Therian Reign

Hey Smogonites. It's me, CedOmega, with a new RMT for everyone to enjoy. So the release of Black and White 2 has inspired me to do a new RMT, previewing a team that I am planning on using once I buy the game. Landorus-T was my main inspiration, as the massive upgrade in physical power and the ability gain in Intimidate simply captivated my fascination. Keep in mind that this is a theoretical team, so no testing has been done yet. Without further due, here is the team:

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers; Intimidate
Adamant: 252 Attack/ 252 Speed/ 4 Sp.Defense
EQ, StoneEdge, SwordsDance & RockPolish​

Landorus-T is the main Pokemon on the team, and is therefore probrably the most used, as I tend to do that. With this set, Landorus is an imense physical threat to anything that can't take a STAB EQ from it. StoneEdge is to hit Flying and Dragon types, like Dragonite & Salamence hard, as well as the occasional Ice type. I didn't want to run HP(Ice) on this set, so I chose to utilize it in its allied Pokemon. I was suggested a DoubleDance set over my previous BulkUp set by Undisputed, hince the current set it now runs. SwordsDance boost coupled with its large physical capacity is very intimidating, as well as boosting its Speed with RockPolish.

Tentacruel@Leftovers; RainDish
Bold: 248 Hp/ 224 Defense/ 36 Speed
Scald, IceBeam, RapidSpin & Protect/T-spikes/Toxic(?)​

Tentacurel's job on the team is to have a safe switch-in to any rain team that may appears. Tentacruel is also the team's spinner, being sure to come in on x1 Spikes, just to be safe, and spin away any hazards set thereafter. I'm sort of indecisive about running either Toxic, T-spikes, or Protect(advise is appreciated when deciding). After all, Tentacruel has great synergy w/ Landorus-T as far as typing goes. Tentacruel's secondary job is to come in on T-spikes and eraticate them from the field. Scald doesn't really need to be explained, used mainly to tear down the foe w/ a 30% chance of burn. IceBeam was added for Gliscor & Grass and Dragon types.

Genesect@ChoiceScarf; Download
Hasty: 252 Speed/ 144 Sp.Attack/ 112 Attack
U-turn, IceBeam, Flamethrower & Thunderbolt​

Genesect is the revenge killing scout of the team. I love this high tech bug, as it often saved me in previous teams. The listed set allows it to give off an Attack boost while facing opposing Download ability switch-ins. Genesect keeps the momentum going w/ STAB U-turn, revenging Pokemon such as Celebi, LO Alakazam, Hydreigon, Haxorus & Therians. IceBeam, Flamethrower & Thunderbolt are all self-explanitory, honestly. Thunderbolt takes out Tornadus(both Therian and normal forms), Flamethrower deals w/ Steel and Grass types like Scizor and Breloom, and Icebeam can handle its own against Dragons like Dragonite and Garchomp, while also OHKO'ing Gliscor. Genesect also provides a BoltBeam set that hits everything; occasionally a freeze or para hax are appreciated.

Politoed@ChoiceScarf; Drizzle
Modest: 252 Sp.Attack/ 252 Speed/ 4 Hp
Surf, IceBeam, FocusBlast & HP(Grass)​

Politoed is another suggestion from Undisputed and, though it has crossed my mind prior to the change, it seems like a great addition to the team. Politoed stops other weather teams from coming in on my team and dominating the field with their own forecast. Surf was added for STAB and the extra boost from Drizzle. IceBeam is for Dragon, Flying, and Grass types. FocusBlast was added for Tyranitar, Ferrothorn who'd wall Surf and IceBeam, Dark, Normal and other Steel types. HP(Grass) was added for Jellicent who'd otherwise wall its other attacks, Gastrodon who'd expect a Sp.Attack boost from Surf through StormDrain, Rotom-W, and opposing Politoed.​

Alakazam@FocusSash; MagicGuard
Timid: 252 Sp.Attack/ 252 Speed/ 4 Defense
Psyshock/Psychic, Shadowball, HP(Fire) & FocusBlast​

Alakazam is an emergency sweeper, to say the least. It handles Ghost type switch-ins for Blissey, such as the previously mentioned Gengar. Psychic and Psyshock are often switched in and out when suspecting Chansey to be a threat. Shadowball really doesn't have much explaination, as it duels Psychic & Ghost types w/ x2 damage. HP(Fire) was added after the previlant threat of Scizor came to me. I hate Scizor for having Pursuit, as they oare often unpredictable when chosing my next move. With FocusSash in tact, I opt for HP(Fire), but when Sash is broke, I often go for the defensive and opt for the retreat. FocusBlast is for T-tar threats that come in and threaten to KO w/ Crunch or Pursuit. Or to just set up period.

Deoxys-D@Leftovers; Pressure
Bold: 252 Hp/ 200 Speed/56 Sp.Defense
Nightshade, Spikes, StealthRock & Recover​

Deoxys-D was also suggested by Undisputed, and I'm very greatful for the suggestion. Deoxys-D does have a pivot that Dugtrio didn't have, better defenses. Being the setter of the team, Deoxys-D's job is to set up and possibly stall. I've considered replacing NightShade for Protect, but being poisoned or burned might be a problem, as the statuses would only cripple it more w/ the recurring HP loss. After repeated SR and Spikes damage, assuming the spinner for the opposing team is gone, Deoxys-D's job becomes all that much easier. Nightshade hits everything outside of Normal types. Recover helps stall the other team when combined with Pressure ability.​

There you have it. Any suggestions are appreciated. Again, I've not tested, so threats being shown are appreciated.

Hey!

Solid team, so you only need a couple changes. Your team doesn't have a clear "direction" in my opinion, which can sometimes make battles inconsistent.

First, I don't think Blissey is very good, nor does it fit within the frame of your team. Instead, since you have Tentacruel, why not support it with Scarf Politoed? Scarf Politoed is an excellent revenge killer with boosted Water spam, and it can help ease predictions on Genesect's part. Rain is somewhat of a given in the metagame, but sometimes people have other weathers, and Politoed can make sure they are not getting out of hand. Politoed and Tentacruel will also give you a better option for bearing the brunt of Water attacks since you don't have many Pokemon for that currently.

Next, try Deoxys-D instead of Dugtrio. You basically said Dugtrio serves no purpose on your team. Deoxys-D can do all of Dugtrio's job as well as use Spikes. Later in the game, if Deoxys-D is still alive, you can always use it as a pivot and death fodder. Deoxys-D and Politoed get a little bit of the best of both Rain and Heavy Offense, so you just spam powerful attacks after setting up hazards.

Finally, for your consideration, maybe try Double Dance Landorus-t. Bulk Up is a little slow for my tastes and doesn't have the sweeping capacity Double Dance does. If you find Landorus-t just isn't getting the job done quickly enough, Double Dance could bring a whole new dimension to your team. I'd certainly recommend it, but I don't want to change the set you based your team around.

Good luck!

I'm going to have to agree with BOTH above posters-dugtrio doesn't really have a reason to be there. Sure, it supports genesect beautifully, but other than that it seems like it's just... kind of there. The above changes are kind of nice, but also a little bit mainstream, so i'd suggest some kind of a sweeper. Keldeo comes to mind-you can switch in on u-turns from landorus-t (ice, water) and genesect (Fire). As for the blissey, it does seem a little out of place. Why not try something like SpD Jirachi? Since your team relies more on checking things than countering them, jirachi could be a nice way to cede a little bit less momentum, and could also u-turn to keldeo.

As for landorus-T, you said it needed to outspeed max speed breloom. Why? U-turn isn't doing that much, even to Techniloom with no bulk investment. If you want to dodge a spore, cool, but you could just switch in that case. It's nice to stack a little damage on breloom before that happens, but then again it's nice to have more Evs in other places.

Undisputed, I'm so thankful for your suggestions! I've implimented every change you mentioned and I decided to do a test run with the team in Black1. I'm very satisfied! In Black1, I tested using Politoed, DoubleDance Landorus & Deoxys-D with the team and am very statisfied thus far. Politoed also gave a pivot to the team that it lacked before. Thanks!

Tehy, you suggested Keldeo and Jirachi, which are great, except I don't exactly want to integrate the team completely to rain, which is technically what I'd be doing if I added Keldeo. Although, I am doing that on a different team using regular SandForce Landorus and also Jirachi. Thanks for your suggestions!

Cool team man!

Glad you took on undisputed's changes, Double Dance Landorus is a monster :) A big threat I see is Salamence, specifically the Dragon Dance variant. The reason its so dangerous is because Genesect cannot revenge it while Salamence roasts it with Flamethrower. It can set up on Deoxys-D, or Genesect/Politoed locked into the wrong move.

A small suggestion to help with this is to change Alakazam's Hidden Power to Ice. With this, as long as Alakazam's Sash isn't broken you can always revenge DD Salamence, along with other Ice-type weak Pokemon. The lose of Alakazam's Fire coverage isn't very noticeable as many of the Pokemon he'd use it against are weak to Focus Blast anyway.

This change however does make you a little weaker to Rock Polish Genesect if it has Thunderbolt, rare but still. So for this I recommend replacing Night Shade for Thunder Wave on Deoxys-D. One of the great things about the Hazard laying king Deoxys-D is that it can stop sweepers from setting up. Yours however does not; Taunt won't stop the sweepers who really trouble you, but Thunder Wave stops most sweepers in their tracks. This change makes it much harder for Rock Polish Genesect to set up, as Deoxys-D was bait before.

Good Luck!

I'll make the changes when I'm on a PC later.

Cool team. I'm mostly agreeing with Joeyboy here; Hidden Power [Ice] over [Fire] is a small tweak that really goes a long way to help you check Scarf/DDMence which you can't beat with your Scarfed Genesect or Politoed. On the topic of Scarf Politoed, you should probably also run a Timid nature so that you can outspeed +1 DDnite.

Your Deoxys-D set also isn't ideal. On offensive teams like this, Deoxys-D is much better used as a dedicated lead by getting up hazards early whilst preventing opposing set-up, or crippling opposing spinners. Your set seems more suited to defensive teams where Deoxys-D needs survivability. From the looks of it Starmie is a bit of an annoyance to this team, as Genesect / Alakazam really don't want to switch-in (Alakazam is 2HKOd and can't OHKO in return, Genesect is your lone steel so you want to avoid it taking any damage early game if possible), so I think this set would be pretty nice for this team:

/
Deoxys-D @ Life Orb / Electric Gem
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Psycho Boost / Taunt

This set looks weird but its an excellent lure for Starmie and Tentacruel early game and gets rid of them pretty reliably. Standard Tentacruel is always OHKOd by LO Psycho Boost, whilst LO Thunderbolt deals up to 83% to defensive Starmie. If you want to guarantee the OHKO on defensive Starmie, then you can use Electric Gem with Thunder. If you want you can also try a bulkier EV spread; 252 Speed isn't really necessary without Taunt so just experiment with it!

Good luck!

I like that set way better than my own Definately am going to change it ASAP. Thanks for the suggestion.

Hey CedOmega i got your request!

Ok so looking at this team it seems quite weak to Tornadus-T And Latios. You have nothing that can reliably switch into a Choice Specs Hurricane from Tornadus-T due to your team having no Flying-type resist and the fact that Tornadus-T outspeeds your whole team except Genesect and Politoed who can't switch into Tornadus-T. As i mentioned above Latios looks threatening as well particularily the Choice Specs varaint with Draco Meteor / Surf / Psychock / Trick. Although with this moveset Latios can only hit two members of your team super effectively (Tentacruel, Landorus-T) none of your team really want to switch in. Genesect can't switch in for fear of a rain boosted Surf, and the rest of your team would dislike taking Draco Meteors. Although Politoed can come in after Latios revenge kills something and then revenge kill Latios that is quite a predictable play and your opponent if it is a good player will most likely switch into an Ice-type resist. Choice Scarf Thunderous-T also looks like a massive threat to your team. It outspeeds your whole team and hits Politoed, Tentacruel and Landorus-T super effectively with Thunder / Volt Switch / Hidden Power [Ice]. If its Focus Sash is broken Thunderous-T can ohko Alakazam with Thunder as well while Genesect wouldnt like taking a Choice Scarf Thunder either.

To help remedy your problem to these specially offensive threats i am going to suggest a pokemon change. Alakazam looks a bit out of place on your team, because you said it was there for a Ghost-type counter for Blissey however your team doesn't have Blissey any more and Alakazam isn't a reliable counter to Ghost-type pokemon due to his weakness to the type. A much better suggestion would be Sub+CM Jirachi>Alakazam Jirachi still provides your team with a "back up sweeper" for your team, but also provides your team with a great pokemon to help you with Tornadus-T, Thunderous-T and Latios. For one Jirachi resists Hurricane from Tornadus-T and can proceed to set up Calm Minds from there. While admittingly Jirachi will have a hard time taking a Surf from Latios or a Thunder from Thunderous-T, after a turn or two of set up Jirachi can shrug these attacks of easy. Also Draco Meteor is the move that Latios most commonly spams letting you easily set up on Latios with Jirachi due to Jirachi resisting Dragon, and the reciol from Draco Meteor. Jirachi also makes a great offesive core with Landorus-T. As Landorus-T lures in Ice-type moves (like Hidden Power [Ice] from Thunderous-T) for Jirachi to set up on. In turn Jirachi lures in Ground-type physical attackers like Terrakion and Choice Scarf Landorus for Landorus-T to set up on.

My only other changes are regarding your Genesect. Flamethrower isn't to good since its power gets nerfed in rain. Especially on a Choice-Item user the last thing you want is to be locked into an incredibly underwhleming move unless it is used to a pokemon 4x weak to it. Bug Buzz>Flamethrower is a great alternative to give Genesect a reliable special stab. If Genesect gets a +1 SpA boost from Download he can often sweep late game with Bug Buzz. Also seeing as you are using a rain team you can afford to go with Thunder>Thunderbolt on Genesect to abuse its extra power.

Good luck with the team i hope i helped!

Sets

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Jirachi @ Leftovers | Serene Grace
Timid | 252 Hp / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Calm Mind | Substitute | Thunder | Water Pulse

Tl;dr

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Jirachi--->Alakazam

Genesect
.Bug Buzz--->Flamethrower
.Thunder--->Thunderbolt

~Superpowerdude