Other Metagames Heat Waves, a Sinnoh Classic Sun team

[Solerme]

Welcome to my Sinnoh Classic Sun team. The reason why i decided to write a RMT post for this team is because it started from a trivial idea, and instead became a team that did a decent work and made me have a lot of fun.

I'll start writing what i wrote in the Sinnoh Classic thread, that the idea behind was to "braindeadly" spam Heat Waves.
Anyway, when i started building the team, the words "brain dead" and "fire moves" didn't match that well like they did in my head, so i had to put efforts to build a team that wasn't that braindead...
In the end i finished the tour over the 1700 mark, and i was pretty happy with it since the team was not meant to be (that) competitive.



At Glance:

Team Building:

Everything started from Drought. So, of course, from Ninetales and since I wanted a way to deal as much damage i could, i decided to run max spa, positive nature, specs Ninetales.

Running an average speed mon like Ninetales, with a terrible defensive type in doubles and no EVs in bulk, requires a lot of support. Hitmontop immediately came in mind for his fantastic ability to be a wide guarder while giving Intimidate support. Now i had a decent lead-duo and a way to protect my fire pokemon from Earthquake and Rock Slide (and weaken them) and from Surf and Muddy Water.

At this point I wanted a second Fire pokemon that could fire STAB Heat Waves with Ninetales. Here i felt that having another ground weakness could lead to terrible scenarios so i opted for the flying/fire Moltres. Now i also had a way to control the speed with Tailwind.

For the last spot of the quartet i wanted another supporter mon that could redirect attacks if i had no ways to control the speed. I found my answer in Clefairy, giving me not only the handy Follow Me support, but also a way to move fast under Trick Room with After You and some damage control support with his ability Friend Guard and the move Helping Hand.

The fifth spot was an alternative to Moltres versus teams who had strong fire resistences (like teams with Kingdra) and to have another way to lower the incomming damage from common supereffective ground/rock moves. Timid Salamence filled this role properly.

The last spot was a dedicated rain counter, because...well this is a sun team.





The Team:

Ninetales @ Choice Specs
Ability: Drought
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Heat Wave
- Solar Beam
- Energy Ball
- Sleep Talk

I won a good 50-60% of the games with people underestimating the damage of this thing, not expecting the combination of max spa + specs + a spread move.
Totally the MVP of the tour for my team. EVs are pretty standard since i had several ways to control damage (wide guard, friend guard, follow me) while the nature is, of course, to maximize damage. Sleep talk to counter smeargle, Energy Ball to hit a switching in Politoed.

Hitmontop @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Atk / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Wide Guard
- Feint

Classic vgc wide guard + intimidate supporter, Hitmontop was absolutely necessary in order to protect my fire pokemon. I felt that mostly none of the teams that i faced that had Chomp or similar EQ/Slide spamming mons were enough prepared to deal with it. This surprised me since in vgc everyone has a way to avoid wide guard users. Anyway, also without wide guard, Intimidate support allowed my fire attackers to survive supereffective ground/rock moves most of the time.
Also here the EVs are standard, while 12 speed was to win the speed tie/fake out war with other Tops.
Feint was very handy not only to break Protects, but also, thanks to the +2 priority, to finish weakened priority users or faster pokemon.

Moltres @Characoal
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Tailwind
- Air Slash
- Heat Wave
- Protect

The other Heat Wave spammer and one of the three "speed control" mons of my team. I've choosen him over Solar power Charizard because of the superior bulk, since (for example) he could survive chomp's rock slide with Friend Guard.
Also here i went for standard EVs and a nature to maximize the damage. The item was to power up a little the Heat waves. Tailwind support was crucial when dealing with rain teams.

Clefairy @ Eviolite
Ability: Friend Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 3 Spe
- After You
- Follow Me
- Helping Hand
- Moonblast

Clefairy is amazing. Not only i could redirect attacks with FM, but i also had a way to control the speed under TR with After You, a way to lower incomming damage with Friend Guard and a way to increase my damage with HH.
Since both, Ninetales and Moltres, have an average speed and aren't that bulky i had to put another supporter in the team along with Top. And she worked perfectly.
A special mention goes to her Moonblast, dealing 50% damage to a Kingra and 25% damage to a Moody Stored Power Latias, leading me to victory in both matches.

Salamence @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Tailwind
- Heat Wave
- Dragon Pulse
- Protect


I'll make it quick here, I used this over Moltres in matches where i needed the double Intimidate support. I had Heat Wave and not Fire Blast/Flamethrower just to have fun and spam that move as much as i could. Timid nature was just to speed tie with other mences and with Timid Kingdra in Sun. Dragon Pulse over Draco Meteor just because i had no guts :|
The double Intimidate allowed Ninetales to keep spamming Heat Waves, while Drought protected Mence from the Swift Swim users that could otherwise kill him with ice beam or dragon moves.

Ludicolo @ Absorb Bulb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Giga Drain
- Ice Beam
- Protect

Simple rain counter. Max Speed Timid was to outspeed/tie with other Ludi while absorb bulb felt like the best choice to deal with water types. I ended up using him very little, probably just in 2-3 battle of the 30+ i did, since i felt confident to fight water with fire in most games.



Final Thoughts:
I will not write a counter list, since i think that it's hard to put down an accurate list of checks to a team used in a tourney, but i can say that (as strange as it can sound) i found harder to fight HailRoom teams instead of Rain teams. I'll end this RMT with some thoughts on it...

Overall the team felt pretty balanced. I had Fake Out and Wide Guard support, two ways to control the speed with Tailwind and After You from the slow clefairy under Trick Room, a redirection move and either a way to reduce incomming damage (Friend Guard) or to amplify mine (Helping Hand).
I had a way to control or fight other weathers, with Drought, and double Intimidate support.
The team probably lacked some attacking coverage, but thanks to Drought and the items on my STAB attackers the hole was pretty much filled, dealing good damage even to pokemon that resisted Fire attacks.
So yeah, in the end i could really spam Heat waves like i wanted when i started building my team!