Introduction:
Hi people, some people may know me, some may have battled against one of my many alts hovering in 17xx-18xx range. Anyways, I'm probably most famous for writing ridiculously long posts to support stuff because well, English is not my first language so I have to re-emphasize my points to be clear. Anyone who has read me post knows that I like to nominate rising of highly underrated threats in the viability rankings. My favorite Pokemon to use at the current state of metagame, if not obvious enough from my recent posts, is Celebi, and I suggest people have a try with it.
Overview:
I'm not sure who played against me, but people who know me well would know that I am the Bulky Offense kind of player, and rarely also play with Rain HO. Stall is perhaps the playstyle which I play the least, but recently I have built a relatively fun stall team, which made me love the playstyle. This RMT showcases this team, which led me to start playing with stall.
Teambuilding:
What I started off with was a Jirachi-Gyarados core. As if not obvious from the title, this stall team was an excuse for me to try out Jirachi in her ability to spread paralysis like nobody's business. Gyarados came to my mind for resisting 2 of Jirachi's biggest weaknesses. At this point in time, I never thought the team would gravitate to a stall team
At the time of creation, I knew I want something that can abuse the speed from paralysis well. First thing that came to my mind was Gardevoir, which shits on paralysed stuff. Gliscor makes a good partner to Gardevoir in her ability to stallbreak, and also provides an answer to Gengar, which my team is pretty weak to at the moment.
What I noticed missing would be a hazard remover and a user of Stealth Rocks. I picked Zapdos because it serves as a check to bird spam. Heatran was subsequently added for Stealth Rock, since it is arguably the second best user of rocks after Lando-T, which shares a typing with Gliscor. Gardevoir was subsequently replaced by Venusaur to form a FWG core with Heatran and Gyarados.
Looking at what I had at the moment, I realised that the team had a very bad weakness to Keldeo, which I always make efforts not to be weak to. While Gyarados and Venusaur can take on Keldeo pretty well, what is lacking is a method to remove Scald burns on them. I changed Gyarados to a RestTalk version, but still noticed a bad weakness to Kyurem-B. So above that, I decided to add a Sylveon to resolve all the problem. At the same time, Gliscor was replaced with Landorus-T for Stealth Rocks.
With Landorus-T, I often found myself struggling against CM Clefable, which is a bitch if it avoids flinch-hax from Jirachi. I realise that a Taunter would be the best way to combat that problem. Hence, in the light of the problem, I decided to give Stealth Rocks to Jirachi's 4th slot move which I rarely used, and changed Landorus-T back to Gliscor.
UPDATE: 16 Sept 2014
Skarmory has replaced Zapdos for being more reliable in general in beating the same threats, and at the same time not providing a SR weakness.
UPDATE: 17 Sept 2014
After trying to convince people on the Viability Ranking thread that Sylveon is outclassed by Clefable, I magically managed to convince myself to change mine away too.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnndddd, this it the final team.
Set Details:
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Thunder Wave
- Wish
- Stealth Rock
SDef Jirachi is what inspired me to make the team. After the best spammer of Ghost type left the world, I mean OU, what benefitted most would be the Psychic types. Jirachi is the typical example of a gem that reestablished its relevance with the ban of Aegislash. Jirachi not just benefited from the loss of a Shadow Ball spammer, but also the rise of the big 3 wallbreakers, MGardevoir, MMedicham, MHeracross, in her ability to take any hit, Thunder Wave them and heal the damage off with Wish; or simply ParaFlinch-hax them to death.
Being my initial Pokemon in the team, Jirachi is also one that has undergone the most in terms of her set. I begun with a Shuca set with Iron Head/Fire Punch/Ice Punch/Healing Wish, which was one of my favorite bluffs back in BW times, netting me lots of surprise kills. However, that set does not actually provide me much teambuilding potential because the team can literally head anywhere. I decided that I would use its defensive set to spread paralysis instead. For lazy people who didn't read the teambuilding part, I run Stealth Rock because many people would expect Protect or U-turn instead, which I don't actually find myself using too often. I even tried with Fire Punch to catch Scizors and Ferrothorns but many Scizors don't give a shit with Knock Off and metal durians are painful to punch, especially when it takes 2 hits.
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 40 Def / 220 SDef
Careful Nature
- Waterfall
- Dragon Tail
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Gyarados was jointly the oldest member of my team. Gyarados takes on the Ground and Fire attackers aimed at Jirachi. At the same time, it also offers my team a check to both MCharizards, since neither cannot 2HKO and are easily phased out or KOed depending on their health at the moment. 40 Def EVs allows Gyarados to always survive a +0 Outrage or 2 +0 Flare Blitz from MCharizard X, which is really handy for a check to have.
As with Jirachi, this Gyarados also underwent lots of changes. First 2 sets which I have been using on this set was TauntDD, until I found that SubDD sets up on stuff better, especially on Slowbro/Alomomola/Suicune's weak Scalds. Eventually, I had to change the set to RestTalk because my team lack an answer to Keldeo's Scald. While experimenting with PDef Gyara, I found that SDef takes on Landorus better, which is a bitch to face. While now that I have Sylveon for a cleric, I find that SDef Gyarados has been a very crucial part of the team as far as walling wallbreakers are concerned. Dragon Tail is preferred over Roar because Fairy types already gets shit on by Gliscor with Taunt.
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 168 SpD / 96 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Roost
- Acrobatics
- Knock Off
Gliscor used to be another long lasting member of the team, but got temporarily replaced by Landorus-T before giving Jirachi Stealth Rocks. Gliscor's main purpose on the team is as a status absorber, and more importantly, to beat common stallbreakers. Acrobatics allows Gliscor to defeat Heracross, which is a pain to face sometimes. The EV spread and Knock Off makes dealing with stallbreakers like Gengar and Mew much more easily. The lack of Toxic does hurt, but between Acrobatics and Knock Off, the coverage provided is still extremely good, such that it does not need Toxic to wear down things. Suicune and Clefable are handled pretty well by Gliscor because even Suicune's STAB SE Scald fails to 2HKO, whereas it itself is worn down rather quickly. While it is pretty ironic to use a Heal Bell user along Gliscor, at least having to Heal Bell after losing Toxic Orb to Knock Off is not exactly common, and I rather have an non-poisoned Gliscor rather than a Burned one.
Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Taunt
- Roost
- Counter
Under suggestion of alexwolf, Zapdos was replaced by Skarmory. Skarmory's role in the team is as a Bird Spam check and also a Defogger. Considering Gyarados checks a lot of stuff for the team, it likes to have Rocks off the field for maximum potential. The choice of using Taunt over Whirlwind is so that Ferrothorn and Scizor does not set up on Skarmory, which will be rather annoying otherwise. Using Taunt makes Counter a superior move to Brave Bird, such that it can counter stuff better. Considering that Gothitelle and Magnezone are becoming more common, Shed Shell is a great move to have on Skarmory, especially considering Magnezone are usually paired with stuff that Skarmory beats.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Moonlight
- Heal Bell
I used to have Sylveon here, and it was doing pretty great. alexwolf came in and told me Clefable would be better because Magic Guard. I tested it out and found problem with set up sweepers utilising sub so I switched back to Sylveon. A random Wednesday evening, it occurred to me that Unaware Clef will solve that problem, and also make life easier when against CM users because HAH UNAWARE! I forsook Fire coverage because all relevant Steel types have problem with either Gyarados or Skarmory anyway, so Flamethrower is the epitome of redundancy, so I dropped it for Wish because Jirachi is not gonna last long as the only wish passer; well not without Protect on it anyway. Of course giving Jirachi WishTect and Clefable Softboiled + SR is another option, but a double Wish core is better, especially since Jirachi is a better SR user incidentally.
Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 212 HP / 252 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Earthquake
- Synthesis
For the mega of my team, as a stall oriented team, the 2 natural choices would be Venusaur and CharizardX. The fundamental problems with using Charizard is that I do not have a Grass type necessary on most stall teams to deal with Azumarill and Breloom. Venusaur is naturally the natural choice. What makes me choose to use offensive Venusaur instead of more bulk oriented ones is because I have other stuff that can already take neutral hits instead. Even with just HP investment, Venusaur is still ridiculously bulky, especially when its attacks do pack a punch. While most people go with "spam Giga Drain to win", I often find my mostly spammed move to be Sludge Bomb because the switches are so easy to predict. Earthquake is chosen over HP Fire because Skarmory walls the 2 main targets of HP Fire anyways. Even without investments, Earthquake is fully capable of 2HKOing Heatran, especially that Gliscor does not carry Earthquake to beat it. EVs allow it to outspeed CroCune, while hitting as hard as possible. Several people get stunned if they do not see Venusaur with a Fire type, but overall, in this team, having a Fire type does not provide any more useful resistances since everything is covered.
Hi people, some people may know me, some may have battled against one of my many alts hovering in 17xx-18xx range. Anyways, I'm probably most famous for writing ridiculously long posts to support stuff because well, English is not my first language so I have to re-emphasize my points to be clear. Anyone who has read me post knows that I like to nominate rising of highly underrated threats in the viability rankings. My favorite Pokemon to use at the current state of metagame, if not obvious enough from my recent posts, is Celebi, and I suggest people have a try with it.
Overview:
I'm not sure who played against me, but people who know me well would know that I am the Bulky Offense kind of player, and rarely also play with Rain HO. Stall is perhaps the playstyle which I play the least, but recently I have built a relatively fun stall team, which made me love the playstyle. This RMT showcases this team, which led me to start playing with stall.
Teambuilding:
What I started off with was a Jirachi-Gyarados core. As if not obvious from the title, this stall team was an excuse for me to try out Jirachi in her ability to spread paralysis like nobody's business. Gyarados came to my mind for resisting 2 of Jirachi's biggest weaknesses. At this point in time, I never thought the team would gravitate to a stall team
At the time of creation, I knew I want something that can abuse the speed from paralysis well. First thing that came to my mind was Gardevoir, which shits on paralysed stuff. Gliscor makes a good partner to Gardevoir in her ability to stallbreak, and also provides an answer to Gengar, which my team is pretty weak to at the moment.
What I noticed missing would be a hazard remover and a user of Stealth Rocks. I picked Zapdos because it serves as a check to bird spam. Heatran was subsequently added for Stealth Rock, since it is arguably the second best user of rocks after Lando-T, which shares a typing with Gliscor. Gardevoir was subsequently replaced by Venusaur to form a FWG core with Heatran and Gyarados.
Looking at what I had at the moment, I realised that the team had a very bad weakness to Keldeo, which I always make efforts not to be weak to. While Gyarados and Venusaur can take on Keldeo pretty well, what is lacking is a method to remove Scald burns on them. I changed Gyarados to a RestTalk version, but still noticed a bad weakness to Kyurem-B. So above that, I decided to add a Sylveon to resolve all the problem. At the same time, Gliscor was replaced with Landorus-T for Stealth Rocks.
With Landorus-T, I often found myself struggling against CM Clefable, which is a bitch if it avoids flinch-hax from Jirachi. I realise that a Taunter would be the best way to combat that problem. Hence, in the light of the problem, I decided to give Stealth Rocks to Jirachi's 4th slot move which I rarely used, and changed Landorus-T back to Gliscor.
UPDATE: 16 Sept 2014
Skarmory has replaced Zapdos for being more reliable in general in beating the same threats, and at the same time not providing a SR weakness.
UPDATE: 17 Sept 2014
After trying to convince people on the Viability Ranking thread that Sylveon is outclassed by Clefable, I magically managed to convince myself to change mine away too.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnndddd, this it the final team.
Set Details:
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Thunder Wave
- Wish
- Stealth Rock
SDef Jirachi is what inspired me to make the team. After the best spammer of Ghost type left the world, I mean OU, what benefitted most would be the Psychic types. Jirachi is the typical example of a gem that reestablished its relevance with the ban of Aegislash. Jirachi not just benefited from the loss of a Shadow Ball spammer, but also the rise of the big 3 wallbreakers, MGardevoir, MMedicham, MHeracross, in her ability to take any hit, Thunder Wave them and heal the damage off with Wish; or simply ParaFlinch-hax them to death.
Being my initial Pokemon in the team, Jirachi is also one that has undergone the most in terms of her set. I begun with a Shuca set with Iron Head/Fire Punch/Ice Punch/Healing Wish, which was one of my favorite bluffs back in BW times, netting me lots of surprise kills. However, that set does not actually provide me much teambuilding potential because the team can literally head anywhere. I decided that I would use its defensive set to spread paralysis instead. For lazy people who didn't read the teambuilding part, I run Stealth Rock because many people would expect Protect or U-turn instead, which I don't actually find myself using too often. I even tried with Fire Punch to catch Scizors and Ferrothorns but many Scizors don't give a shit with Knock Off and metal durians are painful to punch, especially when it takes 2 hits.
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 40 Def / 220 SDef
Careful Nature
- Waterfall
- Dragon Tail
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Gyarados was jointly the oldest member of my team. Gyarados takes on the Ground and Fire attackers aimed at Jirachi. At the same time, it also offers my team a check to both MCharizards, since neither cannot 2HKO and are easily phased out or KOed depending on their health at the moment. 40 Def EVs allows Gyarados to always survive a +0 Outrage or 2 +0 Flare Blitz from MCharizard X, which is really handy for a check to have.
As with Jirachi, this Gyarados also underwent lots of changes. First 2 sets which I have been using on this set was TauntDD, until I found that SubDD sets up on stuff better, especially on Slowbro/Alomomola/Suicune's weak Scalds. Eventually, I had to change the set to RestTalk because my team lack an answer to Keldeo's Scald. While experimenting with PDef Gyara, I found that SDef takes on Landorus better, which is a bitch to face. While now that I have Sylveon for a cleric, I find that SDef Gyarados has been a very crucial part of the team as far as walling wallbreakers are concerned. Dragon Tail is preferred over Roar because Fairy types already gets shit on by Gliscor with Taunt.
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 168 SpD / 96 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Roost
- Acrobatics
- Knock Off
Gliscor used to be another long lasting member of the team, but got temporarily replaced by Landorus-T before giving Jirachi Stealth Rocks. Gliscor's main purpose on the team is as a status absorber, and more importantly, to beat common stallbreakers. Acrobatics allows Gliscor to defeat Heracross, which is a pain to face sometimes. The EV spread and Knock Off makes dealing with stallbreakers like Gengar and Mew much more easily. The lack of Toxic does hurt, but between Acrobatics and Knock Off, the coverage provided is still extremely good, such that it does not need Toxic to wear down things. Suicune and Clefable are handled pretty well by Gliscor because even Suicune's STAB SE Scald fails to 2HKO, whereas it itself is worn down rather quickly. While it is pretty ironic to use a Heal Bell user along Gliscor, at least having to Heal Bell after losing Toxic Orb to Knock Off is not exactly common, and I rather have an non-poisoned Gliscor rather than a Burned one.
Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Taunt
- Roost
- Counter
Under suggestion of alexwolf, Zapdos was replaced by Skarmory. Skarmory's role in the team is as a Bird Spam check and also a Defogger. Considering Gyarados checks a lot of stuff for the team, it likes to have Rocks off the field for maximum potential. The choice of using Taunt over Whirlwind is so that Ferrothorn and Scizor does not set up on Skarmory, which will be rather annoying otherwise. Using Taunt makes Counter a superior move to Brave Bird, such that it can counter stuff better. Considering that Gothitelle and Magnezone are becoming more common, Shed Shell is a great move to have on Skarmory, especially considering Magnezone are usually paired with stuff that Skarmory beats.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Moonlight
- Heal Bell
I used to have Sylveon here, and it was doing pretty great. alexwolf came in and told me Clefable would be better because Magic Guard. I tested it out and found problem with set up sweepers utilising sub so I switched back to Sylveon. A random Wednesday evening, it occurred to me that Unaware Clef will solve that problem, and also make life easier when against CM users because HAH UNAWARE! I forsook Fire coverage because all relevant Steel types have problem with either Gyarados or Skarmory anyway, so Flamethrower is the epitome of redundancy, so I dropped it for Wish because Jirachi is not gonna last long as the only wish passer; well not without Protect on it anyway. Of course giving Jirachi WishTect and Clefable Softboiled + SR is another option, but a double Wish core is better, especially since Jirachi is a better SR user incidentally.
Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 212 HP / 252 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Earthquake
- Synthesis
For the mega of my team, as a stall oriented team, the 2 natural choices would be Venusaur and CharizardX. The fundamental problems with using Charizard is that I do not have a Grass type necessary on most stall teams to deal with Azumarill and Breloom. Venusaur is naturally the natural choice. What makes me choose to use offensive Venusaur instead of more bulk oriented ones is because I have other stuff that can already take neutral hits instead. Even with just HP investment, Venusaur is still ridiculously bulky, especially when its attacks do pack a punch. While most people go with "spam Giga Drain to win", I often find my mostly spammed move to be Sludge Bomb because the switches are so easy to predict. Earthquake is chosen over HP Fire because Skarmory walls the 2 main targets of HP Fire anyways. Even without investments, Earthquake is fully capable of 2HKOing Heatran, especially that Gliscor does not carry Earthquake to beat it. EVs allow it to outspeed CroCune, while hitting as hard as possible. Several people get stunned if they do not see Venusaur with a Fire type, but overall, in this team, having a Fire type does not provide any more useful resistances since everything is covered.
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Thunder Wave
- Wish
- Stealth Rock
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 40 Def / 220 SDef
Careful Nature
- Waterfall
- Dragon Tail
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 168 SpD / 96 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Roost
- Acrobatics
- Knock Off
Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Taunt
- Roost
- Counter
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Moonlight
- Heal Bell
Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 212 HP / 252 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Earthquake
- Synthesis
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Thunder Wave
- Wish
- Stealth Rock
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 40 Def / 220 SDef
Careful Nature
- Waterfall
- Dragon Tail
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 168 SpD / 96 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Roost
- Acrobatics
- Knock Off
Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Taunt
- Roost
- Counter
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Moonlight
- Heal Bell
Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 212 HP / 252 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Earthquake
- Synthesis
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Def
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Roar
Landorus-T @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 152 HP / 252 SpD / 104 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Roost
- Defog
Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Def
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Roar
Landorus-T @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 152 HP / 252 SpD / 104 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Roost
- Defog
Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
Last edited:
