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Another close one this week, congrats to askov for winning this one by only 1 vote!
To keep up with the "interesting" stuff trend I've been trying to implement with this project, Week 13's subject will be an item! As long as one of your team members is carrying (and utilizing) Grassium Z, your team will be good to go this round! Submissions over Saturday evening, same as always.
This is a team that was adapted from the earlier generation -- Mega Sceptile, Tentacruel, and Bronzong being the foundations where the team started. Tentacruel and Bronzong form a tried-and-true defensive core that provided utility options the team needs. Mega Sceptile, on the other hand, is capable of wrecking any Water- and Ground-type without having to use Leaf Storm, but instead using Energy Ball as a sustainable form of damaging opponents, apart from Dragon Pulse and Focus Blast.
In the past generation, I chose Entei because of its capability of burning almost everyone with Sacred Fire for one of the win conditions of the team to set up Calm Mind freely while taking minimal damage from Physical attacks. However, with the pace of the metagame changing, I ended up using Choice Band Infernape, as a Mach Punch boosted by both Iron Fist and Choice Band can decapitate Mega Sharpedo even with full health -- something Entei wouldn't do with its Extreme Speed.
There were two win conditions for the team, and I tried to preserve this number. In the past generation were RestTalk Tornadus and Calm Mind Florges. With Prankster mechanics giving a nerf to a point that Dark-types are immune to Acrobatics fueled by Sleep Talk (yes, it happened), I ended up using Gliscor as one of the most reliable Swords Dance users and one of the most reliable status absorbers by virtue of Poison Heal. Finally, the main draw of this team is Comfey, which I used the main item, Grassium Z, to take advantage of Aromatherapy which helps boost its HP while healing all Pokemon in my team from status conditions.
This is the team I built for Tricking's Grand Slam Playoffs game against Lax. He didn't win because of a mistake, but the team still managed to put some work. I decided to build around Alolan Muk + Mega Manectric because people use Hidden Power Fire Mega Latias as an answer to Voltturn, and while it is kinda annoying, it doesn't even threaten A-Muk voltturn. Gliscor was my obvious Stealth Rocker here, and while Toxic is great to wear down Pokemon such as Mega Latias and Rotom-W on the switch, I decided to go for U-turn since this team needs the support it provides and because this team has a pretty decent matchup against these two Pokemon already. Scizor is another obvious choice on Mega Manectric voltturn, as it threatens many Pokemon Manectric fears. Starmie, the Z-Stone holder, has Grassium Z to lure Rotom-W, Seismitoad, and Gastrodon, with the Water/Ground-types being the most dangerous for Voltturn (Starmie even managed to lure Rotom-W, but it got trapped by A-Muk later on), and cleans hazards, which is very important for any kind of team. Lastly, Mienshao is a great revenge killer, and while Choice Band is way better and its Choice Scarf set faces competition with Infernape, I don't think it can be replaced by the ape because a.) Infernape's most spammable STAB is weaker and leaves it vulnerable to priority and b.) Mienshao has Knock Off, which can be very useful against opposing Gliscor. Hydreigon can be used to replace Mienshao if needed to, being able to pivot into Water-types and U-turn into Mega Manectric. Not only that, but it can also threaten more offensive teams that don't have a Fairy-type, giving this team the upper hand.
Obviously, this team has its weaknesses. The first of those you can notice is the stupid weakness to Choice Specs Hydreigon, which is absolutely fine since this team doesn't have a defensive Fairy-type, but you should play carefully around it (notice this team doesn't give it a single switch-in opportunity, unless it switches into Starmie and bluffs Choice Scarf). The team is also weak to Fighting-types if Gliscor is gone, mainly Infernape and opposing Mienshao. Lastly, the team is very weak to Reflect-type Latias, but all you should do is play safe against it; switch into A-Muk, Pursuit, and if it uses Reflect Type, then aggressively switch into Scizor, U-turn, and keep playing safe.
With Smeargle dropping down to UU not too long ago I've made a lot of webs teams despite it not being too hot in this current metagame. Smeargle is one of my favorite pokemon and webs offense is one of my favorite team archetypes so I made one for this competition. Starting with Smeargle, Smeargle is without a doubt the best webs setter in the tier because of Spore and his decent speed stat, so if im building a webs team, obviously it needs the webs setter. Bandshao is one of my favorite pokemon to use, because on webs, once all the checks are gone, you are free to press HJK until you win. Chandelure is here with Grassium Z to spinblock and keep the webs up on the field, and also to lure bulky waters like rotom-w, I decided to go with sub and no cm because in this current metagame, the chances Chandelure gets to setup are limited, and with its high SpA stat, it hits pretty hard as it is. I am running an interesting scizor set with KO, BP, U-turn, and SD, I am running u-turn to keep the momentum up and to be able to pivot better with Mienshao. Obviously on teams that revolve around hazards, Rapid Spin is always the better option compared to Defog, and I chose Starmie because of it's limited switch-ins and speed. Last but not least we have Mega Altaria who is there for threats such as Latias and Hydreigon, who are fast and unaffected by the webs debuff.
Threats: Scizor - Chandy is my best counter to this thing, which is bad for two reasons, one, I have a Mega Altaria which needs scizor dead, and two, Scizor is literally on every team ever. Mega Beedril - I basically rely on Scizor entirely to kill this thing, of course if webs are up I can kill with Mienshao, I speed tie with Chandy, etc. But if my webs aren't up and Scizor's dead, I basically lose the game by default. Primarina - I lose. Its webs so if I don't keep webs up, I probably lose. - yes.
Like I said webs isn't the best in this current metagame and chose to build it simply because of my personal tastes :]
I CANNOT SEE (Moltres) @ Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Hurricane
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Tailwind
Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
explanation:
this is the team i used for iron chef episode like six except that durant has life orb instead of fightinium z and mowtom has grassium z instead of rose incense
basically the idea is the same, twave stuff, tailwind, kill things with durant and bruxish, etc.
mega aggron has avalanche because i needed a third contact move for the team to be legal for the round and also it annoys gliscor somewhat
moltres and seismitoad exist so i don't instantly lose vs voltturn
who needs hazard removal
Voting over - Grats to Highways for running away with the votes this week!
For this week, our lovely building subject will be Toxic Spikes Nidoking (no bias I SWEAR). Nidoking is most often a massive pain for passive balance teams with it's high powered STAB and coverage boosted by Sheer Force and Life Orb. Toxic Spikes elevate this dynamic to the next level as Nidoking greatly pressures Pokemon like Empoleon, Tentacruel, and Nihilego that can attempt to remove or absorb them. Or you can be papagoi and run Helmet Super Fang
ain't it fun (Cobalion) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Justified
EVs: 48 HP / 208 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Close Combat
- Toxic
that's what u get (Rotom-Wash) @ Electrium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 128 Def / 8 SpA / 36 SpD / 88 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
My original idea was to use TSpikes Nidoking + Vincune, but seeing how Nidoking can't really do much to Mantine, I decided to try SubToxic Cune, which can also Toxic Mantine and other annoying Pokemon to Nidoking like Latias and Rotom-W. Speed EVs on Suicune are enough to outspeed 241 speed Mega-Blastoise
Next, I knew I would want a way to bring HP back to Suicune because it tends to get less recovery because of the lack of Protect, so I originally had a Sylveon, but the version I built with it ended up way too passive so I decided to opt for a Healing Wish user. Scarf Latias is possibly the best user of it because it basically outspeeds the entire meta, provides speed control and also can use Defog if needed. Ice Beam is used because Gliscor is so annoying to the team, so it may catch some Gliscors by surprise (although Ice Beam Scarf Latias isn't something unheard of).
For the next slot, I felt like I need something that can help check some things that may pressure Suicune too much, so Mega-Altaria was the choice, also being a win condition. Defense EVs on M-Altaria allow it to survive 2 Scarf Krook EQ after rocks, while speed is enough to outspeed neutral base 70 and positive base 60 at +0, Zydog at +1 and Adamant M-Sharpedo and Scarf Krook at +2.
Cobalion was the next choice because I was very weak to Scizor and I needed a Stealth Rocks user. Rocky Helmet is a cool item on Cobalion because it can get chip damage on Pokemon mindless spamming U-turn (aka Scizor) and also can weaken some Rapid Spin users if they insist to keep spinning. HP Evs allows it to survive a Z-Superpower from 0 Atk Scizor. Toxic is used on last moveslot to help cripple Mantine and other fat wall that might switch into Cobalion.
For my last Pokemon, I was looking for a secondary ground resist, a secondary Scizor check and a Flying resist, so Rotom-W was the choice, while also giving me a secondary M-Aero check and a z-move user. I decided to use Electrium over the more common Waterium because it can help beat Tentacruel and Mantine for Suicune and Nidoking, almost getting a KO on standard Tentacruel spread at full. The EVs might seem weird, but there are reasons for me to choose to use it, but feel free to use the standard spread if u feel that it doesn't really matter. 128 Def with Bold allows it to never get 2HKOed by Stone Edge from M-Aero without rocks, 36 SpDef allows it to take a Life Orb Draco Meteor from Latias and Pain Split your health back, 88 Speed allows u to outspeed Jolly Crawdaunt (and max speed Adamant Scizor). Rest is thrown on SpA, but you can just put it in whatever stat you want.
i was told to make a heat tspikes nidoking team so tsr wouldn't be sad and i was too lazy to make a new team so here i am
originally this was a counterteam to someone running shedinja so that's why i have four rockers and muk
blizzard on nidoking is so i have some way to hit mega aerodactyl
crustle is cool lead
infernape creeps max speed jolly mamoswine so i can destroy it with low kick
the rest is self explanatory probably
So first off I wanna explain my nicknames, since I'm using this Scizor set, I decided to pay homage. Then I thought, hm, ima just name everything after classic hip hop songs, I tried to make em all kinda relate to the mon (nidok is kinda a stretch), but u know :].
Now to the team, since I've gotta use stupid ass tspikes Nidok, I've gotta have some assholes that can abuse these tspikes, such as vincune, and I originally had gliscor and nape, but then i realized I got 6-0d by Gliscor, so thats when mamo and lati came into play, scarf lati is to help the matchup vs. Gliscor and mmane voltturn, mamo also improves my matchup vs things like glisc, mscept, zydawg, and also helps my matchup vs stall and yes TSR I am literally using this spread just to please u cuz i missed out on a vote last time for no reason smfh. The scizor is here cuz i want it to be there, and it deals with threats can be annoying as balls like mamoswine. Mscept is there cuz its fast as hell, is always a good mon to have with hazard support and shit like that. :D.