Formatting for Single Pokemon Strategies

[Regis_Neo]

I think it'd be nice if we have some consistency here, otherwise we're going to get a lot of random ideals and submissions and lots of different formatting and such. And having written many Pokemon analyses over the year's, here's sort of the basic "standard" formatting guideline that you see out there (I'll even make it easy and bold the key fields if you want to copy/paste and rework this outline):

Pokemon Name (to clearly show which it is)

Base Stats:

HP: #
Atk: #
Def: #
SpA: #
SpD: #
Spe: #

Pokemon Name @ Item (nice to have the name shown again for clarity, as well as a good place to show the held item)
Ability: (especially if there are multiple ones. considering many Pokemon have 3: 2 normal and 1 Dream World)
Nature: (needed, ideally keep to 2 at most as to not overwhelm or clutter)
EVs: Laid out in a clear fashion, keeping generally to HP/Atk/Def/SpA/SpD/Spe in that order
-Move 1
-Move 2
-Move 3
-Move 4

Moveset Explanation:

Explain how the moveset works, what it hopes to achieve or accomplish, etc. A brief analysis of why those specific moves were chosen is also helpful for critique purposes. You can use "/" if you're undecided on a move or want to suggest alternatives to it, but be sure to explain why and how it works.

Notes:

Somewhat optional, but this is where you can go even more in-depth in how this Pokemon works on the team, why the EVs, Item, and other specifics were chosen, and any other general comments pertaining to the Pokemon.

So in closing as an example (and first submission!), here's one I wrote for last year's VGC for another site, updated a bit to be more relevant for this format: everyone's favorite kung fu master, Mienshao



Mienshao

Base Stats:
HP: 65
Att: 125
Def: 60
Sp Att: 95
Sp Def: 60
Spe: 105

Moveset:
Mienshao @ Focus Sash
Ability: Inner Focus
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Fake Out
- Fast Guard / Wide Guard
- Taunt / Acrobatics
- Drain Punch

Moveset Explanation:

A great lead Pokemon, Mienshao has several viable moves depending on what you're predicting your opponent to do. Fake Out allows you to disable one of their leads and deny them a turn of attack, while Fast Guard and Wide Guard allow you to deny your opponent any priority or multi-targeting move respectively. Taunt also aids in denying your opponent a chance to setup, should you be predicting that, or optionally Acrobatics can be considered to deal heavy damage to Fighting types (in this case, Flying Gem should be used over Focus Sash). Finally, Mienshao can deal some respectable STAB damage with Drain Punch and keep himself in the game longer thanks to its healing effect.

Notes:

Mienshao really is a fabulously customizable Pokemon suited to your needs, possessing many team-friendly attacks and many other tricks that will frustrate your opponent as well. Some of the unmentioned moves Mienshao can also use are Reflect and Light Screen, Sunny Day and Rain Dance, it even gets Toxic and Baton Pass if you want to do something unorthodox. You could even make Mienshao a special sweeper thanks to his varied special movepool and decent Base 95 SpA, something unexpected for an opponent likely expecting a big physical attack; HP Ice is a great candidate with a Naive nature in order to hit Dragon types hard since many have a dual weakness to Ice for example. Concerning his primary STAB attack, Drain Punch is the most damaging move Mienshao learns without damaging himself, as Hi Jump Kick will miss if the opponent uses Protect/Detect and cause nasty recoil for Mienshao. Brick Break also offers the same base power, but is decidedly less useful unless you're expecting Light Screen and Reflect, and Low Kick is possibly another option depending on how heavy the relevant opposing Pokemon are. Regenerator is an optional useful Ability to have, but Inner Focus guards against crucial T1 Fake Outs and Drain Punch should adequately return HP over having to switch constantly for Regenerator to work.

Mienshao overall is a quintessential handyman, but instead of being a generic jack-of-all trades, he will also kick some major butt thanks to its high Atk and Spe.