17th/728 players in the @StJudeVGC charity tournament. I fumbled my win-and-in, so did not deserve to top cut this time. Delphox and Blastoise are a very strong pair, and both feel like a great call in the current metagame. GGs to my opps and big ty to @iWillTheGamer for hosting!
been getting asked for my 10th place st.jude tour team so here u go! Its all the same ev's as my indy team so that ones gonna stay pinned, but the changes from that team to this one deff make this better. enjoy!
https://t.co/0M3A3AdvFD
happy to finish 4th/706 in @StJudeVGC's tournament today. pokemon tournaments have gotten so big! after not playing since 2019 worlds in seniors, it's nice to be back. thanks to kareem for being my friend :)
Having a blast laddering up to Champion Tier with my goat Mega Blaziken! Being able to OHKO most Zards feels really nice, and Blaziken-Gambit handles a lot of teams Perish struggles with. Credit to @Fairteew for the original paste, I modified some EV spreads to my own tastes.
🔥Mega-Blaziken VGC Rental team
📜:https://t.co/mYTXjcpqPg
🖥️Video link below~
Blaziken's attack is very high and it has powerful moves
Torkoal provides sun and it's good into Trickroom matchup
Burning Jealousy can burn Staraptor
Rotom-Mow handles Rain team
#Pokemonchampion#VGC
Gonna post this team i made that feels really strong.
The alolan ninetails set from @LenVGC feels phenomenal at countering rain with the added bonus of setting screens.
Bulky gholdengo and dragonite are pulling their weight really well, the silk scarf extreme speed is nice.
I reached first place with M-Staraptor sand! While everyone was having fun with self targetting strategies, I went for a more supportive Staraptor set with Tailwind. While its impact seems lower, it felt better to me than the usual setup sets.
The Team: https://t.co/CcHmi3dvD9
Staraptor:
Staraptor is undoubtedly one of the best new megas added to the game. I believe that the sets focussed on Staraptor as a wincon are not as good though. The reason is that Staraptor is still susceptible to Intimidate pre-mega and those strategies either struggle against redirection or overwhelming offense. With the moveset I chose, it works as great support cause of the speed control as well as Intimidate support. I decided to go with the common double STAB. While Dual Wingbeat can be used to synergize better with the Close Combat defense boosts, I liked the immediate damage from Brave Bird more. Protect was quite valuable as well and I never really missed not having Roost. I also considered U-Turn at some point to make the matchup into weather teams better but usually Staraptor stays behind against Sand & Rain Teams. I maxed out the speed to get the jump on some opposing Staraptor, Adamant Sneasler & bulky Mega-Gengar. Staraptor is a strong piece into Perish Trap teams when brought in the back, so I benefited from that a lot. This Staraptor is very bulky, just to get an extra Tailwind off or being able to retaliate with one of its very strong STABs. It survives Fairy Aura boosted Moonblast from Whimsicott (32 SpA Whimsicott Moonblast vs. 29 HP / 4 SpD Mega Staraptor: 162-192 (85.7 - 101.5%) -- 6.25% chance to OHKO) as well as Dazzling Gleam from Timid Floette (32 SpA Fairy Aura Mega Floette Dazzling Gleam vs. 29 HP / 4 SpD Mega Staraptor: 162-192 (85.7 - 101.5%) -- 6.25% chance to OHKO). You can also throw it into Life Orb Basculegion to survive a Wave Crash (-1 32+ Atk Life Orb Adaptability Basculegion Wave Crash vs. 29 HP / 0 Def Staraptor: 159-187 (84.1 - 98.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO). If you ever struggled with the current Staraptor builds, I really recommend trying out this one instead cause it always provides something to the battle.
Excadrill:
My first idea was to pair Staraptor with Excadrill. It deals with the Fairy & Electric Types Staraptor struggles with and Staraptor (once mega evolved) punishes Intimidate, a main way to handle Excadrill. I thought about running a Swords Dance set but Rock Slide was needed for Charizard & Mega-Delphox. The extra damage by running an Adamant nature comes in clutch more often than you think. Threatening an OHKO against bulkier Floette (32+ Atk Excadrill Iron Head vs. 26 HP / 2 Def Mega Floette: 170-204 (97.1 - 116.5%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO) or M-Aerodactyl (32+ Atk Excadrill Iron Head vs. 20 HP / 0 Def Mega Aerodactyl: 176-210 (100.5 - 120%) -- guaranteed OHKO) is incredible. Keep in mind that you don't have to preserve the Focus Sash at all cost. There are occasions you have to throw Excadrill into boards like Farigiraf + Sylveon. That being said, Excadrill was a great choice, both in lead as well as in the back for late game cleaning.
Tyranitar:
We need a sand setter for Excadrill and no, Hippowdon is not a good choice. Tyranitar is able to threaten huge threats to the team with Choice Scarf+ its coverage moves. Getting surprise knockouts on Basculegion, Garchomp & Charizard is amazing. Low Kick is chosen to hit opposing Tyranitar and Kingambit while Ice Punch is just for Garchomp. The STAB moves are the best ones available. I decided to go with Max Speed to outspeed Whimsicott and everything below. Max attack is needed to get the important knockouts I mentioned such as (32 Atk Tyranitar Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 184-220 (100.5 - 120.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO) and (32 Atk Tyranitar Low Kick (100 BP) vs. 32 HP / 0 Def Kingambit: 204-240 (98.5 - 115.9%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO). The 2 defense points are not random. They increase the chance to survive a Life Orb Earthquake which is a big turnaround against Whimsicott + Garchomp boards (32 Atk Life Orb Garchomp Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 2 Def Tyranitar: 151-179 (86.2 - 102.2%) -- 6.25% chance to OHKO).
Houndstone:
When I played with Houndstone earlier this week, I was quite impressed and once again, it did not let me down. The team can struggle against a well played Sneasler but it gets stopped by Houndstone. It is surprisingly bulky and a Last Respects Pokémon with doubled speed cannot be bad, right? Fast Will-O-Wisp can shift a game and while I played with Body Press in the past to have a decent move into Normal & Dark Types, I wanted to test out Ally Switch and it won me a lot of games. There are a lot of situations it came up like players trying to Aqua Jet a low life Tyranitar but getting bamboozled by Ally Switch. Redirecting Fighting moves into Houndstone or Dark / Ghost moves into Tyranitar happened fairly often. As for the spread, I wanted to outspeed Choice Scarf Basculegion which is what the 108 speed are for. The 9 attack points combined with an Adamant nature are not just for jump point purposes. I was looking at important calcs like 100 BP Last Respects into Basculegion (9+ Atk Houndstone Last Respects (100 BP) vs. 2 HP / 0 Def Basculegion: 192-228 (97.4 - 115.7%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO). The bulk gives you a good chance to survive Mystic Water boosted Wave Crash (32+ Atk Mystic Water Adaptability Basculegion Wave Crash vs. 28 HP / 9 Def Houndstone: 152-180 (86.8 - 102.8%) -- 18.75% chance to OHKO) or Black Glasses Sucker Punch (32+ Atk Black Glasses Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. 28 HP / 9 Def Houndstone: 152-180 (86.8 - 102.8%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO). The latter one could come up if you are forced to click Last Respects on the slot next to Kingambit.
Rotom-Wash:
I wanted a secondary Pokémon Excadrill could click Earthquake next to. I did not want to add another Flying Type, so I had to choose either a Telepathy or Levitate Pokémon. Hydreigon is a common sight for sand teams but so is Rotom-Wash. I gave Rotom a try cause I still believe in it (while everyone else calls it washed). It can threaten bulky Water Types like Milotic and Toxapex which were hard to deal with before. That is why I settled for Magnet as item. OHKOing Basculegion (15+ SpA Magnet Rotom-Wash Thunderbolt vs. 2 HP / 0 SpD Basculegion: 200-236 (101.5 - 119.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO) is fantastic. I settled for both, Thunderbolt and Volt Switch, to either do as much damage as possible or reposition myself and have another good tool against weather based teams. The Special Attack investment is not just for the Basculegion KO. Dealing great damage into Staraptor, one of the main threats for Sand, is cool as well (15+ SpA Magnet Rotom-Wash Thunderbolt vs. 15 HP / 0 SpD Mega Staraptor: 170-204 (97.1 - 116.5%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO). The speed of 112 is good for outrunning most Archaludon (so that you get a Volt Switch into Tyranitar before they go for Electro Shot) or Choice Scarf Gholdengo & M-Aerodactyl if you set up the Tailwind. The one SpDef point increases the Solar Beam roll from 1+ Charizard (1+ SpA Mega Charizard Y Solar Beam vs. 32 HP / 1 SpD Rotom-Wash: 140-166 (89.1 - 105.7%) -- 31.25% chance to OHKO). Meanwhile, the defense points are for Basculegion (32+ Atk Life Orb Adaptability Basculegion Last Respects (100 BP) vs. 32 HP / 12 Def Rotom-Wash: 127-151 (80.8 - 96.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO) / (32 Atk Adaptability Basculegion Last Respects (150 BP) vs. 32 HP / 12 Def Rotom-Wash: 134-158 (85.3 - 100.6%) -- 6.25% chance to OHKO) and Garchomp (32+ Atk Garchomp Dragon Claw vs. 32 HP / 12 Def Rotom-Wash: 66-78 (42 - 49.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO).
Venusaur:
One of my favourite teams I used in Regulation M-A was Mega-Venusaur sand. It gives you another strong Pokémon into Fairy Types, enabling Staraptor even more. Since I was on Magnet Rotom, I figured that I don't need an offensive grass move and in hindsight, I'd still say that is the case. Sludge Bomb and Earth Power (for the Steels mainly) should never be dropped and Protect has massive value on such a bulky Pokémon. That is why I dropped the grass move for Sleep Powder. I never relied solely on Sleep Powder + sleep turns but it can help to get into a better position against Garchomp or deny Trick Room from Farigiraf for a turn. The spread is simple, yet effective. Enough speed to outspeed Modest Pelipper and almost max HP. I wanted to hit the second jump point in Special Attack to get some key knockouts with double ups like Sludge Bomb + Thunderbolt into Sylveon (18+ SpA Mega Venusaur Sludge Bomb vs. 19 HP / 0 SpD Sylveon: 120-144 (63.4 - 76.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO). The remaining 30 are just put into the HP stat, as I said I did not calc for specific moves and went with the vibe here instead.
Matchups:
vs ZardY Standard - I often led with Rotom + Venusaur, shutting down any non Garchomp lead. Against those I usually tried to Sleep Powder Garchomp while Volt Switching the other slot. Tyranitar is a must bring and lastly you can either go with Excadrill or Houndstone. Both have their own merits.
vs Perish Trap - Another matchup where Volt Switch on Rotom is key. My most common lead was Excadrill + Rotom and I just tried to get a lot of damage down with Earthquake + Volt Switch Turn 1. Staraptor & Tyranitar in the back are often able to reverse sweep, even if you lose a Pokémon early on.
vs FarigZard - Against the popular M-Aerodactyl ZardY Team, leading Staraptor is nice. You can pair it with either Excadrill or Tyranitar and click Rock Slide + Close Combat into almost anything. Getting an Intimidate on Garchomp is important and even though a Kingambit lead seems bad, they often do not carry Protect which is why you get a knockout and defense boost in Turn 1.
Conclusion:
Really fun team and the fact that it got me to #1 shows that it is incredibly strong. It does not let Staraptor shine as much as the other Star Teams but this one at least feels more consistent and gives you more control over the game. I wonder if this Staraptor set has a place in the metagame cause I liked it a lot and want to see more people experiment with a more supportive approach on one of Sinnohs greatest!
I finished 2nd in a local tournament using Vileplume. The team was really fun to play, especially on ladder. Moxie Life Orb Scrafty was hilarious to use, especially baiting Kingambit leads that were expecting Intimidate lol.