VGC VGC 2018 Non-Mega Metagross team

Non-Mega Metagross team
Metagross shiny.png
Espeon shiny.png
Mega Mawile.png
Muk Al.png
Tapu Fini.png
Zapdos.png



Introduction

Hi, I'm Darkbirt a bit new here, but I want to introduce my team. My favorite Pokémon is Metagross and I tried to build my team around it. However I'm a bit insecure about my team, because it have some issues already when I'm posting it (The major weakness for ground moves is a torn in my eyes. Another issue is that most of my Pokémons are slow.) I thought to ask other people around what I might do better or how I can solve the issues. The VGC is in a couple days and I feel the pressure. I scored not so high in the VGC 2017, around 1525 pts. I hope to do better this year.

The Team

Metagross shiny.png

Metagross @ Assault Vest
Ability: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 220 HP / 252 Atk / 36 Def
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Bullet Punch
- Zen Headbutt
- Meteor Mash

I wanted to make a team with a normal Metagross, not Mega Metagross. The reason is that my Metagross is better with Assault Vest than with it's Mega stone. It has an adamant nature so the Mega stone isn't well suited for it. I've used it every time last year, and it did really well in the International challenges last year. Metagross is my Physical Tank on my team. Earthquake is coverage, Zen Headbutt and Meteor Mash are STAB. I've chosen Meteor Mash above Iron Head, because of it's low speed. A change for raising it's attack stat is beter than the flinching, that won't happen with it's speed. I've chosen bullet Punch for it's priority. A priority move on a slow Pokémon is helpful.

Espeon shiny.png

Espeon (M) @ Psychium Z
Ability: Magic Bounce
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Protect
- Dazzling Gleam
- Shadow Ball

I'm not sure about this Pokémon yet. Having two Psychics on the same team is maybe a bit to much, but this Pokémons ability Magic bounce can disturb the opponents strategy. It's my special sweeper, so off course it has some major attacks, with the purpose of sweeping the opponent. I've also chosen the Z-crystal for it, for the same purpose. Protect is a security. I was considering to put focus Sash on it, because of it's low defense.

Muk Al.png

Muk-Alola (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Power of Alchemy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Poison Jab
- Shadow Sneak
- Knock Off
- Protect

This was last year a popular Pokémon. I also used it. But I preferred it with the ability Power of Alchemy. It can surprise the opponent when it takes down my other Pokémon, last year I used it a lot with my Porygon-Z's adaptability. With this Muk can take over Magic bounce or Huge Power and this it can start a massacre on the opponents team. However the issue is that an earthquake can destroy it all. Because of it's low speed I've added shadow sneak on it( a lot of breeding), the priority is a savior. Protect is a necessity, to prevent suicide with earthquake from Metagross. And it is needed to win time, for it's ability to succeed.

Mega Mawile.png

Mawile-Mega @ Mawilite
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Protect
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch

If I don't have Mega Metagross I need another Mega, I've chosen Mega Mawile in combination with Alola Muk. This because of Muks ability, but Mega Mawile also has a nice ability. So, it's my Physical Sweeper( if the opponent uses trick room.) The issue is it's slowness and the fact that i already have a fairy and a steel Pokémon on my team. It has sucker punch for covering up the speed issue Play rough and iron head are stab. However if someone knows a better Mega Pokémon on this team, suggestions are welcome.


Tapu Fini.png

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 104 HP / 136 Def / 252 SpA / 16 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Dazzling Gleam
- Protect
- Muddy Water

I like to use this Pokémon as a wall, but it's also a special tank. It's misty surge prevents any status conditions occurring and it removes the psychic surge of Tapu Lele (because Tapu fini is slower), this is for putting my priority moves save. Protect is a must, some will ask why ice beam. Well, this is a surprise and can get the opponent off guard.

Zapdos.png

Zapdos @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Signal Beam
- Protect

I use zapdos mainly for coverage of my team. Heat wave is coverage and thunderbolt is stab. Only about signal beam I'm not so sure. Tailwind would be another option.

Conclusion

I hope someone is able to help me to judge my team. If you can overlook some issues or solve them would be great. At least this team is lacking something, I feel it, but I don't know what it is. Every comment is welcome and thanks in advance.
 

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Hey Darkbirt! This team is pretty interesting, but I think it's underperforming for a couple of probably pretty clear reasons, at least to me:
  • The team is based around a pretty unviable concept to begin with - in my opinion, Mega Metagross directly outclasses non-Mega Metagross pretty much 100% of the time
  • Pokemon are often being used for roles they don't really fit in / trying to do things they're not good at doing
  • A lot of redundant offensive coverage and defensive type stacking
I'll also be talking a little about what I see as flaws in your teambuilding process.

First up: I'd strongly, strongly recommend that you make the change of Metagross -> Mega Metagross. This is a very powerful change for a number of reasons: firstly, it gains bulk, and the ability to use Protect now that it no longer holds an Assault Vest, increasing its longevity and letting it remain on the field to threaten your opponent for more of the game; secondly, it helps to patch up the speed issue your team faces, which you yourself have realised is a problem; and finally, it gains way, way more power over its non-Mega equivalent. In this way, you're essentially combining the bulk and great typing of Metagross with the power of Mega Mawile, and compressing that into one slot. Mega Metagross is a really good Pokemon, definitely one of the best in this current format by far, and if you haven't tried it already I'd honestly suggest trying it out at least a few times. Plus, it looks cool, especially in white and gold :3! Here's a sample set:

Metagross-Mega @ Metagrossite
Ability: Tough Claws
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Zen Headbutt
- Stomping Tantrum / Ice Punch / Hammer Arm
- Protect

Next, I'd like to point out that Espeon is a rather unviable Pokemon. If you're looking for strong Psychic-type attackers, I think Espeon -> Tapu Lele is a good bet here. Tapu Lele's advantages here include being marginally bulkier as well as gaining the very, very useful Fairy-type STAB, which is an extremely potent offensive STAB to have. Most importantly, though, Psychic Surge lets it set Psychic Terrain to boost Metagross' damage output, raising its damage potential to even higher levels (think OHKOing non-bulky Landorus-T with Zen Headbutt, for example). If you're worried that 95 Base Speed is too low, you could always opt for Choice Scarf Tapu Lele:

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Dazzling Gleam
- Thunderbolt / Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice

Otherwise, if you like the power of Psychium Z, you could run a bulkier but very powerful Psychium Z set. Here's my personal EV spread for it:

Tapu Lele @ Psychium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 12 SpA / 92 SpD / 68 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Taunt / Ally Switch / Calm Mind / Substitute / etc
- Protect

Next is Muk-A. While Muk-A is a good Pokemon, I'd say you're not using it correctly - Muk's Gluttony set is far more viable than its Power of Alchemy set, in my opinion. I think the larger problem here is that Muk-A doesn't really do anything for the team; usually, when building a team, it's important to know what you're weak to so that you can use the subsequent team slots to cover your weaknesses. In this case, for example, the core of Metagross / Espeon is inherently weak to strong Ground-types which don't take much damage from either Pokemon: Landorus-T and Excadrill, for instance, can potentially OHKO both your Pokemon and don't have a whole lot to fear from either (Metagross / Tapu Lele isn't much better off against these two threats). Muk-A here only serves to exacerbate this weakness, being weak to Ground-types and not doing much back. Mawile, too, is eaten alive by both of the two Pokemon I've just mentioned. I'll skip these two slots for now, and come back to them later, since I think fairly drastic changes are in order.

Tapu Fini is a lot better for this Ground-type weakness, being able to pick off Ground-types with its STAB Water-type attacks. However, I'm not entirely convinced by your Tapu Fini set: it seems to be stuck halfway between a defensive set with Leftovers and some sort of bulk investment and an offensive set with 3 attacks and a maximised SAtk EV. I think in this case you'd have to decide which one to go with, and build off that. I'd personally recommend a Calm Mind set, which can work both ways: it can sit around and click Muddy Water a lot, or if you think you're safe, it can go for some Calm Minds to really get the damage going. Here's my set:

Tapu Fini @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Misty Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 148 SpA / 12 SpD / 100 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Muddy Water
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Protect

Here's where I'd like to talk about your teambuilding process. What caught my eye when I was reading your RMT was this sentence:
some will ask why ice beam. Well, this is a surprise and can get the opponent off guard.
Building a surprise set is not an inherently bad idea. Grassium Z Heatran is an example of a surprise set which works, luring in Tapu Fini and KOing them with Bloom Doom. However, Ice Beam Tapu Fini is not what I'd classify as a good surprise set. Ice Beam only hits two relevant Pokemon for any significant amount of damage: Landorus-T and Salamence. Both are hit super-effectively by Fini's other moves, Muddy Water and Moonblast respectively. Therefore, they won't want to stay in on Tapu Fini unless they know they can KO it that turn, so you'll rarely be able to get an Ice Beam off on either. On the other hand, the two major Grass-types in the format, Ferrothorn and Tapu Bulu, don't even take much damage from Ice Beam due to Ferrothorn's Steel-typing and the fact that Tapu Bulu often carries an Assault Vest. So Ice Beam does nothing! Building around surprise sets is not an awful idea and can be fun and interesting, but you should always try to think of what your surprise will do, and whether it'll be effective, before you try it.

Moving on to Zapdos: Zapdos' major role is as a Tailwind setter; in terms of being an Electric-type attacker, it's often outclassed by Tapu Koko. Therefore, I'd suggest dropping Signal Beam in favour of Tailwind, which also helps with the overall speed of your team. The item could also be changed to an Electrium Z, especially if you're not using the Psychium Z on Tapu Lele; this gives the team a strong option for damaging Celesteela, which the team otherwise struggles against. Finally, if you're still having trouble with Landorus-T, you could consider Hidden Power Ice over Heat Wave on Zapdos to get sizable amounts of damage onto Landorus-T. Do note that this would leave you very weak to Ferrothorn, though, so plan the rest of your team accordingly (e.g. Hammer Arm Metagross, Hidden Power Fire Tapu Lele).

Okay, so now we have Mega Metagross / Tapu Lele / Tapu Fini / Zapdos, and we'll move back to the last two slots now. Right now, the team has:
  • No convincing way to damage Ferrothorn apart from Zapdos
  • No checks to Charizard-Y under Tailwind
  • No Ground-type resists besides Zapdos
  • No Intimidate
The above items are all things I think are important on a team. For now, I'd suggest using Groundium Z / Assault Vest Landorus-T and Darkinium Z / Life Orb Tyranitar in these slots, since they cover all of the above requirements. Alternatively, you could carry on with the Muk and Mawile in these slots, and get some experience with how the team functions now and what it's weak to, and you can deduce from there what would be good Pokemon to fit in these slots! Feel free to experiment, and don't take what I say as 100% gospel truth, since you know your team and playstyle better than I do. Hope I could help a bit and I also hope I didn't scare you off with this rate. Feel free to ask if you have any more questions, cheers!

Summary
- Metagross -> Mega Metagross
- Espeon -> Tapu Lele
- Tapu Fini -> Calm Mind set
- Zapdos: Signal Beam -> Tailwind
- Muk-A + Mawile -> Landorus-T, Tyranitar, ...other stuff?
 
Thanks for the response.
I followed some of you're recommendations. Tapu fini was changed to the Calm Mind set. However it became to predictable and off course the opponent used taunt. However most of the time it succeeds.
Tailwind on Zapdos is really great and I've even added a second tailwind user in my team.
Espeon, Muk-A and Mawile were removed from my team.
My team on the January VGC 2018 looks like this:

Metagross @ Assault Vest
Ability: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 220 HP / 252 Atk / 36 Def
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Bullet Punch
- Zen Headbutt
- Meteor Mash

Indeed it wasn't possible to change it to Mega Metagross. I don't have a Jolly nature Metagross, no Mega stone and no time to breed and train a new one that would be shiny. Another reason is that I want to hold the Mega slot for another Pokémon. So I left it as it. I try to train a new Metagross for the next VGC of February.

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 88 HP / 136 Def / 252 SpA / 28 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Protect
- Muddy Water

I liked the recommendation of the Calm Mind set and I changed it. However I didn't change the EVs, because of Tailwind it would be fast enough. And slow enough if the opponent uses a trick room tactic.

Zapdos @ Electrium Z
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Tailwind
- Protect

I did use the recommendation you've given.

Porygon-Z @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Tri Attack
- Shadow Ball
- Ice Beam

This is my former favorite Pokémon, it did really well in VGC 2017. I didn't want to use it again, because of the limitation of one move that can be used. However I didn't found any other Pokémon that would suit well in my team. Some matches of the January VGC 2018 that were victories thanks to Porygon-Z.

Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Solar Beam
- Heat Wave
- Protect
- Tailwind

This is a major improvement in my team, I wanted someone else for my mega slot. And I was lucky to get a Timid charizard from the GTS (it still needed some EV training and some hyper training). This is my second Tailwind setter. This tip was given from the PGL (rating battles).

Swampert @ Focus Sash
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Def / 120 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Protect

And finally, I didn't know what to put in the last slot, so I've chosen for Swampert. Except for Attack the other EVs are chosen randomly. I just didn't know what to put their and I needed something to counter electric Pokémon, so a ground type was the option. Swampert has only one weakness so I thought it was a good option.

My conclusion is that I've still got a lot to learn. After using this team in the January VGC 2018, I've noticed that I'm stressed out by the lack of time in the beginning. Compared to the VGC 2017 I lost a hundred points.
 
Thanks for the response.
I followed some of you're recommendations. Tapu fini was changed to the Calm Mind set. However it became to predictable and off course the opponent used taunt. However most of the time it succeeds.
Tailwind on Zapdos is really great and I've even added a second tailwind user in my team.
Espeon, Muk-A and Mawile were removed from my team.
My team on the January VGC 2018 looks like this:

Metagross @ Assault Vest
Ability: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 220 HP / 252 Atk / 36 Def
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Bullet Punch
- Zen Headbutt
- Meteor Mash

Indeed it wasn't possible to change it to Mega Metagross. I don't have a Jolly nature Metagross, no Mega stone and no time to breed and train a new one that would be shiny. Another reason is that I want to hold the Mega slot for another Pokémon. So I left it as it. I try to train a new Metagross for the next VGC of February.

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 88 HP / 136 Def / 252 SpA / 28 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Protect
- Muddy Water

I liked the recommendation of the Calm Mind set and I changed it. However I didn't change the EVs, because of Tailwind it would be fast enough. And slow enough if the opponent uses a trick room tactic.

Zapdos @ Electrium Z
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Tailwind
- Protect

I did use the recommendation you've given.

Porygon-Z @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Tri Attack
- Shadow Ball
- Ice Beam

This is my former favorite Pokémon, it did really well in VGC 2017. I didn't want to use it again, because of the limitation of one move that can be used. However I didn't found any other Pokémon that would suit well in my team. Some matches of the January VGC 2018 that were victories thanks to Porygon-Z.

Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Solar Beam
- Heat Wave
- Protect
- Tailwind

This is a major improvement in my team, I wanted someone else for my mega slot. And I was lucky to get a Timid charizard from the GTS (it still needed some EV training and some hyper training). This is my second Tailwind setter. This tip was given from the PGL (rating battles).

Swampert @ Focus Sash
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Def / 120 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Protect

And finally, I didn't know what to put in the last slot, so I've chosen for Swampert. Except for Attack the other EVs are chosen randomly. I just didn't know what to put their and I needed something to counter electric Pokémon, so a ground type was the option. Swampert has only one weakness so I thought it was a good option.

My conclusion is that I've still got a lot to learn. After using this team in the January VGC 2018, I've noticed that I'm stressed out by the lack of time in the beginning. Compared to the VGC 2017 I lost a hundred points.
An Adamant Mega Metagross would still be better than a regular Adamant Metagross.
Metagross-Mega @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body / Tough Claws
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 52 Atk / 20 Def / 36 SpD / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head / Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch
- Protect

Outspeed neutral base 100 Pokemon like Mega Kangaskhan
Outspeed positive base 85 and 86 Pokemon like Suicune, Heracross, Rotom-A
Takes one unboosted Shadow Ball from positive special attack Aegislash
Takes one Life Orb Sucker Punch from Adamant Bisharp
 

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