SM OU Breloomin' Onion

[teachable]

Introduction
I like Breloom and I miss him in OU; I'm not *too* great at OU team building, but I wanted to give it a shot and then hopefully have some help w/ refining it here in the RMT section (I also just like doing RMTs). Played mostly around the 1500s-1600s with this team, I'm by no means good in OU but I've been liking the general idea of the team a lot so I wanted some constructive feedback.
Teambuilding Process

I had a drunk idea to try out Breloom as a Tapu Bulu lure, given I've been seeing it spammed everywhere on the ladder to stop Greninja/compress a Zygarde check into one mon with some more offensive presence compared to AV Magearna (plus it actually has recovery). So I paired it w/ Zygarde and tried to think of what else to run on the team.

A Toxic Spike setter was my go-to partner with Zygarde, as with Toxic on my Breloom I was opting to go the Sub/Tect route with Zygarde and this let me poison stuff that I wasn't luring with Breloom.

kartana scares me so I decided to run a M-Scizor to lessen my chances of losing to it. Went with a bulkier set to utilize it as my defogger and a Mamo switch in given what aim is doing to the ladder right now.

I noticed my team kind of sacced a Pokemon to M-Medicham at this point whenever it came in and I needed a rocker, so I decided on Mew. Originally this was Garchomp but overall I felt like my team probably was better with a more defensive rocker but I could see Chomp still fitting here.

I needed a Scarfer and decided since my team was already based around luring stuff with Breloom I wanted to try out Scarf Koko that Randomnick passed me an OU team with one time. Obviously this mon is fucking fast, so it lets me check a lot of stuff.

Playing with the team I felt like T-Pex was way too passive for this team, so I opted to switch to a more offensive mon and just deal with the lack of switch ins for some mons and it worked nicely considering I had a spare Z Crystal for the team.

Team Breakdown

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 48 SpD / 208 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Toxic
- Seed Bomb
- Rock Tomb
- Swords Dance

Honestly the moveset for this dude has changed a lot but this is what I ultimately decided on. Toxic is the first move I decided on, and its remained on the movest and has put in the most work on this lil guy. The rest of the set has changed a lot and are mostly to try to make Breloom do something in my stall matches. Seed Bomb is STAB, Swords Dance lets me actually try to break through some stuff. Opted for Grass STAB over Fighting to hopefully do something vs Stall. Lack of DD TTars on ladder made me run Rock Tomb to prevent Zards/Volcaronas from coming in for free on me. I opted for a bulkier spread to let myself switch into Rotom-W way easier and tank a hit or two from Bulu/Lando/Ash-Greninja if I needed to. Speed EVs let me outspeed the standard defensive Lando spread and anything slower.

Zygarde @ Leftovers
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 188 HP / 140 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Thousand Arrows
- Protect

Well this set is definitely more standard. I don't know OU well enough to craft a refined Zygarde spread so I trusted the analyses with the Speed/HP/Attack Distribution, but basically Zygarde just tries to sweep w/ a Bulu or Tangrowth poisoned by using the good old Sub/Protect combo. Pretty straight forward.

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 240 HP / 156 Def / 112 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Will-O-Wisp
- Soft-Boiled
- Stealth Rock

Another really standard set, I needed Rocks on this squad to punish switching, since most OU matches require a lot of doubling to put yourself in an advantageous situation (and also rocks are just good, they don't need an explanation honestly). Earth Power over Ice Beam because while Zapdos with HP-Ice can be a real pain with this team, and I wanted *something* to help deal with Heatran outside of doubling into Zygarde. Gives me switch into Non-E Terrain T Punch Medi and fire off a wisp to hopefully help me wear something down for Zygarde. Not opting for any fancy spreads, I don't know the metagame well enough.

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 64 Atk / 124 Def / 16 SpD / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Roost

Kartana is wild, Mamoswine is everywhere, and I wanted something that could offensively pressure Unaware Clefable so I can hopefully wear it down enough to pressure it w/ Zygarde. Since I was opting for a very bulky spread to deal with Kartana/Mamo, it fit well as my Defogger, since spikes are also fucking everywhere. For some more offensive pressure on my team, and since it doesn't exactly hurt my Kartana matchup much, I opted for a more offensive Scizor set with Knock to hopefully increase my chances vs stall. Obviously I drop to SD All Out Pummeling but at that point we can pressure it with Greninja and whatnot.

Tapu Koko @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Wild Charge
- Hidden Power Ice
- U-turn
- Grass Knot

Definitely the second most unconventional part of this team, with Bulu getting worn down (hopefully) from the rest of my team (namely Breloom), I wanted to try out Scarf Koko since I personally have enjoyed using it in the past. Wild Charge//U-turn are standard, Grass Knot is to give my team a way to revenge kill M-Swampert, the only Ground-type I won't just be U-turning on, and HP Ice is to chip Pokemon like Landorus-T and Zygarde as they try to block a Volt Switch or revenge Zygarde/Mence.

Greninja-Ash @ Waterium Z
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
- Spikes

Since most of my team is aiming to pressure Bulu/Tangrowth I felt this kinda fit nicely as an additional wincon and to hopefully help with overwhelming the checks for my other teammates. Incredibly standard set, had my Z-Move open so I threw Waterium on it. Gives my team some priority which is nice, preventing my only out to setup mons just being to hope my Koko can revenge them.

Threatlist

Mega Charizard X and Y
Both of these mons dont have a switch in on my team, I basically have to offensively pressure them out or sack a mon.

Ferrothorn​

No Fire-type moves on the entire team means this mon can be a little tricky to play around. I basically have to hope they let me burn it with Mew, and wear it down enough for Greninja/Zygarde to break it.

Shoutouts
S/O to the entire RU community for putting up with my shit/weird builds there and particularly to EviGaro for being my #1 hater.

Replays​

Here's some replays, I'm not the best at OU; most of my ladder losses were from misplays as opposed to team composition but here's some games where I think the team performed well

replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-703845011
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-703840401
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-703856387

​

Import

import

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 48 SpD / 208 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Tomb
- Seed Bomb
- Toxic
- Swords Dance

Greninja-Ash @ Waterium Z
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
- Spikes

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 240 HP / 156 Def / 112 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Will-O-Wisp
- Soft-Boiled
- Stealth Rock

Zygarde @ Leftovers
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 188 HP / 140 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Thousand Arrows
- Protect

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Defog
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Roost

Tapu Koko @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Wild Charge
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Grass Knot

 

[Drakothonic]

Hello! I love this team, and I love Breloom. I'm just now returning to OU aftering playing in Gen V where Breloom was a monster, so the nostalgia is real.
I'm not the type of player to be able to help you that much, but I do question how you deal with Landorus-T? You don't exactly hold an incredible counter to it as long as Lando holds U-Turn. Even Mew struggles against that.

 

[teachable]

Hello! I love this team, and I love Breloom. I'm just now returning to OU aftering playing in Gen V where Breloom was a monster, so the nostalgia is real.
I'm not the type of player to be able to help you that much, but I do question how you deal with Landorus-T? You don't exactly hold an incredible counter to it as long as Lando holds U-Turn. Even Mew struggles against that.

Scizor tanks a hit, as does Mew but yeah, w/ U-turn I basically have to guess and play very offensively against it. Breloom takes EQs and HP Ices from it moderately okay and can offensively pressure it, but the lack of a ground immunity kinda sucks and is something I'd like to add if possible lol.

 

[Altervisi]

Hey, like the team!

The change I would suggest is trading Ash-Greninja for Hawlucha. This greatly helps out with what you outline in your threatlist, OHKO'ing Ferrothorn and both Charizards at +2. You already have Tapu Koko on the team, so it seems to slot in very nicely, of course being one of the most threatening Pokémon in the tier right now. It slaughters Bulu and other bulky Grass types and provides you with the Ground immunity you are looking for!

Due to Hawlucha's ridiculous 620 speed you can probably afford to go for Z-Wild Charge Koko, however this is up to you, I'm a big fan of the Scarf set too.

Hawlucha @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD / 96 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance
- High Jump Kick
- Roost

 

[patlop2307]

Heya, tbh altho I like the idea of the team, it lacks a certain offensive presence.

Chages that I would make would be:

Offensive Knock-Off Scizor > Defog Scizor: Being able to knock certain Pokémon off on Stall is huge. The reason why I made that change is though, because your team doesn't necessarily need a Defogger (if you think otherwise though, run Defog Mew) and your Kartana match-up isn't worsened either, at least most of the time.

Hidden Power [Ice] > Brave Bird: The issue I have with Brave Bird is that it's more than just situational and not common/standard at all. Additionally, you don't seem to need hitting grasses with Tapu-Koko that much, since the most common Grass-Type right now (Tapu-Bulu) is beaten by Scizor. HP-Ice is a nice momentum move to have in the sense that u can HP-Ice on the switch and chip Pokémon like Zygarde down quite a bit. However, I love the idea of Grass Knot for Pert, which is why I didnt want to replace that.

Pretty solid team otherwise, Zygarde + Knock-Off Scizor should do the trick now,

 

[teachable]

Heya, tbh altho I like the idea of the team, it lacks a certain offensive presence.

Chages that I would make would be:

Offensive Knock-Off Scizor > Defog Scizor: Being able to knock certain Pokémon off on Stall is huge. The reason why I made that change is though, because your team doesn't necessarily need a Defogger (if you think otherwise though, run Defog Mew) and ur Kartana match-up isn't worsened either, at least most of the time.

Hidden Power [Ice] > Brave Bird: The issue I have with Brave Bird is that it's more than just situational and not common/standard at all. Additionally, you don't seem to need to hit Grasses with Tapu-Koko that much, since the most common Grass-Type right now (Tapu-Bulu) is beaten by Scizor. HP-Ice is a nice momentum move to have in the sense that u can HP-Ice on the switch and chip Pokémon like Zygarde down quite a bit. However, I love the idea of Grass Knot for Pert, which is why I didnt want to replace that.

Pretty solid team otherwise, Zygarde + Knock-Off Scizor should do the trick now,

Love both of the changes, ty for the feedback.