ORAS PU Ice Ice Baby (Trying to get into this really fun meta! Also Updated!)

[Paraplegic]

Hey everyone! Paraplegic here with my first RMT for PU! I'm extremely new to the tier, and as a doubles player my background in singles as a whole is minimal. With that out of the way(it's my safety net in case the team is just bad lol) lets get started!

This RMT is going to be based off of a Semi-Stall Team based around Articuno(I apologize for the cliche RMT name lol)!

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Team Building Process

Ok so as I said, this team was based around Articuno. The reason I chose to build around Articuno was because its a mon that would never see the light of day in DOU, and I feel part of the "PU Experience" is using thing that you would never give a second thought in other tiers. There's also just something majestic about this bird. I realize there is probably a billion better reasons out there to build around something but I'm brand new to the tier so its the only thing I really had to go on lol. So after deciding to build around it I went to its analysis page and got its standard subroost set. I also saw recommendations for this being on a bulkier team which is where the idea of semi-stall popped in my head.

The next thing I added was Lumineon, as after reading up on the tier a bit I got the general idea that water types were a big threat in the tier and I automatically wanted a nice switch-in. I also wanted hazard removal of course, as Articuno doesn't function without it due to that yucky 4x rock weakness.

After that I added a bulky Golem, as I also got the idea from reading up on the tier that normal types were a big issue and I should have a switch-in, and I wanted to get Stealth Rocks somewhere on the team so I figured why not here? Yay role compression!

Next I added a Machoke. The reason I decided this on it was because I heard it was a really good mon in the tier, and as I wanted this to be semi-stall instead of regular stall, I added a bulkyish dynamic punch set to beef up my offensive presence.

After adding Machoke I looked at my team and saw that while I had plenty of physical bulk, my special side of the spectrum was pretty lacking. So I went on the Viability Rankings to see what looked like it would be specially defensive and surprise, surprise. This pink blob caught my attention immediately. So I went on the Smogdex, and sure enough it ran spdef and was a nice cleric too!

Last but not least I chose Gourgeist-Super. I added it because I was just looking to rap up what I thought had turned out to be a decent team, and I decided a way to spread burns would be nice. I also wanted a ground and electric resist as those two types kind of threatened my team. So I looked if anything did all that, and Gourgeist-S was on the list and looked like a perfect fit! So it was added to patch those weaknesses and for type synergy in general.

After some testing and with some recommendations, I changed Lumineon to Vullaby, and Machoke to Monferno. I changed to Vullaby because Monferno was a HUGE threat to the team and I wanted a better means of beating it. Someone also pointed out that I had audino to check special waters and gourgeist for physical waters so I didnt need its ability to beat waters as much as I thought. I changed Machoke to Monferno as Monferno was just a better fit in general. I originally had a defensive set but after some testing(and at the recommendation of Dundies) it was noticed that I lacked a wincon versus offensive teams so it was changed too an SD Eviolite set.

The Team

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Articuno @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Roost
- Hurricane
- Freeze-Dry
The star of the team! The role Articuno plays on this team is a wincon against defensively oriented teams, and and offensive Monferno check, which I can't stress enough that Monferno is extremely scary for this team. Articuno uses the subroost set suggested by the analysis with Freeze-Dry over Ice Beam for the ability to hit waters along with all of ice's other normal targets. And like I said, it serves as a really nice wincon versus defensive teams, as its nice bulk allows it to set up subs rather easily versus weaker mons and it then proceeds to tear through weakened or unprepared teams. It really is a solid mon that I have been enjoying using a lot!

Vullaby @ Eviolite
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- U-turn
- Roost
- Defog
The teams defogger! This member of the team is so vital to its success currently that it's scary. It provides hazard support for Articuno, making it the monster that it is versus defensive teams. It also helps a lot in any Monferno match up, as Monferno is probably the single greatest threat to this team due to the amount of pressure it puts on all of the defensive members. Vullaby being able to foul play for significant damage often saves me from being burned alive at the stake by that thing. It also acts as a nice pivot when defogging isn't needed(when rocks aren't up lol), u-turning out on things that come in to check it into things that wall said mon early game and late game, out into either Articuno or Monferno to sweep. All together an amazing mon that makes the team function as a whole!

Golem @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 20 Atk / 240 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Protect
Golem is more of a glue then anything else for this team. It along with Gourgeist let me check all the dangerous normal types of the tier. Golem also gives me rocks, which is always a good thing! It's just the bulky Golem spread given in its analysis, so I assume its a good set/spread. Altogether I actually find this to be the most lackluster member of the team, quite possibly because I have no idea how to play lol. I have thought about changing this to Stunfisk to better check Monferno but I dont know how that would affect my other match ups so I have held off for now. If you feel the change to Stunfisk would help please let me know!​

Monferno @ Eviolite
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Flare Blitz
- Mach Punch
The other offensive mon of the team! Against most offensive teams that aren't really weak to Articuno this serves as my wincon and it is usually able to get the job done. Its just a standard SD Eviolite set so nothing special to talk about here. It waits for checks to be gone, sets up SD and sweeps. Really good mon! n_n​

Audino @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Knock Off
- Heal Bell
- Protect
The other glue for this team, albeit one that functions a lot better along with the rest of the team. Audino is my teams only real special bulk, which might look like a problem until you realize audino with wish + regenerator is extremely self sufficient and really hard to wear down. It carries knock off to have some offensive move so its not complete taunt bait. It carries knock off over double edge since I liked the utility of removing items and disliked the idea of willingly inflicting my own wall with damage. I used to have encore over heal bell to not make this setup bait, but in practice my team appreciated the ability to not get worn down to toxics and burns much more then any of the utility encore provided.
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Gourgeist-Super @ Leftovers
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Synthesis
- Seed Bomb
- Foul Play​

The final member of the team is this adorable pumpkin! Gourgeist was added to just make sure all the bases on the team were covered. Its ability to stall with the combo of wisp + synthesis is another big part of this teams success. It also is a check to Golem and Stunfisk, the two most common rockers in the tier if I'm not mistaken(or at least the best) which is never a bad thing. I often times find myself leading with this predicting opposing hazard leads and then making sure to keep it healthy throughout the match to make sure it can check the plethora of things it is able to. A really solid team member overall that I enjoy using!
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If you made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read my PU RMT! Any possible changes and edits would be wonderful and I am fully open to any suggestions that can make this team reach its full potential! Have a wonderful day everyone! :D
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[GeneralAnnoyance]

One thing I noticed immediately is that sub Rotom-F finds opportunities to set up on many of your members (Articuno, Vullaby, Gourgeist, Audino). From there it can tbolt monf and continuously burn stall audino. You can combat this by adding encore to audino instead of heal bell. Just gotta be careful to not get gourg statused.

Also, Monferno does seem to give your team a hard time if it's SD. Brave bird on vullaby can be used to better combat this but the problem is the Monf user can just switch out and this isn't too big of a problem. Maybe Swanna can assist you in you switching into monferno users. I see you have Timid on Articuno. That's a good last resort to Monferno setting up on you, but that x4 weakness does limit your ability to continuously switch in. Another option for a defogger is Vibrava as it can handle FB from monf and also keep rocks off more reliably vs golem and stunfisk. I'm leaning toward vibrava as it is a natural partner for Articuno.

Gourgeist can run leech seed in place of seed bomb as that allows it to at least touch the monferno switch-ins and annoy it as you switch in and out between defogger + gourg.

Lastly, stunfisk with toxic is a good option in place of Golem if you so desire to all out counter monf. Wish support from audino is good for stunfisk and it provides your team a much safer way of handling physical threats.

Cool team though! I hope at least some of these critiques can help ya! :)

 

[Dundies]

Hey Paraplegic, we basically already went through this team together, but I'm going to just make a quick suggestion that can help you out in the long run, but overall it's a great team.

There's really not much this team is weak to thanks to the really strong defensive backbone, but you do have a pretty big weakness to Monferno, as Vullaby, something that really isn't hard to weaken, is your only real check. Like I said, we already talked about this, but you can run Stunfisk > Golem which gives you a solid Monferno counter, as well as a Pawniard counter outside of your own offensive Monferno.

I really have nothing else to say about the team. As I mentioned before it's really solid overall.

tl;dr

Stunfisk @ Leftovers | Static
248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe | Bold
Stealth Rock / Earth Power / Discharge / Toxic

Hope I helped

 

[Anty]

Hi paraplegic, nice team

It looks solid, with very few obvious weaknesses however there are some. Monferno is the most problematic, as Eviolite SD variants can get passed Vullaby which can only Foul Play it doing little damage, so I think Brave Bird would be a nice option here, over Foul Play or U-turn, which ever you find least useful. The next big issues I see are vs bulky set up sweepers, such as Duosion and Clefairy which have several opportunities to set up, but you best way around them is to try to pressure stall with cuno or set up with monf depending on the exact sweeper. To help you out, I think Encore is crucial on Audino, though you would have to drop Heal Bell, Encore will stop last mon sweepers and also ease you checking Sub Rotom-f which looks annoying to Knock Off Audino in terms of PP wasting.

The last issue I see with the team is dealing with the heavy offensive wallbreakers. Though you can deal with some, like Stoutland and CB Bouff, you struggle with others like HP Grass Murkrow and Ice Beam Kingler/Basculin. There is no quick fix here as your team works mostly as a unit, the only thing to possibly replace would be Monferno, though this would beat you lose your wincon. Floatzel I think will do you the best as it can deal with any Pokemon which are getting out of hand for example stuff previously mentioned and even others like Leafeon with Healing Wish support that managed to cripple Vullaby and Gourgeist. Generally a very fast Pokemon is nice for these teams as an hax protector, as if the wrong mon gets crit, then sometimes that can be game over.

Really nice team, it was hard finding weaknesses.

sets

Floatzel @ Life Orb
Ability: Water Veil
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Focus Blast
Focus Blast is now nice for Normals

Audino
Heal Bell ---> Encore

Vullaby
U-turn or Foul Play ---> Brave Bird

Hope i helped n_n

 

[Paraplegic]

Thank you all for the rates! I will test everything out and get back to you all with any changes I make!

 

[Paraplegic]

Updated Team!

Articuno @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Roost
- Hurricane
- Freeze-Dry

Vullaby @ Eviolite
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Roost
- Defog

Stunfisk @ Leftovers
Ability: Static
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Discharge
- Toxic

Monferno @ Eviolite
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Flare Blitz
- Mach Punch

Audino @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Knock Off
- Encore
- Protect

Gourgeist-Super @ Yache Berry
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 248 HP / 24 Atk / 236 Def
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Synthesis
- Seed Bomb
- Foul Play

Ok this is the updated team! It fairs ever so slightly worse against normals then before, but other matchups have improved a lot so I found it worth the trade! There is now brave bird over foul play on vullaby, as it helps the monferno match up be not bad at all along with the new stunfisk over the old golem. 2xTheTap suggested the gourgeist set to me over on ps, and said it would help with waters if I struggled with them, and as waters are a big threat in this tier, I inevitably switched to yache berry. He also optimized the gourgesit but letting me know I needed the 24 atk evs to ohko simipour after rocks so I made the switch to that. Over all the team fares a lot better versus most every team Ive faced since making these changes so Im really happy. I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to rate or help me with this team in anyway, shape, or form a whole lot! Its also been nominated for RMT of the Week which is my biggest accomplishment thus far on smogon so this is huge for me! So again thank you all and I'll see you when/if I make another RMT! :D