So I tried an incredible SLOWPOKE team... • Pokemon Scarlet/Violet VGC Battles

[@Deceit72]

this reminds me of when only galarian slowpoke was out and people were trying to build teams around it

[@Kerokerostudio]

Absolutely love this team, I actually ended up battling you on the ladder (was using a tinkaton Skeledirge team) really had no idea what to expect from slowpoke outside of trick room. Glad to have been able to get the chance to have a game with you, and love the content!

[@CybertronVGC]

You played so well in that game, I learned a lot from it while practicing. Awesome team! 😊

[@dividetruth4124]

That first game reminded me of why I love Pokémon so much. There are so many strats that can be viable. You can think outside the box and have fun with it. Nice vid as always!

[@justkurtzen]

QOTD: bisharp! Bisharp was used prior to king gambit coming out with assault vest sometimes. Now it gets 1.5x on both defences AND still can run protect.

[@rambujam]

This is my answer too, I've been using eviloite bisharp on my 2nd team and it's so good if you can support it well

[@nunocarvalho6671]

Bisharp has no good dark moves, tho,hence why it's not used

[@GreyPunkWolf]

@nunocarvalho6671 Yeah that's what I thought as well. I'm like yeah you tank more but what do you contribute to, idk

[@MegaAntMan1]

Yes! I use bisharp myself and it kicks so much butt

[@PoeticMachineDreams]

@@nunocarvalho6671 Isn't the only move Bisharp is missing from its new evolution Kowtow Cleave? It still gets Night Slash and Sucker Punch

[@jimmygutierrez2624]

Never knew that “Follow Me” also redirects “Heal Pulse” into the user. Amazing content and so knowledgeable thanks for the lesson. Keep up the great work. Also absolutely love this team eviolite mons are my favorites

[@whipedge]

Magic bounce also does...this I found out a while back in doubles when trying to heal a hatterine that was beefed up from calm minds...it bounces back to the user

[@GreyPunkWolf]

@whipedge Oh that's so sad. Well you live and you learn I guess lol

[@Kasaaz]

QOTD: The craziest thing about Murkrow as an Eviolite user is that it has a 25 higher base stat total than Sableye. Girafarig with Eviolite is a monster in Little Cup.

[@GemmaBee14]

I’ll never understand why they used to just make so many Pokémon that were just outright bad with nothing to do like Sableye lol. Sableye has bad stats and when it was introduced it’s ability was just keen eye.

[@MINTY_FN]

@@GemmaBee14 Sableye's whole gimmick in Gen 3 was that it was the only Pokemon without any weaknesses, so I guess they felt it needed to be weak to compensate. Now fairy type exists that gimmick doesn't even exist any more.

[@GemmaBee14]

@@MINTY_FN they could have at least given it one stat above base 75 lol

[@Kasaaz]

@@GemmaBee14 When it was introduced, it had no weaknesses, because Fairy didn't exist yet. That was its gimmick.

[@MackCasual]

Updating pokemon like sableye would be nice. Even if its just a boost of like base 15-25 stats.

[@adriann6633]

Slowpoke is my favorite mon! Im so glad you are showcasing a team with him!!!

[@evansmith2832]

Slowpoke's ev's and nature are suboptimal. You can reach the exact same stats except with 2 more spdef with a relaxed nature and 36/220 split rather than the 108/148 split being used.

[@bootscootboogy]

Question for you: how did you spot that? Like, what was your mental process to spot that out? I’m trying to get a little better at EV spread optimization and would love to understand your process here!

[@pazukunous]

@@bootscootboogy since nature is a 10% boost, if you're trying to balance a Def/Spdef investment you should boost the 65 base stat instead of the 40 base stat option so you gain more, and then even out with EVs

[@lyonnaismatt]

@@bootscootboogy You almost always want your nature to boost the bigger stat. The only exception would be things like if you're trying to hit a specific speed number and there's no other way to get it than to run a +speed nature, or if you just want to do the most damage possible and so you run +atk or +spa on a more defensive pokemon.

[@CinderRed]

@@bootscootboogy Something players keep in mind are EV bumps, which are specific points in a stat where the stat earns 2 points from 8 EVs instead of just 1 point. This only applies to the stat being boosted by the Pokémon's nature. This happens about every 80 EVs. So by taking away a point from Defense and boosting the Sp. Def EVs up from 144 to 156, the stat goes from 86 to 88. One more thing to note is that even though we're taking a point away from Defense, we don't actually lose any because of Eviolite. Eviolite adds 50% of each defensive stat to itself. However, if that number ends in a decimal, then it will round down. As such, you generally want to avoid odd numbers, like 99, because half of 99 is 49.5, which rounds down to 49. And half of 98 is also 49. So either way, the Defense stat still ends up being 148. The only difference being that we can now get those 2 bonus points in Sp. Def.

[@chaddrusso8850]

Can someone explain why the indeedee is impish nature? I don’t understand that at all lol

[@acer7400]

Hey Aaron! I’m Brian, huge fan. I watch your videos everyday, I cannot believe I finally got to battle you. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time, Ive learned a lot from you and if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be able to have the knowledge I have.

[@ekuu8918]

So... did you have Imprison Trick Room? Lol

[@ellyjockey6164]

Hey Cybertron, I've always wanted to comment on your patience. I mean that throughout these videos, I've seen many of your opponents lock in teams quickly, but the way you take your time to think through situations is something I enjoy in these videos. I guess it's hard to explain without sounding weird, but thanks for helping me learn the strategy of Scarlet and Violet with your content.

[@krkaen]

I wanna appreciate you soo much, I actually gained valuable game sense watching you and I want you to continue this series. Thank You Aaron 💟

[@kelvinjaime8440]

Thank you Aaron!!! I am so grateful for your videos. I have a busy and tiring schedule/ life but your videos always help me out. I've been playing pokemon since yellow version and have been building teams since 4th gen. I now share my love for pokemon with my 3 year old daughter ❤️.

[@Bruhyeet42069]

QOTD: I always liked Scyther with eviolite. It has decent attack and speed stats and with the eviolite a good amount of bulk. The movepool always been a problem but now it gets technician boosted stab ponce to deal damage and slow the enemy down and also technician boosted trailblaze for speeding yourself up. It also gets tailwind so maybe it might be a good speedcontrol Pokémon now. Honorable mention: Bisharp.

[@carsoncrosby9146]

Reached masters rank the other night using teams you’ve showed off! Thank you for the content! Love your videos

[@nathang1996]

Comment for algorithm so Aaron surpasses Mr. Beast

[@JoshYNWA03]

Seconded

[@NotGoldenboi]

Waffle House has found its new host

[@InciniumVGC]

Only about 5 billion comments to go, oh man

[@Cybertronfanboy]

He beat me

[@Cybertronfanboy]

@@NotGoldenboi and God

[@Ffror]

QOTD: I don’t think many people know that Ursaring actually benefits from eviolite now! My brother and I verified this ourselves. I am really curious if there are some wacky strategies that enables.

[@ItsDKoda]

OHHH THAT'S VERY INTERESTING

[@ShojiVT]

LMAO ITS FUNNY U SAY THIS I HAVE A STRATGEY IM WORKING ON WITH URSARING RN

[@Rattus375]

Could make a pretty decent trick room attacker. Super bulky and can't be burned because of guts

[@rizachan8892]

Will O Wisp absorber

[@sloesty]

Are you sure about this?

[@mrriizzy8267]

GG on the battles! that gastrodon drain switch in really sealed the win for you but i should've brought my wide guard like you said LOL Love the videos !

[@Treeplot]

That torkoal kill on the farigiraf was insane thought it would need crit for sure

[@Hyenadont]

QOTD: Primeape with anger point is so strong its crazy, but every anger point team only seems to use tauros. Ursaring though is the biggest underrated eviolite user. it's like people don't even recognise what kind of tank it can be now. Amazing stats for an NFE, and hp/spd invest plus bulk up is just so hard to kill neutrally, surviving max hit adamant life orb population bomb, chi-yu specs overheat, and immunity to rage fist.

[@shaggbaggz5852]

This

[@lordmasenko]

When set up properly, that Torkoal is an absolute beast 🥹🥹

[@crosslockhart5263]

Dunsparce is kind of insane with evolite. Roost yawn/glare chilling water helping hand make it a super bulky supportive based mon for sure with the try I’ve been impressed with it so far

[@Perseverance007]

Arboliva is one of my favorite new grass types this gen, super cool set on it!

[@GreyPunkWolf]

Ennemy pulls out a very bulky fire type: "Yeah they don't really have a torcoal answer here" This thing is legitimately insane, wow.

[@Tonsue]

Scyther is definitely one of the most underrated eviolite users IMO and I plan to hopefully bring it to the Canada regionals. With Eviolite it gets pretty fair bulk, given it's base 105 speed it is amongst the fastest tailwind users. Gets bug stab with speed control (pouce) for some of the common dark types in the format, close combat with a 87.5% chance to ohko max hp kingambit. Also decided to opt for technician aerial ace for mons like annihilape over quick guard, but can quick guard against ice shards from bax for a mon like garchomp. I usually run it with life orb garchomp and can really get a lot of value with it the first couple turns. Let me know what you think! The spread I run is, Piccolo (Scyther) @ Eviolite Ability: Technician Level: 50 Shiny: Yes Tera Type: Dark EVs: 148 HP / 148 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 204 Spe Jolly Nature - Tailwind - Aerial Ace - Pounce - Close Combat

[@edgarmairena6005]

Hey Aaron! Since players are also focused in series 2, have you considered releasing format preview videos discussing strategies or with advice for teambuilding?

[@CybertronVGC]

Yes! I need to get some experience with it first but would love to do that kind of content

[@prodbyjstuts]

I’m glad to see one of my favorite evolution lines being used, but I really didn’t expect slowPOKE to be used lol

[@Deredeo13]

You had that Game 2 with the Wide Guard + Ice Beam play. Force the Giraffe & Hydreigon into a 2 vs 4 with Hariyama & Gastro to force a Knock or Close Combat mind game. Amazing game plan from the get go.

[@Kasaaz]

That last game really demonstrating how different the game can be when you have a Team Sheet and not.

[@alexanderhale4393]

A blessing to see you again king. Fun team to showcase🔥

[@Steve_A93]

QOTD: I have been using a green Teddiursa as a way to help out on a Trick Room team with Farigiraf. It is underrated not for its competitive qualities necessarily, but just because it is so darn cute and that must be important in VGC somehow..

[@brendank]

Wondering if weakness policy is better than choice specs, do the draw backs of only using one move outweigh having to bring an extra pokemon that knows a water move that won't do a lot of damage to torkoal?

[@kodyfinley1545]

That was crazy satisfying to see Torkoal burn up the competition

[@eternalnos2179]

Man I thought this was going to be Andrew Davis' team, but still glad to see Torkoal go boom. If anyone likes pokemon solo runs he's done those too and is just all around a fun and hilarious guy to watch

[@blootwo385]

My friend and I faced this team last night on showdown within 10 minutes of you posting. We could tell he didn't watch the video because he did nothing outlined in the strategy lol

[@midorimatsuda7241]

You have convinced me to play some casual battles for the first time, and I'm having so much fun!

[@shwimwhearz4819]

Love seeing these interesting teams and the analysis on each play. Great content +1 sub

[@pieguy5323]

I feel like the sleeper was that arboliva. Setting up itself with grassy pulse seems like such a cool tech. Waiting to see if more people can make that mon work more

[@awenner]

It is very viable and underrated

[@leftistdegeneratejs]

I feel like it has all my friends are dead syndrome. I played against one recently and all I had to do was kill it’s partner and all it could do against me is try to stall me out with strength sap and leech seed

[@awenner]

@@leftistdegeneratejs it's got a great SpA stat. That opponent you faced apparently neglected that

[@leftistdegeneratejs]

@@awenner yeah but like no coverage tho

[@awenner]

@@leftistdegeneratejs yeah but full special investment + miracle seed/life orb + grassy terrain and your grass moves are doing big chunks even on resisted targets

[@wolfey316]

Lost to this team last week and had no idea what I was in for when I saw Slowpoke on team preview 😨

[@kingdomworker2615]

It's more of a gimmick but personally I love max Def, max Sp.Def eviolite Coil/baton pass Dunsparce. It can tank a suprising amount.

[@stevenseufert2520]

3:50 Why does Indeedee have an Impish nature instead of a Bold nature (minus special attack versus minus physical attack)?

[@amexicancelt8002]

My first real VGC team was trick room with Slowking and Mega-Khan. This reminds me of it ALOT. Gonna have to give it a shot, for old times. Lol

[@vitorrancan431]

Man, thanks for anothed one! My day never closes out if i do not watch a road to ranked video

[@achromaticmediant2738]

What music plays in the back during the team overview? Is it from HOMM V?

[@Nicow723]

I Love Slowpoke! This is such a fun team! Amazing show of such an awesome Pokémon :)

[@TheKampfmaschine]

QOTD: Primape Not sure if it counts as underrated if I haven't had too much success with it, but there's some fun Anger Point + Rage fist strats I tried. One was with Maushold and self pop-bomb and hoping for a crit (obviously unreliable, but fun nontheless)

[@treygreypaws3689]

You can just use frost breath Froslass to get that crit boost

[@simonb31]

Scyther has really solid base stats and learns tailwind but its typing compared to scizor makes it a little overshadowed

[@Astar24653]

How do you deal with indeedee + grass tera tera blast armarouge? I feel like i just cant protect slowpoke. If i go indeedee slowpoke the enemy indeedee can just reverse trickroom

[@Steelscizor]

Wait. Did I miss something or did Torkoal just have enough damage to KO Farigiraf through 2 Calm Minds in game 4? That's crazy.

[@ekuu8918]

It sure did! Torkoal goes stupid hard!!

[@littleangrydog8433]

This is so Awesome!!!!! Slowpoke is my favorite pokemon

[@alasanof]

I forgot, does ranked set Pokemon to level 50? Because you could use lower level Pokemon to probably eek out some faster trick room teams.

[@stew347]

Always the best when you upload man, thanks for being a top G!

[@blujay1524]

Awesome team! Very creative

[@luigimanzelli3786]

man that torkoal switch was very ballsy, Torkoal would not have enjoyed a +1 HyperVoice to the face at all, and i was expecting them to go for that too, second calm mind was surprising to see.

[@terumo1691]

the best eviolite user is kinda weird but i think it's ursaring! eviolite+baby doll eyes is a real defensive combo, plus u can burn it to make guts work

[@Kasaaz]

Armarouge is the biggest threat against almost all Hard Trick Room teams.

[@mitchellhartigan8927]

Hey Aaron, you’re probably not attending but do you know if or when Orlando regionals will reopen sign ups? On the site it says they may open up again but there’s no info on when

[@tristanhouse6747]

QOTD: Scyther has the same BST as Scizor/Kleavor. It can still use eviolite since it evolves making it the highest BST eviolite user, beating out Bisharp by 10. With solid base def/sp def as 80. Plus great atk/spd at 110/105. It's only downside is the typing but Tera fixes that this gen! Without Tera still got to play around the 4x rock weakness though

[@marcxhenry]

Do we dont get the Ribbons anymore after a win? I got 6 Ribbons with my first team in season 1 but with any other team (they dont have Master Ribbon) i dont get one. Anyone have the same problem?/bugg?

[@malacethmordor5176]

I would love to see a team made by Aaron (I know he did the mono-ice team a few weeks back, but that was cute but a little troll hahaha), just to get some insight on some strategy and thoughts by Mr. Big brain

[@geeflow6669]

I love bisharp so i will have to go with Bisharp as an underrated eviolite user. Havent seen a team use eviolite on him yet so i might make one 😅

[@nintendonut999]

QOTD: Naclstack has been a fun Eviolite user, at least in singles. I can see it as a secondary Garganacl if you need leftovers elsewhere, and your Salt Cure isn't missing too much damage.

[@pikadrew0813]

Never thought I’d get to see Slowpoke be this good. As far as the QOTD, I think Bisharp could be great as an eviolite user. While it’s probably isn’t as good as Kingambit, it was already a decently bulky Pokémon, and it had the Attack to where it should be able to pull off a bulky role without being entirely passive.

[@cellgoondude]

I kinda wanna see Eviolite Stantler. Skill Swap Intimidate is cool

[@olivergonzalez469]

Even better when you have a competitive/defiant Ally and then use skill swap to the enemy in order to enable it

[@aaronhill7845]

I think bisharp maybe a very underrated eviolite user considering it’s already a good mon that now has the access to use eviolite could be interesting

[@bdellovibrioo5242]

QOTD: I'm not sure how powerful this is, or if it's underrated, but Eviolite Quilfish was something that caught my attention when I saw that Quilfish was among the legal Pokemon.

[@ryanhacker5259]

Only hisuian qwilfish evolves, so normal wouldn't benefit from the eviolite boost unfortunately

[@bdellovibrioo5242]

@@ryanhacker5259 Interesting - thanks for explaining. I guess I had been thinking about the case of Stantler without realizing that it isn't a special Stantler in Hisui.

[@whis7178]

I love the piplup in the back 😎👌

[@TomtomTM1]

I doubted Murkrow when my brother said "It has prankster and tailwind!", and now there is a slowpoke.. a freaking SLOWPOKE.

[@robertsiudak8507]

That first game made Slowpoke looks incredible O.O Qotd: Anger point Primape is possible now with evolite thanks to it getting an evolution!

[@wario1226]

Oh gosh I remember when you made a video in gen 8 with this same concept. How funny that its back

[@brock9027]

Bisharp w/eviolite is underrated imo

[@rarestphil]

You should do a video building your own competitive team and see how well it performs

[@ArcodioGaming]

I have a question regarding Indeedee-F's nature being Impish and it carries Psychic. What is the intention of having it as Impish Nature instead of Bold?

[@Fishstux]

I think Girafarig and Bisharp are very good with the the new eviolite potential

[@jollygreenjimbo3043]

I have found moderate success with eviolite Ursaring, using another mon to burn it. Or a supportive Bisharp with eviolite and things like stealth rock, taunt, torment, etc.

[@KR-ec9ne]

Definitely Misdreavus.Decent bulk and has access to levitate.Could be a trick room user or denier.

[@sloesty]

Electric tera for no weakness kek

[@chinmitten]

Use a Spiritomb team next.. I am convinced it’s the best TR setter around. Fake out and prankster immunity plus a surprisingly strong dark pulse with flinch chance? It’s one of my favs.

[@chrisholder8906]

Arron I want You to know that every time I play on the ladder I commentate in my head like I’m you… it’s like auto pilot and I can’t turn it off

[@christianpika4405]

Yummi!! Slopoke's tail :Q___

[@jacobcoolguy]

Has anyone tried using the mons with new evolutions preevolutions? Girafarig, Dunsparce, primeape. Otherwise, magneton, scyther, naclstack, maybe dolliv or hippopotas too.

[@rizachan8892]

QOTD: It's crazy underrated how amazing Eviolite Misdreavus is, with Will-o'-wisp, Pain Split and even Trick room it can be a really good utility support pokemon + Its Shadow ball hurt despite being a NFE and having no SpAtk investment

[@TintedAspect]

QOTD: I really don't think this is the best usage of the item, but I'm curious to see if Dunsparce as a Coil Baton Pass Eviolite user could be useable to enable some mons whose moves are too inaccurate for consistent usage. While there are a couple mons with Hone Claws + Pass, the Dunsparce line is the only one with Coil + Pass in SV and it's got decent bulk beforehand to enable the setup. It also gets some useful other moves to help define a niche for itself in Hyper Drill and potentially Serene Grace Rock Slide, though with its low speed it'd need to be on a Trick Room team to enable those fully. It could alternatively use Rattled + Beat Up for a big speed boost like the stored power strategy you previously featured. Definitely faces the issue of how much setup counter is currently being used but I think it could be fun.

[@cjchu2597]

Do you think this team would be better with open team sheet?

[@Pablo360able]

I feel like Eviolite Naclstack could be good. It’s much bulkier than Garganacl, which means it deals *more* damage with Body Press, plus Iron Defense to set up, Salt Cure for continual damage, and Recover for, uh, recovery. Between Salt Cure chip and Iron Defense, you don’t really need a high Attack stat to be threatening, especially if you pair it with something that can either bait in Water- and Steel-types or trap them once they’re out. I’m not saying it’s a Dondozo counter, but I am saying that its physical bulk is good enough to stand up to a lot of physical attacks even from someone who might happen to ignore Iron Defense boosts.

[@joshdavis6830]

Bisharp with Eviolite seems pretty good. The mon was already great, and the item being usable by it is a huge buff to the defenses of a pokemon often used as a Defensive Pivot. The problem is Kingambit is so strong that it really competes with Bisharp for it's spot, but Bisharp's superior physical bulk could allow you to EV to live stronger physical attacks, so I won't be surprised if Bisharp makes it on a specific team. Other than that I don't think most Eviolite pokemon are slept on - most of them are just straight up bad, and even Murkrow who does use it is run for it's other traits, Prankster Tailwind, and can run other items.

[@ladyoftheflowers9781]

I see Aaron being a stud with that slicked hair! Guess I'll subscribe to cyberstud... but anyway, no, you deserve to continue your growth in subscriptions with your passion. Also amazing this gen that cute, unassuming pokemon somehow dominate with their crazy amount of tech!

[@DonYagamoth]

~13:00 "Psychic Terrain is also really nice, because it prevents Extreme Speed from Dragonite" - I thought flying pokémon were not affected by terrain... Actually, how does that terrain work?

[@NamerGaming]

The terrains effects only benefit grounded pokemon. For psychic terrain, only grounded Pokemon are inmune to prio moves targetted at them, that means that levitators and flying types can get faked out or bullet punched, for example. E-speed from Dragonite would only be able to be used against not grounded mons or its allies (something that could be relevant in weakness policy proccing scenarios). Dragonite flying does not allow it to attack any pokemon with prio in psychic terrain.

[@DonYagamoth]

@@NamerGaming Ohh... Thanks a ton for this explanation! I didn't think of it from the perspective of the defending pokémon becoming immune to priority - I was thinking about it in terms of the attacker not being able to use it

[@sergejseifert1012]

Where do u get all this teams from?

[@kingyveltal1623]

Oh hey Pipulup’s back!

[@sethsevaroth]

Knockoff is so common in this generation that I just can't see eviolite doing well and the sticky hold isn't really on anything usable. I guess Sticky Hold Grimer could have some niche use as a utility mon under trick room? Pretty sure I've seen that mucking around Paldea. It does get a pretty good moveset for utility mon.

[@stevenseufert2520]

"mucking around" I see what you did there.

[@igzdoromal1392]

Hey Aaron! There are some interesting teams coming at this tail end of s1, huh? Poison garganacl, life orb mimikyu and this slowpoke team were some pkmn i really wish i had thought of before s1 ended! What are your thoughts on s2? How much do you think the dox mon will change the meta? Personally, i've found that the team i'm using now doesn't really need a dox mon, but I'm fairly sure this will change down the line. I'm sure you'll have a video on the topic soon, though! Keep up the great work!

[@remixedremix]

A team with my boy Slowpoke? Count me in.

[@Phoenixking96]

Never thought I'd see the day slowpoke putting in work on ranked. The team comp works out for it. For the QOTD I say Murkrow.

[@jaybirdtv9002]

For the algorithm! Love your videos Aaron!

[@radpear8592]

The tech this team needs is imprison on indeedee to imprison the opponents imprison

[@jasonhammer]

Dang. That's a pretty neat team

[@0bject1v3]

It is a good day whenever Aaron "Cybertron" Zheng uploads.

[@BurnCarrot]

Bisharp with eviolite is just so beefy and i feel like the high attention on kingambit kinda made people not realize that a bisharp, with already good stats, can be full attack and run moves like swords dance and sucker punch for some good quikck knockouts since it'll survive most cases, even fighting ones. Stantler is also a good one but that one has been out for a while and i only use it because no wyndeer and skill swap intimidate

[@enzoris]

Torkoal is really strong omg it took 90% of Farigiraf's health with +2 sp. defense, I thought it wasn't gonna KO without a crit

[@ShojiVT]

hey aaron, how can we send you teams to try ? i have a couple i think you would like :D

[@lyonnaismatt]

It's really funny to see these teams that are so good miss out on things like two free points in defense by running the wrong nature. (Or that Expert Belt Amoonguss set from Sword&Shield that only had a poison attack--why not use Poison Barb?) Love your stuff no matter what.