Help with a team for upcoming tournament needed!

Hello all! As you can see, I’m a new goer to your forums, though I have lurked around for a while. I have a large tournament going on in a month, and I have been building a team for it, though I would appreciate some help, as frankly I can see big holes in it, but do not know how to fix them.
Here are the tournament rules: No Legendary’s (yes this means the Regis and the birds are lumped with Mewtwo), but no other restriction on species (also means Garchomp and Excadrill are in)
Only one of any kind of species
Only one kind of item
No evasion boosting moves

On to the team! My overall aim is solid offence, with decent damage tanking. Lead with Ninjask, set up ether Metagross or Haxorus with a few speed boosts (and maybe a swords dance if I’m lucky) and see how many holes I can put in the other team, and clean up with my tanky guys, or starmie.

This little guy is my lead. She won’t really do much herself, but can pass some speed boosts Metagross, Haxorus, or even Blastoise if it comes to that. I can also throw her in the way of some attack that I don’t want to catch on my sweepers late game. ‘Course I’m screwed if it comes down to just her, but the thought of baton passing a swords dance to Choice Banded Haxourous just makes me tingly.


Ever since Advance generation Metagross has been my favourite pokemon. On this team he is my all-rounder, who can hopfully deal with most threats. Also makes a perfect baton pass catcher from Ninjask, as he is a big fan of speed boosts. This guy is the cornerstone of the team.


I gotta admit, I kinda messed up with ol’ Mamoswine. I meant him to have Stealth Rock and Endeavour, but migrated him from platinum in a bit of a bone headed move. Regardless I think this set is ok, and now he provides hazing on the team, Mamoswines main job though is anti-meta game, revenge killing Dragons and wasting most steels that get in his way. Mamoswines a cool guy, eh kills dragons and doesn’t afraid of anything.

I feel dubious about including Blastoise on the team, but he is a nice bulky rapid spinner, can spread around some burns, and has a back up ice beam. His main job is soak up a few hits, keep the field clear and generally tank. Not the greatest pokemon, but I struggle to find a much better rapid spinner for my purposes.

This guy is my big beat stick. His only job is to make large Haxorus sized holes in the other team. Not really much else to say except that I hope against hope of being able to get him a Swords Dance. Fufufufu as they say in the games.

And lastly my special sweeper. Starmies main job is to troubleshoot, and counter threats to the team that I really don’t have better tools to do it with. With good speed, good spec-attack, and amazing coverage I hope it will work, but I also feel I maybe asking a little much out of the little guy. Also someone might mistakenly think it is a rapid spinner and catch a bad attack.

So there you go. I’m a little worried about having the surplus of water pokemon on my team, about my lack of stealth rock, and with Ninjask on the team, I’m more or less going into any match as a 5 Vs 6 before it even begins. I also have to admit that part of the build is because I know one or two people in the tourney are just going to roll in with Salamance, Hydrigion, Garchomp and Metagross. Frankly that sort of team scares me. Thanks for reading, and any help you can provide is much appreciated!

You have a HUGE Ice weakness there. All your Pokemon are either weak to Ice, normally damaged. Your only wall for Ices would be Metagross, but since you have two waters, I suggest that you replace Blastoise with....



252 Attack, 252 Speed, and 4 HP

Adamant or Jolly nature

Speed Boost will kill

Life Orb

Moveset:
Sky Uppercut/ Focus Blast/ Hi Jump Kick
Blaze Kick/ Flare Blitz
Solarbeam/ Stone Edge
Bulk Up/ Swords Dance

I suggest that you have max EV's for speed and attack, as you will want to outspeed everything there. Attack is great, leaving you to only KO almost every wall for Pokemon. Blissey, Chansey. Sky Uppercut is your standard Fighting move, but I suggest that you use Hi Jump Kick, more attack power. But if you'd like less stress on the recoil, use Focus Blast, but I am saying, Hi Jump Kick is your way to go. Hi Jump Kick loves that STAB powerup, as well as that extra power from EV'd Attack and Life Orb. I like Blaze Kick more than Flare Blitz in this move set, mainly because if you spam Flare Blitz, you will be dead within a few turns. Life Orb recoil, then Flare Blitz recoil? No. But if you are using Blaziken just as a quick attacker for Ice types, then switching him out, then you do that. Solarbeam is for Waters like Swampert. Stone Edge for Volcarona, Flying, and other fires. Volcarona is going to love to wall you. Bulk Up and Swords Dance both boost attack, which is good.


Honestly, I think you have a pretty good team here, but Metagross's Hammer Arm isn't going to faint them Ice Types. No STAB. Just saying. No offence or anything.

I wish you luck in the tournament! I hope this helped!

Im sure some other people could give you a better rating than me but I'll give it my best shot.

Ninjask. there's not much else He can do. I was wondering what the speed EVs were there for since speed boost solves his speed problem. Is there a specific threat that the Speed EVS help against? if not then the Evs would be better suited to Bulk since hes not the Bulkiest baton passer.

Metagross. I love this pokemon and he should serve you well the way he is. I personally use ice punch over hammer arm but since you have Ice moves already and no Fighting coverage then This works fine, you could also use SR instead since he can take Punishment While setting it up and then proceed to hit like a truck, but this method does have some disadvantages, like losing a coverage move (since both Steel moves are awesome to have), and Air balloon Heatran would Destroy you without Hammer arm....

Mamoswine. Stealth rock would be good since your entire team lacks it, but If you cant get SR on him then the offensive approach works too.


Blastoise, I can think of Quite a few pokemon that fill his role better since 1. hes only a decent Pokemon and 2.He shares a Major weakness with Starmie.
Recommendation: Hitmontop comes to mind when I think of a Pokemon that can spin while Giving your team some coverage. Intimidate-Montop can help Ninjask get a second chance to Baton pass by making it easier to switch in, while Technician-Montop Can dish out Serious pain from moves without Drawbacks (im looking at you Close combat and Hi jump-kick) While using the positive effects to help The team Gain an advantage. (Force Palm and Low Sweep come to mind) But if you want to keep the Turtle then the way he is Seems fine for now.

Haxorus. Looks like hes dependent on speed boost passing since any decent dragon will either Outspeed and destroy him. (Salamence,Hydreigon,Etc) A Choice scarf would Eliminate the faster threats but leave him open to being revenge Killed himself. Another option is running Dragon dance over his band since after a boost he can Outspeed the slower varieties of Salamence and Hydreigon while still staying flexible (and a Lum berry means that he can make more Haxorus shaped holes since he cant be burned/Paralyzed, and Outrage can be used with less fear of confusion). What is X-scissor for? he can hit anything he needs to very hard even without it (Giving him Dual chop instead lets him Bust Substitutes while Brick break lets him crush Reflect/Light-screen while keeping him from being complete setup bait for Ferrothorn or Skarmory.)Think about what your team needs more, and decide based on that.

Starmie. Its a nice idea. tell me how he works out for you. (I dont use him much so I cant say much about him)


The team has a few holes that can be exploited but as long as you 1.change some of the moves to give you more coverage
2.get some boosting moves, since a +1 pokemon can beat certain "counters"
3. have a solution for Ice types (Hitmontop would help)