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Teambuilding for the Fossil Cup might be tough for some Pokemon GO trainers. The number of available types is heavily limited for this competition. Only Water-types, Rock-types and Steel-type Pokemon are going to see action.
Having said that, trainers won't be too limited since many of the Pokemon that are already strong in the Great Cup fall under one of those types. Threats like Registeel and Azumarill will still be around; they will just have different matchups.
Note: This article is subjective and reflects the opinion of the writer
Ferrothorn, Jellicent and Lucario form one of the strongest teams in Pokemon GO's Fossil Cup
While this format will certainly be limiting, team-builders are in a good position in a way. Rock, Steel and Water-types carry some similar resistances and weaknesses. As a result, trainers can accurately predict what most teams are going to bring and counter them.
Lead: Ferrothorn
Starting off the battle with a Ferrothorn can put an opponent in a horrible position right off the bat. Ferrothron is Grass-type and Steel-type, which means it only needs to be scared of Fire and Fighting-types.
Thanks to the type requirements of the Fossil Cup, though, Fire-types will practically be non-existent. The only relevant Fighting-type that trainers will have to worry about is Lucario. Otherwise, Ferrothorn should be in a good position to get some shield pressure off.
The other reason Ferrothorn can be so dominant in this meta is because there are simply so many Water-types it can take advantage of. Araquanid, Swampert, Pelipper, Ludicolo, Quagsire and Jellicent are just some of the names that trainers will see quite often in every match.
Safe Swap: Jellicent
Considering Ferrothorn’s matchups in this meta, the one thing that trainers will need to watch out for is whether their opponent leads with Lucario. Jellicent is a great counter to Lucario since its Ghost typing will resist the former’s Fighting-type moves.
Jellicent isn’t totally immune to Lucario’s offense, though. Lucario does run Shadow Ball as a charge move. However, Jellicent can survive one of these. It might be smart not to shield the first charge move from Lucario since it might just click Power-Up Punch to burn a shield.
In general, Jellicent and Ferrothorn cover each other incredibly well. Jellicent covers Fire and Fighting-types for Ferrothorn, who, in turn, switches into Psychic and Electric attacks that threaten Jellicent.
Cover: Lucario
Despite the Ferrothorn and Jellicent core being tough to break, they will still both lose to opposing Ferrothorn. This makes Lucario almost necessary to bring.
Fortunately, if Lucario gets off a couple of Power-Up Punches, it can sweep entire teams. Most of the Pokemon that will be used in the Fossil Cup don’t resist Fighting-types, except for Jellicent and Pelipper, along with some other niche options.
In the case of Jellicent, Lucario does learn Shadow Ball to somewhat help with the matchup. There also aren't too many Dark-types or Normal-types to resist that Shadow Ball.
In general, since most of the big threats in this format are defensive by nature, it's good to have an offensive threat like Lucario.
