Calm Minds Will Prevail
Ok. Having first stepped into Generation 5 after a little time out of Generation 4 the first thing I noticed was Sand. Everywhere you went there was a Sandstorm lead and an Excadrill in the middle somewhere. I had a go at a Sandstorm team but It just wasn't for me.So when creating this team I soon realised that first and foremost I was going to need to stop these teams. I played around with a few Pokemon, chopped and changed. Then I remembered my destroyer in Gen 4. Suicine.I love Suicine, and more importantly I love CroCune. He is a monster, and he is very rarely seen nowadays. People don't expect it. He has enough defence bulk to withstand Physical hits and then you just Calm Mind up and off you go. With the added bonus of instead of Surf, Scald. 30% Burn chance.
The Team ~
Mienshao (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Inner Focus.
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Fake Out
- Hi Jump Kick
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
I wanted a powerful hard hitter to open up with. He doesn't always open up play. If we see a big bulky steel or a ghost I will open up with Ferro. What I like about Mienshao is how people underestimate him. He hits so hard and people do not expect it. He does a fantastic job at coming finishing people off and U-Turning out without batting an eyelid. I have gone for a Jolly nature to outspeed opposing Mienshao.
Fake-Out is the obvious free damage. Hi-Jump Kick hits so hard. Just need to be sure no Ghost will be switching in or it will hurt. Stone Edge for the Flying types and the neutral damage on Ghosts.
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock
The typical Ferrothorn. Does his job well and this is why he is here. He will get rocks up easy. Has amazing survivability when combining Leech Seed with Leftovers. Gyro Ball hits hard on quick Pokemon. Powerwhip deals a decent amount of damage to anyone that doesn't resist it. Ferro is also my go to man when I see a Rain Dance team. They hate him.
Ferro generally goes quite quickly unless I see a need to keep him around as the way my team is I effectively have 4 walls. Standard EV's in SpDef, and a relaxed nature to take a few more Physical hits.
Suicune @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Part one of two. Suicine. My go to guy in Generation 4 is my go to guy in generation 5 as well. CroCune is fantastic. With the defensive EV's it can take Physical hits like a steel wall. Then it can calm mind up making Special attacks useless and healed over by leftovers. Once I am up 6+ you continue to Scald and Burn your way through teams. Rest and sleep talking when needed. Bold nature is there so I can take the Physical hits with much more ease.
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Dragon Pulse
- Refresh
Part two of two. When running Suicine I thought to myself. I wonder if there are any better Pokemon at this now Gen 5 is about. I originally replaced Suicine with Latias. It worked but Latias gets hit hard by Pursuit and U-Turn. So I nearly placed Suicine back in Latias' place. Then the spark. Why not use them both. They can both fill either roll. Latias and Suicine are my Walls and my Main Sweepers. She works basically in the same way as Suicine expect instead of Resting of Burn/Poison etc, She just refreshes. She isn't as bulky as Suicine but can still take hits well. What I like most is when people try but fail at firing off Ice Beams/HP Ice etc as I Calm Mind up.
Magnezone @ Air Balloon
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SAtk / 216 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Charge Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Steels were giving me trouble. Mainly Scizor. I wanted rid of them. I didn't want a counter. I wanted something that could clear them out and make way for the team. Magnet Pull Zone is perfect. Get behind a sub watch as the steels fail to break it and then HP Fire them away. If I face a Zong or something that just wont go down. I can Charge beam away until my SpAtt goes through the roof. Once the steel has been burnt away, I am generally still behind a sub so I can nail whatever comes in with a Stabbed thunderbolt which will dent anything.
Garchomp (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Stone Edge
I did realise that my team lacked something that could hurt from the word go. I tried a few different Pokemon. Hydregion was here for quite a while. I then realised I after having 2 calm minders I needed a Physical Monster. Something that just hurt. Garchomp does that. Scarfing him means he can outrun nearly anything. Coming in late game if my two Calm Minders couldn't quite get to the end. He can come in and Outrage his way through teams. Magnezone was also a choice with this guy in mind. He hates steel types too. I also use ScarfChomp to revenge kill if I don't think Mienshao has the power to do it. I do prefer to save Garchomp till needed though.
Well, there it is. I have enjoyed using this team and have had some good success with it.
I am sure there are some glaring weaknesses that I haven't noticed or haven't come up against. Would really appreciate your feedback on how to make it better. Thanks for reading.
Ok. Having first stepped into Generation 5 after a little time out of Generation 4 the first thing I noticed was Sand. Everywhere you went there was a Sandstorm lead and an Excadrill in the middle somewhere. I had a go at a Sandstorm team but It just wasn't for me.So when creating this team I soon realised that first and foremost I was going to need to stop these teams. I played around with a few Pokemon, chopped and changed. Then I remembered my destroyer in Gen 4. Suicine.I love Suicine, and more importantly I love CroCune. He is a monster, and he is very rarely seen nowadays. People don't expect it. He has enough defence bulk to withstand Physical hits and then you just Calm Mind up and off you go. With the added bonus of instead of Surf, Scald. 30% Burn chance.
The Team ~
Mienshao (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Inner Focus.
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Fake Out
- Hi Jump Kick
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
I wanted a powerful hard hitter to open up with. He doesn't always open up play. If we see a big bulky steel or a ghost I will open up with Ferro. What I like about Mienshao is how people underestimate him. He hits so hard and people do not expect it. He does a fantastic job at coming finishing people off and U-Turning out without batting an eyelid. I have gone for a Jolly nature to outspeed opposing Mienshao.
Fake-Out is the obvious free damage. Hi-Jump Kick hits so hard. Just need to be sure no Ghost will be switching in or it will hurt. Stone Edge for the Flying types and the neutral damage on Ghosts.
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock
The typical Ferrothorn. Does his job well and this is why he is here. He will get rocks up easy. Has amazing survivability when combining Leech Seed with Leftovers. Gyro Ball hits hard on quick Pokemon. Powerwhip deals a decent amount of damage to anyone that doesn't resist it. Ferro is also my go to man when I see a Rain Dance team. They hate him.
Ferro generally goes quite quickly unless I see a need to keep him around as the way my team is I effectively have 4 walls. Standard EV's in SpDef, and a relaxed nature to take a few more Physical hits.
Suicune @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Part one of two. Suicine. My go to guy in Generation 4 is my go to guy in generation 5 as well. CroCune is fantastic. With the defensive EV's it can take Physical hits like a steel wall. Then it can calm mind up making Special attacks useless and healed over by leftovers. Once I am up 6+ you continue to Scald and Burn your way through teams. Rest and sleep talking when needed. Bold nature is there so I can take the Physical hits with much more ease.
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Dragon Pulse
- Refresh
Part two of two. When running Suicine I thought to myself. I wonder if there are any better Pokemon at this now Gen 5 is about. I originally replaced Suicine with Latias. It worked but Latias gets hit hard by Pursuit and U-Turn. So I nearly placed Suicine back in Latias' place. Then the spark. Why not use them both. They can both fill either roll. Latias and Suicine are my Walls and my Main Sweepers. She works basically in the same way as Suicine expect instead of Resting of Burn/Poison etc, She just refreshes. She isn't as bulky as Suicine but can still take hits well. What I like most is when people try but fail at firing off Ice Beams/HP Ice etc as I Calm Mind up.
Magnezone @ Air Balloon
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SAtk / 216 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Charge Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Steels were giving me trouble. Mainly Scizor. I wanted rid of them. I didn't want a counter. I wanted something that could clear them out and make way for the team. Magnet Pull Zone is perfect. Get behind a sub watch as the steels fail to break it and then HP Fire them away. If I face a Zong or something that just wont go down. I can Charge beam away until my SpAtt goes through the roof. Once the steel has been burnt away, I am generally still behind a sub so I can nail whatever comes in with a Stabbed thunderbolt which will dent anything.
Garchomp (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Stone Edge
I did realise that my team lacked something that could hurt from the word go. I tried a few different Pokemon. Hydregion was here for quite a while. I then realised I after having 2 calm minders I needed a Physical Monster. Something that just hurt. Garchomp does that. Scarfing him means he can outrun nearly anything. Coming in late game if my two Calm Minders couldn't quite get to the end. He can come in and Outrage his way through teams. Magnezone was also a choice with this guy in mind. He hates steel types too. I also use ScarfChomp to revenge kill if I don't think Mienshao has the power to do it. I do prefer to save Garchomp till needed though.
Well, there it is. I have enjoyed using this team and have had some good success with it.
I am sure there are some glaring weaknesses that I haven't noticed or haven't come up against. Would really appreciate your feedback on how to make it better. Thanks for reading.