ORAS LC Trick Room with Munchlax Tank/Sweeper

[calvinball]

Bronzor | Slowpoke | Foongus | Litwick | Geodude | Munchlax​

Introduction

(In case this team looks familiar, my Showdown username is Mr. Ricky. It's from a few years ago before I started using calvinball)

So I'm a huge fan of Trick Room. More than really makes sense, honestly, because a lot of my teams just crumble the moment my Trick Room set up Pokemon are KO'ed. However, I think this Little Cup team succeeds at functioning well both in and outside of Trick Room, mostly because of the team's unlikely star: Munchlax.

The Team

Bronzor @ Eviolite
Ability: Levitate
Level: 5
EVs: 60 HP / 4 Atk / 228 Def / 68 SpA / 148 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Trick Room
- Earthquake
- Psychic

Bronzor takes care of set up at the beginning of the battle, first using Trick Room and then Stealth Rock. Depending on what Pokemon's out, Bronzor may go straight to attacking or it may switch out to a more capable teammate. Being bulky means that Bronzor is capable of switching in and out as the battle demands.

Foongus @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 124 HP / 160 Def / 160 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Stun Spore

Foongus is slow, bulky, and strong, making it an ideal Trick Room sweeper. However, its bulk makes it functionable without Trick Room as well, and its Spore and Stun Spore can hinder Pokemon that might threaten the rest of the team.

Slowpoke @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 236 Def / 36 SpA / 116 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Trick Room
- Psychic

Would it be a Trick Room team without someone from the Slowpoke line? Basically, Slowpoke's bulky and can take hits, and Regenerator lets it switch in and out so it can set up Trick Room more than once. Slack Off gives it the ability to wall Pokemon and take more hits than it might otherwise.

Litwick @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 76 Def / 236 SpA / 76 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Trick Room
- Energy Ball


Litwick is another slow but powerful Pokemon. With Fire Blast, Shadow Ball, and Energy Ball, it has enough variety that it can utilize Trick Room very offensively, setting up and attacking right away, and the Life Orb makes it possible for it to OHKO most anything it can hit super effectively.

Geodude @ Berry Juice
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 5
EVs: 80 HP / 196 Atk / 196 Def / 36 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast

This is where my inexperience with LC EVs becomes a problem, because I just know I'm doing something wrong here with the EVs, but I can't figure out what... unless there isn't a problem? Anyway, Geodude is another slow Pokemon with good attack power. It also has Stealth Rock in case Bronzor's Stealth Rock is spun or Defogged away, and the other three moves are for coverage. Geodude is primarily here to serve as a Defensively tough Pokemon that can take powerful Defensive moves like Knock Off that would otherwise wreck Slowpoke and Litwick, preventing them from setting up Trick Room.

Munchlax @ Berry Juice
Ability: Thick Fat
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 236 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Body Slam
- Fire Punch
- Curse
- Recycle

Our unlikely star, Munchlax is a tank that, given some relatively easy set up, can sweep whole teams. When Trick Room is up and any serious threats to Mucnhlax have been eliminated, Munchlax can be sent out and allowed to use Curse a few times. Having priority in Trick Room means Munchlax's stats can get a boost before getting hit too hard. With Recycle, the Berry Juice provides effectively limitless recovery, and after a few Curses there's just about nothing that can take Munchlax down, and it can sweep whole teams without regard for resistances, even when Trick Room falls. Fire Punch lets it hits tough Steel types and Ghosts.

Conclusion

Munchlax's ability to tank and sweep often cleans up matches, and where that doesn't happen the rest of the team is able to hold its own by surviving attacks and using Trick Room to get the upper hand. The primary troubles I've noticed are entry hazards - since my team has no way of being rid of them - and Knock Off. Geodude is tough but doesn't resist it, and the attack ruins Munchlax's ability to sweep and can often KO Litwick or Slowpoke if they're not at full health, as well as reducing Bronzor's bulk by getting rid of the Eviolite. If you have any tips for the team, they'd be greatly appreciated. Many thanks!

 

[fran17]

Hey there TR is a really cool strategy but a team built all around this strategy often is pretty passive when the TR isn't up, and with only 3 turns available (2 if you spend a turn switching) having all your pokémons depending from it is kinda bad. Also Foonguss is going to waste important turns because it hasn't much offensive presence and it can kill your momentum, and Stun Spore is in conflict with the strategy (why lowering your opponent speed when you need to be slower as possible because of the TR). I also don't see the point of having 2 rocks setter. You also don't have an answer to Pawniard, which can beat you even with TR up because of his strong Sucker Punch. Also you said that Knock Off and hazards are problematic for you, which is true because you don't have a way to prevent to get them being setupped since all of your pokémons are slower than usuals SR setters, and 2 Psychic-types and a Ghost-type is really too much in a tier where Knock Off is on almost every team @_@

I would give you some suggestions to make this a more viable but it would change the team structure too much, so I'm just going to give you some tips:

• Timburr over Munchlax will give you a solid win-condition like Munchlax, and it also lowers your dark weakness. Munchlax on the other hand wasn't a really solid win condition because it can't prevent to see its item getting knock offed, which means to lose his "recovery", and in a tier full of Fighting-types it becomes quite difficult to setup and win matches. Timburr on the other hand has the bulk, the coverage and the typing to be a good win-condition, and Drain Punch gives a form of recovery.
• Unluckily Litwick isn't a good mon in LC, and it won't setup the TR most of the time because of his poor bulk and bad typing (all of his 5 weakness are common in LC). You also look weak to Gastly, so I think that Porygon can be a good fit, as it is able to check it while also abusing of the Trick Room setupped by Bronzor and Slowpoke.
  
• Hidden Power Fighting over Stun Spore on Foongus, with this you will have a way to hit hard Pawniard, which is really troublesome to the team, because only Timburr can check it properly and it doesn't want its Eviolite to be knockoffed in many matchups because it will make its late game sweep more difficult.
• Sucker Punch on Geodude will patch up a bit its low speed and it makes Geoudude less bait for the FletchDig core (Diglett takes a good amount of damage from Sucker) and Fire Punch didn't do much.

That's all I thought could work without changing the team structure, I hope my suggestions will help you, good luck with everything man :)

new sets

Timburr @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
Level: 5
EVs: 116 Atk / 156 Def / 236 SpD
Careful Nature
- Drain Punch
- Bulk Up
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off

Porygon @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
Level: 5
EVs: 236 HP / 196 Def / 76 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Tri Attack
- Recover
- Ice Beam

 

[calvinball]

Hey there TR is a really cool strategy but a team built all around this strategy often is pretty passive when the TR isn't up, and with only 3 turns available (2 if you spend a turn switching) having all your pokémons depending from it is kinda bad. Also Foonguss is going to waste important turns because it hasn't much offensive presence and it can kill your momentum, and Stun Spore is in conflict with the strategy (why lowering your opponent speed when you need to be slower as possible because of the TR). I also don't see the point of having 2 rocks setter. You also don't have an answer to Pawniard, which can beat you even with TR up because of his strong Sucker Punch. Also you said that Knock Off and hazards are problematic for you, which is true because you don't have a way to prevent to get them being setupped since all of your pokémons are slower than usuals SR setters, and 2 Psychic-types and a Ghost-type is really too much in a tier where Knock Off is on almost every team @_@

I would give you some suggestions to make this a more viable but it would change the team structure too much, so I'm just going to give you some tips:

• Timburr over Munchlax will give you a solid win-condition like Munchlax, and it also lowers your dark weakness. Munchlax on the other hand wasn't a really solid win condition because it can't prevent to see its item getting knock offed, which means to lose his "recovery", and in a tier full of Fighting-types it becomes quite difficult to setup and win matches. Timburr on the other hand has the bulk, the coverage and the typing to be a good win-condition, and Drain Punch gives a form of recovery.
• Unluckily Litwick isn't a good mon in LC, and it won't setup the TR most of the time because of his poor bulk and bad typing (all of his 5 weakness are common in LC). You also look weak to Gastly, so I think that Porygon can be a good fit, as it is able to check it while also abusing of the Trick Room setupped by Bronzor and Slowpoke.
  
• Hidden Power Fighting over Stun Spore on Foongus, with this you will have a way to hit hard Pawniard, which is really troublesome to the team, because only Timburr can check it properly and it doesn't want its Eviolite to be knockoffed in many matchups because it will make its late game sweep more difficult.
• Sucker Punch on Geodude will patch up a bit its low speed and it makes Geoudude less bait for the FletchDig core (Diglett takes a good amount of damage from Sucker) and Fire Punch didn't do much.

That's all I thought could work without changing the team structure, I hope my suggestions will help you, good luck with everything man :)

Hm... I see what you mean, and thanks for the tips! Just to clarify, do you mean that Porygon and Timburr should be left without 0 Speed IVs? So that way, the team is more like a Partial TR and Timburr can function just fine without any set up?

 

[fran17]

Yeah keep them with 31 Speed IVs, this will help you in battles where you won't be able to setup the TR

 

[calvinball]

Thanks!

 

[S0L1D G0LD]

Yo.

Trick Room is always a blast to use. I'm going to give a few suggestions to improve the structure of your team.

First, I am going to recommend the swap of Pawniard > Bronzor. This gives you a Knock Off supporter while maintaining the capabilities to set rocks, and also keeps the role of a flying check. Pawn also counters (albeit a bit futilely ) itself in the mirror match, and answers to non hp fighting variants of Vullaby, which rips apart virtually your whole team by itself.
Next, I would swap out Litwick for Spritzee. Litwick, while fun to theorymon with, isn't always a practical Pokemon. Spritzee, however, in addition to providing an excellent secondary fighting counter and a good dark resist as it usually does, works phenomenally for Trick Room builds; it is bulky enough to set the field multiple times throughout the match, and its ability allows it to twist the dimensions without fear of Taunt, a trait unique among setters. Spritzee can also support your team with Wish to keep some of your frailer Pokemon/Pokemon lacking recovery in the fight longer.
Third, I believe your team would benefit strongly from changing Geodude to Timburr. Geodude is a bit redundant on your team, as you already have a rocker and a somewhat reliable flying resist, while Timburr gives you a reliable win condition that also provides an emergency stop button via Mach Punch to take out weakened sweepers who choose to set up while Timburr is still conscious.
Lastly, I'm going to provide a few small changes. I echo the above rate's sentiment of Hidden Power Fighting over Stun Spore on Foongus. I also want to recommend a set I've been fiddling with for Munchlax. I respect how you want to use it as a sweeper, but I've always found such a role underwhelming, which is why I will be offering a more dedicated tanking set in the hide tags below. Finally, I will suggest keeping speed iv's at their normal maxima, and keeping natures away from speed lowering, in order to function best and maintain a threatening presence even when you can't set tr.

Mons and Sets

Pawniard @ Eviolite
Level: 5
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 156 Atk / 36 Def / 116 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Stealth Rock

Spritzee @ Eviolite
Level: 5
Ability: Aroma Veil
EVs: 212 HP / 196 Def / 12 SpA / 76 SpD / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Trick Room
- Moonblast

Timburr @ Eviolite
Level: 5
Ability: Guts
EVs: 116 Atk / 156 Def / 236 SpD
Careful Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Bulk Up

Foongus @ Eviolite
Level: 5
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 124 HP / 160 Def / 160 SpD
Bold Nature
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power Fighting

Munchlax @ Eviolite
Level: 5
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 236 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Facade
- Pursuit
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
(I'll elaborate a bit here: This is a small twist on the standard RestTalk set. I recommend it because your team has a great weakness to Drifloon. Munchlax is one of the few true counters to it, even having nothing to fear from traditional trappers. Facade, while unconventional, lets you use Munchy as a bit of a status sponge after Timburr falls, but most importantly alleviates the need to Rest up/be crippled forever if you're hit by an untimely burn. Most importantly, it lets Munchlax switch into special water types with impunity. Pursuit allows you to fully capitalize on Munchlax's great special bulk by coming in on things like Gastly or Abra, which can be troubling to your team, and shrug off the damage before removing them entirely. RestTalk gives you a better form of recovery that isn't sabotaged by the most common move in Little Cup, and the resulting ability to run Eviolite greatly enhances your range of mons you can check.

As a final note, I don't usually like to change as many aspects of a team in my rates, but I obtained the impression that you liked the playstyle itself more than any of the individual building blocks, so I decided to do a bit more than normal here. Good luck with your team, whether or not you'd like to try my suggestions (which I understand if you wouldn't, given the aforementioned radical nature of my rate).

 

[calvinball]

Yo.

Trick Room is always a blast to use. I'm going to give a few suggestions to improve the structure of your team.

First, I am going to recommend the swap of Pawniard > Bronzor. This gives you a Knock Off supporter while maintaining the capabilities to set rocks, and also keeps the role of a flying check. Pawn also counters (albeit a bit futilely ) itself in the mirror match, and answers to non hp fighting variants of Vullaby, which rips apart virtually your whole team by itself.
Next, I would swap out Litwick for Spritzee. Litwick, while fun to theorymon with, isn't always a practical Pokemon. Spritzee, however, in addition to providing an excellent secondary fighting counter and a good dark resist as it usually does, works phenomenally for Trick Room builds; it is bulky enough to set the field multiple times throughout the match, and its ability allows it to twist the dimensions without fear of Taunt, a trait unique among setters. Spritzee can also support your team with Wish to keep some of your frailer Pokemon/Pokemon lacking recovery in the fight longer.
Third, I believe your team would benefit strongly from changing Geodude to Timburr. Geodude is a bit redundant on your team, as you already have a rocker and a somewhat reliable flying resist, while Timburr gives you a reliable win condition that also provides an emergency stop button via Mach Punch to take out weakened sweepers who choose to set up while Timburr is still conscious.
Lastly, I'm going to provide a few small changes. I echo the above rate's sentiment of Hidden Power Fighting over Stun Spore on Foongus. I also want to recommend a set I've been fiddling with for Munchlax. I respect how you want to use it as a sweeper, but I've always found such a role underwhelming, which is why I will be offering a more dedicated tanking set in the hide tags below. Finally, I will suggest keeping speed iv's at their normal maxima, and keeping natures away from speed lowering, in order to function best and maintain a threatening presence even when you can't set tr.

Mons and Sets

Pawniard @ Eviolite
Level: 5
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 156 Atk / 36 Def / 116 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Stealth Rock

Spritzee @ Eviolite
Level: 5
Ability: Aroma Veil
EVs: 212 HP / 196 Def / 12 SpA / 76 SpD / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Trick Room
- Moonblast

Timburr @ Eviolite
Level: 5
Ability: Guts
EVs: 116 Atk / 156 Def / 236 SpD
Careful Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Bulk Up

Foongus @ Eviolite
Level: 5
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 124 HP / 160 Def / 160 SpD
Bold Nature
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power Fighting

Munchlax @ Eviolite
Level: 5
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 236 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Facade
- Pursuit
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
(I'll elaborate a bit here: This is a small twist on the standard RestTalk set. I recommend it because your team has a great weakness to Drifloon. Munchlax is one of the few true counters to it, even having nothing to fear from traditional trappers. Facade, while unconventional, lets you use Munchy as a bit of a status sponge after Timburr falls, but most importantly alleviates the need to Rest up/be crippled forever if you're hit by an untimely burn. Most importantly, it lets Munchlax switch into special water types with impunity. Pursuit allows you to fully capitalize on Munchlax's great special bulk by coming in on things like Gastly or Abra, which can be troubling to your team, and shrug off the damage before removing them entirely. RestTalk gives you a better form of recovery that isn't sabotaged by the most common move in Little Cup, and the resulting ability to run Eviolite greatly enhances your range of mons you can check.

As a final note, I don't usually like to change as many aspects of a team in my rates, but I obtained the impression that you liked the playstyle itself more than any of the individual building blocks, so I decided to do a bit more than normal here. Good luck with your team, whether or not you'd like to try my suggestions (which I understand if you wouldn't, given the aforementioned radical nature of my rate).

Thanks for the advice, and for the sets! At present, this is what I'm using, and I've been able to win a lot more consistently (though my own shortcomings as a battler lead to losses - though I can see how I could have used the team better). Thanks to everyone who's offered sets and advice; it's taught me a lot about LC.

EDIT: To be more specific, Munchlax's new set is great at getting Abra and Ghastly, just like you said, and Spritzee is the Fighting and Dark type absorber I always needed and Pawniard's STAB and moves are a huge boon for the team. Thanks!