Viability Doesn't Always Run in The Family

Chinchou

While Lanturn faces stiff competition in the shadow of Rotom-W and struggles to find a spot on a team, its pre-evolution, Chinchou, doesn't suffer from such problems in the Little Cup tier. Chinchou is often the glue that holds balanced Little Cup teams together, and has been for Generations. It has a handy combination of traits that no other Pokémon in the tier can lay claim to, and can run a multitude of viable sets, making it not only tricky to deal with, but also unpredictable, and so oftentimes the only surefire way to safely prepare for it is to first find out what set it's running. The first thing that should stand out for Chinchou is its unique dual typing combined with Volt Absorb, which provides it an immunity to Electric as well as healing if struck by an Electric-type attack; this can be used to keep Thunder Wave from crippling its teammates and thus lets it switch in on the likes of Slowpoke relatively easily.

Apart from switching in on Thunder Wave, another thing it has to mess with the prominent Little Cup threat that is Murkrow is a welcome resistance to Flying in addition to an offensive advantage. Viable LC Pokémon that resist Flying without being weak to Fighting are pretty uncommon and so this is a pretty notable advantage. Another thing Chinchou has over everything else in the tier is that it is the only Volt Switch-using pivot and Electric-type Thunder Wave user with a STAB type that threatens the Ground-types that block these moves, making Pokémon like Gligar think twice before attempting to make that play to gain momentum. Chinchou is able to make effective use of Eviolite (with Wish support from a teammate), Berry Juice, and Choice Scarf to be able to fit many different kinds of teams and playstyles, and is also one of the more bulky Pokémon in the tier that can use both Heal Bell and RestTalk to good effect. All in all, Chinchou is a very good Pokémon in Little Cup that serves very important purposes and is irreplaceable. There are some things that Helioptile can do similarly, but it doesn't even come close to the effectiveness that Chinchou displays in battle both by itself and as a pivot/supporter for its team.

Spritzee

Contrary to Aromatisse's performance in OU, Aromatisse's previous form turns out to be the absolute best at what it does in LC. Spritzee was initially cast aside as unusable at the beginning of XY Little Cup due to the immense popularity of Swirlix, but a closer look at its capabilities resulted in a place for it in the spotlight that Swirlix couldn't touch. Enter Little Cup's alpha Fairy-type bulky support Pokémon, one that can function well for itself as well as assist teammates in ways that other LC Pokémon can only dream of. Spritzee's resistances to common attacking types such as Dark, Fighting, and Bug allow it ample opportunities to pass huge Wishes to its teammates, heal the entire team of status afflictions with Aromatherapy, or fire off a decently powerful STAB attack in Moonblast to destroy any opposing Dark- or Fighting-type enemies that are foolish enough to stay in against it. Spritzee's typing and support capabilities allow it to work well with Steel-types to form a resilient resistance core, in which Spritzee sponges the Fighting-type attacks aimed at its Steel-type partner, and it easily takes the super effective Poison- and Steel-type attacks directed at Spritzee.

Lastly, after opposing Poison- and Steel-types have been removed, Spritzee can serve as a late-game sweeper of sorts with Calm Mind, allowing it to rip through the opposition with Moonblast, healing itself with Wish when necessary, and not caring too much about being hit with paralysis, as it's slower than most things anyway. Lickitung is able to function similarly as a staller and a Wish supporter, but its lack of resistances and weakness to Fighting-types in a metagame full of them makes Spritzee the superior Pokémon in most cases. There is absolutely nothing in Little Cup that can do what Spritzee does, and unsuspecting opponents would find themselves in deep trouble for underestimating it.

Tirtouga

However, Carracosta's underling is quite a different story in the Little Cup arena. Tirtouga was a true menace to face in Little Cup last generation, and in XY Little Cup, it is not too different. In fact, the return of the previously banned Berry Juice item in LC has given Tirtouga a new edge as a setup sweeper, and so it must be dealt with by more specific means than it was before. Its combination of Sturdy and Shell Smash has always been formidable, but the addition of Berry Juice to its arsenal makes it considerably more threatening, as Sturdy guarantees that it will survive any attack on the turn it sets up with Shell Smash, and then Berry Juice brings it back to full health, restoring Sturdy and ensuring that it survives another attack, regardless of type advantage or how strong it is. With Sturdy and Berry Juice together, it will always require no less than three hits to take Tirtouga down, outside of some exceptions, and this is not easy to pull off after it has its Speed and Attack boosted to +2 by Shell Smash. The easiest way to get around Tirtouga's Sturdy + Berry Juice shenanigans is to hit it with Knock Off, which will break Sturdy and prevent Berry Juice from ever activating. Other ways to get around this strategy include using Trick/Switcheroo (to remove its Berry Juice and potentially pass it a crippling item), status like burn or paralysis, keeping Stealth Rock down to break Sturdy, and Bullet Seed, which hits Tirtouga for 4x super effective damage and also overrides Sturdy. Trying to overwhelm this set with brute force is usually a severely uphill battle and almost always results in a loss.

While arguably an inferior set in a mostly offensively inclined metagame, Tirtouga can also run a support set that utilizes Stealth Rock, Scald, and Knock Off, with the ability Solid Rock, allowing it to take super effective hits with relative comfort, especially physical ones. Of all the Shell Smash users in XY Little Cup, Tirtouga is unquestionably the most feared one in the vast majority of cases, and it is definitely deserving of the high usage it sees due to its ability to withstand constant battering from opponents as well as its overwhelming power that allows it to sweep through teams.

Larvitar

Larvitar is an interesting Pokémon in Little Cup. It's the only Rock / Ground type in the tier with access to Dragon Dance, and also the only one to have Guts as an ability. It gets STAB on both Earthquake and Stone Edge, a very potent attacking combination, while also having access to useful coverage options such as Crunch and Superpower. With these traits, respectable stats, and a few notable resistances (including a commendable one to Flying), it would appear that Larvitar has the potential to be a very overwhelming force if it manages to get a turn to set up with Dragon Dance, especially if it opts to run Guts and has Toxic Orb as its held item. While this is fundamentally true, there are a huge number of disadvantages that come with this. First of all, Larvitar's 4x weakness to Water is a huge thorn in its side, but not only that, it also has painful weaknesses to Ice, Fighting, Ground, and Steel, as well as a 4x weakness to Grass. Additionally, even if Larvitar does successfully set up, it is weak to several priority moves that are extremely common in Little Cup, including Aqua Jet, Mach Punch, Bullet Punch, Ice Shard, and Vacuum Wave, and these can be used against it to quickly bring it down despite its superior Speed and power. It can be used on a team well as long as important priority users are eliminated before it attempts to set up and sweep, but this is often a lot easier said than done, and it's usually not worth the work when there are other Dragon Dance sweepers like Scraggy and Tyrunt that require much less support.

It's tragic that Larvitar has all the tools necessary to be a fearsome setup sweeper in Little Cup, but is let down immensely by the defensive drawbacks of its typing, and so it is generally not recommended for use. What Larvitar lacks in viability is hugely retributed to it once it develops into its final form, however.

Azurill

Azurill is one of the few Little Cup Pokémon to be retyped to include a Fairy typing, making it Normal / Fairy this Generation and giving it a welcome neutrality to Fighting but also added weaknesses to Poison and Steel. It gets one of the best abilities in the game in Huge Power, the same awesome trait that makes its Normal-type friend Bunnelby a monster. Despite these seemingly awesome advantages, there are a ton of downsides Azurill has that hold it back from seeing any meaningful use in Little Cup. First of all, despite its new retyping to Normal / Fairy, it gained no STAB Fairy-type attacks with which to take advantage of. Azurill's offensive stats are so incredibly poor that its Huge Power ability isn't even enough to salvage its potential in the physical offense department. Its lack of Water typing that its evolutions have prevents its Water-type attacks from dealing significant enough damage to matter, and its Speed is also appallingly low, causing it to be outsped by even decisively slow enemies such as Timburr. It has access to the buffed Knock Off and the rare Soak, but these options are not enough to justify using Azurill when there are far better users of both moves in the tier.

In the end, Azurill is exceedingly cute and unique in a few ways, but it is by no means a viable choice to fit onto a Little Cup team, and it is not recommended for competitive use at all. Though there is a vast array of drawbacks Azurill is cursed with, all of its problems are replaced with welcome advantages the instant it becomes Azumarill.

Gible

Gible is unique as the only Dragon-type in Little Cup to also have Ground typing, making it able to block the inevitable Thunder Wave and Volt Switch moves that are somewhat commonly used throughout the tier. However, apart from that, getting STAB on Earthquake, and having access to Stealth Rock, Gible is absolutely horrible. Dragon-types in Little Cup really lost viability after new Fairy-type contenders such as Swirlix, Spritzee, and Cottonee rose to higher acclaim, and Gible is, honestly, probably the worst Dragon-type of them all. For one, it's 4x weak to Ice, a very common attacking type in Little Cup. It's incompatible with Dragon Dance, making it unable to overcome the issue of its sub-par Speed, and it doesn't even get Swords Dance. Even Noibat, as poor as its base stats are, is a better option for a teamslot than Gible. It does have some interesting attacking options like Iron Head and Hone Claws, and it gets three weather summoning moves in Sunny Day, Rain Dance, and Sandstorm, but it gets nothing even remotely impressive or useful to allow it a niche or a standout feature.

Our unfortunate case of a baby Dragon here is sadly outclassed and overshadowed by every Dragon-type and every Ground-type in Little Cup and there is absolutely no reason to use it unless you're looking to get lucky with Sand Veil misses, but even then, there are better carriers of that ability.