Sydney and Nationals Team

Finally I have gotten around to publishing the team I used in Sydney and very slightly modified for Nats. The team building process can be found here for anyone that might've missed it or is wanting a refresher:

http://chironvgc.hatenablog.com/entry/2015/05/13/142042

http://play.pokemonshowdown.com/sprites/bw/kangaskhan-mega.png

 

 

The team itself didn't change from Sydney to Nationals though some EV Spreads, items and moves did. 

http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-xy/icon/115-m.pngKangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 212 HP / 100 Atk / 60 Def / 20 SpD / 116 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Double-Edge
- Low Kick
- Sucker Punch

Kanga didn't change between Syd and Nats. The EV spread, like most from the team, was stolen with the intention that they would be changed later. The speed creeps Breloom and other positive base 70 Pokémon. The bulk came in really useful with Kanga having numerous clutch survivals in both tournaments. In Sydney, Kanga took double mach punch from Johnson's (@ZantarVGC) Breloom and Conkeldurr. At Nats it took an Iron Head from MegaGross, flinched, took another surviving on 5hp to than OHKO a Ludicolo with Double Edge. @levelfiftyone made the original spread. It survives a modest Hydreigon Specs Draco 100% of the time. It also survives Adamant Kanga's low kick 100% of the time. 


http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-xy/icon/488.pngCresselia @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs:220 HP / 100 Def / 188 SpA
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Trick Room
- Rest

Cresselia is another Pokemon that didn't change at all between Sydney and Nats. Sunny Day was very seriously considered to improve the rain matchup (which I had to play twice at Nats) and also let me power up my own Heatran. The EV spread went something like. 
"Luke, I need a TR Cress spread, hook me up?"
"Erhm, this should do for now"
It has a 93.8% chance to OHKO 4/0 Landorus and takes every physical hit you would expect a Cresselia to take including LO 252+ Bisharp Knock Off. RestoChesto is the probably the most outstanding feature of Cresselia. Originally it was Helping Hand with a Sitrus berry however whilst testing for Sydney it became obvious that Kanga+Breloom was really difficult for the (TR portion of) team to handle. Rest and the Chesto berry came in very handy during Sydney though it is hard to say if it was as important at Nats. 

Sylveon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 156 HP / 92 Def / 244 SpA / 4 SpD / 12 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Hyper Beam

A very standard Sylveon Specs set. Hyper Beam was chosen over Hidden Power Ground to maximise damage during TR turns as well deleting Pokemon such as opposing Kanga, Swampert (knew this was being played in Syd and wide guard was a pain), and Suicune. I considered changing Sylveon to Life Orb or Goggles between Sydney and Nats but a mixture of laziness and lack no solid testing made me end up sticking with Specs.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 236 HP / 148 Def / 44 SpA / 12 SpD / 68 Spe
Modest Nature
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Substitute
- Protect

 Standard SubLefties Heatran. Goggles was considered for both Syd however, with the announced of Bo3 battles for Nats I opted against it. As one can see, Heatran is very defensive. Eugene Tan made the original spread!  It is 3HKO'd by 252 Breloom Mach Punch, Terrakion only has a 12.5% chance to OHKO with CC, Kang's 252 Low Kick only has a 1.3% chance to OHKO. Rock Slide from 252+ LandorusT doesn’t break Heatran's sub either! The original spread wasn't made for trick room though I opted to keep the speed. By doing so I could anticipate that I would underspeed non-trick room Heatrans though outspeed hard trick room Heatrans. Throughout both tournaments I didn't feel like I should've changed the spread. 
The EV spread came in very useful multiple times throughout both tournaments. In the Semifinal of Sydne, Heatran was able to fire off a heatwave after it took a Breloom Mach Punch and a Bisharp Sucker-Punch. At Nats, Heatran survived a Terrakion Close Combat and picked up a double KO to win the game. 

Sydney Thundurus
Incarnate FormeThundurus @ Life Orb                                        
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 52 HP / 20 Def / 180 SpA / 4 SpD
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunder Wave
- Taunt


Nats Thundurus: 
Incarnate FormeThundurus @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 236 HP / 84 Def / 4 SpA / 76 SpD / 108 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Taunt
- Swagger
- Thunder Wave

Life Orb Thundurus was used in Sydney as the Sitrus was originally taken by Cresselia. It also meant I could quickly remove bulky water types with a helping hand + TBolt. As the RestoChesto change was made only the night before I didnt have enough time to think about changing Thundurus a lot. Max speed to taunt other Thundurus. I made the change to bulky Thundurus for Nats which really improved my rain matchup as well as Perish matchup. Both of which I played. 13 Hp Thundurus was able to 1v1 a Mega-Blaziken with Swagger+Twave (My opponent had been swaggering my team with Liepard all match so I really didn't feel too bad afterwards).


 Therian FormeLandorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 164 HP / 124 Atk / 12 Def / 28 SpD / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- U-turn (Knock Off used in Sydney)

Fairly standard bulky-scarf LandorusT. Knock Off was used so I could try and touch wide guarding Aegislash though I rarely used Landorus so either works fine. U-turn in theory lets me get an intimidate off, U-turn into Heatran or Sylveon and set up TR. This never happened though. 

Tough Matchups

Amonguss, Double Steel, Redirection+PuP Kanga and priority based teams (ie Double Suck Punch) were all difficult to battle. Amoonguss made playing TR tough and double steel really limited my ability to clean up with Sylveon. Whilst it doesn’t look like it, opposing Heatran could often be difficult to content with especially if they a Shuca berry or were able to get up a sub early. 

Overall it was is a very strong team that can run through unprepared teams quickly and hold its own in the final rounds of swiss. I think Amoonguss over Thundurus would've helped me more at Nats in my latter rounds, though it is hard to say if I would've started so well given how strong Thundurus was in those key, early rounds.