The Monotype Challenge: Psychic

[shiranai]

The Monotype Challenge: Psychic

Greetings people from Smogon, now I'm back to take a challenge I always do to myself after I get used to a generation metagame: the monotype teams. And the first one is the Psychic team. Psychics are one of the cooler pokemon around since RBY, and they can do a quite fine job in mono teams too, despite having problems with some common threats like Volcarona, Tyranitar or even others psychics. No more talk and let's go to the show.
Team building proccess

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Metagross is vital in this team. Most psychics are special oriented, but Metagross go exactly to the other extreme of this, being physical oriented and even having the great Stell type.

The very first psychic pokemon ever made, and still being a great pokemon since them. Sometimes I think Starmie being a better option, but I simply can't make a psychic team without Alakazam.

The male Eon sibling. Good typing, monstruous SAtk and a decent movepool made my mind in using this blue dragon.

The blade pokemon was my choice as a special wall instead of Latias because this team already packs a lot of common weakness and special attackers. Even not being perfect, he can do a nice job.

Victini can really mean victory. Sometimes I think it really is underrated, and having both Fusion Bolt and V-Create can really hurt opposing teams.

Last, but not least important, Reuniclus. This greeny guy can become a real monster after some setups, being able to become both defensive and offensive.

Gallade was good, but without 2 Bulk Ups I couldn't kill a bulky ghost, while he took some damage with Seismic Toss/Night Shade or Shadow Ball, even with his high SDef. Also, being somewhat slow and not strong enough to sweep without some setup I swaped him for a Medicham, strong (and fast) enough to revenge kill most problems of this team.

Metagross was working more like a physical wall, a work it wasn't doing very well. So, I decided to test the ultimate revenge killer: Wobbuffet. And this little blue guy is simply awesome after you get used to him.

The Team Analysis


Victini @ Choice Band
Trait: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Fusion Bolt
- Zen Headbutt
- V-create
- Brick Break
Previously I was running the classic Choice Scarf Victini, but with the addition of Medicham it got kinda pointless, so I put a Choice Band in it. Even with modest 299 Atk, with CBand and STAB (and sometimes even sun) V-Create gets insanely strong. I used to run U-Turn here too, but without CScarf and sharing the same weakness with most of their teamates wasn't doing really well, so I put Zen Headbutt, that thanks to its STAB it can hit decently. The other moves is mainly to type coverage, since Heatran and Starmie love to switch against Victini.



Alakazam (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute
He may not be the best, but at least is the coolest. The first psychic pokemon ever is a real monster with ridiculous high Spd and SAtk, being deadly even without a Choice item. Substitute is totally needed here because Alakazam get almost useless paralyzed, and many times gives me a free turn, also, thanks to his great speed, it can also be used to scout the opponent moves. I used to run Energy Ball here, but every pesky pokemon EB hit hard (for this team it is named Slowbro) Shadow Ball do better, and even hitting other psychics, common switchs against this team.


Latios (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Surf
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Since I'm running Medicham now as my main swepper I need something fast enought to get rid of everything faster tham de yoga fighter, most of the times named Landorus, and Latios is the best option, thanks to his huge SAtk, even without a Choice Specs. I'll stick in with HP Fire since Surf can hit hard most things HP Fight would, unfortunatelly not as strong. But I need type coverage here, so this is how it will be.



Reuniclus (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
A good timed Reuniclus wins game. This greeny one loves to setup against both Blissey and Chansey, and many other special sweppers too, thanks to her incredible bulkyness. Knowing how to use it, and not taking some critical hits in the process, it is really easy to get 3 or more Calm Minds. Psyshock is my main option because, as I stated before, Reuniclus really appreciates to setup in front of the egg pokemon. Again, I don't like Focus Blast here, but knowing how Reuniclus loves to setup in front of Ferrothorn this move seems necessary.


Medicham (M) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Hi Jump Kick
- Psycho Cut
- Ice Punch
- Fire Punch
Medicham is by far my favorite pokemon in the game since the change among physical and special moves. Pure Power bumps his low 219 Atk to astonishing 438, even higner than an Adamant Haxorus. And all this without a Choice Band. Unfortunately his Spd is below average, making necessary a Choice Scarf here. The 4 SDef EVs is only a filler, since the main goal is keeping his HP as an odd number, making able to miss two Hi Jump without taking another hit. Fire Punch is here instead of ThunderPunch because it hits one of my main problems: Scizor. The only time I miss ThunderPunch is against Gyarados, but most of the times Intimidate didn't let it be OHKO though.



Wobbuffet (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 28 HP / 252 Def / 228 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Mirror Coat
- Counter
- Safeguard
- Encore
This thing spent a long time in Uber and for a reson: in the hands of the right person this girl can take down a whole team! And all this thanks to Shadow Tag. The moveset is quite standard since Wobbu doesn't have many other options. Safeguard and Encore is to prevent anything to setup against her, giving free switchs for me. Encore is also a way to be sure Counter or Mirror Coat will hit.

Previous Members

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Metagross @ Air Balloon
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 52 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Hammer Arm
The standard Agilligross. Most of the times I make him the lead since after a single Agility it can run like a truck in the opposing team. Also, being Stell type, having astonishing Def and decent SDef makes Metagross kinda bulky for a swepper. Meteor Mash is the main move thanks to the possible attack raise, and both EQ and Hammer Arm are for great coverage, something quite desireable in a mono team. And lastly, Air Ballon also plays a psycological game with the opponent, forcing them to waste a weaker attack to make Metagross vulnerable to ground moves again, giving time to set Agility at least once, and procede to sweep with Meteor Mash later.
Even by having great physical stats it was easily countered by Heatran and Scizor, and I don't need another guy to struggle against Scizor in the team.



Gallade (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Steadfast
EVs: 240 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef / 12 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Shadow Sneak
- Stone Edge
I had two options in this spot: Medicham and Gallade. Even Medicham being more like a beast packed with a CScarf he is really fragile. Gallade, on the other hand, can even become a good wall after 2 Bulk Ups thanks to his ridiculous high SDef, and Shadow Sneak get somewhat scary at the same time. I miss a psychic STAB in him, but Stone Edge is necessary here to counter some flying and bug types and Drain Punch is to compensate the lack of a recovery move, at the same time it is a great STAB move too.
Even taking special hits really well, it couldn't counter bulky ghosts properly sice he needed some setup before, at the same time he was vulnerable to Will-o-Wisp. Also, even having a great SDef, Gengar's Shadow Ball still hit him really hard.

Tyranitar and Scizor will always be a huge issue here, unless Metagross get access to Fire Punch, something that isn't real. Some walls, both physical and special, can also give me some problems, but are easily manageable than the Ttar-Scizor duo.
This team have many other options too, like Deoxys-D, Starmie and Claydol, but the best one I got so far is this one.

[_AlexiS_]

Try tu put, HP fire on Alakazam instead of EnergyBall, with substitute, you can predict the enters of Tytar (And you got Focusblast...) and HP Fire for Scizor...
Could be very uselful, couse, when you kill an enemy Scizor I imagine your Team would work better...Well , the HP Fire could be a little "sourprise" for Scizors ;)

[shiranai]

Originally Posted by Fat _AlexiS_

Try tu put, HP fire on Alakazam instead of EnergyBall, with substitute, you can predict the enters of Tytar (And you got Focusblast...) and HP Fire for Scizor...
Could be very uselful, couse, when you kill an enemy Scizor I imagine your Team would work better...Well , the HP Fire could be a little "sourprise" for Scizors ;)

seems like a good idea, but definitely needs some tests because Energy Ball helps to kill bulky waters like Rotom.

[X5Dragon]

Stab Psychic nets the same 2HKOs as Energy Ball does on bulky waters, HP Fire has more merit in taking down Scizor.

[_AlexiS_]

Originally Posted by Fat X5Dragon

Stab Psychic nets the same 2HKOs as Energy Ball does on bulky waters, HP Fire has more merit in taking down Scizor.

Exactly ^^

[shiranai]

Indeed, most bulky water pokemon are both 2HKO by Psychic or Energy Ball, except for Slowbro, who would survive Psychic, HP Fire and Focus Blast. And keeping in account that this is a mono team, without Energy Ball, Slowbro would get harder to defeat than some Dark peskys, since only Latios would be a counter to it, and Latios hates to get paralyzed. By now, I'll keep the grass move.

[kaki]

For Reuniclus, you can always go HP Fight if you hate low accuracy with a passion (I know I do), but you'll need the CMs (which aren't too hard to get); it actually doesn't work out half bad. I'd opt for an LO Starmie over Alakazam, you could use the coverage.

[shiranai]

Originally Posted by Fat kaki

For Reuniclus, you can always go HP Fight if you hate low accuracy with a passion (I know I do), but you'll need the CMs (which aren't too hard to get); it actually doesn't work out half bad. I'd opt for an LO Starmie over Alakazam, you could use the coverage.

HP fight seems a nice option in Reuni, really, since thanks to CMs many times he ends in a PP war.


About Starmie: I really like it, but Alakazam has almost the same speed, and most of my team isn't hit hard by hazards. Maybe I could swap Gallade or Victini for Starmie, since coverage is something really needed in mono.

[Deputy Red]

I hope it isn't to late to reply to this but HP Fighting isn't a good option because. It still doesn't not equal the power of a none boosted Focus Blast. So what i mean is that you would have to get 3 or more CM's for HP fight to do as much damge as focus blast does without CM's. So in reality if you think about focus blast isn't that bad considering that a that it has the much better chance of KOing t tar's.

[shiranai]

Originally Posted by Fat Deputy Red

I hope it isn't to late to reply to this but HP Fighting isn't a good option because. It still doesn't not equal the power of a none boosted Focus Blast. So what i mean is that you would have to get 3 or more CM's for HP fight to do as much damge as focus blast does without CM's. So in reality if you think about focus blast isn't that bad considering that a that it has the much better chance of KOing t tar's.

No, there still time, so it's ok to reply. and maybe what you said is true, the lack in accuracy is worth the bonus in base power.

[shiranai]

Team updated