Battle Subway Super Doubles Streak:
171
This is a
gravity based doubles team that aims to quickly KO enemies using powerful attacks that are normally not viable in the Subway due to their unreliable accuracy.
Alakazam - Wilton (M) @Focus Sash
Inner Focus
Timid Nature 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 17/x/16/27/2/31
Lvl 50 Stats: 124-49-58-185-91-189
- Gravity
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Protect
Alakazam's main job is to set up gravity, which he does remarkably well. Between Inner Focus, Focus Sash, and its 120 base speed, Alakazam is almost guaranteed to set up gravity on the first turn - I can think of only a couple times in hundreds of battles with this team that 'Zam failed to set up gravity. Psychic for a main STAB attack and FB (no longer Focus Miss!) for coverage that hit hard of off 'Zam's 135 base SpA. Protect is very useful as opponents love to target him due to his paper-thin defenses. I've considered re-breeding one with a 0 IV in HP/Def/SpD and using a Hasty or Naive nature to further encourage the opponent to attack him instead of Starmie.
As a side note, I tried Prankster Sableye as a gravity setter but found that it didn't work as well with this team. I was running a defensive spread with Gravity/Recover/WoW/Snarl. 100% accurate WoW and priority recovery were neat, but ultimately I felt that the added firepower 'Zam offers worked better for this team. Plus the opponent would often target Starmie instead of Sableye, making Starmie go down much more quickly.
Starmie - Aster @Life Orb
Natural Cure
Timid Nature 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 31/x/31/31/31/31
Lvl 50 Stats: 136-80-105-152-105-183
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Blizzard
- Psychic
Starmie is a fantastic Subway Pokemon. Swap out Surf/Thunderbolt/Ice Beam for Hydro Pump/Thunder/Blizzard and it becomes incredibly more destructive. Starmie and 'Zam often 4-0'ed the opponent, sometimes scoring OHKO's on every one of the CPU's Pokemon. I debated dropping the somewhat redundant Psychic for Psyshock (Blissey) or Protect, but being able to KO some fighting and poison types on turn 1 was really helpful. Easily the MVP of the team.
I've also fallen in love with Natural Cure since leading with Starmie - the ability to shrug off status (Paralysis, Sleep, and Freeze, namely) is wonderful.
Scrafty - Scuffles (F) @Sitrus Berry
Moxie
Adamant Nature 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
IVs: 31/31/31/x/31/31
Lvl 50 Stats: 172-156-136-58-135-78
- Fake Out
- Drain Punch
- Crunch
- Protect
Since Starmie and 'Zam are fast and frail, I wanted backups who were on the bulkier side and could handle their weaknesses. Scrafty's access to Fake Out and her resistances to ghost and dark were incredibly useful. Fake Out was my answer for Jolteon/Aerodactyl/Accelgor/scarfers that could outsped and OHKO Starmie/'Zam. Sitrus Berry + Drain Punch give Scrafty decent recovery to compliment her natural bulk. Near perfect coverage in her STABs leaves room for Protect. A little weak initially, but even after a single Moxie boost becomes quite powerful. Also deals well with the Trick Room teams that wreck Starmie and Alakazam since she can hit many of them hard with STAB Crunch and is fairly slow. All of Scrafty's moves have 100% accuracy, so she still functions well if gravity goes down before the battle ends.
Metagross - Metaboss @Choice Band
Clear Body
Adamant Nature 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
IVs: 31/31/31/x/31/31
Lvl 50 Stats: 187-205-150-100-110-91
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch
My second bulky backup, Metagross boasts immediate physical power. I usually just pick Meteor Mash and watch things die. Using a choice user in the back can be risky but Metagross two advantages: (1) no Pokemon is immune to Steel and (2) Meteor Mash can boost its attack, allow it to muscle through bulky resistors. Priority in Bullet Punch to pick off dangerous, weak(ened) foes, Zen Headbutt for secondary STAB, and Ice Punch for coverage. Metagross is very reliable, saving me many times. Also has the bulk to afford to Meteor Miss if gravity goes down.
Cleary Body is another ability I've come to love namely for blocking Intimidate, but also random things such as speed drops from Icy Wind and accuracy drops from Mud Bomb.
First off, this team is a ton of fun to play with. It's great to blast opponents with ridiculously powerful moves, and it's even better when they never miss. The battles are fast-paced and really test the player's knowledge of the subway (need to know how much you can do to opponents, prioritize which one's to take out, etc). Furthermore, the CPU does not recognize gravity's affect, so it's always entertaining to watch opponent's KO their partner (especially when it's something like Zapdos) with Earthquake.
This team certainly has its flaws though. The foremost problem I struggled with was type synergy - 3 of the 4 members of this team are Psychic types. Although they have differing weaknesses due to their secondary types, this leads to a general team weakness to bug, ghost, and dark. Scrafty covers ghost and dark fairly well, but bug was a major problem, especially Escavalier and Scizor. This team really wants a fire type attack to deal with these, but I couldn't find a good Fire Blast/Heat Wave user that also meshed well with the team.
Electric types, Jolteon in particular, were a major issue for this team as well since it lacks an electric resist. The lack of a ground resist was occasionally problematic in the face of powerful Earthquake users, though this was typically offset by the CPU damaging their ally for me. Sucker Punch was a huge pain as well, easily taking out Starmie and 'Zam before they could act. The CPU's questionable use of Sucker Punch also made it much harder to predict.
The removal of accuracy hax works both ways - I can no long hope that my opponent's Hydro Pumps, Stone Edges, etc miss. Though I suppose this isn't really a disadvantage since the Subway has the annoying tendency to never miss with these moves anyway.
Picture for proof:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/831/img0169pd.jpg/