The King of The Jungle: Calyrex Ice Rider VGC Regulation G Team Report

So as Regulation G just dropped, my initial plan was to let the metagame form itself out before I step into the game. However, after seeing some videos on Youtube that discussed popular cores, I got excited to try one of them out, and quite a simple composition too. It worked out quite well for me so here’s a mini team report for those looking to find a team to play the format: I dabbled in this format a bit with a horrid Kyogre team being rounded out with Rillaboom, Incineroar and Farigaraf and fell flat quick.

Teambuilding:

These Pokémon didn’t really gel together in harmony and there wasn’t much synergy or inspiration to go off of. I did get swept 2x by an Ice Rider Calyrex. Later when I watched a video that mentioned the Trick Room core of Calyrex Ice Rider, Incineroar, Farigaraf and Ursaluna, I felt like it was quite worthy to give it a try.

I know from my experience thus far that the majority of dedicated Trick Room teams do work on a sort of flow chart function. Most basically, the premise is to set up Trick Room and sweep, making and sticking to game plans much easier. It also funnels down what your opponent brings to the game to counteract that. This is the reason why I got this spark of motivation to proceed with testing out and playing this core. 

The last two Pokémon were quite easy to pick on the team. I already had a Fire type on the team and had explored the theoretical potential of Rillaboom, Incineroar with Farigaraf. Additionally, Rillaboom has amazing potential in this format, being able to overwrite the Psychic and Electric terrain, both of which got a big boost in terms of usage. Lastly, the writing was on the wall to close out the FWG core, what would’ve been better than to go for Urshifu. During testing, I figured out maybe Ogrepon Wellspring would fit better, however, this is definitely the correct pick.

The Team:

Calyrex-Ice @ Clear Amulet  Ability: As One (Glastrier)  Level: 50  Tera Type: Water  EVs: 252 HP / 220 Atk / 36 SDef  Brave Nature  IVs: 0 Spe  - Glacial Lance  - Close Combat  - Trick Room  - Protect

252+ SpA Choice Specs Kyurem-White Fusion Flare vs. 252 HP / 36 SpD Calyrex-Ice Rider: 178-210 (85.9 - 101.4%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO 252 SpA Life Orb Calyrex-Shadow Rider Astral Barrage vs. 252 HP / 36 SpD Calyrex-Ice Rider: 182-218 (87.9 - 105.3%) -- 25% chance to OHKO   252+ Atk Calyrex-Ice Rider Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Kyurem-White in Snow: 130-154 (56 - 66.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 220+ Atk Calyrex-Ice Rider Glacial Lance vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Calyrex-Shadow Rider: 118-139 (67.4 - 79.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO +1 220+ Atk Calyrex-Ice Rider Glacial Lance vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Calyrex-Shadow Rider: 177-208 (101.1 - 118.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO 220+ Atk Calyrex-Ice Rider Glacial Lance vs. 220 HP / 132 Def Flutter Mane: 129-153 (81.6 - 96.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO +1 220+ Atk Calyrex-Ice Rider Glacial Lance vs. 220 HP / 132 Def Flutter Mane: 193-228 (122.1 - 144.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO 220+ Atk Calyrex-Ice Rider Glacial Lance vs. 236 HP / 156+ Def Amoonguss: 198-234 (90.4 - 106.8%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO 220+ Atk Calyrex-Ice Rider Close Combat vs. 236 HP / 20 Def Incineroar: 188-222 (94 - 111%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO

 Calyrex Ice Rider is a beast in this format. I was many times impressed by its natural bulk and ability to survive attacks. Of course, the main threat of it is being able to quickly snowball games with Glacial Lance and Chilling Neigh combination. Terra Water is probably the best Terra type for this Pokémon as it allows it to resist Steel and Fire type hits further upping the defensive potential.

Clear Amulet is by far the best choice, stopping Intimidate spam in its tracks. Close Combat, in my opinion, is much better of an option than High Horsepower as it allows for Calyrex to hit Terapagos and Kyurem super effectively, all the while having a much stronger option to pick off Incineroar and Steel types in the way.

Farigiraf @ Throat Spray  Ability: Armor Tail  Level: 50  Tera Type: Fire  EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA  Modest Nature  IVs: 0 Atk  - Hyper Voice  - Trick Room  - Twin Beam  - Helping Hand

252+ SpA Farigiraf Twin Beam (2 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mienshao: 204-240 (145.7 - 171.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252+ SpA Farigiraf Twin Beam (2 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Iron Valiant: 228-268 (153 - 179.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252+ SpA Farigiraf Twin Beam (2 hits) vs. 236 HP / 116 SpD Amoonguss: 144-172 (65.7 - 78.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery +1 252+ SpA Farigiraf Twin Beam (2 hits) vs. 236 HP / 116 SpD Amoonguss: 208-252 (94.9 - 115%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery 252+ SpA Farigiraf Twin Beam (2 hits) vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Urshifu-Rapid Strike: 204-244 (115.9 - 138.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 Farigaraf is the perfect partner in crime for Calyrex in terms of setting up a Trick Room. Being a Normal type, it is immune to Astral Barrage from Shadow Rider Calyrex and then being a Psychic type, it is safe from the Expanding Force onslaught. Armor Tail is a fantastic ability to block the priority spamming, which is some people’s idea of what a Trick Room counter can be. Throat Spray thus far has allowed it to pressure opponents to score KO’s on my team, this will cascade to me bringing out an even bigger sweeper.

Twin Beam is a nice tech option against Mienshao as well as Iron Valiant who can be a bit of a thorn in this team’s way with their wide guards. Furthermore for Chien Pao and Chi Yu both being more common right now, tera fire seems like the much better tera option with much less Urshifu Single Strike around. Helping hand is here to give some much needed boost to Urshifu’s damage output.

Ursaluna-Bloodmoon @ Life Orb  Ability: Mind's Eye  Level: 50  Tera Type: Normal  EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD  Modest Nature  IVs: 0 Atk  - Hyper Voice  - Blood Moon  - Earth Power  - Protect

252+ Atk Calyrex-Ice Rider Glacial Lance vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Ursaluna-Bloodmoon: 170-204 (77.2 - 92.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ SpA Life Orb Tera-Normal Ursaluna-Bloodmoon Blood Moon vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Calyrex-Ice Rider: 187-221 (90.3 - 106.7%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO 252+ SpA Life Orb Ursaluna-Bloodmoon Helping Hand Blood Moon vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Calyrex-Ice Rider: 208-247 (100.4 - 119.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252+ SpA Life Orb Ursaluna-Bloodmoon Helping Hand Earth Power vs. 236 HP / 124+ SpD Incineroar: 296-351 (148 - 175.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252+ SpA Life Orb Ursaluna-Bloodmoon Earth Power vs. 236 HP / 124+ SpD Incineroar: 198-234 (99 - 117%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO

 Ursaluna’s potential is already proven with Farigaraf. It is even better working in tandem with Calyrex Ice Rider as a special attacker. Having STAB Earth Power allows for it to pick off Steel types with much more ease. Being another Normal type and hitting Ghost types makes it a great way to answer Calyrex Shadow Rider’s Astral Barrage.

Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Choice Scarf  Ability: Unseen Fist  Level: 50  Tera Type: Water  EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe  Adamant Nature  - Surging Strikes  - Close Combat  - U-turn  - Rock Tomb

252+ Atk Urshifu-Rapid Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Calyrex-Shadow Rider on a critical hit: 126-153 (72 - 87.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ Atk Tera-Water Urshifu-Rapid Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Calyrex-Shadow Rider on a critical hit: 168-204 (96 - 116.5%) -- approx. 93.8% chance to OHKO 252+ Atk Urshifu-Rapid Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 164+ Def Chi-Yu on a critical hit: 198-240 (122.2 - 148.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252+ Atk Urshifu-Rapid Strike Helping Hand Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 164+ Def Tera-Ghost Chi-Yu on a critical hit: 147-174 (90.7 - 107.4%) -- approx. 43.8% chance to OHKO 252+ Atk Urshifu-Rapid Strike Helping Hand Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Calyrex-Shadow Rider on a critical hit: 192-228 (109.7 - 130.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 Urshifu provides some very specific solutions for this team. One of the biggest threats for this team is the lead of Chi Yu (Ghost Terra) and Flutter Mane, this is where my Fake Out strategy falters. On the other hand, the presence of Mienshao is also quite a big threat. Urshifu is able to answer both of these while outspeeding with a Choice Scarf. Moreover, with max speed Adamant, it is enough for this Pokémon to outspeed Calyrex Shadow Rider by exactly 1 speed point.

Rillaboom @ Meadow Plate  Ability: Grassy Surge  Level: 50  Tera Type: Grass  EVs: 252 HP / 228 Atk / 28 SpD  Adamant Nature  - Fake Out  - Grassy Glide  - Wood Hammer  - Taunt

228+ Atk Miracle Seed Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 220 HP / 132 Def Tera-Fairy Flutter Mane in Grassy Terrain: 102-120 (64.5 - 75.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery 228+ Atk Miracle Seed Tera-Grass Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 220 HP / 132 Def Tera-Fairy Flutter Mane in Grassy Terrain: 136-160 (86 - 101.2%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO 228+ Atk Miracle Seed Tera-Grass Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Urshifu-Rapid Strike in Grassy Terrain: 208-248 (118.1 - 140.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO 228+ Atk Miracle Seed Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Urshifu-Rapid Strike in Grassy Terrain: 156-186 (88.6 - 105.6%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO 228+ Atk Miracle Seed Rillaboom Helping Hand Grassy Glide vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Urshifu-Rapid Strike in Grassy Terrain: 234-276 (132.9 - 156.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO 228+ Atk Miracle Seed Rillaboom Helping Hand Grassy Glide vs. 220 HP / 132 Def Flutter Mane in Grassy Terrain: 151-178 (95.5 - 112.6%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO 228+ Atk Miracle Seed Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Calyrex-Shadow Rider in Grassy Terrain: 93-109 (53.1 - 62.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery 228+ Atk Miracle Seed Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Ursaluna-Bloodmoon in Grassy Terrain: 134-158 (61.1 - 72.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery 228+ Atk Miracle Seed Rillaboom Helping Hand Grassy Glide vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Ursaluna-Bloodmoon in Grassy Terrain: 200-236 (91.3 - 107.7%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO 228+ Atk Miracle Seed Tera-Grass Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Ursaluna-Bloodmoon in Grassy Terrain: 180-212 (82.1 - 96.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery 228+ Atk Miracle Seed Rillaboom Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Groudon in Grassy Terrain: 254-300 (122.7 - 144.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO 228+ Atk Miracle Seed Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Groudon in Grassy Terrain: 116-140 (56 - 67.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery   36+ SpA Protosynthesis Tera-Fairy Flutter Mane Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 28 SpD Rillaboom: 174-206 (84 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery 252 SpA Choice Specs Calyrex-Shadow Rider Astral Barrage vs. 252 HP / 28 SpD Rillaboom: 175-207 (84.5 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

 

Rillaboom works really well, just as well as I thought it would. Rillaboom also provides an out for me in the case I am unable to set up Trick Room with its strong Grassy Glides. I preferred to keep Taunt over some offensive coverage as Amoonguss checks need to be solidified as much as possible for a team like this.

Incineroar @ Sitrus Berry  Ability: Intimidate  Tera Type: Grass  EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 76 SpD  Impish Nature  - Fake Out  - Flare Blitz  - Knock Off  - Parting Shot	Incineroar @ Safety Goggles  Ability: Intimidate  Tera Type: Dragon  EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 76 SpD  Impish Nature  - Fake Out  - Flare Blitz  - Knock Off  - Parting Shot
252 SpA Choice Specs Hadron Engine Miraidon Electro Drift vs. 252 HP / 76 SpD Incineroar in Electric Terrain: 229-270 (113.3 - 133.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252 SpA Choice Specs Hadron Engine Miraidon Electro Drift vs. 252 HP / 76 SpD Tera-Grass Incineroar in Electric Terrain: 114-135 (56.4 - 66.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO	252 SpA Choice Specs Hadron Engine Miraidon Electro Drift vs. 252 HP / 76 SpD Tera-Dragon Incineroar in Electric Terrain: 114-135 (56.4 - 66.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

 

Incineroar is one of the best Pokémon in the format and for great reason too. It is the name of the game when it comes to pivoting. Much-needed coverage is also added through Flare Blitz and Knock Off. Parting Shot further solidifies the defense of this team. Both Rillaboom and Incineroar interchangeably and sometimes in tandem with one another work great for positioning around difficult spots. In games, such as Trick Room mirrors, where speeds are a bit ambiguous and I am a bit hesitant to set up my own Trick Room, these two work to provide much-needed disruption to allow my slower Pokémon to work.

There are two sets I am debating between and its quite a toss up at this point. More testing is definitely needed. The first set has tera grass with sitrus berry which works well, the other set is safety goggles with tera dragon. Both the sets are aimed to serve as a hard counter to Amoonguss, hat I need more information on is whether I need to expend my tera on incineroar in those Amoonguss matchups or not. Furthermore going directly for safety goggles means that I have a direct switch in option to spores. Tera dragon gives it a slightest edge over tera grass as F/W/G cores are running rampant + Miraidon with the right set can OHKO certain Incineroars, which tera grass does save you from but a tossup isn’t the best when they are paired with a fire type in the back in case of grass tera. I say this is a debatable thing as I sometimes find myself needing the extra recovery from sitrus berry, on the other hand the threat of Amoonguss is quite eminent.

Matchups and Modes

Teams	Strategies
No non prankster taunt on ghost types or tera ghost mons + have fake out	Farigaraf + Incineroar
Tera ghost Chi-yu + Flutter Mane, Mienshao + Calyrex Shadow	Urshifu + Farigaraf
No fake out users, no prankster taunt,	Incineroar/Rillaboom + Calyrex
Modes of the Team:
Farigaraf + Incineroar/ Rillaboom with Calyrex and Ursaluna in the back	Farigaraf/ Calyrex + Rillaboom + Incineroar + Ursaluna/ Calyrex.
Farigaraf/ Calyrex + F/W/G core

So this was it from my end! I just wanted to quickly roll out this report in case others want a team to use. I feel it is quite simple yet effective, at least in this early stage of the format. If things pan out right, I might keep developing and use this team throughout the entire format. I will keep updating, either this post or a new short form post for the changes I make to this team. I may also add more in detail calcs as I get to learn and improve the team. Bye for now!

TornShifu Paves The Way: Giving My Best Shot At Regulation D Using PASRS

 All Aboard the TornShifu Train!

Being lost, as lost as one could be, I copied a meta team from Yang Chieh-Lun's that got all the hype at the moment. Wolfe Glick used it in an online tournament and it was simultaneously highlighted by NeilVGC on his Youtube channel. I played around a hundred games with this team and decided to make the following small changes as part of adaptations:

I readjusted the EVs to help my team speed creep the opponents in case they were using the same 6 from the same player.

·         Tornadus got a significantly lowered speed, enough bulk to live Urshifu’s Surging Strikes in some cases and a mental herb to overcome the wars of ‘who gets to taunt first’. This set was initially developed to outgun the teams that ran a sunny day Tornadus that would completely flip the script on me.

·         After I learned that Urshifu in rain or when tera’d can take out a Chien Pao with its Surging Strikes, I adapted to give it safety goggles as an added bonus to help it ignore Amoonguss.

·         Iron hands got heavy slam for the purpose of catching a flutter mane, scoring a KO or doing a great deal of damage to Amoonguss or Tera Fairy Cresselia.

With these minor adjustments I stumbled upon one of the most useful tools I have used up to this point that made me progress in VGC. It was Bauerdad’s PASRS which stands for Palkia Academy Showdown Reporting Spreadsheet.

It is a truly fantastic google spreadsheets tool that will provide you with move usage statistics, your matches, the mons your opponents used and you have used, the tera type used and whether the battles were OTS or not. I took some games seriously with this tool and was able to tackle my way into the 1500s. However this team was not the final one we will be discussing here.

Craving Some Fish

So why exactly Basculegion? I have been focusing my teams more in the terms of which ones are my favorites from the bunch. In series 1 I tried to build with mons that fascinated me. In series two I narrowed down my focus on Great Tusk, Series 3 was there to show my love for Chein Pao and now in this series I want to try out one of my new favorites, Basculegion. What’s great is that rain is quickly being established as one of the new emerging, as effective for an archetype as can be top cutting the most recent online tours.

Before I start I needed to establish with myself that I could benefit from using some nifty tricks that give me an edge in the matchups that I play. After all my only way to test the effectiveness of this team is through the showdown ladder and not all battles can be guaranteed an OTS format.

In search for my Basculegion team I decided to do research. Clearly at this point I do realize that I’m not anyway near being the best player or the best teambuilder. Even though I love to team build from scratch, having references to start off with is much less daunting.

The teams that I gathered from the VGC Pastes Repository I found that the Basculegion rain teams seem to follow the following format:

·         Rain Mode (Basculegion and Pelliper)

·         Grass Type (Rillaboom or Amoonguss)

·         Electric Type (Thundurus, Regielecki or rarely Iron Hands) OR Chien Pao.

·         Special Attacker (Flutter Mane or Gholdengo)

·         Bulky Mon (H Goodra, H Arcanine, Ursaluna) OR Dragonite

To test the archetype I took to VGC pastes repository and found a team under the title of PurpleRain. While testing in my first 12 matches using the aforementioned amazing PASRS tool, I figured the trick room matchup was unwinnable in most ways. Particularly the Armordeedee ones where they had Hatterene and then again Amoonguss was not the best counter of the Cresselia + Ursaluna combo either.

An idea struck once again, when I was playing with the standard Urshifu team a while back the lead of a Rillaboom with Farigaraf completely dominated me, having played this sort of a team when I build a rain team with TR mode, I felt comfortable enough to go with the pairing of the aforementioned two, especially as Rillaboom variants are quite effective with rain combinations. Now I had a direction to make something unique out of this team, play something familiar (rain + trick room, Flutter mane + fake out) and hopefully do well with it.

My first matchup was once again a trick room one, which I instantly demolished with the pairing of Rillaboom + Farigaraf.

Following are the results of tests I Played with this team combo: On an initial glance the combination of Farigiraf and Rillaboom seems to turn out really well for me on this one, Flutter mane made some matches however Thundurus was something I found no particular use for. Now is the time to put on my teambuilder glasses and give it a proper theoretical backing.

So for checking the team from its theory I checked down the following marks:

Mons Countered	Not Countered	Combos to Check:
Flutter Mane Urshifu Rapid Strike Tornadus Amoonguss Heatran Landorus Cresselia Rillaboom Ursaluna Chi Yu Iron Bundle Torkoal Regidrago Armarouge Moltres Galar	Chien Pao Dragonite Tera Water Gholdengo Regielecki Hisuian Goodra Basculegion Abomasnow Zapdos Sneasler Gyarados Dozogiri Gastrodon	Trick Room countered TornShifu countered Armordeedee countered

From all the thinking I could do I decided to keep the initial 5 members of this team but now add on a new last slot in place of Thundurus which wasn’t a part of any of my previous testing; Landorus incarnate.

I played more and more games with this team putting down the results in PASRS but it was certainly not looking very good. Particularly because I wasn’t as familiar with the ways in which I could fully utilize my Basculegion’s early game rain sweeping or end game last respects sweeping. Merging the two styles of teams did not end up becoming the most promising outcome of all, after all, I am not the best teambuilder around.

Turnback To TornShifu

I decided to backtrack and pick up with the team where I had left off with. Once again using PASRS and a new addition in Dragapult (replacing dragonite) I set out to extensive testing. I was steady in scoring some early wins however issues started to surface soon.

The problems I had found with this team were that if left unchecked or when I lose my answers to amoonguss early, it can become a pain in the behind for my team. I faced four dondozo matchups and was forced into running haze over protect on my chien pao after that. I was also kind of forced into keeping ice spinner on chien pao because of the ever present and ever annoying indeedee, which when considering I would almost always break my focus sash in the process didn’t seem like to favorable of a trade either.

Iron hands was something I noticed was brought in to less and less games with my progress with my real need for it being fake out disruption or catching flutter manes with a heavy slam. The problem was once again, that I would take a sizeable chunk of HP before I take them out which was another questionable trade.

Defensive Water Tera needed proper managing especially when most of my offense came from the use of Ice spinner and surging strikes. Well played Goodras especially with fairy tera were a fortress that my team found difficult to break through.

A New Breeze:

The four Pokemon I was consistently and effectively using the most were my Tornshifu pairing with Chien Pao and Flutter Mane. The answers to all my problems were clear as day, a combination of two Pokemon that had amazing synergy with this team and were handling all those troublesome matchups for me: Rillaboom and Heatran.

Having tested Rillaboom before I knew I could make it work here too. Moreover I barely got some, but some useful experience with a Heatran on an early Tornshifu team that I picked up for practice. The addition of these two also meant that I could now free up the ice spinner slot for a more optimal (albeit slightly innacurate) icicle crash on my Chien Pao. Having a proper resistance to an onslaught of fairy type attacks, Ursaluna’s façade and more surety on amoonguss was such a great feeling.

What’s funny to me is that this is yet again as a meta as a team could get, last time I came to such a conclusion was in series two where I built an almost exact version of an early meta team. Now that I know where each member is coming from, I have a great perspective on how to properly EV these two new additions. Moreover I am no longer confused on what elements it takes to win what matchups. Now I certainly feel I can give my all during laddering.

Calcs for the EV Spread Reasoning:

252 SpA Tornadus Bleakwind Storm vs. 252 HP / 108 SpD Assault Vest Rillaboom: 96-114 (46.3 - 55%) -- 5.9% chance to 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery 116+ SpA Protosynthesis Flutter Mane Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 108 SpD Assault Vest Rillaboom: 84-100 (40.5 - 48.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery   +2 252 Def Goodra-Hisui Body Press vs. 52 HP / 4 Def Heatran: 146-172 (84.3 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 52+ SpA Life Orb Heatran Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 0+ SpD Tera-Fairy Goodra-Hisui: 109-133 (58.2 - 71.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery 252 Atk Choice Band Tera-Dark Urshifu-Single Strike Wicked Blow vs. 252 HP / 116 Def Heatran on a critical hit: 164-194 (82.8 - 97.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

After a 100 more battles being input in the PASRS tool, I came to the following few small tweaks on this team:

I decided that having taunt on flutter mane was something I’d value a lot more over having protect, whenever  wanted to click protect with this mon, I would have either gone for a substitute setup. Adding another layer of surety against a FigHands lead was something important to have.

Rillaboom never really got around to using u-turn as part of the game plans I made with this team. A team like this is designed to get minimal positioning and then overwhelm with offense. I decided to replace it with drum beating, a move which would be strong would give my team a bit of speed control with no recoil that comes with wood hammer.

I also put on a little bit of speed on my Heatran to make it out speed Chien Pao and max speed flutter manes in tailwind.

Now I might not have climbed up to my desired state of being on the top 500 of the showdown ladder but I did break into the 1700s for a format that I thought I was quite fairly doomed in.

The Full Team:

The Paste:

https://pokepast.es/1cf4d8c79159991f

Testing Out Regulation D With Ursaluna

 

Knowing myself not being very comfortable with such new formats, I wanted to test run things until the format solidifies a bit and I can build a team more properly. I somehow ended up clicking on the join button on a small showdown tournament and ended up taking this team to the finals. Funnily enough this was built in around 1-2 minutes with a combination of strong mons I heard work well, some interesting new buffs these mons received and guesstimating the rest. Of course while testing I tweaked things to be more relevant to the teams I was facing.

The duo of Cresselia and Ursaluna was truly made to be together. Cresselia gets a significant buff in the form of lunar blessing that can not only heal status and hp, but paired with the flame orb, it means you don’t lose the guts boost by the end of the turn. Putting safety goggles was my choice to make this Pokémon invincible against Amoonguss in trick room, especially when paired with Ursaluna on the field. tera dark was my type of choice over fairy as it gives the very similar sort of resistances in addition to saving it from prankster taunts. Since gholdengo is somewhat expected to be a thing in this metagame, I feel safer putting this option instead of tera fairy.

Ursaluna, in my experience was the quickest Pokémon to surge to competitive popularity in the years I have played. As soon as Pokémon home came out people started looking towards this Pokémon. The ability, item and moveset are pretty much set in stone even this early in the format; there is not much to innovate as this is the best set to run this mon.

Amoonguss was pretty bread and butter, a copy paste from my previous team. Clear smog is a good option to have as I expect set up sweepers to be on the rise in this format too.

Azumarill was a Palafin but I quickly switched it over to give it a better outcome in trick room. This is the merging point of this team where it goes from being a trick room team into a rain team. It gets the job done by hitting hard in rain or in trick room, I wouldn’t have a specific reason to put it on the team outside of that. One pointer is that fairy offensive coverage is effective into options like Urshifu and Galarian Moltres.

Pelliper is here to provide rain and it certainly gets the job done. Being a secondary ground immunity assures that Ursaluna gets to spam earthquakes at its opponents. Wide guard is a better move here instead of tailwind because the team is quite slow anyways and Cresselia assures the setup quite well with its bulk and tera typing.

Landorus Incarnate was something I wanted to try out badly after learning about Sandsear storm’s interaction with rain, nasty plot is a huge buff as well and sludge bomb is here for grass types that resist sandsear storm. The sheer force + life orb combo takes it to a huge level of offense.

I have yet to run calc and built a team with good thought and theory behind it, but for dipping my toes into this new of a format and this quickly I think I did fairly reasonable on the ‘building’ part. If you like this composition make sure to try it out! Bye for now.

VGC 2023 Regulation C : A Chein Pao + Dragonite Team

VGC 23 Regulation C a Chien Pao and Dragonite Team 

I was quite excited to start off with this new format, albeit a bit intimidated to do so. I knew from the series 2 metagame as it took me a fair bit of time to get a good grip on the format. Now to shift the formats with essentially 4 new mechanics being introduced in the form of ruinous legendary quartet was kind of a big ask for me. It took me quite some time to start with my team before which I was dabbling around with Chein Pao + Dragonite.

The Dabble:

These two form a very solid doubles combination. My play style is a combination of offense + a bit of disruption and control strategies. With this I need to have situations where I can pin down my opponents offensively and remove uncertainty from my matchups. With the starting duo of dragonite + chein pao I was off to start fresh.

In a haphazard spark of inspiration I worked with a team of Wo Chein + Gholdengo, Gothitelle and Gastrodon/Arcanine for some testing. I was bringing Gholdengo and Arcanine with My Chein Pao and Arcanine for quite some games so I might be off to something with these four.

So with Chein Pao and Dragonite I could cover a lot offensively: teams unprepared for priority attacks or lacking in defensive utility would be ran over by these two. In testing I didn’t like that Dragonite would lock into a single attack so choosing life orb might be a more feasible option here. Going for inner focus + tailwind on the last moveslot means I can add another fast dimension to this team. I did some more testing and only used the aforementioned four. I did more research finding NeilVGC’s youtube channel quite useful and found the following to be quite relevant early meta cores in the game.

Leads: Flutter mane + Chi yu Chein Pao + Dragonite Annihilape + Maushold Iron Bundle + Flutter mane Talontusk

Defensive cores: Ting LU + Wo chein + Gothitelle + Flutter Mane+ Palafin   Ting Lu + Arcanine + Amoonguss   Maushold + Dragonite + Gholdengo

Offensive Cores: Chi yu + Iron Bundle Dragonite + Iron Bundle + Chein Pao Farigaraf + torkoal + brute bonnet + Chi yu + Murkrow.

I came back to this team quite a bit late, once all the series 2 majors were wrapped up. From testing or should I say dabbling into the regulation C format I ended up trying out flutter mane and torkoal as a replacement for my gholdengo + Arcanine that I was bringing previously. I quite liked flutter mane when trying it out and it felt like a ready to use offensive sweeper.

The Idea:

I was noticing from a lot of the popular team reports that most successful teams do start with an idea. I hadn’t stuck to one beforehand. Wanting to try out the Chein Pao + Dragonite duo and having tested Flutter mane, I felt like I had a clear direction for this team.

I did more research on what Pokémon to expect in regulation C and decided to patch up the team with a great tusk and Iron bundle of my own.

I can use either my Chein Pao and Dragonite to deal tons of damage to my opponents and then use Flutter mane to clean up or go vice versa depending on the matchup. With this core idea in mind I decided to patch up the rest of the team.

Supporting Members:

Instead of using an Arcanine, which I did like in testing, I wanted to turn to Scizor which had a more offensive take on Chi Yu + flutter mane + complete the Fairy, Dragon and Steel core on this team.

To round out this team I went with the choice o a duo I was already quite familiar with in Iron Bundle + Great Tusk. Great tusk still has a good theoretical grip on this format, with the biggest defensive beasts going to have tera poison whether it be Ting Lu, Wo Chein or Garganacl, I could hit them for a ton of damage. Iron bundle on the other hand would cover the fire types in this format very effectively with its hydro pumps. Following is the team I settled with.

The Team:

https://pokepast.es/353a7cfb462f206f

 

Of course in this early state of the format I am quite unsure of whether these 6 will be a team or not. With Fort Wayne Regionals being a day away I can adjust this current team or come back with some fresh ideas for Regulation C. that being said I think this team is quite a successful test for the format that got me quite nervous to think about in the first place.

Coming back to the team I was feeling quite comfortable with how easy it was to play. With noting some glaring flaws in the build such as its longevity and adjusting to different board positions; following is the team with the same six members that I adjusted:

Individual Analysis:

Still feeling quite a bit unsure about this Pokémon but it has great tools to handle the format. The offensive coverage of ice, dark and fighting proved way too useful to let go of and haze was an amazing utility as well. In open team sheet battles chein pao having no protect really threatens its presence but in CTS battles it works wonders.

Calcs: 252 Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Ice Spinner vs. 252 HP / 140 Def Tablets of Ruin Wo-Chien: 116-138 (60.4 - 71.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery 252 Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Ice Spinner vs. 236 HP / 252 Def Flutter Mane: 97-115 (60.6 - 71.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252 Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Sacred Sword vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Chi-Yu: 156-184 (119 - 140.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252 Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Sacred Sword vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Iron Bundle: 118-140 (90 - 106.8%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO 252 Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Ice Spinner vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Ting-Lu: 144-170 (54.9 - 64.8%) -- 10.9% chance to 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery -1 252 Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Ice Spinner vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Multiscale Dragonite: 120-144 (60.6 - 72.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252 Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Ice Spinner vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Multiscale Dragonite: 182-216 (91.9 - 109%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO 252 Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Sacred Sword vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Baxcalibur: 140-166 (73.2 - 86.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

 

Dragonite being its partner in crime did work wonders for me however I am not sure if this move set, ability and item slot is the most ideal for it. Initially I was running a non scarfed great tusk so setting up tailwind had great merit however in this move set tailwind works well to match my opponents’ side. I choose to go with inner focus as in the face of pivoting Arcanine and  Gyarados a tera boosted life ord extreme peed can really throw off my opponents’ game plans. Of course this once again is a dual edged sword as it puts the longevity of Dragonite at risk but this team functions well in the environment of trading blows for blows and coming out on top.

Calcs: 252 SpA Iron Bundle Freeze-Dry vs. 236 HP / 0 SpD Dragonite: 232-280 (118.3 - 142.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO 4+ SpA Protosynthesis Flutter Mane Moonblast vs. 196 HP / 4 SpD Dragonite: 198-234 (103.6 - 122.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO 4+ SpA Protosynthesis Flutter Mane Moonblast vs. 196 HP / 4 SpD Tera-Normal Dragonite: 99-117 (51.8 - 61.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ Atk Life Orb Sword of Ruin Tera-Normal Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 244 HP / 100 Def Arcanine: 142-168 (72.4 - 85.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery 252+ Atk Life Orb Sword of Ruin Tera-Normal Dragonite Stomping Tantrum vs. 244 HP / 100 Def Arcanine: 177-211 (90.3 - 107.6%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO 252+ Atk Life Orb Tera-Normal Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Maushold: 133-157 (73.4 - 86.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ Atk Life Orb Tera-Normal Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Iron Bundle: 90-107 (68.7 - 81.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ Atk Life Orb Sword of Ruin Tera-Normal Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Iron Bundle: 121-142 (92.3 - 108.3%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO 252+ Atk Life Orb Sword of Ruin Tera-Normal Dragonite Outrage vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Iron Bundle: 179-212 (136.6 - 161.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252+ Atk Life Orb Tera-Normal Dragonite Outrage vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Ting-Lu: 122-146 (46.5 - 55.7%) -- 18.8% chance to 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery 252+ Atk Life Orb Sword of Ruin Tera-Normal Dragonite Outrage vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Ting-Lu: 165-195 (62.9 - 74.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery 252+ Atk Life Orb Sword of Ruin Tera-Normal Dragonite Outrage vs. 252 HP / 140 Def Tablets of Ruin Wo-Chien: 133-156 (69.2 - 81.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

 

The best special attacker in the format works well on this team. Having an immunity to normal type protects it from extreme speed and fake out is amazing. There really isn’t much more to say about this Pokémon as for being 66% in usage right now its viability speaks for itself.

Calcs 252+ Atk Mystic Water Tera-Water Palafin-Hero Jet Punch vs. 84 HP / 252 Def Flutter Mane: 118-140 (83.6 - 99.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ SpA Flutter Mane Shadow Ball vs. 84 HP / 4 SpD Flutter Mane: 120-144 (85.1 - 102.1%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO 252 SpA Life Orb Gholdengo Make It Rain vs. 84 HP / 0 SpD Flutter Mane: 159-190 (112.7 - 134.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO 60+ SpA Flutter Mane Moonblast vs. 180 HP / 172 SpD Annihilape: 146-174 (70.1 - 83.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery 252+ Atk Ting-Lu Throat Chop vs. 84 HP / 252 Def Flutter Mane: 76-90 (53.9 - 63.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 60+ SpA Flutter Mane Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu: 98-116 (37.4 - 44.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO 60+ SpA Flutter Mane Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 16 SpD Gyarados: 204-240 (100.9 - 118.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO 60+ SpA Flutter Mane Thunderbolt vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Palafin-Hero: 114-136 (64.7 - 77.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

 

To my surprise Scizor definitely ended up becoming the most used Pokémon in this team. It pairs up super well into the most common matchups and making a switch to the safety goggles item in addition to the fire terrastal type makes it all the more threatening. Leading scizor with iron bundle with flutter mane and great tusk in the back is my go to strategy against the Palabalance (with ting luand baxcalibur)

Calcs 252+ Atk Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Chien-Pao: 134-162 (85.8 - 103.8%) -- 25% chance to OHKO 252+ Atk Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 236 HP / 252 Def Flutter Mane: 128-152 (80 - 95%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ Atk Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Iron Bundle: 51-61 (38.9 - 46.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO 252+ Atk Technician Sword of Ruin Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Iron Bundle: 67-81 (51.1 - 61.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ Atk Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 212 HP / 4 Def Glimmora: 122-146 (65.9 - 78.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ Atk Technician Sword of Ruin Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 212 HP / 4 Def Glimmora: 164-194 (88.6 - 104.8%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO 252+ Atk Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Baxcalibur: 122-146 (63.8 - 76.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ Atk Scizor Close Combat vs. 188 HP / 4 Def Kingambit: 256-304 (128.6 - 152.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252+ Atk Scizor Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Iron Bundle: 136-160 (103.8 - 122.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO   252 SpA Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Scizor: 109-129 (61.5 - 72.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ SpA Beads of Ruin Chi-Yu Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Tera-Fire Scizor: 121-144 (68.3 - 81.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

The EV spread I built for Iron Bundle’s is my favorite on this team. Longevity was already a glaring problem for this team and I needed speed with iron bundle as well, going for this EV spread provided so much more flexibility to a lot of matchups.

Tera grass and protect allow this mon to stick on the field for a longer time and support/disrupt the teams around it. It should go without saying that Iron Bundle is my go to answer to Palafin Matchups, the popularity of Arcanine, Chi Yu, Garchomp and Gyarados also work in favor. I feel that Iron Bundle is still quite unexplored in the Regulation C format and people might use it more in the upcoming tournaments.

Calcs 252+ Atk Choice Band Sword of Ruin Tera-Normal Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 204 HP / 20 Def Iron Bundle: 135-159 (85.9 - 101.2%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO 252 Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Sacred Sword vs. 204 HP / 20 Def Iron Bundle: 114-136 (72.6 - 86.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 36 SpA Iron Bundle Freeze-Dry vs. +2 252 HP / 4 SpD Dondozo: 68-84 (26.4 - 32.6%) -- 42% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery 252+ Atk Mystic Water Tera-Water Palafin-Hero Wave Crash vs. 204 HP / 20 Def Iron Bundle: 92-109 (58.5 - 69.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ SpA Choice Specs Flutter Mane Dazzling Gleam vs. 204 HP / 4 SpD Iron Bundle: 127-151 (80.8 - 96.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ SpA Life Orb Gholdengo Make It Rain vs. 204 HP / 4 SpD Iron Bundle: 165-195 (105 - 124.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO +2 252+ Atk Dondozo Wave Crash vs. 204 HP / 20 Def Iron Bundle: 82-97 (52.2 - 61.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252 Atk Arcanine Flare Blitz vs. 204 HP / 20 Def Iron Bundle: 81-96 (51.5 - 61.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 36 SpA Iron Bundle Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tera-Water Palafin-Hero: 110-132 (53.1 - 63.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 36 SpA Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 244 HP / 76+ SpD Arcanine: 152-182 (77.5 - 92.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery 36 SpA Iron Bundle Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Multiscale Dragonite: 66-80 (33.3 - 40.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO 36 SpA Iron Bundle Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 102-120 (51.5 - 60.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 36 SpA Iron Bundle Freeze-Dry vs. 236 HP / 116 SpD Amoonguss: 102-122 (46.5 - 55.7%) -- 68% chance to 2HKO after pinch berry recovery 36 SpA Iron Bundle Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 16 SpD Gyarados: 196-232 (97 - 114.8%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO

Choice Scarf Great Tusk has a very strong grip on the format. With four new dark types added and scarf being the recently discovered set, I just had to go for it. It should be noted that this Pokémon only outspeeds a max speed non booster energy Iron Bundle, but this speed is mostly to hit outspeeding flutter mane. Its offense is further boosted by the support of Chein Pao.

Calcs 252+ Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 236 HP / 252 Def Flutter Mane: 127-151 (79.3 - 94.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 84 HP / 252 Def Flutter Mane: 127-151 (90 - 107%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO 252+ Atk Sword of Ruin Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Flutter Mane: 169-201 (104.3 - 124%) -- guaranteed OHKO -1 252+ Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 244 HP / 100 Def Arcanine: 162-192 (82.6 - 97.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery -1 252+ Atk Sword of Ruin Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 244 HP / 100 Def Arcanine: 216-254 (110.2 - 129.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252+ Atk Sword of Ruin Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Ting-Lu: 252-296 (96.1 - 112.9%) -- 75% chance to OHKO 252+ Atk Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 140 Def Tablets of Ruin Wo-Chien: 150-176 (78.1 - 91.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery 252+ Atk Sword of Ruin Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 180 Def Tablets of Ruin Wo-Chien: 192-228 (100 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Closing Thoughts:

My next direction with the regulation C format would be to explore the Baxcalibur balance archetype that is quite persistent and popular in the format. I feel like noticing the importance of balancing and repositioning in this format and my familiarity with Arcanine and Amoonguss in the series 2 format; it would be a great direction to try out.

With that being stated, I'd be back soon with more... Bye for now!