Welcome to Rapture
Would you kindly...
I am not an avid Pokemon player and I do not play competitively. Regardless, I believe that this is a good starting team for me to use and it incorporates simple play with some of the Pokes that I like best. The main inspiration for this team was Marowak, when I found out that it possessed the strongest Attack stat in the game, surpassing even Attack Deoxys. But it was too good to be true- its speed and HP were pitifully low. I schemed up several messy teams involving a beefed up Marowak and a Ninjask with Agility and Baton Pass.
Needless to say, it was extremely inefficient to waste up 2 slots for one "sweeping" Poke that had so many counters. Then I came to Smogon. I read about many formidable RMT's that had something I lacked. Synergy. Many of the most successful OU teams had versatile fighters as well as walls and tanks, something that my primitive brute force tactics lacked. I followed many purely offensive teams on both YouTube and Smogon and found something in common that made them so successful: Mach-3 physical sweepers like Gyarados, Lucario, Salamence, MixApe, etc.
But then I saw a battle that used a technique I had never seen before: Trick Room. Trick Room took away the one thing that made sweepers a force to be reckoned with and transformed slow leviathans like Rhyperior and Heatran into unbreakable sweepers! Serendipity had rewarded me with an incredibly simple yet exploitative team in the form of the well-known yet seldom used TrickStorm.
This team is designed to take away the one thing offensive teams cherish the most and turn it in my favor, with Marowak at the helm and Registeel at the the forefront. Sandstorm wears away at the enemy while my defensive walls whittle away any opposition. I decided to name my team Rapture, after the Objectivist dystopian city that rejected the norm in the landmark narrative, Bioshock.
The Gene Bank:
- 5 Pokes are immune to Sandstorm
- 4 Pokes are resistant to Stealth Rock and none are weak to it
- My Special wall can inflict Toxic damage and live to tell the tale
Bronzong @ Leftovers **** Rosie
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Relaxed (+Def, -Spd)
EVs: 252 HP / 152 Atk / 8 Def / 96 SpD
-Trick Room
-Hypnosis
-Explosion
-Gyro Ball
Pretty nice Trick Roomer and the standard TR lead. Not much to say except for the fact that its Gyro Ball is extremely powerful thanks to its already pitiful base Speed stat and no EVs invested into it. Explosion can clear away any trouble makers to make room for a revenge kill soon after.
Slowbro @ Leftovers **** Tenenbaum
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Def
Nature: Relaxed (+Def, -Spd)
- Trick Room
- Slack Off
- Surf
- HP Electric
Second Trick Roomer and a good Bulky Water with strong Defense. Surf gives stab against other Hippowdon and Rhyperior and Slack Off recovers. HP Electric for damn flyers and Gyarados.
Hippowdon @ Leftovers **** Andrew Ryan
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 236 HP / 24 Atk / 192 Def / 58 SDef
Nature: Impish (+Def, -SAtk)
-Earthquake
-Stealth Rock
-Ice Fang
-Slack Off
The other half of the TrickStorm combo, as soon as Swampert finishes TR, Hippowdon switches in, activates SS, and can deal with many opposing threats. It takes down Salamence, Flygon, Lucario, and Tyranitar with relative ease. Its recovery move and strong HP stat gives it long-term durability against other tanks.
The EVs maximize HP and Defenses, with the leftovers transfered to SDef to take random Hidden Powers.
Heatran @ Leftovers **** Fontaine
Ability: Flash Fire
Nature: Relaxed (+Def, -Spd)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Def
-Substitute
-Earth Power
-Fire Blast
-HP Grass
One of the few reliable bulky sweepers that is not weak to grass. I decided to forgo a recovery move and used Substitute instead. A great partner with Registeel, since the only type immune to Toxic is Steel and Heatran blasts them with both EP and Fire Blast. It is a useful counter to Bronzong, Celebi, Breloom, Torterra, Skarmory, Forretress, and non-Scarfed Heracross.
EVs take advantage of its actually usable SAtk and HP stats to turn down any fast KO moves.
Registeel @ Leftovers **** Bouncer
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Careful (+SDef, -SAtk)
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Def / 204 SDef
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
-Toxic
-Seismic Toss
I rejected Blissey and Cresselia. I chose the impossible. I chose- Registeel. Its outrageous stats in both defenses and high HP makes it much more reliable than the cookie cutter Special walls. I chose to forgo EVs in Attack entirely and focus on defenses only. It can take an Aura Sphere or Fire Blast head on, and not even a Close Combat can OHKO it. Rest and Sleep talk make a deadly combo of recovery and offensive capability. Toxic cripples everyone not on my team. SToss makes for a reliable high powered attack despite having a non-existent Attack stat.
Marowak @ Thick Club **** Jack
Ability: Lightningrod
Nature: Brave (+Atk, -Spd)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-ThunderPunch
The protagonist of Rapture. It takes everything thrown at it and pretty much is GUARANTEED to at the very least 2HKO EVERYTHING. 648 Attack without SD and gets the first say at everything thanks to TR. TPunch kills Gyarados while Stone Edge cripples Salamence, Gengar, and Togekiss, along with any other Bulky flyer like Zapdos. Brave enables it one of the lowest speeds possible while raising Atk sky-high.
It is truly astounding when it outmaneuvers any fast sweeper like Gyarados and Scizor with TR and just keeps going and going and going...
For other Bioshock enthusiasts, you can see in the sprite why Marowak is appropriately named after Jack.
Conclusion:
Rapture holds many dangers that are sudden and unexpected, because the norm of battling is turned upside-down with the marvel of TrickStorm. Each Poke is made to be as slow as possible, and judging by the EVs, each Poke is pretty hard to KO with their high HP and defenses. Sandstorm punishes Focus Sash users and Toxic forces constant switches, which are easily dealt with.
