Calyrex-Shadow Tournament Winning Team

Hey all! I entered a tournament this weekend with this Calyrex-Shadow team I built, and ended up winning the entire thing. Here's the rental, EV spreads, and explanation for the team:

Showdown Export: https://pokepast.es/9b2abb88e72a9d8d

Caly-S was my starting point. I wanted to use Focus Sash because Astral Barrage is already really strong, and not being forced to terastalize to survive hits seemed like a good way to get more attacks off. Since I was Sash, I could use my tera offensively to boost Astral Barrage. Protect is 100% needed, and I chose Nasty Plot for setup as I wanted to build the team around it. The last move I had a few choices - pollen puff hits dark types and farigiraf, draining kiss gives you some healing and hits certain dark types, but I chose Psychic as it was the strongest move in a vacuum. This made certain Pokemon like Farigiraf and all dark types harder, but I figured I could just boost my satk and smack them with not very effective moves a bunch. EVs are straightforward for a Sash Pokemon.

I added Rillaboom next. I knew I wanted to use a more balanced Calyrex team instead of a more aggressive one (IE Indeedee, Mienshao). Rillaboom provides fake out, a little healing, and grass typing which is important. Assault Vest gives it a decent matchup into restricted Pokemon like Miraidon, Calyrex-Shadow, and Kyogre. I'm not sure if Wood Hammer is needed but I like it generally so I went with it. The EVs are truthfully a little random - max HP, enough speed to outspeed Calyrex/Zacian in tailwind, the nature bump on attack, rest dumped into special defense. Tera fire to resist fire and ice seemed worthwhile (plus burn immunity).

I was playing seriously so I knew I wanted Incineroar. Two fake out users to pair with Calyrex would allow me to really bully teams when I got a lead, and intimidate/parting shot could improve Calyrex's survivability against Pokemon that weren't doing super-effective damage. I added Will-O-Wisp over Flare Blitz at the last second because I felt like I could get away with dropping a damaging move and Will-O-Wisp + Tera Water would allow Incineroar to really bully Calyrex-ice, as well as pressure Groudon and Koraidon to terastalize when they wouldn't otherwise need to. I went with Sitrus for overall survivability - this was very helpful against Terapagos teams. In all honesty I have no idea what the EVs do - max HP, enough speed to outspeed Groudon/Kyogre in tailwind, and I have no idea why I have all this special bulk or what the physical bulk is for. If you find out let me know!

I wanted a redirection user now, as fake out is good to stop a single opponent but Follow Me/Rage Powder can protect Calyrex from all non-spread moves. Normally people run Amoonguss, but I was interested in Clefairy. Friend Guard would improve Calyrex's survivability, Follow Me would keep it safe, Helping Hand could boost its damage, and After You was a good anti-Trick Room tech. Tera Water is just a really good defensive type right now. No idea what the EVs do but I definitely calced for SOMETHING, and overall the spread didn't let me down. Fun fact - helping hand tera ghost astral barrage KOs opposing Calyrex AFTER they've terastalized - I used this to win a game in the semi-finals.

I wanted speed control now, and since Calyrex doesn't benefit from Trick Room, I decided to go with tailwind. With Calyrex's high base speed and tailwind support, I can outspeed all Pokemon that aren't in tailwind or trick room, allowing me to outrun even Scarf Pokemon. I went with Tornadus as it's the most consistent tailwind setter. Covert Cloak meant I couldn't be stopped by Fake Out, and allowed me to not run Protect or Tera Ghost. Tailwind and Bleakwind are self explanatory, rain dance could weaken Groudon/Koraidon, protect RIllaboom, and boost Urshifus damage (and make bleakwind 100% accurate), and taunt was useful against Terapagos and Amoonguss to name a few. Tera Dark resists astral barrage and makes you immune to opposing Prankster Taunt Pokemon, an interaction that came up a few times. I made Torn fast enough to outspeed Groudon and Kyogre, maxed HP, and put the rest in defense to try and survive Urshifu surging strikes.

Lastly, Urshifu. I wanted another source of damage and as I already had a fire and grass type, water made sense. Scarf Urshifu outspeeds Calyrex and Zacian, making me less reliant on Tornadus against those Pokemon. I would've liked to run more bulk on Urshifu but this much speed is needed to outspeed Calyrex and Zacian, and this much attack is needed to KO Caly-S with tera water surging strikes (assuming they dont have bulk). I put the rest in Special Defense for more survivability. In all honesty tera-water probably isn't needed, and ghost or grass or another tera type would probably work too, but since I'm most comfortable with water I stuck to it and the moves I was used to.

I recorded all my games so I'll eventually turn the tournament into a video. Hope you all enjoy the team!