http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/monotype-xy-read-post-393-for-tiering-updates.3493087/
I don't like the text formating we used there, so basically, all pokemon on a team must share a type, mega evolutions are counted by base type (no charizard X on dragon, can still use mega altaria on flying even though you lose flying typing) We implemented a drizzle + damp rock ban to weaken politoed, and use a banlist that is slightly different from OU.
The differences are hinted at in my threatlist: Greninja is allowed, Deoxys-Defense and Speed are allowed, talonflame is banned, Mega Slowbro is banned, Genesect is allowed for bug teams only, shaymin sky is allowed for grass teams only, aegislash is allowed for ghost teams only, and Kyurem White is allowed for ice teams only. At the time of writing we are placing mega gallade into suspect status, and since the banlist is solely at the discretion of the vocal Room Owner, yeah, I'm not building teams around it in this metagame.
I don't like the text formating we used there, so basically, all pokemon on a team must share a type, mega evolutions are counted by base type (no charizard X on dragon, can still use mega altaria on flying even though you lose flying typing) We implemented a drizzle + damp rock ban to weaken politoed, and use a banlist that is slightly different from OU.
The differences are hinted at in my threatlist: Greninja is allowed, Deoxys-Defense and Speed are allowed, talonflame is banned, Mega Slowbro is banned, Genesect is allowed for bug teams only, shaymin sky is allowed for grass teams only, aegislash is allowed for ghost teams only, and Kyurem White is allowed for ice teams only. At the time of writing we are placing mega gallade into suspect status, and since the banlist is solely at the discretion of the vocal Room Owner, yeah, I'm not building teams around it in this metagame.
So ORAS made this whole tier so much more stagnant and match up based it's unbelievable. I decided to make a generic team to rage with when I went on tilt... but I couldn't bring myself to do it again after the fairy fiasco. In the end I built a water team entirely out of sets that are out of favor at the moment, and typically have bad synergy as guest members of top tier esque teams, but support each other well.
In most matches I have to fight any volt turn core off before using starmie to set dual screens (or single depending on their team) and sweeping with gyarados or manaphy. Keldeo provides immediate switches without needing to set up, and 2 walls cover the electric and grass weaknesses, as well as provide hazard control, and neither of them is particualrly prone to being set up on.
Jet Force Gemini (Starmie) @ Light Clay
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Scald
Ah yes, dual screens. Quite the hallmark of offense. Starmie is responsibly bulky for it's role, as it can almost always move first, effectively halfing the opponet's attack, I only care about beating 110 pokemon, as mega metagross and lati@s with BS coverage are the main reason I picked this over rotom-w, The resistance to fighting is sweet at times, and a healing move makes starmie tend to last entire battles despite how early I need him out.
Opus Beta (Manaphy) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 116 HP / 148 SpA / 108 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tail Glow
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Energy Ball
I'm only interested in beating out breloom, expert belt gives me a few KOs while unboosted so I don't have to get annoyed by "tank N toxic" pokemon like gastrodon. Manaphy is fairly tanky even if screens are down, which makes him relatively simply to use.
Blast Corps (Gyarados) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Waterfall
- Dragon Dance
Ah yes, offensive sleepy dos, I considered thunderwave set, but I decided just to give it sub dd EVs and these moves, which comes in handy against a disproportional amount of teams, and gives me a dual status absorber core with starmie. It can even walk over fighting and bug by remaining in its original form.
Epona (Keldeo) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Hydro Pump
- Icy Wind
- Secret Sword
The least popular keldeo with sub cm and specs around. A lot of teams without a SE on this thing teambuild with the plan to get chip damage with something it can tank, and then KO it with something else. With a Scarf under it's belt, it couldn't care less. While a 1.5 is nice, getting the first hit and still tanking lets you attack twice, which is stronger against these specific checks. Puts huge pressure on tea a number of teams.
Moff Seerdon (Tentacruel) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 248 HP / 112 Def / 148 SpD
Bold Nature
- Acid Spray
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
Prevents clefable from doing anything, allows me to force soft switches, gives knock off utility support, and removes hazards pretty reliable. Gives me a plan B for scarf Gardevoir and prevents suprise giga drain/ leech seed damage from things like volcarona. Not the familiar black sludge t spikes because of the overwhelming love of silly coverage thunderbolts on teams in monotype.
Battletanx (Swampert) @ Swampertite
Ability: Damp
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Avalanche
- Roar
The Electric immunity. Swampert doesn't need Leftovers to e effective, and the other items (red card, rindo berry, mental herb, lum berry / rocky helmet) are admittedly situational. So I slapped a second mega stone on it. This only gets used in bug/fairy/fighting/normal/electric/psychic matches, but as one of these is top tier and another two are still second string types, it sees use far more than its other items, even though it often does nothing. I dont get good results with dpp bulky pert, since power creep has made it's 252/252 bold worse than ever. Adamant is nice to give people smacking him to think about, since you both know it's going to tank whatever single hit they throw at it anyway. Avalanche has higher effecttive BP than ice punch on the things I want it on, and eq is stronger than waterfall, which isn't so hot without rain and a boosting move.
Jet Force Gemini (Starmie) @ Light Clay
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Scald
Opus Beta (Manaphy) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 116 HP / 148 SpA / 108 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tail Glow
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Energy Ball
Blast Corps (Gyarados) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Crunch
- Dragon Dance
Epona (Keldeo) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Hydro Pump
- Icy Wind
- Secret Sword
Moff Seerdon (Tentacruel) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 248 HP / 112 Def / 148 SpD
Calm Nature
- Acid Spray
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
Battletanx (Swampert) @ Swampertite
Ability: Damp
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Avalanche
- Magic Coat
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Scald
Opus Beta (Manaphy) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 116 HP / 148 SpA / 108 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tail Glow
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Energy Ball
Blast Corps (Gyarados) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Crunch
- Dragon Dance
Epona (Keldeo) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Hydro Pump
- Icy Wind
- Secret Sword
Moff Seerdon (Tentacruel) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 248 HP / 112 Def / 148 SpD
Calm Nature
- Acid Spray
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
Battletanx (Swampert) @ Swampertite
Ability: Damp
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Avalanche
- Magic Coat
Only talking bout generic people here, I know Crawdaunt and Meloetta screw me over.
Fire
The big problems are charizard Y and Victini, unlike most water teams, I have starmie to lead with, who can easily light screen on charizard, who may put himself deeper in the hole by running away for fear of LO thunderbolt. Victini can't touch swampert, although u-turn is a problem regardless of which member it is used on (starmie does heal off if I predict though). I can use tentacruel as free death fodder unless they have volcarona, in which case I need to reserve it. Other pokemon struggle to hurt the team, who can clean up with their STAB attacks. Special note is gyarados who can tank coverage moves like energy ball from things with less wall breaking potential than other these three mons. Rotom-H is thankfully always defensive.
Water
Manaphy for days! These teams have problems preventing starmie from setting up screens, which grossly lowers what the three common pokemon outspeeding it (keldeo, greninja, mega pert) can do, and given that it already tanks their attacks, this is drastic. Rotom-W can run scarf sets, although defensive sets are preferred because the utility of their typing is so important in monotype, either way, their Basepower is deceptively low, and once swampert has scouted it, starmie's screens will help gyarados or manaphy to eat it for breakfeast. If it somehow comes down to a stall war, the starmie-gyarados combo will basically never cave in to toxic/scald spam and easily outclasses the over hyped heal bell mons. Lets me forget about slowbro and company entirely. If azumarill isn't running assvest, band, or shit sipper, and pulls out sitrus drum, I have to sack tentacruel to lower it's spdef for manaphy, and of course, it can't try to setup ever again. Luckily I can just go to him every time it comes in till I know, and I won't need him for anything (unless they have t spikes) otherwise, so he WILL be avialable.
Ice
These teams range from an average problem to a huge one, strangely enough. While I can setup stealth rock on many of their pokemon, and avalugg can only do so much to remove it with my special attackers, their offensive pressure can Make that day long in coming. Keldeo misses the OHKOs that his other sets get against these pokemon. Abonasnow can be scarf, icy rock, mega, or sub seed, but is thankfully being phased out of ice teams due to missing permahail. Rotom Frost is built for survivability because they don't want to get screwed by scizor after all, so it becomes as screenable as its brethren. Cloyster can't do too much, tentacruel is fodder of choice against frosslass. The uber...thankfully I can always get screens out after its first draco meteor KO, so I have to do as much damage as possible in the 7 turns after it switches out. Once their team is weakened, gyarados can sweep... Once in a blue moon... articuno will come out of retirement... and unlike most defoggers, I can't pressure him enough to prevent losing screens, and worse, he could outright sweep me with freeze dry.
Electric
My team is weaker than most water teams are to electric. In short, I use swampert. Anything that they send in against him of their own will should be assumed to have toxic, so I should just keep absorbing that with others and then spamming attacks on those pokemon until they are out of the picture. Keldeo is always used as a galvantula sash breaker if applicable to prevent suprises coming out of energy ball. If eelektross/ rotom are down, I can sweep them even. (since swampert is slow it can just earthquake on zapdos's roost)
Dark
It's well known that dark struggles with bulky water, and this team fills this mold pretty handily. Keldeo forces switch or die 50/50s, and can come in easily, and the mandibuzz or sableye that come in can't do anything should I double to tentacruel or manaphy (gyarados if no foul play aka all mega sableye)
Normal
A lot of rules of thumb apply when facing normal teams. Don't setup if they have ditto, double switch if threatening with a special attacker to catch chansey, always lead prepared for spore, etc. Mega Lopunny even manages to outspeed starmie. and while 3 pokemon can tank Banded Reckless Staraptor, they don't particularly want to. The same applies to meloetta (and exploud) if it turns out not to be the popular assvest, as timid hyper voice isn't a slouch, even without choice specs, which some people do like to use... Diggersby can punch as hard, but isn't quite as dangerous as the others due to how easy it is to get rid of. In no other match up is starmie as important as it is here. Gyarados leads against smeargle to abuse sleeptalk.
Sadly, the anti-genesct evs on some of my pokemon have made download porygon2 and z even scarier for my team, and while ditto is alive, I can't fully threaten chansey, even with 3 physical(secret sword counts) attacks. Basically my win con is to keep starmie alive.. behind screens it can handle most of these crazy wallbreakers, and slowly burn them alive. It isn't quite bulky enough to take on their just as unexpected scarf sets however. Therefore I have to constantly bring in fresh blood throughout the battle, and put on an offense of my own. Normal's core is legendary for a reason however, and regardless of chansey having wish or heal bell it will still keep everything that needs to take attacks for them alive, especially itself. Audino teams are easier to deal with, since it can't touch my MVP.
Bug
So many problems. If they have galvantula, I have to lead with swampert and instantly megaevolve to tank a potential energy ball and knock him down to sash with earthquake. I could SR after, but it dosen't really matter, since if they didn't have defog scizor, forretress, or armaldo, they wouldn't be on the ladder. >< If swampert is still available I'm happy. Some team's don't run galvantula though, and these are often more problemic. Pinsir and mega beedrill are probbably foremost of things I don't like, even as a bulky team, they will gladly wallbreak me. Genesect is ineffecutal most of the time, although if I'm fighting the band version instead of the 70% usage scarf, I'm in a heap of trouble.
(Evs have recently been changed to address this by giving him the special atk download). My easiest wincondition here is to set reflect with starmie on the same turn it faints. If this happens, literally nothing can stop manaphy. Finally, while I normally fodder tentacruel, I don't have the luxury if their team is packing volcarona, although most of my pokemon are tanky enough to deal with it at only +1. Normal mode Gyarados is an effective sweeper as well. Scarf Heracross is less threatening to me than other options, and people are scared to ladder without him thankfully, which prevents me dealing with 4+ of the problem mons.
Poison
Ah my favorite type.. Poison teams can cause unholy amounts of unpleasantness to water, just because of how amazing mega venusaur is. Strangely enough, starmie can wall it, and eventually wear it out with scald.... these are LONG matches. If they are instead packing mega beedrill, I have a much easier time, even though I don't like him in particular, the wallbreaker's individual unpleasantness isn't as horrifying as the virtual team package venu provides. On the other hand, Crobat, Gengar, and Dragalage (that adaptibility) can put up offensive pressure that almost no type can throw neutralities at, and my team isn't particularly diverse. My Tentacruel (also annoying to have to kill theirs, but not particularly dangerous here or on water) can deal with the last two, and if I scout gengar I may be able to gyarados it, and it can't come in if I'm already+1 unless he's scarf, which isn't too bad. The psychic immune mons and weezing are basically dead weight. Nidoking is treated with kiddie gloves since he's powerful enough to make lightscreen look like a joke, although keldeo usually lures scarf ones to their doom. LO at the end of the day won't stay in on 3 of my mons (starmie does attack), although taken with the rest of the team it's a problem.
Rock
They aren't able to remove screens, even if they have aerodactly, it's dead. Keldeo, mega gyarados, and manaphy can sweep, or you can take the time with starmie to preserve a 6-0.
Steel
With the oras addition of mega metagross, these teams can finally dream of their place up at no1 type which they had back in the days of aegislash. They also possess the last FWG core, which is by definition annoying for people who are an actual member of it. If they have Magnezone, I have to assume it is scarfed and with mandatory metagross's coverage, he's conflicts less than the other scarfer, excadrill, and as such is being used more. The usual lead is metagross, who wants to catch out keldeo. This thing dosen't liked to be walled, and will probably have grass knot, I usually check for thunderpunch as well though. Luckily Starmie can check it with fast screens. Even if they don't have magnezone I want to keep swampert alive for as long as possible, since he can do heavy damage to most of their team. Ferrothron won't stay in on keldeo(it's not an OHKO in this case if it does though), and can get abusive with power whip if tentacruel isn't lucky with a burn.. this is often all tent does in these battles.
Mega metagross should come out every time keldeo KOs a mon (which is why it's built not to do so), and I don't particularly want to play 50/50s even with neutral psycho headbut damage on a switched in swampert or gyarados. I am able to risk bisharp double switches and use gyarados to wall things without fear due to keldeo, although I will often get to megaevolve him so he can tank a thunderpunch and do more damage with his neutral attacks. Skarmory is the defogger least suited to taking down dual screens, as special attackers using them to boost (or phsyical in some cases) can KO it as it tries to. As dangerous as metagross is, I can hydro pump it freely due to manaphy's scarf, after which the pokemon who can tank an attack can take it out easily.
Grass
Raise your ELO so you never have to see them. In tournaments, just forfeit.
Ghost
If gengar lacks thunderbolt, gyarados kinda 6-0s, at any rate, keldeo is expendable, so it can deal with frosslass (winning outright if they take their free spikes before d-bond) and golurk leads, while starmie can screen on gengar after I psyche it out with swampert, all that matters is being careful. Manaphy can go to town if I need to, but it's an easy match.
Dragon
Kyurem-B is the problem, although alot of dragons are annoying due to their high powered attacks. Starmie can screen easily against most of these teams however, and swampert can get near guranteed trades on any member of their team. This support allows manaphy have multible attempts to fry them. Druddigon's glare attack, and the special attackers can cause bigger problems than other mons, but I have no obligation to make manaphy take it and switching often is going to hurt them more than me. Keldeo misses a lot of power, but it makes a big enough dent in what it needs to (altaria/druddigon) for me to get OHKOs with unboosted manaphy.
Fighting
Lead with Keldeo, who is expendable, to break breloom's sash. If they don't play ball and lead with cobalion, I'll go for SR with swampert. Once breloom is sashless, (will be foreced out rest of battle by manaphy switch ins (and possible OHKO unboosted if they think I'm greedy) all I have to do is set up reflect with starmie, and I sweep, either with an offensive pokemon (usually manaphy>gyarados for obv reasons), or starmie itself (oh god so slow).
Psychic
Victini's biggest threat is if it thinks you will get greedy with swampert and dosen't switch when you force it out by absorbing a bolt strike with swampert... obviously the anti mew/slowbro pokemon don't need to be blasted. On the other hand, since it's scarfed, it's attack isn't all that high, making reflect extremely effective against him, although starmie struggles to set it up with mew likely to try and hit him with knock off, or jirachi running alongside victini to make a volturn core. Mega Metagross is even worse here if it shows it's face, since psychic teams are more likely to eschew psycho cut, not needing him for protection against fighting, and that spare moveslot could end in him having thunderpunch. Medicham on the other hand can wall break, although he isn't that useful with starmie and reflect access. The basic win con here is gyarados, who is pretty immune to the common walls and stallbreakers like mew.
However, he can't mega until medicham is dead, so he can take dangerous LO psychics, and I need to scout for thunderbolt on meloetta and gardevoir. Meloetta isn't so bad on psychic since it nearly always runs assault vest here (redundant on normal, who should make it offensive), but it does postpone the game... Scarf Gardevoir is a big threat as well, and it may or may not carry thunderbolt, although moonblast isn't to be sniffed at. However, my members can tank it without screen support, and multible times with it, unlike victini. They'll usually try to be cute with psyshock until tenta dies, so I get stingy with him for the first few rounds. Latios is kinda cabable of defogging screens, but not really. None of Swampert, starmie or manaphy are hurt by psyshock very much, so taunting them with tentacruel is often the way to go until I've weakend the checks to gyarados between my other 4 pokemon, who will be used aggesively..
Flying
Never mind that they pick and choose between the MVPs of half of all the types, flying teams know that everyone else wants a piece of them and they will overcompensate for it. I have to look out for charizard, who could be Y, although starmie weakens it similiar to fire teams. Thundurus I or scarf T can create mindgames that can allow them to control when you send out megaswampert, but with stealth rock (removal=death by manaphy) and avalanche, it will hurt them more than you unless they have experience double switching. If Zapdos is the only electric pokemon, I can considering quick foddering keldeo on it and then KOing it with manaphy while it is weakened, although using swampert will work just as well for me due to outslowing it.
Dragonite is severely hampered by reflect, even with weakness policy, but I can kill it with my 3 ice users and increase chance of SR breaking his ability with roar where he will probbably try to get a free dance on a predicted ice punch. Charizard X might not want to set up because of the damage it takes in turn, but it can wallbreak in short bursts, although keldeo minimizes danger of anything more than that. Defensive Charizard X are ineffectual against gyarados and starmie. Until I prove Lando-T isn't scarfed, I can't safely screen on it, but if I find out it is a pivot set or they are just using lando-I, then it becomes dead weight completely, especially with gyarados in the wings. Things like Honchkrow, Gyarados, and togekiss can wallbreak my members, although they despise Keldeo and manaphy.
Fairy
Even though fairy is still stinging from the loss of mawile, it does hold on as a second string type, and sneaks into tournaments by dedicated users. Thanks to expert belt, manaphy will always KO azumarill though light screen after I have tentacruel acid spray it. Tentacruel counters clefable, but I can afford to use other pokemon if it is magic guard. unaware can sweep me if tentacruel isn't available. diancie mega is obnoxouis, but starmie can screen on it. TR normal diancie would be less so, except if they are using it they are basically guranteed to have mega gardevoir instead. The support pokemon aren't as strong as mine, overall. Both Scarf and Mega Gardevoir are jerks to all water teams, but psyshock doesn't do much to either mega pert or manaphy (even without screens) so I can play on their expectation of tentacruel, although I still win if I have to fodder something (prob keldeo) Screens easy to maintain. Fighting togekiss is chancy as always, but fodderkeldeo will put it in KO range of my other pokemon. I can also screen+recover (switch to normal dos to remove status) until it dies of scald or runs out of PP.
Ground
No defog for the screens + perfect coverage on their team with manaphy+ gyarados able to tank and sweep most pokemon in one package... yeah they have it pretty bad.
Tl DR
Easy: Dark, Ground, Rock, Fighting, Water, Ghost
Medium: Electric, Fairy, Fire, Poison, Normal, Dragon, Flying, Psychic
Hard: Grass, Steel, Bug
While in the world of theory these are average results... on PO you are going to see 8 water teams for every grass team, and additionally many of the teams labeled as threats have a fairly straightforward plans for beating them if they (and this is pretty likely in say, the case of bug) are built without specific mons or in electric's case combinations of members. Types like poison and normal tend to have fewer experienced users, because while they are scary when played well... they are held down by losing to psychic/ steel games where the other player doesn't really have to think to beat them, and the frustration keeps them underpopulated.
I use 8 sprites because the sheer genericness would weigh me down otherwise. You can imagine the mega sprites if it bothers you... I don't teambuild to counter choice scarf medicham lol.
Fire
The big problems are charizard Y and Victini, unlike most water teams, I have starmie to lead with, who can easily light screen on charizard, who may put himself deeper in the hole by running away for fear of LO thunderbolt. Victini can't touch swampert, although u-turn is a problem regardless of which member it is used on (starmie does heal off if I predict though). I can use tentacruel as free death fodder unless they have volcarona, in which case I need to reserve it. Other pokemon struggle to hurt the team, who can clean up with their STAB attacks. Special note is gyarados who can tank coverage moves like energy ball from things with less wall breaking potential than other these three mons. Rotom-H is thankfully always defensive.
Water
Manaphy for days! These teams have problems preventing starmie from setting up screens, which grossly lowers what the three common pokemon outspeeding it (keldeo, greninja, mega pert) can do, and given that it already tanks their attacks, this is drastic. Rotom-W can run scarf sets, although defensive sets are preferred because the utility of their typing is so important in monotype, either way, their Basepower is deceptively low, and once swampert has scouted it, starmie's screens will help gyarados or manaphy to eat it for breakfeast. If it somehow comes down to a stall war, the starmie-gyarados combo will basically never cave in to toxic/scald spam and easily outclasses the over hyped heal bell mons. Lets me forget about slowbro and company entirely. If azumarill isn't running assvest, band, or shit sipper, and pulls out sitrus drum, I have to sack tentacruel to lower it's spdef for manaphy, and of course, it can't try to setup ever again. Luckily I can just go to him every time it comes in till I know, and I won't need him for anything (unless they have t spikes) otherwise, so he WILL be avialable.
Ice
These teams range from an average problem to a huge one, strangely enough. While I can setup stealth rock on many of their pokemon, and avalugg can only do so much to remove it with my special attackers, their offensive pressure can Make that day long in coming. Keldeo misses the OHKOs that his other sets get against these pokemon. Abonasnow can be scarf, icy rock, mega, or sub seed, but is thankfully being phased out of ice teams due to missing permahail. Rotom Frost is built for survivability because they don't want to get screwed by scizor after all, so it becomes as screenable as its brethren. Cloyster can't do too much, tentacruel is fodder of choice against frosslass. The uber...thankfully I can always get screens out after its first draco meteor KO, so I have to do as much damage as possible in the 7 turns after it switches out. Once their team is weakened, gyarados can sweep... Once in a blue moon... articuno will come out of retirement... and unlike most defoggers, I can't pressure him enough to prevent losing screens, and worse, he could outright sweep me with freeze dry.
Electric
My team is weaker than most water teams are to electric. In short, I use swampert. Anything that they send in against him of their own will should be assumed to have toxic, so I should just keep absorbing that with others and then spamming attacks on those pokemon until they are out of the picture. Keldeo is always used as a galvantula sash breaker if applicable to prevent suprises coming out of energy ball. If eelektross/ rotom are down, I can sweep them even. (since swampert is slow it can just earthquake on zapdos's roost)
Dark
It's well known that dark struggles with bulky water, and this team fills this mold pretty handily. Keldeo forces switch or die 50/50s, and can come in easily, and the mandibuzz or sableye that come in can't do anything should I double to tentacruel or manaphy (gyarados if no foul play aka all mega sableye)
Normal
A lot of rules of thumb apply when facing normal teams. Don't setup if they have ditto, double switch if threatening with a special attacker to catch chansey, always lead prepared for spore, etc. Mega Lopunny even manages to outspeed starmie. and while 3 pokemon can tank Banded Reckless Staraptor, they don't particularly want to. The same applies to meloetta (and exploud) if it turns out not to be the popular assvest, as timid hyper voice isn't a slouch, even without choice specs, which some people do like to use... Diggersby can punch as hard, but isn't quite as dangerous as the others due to how easy it is to get rid of. In no other match up is starmie as important as it is here. Gyarados leads against smeargle to abuse sleeptalk.
Sadly, the anti-genesct evs on some of my pokemon have made download porygon2 and z even scarier for my team, and while ditto is alive, I can't fully threaten chansey, even with 3 physical(secret sword counts) attacks. Basically my win con is to keep starmie alive.. behind screens it can handle most of these crazy wallbreakers, and slowly burn them alive. It isn't quite bulky enough to take on their just as unexpected scarf sets however. Therefore I have to constantly bring in fresh blood throughout the battle, and put on an offense of my own. Normal's core is legendary for a reason however, and regardless of chansey having wish or heal bell it will still keep everything that needs to take attacks for them alive, especially itself. Audino teams are easier to deal with, since it can't touch my MVP.
Bug
So many problems. If they have galvantula, I have to lead with swampert and instantly megaevolve to tank a potential energy ball and knock him down to sash with earthquake. I could SR after, but it dosen't really matter, since if they didn't have defog scizor, forretress, or armaldo, they wouldn't be on the ladder. >< If swampert is still available I'm happy. Some team's don't run galvantula though, and these are often more problemic. Pinsir and mega beedrill are probbably foremost of things I don't like, even as a bulky team, they will gladly wallbreak me. Genesect is ineffecutal most of the time, although if I'm fighting the band version instead of the 70% usage scarf, I'm in a heap of trouble.
(Evs have recently been changed to address this by giving him the special atk download). My easiest wincondition here is to set reflect with starmie on the same turn it faints. If this happens, literally nothing can stop manaphy. Finally, while I normally fodder tentacruel, I don't have the luxury if their team is packing volcarona, although most of my pokemon are tanky enough to deal with it at only +1. Normal mode Gyarados is an effective sweeper as well. Scarf Heracross is less threatening to me than other options, and people are scared to ladder without him thankfully, which prevents me dealing with 4+ of the problem mons.
Poison
Ah my favorite type.. Poison teams can cause unholy amounts of unpleasantness to water, just because of how amazing mega venusaur is. Strangely enough, starmie can wall it, and eventually wear it out with scald.... these are LONG matches. If they are instead packing mega beedrill, I have a much easier time, even though I don't like him in particular, the wallbreaker's individual unpleasantness isn't as horrifying as the virtual team package venu provides. On the other hand, Crobat, Gengar, and Dragalage (that adaptibility) can put up offensive pressure that almost no type can throw neutralities at, and my team isn't particularly diverse. My Tentacruel (also annoying to have to kill theirs, but not particularly dangerous here or on water) can deal with the last two, and if I scout gengar I may be able to gyarados it, and it can't come in if I'm already+1 unless he's scarf, which isn't too bad. The psychic immune mons and weezing are basically dead weight. Nidoking is treated with kiddie gloves since he's powerful enough to make lightscreen look like a joke, although keldeo usually lures scarf ones to their doom. LO at the end of the day won't stay in on 3 of my mons (starmie does attack), although taken with the rest of the team it's a problem.
Rock
They aren't able to remove screens, even if they have aerodactly, it's dead. Keldeo, mega gyarados, and manaphy can sweep, or you can take the time with starmie to preserve a 6-0.
Steel
With the oras addition of mega metagross, these teams can finally dream of their place up at no1 type which they had back in the days of aegislash. They also possess the last FWG core, which is by definition annoying for people who are an actual member of it. If they have Magnezone, I have to assume it is scarfed and with mandatory metagross's coverage, he's conflicts less than the other scarfer, excadrill, and as such is being used more. The usual lead is metagross, who wants to catch out keldeo. This thing dosen't liked to be walled, and will probably have grass knot, I usually check for thunderpunch as well though. Luckily Starmie can check it with fast screens. Even if they don't have magnezone I want to keep swampert alive for as long as possible, since he can do heavy damage to most of their team. Ferrothron won't stay in on keldeo(it's not an OHKO in this case if it does though), and can get abusive with power whip if tentacruel isn't lucky with a burn.. this is often all tent does in these battles.
Mega metagross should come out every time keldeo KOs a mon (which is why it's built not to do so), and I don't particularly want to play 50/50s even with neutral psycho headbut damage on a switched in swampert or gyarados. I am able to risk bisharp double switches and use gyarados to wall things without fear due to keldeo, although I will often get to megaevolve him so he can tank a thunderpunch and do more damage with his neutral attacks. Skarmory is the defogger least suited to taking down dual screens, as special attackers using them to boost (or phsyical in some cases) can KO it as it tries to. As dangerous as metagross is, I can hydro pump it freely due to manaphy's scarf, after which the pokemon who can tank an attack can take it out easily.
Grass
Raise your ELO so you never have to see them. In tournaments, just forfeit.
Ghost
If gengar lacks thunderbolt, gyarados kinda 6-0s, at any rate, keldeo is expendable, so it can deal with frosslass (winning outright if they take their free spikes before d-bond) and golurk leads, while starmie can screen on gengar after I psyche it out with swampert, all that matters is being careful. Manaphy can go to town if I need to, but it's an easy match.
Dragon
Kyurem-B is the problem, although alot of dragons are annoying due to their high powered attacks. Starmie can screen easily against most of these teams however, and swampert can get near guranteed trades on any member of their team. This support allows manaphy have multible attempts to fry them. Druddigon's glare attack, and the special attackers can cause bigger problems than other mons, but I have no obligation to make manaphy take it and switching often is going to hurt them more than me. Keldeo misses a lot of power, but it makes a big enough dent in what it needs to (altaria/druddigon) for me to get OHKOs with unboosted manaphy.
Fighting
Lead with Keldeo, who is expendable, to break breloom's sash. If they don't play ball and lead with cobalion, I'll go for SR with swampert. Once breloom is sashless, (will be foreced out rest of battle by manaphy switch ins (and possible OHKO unboosted if they think I'm greedy) all I have to do is set up reflect with starmie, and I sweep, either with an offensive pokemon (usually manaphy>gyarados for obv reasons), or starmie itself (oh god so slow).
Psychic
Victini's biggest threat is if it thinks you will get greedy with swampert and dosen't switch when you force it out by absorbing a bolt strike with swampert... obviously the anti mew/slowbro pokemon don't need to be blasted. On the other hand, since it's scarfed, it's attack isn't all that high, making reflect extremely effective against him, although starmie struggles to set it up with mew likely to try and hit him with knock off, or jirachi running alongside victini to make a volturn core. Mega Metagross is even worse here if it shows it's face, since psychic teams are more likely to eschew psycho cut, not needing him for protection against fighting, and that spare moveslot could end in him having thunderpunch. Medicham on the other hand can wall break, although he isn't that useful with starmie and reflect access. The basic win con here is gyarados, who is pretty immune to the common walls and stallbreakers like mew.
However, he can't mega until medicham is dead, so he can take dangerous LO psychics, and I need to scout for thunderbolt on meloetta and gardevoir. Meloetta isn't so bad on psychic since it nearly always runs assault vest here (redundant on normal, who should make it offensive), but it does postpone the game... Scarf Gardevoir is a big threat as well, and it may or may not carry thunderbolt, although moonblast isn't to be sniffed at. However, my members can tank it without screen support, and multible times with it, unlike victini. They'll usually try to be cute with psyshock until tenta dies, so I get stingy with him for the first few rounds. Latios is kinda cabable of defogging screens, but not really. None of Swampert, starmie or manaphy are hurt by psyshock very much, so taunting them with tentacruel is often the way to go until I've weakend the checks to gyarados between my other 4 pokemon, who will be used aggesively..
Flying
Never mind that they pick and choose between the MVPs of half of all the types, flying teams know that everyone else wants a piece of them and they will overcompensate for it. I have to look out for charizard, who could be Y, although starmie weakens it similiar to fire teams. Thundurus I or scarf T can create mindgames that can allow them to control when you send out megaswampert, but with stealth rock (removal=death by manaphy) and avalanche, it will hurt them more than you unless they have experience double switching. If Zapdos is the only electric pokemon, I can considering quick foddering keldeo on it and then KOing it with manaphy while it is weakened, although using swampert will work just as well for me due to outslowing it.
Dragonite is severely hampered by reflect, even with weakness policy, but I can kill it with my 3 ice users and increase chance of SR breaking his ability with roar where he will probbably try to get a free dance on a predicted ice punch. Charizard X might not want to set up because of the damage it takes in turn, but it can wallbreak in short bursts, although keldeo minimizes danger of anything more than that. Defensive Charizard X are ineffectual against gyarados and starmie. Until I prove Lando-T isn't scarfed, I can't safely screen on it, but if I find out it is a pivot set or they are just using lando-I, then it becomes dead weight completely, especially with gyarados in the wings. Things like Honchkrow, Gyarados, and togekiss can wallbreak my members, although they despise Keldeo and manaphy.
Fairy
Even though fairy is still stinging from the loss of mawile, it does hold on as a second string type, and sneaks into tournaments by dedicated users. Thanks to expert belt, manaphy will always KO azumarill though light screen after I have tentacruel acid spray it. Tentacruel counters clefable, but I can afford to use other pokemon if it is magic guard. unaware can sweep me if tentacruel isn't available. diancie mega is obnoxouis, but starmie can screen on it. TR normal diancie would be less so, except if they are using it they are basically guranteed to have mega gardevoir instead. The support pokemon aren't as strong as mine, overall. Both Scarf and Mega Gardevoir are jerks to all water teams, but psyshock doesn't do much to either mega pert or manaphy (even without screens) so I can play on their expectation of tentacruel, although I still win if I have to fodder something (prob keldeo) Screens easy to maintain. Fighting togekiss is chancy as always, but fodderkeldeo will put it in KO range of my other pokemon. I can also screen+recover (switch to normal dos to remove status) until it dies of scald or runs out of PP.
Ground
No defog for the screens + perfect coverage on their team with manaphy+ gyarados able to tank and sweep most pokemon in one package... yeah they have it pretty bad.
Tl DR
Easy: Dark, Ground, Rock, Fighting, Water, Ghost
Medium: Electric, Fairy, Fire, Poison, Normal, Dragon, Flying, Psychic
Hard: Grass, Steel, Bug
While in the world of theory these are average results... on PO you are going to see 8 water teams for every grass team, and additionally many of the teams labeled as threats have a fairly straightforward plans for beating them if they (and this is pretty likely in say, the case of bug) are built without specific mons or in electric's case combinations of members. Types like poison and normal tend to have fewer experienced users, because while they are scary when played well... they are held down by losing to psychic/ steel games where the other player doesn't really have to think to beat them, and the frustration keeps them underpopulated.
I use 8 sprites because the sheer genericness would weigh me down otherwise. You can imagine the mega sprites if it bothers you... I don't teambuild to counter choice scarf medicham lol.
Former members
Doctor Smooth Love :Cloyster is such a tournament hero, but you can't appeal to spectators while laddering, even if you are streaming it.
Dynamite Fist: People were asking me for help so I helped promote Crawdaunt usage in the mono room.
Specs Keldeo helps the Normal matchup, but doesn't actually change anything against steel.
Thunderwave rest talk gyarados helps more against dragons and when extra special defense is needed. The greater ability to tank stray thunderbolts and make them vulnerable to my team and potential to shut down an enemy sweeper are helpful.
Monoattacking gyarados with crunch eases the ferrothron problem, kinda helps with dragon teams, and drastically speeds up psychic and water games. As a secondary sweeper it would still probbably only start up if I already tried to sweep with manaphy, and could obviously make fairy/fighting/ dark games more problemic, with fairy being the important loss of a member.
Dual Screen Rotom can't heal itself, so while it trivializes the steel and bug match ups, it can't rick roll fighting and psychic like starmie, and additionally, it doesn't scare people when it first comes out with the threat of a cleaner with good coverage.
Doctor Smooth Love :Cloyster is such a tournament hero, but you can't appeal to spectators while laddering, even if you are streaming it.
Dynamite Fist: People were asking me for help so I helped promote Crawdaunt usage in the mono room.
Specs Keldeo helps the Normal matchup, but doesn't actually change anything against steel.
Thunderwave rest talk gyarados helps more against dragons and when extra special defense is needed. The greater ability to tank stray thunderbolts and make them vulnerable to my team and potential to shut down an enemy sweeper are helpful.
Monoattacking gyarados with crunch eases the ferrothron problem, kinda helps with dragon teams, and drastically speeds up psychic and water games. As a secondary sweeper it would still probbably only start up if I already tried to sweep with manaphy, and could obviously make fairy/fighting/ dark games more problemic, with fairy being the important loss of a member.
Dual Screen Rotom can't heal itself, so while it trivializes the steel and bug match ups, it can't rick roll fighting and psychic like starmie, and additionally, it doesn't scare people when it first comes out with the threat of a cleaner with good coverage.
Closing Remarks
If you see any major logic gaps or threats that steamroll my team that could be covered really easily, or want to swear at me about Specs keldeo's appeal over scarf, that's what this thread is for.
I'm less inclined to respond to grammar errors due to the length of this rmt, but I'll do anything coincidental.
This team is a lot of fun and makes me feel less awful than using a flying team, but on the other hand it doesn't face tons of unwinnable games like my ghost team and the generic stuff people have twinked me.On the other hand it led me to the mindset that created our current over-centralization and general crabbiness at people for running niche sets of their own since I only want to prepare for the most popular things being used.
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