RMT / Team Help My Only Hope! VGC 2017

[buckembarnes]

Need help with my VGC 2017 team! I'm new to competitive Pokemon and want to win some battles next time I play in a tournament! Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated!

Politoed @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Encore
- Psychic
- Ice Beam

Shiinotic @ Leftovers
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Leech Seed
- Moon Blast

Tapu Fini @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 36 SpA / 6 / SpD / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
0 Atk
- Moon Blast
- Calm Mind
- Defog
- Scald

Magnezone @ Air Balloon
Ability: Analytic
Modest Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
- Thunder
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power Fire
- Volt Switch

Kartana @ Assault Vest
Ability: Beast Boost
Jolly Nature
EVs: 92 HP / 164 SpD / 252 Spe
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Night Slash

Marowak-A @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
Adamant Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
- Retaliate
- Shadow Bone
- Flare Blitz
- Bonemerang​

 

[Mr. Kream]

I'm not going to make an assessment of your team, but if it's for VGC, I have a few suggestions.

First off, this is doubles, and all doubles formats are mindgames; you'll have a very hard time without running Protect on any of your mon, so add Protect to any of the mon in your team that can afford it, as you can better pace yourself, and are able to play mindgames of your own, or play more comfortably though the tenser situations that 4v4 battles can create.

Next, calcs! Know your threats, you're luckily limited to the rather small AlolaDex, so be sure to know what your opponents are capable of, and the damage calcs that they threaten your team with. If you're serious about going to a tourney, map them all out, and know them well. It's a part of preparation that should be a great boon to your planning, and dictatory to your EV spreads. Knowing this, you can plan for the base minimum investments you need per defensive or offensive stats, and place your EVs where they have the most weight, so know your calcs and plan accordingly. If you lack a VGC calc, this should do: http://trainertower.com/damagecalc/

The last tip I'll leave you is to research. You should look into former championships teams and familiarize yourself with the types of planning that former champs have used. Many of them post their teams to various places on the web, so Google will be your best friend in that. More than anything, there's a rhythm to proper VGC planning, if you can understand it, you can recreate the same level of efficiency.

^This all said, plan carefully, and good luck, may Arceus be with you.^​

 

[buckembarnes]

@Mr. Kream Thanks for the tips! I'll look into them!

 

[Zukrad]

As @Mr. Kream said, protect is a must in the 95% of the Pokémon in doubles, so that's is something to keep an eye on

Other stuff to point out

- Politoed: Politoed should be used only in Rain teams, and this is definetly not a rain team, the only thing I can see being helpful for is the Thunder Magnezone. It actually hurts Marowak and weakens the HP Fire on Magnezone. It also makes AV Kartana less efficient (AV Kartana can take certain Water moves, but not under rain). Also, Pelipper outclasses it as a rain setter mos of the time

I would say that replacing it completely would be the better choice

- Shiinotic: No idea what does this thing do, and no idea if it is even good, so I have no comments here

- Fini: Why is defog in a Doubles set? Hazards are not a thing in doubles. Other than that, is ok I think

- Magnezone: I don't really like that set, and I really think it could be more efficient. I will leave you a link with a lot of sets for different mons

- Kartana: Same as Mag

- Marowak: Retaliate is not a really good move imo. The EV spread could be better



Stuff that I find usefull for VGC17
http://www.smogon.com/articles/vgc-coverage-athens Metagame coverage
http://www.trainertower.com/vgc-17-ev-spread-compendium/EV Compendium

Check Youtube channels from VGC Players. Be sure that they are good at the game (So, not verlisify)

 

[buckembarnes]

@Zukrad Thanks for the tips! Looks like a complete overhaul will be needed then. I don't have any idea what I'm doing yet so everything helps! If you have any other information to share definitely let me know!