Grand Challenge Champion Team: Rental + Report

Hey everyone, here's the team I used to win the Grand Challenge last weekend + the explanation for why I chose the sets I did.

Export: https://pokepast.es/10083663027cffa0

This team started with Hisuian Typhlosion. Aaron Traylor and I noticed that many teams in the format that were doing well lacked reliable speed control, and so the idea was that fast spread damage could be really overwhelming. Frisk was chosen because the Grand Challenge is Closed team sheet, so extra information is valuable. Blaze would have been used in an Open Team Sheet tournament.

To support Typhlosion, we added Torkoal. Helping Hand lets Torkoal function as both a supporter for Typhlosion in addition to its standard role as an attacker. It's a difficult Pokemon to play against when paired with Typhlosion as you often have both the fastest and the slowest Pokemon in the battle.

To support Torkoal, we added Farigiraf. This specific offensive Farigiraf set is a personal favorite of mine, and I've used it many times before. It ended up being the MVP on the Grand Challenge team, because while opponents worry about the fire type burst damage they often neglect to identify how dangerous Farigiraf can become. Water Tera is used to resist opposing fire type moves as well as Gholdengo Make it Rain and Water Moves on Rain teams. Farigiraf is especially nice because it offers support, speed control, and damage all in one.

In order to get Trick Room set up, we needed some support - and so added Incineroar. Incineroar is trained to be exactly 1 point slower than Farigiraf, so it can use Knock Off to remove an Assault Vest or Sitrus Berry before Farigiraf moves. This Incineroar has much more offense than I usually run, because it doesn't need to worry about special defense as much due to the Assault Vest, and because the strongest game plan with the team involves using Incineroar and Farigiraf early in order to set up for Typhlosion late, and Incineroar has to do damage to enable this game plan. Grass Tera is used because I'm not using Safety Goggles, making Amoonguss a threat inside Trick Room.

Lilligant offers an additional out of Trick Room mode thanks to its good offensive typing and access to after you and sleep powder. Ghost Tera seemed good because of priority moves. It's probably the least used Pokemon on the team in part because it's so volatile, but it was important in some key matchups.

The last Pokemon is Dragonite, who was added to help with Rain, Dondozo, and opposing Dragon types. Inner Focus is not the norm on Scale Shot Dragonite, but the immunity to Intimidate and Fake Out was a big deal because Incineroar is quite strong against all the other members. Being able to lead Dragonite and Typhlosion together and have both Pokemon be immune to Fake Out was especially nice. The most flexible move here is Extreme Speed, but I don't like mono-attack Dragonite so it's my personal preference.

Hope you enjoy the team! It's a lot of fun to overwhelm opponents with fire type damage.