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1: Infernape @ Focus Sash
Nature: Naive
EVs: 202 attack / 116 SpA / 192 Spe
Movepool:
-Close Combat
-Overheat
-Fake Out
-Stealth Rock
A typical leadape I ripped directly from the Smogon Analysis. He's also my most shaky choice for this group. He seemed to fit in well due to his typing and movepool, and all-in-all he had what I lacked with my previous teams. However, that was the extent of why I chose him, and I feel that he didn't earn his spot as well as he should. I originally led with my next pokemon and Infernapes spot was replaced by a mean look/destiny bond gengar to break walls and deal with troublesome pokemon like Tyranitar, but I opted for consistency here and I fear I may have been better off with Gengar.
2:Flygon @ Life Orb
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 64 SpA / 192 Spe
Movepool:
-Stone Edge
-Roost
-Earthquake
-Fireblast
I switch a heck-of-a-lot, and this guy is the bitches for doing so. He can switch with immunity on the two of the most powerful moves in the game (earthquake and thunderbolt) and can threaten with a powerful earthquake STAB of his own. My choices of Stone Edge and Fire Blast were simply for type coverage while roost is there to regain HP on predicted switches. His dragon typing serves here as more of a hinderance than an aid due to spill over of people trying to counter Salamence with Ice moves, which will nearly always KO him. I suppose I suffer for making him so important becasue he's so delicate. Often times losing him is a significant, and potentially game-ending, blow to my team.
3:Scizor @ Life Orb
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Movepool:
-Swords Dance
-Roost
-Bullet Punch
-U-turn
I just had one of those moments where I was re-reading my move list as I posted this, and realized that Brick Break would go fantastic in roosts spot. I never have time to Roost anyway with this guy, so brick break would be fantastic and help with my fighting weakness. Anyway, my choice for this guy was pretty simple, he's COOL. Scizor is one intimidating pokemon both visually and in the metagame. Besides that, all the normal reasons one would pick this pokemon are still there: great type coverage, defensive typing, etc.
4: Gardevoir @ Leftovers
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 HP / 64 def / 192 Spe
Movepool:
-Psychic
-Will-o-wisp
-Wish
-Focus Blast
I'm sure most of you are wondering why the Hell Gardevoir is on my team. First, she's my favorite pokemon, and I feel that being able to play competitively with pokemon you enjoy is very important. So, I realized that to make her work I had to build a team around her or make her so insignificant as for it to be a filler pokemon (I realize such a thing is not possible). I know she needed to be protected and that bringing her in has to be timed perfectly or she'll be devastated. In making her dependant on the team, I made the team dependant on her.
As you can see, I don't use choice items at all, and that I prefer instead to use life orbs in their place. My pokemon are also defensively oriented as much as my relative noobish-ness will allow. So, I use her as I believe she was meant to be used: Burn physical attackers and support my team through wish while still having enough oomph and surprise to scare off neutral attackers or fighters. I'll get to why I need RMT's help with this at the end.
Finally, Focus Blast is there because while it hits super effective on a lot of common counters, its shaky accuracy means a dead Gardy if I miss. Will-o-wisp too. I think I might need to give her a wide lens or change my Focus Blast to a Hidden Power, because I rely too much on lucky rolls with her.
5: Gyarados @ Leftovers
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 156 HP / 116 atk / 94 defense / 144 Spe
Movepool:
-Dragon Dance
-Ice Fang
-Waterfall
-Taunt
I previously had empoleon in this slot, but weakness to ground meant he was pretty much useless in a lot of cases as I've had instances of fighting players with an eighth or more of their total movepool devoted to earthquake. Literally, the ability is on everything, and as much I liked empoleon for his sweeping qualities, Gyarados does the same thing but physically and immune to ground. Ice Fang is there for type coverage instead of something like Stone Edge or Earthquake. I considered putting an expert belt in the place of Leftovers because I'm really only bringing this guy out to hit pokemon weak to water or ice.
This particular movepool was chosen because I have no other way to beat stalls. A problem with defensive play is that it loses out to raw endurance because it can never apply enough pressure to make them switch. Taunt is here to stop people from setting up lots of +stat moves. I think I may have a bigger weakness here than I give protection for in my team, so I may need to invest in a phazer or just straight Haze.
6: Jolteon @ Leftovers
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Movepool:
-Baton Pass
-Substitute
-Thunderbolt
-Yawn
I'd be understating how important this little fella is to my team. Switch her in on an electric move / water type, yawn the switch, sub the next switch, and then baton pass it to a counter. She protects my more vulnerable pokemon like Flygon and Gardevoir while allowing Scizor and Gyarados to DD/SD. BP to Flygon is particularly nice since usually they always switch in an Earthquake user, and many of those users have a weakness to one of the three moves I have on flygon.
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All-in-all, I went for a very balanced approach to this team, and came out playing pretty defensive. I definitely have a weakness in strong physical attackers, notably Tyranitar and Salamence make things very difficult for me. I went more into detail on my weaknesses in my individual ramblings on each of my pokemon, so help me if you can. Thanks for all your help RMT!
