Community Create-a-Team: SmashPass Polteageist

[Ika Ika Musume]

Mostly Ripped from Cant Say's USUM CCaT thread.

current team:

Teambuilding is something I don't think we do enough of as a community. It's time to come together and build the ultimate Smogon BSS team and take the ladder by storm! Each week we will work through a step in the teambuilding process, with a nomination period and a discussion/voting period. Once we have a team of 6 we will have a review and vote on any changes we want to do to finalize the team. Obviously teambuilding is much more complex than choosing 6 Pokemon one after the other, but there's no better way to do it when we're all voting on stuff. Once we're done I'll RMT the squad and use my pokedollars to get Cant Say arrange to have the team bred up for usage on cart!

It's a new metagame, we have a lot of new tools to play with so it should be a lot of fun!

To start with, nominate something you want to build the team around! This can be a singular Pokemon, a core, or an archetype.

Rules:

• Only submit one idea each round. If you want to include something with your original nomination then edit your last post.
• No shitty gimmicks. No bandwagon votes. I definitely want to encourage creative ideas but don't nominate / vote for something dumb for the sake of it. We want the team to be as competitive as possible.
• Explain your ideas clearly and provide calcs / examples of why your idea is good to support your nomination. Just simply posting a moveset won't get you very far.
• Feel free to critique nominations if you think they could be better, but no flaming ideas you don't like.
• Don't be offended if things don't go your way. You may firmly believe your idea is the best but if it gets outvoted there's not much to do but improve the team afterwards.
• You can reserve a nomination for 24 hours, after that I will delete your post and anyone else can claim it.

Results so far

WIP

Importable of current team

WIP

Let's see what we can come up with!

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

A R C H I V E

CCaT 1:

Nothing Atm

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

I'll get things started with a nomination of my own, show how things are done :].

Hide

Hatterene (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Bounce
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Mystical Fire
- Dazzling Gleam

I've been playing around with Offensive Trick Room Hatterene as a lead as something that can consistently get up Trick Room vs. any opposing lead thanks to the fantastic ability in magic bounce as well as focus sash meaning it negates taunt. As well as this, it is great Balance breaker, with Psychic doing tons vs. Toxapex, Mystical Fire bopping Ferrothorn. Dazzling Gleam does tons to Grimmsnarl and OHKOs Dragapult.

The EV spread is pretty simplistic, just max SpA for damage, max HP with Sash is kind of counterintuitive but certain pokemon are not going to OHKO you so the extra bulk is nice for those pokemon. On the other end, you want to be always able to live Ghost moves from Dragapult and attacks from Mimikyu. I've used no speed quiet so you outspeed base 30s under trick room.

I've been switching between a lot of Trick Room sweepers, from Guts Conkeldurr to Copperajah to LO TR Mimikyu and even used Wishiwashi for a bit. Something like Banded Ferrothorn might even be decent. I think there is a lot of room for diversity in team choice as well as the ability to create a secondary core. Something for Mimikyu and something for sub stalling is definitely needed as well as POOOWWWWEEERRRRR. I do think Trick Room is pretty anti-Meta as well, with a lot of strong pokemon like Gyarados relying on DD and rain/sand being commonplace.

 

[RoyalReloaded]

I must admit, I don't really know where to begin so I'm just gonna submit a pokemon that I think is pretty cool

Set 1 - Nuke

Falinks @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- No Retreat
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Throat Chop / Giga Impact

I think this is the best set for Falinks. The title is self explanatory, the main purpose is to go in and use No Retreat, then just press your most powerful move. Close Combat for stab and Megahorn for pesky psychic types. For the last move there's a choice between Giga Impact and Throat Chop. You can opt for whichever you prefer to cover, ghost types or things like flying types. When originally creating this set, I thought that Giga Impact would be better, as the only way Falinks can outspeed Dragapult is in trick room, sticky webs, or if Dragapult just has a speed drop, and Falinks doesn't really have a good way to hit flying types. However, I remembered that several ghosts exist in the meta, and hitting them for super effective damage seems pretty valuable. I'm not really sure which move is better at the moment, because we don't exactly know which pokemon are being used a lot. Giga Impact could be good because it could bait in a pokemon to set up on the recharging turn, then send in scarfed Ditto to copy its stat boosts, but I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself.

Now I'm going to try some sets which I think are a little less optimal but could still be good

Set 2 - Bulky, Hard Hitter

Falinks @ Life Orb / Assault Vest
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Throat Chop

Basically the same as the first set, except it does not use No Retreat. Better for tanking a hit or two. I think this set is probably the worst of the three, but I think it is still worth taking a look at.

Set 3 - Called Game

Falinks @ Focus Sash / Room Service
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
- Throat Chop
- Megahorn
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance

This set is pretty exciting to think about for me. I think it could be really good under a trick room team. One swords dance and Falinks should be able to run through a lot of things. Same move choices for the first set, except for No Retreat being switched for Swords Dance, for obvious reasons under trick room.

Sorry for my lackluster explanations for the last two sets, but I think I pretty much covered everything in the first set's explanation, because most of the moves are the same, I hope my submission is okay lol

EDIT: I 100% forgot that Room Service exists, that could be a good item for the last set

 

[ethan06]

I MISSED THIS SO MUCH

let's go

STICKY WEB

Ribombee @ Light Clay
Ability: Shield Dust
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- Moonblast
- Reflect
- Light Screen

With so many hard hitters in the game, Sticky Web is looking really powerful as an offense archetype this gen! Sure, this mon isn't anything new in and of itself, but Sticky Web takes strong but kinda slow offensive Pokemon like Obstagoon, Haxorus, Dracozolt, Dracovish, Galarian Darmanitan, Nasty Plot Hydreigon + Gengar, Duraludon etc. and makes them truly scary. Historically, Webs have been a little difficult to pull off in 3v3 due to the difficulties associated with dedicated support Pokemon, but I feel like the scales are tipped a little this gen thanks to Dynamax. Certainly an archetype worth exploring - other setters we could explore include Araquanid, Galvantula, and the newly released Orbeetle, but I picked Ribombee here as a fast suicide lead with screens because I reckon it suits the nature of 3v3 better than a slow setter or an offensive mon that happens to carry Sticky Web, and screens are great support for any of the setup sweepers I mentioned.

 

[cant say]

Solerme (Polteagiest) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shell Smash
- Shadow Ball
- Stored Power
- Baton Pass


we’d need one HELL of a Mimikyu counter but this cracked me up when I saw the datamine so I think it would be super funny to use

 

[Solerme]

Solerme (Polteagiest) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shell Smash
- Shadow Ball
- Stored Power
- Baton Pass


we’d need one HELL of a Mimikyu counter but this cracked me up when I saw the datamine so I think it would be super funny to use

how can i not +1 on this?

Since the most of us said that hyper offense is going to be so relevant this gen, having a CCaT which is leaning towards this strategy could be a good way to eventually disprove/prove it

 

[Thick Fat Azumarill]

Dracovish @ Choice Band
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs
- Low Kick / Rock Tomb

Theorymon sparked some discussion about the fossils on Discord some time ago, and while he talked a lot about Dracozolt, the fish head + dragon butt combination interested me more. Fishious Rend is absurdly strong if you get to move first, on top of getting boosted by Strong Jaw. Coverage is aimed to help against FerroPex cores. 75 base speed is pretty slow, but it can work with team support.

 

[TectonicDestroyer]

Ninjask @ Focus Sash
Ability: Speed Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 12 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Protect
- Final Gambit

In such an offensive meta, I feel baton pass could be a really cool idea to use, and ninjask with the speed boost can actually synergise well with a lot of the mons on this list like dracovish from Thick Fat Azumarill so it'll give us a lot of options to build our team around.

And no Ika Ika Musume this isnt the OP idea i was telling u about b4

 

[ArcticBreeze]

Indeedee-F (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Healing Wish
- Mystical Fire
- Dazzling Gleam

This mon is super cool the reason id like to use the form with less SPA. is for Healing Wish. From using this thing its super cool and is immune to stuff like Mimi SClaw and Aeg SBall, which is super cool.It gets moves like shadow ball and stab hyper voice but imo fire fairy is the best coverage. I could see this working just like lele zard hippo teams.

 

[marilli]

Dank Memes Melt Steel Beams (Duraludon) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stalwart
Level: 50
EVs: 140 HP / 252 SpA / 116 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Flash Cannon
- Thunder
- Rock Tomb

Not sure if this is actually good and if it is I don't think this will be good for long, and the defensive EVs need to be adjusted. But when this works it's really funny because it really punishes the currently common core of Pokemon in Mimikyu / Gyarados / Dragapult / Rotom. This thing dynamaxes and beats all of those 4 Pokemon, even if they Dynamax in return. It being a standalone means we aren't forced down a path with this first pick, but it reliably lures out Ferrothorn and Excadrill which can also be exploited so gives us something to go off of.

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

I'll give like another 12-24 hours and then we will vote R1. Thanks for everyone who has nominated.

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

Time for Voting, we have some good ideas here so I'm interested to see our starting point :]

Ika's OTR Hatterene

I'll get things started with a nomination of my own, show how things are done :].

Hide

Hatterene (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Bounce
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Mystical Fire
- Dazzling Gleam

I've been playing around with Offensive Trick Room Hatterene as a lead as something that can consistently get up Trick Room vs. any opposing lead thanks to the fantastic ability in magic bounce as well as focus sash meaning it negates taunt. As well as this, it is great Balance breaker, with Psychic doing tons vs. Toxapex, Mystical Fire bopping Ferrothorn. Dazzling Gleam does tons to Grimmsnarl and OHKOs Dragapult.

The EV spread is pretty simplistic, just max SpA for damage, max HP with Sash is kind of counterintuitive but certain pokemon are not going to OHKO you so the extra bulk is nice for those pokemon. On the other end, you want to be always able to live Ghost moves from Dragapult and attacks from Mimikyu. I've used no speed quiet so you outspeed base 30s under trick room.

I've been switching between a lot of Trick Room sweepers, from Guts Conkeldurr to Copperajah to LO TR Mimikyu and even used Wishiwashi for a bit. Something like Banded Ferrothorn might even be decent. I think there is a lot of room for diversity in team choice as well as the ability to create a secondary core. Something for Mimikyu and something for sub stalling is definitely needed as well as POOOWWWWEEERRRRR. I do think Trick Room is pretty anti-Meta as well, with a lot of strong pokemon like Gyarados relying on DD and rain/sand being commonplace.

RoyalReloaded's Falinks

I must admit, I don't really know where to begin so I'm just gonna submit a pokemon that I think is pretty cool
View attachment 207496

Set 1 - Nuke

Falinks @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- No Retreat
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Throat Chop / Giga Impact

I think this is the best set for Falinks. The title is self explanatory, the main purpose is to go in and use No Retreat, then just press your most powerful move. Close Combat for stab and Megahorn for pesky psychic types. For the last move there's a choice between Giga Impact and Throat Chop. You can opt for whichever you prefer to cover, ghost types or things like flying types. When originally creating this set, I thought that Giga Impact would be better, as the only way Falinks can outspeed Dragapult is in trick room, sticky webs, or if Dragapult just has a speed drop, and Falinks doesn't really have a good way to hit flying types. However, I remembered that several ghosts exist in the meta, and hitting them for super effective damage seems pretty valuable. I'm not really sure which move is better at the moment, because we don't exactly know which pokemon are being used a lot. Giga Impact could be good because it could bait in a pokemon to set up on the recharging turn, then send in scarfed Ditto to copy its stat boosts, but I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself.

Now I'm going to try some sets which I think are a little less optimal but could still be good

Set 2 - Bulky, Hard Hitter

Falinks @ Life Orb / Assault Vest
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Throat Chop

Basically the same as the first set, except it does not use No Retreat. Better for tanking a hit or two. I think this set is probably the worst of the three, but I think it is still worth taking a look at.

Set 3 - Called Game

Falinks @ Focus Sash / Room Service
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
- Throat Chop
- Megahorn
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance

This set is pretty exciting to think about for me. I think it could be really good under a trick room team. One swords dance and Falinks should be able to run through a lot of things. Same move choices for the first set, except for No Retreat being switched for Swords Dance, for obvious reasons under trick room.

Sorry for my lackluster explanations for the last two sets, but I think I pretty much covered everything in the first set's explanation, because most of the moves are the same, I hope my submission is okay lol

EDIT: I 100% forgot that Room Service exists, that could be a good item for the last set

Ethan06's Sticky Web/Screens Ribombee

I MISSED THIS SO MUCH

let's go

View attachment 207611

STICKY WEB

Ribombee @ Light Clay
Ability: Shield Dust
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- Moonblast
- Reflect
- Light Screen

With so many hard hitters in the game, Sticky Web is looking really powerful as an offense archetype this gen! Sure, this mon isn't anything new in and of itself, but Sticky Web takes strong but kinda slow offensive Pokemon like Obstagoon, Haxorus, Dracozolt, Dracovish, Galarian Darmanitan, Nasty Plot Hydreigon + Gengar, Duraludon etc. and makes them truly scary. Historically, Webs have been a little difficult to pull off in 3v3 due to the difficulties associated with dedicated support Pokemon, but I feel like the scales are tipped a little this gen thanks to Dynamax. Certainly an archetype worth exploring - other setters we could explore include Araquanid, Galvantula, and the newly released Orbeetle, but I picked Ribombee here as a fast suicide lead with screens because I reckon it suits the nature of 3v3 better than a slow setter or an offensive mon that happens to carry Sticky Web, and screens are great support for any of the setup sweepers I mentioned.

Cant Say's SmashPass Polteageist

Solerme (Polteagiest) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shell Smash
- Shadow Ball
- Stored Power
- Baton Pass


we’d need one HELL of a Mimikyu counter but this cracked me up when I saw the datamine so I think it would be super funny to use

TFA's Banded Dracovish

View attachment 207995
Dracovish @ Choice Band
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs
- Low Kick / Rock Tomb

Theorymon sparked some discussion about the fossils on Discord some time ago, and while he talked a lot about Dracozolt, the fish head + dragon butt combination interested me more. Fishious Rend is absurdly strong if you get to move first, on top of getting boosted by Strong Jaw. Coverage is aimed to help against FerroPex cores. 75 base speed is pretty slow, but it can work with team support.

TectonicDestroyer's Baton Pass Ninjask

Ninjask @ Focus Sash
Ability: Speed Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 12 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Protect
- Final Gambit

In such an offensive meta, I feel baton pass could be a really cool idea to use, and ninjask with the speed boost can actually synergise well with a lot of the mons on this list like dracovish from Thick Fat Azumarill so it'll give us a lot of options to build our team around.

And no Ika Ika Musume this isnt the OP idea i was telling u about b4

Monsareeasy's Scarf Indeedee

Indeedee-F (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Healing Wish
- Mystical Fire
- Dazzling Gleam

This mon is super cool the reason id like to use the form with less SPA. is for Healing Wish. From using this thing its super cool and is immune to stuff like Mimi SClaw and Aeg SBall, which is super cool.It gets moves like shadow ball and stab hyper voice but imo fire fairy is the best coverage. I could see this working just like lele zard hippo teams.

Marilli's Weakness Policy Duraludon

Dank Memes Melt Steel Beams (Duraludon) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stalwart
Level: 50
EVs: 140 HP / 252 SpA / 116 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Flash Cannon
- Thunder
- Rock Tomb

Not sure if this is actually good and if it is I don't think this will be good for long, and the defensive EVs need to be adjusted. But when this works it's really funny because it really punishes the currently common core of Pokemon in Mimikyu / Gyarados / Dragapult / Rotom. This thing dynamaxes and beats all of those 4 Pokemon, even if they Dynamax in return. It being a standalone means we aren't forced down a path with this first pick, but it reliably lures out Ferrothorn and Excadrill which can also be exploited so gives us something to go off of.

 

[ethan06]

TFA's CB Dracovish

bite fish too nuclear

 

[RoyalReloaded]

ribombee

 

[Solerme]

cant say's SP Polt

 

[The Squash]

TFA's Banded Dracovish

vish vish

 

[cant say]

I really wanna vote for Dracomish but I’m not a fan of the banded set. We could change the item later if we wanna use the mon, but if I’m voting for a nominated set I’ve gotta go with marilli’s Duraladon.

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

I kind of agree with Cant Say that I want to vote for Dracomish, but mostly specifically saying I much prefer scarf Dracomish.

In terms of therefore what interests me the second most, it would be Marillis WP Duraludon, something I could see being pretty interesting.

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

I'll give voting another day, so get your votes in :]

 

[Thick Fat Azumarill]

cant say's Polteageist

I think that Polteageist has a lot of potential, even if I don't agree much with BP in the last slot. I personally enjoy Sucker Punch a lot more, but the idea of a decent smashpasser that isn't Smeargle is hilarious

 

[Feesh Squad]

gotta go for TFA’s mish vish
looks fun :)

 

[Biber]

Ikas hatterene. Trick room is still underrated in the current meta

 

[Theorymon]

voting for cant say's Polteageist. I gotta see if its possible to pull off Smashpass man!

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

Okay, Round 1 voting has officially Finished

I'm counting votes as follows:

Dracomish: 3 votes
Polteageist: 3 votes
Duraludon: 2 votes
Ribombee: 1 vote
Hatterene: 1 voe

Since there is a tie between Dracomish and Polteageist at 3 votes a piece, I have gotten my beautiful assistant to break the divide

So we shall be starting off with Cant Say's Smashpass Polteageist!!

Nominations for Round 2 have begun so if anyone has any good ideas for teammates, please suggest them here :]