CCEl2

So, Tylacto here, and I was pretty new to the core challenge when I did this. I'd known about it, but was too late to attempt the first electric core challenge :( Either way, I saw the second one come out and knew I had to do it as I main electric, but enough about me, I recommend the core challenge in general, as it's a really nice way to get used to other types and mons. The team peaked 1533, which wasn't bad in my eyes, but I felt it could go higher.

The Team then, (Dramatic Music) So this core was Eelektross and Magnezone. I was familiar with both, and in general they are great pokemon for electric.

EELEKTROSS: I understood AV was most common on Eel, and I liked the special orientation to catch people off guard, especially since it had access to giga drain, which is pretty useful for electric. I also gave it flamethrower for steel and annoying ferrothorns, volt switch for that slow, helpful volt switch, and the last move was knock off strangely, which I debated with rock slide for volcaronas, but knock off in general is just great for Porygon 2s in particular.

MAGNEZONE: Magenzone is always difficult, with 3 great abilities and a great movepool. Despite air balloon magnet pull being extremely fun, I decided on sturdy specs, which was key to taking out venusaurs which can be problematic. It meant I had to be careful to keep hazards down so that the sturdy stayed in tact, and the moveset was Thunderbolt, Flash Cannon, Volt Switch and Hp Ice for picking up key kills vs Dragons, Gliscors and Landos. Interestingly, I chose to run max speed on magnezone over HP. I did this to outspeed walls in general, particularly Armaldo, and due to sturdy I felt the HP wasn't as important.

The rest of the team was simple enough, I put in the effectively necessary core of Zapdos and Rotom-W. From experience I had always gone physically defensive rotom and specially defensive zapdos and preferred it, so it was the same thing here. Zapdos was simple, lefties with Defog, Heat Wave, Roost and the Discharge you pray for the para with. Rotom on the other hand can run many options, being scarf with trick, lefties with pain split, or my personal favourite resto chesto. Without a mega on the team, particularly Ampharos, there was no cleric, so healing a toxic with rest could be extremely important. Of course Will-O and Hydro Pump came with this, but instead of Volt Switch I decided on Confuse Ray, and this not only pairs nicely for paraconfusion, but was most important for Charizard X, which can shred through any electric mono if not paralyzed. The defensive spread allows Rotom to live a +2 dragon claw, confuse it, and then you sit there and pray it hits itself while you rest. Simple enough.

Now, the final two mons, Thundurus and Luxray. Thundurus is simply neccesary, with prankster T-Wave to stop set ups. With Eelektross being special, I decided on a physical set with life orb, with Knock Off, Superpower, and Wild Charge. Luxray on the other hand, many doubt, but I could go on for days, weeks, months on how great he is. Rather than the usual flame/toxic orb set, from my main I brought the bulky band set. This single highhandedly deals with mega sableye, and if you get statused during this, which can be done through predictions, it becomes an absolute monster, gaining an attack stat of 837. With the max hp investment, Luxray lives any non banded outrage from Kyurem, any +1 hit from Volcarona, any EQ from a Tyranitar and so, so much more. It actually outspeeds uninvested tyranitar anyway... but as I said I can go on and on, but basically Luxray picks up that key, important kill on a key threat in a battle that effectively wins you it. It makes me cry how it is PU, but either way the moveset was Wild Charge, Crunch, Superpower and Quick Attack, which was invaluable for me as priority, doing around 20% to anything that didn't resist it. I feel I've talked to much xD

The Team: (You don't have to use my nicknames)

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Sushi (Eelektross) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Knock Off
- Flamethrower
- Volt Switch
- Giga Drain

CONSTRUCT PYLONS (Magnezone) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Sturdy
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]

BlacknYellow (Luxray) @ Choice Band
Ability: Guts
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Wild Charge
- Crunch
- Quick Attack
- Superpower

Calgon... (Rotom-Wash) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Confuse Ray
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest

MY LEGS!? (Thundurus) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunder Wave
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- Wild Charge

Thunderbird (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Roost
- Heat Wave
- Discharge
- Defog

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Also some attack IVs are 0 to reduce foul play damage. So yeah, no mega. Take it or leave it. I believe I'm now meant to talk about threats... this could be long....

There are plenty of threats to the team as such, but mainly the rotom and zapdos core can take care of most things that threaten the other mons. E.g. Zapdos shuts down Landorus-I, Rotom shuts down Mamoswine and many many others.

Excadrill: My favorite... If its sand rush, not so bad since rotom tends to shut it down. Its more common on steel, but if it's mold breaker you can have fun predicting with it rock sliding or going for eq until you get a clean shot with rotom.

Mega Medicham: This. Oh my goodness this thing. I pray for it to be banned someday. You have to keep sacking mons to it, and bringing in magnezone or thundurus to revenge kill. Rotom takes a HJK at full health, but it isn't pretty. Good luck.

Volcarona: This can be problematic, especially if its lum berry. When it appears, you've got to make a decision. I recommend going straight to thundurus, as somehow it lives a +1 Fiery Dance. If you're lucky enough to have volt switched into thundy you may have seen if it has lefties. If not then I recommend going straight for Wild Charge for damage, but if you want to risk the lum then thunder wave. After that Luxray will clean up, living any +1 hit then Wild Charging into oblivion. The other option of course is to go to Zapdos, but that makes you rely on discharge paralyzing, which personally I didn't have much luck with.

Kyurem-B: Something has to die plainly. Then go into Luxray, live a hit then superpower. There are a few other options however, if its locked into outrage then go into Magnezone and revenge, through if not I wouldn't risk the earth power. If you're up against ice then rotom can burn it too, though if you're unfortunate enough to be against dragon, I'd save Rotom for dragonite.

Charizard X: I think I mentioned it above, but paralyze it with Thundy then Luxray will do a chunk (If this is possible) If not resort to the power of the confuse ray and hydro pumps, which tends to work pretty well.

Breloom: Ugh, this always proved problematic, as the only mon on the team that outspeeds is Thundurus. Sometimes I miss vital spirit electivire, but you tend to have to send in Eel as sleep fodder, then because it sets up an SD you can't go into Rotom which lives a standard bullet seed. So instead you go into thundurus, bring it down with a superpower whilst dying to break the sash, then Luxray lives a +2 mach punch, and you may catch them off guard with quick attack.

Mega Sableye: Go into Luxray and start wild charging. If he burns you then have a field day. If it's ghost however, consider predicting Golurk switch in if it's there and going for crunch, not to mention if Luxray is burnt crunch can 2HKO mega sableye.

Gastrodon: This can be annoying, but Luxray superpower or Eelektross giga drain deals with it.

Lanturn: This can be traumatic. Luxray is the only mon that breaks through, as giga drain doesn't do enough.

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I'll just take the opportunity to apologise for how long this got xD As you can probably tell I spend too much time with electric.

I have a replay vs Ground that you can watch, I misplay a bit with the garchomp but oh well, I believe this took me to 1509, and I thoroughly enjoyed this core challenge, upon reaching 1533 the record was 31 wins to 5 losses and I hope after this you all use Luxray. (I know the core was Eel and Mag but still) I can see from March's stats that I've had quite an influence xD Anyway, goodbye and good bizzle.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/monotype-222390115