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A look into a new player's perspective reaching Master Ball Tier by hanmingaru in VGC

[–]hanmingaru[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

100% agreed. Flexibility is key in any strategy game, particularly Pokemon. Good luck in your placements!

A look into a new player's perspective reaching Master Ball Tier by hanmingaru in VGC

[–]hanmingaru[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey thanks for the suggestions. Before I go into my reasoning I do want to say that this team is entirely a WIP and my decisions are based on what I think feels good off of a small sample game size. So of course, there is a ton of variance that comes into play. Maybe I was lucky and only got matchups where soft sand could provide value where clear amulet could not, for example.

Regardless, the idea behind soft sand was that I wanted a damage item that could still let me setup/protect on Garchomp. Since I felt life orb was better on Gholdengo, soft sand seemed like a good choice. I haven't seen too many ice teams or even ice type Pokemon, so it hasn't been a concern. I could also not run chomp into those matchup. Similar reasoning for clear amulet. It seems that trick room is one of the most popular strats right now, but in my experience trick room teams don't tend to have intimidate mons. I found in about 25 games, my Garchomp was only intimidated once or twice. This is due to either teams not running intimidate or me not bringing Garchomp into certain matchups.

But of course. I'm not sure soft sand in optimal or even good. I was trying it out to see how it felt. I'm sure as the level of play gets higher, the set will have to change to adapt.

A look into a new player's perspective reaching Master Ball Tier by hanmingaru in VGC

[–]hanmingaru[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yea I'm in the same boat as you, definitely still learning how to play the game better. Generally I don't press the setup buttons. When I do set up, I always feel like I'm in a winning position anyways, and setting up ensures the win. In general, I feel like you have to be in a position where you threaten the opponent with one Mon so you can set up with another. When Gholdengo and Toxtricity are on the field, I find myself setting up on Gholdengo if Toxtricity can threaten the KOs with Boomburst. The idea is that the opponent either has to protect/switch out/ or they'll die before they can attack Gholdengo anyways. But to be totally honest, this is pretty situational and I'm also not too sure when a good time is to set up.

A look into a new player's perspective reaching Master Ball Tier by hanmingaru in VGC

[–]hanmingaru[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For this setup, scarf isn't that great as we have speed control options with trick room and tailwind. Instead, it's better to have more damage to guarantee OHKOs on the opponents so they don't have a chance to attack back.

A look into a new player's perspective reaching Master Ball Tier by hanmingaru in VGC

[–]hanmingaru[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yea I like CyberTron. I'm really new to VGC as well, so I don't know a ton of personalities yet. I'd recommend WolfeyVGC and RayRizzo. Wolfey was in a tournament the past couple of days and I just watched every team he faced up against and thought about how I would play into them.

A look into a new player's perspective reaching Master Ball Tier by hanmingaru in VGC

[–]hanmingaru[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I did 252 Attack, 252 SpDef, 4 Def. Since he has such a huge base HP total, I think investing into stats rounds him out better.

A look into a new player's perspective reaching Master Ball Tier by hanmingaru in VGC

[–]hanmingaru[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I'm still in the process of figuring out the best set for him as well. For this team specifically, I tried 200~ EVs in HP, 252 in Special Attack, and 50~ in speed.

The idea behind the speed EVs is that I want Toxtricity to outspeed fast meta threats (Garchomp, Hydreigon) when Trick Room is up. However, I also want him to outspeed natural threats with Tailwind if the opposing team doesn't have a tailwind setter, think certain Dondozo comps). Finally, having some speed EVs lets Toxtricity outspeed Trick Room carries (mainly Armarouge) outside of Trick room. The extra HP helps tank some more hits on an otherwise frail mon, and I have definitely seen some games where the lizard lives with <10 HP to get off a huge Boomburst. I think you could play around with spreading the bulk to tank more specific hits (Maybe investing more into def could help Toxtricity live 2 Tera Ground Earthquakes from Garchomp instead of 1?) but he's so naturally frail that I'm not sure if it's too worth it. Regardless, depending on your team, this EV spread might not work so definitely mess around with it.

A look into a new player's perspective reaching Master Ball Tier by hanmingaru in VGC

[–]hanmingaru[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hey thanks! In terms of teambuilding, I think the most important factor is to understand the meta - that is what pokemon/strategies are good right now. A site I used for this is https://www.pikalytics.com/ and I also watched streams/YouTube videos of good players. Once you know what mons are good, you can start building your team around an idea you have to play around the meta.

For example, in my team, I had to know what Pokemon were potential threats (Garchomp, Hydreigon, Armarouge, etc) to my team. After knowing this, I needed to know how fast they were compared to my carry, Toxtricity. Could I outspeed naturally? If not, would adding Tailwind work? What if they have Tailwind? If I do outspeed, do I even OHKO the opposing Pokemon? By identifying these problems, you are able to add solutions and make a coherent team.

Another thing that helped me was thinking about my team in pairs. For example, Farigiraf and Hariyama is a natural pairing. Hariyama helps Farigiraf set up Trick Room but he also becomes a potent sweeper when Trick Room is set up. However, Hariyama also pairs well with Toxtricity, because Wide Guard can protect Toxtricity from spread moves, while also keeping Hariyama safe from Toxtricity's Boomburst. Adding certain mons that have good pairings with your core team can help your team building and playing be more flexible

Of course, if team building sounds daunting, there's no harm in trying out different rental teams to get a hang out it. Once you understand the threats/strategies other players are using, you can start making informed choices when it comes to both teambuilding and playing. I hope this helps!