SONM Pokémon VGC '16 Thread - Nationals 14th-15th May!

[Sabrofra]

This is the SONM Pokémon VGC '16 thread. Share your teams, give advice, and discuss!

Below are the Official Rules which can be found on Nugget Bridge

VGC '16 Rule Set;

- 'All matches are played in the Doubles format.

- Pokémon above Level 50 will be brought down to 50 for the match while those below 50 will stay as is.

- Players choose 4 of their 6 registered Pokémon after team preview.

- Pentagon Rule: All Pokémon must have the blue pentagon on their stats page indicating they were caught, bred, or received as an official gift in Pokémon X, Y, Omega Ruby, or Alpha Sapphire.

- Species Clause: No two Pokémon on your team can share the same Pokédex number.

- Item Clause: No two Pokémon on your team can hold the same held item.

Banned Moves

-None

Banned Items

- Soul Dew

Banned Pokémon
Mew
Celebi
Jirachi
Deoxys
Phione
Manaphy
Darkrai
Shaymin
Arceus
Victini
Keldeo
Meloetta
Genesect
Diancie
Hoopa

You may have up to two of the following Pokémon in your Battle Box:

Mewtwo
Lugia
Ho-oh
Kyogre
Groudon
Rayquaza
Dialga
Palkia
Giratina
Reshiram
Zekrom
Kyurem
Xerneas
Yveltal
Zygarde

Useful Links

Pokémon Showdown

[Sabrofra]

Upcoming Events

European National Dates

[Xenoblade Hero]

You beat me to making this thread =P

But regardless, I'm hoping this is more of a strategy based season after '14's overemphasis on hyper offensive gameplay with the introduction of Talonflame and mega Pokemon. Already this is looking the case with a lot of the new mega Pokemon being more balanced in terms of doubles gameplay and speed control such as Icy Wind and Trick Room being bought back in masses and good ol' Cresselia and other bulky legends giving back some stability.

One thing I do question is Dark Void remaining unbanned. Not just because of the move itself but for three things

- A controlling speed tier of 139, a lot of Pokemon will be forced to run more speed to check it effectively. This will make the metagame and teams more speed-orientated to stay above Smeargle tier as you usually need the double target to be able to take it out. Of course they could just be running a Scarf and spamming Dark Void which is an entirely different ball game
- Forcing players to predictably lead for Smeargle, which can be used by sending out anti-Smeargle counters and not bringing Smeargle at all. On the flipside if you don't lead for Smeargle and the opponent leads with it, they will be at a massive (and usually unrecoverable) advantage
-Other Kangaskhan checks not getting a chance to be used for dipping under the Smeargle base speed tier. In a similar vein different Pokemon can be lead alongside Smeargle such as Liepard creating very powerful gimmicks that overemphasises reliably checking said gimmick leads in fear of them (for example bringing a Taunt Thundurus just to get past Liepard's Prankster ability, and having to run Protect to prevent the Fake Out hitting you first turn)

Hopefully Smeargle won't be used or relied on too much in tournament play because of DV's accuracy but that didn't stop people using it last season and getting really good results from it. As proven in one video which I will link when I'm on my laptop Dark Void can be used by anyone, and is feared by everyone who is aware of it not just because of it's own merits.

Seeing as I'm on Nugget Bridge and various community chats I'll update if I overhear about premier challenges (or maybe a Regionals for the first time, who knows?). If anyone needs any advice regarding teambuilding I'm here to help too!

[lol95]

My only problem is where to start, I have a somewhat decent Calm natured Cress that I can't be bothered to SR for anymore but that's about it. I think Mega Mawile might be worth playing with to start with just as I'm most familiar with it from last season. It's going to take forever to get a hold on this meta.

[Aren142]

Well, I've started messing around with ideas on Showdown and reached a few conclusions.

-You need to be prepared for Mega Metagross or it will violate your very existence.
-Terrakion might just be the amazing monster it was back in 2011.
-Idiots can't handle Follow Me.
-Players on Showdown are incredibly predictable.
-Suicune + Ferrothorn is a godly combination.

[Sabrofra]

One thing I do question is Dark Void remaining unbanned. Not just because of the move itself but for three things

- A controlling speed tier of 139, a lot of Pokemon will be forced to run more speed to check it effectively. This will make the metagame and teams more speed-orientated to stay above Smeargle tier as you usually need the double target to be able to take it out. Of course they could just be running a Scarf and spamming Dark Void which is an entirely different ball game
- Forcing players to predictably lead for Smeargle, which can be used by sending out anti-Smeargle counters and not bringing Smeargle at all. On the flipside if you don't lead for Smeargle and the opponent leads with it, they will be at a massive (and usually unrecoverable) advantage
-Other Kangaskhan checks not getting a chance to be used for dipping under the Smeargle base speed tier. In a similar vein different Pokemon can be lead alongside Smeargle such as Liepard creating very powerful gimmicks that overemphasises reliably checking said gimmick leads in fear of them (for example bringing a Taunt Thundurus just to get past Liepard's Prankster ability, and having to run Protect to prevent the Fake Out hitting you first turn)

I completely agree. Luckily I never came across any Dark Void users during the VGC but I saw a hell of a load on Showdown.

[Xenoblade Hero]

Here's the best pro-ban argument I can find, bearing in mind Baz has seen Worlds play before

You were very lucky you didn't meet one mid tournament (I never did either thankfully)! It's especially notorious for being brutal in a BO1 as it's impossible to tell what item it's running

[Sabrofra]

Baz went against one of my friends - Phil (P3DS). Phil was using a perish trap team. Luckily I never came across one of them either.

[JenovaPX]

Well I'll be in Portsmouth when this comes around so I might actually go to a regional thing for once. I suppose lum berry might be a thing if DV does gain some real prevalence but we'll see.

[Xenoblade Hero]

Baz went against one of my friends - Phil (P3DS). Phil was using a perish trap team. Luckily I never came across one of them either.

Didn't know you knew Phil :) I was watching when he battled Baz on the big screen at the top cut. Chatted to him a couple of times and he's a top guy; in my opinion a very underrated battler

I suppose lum berry might be a thing if DV does gain some real prevalence but we'll see.

Lum Garchomp, Ferrothorn and Amoonguss were all over the place as Smeargle, sleep and burn stops so perhaps it'll be the case again. Mind you there's a couple more options for the DV situation out there so it'll be a case of experimenting with what's there. I'm currently using Flower Veil Florges + Virizion to stop Khan Artist and it's working so damn well

[Sabrofra]

Do you think VGC '15 will be located in Manchester again next year? Hoping it is as I live relatively close to it.

[JenovaPX]

Manc or Birmingham almost certainly

[Aren142]

There's a lot of stuff they'll have to sort out this year. They'll probably stick to Manchester but the location in Manchester could be a different matter since the last one didn't go down that well.

Also, I can confirm Lum Garchomp was everywhere last year. Will o Wisp was my main method of dealing with Garchomp when running Mono Fire and Lum ruined everything.

Also, seriously loving Terrakion in this format. Last year was really missing a fast hard hitting Fighting type.

[Gazooki]

Don't think I'm gonna be able to top my Mono-Fairy team from last year. It really was just so much fun to use, and considering everything shared a type, it wasn't dreadful either. This year I have a couple of ideas of things I want to try out, but need to think of decent spreads for them first and I've never been very good at that.

[lol95]

I've been playing a mono fairy type team over the last two days and my w/l record isn't too bad considering. Wigglytuff is surprisingly fun to use and having Whimsicott makes things a lot easier when facing tailwind and trick room.

[Aren142]

I wonder if I should give Mono Fire another go now that I have access to Fake Out (Infernape), Rage Powder/Follow Me (Volcarona), non-Mega Sun and Heatran.

[phalanx]

wasn't one of these won one year by someone using a Dark Void smeargle?

Smeargle with Dark void, Quiver dance, Boom-burst and something else. gonna ruin this

[lol95]

Any advice for making Mega Altaria work well? My team building is just not producing consistent results at the moment.

[Xenoblade Hero]

It seems tough to use with less defensive gameplay in VGC and Hyper Voice Sylveon/Mega Salamence giving it competition on the special side (then again although it's much less powerful than Sylveon it does get Fire Blast, although I'm pretty sure it can't KO Mawile with it). Maybe a physical set could work with team support? It seems much more of a singles orientated Pokemon in my opinion but I'm willing to be proven wrong

[lol95]

It shall be my mission to prove all wrong! Dragon Dance might be a nice unexpected thing to do...

[Xenoblade Hero]

It shall be my mission to prove all wrong! Dragon Dance might be a nice unexpected thing to do...

Yeah Fake Out support + Dragon Dance Return sounds the best thing IMO. Setting up is tricky with speed control around in most teams but it's certainly not impossible :)

[lol95]

Really tempted to use Whimsicott to be able to taunt T-Wave and Trick Room users but then I need a guaranteed OHKO to deal with Aromatisse.

[Sabrofra]

Aromatisse aren't that common are they?

[Aren142]

I've seen a couple around. People seem to be trying Trick Room with Camerupt but I've not seen one work yet because they're all dedicated TR and rely too heavily on it. So they spend so much time trying to set up that I've already crippled them. And it's a similar thing with your Altaria team planning. You're not always going to be leading the same two so you can easily have something in line ready to OHKO Aromatisse. And Sylveon for an added bonus.

[Sabrofra]

Just had a few battles online with my current VGC team and it's still working really well. Personally, I'd like to keep my current team, but a lot of them are all really high on the usage list (link in OP) so I feel my team might be a little predictable.