(NU) One-Two Punch!

[Elegy96]

Hello fellow NU'ers!
I've been using this team for a while and it seems to be consistently good. Sure, it's let me down a few times but no team is perfect (and neither is my play, but that's another story).

It's a fairly balanced team, with more of an incline to offense. It has no set-up sweepers: but the idea is to maintain offensive pressure, softening walls with Emboar and Kangaskhan, so that Zebstrika and Kadabra can clean up easily late-game. Musharna acts as the tank he is, and to spread paralysis, whereas Regirock counters the birds of the tier and gets Stealth Rocks up with ease, as well as being a full stop to Cincinno.

The Players



A Closer Examination


Snowball (Emboar) @ Choice Band
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Superpower
- Head Smash
- Wild Charge

Snowball the Emboar got kicked out of the farm, so now he passes his time burning villages to the ground with his immense strongth. Choice Band only adds to this, and makes him become one of the best wallbreakers in the tier. NOTHING likes being on the receiving end of a Flare Blitz (fuck you Alomomola). Base 120 Power STAB? Yes please. Superpower is in the same boat, although I dislike using it due to it's Atk/Def drop, which quite frankly, stinks.
I rarely use my coverage moves. Head Smash is almost exclusively for Braviary, although is helps against stuff like Torkoal too. Shame about the accuracy. Wild Charge is my best bet at damaging Alomomola on the switch, although it's handy against waters in general.
Choice Band works well with his decent bulk to break stuff in half. It softens up walls for my weaker pokemon to deal with later in the game.



Leopold (Zebstrika) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Lightningrod
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Q: What is giant Leopold, the Zebstrika staring at?
A: His next target.
Scarf Zebstrika outspeeds pretty much everything in the tier, which is cool. I sometimes lead with him, unless the opponent has a Golem. Volt Switch is my move of choice 80% of the time, to do some damage and GTFO. Thunderbolt is more useful late game: he's got plenty of kills under his belt from taking out weakened enemies. His electric STAB also helps kill Alomomola, so that Emboar and Kangaskhan have a much, MUCH easier time. Overheat is for bulky grass types such as Amoonguss and Tanglea, whereas Hidden Power Grass takes out the annoying rock and ground types that Zeb hates so, especially Golem (when Sturdy is inactive, of course).



Ganga (Kangaskhan) (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Scrappy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Double-Edge
- Drain Punch
- Sucker Punch

Ganga the Kanga has just woken up and is pretty pissed off. He desperately wanted to sleep in, but had to go to work, so he decides to Fake Out everyone he meets as soon as possible (eg the first turn of battle). This provides momentum and can screw up sweepers. Double-Edge is chosen over Return for POWER. The recoil is annoying, however, so Drain Punch alleviates this slightly. Sucker Punch gets little use but is a useful as backup priority from the second turn of battle onwards. It helps to revenge Zangoose, anyway.



Sierra (Musharna) @ Leftovers
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 240 HP / 16 SDef / 252 Def
Bold Nature
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Baton Pass
- Thunder Wave

Sierra the Musharna has a dream. A dream that one day, Skuntank and Absol will be no more (or driven close to extinction by Emboar and Regirock). A dream where she can spam her powerful Psychics without fear of immunities or a powerful Dark attack to the face. While this may be only a dream, Baton Pass helps her escape a sticky end, and help scout out the enemy team, providing momentum. Thunder Wave is a wonderful move and can help Emboar outspeed threats late-game. Shadow Ball is a generic coverage move, which I am considering replacing with Hidden Power Fighting/Ground to hit annoying Steels, such as Probopass.



Vieuxtemps (Kadabra) @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Substitute

Henri Vieuxtemps' Elegy for Viola and Piano is considered a masterpiece of romantic music. Vieuxtemps the Kadabra's Elegy is to be played for his numerous opponents who fall underneath his crushing, underrated power. Base 120 Sp.Atk and Base 105 Speed is nothing to be scoffed at, especially for an NFE. I usually Substitute immediately when he is in play, to scout for Dark types and to provide an immunity for Sleep or Paralysis, which Kadabra despises. From there, I can go to town with excellent coverage and excellent power.



Hashtag (Regirock) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Drain Punch

Regirock is as good as hiding (seriously, it took me a week to find him) as he is as a defensive pivot. He can laugh off many powerful attacks from NU's sweepers, and retaliate with a powerful Stone Edge, taking out any and all Bird Pokemon. Earthquake kills Skuntank and Drain Punch kills Absol, to make Musharna and Kadabra's lives easier. Stealth Rock is almost mandatory on any team and Regirock is a great provider of it.


-----

Originally Posted by Fat Changes Made

None

I'm quite happy with this team and would like it to be evaluated by some more skillful players. Thanks a lot for taking the team to read and evaluate it, heartfelt apologies for the giant pictures (Zebstrika, I'm looking right back at you), and have a wonderful day!

Last Look!


Signing off,
Carpet Man
x

[typon77]

This is a really cool team. One change you could try is using LO/CB Cincinno > Kadabra. Kadabra doesn't really do much for your team, synergy wise, while Cincinno has higher speed, more power, and U-turn, which you could use to more safely get one of your other choice users. You also might want to ditch Fake Out and Life Orb on Kangaskhan and use CB with Double Edge/Sucker Punch/Earthquake/Ice Punch.

[EonADS]

Interesting team. I like the concept of providing Paralysis support with Musharna, most people will immediately assume Calm Mind and most CM Mushy counters dislike T-Wave greatly.

On Emboar, you'll really want a spread of 80 Hp / 252 Atk / 176 Spe Adamant, or 72 Hp / 252 Atk / 184 Spe Adamant. Your current spread gets outrun by several common threats (namely SubBU Braviary, most common Golurk, neutral Natured Exeggutor, and Eelektross). The first spread outruns Modest Exeggutor, while the latter outruns SubBU Braviary. And before you say Regirock can handle SubBU Brav, SubBU Brav was built specifically to use Regirock as setup bait in the first place.

Your team really hates both SD and Mixed Samurott. Hell, even Special LO is a problem. If SD Samurott gets to +2, it can 2HKO your entire team between Waterfall, Aqua Jet, and Megahorn. That means you have no effective switch-ins to SD Samurott, and you'll likely lose if you encounter them. Yes, you can revenge it with Zebstrika, but frankly...

Max Atk Jolly Life Orb Samurott's +2 Aqua Jet vs. 0/0 Zebstrika = 71.1% - 83.8%

...you can't rely on that if Zebstrika has taken more than 20% damage. You really need a hardcore counter to it. Amoonguss is likely your best bet. I'd place it over Musharna, personally; as nice as Mushy is, it often ends up becoming a liability and Kadabra provides a stronger offensive presence on a team like this. Amoonguss is a good Pokemon for most teams, and it can even provide Paralysis support the way you liked. And as for escaping sticky situations, I think you'll find Regenerator's recovery to be more beneficial to you. You might also want a Ground-type resist seeing as you have three Pokemon weak to Ground; in that case, Tangela is acceptable over Amoonguss, though it isn't nearly as good at countering Samurott.

Consider Scarf Rotom-S over Zebstrika; you need the Ground immunity more than the Electric one, and Rotom-S has more power and more bulk for you to use, even with a Timid nature. True, you can no longer outspeed Ludicolo in the rain, but Zebstrika can't really beat it anyway, and Timid Scarf Rotom-S is still capable of outspeeding Shell Smash Gorebyss, one of the higher-end targets for a Scarfer in NU. Rotom-F is also a possibility, but you'll probably dislike the weaknesses its Ice-typing brings to the team, so I won't push that as a suggestion.

That's really all I can suggest without changing your entire team, so...

Summary of Changes

---

Emboar's Spread -> 80 Hp / 252 Atk / 176 Spe or 72/252/184 Adamant
Musharna -> Amoonguss or Tangela
Suggested Zebstrika -> Timid Scarf Rotom-S

[WhiteDMist]

To be honest, EonADS already gave a you a great rate. I have to agree with him on almost everything he's recommended. For the record, I'd say Amoonguss and 184 Spe Emboar are the best options for your team.

Regirock could also use Rock Slide instead of Stone Edge. EonADS is right, SubBU Braviary is a threat to your team since at +3, it can even KO Rotom-S after SR damage. Stone Edge is ridiculously easy to stall out, and Rock Slide has enough PP to continually break the Sub. It's not the best answer, but at least you have a slightly better chance of forcing it to Roost (and T-waving it at that moment). Being able to outlast SubRoost Articuno is also a nice plus.

You have a slight weakness to opposing Psychic types, but Kadabra (and to a lesser extent, Rotom-S) is a decent check to them). Dark, Ice, and Rock types are also somewhat problematic, especially the likes of Absol, SS Carracosta, and Articuno. Regirock can usually tank a single hit at most, or gets stalled out if it has Stone Edge. Amoonguss is destroyed by Articuno, while it gets OHKO after residual damage from a +2 Stone Edge.

Changes:

EonADS changes
Regirock: Rock Slide>Stone Edge