5th Shade off 2nd place team translation ~Charizard Mawile Gothitelle TR switch team~

Original Post from もうふが勝ち！: http://d.hatena.ne.jp/mouhungo2828/20140224/1393257184

              

Pokemon	Item	Move1	Move2	Move3	Move4	Note
Tyranitar	Assault Vest	Dark Pulse	Rock Slide	Ice Beam	Fire Blast
Garchomp	Choice Band	Outrage	Earthquake	Stone Edge	Sleep Talk	Rough Skin
Charizard	Charizardite Y	Heat Wave	Overheat	Solar Beam	Protect
Mawile	Mawilite	Play Rough	Sucker Punch	Fire Fang	Rock Slide
Gothitelle	Sitrus Berry	Psychic	Charm	Trick Room	Protect	Shadow Tag
Aegislash	Life Orb	Shadow Ball	Sacred Sword	King's Shield	Wide Guard

I competed in the 5th Shade offline (Battle Road Gloria Kansai Regional) and came out with a result of 7-3 in swiss and and 2nd place overall finish. 

I hadn't been to an offline tournament for about half an year so I felt nervous, but managed to pull it off with this team I had built and tested over a fair amount of time. 

Although I was defeated in the finals, I was happy to get my ticket to the nationals of Battle road gloria convention. 

Team Concept:

I chose 'Counter' as the concept of my team. This was because I believe that in an offline tournament where time is limited, making the other player hold a false misconception or information about your team is useful. 

For example: 

• The presence of Aegislash will insist opposing pokemon to use moves like Earthquake and Heatwave. However these can be countered by a surprise Wide Guard
• The team looks susceptible to Rain teams with a Mega-Manectric Volt Switch start, however with Gothitelle's ability Shadow Tag, it can capture most pokemon and fight back with Tyranitar and Charizard. 
• The team looks weak to Mega-Charizard Y if mawile is chosen as my mega, so I run Rock Slide to get the surprise KO.
• The team also looks weak to popular M-Kangaskhan+Specs Gardevoir line up, but I can protect with Gothitelle to capture the opponent and OHKO gardevoir with a Choice Band Earthquake. 

I took inspiration from Vete's (Shade offline tournament sub organizer) Gothitelle+Malamar switch trickroom team (http://d.hatena.ne.jp/colonel-vete/).

Individual Analysis:

Tyranitar@Assault Vest

Dark Pulse

Rock Slide

Ice Beam

Fire Blast

252 HP 60 Def 196 SpA // Quiet Nature (31 IV Spe)
Stats: 207-154-138-154-120-72

Quiet nature with 31 speed IVs. This was because I wanted to have Tyranitar move after Aegislash in Trickroom and also to increase power of Rock Slide which I found myself using a lot through practice. 

I opted for Assault vest to make my team more stronger against rain teams because Charizard Y has a risk of letting Mega-Manectric volt switching into politoed for rain, putting Charizard Y in a tough spot because of its water weakness. AV Tyranitar can make a fairly safe switch into even water type attacks as it changes weather into sandstorm raising its sp.D in addition to the AV.

Tyranitar was very strong against sun teams as well, being able to survive Solar beam from Charizard Y in sun. This allows either a trickroom to go up or a KO on opposing Charizard, which are both very favorable. 

It had good synergy with Aegislash (Wide Guard) and with its overwhelming base stat and wide range of attacks, it was a strong mon with or without Trickroom. 

I was just amazed with this Tyranitar's stats when it only took 20~30 damage from opposing Manectric during the tournament. 

Garchomp@Choice Band

Outrage

Earthquake

Stone Edge

Sleep Talk

236 Atk 148 SpD 124 Spe // Adamant Nature
Stats: 183-198-115-xx-124-138

Out sped by max speed Smeargle by 1. The gender is male to prevent male Pyroar's (to activate against female only Kangaskhan) Rivalry to activate. I brought up the sp.D significantly to survive Pyroar's Life Orb HP Ice and a chance to survive Timid scarf Tyranitar's Ice beam. 

The basic job of Garchomp is to use Outrage or Earthquake to gain damage advantage against lineups such as Rotom+Kan, Talonflame+Kan and Gardevoir+Kan.  

When placed by Gothitelle, the opponent usually targets Gothitelle for the fake out due to factors such as Rough skin, and this gives Garchomp an opportunity to use Outrage which has the power to OHKO a non defensive Mega-Kangaskhan. Even if   a Fairy type comes in after defeating one of the opponent's pokemon, the opponent will still have to try get rid of Garchomp as they don't know which way Outrage will hit, therefore giving Gothitelle enough time to set up Trickroom. 

I realized that there were very few middle speed tier pokemon (as I believed most salamence are scarfed) so I moved Garchomp's speed down to max speed Smeargle -1 to get a surprise Sleep talk along with Tyranitar's Sand Stream to break the sash and OHKO with any attack. This actually helped me in a match against a Smeargle so I must say this wasn't a bad idea at all. 

Charizard@Charicardite Y

Heat Wave

Overheat

Solar Beam

Protect

156 HP 52 Def 252 SpA 4 SpD 44 Spe // Modest Nature
Stats: 173-xx-105-177-106-126

The set is the same as Vete's Charizard. I believe that Garchomp and Mega pokemon are basically better off with a full EV investment in attacking department to bring Rotom down as much as possible, as it is one of the most annoying pokemon when allowed on the field long enough. The basic job of Charizard was to use heat wave and Solar Beam on Politoed. Mawile has a higher usage overall in this team so I didn't use Charizard as much.

Mawile@Mawilite

Play Rough

Sucker Punch

Fire Fang

Rock Slide

252 HP 252 Atk 4 SpD // Brave Nature (0 IV Spe)
Stats: 157-150-105-xx-76-49

Mawile again has max EV investment in Attack to get the highest chance to KO a Rotom that has accumulated some chip damage. 

The most likely way it gets on the field is after Gothitelle sets up Trickroom and replacing its place. 

Mawile has the strength to force a win if it is allowed to attack at least twice in Trickrrom, therefor, I put Rock slide instead of Protect to give it a wider attacking range, most notably Charizard Y and Talonflame. 

A very niche situation that happens often is the opponent sending in Salamence beside their Charizard Y to reduce sucker punch damage, but my Mawile's Rock slide still OHKOs the Charizard and brings the Salamence into KO range as well. 

Gothitelle@Sitrus Berry

Psychic

Charm

Trick Room

Protect

252 HP 228 Def 28 SpD // Relaxed Nature (0 IV Spe)
Stats: 177-xx-158-115-134-63

Survives Blade Forme Aegislash's Shadow Ball and the rest of the EVs are invested in in HP and Defense. 

Although its base stats are not the highest, Gothitelle has the ability Shadow Tag which synergieses well with strong physical attackers such as Mawile and Kangaskhan as it doesn't allow the opponent to switch into a intimidator. 

After setting up Trickroom, I usually use Charm to completely shutdown opposing Mega Kangaskhan while dodging sucker punch. Protect was a very useful move to prevent fake out damage and to protect from my own Garchomp's Earthquake. 

Aegislash@Life Orb

Shadow Ball

Sacred Sword

King's Shield

Wide Guard

252 HP 4 Def 252 SpA // Quiet Nature (0 IV Spe)
Stats: 167-70-171-112-170-58

Aegislash was the last member decided on the team to mainly bring up the team's overall balance. Wide Guard support is its main role. 

I gave it a Life Orb to give it a high chance to OHKO opposing Aegislash and also bulky Gardevoir. I don't have the exact calculations, but I felt it could get clean up KOs on pokemon that resisted Heat wave from Charizard. 

The team had pokemon such as Mawile and Tyranitar who are weak to Garchomp's Earthquake, but if that one move could be protected by Wideguard, Garchomp wouldn't become an issue anymore. Also, many people who anticipated Aegislash to use King Shield after attacking, and would use spread moves to insure that even if Aegislash did move, it would eat some damage. This was great as I could just use wide guard. Sacred Sword was a way to OHKO Tyranitar safely for when I brought Charizard.

Summary:

The basic lead is Gothitelle+α with Mawile and Aegislash in the back. Dealing with rain teams is as discussed above. I'm overall very happy to be able to attend the nationals of the Battle Road Gloria and I will like to build a new team since I have made this one public.

-Ryokon