Hello, everyone! My name is Tseng Yan-rong, and you can also call me by my IGN Tony.
I started playing VGC in Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield, and after a couple of top cuts this is my best result: I am very happy to be the champion of Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet Tainan Regionals!
Table of Contents
Teambuilding process
This was the first competition in Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet, and the mainstream Pokémon in Ranked Battles are a few. A player must have countermeasures and cognition about these mainstream Pokémon. Let me talk about my thoughts below.
First of all, I think that, in this environment, a high-speed combination was needed. So I needed Tailwind Pokémon and Trick Room Pokémon. For the Trick Room mode, I used the brother-sister combination of Armarouge and Female Indeedee, which is very popular now. The Tailwind responsible is Murkrow.
The next slots went to the new Pokémon Meowscarada and Maushold. I personally love Maushold and I think both are very strong and had to join the team.
The last to join the team was Hydreigon. I think Draco Meteor, paired with Murkrow’s Haze to clear the negative effects, is very powerful. Hydreigon… I Choose You!
So why not using Gholdengo? The move Make It Rain is very powerful and one you can use almost anytime… But actually, there was no reason. I just like Hydreigon more than Gholdengo!
The Team
Get the team’s paste here!
Indeedee (F) @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
– Follow Me
– Dazzling Gleam
– Helping Hand
– Protect
Indeedee‘s Defense is maxed, and HP is trained to 16n. The remaining EVs can be allocated to HP, Speed, and Special Attack. Carrying Psychic Seed plus a great Special Defense can block Hydreigon holding Choice Specs and using Dark Pulse. In general, I think the main bulk is very adequate!
Armarouge @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 228 HP / 20 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Expanding Force
– Armor Cannon
– Trick Room
– Protect
As one of the attackers, the reason why Armarouge‘s Speed EVs are not zero is that my team has both the fast (Tailwind) and the slow (Trick Room) modes. I hoped it to be faster than Jolly Meowscarada in Tailwind.
The HP is adjusted to a value of 189 (which is the greatest value that is 10n−1), with Life Orb to maximize the benefit of HP loss. Armarouge is currently the only Pokémon who can learn Expanding Force by itself to take advantage of Indeedee’s Psychic Surge-induced Psychic Terrain. The damage is really strong!
Maushold @ Wide Lens
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Population Bomb
– Encore
– Follow Me
– Protect
Maushold is my hero! The move Population Bomb is really strong. Combined with Wide Lens and my belief in Maushold, I can hit 10 times with confidence. There are also support move slots for Follow Me and Encore.
Maushold can also play an excellent supporting role. It acts as a mixed support/offensive piece in my team.
Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Draco Meteor
– Heat Wave
– Dark Pulse
– Flash Cannon
Hydreigon is the team’s second attacker. The damage of Choice Specs-boosted moves really makes people like it.
Hydreigon Terastallizes frequently, and its Steel Tera Type can help it resist Fairy- and Dragon-type damage. Use Draco Meteor alongside Murkrow’s Tailwind, and in the next turn, use Haze to eliminate the negative stat changes and continue to use Draco Meteor to attack mercilessly. The damage of Draco Meteor with Choice Specs is really high, I really like this combination!
Meowscarada @ Focus Sash
Ability: Overgrow
Level: 50
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Flower Trick
– Knock Off
– Protect
– Trick Room
I think both of Meowscarada‘s Abilities, Overgrow and Protean, are very strong. The Ability I chose this time is Overgrow with Focus Sash, which can help the ability to work and then boost Flower Trick to deal considerable damage.
It also has Trick Room, which is mainly used to counter Pokémon who use Tailwind. In the closed team list format we used in Tainan, it could catch the opponent off guard to set up Trick Room, and I then could gain the Speed advantage again.
Murkrow @ Eviolite
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 140 Def / 108 SpD / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
– Taunt
– Haze
– Tailwind
– Foul Play
Murkrow is excellent for the supporting role. It can use Tailwind to control speed, and also has other excellent status moves, such as Taunt, Quash, Haze… Haze’s main use is to contain the combination of Dondozo and Tatsugiri.
Basically every player’s team has Murkrow, so I would choose Trick Room and control the speed. Murkrow would not be used unless facing the combination of Dondozo and Tatsugiri.
How to use the team
| Lead | Back |
|---|---|
+  | , |
I like to start with Meowscarada + Maushold. These two act as high-speed attackers in my team. When facing a Pokémon that uses Tailwind, Maushold can use Protect and Meowscarada can use Trick Room. I save Armarouge and Indeedee in the back to attack.
I almost started every Tainan round like this every game, and it helped me win the tournament!
Tournament run
Unfortunately, I did not take notes during the tournament so I can’t remember which teams I faced throughout the tournament. This was my run at Tainan Regionals‘ top cut!
Top cut
You can watch my finals match against Chao-chen (starting at 9:00:00) below!
Conclusions
I am really happy and I feel lucky to win the Championship this time! I could use two of my favourite new Pokémon, Maushold and Armarouge, at the same time, and Maushold can attack 10 times per turn.
I look forward to the next tournaments where I can continue to use my favourite Pokémon and get good results for me!
I am very happy to share the information of this competition with you. I hope to have the opportunity to communicate more with players who love Pokémon in the future! Since I don’t have a Twitter account, you can find me on Discord as Tony0912#7648.
This is my team, feel welcome to use it for reference!
