Teenage Wasteland - Ubers Balance [Peaked #1]

Introduction:

Seeing how Smogon's World Cup of Pokemon is upon us, I thought it would be a good time to retire my favourite Ubers team, one which I have used extensively ever since its conception. I made my team, dubbed Teenage Wasteland by my fellow The Who fan Iris, about half a year ago, and it has been my go-to team ever since. It bolted many of my accounts onto the Uber Leaderboard, and Atticus used a slightly tweaked version for his Week 2 victory in the Smogon Premier League. Before retiring my team, I decided to go for one last ladder run, and I peaked at #3 with a CRE of 1834 under the alt GENGAR MASTER18. Since posting the team, I've finally peaked the team at #1 as BOB999 (I have cool alts right?), so I'm finally done with it. The team was named after a well-known line in the song Baba O'Riley by The Who, as I love both the song and band. Plus, as an avid drummer, I'm continually blown away and inspired listening to their drummer, Keith Moon.

I'll try not to bore you with a long-winded team building process, but the premise of the team is simple: sweep with Bulk Up Dialga after its counters have been eliminated. The combination of Mixquaza, who lures and kills the likes of Groudon and Lugia, and Bulk Up Dialga means I can efficiently close out games with these strong Dragons. I also took note of specific metagame trends when making this team in terms of leads. With Deoxys-S and Groudon continually dominating the lead department, a powerful anti-lead with priority would be needed to get the game started on the right foot, making Deoxys-A a solid choice. The increase in Lucario and the presence of DD/SD Rayquaza meant purely offensive teams were difficult to pull off without being swept, so Groudon was an ideal fit to beat these threats. Coupled with the addition of Scarf Kyogre, who checked a multitude of fast sweepers, I had nearly perfect control of weather, making weather-specific teams much easier to handle. Finally, I added Scizor for the crucial check for the omnipresent Dragon-types in Ubers, and it was a better fit than other options due to its ability to gain and maintain momentum with its powerful attacks and U-turn. So voilà, that's how I came to creating this team!

Enough with that superfluous preamble. Without further ado…



The Team:


Deoxys-A @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 220 Atk / 36 SpA / 252 Spd
Naive nature: (+Spd, -SpD)
- Extremespeed
- Shadow Ball
- Grass Knot
- Superpower

When I made this team, I knew I wanted to use Deoxys-A as my lead, and it has essentially turned into the defining member. It wasn't too long ago that Deoxys-A was the most common lead in the Ubers metagame, but it has since fallen drastically in usage. In my opinion, it's still one of the best, if not the best anti-lead in the entire tier when used correctly. While there are plenty of ways to use Deoxys-A, this is the set I like to run. The combination of moves allows me to defeat practically every common lead, only losing to seldom seen leads such as Rayquaza. The combination of Shadow Ball and Extremespeed put opposing Deoxys-S in a checkmate position, limiting them to a maximum of one layer of entry hazards, or none if they use Taunt. This is extremely beneficial for my team, as only one Pokemon has a recovery move, and most are grounded, so residual damage from Spikes really adds up. Shadow Ball is also my answer for Mew leads who often Taunt, while the priority of Extremespeed allows me to pick off weakened foes like Scarf Palkia or Rayquaza. Grass Knot is the set's most important move, as it allows me to beat both Groudon and Kyogre. Normally I would use Ice Beam, but Kyogre is a huge pain to face, so Grass Knot was almost mandatory. Superpower rounds out the moveset with its ability to turn Blissey, Dialga and Darkrai (barring a Scarf Dark Void) into mush.

Max Speed is necessary to tie opposing Deoxys-A and outpace everything besides Scarf Darkrai and Deoxys-S. I'm open to any suggestions for a new EV spread, but I wanted to ensure I could take out Blissey in one hit, so I gave it a substantial Attack investment. It also gives more of a bite to Extremespeed, which is helpful of course. Grass Knot 2HKOes all Groudon and practically all Kyogre anyways, and since max Special Attack doesn't ensure the OHKO on the former, I see no reason to use it. Shadow Ball is still strong enough even with this minute investment, allowing me to take out Mew and Giratina-O in two shots on average. However, I'd be more than willing to listen to and test out any suggested EV spread for Deoxys-A. Despite its enormous strength and speed, it is very true that Deoxys-A suffers from the common 'four-slot syndrome'. I can't fit Stealth Rock anywhere, nor can I afford to slap on Fire Punch. Packing a Fire-type attack in particular would be immensely helpful against Forretress leads and the inevitable Scizor switch-ins. Regardless, Deoxys-A does exactly what I need it do: counter common leads while giving me momentum. In the majority of my matches, I'll be leading 6-5 from the get-go thanks to Deoxys-A. In such a fast paced tier where momentum is hugely vital, this greatly contributes to the success of my team.


Groudon @ Leftovers
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spd
Impish nature: (+Def, -SpA)
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock

Groudon plays an integral part of the team in the sense that it counters the majority of the physical threats found in Ubers. The way I see it, the two most reliable counters to Swords Dance Rayquaza and Lucario are Scarf Dialga and Groudon. With Dialga already being used as a Bulk Up variant, I turned to Groudon to prevent the rest of my team from being swept by the aforementioned threats. The standard Adamant bulky Groudon was not enough to ensure Rayquaza and Lucario don't have a field day, so I switched to the Impish set that I've seen other great players use. The huge defensive EV investment allows Groudon to survive a +2 Waterfall or a +2 Combat from Rayquaza and Lucario respectively, and retaliate with the appropriate attack. On the other hand, 36 Speed EVs let Groudon beat standard Ho-oh, and most bulky Groudon and Kyogre. Groudon is also my best switch in against Scizor and Garchomp, especially the latter, who gives my two Dragons a great deal of trouble. Thunder Wave is very useful for Kyogre switch-ins and also Giratina-O, but I've considered opting for Swords Dance as Groudon's final move. Ironically, I'm somewhat weak to opposing Bulk Up Dialga, as Impish Groudon really doesn't have the staying power if Dialga has boosted a few times. Swords Dance would allow me to set-up (and win!) along side it, alleviating a lot of pressure on the team, since I wouldn't have to sacrifice Rayquaza to eliminate BU Dialga.

In addition, Groudon sets up Stealth Rock for my team, and is as reliable as they come at doing the job. As previously mentioned, Deoxys-A has no room to use Stealth Rock, so Groudon was a logical choice to set up the entry hazard. This is of particular importance against Lugia, who can wall Dialga all day, and it is only with Stealth Rocks that Rayquaza has a chance of luring and killing the giant bird. Like pretty much every team, I struggle against Ho-oh when Stealth Rock isn't up, so I try to set it up as soon as possible. It's also nice to have an Electric-immunity in Groudon to prevent my offensive threats from being slowed down by random Thunder Waves. Overall, Groudon gets the job done and provides my team with unparalleled walling abilities.


Kyogre @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spd
Timid nature: (+Spd, -Atk)
- Water Spout
- Surf
- Thunder
- Ice Beam

With its excellent revenge killing capabilities, Kyogre casts a much-appreciated safety net over the team. Thanks to Drizzle, its speedy Water Spouts and Surfs prevent me from being swept by monstrous threats such as Mewtwo or Darkrai if my Scizor goes down. Speaking of which, Kyogre provides some nice team synergy with Scizor by reducing its Fire-type weakness, which is very useful against Giratina-O. At the beginning of games, I often open up with Thunder to hopefully deal some damage to obvious Palkia switch-ins, and the slight paralysis rate is also great against Latias. Once I know my opponent packs Latias or Latios, I'll often blindly fire off Ice Beams, because I've noted how reluctant people are to switch into Kyogre anything that does not resist Water Spout. While the coverage provided by Kyogre is phenomenal, allowing me to pick off threats ranging from Manaphy to Shaymin-S, I mainly use it to check Mewtwo and Darkrai. Its powerful Water-type attacks are what separates Kyogre from other Scarfers like Palkia, who must rely on Draco Meteor to deal with Mewtwo and Darkrai. They are among the tier's top threats, and so Kyogre's ability to outpace and kill them in one hit often prevents me from being swept outright.

Another nice thing about Kyogre is that it gives me full weather control. This means that obscure things like Jumpluff or Shiftry will have a hard time hurting my team, assuming I don't switch into a STAB Grass Knot of course. Conversely, Groudon's presence means Drizzle doesn't leave me as a sitting duck against Kingdra or Ludicolo. There's not much more to say about Kyogre, as it's a very straightforward Pokemon. Like most Scarf users, it's sort of the glue to my team, since it prevents my relatively slow team from being picked apart by various offensive threats.


Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 200 HP / 56 Atk / 252 SpD
Adamant nature: (+Atk, -SpA)
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- Superpower

I find it next to impossible to build an Ubers team without Scizor. Packing a Dragon-type resist is especially necessary to be successful in Ubers, and Scizor is one of the few Steels who does not slow down an offensively-minded team. Choice Band Scizor is a great, albeit very common, way of dealing with the abundant Dragons, while also being able to dish out huge amounts of damage in the process. Not only this, but Scizor's auspicious defensive typing yields resistances to Ice-, Grass-, Dark- and Ghost-type attacks, all of which are very common in Ubers. The premise of Choice Band Scizor is nearly identical to using it in OU: hop in on a resisted attack and predict appropriately. U-turn dishes out ridiculous amounts of damage to the specially based tier, smacking around switch-ins like Kyogre or Palkia. Even using U-turn on a resisted switch-in, such as Dialga, puts me at the advantage by allowing me to bring in a suitable counter. Bullet Punch gives me more priority on top of Deoxys-A and Rayquaza, so I can use it against weakened Mewtwo or Latios without fearing a potential Fire-type attack. I mainly use Pursuit for Lati@s if I'm positive they do not pack Hidden Power Fire since having them gone early allows my own two Dragons to sweep easier. However, I sometimes use Pursuit on weakened Palkia that are locked on Spacial Rend, because once a team's Scarf-user is gone, it's difficult for them to stop Kyogre from killing things left and right. Superpower is honestly filler, as it gets very little use, as it's primarily for Heatran and Dialga. I usually just U-turn on the expected switch-in though, as a poorly predicted Superpower can be very bad news for me.

The EVs are standard, but I guess I could move 4 Attack EVs into Speed to outpace other Scizor, but that's very situational. The nice thing about Scizor is that one can afford to make him very bulky on the special side, while still packing a huge punch thanks to Choice Band. As such, Scizor is my initial answer to Taunt + Calm Mind Mewtwo as well as Nasty Plot Darkrai (although a +2 LO Focus Blast really hurts). He's also one of the most solid counters for the Lati twins, and thanks to Kyogre, I don't fear HP Fire as much. A +1 Thunder does a lot, but without full Spikes support, Scizor will emerge victorious each time. As you can see, Scizor is enormously vital for my team, and I continually rely on him to counter and kill a multitude of offensive threats.


Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spd
Naive nature: (+Spd, -SpD)
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Extremespeed
- Outrage

Rayquaza is the first of my two Dragons, and if it comes in safely during a game, it's almost assured to be taking 1-2 opposing Pokemon down with it. Mizquaza is an incredible stall-breaker and one of the most devastating sweeper in the tier. However, Rayquaza's role on my team isn't necessarily to rip through entire teams, but rather to lure and eliminate common counters to set up Dialga. Physical Rayquaza and Bulk Up Dialga share common counters, so luring them with Mixquaza is a simple solution to pave the way for Dialga during the latter stages of a match. Rayquaza can easily come in on Groudon's Earthquakes aimed at Dialga and KO outright. Opposing Groudon and Lugia are also often hasty to switch into Rayquaza, only to eat a powerful Draco Meteor off 518 Special Attack. For these reasons, I consider Rayquaza to be the most valuable member of my team.

Draco Meteor is of course the crux of the set, nailing would-be counters for huge amounts of damage. Even bulky Steel-types like Scizor and Forretress take huge damage when they switch in, only to die to Flamethrower the next turn. Speaking of which, I opted for Flamethrower over the standard Fire Blast because I truly see no reason not to use it. The only thing that makes me miss the extra power is versus specially defensive Jirachi, but I have Groudon for that anyways. Flamethrower does just fine against Scizor, Forrtress, Metagross and most Jirachi, and due to Rayquaza's frailty, it really cannot afford to miss (Draco Meteor misses are pretty awful). On the physical side, Extremespeed is so useful as the third priority move on the team, keeping weakened Latias, Latios, Mewtwo and Darkrai at bay. It's also a decent albeit weak option against Rock Polish Groudon, who outpaces and OHKOes the majority of my team. Outrage is a powerful cleaning move necessary for Blissey, and is reliable versus Giratina-O and Kyogre is I can't afford a miss with Draco Meteor. Being locked onto Outrage can be pretty bad sometimes, so I'm really conservative when using it. I've been suggested many times to use Brick Break over Outrage for an even more reliable way of breaking stall. Thoughts on this would be much appreciated, as it'd prevent me form being utterly walled by Heatran and eliminated Dual Screens against Mew. The loss in power would be really noticeable though, and Brick Break is sort of a specialized move, so thoughts on this would be appreciated!


Dialga @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 SpD / 36 Spd
Careful nature: (+SpD, -SpA)
- Bulk Up
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
- Dragon Claw

Dialga brings to my team a rare combination of walling abilities and the capacity to sweep given the right conditions. As you can probably guess, its purpose is to come in after Rayquaza has weakened walls and then unleash hell. Once Bulk Up Dialga's few and specialized counters are eliminated, the only way to stop this thing is through revenge killing, which, due to the huge Special Defense investment, doesn't always work. The great thing about Dialga is that it can easily set up on common counters, specifically Blissey, Scizor and Forretress. Many teams are fearful of taking a Draco Meteor from Dialga, making the three previously mentioned Pokemon ideal switch-ins, only to become set up fodder to my Bulk Up variant. Dialga is also unique in the sense that while it's a devastating sweeper, it protects me from various threats in Ubers, such as any non-Specs Kyogre. Unfortunately, Dragon-type attacks are neutral against Dialga, but due to the EVs, it can take a Dragon Pulse from Latios, Draco Meteor from opposing Dialga or Spacial Rend from Palkia and retaliate back with Dragon Claw.

Pretty standard stuff here, but as you might have noticed, I prefer using Dragon Claw over Outrage for many different reasons. It may seem like an odd choice considering the large difference in Base Power and the fact Sleep Talk doesn't lock me into Outrage, but Dragon Claw allows Dialga to fulfill a role of special wall and sweeper all in one. It allows me to alternate between attacking and boosting against Scarf Kyogre, meaning I can afford to mispredict on one or two occasions. Once my opponent reveals Kyogre, Dialga is my best switch (sad I know), so Dragon Claw lets me scout early game for their Dialga counter without potentially wasting a turn with Bulk Up or locking myself on to Outrage. Plus, it's surprisingly easy to get +6 Attack, and at that point, I find the difference in Base Power to be negligible. The only time I regret not having Outrage is against other Bulk Up Dialga, so I always to straight to Groudon when I see one. In essence, Dragon Claw is consistent with the balanced theme of my team, turning Dialga into both a tank and sweeper. Aside from that, Dialga gets the job done when Groudon and Lugia are out of the picture. Come to think of it, Skarmory stops Dialga cold too, which is further illustration why Rayquaza is a fantastic partner to lure and kill a variety of threats. Overall, Bulk Up Dialga is one of my favourite Ubers Pokemon due to its ability to wall so much and also sweep. Stall teams often crumble to Dialga once Groudon is out of the way, and offensive teams often find it difficult to hurt Dialga thanks to its impressive bulk. With Rayquaza luring its counters and the rest of the team's proper support, it comes as no surprise that Dialga often rips through teams or closes out games completely.

Threat List:

The Ubers:

Darkrai: For leads, I usually leave Deoxys-A in and Superpower, even though they're usually Scarfed, because I don't want anything else to take the sleep early in the game. For NP Sweepers, I'll let Dialga take the sleep if Deoxys-A is dead, and go to Kyogre predicting the Nasty Plot. Scizor can check Darkrai as well, allowing me to U-turn if it doesn't have a boost under its belt. Bullet Punch and Rayquaza's Extremespeed are useful in emergency situations.

Deoxys: Exclusively seen as leads, I just Shadow Ball then Extremespeed with Deoxys-A. I generally come out on top because very few actually attack both turns, opting for either Taunt or Spikes.

Deoxys-A: Same as Deoxys. Shadow Ball and Extremespeed, and praying to win the speed tie. The reason why I open up with Shadow Ball is to bluff that I don't have Extremespeed, which often causes my opponent to use Stealth Rock or a non-priority attack predicting the switch.

Deoxys-D: Scizor is immune to Toxic and beats it around with U-turn. Without Taunt, it's setup fodder for Dialga as well. Rayquaza and Kyogre can do it in with their powerful special attacks.

Deoxys-S: With Deoxys-A designed specifically to beat it, I have no problems with Deoxys-S. Just the standard Shadow Ball followed by Extremespeed. I've never seen a sweeper set, but I guess I'd just use Scizor to wall it and priority to wear it down.

Dialga: The problem with Dialga is that there are so many viable sets that I cannot counter it until I know what attacks it's running. Scizor is my initial switch to scout, and I can determine if it's Specs or Scarf judging by how much Draco Meteor does. Scarf sets lose to Scizor + Dialga in tandem, and I have to rely on Rayquaza to take out Specs Dialga while avoiding directly switching into Dragon-type attacks. If I see Leftovers, I'll immediately go to Groudon, as it's likely a Bulk Up variant. Mixed Dialga is annoying, but most of my team either outpaces or can survive an attack. Non Scarf versions are OHKO'ed by Rayquaza. As you can see, I have a solid counter for each set, but the problem is I sometimes lose something or I'm severely crippled by trying to find out what it's running.

Garchomp: Groudon walls it all day, even winning against Swords Dance versions. I've got lots of priority to wear it down, and Kyogre revenge kills non-Scarf versions.

Giratina: Dialga can set up on it, since it doesn't care about the burn thanks to Rest. Other than that, I don't really like anything else to take the Will-o-Wisp, so I'm prudent with my switch-ins.

Giratina-O: Sort of problematic. Groudon can take any attack and paralyze it, but admittedly this is not a good way of dealing with Giratina-O. Dialga is also an alright check if I can lure a Draco Meteor against Scizor and bring Dialga on the HP Fire. Rayquaza can also come in on a predicted HP Fire and Draco Meteor it into oblivion.

Groudon: Not too deadly, as my Groudon can deal with Rock Polish variants. I'll often die in the process, but I can revenge kill with any priority, opening up a sweep for Dialga. Rayquaza can come in on predicted Earthquakes, and assuming Groudon hasn't used Rock Polish, I'll blast it away with Draco Meteor. Swords Dance Groudon is no problem, as it's too slow to really hurt anything despite the power it packs.

Ho-oh: Firstly, I try to make sure the Stealth Rock is constantly up if I know my opponent packs Ho-oh, seeing as it's such a potent threat. Kyogre can come in on a Sacred Fire, because I won't bring in Rayquaza in case of a burn. I generally have to be intelligent with my switch-ins, letting Dialga take Brave Birds and Rayquaza coming in on Earthquakes. Groudon can survive any hit in an emergency and paralyze Ho-oh, much like against Giratina-O.

Kyogre: Well, I know every Ubers team is supposed to build a team with opposing Kyogre in mind, but I unfortunately don't really have a surefire Kyogre counter. This means if I'm facing Specs Kyogre, something on my team will die. With its enormous Special Defense investment, Dialga is my first switch-in, because it can beat Scarf versions and some Calm Mind versions. My own Kyogre can revenge kill Specs variants, while as always, Rayquaza pounds it with Draco Meteor. The only reason why I bolded it is because Specs Kyogre hurts since I don't pack Latias or Palkia, but I can usually come out on top.

Latias: Scizor of course. I don't really mind switching in Scizor to any Latias set, especially if it's raining. Unless I'm positive they won't switch, I'll Pursuit, because once Latias is out of the way, most teams fall to Scarf Kyogre. Due to its weaker Special Attack stat, its far less of a threat than Latios, but priority can help in pinch.

Latios: Scizor is as good of a counter as they come. Sometimes they have HP Fire, which means I have to be careful, but if rain is present, I'll come out victorious regardless. A +1 Thunder comes really close to killing Scizor in one shot, so I'll usually Bullet Punch if I've taken prior damage. Like most speedy threats, I'm lucky to have priority on half my team members to mitigate my minor weakness. However, it's usually not a problem whatsoever.

Lugia: This thing is a straight up pain. When SR is up, Rayquaza will win if Lugia comes in on a Draco Meteor. However, Lugia straight up walls Scizor and Dialga, so I try to paralyze it with Groudon as soon as possible. Following that, I'll just fire away Thunders with Kyogre, but it only musters a 2HKO. Calm Mind variants, however, are the bane of this team's existence.

Manaphy: Manaphy can theoretically be a problem, but in practice it's a fairly small threat. Groudon renders Hydration useless, but I obviously can't switch into any attacks. Kyogre can straight up kill it with Thunder, while Dialga walls it unless it has +6 Special Attack in the rain.

Mew: Obviously no one likes to face Mew. Baton Pass setups are seemingly less common than ever, which is fortunate for me. When Mew starts setting up, I usually have to predict what the intended recipient is, and so I generally bring in Groudon on Mew. Groudon can smack around most Baton Pass recipients like Dialga or Rayquaza, but of course, this requires perfect prediction. If I have to, I can wear down Mew with U-turn and Water Spout from Scizor and Kyogre respectively, but they don't do enough if Dual Screens are up. When Mew does pass off it's boosts, I usually try to wear down the recipient with priority. Mew really makes me wish I had Brick Break on Rayquaza.

Mewtwo: The standard Taunt + Calm Mind Mewtwo is completely walled by Scizor, and Scizor can also beat most offensive threats with Bullet Punch. Bulky Mewtwo is very difficult to play against, because Will-o-Wisp is not very friendly against my team. Kyogre can kill it with Water Spout, and if push comes to shove, I'll let Rayquaza take the burn so I can get a Draco Meteor off on it.

Palkia: Scizor if I predict the Dragon-type attack, and Dialga for everything else. Dialga can actually take three Scarf Spacial Rends, so I'll win that matchup as well. Groudon survives anything baring a Specs Draco Meteor, so that's always a possibility.

Rayquaza: Groudon beats all physical variants, including Dragon Dance, Swords Dance and Choice Band Rayquaza. MixQuaza requires prediction to get around by switching between Scizor, my own Rayquaza and Dialga. Stealth Rock and Life Orb usually does it in before it can hurt my team too much, and if not, I'll turn to priority if Groudon is dead.

Shaymin-S: Scarf Shaymin-S can do very little to my team, as I have three 4x resists to Grass, and Dialga resists Air Slash as well. Sub Seed versions lose to Scizor, and I can also revenge kill them with Kyogre.

Wobbuffett: It traps and kills Kyogre most of the time, and cripples Dialga with Encore, but Deoxys-A and Rayquaza can cause it huge problems by alternating between physical and special attacks. Scizor can put a huge dent in it with U-turn, but I make sure it's at around 70% before trying it, because I know Wobb can survive at full health. I generally Thunder Wave and set up Stealth Rock if it traps Groudon, because I don't want to lose my ever-important physical wall.

The Non-Ubers:

Blissey: Not too much of a problem, as it's complete setup fodder for Dialga. It can't hurt Scizor either, and Groudon can always Earthquake for the kill while being careful for Toxic. Deoxys-A's Superpower OHKOes, while Rayquaza's Outrage does upwards 70%.

Forretress: This team really dislikes Toxic Spikes, so I try to get rid of this thing as soon as possible. Kyogre can beat it with its boosted Water attacks, while Rayquaza is free to come in and Flamethrower or predict accordingly. Also setup bait for Dialga.

Heatran: It has seen its usage increase, and for good reason, since it's a very valuable Pokemon in Ubers. It walls Rayquaza and kills Scizor (although I'm usually just spamming U-turn), but other than that I have nice checks. Kyogre is your picture-perfect counter, while Groudon can take a hit and OHKO back. When it's raining, Dialga can use Heatran as setup fodder.

Jirachi: Practically all variants are beat by Groudon or Dialga, so I just have to be careful for Trick. If it's locked on an attack, I'll let Dialga start setting up, while Groudon can outright KO or cripple bulkier Jirachi with Earthquake.

Kingdra: More often than not I'll just go to Groudon for Drought, which not only slows Kingdra down, but also weakens its STAB Water-type attacks. I can either Thunder Wave or Dragon Claw from there. Dialga can also take a hit and retaliate back with its own Dragon Claw. A funny thing that I notice is that many people bring in Kingdra on Rayquaza when it's raining, since Shoddy still states its raining despite Air Lock, which consequently nets me a free kill.

Lucario: Impish Groudon is probably the best counter for this thing in the entire game, it's just a shame it doesn't resist Close Combat. Regardless, it survives any +2 attack with plenty to spare and OHKOes back with Earthquake. Other than that, Lucario destroys the rest of my team if it's given the chance to set up, but what offensive team isn't weak to Luke? You can probably guess it but priority is quite nice here!

Ludicolo: Scizor makes an excellent switch to Ludicolo, as it can U-turn for super-effective damage while also breaking free from Leech Seed. Fortunately I don't see many Life Orb versions, but I guess Dialga could theoretically handle them, and weather control is of course a godsend.

Metagross: Groudon doesn't care about anything except Explosion, and Kyogre can kill it.

Scizor: Again Groudon. It can be annoying because it revenge kills Rayquaza if it's at low enough health, but that's why I chose a Naïve nature! Dialga likes to set up on Scizor as well.

Shedinja: This thing is really annoying with proper support. Deoxys-A, Scizor and Rayquaza are the only ones who can touch it, so I usually risk the burn and Pursuit it twice with Scizor. Normally I'd use Deoxys-A, but since most carry Shadow Sneak, it's usually a waste to bring him in. Shedinja is one of the reasons why I try so hard to make sure Stealth Rock is on the field at all times.

Skarmory: It can come in for free on a lot of my Pokes actually, so I try to kill it with Kyogre or lure it with Rayquaza.

Tyranitar: I switch out of leads to Groudon to set up Stealth Rock, and Groudon and Scizor make excellent counters.

Conclusion:

So there you have it, my beloved team! As much success as I've had with it, there are many things that can be improved. Minor things like Deoxys-A's EV spread could use tweaking, and suggestions on how to better deal with things like Lugia would be appreciated. Basically, I'm open to anything. Quick thanks to my man Iris for continually helping me test the team, inspiring my hilarious alt name and for being an overall awesome guy. I'd also like to thank my good friend alive/cat for his continual support and help. Finally, props to Lady Bug for beating me with his OU Hail Stall Team :(.

I also forgot to mention that anyone is free to use or test this team, as I don't see any harm in it. It's pretty simple and fun to use.

Thanks again for reading!

Hi, nice team and congrats for making it to number 3!! Anyway, I'm going to highlight how I think is the best way to counter your threats

Kyogre

Click to expand...

Specs Kyogre does indeed give you quite a bit of trouble. For this reason, I would suggest that you change Rayquaza to Palkia, since it does a very similar job (Albeit without priority) and gives you a good switch-in to Kyogre:

Palkia @ Lustrous Orb/Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Atk/252 SpA/252 Spe
Nature: Hasty/Timid
-Draco Meteor
-Surf/Hydro Pump
-Aqua Tail/Fire Blast
-Outrage/Thunder

If you want to make it a dual weather sweeper, you can put Fire Blast on there if you want, I guess, but if you can guarantee Rain up, DM/Surf/Aqua Tail/Outrage will be more than enough for wall-breaking needs.

I don't think any of your other threats are THAT big of threats, you can easily find a way to play around them. Oh just one more thing, Groudon should use Stone Edge these days, so you can hit Ho-oh before it tries anything gay. You should just replace it with Dragon Claw.

Hope I helped. Good luck!

Like shrang said, this is a very nice team, and your success with it proves it. Not much of a rate but, a well played Kyogre can seriously cause this team some problems. So maybe switching your scarfogre for a scarf Palkia or take shrang's advice and use mix Palkia over Rayquaza, although then you lose your main lure for Groudon which isn't good. Anyways good luck with the team and the most important reason for me posting this:

↓ =D I get no shout out

Just posting because of the Deoxys. What type of Blissey are you trying to OHKO?

- Calm 252 HP/6 Def/252 SPDef get OHKO by a 0 EV Naive Superpower (166.9% - 196.6%). In fact, 0 Attack EV can guarenteed OHKO any Calm Blissey carrying 252 HP and a maximum of 156 Def EVs (100.3% - 118.2%).
- Bold 252 HP/252 Def/ SPDef needs 252 Attack in order to even have an extremely small chance of OHKOing (84.9% - 100%), but I don't think anybody uses that in Ubers.
- 0 Attack EV also beats all Darkrai sets (107.5% - 126.5% with 52 HP EV Darkrai), however fails to OHKO after a Superpower Attack Drop, but so does 252 EV. However, it is still able to OHKO Blissey after an Attack Drop (111.2% - 131.1%).
- That being said, Attack EVs may be helpful for ES, but if you are only using them for Superpower, then you are wasting a bunch of EVs.

@shrang: Yeah Kyogre is definitely a huge problem. Dialga is a pretty good counter for anything other than Specs Kyogre, but even still it's risky. Palkia would be nice insurance, so I'm most certainly going to test a mixed version over my Rayquaza. It might be a bit more practical for tournament battles for people who know I run Mixquaza, although Mixquaza is ideal for laddering since it lures many people who expect physical versions. I'll miss my Groudon/Lugia lure, but I'm really open for anything, so I'll test it for sure. I'll also test Stone Edge, although I really like the reliability of Dragon Claw, and the extra 10 Base Power compared to Earthquake against Kingdra, Garchomp and Palkia is really useful. With Kyogre, Ho-oh isn't too big of a deal, but as promised I'll test it. Thank you very much for your input!

@tito: I actually like the idea of Scarf Palkia over Kyogre, so again I'll be trying that out. I'll see whether that works better than shrang's suggestion. Oh and you didn't 'beat' this team, it was some random one on my computer xD. But man that team is scary, I couldn't get past that powerful combination of two spinners and Relicanth... Haha thanks for the help bro.

@Ditto: Well I'm not a master of EV spreads like people like Jibaku, but the 220 Attack EVs were given to do 100% - 117.8% to 4 HP/252 Def Calm Blissey, which I believe is the standard in Ubers. Logistically, it makes more sense to put 252 EVs in Defense rather than HP, so very seldom does Blissey not run maximum Defense EVs. Unfortunately I can't OHKO 252 HP/252 Def Blissey, but those aren't too common, and I'd have to forgo a +Speed nature to do that anyways.

Thanks for the input guys! Any other suggestions are very much welcomed.

Re: Air Lock

It will always say it is still raining. This is correct as far as in-game mechanics are concerned. Weather's added effects do not count. For example, it will still sandstorm rage while Air Lock is up although nothing will take damage from it.

I presume people just forget what Rayquaza's ability is.

Yeah skarm, I used to forget myself before I started using Rayquaza. Thanks for the clarification.

Alrighty so I tested out two big suggestions and I'm surprised to say that they both worked out really nicely. They obviously have their pros and cons, with Scarf Palkia making me even more weak to Lugia (if that's possible) and Mixed Palkia making it harder to kill Groudon. Scarf Palkia unfortunately also makes me lose my rain support, and requires a lot more prediction than Kyogre. I think overall, my team is better having Palkia somewhere, because the prevalence of Kyogre is hard to ignore. That said, my current team only has real trouble with Specs Kyogre, so if I were to use it in tournament battles, I'd obviously take that into account.

Thanks for the input folks, and any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated.