The Spinner-less Revolution

[timbits]

Hello smogon. I've been following the OU metagame and used my experiences to build this team. The concept is simple: No spinner, only magic bounce Espeon. Now I've tried this particular strategy before, but every team I've used it on previously encountered problems with aggressive stealth rock pokes such as T-tar and Heatran that can OHKO Espeon. This team fixes this problem through fast pokemon that can check such threats.

Edits will be in italics.

The Team:

Espeon @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Psychic
- Baton Pass

The star of the show, Espeon eats entry hazards and status moves of all kind for breakfast and spits it out on the opponent. Oh what's that your opponent just switched in Forretress and is about to set up? Looks like they have spikes on their side now. Calm mind allows Espeon to give Alakazam a free sweep while it blocks hazards. HP fighting gives coverage. Psychic is deceptively strong against fighting types that try to set up on Espeon, and baton pass allows escape from the clutches of pursuit and to give Alakazam or Gastrodon stats.


Flygon @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Flygon is our lead. Choice scarf allows it to safely get a hit on almost anyone with u-turn and switch into a more favorable matchup. I truly believe that scarfgon is incredibly underrated and belongs in OU. It's a check to every dragon type that doesn't have a scarf of its own, which they rarely do. Outrage OHKOs basically anything that's not a wall and doesn't resist it. Quake-edge is quake-edge, it checks Heatran most importantly among others since Espeon can't. Not only does Flygon serve as a lead, it's also one of our revenge killers and can sweep a weakened team without steel types with outrage.


Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Fire Blast

Oh look it's T-tar, the pokemon that tanks super effective special attacks with ease, is a walking weather setup, stealth rock connoisseur, pursuit trapper, and still hits like a truck. The only reason he's not on every single OU team is because sand can hurt a lot of your own pokemon. Well guess what? 5/6 of this team is unaffected or benefiting from sand. Don't be fooled though, as this is not a sand team. No pokemon on this team is reliant on sand being up to sweep or the like, so the team is not crippled if T-tar somehow gets taken out. Crunch is your STAB and fire blast is for that pesky Scizor who has +2 mach punch.


Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Toxic
- Scald

Gee look at all those rock and ground types! You are really weak against water types, you might say. Well, you'd be wrong. Behold the power that is storm drain. Gastrodon walls all water types, and provides toxic to wear down walls. I used to run recover in the last slot for extra stalling power until I discovered that offensively oriented Donphans were wrecking my whole team. Scald is specifically for that case, and for some burns on other pokemon if I'm lucky. Ice beam is a backup in case Flygon dies, and makes Gastrodon able to switch into most dragons. Earth power is taken over Earthquake since storm drain will be boosting special attack.


Alakazam @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Signal Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Here comes Alakazam, the fastest psychic type on two legs. Psychic makes physical walls cry, focus blast makes opponent T-tars and other assorted rock and dark types cry, and signal beam reduces Celebi to a puddle of sadness. HP fire OHKOs scizors who think Alakazam is an easy setup, as well as dealing with several other steel types.


Terrakion @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Substitute

+2 close combat kills everything. Everything. No exceptions. For those that resist it, stone edge is the choice of attack. When switched into a helpless wall, swords dance away and proceed to sweep their whole team. Terrakion's speed also allows it to revenge kill if needed.


Criticism is appreciated and any suggestions to improve the team would be helpful.


Threats Encountered:

-CB Scizor:
I know it seems bad to be glaringly weak to one of the most common sets of one of the most common pokemon out there, but I do have a surefire way to deal with it. As long as I keep Alakazam at full health and switch it in to HP fire every time Scizor comes in I should be fine. This will probably result in the death of another team member though. I would love if someone suggests a counter to this guy as he's the one I'm most worried about at the moment.

-Volcarona:
As mentioned by someone else below, +1 Volcarona wrecks my team. My answer is stealth rocks. and hoping flygon wins a speed tie. Alakazam if at full health can deal with it, and I run Flygon as a lead so if the Volcarona is a lead it doesn't concern me too much.

-DD Gyarados:
If this thing gets up a DD, I'm screwed. Especially if it gets a sub up too. Stealth rocks are important against this guy, Gastrodon can take a waterfall to boost storm drain and hope for ice beam freeze, and sand helps too. Flygon can try and stone edge it if it only has one or two DDs up.

-Gliscor:
Any Gliscor set wrecks havoc, but especially sub protect. Gastrodon's Ice beam is my only effective way to damage this guy, and I have to hope that whatever he's switching into can break a sub. If it's SD I can try and outspeed it with Alakazam if it's weakened.

-Offensive Donphan:
I am dead freaking serious. It OHKOs almost everything I have and nothing can touch it. It's the sole reason I gave Scald to Gastrodon, just so it could hit this guy a bit harder with STAB and hope for a burn. Other than that Alakazam is my only hope, even then it's only if it's been weakened by Gastrodon.

 

[Scotti]

All i can say is just drop Choice Scarf Flygon for Choice Scarf Garchomp. Why, well Garchomp is bulkier, faster, and stronger. It's like a Flygon on steroids, but the only downside is that you lose U-Turn. All you lose is one move for everything i said out Garchomp.

Here is the Scarfed set of Garchomp is you're interested:

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SAtk
Naive Nature
- Dragon Claw / Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Fire Blast

Here is the set you can use. Dragon Claw is another option if you don't want to use Outrage, or you can use Stone Edge if you want more coverage. Earthquake is just like Flygon accept it is stronger. It also has a stronger Outrage that does alot to any pokemon that doesn't resist. Finally Fire Blast allows you to hit steels like Skarmory and Ferrothorn for SE damage which can 2hko both of them i think.

Hope i Helped Timbits

 

[timbits]

Thanks for the advice scotti, the main reason I'm concerned with that switch is that I use Flygon as a lead. Do you have any suggestions as to which pokemon to lead with instead?

 

[Scotti]

I know a terrakion lead, so you don't have to change anymore pokemon. Just replace Substitute wiht Stealth Rocks and either keep Swords Dance or replace it with Taunt. Then replace the item with Focus Sash. I am glad that i could help =)

 

[timbits]

Thanks man, I'd like to keep Terrakion as a wallbreaker with swords dance, so do you think it would work if I just lead with T-tar?

Also, does anyone else have any opinions on the team?

 

[Magnemite88]

On Alakazam, I'd say Focus Sash over LO. Its defences are really low, something like 10 Def/20 SpD iirc, and Magic Guard means the Sash will stay intact. If you're changing Flygon to Garchomp (and so losing U-turn, which is equal to offensive momentum) then there's no guarantee that it can get in unscathed, that is, without being instantly KO'd. So either change LO to Focus Sash or add a U-turn or Volt Switch user.

Hope this was helpful!

 

[Magnemite88]

My mistake, those were Abra's defences. I play LC a lot more than OU. Still, Alakazam's defences are pretty low, especially considering all of the sweepers in OU nowadays.

 

[Goddess Briyella]

Hi timbits!

This is a pretty cool team you have here with the idea of forgoing Rapid Spin by making intelligent use of Espeon's Magic Bounce. However, I have a suggestion that I feel will help improve your team's performance. First of all, I would like to note that you have two physically frail pure Psychic types, which might seem ideal, but the weaknesses of the Psychic type are thus compounded, and the fact that they both have physical defense that's rather lacking in addition to this can be a very significant team issue. I would also like to point out a glaring weakness to Choice Band Scizor; Espeon, Tyranitar, Terrakion, and Alakazam all fall to priority Bullet Punch in one hit, and it also beats Flygon one on one. It can outspeed and U-turn away from Gastrodon after dealing a hefty chunk of damage. Gyarados with Substitute and Dragon Dance can also be a huge threat to this team after it finds time for a turn of setup, as it will outspeed and OHKO Terrakion before it can hit it with Stone Edge. Also, Rain teams can be an issue after Gastrodon goes down. I'm going to offer a recommendation that will patch up these issues. ^_^

One of the biggest things that stuck out to me when I looked at your team was the aforementioned 2 physically frail pure Psychic types. Also Scizor threatens the entire team, and this is a very significant issue that is important to patch up. You might be thinking, "Well, Alakazam is faster than Scizor and can kill it with Hidden Power Fire!" And while this idea would be correct, the popular Choice Band Scizor set has a powerful priority move in STAB Technician Bullet Punch, which your Alakazam will not survive. Also, after Gyarados gets up a Dragon Dance, it poses a significant threat to the entire team, and Gastrodon is your only hope against it. For these reasons, I would like to recommend a replacement for Alakazam that will fix all of these problems. And this new Pokemon I'm suggesting is Rotom-W.

Replacing Alakazam with Rotom-W fixes four issues your team has.

1.) Keeps Psychic's weaknesses from compounding and adds more type balance to the team.

2.) Removes the threat of Scizor's Bullet Punch by providing a safe switch-in that 4x resists Steel, and also outspeeds Scizor and cripples it with Will-o-Wisp, utterly ruining Scizor.

3.) Removes the threat of Gyarados by providing a safe switch-in that resists both of its STABs and is immune to Earthquake, and also threatens Gyarados due to its 4x Electric weakness.

4.) Provides a key Water resistance that can provide added security against Rain teams when coupled with Rotom-W's Electric STAB, which hits Water-type Rain abusers super-effectively.

The set I have in mind for this is as follows:

Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 56 SAtk / 220 Spd
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Nope. No Hydro Pump. Volt Switch is added so that Rotom-W may form a reliable VoltTurn core with Flygon. Also, HP Grass punishes the Ground types that will try to block your Volt Switch or take your Thunderbolt, the most notable of these being Gastrodon, who is immune to your Electric attacks AND Hydro Pump. Facing an opposing Gastrodon, you will be walled entirely if you opt to run Hydro Pump, and it's a fairly smart switch-in to Rotom-W. But HP Grass prevents this situation from becoming problematic. The reason for running two Electric attacks is because of Gyarados setting up a Substitute as you switch in Rotom-W to deal with it. If all you have is Volt Switch, you will hit the Substitute and be forced to switch to something less suitable for dealing with it, while Gyarados gets a free Dragon Dance. This is why running Thunderbolt is crucial.


Again, I like how Espeon is able to block hazards and provide Screens support for the entire team, as this can help deal with Dragons and also help Terrakion setup when necessary. I absolutely LOVE that Espeon can avoid Pursuit with Baton Pass and then go to Terrakion to resist it and get the Justified boost. That is just too incredible. The team is awesome. Well, I hope you find my input helpful or at least thought-provoking. I wish you luck with your team! ^_^

 

[timbits]

I've tried all the suggestions posted so far and I have to say I actually don't like any of them. Turns out I can switch Flygon into a lot more things than Garchomp because of U-turn. This basically makes Garchomp useless until way late into the match. T-tar lead was not a good idea, it turns out. I have to switch out in fear of U-turn lots of times and take a free hit and give them a free good switch in. Rotom-W seems like a great idea on paper, but I've played around 20 games with that on my team instead and my rating went down like 100. It opens up more holes than it covers really.

One thing I have kept though is the suggestion of sash over LO on Alakazam. I love it. but this now means I need some more power on him somehow, so I went ahead and Changed Espeon to calm mind and HP fighting instead of dual screens. Whenever I switch in Espeon to block something I now get a free calm mind and it's usually fast enough to baton pass before anything hits it the next turn. In case Alakazam goes down I can pass it to the surprisingly offensively capable Gastrodon, or keep it on Espeon. Oh and Alakazam has psychic instead of psyshock now. Kind of pointless to have it hit defense when I already have so many physical threats.

 

[blizzarddd]

+1 Volcarona does a number on this squad, 2HKOing TTar with bug buzz, while living the one crunch TTar will get off.
+1 252 SpA Volcarona Bug Buzz vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Tyranitar in sand: 218-258 (53.96 - 63.86%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Tyranitar Crunch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Volcarona: 159-187 (51.12 - 60.12%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after weather

It speed ties with flygon after +1 as well