Pokémon Rate My Team
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Snorlax-Gmax @ Salac Berry
Ability: Gluttony
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
- Fire Punch
- Iron Head
- Yawn
- High Horsepower

Comfey @ Babiri Berry
Ability: Triage
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Floral Healing
- Trick Room
- Draining Kiss
- Giga Drain

Togekiss @ Scope Lens
Ability: Super Luck
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 4 Def / 124 SpA / 20 SpD / 164 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dazzling Gleam
- Follow Me
- Protect
- Air Slash

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 148 Def / 116 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Eerie Impulse
- Tri Attack

Incineroar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 134 Def / 122 SpD
Careful Nature
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- Snarl
- U-turn

Appletun-Gmax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Apple Acid
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Recover

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1 Answer

2 votes

VGC21 allows you to use one restricted legendary on your team. The overwhelming power of these legendaries means that any team that doesn't use one is at a significant disadvantage. Calyrex-Ice is the best restricted legendary for Trick Room teams, since it can set TR itself, has a massive attack stat alongside good coverage and an amazing ability, plus it's bulky enough to run Weakness Policy, if wanted. Other top picks are Zacian-Crowned, Kyogre, and Calyrex-Shadow, although none of them work very well with TR.
Trick Room teams face two major challenges in VGC, both of which are exasperated by the presence of restricted legendaries: The first is setting TR up in the first place, the second is preventing your opponent from counter-sweeping you if they survive your 5 TR turns. Keep this in mind since I'll be bringing it up more later.

Your team has some very good picks mixed with some very bad ones. Let's start with the better ones and make our way down:

Incineroar
Looks good. Got nothing to say about this one.

Togekiss
I like it. Redirection is always a powerful tool in doubles, especially as a means to ensure Trick Room goes up. While 50% crits are nice, I'm not sure if the Scope Lens is necessary. Maybe try a Sitrus Berry? Your call.

Porygon2
One of the best Trick Room setters in the current format... but you're not using it as one! One of the big advantages it has over most other setters is that it's immune to Astral Barrage from Calyrex-Shadow, which can OHKO most other TR setters without fail. With Eviolite, it's also bulky enough to survive most hits from full, even some super effective ones. Put it alongside Incineroar's Fake Out or Togekiss' redirection, and in most cases, you can guarantee that TR goes up, which is huge. I'd recommend replacing either Tri Attack or Ice Beam with Trick Room.

Comfey
I don't think there's anything wrong with the Comfey set you're running, but I think it's a huge mistake having it as your only means of speed control. Usually, Comfey is used to trigger Weakness Policy on an ally, and then as a cleric after that. Although, if you want, you could compress both Togekiss and Comfey's roles into Indeedee-F, since it gets both Follow Me and Heal Pulse. I do think that there's value in having more than one TR setter on TR teams, which Indeedee-F doesn't get, so if you decide to replace Comfey, having a TR setter other than just Porygon2 would be good.

Snorlax
I'm not opposed to the idea of Snorlax in general, but why are you running this set? Why does it have a Salac Berry when it's on a TR team? Why doesn't it have any normal STAB to take advantage of its great GMax move? And I am not a fan of Snorlax without either Curse or Belly Drum (I would recommend Curse). I've used Snorlax on a TR team myself during VGC20 (before restricted legendaries were allowed), and had decent success with it, but I'm not sure if it's really that great of a pick for VGC21. If you want to keep it, though, try something like this, instead:

Snorlax-Gmax @ Figy Berry / Weakness Policy
Ability: Gluttony (if Figy Berry) / Thick Fat (if Weakness Policy)
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Curse
- Double-Edge / Body Slam
- Hammer Arm
- High Horsepower / Darkest Lariat / ???

Appletun
I... don't think Appletun is going to very successful. It has a good speed for TR, good HP, but then just okay SpA and defenses. I feel like there are going to be too many situations where it doesn't have the damage output nor the bulk that it needs to. I would recommend replacing this Pokemon with whichever restricted legendary you decide to go for.


I'm also going to take this opportunity to say that I think Pheromosa is an excellent and underrated option as secondary speed control on Trick Room teams. This is the set I use:

Pheromosa @ Focus Sash
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Speed Swap
- Close Combat
- Throat Chop
- Protect

It has 1 speed point over Calyrex-Shadow, meaning it outspeeds every commonly-used Pokemon in VGC other than Regieleki (which, granted, is one of its big weaknesses). It serves as an answer to both of the challenges that TR teams face, since you can either surprise your opponent by leading with it, Speed Swapping its speed onto your ally, and bypassing the need for TR altogether, or you can keep it in the back and bring it out as TR wears off.

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