Hey Smogon! Pagoose here with my first proper RMT. I used this team to get reqs for the Metagross suspect test, going a decent 45-12 and 1600 on the suspect ladder. Without further ado, here is the team.
Team Building Process
I started with a Mega Gardevoir because I wanted to build around something that fucked up stall. Gardevoir was probably the best wallbreaker in ou, thanks to Mega Sableye.
I added a scarf Magnezone to trap annoying Ferrothorns and Scizors. I knew that Scizor in particular would be very popular in the suspect ladder due to the likely fairy spam going to be used.
Scarf Landorus-T was added to check a bunch of stuff such as excadrill and charizard x. You all know what it does.
AV Azumarill was added to help better check Charizard X and special attackers such as Keldeo in general.
My team was looking pretty Venusaur weak at this point, so I added Latios. It also provides defog support and a check to Charizard Y, electrics, and a better check to Keldeo.
At this point I still needed rocks, and my team was also looking pretty weak to fairies and dragons. A water resistance that could actually deal with azumarill and gyarados was needed too. Ferrothorn fitted perfectly as a glue for my team.
Finally, I swapped Gardevoir for Diancie. While Gardevoir helped my team with issues against stall, Diancie takes on offense much better, and also helps mitigate my sd talonflame and bisharp weakness somewhat. I swapped Azumarill to CB to better pressure defensive teams more, especially Venusaur, as well as have a way to check cm Clefable.
The Team
Diancie-Mega @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
Appearances can be deceiving; that much is obvious when talking about Mega Diancie. Everyone knows how strong this thing is, with amazing 160/160/110 offenses and near perfect coverage in its stabs, with earth power to round it off. This is my main win condition against most teams, able to wallbreak extremely effectively with magnezone to trap ferrothorn, the only defensive answer to diancie on most teams. I also generally lead off with it to get a free mega evolution with protect, but if they look like they have a lead breloom then I will lead landorus-t to u-turn into ferrothorn.
This is my main switch in to several important threats, such as mega sableye (which I surprising saw very little of on the ladder), charizard x and talonflame most importantly. Against stall teams, the main counter for this is either mega venusaur or amoonguss. You should attempt to wear down mega venusaur by predicting synthesises and attacking again before switching to latios, or pivoting to ferrothorn first if you want. The pressure from cb azumarill and diamond storm from this allows you to beat mega venusaur stall fairly well. Amoonguss is tricker due to regenerator, but azumarill can do a lot of damage to it with knock off, and ferrothorn can pretty effectively wall it even if they have hp fire. Against chansey you should just switch into ferrothorn.
The moveset and evs are fairly standard; stabs, earth power and protect for safe mega evolution, and a 4/252/252 spread. If anyone has a better ev spread, as in I should run a certain amount of attack for 2hkoing something, that would be great.
Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon
Magnezone is one of those pokemon whose effectiveness varies. Late xy and early oras, it wasn't nearly as effective because people were prepared for it, using shed shell on skarmory and even ferrothorn. Right now, magnezone's usage has gone down, so nobody is running shed shell ferrothorn, and the few skarmory's I ran into didn't either. It has 1 main job: trapping ferrothorn (and skarmory) so my other team members can destroy the remaining of my opponent's team. Giving it a scarf allows it to be useful outside of this job, allowing it to check pokemon such as thundurus, diancie, 1 attack altaria, etc. Again, evs and moves are standard. Magnezone also forms a nice volt-turn core with the next pokemon.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Explosion
Scarf Landorus-T is a pokemon that needs no introduction. While defensive may be more common nowadays (I think) scarf is a solid set that checks a multitude of pokemon and threatens them out with earthquake, allowing you to gain momentum with u-turn. Some people opt to only run enough speed to outrun scarf excadrill so they can underspeed other landorus-t's and gain momentum with u-turn, however I prefer not to get my scarf knocked off, so I run max speed.
Explosion is an uncommon move so I should probably explain it. Explosion is a cool move for easing prediction lategame. For example, my opponent might have a 80% mega manectric with a life orb tornadus-t in the back, while I have my scarf lando out with a 100% diancie in the back. I can tank 1 hit with diancie, but not both, so normally whoever wins the earthquake/stone edge 50/50 wins the game. However, in this scenario, if I explode then I always win, no prediction required. This type of scenario comes up more than you would think. It also does more damage to setup sweepers such as altaria (80% over 50%) and also lets me beat gyarados without having to win a 50/50 on the mega evolution. It also lets me drop a clean 50% damage on physical walls like hippo and slowbro, often netting me surprise kills.
Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Play Rough
- Aqua Jet
- Knock Off
Azumarill was originally Assault Vest, but it just isn't as good as it was in xy. Choice band however, is still a great wallbreaker against all playstyles while still retaining azumarill's amazing typing and bulk. It also gives me a (albeit shaky) keldeo check, something that can threaten a 2hko on clefable, and some powerful priority in aqua jet. Fairy spam in the non mega metagross meta is amazing and azumarill+diancie can often just overpower checks such as empoleon and amoonguss.
Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Earthquake
- Defog
Latios was added to check Charizard Y, Keldeo, Venusaur, and to provide defog. I run earthquake because otherwise heatran is very annoying to my team, getting free switch-ins on ferrothorn, magnezone, and this of course. Previously I ran some nice heal block innovation because fuck chansey, but earthquake is better imo because heatran is far more common than chansey and also more annoying to deal with. I run 29 hp evs because it gives me a life orb number, althought it really doesn't matter very much.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
The last pokemon I added to my team is ferrothorn. It serves as a nice glue for the rest of my team, both setting rocks and switching into threats like azumarill, latios, raikou, and other similar pokemon. I run the standard 252/88+/168 spread for mixed bulk, and protect over power whip because I feel like I do not need power whip on this team. Ferrothorn+scarf landorus-t also counters lead breloom, as landorus-t can u-turn out to break the sash then go to ferrothorn to kill it with gyro ball. I also use ferrothorn to pivot into latios against hp fire venusaur and amoonguss, helpful on this team as latios lacks a recovery move.
Major Threats:
Diancie-Mega @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Explosion
Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Earthquake
- Defog
Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Play Rough
- Aqua Jet
- Knock Off
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Explosion
Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Earthquake
- Defog
Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Play Rough
- Aqua Jet
- Knock Off
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
