[RATE MY TEAM] Speed Control VGC 2015 Team

[Skarric]

Hi everyone! My name is Skarric, I've been a member of the community since June 2013 and usually for 10 week periods I can't participate in the community as much due to schooling. I'm very excited for the extended dex format of 2015 and I've decided to make my own team. I've tested it out on Pokemon Showdown for a bit and I would like some feedback from you guys! I haven't been much of a VGC player, and my competitive experience has only stemmed from 4th Gen OU Smogon Singles


Mega Gardevoir
Ability:  Telepathy / Pixilate
Item: Gardevoirite
EV: 236 HP / 252 Special Attack / 20 Speed
Nature: Modest
-Hyper Voice
-Protect
-Trick Room
-Psyshock

My main offensive role, M-Gardevoir hits hard in this draconic-prevalent metagame with the Lati@s, M-Salamence, and others with her Pixilate Hyper Voice. I keep Trick Room on her incase I am possibly against speedier threats. She's powerful, has some bulk with the HP investment, and in Trick Room, she can take names.


Heat-Rotom
Ability: Levitate
Item: Sitrus Berry
EV: 252 HP / 68 Defense / 164 Special Attack / 24 Speed
Nature: Calm
-Will-O-Wisp
-Protect
-Electroweb
-Overheat

Rotom-Heat's duty in the team is to help provide speed control. If M-Gard doesn't use trick room or I can't set it up, I can make my opponents slower and deal decent damage with Electroweb. Otherwise, Rotom-H is fairly standard in its moveset of Will-O-Wisp (dealing with physical attackers), Overheat (dealing damage), and Protect. With the EV & nature in mind, I wanted Rotom-H to go for a mixed bulky set, having a tad bigger boost in special defense. Sitrus berry comes in clutch times, healing Rotom-H for a good amount and keeping it in the game.


Landorus-Therian
Ability: Intimidate
Item: Choice Scarf
EV: 4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed
Nature: Adamant
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Protect
-U-Turn

My physical sweeper on the team, Landorus-T hits like a truck at 216 attack, and is decently fast with 143 speed. I haven't found many builds for Landorus-T, so I've just stuck with the hit-hard-hit-fast way with Landorus-T. Earthquake provides excellent stab damage, Rock Slide can do good damage with a chance of flynnch, U-Turn to switch out and Protect just in case. The Intimidate support from Landorus-T helps immensely, but otherwise I do believe I need to find a better set for my Landorus-T.


Empoleon
Ability: Defiant
Item: Chople Berry
EV: 220 HP / 108 Defense / 176 Special Attack / 4 Special Defense
Nature: Relaxed
-Scald
-Icy Wind
-Flash Cannon
-Aqua Jet

Empoleon boosts a supportive role on the team, and with a decent base spread of 84 HP / 86 Attack / 88 Defense / 111 Special Attack / 101 Special Defense /60 Speed, he can be a jack-of-all-trades type of Pokemon. Scald provides decent damage with a burn chance against physical attackers. Icy Wind hits both opponents, similarly to Rotom-H's Electroweb, taking their speed down and hitting some dragon & grass types for decent damage. Flash Cannon is for those pesky fairies running around. With the final move, I decided to go with a Defiant ability / Aqua Jet combo with the prevalence of Intimidate on Salamence and other Landorus-T, giving Empoleon a +1 Attack boost; with the +1 Attack, Empoleon can breakthrough his poor speed with a priority Aqua Jet. If I'm against certain Pokemon (see: Salamence, Landorus-T, Sylveon) I'd pick Empoleon over Rotom-H. Otherwise, Rotom-H will take the field with a similar role as Empoleon.


Amoonguss
Ability: Regenrator
Item: Rocky Helmet
EV: 252 HP / 236 Defense / 8 Special Attack / 12 Special Defense
Nature: Relaxed
-Giga Drain
-Spore
-Rage Powder
-Protect

Another supportive role on the team. Amoonguss completes the pseudo Fire-Water-Grass core on my team and acts as a Physically Defensive wall. Spore allows him to spread sleep status effectively, Rage Powder has the priority to take hits from threats on the field away from Landorus-T/M-Gardevoir, and Giga Drain helps Amoonguss take the health back.


Tyranitar
Ability: Sand-Stream
Item: Assault Vest
EV: 248 HP / 36 Defense / 204 Special Attack / 20 Special Defense
Nature: Quiet
-Rock Slide
-Dark Pulse
-Ice Beam
-Fire Blast

A mixed tank on the team, Tyranitar takes hits and deals them back. Rock Slide for flinch support, Dark Pulse for STAB, Ice Beam for the Dragons/Lando-T, and Fire Blast for power. I decided Tyranitar as my last Pokemon because of his good stats, offensive moveset capability, and he can drive away the weather from Politoeds, Charizards, Meowstics, and etc. With the sand up, Tyranitar becomes a super special defensive wall.

[tygaa2]

I really like this team! Assault Vest T-Tar is hard to take down in the sand. It lives a Mega Gardy Hyper Voice

[Black117]

(Dec 23, 2014, 01:32 PM)Skarric Wrote: Hi everyone! My name is Skarric, I've been a member of the community since June 2013 and usually for 10 week periods I can't participate in the community as much due to schooling. I'm very excited for the extended dex format of 2015 and I've decided to make my own team. I've tested it out on Pokemon Showdown for a bit and I would like some feedback from you guys! I haven't been much of a VGC player, and my competitive experience has only stemmed from 4th Gen OU Smogon Singles


Mega Gardevoir
Ability:  Telepathy / Pixilate
Item: Gardevoirite
EV: 236 HP / 252 Special Attack / 20 Speed
Nature: Modest
-Hyper Voice
-Protect
-Trick Room
-Psyshock

My main offensive role, M-Gardevoir hits hard in this draconic-prevalent metagame with the Lati@s, M-Salamence, and others with her Pixilate Hyper Voice. I keep Trick Room on her incase I am possibly against speedier threats. She's powerful, has some bulk with the HP investment, and in Trick Room, she can take names.


Heat-Rotom
Ability: Levitate
Item: Sitrus Berry
EV: 252 HP / 68 Defense / 164 Special Attack / 24 Speed
Nature: Calm
-Will-O-Wisp
-Protect
-Electroweb
-Overheat

Rotom-Heat's duty in the team is to help provide speed control. If M-Gard doesn't use trick room or I can't set it up, I can make my opponents slower and deal decent damage with Electroweb. Otherwise, Rotom-H is fairly standard in its moveset of Will-O-Wisp (dealing with physical attackers), Overheat (dealing damage), and Protect. With the EV & nature in mind, I wanted Rotom-H to go for a mixed bulky set, having a tad bigger boost in special defense. Sitrus berry comes in clutch times, healing Rotom-H for a good amount and keeping it in the game.


Landorus-Therian
Ability: Intimidate
Item: Choice Scarf
EV: 4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed
Nature: Adamant
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Protect
-U-Turn

My physical sweeper on the team, Landorus-T hits like a truck at 216 attack, and is decently fast with 143 speed. I haven't found many builds for Landorus-T, so I've just stuck with the hit-hard-hit-fast way with Landorus-T. Earthquake provides excellent stab damage, Rock Slide can do good damage with a chance of flynnch, U-Turn to switch out and Protect just in case. The Intimidate support from Landorus-T helps immensely, but otherwise I do believe I need to find a better set for my Landorus-T.


Empoleon
Ability: Defiant
Item: Chople Berry
EV: 220 HP / 108 Defense / 176 Special Attack / 4 Special Defense
Nature: Relaxed
-Scald
-Icy Wind
-Flash Cannon
-Aqua Jet

Empoleon boosts a supportive role on the team, and with a decent base spread of 84 HP / 86 Attack / 88 Defense / 111 Special Attack / 101 Special Defense /60 Speed, he can be a jack-of-all-trades type of Pokemon. Scald provides decent damage with a burn chance against physical attackers. Icy Wind hits both opponents, similarly to Rotom-H's Electroweb, taking their speed down and hitting some dragon & grass types for decent damage. Flash Cannon is for those pesky fairies running around. With the final move, I decided to go with a Defiant ability / Aqua Jet combo with the prevalence of Intimidate on Salamence and other Landorus-T, giving Empoleon a +1 Attack boost; with the +1 Attack, Empoleon can breakthrough his poor speed with a priority Aqua Jet. If I'm against certain Pokemon (see: Salamence, Landorus-T, Sylveon) I'd pick Empoleon over Rotom-H. Otherwise, Rotom-H will take the field with a similar role as Empoleon.


Amoonguss
Ability: Regenrator
Item: Rocky Helmet
EV: 252 HP / 236 Defense / 8 Special Attack / 12 Special Defense
Nature: Relaxed
-Giga Drain
-Spore
-Rage Powder
-Protect

Another supportive role on the team. Amoonguss completes the pseudo Fire-Water-Grass core on my team and acts as a Physically Defensive wall. Spore allows him to spread sleep status effectively, Rage Powder has the priority to take hits from threats on the field away from Landorus-T/M-Gardevoir, and Giga Drain helps Amoonguss take the health back.


Tyranitar
Ability: Sand-Stream
Item: Assault Vest
EV: 248 HP / 36 Defense / 204 Special Attack / 20 Special Defense
Nature: Quiet
-Rock Slide
-Dark Pulse
-Ice Beam
-Fire Blast

A mixed tank on the team, Tyranitar takes hits and deals them back. Rock Slide for flinch support, Dark Pulse for STAB, Ice Beam for the Dragons/Lando-T, and Fire Blast for power. I decided Tyranitar as my last Pokemon because of his good stats, offensive moveset capability, and he can drive away the weather from Politoeds, Charizards, Meowstics, and etc. With the sand up, Tyranitar becomes a super special defensive wall.

Very nice and creative team you got there Skarric. Electroweb and icy wind are surely interesting options to run against faster threats. My main issue with this team is that it is very weak to Bisharp and can easily beat most of your pokemon with a +2. If you are gonna run scarf Landorus-t then I highly recommend that you remove protect for superpower since running protect on a scarf Pokemon is redundant. With superpower, Lando can do massive damage to mega kangaskhan, tyranitars, heatrans (on an air balloon), bisharp, etc. I'm not so sure why Mega Gardevoir has trick room while you have other speed control moves that could potentially give your opponents the advantage in trick room. Overall its a good team to start out in the new format

[IceyGamer]

Whoa this team has like everything combined into one. I really want to battle this.

[beastmoose]

I like the idea of this team! The only thing I can think of is that you could probably get a better item than the Chople Berry on Empoleon. Maybe the Air Balloon or the Leftovers, idk. Just a thought. Great team though!

[Jediverrilli]

I have arrived perhaps my advice shall grace this post, perhaps it wont; ill never tell

[Skarric]

@Black117 - Ah okay, thanks for the input for Landorus-T

The Icy Wind/Electroweb is just mainly if I can't set up Trick Room or I encounter any trouble and I think it'd be better to not use Trick Room. I'm still new so I'd just rather have the option and test it out.

@beastmoose - Yeah I'm just scared of the prevalence of Fighting moves that could single-out Empoleon. I might switch to Air Balloon if I keep on testing out the team and see that I need it

@Jediverrilli - Thanks man.

[SCf3]

I really like Electroweb on Rotom (very unpredictable, I wouldn't expect it considering how standard Rotom's moveset is) and it's nice seeing a Pokemon like Empoleon on a VGC team cuz you don't see him often. Great job! :D

[Peppermint]

I like the team, especially that sexy Empoleon. Sadly, however, I don't think it's all that necessary - personally, I think you should consider replacing it with a Suicune. Not only does Suicune get Icy Wind, but it also gets Tailwind, which can be useful because it doesn't trigger Defiant. Defiant Bisharp is by far one of this teams biggest checks. Competitive Milotic could also cause some trouble. You could also consider Cresselia to replace M-Gardevoir or someone on your team because Cress gets Trick Room as well as Icy Wind.

[ambiance]

interesting stat distribution, i like it