Fire Water Grass

FWG Hype!!

If anyone has ever spoken to me for an extended period of time ( Unlucky ) about Mons you'll know how much I adore a good old Fire Water Grass core in my competitive teams. I may even become infatuated by a colourful FWG core one of these days. For those who have no idea what I'm on about, an FWG core is a team that revolves around the synergy created using a Fire type a Water type and a Grass type. Given how VGC15 is an open format, there are way more options to keep in mind if going this route. Another popular core which I happen to despise is FSD also branded as 'Fantasy' for whatever reason. This includes a Steel, Fairy and Dragon to create a core. I'll go through the Typings more in depth and some of my favourite Pokemon to use when building in this manner.  Other cores also exist but for ease of writing i'll stick to the most popular, I will mention other cores or 'Type triangles' at the end however.

Now its a little hard for me to discuss why FWG is so effective when I naturally end up with it in 90% of the teams I make but I'll try my best. FWG is the first core introduced almost subliminally to players through the starter Pokemon. Charmander beats Bulbasaur but loses to Squirtle whereas Bulbasaur can beat Squirtle etc. (Think of it as Rock Paper Scissors.) Naturally you'd attempt to get all 3 of those types into a team, competitive or in-game as soon as possible since the 3 types together can resist and super effect a large amount of the type chart as a whole.

A little bit on Fantasy before I move on, It works in the exact same way as FWG with an example being Hydreigon Metagross and Clefable. All these Pokemon can switch perfectly into each others weaknesses which is a fairly important part of playing VGC. 

When going with one of these cores its important to not just throw 3 pokemon of these types together as some wont work with each other, Heatran Tentacruel and Amoonguss for example will get destroyed by a Landorus. I typically like to stick to a basic formula of: Fire = Offensive, Water = Mixed and Grass = Defensive.  An example of this would be Entei Gyarados and Amoonguss. All can switch into each other with relative ease and Gyarados can support with Thunder wave or even mega evolve and lay on offensive pressure from the get go.  You can mix and match these roles however you see fit but try to have 1 of each role across the 3. 

A FWG core I am using now consists of Heatran(Mixed) Swampert (defensive) and Breloom (offensive)

With this Heatran can use its great staying power to constantly pressure the opponents team with Swampert providing Wide guard support along with Earth power to KO other Heatrans, Breloom backs up the core with spores and high powered attacks. Naturally this core has problems with some Pokemon, but 3 other Pokemon can be used to combat this issue.

A lot of people like to build a team around a Mega Pokemon but personally this is how all my teams are built. An fwg backed up with an appropriate mega. Just a bit of a personal finding, I find most FWG's benefit from a fast electric type and/or a Strong Ground type. This is likely why double 'Genie' is paired with fwg unknowingly. A common bog standard Fwg team could look like this: Kangaskhan, Thundurus, Landorus, Suicune, Amoonguss, Heatran. Not saying that's a particularly good team, ( maximum offence if this happens to be your team ;] ) but its a solid example of what fwg can look like. Other examples can include Charizard Venusaur Washtom and Venusaur Blaziken Suicune. 

PS: if you cant fit in an appropriate grass type, don't be afraid to leave it out since grass is the weakest type of the 3 :]

I wont go into Fantasy much as its options are far less varied than fwg but I'll mention that it is easily possible to merge both Fantasy and fwg into a single team through being crafty. An example includes Charizard X  Azumarill and Ferrothorn.

Just a disclaimer, I'm not saying a team NEEDS fwg or some sort of core to be successful, I just find it much easier to build a team with such a solid starting point. Don't be discouraged if  you lack a Rock Paper Scissors core, you may be able to thrive without needing one at all, infact quite a few teams that can be warranted successful lack a completed RSP core and instead use differing mons natural synergy through abilitys or general nobness ; See Whimsicott Gengar-M or Raichu Azumarill. I promised to leave another RSP core before the end ( didn't look this up at all ) but Fighting Dark Psychic is one with a few options and 3 fast Rock slide users can also be used to much success.