VGC Struggling with my Shadow Caly + Kartana team in VGC

[KRLW890]

Hey, I'm struggling with my team in BSD and am looking for suggestions:

Calyrex-Shadow @ Life Orb
Ability: As One (Spectrier)
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Astral Barrage
- Expanding Force
- Protect
- Giga Drain​

Pretty standard Shadow Caly. The special half of my core, and, consequently, one of my two main Dynamaxers. The fastest viable Pokemon in the metagame other than Regieleki, and even higher SpA. Unfortunately, I've found that its 2 4x weaknesses don't do it any favors.

Kartana @ Expert Belt
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Protect
- Sacred Sword​

The physical half of my core, and my other main Dynamaxer. The item isn't ideal, but Caly is already using LO, and Tornadus has Sash. I also don't want to restrict myself with a Choice item. But I've been pleasantly surprised by its physical bulk on many occasions. Usually ends up being the MVP above Calyrex.

Regieleki @ Light Clay
Ability: Transistor
Level: 50
EVs: 84 HP / 252 SpA / 172 Spe
Modest Nature
- Electroweb
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Thunderbolt​

Dual screens + speed control, with Tbolt as an electric nuke if necessary. The EVs are tuned to outspeed base 95 mons at +1. It can often take one neutral hit, especially if it set up the corresponding screen, but its bulk isn't great.

Tornadus (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Tailwind
- Taunt
- Heat Wave
- Hurricane​

Speed control, taunt for disruption, and two attacks for some muscle if needed. Very commonly my lead alongside Incineroar, since the combination of Tailwind, Taunt, and Incineroar's Fake Out are very good for disrupting the opponent's strategy.

Incineroar @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Parting Shot
- Flare Blitz
- Darkest Lariat​

Lariat instead of Snarl for extra damage, but otherwise pretty standard. Last 4 EVs in speed to prevent other Incineroars from Faking Out. As stated above, Incineroar is very commonly used as my lead alongside Tornadus.

Tapu Lele @ Assault Vest
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball​

Despite Psychic Surge support for Calyrex, I rarely bring Lele. Even with Vest, I've been quite disappointed with its survivability, and it usually just barely doesn't have enough damage behind it. Definitely the member I would be most willing to replace.

I'm not sure about Shadow Calyrex + Kartana as a core, 3 exploitable 4x weaknesses among them isn't great, especially when two of them are Incineroar's STABS. I'm more inclined to replace Caly than Kart. My team struggles badly against Trick Room, Incineroar, and opposing Weakness Policy (although I overall think WP is really OP in this format). Any suggestions?

 

[Giokio]

Hi KRLW890, I’ve read your report and I have a few suggestions I can give to you:
Let’s talk about general matchups, as you said Trick room destroys your team and 3 x4 weaknesses is really bad, especially if those weaknesses can be exploited by Incineroar. You have two solutions: one is to swap either kartana or caly, while the other is to keep both of them and try to hard counter incineroar with your other mons but I wouldn’t suggest that.

Usually teams rely mostly on another dynamax user to weaken opponents and then they bring the king in to clean in late game, for example, Ryota Otsubo’s team features a Regigigas core alongside Calyrex:
https://pokepast.es/b674c2c594e3e7af
Dynamaxing Calyrex Shadow isn’t always a good idea, it’s weaknesses make it too frail, that’s why a bulky dynamax attacker like Metagross or Regigigas tend to be its best partners. Also keep in mind you can use Indedee-F instead of Tapu lele, because Indedee has access to Follow Me, heal pulse, helping hand, and lots utility moves that Calyrex appreciate.

is mostly used in weather teams, in sun it can take care of opposing kyogres and incineroars, and in rain it can take down Groudon, Lapras and defense boosted ferrothorn.

After giving a look to both mons, choose what you want to keep or drop, and change other members considering your choice.

Now let’s talk about how I’d edit this team, keep in mind I’m not the messiah and you must build your teams basing on your playstyle and experience.

Since you already have a Tornadus i’d suggest dropping Calyrex for Kyogre, giving the team a rain based strategy, dropping Calyrex means you can give the life orb to your kartana and make it more powerful. Before discussing smaller changes i’d also suggest to drop Tapu lele, not fitting at all in the current metagame. You can replace Lele with every mon you might need to counter specific matchups like Moltres Galar for sun, Urshifu for Solgaleo and Lap-Dog or even ferrothorn to threaten physical based and trick room based teams.

Now we can talk about moveset changes and spread changes.

First of all
heat wave would be nerfed by rain so you can either swap it with dark pulse (to hit opposing Calyrex) or Icy wind to speed control even more. Dynamaxing Tornadus is becoming popular recently, so consider wasting your dynamax on him to stack up Max Airstream boosts and surprise opponents. Also, consider adding rain dance to counter sun teams that may cause problems to your Kyogre.


This Incineroar set must be adjusted, Incineroar isn’t an offensive mon, it’s role is to soften opponent’s attacks, not hitting hard and while darkest lariat might be a good idea to finish off opposing dark and ghost types, snarl is usually preferred.

common spreads for Incineroar are:

sitrus berry

Incineroar @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 228 HP / 4 Atk / 148 Def / 124 SpD / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Fake Out
- Parting Shot
- Snarl

Assault vest

Incineroar (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 44 SpA / 156 SpD
Calm Nature
- U-turn
- Fake Out
- Burning Jealousy
- Snarl

Alright, I’m done with my writing, tell me if you struggle to understand the changes I made, if you do, I’ll discuss more about them.
Hope I gave you a hand to make this team better, enjoy it.

 

[KRLW890]

Hi KRLW890, I’ve read your report and I have a few suggestions I can give to you:
Let’s talk about general matchups, as you said Trick room destroys your team and 3 x4 weaknesses is really bad, especially if those weaknesses can be exploited by Incineroar. You have two solutions: one is to swap either kartana or caly, while the other is to keep both of them and try to hard counter incineroar with your other mons but I wouldn’t suggest that.

Usually teams rely mostly on another dynamax user to weaken opponents and then they bring the king in to clean in late game, for example, Ryota Otsubo’s team features a Regigigas core alongside Calyrex:
https://pokepast.es/b674c2c594e3e7af
Dynamaxing Calyrex Shadow isn’t always a good idea, it’s weaknesses make it too frail, that’s why a bulky dynamax attacker like Metagross or Regigigas tend to be its best partners. Also keep in mind you can use Indedee-F instead of Tapu lele, because Indedee has access to Follow Me, heal pulse, helping hand, and lots utility moves that Calyrex appreciate.

is mostly used in weather teams, in sun it can take care of opposing kyogres and incineroars, and in rain it can take down Groudon, Lapras and defense boosted ferrothorn.

After giving a look to both mons, choose what you want to keep or drop, and change other members considering your choice.

Now let’s talk about how I’d edit this team, keep in mind I’m not the messiah and you must build your teams basing on your playstyle and experience.

Since you already have a Tornadus i’d suggest dropping Calyrex for Kyogre, giving the team a rain based strategy, dropping Calyrex means you can give the life orb to your kartana and make it more powerful. Before discussing smaller changes i’d also suggest to drop Tapu lele, not fitting at all in the current metagame. You can replace Lele with every mon you might need to counter specific matchups like Moltres Galar for sun, Urshifu for Solgaleo and Lap-Dog or even ferrothorn to threaten physical based and trick room based teams.

Now we can talk about moveset changes and spread changes.

First of all
heat wave would be nerfed by rain so you can either swap it with dark pulse (to hit opposing Calyrex) or Icy wind to speed control even more. Dynamaxing Tornadus is becoming popular recently, so consider wasting your dynamax on him to stack up Max Airstream boosts and surprise opponents. Also, consider adding rain dance to counter sun teams that may cause problems to your Kyogre.


This Incineroar set must be adjusted, Incineroar isn’t an offensive mon, it’s role is to soften opponent’s attacks, not hitting hard and while darkest lariat might be a good idea to finish off opposing dark and ghost types, snarl is usually preferred.

common spreads for Incineroar are:

sitrus berry

Incineroar @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 228 HP / 4 Atk / 148 Def / 124 SpD / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Fake Out
- Parting Shot
- Snarl

Assault vest

Incineroar (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 44 SpA / 156 SpD
Calm Nature
- U-turn
- Fake Out
- Burning Jealousy
- Snarl

Alright, I’m done with my writing, tell me if you struggle to understand the changes I made, if you do, I’ll discuss more about them.
Hope I gave you a hand to make this team better, enjoy it.

Thanks for the advice. I was already considering Kyogre, so I went ahead and replaced Caly -> Ogre and Lele -> Rillaboom. Had 3 quick battles and won all of them, finally breaking the frustrating win/lose/win/lose that I was experiencing before. Didn't run into any TR teams though; we'll see how that turns out when I face one.