ORAS OU The Mastermind!

[Invok3r]

[Art by me ;-)]




Hey smogon, this is the rmt of the team that I used to get #1 on the OU ladder, and win a few ou room tours. I was inspired to use the mastermind of ou, which is mega alakazam, due to its capability to perform well vs offensive and balanced teams. This is due to its coverage, and high special attack and speed. MegaZam also provides a great answer to weather teams, which are quite effective vs ho teams. Overall, zam is a really great mega, that can perform well in many matchups.

Proof of #1

I hope you enjoy reading my rmt, and without further ado, the teambuilding process! :D

Teambuilding Process

The team was built around the mastermind himself

Since I wanted to go with a ho-style teambuild, I then added my favorite suicide lead, lum sd chomp.

After this, I realized that the team was quite weak to fairies, especially clefable and azumarill. Scizor fit perfectly as a glue, and serves as a mandatory mmeta switchin.

I now wanted a scarfer, and an answer to scarf lando, who terrorizes these mons. Because of this, I added a scarf lando-t of my own.

Looking at my team, I realized that I got savaged by stall and keldeo. To fix these chinks in my armor, I decided on using the underrated cm roost latios.

Finally, I wanted an answer to sd mega sciz, bisharp, and something to help a bit more vs stall. Taunt lo keld was added for support vs these threats.

Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Stealth Rock


My favorite mon to use on ho, lum sd chomp. Although rocky helm tank chomp is popular af these days, I chose to go with this set for a few reasons. First of all, mega zam struggles a bit vs mega sableye, and chomp is a good check to that mon. Also, many balanced teams aren't that prepared for this set, and oftentimes it will take a live while getting up stealth rocks. Sure it doesn't have almost guaranteed stealth rocks like azelf, but the offensive support that chomp provides is a tool that I really enjoy using.

Move Analysis:

Swords Dance
Swords dance is lum chomp's bread and butter. It's his main tool to wreck walls after he sets up stealth rocks. At +2, he can break walls like slowbro, ferrothorn, mega sableye, and hippowdon.

Earthquake
This is a mandatory STAB on garchomp, it comes in handy vs tanky steels, and it gives you a way to deal damage without locking into outrage.

Outrage
Since garchomp is a suicide lead, outrage is a great move to use before he goes down. It has great synergy paired with lum berry, as it can prevent him from getting statused, and cure confusion after the outrage. Overall a powerful attack to use on chomp.

Stealth Rock
Stealth rocks are the main reason I have garchomp on this team. The residual damage helps vs a ton of threats, like torn-t, talon, and zards. Stealth rocks are almost mandatory on every team.

The Mastermind (Alakazam-Mega) @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: NaN Atk
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Substitute Encore
- Shadow Ball

The star of the show, the mastermind himself. Mega Alakazam is a pretty good mega in this meta, balance doesn't have many switchins to him, and he can perform outstandingly vs ho teams. His speed stat of 150 makes him the fastest non-scarfer in the meta, tying with Mega Aerodactyl. The ev spread is really simple, it maximizes power and speed. Although one could run modest due to the amazing speed, sadly timid is needed if you want to outspeed mega lopunny. Megazam is overall a great mon with nice coverage, utility, and speed.

Move Analysis:

Psychic
A great stab on alakazam. Combined with 90 base power and zam's high special attack, this move hits pretty hard. Although psyshock could be used in this slot, I opted for psychic to deal more damage to mons like rotom-w and lando-t.

Focus Blast
A mandatory coverage option for zam. It hits so many threats, such as ttar, heatran, ferrothorn, and bisharp. Although it has bad accuracy, hitting these will oftentimes give zam a lot easier time sweeping.

Substitute Encore
This slot was originally substitute, but was changed to encore to help with cm users while still trolling bisharp.

Shadow Ball
For my last move on zam, I opted for shadow ball. It's a really nice coverage option that lets him hit mew, celebi, slowbro, and other alakazams for good damage.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit


Next up is scizor! I chose him because I wanted a fairy switchin, and he does that job pretty well. Scizor serves as a really good glue for hyper offense, since it can also serve as a mandatory mega metagross switchin. It can tank a meteor mash + hammer arm, and deal about 50% with cb u-turn, allowing me to go out to zam or lando-t. Bullet punch is extremely useful on the team, as it hits hard in combination with technician and choice band, allowing it to revenge kill dangerous threats. Scizor can also pull its weight vs stall teams because it can switch into a predicted gothitelle, and kill it with pursuit. This lets latios and keldeo put in work.

Move Analysis:

U-Turn
A mandatory slot on cb scizor, gives momentum while hitting hard. Not much explanation needed here.

Superpower
Superpower is a great option for hitting ferrothorn and heatran on the switch. It can also work well vs a weakened skarmory, as it is super effective when they roost. A pretty nice coverage option overall.

Bullet Punch
A mandatory move on all scizors. It's his bread and butter stab, it can come in handy in many scenarios to revenge kill. It is especially great for cm clefable and mega altaria, as they are quite annoying to this team.

Pursuit
As explained earlier, pursuit is handy vs stall teams, as it can kill gothitelle and weaken cresselia. Also, it can be used to trap the lati twins, who can hinder an Alakazam sweep. This move was originally knock off, but I feel that it was a waste of a moveslot on scizor, and that pursuit comes in handy more times.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 24 Def / 232 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Explosion Superpower
I chose scarf lando-t as the next member of the team, since I wanted a scarfer who would help against opposing scarf landos. Lando-t also provides great utility with intimidate, it is a good switchin to many physical attackers. This guy is also great at cleaning late game, since it outspeeds most mons and can spam all of its moves.

Move Analysis:

Stone Edge
The first part of the edgequake combo, comes in handy vs opposing lando-t and birds. Also helps vs zard y.

Earthquake
Mandatory move on lando-t, hits pretty hard. Not much explanation needed here.

U-Turn
U-Turn works really well on lando-t, since it provides momentum vs opposing team's switchins. It can also come in handy vs the lati twins and celebi.

Explosion Superpower
This moveslot was originally explosion, which was a nice panic button in late game scenarios.
Due to some suggestions, it is now replaced with superpower. This helps with the likes of mega lopunny, and air balloon exca, who are big threats to this team.

Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: null Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Calm Mind
- Roost

For the 5th member of the team, I wanted a keld switchin that helps vs stall, so I chose to use cm latios. Calm mind is a really underrated on latios, it allows him to break pass walls like chansey, and some steels like empoleon and heatran. It can also pull its weight vs stall. Once gothitelle is eliminated by pursuit scizor, it can start calm minding up and spam its stabs. Overall a really underrated set on a great mon.

Move Analysis:

Draco Meteor
A mandatory move on latios, once steel types get eliminated it is pretty spammable. Doesn't need much explanation.

Psyshock
Psyshock is a great stab move for latios. It helps him deal good damage to mons like chansey and clefable. It is also good to have another attack that you can use without lowering your special attack.

Calm Mind
As I mentioned earlier, calm mind latios helps vs stall teams, and breaking past walls. It's a really cool option to use on latios.

Roost
Roost is a pretty reliable recovery move on latios. It helps keep latios in the game longer, which is necessary to help vs keldeo.

Keldeo @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Taunt
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Hydro Pump

The last member of my team is keldeo! I chose this because I wanted a check to bisharp and scizor, which could help with stall. Although it isnt really common, I chose to use lo taunt keldeo. Taunt comes in handy vs bulky mons that like to heal, such as clefable and tg cm manaphy. Scizor and bisharp are big threats to this team, but keeping keldeo healthy can deal with them pretty well.

Move Analysis:

Scald
Scald is a mandatory move on keldeo, it hits with decent power, and is spammable due to the burn chance.

Secret Sword
Secret sword is another mandatory move on keldeo. It can ohko threats like bisharp and ttar, and deal a big chunk to ferrothorn. It is also helpful vs opposing manaphies.

Taunt
I chose taunt for the third slot on keldeo, it helps vs tankier mons on stall teams, and provides great utility overall.

Hidden Power [Fire] / Hydro Pump
This last moveslot is pretty interesting. I originally chose hydro pump for situations when more power was needed. However, I would often miss vs sd scizor, and it would proceed to ko me with +2 superpower. Because of this, I decided to add hp fire, although it is an extremely niche move it has worked well for me. This slot is completely up to you, both moves work well.

I hope you enjoyed reading my rmt! Down below are the importable, replays, and shoutouts!

Importable

ArchPhantom (Garchomp) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Stealth Rock

The Mastermind (Alakazam-Mega) @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: NaN Atk
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Encore
- Shadow Ball

Bludz (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 24 Def / 232 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Superpower

Wond3rbread (Latios) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: NaN Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Calm Mind
- Roost

JohnYiu (Keldeo) @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Taunt
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Gardevoir Importable

ArchPhantom (Garchomp) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Stealth Rock

Reverb (Gardevoir-Mega) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 32 Def / 252 SpA / 224 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Taunt

Bludz (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit

Zamrock (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 24 Def / 232 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Superpower

Croven (Latias) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Healing Wish

JohnYiu (Keldeo) @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Taunt
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Replays

Vs. M-Sciz HO

Vs. Mega Zam HO

Vs. Another M-Sciz HO

Vs. Gallade Balance

Vs. Heracross Balance

Threatlist

This dude can be a big threat. When facing him, I need to keep keldeo and lando-t as healthy as possible to take hits from it.

This little dude can really wreck havoc. However, I have 2 mons who can revenge kill him, so it's not impossible to face against.

Since when is this dude not threatening to ho? When facing bisharp, I need to keep keldeo healthy. Also, I can encore his sucker punch with mega alakazam.

Shoutouts

Shoutouts to Wond3rbread for being a cool g and supporting my ladder run!

Shoutouts to bludz, really cool guy, thanks a lot bro!

Shoutouts to JohnYiu, he helped me a bit with making rmts, and he's a really good battler overall.

Shoutouts to my fren Archphantom, he's a teambuilding lord and a rly cool guy!

Shoutouts to bof fam!

Shoutouts to clone, a really good player who helped me with the formatting!

♛ Have a good day!! :D ♛
​

 

[ShadowGuy1]

I have been wanting to see ur team in-depth and I really don't see many problems. I might try Knock Off>Explosion on the Lando. It has better coverage and can be used at really any point of a game. Great team man!

 

[ボーイ]

I rate 10/10 like how dafuq am i suppose to rate these things anyhow?!? "Oh dont use this, use that" like dude you peaked at #1; Damn great team!

 

[Halcyon.]

Hey cool team,

Mega Alakazam is really underrated, so kudos for using him. The only issues I see with your team are issues a lot of HO teams commonly face. You don't have a solid answer to stall teams, Mega Metagross is a pain (you have Scizor, but it is Choice Band and therefore loses to it if it has Hammer Arm, meaning you have to rely on intimidating it with your Scarf Pokemon before Scizor can even avoid a 2HKO after rocks). CM Pokemon like Clefable can be annoying as well (Scizor obviously gets wrecked by Flamethrower sets, and if you do get a free switc in, you are forced to Bullet Punch, which can be taken advantage of easily). To remedy this, I would change Substitute on Alakazam to Encore. Encore still lets you beat Sucker Punch Bisharp, it just requires you to predict a little bit more on the first turn you use it. But in exchange, you now give free switches to any of your Pokemon when a Pokemon gets locked into a set-up move or unfavrable attack. This helps protect you form the likes of Clefable, Suicune, Reuniclus, Mega Latias, and other CM Pokemon, as well as Gyarados and certain DD users. Next, to better take advantage of these free setup turns, as well as to better handle Metagross, I would change Scizor to a SD Roost set. Band definitely has its advantages, but Ice Punch Metagross is an absolute nightmare for you to face, forcing to you predict every time it comes in. SD Scizor at least has roost and extra bulk to fend of Metagross 100% barring Meteor Mash Attack boosts. It also provides a solid win condition in the form of a sweeper, which your team lacks at the moment, and makes great use of the free turns from Encore. However, I understand this change might not appeal to you (momentum from U-Turn is great), so take that suggestion with a grain of salt, as it isn't entirely necessary. If you do use it, I would use the set below, which always survives two Hammer Arms from Metagross after Rocks. I would also run something over HP Fire on Keldeo, since it seems pretty useless to me, but if you think it helps the team then more power to you.

Anyway, the team is already super solid so not much really needs to be changes. I hope this was helpful though. Good luck!

suggested set

Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 84 Atk / 152 Def / 24 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Swords Dance
- Roost

 

[Enki]

Hey
Congratulations for the Ladder spot, Mega Alakazam is an unpopular choice, so I'm glad seeing a succesful team builded around him.
But I must ask, how do you fare against mega Lopunny? Scizor cannot come in, since he is 2hked by a combination of Stealth Rocks+Return+HJK, and she outspeed all member of your team bar Scarf Landorus-therian and Mega Alakazam, but only after he mega evolves, and yeah both gets ohkoed by Ice Punch and Return respectively.
Another problem I'm seeing is Clefable, calm mind Clefable, specifically, Scizor is your only immediate answer to them and he has no recovery, and can even get killed by Flamethrower, which isn't really an uncommon choice on them.
Another problem is SDGliscor, your only answer to him is Keldeo, being bulky enough to even resist Alakazam's psychic, failing to 2hko him, and waiting for a minimum damage roll in order to "gain ground" Latios does not ohko him, and cannot set up easily with the threat of Knock Off in mind, another problem is Mega Gyarados, if he by chance decides to delay mega evolution in order to better fight Keldeo/Alakazam, due to Life Orb Keldeo also it will be more easy for your opponent to wear down Keldeo and ohko him with an +1 Earthquake after mega evolution.

But the team is solid enough, so I think that with just two easy fixes the problems can be resolved.

First off, I would consider Superpower over Explosion on Lan-Therian this gets you a way to easily ohko Mega Lopunny and Mega Gyarados after mega evolution without dying, but it also helps you against Air Baloon Excadrill, which is also another problem due to its speed and great coverage.

The second fix would be Encore over Substitute on Mega Alakazam, you still get to troll Sucker Punch Bisharp, but now you can encore stuff like Calm Mind Clefable, Roost special defensive Gliscor, and of course, it causes switchs, so it is also another useful edge against defensive teams.



Sets:

Hide

Alakazam (M) @ Alakazite
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
IVs: 0 Atk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Encore
- Shadow Ball

Landorus-Therian (Landorus-T) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 24 Def / 232 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Superpower

Hope it helped, good luck!

 

[Invok3r]

Hey cool team,

Mega Alakazam is really underrated, so kudos for using him. The only issues I see with your team are issues a lot of HO teams commonly face. You don't have a solid answer to stall teams, Mega Metagross is a pain (you have Scizor, but it is Choice Band and therefore loses to it if it has Hammer Arm, meaning you have to rely on intimidating it with your Scarf Pokemon before Scizor can even avoid a 2HKO after rocks). CM Pokemon like Clefable can be annoying as well (Scizor obviously gets wrecked by Flamethrower sets, and if you do get a free switc in, you are forced to Bullet Punch, which can be taken advantage of easily). To remedy this, I would change Substitute on Alakazam to Encore. Encore still lets you beat Sucker Punch Bisharp, it just requires you to predict a little bit more on the first turn you use it. But in exchange, you now give free switches to any of your Pokemon when a Pokemon gets locked into a set-up move or unfavrable attack. This helps protect you form the likes of Clefable, Suicune, Reuniclus, Mega Latias, and other CM Pokemon, as well as Gyarados and certain DD users. Next, to better take advantage of these free setup turns, as well as to better handle Metagross, I would change Scizor to a SD Roost set. Band definitely has its advantages, but Ice Punch Metagross is an absolute nightmare for you to face, forcing to you predict every time it comes in. SD Scizor at least has roost and extra bulk to fend of Metagross 100% barring Meteor Mash Attack boosts. It also provides a solid win condition in the form of a sweeper, which your team lacks at the moment, and makes great use of the free turns from Encore. However, I understand this change might not appeal to you (momentum from U-Turn is great), so take that suggestion with a grain of salt, as it isn't entirely necessary. If you do use it, I would use the set below, which always survives two Hammer Arms from Metagross after Rocks. I would also run something over HP Fire on Keldeo, since it seems pretty useless to me, but if you think it helps the team then more power to you.

Anyway, the team is already super solid so not much really needs to be changes. I hope this was helpful though. Good luck!

suggested set

Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 84 Atk / 152 Def / 24 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Swords Dance
- Roost

Haha, thanks for the rate. Although scizor would help me more with mega meta, I haven't really had problems with it anyway. Scizor switches into a stab + hammer arm, pivots out with u-turn, which enables zam, keld, or lando to finish it off. Cb pursuit sciz is my main way of beating stall, as it enables latios to put in tremendous work and keldeo to annoy the shit out of stall. Thanks for the rate tho, I will try the scizor set out! n_n

Hey
Congratulations for the Ladder spot, Mega Alakazam is an unpopular choice, so I'm glad seeing a succesful team builded around him.
But I must ask, how do you fare against mega Lopunny? Scizor cannot come in, since he is 2hked by a combination of Stealth Rocks+Return+HJK, and she outspeed all member of your team bar Scarf Landorus-therian and Mega Alakazam, but only after he mega evolves, and yeah both gets ohkoed by Ice Punch and Return respectively.
Another problem I'm seeing is Clefable, calm mind Clefable, specifically, Scizor is your only immediate answer to them and he has no recovery, and can even get killed by Flamethrower, which isn't really an uncommon choice on them.
Another problem is SDGliscor, your only answer to him is Keldeo, being bulky enough to even resist Alakazam's psychic, failing to 2hko him, and waiting for a minimum damage roll in order to "gain ground" Latios does not ohko him, and cannot set up easily with the threat of Knock Off in mind, another problem is Mega Gyarados, if he by chance decides to delay mega evolution in order to better fight Keldeo/Alakazam, due to Life Orb Keldeo also it will be more easy for your opponent to wear down Keldeo and ohko him with an +1 Earthquake after mega evolution.

But the team is solid enough, so I think that with just two easy fixes the problems can be resolved.

First off, I would consider Superpower over Explosion on Lan-Therian this gets you a way to easily ohko Mega Lopunny and Mega Gyarados after mega evolution without dying, but it also helps you against Air Baloon Excadrill, which is also another problem due to its speed and great coverage.

The second fix would be Encore over Substitute on Mega Alakazam, you still get to troll Sucker Punch Bisharp, but now you can encore stuff like Calm Mind Clefable, Roost special defensive Gliscor, and of course, it causes switchs, so it is also another useful edge against defensive teams.



Sets:

Hide

Alakazam (M) @ Alakazite
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
IVs: 0 Atk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Encore
- Shadow Ball

Landorus-Therian (Landorus-T) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 24 Def / 232 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Superpower

Hope it helped, good luck!

Wow, thanks for the rate g! The changes you suggested seem to help my team a lot while not taking much away, so I will definitely try to implement them.

I know this dude wasn't high ladder, but here's a replay of me fighting a mega lop team.

http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-218985632

I basically beat lop by pivoting around on predicted moves. I have a resist to every single attack it has, so that is useful. Thanks for the rate, it looks really helpful and I will try it out! n_n

 

[TPP]

Your team is really good, I've been trying it out, and birdspam seems to be the only "weakness" I see. I'm trying out Mega Manectric instead of Mega Alakazam and it seems to be working out pretty well. Nice job getting to number 1.

 

[Scotti]

Sup fren :] Great team. It is extremely effective and what it does. Lets start this off, by saying you are weak as fuck to mega scizor. That is probably the biggest threat to your team by far. Keldeo is a great check, but with life orb recoil, hazard damage(because you have no way to get rid if hazards), and having to take almost every dark type move, keldeo gets weakened pretey fast. Also mega sableye can be pretty annoying to even with lum garchomp. It becomes a series of predict, as it doesnt have to mega evolve. Custap Skarm/forre teams are also annoying as shit, because they get up a ton of hazards against. That is why I recommend life orb mixed chomp over your current chomp. You still win against mega sableye and do better against dedicated hazard leads. You also do very well against stall teams. By being mixed you can break through defensive teams a lot easier with strong special and physical attacks. Mixed chomp is also an amazing check to mega scizor, and you can fire blast the shit out of it. Ferrothorn can also be annoying as shit to this team, because keldeo and alakazam has a hard time coming in to damage it. So now you can destroy that shit out of ferrothorns every where. In general mixed chomp makes a great lure to steel types, which both zam, lando-t, and scizor will all appreciate. I also agree with running encore over sub on mega zam, since it is pretty helpful against bulkier teams and the threats halcyon listed. I would honestly keep explosion on lando-t, because it helps break through bulkier teams, that can annoy this team.

I am kinda confused though. Why don't you run cm latias over cm latios. Cm Latias is a lot bulkier, and I think that would be better overall. Even tho latios has slightly more power, this is a cm set, so I believe bulk>power. I will post the spread down below.

sets

pokemon sets

Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Dragon Pulse
- Psyshock

 

[Invok3r]

Sup fren :] Great team. It is extremely effective and what it does. Lets start this off, by saying you are weak as fuck to mega scizor. That is probably the biggest threat to your team by far. Keldeo is a great check, but with life orb recoil, hazard damage(because you have no way to get rid if hazards), and having to take almost every dark type move, keldeo gets weakened pretey fast. Also mega sableye can be pretty annoying to even with lum garchomp. It becomes a series of predict, as it doesnt have to mega evolve. Custap Skarm/forre teams are also annoying as shit, because they get up a ton of hazards against. That is why I recommend life orb mixed chomp over your current chomp. You still win against mega sableye and do better against dedicated hazard leads. You also do very well against stall teams. By being mixed you can break through defensive teams a lot easier with strong special and physical attacks. Mixed chomp is also an amazing check to mega scizor, and you can fire blast the shit out of it. Ferrothorn can also be annoying as shit to this team, because keldeo and alakazam has a hard time coming in to damage it. So now you can destroy that shit out of ferrothorns every where. In general mixed chomp makes a great lure to steel types, which both zam, lando-t, and scizor will all appreciate. I also agree with running encore over sub on mega zam, since it is pretty helpful against bulkier teams and the threats halcyon listed. I would honestly keep explosion on lando-t, because it helps break through bulkier teams, that can annoy this team. I am kinda confused though. Why don't you run cm latias over cm latios. Cm Latias is a lot bulkier, and I think that would be better overall. Even tho latios has slightly more power, this is a cm set, so I believe bulk>power. I will post the spread down below.

sets

pokemon sets

Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Dragon Pulse
- Psyshock

Yo scoots, thanks for the rate (BAN ME PLEASE) g! Life orb mixed chomp sounds like a great second check to mega scizor, so I would love to try it out. I guess latias could be used over latios, but there's not that much difference. It's basically whether you want bulk (latias) or power (latios). Thanks again bof fam!

 

[Togehug]

Amazing. Topping the Ladder with a team of 6 uncommon sets, and with a HO team to top it off. I really love your team, every pokemon packs a surprise to the opponent, without compromising viability :D

Edit: MegaZam doesn't have an uncommon set, but he's uncommon in ou, that's for sure :]

 

[m!nh]

change your garchomp to choice scarf garchomp with stealth rocks. now you got 2 scarfers

 

[Wond3rbread]

Thanks for the shoutout fam! We out here liek trees ^_^
On a rating note, I feel like calm mind slack off mega slowbro could potentially be a threat if it has special defense investment, since with a few boosts it eats hits from alakazam, and while taunt keldeo can stop it from setting up, it just dies to psyshock anyway. While Calm Mind Latios can potentially beat it, in a +6 +6 war the -2 from draco really hurts mega slowbro. I way to alleviate this would be running dragon pulse>draco meteor, or even dropping psychic stab for something like tbolt, which is also nice since tbolt 2hko's metagross.

 

[Hobojoe28]

Wow this team looks great, congrats on the #1 spot! I feel like HO is a tad underrated in this format, especially with well done teams such as yours. You certainly proved that they at least work with that kind of success. I definitley want to do a full rate (not like theres much to improve on) in the mornint, but just couldn't pass up giving this thread some love before I went to bed. Again, awesome job, and congrats!

 

[Invok3r]

Thanks for the shoutout fam! We out here liek trees ^_^
On a rating note, I feel like calm mind slack off mega slowbro could potentially be a threat if it has special defense investment, since with a few boosts it eats hits from alakazam, and while taunt keldeo can stop it from setting up, it just dies to psyshock anyway. While Calm Mind Latios can potentially beat it, in a +6 +6 war the -2 from draco really hurts mega slowbro. I way to alleviate this would be running dragon pulse>draco meteor, or even dropping psychic stab for something like tbolt, which is also nice since tbolt 2hko's metagross.

Haha thanks for the rate gs9 fam. I guess latios with dpulse or tbolt could help more with spdef mega bro. Maybe the latias set that scotti suggested would also help a bit more with mega bro. However, I feel like replacing sub with encore on zam would help by locking bro into cm, and i could proceed to weaken him with shadow balls or even scizor. I am p busy tomorrow, but in the afternoon i will edit in some changes and a threatlist.

Wow this team looks great, congrats on the #1 spot! I feel like HO is a tad underrated in this format, especially with well done teams such as yours. You certainly proved that they at least work with that kind of success. I definitley want to do a full rate (not like theres much to improve on) in the mornint, but just couldn't pass up giving this thread some love before I went to bed. Again, awesome job, and congrats!

Haha thanks man!




Thanks so much guys for the likes and support, it really means a lot! :D

 

[Leftiez]

Hey man, thats a solid team you got there, and i really like that little uturn core to help alakazam to come in, but i think i've some tips that could help you.

- First i notice that your team has still a big weakness against thing like clefable cm, i mean clefable can just predict the scizor's switch in since thats your only one answer and flamethrower/ fire blast it, well and it's not like you got a solid thing after that, i cant really suggest to swap a pokemon since your team is already pretty solid and a change will just make it worst, but i'd put Encore instead of substitute on alakazam, as i said before clefable can possibly sweep your team if your opponent is playing good around scizor, while with encore you can just trick it when you feel that the cm/softboiled is obv. Well it's not what you can call a check but it make your team better actually and it still prevent you from the bisharp sweep since you can just encore on the sucker punch and then switch out. Plus it also help you against DD cotton guard altaria (lol fuck Style xD)

- Since you're playing an offense you shouldnt be so annoyed by stall or fat shit, but nonetheless you got a big sableye mega weakness and unfortunately no fairy in your team (which is pretty bad for you), sableye can just get on alakazam/landorus-T or even scizor locked since it can tank very very well and spam knock off/snarl whenever it want to, and if thats cm one your only answer is probably using CM tios and try to win the war which is still bad. Well even if you got Garchomp lum thats clearly not enough because most of time it will just double wow and spam recover. I'd suggest to swap your keldeo with sub cm Keldeo.
Actually sub cm keldeo is a good thing for your team because it help you better against bisharp but also against stall and especially against sableye, because with substitute you can avoid burn/knock off and you can also beat the cm variant since shadow ball does 0.

- Finally i'd suggest SuperPower instead of explosion on Landorus-T, because it make you better against air ballon Excadrill, actually if excadrill has ballon you're forced to uturn b4 which is bad for you because it means you will have to weaken Landorus-T and if thats SD Excadrill it's even worse. While with superpower you are not forced to uturn anymore and just OHKO without any problem of saccing Landorus or what to break that balon and superpower also hit gyarados-mega if keldeo is weakned and cant take one EQ ;].

Well i hope i helped and good luck with the team man.

Keldeo

Keldeo @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Scald
- Secret Sword

 

[Invok3r]

Hey man, thats a solid team you got there, and i really like that little uturn core to help alakazam to come in, but i think i've some tips that could help you.

- First i notice that your team has still a big weakness against thing like clefable cm, i mean clefable can just predict the scizor's switch in since thats your only one answer and flamethrower/ fire blast it, well and it's not like you got a solid thing after that, i cant really suggest to swap a pokemon since your team is already pretty solid and a change will just make it worst, but i'd put Encore instead of substitute on alakazam, as i said before clefable can possibly sweep your team if your opponent is playing good around scizor, while with encore you can just trick it when you feel that the cm/softboiled is obv. Well it's not what you can call a check but it make your team better actually and it still prevent you from the bisharp sweep since you can just encore on the sucker punch and then switch out. Plus it also help you against DD cotton guard altaria (lol fuck Style xD)

- Since you're playing an offense you shouldnt be so annoyed by stall or fat shit, but nonetheless you got a big sableye mega weakness and unfortunately no fairy in your team (which is pretty bad for you), sableye can just get on alakazam/landorus-T or even scizor locked since it can tank very very well and spam knock off/snarl whenever it want to, and if thats cm one your only answer is probably using CM tios and try to win the war which is still bad. Well even if you got Garchomp lum thats clearly not enough because most of time it will just double wow and spam recover. I'd suggest to swap your keldeo with sub cm Keldeo.
Actually sub cm keldeo is a good thing for your team because it help you better against bisharp but also against stall and especially against sableye, because with substitute you can avoid burn/knock off and you can also beat the cm variant since shadow ball does 0.

- Finally i'd suggest SuperPower instead of explosion on Landorus-T, because it make you better against air ballon Excadrill, actually if excadrill has ballon you're forced to uturn b4 which is bad for you because it means you will have to weaken Landorus-T and if thats SD Excadrill it's even worse. While with superpower you are not forced to uturn anymore and just OHKO without any problem of saccing Landorus or what to break that balon and superpower also hit gyarados-mega if keldeo is weakned and cant take one EQ ;].

Well i hope i helped and good luck with the team man.

Keldeo

Keldeo @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Scald
- Secret Sword

Wow Toupip, thanks so much for rating my team! I already changed sub to encore on zam, but I will update rmt this afternoon. >.< I also replaced explosion with superpower, and have been testing it out some. (It's been working pretty nicely) I will change keldeo to subcm keldeo, however I feel it might leave me a bit weaker to mega sciz. Maybe I could use this with scotti's fire blast chomp, and it could help with stall and scizor. Thanks so much for the rate man!

 

[Invok3r]

Bump/Update

I edited in some of the changes I've found to be successful. Added some more replays and a threatlist. Thanks so much for the support guys! :D

 

[Red King]

don't run timid on mega alakazam because it isn't worth it.
252 Atk Mega Lopunny Fake Out vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Alakazam: 97-115 (38.6 - 45.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
you take such massive damage from fake out you really should just be switching lando t into it.
even past that, bluffing timid isn't exactly difficult.

 

[Invok3r]

don't run timid on mega alakazam because it isn't worth it.
252 Atk Mega Lopunny Fake Out vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Alakazam: 97-115 (38.6 - 45.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
you take such massive damage from fake out you really should just be switching lando t into it.
even past that, bluffing timid isn't exactly difficult.

Well I only really have 2 ways to revenge kill lopunny in the first place, so I don't really want to remove one of them.

 

[teamsnickers]

Maybe run the defensive chomp set

 

[Invok3r]

Maybe run the defensive chomp set

10/10 nice rate man.

Maybe you could give some reasoning behind this change?

 

[teamsnickers]

10/10 nice rate man.

Maybe you could give some reasoning behind this change?

lol sorry i was busy but ty
anyway Nice team man, Id run defensive chomp because atm its the number one lead in HO and goes EXTREMELY well with lando t/keldeo
while SD is a good niche, your team really doesnt really need/benefit from it as much
but reallly good team!

 

[Invok3r]

lol sorry i was busy but ty
anyway Nice team man, Id run defensive chomp because atm its the number one lead in HO and goes EXTREMELY well with lando t/keldeo
while SD is a good niche, your team really doesnt really need/benefit from it as much
but reallly good team!

I stated that lum sd chomp was needed because it's a good check to mega sableye, and can often get hazards up vs stall teams. But thanks man!

 

[teamsnickers]

I stated that lum sd chomp was needed because it's a good check to mega sableye, and can often get hazards up vs stall teams. But thanks man!

np
I think keldeo can handle mega sableye thou but thats just imo youre prob right thou

 

[Invok3r]

Okay I just wanted to comment that Reverb made a cool variation of this team. He replaced mega zam with mega gardevoir and latios with hw latias. I have been using this a bit, and it's really fun. I also changed lum sd chomp to rocky helm chomp to help a bit more with birds. (Gardevoir doesnt need too much help vs sabe) I put an extra importable in case anyone wants to use the gardevoir variation.