PAX Pokemon League

Articuno @ ??
Trait: Snow Cloak
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Speed
Timid (+Spd/-Atk)
- Lock-on
- Sheer Cold
- Hail

Snow cloak raises evasion by 20% when in hail. Lock-on prevents missing, then Sheer cold for the KO. HP EVs so that you don't get knocked out, then SPD EVs so that your can go Sheer Cold first.

Brightpowder or Focus Sash

So I hate to be "that guy", but every fiber of my pokemon being is screaming at me to check this. So, here it is. The Aricuno you have built is not legal. If you are building it to just have fun, then by all means, build away. But if you are building it for some sort a tournament, then by warned that there are a lot of people who will refuse to battle you if they see an illegal pokemon. I just want to give you a fair warning before something bad happened. But as I said, if you are building this poke just for fun, then build away!

It depends on what you mean by legal. True, Articuno does not learn lock-on, but I believe that was just a simple mistake on Zoroark's part. Articuno does learn Mind Reader and Sheer Cold and is rather well known for being the only Pokemon to get a 100% accurate OHKO move. And while there are a few places that have One Hit KO moves banned, that does not apply to the PAX Pokemon League or even the official Nintendo tournaments. So build away, young Zoroark. And use Mind Reader, not Lock-On.

Oh, thanks, I completely forgot it was Mind Reader and not Lock-On, mistake on my a
part

Oh that's right. Snow Cloak is not default. I say all that and then [i040]I[/i040] miss something. Snow Cloak Articuno is not yet legal, you are correct.

I really hate to 'burst your bubble' on that one. But as I said, every fiber of my pokemon being was yelling at me saying "that this Articuno looks wrong". I am sad to say, but I have checked for another alternative pokemon for what you are trying to do and I could not find a one. Now, that doesn't mean that you could not run your Articuno, it just won't have Snow Cloak as it's ability. The closest I could come up with as an alternative was a Dugtrio. It can learn fissure naturally and can have the Sand Veil ability, which does the same thing as Snow Cloak but in a sandstorm. You would have Hone Claws and set up a bit to increase your accuracy, but it still comes down to a no guaranty on you hitting with Fissure. The other draw back to Dugtrio is that it is not as defensive as an Articuno is. It is faster then an Articuno so you would, most likely, have the first hit. Fissure also doesn't hit flying types or a levitated pokemon, which is another draw back to Dugtrio. As I said, I could not find a suitable alternative to your original build, which sucks. I would have liked to see how well that Articuno would do in the PPL, and you never know, a dream world Articuno event my be announced in the future. We can only hope for one.

Wow, this post is really long, sorry about that. I ramble on some times when it comes to pokemon.