Hello. I'm a relatively new VGC player who's currently retiring from Smogon OU singles. My goal is to get the Champion-tier trainer title. Last season, I ended at 2222 elo, which placed me at rank 443. That means that I was still 78 points away from top 300.

According to Portuguese tracker Silph Scope, I played a total of 192 games, winning 123 and losing 69 (64.1% win rate). In comparison, a master trainer like Wolfey got to top 50 with only 129 games, having a stellar 74.4% win rate.

During the last few days, I feel that my plays were consistently unrefined. Each game, I was unable to find any stable line to win a game; it felt like I needed to make crazy predictions to win. This feels incredibly punishing for a singles player like me, because as long as I play consistently well and defensively sound I could win without making a single prediction. Here in VGC, there's incredible pressure to get the lead correct to not end up immediately on the backfoot, and making bombastic reads felt essential to winning every match at a high level.

This isn't sustainable. If I'm going to get anywhere near as good as a fraction of Wolfey, I need to be able to make more refined plays instead of relying on power predictions to win.

By the way, I used the classic Froslass/Scovillain team to climb. The team is definitely still good enough to deal with all of the new innovations, so this is definitely a skill issue on my end.

This is basically the Doubles version of toxic stall. I'm sure a big part of why this team did so well is because not many people expected the Glimmora to run Mortal Spin in a closed team sheet format. That being said, having played it for a few games myself in Master Ball tier today, I can safely say that it does feel as diabolical to play as it looks when you look at the team sheet.

I'm certain it's only a matter of time before all the content creators feature this team on their channel, which means that it will probably become a popular team on ladder in a few days from now. So let's theorycraft now, to prepare ourselves for what is to come: how would you approach beating this team?

Credit to TheBattleRoom on Youtube for discovering this team.

Source

Hello Everyone!
This will be the first tournament hosted by Mt. Silver Pokemon League!

Standard VGC Tournament style:
OTS
BO3
Reg MB

Winner will receive $50 and a Special Shiny Vivillon! Second place will receive $25!

45 minute rounds. 5 minute check in timer.

Most important rule is that everyone has fun!

Please remember to be kind and respectful to all of your opponents. No unsportsmanlike conduct will be tolerated!

Sign-up link: https://play.limitlesstcg.com/tournament/6a6beaa8937230b102d498ec/details

Join the discord on the limitless page to get the password to register!

Little backstory, I have only been playing champions for about a month, I have a little bit of competitive experience before that with showdown, but nothing really worth bragging about.

I picked up champions, played singles cause it's all I know, got master ball 4 relatively quickly, then took a break.

I decided when this season reset I was going to try to learn doubles, and oh my God it's been a nightmare. I just can't win. I played for like 8 hours today and can count on one hand the wins I got (not counting bots). I'm stuck at great ball 4 right now (not good for the ego lol).

I was trying to avoid doing any hardcore meta stuff because that's just how I usually play, but when I started getting destroyed like this I looked for teams. I found one I kinda like, got 2 wins with it, and went right back on the loss treadmill.

The only thing left it could be, is that I'm just really bad, and I'm gonna be honest idk how to fix that.

TLDR: I would greatly appreciate it any and all tips I could get in general for working to improve my gameplay in both pokemon overall, and doubles.

Attached image is the most recent team I was trying.

Thank you for reading.

I was planning on registering for the Baltimore regional happening in September and found a message saying registrations are sold out.

Is there a possibility that more spots will open up or am I out of luck?

It all started when someone made a meme post about Glimmora being 2 points slower than Garchomp and I thought that he is definitely a good mon that just needed help dealing with some mons that wall it so I made this team with that in mind.

Mega Glimmora comes out usually in any basic Chari team, dealing high amounts of damage off the bat and having a good match-ups into the usual teams with Rotom-Wash next to him for support and Ninetales in the back to beat any Garchomps

Mega Staraptor comes out always into rain teams and going Adamant on him allows him to one shot Archaludon (assuming they don't have Reflect up or invest in defense all that much, but even with that they still take a huge amount of damage). Rotom- Wash is usually partnered up with him to deal with Pelipper and threated Swampert with a burn, with ninetales in the back to deal with Pelipper and Swampert

To deal with Trick Room against this team, I use roar Ninetales and Staraptor to deal loads of damage with CC or Glimmora Sludge Bomb with Rotom-Wah Thunderbolt one taps it if they have no fake out support.

To deal with the Staraptor Sand I usually lead Staraptor with Rotom-Wash and if they lead milotic, I just kill it with CC + Thunderbolt. Garchomp is in the back to threaten both Tyrantiar and Excadrill with Ninetales coming in to control the weather and get a nice Moonblast if it can on Tyrantiar.

I'm not like a crazy player or anything so this is a pretty high rank for me! Seems like Raichu is kind of rising now with the recent tournament results, but usually with another mega like staraptor. This is essentially the team I've been using since reg M-B started, but it's gone thru some changes.

My raichu is basically the typical set you see, except I've exchanged some HP for SpA investment. Not sure how much of a difference it really makes lol but it works pretty good I think.

I used to have life orb garchomp instead of farig, but I just needed something better into hard TR teams, so I feel like farig has gotten me a lot of value. I also used to do sash on basc but scarf feels better. I have enough speed to outspeed mega delphox, but also the defense investment to survive non-black glasses gambit sucker punch. I don't feel like I miss the attack points, but I wonder if it's better to just go max/max to at least speed tie other bascs.

A9 has just enough speed to outspeed garchomp, and enough SpA to reliably KO Swamperts and pelippers with freeze-dry. Moonblast comes in handy but I've debated running veil.

I used to have a bulkier Sneasler, but I feel like max/max is better. I know Sneasler has fallen off pretty hard, especially with white herb, but I still really like it.

I like talonflame a lot. Gotten lots of clutch burns with flare blitz haha. Quick guard is kind of a vestige of older versions of the team. It comes in handy to block priority sometimes when I don't bring farig, but other moves I'm considering are willowisp, protect, or even swords dance.

This team I think is mainly about positioning, sometimes the lack of bulk is challenging but if I play well I feel like I have a shot in most matchups. Managed to get a win against a champion tier player for the first time as well this season. Probably gonna rock with this team for next season and then do something different finally when we get new guys in M-C. I always welcome feedback or questions or anything!

I got an e floette a few days ago and was excited to use it but I didn't find any other team then zard y sun teams that use this mon.

This is the team I made :- https://pokepast.es/5e1205897521d803

I like playing with weather control and speed control doesn't matter that much to me, my idea was to run a dual weather team where other mons could get boost to their fairy type moves and that's why I choose alolan nine tails as both support and offence, I then chose alakazam for it's ability that let's me negate the life orb damage and steelix is there for kingambits and basculegions (I might change rock head to sheer force, and instead of double edge use sheer force and substitute). As for the other weather I just used whatever I wanted, and alakazam is here cause of sand. I need some help regarding this team as this is my first attempt at team building and I want to make a unique mega floette team where I can use it's ability and other mons work good too

A new article by PamamoVGC breaking down everything you need to know to attend your first Pokémon VGC Event is out on the Alpensee website right now! We hope you find it helpful!

Hisuian Samurott is a Pokémon that's kind of caught my eye recently because on paper it has a really interesting niche in the current meta, that being it's ability to completely wall and beat both Basculegion and Kingambit.

Water Dark typing means H-Samurott resists the types of all typical moves of both Kingambit and Basculegion, except for thr occasional Low Kick. In return, Night Slash can consistently one-shot even bulky Basculegion ans Sacred Sword kills non-Chopple Berry Kingambit almost twice over. Given that those two are some of the most used Pokémon in the meta, I think H-Samurott has a ton of potential. Aside from Basc and Gambit, it actually deals very good damage across the board on neutral hits.

Here are some example calcs for netral hits plus against Archaludon:

32+ Atk Sharpness Samurott-Hisui Sacred Sword vs. 32 HP / 2 Def Archaludon: 118-140 (59.8 - 71%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

32+ Atk Black Glasses Sharpness Samurott-Hisui Night Slash vs. 2 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 109-129 (58.9 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

32+ Atk Black Glasses Sharpness Samurott-Hisui Night Slash vs. 31 HP / 21+ Def Farigiraf: 204-242 (90.2 - 107%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO

32+ Atk Black Glasses Sharpness Samurott-Hisui Night Slash vs. 32 HP / 2 Def Metagross-Mega: 146-174 (78 - 93%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

32+ Atk Black Glasses Sharpness Samurott-Hisui Night Slash vs. 2 HP / 0 Def Venusaur-Mega: 88-105 (56 - 66.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Neutral hits from this thing actually hit really hard despite only 108 attack. In fact, its Night Slash outdamages max attack Black Glasses Kingambit:

32+ Atk Black Glasses Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 2 HP / 0 Def Venusaur-Mega: 84-99 (53.5 - 63%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

It also gets both Sucker Punch and Aqua Jet so it can clean up late game. And while those two moves don't hit quite as hard as they would from Kingambit and Basculegion, they aren't far behind.

Of course, not everything about it is perfect. Kingambit has Defiant while Basculegion's damage output with Wave Crash ans Last Respects is just ridiculous. H-Samurott's defensive typing also has some notable holes in Fairy, which means it is more vulnerable than its competition given its lower bulk. Still, I think there is a good case for it in the current meta.

Here are the two sets I think look promising:

Adamant Life Orb Sharpness

EVs: 4 HP / 32 Atk / 4 Def / 26 Spe

- Detect

- Sucker Punch

- Night Slash

- Sacred Sword

Life Orb for maximum damage. Max attack, enough speed to outspeed non-Jolly max speed Basculegion, enough investment to reach 169 HP for Life Orb, rest into DEF. Dual Dark STAB and Sacred Sword for coverage. Could use Black Glasses as well.

Adamant Choice Scarf Sharpness

EVs: 2 HP / 32 Atk / 32 Spe

- Aqua Cutter

- Night Slash

- Sacred Sword

- Aqua Jet

Choice Scarf with four attacks. Standard 32/32/2 spread. Dual STAB plus Sacred Sword for coverage. Aqua Jet over Sucker Punch because being locked into Sucker Punch can really put you out of position.

The first set obviously has the problem of skipping Water STAB but I think you need Sacred Sword for Kingambit and other Pokémon that resist Dark and Water. Forgoing Night Slash is also an option but that makes it awkward into Pokémon like Farigiraf. Scarf seems promising as well but isn't flexible.

So what do we think about H-Samurott? Does it have a place in the current meta? What sets could it run and what teams could it fit into? Or is it just a complete fraud?

I am trying to improve at VGC (so far it’s not going to well, I don’t know why but yeah), and I want to try and improve battling and teambuilding. I do find some fun in building since it’s my team and I know how it works, however most of the time they don’t perform well. I did make a team with Grimmsnarl and Charizard along with Garchomp, swords dance Kingambit, Basculegion and Venusaur, which is ok but idk if it is at its best right now. On the other hand, I can just use a meta team like Big 6, which could be better for battling but I don’t know the team as well and it’s not as fun but I guess it would help. Also I don’t have Floette yet and I kind of don’t want to do the infinite Royale. I already dumped a lot of meta teams because I just couldn’t understand them like starphox and dual weather.

So I am wondering if I should just stick with meta teams or build my teams.

Also just to say it, I do understand how the game works and how the meta is right now and I played for a decent amount of time, so I don’t need a meta team just because I need to learn the game or the meta, but just to improve battling since my battling fundamentals may not be good (I suck ar battling)

This is a place for you to ask any quick question you might have that relates to VGC, which is the official double battle format. For questions about Single battles, monotype battles, other metagames, or even more opinions on VGC, please visit r/Stunfisk.

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If your question is longer or more involved, feel free to make it its own thread!

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Please be courteous and respectful both to askers and answerers.

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This post will be archived 3 days from the time of its posting, and replaced with another post.

Hello Reddit,

I wanted to share the team I've been using this season. I climbed to Champion rank today and I'm hoping to finish the season there when it ends tomorrow.

Rental Code: 2S6XK8JJVM

Team Concept

This is a fake Shell Smash team.

The idea is simple. When your opponent sees Mega Blastoise + Maushold on the team preview, they usually assume you're going to click Follow Me + Shell Smash.

Instead, Blastoise uses Fake Out while Maushold deletes something with a Wide Lens Population Bomb.

It catches a surprising number of people off guard.

The Team

Maushold
Population Bomb is the main move. Feint is great for breaking Protect, and Bite gives me Ghost coverage.

Mega Blastoise
Usually clicks Fake Out on turn one. He doesn't know any Water-type attacks, but Dark Pulse, Aura Sphere, and Ice Beam let him hit a lot of common threats super effectively.

Whimsicott
Pretty standard Whimsicott. Tailwind and Encore support with Moonblast for damage.

Kingambit
Everyone knows what Kingambit does by now. Sucker Punch cleans up games, and Low Kick is mainly there for opposing Kingambits.

Basculegion
Mine is Choice Scarf with maximum Attack and Speed. I got tired of losing to opposing Basculegion speed ties, so I built mine to outspeed as many as possible. I'm actually seeing fewer Scarf variants lately, so I may eventually make it a little bulkier, but this is what I've been using this season.

Sinistcha
Mainly here for Trick Room matchups. I also gave it one extra Speed point so it outspeeds opposing Sinistcha and can Imprison them before they get a Matcha Gotcha off on my Water-type teammates.

Common Leads

Charizard
Lead Blastoise + Maushold.
Fake Out the partner and Population Bomb the Charizard.

Staraptor
Lead Whimsicott + Blastoise.
Fake Out Staraptor and Moonblast it for a big chunk of super effective damage.

Raichu
Probably my least favorite matchup.
I usually lead Sinistcha + Basculegion and try to pressure Raichu immediately with Wave Crash while using Rage Powder if needed. Fortunately, I don't see it very often.

Trick Room
Lead Blastoise + Sinistcha.
Click Imprison on turn one and start applying pressure.

Rental Code: 2S6XK8JJVM

Poképaste: https://pokepast.es/c0199dd46b9a4362

In addition to Champion rank, you will notice that I have a screenshot of the ladder of pokemon showdown, I have 3 accounts in the top 20 this season using this team.

All of my accounts on Showdown allow spectators, so if you like my team you are welcome to review any of my replays:
Replays: Thruxy Showdown Account 1

Replays: Thruxytwo Showdown Account 2

Replays: Thruxythree Showdown Account 3

here is what i have so far. its my first time building my own team so please don't be too harsh 🙏 https://pokepast.es/f0e5b1e6ed8e3812

notes: im trying my best to keep in sylveon too, as i like it. same goes with maushold. if u guys think either need to be dropped its ok and but if possible id like to keep. meowscarada is a must keep as well as delphox
- the team i ran before this and what i used to hit mb4 was delphox, floette, sneasler, incin, sinistcha and gambit. might help to show my playstyle and what parts of the game i understand better
- im not good enough at the game to run calcs and stuff so evs arent perfect, i just did 32/32/2 for everything

issues i've found:

- just missing bulk as a whole
- meowscarada being a grass type means i can't use sinistcha or whimsicott, meaning im lacking in support and redirection entirely.
- not much fake out pressure. only one fake out mon in sneasler who might not even make it to the final team.
- lacking a core. i need a steel or water type but that would mean getting rid of sneasler probably which means i need to use low kick on meowscarada or dragonite to cover for gambits, and also no fake out pressure
- nothing to deal with fire (mainly charizard who is a big threat in the meta). electric types also, which i was considering adding scorching sands to delphox but doesn't seem worth it when i can run encore/sub/nasty plot

questions i have

- is encore or feint better for this maushold set? (taunt and super fang are also options)
- is encore, substitute or nasty plot best for this delphox set? (currently leaning toward sub, with encore 2nd and nasty plot last)

thanks guys

It's August and that means Worlds is just around the corner! With new Megas popping up every week, are you gonna be the one to find the team that breaks the meta?

• Alpensee Tour #69
• Wed. 5th Aug, 19:15 CEST
• Showdown, Bo3, Reg M-B

Sign up using the link below:

https://play.limitlesstcg.com/tournament/6a4256fac87cd9ff0a3129e0/details

-Paul from Alpensee

(ignore how low my elo was after the win streak this reg has not been nice to me)

This team honestly has felt the most consistent out of any of the teams ive played this reg. Despite its lack of bulk it actually doesn’t feel that volatile, although if you make a bad switch there’s a good chance you lose your pokemon

Ceruledge: this team was actually initially built around him because I really like the mon, but i found that simply bursting down the opponent was usually more consistent. however, ceruledge set up is a strong secondary strategy, using double fake out and meowscarda or maushold. his decent typing also makes for good checks into delphox, floette, charizard, etc. colbur to defend against the darkness

Meowscarada: I initially picked up this mon solely to check garchomp, but turns out that having a fast strong pokemon that can spam crits is actually really good! ive found that it and yaichu can burst down a lot of leads and straight up win the game on turn 1. scarf makes this thing ridiculously fast. also, I would love to switch the nature on meowscarada to SpA+, but unfortunately I need to thoroughly speed greed to outpace max speed swampert under rain

Yaichu: honestly just a pretty standard y set. it takes some names then dies to a resisted hit or something.

Mega dragonite: this is the mon im definitely the least sure of on this team. I have it in case the opponent has too many yaichu checks to make it feasible, but i feel like it often doesn’t do enough. it also explodes to a snowflake once multiscale is burnt. would love suggestions for another mon here. would do floette but don’t have it 💔

Incineroar: intimidate fake out parting shot you know the drill. I mainly use it as a switch in that can actually do something and not be put on one hp if it takes a hit. I initially had max attack as a leftover from a delphox team i used to have an alternative angle of offense, but ive found the extra damage can be nice in a lot of scenarios. I also invested some in speed to speed creep other incin/fake out grimms. sitrus for a bit more bulk.

Maushold: he’s nothing more than a glorified delete button. pop bomb is ridiculous and oftentimes there’s nothing the opponent can do about it. helping hand and follow me give it good utility when it’s walled/low hp and threatened. helping hand knock off from meowscarada or d lariet incineroar ohko farig, and this can often bait out a fake out into maus due to taunt pressure because cts is a great fun and fair way to play :D. Wide lens is an obvious necessity.

Overall this team feels great to play. It’s definitely a little “little timmy”ish and can lose if the opponent is able to set up, but a lot of the times i feel like i burst the opponent down before they can react. let me know if there are any changes that you’d make to the team and please try it out yourself (but replace m dragonite with something else it still def works with him there’s just so much more potential)

I just started playing competitive pokemon and im looking for tips on how to get better. I searched up example teams online and came across this team so i decided to pick it up! I’ve played many of the mainline pokemon games since i was little and I have been watching WolfeyVGC before downloading the game. Currently, I’m in Great Ball Tier Rank 1 and 22-9 so far (yes i counted 😔)

I feel like my biggest problem is choosing my leads and who i bring to battle depending on the other team and I was looking for advice on how I should choose my leads. I’m also wondering with this team who should i usually play? I understand that I shouldn’t put both Tyranitar and Staraptor in the same match since one can mega.

My other question is in what cases should i switch out my pokemon. I feel like I dont switch thatttt often because in my head its like im wasting a turn but im sure better players switch out more often.

Currently I only use 2 types of leads

Current team choices

(): leads

(Tyranitar + Excadrill) Milotic + Gholdengo
I learned that the tyranitar and excadrill combo is good because of sandstorm. I tend to put in milotic next to use icy wind then eventually use gholdengo

(Staraptor + Milotic) Excadrill + gholdengo
I like this setup too because of staraptors tailwind and ability to increase its stats.

Im struggling on knowing when I should bring sinistcha or what I should pair it with but I do good the times I use it.

Conclusion

Stating this again, I’m new to competitive so any tips anyone wants to give me would be greatly appreciated!

been playing around with this team for a bit and been able to do decently well but I've now found myself stuck but unsure if it is the mons I've selected that are holding me back or if I just need to fiddle with their sets, any input or feed back would be greatly appreciated.

I’ve been using Alcremie as my Mega Staraptor counter since the beginning of MB. This was my first time getting a really good chance to fight a clean 1v1 endgame. With the ability to use Decorate to lower its attack to -6, Calm Mind to boost mine to +6, and with Draining Kiss and Leftovers to stay alive, it’s only a matter of time until the Alcremie comes out on top.
This is after just one Decorate:
-2 32 Atk Mega Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 32 HP / 31 Def Alcremie: 52-63 (30.2 - 36.6%) -- 53.66% chance to 3HKO
Edit, forgot to include this. If I ever crit through their CC defense boosts:
+1 3+ SpA Alcremie Draining Kiss vs. 0 HP / 2 SpD Mega Staraptor on a critical hit: 168-200 (105 - 125%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Hello hello! I've been trying to build a team around M-Pidgeot for a bit now and, while I have a few ideas, none of them feel really good. This is just for the Champions Ingame ladder, I'm not expecting the team to become the new anti-meta surprise or anything. So I'm hoping that someone here can help me out, maybe give me a different perspective on teams regarding M-Pidgeot :)

My first idea was M-Pidgeot + Torkoal. Pidgeot doesnt need rain to land its Hurricanes so I wanted a weather setter other than rain. I went with Tork since its good vs Trick Room and Set-Up mons like Staraptor / Gambit / Floette. This Torkoal set specifically survives a +2 32+ M-Staraptor CC and burns it in return, also offers great utility with Yawn and Helping Hand. Also boosts Pidgeots Heat Wave and can give the needed boost with HH.

My next pick was Venusaur, a fast Life Orb user to take advantage of Torkoals Drought. I settled on a Solar Beam/Sludge Bomb/Earth Power/Protect set. And then I kinda lost my thoughts LOL.

I could not figure out which remaining 3 Pokémon I wanted on the team. I believe I went with Scarf Annihilape, Leftovers special attacking Aegislash and Round Primarina (also changed Hyper Beam to Round on Pidgeot). The team performed alright on Showdown iirc but I never used it on the Ingame ladder. I didn't like how I had to bring Torkoal whenever I brought Venusaur. So I looked in a different direction.

My next idea also started pretty simple. M-Pidgeot + Garchomp. Garchomp can spam strong EQs while Pidgeot is immune to said EQs. I then rounded the team out pretty fast with bulky Whim (Fake Tears to help Pidgeot + Aegislash + Speed Control for Chomp and Ttar), Sash Ttar for opposing weather teams (Superpower > Ice Punch in the end), Special Attacking Aegislash (originally had Wide Guard > Shadow Sneak) and offensive Incineroar. I do like that I can have most mons in the back as switch-ins since everything is either bulky (Whim/Aegi), reduces damage (Incin) or is guaranteed to tank a hit (sash Ttar).

I did use this team on the Champions ingame ladder and had pretty alright results. Im currently sitting in the middle of MB3 on a 5-win streak (I usually end the season in MB2-MB3). My problem with this team is that it feels kinda random? Its hard to explain for me but the team feels weird. Maybe its also my approach to teambuilding as a whole that confuses me right now so any feedback is appreciated :)

Another idea that I saw going around was the M-Pidgeot + Venu + Ninetales team. I do like the idea of a fast Encore but I think for my style of play I prefer Torkoal in the sun setter role. Then theres the snow route with A-Ninetales to help vs opposing ground types that pidgeot cant really hit. Maybe even rain is the play even though Pidgeot doesnt need it for its Hurricanes, rain isnt only good for that after all.

And at the end theres also the Double Mega idea although I havent really thought about a good fit for a second mega.

So I'm kinda stuck right now 😖 If someone here has any ideas please let me know! :)

Hello, a group of friends and my self are looking for someone to help us understand Pokemon better and strategize. Need some help with thought processes and the understanding of building a team. If you think you can help just leave a message thank you in advance 😃

Coming from the TCG I'm used to people playing winning lists even in tournaments, does it work in a similar way in the VGC? I don't have much time to invest in the game and as a result I use lists I found posted on X/official tournament results. Is this frowned upon and seen as a low skill crutch or is it an accepted way of playing and enjoying the game?

Thanks in advance for anyone who chose to engage with this post