Big fishy, little pond

First things first, I'm relatively new to smogon, so if I'm doing something wrong please tell me.

This is my favorite team at the moment, and it's a blast to play. However it's very different in a lot of ways from more traditional 'good teams'. So if you decide to use it, ... it's on you own risk :P

Basically it's a sandstall phazing team, with more of an emphasis on the phazing then on the sand, which abuses one very special trick. Dragon tail with sleep talk. Dragon tail usually has a negative priority (like all phazing moves) but using sleep talk remedies that. Add sticky web and tail wind, and you're almost guaranteed a quick phaze. Only problem is, that using sleep talk is a bit shaky, since you never know if you end up using dragon tail or not. Therefore you need a big bulky threat of a 'mon, ...and that's where the fish comes in.

The team:

greninja.jpg

Lickylicky (Greninja) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Spikes
- U-turn
- Taunt

Now I know using a supportive, physical Greninja is controversial, since it's not his optimal set. But I feel it works very well for this team as an anti lead. I almost always start with it, and it never fails to do at least 1 of these things: Set up a layer of spikes, taunt the enemy lead, or soften up threats with stab attacks. To use this set well, you have to play mind games, and use protean defensively. They start with Rotom-W? Use spikes on the expected volt switch. They lead with skarmory? taunt him first, then set up spikes. They bring in a spinner? Shadow sneak to spin block, finish off with U-turn. Breloom? Taunt the spore, then shadow sneak to avoid the mach punch. It's remarkably effective. Also, if the opponent's team doesn't have any spinblockers, it's perfectly fine to suice with him after setting up as many spikes as possible. For that means that the job is done for Greninja.

Been on the fence over life orb, but I'm not really sure on other items. Maybe focus sash? But then sand storm becomes problematic.

galvantula.jpg

Spiderpig (Galvantula) @ Leftovers
Ability: Compound Eyes
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Spd
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Sticky Web
- Toxic

Galvantula serves as a semi special wall to tank electric moves, and to set up sticky web for the Big fishy. He also makes for a nice voltturn combo with Greninja. However, that's about it. I feel at this moment it is the least effective meber of this team, and I would like to replace him. I Was considering Excadrill, for rapid spin. (Which this team drastically needs) Or a ghost type for spinblocking, but I'm not sure. Any ideas would be much appreciated :)

tyranitar.jpg

mr. T (Tyranitar) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Dragon Tail
- Earthquake

My special tank. Sand storm and assualt vest give a *2,25 multiplier to his already impressive special defense stat. He is also great for pursuit trapping the likes of starmie, and killing other special walls. Sand stream is useful for several tricks, as it can kill pokes with little hp left without attacking. Like focus sash users. And it never hurts to have control on the weather game.

gyarados.jpg

Big fishy (Gyarados) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Impish Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Waterfall
- Dragon Tail

The star of the team. Gyarados is a beast, and it serves so many goals, it's insane. His main purpose is to phaze using dragon tail or sleep talk, and rack up damage with your hazards. Waterfall can be usefull at times, but especially when your facing a pokemon who is weak to water, and it can be smart to dragon tail, to gain momentum. As the opponent will likely switch out, giving you a free turn to phaze. Also, you HAVE to abuse intimidate. Sometimes I perform double switches just so I can use intimidate twice on a physical threat. After which they almost always have to switch, giving you free free hazard damage once again. In my experience, a lot of the metagame is physical right now, so intimidate as much as you can. Use rest when you're in the danger zone, or if you want to remove pesky conditions. (Another great thing, people often try to burn G-dos, essentially wasting a turn on a burn that's gonna be removed anyway) Keep Gyarados away from all lightning attacks or very powerful sepcial attacks. He is crucial to the teams succes, and losing him early means your odds of winning are decimated.

ferrothorn.jpg

Bob (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 Spd
Bold Nature
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock

The second hazard setter, and king of stall. He has nice synergy with Gyarados, since Gyarados tanks ground fighting and fire attacks, and Ferrothorn tanks everything else. Use him to leech seed stallers that Gyarados can't phaze, and to avoid your enemy's spores and leech seeds.

talonflame.jpg

Freckles (Talonflame) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Roost
- Tailwind

My late game sweeper, and solution to bulky steels and grass pokes with recovery. He checks some very big threats to the rest of your team, and can support with tailwind. I'm thinking of switching tailwind for Bulk up, to make his sweeps last longer, and maybe swap Brave bird for flying gem acrobatics.

General strategy:

The general strategy should be pretty clear by now, but here's just a few points to consider.
1- All rapid spinners must die! At the start of team preview, make note of all the posibble rapid spin users, and come up with a plan to KO them. Once they're gone, and the opposing team doesn't have any clear counters to your team, it's smooth sailing from there.
2- If the enemy team has no rapid spin user, setting up hazards has top priority, as it is your main source of damage. After your hazards are set, you can use your ferrothorn and especially your Greninja a bit more freely, going for riskier plays.
3-If the enemy is setting up a sweeper, don't stress. You have a phazing team. Asses to what extent it could threaten your walls, namely Tyranitar and Gyarados, and dragon tail them out before they get too strong. Only exception to that are fairy sweepers, like Azumarill. Then you may stress.

Threat list:
These pokémon should be taken note of, like the rapid spinners, as they require a change in tactics, and could potentially KO your Gyarados.
-Azumarill. Belly drum negates intimidate, and he is immune to dragon tail. Try to whittle him down using ferrothorn, sand storm, and finish him off with priority brave bird.
-Gliscor. Not so much a threat, but more of a nuissance that can stop your Gyarados from doing it's job. substitute and protect make dragon tailing him out almost impossible, and as is now, all your other Pokémon are not capable of finishing him off. Will have to find a solution for that.
-Malamar. normally, your to go to 'mon for this threat would be Gyarados, but intimidate has the nasty side effect of raising his power to potentially dangerous levels. If you expect Malamar to switch in, Greninja's U-turn is your best bet, so keep him alive untill he's needed.
-Jirachi. Jirachi steel head paraflinching gyarados is real risk. Talonflame is just short of a reliable KO, and the other teamd members are not really effective either.
-Magic guard Reuniclus can be a pain. Tyranitar should be used to finish him off once his hp gets in the OHKO zone.
-Anything that has got acces to lightning,water, and fire on 1 pokémon. You stay alive by switching out to your assigned walls, and you do damage by forcing switches. A pokémon with these three type attacks doesn't have to switch out, and can keep me switching. Luckily, it's pretty rare to see this coverage.
-Probably a lot more that I can not think of right now.

In conclusion:
So, that's it. That's the big fishy team. I won't claim it's the best, but it sure is fun to use. Please give tips and comments, and rate my team :)

Thanks,
 
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I might give your Greninja set a try. That sounds interesting as hell :O

However, I can see Stealth Rock ravaging your Gyarados and Talonflame. If the enemy manages to get stealth rocks up, you're gonna have a bad time trying to use Talonflame as a late game sweeper like you claim it will be, not to mention Gyarados who is weak to it too.

You mentioned Excadrill, which would make a perfect replacement to Galvantula, since from what I can see, you'll only be missing out on Sticky Web. He can tank Electric moves better since he's immune to them, and can hit back with STAB EQ, while rapid spinning SR away.

Other than that, I really like your team, especially your Greninja <3
 
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Use an op mega no reason not to have one: Kang, Lucario, Gengar, etc.
Ferret could learn rapid spin and you could replace Galv with Rotom-W or use Excadrill.
Greninja lead is gimicky because if they expect it, it can really hurt you hard.
 
I agree with taking out Galvantula for Excadrill. Test it out, the spinning will really help with SR on your Gyrados...
 
Take dragon tail off gyarados and replace it with dd. A bulky dd sleep talk gyarados is amazing and I use it my self on some teams. Also that greninja set is bad. Your team is using 3 hazards and you have no spin blocker? What? So redundant. This means against every team with a spin blocker, your greninja does nothing at all and if you're up against another hazard setter with taunt? (Custap Skarm for example) it shuts down your ferrothorn as well. This is bad. Very bad. If you wanna use a lead greninja that's fine, but do it right.

Greninja @ Focus Sash
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Spikes
- Surf / Scald
- Ice Beam / Taunt
- U-Turn

IMO you could run fully offensive with a LO it is deceptively strong.

But as I was saying IF you honestly want to go with 3 hazards, use a spin blocker. Drop Galvantula from the team he doesn't do much right now other than set sticky web and die, and incase you did not notice your team is rather slow, and your main sweeper has PRIORITY... more redundancy. So instead use a trevenant or IMO this team needs a gengar. Trevenant is fantastic but you're already running a ferrothorn (I'll get to this in a sec) and like I said your team is slow.

Gengar @ Gengarite
Ability: Leviate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Sludge Bomb
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast

If you want you you can run normal gengar with sub disable as well.


WILL EDIT REST IN A MOMENT. THIS TEAM NEEDS ALOT OF CHANGES.
 
I like the idea of Trevenant, but I don't need more then 1 grass pokémon, so then I can maybe swap ferrorthorn for a Forretress with Rapid spin? Also any ideas on a Trevenant set that would work well for this team?

And about the stealth rock weakness, yes, it is a problem, but not as big as it would seem. Talonflame can often roost up before going to work, and Gyarados can rest back to full health. Though the team would be a lot better with a spinner, i agree.

Dragon tail Gyarados is the heart of this team, if I change that, I better change around the whole team, so that stays as is.

I've also been wondering about using mega T-tar instead of the assualt vest. For the he can run stealth rocks, and still have solid special defense.

What do you think?
 
I suggested against using trevenant. Atleast read the suggestions. Dragon Tail gyarados is terrible and honestly most dragon tail sets suck and preform mediocre at best. A bulky ddgos is way superior and can sweep even with max hp max defense. Your team needs rocks but I don't believe you should take off that assault vest. Your team just seems like a random assortment of pokemon ATM with no extraordinary synergy. Please take off that EQ and DT off TTar as well, you have no business staying in against an Aegislash so the EQ is worthless, you're just asking to be set up on. Roll with fire blast or ice beam in that slot. Then replace that DT with crunch.

I still can't believe you have no spin blocker whilst using 3 hazards it blows my mind people play like this. One spinner or defogger totally shuts down your "dragon tail strategy" lol.... and besides this what happens when you DT a rotom out? You're forced to switch, making your gyarados take more rocks DMG when he comes in. Rotom-W completely runs circles around this team come to think of it.
 
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