VGC First Real Attempt at VGC'18

Hello there! I'm singles player, and I usually stick to that, but this year I wanted to take a real stab at VGC. However, typically I'm not very good at doubles, so I'd love this team that I made to get rated and some advice given on how to improve it. Thanks in advanced!



Mawile (F) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
- Fire Fang
- Protect

The Pokemon I'm building this team around, Mega Mawile is the main hitter of the team. With a great typing in Steel/Fairy and two great abilities (Intimidate Pre-Mega Evolving and Huge Power after) Mega Mawile makes up for it's lack of spread moves by just hitting so hard. Play Rough is the STAB option on this set hitting anything that doesn't resist super hard. Since Mawile isn't exactly the fastest thing around, Sucker Punch is great for getting some priority to pick up weakened Pokemon or simply avoiding being KO'ed. Fire Fang hits opposing Steel types. Finally, Protect seems to be a must on any Pokemon in VGC that isn't running Assault Vest or a Choice item.




Milotic (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Competitive
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Icy Wind
- Protect
- Scald
- Light Screen

With how prevalent Intimidate is in the meta ( especially through Lando-T) a Pokemon with Competitive or Defiant seemed like a good idea. However, as mentioned before, with how popular Lando-T is, my best bet seemed to be Milotic. With access to Icy Wind, Milotic provides some nice speed control for the team, while Scald is STAB with a decent chance to Burn. Protect is obvious, and Light Screen helps against the likes of Tapu Lele and Koko, as well as other powerful Special Attackers. EV Spread makes Milotic nice and bulky to boot on the special side already, so Light Screen is more for the rest of the team than it.




Tapu Bulu @ Choice Band
Ability: Grassy Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Horn Leech
- Superpower
- Rock Slide

With Mawile's weakness to Ground, as well as the seeming popularity of rain teams, Tapu Bulu seems like a great choice for this team. I decided to go for a Banded Set for a powerful Wall breaker that hits incredibly hard. Wood Hammer is the main move here for it's raw power that only get boosted further by both Choice Band and Grassy Terrain. Horn Leech is a secondary STAB option for recovery, while Superpower gives Bulu a chance to hit Steel types. Finally, Rock Slide is a nice spread move that allows Bulu to hit flying types on the switch-in. Bulky spread here gives Bulu a chance to take advantage of the healing capabilities of Grassy Terrain.




Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Tailwind
- Protect

So so far my team is pretty slow, and with me not planning on using Trick Room, I decided to go for something a little faster that also provides speed control outside of Icy Wind. So I decided to go with a more speedy, Special Attacker with access to Tailwind; Hydreigon. Hydreigon has great double STAB options in Draco Meteor and Dark Pulse. Life Orb gives Hydreigon a nice power boost, and Tailwind access is always nice. And of course, Protect is here because it is needed.




Hitmontop @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Wide Guard
- Helping Hand

I decided that some Intimidate + Fake Out support would benefit the team greatly. Hitmontop seemed like a popular pick, and it's fighting typing is also very nice. Close Combat is the STAB of choice for this set, while Wide Guard allows for the team to avoid spread moves like EQ, Rock Slide, and Dazzling Gleam. Finally, Helping Hand allows a partner to have a boosted attack perhaps get a KO off that otherwise would not be possible.




Porygon-Z @ Normalium Z
Ability: Adaptability
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Ice Beam
- Protect
- Conversion

The final member of the team, I decided to go with Z-Conversion Porygon Z, a powerful and unpredictable Pokemon thanks to it taking the typing of the first attack in it's arsenal as well as getting a boost to all of it's stats. For this team I decided that a Ghost-Type Porygon with Shadow Ball would be great, as outside of Hydreigon, Aegislash can be hard to get around. The secondary attack here is Ice Beam, though I am thinking of switching it to Thunderbolt for Celesteela.
 

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Hey HeartlessAngel1993! This is a cool take on a Mega Mawile team, but I'm not sure it really fully draws out the benefits that Mawile brings over its Steel-type brethren like Mega Metagross or even Mega Scizor. In particular, some things I noticed:
  • Lots of firepower but somewhat poor at harnessing it well
  • Has trouble breaking bulky Steels (Heatran, Ferrothorn, Celesteela)
  • Porygon-Z doesn't really fit
To explain the first point, about the huge amount of firepower: I think Mega Mawile's main benefit over other offensive Steel-type Pokemon is the fact that it doesn't really need to run a huge amount of Attack investment in order to be threatening. In light of this, I think you could make better use of Tailwind with a little more speed. I'd recommend a Speed stat of at least 81 Speed, achieved with 84 Speed EVs. This lets Mawile outrun Timid Tapu Lele under Tailwind, as well as everything slower than that, including Jolly Landorus-T, Modest Hydreigon, and all non-Timid Zapdos, all for only a drop of about 6.4% in Mawile's offensive power.

On that note, it may be worth looking into your Tailwind setter. As far as Tailwind setters go, Hydreigon is pretty slow, and can be fairly easily outrun by something like Mega Metagross or Kangaskhan or even a Koko and KOd before it can even set up Tailwind. Personally, I'd prefer a bulkier Tailwind setter such as Zapdos, which not only makes it easier to get Tailwind up but also patches up your team's rather poor Celesteela matchup with STAB Thunderbolt, and your Ferrothorn matchup with Heat Wave. Since I'll be recommending the removal of Porygon-Z in a moment, I think Electrium Z can fit nicely on Zapdos here to snipe Tapu Fini too.

Next is Milotic: since you probably want to deter Intimidate users from switching in for a good portion of the game, it may be in your best interest to allow it to actually stand toe-to-toe with said Intimidate users. I'd recommend investing more EVs in Defense for a start, and 236 Defense EVs let it take a Landorus-T's Tectonic Rage:
  • 252+ Atk Landorus-T Tectonic Rage (180 BP) vs. 252 HP / 236 Def Milotic: 169-201 (83.6 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Additionally, I'd recommend using a 50% healing berry, like the Wiki Berry, over your Leftovers. Doubles battles generally last just a few turns, and the total amount healed by Leftovers probably won't be more than about 40% over the course of a game. A berry, on the other hand, can give you the burst recovery you require after being hit by a strong attack like a Thunderbolt or a Z-move. In the Tectonic Rage case I mentioned above, for example, the berry can be the difference between sitting at 2% or 52% after being hit by Tectonic Rage, which heavily influences if the Landorus-T's partner can pick up the KO on Milotic (and thus whether Milotic can retaliate with an Icy Wind). Finally, I think you could consider the more standard Recover over Light Screen, which lets Milotic keep itself healthy even if it's not hit into the range of its berry.

In terms of Tapu Bulu, I think fits well on this team, but I'm not sure Choice Band is the best set for it. You may want to consider a bulkier set with Wood Hammer / Horn Leech / (Substitute or Stone Edge) / Protect and a berry or even Grassium Z. Note that I'm not super experienced with Tapu Bulu because I almost never use it, so take this piece of advice especially with a few grains of salt.

Moving on to Hitmontop: I think it's worth questioning here what spread moves in particular you need to work around. I generally feel that Hitmontop's main niches over Scrafty lie in: (a) its ability to KO Kangaskhan, Heatran, and a host of other threats with a Z-Close Combat; and (b) Wide Guard. Since we're not using Z-CC here, is Wide Guard really such a great boon that Hitmontop is worth using over Scrafty? Food for thought. Personal opinion: I prefer Scrafty due to its ability to switch in and out more easily with an Assault Vest / healing with Drain Punch, but it's your call in the end.

Finally, the Pokemon that sticks out the most on this team is Porygon-Z. I don't think Porygon-Z is very good as a standalone attacker; it was rather frail even in VGC 17 terms and with a host of stronger Pokemon in VGC 18 it's only gotten harder to set up without proper support. Hitmontop alone probably isn't enough support to help Porygon-Z get its boosts in, and even if it does, Porygon-Z has to deal with a much bulkier format, with Pokemon like Zapdos, Tyranitar, Heatran, Scrafty, and many more able to easily stomach a hit from Porygon-Z and respond with Tailwind, Crunch or some other form of attack. I'd dedicate this slot to some other form of bulky offense that gels with the rest of the team: Tapu Fini, for instance, comes to mind as a way to deal with Fire-types that threaten both Bulu and Mawile, such as Heatran (which I did mention you had a weakness to earlier). Landorus-T also works here, bringing with it the ability to take KOs on threats like Heatran and Charizard, and also providing Intimidate of its own; just be careful about how Earthquake interacts with your own Grassy Terrain.

Summary of changes:
  • Mega Mawile: 84 EVs from Attack to Speed
  • Hydreigon: Change to Electrium Z or 50% berry Zapdos
  • Milotic: Change to 50% berry, 236 EVs from SpDef to Defense, Recover over Light Screen
  • Tapu Bulu: Try a 50% berry or Grassium Z set with Substitute or Stone Edge
  • Hitmontop / Porygon-Z: Consider trying other Pokemon here, such as Tapu Fini, Landorus-T, or Scrafty
Overall, I hope I helped and didn't change too much on this team! Looking forward to seeing how the changes work for you :)
 
Hey HeartlessAngel1993! This is a cool take on a Mega Mawile team, but I'm not sure it really fully draws out the benefits that Mawile brings over its Steel-type brethren like Mega Metagross or even Mega Scizor. In particular, some things I noticed:
  • Lots of firepower but somewhat poor at harnessing it well
  • Has trouble breaking bulky Steels (Heatran, Ferrothorn, Celesteela)
  • Porygon-Z doesn't really fit
To explain the first point, about the huge amount of firepower: I think Mega Mawile's main benefit over other offensive Steel-type Pokemon is the fact that it doesn't really need to run a huge amount of Attack investment in order to be threatening. In light of this, I think you could make better use of Tailwind with a little more speed. I'd recommend a Speed stat of at least 81 Speed, achieved with 84 Speed EVs. This lets Mawile outrun Timid Tapu Lele under Tailwind, as well as everything slower than that, including Jolly Landorus-T, Modest Hydreigon, and all non-Timid Zapdos, all for only a drop of about 6.4% in Mawile's offensive power.

On that note, it may be worth looking into your Tailwind setter. As far as Tailwind setters go, Hydreigon is pretty slow, and can be fairly easily outrun by something like Mega Metagross or Kangaskhan or even a Koko and KOd before it can even set up Tailwind. Personally, I'd prefer a bulkier Tailwind setter such as Zapdos, which not only makes it easier to get Tailwind up but also patches up your team's rather poor Celesteela matchup with STAB Thunderbolt, and your Ferrothorn matchup with Heat Wave. Since I'll be recommending the removal of Porygon-Z in a moment, I think Electrium Z can fit nicely on Zapdos here to snipe Tapu Fini too.

Next is Milotic: since you probably want to deter Intimidate users from switching in for a good portion of the game, it may be in your best interest to allow it to actually stand toe-to-toe with said Intimidate users. I'd recommend investing more EVs in Defense for a start, and 236 Defense EVs let it take a Landorus-T's Tectonic Rage:
  • 252+ Atk Landorus-T Tectonic Rage (180 BP) vs. 252 HP / 236 Def Milotic: 169-201 (83.6 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Additionally, I'd recommend using a 50% healing berry, like the Wiki Berry, over your Leftovers. Doubles battles generally last just a few turns, and the total amount healed by Leftovers probably won't be more than about 40% over the course of a game. A berry, on the other hand, can give you the burst recovery you require after being hit by a strong attack like a Thunderbolt or a Z-move. In the Tectonic Rage case I mentioned above, for example, the berry can be the difference between sitting at 2% or 52% after being hit by Tectonic Rage, which heavily influences if the Landorus-T's partner can pick up the KO on Milotic (and thus whether Milotic can retaliate with an Icy Wind). Finally, I think you could consider the more standard Recover over Light Screen, which lets Milotic keep itself healthy even if it's not hit into the range of its berry.

In terms of Tapu Bulu, I think fits well on this team, but I'm not sure Choice Band is the best set for it. You may want to consider a bulkier set with Wood Hammer / Horn Leech / (Substitute or Stone Edge) / Protect and a berry or even Grassium Z. Note that I'm not super experienced with Tapu Bulu because I almost never use it, so take this piece of advice especially with a few grains of salt.

Moving on to Hitmontop: I think it's worth questioning here what spread moves in particular you need to work around. I generally feel that Hitmontop's main niches over Scrafty lie in: (a) its ability to KO Kangaskhan, Heatran, and a host of other threats with a Z-Close Combat; and (b) Wide Guard. Since we're not using Z-CC here, is Wide Guard really such a great boon that Hitmontop is worth using over Scrafty? Food for thought. Personal opinion: I prefer Scrafty due to its ability to switch in and out more easily with an Assault Vest / healing with Drain Punch, but it's your call in the end.

Finally, the Pokemon that sticks out the most on this team is Porygon-Z. I don't think Porygon-Z is very good as a standalone attacker; it was rather frail even in VGC 17 terms and with a host of stronger Pokemon in VGC 18 it's only gotten harder to set up without proper support. Hitmontop alone probably isn't enough support to help Porygon-Z get its boosts in, and even if it does, Porygon-Z has to deal with a much bulkier format, with Pokemon like Zapdos, Tyranitar, Heatran, Scrafty, and many more able to easily stomach a hit from Porygon-Z and respond with Tailwind, Crunch or some other form of attack. I'd dedicate this slot to some other form of bulky offense that gels with the rest of the team: Tapu Fini, for instance, comes to mind as a way to deal with Fire-types that threaten both Bulu and Mawile, such as Heatran (which I did mention you had a weakness to earlier). Landorus-T also works here, bringing with it the ability to take KOs on threats like Heatran and Charizard, and also providing Intimidate of its own; just be careful about how Earthquake interacts with your own Grassy Terrain.

Summary of changes:
  • Mega Mawile: 84 EVs from Attack to Speed
  • Hydreigon: Change to Electrium Z or 50% berry Zapdos
  • Milotic: Change to 50% berry, 236 EVs from SpDef to Defense, Recover over Light Screen
  • Tapu Bulu: Try a 50% berry or Grassium Z set with Substitute or Stone Edge
  • Hitmontop / Porygon-Z: Consider trying other Pokemon here, such as Tapu Fini, Landorus-T, or Scrafty
Overall, I hope I helped and didn't change too much on this team! Looking forward to seeing how the changes work for you :)

These changes fantastic and I'll be sure to try them out. Thank you for the advice, everything you said should hopefully also help me in learning VGC as well.
 

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