Stall Team

[Brova]

NOTE: Only the raw sets for my team are up right now, there's been a major shift and I'm writing up descriptions now. Sorry if that isn't kosher for an RMT.

Hi. I'm new here, though I've been playing on Showdown for a while. This is my first ever post and RMT. I hope this team is okay and that I didn't screw up posting!

This team hit (on an alt called No Big Deal) 2105 ranking, though it's not showing up on the official rankings. Is there a minimum number of battles to get listed?

I am once again in need of help with pictures. I have the image showing my ranking saved on my computer, but the image insert button wants a URL. What can I do to fix this? Sorry to be so inept :P.

This is really a combination of two of my early little cup teams: a stall team featuring a FWG core (of Slowbro, Foongus, and Growlithe) and another stall team with Riolu. This team is mostly its own animal though, containing a grand total of none of those pokemon. It has also evolved far past its humble roots, now playing as more of a bulky offensive team.

Team Building Process

I started with Dwebble, which is probably my favorite Little Cup pokemon. It sets up hazards, always getting at least one layer and usually two or three. It sometimes randomly kills my opponents lead if I'm worried about Natu, or Taunt or something.

After that I wanted something to use my hazards, so I picked another favorite of mine: Lickitung. I used the standard RestTalk + Curse set, to phaze and be crazy bulky if it sets up.

No hazards based team is complete without a spinblocker, and Misdreavus is the best in the tier. The Nasty Plot set I use also makes for a decent offensive threat.

Then I added a wall I thought was pretty interesting: Numel. This little lava camel ... thing gets simple which makes it awesome at setting up with stockpile boosting both defenses by two. It also runs a RestTalk set.

With two RestTalkers on my team, I decided a wanted a cleric and Chinchou fit the bill while also serving as bulky water.

I was the better part of the way through a FWG core, and I wanted something to resist fighting, so I decided to pick a pokemon I though was cool: Exeggcute. It can stall, sleep, and KO the occasional threat with STAB Leaf Storm.

The one pokemon I changed was Chinchou, which I swapped for Wooper after I noted a major weakness to boosting sweepers. Wooper walls these crazy well and can spread toxic around for giggles. This was the team a first posted here.

On the advice of Corkscrew, I made two changes to my team. He suggested adding Chinchou back as a RestTalker to deal with Murkrow, and Timburr over Numel to beat Scraggy. I also took his advice and changed the mediocre Exeggcute to the brutal Scarf Snover.

The team did well, but Lickitung felt like dead weight. It was big and could phaze, but slow and weak to the omnipresent fighters. I initially replaced it with the fast, fragile Elekid which is blessed with the ability to outspeed all but three unboosted pokemon - and tie with those!

This was not to last however, as Elekid's entire line has a problem to go with its massive speed: super effective does not equal KO. With this in mind, I changed from the glass cannon Elekid, to the slightly sturdier Murkrow, specifically the MixKrow set.

After a few matches, I switched Dwebble to Drilbur, hoping to keep Stealth Rock and add a spinner and attacker.

I ended up not liking the mole that much. It could spin, but I liked having hazards more and enjoyed Dwebble's ability to randomly gank some leads. Dwebble was back and exactly the same.

In Depth

Murkrow @ Life Orb
Trait: Insomnia
Level: 5
EVs: 240 Atk / 80 SAtk / 188 Spd
Hasty Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Drill Peck

Snover @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Snow Warning
Level: 5
EVs: 124 Atk / 184 SAtk / 200 Spd
Hasty Nature
- Blizzard
- Giga Drain
- Ice Shard
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Misdreavus @ Eviolite
Trait: Levitate
Level: 5
EVs: 28 Def / 240 SAtk / 240 SDef
Modest Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fighting]

Chinchou @ Eviolite
Trait: Volt Absorb
Level: 5
EVs: 220 Spd / 232 SAtk / 56 SDef
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Blizzard
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Timburr @ Eviolite
Trait: Guts
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Atk / 76 Def / 236 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Payback

Dwebble @ Oran Berry
Trait: Sturdy
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 236 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Rock Blast
- X-Scissor

Strategy

I essentially always lead with Dwebble, go to hazards, then try and weaken my opponents team for the win.

Questions
-I feel like I could use a scarfer. What would work well with the team?
-My other stall team uses Riolu as a utility check and priority phazer. Is that worth including here?
-Any tips on how to play well with a team like this?

-Brova

 

[Rowan]

Hello there and welcome to smogon! Also props for playing LC a very fun and under-rated tier.

I see you're attempting to use a stall team, which is a very difficult play style to team-build for as you need to be able to counter the entire metagame with just 6 pokemon. Any stall team is not going to work without counters or checks to the 2 most threatening pokemon in LC: Murkrow and Drilbur. As of now, you don't really have a great way to deal with these threats.

To remedy this I suggest go back to Chinchou over Wooper. If you use the rest-talk set on site it will be able to keep healthy and check Murkrow throughout the match. With Heal Bell it will also be able to keep your team safe from status such as Toxic which will wear stuff like Misdreavus down.

As for Drilbur, your own suggestion of Snover over Exeggcute seems like a good one as if you can keep sand away you'll be able to beat it easily.

Now without Wooper you seem more weak to Scraggy. As Numel doesn't beat anything that the rest of your team won't be able to deal with I suggest replacing it with Standard Bulk Up Timburr. This will beat Scraggy can also serve as a semi-decent check to Misdreavus, another pokemon who can deal severe damage to your team, as it takes very little from Shadow Ball and can retaliate with payback.

As for minor nitpicks, your Lickitung's EVs seem sub-optimal. I think you meant 236 SpD, no SpA. Also as your attack and defense stats will be boosted by curse, it is definitely worth investing in more HP. A spread of 196 HP/ 76 Def / 236 SpD is probably best. You don't need attack because you'll end up doing more damage through passive damage of entry hazards.
If you do want to use Snover, then Taunt could be used on Misdreavus. This can lead against sand teams to prevent Hippo getting up Stealth Rock which would wear down Snover.

If you don't want to take up all the suggestions that is fine. I feel kind of bad for replacing half your team, but these are only suggestions that may help you don't have to take them if you don't want to.

You asked for tips on how to play well with a team like this - obviously I don't know how good a player you are so this may seem patronising, but if you're going to use a stall team then team preview is the best thing to take advantage of. At the beginning of a match I often write down their team and then write next to them which members of my team beat which members on theirs. Then I'll try to keep the members I need most as healthy as possible. For instance if I have a Timburr on my team and I see the opponent has a Scraggy, I know I need to keep Timburr healthy in order to be able to beat it. On the contrary if I see a team with Murkrow, Foongus, Abra and Slowpoke then I know I'll be able to play recklessly with Timburr as it won't be much use to me.

 

[SMP]

Just a heads up, but Murkrow and Misdrevus are banned. You no longer need to counter them and they cannot be used in Little Cup. You will mainly need to worry about Vullaby as he's the one rising up to take Murkrow's place.

 

[Brova]

Really? Because with my changes I'm using both of them... I've seen 'Krow on the ladder today, and I think Missy too. That's weird. I just hit 2105 ranking, so I'm updating this.

If you don't want to take up all the suggestions that is fine. I feel kind of bad for replacing half your team, but these are only suggestions that may help you don't have to take them if you don't want to.

I was a while responding to this, but it's fine. I made the changes you suggested and the team did much better, with the exception of lolrandom Zen Headbutt flinches from Scraggy. Thanks so much for the advice!

 

[Delver]

Just a heads up, but Murkrow and Misdrevus are banned. You no longer need to counter them and they cannot be used in Little Cup. You will mainly need to worry about Vullaby as he's the one rising up to take Murkrow's place.

I'm afraid you're wrong. Murkrow and Missy were unbanned sometime in the middle of last year - and murkrow is very much a large threat that must be answered. Rest-Talk Chinchou (as Good_Luck said) is a good way to deal with it. I'd recomend running heal bell with it because you're running *A LOT* of rest talkers.

You still want a way to deal with set up sweepers though; and my suggestion to answer that is something I've been toying with for the Murkrow Redux

Murkrow @ Eviolite
Trait: Prankster
Level: 5
EVs: 36 HP / 100 Def / 180 SDef / 188 Spd
Timid Nature
- Roost
- Substitute
- Haze / Torment
- Drill Peck​

You can run Torment over Haze, both work in different situtations. HAze deals with set up sweepers easier due tot he nature of the move while torment keeps non boosting attackers from being able to break it.

Also, since you're only running a single hazard setter, and at worst you only get rocks down, you definitely want some form of Residual damage. Snover is probably a good idea.


I also like your idea of making Missy scarfed - Trick would be the 4th move. Stall teams dont like spending unnecessary turns and your missy sort of does that. It goes against the whole flow of the team, and if it does work, its only cause its missy, and not because it's well supported or supports well. Giving it a scarf provides it a role in your team besides "slapped on saftey" (I'm guilty of this a lot). It destroys walls (Lileep specifcally) that can put dents in your plans and acts as a fast and powerful revenge killer that can swing momentum back in your favor.

In summary, my suggestions would be:

exeggcute -> supportKrow
Wooper -> Heal-Talk ChinChou
Numel -> Snover
Missy -> Give that gurl a scarf.

 

[IceKold]

Hey bro nice team! My one suggestion is that for a scarfer you use a scarf Mienfoo. Scarf Mienfoo is one if the better scatters in the tier because of Regenerator serving as a quality form of avoiding hazards and switch damage due to all of the switches. Also, even unboosted, his Hi Jump Kick hits like a truck. U-Turn is great for momentum too. His speed lets him kill even boosted Scraggy so he's a great fail safe too. Etc etc... Anyways here's the set to replace Timburr:

Mienfoo @ Choice Scarf
Adamant
Evs: 236 Atk; 36 SpD; 236 Spe
- Hi Jump Kick
- Stone Edge
- U-Turn
- Drain Punch

Enjoy and good luck!!