Credit goes to Dreykopff for the core and most of the sets and items, I took his team (which you can find here!) and remodeled it to fit my own preferences. Most of the changes I ended up making were neutral as the day went on, I don't regret any of them but I also don't think I really am glad that I changed anything.
I'll upload spreads and whatnot after the next event, I may be re-using some of them this weekend and would rather wait to post until Fort Wayne is over.
My goal when I set out to use this team was to create something in a similar vein to what I had run in fall of 2014 (technically 2013 format at that time) since that type of team fit how I played best. I sought to keep heavy pressure on opponents, moreso than then because of the offensive nature of the 2015 format, but I wanted to keep the read-and-react style and instant advantages from the outset with one-mon wincon locks available, and this team gave me that option.
The teams in comparison:
Pleasanton, California 2014 Fall Regionals (5-2 18th Place):
Phoenix, Arizona 2016 Fall Regionals (6-2 17th Place):
Oddly enough, it gave me a almost identical record and an identical finish. It's kind of scary looking back at how it resembled the team in more ways than the general composition of the team. The Pokemon that typically are bulky and supportive were offensive - Cresselia on that other team was Choice Specs, Rotom-W on this team was Choice Scarf. Aegislash and Suicune, Pokemon typically used as defensive pivots with decent neutral damage and OHKO pressure on frail and mismatched Pokemon, were used as late-game lockdown Pokemon with early game pressure instead.
I ended up going 6-1 in Swiss and making top 8 of an 80-man PC before Phoenix before losing to Riley (GENGARboi) in top 8. It felt really good throughout the Swiss portion of the event, and it allowed me to stay competitive and keep an edge vs Kimo (TFC) and Justin (Azazel) in the last two rounds of Swiss. Riley had Metagross which was my worst matchup, and his team was incredibly well-constructed which didn't help the matter. He disposed of me pretty quickly in two games.
At Regionals, I played a relatively weak schedule as I only faced one player that ended up going x-2 or better (Travis [Shinryu] who ended up making Top 8). In that game I felt I had a fair shake at it, but to have a good chance I needed things out of my control not to go wrong, and things went totally wrong in one pivotal turn and he saw his win condition and sealed it from there. I got lucky in a game or two and got unlucky in a game or two, I think one of the losses was bound to happen but another one was due to my poor play, so in the end the team likely could have gone 7-1 if I was a little more practiced with it and played better (vs another Metagross, opponent played well and left me no room for the mistake I made.)
Salamence @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Hyper Voice
- Protect
I've preferred using Salamence over Kangaskhan in the metagame since Worlds. Set is pretty much what you'd expect, Earthquake > Flamethrower was for the Heatran problems I had and I preferred good chip on Aegi + heavy damage on Heatran over more consistent damage on Aegislash vs almost nothing for Heatran. I'd consider replacing Hyper Voice if I ran this again, but it wasn't a bad move.
Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Volt Switch
I was talking to Toler and Blake about Scarf Rotom-W before Worlds as they had both had it on their teams and it had piqued my interest. After seeing the way it flowed with the team with fast Volt Switch helping Mence cycle Intimidate, Amoonguss cycle Regenerator, and Tyranitar cycle Sand Stream, I fell in love with the concept and am glad I took it to Regionals. It did pretty well all day. It's a little more matchup-centric than Sitrus Rotom, but I think I was ultimately okay with that given I had tools for the matchups it struggled in.
Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- Assurance
- Protect
I had a hard time catching on to Lum Tyranitar without any way to go faster, but I needed it in certain matchups and ended up bringing it in about half of my games. Assurance was virtually useless as the only times I used it all day were to get a 100% KO that either Rock Slide or Superpower could have picked up anyway. The rest of the set was fine, and Lum Berry came in handy with Thundurus constantly throwing Thunder Waves at it expecting a Scarf. If I were to do it again, I'd run Dragon Dance over Assurance since Assurance is kind of a cheesy move on this team and I have enough for Cresselia with Sand Stream + Aegislash + Amoonguss + Salamence as it is.
Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Protect
This pretty much explains itself.
Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Wide Guard
- King's Shield
I basically disowned Aegislash for the first PCs of the season and dearly regretted it, so it was nice to have it back here again. I had never run this set before and really wasn't a fan of it up until I saw this team, but it did alright. I think Leftovers only came in handy for "noobstomping", I only needed it in one matchup and I think Weakness Policy would have been better in most other circumstances. This is one of the sets I wasn't completely satisfied with and am looking at re-doing for Fort Wayne if I end up using something similar.
Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Drill Run
- Iron Head
- Protect
I hated Excadrill but it was kind of a necessary evil given the team composition. I really wanted to run Excadrill like Aegislash and Aegislash like Excadrill (the Exca originally had a Life Orb), but because of the way the team worked, I had to run Exca more offensively and Aegislash more defensively. I think it's worth looking into making changes to the entire core and making it a mostly different team just because of how iffy Excadrill was most of the day, but it does make sense on this core and if you run it, you simply have to accept the negatives that come with it and play around them, just like other teams. I just personally didn't like the negatives that this brought, but it did pretty well when I needed to bring it. It made the Gardevoir TR and Charizard matchup almost unwinnable for opponents and gave me any semblance of a chance against Metagross, arguably the team's worst matchup.
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