The Team of Black

[MondBlack]

Hello everyone! After meddling in the competitive scene for some time now, and making tons of teams in hope of making a "perfect" team, I hence bring you The Team of Black, my most successful OU team since the B/W era.

This team - like any other has its weaknesses of course - is my least prone-to-error team, and with proper prediction, I achieve good results, but being the newbie I am, I would love to hear some pro-advice and tinkering suggestions.

Without any further ado, let's roll!


Draconis (Garchomp) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Poison Jab/Brick Break

This beast is one of the main cornerstones for my team. The set choice (no pun intended) is the usual, I picked Scarf ahead of any other item because it ensures he out-speeds common threats like non-scarfed Greninja and Talonflames. The choice of moves is basic too, Stone Edge gives great Ice/Flying cover and the best move for any predicted change while Poison Jab is for the Fairies, and a perfect cover move for Breloom while Brick Break is a decent cover move and a solution for the pesky Blissey. Outrage locking is a downside but Dragon Claw is too weak to run without SD.

Sasuke (Greninja) (M) @ Expert Belt/Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Hasty Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Scald
- U-turn
- Ice Beam

Enter Greninja. One of the best Gen 6 additions and easily the best starter since Infernape! The second team corner-stone is my main special sweeper, my first turn scout and the perfect late game sweeper. Expert Belt is usually picked ahead of Life Orb because the recoil hurts his normally fragile defenses. Scald ahead of Hydro Pump because of how common Greninja causes switches and the burn effect is always welcome. Ice Beam and Dark Pulse provide perfect cover. U-Turn is my scouting move, and used to punish enemy Latios, Greninjas and a great move overall. I used many variants in the 4th move including Grass Knot and HP Fight but I got them covered.

Nightwing (Gliscor) (M) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spd
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Protect
- Toxic
- Knock Off

And my first wall choice is none-other that malicious Pokemon! Gliscor can take hits and give them out as well with his STAB EQ, Toxic any stallers or Knock Off any item as well as damage Gengar who otherwise completely wall him. The EV spread is the old one, so it will probably need modification for newer threats. As a wall, he provides perfect synergy with my other walls (will provide a Wall Synergy Chart later).

Magneto (Magnezone) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon

Magnezone is used on my team as a trapper and switcher for my mini VoltTurn with Greninja. With HP Fire, he takes on the likes of Ferrothorn and Forretress with ease, as well as surprising the pesky Scizor. Skarm is also taken care of by Thunderbolt, as well as providing perfect STAB move which also gets served by Flash Cannon, my move of choice when I predict a Landorus/Gliscor/Ground switch. While Scarf doesn't seem like a popular choice, the amount of Pokemon that Magnezone out-speeds with it is staggering! On top of my head, non-boosted Talonflame and Landorus both get knocked out unexpectedly by my Scarfed Magnezone.

Hellboy (Heatran) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SDef / 248 HP / 8 Def
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Protect
- Roar
- Stealth Rock

The molten behemoth is my rather unorthodox - or not - special wall. Heatran's resistances - and double resistances - that's his easily my favorite switch to Pokemon. He can safely set his Rocks during a switch-out, phaze any boosters or stallers and Plume his enemies with his impressive 130 Special Attack without a single investment, and like always the burn chance is a plus. Like I mentioned in Gliscor, he forms a perfect Wall Synergy with him as well as Celebi and the sweepers.

Onion Fairy (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 128 SDef / 252 HP / 128 Def
Calm Nature
- Recover
- Giga Drain
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave

My last team member was purely picked from a resistance cover mindset, but that doesn't mean Celebi is a pushover! He sponges Water/Fighting/Ground moves that used to trouble me, and downright counters the ever common Rotom-W. T-Wave to complete my Status Triad (Toxic and Scald/Lava Plume), Giga Drain as the Rotom-W control move and Psychic for any Fighting threat, namely Conkeldurr. Recover of course is a no-brainer. I considered Heal Bell to recover any own status ailment, but have nothing to remove for it. The EV spread needs customization for any specific threat as well, but this one thus far ensures Celebi lives through many of the super-effective moves it receives.


The Wall Synergy

Gliscor: Ice (Heatran,Magnezone) Water (Celebi)

Heatran: Water (Celebi) Ground (Gliscor, Celebi) Fight (Gliscor, Celebi)

Celebi: Bug (Heatran, Gliscor, Magnezone) Fire (Heatran) Flying (Magnezone, Heatran) Poison (Heatran, Magnezone) Ice (Magnezone, Heatran) Dark And Ghost (no specific counters, but according to whether Physical or Special)

*The reason I used Magnezone is because he can take a hit he can resist with ease.


Some known weakness:

1- Lack of priority moves

2- Lack of Rapid Spin/Defog support

3- Lack of some powerful STABs including Fire and Fighting (why is Blaziken banned =( !!)

Finally, I tried to make my team explanation as informative as possible, if not or anything is unclear, ask me and I'll add it. And please try to make constructive criticism not just casual bashing, and try also to suggest changes or swaps without hurting the team core so much.
Thanks again and hope you enjoyed my team! =D

 

[Plus]

Okay got your request.

I'd really consider getting a bit more offensive minded with this team, having a solid defensive core of Gliscor/Tran/Celebi is nice and all, but you're giving your opponent turns to spikestack in certain situations with Pokemon like Ferrothorn or Skarmory, and as you said already, there is no Spinner or Defogger. This makes the team very easy to wear down especially when you have things like Greninja and Garchomp who will usually be switching out after 1-3 turns in the first place. I've noticed that you are running things like Magnezone to trap these spikestackers while you have Garchomp to cover for faster sweepers, but I don't think it's entirely necessary seeing as how your defensive core can somewhat handle these threats.

First off, Scarfchomp isn't outspeeding Talonflame when it's going to be spamming Brave Bird, which is what most Talonflame have in this scenario. You have Heatran, who effectively walls and phazes Talonflame as well. Furthermore, Heatran is beating Volcarona, yet another reason to use Scarf Garchomp. You're able to handle a lot of the faster threats with your defensive core, and I really think you can compensate without Garchomp so you can run more utility and not get set up on as much. Scarf Garchomp is really prone to getting set up on things like Clefable, Aegislash, Lucario, Gyarados, Dragonite, Scizor, and a bunch of other stuff depending on what move you are using. Sure Scarfchomp has its niche, but you don't really have to use it here.

I would really consider using Defog Latias over Garchomp to help you take care of the entry hazards, while still maintaining some offensive presence. It's a relatively fast Dragon who can apply some offensive pressure while keeping the hazards off the field. And I think that instead of Magnezone, you can run something much more threatening like SD Mega Lucario. He gives you priority and helps sweep through teams a lot easier than before, pretty much the extra oomph you need on a balance team like this so it doesn't succumb to stall teams as easily. You don't necessarily need to be trapping Skarmory and Ferrothorn if you can Defog hazards pretty easily, you'd probably just want some straight up offensive power in general.

Latias @ Life Orb
Timid 252 spa / 4 hp / 252 spe
Draco Meteor / Surf / Roost / Defog

Lucario @ Lucarionite
Jolly 252 atk / 4 hp / 252 spe
Close Combat / Bullet Punch / Ice Punch / Swords Dance

You can always opt ESpeed over Bullet Punch if you want to kill things like Talonflame before it Brave Birds since it has +2 priority, but since you have Heatran Bullet Punch should suffice.

Good luck with this team and hope I helped.

 

[MondBlack]

Okay got your request.

I'd really consider getting a bit more offensive minded with this team, having a solid defensive core of Gliscor/Tran/Celebi is nice and all, but you're giving your opponent turns to spikestack in certain situations with Pokemon like Ferrothorn or Skarmory, and as you said already, there is no Spinner or Defogger. This makes the team very easy to wear down especially when you have things like Greninja and Garchomp who will usually be switching out after 1-3 turns in the first place. I've noticed that you are running things like Magnezone to trap these spikestackers while you have Garchomp to cover for faster sweepers, but I don't think it's entirely necessary seeing as how your defensive core can somewhat handle these threats.

First off, Scarfchomp isn't outspeeding Talonflame when it's going to be spamming Brave Bird, which is what most Talonflame have in this scenario. You have Heatran, who effectively walls and phazes Talonflame as well. Furthermore, Heatran is beating Volcarona, yet another reason to use Scarf Garchomp. You're able to handle a lot of the faster threats with your defensive core, and I really think you can compensate without Garchomp so you can run more utility and not get set up on as much. Scarf Garchomp is really prone to getting set up on things like Clefable, Aegislash, Lucario, Gyarados, Dragonite, Scizor, and a bunch of other stuff depending on what move you are using. Sure Scarfchomp has its niche, but you don't really have to use it here.

I would really consider using Defog Latias over Garchomp to help you take care of the entry hazards, while still maintaining some offensive presence. It's a relatively fast Dragon who can apply some offensive pressure while keeping the hazards off the field. And I think that instead of Magnezone, you can run something much more threatening like SD Mega Lucario. He gives you priority and helps sweep through teams a lot easier than before, pretty much the extra oomph you need on a balance team like this so it doesn't succumb to stall teams as easily. You don't necessarily need to be trapping Skarmory and Ferrothorn if you can Defog hazards pretty easily, you'd probably just want some straight up offensive power in general.

Latias @ Life Orb
Timid 252 spa / 4 hp / 252 spe
Draco Meteor / Surf / Roost / Defog

Lucario @ Lucarionite
Jolly 252 atk / 4 hp / 252 spe
Close Combat / Bullet Punch / Ice Punch / Swords Dance

You can always opt ESpeed over Bullet Punch if you want to kill things like Talonflame before it Brave Birds since it has +2 priority, but since you have Heatran Bullet Punch should suffice.

Good luck with this team and hope I helped.

Well, I was experimenting with my team shortly and guess what, I already replaced Garchomp with a SD MegaLuke! He has done brilliantly thus far.
I also tried swapping Magnezone for MoxieSalamence - another physical attacker who I think I lack - and will try him out. Will probably try out the Latias too because I like the idea of Defog support!
Thanks a lot for your advice!