[NU] Smogon Bird Terrorizes NU (Peaked #12)

[Evan.]

Intro
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Hey guys, my name is Can-Eh-Dian and I am here to post my second RMT and my first for Gen 6: Smogon Bird Terrorizes NU! Strangely enough, this team was founded when I tried my hand at OU laddering for BT's tournament. After getting my shit pushed in by the middle of the ladder I found that easily the best poke on my team was smogonburd Talonflame. I tried basing a team around his younger brother Fletchinder in my favourite tier: NU. What followed lead to the best team I've ever created and a ladder ranking that I can be proud of.

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http://gyazo.com/65e60cafcf401cb058d072d5837c873b

My team is sort of like a hybrid bulky offense team that weakens opposing defensive cores, allowing for me to sweep with Fletchinder or Gurdurr. What makes this team special in my opinion is that if I can fall back on the 2 most powerful priority attacks in the tier in Shiftry's Sucker Punch or Fletchinder's Acrobatics. Now enough with this general talk and let's get on with the team.

Teambuilding Process

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Fletchinder was the original pokemon I wanted to build the team around. His older brother Talonflame's performance in OU made me wonder if Fletch could be the same kind of threat in NU


With Fletchinder comes the crippling 4x weakness to rocks. I figured the best way to combat this was to go with the best offensive defogger in the tier: Shiftry. This also formed an extremely deadly dual-priority core.


To complete the stereotypical FWG core I chose to go with standardtoad Seismitoad as his great typing and bulk give perfect synergy with Fletchinder as well as a great defensive pivot for my team.


I realized I needed something to handle flying and normal spam so I chose Magneton to fill that spot. Magneton is an amazing bulky offensive pivot that can force tons of switches and shift the momentum in my favour.


I then looked at my team and saw that fighting types could walk through my defensive core. I decided to add an Assault Vest Mesprit as it has incredible bulk and can dish out a ton of damage at the same time.


Finally, I realized that my team didn't really have a back-up win condition. I looked and looked and found a perfect fit in Gurdurr. Gurdurr handles the Rock and Steel Types that Fletchinder can't with ease and can blitz through unprepared teams.

In-Depth:

smogon burd jr.
Fletchinder @ No Item
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost

Fletchinder was the pokemon that I based this team around and he certainly proved himself to be a top tier threat in NU. Gale Wings is what allows him to be so successful, making Fletchinder have a Base 110 power priority move that is only resisted by Rock and Steel (I'm pretty sure). Often I would never even need to set up a Swords Dance as Fletchinder can usually clean up shop by himself. Will-O-Wisp allows me to surprise the Rock and Steel switch-ins with a burn, crippling them for the rest of the game. Roost is there because priority healing is amazing as fuck and is mainly used if I need to stall out a bit of toxic or LO damage before I get the kill.

Ballchinian
Shiftry @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Seed Bomb
- Defog

Offensive Defog Shiftry is a really great Mon this gen. Defog is key to allowing Fletchinder more than 2 switch-ins to the match. Shiftry also matches up very well against almost every SR setter in the entire tier. Sucker Punch is for an incredibly powerful priority move that gives Shiftry an incredible amount of utility as a revenge killer as well. Knock Off and Seed Bomb are obligatory STABs that both hit incredibly hard with Shiftry's Base 100 attack and Life Orb. Overall, Shiftry got a great buff this gen and it's hard to see why he's not used on every offensive team for hazard control.

Lol Same Toad GIF

smogon toad
Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Earth Power

Oh Toad, nothing has really changed for you since last gen but nothing has needed to. Seismitoad is the ultimate defensive pivot because of it's great typing and ability. It forms a perfect weakness synergy core with Fletchinder and a very strong one with Magneton. Toad can also set-up late game rocks for my team once the other team's hazard setter is down, or early game rocks if the other team has no hazards. Scald is nice for burns on more offensive pokes, while toxic is better used for wearing down all sorts of walls. Overall, Seismitoad is a great poke and a staple on most NU teams.

Magnetoff
Magneton @ Eviolite
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SAtk / 100 Spd / 156 HP
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power Grass
- Thunderbolt

Magneton is the single best Pivot in NU right now, hands down. Its incredible typing allows for it to force hella a lot of switches. These switches activate its incredible ability Analytic, making the incoming volt switches more powerful. It has a ton of bulk with Eviolite which makes it acts as my Flying and Normal Spam check. Magneton also has access to STAB Flash cannon which hits all of the ground types (barring Toad) for really good damage if they try to switch in. Hidden Power Grass is used to hit Toad either on the switch or it can KO if I get prior damage. Overall, Magneton is one of the best pokemon in NU right now and I urge everyone to try it out.

Conk Jr.
Gurdurr @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 72 HP / 184 Atk / 252 SpDef
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch

Gurdurr is my secondary win condition and one of the top tier threats in NU right now. Gurdurr gained a huge buff for gen 6 in the form of a 97.5 BP coverage move in Knock Off to hit ghost and psychic types. Gurdurr synergizes well with the rest of my team, taking out Fletchinder's main counters in the form of Rock and Steel Types. The EV spread is shamelessly stolen taken from Dun Deal Showdown and they allow Gurdurr to take an incredible amount of special punishment and deal back damage. After a couple bulk ups, it's extremely bulky and almost impossible to take down. Overall, Gurdurr is an excellent memeber to my team and an extremely dangerous threat that every team needs to prepare for.

Verity
Mesprit @ Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SpDef
Modest Nature
- Ice Beam/U-turn
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball

Mesprit is the last poke in this RMT. Assault Vest Mesprit is a really underrated set and i'm surprised that I don't see it more on the ladder. I usually lead Mesprit if I see a dedicated lead on the opposing team. Since people think that it's the Stealth Rock lead set, I can usually knock a Golem down to its Sturdy or straight OHKO a Seismitoad. Mesprit has a great movepool which allows it to hit the majority of the tier with an effective move. You can swap out Ice Beam for U-Turn to gain momentum however, I feel like the Bolt-Beam coverage is just useful for coverage purposes.

Threat List:

Malamar: The biggest threat to this team is Malamar. The best way to deal with it is to burn it with Fletchinder and then spam big hits with Mesprit, Shiftry, and Gurdurr which is a shaky check at best.

Cosmic-Shift Sigi: Seriously does anyone even use this thing anymore? Either way it's more of an annoyance than anything else as I usually Spam it with Knock off or Mesprit until it's forced to pass it's burn. After that it really can't touch Shiftry.

Normal/Flying Spam: If Magneton goes down then my team has no real resists to Normal/Flying Spam. I can usually just spam priority from Smogon Burd, Shiftry, and Gurdurr until they die.

Here's a really good replay near the top of the ladder against PS user Wash Dog: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nubeta-130797429

Importable

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smogon burd jr. (Fletchinder)
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost

Ballchinian (Shiftry) @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Seed Bomb
- Knock Off
- Defog

smogon toad (Seismitoad) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Scald
- Earth Power

Magnetoff (Magneton) @ Eviolite
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 156 HP / 252 SAtk / 100 Spd
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Verity (Mesprit) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic
- Energy Ball

Conk Jr. (Gurdurr) @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 72 HP / 184 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch

I would like to thank anyone who is still reading my RMT for reading and I hope you all leave suggestions on how to improve my team further as I try for my 1st Top 10 and eventually #1 Peak. Thanks for reading :D

 

[Yeah Galo Sengan]

This is a great team! I'd suggest making Shiftry mixed with naughty + leaf storm since the added power can be very handy.

 

[Blast]

Just looking over your threatlist, you might want to consider Spiritomb over Mesprit. Tomb provides an excellent check to Malamar since it prevents it from boosting with Superpower and can burn it, gives some extra insurance against Sigi since it provides another Psychic immunity if Shiftry gets burned, and helps slightly vs Normals thanks to its immunity (though not as much against birds). I'd also agree with the above about using mixed Shiftry with Leaf Storm over a fully physical set, especially if you make the switch to Tomb, since it gives you a way to pressure physically bulky Pokemon like Gurdurr which become a lot more threatening with the loss of Mesprit.

Cool team, hope I helped!

Sets

Spiritomb @ Black Glasses / Choice Band
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Shadow Sneak
- Will-O-Wisp / Trick

Shiftry: Leaf Storm + a Naughty / Lonely Nature > Seed Bomb + Adamant

 

[Brawlfest]

Just looking over your threatlist, you might want to consider Spiritomb over Mesprit. Tomb provides an excellent check to Malamar since it prevents it from boosting with Superpower and can burn it, gives some extra insurance against Sigi since it provides another Psychic immunity if Shiftry gets burned, and helps slightly vs Normals thanks to its immunity (though not as much against birds). I'd also agree with the above about using mixed Shiftry with Leaf Storm over a fully physical set, especially if you make the switch to Tomb, since it gives you a way to pressure physically bulky Pokemon like Gurdurr which become a lot more threatening with the loss of Mesprit.

Cool team, hope I helped!

Sets

Spiritomb @ Black Glasses / Choice Band
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Shadow Sneak
- Will-O-Wisp / Trick

Shiftry: Leaf Storm + a Naughty / Lonely Nature > Seed Bomb + Adamant

This, but also 4 Def > 4 HP on Shiftry to minimize LO.

 

[ium]

just note that standard black glasses spiritomb doesn't beat cosmic power sigilyph. it needs to be choice band with trick or some kind of defensive rest / sleep talk or pain split set in order to handle that variant

 

[Evan.]

Hey guys thanks for the rates! The addition of Spiritomb really seems like it could fix my threatlist. As ium stated, Standard glassestomb doesn't fix all of my problems. It also makes my team mainly physically based when I like more of a balanced team. I was thinking of using RestTalk Crotomb as it fixes my problems, as well keeps a special threat. The only concern that I have is a lack of special bulk on my team. Tell me what you guys think and I will continue to test the new change!

 

[Pilo]

Just a heads up flying is also resisted by electric ;]

 

[Dont Get Mad]

ive been using this team today and ive found vileplume to be a real issue especially when they have spiritomb, as fletch's acrobatics doesnt OHK vile, and they can just put mespirt to sleep or switch to spiritomb to take the psychic, any suggestions to fix this?