TFG > Strategy > Team Building 201
 

Team Building 201

By Jimmer Sivertsen

First, let’s look at speed. When designing my team, I try to balance fast versus slow Pokémon. If you don’t have heavy-hitting power, you have to hope, in each combat, to get lucky against Pokémon that have bigger attacks. If there isn’t any speed on your side, you'll have to watch helplessly as your opponent races in for the win. It works out pretty well to have two Pokémon from each MP category, but you can probably get by with just one in a single category.
 
TorchicThe "Fire Power" team (version 1)
1MP    Charizard
            Charizard
2MP    Pikachu
            Machop
3MP    Torchic
            Torchic
 
Next comes a question: is using duplicate Pokémon good or bad? The upside to having two Charizard on my team is that I’ll probably always have one around. One might be stuck in the Pokémon Center, but the other one is probably available … and I really like Fire Spin. The drawback to playing duplicate Pokémon is that they have the same strengths and weaknesses. Charizard is strong in damage but loses to Purple every time … and it can’t duck out of the way in the event of a Blue attack. With that in mind, I’ll change my team a little.
 
Groudon
The " Fire Power" team (version 2)
1MP    Charizard
            Groudon (new)
2MP    Pikachu
            Machop
3MP    Torchic
            Torchic
 
Let’s say you have a team using a lot of attacks that do 40 damage. 40 seems like a pretty good number—it can beat Murkrow, Treecko, and Meowth on a regular basis. If your whole team had attacks that generally did 40, it seems pretty good. The drawback is that you tie with other 40s a lot, and you always lose to Pokémon that bust out 50. Both Pikachu and Machop use 40 as their primary attacks–even Torchic tops out at 40. By changing even one of your Pokémon to a better chance at a non-40 (even if it means other attacks go lower), you can get the win that you want in battle. One of my favorite Pokémon in that zone is Teddiursa—cute but dangerous. Its Fake Tears attack adds 20 damage to the large section of 30 or the smaller section of 60. And this gives Teddiursa a fair chance to get 50 or even 80 damage.
 
Mudkip
The " Fire Power" team (final version)
1MP    Charizard
            Groudon
2MP    Pikachu
            Teddiursa (new)
3MP    Torchic
            Mudkip (new)
 
Overall, this is a really powerful team that always goes for Knocking Out your opponent’s Pokémon. It has a complete lack of Purple attacks, which can be a weakness against tricky opponents. On the other hand, they might not be ready for a team that only cares about the direct approach!