Introduction
Well hello there, fellow Pokemon trainers! This time I will showcase a team that only consists of Pokemon that can change forms in-battle, such as Cherrim and Minior. It's insane how well these Pokemon work together. Anyways, I have tried this team out in SM Doubles OU and it is viable, trust me. Although it doesn't have much set-up, any entry hazards or a way to deal with them, but it is still a team you can count on. And isn't it nice to know that your whole team has something in common? In this case, that would be changing forms.
Team Building Process
Well, I have to admit that the moment I saw Cherrim's Sunshine Form I fell in love with it. How can a Pokemon be so outstandingly adorable? I also have to add that it wasn't a long time ago, anyways, ever since then I was looking for a way to battle with it effectively. I tried Sunny Day teams, a team where Cherrim would be basically the MVP and so on, but I didn't feel like it was the "right" way for me, and then I thought "a support Cherrim?", it was so simple and actually possible. Then I went searching for Pokemon that would make a great team with such Cherrim. I remembered all the YouTube videos of themed pokemon battles and what I wanted to try out that I haven't seen (yet) is the Full Changing Form team. I looked at all the pokemon that have different forms and there were a lot, to be honest. Then I thought, perhaps I will build a team of Pokemon that can change form in-battle! That would be fun. There are 11 Pokemon that can do that, those Pokemon are: Cherrim, Castform, Minior, Wishiwashi, Zygarde, Aegislash, Greninja, Meloetta, Darmanitan, Mimikyu and Xerneas. So I tried all of them out with various strategies and methods, so I picked the one I liked the most, and here we are. So I hope you'll like this team just as much as I do.
Cherrim @ Focus Sash | Flower Gift
Timid | 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Sunny Day / Healing Wish / Helping Hand / Solar Beam
The happiest and super cute little flower is now a game-changing support. With Flower Gift activated by Sunny Day plus Helping Hand it boosts its ally's power to 2x, if that doesn't make you fear the power of such monstrosity, then I don't know what does. Basically, all Cherrim has to do is set up Sunny Day and use Helping Hand to ensure an OHKO, Healing Wish is to get weakened pokemon back into the battle and Solar Beam is for some damage. I put max Evs into Special Attack because there's no point in going defensive with this pokemon, its allies will protect it by casually destroying the opponent and then Cherrim can deal some damage on its own. Also Focus Sash is to avoid fainting in the first turn, since that would be very unfortunate.
Zygarde @ Groundium Z | Aura Break
Adamant | 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Thousand Arrows / Outrage / Dragon Dance / Extreme Speed
I know Zygarde doesn't change forms without it's Hidden Ability - Power Construct, and it's a legendary pokemon, yet considered to be in OU, but you get the idea. With the ability Power Construct, Zygarde would have to be in the Ubers, and that would be very inconvenient for this team. I've fought in Ubers with this team and I consider myself lucky to win. Anyways, I like to start off with Cherrim and Zygarde, because once you set up Dragon Dance and Cherrim activates Flower Gift, the next turn is a complete annihilation. With Thousand Arrows capable of hitting Flying types and pokemon with the ability Levitate and also boosted by Flower Gift and Helping Hand, Zygarde becomes a complete God (no pun intended). There's no escape from getting OHKO'd by it, well except if the opponent has a Tangrowth, that one can tank it up quite well. Extreme Speed is for opponent's pokemon that are still faster than Zygarde even after Dragon Dance. Outrage is overkill for Dragon types, but sometimes you would need to use it. Groundium Z is for those who refuse to die, that'll teach them.
Minior @ White Herb | Shields Down
Adamant | 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Shell Smash / Acrobatics / Earthquake / Stone Edge
Minior is pretty much a replacement for Zygarde, if somehow the opponent manages to kill it or you simply want to start off with it. Shell Smash will award you with a satisfying sweep, and with White Herb you don't have to worry about your defenses being lowered. If the opponent causes Zygarde to faint, they will most certainly attack Cherrim next since they now realised how much of a threat it is, that gives you an opportunity to clean up what Zygarde left behind. Use Acrobatics for threats such as Grass and Fighting types, Earthquake for Electric and Rock types and Stone Edge is simply your back-up plan if the last two moves don't work out well. The stat boosts received from Shell Smash will be more than enough to OHKO with a super-effective move. But be aware of your threats, since Minior's base Defense and Special Defense stats aren't that high to survive a high base power super-effective move. Switch out if you want to play it safe.
Wishiwashi @ Choice Specs | Schooling
Quiet | 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 HP
Hydro Pump / Ice Beam / Earthquake / U-turn
Wishiwashi - a small fry having higher base stats than Pseudo-Legendaries and even some actual Legendaries. What could go wrong with giving it Choice Specs and max EVs invested in Special Attack? Well, not as much as you'd expect, of course it still deals a lot of damage and is a great pokemon overall, but its movepool is quite small and it's slower than Forretress, and yet is still pretty amazing in both defense and offense, what a beast. Since its movepool is so small, you can't have a moveset full with Special moves and have a great type coverage, therefore Earthquake and U-turn is necessary. You could go and invest some more EVs in Attack, but the only ally pokemon that avoids Earthquake is Minior, and no pokemon here has Protect, so it's quite difficult to decide whether you should attack your opponent at the cost of your ally's HP, or simply U-turn and send out a more suitable pokemon for your situation. Ice Beam is for Grass types and Earthquake is for Electric types, if the opponent dares to send out a Fire type, they have a Hydro Pump coming their way.
Aegislash @ Weakness Policy | Stance Change
Quiet | 252 SpA / 252 HP / 4 SpD
Shadow Ball / Flash Cannon / Wide Guard / King's Shield
You think a slow Aegislash is bad? If hit by a super-effective move, it will activate Weakness Policy, and then it will hit twice as hard as it would have originally. Max EVs invested in HP are to survive that super-effective hit, but don't get cocky, even in Shield Forme Aegislash can be OHKO'd, so watch out for that. Try to predict your opponent's move and use Wide Guard or King's Shield according to the move you predict. Use Shadow Ball against fellow Ghost types and Flash Cannon against those annoying Fairy types. Once you figured out your opponent, it will be much easier to beat them.
A friendly reminder: Wide Guard and King's Shield are both moves that protect you against attacks, therefore one will fail if used right after another's successful protection. For example, if you used King's Shield and it protected you against an attack and you used Wide Guard the next turn, it will fail. Less experienced trainers should keep that in mind.
Meloetta @ Leftovers | Serene Grace
Timid | 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Hidden Power Fire / Psyshock / Focus Blast / U-turn
Meloetta may not be able to change forms without its move Relic Song, but there aren't many pokemon that can change forms in-battle so I had to let it fill the place in, and also Relic Song is a Special move, It would only work if you started the battle as the Pirouette form, which is banned, well if you somehow managed to do it I'd suggest you replace Psyshock. If you prefer the Pirouette form, remember that it's a physical attacker, therefore a bit of a different moveset is required. Let Meloetta sing its way through the opponent's team and you'll see just how powerful it can be, capable of OHKO'ing its threats like it's nothing. Of course, most experienced trainers already know the power of Meloetta, you can use it to your advantage, since they'll probably focus on defeating it first. Pick Leftovers for some survivability since it only has 2 weaknesses. Use Hidden Power Fire for those nasty Bug types and Focus Blast for Dark types, Psyshock can be used for identifying yourself as a threat, and U-turn is to avoid threats that you can't handle at the moment. If Grass types threaten your team, send out Meloetta and let it take care of it, or perhaps you'd want to switch it in to avoid Ghost type attacks hitting Aegislash, there are a lot of possibilities and great ways to use Meloetta, just trust your guts.
Honestly, I love Mimikyu as a Pokemon, but it lacked something that others are full of, perhaps the stats or the type coverage, I'm not sure myself, but it was still fun to battle with it. I couldn't really battle much with Xerneas because it belongs in Uber and that is not the tier this team should be in. But overall, it was fun to try out new teams and new strategies.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesou-610906116
Started off with Cherrim and Minior as the lead (kamikaze Cherrim)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesou-610916048
Aurora Veil is nothing to a boosted Zygarde (also rage quit)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesou-610918704
You Taunted the wrong Pokemon (Protect in 2017? HA)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesou-610929700
Double focus on Cherrim (Wishiwashi is pretty tanky)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesou-611176360
And they say my team is weird (2 Final Gambits)
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