As the tournament is just about over, here was the team that I ran:
Abomasnow (F) @ Focus Sash ***TabulaRasa
Trait: Snow Warning
IVs: 26/27/31/31/30/21
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Giga Drain
- Blizzard
- Ice Shard
- Protect
Hail setter. Breeding when all six stats are relevant is kind of a pain. Its Speed is 107 due to the lower speed IV which is minimum speed I would have accepted, narrowly outrunning Cresselia and Rotom-A, and being comfortably ahead of Pokemon such as Tyranitar and Metagross which was relevant and saved me on many occasions. The moveset and function are fairly straightforward. Abomasnow does not like Rock Slides, and temperatures above 20°C.
Rotom-F @ Choice Scarf ***MagusNight
Trait: Levitate
IVs: 31/05/31/30/31/29
EVs: 4 HP / 248 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Blizzard
- Thunderbolt
- Protect
- Trick
Scarf Blizzard Spam. Probably my MPV for the team. The metagame has a lot of Ice Weak Pokemon, and Scarfed Blizzards tear right through opponent teams. It somehow catches so many people off guard when I switch out one of my leads for Abomasnow and follow it up with a Scarfed Blizzard. Protect turned out to be a useful investment on the few times that I ever needed to use it. Scarfed Rotom does not like faster Scarfers (oh hi there Scarf Terrakion). Also does not like Hitmontops.
Garchomp (F) @ Yache Berry ***Lunar Dial
Trait: Sand Veil
IVs: 31/31/24/xx/23/31
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Rock Slide
- Protect
Standard Garchomp. I Have a Garchomp with 30/31/31/xx/31/31, but I can't use it because I would have to remove Outrage, and currently can't get it back. So I went with another Garchomp I had sitting around in one of my 4th Gen boxes. There isn't anything too special about it, but I felt that it really held the team together, providing a switch out from Rock Slides, and dealing with Steel-types. It's always nice to use the opponent's Sandstorm to your own advantage with Sand Veil. It was especially useful in quickly taking out lower rated opponents, since I just sat there with Garchomp and Rotom or Togekiss and ran them over with Earthquakes. Garchomp does not like being double targetted by Hidden Power Ice, or being frozen solid by Blizzards thrown around in a Sandstorm.
Togekiss (F) @ Sitrus Berry ***Bad Apple!
Trait: Serene Grace
IVs: 31/13/31/31/18/31
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 168 SDef / 4 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Air Slash
- Tailwind
- Protect
- Follow Me
Follow Me/Tailwind Support. Togekiss provides cover for some of my Pokemon, blocking Draco Meteors and Close Combats for its partner, and helps tremendously in efforts to stall out an opponent's Tailwind or Trick Room. I had bred one that had a better SpDef IV, but I felt that the 31 speed was more important as it allowed Togekiss to outrun Base 130s after Tailwind. Both Air Slash and Tailwind were a major aid to the team, allowing the team to win in situations that I would have otherwise lost to. Togekiss does not like Gem Thunderbolts, and surprise Quick Claw Stone Edges.
Heracross (M) @ Bug Gem ***LastRemote
Trait: Guts
IVs: 26/31/28/xx/30/31
EVs: 250 HP / 56 Atk / 192 SDef / 12 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Megahorn
- Close Combat
- Feint
- Protect
Special Defensive Attacker. Heracross's main role is to kill Cresselia on sight. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that many Japanese players are aware of this and have some countermeasures against Heracross. Still, Gem Megahorn hurts a ton, and its Special Defensive bulk allows me to better take on Rain teams. Feint was very useful, not so much for breaking protects but simply to give Heracross a priority move, as it catches a lot of people off guard. Heracross does not like Cresselia, especially ones with Psyshock.
Heatran (M) @ Fire Gem ***Extend Ash
Trait: Flash Fire
IVs: 28/31/01/28/28/31
EVs: 8 HP / 248 SpA / 254 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Overheat
- Protect
Steel Type, one shot cannon. Heatran helps the team's fire weakness, handling threats like Chandelure, Volcarona, and other Heatrans. I tried using stuff like Dragon Pulse and holding a Shuca Berry, but in the end I went with my trusty Gem Overheat style. Although it did make my team have extra troubles against fast Fighting-types, I don't regret the decision. Heatran does not like Garchomps. Also, does not like Bulky Conkeldurr.
The Pokemon are named after music tracks from various Touhou games, not that people could see my nicknames in battle
The team is a Hail Team in the sense that it goes for Blizzard spam. There ends up being a lot of shared weaknesses in the team, particularly Fire, Fighting, Ice, and Rock. I've found it quite entertaining to play, but also quite difficult. There were a lot of situations where I was a hair's width away from losing, but bailed myself out with a bit of luck or some good plays. I found out the hard way that the team can collapse fast when I'm not at the top of my game, losing 100 points in rating within about 4 hours.
I'll write in my final thoughts and some battling statistics later.