Gen 3 querencia

[McMeghan]

Banner by Andrew, be sure to check out his work!

~ querencia ~​

It's been a while since I wanted to post a RMT, and with the recent opening of the Past Gen section in this subforum, I have the perfect occasion to post one. This team may not be the best I have made, but it is without a single doubt one of the most enjoyable to play. I built it moreover one year ago, when CrashinBoomBang had to face BKC in Smogon Tour semifinal. I was using Bulky Starmie a lot back then, and I found it to be a solid Pokemon in ADV OU. Now, CBB is a very offensive player and wasn't gonna use anything remotly close to a bulky Starmie, but he really liked the idea of using an Offensive one, and so did I. He ultimatly didn't use the team, but I certainly did for myself after that Smogon Tour.

Even if it's not one my most recent work or the most solid looking team you will see, it put in some work for me when I decided to use it. I easily peaked #1 on the PO ladder with it, which doesn't mean anything really, but at least, it's a proof that it functions against all kind of playstyles and (combined) threats. It also didn't fail me when I resorted to it in the Derdomme Cup, the All Generation Tournament 2 or some POCL games, which just shows that it works in all kind of circumstances if you play it well enough.

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• Teambuilding Process

As explained in the introduction, the team would revolve around Offensive Starmie, a set I had not used 'till then. It outspeeds pretty much all the tier and hits hard enough to pose a threat right off the bat to Offensive Teams with its amazing coverage. I considered using 3 Atks + Rapid Spin, 4 Atks (Psychic) and 3 Atks + Recover. I went with the later because Psychic was only needed to net an OHKO on bulky Gengar and Heracross, and I found Recover pretty useful against "balanced" teams.

Now that I knew what was the basis of my build, I wanted to support it. While Starmie has a blistering speed, its Special Attack isn't as good, and it'd appreciate coming when the opposing team is weakened. To top it off, Special Walls with direct recovery such as Blissey, Regice or Snorlax would turn it into a liability. To help against these issues, I added a Gengar. With the access to Explosion, it would easily get rid of the opponent's Special Wall, and if he doesn't have one, it will weaken his Special Attackers checks well enough for Starmie (think Metagross or Heracross).

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Something else I noticed about Starmie is that it really wants Leftovers recovery negated to net some 2KO and 3KO, which automatically led me into adding Tyranitar to the team. Tyranitar can also switch into all these Special walls that Starmie and Gengar attract like magnets. I also wanted some great firepower to wallbreak, which is something a Choice Band Tyranitar would bring to the team.

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Even if I knew I would play a heavily offensive oriented team, I still needed some kind of defensive glue to switch into strong attackers early game or avoid a DD Sweep late-game. I didn't look around too much and added the good old Swampert to give the team some defensive security.

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The problem with Swampert is that it's a huge Spikes bait for Skarmory, Forretress and the underused Cloyster. I needed to add a Spinner or Magneton. The team also needed a good Gengar switch-in, which is something else Magneton could do for me. To top it off, it has an excellent set of resistances and a respectable physical bulk to let me play around the many Choice Banders of the tier.

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I was almost done and I just needed something to fill all the team's holes. I considered myself a bit weak to CM Spam, I wanted an HP Grass Raikou check and a secondary DD Ttar check. When I need a CM Spam check and a DD Ttar answer, I go with CB Jolly Mence, when I need a solution for DD Tar and HP Raikou, I usually use Flygon. Since I needed something for all of them, I added a mix of the aforementionned Pokemons: Jolly CB Flygon. It was perfect because it would also bring some firepower (even if it's a still a weak ass Flygon) and appreciate the removal of Skarmory by Magneton.

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And that's the final result! I experimented with Blissey over Flygon to check CM Teams and Gengar better, but Flygon fits the team much better with its offensive presence. I considered playing a Spiker for Starmie, but I was more than satisfied with the results brought by the current version of the team (and let's be honest, Spikes War are sometimes really annoying to play in ADV).

• In Depth

Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 48 HP / 252 Atk / 208 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Focus Punch
- Hidden Power [Bug]

I decided to lead my games with Tyranitar as getting sand up as early as possible is helpful to rack up damages against any Pokemons affected by it. As I explained in the teambuilding process, I went with CB Ttar because the direct firepower is appreciated to heavily damage or break bulkier kind of teams (especially since Starmie is a lot more dangerous to Offense).

The EV spread is pretty standard, it has enough speed for pretty much every Ttar lead, except the even faster CB one, most Metagross lead and a bunch of Suicune. Tyranitar and Suicune speedcreep a lot so you're never sure with those, but it's an nice option to have at your disposition.

The moveset is as common as it gets, I considered running Double-Edge over HP Bug, but Celebi can be pretty troublesome for this team, and the ability to OHKO every variants of it is appreciated here.
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Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Recover

I always liked using Starmie in ADV, despite the claims of many players about the starfish. It's such an interesting Pokemon, be it because it's the best Spinner of the tier or for this set. Offensive Starmie is a nuke, much like Gengar except it's faster and stronger. Its speed and versatility are nightmares to face for offensive teams, especially the Physical one. Starmie will usually come late-game and if you have one Pokemon to hide, it's him. It is often unexpected and will be a really strong late game finisher once you've taken care of weakening the opposing team.

The EV spread is straight forward, there is no reason to run less speed as it lets Starmie outspeeds Adamant Aerodactyl and get the tie against Raikou and the other Offensive Starmie.

Regarding the moveset, I decided to go with Recover for the last move because it's pretty good to get some health back if you took a hit or two in the early/mid-game (think some Spikes or a Seismic Toss). Everything else is a given, you really need the power of Hydro Pump with Starmie, I'd strongly advice not to run Surf, even if the accuracy is tempting. Psychic is an interesting option for bulky Gengar, but I think Recover is better (a full hearth Starmie can take a Double Edge from Aerodactyl and KO it back for example). Rapid Spin is also an option, but you have Magneton for the Spikers and Cloyster typically fits really offensive team, which shouldn't be a concern for you if you play well.
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Gengar (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 124 Atk / 200 SAtk / 184 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Thunderbolt
- Explosion
- Ice Punch
- Giga Drain

Goold old Gengar, arguably the second best, if not the best Pokemon of ADV. The main purpose of Gengar in this team is checking what's your opponent's Special Attacker sponge and weaken it (Metagross, Offensive Lax, Zapdos) or explode on it (Blissey, Regice, Defensive Lax, etc). Considering the structure of the team, it's pretty hard to see Explosion Gengar coming, which is really good for Stamie later in the game.

The EV Spread aims to kill even Bold Blissey after Tbolt + Explosion (and sometimes sand damages) without any prior damages. It will also put Snorlax or Regice in Starmie's range. There is enough speed for the 100 Base Stats with a positive nature (Zapdos, Salamence, Jirachi, etc and their speedcreepers. All the remaining EVs go in Special Attack as getting as much damages as possible with Thunderbolt/Ice Punch on the like of Metagross, Zapdos or Celebi is highly valued in this team.

I decided to go with Giga Drain for the last move because I don't want Swampert and Tyranitar to completly wall me, and I can't let this happen if I want to boom on the needed targets.
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Swampert (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spd
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Rest
- Protect
- Ice Beam
- Earthquake

Swampert is the classic go-to glue for offensive teams which don't want to get wrecked by Mence or Tyranitar from the get-go, and it is the case here. It also checks HP Ice Jolteon and Raikou, the former being a huge threat for the team if your Swampert dies.

EV spread maximizes physical bulk and give it enough speed to outspeed Blissey, which is always useful if you need to pick it off when it's at 30% or lower.

Onto the set now, which has been a favorite of mine since I "discovered" it. Rest Protect Swampert is absolutly amazing at what you want it to do: checking physical attacker early and late game. I came up with it when I realized I didn't need Hydro Pump because I had Flygon to check DDtar on top of Swampert and I had Magneton to take care of Skarmory/Forretress. What could I use in the last slot? After a bit of thinking, I decided to try Rest because Swampert is typically too worn down late game to tank Aerodactyl or a Salamence, but you can play around this situation now thanks to Rest! It's also really useful if your opponent caught you with a random Toxic earlier in the game.
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Magneton @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SAtk / 44 SDef / 100 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sleep Talk
- Rest

Magneton is there to prevent your opponent to set-up too much Spikes with their Skarmory or Forretress (Smeargle and Cloyster usually being in Offensive Teams, which are a lot easier to play around than bulkier one). It's also your Gengar check in vertue of its typing and your access to Rest. To top it off, its naturally good physical bulk and its resistances makes it an interesting option when you need to play around some Choice Bander, as well as pressuring EQ-less Snorlax.

You need Max Special Attacker to have as much chances as possible to OHKO SpDef Forretress. There is enough speed here for Milotic (which isn't 2KO'd by Starmie Thunderbolt for the record) and just enough HP to not be 3KO'd by Jolly Aerodactyl Rock Slide. It also avoids the 3KO from any kind of Seismic Toss. The rest goes into Special Defense to check Gengar as best as possible, especially if there is one Spike down.

Regarding the moveset, while Toxic or Thunder Wave would be appreciated here, I really need HP Fire for Forretress and RestTalk for Gengar. It gives Magneton some utility outside of trapping Steels.
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Flygon (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Toxic

Flygon is the duct tape of this team. While it doesn't truely counter anything because of its poor bulk and lack of Leftovers, it's the quick fix to everything that gives this team troubles. To name them: HP Grass Electrics, DD Ttar (always have two checks to DD Tar) and Calm Minders. The last one being the reason I decided to run Choice Band as the extra power is needed to Revenge Kill one if it got one or two Calm Minds under its belt.

I decided to run Jolly Max Speed because I needed to outspeed or tie at worst the like of Offensive Celebi, Jirachi or a +1 Tyranitar. That being said, don't forget to make sure your Speed IV is at 31 when you use this team. Everything else goes into Attack as Flygon is already weak enough as it is.

When I had to decide which attacks I'd run on Flygon, I immediatly went with the obvious EQ and Rock Slide. I scratched out Fire Blast because I run Magneton. I was left with basically: HP Bug, Double-Edge, Quick Attack (lol) and Toxic. I liked the last one because Swampert and Milotic can be pretty annoying for this team and they like switching on Flygon a bit too much, especially after they discovered it's CB. I came up with the idea of HP Flying when CBB noticed a weakness to Heracross in the team, HP Flying would still hit Celebi for a good amount anyway. I haven't really looked back since then, but you can run HP Bug if you want the extra insurance against Offensive Celebi.
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• Conclusion

And that's it! Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this RMT. You are free to use the team whenever you want, but be aware: it's pretty prediction reliant to work properly. At least, it's fun and hopefully, it'll show that ADV isn't all about Spikes War or Stall (I don't think there are much people who still think this but who knows). Even if I don't really plan to change it, I'm open to suggestions if you guys think it will be for the better, so go ahead! I hope you will have as much fun (and success) using it as I did.

Also, I'd like to adress a big thank you again to Andrew for making this wonderful piece of art I had the chance to use in my RMT, you're the man!

Importable

Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 48 HP / 252 Atk / 208 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Focus Punch
- Hidden Power [Bug]

Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Recover

Gengar (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 124 Atk / 200 SAtk / 184 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Thunderbolt
- Explosion
- Ice Punch
- Giga Drain

Swampert (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spd
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Rest
- Protect
- Ice Beam
- Earthquake

Magneton @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SAtk / 44 SDef / 100 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sleep Talk
- Rest

Flygon (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Toxic

 

[McMeghan]

• Threat List

Aerodactyl: Swampert. Adamant Aero will hit it hard, but it'll mean that Starmie outspeeds it. You have Rest and Protect on Pert for late and early game respectivly. Magneton and Flygon both help with their set of resistances.

Blissey: Gengar is designed to bait it, so it shouldn't be a problem. If anything, Swampert and Magneton can RestStall the non-CM variants, and Tyranitar will force it out.

Camerupt: Will only block Magneton (and check Gengar if sent early game) and eventually Swampert with Explosion, but it's not really troublesome since you have resistances to all its moves as well as faster Pokemons with the ability to kill it.

Celebi: Celebi is pretty annoying for this team. The SpDef variant is hard to pressure without Spikes and will have no problem recovering off the damages from Gengar or Starmie. It also has free roam on Swampert and Magneton. If you can outright kill it with Tyranitar, do it. Otherwise, it'll be an Explosion target for Gengar. Finding whether they run Psychic or HP Grass will also help you to deal with it. Offensive Celebi and CM Pass are also threatening, especially the later. Thanksfully, they're usually a lot less bulky on the special side, which means you can pressure them more with Starmie and Gengar (without Exploding).

Claydol: Sure it will annoy Tyranitar/Flygon and block Magneton, but it won't do much back.

Cloyster: A Cloyster in a defensive team would be pretty nightmarish to face, but it's so rare that it doesn't really warrant a mention. Everything in the team threatens it except Swampert, and it's a free switch for Starmie, which will do work against the kind of Offensive team where you'll typically find Cloyster.

Dugtrio: Dugtrio is probably the most disruptive Pokemon you can face with this team. It can trap Tyranitar, Magneton and even Starmie to some extent. Adamant Dug is not a problem at all in that regard, but Jolly definitly is. Since you can't trap it back, it will do its job with total impunity. On the bright side, it has troubles coming in except on Magneton (and if you killed the Skarmory/Forretress before your Magneton dies, then it's fine). If you see a Dugtrio, try to keep Starmie healthy enough to avoid the kill from Earthquake (74 - 87.4% from 212 Atk Dugtrio). Try to also keep more Pokemon alive than your opponent throughout the game when you face one to limit his options with Dugtrio.

Dusclops: Dusclops isn't really an issue, it's just a sitting duck that won't do much to your team. It could eventually be paired with Blissey and thus won't let you Boom on it, but then you can always pressure it enough with Starmie/Magneton or your CBers.

Flygon: Rest Swampert, Gengar and Starmie should be more than enough to deal with Flygon.

Forretress: Magneton Hidden Power Fire vs. Forretress: 316-372 (89.2 - 105%), and everything damages it as it will enter the field. It doesn't stop anything per say, and there is a good chance it will only lay down one Spike.

Gengar: There is always one variant of Gengar that will threaten your team. I think it's pretty well checked here with Restalk Magneton and a good amount of Pokemon being able to damage it hard enough when it'll enter the field. Gengar alone shouldn't be a problem for your team unless it's paired with Dugtrio. In that case, playing very offensivly will be the key to win.

Gyarados: Not particulary troublesome if you play well with Swampert and Flygon. It has troubles getting free set-up, and even if it happens, Flygon can tank one hit and put it into Ice Beam range for Swampert, and so does Starmie which gets the OHKO with Thunderbolt.

Heracross: Its naturally good special bulk is a bit of an annoyance, but the CB variants will be in HPump range after taking one Tbolt from Gengar, while the Leftovers variants have troubles against Magneton. HP Flying Flygon will help there too. Don't give it too much free turns with Swampert and you should be good.

Jirachi: Superachi in particular is particulary troublesome for this team as it has the coverage to heavily damage it once it gets going, the Special Defense boost helping to tank hits from Gengar and Starmie. You might have to risk the speedtie with Flygon against them. Every other variants is easily dealt with the combination of Flygon, Swampert and Tyranitar.

Jolteon: Electric are covered just fine when you have Flygon and Swampert in your team. Still an annoyance because it outspeeds Starmie and Gengar and will make you think twice before clicking Thunderbolt with Magneton.

Magneton: It can't trap anything (except a weakened Magneton) and you have Flygon and Swampert to check it whatever the typing of his Hidden Power is. It might be a bit annoying for Gengar and your CBers but it usually fits the kind of team Starmie loves facing.

Metagross: Metagross is always threatening when your main check is Swampert, and you don't really wanna lose it early if your opponent has an Aerodactyl in the back. That being said, you have plenty of tools to play around it; it'll be in HPump range after taking two Tbolts from Gengar (and they like to switch on Gengar), you can trap it with Magneton once it's weakened and your two CBers will also make it think twice before selecting its move. When I see it as a lead, I often just EQ right away with Tyranitar. It will either die because it wasn't bulky enough, try a prediction and Explode right away (trading Tyranitar for Metagross is usually good), or will kill Tyranitar and you can just trap it with Magneton then (as long as you keep Swampert healthy against Physical Offense, you're good).

Milotic: Unlike the other Bulky Waters, Milotic has direct recovery and a much better Special bulk, so it will easily soaks up Tbolt from Starmie (36.5 - 43.1%) and Gengar (42.1 - 49.7%). On the other hand, it can't really threaten you back and it is usually pressured too much from everything in the team. If you can Toxic it with CB Gon, it'll be even better as Starmie will have a field day to beat it.

Porygon2: Max Defense Porygon2 is quite troublesome. It won't have any problems tanking Flygon, Gengar and Swampert, and can Recover Stall Starmie and Tyranitar (unless you predict the Recover and Focus Punch it). Magneton will beat/Stall it easily, but it's often paired with Dugtrio, which is why it's often a hindrance for the team. Booming with Gengar isn't a bad option, especially since it's usually in the kind of teams where there isn't something else you should Boom on.

Raikou: See Jolteon, except that Starmie can actually tie with it and it will actually take cheap damages from Gengar and Magneton's Tbolts.

Regice: Boom target. It also hates repetitively coming on Starmie, Gengar and Magneton when Sand is up. Tyranitar and Flygon hits it hard thanks to their Band boost. Swampert also wins the 1 on 1 under sand versus Bulky variants, helped by its Speed investment.

Salamence: See Gyarados, except that Swampert beats it. Starmie always tanks a +1 HP Flying at full health too. MixMence with HP Grass could be troublesome, but you have what it takes to play around it.

Skarmory: Magneton. Gengar/Starmie also have a field day on it, there is a chance chance they'll be surprised by the damage output from Starmie given how SpDef Skarm typically tries to ToxicStall it early game. Be careful of Skarmory + Dugtrio of course. For the record, Magneton has 75% to OHKO 252/252 Skarm.

Snorlax: Offensive variants are usually not hard to deal with. They're Boom targets, and will get pressured too much with Sand, Tyranitar, Magneton, Starmie and Gengar. Flygon and Swampert can also pull their weights against them too. The trickier Snorlax are the bulky one with a mean to recover off damages, especially if they're paired with something that required your Gengar to Boom on. If it is the case, you can fish for a crit with Magneton or try to pressure it with Tyranitar and Flygon, but take care: a late game CurseLax could very well sweep you.

Starmie: Technically, an offensive Starmie would be awful to face, which is why I put it in red. In practise, they're fairly rare and you will usually encounter bulky one, which are easily dealt with your own Starmie and have troubles coming in on anything but Swampert (and EQ still hurts). Anything else but risking a speed tie might not be an option if you face an offensive variant.

Steelix: Rest Swampert walls it for days, while everything else in the team can damage it hard enough. Starmie won't mind a Toxic if it carries it so you have what it takes to play around it. Just a bit annoying for your CBers, and take care of Explosion on Swampert.

Suicune: This teams fares pretty well against Suicune. Defensive variants will be pressured by fast CB Ttar, Starmie, Magneton and Flygon (3KO under sand with EQ). Just don't let it set up too much. In that sense, CroCune might be worrisome, but you can always resort to Gengar + Flygon/Tyranitar for these. Offensive Suicune will take care of Tyanitar and Magneton easily, but they will take too much from Starmie and Gengar. Flygon will also need less damages to Revenge Kill it, and Swampert might even lay a helping hand if needed.

Swampert: Swampert is an annoyance as it will check half your team and your own Swampert won't do much either. Restless variant (the most common one) will hate coming on a Toxic or Focus Punch though. In the late game, it will usually be weakened enough for Starmie (Hydro Pump vs. Swampert: 179-211 (44.3 - 52.2%)). Albeit rare, you should be warry of SpDef CursePert as it has the potential to be a threat once it gets going.

Tyranitar: Every variant of Tyranitar is checked with your team. That doesn't mean it won't cause any troubles, but the team is very well prepared to face them. CB Ttar will take a huge dent from everything at your disposition, and you even have a Swampert that recover on your side. DDTar will have to deal with Swampert and a faster Flygon/Starmie/Gengar at +1 before they can sweep you. At the end of the day, the most annoying variant are the Pursuit one, as they might trap Gengar before you Boom on something you'd need to get rid of. That should be your only concern when facing a Tyranitar.

Umbreon: Rare, but annoying. Wish Protect variant will scout Flygon/Tyranitar easily while taking pretty much nothing from your Special Attackers. Definitly a Boom Target, but once again they're very rare. Mean Lock could be troublesome but you can always go to Gengar against one of them and Boom right away to put into the KO range of your other Pokemons.

Vaporeon: See Milotic, except it's less bulky on both side of the spectrum, which means easier to pressure. Only things going for it is the access to Protect to scout Flygon and Tyranitar and the stronger Surf.

Weezing: Except walling Flygon to oblivion, it won't do much to your team. Magneton/Starmie won't mind it and Gengar/Swampert will help if needed.

Zapdos: While you still have Flygon and Swampert to deal with every variant of Zapdos defensively, it doesn't have the Ground weakness of the other Electrics. On the other hand, it doesnt have the Electric resistance and even has an Ice weakness to abuse with Gengar and Starmie (Magneton too to a extent). SpDef can be pretty hard to wear down and might force you to boom, especially if they carry Toxic for Flygon or to force your Swampert to Rest. HP Grass variant will also be troublesome if they're well played, hence why I put it in Ornge. The key here is being the better player; predicting when it will gets in and using the right move to punish it will help a lot to outpower it before it outpowers you.

• Replays (click on the names to open YouTube link)

vs. Cowboy Dan
Starmie does work here as Cowboy's Special Wall is Zapdos (3KO by Ice Beam). Tyranitar helps to wallbreak the team while Gengar puts even more Special pressure with Starmie.

vs. Danilo
Gengar baits Blissey early game, which lets Starmie put pressure on Danilo. With Magneton removing Skarmory as well, Flygon and Tyranitar were able to put even more pressure on Danilo's defensive core. Thanks to the team's ability to stick around for a little while if needed (two Spike immune and three other Pokemons with recovery), I was able to break through his defensive team.

vs. DracoMalfoy
This replay shows the team ability to fare well against Offensive teams. There is not much to be added here, just play your cards right.

vs. DracoMalfoy (2)
Against the typical Physical Offense team, Starmie can put a ton of work when it comes mid-late game when its checks have been removed (Metagross, Snorlax). Without the miss, it would have easily cleaned the game.

vs. Floppy
The team is designed to take on Special Walls before sending Starmie, as clearly showcasted in this game. After a bit of scouting, I decided to boom on Umbreon as it was major nuisance to my offensive process. Once that was done, Snorlax eventually got killed and Starmie won the game (thanks to a speedtie).

vs. Golden Sun
Like versus Cowboy Dan, this replay shows how much work can Starmie do against Offense. Porygon2 was the only true stop to it and that is why I decided to get rid of it thanks to Explosion.

vs. MarceloDK
There is not much to be said about this game. As soon as a team lacks a true counter to Gengar or Starmie, they will be able to put a lot on pressure on your opponents, especially with the help of CB Ttar and Flygon.

vs. MDragon
This replay is the perfect showcase of Dugtrio disrupting the team strategy. MDragon predicted very well early game to get rid of Magneton before it did anything to his team. He took the advantage and kept it during the whole game thanks to Dugtrio eventually revenge killing my ways of breaking through his team.

vs. SoulWind
Starmie. I got a bit lucky here and I didn't play that well around Tyranitar. The biggest mistake was sacking Magneton to Heracross late game when I needed it to stall his Porygon2. An interesting game nonetheless that showcases the various offensive options of the team; sometimes, you will be better off weakening the opposing team with Starmie and use something else as your win condition.

 

[BKC]

roro

I love this team, it never gets old watching strong adv offense put in work, and this one in particular has put in a lot of that. That said, you do have some threatening mons. The biggest one is dugtrio; unlike most other threats, there really isn't much you can do against it, and the game against maestro showcased that (although it ended up being a lot closer than the start of the game would indicate). It isn't unbeatable but it's definitely a significant advantage for the other guy. However if you're careful and make good switches to pound away with flygon, you can definitely overcome it.

There are some other threats but, aside from superachi, they're definitely on the more uncommon side of things. In fact the only one you'll see on a semi-regular basis is subsalac heracross, who's nearly impossible to stop once it sets up on pert or ttar/gon locked into the wrong move, but that holds true for a lot of great teams. The rarer ones include 4 atk gengar, who screws up both pert and mag even without dug in the picture, although it's just as dangerous without fire punch if there is a dug. Baiting it in with the threat of pert/gon earthquakes and double switching accordingly to smack it while also threatening to bust a hole in the opposing team is key. Ironically the same goes for opposing offensive starmie!

Cloyster can definitely be a lamer but your advantage here is that teams with him on it (the most common one being dekzeh's that malfoy used) get dented really hard by cbtar + gengar + starmie. I wouldn't really worry about cloyster stall teams, they are probably your worst matchup but there's a very good reason they're hardly ever seen.

Anyway enough of the few things that might screw you up, since so far it probably sounds like all I'm doing is looking for negatives! There's a ton of stuff going on with this team that I absolutely love. Besides the obvious offensive starmie, I also really dig cbtar here, it rips open holes with absurd ease in the early game and the rest of your team does an excellent job of picking up the pieces, falling back on the ever-reliable pert defensively who isn't even bothered by skarm/forre waltzing in thanks to mag. Also cbgon is absolutely vicious with mag killing skarm and you should feel terrible for calling it weak.

Honestly you can't really call this a rate, because there isn't anything I'd change. It's more a heads up on things to watch out for and that you have one of the best, most successful modern adv teams on your hands, which deserves major props, even for a lucky belgian.

Actually I take all that back, blaziken and charizard aren't even on your threat list, which is insulting as hell when taking into consideration that you outright lose to dugtrio + sunny day zard + endrev ken. kill yourself. fucking slayer

 

[M Dragon]

Ok, so I promised you I was going to rate your team, so I am doing that:
First of all, the team is very solid, and it features 2 very interesting ideas in one: magne + ttar + cbgon (one of my fav lately) and boom gar + special sweeper (although a Dugtrio would be very good with this strat), with Swampert being the glue of the team that stops so many threats (I like your Protect + Rest set).
However, the problem of having those 2 strats in the same team is that I feel that sometimes you need "something more" to patch the weakness of the strat and to support it better, and I explain myself: the Gengar + Starm part would be better if you had something like Dugtrio, and TTar + CBGon works best with hazards and with maybe pursuit t-tar to kill things like Claydol and Gengar, 2 of the most common mons that give CBGon the most trouble.

In spite of that, the team is very solid, designed to get the advantage ASAP. Offensive Starmie is a very underrated threat, especially if you can boom with Gengar vs the special wall, and CBGon + Magne + TTar is so good especially vs defensive teams. The team should work very well vs defensive teams, and you have the weapons to hurt offesive teams as well (CBGon is especially good vs CM teams)

 

[destinyunknown]

So there's people posting good old gen teams nowadays? Cool!

I have never been a Starmie fan, it's that kind of pokemon that many people don't like to use but that is really annoying to face. I do see how that set is effective on your team though, and I may feel like trying it some day, looks more interesting than the bulky set.

BKC and MDragon have covered a lot of good points and I don't really want to dwell on redundancy here, but aside from the rare threats mentioned, your team covers most team archetypes well. You have to be wary about some types of offensive teams (Dugtrio mainly, but nothing can be done about that), but also teams with a fast sweeper like Aerodactyl or Raikou that have a Swampert bait can be a pain in the ass to face. That's why Raikou is more of a threat than it may look on paper, as since it's usually paired with Dugtrio or other special sweepers like Gengar (or even Jirachi) that will dent Swampert/Flygon, that's going to be a tough battle. It's really hard to cover everything perfectly though, and I know you're aware of that, just wanted to point that out because this team deserves more comments :)


PS: Anyone who misses ADV tours a lot? I just can't explain how much I do, please bring ADV back to tournaments, SPL is a bit restrictive and just not enough :(