I Gotcha Back!

[BlackLightAttack]

"Well, Black Light," I hear you saying to yourself (yeah, that's right. I can hear inside your head). "That's a stupid name for a team. It's stupid, and you're stupid, and I hate you."

First off, woah there. Back off. Not so hostile, huh? You done? Okay.

This is a standard OU team, and I should note, my first one to date. Its name comes from the method that I used to build it. I started with one pokemon, (my lead, Jirachi), and grabbed a pokemon that could be used to cover for his weaknesses. In this case, it was Gyarados, who packs a resistance to f....you know what? I'll cover that once I go in-depth. I think you get my drift here. In actuality, it's probably the most basic of ways to construct a team, but building it on this principle ensures a web of bromanship so that all poke's have someone else's back at any given time. Choices were made to try to have pokemon 'cover' more than one pokemon so that when one falls, the chain isn't completely broken. Enough explaining my exceptionally poor choice in a name, Meet the Team:

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@Choice Scarf
~Serence Grace~
Jolly: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Iron Head
U-Turn
Trick
Stealth Rock

Alright! The guy that started it all. No real specific reason I picked him over other leads. I just soft reset when his wifi event came around until I had a Jolly with a perfect Speed IV. This is a pretty basic lead setup, sacrificing a little mid-game sweeping abilities (in the form of Fire Punch or Ice Punch) for scouting abilities with U-Turn. Trick is obviously there to cripple opposing leads and Iron Head can flinchhax slower poke's. Stealth Rock can be thrown up wherever possible, usually after Tricklocking someone into a move they don't want to be locked into.

Against other Leads:

== Azelf worries me a bit since he often carries Fire Blast, but he's weak to U-Turn and outsped by Jolly nature and a scarf. Likely U-Turn into Gyarados

== Aerodactyl is 2HKO'd by Iron Head. He's outsped due to Choice Scarf and his Taunt will just be met with Iron Head.

== Due to Swampert's commonly-carried STAB super-effective EQ, U-Turn into Gyarados.

== If I'm feeling lucky, Iron Head spam for flinchhax. If I'm feeling less so, U-Turn to Dusknoir and WoW.

== Trick. Pray to god he's not carrying EQ and gets locked into SR. If he gets locked into EQ, send out Gyarados. DD on the switch.

== Drop SR. If he stays in, U-Turn to Electivire. If he U-Turns as well, play it by ear and switch accordingly.

== God, why. Switch to Gyarados. DD on the switch.

== Trick. Probably now locked into Toxic Spikes or Sleep Powder. Flinchhax with Iron Head.

== loluturn. SR will have to come later.

== Oh god, another matchup I hate. U-Turn to Gyarados (that's starting to sound familiar) and DD on the switch. If I'm super pro at predicting explosion, switch to Dusknoir instead of DD.

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@Lum Berry
~Intimidate~
Adamant: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Dragon Dance
Waterfall
Earthquake
Stone Edge

Ah, the original badass of Pokemon. He's got the backs of both Jirachi and Electivire, switching into EQs for them. DD can get set up pretty easily since he serves as a counter-switch-in. Waterfall's the STAB, EQ's to hit Electric-types he outspeeds after a DD, and Stone Edge is for coverage. Pretty standard Gyarados, I'm not totally sure this needs a lot of explaining.

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@Expert Belt
~Motor Drive~
Rash: 36 Atk / 252 Sp. Atk / 220 Spe
Thunderbolt
Flamethrower
Cross Chop
Ice Punch

Mixvire has Gyarados' back, switching into and absorbing Electric attacks. Electivire is pretty important on my team, as he's one of my few Ice-type attackers (although I guess I don't have to worry about Salamence anymore) as well as my only strong attacker that carries a fire attack, although Dusknoir does carry a backup Fire Punch. He and Gyarados have amazing synergy, as they're both immune to the other's main weakness. However, if Gyarados goes down, Dusknoir can takes EQs relatively well while Pain Splitting off the damage. Also, if Electivire goes down to soak Electric attacks for Gyarados, Roserade can fill in his spot with high SpD and a resistance.

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@Life Orb / Black Sludge
~Natural Cure~
Timid: 4 HP / 252 Sp. Atk / 252 Spe
Toxic Spikes
Sleep Powder
Leaf Storm
Sludge Bomb

Look at this smug bitch. She knows exactly what's up. Roserade is here to serve as a utility sweeper. She can put someone to sleep and start laying out spikes, or she can just obliterate someone with Leaf Storm. Sludge Bomb is there for an additional STAB. Unfortunately, this setup means Rosie is completely walled by Steel-types, although I have yet to see a Roserade build that isn't without running HP (this is in a real-game setting so I'm not bothering with HP). Rosie especially fears Heatran, which is why her BFF Gyarados is there to back her up. Rosie also helps out Electivire by annihilating physically-bulky Ground types with Leaf Storm, excluding Gliscor, whom Electivire can handle himself. Roserade's main functionality really lies in Toxic Spikes: she's there to either come in early-midgame and lay entry hazards if Jirachi doesn't get SR down, or can stack them on top of each other if the opportunity presents itself during midgame.

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@Choice Band
~Pressure~
Jolly: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Pursuit
Ice Shard
Ice Punch
Brick Break

Weavile is mostly here as a revenge killer, which is really what he excels at. Brick Break is substituted for his normal Low Kick to provide more rounded coverage: specifically, it breaks protect-stallers and hits Blissey harder. Weavile also provides backup Ice attacks, along with STAB, in case Electivire either goes down or can't finish the job. Ice Shard is used for the common 4x Ice weak pokes, whereas Ice Punch is for those that only have a 2x weakness. Pursuit catches any low HP runners, as well as the common ghost types and Starmie/Celebi. Again, this is a pretty standard setup and doesn't require much explaining. Weavile kinda has everyone's back, only it comes in the form of sexy vengeance.

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@Leftovers
~Pressure~
Impish: 252 HP / 28 Atk / 228 Def
Shadow Sneak
Fire Punch
Pain Split
Will-o-Wisp

There's no other way to put it, Dusknoir just has a ton of uses. He's both my spin blocker and wall, as well as a Pressure staller, the only reliable user of Status on my team, and one of the two priority abusers. WoW and Pain Split are pretty standard on Dusknoir. Fire Punch is there for coverage, and Shadow Sneak is taken to make up for his terrible speed. Although Dusknoir's Shadow Sneak is pretty weak, it does wear down on more fragile sweepers with its high PP. It's taken over the additional coverage moves like EQ and ThunderPunch for 2 reasons: 1, relying on defensive Dusknoir for coverage is a pretty bad idea in the first place. 2, Dusknoir with Shadow Sneak can play the role of surprise revenge killer. If someone takes a hit and lives with a Focus Sash, KOs your poke, then sees Dusknoir come in, they're often going to assume they'll outspeed Dusknoir and either try to set up a parting status or deal a little bit of damage on their way to the graveyard. Shadow Sneak puts an end to that. Worst case scenario, they switch out and the replacement takes a Shadow Sneak. If Dusknoir's out, he's already protecting my entry hazards, so that 1 hp Focus Sasher is dead next time he comes out anyway.

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So, there you have it. I appreciate any feedback, although keep in mind this is my first attempt at any sort of competitive team. Flaming is generally frowned upon as it may result in me listening to My Chemical Romance and eating a lot more Häagen-Dazs than a healthy person should.

Before we part, here's a quick overview:

Strengths: Double layers of entry hazards, a spin blocker to protect those entry hazards, good type coverage, bro's before ho's.

Weaknesses: Lack of status, no spinner, low HP wall, low offense on the Special side, trying to be funny so the team is less boring to read and instead making myself look like an asshole.
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[Despotar]

Okay, I have a question. This is more or less a semi-stall team.
But-you have a Weavile. Switch it to Torment Tran, it will be much more effective.
You already have TS support which is vital for it. It will work well.

 

[BlackLightAttack]

See, now this is wonderful feedback. Thanks for the tip, I'll see what I can do about catching myself a nice Heatran. I wasn't really thinking semi-stall team when I built this, but now that I take a step back and look at it, it did shape up that way. Weavile was there for a little extra killing power, but solidifying the stalltrain is certainly a way to go.

In that regard, how does a LookPass Umbreon sound to you in place of TormentTran? Mean Look -> Protect/Taunt + Wish sounds like it would work quite well with TS support, and baton passing to a counter sounds like it could be nasty with the type coverage and immunities I have on this team.

 

[Curtains]

Okay, I have a question. This is more or less a semi-stall team.
But-you have a Weavile. Switch it to Torment Tran, it will be much more effective.
You already have TS support which is vital for it. It will work well.

I disagree with this being a semi stall team. Its not a stall team because you can't really switch in to anything and you lack recovery outside of painsplit (which isn't great anyway). This is not a stall team because there are no phasers what so ever. Torment tran will only trip this team up and make it terrible, Its an offensive team.

Now to the rate i have to say that gengar/rotom-a does the job better in terms of spin blocking and creating offensive situations. Rotom-a particularly will be of help because of the resistances to Metagross whose agility set would ear fuck this team.So rotom over dusknoir. 3 attacks life orb shaymin works great instead of roserade. It gives you a suicune counter ( who walls this team) and it gives you options for defeating heatran and other bulky waters.

gl with the team

 

[Eggbert]

Jolteon>Electivire. Jolteon can sweep without a boost, can revenge stuff, can even check adamant gyarados, and can generally be a more reliable sweeper. Something to test out.

Rotom>Dusky. With toxic spikes, a sub-charge rotom can beat even blissey. This can also check and set up on threats, like the above mentioned metagross, and check check lucario, another problem.

Weavile is generally ineffective with no mence or garchomp to beat, another revenge killer like flygon can check these threats better (gyarados with thunderpunch, dragonite with outrage/stone edge, empoleon with EQ, ect)

 

[BlackLightAttack]

Thanks for the feedback, but keep in mind this is a real-game team, not Shoddy. Also, I don't use any kind of hacks or the like, so Shaymin and the Rotom formes are not available to me.

Jolteon>Electivire. Jolteon can sweep without a boost, can revenge stuff, can even check adamant gyarados, and can generally be a more reliable sweeper. Something to test out.

Rotom>Dusky. With toxic spikes, a sub-charge rotom can beat even blissey. This can also check and set up on threats, like the above mentioned metagross, and check check lucario, another problem.

Weavile is generally ineffective with no mence or garchomp to beat, another revenge killer like flygon can check these threats better (gyarados with thunderpunch, dragonite with outrage/stone edge, empoleon with EQ, ect)

I agree that generally Jolteon > Electivire, but Electivire brings type coverage that I feel I'm lacking in, namingly Flamethrower and Cross-Chop. Also, if I'm going to be removing Weavile, he brings Ice to the table.

Speaking of removing Weavile, I do certainly like the sound of Flygon. The only concern here is that using him as a revenge killer is iffy; I'm already using a Choice Scarf Jirachi and I'm not totally sure I want 2 Choice Scarfers on one team. It's certainly something to consider though, and worth testing. There's always the option of putting a Choice Band on a Jolly natured Flygon and using him less as a revenge killer (still filling that role to revenge kill slower poke's) and more as a midgame sweeper.

As for Rotom, see above.