Have a
203 (and still active) streak going in Super Singles. I'll post again once I lose, but I am super excited about this team and so am eager to write it up.
My team:
Garchomp @ Choice Band "Iskierka"
Trait: Sand Veil
Nature: Jolly (+Spd, -Spa)
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Fire Fang (did not use yet, though could be needed if I lose my other two pokes and so have to leave chomp in on a Skarmory)
-Swords Dance (Obviously did not use. This should probably be rock slide, but have not yet bothered switching it)
Stats: 183/182/114/85/105/169
IVs: 29/31/28/20/31/31
EVs: 4/252/0/0/0/252
Suicune @ Lum Berry
Trait: Pressure
Nature: Bold (+Def, - Att)
-Scald
-Calm Mind
-Substitute
-Rest
Stats: 207/74/181/110/134/105
IVs: 31/7/28/31/29/30
EVs: 252/0/252/0/0/4
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
Nature: Sassy (+SpD, -Spd)
-Gyro Ball
-Curse
-Leech Seed
-Substitute
Stats: 181/115/151/68/184/22
IVs: 31/31/31/19/31/0
EVs: 252/4/0/0/252/0
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Interestingly, this looks very much like my early Garchomp/Milotic/Scizor team that got me my first over 100 streak: a Choice Band Garchomp, a bulky water, and a steel. But my goodness is this team better, and far less vulnerable to bad luck.
Garchomp leads things off, and the raw power of his two STABs backed by a Choice Band mean he can OHKO a ton of things immediately, and 2HKO almost everything. However, despite this raw power, getting locked into a move can often be dangerous. Thus, this Garchomp much prefers to switch out rather than attack. Even if Chomp can OHKO the opponent's lead, if either of his teammates can safely switch in and set up, Garchomp will switch out.
Hierarchy of choices:
1. If Suicune can safely switch in and set up, switch to Suicune
2. If Ferrothorn can safely switch in and set up, switch to Ferrothorn
3. Attack
What makes Chomp so good here is that in the lead, Garchomp can handle most of the things that Suicune and Ferrothorn have difficulties switching into, such as Water Absorb Poliwrath and Dry Skin Toxicroak.
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Substitute/Calm Mind Suicune is by far the best Pokemon I have ever used in the subway. Thanks are due to Chinese Dood for his discussion of why he used a water attack over an ice attack on his Suicune. I took his advice, and though I use Scald over Surf, mono water has been wonderful for me.
I loved Toxic stalling Milotic, but it had three main problems: 1. Vulnerability to untimely crits; 2. Vulnerability to status (Marvel Scale is nice, but missing out on two key Recovers in a row because of being fully paralyzed can be fatal); 3. Inability to take advantage of things it dominates; it can kill them, but can't set up and make the next poke easier to defeat.
Suicune avoids all of these problems. It can switch into and set up on a ton of things, has great protection against crits and status thanks to the combination of Substitute and Rest, and loses to very, very few things once it is fully set up.
Because of its high defenses, Suicune can switch into many neutral attacks quite safely. Furthermore, since Garchomp draws ice attacks, it often switches into a weak, not very effective Ice Beam. Once Suicune is in, most pokes only have one attack that can break its Substitutes. If it's a special attack, Suicune can usually Calm Mind once and then safely Sub, knowing that a non-crit won't break the Substitute. At this point, the battle becomes alternating Calm Minds, Substitutes, and Rests until Suicune is fully set up. If the one Sub-breaking attack is physical (Earthquake is the typical example) Suicune can Sub stall, letting the Sub be broken each time, Rest, wake immediately with Lum Berry and finish stalling the move out before needing to Rest again. Pressure is pure gold here, as limiting attacks to half their PP makes stalling them out much easier. At just 5 uses, for example, Earthquake can be stalled out before Suicune is forced to Rest a second time without Lum Berry to wake it. This wouldn't work for a 10 use Earthquake.
I don't think I'll ever play a stalling pokemon in the Subway again without Substitute. The move is that strong. Sub protects against critical hits and status, makes setting up a joke when the AI spams status moves into it, and is the key to easy sweeps after setting up. A +6/+6 Suicune is still vulnerable to a number of things. A +6/+6 Suicune behind a sub fears very little.
Scald is a great move, doing reasonable damage, providing added protection against freezes, and causing burns that pseudo-boost Suicune's physical defense and speed the process of defeating opposing stall pokemon. Once Suicune is set up (and sometimes even when it isn't), Scald handles most things that aren't immune to it. Naturally, that makes worry number one the pokemon with Water Absorb, Storm Drain, or Dry Skin. Thankfully, however, Suicune can stall most of these out, particularly with Pressure. For example, though an opposing Vaporean means the battle will take a long time, it also means a free set up for Suicune. Only water-immune boosting physical attackers and Taunters are really a problem, and Ferrothorn and Garchomp typically do well against these.
If I could, I'd probably use leftovers on Suicune, but Ferrothorn needs them much more. Lum Berry also is helpful in the early stages of setting up, or when stalling out a physical move, when Suicune needs to use an early Rest and wake up immediately. Lum also allows Suicune to switch into slower status using pokes, Lum Berry off the initial status, Substitute, and then laugh while the opponent spams useless status into the Sub. Without the berry, there'd be a risk of eating a Hypnosis or being Paralyzed for multiple turns in a row).
One last note: remember that weather does damage that is not stopped by a Substitute. Embarrassingly, early in my streak I once lost Suicune when I foolishly subbed all the way down, rather than just Resting earlier, and the opponent used Hail. Don't make the same mistake.
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Ferrothorn does a nice job of filling the holes that Garchomp and Suicune don't cover. While Suicune loves setting up on special attackers, Ferrothorn does the same against many physical ones. After a few Curses, physical attacks (even fighting ones) do very little damage, while Gyro Ball hits back ridiculously hard. With Ferrothorn, the team has wonderful defensive synergy. Ferrothorn is strong against the dragon type attacks Chomp is weak against, and the grass and electric attacks Suicune dislikes. Suicune is strong against the ice attacks that destroy Garchomp and the fire attacks that fry Ferrothorn. Garchomp is strong against the fire attacks aimed at Ferrothorn and immune to the electric attacks that Suicune attracts. The one hole is fighting attacks, which Ferrothorn is weak to and neither of the others resist, but this can usually be worked around without too much trouble.
I love R Inanimate's set for Ferrothorn. Nothing is immune to Gyro Ball, and with Ferrothorn's miniscule speed (especially after a few Curses) it typically hits at max power. Even resisted, a 150 BP STAB backed by multiple Curse boosts does a lot of damage. Leech Seed both helps kill off opponents and provides much appreciated recovery, giving Ferrothorn the health it needs to curse up and continue setting up Substitutes as needed. It's a shame it doesn't work on grass pokes, but thankfully, Ferrothorn dominates most of these and can set up on them even without Leech Seed recovery. Curse is the key set up move, and pretty self explanatory. The synergy between the speed drop and Gyro ball is a nice bonus. Substitute is perhaps even more important to Ferrothorn than to Suicune, because with Ferrothorn's slow speed and lack of reliable recovery, there's a bunch of things that threaten it even at +6/+6. Substitute also protects against status, which Ferrothorn otherwise has no way to recover from. It's a small annoyance that contact attacks don't trigger Iron Barbs damage when Ferrothorn is behind a Sub, but not a big problem.
Because of Ferrothorn's slow speed, it's important to predict when its Sub is going to be broken, and resub on the predicted turn. Failure to do this leaves a one attack window where a critical hit could be disastrous. When Suicune is slower than the poke it is setting up on, such prediction is also useful, but thankfully, Suicune outspeeds a lot of things, making setting up much easier.
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Boosting Water Absorbers, particularly those with strong fighting attacks, can be a problem for this team. If the wrong poke is in, Butterfly Dance Volcarona also can cause difficulties. Trainers with multiple possible versions of the same poke can be frustrating, since sometimes Suicune or Ferrothorn can easily switch in and set up on some variants but not others. Typically, against a lead of this sort, I'll untie this Gordian Knot by cutting through it with a Garchomp attack, and either net a quick KO, or know what I'm up against so I can choose the appropriate follow up poke and set up.
OHKO teams deserve special mention. One last beautiful feature of Substitute that I failed to mention earlier is the protection it provides against OHKOs. Suicune, in particular, can outspeed most of the OHKO pokes, which means it can safely replace its substitute whenever it is broken, stall out the 5 pp moves with ease thanks to Pressure, and then freely set up. Despite the fact that Suicune can dominate such pokes once in, it is at risk when it switches directly into such an attack. Accordingly, against Roughnecks (which typically load up on OHKO pokes) it is almost always best to either attack with Garchomp or switch to Ferrothorn, and wait to bring Suicune in for free after a KO. Ferrothorn doesn't outrun anything, so even though it has Substitute, unless it is actively spamming Sub, it risks losing its sub to a OHKO move and then dying to a second OHKO the next turn before it can set up a new Sub, so it's much more vulnerable than Suicune against Roughnecks. OHKO pokes that outspeed Suicune and Garchomp are even more of a threat, because they can potentially OHKO my whole team before anything acts. Thankfully, the most clear offender, Cryogonal 3, prefers to stick with Blizzard, so Ferrothorn can eat that damage and OHKO back with Gyro Ball.
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This is somewhat longer than I originally intended, but hope it's helpful. If there's one lesson that I hope to pass on, it is to use Calm Mind Substitute mono-attacking Suicune. The poke is absolutely incredible in the subway, and you won't be disappointed!
Proof of streak still active at 203:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/100/img0382nv.jpg/