https://pokepast.es/a8b3ce386c9bd955
Howdy y'all, I decided to finally submit a team for this competition again since Calyrex-Shadow is probably my favorite restricted to use. Standard mons were used besides Tyranitar, but the team is fun to pilot and satisfying to win with.
Teambuilding Process:
First is these two. After seeing a lot of hyper offensive Caly teams, I wanted to try my hand at a more defensive, slow-paced team. I decided on pairing the horse with Tapu Fini, as I liked the idea of using Nature's Madness to chip down would-be checks such as Incineroar and Assault Vest Rillaboom, as well as generally anything that would be able to take an Astral Barrage from Caly. I chose Life Orb to have stronger attacks while still being able to use Protect, and I didn't mind the recoil because I only want Caly to take one or two hits max. Protect, Astral Barrage, and eventually Psyshock for getting around Assault Vest and specially defensive mons were good moves. Then there's Calm Mind. This move is definitely the one that I'm the least sure about, but it helps against Snarl spam as well as things such as Calm Mind Kyogre, and with the support of Incineroar and Amoonguss it isn't super hard to get a boost, which can give the boost needed to KO chipped targets earlier and start snowballing. The biggest thing that I wanted Calm Mind to do was to tank a Dazzling Gleam from boosted Xerneas, which is the team's worst matchup, so that I could get a Psyshock off into Xerneas while next to Amoonguss. Not the most solid plan, but it helped more than Taunt did in practice.
For Tapu Fini, Nature's Madness was a given for me, and I wanted Icy Wind and Moonblast for speed control and more chip damage, especially on dark types. I initially had FIni's last move as Heal Pulse, which helped out occasionally, but I decided that I wasn't clicking it enough and decided to try Light Screen instead. This was definitely the right choice, as it made the Kyogre and Yveltal matchups better, while sometimes being useful in other situations such as against opposing Tapu Fini.
252+ Atk Miracle Seed Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 252 HP / 180 Def Tapu Fini in Grassy Terrain: 152-180 (85.8 - 101.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Mystic Water Kyogre Water Spout (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 20+ SpD Tapu Fini in Rain: 69-81 (38.9 - 45.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
These two are really good at their jobs, which are disrupting and allowing Caly to get on the field and get Astral Barrage off and Tapu Fini to get Nature's Madness off. Both of these are pretty standard sets. Incineroar has the usual Flare Blitz, Fake Out, and pivot move as Parting Shot, and I have Snarl over Throat Chop or Darkest Lariat because I liked being able to get around redirection with opposing Caly-s and have more utility against mons like Landorus-Incarnate and Regieleki, although I'd be willing to test Throat Chop. Amoonguss went through a few moveset changes before I landed on the moves it has now. Rage Powder redirection and Spore during terrain wars with Rillaboom and against Trick Room were great, Protect is good for positioning purposes, and Sludge Bomb chips grasses and Xerneas. Rocky Helmet gave me chip on Urshifu-Rapid-Strike that I needed for finishing it with Astral Barrage from Caly, and it also helped chip mons like Incineroar, Rillaboom, and Zacian-Crowned into Caly's range.
252+ Atk Zacian-Crowned Behemoth Blade vs. 236 HP / 116 Def Incineroar: 54-65 (27 - 32.5%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252+ Atk Zacian-Crowned Close Combat vs. 236 HP / 116 Def Incineroar: 178-210 (89 - 105%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
-1 252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Precipice Blades vs. 236 HP / 116 Def Incineroar: 156-187 (78 - 93.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Calyrex-Shadow Astral Barrage vs. 236 HP / 60+ SpD Incineroar: 55-65 (27.5 - 32.5%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252+ Atk Mystic Water Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 148 HP / 220 Def Amoonguss on a critical hit: 66-81 (31.7 - 38.9%) -- approx. 98.9% chance to 3HKO
252 SpA Mystic Water Kyogre Water Spout (150 BP) vs. 148 HP / 140+ SpD Amoonguss in Rain: 89-105 (42.7 - 50.4%) -- 2.3% chance to 2HKO
With the four I had, I thought I looked weak to Regieleki, Zacian-Crowned, and Groudon, so Lando was great here. Scarf allowed me to threaten Zacian before it moved, pivot in and out on things like Groudon and Rillaboom, and gave me some more speed control. Essentially used Briganti's spread that he used for World Cup Open but with Rock Tomb over Bulldoze because I didn't have any Bulldoze immunities.
-1 252+ Atk Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 36 HP / 140 Def Landorus-Therian in Grassy Terrain: 52-63 (30.7 - 37.2%) -- 74.2% chance to 3HKO
252+ Atk Zacian-Crowned Behemoth Blade vs. 36 HP / 140 Def Landorus-Therian: 108-127 (63.9 - 75.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Zacian-Crowned Close Combat vs. 36 HP / 140 Def Landorus-Therian: 43-51 (25.4 - 30.1%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
And to end it, the oddball choice. I initially had Urshifu-Single-Strike as a separate hard hitter that would benefit from the team's support while acting as a "check" to opposing Caly-S, in quotes because it didn't do that very well at that, especially with Choice Scarf taken by. I also noted that the team had a hard time switching into flying type moves, which while not common would definitely hurt in matchups like TornOgre, but I was more worried about Yveltal, naturally Caly's biggest restricted counter. So I tried Tyranitar. Protect and Rock and Dark STABs are all standard, or at least were standard before it fell out of the meta. For the last move I wanted to try something weird: Whirlpool. With sand and Binding Band boosted Whirlpool eating away at an opposing mon, after landing (hopefully; 85% accuracy can only do so much) and a Protect the next turn, the opposing mon would have taken 44%. This was amazing chip damage, but I also liked the trapping ability. Yveltal is usually on teams that can have easy switch ins into Tyranitar's rock move such as Stakataka or physically defensive Landorus-Therian or Amoonguss in a pinch, but Whirlpool would both keep Yveltal trapped and punish a defensive switch the opponent made. Tyranitar's sand would also come in handy in breaking potential sash on opposing Calyrex-Shadow and Mienshao, and even broke Lunala's Shadow Shield after a turn, something I hadn't even considered when trying the mon out. Tyranitar also has potential to help in weather wars against Kyogre and Groudon, although this would be more likely in a best of 3 situation as a secondary mode. I was initially skeptical of Whirlpool and was open to changing it, but it ended up pulling its weight when it needed to, and I wasn't finding myself missing items other than Binding Band. One final note, I gave Tyranitar 29 speed ivs to make it as fast as possible while underspeeding min speed Indeedee-F so Payback would hit harder consistently.
252+ SpA Mystic Water Kyogre Water Spout (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 76 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 174-206 (84 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Groudon Precipice Blades vs. 252 HP / 180+ Def Tyranitar: 174-205 (84 - 99%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Fairy Aura Xerneas Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 76 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 168-200 (81.1 - 96.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Fairy Aura Xerneas Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 76 SpD Tyranitar in Sand through Light Screen: 180-212 (86.9 - 102.4%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Mystic Water Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 180+ Def Tyranitar on a critical hit: 180-216 (86.9 - 104.3%) -- approx. 6.3% chance to OHKO
Despite taking a long time to build teams usually, I'm happy with how this team turned out, and I hope you enjoyed reading the report and maybe even enjoy using it.