ORAS OU Meta-Sylveon HO (peak #5)

[ohgeedubs]

This is a team I made at the inception of the ORAS ladder to quickly annihilate teams through the sheer power of the new Megas. People weren't really prepared for the insane pressure that Mega Metagross / Sylveon / Greninja create (particularly Mega Metagross), so I was able to climb to #5 really quickly (then I went on tilt / people figured out how my team worked / I'm not good at this game). Anyway, I'm retiring the team because I feel it's too inconsistent in terms of both matchup and prediction, and HO isn't really my style anyway (I'm pretty bad at it tbh).

peak

Teambuilding process if anyone cares

The OG team. Basically, my reasoning was: Mega-Salamence is the most broken Mega in the game, and it destroys all of Bellyzurill's checks. The two together must be unstoppable. Sadly, bellyzurill is very stoppable, as well as inconsistent, and I didn't really like how ridiculously prepared the ladder was for MegaMence (scarf Mamo lol), and SR really limits its ability to switch in. Obviously, Mence is still super broken, but it didn't really fit my team.

So basically, suicide lead + mence/bellyzurill + defog deterrer + scarfer + sylveon?
I didn't like sylveon here either, but while teambuilding I noticed that Mega Sceptile (special variant) was a huge threat to HO (before i noticed Megagross). Any time it got a free switch, it could probably get a kill. Specs Sylveon seemed like a decent option that could switch into Sceptile once, maybe twice and still have offensive presence.

Bellyzurill was scrapped for Greninja (literally a god) and useful in any matchup, while Terrak was replaced with Chomp for outrage spam, being a much needed check to Mega Mence (...sorta anyway), and having more switchin opportunities.

Then I had the epiphany that Mega Metagross is amazing on HO. It's fast, powerful, and bulky (good defensive type) - i used it for end game sweeps, pursuit trapping and general pressure.

Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Flamethrower
- Taunt
- Explosion​

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Cool suicide lead. Mamo could also be run over Azelf, but I really like Azelf's ability to explode and lure in Ferrothorn (I don't know why people think this is safe). Also, it's really fast, so it's usually able to set up SR a second time if necessary which is useful against balance. And finally, it has levitate to deter scarf EQ spam vs my team. It's a pretty self-explanatory mon, so not much to say here.

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Metagross-Mega @ Metagrossite
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Pursuit / Earthquake​

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Mega Meta is one of the godsend megas for HO (along with Mence), and it basically comes down to its ability to be powerful, bulky, and fast... while still being a revenge killer and trapper.

EVs are pretty simple, while Meteor Mash and Zen Headbutt are useful STAB attacks. I really liked Bullet Punch's ability to get clutch KO's (vs Mence, Weavile, Breloom, etc). I think the priority is too good to give up. Combined with Pursuit, it kind of acts like a less powerful Bisharp at times (although Pursuit is less expected on MegaMeta). There are a lot of times I didn't need pursuit, but in the end, I think my team needs it. It inflicts the necessary damage to nullify threats like Chansey, Weavile and Greninja lacking Dark Pulse that are very threatening to HO.

I decided not to run Grass Knot or Thunderpunch for Slowbro since it gives me a free switch into Sylveon and lets me threaten throwing out a specs Hyper Voice. I didn't find EQ terribly necessary for Heatran since it has no reliable recovery and no one would keep a Heatran in on a Mega Metagross (except Ben Gay, who figured out my set ;_;).

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Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Spikes​

Probably the best Pokemon in XY OU, it heaps on the offensive pressure that Mega Metagross and Sylveon create, lends spike stacking to give stall a harder time, and gives me a much needed switch in to Heatran. Hydro is needed for Heatran, Dark Pulse is needed for Latis/Mew/and especially Slowbro. Hidden Power Fire rounds the set out to revenge kill bisharp and threaten Ferrothorn (otherwise big threats to my team).

Sylveon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 236 HP / 252 SpA / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Baton Pass​

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Sylveon consistently surprises me in how threatening it is. Moves and EV's are pretty standard, I didn't really feel like changing anything from the analysis. The moves hardly matter since I click Hyper Voice 99% of the time. This Pokemon was originally added to give me a switch in MegaSceptile when I had MegaMence > MegaMeta, but nevertheless I liked it, so I kept it. It gets a free switch on Rotom-w, MegaSceptile, Slowbro, Keldeo (sometimes), Mandibuzz, etc. and proceeds to wreck, in addition to checking a lot of other Pokemon. It also prevents me Sableye from 6-0'ing me (not immediately anyway). Greninja + Mega Meta break down a lot of Sylveon's checks and vice versa, and it can often get 2-3 kills in a game. It usually always gets at least one, and BP's around for momentum against the teams it's less effective against. I considered switching sylveon out for other mons since even i'm suspicious of sylveon working on HO, but im always impressed by it in practice.

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Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance / Pursuit
- Iron Head​

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Bisharp is pretty much here to deter defog and revenge kill with Sucker Punch. Sucker Punch gives me the necessary damage to nullify Greninja if I have to, deters scarf Lando-T, and Mence can't set up on it which is always good. Pursuit vs. Swords Dance is tough and I usually prefer SD for more offensive pressure, but I'm not sure if it's actually better. Swords Dance does give me a lot more endgame autowins though.

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Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide​

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To be honest, I don't really like Scarf-Chomp, but it's necessary to make it much more difficult for MegaMence to sweep me. It's pretty difficult to spam either of its STABs but it's still not a bad win condition. Another really nice thing is that it prevents Talonflame from straight 6-0'ing me. Rough Skin also deters U-turn spam, and often outrage + rough skin + MegaMeta Bullet Punch can kill off Mence. Overall, it fits pretty well on the team, doing well against offensive teams, but is close to deadweight vs defensive ones.

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Threatlist

Unbelievably annoying mon. Sometimes, I will just go for flamethrower with my lead Azelf instead of rocks, and pivot around hoping for a later opportunity to set up rocks. After something is put to sleep, Mega Meta basically walls it, but even then it can stick around to threaten to RK bisharp/ninja.

Threatening to pretty much any HO build. Metagross can pursuit trap it if it lacks dark pulse, and can BP it afterwards for good damage if it has it. Scarfchomp can RK if need be, sylveon can force out if it lacks gunk shot, Bisharp can sucker punch for necessary damage if needed, Ninja can try and go for speed ties.

I may run EQ on my Mega Metagross just because of these two.

I don't see it very often, but it's pretty threatening. Ninja can check it if necessary, but not letting it set up too many sword dances is a different story; sylveon can lure it in, maybe.

Let's be real, Mence is a threat to any team. Basically I can never let this thing come in for free, and have to hope that the combination of rough skin, bullet punch, meteor mash, scarf outrage can stop it. I will generally immediately taunt this thing if it decides to lead against my Azelf. Overall, I haven't had too many losses to Mence, but it's frustrating to preserve Scarfchomp and Mega Meta to maybe be able to stop this broken mon.

Ninja + Sylveon can threaten/apply offensive pressure to rest of the team, but WoW spam wears them down really fast. And if it calm minds, and my sylveon is weakened, gg.

... well at least Chomp outspeeds it in rain.

Importable

Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Flamethrower
- Taunt
- Explosion

Metagross-Mega @ Metagrossite
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Pursuit

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Spikes

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Iron Head

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide

Sylveon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 236 HP / 252 SpA / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Baton Pass

a couple replays

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/orasou-177198567 - vs Ben Gay; we both made some sketchy decisions. I believe I'm 2-1 vs his gastrodon team with this team.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/orasou-176153392 - vs Vanished Existence; I choked by not realizing it was mixmence, but it turned out okay since I haxed them >_>

 

[pi3rate]

i faced you a ton of times with this team on the ladder my team got walled by sylveon with the combination my drill is scarfed I. couldnt work my way around it. Your team is solid its just that you have no talonflame check. all you do is bisharp mind games. I can recomend to change to the scarf chomp to a scarf landorus t or change it to band dnite for priority spam.

 

[ohgeedubs]

Talonflame does do a lot of damage, but rocks + bisharp/garchomp/metagross can take it down SD can't really set up on anything, CB set can be suckered / revenged with chomp and both will kill themselves eventually (unless bulk up talonflame, which can be killed by chomp or ninja as a last resort). I acknowledge its a pretty big threat though.

As much as I'd love to run scarf lando-T to check it better, Mence exists and would otherwise plow through the team (even more than it already does).

 

[MZ]

I feel the need just to comment because someone else finally runs specs Sylveon on HO, I've been loving it since pre-poke bank XY, and I'm glad to see it's getting some use. As far as changes go, I would consider ice punch on Metagross for Landorus and Gliscor, both of which look problematic for the team in practice, as nothing likes taking EQs. Also maybe heal bell over BP on Sylveon because wynaut.