Little Cup is extremely fun to play...

Well I have been playing Little Cup and its really fun. I had been researching and looking at all the guides on it until I finally felt comfortable making a team and hitting the waters of Dougs Server, where Little Cup is very popular. This metagame was very different from standard play, as it was all fast-paced. I am really glad to have built a team that works on my first try, going undefeated with it. I assuming they were decent players since one was a moderator and others were said to be good at LC. (Also, confession time; It was finally an excuse to use Murkrow and Elekid ;D)

The Team:



Rules:

• Level 5 only
• Must be legal little cup pokemon
• Sleep clause
• Freeze clause
• Evasion clause
• OHKO clause
• Strict damage clause

Pay attention to the first two, if you plan on rating the team.


Bronzor @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP/196 Def/76 SDef
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)

• Rain Dance
• Gyro Ball
• Stealth Rock
• Reflect / Light Screen / Earthquake

Bronzor is like that Pokemon that works just as well in UU as he would in OU. Now obviously in OU you would use Bronzong but whatever. Anyway this team is 1/2 Rain Dance team, although it might be a little hard to tell. However Bronzor does hold Rain Dance to allow me to bring in Omanyte to easily sweep. The fact that Bronzor and Omanyte combo each other perfectly is perfectly welcome. Bronzor resists Grass and is immune to Ground. On the other side, Omanyte resists Fire that might come charging at Bronzor, even after Rain Dance. Luckily, Bronzor is EV trained to be able to survive most fire attacks allowing me to Rain Dance. If I don't feel comfortable using Rain Dance first turn, it is most likely because they have a pokemon that can sleep me. I can't really say anything is more annoying then a Gastly trying to sleep you right off the bat so I have Lum Berry to wake up, and then prepare to use Gyro Ball to damage him. This isn't always sucessful though. However what Gyro Ball does is successfully take out Taillow. Now I know I didn't get to this earlier but I would like to now. Electric attacks are a pain, Voltorb leads will 2hko bronzor with Thunderbolt which is so annoying. However the rest of the team helps with this as Diglett can easily come in and trap kill, as well as Elekid coming in to lay the smackdown on him. Diglett is also my safest bet for Elekid, simply switching in on a electric move. If it is scarfed then I win because he is stuck into thunderpunch/thunderbolt. If using a different item I outspeed and ohko. Again, all my pokemon do something different that helps the team and Bronzor is no different. Without him, I don't think I could have any success in LC. The last slot can be Earthquake, Light Screen, or Reflect but I don't know what yet. I am thinking Earthquake for Ponyta leads. Now I know I rant a lot on this pokemon but I want to say one more thing: Lum Berry helps with so many leads such as Meowth and Ponyta so please don't knock it. I find it extremely helpful.

Omanyte (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 36 HP/236 Spd/236 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

• Surf / Hydro Pump
• Ice Beam
• Hidden Power Grass
• AncientPower / Spikes

Omanyte has just swept so many times in Little Cup that I find it somewhat surprising. The only decent counter I have seen has been Tentacool and to an extent Psyduck, although Psyduck didn't do too much back. The fact that as of now Omanyte pretty much outspeeds anything in LC not holding a Choice Scarf and is extremely fast to begin with makes me want to use him. Here is an example of his power: Omanyte in the Rain does around 77% to Munchlax with Surf. One of, if not the best special wall in LC is 2hkoed, even if he was to hold an Oran Berry. If that isn't power, then I don't know what is. Ice Beam will easily ohko dratini, something I'm seeing on a lot of teams. It also can fairly easily kill any grass pokemon and flying pokemon I see in one shot (Murkrow, Taillow, and ... Treecko). Hidden Power Grass is the last attack and simply kills Chinchou and Staryu. Now right now I have Spikes in the last slot although I rarely, if ever, use it. I am really wanting to try out AncientPower for Tentacool although I still think it won't do too much. However the boost if it did occur would pretty much mean good game. I was also considering Rain Dance, if for some reason Bronzor fails. However only 3 Pokemon benfit from Rain on this team (Well 4 if you count Dugtrio, who will survive a Houndour Fire Blast). Definitely need help there. A lot a people are surprised when Omanyte starts sweeping, and it is really cool.


Elekid (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Static
EVs: 196 Atk/236 Spd/76 SAtk
Mild nature (+SAtk, -Def)

• Thunder
• Ice Punch
• Cross Chop
• Psychic

Mixed Elekid is a very potent, but very dangerous surprise. With good attack and special attack stats, as well as a huge speed count, is a major threat that must be accounted for. Sadly he is not. Luckily, he does sweep because of that. Thunder is just for the Rain Dance if he happens to come in while it still is raining. It also provides some extra kills. Cross Chop is simply amazing as it defeats a wide variety of pokemon ranging from Shieldon to Houndour to Buneary. This set hits 12 different types super effective. No other Pokemon can do something this impressive. Psychic deals with Croagunk and other Posion types that Abra might miss. Finally Ice Punch is also there to deal with Dratini. So simple, ... yet so effective.


Diglett (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 196 Atk/76 Def/236 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

• Earthquake
• Sucker Punch
• Aerial Ace
• Rock Slide

Choice Scarf Diglett has joined the team and I am glad to have him on board. Easily revenge killing Rhyhorns and other Scarfers he is a cool pokemon to have on this team. Revenge Kill is what he does. Its really hard to say anything else about him


Murkrow (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 36 HP/236 Atk/236 Spd
Hasty nature (+Spd, -Def)

• Sucker Punch
• Drill Peck
• Hidden Power Fighting
• Pursuit

Another cool revenge killer. Easily comes in on sleep moves and either sucker punches or pursuits. Drill Peck will stop anything such as Machop and Croagunk. Coming in on a Abra's Choiced Psychic is very cool as I easily Pursuit for a ohko. Hasty is there for speed. Something really needed on this team. Obviously Hidden Power Fighting is for Lavitar, although I really think I might try out other hidden powers with how well I cover rock, steel, and dark now. BandMurkrow is just like his big daddy Honchkrow and just as deadly.


NEW POKEMON


Gastly (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 76 HP/196 Spd/236 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

• Sludge Bomb
• Hidden Power Fighting
• Shadow Ball
• Energy Ball

Recently Replaced Abra on the team. Helps give immunities that I needed bad. He and Abra do pretty much the same thing so he was a welcome additon to the team.

Well, the really good LC players probably know a ton more than me and hopefully they don't think it is a bad team for a guy who just started playing Little Cup today. Major thanks to the On-Site LC Thread which I really suggest people to check out. Also major thanks to the LC thread on Stark Mountain, where I can hopefully become a part of.

For those of you who don't even think about playing LC, I really suggest you do. It is really fun and the fast offensive metagame is a nice change of pace from the sometimes boring OU play.

As always thanks for reading and rate away.

Im gonna keep my current record with this team here. I will update it:

LC win / loss
Games Played: 34
Wins: 28
Losses: 6
Pecentage of Games won: 82%

Click to expand...

I normally don't rate teams (don't have the time for it really), but when I saw an LC team I just had to take a look. I've been playing LC for a few weeks now, and it's great to see another player coming into it. It's nice to take a break from standard sometimes (I know I needed it after laddering so much).

Anyway, really solid team. Very few weaknesses and you cover your bases very nicely. There is only 1 minor problem I can see though. If Misdreavus gets behind it's substitute you could have a problem. Furthermore Misdreavus can then Will-O-Wisp the switch in like Diglett or Murkrow trying to revenge kill it via Sucker Punch. As most people will tell you that play LC, Misdreavus can be tough to counter once it gets it Substitute up. To be honest, I can't think of some simple solution to this. I think you can work around it but I can just see it being a bit threatening.

Also, for for Omanyte I'd go with Spikes> Ancient Power. Spikes can really prove to be invaluable in LC. With everything already being hit pretty hard on this offensive team a layer or two of Spikes may turn 2HKO/3HKO's into OHKOs'/2HKO's. I almost never run an LC team without some form of residual damage because I think it helps immensely.

Again, solid team, and I don't see any really big threats to it.

BTW, I run Lum+Hypnosis Bronzor in LC also so there will be no knocking from me. I run a lot of weather teams in LC actually so Bronzor is a great lead for me.

Misdreavus is definitely a huge pain, and I was looking at her a lot when I made the team. The standard set of Sub / WoW / Shadow Ball / Calm Mind really hurts, however Elekid and Omanyte can at least break subs. Honchkrow hates burn but at least she won't do anything else. I am kind of hoping pursuit breaks the sub at the point.

Sometimes I have to hope its CM/Sub/Thunderbolt or HP Fight/Shadow Ball. I can at least take that on a bit better.

With Stealth Rock and Spikes, I suppose that it would really help because of all the revenge killers and secondary damage making them weak enough to kill.

Thanks for the kind comments and advice =D

Hypnosis is illegal on Bronzor, Reflect or Light Screen can help your team out over it. Otherwise pretty solid.

Ah alright. I will replace hypnosis with a screen or possibly earthquake.

If you don't get rain up this team has some speed issues so faster setup sweepers could give you problems, LO Murkrow is also hard for this team to beat (I played someone who had a copy of this team).

Generally this looks solid, also I have added this excellent example of a LC RMT to the OP of LC MD.

Personally, I would get rid of spikes on Omanyte since you only have 5 turns in the rain ( a reason to consider damp rock on Bronzor) and you won't get free turns to spike up and SR does a better job of disrupting sashers. I'd replace it with Hydro Pump for the OHKO on Munchlax in rain or Rain Dance since your team's strategy can be disrupted by the number of taunting Misdreavus/Murkrow leads that stop Bronzor getting the rain in.

If rock polish Rhyhorn is a massive threat to you, I'd just scarf diglett and go with adamant since it still outspeeds a rock polished jolly rhyhorn and you can sacrifice something for the guaranteed kill on it.

There is also potential for fighting types to cause you some pain, a random scarfmankey OHKO/2HKOs your whole team with close combat without any reliable fighting resist. I'd recommend trying Gastly with shadow ball/sludge bomb/energy ball/ hp fighting @ scarf to replace abra as it is the most expendible pokemon on your team atm and you still keep a scarfer which is more or less a neccesity in LC.

Another option would be to use Gligar somewhere, which cures your fighting weak as long as you stay away from ice punches and also helps with rock polish rhyhorn, I'm not sure what you would take out though.

If Misdreavus still worries you, making Murkrow your starter could help since most misdreavus are leads, so a quick pursuit could help you immensely.