Quick update post

Hi guys,

There won't be an Art of (Pokemon) War post this week, so my apologies. IRL things have just got in the way a little bit, as I've had a few things come up on top of making content for the MBA, and now doing some writing for Pokemon Australia as well. Stay tuned for the odd article being put up there and quietly announced on that front. Hopefully IRL stuff will have settled down a bit next week and normal transmissions will continue.

As I've been rather busy, I haven't had that much time for Pokemon VGC stuff either lately, though over the last few months I've put together a few other teams which I thought might be cool to share. One is a Mega Gengar+Whimsicott core that focuses on Fake Tears to power through teams, and the other is a Trick Room Gardevoir team that is quite similar to Scar's World Championship top 8 team.

I won't go in to huge detail, but here is the Garde-Room team:

Banshee (Gardevoir) (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SpA
Modest Nature
- Protect
- Hyper Voice
- Psychic
- Trick Room

Beltless (Scrafty) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Snarl
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch

Hide or run (Heatran) (F) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- Flash Cannon
- Protect

#swag (Thundurus) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Def / 20 SpA / 76 SpD / 28 Spe
Bold Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Taunt

Bang!ARGH... (Tyranitar) (F) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Quiet Nature
- Protect
- Rock Slide
- Ice Beam
- Crunch

War Machine (Jellicent) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 184 HP / 228 Def / 96 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Scald
- Trick Room
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover

Sometimes it misses an Amoonguss, and Weakness Policy Tyranitar sometimes also wants a fighting move, and not to get burned so much, but otherwise it is quite a good team for being a bit bulkier and turning games in to slow grinds that challenge me to be thinking at my best.

And here is the Gengar team:

Spooky Tooth (Gengar) (F) @ Gengarite
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Protect
- Disable
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb

Puff Piece (Whimsicott) (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Protect
- Encore
- Tailwind
- Fake Tears

10,000 Volts (Thundurus) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 188 HP / 4 Def / 244 SpA / 4 SpD / 68 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Taunt
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Pink Floyd (Sylveon) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 52 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Shadow Ball
- Detect
- Helping Hand

Beltless (Scrafty) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Super Fang

Baker's Delight (Rotom-Heat) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 40 SpA / 4 SpD / 136 Spe
Bold Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Protect

Special things to note include that Sylveon outspeeds Mega Salamence under Tailwind, and as such is quite a fast Sylveon. I've also considered Calm Mind or HP ground over Helping Hand, since I don't seem to use that too often. Encore, Disable, Taunt, Shadow Tag all ease prediction, and many things get annihilated at -2 by the many special attacks. Sylveon as well doesn't mind not running a boosting item or +SpA nature if you can get a Fake Tears off for it. It can still be tricky to use, and I had to put Rotom-H on to deal with the still pretty big Heatran issue this team has.

Also in the MBA, there is a preseason challenge single elimination tournament going on currently. I just barely survived my opening round match against rivals the Epping Eevees. I played a little loose towards the end and was very nearly punished for it by a surprise Specs Vaporeon set. I'll obviously need to pick up my game for the rest of the preseason and regular season to earn more wins if that battle is anything to go by.

That's all for this update, just figured I should still put something together quickly just to keep this regular. Until next time, Cya.