Hey all, here's my homework. I just started playing on Doubles, and I'd really like to start participating in the Teambuilding Forum to improve my (newbie) skills.
I'm just going with Josse Calzado's team from Georgia Regionals (
http://www.trainertower.com/vgc-17-georgia-regionals/), as it looks like a team I would like to use.
First of all, the team looks very offensively oriented with a TR plan-B. Tapu Koko looks like a solid lead, being superfast and having access to both setup-denying moves such as Taunt and very strong single and AoE attacks (Thunderbolt and Dazzling Gleam).
The other lead could be Muk (against Tapu teams), Gyarados (against hyper-physical teams), or Kartana (to scout some moves with Protect/Detect).
Marowak-A helps a lot with Lightning Rod to give Gyarados a chance to setup or attack some pokemons, and Gyarados in return is Flying-Type to let Marowak EQ with ease.
Porygon2, depending on the Team setup, could use TR to let Marowak sweep a non-TR-weakened team, or even be an anti-TR itself, as most of the team should easily outspeed many TR-oriented teams.
That said, I decided to go for a more aggressive route, mostly because I prefer this style of play.
Tapu Koko @ Life Orb
Ability: Electric Surge
Timid Nature
EVs: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
-Dazzling Gleam
-Thunderbolt
-Taunt
-Protect
As said before, Taunt gives Koko a chance to stop early TR-setters or any different setups (calm mind on Tapu Fini, for example).
Protect is a staple-move in Doubles (as far as I know), and gives eventual Marowak-A a chance to EQ freely with Koko (but then Koko can't TBolt things down).
Probably Timid nature is an "overkill" in terms of speed, but it is a speed-tie with Jolly Aerodactyl (which could be annoying with Rock Slide / Tailwind / Wide Guard). If I'm not expeting any of those rocky flyers, I'd probably go with Modest nature, for more AoE power.
Even a lead with Koko and switch to Muk can pose a threat for Cloyster leads, as Koko can break sash with a single TBolt and then Muk can go with Shadow Sneak to get a priority kill on Cloyster after Shell Smash.
Kartana @ Focus Sash
Ability: Ultraboost
Jolly Nature
EVs: 252 Atk/4 SpD/252 Spe
-Sacred Sword
-Leaf Blade
-Smart Strike
-Detect
Here I'm going for Detect, as I read on the Smogon Dex that it plays around eventual Imprison-Muks that run Protect. So why not use it?
This is played as a late-game sweeper or an early-game dreamcrusher if the opponent has few checks to it. This kills Tapu Lele and Tapu Fini, while Muk gets Koko and Bulu.
I think that having Jolly here is more important than having Timid on Koko, as hitting first for Kartana is huge (mostly because of Focus Sash that gives her an extra turn).
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Impish Nature
EVs: 252 HP/52 Atk/108 Def/44 SpD/52 Spe
-Dragon Dance
-Substitute
-Waterfall
-Crunch
This is kind of a test. As I'm pretty bad doing EVs, so I took those from Gyarados' Dex on Smogon. The idea here is to be able to switch Gyarados in and out multiple times if needed, to stack up Intimidate triggers. If it has no checks or counters, it can start Subbing and setup with Dragon Dance to sweep the board with Waterfall or Crunch.
He's extremely vulnerable to Tapu Koko and the likes, but hey, someone will take care of them anyway!
Muk-Alola @ Assault Vest
Ability: Poison Touch
Adamant Nature
EVs: 96 HP/252 Atk/92 Def/64 SpD/4 Spe
-Shadow Sneak
-Brick Break
-Poison Jab
-Knock Off
I've been really liking AV Muk in Singles, and I've tried him initially in Doubles too with some "success" (for a noobie like me). Poison Jab and Knock Off are fairly standard, to take pesky items off enemies (Eviolite on Porygon2, some berries, etc), and Jab is used to destroy Tapus.
Brick Break is here to stop Alolan-Ninetales from setting up Aurora Veil (usually it outspeeds Muk), and if the partner manages to do atleast 60+% damage to Ninetales, Brick Break kills it under Sash and breaks Aurora Veil.
Other than that, with AV it blocks attacks like a champion (in a game I did, for example, he took both Hurricane and Thunder from Pelipper and Tapu Koko under rain in one turn, and killed first Koko with Jab, then Shadow Sneak on the weakened Pelipper from my other pokemon).
Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
Brave Nature
EVs: 252 HP/180 Atk/8 Def/68 SpD
-Earthquake
-Shadow Bone
-Flare Blitz
-Detect
This is the TR Sweeper. I prefer EQ over Bonemerang as it does AoE damage, but it needs Tapu Koko (Protect), Gyarados (Flying), Kartana (Detect) as partners if it doesn't want to give free extra damage to the opponent's attacks.
Flare Blitz and Shadow Bone are fairly standard, as Detect for the same reasoning of it on Kartana.
As I said earlier, with Lightning Rod it is a free switch to Gyarados' side if the opponent is going for an electric move on him.
Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
Quiet Nature
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 SpA / 2 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
-Trick Room
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Recover
Nobody expects the P2 sweeper. Thanks to Eviolite he's bulky enough to take an attack or two before setting TR, and under TR he just spams Ice Beams and TBolts on enemy pokemons, or keeps using Recover->Damaging Move->Recover.
I've tried this set in BSS and it worked wonders, taking many players off-guard, so I'm curious to see if it could be equally awesome in Doubles.
As it will be often paired with Marowak, it could be smart to run Discharge or Shadow Bolt in place of Thunderbolt.
So this is it. I think the team could suffer a bit from opposing Porygon2s, so running the more classic bulky P2 with Toxic could be an idea, if going hard on Tapu Koko+Muk (for Taunt+Knock Off) isn't enough (if they have Marowak with EQ for example).
Other than that, Tailwind users should be checked by P2 with Trick Room.
Another option to strenghten Tapu Koko as a lead could be giving him Volt Switch instead of Protect, but the latter should give him more survivability in the long run (meaning more damage output and versatility).
Another thing I noticed is I didn't put any Z-Moves to the team. I think the best Z user here could be Tapu Koko with Fairium Z, being able to OHKO opposing Tapu Koko with it, or being anyway able to dish out a big nuke to most pokemons.
What do you guys think?