FIRE TRAP!
Shadow tag! You're it!
Hey guys. Ever since gen 5 and dreamworld pokemon were introduced to the pokemon metagame, I've been experimenting with different team ideas, and this is the team that I eventually came up with. I call it...Fire Trap. I'll admit, it's a bit of a gimmick team, and there are several things that can counter it. Not only that, but you always run the risk of randomly being killed by crits. Regardless, this is still a really fun team to run, and if it works, it will piss your opponent off to no end. :naughty:
Shadow tag! You're it!
Hey guys. Ever since gen 5 and dreamworld pokemon were introduced to the pokemon metagame, I've been experimenting with different team ideas, and this is the team that I eventually came up with. I call it...Fire Trap. I'll admit, it's a bit of a gimmick team, and there are several things that can counter it. Not only that, but you always run the risk of randomly being killed by crits. Regardless, this is still a really fun team to run, and if it works, it will piss your opponent off to no end. :naughty:
Code name: Firestarter
Ninetales (F) @ Eject Button
Trait: Drought
EVs: 152 Def / 104 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Protect
- Disable
- Fire Spin
- Overheat
Ninetales NEEDS drought. I'll explain why later. If you come up against something that you think is going to stealth rock immediately, such as an Areodactyl or an Azelf, hit it with overheat or firespin and let those rocks come up. Overheat is for overall damage, and fire spin is meant for trapping. Then right after that, if you think you’re faster than their lead (which you should be, as Ninetales is actually very fast), use protect. They’ll usually use something like earthquake or hydro pump. If it’s an attack you don’t want to see again for a while, use disable right after protecting, as you should outspeed them, and people typically use the same attack twice in a row after hitting a protect.
Eject button might seem like a strange choice for a Ninetales, but it makes sense. See, in the sunshine, Ninetales can usually take a hit, since water is weakened. This team is all about trapping your opponent’s pokemon, so once they hit you, whether it kills you or not, you are guaranteed to get a shadow tag/arena trap.
If they start off with something that moves slower than you and sets up weather other than sunny day (Politoad/Tyranatar/Hippowdon/Abomasnow), protect, disable them, then switch the hell out of there even if it means sacrificing someone. It is extremely important that you keep the sunny weather up. Hippowdon is sort of an exception, as you can usually 2HKO it with Overheat.
Code name: Sacrifical Lamp
Lampent (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Memento
- Safeguard
- Taunt
- Confuse Ray
This thing isn’t going to last long. Basically, Lampent’s only purpose is to trap the opponent into (another) memento and shadow tag. Everything else in his movelist is just filler, in case you need him for something else for whatever reason. Feel free to improvise with his other 3 attacks.
Code name: Sacrifical Mole/Revenge killer
Dugtrio (F) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Memento
- Earthquake
- Reversal
- Endure
At first I had Dugtrio running Choice Scarf, but then I realized he’s actually so fast he doesn’t really need it. With Dugtrio, you’ve got a few options, but typically, I just use memento as Dugtrio isn’t very defensive. If you want, you can inflict some damage with earthquake. Endure and Reversal are there solely for Tyranitar, who will shut down the entire team, given the chance.
DO NOT bring Dugtrio in on something that either is part-flying or has the ability Levitate if you plan on using memento. These pokemon bypass arena trap.
Focus sash is for the offchance that rocks and spikes don't get set up, as a backup if endure fails. Feel free to replace this item with something else if you want, as it might not be all that important.
Code name: Screener
Gothorita (F) @ Light Clay/Evolite
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Flash
- Torment
Gothorita is our screener, and even though see’s only a pre-evolved pokemon, she’s actually surprisingly durable with screens up. When Gothorita comes in, it’s advisable to bring it in after using memento, as she really does need the extra protection. After you boost her defense, use torment. Torment is a wonderful attack for this team, as lots of pokemon don’t have two attacks that are strong enough to KO a pokemon, and it even goes through substitutes. Not only that, but if you keep them trapped, it’ll last until they die. Flash is also highly advisable, as it is very unlikely that the enemy will be able to hit you AND crit you at the same time with -6 accuracy.
Once you have debuffed your opponent’s pokemon sufficiently, and you've made sure it's something that won't beat down a dark or psychic type pokemon, switch into one of these two sweeper. Which one you pick is completely up to the situation and whichever pokemon you’ve trapped. If you’re trapping something that is a physical attacker, choose Chandelure for acid armor. If you aren’t too worried about special attacks, and if you feel like you aren’t going to get enough time to buff up, choose Gothitelle.
Code name: King of the Hell
Chandelure (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Acid Armor
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Flamethrower
Once Chandelure gets set up, this thing becomes a total beast. It gets a special attack value of about 1500 with defenses a little lower than 1000, which is incredible. Not only that, but if you played this team correctly, you should still have sunny day up from Ninetales, which is going to make your flamethrower insanely powerful. Expect to OHKO just about everyone you see, even things that resist fire.
If you are fighting a physical attacker, use acid armor until maxed, then switch to calm mind. If you are fighting a special attacker, do calm mind, and then once maxed, switch to acid armor.
Rest is vital to this moveset. You absolutely need rest to get rid of toxic poison and for recovery purposes. I also like to use rest if they just used yawn on me, as I like knowing that I’ll wake up two turns later.
Unfortunately, this isn’t a perfect sweeper. Chandelure can be stopped dead in its tracks by anything with the flash fire ability, usually in the form of Heatran. Dugtrio can outspeed a non-scarfed heatran and kill it with an earthquake. Also, keep in mind that there is always a chance that a random critical will kill Chandelure, and just honestly sucks. However, sometimes you’ll still be okay, since we have a backup sweeper...
Code name: Mistress of Hell
Gothitelle (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Rest
Gothitelle is another user of shadow tag, and for some reason, I don’t see people using her too often. She needs EVs in both HP and DEF, plus a nature benefitting defense, as she is very vulnerable to physical attacks. Gothitelle has rest for the same reason Shandelure has it: to protect against status and to recover health.
As soon as Gothitelle comes out, calm mind until you get your special defense and special attacks stats to max. She can get a special attack value of about 1000 which, while not as amazing as Shandelure, is still really good. Psychic and hidden power fire are probably your best options for coverage, and hidden power fire gets a nice bonus from sunny day, provided it’s still up. Try to kill the opposing pokemon with one attack, either psychic or hidden power fire, as sometimes they’ll switch in with something to counter it that’s weak to the second attack Gothitelle has.
COUNTERS:
TYRANITAR
Tyranitar is a jerk. He automatically starts up sandstorm, which ruins sunny day and gives him increased special defense. Not only that, but even a fully boosted Gothitelle won’t be able to kill it under sandstorm. Dugtrio should be able to kill it with an endure/reversal counter, but if that doesn’t work or if Dugtrio is already dead, you’re going to have to improvise.
FLASH FIRE
Stops Shandelure dead in it’s tracks.
ZOROARK
You probably won’t notice Zoroark until it’s too late. Night Daze is a very powerful attack that can kill 4/6 of this team’s pokemon with ease, provided they’re unboosted. If you can get a chance to attack him, take it, as his defenses are absolutely terrible.
ROAR/WHIRLWIND
Try to stop this if you can. If you can’t, it’s not the end of the world. Pokemon that have these attacks are usually pretty killable by this team.
HAZE
Haze will completely ruin this team. However, unless you’re fighting someone that made an antiteam specifically for you, you should never see this attack in the metagame.
CLEAR BODY/OBLIVIOUS
These are also sort of rare, but there are some OU pokemon that have these abilities, such as Metagross.
TAUNT
The way to not get taunted is to not trap any pokemon that know taunt. Most taunters are leads, so you should be fine as far as that goes, but in case you can’t really get rid of a taunter, get taunted, then switch to Lampent and get a fast taunt in.
U-TURN/VOLT SWITCH/STUFF LIKE THAT
Not much you can do about this. Just switch into something to counter the switch in once your pokemon is dead, or if you feel like they’re going to attack you and you can survive it.
MOLD BREAKER
It’s pretty pointless to try to trap these guys, as they can simply switch out whenever they want. However, pokemon with this ability aren’t seen too often, so you shouldn’t have any real problems.
RANDOM CRITS
It sucks, but it happens.
CONCLUSION
Fire Trap is risky like a baton pass team. Not only that, but it takes lots of prediction and practice for this team to work. However, if you can get it up and running, you should be rolling around your opponent like it's nothing.
Please rate, comment, and thanks for reading! :D
Fire Trap is risky like a baton pass team. Not only that, but it takes lots of prediction and practice for this team to work. However, if you can get it up and running, you should be rolling around your opponent like it's nothing.
Please rate, comment, and thanks for reading! :D
