note, when putting these Pokémon together, I had two goals in mind:

1) I wanted to try using Pokémon that currently are not as frequently seen within this meta, yet could still possibly hold their own when facing those common 'mons. Key word here is "possibly". I suppose you'll help me see if I succeeded with this.

2) I wanted to use Pokémon that I actually like... and by like, I mean that I find super cute. T^T I know it's absolutely absurd to want to make a viable team that's entirely adorable, but I had to try! There are other Pokémon out there that are cuter than some of my choices, but at the end of the day, I can proudly say that I'd cuddle any of these guys at bedtime.

Alright, alright. Let's actually look at what I've got. Feel free to be as brutal or polite as you want; I don't mind suggestions, critiques, and changes as long as they help me become a champ with style.  

-----

Mega Medicham

Medicham w/ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 192 HP / 252 Attack / 64 Speed 4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed
- Fake Out
- Low Kick or High Jump Kick (can't decide which) Drain Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Zen Headbutt Psycho Cut

Okay, okay. I know what you're thinking. Super cute? Maybe not. Potentially deadly? I think so! I had watched a few VGC videos the other day, and I saw in the comments that someone had suggested Medicham as an underrated Mega Evolution worth checking out. I've been having a difficult time trying to decide if I wanted a Mega Evolution on my team or not, but I figured that I might as well. Although there are much cuter MegEvs out there, being half South Asian (go, India!), I found its design appealing. It seems very reminiscent of Shiva, so I thought it'd be cool to have a Pokémon that feels like an actual part of me.

(don'tjudgemepls)

As far as its application in battle... I... don't have too much to defend this. I saw a few sample spreads floating around the internet, and I ended up combining a few of them to get this. I lack the experience to honestly justify splitting the HP and Speed the way that it is, but I saw a few people arguing for going this route. This may be a place to spruce up. Regarding the Low Kick vs. High Jump Kick, I'm honestly torn here. I saw some people arguing that HJK is the way to go, because if you aren't dishing out the DPS, you're going to die, anyway. But, I feel like LK may be the safer selection? I just don't know. If no one feels strongly one way or the other, I'll probably do a coin toss for this one (after praying to RNGesus, of course).

-----

Dragonite

Dragonite w/ Weakness Policy (P.S. - if Dragonite ever gets a Mega Evolution... what will its stone be called?! Game Freak, y u do this and not think ahead!?)
Ability: Multiscale
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed
- Dragon Claw
- Dragon Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Ice Punch

I just love Dragonite. It's so freaking adorable, and I will confess that seeing this video may have influenced my decision to bring it along (despite how dated it is, I still laughed for a good 5 minutes and may have re-watched the video 5x).

Again, I don't have a true defense or justification to have this particular Dragonite on the team. Through several various threads and videos, this seemed like one of the most well-rounded and approved builds. I suppose that I could swap out Ice Punch for something else and maybe squeeze in Roost somewhere, but I am not sure what would be the best way of further rearranging this.

-----

Empoleon

Empoleon w/ Assault Vest
Ability: Defiant
Nature: Quiet
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Attack / 52 Defense / 148 Special Attack / 52 Special Defense
- Flash Cannon
- Knock Off
- Icy Wind
- Scald

This was the result of more thread and video sniffing. It's a bit of a clusterfuck, I confess, but everything that I've seen regarding Empoleon seems to suggest that it isn't very good. This breaks my heart, because who doesn't love penguins?

I'm willing to completely re-work this Empoleon, honestly. The EV spread was a combination of a comment I saw on YouTube and a thread that I found on Nugget Bridge (I believe?). The abilities were a mishmash of what I thought might suit a pseudo-support, bulky Empoleon... but, of course, I'm not sure if this is the way to go. All I know is, I want this penguin on my team, but if he doesn't work, I'm willing to let him go (for something as cute, if not cuter, of course).

-----

Cinccino

Cinccino w/ King's Rock
Ability: Skill Link
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed
- Bullet Seed
- Protect
- Rock Blast
- Tail Slap

If this set looks familiar, this is why. This is a set that I fell in love with, courtesy of this forum's very own Marcusube. I was doing a few practice runs with random 'mons that I had about a week ago, and someone that I battled had one of these. I've actually never seen this Pokémon before, likely because I only played Gen I, Gen III, and now Gen VI (weird, right?). I've been trying to slowly go through the National Dex and get a brief overview of them all, but it has been slow going.

Anyway, I saw this Pokémon during that battle, and I knew that I had to have it. It's so cute. Like... why... why is it so adorable!? I suppose you could say that it was a fateful encounter.

-----

Florges

Florges w/ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Defense / 100 Special Attack
- Calm Mind
- Giga Drain
- Moonblast
- Psychic

Blissey w/ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Defense / 4 Special Defense
- Aromatherapy
- Seismic Toss
- Soft Boiled
- Thunder Wave

This was another set that I got from these forums, specifically from here. I changed Flower Shield to Giga Drain based upon another suggestion, but I'm not sure if that's the right choice. It seems like Flower Shield is better if I was pairing this with something like Mega Venusaur, correct? If Giga Drain is not the answer, I'm open to trying something else.

-----

Torterra

Torterra w/ Lum Berry
Ability: Shell Armor
Nature: Bold
EVs: 180 HP / 252 Defense / 76 Special Defense
- Amnesia Worry Seed
- Curse Wide Guard
- Leech Seed
- Stone Edge Earthquake

My final choice was due to the fact that I adore turtles, and the build was also derived from this forum, specifically this thread. I opted for Leech Seed over Rest, which led to me thinking that Lum Berry might be the better item choice over Leftovers. I'm not sure, though. I could change what Florges is carrying and put the Leftovers back on Torterra, but I have been unable to determine what's the better route. Similarly to Empoleon, I had read that Torterra is a challenging Pokémon to have on your team, so if it needs to go, I will give up my turtle power.

-----

Okay. I think that's it. Congratulations if you made it this far through my thread. I do want to be serious and say that I sincerely appreciate any and all feedback that I receive. This has been the first forum that I've felt comfortable with openly posting my questions, as opposed to being a creeper and secretly watching other people's conversations. You guys are a great batch, both full of warmth and knowledge. I'm excited to grow in my own knowledge (and hopefully skill, fingers crossed) with all of your help!

xx

(P.S. - I entered this team into Team Magma's team builder to check for weaknesses, and I believe the results are decent, yes?)

[z2porygon]

http://thejustinflynn.tv/forum/Thread-VG...port-Mixed
Here is my attempt to use Dragonite in VGC.

Florges is now (sadly) outclassed by other Fairies such as Sylveon, Togekiss, and Clefable. It was ok to use in 2014 but 2015 has better options.

Also Torterra gets Wide Guard/ Earthquake and is a grass type (So Wood Hammer/ Seed Bomb on bulky water types). It might be hard to set up unless you really cover Torterra's weakness such as Ice and Flying.

[Marcusube]

First of all, thanks for the credit for my Cincinno build  

Max out the speed EVs on Medicham. Its frail anyway so HP investments won't do you much good here. I recommend Drain Punch over HJK and LK because it hits everything for 75 plus Medicham's attack stat plus this move kills everything it hits super effectively. I also suggest running Psycho Cut over Zen Headbutt. The accuracy factor really counts here because I remember a match where someone had been using a Metagross against me and missed Zen Headbutt twice in a row. Also the high crit ratio generally helps out in the latter game.

Dragonite isn't really viable for this years VGC, especially on the kind of team you're using. Mamoswine is very common this season and it can break through your Multiscale and OHKO you, not to mention that Fake Out makes your Multiscale redundant.

Empoleon isn't bad but it isn't good this year either. It gets destroyed by more than half the threats this year and it cannot handle the things that it resists very well (Sylveon, Aegislash, Talonflame).

Running Cincinno would be a great idea. What's not such a great idea is running it without checking ways to avoid priority and status moves such as Twave and Will-o-wisp. Drop one of the team mates above and make the adjustment if you wish to run this effectively.

Florges isn't viable in this years VGC either (I think I've been saying this too much). It has great Special Attack and Special Defense but in this metagame which is focused around more physical attackers, Florges won't be hanging around for very long.

If you plan to run Torterra, do not use a singles moveset. As you should know, set up moves aren't invited in VGC. It is okay to use 1 but 2 is overdoing it. To make Torterra really shine, try using it for Wide Guard support (if you need it) or do something really devious like use Worry Seed to cancel out abilities such as Parental Bond, Aerialate, Pixilate, Defiant, Competitive, etc. All I can say is RUN THIS THING!

In conclusion, I can sympathize with you since this is your first VGC attempt but you cannot just throw 6 Pokemon together without having a game plan or checks to other common strategies in VGC.

Check out nuggetbridge and the global link's rating battle section to see how the meta game is evolving and what people are bringing to VGC

Here, here, here and here are good sources of information to get you up to speed with VGC

[iflytoohigh]

(Mar 26, 2015, 10:58 PM)z2porygon Wrote: http://thejustinflynn.tv/forum/Thread-VG...port-Mixed
Here is my attempt to use Dragonite in VGC.

Florges is now (sadly) outclassed by other Fairies such as Sylveon, Togekiss, and Clefable. It was ok to use in 2014 but 2015 has better options.

Also Torterra gets Wide Guard/ Earthquake and is a grass type (So Wood Hammer/ Seed Bomb on bulky water types). It might be hard to set up unless you really cover Torterra's weakness such as Ice and Flying.

Thank you for the suggestion for Wide Guard! I'm going to rework my Torterra right now to reflect this better recommendation.

xx

[iflytoohigh]

(Mar 27, 2015, 08:54 AM)Marcusube Wrote: First of all, thanks for the credit for my Cincinno build  

Max out the speed EVs on Medicham. Its frail anyway so HP investments won't do you much good here. I recommend Drain Punch over HJK and LK because it hits everything for 75 plus Medicham's attack stat plus this move kills everything it hits super effectively. I also suggest running Psycho Cut over Zen Headbutt. The accuracy factor really counts here because I remember a match where someone had been using a Metagross against me and missed Zen Headbutt twice in a row. Also the high crit ratio generally helps out in the latter game.

Dragonite isn't really viable for this years VGC, especially on the kind of team you're using. Mamoswine is very common this season and it can break through your Multiscale and OHKO you, not to mention that Fake Out makes your Multiscale redundant.

Empoleon isn't bad but it isn't good this year either. It gets destroyed by more than half the threats this year and it cannot handle the things that it resists very well (Sylveon, Aegislash, Talonflame).

Running Cincinno would be a great idea. What's not such a great idea is running it without checking ways to avoid priority and status moves such as Twave and Will-o-wisp. Drop one of the team mates above and make the adjustment if you wish to run this effectively.

Florges isn't viable in this years VGC either (I think I've been saying this too much). It has great Special Attack and Special Defense but in this metagame which is focused around more physical attackers, Florges won't be hanging around for very long.

If you plan to run Torterra, do not use a singles moveset. As you should know, set up moves aren't invited in VGC. It is okay to use 1 but 2 is overdoing it. To make Torterra really shine, try using it for Wide Guard support (if you need it) or do something really devious like use Worry Seed to cancel out abilities such as Parental Bond, Aerialate, Pixilate, Defiant, Competitive, etc. All I can say is RUN THIS THING!

In conclusion, I can sympathize with you since this is your first VGC attempt but you cannot just throw 6 Pokemon together without having a game plan or checks to other common strategies in VGC.

Check out nuggetbridge and the global link's rating battle section to see how the meta game is evolving and what people are bringing to VGC

Here, here, here and here are good sources of information to get you up to speed with VGC

Thanks for such honest and direct feedback. You're absolutely right with everything you've said, so I've made some adjustments based on your thoughts.

Medicham now looks like this:

Medicham w/ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed
- Drain Punch
- Fake Out
- Psycho Cut
- Thunder Punch

You're right about me not having thoroughly taken into consideration Will-o-Wisp wrecking my face. It was naive of me to think I could just offensively beat down numerous things without taking some defensive and restorative tactics into consideration. So, I thought perhaps this would be a good way of dealing with that--drop Florges for Blissey. Here's the set that I think might work to fill this role, plus be a little bit annoying and disruptive in her own right:

Blissey w/ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Defense / 4 Special Defense
- Aromatherapy
- Seismic Toss
- Soft Boiled
- Thunder Wave

What do you think? Is that a feasible replacement for Florges, in addition to supporting my team better in terms of checking WoW and T-Wave spam that I may face?

Moving on, I agree that my Torterra needed further tweaking for VGC. Based on your suggestion, as well as z2porygon's comment, I've updated the Torterra to look like this:

Torterra w/ Lum Berry
Ability: Shell Armor
Nature: Bold
EVs: 180 HP / 252 Defense / 76 Special Defense
- Earthquake
- Leech Seed
- Wide Guard
- Worry Seed (I loved this)

With these adjustments, do you think the team might be okay? It seems like Dragonite may still need to go, but it's so adorable. T^T In all seriousness, I wonder what would be a better option here. I think the Empoleon could work, but I've received other negative feedback about the Dragonite, and I'm not sure if it can be saved and reworked, or just needs to be replaced entirely. Taking into consideration these tweaks, what would be your honest opinion here?

Thanks, Marcus! I appreciate your time and help!

xx

[Vexian]

With the uprise of fairy types you may want to consider a poison or steel type move or pokemon. And because of this steel pokemon are also super common so you may want some fire coverage. My suggestion is grab yourself an awesome fire/steel pokemon such as heatran.

[iflytoohigh]

(Mar 27, 2015, 10:33 AM)Vexian Wrote: With the uprise of fairy types you may want to consider a poison or steel type move or pokemon. And because of this steel pokemon are also super common so you may want some fire coverage. My suggestion is grab yourself an awesome fire/steel pokemon such as heatran.

Thanks for the suggestion! I've had a few others point out that I probably need something to better deal with Fairies compared to what I'm presently sporting. Heatran seems like a great contender for this position, but I was curious if you think something like Skarmory or Dragalge may work alright as well? And if so, who would you drop from my team to pick this up? The Dragonite?

Thank you for your input!

xx

[Marcusube]

Medicham-Mega @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Drain Punch
- Fake Out
- Thunder Punch
- Psycho Cut

Bisharp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defiant
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head

Cresselia @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 92 SpA / 64 SpD
Bold Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Ice Beam
- Psyshock
- Protect

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Taunt
- Protect
- Flare Blitz

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 80 SpA / 52 SpD
Bold Nature
- Protect
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Muddy Water

Sylveon @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Pixilate
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Protect
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock

This is a team I formulated around Mega Medicham.

The problem with using Blissey is that she gets knocked out very easily by physical attackers regardless of how many EVs you distribute into health and defense plus Taunt shuts it down too easily.

Running Torterra may be a problem seeing as how it creates more weaknesses than it covers plus it shares a common weakness with your Mega Medicham.

Dragonite, no matter how you see it, gets shut down too easily. Once the multiscale is broken, its an easy OHKO by common threats such as Terrakion, Landorus, Kangaskhan, Sylveon, Bisharp, Mamoswine, Weavile, Ludicolo, Politoed, Thundurus and this list seriously could go on.

Empoleon could work but it depends on how you would play it. It has amazing special attack as I've said but for it to work, you would have to incorporate speed control methods such as Trick Room, Thunder Wave and Tailwind to get use out of it. It can be a good support Pokemon but for it to work, the Pokemon that threaten it would need to be removed.

[iflytoohigh]

(Mar 27, 2015, 11:18 AM)Marcusube Wrote:

Medicham-Mega @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Drain Punch
- Fake Out
- Thunder Punch
- Psycho Cut

Bisharp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defiant
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head

Cresselia @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 92 SpA / 64 SpD
Bold Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Ice Beam
- Psyshock
- Protect

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Taunt
- Protect
- Flare Blitz

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 80 SpA / 52 SpD
Bold Nature
- Protect
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Muddy Water

Sylveon @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Pixilate
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Protect
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock

This is a team I formulated around Mega Medicham.

The problem with using Blissey is that she gets knocked out very easily by physical attackers regardless of how many EVs you distribute into health and defense plus Taunt shuts it down too easily.

Running Torterra may be a problem seeing as how it creates more weaknesses than it covers plus it shares a common weakness with your Mega Medicham.

Dragonite, no matter how you see it, gets shut down too easily. Once the multiscale is broken, its an easy OHKO by common threats such as Terrakion, Landorus, Kangaskhan, Sylveon, Bisharp, Mamoswine, Weavile, Ludicolo, Politoed, Thundurus and this list seriously could go on.

Empoleon could work but it depends on how you would play it. It has amazing special attack as I've said but for it to work, you would have to incorporate speed control methods such as Trick Room, Thunder Wave and Tailwind to get use out of it. It can be a good support Pokemon but for it to work, the Pokemon that threaten it would need to be removed.

Thanks for sharing your Mega Medicham team. It's a great reference point for me as I go back and critically assess what I need to do to make mine work. Looks like Dragonite needs to go, plus possibly Torterra. Seems also as though Blissey may not be the answer I was seeking.

At any rate, I'll tweak my setup some more. I'm playing around with some spreads and movesets for Dragalge at the moment, so I'll see if there's a way that it can fit here.

Thank you, Marcus! Your feedback is always immensely appreciated.

xx

[Marcusube]

Anytime! Just PM me if you need help :D