Admiral Ackbar's Dream (Choice Team)

[LampShade0wns]

Admiral Ackbar's "It's A Trap" line perfectly sums up this team. At a first glance it looks to be nothing more than a fairly standard run of the mill balanced team. Upon playing against it, opponents usually find out the hard way that they balance they were expecting is actually a team of 6 Pokemon using Choice Items to throw off an Opponents initial game plan. Most of the time the Choice Band on Gliscor and Choice Specs on Vaporeon is enough to Trick an opponent into bringing a fairly safe counter only to watch it destroyed by a much stronger attack than expected. The team has had strong success on the ladder with a current record of: 152-37-1.



At a Glance:

A Closer Look:

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 176 HP / 80 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Trick
- U-turn
- Iron Head

Overview:
Jirachi is one of the most important if not the most important Pokemon on the entire team. It’s job is essentially to be the lead of most matches, set up rocks, be an essentially pivot/scout, and eventually fodder to bring in a sweeper safely. Its’ Serene Grace backed Iron Heads are sometimes the difference between winning and losing close matches. While winning by luck isn’t exactly the goal, having a bit of it on your side never hurts. Jirachi is one of the Pokemon on this team who while isn’t as set up as a Pokemon to completely Trick my opponent it is good at holding firm ground and taking hits from Dragons which my team highly needs.

Heatran (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Dragon Pulse

Overview:
Heatran has never been a Pokemon to trifle with and is one of the toughest Pokemon in the game to switch around which is why he is a key candidate for Choice Specs. Overheat from Heatran is devastating and rarely does a Pokemon get out unscathed. Keep in mind that Drought Ninetales is highly prevalent and that you can find HP Fire on any team not running Politoed, and you’re almost always going to find time to fire off a Flash Fire/Sunny Day Boosted Overheat. Hidden Power Grass is fantastic. Gastrodon, Swampert, Vaporeon, Jellicent beware. This is one of the toughest things for opponents to recover from. One their bulky water has been dispatched most of this team has free reign over my opponent as they struggle to recover from the high powered offense. Dragon Pulse and Earth Power are here for obvious reasons. Dragon Pulse to replace the lost HP Ice which is filled by HP Grass, and Earth Power to round off coverage.

Mamoswine (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Superpower

Overview:
There’s an old adage that says “Every team is Mamoswine Weak.” And in most cases this turns out to be true. Mamoswine despite its plethora of weaknesses is completely devastating on the offensive end. It’s usually brought in after a Sac’d poke, obvious electric attack, or weak Ice move. But once it’s in you’re opponent will be scrambling to find a counter. Mamoswine also acts as a primary check to Dragonite, Hydreigon, Haxorus, and essentially any dragon you’ll find in OU excluding Kingdra. With the Therian Form Genies also starting to find their role in the BW2 meta, Mamoswine is a great way to deal with them.

Latias (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Trick

Overview:
Latias is another piece of the primary Glue that keeps this team going. While it doesn’t have the raw power of Mamoswine and Heatran, it is great at its job. Another defensive pivot capable of revenging Dragonites (With Multiscale Broken), Gyarados, Killing off Weakened Volcarona (or tricking a scarf), and taking care of Scarf Terrakion. Trick is extremely key when dealing with Wish Chansey/Blissey who can be very difficult to deal with on a Choice team.

Gliscor (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Stone Edge

Overview:
Gliscor is the first of the Pokemon used to throw off my opponent and keep them on their heels. Choice Banded Gliscor was something I tried every once in a while in 4th gen hoping it would work. Sadly it didn’t work. But on this team it is amazing. The Power of it is great, but the actually Max Speed Gliscor is what shocks opponents. STAB EQ coming off of some 430+ attack is no joke and backed by a decent speed of 317 really does wonders in Trapping an opponent into a field of Star Destroyers.

Vaporeon (F) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 208 HP / 252 SAtk / 48 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Scald

Overview:
Last and certainly not least… the Pokemon that inspired it all: Choice Specs Vaporeon. Vaporeon while having a decent offensive capacity is always seen as a supporter and something to set up on while it attempts to heal its teammates. Vaporeon in this instance is used to Cripple Supporters and KO Sweepers Hoping to gain an advantage. Rain is right up there with Sand for the most common weather. Stab Hydro Pump coming off of a 110 Base SpAtk is atounding. Scald is there to ensure accuracy and on occasion hope for burns. Hidden Power Grass is mostly for Rotom-W who seems to think that Vaporeon is its Play Toy until they find out otherwise. Ice Beam is then there to finish coverage.




THANKS FOR THE RATE, FEEL FREE TO LEAVE A COMMENT AND HELP ME MAKE THIS TEAM AS GOOD AS IT CANE BE!!!

 

[King]

This team reminds me a lot of my old good friend Numbers, or 724967. He made a team like this a few years back in 4th gen, and hit #1 with it. He gave it to me, and i got top 50(really really good for me back then). I have no comments, when this team is used right it cannot be beaten. Stall might seem a problem, but not with a few good predictions ;)

 

[Jirachee]

Hi

This is a cool team, and your success on the ladder with it just proves that all Choice teams can work in this metagame. However, I think that as a Choiced team, you be be extremely weak to entry hazards, Deoxys-D offense teams, Ferrothorn Rain teams (since it completly walls Vaporeon as well as Latias) Skarmory (which walls Gliscor and can set up on choiced Earthquakes etc.) stuff like Heatran and Tyranitar will also find a ton of opportunities to set up their Rocks on your team, and fairly early. Since your team carries 6 choiced Pokemon, you'll litteraly going to be switching all the time, constantly taking additional damage from SR+Spikes, which is more than a realistic scenario. This means that you lose 25% right off the bat on half your Pokemon upon swithing in, and you also get Jirachi losing ~19% and Gliscor/Latias, who lose 12%. Your team will then be more than prone to be swept by set uppers such as DD Dragonite who can take advantage of Mamoswine being weakened and simply KO it with ExtremeSpeed, and this is simply an example, there are many others. You will also have issues taking resisted hits, and this is pretty much how an offensive team works, you want to switch into resisted attacks to wreck stuff. Still, with all the hard hitters in the metagame who will hit you for ~40% with a resisted hit, losing 25% right away might very well reduce the effectiveness of your checks. I think that using a Choice Specs Starmie instead of Vaporeon would be the best solution here, as while Starmie is much less of an underrated Choice Specs Pokemon, it learns Rapid Spin, allowing you to keep your team alive and remove all entry hazard from the field. With Sandstorm gaining back it's former popularity, it will happen often that entry hazard damage will not be the only residual damage you're going to be dealing with and you really want to minimize it.

Honestly, I'd give Fire Blast a try over Overheat on Heatran, as the power loss isn't that big and you can actually spam it. But yeah that doesn't change that much.

I like your team's concept n_n. Here's the set you should use:

Starmie

Starmie @ Choice Specs
Natural Cure
Timid
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
~Hydro Pump
~Thunderbolt
~Trick
~Rapid Spin

Good luck!

 

[LampShade0wns]

Thank you both for your rates!

@King, Numbers and I used to be great friends. His Vaporeon from his Choice Team is what inspired this one.

@Jirachi, The Starmie set seems like a great Idea, the only issue will be sponging those tough Scalds and Hydro Pumps in the rain, but other than that it seems solid. Fire Blast>Overheat shouldve been done a while ago, its much more effective, I wont miss the power that much but accuracy is a downer. I will definitely test it all out.