Anti-Metagame, Little Dragon Style
So I built this team around the little terror that is Fraxure. It is an incredibly underrated threat and severely anti metagame at the moment. It is able to set up on a list of Pokemon alot larger than what one would expect. Especially if they use the set currently going through the QC process. Alot of people on the ladder have either been swept or had large chunks of their team taken out by this little terror alone. I have been raving in IRC about this set I created and haven't revealed a heap. You probably know more about it if you have played me. Anyway, at the conclusion of this RMT I will be submitting the set to NU QC so that you guys can find it on site. It really is a great Pokemon and certainly deserves more use.
So to the rest of the team. My team features alot of setting up and is usually built around playing sacrifices to get into a position where I can finish off the game with one of my three sweepers. I use offensive spikes to make people avoid switching too much and abuse this fact by having three Sub users that all set up on different targets allowing me to use a firm grasp of the metagame to constructing a winning pathway. This has always been my favorite style of play and is very reminisce of DPP LC which is my favorite metagame of all time. This is the kind of team you can be 5-2 down and still be in full control because you know that in a few moves you will have drawn in a Pokemon that your last sweeper can set up on finish off the rest of the opponent's team.
I would still be laddering with this team and pushing to take Ice off the top except for the fact this team has a rather large list of counters which require intricate plays to beat. And you can never win consistently when that is the case. Still it has served me well and I breached the 1200 mark and made the top 30 for about 5 minutes. Which is pretty darn good for a team that can be 6-0'd by a team with both Braviary and Gorebyss.
So before this starts to get boring, to the team.
First Look
Teambuilding
Teambuilding
This was pretty straight-forward so I won't go into detail. But basically I started with Fraxure and added Magmortar because of their synergy. Magmortar deals with pretty much all the Pokes that give Fraxure difficulties. I went with Golem as a result of the offensive nature of the team and for the added Priority. I didn't want to have to carry a counter to Gory simply because I had a counter to the birds and Golem is the best poke for this. Following I decided I'd be causing some switches so Cacturne as perhaps the best offensive spiker at the moment was a logical choice. Mesprit came in as the Special set-up sweeper. As a result of it's versatility people usually treat it as it's most dangerous sets first and therefore go to different counters that what can take on this set. The last slot was originally Sawk. But I ended up being unable to breach the MissyLicky and like combo's so after getting a suggestion on IRC I went for an unorthadox Sub Tauros which really gelled with the team immediately.
The Team
Tauros (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Frustration
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
This set may look weird to the untrained eye, but to mine it is a gem that can break down alot of defensive cores. In particular it excels at dealing with the few cores that Fraxure has trouble with. Together they form a really strong physical duo that set up on each other's counters.
First question you probably have is "Why Intimidate?" This is an entirely valid question and I may just be mentally insane for using it when he gets Sheer Force. Well the simple fact is that it helps it shut down MissyLicky and other weak walls that use physical attacks. The other point is that it can be used as a last ditch effort to allow another Pokemon to sweep. An Intimidate on a Scarf Sawk, while still resulting in death for Tauros makes Sawk unable to break Mesprit's Subs in one shot with Close Combat which can let me grab the Sub that I need to sweep the enemy.
Secondly the spread. Well it isn't as weird as it may appear. Tauros is rare and so are the other Pokemon with 110 base speed. So why not drop it a bit. (This is why we need speed tiers. When am I allowed to do take it and do it myself.) With the given EVs it outspeeds max speed Cryo which frankly ruins my day otherwise. This way it gets a little bit of extra bulk on the Subs which is always helpful. I'm not sure abotu specific threats but I know that stalling out for a low damage roll so my sub survives with about 2HP has managed to win me matches. So I'm not going to go back now.
The moves are pretty standard fare. Return is his strongest STAB without recoil when I run Intimidate. Stone Edge lets me hit Cryo and things that levitate and the higher crit ratio helps more than you would thing. And then I have Earthquake to round out the EdgeQuake combo and lets me deal with things like Skuntank and Electrics.
Fraxure (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Rivalry
EVs: 16 HP / 252 Atk / 12 SDef / 228 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Substitute
- Taunt
This is it, the anti-metagame dragon of doom, also known as Fraxure. The set may not look like much and may appear to be all over the place BUT it is really quite amazing in practice. Think of your favorite non rock type physical wall and then look in horror as Fraxure can set up on it. Alomomola can't do anything. Weezing needs special attack investment to stop this guys pulling him apart. Tangela just looks in horror as I get to +6 in it's face. Non earthquake Quaggy's while they don't notice the boost Fraxure is getting in their face, the rest of their team does. In addition scarfed pokes hate Fraxure if they are stick in one of the many moves Fraxure resists. Such is the power of Eviolite.
Now, people will say that Rivalry is a bad idea. Anyone worth their salt will make half their Pokemon female, you're stuffed. I good go into the psychology of what gender people make different pokes but it doesn't really matter. Alot of people don't bother about gender for the simple fact that it rarely matters, so I may as well abuse it. And honestly, what is Mold Breaker going to do for you other than let you hit females harder. It's not like I'm carrying Earthquake to hit levitators and solid rock doesn't matter with Dragon's shit super effective coverage. All the pokes with sturdy are usually being taken out by my other Pokemon anyway.
The EVs may look a tad weird. Orginally I wanted to make him bulkier and go for a bit less speed aiming for extra boosts. However then I would have needed a better answer to Gory so I decided against that and went for just enough speed to outspeed max speed Gory and pushed the rest into a teeny bit of extra bulk. Only 16 go to Sub so I can Sub four times and bait a miss and Sdef is better that Def on Fraxure seeing as he should be setting up on special attacks more than physical ones.
Now the moves are what sets it apart from the more obvious Fraxure sets. Basically it provided Fraxure with all the tools it need to set up on common Pokemon in the current meta. Substitute and a Dragon typing means that 80% of the most popular non rock physical walls can stop Fraxure from setting up. Taunt is ever useful allowing him to stop phazing and play mind games with Gory and Absol. Dragon Dance is obvious and Dragon Claw is much better seeing as this set is designed to get multiple boosts and Outrage has many downfalls for a set of this type. I love this set and I really hope people start using it because I am very proud of making it and making it work.
Magmortar (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Water]
- Thunderbolt
Ah, Good old Magmortar. Always been known as a great hole puncher in NU ever since gen 4. I won't talk alot about it seeing as it is a very standard set. But just some interesting things like it can take an Absol sucker punch when at full health which is a really useful thing to know and can throw alot of players off. (Not sure if it was for Jolly or Adamant but I don't particularly care.) Expert Belt is a great item on Maggy. Alot of times you will need to stall out for a crit to break down a wall and EBelt helps alot more than Life Orb when it comes to that. It is also great for bluffing a choice item and can draw misplays from the opponent.
The only point of note here is that I use Hidden Power Water. I consider this to be a superior option than Grass or Ice because unlike those it is actually used for more than one thing. It hits Camerupt and lets it beat out other Magmortars which is always a plus.
Golem (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Sucker Punch
Standard Golem, perhaps the single besr rock type for offensive teams. His access to priority is a great boon to the team and Golem sets up stealth rock well. He forces Gory to kill it which can let me set up a winning sweep. I just really like this set because it has such great offensive presence and is alot harder for Pokemon to switch into than other walls such as Probopass and Regirock. In addition my sweepers don't particularly need paralysis like something like an Usaring or Proygon might.
Nothing much of note here other than I have gone with the fully offensive spread seeing as Golem's ground type makes a specially defensive set a bit silly as most special moves hit it incredibly hard.
Cacturne (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Encore
- Sucker Punch
- Seed Bomb
Now this is an interesting niche set. I love this thing but I'm not even sure I need it. It is just so unorthadox. The moves may be normal but nothing else is. All of this is designed to get spikes down and not get set up on at the same time.
Lum is very interesting on Cacturne. I suppose it's main use is to be able to switch in on Scalds with impunity. It's also pretty neat to handle stuff that wants to toxic stall you because once Cacturne has spikes down it has pretty much done it's job and this lets me get an extra layer of spikes. It can also set up a decent combo with Golem. It will Encore the Thunder Wave so that Golem can come in and get an absolutely free turn to set up rocks.
But the highlight point of this set is the Speed. I run absolute max speed to attempt to outrun as much random stuff as I can because the fast Encore is invaluable when your strategy revolves around using a couple of setup sweepers. Seed Bomb is a good all around attack and a STAB Sucker Punch is a great tool when I am facing a potential sweep.
Mesprit @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 208 HP / 252 SAtk / 48 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
Set up sweeper, special version. Mesprit is such a versatile poke in NU right now which is probably why it is on so many teams. It can run a myraid of sets and this is possible my favorite. I went with standard EVs here that give you decent speed and maximum power while maintaining solid Substitutes. It is a solid sweeper and the Psychic / Electric combination has quite good coverage in the tier. I'm pretty happy with this set but there are probably better, faster or bulkier options. That said it suits the team's needs quite well.
There isn't much else to say here other than it can set up on special threats if it comes in on something that it forces out. However because of my teambuilding there is a severe amount of pressure on Mesprit as it is my sole fighting resist, which can get very problematic at times but I am actually usually able to play around it because of the information I get from Team Preview. All in all a good all-round poke that has served me well. I have a bad tendency to think this can tank more than I think it can which has cost me a few battles. That said my intuitive damage calc is getting more accurate.
So that's the team. As I said this team has some big problems with key threats which is why I'm retiring it. It is by no means a great team, but it is solid and does show off some of the more interesting sets that you can run on Pokemon. I am incredibly happy with the way the Fraxure set turned out and on average I'd actually put it as this team's MVP more often than not. Each Pokemon serves a purpose and all of them back each other up, which has made this a very fun team to play with and from some of the games I have played I'd say it is also a fun and interesting challenge to face.
So I don't really want too many suggestions because I am not looking to keep playing with this team. it is more a showcase, that said any opinions, comments, and suggestions will be appreciated and I always love hearing things that people have to say about my teams both good and bad. Please note though when commenting, don't tell me stuff I already know like, you're really bad agains Gory or Jynx rapes you if you lose Tauros. I already know all that stuff and I will be putting the threat list in the next post.
Final Look
