Corporal Levi's parts
Without a trace of doubt the single most influential LC team of the sixth generation, Queenlucy's team has single-handedly popularized an entire archetype. Before her team became recognizable, sun in LC was almost universally regarded as a gimmick without Tangela. As Queenlucy began to ladder more and her team gained notice, this quickly began to change. Nowadays, sun is known as an extremely effective offensive archetype that absolutely must be taken into account when teambuilding, all thanks to a single team created by a single user.
It wasn't just the sun archetype that this team brought to the playerbase's attention, however; it also innovated several sets that have since become standard fare. The most notable of these would be the star of the team, Eviolite Bellsprout. The plant that has since almost become synonymous with this team among the LC community was almost never seen between Tangela's ban and Queenlucy's rise, and when it was, it would be carrying a Life Orb in a futile attempt to imitate Chlorophyll Tangela, as opposed to the Eviolite on this team's Bellsprout. Later renditions of the team, especially after Misdreavus was banned, carried Berry Juice + Thief Snubbull, which was unheard of then but has since risen to become one of LC's most notable support Pokemon for offensive teams. Although it was eventually replaced by Pawniard, Magnemite was originally one of the defining members of the team due to it carrying Endure to make it less reliant on hazard removal to act as a safety net, a move that is now considered a staple on most Berry Juice Magnemite sets.
Necessary on any sun team in LC is the only available auto-sun setter, Vulpix. Its ability, Drought, provides Bellsprout with the support needed to function as the potent offensive threat that it is, doubling Bellsprout's speed and allowing it to effectively utilize Weather Ball and Solar Beam. Of course, Vulpix itself is no slouch either, taking advantage of its own ability to fire off Drought-boosted STAB attacks while sitting at a fairly high Speed tier. As if that wasn't difficult enough to switch into, Vulpix can burn would be physical switch-ins with Will-o-Wisp or hit Water-type checks hard with Energy Ball. Vulpix usually only needs three attacks, and Quick Attack has since become a standard filler move to pick off weakened Abra and the like, but this wasn't the case; this team is what brought Quick Attack Vulpix to the attention of the player base. Of course, a minor tweak to Vulpix's moveset is just the beginning to the drastic changes this team brought to the LC metagame.
The most dominant type in LC is easily the Fighting-type, which means that every team should have some sort of answer to them. Snubbull is a good choice for this role thanks to its Fairy-type and ability in Intimidate. At first glance, Queenlucy's set might seem standard; Play Rough and Earthquake are mandatory on just about every Snubbull set, and Heal Bell is just a generally good support move to have. However, what set this Snubbull apart from other Snubbulls at the time was a combination of Berry Juice and Thief, giving Snubbull a one-time heal to cover up arguably its single biggest weakness in its lack of recovery, and then crippling a switch-in by stealing its item. The beauty of this particular set on this particular team is that Snubbull and the team's main sweeper, Bellsprout, share a number of switch-ins, including Ponyta, Porygon, and Magnemite; all three are left unable to effectively check Bellsprout with their Eviolites removed, allowing Bellsprout to sweep unimpeded. Of course, this set's advantages extend to all sorts of teams, thus its current widespread use since this team introduced it.
One thing that greatly troubles sun teams is the presence of entry hazards on the sun team's side of the field; not only is Vulpix weak to Stealth Rock, but if it faints to entry hazards upon switching in, then Drought is not activated. This makes some method to get rid of hazards a must for any Sun team. Archen is Queenlucy's hazard remover of choice, utilizing Defog to ensure that Vulpix and Bellsprout can get into play with full health. It also checks Fletchling, which is an otherwise massive thorn in the team's side, stopping Bellsprout's sweep with a priority Acrobatics and heavily damaging Vulpix. Other than these two integral roles, Archen's sky-high Attack stat allows it to act as an overall powerful attacker.
Goddess Briyella's parts
Next up is Bellsprout, the true terror of this team and the usual central focus of sun offense in Little Cup in general. Despite being the most frail sun sweeper in the game, its dual STAB Sludge Bomb and Solar Beam hit incredibly hard when backed by Life Orb, and its access to Weather Ball while using Chlorophyll (a combination Bulbasaur cannot legally have) gives it notably stronger Fire-type coverage than the Hidden Power Fire other Chlorophyll sweepers are forced to resort to, making it arguably the most fearsome offensive threat under strong sunlight. As should be expected, Bellsprout is able to incapacitate a foe it finds itself incapable of striking down with a OHKO by way of Sleep Powder, making it even more difficult to face and harder to prepare for. Fletchling is an obvious issue for Bellsprout, as are Fire-types that can take a Sludge Bomb and hit back, but that's what Archen and Stone Edge Mienfoo are on the team for. It should be noted that Bellsprout's lack of reliable Grass-type STAB while sun is not out makes it a liability if Hippopotas comes in after a KO, but it can be beaten down with force and a nice sun-boosted Fire Blast from Vulpix after its Eviolite is removed and a little prior damage has been dealt to it, and a nice way to crack the old hippo hide is to coax your opponent into taking a Knock Off from the likes of Mienfoo or Pawniard. After the threats of sand, Fletchling, Ponyta, and bulky Houndour have been removed, Bellsprout is able to overwhelm the opposing team with force and with very few things able to have a chance to significantly damage it.
Mienfoo is without doubt the most versatile and flexible Pokemon in Little Cup, and the variant found on this team definitely goes its fair distance in accentuating that fact. This bulky Mienfoo set is not only designed to take incredible super effective hits like Abra's Psychic and Fletchling's itemless Acrobatics, but it is also intentionally slow to allow for safely bringing in Bellsprout for a sweep, Vulpix to restore sunlight, or Pawniard to Pursuit-trap or KO a weakened enemy. As is usually the case, Mienfoo's combination of Drain Punch and Regenerator gives it a huge amount of longevity so that it continue supporting its team through the momentum and utility that has given it
#1 usage in the tier for so long. The team-specific move of choice here is Stone Edge, which puts a nice dent in the things that obstruct Bellsprout's sweeping ability; Fire-types are hit for massive damage, Larvesta is annihilated, and Fletchling is also OHKOed whether it decides to go for Acrobatics or attempt to set up on the predicted Mienfoo switch-out. Notably, Stone Edge knocks Vullaby for a loop as well, a Pokemon that can pose issues for the team due to its high bulk, its Grass resistance, and its Overcoat ability blocking Sleep Powder. If used properly, Mienfoo works very well as a provider of opportunities for the rest of this team, which helps it perform at a higher level overall, mainly to help Bellsprout sweep without interruptions.
Last but not least, Choice Scarf Pawniard wraps up this awesome team. While its original purpose was mainly to beat Misdreavus, its effectiveness remains as good as ever even after the ghastly necklace bearer's banishment. Pawniard's boosted Speed still allows it to Pursuit-trap relevant threads such as Gastly and Life Orb Abra, and its hard-hitting Knock Off also benefits from the unnatural increase in Speed that Choice Scarf provides. Obligatory secondary STAB in Iron Head rounds out Pawniard's damaging moves, slamming the likes of opposing Archen and Spritzee for super effective damage and having a reasonable chance to flinch other enemies at times. Stealth Rock may seem like an odd choice for this set, being a non-damaging move that makes Pawniard unable to do anything meaningful afterward except switch out, but the softening up of the Fire- and Flying-types that can get in the way of Bellsprout's sunny onslaught is greatly appreciated and is well worth being locked in if the player can use it while forcing a switch or after Pawniard has already done a lot of work in removing items and weakening the opposing team. Pawniard's resistance to Flying and handful of other resistances come in handy as well; it only needs to watch for Fighting-types and Ground- or Fire-type moves that can hit it should they survive Pawniard's attack. All in all, Pawniard is a great manipulator and wallbreaker that makes it easier for the rest of the team to power through and can even score its own kills in the process.
Here is our total progress so far:
http://piratepad.net/0TsEZVtnMg
We can definitely have this finished tomorrow. The main content is all written already.
