You are a type specialist in a hostile region. How do you best represent your chosen element?

[SturdyShedinja]

My concept is a former firefighter, whose pokemon can withstand extreme heat in order to rescue people. The actual fire types are pretty standard, they’re fast enough to rush in and out of burning buildings quickly and are unbothered by high temperatures. Drifblim can carry those trapped on upper stories down to ground level and its flare boost ability somewhat protects it from inevitable burns. Machamp is strong enough to rescue those pinned under rubble or otherwise cornered, and similarly to drifblim, its guts ability lessens the impact of burns. Bronzong is more fire resistant than most steels thanks to its heatproof ability, and its ability to summon rainstorms is valuable for putting out fires. Lastly, azumarill can put out fires at a distance with its water moves while being more comfortable on land and less bothered by flames compared to other water types.

Movesets here!
Lead infernape for the fast u-turn. Both bronzong and azumarill have suboptimal abilities to fit the theme. Bronzong also has sunny day over rain dance since it’s easily changeable with tms and is more valuable team support for casual battle. The azumarill set isn’t great, but azumarill’s stats are incredibly mediocre without huge power.

 

[CTNC]

Let's play a drinking game with this one. Take a shot every time someone posts a better team than Flint's.

Yes, FINALLY it's time! I've been waiting for this contest for a while. BEHOLD! the TRUE Fire-type Specialist Team of Sinnoh!

#FlintIsACoward

Infernape (Blaze. Wise Glasses. Flamethrower/Close Combat/Solar Beam/U-turn)
Rapidash (Flame Body. Muscle Band. Flare Blitz/Solar Beam/Smart Strike/Megahorn)
Monferno (Iron Fist. Eviolite. Flare Blitz/Mach Punch/Close Combat/Thunder Punch)
Ponyta (Flame Body. Bright Powder. Sunny Day/Flare Blitz/Solar Beam/Iron Tail)
Chimchar (Iron Fist. Focus Sash. Sunny Day/Fire Punch/Brick Break/Thunder Punch)
Cherrim (Flower Gift. Heat Rock. Sunny Day/Solar Beam/Dazzling Gleam/Morning Sun)

Operation Sunshine

First one out: Chimchar. It has one job: Sunny Day. Not going to pretend it'll has much chance to do anything else. If it can slap the opponent with its fists for some damage, great, but honestly the sooner it goes down the sooner my other Pokemon can take advantage of the sunlight.

Next out would likely be Infernape. Yup, my ace. He doesn't have U-turn for no reason. He's going to hit as hard as he can, and if an unfavorable match-up comes up or the sun goes away it'll use U-turn to get out of there.

When I'm not feeling Infernape to be out there I'd then either send in Rapidash or Monferno, depending on what the opponent has out.

Unless of course the sun isn't out, in which I'll send out either Ponyta or Cherrim to replenish it.

Cherrim could also be sent out as a surprise counter or, if needed, a staller.

Well, there goes my first idea.

Now I have to make an even more questionable team because of the questionable choices made in making DP and BDSP... Hm... Maybe I could lean into that. I'll make my Fire team into a subtle passive aggressive tongue in cheek roast! :D



Rapidash @ Chesto Berry
Flash Fire
-Horn Drill
-Double Team
-Rest
-Sleep Talk

Flint's Drifblim knows Minimize and Baton Pass. I'm allowed to use luck based BS that doesn't belong in a fair boss fight too! I'd be saying sorry about using Rest Talk + Double Team, but I'm much more sorry about the Rest Talk + OHKO move combo possibly giving Emerald Battle Frontier fans any PTSD. The Elite Four in BDSP have all their Pokemon holding items in BDSP, so I finaly have no excuse not to use held items and that happens to mean the Chesto Berry insult to injury. I completly understand if I get last place this round after leading with this.


Skuntank @ Life Orb
Aftermath
-Flamethrower
-Poison Jab
-Night Slash
-Explosion

Skuntank learns Flamethrower by Level up for some reason. Why didn't Flint use one? Night Slash is the only STAB Skuntank could learn by Level up in the original DP and Explosion is probably the most fiery looking non-Fire move. By the way, I assuming an in game AI is using teams I make. You know what that means with Explosion. I'm also trying to make it so not every questionable thing is too obvious. Tempting the AI into using Explosion with an item that lowers their HP every time they attack on a moveset of 4 attacks is an example of a less obvious thing.


Mismagius @ Sitrus Berry
Levitate
-Mysitcal Fire
-Will-O-Wisp
-Hex
-Perish Song

It's pretty hard to chose what Pokemon to use when there's so few options and even fewer justifyable ones, but Mismagius having Mystical Fire through Move Reminder and Will-O-Wisp through TM makes it impossible for me to say no to. I have to use Hex for STAB with Will-O-Wisp because how can't I? That leaves only one move. Not being able to resist making good movesets sucks when you don't want perfect movesets.

Unless anything changed in the last few games, the AI will gladdly use Perish Song even if they don't have any more Pokemon to switch to. Whoops. Honestly though, I mostly went with Perish Song for the last move because it's insteresting.


Octillery @ Leftovers
Moody
-Flamethrower
-Scald
-Charge Beam
-Protect

Scald makes using a Water Type actually make sense. The choices for a Water Type that can learn Fire moves were a deadly dragon and the firearms octopus. The firearm on a Fire team pun made it easy to decide even before remembering that bosses started using Hidden Abilities in Gen 8.
Charge Beam is a reference to the Gym Leader that uses Octillery (Electric might be a worse match for Octillery than Fire!) and Protect abuses one of Game Freak's biggest mistakes. (You know the Ability is OP when it makes Bidoof OP.)


Garchomp @ Yache Berry
Rough Skin
-Fire Blast
-Earth Power
-Dragon Claw
-Surf

With how often Dragons are associated with Fire, why not? Looks like a good fit for Fire. Fire Blast is much more powerful than Fire Fang and Garchomp's Special Attack is respectable enough to make it work. Speaking of Special Attacks, Garchomp can learn Earth Power from SwSh or Transfer from previous Gens. I'm sure it's legal in BDSP because why would the Battle Tower have so many Pokemon with SwSh only moves if you couldn't use other games for new moves?

Using 4 Special Attacks to only use Garchomp's Base 80 SpA without using its Base 130 Atk felt like a lazy and obvious way to to lean into questionable choices, even with Earth Power, so I threw in a Physical STAB is make it less obvious that I'm less serious if you're not reading the descriptions. I didn't know what to use for the last move so I hoped that I'd gain more points for sticking with my theme of questionable choices than I'd lose for using a Non-STAB Water move on a Fire Team.


Infernape @ White Herb
Blaze
-Overheat
-Close Combat
-Acrobatics
-Slack Off

I figured a White Herb would be interesting with Overheat. Close Combat was chosen for the other STAB because it can also use the White Herb. It's a worse use, but it still takes advantage of the item. Excusing anti-synergy with Overheat where you'd want to have your SpA recovored but the White Herb is already gone beacause of Close Combat with, "This is a BDSP Fire Team. You've got to make questionable choices. I just make more than I have to." is what made me go with the questionable choices theme.
(Edit: After reading other people's teams, I'm so sorry if anyone felt called out by this.)

The remaining two moves are very good IMO. Acrobatics's 110 Power without an item makes it the most powerful coverage move that doesn't take 2 Turns. Using it on a Pokemon that gets rid of its item easily feels clever and I don't want my team to be completely terrible. Any version of Recover, like Slack Off, makes any boss much more annoying and being able to draw out the battles is powerful effect and powerful moves means it's able to use the extra turns gained from healing to good use, right? Just look at those powerful STABs!




Still better than Flint. :P

 

[misterdarvus]

I'm just bandwagoning everyone's idea of what considered as "Fire" type. Yadda-yadda Hot air baloon 'Blim (and Flare boost), Flamethrowing Skunk, Sunshine Weather Ball 'Rim.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Evening, all. New poll is live:

https://strawpoll.com/bVg8o1z6NnY

You have until August 6th, 9PM GMT to vote. Once again, thoughts on numbers shall follow shortly when I've written up my notes...

EDIT: here they are:

thoughts on numbers

Infernape: 8
Rapidash: 8

Monferno: 2
Ponyta: 1
Chimchar: 1

Skuntank: 6

Drifblim: 3
Bronzong: 3

Cherrim: 2
Machamp: 2
Mismagius: 2
Octillery: 2
Azumarill: 2

Gyarados: 1
Medicham: 1
Luxray: 1
Staraptor: 1
Garchomp: 1


Really good bunch this time around. We got a rare tie on actual Fire-species, with Infernape and Rapidash equally favoured by everyone. It's always funny when there's a clear winner among the wildcard picks, too - I expected Skuntank to have some good representation but did not foresee it being on 75% of teams.

As for the rest, they're fun and diverse though not hugely that surprising. Gyarados and Machamp definitely fit the blazing Fire aesthetic, and Mismagius has the moveset associations - Cherrim is the premier sun supporter. Nice to see all the pre-evos get some representation too.

Stuff I expected to see more (or at all)

Clefable, for some reason. I think it's because there's that one Sun trainer in the Orre Colosseum that randomly uses one. Though in modern times I see Clefable fitting in much more effectively a fun pick on a Hail team thanks to its pseudo-Hail immunity and as a counter to any errant Fighting-types.

Garchomp. There's a lot of good synergy between Garchomp and Fire-types (I myself had a very fun time with a Ninetales-Garchomp Sun team in the Subway a while back) and it fits the hot fiery sort of aesthetic.

Octillery. Surprised this wasn't on virtually every team, it's a big red flamethrower/cannon!

Sudowoodo. Would fit quite ironically onto a Sun team as it looks the part of a Grass type yet appreciates the sun for a wholly different reason (removing its Water weakness).

Torterra. Genuinely really surprised no-one picked it. It doesn't benefit much from Sun but has Rock Polish as a pseudo-Chlorophyll boost and synergises well with a lot of other Pokemon chosen here.

 

[Imperial Magala]

An idea that was floating around my head after my submission was Flame Orb Marvel Scale Milotic as a shoutout to an old Gen 4 event distribution.

Two more options I thought up later are Drapion because scorpions live in hot environments and Blissey as a play on being "warm" and caring.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Hoo boy, voting is gonna be tough this round as a lot of teams are similar. I wasn't expecting to see as many Azumarill as ended up being used, and I'm surprised how there's only one entry with Luxray. Also, only one (not counting my team of course) with a prevo.

In his defence, can you imagine how pathetic it would be for the third member of the Elite Four to be using that many NFEs

...oh. Sorry, Glacia.

Glacia is really up against a rock and a hard place (ice and a cold place?). She can't be experimental as we are and the only other options she has would turn her more into a Water-type Specialist. If we do Hoenn Ice should be interesting how many will lean into that or try to figure out something to work around it (and no I won't do the "True Ice" teams as I just did for Flint, so it's available for whoever else would want to try).

Let's play a drinking game with this one. Take a shot every time someone posts a better team than Flint's.

(...)

Well, there goes my first idea.

Now I have to make an even more questionable team (...)

While I joke about Flint's team, as Imperial Magala mentions, there is a reason he was given his non-Fire DP team. Steelix because Onix naturally evolve into them via enduring high temperature and pressure underground, Drifblim because its a hot air balloon, and Lopunny is covered in fluffy fur (and while the DPPt dex doesn't mention it, later Dex entries will say the fur is a good insulator and shed fur has been used to make mufflers and winter hats). In a way it's no different than what we've done on this thread with some of the challenges, though Flint's team stands out as aside from they having some "heating" theme there's no real other theme connecting a metal snake, kicking rabbit, and ghost balloon together (also not helped that Flint himself is lacking any theme, like is Flint supposed to be a punk of hipster or something?).

And if that's your more "questionable" team than you should thank me for doing the meme team as that looks like a pretty reasonable team.

Just a reminder, myself included, that BDSP has some crazy sets for important trainers, even in initial matches.

CW: Drifblim Jank

View attachment 538507

Driflbim certainly was given an interesting strategy (though if it has no partner to switch to it's completely walled by a Fire-type ironically (and any Pokemon with an Ability which at the very least negates indirect damage from status ailments)). I guess they figured if Drifblim was his last Pokemon than he's pretty much beaten. Still, would have given it at least Hex instead of Minimize (look, I get wanting to use Baton Pass to do more than switching out, but sometimes you gotta ask what's better for the battling experience).

At first thought Lopunny having Leftovers was odd, but checking its stats I forgot its technically a defensive mon with decently bulky defense stats.

Focus Sash for Infernape though, yeah it's defenses are low so have a chance of being OHKO but I think would if it's going to be 1HKO than surviving one turn isn't really going to help it much. Better off with extra power, either an Expert Belt (focusing on covering Water- & Rock-type) or a Black Belt (hoping it'll give Close Combat enough juice either to OHKO a Water- or Ground-type or at the least put it in KO-range for Mach Punch).

Congrats to Pikachu315111.

I notice that both of us(at #1 and #2) had very clear themes to our teams, which makes sense. With the Dragon type being so broad, having any way at all to narrow it down is a big deal.

Thanks! Guess this would be a good time to jump into my previous competition analysis:

Dragon King

General Observation: So, having a unique spin here was the name of the game. Not that you were no longer a Dragon-type specialist, but with many of the winners it does seem like being a Dragon-type Specialist was actually a secondary trait. I guess this is likely because of two reasons: (1) Being this is Johto we have two Dragon-type specialists who made the de facto dragon teams and (2) this is our first repeat Type and the previous one was for Sinnoh which HGSS shares a gen with thus the Pokemon available are similar (especially having access to Gen II Cross Gen Evos). So for those who've been around that long, you made your Gen IV de facto Dragon team there and voted which was the best (made better with Sinnoh not having a Dragon-type Specialist to compare to); now it's time for something a little different.

Pikachu315111: I thought my best chance had past with Unova Ice and a bit with LGPE Steel; I wasn't so sure with this one though. As I said, originally I was going for a Journey to the West team being it's the inspiration for Dragon Ball. so here what I was originally planning: Both Dragonite & Dragonair represented Tang Sanzang; Dragonair during the journey (an enlightened figure but hasn't fully reached his potential) and Dragonite at the end when he's granted Buddhahood (finally reaching his full potential and ascending). Lapras represents the White Dragon Horse, a banished dragon prince who ends up eating Sanzang's horse and makes up for it by becoming his new steed. Instead of Nidoqueen I had Nidoking who represented Sha Wujing, a former celestial that was exiled and turned into an ugly sand monster. Primeape was Sun Wukong. And then the problem came. I was hoping to use Mamoswine as Zhu Bajie, but it didn't learn Outrage as I was hoping. I like to sticking to my rule of the Pokemon at least having a Move of the specailty Type so had to rethink my plan. Looking over my team, I then realized each of them was also based on a Japanese Mythical creature, and though that excluded Kingdra and Ampharos, that did include Arcanine (and though Arcanine isn't a dragon, Shishi sometimes look draconic)! So with a change from Nidoking to Nidoqueen for balance purposes (and both being scaly monsters harkens to a dragon-like aesthetic, which just leaves Primeape as the sole non-dragon which most everyone's team had) I got my 1st place winning team.

Hugin: Large & In Charge, a good way to describe early Dragon-types depictions. And it mostly includes the usual non-Dragon dragons, with an interesting inclusion of Mamoswine. Maybe not a dragon, but certainly fitting your main theme so served as a boon. Makes me wonder if instead of, say Steelix or Gyarados, and had used another big mon like Snorlax would you have won.

Gryoine: ~Which one of these is not like the other, which one of these doesn't belong~ Yanmega! Yes,yes, it's a dragonfly, and they're not the only one to have picked it. Still, it stands out, and while not bad in the sense for what people were looking for, I can still see how it also may have made some think twice. Your team is the only one which includes a Yanmega in the top 5, the difference being all your other Pokemon are Dragon-types or dragon stand-ins while the others had some more off the cuff choices. From what we've been discussing you'd think that then their team would be more voted, but I think your mostly dragon team with Yanmega being like "hello there fellow dragons" may have been the scale tipper.

Eeveeto & Imperial Magala: I actually see the same idea in both your teams even though you have three different dragon-like members: a popular stand-in (Ampharos & Tyranitar), uncommon but still fitting (Meganium & Nidoking), & an odd-ball (Dunsparce & Lickilicky). I think it's the Dunsparce that gave Eeveeto the edge; though we've reached the point where I think the teams start to just be primarily "Dragon" focused than having a stronger additional theme.

Some inclusions I liked on other teams: Noah3475 having all the Johto Starters, SturdyShedinja having Skarmory, & misterdarvus having Kangaskhan.

Yeah, there's a lot of good options. Between the number of Lance teams to draw on, and just the tendency to describe final evos as large, destructive, majestic, or legendary, the problem wasn't filling a team with quasi-dragons, it was narrowing one down.

(...)

I'm a little surprised Kingdra wasn't higher. It's a really good mon, this isn't a Plusle/Minun situation, but people just went without it.

And now with Fire Sinnoh we have the opposite situation, so few options a lot of teams are similar.

And another bit of irony, I think Kingdra not being used is people trying to be different. Kingdra is the premier Johto Dragon-type, if you were going to drop any of the dragons it would be the old Dragonite... so naturally all of us "rebels" dropped Kingdra and only one dropping Dragonite (and one team dropping both).

 

[misterdarvus]

Some inclusions I liked on other teams: Noah3475 having all the Johto Starters, SturdyShedinja having Skarmory, & misterdarvus having Kangaskhan.

Time for confession, That team was just a rip-off from Lance's Pokemon Stadium 2 Team

Spoiler

You know what? I regret sidelining Kingdra and should've ripping off Clair's team

 

[Hugin]

thoughts on numbers

Infernape: 8
Rapidash: 8

Monferno: 2
Ponyta: 1
Chimchar: 1

Skuntank: 6

Drifblim: 3
Bronzong: 3

Cherrim: 2
Machamp: 2
Mismagius: 2
Octillery: 2
Azumarill: 2

Gyarados: 1
Medicham: 1
Luxray: 1
Staraptor: 1
Garchomp: 1

There's...weird possibilities for other options. Gyarados was on my list until I decided that even if it got Flamethrower, a mixed set was just sad. Ponyta has surprisingly usable stats. Other than that, basically any fighting-type with Fire Punch, Psychic/Ghost with WilloWisp/Mystical Fire, or Flying type with Heat Wave makes sense. But getting them to match the theming isn't easy. AND all the grasses except Cherrim and most of the poisons are actually really bad fits, which is odd since that's where I expected to start my teambuilding. This one is going to be wild to see how teams break down in the end.

I mostly stand by what I already said. There's a LOT of things that are arguable for fire-types on a technical level, but when push came to shove we all had very few options that fit the flavor. I think the very focused nature of these numbers reflects that. MisterDarvus' "I'm just taking the ones we've universally decided are fire types" team is perhaps the epitome of this.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Time for confession, That team was just a rip-off from Lance's Pokemon Stadium 2 Team

Hide

You know what? I regret sidelining Kingdra and should've ripping off Clair's team

Not sure if this is any better.

Nice to see all the pre-evos get some representation too.

Monferno: 2
Ponyta: 1
Chimchar: 1

*All but one being on my team*

If you say so.

 

[CTNC]

I know Drifblim is a hot air balloon took the place of another Ghost for some teams, but I'm really surprised only two people used Mismagius because it's the only Ghost in BDSP that learns a Fire attack without TMs or Egg moves instead of just having Will-O-Wisp.

Cherrim only getting used twice is interesting. I'm not sure if I expected more or if that feels right. It does use Sun, but it doesn't learn any Fire moves except Weather Ball.

2 Octillery and 1 Gyarados is also surprising because of firearms and dragons. I'd guess it's because they're Water types, but 2 people used Azumarill. Hang on... that means 5 out of 8 People used Water types. What does it say about the DP Dex that we tried to make Fire teams and more than half of us used Water types?

The biggest shocker is how am I the only one to use Garchomp? It's a dragon! Is it because using a Psudo-Legendary as something other than the ace feels wrong?

While I joke about Flint's team, as Imperial Magala mentions, there is a reason he was given his non-Fire DP team. Steelix because Onix naturally evolve into them via enduring high temperature and pressure underground, Drifblim because its a hot air balloon, and Lopunny is covered in fluffy fur (and while the DPPt dex doesn't mention it, later Dex entries will say the fur is a good insulator and shed fur has been used to make mufflers and winter hats). In a way it's no different than what we've done on this thread with some of the challenges, though Flint's team stands out as aside from they having some "heating" theme there's no real other theme connecting a metal snake, kicking rabbit, and ghost balloon together (also not helped that Flint himself is lacking any theme, like is Flint supposed to be a punk of hipster or something?).

Drifblim makes sense and I get the speculated reasons behind Steelix and Lopunny, but it just feels like too much of a stretch for me... Good reasons or not though, I'd still rather bash him any because of being a Fire Elite Four with less than half his team being Fire. :P

And if that's your more "questionable" team than you should thank me for doing the meme team as that looks like a pretty reasonable team.

Thanks! I think that means I didn't do a good job with the theme, but still, thanks.

I think I went with Pokemon that worked with Fire even without a side theme because I'm the shameless min/maxer kind of guy so I have trouble resisting what I think are the best options. It didn't help the questionable choices theme when some of those Pokemon don't have that many bad choices. :P As I said...

Not being able to resist making good movesets sucks when you don't want perfect movesets.

I'm not going to say most of my team is unreasonable. I agree that it looks more solid than you'd expect from a team trying harder to make people ask why about some choices than be good, but I have to "defend" my stance (or is it attacking myself?) that Rapidash's moveset and Moody Pokemon are very unreasonable for an in game trainer. They're just cruel to the player, especially Rapidash.


I just realized if I wanted a really questionable team, I could've copy/pasted Flint's team and slapped on Octillery... Maybe I'd regret not doing that if I had lower standards. :P

 

[Bakugames]

I'm too late but this is probably the most fun thread ive seen. Excited for the next theme so i can participate because I spent too long on the movepool and trivia parts of bulbapedia

 

[Pikachu315111]

I just realized if I wanted a really questionable team, I could've copy/pasted Flint's team and slapped on Octillery... Maybe I'd regret not doing that if I had lower standards. :P

Getting off topic so I'll put this in a spoiler tag:

If the challenge was redesigning Flint's team I'd go a different direction

Can you guess the theme?

 

[Noah3475]

Getting off topic so I'll put this in a spoiler tag:

I wish I had more thoughts of substance to publish, but I would like to take a stab at this.

My Earnest Guess

His afro?

 

[QuentinQuonce]

I'll probably be in a show when it's 9PM for me tonight, so will publish the results as shortly afterwards as I can.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

The results are in - congrats to Hugin on being the second participant in this thread to claim a second victory! Will DM you shortly.

A most close result, this one...

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Morning all! Our winner has chosen the next question... here we go.

You are an Ice-type specialist in RSE Hoenn. How do you best represent your chosen type?​

A reminder to please read the guidelines in the OP before commenting, especially if you're new to the thread. You have until August 11th, 9PM GMT to make your case!

RSE Hoenn Dex is here for those who need it: https://www.serebii.net/rubysapphire/hoennpokedex.shtml

Teams so far

Misterdarvus: Sealeo, Glalie, Walrein, Donphan, Medicham, Masquerain
Ironmage: Walrein, Glalie, Starmie, Metagross, Sableye, Castform
Pikachu315111: Walrein, Glalie, Claydol, Crobat, Relicanth, Ninetales
Imperial Magala: Walrein, Glalie, Altaria, Absol, Gardevoir, Wailord
ant4456: Walrein, Glalie, Milotic, Hariyama, Absol, Metagross
Eeveeto: Walrein, Glalie, Grumpig, Altaria, Ninetales, Sandslash
Axiemeister: Walrein, Sealeo, Glalie, Tentacruel, Absol, Castform
Hugin: Walrein, Glalie, Whiscash, Castform, Gardevoir, Absol
jhm5: Walrein, Glalie, Tentacruel, Crobat, Wailord, Gyarados
Gryoine: Walrein, Glalie, Sharpedo, Wailord, Huntail, Gorebyss
CTNC: Walrein, Glalie, Sealeo, Castform, Medicham, Whiscash

 

[misterdarvus]

Better than Glacia

It's very hard to have Ice type in this tropical region. The first three are the remnant from Glacia's team.
Also Serebii linked its RSE dex to XY page for some reason. That's why I added Donphan because it learns Ice Shard even thought that move is not invented yet, but I leave it as it is.
I took a page from Candice from across the region and added Ice Punch Medicham.
And lastly, I just don't wanna adding any water type in this 7/10 too much water-region, so I put a former water type; Masquerain. I learns Ice Beam at least

 

[Ironmage]

I chose to focus around the concepts of crystals and space. The former is due to the Ice types in the region leaning that angle, with 2.33/3.33 of the lines (including the legendary) opting to not go for a cold-associated animal. Walrein was considered to be cut for being the odd one out, but I ran out of good replacements. The space theme arose from a combination of already leaning towards alien-like designs, the coldness of space (comets, etc.), and how Antarctica is a font for astronomy research for several reasons (long polar nights, meteorites being easy to find against a white background, ice can be used to shield neutrino detectors). Hail is in the moveslots a bit more than maybe it should be, but I'm a sucker for Hoenn teams that focus on a weather that isn't rain or sun.


Glalie @ Lum Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
- Hail
- Blizzard
- Spikes
- Explosion
Lead set, and the auto-include of the team


Walrein @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
- Hail
- Rest
- Ice Beam
- Surf
As mentioned above, was almost cut from the team. Its ability to learn Rest by level was what decided the rest of the set.


Castform @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Forecast
- Hail
- Weather Ball
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
Despite being commonly maligned for a low BST, still beats out all relevant NFEs in that department. It's the 0.33 in the discussion of how few Hoenn Ice mons are organic.


Metagross @ Never-Melt Ice
Ability: Clear Body
- Ice Punch
- Explosion
- Rock Slide
- Meteor Mash
The joke of the set is that it's a substitute Regice by having Clear Body, Rock coverage to mirror all Regis getting AncientPower, and Explosion. Ended up shaping the choices of the other non-Ice mons on the team.


Starmie @ Salac Berry
Ability: Natural Cure
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
Another space-associated crystalline-looking mon.


Sableye @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
- Toxic
- Recover
- Night Shade
- Taunt
Looks alien enough while focusing on crystals.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Oh, well speak of the Ice specialist! Guess it's time for the TRUE Ice Hoenn.. *Brick'd*

Okay, joking aside, this is a tough one. While I could probably make a team based around Ice-type Moves, I find that both boring and problematic. "Problematic"? Yes, because obviously the ace here is going to be Walrein. But the thing is, if you put a very powerful Pokemon on your team it's going to overshadow Walrein. So the other Pokemon I pick both have to both strong in their own right but nothing that'll overshadow Walrein (on top of my creed to not try and use another trainer's ace).

So, the team I came up with is based on a Shoal Cave Explorer. Pretty notable location, especially for a Hoenn Ice-type user, as that's where both Spheal and Snorunt is found (yeah GF, just put the only two Ice-types in the game in the same late game location...). Without further ado:


Walrein (Thick Fat. Shell Bell. Ice Ball/Surf/Defense Curl/Rest)
Glalie (Inner Focus. Soft Sand. Ice Beam/Earthquake/Light Screen/Hail)
Crobat (Inner Focus. King's Rock. Sludge Bomb/Aerial Ace/Steel Wing/Haze)
Claydol (Levitate. Leftovers. Psychic/Earthquake/Ice Beam/Cosmic Power)
Relicanth (Rock Head. Quick Claw. Double-Edge/Rock Slide/Earthquake/Hail)
Ninetales (Flash Fire. Metal Coat. Flamethrower/Iron Tail/Will-O-Wisp/Imprison)

Deeper Explaination, No Tide Required

Crobat: The Zubat family is also found in Shoal Cave. It's flying ability would also make it a good scouting no matter what the tides are. In battle it's Typing is useful against Fighting-types; it also learns Haze.

Claydol: Shoal Cave is right near Mossdeep City, so I feel having a Psychic-type on the team is fitting. Claydol is also sort of a "relic" Pokemon, being based on ancient clay dolls/pots, so for fitting for an explorer. In battle it can actual counter all of Ice-types weaknesses, and learns Ice Beam to boot!

Relicanth: One of the premier diving Pokemon, which includes Route 125 where Shoal Cave is. In addition to also being a "relic" Pokemon fitting for an explorer, being a fish it would be useful during the high tides. It handles most of Ice weaknesses and also learns Hail (while my team isn't focused on Hail that heavily, I'm also not going to ignore it if there's no better option).

Ninetales: Now, I know what you're thinking and no. It's not here because of Alolan Ninetales, that's just a nice coincidence. It's because of Flash Fire. One idea I had with making the team was trying to use Abilities to provide assistance to Ice-types. That idea fell through, though I kept Ninetales cause I like the idea of someone sending in a Fire-type only for a pivot to Ninetales taking them by surprise and giving it a power boost. I also tried to be a bit fancy with it, taught it Iron Tail not just to use it against Rock-types but an off chance that the opponent may have I could use Imprison. As for exploring Shoal Cave, Ninetales could be used to light up a dark area or for warmth/drying any clothing that gets wet.

 

[Imperial Magala]

I wonder if including at least 1 Flame Orb member on my Fire team would have won me the poll.

I originally went with a general Ice affiliated team before realize there's something more tying all of these Pokemon together.


Inner Focus
+Focus Band
-Ice Beam
-Sheer Cold
-Explosion
-Spikes

Lead Glalie, meant to set up Spikes and take out something before going down.


Nature Cure
+Shell Bell
-Dragonbreath
-Ice Beam
-Haze
-Perish Song

Defensive Altaria meant to stop set up with paralysis, stat clearing, and Perish Song if all else fails. Altaria live fly at high altitudes and often live in the mountains. Grusha uses one in his battle, so there's already precedent.


Pressure
+Brightpowder
-Shadow Ball
-Ice Beam
-Future Sight
-Perish Song

I'm cooking with this Absol set. It's meant to be similar to Slowking-G and Urshifu-S by setting up Future Sight to punish any Fighting types that would switch-in on Absol, with Perish Song complicating things further. Just like Altaria, Absol live in mountains and is often found alongside Ice types.


Trace
+Lum Berry
-Psychic
-Icy Wind
-Future Sight
-Destiny Bond

If you squint your eyes, Gardevoir sort of turns into a Froslass here. Future Sight is here for the same reasons as Absol while Icy Wind helps with speed control and Destiny Bond. Legends: Arceus has the entire Ralts line live in the Alabaster Icelands, so the line only recently became associated with Icy regions. If only Gardevoir learning Ice Beam wasn’t a legends only thing.


Water Veil
+Sitrus Berry
-Water Spout
-Ice Beam
-Mist
-Fissure

General utility Wailord. Mist is there to compliment Haze as weird Ice type moves a bunch of non-Ice types Pokemon know. Whales inhabit polar regions and some species can dive to the coldest depths of the ocean.


Thick Fat
+Quick Claw
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Sheer Cold
-Fissure

Wailrein here embodies the full theme of this team.

A deathly cold. And Ice Beam I guess.

If you were quick enough, Dusclops was here instead of Gardevoir. After doing some mulling, I figured Gardevoir living in the Alabaster Icelands edged it out over Dusclops. Also considered were Aggron and Metagross because of them living in the Crown Tundra and any Pokemon found through diving because of the cold ocean floor.

 

[ant4456]

Hello, I am your rookie gym team designer, I have created a sheet for you, Mx. Ice-Type Leader. I hope this will suffice for a high-level team that can still be used against lower-level challengers, though not as a party of six. I have written notes for every single Pokemon as to make my intentions clear. Thank you for the consideration.

Glalie @ Lum Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
- Hail
- Blizzard
- Explosion
- Spikes

There are only two natural Ice-Type lines in the Hoenn region, so only 2/6 Pokemon on this team are Ice-Types, with this being one. I believe leading off with the type is important, as to make a better representation of the team and become iconic for the gym leader. When people think about you, I believe with the team structure they will think of you either as a Glalie user, or a Walrein user. Anywho, this is the lead of the team. It sets up Hail and gets Blizzard or Explosion off before it faints, or can setup Spikes, which combined with a few turns of Hail will make a lot of Pokemon struggle to stay healthy. Unless they are an Ice-Type! Which...

Hariyama @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
- Fake Out
- Brick Break
- Ice Punch
- Rest

Looking at the list of Hoenn Pokemon, I decided I wanted a Fighting-Type. Why, if there is ice all over the battlefield, you'd surely want Pokemon that can withstand that, no? And this is exactly that! A Fighting-Type that can smash through all the ice on the way to its opponent, while not caring much about the ice with Thick Fat! Fake Out, while also making the Hariyama take Hail chip perhaps, allows it to take hits. With Sitrus Berry and Rest, opposing Ice-Types are not making progress against this team...

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
- Meteor Mash
- Brick Break
- Ice Punch
- Thunder Punch


Considering the lack of Ice-Type lines in regional Hoenn, I decided to continue with the angle of Pokemon that do not mind the ice, and Metagross is in that category. With Clear Body, I'm sure it can quickly sheen off any sleet that happens to make its way onto its body. With Brick Break and Meteor Mash, it too is prepared to punch past the obstacles from its Ice teammates in ways gym challengers must be prepared extra for. Thunder Punch improves the team's match-up against Water-Types, which are always a pain. It packs a Lum Berry so challengers cannot simply burn the Metagross and wall it out forever.

Absol @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Pressure
- Double-Edge
- Swords Dance
- Quick Attack
- Rock Slide


Due to the recent 20.03 Pokemon damage coding regulations, I could not obtain a viable Absol featuring primarily Dark-Type moves. I did the next best thing for a Physical Attacker that is not too overbearing for the many types of trainers coming for a challenge, with a Normal-Type set on this Absol. It has Rock Slide to help against the ice on the field, and with its fur coat it will not be worn down by the sleet very quickly. It's very intimidating and tends to put Pressure on opponents, which I hope can give it opportunities to Swords Dance. With Silk Scarf and its natural Attack prowess, I do not think it is lacking in Speed pressure.

Milotic @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Marvel Scale
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rest
- Surf
- Blizzard
- Toxic


Milotic is the greatest Water-Type counter on this team, and has great longevity with "RestoChesto", a technique I gleamed from a trainer from another region. The way you are supposed to use this is to use Toxic and then stall out the opponent. Blizzard could be replaced, but I tried to fit Ice-Type attacks when I could to bring the theming more together. Plus, it will be quite an obstacle for the fighters!

Walrein @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Protect
- Toxic
- Surf


This is the star of the team, a Toxic stall set with Leftovers, Rest. Surf and Blizzard to dish out damage. With the Fighting-Types and Milotic, the team should not struggle with Steel-Types, making this not a problem for the two Toxic users on the team. Poison-Types may be an issue, but we have a Steel-Type on this team, and the match-up then is somewhat neutral. The Walrein's Thick Fat makes it a great answer to Fire-Types alongside Milotic even though it is neutral by typing.

Thank you for reading.

I hope this will suffice for the new Ice-Type gym.


Signed, antyytna of The Pokemon League international.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

I chose to focus around the concepts of crystals and space. The former is due to the Ice types in the region leaning that angle, with 2.33/3.33 of the lines (including the legendary) opting to not go for a cold-associated animal. Walrein was considered to be cut for being the odd one out

Eh, it's a big blue blob, that just about fits "celestial" as a theme if you squint very very hard.

Thick Fat
+Quick Claw
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Sheer Cold
-Fissure

Wailrein here embodies the full theme of this team.

No, that'd be this particular individual:

 

[Eeveeto]

Item: Focus Band. Moves: Spikes, Blizzard, Earthquake, Explosion. Ice Mon. Puts Spikes, does some damage and explodes.

Item: White Herb. Moves: Overheat, Hypnosis, Flamethrower, Dig. Has an Ice Alola form. On top of that, in Hoenn it lives on a high mountain. Uses Overheat + White Herb combo.

Item: Lum Berry. Moves: Sword Dance, Earthquake, Rock Slide, Body Slam. Another Mon with an Ice Alola form. Physical sweeper.

Item: Bright Powder. Moves: Haze, Dragon Breath, Fly, Toxic. Cloudy Mon. Lives in the cold sky and high mountain, very associated with cold in general. Set is for maximum annoyance.

Item: Macho Brace. Moves: Trick, Ice Punch, Psychic, Thunder Punch. Grumpig has Thick Fat ability (ice related due to resistance by adapting to cold temperatures) and learns some Ice Moves. This one uses Trick to make opponent slower than himself and the ace Mon.

Item: Leftovers. Moves: Ice Beam, Surf, Protect, Sheer Cold. The other Ice Mon and ace. If it can kill the opponent with STABs, it will use them. Otherwise, Sheer Cold does the job.

 

[Axiemeister]

decided to try my hand at this after lurking this thread for a couple months! hope i got the spirit of it right even if i don't get many votes
**********

the team

The flavor theme of this team is a Shoal Cave inhabitants core, complemented by Ice-adjacent mons that help with the battle theme of the team: being underhanded. Much like battling in winter doesn't bring the opponent down by brute force but rather by weakening them enough, this team tries a lot of different strategies to win.

@ Shell Bell
Ability: Forecast
- Hail
- Weather Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Rain Dance

The lead of this team is Hoenn's sole non-Shoal Cave Ice-type (sort of) and starts the battle theme by setting Hail so it, well, becomes Ice-type and starts accruing indirect damage. BoltBeam makes it competent enough and Rain Dance swaps its type to protect it from 3 of 4 of Ice-type's weaknesses, be it offensive or defensively. Shell Bell unites it to the theme (and I have a self-imposed Item Clause rofl).

@ Lum Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
- Yawn
- Curse
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam

Did you know Sealeo only has 10 BST less than Castform? You do now. Sealeo adds Yawn to the team's list of tactics, forcing switches or just sleeping opponents and giving it turns to set up and attack.

@ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
- Hail
- Perish Song
- Future Sight
- Double-Edge

I chose Absol over another Shoal Cave dweller because it has yet more moves for this team's swiss knife of zany tactics: Perish Song and Future Sight. Perish Song forces a switch, which gives Absol a turn to set up Hail, and before switching out of its own Perish Song it hopefully sets up a Future Sight for its next teammate. It gets to hold Leftovers because otherwise Hail damages it.

@ Focus Band
Ability: Inner Focus
- Spikes
- Icy Wind
- Sheer Cold
- Explosion

Sets up Spikes, slows enemies down with Icy Wind, and once they are slower plans on killing them outright with either Sheer Cold if it's healthy, or Explosion if it's not (which is where the Focus Band helps out).

@ Scope Lens
Ability: Clear Body
- Wrap
- Sludge Bomb
- Blizzard
- Hydro Pump

Our Shoal Cave pal puts a slight break on the underhanded tactics by actually having 3 whole damaging moves! It still has its annoying side by trapping and doing residual damage with Wrap, holding a Scope Lens for hax, and fishing for status with Sludge Bomb (and also Blizzard). Since the idea is to trap an enemy, the lack of accuracy of its special moves is less of a problem.

@ Chesto Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
- Rest
- Defense Curl
- Ice Ball
- Fissure

Usually aces are all-out offensive but Walrein is bulky and slow, so its place on its team will also be bulky and slow. It gets Defense boosts with Defense Curl, which also sets it up to Ice Ball and hopefully reverse-sweep. If both Walrein and the opponent team survive the Ice Balling, it Chesto Rests to try again, and it also has Fissure to suss out Ice resists.

************
and that's it! this was actually very fun thanks everyone for reading!

 

[Hugin]

Thank y'all, Fire was a fun one. Trying to make something stand out given the options took effort. Now on to my favorite region, and one wholly unsuited for the type.

The two fully-evolved ice-types, Castform which can be ice typed, Gardevoir and Whiscash get ice moves, and Absol is white and fluffy.

The idea this time is a weather forecaster, someone who figures out what's coming and warns people. Sudden blizzards might not be an obvious problem in Hoenn, but as a Texan I can promise that unexpected cold in a region that's not prepared for it is very bad. Castform predicts the weather, Gardevoir sees the future, Absol specifically predicts disasters, and Whiscash predicts earthquakes.

Moveset

Glalie @ Bright Powder
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- Hail
- Sheer Cold
- Explosion

Absol @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Quick Attack
- Rock Slide
- Shadow Ball
- Wish

Whiscash @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Surf
- Earthquake
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Gardevoir @ Lum Berry
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Future Sight
- Ice Punch
- Fire Punch
- Thunder Punch

Castform @ Salac Berry
Ability: Forecast
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Weather Ball
- Thunder
- Water Pulse
- Hail

Walrein @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Blizzard
- Yawn
- Hail

These mons almost all have something that resolves in the future and/or something RNG based, to fit the "predicting disasters" theme. Glalie is a spikes lead with Sheer Cold over Blizzard. Absol is an offensive set with Wish to support the team. Best I could do with Whiscash is RestoChesto with Sleep Talk. Gardevoir is my anti-weather mon, with Trace for Swift Swim/Chlorophyll shenanigans, all 3 elemental punches including Ice for coverage on the main weather mons, and Future Sight for the theme. Castform is a second anti-weather mon with reasonable coverage and can set Hail. And Walrein is a bulky tank to end it all, with Yawn just to make the stalling that much worse.

This one wasn't that hard. Castform is one of my favorite mons, along with Whiscash. The theme seemed fairly obvious at that point, which was a good thing. There's a lot of Ice Punch Fighters, Blizzard Waters, and various Psychics to choose from, but none that I think stand out, and a tropical region limits the blubber-heavy mammals or similar you can use.