Introduction
Hi! I’m Damon, also known as SirScrubbington in the Pokemon community. VGC, or the Pokemon Video Game Championships is the official competitive format for Pokemon and has official live events held frequently around the world.
VGC is one of the most exciting aspects of Pokemon, as it plays very differently to other eSports and live events are a fun opportunity to meet up with friends, play some games and maybe even win some prize money or a trip to the world championships! However, competitive Pokemon (Especially VGC) has a high barrier for entry, with respect to having to memorise and learn a lot of complicated game related mechanics, learnsets and stats.
This article is here to make that job a little bit easier, and will discuss the most common things you'll need to know to get playing as soon as possible as well as a lot of teams to help you learn the metagame of Pokemon VGC.
The Circuit
For the past few years the VGC circuit has been built around championship points, which are earned for competing in and placing at official live VGC events as well as select online competitions which use the VGC format. The lowest level VGC tournament is a Premier Challenge, which is a small live event which is worth 15CP for first, then followed by Midseason Showdowns which award 50 CP for first place. Regionals and Special Events are worth 200 CP, and International Championships are worth a whopping 500 CP for first place. Premier Challenges and Midseason Showdowns are common, however higher level events are rarer and are normally announced well ahead of time, as people often like to travel to them.
There are four international championships held each year in Europe, Oceania, South America and North America. The top players in championship points for each region get paid trips to the next international championship, and eventually paid trips and garuanteed Day Two invites to the world championships in the USA. If you want to see the details of the championship point system, you can find the circuit information for 2018 here.
The Rules
- All battles will be Double Battles played in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon
- All Pokémon in the National Pokédex are allowed, with the following restrictions:
- Pokémon must have the Alola symbol showing they were caught in the Alola region
- Mythical Pokémon, some Legendary Pokémon, and Ash-Greninja are not allowed
- Duplicate Pokémon are not allowed
- All items are allowed, but duplicate items are not allowed
- All Pokémon are set to Lv. 50, including Pokémon below Lv. 50
- Players have 45 seconds each turn to make their move
- Player time is 5 minutes
Transitioning from Singles to VGC Doubles
There are a lot of important differences between singles and doubles formats, especially VGC. I’ll be talking a bit about the key differences here.
Bring-6 Pick 6 vs Bring 6 Pick 4
In VGC, both players have a team of six Pokemon but you only ever bring four Pokemon to each game. This adds an additional layer of complexity to team preview which doesn’t really exist to the same extent in 6v6 formats. The general strategy for picking the right Pokemon in team preview is taking a good look over your opponent’s team and identifying which of your Pokemon best cover what your opponent has on their team.
You often won’t be able to cover everything with just 4 Pokemon, and in those cases you have to try and predict a bit more which Pokemon your opponent is likely to bring against you and counterpick that. In a best of three, if you lose game one to a Pokemon you didn’t prepare for you have games two and three to adjust to your opponent and pick differently although your opponent may predict this!
Item Clause
You can’t use more than one item of a kind on a team. This is implemented so people don’t have to obtain multiple of each item in-game, which is generally difficult in previous generations but not as much so here. It’s kind of arbitrary, but it makes team building more difficult and interesting! Another thing to note, items which are unavailable in-game such as custap berry as well as all of the elemental gems except for normal cannot be used in VGC.
All Pokemon Locked to Level 50
Every Pokemon used in a game of VGC, even those which are a lower level are set to level 50 for the match. This means that somewhat gimmicky strategies such as level one Smeargle and Aron are unusable, as well as running level 49 min-speed Pokemon just to underspeed level 50 min speed mirrors.
Make the most of ‘Your Time’!
In a VGC match, each player has 45 seconds to make their move each turn. In addition to this, each player has a five minute game timer called ‘your time’, which ticks down while you are making your move. If you run out of ‘your time’ during a match, unless you win the game during the last turn you selected for you lose the match as soon as the next turn starts! Be mindful of your game time as you play, and try not to waste too much of it in longer games, as it is very possible for you to run out of time.
Doubles General Strategies!
There are a lot of moves or abilities that are pretty useless in singles, but really good in doubles! I’m going to run through all of the relevant ones here, to explain the key main differences between singles and doubles metagames.
Spread Moves
Pokemon has a lot of moves which provide spread damage in doubles formats such as Earthquake, Heat Wave and Rock Slide. Spread moves are extremely useful in doubles as they allow you to bypass redirection moves such as Follow Me and Rage Powder and lets you ensure you will still get damage off onto at least one Pokemon if one of your opponents Pokemon uses Protect. When used against two targets, spread damage moves recieve a 25% damage reduction against both targets, and this reduction still takes place even if one opposing Pokemon protects or dodges the attack. If there is only one Pokemon on your opponents field, it will take the full damage of the attack.
Protect
Protect and detect are extremely rarely used on Pokemon which are not stall reliant in singles, however it is probably the objective best move in doubles formats. This is because it allows you to protect a Pokemon which is threatened by your opponent’s Pokemon, and then attack with your partner Pokemon to remove a threat or switch to a different Pokemon to put you in a more advantageous position. When you can only bring four Pokemon to each game, it is extremely important to preserve the ones you have - and protect allows you to do that as much as possible!
Fake Out
This move is often used for free chip damage in singles, however it has a much more consistent and powerful purpose in doubles. Disrupting your opponent by flinching one of their Pokemon is extremely good and can often allow your Pokemon to get off an attack uninterrupted, or even use a powerful setup move such as dragon dance or quiver dance. You can attempt to go for a second Protect on the same Pokemon the next turn, however for each consecutive protect you get you have a lower chance of getting the next one. The first protect is garuanteed, however the next consecutive protect has only a 1/3 chance of succeeding, and if that Protect succeeds the next one has only a 1/9 chance.
You need to be careful with the new Psychic Terrain though! All priority moves are blocked while it is active, and this includes moves such as Fake Out and Feint. Getting a flinch on an opposing Pokemon is incredibly good, but if your opponent calls this and brings in Tapu Lele you have essentially wasted a turn, and this can put you on the back foot very quickly.
Follow Me
Redirection is completely useless in singles, however it is extremely useful for helping partner Pokemon set up in doubles. Amoonguss is one of the best support Pokemon in the history of VGC, thanks to its ability to use rage powder and spore to both disrupt the opposing team and support your own team. There are many powerful setup sweepers in VGC that benefit from redirection support, and often it is difficult to stop these Pokemon without making unfavourable trades once they are set up!
You need to be careful with rage powder though, as it is ignored by grass type Pokemon. Follow Me! Is a better move overall, but it has worse distribution and the Pokemon which use it are less useful in other situations than Amoonguss. However, Follow Me is more reliable redirection and is often used when the redirection is absolutely necessary just for that purpose.
Follow Me is also useless against spread moves, so be sure that you’ll be getting value out of follow me before you click it. If you have Clefairy Eevee versus Landorus Charizard, it may be time to think of other options!
Wide Guard
Another useless move in singles, Wide Guard is a strong move in doubles for preventing common powerful spread moves such as Earthquake, Heat Wave and Muddy Water. Unlike Protect, Wide Guard can be used consecutively without faining, however if you go for Protect after using Wide Guard, it will likely fail as it treats each Wide Guard like a consecutive Protect - So after one wide guard you have 1/3 chance of getting a Protect. 1/9 chance after two Wide Guards, and so on. Aegislash is the most prominent Wide Guard user, as it has excellent defensive typing and fantastic bulk to support it.
While wide guard is a reliable answer to spread moves, you have to be extremely careful that your opponents don’t call the wide guard and go for a single target attack on your Pokemon instead, if they have one available. This would mean you pretty much wasted a turn, and can be disastrous if they are able to KO the Pokemon you were trying to keep alive without getting anything in return!
Ally Switch
Ally switch isn't a move which is new to Pokemon, but it got a reasonable buff in generation 7 giving it a higher priority bracket (3 from 2) and another massive buff granting it greater distribution as a tutor move, giving it to powerful support Pokemon such as Cresselia, Porygon2 and Gothitelle. This allows for obnoxious combinations such as Cresselia + Snorlax, which revolves around abusing the defensive synergy between Cresselia and Snorlax to allow Snorlax to set up a Belly Brum and sweep the opposing team.
Ally Switch is very similar to moves such as Rage Powder and Follow Me, in that they are used to aid setup for powerful setup Pokemon although ally switch is more of a move which has high risk, high reward. If your opponent calls the ally switch and targets the correct slots, it can often cause you to lose the game. Spread moves also work well against ally switch.
Spotlight
Spotlight is a move which really isn't very common in VGC at all, but you should be aware that it exists and of how its mechanics work. Spotlight is a move which redirects the attack of your partner towards the Pokemon you target, which ignores the effects of moves your opponents use such as Follow me or Rage Powder. It can also be used to redirect attacks towards your partner Pokemon, and this can be abused in combination with moves such as destiny bond to get a knockout. This sounds pretty good in theory, but unfortunately the pool of Pokemon which learn the move is small and mostly involves support Pokemon with either better moves or just no value to the team outside of spotlight. Hopefully in future generations the move gets greater distribution so that it can actually be used efectively!
Perish Song
Perish Song is the kind of move that would be broken in singles if all of the good Pokemon or abilities which could abuse it weren't banned. However, in VGC Shadow Tag and Mega Gengar are completely legal so you have to deal with Perish Trap in its full glory. Hard perish trap faces a lot of issues in this format with Pokemon like Tapu Lele and Koko existing, however when played well it can be an extremely difficult archetype to beat.
You can normally tell a perish trap team from team preview if they have a combination of Pokemon such as Gengar, Scrafty, Politoed, Dewgong, Gothitelle and Hitmontop. The teams are built around using perish song and shadow tag to lock in the opposing Pokemon so they cannot switch, and stall turns using protect, fake out and defensive switching until the opposing Pokemon faint to perish song.
As stated previously, it's pretty weak to hyper offensive Pokemon in this format, especially Tapu Lele and its psychic terrain. Perish Song is a very strong move by itself however, and is an excellent wincon for closing out games when your opponent only has two Pokemon left.
Instruct
Instruct is a new move introduced in Generation 7 as the signature move of Oranguru and makes the targeted Pokemon use the same move it last used in battle again. If the move is targeted towards a Pokemon which has not moved yet since being on the field, the move fails. Instruct is powerful on trick room teams to let powerful attackers like Mega Camerupt and Torkoal attack twice in a single turn with spread move such as Heat Wave or Eruption.
Instruct is countered by redirection such as rage powder or follow me, and its poor distribution (only Oranguru and Smeargle) means you'll generally know then this move is likely to be clicked. However even if you know it is going to happen, under trick room it is extremely difficult to stop regardless, as the most common redirection in Amoonguss Pokemon loses to Torkoal and Mega Camerupt by itself anyway.
Skill Swap
Skill Swap is a move which switches the abilities of the target and the user, and brings to light some really interesting mechanics in VGC. It's relatively rare in all formats except for VGC 2016, where it was almost required to win the insane weather wars which were present in that format however it can still be very useful to take immunities away from Pokemon such as Heatran or to punish Pokemon with obnoxious trapping abilities such as Shadow Tag.
The Format
Common Pokemon
Pokemon Global Link Usage Stats
Landorus-T 
Common Items: Choice Scarf, Assault Vest, Groundium Z, Flyinium Z
Common Moves: Earthquake, Rock Slide, Knock Off, Superpower, U-Turn, Protect
Common Abilities: Intimidate
Tapu Fini
Common Items: Fiwam Berries, Choice Specs, Waterium Z
Common Moves: Moonblast, Muddy Water, Calm Mind, Protect, Dazzling Gleam, Scald
Common Abilities: Misty Surge
Tapu Koko
Common Items: Electrium Z, Life Orb, Choice Specs
Common Moves: Thunderbolt, Volt Switch, Dazzling Gleam, Taunt, Protect
Common Abilities: Electric Surge
Charizard 
Common Items: Charizardite Y, Charizardite X
Common Moves (Y): Heat Wave, Flamethrower, Tailwind, Solar Beam, Overheat, Protect, Hidden Power Ground, Focus Blast
Common Moves (X): Dragon Dance, Flare Blitz, Brick Break, Thunder Punch
Common Abilities: Blaze -> Drought (Y) -> Tough Claws (X)
Tapu Lele
Common Items: Psychium Z, Choice Scarf, Life Orb
Common Moves: Psychic, Moonblast, Taunt, Dazzling Gleam, Thunderbolt, Psyshock, Protect
Common Abilities: Psychic Surge
Cresselia
Common Items: Fiwam Berries, Psychium Z
Common Moves: Trick Room, Helping Hand, Ally Switch, Ice Beam, Psychic, Icy Wind
Common Abilities: Levitate
Tyranitar
Common Items: Tyranitarite, Weakness Policy, Darkinium Z, Choice Scarf, Life Orb
Common Moves: Rock Slide, Crunch, Dragon Dance, Low Kick, Ice Punch, Protect
Common Abilities: Sand Stream
Metagross
Common Items: Metagrossite
Common Moves: Iron Head, Zen Headbutt, Stomping Tantrum, Ice Punch, Protect
Common Abilities: Clear Body -> Tough Claws
Zapdos
Common Items: Psychic / Misty Seed, Fiwam Berry, Sitrus Berry, Firium Z, Electrium Z
Common Moves: Tailwind, Thunderbolt, Heat Wave, Hidden Power Ice, Protect, Roost
Common Abilities: Pressure
Aegislash
Common items:Ghostium Z, Weakness Policy, Leftovers, Life Orb
Common Moves: Shadow Ball, Flash Cannon, Wide Guard, Substitute, King’s Shield, Toxic
Common Abilities: Stance Change
Snorlax
Common Items: Fiwam Berries
Common Moves: Belly Drum, Curse, Recycle, Frustration, Double-Edge, High Horsepower, Earthquake
Common Abilities: Gluttony
Tapu Bulu
Common Items: Choice Scarf, Grassium Z, Assault Vest, Fiwam Berries
Common Moves: Wood Hammer, Horn Leech, Superpower, Protect, Rock Slide
Common Abilities: Grassy Surge
Incineroar
Common Items: Assault Vest, Incinium Z, Fiwam Berries
Common Moves: Flare Blitz, Fake Out, Knock Off, Low Kick, Darkest Lariat, Protect
Common Abilities: Blaze
Kangaskhan
Common Items: Kangaskhanite
Common Moves: Fake Out, Double-Edge, Low Kick, Ice PUnch, Sucker Punch, Protect
Common Abilities: Scrappy, Inner Focus
Salamence
Common Items: Salamencite
Common Moves: Double-Edge, Hyper Voice, Flamethrower, Dragon Dance, Tailwind, Roost, Protect
Common Abilities: Intimidate
Kommo-o
Common Items: Kommoium Z
Common Moves: Clanging Scales, Protect, Flamethrower, Focus Blast, CLose COmbat, Drain Punch, Poison Jab
Amoonguss
Common Items:
Common Moves: Rage Powder, Spore, Protect, Clear SMog, Sludge Bomb, Giga Drain, Energy Ball
Common Abilities: Soundproof
Kartana
Common Items: Focus Sash, Grassium Z, Fightinium Z, Choice Scarf, Flyinium Z
Common Moves: Leaf Blade, Sacred Sword, Detect, Tailwind, Smart Strike, protect, Knock Off
Cmmon Abilities: Beast Boost
Heatran
Common Items: Shuca Berry, Firium Z, Leftovers, Choice Scarf, Grassium Z
Common Moves: Earth Power, Protect, Heat Wave, Substitute, Flash Cannon, Overheat, Hidden Power, Flamethrower
Common Abilities: Flash Fire
Celesteela
Common Items: Leftovers, Misty / Psychic Seed, Fiwam Berries, Assault Vest
Common Moves: Leech Seed, Protect, Heavy SLam, Wide Guard, Flamethrower, Acrobatics
Common Abilities: Beast Boost
Whimsicott
Common Items: Focus Sash, Normalium Z
Common Moves: Tailwind, Encore, Fake Tears, Protect, Beat Up, Sunny Day, Moonblast, Taunt, Nature Power, Endeavour
Common Abilities: Prankster
Gengar
Common Items: Gengarite
Common Moves: Protect, Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb, Disable, Perish Song, Icy Wind, Taunt
Common Abilities: Cursed Body -> Shadow Tag
Scrafty
Common Items: Assault Vest, Eject Button, Fiwam Berries
Common Moves: Fake Out, Knock Off, Drain Punch, Ice Punch, Low Kick, Foul Play, Rock Tomb, Stone Edge, Detect
Common Abilities: Intimidate
Ludicolo
Common Items: Waterium Z, Assault Vest
Common Moves: Fake Out, Ice Beam, Hydro Pump, Giga Drain, Energy Ball, Scald, Protect
Common Abilities: Swift Swim
Ferrothorn
Common Items: Choice Band, Leftovers, Fiwam Berries
Common Moves: Gyro Ball, Power Whip, Protect, Knock Off, Leech Seed, Iron Head, Bullet Seed
Common Abilities: Iron Barbs
Porygon2
Common Items: Eviolite
Common Moves: Trick Room, Recover, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Icy Wind, Foul Play, Ally Switch
Common Abilities: Download, Trace, Analytic
Gothitelle
Common Items: Fiwam Berries, Mental Herb
Common Moves: Trick Room, Protect, Heal Pulse, Psychic, Helping Hand, Psyshock, Ally Switch, Charm, Taunt
Common Abilities: Shadow Tag
Mawile
Common Items: Mawilite
Common Moves: Iron Head, Sucker Punch, Play Rough, Fire Fang, Rock Slide, Swords Dance
Common Abilities: Intimidate
Pelipper
Common Items: Focus Sash, Damp Rock
Common Moves: Hurricane, Tailwind, Protect, Scald, Brine, Surf, Rain Dance
Common Abilities: Drizzle
Volcarona
Common Items: Firium Z, Choice Scarf, Fiwam Berries
Common Moves: Protect, Quiver Dance, Giga Drain, Flamethrower, heat Wave, Bug Buzz, Fiery Dance, Overheat
Common Abilities: Flame Body, Swarm
Important Items
Choice Scarf
Common users: Tapu Lele, Landorus-Therian, Tapu Bulu, Staraptor, Tyranitar
- 50% extra speed, but forces you to only use the same move after attacking (until you switch out)
- Good for making Pokemon which are usually slow outspeed and KO things which threaten them or their partners
- Especially effective on Pokemon which can pivot such as Landorus-T or Staraptor with U-Turn
- Have to play carefully to ensure you don’t get trapped into an undesirable move
Life Orb
Common Users: Tapu Lele, Tyranitar, Stakataka, Tapu Koko
- 30% attack damage boost, lose 10% of HP after each attack
- Good for giving strong Pokemon consistent damage boosts instead of a one-time massive damage boost like Z Moves, at the cost of 10% of HP each turn
- Typically used on Pokemon with heavy offensive investment at the expense of bulk, as you are reducing your bulk every time you attack anyway
Assault Vest
Common Users: Landorus-Therian, Scrafty, Ludicolo, Incineroar
- 50% Special Defense boost, can only use attacking moves
- Good for Pokemon with solid bulk that don’t need to run setup or supporting moves and benefit from being able to take special hits better to stick around longer
- Synergises well with pivot moves like U-Turn or Volt Switch, as well as utility attacks such as Fake Out and Knock Off and recovery such as Drain Punch or Giga Drain
Sitrus & Fiwam Berries
Common Users:
Sitrus Berry: Azumarill, Zapdos
Fiwam Berry: Cresselia, Tapu Fini, Zapdos, Snorlax, Any Bulky Pokemon
- Fiwam Berry: Figy, Iapapa, Wiki, Aguav, Mago
- Fiwam Berry: Restores 50% health when a Pokemon drops below 25% health
- Sitrus Berry: Restores 25% health when a Pokemon drops below 50% health
- Sitrus Berries provide more consistent recovery, but less of it whereas Fiwam berries restore more health but it is harder to trigger
- Fiwam Berry Pokemon are typically trained specifically to ensure the Fiwam berries proc after taking specific hits
- Used over leftovers typically because VGC games are much shorter, and you can't depend on your Pokemon to live long enough to recover more HP than you would with berries
Focus Sash
Common Users:
Kartana, Whimsicott, Pelipper, Weavile
- Ensures a Pokemon lives a single hit when attacked at 100% health
- Good to ensure that Pokemon with poor bulk survive at least one attack, and potentially get a second turn to move
Leftovers
Common Users:
Celesteela, Ferrothorn, Aegislash. Heatran
- Restores 1/16th of the Pokemon’s HP each turn
- Good for Pokemon which want to sit on the field for a long time and spam recovery
- Aegislash and Heatran which carry leftovers almost always run Substitute, and Aegislash will also typically run toxic
- Ferrothorn and Celesteela will typically run secondary recovery such as leech seed
Terrain Seeds 
Common Users:
Zapdos, Celesteela, Accelgor, Hawlucha, Drifblim
- Electric Seed and Grassy Seed: +1 stage of Defense (50% increase) to the holder if the respective terrain is active
- Psychic Seed and Misty Seed: +1 stage of Special Defense (50% increase) to the holder if the respective terrain is active
- The required terrain does not need to stay the active, the effect works if the terrain triggers once while that Pokemon is in Play, but is consumed after the first time
- Good for Pokemon which appreciate additional bulk but need to run support moves so they can’t use Assault Vest, and bulky Pokemon that aren’t likely to switch out
- Synergises well with Pokemon with Unburden and Acrobatics
Eviolite
Common Users:
Porygon2, Clefairy
- 50% boost to Defense and Special Defense for Pokemon which are not fully evolved
- Useful for non-fully evolved Pokemon which still have strong bulk, and can be used effectively as support Pokemon
Z - Moves
- Good for Pokemon which have good offensive stats, or benefit from a particular terrain / weather and are almost able to ensure a KO when they attack into a slot that doesn’t protect or resist their Z Move
- Also good to pick up surprise KOs on unsuspecting Pokemon such as Firium Z Zapdos onto Mega Metagross, although this is typically stronger in Best of One scenarios
Common Z Moves:
Electrium Z: Tapu Koko Zapdos Xurkitree 
Thundurus
Psychium Z: Tapu Lele Cresselia
Fightinium Z: Pheromosa
ThundurusTapu LeleKartana
Groundium Z: Landorus-TherianExcadrill
Darkinium Z: Tyranitar
Ghostium Z: Aegislash
Grassium Z: Tapu BuluKartanaHeatran
Normalium Z: Whimsicott
Waterium Z: Ludicolo
Kingdra
Tapu Fini
Firium Z: IncineroarHeatran Volcarona Zapdos
Incinium Z: Incineroar
Mimikium Z: Mimikyu
Flyinium Z: Landorus-Therian
Kommonium Z: Kommo-o
- Spread base 195 Power exclusive Z-Move that provides +1 to all stats after it is used
- If the move hits at least one Pokemon, the boosts are provided
- Fails if both opposing Pokemon are Fairy type or have the soundproof ability
Important Abilities
Intimidate
Common Users:
- When a Pokemon with intimidate hits the field, both opposing Pokemon have their attack stat dropped by one stage
- Good for defensive play
Terrain Surge Abilities
- Psychic Surge: Tapu Lele
- Summons Psychic Terrain on Switch-in
- Psychic Terrain blocks priority attacks targeted towards opposing grounded Pokemon and gives a 50% damage boost from grounded Pokemon using psychic type moves
- Misty Surge: Tapu Fini
- Summons Misty Terrain on Switch-in
- Misty Terrain reduces the damage of grounded dragon type moves by 50% and prevents all status affects targeted towards grounded Pokemon
- Electric Surge: Tapu Koko
- Summons Electric Terrain on Switch-in
- Electric Terrain prevents grounded Pokemon from being put to sleep and provides a 50% damage boost to grounded electric type moves
- Grassy Surge: Tapu Bulu
- Summons Grassy Terrain on Switch-in
- Grassy Terrain makes all grounded Pokemon recover 1/16th of their health at the end of each turn and provides a 50% damage boost to grounded grass types
- One of the best sets of abilities in the game by far, Pokemon which are able to abuse terrains such as Tapus provide immense offensive output (outside of Tapu Fini, which does not get any type of damage boost from its terrain) and terrain control is extremely useful when trying to abuse (or prevent) status conditions from Pokemon such as Amoonguss’s spore.
Weather Summoning Abilities
- Drought: Charizard-Y Torkoal
- Summons Harsh Sunlight on Switch-in
- Harsh sunlight weather condition provides a 50% damage boost to all fire type moves, reduces water type moves damage by 50%, reduces thunder and hurricane’s accuracy to 50% and enables Solar Beam to be used in a single turn
- Drizzle: Pelipper
Politoed
- Summons Heavy Rain on Switch-in
- Heavy Rain provides a 50% damage boost to all water type moves, reduces fire type damage by 50% and increases thunder and hurricane’s accuracy to 100%.
- Sand Stream: Tyranitar Hippowdon
Gigalith 
- Summons Sandstorm on Switch-in
- Sandstorm causes all Pokemon which are not ground, rock or steel type to lose 1/16th of their health at the end of each turn.
- Snow Warning: Ninetales-Alola
Abomasnow 
Vanilluxe
- Summons hail on Switch-in
- Hail makes gives blizzard 100% accuracy and causes all non-ice type Pokemon to lose 1/16th of their health at the end of each turn.
Weather Abusing Abilities
- Swift Swim: Kingdra Ludicolo Mega Swampert
Beartic
Kabutops
- Provides 2x Speed in Heavy Rain
- Chlorophyll: Lilligant
Venusaur
- Provides 2x Speed in Sun
- Sand Rush: Excadrill
- Provides 2x Speed in Sand
- Slush Rush: BearticSandslash-Alola
- Provides 2x Speed in Hail
Levitate
- Common Users: Latias
Cresselia Hydreigon 
- Immunity to Ground Type Moves
Gluttony
- Common Users: Snorlax
Muk-Alola 
Linoone
- All berries which would be consumed at 25% health get consumed at 50% instead
- Synergises extremely well with Fiwam berries
Beast Boost
- Common Users: Celesteela
Kartana
Naganadel 
Stakataka 
- After Pokemon takes a knockout, gets an additional stage added to its highest non-HP stat (if two stats are the same, it picks the one which it checked first)
- E.g. if attack and defense are the same, the Pokemon would get an attack boost
Shadow Tag
- Common Users: Gothitelle Mega Gengar
- Opposing Pokemon are unable to switch out, unless they are ghost types or also have the shadow tag ability
- Volt Switch, U-Turn, Parting Shot or Baton Pass can still be used to switch
Telepathy
- Common Users: Gardevoir
Oranguru
- A Pokemon with telepathy is unable to be hurt by its partners attacks
- Excellent on Pokemon which have partners that use spread moves such as Earthquake, Surf or Explosion
Friend Guard
- Common Users: Clefairy
- Partner Pokemon to a Pokemon with Friend Guard take 25% less damage from attacks
- Fantastic synergy with frail setup-based Pokemon such as Eevee or Linoone
Team Archetypes
Unless linked to an External site such as Trainer Tower, all of these teams are my own versions of each team and are in no way guaranteed to be the same, or as good as the original! In addition, many of these teams are older and may require tweaking to be effective in the current metagame. They are just meant to be a guide to help you understand how certain team archetypes are constructed, but you are more than welcome to try them out and see if you can improve them yourself!
Mega Metagross Goodstuffs
Charizard Y Goodstuffs
Snarl Trap
AvatarFede’s Tapu Lele Snarl Trap
Kommo Gengar Whimsicott
DesuTCG’s Oceania Internationals Top 8 Team
Mega Salamence Goodstuffs
Ashton Cox’s Top 4 Oceania Internationals Team
Mega Gyarados Goodstuffs
Sand Teams
Rain Teams
CrazyMix’s Early Meta Rain Team
Allister Sandover’s Singapore Open Rain Team
Hard Trick Room
MissingNoL’s Hard Trick Room Team
Gothitelle Mawile Trick Room
SirScrubbington's Top 16 2018 Sydney Challenge Team
Mega Tyranitar Setup Spam
Barry Anderson’s Setup Spam Team
Standard Mega Tyranitar Setup Spam
Mega Charizard X
Jamie Boyt's Malmo 1st Place Team
Mega Gardevoir Trick Room
TheRazer456’s Gardevoir ZapCat Team
Gardevoir Azumarill Trick Room
Perish Trap
Ketchupplant’s Early Perish Trap Team
Natizo_’s Offensive Perish Trap Team
Chansey Stall
Kangaskhan Goodstuffs Teams
Lele Hyper Offense
Graham Amedee's Top 16 Oceania IC Lopunny Team
Mega Steelix
Mega Latias
External VGC Resources
VGC Articles & Write Ups
Teambuilding Resources
Trainer Tower Damage Calculator
Pokemon Showdown Usage Statistics
After clicking on a snapshot date, you can enter /moveset/ to get all of the moveset data which is otherwise hidden from view! e.g.
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2018-01/moveset/
Gabby Snyder Team Builder (Type Coverage Tool)
USUM Pokemon Global Link VGC Leaderboard & Usage
Youtube Channels
Barry Anderson (World Class UK Player)
Jamie Boyt (World Class UK Player)
Aaron Zheng (World Class American VGC Player)
Wolfe Glick (2016 Pokemon World Champion)
Markus Stadter (World Class German Player)
Jt pkmn (Regional, National & World Stream VOD Uploads)
Twitch Channels
Jonathan Evans (2nd Place 2016 Worlds, NPA Commentaries)
Chris Danzo (High Level American VGC Player, NPA Commentaries)
