![[CHAMPIONS DOUBLES] extremely new vgc player seeking team feedback](https://preview.redd.it/340hr3rdrc2h1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=8bd7a7cf4964d2bd38534aeb3cc11c85d52ec112)
[CHAMPIONS DOUBLES] extremely new vgc player seeking team feedback
Apologies in advance, it's a bunch of word vomit from the perspective of a new player and how I perceive my team. Please take whatever you see with a grain of salt or correct me if it sounds wrong.
tldr: very new to vgc, team feels like a empty shell that needs some tweaking for consistent wins. I usually default to the same 3 core , leaving my other 3 feeling like benchwarmers.
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Like many people, Champions has given me an opportunity to get into VGC. Before this, I only had a few battles in the SWSH battle tower (against bots) with a rented rain team.
My goal starting on champions has been to build my own teams for the most part, giving me an opportunity to learn what each pokemon does and what value they bring to a full team. As a result , piloting has been easier I get a groove, and I get to learn directly from my teambuilding mistakes, compared to just renting one.
Had my fair share of stupid gimmicks on my way to masterball (trick-or-treat + crunch, huge power skill swap + M-glailie explosion, oranguru instruct, etc.) and while they were funny, they were just gimmicks so very inconsistent. The team pictured above has been my most consistent team and got me into master ball last season, albeit an uphill battle in high ultra ball.
I would love to have some unique pokemon on my team and not *fully* get sucked into meta, since I love learning about those random moments like Se Jun Park's Pachirisu in 2014. might be ironic considering I have garchomp and incineroar.
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- Mega Lopunny:
- Originally my team was built around M-medicham as a pure power clean up sweeper but I ran into issues where it was just getting outclassed / outsped by a lot of other pokemon. I reluctantly swapped to M-Lopunny because it's faster than sneasler (before unburden) and I have a chance to interrupt ghost types with scrappy fakeout.
- Ice punch + play rough for coverage but I barely get any value of out play rough
- I typically don't open with this unless the odds of a threatening ghost lead (or sometimes sneasler) is high. I'd rather have it as a cleanup tool.
- Talonflame
- Used to be whimsicott. My opener 100% of the time. Main goal is to either set up TW or taunt if they're very obviously going to set up TR, Perish, or Entrainment and speed isn't necessary, and do some chip damage on the way out.
- There are times where I get greedy and skip TW to gamble focus sash on sneasler/whimsicott (99% loss rate).
- Sash almost always guarantees a TW unless faked out, but then we move onto the next pokemon on the roster.
- Garchomp
- Often paired with Talonflame and considered my core. Has to be respected or else they get hit with EQ (works great with talonflame) or rock slide. Only threat is whimsicott under TW or as of recent, Sylveon.
- destroyed by fairy + ice.
- Serperior
- My primary SpA wall breaker (i think i'm using the term right?) that I initially added onto the team in response to the handful of milotics I was facing. There are times where I open with Talonflame if they have a few water/ground/rock types on their lineup so it can instantly get a leaf storm off. Has no issues taking out basculegion M , rotom W, and milotic depending on EVs or if i crit.
- contrary + leaf storm damage ramp, Knock off + glare utility. Originally built it bulky with leftovers thinking leaf storm ramp up would be enough but I found miracle seed + full sending damage gave me better results. dragon pulse has been lackluster even with the SpA boost.
- Gengar
- This is my second SpA slot and a new addition as of yesterday. It's the slot I've had the most trouble filling. Originally it was Hydreigon and it's only goal was to deal with farigiraf alongside talonflame taunt before it sets up TR
- Needed something else that could deal with fast ghosts, mainly basculegion + I didn't have fairy counter other than flash cannon on Hydreigon which wasn't even stab. Unless they're running scrappy I can also get a free nasty plot off if I lead with it.
- Perish trap has been common recently so to traumatize people during draft since it's a closed team format. I just thought it'd be funny to bait people since I also have incineroar on my team anyways.
- Might be better as mega?
- Incineroar
- I don't bring this one out as much anymore because of defiants + it gets outsped by sneasler. On top of that most sneaslers at my level are running white herb. It also felt redundant having 2 fire types when I used to start it with talonflame. lately i only bring both out together if the other player has a very obvious blizzard team.
- Really want to get better at piloting this guy. There are times where I lock in and keep parting shot / intimidate cycling into mostly physical teams, but my brain is still not in VGC mode where I instinctively do that.
- was considering replacing with mold breaker tinkaton to fake out farigiraf in the few instances it had a mental herb and taunt wasn't enough. or kang if I decided to bring m-gengar, enabling me to still have a scrappy fakeout.
My biggest issue is that I feel like I don't have a real identity and typically rely on the same 3 pokemon + toss in a random SpA for coverage. I feel like I need a better SpA or maybe even just a bulkier one. possibly get rid of incineroar because right now he's mostly just draft bait. Sableye has been a support I've been eyeing , since I tried some stupid swagger + persim acrobatics sneasler tech last season. I wouldn't pull that cheese, but was considering just having it on as a basic prankster support + physical wall.
I am able to climb into masterball but it's does get rough in ultra ball 2/1. I do get the occasional streaks but it's moreso a reflection of the other player being worse than me being good if that makes sense.
Overall just seeking some advice on how to either strengthen my team or if there's any advice on how I should look at the game from a teambuilding perspective. As mentioned this is basically my first time doing competitive and even doubles since I just play mainline games where it's mostly singles format. My goal is to have a use for all 6 rather than having 3 main characters and 3 stragglers. I would love to qualify for something in the future if I ever become good enough regardless of what team I end up with.
Thanks for the read , thanks for the comments or criticisms if you provide any. I have more thoughts, but I should probably stop typing. Regardless I'm happy to finally get into VGC. I still make a lot of mistakes, but those mistakes are good lessons.
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played some showdown to get some replays, tried to get decent examples out of like 10 games but they aren't the best.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9championsvgc2026regma-2614291122?p2