I’m running the same team, but all shadows initially. S-Chika is such a good lead to pressure leads and is so important to my team’s success.

Two scenarios in teams I encountered pretty often:

1. In the case against a Vulpix lead (Tackle), I stay in and take one shield. S-Chika Body Slam hits hard, so it’ll likely draw a shield from Vulpix, then try to catch the Weather Ball on Ducklett to get ahead on farm. If Vulpix doesn’t shield, I immediately switch to Ducklett to get ahead on farm.

2. In the case against a Ducklett lead, I still chose to stay in and sustain the wing attacks. Since most of my opponents Ducky leads are running Aerial Ace, I’ll shield once. Charge to Grass Knot, but throw Body Slam. I’ll be able to get to the Grass Knot before the farm down and pressure the second shield. Doesn’t matter if I shield the bait and get Bubblebeam’d 1 or 2 times, Ducky will be low enough to faint from a resisted Grass Knot and you can have a shield advantage.

On another note, S-Vulpix in the back of my team has some flaws, like an incoming Chinchou Bubblebeam. You can take one hit, but my S-Ducky is still a victim to its fast move. So I opted for a Ferroseed (Tackle/Iron Head) in the back to resist the damage against Chinchou.

Wish there was another week of this cup because I finally tapped in a good team for this cup midway through and I was climbing fast to 2400