Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Any improvements for this team?

Nintendan

Active Member
Hey everyone. I'm relatively new to the competitive side of the Video Games and I really want to get into good team building.
With this team, I'm not exactly trying to win in OU or VGC, but just for battles where anything goes. This is just a team for use with friends or at league etc.
Also, I'm not a fan of using Legendaries because they're a bit boring, though I'm only talking about ones like Mewtwo, Zekrom etc. Others such as Registeel or Thundurus are fine. I just don't like using the overpowered legends because I find them too boring.
I've tried switching up this team a bit with different Pokémon and this is what I have so far:

Serperior
Ability : Overgrow
Item : Light Clay
EV's:
12 HP
128 Def
128 Sp.Def
240 Speed
Nature : Jolly

Moveset :
Leaf Blade
Reflect
Light Screen
Taunt

Just a brief explanation, this is obviously a Serperior that sets up screens and Taunts anything trying to set up on it. The EV's and nature allow me to barely outspeed Tornadus or Thundurus (regular) by 1 point.
When Dream World Snivy is released, this will obviously change to Timid nature with Contrary Ability and Leaf Storm instead of Lead Blade. because of how fast this Poke is, it can deal some pretty serious damage early on and can actually proceed to sweep a portion of a team.


Scizor
Ability : Technician
Nature : Adamant
Item : Choice Band
EV's:
252 HP
252 Atk
4 Def

Moveset :
Bullet Punch
U-Turn
Pursuit
Superpower

Just a regular banded Scizor. Nothing else to be said really.


Jellicent
Ability : Water Absorb
Nature : Calm (-Atk, +Sp.Def)
Item : Leftovers
EV's:
252 HP
4 Sp.Atk
252 Sp.Def

Moveset :
Scald/Surf
Toxic
Will-O-Wisp
Recover

Wait... what!? W-o-W on a Scald/Surf + Toxic set? Yes. I run Will-o-Wisp because it's a safer burn on an opponent. The accuracy may be low (75%), but it's better than Scald's 30% of burn. There are times where a burn will put an end to large blows dealt to my team, which is where WoW comes in. I'm am not sure about running Surf or Scald because there may be times where a burn would be nice but isn't necessarily needed. But I might want more damage done with Surf and burn when needed with WoW. Not sure on those yet.
This is a great way to eat up any Flamethrowers, Fire Blast, Ice Beams or Blizzards thrown at Serperior or Scizor.


Reuniclus
Ability : Magic Guard
Nature : Bold (-Atk, +Def)
Item : Leftovers/Life Orb
EV's:
252 HP
252 Def
4 Sp.Def

Moveset :
Recover
Calm Mind
Psychic
Focus Blast

The standard Calm Mind set for Reuniclus. With this I can either go for a bulky one with Leftovers or take an aggressive approach with LO. I did use Psyshock before instead of Psychic, but I prefer Psychic's larger damage output. If a special wall does come in, I can either try to boost up even more, or just switch out.


Volcarona
Ability : Flame Body
Nature : Calm (-Atk, +Sp.Def)
Item: Chesto Berry
EV's:
252 HP
128 Sp.Atk
128 Sp.Def

Moveset :
Quiver Dance
Rest
Fiery Dance
Bug Buzz

Definitely my favourite Pokémon on this team. Resto Chesto, with the screen support from Serperior lets this thing set up a lot easier and faster than normal ones. The EVs are very weird. Half Sp.Atk and no speed. Instead I wanted a much more (special) defensive Volcarona. While you might think no speed won't let me set up fast enough, it surprisingly works. If I can get a safe switch in and get 1 QDance, I can take off from there. If anything threatening like T-kon switches in, I can eat the Rock Slide nicely with Scizor, and Bullet Punch, SPower or U-Turn out. bear in mind I normally have screens up with Serperior for at least 70% of the time, so it's easy for this Volcarona to become a complete special sweep and walling monster.

Salamence
Ability : Moxie
Nature : Jolly
Item: Yache Berry
EV's:
4 HP
252 Atk
252 Speed

Moveset :
Dragon Dance
Dragon Claw/Outrage
Earthquake
Stone Edge

A pretty standard MoxieMence that can sweep teams if they aren't careful. The Yache Berry in combination with Serperior's screens works VERY well at allowing this beast to get up a Dragon Dance and sweep away. Apparently MoxieMence gets it's weapon of choice in B/W2, Outrage. When B/W2 does come out, I may just run the obvious Scarf with Adamant nature with Outrage. But right now, D-Dance works pretty well. After 1 KO, he becomes a big threat.
 
This team looks really good and well though out. On Serperior, if you could, take the 12 from HP and put it in Speed. Other then that, I can't really think of a change for the team.
 
A couple of suggestions come to mind.

1. There are better Screeners than Serperior, by far. If you want a fast Screener, look to Espeon or Latios. If you don't want something Pursuit/U-Turn weak, Bronzong's your man. I don't even know most of the good screeners (I ALWAYS use Espeon), but Serperior just feels lackluster to me, even after Contrary is released.

2. WoW is a good play on Jellicent but dual status doesn't really make sense. The coverage offered by Shadow Ball or the utility offered by Taunt seems to be the superior play imo.

3. If you want a bulky Volcarona, bold 252 HP 252 Def seems to be better. Volcarona doesn't need much help from the SDef side, with Quiver Dance obviously boosting it, and an already naturally good stat there anyway. Wouldn't you rather bolster its weakness against physical hits? Then again, most physical attackers won't want to hit Volcarona due to either mediocre effectiveness (sans Stone Edge, which you'll always die to anyway), or due to Flame Body. So I guess this one's up to you.

Seems like a good team, some things I wouldn't have thought of but seem to have some good purpose. The last thing I'd ask is: are you sure you don't need a Scarfer?
 
That's what I'm a little unsure of. Scarfers have helped me out so much in the past, and all this team does is rely on those screens to set up. There are times where I need something to quickly come in and hit something instead of taking a turn or two to up stats. I'm thinking either Terrakion or Latios.
 
The Pros to using Terrakion is he does not really have common weakness. (Depending on format) His huge threat would be any Pokemon with Earthquake. Terrakion also takes hits pretty well. Latios would normally do everything better other then take hit. His defense stat is pretty good and special defense is above great.

You can try this Latios set

Latios
Ability : Levitate
Item :Soul Dew/Life Orb/Elemental Gem
EV's: 6 HP, 252 Special Attack, 252 Speed

Moveset :
Dragon Pulse/Draco Meteor
Hidden Power Fire
Recover/Thunder Wave/Calm Mind
Surf/Ice Beam/Thunderbolt

I think this is a pretty normal move set the lati@s should have. Powerful stab attack. HP fire is needed to avoid pokemon that wall these guys pretty well like Scizor, hitting for 4x weakness. Moveset 3 offers coverage. Recover to help win stall wars. All 3 moves listed there are great for switch predictions. Recover becomes even more fun when you opponent thinks you'll go down to life orb but recover on their switch. Moveset 4 should should be for coverage attacks.

Surf may be a bit useless but it have become a popular move on them. Thunderbolt and Ice Beam may be the most useful because of Pokemon like Tornadus and rain dance team.
 
Moxie Salamence also makes a great Choice Scarf user. Swap out DD for Fire Blast and you're in business.
 
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