CREATIVITY: the story of how a joke team actually achieved a decent rating

[Molk]

By Molk, Mightyena description written by Shakeitup, banner by ebeast.



Introduction:


Sup everyone, its Molk with another RU RMT. As you can see, this team is kinda different from the other teams i've posted in the past (like rise of mangoose for example). In fact, its a completely different kind of team and was made for a different reason: its a joke team. So about a week ago i was bored and needed something to do, there were no new posts on the forum and i was tired of using the same old teams on the ladder. so i built a team made out of completely and totally random NU/PU/NFE pokemon and RU pokemon known for being bad/with really bad sets and set out to ladder with it. I played a few matches and of course i lost most of them given it was a joke team. Eventually user: Shakeitup was bored and started laddering with a seaking for #rarelyused's amusement, so i asked him to use the (as i called it) CREATIVITY team afterwards. He didnt do it right at the moment, but he used it in a match against jasonpwn afterwards! mercilessly destroying him with a mightyena (http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ru-34736328 replay). Afterwards i started throwing more random stuff together for him to play with it (one of which had specs poliwrath and pawniard for example). Eventually i came up with this with, which i decided to ladder with myself because i was bored. To my surprise people on the PS ladder were actually losing to the team, so i kept going to see how far i could get. I made some changes along the way and eventually got to 1901 with a 94-22 W/L. This usually wouldn't be a big achievement, but considering just how bad this team would be in a serious match, its pretty amazing that i could get that high with a decent w/l. some friends of mine asked me to RMT it because lol this team, so here it is.
Note: this is a total joke team, i would heavily advise against using this team in an important match and/or if you want to top a ladder or anything, it'll just make things harder.

The Joke Team:



Trop (Pineco) @ Berry Juice
Trait: Sturdy
Level: 1
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Pain Split

Despite being an nfe with terrible stats, Pineco is actually a surprisingly legitimate hazard setter, and when my opponent lacks taunt or a spinner, it can usually get up stealth rock every match, if not more. Basically, hitting pineco causes Sturdy to activate, ensuring that it survives the first attack, giving a free opportunity to set up Stealth Rock while berry juice restores me to full hp, letting me survive another hit. From there Pineco can use Pain Split to repeatedly restore itself to full Hp while damaging the opponent. When pineco's job is done, it can end its reign of terror by either setting up an extra layer of spikes or spinning away the opponent's hazards, clearing the field for yanma (although it obviously can't do anything against spinblockers lol). Pineco was actually so good overall that i'm considering trying to get it an actual competitive analysis because of how well this set performed lol. (note: replaced this smeargle during the last 5 matches or so because i was bored of it)



MortarTheExplorer (Magmortar) @ No Item
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Rock Tomb
- Thief
- Fire Blast
- Confuse Ray

So i was browsing deleted posts in the RU forums one day with my new mods, and i found this little gem, i found it pretty funny and it eventually became an inside joke between me and a few friends of mine in my channel, #ru, #nu, and #pokemon. Anyways, this was probably the least useful member of my team for obvious reasons (just look at the set) but it did clutch me a few games with between flame body, stealing items, confuse ray, rock tomb's speed drops, and its still somewhat powerful fire blasts. It was also an okay answer to hail teams and certain physical attacks because of the extra physical bulk invested. But again, this was easily the least useful member of the team, and you should never consider using this set in a serious match, NEVER.

Ebeast Slayer (Electivire) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Vital Spirit
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]

As the name may suggest, this Electivire set was chosen for the team because of the one time my friend ebeast (sorry ;-;) lost to a Special Electivire on the RU ladder. It was suggested that i use this over the original Pokemon i had here because of that, so here it is! Anyways, Electivire functioned as a revenge killer for my team, being fast enough to outpace most of the tier and at least damage a bunch of Pokemon, most importantly +2 Omastar. Electivire's Vital Spirit also came in handy occasionally, letting me absorb sleep powders from Lilligant and Flamethrower her in return before she became too threatening to my team. Volt Switch was also nice for scouting switches, racking up residual damage, and getting my other teammates in for free. Realistically though, there are obviously better options than Scarf special Electivire, if you ever need an Scarfed Electric-type, use Scarf Manectric or Rotom-C over Electivire, depending on what your team specifically needs.

Molk (Mightyena) @ Life Orb
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Crunch
- Fire Fang
- Rock Smash

Mightyena is a complete boss. With a surprise Sucker Punch, Mightyena almost always gets a kill, subsequently getting an Attack raise with Moxie. Moxie makes Mightyena a real threat, and one misplay can spell the end of a game. It is a ridiculously underrated threat, Fire Fang and Rock Smash providing the coverage Mightyena needs to thrive. Fire Fang can destroy Pokemon such as Escavalier that think they have a free KO in front of them; however, the dog will tear off its armor and burn it alive for thinking such thoughts. Rock Smash is the best coverage option Mightyena has for the last slot, destroying Aggron, a Pokemon which would otherwise wall this set cold. Using Mightyena requires excellent prediction skills; one prediction can turn a loss into a win. Between Sucker Punch and Crunch, it is difficult to defeat a well-played Mightyena unless one has an extremely bulky physical wall, such as Tangrowth, or a Quagsire. Because Sucker Punch fails if the opposing Pokemon is faster and uses a priority move, a Jolly nature can greatly help, allowing Mightyena to decimate Pokemon such as Adamant Kabutops. However, Pokemon such as Entei that carry ExtremeSpeed will still cause Sucker Punch to fail; never fear, however, Crunch will destroy them. Mightyena is truly the rightful king of RU :)!

Soviet (Yanma) @ Life Orb
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Protect
- Bug Buzz
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power [Ground]

The son of a Pokemon banned for its true might way back when, yanma is obviously destined for greatness, and although its an NFE thats 4x weak to Stealth Rock, frail, and not exceptionally strong, it actually clutched some games for me while i was on the ladder. Because of Yanma's rare ability Speed boost, it gradually becomes faster over the match, making it almost impossible to revenge kill without having a priority move or enough bulk to survive an attack (multiple layers of hazards and Yanma's decent super effective coverage make the latter way of beating Yanma more easily said than done). Protect lets Yanma grab free Speed boosts and possibly scout Pokemon for priority moves, letting me know when its safe to stay in with Yanma and when it isnt. A significant example of where protect can be useful is against CB Entei, where i can scout for Extremespeed. If it uses Extremespeed, i can go to Spiritomb to sponge it, if it goes for anything else, i can stay in and use Hidden Power Ground, possibly KOing it with some residual damage. Bug Buzz and Air Slash are a decent STAB combination on Yanma, and they hit a large number of common RU pokemon super effectively. Such as Slowking, Gallade, Tangrowth, Amoonguss, Emboar, Sceptile, Lilligant, Uxie, and Mesprit. Hidden Power Ground is Yanma's best final coverage move and lets it hit Fire-types such as Entei, Magmortar, and Typhlosion, Aggron, Magneton, and Electric-types super effectively. Overall, despite its huge flaws, it was actually an alright late game cleaner compared to the rest of my team.



Kenny (Spiritomb) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Foul Play
- Trick

Spiritomb is the last Pokemon on this team and the one that probably changed the most, i originally had Nidorino in this slot, then ended up changing to basculin. Eventually i decided that Pokemon spinning was too detrimential to Yanma, so i went with this set. Which while really bad otherwise actually did a decent job at spinblocking. Choice Scarf Spiritomb has just enough Speed to outrun adamant Kabutops, just enough Bulk to take a hit from it, and can OHKO in return with Hidden Power Grass, preserving my hazards. It also did well against Sandslash (because every spinblocker does lol) and could Trick Cryogonal and Hitmonchan, temporarily stopping them from spinning at the very least. The moves are pretty self explanatory. Dark Pulse gives Spiritomb a decent Special STAB to use that can do a decent amount of damage to most Pokemon. Hidden Power Grass lets Spiritomb OHKO Kabutops and gives me a way to take out annoying Quagsire. Foul Play lets Spiritomb heavily damage things with high attack such as CB Entei or Druddigon, while also letting me check Gallade and Medicham reliably because of those same attack stats. Lastly, Trick lets Spiritomb cripple defensive Pokemon and the mighty Cosmic Power Sigilyph, while also letting it use moves without being locked in when the extra speed isnt needed.


Conclusion:

So thats the Joke Team i used. I mean obviously this team isn't realistically good at all, and its weak to half the actual threats in RU, but it was really fun to get away from using serious teams for a bit, and it was pretty funny to climb the ladder with it and save replays :). Here are some replays of the team in action (mostly mightyena sweeping). Note, don't expect much, most of the players on the RU ladder arent that great).



http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ru-36588774
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ru-36564508
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ru-36464903
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ru-36440547
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ru-36437291
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ru-36431939
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ru-36426076
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ru-36415303
(images aren't working yet ;_;)

 

[ss234]

I conclude that creativity is too good for the ru ladder.

Edit: Maybe try Shadow Ball > Dark Pulse on tomb? That way you can hit fighting types reasonably hard and it's still a reliable STAB move that hits psychic types and dark types for solid damage. You miss out on normal types but they take far more from foul play anyway because they are p much all physical.

 

[branflakes]

Oh man this was probably my worst loss yet...my match is the 7th one on that list. The sucker punch got me by surprise, but then I went to escavalier to scout for a fire fang. I dont know why, but I double switched to duosion instead of sigilyph on the fire fang and threw away my opportunity to get off a free burn. I was really hitting myself for that one.

Misplays aside, I commend you for finding a nice home for the abandoned NU dog that is Mighyena lol

...and you're lucky you managed to get your revenge on me :I

 

[JCM.]

Don't bash on Explorer ;;

 

[Nozzle]

You inspired me to use yanma. It was fun to see it bash entire teams :-)

 

[Nochman.EXE]

I am on the couch choking in laughter from seeing that CS Spiritomb Set.

Thx for almost killing me Molk :)

 

[august]

For the record that Spiritomb set is actually super legit and I have used it outside of joke teams

 

[Boingo]

I wouldn't call this a joke team as much as an experimental team. The only real "joke" on your team is that poor, crippled Magmortar. Scarf E-Vire was nice, and I was absolutely amazed by Pineco and Mightyena.

A question regarding Mightyena's set, is there any reason for going full speed when most of the time you'll be attacking with Sucker Punch anyway? Is there any major thing you wouldn't outspeed if you went Adamant?

 

[Lasagne]

11/10 gg

 

[atomicllamas]

Did anyone else look at the 1850 stats?
| 73 | Yanma | 1.30426% | 404 | 0.337% | 271 | 0.275% |
| 76 | Mightyena | 1.22314% | 521 | 0.434% | 425 | 0.432% |
Lol, congrats on the peak.

 

[Molk]

I wouldn't call this a joke team as much as an experimental team. The only real "joke" on your team is that poor, crippled Magmortar. Scarf E-Vire was nice, and I was absolutely amazed by Pineco and Mightyena.

A question regarding Mightyena's set, is there any reason for going full speed when most of the time you'll be attacking with Sucker Punch anyway? Is there any major thing you wouldn't outspeed if you went Adamant?

There are a few pokemon i outspeed with max speed jolly that i wouldn't otherwise, i'll put a short list below.

Adamant Absol so i can sucker punch before it can sucker punch me
Adamant Kabutops so i can sucker punch it before it can aqua jet me
Adamant Gallade so i don't have to worry about it playing around Sucker Punch with Swords Dance
Adamant Feraligatr so i can sucker punch before it can aqua jet me/not have to worry about it playing around me with SD
Modest Mesprit so it can't play around me with substitute.

Most of these are kinda situational and more personal preference than actually required, but i will say it was a bit easier to sweep teams with these pokemon when i switched to jolly.

 

[TheUeki]

Molk, congrats on proving the viability of Mightyena on RU. I've been using him myself to great success!
Only you could've thought of it, amazing :)

 

[Celever]

Ok, I'm making a joke RU team now! :D

 

[scene]

Decided to use this Mightyena set for fun and never lost, so kept going and going. Eventually swapped it out towards the end, but for the majority of my battles Molk was doing work in my team. And NOBODY expects Fire Fang, haha. Great job on this hilarious team anyway!

also tbh i don't even know if that's a good ranking but I do appear at the top so hey w/e

 

[Moose V]

@scene the ladder system is really fucked up. You're gonna lose a lot of points for no reason soon but you'll still probably be in the top 3.

For pineco, why not use custap berry to beat a taunt/multple hits on the second turn? I could be wrong, but i think the only time berry juice is more helpful is if the opponent uses priority on the second turn which most RU leads won't do. Not that important but it might help once or twice.

 

[Explorer]

Wow, somebody actually used my gimmick Magmortar set. Generally nowadays if I want a [similar] defensive Magmortar I use Fire Blast/Rock Tomb/Barrier/Toxic, as Confuse Ray is too unreliable. Aside from that, my only suggested change is Discharge > Thunderbolt on Electrivire for the higher paralysis rate, letting Spiritomb be more effective.

 

[JCM.]

Explorer, that's not an honor btw.

 

[TROP]

For pineco, why not use custap berry to beat a taunt/multple hits on the second turn? I could be wrong, but i think the only time berry juice is more helpful is if the opponent uses priority on the second turn which most RU leads won't do. Not that important but it might help once or twice.

LV 1 and pain split make it easier to kill shit and you still get at least 2 hazards anyway (unless lol lead aero, taunt qwilfish, or cinccino). Cinccino and the other multi hit moves mons like Rhydon and Crustle are ohkoing whatever pineco is anyway.



Pls learn how pineco works before suggesting shit like this.

 

[Moose V]

LV 1 and pain split make it easier to kill shit and you still get at least 2 hazards anyway (unless lol lead aero, taunt qwilfish, or cinccino). Cinccino and the other multi hit moves mons like Rhydon and Crustle are ohkoing whatever pineco is anyway.



Pls learn how pineco works before suggesting shit like this.

Ugh. Idk if you can read but I simply suggested a change in item from berry juice to custap berry and asked if he thought one was significantly better than the other. Please don't spam rudeness lest you look like a fool. I suggested custap because if pineco is brought down to sturdy on the first turn by a single attack and the opponent uses taunt or a multi-hitting move on the second turn, custap seems like the better option.

 

[mkizzy]

Ugh. Idk if you can read but I simply suggested a change in item from berry juice to custap berry and asked if he thought one was significantly better than the other. Please don't spam rudeness lest you look like a fool. I suggested custap because if pineco is brought down to sturdy on the first turn by a single attack and the opponent uses taunt or a multi-hitting move on the second turn, custap seems like the better option.

both let you have 2 turns but berry juice gives you sturdy again :I

 

[Woodchuck]

why wouldn't the opponent use taunt or a multi-hitting move on the first turn



don't answer that; this is a rhetorical question to make you look dumb

 

[TROP]

Ugh. Idk if you can read but I simply suggested a change in item from berry juice to custap berry and asked if he thought one was significantly better than the other. Please don't spam rudeness lest you look like a fool. I suggested custap because if pineco is brought down to sturdy on the first turn by a single attack and the opponent uses taunt or a multi-hitting move on the second turn, custap seems like the better option.

And that change is dumb in general. Berry Juice is the reason Pineco works. It gives pineco pretty much 2 sturdy uses and maximum trolling factor with Pain Split to get a kill sometimes(molk has done it before).You are aware this is a LV 1 Pineco, right?


Now, only like 3 mons use Taunt in the whole tier: Aerodactyl, Qwilfish, and Drapion.

Aero :
Turn 1: it taunts Pineco
Turn 2: it stone edges because sr is a retarded move when it is obvious it has spin.
Turn 3: Your Custap activates and at most you spin and aero can use this turn to set up sr or just kill you.

Custap does nothing here.

Qwilfish:
Turn 1: Taunt Pineco
Turn 2-until pineco dies: Alternate waterfall and taunt depending on damage.

Custap does nothing here.

Drapion:
Turn:1 Taunt Pineco
TURN 2-Until pineco dies: Read Qwilfish but change waterfall for Crunch or something.

Custap does nothing again.

How can you defend an item that does nothing at all? I know Pineco cant beat those at all by himself , but molk can actually beat the first 2 with Evire to Pineco to spin the hazards or just set them up depending on what happens to them . Drapion is a bit harder, but because this team was used for laddering, this is not even a problem.

Multihit moves:

Bullet Seed:
Torterra:I'm not sure if this guy uses this and pineco beats this if it doesn't.
Cinccino: Bullet Seeding is a dumb move against most of this team and Tail Slap or Rock Blast kill pineco anyway.

Tail Slap:
Cinccino: It ohkoes anyway unless dumb 252 hp/252 def spread lv 100 pineco.

Rock Blast
Cinccino: It ohkoes unless dumb 252 hp/ 252 def spread lv 100 pineco.
Rhydon: Read above.
Crustle: Read Cinccino.

Not mentioning the other moves because nothing else common in ru uses them at all.

 

[Moose V]

why wouldn't the opponent use taunt or a multi-hitting move on the first turn



don't answer that; this is a rhetorical question to make you look dumb

I will actually answer that. The opposing lead u-turns into something with taunt or a multi-hit move. In this scenario, custap would allow pineco to get off 2 moves instead of one. That or the opponent's stupid idk.


@TropiOUs

In none of those scenarios you described does berry juice do anything either. The 2 sturdy uses is generally the same as 1 sturdy use + an outspeed so both items do roughly the same thing. Idk what magical properties you think berry juice has but it's not significantly better and if you don't believe me then try them both for yourself I guess.

I'm not gonna comment on this anymore as its getting fairly off-topic and all I did was suggest the slight usefulness of one item over another which seems to have spawned a massive conversation. If you want to keep telling me why custap berries are so stupid in a pm then go ahead.

 

[TROP]

@TropiOUs
In none of those scenarios you described does berry juice do anything either. The 2 sturdy uses is generally the same as 1 sturdy use + an outspeed so both items do roughly the same thing. Idk what magical properties you think berry juice has but it's not significantly better and if you don't believe me then try them both for yourself I guess.

Not sure if you are familiar with this when seeing a semi dedicated lead, but Pineco should not be leading all the time because it has terrible matchups against shit like Aerodactyl. . And molk's replays are enough to understand why berry juice is superior. Maybe you should try pineco, because you don't get how this guy is used.


TL;DR Reason why Berry Juice is better:
With Berry Juice you are almost guaranteed SR+A layer of spikes +spin/2 layers of spikes.
With Custsap: SR+A layer of spikes/sr+spin.