VGC And so I venture into VGC - rayogre core

[Gay Bird]

Hearing about the world championships lately, I was inspired. VGC sounds like loads of fun, considering there are places to play outside of the internet. I really missed the social aspect of playing yugioh and mtg, but I can't afford magic and yugioh is just straight up a bad game. So, I decided I would put together a VGC team! I've been testing this one out on Showdown quite a bit, and it's been working fairly decently. I'm definitely not very experienced playing this format, and doubles in general, so it's a bit hard to tell whether it's teambuilding weaknesses or misplays that lead to some of my losses, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. Anyway, here's the team I've come up with.

First, I decided to go with the RayOgre core because of its success at worlds. I thought since most people at worlds designed their teams to counter big six, RayOgre would have little to worry about in that matchup, and I could make sure I designed the team to have a good mirror match.

HM Slave (Kyogre) @ Blue Orb
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Water Spout
- Protect

As I play through Alpha Sapphire, I love using Kyogre as my HM slave for the surfing moves. It's the best way to use it in-game tbh. The EV spread is intended to make Kyogre a tank, allowing me to set rain against a Groudon with speed investment, as well as take hits from opposing restricted mons, which are faster than me anyway. Scald over origin pulse can help by burning physical attackers as well as the 100% accuracy. Ice beam for the pokemon it hits super effectively, water spout for the raw power, and protect because doubles.

Birb Friend (Rayquaza) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Air Lock
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Extreme Speed
- Swords Dance
- Protect

Protector of birds and the cover pokemon of my favorite pokemon game, Emerald. Focus sash is there for the situations when I need to be a bit reckless to win. The spread maximizes attack and speed, and I chose adamant nature over jolly after deciding to pair Talonflame's priority tailwind with it. Dragon ascent is the main stab, and extreme speed for priority, swords dance to OHKO opposing rayquaza, and protect to top it off. All pretty standard stuff.

gotta go fast (Talonflame) @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Tailwind
- Taunt

I chose talonflame over crobat because of the priority. Life orb on top of max attack with adamant nature lets me hit as hard as possible with priority from gale wings and maxed speed to be the first to move. Brave bird and Flare blitz make for some incredibly strong stabs, tailwind with priority lets me move first, and taunt to shut down skill swap.

Talonflame's main role is to set up tailwind, and I often lead with it. Once its job is done, I usually feel safe getting as much damage out of it as I can before it goes down due to the advantage I get from the extra speed. When I bring it in the back, it tends to come in to play more offense than support, with a few exceptions like shutting down skill swap with taunt.

sanic (Raichu) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Lightning Rod
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Volt Switch
- Endeavor
- Nuzzle

I chose this as a counter to thunder wave users and for the fake out support. Assault vest due to nuzzle being available, lightning rod to absorb thunder waves and other electric attacks, a spread to maximize attack and speed, and a jolly nature to make sure my fake out hits first. Fake out, as previously mentioned, helps me get free setup and generally disrupts opponents' plays. Volt switch lets me get offensive momentum going. Nuzzle lets Raichu have some fun after its done its job. Finally, endeavor comes in handy when raichu survives with a sliver of health left.

When I bring raichu, it's more often than not a lead. Fake out support is extremely useful, especially on top of the base 110 speed, putting it ahead of other fake out users like smeargle, kangaskhan, and hitmontop. Lightning rod is another big strength of this pokemon, letting me live without fear of opposing electric attacks.

hi xerneas (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Leftovers helps out with longevity. Iron barbs punishes anything that touches it. The attack investment lets me hit kyogre as hard as possible, and the rest is dumped into bulk with a brave nature to further increase its power. Gyro ball does some incredible things, and pretty much the reason Ferro is on the team. Power whip hits kyogre. Leech seed further supports longevity as well as slowly wearing down an opponent. Finally, protect helps me stall for more HP and leech seed damage.

It's literally just here to check xerneas. It's cool to have against trick room though.

doggo (Landorus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Protect

The flying dog friend takes up the final slot on the team. Rocky helmet helps punish the physical attackers that it already weakens with intimidate. max attack and speed with a jolly nature helps it provide some offensive pressure. Earthquake is pretty much the definition of strong reliable stab, and it hits groudon for super effective damage. Rock Slide hits flying types like crobat, togekiss, and opposing talonflame. U-turn helps me keep offensive momentum going. Protect because it's an offensive pokemon in doubles.

Landorus came on the team in place of togekiss since it wasn't really doing anything that wasn't covered by raichu and talonflame. Lando provides some additional offensive pressure as well as intimidate support, weakening the likes of physical groudon, kangaskhan, and rayquaza.

...and that's it! Let me know what you think of the team, and what ways I may be able to improve it. This is my very first venture into this format, so please use lots of detail, I might not know what you're talking about :p

 

[kaori]

Hi friend! Your team is pretty neat, definitely better than most people's first teams. I'm gonna go over a few things about it that should change though.

Kyogre EV Spread
Using a more efficient spread on Kyogre is certainly important. Kyogre doesn't gain a whole lot of relevant calcs from being max special attack, instead I'd recommend one like this:
Kyogre @ Blue Orb
204 HP / 236 Def / 44 SpA / 4 SpD / 20 Spd (PS is down right now so this is probably not the correct format)

This allows you to maintain a lot of offensive output but also take two Primal Groudon Precipice Blades guaranteed, which is very important. A little bit of speed creep also helps a lot.

Rayquaza nature
I'd recommend changing your Rayquaza nature to Jolly. You outrun things like Gengar, Mega Kangaskhan, and at least tie with other Mega Ray while you're mega and you outrun Primals and many of the restricted legends while you're regular Rayquaza or on the turn that you Mega evolve.

Raichu EV Spread
I'd recommend taking the spread from Wolfe's team -- Assault Vest is good, but only when it reaches certain goals. 252 Atk on something that isn't doing much damage is a massive waste of EV's.

Changing Landorus-T
I think the biggest issue with your team that I notice is a weakness to a well played Yveltal. The Landorus doesn't seem to significantly improve many other matchups so I'd consider trying to experiment a bit here. There's a number of cool fighting types you could try, such as Hitmontop, Scrafty, or Terrakion. If that's not your style, maybe consider a fairy type redirector like Togekiss or Clefairy.

Ferrothorn --> Bronzong?
This isn't a definite "I would do this", but more of something to test out if you're having trouble along the way. Bronzong is one of the best Pokemon in the format for a reason, so maybe test it out sometime!

All in all a really solid first team, I'd just recommend trying the above. Also, highly encourage you to attend some live events! The community is incredibly kind and welcoming and we would love to have you.

 

[Gay Bird]

Hi friend! Your team is pretty neat, definitely better than most people's first teams. I'm gonna go over a few things about it that should change though.

Kyogre EV Spread
Using a more efficient spread on Kyogre is certainly important. Kyogre doesn't gain a whole lot of relevant calcs from being max special attack, instead I'd recommend one like this:
Kyogre @ Blue Orb
204 HP / 236 Def / 44 SpA / 4 SpD / 20 Spd (PS is down right now so this is probably not the correct format)

This allows you to maintain a lot of offensive output but also take two Primal Groudon Precipice Blades guaranteed, which is very important. A little bit of speed creep also helps a lot.

Rayquaza nature
I'd recommend changing your Rayquaza nature to Jolly. You outrun things like Gengar, Mega Kangaskhan, and at least tie with other Mega Ray while you're mega and you outrun Primals and many of the restricted legends while you're regular Rayquaza or on the turn that you Mega evolve.

Raichu EV Spread
I'd recommend taking the spread from Wolfe's team -- Assault Vest is good, but only when it reaches certain goals. 252 Atk on something that isn't doing much damage is a massive waste of EV's.

Changing Landorus-T
I think the biggest issue with your team that I notice is a weakness to a well played Yveltal. The Landorus doesn't seem to significantly improve many other matchups so I'd consider trying to experiment a bit here. There's a number of cool fighting types you could try, such as Hitmontop, Scrafty, or Terrakion. If that's not your style, maybe consider a fairy type redirector like Togekiss or Clefairy.

Ferrothorn --> Bronzong?
This isn't a definite "I would do this", but more of something to test out if you're having trouble along the way. Bronzong is one of the best Pokemon in the format for a reason, so maybe test it out sometime!

All in all a really solid first team, I'd just recommend trying the above. Also, highly encourage you to attend some live events! The community is incredibly kind and welcoming and we would love to have you.

Thanks for the help with the spreads, that's probably what I had the most difficulty thinking about. I'll try some other stuff in place of lando as well, hopefully not wanting to play the same thing as the world champion doesn't stop me from picking hitmontop if it ends up being the stronger pokemon. :/ Same deal with bronzong too, but that skill swap does look rather appealing.

 

[GradeAGarchomp]

his team is just so well built most logical changes for rayogre end up gravitating to that.

if you want to keep ferro though, try a spread of 252 hp / 188 atk / 68 spdef sassy, as this always lives any combination of xern's and kyogre's attacks. everything else i've wanted to say has been touched on already but again, a very solid team for a beginner!