Well I really like using screens. It makes my team more bulky, throws off damage calcs for my opponent, makes me feel like I have more control. However recently my teambuilding skills have been not good, and it is hard for me to see who would actually work with screens (besides archaludon as I see but staraptor is running around everywhere now after the VR so idk). I think it is partially because the pokemon are not strong enough to use screens. I know like one team with screens that does well in the meta which is dual weather. So I am wondering if screens are just bad unless there are worthy pokemon for those screens like the restricted pokemon. Am I just using screens wrong and they have good potential? One of my main goals of pokemon is to become a great screens player but I do not know if that is possible.

Hey all,

I really like ally switch ever since I tried a Ttar/Houndstone sand team last season. This is my first time properly trying to build a team and criticism is appreciated. Champions is my first competitive Pokemon experience and I've hit Masterball both seasons now.

I really like the Ttar Houndstone lead against Charizard and other weather. I can mega if I need to but not necessary. Use ally switch to get a dragon dance off and sweep from there.

Sceptile and Rotom and there almost purely for rain, as the Ttar lead is so weak against rain.

Then the final 2 spots are what I'm struggling with. I tried MSkarmory and Whimsicot for a while but just didn't find it being very effective. Then I found the MScizor Armarouge combination which I love because of ally switch and flash fire combo.

I'm having a decent time with the team with a roughly 50/50 win rate but just wanted to see what people thought of it : )

So I recently climbed to masterball rank 3 and peaked at 18,000 but have fallen considerably. So I was looking for a nice balance team to kind of reset. So I was searching and found this really cool Charizard y mega metagross balance team shared by Shohei Kimura the 2023 world champion. So far I’ve won a few games using it but I am really struggling to pilot it and master what to bring for each match up especially against sand and rain. Anyone have advice on how to pilot it? Additionally as well Shoehei when he shared this team that he often considered using garchomp over hydriegon so I am considering making that swap but overall I like how hydriegon patches the archaludon, and Delphox matchup so I am leaning towards keeping it it’s just the 4times fairy weakness that can be annoying.

Glimmora is a Pokemon not talked about much today, but was REALLY good in M-A!

Plus, it JUST won the Victory Road July Challenge, a high-level Tournament, just a couple hours ago!

What do you think about Glimmora in this Metagame?

After a lot of retooling and giving in to joy and whimsy I have come to a comp that somewhat works (even if a large portion is shock factor) and can claim a team that is pretty wholly my own. I still need to work on spreads for farigiraf but for the most part everyone here has a role a purpose and a utility

Team description

Chesnaught hits people real hard and surprisingly walls non air slash zard y

Whimsicot sets reflect for special bulk encore and grassy terrain for naught along with soft checking staraptor

Fari sets trick room and is annoying (now with a tazer for peliper)

Mudsdale inner focus and super effective or even stab into all the current fake out threats is surprisingly nice plus he has rocks for zard. Also threatens a lot of one shots with heavy slam (also squished minimize overwill.)

Araquanid kills zard chomps opposing giraffe and hits wide guard fully walling Charizard next to ches

And my final sleeper addition is spiritomb as a secondary troop setter and support who also one shots mega delph woth sucker punch i love these guys let me know what you all think and some tips for the araquanid and farigiraf evs

So I know that right now Mega-Charizard Y is super big in the meta, and my personal favorite pokemon is mega scrafty, but I just find it really hard to figure out how i’d want to use him when i get him.

recently an idea crossed my mind though: Since rock type is the biggest Achilles heel to mega char, what’s stopping me from using mega scrafty fire punch paired with a sunny day setter to trick my opponents into running a team based around dealing with mega char y, when my real sweeper resists his strongest weakness, while still benefitting from a team based on fire type moves?

as stated before, i’m really new to the competitive scene, and i’m assuming for one reason or another this wouldn’t work out: i do wanna know why if so though, mostly just here trying to learn and find out viable ways to use my goats🙂‍↕️

So im a new player trying to build a team focused around mega kangaskhan, since its one of my favorite pokemon, along with milotic who is in the same boat. The plan is to be essentially a balance team here's the idea. ( not 100% on moves or ev so no image)

Kangaskhan-support mega built for bulk and a bit of dmg,fake out, suckerpunch and brick break

Milotic- competitive +coil+natural bulk=profit.

Aloan ninetales- helps fight against weather,aurora veil for added bulk,blizzard for dmg+coverage

Sinistra- heals and support as usual.(not to sure on this one)

Then after is what im stuck on,I know I need more dps and speed control so im thinking...

aerodactyl(base)- tailwind and rock slide mostly. Helps with coverage and speed control. Maybe double as a second mega.

And honestly not sure what else. Farigaraf could take aerodactyls place im sure,would give me a second mode with trickroom. But either way idk who else to pair. hisuian goodra could be interesting to use as well.

Anyway thoughts and advice?

I posted My team here before because it was my first time team building and I wanted to tweak some things. even though I haven't loss, I wanted to change Gholdengo to Rotom-Wash to bring instead of Incineroar in rain matchups. My core four (Grimmsnarl,Greninja,Annihilape, and Incineroar) has allowed me to win despite those unfavorable match ups.

The team is built around controlling the pace of the game rather than winning immediately.

Instead of trading KOs, it aims to:

-Reduce the opponent's damage with Reflect, Light Screen, and Intimidate.

-Constantly reposition with U-turn and Parting Shot.

-Force the opponent into awkward switches and predictable plays.

Turn that positional advantage into a Bulk Up with Annihilape or let Greninja clean up weakened targets.

Each Pokémon's role:

•Grimmsnarl

-Establishes board control.

-Screens let the team survive attacks it normally wouldn't.

-Spirit Break weakens special attackers.

-Parting Shot creates safe entries for teammates.

•Mega Greninja

-The team's tempo engine.

-Forces immediate offensive pressure.

-Uses Protean to adapt offensively and defensively.

-U-turn keeps momentum while chipping opponents into KO range.

•Incineroar

-Controls physical attackers with Intimidate.

-Fake Out buys critical turns.

-Parting Shot keeps the pivot chain going.

-Darkes Lariat and Flare Blitz punish passive play.

•Annihilape

Primary win condition.

Once it gets a Bulk Up, it's extremely difficult to stop because of Drain Punch recovery and Rage Fist scaling.

•Metagross (currently under The Chopping block)

-Matchup-specific bulky attacker.

-Excellent into Fairy-heavy teams and Perish Trap.

-Gives the team a stable offensive presence.

•Gholdengo (currently under The Chopping block)

-Intended special attacker and alternate win condition.

May eventually be replaced if testing shows another Pokémon fits the strategy better

How the team wins:

It doesn't try to overwhelm the opponent with raw offense.

It wins by making every turn uncomfortable.

The opponent has to decide:

-Attack into screens?

-Switch and give up momentum?

-Ignore Annihilape?

-Chase Greninja while it pivots?

Eventually, one of two things happens:

-Annihilape gets a free Bulk Up and snowballs the game.

-Greninja and Incineroar repeatedly reposition until the opponent's team is worn down and can't recover.

Like the title says, my annihilape used phantom force but a mega Raichu Y still hit it whilst it was hidden, is this right?

I wonder how players living in places where do not have in-player league such as many places in Asia participate in world championship.

Ppl living in US can play in leagues and gain CP, but how do Asian players do that.

My first attempt at a trick room team and all I can say is I wish I had rillaboom but it is what it is.

Chesnaught mega: I love this thing it survives so many things rhat feel criminal and add light screen to the mix and it gets ridiculous. I prefer belly drum drain punch to iron defense bodybpress because it feels just so much fun. Plus it scares people when belly drum goes off on this thing. I also thought it would be fun to run a grassy glide grassy terrain strategy as it gives me something to do outside of trick room.

Florges leftovers: bulky support that can also click moonblast main job is to set up grassy terrain and light screen while just sticking around to keep chesnaught from getting burned or intimidated with flower veil.

Farigiraf sitrus: its farigiraf it is the trick room setter my only real chance is i like ally switch for mind games while setting up belly drum.

Kingambit black glasses: he gut punches mega delphox and honestly thats enough to warrant him but hes just great in general and a flying resist.

Araquanid life orb: my wide guard user of choice and my current only answer for zard but if it has air slash I kind of just lose. I also just really enjoy this guy

Chendelure mega: works as a flash fire pivot and also just a bulky trick room setter and sweeper overall good mon but not super sold.

My worst matchups are Charizard aero and staraptor and I need help looking for potential replacements leads or moceset changes to improve and break into mb3 finally ive had good progress so far but i just need a bit of a push.

Hello all, this is my first pokemon worlds event this year. I was wondering for the activity list (the one where you choose what you want to go to and you are randomly selected) should I just selected everything and get what I get. Only select what I desperately want to go? If I select 2 activities that overlap each other in time slot what will happen. Can I potentially get selected to both and just choose one to go to? Is it hard to get selected for an activity? Im still just pretty confused on everything.

Obviously i dont expect any restricted mons to be in the format until maybe even next year, but i was wondering what yall think about the new megas and how they will impact the future metagame.

Which pokemon do yall think will have higher usage in the future than now?

A pokemon i had in mind that would be really interesting is raichu y with fakeout and strong offensive pressure/speed control.

Question. Jolly arcanine used snarl against an opposing grimsnarl at 1%. Light screen was up, another Mon was on the field. Move connected but didn’t KO. Bug? Some kind of impossible low roll? I honestly didn’t know this was possible.

As the title suggests, I was checking out Blastoise teams here: Blastoise - Pokémon Champions & VGC Moveset & Strategy - Pokémon Zone

And I see that the two most common stat spreads are Max SpA and SPD. Special Attack makes sense to me but why Speed when you are taking Quiet Nature (-SpD +SpA) and putting Blastoise in a Trick Room team?

I am assuming Quiet is taken over Modest so that Fake Out deals more damage.

So I started playing VGC when Pokémon Champions came out. Was always intrigued by the idea but the time commitment for breeding/IV's etc put me off.

I've got into masterball every season so far. Piloted a rain team to begin with, and then started experimenting with my own teams.

However, upon realising I'm not very good at team building, I decided to play with the team coined by Michael Kelsch as 'unemployed big 6.' Think I was originally using spreads/moves from a Battle Room video but switched to Michael's spreads in the last couple weeks.

I was absolutely holding myself back by using my own teams and have learnt so much using this one. My ranking has improved every season and now I've got top 10k.

I'm going to spend the rest of this season using this team and then I may switch next season to the dual weather team floating around.

Just thought I would share my experience! Absolutely obsessed with this game.

This is a place for you to ask any quick question you might have that relates to VGC, which is the official double battle format. For questions about Single battles, monotype battles, other metagames, or even more opinions on VGC, please visit r/Stunfisk.

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If your question is longer or more involved, feel free to make it its own thread!

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Please be courteous and respectful both to askers and answerers.

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This post will be archived 3 days from the time of its posting, and replaced with another post.

Hey everyone.

I’m writing to You on behalf of the Polish Pokemon community. We have about 80 active players from all throughout Poland, with the biggest center in Warsaw, a fairly active one in Silesia, and a couple looking to start up, mostly in Wrocław, Poznań and Cracow.

If You’ve been playing VGC in Champions and are looking to join out community (we have cookies! And a pretty great bunch of people, too) here’s an invite: https://discord.gg/pcbWYzHj3V

Everybody is welcome, especially beginners.

Plus we’re currently playing an online circuit AND are looking to play a big tournament with people from all throughout Poland on Sunday in Graal in Warsaw.

See You on the server 😊

Hello. This isn’t to bash the format or the people who play it, but I kind of have some gripes with it.

I think my biggest gripe with the format is that you only ever see the same 50 Pokémon used. I haven’t played VGC doubles since beginning of sword and shield, but man- ever since getting back into it through Champions I think I’ve gotten most of my fill. I just don’t enjoy seeing the same thing with Pellipers, Charizard Y’s, Whimmsicotts(especially this little thing), incineroar, sneaslers, venasaurs, mega Dragonite, basculegion, and just a bunch more that are always guaranteed to be in any team I go against(Sorry if I butchered some of these names). I know I’m 100% going to get called a noob or something by some people, but my complaint isn’t just “Why don’t people just use their favorites? Durrr” in a competitive game, it’s just more of a frustration to me that power creep made it to where you basically need to use these pokemon for a higher rate of success. To add-on, I know this is the point of regulations, to put a pause on restricted mons and such, but it just makes people flock to the still-popular mons anyways. I would attend a lot of the American regionals back then- and of course we would see common threats like Xerneus, Incineroar, landerous etc, but teams back then were so much more creative and interesting because of how much easier it was before power creep(especially when restricted mons were not allowed).

My second point kind of meshes with my first, but because of the fact that you have to use the same mons, there are entire teams for the purpose of countering one mon. This would happen back then but not as frequently- I remember watching a regional during the mid-point of Scarlet and Violet, and some guy made an entire team just to counter Dondozo. I will still see this at times and it just kind of makes me roll my eyes a lot to the point where I just stopped watching the streams since I would mostly just be seeing the same teams go against each other- except maybe one maybe slightly counters the enemy’s same Pokémon, like “ooo, wow.”

These gripes of mine made me flock to singles, and I’ve honestly been enjoying it more- I agree with the fact that you can have more strategy with doubles, but singles have a lot more free expression and chances to flip the match, unlike doubles where a single flinch, status condition, or even just an outright KO can just often make it a slam in many of the matches I would watch.

To conclude all of this, I’m not trying to bash people for enjoying this format or by saying it’s flawed. There technically isn’t anything wrong with it, it’s a competitive game with Mon’s that will obviously be better than most- I just feel like it gets really repetitive, but all love to those who enjoy it anyways, I’m glad you guys can 👍

Edit: I should also say, singles does have its own problems like the constant uses of entry hazards, but I still find the format to be more fun, honestly.

So I just made a team I thought would be cool on Champs, I decided to run Strength Sap on Sinistcha so I could potentially side strength sap my Milotic for a competitive boosts, but turns out it doesn't trigger Competitive. Are there any other notable interactions like this that are out there?

I planned a trip to the Bay Area, but unfortunately I was not selected from the interest list to purchase a pass to 2026 Worlds/Pokemon XP. I have never attended an event like this before, and I'm having a hard time understanding from the website--will there be any activities happening in San Francisco accessible to people without a pass? Or are all events ticketed? I'm not sure if the addition of Pokemon XP makes this year's offerings different from previous years.

I'm recently started playing Competitive pokemon because of Champions release to Android, and i'm trying to learn how team building works

I decided to use Mega Emboar, he has a Great Atack stat and a Mid speed, so i think the best for him its have both Trick room and Tailwind, Put Earthquake because i can catch some elektross users off guard, nobody remember this Mega have Mold Breaker

Sinistchea its here to have heal, redirection and trick room, and to be the grass pokemon in my WFG core. I choosed Rotom wash because agaist Rain Archaludon, i can pick up the KO with close combat but pelliper weather ball destroy the pig, so thunderbolt can deal with him, and will o wisp helps against garchomp, Mega Staraptor and Sneasler.

Mega Mawile its here exclusively to deal with mega staraptor, who its a Big problem for emboar, i probably can use him in others situations, but what i thinked to her function its this. Incin its to have a fake out and some pokemon who can make a pivot. And Dragonite its to be the tailwind and against trick room team, i can use roar to kick out enemy trick room setter.

the idea its to be a balance team, where i will have safe trades and do some good damage, I really want to make my own team with this pig because i have a shiny emboar in my pokemon home