I’m not that great of a teambuilder, but with the alphabet cup monthly ladder coming to a close, I figured I’d share the team that I’ve been working on throughout the month that has gotten me to 1500 elo. This is my first time posting a team, and fair warning, the EVs are just random numbers. I did no calcs, I just stuck in numbers and honestly, it’s worked pretty well.
Team Paste:
https://pokepast.es/3f71234da1b8e813
Proof of peak:
Iron Hands @ Assault Vest
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Drain Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Earthquake
The central mon of this team is Iron Hands, which I’ve found to be an absolute beast in this meta despite not gaining much for attacks. The original idea behind this team utilized Iron Hands and Rising Voltage Regieleki along with Pincurchin, but I eventually dropped the other two. Anyways, Iron Hands is a great bulky attacker, and so I used that to its full extent. Drain Punch provided longevity, and was a decent STAB move alongside Thunder Punch. Ice Shard was great for Iron Hands, giving priority to an otherwise slow mon. It was a great surprise factor too, helping against mons like Garchomp. Iron Hands is a really good lead for this team, so Ice Shard also helped dealing with sashed mons. For the last move I stuck on Earthquake, which has worked out great. The number of Typhlosion-H that have tried to set up on this is hilarious. Equake also helps when dealing with Clodsire, and to a lesser extent, mons like Gholdengo. I gave Iron Hands an Assault Vest just for the extra bulkiness, and it has in fact helped. However, it could probably be replaced for some other item like Punching Glove. Tera grass was so that Iron Hands could deal with ground type attacks, which became a major help. I did not choose tera flying because I enjoyed keeping the electric resist. Also, Iron Hands is what generally comes in on Slaking, since it’s ability can’t be Skill Swapped.
Skeledirge @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 232 Def / 8 SpA / 20 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stored Power
- Torch Song
- Shore Up
- Cosmic Power
Not much to say about this Skeledirge set, it’s an absolute menace. As mentioned, the EVs are a bit wonky, but it’s worked out so far. I did briefly have tera poison for the toxic immunity to make it easier to sweep, but I found that Skeledirge did its job better if I used it more as a tank than a sweeper, so I stayed with tera fairy. Also, Annihilape is annoying, and this is what generally comes in to deal with it. I dont really have good Annihilape counterplay, I just keep Skeledirge in until they switch out.
Muk-Alola @ Black Sludge
Ability: Poison Touch
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Mortal Spin
- Glare
- Knock Off
- Milk Drink
Alolan Muk is a great spdef wall, able to come in on a lot of things. Milk Drink keeps it healthy, and the rest of the moves are just great for hindering the opponent. Muk is also a really good Skeledirge check, because it can switch in on it, and with Mortal Spin and Knock Off, it will pummel the opposing Skeledirge down. Being a dark type also helps a lot, as it is immune to Stored Power.
Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Moonlight
- Moonblast
- Court Change
- Chilly Reception
Cresselia’s role is meant to just be an all around tank. As mentioned before, the EVs are just completely random, and would probably be hella improved through some calcs. Moonlight and Moonblast are pretty self explanatory, and I included Chilly Reception for those safe switches to Iron Hands and Dragapult. I gave it Court Change to help my team with hazard control, especially since Muk’s Mortal Spin is often blocked by the steel types in the meta like Goodra-H, Corviknight, and Kingambit before the ban. I did use Ceaseless Edge in place of this for some time, but I appreciated having Court Change more. I should mention, I did also briefly use Lunar Blessing in place of Moonlight because of the Corrosion users, but Moonlight is definitely much better to have. As for tera steel, it’s just a good defensive typing, and Levitate negates the ground weakness.
Goodra-Hisui @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Sap Sipper
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Shore Up
- Salt Cure
- Stone Axe
- Strength Sap
Goodra-H is an absolute wall, able to come in on just about everything. It has covert cloak so that it can stay in on mons running salt cure, namely opposing Goodra-H and Galarian Slowking. Salt Cure and Stone Axe are great for spreading damage and getting up rocks. Strength Sap is wonderful, providing healing and weakening mons like Baxcalibur and Ursaluna to name a few threats. I didn’t really see a need for another damaging move, so I included Shore Up for the extra healing in case Strength Sap isn’t adequate at times. It’s worked out pretty well. Tera fairy is good for removing some of the weaknesses that Goodra-H has, notably now allowing it to be immune to Dragapult’s Dynamax Cannon or Dragon Energy (which would otherwise 2HKO if specs/tera dragon).
Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dynamax Cannon
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Flamethrower
Dragapult is just a nuke with choice specs. Dynamax Cannon and Shadow Ball are really strong STAB moves, and Dazzling Gleam and Flamethrower are good moves for added coverage. Thunderbolt is a good option as well, and honestly it might not be a bad idea to have U-Turn if you find yourself not clicking one of the moves. I did run through many different special attackers while trying to fill this role, and I like Dragapult because having Infiltrator allows it to bypass the substitutes of the annoying Corrosion Salazzles and Glimmoras that I’ve seen. I chose tera dragon for stronger dynamax cannons, but tera ghost could potentially be a better option.
So yeah, that's the team. It’s not the best, especially considering the EVs, but it’s worked out really well. Maybe someone could improve it or nevertheless use this to their benefit. Enjoy!
Some replays that are hopefully good:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9alphabetcup-1890639994 - Goodra-H being an absolute wall.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9alphabetcup-1892000416 - A pretty good display of the team’s defensive capabilites
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9alphabetcup-1888819951 - An old iteration of the team, but it showcases it well
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9alphabetcup-1891186857-9dkn4z7rygsoemdc1q64g9gv27tqsy0pw - An all around great team showcase
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9alphabetcup-1886063144 - The original version of the team if you were curious