Not one cheat used, not one rare candy used, all natural pokemon crystal group as I arrive into blackthorn city. Over 20 hours games time some hardcore training happened throughout the game. I had a tough time choosing my team this time to be honest. I like to make it different every time and it is annoying because it is difficult to get your hands on evolution stones before badge 8 or the elite four.
The only way to get the stones is via phone call at this point in the game and believe you me I spent a lot of time battling the people in my phone list. Can't tell you how many times I beat anthony's level 18 machamp. Free 800 EXP w00t. Some problems limit my ability to create the team I want everytime. I have no access to scizor or steelix etc because I have no one to trade with in RL and no access to any of the 4 trade evolution pokemon which is sad because machamp golem and alakazam are awesome. I finally got a moon stone and finally got a water stone after a while plus the sun stone from the contest however I am not using sunflora this time around. Please excuse spelling on some of these pokemon I am a graduate student and don't spend much time on spelling fake words.

Team
Maganium Level 39
Didn't want to start with my usual cyndaquil as that gets old. Good fire types available anyways and excellent water types available at all times.
Pidgeot Level 36, I decided to stick with pidgeot this time around as it is a powerful pokemon and saves me substituting to fly around.
Poliwrath Level 35, left poliwhirl at level 28 for a while until I got the stone, swapped kingler for this beasty fella.
Magmar Level 35, well I didn't want to spend a thousand years trying to get a fire stone as well and magmar easily competes with my all time favorite ninetales in my opinion. Fire punch is just brutal from magmar.
Ampharos Level 35, well to be honest its my number three choice and electabuzz and pikachu are only in kanto. Still a great pokemon, fairly basic build
Dragonair level 35, thats right I bought one at the game corner after a while plus 2 trip sevens for a few hundred coins and leveled him up like crazy. Wow dratini is hard to level and can do nothing. All tmed moves at first so he could do damage. Also I wanted to move away from the typical player using red gyrados because you get it at level 30 and it is a dragon type. I put effort in here.

Mentioned the moon stone, well after giving "mom" a lot of money she finally got it for me after 24 hours of play, now I have a level 24 Nidoqueen sitting in my PC box. I wanted to actually use it but the beautiful thing called hyperbeam is not learned for a while and I didn't feel like taking pidgeot out as usual this time around.

I think I did very good before getting Badge #8 and I think claire is in serious trouble. Like to keep my pokemon all around the same level however I got carried away while training once so thats why magnaium is almost 40. Just kinda spaced out non stop fighting tentacruels which give you great exp. 700 a pop which is higher then most anywhere. Other good training spots include like seakings which are a mediocre 500 exp a pop some gravelers which are good for 500+ exp however occasionally annoy you by blowing your pokemon sky high. Fighting camper todd when he gets a golduck gives you great exp too. Also fisher ralph once he hits a seaking. Trainers will be your best exp for the game once they get enough calls to where they actually level their pokemon. Never seen anything prior above a level 25 seaking from him though, wonder if after a year of playing they ever hit 50 or something lol

I like the team. I can never decide whether or not to train a Pidgey. Good job for sticking with it. Nidoqueen is strong, but the 6 Pokémon in the Nidoran family didn't have many good moves until Gen III. You're probably better off keeping Pidgeot anyway. When Dragonair becomes a Dragonite it will be unbelievably godly. At least mine is on Pokémon Red. It's like a legendary that isn't legendary.

I'd say your team is excellent. It's really well balanced, and provided you keep leveling them up, they could probably allow you to beat the game. I bet you can't wait for Dragonair to evolve into Dragonite, eh? Very powerful Pokemon... as are all dragon types.

Its tough, dragonair has a long way to go. I guess what makes my team better is the fact I have a lot of good HM moves taught to them. I also have a L30 haunter in my box however without being able to evolve it ill just use it to capture legendary pokemon by mean look followed by hypnosis. My nidoqueen actually knows good moves like Ice punch I think and a couple other stuff that gives it great diversity but you are right its normal skill set isn't that great.

Its a cool party. I like that you took the time to raise dratini. I did that on my first and only party (never did new game) on Blue version.

Woah...*wheezes*you have a nice team.Some of your pokemon are better then mine in SoulSilver.Your Meganium could plant my Feraligatr for good.I have a Pidgeotto that knows Fly but a Pidgeot...is...wellawesome.Your Poliwrath reminds me about the Poliwrath Chuck uses,belive it or not.Magmar...wowit just is...well awesome.just thinking about it makes me sweat.I once had a Ampharos...before I made a new game.Dragonair?????*blissful sigh followed by fainting*Wow...when you get Dragonair to level up and evolve,it'll feel like you have a legendary that isn't even a legendary.




Your team is Perfect,but maybe you coulda stuck with a Typloshion?

Looks like a winning team to me. This analysis is under the assumption that all pokemon in question have good move-sets. Good type balance, levels look good, and a Dragonair to boot. That must have taken a while. Everything seems to be in order. Good job, and go get'em boy.

Just got the 8th badge and I am right outside victory road right now. My team has changed a little bit.

Meganium Level 63 (used 4 rare candies just now)
Pidgeot Level 46
Ampharos Level 48
Lugia Level 50
Magmar Level 48
Dragonite Level 50

Not quite fully leveled for the perfect moves but I tmed a lot of them good moves. Plus its more then enough for beating the elite four. I can see why people don't like pidgeot but once you TM it steel wing and Hyper Beam if you want with its wing attack and fly its quite powerful. Meganium is pretty much unbeatable. Crushed my friends level 46 typhlosion with it. Thought I might have problems against his level 77 feraligator but won that. He saved his 8 rare candies till the end of the game I regret using the four I have gotten from johto so far. Only leaves me with a few left in the game to find. If I am counting right there is 5 hidden in kanto plus one more I can earn from johto.