Might as well post my team/progress here. When I first played StreetPKMN for fun against Atticus, we believed this metagame was mostly about Darkrais facing off with speed ties and Dark Void hit/miss, to the point where we had 6vs6 Darkrai matches. My round 1 team actually had not one but two Heracross to deal with that, though I lost to reachzero in a practice match where he showed my vulnerability to what was actually going to be the most dangerous Pokémon in the game: Swords Dance/Extremespeed Arceus. He also showed me the powers of Choice Scarf Kyogre, who has no trouble tearing through Darkrai at all. So after I miraculously won R1 and R2 with Heracross/Darkrai/Darkrai/Celebi/Rayquaza/Heracross, I did some pretty drastic changes, and the team I made there would pretty much stick forever, with just a few key changes. So I will just run through my final team for a bit and enlighten the history of that spot.
Kyogre @ Lum Berry
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 4 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Thunder
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Ever since reachzero played against me with Choice Scarf Kyogre, I liked this. However, in the last two battles, I exchanged the Scarf for a Lum Berry, and haven't really regretted it since. In two matches, Kyogre has been paralyzed by a rogue Groudon's Thunder Wave, making the Scarf and Spout technique rather worthless. I also faced not one but two Toxic Spikes Ariados leads, who lowered Kyogre's health quickly as well...add that to the prevalence of Arceus and his priority, and I put this one. HP Fire was exclusively for Abomasnow after I faced it twice, but it never saw use...I used it against Minato because I had a faint thought that he might use a Hail team, but I prolly confused him with another M-player. In the finals it was supposed to be Thunder Wave but Shoddy's save system sucks. Anyway, this thing keeps Fire from frying my MVP, and keeps my own Thunder 100% accurate, though if the weather changes that's no big deal.
Bog (Arceus) @ Life Orb
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Extremespeed
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Shadow Claw
I have two of these, because it's just the best Pokémon in the environment. It's been in tight situations before thanks to all the residual damage I've faced, but somehow STAB LO ES always comes in useful. I made sure to give them the same nickname, though I never actually managed to confuse someone into thinking I had only one (after using both). I'm very proud of this thing Shadow Clawing a Giratina and a Ghost Arceus on the switch in my final two matches!
Prancer (Arceus) @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP/100 Atk/8 Spd/144 SAtk/4 SDef
Quiet nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Judgment
- Brick Break
- Extremespeed
- Thunder
This used to be Darkrai, but I've been disappointed by it ever since reachzero brought out Machamp against it. I've seen some Fighting Arceus around too. And since my Skarmory is L2 Clefable/Hail bait (due to having no attacks) and I narrowly escaped against that before, I decided I couldn't not put this in. Combined with Skarmory's Toxic and Stealth Rock, this helps me wear down enemy Arceus, it catches Endeavor, and what-have-you. The all-out attacking set is me beating Pokémon with moves...as long as it can hurt, I'm fine. I've seen Recover out there though.
Doorstop (Skarmory) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
I think I owe every single victory to Skarmory. Not a single Normal Arceus I've seen carried a Fire or Electric move, and that's why this thing is called Doorstop. Brave Bird doesn't cut it against a Recovering Arceus, and Toxic is much better if it has to eat that one Special attack (like against a Fighting Arceus I once faced). Stealth Rock is superior to Spikes, in my opinion. The only times I ever got "free time" was when I'm stalling out enemy Arceus in endgame. Before that, Stealth Rock does a little less to Groudon, but much more to Abomasnow and everything that doesn't touch the ground.
I have to say it again, this thing is the king. It went down like a hero in the finals to a CH +6 Brick Break, but he did his thing.
Rusty Rake (Machamp) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP/80 Atk/176 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Sleep Talk
- Dynamicpunch
- Cross Chop
- Stone Edge
Bleh. Machamp has only one task: Darkrai switch-in. Unfortunately I've had to face two Wobbuffets, one of them in the finals (the other one was very early and I haxed it to death...). It's really bait for Giratina and Ghost Arceus, but I don't want to Sleep Talk a Payback against a Darkrai. It honestly hasn't been that useful - the only other time I liked it was against someone's Bug Arceus, and it still lost there. But you just can't play this without a Darkrai switch.
Bog (Arceus) @ Life Orb
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/4 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Thunder
- Extremespeed
- Earthquake
Not much to say about sweeping Arceus II. Generally, one of them is necessary early on, and the other cleans up later. If there's no Species Clause, you have to make use of it.
I'd like to thank:
- Skarmory
- jumpluff for hosting and recording the finals
- reachzero for some of his team's ideas
- all my opponents for putting up a great fight and being great sports
- Skarmory
