.: Core 2013 Mission Statement :.
A team built with a back to basics mentality focusing on two individual cores. The first core being heavily defensive with emphasis on wearing down the opponent’s team, hard to counter bulk, good type coverage, and relative independence from the rest of the team. The second half was to be a three mon sweeper squad that was fast and reliable in the end game; while remaining capable in the early to mid game when needed. I wanted these offensive mons to mostly sit back waiting until the final turns of the game where they could clean up the weakened opponent's team.
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.: Core 2013 V1.2 :.
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A team built with a back to basics mentality focusing on two individual cores. The first core being heavily defensive with emphasis on wearing down the opponent’s team, hard to counter bulk, good type coverage, and relative independence from the rest of the team. The second half was to be a three mon sweeper squad that was fast and reliable in the end game; while remaining capable in the early to mid game when needed. I wanted these offensive mons to mostly sit back waiting until the final turns of the game where they could clean up the weakened opponent's team.
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.: Core 2013 V1.2 :.
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Team Building
The defensive core was my first priority. I wanted a lot out of these mons and needed them to be durable while still threatening. I started with Tentacruel thanks to her access to toxic spikes, poison typing for absorbing enemy toxic spikes, rapid spin for every other entry hazard, and her natural bulk. All of these things meant that I could clean up entry for the other ⅔ of the core; keeping them happy and healthy. Her typing was also easy to complement when picking her teammates.
Ferrothorn was the second mon selected for the team. His typing matched very well with Tentacruel’s and his natural bulk is legendary. Knowing Tentacruel lacks any recovery of her own I wanted the second mon to be able to support her with a heal, and Leech Seed was a great way to do just that. It complements the pace of the team better than wish passing, and also drains out opponents who would otherwise be too bulky for the late game sweepers. Ferrothorn also has access to t-wave for paralysis which helps to slow down opponents who like to speed boost with D-dance or Agility and reduces the chance for speed ties later in the game.
Hippowdon quickly filled the 3rd defensive spot on the team. This is a mon who never ceases to amaze me, her bulk is second to none and her type is a solid match for the rest of the core. Paired with Ferrothorn and Tentacruel she rounds out hazard set up, throwing out Stealth Rocks as well as Sandstorm. She also filled the role of phazer with roar support meaning not to many mons will get to boost against this otherwise slow core.
Next it was time to pick the offensive core. This core needed to be fast, strong, and able to hit against almost any type in the game. Alakazam was the first choice for this role as he needs no time to setup and is immediately a threat to almost everything. His type coverage is astounding and his speed is blistering. He also can absorb burn and poison for the other ⅔ of the core thanks to Magic Guard.
After selecting Alakazam as my no setup special sweeper I needed to find the same kind of power for the physical end of the spectrum. Infernape complimented the team nicely and also allowed me to fill a role as a pseudo lead. Thanks to U-turn I can run infernape against a lot of mons on turn one that would otherwise threaten him, hit them with U-turn (often for super effective damage) and switch in the appropriate wall to start the game off with positive health difference. It is also amazing for turning momentum back in your favor mid to late game when you need to get safe switches. His other moves are standard but complement the rest of the team’s typing very well.
Finally the last mon on the team to be selected was Salamence. I wanted something that could jump in on advantage, setup, and hold momentum after getting a kill. Moxie makes all the difference for Salamence and allows her to net a KO then keep on growing. The longer you wait to try and take her out of the game the stronger she gets; after awhile she will be able to KO anything even mons that would normally resist her.
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The Team
The Goo (Tentacruel) (F) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Liquid Ooze
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
- Toxic Spikes
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Protect
Purpose: A wall who sets up Poison with T-Spikes, Burn with Scald, and Rapid Spin to keep the field free of entry hazards so that my defensive core doesn’t get worn down too early. Her typing also fares well against most water and fire threats allowing for easy switch and set up of her own entry hazards.
Threats: With the core designed the way it is there aren’t too many threats that aren’t managed well by switching, however Earthquake is always a common attack on almost any physical sweeper in the meta and can easily OHKO Tentacruel.
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The Mine (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Thunder Wave
- Protect
Purpose: Stall, Support, and Coverage. I wanted Ferrothorn to be able to jump in against common threats, stun them, seed them, and swap out to another core member when he couldn’t stay in himself.
Threats: Fire and Fighting attacks from any number of common metagame threats will OHKO him if you mispredict. Once again the core is designed to handle this very well with switches, but sometimes switching just isn’t an option and Ferrothorn will be OHKO’ed.
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The Wall (Hippowdon) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Roar
Purpose: The final piece in my defensive core. Hippo is one of the bulkiest mons in the game and with Slack Off she can wall almost everything that Tentacruel and Ferrothorn don’t. She also covers Stealth Rocks setup, weather control, and phasing very well.
Threats: Very little is immediately threatening other than Ice/water based special attacks, but Ice Beam and Hydro Pump are not uncommon for dragon and ground coverage on a plethora of pokes in the current metagame. However, Tentacruel and Ferrothorn wall both attack threats very well.
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The Mental (Alakazam) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Purpose: Fast and efficient late game sweeper. Alakazam can clear entire teams with his phenomenal coverage and more often than not does. Shadow Ball + Psychic + Focus Blast is super effective against a large majority of the metagame and HP Ice covers dragons.
Threats: Speed Boosters, special walls, and anything bulky that isn’t hit for super effective damage by one of his 4 attacks. There are also a select few Suckerpunch users that will OHKO if you don’t predict the attack. Beyond any of those he can sweep most teams with his timid nature, raw power, and superb coverage.
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The Imperial (Infernape) (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Flare Blitz
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Purpose: Unboosted offensive sweeping and a pseudo Lead. With U-Turn I can easily get my walls in on opposing pokes without worrying about choosing the right wall for the job. He also allows for great coverage in U-Turn + Close Combat and stab Flare Blitz is intimidating for mons like Fortress, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Jirachi, and Scizor.
Threats: Being outpaced or bad prediction on my part. Infernape takes a lot of prediction to play well because if you call U-Turn wrong you might miss a crucial KO or get yourself killed. However, while he is a frail mon his damage is top notch and his coverage complements Alakazam very well.
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The Guillotine (Salamence) (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
Purpose: The team’s set up sweeper. If given the chance I can Dragon Dance and OHKO most of the metagame. Earthquake for steels trying to absorb Dragon Claw, and Stone Edge for bulky flying types that might resist Everything else. My reasoning for Dragon Claw > Outrage is that I used to run a Dragon Dance Dragonite, and Dragon Claw swept Most of the metagame fine only falling short of a few KO’s. The same build on Mence gets to boost from moxy on KO’s making him much more threatening. It also allows for a Jolly Nature without sacrificing power so I can win against mirror matches.
Threats: Ice Shard and, Ditto. Ditto is probably the scariest thing to see on a team with Moximence. If I am forced to get Salamence out early, and a ditto is able to switch in he will KO and sweep the team with no problem bar Ferrothorn. This makes KO’ing Ditto a top priority when he shows up on the enemy roster.
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*At risk of being dropped.
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Currently I'm trying to find weak points and then revamp the team as necessary. I'm definitely not going to object to switching out Pokemon, and if you think a different Pokemon will benefit the team more please reply, rate, and help me out with building it.
The biggest issues I have faced so far have been mostly RNG related, or just bad game play on my part. However, It is hard to judge every aspect of the metagame and I would love to hear any comments or possible improvements you might make to this team.I really feel Core 2013 is quite a strong team at the moment, and don't think there are too many major flaws. Once again I would love to hear any suggestions as they can only benefit the team in the long run. Thanks for giving this a read and thanks for your time.
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SPECIAL THANKS TO
dbzmariogeno
Moonclawz
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