Pokemon Forever - Competitive Discussion Archive

VGC / Battle Spot / Doubles OU Cores Thread

Thu, 29 Sep 2016 17:30:48 -0700

VGC / Battle Spot / Doubles OU Cores Thread

In order to prevent any form of confusion between some of the sets posted in the original Good Cores Thread, we've decided to separate all the Singles and Doubles-oriented cores into different thread posts. For this specifically, we'll post any "viable" core that's been used or seen in the any Doubles format, whether its from VGC, Battle Spot Doubles, or Smogon Doubles. Now here are some guidelines to follow before postings:

GUIDELINES

Mention what format the core is from: VGC XX (state the year), Battle Spot Doubles (BW / BW2 / XY / ORAS), and Smogon Doubles ( D-OU, D-UU, etc)
Note the playstyle / strategies of the team: Balance, Bulky Offense, Defensive, Hyper Offense / Rain, Sand, Trick Room, Tailwind.
Give example sets of each Pokemon per core. Doesn't have to be more than one, but don't go overboard.
If the set is from a specific player, credit them, and possibly link their handle on Twitter, NB, Smogon, or Forever.
IMPORTANT: Give a short, but meaningful analysis of the core. Essentially how those 2+ Pokemon complement each other, what roles they perform/assigned, how they perform against other threats/meta, etc.
Not Required but Optional: Provide replays featuring the core in battle.
Optional: Provide Sprites / Images of the Pokemon showcased.

For those who are still unsure about how to format this, here's an example below featuring Mega Salamence and Aegislash in Battle Spot Doubles as an example.

- Pokémon featured: Mega Salamence and Aegislash
- Metagame: Battle Spot Doubles
- Core Type: Bulky Offense
- Sets:

Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Aerilate
Level: 50
EVs: 44 Atk / 212 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Double-Edge
- Hyper Voice
- Draco Meteor / Fire Blast / Earthquake
- Protect

Aegislash @ Leftovers / Life Orb
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 100 SpA / 156 SpD
Modest Nature
- King's Shield
- Substitute / Wide Guard
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon

Mega Salamence is one of the top Mega Evolutions in the Battle Spot Doubles format blessed if powerful offensive Flying-type attacks thanks to Aerialte and rather high defensive stats for a Pokemon. One of the issues using Mega Salamence is its often prone to Dragon-, Fairy-, Ice-, and Rock-type attacks, all of which are rather common in the Battle Spot Doubles metagame. Enter Aegislash. What this Steel/Ghost-type offers for Mega Salamence are crucial resistences to these common offensive typings and be able to switch in these moves thanks to its massive 150 defense stats on both sides. Wide Guard allows Aegislash to protect Mega Salamence from spread damage such as Pixilate Hyper Voice from Mega Gardevoir/Sylveon, Rock Slide from Excadrill/Tyranitar/Landorus-T, Icy Wind from Suicune/Milotic, etc. From an offensive perspective, Aegislash can also threaten most of these Fairy- and Ice-types with its STAB Flash Cannon or Iron Head. Thanks to Mega Salamence's excellent "pre-Mega" ability Intimidate, this allows Aegislash to have a better time holding its own against powerful physical attackers like Mega Kangaskhan, and reduce the damage done by a physical SE Earthquake on the haunted Ghost Shield. Mega Salamence can handle most Fire-type Pokemon for Aegislash as it hits them an Aerilate-boosted Double Edge, or go for a Super Effective Earthquake as Aegislash King Shield's, or Wide Guards.

Alright hopefully by doing this, we'll have an archive of cores and sets to look back on for future battles, or reference. Feel free to post any cores that are viable!

The Good Cores Thread [SMOGON]

Sat, 17 Sep 2016 14:11:32 -0700

Hi, and welcome to the Good Cores Thread. Here, you can find good cores to use on your teams or submit some cores that you like to use.

TO SUBMIT A CORE

1-Fill this:

- Pokémon featured:
- Metagame:
- Core type(offensive/balanced/defensive):
- Sets:

2- Give a explanation (minimum 3 lines of text) of how the core works (ex. how they complement each other, what they can accomplish, matchup versus the current metagame).

3- (Not required) If you want, add a replay/battle code to showcase the core in a game.

Any core that I find to be sub optimal will be deleted. Sprites are cool if you want to add those.

New to Battling Help Me Please!

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 20:14:04 -0800

i'm new to battling in a competitive way, here's my current team. im having so-so to decent success with it but my knowledge of the the current meta and strats is very little. so any help or advice for my current team would be amazing. im open to all suggestions.

so here's my team:

Pangoro (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Scrappy
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Storm Throw

Gengar (M) @ Spell Tag
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Dark Pulse
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb

Lucario-Mega (M) @ Lucarionite
Ability: Adaptability
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Blaze Kick
- Bullet Punch
- Earthquake
- Drain Punch

Noivern (M) @ Dragon Fang
Ability: Telepathy
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpA
Lonely Nature
- Air Slash
- Roost
- Outrage
- Dragon Claw

Sylveon (M) @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Pixilate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball

Abomasnow (M) @ Icicle Plate
Ability: Snow Warning
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Ice Punch
- Wood Hammer
- Earthquake
- Brick Break

M-Mawile Casual/Ubers Team

Thu, 07 Jan 2016 08:16:34 -0800

So I have been playing pokemon since R/B and became a wiz at making "in-game" teams obviously but when it comes to competitive battling I am still very new. In pokemon X/Y I decided to give a crack at it and I didn't do so hot until after a few tries where I managed to make a team I was happy with and took a break for other games.

So this brings us to now, I got myself OR and my gf AS(her first pokemon game lol) and while she is going through learning the basics that I am helping her with I am looking to build a new team. Back in X/Y my first team consisted of me wanting to use Mega-Mawile, which apparently now is in Ubers, but the point is that it was bad, very bad. Like you have no idea how bad lol.. Well you might but anyways.. So after long thought I decided I wanted to retry a M-Mawile team with all the new knowledge I had gained. So far I have only had the chance/time to play 2 games on showdown with it(3 actually but 1 of them dc'ed mid game and never returned) in Ubers, but they seemed to turn out well for what the teams were worth. The first team was a baton pass team and the other was a Sunny day fire based team. The baton pass team gave up after I got rid of their stacked buffs with a dragon tail, and the fire team got sweeped by starmie after some field damage and slows.

So here is the team I have setup atm. I wanted a kind of Bulky Stall team to get the opponents team ready for me to release M-Mawile in their face:

Mawile-Mega @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 244 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Baton Pass

As I said I wanted chose M-Mawile as my mega because I just like the pokemon and wanted to see it work. The moveset is pretty standard, obviously using baton pass to make sure I don't get stuck against a magnezone or the like, and the other 3 moves for stab and well sucker punch is just awesome.

Dragonite @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 216 HP / 64 Atk / 228 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Dragon Claw
- Roost
- Fire Punch

My next thoughts were, what pokemon typing can take reduced damage from a fairy/steel's weaknesses and speed and matches my goals for the team? Dragon/Flying give the most support for reduced damage from the weaknesses. Out of the normal Dragon/fliers, Dragonite gives the right amount of bulk with the right moveset to also support Mawile's lack of speed. Using a standard Bulky build with Fire Punch as I am lacking fire type stab on the team.

Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Heal Bell
- Protect
- Hyper Voice

Next my thoughts were, what could absolutely break M-Mawile & Co? Status effects! Burns/Para's especially. So I wanted a bulky cleric type. Originally I thought of Umbreon as Umbreon is my all time favorite pokemon but I didn't want the fighting weakness/neutrality shared with M-mawile so I went with Sylveon. The build is a standard cleric build with Hyper Voice so it isn't just taunt bait.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave
- Gyro Ball
- Spikes

Next on my thought list was I not only want to rid myself of status but I want to wear the opposing team down while I set up for M-mawile. Ferrothorn obviously matched my bulky needs as well as giving another Twaver along with Spikes, next to some extra recovery from leech seed to go with leftovers.

Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Psyshock

Now that I had traps myself, I wanted a way to get rid of traps. Out of all the spinners Starmie seemed like it would be my best bet as it also has the stats to cover other areas such as Keldeo with psyshock. And for pokemon I can't paralyze such as ground pokemon who are usually physically based, a nice scald burn helps to reduce their damage output towards my teams already bulkiness.

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Damp
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Protect

And lastly I wanted a good lead. Someone bulky enough to go in and at the very least start up stealth rocks. I opted for Damp ability to protect against explosion as my moveset does not have a water stab so it would be wasted with torrent. He can SR, he can scout/stall with protect as well as a nice EQ stab and then Ice beam for those pesky EQ resisters.

Like I said I am still new to team building so I will take constructive criticism and ideas as I like to learn. Thanks for your time of reading my babble and may all your encounters be shiny!

battle resort

Tue, 05 Jan 2016 07:21:26 -0800

Hello, I know this isn't hardcore battling but I am not good at it so I need your help, I wanna beat the battle maison in ORAS to unlock the last battle with wally, but I don't know how to make a well balanced team. If you guys can help me with making a team I would really appreciate, it doesn't matter what kind of battle, if it is a good team it is al good, maybe post your winning team down below, I already toke a look at youtube but does teams don't work for me.
I will test all teams posted that you guys reply. Thanks

NEED HELP

Thu, 24 Dec 2015 10:23:34 -0800

Im Stuck On Putting Together a Good Smogon Ou Team
Please Put Suggestion In Comments Thx

advice on some team ideas please

Mon, 21 Dec 2015 11:13:01 -0800

^_^

welcome everyone and thanks for checking out the thread, any advice, suggestions and critique will be greatly appreciated

first off ill just catch you up on my current level, i've been playing since gen 1 so i know the basics but i am a total newb to competitive battling. I have been doing alot of online battles lately and i very much enjoy it so i would like to step up my game. I just realized how good the resources on this site are for competitive info so im going to be reading alot of threads here but other sources for info would be nice too

XY is my first pokemon game since emerald, i just started to dislike the new pokes so i would play fire red, emerald, and crystal over and over for years XD . so there are alot of moves and stuff introduced since then that im not familiar with, so any info on new gen stuffs would be great

i am kindof stubborn with the fact that i like to use pokemon i like, which is why i even came up with these teams ideas, so it would be great if i could make my preferred pokes work but im completely open to any team addition ideas

due to the fact that im not even sure these teams would work, i figured i would ask peoples general opinions on the idea before i put alot of work into refining the perfect team and breeding the pokes,

oh, and these teams are aimed towards double/triple battles because i really enjoy them and it seems to fit with the concept of 5 turn moves which are the base of my first two teams

keep in mind, i am not trying to win any championships here just make some decent comp teams for fun battles with friends

wonder room team

i like pokemon that are fast and hit hard, downside? paper thin defenses. answer? wonderoom? yes or no....

it seems wonderoom teams arent really popular on sites ive researched so i have to wonder if its even a good idea to go with.

alakazam and gengar are my all time two favs, so i would love to build the team around them, i also have a love for sceptile, infernape, and greninja. As for a sixth right now i got nothin cause all my other fav pokes have at least decent defense

also, and im not even sure if this would work, but would magic room w/asault vests work to double the new higher defense and also get rid of the one move lock from assauty vest? cause that would be awesome

trick room team

the only reason i wouldent use certain pokemon was because of horrible speed stats, and i really like being speedy with battling, just my style so trick room is the perfect answer for that... right?

now unlike wonder room, trick room seems to be very popular so it is alot easier for me to find info on teams and im also reassured that it will make for a decent comp team!

currently i'm thinking about snorlax(curse), dusknoir/chandelure, umbreon, gardevoir, mawile, swampert/aaggron/tyranitar sound decent?

the trick room team should be easy for me to figure out on my own because the vast amount of data out there, but any suggestions from people who already have a trickroom setup would be cool

eeveelution team

ever since gen two i wanted to use a team of the eevee and now there are alot more so i can fill up a team and have variety to choose from ^_^. question is, can i make them a comp team? or should i just make a for fun battle spot team?

some of them seem to be popular in the competitive scene and others not so much, my main thoughts on this are sylveon and umbreon the tanky ones and jolteon and espeon for the hard hitters

this one is more generall than the other two, i havent put as much thought into it myself, but if anyone thinks team eevee could be decent and has ideas id love to hear them

-x-x-x-

thank you so much for checking out my team ideas, any and all feedback is welcome, even if you just say it'll never work and im stupid for even thinking it XD =p

if people think these ideas could work then i will come up with some full team builds for everyone to rate

stay classy space cowboys( and cowgals)

Help Please!!!

Mon, 21 Dec 2015 10:19:56 -0800

So I am new to the competitive scene and I need some help with my team. In all 5 battles that I have played today, I've only won one(in one instance, I didn't get a single scratch my opponent's Pokemon). Maybe it has something to do with my team and I would really like some feedback.

This is for the VGC 2016 format

My team goes in the order I added my Pokemon in:

Pendulum(Weavile) @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
First up is weavile. I chose weavile mostly because it looks cool . Joking aside, this Pokemon has come through for me multiple times and almost always goes first. It will forever be my glass cannon. Knock off is good for getting rid of Leftovers or a Life Orb. Substitute into a Swords Dance is very useful as well. The EV spread is to be full on physical sweeper and a dragon buster at that. Not willing to change the EV spread.

Plinth(Marowak) @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Bonemerang
- Rock Slide

Marowak helps against Weavile's weakness to Fighting. Rock slide is for hacks(got a couple of flinches here and there :P ). Bonemerang for 200 damage as well as Earthquake for both targets. Double-Edge is kind of a random addition. Thick Club doubles the power of Marowak's physical attacks(yet to find one in game though ). Lightning Rod will be explained later. Meant to be played as a bulky attacker with its EV's in HP and Attack. Open to any changes you have to offer.

Pallet(Luxray) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpA
Lonely Nature
- Discharge
- Signal Beam
- Wild Charge
- Superpower

Intimidate for lowering physical attacks. Discharge will be useful when Marowak is out as he will be immune. Wild charge for STAB and targeting Flying and Water types. Signal Beam for Grass, Ghost, and Dark. This is meant to be an offensive attacker with a little bulk with 252 HP and attack with 252 Atk. Open to any changes. Wanted an electric type that knew a fighting type move to prevent Water and Ice types from walking all over Marowak. Open to any changes.

Pinion(Tentacruel) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe

Bold Nature
- Toxic Spikes
- Acupressure
- Scald
- Safeguard

Toxic Spikes for poisoning Pokemon when coming out, have yet to use it safely...
Accupressure to just go all over my stats and last on my field a little bit longer
Scald for water damage and possible burnage
Safeguard for insurance :D
Chose a poison type to resist Fairy types
Most of my team is weak to special attacks, so his EV's are in 240 Def and adding bulk with 252 HP
Don't want to get rid of Accupressure, open to anything else

RYOLO(Lucario-Mega) @ Lucarionite
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Blaze Kick
- Close Combat
- Extreme Speed

MY FAVORITE POKEMON EVER!!!
Bullet Punch for priority and a Fairy killing move
Blaze kick for covering Grass,Steel,Ground
Close Combat for STAB and for Steel,Rock, and Normal(mainly Kangashkan :P )
Extreme Speed for priority as well
This will be another Physical sweeper along with weavile, this will also help with its weakness to Fairy with Bullet Punch

Staraptor @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Aerial Ace
- Close Combat

Fastest bird alive!
U-turn to get out of dangerous situations
Close Combat for coverage
Aerial Ace to finish off a target
Brave Bird activates Reckless and boosts its power
Also protected by Electric type moves with Marowak
Staraptor is the last sweeper and close to being a glass cannon because of its typing. It can serve as protecting weavile from his 4x Fighting weakness

Please let me know of any changes of movesets, EV spread, items, or if I need to kick off a team member and replace with someone better(hope I don't have to do this).

Thank you in advance :D

Sorry :(

Mon, 21 Dec 2015 09:19:03 -0800

Sorry.
i just wanted to apologize for the madness my ignorance caused and i also do hold myself responsible for creating tons of trash in the forums. I am personally sorry to anyone i may have offended or infuriated. i'll refrain from answering criticism, cuz sometimes i take it as offense, which i mainly used to do, however nowadays i felt like criticism was just a point for betterment and no offense to me at all. my respond to MudkipLegend in my last post was merely a joke; *well no one believes this but i'll say anyway* and i had no intention to offend someone. I'll refrain from posting under titles where i get criticism and avoid these problems,hopefully it goes well from now on. Bye

Low Ladder Smogon NU team

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 09:37:06 -0800

Today's team is based around balanced offense. What I wanted to achieve was a better understanding of the current NU Metagame. The highest ladder rating I have achieved with this team is approximately 1204 coming from 1000. Here is the team:

SETS:

I need Lanturn here as a means to: stop mons with Volt Switch from easily pivoting, heal the status conditions from my team, cripple walls with Toxic and physical attackers with Scald burns and pivot with Volt Switch.

Vileplume served as an answer to strong Pokemon in the tier such as Sceptile, Steelix, Hariyama, Sawk (without Zen Headbutt), Lanturn, Quagsire etc. Giga Drain does a number on Rhydon, Quagsire and picks up a 2HKO on Lanturn, Sludge Bomb does a good chunk to Mega Audino amongst other Pokemon such as Sceptile and Exeggutor, all 2HKOs as well, Sleep Powder punishes switch ins into mons that beat Vileplume, minus Grass types as well as stop Pokemon from setting up and Moonlight for HP recovery. Sludge Bomb in conjunction with Moonlight provides a miniature means of stall.

Choice Banded Scyther is noticeably more powerful than the Eviolite or Choice Scarf set, unless the Eviolite Set is running Swords Dance. This high damage makes it more ideal for revenge killing and pivoting with U-Turn. All of moves on this set are obviously for STAB and coverage so no need to go into any calcs here

Hitmonchan serves mainly as my Rapid Spinner. The moveset is pretty basic as it fully capitalizes on the Iron Fist ability

Mixed Skuntank is more ideal for my team as the previous mons have a serious problem with dealing with Grass types (mainly Ferroseed), Poison types, Mega Audino and bulky Water types (especially Lanturn and Quagsire). I have Sucker Punch over Defog because my team really needs the priority. The 212 EVs in Special Attack guarantee a 50% chance to OHKO Max HP, Max Defense Quagsire with Hidden Power Grass. The rest of EVs were dumped into its Physical Attack stat for more powerful Sucker Punches.

Originally I had Rhydon on this team but obviously that made my matchups with Grass and Water particularly difficult. Piloswine provides Stealth Rock support, better bulk, less weaknesses, Ice STAB and priority, all which Rhydon doesn't have.

THREATS AND PROBLEMS

Anything that outspeeds Scyther and threatens a majority of this team: opposing Scyther, Pyroar, Archeops, Toxic Orb Guts Swellow, Sceptile
Ferroseed: If Hitmonchan is crippled in any way and Skuntank is removed, it's a guaranteed loss to Ferroseed
Quagsire/Lanturn: Without Grass coverage, these mons are a nuisance; extremely bulk and have access to a form of recovery and stall
Status Moves: Without Lanturn, this team has a problem switching in on Vileplume, Lanturn, Exeggutor, and pretty much any other Pokemon that can spread status, whether it be sleep, paralysis, burn or poison

Once again, thanks for reading my post! If you have any comments or suggestions, please don't be afraid to speak up. I'm rusty at this metagame so criticism or questions are appreciated. See you in the next one :D

Toxic stall

Sun, 13 Dec 2015 10:53:39 -0800

Hey guys I'm trying to build a toxic stall Pokemon but idk who to run it with and what moves to give them, besides the obvious toxic.

How Should I Build MegaRay?

Fri, 11 Dec 2015 19:34:46 -0800

Okay, so I'm jumping my brain back into competitive Pokemon, and I'm apparently even more serious as instead of building whatever I think is good or whatever I see win, I'm actually just looking at what a Pokemon has and working from there...and I'm crunching numbers! D: (OMG, he's doing MATH?! He must be cereal!)

So, for Doubles I would like my main sweeper to be MegaRay...like millions of others, I know I know! Keep in mind that I wanna run him because I like him as a Pokemon, because I noticed that MegaRay only hits base 115 Speed...nowadays, that's not much. I also noted that many of those who do outspeed him aren't playable in VGC 16 or don't seem like they would do a whole lot (Ninjask...I mean, maybe? I don't wanna sneeze on Accelgor, but you guys get where I'm going with this), but there are two I'm terrified of...Mewtwo and Alakazam, and I feel for good reason.

Sure, 100 SPD and 100 DEF isn't too bad, but if it doesn't break 130, in my eyes it's questionable...and I'm also running Naive. Both Mega and Non, for both Mewtwo and Alakazam, outspeed MegaRay at base...and they are both good sweepers so they will most likely have max SPEED investment. A good Psystrike or Psychic or Shadow Ball, maybe even a Dark Pulse, and that's all she wrote.

Because of this...I'm running Focus Sash. Lots of folks will be running that Life Orb, but I feel that MegaRay is too fine a glass cannon for that. If you're outsped, with a Life Orb, I can only see MegaRay either dropping without contributing or getting one good hit in and then dropping. Hello Xerneas! No, I didn't feel like playing Pokemon today, thanks for asking! I believe that with Focus Sash, he can almost be guaranteed two drops, and unless he's double focused he can also get a turn of setup.

Naturally I'm running full SPEED investment, but here is where it gets foggy for me, because I'm not sure how to best manage it and I don't have all the data of what's meta and what's common stored in my brain. My first issue is whether to run MegaRay Special, Physical, or Balanced. Having to take Dragon Ascent almost begs for Physical, and a lot of people build that considering he also likes to have Dragon Dance/Swords Dance, but would it be better to build Special with a fairly strong STAB physical move on the backburner? Also, what about balance? It's completely possible to run 252 SPE, 128 ATK 128 SPA investment on MegaRay, and with 180 base in both offensive stats he can still hit hard, but does balancing him between the two ultimately weaken him?

My other question was supposed to be whether it would be better to run Swords Dance w/Extreme Speed, or to run Dragon Dance w/ [Insert Other Offensive Move Here]...but upon further thought, I'm not sure what would be best at all! Maybe Life Orb is the best choice, or maybe Choice Scarf is the way to go. Instead of a Pokemon to sweep with him, why not one to support him and keep him alive, which brings up other items and Tailwind and Heal Pulse and Wish...or maybe we go SupportRay? Maybe we just go RegularRay and have Primal Kyogre and run Thunder...or how about Toxic Stall w/ Protect and Sub?

Ehh, man, I have no idea what's best to run...T_T

Pokemon Forever Association Draft Analysis (OU and UU)

Thu, 10 Dec 2015 12:41:17 -0800

Hey guys, as some of you may know Im running this season of the Pokemon Forever Association. Now even though this doesnt get as much fame as TTC or Some of the holiday cups, we are in week 5 in the season and things are running very smoothly. Now, to get back on the topic at hand im going to give everyone some insight on my team, and reasons I drafted the pokemon I did.

Note: Every 2 weeks we have a Free Agency draft where we can swap 1 pokemon per tier. I am going to do this report on my team at the moment, the pokemon I drafted will be added at the end.

Now, lets meet the Indianapolis Jolts

OU

1. Landorus-Therian

With my first pick, 6th overall I chose Landorus T. Not only is Landorus T viable in both VGC and OU meta games, but it also serves as a very diverse pokemon. It can be a physical wall, scarf'd threat, AV, Rocks setter, Suicide, and Physical sweeper. As you can see there are many ways I could use this pokemon in singles. Originally I decided to go with Scarf, but Ive been trying Physical wall which has worked to my advantage as well.

2. Starmie

With Lando T picked in the 2nd OU round I went with Starmie. Starmie is a very good pokemon because of its diverse move pool and natural special bulk. I also needed a Rapid Spinner since Excadrill was chosen by the Charlotte Beedrills coached by Mitchmaster24. A fast, water type with a diverse move pool was what I wanted and the spinner was one of the perks. I also wanted something to counter Mega Venusaur, because I can never find a way to kill that thing, so the psychic typing was great for that.

3. Mega Alakazam

The way this team is going so far is the nice solid core of fast sweepers that can make someone cry. Mega Alakazam has a base special attack of 175 when it megas, that alone was enough for me to draft it. Again, my mega venusaur problem came into effect, but still. With that special attack, this thing is threatening.

UU

1. Sharpedo

Did someone say rage... as in... RAGE SHARPEDO? Sharpedo came at a time when I thought to myself, I need more speed and physical attackers. As you can probably tell, my strategy is hyper offense. Sharpedo with the speed boost ability is probably one of the most underrated pokemon in the bulky water tier. With Dark being one of the best types in the game, a life orb'd anything does damage.

2. Darmanitan

Damintan is straight power.... what you want more? Base 145 attack with base 95 speed isnt enough for you? How about the sheer force ability which makes Flare Blitz 2HKO everything. It also serves as a pivot lead with its speed and access to U-Turn.

3. Toxicroak

With my 3rd and final UU pick I realized I need a fighting type and something to counter fairies. Toxicroak seems to do both, and with access to swords dance and drain punch, it can stay alive despite its natural bulk and 4x weakness to one of the best types in the game. Poison Jab helps out with Mega Gardevoir as well as Sylveon and Azumarill.

Those are the OU and UU picks for the Indianapolis Jolts, i'll be back as soon as possible with my RU and NU picks son, until then have a good one and remember #JoltsStrong

Help with this team fam

Mon, 07 Dec 2015 01:52:52 -0800

Hi guys its me ShinyEevee here making another post since I have no life other than games.
I've been asked by one of my friends to help make a team for them and I just need some help filling up the last slot and seeing if this team would work. Please consider I am very mediocre when it comes to building teams even after looking up some threads here in the forums so bear with me guys and a few of these pokes they wanted to have so I tried to put a place for them in the team.

Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Jolly
EV: 252hp / 108 Atk / 52 Def / 60 SpD/ 36 Spe
-Play Rough
-Sucker Punch
-Iron Head
-Protect

Breloom @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
4HP / 252Atk / 252 Spe
-Spore
-Mach punch
-Leech Seed
-Protect

Terrakion @ Lum berry
Ability: Justified
Nature: Adamant
4HP / 252Atk / 252 Spe
-Close Combat
-Rock Slide
-Protect
-Quick Guard

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Nature: Naive
252Atk / 116 SpA / 140 Spe
-Brave Bird
-Overheat
-Tailwind
-Protect

Aegislash @ Safety Googles
Ability: Stance Change
Nature Quiet
252HP / 100 SpA / 152 SpD

-Shadow Ball
-Flash Cannon
-Wide Guard
-King Shield

Ok the reasoning I have with these pokes are that they kinda seem to work well on paper where Aegislash is the answer to the weakness of moves such as EQ and Rock slide, Terrakion which allows to keep Kangaskhan and Hydreigon in check, Breloom since they wanted it on the team and everyone seems to be either biulding it with sash or scarf, mawile for dem fairy and drag control and talonflame for that mixed attacking tailwind type thingy.

Please make me cry and wonder what Im doing with my life as you guys rip this team to shreds as you give me ideas and help improve it.

REMEMBER I need a sixth poke so don't ask where it is, has happened when I showed this to the guy that wanted the team built.

Ok Im done <3

Top 10 Pokemon in VGC15!

Sun, 06 Dec 2015 19:45:17 -0800

Hello everyone, Marshkip here, bringing you my analysis of the top 10 best pokemon in VGC15's metagame. Please note that there IS personal bias in the video.

Let me know what you think down below or in the Youtube comments section

CHALK Analyses!

Thu, 03 Dec 2015 22:08:32 -0800

Today I’ll be discussing one of the most highly argument’d topic in the VGC 15 season. You already know from the title and I know how late I got all because of my laziness and getting distracted a lot by other things during the time of some holidays I took the time to write up this analyses for you guys, it’s better late than never right? I myself have used CHALK core teams to success and have really liked them, in this post I will cover up analyses on CHALK and other topics that can relate to it, let’s get started:

Artwork found on twitter (original owner unknown)

What is CHALK:
This weird looking word is an abbreviation for the words Cresselia, Heatran, Amoonguss, Landorus and Kangaskhan. This is actually a penta-core of mons used at great success in the VGC15 season as most of you are familiar with it, it even won Worlds 2015 in the hands of Shoma Honami (SHADEViera), this trend also originates from his homeland of Japan and many other players from around Japan were also using this common found core, soon this became meta in the US and came to us as the name of CHALK core.
Soon after CHALK cores/teams gave rise to the worlds was boring argument it also started the Playing to win argument amongst players which still clashes and goes on to this day. I feel like on the side of being playing to win argument even after using the weirdest mons in my teams and consider it more sensible of a side, as I feel that VGC players are not entertainers and will and have the full right to use the teams and mons that’ll make them win tournaments, in this case which is CHALK.

CHALK’s composition:
This part of the post will highlight what chalk core brings altogether and what are the main aspects that lead this core to success in the VGC 15 format.

Physical Attackers:
On the very first glance you will be noticing 2x physical attackers on this CHALK core these are landorus and kangaskhan both are known for dealing as much damage as possible and are considered great mons for their usual jobs, as like for the composition of a team these two handle the physically weak side of the metagame such as the well known rain modes (however they are somewhat threatened by it :P) and mega gardevoirs.

Special attackers:
Though less in the manner of power you will notice 3x mons on this CHALK core who can deal damage to opponents through special attacks, cresselia and amoonguss are known for their supportive roles however their offensive presence is important (discussed ahead) most of the special offense on the CHALK core comes from and is bounded by Heatran, heatran’s great offensive typing ’fire’ can hit many mons for good damage.

Speed Control:
Seriously who doesn’t loves speed control in their teams, similarly how can this popular CHALK core lack it. The speed control on the CHALK core is almost 100% confirmed to be with cresselia, cresselia can use different speed controls as it gains access to things like icy wind, thunder wave and trick room, extremely rare CHALK’s LO landorus variants carry the move rock tomb to aim OHKO’es on CHALK at a less chance of hax and for partial/emergency speed control.

Sufficient Bulk:
CHALK on it’s own is definitely extremely bulky at the very first glance. Kang’s natural bulk even if not invested bulky is enough for some matchups, is very bulky, similar are basic thoughts in the names of cresselia and amoonguss known well for their bulk, heatran’s great defensive typing also counts as something valuable for CHALK teams, Landorus’ intimidate adds to this bulk and furthermore the assault vest variants of landorus are also very tanky., all this makes CHALK live many attacks and reign supreme.

Efficient Offense:
Similar as it’s bulk all the CHALK embers can perform sufficient offensive work and hit hard a lot of meta mons, kang and landorus with heatran included are the major offensive power houses of the VGC format,whereas cress’ and amoonguss’ one or two yet weak attack can really back up the threats to CHALK core and have essential offensive presence for this core, as said before this will be discussed in depth with when and why in the individual member analyses headings.

Support:
A the first glance you notice mons most well known for there supportive presense, these include cresselia and amoonguss both can provide essential support roles like status spammer, redirectioner or speed control advantages. Not only with that, CHALK also supports it’s friends with abilities as well, most important ones are heatran’s flash fire to turn fire attacks aimed at amoonguss on it’s advantage, as well as landorus’ intimidate which cuts opposing mons’ attacks which becomes essential mainly for specific calculations related and makes amoonguss and cresselia takes lots of hits in general.

Priority:
Though less, but CHALK cores do pack priority of offense in the form of Kangaskhan, whether it is just an important fake out use or using sucker punch to target a faster mon hanging w/ slivers of health. Kangaskhan often becomes a big danger for mons faster than it for the same reasons. Priority gives this core a bit of relief from the speed tiers and adjustments or worries as long as they are not facing a priority matchup.

Hax:
Hax has been one of the dirtiest topics to discuss in VGC because of the fact how it can make up someone’s day and then ruin another one’s. it is bad because it is dependant entirely on RNG which again is mostly luck and you might have a bad luck day in the VGC lab. I consider it as a part of the game, landorus’ rock slides are the main topic of hax in CHALK or any other teams the 30% flinch chance is real! and if you get frozen from a cresselia’s ice beam then you should get the right to face palm yourself.

Common Questions about CHALK:

Is CHALK good:
Ofcourse it is good, this is proven through worlds 2015, where top finishing teams were CHALK or derivations of this core, the fact is this won’t work for everybody if their playstyle isn’t suiting it, which first of all gave rise to this question that many have.

Is CHALK predictable? :
No the most fun things about CHALK teams are that these are very unpredictable, you will see the combination of Heatran, Cresselia, Amoonguss, Landorus and Kangaskhan in team preview but how these beasts are played can be a completely different story. Most of this diversity found is in movesets, item choices and spreads, spreads in diversity vary over which pace of speed will CHALK play at.

Is CHALK a trick room Core:
As discussed beforehand, no, CHALK is not always a trick room core, it is true that the most effective teams of CHALK at worlds were trick room modes however other forms of speed controls do exist in CHALK teams.

Should I use CHALK? :
I do like CHALK and would be playing with it, however I will never recommend it to anyone, because how effective it seems for you can be only told by your own play style and comfort ability with it.

CHALK individual Member analyses:

Kangaskhan:
Type: Normal
Common Moves:
Fake out, Protect, Double-edge, Return, Sucker punch, Low kick, Power-Up-Punch.
Common Items:
Kangaskhanite 100% 200%
Common Reasons of use:
· Lead pair up synergies.
· Fake out support
· Sash breaker ability.
· Priority of offense.
· Easy to use Mega.

Kangaskhan has been one of the most dominating mega pokemons by the start of the VGC 2014 season, it’s power was doubted at many places in the 2015 season but then it dominated worlds and took home the championship which tells us that this mother is no joke. Kangaskhan has to be said the centre of this CHALK core, therefore being discussed the first in here. Kangaskhan is simple and an easy to use mega mon here it gives a lot of support to it’s team members as well as takes equally back from them. Fake out support can help heatran set up a substitute, cresselia set up a trick room as well as help others escape from an important attack or essential OHKO for your opponent, a substitution to which is the move protect, protect can help kang get away from attacks and let it’s partner do all the work, this on CHALK is mostly team dependency, this protect also fills up the lack of the essential protect on this chalk core usually. Double edge and return are personal preferences and also are the argument of power over recoil and vice versa. Similarly two moves power-up-punch and low kick are team dependant, low kick can get essential OHKO’es on opposing mons and kangs whereas p-u-p can negate burn effects and make kang a monster.
On this core kangaskhan makes an amazing lead pair up with literally all the CHALK members e.g. Cress + kang = fake out support + trick room; kang + landorus a proven combination in this season; kang + amoonguss is a classic lead combination from 2014 which still counts effective, with all these advantages kang makes an even harder opponent to beat. Kangaskhan can help in absorbing ghost type attacks for no damage aimed at cress. Kangaskhan’s diverse speed stats invested can range from 252+ (jolly) to 4 invested neutral.

Sample spreads:
Kangaskhan-Mega (F) @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
Level: 50
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Def / 20 SpD / 4 Spe ; 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature ; Jolly Nature
- Fake Out ; Protect
- Double-Edge ; Return
- Low Kick ; Power-up-Punch
- Sucker Punch

Cresselia
Type: Psychic
Common moves:
Trick room, Icy Wind, Thunder wave, Psychic, Ice Beam, Helping Hand, Moon light, Toxic, Skill Swap, Calm Mind.
Common items:
Sitrus berry, Rocky helmet, Leftovers, Mental Herb.
Common Reasons of use:
· Speed control
· Bulk
. Set-up-tank
· Chip damage + recovery annoyer.

Cresselia truly is the pokemon that will define on what pace of speed will the CHALK core run and it is not easy to guess it, it can carry any three moves all which are countered differently it can be trick room, icy wind or thunder wave, taking notes while keeping a a lead in the game is hard when you face a CHALK cresselia. Trick room signals a generally slower team of mons like heatran and kang not invested speedy, thunder wave is raw speed control so you can either expect the mons to be semi bulky or either fast, icy wind indicates and favors a faster CHALK team that you are facing. Chalk cresselia’s are the most unpredictable mons on these teams, their item choice and movesets vary from teams to teams and hard to predict as it gets soo many good moves to fit in the same teams. It’s variants can signal what movesets and variants it may be carrying, a rocky helmet variant is mostly to annoy kang and other contact physical attackers and their hits, these sets signal things like moon light to be on the mon, similarly if it is a sitrus variant you can expect a raw support mon generally good for supporting, leftovers lurks in the same lines of it’s usage, Mnetal herb is a wise choice for this mon as it’s supportive potential gets completely crippled by taunt and encore to cancel these threats mental herb is often seen used . It’s other moves are really effective and interesting; phychic can handle mons like amoonguss and other poison types really well as well as conkeldurr, ice beam is a very effective utility move needed to put a lot of pressure on offensive threats like mega salamence and landorus therian, it can even get OHKO’es on certain varying invested variants. Calm mind cresselia is an absolutely brute, it has been seen and proven well against players and teams who can’t handle it well. Moves like skill swap and toxic are rare but important slots on some teams, with the help of toxic cresselia can degrade bulky water type mons like rain modes which are a threat to this core (discussed ahead) and also other mons like CM cresselia or others who depends upon recovery like milotic. Skill swap again is a very interesting move that cresselia uses for itself and it’s partners, it can be used to pass levitate to the 4x weak to ground heatran, as well as reset intimidate or steal opposing useful abilities in a battle, skill swap is a proven form of played cresselia. Cresselia can take fighting attacks really well for kangaskhan and heatran as well as is a ground immunity makes a great companion to heatran.

Sample Spreads:
Cresselia @ Rocky Helmet ; Sitrus berry ; Leftovers ; Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 212 HP / 172 Def / 36 SpA / 68 SpD / 20 Spe ; All Bulk
Calm Nature ; Bold Nature ; Sassy Nature
- Skill Swap ; Helping Hand ; Toxic
- Moonlight ; Calm Mind
- Psychic ; Trick Room
- Icy Wind ; Ice Beam

Heatran:
Type: Fire, Steel
Common Moves:
Heat wave, Flamethrower, Earth power, Overheat, Substitute, Protect, Flash Cannon.
Common Items:
Shuca berry, Leftovers, Life orb (rare), Safety Goggles.
Common Reasons:
· Special attacker
· Bulky typing
· Flash fire
. Mega resistant (actually a thing)
· Anti amoonguss

Heatran, is one of the power houses of this CHALK core with sufficient support from partners it can deal a lot of damage to a lot of opponents. Fire is one of the most offensive typings in VGC and so can deal heaps of damage. Now for the moves: the usual ‘firepower’ favorite for many people is Heat wave which is an amazing spread attack to deal tons of damage to opponents, a replacement to which is made by flamethrower over the following common thoughts: it is more powerful than a spread attack like heat wave, it is better in accuracy, infact 100% accurate at targets, it is a much better offensive option against wide guard users especially aegislash, it prevents you from activating any accidental flash fire abilities which are mainly opposing heatran. Earth power is again a favorite of heatran which again is concerned with mirror matches that are heatrans, flash cannon and overheat are rather rare for the taste of usual CHALK players and users. Flash cannon takes part in handling rock types and fairies, whereas overheat is the thought of monstrous power; both these moves are somewhat a replacement for the slot of substitute, on some teams flash cannon > earth power goes the way. Last but the signature kind of move for this mon is Substitute an excellent technique to use use whenever acting lazy… not really; substitute is manly use for status and OHKO danger protection especially a big and strong defensive strategy for heatran and is proven before by many people. Heatran is a really good pokemon for shutting down charizards without HP ice and basically sun modes and also takes advantage from them, it’s ability is both an immunity and a boost for this mon. the best part about this mon is that it can resist all the STAB powered attacks from the most powerful megas like salamence, gardevoir, kangaskhan, charizard and well those, this is quite an un-discussed property of this mon that I thought should be highlighted in this post, as you will notice many variants of these mons have started to run things like namely low kick, HP ground or earth quakes to specifically counter this mon. it’s item choices have also made it a threat to this metagame. Shuca berry is a recent however the most popular trend amongst CHALK heatrans which counts as a survival for surely to landorus’ EQ as well as mirror matches of heatrans’ earth power. Second most popular is the leftovers’ choice; not much discussion to do for it other than it goes well with substitute, AKA the leftosub combo of item and move. Life orb variants are rare and present for more power, whereas safety goggles variants are equally non-popular but for amoonguss and brelooms who aim to spore spam this metagame. Heatran’s speed investments are some of the most unpredictable things in CHALK cores, it can range from 252 timid to 4 speed invested neutral, these are seriously a big thing for heatran.

Sample spreads:
Heatran @ Shuca Berry ; Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe ; EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 188 SpA / 20 SpD / 4 Spe
Timid Nature ; Modest Nature
- Heat Wave ; Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- Substitute ; Flash Cannon ; Overheat
- Protect

Amoonguss:
Typing: Grass, Poison
Common Moves:
Spore, Rage Powder, Protect, Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb.
Common Items:
Sitrus berry, Black Sludge, Rocky helmet, Mental herb.
Common Reasons of Use:
· Redirection support
· Trick room counter
· Status inflictor
· Chip damage

Amoonguss is a simple mon who is used as is for years now, why? Why you ask? There simply can’t be better moveset for this mon. Amoonguss is the second support variant of this CHALK core. Amoonguss can provide little however very essential support to this CHALK core and by far is the most predictable, like you know what moves it carries and stuff and can easily guess the 0 IV’s with a speed negating nature. This is mainly for just one pure but evil purpose which is countering trick room. Similarly, it’s true potential lies within the trick room modes of CHALK where it can spam spore everywhere and make it’s opponents completely helpless, on faster CHALK teams it counts as a counter to trick room modes. Rage powder is pure redirection support and further protection for it’s partners. Amoonguss can do little but essential work to some big threats to CHALK cores, threats like swampert and gastrodon who have the potential to somewhat shut down CHALK. On other teams amoonguss runs sludge bomb to get a bit of more damage on gardevoir and othe fairy types as well as grass types, it is a bit better against mirror matches. Amoonguss pure investments fall into it’s defenses and not even a single point is shared with the offenses whatsoever. It’s item choices are kind of interesting as well sitrus berry variants are there for general recovery after redirection and are the most common, whereas rocky helmet variants are present to irritate kangaskhan, black sludge also goes with recovery reasons and counters chip damage. Mental herb is again an amazing choice against taunts that can cripple it completely. Amoonguss is definitely built to live all the non-super effective hits in this format and also can take some super effective attacks well.

Sample Spreads:
Amoonguss @ Sitrus Berry ; Rocky helmet, Black Sludge, Mental Herb
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 196 Def / 92 SpD ; EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 44 SpD
Sassy Nature ; Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Protect
- Giga Drain ; Sludge Bomb
- Spore
- Rage Powder

Landorus-Therian :
Type: Ground, Flying
Common Moves:
Rock slide, Earthquake, U-turn, Knock off, Superpower, Stone Edge, Protect.
Common Items:
Assault vest, Choice Scarf, Life orb.
Common Reasons of use:
· Intimidate utility
· Ground and Paralyses immunity
· Spread damage
· Flinches
· Coverage

Landorus comes in as the last member of CHALK in this post. Landorus is most popular for it’s ability to use fast rock slides and spam flinches everywhere; similarly a great reason is also for spread damage in this format, nowadays it’s rock slides are mostly through an assault vest which is a safer variant discussed ahead, which are equally good under the speed control head of cresselia. Another big reason is it’s intimidate ability that can cut other’s attack stats upon switching in and directly help amoonguss and cresselia in taking a lot of attacks as well as activate special calculations in the EV spreads of usually kang and heatran, this also provides sufficient bulk to landorus itself. It’s further ground immunity means protection for heatran. Rock slide is said of a ten times before, Earthquake is a 100% STAB move which every good mon needs. The last two slots are quite optional and team dependant of course they provide coverage. U-turn is good for safer switch ins as well as a counter to the deadly yet rare perish trap strategies, super power is important fighting type coverage that can be used to beat a tons of mons in this format, it’s alternative is knock off a move that can be helpful in revealing information as well as beat the types that superpower can’t touch like ghost and phychic. Note; on some variants either knock off or super power are present, on others u-turn is absent for both these moves, so for stone edge (move for more power) Assault vest variants are the most common ones in CHALK cores which makes them a tank and they can now handle ice type attacks, scarfed variants are present for the sole purpose of spreading tons and tons of rock slide flinch hax, Life orb variants are there for more power and also carry protect with them.AV variants can interestingly range from 252/252/4 to very complex and bulky spreads.

Sample Spreads:
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Assault Vest ; Choice Scarf ; Life orb
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 148 HP / 100 Atk / 4 Def / 156 SpD / 96 Spe ; EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature ; Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Superpower ; Rock tomb
- Earthquake
- U-turn ; Knock off ; Stone Edge

Good Partners with CHALK:
This part of the post is to highlight some mons that go well with this CHALK core, these are found in common among the teams and you should expect to see when seeing one, let’s head into these mons:

Thundurus-Incarnate
Type: Flying, Electric
Common Moves:
Thunderbolt, Swagger, Thunder wave, Taunt, Protect, Hidden power ice.
Common Items:
Sitrus berry, Life orb.
Common Reasons of Use:
· More hax
· Speed control
· Ground immunity
· Gimmick blocker

With CHALK bound to take care of threats for the metagame thundurus can take on additional/unusual things that this team might be facing. Thundurus on some teams depends on pure luck and for others little means of offense. Another big reason for it’s usage is that it pairs up well with landorus which is quite well known and proven inside the metagame by many popular players. Thundurus further supports this core by means of speed control and be able to shut down other support pokemons like amoonguss and cresselia with it’s ability to taunt them. Parafusion is the annoying combination of thunder wave and confusion that thundurus can get access to, chances are that you’ll least likely make a move; not a good thing for a bad RNG day right? It truly isn’t, beware…. Thundurus gets thunderbolt on all of it’s different move sets, HP-ice, swagger, taunt, thunder wave and protect are optional over the 3 empty slots on this mon. HP-ice can do significant work to mega salamences and landorus. Mostly thundurus variants are bulky and present with sitrus berry, other offensive variants are with life orb and max speed and special attack investments.

Sample Spreads:
Thundurus (M) @ Sitrus Berry ; Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 148 HP / 152 Def / 4 SpA / 168 SpD / 36 Spe ; 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Bold Nature ; Calm Nature ; Modest Nature ; Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice] ; Protect ; Swagger
- Thunder Wave
- Taunt

Charizard:
Type: Fire, Flying
Common Moves:
Heat wave, flamethrower, Overheat, Protect, Solar beam, HP ground, Tailwind.
Common Items:
Charizardite y
Common Reasons of Use:
· Weather Control in CHALK.
· Specially Offensive mega option.
. Good synergy with 3x CHALK members.

Charizard as a raw pokemon in my opinion seems like the best member with CHALK. It almost fits as well in the mega slot like kangaskhan. It isn’t used the most with chalk because of the presence of thundurus being more common. Charizard can make amazing lead options with CHALK members alone because of typing and it’s amazing drought ability; it can be paired with cresselia so that it can get more health back from sun boosted moonlight recoveries and annoy it’s opponents. Charizard can pair up with heatran for immense offensive pressure to be put on your opponents; landorus + charizard is a perfect pin combination and is proven to be a strong combination overall. Charizard’s sun boost also degrades the rain weather, and threats bulky water types directly; overall protecting landorus and heatran from all that danger. Charizard can turn around the weather condition in CHALK’s favor which it doesn’t has the ability to often on. It’s moves are team dependant and personal taste dependant, other notes on them are that solar beam threatens water types which are a threat to CHALK, HP ground is kept for heatrans that can completely wall this mon. Tailwind is an option for some teams that wanna find it’s joy in speed control; truly a remarkable mon behind that.

Sample Spreads:
Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Def / 36 SpA / 4 SpD / 196 Spe
Modest Nature
- Flamethrower ; Heat wave
- Solar Beam
- Tailwind ; Overheat ; HP-ground
- Protect

Aegislash:
Type: Ghost, Steel
Common Moves:
Shadow ball, King’s Shield, Substitute, Wide Guard, Flash Cannon, Toxic, Shadow Sneak.
Common Items:
Safety Goggles. (wait….)
Common Reasons for use:
· Counters CHALK

Aegislash is a pokemon you don’t hear about a lot as a CHALK counter or you are probably thinking I this guy trolling me? Well no seriously, the fact that makes it weird is a safety goggles aegislash and I’ll explain. Aegislash is a pokemon that has the potential to threat all of the CHALK members how? Aegislash stands immune to kangaskhan’s attacks as long as it doesn’t attacks it because sucker punch guys aegislash threatens cresselia in the form of shadow ball, amoonguss is being threatened with substitute or safety goggles, it can shut down landorus’ offensive potential with it’s unforgiving wide guards; it can also block heatran’s heat waves however it is quite threatened by it which can be a problem for this mon. All the aspects of this mon are ideal for countering CHALK cores. Rare variants of aegislash do carry shadow sneak which is a good surprise priority move, whereas toxic can be used to completely stall out a few mons.

Sample Spreads:
Aegislash @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Shadow Ball
- King's Shield
- Wide Guard ; Substitute
- Flash Cannon ; Toxic

Threats to CHALK:
Now that we have discussed some pokemons that make good partners with this CHALK core, let’s talk some other mons and their combinations that are known well to beat this core that are the arch enemies of this core and can put tons of pressure on it.

Rain Mode: (Politoed + Ludicolo)

Politoed:
Type: Water
Common Moves:
Scald, Hydro pump, Rain Dance, Ice beam, Helping Hand, Protect, Encore, Perish song.
Common Items:
Sitrus berry, Leftovers, Choice Scarf, Wacan Berry (rare) , Eject button (rare).
Common Reasons of Use:
. Rain (weather control
. Partial support

Ludicolo:
Type: Grass, Water
Common Moves:
Fake out, Hydro Pump, Scald, Ice beam, Giga Drain, Scald.
Common Items:
Life orb (rare), Assault vest.
Common Reasons of Use:
. Swift Swim sweeper
. Fake out support
. Bulky utility.

Rain duo is by far the biggest threat to this CHALK core. Rain has potential to cripple all the members of CHALK core, how and why? Ludicolo is faster than any possible CHALK members can be, so it out prioritizes kang’s usual fake out, rain carries burns in the form of scalds that can cut through the power of physical attackers like landorus and kangaskhan also cresselia’s bulk is heavily affected by it. Rain’s weather effects can further ruin heatran’s offensive potential, rain can also knock out landorus and amoonguss with faster and strong ice beams. All this solid reasoning makes Rain such an amazing counter to CHALK.

Aegislash:
Re-read the paragraph for it above.

Blaziken:
Type: Fire, Fighting
Common Moves:
Overheat, HP-ice, Superpower, Flare blitz, Protect.
Common Items:
Life orb.
Common Reasons of use:
. Mixed Sweeper
. Faster offense

Blaziken is an odd mon to be discussed as a counter to CHALK but bear with me as I unfold it’s potential to beat CHALK. This would never come across my mind if I hadn’t seen Cybertron’s 2015 Worlds team who had a blaziken on it; he used this mon to counter CHALK teams and cores. However blaziken is one of the hardest pokemons to play considering the stat drops it gets from it’s most powerful attacks and it’s frail-nature. Blaziken is better to be paired up with a pokemon that uses the move helping hand in my opinion. Blaziken straight off has the potential to OHKO 4x CHALK members excluding cresselia only (which is actually a threat to it’s existence :P). Well blaziken has it’s regrets but it should be well supported and baked u when used; nonetheless it serves an amazing counter to the CHALK core as well.

Sample Spreads:
Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 56 Atk / 204 SpA / 244 Spe
Naive Nature
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Superpower
- Protect

Conclusion:
So guys this post is finally coming to an end here and I enjoyed writing it up and then typing it down and I excuse for my laziness due to which i wasn’t able to post it up in time and some other distractions that kept me from properly doing this post. In the end as always hope you liked it and enjoyed going through this post and maybe learned something (hopefully) also let me know what other topics should I highlight in my analyses or article. Reps are a great way of showing appreciation! *i need some, real bad!*. Bye for now!

Need advise for my Festive Feud team!

Wed, 02 Dec 2015 10:23:58 -0800

Hello PokémonForever!
As you may know, tomorrow marks the start of the Festive Feud battle competition.
If you don't know what that's about, basically it's a triple battle competition where only red, green and white pokémon are allowed to battle.
I'm planning to enter but I need help on building my team, this is what I have so far:

Team No. 01 - Rain
Politoed (Green) - Drizzle, Ice Beam to counter available grass types.
Ludicolo (Green) - Swift Swim sweeper.
Cradily (Green) - Rain support.
Rotom Wash (Red) - Talonflame counter.

I was thinking about this rain team as politoed, ludicolo and cradily are available as green pokémon, but I need your help with the rest.
If you think I should remove one of the previously listed pokémon, please go ahead and tell me, nothing is set in stone.
Thank you very much!

-Chafas

(VGC15) First "real" team I made Fire/Grass Pledge

Mon, 30 Nov 2015 12:24:21 -0800

Venusaur @ Black Sludge
Ability: Chlorophyll
Level: 50
EVs: 184 HP / 76 Def / 60 SpA / 188 SpD
Calm Nature
- Grass Pledge
- Protect
- Leech Seed
- Sludge Bomb

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
EVs: 188 HP / 196 Def / 4 SpA / 4 SpD / 116 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fire Pledge
- Protect
- Solar Beam
- Tailwind

Milotic @ Maranga Berry
Ability: Competitive
Level: 50
EVs: 228 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpA / 12 SpD / 12 Spe
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Icy Wind
- Recover
- Protect

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
Level: 66
EVs: 28 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Def / 4 SpD / 204 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Rock Slide
- Superpower

Sableye @ Mental Herb
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Quash
- Sunny Day
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt

Aegislash @ Safety Goggles (maybe weakness policy)
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 63
EVs: 248 HP / 124 Def / 132 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- King's Shield
- Flash Cannon
- Shadow Ball
- Wide Guard

I dont really have any explanation besides the Obvious and this is like the first real team i made for VGC without outright copying someone else

Watch this guy get rekt by my mono flying team

Sun, 29 Nov 2015 17:05:49 -0800

C6HG-WWWW-WW2U-H56U

And I beat this guy using mostly legends as well HS5W-WWWW-WW36-C4YW

I AM UNSTOPPABLE >:D

Let's make a Mega Charizard Y team!

Sun, 29 Nov 2015 12:02:12 -0800

What's up JFlynnites! Mega Charizard is one of the top mega evolutions in the VGC'15 metagame and I want to experiment with it, specifically for this reason

124+ SpA Mega Charizard Y Fire Blast vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Kangaskhan in Sun: 168-198 (92.8 - 109.3%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

Okay, not really

I just want to become more acquainted with the fiery lizard and how it functions in VGC. I have this core so far

Igneel (Charizard) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Level: 50
EVs: 124 SpA
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Heat Wave
- Protect
- Tailwind

The idea here is I want to run a Modest Charizard Y for maximum attack power. As for speed, probably to outspeed AV Landorus-T Jolly/Adamant by 1 point or maybe just Jolly Breloom, I don't know. Fire Blast does insane damage and I value power over accuracy here, Heat Wave is good spread damage and I need Protect to keep Zard out of danger. As for the last move, Tailwind is a filler basically. I don't feel I need Solar Beam, HP Ground would be nice for Heatran or maybe HP Ice for Mence and Landorus. I really don't know :s

Black Doom (Greninja) @ Life Orb
Ability: Torrent
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Grass Knot
- Ice Beam
- Protect
- Hidden Power [Ground]

This Greninja is to take out the bulky water types that wall Charizard, Terrakion, Landorus-T, dragons, Heatran, Aegislash, Bisharp, among any other Pokemon that takes super effective damage from these moves. HP Ground has a utility to make Greninja immune to Electric moves in particular Thunder Wave. I was thinking of running a Pledge combination with Charizard Y but the sun might contradict this goal

Heliolisk @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Solar Power
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Hyper Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Dark Pulse

I'd lead this with Charizard Y to immediately nuke something that threatens Charizard. Hyper Beam boosted by Solar Power does a huge amount of damage, almost as much as Sylveon's Hyper Beam which is really nice. Plus Hyper Beam hits more for neutral than a Pixilated one

Harime Nui (Sylveon) @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Pixilate
- Hyper Voice
- Shadow Ball
- Protect
- Helping Hand

Sylveon is here to partner with Charizard Y and spam spread moves. Helping Hand allows it to support the other team members by allowing them to pick up more OHKOs

What I need from you guys is suggestions for the last two members, probably tweaks to existing movesets, nicknames and any crazy gimmicks you can think off (like maybe Round Greninja with Sylveon or Parabolic Charge Heliolisk with M-Sceptile dual mega team).

Thanks for reading this post and don't be afraid to contribute! All criticism is invited!