Teambuilding / First Steps

If you don’t know how you’d like to begin building your team, I’ve got a few suggestions to get you started. Feel free to experiment to find starting points that work for you!

Something Strong

Being able to identify themes, Pokémon, and strategies that are powerful in the current state of the game is an extremely valuable skill. In Pokémon it can sometimes be easy to try (and fail!) to reinvent the wheel, but being able to separate the great ideas from the latest fad can give you a solid starting point. What Pokémon do you think are good? How could you start a team to highlight their strengths?

The Metagame

Some players prefer to play whatever is currently standard and try to capitalize on the strength of Pokémon that have established success rather than use riskier strategies that haven’t proven themselves yet. Players that prefer this approach tend to use teams that have established results and modify them slightly to fit their preferences. What do you think is strong in the metagame right now? Do you like how popular teams are composed right now, or do you think putting your own spin on one of them would make it stronger?

Content Creators

For someone new and looking to start VGC, content creators are a great way to get a handle on what is currently being used. By watching someone else play you can learn which Pokémon are popular, and you can also pay attention to any strategies or Pokémon that interest you in particular without having to build a full team on your own. Additionally, many content creators provide rental codes so you can use a team for yourself to get a feel for it.

Someone Else's Idea

Many people ideate with the help of their peers. Although it’s human nature to be attached to your own ideas, an equally useful skill is being able to help flesh out an idea someone else comes to you with. Being able to identify good or bad ideas before extensive testing is a very valuable skill in a teambuilding partner. Although this method is less individualistic, when it works well it tends to produce very powerful teams.

Past Metagames

Each generation of Pokémon games (and to a certain extent each format of VGC) shifts the Pokémon that are strong. For example, Thundurus’ dominance in Generation 5 completely disappeared in Generation 7. Many Pokémon have their time in the spotlight and then vanish once a new generation comes around. One place you can look when trying to start building is at Pokémon that at one point were more popular than they are in the current format.

Inspiration Strikes!

This one is probably my go-to method, but it’s also the one that’s the hardest to force– I think about Pokémon idly when I’m awake, and brainstorm different ideas that excite me. Maybe you’re in the shower or walking around or staring at Serebii and an idea comes to you. Congratulations! You have a potential starting point. This will happen more naturally the more time you spend thinking about the game, the format, and the metagame.

I can do it better

Maybe you saw something that you thought had potential, and you think you can improve upon it. This can be something like changing a Pokémon, adjusting an EV spread, or using a different item than is considered standard. This can also work on ideas you had that weren’t fully fleshed out-- maybe you want to iterate on that idea and take another look.