Imagine Dragon-Types: A 2013 Winter Friendly Team
The Winter Friendly was certainly an interesting tournament format. Much like the VGC 2010 ruleset, this WiFi competition allowed the use of the normally banned “Uber” Pokémon. This was also the case with the Japan-only Christmas Cup tournament, but the Winter Friendly added a new element: Rotation Battles! This team would have earned me 150th place, but I was unfortunately not ranked because of connection issues.
The only rotation experience I had when starting to make this team was Biker Charles before the Driftveil Bridge. I was testing an Endeavor / Sturdy Aron set around the time on GBU Doubles and set on making a team around this tiny little Uber-killer. After putting Aron’s usual partner in crime, Tyranitar, I started looking at Ubers with priority attacks. Arceus immediately came to mind. Giratina meshed pretty well with Arceus-Normal and my first core was built. Ghost types and Normal types have always fit together nicely and Giratina and Arceus supported each other very well. For example, in Swords Dance Arceus wars I could rotate Giratina in, predicting the ExtremeSpeed, and get a free Calm Mind up. Also, Giratina could absorb harmful Fighting moves like Aura Sphere. On the other hand, Arceus maimed Ghost types with Shadow Claw and could even heavily damage most Dark types with ExtremeSpeed or Earthquake. Next, I saw Ho-Oh fit pretty nicely with my current lineup. Dialga has perfect synergy with Ho-Oh, so it was natural that I had to include in my team. When opponents wanted to hit Dialga with a Fighting or Ground move, Ho-Oh could rotate in and set up a Substitute. Dialga could also do the same for Rock, Electric or Water moves aimed at Ho-Oh.
I had to look at counters for Zekrom, Reshiram, Kyurem-B/W, and Giratina who could all beat Aron with their Abilities / typing. This is why you’ll see an abundance of Earthquake on my team. Also, Tyranitar served as a nice Giratina check, as long as they didn’t pack Aura Sphere (though Tyranitar easily shrugged that off in Sand anyway). Giratina could also take a nice chunk out of other Giratina’s HP with Shadow Ball.
After that, I looked through some checks to the top 10 Pokémon used in the Christmas Cup. First off was Kyogre. Dialga served as a great counter, taking almost nothing from even Water Spout and OHKOing back with Thunder. Arceus could also weaken Water Spouts with ExtremeSpeed. Next on the list was Mewtwo. Tyranitar could take an Aura Sphere with Chople Berry and OHKO back with Crunch. Giratina also took little from its attacks and hit back with a strong Shadow Ball. Dialga could be whittled down by Aron, Tyranitar, Arceus or even Ho-Oh in some situations. Palkia could also be Endeavored or killed by Dialga without taking much in return. Abomasnow was one of the biggest threats to my team, getting neutral damage on all of my Pokemon. It also negated Aron’s Focus Sash! Luckily, Ho-Oh roasted it with Sacred Fire and Dialga could take a Blizzard. Groudon wasn’t the most threatening because its weather couldn’t touch Aron and Arceus’ ExtremeSpeed dented it.
“SCV” the Aron (M) @ Shell Bell
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: none
Hardy Nature
– Endeavor
– Toxic
– Protect
– Sleep Talk
Ah, the tiny devil that they call Aron. This thing is really good in rotation battles. Because you need a free switch and / or Trick Room support for this to function in doubles, Aron is great when rotated in. You can switch him in, endeavor, and switch back to Arceus / Giratina to priority your opponent to death. The other moves are mainly filler. Protect can be useful to scout to see if the opponent is carrying some surprise like Quick Claw or a priority move. Toxic can also be useful for pokemon with Leftovers or to get poison off before Aron dies. Sleep Talk was for any random sleep moves that might have come Aron’s way.
“It’s Time” the Dialga @ Dragon Gem
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
– Draco Meteor
– Aura Sphere
– Thunder
– Substitute
Hahaha, get it, It’s TIME? Bad puns aside, speedy Dialga is great. Also, Substitute is insanely good in Rotations because you can rotate in on a resist and get a free sub up, then rotate out safely. Dialga has some great resistances and I almost always got a free Sub up. While teambuilding I was theorymoning Magnet Rise, but it proved to be too inconsistent, so Sub took its place. Dragon Gem Draco Meteor is the standard nuke button you’ll see on many Dragon types and Aura Sphere provided nice coverage alongside it. Thunder was mainly to hit Kyogre, but surprisingly, I only saw it a few times.
“OnTopOfTheWorld” the Arceus @ Silk Scarf
Trait: Multitype
EVs: 28 HP / 236 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 236 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
– Swords Dance
– ExtremeSpeed
– Earthquake
– Shadow Claw
This Arceus spread was created by Arbol Deku and given to me back when we were talking about Christmas Cup on Facebook. It is great for so many things. It survives Life Orb Kyurem-White’s Draco Meteor, Choice Band Groudon’s Earthquake, and has a 50% chance of surviving Water Spout from a full HP Timid Scarf Kyogre (curse those double target calcs!). Luckily, ExtremeSpeed can damage Kyogre with priority to bring Water Spout down to a manageable level. It’s amazing that only 28 HP EVs and 4 EVs invested in each defense can help it survive so much. 236 Speed was to speed creep max Speed Garchomp and I found out it was immensely helpful because most people were using 168 speed EV Jolly Arceus which reached a speed stat of 168, whereas mine reached 170! This helped in the many Swords Dance Arceus wars I was in. Swords Dance boosts its Attack to monstrous levels with ExtremeSpeed, Shadow Claw, and Earthquake providing great coverage. Most people used Brick Break over Earthquake on their Arceuses which I assume was to counter Dual Screens Lugia. However, I wanted to hit Dialga harder and felt that a 75 BP move wasn’t powerful enough even at +2 Attack. ExtremeSpeed flat out killed many Pokemon. Shadow Claw maimed Ghosts and Earthquake took care of Rock and Steel-type Pokemon.
“Battlecruiser” the Ho-Oh @ Life Orb
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
– Brave Bird
– Sacred Fire
– Substitute
– Earthquake
Even though it’s listed as the 4th Pokemon on here, Ho-Oh was the final member of my team added. It provides amazing synergy with Dialga, resisting Fighting and being immune to Ground. On the other hand, Dialga resisted Water, Rock and Electric-types that plagued Ho-Oh. Sacred Fire is a great move, even scoring some nice burns occasionally. Tyranitar, Arceus, Giratina and Groudon had to be careful rotating in! Brave Bird was another strong STAB move, although the heavy recoil from Life Orb and Brave Bird could stack up at times. Sub Ho-Oh is another one of my favorites. Since it could rotate in on Dialga’s resists and set up a sub, it was invaluable. Earthquake gave me an option against rock-types, even though I didn’t use it much because of its slightly overlapping coverage with Sacred Fire.
“Thor” the Tyranitar (F) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef (0 Speed IV)
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
– Crunch
– Rock Slide
– Earthquake
– Protect
Tyranitar was a great partner to Aron, just like the SCVs and Thors in StarCraft 2 are. He set up Sand Storm so that Aron could fully KO Pokemon after using Endeavor. This proved to be a deadly combo. His Crunch was also a great solution for the Ghost-types Aron couldn’t hit with Endeavor. In hindsight, I probably should have used Stone Edge for more power, but the shaky accuracy and fact that I already had a Tyranitar in my box sealed the deal — I was just too lazy to get another one! Earthquake was mainly on there for filler, but it helped hit opposing Rock-types. I probably should have used Low Kick because most Ubers are pretty heavy, but once again, laziness and the fact that this Tyranitar was already in my Japanese Black 2 where I didn’t have enough shards forced me to stick with Earthquake. Protect was also on this Tyranitar because it was designed for VGC. Nevertheless, it helped a few times where I had to stall out some Sand Storm damage!
“Demons” the Giratina @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 204 HP / 4 Atk / 116 Def / 4 SAtk / 180 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
– Shadow Ball
– Calm Mind
– Shadow Sneak
– Draco Meteor
This Giratina was another partner to Aron originally. I was looking through Ubers with priority and Giratina caught my eye. It was incredibly bulky and Shadow Sneak could finish an opponent off. I found a spread on SkarmBliss (before it closed D:) made by lucariojr that I had saved for Christmas Cup but never used. After tweaking a few EVs around, I came up with this. It is almost guaranteed to get a Calm Mind up because it can take:
- Adamant Yache Rayquaza Dragon Claw 122 – 146 (48.61% – 58.17%)
- Adamant Life Orb Groudon Dragon Claw 106 – 126 (42.23% – 50.20%)
- Modest Choice Scarf Kyogre Ice Beam 86 – 102 (34.26% – 40.64%)
- Timid Life Orb Mewtwo Shadow Ball 102 – 122 (40.64% – 48.61%)
- Quiet Occa Berry/Focus Sash Abomasnow Blizzard 90 – 108 (35.86% – 43.03%)
Also, it can still pack a punch with or without a Calm Mind up:
- 4 SpA Giratina Draco Meteor vs. 4 HP / 4 SpD Palkia: 134-162 (80.72 – 97.59%) — guaranteed 2HKO
- +1 4 SpA Giratina Draco Meteor vs. 4 HP / 4 SpD Dialga: 118-141 (67.04 – 80.11%) — guaranteed 2HKO
- +1 4 SpA Giratina Shadow Ball vs. 4 HP / 4 SpD Mewtwo: 150-176 (82.41 – 96.7%) — guaranteed 2HKO
- +1 4 SpA Giratina Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 80 SpD Lugia: 90-108 (42.25 – 50.7%) — guaranteed 3HKO
- +1 4 SpA Giratina Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Dialga: 118-141 (57 – 68.11%) — guaranteed 2HKO
Common Combinations
+ 
+ 
/ 
Tyranitar + Aron + Arceus / Giratina
This was the original combo I formulated. Tyranitar provided Sand for Aron which allowed to Endeavor everything in sight while killing off Giratina and other Ghost types. Arceus and Giratina could come in and either pick off low HP Pokemon or set up.
+ 
+
Dialga + Ho-Oh + Arceus
This combo also proved to be very effective. With Dialga and Ho-Oh covering each other’s weaknesses, this core often swept teams on their own. Arceus cleaned up what was left of the opponent.
Article image created by feathers for Nugget Bridge. View more of her artwork on her tumblr or Nugget Bridge forums thread.
About the Author
tlyee61 has been playing VGC since 2010 and has been a fan of Pokemon for quite a long time. Recently, he has attended the 2013 Autumn Regionals in San Jose, CA, earning a second place finish there. He has gone to a Regional every year. Although he hasn't placed very well in them, he still enjoys playing the game and socializing with other members of the community.
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