I had no idea what I wanted to use. I was stuck. I asked my good friend Luka Trejgurt (Zephyl) to build me a team, since I hated everything I built. He added a bunch of stuff that he wanted to see me try, and that he thought would help me get me outside of my comfort zone. And it did end up working, and turned me onto a few Pokemon and move sets that I had previously deemed bad.
I have no idea unfortunately how he went about team building it, so I will just give you what I know.
Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 SpD
Calm Nature
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Protect
The team Started off with Amoongus, As Luka thought that it is a solid Pokemon overall and just has some amazing match ups on its own.
Spore is a move that I love, however you should never rely on it. In my top 4 match against Gramgus the entire set came down to whether or not he could get a first turn wake up and KO my Landorus with his +6 Aqua Jet. Rage Powder is just an amazing move in general, and has some amazing usage, not only for defense, but for offense as well. I could usually redirect a Kangaskhan's attack away from Gardevoir, which would then usually put in range of Gardevoir's Hyper Voice if they were only around 4 HP. Giga Drain was just for STAB, and for the bit of recovery. I would have used Sludge Bomb on this team just to give it more Sylveon hate, but I got lazy and didn't change it. Giga Drain did help me out in my round 1 match though, as it allowed me to KO my opponents low HP Heatran.
The spread was something that Luka came up with, and I probably would have changed it if it wasn't the night before the event. Psychic from max special attack Modest Mega Gardevoir has a 12.5% chance to KO. The Defense investment makes it so that an Adamant Mega Kangaskhan's Double-Edge only has a small chance to KO. At this point however, Kangaskhan would have a better chance to get a Critical Hit, than to get the damage roll needed to KO Amoongus.
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 30 Def
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stone Edge
- Protect
Landorus-T is just a Pokemon I love so much in this game. Intimidate is so useful, and I love shuffling it with U-Turn. Up until this point in the year, I had only ever used Choice Scarfed Landorus-T, which is why I felt a bit uncomfortable using this at first. The set is pretty self explanatory, but I'll go through the basics as well. Stone Edge allows me to KO Charizard through Wide Guard, which most teams tend to carry this day in the form of Aegislash, Swampert or Conkeldurr. Hidden Power Ice is an amazing move for opposing Landorus, and just allows you to net a surprise KO on non-Avested variants. Earth Power is such a strong move due to the abundance of Wide Guard, and allows me to hit Aegislash super effectively 100% of the time I get an attack off onto it. Another really cool thing about this is that it allows you to KO standard Heatran through their Shuca Berry.
One thing that frustrates me about people who use mixed pokemon with HP Ice is that they always give up the attack IV instead of the HP. 30 HP and 30 Defense IVs give you the same Hidden Power Ice as 30 Attack and 30 Defense. This actually allows you one more point in attack, which you wouldn't otherwise get. I'm not sure if it effects any major calcs, but I would rather be safe than sorry for when that rare time rolls around. The bulk basically means nothing on this type of Landorus-T, since it wont be taking too many attacks otherwise.
Arcanine @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Wild Charge
- Extreme Speed
- Close Combat
Arcanine in general has been a taboo Pokemon for me. I always felt it underwhelming at all of it's jobs. Luka however wanted to use it here, and I have to say that it pulled its weight for the tournament. The moves are very self explanatory. Crunch is just a bad option and doesn't get any KO's, which is why it was left off the set.
Choice Band does so much damage. I need max attack investment however to get the guaranteed one-hit KO on 4 Hp Mega Kangaskhan. I went with Jolly max speed so I could speed Check opposing Landorus-T. That's all there really is to say about Arcanine, it does damage.
Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 180 SpA / 12 SpD / 60 Spe
Modest Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Wide Guard
- Substitute
- King's Shield
BillaSlash is an idea that I had quite a long time ago, but was scared to test because I thought it would be just bad. I ended up loving it. The only problem with this is that it can't touch Kangaskhan, which just utterly sucks. I may try this out again but with Flash Cannon, just so I can try and not get completely walled by certain normal types. We chose BillaSlash just because having both Wide Guard and Substitute could create completely different, but just as effective end games situations on their own. Wide Guard just helps keep Gardevoir healthy, and allows it to stay around longer.
The spread was just for general bulk. There was nothing it was meant to specifically survive. The speed investment allows me to be semi-fast, although I think it is a very little amount for a Substitute Aegislash.
Gardevoir-Mega @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Pixilate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 120 SpA / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Protect
Gardevoir was the main mega Pokemon of the team. Everything was built around trying to have Gardevoir sweep through opponents teams. The other option was to have Gardevoir lead off however, and start denting opponents teams, so that other Pokemon could come in late game and pick off
The spread is nothing too special. At -1 it takes a lot of hits including Adamant Mega Kangaskhan's Double-Edge. I like HP Ground in this set just because it can help me hit Heatran. I love the Heatran hate, and personally I just have never been too good at effectively using Trick Room, so this seemed like a good option, however I did consider running Imprison just for the Gardevoir mirror match, as well as to help against Sylveon.
Thundurus @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Def / 4 SpA / 56 SpD / 100 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Protect
Thundurus doesnt have too many interesting things. General bulk, out speeds all non-Choice Scarf Landorus. Protect was because there wasn't a big reason to run Taunt on this team, and if someone set up Trick Room, Amoongus could run rampant on them.
Thundurus added speed control with Thunder Wave, which I personally think is a great move, and probably one of my favorite moves of all time.
So there's the team! Let me know if in the future I should write tournament runs as well, but for now, I'm going to leave it here. Thank you for reading, and I bid you ado.
