[VGC 2014] A Team for Beginners

Discussion in 'Rate My Team' started by Virizion, Sep 25, 2014.

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  1. Virizion

    Virizion ~ Taste the Rainbow ~

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    PO Trainer Name:
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    For those who don't know, I am huge on VGC (more than 95% of PO Tiers) and is arguably my best played tier. While I haven't been able to attend any real-life events yet, apart from the Nottingham Streetpass UK Tournament which is in the start of November, this team has been really successful and is easy to pick up for beginners in minutes. I have however, achieved top 10 on the ladder with it on the Pokemon Showdown ladder (but sadly then I went on tilt :c ), so it does prove a good achievement. While the VGC 2014 format is coming to an end, there are still regionals within the next couple of weekends for the US, Streetpass Tournaments for the UK, and friendlies internationally. There is also still the #VGC chat room on Pokemon Showdown, or the Nugget Bridge forums (where I am known as Pokester), both which have always been really active, and both hold a fantastic community.

    The ruleset for VGC 2014 has been a simple but interesting one: Kalos-native Pokemon apart from Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde, and Mewtwo have been allowed, no pre-tutor moves, and that's about it. No Cresselia, no Hitmontop, no genies, more fun.

    This team in particular has been focused around the popular Amoonguss + Azumarill core, which I somewhat revived in VGC 2014, and it has some really good synergy with the team as well. There's a few playstyles in this current metagame, such as Trick Room, Weather, Soak Teams, and SmeargleKhan - however this team isn't really any of them (even though it has Tyranitar, which I'll explain later). It's an easy to pick up team, and I'd recommend that you have a go if you are interested in this format!

    So without further ado, here is the team:

    [​IMG]

    Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
    Trait: Regenerator
    EVs: 236 HP / 108 Def / 164 SDef
    Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
    - Spore
    - Rage Powder
    - Giga Drain
    - Protect

    Arguably the most standard Amoonguss set, and for good reason - it can take a hit, spore something to sleep, or redirect attacks while supporting out Azumarill at the same time. While Amoonguss still gets OHKO'd from say a Psychic from Choice Specs Gardevoir (Mega is barely a thing), Amoonguss is still an excellent Pokemon in the format and a fantastic addition to any team. Protect is a very common move in VGC, and it allows me to scout out what the opponent wants to do, potentially finding some hidden moves that one wouldn't expect, and it also ignores Fake Out from threats such as (Mega) Kangaskhan, which is always useful. This Pokemon has great synergy with Azumarill and Talonflame and loves to redirect attacks with Rage Powder.

    [​IMG]

    Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
    Trait: Huge Power
    EVs: 228 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def / 4 SDef / 12 Spd
    Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
    - Belly Drum
    - Aqua Jet
    - Play Rough
    - Protect

    Part 2 of my favourite core, of Amoonguss and Azumarill. This set focuses on using Belly Drum when Amoonguss uses Rage Powder, allowing for an easy +6 and an easy sweep. 228 EVs ensures Azzy to hit 50% health when Belly Drum is used, which allows it to consume its Sitrus Berry, getting up at an easy 75%. 12 Speed also is used to speed creep other Base 50's such as Mega Mawile, which is always nice. Aqua Jet is there for priority, which what makes this set really good thanks to it's +1 priority, and Play Rough is just for there for a nice reliable STAB. Again, Protect is used to scout out any potentials moves that I should look out for.

    [​IMG]

    Talonflame @ Lum Berry
    Trait: Gale Wings
    EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
    Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
    - Flare Blitz
    - Brave Bird
    - Tailwind
    - Protect

    With the Amoonguss and Azumarill strategy wrecking through unprepared teams, there need to be something that can deal with Grass types, most notably Ferrothorn and Amoonguss. Because this set was used a while back, and is perfect for beginners, I run a straight out max Attack and max Speed Talonflame, which is great for keeping up offensive momentum. I particularly wanted to run Lum Berry on this set, because it proves a good counter to SmeargleKhan, and can therefore become threatened with a Flare Blitz to the face. Both of it's STAB options are great for smashing teams through, and it is always useful to help a late-game sweep with either Azumarill or Tyranitar. Tailwind is a great move to add, because since my team is quite slow, it would otherwise run into problems with Speed Control, and it's very easy to use, thanks to it's +1 priority and not being outsped by a Prankster Taunt from Sableye, for example. I always like to run Protect on my Talonflame, for to see what my opponent likes to do, as well as the fact that it could always help me see if any threats such as Lucario carries Rock Slide, with would OHKO it. Nevertheless, Talonflame is a great addition to the team and it should never be underestimated in any VGC battle.

    As for Other Options, Sejun Park's Talonflame is an alternative with Tailwind support over Quick Guard or Taunt, a Life Orb, and a Hasty Nature to outspeed other 252 Speed Talonflame (or speed tie at worst). Overheat is also a very good move to run on it and has gained a lot more popularity ever since Sejun won the World Championships with it. You could also run Will-O-Wisp over a support move on Talonflame, which is useful for burning threats such as Bisharp and Mega Kangaskhan or (Mega) Gyarados.

    [​IMG]

    Mawile @ Mawilite
    Trait: Intimidate -> Huge Power
    EVs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 4 Def / 180 SDef / 20 Spd
    Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
    - Iron Head
    - Play Rough
    - Sucker Punch
    - Protect

    Anybody who knows Ray Rizzo knows why this Mega Mawile is used on my team. A Careful Nature is utilised with 252 HP and 180 SDef EVs to survive Timid Choice Specs Salamence 93.7% of the time with Fire Blast (6.3% chance to OHKO), as well as Modest 252 SpAtk Charizard-Y only deals 77.7 – 92.9 % damage with Heat Wave outside of Sun, which is also one reason why I have Tyranitar on the team. 52 Atk EVs let Mawile OHKO 252 HP Tyranitar 93.8 % of the time with Play Rough, and since you're going to be 2HKO'ing things anyways, almost the rest of the investment was used to speed creep other Mawile's. Remember, since VGC puts Pokemon at Level 50 and more damage is dealt, EVs are an important factor when building a Pokemon, therefore the extra 4 EVs are used into Defense so it can take that extra hit that it needs to.

    [​IMG]

    Tyranitar @ Weakness Policy
    Trait: Sand Stream
    EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
    Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
    - Rock Slide
    - Crunch
    - Dragon Dance
    - Protect

    Even though I prefer Special T-Tar, this team utilises in a Dragon Dance variant for speed control, which is especially useful because I can't always rely on Tailwind support for Speed Control. Also, by adding Weakness Policy, I can take a hit from Power-Up-Punch from Mega Kangaskhan at full HP and can OHKO the standard 4/0 variant after Sandstorm damage with a Crunch attack, provided that I set-up a Dragon Dance in the same turn. Tyranitar also is used to be a check to Mega Charizard-Y and Talonflame, two other Pokemon that Amoonguss and Azumarill are threatened by. Once again, I love to run Protect to scout out potential movesets, stall out my opponents Protect if it's too risky to Dragon Dance, as well as it's a great all-round move that should always be considered on a non-choiced Pokemon (which you can only have 3 of anyway, thanks to the Item Clause in the VGC format). Nothing else to say really, however do keep in mind that a Timid Special variant with either keeping Weakness Policy or using Life Orb (if you can) is always an option, and don't assume that physical variants are the only kind of T-Tar about.

    [​IMG]

    Salamence @ Choice Specs
    Trait: Intimidate
    EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
    Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
    - Draco Meteor
    - Dragon Pulse
    - Fire Blast
    - Hydro Pump

    And finally, we have Salamence. While a Physical variant is the most popular type of Mence in Singles, in Doubles it can be very inferior to Garchomp and a Special variant (with a possibility of carrying Rock Slide) is on 95% of all Salamence. Also packing another Intimidater on my team, being the fantastic ability it is, I could either gone for Choice Scarf Salamence or Choice Specs Salamence, however I felt that this team needed to counter Mega Kangaskhan and other physical attackers in many ways, shapes, and forms so therefore I decided to utilise in one that likes to wear glasses. Draco Meteor is a ridiculously powerful that can OHKO so many frail threats that exist in the tier, especially non-Scarf Hydreigon and 199 Garchomp (however, don't expect this to be too common, but not forgotten). Fire Blast and Hydro Pump are there for great coverage options, however feel free to run Flamethrower over Fire Blast if you wish to KO threats such as a weakened Mega Mawile safely. While people that play Singles don't expect Salamence to even learn Hydro Pump, in VGC it is a common move alongside Flamethrower and Rock Slide and it is especially useful for KO'ing bulky Pokemon such as Rotom-Heat without having the downside of halving your Special Attack, but just remember - the RNG always wins.

    So yeah, there is the VGC 2014 team, which is great for beginners, and by far one of my favourite teams that I have ever created. Feel free to try it out on Pokemon Online Tournaments or on the Pokemon Showdown ladder, and a way to make use of the format coming to a close, as it has been a fantastic season.

    For more information if you are interested in this meta, Nugget Bridge, as mentioned before, is a great way to help people get started (it also has very notable players such as Cybertron and Ray), as well as checking out VGC Poketubers such as JFlynn and Verlisify if you want to get interested into playing VGC Singles .

    Importable
    Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
    Trait: Regenerator
    EVs: 236 HP / 108 Def / 164 SDef
    Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
    - Spore
    - Rage Powder
    - Giga Drain
    - Protect

    Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
    Trait: Huge Power
    EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Spd
    Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
    - Belly Drum
    - Aqua Jet
    - Play Rough
    - Protect

    Talonflame @ Lum Berry
    Trait: Gale Wings
    EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
    Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
    - Flare Blitz
    - Brave Bird
    - Tailwind
    - Protect

    Mawile @ Mawilite
    Trait: Intimidate
    EVs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 4 Def / 180 SDef / 20 Spd
    Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
    - Iron Head
    - Play Rough
    - Sucker Punch
    - Protect

    Tyranitar @ Weakness Policy
    Trait: Sand Stream
    EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
    Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
    - Rock Slide
    - Crunch
    - Dragon Dance
    - Protect

    Salamence @ Choice Specs
    Trait: Intimidate
    EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
    Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
    - Draco Meteor
    - Dragon Pulse
    - Fire Blast
    - Hydro Pump

    Have fun with the team, hope to look forward for VGC 2015!
     
    Last edited: Sep 28, 2014
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  2. Virizion

    Virizion ~ Taste the Rainbow ~

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    Virizion
    Reserved for Threat List and Shoutouts (if I have the time!). Let's try and make VGC more popular on PO.

    Threat List (WIP)
    Bisharp is always something I hate to face on this team. It can take advantage of both of my Intimidate users, plus Bisharp is normally always paired with a Pokemon that can break my Amoonguss+Azumarill core, and/or something that disrupts my Talonflame from sweeping. It's not the biggest threat to my team, but definitely an annoying one that I have to play around well.

    Charizard, while not the biggest threat to my team, is still a problem and it prevents me from leading with Amoonguss and Azumarill about 98% of the time. Depending on the team preview, if I do suspect a Mega Charizard X on my opponents team, I do very rarely take the risk of leading with the core, however it doesn't normally work out. In VGC, you have to take risks at times, however you sometimes have an easy way of winning, but it really does depend on the team preview quite a lot of the time and if you have the team advantage or not.

    Talonflame is a really annoying Pokémon to face up against. Any Talonflame, especially Life Orb and Choice Band variants, absolutely demolish my main core of Amoonguss, Azumarill and my own Talonflame. Even though Tyranitar is a check to it, U-Turn has been rising up in usage again, especially for to deal huge chunks of damage onto it.

    (Mega) Venusaur is a really big threat to this team. The team has to rely on Talonflame KO'ing it, which isn't bad, however it does come at the cost of losing almost half of it's HP very fast, not to mention it's frailty and attacks from other Pokémon as well.
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2014
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  3. Mysterion

    Mysterion Never give up

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    Since Thursday there wasn't a single rate, the VGC player base here is very small ;_;
    This team looks solid, but so far I didn't play that much VGC either, so I just give a few tips. On Talonflame I always prefer WoW, because if you pair it with Amoonguss you are able to burn opposing physical threats like Kangaskhan or Gyarados while Amoonguss tanks the hits with Rage Powder. But i guess that's just preference.

    For the EV spreads: On Azumarill I would go for 228HP/252atk/12def/4sdef/12 spd. This way you gain an extra point, while still activating the sitrus berry after a belly drum.
    And on Tyranitar I would remove 8 atk and put them into def and sdef, to also get an extra point.
    I don't think Talonflame needs max speed. 164 Speed EVs might be better to outspeed Jolly Kangaskhans which could Sucker Punch you, if you want to try Wow, use 188 to outspeed Jolly Garchomps and burn them before they can attack. Then 4EVs in def and sdef and the rest into HP.
     
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  4. Virizion

    Virizion ~ Taste the Rainbow ~

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    PO Trainer Name:
    Virizion
    Ikr :[

    Will-O-Wisp is an okay move on Talonflame, it also helps against threats such as Bisharp thinking they can Sucker Punch you, and yeah it can help against Mega Kangaskhan, and especially (Mega) Gyarados as well. The only problem is you have to sacrifice one of your support options so you can do that, but it's always a good move to put on Talonflame.

    That's a really good spread, I had it on Pokemon Showdown in the past but I forgot to change the EVs on my 3DS lol. Thanks for reminding me!

    Yeah that can work as well, I just like to run as much attack as possible for that one scenario but it's definitely a good idea.

    164/188 Speed is used on quite a couple of Talonflame and I see why you did that. I'll add it in the Other Options though, I just like to try and outspeed other Talonflame as much as possible, which is useful in the event that Tyranitar isn't there.

    Thanks for the rate man!
     
  5. Feena

    Feena New Member

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    Feena
    VGC room is always empty, it´s a shame cause i would like to play VGC battles
     
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