Alright so after I posted my first RMT (you can find it here:http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3483620) I decided to revamp my entire team. BTW in case you didn't know, if a poke is anti-meta, that pretty much means that it's very effective against much of the tier but doesn't really have high usage/isn't super popular.
Here's the team as a whole and I'll get into each member later:
This team actually has a story behind it. I made a new account, moose VII to keep a record of just this team's wins/losses. After reaching over 2000 points with no losses on the UU ladder, I decided to play one more game for the day before stopping. I ended up winning the game, but at the end it said my ranking had gone from 1940 -> 1956. Showdown pretty much fucked up my points, but I decided the next day to just try and get back to where I was before. After winning the first game of the day, I lost the next two after getting the absolute shit haxed out of me (getting critted twice by specs sniper kingdra was not fun) and thus my ranking fell =( I was quite disheveled and so I made another account, ironically named Stop The Madness, to hopefully avoid the bullshit that had plagued the team earlier.
Once again I started to move up the ladder and actually got more points than the current #1, so I excitedly decided to check the ladder to hopefully see my name at the #1 spot. As luck would have it, my name didn't appear at #1 or anywhere in the top 100 for that matter. I decided to wait a day, assuming the ladder would update, but 24 hours later, my account had still not appeared anywhere (and yes I was registered). I checked my points again, and they once again confirmed that I should be at the top of the UU ladder. I finally decided to try one more battle in the hopes that it would remind the server I was there or something. After luckily winning, once again my ranking went from something like 1940-> 1956. The next day I once more tried to move up on the ladder, back to where I had been, and at first was met with success. Before going to class, I decided to squeeze another battle in. Predictably, I lost that battle, even though once again my opponent got all the hax, it probably wasn't game changing so I can't really complain. Now, Stop The Madness is sitting at 1942 points and has still NOT FUCKING SHOWN UP ON THE LADDER but I guess that's what I get for making too many alts. So far, I've only had those three losses with this team but I'm not entirely sure about my win record because I've won a few battles with it on other accounts as well. Thus, I gave 40 as a rough estimate for my wins although I'm fairly certain its higher than that.
With that said I will now get on to the team,
What a Shayme (Shaymin)
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Modest (+SpA - Atk)
EVs: 122 HP / 252 SpA / 136 Spe
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
Moves:
-Seed Flare
-Leech Seed
-Hidden Power Ice
-Rest
Analysis:
Why Shaymin? Because it counters every water type in the tier. I also wanted something that could abuse Slowbro's rising popularity. Because only Shaymin can switch into almost any Slowbro set with ease (specs fire blast is the only real threat slowbro poses to shaymin) and threaten it out with one of the best STAB moves in the game, I decided to give it a try. Shaymin is also only one of two effective leech seeders in UU, which added to its appeal. Because snorlax is a common switch-in to Shaymin, leech seed can also force it back out or eventually bring its demise. On the team, Shaymin plays both a defensive role: it can take a hit if need be and retaliate with a very strong stab move with one of the most annoying secondary effets in all of pokemon. I'm running hp ice because I needed something to hit other grass types and things like crobat and xatu. The EVs allow Shaymin to outspeed anything at 85 or less base speed that isn't running a + Speed nature.
Rock Block (Rhyperior)
Ability: Solid Rock
Nature: Careful (+SpD - SpA)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Moves:
-Rock Blast
-Stealth Rocks
-Earthquake
-Dragon Tail
Analysis:
This is the only set I left unchanged from my previous team. Rhyperior counters so many things in UU, it's ridiculous. He also provides stealth rocks, phazing and a move to break subs and one to hit very hard, coming off an insane base 140 attack stat. The EVs are set up to ensure he takes special hits the best he can and at the same time outspeed other rhyperiors. I really wouldn't change this set much other than to maybe give it an adamant nature or megahorn. Although its usage is rising, I still consider rhyperior anti-meta because its insane usefulness is still not reflected in its popularity.
Str8 Turnt (Snorlax)
Ability: Thick Fat
Nature: Careful (+SpD -SpA)
EVs: 144 HP / 112 Def / 252 SpD
Moves:
-Body Slam
-Whirlwind
-Sleep Talk
-Rest
Analysis:
This thing is probably the least anti-meta poke on the team, as its usage is through the roof, but still performs exceptionally well. I changed its EVs from before to be able to take on physical attackers a little better,
252 Atk Choice Band Flygon Outrage vs. 144 HP / 112 Def Snorlax: 297-351 (59.75 - 70.62%), with minimal reduction from its special bulk. I use whirlwind over others because otherwise my team is at the mercy of certain set-up sweepers. It takes special hits better than anything else in the tier which is why I continue to use it for my special wall.
Fuck U =) (Qwilfish)
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Impish (+Def -SpA)
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Moves:
-Waterfall
-Thunder Wave
-Spikes
-Pain Split
Analysis:
I honestly believe that the best defensive wall in UU is actually an RU poke. Qwilfish, too an extent, stops every physical threat in the tier barring only choice banded flygon, banded victini and rock polish rhyperior and maybe krookodile and bisharp but nobody uses those two anymore and victini is countered nicely by rhyperior. It also doesn't just sit there like many other physical walls, with its ability to set up spikes as well as cripple threats with t-wave. Its relatively low HP but great physical bulk after an intimidate allows it to make great use of pain split while its excellent typing makes it difficult to take down. Snorlax and Qwil are the two things on the team that I need to keep alive as long as possible in order the shut down threats. With very low usage and the ability to
Totem Magotes (Xatu)
Ability: Magic Bounce
Nature: Careful (+SpD - SpA)
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spe
Moves:
-Trick
-U-turn
-Night Shade
-Roost
Analysis: This is my favorite set to run in UU, its completely unexpected and cripples many things that like to switch in on xatu, one of my favorites being umbreon. This xatu has enough speed to outspeed base 110 max speed pokes like froslass with its scarf and trick them a scraf, crippling them for the rest of the match. I chose to make xatu specially defensive as opposed to physically defensive because that way, it makes a great counter to lead froslass as well as things like roserade. With debatably the best ability in the game, this set utilizes xatu's full potential to be as annoying as possible to opponents. Coupled with its surprisingly low usage, this is why xatu is anti-metagame. As an added bonus, this xatu completely shuts down every sabeleye set, even trick sableye, rendering it useless.
Heradise (Heracross)
Ability: Guts
Nature: Jolly (+Spe -SpA)
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Moves:
-Close Combat
-Megahorn
-Stone Edge
-Swords Dance
Analysis:
I know what you were probably thinking when you saw the team preview: how is heracross anti-metagame? It's currently #1 in usage and is usually very predictable. This is not your average run of-the-mill heracross, however. This Heracross practically guarantees a kill no matter what's on the opposing team unless everything on your opponent's team is somehow faster and runs aerial ace. When an opponent sees heracross, their initial reaction will logically be to switch into anything to take a physical hit, blastoise, gligar, hitmontop, etc. All of these become set-up bait for this heracross. Even the renowned heracross check, toxic gligar gets taken down before this heracross dies to poison (assuming its not running aerial ace). Thus this rarely used set is very anti-meta as it can pretty much ruin anything slower than it, a population only enlarged by the jolly nature which I find essential to guarantee you to not have a sweep cut short by timid togekiss or 252 speed roserade. Many walls will also often throw status at gligar in an attempt to wear it down when in reality they only increase hera's attack power. Without hazards up, heracross can also bluff the scarf or band, which comes in handy when the opponent keeps a claydol in after they see you went for a close combat. Generally, the way I use this heracross is, if I see a crobat on the opposing team, I go for stone edge right away and try to catch it on a switch-in. Either I hit it, which is great, or the opponent switches into another poke that will likely allow heracross to set up.
Final Team:
Threat List
Banded Flygon
There are 4 reasons this thing is such a threat. 1) It has a stab, super effective move with which to hit my main physical wall. 2) I have nothing to resist outrage. 3) It is virtually immune to hazards. 4) It is immune to t-wave. These four things make this guy by far the most threatening to my team and mean that I need to keep anything defensive at a fairly high amount of health lest I get completely run over. My team can eventually bring it down, mainly with shaymin, but its always a struggle to do so and never fun. This thing is one of the reasons I miss using Honchkrow from my last team.
Swords Dance Mew
Although this set is far from common, there is one thing on my team that makes the difference between me shutting mew down and getting swept by it. That is if I've tricked my scarf off xatu yet or not. With its scarf xatu not only counter but checks pretty much every set mew has to offer, which is quite a difficult thing to do, however if xatu has already tricked off its scarf to another pokemon, there's not much it can do to stop a mew sweep. For this reason, whenever I see a mew in the team preview I know I'll have to keep xatu near full health and scarfed.
Specs Empoleon
If Snorlax gets worn down too much, my entire team can be 2HKO'd by this set. With a weakened snorlax, my best bet to stop it is Shaymin, though if it predicts the switch-in and ice beams, shaymin will easily by 2HKO'd and can't OHKO back with seed flare. Thankfully, empoleon is rather slow so it can't come in on a lot of my guys but it is incredibly threatening when it gets a chance to fire off a hydro pump.
Feel free to leave a comment if you wanna give tips, suggestions or just ask me about one of my nicknames =) Don't be afraid to try the team out yourself so long as you don't claim it as your own and Luvdiscs are always appreciated.
Also Relaunched, if you're reading this, you're awesome =)
