Szymoninho's Strategy Corner

Competitive VGC player's blog.

Germany Nationals Team

It's been a while since Germany Nats and I've finally found enough willpower to write a few words about my team. It's nothing special but at least not another bog Kangaskhan team that everyone has read tones of articles about.

The story begins at the point when Lajo shows me his Mega Tyranitar team, I can't remember a single Pokemon on that team right now aside from the one mentioned before, but after that I decided to build my own team around the same idea - setting up a late game Tyranitar sweep. I started with two Pokemon - Tyranitar and Amoonguss, then came Salamence due to its fantastic synergy with these two, ability to handle Garchomp and Intimidate support. The rest came after some testing.

 

 

Tyranihax (Tyranitar) (M) @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
- Dragon Dance
- Protect

Team's Mega. I did try to use a bit more complex EV spreads, but this one proved to be the best. Max Speed lets me outspeed base 70's and neutral nature 80's before and 130's after a Dragon Dance. I felt that investing in bulk was unnecessary because Sand and Intimidate already boost Tyranitar's defences. I think that Megatar is one of the best Megas, if you haven't tried it out yet you definitely should. The ammount of its resistances provides a lot situations where I could set up a Dragon Dance and sweep from there. After Nationals I realized that Earthquake over Crunch provides a lot better coverage but fortunately during the tournament there weren't any situations where I could've benefited from that change.

 

Haxoonguss (Amoonguss) (F) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 116 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Protect

Amoonguss was probably the Pokemon that I picked most frequently due to being the only supporter on the team. Thanks to Regenerator it can survive really long and take hits for the team all day long. The EVs let it survive Choice Band Talonflame's Brave Bird after an Intimidate, which was crucial for the team, so Talonflame couldn't ruin Megatar's setup. Lum Berry may seem like a bit of an odd choice but it is actually my only way to counter Smeargle (usually paired up with Kangaskhan). It also helps a lot against Meowstic, which usually Swaggers Amoonguss when it doesn't have Psychic. I was intending to make it a little faster the day before the tournament just to avoid speed ties with Reuniculus and Slowbro/king (I've once played against a min Speed Safeguard Slowbro in practice) but it actually didn't matter.

 

Haxamence (Salamence) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Def / 244 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Stone Edge
- Dragon Pulse

Here comes probably the most standard pick on the team - Scarf Salamence. In my opinion it's probably the best offensive partner for Mega Tyranitar. I really needed something to KO Garchomp as I can't Rage Powder its Earthquakes away. When practicing with this team I got addicted to Intimidate to the point that each game I lost in Germany was against either Wigglytuff or Bisharp. I chose Fire Blast over Flamethrower to 2HKO Amoonguss and Aegislash, and one shot Mega Lucario. I decided on Modest nature to deal more damage (mostly to Kangaskhan) because I never run into Salamence mirrors and most people run Timid anyway. I probably should've moved some EVs from Speed to HP and/or both defences as this speed stat isn't supposed to do anything special and having some extra bulk is always nice.

 

Rotom-Hax (Rotom-Heat) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 244 HP / 100 Def / 76 SpA / 28 SpD / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

I needed a fire type and decided on Rotom-Heat due to its ability to stay in and cripple physical attackers. It's also one of few Pokemon on this team that don't mind taking a hit from Mawile. I went for only 244 HP EVs to recover higher HP percentage with Sitrus Berry and also activate it after a Super Fang. Offensive investment lets me take out 4 HP Talonflame in one hit and remove 252 HP / 76 SpD Aegislash's Substitute 100% of the time. I decided on Bold nature to take as many Rock Slides from Garchomp as possible and burn it because Rotom almost always flinches from them. At 100 Def EVs Rotom gains 2 stat points instead of one. 60 Speed EVs let me outspeed neutral nature Tyranitar, which was a huge mistake of mine. I actually should've made it outspeed Adamant Bisharp, so my top 16 (maybe even top 8) match would've been a lot easier for me.

 

Haxdevoir (Gardevoir) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Trace
EVs: 4 HP / 124 Def / 148 SpA / 4 SpD / 228 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Shadow Ball

Gardevoir was added as another way to deal with Garchomp as well as a counter to Scrafty, Venusaur and Amoonguss, that are pretty annoying to play against without it on the team. Overall I think that Gardevoir was a bit of a weak link on the team, I almost never brought it in swiss rounds but it was the key in my top 16 match and if I played a bit better, it could've won me my top 8 match as well. The EV spread and nature were probably the most difficult things for me to come up with but I finally decided on speed and bulk over power. I considered Smeargle a huge threat on my team and outspeeding it was really tempting, so I went for it with one additional point just to speed creep stuff EV'd to do the same thing. Defence EVs let Gardevoir survive Jolly Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge or Adamant Return after an Intimidate, rest goes to Special Attack to OHKO 4 HP Bisharp, probably the biggest threat to my team.

 

 

Aegihax (Aegislash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 12 Def / 172 SpA / 68 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 6 Spe
- Shadow Ball
- Sacred Sword
- Substitute
- King's Shield

I previously had Bisharp in this slot but it didn't find much usage, because it made the team pretty Kangaskhan-weak and I had only two physical attackers on the team, so I didn't really benefit from Defiant. The change to Aegislash was exactly what I was looking for - the team had a decent overall ammount of bulk, so I wasn't reliant on Tyranitar sweeps and could abuse the defensive synergy that I finally achieved. I came up with this set and spread before Simon published his team on Nugget Bridge, so I was really surprised that his spread was almost identical to mine - I was aiming towards OHKOing 4 HP Gardevoir and surviving Overheat from Modest Rotom-H. Because Aegislash figured on the team as a Kangaskhan check, I decided on Sacred Sword over Flash Cannon to get the 2HKO on most common set. 6 Speed IVs let me avoid speed ties against opposing Aegislash as well as outspeed Adamant 0 Speed EVs Rhyperior and still underspeed some Pokemon used in Trick Room teams, like Gothitelle. This Pokemon ended up being my MVP of swiss rounds as it single-handedly won me three games out of eight and managed to KO two Garchomps on its own without any crits or prior damage.

 

Overall the team was really fun to use, especially back in the days when Mega Tyranitar was almost unheard of. There are some new threats in the metagame that this team wouldn't perform well against without some fixes (like Mega Blastoise), but back in March and April I had really high win/lose ratios with it on PS! and managed to top the ladder once or twice. Thanks for reading, I hope I can seal my Worlds trip next year.