Mega Scizor VGC 2018 [RMT]

I made this team a few days ago. I really wanted to run Mega Scizor because its one of my favorite mons. I figured id have to take rain to protect it from all the common fire moves/types. Ended up figuring Gothitelle would be a really good partner because it can trap the things that Scizor does kill. I had no idea at the time of making this team but apparently its dead similar to another team called "Gothmaw" that uses the same idea but with Mawhile, and my team came out nearly identical. I think that Mawhile definitely has the better offensive typing, but I kind of want to emphasize how potent Bug Bite is and how good it is at breaking all the walls after an SD and stealing berry heals. That alone kind of makes me feel like Scizor has its value as an alternative to Mawhile.

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Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 156 Atk / 20 Def / 92 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bug Bite
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Protect
The core pokemon of this team. I thought id like to have him more offensively invested but i actually just stole this EV spread. Thus far it's done what you'd expect it to in the sense of attack damage, which is good because it kills things especially when Helping Hand boosted. Bug Bite had actually been a big deal for me the more i play this team. People will constantly switch in Incineroar to kill this and it just gets destroyed by Bug Bite and has its berry turned against it. Especially with Incineroar occupying 56% of VGC teams.

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Gothitelle @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Shadow Tag
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 48 Def / 4 SpA / 220 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heal Pulse
- Helping Hand
- Protect
- Psychic
I'm super unsure about this moveset. If i open with Scizor/Goth my turn 1 habit is hitting SD on Scizor and heal pulsing it, but i feel like its actually a bad play. I've been contemplating on adding Trick Room and maybe changing something for Ally Switch.

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Kingdra @ Waterium Z
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 50
EVs: 80 HP / 4 Def / 196 SpA / 4 SpD / 226 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Protect
- Ice Beam
My heavy abuser of the rain i took to protect Scizor and i remember readin a while ago Scizor/Kingdra was a good core at some point in singles because Kingdra bairs all the pokemon Scizor can kill and vise versa. Which thus far on Showdown ladder has remained true.

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Politoed @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 220 HP / 132 Def / 76 SpA / 76 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Scald
- Encore
- Perish Song
Rain setter to protect Scizor from all the fire moves and part of my soft Perish Song core i took in case Scizor cant kill everything. Mainly walls like Celesteela and Gastrodon can't be killed by Scizor when he's only +2 and trying to SD up and not get burned by Scald or Flamethrower seems like too much trouble to not just Perish Song.

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Incineroar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 116 Atk / 4 Def / 148 SpD / 4 Spe
- Fake Out
- Knock Off
- Flare Blitz
- Snarl
This is my hard Metagross/Steel type counter. I don't take the rain mons if i need to take this one. He's just so solid that i felt like i couldn't go wrong taking him.

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Tapu Bulu @ Miracle Seed
Ability: Grassy Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 116 Def / 4 SpD / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Horn Leech
- Superpower
- Protect
This is to protect my team from EQ considering i have no ground immunity, the healing is also good for when i set up on Scizor and just want him to stay out. Grassy terrain plus the rain makes it really hard to kill Scizor. Not to mention this mon destroys Fini, and other water types(especially when i'm facing another rain team).

If anyone has some insight on what a more solid moveset for Gothitelle that would be cool. Other than the glaring issue of no ground immunity i think this team came out pretty well.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7vgc2018-760240409
 
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Why Kingdra over Ludicolo? Ludi is generally considered the better Pokemon.

I think Goth should carry TR - even if you aren't running a "Trick Room team" it's really nice to have the speed control.

Generally speaking I don't think you want to set up Scizor that early. It won't KO everything right away, and Goth doesn't put any offensive pressure right away. I think the goal of Gothitelle teams tend to be to use intimidate and snarl to weaken your opponent's pokemon until they can't really do damage, then set up in front of them while they can't touch you. Try to use scizor to clean up what's left of your opponent's team.

This isn't the same team you're running, but it's a similar archtype that did really well in the Roanoke regional. His team report is worth reading.
 
There wasn't actually a reason for Kindra over Ludi, it was just preference because i'm more familiar with it. But if its the better mon ill take it. I'm gonna change Goth to TR too, since i was pretty sure i should have it anyway. Thanks for confirming for me.

Also to be honest i get away with a lot of turn 1 Sword Dance. But i guess using low ladder players as a benchmark for how a team should function doesn't make any sense. So do you have any examples of what my leads should look like Vs. standard leads?

Edit: What i meant by "familiar" when it came to Kingdra was the knowledge that i could stay in turn 1 to Tapu Koko and OHKO it with Water Z.
 
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Honestly, I haven't ever used Scizor on gothitelle teams so I can't give you matchups. The only time I ran Goth was at the start of the format when I ran control-snorlax.

I think your best bet is to watch some streams of Carson at LATAM (I think he was on stream in Madison using the same team too). From what I've seen your best bet is to lead rain, since that tends to force people to play defensively, and then use that to force them into compromising situations.

I think Yanquin's team report is pretty on point about how to play this archtype, although he focused more on Perish since he had Mawile

Personally, I don’t really like those 50/50 plays in VGC games. Some of them are smart reads and others are just gambling. I believe that a well built team or a strong Pokémon trainer should try not to make many reads in a game. Shadow Tag became a good weapon to eliminate those uncertainties. Running this team, I get to be very patient. Every single Pokémon is not that offensive and I personally don’t want to make some all-in call on turn one. Re-position, figure out what the opponents’s Pokémon sets and making some game plans are more important than spread damage in the first few turns.

As a Perish team, if I get the first knock-out, it will be easier to find a win condition than other types of team, even though it might be many turns away. When I see a clear way, I don’t hesitate to sacrifice Pokémon.

On the other hand, the slower I play the game, the more attacks I suffer from. Also, because of the slow speed of this team, the turns will increase and create more opportunities for my team to get unfavorable RNG rolls. This is the down side of the team and I have tried to make peace with that.
 

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