OrangeManiac

Cofagrigus is overall the best counter to Conk. Physically defensive Hippowdon is also good against it and sets up Stealth Rocks if that was your main goal.

Alright, you got it. First of all, I'd start by saying that I don't think that playing any other VGC format than the current one makes any sense. There isn't even a Showdown ladder for any old VGC format. And even though old VGC formats do exist in Showdown code in a way that you can challenge people in those formats, there's just no people willing to battle in those old VGC formats even if you kindly requested a battle in Showdown chatrooms. VGC players aren't really interested about "objectively good metagames", they're always concentrating on the current VGC format no matter how bad the metagame is because the goal of a VGC player is to become Pokemon World Champion, rather than to enjoy good formats. Because there's a complete lack of an environment to practice in, people aren't even able to create good Pokemon teams because any good VGC team comes with a lot of trial and error. What I'm expecting is to people just to research the internet for some pastebins of old VGC teams and roll with that, completely unaware why is any moveset or EV spread what it is. I don't think that results in a very high level of competition. Then to talk about VGC 2020... I'm not exaggerating when I'm saying that this generation made me completely relearn how to play Pokemon. This is largely due to the newly introduced mechanic, Dynamax. It messes up the intuition of any established competitive Pokemon player. For three turns, Dynamax does basically three things: It doubles the HP of the Pokemon, it boosts the power of (most) moves and it gives secondary effects depending of the typing of the attack (for example, boosting/lowering stats, setting up weather/terrain). This means that rather than hitting the moves with most damage, going for those helpful secondary effects is very often the most important aspect to look for when making optimal plays. Another concept that feels very counter-intuitive for any established competitive Pokemon player is the prevalence of Weakness Policy, especially in a Dynamax metagame. Hitting your opponent with super effective attacks (which is what you thought you were supposed to do) can result in an immediate loss. If you managed to activate the Weakness Policy of opposing Dynamaxed Pokemon, you're in lot of trouble. Chances are your "super effective" damage only tickled their Dynamax and now they're shooting off +2 powered Max Moves, which mostly likely can become unstoppable for your team. For many, this feels like the most bullshit part about VGC 2020. Why am I punished for hitting opponent with super effective attacks, for playing "correctly"? Because it's VGC 2020, fuck you, that's why. Now after bringing the worst of Dynamax, I also want to talk about the positives. It makes matchups more balanced and makes the gameplay more dynamic. Having "autoloss" matchups in Dynamax metagame is surprisingly rare. This is because you can Dynamax your biggest counter to most threatening opposing Pokemon, as a way to balance the difficult matchup. And because you can Dynamax any of your Pokemon, you can defend yourself even if you managed to mispredict the Pokemon your opponent wanted to bring. This can make every game in best of 3 set very unique and interesting. Also whether you Dynamax early or Dynamax late is an interesting consideration, which can put the mindgames of a battle to another level. Which player has to pull the trigger first? Also lastly, defensive play is almost non-existant in VGC 2020. Protect isn't such a great move because Max Moves do 25% damage through Protect and with the power level the metagame has, your Pokemon can be almost half-dead even after a Protect. For people liking their Doubles as defensive, positional playing, this might not be the most fun metagame for them. VGC 2020 is about hitting first and hitting hard. I think the ladder was topped with a team that had 0x Protects in the entire team? TL;DR If you're to have VGC in PSL, it has to be the newest format and Dynamax makes you completely relearn the game of Pokemon again. So depends if you're willing to do that. P.S.

nvm wont touch this until update happens which Kyu has confirmed to be coming (actually) soon

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I have the write ups for Chomp and Rotom-Wash ready. Just gotta transfer them in here at some point. Maybe re-read some other write ups and see if they need fixing. So soon, probably.

orangemaniac

You literally just copy pasted a picture of Keemstar, disqualified

I believe Vaporeon is going to UU from NU, not the other way around.

Team Name: Veni Vidi Vici Vixi Team Tag: [VVVV] Registered Players: Aerun, Draekyn, Parke, OrangeManiac, Zigh, Frojodo, StriderxD, CHUCKunso, Razimove, HXIN, Samoerai, Imabetheverybest, Vorred Team Captain: Aerun

Excellent analysis, I really like the idea of the piece by piece approach and the reasoning that you have for each new addition to a specific team is really good.

Thank you! Honestly the revival of the Doubles Viability Thread thanks to you got me motivated enough to start this. :) I think those sample teams around those Pokemon is a great idea. I'll think about how I should implement that in this thread.

Alright, after writing the main movesets for the 43 most relevant Doubles Pokemon, I think this guide can be moved to the main section of Guide Tavern now. I might gradually add a few B ranks here that I've left out for now. C ranks or below won't be included in this guide. Big thank you to @Mxd for the banner!

If there ever was tierlists from Doubles, it would be based from usage and not anyone's opinion, especially because Doubles usage is being recorded. This seems more like a viability rankings post and you absolutely have your right to voice out what you think are the best Doubles Pokemon, but as tiers aren't made from opinions the premise of this thread is rather incorrect.

Swords Dance Mienfoo can beat Trubbish and struggles with Grimer much less than some people make it sound. Just because people utilize Mienfoo as a defensive pivot with lackluster coverage rather than SD sweeper, all of its potential need to be taken into consideration when determining if it's too strong. And before some @ me with "you only should talk about the most common sets when discussing a Pokemon", that is just incorrect. A moveset shouldn't be considered unviable because a Pokemon has even better moveset. Koffing is pretty much the only actual wall to Swords Danced Mienfoo.

ah okay this is fair, I forgot about it fixing that description