SM OU Animals - A M-Gyarados Balance - Peaking 1715

[Meliodafu7]

Animals - A M-Gyarados Balance

INTRODUCTION

Hey there! Again, PrideMustang here with another RMT, after my second RMT, Perfect Time, returning now with another fat build with one of my favourite mega evolutions, M-Gyarados and by far my best style, balance. After a two months of practical issues, I'm coming back to play, so happy about that. This team is the team which I climbed higher the ladder, so I want to share it with you and get your help about improving it. Any help will be really apreciated and I'll be so grateful about that. Says no more, let's go ahead!

Teambuilding Process

I started the team with a core of this two mons, DD Taunt M-Gyarados + NP HP Flying Fightinium Z Thundurus-T. They have good offensive sinergy, Thundurus-T breaks through many of M-Gyarados checks like Toxapex, Ferrothorn, Zapdos, and with some techs like HP Flying it can surprise Tapu Bulu, Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss, further in, it provides a key Electric immunity. In return, M-Gyarados can set-up on Choiced Lati@s, Ground and Rock-types that bother Thundurus-T. Between these two, the team matchup against stall and other balanced teams is well covered.

Next addition is WishTect Jirachi with HP Fire. I decided to run this because of Choice Scarf Lele can revenge kill both mons, while providing Wish support, which is huge for M-Gyarados to combat chip damage, meaning I can play with it more aggresive early-game with it and Thundurus-T. HP Fire was added as a lure for Kartana, since SD variants runs through this team, while dispatching easily Scarf variants, while it can 2HKO M-Scizor, another notable check for M-Gyarados. This leaves me walled to no end for Heatran, but that's well covered in the final.

Since some physical attackers like Zygarde, Hawlucha and M-Medicham were an issue, Clefable was an easy choice. I decided run it with Protect as 4th move, to deal better with DD Grondium Z Zygarde. It set up Stealth Rock and checks a neat portion of the metagame, nothing new with this dude.

The team is destroyed by Volcarona, especially those Psychium Z variants, so, SpDef Payapa Berry Toxapex was the next member, allowing it survive the Z-Move, Recover and then stall it out between Haze and Toxic, which was added to lure in Zapdos, another M-Gyarados check, while also checking a myriad of Special attackers of the tier, you all know what this mon does.

The team was lacking Defog, a reliable Ground immunity and a Heatran switch-in, so Gliscor seals the deal pretty well here. It can check many annoyances like defensive Landorus-T, and also, put Specs Tapu Koko in a huge mind game because the move they lock in, the move I can get free turns to set up hazards, Defog, Wish pass or set up with Thundurus-T.

DETAILED_ANALYSIS

Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Waterfall
- Taunt

The main Pokémon of the team, being a monster under the right circunstances. The set is pretty standar: DD + Dual STAB + Mold Breaker Taunt, this combo is huge against balanced and stall teams alike, while also sporting a good defensive typing if needed tho. I use it more recklessly in the early game due Wish support, but taking care about Scald and other status, because it is the main wincon of the team and is great at doing that. Intimidate pre-mega allows it setup against physical attackers that can't deal too much such as defensive Lando-T, and with Taunt it can setup on Celesteela and Skarmory.

Thundurus-Therian @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Focus Blast

In my opinion, this mon is pretty underrated because of how brainless is Specs Koko, but this mon does have its good things, especially for this team. Being able to break almost any M-Gyarados answer is huge. Nasty Plot is for setup and further breaking capabilities, Thunderbolt as a mandatory Electric-type STAB nailing Toxapex, Tapu Fini and other bulky Waters, while HP Flying is a good lure to dent or remove bulky Grass-Types that gives M-Gyarados headaches. At +2, HP Flying have a great chance to OHKO AV Tapu Bulu, Amoonguss, M-Venusaur after rocks, and deals a shit ton of damage to AV Tangrowth. Focus Blast is need with Fightinium Z to have All-Out-Pummelling, almost always used to melt Ferrothorn, while also dealing half to AV Magearna, which is huge to put it in range of +1 M-Gyarados. EV spread standar to make the most out of its nice speed tier and special attack. As a bonus, It can deter Tapu Koko spamming Volt Switch and can check Scarf Kartana in a pinch. A good mon for this team for sure.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 196 SpD / 64 Spe
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Iron Head
- Hidden Power [Fire]

SpDef Jirachi serves here as a check for the scariest Tapu Lele, while checking Magearna and Kyurem-B and other random threats like Nihilego. The moveset is great in this team: WishTect is great in this team to mitigate damage and pass huge Wishes for M-Gyarados and Thundurus-T. Iron Head to cheese its way against mons it outspeed with the 60% flinch rate thanks to Serene Grace. HP Fire is mainly for Kartana, as I can protect the Z-Move and then OHKO with the move, while 2HKOing M-Scizor after Rocks, which is great because I outspeed it, meaning it can't Roost or pivot out with U-Turn. EV spread is for speed creep max speed Timid Magearna, while making it the most specially bulky possible.

Clefable (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Protect

Clefable is the rock setter and check to most physical attackers of the tier like M-Loppuny, M-Medicham and Zygarde. The set is standar by far, with the unique variation is running Protect in last slot for scouting moves, while racking up Lefties recovery. It also improves the matchup against DD Grondium Z Zygarde, which can be a nasty threat without Clefable.

Toxapex @ Payapa Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Recover
- Haze
- Toxic

Toxapex gives the team a great check to Ash-Greninja, Assault Vest Magearna, Blacephalon, M-Charizard Y and Volcarona, which makes it a key member for the team. EV spread and moves are standar, being Toxic a lure for many things that would switch in, like Lati twins, Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Zapdos and Rotom-W. Payapa Berry is great against Psychium Z Volcarona, which otherwhise runs through this team with no effort, meaning I can tank the hit, Recover and then stall it out with Toxic + Haze and Recover. A key member for sure.

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 152 SpD / 112 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Defog
- Knock Off

Last, but not least, we have Gliscor. The main purpose of Gliscor in this team is being a Defog user and also my main Heatran switch-in. As moves, Earthquake is for checking many Steel-types, mainly Heatran and Magearna, Roost for recovery, which in conjunction with Poison Heal, makes Gliscor hard to take out. Defog is a must in every team and helps against opposing hazard stack, and Knock Off is a great move to spam early game to cripple switch-ins like AV Tapu Bulu, AV Tangrowth and Landorus-T removing their item. EV spread is for creep Timid Max speed Heatran, while the SpDef investment allows you avoid the 2HKO from Landorus-T's HP Ice.

Threats

Nasty Plot + Z-Move, specially Z-Focus Blast are almost impossible for my team to deal with. I can deal with it sacking something to the Z-Move, then hope the Focus Miss meanwhile I get a DD with M-Gyarados and then OHKO with Crunch/Waterfall.

Any balance team have a weakness to this thing, and mine is no exception. At least I can deal with it with proper prediction. Scarf sets can be devastating late game. I'm thinking put Flamethrower in Clefable to handle this better, at the risk of Smart Strike tho.

The over dependance of luring in this threats by Thundurus-T to take them out can be really nasty and without them of play, M-Gyarados can't sweep. Also, they're hard to wear down, so, changes will be needed here I think.

This thing also is huge against M-Gyarados, since the only thing it needs to get is a Scald burn, even if I taunted it. I can pressure it with Gliscor and Thundurus-T, but no brainless player will leave this thing against those threats.
Lack of Speed control: The team is slow, so many faster attackers can overwhelm my defensive core and sweep, but I don't really know how to fix this without making huges changes.

Proof of Peak

Possible Changes

1.- Flamethrower Clefable + U-Turn Jirachi to handle Kartana and lure in M-Scizor and Ferrothorn.
2.- Unaware Clefable + HW Stealth Rock Jirachi + Toxic Spikes Toxapex.

Replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-721011339 M-Gyarados almost 6-0 attempt of HO from my opponent.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-721015992 M-Gyarados stop the sweep from Hoopa-U and tanks a Solar Beam from M-Charizard Y, taking with it two mons, latter missplays from my oponent and my defensive core takes over the game.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-721023009 In this game, M-Gyarados takes with it Landorus-T, Toxapex and put a massive dent to M-Scizor, allowing my defensive core and Thundurus-T clean the game afterwards.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-721027347 M-Gyarados punchs some holes early game and get very low, but Wish support from Jirachi allows it sweep late game after Thundurus-T takes 90% from Gastrodon with AoP. Zapdos probably gonna die from +1 Crunch at its health after rocks.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-721053299 In this game, between Thundurus-T and HP Fire Jirachi, they remove M-Scizor from play, which is huge counter for M-Gyarados. Latter, between Intimidate and baiting SSSS from opposing Gyarados, M-Gyarados defeat its Gyarados. After that threath is gone, the rest of my team handles pretty well rival's team.

FINAL_THOUGHTS

Well, I'm pretty happy to overcome my best ladder position, but I feel this team can be improved in some ways. Any feedback will be apreciated, and feel free to change whatever you want, except maybe the M-Gyarados and Thundurus-T if possible.
Thanks you for reading this RMT, have a nice day.
Cheers!

 

[Chokepic]

Pretty good team, imo. Just a few small changes:

T-Wave Clefable > Protect Clefable. T-wave brings you speed control, which you havent in this team because you dont have a scarf, while protect only helps you to recover extra 6%.

Electrium thundurus-t > fightnium thundurus-t:
Not sure what fightnium is for, you kill the things you want to kill with focus blast at +2 without z, ig it is for not miss, but still electrium gives you a lot of power that you should have for example to deal a lot of damage to magearna or even if you dont want to risk clicking focus on ttar, you can also click z-t-bolt.

Substitute Gyarados > Taunt Gyarados: Well, thats not really mandatory, but I think with t-wave it would help more than taunt. You can conserve taunt if you want.

 

[rayquaza58555]

Hey! I really liked this team, I tried it out a bit on ladder and had fun with it. I’m not really experienced with rating teams so keep that in mind if my suggestions aren’t the best.

I totally agree with the changes above, I found that t-wave and electrium-z were pretty nice and helped the team out especially with speed control. One thing I personally changed was the Jirachi set. I saw that one of your listed threats was Tapu Bulu, so I changed the speed evs to 152 to outspeed all variants and 2HKO them with rocks up.

Another thing I personally prefer is healing wish on jirachi over wish protect. This is mainly a preference kinda thing but this allows you to use your two sweepers way more aggressively early on, and frees up a move slot for U-Turn giving you a nice pivot which you don’t have currently, or even a second rocker.

Again I’m not the best person to rate your team but I hope these suggestions helped you out a little bit!

Edit: wording

 

[Meliodafu7]

Pretty good team, imo. Just a few small changes:

T-Wave Clefable > Protect Clefable. T-wave brings you speed control, which you havent in this team because you dont have a scarf, while protect only helps you to recover extra 6%.

Electrium thundurus-t > fightnium thundurus-t:
Not sure what fightnium is for, you kill the things you want to kill with focus blast at +2 without z, ig it is for not miss, but still electrium gives you a lot of power that you should have for example to deal a lot of damage to magearna or even if you dont want to risk clicking focus on ttar, you can also click z-t-bolt.

Substitute Gyarados > Taunt Gyarados: Well, thats not really mandatory, but I think with t-wave it would help more than taunt. You can conserve taunt if you want.

Thanks for the rate, and yeah, T-Wave is waaaay more useful than Protect in the long run. Also, after a few calcs, I agree with you, Electrium Z is way better than Fightinium Z, because things I was aiming for Z-Focus Blast, already get bodied by +2 Focus Blast, so, I'll put Electrium on Thundy.
Well, I was thinking between Taunt or Sub, I'll try both to see what's the more useful/effective. Thanks you again!

Hey! I really liked this team, I tried it out a bit on ladder and had fun with it. I’m not really experienced with rating teams so keep that in mind if my suggestions aren’t the best.

I totally agree with the changes above, I found that t-wave and electrium-z were pretty nice and helped the team out especially with speed control. One thing I personally changed was the Jirachi set. I saw that one of your listed threats was Tapu Bulu, so I changed the speed evs to 152 to outspeed all variants and 2HKO them with rocks up.

Another thing I personally prefer is healing wish on jirachi over wish protect. This is mainly a preference kinda thing but this allows you to use your two sweepers way more aggressively early on, and frees up a move slot for U-Turn giving you a nice pivot which you don’t have currently, or even a second rocker.

Again I’m not the best person to rate your team but I hope these suggestions helped you out a little bit!

Edit: wording

I think that HW is more suited for offensive builds, and believe me, I think for it, but WishTect allows me check Lele and other things with a great degree of consistency, but anyways, I would try it and see if it seals the deal.
Thanks you for your rate and commentary :D

 

[Chokepic]

Thanks for the rate, and yeah, T-Wave is waaaay more useful than Protect in the long run. Also, after a few calcs, I agree with you, Electrium Z is way better than Fightinium Z, because things I was aiming for Z-Focus Blast, already get bodied by +2 Focus Blast, so, I'll put Electrium on Thundy.
Well, I was thinking between Taunt or Sub, I'll try both to see what's the more useful/effective. Thanks you again!



I think that HW is more suited for offensive builds, and believe me, I think for it, but WishTect allows me check Lele and other things with a great degree of consistency, but anyways, I would try it and see if it seals the deal.
Thanks you for your rate and commentary :D

I forgot about putting 1 thing:
U-turn gliscor > Knock off: That's help you to setup with gyara if they go into lando for example, or if they switch into bulu, you can setup with thundurus-t.

Im trying to find a way of changing jirachi to other mon because wish really dont do much in your team, but if you do that you get fucked up by lele so idk what to switch it for. Scarf Kartana sounds good, but lele do what it wants... and teams without a reliable steel arent good :/

 

[patlop2307]

Hey again PrideMustang! First and foremost I want to say: The song is a fuckin' banger! (dkm for the vulgar language, people)
I have, however, noticed a few weaknesses and a few smaller tweaks I could make for the team.

What is your team weak to?

• 
  Charizard-X is actually kind of threatning if you think about it. Charizard-X can switch in on quite a few Pokemon and can dish out some some good damage on pretty much your whole team, Dragon Dance or not.
• 
  Substitue Volcanion can give you a VERY hard time beating it, since it gets Substitues on the bulkier side of the team. It can burn your Pokémon and do massive damage to Thundurus-T. Volcanion is especially threating when Stealth Rocks are up, so keep an eye out for that.

How can you improve the team?

>

: Although I like Gyarados as a stallbreaker, I think you break stall anyway, since you are able to outlast it, which is going to result in long as hell games, but whatever. Scizor gives you mayn opportunities as well as posing as a check/counter to some of the threats you have mentioned in your post such as Kartana or Tapu Bulu . I would want to go with the Defog set here, though since it frees a slot for your Gliscor to profit off of.

Calm Mind > Protect (

) : I think Protect can be used for something else. Calm Mind lets you beat Sableye-Mega reliably, so that you get the Stealth Rocks up. It also allows you to beat stuff like Ferrothorn and the aforementioned Volcanion, for instance.

Taunt > Defog (

): That set should annoy stall for sure. It prevents it from getting up any form of hazards on you, as well as you being able to knock Pokémon off and get rid of their items.

U-Turn > Hidden Power [Fire] (

): Since you have a Kartana switch-in, I do think Hidden Power [Fire] can be replaced with something else. The reason why I went with U-Turn here is just because it gives you this momentum to safely go into your Thundurus and maybe get a Wish passed onto it.






As the end-word I would like to say that your team isnt as weak to everything you mentioned as you clame to be, as you can cover it defensively. Other than that, I hope I helped ( and, god I need help on the sprites thing, it is giving me headaches).

*Also, click on one of the Pokémon at the end to see the team.

 

[Meliodafu7]

Hey again PrideMustang! First and foremost I want to say: The song is a fuckin' banger! (dkm for the vulgar language, people)
I have, however, noticed a few weaknesses and a few smaller tweaks I could make for the team.

What is your team weak to?

• 
  Charizard-X is actually kind of threatning if you think about it. Charizard-X can switch in on quite a few Pokemon and can dish out some some good damage on pretty much your whole team, Dragon Dance or not.
• 
  Substitue Volcanion can give you a VERY hard time beating it, since it gets Substitues on the bulkier side of the team. It can burn your Pokémon and do massive damage to Thundurus-T. Volcanion is especially threating when Stealth Rocks are up, so keep an eye out for that.

How can you improve the team?

>

: The reason why I made this change is because you have no real speed control. I also do not really see the point of having Jirachi on this team. Yes, you have a Wish-passer, but is that really necessary? I mean, the bulkier side of the team does have reliable recovery, so I do not quite see the point of not running Kartana here.

Calm Mind > Protect (

) : I think Protect can be used for something else. Calm Mind lets you beat Sableye-Mega reliably, so that you get the Stealth Rocks up. It also allows you to beat stuff like Ferrothorn and the aforementioned Volcanion, for instance.

http://pokepast.es/fab44feb7712910d

Hope I helped you out ^^ (If this should look weird, my apologies, I am trying to figure the sprites thing out)

Hey! The song is animal.
Going to the point, I see the weaknesses about those threats, and I can see the Kartana providing me speed control, which is absolutelly necesary for this team. However, without Jirachi, Lele murders the team alive, because no smart player will leave it against Kartana. I can't see any competitive team without a reliable Steel-type, sadly :(.
About the Clefable, I'm between T-Wave and Calm Mind, but I feel the team have a really good MU vs most common stall builds, aside TDK's one, because of Mold Breaker M-Gyarados and its Taunt. However, I'll try your suggestions for sure buddy :)
Thanks you for the rate, cheers! ^^

 

[Meliodafu7]

Hey again PrideMustang! First and foremost I want to say: The song is a fuckin' banger! (dkm for the vulgar language, people)
I have, however, noticed a few weaknesses and a few smaller tweaks I could make for the team.

What is your team weak to?

• 
  Charizard-X is actually kind of threatning if you think about it. Charizard-X can switch in on quite a few Pokemon and can dish out some some good damage on pretty much your whole team, Dragon Dance or not.
• 
  Substitue Volcanion can give you a VERY hard time beating it, since it gets Substitues on the bulkier side of the team. It can burn your Pokémon and do massive damage to Thundurus-T. Volcanion is especially threating when Stealth Rocks are up, so keep an eye out for that.

How can you improve the team?

>

: Although I like Gyarados as a stallbreaker, I think you break stall anyway, since you are able to outlast it, which is going to result in long as hell games, but whatever. Scizor gives you mayn opportunities as well as posing as a check/counter to some of the threats you have mentioned in your post such as Kartana or Tapu Bulu . I would want to go with the Defog set here, though since it frees a slot for your Gliscor to profit off of.

Calm Mind > Protect (

) : I think Protect can be used for something else. Calm Mind lets you beat Sableye-Mega reliably, so that you get the Stealth Rocks up. It also allows you to beat stuff like Ferrothorn and the aforementioned Volcanion, for instance.

Taunt > Defog (

): That set should annoy stall for sure. It prevents it from getting up any form of hazards on you, as well as you being able to knock Pokémon off and get rid of their items.

U-Turn > Hidden Power [Fire] (

): Since you have a Kartana switch-in, I do think Hidden Power [Fire] can be replaced with something else. The reason why I went with U-Turn here is just because it gives you this momentum to safely go into your Thundurus and maybe get a Wish passed onto it.


View attachment 107178



As the end-word I would like to say that your team isnt as weak to everything you mentioned as you clame to be, as you can cover it defensively. Other than that, I hope I helped ( and, god I need help on the sprites thing, it is giving me headaches).

*Also, click on one of the Pokémon at the end to see the team.

Well dude, thanks you so much for you rate, but I think M-scizor would increase the weakness to zardX and Volcanion, but fix somewhat the bulukartana issues, so i'll have to test it out :D
Thanks you again :)

 

[patlop2307]

Well dude, thanks you so much for you rate, but I think M-scizor would increase the weakness to zardX and Volcanion, but fix somewhat the bulukartana issues, so i'll have to test it out :D
Thanks you again :)

Well dude, thanks you so much for you rate, but I think M-scizor would increase the weakness to zardX and Volcanion, but fix somewhat the bulukartana issues, so i'll have to test it out :D
Thanks you again :)

Zard-X i totally agree that Scizor would worsen the match-up, Volcanion on the other hand not so much. CM Clef should be able to take care of it most of the time. A +2 in Sp Def is enough to single-handedly wall it, hence I went with the change.

 

[Meliodafu7]

Bump!