A Song of Ice and Fire

[Fwookoo]

A Song of Ice and Fire

Murkrow (Lord Commander) @ Eviolite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 Sp.Def
Nature: Careful / Impish (+Sp.Def/+Def, -Sp.Atk)
- Taunt
- Roost
- Toxic / Thunder Wave
- Feather Dance

Lord Commander is usually my lead pokemon (exept if the oppents has a magic bouncer on it's team). With prankster taunt it can prevent almost any pokemon from setting up hazards. Feather Dance to deal with Physical Attackers and Roost to stay healthy. I just can't really decide between Toxic or Thunder Wave. Toxic is awesome for passive damage in combination with roost, but leaves me unable to cripple steels. Thunder Wave on the other hand is nice for slowing down offensive teams. I’d also like a recommendation on which nature fits Murkrow best since I can’t decide between Careful and Impish.

Gengar (Melisandre's Baby) @ Life Orb / Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 Sp.Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Sludge Bomb
- Destiny Bond

At the moment I'm using Melisandre's Baby as an all out attacker. Shadow Ball to spam around. Thunderbolt is mainly for bulky waters like gyarados and the almighty talonflame. Sludge Bomb for Fairies and Destiny Bond to take something with it when it's low on HP from Life Orb recoil. I'm thinking of changing it's set to a stall breaker with: Substitute/Will o Wisp/Shadow Ball/Disable and Black Sludge. Please let me know what's more viable for the rest of the team.

Avalugg (The Wall) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Nature: Impish (+Def, -Sp.Atk)
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Avalanche
- Roar / Earthquake

The Wall is my Rapid Spinner might Murkrow fail to prevent hazards and it’s my Physicall wall. It's hard to switch in since ice is such a bad defensive typing, but once I find a free switch in opportunity it's a pretty good check against dragons and ground types. I can't decide what to use as it's last move.

Zoroark (Skinchanger) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Illusion
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 Sp.Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
- Night Daze
- Flamethrower
- Focusblast
- U-turn

Skinchanger is an extremely fun pokemon to deceive my opponent and works best disquised as Gengar. Night Daze for STAB. Flamethrower for Ferro and the boost from Charizard's Drought is nice. Focusblast for coverage and keeping my Gengar act intact. U-turn for scouting, but I'd gladly consider another move in the last moveslot. Since Zoroark has proven to be very frail I’m using a focus sash and even with that, it can be quite underwhelming so I’m thinking about replacing Zoroark with Suicune to create a grass, water, fire core with Charizard and Celebi and to have an extra check to Tyranitar and Talonflame.

Celebi (Greenseer) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Sp.Def / 16 Spe
Nature: Calm / Bold Nature (+Sp.Def/+Def, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Recover
- Calm Mind / Nasty Plot / Thunder Wave
- Baton Pass / Heal Bell

I really have trouble deciding what set to run on Greenseer. The batonpasser set can provide Charizard, Zoroark and Gengar awesome statboosts, raising their special attack to crazy levels. The Cleric can support the team with Heal Bell as none of abouve mentioned enjoys being paralyzed. For the EVs and nature I'd like some opinion on the pros and cons of Physically and Specially Defensive.

Charizard (Aegon the Conquorer) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Sp.Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Solar Beam
- Air Slash
- Dragon Pulse / Eartquake

Aegon the Conqueror is the main-attraction of this team. I bring it in late game once I've removed it's counters. If it gets a Nasty Plot / Calm Mind from Celebi, there's not much that can stop this thing from going on a rampage. The moves and EVs are rather standard, although I'd like some ideas for a coverage move in the last moveslot.

I’m playing under standard OU rules in game and on showdown. I'm well aware that this isn't the best strategy team for competitive play. Nevertheless I do want this themed team to be as best addapted to the current metagame as posibble. I'm really looking forward to some serious feedback. I want to prepare myself as winter is coming.​

 

[insanelegend]

Nice team, but there are improvements you can make. Focus Blast on Gengar instead of Thunderbolt will help round out coverage and be more powerful against threats like Tyranitar. If you are going to do Destiny Bond since that lets you hit hard and maybe KO an opposing pokemon and then kill another with Destiny Bond. As for Charizard, Focus Blast and Earthquake are both 2HKOs against standard Heatran, but Focus Blast hits everything else harder so use it as final coverage. Avalugg is a great pokemon, with physical bulk being some of the best in the game. He is also good against dragons like Garchomp, and can spin so I would keep him. For Celebi I recomend you do Nasty Plot and Baton Pass in the last two slots to become a threat. Hope this helps and good luck laddering!

 

[Fwookoo]

I have to thank you for using under rated Pokemon. I've never seen an Avalugg or Murkrow in OU. Sadly, I think there's a reason for it.
Murkrow is fine, but Avalugg is weak to Stealth Rocks, the exact thing it's trying to get rid of. Then again, I can't particularly think of a good Rapid Spinner that fits your team as well as Avalugg does. (Personally I love using him and think he's awesome) I can see Sandslash working since you're looking for something unique it seems, and I'm not going to suggest Donphan. Because you know. Donphan. Sandslash would work nicely as a Stealth Rocker as well since you don't have one.
Was there anything in particular you were aiming for when you chose Avalugg?

I’m glad to hear you like it. It saddens me deeply that almost every team I see on the ladder has at least 4 pokemon that are top 30 in the usage statistics while more unorthodoxe teams might work just as well and challenge player to use their creativity.
As for your suggestion. Trying to use Rapid Spin when you yourself are devastated by all entry hazards is very counter productive indeed. The reason I chose Avalugg (aside from him resembling the gigantic magical ice wall from game of thrones) is that with it’s physical bulk and avalanche it’s my most reliable counter against physical dragons and grounds like Dragonite, Garchomp, Landorus and Gliscor. Sandslash would work nicely as a Stealth Rocker, but it can’t beat one of the above mentioned threats. Thanks for the suggestion though!

Nice team, but there are improvements you can make. Focus Blast on Gengar instead of Thunderbolt will help round out coverage and be more powerful against threats like Tyranitar. If you are going to do Destiny Bond since that lets you hit hard and maybe KO an opposing pokemon and then kill another with Destiny Bond. As for Charizard, Focus Blast and Earthquake are both 2HKOs against standard Heatran, but Focus Blast hits everything else harder so use it as final coverage. Avalugg is a great pokemon, with physical bulk being some of the best in the game. He is also good against dragons like Garchomp, and can spin so I would keep him. For Celebi I recomend you do Nasty Plot and Baton Pass in the last two slots to become a threat. Hope this helps and good luck laddering!

Even though I want to smash something against a wall everytime missing focus blast costs me a battle I also think Focus Blast on Charizard is the better coverage move to handle a lot of things like Tyranitar better.
On Gengar I think I’m gonna stick with thunderbolt for now to have an super effective option against waters and birds (Azumarill, Gyarados, Mandibuzz, togekiss)
I think you’re right about the battonpasser being more of a threat. Thanks!

 

[insanelegend]

Yep. While the infamous " Focus Miss " is terrible, the alternative is your Charizard being walled by Heatran. Hope this helped.

 

[Fwookoo]

yeah, heatran and tyranitar keep being a pain in the butt so I'll keep focus blast. Does anyone has any suggestion for a replacement for Zoroark since it misses raw power?