Mastering Trick Room: Dragalge & Scrafty VGC Strategy
Summary
The Pokémon Champions | VGC Battles & Tournaments server is diving deep into competitive theory-crafting with a focus on a unique Dragalge and Scrafty Trick Room core. This announcement explores the challenges of building around defensive Megas, the synergy of pivot options, and the viability of specific EV spreads to counter threats like Garchomp. It serves as a community hub for players looking to refine their Trick Room strategies and overcome difficult meta matchups.
I dont have time rn to do a full write up because its about 2 am my time and I'm going to bed, but I have this team I have been thinking about and I just am not sure how to best make it work. Basically a hard trick room team with defensive megas in Scrafty and Dragalge, figuring they work well together in their desire to pivot, meaning that options that facilitate their exit would work regardless of the mega brought. But to that end, I feel as though I am hitting a brick wall. The mons that feel slow enough to use in trick room with them offer very little utility (I had originally an Orthworm on the team until I realized how much anti-synergy he had with the megas, only really serving to pivot dragalge from earthquakes.)
I thought about running it in rain for thunders from Dragalge but then Scrafty gets threatened by hurricane, I think sun could be a really good idea cause of how good the matchup is into zardY, but besides torkoal, idk what other tr mons are in the format with any benefit from the sun.
Needless to say, I am struggling with trying to find a way to make this TR strat work because i dont think that M-Dragalge is useable outside of it, and I think it has some solid potential if you can clear garchomp and froslass for it.
Worst Matchups by far are M-Staraptor Sand and M-Fross. Non Staraptor sand feels fine when using the scrafty mode and dragalge does great into sun. Rain is a toss up, can play either mode depending on what mega's they are running. Would also like to find a second trick room setter. I know sinistcha would fit well here but I think the hydrapple gives a lot of value as a strong regenerator mon with a ground resist and coverage against psychic AND healing allies. Also, is the EV spread on Dragalge actually playable? You lose a lot of damage but its what you have to do to guarantee live a life orb gchomp EQ, and we have regenerator so surviving strong hits feels pretty paramount.
Also, this may be the issue: If I am centering a strategy around pivoting, then my opponent is consistently getting turns with an extra move on me. Is this kind of a team only really good in singles, or is it perhaps because tr needs explosive attackers and the defensive game is just too passive? (Had Toxic instead of focus blast on drag but getting completely walled in end games against arch or any steel type really just felt like it was not worth the consistent damage.)
Mudsdale and gholdengo don't really fit as they both are wanting to set up stat boosts instead of pivoting, but im at a complete loss what to put in their place, beside like, torkoal kingambit.
So now we pinging coach and not teambuilder
So uh
I really don't get what you are saying
First of all
You have three useless Pokémon or niche, however you want to call them, without any particularly reason
Moreover, you have one trick room setter in the slowest team on earth
Lastly, your last Pokémon is useless in trickroom
Also mega dragaldge, as Cybertron showcased in his video using it, isn't exactly the attacker you want for hard trick room, it's moreso the defensive wincondition you are playing for in endgames
Hydrapple is absolutely garbage and cannot understand why it is here over Sinistcha
Which is absolutely needed in this short of defensive teams that want trick room mode
I don't get why gholdengo and scrafy are here, mud could make sense as your setup threat but like, it has no redirection support, no healing support, no support against special attackers and you want the slot for other value picks
Like dragaldge Sinistcha Incineroar would be the core I'd always start building with
Gholdengo isn't needed because dragaldge already beats the stuff gholdengo beats
Farigiraf I don't get here because you already move last so why are we scared of fake out
Also you currently are not "centering a strategy around pivoting"
You have absolutely no pivots
Like 0
You are centering your strategy on hard switches
Which isn't good
If you do something that defensive I usually like at the very least two pivots to help reposition
If not 3
Tell me how you really feel /j
but yeah, i guess this an example of bad decision making when tired.
The whole point of pairing the two megas together was that the both function well under tr, they both like to switch out and in to make use of their bulk/abilities, and Drag threatens the fairys that scrafty struggles against, and scrafty can cover the psychic matchups that drag hates. Also scrafty can reasonably be used itemless if you are mega'ing drag (imho). But yeah, realistically they are probably better with seperate teams dedicated to one or the other.
This was the team i was running at start of season: https://pokepast.es/9229abc7c17b0c2f
This is the team I made with fresh eyes this afternoon: https://pokepast.es/ed5a412518fa68f3
I will, however, accept no slander on the good name of hydrapple. Buddy went hard with assault vest in sv reg h
Choosing grimmsnarl over incin because a better typing for hard switching out Dragalge, being immune to two of its weaknesses, and reflect does well enough at reducing damage taken
any thoughts would be appreciated.
Working out great, might give slowbro colbur and sini occa though
Can you tell I like bulk
Don’t mind gamer he sometimes has a way with his words but his really good I send him at people who are actually trying to make their stuff better hahah.
Someone in the server recently got the champion rank with slowbro galar. Flamethrower with helping hand ohkos kingambit and I guess it’s just a wall too all the fairies
Appreciate it. I mean, he was right in the end.
I would use galar, but I don't want to have a 3rd ground weakness. I really wanted to put M-Bro on here but chilly reception is too valuable to let go of. In trick room, its basically prankster cause of how slow he is
As the hard trick room expert, any thoughts or recommendations?
I’ve seen a few people enjoy chilly reception, personally I don’t think it gives you enough to be justified because it’s kinda like the set up turn of trick room or tailwind and in comparison I feel chilly reception doesn’t compare
Hahaha I don’t like being brought into chilly reception ideas 🙈 I’ve met to many people and like in the past I would’ve recommend you tried something else
Their are some cool trick room teams with a speed mode like your garchomp
I’ve seen choice band Urshifu
And chrolofyl exxeggutor on this kinda set up
I think because chlorofyl mons can take advantage of the sun giving a speed mode + sleep powder. I was thinking about testing a bulky venu for this because you don’t need to mega so you have a speed mode but when tr is up you could mega and become tanky
Chomp would be brought sometimes in the lead against something that shuts down farig, instead you’d shut it down with garchomp - makes sense because it’s slowbro and garchomp. He would cover the elec weakness.
I would’ve done the chomp scarf adamant or something like that ? So he really is a speed mode
Also I don’t like mixing screens with trick room I think it spreads the team to thin
The winning urshifu on a hard trick room team was a choice band urshi
Killing whatever it touched even through protect haha
For me, while it is very passive, chilly reception just gives me an out against sand and rain teams. Swampert is a particularly bad matchup as my only grass move is wide guardable.
Grimm is good here cause the immunities mentioned before, so I think itd still be worth to have him on with something like foul play/spirit break/ parting shot/ taunt
Chomp was life orb to get ohko's on y zard. My concern about choice is getting locked into eq next to dragalge or gambit. I could run high horsepower if the speed is worth it.
with bulky venu, do you still run lo, or would a type resist berry or something be better
(testing this team rn, just beat what I think is the hardest matchup (Delphox with two redirects and a sneasler), holy shit
I appreciate that your thoughts and how very welcoming y'all have been here. Its a nice place to be.
Don’t mention it it’s good you’re meeting everyone now not in 2 weeks we will be spread thin then haha
How reliably are you setting trick room ?
Venu would be the mega - so most likely max spa max hp roughly
Leading slowking and grimm into most teams, not having much issues getting 2 trickrooms a game consistently. But if I'm taking out screens, it would probably be good to move to a farig or, crazy idea, oranguru
Oh I gotcha now. Would it be worth it to run a focus sash whims to set trick room. Could set up my own sun after, maybe get an encore off.
Hahaha I avoid oranguru also I really am the most boring of all the team builders.
Slowking and grim makes sense if the grim was offensive
I ran farig and incin and to begin with I did the standard offensive incin but I found myself having two almost useless offensively pokemon on the field to start most matches m
Had to tweak my incin and make it a freak so close combat darkest lariat and blitz on max attack incin so I can threaten stuff next to farig
I don’t recommend the whims with tr, it’s a little bit gimicky I don’t think you need that.
The grimsnarl would need fake out and you’d have a hard time against opposing farigs, my farig did anyway so I needed imprison to get some control
Sinis is the best imprison user because it’s imprison is faster then farigs so it can take control first
This is the composition to try follow
I was a sword dance iron hands,
https://klipy.com/gifs/notes-take-notes-QHS
Thanks so much for the insight. I gotta think about how best to rejig this but I'm not gonna know whats really the problem spots without getting some more games in. Gonna make the changes to Grimm and see where to go from there.
One last thing, would it be too passive a lead to run sini with another trick room setter, like the indeedee hatterene?
cause it wont have the same oomph as psyspam
Hat and sinis could be cool just not infront of like Zard chomp or whatever. You’d have to pick that lead kinda carefully
Maybe into rain/sand, less spread damage heavy teams
well not rain actually, cause if they lead peli, wide guard would fuck me over
Yeah not often do I lead hat, almost never. Would need to be a barbri berry hatterene
I don’t lose losing the offensive pressure of life orb so she’s usually in the back
bet
6-0 so far
it feels much cleaner already. Feels bad barely missing ohkos on chomp with the scarf, but just gotta have patience.
Context of usage matters; hydrapple was decent when AV AND Tera where in the metagame whilst now when neither of them are here he's genuinely kinda useless
You're running EQ on Garchomp in a team with 1 ground resist and a grand total of 0 immunities
swapped it out for stomping. What do you think about switching the slowking out for armarouge. Can give colbur back to sini and gives me a better tr setter into sun. Also, access to wide guard.
I don't really love armarouge
It matches quite weirdly into the meta
Idk
Setting up TR into sun is proving hard, even with occa berry sini. It makes my sand matchup worse but I was planning on running wide guard/ TR/ Sunny Day/ Armor Cannon w/ passho or shuca.
Seems like the easiest team member to remove, besides swapping dragalge into venu but the focus blast on drag is my only real answer to arch rn.
