How To Get Into VGC

[AbruptFury]

Not sure if anyone has already made a thread on this, though people do tend to like having multiple sources to get information from because then maybe it will just click with them.

Yo it's ya boi Guzma I saw someone in the Pokemon VGC chatroom ask how to play VGC. And it really requires a broad answer because there is no definitive way. It just involves taking a bunch of things into consideration when you are building a team or playing with one.

I will list off a bunch of things that I think are quite important for any VGC player.

#1: Know The Threats

The main threats right now are Tapus and certain UBs. Why only certain ones? What makes them work where the others don't? I'm glad you asked that question italicized text. So I will explain with examples.

Celesteela - amazing bulk and typing, recovery through Leech Seed, walls Fairy type attacks from the Tapus (except for Nature's Madness of course), access to Wide Guard, has synergy with Earthquake users as it is part Flying type, Beast Boost to boost your best stat which tends to be Attack or Special Attack with the ones I've battled.

Pheromosa - Strong attacker but very frail (would be best to go with a Life Orb or Focus Sash probably, as it will not survive many hits), Fighting/Bug isn't very good for hitting the Tapus (It does get Poison Jab however, weak to Intimidate spam, which could be used as coverage against the Tapus as it hits them all supereffectively), gets other niche coverage options such as Ice Beam (useful against Garchomp), access to Quick Guard and Feint, Beast Boost to boost your best stat which tends to be Speed.

So with this side-by-side comparison, you can see that Celesteela doesn't require quite as much support to function as Celesteela. This is why Celesteela is one of the most used Pokemon in VGC 17 right now. I will make a list of the top threats later, me thinks. Otherwise, this thread might get SUPER long.

#2: Speed Tiers

Speed tiers are VERY important. It can dictate who wins and who loses if it comes down to two Alolan-Marowak facing off. Sometimes, people go as fast or as slow as they possibly can just so they know they have the edge in more situations than not. i.e. My Trick Room Alolan-Marowak is as slow as possible with a Brave nature and 0 investment on Speed (not even IVs). So if I have Trick Room up, I can guarantee that I am faster under Trick Room than most other Alolan-Marowak. At the worst, it would be a speed ties, but at least I still have the chance to go first. Sometimes people "speed creep" by 4 EVs so that they may outspeed the same Pokemon and take them out first because some Pokemon may not run any investment in speed. People may even speed creep a speed creep if they notice a lot of people opting for 1 Speed point up. There are a lot of options with this. Testing is the best way to find out what works for your team.

Tailwind and Icy Wind support isn't big this year, on account of those moves not being given by move tutors in Sun and Moon. But Trick Room is very popular, because there are so many slow Pokemon to take advantage of it. Thunder Wave is a little harder to depend on now that it is no longer 100% accurate, and doesn't drop the speed of foe to 1/4 of what it should be, but never count the "yellow magic" out.

Reference material: http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-VGC-Pok...-Tier-List

http://nuggetbridge.com/blogs/entry/2159...eed-tiers/

#3: Calculating Offensively and Defensively

You may notice if you read up on Pokemon builds, there tend to be offensive and defensive calcs (also known as benchmarks). Keeping these in mind can be very handy in battle when put against a foe you are calc'd to survive (barring crits), or a Pokemon you are guaranteed to one or two hit-KO. I will use a build from a recent CybertonProductions (Aaron Zheng) video as an example.



Pelipper @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 148 SpA / 108 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Tailwind
- Protect

Defensive Calc
252+ SpA Salamence Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 108 SpD Pelipper: 126-148 (75.4 - 88.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery

Offensive Calc
148+ SpA Pelipper Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Salamence: 200-236 (117.6 - 138.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

It takes the hit, heals up with Sitrus Berry, and OHKOs Salamence with Ice Beam or sets up a Tailwind. Depends on whether Salamence feels like a threat or not. But it is a pseudo-legendary. So I guess it can't help but be. Plus, it can be annoying having it Intimidate your physical attackers every time it comes in. Anyway, I'm rambling.

#4: Team Synergy and Preparation

It's good to have options.



What I mean by this is that you need different Pokemon playing different roles to succeed, like in tiers. You have spinners, clerics, sweepers, etc. In VGC, good support can come in the form of Fake Out, Wide Guard, Quick Guard, Intimidate, Snarl, Tailwind, Trick Room, sweepers, redirection from Follow Me or Rage Powder, Spore, Thunder Wave, Swagger.

Note: Some things work in VGC, and some things work in tiers. Toxic and Stealth Rocks aren't really worried about in VGC because they take time to do damage. They are too passive. And trying to stall out two Pokemon can be difficult. Walls don't really exist unless they are bulky on both sides like Cresselia and Celesteela.

A great pairing going on right now is Gyarados and Alolan-Marowak. The pressure of Marowak's Lightning Rod alone can make it harder for you to want to outright go for Thunderbolt, even when it's not on the field. Gyarados can setup Dragon Dance and sweep or take out certain things you want out of the way to make it easier for another Pokemon. Like Ground types for Marowak. That's the case with these two too. If one gets beat by something, the other is good against it. i.e. Tapu Koko. Beats Gyarados. Common set can't deal with Marowak too well, and gets beat by Ground type coverage like Earthquake or Bonemerang. Synergy can be found here in typing, Lightning Rod, and a Ground type immunity so that Marowak can just Earthquake away.

Something these two could use might be a way to deal with Rock Slide spam due to both being weak to Rock, and a way to deal with Milotic. It is bulky, can still on the field a long time with Recover, and gains a Competitive boost (+2 Special Attack) from Gyarados' Intimidate.

#5: Monkey See, Monkey Do

I swear, I'm not calling you a monkey D: But one of the best ways I've picked up on VGC is by watching other people play. Trying to get into their mindset, so I can catch up with the veterans of VGC in knowledge and skill. Good examples of VGC content creators are:
- Aaron 'Cybertron' Zheng
- The 2016 Masters division champion, Wolfe Glick
- Baz Anderson
- 13Yoshi37 (Mark Stadter)
- Hibiki (of Hibiking Of The Hill)
- @Jamesspeed1 James Baek (who just posted a video on here recently, I saw :P)
- Jamie Kean, Jamie Miller, and Jamie Boyt of Team Jamie.
- DuncanKneeDeep (he doesn't play as often, but he's good. And he beat me on 2 separate occasions ;-; Am currently still seeking revenge)
- And many MOOOOREEE!!



In Conclusion

Again, this is a subject so broad, I'm sure I missed some stuff. You are free to discuss other important things below, and ask questions about VGC 2017 I hope this helps someone out. Thanks for reading! :D