VGC team(I Don't Know What Else to Call it.)

Red Striker

VGC Trainer
Member
I'm trying to create a team in preperation for a VGC tournament coming up,and thought to seek advice for it.Here it is:

Archeops@Flying Gem
Nature:Adamant
Abilit:Defeatist
EVs:252 Attack,252 Speed,6
Moveset:
Accrobatics
Rock Slide
Subsitute
Earthquake

Archeops will be the main sweeper for the team alongside Beheeyem.The only real strategy Archeops really has with itself is when it uses Accrobatics.Since the Flying Gem activates before you use a move,Accrobatics will end up with the overall power of 247 on the first shot.Rock Slide and Earthquake are for bringing down boath of the opponent's pokemon down faster.Subsitute is for getting set up(see how the team works at the bottom)and for advoiding Hydriegon's Surf(which,again,can be found near the bottom).

Beheeyem@Leftovers
Nature:Calm
Ability:Telepathy
EVs:252 Sp.Defense,252 Defense,6
Moveset:
Simple Beam
Psychic
Safeguard
Swagger

I'm sure there are some of us out there that tend to get pretty irritated by the fact that Archeops' Ability halves it's offensive capibilities once it's HP drops below half.Beheeyem is here to solve that.I'll start off by using Simple Beam to change Archeops' ability to Simple.That will sereve even more perpose once I have Safeguard going.With it I don't have to worry about status conditions,including Confusion,so while quadrupling Archeops' Attack with Swagger,I won't deal with the negative effects it gives.Wait,did I say quadruple?Oh,that's right,the Ability Simple doubles the effects of stat modifiers.(Getting back on topic)Since Taunt is becoming a common thing to use,Psychic will prevent me from getting Taunt-locked.

Virizion@Air Baloon
Nature:Adamant
Ability:Justified
EVs:252 Attack,252 Speed,6
Moveset:
Sacred Sword
Leaf Blade
X-Scissor
Swords Dance

In this format,some big things to look out for in Arceops' case are pretty much any Ice,Rock,Water,Steel and Electric-type.Luckly,Virizion counters all of those.(all but Electric anyways.)It counters Ice,Rock and Steel-types with Sacred Sword and Water-types with Leaf Blade.Swords Dance is to give it more of the approach of a sweeper, and X-Scissor is incase I end up dealing with another Grass or Psychic-type.

Hydriegon@Expert Belt
Nature:Modest
Ability:Levitate
EVs:252 Sp.Attack,252 Speed,6
Moveset:
Dragon Pulse
Earth Power
Surf
Flamethrower

Hydriegon is here to top things off.For starters,Flamethrower is to take care of any Bug or Ice-types I come accross.Dragon Pulse is on the set to deal with any other Dragon-types,mainly the ever-so-popular Haxorus.Surf is for when I encounter a Chandelure in any of my battles,and also for more type coverage.Earth Power serves no real perpose,as it is just there for type coverage.I'm aware that Surf hits all other pokemon in battle,but there's not much to worry about.Archeops can just Protect itself,Beheeyem won't be hurt due to it's ability and Virizion won't be hurt that much since it halves the damage from Surf and it has a high Sp.Defense.

~HOW THE TEAM WORKS~

I'll start the battle by having Archeops use Subsitute while Beheeyem uses Simple Beam on Archeops.(End of turn one)By the time that's done,Archeops can begin sweepeing while Beheeyem prepares to help Archeops further by using Safeguard.(End of turn two)Turn three will be like turn two,only rather than having Beheeyem use Safeguard,it will use Swagger on Archeops instead.
 
*approved*

Just something to consider, you might want to add pictures to make the thread look neater.

Just something to consider, but what do you do against Trick Room and Tailwind teams? It just seems like they'll rip the team to shreds. I think you need something like Taunt Thundurus or Tornadus in the lead position.
 
I suppose Trick Room is something promoted in 5th Gen. with the release of things like Reuniclus and Beheeyem etc.I might make a few adjustments here and there.
 
I'm sure there are a good few Pokemon with Priority moves who can make Archeops useless.
 
A couple of flaws I find with the strategy. 1:protect blocks Simple Beam so you can't use Protect turn 1. With the power going around in doubles that means Archeops can be killed turn 1. 2. Similar to the first point, I'd like to mention how horrible Archeops defenses are. 2 neutraly effective stab attacks can kill him turn 1. 3. This team has 3 Pokemon weak to ice. I don't know doubles that well but I know any team with a bulky blizzarder will have no trouble with you. If you still want a team based around Archeops I'd try something like this:

Archeops @ Choice Band
Jolly, 252 Attack 252 Speed 4 Sp. Def
Earthquake, Rock Slide, U-Turn, Aerial Ace

With Choice Band, Archeops hits a very impressive amount of attack. Jolly gives him great speed. The 4 sp. def ensures that Download users get an attack boost, which is generally bad for them. Earthquake and Rock Slide hit for nearly unresisted coverage (resisted only by Virizion, Breloom, and Levitate Bronzong) as well as hitting both enemies. U-Turn allows you to bail if Archeops is faced with something that can kill it. Aerial Ace is STAB and hits 2 of the 3 Pokemon that resist EQ/Rock Slide for 4x effective damage.

Flygon @ Life Orb
Naive, 252 Speed, 100 Atk, 156 Sp. Atk
Earthquake, Rock Slide, Heat Wave, U-Turn

Flygon is a good choice to pair with Archeops since it is immune to its allies Earthquakes while resisting Rock Slide, a fairly common move in doubles. A mixed sweeper Flygon can't afford to invest much in its attacks since it needs max speed to speed tie base 100s, so Life Orb grants it much needed power. The moveset is basically the same as Archeops's, with the only difference being Heat Wave, which hits all of the Pokemon that reisst Rock Slide and EQ super-effectively.

However, both of your leads are weak to ice, so we'll want to remedy that. Some other Pokemon I'd use with those would be Ferrothorn and something bulky that resists ice to take more advantage of U-Turn to switch in pokemon that are effective against the enemy.
 
If the rules are the same as VGC 2011, he can't use Flygon because it isn't in the Unova Pokedex.
 
I definitely think Archeops needs to be jolly with Stone Edge over Rock Slide. Otherwise, Gengar and Jolteon destroy it and it needs as much power as possible from Stone Edge.
 
Rock Slide is better than Stone Edge pretty much all the time in Doubles (I can't think of a reason you'd want to hit one Poke when you could hit both...)
 
TR teams would tear this team up as after it goes off there's not much you can do considering how frail most of your pokes are. Plus Thundurus running timid would outspeed and ohko archeops, crippling your strategy. Imo a Tailwind or Trick Room team would be more effective in the vgc meta, if its a true vgc tourney having a full team of 6 would have its advantages as well thanks to team preview. Virizion isn't too effective in this meta, everything he can defeat can be done better by a different Pokemon, and with all the Tornadus, Chandelure, and Thundurus with hp ice or flying he'll be going down somewhat quickly. If you wanna use Archeops pair him up with someone like Tornadus to boost his speed with tailwind so it could wreck havoc with Rock Slide.
 
I have a couple tings I think might help the team.

First of, Beeheyem is too slow and completely blocked my taunt. I would reccomend replacing it with a Whimsicott. Here's the set I reccomend:
Whimsicott @ Focus Sash
Prankster
Jolly/Timid
252 HP/252 speed
Taunt
Worry Seed
Encore
Tailwind

This set allows you to switch Archs ability (with priority) Keed Ammongus/Thundurus from giving you grief with status, and help Archeops outspeed and kill threats like Thundurus and Terrakian. Encore is to lock the opponent into Fake Out/Protect. If you wanted to , you could put Swagger on over Encore, but Archeops doesn't really need the attack boost with it's insane attack already.

Speaking of Archeops, Protect should go over sub.

On Virizion, Balloon is completely useless as you resist ground anyway. I would replace the Balloon with Life Orb, and Sacred Sword with Close Combat. In fact, the only commen type you listed in this meta is Rock, so I would replace it altogether. I guess you could keep it in and put a good fighting type in your other 2.

Lastly, your hydreagon can replace Surf with Protect, as it gets no good coverage except on Terrakion, which kills it with Close Combat anyway.

I hope I helped!
 
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