CAP Teambuilding Competition - Cycle 2 [Complete]

akaFila

butterscotch love
[Approved by cbrevan; Taken over from Arcade; Banner by MamOwOswine;
Concept & Elements pieced from other such projects - OU, UU, Mono]


Index & Rules -> Click Here!


:Cycle 2:
-Back to Basics-
After taking a trip down Unorthodox Lane via Cycle 1, we'll roll into this week with a more competitively viable core. For this round we'll focus on the defensive pairing of Gastrodon and Tomohawk.


| Gastrodon | Tomohawk |
-
-
-
-
-



Submission Deadline: Friday - 4/20 :psysly:
Two-Day Voting Phase: Saturday & Sunday - 4/21 & 4/22

 
Last edited:
My favorite defensive core? That I already have on half of all of my teams? On my birthday? You're too kind Escoffier ;-;


Samuel (Pyroak) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Synthesis
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Giga Drain

Angel (Gastrodon) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Scald
- Recover
- Toxic
- Earthquake

War (Tomohawk) (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Air Slash
- Rapid Spin
- Haze

Kyub (Kyurem-Black) @ Icium Z
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Freeze Shock
- Fusion Bolt
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power

Pot (Crucibelle) (M) @ Crucibellite
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Gunk Shot
- Coil
- Wood Hammer

Blade (Scizor) (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit


Starting from the center this time:

Tomodon is an amazing defensive core; Gastrodon, when invested in special bulk, takes on just about every special attacker that lacks a Grass-type move. Tomohawk itself is able to take on a fair number of special attacker Grass-types, but it really shines in patching up Gastrodon's vulnerability to physical moves.

But that's all of the obvious stuff. Let's take a look at why the rest of the team is there:


First of all, we need to look at the Pokemon that can give both Tomohawk and Gastrodon a bit of trouble. This category includes Tapu Lele, Tapu Koko with Grass Knot, Kerfluffle, Mega Crucibelle, Pajantom with Heal Block, Syclant with Tail Glow, Ferrothorn, Celesteela, Kyurem-Black, Lati@s(-Mega), Mega Mawile, Mega Medicham, and Mega Pinsir.

Hm, let's see if we can't patch up those weaknesses:

Pyroak easily resists STAB from Tapu Koko and shuts Ferrothorn and non-Air Slash Celesteela down entirely. Thanks to physical bulk investment, it is able to take Psyshocks from Choice Scarf Tapu Lele that could otherwise break past Gastrodon and shut down the rest of the team. Thanks to Gastrodon, Psychic on Scarf Lele is not too much of a concern, and thanks to Mega Crucibelle, neither is Choice Specs. Pyroak also handles the likes of Mega Mawile well, takes down Mega Medicham in conjuntion with Tomohawk and/or Scizor, and can even live a Return from Mega Pinsir. Stealth Rock also heavily discourages Kyurem-Black and Mega Pinsir from entering the field. Giga Drain is used instead of Leech Seed in order to help against some bulky Water-types this team might appreciate some help against; namely, Mega Swampert and Gastrodon. It also helps against Rotom-W and Keldeo.


Choice Band Scizor may not exactly be in vogue, but it certainly has its uses. It's always glad to pick off fast and weakened foes with an extremely powerful Bullet Punch. This is especially helpful against Syclant, Kerfluffle, and Mega Crucibelle, acting as speed control against them. It also does a hefty chunk to Kyurem-Black, OHKOing it if Stealth Rock is up. Pursuit is an extremely fun move on this set for eliminating the likes of Pajantom, Kitsunoh, Lati@s(-Mega), etc. especially against Psychic-types, where it sets up a 50-50 with U-Turn that can be mindgamed. U-Turn is there for predicted switches to physical walls like Tomohawk, Cyclohm, and Pyroak to prevent momentum killing by going into Kyurem-Black. Superpower nearly OHKOs Ferrothorn and 2HKOs Chansey, and for that reason I think it is very nice to have.


The goal on this one is simple: use Subzero Slammer to break through any of those annoying walls that are giving this team difficulty. Chansey? Gone. Pyroak? Gone. Celesteela? Gone. Ferrothorn? Gone. You name it and it's gone. And if it's not gone for Subzero Slammer, Earth Power and Fusion Bolt will catch it (Heatran, Arghonaut, Rotom-W, etc). We don't like stall in this household.


And finally, a wincon. After all those pesky physical walls I mentioned are gone and Scizor has taken out all those fast attackers, Mega Crucibelle has a fun time coming in, setting up with Coil, and cleaning up shop.
 
Did some say FAT CORE?
Haven't used gastrodon all that much but everyone will tell you fat is fave archetype so we went with a very BULKY BALANCE (definitely wouldn't say this is a defensive team or a semi/stall archetype ) team to showcase this core:

Disclaimer - I build really, REALLY slow teams that often use lures / none standard sets for their offensive pressure whilst using a defensive backbone and relying on doubles, you'll see why that matters when u read through the team...



Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Recover

Tomohawk @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Haze
- Roost
- Rapid Spin
- Air Slash

Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 30 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stone Edge / Toxic

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Stealth Rock
- Heal Bell

Toxapex @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Infestation
- Toxic
- Scald
- Recover

Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Ice]


Starting out with the core i noticed that it is very very strong against one of the better offensive threats in the meta in Ash-Greninja, which allowed me some leeway when adding the rest of the members.

The Gastro set i chose was to eek out any offensive pressure gastro could muster up whilst still serving its defensive role as being the primary pre transform Greninja / Koko / Kraken switchin. I feel this set is fairly good it does miss scald but scald doesnt help that much in the teams losing matchups where as curse + toxic really shines in those situations vs fat teams.

Hawk is standard ofc...

I added Heatran next to what i knew would most likely be the most offensive pressure generating slot on my team, just by how i usually build. At this point i wasn't sure if i wanted to use the Z fire set to make use of the spare Z move slot a lot of bulky teams have, or to run a much more aggressive scarf set to make up for my lack of revenge killer, as well as act as a lure for mons such as None-Scarf Landorus and Tapu Koko. I decided to go with the latter due to the final makeup of the team aswell as the fact that i made up for not running the trapper set by implementing that elsewhere...

Next up we wanted rocks and a pretty solid partner for Heatran in Clef, as Heatran covers most things that forces Clef out. Clef also gave me an opportunity to run Heal Bell which this team appreciated greatly in the stall matchup.

This is the fun part, I added Toxapex here as the second water resist on the team, figuring i needed insurance against any Rogue Greninjas still opting to run Ice Beam for whatever reason. This set saw some usage in OU after the Arena Trap ban to try and plaster the hole that Dugtrio left on similar teams. Fortunatley, it works here as the secondary offensive presence on the team that wont be expected. This particular Toxapex set really bolsters the stall matchup which as you can see from preview, this team would struggle with otherwise. It also offers a way to beat common Walls which the team is weak to such as defensive Hawk, Celesteela(after a knock off), Chansey etc.

My final choice here was to add a grass type, just to ensure my matchup vs Zygarde and Landorus werent completely hinged on Tomohawk, whilst also offering a pretty stellar Specially Defensive pivot, leech seed absorption and a regenerator core along with Toxapex. The set is pretty standard though so not much to mention about this one.

Just want to add the choice to not use a mega is a very on purpose. Generally the only mega options with these builds is Sableye, Scizor or something really niche that fits the team. Seeing as none of those really fitted into what i had built already, i decided to skip one all together as appose to stuffing a Mega Lati on there like i usually do.


There are a couple of replays saved on my alt "John VGCena" of this team if people wish to see it in action, i intend to collect more higher quality games as opposed to ladder matches and post them here in an edit.

Overall I'm pretty happy with how this turned out for me specifically it really does feel and play like a team i would build for a tour game and ill probably be keeping it around and using it often!
 
Last edited:

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top