"Here Comes the Sun"-A Mega Charizard Y/Venusaur Team

"Here Comes the Sun"-A Mega Charizard Y/Venusaur Team

Feb 9 2015

Deviant art by Jonothanjo

Hello everybody! Black117/Kevin/Kiev697 here! (yeah I should probably do some major re-branding soon) I'm here today to showcase my latest team that has been doing fairly well in battle spot and have used to won my own online VGC 2015 tournament (yes I admit it was rigged ). The tournament I hosted went well and had the chance to battle some good opponents here. Funny thing is that I actually built this team for my tourney and wanted to deviate from the old Mega Kangaskhan team I'm sure you all know by now. After I built the final version of this team on Pokemon Showdown, I decided to go on a test drive at Battle Spot and honestly I was quite surprised. With my account reset to 1500 I was able to climb to 1670 after with a 14-2 record in one day! After my Battle Spot run,  I used this Mega Char Y-Venu team and ended with an overall record of 10-2 in my tournament and won 1st place. Here's a bit of background before I discuss my team.

Background

First off, I have a confession to make, I never used Mega Charizard Y competitively throughout the current "XY" generation and told myself to use it if in case I ever start double battling competitively. Don't get me wrong, it's a very potent Mega with an amazing ability in Drought but the new addittions to the 2015 VGC format makes Mega Charizard somewhat less viable compared with last year. This year's format hasn't been all too kind for the Mega Chrizard Y with both old and newcomers like Terrakion, Thundurus, Landorus-T Mega Salamence, Raikou, Suicune, Garchomp, and even the revamped Mega Kangaskhan all threaten Kanto's premier fire starter. Additionally  Charizard Y is not as bulky as some other megas (78/78/115 overalls defense) and the power creep with the old/new additions to the VGC format, the prospect makes it difficult to maintain a Drought sweep. Some observations I notice from the 2014 and 2015 formats a return from jolly Mega Kang straight out ohkos Charizard. Even Mega Salamence can OHKO some of the set standard "bulky" Mega Charizard Y around. The main focus of this team I built is to try and divert as much support and attention away from Mega Charizard Y just so it cleans up the opposition instead of down right power. Alright here's the team.


THE TEAM


Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze/Drought
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 124 Def / 28 SpA / 12 SpD / 124 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Overheat
- Solar Beam
- Protect

The first thing must of you'll notice about this Mega Charizard Y set is the massive amount of defense investment given. Taking a page from bulky Thundurus-I sets, I wanted to ensure this Mega Zard Y can stick around in the battlefield as long as possible while firing off drought-STAB boosted Heat Waves/Overheats. Essentially this build is has enough physical defense to survive an Adamant Double-Edge from Aerilate-boosted Mega Salamance, some common non-STAB/non-Life Orb Rock Slides attackers like Mamoswine and Garchomp, Adamant Returns from Mega Kangaskhan, and has a 18.8% chance to survive a Double Edge from Adamant Mega Kangaskhan. Possibly my favorite damage calculation to date is how Choice Band Adamant Talonflame's Brave Bird can only do between 65%~78%, which goes to show the bulk of this Charizard Y set. Honestly, I could have invested enough speed to outspeed positive base 75 speed pokemon (speed of 139) but settled with 124 speed EVs (reaches speed of 136). This team hasn't faced any Dark Void Smeargles or Mega Heracrosses with Rock Blast so I guess its negligible for now. As far as the moveset goes, Charizard Y heavily on Sun-and-STAB boosted Heat Waves and Overheats just to overpower the the opposition. Keep in mind,  Charizard Y is often reserved in the back until I have weaken the opposing team enough so it can clean up with the combination of its Fire moves and Solar Beam for bulky Water and Tock types.  Finally, Protect is nearly obligatory just to scout out what my opponent wants to do or stall any weather, screens, or Trick Room. As some might notice, this Charizard Y set is considerably slower than most mid-base 80s or above pokemon sets and I knew that Charizard Y needed speed control in some fashion. Eventually I settle with DuckHuntSwan...

Defensive Calculations
[SPOILER]
252+ Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Double-Edge vs. 220 HP / 124+ Def Mega Charizard Y: 153-180 (84.5 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 220 HP / 124+ Def Mega Charizard Y: 118-141 (65.1 - 77.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Mamoswine Rock Slide vs. 220 HP / 124+ Def Mega Charizard Y: 124-148 (68.5 - 81.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Garchomp Rock Slide vs. 220 HP / 124+ Def Mega Charizard Y: 124-148 (68.5 - 81.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 220 HP / 124+ Def Mega Charizard Y: 157-186 (86.7 - 102.7%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
52+ SpA Thundurus Thunderbolt vs. 220 HP / 0 SpD Mega Charizard Y: 126-150 (69.6 - 82.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO[/SPOILER]



Cresselia @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 100 Def / 188 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Moonlight

Two things come to mind when considering Cresselia for this team: speed control and soft checks/counters that ruin Charizard Y's day (AKA Mega Salamence, Terrakion, Garchomp, Landorus-T, Mega Kangaskhan, Thundurus-I, etc). Speed control was a necessity for this team and Cresselia came to mind since it has access to Icy Wind, Trick Room, and Thunder Wave. Immediately, Trick Room was slashed out as an option because I didn't have too many slow Pokemon to take advantage of filed condition was somewhat off a wasted moveslot. Icy Wind was used at first but Tailwind teams can just get back to +1 easily or just switch into Bisharp/Milotic to get the free boost. My only choice left as was good old Thunder Wave, which can bypass Tailwind increase by dropping the opposing pokemon's speed by about quarter (half under Tailwind).  Safety Goggles the item I ran for this Cresselia set and it work just as anticipated by bypassing Rage Powder or Spore from Amoonguss  This was one of my "improvised ways" to handle Dragon Dance Mega Salamence, and Rage Powder Amoonguss as Cresselia fires off either an Thunder Save or Ice Beam (if Mega Salamence is weaken enough to get OHKO). Going back to Thunder Wave, it is ridiculous how a well timed paralysis has won me many battles not to mention the speed drops it provided. That's essentially Cresselia's main role: spread as much paralysis as possible so that Charizard Y or the rest of my team can have fun with the opposition.  For the last "support slot" before the obligatory psychic stab and ice beam,  moonlight was once again chosen.  I almost wanted to use Swagger for Cresselia for "Parafusion" but I realized since it will be paired with Charizard Y most of the time, Moonlight would serve as a slightly better option for two reasons. 1). With Moonlight, Cresselia gives herself enough longevity to stick around the entire battlefield. 2) Since Drought will likely remain on the field, even after Charizard Y is gone, I can still use one of its effects to restore Cresselia's health to TWO-THIRDS! This can literally throw off my opponent's momentum while Cress continues firing off Thunder Waves, Psychics, or Ice Beams. Lastly, Psychic is Cresselia's main STAB, not much to discuss there while ice beam is for pokemon either x2 or quad weak to Ice like Garchomp, Salamence, Landorus-T, Thundurus, etc. Honestly, Cresselia was my main defensive MVP for this team as it provided the necessary speed control and wall to counteract the massive power creep and Tailwind teams that threaten Charizard Y.


Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 212 HP / 44 Atk / 144 Def / 108 SpD
Adamant Nature
IVs: 15 Spe
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Ice Punch
- Knock Off

This is probably one of the most interesting pokemon on my team even though I have used in before many times in singles and notably in my first subscriber tournament here. Just a brief synopsis before I go on rambling to myself...alone...in my head ( I admit I'm crazy), Conkeldurr's main purpose for this team is to eliminate the following threats to Charizard Y:  Mega Kangaskhan, Terrakion, Mamoswine, Garchomp, Bisharp, Landorus-T, Thundurus-I, Tyranitar, Exacdrill, etc. As some may notice, this Conkeldurr isn't the my own set but rather taken from one shown on  imouto Island, a small website organized by some of the top VGC players which showcased some of the Premier Challenge teams. One of the pokemon sets I found most interesting was a Conkeldurr build from "TalkingLion" who won 2nd Place at a  Maryland Premier Challenge. What I later found interesting was this Conkeldurr is EV'd enough to survive an Adamant Double-Edge from Mega Kangaskhan while it can hit back hard with a massive Drain Punch. Mach Punch serves as my team's only priority move to pick off weaken mons around 10% of their health and faint enemy Bisharps. Here's where I begin to deviate from the "TalkingLion's Conkeldurr build". Instead of Rock Slide, I used Ice Punch instead because of my teams weakness Dragon and secondary check to the Genies (Landorus-T, Thundurus). Knock Off was a decent pick-up Conkeldurr got with the ORAS move tutors (or BW2), which is there as a utility to remove items and hit Psychic and Ghost types, particularly Aegislash. Another interesting note is Conkeldurr has a set IV SPEED of 15 instead of the usual 31 or 0 "trick room" speed. I emphasis Aegislash briefly because with Conkeldurr's current speed being 57, nearly all Aegislash (except those who received speed drops or in Trick Room) will go first. This ensures that Conkeldurr OHKOs  Aegislash in Blade form with a Knock Off right after the Steel/Ghost has gone for an attack (of course I do have to watch out for King's Shield). Proper HP and Special Defense investment ensures Conkeldurr can take advantage of Assault Vest and tank special hits as much as possible. Finally I kept guts instead of opting for Iron FIst since I don't want to risk an attack cut from the burn condition even though it is somewhat situational. Again not much else to comment about this clown other than its serves it purpose as one of the main bulky tank attacker of this team.

Defensive Calculations
[SPOILER]
252+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Double-Edge vs. 212 HP / 144 Def Conkeldurr: 150-177 (72.4 - 85.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Close Combat vs. 212 HP / 144 Def Conkeldurr: 121-142 (58.4 - 68.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Shadow Ball vs. 212 HP / 108 SpD Assault Vest Conkeldurr: 67-81 (32.3 - 39.1%) -- 99% chance to 3HKO[/SPOILER]


Venusaur-Mega @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll/Thick Fat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 148 SpA / 4 SpD / 28 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Honestly the real MVP Of this team and the main reason why this isn't a full-fledged sun team. Of course, I realized I needed a pokemon who can handle rain teams well, take hits, and firing off some form of residual damage. Initially I thought of Ferrothorn filling in such a void but after testing, opponents would take advantage of the sun out and prey on Ferrothorn's main quad weakness to Fire. My team was still considerably weak to Terrakion at the time and I thought about using Chlorophyll Venusaur but again came up with some disappoint results. After watching Cybertron win the a VGC Tourney at APEX with Mega Venusaur, I knew immediately knew what I wanted for the remainder of the team. I decided on running a strong synergistic grass/fire/water core (Mega Venusaur, Heatran, and Rotom-W) who can support each other by covering their weaknesses and frankly is the very heart of the team itself. I'll probably won't go to much in detail about the FGW core itself "probably ramble on some more" till maybe later on. I really didn't have much in mind for this Mega Venusaur build other its capable of surviving most Brave Birds from non-banded Talonflame, Adamant Tough Claws Zen Headbutt from Mega Metagross, and Adamant Double-Edge from Mega Kangaskhan. The rest of the EVs I decided to dump in special attack and a bit speed for speed creep other non invested base 80 pokemon. Now onto the moveset so I'll be explaining by order. STAB Giga Drain is one of two way Mega Venusaur can recover off damage while being super-effective against bulky Water types Suicune, Rotom-W, Politoed, Milotic, etc. STAB Sludge Bomb is my team's answer to Fairy type pokemon such as Sylveon, Gardevoir, and Aromatisse plus the extra 30% chance of poison can help at times. Now time for some stall. The combination of Leech Seed and protect can help Mega Venusaur recover off damage while keeping up offensive pressure. Why you might ask? One of the best advantages about leech seed in doubles is with additional turns, the opponent will eventually want to switch out their pokemon and force them stop their momentum. As a result its makes it even easier for me to predict which pokemon will potentiality come in our switch out and respond accordingly with either a Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb, or even fire another Leech Seed. Going back the FWG core, Mega Venusaur can effectively wall out a good portion of the meta such as Terrakion, rain teams (Politoed, Mega Swampert, Ludicolo),  Landorus-T, Garchomp, Thundurus, Suicune, Rotom-W, and tons of other that can threaten either my own Heatran and Rotom-W. Honestly, I used the "Charizard-Venusaur team preview " combination to bluff the "sun" team so that my opponents could bring such match-ups I mentioned above would be advantageous against Mega Venusaur. So far, this decoy strategy has helped me win some battles and where had my opponent may not bring brought say Mega Metagross. As a result I'll bring Mega Venusaur and slowly pick off their team who might weak to mega plant-thing. Its quite surprising to say this but Mega Venusaur far exceeded my expectations and shown it can be anti-meta with all these Suicunes running around.


Heatran @ Shuca Berry (changed to air balloon)
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
EVs: 52 HP / 252 SpA / 204 Spe
Modest Nature -----Changed to Timid
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power Ice
- Protect

Classic Heatran set and the second part of my FWG core (sadly I don't count Charizard). Not much has changed from this build though I have some random thoughts and ideas (but I'll leave that in the end). Heat Wave is one of my main STAB spread damage for the team and Earth Power is my way to deal with opposing Heatrans. I was contemplating on giving Heatran Substitute but judging by how Mega Salamence usage has risen and is one of the main threats  to the team, I was force to run Hidden Power Ice as a necessity. Random HP Ices here and there can net me potential KOs on other pokemon like Garchomp, regular Salamence, Thundurus-I and Landorus-T. I might consider changing Shuca Berry for Air Ballon Heatran just to avoid being Earthquake to death by choice users. Right now, I considered changing Heatran's nature to Timid so that it can outspeed Jolly Breloom by one point. This new build comes after my battle against Muphry after seeing that Breloom was able to naturally outspeed and put Heatran to sleep. I noticed a small increase of Brelooms on the rise so essentially I need to outpace Breloom and hopefully knock it out before it Spore one of my team members. Then again, Cresselia has Safety Goggles so it can avoid Spores and I'm running a Mega Venusaur, which again is the among best Breloom counter in the game. Now let discuss about the synergy between Heatran and Venusaur. Practically, Heatran serves as one of three flying spam counters/checks (others being Rotom-W and Cresselia), capable of walling Talonflame all day thanks to its Flash Fire ability and Steel typing. Mega Venusaur can counteract against some of Heatran's weakness such as Fighting, Water, and Ground type Pokemon while in return Heatran can absorb incoming Fire hits with Flash Fire, take resisted Psychic hits, and fire back with its Heat Wave attacks. Notably Heatran is weak to bulky Water types like the pesky Suicune, which both Mega Venusaur and Rotom-W can easily handle.


Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 76 SpA / 124 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Light Screen

The final part of the Grass/Fire/Water core, and one of the main glues to the team. First off, people shouldn't write off Rotom-W as it serves as a fantastic check to a number of common legendaries in the VGC 2015 format such as Heatran, Terrakion, Entei, Suicune, Landorus (either form), Tornadus (either form), etc. In addition, Rotom-W serves as the main counter to Flying spam such as from Mega Salamence and Talonflame, which is quite notable. The Ev spread given allow Rotom-W to take a Play Rough from Mega Mawile, Double-Edge from Mega Kangaskhan (with Sitrus Berry), Hyper Voice from Specs Sylveon, Close Combat from Terrakion and Solar Beam from Mega Charizard Y.The moveset is standard on any Rotom-W set like hydro pump and thunderbolt for near unresisted stab coverage while will-o-wisp is there to handle and physical attackers like Bisharp, Terrakion, Kang, Mawile, Lando-T, etc. Light screen is an interesting choice I have always kept on Rotom-W every since I started using it about 2 months ago and let me just say it's been a huge lifesaver. The reason why I don't run protect on Rotom-W for this set is due to the nature of the team itself. This team is "slow" to the point which either trick room teams or tailwind can really give it issues  and I need some extra defensive coverage. Having that one turn to fire off a Thunderbolt/Hydro Pump, burn an opponent, or setup Light Screen (might even test out reflect in the future) against more specially based teams will benefit more in the long run than just stall out with protect. I've probably showcased this Rotom-W more than any other pokemon I have discussed in most of my RMTs so I'll just leave it at that.


So far this Mega Char-Venu team is 14-2 (one day session) with a rating of 1670 as of right now; my IGN is Kevin if you want to see in battle spot doubles ranking (lost to a Mega Pidgeot team with hurricane confusion hax, and against a rain team which I choked the match away hard). I haven't done any battle spot battles lately so I might just ruin the team's tempo right now so might as well leave it at that. Only other notable thing is that I have done with my Mega Char-Venu team is win my own tournament so I wanted to showcased it to you all. Its a fun VGC doubles team to use but I would like to see if anyone can post some constructive criticism if there's some changes I could make. Again thanks for reading the RMT. :D