[RATE MY TEAM] A Treatise on my Snowman's VGC 15 experience
Jan 12, 2015, 10:13 AM
So I've been playing quite a bit of showdown and Rating Battles in VGC 15 with my Trick Room Mega Snowman team and wanted to share my experience with you and hope you can provide suggestions for my team as well. I will also preface with I have no idea how you all post those images of the pokemon alongside the spreads so bear with me. Without further ado here is the team. I've used this team around 50 times and it's proven to be my most effective. I should note I am a mediocre player but with this team I've seen far more wins than other teams I try but to be fair I've learned a lot more as I started playing this team.
Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 100 Def / 188 SpA
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Protect
Basic Cress set stolen I believe from Cybertron's VGC13 build. When building around Abomasnow I knew I wanted a trick room setter and obviously Cress is the best. I continually shift between protect and calm mind. I believe calm mind is the better option but I find protect so much safer. I went with icebeams for the Genies and psychic for the fighting types that are pretty necessary for dealing with Mega Kang. I also found myself using Trick Room to anti-trick room trick room teams that had mega Camerupt. Mega Camerupt seems like a great counter to Snowman but Abomasnow is faster outside of trick room and can 2HKO mega camerupt with Blizzard.
Heatran @ Lum Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Earth Power
- Heat Wave
- Flash Cannon
- Protect
Heatran is Heatran. I opted for lum berry as I hate dealing with Dark void Smeargle and spore Breloom. There are definitely better items and I would not advise Lum berry if you have a better option for Dark Void etc. I opted for max HP and Special Attack to keep Heatran on the field and hitting hard for his good matchups while also negating the hail chip. Although Heatran and Snowman are rarely brought to the same match for me. Finally I opted for Flash Cannon to deal with Fairies but maybe sub or another move would be better as most Togekiss or Sylveons tend to be SpD bulky anyway it seems
Abomasnow @ Abomasite
Ability: Soundproof
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 132 Atk / 128 Def / 248 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Blizzard
- Wood Hammer
- Ice Shard
- Protect
Soundproof? Yes Soundproof. I went for this ability to safely switch in on hyper voice Sylveon and Salamence. I rarely found oppurtunities to do this but my god was it sweet when I did. In retrospect you'd gain more utility out of snow warning to change sun, rain, sand faster but to be honest I like starting hail when I mega so I make sure I get 5 full turns of 100% accurate Blizzards. I copied this EV spread from a nuggetbridge report and I don't remember why the defense EV's. However the attack and Special attack are great for huge blizzards and OHKO rotom wash with wood hammer. Wood Hammer is far superior to giga drain and energy ball as it OHKO many water types. Ice shard is for situations when Trick Room isn't up. I did at one time opt for earthquake to deal with Steel/Fire types which was also strong.
Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
I think enough has been said about Rotom Wash. I went with modest for extra damage especially when dealing with Mega Charizard Y, talonflame and fire types who threaten Abomasnow.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 148 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 28 SpD / 76 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- U-turn
Landorus courtesy of these very forums. Landorus was here for intimdates, superpowering mega Kang, and for rock sliding talonflame and charizard. Landorus was also important in dealing with pesky steal types for mega-abomasnow struggles with. Landorus was brought pretty much every match I played.
Talonflame @ Sky Plate
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 50
EVs: 52 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Protect
- Quick Guard
- Flare Blitz
Talonflame is a great Trick Room pokemon. Gale wings is not effective by TR and being such a fast quick guard stops mega kang and other fake outs from flinching Cress. I went with sky plate and 52 HP to instead of life orb and 4HP because I wanted to keep talonflame around longer during Hail. I don't find myself TR first turn very often as I've learned you really need to be careful when trick Rooming as you want to maximize you TR turns. I could see myself adding Conkeldurr or Haryama in the future to further improve my mega kang matchup but to be honest TR vs mega kang works well. when you can blizzard/heat wave plus a direct attack before mega kang actually gets a chance to hit you is good. Any improvements to my spreads or other suggestions would be great. I really like these forums as you all seem very helpful. I'm kind of a rookie with VGC competition so I look forward to your suggestions. Thanks-Mike
And that's the team. I found myself leading with landorus and cress alot or landorus and rotom. Landorus is great start because of intimdate, u-turn or just general power.
Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 100 Def / 188 SpA
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Protect
Basic Cress set stolen I believe from Cybertron's VGC13 build. When building around Abomasnow I knew I wanted a trick room setter and obviously Cress is the best. I continually shift between protect and calm mind. I believe calm mind is the better option but I find protect so much safer. I went with icebeams for the Genies and psychic for the fighting types that are pretty necessary for dealing with Mega Kang. I also found myself using Trick Room to anti-trick room trick room teams that had mega Camerupt. Mega Camerupt seems like a great counter to Snowman but Abomasnow is faster outside of trick room and can 2HKO mega camerupt with Blizzard.
Heatran @ Lum Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Earth Power
- Heat Wave
- Flash Cannon
- Protect
Heatran is Heatran. I opted for lum berry as I hate dealing with Dark void Smeargle and spore Breloom. There are definitely better items and I would not advise Lum berry if you have a better option for Dark Void etc. I opted for max HP and Special Attack to keep Heatran on the field and hitting hard for his good matchups while also negating the hail chip. Although Heatran and Snowman are rarely brought to the same match for me. Finally I opted for Flash Cannon to deal with Fairies but maybe sub or another move would be better as most Togekiss or Sylveons tend to be SpD bulky anyway it seems
Abomasnow @ Abomasite
Ability: Soundproof
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 132 Atk / 128 Def / 248 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Blizzard
- Wood Hammer
- Ice Shard
- Protect
Soundproof? Yes Soundproof. I went for this ability to safely switch in on hyper voice Sylveon and Salamence. I rarely found oppurtunities to do this but my god was it sweet when I did. In retrospect you'd gain more utility out of snow warning to change sun, rain, sand faster but to be honest I like starting hail when I mega so I make sure I get 5 full turns of 100% accurate Blizzards. I copied this EV spread from a nuggetbridge report and I don't remember why the defense EV's. However the attack and Special attack are great for huge blizzards and OHKO rotom wash with wood hammer. Wood Hammer is far superior to giga drain and energy ball as it OHKO many water types. Ice shard is for situations when Trick Room isn't up. I did at one time opt for earthquake to deal with Steel/Fire types which was also strong.
Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
I think enough has been said about Rotom Wash. I went with modest for extra damage especially when dealing with Mega Charizard Y, talonflame and fire types who threaten Abomasnow.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 148 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 28 SpD / 76 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- U-turn
Landorus courtesy of these very forums. Landorus was here for intimdates, superpowering mega Kang, and for rock sliding talonflame and charizard. Landorus was also important in dealing with pesky steal types for mega-abomasnow struggles with. Landorus was brought pretty much every match I played.
Talonflame @ Sky Plate
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 50
EVs: 52 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Protect
- Quick Guard
- Flare Blitz
Talonflame is a great Trick Room pokemon. Gale wings is not effective by TR and being such a fast quick guard stops mega kang and other fake outs from flinching Cress. I went with sky plate and 52 HP to instead of life orb and 4HP because I wanted to keep talonflame around longer during Hail. I don't find myself TR first turn very often as I've learned you really need to be careful when trick Rooming as you want to maximize you TR turns. I could see myself adding Conkeldurr or Haryama in the future to further improve my mega kang matchup but to be honest TR vs mega kang works well. when you can blizzard/heat wave plus a direct attack before mega kang actually gets a chance to hit you is good. Any improvements to my spreads or other suggestions would be great. I really like these forums as you all seem very helpful. I'm kind of a rookie with VGC competition so I look forward to your suggestions. Thanks-Mike
And that's the team. I found myself leading with landorus and cress alot or landorus and rotom. Landorus is great start because of intimdate, u-turn or just general power.
