The Runner-Up Team of ST5

Introduction: As most (if not all) of you know, I made it to the ST5 finals and managed to lose to august in an extremely close game. Now that the results of the final battle are posted, I feel the need to post the team that has brought me so much success, not just in ST5, but in the last 6 months of my OU Pokemon "career". This has really been a great team for me and I love using it, now I have the chance to share it with all of you. So without further ado, here it is.


Team at a Glance



In Depth

Heatran (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 6 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Explosion
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock

The lead is one of the most important parts of a Pokemon team. The lead is the Pokemon that sets the pace of the battle and can help you gain an advantage early in the game. Naturally, you'd want a lead to have moves that can help it set up for the team, rather than sweep. Whether it be Taunt, Screens, Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes, Spikes, or inflicting status, a lead is always supposed to set something up that can aid the rest of the team later in the battle, and that's exactly what Heatran does.

Originally I had Tyranitar in this slot, but eventually I realized that it had too many weakness' to be a good lead and it just wasn't working well. I thought of common leads to replace him with but none of them seemed to fit well onto this team, though the idea of Heatran came to mind and I decided to try it. I'll just say right now that it works great. You may think that leads such as Azelf, Infernape or Aerodactyl do a better job, or even defensive Pokemon such as Swampert and Hippowdon, but I think Heatran is a very overlooked lead.

The moveset is pretty simple. Fire Blast for a good STAB move, Earth Power for good coverage, Stealth Rock (which is the whole point of Heatran) and of course Explosion as a final option to try and do some damage.

Heatran against other leads:

- Azelf is pretty much harmless against Heatran. Since Heatran resists all of its moves (excluding HP Fighting/Ground), I usually go straight for the Fire Blast (which OHKOs or 2HKOs with Sash) because I know it'll Taunt first.

- Once again, not really much of a threat to me. Most of the time Metagross wil Stealth Rock on turn 1, and I'll do the same. Then on the next turn I'll outrun with Fire Blast and OHKO (or 2HKO with Focus Sash or Occa Berry and KO on the next turn). My Focus Sash prevents me from being OHKOd by Earthquake, and not many lead Metagross carry Bullet Punch.

- When I see Aerodactyl, I know I have to switch. Aerodactyl resists Explosion and Fire Blast and is immune to Earth Power. Not only that, but it has Taunt to stop Stealth Rock.

- Infernape's Fake Out will get rid of Focus Sash, leaving me wide opened to a Close Combat, which isn't good. I'll usually go to Tentacruel on the first turn so Heatran stays alive.

- Hippowdon will almost always Stealth Rock first turn, which is why I usually use Fire Blast (which always 2HKOs). Once my opponent sees how much Fire Blast did, they'll have a choice of taking the risk and leaving Hippowdon in, or switching him out. Since they'll usually always switch him out, that gives me a free turn for Stealth Rock.

- Almost just like Hippowdon, Swampert will usually Stealth Rock first turn, and I do the same. Next turn I'll Earth Power to deal a good 30-35% (give or take a few) and then Explosion next turn for the KO (depending on the EVs of Swampert, of course). Switching in Skarmory after using Stealth Rock is also a good option, as it allows me to begin setting up Spikes early.

- Most people run Choice Scarf and Trick on a lead Jirachi, and once they see Heatran they'll usually U-Turn, which takes away my Focus Sash but gives me a free turn for Stealth Rock. If they decide to use Trick instead, I'm locked into Stealth Rock and I'm forced to switch, but that means I now have a ScarfTran with 3 usable moves, and that's not bad at all.




RazorWing (Skarmory) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/220 Def/36 Spd
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Whirlwind
- Spikes
- Roost

The key to playing stall is to set up risidual damage such as Spikes, Toxic Spikes and Stealth Rock and then stall out your opponent while their Pokemon slowly get weaker. Of course, you can't just use any Pokemon. You need to have Pokemon who are able to take several hits and have a way of recovering so that you can set up on your opponent with ease and still keep your Pokemon alive.

Ever since GSC, Skarmory has been a great Pokemon to use on any stall team, and that hasn't changed at all. Aside from Forretress, Skarmory is probably the most reliable Spiker in the game, and that's exactly why I put him on this team.

Skarmory is my second source of risidual damage and my physical wall. All of you know the basics of using Skarmory and what his purpose is, so there's no reason to go into huge detail.

The moveset is simple, it's standard and there's no explanation needed. As for the EV Spread, the only reason for 36 Speed is pretty much for outrunning other Skarmory with Whirlwind. I guess I only need something like 8 Speed, but some other Skarmory may run that as well, so I felt the need to use 36 EVs instead.




Poseidon (Tentacruel) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 HP/120 Def/136 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Surf
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off

Stealth Rock and Spikes may help my team, but in my opinion, no stall team is complete without Toxic Spikes. Having the opportunity to poison so many of your opponent's Pokemon is too good to pass up, and it's almost essential to stalling your opponent properly. With that said, it's time to introduce my third and last source of risidual damage on the team.

Tentacruel makes a big difference in a lot of my battles, as it is my Rapid Spinner and the only Pokemon on my team that sets up Toxic Spikes. As mentioned several times in the paragraph above, Toxic Spikes is extremely important, and setting 2 layers up makes my chances of winning a lot greater. In my opinion, Tentacruel is the best Pokemon to do this.

Thanks to Platinum, Knock Off and Rapid Spin are now usable on the same set, which makes Tentacruel that much better. Knock Off is a very overlooked move when it comes to playing stall. If used right, it can seriously cripple a lot of Pokemon on your opponent's team, as some Pokemon are almost useless without their item (best example: Blisisey). Rapid Spin is almost as important as Toxic Spikes. Stall teams are centered around Stealth Rock, Spikes and Toxic Spikes, but be warned that those moves can also be the downfall of them. That's exactly why Rapid Spin is needed, not just on a stall team, but I'd suggest it on almost any team. Not only does Tentacruel have Rapid Spin, but the fact that it can rid the field of Toxic Spikes thanks to it's Poison typing makes it a great Pokemon to have on the team. As for Surf, it provides Tentacruel with a good STAB move and helps KO Fire types such as Infernape if nessecary, though most of the time they'll just switch out and give me a free turn to set up Toxic Spikes.




MajinBuu (Blissey) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def/80 SAtk/176 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Protect
- Wish
- Toxic

So far, I've been discussing the essentials of a stall team, and this Pokemon is the definition of stall. Just like Skarmory, Blissey has been huge in stall teams since GSC, and the same goes for DPPt. Blissey is one of the most seen Pokemon in OU, and I can guarentee that you'll see it on 90% of all stall teams. My team is no exception.

Blissey is pretty standard, there's really nothing much to explain here. The EV Spread that I use is a pretty commonly used EV Spread, and it isn't anything new. It maximizes both the defence and special defence of blissey so that it can take hits well from both sides of the attacking spectrum. The moveset is the standard for WishBliss, although I prefer Ice Beam instead of Flamethrower for the sake of killing Salamence and other Pokemon 4x weak to Ice. Toxic is there so that I can outstall other walls such as Zapdos and Togekiss, which without it my team can have some trouble with.




EasyBake (Rotom-h) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/168 Def/88 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball

Seeing as playing stall relies on having Spikes, Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes set up at all times, Rapid Spinners can be a big threat. If your opponent manages to Rapid Spin at the right time, that could completely change the game, as you'd have to find a way to set up again, and that can be quite difficult. That's why it's extremely important to have a Ghost on your stall team to block any Pokemon that tries to Rapid Spin, which is where Rotom-H comes in.

Platinum brought the addition of 5 new Rotom forms to our OU Metagame, and they have changed things a lot. Dusknoir is now inferior and Spiritomb, despite having 0 weakness', is outdone by Rotom's superior stats. Not only that, but having Levitate makes a big difference. In my opinion, Rotom is the best Ghost to use on a stall team.

This Rotom set is pretty amazing. RestTalk really helps him last throughout the whole battle, which helps me continue to block Rapid Spins and keep my opponent on the edge. Not only that, but the reason I love using this set so much is for the fact that Blissey can't harm it at all. Thanks to Rotom's great defenses, Ice Beam will barely knock off 15%, and I can easily heal away status with Rest and PP Stall by not making a move while sleeping. To top it all off, Rotom is my answer to Gyarados, which gives my team a bit of trouble.




Ice Age (Mamoswine) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Superpower
- Stone Edge

Throughout this RMT, I've been explaining bits and pieces of the basics of playing stall, and what every stall team needs. Though, my last Pokemon goes against all of that, but I believe it to be the secret to this team's success (and failure...).

Using Mamoswine, especially with Choice Band, is definetely not something commonly seen on stall teams. I originally had another Pokemon in this slot (I forget which one exactly), but I found out that I had a huge weakness to Lucario and Salamence. This is where Mamoswine comes in.

Thanks to STAB and Choice Band, Ice Shard easily lands a OHKO on Salamence, even after Intimidate. Though, most of the time my opponent will expect Ice Shard and they'll switch out, and causing switches is important when playing stall.

As for my Lucario weakness, I realized that Jolly Mamoswine with 252 EVs in speed is able to outrun Adamant Lucario, and seeing as most people overlook Mamoswine's decent speed, they leave Lucario against Mamoswine and end up getting OHKOd by Earthquake.

Salamence and Lucario were the main reasons for using Mamoswine, though they're not the only reasons. After using CB Mamoswine for a while now, I've come to the conclusion that he's an amazing late game sweeper to use on a stall team. Once Toxic Spikes, Spikes and Stealth Rock are all set up, anything that comes in will definetely be weakened (assuming this is late game, this probably won't be the first time they've lost HP), and Mamoswine doesn't have a hard time killing off the rest of my opponent's Pokemon.

Offensive Threat List:


- Rotom or Skarmory is my best chance of beating it. Leads ones can be troublesome since Heatran will only be able to set up Stealth Rock. That usually gives me a free turn to switch to Rotom or Skarmory which both can beat it 1 on 1.
- Blissey doesn't fear much of anything, other than getting hit with Trick and receiving something like a Choice Scarf. Rotom can OHKO it with Shadow Ball if I find myself having no way to stop it, and Mamoswine can hit it with Ice Shard for some nice damage.

- Heatran resists all of its attacks (excluding HP Fighting/Ground), and Blissey stops it. The only thing I have to worry about is Explosion which I can predict around with Rotom. Mamoswine can help revenge kill it if something goes wrong.

- Rotom absorbs sleep and Skarmory can come in to take hits and kill with Brave Bird. Mamoswine can KO with Ice Shard assuming Breloom isn't behind a sub, and Heatran can KO it if he happens to be alive.

- Blissey can take an EQ and KO with Ice Beam, Mamoswine can OHKO with Ice Shard, as well as Skarmory OHKOing with Brave Bird. Rotom also finds itself easily beating it. Only trouble if he switches in to Tentacruel, resulting in me losing him.

- Rotom-H walls it perfectly, and Mamoswine can help revenge kill. Easily beaten if I can play around it.

- Blissey can stall out the SubPetaya versions, and Rotom also does a nice job. If it's a defensive set then Tentacruel uses the time to set up some Toxic Spikes. Usually not a problem for this team.

- Skarmory can try to switch in on a predicted dragon attack, however Fire Blast will hurt. Blissey can take on scarf varients suprisingly well and hitting it hard with Ice Beam. Mamoswine can easily revenge kill it with Ice Shard.

- Blissey can wall most sets, and I can usually predict a well timed Explosion. Mamoswine can hit it with Ice Shard if it has low enough health, and Tentacruel can do a nice job.

- Ice Shard from Mamoswine can take it out, though Yache Berry is annoying. Skarmory also walls and takes the time to set up., and Blissey can take an EQ and use Ice Beam in return.

- Rotom is the answer to all of my Gyarados problems. Life Orb Gyarados can be problematic, however. Since even Rotom takes a good amount of damage from it. Skarmory can Whirlwind it away if it gets too greedy, or hit it with Brave Bird for some nice damage.

- Blissey can wall it, although ToxicSub and Explosion can be pretty annoying. Tentacruel is usually my primary switch in to scout out it's moves, however Earth Power does do some nice damage.

- Skarmory and Rotom do a nice job at stopping it, however CB attacks do hurt alot. Tentacruel resists both it's STAB attacks but it isn't my primary switch into them. It's usually not hard to beat if I play around it.

- Tentacruel walls it, and if nessecary Rotom can come in and take a Flamethrower or two. SD versions can be troublesome, since it can stop SkarmBliss as well as Tentacruel. Rotom is my best chance if it gets one in.

- Choice Scarf sets are generally walled by Skarmory. CM Jirachi can potentially sweep my team if I don't stop it early enough. Mamoswine can OHKO with Earthquake if I outspeed, and Blissey can beat pure special sets lacking Substitute.

- Blissey can wall all sets including Choice Specs. Rotom can take pretty much everything other than Shadow Ball, and Mamoswine can easily beat it 1 on 1. Heatran can also OHKO with Earth Power is he's still alive.

- Skarmory can stop Dragon Dance versions with Whirlwind. Toxic Spikes also aid in taking it down. Rotom can generally beat it 1 on 1 with Thunderbolt, since even +2 Outrage fails to OHKO.

- This team was made before the time that Latias got unbanned, so she wasn't taken into concideration while making this team. However, Mamoswine deals good damage with Ice Shard. Blissey can also stall with Toxic, assuming Latias doesn't have Refresh. If Heatran is still alive he can explode on her, which will OHKO.

- Mamoswine outruns Adamant Lucario and OHKOs with Superpower or Earthquake, but if Mamoswine somehow dies before Lucario comes out, it can be very troublesome. If my opponent has no Stealth Rock up Skarmory may be able to defeat it, however Skarmory will also die in the process.

- Rotom walls it to a certain extent, but Choice Band Payback can hurt alot. I usually try to stall it out between Skarmory and Rotom, however a smart opponent can catch on and do some damage.

- Mamoswine and Blissey will usually always beat it, and Rotom can come in on a predicted Explosion. Only Skarmory has to watch out for it, since everything else except Heatran can switch, however Heatran can still OHKO with either Fire Blast or Earth Power.

- Rotom and Skarmory can both beat it, and my own Mamoswine can outspeed most and OHKO with Superpower. It's not really much of a threat to this team.

- Heatran can OHKO lead versions with Fire Blast, and even if they have Occa Berry they still lose due to my Focus Sash. Skarmory also beats all sets 1 on 1 unless it's a mixed varient.

- Is there any better than Skarmory?...*Stealth Rock too*

- Skarmory can Whirlwind it away, and everything else on my team can hit it for some nice damage. CB varients due hurtt alot though, since even my walls are 2HKO'd by it's STAB of choice. I usually try finding out it's set and item, and then I work my way around it.

- It usually takes out at least 1 Pokemon on my team, however Mamoswine always revenge kills. Skarmory can stop pure physical varients and Blissey can stop pure special, but again mixed can be troublesome and requires a lot of prediction.

- Skarmory and Rotom both wall the hell out of this thing. Heatran can OHKO too.

- Rotom can switch into Rapid Spin and OHKO with it's STAB move of choice. If it lacks Rapid Spin Tentacruel can set up on it and as mentioned above switch to Rotom for the predicted Rapid Spin. Blissey can stall it out and walls most of them.

- CroCune can give me a lot of trouble, however Rotom and Blissey can do a good job at beating the Life Orb varients. Tentacruel can set up if it uses Rest and lacks Sleep Talk. Mamoswine can also due some good damage with it's CB Earthquake.

- CursePert will 6-0 me, since I lack any grass move and it can easily just Rest off Toxic and whatever else damage it has taken. CB varients fall to Rotom and Skarmory, and Mamoswine can do some nice damage with Earthquake.

- Mixed Tyranitar's can give me some trouble, however Skarmory can beat most. Mamoswine can also OHKO with Earthquake and Heatran can Earth Power for some nice damage.


Defensive Threat List:


- Mamoswine can OHKO eith Superpower, or KO it with Earthquake, so it's not much of a problem. Toxic Spikes will also prevent Blissey from switching in alot, since it will easily get worn down. If I can get Tentacruel to Knock Off her Leftovers, she won't be around for long. Rotom can also PP stall if I need to.

- Rotom can stall this out all day, and since Bronzong can't heal Rotom will always win. The most it can do in return is set up Stealth Rock, since I resist Gyro Ball and am immune to Earthquake and Explosion.

- Tentacruel can take the time to set up Toxic Spikes, as well as absorb the Leech Seed. Rotom can also stall it out as can Blissey. Mamoswine and Heatran can both hit it for some nice damage if not a OHKO.

- Heatran can OHKO with Fire Blast easily, and Rotom can KO after a few Thunderbolt's. Rotom can also bluff the Overheat and prevent it from using Rapid Spin, to get rid of all my Spikes.

- Skarmory can find this time to set up some Spikes, while everything else on my team can hit it for some nice damage, if not stall it out. Toxic will easily wear him down as well, and Rotom can hit it with Shadow Ball for as decent amount of damage.

- Rotom can KO with Thunderbolt while Skarmory can't do much of anything back. I can also take the time to set up some of my own Spikes since I have Tentacruel to be ready and spin them away. It's very easy for this team to handle.

(Rotom-A) - Blissey can come in and hit it with Toxic, assuming the opposing Rotom-A doesn't use RestTalk. I can also send in my own Rotom and hope that I win the speed tie and KO with Shadow Ball.

- Rotom can switch in to absorb it's Rapid Spin, and then hit it with some Thunderbolt's which will either 2HKO or 3HKO depending on the spread. My own Tentacruel can use Knock Off to get rid of it's Leftovers, which will prevent him from living much longer.

- Rotom doesn't fear much of anything and can 2HKO with Thunderbolt. Tentacruel can take the time to set up, and Blissey can switch into anything and threaten it with Toxic. Lets just say that if it's poisoned it's pretty much over for him.

- I have to resort to Toxic/Toxic Spikes to kill Swampert, since I have no Grass moves. This means that CursePert can really hurt my team. I need to time Whirlwinds with Skarmory and hope to get it out before it gets too many boosts.

Seems incredibly well though out to me. Trick can be extremely annoying to this team, but that can be said for any stall team. A Tyranitar with Taunt is similarly annoying, but you should be able to wear it down. I can't think of anything to really change on the move sets or Ev's, and overall the team looks great.

Mamoswine doesn't deal with Lucario at all. SD Extreme Speed or bullet
Punch combined with SR ( even with the spinner it might be up, considering how good opposing Rotom-H's are at spin blocking and kicking tentacruel's ass) and I think it might kill you anyway.

Just use overheat and a Timid nature on Rotom H to become an amazing Lucario counter. By tradition, Adamant Lucarios, which you can outspeed, run crunch, while Jolly ones run Ice Punch. This works to Rotom's advantage. I'll post the required speed in the morning, as I am writing this from my phone and I can't access a stat calculator. I think it's somewhere near 156, though. The Timid thing helps Rotom anyway, as he then gets the jump on no-speed and low Speed base 100's, like his rival Zapdos, and things he can severly wound with Overheat like Celebi and defensive Jirachi's.

Hope this helps, I like the team, it uses a lot of the same choices I would make. It's a really cool example of post-plat stall

Although I feel like Mamoswine is out of place. But meh, a lot of teams are weak to him.

Nice job, especially with the tour stuff!

Arguably most lead Metagross run some combination of Meteor Mash / Bullet Punch to deal with Aero and Azelf more effectively but perhaps you've seen less. In such a case, Shuca Berry is definitely superior to Focus Sash. Against Infernape you lose anyways due to Fake Out, so unless there exists some curious scenario I may have overlooked, give Focus Sash the boot.

The most imminent threat to your team is none other than the metagame's most terrifying stall breaker -- Calm Mind Jirachi. With Psychic / Thunderbolt (although Flash Cannon hurts too), Jirachi will almost always give you the ol' 6-0 as the only Pokemon that threatens it is Heatran, who is hard-pressed to stay alive due to its lead position and doesn't like taking boosted Thunderbolts as it is. Mamoswine doesn't stand a chance as unboosted Psychic 2HKOs. Blissey's NFE Ice Beam hardly scratches Jirachi and is beaten at +6 with the inevitable critical hit or SpD drop.

The remedy this, Blissey wants Flamethrower (or the weaker option, Seismic Toss). Flamethrower from 80 SpA Bliss breaks Jirachi's Sub after one Calm Mind IIRC. Sure, you lose Salamence coverage but most players aren't ballsy enough to switch her in on Bliss in fear of Thunder Wave; once she's in safely you can't reliably Ice Beam anyways due to the threat of Outrage. Besides, Mamoswine is a very reliable check give you keep her alive.

As mentioned by others, Mamoswine is a sketchy Lucario check at best due to ExtremeSpeed and Bullet Punch as well as the possibility of Jolly (+spe Crunch anyone?). To be honest I see no simple solution to solve your Lucario weakness but I suppose you'll have to rely on Rotom and Mamo (not too much of an issue as no one really runs Jolly Crunch).

Congratulations on your success in ST5 and good luck.

Crocune, CMjirachi, lucario and toxic subtran 6-0es you.
Crocune will fain the 2HKO to bliss, but u won't be able to do nothing in return, and he will PP stall you with pressure.
CM jirachi can set up in bliss, tentacruel and rotom, and if heatran has exploded / is weak, you have no chance of beating it.
Mamo is not a luke counter. If somebody uses luke and is a good player, it will never CC mamo because the jolly version is so common.
Subtran with toxic will always beat your tentacruel and your blissey, and your last hope is to revenge kill it with mamo if it has no sub. It is also a huge problem for your team.

Seismic toss in blissey could help beating subtran

I don't have much to add, just some minor changes on movesets, EVs and such.

Shuca Berry on heatran, Seismic Toss > Ice Beam, 18 speed Evs on skarmory at absolute maximum, 4 speed on rotom to outrun other rotoms (You know how crucial this can be ;).

Tentacruel isn't that great anymore, I'd suggest merging skarmory and tentacruel into a specially defensive forretress with payback and then you can replace tentacruel with a proper lucario and crocune counter maybe the following?:

Celebi @ Leftovers
252 Hp / 176 Spe / 80 Def
Bold
Earthpower
Grass Knot
Recover
Perish Song

HP fire could be used to cover scizor and still hit lucario, but earthpower is kind of needed, hp fire won't do enough to lucario.

Anyway, good luck with the team.

The main issues seem to be Focus Sash on Heatran and my weakness' to Pokemon such as CM Jirachi, CroCune, and Lucario. I guess Shuca Berry works on Heatran, but despite all of your comments, I still think Focus Sash would work better. Just the fact that it lets me survive any move with 1 HP, rather than just guarenteeing that I survive Ground moves is much better IMO.

The reason Shuca Berry is better is because of the position you find yourself in against Aerodactyl / Mamoswine leads. Basically, you lose to both, regardless of whether you run Sash or not, but the Shuca berry allows you to come back in later and possibly survive a ground attack, whereas Focus Sash will probably be negated by opposing Stealth Rock. Since you lose to those leads anyway, use a useful item rather than one that will probably be negated by Stealth Rock. Who knows, Shuca might save you against say an Agiligross if your counters are gone!

As for the team, the two biggest issues are Lucario and SubHeatran. I'll deal with Lucario later. Solve your Heatran problem by replacing Ice Beam for Seismic Toss on Blissey. Although this leaves you Gengar weak, my next suggestion should remedy that issue anyway. Seismic Toss also lets you hit random Gyarados / Infernape switch-ins for more damage anyway, things that really hurt stall teams.

I believe panamaxis suggested a special defensive Forretress with Payback. I second this suggestion over Skarmory and Tentacruel, freeing up a slot for you to run a bulky water type. Gyarados would probably be the best fit in that new slot, phazing away the majority of the metagame and handily countering Lucario and Scizor simultaneously. Foretress would provide the Spikes and Toxic Spikes support, as well as spin away any opposing entry hazards. Payback is actually a great last move, allowing you to hit every spin blocker in OU for super effective damage.

As for Mamoswine, I believe Choice Band is more of a hinderance for you than it is helpful. Lose it for a Life Orb. Although the recoil damage will rack up, the flexibility in attacks will make opponents think twice about constantly switching in and out with the threat of entry hazards. The whole point of stall is to force switches, so abuse Mamoswine's ability to force switches by utilizing multiple attacks as opposed to being locked into a single Ice Shard, for example, allowing something like Lucario to set up on you.

Anyway, it seems pretty solid, and you went quite far with it, so I dunno if you really wanna change stuff up.

***Updated with a more in depth threat list.***

Leftovers is almost idiotic on Skarmory. So many people run Magnezone nowadays that Shed Shell is pretty much a necessity.

If band mamo is your counter to lucario, what the heck are you going to do if he runs jolly? Close combat, crunch, and t-punch would rip through this team. I realize that t-punch is not very standard for lucario but still

Mr.Void said:

If band mamo is your counter to lucario, what the heck are you going to do if he runs jolly? Close combat, crunch, and t-punch would rip through this team. I realize that t-punch is not very standard for lucario but still

Click to expand...

I'm not even sure if it needs Thunder Punch... Skarm is destroyed by SD Close Combat, and Tentacruel probably does not like SD Extreme Speed. All the others fall easily. All Luke needs to do is to come in on Mamoswine (Locked into Ice Shard / Stone Edge) and pawn. Nevertheless, congrats Locopoke for doing so well!

There's nothing much left to say but I'd use Scarf Trick Rachi instead of Mamoswine in the last lost.

Scarf Jirachi is so much better stopping Luke and Mence than Mamoswine cause it can actually switch against them and it counters late game set uppers (bye Crocune) with Trick. Not to mention it's a good answer to his CM counterpart and can deal with Trickers (yeah, i Know you have Heatran but it's your lead and it has Explosion so more often than not he'll be dead in the mid game).

Other than that, awesome team and congratulations because everyone knows that the runner-up of the ST is always sexier than the champion