VGC 20 Isle of Armor July Anti Meta Team

Exams might be upon me, however the vgc fever is still raging. With that I was onto exploring more mons and building the crazy weird teams that are on my mind, I started absolutely rubbish with this one, just piling things together to see if they work, maybe a indeedee/rillaboom + clawitzer was the thing to go for, maybe boufallant as a trick room sweeper was the deal I always wanted? Tried and failed horribly. Then at one night I started to think that how most anti meta teams with surprise or niche picks usually work or have worked for me:

·         Hyper offense

·         Particular speed control option, to move before and pick up threats and ko’s early to get into lead.

·         Using gimmicks if required to catch your opponents offguard.

With this I was off on testing something new, something better. I came up with the idea of setting up trick room and then sweeping with wigglytuff and or greedunt. The rest of this team is extremely gimmicky and suboptimal I was using togekiss as a way to distract from the limiting mons like greedent and wigglytuff that work best in such support to having a klefki with prankster misty terrain, switcherro and eject button paired in the back with a filler urshifus rapid strike that knows aqua jet to send opposing gmax mons turn 1 flying back to their opponents. I feel like I was mostly correct about the theory but the execution was a bit too whacky for me.

Slowbro-Galar @ Quick Claw  Ability: Quick Draw  Level: 50  EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD  Quiet Nature  IVs: 0 Atk  - Expanding Force  - Shell Side Arm  - Trick Room  - Flamethrower	Togekiss @ Safety Goggles  Ability: Super Luck  Level: 50   EVs: 244 HP / 12 SpA / 252 SpD  Calm Nature  IVs: 0 Atk  - Follow Me  - Ally Switch  - Yawn  - Dazzling Gleam	Wigglytuff @ Assault Vest  Ability: Competitive  Level: 50  EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD  Modest Nature  IVs: 0 Atk  - Dazzling Gleam  - Hyper Beam  - Ice Beam  - Flamethrower
Klefki @ Eject Button  Ability: Prankster  Level: 50  EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD  Bold Nature  IVs: 0 Atk  - Switcheroo  - Misty Terrain  - Reflect  - Foul Play	Greedent @ Sitrus Berry  Ability: Cheek Pouch  Level: 50  EVs: 244 HP / 12 Atk / 252 SpD  Brave Nature  IVs: 0 Spe  - Belly Drum  - Body Slam  - Ice Fang  - Stockpile	Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Life Orb  Ability: Unseen Fist  Level: 50  EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe  Jolly Nature  - Surging Strikes  - Close Combat  - Aqua Jet  - Protect

Needless to say klefki was too situation, togekiss was subpar and then urshifu basically saw no usage.

I decided to swap out togekiss for another very popular redirectin option , indeedee. It allows to not only provide redirection support but also helps set up psychic terrain saving slowbro from fake out threats turn 1, the psychic terrain helps slowbro spam expanding force, powering it up also protec
ts the team from priority attacks creeping in the format.

Moving on with the indeedee improvement, I swapped out urshifu rapid strike with a single strike form, as I quickly realized that opposing indeedee with imprison was quick a hinderance to my team, especially the male indeedee that are also carrying trick room were an auto loss.

Krookodile + urshifu for the anger point + wicked blow combination was quite a thing I wanted to try out here and I didn’t realize yet that this combination could save me against pz strategies by outspeeding aswell. Following is the next form of this team I was winning quite much with this team, however the ev spreads needed more refining:

Slowbro-Galar @ Aguav Berry  Ability: Quick Draw  Level: 50  EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD  Quiet Nature  IVs: 0 Atk  - Expanding Force  - Shell Side Arm  - Trick Room  - Flamethrower	Indeedee-F (F) @ Safety Goggles  Ability: Psychic Surge  Level: 50  EVs: 252 HP / 248 Spe  Timid Nature  IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe  - Follow Me  - Ally Switch  - Imprison  - Expanding Force	Wigglytuff @ Assault Vest  Ability: Competitive  Level: 50  EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA  Modest Nature  IVs: 0 Atk  - Dazzling Gleam  - Hyper Beam  - Thunderbolt  - Flamethrower
Greedent @ Sitrus Berry  Ability: Cheek Pouch  Level: 50  EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk  Brave Nature  IVs: 0 Spe  - Belly Drum  - Crunch  - Body Slam  - Seed Bomb	Krookodile @ Life Orb  Ability: Anger Point  Level: 50  EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe  Jolly Nature  - Rock Slide  - High Horsepower  - Protect  - Dragon Claw	Urshifu @ Choice Scarf  Ability: Unseen Fist  Level: 50  EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe  Jolly Nature  - Wicked Blow  - Close Combat  - Sucker Punch  - Rock Slide

I realized the following points:

·         Wigglytuff takes much more advantage of 252 defense than piling onto 252 hp stat.

·         My team’s krookodile + urshifu lead cannot work against excadrill + togekiss so I had to work on it with my primary lead of slowbro + indeedee as the combination of earthquake + dazzling gleam is quite much gonna be an auto loss for me.

·         Slowbro’s offense wasn’t that overwhelming but due to terrain and shell side arm was a great utility, I could perhaps afford spending more into defense.

·         Greedent was already super strong given the +6 attack stat as well as the dynamax, I needed more bulk for it to survive common moves at full hp.

·         Scarf urshifu had no place in this format, choice band or orb was much better of an option.

·         Krookodile needed a smarter ev spread, it seemed too frail at times.

Following is kinda the final spread for the team:

Slowbro-Galar @ Aguav Berry  Ability: Quick Draw  Level: 50  EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 132 SpA  Quiet Nature  IVs: 0 Atk  - Expanding Force  - Shell Side Arm  - Trick Room  - Protect	Indeedee-F (F) @ Safety Goggles  Ability: Psychic Surge  Level: 50  EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 SpD  Relaxed Nature  IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe  - Follow Me  - Ally Switch  - Imprison  - Expanding Force	Wigglytuff @ Assault Vest  Ability: Competitive  Level: 50  EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA  Modest Nature  IVs: 0 Atk  - Dazzling Gleam  - Hyper Beam  - Thunderbolt  - Flamethrower
Greedent @ Sitrus Berry  Ability: Cheek Pouch  Level: 50  EVs: 244 HP / 68 Atk / 196 SpD  Sassy Nature  IVs: 0 Spe  - Belly Drum  - Crunch  - Body Slam  - Seed Bomb	Krookodile @ Kee Berry  Ability: Anger Point  Level: 50  EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 244 Spe  Jolly Nature  - Rock Slide  - High Horsepower  - Protect  - Shadow Claw	Urshifu @ Life Orb  Ability: Unseen Fist  Level: 50  EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe  Jolly Nature  - Wicked Blow  - Close Combat  - Sucker Punch  - Protect

Now before I start off explaining this team further, I will state that this team is just for playing this game and having fun, this doesn’t mean I’m implying that this team is the best or anything, if you want to instantaneously improve the team try the following replacements which work much 

Snorlax-Gmax @ Sitrus Berry  Ability: Thick Fat  Level: 50  EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 SpD  Relaxed Nature  IVs: 0 Spe  - Belly Drum  - Giga Impact  - Fire Punch  - High Horsepower

Alakazam @ Life Orb  Ability: Magic Guard  Level: 50  EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe  Timid Nature  IVs: 0 Atk  - Expanding Force  - Dazzling Gleam  - Protect  - Speed Swap

Starting off with slowbro, a pokemon I missed in my earlier post, that was what made me gravitate towards this mon in the first place, it an have a great gimmick where you combine the item quick claw with its ability quick draw and from quick internet searches I found it stacks to a priority chance of 36% on a turn which is something not to overlook especially outside of trick room. Its moveset is quite simple, expanding force for pairing up with indeedee’s psychic terrain, shell side arm as a great utility move against rillaboom, togekiss and others with slower respective defenses like alakazam or urshifu, then trick room, a move that makes the main mode of this team function, lastly we have protect, this moveslot used to be flamethrower for catching steel types off guard, however after realizing that I can’t counter alakazam + indeedee psyspam with this lead, I needed something to go for protect and then go for imprison to block the barrage of attacks, urshifu + krookodile strategy simpl falls to a follow me or a dazzling gleam and hence was not worth it.

The calculations of defense is to survive excadrill’s earthquake and then recover to survive  critical hit dazzling gleam against the famous excadrill + togekiss lead, which once again krookodile + urshifu will match up terribly against.

252+ Atk Life Orb Excadrill Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 140+ Def Slowbro: 151-182 (75.1 - 90.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 4 SpA Togekiss Dazzling Gleam vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Slowbro on a critical hit: 36-42 (17.9 - 20.8%) -- possible 5HKO 252+ Atk Life Orb Excadrill Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 124 Def Slowbro: 172-203 (85.5 - 100.9%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

Slowbro’s partner in crime is a mon that equally holds the team in place. The combination of follow me with safety goggles wards off any sleep shenanigans from venusaur or amoonguss, imprison as explained before saves from opposing expanding force spam, expanding force is for damage in trick room and as a final note, I gave my indeedee minimal speed as I was seeing people who used minimum speed rillaboom to win the war against indeedee leads and then threaten the fake out pressure, this lowers the chance of rillaboom marking a huge dent in the team’s strategy.

252 Atk Life Orb Dragapult Max Wyrmwind (100 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Indeedee-F: 198-236 (111.8 - 133.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252+ Atk Rillaboom Grav Apple vs. 252 HP / 204+ Def Indeedee-F in Grassy Terrain: 82-97 (46.3 - 54.8%) -- 9.4% chance to 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery 252+ Atk Rillaboom Max Overgrowth (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 204+ Def Indeedee-F in Grassy Terrain: 175-207 (98.8 - 116.9%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO 252 Atk Incineroar Throat Chop vs. 252 HP / 204+ Def Indeedee-F: 126-150 (71.1 - 84.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ SpA Adaptability Porygon-Z Max Strike (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 48 SpD Indeedee-F: 178-210 (100.5 - 118.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Wigglytuff is a really fun mon to use on this team, given that I have 2 psychic types already which give partial support to it, wigglytuff takes its position well, being able to take advantage of snarl, intimkiate, max strikes, max darkness, being completely immune to dragapult’s stab, viable when dynamaxed and the monstrous coverage it holds was something surprisingly fun yet good enough to use as people ignore this balloon and it snowballs in its offensive potential, landing ohko’s.

252+ Atk Life Orb Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 4 HP / 252 Def Wigglytuff: 182-218 (84.2 - 100.9%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO 252+ SpA Wigglytuff Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Scizor: 204-240 (115.2 - 135.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252+ SpA Wigglytuff Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gyarados: 172-204 (101.1 - 120%) -- guaranteed OHKO +2 252+ SpA Wigglytuff Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gyarados: 340-400 (100 - 117.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO 252+ SpA Adaptability Porygon-Z Max Strike (150 BP) vs. 4 HP / 12 SpD Assault Vest Wigglytuff: 214-254 (99 - 117.5%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO 252+ SpA Adaptability Porygon-Z Max Strike (150 BP) vs. 4 HP / 12 SpD Assault Vest Wigglytuff: 214-254 (49.5 - 58.7%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO 252+ Atk Rillaboom Grav Apple vs. 4 HP / 252 Def Wigglytuff in Grassy Terrain: 103-123 (47.6 - 56.9%) -- 37.9% chance to 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery (103, 105, 106, 108, 108, 109, 111, 112, 114, 115, 115, 117, 118, 120, 121, 123)

Greedent is a budget snorlax, having the cheek pouch ability when partnered up with sitrus berry allows it to recover 60% of its health once it reaches at or below 50% health. This allows for full recovery when this pokemon is using belly drum, again gaining from the benefit of the doubt it gets marked off as not being a threat and can snowball victories once set up, especially paired with dynamax.

The ev spread is for surviving max lo kingdra’s hydro pump in rain. I never really needed a protect moveslot, though I do get max guard in place of belly drum when going for it, I think the best use of this mon is to set up bd and then start to pick up ko’s ASAP.

252+ SpA Life Orb Kingdra Max Geyser (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 196+ SpD Greedent in Rain: 188-224 (82.8 - 98.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO +6 68 Atk Greedent Max Strike (130 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Kingdra: 315-372 (104.3 - 123.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO +6 68 Atk Greedent Max Darkness (130 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Dragapult: 510-600 (155.4 - 182.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO +6 68 Atk Greedent Max Darkness (130 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Marowak-Alola: 370-436 (110.7 - 130.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Urshifu’s job is very simple on this team, pick up ohkos on indeedee carrying imprison or other trick room carrying imprison threats. Its dark and fighting coverage provides an extra check for dragapult, incineroar, porygon 2, marowak, dusclops and is great offensive utility given it 120 bp crits ignoring the stat boosts. Its job is simple and well done, I finally see why is urshifu in decent use despite its major togekiss weakness.

Krookodile is another fun mon on this team, ever since I realized both urshifu’s attacks are 100% crit chances as well as frost breath coverage being very low on the mons its given to, this strat was on my mind, needless to say from a critical point of view 99% of the time it won’t work, because of the overwhelming popularity of indeedee, togekiss and amoonguss on teams, sometimes even 2 of them on the same ones, from another point of view from one end krookodile benefits from dynamax’s power however its fraility seems to get the best of its potential from being released yet, I needed the speed I invested for outspeeding timid pz and then invested the rest into hp for bulk giving this mon the item kee berry + wicked blow activating it, it can also raise its special defense via max quakes giving it a buff up. Too bad krookodile didn’t get max air stream as it doesn’t learn aerial ace any longer.

252 SpA Togekiss Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Krookodile on a critical hit: 192-228 (47.5 - 56.4%) -- 83.2% chance to 2HKO 252+ Atk Conkeldurr Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Krookodile: 270-318 (66.8 - 78.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO After wicked blow in max: 252+ Atk Urshifu Wicked Blow (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Krookodile on a critical hit: 67-79 (16.5 - 19.5%) -- possible 6HKO Calcs after this damage: 252+ Atk Urshifu Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Krookodile: 270-318 (66.8 - 78.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ Atk Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Krookodile in Grassy Terrain: 198-234 (49 - 57.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery 252+ SpA Liquid Voice Primarina Hyper Voice vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Krookodile: 162-192 (40 - 47.5%) -- 98% chance to 2HKO 252+ SpA Life Orb Lapras Max Hailstorm (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Krookodile: 291-346 (72 - 85.6%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO

I really hope that people really liked this team and want to try it out for yourself. Bye to now!