Before we begin, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Daniel Munuera García, DaMuGa, a 33-year old guy from Murcia who has been into Pokémon since childhood, but only started competing when Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield came out. After this intro I would like to point out that this is my very first team report, so I apologize in advance for any possible mistakes that can be found.
This is the team with which I won the Gamergy Open and reached the semifinals of the Gamergy Invitational!
Table of Contents
Teambuilding
First of all, I would like to claim this as a hyper offensive team, just like almost every team I make, according to my playstyle.
This kind of teams require beforehand a huge analysis work, since the nature of their building consists on having options against every archetype and they are meant to be played by creating or forcing your game plan; and your opponent has to react to it. Every Pokémon in the team can be high-damage weapons, as there is no support or bulky Pokémon. The team only has 2 status moves (Tailwind and Will-o-Wisp), besides Protect on 5 out of the 6 Pokémon.
The Team
Get the team here!
Talonflame @ Focus Sash
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Air Slash
– Overheat
– Tailwind
– Protect
The way I see it, Talonflame is the best Tailwind option in the current meta to gain speed control, and, if necessary, it can provide some damage at the same time.
It is a Fire/Flying-type Pokémon that reaches a Speed stat value of 195, that is, it can only be outsped by Dragapult (among the commonly seen Pokémon). Moreover, with the Gale Wings Ability, when your HP is at full health, you get a +1 priority boost to your Flying-type moves, meaning you can get some really interesting plays. For the current metagame, my Talonflame is holding the Focus Sash, since Choice Band-boosted Extreme Speed from a Terastallized (Normal) Dragonite can one-shot it without the Focus Sash, and if Life Orb-boosted it has a low roll to survive, which is not really useful.
In my case, I prefer to play a specially offensive Talonflame for a few reasons:
- If you play it physical and want to do damage, you will end up fainting pretty quickly with Brave Bird or Flare Blitz (the two logical moves for this set).
- You won’t be suffering the effects from Intimidate and seeing your offensive potential reduced.
- With Overheat (if it connects) you can get some really interesting KOs.
- Air Slash can have potential when you are cornered and need to try and get a flinch.
In my case, as I mentioned before, I run Air Slash, Overheat, Tailwind and Protect. Why Protect if I’m Focus Sash? If my opponent has Extreme Speed or another priority move, they can try and get a KO right away without allowing it to do anything, and because there will be some situations in which you’ll have 1 turn of Tailwind left and protecting Talonflame could allow you setting it up again.
At last, Its Tera Type is Fire, since it can allow you to go for the unexpected Terastallization-boosted Overheat looking for the KO. In any case, it’s unusual to Terastallize the birdie.
Gholdengo @ Life Orb
Ability: Good As Gold
Level: 50
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Make It Rain
– Shadow Ball
– Protect
– Nasty Plot
I think Gholdengo has been one of the most amazing revelations of this generation. It has good typing (Ghost/Steel) and incredible stats.
I run Shadow Ball, its signature move Make it Rain, Protect and Nasty Plot. I also prefer having a defensive Tera Type, like Water, in order to stay on the field stopping anything that would be a one-hit KO, to keep the pressure with either more hits or Nasty Plot boosts before hitting your opponent. it holds the Life Orb to be able to one-shot opposing Pokémon more frequently.
Skeledirge @ Expert Belt
Ability: Unaware
Level: 50
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 92 HP / 124 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 36 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Torch Song
– Shadow Ball
– Tera Blast
– Protect
Skeledirge is the Pokémon I like the most so far in this generation. Its typing (Fire/Ghost), stats and Ability (Unaware ignores the opponent’s stat changes) make this Pokémon really useful in many situations. I think it is the best counter there currently is against the Dondozo + Tatsugiri matchup, its defense and movepool allowing it to give that archetype a hard time: you will always find a STAB-boosted move able to do at least neutral damage, and depending on the Dondozo’s spread it will fall in 1 to 4 hits.
The set uses Grass Tera Type, Tera Blast, Torch Song, Shadow Ball and Protect. The Expert Belt is the chosen held item to give more power to super-effective damaging moves, guaranteeing some one-hit KOs.
Annihilape @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Defiant
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fighting
EV: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 28 Def / 4 SpA / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Close Combat
– Shadow Claw
– Rock Slide
– Earthquake
Annihilape is another of the new Pokémon that has a lot to offer in the metagame. Its typing (Fighting/Ghost), its Defiant Ability (which boosts your Attack when any of the Pokémon stats are lowered, for example through Intimidate) and its stats, make it a comfort pick in a lot of archetypes.
Mine has the Fighting Tera Type in order to beat really important duels against certain Ghost types, like Gholdengo, and allowing it to get some unexpected one-hit KOs with Close Combat, for example against Arcanine. The Choice Scarf (which effectively boosts the holder’s Speed by 1 stage) is to outspeed most Pokémon and put pressure on my opponent, but you have to be careful about which move you lock: Close Combat, Shadow Claw, Earthquake or Rock Slide. As you can see, there is plenty of options to chose!
Tyranitar @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 108 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpA / 132 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Crunch
– Rock Slide
– Fire Punch
– Protect
Tyranitar is an old pal that never dies and even less now with Terastallization.
This Tyranitar has Fire Tera Type to remove weaknesses and deal better with common threads as Sylveon or Kingambit. Its Ability, Sand Stream, sets up a sandstorm, disrupting the potential of other weather teams or, for example, an Eruption from Torkoal under Trick Room.
This set has Rock Slide, Crunch, Fire Punch and Protect. It holds the Weakness Policy in a way that allows me to retaliate after any super effective damage with a +2 Attack boosted move.
Houndstone @ Spell Tag
Ability: Sand Rush
Level: 50
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 12 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Last Respects
– Will-o-Wisp
– Protect
– Shadow Sneak
Here is the last Pokémon, one of the keystones to the team. Houndstone is my second favorite from this generation.
It’s a pure Ghost type with OK stats, but it hides an amazing potential with its Ability (Sand Rush doubles the speed of the user under sandstorm) and its signature move (Last Respects, with a base power of 50 increasing by another 50 points for each fainted member on your team. It’s insane!). Its item is Spell Tag, increasing the damage of Ghost-type attacks by 20%. The three moves left are Shadow Sneak (+1 priority, very useful), Protect and Will-o-Wisp (necessary when reading an incoming Sucker Punch from Kingambit or Meowscarada that would pretty much KO it).
How to play the team
After explaining all the members of the team, I will now continue with how to play it at a basic level, but it is best for everyone to play the team and find their own playstyle, adapting it to their preferences and needs.
| Best lead | In the back |
|---|---|
 +  |  ,  |
The most common lead is Talonflame + Gholdengo, having Tyranitar and Houndstone in the back. With these four Pokémon you can put a lot of pressure and have great offensive potential, not allowing your opponent to react comfortably if they don’t bring anything specific that can deal with the four at the same time.
Against Dondozo + Tatsugiri teams Skeledirge is a must to bring, entering the field when Dondozo is already there, either with a more or less safe switch-in or after any of your Pokémon faints.
Annihilape can bring some variety and more pressure thanks to its Choice Scarf, bringing it instead of Gholdengo or Houndstone (in which case you could pick Skeledirge over Tyranitar if it does well against your opponent’s team).
Usually, you need a strong pace of dealing damage to your opponent, as Tailwind turns just fly by.
In the end, against Trick Room teams it’s recommended to leave Talonflame and Annihilape out, picking the other four Pokémon. The strat is to deal the most damage possible early game to avoid having Trick Room set up, but if it cannot be stopped you have to stall it out with Protect and the right switches.
Tournament
The tournament was pretty well organized and had a good pace. As per my sensations, I would say the Swiss rounds were really close because it took a lot to get to cut, and then when playing the top cut I had luck on my side against most people in some tough best-of-three sets. Finally, the atmosphere during the tournament was really positive.
These were my matches in the Gamergy Open!
Swiss rounds
Top cut
Gamergy Invitational
These were my Gamergy Invitational matches!
You can watch my set against Víctor here!
Conclusion
I hope the information I shared with you ends up being useful and, most important of all, that you keep enjoying this great game with spirit and sportsmanship, looking to make a good community, because, first and foremost, Pokémon is a game, and games are to be enjoyed.
Anything you need, don’t hesitate and contact me through my Twitter!
