Hey Smogon, Draconid here, with what looks like one of the last of my RMTs for this year's VGC season.
Since my last RMT, I have set up a poll asking for opinions on "what archetype you would like to see me build around next", and 10 users selected the mewtwo+primal groudon archetype (calling out yoshirrrr, Cyndequil., Pak, Brawl MK, obii, CorruptedOmega, Mishimono and Jorsin who all voted for this), and so I've decided to bring you what I think is a pretty fun to use rendition of this framework.
At A Glance
So with this team I wanted to take advantage of Mewtwo's hidden ability Unnerve, that was recently released as pentagon-viable through an event earlier on this month. What Unnerve allows for on a team like this is that sleep-inducing moves will not be cured by lum/chesto berry, which means that pokemon commonly holding these berries, such as bronzong, crobat and cresselia will be at a distinct disadvantage when facing gengar's hypnosis and/or whimsicott's grass whistle. Mewtwo is also capable of learning gravity, which when combined with these sleep moves (and groudon's precipice blades) can lead to an effective sweep. With this team, I will also be taking advantage of Mega Gengar's Shadow Tag ability, which when coupled with the infamous disable+encore combo can provide some powerful win conditions.
Upon talking to SamVGC about mewtwo, he recognised that the archetype needs something to deal with yveltal well, so mega salamence was added, who is fantastic against yveltal+groudon teams. Whimsicott's moonblast is also worth a mention, as this helps out a lot against yveltal (and mega salamence for that matter). As for the last remaining pokemon, I knew that a counter to kyogre and xerneas was needed, so I added a ferrothorn to round out the team.
A couple of commonly used cores within the team include leading mewtwo+gengar with whimsicott and groudon in the back to prepare for a groudon sweep (similar to Baz Anderson's gravity team) and leading gengar+whimsicott with mewtwo and groudon in the back to capitalize on the gengar+whimsicott combo effectively.
In Depth
Mewtwo @ Life Orb
Ability: Unnerve
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 60 HP / 28 Def / 164 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psystrike
- Ice Beam
- Gravity
- Protect
I think the key point with this mewtwo set is its optimization for holding a life orb. Non-mega Mewtwo should almost exclusively be running life orb to significantly increase damage output, so it would make sense to come up with an EV spread that reaches benchmarks around the item.
The original team concept relied on building around substitute mewtwo, a move that would give it an option to avoid sucker punches from opposing kangaskhan, mawile and yveltal efficiently. However, kangaskhan still remained a threat thanks to its parental bond, since the second hit of its sucker punch would still do more than 25% to mewtwo regardless of EV investment (when factoring in life orb recoil), meaning mewtwo would be KOd after setting up its second sub. So, I decided to forgo substitute and whack on gravity, which lead to this team's creation.
Back to the EV spread, the main target of this spread is to get around kangaskhan's sucker punch, as with the substitute set. The first thing to note is that 60 HP leaves mewtwo with a life orb number of 189 (10n-1), which minimises recoil. The second is that kangaskhan's sucker punch does up to 89.9%, meaning that after life orb recoil and taking a sucker punch, mewtwo will be left with at minimum 1 HP, which is pretty cool. If kangaskhan decides to go for a double-edge, it will do up to 98.9% to mewtwo with the rest of the defense investment. Ice beam is primarily for salamence, and psystrike is mewtwo's standard STAB move.
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Precipice Blades
- Fire Punch
- Swords Dance
- Protect
Similar to Baz's groudon, I wanted to utilise a swords dance set, primarily because of the free turns that sleep generates. After seeing Aaron Traylor's swords dance set do so well at US Nats, I thought I would give it a go. The EV spread is quite standard, it allows groudon to maximise its chance of 2HKOing non-bulky xerneas and can make xerneas' dazzling gleam a 3HKO, all whilst maximising groudon's offensive presence and speed. Only real disadvantage to this set is that it can't deal with stuff like talonflame (which threatens this team) as easy as rock slide variants can. Again, this is another pointer to the fact that this is a team is more fun to use than it is competitive.
Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Shadow Tag
Level: 50
EVs: 12 HP / 92 Def / 180 SpA / 4 SpD / 220 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Hypnosis
- Disable
- Protect
You've probably seen this EV spread before, it optimises gengar's matchup against talonflame, so that it can survive a brave bird before using hypnosis etc. The moves allow gengar to function with both mewtwo and whimsicott equally well, as disable can lead to some fun scenarios with mewtwo as it can with whimsicott. Sludge bomb is my STAB of choice because of its positive matchup against xerneas, allowing it to lead well against xerneas teams. Shadow Ball would be great for stuff like bronzong and other steels, but I can already passively deal with those threats with hypnosis/disable etc.
Whimsicott @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 164 HP / 4 Def / 84 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Encore
- Grass Whistle
- Protect
One of my yveltal checks thanks to moonblast, whimsicott fills a couple of roles within this team. It allows groudon to have an easier time in a late game sweep under gravity thanks to grass whistle, as well as leading well against fake out users and alike with encore. Its EV spread is a little non-standard, it deals >50% to 4 HP Yveltal with moonblast, making it a 2HKO, with the rest of the EVs in speed and bulk. Protect is a must on encore whimsicott, so that it can deal with pokemon with fake out etc, and helps the encore+disable combo to work successfully. Focus Sash is for survivability and I think that's about all there is to this set. Definitely a fun addition to the team that fulfills a lot of roles.
Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Aerilate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 100 Atk / 4 Def / 148 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Double-Edge
- Hyper Voice
- Tailwind
- Protect
This salamence set is an improvement upon my previous EV spread, which allowed salamence to KO 4 HP yveltal with a combination of double edge and hyper voice, at the expense of hyper voice damage. What this does is enable salamence to reach the same goal with maximum investment in SpA, which gives it a nice mix of offenses. If I were to run draco meteor on this set, the SpA investment would allow it to KO non-bulky groudon with hyper voice+draco meteor (156 SpA guarantees this on 12 HP / 4 SpD groudon), but the team lacks speed control as yet, so tailwind is really appreciated on this set.
Ferrothorn @ Expert Belt
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Atk / 60 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Thunder Wave / Seed Bomb
- Protect
This ferrothorn set is pretty non-standard, bar a couple of things. Shoutouts to GradeAGarchomp for originally coming up with expert belt ferrothorn, this allows it to OHKO bulkier xerneas variants and semi-bulky kyogre which is really appreciated, since power whip's shaky accuracy needs much more power behind it for kyogre etc. Life Orb would be much more ideal here, as this would allow ferrothorn to OHKO much more bulky kyogre and xerneas, but it's already taken up by mewtwo so expert belt is a little more ideal here. The EVs allow ferrothorn to maximise its offensive presence whilst still making 76+ and 252 SpA kyogre's water spout a 3HKO. Thunder Wave is the other non-standard thing on this set, which just allows ferrothorn to slow down a couple threats, so that they can be taken out more easily. Seed bomb is another thing that I'm interested in trying out, as it would allow ferrothorn to finish off bulky kyogre without worrying about power whip's shaky accuracy, but gravity definitely helps with this. Leech seed would be another option here, but on a more offensive ferrothorn set would not give as many advantages as the other options in this slot imo.
Importable
http://pastebin.com/m3d9N3G9
Mewtwo + Groudon Framework
(if you want to build around them yourself)
1. Mewtwo - runs a variety of sets; gravity mewtwo can create potentially very interesting strategies, especially when coupled with its unnerve ability (i.e hypnosis won't be cured by lum berry). If you want to improve your sucker punch matchup then substitute is a great choice. Unfortunately mewtwo does not have sufficient bulk to ensure that the second hit of kangaskhan's sucker punch does less than 25% (including life orb recoil), so EV spreads for substitute mewtwo sets may be hard to create.
2. Groudon - Again, a variety of sets can be used. If using gravity mewtwo, then precipice blades will be your go-to groudon set. Equally, if you want to use a mixed set then a combination of eruption and precipice blades can suffice.
3. Mega - If running gravity then mega gengar is ideal (hypnosis etc, can be EVd to underspeed mewtwo by a couple points). Otherwise, mega salamence and kangaskhan are good picks, although the former may be of more use (as covered next)
4. Yveltal / Groudon Check - Salamence is a great double mega choice (or single mega if non-gravity mewtwo - substitute or skill swap mewtwo etc) as it can heavily threaten yveltal groudon teams effectively (KOs both with a mixture of hyper voice + double-edge (4 HP yveltal) and hyper voice + draco meteor (12 HP / 4 SpD groudon) if EV'd correctly (100 Atk / 156 SpA reaches both benchmarks). Tailwind Mega Salamence is also a great option if you want to use a more rounded choice in this slot, being able to supply a method of speed control for the rest of the team. Landorus-T is also a good choice in this slot (as shown on Aaron's team), as this deals with groudon well
5. Groudon Support / Big 6 Check - needs to ideally supply a method of speed control, whilst providing a safe lead against big 6. This means smeargle checks are appreciated here, so prankster/fast taunt/lum+safeguard users are really appreciated here. An interesting choice in this slot is jumpluff as used on Keonspy/Kelly Mercier-White's teams (Netherlands regs / UK Nats respectively) as this allows groudon to beat some big 6 lead choices with a greater level of ease with its sleep/rage powder, encore and helping hand support. You can also double up on checks to other threats to your team, for example, Aaron uses a Landorus-T in this slot to cover this role. Non-TR based speed control (Tailwind, Thunder Wave, Icy Wind etc) is pretty crucial on this team build, so relevant users are appreciated in this slot (thundurus, talonflame, cresselia, crobat, jumpluff, zapdos etc)
6. Kyogre / Xerneas Check - Ferrothorn is the main candidate for this slot, as it is able to KO most non-bulky xerneas sets with gyro ball, and with life orb is able to get the KO on bulkier kyogre. If mewtwo holds life orb, then expert belt can work as a back up item. Amoonguss and bronzong are among a couple of alternative pokemon who can be used here, although bronzong synergises better with a slower groudon build. Gary Qian's team uses raichu as a solid kyogre/thundurus counter (and as fake out support) in this spot, since his talonflame already performs well as a xerneas check.
2. Groudon - Again, a variety of sets can be used. If using gravity mewtwo, then precipice blades will be your go-to groudon set. Equally, if you want to use a mixed set then a combination of eruption and precipice blades can suffice.
3. Mega - If running gravity then mega gengar is ideal (hypnosis etc, can be EVd to underspeed mewtwo by a couple points). Otherwise, mega salamence and kangaskhan are good picks, although the former may be of more use (as covered next)
4. Yveltal / Groudon Check - Salamence is a great double mega choice (or single mega if non-gravity mewtwo - substitute or skill swap mewtwo etc) as it can heavily threaten yveltal groudon teams effectively (KOs both with a mixture of hyper voice + double-edge (4 HP yveltal) and hyper voice + draco meteor (12 HP / 4 SpD groudon) if EV'd correctly (100 Atk / 156 SpA reaches both benchmarks). Tailwind Mega Salamence is also a great option if you want to use a more rounded choice in this slot, being able to supply a method of speed control for the rest of the team. Landorus-T is also a good choice in this slot (as shown on Aaron's team), as this deals with groudon well
5. Groudon Support / Big 6 Check - needs to ideally supply a method of speed control, whilst providing a safe lead against big 6. This means smeargle checks are appreciated here, so prankster/fast taunt/lum+safeguard users are really appreciated here. An interesting choice in this slot is jumpluff as used on Keonspy/Kelly Mercier-White's teams (Netherlands regs / UK Nats respectively) as this allows groudon to beat some big 6 lead choices with a greater level of ease with its sleep/rage powder, encore and helping hand support. You can also double up on checks to other threats to your team, for example, Aaron uses a Landorus-T in this slot to cover this role. Non-TR based speed control (Tailwind, Thunder Wave, Icy Wind etc) is pretty crucial on this team build, so relevant users are appreciated in this slot (thundurus, talonflame, cresselia, crobat, jumpluff, zapdos etc)
6. Kyogre / Xerneas Check - Ferrothorn is the main candidate for this slot, as it is able to KO most non-bulky xerneas sets with gyro ball, and with life orb is able to get the KO on bulkier kyogre. If mewtwo holds life orb, then expert belt can work as a back up item. Amoonguss and bronzong are among a couple of alternative pokemon who can be used here, although bronzong synergises better with a slower groudon build. Gary Qian's team uses raichu as a solid kyogre/thundurus counter (and as fake out support) in this spot, since his talonflame already performs well as a xerneas check.
Jip Snoek / Kelly Mercier-White's Team
Aaron Zheng's Road To Ranked Team
Gary Qian's Top 12 US Nats Team [Team Details]
Aaron Zheng's Road To Ranked Team
Gary Qian's Top 12 US Nats Team [Team Details]
Shoutouts to the following for voting on my previous RMT:
And that's it! Hope you've enjoyed reading and any feedback would be much appreciated :)