Platinum based team that got me on the leaderboard

[Goodbar]

Well, a week after Platinum changes were implemented on Shoddy, I decided to make a team that used a lot of these changes, and surprisingly 10 minutes of thought spawned a team that actually does quite well. Here it is, enjoy, and excuse me for my somewhat poor descriptive skills.

Team ...what?

Azelf @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Trick
- Stealth Rock
- U-Turn
- Explosion

Typical Azelf lead, but with it's new Platinum move Trick, which I think is a big move for it. Trick comes unexpectedly and screws up a lot of leads, including Deoxys-S. Sometimes I'm able to pull off a double trick and screw up two pokemon. Usually I Trick then set up rocks, or U-Turn if something like Deoxys-S Taunts me. Against any unfavorable leads I simply U-Turn first and hope I can come back soon, or on leads that I tend to dislike, like Shaymin-S, I'll just explode. Anyways this is a lead that helps get the momentum on my side very quickly.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/220 Def/38 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Roost
- Thunderwave

Standard Zapdos, with his new useful move Heat Wave, making him a great Lucario and Scizor counter, as well as Mamoswine who likes to get in on Thunderbolt or Thunderwave. Thunderwave helps me out in a pinch on a team that's not particularly defensive, crippling fast hard hitters and stat boosters. It's kind of the safe option to go to, and sometimes he can win by just pressure stalling stuff.

Heatran @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP/252 SAtk/6 Spd
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Seems gimmicky, but it works very nicely, any team with a Heatran usually switches into a predicted FB right away, expects me to switch out and FB's, and I KO it with EP. If it decides to EP, it's still screwed. Shuca also helps me against pokemon like Shaymin-S and Metagross, or any other time when I'm in a pinch. Other than that it's your typical resttalk Heatran, the status absorber of the team. Fire Blast does not give me PP issues and I like the extra power, which helps me take out bulky waters if I get a flash fire boost.

Shaymin-S @ Life Orb
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SAtk/6 SDef/252 Spd
IVs: 29 HP
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Seed Flare
- Earth Power
- Air Slash
- Leech Seed

The new god of hax, as you all are aware this little guy is quite a powerful sweeper and difficult to counter, especially with SDef drops and flinching. Leech Seed helps when I know the opponent is going to switch to something I can't deal with, like Blissey, and recovers some of the damage I take from SR and LO. Other than that the set speaks for itself

Metagross @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Trick

Metagross was good with Choice Scarf before Trick, and with it, it just gets better. Many teams still aren't catching on to speedy Metagrosses and I get a lot of KOs on things like Mamo and DDtar. If I feel like I don't need the Scarf, I trick it off (Forretress really likes to come in on Meta and accept it).

Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 252 Atk/6 Def/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Return
- Waterfall

Kingdra's new move really helped it out, doing massive damage to bulky waters that would have countered it before, and now able to hit his fellow dragons. Kingdra has the added benefit of a much more useful secondary STAB than Salamence and better typing. I often get a good couple KOs with it a game, as it isn't extremely difficult to get in. I give it max speed to outspeed neutral mamos and tie with scarf heras, just in case. Does a very good job at late game sweeping.

Threat List

Salamence - Not so great for my team, sometimes I lure it to Outrage with Kingdra then switch to Metagross, or sacrifice Kingdra, since Meta can sometimes be 2HKOed. Or I'll Twave with Zapdos and hope for the best from there... Or I switch to Azelf on the DD if I still have a scarf and explode. I usually end up sacrificing something.
Tyranitar - the leads I U-turn on with Azelf and switch to Metagross for the Crunch, since Heatran can't do enough damage with Earth Power. The DD ones cause me a bit of trouble but Meta outspeeds after the dance and so does Skymin, and both OHKO.
Metagross - I Trick Scarf onto leads, who usually don't threaten me much with or without it. Anything else doesn't really pose a threat either, Zapdos does a good job countering it.
Lucario - Zapdos, or Metagross if it has its scarf.
Rotom - I really hate these, and usually resort to Heatran or stall them out with Zapdos, and if I can get Shaymin in, it usually does massive damage to it with Seed Flare, after SR I can OHKO with Seed Flare occasionally or safely I can hax with Air Slash then KO.
Zapdos - hate these too
Azelf - Heatran, and I steal their sash lol, but sometimes both azelfs trick each other, but yea they're called suicide leads for a reason...
Deoxys-S - Metagross can handle the offensive ones, as can heatran. As for the leads, I trick scarf onto them but sometimes screens still end up causing me problems in some way, though they lose their clay which is nice.
Celebi - I have yet to see one carry Earth Power, but even if it did, Heatran makes a pretty ideal counter, and shaymin can 2HKO it with air slash but does massive damage.
Heatran - My own usually lures them in then kapow. I have seen a few sub-status type crap versions though, which can be minor issues, but in the end i have metagross, shaymin, zapdos, all who can deal with it.
Swampert - I don't like this thing very much. I can trick scarf onto it which eases prediction. Usually when it first comes out I can switch in shaymin safely and at least scare it away, and when heatran has a flash fire boost, it can 3HKO it and almost 2HKO, while being protected with shuca.
Magnezone - will revenge kill Metagross alot, but other than that, heatran and zapdos deal with it, and shaymin can threaten it if it gets a free ride in.
Kingdra (is a threat? zomg) - yea Kingdra kinda sucks, but zapdos can take it and paralyze it and...unless its somehow within tbolt KO range. Or I can lure it into outraging on my own kingdra and bring in metagross or something.
Gengar - As long as I predict well I can take it

If you think I'm missing any counters or explanations, tell me, and of course leave suggestions on what would make this better. I feel all the pokemon play an important role but the weakest link would probably be metagross.

 

[Corrupted]

Seems pretty solid.
I like T-Punch > Ice Punch on meta, as he outspeeds max speed adamant Gyara after a DD. Especially Life Orb versions are scary, as they will get past Zapdos with relative ease.
STalk Machamp over Heatran would help with Blissey, as nobody on this team is going to enjoy a TWave. It also eases prediction with CB Tar.

 

[Fatal Edge]

Corrupted helped I guess lol. I'll just follow and say that you could also try Hariyama. It has thick fat which helps against ice attacks.

 

[Goodbar]

I forgot gyarados on the list, well, I had Tpunch originally on meta on too many times I found I wished I had Ice Punch, while gyara is kinda scary, a full health zapdos can take a max LO DD boosted stone edge and KO back. If that fails, I'd send in kingdra and suicide it with outrage or send in azelf if scarfed and kaboom.
However, Resttalk Machamp is an interesting mention, as Blissey (who I also forgot...) doesn't exactly cause me problems but its annoying and I can only 2HKO with metagross, or explode it with azelf or trick cripple it. But machamp is scarier to switch into, and it can carry carry stone edge for gyarados and salamence, and is a better way to deal with tyranitar. I may try replacing metagross for it, as heatran is more important to me on my team. Hariyama is cool, it's a bit bulkier than machamp it seems, and has somewhat handy ice/fire resistances...hmmm ?_?

 

[Goodbar]

Bumping (hasn't quite been 24 hours but I'm going to class for a very long time), I kinda hoped I'd get a bit more feedback... Just as a small note, the general strategy of this team is to gain the momentum on my side right away, get a surprise kill possibly, and beat through their team with strength or at least cause switches to reveal the team, hopefully paving the way at a good time for kingdra or shaymin to sweep.

 

[RaikouLover]

Nice team Goodbar, you've given me a few nice ideas for my first platinum team. By looking at your threat list... you have a Kingdra weakness! (I don't know if rain dance teams still exist, but a Swift Swim Kingdra will give you hell). My only other main suggestion is to find some sort of status absorber. Your team doesn't appear to like Thunderwaves (trust me I know its hard w/o Garchomp I miss him :-()

 

[Goodbar]

Lol I have somewhat of a kingdra weakness, but I can usually deal with them. Salamences are scarier for me because I have only one ice move on my team, and everything that isn't slaughtered by outrage is by EQ. And like you said I kinda have a Twave weakness, which is why Blissey kinda scares me, if it caries that I don't really have a safe switch in that can do anything to it.
I tried using Resttalk Machamp and Dugtrio today over Metagross, but I still liked Metagross the best marginally, because my slight Sala weakness grew. I need to fix my electrical weakness without adding anything else that is sala/kingdra weak...

 

[Stallion]

If only Garchomp was legal, ScarfChomp would be the perfect fit on your team *sigh*.

Ok, not much counters Kingdra (stupid one obscure weakness), but the best I can do at the moment is recommend shoving a Cresselia (Rest/Sleep Talk/Charge Beam/Ice Beam, or even CM if you aren't afraid of Gyara) and a bulky Hariyama (Resttalk is my favourite too) over Metagross and Heatran. This makes the team a little less offensive, but gives you two great status absorbers, as well as a Kingdra, Salamence, Gyarados (if you wish) and Tyranitar counters, which your team is pretty weak to. I don't really like Leech Seed without Sub on Skymin but if it works for you I guess you can keep it.

Hope I helped.

 

[futuresuperstar]

If you can find room for Explosion on Metagross, it really helps out after you've Tricked it off.

You may want to consider running one of the Rotoms in place of Metagross. You can still run Trick, as well as Discharge / Shadow Ball to keep the paralysis going. You could fit in a screen if you want, or even Destiny Bond (I'm pretty sure it gets it). It helps with DDSala in terms of paralysis, Trick, adds an electric-resistant, can beat Kingdra due to Trick, paralysis, and even Will-o-wisp.

I would definitely say Rotom, and pick the type that would scare away or attract whatever you most care about. I would run max speed, or however much speed you would need to feel safe against a single DD'd Kingdra or Salamence, and run Trick, Discharge, Will-o-wisp / Shadow Ball / Light Screen / Reflect, Destiny Bond. No Kingdra or Salamence can get by it, regardless. You can safely switch in to anything, and either Trick to cripple it if it tries to stat-up, burn / paralyze it, or simply take it with you.

 

[Goodbar]

Yea garchomp would have been great, but I'm glad it's uber still heh. I'm a little afraid to cut back on the offense, but if I can clear openings for shaymin-s and kingdra, they do quite a bit of damage themselves, so I'll try out your suggestion and see what happens. Rotom seems like a good choice too and I'll try it over cress as well. Unfortunately with heatran gone shaymin and heatran will give me more problems, but I think I'll be able to work around them, we'll see what happens I guess...

 

[Vincent_Valentine_4]

Heatran and Kingdra are your only 2 counters to opposing heatran so you'll have to be careful with those 2 but other than that pretty solid looking team.