Balanced Team [OU]

First Look at the Team:
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Azelf @ Focus Sash
Levitate
Timid [+Spd -Atk]
252 Atk | 36 Sp.Atk | 220 Spd

- Explosion
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Fire Blast

An over-all good lead. I can almost always get a Stealth Rock set up with no problem. I use Taunt in the place of Psychic to help stop most common leads from setting up a Stealth Rock or any other common move as I feel it is needed. Explosion is a last priority move; if I feel that I am out of use with Azelf I use Explosion to at least take a massive chunk out of the opposing Pokemon. Fire Blast takes care of Jirachi, Metagross, and other common leads used in the current meta game. Focus Sash is here to guarantee I set up at least one Stealth Rock.

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Scizor @ Choice Band
Technician
Adamant [+Atk -Sp.Atk]
248 HP | 252 Atk | 8 Spd
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- U-Turn
- Bullet Punch

A standard Choice Band Scizor. It takes care of common Gengar leads or any Pokemon that is weak to dark and that I can safely switch in to eliminate it with Pursuit. Superpower may take care of any none-scarfed Heatran's who do not invest into Speed EVs. Also, U-Turn is used for scouting; Bullet Punch is the common Tyranitar counter for this move set.

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Jirachi @ Expert Belt
Serene Grace
Hasty [+Spd -Def]
252 Atk | 4 Sp.Atk | 252 Spd

- Ice Punch
- Fire Punch
- Iron Head
- Grass Knot


I chose Jirachi because it is my favorite Pokemon. I needed a wall breaker and another option to Stall Teams. With the amazing coverage this set gives me I can counter many Pokemon in a Stall Team and stop a lot of walls in their tracks. Ice Punch counters common Hippowdon leads, Salamence, and Flygon. Fire Punch takes care of Metagross, Lucario, and other Jirachi(s). Iron Head for STAB and another counter to Tyranitar. Grass Knot is my only Grass based move on my team and the only real counter to Swampert leads. It also counters lead Hippowdon as well.

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Gyarados @ Life Orb
Intimidate
Adamant [+Atk -Sp.Atk]
4 HP | 252 Atk | 252 Spd
- Stone Edge
- Waterfall
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake

Gyarados knows the meaning of sweep. After one Dragon Dance he is not a force to be messed with. Stone Edge to counter other Gyarados or Zapdos. Waterfall as basic STAB and scares off Heatran. Earthquake, as I felt it was less-predictable and gives me a larger variety of what I can counter--in my opinion.

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Heatran @ Leftovers
Flash Fire
Timid [+Spd -Atk]
4 HP | 252 Sp.Atk | 252 Spd
- Toxic
- Substitute
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast


I replaced Porygon2 as I felt I needed more power to the team and Heatran provides me with exactly that. Gives me more resistances I can abuse and gives me some support from the likes of Toxic. I can usually set up a Substitute easily, with Heatran's many resistances it is easy to get it set up and start using Toxic for Toxic Stall. if I have a Substitute up already and they send in a Swampert I can normally get Toxic set up on it then go for the switch out. Earth Power for a Ground based attack and is on every Standard Heatran move set. Same goes for Fire Blast and it is also my basic STAB attack on this move set.

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Flygon @ Choice Scarf
Levitate
Adamant [+Atk -Sp.Atk]
252 Atk | 80 Def | 176 Spd

- Outrage
- Earthquake
- U-Turn
- Stone Edge

Outrage helps Flygon act as a revenge killer when needed and is Flygon's basic STAB attack. Earthquake paired with Outrage and Stone Edge means a larger variety of coverage against common counters. U-Turn for more scouting and an 'O.K.' attack toward Celebi. Stone Edge is here for when I felt this team needed the extra Gyarados/Zapdos counter--seeing as how Zapdos seems to be in every latest stall team in Platinum now.

Pokemon I have replaced:

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Porygon2 @ Leftovers
Trace
Bold [+Def -Atk]
252 HP | 216 Def | 40 Sp.Atk
- Toxic
- Discharge
- Recover
- Ice Beam​
 
Hum. I don't see much that can really give you many problems. Knowing me, I generally pick through teams with a fine-tooth comb. As such, I see a few problems. The first problem is stall. While it is true this teams looks great against offense, balanced or pure, you don't really have any stall breakers that could overpower a heavy stall team. Azelf, Jirachi, Porygon2, and Flygon are all useless, whilst all of Scizor and Gyarados' attacks are handles easily. So it's true you need a stall breaker. But who to replace? Scizor is too valuable, because without priority fast, powerful sweepers will run right through you like Waffle House hashbrowns. Porygon2 can give you a good Gyarados, Vaporeon, and Heatran check-all of which are needed on an offensive / balanced team. You need your Flygon as to have a check to fast, frail sweepers once Scizor is gone or can't risk the switch in. His U turns can scout an opposing team, find the common weakness, and sweep with the weakness. So we leave it to Gyarados and Jirachi. I definitely say that Jirachi should go. All he does is Wish, paralyze and hax with fairly weak attacks that have poor coverage. Gyarados, on the other hand, can rip pure offensive teams a new one after a DD and even unboosted, his attacks sting. I suggest you keep Jirachi, though. Just try a different set!

Jirachi @ Expert Belt
Hasty 252 Spe / 252 Atk / 4 SpA

~ Iron Head
~ Ice Punch
~ Fire Punch
~ Grass Knot

Works beautifully as a wall breaker. This is better than your current Jirachi for quite a few reasons. Firstly, it gives you a much needed stall-breaker. Secondly, the previous Jirachi (PJ) really tilted you too much to a defensive team. You need power to be successful. Jirachi gives just that. Next, PJ had awful type coverage, something that plaques this team. He wasn't contributing as much as he should have, not pulling his own weight. This Jirachi can not only get the sweepers' goal of two kills, he can do more. By feigning a Scarf, they will send Scizor in on GK or Ice Punch. Most all PJ could do was paralyze stuff.

Nitpicks: Make Flygon Naive, so he has a chance of not being OHKOd by Lucario's +2 ES, and so it takes less from Scizor. Move his 80 SpA to Def to help with said attacks. Another problem is Ice Fang-why bother? Stone Edge not only beats other Gyara, but it will also OHKO Zapdos, a major threat to this team. Don't worry about not OHKOing Mence, LO makes that problem nonexistent. Lastly, move the SpA evs to Atk on Azelf. All he does is set up SR, maybe Taunting first, and then exploding. You want the most power you can get behind that boom. I also suggest Taunt > Psychic. Psychic does not help nearly as much as Taunt would.
 
Hum. I don't see much that can really give you many problems. Knowing me, I generally pick through teams with a fine-tooth comb. As such, I see a few problems. The first problem is stall. While it is true this teams looks great against offense, balanced or pure, you don't really have any stall breakers that could overpower a heavy stall team. Azelf, Jirachi, Porygon2, and Flygon are all useless, whilst all of Scizor and Gyarados' attacks are handles easily. So it's true you need a stall breaker. But who to replace? Scizor is too valuable, because without priority fast, powerful sweepers will run right through you like Waffle House hashbrowns. Porygon2 can give you a good Gyarados, Vaporeon, and Heatran check-all of which are needed on an offensive / balanced team. You need your Flygon as to have a check to fast, frail sweepers once Scizor is gone or can't risk the switch in. His U turns can scout an opposing team, find the common weakness, and sweep with the weakness. So we leave it to Gyarados and Jirachi. I definitely say that Jirachi should go. All he does is Wish, paralyze and hax with fairly weak attacks that have poor coverage. Gyarados, on the other hand, can rip pure offensive teams a new one after a DD and even unboosted, his attacks sting. I suggest you keep Jirachi, though. Just try a different set!

Jirachi @ Expert Belt
Hasty 252 Spe / 252 Atk / 4 SpA

~ Iron Head
~ Ice Punch
~ Fire Punch
~ Grass Knot

Works beautifully as a wall breaker. This is better than your current Jirachi for quite a few reasons. Firstly, it gives you a much needed stall-breaker. Secondly, the previous Jirachi (PJ) really tilted you too much to a defensive team. You need power to be successful. Jirachi gives just that. Next, PJ had awful type coverage, something that plaques this team. He wasn't contributing as much as he should have, not pulling his own weight. This Jirachi can not only get the sweepers' goal of two kills, he can do more. By feigning a Scarf, they will send Scizor in on GK or Ice Punch. Most all PJ could do was paralyze stuff.

Nitpicks: Make Flygon Naive, so he has a chance of not being OHKOd by Lucario's +2 ES, and so it takes less from Scizor. Move his 80 SpA to Def to help with said attacks. Another problem is Ice Fang-why bother? Stone Edge not only beats other Gyara, but it will also OHKO Zapdos, a major threat to this team. Don't worry about not OHKOing Mence, LO makes that problem nonexistent. Lastly, move the SpA evs to Atk on Azelf. All he does is set up SR, maybe Taunting first, and then exploding. You want the most power you can get behind that boom. I also suggest Taunt > Psychic. Psychic does not help nearly as much as Taunt would.
Thank you for this wonderful post. I'll take these suggestions and test the team out with these taken suggestions. You are right I did need something to break walls a lot better and another Pokemon to to help win against Stall. I'll also replace Ice Fang with Stone Edge and on Gyarados and see how well that tests. With that change made, I should be able to help counter Stall even more, as Zapdos seems to be in many stall teams now. Thanks a lot for the suggestions and fixes. I sha'll make the changes now. =]
 
Bad Ass said a lot of good stuff.

However, I would strongly suggest going with Adamant/Naughty over lonely on Flygon. As an adamant flygon user myself (I'm talking about me, not flygon :P), I appreciate flygon's defensive value and that being able to take a fire attack or even celebi's grass knot now and again.

However, that pales in comparison to the importance of being able to survive Scizor's Bullet Punch and Lucario's Extremespeed, if only because Flygon outruns ALL heatran.
 
Bad Ass said a lot of good stuff.

However, I would strongly suggest going with Adamant/Naughty over lonely on Flygon. As an adamant flygon user myself, I appreciate flygon's defensive value and that being able to take a fire attack or even celebi's grass knot now and again.

However, that pales in comparison to the importance of being able to survive Scizor's Bullet Punch and Lucario's Extremespeed, if only because Flygon outruns ALL heatran.
Im thinking Adamant as I replaced Fire Blast with Stone Edge. ;P Thanks for the suggestions. =D
 
Anymore suggestions? This team has been doing pretty good so far. But I am open to any Pokemon replacements or new move spreads. :]
 
Your porygon z probably has problems against other walls, so a double status could come in handy, my suggestion is discharge > thunderbolt, doesnt need the extra power (i think) and 30% paralyze is pretty good, and then toxic > thunderwave.
 
Your porygon z probably has problems against other walls, so a double status could come in handy, my suggestion is discharge > thunderbolt, doesnt need the extra power (i think) and 30% paralyze is pretty good, and then toxic > thunderwave.
I'm considering just cutting him from the team all together. But I'll test these changes first. ;]
 
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