Realizing that the past two Community Days featured Pokemon that work wonders in the Ultra League Premier Cup, NoLucksGiven set out to make a team with the goal being accessibility! Machamp is one of, if not, THE best Pokemon in the ULPC, and its a natural pair with the CD duo.
In our Community Day Guides, in addition to breaking down the featured Pokemon in each league, we highlight PvP-ready CPs that allow you to evolve and battle with limited dust spent. If you’ve been a GamePress reader, there’s a decent chance you already have a Gyarados and a Gengar ready to go!
While it hasn’t had a Community Day, Machop has been featured in a number of events! It also has its evolution cost reduced to 0 candy if you receive one from a trade. Machokes in the 4,000-6,000 stardust range (cost per power up) will evolve right around the Ultra League 2500 cap!
How to Play
Gengar is an excellent leading Pokemon because it’s Shadow Balls are scary! This can pressure a lot of Pokemon into shielding even if they’re only Shadow Punches and set your match off to a great start. If your opponent switched to a dedicated Gengar counter like Snorlax, Counter that switch with Machamp.
When Gengar is in an unfavorable leading matchup, switch over to Gyarados, which many teams lack a dedicated answer for. Aggressively use shields so your opponent’s Pokemon feints first (switch advantage).
Machamp and Gengar make up a core that can answer most threats in the Ultra League Premier Cup. Identify which one will work better against your opponent’s remaining Pokemon and shield and switch accordingly to win the match.
For a further breakdown of how to use this team against specific lineups, check out this article’s video accompaniment. This video showcases games highlighting the strengths of each pokemon plus an undefeated 10-game run!
Team Replacements
Since the goal of this article is accessibility, here’s some other options to try out in lieu of each of the Pokemon on this team!