#3rd – UCSC VGC Weekly 4/19/26 — Cooper Anderson

The calculator rates Pokémon VGC teams across four pillars: Offensive Power, Defensive Resilience (Bulk), Speed Control, and Metagame Synergy. Each Pokémon contributes its base stats, and the system applies multipliers for Items (e.g. Choice Band, Life Orb) and Abilities (e.g. Huge Power, Intimidate) to produce a final score that reflects the team's competitive performance.

The Synergy score identifies archetypes recognized by the competitive metagame, such as Weather teams (Sun, Rain, Sand), Redirection cores (Follow Me / Rage Powder protecting fragile attackers), and Fake Out setups for tempo control. The more consistent the interaction between chosen Pokémon — moves, abilities, and items that complement each other — the higher the synergy bonus applied to the final score.

The calculator automatically detects Trick Room strategies. If the team has a Trick Room setter (e.g. Farigiraf, Indeedee) paired with slow attackers (base speed under 60), the system inverts speed logic and assigns maximum Speed Control score — recognizing that low speed is an intentional advantage within this archetype, not a weakness.

Yes. The rater recognizes the Good Stuff archetype — teams without a single dominant strategy but composed of six strong and versatile Pokémon. When the team's Attack, Defense, and Speed stats are all above 70, the system applies a balance synergy bonus, rewarding consistent compositions that can adapt to multiple situations in competitive VGC.