Other Working on a Fighting Team for a Con League

[Sage20500]

Introduction​

**Ok, so for the past few years a local convention I volunteer with has been running a mock pokemon league, and I've been an elite 4 member for it this whole time. In the past, I've always been running a fire monotype team because it was fun for me, but with Sun and Moon making triple battles no longer a thing, the current team I had been using is no longer able to constitute as the threat I'm supposed to be as a member of the Elite 4. Which has led to me switching types and seeing what kind of threat I can make with a Fighting Team instead. League rules we use are pretty standard, no ubers, single item clause, ect. I'm allowed to have 3 pokemon on my team as a reserve to switch between after fights as well.

Side note when it comes to my team selection, I'm a very aggressive player when it comes to the game, so I tend to favor blitzkrieg tactics very much with just rushing in for the kill instead of trying to set up stealth rock/spikes etc. My biggest goal with any of the teams I've done for the League has always been for them to be fast paced so that if I have people waiting to challenge me it won't be that long of a wait.**

The Team​

Machamp (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dynamic Punch
- Bullet Punch
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
​

**Ok, first up is Machamp. Aside from being a nice heavy hitter, I'm using him as my opening scouter, with the plan being to either open up with a Dynamic Punch to mess with any set ups or stalls, or else go in for the kill with a stone edge or earthquake. Bullet Punch is there to allow him to check into Fairy's.**

Gallade (M) @ Psychium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Psycho Cut
- Night Slash
- Ice Punch
​

**Using Gallade for wide coverage. Pretty much main goal is to scout to see what the opponent sends out, and then choose the appropriate move as needed to deal with them. Using Psycho Cut and Night Slash for the perfect accuracy as well as the potential of running into Pokemon that either are holding a mega stone or a z crystal. Close Combat for the extra damage, and Ice Punch as a check to potential Dragons and Fairies.**

Lucario (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Aura Sphere
- Flash Cannon
- Dark Pulse (Could potentially run Vacuum Wave instead)
​

**Aside from Lucario being one of my favorite fighting/steel pokemon, Lucario is the first of my 2 main options for a special attacker, with Nasty Plot to set up into potential sweeping against most threats.**

Lopunny-Mega (F) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Drain Punch
- Power-Up Punch
- Ice Punch
​

**Choosing a mega for this team was tough, my options were between Lopunny, Medicham, or Heracross. Lopunny gave me the best speed plus Scrappy allows her to hit ghosts with stab for no issues. Drain Punch is being run for both sustain as well as I'm not a fan of the 10% chance of missing with Hi Jump Kick only to take a large chunk of damage as well. Final move is meant to provide some more coverage against Fairy/Flying/Dragon**

Infernape @ Wide Lens
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Grass Knot
​

**My second special attacker for the team, Infernape is here mainly for me to have have a little bit more coverage that I wasn't able to have if I was using Keldeo. I have been considering Kommoh-o for this spot instead, but I'm more familiar with Infernape so it feels more comfortable to me. My only issue so far has been deciding upon an item for it. Lucario has my life orb, and I can't really choice it since I'm planning on using nasty plot. Currently I've been using Incinium for the option of potentially massive damage with an accurate fire blast. Decided to go with Wide Lens as its item for now. This makes me feel less chancy with using Fire Blast since it'll be an almost guaranteed hit now, and also I feel more comfortable using Focus Blast since I found out recently that unless I find a way to get my hands on a gen 4 and gen 5 game to do a complicated trading loop, there is no legal way for me to get an Infernape that know Vacuum Wave legally.**

Scrafty @ Left Overs
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Ice Punch
​

**Scrafty. Mostly here because of him learning dragon dance and moxie. Main idea was using him was that threat status wise he can become big if he gets the momentum to start rolling. Drain Punch is there again for sustain as well as my dislike of Hi Jump Kick, Knock Off for stab, and Ice Punch for some answers to Fairies, Flying, and Dragons**

Hawlucha @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hone Claws
- High Jump Kick
- Acrobatics
- Iron Head
​

**Mostly here as the dark horse for my team. Plan is to set up with Hone Claws, and then use High Jump Kick for stab with 100 accuracy from hone claws set up, Once Sitrus Berry triggers, I get the speed boost and stab with acrobatics becomes open. Last move is mostly there for coverage, Iron Head gets me Fairy as well but with a chance for Flinching instead of Poison. **

Conclusion​

**So that's what I'm currently looking at for so far. I got some time to work out the kinks in order to make this a more threatening team. Experience wise, I know some of the most common threats that I had issues with dealing this past year on my fire team included Starmie and Mimikyu, so based on that past experience I can be sure that they will most likely be showing up again during this coming years league. Currently in my reserve I'm looking at a Choice Specs Kommoh-o with the normal move set for revenge killing, a Breloom with swords dance and spore, and finally a Iron Fist Hitmonchan with almost all of the coverage punches. I was originally thinking of switching something out to bring in Heracross, but I've been told by several people that unless I'm running the mega version then the big old guy is essentially worthless.**

Importable

Machamp (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dynamic Punch
- Bullet Punch
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Lucario (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Aura Sphere
- Flash Cannon
- Dark Pulse

Lopunny-Mega (F) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Drain Punch
- Power-Up Punch
- Ice Punch

Infernape @ Incinium Z
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Vacuum Wave
- Grass Knot

Scrafty @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab

Hawlucha @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hone Claws
- High Jump Kick
- Acrobatics
- Poison Jab

 

[Sage20500]

Kk, so I made some change outs, I didn't realize that the confusion status had been nerfed, so I switched out Machamp for Gallade, currently using Gallade as a coverage mon. I'm running both Pyscho Cut and Night Slash mainly for the fact that I like knowing for sure that I'm going to hit for slightly less damage than taking the chance of missing for more. That was the main reason for why I was shying away from using High Jump Kick on Lopunny, while hi jump kick does much more damage, knowing my luck at games, that 10% chance of missing will happen more than it should and just wreck her health. Drain punch is just a safer option for me that helps keep her in the fight for longer. Though I did decide to go ahead and switch out power-up punch. Currently I'm using Fake Out, but I'm wondering whether it might be more worth it to run thunder punch on her as another coverage move against water mons.

Going to try and attempt to link some showdown battles of the current team I've been trying out, not sure how to properly do this. (By which, I'm not sure if I can embed videos here, or if I just have to post links to pokemon showdown replays)

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7oususpecttest-626849503

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7oususpecttest-626853089

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7oususpecttest-626856244

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7oususpecttest-626859513

 

[Sage20500]

So far of all the matches I've played, I've had one issue where someone just swept my team with a Kartana, and another where they swept me with a zygarde; I don't have to worry as much though about those because of the local league rules banning any ultra beasts and pretty much all of the gen trio legendaries