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VGC Guide
Written by apocalypseArisen and Necrum
VGC What is VGC? VGC is the format used in official sanctioned tournaments run by The Pokémon Company. The ruleset and banlist changes with each season. Here's the current season's ruleset: Standard Ruleset
Team Cores If you're just starting out, it's recommended that you stick to one of the standard core types when building your team.
Threats There's Pokémon you will probably see a lot. Finding one or more checks or counters to these Pokémon are great ways to start builiding teams.
What to expect You'll probably want to know what you can expect to see in VGC matches most oftenly, and although the best way to know is to go ahead and battle, we'll list some of the most common team types and strategies used in VGC!
But it is not the only one, videos are a great way to learn too, for example. Cybertron's videos are very good and you can learn more than one thing by watching them. This is a link to his channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CybertronProductions . Final Advice Necrum - Be unpredictable! Now I'm not saying go out and pick every Pokemon no one uses, but try an unconventional move set, or a Pokemon that works surprisingly well in your team and no where else. Little things can throw off your opponent's groove and give you an edge at least for a little bit, which is important if you want to gain momentum. Omicron - Practice makes perfect! Battle a lot, you'll learn tons of things. You'll be better prepared to fight anything that comes towards you. Once you get the hang of things chances are you'll enjoy the format more with every battle.You'll also be better at predicting movesets and calculating speeds. Don't get discouraged, even the best lose. A lot. The rapid nature of the matches means you'll probably be playing more in less time than OU. Don't be too shy to ask questions either! Ask anyone you think might be able to help. Fresh perspectives might bring attention to issues you may not have seen.Or viceversa! One can learn as much from new players as they can learn from veterans. But most importantly, have fun! |
Let me just say that I am deeply appreciative of this guide as I've been working on regimenting my Doubles fu and getting my ass handed to me several times a week in the process.
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Glad someone did a VGC resource - pretty well too.
Heads up though, as of usage statistics on GTS and tourneys right now, you may wanna add mega Gardevoir and Sylveon to the OP's 'threats' section, purely for the Pixellate Hyper Voice bit, which is all too common especially now that we're in ORAS, and there's move tutors. Specs sylveon and Mega Gardevoir do that waaaay too often and it's quite potent. Also your spread moves section mentions surf and rock slide, but probably not the number 1 contender, earthquake. Mayyyybe because it goes without saying? But anyone at an introductory level should reeeeally be warned imo - Earthquake is 100 base, lowered to about 80 I think - but it still hits hard, hits a lot of types hard, and hits all mons. Plus earthquake users, again goes without saying, are usually heavy in attack, and a lot like Diggersby tho and Swampert are gonna have STAB to moooore than make up for the spread damage drop from doubles. It's worth mentioning to be sure to have at least one flying or levitate switch in for an obvious earthquake. I loooove Necrum's advice at the end. Following a copy paste mold for your whole damn team, and making the number one most obvious move every time will lose you more matches than win. Seriously, don't let yourself be obvious. In singles it's often more than easy to see an obvious switch, and there's only one target TO attack, and if you can't get out of that mindset - you'll play right into your opponent's hands in VGC. Y'know. If you're playing someone who doesn't suck. Oh yeah; prankster supports should probably get a mention I think? Since VGC is doubles, it's not uncommon to have a full prankster abuse set since it still has a teammate to dish out attacks while harassing an enemy team. Great resource though :D Hopefully it sees a lot of use. |
Yeah Mental Herb Prankster sets are very much in vogue at the moment, making Thundurus, Klefki, Meowstic, and Whimsicott all ubiquitous. Each of them has their own support pressure they put on too, and it's typical that they're the mon you will have to play around.
Lately my favorite defensive core has been Breloom/Starmie/Mega Sableye, with Taunt support from either Thundurus or Heatran. |
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Just gonna leave this here because it's fresh, hot, and preloaded with VGC sets instead of Smogon stuff like most calculators. http://nuggetbridge.com/damagecalc/ |
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