My first VGC tournament

[pokemontrainer_samuel]

Okay so I might be way too adventurous having the Regionals be my first Play! event, but I'm not there to win it really. First of all, all Play! events are held across the country, and I just so happen to be able to travel down during the Regionals. I'm quite new to VGC, started playing somewhere around September this year. I came across a pretty decent team some time ago, but that team was easily picked apart somehow. So I managed to change it into the team below, which was working quite well. But I can't remember what happened and I started crashing down the rankings as fast as I was climbing up earlier. So this is my team:

Sylveon @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Pixilate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Protect

I think this is pretty straight forward. The EV spread is copied from a player who managed to reach to the last World Championships.

Amoonguss @ Mental Herb
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 248 HP / 164 Def / 84 SpD
Bold Nature
- Giga Drain
- Protect
- Spore
- Rage Powder

Well, I have a friend tell me that he's redundant, especially when many people feel that Rage Powder doesn't seem to be benefiting my team in any way. But it's good in sporing people and taking grass hits and spores from opposing Amoongusses. Amoonguss also gives my team access to grass attacks, which I can use against Swampert (and it's Mega) and Gastrodon.

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Protect
- U-turn
- Flare Blitz

One might argue that YOLO bird is not useful in VGC, but I find it pretty useful. Protect let's me scout around a bit and U-Turn is there in case I get into any intimidates by accident. But it's not a poke I'd switch in with though. More of something to sacrifice early game to gain momentum, or to be a late game sweeper when all the threats are checked.

Lucario @ Lucarionite
Ability: Justified
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Aura Sphere
- Vacuum Wave
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Was chosen due to it's versatility, and also because I couldn't think of any better Mega. I use it mostly because of Flash cannon, and it's fighting moves (one is a priority move too) and because it's a special attacker, I can put HP on it, which I choose ice, due to ice moves never being enough in VGC (Genies, Amoonguss, Mega Salamence, all of them are weak to ice)

Mamoswine @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Thick Fat
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Rock Slide
- Icicle Crash

Mamoswine was initially a 6th man in my squad, whom I never used. However, I ended up using it quite often recently, due to it's coverage. However, I feel that Mamoswine has quite often left me dry, partly because it's a physical hitter and intimidate + burn would cripple it, plus it's weakness to fire, grass, and water makes it pretty frag.

Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 212 SpA
Modest Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Protect

Basically the Rotom Wash was suggested by a friend to replace Milotic, as Rotom's Hydro Pump could cover Lando and Heatran, while Thunderbolt would offer coverage against flying types. Will-O-Wisp is also good against physical hitters like Kangaskhan. Not quite sure about the EV spread on Rotom though, I think I stole that off Smogon.

In overall, my biggest weakness is fire, and I can't seem to handle sun teams. Other than that, I can't seem to understand why I keep losing. Maybe it's my terrible skills, but there are times when my weaknesses get exploited so badly and yet I still can't identify it. I hope you all bear with my noobiness xD

Thanks in advanced.

 

[skyburial]

So I took your team through a couple battles on Showdown just because with uncommon megas I try to be a little bit understanding (my most successful team is a bit unconventional), but please provide your reasons for the following choices:

Rotom-W over Thundurus-I
Mamoswine over Landorus-T

Unless you have a specific edge they're giving you, I don't see why you would do such a disservice to yourself. Mamoswine shares two weaknesses with Lucario, making it an unsafe switch. There's not much in the way of speed control on this team, so Thunder Wave would be a serious boon considering that Lucario has nothing to save it from dropping to Mega Salamence's Double Edge barring a Rage Powder from its buddy Amoongus. Double Genies are really useful on teams where the mega has a Fighting weakness, and they're also just good altogether. You don't have to go with cookiecutter sets either, if predictions are biting you in the ass.

One liberty I took when running your team was putting Tailwind on Talonflame, for the aforementioned lack of speed control. Tailwind would be useful, and so would Quick Quard considering that your Lucario doesn't run Inner Focus, which you might want to do to get the jump on Kang considering your Luc is entirely Special and the Justified boost is only for physical Attack. But definitely not U-Turn on that third slot. Talonflame doesn't get much use out of it in VGC.

Back to the subject of Luc, I found it pretty crippling that you chose to run Vacuum Wave over Protect, considering that 112 base speed is already plenty fast and the priority users that Lucario doesn't already smack down resist Fighting (Talonflame, Azumarill, Thundurus).

Last sentiment for now is that your team doesn't really have a way to deal with Cresselia. It gets to set up Calm Minds for free while its partner chops down your physical attackers. That was the biggest vulnerability I noticed on your team.

 

[pokemontrainer_samuel]

Thanks for taking time out to test my team. I really appreciate it :D

I actually switched Mamoswine with Lando-T, but it's Toler Webb's Jolly/Choice Band Lando-T. I picked Mamoswine because of his access to ice moves, but the huge number of weaknesses Mamoswine has outweighed the offensive coverage.

As for Rotom-W over Thundurus-I, Rotom-W has wisp to cripple physical attackers and water to fight fire, which my team is weak against. Plus, due to levitate, Rotom-W is only weak to grass, whereas Thundurus is weak to two of the most common attacks out there - ice (which has been a norm due to the prominence of the genies) and rock slide. Also having double genies would mean I'll have three pokes weak against ice and three pokes weak against rock (Amoonguss and Talonflame being the respective third pokes). Although I've seen plenty of people run two genies and an Amoonguss, but I'm not too convinced that having three flying types is really that good an idea.

Tailwind and quick guard is a very good idea IMO. But here comes the Four Moveset Syndrome: How do you fit these into Talonflame and get proper coverage. I might not be very experienced, so my opinion might not be that good, but U-Turn allows it to bypass Intimidate leads, which cripples Talonflame. It also let's it deal a SE hit against Cresselia, although I should admit, the damage it's too big. But that said, I also noticed that I haven't really used it much. I guess it's just like my Amoonguss' rage powder. Superb move but doesn't really fit into my team. So Tailwind might be more useful. Using quick guard would probably mean I need to give up on protect, which has been the turning point of many early game kills. I noticed a tendency of people to target Talonflame early on, so well predicted protects has always allowed me to gain momentum of the game. However, quick guard seems to have a lot of benefits as well, stopping pranksters and fake out users and also mirroring Talonflames, so I guess I'll test it out and see which is better.

Protect over Vacuum wave sounds like a good idea. Initially I thought that Mega Kang could outspeed it, but after looking at their base stats (and considering the fact that I'm running a timid nature full speed investment Lucario) I think it should be fine. Although mach punch does come in handy against TR teams, but I predict protect to be of more use since it's so fragile.

As for Cresselia, I don't really worry to much about it. Usually Talonflame is enough to take it out, and hitting it early with a Sylveon Shadow Ball can also deal some sufficient damage. Although maybe a more effective way of dealing with it is needed, since I've only managed to regularly successfully dispatch Cresselia from teams weaker than me (meaning below 1300 points on Showdown), and also because the Regionals is no plaything.

That said, I've got another change in my team. I switched Amoonguss with Breloom. Amoonguss was only in my team for spore and grass moves, as rage powder was a little redundant at most times. Breloom allows me to spore opponents before they attack me, and access to bullet seed (technician boosted) makes it a pretty good offensive force. Not to mention it's access to fighting moves gives me another option against Mega Kang. That said, it's weakness against Hyper Voice should be noted (including it's 4x weakness to flying). But so far it's been giving me more positive results compared to Amoonguss. Opinions?

 

[Nah]

In-battle skill may certainly be part of why you apparently lose a lot. But having a good team is half the battle too, and you'll get better as you keep battling and stuff.

I very much agree with no U-turn on Talonflame. The damage is absolutely pitiful and you can accomplish the same thing by manually switching out. U-Turn/Volt Switch works best on slow, bulky Pokemon who will move later and be able to take the hit, in order to bring in a teammate safely, and/or on Pokemon that can actually do significant damage with the move. Your team really needs one of its support options: Tailwind/Quick Guard/Taunt/Will-o-Wisp. Which one you go with (since you have to keep Protect) is something you'll have to play around with a bit, though skyburial is most likely right that Tailwind is the best option; your team as it is now is kinda slow outside of Talonflame and Mega Lucario.

You also don't really want Life Orb on the bird either. The power increase is nice, but Talonflame is a frail 'mon that uses 2 recoil moves to attack and is 4x weak to a common spread move. LO just makes it die real fast. Sharp Beak, Flame Plate/Charcoal, Expert Belt, or Lum Berry are probably better alternatives. Not really sure what item it should use tbh, I just know no Life Orb.

 

[skyburial]

Breloom dropped in usage quite a bit after Japan Sand lost favor as a team comp, but Tyranitar is making a comeback lately and it's a good idea to have a counter for it.

If you go with Tailwind on Talonflame I'd recommend investing 28 EV's into Sylveon's Speed so it can outspeed Jolly Kangaskhan while Tailwind is up. Like Nah said, Life Orb really reduces Talonflame's utility in VGC - I second Sharp Beak as an item, or a Focus Sash to let you tank a Rock Slide or Thunder Bolt. You're probably sashing your Breloom so the sash would be something to try next to Amoongus or a Grass type with more natural bulk.

Regardless, though, once you take the Life Orb off Talonflame, it would find a good home on that Sylveon. Life Orb can actually get the OHKO on Aegislash Blade:

252+ SpA Sylveon Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Aegislash-Blade: 118-140 (70.6 - 83.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Sylveon Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 164 SpD Aegislash-Blade: 153-182 (91.6 - 108.9%) -- 50% chance to OHKO

Just Sayin'.

 

[pokemontrainer_samuel]

Thanks for replying. Sounds like some good ideas. I actually had LO on Talonflame because it's a YOLO Bird, so people told me that it was not meant to remain for long on the field - either to be sacrificed to gain momentum early on, or to come out as a late game sweeper. But since it's running Tailwind, I guess it's logical for it to survive longer. I finally settled with my Talonflame's moveset, thanks to the both of you. The final set is:

Talonflame @ Focus Sash
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Protect
- Tailwind
- Flare Blitz

My Sylveon is also now 228 HP/252 SpA/28 Speed, which is a good idea since 228 HP and 232 HP Evs has no difference at level 50, while there is 1 speed difference between 28 Speed and 24 Speed EVs.

Since the Sash is on Talonflame, I decided to put Choice Scarf on Breloom. As much as I dislike Choice Items, but this one seems pretty effective, especially when I lead, provided I don't get left hanging like usual. I've decided to run this set:
Breloom (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Spore
- Rock Tomb

The lack of protect is a worry, but Rock Tomb does give me an extra option, especially with Choice Scarf it basically outspeeds a lot of mons. TR could potentially be a problem to it, so I'd either have to switch it out or use Mach Punch, although it might be useless against Psychic mons.

 

[PlatinumDude]

Thanks for replying. Sounds like some good ideas. I actually had LO on Talonflame because it's a YOLO Bird, so people told me that it was not meant to remain for long on the field - either to be sacrificed to gain momentum early on, or to come out as a late game sweeper. But since it's running Tailwind, I guess it's logical for it to survive longer. I finally settled with my Talonflame's moveset, thanks to the both of you. The final set is:

Talonflame @ Focus Sash
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Protect
- Tailwind
- Flare Blitz

My Sylveon is also now 228 HP/252 SpA/28 Speed, which is a good idea since 228 HP and 232 HP Evs has no difference at level 50, while there is 1 speed difference between 28 Speed and 24 Speed EVs.

Since the Sash is on Talonflame, I decided to put Choice Scarf on Breloom. As much as I dislike Choice Items, but this one seems pretty effective, especially when I lead, provided I don't get left hanging like usual. I've decided to run this set:
Breloom (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Spore
- Rock Tomb

The lack of protect is a worry, but Rock Tomb does give me an extra option, especially with Choice Scarf it basically outspeeds a lot of mons. TR could potentially be a problem to it, so I'd either have to switch it out or use Mach Punch, although it might be useless against Psychic mons.

Focus Sash is counterproductive with Brave Bird, since it only works while Talonflame is at full health. If Talonflame uses Brave Bird while it's healthy, Focus Sash will be useless. If Talonflame's Focus Sash activates, Talonflame will KO itself if it uses Brave Bird. Sharp Beak or Sky Plate are the better items to use here, as either powers up Brave Bird without any repercussions.

 

[pokemontrainer_samuel]

Thanks. I guess you got that right. I've never really fancied sharp beak but I guess I don't have much choice lol.