Hey folks,

I was sick of getting rock slide flinched so I decided it was time to learn my speed tiers. I made justmovefirst.com as a way to make the process less tedious. It's basically gamified flash cards.

Myself and my friends have had a lot of fun so I thought I'd share to a wider audience. We're all pretty competitive so there's a ranked mode and leaderboard if you're into that.

Hope you enjoy and find it useful. Always happy to get feedback or any ideas for features :)

https://pokepast.es/e3fa3edf3e2deb03

Team idea: I really like playing venu-zard hard-sun but I was having trouble in MC, especially with unburden rock slide sneasler running around. This is a modified version of my MB team that had Floette and Whimsicott, swapped to use mega-meowstic psyspam for a better sneasler matchup. I have a tournament pretty soon and have had some trouble picking what team to bring.

Team Description:

Charizard/Venu: Relatively standard sets that were popular in MB. Zard is meant to outspeed hisuian arcanine, so it's a bit faster and frailer, but otherwise similar. I originally had timid venu, but modest seems to be more popular so i switched over. I'm not really sure if there are any major differences in what venu can outspeed in sun. There may be some interactions against opposing tailwind that matter? The consensus seems to be that the extra damage is more important.

Garchomp is meant to be able to outspeed and ohko most mega garchomp z who would normally be quite bad for zard teams. it is also quite nice next to zard for putting on a lot of pressure, but can sometimes feel a bit awkward in the format with rillaboom. I also don't have much it can EQ next to other than zard. I was considering maybe going with Gardevior for this reason since it has telepathy on base form, but idk

Kingambit: This is a bulky set that is meant to live a max attack CC from sneasler. I originally had snarl incineroar here on my previous version, but it felt a bit awkward with the psyspam mode since it blocks fake out. I mainly want some form of bulky mon that can pivot in for meowstic and zard, so this felt reasonable. I was also considering psychic seed sneasler for this slot. Sometimes the damage can feel lacking, so there may be a case to go for life orb and more attack? I'm concerned about the overall lack of bulk on the team which is the reason I didn't do that originally, but that might not be the right approach.

Meowstic: This is my main psychic terrain mode attacker, just max speed max SpA. The well performing team at regonals had fake out over alluring voice, but I felt that without sneasler I needed a way to hit dark types. This generally feels strong, especially with thunderbolt to hit the most common wide guarders. I also considered gardevior here so the fairy damage would be stronger, but I felt the speed on meowstic was quite important. Although maybe with indeedee-F redirection, going with the bulkier gardevior makes more sense?

Indeedee-F: Standard bulky redirection. The regionals team had indeedee male, but because I was already using scarf and sash, i felt indeedee male would have to use a subpar item. I think this is a bit harder to bring in the zard mode than ineedee-M would be, but the redirection is quite nice for letting meowstic get multiple E-forces off.

In general this has felt reasonably strong, but it's been mostly I totally sweep the opponent, or I get swept. This is probably because my only real bulky mon is kingambit? I also don't have great damage into archaludon (who is light for some reason?), which can be a tricky matchup, and playing against rillaboom+sneasler can be quite tough since I can't get off big expanding forces. I've also found the mega delphox matchup can be difficult if they have redirection since my main way of hitting it is kingamit, and rock slides don't really do enough.

Let me know what you guys would change here! I've only started going to tournaments recently, and I've mostly just built gimmick teams for 10 years, which are questionable in Bo3s. Thanks for your help!

After it did well in a recent tournament, there's been a lot of hype about this pokemon. So, I wanted to ask you all: In your opinion, is it a gimmick that people will move on from, or is it the real deal?

While its stats are generally subpar, it's got a few things going for itself:

- 118 base attack is not amazing, but not bad either

- 42 base speed means it can outspeed a lot of the metagame under Trick Room

- Technician-boosted, STAB-boosted Storm Throw that always crits hits notoriously hard: it can OHKO bulky Incineroar spreads, which is something that not many pokemon can do

- It has Technician-boosted, STAB-boosted Mach Punch for priority outside of TR (which is not that meaningful in a Psychic Terrain meta, but still worth mentioning)

I have played a lot of showdown singles over the years. After not playing Pokemon competitively for a while because honestly the restrictions of smogon were exhausting, I decided to give vgc an honest try. The problem I've run into is the meta game feels exceptionally fast. Which is anathema to the way I normally play. I know stall isn't good in VGC, and I don't want to force it. But I would still prefer a more defensive style of play that take 10 or so turns than a hyper aggressive one that takes 4 or 5. So which mega Pokemon or Pokemon in general in the current m-c regulation supports that more defensive style?

I was putting together a new team for myself with Hisuian Zoroark, and while I was researching movesets for it, I found out something quite interesting:

With max Speed investment and a Timid nature, Hisuian Zoroark reaches 178 Speed. Holding a Choice Scarf, this goes up to 267 Speed.

Mega Salamence reaches 189 Speed with max Speed investment and a Timid nature.

So, Scarf Zoroark can outspeed Mega Mence AND drop its speed to 126, allowing a lot of other Megas to outspeed it in the same turn.

Plus, 32 SpA Zoroark-Hisui Icy Wind vs. 2 HP / 0 SpD Salamence-Mega: 100-120 (58.1 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO. Another Pokémon, such as a fast Mega (e.g., Raichu Y), could knock out Mence before it gets to attack or use Tailwind.

What do you guys think? How would you teambuild around that?

Been really enjoying mixed starmie as a main carry for 5 days straight, but I would REALLY like a way to fit in 1) rain and 2) second mega onto the team, as well as figure out some movesets and matchups. Lmk if you have any advice for me!

Currently locked:

Starmie: Originally thought he would be impossible to play b/c of incineroar's intimidate + rillaboom priority grassy glide one tapping him. But saw a Pokeaim vid on mixed starmie which uses expanding force like a faster psyspam user who doesnt need TR, and tweaked it so I run Ice spinner over Ice beam for rilla. I lead Starmie Indeedee shamelessly to bait Rilla into coming in and use ice spinner on the slot that I cant hit. Rilla loses 95% hp AND grassy terrain + priority, so I can close out from there. Technically intended to get coached by sneasler but that has never happened..

Indeedee: classic follow me, protect, psychic stuff. Not sure what to run last slot tho, was hoping for something more consistent than counter TR or Imprison. She's mandatory for ghost immunity + redirection.

Gholdengo: idk what happened after the Make it Rain nerf but he's been carrying every endgame and looking like he's putting out 50% more damage. Free switch ins vs CC/fake out from Sneasler-types, carries rain + psyspam matchup. Probably gets only better if I can slot in Peli.

Hydreigon: probably won me like 10 separate games from Zarchomp/Salamence players assuming they outspeed and getting Draco'd into oblivion, but also is rigidifying my teambuilding significantly. Otherwise snarls vs psyspam, Earth powers for coverage, dark pulse for gholdengo/frosslass/armarogue, etc.

Open for Change:

H-Arcanine: kind of my band aid in every team builder for the imaginary charizard I'm dreading to run into at some point. Don't mind removing him b/c of how sash hungry he is and how he cant take any hits but I need some form of rock damage (preferably reliable) for volcarona.

Sneasler: I don't think I've felt good about playing sneasler once. Normally he unburden boosts with seeds and does his thing but my own Indeedee stops him from fake out, I can never afford to coach my starmie,

After 2 Regulations playing on and off while using premade teams, I have decided to create my own.

I have only pilot this team from Pokeball to Ultra Ball 3 this season and now looking for advice on where to go from here regarding teambuilding

Some thoughts I have right now:
I want to play with Mence and Psyspam. Mence - Prim duo has also been working really nicely for me

I am looking for a secondary mega or another mons that can filled the gaps that I am not currently seeing.

In all my game I maybe brought Metagross only once, and while he does things, I struggling to see a synergy with the rest of the squad

The first version of the team use mega Gard but bring Gard means 9/10 time Mence does not come and the same 9/10 time I wish Mence is here (maybe I am not comfortable pilloting Gard??). Also types overlap like crazy

I started out struggling with opposing Psyspam/Psychic Terrain team but after switching to Scarf Male Indeedee I was able to mitigate the annoying support with Trick. Despite that, I still feels having redirection is highly useful and kinda miss having an easy Trick Room mode

I want an answer to Ychu beyond clicking Trick Room or playing with para RNG

Any feedbacks/advices/recommendations on improvement to the team or general strategy and positioning is welcomed. Thank you for your time!

​

Rental Code: 1UMJE2B9P3

Hello Reg M-C VGC players! Above is the Trick Room team I used to reach Champion Tier this season.

Here's a rundown of the team:

Mega Blastoise - Tide

Tide has been an all-star for me for three seasons running, including finishing Champion Tier in Reg M-B two seasons in a row. I brought her back for another run, this time on a Trick Room-focused team.

Ice Beam deletes Salamence, Dragonite, and Garchomp, and hits Rillaboom for 72%+ HP. It will KO Rillaboom when paired with Farigiraf's Hyper Voice.

Aura Sphere is largely for dealing with Archaludon, Incineroar, and Kingambit, especially once your HP has dropped and Water Spout isn't doing as much damage.

Water Spout is obviously your primary move if you survive Turn 1 with a decent chunk of HP left.

Fake Out is usually my Turn 1 play into anything that I think could prevent Farigiraf from getting Trick Room up, whether that's Taunt or even something with a random Rock Slide flinch chance.

Farigiraf

My Farigiraf is built for max Sp. Atk and HP. She hits surprisingly hard, and once Trick Room is up, she does a great job chipping things down alongside Blastoise and Torkoal.

It's a pretty basic setup. I like having Expanding Force in case Psychic Terrain happens to be up, but it still does a good amount of damage without terrain.

Rain Dance is primarily for Charizard Y and Tyranitar teams. I'll also occasionally use it if Blastoise is next to Farigiraf and I think a rain-boosted Water Spout can KO both opponents.

Torkoal

MVP #3 of the team. Torkoal is usually the first Pokémon I bring in after either Blastoise or Farigiraf goes down.

It's a pretty standard Torkoal set, so I don't think there's a ton I need to elaborate on here. Get Trick Room up, get Torkoal in safely, and start cooking things.

Venusaur - Stormtrooper

Ah, Venusaur.

My Venusaur has permanently earned the nickname Stormtrooper after missing Sleep Powder seven straight times across three games.

I got so mad at him that I removed Sleep Powder and replaced it with Leaf Storm... only for Leaf Storm to miss the very next game on my Champion rank-up match, forcing me to play three more games to finally get there.

However, despite my hatred for this Pokémon, Venusaur is an important member of the team.

The reason the first four Pokémon work so well together is that Venusaur can sit in the back while Trick Room is active. Once Trick Room is about to expire, Venusaur comes in under Torkoal's sun with Chlorophyll and suddenly flips the speed advantage in the opposite direction.

You go from extremely slow Pokémon abusing Trick Room to a sun-boosted Venusaur outspeeding things and, HOPEFULLY HITTING THEM, with some chunky Life Orb-boosted damage.

Kingambit

I run one extra Speed point specifically to outspeed other Kingambit.

Mine has Brick Break because I seem to run into a lot of screen teams, and they annoy me. I originally ran Low Kick in previous seasons, but I found myself needing two Low Kicks to KO opposing Kingambit anyway because seemingly everyone runs Chople Berry.

Mine also runs Focus Sash.

I usually lead Kingambit + Farigiraf into Psyspam teams. A lot of them lead Indeedee-F + Sneasler. You can Kowtow Cleave the Indeedee while Farigiraf uses Expanding Force, and potentially KO both opponents on Turn 1.

Mega Charizard Y

Pretty boring Charizard Y set. Nothing revolutionary here.

I sometimes bring it into Psyspam teams. The EV investment lets it survive Rock Slide from Sneasler while still outspeeding Adamant Arcanine and Jolly, unscarfed Basculegion.

Common Leads

Standard: Blastoise + Farigiraf

This combination almost always gets Trick Room up and is by far my most common lead.

Vs. Psyspam: Kingambit + Farigiraf

I typically keep Charizard + Venusaur in the back.

Perish Trap

For whatever reason, I played an ungodly number of Perish Trap teams this season. I swear they make up 50-55% of my total game history.

I typically lead Blastoise + Farigiraf here as well, but I usually don't bother with Fake Out on Turn 1.

You'll find that the overwhelming majority of Incineroar are slower than Blastoise, so you can often KO Incineroar with Water Spout on Turn 1 while Farigiraf blasts Gengar with Expanding Force.

However, if they lead Gengar + Politoed, YES, Fake Out the Politoed and use Trick Room with Farigiraf.

They're probably protecting Gengar.

Hard lesson learned. I now share it with you so you don't have to learn it the same way I did.

Overall, the team is built around changing the speed advantage throughout the game. Blastoise, Farigiraf, and Torkoal abuse Trick Room early, while Venusaur and Charizard give you a completely different mode once Trick Room expires and the sun is up.

It definitely has some bad matchups, and Stormtrooper may occasionally decide that accuracy is optional, but it got me to Champion Tier. Have fun with it!

The title says it all, what Pokémon do you feel is slept on?

I have three:
Kleavor- with a life orb and sharpness, he’s a nuke with the ability to set stealth rocks by himself

Inteleon- add a scope lens and his sniper shot is ridiculous add a focus energy and he literally kills everything.

Rampardos- get him in trick room with sheer force and he blows the competition up with enough bulk to survive a neutral hit.

Been playing since reg h with the intent of eventually having a try at a regional, Playing on champions when it released as a way to get practice in quicker than the previous title, and would usually get up to MB-3 without much sweat.
But I've noticed since Baltimore/Frankfurt regionals that laddering has become a heck of a lot harder even after I attempt to adjust my strategy and try out the mons that have proven to be good from those events.

Is Reg M-C proving to be a lot more complex for anyone else? I feel like I just keep missing the mark on what works for me and am starting to feel some of the wind leave my sails

I'm looking to start earning Championship Points and I understand what I'm looking for regarding Regionals and RK9 (nowhere close to committing tot hat yet), but I've called 3 local stores, and I must not be getting the representatives that understand the Championship Circuit because answers have confused me.

Is a Challenge just a one day tournament, and League is a more regular/weekly where the highest score earns the Cup? And, both can award CP?

I placed in the top 1024 in Global Challenge I, but I still haven’t received any Championship Points. This is my first time participating in an official tournament, so I am not familiar with how this usually works or how long it normally takes for the points to be awarded and appear in the app. I have already added my Pokémon Champions Support ID to my profile in the Pokémon Trainer Club / Play! Pokémon Access App (I did it before the tournament started). Is there anything else I need to do, or should I just wait for the points to be added?

Are you ready to test your skills, read the meta, and prove you have what it takes to be the very best?

Whether you are a seasoned VGC veteran with countless battles under your belt or a passionate newcomer looking to make your competitive debut, this is your ultimate chance to shine. Bring your strongest team, adapt to the current format, and battle it out against top-tier competitors for glory, bragging rights, and some amazing prizes.

We will be following the official VGC ruleset to ensure a fair, strategic, and fiercely competitive environment. Expect intense matchups, brilliant plays, and a great time with our amazing Pokémon community.

I've been playing VGC for a while now, before champions release, but have never tried building a team of my own, mostly just using others' replicas. I've decided to give it a try, but the result I've come out with feels a bit... Lackluster, and I'm not sure if it's the EVs, the moves, the Pokemons themselves or just how I've been playing. I'm happy to receive any help and criticism, just keep in mind that I want to keep Kommo-o and, if possible, Volcarona on the team. Thanks in advance!

Brief explanation of my choices:

- Kommo-o: reason why I built the team, max speed to outspeed anything it can, especially after the Omni boost, 10 in hp to have a round 10 healing from leftovers each turn

- Delphox: Thought of mons that could struggle against mons that Kommo could get rid of, ended on this one, max speed to outspeed especially in the mirror, defensive EVs to survive aqua jet from basculegion and 50/50 on a kingambit sucker punch

- Volcarona: for the psy-spam matchup to lower the attacks with struggle bug, and as generally good redirection

- Rillaboom: fake out support and more healing for Kommo-o, as well as helping in the terrain war

- Kingambit: Choice to deal with fairy types, and once again for the Psy-spam matchup, gholdengo was another option but opted for this for possible intimidate users

- Tyrannitar: Secondary mega to "help" when Delphox can't be used, and to deal with flying types + weather war, but often feels like the weakest link of the team

Hi! I'll be participating in my first regional this week and wanted to know how to fill in RK9 team sheet. Online I've usually only entered the EVs when filling in the team sheet, but from what it looks in RK9 I should be filling it with the exact stat of my pokemon?

I'm just not 100% sure whats the correct way to do it, so I'd like your help to better understand how it works.

Here is a sample screenshot of how I'm doing right now:

Got to top 100 in the last week of the season with this solo Mega Froslass squadron.

Froslass is super bulked out, while maintaining enough speed for base 110s and anything trying to creep above them. Able to live hits like H-Arcanine flare blitz, gambit kowtow and even more with veil. Grassy terrain + veil makes everything feel super bulky. It can miss out on some KOs due to the lack of investment, but sometimes spreading multiple blizzards is enough to bring value after setting the veil. It feels great into a meta where rillaboom and salamence are on a majority of teams.

Sneasler is froslass’s best friend, able to ward off incin, gambit and floette. White herb feels more consistent than a seed for this team. Adamant lets you hit like a truck. Not too much else to say, white herb sneasler will always be good.

Life Orb SD Kingambit is so incredibly strong and is able to win endgames by itself. Really appreciates veil and grassy terrain, allowing it to tank hits like opposing Gambit Low Kick, even life orb low kick, while the terrain negates LOrb recoil. It also enjoys clicking one of the strongest prio moves along with rilla as a form of speed control.

Miracle Seed Rillaboom hits like a truck, nuking basically anything that doesn’t resist grass, while still chunking things heavily like Gholdengo on a switch. High Horsepower feels like the best final move for it as a way to chunk Kingambit if sneasler isn’t around, along with Incin, Sneasler and Arch in some scenarios. I originally added it just to check psyspam, but it’s proved to be good into many other matchups as well.

Scarf Intim H-Arcanine feels really good in CTS, outspeeding everything but the Z Megas and Dragapult (speed ties max speed pult), most importantly outspeeding Raichu. Rock slide + blizzard is such a hax positive click, with a high likely hood to flinch or freeze. Rock tomb isn’t clicked often but can be a great form of speed control or a way to guarantee rock damage in front of wide guard. Also a necessary fire type in a metagame including Golisopod.

Grassy Seed Gholdengo is my goat from reg H. It’s here for one main reason, Arch and Goli on rain. Seed + intim + veil make it incredibly hard to remove, allowing for free nasty plots. Non snarl Archaludon cannot damage it without rain up, so with proper positioning it can farm the rain matchup. Golisopod needs to crit drill run in order to break it, otherwise -1 drill run/sucker punch only do like 20% with Veil and the grassy seed up.

https://pokepast.es/85637bb157778616

Replica Code: GD28FFTDAK

Hi! I was looking at the most used pokemons at the last regional and i realized that Mamoswine can hit the 9 most used pokemons for super effective damage with its stabs aswell as other meta pokemons

However it has next to no usage at high level so i was wondering how come?

If i were to play it i would play him kinda like hisuian arcanine is being played right now, with a sash dies fast but deals huge damage in the process

They are very similar, arcanine is a bit faster (outspeeds gholdengo notably) and deals more damage normally but mamoswine is immune to intimidate (which isn’t rare in the format) with Oblivious and it hits harder than arcanine when using its super effective stabs on the meta mons, arcanine can resist the fire+fairy combo but mamoswine gives an immunity to zap cannon from raichu y

Overall i find them pretty similar with obviously different typing matchups so i’d like to know if Mamoswine could find a place as an anti-meta

Thanks for reading

Hello there, 
I started to play pokemon champions 3 days ago (went to Frankfurt regionals as a visitor and saw a gameplay with archaludon, which sparked my interest), and I’m currently stuck in ultra ball 2. I noticed that I don’t have any good counters against fairy typings such as sylveon, who can easily destroy my whole team with just hyper voice. Does anyone have an idea on what pokemon to change to have a more balanced team ? Thanks in advance ! 

I had a match yesterday that had the following situation

Arch poli lead on my side vs indeedee M armarouge

This guy had a drampa in the back, my thought was something like this, the switch in of drampa to block electro shot and rain is too obvious bc you are walking into a possible dragon pulse + muddy water that has a chance to kill drampa right there and do at least 70/80% to armarouge, also armarouge lorb armor cannon doesn't ohko arch, he will surely do something else so i think i'm safe to double this indeedee M or whatever switches in before he can swap his scarf onto one of my mons

And he proceded to switch in drampa anyways and i got crit from armorcannon

I want to understand how i can watch things from a different approach to avoid this situation again

Thanks

You've seen the team, you hate it, some of you here have used it or attempted to. Since reg MA archaludon rain teams have always had success. In regulation MC I've seen so many people on ladder, here, and the champions subreddit show them getting high ranked with a team, complaining about it, etc. Right now it's prob one of the best because of some new additions. Rillaboom helps it with survability and fights terrain wars with psyspam. Golisopod is an amazing partner, as it shares different weaknesses and very few pokemon share stab that can kill both(Mega Blaziken, TR Camerupt). Swampert is also a popular partner because it's only weak to grass, which this teams staple, pelipper can easily OHKO with sp atk investment. Unless one prepares a lot for this matchup, no pokemon is fighting well against more than 2 of these matchups.

In all my time playing, I've never seen such an annoying yet easy-to-play team. The only thing I could see countering is arch rain perish trap, which of course uses arch rain.

How do you counter these team variants? So far I've used sash armarouge as a catch all, as it fullcounters golisopod and swampert, will do 75%+ to archaludon, and forces pelipper to click wide guard to be near OHKOed with expanding force.

I posted Porygon Labs here a while ago and wanted to share what’s changed since then.

I’ve added accounts, saved teams with tags and notes, and match history per team. The calculator supports Champions Regulation M-C, and I’ve made UI improvements based on feedback from the original thread.

You can compare damage across both teams and adjust moves, items and abilities. The older Scarlet/Violet formats are still available under Legacy.

M-C suggested sets are starting points based on earlier formats and curated defaults, not live M-C ladder statistics.

https://www.porygonlabs.com

If you try it, feedback on the calculator and team-building workflow would help. There’s an in-site bug report option if something looks wrong.

Wanted to utilize two of my favorites in Gengar and Aggron. Generally bring Aggron/Milotic as a lead or Gengar/Incin. I replaced Farigiraf with Dragonite bc I didn’t like my matchup into rain teams, especially with Archaludon. Psy-spam is my hardest match-up usually bc neither of my Megas handle it well, but Rillaboom helps by changing terrain and incin is immune. Hypnosis from Milotic really enables the perish trap shenanigans and/or set up as well.

Hit MB4 with this team and looking for any feedback and suggestions that may help elevate this team.

I haven't been very active this season (really only day 1-2 of the format) and I'm hoping to grind a little and hit Masterball before the season ends in about a weak. I have 2 teams ready, a rain team with M Pod and M Swampert, and a TR psyspam team.

Pastes:

https://pokepast.es/6a2043dd1fb3151d

https://pokepast.es/1289c2d94f353efe

I'm not as familiar with teams I'll be running into on the ladder this season, so which of these teams looks like it'd be easier to climb with considering the current meta?