DISCLAIMER: This is not a guide to Teambuilding. I am not and do not claim to be an expert on teambuilding (quite the opposite in fact). The opinions expressed in this OP are the opinions of the writer and are not factual in any way (although they may be based on facts).
Teambuilding for me has always been very murky and difficult. Most of my pokemon experience before I joined Smogon was in-game play, battling with my friends, and trying to find that one pokemon that could beat my friend's level 90 Infernape. In that kind of metagame, the winner was always whoever could pack more sweepers onto their team and get the most hits with Fire Blast/Thunder/Blizzard. No other strategies were even considered; it was "the way pokemon was meant to be played".
I only talk about this to give you an idea of where I'm coming from. TBH teambuilding is much more difficult than in any previous gen, not just because of the new pokemon but also because of the new playstyles that have either been created or suddenly became viable. With the advent of instant weather for sun and rain, suddenly Swift Swim became so broken it had to be banned with rain. Sand Rush and Sand Strength arrived to take advantage of the most dominant weather of the previous generation, which basically created the 6 pokemon strategy of today's metagame. Trick Room also became very viable with the introduction of the first pokemon who could set up trick room and then abuse it itself, Reuniclus.
Offense wasn't the only strategy that drastically changed. Stall gained a massive buff IMO with the introduction of Ferrothorn and Jellicent, this gen's SkarmBliss equivalent. With Jellicent's Water Absorb and Cursed Body and Ferrothorn's laundry bag of powerful attacks it could take easily in the rain,
stall, while not being as effective as in previous gens, is still alive and well. They even got, thanks to prankster, something that could only be theorymoned up to this point: Quickstall. Murkrow may not be particularly threatening before Gen 5 in OU, but when it gets free priority on Taunt, Roost, Substitute, and Toxic, plus double its original defenses, and you've got possibly the most annoying thing ever.
My question is, what goes into a winning team in 5th gen? Is it the player controlling the team? The strategy behind the team? The synergy between the team members? Whether a team carries a counter to Excadrill, Scizor, and Dragonite?
What makes a team?
Teambuilding for me has always been very murky and difficult. Most of my pokemon experience before I joined Smogon was in-game play, battling with my friends, and trying to find that one pokemon that could beat my friend's level 90 Infernape. In that kind of metagame, the winner was always whoever could pack more sweepers onto their team and get the most hits with Fire Blast/Thunder/Blizzard. No other strategies were even considered; it was "the way pokemon was meant to be played".
I only talk about this to give you an idea of where I'm coming from. TBH teambuilding is much more difficult than in any previous gen, not just because of the new pokemon but also because of the new playstyles that have either been created or suddenly became viable. With the advent of instant weather for sun and rain, suddenly Swift Swim became so broken it had to be banned with rain. Sand Rush and Sand Strength arrived to take advantage of the most dominant weather of the previous generation, which basically created the 6 pokemon strategy of today's metagame. Trick Room also became very viable with the introduction of the first pokemon who could set up trick room and then abuse it itself, Reuniclus.
Offense wasn't the only strategy that drastically changed. Stall gained a massive buff IMO with the introduction of Ferrothorn and Jellicent, this gen's SkarmBliss equivalent. With Jellicent's Water Absorb and Cursed Body and Ferrothorn's laundry bag of powerful attacks it could take easily in the rain,
stall, while not being as effective as in previous gens, is still alive and well. They even got, thanks to prankster, something that could only be theorymoned up to this point: Quickstall. Murkrow may not be particularly threatening before Gen 5 in OU, but when it gets free priority on Taunt, Roost, Substitute, and Toxic, plus double its original defenses, and you've got possibly the most annoying thing ever.
My question is, what goes into a winning team in 5th gen? Is it the player controlling the team? The strategy behind the team? The synergy between the team members? Whether a team carries a counter to Excadrill, Scizor, and Dragonite?
What makes a team?