Trainers,

TLDR; Garganacl in the sand is very strong and a great support mon. Choice Band TTar will always be a threat and one of my favorite ways to play the game. See very bottom of the post for Rental Code and PokePaste.

Been playing VGC since 2014 and my favorite time of year is always the very beginning of a new gen. The new Pokemon and the limited dex always make for WAY more interesting battles and team building than later on when national dex is released. Gen 8 was interesting way to shake things up for a while before it just became Zacian dominating everything but I digress. Personally, nothing will ever be more fun to me than M-Mawile and M-Kang being the kings of the meta.

I realized sometime at the beginning of the season that if I wanted to do damage, I'd have to commit to something nasty. With Murkrow being as strong as it is in the meta, I realized that a turn 1 Tailwind Choice Band Rockslide is one of the most reliable ways for me to deal massive damage and potential flinch disruption. So I started there. I'll go down the list.

Tyranitar @ Choice Band

Ability: Sand Stream

Tera Type: Flying

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Rock Slide

- Tera Blast

- Crunch

- Ice Punch

Tyranitar is one of my favorite Pokémon and the reason I chose Scarlet over Violet when choosing a game. It's base 134 Atk stat, Stab Rock Slide will never disappoint so I figured, let me put choice band on it and run it Jolly so that I outspeed most threats after a Tailwind. Ice punch is there to OHKO Garchomp before it get a chance to SD. I chose Tera Flying to dodge EQ's as well and to turn my fighting weakness into a resistance instead. It also gives me a strong choice banded flying move to hit Amoongus, Tera Grass Pokemon, and Meowscarada (that I also outspeed after tailwind).

Garganacl @ Leftovers

Ability: Purifying Salt

Tera Type: Rock

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD

Careful Nature

IVs: 11 SpA / 19 Spe

- Wide Guard

- Salt Cure

- Body Press

- Iron Defense

The only reason for a 19 Spe IV is because I caught a shiny one in game and that's what the IV turned out to be when I caught it. In trick room it gives me a higher probability of moving first also, being less than 31. Once I found out that Garganacl got Wide Guard, I knew I had to pair it with Tyranitar. This monster's defenses and ability are already insane but put it in the sand and it becomes untouchable. You are almost guaranteed to live any single target attack. Wide guard gives my team a better chance against all the spread moves going around right now like Garchomp EQ, Expanding Force, Heat Wave, Hyper Voice, and most importantly Make it Rain. Salt Cure is ridiculous for doing as much damage as it does to Steel and Water types, being as that is a large portion of the tera type changes in Gen 9. A solid (lol) Pokemon and quickly becoming one of my favorites this Generation.

252 Atk Life Orb Meowscarada Flower Trick vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Garganacl on a critical hit: 172-203 (83 - 98%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Gastrodon @ Sitrus Berry

Ability: Storm Drain

Tera Type: Fire

EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD

Modest Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Muddy Water

- Ice Beam

- Earth Power

- Icy Wind

Gastrodon was put here mainly to help with the water weakness within the core of my team. Storm Drain is really good at slowing down Dondozo when it's trying to wave crash everything, Palafin can't jet punch, and Quaquaval can't aqua step. It's honestly well positioned here and the only thing I wish I could fit in here is a better recovery option but Sitrus Berry will do for now. Icy wind helps when Murkrow goes down early. I chose Tera Fire because it helps to resist the Grass moves that pop up here and there, and it helps to have a fairy resistance sometimes without losing the steel resist. I miss scald.

Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet

Ability: Regenerator

Tera Type: Water

EVs: 248 HP / 152 Def / 108 SpD

Sassy Nature

IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe

- Clear Smog

- Protect

- Rage Powder

- Spore

I wish I could go into more detail about the EV spread but this worked for me so I went with it. The biggest tech on this Amoongus build is the addition of Rocky Helmet. This is from my Mega Kang days where you'd want to punish the Double Power-up Punch, but this time I'm punishing all those population bombs that are just destroying anything that doesn't resist it right now. For all of you that hate Maushold, it feels really good to have them take rocky helmet damage with every hit. Clear Smog is there for Dondozo, and Tera Water just helps be more defensive in niche situations.

Murkrow @ Covert Cloak

Ability: Prankster

Tera Type: Flying

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Tailwind

- Haze

- Brave Bird

- Quash

Are people sleeping on Quash? In mirror matches where the team is also setting up a tailwind you can do the hard read and Quash whatever you are worried about and still move first. Not only that, you ever Quashed and Spored with Amoongus? It's hilarious. Haze is haze. Did you know Brave Bird from invested Murkrow OHKO's Hariyama and like 90% to Amoongus? Don't sleep on just Brave Birding for an OHKO when they're waiting for you to set up a Tailwind.

252 Atk Murkrow Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 152 Def Amoonguss: 170-204 (77.2 - 92.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Kingambit @ Life Orb

Ability: Supreme Overlord

Tera Type: Dark

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD

Adamant Nature

- Sucker Punch

- Iron Head

- Kowtow Cleave

- Protect

Kingambit is here to replace a Ceruledge that I used to have and was underwhelmed by. I realized that most of the time I just wanted something to come in and clean up after TTar finished wrecking the city with Rock Slides and chip damage from Sandstorm. Being a steel type, Kingambit is well placed in the sand and does it's job well. As I'm sure you've already heard, DO NOT LEAD unless you're confident leading with a dark type will give you a big advantage. I went Tera Dark because I wanted to extra boost to my sucker punches if needed. Iron Head helps against Fairies but otherwise a standard Kingambit set. Very happy with this Bisharp evolution. I've considered Tera Flying or Fire before also, but I think the clean up damage is more important. Supreme Overlord will almost always trigger because Murkrow is going to die in 95% of my games once it's set up tailwind or gotten an unexpected KO. I've definitely come back and 3v1'd a few games because of some smart plays and sucker punches.

Some weaknesses of the team are that despite having multiple answer to Dondozo defensively it's still not perfect. That Mon is the Mega Kang of this gen and that's okay, just something to play smartly against. Getting a burn on Ttar is not ideal and will often lead to awkward matches and banking on some clutch flinches but if you can avoid the burn, Ttar is an all star as it has been since 1999. Garganacl ability helps absorb will-o-wisp if you see it coming

See below for PokePaste and Rental Codes. I enjoyed putting this team together and I hope you enjoy it as well.

https://imgur.com/a/wSJmdCa

https://pokepast.es/367c8375116a724d