Hi! My name is Álex Soto and I have been playing Pokémon VGC since 2013. In 2016 I started traveling to compete, and at that moment I realized that I wanted to dedicate myself to this. I currently do live streams on Twitch and upload videos to YouTube with the aim of sharing with others everything I have learned over the years 🙂
Table of Contents
The Team
The Liverpool Regionals has been incredible! Although the Series 1 format is already ending, I will show you my team with which I got the second position. I hope you like the idea and that you try it for the following formats. Don’t underestimate hard Trick Room!
I thought that people were paying attention to the Rain teams and Dondozo teams and they forgot about hard Trick Room teams, so I wanted to take this opportunity to create a team just for this tournament and it worked very well: people were not prepared!
The idea of the team is very simple: set the Trick Room and try to win in 4 turns. That’s why I finished the battles so quickly!
This is the team. Now let’s focus on the function of each Pokémon!
Find a paste of the team here!
Indeedee-F @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
– Dazzling Gleam
– Helping Hand
– Follow Me
– Trick Room
Female Indeedee can now learn Trick Room! This Pokémon is very useful for its ability, Psychic Surge, which powers up Armarouge’s and Hatterene’s Psychic-type moves, as well as preventing the opponent from using priority moves like Fake Out. Also with the Follow Me move it does very well against the Maushold + Annihilape duo, preventing the Maushold from using Beat Up. Finally, the Psychic Seed is the best item! Since in this way the Knock Off of the Meowscarada does not deal that much damage to you! The Grass Tera Type is to be immune to Amoonguss’s Spore 😉
252 Atk Choice Band Meowscarada Knock Off vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Indeedee-F: 140-168 (79 – 94.9%) — guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Gholdengo Make It Rain vs. +1 252 HP / 4 SpD Indeedee-F: 81-96 (45.7 – 54.2%) — 47.3% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Indeedee-F on a critical hit: 156-184 (88.1 – 103.9%) — 31.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Indeedee-F: 152-182 (85.8 – 102.8%) — 12.5% chance to OHKO
Armarouge @ Twisted Spoon
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
– Psychic
– Heat Wave
– Expanding Force
– Trick Room
Armarouge is by far the best Pokémon on the team, as it pressures with Expanding Force and can set up Trick Room. I think Twisted Spoon is a good item because it has two Psychic-type moves. I run Psychic and Expanding Force so I can do well against Pelipper and Garganacl with Wide Guard! The Grass Tera Type is also to avoid Amonguss putting you to sleep. Also, take advantage of its Flash Fire ability very well, since they can’t use super-effective Fire-type moves on you!
252+ SpA Tera-Grass Armarouge Heat Wave vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Meowscarada: 174-206 (114.4 – 135.5%) — guaranteed OHKO 252+ SpA Tera-Grass Armarouge Heat Wave vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Gholdengo in Sun: 212-252 (130 – 154.6%) — guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Twisted Spoon Tera-Grass Armarouge Helping Hand Expanding Force (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp in Psychic Terrain: 217-256 (118.5 – 139.8%) — guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Twisted Spoon Tera-Grass Armarouge Helping Hand Expanding Force (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Palafin-Hero in Psychic Terrain: 213-252 (102.8 – 121.7%) — guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Meowscarada Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Armarouge: 150-176 (78.1 – 91.6%) — guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Glimmora Power Gem vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Armarouge: 168-198 (87.5 – 103.1%) — 25% chance to OHKO 252 SpA Hydreigon Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Armarouge: 162-192 (84.3 – 100%) — 6.3% chance to OHKO 252+ SpA Choice Specs Gholdengo Make It Rain vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tera-Grass Armarouge: 153-181 (79.6 – 94.2%) — guaranteed 2HKO
Torkoal @ Charcoal
Ability: Drought
Level: 50
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
– Eruption
– Flamethrower
– Earth Power
– Clear Smog
Torkoal in Trick Room is the best Pokémon against Dondozo! With Clear Smog, you can reset Dondozo’s stat changes first, so Dondozo can faint from a Psychic or Expanding Force afterwards!
The purpose of Eruption is doing a lot of damage in harsh sunlight. I chose Flamethrower instead of Heat Wave because the Wide Guard move was being used a lot and Meowscarada already faints with Eruption even with low health! Earth Power is for a bit of coverage, but I do regret it a bit as I think Solar Beam does better against Gastrodon. Held item Charcoal makes Torkoal deal more damage and Fire Tera Type, even more!
252+ SpA Charcoal Tera-Fire Torkoal Helping Hand Eruption (150 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Meowscarada in Sun: 764-900 (502.6 – 592.1%) — guaranteed OHKO (lmao!) 252+ SpA Charcoal Tera-Fire Torkoal Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tera-Flying Gholdengo in Sun: 208-246 (107.2 – 126.8%) — guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Charcoal Tera-Fire Torkoal Helping Hand Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Sylveon in Sun: 228-270 (112.8 – 133.6%) — guaranteed OHKO 252+ SpA Charcoal Tera-Fire Torkoal Eruption (150 BP) vs. 180 HP / 0 SpD Annihilape in Sun: 208-246 (100 – 118.2%) — guaranteed OHKO 252+ SpA Charcoal Tera-Fire Torkoal Helping Hand Eruption (150 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Hydreigon in Sun: 156-184 (92.8 – 109.5%) — 56.3% chance to OHKO (WTF!) 252+ SpA Charcoal Tera-Fire Torkoal Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 60 SpD Assault Vest Kingambit in Sun: 272-324 (131.4 – 156.5%) — guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Gholdengo Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Tera-Fire Torkoal: 151-178 (85.3 – 100.5%) — 6.3% chance to OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Tera-Dragon Dondozo Wave Crash vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tera-Fire Torkoal in Sun: 140-168 (79 – 94.9%) — guaranteed 2HKO
204+ Atk Tyranitar Rock Slide vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tera-Fire Torkoal: 78-92 (44 – 51.9%) — 8.6% chance to 2HKO
Kingambit @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Defiant
Level: 50
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Kowtow Cleave
– Iron Head
– Sucker Punch
– Swords Dance
I needed a Pokémon that would do well against Snarl spam, so I decided to go with Kingambit, since this way I can switch out and get to +2 Attack because of Defiant! Then I realized that it suffered a lot against Amoonguss, so in the end I put the Safety Googles on it. With Swords Dance it can dance in front of Amoonguss! Also, Sucker Punch works very well for when the Psychic Terrain disappears, that way you can KO many Pokémon if Swords Dance has been used! Dark Tera Type is very good at doing maximum damage and removing the Fire- and Ground-type weaknesses.
+2 252+ Atk Kingambit Iron Head vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Meowscarada: 205-243 (134.8 – 159.8%) — guaranteed OHKO 252+ Atk Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Gholdengo: 170-204 (104.2 – 125.1%) — guaranteed OHKO +2 252+ Atk Tera-Dark Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 116 HP / 252 Def Tera-Fire Sylveon: 226-266 (122.1 – 143.7%) — guaranteed OHKO +2 252+ Atk Tera-Dark Kingambit Iron Head vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Hydreigon: 169-199 (100.5 – 118.4%) — guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Tera-Dark Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 236 HP / 156+ Def Amoonguss: 216-256 (98.6 – 116.8%) — 93.8% chance to OHKO +2 252+ Atk Tera-Dark Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 188-222 (102.7 – 121.3%) — guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Palafin: 211-249 (101.9 – 120.2%) — guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Meowscarada Low Kick (100 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Kingambit: 176-208 (85 – 100.4%) — 6.3% chance to OHKO 252+ SpA Tera-Fire Sylveon Tera Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Kingambit: 152-182 (73.4 – 87.9%) — guaranteed 2HKO +2 252+ Atk Dondozo Wave Crash vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Kingambit: 160-190 (77.2 – 91.7%) — guaranteed 2HKO 252 SpA Life Orb Tera-Fire Hydreigon Heat Wave vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Kingambit: 174-205 (84 – 99%) — guaranteed 2HKO
Hatterene @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Bounce
Level: 50
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 212 HP / 44 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
– Psychic
– Dazzling Gleam
– Mystical Fire
– Trick Room
Hatterene has lost a lot of potential since it now doesn’t learn Expanding Force. Still, it still works great! Thanks to its Magic Bounce ability, it can bounce the Taunts and Spores that the opponent uses on you. This way, if the opposing Amoonguss Terastallizes to Dark to become immune to Psychic-type moves, I can switch into Hatterene and bounce the Spore and put it to sleep! Life Orb item is to do maximum damage possible with three moves that have different types. Fire Tera Type is to be able to endure Steel-type moves and to be able to do more damage to Gholdengo with Mystical Fire.
252+ SpA Life Orb Hatterene Dazzling Gleam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Meowscarada: 198-237 (130.2 – 155.9%) — guaranteed OHKO 252+ SpA Life Orb Tera-Fire Hatterene Mystical Fire vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Gholdengo: 205-244 (125.7 – 149.6%) — guaranteed OHKO 252+ SpA Life Orb Tera-Fire Hatterene Psychic vs. 236 HP / 116 SpD Amoonguss in Psychic Terrain: 307-367 (140.1 – 167.5%) — guaranteed OHKO 252+ SpA Life Orb Tera-Fire Hatterene Dazzling Gleam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 174-205 (94.5 – 111.4%) — 62.5% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Tera-Fire Hatterene Psychic vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Maushold in Psychic Terrain: 185-218 (102.2 – 120.4%) — guaranteed OHKO 252+ SpA Life Orb Tera-Fire Hatterene Mystical Fire vs. 252 HP / 40 SpD Assault Vest Kingambit in Sun: 211-250 (101.9 – 120.7%) — guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Tera-Fire Hatterene Psychic vs. 116 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Wash in Psychic Terrain: 140-165 (100 – 117.8%) — guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Meowscarada Flower Trick vs. 216 HP / 44 Def Hatterene on a critical hit: 118-141 (74.2 – 88.6%) — guaranteed 2HKO 252+ SpA Choice Specs Gholdengo Make It Rain vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tera-Fire Hatterene: 63-74 (38.4 – 45.1%) — guaranteed 3HKO
Annihilape @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Defiant
Level: 50
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Close Combat
– Shadow Claw
– U-turn
– Final Gambit
Annihilape is a bomb! (Lmao!) Thanks to its Final Gambit move and massive amount of HP, it can one-hit most Pokémon in the game. This move is great as you get two things done: make a Pokémon faint and be able to switch in with a Pokémon that does well in Trick Room like Torkoal or Armarouge! This Pokémon works very well against double target match-ups, such as Garchomp with Earthquake + Gholdengo with Make it Rain, as they are capable of ignoring Indeedee’s Follow Me. The Choice Scarf is to ensure being the fastest Pokémon in the game. Ghost Tera Type is to pressure other Annihilape and other Gholdengo with Shadow Claw.
4 Atk Tera-Ghost Annihilape Helping Hand Shadow Claw vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Gholdengo: 188-224 (115.3 – 137.4%) — guaranteed OHKO 4 Atk Tera-Ghost Annihilape Helping Hand Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Annihilape: 216-256 (99.5 – 117.9%) — 93.8% chance to OHKO 4 Atk Annihilape Close Combat vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Meowscarada: 204-242 (134.2 – 159.2%) — guaranteed OHKO 4 Atk Annihilape Close Combat vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Hydreigon: 168-200 (100 – 119%) — guaranteed OHKO 4 Atk Annihilape Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Maushold: 204-242 (112.7 – 133.7%) — guaranteed OHKO 4 Atk Annihilape Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Kingambit: 268-316 (129.4 – 152.6%) — guaranteed OHKO
Annihilape Final Gambit vs. 252 HP Eevee: 217-217 (133.9 – 133.9%) — guaranteed OHKO (<3)
How to use the team
The team is very easy to use and that helped me have a good concentration during the tournament 😊
| Opponent’s team | Comments |
|---|---|
| General rule | As a rule, the best lead is Indeedee + Armarouge and at the back Torkoal and Hatterene or Kingambit. I use Kingambit especially when there is Amoonguss or Snarl spam. Although in some other match-ups against Garganacl it also works very well. |
| Imprison + Trick Room teams | Against these match-ups I use Indeedee + Annihilape to try and quickly defeat the Pokémon that uses Imprison. |
 | Against these teams I usually run Indeedee + Armarouge and leave Torkoal with Clear Smog for when Indeedee faints. |
Rain teams | Against Rain teams I usually run Indeedee + Armarouge and leave Torkoal and Kingambit in the back. |
| Against Maushold + Annihilape I go back to Indeedee + Armarouge and use Follow Me so that the opponent can’t self-Beat Up. |
 | Against Murkrow + Gholdengo I use Indeedee + Armarouge again and leave Torkoal + Hatterene in the back. |
Tournament run
This was my run at Liverpool Regionals!
Swiss rounds
You can watch my Round 8 set against Francesco here, starting at 10:42:46!
Top cut
| Round | Result | Opponent | Opponent’s team | List |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 32 | W |  David Koutesh (Hamstermania) |    |  |
| Top 16 | W |  Sam Bentham (Sam) |   | |
| Top 8 | W |  Claudio Giandomenico (Claudio) |  |  |
| Top 4 | LWW | Francesco Pardini (AlexisVGC) |     | |
| Finals | LL |  Luca Paz (0-x in swiss) |  |  |
Conclusion
In conclusion, I think I have taken advantage of this opportunity very well by using this team. It has worked very well throughout the tournament and that makes me very happy!
I hope you enjoyed the show in the Victory Road streams and I look forward to seeing you all on my social networks: Twitter, Instagram, Twitch and YouTube!
Thank you very much to all for reading!
