Contrary to Popular Opinion
A Trick Room Team
Introduction
Hey guys! This is my first ever RMT on this website and my first ever VGC team as well so I'm gonna need a lot of constructive criticism and suggestions!
Team Development
I started off with Malamar because it's one of my favourite pokemon and I loved the idea of a Trick Room Malamar. This meant I wanted a Fake Out user to pair with Malamar to help set up Trick Room. I had Ludicolo originally but I didn't think it fit so I switched to Hitmonchan and I haven't looked back since. Mega Garchomp was my choice for mega which works surprisingly well under trick room and I'm glad I could get my favourite mega into the team. Clefairy was simply my go to redirection pokemon. After this I wanted another Trick Room setter and I opted for Gengar as it seemed like an interesting idea. Rotom Heat was the last to be added as it had good synergy with the rest of the team and provided fire coverage.
Team Analysis
Malamar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Contrary
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Knock Off
- Protect
- Superpower
Malamar is the star of the team, it gets a contrary boost from the ever present intimidate users and sets up Trick Room successfully about 9 times out of 10. Superpower is a joke with contrary making Malamar harder to kill and hit harder, Knock Off is a great stab and either KOs Aegislash or gets a boost from King's Shield. I replaced Psycho Cut with Protect as after Superpower boosts Malamar is likely to be double targeted so Protect will come in handy. Lum stops the burns that Malamar attracts to keep the contrary boosts powerful.
Hariyama @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 60 HP / 100 Atk / 100 Def / 244 SpD / 4 Spe
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Close Combat
- Fake Out
- Poison Jab
- Ice Punch
Hariyama replaces Hitmonchan as my Fake Out user to help Trick Room's setup. Cybertron's spread allows Hariyama to OHKO 4 HP Mega Kangaskhan with Close Combat while SpD Evs and Assault Vest allow Hariyama to live a Hyper Voice from Mega Salamence and Mega Gardevoir. Hariyama also picks up the KO on Mega Gardevoir with the Fake Out/Poison Jab combination and 2HKOs Landorus-T after Intimidate and Mega Salamence.
Garchomp-Mega @ Garchompite
Ability: Sand Force
Level: 50
EVs: 228 HP / 252 Atk / 28 SpA
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Protect
- Draco Meteor
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
I love Mega Garchomp. This thing is brilliant, Draco Meteor means a burn isn't as disastrous as it could be and with 28 SpA EVs it picks up the KO on all the dragons I face other than the rare Goodra. Stone Edge is for Talonflame/Charizard/Gyarados and Earthquake is Earthquake, one of the best moves in doubles and a powerful stab. The HP EVs allow Mega Garchomp to live 2 waterfalls from Mega Gyarados and it can also survive HP Ice from Modest Zapdos and Modest Mega Manectric as well as Ice Beams from pokemon like Politoed.
Clefairy @ Eviolite
Ability: Friend Guard
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 20 SpA / 60 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Follow Me
- Protect
- Helping Hand
- Moonblast
Clefairy is my redirector of choice. This thing is very bulky and with Friend Guard it's the best Follow Me user I've used. It's so hard to kill, the EV spread allowing it to live Double Edge from Adamant Mega Kangaskhan, Iron Head from Adamant Bisharp and most things from the big hitters of the meta. This lets its teammates get on with their jobs and Clefairy can even add a few Helping Hands along the way to pick up some crucial KOs. Moonblast is to avoid being total taunt bait and as fairy is such a good offensive type it can come in handy, picking up the OHKO on 4 SpD Hydreigon with the SpA investment.
Gengar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Trick Room
- Taunt
- Sludge Bomb
- Will-O-Wisp
Gengar is my other trick room user. He's quite fast for trick room but it's worked well so far for me, he sets it up almost every time with focus sash and the surprise factor of a Gengar setting up Trick Room can catch opponents off guard. Taunt is to stop annoying status or Encore users and stop set up mons. Sludge bomb is to avoid being taunted myself and to take out some fairies that hit a lot of my team hard. Finally Will-O-Wisp is to cripple physical attackers like Mega Kangaskhan who can threaten Gengar's teammates.
Rotom-Heat @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 84 Def / 188 SpA
Modest Nature
- Protect
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
Rotom Heat was the last addition to the team and it provided the fairy and flying resistances that my team needed while also providing another answer to Talonflame and giving me some much needed fire coverage. The EVs allow it a high chance to live 2 Landorus-T Rock Slides and a 43.8% chance to OHKO it with HP Ice. It also OHKOs the ever present Amoongus with Overheat and Safety Goggles allow it to bypass Spore and Rage Powder to neutralise the Amoongus threat more effectively.
Conclusion
As I said this is my first ever VGC team so I need some suggestion and criticisms please! I've had some success with this team but low down the ladder as I've just started and I'm not sure my current knowledge of VGC totally does my team justice but I am very open to all suggestions and changes suggested! Thanks for reading. (Changes in red, thanks to DaAwesomeDude1 for all his suggestions, they have been very useful!)
A Trick Room Team
Introduction
Hey guys! This is my first ever RMT on this website and my first ever VGC team as well so I'm gonna need a lot of constructive criticism and suggestions!
Team Development
I started off with Malamar because it's one of my favourite pokemon and I loved the idea of a Trick Room Malamar. This meant I wanted a Fake Out user to pair with Malamar to help set up Trick Room. I had Ludicolo originally but I didn't think it fit so I switched to Hitmonchan and I haven't looked back since. Mega Garchomp was my choice for mega which works surprisingly well under trick room and I'm glad I could get my favourite mega into the team. Clefairy was simply my go to redirection pokemon. After this I wanted another Trick Room setter and I opted for Gengar as it seemed like an interesting idea. Rotom Heat was the last to be added as it had good synergy with the rest of the team and provided fire coverage.
Team Analysis
Malamar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Contrary
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Knock Off
- Protect
- Superpower
Malamar is the star of the team, it gets a contrary boost from the ever present intimidate users and sets up Trick Room successfully about 9 times out of 10. Superpower is a joke with contrary making Malamar harder to kill and hit harder, Knock Off is a great stab and either KOs Aegislash or gets a boost from King's Shield. I replaced Psycho Cut with Protect as after Superpower boosts Malamar is likely to be double targeted so Protect will come in handy. Lum stops the burns that Malamar attracts to keep the contrary boosts powerful.
Hariyama @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 60 HP / 100 Atk / 100 Def / 244 SpD / 4 Spe
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Close Combat
- Fake Out
- Poison Jab
- Ice Punch
Hariyama replaces Hitmonchan as my Fake Out user to help Trick Room's setup. Cybertron's spread allows Hariyama to OHKO 4 HP Mega Kangaskhan with Close Combat while SpD Evs and Assault Vest allow Hariyama to live a Hyper Voice from Mega Salamence and Mega Gardevoir. Hariyama also picks up the KO on Mega Gardevoir with the Fake Out/Poison Jab combination and 2HKOs Landorus-T after Intimidate and Mega Salamence.
Garchomp-Mega @ Garchompite
Ability: Sand Force
Level: 50
EVs: 228 HP / 252 Atk / 28 SpA
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Protect
- Draco Meteor
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
I love Mega Garchomp. This thing is brilliant, Draco Meteor means a burn isn't as disastrous as it could be and with 28 SpA EVs it picks up the KO on all the dragons I face other than the rare Goodra. Stone Edge is for Talonflame/Charizard/Gyarados and Earthquake is Earthquake, one of the best moves in doubles and a powerful stab. The HP EVs allow Mega Garchomp to live 2 waterfalls from Mega Gyarados and it can also survive HP Ice from Modest Zapdos and Modest Mega Manectric as well as Ice Beams from pokemon like Politoed.
Clefairy @ Eviolite
Ability: Friend Guard
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 20 SpA / 60 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Follow Me
- Protect
- Helping Hand
- Moonblast
Clefairy is my redirector of choice. This thing is very bulky and with Friend Guard it's the best Follow Me user I've used. It's so hard to kill, the EV spread allowing it to live Double Edge from Adamant Mega Kangaskhan, Iron Head from Adamant Bisharp and most things from the big hitters of the meta. This lets its teammates get on with their jobs and Clefairy can even add a few Helping Hands along the way to pick up some crucial KOs. Moonblast is to avoid being total taunt bait and as fairy is such a good offensive type it can come in handy, picking up the OHKO on 4 SpD Hydreigon with the SpA investment.
Gengar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Trick Room
- Taunt
- Sludge Bomb
- Will-O-Wisp
Gengar is my other trick room user. He's quite fast for trick room but it's worked well so far for me, he sets it up almost every time with focus sash and the surprise factor of a Gengar setting up Trick Room can catch opponents off guard. Taunt is to stop annoying status or Encore users and stop set up mons. Sludge bomb is to avoid being taunted myself and to take out some fairies that hit a lot of my team hard. Finally Will-O-Wisp is to cripple physical attackers like Mega Kangaskhan who can threaten Gengar's teammates.
Rotom-Heat @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 84 Def / 188 SpA
Modest Nature
- Protect
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
Rotom Heat was the last addition to the team and it provided the fairy and flying resistances that my team needed while also providing another answer to Talonflame and giving me some much needed fire coverage. The EVs allow it a high chance to live 2 Landorus-T Rock Slides and a 43.8% chance to OHKO it with HP Ice. It also OHKOs the ever present Amoongus with Overheat and Safety Goggles allow it to bypass Spore and Rage Powder to neutralise the Amoongus threat more effectively.
Conclusion
As I said this is my first ever VGC team so I need some suggestion and criticisms please! I've had some success with this team but low down the ladder as I've just started and I'm not sure my current knowledge of VGC totally does my team justice but I am very open to all suggestions and changes suggested! Thanks for reading. (Changes in red, thanks to DaAwesomeDude1 for all his suggestions, they have been very useful!)
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