Hi, I'm partaking in a competitive pokemon draft. Its 18

>>28604041
Oh, and I know I picked Zapdos too early, its just an inside joke type thing within our drafts, I almost always take it.

I'm doing some research, and it seems like the best Mega Latias set is Calm Mind, but I kind of wanted Clefable to do that, so I'm leaning towards Gyarados.

But I do like the idea of bulky intimidate lefties Gyarados, since Latias gets reliable recovery in recover, while Gyarados has none.

>>28604041
Clefable
Latias
Zapdos
Keldeo
Amoonguss
Gyarados

That's your team right there. Make it standard Magic Guard Clef so you don't get bothered by Electric types, with Calm Mind so you can set up alongside CM Raikou if push comes to shove. Put Stealth Rock on it since it's the only one among the 6 that can do so.

Use regular Latias and make it your Healing Wish mon. Put Roost on it so it can be your switch-in to things like Mega Charizard Y.

Zapdos is your Defogger. It's defensive.

Keldeo is always good. Can be either Specs to help you deal with Mega Charizard X or Sub CM to help you set up on stallbreaker Mew and Mega Sableye.

Amoonguss lets you deal with other Keldeo, Azumarill, Breloom, and Mega Altaria as well as Mega Diancie and general Fairy types.

Gyarados is your Mega and you can afford to go big with it since you have Latias in the back as HW support. Amoonguss is your temporary measure for Rotom-W but put EQ on Gyarados so you can hit it after Mega Evolving.

>>28605005
This is good stuff. Do you think there is a problem with running Keldeo and Gyarados in the same team? This was another reason I was hesitant to make gyarados my mega because I always feel I should build around my mega to some degree, but I already have an offensive water type, so I always felt I would make my teams with one or the other. Also do you think, donphan, escavalier, emboar, and umbreon have any good synergies. I've used escavalier and emboar before and they can dismantly and punch holes into teams if used correctly.

Thanks for the pointers.

>>28605100
Water is a good typing overall. It's only weak to Electric and Grass, both of which you have several answers to.

Keldeo should play to spread Scald burns as much as you can, or outright break teams since it's so easy to if they don't have a Keldeo answer.

Gyarados plays to sweep or ruin their dedicated walls. The fact that you have Healing Wish means you can ruin their walls early for the rest of the team (e.g. break a Rotom-W that would otherwise hinder Keldeo) and bring it back later.

As for the other mons, here's what they offer if you're feeling compelled to add them.

Donphan and Umbreon are more dedicated Mega Charizard X answers if you run them physically defensive. They also both answer Sand well, since if one of the players is fortunate enough to get both Tyranitar and Excadrill in the draft, they can do a number to your team, with your Amoonguss and Zapdos capable of being overwhelmed and your Keldeo acting as a soft check.

Escavalier can be there to Pursuit trap things like Mega Gardevoir, who can also have its way with your team. It can also trap the Latis, since they hold back Keldeo, but an HP Fire might deal with it. It's also a good solution to trapping Gengar, who can also run through your team.

Emboar isn't really necessary. Its most useful role is as a stallbreaker, and I don't think you'd expect to see stall in your drafts. Defensively, what it offers with its typing is covered by Keldeo with the resistances to Bisharp and Weavile.

>>28605312
I see almost everything you say revolves around Keldeo, we are on season 5, and I had keldeo season 4 and I just never felt like it did much for me. It would always just get walled by things like Mew, tangrowth, slowbro, slowking,hell even jellicent. I just feel like everyone has a good answer, and I honestly just drafted it because its like A+ tier, and I thought maybe I could trade it for something good because it wasn't somehow picked up by round 4. If its about spreading scald burns, aren't I better off just running toxic as no physical attacker is ever switching into keldeo.

>>28605395
also on this note, do you think there is anything I could trade Keldeo for to improve my core?

>>28605395
If it's stallbreaker Mew, Sub CM Keldeo sets up on that. If it's some custom Mew, you'd scout with Clefable.

Tangrowth doesn't appreciate a Scald burn, and gets worn down between it and Stealth Rock since Amoonguss is always a go-to that punishes Tangrowth plays.

Slowbro doesn't appreciate a Scald burn either and Clef is your go-to. Or, put 4 EVs of Speed in Amoonguss and that's a reliable answer too. Same for Slowking.

Jellicent is troublesome, yeah, but unless it's Taunt, Clef deals. Otherwise, it can be handled by Amoonguss.

Keldeo isn't just important offensively. It's also something that stops you from getting swept from big attackers, since it has a critical typing. Bisharp, Weavile, Crawdaunt, Kabutops, Scizor, and so many other big mons are kept at the door thanks to it. Its 91/90/90 bulk is so good it even tanks SpDef Talonflame's Brave Bird and Mega Pinsir's Quick Attack.

>>28605552
That's the thing, mew is so hard to predict it can be anything. Does slowvro really care about burn though? With reference regenerator and slack off it just fucks off. There is also the issue that keldeo is very easy to predict. It will almost always be specs. Should I just use it really early game and try to spread burns?

>>28606114
Slowbro doesn't care about burns if it's restalk cm scald. It cares a bit more if Slack Off, since the burn will put it on a timer and also help put it in range of things like Mega Gyara's +1 Crunch.

I personally don't care for Specs, but I just brought it up because it can OHKO Mega Charizard X. I find Restalk more interesting for longevity since the big attackers it walls might prey on it to weaken it for a sweep later and regular offensive with Leftovers packing Scald, Secret Sword, Icy Wind, and either Taunt or HP Grass/Electric also good for just hitting what you can. Early game Scald plays sounds good, but naturally it'll depend on the opponent's team on whether or not you should play early game Keldeo or early game feigned Gyara sweep to weaken Keldeo's answers.

>>28606337
Can I lead gyarados and DD? Honestly I'm not very good at set up play, I tend to gravitate towards hitting hard and trade effectively than setting up. It seems to me setting up requires the perfect timing and in a game like Pokemon it's sometimes hard to get that moment to line up. But I do like your point about healing wishing it to sweep twice.

>>28606540
Yeah, the first time is as a lure so you can weaken/kill something valuable that stops another mon in exchange for like a burn or T-wave or something. I keep focusing on Keldeo too since it's the most offensive option otherwise, considering Latias will HW, so it will benefit the most from Gyara breaking things.