Hyungwoo Shin won Victory Road to San Francisco with Blastoise + Delphox, the last big event before Worlds.

I spent a while going through it, and I wanted to understand what it is actually doing rather than just looking at the spreads on paper. These are my notes. Corrections welcome, especially from anyone who has piloted it.

How it wins

Obviously three Pokemon can set up: Shell Smash on Blastoise, Nasty Plot on Delphox, Swords Dance on Kingambit. Double Fake Out from Incineroar and Sneasler plus Rage Powder from Sinistcha buy the turn and pull the attacks that were meant for the attacker.

The kind of "unsaid" rule is: whichever one you set up needs at least three knockouts. The first one trades three for one, then whatever is left, usually Kingambit late or one of the support Pokemon, takes the last one.

The part that took me longest to accept is that you do not always have to click the setup move. Fake Out into Water Spout at full HP already does huge damage, Kowtow Cleave hurts without a boost, and Helping Hand from Incineroar covers the rest.

The other half of it is that the team forces 50-50s. Even a prepared opponent ends up guessing on a turn, and the pilot has the same job in reverse: knowing when to attack, when to Protect, when to switch and when to stay in. It is a reading team more than a linear one, which probably explains why the same six get very different results depending on who is holding them.

Leads and mega choice

Lead a Fake Out user with a setup Pokemon. Sneasler if you want offensive pressure, since it also hits hard on its own. Incineroar if the opponent is physical, Garchomp and Aerodactyl especially, because you get Intimidate and can Parting Shot out into what you actually want. That pivot seems to be the standard play into Charizard teams.

For the mega, the question is which one the opponent has fewer resistances to. Delphox into Floette and Charizard, Blastoise into rain. Leading Kingambit with a Fake Out user also works when the opponent has few answers to Dark damage: set up, take early knockouts, bring the mega afterwards to clean.

Where the versions differ

Compared to the rank 1 ladder version, the changes are small and always in the same places.

• Psychic or Psyshock on Delphox. Psyshock hits Floette and Charizard harder, Psychic is better into Garchomp. Most tournament versions right now are Psychic.
• Life Orb or Black Glasses on Kingambit.
• Sinistcha's berry. Colbur for Dark moves, which includes the opposing Kingambit, Occa for Fire, Kasib for Ghost. Those three are what people run.
• Incineroar's fourth move. Helping Hand here, but a Dark STAB or Throat Chop are both reasonable.
• Sneasler. This one runs Unburden with Dire Claw. The ladder version runs Poison Touch with Poison Jab, which stacks poison chances and wears down bulky Floette.
• Delphox nature. Timid here, Modest on the ladder version. Modest gets more one hit knockouts after Nasty Plot, Timid keeps up with the faster Pokemon in the format.

Quick Guard is doing a lot of work

Sneasler runs Quick Guard instead of Protect. Delphox is very weak to Sucker Punch, so blocking a Sucker Punch aimed at it is always good, and it also stops the opposing Fake Outs. The cost is that Sneasler has no Protect of its own.

What beats it

• Dark types against Delphox. Incineroar and Tyranitar, immune to the Psychic move and not bothered much by Heat Wave.
• Rock Slide from Mega Aerodactyl or Excadrill, for damage and for flinches.
• Water and Grass types against Blastoise: Rotom Wash, Mega Venusaur.
• Wide Guard, which stops Water Spout being spammed.
• Late game priority, Sucker Punch and Aqua Jet, and Focus Sash Basculegion.
• Priority block from Farigiraf, Tailwind to cancel Shell Smash, Trick Room to neutralise Delphox.

On the spreads

The OTS is public spreads are hidden, so every spread going around is somebody's reconstruction. Worth keeping in mind before treating any number as the real one.

A few Speed benchmarks I worked out for this archetype:

• Delphox 29 speed points to hit 201.  The tier you are trying to beat is 200, which is where Mega Gengar, Mega Raichu Y, Jolteon and non mega Aerodactyl all land at full investment. Going to the full 32 gets you 204 and beats nothing extra, so three points are free to go elsewhere. This is also the argument for Timid over Modest: past that tier, Delphox is only losing to Mega Aerodactyl and Mega Alakazam at 222, which no amount of investment fixes.
• Blastoise needs 14 points to be relevant after Shell Smash. Base 78 with a neutral Speed nature is 98, so a Blastoise with nothing in Speed is 196 after the boost, still under that same 200 tier. 13 points ties Mega Aerodactyl at 222, 14 gets you 224 and past it.
• Incineroar at 23 points sits at 103, one above an Adamant max Speed Kingambit at 102, so Fake Out into Flare Blitz removes it before it moves. This is the one benchmark I have seen quoted for the archetype rather than calculated.

Things I am still unsure about

• Psychic or Psyshock.
• Colbur, Occa or Kasib on Sinistcha.
• Unburden or Poison Touch on Sneasler.

Let me know your thoughts guys, especially if you have played it or against it. I still need to give it a try.

Hello fellow Pokemon lovers,

Here I am writing my first Reddit Post inspired by my friend and original creator of the team, Player1 (u/ClientAppropriate838), who encouraged me to do so after reaching Champion Tier for the first time. So I’m sharing the team which features one of my favorite Pokemons, Blastoise. I used it to climb from Master Ball 3 all the way to Champion Tier. Besides being a really great team, it is so fun to use and rewarding once you get to know it and play it.

Here is the Rental Code: 9VHRJLYULX

Team Theory

So as the title suggests, the team’s whole concept is to bluff Shell Smash Blastoise. How you achieve this? It starts on team preview when the opponent sees Blastoise, Maushold and Sinistcha. Most players will assume it’s a “Protect the President” composition. But in reality Blastoise uses Fake Out while Maushold takes down one of the opponents Pokemon with Wide Lens Population Bomb boosted with Technician or severely damages them.

The Team

Mega Blastoise (H2’Oh No)

The first costar of the team. Fake Out usually is your first move. Aura Sphere, Dark Pulse and Ice beam for coverage against most common meta Pokemons that threatens the team. No Water-Type moves as Basculegion handles this.

Maushold

The other costar and fellow bluffer. With Wide Lens and Technician, this will be your main move. Max Attack and Speed for the most damage. Feint helps to break opponents Protects and Bite is for Ghost coverage. Protect to round it out.

Basculegion

Jolly with Choice Scarf and four attacks allows it to outspeed opposing Adamant Basculegions even with Scarf using this EV spread. Almost max Attack and Speed EVs that enables it to outspeed and One-hit KO Mega Raichu Y. The rest of the EVs are placed on Defense so it can survive a Sucker Punch from a non-boosted Kingambit.

Sinistcha

The anti-Trick Room team member. With Imprison it is able to negate opponents from using Trick Room. Also with the extra EV on speed it helps to outspeed most Sinistcha and prevent them from using the same moves. It also helps to sell the Shell Smash bluff on team preview.

Kingambit

Your regular four attacks Kingambit. Max speed with Chople berry and Low kick to win vs opposing Kingambits. Nothing new here.

Whimsicott

Last member but as always such a great asset, your standard Whimsicott set. Tailwind and Encore for support with Moonblast for damage.

Game Plan

This as any Pokemon battle will depend on the opponent’s team, their lead and what you’re bringing so let’s cover some of the most common leads:

Charizard/Floette

Lead Blastoise with Maushold. Use the main strategy of Fake Out the partner of the Charizard/Floette while Maushold uses Population Bomb on the Mega Pokemon. On the team variants that lead Venusaur with Charizard, I always focus down first the Venusaur to get rid of it.

Raichu

Usually it’s kinda tricky as it sometimes depends on the partner of Raichu and the opponent’s team. For sure you leas Basculegion as Wave Crash takes down Raichu. For the partner, most of the times I go with Blastoise as an all rounder pick.

Staraptor

Lead with Blastoise and Whimsicott. Fake Out and Moonblast to deal massive damage to Staraptor and then play accordingly depending on the partner. (Remember if Staraptor is paired with Whimsicott it can be a bit tricky but it’s almost always better to switch out Blastoise to avoid the Encore).

Gengar/Froslass/Dragonite

These ones are really easy to handle, lead Blastoise and Maushold as they usually lead Gengar their Mega pokemon to deal with your bluff. Most of the times you can just go for Dark Pulse into Gengar/Frosslass as it one shots them (unless Froslass uses Aura Veil but it will already be crippled) and use Population Bomb on the partner. Against Mega Dragonite, use Population Bomb against it while Blastoise Fake Outs the partner.

Trick Room

Always lead with Sinistcha and Blastoise. Imprison on turn one and deal damage with Blastoise to whoever you will do the most.

These are the most common leads I faced, of course there were more which required different leads but as you keep playing and getting to know the team, you will learn how to handle those. Of course any questions feel free to ask, I will gladly assist you.

Also once again credits to my friend and creator Player1 (u/ClientAppropriate838).

Took a long time for me to figure out diggersby, and i tjink that side wil-o-wisp onto a facade is hilarious because aint nobody expecting that.

The rest of the team is just a collection of pokemon i feel are underused (dont pay attention to basculegion), with this team being extremely flexible in any type of weather or speed control.

Chestnaught is pretty useless, however, hes pretty funny to have on this team because people dont see it coming.

Lately I've been playing a very fun drampa team on pokémon champions, and gramps hit harder than anyone could expect with his strong hypervoice, so after a couple of matches I came up with this idea, based on a meme I saw of a bosnian woman singing opera XD

I’m a pokemon fan but pretty new to VGC, I’ve been building a team on champions built around quiver dance Volcarona and I could use some help improving the team. I have Incineroar and Grimsnarl as Fake Out users (and Grimmsnarl to cover some types I can’t hit too well) and Clefable as support with follow me. I have belly drum Snorlax in there as an alternate option to deal big damage, with Gengar to sometimes set trick room and really just be a nuisance. All the info on the pokemon is in the screenshots I took except for held items, I have sash on Volcarona, sitrus berry on Snorlax, bright powder on Clefable, lum berry (for now) on Incineroar, life orb on Gengar and leftovers on Grimmsnarl.

Hello, I’ve recently started getting more into VGC on Champions and I recently hit Master Ball with this team after hitting Ultra with a previous iteration of team. I was curious if anybody had some suggestions for optimization. I really want to compete in this upcoming August Tournament on Champions, and before I entered I wanted to look for any sort of optimizations I may be able to make.

TL;DR I know it’s a long post, but the top paragraph and the bottom two are a good summary of my thoughts, anything is welcome though!

The core is really Typhlosion, Farigaraf, and Torkoal.

>Typhlosion - Hisui (Choice Scarf) max speed max special attack. The dream play is to hit Eruption over and over, but of course with that ghost typing I’ve definitely hit a shadow ball on a Basculegion and OHKO’d to get it out the way, so very versatile. I will sometimes hit an eruption and swap out on turn 2 to get some good damage in there.

>Farigaraf (Sitrus)- fully invested into HP and Phys and SpeD, Armor tail ability shuts down priority moves so typhlosion always goes first, has helping hand to make the move stronger. We used to have another attack move, but found that leading farig so often led me to give it helping hand for Typhlosion. And of course, has trick room so that farig, a slower Pokémon will tend to go second only to…

>Torkoal (Leftovers) - max defense, with invests into HP and SpeD who sets the sun to make typhlosion’s eruption stronger, is slow so usually goes first in trick room, also has solar beam which takes 1 turn to charge in sunlight and also a direct counter to water types, has leftovers bc he’s so bulky and protect to get the most use out of it. Also has body press since we don’t really have a lot of fighting type moves and that is good against types we are weak against.

>Garchomp (Life Orb) - Wanted a fast, bulky, heavy hitting physical attacker outside of trick room, has good attack coverage. Since it doesn’t synergize well I’m going to take out earthquake and give him high horsepower.

>Weavile (Focus Sash) - fast, heavy hitting physical attacker that also has priority moves like fake out that make a Pokémon flinch to keep control over the game, has ice type moves that deal with rock, ground, and dragon, which are pretty major weaknesses for us.

>Primarina (Expert Sash)- kind of ties everything together with strong special attack and decent bulk, has two moves that hit both Pokémon, a priority water attack, and an ice move too.

Thoughts and Observations:

>The one thing that gives me consistent trouble right now are water/rain teams, since I don’t have like any hard counters, farig has thunderbolt, and torkoal has solar beam, but it’s not as reliable as I would like and I usually bring Farig in those matchups, but sometimes I don’t take torkoal because of the type disadvantage. In previous iterations I had Snorlax with seed bomb for a bulky trick room phys attacker and farig had energy ball, but that seemed redundant.

>I’d say the weakest links in the team are surprisingly Garchomp. I don’t take Garchomp as much as you might think, he just doesn’t synergize as well with the team.

>Weavile is good but kind of brittle, which is why he has the focus sash, but since I have investment in HP I’m wondering if I should put that elsewhere, if he’s already brittle and has the sash. I have definitely seen him tank a bit without the sash before though and I don’t feel like 162 is low either.

>If based on type matchups I’m hoping to lean into trick room and farig loses before it can get it off, then that’s really tough for me, but I don’t think it warrants bringing another setter, idk if optimization for this is something I can do tactically or different EV investments.

>I also wish that I could fit some kind of tailwind setter as well, I like the idea of having both a Tailwind and Trick Room user on my team, but I didn’t quite get there with this iteration of the team. I’ve had whimsicott in the past for this reason. I also don’t have a lot of maneuverability on this team, like no switch out moves, I’m not sure if that is able to be added here at all, but it is a thought I had.

>My initial vision for this team had Toxicroak in the Weavile slot for his poison touch ability, synergizing with infernal parade with Typhlosion, who would have close combat, as well as being one of the only Pokémon with the ability to use sucker punch and fake out (I don’t have one tho lol) and so he would take the role of Weavile, I’ve definitely thought of putting sneasler on this team as well for similar reasons (I also don’t have one lol), so I’m open to optimization for that kind of fast, glass cannon spot that I’m using Weavile in.

I don’t think this team has to be completely revamped, it is quite unique and I think that can kind of catch people off guard. I find that Typhlosion, Torkoal, Weavile, and Primarina’s move sets really work for me. Farig’s is definitely open, and as for Garchomp, I can’t help but think that slot could be filled by somebody else, but I don’t want to think to rashly. He’s always been a part of my teams in Champions and is one of the most used for a reason, it could be me who is using him wrong.

I typed a lot so if you read everything I really appreciate it, I am open to hearing any and all advice, I know this team isn’t so “meta” but Typhlosion is one of my favorite Pokémon and that was kind of the vision to build around him and found this excellent team along the way. Thank you in advance for your thoughts!

Hi yall, im a kinda new player atleast to vgc and was looking for some advice for my Trick Room team!

My main reason to play trick room has been to use Dragalge, ive been able to hit masterball these last two seasons using trick room and dragargle but now i feel stuck/stagnant in ultraball lol so im looking to improve!

Also, before the current team, i have experimented with Torkoal, Iron ball Sneasler, Farigiraf, Cofagrigus, Runerigus and Sinistcha. Some with more success and others were kind of neutral, this new team is consisting of mons that i like visually 🤫🫣

This Team was initially inspired by StarAmiiga https://www.reddit.com/r/VGC/s/yIyMz2hSp3 (I did play this team a good bit)

I’m new to VGC, I’ve only been playing since champions and I’ve been stuck at around top 1k-2k for the past few days.

On StarAmiiga’s post you see a more detailed breakdown of the initial idea and the essential core of the team. I began changing it to the second team you see here with a bulkier MGyarados and the MMetagross instead of MYchu.
This version of the team felt incredibly strong but had some clear kryptonite matchups.

The idea is simple: Metagross and Gyarados cover each other’s weaknesses incredibly well and both pair great with coaching Sneasler as well as Pelipper to either weaken fire or boost Waterfall. Sinistcha worked well with the bulkier Setup oriented version of this team but I’ve been trying to adapt.

The problem is a great weakness to Intimidate, Rain teams with Archaludon can be a pain and Gholdengo.

The first team you see is my current one. It still feels incomplete but the idea of Gyarados/Metagross + Coaching Sneasler feels like it carries sooo much potential. This second team is also a bit more Balance. That’s why Gyarados is squishier now so it doesn’t have to rely on setting up as much.

Short breakdown:

Metagross
Covers Gyaras difficult Staraptor/Ychu/Floette and potentially rain matchups. You can take it into fire teams as long as you take peli. Generally good into Gyaras weaknesses to fighting/fairy.

Gyarados
Is great into many meta threats and again covers Metagross bad matchups really well. You can play it to set up if your opening is good otherwise it’s also very reliable neutral dmg. It’s incredibly naturally bulky and survives most super effective hits. You can bring it non mega for intimidate too and since it’s got good offensive stats it still dishes out dmg.

Sneasler
Great parent for both megas and just Sneasler you know…

Pelipper
I only bring the bird very situationally. Either there is opposing weather I want to disrupt or I’m bringing Metagross into fire types.
This team doesn’t really care to much about Snow but in the common MFroslass team Peli can be a good bring to deal big dmg to MScovillain and not be affected by burn.

Tsareena
Queenly Majesty is obv great against fake outs but Metagross is also vulnerable to sucker so it’s double great here. It generally works well into rain teams, different Blastoise compositions, Dragons and more fighting coverage is always nice for this team! (Archaludon can be a problem)

Kingambit
Its main job is to deter Intimdate users or just benefit greatly from them since this team is very physical. I don’t see a need for Iron Head since I have Metagross and Sneasler for fairy’s. (It’s the newest addition and probably not optimal EV wise)

I don’t see a point in doing a super detailed breakdown since some parts of this team are still a work in progress. (unless someone wants to play this team themselves)

This team is incredibly vulnerable in both team select and in game manoeuvring. But understanding the team I feel like there are potentially very little weaknesses if one pilots it well. Every game I lose I feel like it’s because of a mistake (cocky or missing obvious stuff sometimes) or because I’m not familiar with the enemy team and my brings are a bit scrambled. But ever game feels winnable.

My problem is that I’m quite new to both team building and the vgc so I’m afraid that I’m not capable of piloting this team to its full potential or fully rounding it out properly with the components it requires.
So I ask you veterans for help. 🙏

(I would love to play in ots too so prob no cheese XD)

Was able to climb from 1600 to 1800 with this team. I'm currently hovering between MB2 and MB3 and is struggling to climb higher. Will appreciate any kind of feedback.

I'm quite familiar with the VGC format, but I'm also not a veteran. I loosely follow the metagame through Aaron Zheng and Wolfe Glick's socials.

As you all can see, this team is built predominantly around Mega Blastoise's Water Sprout, with a non-mega Raichu as a deceptive mega choice (or a fakeout heh).

70% of the time I lead with Talonflame and Tsareena, with Blastoise and Maushold in the back. The main strategy is for Talonflame is set up Tailwind, with Tsareena shielding them from fake outs and other priority moves. I don't sash the bird because ideally I want the bird to go down and safely switch in a healthy Blastoise to capitalize on the tailwind. Tsareena would also sometimes get a surprise KO on some mons like Garchomp, Aerodactyl, Kingambit and Basculegion. Zen Headbutt is there purely to deal with M-Gengar.

When big man Blastoise comes out, it's then a no brainer to spam Water Sprout. The typings that resist water can then be covered by Tsareena's move pools (assuming that the wilted veggie is still alive). And I usually use Shell Smash as an all or nothing maneuver on the last turn of Tailwind, hoping that the opposition double protects their mon to dry out the tailwind. Dark pulse is my only other attacking move to use when the HP is too low to reliable use Water Sprout. It also deals good damage to Basculegion, Sinistcha and F*rig. Altho it usually doesnt one shot without shell smash or helping hand.

The Raichu's main purpose is lightning rod and speed control with Electro Web. I usually have the rat in the back and switch it in when I read an electric move coming. Leading with a Raichu is also pretty fun when alot of people expect it to mega. Encore is extremely useful when alot of people get baited to use protect, and I would just lock them in their cycles. And Helping Hand is just for extra damage boost.

I decide to go for a more offensive Maushold with technician and Population Bomb. Follow me is a given to draw attacks away from Blastoise. Feint is reliable at finishing off weakened mon and brushing off protect for the big man to go for the KO. Rain Dance is my answer to sun teams. Plus rain makes big man's water sprout goes boom boom.

Having had 50+ battles with this team, I notice 3 major weakness for them

1. Trick Room teams (F*rig)

I struggle the most against trickroom teams especially that freaking giraffe. In lower elo I would lead with Tinkaton and mold breaker + fake out the giraffe to catch them off guard then try to finish it off on the 2nd turn. However at my current ratings, my strategy are too predictable, and more often than not the giraffe would just helping hand their partner and finish off my leads on turn 1. And when trick room does go off I usually struggle to live through it.

2. Opposition's Tailwind

The core strategy of this team is for Blastoise to be faster and spam Water Sprout. However when the speed advantage is neutralized, most often than not the big man would take damage before Water Sprout could go off. The most common tailwind setters that I've seen are Whimsicott, Aerodactyl, M-Staraptor and more recently, Dragonite. Tsareena's Triple Axel is usually enough to finish off Dragonite and Aerodactyl (assuming all 3 hits land). In lower elo, whimsicott were pretty easy to deal with, usually a beak boosted Dual Wingbeat is enough to finish it off even with intimidate. In higher elo i've been seeing alot of bulkier whimsicott that survives the beating, or they inevitably read that I would attack so they protect'd and KO or break gale wing with the other mon. My biggest trouble is probably M-Staraptor. It's intimidate affected 4/6 of my team, Raichu's Electro Web will backfire, and a turn 1 Tailwind + Water Sprout doesnt ko it.

3. Spread moves

Obviously Follow Me doesnt do jack against spread moves. Usually it isnt a major problems but I seem to run into trouble with Sylveon and M-Floette in general. They don't go down from a max hp Water Sprout, and Dark Pulse isnt ideal. Sometimes I also run into issues with Garchomp when my Tsareena goes down before their Gchomp. A non boosted Water Sprout sometimes dont KO it, and population bomb is obviosly suicide.

I've been thinking of switching out Tinkaton for a mon with wide guard, since it is the mon with the least usage in this team. But then I'm also not sure which other mon would fit this team best.

Any feedback or insight into how I could improve this team would be greatly appreciated. Or if you guys got any advice on how I could better climb up to MB1, please share them.

Sorry for making such a long write-up, and thank you to anyone who read till the end.

Hey guys, excited to share this team I've been working on for a little while.

Team Idea: Hard Trick Room

https://pokepast.es/d247fba69b657743

Everyone's familiar with trick room and how effective Farigiraf can be as a trick room setter. The usual way this is done is Farigiraf alongside a Fake Out user. This team instead typically leads with Farigiraf and Gallade, which supports the following:

Opening Moves

• Farigiraf Trick Room & Gallade Attack
  • Anyone who's used Gallade knows that it hits like a truck thanks to great Atk stats + Sharpness providing a 1.5x boost.
  • Expert Belt on top effectively means OHKO for everything that's hit super effectively, but it OHKO's a lot that isn't specifically bulky too.
• Farigiraf Trick Room & Gallade Wide Guard
  • Obvious counter to spread damage
• Farigiraf Protect & Gallade Trick Room
  • My favourite and the real flexibility of this strategy.
  • A lot of teams will double into Farigiraf turn 1 because it can be so problematic. Or their trick room strategy is getting a Taunt user to disable Farigiraf.
  • Protecting + Gallade Trick Room still sets up the same, while keeping Farigiraf at 100%
• Farigiraf Imprison & Gallade Trick Room
  • Imprison Farigiraf is incredibly OP as I'll describe below, and if I can get that in on Turn 1 because I'm not afraid of a Farigiraf KO (or my opponent has Farigiraf that I want to disable immediately), this line is effective.

Once Trick Room is up, it's run just like any other Trick Room team: the sweepers Torkoal, Kingambit and Mega-Ampharos do huge damage.

Secondary Idea: Imprison Farigiraf

My favourite wincon with this team is setting Imprison with Farigiraf. This obviously means that opponents are locked out of using to Protect to stall Trick Room, which is the absolute perfect scenario to bring in the TR sweepers.

A 100% healthy Torkoal doing spread damage with Eruption, moving first because it's so slow and Farigiraf is blocking both priority moves with Armor Tail and Protect with Imprison, is a nightmare to deal with.

Because Farigiraf is so slow it obviously gives me the option to double into a pokemon that is Imprisoned with Psychic, or to use Protect myself to keep the Farigiraf alive and the Imprison going. This means that Farigiraf is providing huge value after the initial trick room setting, just by staying alive.

Protect is considered the best move in pokemon, so locking your opponent out of it feels pretty OP to me.

Team Description

• Gallade and Farigiraf: Trick Room Setters (Offensive w/ Gallade, Utility w/ Farigiraf)
• Torkoal, Kingambit, Ampharos: Trick Room Sweepers
• Aegislash: Not sure yet.

Weaknesses:

• It's hard trick room, so if my opponent manages to out-guess / out manoeuvre my opening couple of turns and take out both trick room setters, the game is lost
• There's potentially a structural weakness with two Psychic types, but STAB Sharpness boosted, Expert Belt boosted Sacred Sword will OHKO any Dark type. Ghost types could be a problem but the Steel Ghosts are vulnerable to fighting and Basculegion is OHKO by leaf blade. Bug is a problem, but as Bug is a tough type to make work, it's not too common, and I have Torkoal in the back most games anyway
• 6th pokemon. It's Aegislash at the moment but I basically never bring it. I've been playing around but haven't found something I'm in love with. Would be great to hear suggestions.

Let me know what you think! Had some success with it, but would be great to hear ideas for how it could be even more competitive