Originally I started thinking that our first member should really be more offensive, ideally something that requires a bit of help, but can then set up and sweep. That would also allow us to get a better idea of what the teams strategy would be, and give us further guidelines as to how the team should progress. However looking at alternatives for a more offensive role, the general idea for what a team supporting that mon would look like kept ending up as something rather common and not too creative. I figured the next best thing to ensure room for creativity remained, was a more defensive mon that wasn't as much a utility supporter, but something that could be slightly more relevant. That said what I ended up on was
Celebi set I've been running recently which I really like, a mix between the standard BP set and specially defensive set.
Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP /32 Spd / 224 SDef
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Psychic/Earth Power
- Substitute
- Baton Pass
Since Genesect and Tornadus-T have been sent to Ubers, Celebi has regained a lot of its former glory as a premier defensive mon in OU, especially with the prevalence of rain. It does a great job of checking a variety of rain teams, both offensive and defensive thanks to the common members on those teams, and Celebi's typing and bulk. Celebi also fares decently against most common Sand teams, and even against certain members in Sun teams. So with all that Celebi provides us with a great base to start from as we immediately have an answer to large chunks of the meta.
As for the moveset, Giga Drain is there to provide Celebi's primary offence in the form of a decent STAB, as well as added healing. Giga Drain isn't going to be blowing holes in anything anytime soon, but it does give Celebi another dimension, especially against Rain and Sand teams. The secondary function of this Celebi set, other than just walling as much as it can, is the passing of substitutes. The 252 HP EVs give Celebi those ever so desirable 100+ HP Subs that can survive Night Shades/Seismic Tosses, as well as obviously being the most HP Celebi can have. 32 Speed EVs allows Celebi to outspeed the following: Adamant Breloom, Jolly CB Tyranitar, standard defensive Tentacruels and specially defensive Ninetales. Outspeeding Tentacruel and Ninetales may not seem particularly useful, but it we run Earth Power over Psychic, if they're low enough HP it means Celebi might be able to nab a few easy KOs, however unlikely the odds of those scenarios happening. The main use for the speed EVs is to outspeed Breloom and TTar. Outspeeding Adamant Breloom means Celebi can Sub on the Spore, then retaliate with Psychic if we run that, or BP the Sub to another member to deal with Breloom. The EVs also let Celebi outspeed any TTars running max speed, which means it can just BP out of there and not be Pursuit trapped. I am personally more inclined to go with Psychic rather than Earth Power as it really helps out for Keldeo, but it could easily be either. The rest of the EVs are just chucked into SDef to increase the survivability and ability to take hits.
As for whats known about this Celebi, anyone thats played a lot of OU will know how useful Celebi can be defensively, and adding the ability to aid a sweeper in setting up by passing it a strong sub is a serious bonus.
TL;DR
Celebi has great defenses that seriously do well in the current OU meta. While its not an offensive pick to build the team around, it means that when we do go for an offensive pick we have more options as we don't have to worry about covering our ass to a plethora of threats, as thats already done. It also means that we could potentially go with a frailer sweeper later on, that could rely on receiving subs from Celebi to set up. Celebi just hits a whole lot of right notes for a project such as this, in my opinion. Also this Celebi will fit on any type of team that isn't HO or serious stall to a good degree.
