Hello Hat Lovers!

Today I’ve got another team to do an analysis on. I don’t normally write about random stuff I play on Showdown but this team uses Umbreon and here at VGC w/Hats we celebrate when one of our favourites actually finds a team where it can function.

This team is similar to the team Tony Cheung used to win Washington Regionals. He kept quiet about it, and while Nugget Bridge revealed which Pokemon he used it didn’t reveal the strategy. Having lost to it in top four I knew all about it and how it worked. The main combo is Mega-Gengar and Raichu, who use various moves to hinder the opponent while KOing them with Perish Song. Outside of Perish Trapping, Raichu can also be used to help Gyarados and Kangaskhan set up with Dragon Dance and Power-Up-Punch respectively.

I played Tony’s team after Regionals and it wasn’t hard to see why it worked so well. However as more players learned how to deal with the team it became increasingly important to have a strong backup plan. There have been plenty of successful teams where the obvious combo is never used and its power is in the threat. An example of this is Alex’s US Nationals team which has Politoed/Ludicolo, yet he rarely brought both to a game. Another is my Washington team which had Charizard/Venusaur but only made use of the duo once. Another example is any team using Kangaskhan/Smeargle. When you see one of these combos in team preview its easy to feel like your hands are tied and you need to bring the two Pokemon on your team that deal with it, leaving you vulnerable if the opponent chooses not to lead with it.

Now that the introduction is out of the way onto the team:

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