The Unpredictable Predictable Threats

[TheGamedawg]

I’m the kind of guy that doesn't make teams. Instead, I just take a bunch of Pokemon that I like and make them competitive. Then, I take 6 of them at random and see what happens. However, I once made this team that psynergies so well that It’s now my default team when I fight random people online. Also, I want people to keep in mind as they read this that I enjoy running very unique Pokemon with very Unique movesets, so most of the weird choices you see at first were done with intention.

Macabre (Spiritomb) (M) @ Black Glasses
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Sucker Punch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Sneak
A Pokemon I often lead with because of his unique typing and unpredictability. The combination of Pursuit and Sucker Punch catches a lot of players off guard because they will often expect one those two attacks, but not both. And Shadow sneak will allow him to outspeed most Pokemon, which is good because Spiritomb is relatively slow. I will also often attempt to keep Spiritomb late into the match in order to burn serious physical threats to my team.

Crusher (Rhyperior) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Atk / 128 Def
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Smack Down
- Dragon Tail
- Hammer Arm
I will often attempt to put physical as well as a special wall on every team I make. Rhyperior is obviously the physical wall, but it serves a great purpose than just tanking physical hits. I never realized this before I used them, but Rhyperior and my special wall of choice (Goodra) synergize surprisingly well together. Rhyperior takes quadruple damage from Water and Grass, and Goodra just happens to not only resist both of these, but sucks one of them due to his ability. As for his moveset, Dragon tail can be used if I predict my opponent to switch to a counter for my Rhyperior. Hammer Arm get opponents pretty powerfully, and Earthquake get stab and can take out a lot of threats.

The oddest thing about this Rhyperior is by far the choice of Smack Down. I debated if I should use Stone Edge, but I decided against it because of how inaccurate it is. Powerful as it may be I prefer an attack that will hit 100% of the time. Also, I noticed that whatever I would use Stone Edge on is killed in two hits by it. I figured it would be better to smack it down to the ground then use Earthquake on it. Also, it’s unusual, which is a common theme throughout the team.

Philosopher (Goodra) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Atk / 24 SAtk / 208 SDef
Gentle Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Sludge Bomb
- Flamethrower
- Aqua Tail
Goodra is the special wall that complements Rhyperior very nicely. It may have the typical Assault Vest, but it also has a unique nature, EV spread and moveset. This is because on top of being a dedicated special wall, this Goodra is mixed, which is always a problem for dedicated walls. As for the moves, I have Sludge Bomb for most fairies and Flamethrower for the surprisingly common Fairy/Steel types. I also have Aqua Tail for some unique coverage, and Dragon Tail for the same reason it’s on Rhyperior. It also has a nasty trick it can do with the next member of my team.

Hans (Slurpuff) (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Return
- Play Rough
- Yawn
When Goodra has done his job, I can sacrifice him to a Pokemon that I predict will use Outrage (Garchomp, Mega Charizard X). Then I will switch to Slurpuff and use Belly Drum during the turn they are locked into Outrage. Then suddenly my opponent will be dealing with a double speed, quadruple damage Slurpuff. This particular Slurpuff is the Belly Drum variant, and is extremely dangerous if it lives after getting Belly Drum off. Unfortunately, that's where the good about him ends. Slurpuff has a very limited moveset, leading to Steel types being a huge problem for him.

Flutterby (Butterfree) (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Stun Spore
- Bug Buzz
- Psychic
Definitely one the the oddest choices to the team. But Butterfree has been an addition to the team that has caught a lot of opponents off guard. It’s that weird double-powder set that can put to sleep or paralyze anything I need to cripple. However what I often find myself doing is sending him in against a threat. Then, I have him take a hit and living with the Focus Sash the same turn I put him to sleep. After that, I would either try to muscle them down with Butterfree’s attacks, or switch to Slurpuff and attempt to set up.
The one problem, Stealth Rock wrecks him...

Miles (Greninja) (M) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Extrasensory
- Dark Pulse
Probably the most generic Pokemon on the team, and one that often comes in if I need a quick kill. Protean is annoying for opponents, and the addition of Extrasensory is unexpected. However half the time I don’t need to send him out once, making him kind of a filler character.

 

[NotSoClutch]

Couple of things to keep in mind. You probably want something other than both shadow sneak and sucker punch together on spiritomb because of the obvious fairy switch. Im not too keen on the moves spiritomb can learn, but ghost dark dont really cover each other very well. I would switch out shadow sneak for something that either hits fairies super effectively or something that hits dark types super effectively.

Also, please sub out butterfree or at least take bug bite off of it in favore of something else. Vivillion and venemoth (venemoth in particular) both do the same exact thing butterfree does but better and are also able to sweep or in venemoths case baton pass (which is great for passing boosts and scouting to see if the opponent switches).
Your slurpuff also gets wrecked by aegislash, so I would either bring a lure or counter to it and yawn is kind of useless with butterfree setting slurpuff up because of the sleep clause, so I would look into either thief (which kind of sucks for unburden sweeping, but can wreck aegislash) or flamethrower (which takes out things like scizor and ferrothorn that like switching in on it) instead. Oh and please max out speed or slurpuff wont be killing much of anything.

 

[TheGamedawg]

Couple of things to keep in mind. You probably want something other than both shadow sneak and sucker punch together on spiritomb because of the obvious fairy switch. Im not too keen on the moves spiritomb can learn, but ghost dark dont really cover each other very well. I would switch out shadow sneak for something that either hits fairies super effectively or something that hits dark types super effectively.

Also, please sub out butterfree or at least take bug bite off of it in favore of something else. Vivillion and venemoth (venemoth in particular) both do the same exact thing butterfree does but better and are also able to sweep or in venemoths case baton pass (which is great for passing boosts and scouting to see if the opponent switches).
Your slurpuff also gets wrecked by aegislash, so I would either bring a lure or counter to it and yawn is kind of useless with butterfree setting slurpuff up because of the sleep clause, so I would look into either thief (which kind of sucks for unburden sweeping, but can wreck aegislash) or flamethrower (which takes out things like scizor and ferrothorn that like switching in on it) instead. Oh and please max out speed or slurpuff wont be killing much of anything.

The Bug Bite thing was a typo, I meant to say Bug Buzz. Thanks for correcting that.
Outside of that though, I didn't think of Venomoth or Vivillon. Vivillon might work better though because Compound Eye-boosted powder moves is what made Butterfree Shine.
And about Spiritomb. I could replace Sucker Punch for something with more coverage, but he doesn't really have that many options. Checking online, I find that he can learn Return or Rock Tomb, but that's about it. Maybe I could replace it with something like Taunt. And while I'm at it, I could change his item too.
I also thought about changing Slurpuff's EVs to be more speed-orientated. But I noticed that the double speed from Unburden is enough to give him the boost he needs. And just about any threatening Steel type that could wall Slurpuff probably has priority anyway. Besides, I'm counting on that kind of scenario so I can use Yawn on them before he goes down.

 

[NotSoClutch]

The Bug Bite thing was a typo, I meant to say Bug Buzz. Thanks for correcting that.
Outside of that though, I didn't think of Venomoth or Vivillon. Vivillon might work better though because Compound Eye-boosted powder moves is what made Butterfree Shine.
And about Spiritomb. I could replace Sucker Punch for something with more coverage, but he doesn't really have that many options. Checking online, I find that he can learn Return or Rock Tomb, but that's about it. Maybe I could replace it with something like Taunt. And while I'm at it, I could change his item too.
I also thought about changing Slurpuff's EVs to be more speed-orientated. But I noticed that the double speed from Unburden is enough to give him the boost he needs. And just about any threatening Steel type that could wall Slurpuff probably has priority anyway. Besides, I'm counting on that kind of scenario so I can use Yawn on them before he goes down.

Dont get me wrong, yawn is solid on slurpuff, just doesnt seem to fit your team all that well. And you make a decent point about unburden, but you will want to outspeed a little bit more than you currently are, so maybe figure out a spread that outspeeds scarf gengar and then maximize bulk.