[Peaked at 1610, #5 OU] Team (R)Evolution

[GaRgAnt]

This is a team that has evolved since April, when I first encountered an RMT on CAL. Thank god I'm a member there, as an opening note. It's titled (R)Evolution because, like I said, it's evolved through two bans and playing with it has taught me to be a... Better player, lol.

The saga of how this team got me to the leaderboard began in April, when I saw Ciaran's The Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer RMT, which had these members:

So yeah, this was right before Latias was on the recieving end of the banhammer. To say the least, this team was pure, unadulterated offense; Baitran using Magma Storm and Taunt to kill Blissey and Suicune to open up a Suicune/Jirachi assault, Tyranitar focused on taking out Suicune's checks/counters (Mauling Jolteon in the process since Tyranitar has that godly special defense in the storm of sand he conveniently summons), and Mixmence... Being a menace.

I loved this team. But it didn't fit me. I started competitive battling around March, when I got back in the game for the first time in eight years. After some painful losses and a few crises of faith that I experienced, I was looking for a way to rise above 1350 CRE that I'd achieved with other, far crappier teams. So, I took 3 and a half members (I changed one of the sets, but kept the Pokemon, so technically that's half a member), added the last two and a half, and after testing came up with this:

This arrangement spiked me up into the 1450s, but... Let's just say it emerged that lead Yanmega epically fucked my team over (Especially since this was when I didn't realize that my Scizor accidentally had Swarm as its ability). I went into another crisis of faith, dropping to 1400.

And then, Latias was inflicted the mortal wound.

I didn't play that day, but I was trying to find out the next day- How the hell to replace her?

As it turned out, this one would actually get me on the leaderboard:

This team put me at 1567 CRE right before Mence, like his cousin, received the boot. Damn you Smogon Council.

I was in a tilt for the next three days, before I made quite a few changes to the team. Before, it was bulky, fast offense- Now, it became speed speed speed speed... And a mushroom. And a mantis that punches things like a bullet... But wait, that counts as fast. Whatever. And guess who came back, letting the team come into full circle!

And so, this is the final result!

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Into The Depths​

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Azelf @ Leftovers
Jolly
252 HP/16 Defense/20 Special Defense/220 Speed

~U-turn
~Explosion
~Stealth Rock
~Taunt

This Azelf has had many people question exactly why the hell I'm running Leftovers... But they get it once I beat them- The leftovers are to help keep this ticking time bomb alive until I need to flip the killswitch.

This is not Colbur Azelf. If you search for "The Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer," you'll find this Azelf in existence long before SDS coined the set. I believe that Colbur Azelf has very inefficient EVs; It should be noted that with Leftovers recovery this Azelf will survive a 232 Attack Adamant Meteor Mash from Metagross followed by the Bullet Punch. Also, this set easily survives pretty much all special hits of the lead game (Besides the occational Modest Roserade/Specstran)

The set is self explainatory- Taunt or SR as needed, then U-turn repeatedly until I'm sure my opponent has been fooled into thinking I'm not carrying Explosion, then flick the killswitch. Below is a detailed guide to what exactly I do for each lead:

Hide

-Azelf: I usually SR turn one; when I first used this team I started off by Taunting every Azelf I saw. However, with Colburzelf and CB Azelfs on the rise, Stealth Rock turn one is the best option.

- Aerodactyl: Muahaha. Most still Taunt, but I just U-turn out of the way. Even better, there's someone who can OHKO after the U-turn...
-Swampert: Wahahaha. Taunt that motherfucking mud fish, watch it uselessly Ice Beam as I set up SR, then U-turn back to Scizor.

- Machamp: Okay, this one is tough. I set up SR turn one, hope Azelf survives, then switch to Scizor to take the Bullet Punch. I U-turn with Scizor out the way to Rotom, switch back to take the Payback, then pray that I can kill it with a Superpower.
- Metagross: Ugh. I pray I make the right decision when I either SR or Taunt, but I always seem to be wrong. However, I'll always survive the MM + Bullet Punch with lefties, and set up SR either way. Then, batter it with U-turns and Overheats/Fire Blasts.

- Jirachi: A bitch to face. Pray I don't get haxed both turns (Iron Head from a Scarfed variant is a 3HKO), and/or I don't get T-waved if it's a paraflincher. I usually set up SR turn one (Or try to. Fuck you Serene Grace).

- Infernape: Ugh again. I pray that I can predict right whether or not it'll SR or Fire Blast me. If it Fire Blasts me, I go to Heatran ASAP for the kill, since U-turn will break the Sash.

- Ninjask: LoL Jask for n00bs. SR turn one, then Taunt the mofo.

- Roserade: Taunt turn one, because I don't want to risk the Sleep. If it uses Leaf Storm, then I'll U-turn out to Scizor and then U-turn again (After 2 Leaf Storms? HP Fire can't OHKO me. Actually, after two it's a 3HKO).

- Hippowdon: Screw you Hippo. I chuckle as they SR in expectancy that they knock of my Sash... When I Taunt and reveal, kaboom, I actually have Lefties. I can't kill it with Explosion, but I can most certainly batter it. However, I don't do it, because I have people in reserve that are far better suited to kill Hippo...

- Tyranitar: U-turn turn one, I'm not risking a Payback. They usually do, in which my switch into Tyranitar leaves them dead thanks to my use of UBAH POWAH!

- Heatran: Ugh. More mind games. SR turn one, since most Fire Blast me. Then Taunt, since they'll probably feel safe about Stealth Rocking. Then, U-turn to Tyranitar and start Stone Edging/Superpowering.
- Smeargle: LoL Taunt.

- Starmie: Ick. U-turn turn one, and hope it misses when I swap it into Tyranitar. When I say "it," I mean the imminent Hydro Pump.

On Legendary_07's suggestion, I've taken out 32 Speed EVs to beat out other Colbur Azelf leads and put it into my defenses; this allows me to take Starmie's hits first and then U-turn to Tyranitar to take it out.

Scizor @ Choice Band
248 HP/216 Attack/44 Special Defense
Adamant

~U-turn
~Bullet Punch
~Superpower
~Quick Attack

Scizor may have been knocked off from his place as the king, but who the hell cares, he’s still a beast. This is Choice Band Scizor as you all know it with a few twists- A further focus on special defense at the cost of slightly less attack. I run no speed because I want to win the U-turn war with opposing Scizor, Choice Scarf, Band, or whatever. When I say win I say go last, since I get the better switch. With arguably one of the game’s best typings defensively (And giving two crucial STABs in Bullet Punch and U-turn) it’s not hard to see his beastliness.

You’ll notice I chose to run Quick Attack over Pursuit; nothing on this team likes Kingdra at all, so dealing at least 30% damage to it per shot is a massive bonus. Besides, my next member is my designated trapper, and he arguably can perform this job better.

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
252 Attack/4 Defense/252 Speed
Jolly

~Stone Edge
~Crunch
~Pursuit
~Superpower

BANGIRAAAASSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! <3333333

Oh yes, another Scarftar. It seems to me that people forget that Scarftar has other purposes beyond killing Latias; killing anything less than or at 364 speed with the appropriate move, unless Tyranitar gets trumped by priority of a move that Tyranitar’s Rock and Dark typing is weak do (Ugh fuck you CB Infernape… Maybe not you Scizor since I have plenty of things to kill you with). This includes Starmie, non-priority/scarfed Infernape, offensive variants of Celebi……… Holy crap, everything that takes neutral damage from at least one of T-tar’s moves at 30% health or less.

I chose Superpower as my fourth moveslot because now I have a way of bushwhacking Breloom that come my way, expecting a Crunch or a Stone Edge. The standard Smogon set takes roughly 60% the first Superpower; with Stealth Rock and Sandstorm damage, it’s a done 2HKO. Also, Blissey takes an easy 2HKO from Superpower; but if they succeed in Softboiling/Wishing the turn I fire off the first Superpower... Well, I have a problem. The rest of this set in terms of moves is common knowledge.

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
120 HP/252 Attack/136 Speed
Adamant

~Seed Bomb
~Focus Punch
~Spore
~Substitute

Breloom has been called out as a suspect by some players… And it’s not hard to see why. Salamence’s banning created the perfect environment for Breloom- One of the ways to reduce the mushroom’s effectiveness was to simply switch in as Breloom Substitutes, and break the sub since Salamence easily resists both Seed Bomb and Focus Punch, Breloom’s most common moves. From there, Mence could terrorize whatever switched in… Or it could Dragon Dance for kicks and start killing junk.

And then guess what? The Smogon Council inflicted the ban, and Salamence flew the coop (After eating everyone else, probably). In addition to being Breloom’s worst nightmare, even if it set up a sub on the turn Salamence switched in (Substitute is no priority move, so before Breloom hides it takes the Intimidate drop) the metagame has turned slightly slower.

Awesome. Now I can terrorize everybody with the game’s best move: Spore (Fuck you Honchkrow, you’ve got about 50 other flaws to exploit in addition to being neutral to Focus/Falcon Punch). Hippowdon? Check. Blissey? Check. Swampy? Check. Skarm? Check check check for every relevant stall threat. They’re all setup fodder! This EV spread aims to make Breloom viably fast, outspeed no-speed Suicune and Metagross/Empoleon that aim to reach 209 speed before they use Agility, and as bulky as possible- With 120 HP EVs no-attack neutral natured Gliscor can’t break my subs about 80% of the time with Earthquake. 252 Attack EVs and an Adamant nature is for bringing on the pain. A lot of it. Even Gyarados, not factoring in Leftovers recovery and factoring in sandstorm, can be 2HKOed after Intimidate with Seed Bomb due to it taking neutral damage from Seed Bomb!

Rotom-H @ Choice Scarf
4 HP/252 Special Attack/252 Speed
Timid

~Discharge
~Overheat
~Shadow Ball
~Trick

Ahhh, yes. Rotom-H, who I replaced Latias with. I think that the mischievous ghost who possesses machines has done his job better than Latias has; Rotom now completely patches up my Yanmega weakness, save for the rare Specsmega. Rotom-H breaks stall like a mofo by directly threatening Skarmory and Forretress, the main Spikers of Stall teams; and when they switch to Blissey, I’m handing over an awesome Scarf in exchange for some free food!

I chose Discharge over Thunderbolt because I really don’t understand what the extra 15 base power does for Rotom- What 2HKOs does it achieve that Discharge doesn’t? Besides, I loooooove paralysis. Rotom also happens to be part two of my Breloom killing duo; get slept, switch in Scizor, then U-turn to break the Substitute and send in Rotom to terrorize the foe with that awesome Fighting immunity. I went with Overheat over Will-o-Wisp because being Choice-locked on a status move is a terrible terrible thing.

Heatran @ Life Orb
4 HP/252 Special Attack/252 Speed
Timid

~Fire Blast
~Taunt
~Explosion
~Earth Power


On the basis of popular opinion, I've replaced Choice Scarf with Life Orb in order to take on stall better. I've realized that Heatran is now packing a lot more power, and easily shuts down stall; ResTalk Gyara is still OHKOed after SR with the killswitch flicking, thanks to the LO boost (Lol!)

In closing​

This is a retirement RMT. At least, from the Overused tier of the fourth generation (On Shoddy at least). I’m glad that I’ve had the chance to go to Smogon so early in my competitive battling career, where I’ve learned… To learn. Special thanks to CAL for their great community, and Kennisiou, my CALibur tutor!

Well, that’s the final tribute to this team. Credits to Ciaran for forming the basis of Team (R)Evolution with his Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer RMT!

 

[Philip7086]

So it seems like this team has offensive teams covered pretty well, which is great. However, you really don't seem to have much that can break stall on this team. After going over your team, it seems like Choice Scarf Heatran is the least important Scarfer, and I personally don't see what it's checking that Scarf Tyranitar + Scarf Rotom aren't. With that in mind, have you considered changing Scarf Heatran to Taunt Life Orb Heatran with Fire Blast, Earth Power, and Hidden Power Grass to help deal with stall? With that, I feel like your chances at beating stall significantly increase, while still maintaining your ability to shut offensive teams down. I realize you made it a point to say "don't mess with da scarf" or whatever, but using Scarf when you don't need it, and especially using it when a different item helps the team more doesn't make sense! I know this is a retirement team, but it's also a rate my team forum, so I figured I'd give constructive feedback. Overall solid team, though. Good job.

 

[GaRgAnt]

While it's true that Heatran could possibly be changed to a Taunt + LO model and let me beat down stall a lot better, I feel that everything starts falling too much on Rotom to revenge things. There's still a lot of Dragonite that only run 204 Speed EVs, which let me nail them for a KO with Dragon Pulse after SR and one turn of SS damage. Also, Adamant max speed Kingdra only hits 403 speed, and Rotom can't reliably deal 60% + damage to it (Even with Thunderbolt, but I don't see the point in using T-bolt when I can't see the 2HKOs that it gets over Discharge), which gives me security.

Also, Defensive Celebi have been one of my worst headaches; a way to make it instantly GTFO and give me breathing room is great (Though obviously defensive variants don't run speed, some offensive ones do). But Kingdra/Dragonite can run through this team if Scizor and Rotom are down, so...

I guess I'm one to obsessively double up on threats. And, I think you forgot Breloom ._.

But yes, I'll probably indeed try Taunt LO Tran over Scarftran and try to play around Kingdra/Dragonite. Thanks for the rate.

 

[Jazon]

I don't know Trick Room teams well, so I might be wrong. But I'm sure that you need that Taunting Tran.

Trick Room teams can easily set up a Trick Room after your Azelf bites the dust. 3 members of your team is Scarfed, and only one Pokemon has a priority move, so they can easily cause big problems for this team.

 

[GaRgAnt]

Again, Breloom. Once Trick Room ends, I instasleep their setters. But yeah, now that I think about it I'll probably actually try it.

 

[tobi10]

Hey Gargant, this is a pretty good team! We never broke our 6-6 record xD The team is pretty solid, and checks almost every threat in the metagame. I can only say a few tips if you ever decide to use this team again:

Drop the Speed on Azelf to 220, I suggest a 248 HP / 40 Atk / 220 Spe. This prevents Tyranitar from eating a LO Hydro Pump from Starmie, while still beating 110 Base Speed Pokémon like Jumpluff and Froslass -_-

I couldnt find any big threat to your team, aside from Jolly Dragonite but those are weird, so good luck with your team and good job on your ladder success!

 

[undisputed]

You shouldn't have an attitude like "my team can't be improved because its too good." I dont even know how you can beat stall like phil said because you have no stall breakers save Breloom which every stall team should have at least one way of beating. so take some advice and be willing to try someone's idea. Believe me, your team isnt as perfect as you say it is.

With that said I'd like to suggest changing Heatran to a Life Orb Variant with Explosion over Taunt if you don't like Phil's suggestion. Otherwise, youre too easily walled by skarm/bliss/Rest talk Gyara which is on a lot of stall teams.

 

[GaRgAnt]

When the hell did I go "My team is too good," I said that I'd take their advice =_=;; learn to read mang

@Legend: I kept the speed EVs because Focus Sash Azelf is still pretty common. However, I've already mentioned that Colburzelf and CB Azelf are on the rise leading, so that's probably advice I should try out (Hopefully no speed creep will occur with the change, lol)

 

[undisputed]

This is not Colbur Azelf. If you search for "The Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer," you'll find this Azelf in existence long before SDS coined the set. Colbur Azelf is horrible. Horrible. Horrible. The EVs are inefficient to the point where I almost vomited when I saw them. This spread does everything SDS boasts and more- Surviving Leaf Storms, 252 Adamant Meteor Mashes, LO Hydro Pumps, everything, and after Leftovers it will survive a Meteor Mash + Bullet Punch. This is surviving everything... Beyond Modest Roserade's Leaf Storm, but neither can Colburzelf . Oh, and this set can survive Paybacks from Lead Machamp... 90% of the time. Without a Colbur Berry. Beat that Colburzelf.

You just randomly insult SDS here for no reason. Comes off as a "you're set sucks, and mine is a lot better" kind of post.

In short, kids: Don’t mess with dah Scarf.

This sounds kind of obnoxious when Heatran's use on this team is being limited with Choice Scarf.

This is a retirement RMT.

This sounds like "I'm not here to take help, I'm here to show off my team."

And, I think you forgot Breloom ._.

I'm pretty sure he didn't. Breloom doesn't automatically beat stall, and Phil knows that, so suggesting something like that is implying he doesn't know what hes talking about.

Again, Breloom. Once Trick Room ends, I instasleep their setters. But yeah, now that I think about it I'll probably actually try it.

Breloom is by no means an automatic win vs. Trick Room. It sounds as though you're above his advice and irritated that he would even bring up something like that. Also, he didn't suggest trying anything.

I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but I think some of these posts could come off less arrogantly. And you definitely want to drop some speed on Azelf or come up with a new plan for beating Lead Starmie. Risking Scarftar really recklessly like that is not a very good option.

 

[IronBullet]

Hey,

Really solid team, and congrats on your success! At first look, pretty much nothing seems like it could break through this team barring the odd Jolly Nite. You definitely seem to have a few problems with Stall, seeing as the use of 3 scarfers give Stall teams plenty of time to set up. LO Taunt Heatran patches up your stall weakness excellently, so I definitely second that.

If DDnite starts causing you problems, you could simply run HP Ice on Rotom over Overheat. T-bolt still hits Steels for decent damage and getting locked into it sucks big time anyway.

Dropping speed on Azelf also sounds like a great idea, you still outspeed everything upto base 110's, and getting off the slower U-turn is always great. Give it a try.

Other than that, great team dude, and gl!

 

[Super Mario Bro]

Thunderbolt > Discharge on Rotom. You don't want paralysis to interfere with Breloom's Spore, and the extra base power is always appreciated.

Anyway, nice team. I like how you try to remove all of Breloom's counters before you try to sweep with it.

I agree with Phil that you should use a LO Taunt Heatran to break stall a little bit more effectively. Breloom is not enough because most stall teams have a dedicated counter to him.

Good luck and congrats on your CRE.

 

[RaikouLover]

Hmm I think your CRE is more because your a good battler, as this team is running 4 Choice Users, which is a high-risk high-reward strategy. But if it works for you, keep it moving.

 

[GaRgAnt]

You just randomly insult SDS here for no reason. Comes off as a "you're set sucks, and mine is a lot better" kind of post.

Admitedly, some of my sentimental belief that he stole the set must have surfaced. However, I concede that if he had stolen it, he would have used the arguably superior/simpler EV spread. Editing.

This sounds kind of obnoxious when Heatran's use on this team is being limited with Choice Scarf.

I made the comment in order to make the reader aware that people seem to forget the original Choice Scarf set that made Heatran so popular. It appears that it was, in the words of Sonia Sotomayor, a verbal flourish that failed.

This sounds like "I'm not here to take help, I'm here to show off my team."

Um, I am indeed retiring from the 4th gen OU metagame...

I'm pretty sure he didn't. Breloom doesn't automatically beat stall, and Phil knows that, so suggesting something like that is implying he doesn't know what hes talking about.

Breloom is an amazing stallbreaker because save for the Trick absorber on Stall teams, almost nothing is faster than 210 speed. And... I find it disconcerting that nobody has noticed Trick on Rotom, from the rates that I have read (Which I do appreciate). A TrickScarfer is one of the best weapons against stall ever, and combined with Breloom makes me believe that this team passes the gauntlet most stall teams present. But I admit passes does not mean that I will have a good chance of winning (Maybe 50%)

Breloom is by no means an automatic win vs. Trick Room. It sounds as though you're above his advice and irritated that he would even bring up something like that. Also, he didn't suggest trying anything.

Um, it's not an automatic win, but I can at the very least batter the TR sweepers and delay the activation of Trick Room as long as possible. And he was seconding the motion of using Taunt LO Tran. ._.

I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but I think some of these posts could come off less arrogantly. And you definitely want to drop some speed on Azelf or come up with a new plan for beating Lead Starmie. Risking Scarftar really recklessly like that is not a very good option.

I already accepted the suggestion to drop speed, and Tyranitar is always surviving a Hydro Pump (Timid). Pointing the last part out as part of principle.

 

[reeebok]

Lol, xtrashine, rotom sez hi.
Anyway, I've found that Sitrus Berry is a very effective item to run on most leads. Basically, the idea is that you can tweak your defenses to maximize your survivability, however just try a dry run and us the current spread with it. I predict it'll actually work better than on my machamp (since your lead has no problem with the sleep leads I expected to think I had a lum berry on, ugh but ofc they spored me anyways) because people will think you're sashed. I hope that this small tip helped you.

 

[yond]

Lol, xtrashine, rotom sez hi.
Anyway, I've found that Sitrus Berry is a very effective item to run on most leads. Basically, the idea is that you can tweak your defenses to maximize your survivability, however just try a dry run and us the current spread with it. I predict it'll actually work better than on my machamp (since your lead has no problem with the sleep leads I expected to think I had a lum berry on, ugh but ofc they spored me anyways) because people will think you're sashed. I hope that this small tip helped you.

No hes actually right, a physically based Infernape with mach punch can literally 6-0 this team if its played right. It really is going to come down to prediction with Rotom. If you're rotom was unrevealed until you switch Rotom into a Close Combat I guarantee thats the last time you will do that safely against most players. Next turn you might meet a Fire Blast or a Tyranitar when you switch in.

I'm going to second xtrashine's suggestion and back Vaporeon over Heatran as it can also provide you with wish support for all your choice users.

 

[george182]

1610 get's you in the top 5 :O, what has happened to the smogon leaderboard, PO got resset recent ish and it's almost overtaking smogon.

Yea I think it's the way you phrase ur replies that sounds arrogant, but I think every1 needs to remember is that no team is perfect, and people are just offer suggestions they think will help. So If you just explain why you lead azelf is better than other colbur. I personally think colbur is better, you may live the bullet punch from lead meatagross, but what's the point lol, you can't touch it anyway. I supose you could fit a cheeky taunt in, but metagross has the bulk to switch out, and you can just scare if off with heatran/rotom.

Also life orb heatran is not the only way to break stall, it's just something that Phil seems to love suggesting. It is very effective a netting a kill, as explosion ko's everything bar their rotom and the steel. Neither of which likes a life orb fire blast. Taunt and explosion is an interesting duo.

However heatran is better for a special attacking team, as it generally explodes on blissey, which does not help you much lol. Also scarf tran lures in blissey and can catch it on the switch in with explosion, so it won't gain you too much, you just need to plan mroe in advance.

But heatran is not the only way, I think keeping scarf tran, and getting rid of the scarf on tyranitar would be much better. I think your other 3 choice users do his job just fine (assuming you go back to scarf tran). Mix Tyranitar is an excellent stall breaker, if you get it in before toxic spikes are up, it can rip wholes through a stall team. It's your team, so choice the set that best suits you, but Superpower, Ice beam, thunderbolt, fire blast would be my suggestion. The reason tyranitar is better, is because you team is more physical than special, and tyranitar lures in a ko's physical walls, while heatran lures in special walls.

Also scarf rotom, now you have overheat. But stall teams have recently been using scarf tyranitar to combat trick users. So I suggest wil-o-wisp instead of overheat, while it may seem dumb, it hit's the same things overheat does, scares off tyranitar. It also hit's dragon dance dragonite, which bassically solves that problem. Also a combination of trick + wil o wisp decimates stall teams. I was suggested this ages ago, and I was scepticle at first, but I tried it anyway, and now I always use it.

Now for discharge, I think you might as well go for the power, things like heatran/kingdra/infernape don't like repeated thunderbolts, but I prefer reliability personally.

For scizor, why not use quick attack over pursuit, it's not like you need pursuit tbh, and it helps against kingdra/infernape etc.


So to sumaries
- Could you explain the advanatages of your azelf set over colbur?
- Test Mix tyranitar
- Test wil-o-wisp on scarf rotom
- If so go back to scarf heatran
- Test quick attack scizor

 

[GaRgAnt]

I already have Quick Attack on Scizor ?_?

I already tried Will-o-Wisp. However, some Dragonite carry Lum Berries and just Dragon Dance a second time on my Will-o-Wisp. (Not to mention Will-o-Wisp is not reliable at all with its nasty 75% accuracy)

My Azelf- Actually, Ciaran's- is a bulky lead (In comparison to Colburzelf) and stays around longer to contribute to the mindgames. With Lefties and 252 HP EVs (Lol SDS went for 8 and stuffed the rest in Special Defense when he could have invested in overall bulk and had gotten comparatively better results on both sides of the spectrum- Just saying) I will set up Stealth Rock regardless of what the Metagross does and then scare it off with Heatran/Rotom. You mistake me mentioning Metagross as saying that I'm beating it by dealing massive damage to it without clicking Explosion.

It stays around a long time, which means that it carries a fast, powerful Explosion (Who cares about no investment base 125 attack still hurts like a mother). I'm surprised when you said that Taunt + Explosion being interesting that you hadn't noticed that if survives the lead game, I can send it back in, do the same for the Blissey/Vaporeon, and... Go kaboom. I am not so sure about Colburzelf, whose role is to still set up rocks and... Die, though it carries the same moveset. It maybe to just set up rocks in Machamp's face and then explode. But I can do the same here and be assured that 90% of the time I will survive as well (Though severely crippled, but low damage rolls may let me pull off an Explosion after the Bullet Punch). With more midgame utility, Ciaran's/my Azelf is what I see as a superior choice.

I am continually testing LO+Taunt Heatran, and I'd say that it's working quite well; I predicted that Rotom would be more pressured to revenge stuff, but Scizor also served its part taking out Dragonites.

I am not hot about the Mixtar idea. Tyranitar having the Scarf easily traps and defeats ghost-types that give me hell if they get behind a sub. Defeating Scizor that expect a free U-turn is wonderful however, so I'll give that a shot.

 

[Philip7086]

Also life orb heatran is not the only way to break stall, it's just something that Phil seems to love suggesting.

Uh, what? The only other time I have ever suggested Life Orb Heatran was when someone said they kept getting set up on with their Specs Lead Heatran, and that set is completely different than the one I suggested here (Overheat, HP Grass, SR, Explosion vs. Fire Blast, HP Grass, Earth Power, Taunt). Next time you call someone out, maybe get your facts straight?

Also, keeping Scarf Heatran and taking off Scarf from Tyranitar instead means he no longer has guaranteed solutions for things like Starmie, Gengar, and Rotom, which your set can't even really touch without STAB Dark. Rotom especially would give him loads of trouble, as it can find ways in on Scizor and Breloom pretty easily and do some big damage to his team. You do have a point about Heatran luring in and beating Blissey instead of physical walls though... IF he was using Explosion on Heatran. No, he's using Taunt LO, which means that Heatran will be beating Blissey and taking out other Pokemon as well on stall teams.

Anyways, glad my suggestion is working out for you!

 

[GaRgAnt]

No problem Phil. And yeah, I don't like Mixtar since Scizor isn't a big threat to this team (Breloom at full health always survives a Bullet Punch, and most Scizor are still CB so any other move gets them slept due to me carrying lots more speed than normal CB Scizors). Blissey is... Bait for Scizor to spam U-turn, and I can whip out Superpower as a surprise to any Blissey who think I'm carrying EQ on my current Tyranitar.

Okay, I'm using a bump. Just one.