Astral Team: a stall team by Monster

Greetings. I would like you to rate my team of Pokemon that are named after the moons that orbit Jupiter, and Jupiter itself. It's a stall team. Unfortunately, the only Pokemon that resemble planets and are applicable are mostly UU, or even NU. But that's besides the point. Here is my team:

Glalie (Callisto)@leftovers--Impish/Inner Focus
EVs: 204 HP, 52 Def., 252 Spe.
-Explosion
-Ice Shard
-Crunch
-Spikes

Description: This is my lead, and I think Glalie would make a pretty darn good lead. But if someone leads with a Scizor I'm basically screwed. The idea is to set up spikes then explode in their face. But again, Scizor might get in the way.

Electrode (Jupiter)@light clay--Timid/Static
EVs: 252 HP, Sp. Atk 128 Sp. Def. 64 Spe 64
-Light Screen
-Magnet Rise
-Mirror Coat
-T-Bolt

Description: This Pokemon is mainly for support. Also for a decent Swampert counter. If I use magnet rise, a lot of the time Swampert's only other move than EQ is Ice Beam, which I can shoot back at him with Mirror Coat. I was originally thinking of giving Jupiter Explosion over Light Screen, but that seemed to go against my strategy, since Light Screen is quire useful for the rest of my team.

Rhyperior (Ganymede)@leftovers--Impish/Solid Rock
EVs: 174 HP, Atk 84, Def 252
-EQ
-Megahorn
-Avalanche
-Fire Punch

Description: I know Gliscor is a better physical wall, but Rhyperior looks more like a planet. And he packs a bigger punch. He's my main counter for the aforementioned Scizor, except he can actually do damage to the mantis, unlike Gliscor who can only stall him. In my old team, this guy had Rock Blast for subs and for STAB but I need Fire Punch for Scizor, etc.

Gengar (Io)@leftovers--Naughty
EVs: 56 HP, 90 Atk, 112 Sp. Atk, 252 Spd.
T-Bolt
Shadow Ball
Sucker Punch
Will o' Wisp

Description: This is my response to Rapid Spinners, as Gengar is basically the best ghost out there. And I have a little surprise for Latias and Alakazam in case they come around (Sucker Punch). I originally wanted to put Protect instead of T-Bolt for stalling (since I have a Toxic Spiker on my team I haven't gotten to), but I figure T-Bolt will kill most of those meddling Rapid Spinners, since usually they're things like Tentacruel and such.

Cloyster (Europa)@lefties--Jolly--Skill Link
EVs: 252 HP, 200 SpD, 56 Spd
Rapid Spin
Toxic Spikes
Explosion
Icicle Spear

Description: His main purpose is for Rapid Spinning and setting up Toxic Spikes. Icicle Spear is pretty sweet with Skill Link, but I still haven't tried it out. It's mostly for dealing with subs and dragons. Then, when he's done, he explodes all over some poor Pokemon who isn't Scizor or some other Explosion blocker.

Tyranitar (Storm)@lefties--Adamant
EVs: 100 HP, 152 Def, 252 Sp. Def
Outrage
Stone Edge
Stealth Rock
Fire Punch

Description: Yes, I know, another Fire Punch, but there are plenty of steels around immune to Toxic, so I have to do it. I gave him a lot of defenses to be able to stick around. My strategey is to bring him into play before I bring in Rhyperior, and bring in Electrode before I bring in Ttar, so I can have maximum special defense. Outrage is for dragons such as Dragonite who can resist Toxic Spikes. SR, well, that's obvious. I named her Storm after the great dark spot on Jupiter.

So that's my team. Suggestions?
 
I'll try to stick to the theme, however, instead of finding Pokemon that actually look like the moons that orbit Jupiter, I'm going to suggest some Pokemon that resemble characteristics of the moons that orbit Jupiter and characteristics of Jupiter itself. I'll try and do my best to stick to the theme...

Okay, this team has a few problems. The biggest concern I have is your large weakness to Scizor. With Bullet Punch, Scizor OHKOes/2HKOes everything on your team with Bullet Punch/ U-turn. Tyranitar, Glalie, Rhyperior are all weak to Scizor's main STAB attack, Bullet Punch and they all take huge amounts of damage from Bullet Punch too. Your Rhyperior and Tyranitar have a chance of surviving a Choice Banded Bullet Punch, however, the first move Scizor almost always makes is U-turn. This means that you can attempt to Fire Punch it, however, Scizor will escape with U-turn and come back later in the match to wreak havoc. U-turn will wear down your team quite a bit and once your opponent manages to weaken your team enough for Scizor to sweep you with Bullet Punch, you lose. Tyranitar, Scizor and Glalie are not the only Pokemon vulnerable to Scizor, however, your Gengar in addition to Cloyster and Electrode are as well. Gengar cannot take a Scizor's Choice Band Bullet Punch since it has a small chance of surviving due to Stealth Rock + Sandstorm damage. Cloyster will just keep getting hit by Bullet Punch while Cloyster fails to do anything other than Explode. Your Electrode will not do enough damage to Scizor with Bullet Punch because most Scizor run HP + Special Defense EV's, meaning Scizor can take Electrode's ThunderBolts pretty easily. So what can we doto remedy this Scizor problem? Well, I will suggest using Rotom-h over Gengar. Rotom-h basically does most of the things Gengar is doing for you, however, Rotom-h does a few things more and a bit more effectively. Firstly, Rotom-h will provide your team with a much needed Scizor counter in addition to adding your team with much more durability. Rotom-h still blocks Rapid Spin attempts from Rapid Spinners such as Starmie and Tentacruel. In return, Rotom-h also 2HKO/OHKOes most of these aforementioned Rapid Spinners, a task that your Gengar fails to do. For your team, I would suggest you use Will-O-Wisp, Overheat, ThunderBolt, Shadow Ball, 252 HP / 64 Def / 192 Spe, Timid Nature. That is most likely the best set for your team and I will once again explain why. Every Rotom should carry either WoW or Reflect for Tyranitar. Rotom actually works as a great lure for Tyranitar, burning it as it comes in and meaning it is a lot easier for it to take it on. Tyranitar is loathe to Pursuit once it has been burned in case you stay in and it does laughable damage. WoW will still let you cripple Salamence. ThunderBolt is over Discharge because the increased power boost from Discharge to Thunderbolt helps to offset the loss of SpA EVs, and means you can still do decent damage to Water-types. Also, there is nothing more infuriating than accidentally paralysing a Tyranitar with Discharge, and it Pursuiting you to death because you couldn't burn it. Even with no SpA EVs, Overheat will get the KOs on Lucario and Scizor, so you don't need to worry there. The 252 HP EV's give Rotom some great durability, allowing it to take a variety of hits. The Speed EV's with a Timid nature allow Rotom-h to outspeed Adamant Lucario by one point, allowing you to OHKO with Overheat. Shadow Ball is there to hit opposing Ghost types such as Gengar, etc. Your Gengar is named Io. According to what I've read, Io volcanism is responsible for many of that satellite's unique features. Its volcanic plumes and lava flows produce large surface changes and paint the surface in various shades of red, yellow, white, black, and green, largely due to the sulfurous compounds. Since lava and volcansim represent Fire, I assume Rotom-h fits in well into this description since Rotom-h can utilize Fire type moves such as Overheat and Will-o-Wisp.

Okay, Glalie is not that good of a lead. Common leads like Jirachi, Heatran, Tyranitar, Metagross, Infernape, etc all take him out easily. Jirachi can Iron head Glalie to death and since Glalie is weak to iron Head, it will most likely die. Heatran can just Fire Blast you for an OHKO while you do fail to do anything back since Heatran resist all of your moves that you have on Glalie. Same scenario with Infernape. Infernape can just Close Combat you or Fire Blast you for an OHKO. Metagross destroys Glalie with Meteor Mash while Tyranitar kills Glalie with Stone Edge. So, what I suggest you do is replace Glalie with Hippowdon and use Hippowdon as your lead. Hippowdon will do a couple of things for you. Firstly, it will safely set up Stealth Rock against most leads while being able to attack back with some decent damage with a STAB Earthquake. Hippowdon also brings some added bulk to your team. By using Hippowdon as your lead, you can set up Sandstorm right away as well. You also gain an additional check to, Swords Dance Lucario, Swords Dance Infernape, etc. For Hippowdon, I suggest using Stealth Rock, Earthquake, Ice Fang, Slack Off, 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpD, Impish Nature. Hippowdon is an excellent Pokemon to use on a Stall team. It can survive a myriad of hits coming from strong sweepers that reside in OU. It can instantly recover damage with Slack Off, making Hippowdon really durable. Earthquake is for STAB and hitting a variety if Pokemon such as Infernape, Lucario, Heatran, Tyranitar, and most other Pokemon for good damage as well.Ice Fang lets Hippowdon OHKO Salamence which can hurt your team quite a bit..With that EV spread, you are never OHKOed by a Lucario's Close Combat after a Swords Dance. How does Hippowdon relate to your team theme? Well, since your Tyranitar is named Storm and Hippowdon sets up a Storm as well, I guess that relates to the theme....

EDIT Alright, your team has a pretty big weakness to Infernape. Infernape destroys Tyranitar with Close Combat. Glalie and Cloyster are torched by a Fire Blast and since they have horrible Special Defense and a weakness to Stealth Rock, they will most likely be OHKOed. Rhyperior is finished by Grass Knot. The only way you can actually attack Infernape is with Gengar and Electrode, both of which cannot KO Infernape with the attacks they have, while Infernape puts a massive hurting on them with Fire Blast. If you have Toxic Spikes on the field, Life Orb + Sandstorm will eventually kill Infernape, however, Infernape will take about 2-3 Pokemon with it before it dies. So what can we do about this? Well, we have a couple of options. The best choice is obviously a Bulky Water, however, you have a couple of Pokemon too choose from. You have options such as Tentacruel, Gyarados, and Vaporeon, Tentacruel basically does everything your Cloyster is doing, however, it does it more effectively while being able to counter threat such as the aforementioned Infernape. Gyarados provides you with a Lucario, Infernape, Scizor, Heatran check, however, if you use the Hippowdon I suggested, Hippowdon should be able to handle those threats well enough. Firstly, Vaporeon provides your team with a much needed Gyarados counter, as well as providing a counter to similar threats that Tentacruel countered for you. I suggest using Vaporeon since it still counters Infernape, Heatran, and various other Fire types in addition to countering the dangerous Gyarados. For Vaporeon use 188 HP / 252 Def / 68 Spe, Bold, Leftovers, Wish, Surf, Hidden Power Electric, Protect. Vaporeon can heal those who have no form of recovery arevictims of Stealth Rock like Salamence. Also, Wish allows vaporeon to heal itself while making it a great team player. Protect is a must for keeping Vaporeon healthy to keep passing Wishes; Protect also allows you to scout. Surf is for STAB while Hidden Power allows you to combat Gyarados, a huge threat to your team. Hidden Power Electric also aids in fighting other Bulky Waters such as Suicune, other Vaporeon, etc. Basically, Vaporeon gives you a good check to Fire types such as Infernape while beating Gyarados and provding Wish support for your team. You can heal your Tyranitar with Wish, allowing you to make it come back to full health to allow it to keep on dealing large amounts of damage to opposing Pokemon.

Now onto Tyranitar. With the newly suggested Hippowdon having Stealth Rock, you can now alter Tyranitar's spread to help your team fight against the threats that normally annoy stall teams such as last minute Calm Minder such as Latias, Jirachi, Tyranitar also works great with Hipowdon and I will explain why. The main things which stay in on Hippowdon are Pokemon such as Celebi and Starmie. Tyranitar can take both of Starmie and Celebi out with Crunch/Pursuit if they try to run. Tyranitar also helps against other Stall teams sunce Tyranitar can easily 2HKO most things on a Stall team with the proper move if Tyranitar is using a Choice Band, which is the item I'm going to suggest to you. For Tyranitar, I suggest using Choice Band, Stone Edge, Aqual tail, Pursuit, Crunch, 176 HP / 252 Atk / 80 Spe, Adamant. Aqua tail allows Tyranitar to take care of one of Tyranitar's most common counters, Hippowdon and Gliscor. Tyranitar can 2HKO both of them with Aqua Tail. Crunch is for STAB and for hitting most Pokemon extremely hard. Pursuit is to be used to catch Pokemon runnning away from you such as Rotom, latias, Starmie, etc. Stone Edge is for STAB as well. The EV spread suggested makes Tyranitar fast enough to outspeed 4 Speed EV Skarmory, allowing Tyranitar to Stone Edge for a 2HKO before it can Roost. The HP Ev's are there to increase Tyranitar's durability.

If you take all of these suggestions, Rhyperior is not really needed anymore. Think about it. Rotom now takes care of the Scizor that your Rhyperior is supposed to be "countering" Tyranitar with a Choice Band is now the new hard hitter of the team that is capable of helping you get rid of threats that annnoy stall such as Latias, Starmie, Celebi, etc. Rhyperior also adds to many repeating weaknesses that your team already has such as Fighting, Steel, Grass, Water, etc. You can now replace Rhyperior with a Pokemon that can finish the remainder of the entry hazards that you are missing. You are missing Spikes. Your team is also missing a Steel type. Steel types are very useful in this metagame because f all of the Dragon attacks going around in addition to Scizor and various other factors. You can use Skarmory with Spikes, Whirlwind, Roost, Brave Bird, Impish, 252 HP / 64 Atk / 176 Def / 16 Spe. Skarmory gives you an important Dragon resist as well as a phazer. With Whirlwind, you can shuffle around your opponents team while building up Stealth Rock+Spikes+Toxic Spikes damage. 64 Attack EVs allow Skarmory to 2HKO offensive Gyarados if they have taken Stealth Rock damage and also will OHKO Infernape switch-ins. The given Attack EVs also allow Skarmory to KO most Lucario after a Defense drop from Close Combat and one Life Orb recoil. 16 Speed EVs allows Skarmory to Adamant Rhyperior, meaning you can Roost before it can Stone Edge you. Brave Bird is to allow Skarmory to get a decent hit on most things while Roost recovers any damage Skarmory takes and also makes up for the damage taken from Brave Bird recoil. How does Skarmory relate to the theme. Hmm...well Ganymede is a moon that resembles Skarmory's color so I guess that can relate to it in some way =p

Lastly we are up to Electrode. Electrode really is out of place on this team if you take all of these changes. Even without the changes, it seems like a random Pokemon thrown into the team other than meeting the theme of your team. With all the suggestions I have made, you are missing one thing. A Pokemon that can take out Swampert and other Bulky Waters. Without a Pokemon on the team that can beat Swampert, you will have a hard time breaking through Swampert's amazing defenses. Swampert can also hurt your team with Earthquake/Surf with the suggestions I made and without the suggestions. The best choice for a Pokemon to use is a grass type such as Celebi. Celebi basically patches up most of the things the team is weak to such as Swampert, Gyarados, and basically Bulky Waters. Celebi gives you a counter to Gyarados who can hurt your team a lot right now if you take my suggestions. Celebi also gives you a counter to most Bulky Waters. I suggest using Recover, Hidden Power Fire, Thunder Wave, Grass Knot, 252 HP, 36 Speed, 220 Defense, Bold Nature, Leftovers. Grass Knot is for STAB and getting rid of the Water types such as Swampert and Gyarados that trouble you. Thunder Wave is to cripple the Pokemon that like coming into Celebi such as Heatran and Infernape. Paralysis support also works great with Tyranitar. Tyranitar is pretty slow, so it can use some paralysis support from Celebi! Recover is to heal damage and Hidden Power is for that surprise kill on Scizor. The EVs give Celebi the best overall physical defenses while still outrunning Jolly Tyranitar. After sitting here and staring at my screen for a good 10 minutes, I could not come up with an explanation on how celebi relates to any moons that orbit Jupiter. However, celebi is a useful Pokemon to have on your team, and that is what matters =p
 
I agree with Bloo. Scizor poops all over this team. Plus if they have a backup fighter, it means they wouldn't have to worry about Scizor getting worn down either...

Instead of Glalie I'd do Mamoswine. Seems to have a similar job as a lead to Glailie, using

Ice Shard
Earthquake
Stealth Rock
Endeavor
@ Focus Sash
^pwnage^

Rotom-H is a difficult pokemon to get around, even with a dedicated counter. Consider it... Beware that some (usually smart/good looking/all around pro) players sometimes run extra Sp Def evs on thier Scizors to survive Celebi's HP fire...

But yeah he's not getting around Skarm+Rotom-H anytime soon anyway, so...

GL with the team. :3
 
Thanks Bloo, I'll consider these things. But there's a problem with a t-waver and a will o' wisper on this team: I'm supposed to be inflicting toxic on the other pokemon. If they are already inflicted with a status, toxic spikes will not have any relevance.
 
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