Team Report: 2015 June International Challenge - Hybrid Trick Room

Usually team reports are done by people who are really good.  Well today, we're making an exception.  I've never done a team report before but I figured, Wynaut?  Sorry... on the Plusle side, you know I can't use that joke again.  I'm hoping that this will help anyone trying to build a hybrid Trick Room team for VGC.  There are good things, and there are some things that definitely need improvement because I'm lazy and didn't do any calculations while team building.  I just made a team on Showdown for one of my streams, tested it out, liked it, and used it to a 15-5 effect this weekend with all of the losses having 3 things in common.

The team I had to use was not the team I had planned.  For some reason, my Rotom-H and Gyarados gave me entry issues so I had to swap them with Heatran and Bisharp respectively.  Gyarados was a crucial part of the team as weather, particularly sun teams, presented significant problems.  In fact, 3 of the 5 losses were to sun teams (side note: Why so many sun teams!?).  One was also to a Salamence who surprisingly outran Bisharp under Trick Room (next time I will definitely be Sucker Punching) and the fifth was to a Substitute Aegislash.  As soon as that happened I was just playing for differential ^.^'

The Squad
Aria (Gardevoir) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 12 SpA / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
- Protect
- Hyper Voice
- Psychic
- Trick Room

I opted for a bulkier spread because I was inspired by the team Ray Rizzo used on "Rayce to the Top", his short-lived VGC series on his YouTube Channel.  The more Hyper Voices this thing gets off, the better.  I can't tell you how many clutch survivals there were in the red, but enough to know that I absolutely wouldn't change a thing.  It also doesn't make sense to run a bunch of speed on a hybrid Trick Room team but there are 20 Speed EVs is to outrun Bisharp after Mega Evolving when I choose not to run that mode.

***Bisharp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant
- Protect
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head

This is a very standard set.  It was supposed to be Gyarados and I say with no small amount of confidence, we could have erased three losses from that record if I had him; I wanted to bring Gyarados to far too many matches.  However, thanks to some key predictions, Sucker Punch did win me a couple but I don't think I would have been staring in the jaws of defeat had I had Gyarados in the first place.  It was nice to have for dealing with the increasingly popular Aegislash.  Landorus-T fits well in this spot as a means of physical offense, but honestly I'm so sick of seeing it that I refuse to use it.

Scottie Trippin (Amoonguss) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 140 HP / 180 Def / 188 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Protect
- Rage Powder
- Spore
- Giga Drain

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think this is Wolfe Glick's Amoonguss that was on his Massachusetts Regionals team.  If it is, then this EV spread lets him survive Mega Charizard Y's Heat Wave in the sun once.  Not a situation you want to be in, but I was once and managed to win after getting off a clutch Spore and protecting with Gardevoir.  To vary from Wolfe's I went for the Sitrus Berry to prolong Scottie's life (Smogon nickname, obviously) instead of the Eject Button, which also came quite in handy.  I don't think I would change much about this spread unless you're having trouble with physical attackers, but even Khan wasn't difficult to play around.

***Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 176 HP / 248 SpA / 84 Spe
Modest Nature
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Substitute
- Protect

I was so sick of using Heatran before this tournament.  I've had him on almost every team since I have a nasty habit of being weak to Ice and Fairy moves.  Plus he's one of the few Fire-types neutral to Rock Slide and has that extra resistance to Hyper Voice, which I strongly believe to be the second best move in the game.  Originally Rotom-H was in this spot, inspired by Alex Ogloza's which is doing so much work on Fight4First right now and would spread burns and help deal with Amoonguss, who can take advantage of my Trick Room mode.  It seemed like the most viable choice for the team outside of Heatran but the game hated it and wouldn't let me bring it, so Heatran it was.  Not as many people use the Air Balloon any more, but I didn't lose a single Heatran mirror match because of it.  Without Gyarados (grr), Heatran was actually my best answer for Heatran.  The 84 speed EVs are to outrun people who got their Heatran set off Smogon xD

Thundurus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 180 HP / 76 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Taunt
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Thundurus is another one I always have on my team.  Prankster Taunt can help me shut down a lot of annoying shenanigans, particularly other Pranksters (which is why he's max speed) and Thunder Wave is nice not only for slowing down things when I'm outside of TR but for slowing myself down when I am.  Life Orb was necessary because the team was a bit lacking in offense and it helped tons in the tournament.  Getting OHKOs on Mega Salamence and Landorus make my life way easier and with the LO, 76 Special Attack EVs is all I needed for standard sets, the rest going into bulk to help him live longer.  I may try a max offense set, but I saw no reason to change this one.

Scrafteezy (Scrafty) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Atk / 184 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Fake Out
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Super Fang

Scrafty is a great Pokemon to pair with Gardevoir as he helps deal with Aegislash and Bisharp, provides Intimidate and Fake Out support and isn't totally useless when burned thanks to Super Fang.  Unfortunately, Super Fang only hit twice for me in the tournament, but it was really useful for stopping Cresselia who don't have berries because if you Knock Off right away, a 3HKO becomes like a 5HKO.  I've never been particularly threatened by Cress and more often than not, I just let it sit there and do "nothing" but being able to get rid of it somewhat efficiently when the time comes is nice.  I'll be honest--I kind of hate the EV spread.  Scrafty didn't put up nearly as much damage as I'd like him to, but that's my own fault for essentially using a random EV spread.  I would probably switch Atk & Def while making it Adamant to get the 2HKO on Kangaskhan and Heatran.  Zero speed EVs are not only for the Trick Room mode but for trying to catch Aegislash in blade-form as opposed to his shield form.


Threats
Aegislash, Sun, and Sylveon

I know that's a short list but those really are the only things this team struggled with AND, you can make a great acronym for it.  Go ahead, try ^.^  Rotom-H would have been a better choice for dealing with the first two being able to tank hits from Charizard Y but deal more damage and not having to worry about physically hitting Aegislash's King's Sheild or dealing with its with Wide Guard.  It also isn't totally useless in the rain and if you haven't brought your Fire type to a rain match, you might not be living life to the fullest.  Heatran was definitely nicer to have for Sylveon and while Bisharp is better than Gyarados for that job, the Bisharp vs. Sylveon matchup happened once in twenty battles.  Gyarados also helps with my abysmal sun match-up, provides Intimidate support, and is a threat in the rain who can also present issues to this team.

One of the ways I dealt with Aegislash was a bit risky, but with all the Weakness Policy sets running around, I would set up Trick Room so it would be caught in blade form more often.  This strategy is hard to pull off since you don't want Gardevoir out in front of Aegislash any more than necessary but getting one unboosted attack off is far better than trying to deal with how it normally operates.  It's definitely a "one step back, two steps forward" way of approaching this threat if you can manage it.

What I Learned
Based on my experience and the teams I saw, I would definitely put Gyarados in for Bisharp.  I can all but guarantee the team would've seen 18-2 unless RNG took control.  Landorus-T would have worked well in that spot too.  As much as I would have liked to give Rotom-H a shot, Heatran is always a strong choice and completes a classic trio with Gardevoir and Amoonguss.  I was also considering Entei, Arcanine, and surprisingly enough Ninetales for that spot and I still believe any of those choices could be viable.  Perhaps another day :)

The nice thing about a hybrid TR team is that you aren't boned when you face a full-TR team and nobody wants to mess around with speed control knowing an Icy Wind might actually help their opponent.  Also, when facing a full-TR team, you have the ability to reverse something upon which their strategy is dependent.  With the right play, you're almost in complete control of the speed factor and having that control means your play and your decisions have a greater overall impact on the outcome.  I think the key here is making that decision early in the match so that you establish momentum early and aren't trying to respond to their Tailwind once it's already up.

Gardevoir is a great choice for the mega slot and being great, it's going to be targeted often.  Protecting it with redirection, status, and well-timed switches can make or break the team, especially since most of the offense relies on Hyper Voice.  Having this reliable, powerful spread attack also means reducing the amount of predicting you have to do in terms of who's going to protect and who isn't--whoever doesn't is getting blasted and whoever does lives to faint another day.

If you decide to build a team like this, definitely play around with the EVs.  Scrafty's spread is by far the worst and there were numerous occasions where it felt like dead weight.  I'd be curious to see how a more offensively-invested Mega Gardevoir performs, but I really liked the bulky set.  Amoonguss could be better tweaked to fit your team needs and Heatran could be more specific as well.  Despite all of this, at present, I don't think I'd alter anything but the Scrafty.  Still, I think this is a good starting point for team-building as 15-5 in a very competitive tournament doesn't happen by accident.

Feel free to let me know what you think, what you'd change, and how it works for you if you use it!


Update: Final Results are In
So 15-5 was a good run and my best in VGC so far.  This record was good enough for 87th in the US and 409th in the world, placing me in the top 4% and 6% respectively.  I think this is evidence as to how good Mega Gardevoir is and how effective the hybrid Trick Room team can be so if you're looking for something new to try in your VGC battles, I definitely recommend this team.  And let me know how it goes! What you would tweak or what you loved... that kind of thing.  Later Feraligatrs!