NU Tournament Team

[WarJar]

Hello everyone, before I post the team just a little background info before I actually get down to the specifics. This team is for a tournament Pimpnite is hosting, which is in the NU format. Since there's no official NU tier, it's basically what you'd expect to be NU going off of what we can see concerning 5th and 6th gen statistics. The banlist is here:

http://pastebin.com/Y40KwZPn

It looks pretty normal, with a few notable Pokemon not being banned, such as Weezing and Houndoom (the latter of which holds a spot on my team). I wouldn't come to the forums for a weird request like this, but playing on Showdown! has gotten infuriating since there is no NU ladder, and so I have to play in the UU tier. Despite this, I've had some success with this team at lower ratings, and I'm feeling pretty good about it (I've never played NU before this tourney).

With that, lets get into it!

Team-building:
I wanted to start my team with a core I am familiar with, so I picked F/W/G. After a little bit of research, the 3 Pokes I decided on were:

Tangela and Alomomola have a strong defensive (although strictly physical) Regenerator core, and Houndoom is a strong offensive fire type (with a fire immunity) to stop things from being too stally

The next Pokemon needed to fill in some gaps, and I also read online that Psy/Dark/Fighting made up another strong core in NU, so I wanted to incorporate atleast one more of those types:

or

So basically I decided that Muk filled in that specially defensive void, while being a strong poison type that my team could really use. I still can't tell if the team needs more consistent Sp.D because nothing on my team can take a Psychic minus Houndoom, which is why I've been considering Grumpig, but I really do like Swoobat more (reasons below). I also needed a run-of-the mill physical attacker, and I really like Slaking (even in OU), so I decided on that.

In Depth:

Wrapunzel (Tangela) (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 188 Def / 4 SAtk / 64 SDef
Bold Nature
- Leech Seed
- Giga Drain
- Synthesis
- Knock Off

Tangela is definitely a power player in this team. With insane physical defence bolstered by eviolite, she serve's as my physical wall, and my favourite nicknamee. I like her set a lot, although I would be willing to replace Knock off/Synthesis for HPICE/Sleep Powder at your guys' recommendation, but the team has tons of status and the set works pretty well as is. Giga Drain is surprisingly strong as Tangela has very usable base Sp.A.

Biohazard (Muk) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Poison Touch
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Gunk Shot
- Ice Punch
- Fire Punch

Muk is my other baby. His Sp.D. goes through the roof with an Assault Vest, and his high attack stat makes wounding the other team and spreading poison a task he could accomplish with sludge over his eyes. However, I'm not sure about the last two slots (swap out punches?) and don't really know how I should spread the EV's out. I ran 252 Atk over the Sp.D. before and preferred to be able to tank hits (as a lot of this teams synergy revolves around Muk, because of his typing and role, which may be a problem that needs to be addressed). However, sometimes I do miss the damage output, so maybe a suggested spread that could meet somewhere in the middle?

Cerberus (Houndoom) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Hidden Power [Ground]

This team originally relied on Houndoom as it's sole special attacker (and depending on what Psychic I ultimately choose, may revert to that role). Houndoom is really solid, although pretty fragile. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if Doom wasn't my only switch in on Psychics, which can lead to disaster if predicted. His two immunities, however, do make switching in slightly easier (even though rocks are a big problem, as I'll explain in the additional comments).When it comes to doing damage, I know he's strong, but because of all the UU battles I can't gage if he's strong enough to get a sweep going. I ran HPGROUND just because I was having problems with electric and fire types post-Muk, but I'm definitely open to suggestions on that one.

Oaf (Slaking) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Retaliate
- Return
- Night Slash
- Earthquake

Sometimes I feel like I want to replace this big Ape, but he always does his job. Nothing in lower tiers can take hits from this guy, and the way I use him (hit-and-run) really helps in playing around his ability. Overall satisfied with him and the set, although if he needs to be replaced to patch up the team synergy I won't be heartbroken.

Ariel (Alomomola) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic
- Scald

Alomomola is the other side of my Regenerator core. It's a shame it's also physically defensive because that puts so much pressure on Muk. On the other hand, it really does support him with wish passing, as Muk greatly appreciates the healing (and makes him live FOREVER). Other than that, pretty standard, really happy with this bad boys performance, as it can afford to pass wishes to others while sustaining itself via ability.

Cupinch (Swoobat) (F) @ Salac Berry
Ability: Simple
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Stored Power
- Heat Wave

The last member of my team is really up in the air. Grumpig is a Sp.D. beast that resists Psychic, but doesn't offer much of anything else. Swoobat however, while definitely being more frail off the bat (huehue), gets a Nasty Plot and an Amnesia off of one Calm Mind, and resists Psychic as well. This helps remove some defensive pressure, while adding some strong offensive pressure. This set basically relies on +4 per Calm Mind, heightening the power of Stored Power to 100 (150 with STAB) after just one use. Sub Salac let's it boost its speed via sub or special attacks, which also increases the power of Stored Power. Only problem is it's weakness to Sucker Punch (and physical attacks in general), which is unfortunate, along with it's weakness to SR.

Overall I haven't been able to play with this team too much in a consistent environment, but I listed all of my concerns and now I can only pray that some NU players know more than me (so, anything at all) and can help me out on this one. Other things to note is the lack of a real lead, along with hazards, or a hazards spinner. I just don't know how to incorporate all of these things while keeping the integrity of this team intact. Please, HELP!

Thanks in advance,
WarJar

 

[WarJar]

Bump?

 

[Brawlfest]

Alright, you guys aren't using official tier, but as a NU rater I will make do with your little "banlist" to try to improve your team. I won't lie, your team is looking very poor at the moment. Pokemon easily setup and sweep on it, there is little to no synergy, and you have no method of revenge killing threats. Eelektross basically 6-0's you with its amazing coverage. Charizard and Houndoom you have no switch ins into, as it 2HKO's your Alomomola anyways. Lack of rocks also means Charizard and opposing Houndooms come in and out. Special Samurott 6-0's your team. All relavant setup sweepers such as SubBU Braviary also have little to no trouble plowing through you. Overall, your team is rather weak, and I would consider doing a complete rebuild. Status also easily cripples your entire team, which is a huge issue. Seeing as you will need to participate in a tournament with this team, I will try to improve it as much as possible, which could be hard for you as multiple pokemon will need to go or be changed.

Now, my interpretation of the team is that it is supporting a Houndoom sweep, as it appears to be the centerpiece of your primary core, as well as your team. I am looking at your team, and I am seeing Alomomola, Tangela, and Slaking as huge momentum sucks for your rather offensive team, being very much deadweight and allowing opponents to set up and prevent you from winning left and right.

As I said, all relavant setup sweepers 6-0 you easily. The simple solution is to run All-Out Attacker Kangaskhan over Slaking, who kills 100% of your momentum and is deadweight on your team. Instead, Kangaskhan through use of dual priority as well as a solid 90 base speed, reliably revenge kills all of the metagames top sweepers with ease. It also packs a similar punch that Slaking does, but with the added bonus of being able to smack ghosts with its primary STAB.

As I said, you are very weak to electric and fire types, and you really do need rocks to pressure many of the metagame's top offensive threats. Instead of Alomomola, who as I said really doesn't benefit your team, I suggest running Offensive Stealth Rocks Seismitoad, who not only sets up stealth rocks to aid Houndoom's sweep, but it maintains your FWG core, absorbs electric moves, and also prevents opponents from setting up due to sheer power. It also is quite bulky, still making it a great switch into many attacks, while checking fire types more easily than alomomola could, since it can guarantee OHKO's on every one.

Tangela is in a similar case as Alomomola, where it simply is losing more matches for you than winning, and doesn't benefit your sweepers much. As I said, you are troubled by Special Rott, and Status becomes a major issue. I highly reccomend running LumRest Exeggutor over it, which can consistantly absorb status, check water types which could plague your team, and beat fighting + water types so that Houndoom can sweep much more easily.

My final change would be to use Choice Band Sawk over Swoobat. Not only does this create a very nice FDP Core, but it can utilize Mold Breaker to completely ignore Sturdy, and is thus the #1 "Rapid Spinner" of NU, helping support things such as Houndoom with its absolutely monstrous 125 Attack, in tangent with Mold Breaker to rip opposing teams early game. It is also much scarier than it was last gen due to Knock Off, which it can now spam so that even Misdreavus and Musharna can no longer check it (We concluded it is possibly the most broken NU pokemon in Gen6 lol).

Minor Changes:
Houndoom: Destiny Bond or Hidden Power [Grass] > Hidden Power [Ground], as Grass offers you more coverage against Rock and Water types, while Destiny Bond can be pulled on something you are unable to kill.
Muk: Brick Break > Fire Punch, so that you can still hit steels, but including Probopass and Bastiodon

I am very sorry I need to change 4 pokemon. The fact is, in a tournament situation, I want to give you the best chance possible to win, and I don't want to see anybody walking into a NU match with a completely unviable team. I know that 4 changes is a lot to take in, but I suggest you test it, as it makes your team a lot more "competitively viable" and much more successful dealing with the ban list you showed.

Hope this helped, again sorry for changing so many pokemon.
I highly reccomend you check out Battling 101, as I feel that they can give you the "push" you need in the right direction to become a better player. Cheers.
_________________________________

Kangaskhan (F) @ Silk Scarf / Life Orb
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Double-Edge / Return
- Earthquake / Drain Punch
- Sucker Punch

Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SAtk / 32 Spd / 224 HP
- Hydro Pump
- Earth Power
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock

Exeggutor @ Lum Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 248 HP / 176 SAtk / 84 Spd
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Psychic
- Rest

Sawk (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch / Stone Edge
- Knock Off

 

[WarJar]

Alright, you guys aren't using official tier, but as a NU rater I will make do with your little "banlist" to try to improve your team. I won't lie, your team is looking very poor at the moment. Pokemon easily setup and sweep on it, there is little to no synergy, and you have no method of revenge killing threats. Eelektross basically 6-0's you with its amazing coverage. Charizard and Houndoom you have no switch ins into, as it 2HKO's your Alomomola anyways. Lack of rocks also means Charizard and opposing Houndooms come in and out. Special Samurott 6-0's your team. All relavant setup sweepers such as SubBU Braviary also have little to no trouble plowing through you. Overall, your team is rather weak, and I would consider doing a complete rebuild. Status also easily cripples your entire team, which is a huge issue. Seeing as you will need to participate in a tournament with this team, I will try to improve it as much as possible, which could be hard for you as multiple pokemon will need to go or be changed.

Now, my interpretation of the team is that it is supporting a Houndoom sweep, as it appears to be the centerpiece of your primary core, as well as your team. I am looking at your team, and I am seeing Alomomola, Tangela, and Slaking as huge momentum sucks for your rather offensive team, being very much deadweight and allowing opponents to set up and prevent you from winning left and right.

As I said, all relavant setup sweepers 6-0 you easily. The simple solution is to run All-Out Attacker Kangaskhan over Slaking, who kills 100% of your momentum and is deadweight on your team. Instead, Kangaskhan through use of dual priority as well as a solid 90 base speed, reliably revenge kills all of the metagames top sweepers with ease. It also packs a similar punch that Slaking does, but with the added bonus of being able to smack ghosts with its primary STAB.

As I said, you are very weak to electric and fire types, and you really do need rocks to pressure many of the metagame's top offensive threats. Instead of Alomomola, who as I said really doesn't benefit your team, I suggest running Offensive Stealth Rocks Seismitoad, who not only sets up stealth rocks to aid Houndoom's sweep, but it maintains your FWG core, absorbs electric moves, and also prevents opponents from setting up due to sheer power. It also is quite bulky, still making it a great switch into many attacks, while checking fire types more easily than alomomola could, since it can guarantee OHKO's on every one.

Tangela is in a similar case as Alomomola, where it simply is losing more matches for you than winning, and doesn't benefit your sweepers much. As I said, you are troubled by Special Rott, and Status becomes a major issue. I highly reccomend running LumRest Exeggutor over it, which can consistantly absorb status, check water types which could plague your team, and beat fighting + water types so that Houndoom can sweep much more easily.

My final change would be to use Choice Band Sawk over Swoobat. Not only does this create a very nice FDP Core, but it can utilize Mold Breaker to completely ignore Sturdy, and is thus the #1 "Rapid Spinner" of NU, helping support things such as Houndoom with its absolutely monstrous 125 Attack, in tangent with Mold Breaker to rip opposing teams early game. It is also much scarier than it was last gen due to Knock Off, which it can now spam so that even Misdreavus and Musharna can no longer check it (We concluded it is possibly the most broken NU pokemon in Gen6 lol).

Minor Changes:
Houndoom: Destiny Bond or Hidden Power [Grass] > Hidden Power [Ground], as Grass offers you more coverage against Rock and Water types, while Destiny Bond can be pulled on something you are unable to kill.
Muk: Brick Break > Fire Punch, so that you can still hit steels, but including Probopass and Bastiodon

I am very sorry I need to change 4 pokemon. The fact is, in a tournament situation, I want to give you the best chance possible to win, and I don't want to see anybody walking into a NU match with a completely unviable team. I know that 4 changes is a lot to take in, but I suggest you test it, as it makes your team a lot more "competitively viable" and much more successful dealing with the ban list you showed.

Hope this helped, again sorry for changing so many pokemon.
I highly reccomend you check out Battling 101, as I feel that they can give you the "push" you need in the right direction to become a better player. Cheers.
_________________________________

Kangaskhan (F) @ Silk Scarf / Life Orb
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Double-Edge / Return
- Earthquake / Drain Punch
- Sucker Punch

Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SAtk / 32 Spd / 224 HP
- Hydro Pump
- Earth Power
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock

Exeggutor @ Lum Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 248 HP / 176 SAtk / 84 Spd
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Psychic
- Rest

Sawk (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch / Stone Edge
- Knock Off

First off, I wan't to thank you for taking the time time write this whole thing out, I really appreciate it. As I said, I've never played NU in my whole life, and know nearly nothing about the metagame, but I do understand how to play Pokemon in general, so I guess that's why I've been having some success. I have no problem switching Tangela and Alomomola out because, believe it or not, Exeggutor and Seismitoad were in their place at one point (further research convinced me to change them out, but you look like you know the metagame to the point where I trust your opinion). Like I said Slaking was ok, but not doing much, so the change their is fine, and the spot Swoobat was up in the air, so that's a great change as well.

Like I said, thanks for the help, my lack of experience in this metagame really hurt the construction of the team, but it looks like you've done a great job patching it up.

If I may ask, what do the EV's on Seis and Exeggutor accomplish? And would running Psyshock over Psychic be an option or are there more notorious physical walls? And one last thing, suggested Seismitoad nature (just unsure because of the spread). Thanks!

 

[Brawlfest]

First off, I wan't to thank you for taking the time time write this whole thing out, I really appreciate it. As I said, I've never played NU in my whole life, and know nearly nothing about the metagame, but I do understand how to play Pokemon in general, so I guess that's why I've been having some success. I have no problem switching Tangela and Alomomola out because, believe it or not, Exeggutor and Seismitoad were in their place at one point (further research convinced me to change them out, but you look like you know the metagame to the point where I trust your opinion). Like I said Slaking was ok, but not doing much, so the change their is fine, and the spot Swoobat was up in the air, so that's a great change as well.

Like I said, thanks for the help, my lack of experience in this metagame really hurt the construction of the team, but it looks like you've done a great job patching it up.

If I may ask, what do the EV's on Seis and Exeggutor accomplish? And would running Psyshock over Psychic be an option or are their more notorious physical walls? And one last thing, suggested Seismitoad nature (just unsure because of the spread). Thanks!

Oh no problem any time, NU is my favorite tier so rating teams is enjoyable for me ^_^.

Anyways, the Exeggutor EV spread uses 248 HP to get the least possible damage for residual damage, as well as letting it live CB Sawk's Ice Punch, LO Rott's Ice Beam, and Scarf Primeape's U-Turn. The Speed is to allow it to outpace base 65 walls, most notably Alomomola and Flareon. The rest is thrown into power. Psyshock is fine, but Psychic hits harder most of the time, but if you are looking to hit a special wall like Lickilicky be my guest.

That Seismitoad actually speed creeps other Seismitoads while maintaining a leftovers number lol. Sorry about the nature thats supposed to be modest :]