Gen 2 Bringing type spam to GSC OU (Sunny Day Hyper Offense)

Siatam

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:gs/jynx: :gs/entei: :gs/houndoom: :gs/moltres: :gs/snorlax: :gs/exeggutor:

Preface
Hi all, I’m Siatam, my passions include playing GSC and choking in every tour I enter. As an avid GSC player I’ve always wanted to build my own teams but struggled to make viable, unique teams in a meta with two decades of development behind it. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel or make minor changes to existing teams, I’ve focused on developing an underused archetype (sun) to counter meta defensive picks and outpace popular modern offenses. This is my first RMT so I hope it can be a good read and meet quality expectations.

How does this team operate?
At first glance, this team appears to break many GSC teambuilding axioms: no electric, no spikes, no normal resist, no phazing. I hope that by explaining the general playstyle you can better understand why this team deviates from fundamentals, and in turn you can help me improve this team.
Type spam is not a new idea (see dragon spam in BW or bird spam in ORAS) but is not something I have seen much of in GSC. The overall end goal of this team is to overwhelm common fire type checks, while invalidating the majority of the tier’s physically defensive mons. Sorry in advance this comes off sounding too much like a guide, but hey I’m passionate about this team.

So as a brief refresher, what does sun do? (Ordered from most to least impactful in regards to this team)
  1. Boosts damage of fire type moves by 50%
  2. Allows solarbeam to be realistically used
  3. Reduces damage of water type moves by 50%
  4. Reduces thunder accuracy from 70% to 50%
  5. Doubles health recovery of Synthesis, Morning Sun, and Moonlight (50%->100%)
  6. All pokemon become immune to freezing (but does not cure it)
Also important: Sunny Day and Rain Dance in GSC can have their turn counter reset before expiring.

Almost all teams in GSC rely on spikes as a way to pressure switches and manage the omnipresent leftovers. Thief spam and Nidoking/Machamp based offense both rely on lots of coverage, predicting/forcing switches and spikes to wear down the opponent’s checks. This team instead uses pure SD+FB damage to blow through checks. Only the stalliest or most hyper offensive teams can afford to pressure opponents without spikes; normally through repeated Explosions or the threat of late game sweepers, namely Marowak and/or Drumlax. This team again differs as it only packs a modest two Explosions and has no strong distinction between early game breakers and late game cleaners. Keeping Sunny Day up as consistently as possible, having good speed tiers, and threatening to 2 or 3hko every mon in the tier not named Blissey is the name of the game. Sun is so important to this strategy that it is almost never a good play to switch out and waste a precious sun turn. As a result it is not uncommon for a match to end with sun being active for >70% of all turns.
Long story short, Fire Blast hits hard, SD abusers are fast, and fire+grass coverage can invalidate a good portion of the defensive metagame.

So why are the typical GSC teambuilding fundamentals ignored?

Spikes? Not necessary due to many offensive threats, Spikes setters lack fast paced offensive options.
No electric? Raikou does not utilize its spikes shuffling ability, Zapdos Tbolt doesn’t do enough damage to threaten switches, Thunder is anti-synergistic
No normal resist? The team doesn’t switch out against Lax, it trades one of its offensive threats for what is likely the opponents #1 threat. Explosion is dangerous, no way around it, sacks have to be picked wisely.
No phazing? A little tricky here, the team plans to keep the offense pressure and boom on baton pass teams when necessary.

Teambuilding Process
:entei: :houndoom: :moltres:
These three sunny day and fire spamming mons form the heart of the team and are what enable this brand of “switch-less” offense. This core came about from a mono-fire team I used on cathartic low-ladder stomping sessions where these three mons did seemingly 90% of the work. Every other member of this team is designed around providing opportunities for Entei, Houndoom and Moltres to set up Sunny Day and fire off attacks without being compelled to switch.
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Given that this team spends a lot of turns losing momentum by setting up SD, it is critical that it does not start the game off on the back foot. I picked Jynx because she is one of the best GSC leads when it comes to forcing switches and has the added benefit of crippling common specially defensive switch-ins with Thief.
:snorlax:
Every GSC team should have Snorlax, the only question is what set. A defensive set has no business being on this team and curse-rest-talk is just too slow. Self Destruct was the only choice left and is a great way to remove special walls. Combined with Moltres, Snorlax also offers the slightest hint of a defensive core on this team.
:exeggutor:
One of the teams greatest weakness found during testing was that it lacked the firepower to deal with Suicune, Blissey and Starmie if they had not had their leftovers stolen by Jynx. This could have been mitigated to an extent by adding spikes to this team but I was and am a firm believer that the spike setting mons have no place on GSC hyper offense. Not to mention the negative synergy both Cloyster and Forretress have with this team. This brings me to Exeggutor, who is truly the band-aid that holds this team together. Eggy provides great coverage to deal the tiers fire resists, and can pack explosion to remove special walls. Additionally the fact that Eggy can bring coverage to hit every normal resist bar Misdreavus, Shuckle and Magcargo super effectively makes it the perfect utility mon to round out this offensive squad.


Team Breakdown

An overview of how each member plays, why the movesets are what they are, and viable alternatives. I’ve also included some important damage calcs in case you are unfamiliar playing with Sunny Day. As a rule of thumb, If I start talking about damage calcs without explicitly stating they are outside of sun, assume they are under sun.

:gs/jynx:
Jynx (F)
- Lovely Kiss
- Ice Beam
- Nightmare
- Thief

Jynx is the most consistent lead when it comes to preventing opposing hazards from going up and forcing early switches. She is also great at luring in and stealing Leftovers from rest-talkers and specially defensive mons. Snorlax, Suicune, Zapdos, and Raikou are the most likely to have their leftovers stolen. Starmie and Blissey are also excellent targets but unlikely to switch into a Jynx before it uses Lovely Kiss.
On the topic of LK, Jynx’s #1 priority is to get a Thief off, #2 is to sleep. Once sleep clause is in effect it is highly likely for your opponent to bring in their spiker, both of which Jynx performs poorly against. After performing her opening duties Jynx is best held in reserve to clean up matches with Ice Beam and Nightmare. Ice Beam is preferred over Psychic due to the frequency of the Zapdos matchup. Nightmare helps finish off Rest-Talkers that often stick around to a match’s endgame.
:nidoking: LK/Thief/EQ/IB Nidoking can perform a similar role as Jynx. It is a better Suicune lure, improves the Blissey matchup, and has Twave/Toxic immunity. However it has a worse Zapdos matchup, stacks another water/ground weakness, and offers less endgame utility.

:gs/entei:
Entei @ Leftovers
IVs: 6 HP / 24 Atk / 24 Def
- Sunny Day
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Hidden Power [Fighting]

Entei is the perfect partner to follow up Jynx lead and start a Sunny Day chain. With respectable 115/85/75 bulk and surprisingly fast base 100 speed, Entei can reliably set up SD and get off at least two attacks before dropping or being traded. Entei virtually always starts by setting up SD, followed by an attack. Fire Blast is the best option to take advantage of sun, it hits important damage roles (see calcs) and has higher average damage than Flamethrower. Solar Beam covers the Suicune, Vaporeon, Quagsire, Golem, and Rhydon matchups, HP Fighting is for Blissey, Tyranitar, and when you cannot afford to miss FB against a Lax.
As discussed before, it is generally not worth switching when SD is active, but there are exceptions. Starmie, Qwilfish, Tentacruel, Kingdra, Dragonite, and any expected status moves all encourage an immediate switch. Blissey, Vaporeon, and Suicune played by a competent opponent will also eventually force Entei out, though it can be useful to scout their movesets before switching.
Leftovers->Miracle Berry
Entei no longer has to be terrified of status and can get a crucial extra attack in the early game. The sacrifice of longevity makes this an anti-offense tech.
Entei Fire Blast vs. Cloyster in Sun: 284-334 (93.7 - 110.2%) -- 61.5% chance to OHKO
Entei Fire Blast vs. Raikou in Sun: 181-213 (47.2 - 55.6%) -- 19.3% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Entei Hidden Power Fighting vs. Blissey: 279-328 (39.1 - 46%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Entei Solar Beam vs. Suicune: 146-172 (36.2 - 42.6%) -- 96.5% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers
Recovery
Entei Fire Blast vs. Snorlax in Sun: 171-202 (32.6 - 38.6%) -- 4.1% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery *Note Snorlax takes ~8% recoil after using DE. A single DE boosts 3HKO odds to 80%
Entei Hidden Power Fighting vs. Tyranitar: 207-244 (51.3 - 60.5%) -- 93.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

:gs/houndoom:
Houndoom @ Leftovers
- Fire Blast
- Sunny Day
- Solar Beam
- Crunch

Entei round 2. Plays very similar but trades speed and bulk for damage output. As such Houndoom typically cleans up after Entei and Moltres. Though Houndoom can be played aggressively early in the match, be wary of letting it take too much damage before the opponent’s team is revealed. Without the coverage Entei and Houndoom provide, Moltres becomes far less threatening. Fire Blast and Solar Beam hit the same mons as listed in Entei’s analysis. Crunch allows Houndoom not to be walled by Water/Poison and Dragon types and is critical in the team’s Starmie matchup.
Since Houndoom is both more threatening and more frail than Entei it can better take advantage of refreshing sun turns early as opponents will often try to dance around it when sun is about to end.
Some key difference between Houndoom and Entei damage calcs are:
Cloyster is a guaranteed OHKO in sun
Raikou is a guaranteed 2HKO in sun
Suicune is a guaranteed 3HKO
Snorlax is a guaranteed 3HKO in sun
Tyranitar is a highly unlikely 2HKO
Crunch -> Pursuit
Provides occasional utility at the cost of the team becoming incredibly Starmie weak. Otherwise the tradeoff is minor as the 4th moveslot is rarely used. Pursuit becomes a necessity to punish ghosts if Snorlax does not run EQ.
Houndoom Fire Blast vs. Cloyster in Sun: 326-384 (107.5 - 126.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Houndoom Fire Blast vs. Raikou in Sun: 207-244 (54 - 63.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Houndoom Solar Beam vs. Suicune: 168-198 (41.6 - 49.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Houndoom Fire Blast vs. Snorlax in Sun: 194-229 (37 - 43.7%) -- 99.9% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Houndoom Crunch vs. Starmie: 205-242 (63.4 - 74.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Houndoom Solar Beam vs. Tyranitar: 185-218 (45.9 - 54%) -- 3.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

:gs/moltres:
Moltres @ Charcoal
- Sunny Day
- Fire Blast
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

The addition of Moltres on this team is what I view as the “critical mass” of fire moves and SD abusers. Without its eyebrow scorching power, the team may struggle to pick up KOs on damaged mons. Moltres’ primary role is simple: launch off the meta’s strongest special attack to either revenge kill or force resists to Rest lest Houndoom later threaten to 2HKO them. Moltres also serves an important secondary role: absorbing status and giving this team some much needed sustainability with Rest-talk. This sustain makes Moltres the go-to reset button when you need to refresh sun mid-match without sacking a mon.
Moltres is also the team’s pivot into Blissey, as it is not bothered by her status moves and can set up SD all day. Moltres does not win this matchup one on one, and is typically pivoted out into Exeggutor or Snorlax to threaten Blissey and restart the team’s momentum. A great switch in to the common Thief/Sleep users of Jynx, Nidoking, and Exeggutor since beats all these even while asleep and losing Charcoal gives your opponent nothing and hardly hinders Moltres.
Charcoal -> Leftovers
Charcoal is the go to item on Rest-talk Moltres as it allows for a 2HKO on Snorlax, in sun, after spikes. Obviously that calc is not important on this team but Charcoal is still preferred for its extra kick. On the other hand, Leftovers is perfectly viable if Moltres needs a little extra sustain.
Charcoal Moltres Fire Blast vs. Snorlax in Sun: 237-279 (45.3 - 53.3%) -- 0.3% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Charcoal Moltres Fire Blast vs. Gengar in Sun: 299-352 (92.5 - 108.9%) -- 56.4% chance to OHKO
Charcoal Moltres Fire Blast vs. Zapdos in Sun: 268-316 (69.9 - 82.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Charcoal Moltres Fire Blast vs. Raikou in Sun: 250-294 (65.2 - 76.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Charcoal Moltres Fire Blast vs. Suicune in Sun: 112-132 (27.7 - 32.7%) -- 0.1% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Charcoal Moltres Fire Blast vs. Starmie in Sun: 137-162 (42.4 - 50.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Charcoal Moltres Fire Blast vs. Blissey in Sun: 202-238 (28.3 - 33.3%) -- 2.7% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Charcoal Moltres Fire Blast vs. Tyranitar in Sun: 125-147 (31 - 36.4%) -- 89.1% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

:gs/snorlax:
Snorlax @ Leftovers
- Curse
- Double-Edge
- Self-Destruct
- Earthquake

Given that all other team members are special attackers, Snorlax holds this team together by threatening specially defensive mons on the physical side, luring in mons that have bad matchup against the fire core (Cloyster, Forretress, Skarmory, Golem, Rhydon), and providing defensive utility against the likes of Gengar, Raikou, and Espeon. Starmie, Qwilfish, Tentacruel, Kingdra, Dragonite have all been mentioned before as mons that force Entei out in the early game and Snorlax is the universal first response to these threats. The team doesn't rely on spreading paralysis and Snorlax is not focused on sustain, so Double-Edge over Body Slam or Return makes Snorlax the most threatening to the meta games’ special walls. Self-Destruct is used to remove key defensive mons (commonly opposing Snorlax), or to heavily dent physical walls after a Curse boost. Earthquake means Snorlax is not helpless against ghosts and damages Golem/Rhydon/Tyranitar into OHKO range by Entei or Houndoom or 2HKO range by Moltres. Curse rounds out the set by providing the aforementioned boost to Explosion and is a mid-ground play when you are unsure what type of normal resist is coming in.
Note that like Jynx after she has used Lovely Kiss, Snorlax invites Cloyster and Forretress in to set spikes up at little cost. Every other team member abuses Cloy and Forre so it is best not to give them free entry before you know that you can handle playing with spikes.
Curse ->Fire Blast
Probably the change I am closest to implementing on the “default” version of this team. It prevents Skarmory from switching in all day (though that predictability can be useful) at the cost that Snorlax becomes set-up fodder for Curse users. Self-Destruct also becomes less threatening to physical walls.
Earthquake -> Fire Blast
This is the “I really hate Skarmory” set and usually results in Snorlax booming early against a rock type. It has good matchups when not against Gengar/Misdreavus though Houndoom should run Pursuit anyway when using this set.

:gs/exeggutor:
Exeggutor @ Leftovers
IVs: 6 HP / 28 Atk / 24 Def
- Explosion
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Giga Drain

Four attacks Exeggutor: the duct tape solution to anything that slips past the rest of the team. Explosion and 3 coverage moves makes Eggy an immediate threat against special walls while having super effective coverage against every normal resist except Misdreavus. HP Fire beats both Steelix and Skarmory when used on switch, and is a clean 2HKO under sun. Psychic is a staple on Exeggutor sets, dealing solid damage and threatening Sp def. drops on Snorlax while shoring up the team’s Gengar and Machamp weaknesses. Giga drain provides sustain as Eggy switches in on many attacks (Surf, Cross Chop, Rock Slide, Earthquake) and allows Eggy to go blow for blow against Tyranitar.
While Solar Beam may look appealing, Exeggutor rarely switches in with more than one turn of sun left and cannot afford to drop coverage in favor of SD. Thief may also appear useful but in reality it steals Leftovers from mons already threatened by the rest of the team, namely Zapdos and Skarmory. An important insight into Exeggutor is that it becomes a greater threat to the opponent as more of this team is revealed. Hardly anyone will risk their Blissey/Starmie/Suicune/Vaporeon to an Explosion when they see 3 fire mons in the back. This allows Exeggutor to perform to its full potential as a threatening special attacker.
Giga Drain -> Sleep Powder
While the sustain Giga Drain provides is valuable, the move is only commonly used in the Ttar matchup. Sleep Powder can be a viable alternative as it can hamper common switch-ins without needing strong prediction. However, it risks becoming a dead move slot if Jynx has already slept an opponent.
Exeggutor Hidden Power Fire vs. Skarmory: 149-176 (44.7 - 52.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Exeggutor Hidden Power Fire vs. Skarmory in Sun: 224-264 (67.2 - 79.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Exeggutor Hidden Power Fire vs. Forretress: 326-384 (99 - 116.7%) -- 94.9% chance to OHKO
Exeggutor Hidden Power Fire vs. Forretress in Sun: 490-576 (148.9 - 175%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Exeggutor Hidden Power Fire vs. Steelix: 154-182 (43.6 - 51.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Exeggutor Hidden Power Fire vs. Steelix in Sun: 231-272 (65.4 - 77%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Threat List

Sorted into different types of threats, ordered by viability ranking/~popularity. Colored bigger threats.

Defensive Headaches:

:snorlax: Snorlax
Every game this team has to ask itself “how do I plan to get through Snorlax?” There are essentially four options:
  1. Sack one fire mon (usually Entei) and revenge kill it with another (usually Moltres)
  2. Self-Destruct w/ Snorlax
  3. Explode w/ Exeggutor
  4. Endgame it w/ Nightmare Jynx
No one Snorlax set is particularly more dangerous than another but all require a trade unless the opponents misplays. At least on offensive teams Snorlax is likely their toughest wall, and on defensive teams their biggest offensive threat. Beware of Lovely Kiss+Self-Destruct and Rest+Heal Bell support, best case is to trade your own Snorlax with these sets.

:cloyster: Cloyster/:forretress: Forretress
Neither of these are a threat by any stretch of the imagination, but are important matchups to understand. Cloyster’s best case scenario is setting up Spikes and getting off an Explosion after a 40% chance to live Entei’s Fire Blast. Forretress just wishes it stayed in bed against this team. Try to keep Spikes off the field for as long as you can but take the opportunity to regain offensive momentum when you can’t.

:skarmory: Skarmory
Whaaat? How can Skarmory be a threat to fire spam? In most matchups, Skarm makes your opponent play 5v6, only switching in on Snorlax and Exeggutor. Problems start to arise against Skarm+Bliss and Skarm+Suicune teams. Since Skarmory is otherwise pressured so heavily, opponents will take every opportunity to utilize it against predicted Explosions, and threaten Exeggutor with Drill Peck. This can result in rapidly losing momentum as the opponent switches between Skarm-> Bliss/Suicune as you switch between Fire->Lax/Eggy. Skarmory does not like taking +1 Lax Self-Destruct or Exeggutor HP Fire and so can be dealt with using good predictions. Breaking Skarm is usually the first step to breaking special walls with this team.

:Tyranitar: Tyranitar
Tyranitar is a combo offensive+defensive threat to this team. It packs a powerful Rock Slide, is not threatened to be OHKO’d by any mon, and can eat Explosions intended for other threats. Snorlax packs Earthquake and Exeggutor brings Giga drain almost solely to improve the Ttar matchup. Houndoom’s Solar Beam hits for 45-54% and Entei’s HP Fighting does a solid 51-60%. Tyranitar is a threat that is likely to come out early, and is difficult to remove without taking some serious damage in return. Try not to let it fire off more than one or two attacks.

:starmie: Starmie
Starmie is basically the Antichrist. It outspeeds the whole team and spams Recover with its ridiculous 32 PP. It can bring Thunder Wave or Substitute for additional disruption. If you see Starmie expect it to come in and sit on the fire types all day. Your only hopes are Crunch Houndoom, lucky crits or goading your opponents into letting Starmie take an Explosion. While Light Screen Starmie is not an instant loss for this team, it’s close to one.

:steelix: Steelix
Steelix acts similarly to Skarmory but is overall an easier mon to deal with. It is outsped by and lacks super effective coverage for Exeggutor. It also takes more damage from Earthquake and Giga Drain and often lacks the sustain of Rest. Overall not difficult to get through, but Explosion gives it greater offensive capabilities.

:suicune: Suicune
Suicune is a mon that is very annoying to deal with, but not one that will single-handedly rip the team to shreds. Rest-talk sets will live forever and constantly switch in, but are not terribly offensively threatening under sun. Worst set to face is Rest/ST/Surf/Toxic as Entei and Houndoom don’t want to eat at Toxic. Toxic/Rest + Heal Bell support is also very effective at wearing down your mons. Sets lacking Sleep Talk and Heal Bell support are virtually a non-issue, being easily 3HKOd by both Houndoom and Entei, this will require some foresight on when to set up sun in order to get 3 consecutive Solar Beams off.

:vaporeon: Vaporeon
Vaporeon is a discount Suicune against this team. It still lives forever but is not offensively threatening if kept in check. Rest/ST/Surf/Growth and Rest/Acid Armor/Surf/Growth are stuffed by Eggy. Ice Beam sets are muscled though by Entei and Houndoom. Be careful not to get overzealous and boom as Vap sets up Acid Armor, I’ve lost endgames by being similarly impatient.

:blissey: Blissey
The only mon more difficult than Snorlax or Starmie for this team to break. Fortunately Blissey is incredibly passive which allows Moltres to always switch in and spam Sunny Day until the opponent decides to switch out. Rotating Moltres -> Exeggutor is also a good way to force a switch. Though Entei packs HP Fighting almost exclusively for Blissey, it should only be used on predicted switches or when fishing for a crit. Staying in on Blissey with Entei is a great way to catch an incurable Toxic. The presence of Blissey also implies Heal Bell and possibly Light Screen, adjust accordingly. Blissey becomes much more of a hassle when paired with a solid physical wall, refer to Skarmory for more.

:tentacruel: Tenatcruel/:kingdra: Kingdra/:qwilfish: Qwilfish
All three of these mons are played against similarly. Snorlax is the #1 answer, Eggy can do in a pinch. Of the three Tentacruel is the one to watch out for, a free Swords Dance or Substitute can mean sacking 2 or more mons. These three would be of greater concern if they weren’t so unpopular.

:dragonite: Dragonite
Dragonite can be a big problem. Thunder Wave/Dynamic Punch/Ice Beam/Thunder is a typical set and wreaks havoc spreading paralysis and resisting stab. Pivoting Moltres/Snorlax into Jynx is a sketchy solution to force Dnite out and can only be done two or three times. Exeguttor also nearly always lives two Ice Beams from full. Fortunately Dnite lacks reliable recovery and can be worn down by Moltres with time and luck. Substituting Nidoking for Jynx would improve this matchup. Defensive Rest sets aren’t much to worry about.

Offensive Woes:

:raikou: Raikou/:zapdos: Zapdos
Both are generally not much of a problem. Jynx is likely to steal Leftovers and sleep them, allowing 2HKO from Houndoom and Entei. Sunny Day checks Thunder sets quite nicely as well. As such they are generally not worth being boomed on by Lax or Eggy. Not challenging, but seen in most matchups, learn how to pressure them.

:gengar: Gengar
Gengar is not much of a threat on its own but exceeds at revenge killing+trading itself with Explosion. Moltres has a 50/50 shot of an OHKO under sun. Entei shrugs off Gengar’s attacks but needs to be wary of Hypnosis. When playing against Gengar on an offensive team, going Entei will likely bring out an Explosion.

:machamp: Machamp
Machamp is always a late game cleaner to be feared in GSC. Cross Chop/Earthquake/Rock Slide/HP Bug are moves to be wary of, but no Machamp runs all four. Moltres+Exeggutor should handle it well. Eggy is usually the set scouting guinea pig.

:marowak: Marowak
Marowak coming in means someone is going down. Switching in Exeggutor will just get it worn down, it is usually best to accept a sack and kill it with fire before it boosts out of control. For Houndoom and Entei Solarbeam is the safer bet to 2HKO in sun rather than risk a Fire Blast miss. Moltres has a 38.5% chance to OHKO in sun if you are feeling cheeky. Marowak is also one of the reasons that status spreading is so dangerous to this team, more on that later.

:golem: Golem/:Rhydon: Rhydon
If you play smart, these two are effectively dead weight on the opponents team. Solar Beam from Houndoom or Entei is always an OHKO. Opponents will certainly try to bring these in the turn sun ends, so try to refresh sun on the predicted switch if you can afford it. Even if they catch you with your pants down, Eggy is a solid answer. Be careful not to trade both Entei and Houndoom before all six of your opponent’s mons are revealed, these Rock/Ground monsters can often be found at the back.

:charizard: Charizard
If the previous three entries haven’t clued you in yet: Rock/Ground coverage is dangerous. Especially so on a team with three fire types. If Starmie is this team’s Antichrist, Drumzard is the Boogieman. Check under your bed and expect that he is creeping in your opponent’s sixth slot, ready to set up in one turn and outspeed your entire team. Your only saving graces are hanging on to a healthy Snorlax, and the fact that Charizard won’t be scoring any KOs without a boost. Worst case scenario Exeggutor has a 15% (28% counting accuracy) chance to survive a Fire Blast outside of sun and trade with Explosion.

Rapid fire:

:exeggutor: Exeggutor
Gets smoked by everyone, go Moltres if you fear sleep, most people won’t immediately risk boom against sleep talk odds.

:nidoking: Nidoking
Moltres has a better matchup against Nido than you’d think. Thunder only has a 33.5% chance to 2HKO when not holding leftovers, 8% to do it through sun accuracy. Fire Blast does >80%.

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Jynx

Designated Moltres food, if it’s a mirror lead matchup double back to your own Jynx, if it’s Substitute+Nightmare, go Houndoom/Entei.

:misdreavus: Misdreavus
I ain’t fraid of no ghosts. Gets beat by all the fires, try not to let it Toxic the entire team. The perishtrap set can’t beat the fires without relying on hax.

:heracross: Heracross
Walled, outsped, and cooked by Moltres, outsped and cooked by the other fires.

:miltank: Miltank
Does not like taking Fire Blasts. Whenever it Heal Bells go something that can deal with whatever just woke up.

:porygon2: Porygon2
Not bulky enough to take 2 Fire Blasts from Houndoom or Moltres. It can try to PP stall with Recover and spread paralysis but won’t be switching into many attacks.

:Quagsire: Quagsire
Solar Beam go brrrr.

:Meganium: Meganium/:venusaur: Venusaur
Even if they have Light Screen they shouldn’t get more than one opportunity to set it up.

:alakazam: Alakazam
Don’t let it spread status to the entire team, throw Houndoom or Snorlax at it.

:smeargle: Smeargle
The only Spikes setter virtually guaranteed to set them up facing Jynx. Steal its Miracle Berry or attack it turn 1 then watch out for whatever Destiny Bond/Counter/Mirror Coat/Baton Pass shenanigans it has in the back.

:aerodactyl: Aerodactyl
If you don’t immediately lose when this thing is baton passed to, Snorlax will help you survive with a bloody nose.

:shuckle: Shuckle/ :magcargo: Magcargo
Both of these are normal resists and not super-effectively covered by Exeggutor. Shuckle is 2HKO by Moltres in sun. Magcargo has a good mu against this team at the cost of being Magcargo. (Thanks for the quality checking pirate99)

Dangerous Archetypes:

Explosion
:gengar: :cloyster: :muk: :golem: :steelix: :snorlax: :exeggutor:
The lack of a normal resist really comes back to bite this team against boom offense. Mons like Cloyster, Golem, Steelix, and Exeggutor often try to find a boom against this team as they are otherwise offensively pressured. Muk is almost guaranteed to get an Explosion off since it has the bulk to survive one or two Fire Blasts, but won’t have the opportunity to do much more. The presence of Lovely Kiss Jynx helps improve the boom offense matchup by effectively crippling one opponent at the start of the match before the Explosions can start trading down one for one.

Status spreading :exeggutor: :starmie: :blissey: :dragonite:
The lack of Rest on this team and that it struggles to break through common status spammers can lead the team to be worn down by Toxic or cleaned up after paralysis. Moltres and Snorlax should be the go to status absorbers as Moltres can Rest them off and Lax typically Self-Destructs early.

Light Screen/ Reflect :blissey: :raikou: :starmie: :zapdos:
Light Screen and Reflect can but a huge damper on the offensive abilities of the team. Without the ability to threaten both sides of the defensive split with Explosion or hit 2/3 HKO’s with the fire core the team is left dead in the water with its frailty and lack of sustain is exposed. The best counterplay is to stall out screens with Moltres or boom through a reflect to threaten a revenge kill on an opponent that otherwise thinks they are safe. This archetype match-up is especially difficult given that screens-centric teams usually run both Light Screen and Reflect. When it rains, it pours.

Moonlight/Morning Sun/Synthesis :umbreon: :espeon:
It might be surprising to have not mentioned to low PP count of Fire Blast earlier, but in the big picture it is not a huge deal. The only exception is when facing off against Umbreon or Espeon. Moonlight/Morning Sun healing for 100% under the effects of sun can easily stall out the PP of one of the fire types. Espeon can be difficult to dislodge when using a Psychic/Growth/Morning Sun/HP Water set but Houndoom, Exeggutor and Snorlax combined can force it out. Umbreon is best dealt with through the use of multiple fire types, stalling out Moonlight while spreading out the FB PP loss. Umbreon overall isn’t a big threat as the team doesn’t care much about Charm, Moltres can take Toxic, and Entei/Houndoom can maim the majority of Mean Look + Baton Pass abusers, setting up for a revenge kill. Synthesis shouldn’t be a concern for obvious reasons.

Baton Pass :smeargle: :jolteon: :umbreon: :scizor: :vaporeon:
One or two turns of misplay and the game can slip away to Baton Pass. The team has no phazers to fall back on and as such relies on restricting the opponent’s ability to set up before passing. You’ll probably need to explode or sack if anything gets speed passed to it. If the opponent is able to pass stats multiple times with the same mon, something must be going horribly wrong. Jolteon, Smeargle, and Scizor are crippled or outright KO’d by a single FB, Vaporeon is usually hit by two strong attacks before it can pass out, and Umbreon will inevitably take damage before passing out into something that will also be wounded by FB. Thank god Amnesia pass isn’t viable.

Opposing Sun Teams :entei: :houndoom: :moltres: :typhlosion:
Unsurprisingly sun hyper offense doesn’t have much of a backbone against opposing hyper offense. Houndoom, Entei and Moltres all hit themselves fairly hard in sun and Typhlosion can carry nasty coverage and a good speed tier. But in a mirror match your opponent is feeling a similar pain. Maybe if the sun archetype takes off you can start to think about counter teaming.

If it wasn’t mentioned above the counter play should be obvious and/or I ran out of jokes.

Replay #1 Going the distance against stall.
Replay #2 Standard performance vs. offense + Jynx endgame. Might’ve played too scared of Espeon
Replay #3 Good example of how Exeggutor holds the team together.
Jynx (F)
Ability: none
- Lovely Kiss
- Ice Beam
- Nightmare
- Thief

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: none
- Curse
- Double-Edge
- Self-Destruct
- Earthquake

Entei @ Leftovers
Ability: none
IVs: 6 HP / 24 Atk / 24 Def
- Sunny Day
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Hidden Power [Fighting]

Houndoom @ Leftovers
Ability: none
- Sunny Day
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Crunch

Moltres @ Charcoal
Ability: none
- Sunny Day
- Fire Blast
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Exeggutor @ Leftovers
Ability: none
IVs: 6 HP / 28 Atk / 24 Def
- Explosion
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]


Closing Remarks

First and foremost, alot of time and effort went into this RMT, so thanks for making it to the end. Here’s a few tidbits and takeaways the didn’t fit anywhere else:
  • Don’t be afraid to explode on normal resists w/ Lax/Eggy. Damaging these checks makes the second boom that much more dangerous.
  • Jynx and Entei are potent opening combo. Hopefully this pairing can inspire some new teams. Entei is lowkey underrated.
  • Jynx->Entei->Snorlax->Fire is the typical opening rotation. Fire->Snorlax->Fire, Fire->Snorlax->Exeggutor->Fire, and Moltres->Exeggutor->Fire are very common switch patterns and great for keeping Sunny Day up against a variety of threats. Learning these patterns and knowing when to break them is what makes this team shine.
  • These patterns all start and end with the fire types for a reason: they are the primary damage dealers in the early, mid, and late-game. Keep the fires in for as long as possible and only switch out when you have to. Fires are never going to break Skarmory for a Snorlax endgame, but Snorlax can break Skarmory for the benefit of the team.
Overall, this team is simple to operate and fun to play, but requires metagame knowledge and aggressive predictions to consistently win. It’s also a breath of fresh air from arduous stall matches and steamrolls unprepared opponents. This team undoubtable relies on being anti-meta and the element of surprise, but it has plenty of mixups to keep a knowledgeable opponent pressured and guessing. While many common defensive mons such as Blissey, Suicune, and Starmie slow down the offense, their defensive roles conveniently overlap and it is rare that you run into an opponent bringing Snorlax + two or more of the above mons. Personally, this team has been a consistent performer in RCoP and RoA room tours and peaked at 1550 on the GSC ladder. I’d be flattered if you choose to try it out yourself.
Peace.
 
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I have no clue what the GSC meta is like other than Snorlax being a one man army. Either way, I appreciated the descriptive depth you went into and it was a fun read. Now if only I had the skill to pilot a Sun Team in Gen 7 OU.
P.S. Are Leftovers the only viable item in Gen 2 LOL
 

Jorgen

World's Strongest Fairy
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
P.S. Are Leftovers the only viable item in Gen 2 LOL
For the most part, yes! Leftovers is almost always far and away the best item choice. The most notable exceptions are Thick Club on Marowak, Miracleberry on Smeargle, and No Item on anything using Thief. This team is actually pretty unusual with its item choices, as only 4/6 have Leftovers!
 

Siatam

is a Tutoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Former Old Generation Tournament Circuit Champion
RoA Leader
Addendum
So in case anyone is interested, here’s some updates to the team based on feedback I have received. All of these changes are aimed at replacing Jynx and shoring up the team’s weaknesses to Blissey, Charizard, and bulky waters.
Admittedly Jynx is kinda out of place on this team and doesn’t provide much utility outside of the opening turns of a game. While Lovely Kiss has great utility and Thief is valuable in some matchups, she only compounds the team’s existing weaknesses without being a designated answer to anything.

In order to compresses Jynx’s role as a status lead a few changes are necessary:
:entei: Entei: Leftovers -> Miracle Berry. Becomes designated lead.
:exeggutor: Exeggutor: Giga Drain -> Sleep Powder

Entei is plenty threatening in the lead role and is the team’s best insurance against opposing sleep leads and Cloyster. Raikou usually forces a switch to Exeggutor. In the case of Zapdos or Snorlax leads it is in your best interest to weaken them as much as you can.
Sleep utility is excellent on offense and Exeggutor is the team’s best abuser remaining. Giga Drain was only really used for the Ttar matchup and Sleep Powder helps against any normal resists trying to take a boom.
Lovely Kiss Snorlax was considered, but Lax already suffers from 4MSS on this team and Eggy can give up Giga Drain pretty easily.

Without further ado, here are the Jynx replacements:
:gs/forretress:
Forretress @ Miracle Berry / Leftovers
IVs: 22 HP / 26 Atk / 28 Def
- Spikes
- Explosion
- Sunny Day
- Hidden Power [Ghost] / Hippen Power [Fire] / Giga Drain

Perhaps I was too harsh when it came to dismissing Spikes on this team. The set is fairly simple: set up Spikes, Sunny Day, then boom. The fourth slot is reserved for hitting your choice of normal resist. HP Ghost is preferable considering how well the rest of the team deals with Steel and Rock types. This can be run in the lead slot but Forretress has more opportunities to utilize its whole moveset later in the game.
On the plus side, Spikes are really good, Forretress can keep offensive pressure up with Sunny Day, the team finally has a normal resist, more Explosions can’t be a bad thing, and Forre a good Starmie bait.
On the downside, Forre lets in opposing Spikers for free, Explosion vs. +1 Lax or Explosion vs. +2 Lax with sun up does not set up for a clean revenge kill, and the Charizard matchup is not improved (but it doesn’t get much worse either).
Overall Forretress can radically change how the team plays with Spikes but is not without flaws.
Probably my overall favorite Jynx replacement.
:gs/gengar:
Gengar @ Leftovers
- Thunderbolt
- Explosion
- Ice Punch / Sunny Day
- Destiny Bond / Dynamic Punch / Hypnosis

Gengar serves a similar role to Exeggutor: coverage and the threat of Explosion. Thunderbolt handles water types reasonably well and Explosion removes key threats. Ice Punch and Sunny Day fulfill similar roles: Zapdos and Ground checks. SD hinders Zapdos Thunders and preps the team to take care of ground types with Solar Beam. The last slot can be used to take out a Curse user that got out of control, add coverage for Lax and Ttar, or provide the team with extra sleep support.
Gengar is an excellent supporting offensive presence, improving the team’s matchup to waters, Blissey, Monolax, Charizard, Ttar, and boom offenses. However Gengar can lack the damage output to fill all these roles simultaneously and may fall flat in some games.
Second favorite Jynx replacement.
:gs/starmie:
Starmie @ Leftovers
-Psychic
-Recover
-Toxic
-Rapid Spin / Surf

If you can’t beat em, join em. This Starmie set is a catch all check to water types, wearing down opposing Starmie, Suicune, Snorlax, and Blissey with Toxic and threatening Poison types with Psychic. The last move slot is a toss up between hazard control and improving the Ttar/Zard matchups.
Starmie helps out exactly where the team is lacking, improving the team against all the biggest problems on the threat list (except Lax) when compared to Jynx. Unfortunately this propensity to invite Snorlax in is damning in addition to the fact that Starmie prefers for Sun to be down and frequently lets Sunny Day drop.
Starmie considerably slows down the pace of the game and gives the opponent a chance to bring in their own offensive threats, but is still viable off the back of its excellent matchups.
:gs/dragonite:
Dragonite @ Leftovers
-Double-Edge
-Dynamic Punch
-Ice Beam
-Thunder / Thunderbolt / Thunder Wave

Dragonite is probably the best option when it comes to threatening all of Blissey, Snorlax and waters. This mixed coverage set allows it to reliably pressure stall teams and potentially spread status. Thunder is preferable for damage and paralysis chance but is obviously anti-synergistic with Sunny Day. Thunderbolt is reliable damage but fails to secure 3HKOs on Suicune and Vaporeon. Thunder Wave can provide utility by slowing down Starmie and allowing more opportunities for the team to set up Sunny Day.
Dragonite can wreak havoc on unprepared Blissey teams but is otherwise underwhelming as it lacks Explosion, lets Sunny Day drop, doesn’t help the Charizard matchup, and adds even more variance to an already high variance team.

In the end all of these changes seek to improve some of the team’s matchups at the cost of early game pressure. I wouldn’t say that any of these changes make the team 100% better but instead normalize the team’s performance across the meta. Every option listed above is viable and is worth considering when using the team.
The Jynx squad is probably the team with the highest highs and lowest lows and each replacement trades some of this potency for consistency. Generally speaking, Forretress is the best against offense, Dragonite the best against stall, Gengar is the most consistent performer, and Starmie carries the least matchup risk.
I think this is about as far as I go with this team, though I will continue to use it with all of the variations mentioned.
Thanks for reading.
 

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