Szymoninho's Strategy Corner

Competitive VGC player's blog.

The Very Last Shot of Glory for VGC 2013

Since WiFi connection for fifth generation games has been shut down, VGC 2013 is officially a completely dead format. On the most recent Sunday there was a very last live tourney with last year's rules, so I had a very last chance to build a team to be used on Black 2 and White 2 carts. My result was four wins and two loses (double elimination), both of them to Conkeldurr Ice Punch freezes but what can you do, haha. In one game I got a bit lucky too, so I can't really complain. Anyway, this is what I came up with:

Hitmontop @ Payapa Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Att / 36 Def / 156 SpD / 60 Spe
Careful Nature
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Helping Hand
- Feint

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Def / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Protect

Volcarona @ Lum Berry
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 84 SpA / 52 SpD / 116 Spe
Modest Nature
- Heat Wave
- Bug Buzz
- Quiver Dance
- Protect

Bisharp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Night Slash
- Low Kick
- Protect

Amoonguss @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 108 Def / 148 SpD
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Protect

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
- Low Kick
- Stone Edge

 

My inspiration for this team were two teams: Ben Kyriakou's Nats/Worlds team (Tyranitar, Hitmontop, Volcarona, Tornadus-I, Amoonguss, Hydreigon) and Sejun Park's early 2013 team (Hitmontop, Latios, Bisharp, Volcarona, Gastrodon, Thundurus-I) that he used vs ryuzaki in the USA vs Korea match.

Just a few notes:
I won't go into details because it doesn't really matter. All spreads are pretty standard, except for Hitmontop and maybe Volcarona. The former survives Metagross' Zen Headbutt and Latios Psychic/Psyshock at -1, to make it survive even longer. Fake Out + Intimidate is so good, as well as its support movepool. I used to use Wide Guard but Feint was more useful and Helping Hand is one of my favourite moves that made a +1 Volcarona even more dangerous. With Feint and Helping Hand Hitmontop is useful even when intimidated or at very low health. Volcarona survives a standard Draco Meteor as well as outspeeds base 70's before Quiver Dance and base 130's after. Lum Berry is the best item for it but Charti Berry can work as well (Bug Gem sucks). I'm not a huge fan of Latios and always prefered other Dragons but here it's my vital counter for Fighting-types and Garchomp. Hidden Power Ground is just as good as Fire vs things like Metagross or Bisharp but also OHKOs Heatran which became popular after Worlds. Amoonguss is so good on this team because it counters Trick Room and rain as well as redirects Fighting-type moves from Bisharp and Tyranitar, and makes predicting easier. Bisharp is for Landorus-T, I chose Sash over Dark Gem to do some damage to Excadrill and win duels vs oposing Tyranitar. Tyranitar is my favourite Pokemon and it fit on this team fantastically. My only "real" counter to Tornadus, also due to its fantastic typing it counters basically half of the metagame. I wish I had a slot for Fire Punch but Stone Edge was just too powerful.

I feel that this team had a lot of offensive synergy and would love to use it sometime once again. It's very easy to use because it simply keeps on attacking and gaining momentum if you make the right plays.