Hey everyone! This is a team I made a while back. I wanted to build around specially defensive Excadrill because I was sick of losing to Clefable; M-Sableye has nice synergy with Drill, so I added that, and then some more stuff to cover threats:
Unfortunately this was bad because no Ground switch-in, no Bisharp counter with Rocks up, no Scald switch-in, etc. At this point I went mad with innovation and tried replacing Ferrothorn with physically defensive Aromatherapy Shaymin, physically defensive Roserade, and all kinds of other fun stuff. At some point I found myself using Wish Exeggutor and realised I was scraping the bottom of the barrel. Also I heard people describing my team as a 'heatah fajita' squad and I knew that anything that sounded so Mexican couldn't be any good. One retrospectively obvious change later and I had the final members of the team:
In terms of results, because people like hearing about them, I laddered my random testing alt to a peak of 1861, good for #11, winning one room tour and losing embarrassingly to xtrashine in the other one I tried because my Sableye didn't have Toxic. A couple of people borrowed the team (my friend Dee swears by the Exeggutor version) and had pretty good results too, I think.
Hope you guys enjoy reading!
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such darkness wow
In-depth Analysis
Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 224 HP / 240 SpD / 44 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Iron Head
- Toxic
So like I said, this guy was the basis of the team. He's not the most important member, but he's still reasonably consistent and just invalidates certain kinds of teams at preview (Klefki squads and some stall builds). He also handles threats like NP Togekiss, CM Clefable, CM M-Sableye, non-Focus Blast Thundurus, Raikou, and so on.
Looking at the moveset, I don't use Earthquake, which is a bit strange but I think is a necessary evil. The only thing it seriously costs me against is SubCM Raikou, and opponents have to assume I'm carrying EQ anyway. Iron Head and Rapid Spin are both necessary. Stealth Rock because it doesn't fit on Chansey, and the guaranteed Rocks up against M-Sableye stalls is beautiful. Toxic lets me pressure M-Sableye, counter CM variants, and put a timer on common switch-ins. Swords Dance + Rocks Lando and Chomper are really common, so getting Toxic on them or removing their Lum Berry makes M-Sableye's job much easier.
EV's are courtesy of NotFalse, creeping defensive Lando-T and some other important stuff around that benchmark, while grabbing a Lefties (+1) number.
Talonflame @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EV's: 248 HP / 108 Def / 152 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Will-o-wisp
- Brave Bird
- Roost
Magical set. Every time a M-Sableye or a Bisharp or something burns itself on my Talonflame I start crying at how beautiful it is. People tell me that Flame Body bird is bad, but people also said that Monopoly and Harry Potter were bad. Consider this. Two evenly matched stall teams generally try to pressure the opposing M-Sableye, whittling away at its Recover pp until it dies. Flame Body Talonflame prevents opposing Sableye from trying to hit my own, at risk of crippling themselves and essentially using up one of their team's precious 8 Heal Bells. This set is simply an auto-win against the majority of stall teams on the ladder. You also can't underestimate the clutch ability to get crucial burns on threatening physical sweepers.
The other advantage of Flame Body is that since I don't need Bulk Up to 1v1 non-Toxic Sableye, I can carry both Will-o-wisp and Taunt. Taunt in particular is really nice to have as a safeguard against Baton Pass Mew or Celebi.
Moveset and EV's are pretty straightforward...I used no-item Acrobatics for a while, but with Chesnaught in the team to absorb Knock Off the passive healing from Leftovers more than compensates for Brave Bird's recoil. Also it lures lots of juicy unsuspecting Sableye's into Knock Off-ing me. 152 Speed Jolly outruns Serperior, and lets me get burns off against things like SD Lum Chomp if needed. The rest of the investment goes into defense to switch into CB Azu's Play Rough with Rocks up, cushion M-Gard's Psyshock, and some other good stuff.
Chesnaught @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 248 HP / 196 Def / 64 Spe
Impish Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Spikes
- Drain Punch
- Synthesis
Not much to say about this, it's standard Chesnaught pretty much. Nice typing and bulk for dealing with Bisharp, physical Hoopa, Excadrill and other Grounds, and M-Gyara. Also helps check CM Manaphy and Suicune if I get lucky avoiding burns.
I was running the standard Leech Seed + Spiky Shield, but Wood Hammer makes more sense overall to compensate for the team's BD Azu weakness. My only gripe is that, for a mon that primarily checks sand offense, Synthesis is pretty unreliable healing, but it's manageable (I have Wish, and other options to handle sand anyway). Speed investment creeps standard BD Azu, and the rest goes in physical bulk.
Sableye @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EV's: 248 HP / 124 Def / 132 SpD / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Toxic / Fake Out
- Will-o-wisp
- Knock Off
- Recover
I used to love using M-Sableye, but he's a bit vulnerable in this metagame thanks to the number of stallbreakers which can take advantage of him, and the rise of more offensive Rocks setters. He's also slow as dirt and extremely liable to being taken out of the game by a single crit or flinch. But Sableye still has a lot of utility that I just couldn't pass up, and covers a few critical offensive threats like M-Medicham and Gengar.
This set's a bit dated now, but Fake Out is 100% necessary on this team. I've got a heavy Rocks weakness and a sometimes-unreliable Spinner, meaning I need Magic Bounce straight away; and without Unaware some sweepers just need to be poisoned and stalled out of health, which Fake Out is invaluable for. Finally, it scouts the movesets of Azumarill, Tornadus-T, and others.
Will-o-wisp > Toxic is a really tough call...without Toxic, I usually lose to Taunt + BU Talonflame. I can only beat it with surprise Toxic from Excadrill, or threatening Toxic from Chansey then doubling into M-Sab to reflect Taunt. However, Prankster Wisp is such a useful emergency button that I think it's the better option.
EV's focus more on physical defense than is standard. With Talonflame and Exca on the team, I'm less concerned about Gengar and Zam, so special defensive investment isn't as necessary. Sableye's primary function on the team is preventing Rocks, so the extra buffer against Ground type setters, Tyranitar, and even Ferrothorn is appreciated. 4 Speed EV's is so I can get a guaranteed Recover off against opposing Sableye if necessary.
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Earthquake / Waterfall
- Dragon Tail / Roar
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
This is really stupid but I swear it works. I need something for Keldeo, Heatran, and Zard-X in this slot, and I prefer Gyarados over Slowbro for its Ground immunity, Intimidate to play around threats and help other team members, resilience against Magma Storm Tran, and its ability to absorb Scald.
Earthquake is critical, 2HKOing Zard-X (while -1 Dragon Claw does about 25% max after Leftovers) and breaking SubCM Keldeo's Subs. Scald is a great move to have, and makes Gyara much less passive, but a phazing option is more solid. In particular it makes my ability to deal with CroCune and CM Manaphy less tenuous, so it's the better (but less fun) option. Dragon Tail is preferred over Roar to get rid of Taunt users (Talonflame, Gliscor), just be wary of giving BD Azu set-up opportunities.
Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 8 HP / 252 Def / 248 SpD
Bold Nature
- Soft-Boiled
- Wish
- Heal Bell
- Toxic
Blob. Zard-Y, Kyu-B and Manaphy counter and cleric. Not being able to fit Seismic Toss is annoying, but the team really needs Wish (for Excadrill and Chesnaught), and generally I find Toxic to be the better attacking option. It just means that I need to play better against Taunt M-Gard. Soft-Boiled over Protect because being reliant on Protect for recovery is a huge liability without Unaware on the team.
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Threat List
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