Hey all! chemcoop here bringing you a description of the team that I used to get over 1900 points on the 3DS ladder last season and finish 1st in the US with!

To start, I want to thank the Japanese player who originally created a version of this team. Although I changed a number of EVs, movesets, and even Pokémon around, most of the credit should go to them for creating the essence of my team. A link to their blog is included here: http://somapokemon.hatenadiary.jp/entry/2017/07/18/061721

THE TEAM

Anyways, the team is built around the offensive MegaMence, Tapu Koko, Aegislash core. These three Pokémon cover each other's weaknesses quite well and is the Gen7 expansion of the MenceAegi core that was popular in Gen6. So why do these three pair so well together? MegaMence is an exceptionally good mega in Gen7 due to its incredible speed, power, and the ability to run several different movesets well. It heavily pressures threatening Pokémon like Mega Blaziken, which can otherwise tear through Tapu Koko + Aegislash, and is also a reliable switch-in to ground types like Landorus-T. However, because this Mence set lacks DD, it can often be threatened out by the common Scarf Tapu Lele. This is where Aegislash comes in. Leftovers Aegislash is a reliable switch in to Tapu Lele's Moonblast/Psychic, and it's absurd Special Attack stat means that anything switching in for the Lele has to be able to tank a powerful Shadow Ball. This particular Aegislash set is neat in that it often lures opponents into thinking that it is a SubToxic set and thus lacks Shadow Sneak. I have picked up many surprise KOs on people who switch in something that can just barely take a Shadow Ball like Blaziken, Thundurus-T, or Charizard and expect to threaten out a Sneak-less Aegislash. Initially I was running Sacred Sword on this set, but after testing I realized that the team was quite weak to Porygon2, which is another Pokémon that can scare out Mence. Toxic Aegislash can easily switch into a P2's Ice Beam and proceed to toxic stall one of the fattest Pokémon in the metagame. Tapu Koko is great at dealing with the few Pokémon that can harass both Mence and Aegi, the most notable being specially defensive Celesteela. Specs Koko has absurd damage output - OHKOing or 2HKOing virtually anything that doesn't resist it. In fact, Specs Koko is notable for being the only Koko set that can guarantee an OHKO on the most popular Pokémon in the format, Mimikyu. Koko also provides the team with a great lead option, speed tier, and the ability to determine potential scarfs on other common leads like Lele and Lando-T depending on which Pokémon's ability triggers first.

How do the other 3 Pokémon mesh with the Mence/Aegi/Koko core?
- Hippowdon is a great suicide lead option that can Yawn/Roar potential set-up sweepers, rack up chip damage with SR + sandstorm, and phaze opponents into revealing their full team (information is valuable!). Lead Hippo against teams that hate dealing with SR such as Charizard or Thundy-T teams. If your opponent leads with a threatening special attacker such as Thundy-T, DON'T SET UP ROCKS FIRST. Instead, Yawn immediately to force Thundy-T out. If Thundy-T gets up a free Nasty Plot, this team struggles to beat it. If you get a more favorable opposing lead, feel free to set up Stealth Rocks and spam Yawn until your opponent chooses to KO you. The minute they choose to KO you, they allow a Pokémon to go to sleep and invite something like Mence to come in and set up a free Substitute.

- Suicune has a neat role on this team. The spread actually allows it to outspeed a -1 speed Mimikyu and OHKO back with z-Hydro Pump. Basically you can 1v1 a Mimikyu without taking any damage if they elect to SD on the turn that you Icy Wind! Suicune also serves as a back-up phazer and Icy Wind can be used to keep set-up sweepers like Mega-Gyarados at neutral speed. I generally only brought Suicune when my opponent had a threatening fire type like Volcarona on their team, or if they had Hippowdon, as z-Suicune can OHKO even SpD Hippo.

- Rotom-H provides a good lead choice against Tapu Koko/Thundy-T teams, as neither can KO it easily and z-Overheat easily downs both of them. It also functions as a reliable way of defeating Pokémon such as Aegislash and Ferrothorn, which can otherwise be a bit tricky for this team to KO. It also functions as a soft Mence check with its max SpA HP Ice. z-Overheat is great because it reduces the predictions involved with using a stat dropping move like Overheat. You can freely fire off the nuke as they switch in a resist like MegaMence, and then still retain the ability to threaten it with HP Ice.

PLAYING CERTAIN MATCHUPS

- Serperior Offense: Lead Mence. I EV'd Mence to be 1 point faster than max speed Serp, so you can easily Sub on their Glare Turn 1, and then proceed to rip through their team (+2 Leaf Storm doesn't even break Mence's sub). Other two Pokémon can be anything that match up well against the rest of your opponent's team.

- Breloom Offense: Lead Koko and U-turn into Aegi. You'll break sash, block Spore with Electric Terrain, and switch into something that resists all of Breloom's attacks.

- Lele teams: You basically have to bring Aegislash. The team is otherwise weak to Psychic spam, so opponents tend to always bring Lele.

- Koko/Thundy-T teams: Lead Rotom-H or Hippo to pressure both of these potential leads. Specs Koko can OHKO Hippo with Grass Knot, so I prefer Rotom-H as a lead. Aegislash can also take a hit from both of these Pokémon and KO back with Shadow Ball + Sneak.

- Ferro/Fini/Blaze: Bring Rotom-H, Mence, Tapu Koko. That's probably your best chance at pressuring this tough-to-break core.

- Celesteela/P2: Aegi + electric are a must. You can decide whether Koko or Rotom takes on the rest of your opponent's team better.

TEAM WEAKNESSES

- Stall: The original team had Electrium Z SD Blaziken to break stall. Unfortunately the current team lacks a great way to break stall. Stuff like Gliscor/Cress, Gliscor/P2, and traditional Chansey/Skarm/Gliscor stall are hard to break and wins against these teams are often dependent on your opponent misplaying or on you making great predictions. Thankfully, these types of teams aren't THAT common so this isn't too big of an issue.

- Thundy-T: This thing tears the team apart at +2. The lack of overall speed on the team means that unless you can get Thundy-T to less than 50% for Mence to revenge it, or less than 65% for Koko to revenge kill, a +2 Thundy-T can kill everything on the team. Aegislash can serve as an emergency check to Thundy-T as well.

- Intimidating Megas: Megas with Intimidate such as Mence and Gyara are problematic if they switch in on Mence after a KO. Allowing these Pokémon to get a DD up against something that can't KO it back like -1 Mence can often equal GG. Similarly, picking up KOs with Aegislash can allow Mega Gyara to come in and boost for the win. In a case like this, if you don't have something like Suicune to phaze or if Gyara is their last Pokémon, you HAVE to Toxic in Blade Form with Aegi and then outpredict your opponent for another 5 turns until they get KO'd by Toxic or are in range of Shadow Sneak. Against Mence or Gyara teams, I tend to avoid mega evolving my own Mence as long as possible so I can try to get the last Intimidate off.

RECAP

This is a pretty standard Hyper Offense style team. It requires making hard lead calls and predictions throughout the game to function well, and positioning is everything. Sometimes picking up the easy KO in front of you isn't the best thing to do if it allows another threat to come in freely afterwards.  The team takes some getting used to, but once you gain some experience with it and learn to play certain matchups correctly, I hope you'll find it to be as fun, challenging, and successful as I did. Mence/Koko/Aegi for the win!