Battle Maison Discussion & Records

[Lumari]

Guys, guys, could I please have some opinions on this AI multi team?

AI pokemon

Hawlucha @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Unburden
Nature: Adamant (judging by attack/speed ratio)
EVs: max Atk and Spe
-Swords Dance
-Acrobatics
-Flying Press
-Steel Wing

Slaking @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
Nature: Adamant (OHKOed Heatran2 on a crit with Giga Impact, which Jolly can't do)
EVs: max Atk and Spe
-Giga Impact
-Earthquake
-Shadow Claw
-Hammer Arm

mine

Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
-Earthquake
-Dragon Claw
-Rock Slide
-Protect

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Atk / 116 Def / 100 SpD (custom spread from the dex, I like it here too because it lets Scizor tank a lot of neutral hits)
-Bullet Punch
-Thief (preferred over X-Scissor in case of opposing Steel-types and Giga Impact-locked Slaking)
-Swords Dance
-Protect

Because ReptoAbysmal mentioned Slaking didn't suck here, I realised I had a second AI partner that was not that awful (aside from Scizor/Slowking), so I decided to give it a spin with an AI partner. First, I teamed up with Mega Blaziken/Rotom, but that didn't work because Blaziken was too slow initially and had to use a first turn Protect way too often, and Rotom lacked some firepower (lost twice at lol18), so I then tried Garchomp and Scizor (TOTALLY not inspired by Jumpman's Suizorus lol). I usually try to use Earthquake to weaken both opponents to have one picked off by Hawlucha and then isolate one trainer as quickly as possible. In case of opposing Ice-types/Ice Beamers, I switch to Scizor (or, if appropriate, use Protect first to buy Hawlucha a free turn, they'll always target Garchomp first).
Hawlucha is decently reliable, he usually goes for the super effective move or tries to pick off the most weakened opponent. Occasionally he picks an inappropriate moment to set up an SD though lol. Slaking usually locks himself into Giga Impact, unless an other move has a really big type advantage (e.g. Shadow Claw if there's a ghost around, or E'quake in case of Rock-types) or if there are multiple weakened opponents to pick off. Choice-locked Earthquake isn't that awful because of Truant, I can just use Protect every other turn. Fortunately, the opposing AI doesn't exactly know how to play around Truant (one game it came down to a burned Slaking vs. Trevenant, who kept spamming Protect instead of alternating.) But yeah, I lost at battle 48 to pure hax (Starmie froze Scizor when I switched in and flinched Slaking with Surf, otherwise I'd have beaten it easily and it would come down to whatever the opponents' other pokemon were)

I wouldn't normally ask this, but I got so close and I don't know whether bad luck kept me away from fifty or I was lucky getting to 48 in the first place ^.^ I just want to get this done, but I can't team up with an irl friend for the next couple of weeks at least, if at all, but on the other hand I don't wanna waste my time playing around with the AI if there's only a slim chance of getting to 50 if my chances are so much bigger teaming up with a real friend (I don't wanna repeat my attempts of getting the starf berry in triples and failing thrice when getting close). This AI partner is not terrible, but it's still rather mediocre imo, and when teaming up with an irl friend I'm almost guaranteed to get the trophy, so I'd just like to know how bad this team really is, and if I'd be wasting more time waiting for one on my friends or trying to win with the AI ~^.^~

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

I would have been pretty skeptical about Hawlucha simply because it has Swords Dance and, predictably, you did say it ocasionally chooses to boost at a really inopportune time. When things like that snowball, I end up blacklisting the poke/partner that did it.

As for your pokes, I recommend one of them having more immediate raw power; enough to OHKO many bulkier pokes, especially those that hold Custap Berries (Escavalier 4 comes to mind.) Was Garchomp often being hit before it finished something? In my experiences with M-Scizor it absolutely NEEDS that Swords Dance to perform well, and I didn't find it versatile until I began using it on Trick Room teams. Certainly not for Multis. I suggest you get a new mega.

Also, less Protect on your part; the more turns spent with your partner being the only one attacking, the worse. It seems counterintuitive, but with luck being an extremely powerful factor in this format (since half the battle is out of your control) you're better off KOing as often as possible. I always found it more useful to KO an opponent and let my attacker die if the target outsped my backup as well as my partner.

If you're able to obtain it, I actually had a lot of easy battles with Hyper Voice Mega Gardevoir (Heatran as backup) but those streaks still ended in failure. Nothing I tried was quiiiiite as utilitarian and lethal as Zard-Y and that freaking Drought. Fortunately for me, any run-ins I had with Aerodactyls were while I still had Rotom-W in play, so killing it was usually just a matter of avoiding that Rock Slide flinch.

tl;dr: I strongly recommend dumping the Scizorite. Use a mega that has obscene base power and coverage with no setup whatsoever.

 

[cant say]

So I'm trying to put together a sand team for doubles because I want to use Mega-Garchomp (he gets no love) and a shiny Tyranitar I just bred, but I can't decide on the rest of the team. I think Tailwind would help but I don't really like any Tailwind setters, and I can't think of a good way to stop Trick Room and Water/Ice/Fairy types. Team mates I've considered are;

Tailwind: Talonflame, Whimsicott, Murkrow, Aerodactyl
Other stuff: Excadrill, Roserade (Weather Ball, water/ice/fairy check)...

Quick team idea was something like Tailwind Setter, Tyranitar, M-Chomp, Excadrill/Roserade.

sample sets

Murkrow @ Eviolite
Ability: Prankster
Bold Nature
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
- Tailwind
- Taunt
- Roost / Protect
- Protect / Foul Play

Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock / Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Jolly Nature
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
- Dragon Dance / Protect
- Crunch
- Rock Slide / Earthquake
- Elemental Fang (don't have punches) / Earthquake / Iron Head

Garchomp @ Garchompite
Ability: Rough Skin -> Sand Force
Naive Nature
(Really have no ideas on EVs yet, planning to go mixed, not sure how much speed I'll need under Tailwind)
- Earthquake
- Iron Head / Rock Slide
- Draco Meteor / Rock Slide / Dragon Claw
- Flamethrower

Roserade @ Life Orb / White Herb
Ability: Technician
Timid / Modest Nature
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Speed
- Giga Drain / Leaf Storm
- Sludge Bomb
- Weather Ball
- Hidden Power Fire

~OR~

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
Adamant Nature
(Also not sure on EVs, with sand up he doesn't need speed EVs to outrun the Maison, but do you invest any for emergencies)
- Iron Head
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide / X-Scissor
- Protect

Not really concerned with storming the leaderboard, just some fun in between Battle Spot tournaments, but I want the team to be somewhat viable. Anyone got any ideas?

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

Tyranitar with a Life Orb will answer your Trick Room issue: Tyranitar has been a phenomenal cockblock for Trick Room when I've used it, even when I was using it for my own TR team, and while I was actually using Tyranitarite, which leaves it a bit weaker, it was functioning extremely well.

It won't be able to OHKO Slowbro 4 or Cresselia 2 without some form of help, and it isn't a guaranteed OHKO on Set 1 Bronzong or Cofagrigus 3 (both of whom Mara can carry) or Dusknoir 4, but it takes very little support to finish either one of them off should you fail to do so.

For all other TR setters, it's GG as soon as Tyranitar closes its mouth.

Not that you showed any interest in Clawitzer, but it eats both TR teams and bulky waters/ice types for breakfast. However, ideally your Life Orb would already be spoken for by Tyranitar.

Otherwise, if you're nearly set on using Tyranitar, unless the enemy TR setter is paired with Alakazam/Reuniclus 4, Trick Room is not going to be a problem at all. Gardevoir 4 also carries Focus Blast and provides a conflict of interest if a setter is also present, but Garchomp will outspeed it even with the Mega's speed drop, and should be able to OHKO it easily.

 

[Lumari]

I would have been pretty skeptical about Hawlucha simply because it has Swords Dance and, predictably, you did say it ocasionally chooses to boost at a really inopportune time. When things like that snowball, I end up blacklisting the poke/partner that did it.

As for your pokes, I recommend one of them having more immediate raw power; enough to OHKO many bulkier pokes, especially those that hold Custap Berries (Escavalier 4 comes to mind.) Was Garchomp often being hit before it finished something? In my experiences with M-Scizor it absolutely NEEDS that Swords Dance to perform well, and I didn't find it versatile until I began using it on Trick Room teams. Certainly not for Multis. I suggest you get a new mega.

Also, less Protect on your part; the more turns spent with your partner being the only one attacking, the worse. It seems counterintuitive, but with luck being an extremely powerful factor in this format (since half the battle is out of your control) you're better off KOing as often as possible. I always found it more useful to KO an opponent and let my attacker die if the target outsped my backup as well as my partner.

If you're able to obtain it, I actually had a lot of easy battles with Hyper Voice Mega Gardevoir (Heatran as backup) but those streaks still ended in failure. Nothing I tried was quiiiiite as utilitarian and lethal as Zard-Y and that freaking Drought. Fortunately for me, any run-ins I had with Aerodactyls were while I still had Rotom-W in play, so killing it was usually just a matter of avoiding that Rock Slide flinch.

tl;dr: I strongly recommend dumping the Scizorite. Use a mega that has obscene base power and coverage with no setup whatsoever.

As for Hawlucha, yeah I saw something like that coming but beggars can't be choosers lol (I have literally five friends on my 3DS, my other not-that-terrible partner is Scizor/Slowking, but Scizor has SD also and those are too slow imo without Trick Room support anyway, which worked in the regulars but probably isn't consistent enough without Fake Out in the supers; I also have Delphox/Crobat, Crobat is supposedly alright but Delphox has Sunny Day and will probably screw that up as well. I haven't tested it though because I couldn't think up a good team to go with it).
Garchomp had enough power to OHKO anything weak to its STABs and at least severely dent most other stuff, so that should be alright (but seriously, what does OHKO Esca with a neutral hit?) Custap users have never caused any problems really, I only run into Custap Explosion users, they usually use Explosion on their second turn regardless and I screw them over with Protect. Protect is mostly useful against stuff like Froslass and Starmie, there's no way I can even hit them without going down, and they're guaranteed to target Garchomp anyway if both he and Hawlucha are at full health, so usually there's little opportunity cost involved and I can easily buy Hawlucha free turns.

I think you're underplaying Scizor a little bit, it does need that SD if it wants to hit hard but it's not like it's hard to set up, and if it does it's really good. One battle on this run came down to a set-up Scizor alone against three opponents, out were a weakened Gardevoir and a full-health Mienshao. Scizor BPed Shao as it Wide Guarded, taking off ~80% of its health, and took Garde's Focus Blast to the face, which did like 30%. I then used Protect to see if Shao would be stupid enough to use HJK and because using it wouldn't hurt anyway, and it was :p then, taking down Garde and the final mon (Claydol) was easy. (Not too relevant but I liked Scizor's performance here). But I see your point, that one turn could be used for more destructive purposes.

But thanks for your reply, that basically confirms that it's gonna be really hard to beat multi with this AI partner, and even if I were to tweak my own team I'd still be stuck with a subpar partner regardless. (I can get a Hyper Voice Mega Garde, as a matter of fact I have a Hyper Voice Ralts ready on White 2. Problem is, I don't have Bank myself; I rely on friends to transfer stuff for me, and if I can get in touch with them for that I might just as well team up with them anyway :p as for Zard Y, I have one but he's Modest and therefore probably too slow so I'd have to breed a new one.) Ty for the tips ^.^

So I'm trying to put together a sand team for doubles because I want to use Mega-Garchomp (he gets no love) and a shiny Tyranitar I just bred, but I can't decide on the rest of the team. I think Tailwind would help but I don't really like any Tailwind setters, and I can't think of a good way to stop Trick Room and Water/Ice/Fairy types. Team mates I've considered are;

Tailwind: Talonflame, Whimsicott, Murkrow, Aerodactyl
Other stuff: Excadrill, Roserade (Weather Ball, water/ice/fairy check)...

Quick team idea was something like Tailwind Setter, Tyranitar, M-Chomp, Excadrill/Roserade.

sample sets

Murkrow @ Eviolite
Ability: Prankster
Bold Nature
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
- Tailwind
- Taunt
- Roost / Protect
- Protect / Foul Play

Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock / Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Jolly Nature
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
- Dragon Dance / Protect
- Crunch
- Rock Slide / Earthquake
- Elemental Fang (don't have punches) / Earthquake / Iron Head

Garchomp @ Garchompite
Ability: Rough Skin -> Sand Force
Naive Nature
(Really have no ideas on EVs yet, planning to go mixed, not sure how much speed I'll need under Tailwind)
- Earthquake
- Iron Head / Rock Slide
- Draco Meteor / Rock Slide / Dragon Claw
- Flamethrower

Roserade @ Life Orb / White Herb
Ability: Technician
Timid / Modest Nature
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Speed
- Giga Drain / Leaf Storm
- Sludge Bomb
- Weather Ball
- Hidden Power Fire

~OR~

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
Adamant Nature
(Also not sure on EVs, with sand up he doesn't need speed EVs to outrun the Maison, but do you invest any for emergencies)
- Iron Head
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide / X-Scissor
- Protect

Not really concerned with storming the leaderboard, just some fun in between Battle Spot tournaments, but I want the team to be somewhat viable. Anyone got any ideas?

Just my two cents, but I think you're trying to do a little too much at the same time here. You'd really need both your Tailwind setter and Tar to support Garchomp, and you can't get all three of them in at the same time. Switching out your tailwind setter would imo cost too much momentum to be consistent. If I were you, I'd just leave out the tailwind setter. Garchomp and Tyranitar have alright defensive synergy anyway (apart from the shared Fairy weakness, but hey, what can you do), so if you just slap Protect on both of them (which you need anyway imo in order to protect you from your own Earthquakes) you can draw in fighting and ice attacks at least and buy your partner some free turns. Or just take this team to Triples :p it would probably chew off faces there.

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

The Zard Y I used was also Modest, and I didn't have any real problems. The kind of things that threaten Zard-Y will outspeed it anyway, such as Aerodactyl. Drought will work to your advantage in several of those cases, while in others you'll simply need things to go your way.

I preferred Modest for the extra muscle behind Heat Wave, my usual move of choice. I also used Solarbeam, Focus Blast and occasionally Dragon Pulse.

While I did seem pretty critical of M-Scizor, it's more out of experience; you obviously had much better runs with it than I did, using an extremely similar spread and moveset. I made two Multis runs with it and the battles in which its lack of immediate power hindered me were too frequent for my liking.

The way I see it, your main issue right now is that Hawlucha isn't raring to go on turn one. Flying Press leaves a lot to be desired when it also can get HJK and Acrobatics is not lethal right off the bat. So, unlike with my Rotom-W, your lead must already pull more than its own weight.

Edit: As for OHKOing Escavalier with a neutral hit, it requires retardedly high-powered blows, such as Mega Heracross Close Combat, CB Tyrantrum Head Smash, weather-boosted STAB Hydro Pump/Water Spout and so on. I have to apologize for throwing its name down, as I was unconsciously recalling Triples battles when I said that, where I'm used to OHKOing it on a regular basis and it's a big threat to TR. But apart from things like that, I also frequently have Helping Hand at my disposal, so, yeah. Forget I said that <_____<

 

[Berry Juice]

Hey guys, I was thinking about my Super Doubles team, and I noticed it has kind of a weakness against bulky Grass-type pokemon(as in the team can't deal enough damage quickly, also the only grass resist is Aegislash), like Tangrowth and Virizion. The current team is below.

Hide

Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 HP / 4Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Return
- Sucker Punch
- Power-Up Punch

Aegislash @ Air Balloon
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Substitute

Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Protect

Rotom-Wash @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 60 SpA / 92 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

I think I'm going to replace Rotom-W with Togekiss, as it beats Grass-types, can switch in on Kangaskhan's Fighting-type weakness(I'd usually switch Rotom in, but I find it to get damaged pretty quickly, as most Fighting-types are quite powerful), and gives me extra insurance against threats like Volcarona4. Togekiss' immunity to Dragon-type moves is useful when there's something spamming Outrage. Rotom-W's Fire resist(useful when switching in on Fire-types for Aegislash) will be missed, but I can EV Togekiss to survive some Fire-type moves too. The set I'm thinking about is:

Togekiss @ Sitrus Berry/something else(not sure yet)
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: not sure yet
Timid/Bold/Calm/Modest Nature(again, not sure yet)
- Air Slash(STAB)
- Dazzling Gleam(STAB 2, spread damage)
- Flamethrower/Aura Sphere(Flamethrower hits stuff like Ferrothorn, Forretress, Scizor, and Skarmory harder, while Aura Sphere hits Heatran, and Rock-types(like Tyranitar) harder)
- Protect(useful as always)

My two back-ups now have pretty good offensive and defensive synergy(besides that Ice-type weakness), with two spread moves to clean up after Kangaskhan and Aegislash have gone down(or not), and covering each other's weaknesses nicely(again, besides that Ice-type weakness). For the Ice-types, the whole team has ways to work around them: Kangaskhan boosts up and/or just wrecks them, Aegislash laughs at them, Garchomp has Rock Slide(it can also Protect while attracting Ice-type moves, so something else can beat the Ice-types), and Togekiss has Flamethrower/Aura Sphere. I'll probably give Garchomp a Focus Sash too, so it can survive at least one move(Ice-type or not)
I'd like some opinions about this change, is trading the Grass-type problem for an Ice-type one(although it's easier to handle) worth it?

 

[Swerzle]

I finished Super Rotations, by far the mode I personally had the most difficulties with being largely unfamiliar with the style. At least Triples and Multis were enough like doubles.
Anyway that means I now have 50 wins in every mode.
Ill attach a photo with my in game name (same as the account: Swerzle) in front of my trophies.
So anyway here's the team:

Gliscor
Poison Heal Impish Toxic Orb
-Earthquake
-Swords Dance
-Protect
-Aerial Ace

Chansey "Eggo"
Natural Cure Bold Eviolite
-Ice Beam
-Protect
-Soft-Boiled
-Toxic

Ferrothorn "Grumpy Plant"
Iron Barbs Adamant Leftovers
-Gyro Ball
-Power Whip
-Ingrain
-Curse

Cloyster "Shelly"
Skill Link Adamant Focus Sash
-Shell Smash
-Rock Blast
-Icicle Spear
-Razor Shell

Borrowing from record winning strategies as the easiest method of getting through this mode, I employed the same synergistic combinations of VaporeonIce, however I switched out MegaVenusaur for Ferrothorn to make it my own a bit but all other changes were due to impatience breeding, except Gliscor who was is an old favourite and gives him a way to hit Levitators and he swept the whole 50th battle with Aerial Ace, (I lost to Lax Incense with another team...). Anyway I believe Cloyster did the least, I might swap her out for an Unaware Clefable if I continue the streak to handle boosters, this team has a weakness to.

 

[turskain]

It's over - posting a Super Rotations streak of 528 wins.

Battle video: NPJW-WWWW-WWW8-SZ2E vs. Froslass/Quagsire/Empoleon/Jynx

The match-up is looking awful already, as Froslass has Focus Sash Destiny Bond and can speed tie Gengar and kill Dragonite, and take Klefki down with a lucky Destiny Bond; which is very bad in this case, since Quagsire and Empoleon are both Pokémon that neither Gengar or Dragonite like, and Klefki would very much like staying alive to deal with them. (Waiting out Destiny Bond PP is not possible in Rotations, as the AI will use it only 10-20% of the time - only priority, higher Speed and luck can save you from it.)

I've got no choice, since Froslass has to die and Gengar and Nite are helpless before it's gone - and the dice roll perfectly against me, with the AI rotating it in instantly to Destiny Bond before I get any hits on Empoleon or Quagsire - just one hit on Quagsire would've revealed whether or not it was Unaware, which will be important in a misplay later, and a hit on Empoleon would've broken its sub, which would've also been useful.

Feeling the loss after losing the (crucial against Quagsire and Empoleon) Klefki I panic rapidly. It gets worse - out comes Jynx, boasting Blizzard to roast Nite and freeze the shit out of everyone else, while Empoleon and Quagsire still threaten all as well. As MegaKhan's Fake Out is impotent against subbed Empoleon, I rotate to Destiny Bond and pray either Quagsire or Empoleon moves, and Empoleon does. Score one for me!

Now the losing misplays happen. I hadn't kept track of Quagsire's Curse count (looking at the battle video, it was at +1 - with Klefki, I don't care about boosts and ignore them completely, which usually works but can backfire horribly when Destiny Bond happens as was the case here, and I had the wrong idea that it had "too many" as Quagsires often do after Klefki's set up - the set-up here was exceptionally fast, so Quagsire never got the big boosts), and somehow didn't notice the substantial damage Fake Out dealt to it - at this point I could've just won by hitting Double-Edge repeatedly if I was on the ball. Unfortunately, substantial brain damage was had following the OH SHIT panic moment as Klefki fell to Destiny Bond (like in the Doubles streak I threw to Donphan), and I go for the losing stall play instead of the attacking for the win. I even have an additional opportunity to win later, as I discover Quagsire isn't Unaware - Outraging at +6 or +5 behind a Sub or with high HP would've been an easy win. But no, I have to manage to throw the battle even though it was an easy win after Gengar got the lucky Destiny Bond on a good target...

Throwing is never fun, and I could've won the battle easily - the team had no faults that prevented the win here, and the fact that it should've been able to win even a match-up as terrible as this after Klefki went down to Destiny Bond is proof of its power. I think it could have the potential for even 1000 wins if I didn't misplay and throw a battle like this - Klefki is seriously broken and wins a ton of match-ups it has no right to.

Posting an ongoing Super Rotations streak of 444 wins, claiming the top spot on the leaderboard - not a very exciting feat given no one wants to play Rotations since the mode is a bit underwhelming, but here goes...

Battle video: 7F6G-WWWW-WWW8-RNRB - #444 vs. Raichu/Armaldo/Electivire/Weezing



The team is the 4-sweeper one I hinted at before:

Klefki @ Leftovers ** Mint-O-Ship
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Bold
EVs: 228 HP, 252 Def, 28 SDef
-Dazzling Gleam
-Calm Mind
-Substitute
-Protect

Here lies the key to Super Rotations, the Keeper of the Seven Keys, the key to the city, and one hell of a piece of metal: Klefki. Wait, what? How can CM SubProtect Klefki possibly sweep in a Maison format where a massive amount of Pokémon have moves to break its sub?

But first, why Klefki? It's got Prankster, which makes Quick Claw, enemies that boost their speed, and all priority except for Talonflame4's Gale Wings SD Brave Birds a non-issue. It also has stellar defensive typing, good stats, and uses Calm Mind to boost quickly, and gets great coverage with just one attacking move.

What enables it to work is the Super Rotations AI's stupidity and large array of moves. Most Rotations teams fear the AI's 12 possible moves and run stall-focused Pokémon, screens, and Toxic stall to somewhat cope with it - this squad welcomes the AI's increased movepool, as it gives the AI more ways to make the mind-boggingly stupid plays it's famous for. While many Pokémon have moves to break Klefki's sub, few of them will actually use them repeatedly - and a few unbroken subs are all Klefki needs to get 2-6 Calm Minds in and start sweeping. It's not that easy, of course - while the AI in Super Rotations usually is really stupid, it needs a little push in the right direction to really force it into outright madness and make it start throwing battles to sweeper Klefki. What could possibly drive it to such lengths? Well...

Gengar @ Focus Sash ** Dread-Not
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SAtk, 252 Spe, 4HP
-Shadow Ball
-Sludge Bomb
-Destiny Bond
-Protect

Dragonite @ Lum Berry ** Nosedrip
Ability: Multiscale
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk, 188 Spe, 52 HP, 12 Def, 4 SDef
-Outrage
-Substitute
-Roost
-Dragon Dance

Meet the assistant sweepers, and take particular note of their typing. Out of the types they are weak to - Dark, Ghost, Psychic, Ice, Dragon, Fairy and Rock - Klefki resists all but Ghost. Because of this, any SE move aimed at these two will not break Klefki's sub unless it's a particularly powerful attack. Additionally, they are both immune to Ground, which makes the AI more reluctant to spam Earthquake, and allows setting up Dragonite for free if the AI insists on using EQ repeatedly anyway. Better still, Dragonite resists Klefki's other weakness, Fire, allowing it to set up against nearly all Flare Blitz users. The typing is the most important part of these guys - without the fantastic defensive synergy, Klefki would not be able to become invincible with only Sub/Protect.

Gengar is straightforward; Protect may seem useless outside Doubles/Triples, but it's very useful for scouting what move Aerodactyl, Armaldo, Manectric, Alakazam and the like are locking into while conserving Klefki's Sub/Protect PP and HP, and stalling out TR and weather if needed. Coverage moves are also generally risky and of little value in Super Rotations, and Klefki does very well against Water types so there is no need for Thunderbolt on Gengar in the first place. It also destroys fairies, which is important since Dragonite has no way to hit them. Destiny Bond in addition to being generally good in Super Rotations is extremely useful with Klefki, as I will often let enemy setup sweepers get to +6 freely while killing the rest of their team; Destiny Bond allows any +6 Pokémon, even Unaware Quagsire, to be taken down with no risk (outside things like Hurricane confusion, burns, etc, which can be alleviated by PP stalling the offending moves).

Dragonite's moveset might surprise some with exchanging Earthquake for Substitute. While SubNite is not as outrageous at abusing the brain-dead Super Rotations AI as Klefki, it can still often freely set up a Sub, several DDs, and get back to full HP before going to sweep with zero risk. Also, as I said before, coverage moves are a bad idea in Super Rotations - EQ is just too risky and weak to be throwing around most of the time. With Substitute, Nite can even sometimes set up safely against slower Ice Beam users by fishing for an Earthquake or other weak move with Sub, and getting a free safe DD if it works. It also allows PP stalling +6 Curse users and the like with Sub/Roost - while Klefki does this better, there is only so much Sub/Protect PP to go around and Dragonite's stalling aid has been enormously useful in these cases. Outrage is preferred over Dragon Claw for battles where you must have maximum power right away or after one DD. Dragonite's got something of a bad reputation as a Rotations sweeper, and before switching to Substitute I'd have agreed with it; but the SubRoostDD set (reminiscent of Subway Durant Nite), with the right team, makes Dragonite the second-best Rotations sweeper in my opinion, losing only to Klefki's Sub/Protect abuse.

With Klefki's absurd strength, PP stalling options with SubProtect Klefki and SubRoost Dragonite, and the universal murder provided by Destiny Bond Gengar, there's no need to bother with trifle like Toxic stall for the back-up slot. Instead, since we've got a shiny free Mega slot and a thirst for more sweepers, we use the biggest Maison sweeping star outside Dragonite instead:

Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite ** Stalker-C
Ability: Scrappy
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 HP
-Double-Edge
-Earthquake
-Sucker Punch
-Fake Out

Mega Kangaskhan, rounding out the team with a fast, powerful cleaner with Fake Out, Sucker Punch, and a massive Double Edge. There's not much to say about it; Fake Out is preferred over PuP as the team already has two set-up sweepers, and MegaKhan's role is mostly to pick up the pieces, which Scrappy Fake Out is useful for. I prefer Double-Edge for a Super Rotations back-up Khan for the extra power; it's unneeded a lot of the time, but it has secured some useful KOs along the way and the recoil dama isn't too big of a deal. Its greatest advantage is perhaps dealing more damage to Steel- and Rock-types: in Rotations you don't have to luxury of picking your opponents, and Double Edge is the safest move a lot of the time; the extra punch to get that Skarmory4 or Metagross4 off the field faster is quite useful. Jolly is definitely best for Super Rotations; you don't get the luxury of choosing your fights, and more Speed lets you have more Double-Edge and less Sucker Punch.



Battle videos, threats and the rest to be written once I have a final streak to post, as usual.

The main threats are things that can kill or shut down Klefki through Substitute - Taunt, Inflitrator, Destiny Bond, and Hail are the top threats. Against Taunt, Gengar 2HKOs all Taunt users with Shadow Ball and Outrage also kills them quickly; Infiltrator is similar, as Noivern3-4 are Modest and outsped by Gengar and the rest are also killed by Gengar - aside from Spiritomb, which is food for Nite and doesn't actually deal damage. Bug Buzz is not a threat, since Klefki has a 4x resist to it. Without Klefki being able to act, the team is reduced to a three-man joint until the threat is removed, which can be bad if there are multiple threats out. Hail is bad since it stops Leftovers recovery, but it's quite rare and only lasts a limited time unless the enemy's got Hail; the worst offender is Articuno1 with its massive bulk and an Icy Rock to boot.

Roar/Whirlwind takes away boosts, but usually isn't a problem since Skarmory4 is not an offensive threat and the hazards won't do much aside from Toxic Spikes poisoning MegaKhan.

Talonflame4 deserves special mention - Gale Wings Brave Bird is the only relevant priority attack that threatens Klefki, and it also has SD to boost it, making it a considerable threat. Howewer, it also dies to Outrage and has no Gale Wings 1/3 of the time, so it's not that threatening.

If Klefki isn't shut down, there's really no way to lose aside from throwing - outside from Taunt, Destiny Bond and Infiltrator, no single Pokémon can shut Klefki down. It sounds ridiculous, but tons of battles involve Klefki setting up against seemingly overwhelming opposition - such as in the following battle video:

Battle video: #170 - KJHW-WWWW-WWW8-SZYV vs. Nidoqueen/Skuntank/Volcarona/Typhlosion
The enemy line-up is not threatening, and Nite could just sweep it alone - but I opt to go for Klefki to see just how far it can be taken, since this was still early in the streak and I was trying things out. Klefki battles the entire enemy lineup (with 4 Pokémon that break its Sub and the oft-feared Volcarona4) alone with no Rotations used at all... and wins! (with two crits to help avoid needing to use Destiny Bond in the end, but still, it's pretty impressive.)

This wasn't the most ridiculous Klefki sweep along the way - they happened so often I stopped saving them, since it was expected by that point that Klefki would be able to sweep against even Heatran/Entei and others easily.

While no single Pokémon can shut Klefki down, there are rare instances where a line-up of strong attackers can prevent Klefki from setting up - Flare Blitz users are the worst offender, as they typically are Scarfed like Darmanitan4 or Flare Blitz is their best move by far, which makes them use it very often. The thing with Flare Blitz, though, is that Dragonite sets up on it - and if there's something really bad like 2 Flare Blitzers and an Ice Beamer or a Tyrantrum4, there's always Gengar 2HKOing lots of things with Sludge Bomb/Shadow ball and securing a kill with Destiny Bond - a nasty field becomes a lot nicer once Destiny Bond takes out one threat and MegaKhan swoops in to toss some Double Edges and Earthquakes at the unsuspecting Fire-types, and once the field is narrowed down to just one Flare Blitzer, setting up Klefki usually becomes possible.

I'm kinda relieved I don't have to play more Rotations, since the mode is not that fun and Klefki is kind of dumb to play - the sloppiness and misplays in the loss are indicative of the general "press sub-protect to auto-win" playstyle I employed for most of the streak. In terms of how hard you had to play to keep the streak going, Rotations has by far been the easiest of the three modes I've played so far.

(BTW, there is a 10-battle video limit to how many you can upload, so I had to remove some of the Battle Videos I'd uploaded and linked earlier to make space for these. All the proof videos and the ones with most views are still up, but some of the duller ones from the Singles and Doubles streaks are missing now).

Edit: fixed Nite's EV spread, which I remembered wrong. It's the largest viable speed cut, going all the way down to 124 speed (1 point above Tyrantrum4).

Edit 2: I've made some improvements to this team. If you're planning to use it, check them out.

 

[NoCheese]

Always frustrating to lose a big streak, but congrats on the new record, turskain!

In other news, I've updated the leaderboard through here. Note the new leader in AI Multis. The Dutch Plumberjack alerted me to the fact that JavierAP's big 168 streak win streak from May got missed, probably because it was rolled into an all five trophies post. That omission has been fixed. When I took over updating the leaderboard in June, I didn't go through all the earlier posts, so if any of you ever come across a notable early streak that got missed, please do let me know!

 

[VaporeonIce]

Great job, turskain ! It looks like you really need to watch out for battle #529; you've lost there in two separate modes! Hopefully your next battle #529 loss will be in Multi battles :)

 

[Stellar]

I'm of the opinion that this is one of the best (if not the best) threads that OI has to offer, so I've been plugging it on the Twitter account I set up to handle OI/Research related news. Pretty much everything I tweet will be retweeted by the main SmogonU account which has over 17,000 followers, so hopefully this thread gets some pretty good exposure.

I'm definitely going to be tweeting about any record-breaking streaks, but I'll also highlight some innovative strategies that do well. If you need anything else advertised, let me know!

 

[cant say]

I'm about to breed for the Mega-Garchomp I want to use in doubles, but I'm not sure which build / speed tier to go for. He'll be mixed so any EVs I can sneak over from speed to special attack would be good. Anyone able to offer any advice on natures / spread?

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

That depends entirely on your decision or lack thereof to use Tailwind. Tailwind changes things drastically and you need/want only enough EVs to hit 251 under its effects, which for neutral-natured Megachomp is 108 EVs.

That will not outspeed Manectric 4, but it can do nothing to Chomp, will not prevent Tailwind from activating, and so on. It does outspeed Entei 3, who is not exactly a threat to the kind of team you want to use, but it's still a bastard with haxy Extrasensory at its disposal and knows Eruption. Other than that, it also outspeeds Terrakion 2. Either way, you'd likely be sacrificing Talonflame were it your Tailwind user.

If you're not using Tailwind, mixed Megachomp sits in a pretty shitty speed group. Let's discuss your planned set and go from there.

 

[Lumari]

I'm about to breed for the Mega-Garchomp I want to use in doubles, but I'm not sure which build / speed tier to go for. He'll be mixed so any EVs I can sneak over from speed to special attack would be good. Anyone able to offer any advice on natures / spread?

As Repto said, the exact (speed) evs are gonna depend on whether or not you wanna use Tailwind. As for the nature (which I'd wager is more urgent atm ^_^) I'd go for Naughty. -SpD because you're going mixed, and I see no point in using a +Spe nature - if you're not going for Tailwind, he sits in a pretty shit speed tier anyway and going for +Spe isn't gonna help you outspeed anything relevant (kinda like Lucario who runs Adamant over Jolly) and if you are using Tailwind, you're gonna outspeed basically anything regardless (pretty much what Repto already said). Finally, I'd go for a +Atk nature because Mega Chomp's base Atk is much higher than his SpA - as natures are multiplicative, it's more efficient to boost the higher base stats (provided you actually use them of course - which you do - and you don't need a +Spe nature for a specific benchmark - which you don't as far as I can see).
So I advise Naughty, simply for the sake of efficiency ^_^ the exact EVs can be decided later on.

 

[Alphanex20]

Me the multi battle scrub again, I am fed up trying to get the Typhlosion (or close second Entei) and decided on a partner with CB Slaking (who is not that bad last I heard) and Air Balloon Raikou. The Slaking is easy as hell to use (just protect whenever it EQs and attack on the Truant turn) but the Raikou I am iffy on, mainly I have no idea when it will protect (its moveset is TBolt/Shadow Ball/Volt Switch/Protect) and not attack something crucial. Anyone have an idea on when it does that? Also wanted to ask what the slaking will do if it sees a chandelure (EQ or Shadow Claw? or not attack it?) since it will affect my playstyle around it (I will use 2 Sucker Punchers and NEED to know when to attack it and when it will WoW).

 

[cant say]

That depends entirely on your decision or lack thereof to use Tailwind. Tailwind changes things drastically and you need/want only enough EVs to hit 251 under its effects, which for neutral-natured Megachomp is 108 EVs.

That will not outspeed Manectric 4, but it can do nothing to Chomp, will not prevent Tailwind from activating, and so on. It does outspeed Entei 3, who is not exactly a threat to the kind of team you want to use, but it's still a bastard with haxy Extrasensory at its disposal and knows Eruption. Other than that, it also outspeeds Terrakion 2. Either way, you'd likely be sacrificing Talonflame were it your Tailwind user.

If you're not using Tailwind, mixed Megachomp sits in a pretty shitty speed group. Let's discuss your planned set and go from there.

As Repto said, the exact (speed) evs are gonna depend on whether or not you wanna use Tailwind. As for the nature (which I'd wager is more urgent atm ^_^) I'd go for Naughty. -SpD because you're going mixed, and I see no point in using a +Spe nature - if you're not going for Tailwind, he sits in a pretty shit speed tier anyway and going for +Spe isn't gonna help you outspeed anything relevant (kinda like Lucario who runs Adamant over Jolly) and if you are using Tailwind, you're gonna outspeed basically anything regardless (pretty much what Repto already said). Finally, I'd go for a +Atk nature because Mega Chomp's base Atk is much higher than his SpA - as natures are multiplicative, it's more efficient to boost the higher base stats (provided you actually use them of course - which you do - and you don't need a +Spe nature for a specific benchmark - which you don't as far as I can see).
So I advise Naughty, simply for the sake of efficiency ^_^ the exact EVs can be decided later on.

I'm planning on using a DD-Tar and Sand Rush Excadrill so I feel like Tailwind will be mostly redundant, it also restricts my team choices as I basically have to give up on of my four slots for a Tailwind setter. If I did use one though I think I like Whimsicott best as it can set up Prankster Tailwind and if it survives turn 1 it can Memento / U-turn out to maximize the Sandstorm turns. Talonflame can still get the Tailwind up and can at least provide some offensive presence. He also avoids Earthquake so I don't have to play around him if he's on the field. Anyway since I was probably going to roll without Tailwind (at least to begin with), my team was looking something like this:

I know I posted a similar team on this page

Hide

Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
Jolly Nature
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Rock Slide
- Protect

As the team is basically reliant on Sand being up I figured 5 turns probably isn't enough so Smooth Rock it is..

Garchomp @ Garchompite
Ability: Sand Veil / Rough Skin -> Sand Force
EVs / Nature WIP
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower

Earthquake obviously, Iron Head because it gets the Sand Force boost and can help it take on Fairies which threaten both it and T-tar (also Ice Types), Draco Meteor and Flamethrower are the special options. Does Regular Chomp's ability really matter? If I opt to not mega evolve for some reason on the first turn, would it be better to maybe avoid an attack or provide chip damage? I was looking through the Garchomp entry in the prelim-dex and the M-Chomp option is Naughty (+Atk, -SpD) with 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Speed which didn't make much sense to me. Maybe a typo?

Excadrill @ Wide Lens / Scope Lens / Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
Adamant Nature
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
- Drill Run
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide / X-Scissor
- Protect

Drill Run because I don't have enough Protect or Ground immunities to have Earthquake. Wide Lens helps the accuracy but Scope Lens gives it a nifty 50% crit chance. Iron Head for STAB and Fairy/Ice types. Rock Slide with Sand Rush could pull off some timely flinches (also helps justify Wide Lens), but X-Scissor would help against the Lati's. Protect because Doubles and lets Chomp use Earthquake

Roserade @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Timid Nature
4 HP / 252 Spa / 252 Speed
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Weather Ball / Protect
- Hidden Power (Fire) / Protect

OK I'll admit that I just like Roserade so it's just kinda thrown in, so this is obviously what will be replaced by a Tailwind user if I need one. Weather Ball will be a 100 BP special rock type move which seems cool on paper. It also helps take on water types / rain users, Sludge Bomb for Fairies, and basically Flamethrower (90 BP HP fire) as coverage

Biggest threats I can think of right now are opposing weather as I have no way of restarting Sandstorm outside of switching, and Trick Room (hopefully I can just double target potential users), and speed (urgh, Tailwind)

 

[Lumari]

cant say the Garchomp entry is simply what is most efficient regarding the nature of EVs and natures :) natures are multiplicative, so if you're using a nature that boosts the highest base stat, that'll result in the highest overall gain (170*0,1 > 120 *0,1). On the other hand, EVs are additive, so in terms of percentage it'll make the highest difference to EV train the lowest base stat (63/120 > 63/170). The same thing happens in Aggron's analysis - he has a relaxed nature, because multiplying a 230 base stat gives a very high overall bonus, but the EVs go mostly in special defense, because adding 63 points (or whatever amount is used there) to a 230 base stat makes hardly a difference, whereas adding them to an 80 base stat does. In Garchomp's case, it's most efficient to use a nature that boosts its highest stat, but the EVs make much more of a difference when used in SpA than when used in Atk, its Attack is high enough as is.
(I hope this made any sense, my English mathematical vocabulary isn't the best :\ )

 

[ReptoAbysmal]

Tyranitar with a Life Orb will answer your Trick Room issue: Tyranitar has been a phenomenal cockblock for Trick Room when I've used it, even when I was using it for my own TR team, and while I was actually using Tyranitarite, which leaves it a bit weaker, it was functioning extremely well.

It won't be able to OHKO Slowbro 4 or Cresselia 2 without some form of help, and it isn't a guaranteed OHKO on Set 1 Bronzong or Cofagrigus 3 (both of whom Mara can carry) or Dusknoir 4, but it takes very little support to finish either one of them off should you fail to do so.

For all other TR setters, it's GG as soon as Tyranitar closes its mouth.

Not that you showed any interest in Clawitzer, but it eats both TR teams and bulky waters/ice types for breakfast. However, ideally your Life Orb would already be spoken for by Tyranitar.

Otherwise, if you're nearly set on using Tyranitar, unless the enemy TR setter is paired with Alakazam/Reuniclus 4, Trick Room is not going to be a problem at all. Gardevoir 4 also carries Focus Blast and provides a conflict of interest if a setter is also present, but Garchomp will outspeed it even with the Mega's speed drop, and should be able to OHKO it easily.

Directly in regards to your issue with Trick Room.

tl;dr: there IS no issue if you use a muscularly built Tryanitar with at least a Life Orb, but given your DD plans I doubt you'll do that.

 

[NoCheese]

natures are multiplicative, so if you're using a nature that boosts the highest base stat, that'll result in the highest overall gain (170*0,1 > 120 *0,1). On the other hand, EVs are additive, so in terms of percentage it'll make the highest difference to EV train the lowest base stat (63/120 > 63/170).

While both points are correct, note that you are kind of mixing your comparisons. Yeah, you are absolutely right that in terms of percentage gain, you get more from EVing the low stat, since EVs are purely additive. But then for natures, you compare total stats instead of percentage change in the affected stat. Choosing a nature that benefits your highest stat just because that will give you the highest total statsum is often going to be a mistake. The proper question for something like Garchomp is "will a 10% boost in Speed help me more than a 10% boost in damage will?" Usually, for sweepers, the 10% boost to Speed from a +Speed nature is more important, even if the total stat gain is lower, since going first is such a big deal. Mega Garchomp is a bit of an oddity because of its unusual base Speed, but even so, you should look at the Speed tiers, decide what your target Speed need is, and then see whether you can get there with Adamant Chomp or if you need Jolly. Obviously, if your target Speed is sufficiently low, an Adamant nature with more Speed EVs may allow a strictly better spread than a Jolly nature with fewer, but this is a fairly unusual situation, since most sweepers want to outrun as much as they can and so run max or near max Speed EVs if they can't otherwise boost their Speed.

Also remember that on the turn Garchomp Mega Evolves, he'll still operate at the full base 102 Speed of regular chomp, which weighs in favor of Jolly max Speed, because you'll outspeed a whole ton of base 100s that first turn.

 

[Lumari]

While both points are correct, note that you are kind of mixing your comparisons. Yeah, you are absolutely right that in terms of percentage gain, you get more from EVing the low stat, since EVs are purely additive. But then for natures, you compare total stats instead of percentage change in the affected stat. Choosing a nature that benefits your highest stat just because that will give you the highest total statsum is often going to be a mistake. The proper question for something like Garchomp is "will a 10% boost in Speed help me more than a 10% boost in damage will?" Usually, for sweepers, the 10% boost to Speed from a +Speed nature is more important, even if the total stat gain is lower, since going first is such a big deal. Mega Garchomp is a bit of an oddity because of its unusual base Speed, but even so, you should look at the Speed tiers, decide what your target Speed need is, and then see whether you can get there with Adamant Chomp or if you need Jolly. Obviously, if your target Speed is sufficiently low, an Adamant nature with more Speed EVs may allow a strictly better spread than a Jolly nature with fewer, but this is a fairly unusual situation, since most sweepers want to outrun as much as they can and so run max or near max Speed EVs if they can't otherwise boost their Speed.

Also remember that on the turn Garchomp Mega Evolves, he'll still operate at the full base 102 Speed of regular chomp, which weighs in favor of Jolly max Speed, because you'll outspeed a whole ton of base 100s that first turn.

Yeah, I know my explanation was really generic ^_^ just explaining MegaChomp's EVs in the dex, as he asked.
From a competitive perspective, a +Spe nature makes no sense as there's nothing between 80 and 95 that tends to run +Spe natures/is worth outspeeding, and MegaChomp is a wallbreaker so he doesn't really need to outspeed anything anyway. You're right in saying it's more complex in the Maison though - obv the second point is irrelevant here, and the pre-mega speed only makes it more complex (gotta admit I didn't take that into account). Personally, I think running a Naive nature is only worth it if there are some base 100s you really need to outspeed and OHKO in case the opponent leads with them (and voila, Salamence comes to mind, but I don't know if there are others). So yeah, you're right in saying this is an interesting conundrum where the dex entry shouldn't be followed too strictly :\
(but for Aggron, Relaxed with SpD EVs would be best in the maison as well :p fortunately, he doesn't care about speed, which is indeed the most subtle stat around)

edit: also grats on the bug ^_^

 

[Stellar]

I want to issue a big congratulations to NoCheese! His dedication to the thread and his general helpfulness have earned him a shiny ladybug. :^)

 

[Robo Mike]

I posted my streaks prior to NoCheese's time (the Eppie era), but congrats all the same!

Haven't had much luck with my Shark team, I know it's at least decent, but 52 is my best score. The last streak ended with two Fissures in a row, but I felt it was preventable if I knew Aegislash was slower.

 

[Lumari]

Posting a 147 win streak in Super Doubles. Nothing too spectacular, but I'm still learning the ropes of long streaks so I'm still quite happy with it :)
Anyway, after posting my rotations streak I didn't have anything interesting to do on X for a while, and I was still a little salty because of how I lost my previous doubles streak - I lost at 105 because I was caught off guard by Scarfmory of all things (who outspeeds and OHKOes Blaziken and Greninja after Mat Block), I expect to see a noobish set like that in the 10s but not in the 100s ^_^ As I had also improved Greninja's and Blaziken's movesets for my triples team and because I really like playing with this team (it's really cool and really fast) I decided to give it another shot, I wanted to leave doubles on a slightly higher note :p Eventually, I lost (once again) against trick room (from Bronzong), mostly because of too much switching and sloppy play altogether. In the end, Lickilicky wiped out all four pokemon on the field with Explosion, leaving Blaziken and Bronzong to face off against each other - Bronzong Zen Headbutted Blaziken into oblivion. I honestly derped here, I didn't keep track of the number of TR turns that had passed so I could have outstalled it with Protect (as a matter of fact, at that moment I thought 'yay Flare Blitz' and I didn't even realise TR hadn't run out yet >.< guess that means this team can still go further, but I don't really have any motivation atm, I could try again in the future. In any case, losing to TR is much more bearable than losing to frikkin Scarfmory ^_^)

I'd love to treat all of you to another warstory and another emotional rollercoaster, but unfortunately that wasn't the case this time. The battles were a lot faster than in my rotations streak, therefore they also were a lot less tense, and I didn't get far enough to feel like I was gonna make a really decent splash. This streak was much more laid-back, which was quite nice for a change ^_^ There still were some close calls though, e.g. when Rotom had to go one on one against that annoying Stockpile Salac Dewgong when it had fully set up. It also had Hydration so it could pull off a HydraRest combo and I couldn't burn it, so I had to rely on a crit to take it out. Fortunately, the only way that Dewgong could take out Rotom was by stalling out TBolt's PP as it couldn't hit back hard either, and Thunderbolt has enough PP to reasonably expect that crit to occur eventually :p

anyway on to the team

Greninja @ Lum Berry
Ability: Protean
Nature: Timid
IVs: 31/19/19/31/31/31
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Mat Block
-Grass Knot
-Ice Beam
-Dark Pulse

Blaziken @ Blazikenite
Ability: Speed Boost -> Speed Boost
Nature: Adamant
IVs: 31/31/31/31/13/31
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
-Flare Blitz
-Low Kick
-Rock Slide
-Protect

Explaining these two guys together because I used this lead as my team's starting point. Before playing in the Maison, I didn't know squat about doubles. I dug around the internet to find some advice as to how to build a doubles team, and I came across a YouTuber who used a Greninja/Mega Blaziken lead (and won all the trophies with his in-game team. Granted, they were EV-trained and had alright natures, e.g. Hasty Greninja and Jolly Blaziken, but I mean REALLY, that's amazing.)
I gladly stole this couple. SauceSpam, dude, I don't know if you even visit these forums, but credit should be given where it's due :p I'm glad to say this lead worked out really well for me.

At first, Greninja had Hydro Pump and Extrasensory over Grass Knot and Dark Pulse, but I switched out those because of coverage/reliability issues. I preferred a Lum Berry over Focus Sash in order to somewhat counter all status shenanigans that slip through Mat Block, I found this more useful than being able to survive those few faster hits when I have a switchin for those anyway. I did try Focus Sash for a short while, but it made me so vulnerable to status that it frankly totally sucked. Blaziken first had Sky Uppercut (the yolo in HJK was too strong to begin with) over Low Kick; that also had significant reliability issues, and I immediately bred a new Torchic when I learned it got Low Kick as an egg move, it's infinitely better than SU. In any case, this couple is simply amazing. They have truly terrific offensive synergy. Ideally, Greninja uses Mat Block the first turn, while Blaziken weakens one or both opponents, so that both are in KO range. Then Speed Boost triggers, allowing Blaziken to outspeed the entire maison with the exception of a few scarfers (which would have forced out Greninja anyway, so this never occurs in practice), and on the second turn Greninja and Blaziken KO both opposing leads, making me gain a 2-0 lead and usually outplay the remaining two opponents easily. Of course, this is the ideal scenario - it also occurs that I have to OHKO an opposing lead (which isn't bad by any means, but I prefer weakening in order to gain that guaranteed 2-0 lead) or that the opponents are too bulky altogether, in which case the mat block turn usually still gives me enough momentum to win the battle. Obviously, this fails altogether if there's an opposing lead that can outspeed and OHKO Greninja (e.g. Jolteon/Scarf Darmanitan/Scarf Terrakion), in which case I switch out Greninja for a teammate that survives every single one of these attacks...

Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
Nature: Jolly
IVs: 31/31/19/19/31/31
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
-Earthquake
-Dragon Claw
-Rock Slide
-Protect

Garchomp is the final member that joined this team, on my first runs and when I won the trophy this was still Metagross. After stealing my lead, I figured some bulk would come in handy, so randomly picked two bulky mons that knew spread moves from my box and added AssVest Metagross and Togekiss to my team. At this point, my team had a lot of trouble against Water-types, so I switched out Togekiss for my final team member (below). Metagross stayed because it was really reliable for the first ~80 battles. On one occasion, however, I gave this team a spin with Garchomp over Metagross, because I also wanted it to use in multis with a real-life person (I would use the Blaziken/Rotom-couple), but the real-life person I had in mind didn't have a Metagross, so I tried if Garchomp worked too. It turned out Garchomp was even better than Metagross; it was more powerful (also because of STAB Earthquake), still had enough natural bulk to muscle its way through Trick Room, and it could actually use Protect :p It only lacked priority, but hey, nothing's perfect.

Rotom-W @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Modest
IVs: 31/15/31/31/11/31
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Def / 240 SpA / 8 SpD
-Hydro Pump
-Thunderbolt
-Will-O-Wisp
-Protect

Rotom-W was added because Togekiss gave me trouble against Water-types. I only needed a bulky mon that could deal with these, and Rotom-W fitted the mould perfectly. It's really hard to kill because of good bulk and an excellent defensive typing, and still packs quite a punch itself. The moveset is standard I suppose, Pump's accuracy is a letdown but I already have a spammable STAB move in Thunderbolt, and unfortunately this thing doesn't get Scald and HP Water is just too weak (not to mention it's not exactly as easy as HP Ice to breed :p)

So, yeah. Basically a team that relies on Blaziken's and Greninja's obscene power and speed to plow through as much opponents as possible, complemented by some teammates that have good synergy with them and with each other. As for a specific concept, it 'only' revolves around a first turn Mat Block. The main weaknesses are leads that are faster than Greninja, (very) bulky opposing leads, Fake Out, and (of course) Trick Room.
Once again, I really like this team. I like most of the Pokemon I used here (Rotom is meh but I have gained a lot of respect for him :p) and it's just really fun to play with. It's strong as hell and most battles are really fast, and it's a really good feeling to be in complete control most of the time :D

replays

Didn't save a lot this time.
50: D89G-WWWW-WWW8-UKDE Vs. Evelyn of course, not an autopilot battle here because she's the only chatelaine whose team actually has defensive synergy, but still a battle that's pretty pleasant to watch and was pretty nice to play as well.
148: QD8W-WWWW-WWW8-UKBS The losing one.

If I feel like playing one of the single-player formats again, it's probably gonna be doubles because that's my coolest team and I feel I could still go further there. For now, I'm glad to be the first person to bring Mega Blaziken to the leaderboard :D As for multi, I've run into some good fortune there so a five trophy post actually is a short-term possibility now ~^.^~

 

[cant say]

The Dutch Plumberjack I should have been more clear (NoCheese understood), because we know every pokemon's set (and speed tier) in the Maison, as opposed to player-vs-player, I can tweak Chomp's speed to outrun specific threats here and have some leftover EVs to put in his SpA. You'll notice that several high-streak teams have unusual EV spreads (Adamant Aegislash used in Artic's singles team comes to mind) as opposed to the more 'standard' sets we see in competitive play. Anyway because I'm a bit lazy / not really good at reading the set lists in the OP and assigning spreads for the Maison, I was hoping someone else with better knowledge could advise a tailor-made spread for the Maison...

Anyway, I've gone with the simple Naive 252 Atk / 6 SpA / 252 Speed, which has worked fine so far except Flamethrower is a little weak. So far it's failed to OHKO 252 HP / 0 SpD Ferrothorn, 0 HP / 0 SpD Lilligant, and Steelix (forget which one). However after doing some damage calcs, even with full investment the OHKOs are not guaranteed anyway so I think I'll just stay with what I have for now.

The team was going well until I let an Altaria get two Dragon Dances in which swept me with Dragon Rush, Earthquake and Sky Attack... It alone was the perfect answer to my team