RMT Beast and Blades (Almost my 1.5K)

[Take Azelfie]

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Beast and Blades
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Introduction
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Hello guys Take Azelfie here and I thought I would drop off a CAP RMT before my 1.5K post since I need to show some love to my second favorite meta. So I wanted to showcase one of the teams I have been binge playing for a week or two. Basically the idea started from me wanting to Mega Gallade since it was ranked pretty high and lacked an analysis (I swear I saw an analysis before oo) so I thought I would experiment with it. Oh btw I'm notorious for not having Stealth Rock on my teams so don't be surprised.

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Teambuilding Process
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As I said SD Gallade was going to be the main focus of the team. I went for Ice Punch in the last slot for Lando and Dragons.

I added Kitsunoh to help break Fairy types and revenge kill faster things for Mega Gallade. I also don't like using Gallade as the Tomohawk counter z.z

Sincerely added this for no other reason but Talonflame but it helps to check other birds and fires the other two dislike.

Grasses and Steels were two issues I saw. Talonflame accomplished in threatening both and still staying true to my roots by adding another VoltTurner.

Electric resist, Spin for Talonflame, and EQ to thrash Clohm. Oh also it has U-Turn!

Bulky Ground-types were annoying and Kyurem kind of beat every one of them down. I also like it since Fusion Bolt can nail Water-types which could be troublesome.

Final changes:
With the edition to Kyurem I thought that maybe using Sharp Beak + Tailwind > CB + Roost on Talonflame could be more beneficial. Also, who the fr*ick is going to ever switch into Kyurem Black let alone revenge kill it now. Its unstoppable.

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Team in Depth
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Fellowship (Gallade-Mega) (M) @ Galladite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Psycho Cut
- Ice Punch

Gallade is actually much more distinguishable from Medicham than I originally thought. The main difference lies is in its higher speed tier (base 110) and access to SD allowing it to become a sweeper instead of a wallbreaker. Swords Dance situations can be risky at times but there are a few Pokemon like Scarf Mollux who can be taken advantage of. Shadow Sneak also seems like a decent move but it doesn't necessarily have targets you need to bar Auru which Talonflame covers most definitely. So instead I use Ice Punch to make it much easier to deal with the likes of Latios and bulky Ground-types like Hippo and Lando.

Cat Scratch (Kitsunoh) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Trick
- U-turn
- Shadow Strike
- Meteor Mash

Kitsunoh, a real undercat in the CAP Meta ATM. It functions as a great lead thanks to how it was built and pressures a lot of fast Pokemon like Syclant, Weavile, and Stratagem and bulkier Pokemon like Tomohawk with Shadow Strike or Trick. It was added to the team to help Gallade in the removal of Fairy-types and it also does very well against Tomohawk. Kitsunoh gives in much more than it gets out but Gallade can at least check Dark-types decently.

Ectoplasma (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

A common staple for Balance, BO, and VoltTurn Rotom-Wash serves a role for being my dedicated Talonflame check. It also checks the other Fire- and Flying-types such as Mega Pinsir and Heatran pretty well. Will-o-Wisp + Volt Switch is a good combo for setting up Gallade to sweep. I choose Pain Split instead of ChestoResto mostly for personal preference but it's much better at stripping down switchins like a Colossoil.

Crimson Rose (Talonflame) (M) @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Tailwind

I have issues with using revenge killer Talonflame alright o.o. Well anyways nothing on my team wanted to take down Pyroak and Mega Gallade in my opinion is a shaky Venusaur and Amoonguss check. I feel revenge killer is much better in CAP since when I put on Talonflame it is mostly for revenge killing x, y, and z. There isn't anything too special to mention here but that I need to preserve it usually to check Cawmadore and Auru but I'll reelaborate why I am using Tailwind instead of Roost or Steel Wing. Since my team only has one set up win con in Gallade I'm using Tailwind to make another sweeper in Kyurem Black. I would add Swords Dance but I lack Roost and I want Talonflame to have to stress on trying to accomplish to task at once.

Maul (Colossoil) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Rebound
EVs: 252 Atk / 36 Def / 220 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- U-Turn

Colossoil is the team's gorilla glue. It sponges up attacks from Pokemon like Manectric and Mollux and provides the team with a "Stealth Rocker" as well as hazard control for my Talonflame and later added Kyurem Black. U-Turn was added for me since Iove VoltTurn playstyles and is very hard for me to pass it down. Other people might want to try Sucker Punch instead since the team's only form of priority lies inside Talonflame but I haven't had drastic issues without, just a few occasions it would have been nice.

Berserk Gene (Kyurem-Black) @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Ice Beam
- Fusion Bolt
- Earth Power
- Roost

The tyrant is here. Legit this is the first time I've actually used Kyurem Black in CAP but I am not disappointed in the slightest. Ice Beam is extremely anti meta since there are a lack of good Ice resist. And most of the Ice resist are Water-types which despise Fusion Bolt. Earth Power nails Steel-types and Roost takes advantage of switches Kyurem Black forces. Now under Tailwind Kyurem Black is broken. It already 2HKOes almost everything and now you remove 90% of the Pokemon that could actually attempt to revenge kill it.

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Conclusion
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Thank you guys for reading my RMT, it makes me personally feel great and hopefully it can be used by someone else and they can get success out of it to. It is such a shame the CAP meta isn't as popular as it is but the Meta is still fun and the community is nice. I do have some shootouts I want to give out since I don't want to tag a bunch of CAP people in RU RMT.

You guys are the best :D

Deck Knight, thanks so much for drafting me and I'm sorry I couldn't win either of my matches but you were still pretty good at helping everyone else out even with your busy schedule. GO CYCLOHMS!!!
Amitghosh, it was great to see you actively talking to everyone during the season and helping out.
Blackdrakon30, hey don't stress out, you'll progressively get better and better as time comes so don't underestimate yourself.
boxofkangaroos Integer Mova, the team art was sick oo
Heaven Jay, was pretty silent in the convo but was probably our best player, good job
K.Rool, Heal Block Fidgit is bad z.z
KrazyCake, was pretty much team spirit. Always encouraging.
Old_Gregg SHSP, both were really good players but sadly I didn't communicate much with either of you.
Drapionswing, your special and will get tagged again but one of my close friends on Smogon :3
Exclaimer, she is one of the smartest CAP players and is always a fun person to watch. One of the people I looked up to the most when first starting CAP.
snake_rattler, one of the fastest growing players ever and a really cool person to watch play.
sparktrain, I miss you but GL in the future
Bionic Puppy, chill person to talk to and asked for a shout out even though I was already gonna give him one
Shadow Hitmontop, get a name change -_-
cbrevan, although I don't talk to you much you definitely are one of the best people to talk to in the CAP room and I just wanted you to know that I acknowledge that.
HeaLnDeaL, probably one of the most fun people to talk to and is friendly to everyone.

importable

Fellowship (Gallade-Mega) (M) @ Galladite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Psycho Cut
- Ice Punch

Cat Scratch (Kitsunoh) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Trick
- U-turn
- Shadow Strike
- Meteor Mash

Ectoplasma (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Crimson Rose (Talonflame) (M) @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Tailwind

Maul (Colossoil) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Rebound
EVs: 252 Atk / 36 Def / 220 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- U-turn

Berserk Gene (Kyurem-Black) @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Ice Beam
- Fusion Bolt
- Earth Power
- Roost

 

[SHSP]

Hey man, grats on (almost) 1.5k! It's been great working with you this season for captt, and I think this is a really nice team :) a few notes on the team as I see it:
Fix rotom's ev's, im pretty sure you dont mean 252 atk :P
Crucibelle is a massive problem for the team if it runs wood hammer- colo gets ohko'd, rotom 2hko'd, and if its a coil set, gallade and kit can't revenge kill it at +1 defense. For that reason, I'd change psycho cut to zen headbutt on gallade, as it lets you ohko cruci unboosted and also nets an ohko on uninvested mollux, although psycho cut does still 2hko stuff like tomo.
Krill does a number to stuff not named Kyurem or Rotom, and your main way to deal with Strata is revenge with Kit/tank a hit with Gallade. These aren't massive issues, especially because both have issues getting in on you, but should be considered when playing. If you do want help vs Strata, running sucker on Colo would help handle it, but the threat of sucker can also do a lot of the same job.

All in all, I think this is an awesome team, you are an awesome teammate, and I'm looking forward to playing with or against you in the future :)

 

[snake]

I'm just wondering if you could run SD Talon and Mega Medicham over Mega Gallade and still get the same effect with this team. Still, props to you on making a Mega Gallade team and almost 1500 posts!

EDIT: You can also run 252 Atk / 64 Def / 192 Spe on Talonflame to outspeed Cawmodore while surviving a +6 Bullet Punch after Stealth Rocks. Really cool use for dump EVs!

 

[Take Azelfie]

Hey man, grats on (almost) 1.5k! It's been great working with you this season for captt, and I think this is a really nice team :) a few notes on the team as I see it:
Fix rotom's ev's, im pretty sure you dont mean 252 atk :P
Crucibelle is a massive problem for the team if it runs wood hammer- colo gets ohko'd, rotom 2hko'd, and if its a coil set, gallade and kit can't revenge kill it at +1 defense. For that reason, I'd change psycho cut to zen headbutt on gallade, as it lets you ohko cruci unboosted and also nets an ohko on uninvested mollux, although psycho cut does still 2hko stuff like tomo.
Krill does a number to stuff not named Kyurem or Rotom, and your main way to deal with Strata is revenge with Kit/tank a hit with Gallade. These aren't massive issues, especially because both have issues getting in on you, but should be considered when playing. If you do want help vs Strata, running sucker on Colo would help handle it, but the threat of sucker can also do a lot of the same job.

All in all, I think this is an awesome team, you are an awesome teammate, and I'm looking forward to playing with or against you in the future :)

1. Has to finish making this RMT on my phone so the EVa were just PS! Feeling out
2. I was actually completely unaware of Zen Headbutt actually netting those OHKOes and I am definitely changing that.
3. As you mentioned, Pokemon faster than certain members can be an issue (Krill vs. Colossoil for ex) and Sucker Punch is definitely nice since it can pressure those faster Pokemon but in MY experience they aren't much of a problem since a lot of my team can actually use Tailwind to bypass those threats (or you know, send Kyurem in to kill everything)

Thanks for the rate it ddefinitely helped :]

I'm just wondering if you could run SD Talon and Mega Medicham over Mega Gallade and still get the same effect with this team. Still, props to you on making a Mega Gallade team and almost 1500 posts!

EDIT: You can also run 252 Atk / 64 Def / 192 Spe on Talonflame to outspeed Cawmodore while surviving a +6 Bullet Punch after Stealth Rocks. Really cool use for dump EVs!

The team would act similarilly but there would need to be a few changes which I'll state here in case you would want to use this variant.
Change 1
Obviously adding MegaCham and changing Talon to SD, you have HJK, Zen HB, Ice Punch, and BP to aid Talonflame in sweeping.
Change 2
Sucker Punch is now mandatory since you lack Tailwind to break past certain things. Also puts less stress on Talon to revenge kill Auru especially if it needs to come in on rocks.
Change 3
LO Gengar > Kitsunoh, basically MegaCham pressures Dance and fast rocks and big that you don't need Kit to exactly pressure Fairies since nothing is switching into HJK and then you need to run DGleam to lure in Sableye in case it has Foul Play.

It would act similar but this type of team would destroy bulkier teams much easier than the other since its a lot more focussed on wallbreaking.

Also I'm going to use that Talon spread since not losing to Caw is nice oo

 

[Drapionswing]

Great team Zelfie!!
My only strife is that not having roost on talon puts heavy pressure on colossoil to do it's job, considering it's also your way of tanking special hits and may not see as much longevity as you may hope. I'd defo drop u-turn for roost just to allow yourself to take a bit of pressure off of colossoil to spin away omnipresent stealth rocks. This also allows it to provide your team with a tailwind setter that has a bit of longevity.

A little thing I've been doing recently is running 24 speed evs on soil so that I can outspeed during colo v colo (which I've encountered a fair bit this meta) and to outspeed base 97's (navi) to ensure I can hit it before it scalds and potentially burns me.

Something I noticed is that switching into keldeo is gonna be a bitch for this team, particularly specs keldeo.
Other threats to note are:
SD chomp with outrage + Lum
Mega Diancie (which gains momentum on 4/6 mons 5 if you don't like speed ties ;] )

 

[OLD GREGG (im back baby)]

The team is really solid, I'd tweak the sets a bit but if it works for you then it doesn't need tweaking. The two sets I would adjust would be Kitsuno and Talonflame.


Kitsuno isn't a hard hitter so I'd be willing to bet that Mash doesn't really net any important KOs over the more reliable Iron Head. Kit also really needs the scarf to be effective at revenge killing, so Trick can backfire here. I would switch Trick for either Earthquake, Ice Punch, Superpower, or Knock Off depending on what my team struggled with.
The coverage is your choice but I would personally go with Superpower in the event Mega-Lop pops up. Team looks pretty vulnerable to Mega Lop, especially if Tflame gets knocked out.
Also, Kit is naturally quick enough to run an +Attack nature and still outspeed the entire unboosted meta.



I feel like Talonflame doesn't get a lot out of U-Turn here, the things it would u-turn out of would be taking small damage. U-turn on stuff like Cyclohm, Crucibelle, Plasmanta, Stratagem, Rotom-W, and Krillowatt isn't any better than a hard switch or double switch. The pitiful damage it will be doing is a waste of a moveslot. I'd go with SD, Roost, or Wisp>U-Turn.