Pokémon Rate My Team
1 vote
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A bit of important preface:

Yeah... I lied when I said "Rate my team", it's actually not mine. I have a friend who wanted to get his team checked by someone who isn't participating in this tourney that will happen on Saturday. That rules me and Q out, so the team will be posted here for someone else to rate! And he's going to do the write up, so this is Scil signing out (tear it apart imo :3).


Team:

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Blastoise @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Rain Dish
Level: 50
EVs: 76 HP / 252 SpA / 180 Spe
Modest Nature
- Water Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Aura Sphere
- Protect

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Raichu @ Air Balloon
Ability: Lightning Rod
Level: 50
EVs: 52 HP / 4 Def / 196 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Fake Out
- Encore
- Protect

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Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 92 SpA / 164 Spe
Mild Nature
- Tailwind
- U-turn
- Overheat
- Brave Bird

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Virizion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
Level: 50
EVs: 12 HP / 236 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Stone Edge
- Leaf Blade
- Close Combat

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Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield

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Landorus-Therian @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Knock Off
- U-turn


Overview:

1 Mega Blastoise: My team is based around the Mega Blastoise + Raichu core. It may sound like it was an idea drafted by a flailing genwunner, but it actually works. Pretty well honestly. Blastoise, on it's own, is already a turtle tank and a potential WW3 weapon, but with Raichu's support and Tailwind, it's truly a force to be reckoned with.

One of his redeeming factors is his sheer firepower and arsenal. Water Pulse hits many pokemon for huge damage, and Aura Sphere basically means that once I'm under Tailwind, no Kangaskhan is safe. Also helps me take care of the occasional Porygon2. Ice Beam because it's coverage, although I was thinking about Dark Pulse too. Spread outspeeds 0 investment base 100s, and helps me discern their EVs.

2 Raichu: Part of the original core, and one of the most underestimated pokemon in all 19 years of pokemon history. Main reason for use is Lightning Rod and it's speedy Fake Out. Air Balloon makes it temporarily weakness-less (?). I have been considering Helping Hand over Encore, both sound good to me. I've even debated HP Ice (pls tell me whether it's worth it or no!). It supports Blastoise and Talonflame by eating incoming Electric attacks, as well as Thunder Waves for Virizion.

Spread ensures that T-bolt KOs opposing T-flames and does good damage to Thundurus, alongside some general bulk.

3 Talonflame: One of the best Tailwind setters this season in my opinion. I tried using Choice Band T-flame as well but Tailwind was too enticing for me. Since I run Mild Nature, I needed the extra oomph in Brave Bird, and that's how Sharp Beak came to be. Vanilla spread for mixed Talonflame. It's also pseudo counter to Trick Room, and a decent revenge killer.

4 Virizion: I love Virizion because it has exactly the typing and speed tier I need. For this reason, I have it's speed maxed out. Moves explain themselves, and spread only has some extra bulk to accommodate for Life Orb.

5 Aegislash: Meet my utility mon. I'm a bit dismayed that he has 60 speed because Trick Room pokemon are generally slower than that, so it cannot counter Trick Room as well. But it makes up with Wide Guard and Fairy coverage. And by the way, did you know that if you Wide Guard, you are shielded from your teammate's EQ as well?

6 Landorus-Therian: ... How do I put this... He's like... a "filler" pokemon. I have no idea what else can come here. It's basically a Careful CB Lando, who originated somewhere in VGC 13. I put it here because a majority of my team already was pretty fast, and Virizion isn't exactly powerful. It's spread makes it surprisingly resilient too.


It's my first team posting here, but I trust you guys can help me! I have been thinking about NuggetBridge too, but I've seen sometimes that there is more criticism than necessary there and some teams actually worsen. It's kinda risky to post this team anywhere haha, but I've heard good things about this place.

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edited by
Looks solid. Not rock-solid, more like chalk-solid, but it's still a solid. I especially love Raichu, as I have been meaning to make a Raichu + Blastoise team for a while now. My primary suggestion is to put a Focus Sash on Raichu. Air Balloon is revealed at the start of the battle and, since Raichu won't be anything but a lead Pokémon most of the time, it loses a lot of utility. Sash lets you survive a lot of attacks and continue supporting Blastoise, whereas Air Balloon lets you survive two attacks (Earthquake and Drill Run) and die to everything else.

Moving on, look at this calc.

252+ SpA Mega Launcher Mega Blastoise Aura Sphere vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Kangaskhan: 156-184 (86.1 - 101.6%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO

Now look at this one.

252+ SpA Mega Launcher Mega Blastoise Helping Hand Aura Sphere vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Kangaskhan: 232-274 (128.1 - 151.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

While both Encore and Helping Hand are useful, I really suggest thoroughly testing both. Helping Hand helps Virizion fight Intimidate, which is often paired beside Kangaskhan, and lets Aegislash Landorus and Talonflame get KOs faster.

Also, why exactly is there bulk on Virizion? It's negated by Life Orb and a simple 4/0 set already gets 11 hits out of it.

(Yeah, Nugget Bridge can seem a little hostile, but then again they're a whole community of VGC and we're just half a dozen people. Don't feel a need to post there.)
@Grime Time
Focus Sash I thought left me a bit open to SandRoom and HailRoom, but it surely looks better than Air Balloon. I'll definitely try it alongside Helping Hand.

I found that 236 Atk does almost the same thing as 252 Atk, and it's helped me survive a few random hits here and there (Tornadus-T Air Cutter, yes I did see one).

I'm really unsure whether to post it there or not, would you recommend it? Also, I'll probably post my leads in the coming hours now.
Well, the quality of rates isn't very high here, basically you me and sometimes Unstoppable, and I have zero experience with Mega Blastoise :P You'll still get healthy feedback though.

Another hole I see is having nothing but Talonflame to stop Grass-types. For this reason I would suggest searching for a nother Pokémon to use over Landorus. I'll try and think of something.
I will do by best to answer this, but it is hard now that school has started, but I would not recommend NB for this type of team, as they don't take kindley to non-standard teams
This team's pretty standard… they can't bash the Blastoise + Raichu core, it's a viable strategy.
Choice Band Landorus, I am willing to bet 10 bucks they'll be like "Noob ever heard of a choice scarf"
@Unstoppable
Careful Choice Band Lando was actually a huge hit back in the days. I'm not too sure about right now though. And I will be looking forward to seeing your answers regarding my team!

Btw, I'm still not the "Scil you all know and love" (?), and am comparatively a bit of a noob, so I would really appreciate some explanation alongside the changes you suggest
@Unstoppable

Not one of the Landorus in the Top 8 of Worlds this year has a Choice Scarf. It will not be noobstomped, as people are beginning to realize that Bandorus = Bestorus. Plus it works better on Tailwind teams.
Yeah your point are valid, and he does do much better on a Tailwind team
I tested with Helping Hand, and I think it has worked out better than Encore so far. By the way, trying not to sound impatient or anything, but the tourney selections are in like 3 days, so it would be really nice if someone to could get to rating it ASAP. Take your time, but pls don't take too much time either...

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