Project LC Team Study - Week 1

[TUO]

Original idea by Melee Mewtwo
OP stolen and slightly adapted from Nova
Approved by Rowan

What is this for?
The basic idea of this thread is to look at a high level player's team under the microscope and see what the community can find and learn from each team. Discussing a team helps not only you learn and think about it, but the fellow LCers who are new can learn by reading your post. It is a win-win situtation! Additionally, you are supplied with high-level teams to take ideas from if you like a build, and it gives us a look at what is "good" in the LC Tournament metagame.

How does it work?
Each week (more or less) there will be a high-level team that will be displayed for the community as a whole to discuss. The aim of this discussion will be to analyze the team by identifying roles and explaining their purpose, investigating specific movesets and Pokemon choices, strong points of the team, flaws it may have and even questions concerning unusual or confusing aspects. Essentially, the team will serve as a model to learn from and an example to refer to. Once the discussion is over, the teambuilder will post explaining his decisions and answering any questions or false ideas concerning them.

What do I get out of it?

• A good look at current tournament teams and trends.
• Insight on how teams are built and more knowledge of the LC Metagame.
• A good, intelligent thread! (Hopefully)

For the first week, we have a team from Sweep, who recently won SPLC with TMNT.

Sweep's Team

Dwebble @ Berry Juice
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Rock Blast
- Knock Off

Gastly @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Level: 5
EVs: 200 SpA / 108 SpD / 200 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute

Tirtouga @ Eviolite
Ability: Solid Rock
Level: 5
EVs: 4 HP / 212 Atk / 12 Def / 100 SpD / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Shell Smash

Chinchou @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Volt Absorb
Level: 5
EVs: 52 Def / 236 SpA / 220 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Heal Bell

Ponyta @ Eviolite
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 5
EVs: 76 HP / 236 Atk / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Hypnosis
- Wild Charge
- Morning Sun

Mienfoo @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Taunt
- Drain Punch
- U-turn

Some things to consider are:

• What do think was the main/inspiring idea/goal Sweep had when building this team?
• Is there a discernible core that he tried to build around?
• What are the strong points of the team?
• What are the weak spots?
• How could his use of certain EV/moveset twists help his team vs specific threats or archetypes?
• How does he use some underrated threats to give his team an advantage?

Try to think of other questions about this team and don't just let these questions limit your discussion.

 

[Goddess Briyella]

Well, Sweep likes fossils, and I'm surprised he used Tirtouga and not Omanyte here.

From a distant glance, it's a pretty standard setup of hazard lead Dwebble with a VoltTurn core formed by TauntFoo and Choice Scarf Chinchou. The addition of Ponyta and Gastly provides the team with additional powerhouses from both the physical and special sides of the offensive spectrum. Tirtouga makes the main Flying resist while also serving as the team's main win condition once an opportunity is found to set up and after some Eviolites have been Knocked Off.

The team performs very well offensively and applies pressure against various archetypes. Tirtouga's Earthquake in place of a Rock-type STAB attack is nice for Pawniard, and Ponyta can sleep switch-ins with Hypnosis and have two turns to try and land the maneuver; not an unheard of option there but still unique for the team. Stall and bulky offense are hard-pressed to maintain against this team, and Chinchou can Heal Bell as a last-ditch attempt to rid teammates of paralysis to make a comeback at about mid-game.

Due to the fast-paced nature of this team's setup and its reliance on pressure and opportunity, it needs to keep momentum up to be effective. This is especially true due to the fact that there is no hazard remover present. While the team manages to cover a lot of bases, there is a glaring weakness to Ground with literally no switch-ins for Earthquake, and so Scarf Drilbur also just destroys everything if it appears. Though less common, Bulk Up Chespin has the right resistances to give this team problems as well after Ponyta is defeated.

Ponyta's choice of Hypnosis over Will-O-Wisp is a nice surprise that incapacitates an incoming Chinchou rather than simply applying residual damage to it. The fact that Chinchou runs HP Grass over HP Ground means it doesn't have to risk the 50/50 of whether the opponent will let Chinchou hit the Water-type it's pressuring or Drilbur on the switch, which allows a bit of security when handling momentum.

 

[Fiend]

Looking at the team, there are some odd choices there, such as Mienfoo's spread. This looks like it is meant to take on Diglett without hazards up, or something to that extent. I have to guess this is due to how problematic Ground attacks are and how often Abs uses either Drilbur or Diglett on a team.

The choice of Tirtouga over Omanyte is also probably due to the Ground weakness, as Tirtouga handles Diglett better than Omanyte and also has many more set up opportunities, giving it an edge against offense. Scarf Chinchou has a great general matchup against offense too, while adding a switch in for both Chinchou's and Magnemites and a second Fetchling switch in. FletchDig fails to KO Scarf Chinchou when it switches in, granted Dwebbles hazards are still up. These hazards punish switches fairly well, causing it offensive pressure to be overwhelming.

Ponyta maximises pressure by incapacitating something with sleep on the other team while still checking Fighting types and Pawniard. Hypno is extremely unexpected, but can be equally effective. Ponyta is also of course a great answer to Ferroseed, one of the best answers to Tirt. Max speed allows for Gastly to be revenged and Abra to tied in a pinch, both great things for such as team.

In general, this team has a edge on Offensive teams and has many aspects of it that appear to be geared towards beating Abs play style specifically, granted, bulky offense doesn't like playing vs this team either. It's really solid, but has a certain level of skill needed to be used effectively.

 

[Shrug]

This team can be defined more by what Sweep chose to use instead of other things, and why. Fiend and Briyella did well at outlining the structure of the the team - there's no need for me to be redundant in that regard. In summary, it's Dwebble for hazards with a quick vturn core, Pony and Gastly for fast pressure, and Tirt for a sweep.

The first decision - the one i think Sweep made first - was Tirtuoga over Omanyte. Besides being more apt with the mascot of Macle's team (congrats btw), Tirt affords two advantages over Oma: bulk and priority, where priority both refers to Tirt's ability to pack AJet as well as its better handling of other mons' prio moves. To start, Tirt with the given set has 1 more HP point and 1 more Def point than standard Oma, which is nice, but not vital. The key bulk increase comes from Solid Rock, Tirt's ability, which reduces the power of Super Effective moves; it turns Mienfoo's Drain Punch into a 3HKO if Tirt doesn't boost, a situation that isn't super likely but does show Tirt's bulk and ability to set up. Additionally, the priority use is helpful, outpacing specific prio moves (sucker from Pawn, for example) after a boost and hitting hard. Both of these edges are not privy to Oma, making Tirt a choice that has different strengths aided by different forms of support.

Sweep's Tirt choice caused subtle changes in the remainder of his build. Dwebble is mostly standard, with one decision made: Knock Off over Counter. While Knock may be standard (idk im not big on Dwebble), Counter has found a lot of usage in thumping Foos, Pawns, etc going for Knock Offs. However, by nature of being a Rock-type, Dwebble draws a lot of the same mons Tirt would, and can knock them off to foster a Tirt sweep.

Chinchou is Scarfed for a reason - it provides a quick threat as well as being guaranteed a delayed (as in, after any potential double) switch vs. mons it likes. Additionally, Scarf provides added protection against Diglett as Fiend said, especially against Abs who likes crisp doubles to trappers. The choices on the set break down to HP Grass, brought to bonk other Chous and random grounds, and Heal Bell, used to recover from spread Pony burns or what have you. As an aside, FREE HEALING WISH CHOU that'd be dope.

The one Pony choice made - Hypno over Wisp - makes a lot of sense here. Pony, with its weak-ish coverage, is the mon most likely to stop momentum by having a full stop come in, which can be deadly for this team. Hypnosis incapacitates a mon for several turns; on a team with pressure such as this one, that's as good as dead. Wisp, in contrast, isnt that important on a team that doesnt want to take that many hits anyway.

Mienfoo is running uncommon Evs, with both Attack and Speed maxed. this indicates a disinclination to soaking hits also seen in the rest of the team. Taunt prevents disruptors from doing too much, as well as stopping opposing Dwebs from laying too many hazards. My one question: why Drain over HJK? Regen seems to provide enough recovery as is.

Overall a very good team with a proven framework with specific tweaks to suit a defined purpose.

 

[Sweep]

All three posts were good and basically hit on what I was thinking when making this team. I'll just address a couple of things.

I chose Tirtouga over Omanyte mainly for its access to priority; Abra would be terrible to deal with late game without a single Pokemon with a priority move. The extra bulk is helpful for tanking a Drilbur EQ at 100% health, too, as well as granting it more set-up opportunities (Berry Juice is meh with no hazard remover). I also chose Hypnosis over Will-O-Wisp for the reasons Bri and Shrug mentioned: it has two chances to cripple obvious Chinchou switches while preventing Ponyta from killing momentum vs. more defensively-oriented teams. I would never ladder with Hypnosis as it's too inconsistent, but vs. a player like Absdaddy I felt the risk was definitely worth it and could carry a high reward.

Regarding the Ground weakness, I had a Berry Juice Archen on this team over Gastly at first, but decided to opt for an emergency spinblocker / wallbreaker to help break stall, since with Scarf Chou and Sturdy Rock Tirtouga I felt I had a good match-up vs most offense and balance builds (as Fiend Hound pointed out), but without a dedicated wallbreaker to break down walls and provide a hard switch to Spritzee, I was a bit weak to stall. It could also emergency-switch into Drilbur to sacrifice itself if I REALLY wanted to keep hazards up (though without at least SR and one layer of Spikes it isn't worth it). This team is 6-0'd by Scarf Drilbur but that's a really uncommon set that I've never seen Absdaddy use, so I wasn't worried about it. This team definitely hates Drilbur though! Phantump spinblocks but it's massive Defog-bait, so unfortunately it cannot fit on a team like this :(.

Also shout-out to Artemisa for getting me to fix the item on the dreaded Focus Sash Dwebble.

 

[Camden]

Amaura will be taking over this project. Expect the new thread later today.