The End of an Era (BW 1 Team)

[Mithril]

Through most of Black and White 1 I didn't really keep track of the metagame or really play all that much, but with the approach of Wcop, I decided it was time to try to get back into things. This was the team that got me to actually enjoy Black and White and was by far my favorite team that I used throughout the tiers existence. Credit goes to yee for helping with the teambuilding here.

Team Overview


Team Building Process

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When I began with the team, I wan't to choose a slightly less prevalent threat to build around, and Hydreigon just seemed like the perfect choice. The major issues that Hydreigon have are with Blissey/Chansey, which led to...

Breloom seemed like a very good way to put pressure on both Blissey and Chansey, while also giving Hydreigon some free turns to switch in with spore. Tyranitar was also added at this point with Sand's ability to hinder them, as well as a way to deal with Rain and Sun up front.

After that we were looking at SR users that also fit with the offensive nature of the team thusfar, and decided to go with a Mew. Along with rocks, Mew also provided a solid check to the fighting types that would give the team trouble thusfar. At this point, we realized that the team was fairly slow, while also lacking a steel type. To counteract both these problems, we went with double priority Lucario, which has quickly become one of my favorite sets.

While Lucario helped with the team's speed issue through priority, it still seemed slow, while also lacking a revenge killer. Eventually, we decided upon Sash Alakazam, who helped both of these problems, giving us the final team lineup.

However, after some playtesting it was clear the Mew felt fairly useless in its current state. So we decided to switch Ttar to a much more bulky set with SR and make Mew a Nasty Plot set. Finally, we eventually gave Breloom a bulkier set in order to deal with the teams issues with thinks like Scarf Rachi and U-Turn spam.

Hydreigon (F) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast

Hydreigon is the set that the entire team was built around. Its major purpose is just to blow holes through the opposing team early in the game, helping to set up either Lucario, Mew, or Alakazam to come in at the end and clean up. I opted for an Expert Belt set for two reasons. The first is just general preference in having the ability to change moves. However, it was also very useful due to the prevalence of both Scarf and Specs Hydreigon. It was not uncommon to pick up a free kill by simply bluffing a choice item throughout the game. The moveset itself is fairly standard, and don't particularly see a reason to change it without good reason. Finally, I went with Modest due to Hydreigon's troll base speed. It can't really outrun anything I care about with Timid, and the boost in power is very nice.


Breloom (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 236 HP / 56 Atk / 216 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Spore
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Seed Bomb

Breloom's initial use to this team came soley from its ability to put pressure on both Blissey and Chansey, the two major issues for Hydreigon. However, as the team progressed it started to become apparent that it was a key member to the team. With the popularity of both Sand and Rain, Breloom become a lead of choice for me in most games due to its advantageous matchup with both Politoed and Tyranitar. With Spore and just the raw power of the Sub Punch set, Breloom fairly regularly picked up multiple kills for the team. It was also the teams main switch in to Rotom-W, as well as Volt-Turn in general. While initially we ran a more offensive spread, we switched to this one in order to better be able to deal with U-turn spam, Scarf Rachi, and Terrakion, as this set has an 87% chance to live a Jolly CB Close Combat. Finally, Breloom was also my main way of dealing with stall, as it is notorious for giving stall fits. In fact, Breloom is able to beat Celebi, widely considered its best counter, 1 on 1 if it gets hit on the switch with Spore and has decent luck on sleep turns.


Tyranitar (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 192 SDef
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast

Tyranitar's has two main purposes for this team. The first is simply to set up Stealth Rock, and the second is to provide a weather that isn't Rain or Sun. Without Sand, both weathers are able to wreck havoc with their ability to spam powered up attacks utilizing the weather boosts. On top of that, Tyranitar serves as the teams only real counter to Volcarona, both through SR and the ability to swich in on a Quiver Dance and take a hit. It is also the main switch in to Lati@s and Tornadus, who otherwise give the team problems. While initially a CB set was used here, it became apparent that a more defensive set needed to help give the team a little bit more bulk. The set is fairly standard, with Fire Blast to ensure that Skarm, Forretress, and Ferrothorn are not tempted to set up on it. Finally, the set has a 15 speed iv to ensure that it is able to undercut Politoed and start the game with sand if both lead.


Mew @ Leftovers
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Aura Sphere
- Fire Blast

While the majority of Mew's that you see in this metagame are more defensive, this sets seeks to take advantage of that. With how popular Taunt WoW Mew was, people very rarely expected Nasty Plot Mew to show up. Mew serves as one of the possible late game cleaners for this team, especially once Lati@s has been taken care of by Tyranitar. Aside from them, the only real way to beat this set is by simply outspeeding it, but Mew is bulky enough that there are very few things that can take it out in one hit, which allows it to put a large dent in the opposing team before it goes down. Aside from providing another setup sweeper, Mew is also important for its ability to check most Terrakion, as long as I don't switch into X-Scissor. It also serves as a general catch all if I don't feel that I have a good switch, as it generally at least breaks even with most threats. While initially this was a bulky SR Mew, the team immediately improved after the switch to Nasty Plot, and I haven't looked back since.


Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Bullet Punch

While this team was initially built around Hydreigon, it was Lucario that truly shined for the team. Initially, it was chosen for it's ability to take a single outrage, along with the very useful priority to a team that was plagued by a noticeable lack of speed. However, as the team progressed Lucario quickly became the end game strategy in the vast majority of cases. If it is able to get up a single Swords Dance, it easily dispatches offensive teams that have been worn down throughout the battle with the combo of Extremespeed and Bullet Punch. On the other hands, it also does massive damage to stall as long as I was able to take out Jellicent and Celebi before attempting a set up, which was not all that difficult to do. Lucario also serves as one of the two revenge killers for the team through its double priority. While Crunch and Ice Punch were both considered over Bullet Punch, they lost out in the end because of the ability to continue sweeps in the face of Terrakion, Gengar, and Scarftar. All in all, this became my favorite set of the generation as people continually seemed under-prepared for such a dangerous threat.


Alakazam (F) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Fire]

At this point, the team still felt kinda slow, as well as needing a solid revenge killer to deal with things that start setting up on the team. Alakazam just seemed to fit both of those needs. With Focus Sash it is basically a free pass for me to deal with the vast majority of set up sweepers, especially when combined with the priority from Lucario and the passive damage from sand being up. Also, Alakazam fit perfectly as a means of getting Lucario that late game set up to sweep, as it often forced opposing pokemon to lock themselves into a move ill fit to deal with Lucario, allowing the late game sweep. Alakazam also just serves as an all around damage dealer, as it provides good coverage and a decent damage output, although I was slightly disappointed by that.


So that's the team. Only major issue I have found is that I basically lose to Rain Stall with Duggy, as I can't get both SR and my weather up for the entire game. Any suggestions there would be nice. I may do a threat list depending on how much time I have this week, but don't expect one.

Images from serebii.net.

[PDC]

Very surprising that this team hasn't gotten any rates yet, in fact that's very disappointing considering how solid this team is.

As you already addressed this team has serious problems with Rain + Dugtrio, especially if they're carrying Tornadus. If Alakazam's sash is broken or Tornadus - T has high enough HP to take an Extreme Speed, then it is basically game over if they manage to eliminate Tyranitar. Volcarona can also be a problem if it gets the chance to set up. For a bit of a safety net against both, I can suggest running Chople Berry and Rock Slide over Stone Edge on Tyranitar. Rock Slide is more accurate than Stone Edge and still OHKOs even the bulkier of Volcarona, while dealing a minimum of 96% to Tornadus - T ( who then dies to SandStorm ).

If you are going to use this team for BW2, then I suggest running Superpower over Focus Blast on Hydreigon. This is a more accurate option, which also can defeat Blissey and Chansey. Changing to a Rash nature would be good here. I'd also suggest Hidden Power Ice on Alakazam over Hidden Power Fire to hit revenge Dragons, but Hidden Power is a great option for Scizor. Finally, you could try a Rotom-W on the team to help handle Rain in case Tyranitar get's eliminated over the likes of Alakazam, but this does mean you lose some speed in the situation you don't run Choice Scarf.

tldr ;

Rock Slide over Stone Edge
Chople Berry on TTar as an option ( I would say Shuca Berry for Duggy but reversal is gay )
Rash with superpower over modest and focus blast
option of testing rotom-w



Good luck and congrats on the win in world cup! luvdisc'd

[Motagua]

Totally agreed with PDC considering we are talking about a WC Champion team. This team is surprisingly well balanced and it amazingly gets through most dominant threats in OU. I agree with PDC´s suggestion of using Rock Slide over Stone Edge but I would use a Shed Shell instead of a Chople Berry or Leftovers. With a Shed Shell, Tyranitar can escape Dugtrio´s Arena Trap and troll continously opposing Sun and Rain teams who carry him. Hope this helps and good luck :).

[Mithril]

Thanks for the rates guys.

For Tyranitar, Shed Shell is definitely a very interesting option that seems like it has a lot of potential. The lack of leftovers would prove to be annoying in some circumstances, Latios for instance, but I think the ability to not fear Dugtrio is probably worth it. I will definitely test this out. As for Rock Slide, I'll need to take a look at its damage, as I never had a ton of issues missing Stone Edge, especially considering it still has a chance to miss.

If I do end up running this in BW2, Superpower will definitely go on Hydreigon, and I will look into testing Rotom-W out as well.

Any other thoughts?

[Morpheus]

Nice offensive team, i like the fact that is not "perfect" ( it's good but you can ajust something and keep a nice team ), here are some suggestions that you can try ( not all of them at the same time ) :

U-turn somewhere on Hydreigon :
=> U-turn is kinda useful to keep the momentum and the pressure on your side, i don't really know which move you can change to put U-turn, Dark pulse sounds like the less effective one.

Pursuit on Tyranitar:
Mew / Hydreigon / Breloom are kinda easily RK'd by Lati@s, and without pursuit, Tyranitar is not sure to deal with them, SpecsTios can land a huge DM on ttar, switching and 2HKO it with surf, it can be useful to do some more damage on a switching blissey ( U-turn on Hydreigon does helps with that too )

( Shedshell is a nice item too )

Reuniclus on Mew:
Mew is not that important on your team and Reuniclus can accomplish the same job of stallbreaking ( he does a better job imo ), Zor is lured by Zam / Hydreigon, Ttar is handled by Luke and loom. I don't see the point of using the TR one in your team, so the Calm mind / Recover / Focus blast / Psychic or shock sounds nice. Since he can handle Terrakion pretty well you don't need that much investissement in Def for Loom anymore

Bye and congratulations !

[Stone RG]

As you said, you have a problem with Rain, now one of the best threat for this teamstyle is Bulk Up Breelom, considering it set up on half the pokes usually they run (and in fact it can Dugtrio becomes much easier to deal with), you probably know the spread but id still tell you: 236 HP/212 SpDef/60Spd.

Now, i agree with Motagua and PDC in Shed Shell since getting sand up is crucial for your team against rain, also i suggest changing the EV spread to 252 HP/136 Spd/64 SpDef/56 Att, and Pursuit over Crunch (or Stone Edge depending on what you need more), this lets you outrun almost every scizor in the metagame and toast it with Fire Blast (obviously give the Speed IVs back to TTar), i reccomend pursuit because your team doesnt have exactly the best match up against the lati twins, so getting them out of the play quickly should be the best to do.

Hope i helped :]