VGC Crazy Lost Mixed Team - VGC 18

Really want a team with Lapras, 2015 and 2016 were a lot of fun for me last year i used and this year have been a struggle for the most part. This team doesnt really have much of a set strategy just to adapt to each team differently but it just isnt quite good enough, cant ever get much over 1350 elo on showdown.

Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Calm Mind
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Trick Room
Counter to any tailwind, zapdas, charizard and rain starts cant hit it hard so trick room is set up qutie freely, aswell it can reverse trickroom. Ice Beam and Psyhcic hit a lot of things and max special cresselia is decent damage.

Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Double-Edge
- Roar / Tailwind (used to use dragon claw)
- Rock Slide
- Protect
Strongest hitter in my team, gets hurt by trickroom though, have lapras and aegislash for the ice weakness, hits hard and generally try to pick up most of my KOs with him.

Aegislash (M) @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard
Really like him, OHKO' cresselia and Mega Metagross so easily, works well switching with salamance, cover eachothers weaknesses, aswell as trickroom cresselia both hitting first against a lot of pokemon and together can ko most things. faster then all other aegislash to ohko them, wide guard to protect from heatwaves.

Lapras @ Assault Vest
Ability: Water Absorb
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 164 SpA / 100 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Sheer Cold
- Hydro Pump
- Icy Wind
Favorite Pokemon ever, have been trying this bulkier version lately, can survive tapu koko z-thunderbolt and can in rain OHKO him back. probably not good enough reason to run these ev's but been using the bulkier lapras to tank and put on the icy winds. Normally i used 248HP/180Atk/84SpD with protect > sheer cold. Finishes out games well, sheer cold has won me one game i shuldnt, rarely use it though. Most people underestimate him.

Tapu Koko @ Electrium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Volt Switch
- Protect
Just my go to for strong attackers, generally use him to try bait fake out on first turn or against rain teams. Max speed to outspeed /speed tie other koko. volt sitch because of many tanky pokemon.

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Rock Slide
outspeeds all non scarf pokemon, rock slide spam with salamance + double intimidate lead. ground type for electric attacks on lapras, salamance loses intimidate when mega and this team needs the intimidates as it is more special defensive.
 

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Hi King Yamimakai! I have to say, Lapras is a pretty cool Pokemon, and I'm glad you chose to anchor it on a pretty standard team instead of going full zany so that its strengths are actually brought out. I personally don't think Lapras is the absolute optimal Pokemon you could use in that spot, but since you did say it's your favourite Pokemon I'll do my best to leave it in and work around it.

The first Pokemon that really sticks out to me is Cresselia. I'm a little confused as to its presence on your team, as well as its set. You mention that Trick Room is used as a check / counter to Rain and Tailwind, but the rest of your team is also pretty fast—Tapu Koko, Landorus-T, and Salamence, while Lapras has Icy Wind which works against Trick Room. Even if you do set TR, your opponent has two Pokemon in the back which they can bring in to threaten your faster Pokemon. If you're using CM Cresselia I'd say Moonlight is an absolute must, so I'd personally drop Trick Room here for Moonlight. That said, I don't think CM Cresselia is at all a good set, so if you're using it to check Rain or Tailwind I'd say a supportive set with Icy Wind or Thunder Wave could be a good way to go about doing that instead. This gives you a lot more flexibility, too; after Psyshock and Icy Wind / Thunder Wave, you have two flex slots for cool options like Ally Switch, Toxic, Reflect/Light Screen, Helping Hand, or even Skill Swap (less good).

I'd also run a more defensive spread on Cresselia. If you're going for the CM route I'd say 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD with a Bold Nature is absolutely fine; investing so heavily in SAtk on a Cresselia is a waste in my opinion. On a more defensive build I'd suggest 220 HP / 172 Def / 4 SpA / 92 SpD / 20 Spe with a Calm Nature, which does some stuff but notably makes Mega Kangaskhan's Double-Edge a 3HKO almost all the time regardless of your item.

Moving on to Salamence: I think Rock Slide is kind of weird here because as far as relevant Pokemon go, it literally only hits Zapdos. I'd suggest going with a mixed build having 132 Atk / 124 SpA / 252 Spe and a Hasty Nature, with Hyper Voice over Rock Slide (Hasty is used over Naive due to it having better damage rolls against Tapu Koko). This lets you guarantee the OHKO on all Amoonguss with Double-Edge, while also giving you a strong and accurate STAB spread move off of Salamence-Mega's very impressive 120 base Special Attack. Tailwind is very strong here and I'd say you should definitely keep it.

The next Pokemon I'd like to touch on is Lapras. Overall I think Lapras is alright as a Rain check, source of Ice-type STAB and Icy Wind for speed control, but I feel it honestly doesn't do much else (compared to stuff like Tapu Fini which is a lot more flexible in its role and has good coverage with its Fairy-type STAB, for instance). However, since it's your favourite Pokemon I'll leave it alone, but I'll ask you to consider a spread of 252 HP / 76 Def / 84 SpA / 84 SpD / 12 Spe. This lets it survive an Adamant Landorus-T's Tectonic Rage as well as giving it a 11/18 (68.75%) chance to survive a Tapu Koko's Gigavolt Havoc in Electric Terrain. On the offensive side, the spread lets it guarantee the OHKO on 4/0 Ludicolo and 4/0 Landorus-T, while it has a 15/16 (93.75%) chance to OHKO 0/4 Mega Salamence. Finally, the speed lets it outrun Celesteela which aren't invested in Speed - this isn't a super relevant benchmark so feel free to shift 8 of these EVs into another stat.

Overall, cool team and it's nice to see someone give an underused Pokemon a real shot at doing well with a team which is actually well-put-together. Hope I helped a little, and good luck with the team!
 
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