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Jordy + Warzoid. Mega Mane might have a harder time pivoting around, both are fast and hit hard enough to do some serious damage. Warzoid's is just a really solid core imo, not much else to say.
talk me down (Krookodile) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
A bulky offense team that uses innovative stuff like sr Necrozma + specs togekiss to allow Kyurem to put as much work as possible. Cobalion helps a lot vs offensive teams and the rest of the team basically covers for things that would otherwise be threatening like Latias and Azumarill.
The submissions phase for this round will end by 11:59 PM (EST) on Thursday, February 15th!
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- U-turn
Scizor @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Superpower
This is a spin off of a core curtesy of vivalospride (formerly SuperVegeta20) from USUM UU Cores. Fightium-Z Scizor is a set I got from Vivalospride although he got it from someone else but I forget who. Anyhow it's good at baiting in Swampert and can KO Swampert from 90% at +2 attack. It is also great against Cobalion if Scizor isn't at +2. I like Dark and Fighting-type move coverage on Scizor for the Steel-types and bulky Pokemon resistant to Bullet Punch who don't appreciate a +2 Knock Off. Since Scizor lacks U-Turn it appreciates momentum and a strong and fast special attacker as support. Hydreigon fills this slot by forcing out threats to Scizor and gaining momentum. It has the ability to 1v1 both Tentacruel and Krookodile. Sadly this core does struggle with stall and has some issues with Breloom. Other than that this core good against this team but in general is a fantastic Hyper Offense core that can do some work against Balance and Bulky Offense.
Houndoom-Mega @ Houndoominite
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse
- Nasty Plot
- Flame Charge
Kommo-o @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Close Combat
- Iron Tail
- Dragon Dance
I believe this core has the best chance to take on this team with minimal support. Necrozma is free set up for Houndoom, the rest of the team is kinda shredded at +2. Tentacruel has a 20% chance to do nothing versus +2 Houndoom-Mega and if you get the opportunity to somehow get the Flame Charge, Krookodile is toast. Aside from Tentacruel this teams best option versus Houndoom-Mega at +2 is RKO by Krookodile. This is a great opportunity for Kommo-o to set up, similar to Houndoom-Mega, at +1 Kommo-o really hurts this team. Counter play to a Dragon Dance boosted Kommo-o, in this case, is Intimidate drops from Krookodile, (which Kommo-o sets up on) and Earthquake only has a 4.7% chance to 2HKO. If you remove Krookodile with Kommo-o, Houndoom is able to sweep this team. Devestating Drake from Kommo-o is able to get chip on Tentacruel, even without the boost, to the point where Houndoom doesn't need to rely on a 20% roll. Whilst, also giving Kommo-o the ability to OHKO Necrozma at +1 should the need arise. Accuracy is a large issue for this core. These two 'mons + veil = auto win, although not a high level strat.
edit: realised the contradictory statement with "minimal support" and using this core on a veil team. I was only trying to give an example of what kind of team this core could be seen on.
Looking at this team, I noticed how it has no flying resist and how its main way of speed control is scarf krookodile. With this in mind, I chose talonflame as my first pick, as in a first turn scenario versus necrozma it already can pull off an SD and get a kill with SSSS, as necrozma can't ohko it (photon geyser does 94% max) and would have to give up on setting rocks to do so, potentially helping other threatening birds on the team, while also without this scenario it's still pretty threatening any time it comes in due to SSSS and getting setup opportunities on cobalion.
With this in mind, the main way that team would deal with talonflame would be revenge killing it with krookodile - either with pursuit/edge/knock, depending at how low it's at - and taking this into account, I picked loom as my partner. Loom punishes very hard any kill krook may get, being able to spore something and get a sub right after, helping faster threats the team may have - such as talonflame - to have an easier time by breaking fat mons or at least by making the team able to take advantage after krookodile gets a kill, and depending on what happens maybe even put krookodile to sleep, helping even more the fast threats I already talked about.
(About the loom set - it's a set I've been trying to pull off with pursuit support that has been pretty fun, as it can even help the pursuiter by putting ghosts to sleep, while dealing well with fat teams).
Thanks for reading.
One of the first things I thought of when I saw this team was a difficulty for the team to get momentum. Without U-turn or volt switch at all, every switch has to be very thought out and intentional. I want to build a strong offenfive volt turn core to combat this. Keep in mind I would make the rest of the team relatively bulky.
First lets talk about the pivoting moves in question as the core will take advantage of these to gain momentum. Granted Krookodile is immune to volt switch, but volt switch alone 2HKOs Togekiss, Cobalion and Tentacruel and 3HKOs Necrozma. That is pretty good for a pivoting move and this team has very little healing power other that subroost kyurem so that's a lot of chip damage to deal out. The aura sphere tech is also pretty devestating against this team by outspeeding and 2HKOing scarf krookodile, and 2HKOing kyurem and cobalion.
If Beedrill leads turn 1 vs Necrozma, U-turn will activate its Iapapa berry right away, and the next time beedrill comes in versus it, the necrozma is gone. As for the other mons, Poison Jab OHKOs Togekiss and 2HKOs Kyurem, and Drill run 2HKOs Cobalion and Tentacruel. This is a very offensive volt-turn core that is a great option for offensive volt turn in general, not just this team.
Darksafadao. Crippling the lead from the beginning was a good way to approach a core against this team. While I am a little skeptical of sub + punch loom, I do agree that it supports talonflame nicely here. If anything I think information about what would and would not break loom's sub, and maybe a strategy for dealing with kyurem behind a sub would have been nice. Nonetheless great core, gets my vote.
Darksafadao for sure, I really like the usage of Talonflame here and I think the Breloom set, while sometimes inconsistent, compliments Talonflame nicely. Good Job!
Swan Song (Sylveon) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
This is a fun team that revolves around maximizing Tsareena's usage as a spinner and hard hitting Grass type. Knock off was a big boon to Tsareena this gen, letting it directly threaten the Ghost types that would normally come in to block its spin. Chandelure takes advantage of this to help the stall matchup, while Stakataka messes up opposing offense and appreciate's Tsareena's ability to take on almost every bulky Water in the tier. Swampert as a mandatory Electric check, Stealth Rocker, and all around glue mon, Sylveon passes wishes, especially helping Stakataka check Flying types, as well as performing typical Fairy and cleric duties. Latias rounds out the team with some speed control, Healing Wish lets me play my two sweepers more aggressively than usual in some matchups.
The idea here is to remove the one stop this team has versus NP Celebi with Z Earth Power - Latias. I also wanted a Pursuit user that could adequately switch into this Latias set, with out letting Stakataka set up for free. Essentially, +2 Celebi is able to 1v1 this team with little to no support, obviously SR is helpful for the guaranteed OHKO on Tsareena but that's not too bad. Having no priority on this team and only a Choice Scarf Latias makes this team quite susceptible to the onion. AV Metagross is able to Pursuit trap Latias, although it's unable to OHKO on the forced switch, it can come in multiple times versus this particular Latias. I also like that the only Pokemon on this team that can safely switch into Metagross is Swampert. Swampert is food for Grass types. I'm not sure how much more I need to explain here, but AV Metagross in a 1v1 situation is beating each of these team members bar Swampert, and Celebi is beating each of these members 1v1 bar Latias. Each Pokemon in this core is able to adequately switch into each others stops. The only awkward situation I could see arising is Metagross not being able to 2HKO Stakataka with EQ into Bullet Punch (93.9% min. & 110.4% max. - in Metagross' favor), although Stakataka is unable to OHKO Metagross with unboosted EQ (252+ Atk Stakataka Earthquake vs. 172 HP / 0 Def Metagross: 192-228 (55.8 - 66.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO). This means, Metagross still wins the 1v1.
Metagross @ Assault Vest
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Bullet Punch
edit: perhaps lead SR LO with Pursuit on Metagross would seem nice, but also consider the fact that neither of these mons can switch into Chandelure, at least AV Metagross can beat it 1v1, beside a burn.
2nd edit: I was intrigued by this core, so I decided to build a team around it!
Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fire Punch
- Shadow Bone
- Will-O-Wisp
- Stealth Rock
Muk-Alola @ Assault Vest
Ability: Poison Touch
EVs: 204 Atk / 180 SpD / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Knock Off
- Gunk Shot
- Fire Punch
Basically the only thing that can revenge kill Gengar is Latias on this team or a healthy Swampert; which doesn't matter if you run Energy Ball last slot ig but I'm not sure how much of an overall non-counter team tech that would be. Latias is Pursuit trapped by AloMuk and Swampert, if it switches into AloMuk is going to get really crippled by Knock and potential Poison Touch proc. If you manage to Pursuit trap the Lati and Staka comes in after, you can pretty freely sack Muk and like most of the mons you'd have and just win with Gengar. If Gengar gets in on anything that isn't Lati or Pert (assuming no-EBall Gengar) it's essentially forcing the team to sack something.
Edit: I changed the item to Ghostium lol, now you officially don't care about Pert whatsoever, assuming it switches into you (esp considering nothing else does) and / or it attains chip damage through Muk or literally anything else, and still beat everything bar Latias.
Mamoswine puts in so much work against Tsareena and Swampert by using Freeze Dry as well as having the same speed as Chandelure. It OHKO's Stakataka with Earhquake and can kill Latias with Ice Shard from low health. Scizor contributes to the pressure that Mamoswine puts on this team by using U-Turn for momentum as well as using Bullet Punch against Sylveon. It can revenge kill Stakataka from low health as well as chip away at Swampert and Chandelure who are his only Scizor checks. Over all this is an offensive core that pressures this team as well as many other teams and can be be used on Hyper Offense as well as other team archetypes. Enjoy!