Hoodra Minato (vgc2024 reg f) - P0k3m0n.2

This team is centered around Shelter/Body Press Hisuian-Goodra (Hoodra) and its incredible ability to completely wall physical Pokemon. Max speed Alolan-Ninetails (A-tails) supports Hoodra with Aurora Veil, and Farigiraf helps by setting up Trick Room (although not entirely always necessary). The other three members of the team, Incineroar (Incin), Landorus-Incarnate (Lando-I), and Regieleki (Eleki) help glue this core together with supporting moves (Intimidate/Fake Out/Parting Shot/Taunt/Electroweb), type synergy, and additional offense (max attack Incin, max special attack Lando-I). This team is very flexible and does not rely on one particular strategy. Although Hoodra is the clear win condition for many games, the other mons form their own secondary cores that avoid Hoodra's most common pins and positional weaknesses (ghost types, Fissure, set up, special attackers, explosive hyper offense etc). So without further ado, let's go through the team!

A-Tails (Nonnie)

More than just a screen

In an ideal world Aurora Veil is up very game, but that is not realistic. A-tails is more than just a screen setter; Blizzard and Freeze Dry offer amazing coverage and chip damage (and chances to freeze!). Opponents will often expect A-tails to click Aurora Veil turn one and respond by either switching in their own weather setter or manually changing the weather (with Tornadus or Whimsicott). I almost NEVER click Aurora Veil if there is a chance of this happening. Don't be afraid to click Blizzard/Freeze Dry turn one or hard switch into something like Incineroar. The threat of Aurora Veil will give your partner breathing room to play the game and that is often enough. For this reason I love leading A-tails with either Hoodra or Farigiraf. Opponents will have to worry about two mons that can aggressively affect the board state (Aurora Veil and Trick Room/Shelter). In earlier iterations of the team, A-tails carried Moonblast instead of Protect, had a Focus Sash instead of Light Clay, and was tera steel instead of fire. I've found that A-tails is actually tanky enough (with Aurora Veil or the snow defense boost) to survive most hits and so Focus Sash was not optimal. Protect is also much better because opponents would often double into the A-tail to prevent Aurora Veil. Originally I liked tera steel because it offered resistances to both rock, fairy, and poison, however rock is not a common offensive type, A-tails survived the fairy hits (and fire still resists fairy), and the best poison type is unironically Lando-I (which A-tail easily beats unless it teras). I did at one point consider Misty Terrain over Protect to help with the Amoongus match-up, but ultimately decided that Amoongus was not enough of a threat to make this change. I've also considered tera water over tera fire due to the rise in Hisuian-Arcanine, but I haven't made the switch (nor am I confident that it's worth it).

Hisuian-Goodra (Boogus)

Body Press go Brrrrr. Urshifu is nothing

This is the star of the team. The set is relatively standard, although I switched to tera flying (from fairy) to get around Lando-I's Sludge Bomb as well as Ting-Lu's Fissure (the most important things to resist via tera are ground attacks and fighting attacks from Urshifu). The plan is simple, Shelter up and Body Press everything! There are certain teams that cannot deal with a set up Hoodra which makes the win condition relatively straightforward. It's not uncommon to see a team with 5 physical attackers and a Flutter Mane (and Heavy Slam one-shots most Flutter Manes). That being said, there are a few highly dangerous things to be weary of in team preview: Sacred Sword (mostly from Chien-Pao or Gallade), ghost types and ghost teras (especially in the end game), special ground damage (Earth Power and Sandsear Storm), One-Hit-Ko moves, and "set up" mons. Other lower priority things to be weary of but aren't the end of the world include Taunt, Haze and Spore. The three Pokemon that I find to be the hardest for Hoodra are Lando-I (although this is less of an issue since I switched to flying tera), Nasty Plot Gholdengo (I don't even bring Hoodra into most Gholdengo games anymore), and Annihilape.

Incineroar (Golub)

More than just glue

This Incineroar is a MAX ATTACK set, so use it (something that even I have to remind myself of). Flare Blitz one shots most Flutter Manes. Flare Blitz actually one shots a lot of things. It's great into sun, it's great into psyspam, it gives many disruption and pivot options. I find myself clicking parting shot less than any other move and sometimes wonder if U-turn or even Drain Punch one be stronger in that slot with an Assault Vest instead of a Sitrus Berry. Other than that, not much to say since everyone knows what Incin does (arguably the best VGC mon of all time)!

Farigiraf (Necky Minaj)

The Throat GOAT

Farigiraf can be led with every single pokemon on this team. Armor Tail helps to execute our set up (Aurora Veil, Shelter), repositioning (Parting Shot, Volt Switch ), or allows us to get off fast damage (Lando-I or A-tails Blizzard). After one Throat Spray, this mon also becomes a legitimate damage threat. Against opposing Trick Room teams, I will often lead Farigiraf and Hyper Voice instead of bothering to "predict" my opponent's Trick Room and reverse it. In the case that my opponents DOES get off Trick Room, Farigiraf is bulky enough to reverse it the next turn after tanking the attacks. Overall, this Pokemon is super solid and comes to nearly every match where opponents have priority, most matches where I'm considering setting Trick Room myself, and all matches where they have Trick Room.

Regieleki (Minato)

God Speed

They said that Choice Scarf Regieleki was trolling. Where are they now?! This Pokemon is SO fun and an essential piece to this team in very specific situations. Choice Scarf makes Regieleki faster than everything. Max speed booster energy Flutter Mane it's 307, Max speed Flutter Mane in Tailwind hit's 410. This Regieleki hits 415! Flutter Mane and Chi-Yu hard loses to Regieleki/Lando-I. Electroweb and blow something up (preferable the Chi-Yu). An otherwise extremely difficult matchup (especially for Hoodra) is suddenly very advantageous, and the flexibility of Volt Switching out makes this mon very hard to pin down. Tera Ice also gets insane value into many different teams. The newly popular Articuno/Alolan-Ninetails duo does not appreciate Eleki's ability to resist Ice attacks. Dragonite Chien-Pao duos also get pinned into a tricky turn one decision upon facing the combination of Regieleki and Farigiraf. If the Dragonite doesn't tera, it gets one-shot by tera Ice Tera Blast. If it teras into normal, it is suddenly weak to Hoodra in the back. There is also the synergy between Tera Ice and A-tails snow which makes Eleki respectably tanky into physical attackers. I wish I could say Eleki comes more often than it does (in 21 games I brought it 3 times), but every time it comes, it does work.

Landorus-Incarnate (Lando)

The best poison type in the game

This Pokemon covers the weaknesses (offensively and defensively) of Hoodra extremely well. Hoodra often wants to play slow and suffers against ground and fighting damage. Lando-I can play very fast and resists both types. The set up mons that love seeing Hoodra (Ogerpon, Gholdengo, Kingambit, etc) don't have time against the SHEER power of sludge bomb or earth power. Landor-I also fufills the very important function of shutting Amoongus down with taunt. Many Lando-I carry Substitute for this reason, but I often find that it's more important to protect Lando's partner from falling asleep (like Hoodra) than it is to protect Lando-I itself. Because of its type and good stats, it's pretty hard to one-shot Lando-I, just be aware of all the random ice moves that are teched on specifically for Lando-I (Ice Beam on Porygon-2/Latias/etc or Icy Wind on Cresselia/Fezandipiti/Flutter Mane/etc). Overall this is just a very good Pokemon with a great offensive and defensive type that opponents have to respect.

Team Preview Examples

Alex UnderHill's Team (Portland Regional Champion)

Hoodra is amazing here if we can eliminate the special attackers, but the opponent has many tools that would make this not so straightforward. If Chien-Pao carries Sacred Sword, it can do a lot of damage up front. I'm also slightly worried about the possibility of Ogerpon carrying Swords Dance and therefore I don't want to lead too passively. I also see the opponent has a lot of priority so Farigiraf is a must bring. The question is whether I want it up front or in the back. Finally the opponent does not carry Fake Out so it will be quite difficult to stop Eleki from establishing speed control right away (of course their priority mode gets around that if Farigiraf isn't on the field). Incineroar's value is diminished due to my opponent having two mons with Inner Focus, a ghost type in Flutter Mane, and a potential tera-ghost on Chien-Pao. All together, I think I would lead Lando-I and Eleki as a middle ground with Farigiraf and Hoodra in the back. If my opponent leads Chien-Pao and Dragonite/Entei with the idea of using priority moves, I have the threat of a Farigiraf switch in. If not, I have the threats of Electroweb and attacking with Lando-I or Electroweb and Protect (to scout for a tera).

Dylan Torres's Team

Hard Trick room/sun. Hoodra isn't great here due to Sacred Sword from Gallade, four special attackers, and four Body Press resistances. Eleki also isn't great here because the speed drops won't mean anything to these already slow mons and it doesn't do enough damage. So I already know which four mons I'm bringing (Hoodra, A-Tails, Incin, Lando-I). This also gives me three protects in case I need to stall. So what to lead? I'm expecting my opponent to lead one of Indeedee/Hatereene or Indeedee/Gallade. Against this I'm definitely leading Farigiraf because it tanks Psychic attacks and poses the threat of reversing a Trick Room. A-Tails is actually the other mon that I'd consider leading because I like the idea of forcing them to switch in Torkoal on turn one to prevent aurora veil from being set up. On that turn, I can Hyper Voice and if they DO switch in Torkoal I can just switch out Incin. Then the following turn I can Hyper Voice again if they didn't trick room or just reverse trick room if they set it up. I think many people would consider leading Incin right away and that's not a horrible idea, the reason I don't like that is because I want to get value out of Intimidate as well as value from tanking a fire attack from Torkoal. I also don't know how my opponent would want to set up Trick Room turn one and don't want to knock off into a Protect. I also like having more Protects in the front rather than the back (for stalling purposes). So Incin and Lando-I in the back for sure!

Nikhil Reddy's Team (Utrecht Champion)

Hoodra would be incredibly difficult to play in this game because of the high number of special attackers, Articuno with Sheer Cold, and Lando-I. A-tails is amazing here since it has no competition for weather and threatens super effective damage into everything that isn't Hisuian-Arcanine. Incineroar is also great here for resisting Ice attacks and unopposed Fake Out pressure. Eleki is also very good here because it can potentially tera ice to resist attacks and one shot my opponent's Lando-I. The speed control it offers is also extremely valuable since I would otherwise be operating at a very similar speed tier to my opponent (potential A-tail and Lando-I speed ties). Finally, I would probably bring Lando-I because it's good into Ogerpon, Arcanine, and Raging Bolt. I may be forced to tera, but because I have Protect I can use a turn to scout before committing to it. In terms of the lead, I like Eleki and Incineroar up front with A-tails and Lando-I in the back. If they lead with the snow duo, I can Electroweb and Fake Out turn one, followed by Electroweb and damage turn two. If they lead something else, I can Fake Out and reposition with Volt Switch turn one. In a match like this, it's important to force the opponent to Tera as early as possible. For example, if they bring their Lando-I but Tera something else, then A-Tails becomes much more potent in the back. For that reason, it's not a good idea to play the slower Hoodra mode (that does not tend to force teras)

Overall Impression

I played with this team on the showdown Ladder to ~1500 and on cart (going 18-3 to Masterball Tier and top 500). It took me ~15 games to "optimize" the team and really get down the play style. The ceiling of this team is incredibly high. Even in the "worst" matchups I felt like I had the tools to win every game. I also built this team for best of three and it still does very well in best one. The EV spread of the team could probably be further optimized (in almost all cases I went with a simple 252/252/4 spread). The one exception is Hoodra in which I split some EVs between defense and special defense.

Pros

• very clear win condition most games

• very consistent

• incredibly flexibility

• no weak Pokemon slots

• great in best of one AND best of three

Cons

• requires precise play

• not the easiest to pilot outside of the Hoodra mode

• slow for climbing

Please enjoy the team! I don't typically build many teams on cart because I'm quite busy and ALL of my Pokemon are legitimately obtained by ME (cough cough :p).

-R