Rating Practice Team #28

[Trinitrotoluene]

Welcome to the newest round of rating practice teams. If you're an aspiring rater, then these will hopefully allow you to pick up on and address any problems with your rating, provide you with experience rating teams that have been specifically made to be as tough to rate as possible, and make you think creatively in order to find the best changes for the team. Any rates we receive will be replied to with personalized feedback by one of Halcyon., Jirachee, Nova, ShootingStarmie, or Trinitrotoluene. At the end of the round, we'll give some general hints and feedback on how things went, and post the best rate that we received as an example of how to rate the team.

Anyone is welcome to participate and send in their rate, and everyone will be guaranteed to receive feedback appropriate to the effort they put into their rate, regardless of their ability. However, to keep things fair, we won't be considering rates sent in by official Team Raters as winners of the best rate.

If you would like to participate in this round, PM your rate to ShootingStarmie no later than Saturday, 2 August 2014. Do not post rates in this thread.

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we're back! since i'm a lazy bum who doesn't use capitalization, note that spa = special attack, spd = special defense, and spe = speed. the team's goal is to get a sweep w/ one of mega gyarados or landorus.

gyarados @ gyaradosite | intimidate ** JAEGAR BAIT
adamant | 40 hp / 252 atk / 216 spe
• dragon dance
• waterfall
• earthquake
• ice fang

mega gyarados is this team's primary physical sweeper because of its ability to blast past unaware mons (quagsire, in particular). it forms a nice offensive core with landorus, with each being able to open up a sweep for the other. the moves are all standard, and the evs give gyarados a bit more bulk while retaining enough speed to outpace greninja after a dragon dance boost.

breloom @ focus sash | technician ** NOT WEED
adamant | 4 hp / 252 atk / 252 spe
• spore
• bullet seed
• mach punch
• rock tomb

focus sash breloom is the team's usual lead due to its ability to incapacitate one member of the the opponent's team w/ spore. however, against sand offense, i try to keep breloom alive as long as possible to keep excadrill in check. while focus sash may seem an odd choice because of tyranitar, it works because breloom usually is koed before tyranitar has to come in. the focus sash also gives breloom some utility as an emergency revenge killer, assuming no hazards are up.

thundurus @ life orb |prankster ** GET REKT
naive | 56 atk / 200 spa / 252 spe
• thunder wave
• thunderbolt
• knock off
• superpower

thanks to prankster thunder wave, thundurus is this team's "oh shit, gotta go fast stop that boosted sweeper" button. in addition to keeping boosted sweepers down, thundurus also acts as a chansey and lati twin lure thanks to its access to knock off. superpower sees use in the last slot to dent tyranitar, non-sand rush / scarf excadrill and ferrothorn.

landorus @ life orb | sheer force ** THE FINAL BOSS
timid | 4 def / 252 spa / 252 spe
• earth power
• focus blast
• psychic
• calm mind

cm lando is powerful as fuk. it gives stall lacking assault vest tornadus-t or specially defensive unaware clefable trouble thanks to its incredible power. with a calm mind boost, it can actually 2hko chansey w/ focus blast, which is no small feat. i didn't use sludge wave on lando because earth power hits most of sludge wave's intended targets hard enough. tl;dr: lando will wreck your shit.

aegislash @ leftovers | stance change ** MR. OP AS FUK
quiet | 244 hp / 12 def / 252 spa
• king's shield
• shadow ball
• shadow sneak
• flash cannon

aegislash is this team's pivot and primary check to a fuckton of powerful pokemon, such as terrakion and mega gardevoir. it can tank hits relatively well thanks to its excellent typing, and it can deliver the pain train to anything lacking a ghost resistance. flash cannon sees use over sacred sword or another option because it allows aegislash to lure in and heavily damage chesnaught, weakening it to the point where it cannot reliably stop gyarados from sweeping. shadow sneak gives aegislash the ability to perform the role of the executioner.

tyranitar @ choice scarf | sand stream ** MECHA-GOJIRA
jolly | 4 hp / 252 atk / 252 spe
• crunch
• pursuit
• stone edge
• earthquake

scarf tyranitar was chosen to ensure that thundurus is not overwhelmed in the process of checking flyspam and other sweepers. tyranitar also has some utility thanks to its ability to check many prominent threats, such as the aforementioned flyspam, lati@s, genger, and opposing thundurus. tyranitar's sand stream also has quite a bit of use in disrupting opposing weather, which helps prevent megazard-y and politoed-based rain teams from having a field day with this team.

 

[ShootingStarmie]

Hi guys! We've replied to everyone who sent in a rate, and we all thank for you taking part in this project. The winner this round was... Rhaegar ! Congrats! Here's the winner's reply to this practice rate.

Hi, I'd like to give it a go n_n.

These six pokemon formed a very powerful offensive team during it's prime time (a couple of months ago IIRC) and still has potential to perform but I believe it's weakness to the common threats of Keldeo, Azumarill, Mawile and Mamoswine make it quite match-up dependent. Mawile in particular takes advantage of Choice Locked Tyranitar to either kill something for free or to boost to +2 for a potential sweep. I'll get to my solutions to make the team more robust after suggesting the set changes on the current team.

Set Changes:

• The first thing to stand out is the lack of Stealth Rocks. Though it's arguable as to whether a team requires Stealth Rock to be successful, it is more than arguably the best move in the game and is always worth running. The easiest way to have rocks without changing the structure of the team is to add them on Landorus over Calm Mind. Landorus is a great offensive setter with it's ability to force switches.
• This does reduce Landorus' ability to stallbreak for which I would suggest running Substitute Gyarados over Ice Fang to be able to set up on stall by avoiding status and by beating both Quagsire as well as the standard Whirlwind-less Counter Skarmory. I also believe Gyarados' EVs are poorly chosen here as though it outspeeds Greninja at +1, it gets creeped and Wil-O-Wisped by offensive Modest Air Balloon Heatran. Adding 8 more speed EVs avoids this. 40 HP EVs are almost next to nothing so on an Ice Fang set I would personally just run max speed to be able to outspeed and OHKO Banded Dragonite though Multiscale without having to take an Outrage. Adamant Mamoswine is also outsped this way.
• Breloom is generally better run with Jolly to be able to outspeed a number of things which it otherwise wouldn't such as Mega Heracross, Adamant Mamoswine, Bisharp, and a large number of things which are EVd to 240 Speed to outspeed Adamant Bisharp. Examples are Mew and Zapdos. Also, Jolly outspeeds Tornadus-T after Rock Tomb, which Adamant does not.
• The Aegislash set running Leftovers with no attack investment would probably benefit more from Substitute than Shadow Sneak to take greater advantage of the passive recovery. Another option would be a four attacks wallbreaking set with Life Orb which also helps against stall.
• Knock Off on Thundurus is not a good option for the moveslot with this team since it's already packing two hard counters to Lati@s. Hidden Power Ice is very much needed over Knock Off since the team needs a solid answer to the Landorus formes and Swords Dance Garchomp.
• Two Dark Type moves on Scarfed Tyranitar is a poor choice in general but more so for this team since Aegislash gets free turns against Lati@s. Ice Punch over Pursuit would be a good option for coverage and to take on the threatening 4x Ice-weak mons and cleaning flying types without risking EdgeMiss.

So here's what I would make the sets on this team look like

Hide

Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Substitute / Ice Fang

Breloom @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Rock Tomb

Thundurus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Superpower

Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Psychic
- Stealth Rock

Aegislash @ Leftovers / Life Orb
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- King's Shield / Sacred Sword
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute / Shadow Sneak
- Flash Cannon

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Crunch
- Ice Punch
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Team Changes:

Now, though the sets can be changed, I still find this team to be flawed in itself due to facing trouble against a pool of common threats. My suggestions aim to limit these by creating a balance while still maintaining offensive pressure. The changes, though slightly extensive, improve the team by supporting the top tier threats of Gyarados, Landorus, and Thundurus and giving them more room to shine.

-> Celebi may not be an OU defining mon at the moment but I believe it's exactly what this team needs, and has been confirmed with testing. Defensive Celebi checks Keldeo, Azumarill, Landorus, dangerous weather sweepers, Breloom, Rotom, and resisted or neutral physical hits in general. It runs Substitute and Baton Pass allowing Gyarados to run Ice Fang since the Sub can be passed to beat stall with or even to set up for a sweep. It's amazing glue by playing the role of sponge, status absorber, scout and pivot which helps bring in any of it's offensive teammates in safely and possibly behind a Sub.

->

ScarfTran, apart from being a wonderful mon, is chosen mainly to check Mega Mawile. Running three attacks and Will-O-Wisp on ScarfTran counters SD Mawile while working as a very effective bluff in many cases. Will-O-Wisp is chosen over Stone Edge mainly due to how useful it is against much bigger threats like boosted Mawile and Bisharp and for crippling physical attackers that tend to switch in expecting Stealth Rocks, the most common one being Garchomp. Charizard-Y will have to be dealt with by keeping up Stealth Rock pressure and then beating it with a Sun-Boosted Overheat. Preferably Flash Fire boosted as well. Mamoswine in general annihilates the team but Heatran, unlike Ttar, can OHKO with Flash Cannon. Finally Heatran's typing, as always, is a blessing, also forming great type synergy with Celebi and Gyarados.

->

An optional yet rewarding change. Bisharp is mainly to have something to deal with Aegislash better, pressure hazard removal, and to have a Knock Off user as well as powerful priority which weakens threatening Pokemon into KO range for the rest of the team. It also helps beat stall by trapping Chansey with Pursuit to bring it to 2HKO range for Landorus. If Aegislash is banned at the end of the current suspect voting phase, other options open up for this slot since Aegislash can neither be run nor are checks necessary. Lucario would seem like a good candidate on a SubPass team in an Aegiless meta.


This is my result.

Hide

Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
- Recover
- Substitute
- Giga Drain
- Baton Pass

Thundurus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Superpower

Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Psychic
- Stealth Rock

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch

Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Flash Cannon
- Earth Power
- Will-O-Wisp

Testing:

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-145393967
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-145115065

Optional: Keeping Aegi as glue and Terrakion check while checking SubPunch Mawile by running Sub itself. This limits the changes to only 2 Pokemon.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-145058683


So there it is. This is my first rate so I'm sorry if it was too detailed. I would like to thank the RMT Staff because I had a great time working on this and got what I consider to be a nice team out of it n_n.

Cheers

 

[ShootingStarmie]

Keep your eye open for another practice RMT to be posted within the next week or so.