team, but if you really want you can skip it. the team at a glance for your viewing pleasure:
Οι Έλληνες!
so I haven't made a rmt in a long long time. Thing is, most of my good teams I am reluctant to reveal because in mirror matches they suck (i.e. the whole match pretty much comes down to one speed tie). those of you who have used some of my teams vs. me, youknow what I'm talking about. But enough about why I haven't made a rmt in a while, let's talk about why I am making one now. Well, here's the deal. Lately, a lot of people on the forums have associated heavy offense with lots of prediction. I am here to tell you guys that this is not the case. I have here a team that wins games handily without making ballsy switches. Some of you may remember my latest rmt, the suicide concept. think of the suicide concept to an extreme, and that's what you'll find here. the sacrifice team has made its comeback, and now it's better than ever. for those of you who care about numbers, on the suspect ladder under the alt Zorba (hence the title of the thread.) (where this team is meant to be played, latias is too much of a bitch), this team, in two days, reached a CRE of 1685 or so with a rating of 1950 (after that, the test ended. I started laddering too late =/). I might've lost 5 battles, all of which were lost because very good players got a crapload of hax vs. me. Ladder rank aside, this team was basically my attempt at variety after going through a bit of a slump. but why post this team if it is so good? well, I'm done using it, and I'm here to lead by example, so that the rest of you guys can learn something and improve your own teams. I'm doing this for you, the population of smogon, so if you fully read and appreciated and learned from this rmt, say so in your post, so that I know how many of you actually gained something here (I also want to see who took the time to actually read the intro).
First, to understand this team, you must understand how I play. Basically, to play offense, all you have to do is get in a sweeper, set up, do as much damage as possible, sacrifice said sweeper, get in the next one, etc etc. By using stuff that is walled by the same things, you sacrifice one guy to weaken the counter (a bulky water or blissey in the case of this team) and then the rest of the team has a party. there is a lot of longterm thinking involved, because you have to sacrifice the right stuff and find openings to sweep and stuff. with this team, you don't have to predict, but you have to be thinking about the lategame from turn one, keeping the right stuff alive, sacrificing the right stuff, etc. otherwise, you'll find yourself unable to break through the opponent. It is also imperative, that, to not get swept, you have to not let anything be able to set up anywhere. if you want to effectively beat stall, scarfers are a huge no-no, therefore you can't revenge kill. since you can't revenge kill, the only way to not get swept is to not let anything set up on you. it follows that choice items in general are a no-no, due to the amount of free turns you give. It is also not good to switch, as by switching, you take two attacks, or worse, give your opponent a fee turn to set up. by doing your own thing and not switching out and giving your opponent free turns, you are never on the defensive, the pressure is always on the opponent, and you don't have to predict. It also follows that since we don't want to predict, explosion is a no-no as well, because it causes blind switches, which are even more guess-like than predictions. By doing all this, you play without having to predict. as long as your long-term thinking is solid and your team is good, you can win, no guessing necessary. this is the better way to play offense, the more reliable way.
so, knowing all this, it follows that a good offense team will be predominantly physical or predominantly special oriented, so that one has things that are walled by the same stuff. it is, due to the abundance of bulky, hard-hitting setup sweepers on the physical side, much easier to create an all-physical team. however, there is a downside. your generic team has more than one physically bulky pokemon, making it hard to break through some teams. so, I have crafted here an all-special team. by doing this, I minimize the amount of bulky pokemon I have to eliminate. it is rare that defensive tyranitar, snorlax, and blissey will all be on the same team. therefore I only have to sacrifice one pokemon sometimes, and I can win handily. However, I have here broken a few principles here. I have a choice item on the team and two explosions. if you blindly follow the principles of no-prediction offense, this team looks bad. however, if you understand WHY the principles are there, what purpose they serve, you realize that this is ok. I'll start with the concept of explosions. they help me take down blissey. but what about the blind switches? well, I have specjolt and logar on the team, and they can take on near anything without one-on-one without having to set up. therefore it is ok to explode, because I am coming out on top afterwards anyways. as for specjolt, you must understand that I rarely bring it out before the lategame. I think I may have used a move other than thunderbolt once or twice. rather than lojolt, I need specjolt to be able to take things on one-on-one. specjolt often comes in the lategame and just ohkos everything, without needing an opening to set up. that is why it's potent. and since I save it for the lategame, it's rare that anything sets up on it anyways. So, here we go with the team! (ps zorba really isn't that common a greek name but they made a movie so I decided to make my alt that so eh)
Zorbas
a.k.a. Azelf
----------------------------
Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
Evs: 252 Satk, 4 Atk, 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+ Spd, -Sdef)
~ Stealth Rock
~ Explosion
~ Fire Blast
~ Psychic
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Comments / Thoughts: So I start the match with suicide azelf. Here's the reasoning. I get up sr early, and I sacrifice azelf, giving me a free switchin to whatever kills it, generally giving me a free turn to set up and sweep or sacrifice or whatever. Generally I don't set up sr right away, but attack to 2hko whatever is in, encouraging the opponent to switch as I set sr. by doing this, I get damage on a first pokemon, scout a little, set up my sr, and maybe even continue denting stuff. Oftentimes, I decide to just not explode and continue to fire off strong psychics, which allows me to weaken enemy rotoms, as they are an annoying threat to this team, beating manaphy and infernape as well as forcing jolteon out. So azelf generally puts me ahead from the start. Sometimes, I can just continally fire off psychics, lulling poorer players into a sense of security and managing to blow up blissey early in the game. It's also fun to hit jirachies hard and then come in laer. Basically, I don't explode immediately with this guy because that's somewhat expected. And if I happen to explode on a ghost, no sweat. If azelf gets sr and scouts a little, he's done his job. Besides, worst comes to worst, if I don't get a kill with explosion, I still get the free turn from bringing in whoever I want. Azelf has failed me maybe once or twice to get a good start in the match, despite how prepared people are for him.
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Dimitris
a.k.a. Gengar
-----------------------------
Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Evs: 252 Satk, 4 Atk, 252 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
~ Shadow Ball
~ Focus Blast
~ Explosion
~ Hypnosis
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Comments / Thoughts: Logar generally comes in early game, right after azelf explodes. He can take on most things one-on-one with hypnosis, and sleeping scizors on the switch is pretty cool. Generally if the opponent has a blissey, they're bringing it in immediately. If they don't bring it in due to being scared of explosion, they're getting hit by incredibly strong shadow balls and getting frustrated enough to just bring her in anyways. I can generally scout the protect, and if I don't get blissey dead, it's generally at low enough health for the rest of the team to take on. Gengar can generally just throw attacks without switching and ko or 2hko everything, especially with sr and hypnosis forcing switches. He comes in early game and just does damage while scouting the team to helll. You don't know how many switches this guy forces. What's nice is, with scizor getting gengar, people have stopped worrying about it and letting it walk all over their teams. Well, gengar is back and better. Even if scizor bullet punches me dead, I've got like 3 guys who love coming in after scizor bullet punches. So yea, this guy works in conjunction with azelf for early game havoc generally. If it lives to see the lategame, it can sweep once bulkier pokemon are weakened and scizor is taken out / slept. But generally I sac this guy early so that doesnt happen tooooo often.
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Yiannis
a.k.a. Infernape
--------------------------
Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
Evs: 252 Satk, 252 Spd, 4 Hp
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~ Nasty Plot
~ Fire Blast
~ Focus Blast
~ Vacuum Wave
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Comments / Thoughts: Nasty plot infernape. This guy is a threat that is not too often seen anymore. He is, however, incredibly potent. This guy generally comes in after gengar, due to scizor bullet punching me dead. As he plots the switche, he ohkos vaporeon, swampert, blissey, zapdos, and all the rest of the usual suspects (blissey not as much but sometimes they think they can survive allspecial ape once the cat's out of the bag. that is assuming they survived my early 'lures'). Blaze fire blast is nothing to scoff at either, ohkoing even resists like swampert and the bulkiest of salamences. Vacuum wave is mainly to revenge kill stuff if somehow I let something set up, as well as priority for random scarfers and priority users that may try to hurt ape after it's taken some damage. I didnt' use vacuum wave too much, so I considered hp electric to more reliably stroke manaphy as well as to kill annoying gyaradoses and weaken tentacruels, but was too lazy to actually make the team change lol. The thing is, tentacruel lacks recovery, and generally it is the only thing standing between empoleon and gg, so hitting it reasonably hard with fire blast is enough for me. A lot of the time, preople expect me to switch out to save ape and take the chance to set up toxic spikes or rapid spin, allowing me to get two +2 hits on an annoying pokemon, leaving it with very little health (and obviously not enough hp to deal with empoleon). This guy exemplefies the team concept of sacrifices, generally busting open huge holes for me to exploit. By the time this guy is done rampaging, it's generally game over no matter what. Stroking manaphies is also fun as they can be a bit of a thorn in empoleon's side, and nobody likes speed ties. Oh, this guy also completely decimates stall pretty much one his own, which is another plus, though stall really has no place vs. this team and its nature anyways.
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Maria
a.k.a. Manaphy
-----------------------------------
Manaphy @ Life Orb
Ability: Hydration
Evs: 252 Satk, 252 Spd, 4 Hp
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~ Tail Glow
~ Surf
~ Energy Ball
~ Ice Beam
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Comments / Thoughts: The dreaded suspect manaphy. Ironically, this guy has generally been the weak link of the team. When I win, he is rarely a substantial contributor, if I even reveal him at all. When I lose, he is usually just taking up space. Rarely did manaphy help me at all, other than maybe to coax out other manaphies to speed tie with me. The reason I built this team was to use manaphy in the suspect test, and I found him quite underwhelming. So basically I theory'd him onto the team and was reluctant to remove him. He is quick and can ohko frail stuff without setup, and once he is set up even the strongest of defenders can't take him on. Even blissey. If blissey, for whatever reason, is still alive to take on manaphy, I don't switch out. One time, I won a game because manaphy set up as blissey came in, set up again while getting thunderwaved, then sacrificed himself to hit blissey with powerful 70%+ surfs, forcing her to stoss because she dies before lo kills me. Basically manaphy is a bit of a glue for the team, ohkoing most everything while at the same time being bulky (and not early game death fodder) so that I can go to him mid-late game. Anyways, aside from serving as prime lategame stuff to sacrifice so that I can get an opening for ape or jolt to sweep, manaphy didn't do too much. Another interesting thing, I don't think I ever won a manaphy speed tie =[[.
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Yiorgos
a.k.a. Empoleon
-------------------------------
Empoleon @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Torrent
Evs: 252 Satk, 232 Spd, 12 Hp, 12 Def
Modest Nature (+Satk, -Atk)
~ Agility
~ Substitute
~ Hydro Pump
~ Ice Beam
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Comments / Thoughts: Sub empoleon is quite possibly the most fearsome sweeper in OU. No, in fact, it IS the most fearsome sweeper in OU. I think the only reason that he isn't seen more is because of the amount of support required to make him sweep, and the fact that you pretty much only get one chance to sweep. Well, that isn't an issue for this team, because every single member of this team is a win condition on its own, so even if emp doesnt sweep, its ok. Basically I get him in midgame on a scizor bullet punch, generally to kill off ape, and just sweep away the rest of the enemy team. He is quick enough after an agility to sweep, though getting beat by scarfgon is kind of annoying. Basically, empoleon is what makes allspecial offense worthwhile over allphysical. His formidability as a way to end games in a snap is just insane. And with this team being as wearing as it is on blissey and waters, it's rare that he can't do his thing. I have emp here using hydro pump and ice beam, mainly to kill off bulky things. if empoleon were my only way to sweep, I'd be using surf, but since the goal is to do as much damage before dying, hydro pump gets the nod in order to ohko bulky pokemon that might get in my other guys' way. Ice beam, in the meantime, is here because I can deal with waters with ease but not with fliers as easily. Yea, not much to say here, this is kinda the guy the team was built around, and he does a good job of what he does.
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Eleni
a.k.a. Jolteon
--------------------------------------
Jolteon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Volt Absorb
Evs: 252 Satk, 252 Spd, 4 Hp
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~ Thunderbolt
~ Shadow Ball
~ Baton Pass
~ Rain Dance
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Comments / Thoughts: Specjolt. This guy can ohko pretty much any semi-frail mon in platinum. Zero set up. Just get in and kill stuff. This guy is mainly my lategame sweeper if for some reason there isnt an opening to set up on. He comes in usually just once and it's game over. The moveset might throw you guys off, but there is pretty ok reasoning behind it. Basically, I'm never EVER going to use a hidden power, so I figured why screw with the ivs and sacrifice satk points to get a hidden power. It's much more likely that setting up rain dances before dying so that manaphy or empoleon can win with double stab water attacks than it is to get a kill on swampert with hp grass. Swampert is nearly ALWAYS dead by the time I should even think about bringing jolteon in. So yea, no hidden powers for me. This is my guy who can beat scarfgar with his nice sdef, which is really sad because scarfgar does a number to this team. Luckily, they are usually saved for the lategame where jolt wins 1 vs. 1. This guy kinda functions like deoxys-s did once upon a time. Not much to explain here, jolteon just gets the job done when I need it to, and that job is just coming in lategame and killing shit. I also generally go to jolt if I'm nervous about going to ape after gengar explodes. Jolt is another force that wins 1v1 against most things after an explosion.
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so yea, that's the team in all its glory. Sacrifice, sweep, win, do your own thing and not worry about the opponent (this is the only way to keep the initiative really), etc etc. I guess I'll just go through the teambuilding process with you guys for shits and giggles.
In the beginning, I decided that I would be using manaphy in the suspect test. I'm an offensive player who doesn't like to predict, and I knew what kind of team I had in mind, so any defensive / specs sets / whatever are out of the question. It followed that I was gonna go with np lo manaphy, to be able to also do some damage to blissey with +4 lo surfs. so, the team as it was in the beginning....
After that, I decided that since manaphy lures tentacruels and vaporeons and ludicolos and other waters, as well as blissey, and does substantial damage to all of the above, as well as the fact that empoleon is basically needed on a special team to make it worthwhile, I added him in. so at this point, we have our two incredibly scary water types.
So now, we have two water types that are sacrificing themselves to take out each others' counters. they are walled by the same thing, etc. etc. I decided to further expand this combination and add another fearsome special attacker to the mix. In came npape, making even more formidable offensive synergy between the three guys. At this point, bulky waters are walling my three sweepers on the team, making it easy to win by just killing off the water. I was quite pleased with the addition of ape, as it made a lot of sense. I checked at this point to make sure I had my bases covered. does the team have some speed? yes. can stuff set up on me easily? no. great!
after I had my 3 pokemon core that pretty much breaks through teams on its own, I decided that I needed some sort of guy who is mean to bulky waters, in case I find myself up against one at full health. I figured charge beam lojolt fits the bill, and it's still incredibly hard to set up on, so we're good. jolt also can take advantage of double switches, meaning I can add an explosion or two to the team, helping me to take out blissey. Every pokemon is still an individual win condition, while everyone still contributes to an empoleon sweep. I'm fulfilling the preferred goal while still having lots of backups for the team to sweep. another pleasing step in building the team.
So, now the team is pretty quick with two guys hitting 328 speed. however, there are a few too many ground weaks. and there are no explosions for blissey. hmm, logar? logar. I decided he could provide some early game devastation while also luring in blisseys and blowing up. in addition to that, cb bullet punches are easy for the rest of the team to set up on and do extra extra damage, so scizor is not a problem. logar also adds even more blistering speed to the team without resorting to choice scarves. and since I'm still all-special, physical walls have zero place vs. the team.
And so, everything but the lead position has been decided. I decided to add even more speed to the team and have a guy who can do some early game damage. azelf has been the lead of my choice since early early june, and he remains an excellent lead today. I decided to try him out.
And so, the team was complete, and it went through some playtesting. I found everything to be pretty good, except jolteon didnt ever make good use of the lo, I hardly ever switched moves save for going between charge beam and thunderbolt, and I missed a lot of kos, costing me games that I couldve won. so, I decided to go out on a limb, break a rule of thumb, and go specjolt. I haven't regretted the decision since. And so, all I needed to do was be extra careful and make sure grounds were out of the way. I found this to be incredibly easy for the team to do. and so, with the final changes set, I tried to ladder. And, to my delight, the team was incredibly successful.
of course I need to do a threat list for the rmt to look nice right?
Defensive Threats
Blissey - explosions, sacrifices, etc. blissey generally comes in on gengar and dies, so I'm good. otherwise it comes in on ape or manaphy. if not, then I'm killing everything else so its ok. blissey has never been alive after empoleon or jolteon were revealed.
Bronzong - takes early game damage from the get-go from azelf and gets at worst 2hkod by every pokemon on the team. ape fb kills it, shadow ball 2hkos, petaya torrent hydro pump ohkos it, etc. it rarely gets more than one turn to do anything. most of the time they try and switch in somewhere just to die.
Celebi - gets ohkod by everything on the team except jolteon, who is only out in the lategame. it can't come in anywhere, literally.
Cresselia - usually I set up empoleon on it due to the twave immunity, but it takes heavy damage from everyone before it can do anything significant. it's kinda like bronzong in that it can't switch in without taking heavy damage, and if it's coming in after something's dead, that means I've already set up and am ready to smash it.
Donphan - on a team with no physical attacks or dragons, this guy doesnt come in at all.
Dusknoir - ape comes in and sets up without issue. same with empoleon. this guy cant touch me.
Forretress - No room to set-up on this team or spin at all. Pretty self-explanitory. he gets set up on by ape and empoleon as well.
Gliscor - dealt with by every single member of this team.
Gyarados - a bit problematic if it sets up on ape, but generally they cant take sr + fireblast + vacuum wave and then other stuff.
Hippowdon - gets ohkod by near everything, 2hkod by gengar. a bit of a problem if they save it for the lategame when only jolteon is left but its pretty easy to beat.
Jirachi - takes big damage early game from fb and gets 2hkod by everything. cant do any damage anywhere.
Rotom-A - they usually try and absorb azelf explosions and take 60+ from psychic, sometimes I can get them with a still intact sash, in which case they just die there.
Skarmory - no issues whatsoever
Snorlax - it takes too much damage. it might kill something in the process, but it's not defensive enough to take on anyone but jolteon. it gets lured in generally by the rest of the team.
Suicune - it takes lots of damage from everybody. generally comes in on ape just to get ohkod.
Swampert - comes in on ape almost always. otherwise it gets 2hkod by everything and ohkod by ape where it usually tries to come in.
Tentacruel - annoying, but generally it gets lured and weakened into emp range by manaphy+ape. they also have a habit of trying to absorb gengar focus blasts on stall teams between him and blissey. usually by just firing hypnosises and explosions I can end up crippling this guy and killing blissey with gengar, sealing a win.
Tyranitar - only a problem for jolteon. nonissue.
Vaporeon - gets stroked by ape when it tries to come in. gengar can also beat it, as can manaphy and jolteon. they are never alive at the same time as empoleon (i.e. i dont reveal him till they're dead)
Zapdos - generally they try to come in on ape and die. nobody cares about zapdos really. like, everyone, once set up, can ohko it. and if it tries switching in it gets 2hkod by whatever.
Offensive Threats
Azelf - forces me to go to jolteon early game, but not much other issues so its good.
Breloom - outsped and ohkod by everybody. nonissue.
Dragonite - doesnt come in anywhere except vs. ape, but it takes too much damage. a nonissue.
Dugtrio - ohkod by everybody except jolteon, but generally they try to go to it vs. ape.
Electivire - usually comes in on gengar expecting a thunderbolt only to get 2hkod. they are never alive in the lategame, so jolteon doesnt care.
Gallade - ohkod by gengar, ape, empoleon, manaphy, pretty much everone. cant come in.
Gengar - all gengars have hp fire pretty much so mine outspeeds theirs. scarfgar is generally only in the lategame where jolt beats it.
Gyarados - annoying but generally sr + repeated hits bring it down.
Heatran - manaphy sets up on scarftrans, as can empoleon. empoleon really is the best answer.
Heracross - cant come in anywhere. scarfed ones are easy to set up on.
Infernape - gengar is cool for revenge killing. everyone ohkos this guy though so its ok.
Jolteon - a thorn in my side. generally I have to sac my own jolt or let it get to low health just to weaken this guy.
Kingdra - not bulky enough to take me on i.e. it takes too much damage from everyone and vacuum wave kos the ones that survive.
Lucario - they no longer carry bullet punch so gengar can take it on. he cant set up anywhere, and once hes taken a tiny amount of damage vacuum wave does him in for good.
Machamp - annoying little mf. i have to get lucky and not hit myself in confusion too many times. otherwise a few hits bring him down.
Magnezone- never had any issues. generally they try to revenge kill ape or come in on emp as he agilities only to die.
Mamoswine - ape revenge kills, though they can be annoying. usually they come in on weakened gengar and then get forced out by ape and lose.
Metagross - takes big damage early game and cant come in anywhere. agilitiers with leftovers are a problem if they come in on gengar, though. but that almost never happens. if it does, generally sleep clause isnt up.
Porygon-Z - cant set up anywhere, and the scarfers are easy to set up on.
Salamence - doesnt set up very easily. and ape/gengar/jolt revenge kill it. scarfmence gets set up on.
Scizor - gets set up on everywhere
Starmie - annoying, but generally I can wear them down.
Togekiss - cant come in anywhere
Tyranitar - nobody but jolteon cares. and jolt is a lategamer anyways.
Weavile - ape can set up on it, so can empoleon, but they're annoying when they come in on gengar. basically scizor but sometimes not choiced so eh.
Yanmega- a thorn in my side again, but jolteon can beat it ok. empoleon can set up on them decently well with his buff sdef.
Zapdos - nonissue for me, everyone ohkos or 2hkos.
so yea comment/rate/fix/whatever
Οι Έλληνες!
so I haven't made a rmt in a long long time. Thing is, most of my good teams I am reluctant to reveal because in mirror matches they suck (i.e. the whole match pretty much comes down to one speed tie). those of you who have used some of my teams vs. me, youknow what I'm talking about. But enough about why I haven't made a rmt in a while, let's talk about why I am making one now. Well, here's the deal. Lately, a lot of people on the forums have associated heavy offense with lots of prediction. I am here to tell you guys that this is not the case. I have here a team that wins games handily without making ballsy switches. Some of you may remember my latest rmt, the suicide concept. think of the suicide concept to an extreme, and that's what you'll find here. the sacrifice team has made its comeback, and now it's better than ever. for those of you who care about numbers, on the suspect ladder under the alt Zorba (hence the title of the thread.) (where this team is meant to be played, latias is too much of a bitch), this team, in two days, reached a CRE of 1685 or so with a rating of 1950 (after that, the test ended. I started laddering too late =/). I might've lost 5 battles, all of which were lost because very good players got a crapload of hax vs. me. Ladder rank aside, this team was basically my attempt at variety after going through a bit of a slump. but why post this team if it is so good? well, I'm done using it, and I'm here to lead by example, so that the rest of you guys can learn something and improve your own teams. I'm doing this for you, the population of smogon, so if you fully read and appreciated and learned from this rmt, say so in your post, so that I know how many of you actually gained something here (I also want to see who took the time to actually read the intro).
First, to understand this team, you must understand how I play. Basically, to play offense, all you have to do is get in a sweeper, set up, do as much damage as possible, sacrifice said sweeper, get in the next one, etc etc. By using stuff that is walled by the same things, you sacrifice one guy to weaken the counter (a bulky water or blissey in the case of this team) and then the rest of the team has a party. there is a lot of longterm thinking involved, because you have to sacrifice the right stuff and find openings to sweep and stuff. with this team, you don't have to predict, but you have to be thinking about the lategame from turn one, keeping the right stuff alive, sacrificing the right stuff, etc. otherwise, you'll find yourself unable to break through the opponent. It is also imperative, that, to not get swept, you have to not let anything be able to set up anywhere. if you want to effectively beat stall, scarfers are a huge no-no, therefore you can't revenge kill. since you can't revenge kill, the only way to not get swept is to not let anything set up on you. it follows that choice items in general are a no-no, due to the amount of free turns you give. It is also not good to switch, as by switching, you take two attacks, or worse, give your opponent a fee turn to set up. by doing your own thing and not switching out and giving your opponent free turns, you are never on the defensive, the pressure is always on the opponent, and you don't have to predict. It also follows that since we don't want to predict, explosion is a no-no as well, because it causes blind switches, which are even more guess-like than predictions. By doing all this, you play without having to predict. as long as your long-term thinking is solid and your team is good, you can win, no guessing necessary. this is the better way to play offense, the more reliable way.
so, knowing all this, it follows that a good offense team will be predominantly physical or predominantly special oriented, so that one has things that are walled by the same stuff. it is, due to the abundance of bulky, hard-hitting setup sweepers on the physical side, much easier to create an all-physical team. however, there is a downside. your generic team has more than one physically bulky pokemon, making it hard to break through some teams. so, I have crafted here an all-special team. by doing this, I minimize the amount of bulky pokemon I have to eliminate. it is rare that defensive tyranitar, snorlax, and blissey will all be on the same team. therefore I only have to sacrifice one pokemon sometimes, and I can win handily. However, I have here broken a few principles here. I have a choice item on the team and two explosions. if you blindly follow the principles of no-prediction offense, this team looks bad. however, if you understand WHY the principles are there, what purpose they serve, you realize that this is ok. I'll start with the concept of explosions. they help me take down blissey. but what about the blind switches? well, I have specjolt and logar on the team, and they can take on near anything without one-on-one without having to set up. therefore it is ok to explode, because I am coming out on top afterwards anyways. as for specjolt, you must understand that I rarely bring it out before the lategame. I think I may have used a move other than thunderbolt once or twice. rather than lojolt, I need specjolt to be able to take things on one-on-one. specjolt often comes in the lategame and just ohkos everything, without needing an opening to set up. that is why it's potent. and since I save it for the lategame, it's rare that anything sets up on it anyways. So, here we go with the team! (ps zorba really isn't that common a greek name but they made a movie so I decided to make my alt that so eh)
Zorbas
a.k.a. Azelf
----------------------------
Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
Evs: 252 Satk, 4 Atk, 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+ Spd, -Sdef)
~ Stealth Rock
~ Explosion
~ Fire Blast
~ Psychic
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Comments / Thoughts: So I start the match with suicide azelf. Here's the reasoning. I get up sr early, and I sacrifice azelf, giving me a free switchin to whatever kills it, generally giving me a free turn to set up and sweep or sacrifice or whatever. Generally I don't set up sr right away, but attack to 2hko whatever is in, encouraging the opponent to switch as I set sr. by doing this, I get damage on a first pokemon, scout a little, set up my sr, and maybe even continue denting stuff. Oftentimes, I decide to just not explode and continue to fire off strong psychics, which allows me to weaken enemy rotoms, as they are an annoying threat to this team, beating manaphy and infernape as well as forcing jolteon out. So azelf generally puts me ahead from the start. Sometimes, I can just continally fire off psychics, lulling poorer players into a sense of security and managing to blow up blissey early in the game. It's also fun to hit jirachies hard and then come in laer. Basically, I don't explode immediately with this guy because that's somewhat expected. And if I happen to explode on a ghost, no sweat. If azelf gets sr and scouts a little, he's done his job. Besides, worst comes to worst, if I don't get a kill with explosion, I still get the free turn from bringing in whoever I want. Azelf has failed me maybe once or twice to get a good start in the match, despite how prepared people are for him.
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Dimitris
a.k.a. Gengar
-----------------------------
Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Evs: 252 Satk, 4 Atk, 252 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
~ Shadow Ball
~ Focus Blast
~ Explosion
~ Hypnosis
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Comments / Thoughts: Logar generally comes in early game, right after azelf explodes. He can take on most things one-on-one with hypnosis, and sleeping scizors on the switch is pretty cool. Generally if the opponent has a blissey, they're bringing it in immediately. If they don't bring it in due to being scared of explosion, they're getting hit by incredibly strong shadow balls and getting frustrated enough to just bring her in anyways. I can generally scout the protect, and if I don't get blissey dead, it's generally at low enough health for the rest of the team to take on. Gengar can generally just throw attacks without switching and ko or 2hko everything, especially with sr and hypnosis forcing switches. He comes in early game and just does damage while scouting the team to helll. You don't know how many switches this guy forces. What's nice is, with scizor getting gengar, people have stopped worrying about it and letting it walk all over their teams. Well, gengar is back and better. Even if scizor bullet punches me dead, I've got like 3 guys who love coming in after scizor bullet punches. So yea, this guy works in conjunction with azelf for early game havoc generally. If it lives to see the lategame, it can sweep once bulkier pokemon are weakened and scizor is taken out / slept. But generally I sac this guy early so that doesnt happen tooooo often.
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Yiannis
a.k.a. Infernape
--------------------------
Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
Evs: 252 Satk, 252 Spd, 4 Hp
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~ Nasty Plot
~ Fire Blast
~ Focus Blast
~ Vacuum Wave
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Comments / Thoughts: Nasty plot infernape. This guy is a threat that is not too often seen anymore. He is, however, incredibly potent. This guy generally comes in after gengar, due to scizor bullet punching me dead. As he plots the switche, he ohkos vaporeon, swampert, blissey, zapdos, and all the rest of the usual suspects (blissey not as much but sometimes they think they can survive allspecial ape once the cat's out of the bag. that is assuming they survived my early 'lures'). Blaze fire blast is nothing to scoff at either, ohkoing even resists like swampert and the bulkiest of salamences. Vacuum wave is mainly to revenge kill stuff if somehow I let something set up, as well as priority for random scarfers and priority users that may try to hurt ape after it's taken some damage. I didnt' use vacuum wave too much, so I considered hp electric to more reliably stroke manaphy as well as to kill annoying gyaradoses and weaken tentacruels, but was too lazy to actually make the team change lol. The thing is, tentacruel lacks recovery, and generally it is the only thing standing between empoleon and gg, so hitting it reasonably hard with fire blast is enough for me. A lot of the time, preople expect me to switch out to save ape and take the chance to set up toxic spikes or rapid spin, allowing me to get two +2 hits on an annoying pokemon, leaving it with very little health (and obviously not enough hp to deal with empoleon). This guy exemplefies the team concept of sacrifices, generally busting open huge holes for me to exploit. By the time this guy is done rampaging, it's generally game over no matter what. Stroking manaphies is also fun as they can be a bit of a thorn in empoleon's side, and nobody likes speed ties. Oh, this guy also completely decimates stall pretty much one his own, which is another plus, though stall really has no place vs. this team and its nature anyways.
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Maria
a.k.a. Manaphy
-----------------------------------
Manaphy @ Life Orb
Ability: Hydration
Evs: 252 Satk, 252 Spd, 4 Hp
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~ Tail Glow
~ Surf
~ Energy Ball
~ Ice Beam
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Comments / Thoughts: The dreaded suspect manaphy. Ironically, this guy has generally been the weak link of the team. When I win, he is rarely a substantial contributor, if I even reveal him at all. When I lose, he is usually just taking up space. Rarely did manaphy help me at all, other than maybe to coax out other manaphies to speed tie with me. The reason I built this team was to use manaphy in the suspect test, and I found him quite underwhelming. So basically I theory'd him onto the team and was reluctant to remove him. He is quick and can ohko frail stuff without setup, and once he is set up even the strongest of defenders can't take him on. Even blissey. If blissey, for whatever reason, is still alive to take on manaphy, I don't switch out. One time, I won a game because manaphy set up as blissey came in, set up again while getting thunderwaved, then sacrificed himself to hit blissey with powerful 70%+ surfs, forcing her to stoss because she dies before lo kills me. Basically manaphy is a bit of a glue for the team, ohkoing most everything while at the same time being bulky (and not early game death fodder) so that I can go to him mid-late game. Anyways, aside from serving as prime lategame stuff to sacrifice so that I can get an opening for ape or jolt to sweep, manaphy didn't do too much. Another interesting thing, I don't think I ever won a manaphy speed tie =[[.
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Yiorgos
a.k.a. Empoleon
-------------------------------
Empoleon @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Torrent
Evs: 252 Satk, 232 Spd, 12 Hp, 12 Def
Modest Nature (+Satk, -Atk)
~ Agility
~ Substitute
~ Hydro Pump
~ Ice Beam
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Comments / Thoughts: Sub empoleon is quite possibly the most fearsome sweeper in OU. No, in fact, it IS the most fearsome sweeper in OU. I think the only reason that he isn't seen more is because of the amount of support required to make him sweep, and the fact that you pretty much only get one chance to sweep. Well, that isn't an issue for this team, because every single member of this team is a win condition on its own, so even if emp doesnt sweep, its ok. Basically I get him in midgame on a scizor bullet punch, generally to kill off ape, and just sweep away the rest of the enemy team. He is quick enough after an agility to sweep, though getting beat by scarfgon is kind of annoying. Basically, empoleon is what makes allspecial offense worthwhile over allphysical. His formidability as a way to end games in a snap is just insane. And with this team being as wearing as it is on blissey and waters, it's rare that he can't do his thing. I have emp here using hydro pump and ice beam, mainly to kill off bulky things. if empoleon were my only way to sweep, I'd be using surf, but since the goal is to do as much damage before dying, hydro pump gets the nod in order to ohko bulky pokemon that might get in my other guys' way. Ice beam, in the meantime, is here because I can deal with waters with ease but not with fliers as easily. Yea, not much to say here, this is kinda the guy the team was built around, and he does a good job of what he does.
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Eleni
a.k.a. Jolteon
--------------------------------------
Jolteon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Volt Absorb
Evs: 252 Satk, 252 Spd, 4 Hp
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~ Thunderbolt
~ Shadow Ball
~ Baton Pass
~ Rain Dance
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Comments / Thoughts: Specjolt. This guy can ohko pretty much any semi-frail mon in platinum. Zero set up. Just get in and kill stuff. This guy is mainly my lategame sweeper if for some reason there isnt an opening to set up on. He comes in usually just once and it's game over. The moveset might throw you guys off, but there is pretty ok reasoning behind it. Basically, I'm never EVER going to use a hidden power, so I figured why screw with the ivs and sacrifice satk points to get a hidden power. It's much more likely that setting up rain dances before dying so that manaphy or empoleon can win with double stab water attacks than it is to get a kill on swampert with hp grass. Swampert is nearly ALWAYS dead by the time I should even think about bringing jolteon in. So yea, no hidden powers for me. This is my guy who can beat scarfgar with his nice sdef, which is really sad because scarfgar does a number to this team. Luckily, they are usually saved for the lategame where jolt wins 1 vs. 1. This guy kinda functions like deoxys-s did once upon a time. Not much to explain here, jolteon just gets the job done when I need it to, and that job is just coming in lategame and killing shit. I also generally go to jolt if I'm nervous about going to ape after gengar explodes. Jolt is another force that wins 1v1 against most things after an explosion.
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so yea, that's the team in all its glory. Sacrifice, sweep, win, do your own thing and not worry about the opponent (this is the only way to keep the initiative really), etc etc. I guess I'll just go through the teambuilding process with you guys for shits and giggles.
In the beginning, I decided that I would be using manaphy in the suspect test. I'm an offensive player who doesn't like to predict, and I knew what kind of team I had in mind, so any defensive / specs sets / whatever are out of the question. It followed that I was gonna go with np lo manaphy, to be able to also do some damage to blissey with +4 lo surfs. so, the team as it was in the beginning....
After that, I decided that since manaphy lures tentacruels and vaporeons and ludicolos and other waters, as well as blissey, and does substantial damage to all of the above, as well as the fact that empoleon is basically needed on a special team to make it worthwhile, I added him in. so at this point, we have our two incredibly scary water types.
So now, we have two water types that are sacrificing themselves to take out each others' counters. they are walled by the same thing, etc. etc. I decided to further expand this combination and add another fearsome special attacker to the mix. In came npape, making even more formidable offensive synergy between the three guys. At this point, bulky waters are walling my three sweepers on the team, making it easy to win by just killing off the water. I was quite pleased with the addition of ape, as it made a lot of sense. I checked at this point to make sure I had my bases covered. does the team have some speed? yes. can stuff set up on me easily? no. great!
after I had my 3 pokemon core that pretty much breaks through teams on its own, I decided that I needed some sort of guy who is mean to bulky waters, in case I find myself up against one at full health. I figured charge beam lojolt fits the bill, and it's still incredibly hard to set up on, so we're good. jolt also can take advantage of double switches, meaning I can add an explosion or two to the team, helping me to take out blissey. Every pokemon is still an individual win condition, while everyone still contributes to an empoleon sweep. I'm fulfilling the preferred goal while still having lots of backups for the team to sweep. another pleasing step in building the team.
So, now the team is pretty quick with two guys hitting 328 speed. however, there are a few too many ground weaks. and there are no explosions for blissey. hmm, logar? logar. I decided he could provide some early game devastation while also luring in blisseys and blowing up. in addition to that, cb bullet punches are easy for the rest of the team to set up on and do extra extra damage, so scizor is not a problem. logar also adds even more blistering speed to the team without resorting to choice scarves. and since I'm still all-special, physical walls have zero place vs. the team.
And so, everything but the lead position has been decided. I decided to add even more speed to the team and have a guy who can do some early game damage. azelf has been the lead of my choice since early early june, and he remains an excellent lead today. I decided to try him out.
And so, the team was complete, and it went through some playtesting. I found everything to be pretty good, except jolteon didnt ever make good use of the lo, I hardly ever switched moves save for going between charge beam and thunderbolt, and I missed a lot of kos, costing me games that I couldve won. so, I decided to go out on a limb, break a rule of thumb, and go specjolt. I haven't regretted the decision since. And so, all I needed to do was be extra careful and make sure grounds were out of the way. I found this to be incredibly easy for the team to do. and so, with the final changes set, I tried to ladder. And, to my delight, the team was incredibly successful.
of course I need to do a threat list for the rmt to look nice right?
Defensive Threats
Offensive Threats
so yea comment/rate/fix/whatever
