Team Analysis

[Kidogo]

Approved by Pocket, Harsha, Birkal, and Haunter

Team Analysis​

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*Introduction*
Welcome everyone! Team analysis is a morph between RMT, OU core analysis, Pokémon of the week, and Featured RMT from the Smog. Every few weeks, I will post a new Featured Team. I'm generally looking for the following in a featured team:
· Originality of the team
· “Niche” ideas
· Innovative cores
· Ideal team structures
· Success had using the team
· (Most importantly) potential for learning with the team
Then, we as a community will explore what makes the team effective. Is it the surprise value of an underrated mon? Is it a great core? Feel free to make comments if you think you have ideas for improving the team--the goal of this isn't to make the team as good as possible though, but to use the team as a tool to learn and explore.

*Submissions*
If you have a team you want to submit, just PM me and I'll let you know what I need. Anyone can submit a team, and occasionally we may use some form the RMT forum. If you know someone who has a team you think would be good, send me a PM!

*Discussion*
Anybody is allowed and encouraged to discuss the Featured Team. Even if you feel you don't have as much experience as others, asking questions can be just as valuable as providing answers. In the end, the goal of this project is to learn about the metagame and effective teambuilding, so keep that in mind when you post everyone!

*Archive*

Hide

Novaray:

Remedy's post
Zephir's post

Remedy:

Melee Mewtwo's post

I'll keep a list here of all the teams that have been featured and of any particularly helpful or insightful posts. If you're looking for general teambuilding advice, this is a great place to look!


I'll be posting the first Featured Team shortly!

 

[Kidogo]

All right, we have our first Featured Team, by Novaray! Given the subject of our current suspect test and the probability that Tornadus-T will be leaving us in the near future, I thought it only fitting to select a team that showcases him. Here's the lineup:

And here's a summary of the team, provided by the creator:

Hide

The basic goal of this team is to keep rain up throughout the match while wearing the opponent down with an offensive core of Breloom and Mamoswine to facilitate a lategame sweep with Tornadus-T. Politoed, Jirachi, and Tentacruel form a strong defensive core that can also help wear down the opponent with Stealth Rock and residual damage from status


Politoed @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Toxic
- Protect
- Perish Song

I chose the defensive Politoed set as it has the best survivability of the Politoed sets and rain is crucial to the success of my team as it benefits a number of my Pokemon. It’s bulky enough to check many physical threats and Perish Song is nice to stop setup sweepers.


Breloom @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Mach Punch
- Low Sweep
- Bullet Seed

Part 1 of my offensive core. Can Spore to cripple an opponent’s Pokemon and deal massive damage with its Technician-boosted attacks. Takes care of Mamoswine’s checks such as Scizor, Terrakion, and bulky Waters


Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
- Superpower

Part 2 of my offensive core. Strong physical attacker that takes care of Breloom’s checks such as Gliscor, Landorus, and Toxicroak. Also is my primary check to physical Dragons such as Dragonite and Garchomp. Works well against both Sun and Sand teams that could otherwise prevent me from winning the weather war.


Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 244 HP /168 Def / 96 Spd
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
- Substitute

Great support member for my team. Gives me Rapid Spin to clear away entry hazards. Also can do some Toxic stalling with Substitute to avoid status and the combination of Black Sludge+Rain Dish everytime to regain lost HP.


Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 216 SDef / 40 Spd
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Wish
- Body Slam
- Iron Head

Specially defensive Jirachi is my main check to special attackers in general. Without her, things like Latios, Keldeo, and opposing Tornadus-T can really trouble my team. She provides support with Stealth Rock, Wish, and also paralysis which helps my fairly slow team.


Tornadus-T @ Choice Specs
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast
- Air Slash
- U-turn

My primary late game sweeper. After the opponent’s team is worn down, even resists will often be 2HKO’ed by Specs Hurricane. Early game, Tornadus-T is used as a scout to get some damage with U-turn

Novaray got suspect reqs with this time, which proves its effectiveness, but there are definitely some weaknesses nevertheless. So discuss, comment, analyze!

 

[PK Gaming]

This is a really cool team. You've got incredible offensive pressure from Breloom & Mamoswine, and the tanks you use (Jirachi/Tentacruel/Politoed) (mostly) handle just about everything in OU. Tornadus-T descends from the heavens and cleans up/revenge kills 90% of OU with Specs Hurricane.

One of the best teams in the Tornadus-T era imo.

 

[TheWaddleDeeKing]

C'mon, how the hell is a team with Tornadus-T supposed to lose?

Pretty good rain team, it certainly has really nice coverage between them. Only real threats that I would say could end your potentially streak with Breloom and Mamoswine is Heracross. If it's Banded it'll certainly 2HKO most of your team besides Tentacruel (maybe not Politoed either) with CC. Luckily for you, Heracross isn't used that much due to Terrakion. Overall, a nice build. Props to whoever sent it in.

Oh, and Rotom-C too I guess.

 

[Reymedy]

Nice thread =)
This team is obviously solid, Breloom and Mamoswine suffer few pokemons able to stand up against them and I must admit that when I saw the RMT I thought "Damn, I wanted to post a RMT with this core" >.<

Along with this powerful core, there is one of the most "classic" and efficient balanced Rain core.
So I see two main dimensions in this team, a powerful offensive core paired with a classic and substantial Rain Core.

This is obviously why this team is efficient in my opinion, it works around Tornadus-T and his counters, like Rotom-W and Jirachi that are raped by Breloom and Mamoswine.

On the other hand, I'd say that I'm bothered by the possibility of a Specially defensive Skarmory that would be a real pain to deal with for this team (could be fixed easily though). I like myself to add to the Breloom/Mamo core a Magneton but whatever.

Another strong point that may be unsceen, is the Paralysis support that is absolutly ridiculously good when paired with Mamoswine and Breloom. In fact, given the synergy, your only issue will be the pokemons fast enough to force them out.
The Haxachi with Body Slam gives to Breloom and Mamoswine the support they need on this side.

When using this team, you need to take care of some crucial things however.
For instance, once you lose Mamoswine, it will be really hard to stop an Thundurus from sweeping your whole team, you may have a shot with Jirachi if he's not at +2 and if you are healthy.
Keldeo can only be a big troublemaker if you lose Tentacruel and if Jirachi is weakened.
Those weaknesses are obvious and seen in almost every Rain team, but I believe if a "new" player (I dare say so even if I consider myself as new) wants to try this one, he must be away of some threats.
Likewise, a Sub/CM Jirachi will have many opportunities to set-up here, and Mamoswine can only stop his set-up one time. This version of Jirachi is deadly against Rain Teams, you must identify it as soon as possible when playing this kind of teams.

Good team anyway, definitely a perfect material to work on even if it does maybe miss some original and fancy sets to catch experimented people offguard.

 

[Huntofthelion]

This team's strength definitely comes from it's cores as the other users have said. Mamoswine + Breloom lets you revenge a good portion of the metagame and Tornadus should be able to pick up the rest. Like Remedy said your main issues are going to come from the fact that you're so reliant on each and every member that once one goes down you really don't have a backup plan for most things, which is fine it just makes this team a little more difficult for newer players. Using SpD Jirachi + Tentacruel should give you the win against most rain teams since you can handle their two biggest abusers, Tornadus and Keldeo, pretty easily while still having Breloom and Mamoswine to revenge if they manage to break through. Defensive Politoed lets you do better in weather wars against sand, although I think Sand teams are a little problematic for your team as things like Terrakion and Landorus, while unable to sweep early game, can really do a number on your defensive core.

Sub CM Jirachi, especially on a sand team, would be really difficult for you as your best way to handle it is Politoed which is going to get worn down. That problem is worse against sand when you need Politoed more than you would against rain or weatherless just to keep rain up. I could also see defensive teams being a bit of a problem for you as you don't really have a way to break them down as most of them carry dedicated counters for Tornadus and Breloom given that they're such big threats.

Anyways cool team it's a shame that newer users probably won't have much time to test it out as I think it's probably a good team to learn how to play the balance between having strong offensive threats and capable defensive pivots.

 

[HabibsHotDogs]

Bullet punch SD Lucario (only fears Tentacruel, who is coincedentally faster and cannot ohko with scald, so you really need to keep it healthy all game just to have a chance to defend against it. Lucario can only set-up in front of Jirachi though (or on a switch)), Sub+Bounce Gyarados is only "handled" by politoed, and not effectively at that Thundurus-T scarfed or otherwise can manhandle your team if it correctly predicts a mamo switch in and uses grass knot. Double dance haxorus is quite literally going to KO something, so choose carefully.

Just looking for threats to your team and those came up :) Most are obviously not the "cream" of OU at the moment.

The team does look great though, it'd take careless misprediction with Tornadus to lose I guess.

Edit: Despite tentacruel beating jellicent, a spike stacking team (deoxys-d) with a sub-disable gengar can literally troll right through your team. Sub-disable Gengar also fears little from Jirachi so I guess your best bet would be to wish pass and pp stall.

 

[Kidogo]

An interesting idea that I think this team does a great job of showcasing is the use of multiple priority mons in place of a scarfer--since having a scarfer can be bad for momentum since you're choiced and rather weak, this is a riskier but often very effective alternative to beat set-up sweepers.

I also think the amount of speed on tentacruel (to outspeed mamo I believe) is a nice idea and shows how you can shore up weaknesses in your team by tinkering with the EVs to beat certain threats.

 

[Zephir]

This is a great example of Balanced Rain in the Torn-T metagame, itself featuring the beast alongside an interesting core of dangerous sweepers - at least in this meta - and classic rain supporting core. Tornadus Therian is an invaluable element here because of its obvious ability to put pressure on the opponent with the mighty hurricane, but also since its amazing speed allows the team to work without an usual Scarfed pokemon as a Revenge Killer. Most sweepers will be blown by a STAB hurricane, Mamoswine can RK the Dragon Dancers and +2 Therians with Ice Shard and Breloom can finish off weakened mons (like Adamant SD Zor) and smash Terrakion with Mach punch. While this may look risky, it's a luxury for a balanced team as you don't have to deal with the set up opportunities / momentum loss that stems from a scarf mon, neither you will have a liability against solid stall teams. Tornadus is still choiced though, but it hits like a truck. [Just developing what Kidogo said]
Although ubiquitous, Politoed / Tentacruel / Jirachi is probably the best choice for a 3-mons defensive core that include Politoed (and thus drizzle). Very hard to overlook since a spinner is needed for TornT and Tenta is the best bulky spinner under rain (+ it can beat Jellicent). The team needed a steel and Jirachi is likely the best choice as it can 1) tank hurricanes / draco meteors 2) handle some special attackers 3) supports sweepers thanks to wish and paralysis through lucky body slams 4) lay down SR instead of giving them to Mamo.
Mamoswine and Breloom are two of the most dangerous sweepers out there for any non-stall teams, especially generic rain teams. The former exploits perfectly the Ground/Ice combination (resisted only by Bronzong and Rotom-W in OU iirc) to create holes. Breloom packs the excellent Spore, and punches holes with its stabs as well. Offensively they have a nice complementarity : Breloom kills bulky waters including Rotom W, can sleep Skarmory, RK Terrakion, while Mamoswine crushes flyings, lati@s and Celebi. One essential thing is that this core of sweepers threatens Jirachi, Heatran, Chansey, Rotom-W, Zapdos and pressures a lot Sp Def Skarmory and Bronzong ; all of which are among the best wannabe-counters to Tornadus-T. Consequently, it is quite easy to maintain a great pressure simply by u-turning with Torn-T who obv. benefits from Regenerator. All team having troubles against either Mamoswine or Breloom will have a hard time against Novaray's team since then can be brought with this simple - but not so manageable - strategy.

However, this teams has some weaknesses and struggles to solve recurring Rain team problems. First, the lack of Ferrothorn almost automatically implies a weakness to Offensive Starmie (resists both priorities, outspeeds everyone but TornT and hits hard) as well as Kingdra, which has seen a regain of popularity with the domination of rains. It also emphasizes an electric weakness with Mamo being the only check. This doesn't work in Rotom-W's case as nobody can really counter it (Breloom fears the burn and doesn't like Hpump so much). Second, usual anti-rain-mons-under-rain - often used by good players - such as Toxicroak, (Sub)CM Jirachi with full speed, SubDD Gyarados and Azumarill are huge threats. Especially Jirachi and Toxicroak, since the 2 others can be caught by a toxic if they're not careful. Keldeo Specs / CM is also very dangerous in itself since TornT is the best check and can't come in, while the scarf can dream of a late-game sweep if there are other strong special attackers with him. This is the drawback of running a fearsome trio of sweepers only backed by 3 mons (including a frog), with more specific utility than actual synergy. Speaking of it, switching on a powerful ground attack is tricky - Breloom is frail and Torn-T is essential yet threaten by prediction. Something like mamoswine or landorus can net a kill each time he enters on the field (except the speed on Tenta is nice to limit its options if it is Adamant.) Hell, even an hippowdon can be annoying to switch into. Breloom will also be able to put a key member to sleep if brought on Politoed / Jirachi.
I have to say, though, that the majority of these threats may have a lesser impact in practice : through momentum and pressure, body-slam paralysis or mistakes from the opponent.

This is where it becomes interesting : I think the team is easy to understand, you can beat generic rains with little prediction, you have good options against all playstyles and the team is probably both dynamic and "fun" to use. But because the balanced nature of the team leans towards offense, I think you will have to think a lot during the team preview : you must briefly think your own gameplan and identify threats that requires you to take care of key checks. And sometimes, you will have to play around direct threats. Not a bad way to improve yourself with a good team.
Besides, this team (and its success) demonstrates the excellence of Tornadus T. This thing is so strong / fast that it can hold a balanced team that uses more offensive complementarity than defensive one, and being able to sweep a well prepared team during endgame with little support (rain, spin, rocks, and offensive pressure) with a single move. Goodbye bird.

 

[Superpowerdude]

Novarays team :D

As everyone else has picked up on, the use of Breloom and Mamoswine together is very cool and the offensive pressure that they bring and their priority attacks makes it very easy to gain momentum and weaken an apposing team. The two can also succesfully threaten/weaken special walls and fast frial attackers that would annoy Tornadus-T. Once these Pokemon are cleared out everyone knows how powerful and broken Tornadus-T is, and it will probably go on to destroy the opposing team with Hurricane. The teams also got a good defensive backbone with Politoed, Tentacruel and Jirachi. Not only are all three of these Pokemon capable of walling majority of hits from apposing rain teams, but they also provide great utility in the form of Drizzle, status spreading, Stealth Rock, Wish and rapid spinning. Its also good to see Tentacruels SubTox set get some love.

Novarays Hurricane is a perfect example of a balanced rain team in the Tornadus-T era.

 

[Stallica]

I can see problems with Conkeldurr if tentacruel is taken out. Even still, conkeldurr can threaten this team after a bulk up or 2, and a mach punch, thunderpunch etc

 

[Schpoonman]

I'm unaware if anyone has made this connection, but once Politoed and Mamoswine are out of the way, Mamoswine himself can have a field day with this team. Beyond those two, the only thing that really stands to prevent Adamant Mamoswine from sweeping the entire team is Breloom and Body Slam hax, and while we abuse Serene Grace because it can be so reliable, it's not guaranteed, and it obviously won't save you if Jirachi's weakened.

Breloom is trickier, but manageable. Adamant Life Orb Ice Shard does at least 85%, so if Breloom is below that it can't stop you at all. If it's as full health, do you risk the Icicle Crash when you'll be cleanly OHKOd by Mach Punch after Rocks or do you try and weaken Breloom guaranteed?

EDIT: Wow, how did I not see that? I checked Breloom and Mamoswine for their natures, but I just assumed Tentacruel was slower. Thanks.

 

[Nova]

I can see problems with Conkeldurr if tentacruel is taken out. Even still, conkeldurr can threaten this team after a bulk up or 2, and a mach punch, thunderpunch etc

Conkeldurr isn't really a threat to my team as Tentacruel can stall it out pretty well and Tornadus-T can live a +6 Iron Fist boosted Mach Punch from Max Attack Adamant Conkeldurr and OHKO with Hurricane.

I'm unaware if anyone has made this connection, but once Politoed and Mamoswine are out of the way, Mamoswine himself can have a field day with this team. Beyond those two, the only thing that really stands to prevent Adamant Mamoswine from sweeping the entire team is Breloom and Body Slam hax, and while we abuse Serene Grace because it can be so reliable, it's not guaranteed, and it obviously won't save you if Jirachi's weakened.

Breloom is trickier, but manageable. Adamant Life Orb Ice Shard does at least 85%, so if Breloom is below that it can't stop you at all. If it's as full health, do you risk the Icicle Crash when you'll be cleanly OHKOd by Mach Punch after Rocks or do you try and weaken Breloom guaranteed?

Tentacruel's Speed EVs allow it to outspeed Jolly Mamoswine so Mamoswine is only really a threat after Politoed, Tentacruel, and potentially Breloom are out of the way. Originally, the team did have some issues with Mamoswine but by adding Speed to Tentacruel I don't really worry about him as Tentacruel can just outspeed and OHKO with Scald

 

[Asek]

A fitting way to see torn-t leave the tier :]

Anyway one of the largest threats to this team is Swords Dance Toxicroak, especially with a jolly nature. Tentacruel is complete set up bait, and a smart player can try to lure tenta in for a double switch to croak to boost up. Jirachi has a 80%'ish chance to be OHKO'd by Life Orb Cross Chop after rocks, so the only switch in is really politoed who can't do anything back besides p song croak out, which is only delaying it. Playing well will usually not allow croak to set up so it is managable if you stay wary of it throughout the match and execute a late game torn-t before the opponent can find a chance to boost croak.

Asides from that I really like the team. It shows how strong using a Defensive Core along with an offensive core to support a sweeper is. Mamoswine + Breloom can revenge plenty of the threats in OU while providing a lot of pressure, especially if breloom finds a chance to use spore. That is another strong point of this team ; not many set up sweepers are capable of breaking through 2 prio abusers along with 2 very capable walls and politoed so that the enemy will be hard pressed to break through the team given tentacruel's durability and jirachi's ability to pass wishes around to all the other team members, helping them be ready to check the opponents team members. As far as uncommon sets go, Sub + Toxic Tentacruel is fairly rare on the ladder, and is very effective under rain. Being near impossible to take down once it has gotten its substitute up, and hassling the opponent with scald to cripple physical sweepers and toxic being a great stalling weapon as usual. The set itself is pretty much rains version of SubToxic Gliscor, except more annoying with its increased durabilty, scald under rain can actually hurt stuff and rapid spin provides the team with further support. about learning stuff from the team, I can imagine Breloom + Mamoswine picking up in usage as this team shows how effective they are when used together to pick off weakened sweepers.

An overall strong team with very few exploitable holes, very usable in pretty much any match up

 

[Helldoom]

This is a great team, but it has no way of beating Life Orb Starmie (Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Thunder, Recover).

 

[Halcyon.]

This is a great team, but it has no way of beating Life Orb Starmie (Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Thunder, Recover).

You know, at first I didn't believe this, because I thought Jirachi would be a full stop to Starmie, but it actually easily 2HKOs in the rain with Hydro Pump. If Tornadus-T is gone, Starmie wreaks this team (provided he doesn't miss a Hydro Pump). It would be possible to switch between Tentacruel and Mamoswine predicting Hydro Pumps and Thunders, respectfully, until Hydro Pump's PP ran out, but that isn't exactly a reliable way to deal with it.

 

[eriados]

One thing I really like about this team is that you don't give the other team many set-up opportunities. Your only choice user is ridiculously powerful. I can't see any where that say, a SubSD Terrakion could switch in unless it was on a weakened Jirachi or Mamoswine. Your defensive core isn't particularly diverse, but it's very complete. Anything that Politoed, Tentacruel, or Jirachi can't handle are easily revenged by Breloom or Mamo. One place where I see a slight weakness is against stall. Facing up against stall puts a lot of pressure on Tentacruel to keep coming in and spinning. This is allieviated by the fact that you run Speed EVs on Tentacruel to toxic Jellicent before the taunt, but I think a well-built stall team would give you a headache.

 

[Kidogo]

This is a great team, but it has no way of beating Life Orb Starmie (Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Thunder, Recover).

Well, every starmie runs rapid spin, but that could go over recover. And hey, that's true, although tornadus checks it and it'll get worn down from LO with no recovery options and the fact that it can't OHKO tenta, rachi, and toed. Offensive starmie is also becoming p rare since more survivability is required nowadays. An astute observation though!

One of the coolest things about this team from a metagame perspective is how it just so embodies tornadus-t rain, with even the same common weaknesses (subCMrachi, SDcroak as asek pointed out, etc.). I also love how this team showcases how to effectively combine an offensive and a defensive core into one cohesive team.

 

[Kidogo]

All right, we have our second Featured Team! In the wake of the tornadus-t ban, rain offense has lost one of its greatest assets. Given that, several other playstyles have gained in popularity to replace it. Remedy's team showcases Deo-D HO, which aims to set up hazards and then sweep with a powerful set-up sweeper. Here is the team at a glance:

And a quick summary:

Hide

When I made this team, I wanted to get the full potential of a hyper offense Deoxys-D team. For this matter, I focused the building around the protection of my hazards (Gengar's Focus Sash set/Weavile) and the power of my sweepers (Dragonite/Breloom/Keldeo).

SHY GUY (Deoxys-Defense) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Magic Coat
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes

This one is a classic set, some people may say that Taunt+Magic Coat is redundant, but in a HO like mine you really want to make sure that you set hazards and don't let the opponent set theirs.

BADASS SINCE GEN1 (Gengar) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 12 HP / 252 SAtk / 244 Spd
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Focus Blast
- Destiny Bond

This set is a bit tricky to use. It serves the main purpose of defending my hazards no matter the spinner against me. Gengar is criticized for not being able to beat Tentacruel and Starmie but here he got the moveset and the mates to deal with them.


TROUBLEMAKER! (Weavile) @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 32 SDef / 224 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Night Slash
- Ice Shard
- Low Kick
- Pursuit

Weavile forms a core with Deoxys-D and Gengar, a core supposed to control the hazards. He pursuits Starmie if needed and as he's faster, he makes sure that my hazards aren't swept away. Moreover, few pursuiters can outspeed and kill magic bouncers (like Espeon) that ruin my strategy or some Keldeo's counters. This pokemon was also a beast, able to outspeed and kill Tornadus-T for instance.

UGLY PONY (Keldeo) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Surf

A classic set, here to deal with the Rain teams by using their own weather to fire off powerful HPumps. The good thing is that he also crushs Sand offenses.

I GOT NO ARMS (Breloom) @ Fighting Gem
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Tomb

The punching member, supposed to kill the bulky waters. He also acts like a great lure for many annoying pokemons thanks to Rock Tomb and Spore gives me the momentum against slow teams. Finally he can take any hit from Scarf Keldeo at full life (hence the Gem over the LO) and kill it, which is really valuable because Scarf Keldeo is a huge threat.

SWAGON SINCE GEN1 (Dragonite) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- ExtremeSpeed
- Earthquake

The Dragon, thanks to Deoxys-D Magic Coat/Taunt he can usually come safely on the field with Multiscale still on and crush everybody after some DDs. The Earthquake is really a nice asset when facing Tentacruel if my Gengar fails to kill him.

So observe, comment, analyze!

 

[TheWaddleDeeKing]

Extremely odd HO team in my opinion. No Dual Screens, only one setup Pokemon, two different types of attackers and Choiced users. Really its more of an aggressive balanced team in my personal opinion.

Anyways, it looks nice, but right off the bat it gets boned by most rain and Sun teams, even Dragonite and Keldeo do not like taking boosted Hydro Pumps or Fire Blasts. There's a big deal of hazard control, however Forretress can come in and setup rocks regardless as long as Deoxys-D and Gengar aren't there. Ferrothorn can do the same, avoiding an OHKO from Gengar most of the time. Gengar isn't even threatening due to the presence of sandstorm as well. This is one of those teams that really appreciates a back up spinner like Starmie in case its defensive core breaks through, which isn't very hard because Gengar is as bulky as a supermodel. Although its sash lets it tank one hits, Scarfers and priority are omnipresent in OU, so it's not gonna be there for long. It relies too much on not getting rocks up, but there's plenty of ways to get around it. Mamoswine also bones quite a bit of the team, though to say Mamoswine is common would be wrong.

Maybe I'm just a huge asshole here but I personally don't care for this team at all. There's just too many ways to get around the "defensive core" in my honest opinion to safely prevent rocks from being setup.

 

[MMII]

The first thing that one notices is that Remedy's team is another HO team centered around Deo-D turning SR + Spikes into normal battle conditions while offensive pressure and a Gengar ensure that they are never spun away.

With a closer look, one quickly notices that this team is incredibly difficult to sweep against. Just about nothing can pull off a 6-0 with Deo-D shutting down setup, three powerful priority users, a ScarfKeldeo and even a SashGar as a safety net if SR isn't up. This also means that the team is very fast paced as even the slower members have powerful priority moves or a boosting move to help them catch up with the crowd. An excellent game-plan in a very offensively inclined metagame where speed decides almost everything.

Besides the combination of insane speed and priority, this team packs some excellent offensive synergy. The first combo that anybody can see from a mile away is the tried and true Keldeo + Pursuit (as performed by Weavile) combo that uses the latter to clean up with the sheer power of the former. The bulky waters that try to stop these two are turned into a free switch-in and potential setup fodder for Breloom and DNite who pack the wall-breaking punch for the team.

Although it is a Deo-D team, it isn't without its fair share of surprises. SashGar isn't very common and can surprise some the faster revenge killers hoping to OHKO him before taking a hit from his 130 base SpAtk. The other surprise set is Breloom who uses the rare Rock Tomb over Low Sweep which allows Breloom to hit common switch-ins like DNite and Latios for SE/Neutral damage while dropping their speed open them up for another powerful attack. This also allows Loom to safely conserve the card he has hidden up his sleeve, a Fighting Gem, for the ideal moment.

However, this team does have its drawbacks. Like every HO team Revenge Killers are a pain as the team gives up a defensive backbone in exchange for raw power swarming around an over abundance of hazards. The second hole is the weakness to the ever-popular Stealth Rock the team has. Although fast Deo-D with Taunt and Magic Coat followed by offensive pressure does a great deal in making sure they never go up, there isn't much that can be done about faster SR leads (Sadly Deoxys can't Spike spam and keep Magic Coat up at the same time) or a bulky one that finds the one opportunity to get them up. If you can play this team to its strengths, though, you won't find these drawbacks getting in your way.

 

[Reymedy]

Well, I must admit that Mewtwo summarized it quite well. The strong points and the drawbacks.
So yes, if I had something to say about this team that I did not say already is that you must have a good overview of the match making and the strategy to adopt since the team preview. Because against the good or the bad teams, you'll anyway have to sacrifice pokemons very often. Usually battles end in a tight spot or a big sweep, there is no happy medium.

 

[Kidogo]

The archive is now updated (great post MM!).

One problem that often arises with Deo-D HO teams is that you spend so much effort into making sure you can smash through teams that you're very weak to opposing set-up mons. Remedy's team helps mitigate this weakness with several powerful priority users and a scarfer while still maintaining control of the match with his spinblocker and pursuiter, as well as the sheer power of all 3 offensive mons. Whenever I try to run a Deo-D team, I find myself in the above position with no defensive capability at all, and I think remedy's team manages to maintain all-out offense while working in some defensive backups.