The real problem of this game are the spawns.
High tier pokemons are too rare. It's not acceptable that in two nights in a row on Love Island i got ZERO Dratini. And Before i got 3 with 2 sync fail (and wrong nature) and one with right nature and h.a. but with trash IV (1 atk lel). And i'm not even looking for an epic one, just a decent cute Dratini.
And i won't even talk about how many DAYS (yes days, not hours) i spent looking for a Magmar back in the day. Maximum level of trolling.
And i could go on and on.
The answer is usually "gRiNdInG iS pArT oF a MmO", but grinding and tryharding like a virgin are two different things.
Yes, you can win with a team of your choosing.
I won easily without Gengar and Gyarados (I think I had Espeon, Magnezone, Golduck, Honchkrow, Clefable and Ninetales...all with wrong natures and IV and not EV trained :D )
Same
I merged and logged in and all my pokemon are gone...
I still got all my badges, coins, mounts and the pokedex data, but all I have is a squirtle, a nidoran and a doduo