Mewt Gingrich for Prez

[Jmoolah]

Whats up smogon. Jmoolah here for my second rmt, with this one being a sand team, with a nice surprise:


Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 64 SAtk / 192 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
Tyranitar is crucial in helping me win the weather war, and his role as a spdef tank and mixed attacker works pretty well. Fire blast is for ferro, and ice beam often catches dragons and gliscor my surprise. crunch is for the latis and gengar, but i think pursuit might be a better option to trap those mons. Stealth rock should be on every team, and tyranitar finds plenty of ways to set it up.


Amoonguss (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Stun Spore
- Spore
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Giga Drain
Ah, Amoonguss. One of my favorite pokes, this guy is a perfect counter to politoed, getting rid of the rainmaking frog with his useful water resistance, helping me to get my perfered weather up. He is also great for countering other rain mons like keldeo, gastrodon and rotom-w. Spore is great for taking a poke basically out of the game, and a lot of times that will cause a switch, which is when i stun spore them for a bit of annoying double status. Hidden power ice is for dragons and gliscor, and giga drain is good for regaining health. Its pretty easy for amoonguss to stay healthy, as he is pretty bulky, and regenerator allows me to get some hp back when i switch out. Ive been thinking of possibly switching him for a technician breeloom for a little more offensive prescence, but he provides my team with a crucial defensive pivot. He also eats up toxic spikes like a bawse.


Infernape (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Mach Punch
- Overheat
- Close Combat
- Grass Knot
Infernape is honestly the weakest member of my team, but i dont know what to switch him to. His powerful close combat and priority mach punch is great for killing steels and weakened foes, and overheat roasts ferrothorn and forretress. grass knot is for gastrodon and other heavy ground types, but i might change it to stone edge, but i really hate the accuracy on that godforsaken move. The thing about nape is that his life orb kills him reaaaaaaaal quick, and while he hits hard, he only lasts me a few turns, so i have to play him conservatively.


Sandslash (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Rapid Spin
Sandslash, while it is somewhat of a pokemon laughingstock, has actually worked wonders for my team. Most people forget that he has sandrush, and are shocked when he outspeeds them and kos them with a swords dance boosted eq. His speed in the sand, and decent enough bulk to take a hit makes him a good revenge killer, plus he gets rapid spin, which is always helpful for gettin hazards off of my side of the field.


Gyarados (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 56 HP / 248 Atk / 204 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
SubDDmoxiedos is a beast. straight up. Give this thing a chance to set up and kill something and its gg if the opponent isnt prepared. Once gyra comes in a resisted attack like an eq and subs, he has a turn to dragon dance and then start the killing spree. Waterfall for stab, se for coverage, yadayadayada things die. Not too much to say here.




Mew @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Transform
- U-turn
- Roost
- Trick
Now for the ace in the hole, and my pride and joy, transformew. After seeing this set on the forums, i had to try him out. the strategy behind this set works like this: come in on a boosting mon, transform into them and outspeed them with choice scarf, and then kill them before they can kill you. This works great agains mons like keldeo, volcarona and dragonite, where you can just transform and steal thier boosts. Also, mew can trick his choice scarf onto a poke like deoxys or forry, and then transform and use thier hazards or rapid spin to thier advantage. The thing is, mew is only as good as the poke he transforms into, albeit just a bit faster. The surprise factore with mew is great, as nobody expects to get sweeped by thier own pokemon. Sure, he doesnt always work, but it sure is fun sweeping the opponent with thier own poke, and he has won quite a few games for me by his surprise factor alone.

So there you have it, my team. There are some problems that I have, the most important being that I don't have a steel type. My pokes struggle against dragons, as i have no resist against draco meteors and outrages, and i ussually have to either scrap a poke or switch in amoongus or ttar and hope for the best. other than that, this team has pulled off quite a few solid wins, and I hope that I can make some changes to help mew out, as he really is the centerpiece for the squad.

 

[blarajan]

Is there any reason exactly you use Choice Scarf Mew > Choice Scarf Ditto, that does the same thing but less badly?

 

[Jmoolah]

well mew can actually have uses outside of transforming, such as tricking his choice scarf to screw over walls and u-turning to gain momentum or to revenge kill. The surprise factor with mew transforming often gives me the upper hand on opponents who a lot of times dont have counters or checks to thier own pokemon. transforming late game, when i see that the opponent has no answer to thier own pokemons attacks, allows me to take out threats i could otherwise not be able to handle. A good example was the last game i played, where i transformed into a heatran with only mew left on my team, letting me use earth power before my opponent thanks to the choice scarf.

 

[Harsha]

A lot of your Pokemon don't really fit in well with this team, namely Mew (as blarajan said, it's completely outclassed in this case) and Infernape (who you consider the weakest link to your team). Additionally, it's extremely hard to set up a SubDD Gyarados in the sand, as you basically have no cushioning from bad predictions when using Substitute because you don't heal any health with sand's canceling out Leftovers. In the case of Infernape, I'd definitely swap it out with Keldeo because it can perform a similar role with "mixed" attacking power, due to Secret Sword's effect. The set I'd run would have Leftovers and a spread of 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe and a Timid nature. The moveset would be Calm Mind, Hydro Pump, Secret Sword, and Hidden Power Ice. With Tyranitar, you have a method to remove Jellicent, Celebi, Latios, and Latias, the biggest threats to this set, so there shouldn't be any negative impacts from this change.

I really don't think Mew is the right Pokemon for the job you're using it for. U-turn spamming is alright, but from Mew it's not doing much damage. Additionally, it's complete Pursuit fodder, and locking it into Roost is pretty much useless. I would do what blarajan suggested and run Ditto over it, holding a Choice Scarf and a spread of 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD and a Relaxed nature. Of course, the only move you'll have is Transform, but with Imposter that's not even necessary. This basically lets you do Mew's job but even better, and while you lose out on U-turn shenanigans, I think this is a pretty small price to pay for a much better revenge killer. If you really want to stick with Mew, go ahead. I just think it's pretty much outclassed.

You pointed out the lack of a Steel-type and I have to agree that this seems like it could be problematic. I think definitely switching out Gyarados for a Skarmory would help you out in this regard; you lose a sweeper (with redundant coverage if you add Keldeo) and you gain something that protects you from Dragon-types and can keep you safe from Fighting-types. I'd probably run Leftovers with a spread of 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe and an Impish nature. The moveset would be Spikes, Roost, Brave Bird, and Whirlwind. This lets Keldeo sweep much easier (due to Spikes support) and it allows you to make sure that you don't get boosted on by most Dragons. Most variants of Terrakion will also have trouble breaking down Skarmory, and you can switch between it and Amoonguss to keep it in check. Also as an aside, definitely replace Ice Beam with Pursuit on Tyranitar to ensure that you can eliminate all the problems that stop a Keldeo sweep. Good luck, I hope I helped.