Earth General's Team

Hello everyone, this was the team that I used to snag 7 victories in the war for the Earth Nation. I basically used the same six members with mostly the same sets except for a couple battles. Feel free to ask me questions if you wanna learn more :)

Anyways, to start off, Earth has access to Ground, Rock, Steel, and Electric. That has so many amazing options in terms of teams and honestly I was pretty stoked to use my favorite mega evolution, Mega Lucario, once again so I built the team around it.

Lucario @ Lucarionite
Ability: Justified --> Adaptability
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Aura Sphere
- Flash Cannon
- Vacuum Wave

So, Mega Lucario was banned from Smogon OU with good reason. It can easily run a physical, special, or even a mixed set to great effect for any team and the opponent will never know until Lucario chooses a move in battle. Therefore, the main focus of the battle and the idea with the team is to give Mega Lucario as many opportunities to setup a Nasty Plot and proceed to sweep entire teams especially in the late game.

Aura Sphere and Flash Cannon are the main STAB moves that will do a hell of a lot of damage with one Nasty Plot boost. Vacuum Wave was a clutch priority move for stopping really fast threats such as a Shell Smashed Cloyster for example which really helped in a couple battles.

I was going to use an Steadfast Lucario to switch into incoming Fake Outs or whatnot, but I had to use a fellow Earth citizen's Lucario that ended up having Justified. In hindsight, I think having Justified was nice to play some mind games with my opponent to think that I was running a physical Mega Lucario set.

So, Lucario obviously cannot stop everyone in its tracks alone, so let's go on with the next member.

Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Earthquake

I needed a Stealth Rock setup Pokemon and lo and behold, here is one of the best ones that is available to Earth nation. Tyranitar is honestly one of the most staple Pokemon in the competitive metagame ever since it was introduced in Generation 2 for good reason due to its amazing offensive and defensive stats despite having a lot of weaknesses.

Stealth Rock is an obvious choice. I opted for Fire Blast and Ice Beam in order to catch opponents off guard and these moves will do a lot of damage on most common lead Pokemon. Earthquake was chosen for the last move because honestly I couldn't decide whether to run Crunch, Pursuit, Stone Edge, or Earthquake in the last slot. I didn't like how Stone Edge has faulty accuracy while Crunch and Pursuit sometimes didn't cut it in terms of chip damage so I opted for Earthquake.

As for EVs, Tyranitar gets a lot of Sp. Def from the sandstorm so I invested fully into HP and Defense to maximize its physical bulk and this allows Tyranitar to tank Earthquakes really effectively that does do a number to this team. I can easily survive a Choice Scarf Garchomp's Earthquake and then OHKO back with Ice Beam.

Smooth Rock was the item of choice for extending the sandstorm turns due to the next team member...

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin

Say hello to my boy Excadrill. This little mole does so much work for this team. He spins to remove nasty entry hazards such as Sticky Web which really annoys this team as a whole. Once the sandstorm is running strong, Excadrill will be one of the fastest Pokemon on the field because of Sand Rush doubling its speed and will proceed to do massive damage.

Earthquake, Iron Head, Rock Slide, and Rapid Spin are pretty self-explanatory move choices for the drill. Iron Head is a really clutch move that can get flinches if you're in a tight spot and have to go for it in order to try to win.

I am also running the 4 Defense EVs because since Excadrill is carrying a Life Orb, having an odd HP number will ensure that Excadrill takes the least amount of Life Orb recoil damage as possible so that it could get an additional attack off theoretically speaking.

Now for the next teammate!


Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Ah the Washing Machine! Rotom-Wash has been a staple part of a lot of my teams when I had the opportunity to use it due to its versatility and overall being a very solid all-around Pokemon that can fulfill a lot of roles for a team. I needed an additional wall for the team and a switch-in for incoming Earthquakes that will be inevitably aimed at half of my team, so here's where Rotom-Wash really comes in handy (unless someone is running a Mold Breaker Excadrill, that Earthquake will hurt a lot).

Hydro Pump for primary STAB move. Volt Switch is one of my favorite moves in this game because it allows me to get offensive momentum as well as free chip damage on Pokemon that aren't immune to Electric attacks. Will-O-Wisp helps shut down opposing physical attackers (unless they have Guts) and get free chip damage off every turn. Pain Split is for a clutch recovery move that also reduces the opposing Pokemon's HP if Rotom-Wash is low while their HP is high.

Rotom-Wash is a good lead option for this team especially if I don't want to lead Tyranitar out the gate against a lot of potential threats to my Stealth Rock and Sandstorm setup Pokemon. If my opponent leads out with a Pokemon faster than Rotom-W but can't threaten it (very few Pokemon can), then I will choose to Volt Switch into an ally that can take the threat head-on since Volt Switch will go off second if Rotom-Wash is slower. If my opponent leads with a physical attacker, then I usually just go for a Will-O-Wisp to cripple the threat immediately.

Now, there are still a couple problems the team has in terms of defensive coverage so that leads me to...

Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 176 SpA / 76 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute
- Flash Cannon

Ah, one of my favorite Pokemon that was introduced this generation. Aegislash has been a staple to my competitive teams until it was banned to Ubers unfortunately but also for good reason. This was my VGC Aegislash that I used on the team I brought to the Philadelphia regionals to finish in the Top 32 of the Masters Division. I ran some Sp. Def originally to survive Rotom-Heat Overheats but in hindsight the bulk investment was worth it to tank some uninvested special attacks to keep my Substitute intact.

King's Shield is a required move on Aegislash essentially unless you're using a crazy Turbo-Slash set. Shadow Ball and Flash Cannon are primary STAB moves with essentially perfect coverage on every typing out there except for a select few Pokemon. Substitute is one of the most clutch moves you can have on Aegislash because it allows it to take a super effective hit in either shield or sword form and proceed to fire off an additional attack. It also protects Aegislash from a lot of nasty status moves that can really impede its ability to do what it needs to do. This allows Aegislash to 1v1 Mega Mawiles that don't run Fire Fang easily. And even those Mawiles that run Fire Fang run the risk of hitting the King's Shield for an attack drop.

And now, our final member...

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

I wanted another late-game cleanup option so I chose a Choice Scarf Garchomp. Now, I kinda had to rush my team preparation and I originally wanted an Adamant Garchomp so I can run Outrage, Earthquake, Stone Edge, and Dragon Claw so that I can choose between my Dragon STAB moves depending if I wanted more power or if I wanted a switching option. However, I was only able to get my hands on a Naive and Jolly Garchomp before the war began, so I chose a Naive one for a surprise Fire Blast in case I ever needed it.

Outrage and Earthquake were the primary STAB moves for maximum offensive presence and clean-up ability. Stone Edge was for covering the pesky Togekiss mainly. Fire Blast was a fun surprise that unfortunately was never used in the battles, but was still nice to have in case I really needed to get rid of a Scizor or Ferrothorn for example.



And there you have it! That's the team I used for this Nations War and I honestly had a lot of fun battling here. My hope is that by sharing this information with you all that you can kinda see what I am going for in terms of my strategies and what I look to do when I am facing my opponent in team preview.