Counter that Pokemon - Mk IV [FINAL MATCH - Team 1 won!]

ganj4lF

Nobody is safe from the power of science!
is a Team Rater Alumnus
Counter that Pokemon - Mk IV
--- Hosted by ganj4lF and Melee Mewtwo | approved by ginganinja, NixHex, Pocket ---


Welcome everyone to the new edition of the Counter that Pokemon project! Last time it was a great success, spawning some interesting discussion and inspiring new ideas. Compared to the last time, we lost two top class threats like Tornadus-T and Deoxys-D; it will be surely interesting to see how this affects our project. We also gained a new host in Melee Mewtwo, that I'd like to thank in advance for supporting me in handling the project. That said, I'm going to keep this boring introduction short and explain a little better what the CtP project is.

Q: What are we going to do?
A: The idea is to build two teams that, while not necessarily very good in general, are designed to counter each other to the best of their possibilities. We will choose the pokes that will compose the two teams in an alterned fashion: if "1" represents a pick for the Team 1, and "2" a pick for the Team 2, the picks will look like this: 1 - 2 - 2 - 1 - 1 - 2 - 2 - 1 - 1 - 2 - 2 - 1, so except from the first and the last choice, each team will select two pokes consecutively, attempting to neuter the portion of the other team already known, pose new threats for the opponents, and avoid creating excessive weaknesses that could be easily exploited later. The project will end with a battle between the two teams, to "determine" which team countered "better" the opponent.

Q: How does the picking process work?
A: There are two phases when picking a pokemon for any of the two teams, a discussion phase and a voting phase. In the first phase you propose new sets, give feedback on others' proposals, and generally discuss what direction we should follow for the team that's picking currently. The second phase is a voting one, where everyone can express his/hers preference for the set he/she thinks is best suited for the team. We will implement private voting as an experiment this time, to see if the bandwagoning issues we experienced the last time are diminished. The discussion phase will last roughtly 48-72 hours for each pokemon we're going to pick, to allow everone to propose a set and comment on the already listed ones; the voting will be faster, with a duration of 24-48 hours (I'll adjust the durations according to partecipation / relevance of discussion / other factors).

Rules:
  1. One set per person. A valid set should include all of the following elements: sprite / image, name of the pokemon, item, ability, nature, EVs, IVs (you can omit this in case they're obvious), moveset, and a description about why your suggestion fits the current team (please avoid one-line submissions). Lack of any of those elements can result into your set not being listed for voting.
  2. No slashes in movesets. Some exceptions may be allowed in case of choices that depend on external factors (e.g. Thunder vs Thunderbolt), however please PLEASE try to keep them to a minimum (see this post for the complete list of allowed slashes).
  3. Do not complain about the sets listed for voting. If your set wasn't listed for some reasons, contact me in private; I'll happily give advices on how to make a better suggestion, or will edit the voting slate if it was just a mistake.
  4. NEW: To vote, just PM your preference to Melee Mewtwo; more detailed instructions will be given at the beginning of the voting phase.
  5. Voting for your own set is allowed. However please keep in mind that there's nothing to win here, so if I see everyone just voting consistently for himself/herself, I'll modify this rule and disallow self voting.
  6. The standard OU banlist applies, along with common clauses.
  7. Standard Smogon rules obviously apply here. Please be polite while discussing, avoid flaming, trolling or other disruptive posting habits.
If you need any clarification on rules, or the general CtP process, feel free to PM/VM me.

Current state of the project: Final Match!
FINAL MATCH: TUESDAY (TOMORROW) AT 3 PM EST

Team 1:

Landorus @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Slowbro (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Def
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Flamethrower
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 200 HP / 76 Spd / 152 SAtk / 80 Atk
Naive Nature
- Iron Head
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Icy Wind

Kyurem-Black @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Dragon Claw
- Fusion Bolt
- Ice Beam

Azelf @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Naive
- Psyshock
- Fire Blast
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock

Raikou @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 58 HP / 252 SpA / 200 Spe
Timid nature
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch


Team 2:

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 226 SDef / 32 Spd
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost

Terrakion @ Choice Band
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Quick Attack

Rotom (Rotom-Wash) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SAtk / 8 SDef
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Signal Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Garchomp @ Life Orb
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake

Blastoise @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature
- Surf
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
- Roar

Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 120 Atk / 248 HP / 140 SDef
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Quick Attack
- Superpower
 

ganj4lF

Nobody is safe from the power of science!
is a Team Rater Alumnus
Miscellanea / CtP FAQ

How does a good submission look like?
There are many examples of awesome submissions, with different presentation, reasoning, and whatever else. Just lurk a bit the old CtP threads (Mk II and Mk III) to have a rough idea and you should be fine.

My submission stops cold all the pokes of the opposing team! It's perfect!
Maybe. Or maybe it's just overspecialized for the current lineup of the enemy team, and opens much worse scenarios in case the enemy exploits your careless picking. We've seen quite a bit of those proposals in the past, including Signal Beam Cresselia just to counter a Meloetta (no offense intended, but that was just a terrible submission). Those kind of entries are just bad, so please make sure to think a bit more before postng if your idea resembles that. CrackinSkulls gave us awesome guidelines in this perspective, so I'm quoting his post here:

CrackinSkulls said:
It is a teambuilding game where pokemon are suggested for there respective team. At the end of the day these two teams will battle each other. We want to win this battle. So how do we ensure that... we make each set on our team counter our opponents and be as uncounterable as possible so our opponents are hard pressed to counter it with there next addition. Essentially we want to beat our opponent by countering them and preventing them from countering us. I feel that currently people are not understanding this. In the above Dusclops example, do we actually want to build a team around Dusclops!? This gives the opponent hundreds of options to choose from, Tyranitar which is a HUGE advantage because of sand, hell even a Bisharp becomes possible and very tough to counter. In short when you guys start a team do you honestly go "hmm lets make a team around chansey".

You guys are all intelligent people, use your intelligence, wit and cunning to accomplish this task by trapping your opponent just as you would in a match and using your match honed prediction to ensnare your opponent in a sticky web of cunning. Predict their choices and act upon them, play mind games, this game is supposed to bring out the best of our battle honed minds. If we are resorting to using Dusclops and Cresselia our opponent has us on the back foot in the first round from where they can dominate, bully and force into submission. So cunning OU players out there use your match skills to outpredict, outplay and beat the opponent. To quote Poppy in the Ubers thread " Pick discreetly, with the intention to bait, befoul, bludgeon, barf upon, and generally bring waste to the opposition."

If you guys are struggling to understand the concept have a look at the ubers thread or the previous OU one . Anyway i hope i could help you guys understand the game and keep this thread a little cleaner. Don't post nonsense posts keep them simple, clean and easy to follow. Good luck with the game.
So the discussion phase is only about posting sets?
Please let me put emphasis on this: NO!!! The most important part of the discussion phase is, well, discussion and feedback on others' sets. The old threads were full of awesome posts, people discussed, changed their sets according to feedback, and it was just a nice, friendly and inspiring environment. This is what we aim to have, and hopefully with your help we'll obtain something great like that.

You talked about teams a million of times till now. Do we need to split ourselves in two teams?
Nope. You're free to contribute to the discussion while picking pokes for Team 1, 2, or both, as you please. I encourage contributing actively for both teams, since it makes the project more fun and avoid the risks of a team running out of proposals / submissions / discussion.

IMPORTANT! Team 1 has a HUGE advantage! Picking last is gamebreaking!
This concern is perfectly justified. In fact, the CtP Mk II was heavily affected from this "asimmetry": Team 2 built a very good offensive team, but failed to see his own weakness to hazards and inability to break through sturdy defensive walls. This resulted into Team 1 picking Deoxys-D as last member, and a quite easy victory in the final battle. This should be an example for us: we need to avoid being weak to a particular strategy when building teams (Team 2 in particular, since it's most exposed to surprise counterpicks). In the Mk III of the thread, participants took this warning seriously: Team 2 was built to be aggressive enough to not let Team 1 do whatever it wants, but also resilient against eventual counterpicks, and the Infernape that was selected by Team 1, while extremely effective, was not enough to break an intelligently built team (and a clever battle strategy). I hope you guys will consider this too when doing your submissions. While this thing may be seen as a flaw in the CtP process, I'm persuaded that, while it gives an advantage to Team 1, it can be handled quite well being aware of that, and the fact that Team 2 is harder to build should be an incentive to more experienced or inspired battlers / builders to partecipate.
 

ganj4lF

Nobody is safe from the power of science!
is a Team Rater Alumnus
Alright, so another CtP starts. I'm glad to bring the project back once again, and I hope you guys are too. You can start submitting sets for the first pokemon of Team 1! Again, feel free to contact me for any explanation on rules or anything else about the project. Have fun!
 
I've seen this thread in action before it is was honestly really cool!
All righty, here's my first shot at trying this stuff out. Excuse any newbish mistakes I may make...


Keldeo @ Expert Belt
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power Bug
- Icy Wind


Expert Belt Keldeo. In a scenario where the bluff is already exposed, Keldeo with Expert Belt is still quite effective and is a good pivot to build around. Having great synergy with Tyranitar, Breloom, Landorus, and so forth, Expert Belted Keldeo is excellent at breaking past defensive cores. Celebi would wall Choiced variants until an EBelted HP Bug hits it, allowing Breloom and Landorus to have fun sweeping. Secret Sword and Hydro Pump are obvious STABs hitting many OU Pokemon for good damage. Icy Wind is more of a utility move than anything else. However, it is very effective against Salamence's and Dragonite switching into an expected Secret Sword or Hydro Pump. But the big seller is the -1 Speed that takes place. That allows either Keldeo to follow up for the KO, force a switch or make a switch with Keldeo in something that can set-up/revenge kill the opposing Pokemon. Even things like Lati@s will struggle to really KO this pony.
 

Neliel

Sacred Sword
After lurking a lot in the last project i understood enough how this work, so here i go with my submission:



Alakazam (F) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Psychic


So, this is basically a standard calm mind alakazam, a nice pokemon imo to start a team with. I've noticed that pocket's kyub last time barely did something because of his poor coverage and speed; this is pretty much the opposite. Alakazam can at least setup one calm mind thanks to focus sash, and then sweep unless jirachi/scizor/other priority will be chosen by the other team. The first pokemon to be chosen is often the one that cant really do much in battle because the other team had 6 pokemon to counter it well, but in this case i seriously doubt it will be useless. Even if its hard countered, it will still revenge kill stuff thanks to his ability. It has to be noticed that a lot of his check are all weak to the same things, so it wont be difficult to deal with them with team mates. The evs/moves are standard and dont need much explanation, psichic/fight/ghost gives it a nice neutral coverage against everything.
 


TAKE THAT TABUU. (Seriously, I wanted to pick Keldeo so bad.)
Terrakion@Life Orb
EV's: 252 Attack/252 Speed/4 HP
Trait: Justified
Adamant Nature
-Rock Polish
-Close Combat
-Stone Edge
-Zen Headbutt

When your the greatest physical attacker in the metagame today gentlemen, they have a name for you. They don't call you a great physical attacker, they call you Terrakion. With two great, powerful STAB moves Terrakion is feared across the land. With a LO equipped, it has the ability to hit hard and change it's moves. Rock Polish to outspeed scarfed mons with an Adamant Nature since RP will take care of any speed problems and gives Terrakion more power. Zen Headbutt hits fighting types that resist Stone Edge and poison types that resist Close Combat, so it has pretty good synergy with it's STAB moves. I've used it here and there recently and I found that it has been quite useful since a move that also hits poison-types SE, Earthquake, is immune to Levitators and flying types. Plus, it has a 20% chance to flinch the opponent which can change the pace of the game if Terrakion needs to 3HKO something on the switch and he gets a flinch on a slower poke that can possibly KO him.
 

Neliel

Sacred Sword
@G-von
its essential to make your pokemon as threatening as possible and very hard to coutner; while cb terrakion 2koes everything, its very easy to the other team to pick some pokemon that can setup on a choice locked move, which is pretty bad. I think it would be better to try a sword dance/rock polish/sub version with some sort of item like chople or babiry berry, rather than Choice band terrakion
 
I had that somewhat in mind since Tabuu didn't pick Keldeo's Specs set. I feel like RP won't have enough power while SD is just going to get revenged. A DoubleDance set would solve both problems (fuck bp, mp, and aj) but is way too risky right now, plus I wanna keep Zen Headbutt. If anything, I would go with RP with an Adamant nature, but use LO since Terrakion resists SR and is immune to Sandstorm damage so he would not be taking much damage by switching in and out.

I do appreciate the suggestion Neliel.
 

ginganinja

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Landorus (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 168 Spd / 252 SAtk / 88 HP
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rock Polish

Submitting this bad boy. Landorus-I is one of the most threatening sweepers in the game, hitting very hard off the bat, while outspeeding almost everything after a Rock Polish. The gem of Landorus-I, is that it has very few checks and counters, and all of them can be exploited to some degree. Due to its pool of counters being very small, we know that a Latias / Celebi pick is likely, ergo letting us exploit this down the road. Landorus-I is a very strong pick for Team #1, giving them instant aggression, and making it difficult for Team #2 to counterpick.
 


Landorus @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

This Landorus is a great first choice for Team 1 because of the power and offensive momentum it provides. Thanks to U-turn, not only do some Landorus' usual checks (i.e. Celebi, Lati@s) become obsolete, but also it greatly eases prediction by letting Team 1 create a more favourable situation for itself without having to make any blind guesses. Landorus can simply U-turn out on the few things that can check this moveset. Although this set isn't so much of a win condition as RP Landorus, it is much harder for Team 2 to come up with a solid response to.

edit: ginganinja'd
 

scorpdestroyer

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Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
-Draco Meteor
-Fire Blast
-Superpower
-U-Turn

The best pick for Pokemon 1 is one who has no true counters. What better than Hydreigon? With that sexy base 125 SAtk stat, things that are not 2HKO'd are few and far between. Draco Meteor smashes everything that isn't a Steel or isnt a pink blob (but even then put a huge dent). Fire Blast covers most Steel-types, especially Jirachi and Ferrothorn and finally Superpower, which destroys Heatran, Tyranitar and pink blobs. From what I've seen from the previous CtP, momentum is everything and U-Turn achieves just that, allowing Hydreigon to scout and gain momentum for the team when the stat drops accumulate.

While this Pokemon is easily checked, it is difficult to counter. Thus, this is a good pick for Team 1's first Pokemon because essentially, a free Draco Meteor equals to a free kill and it forces Team 2 to pick a few Pokemon to counter this and play very very carefully, while Team 1 can simply click Draco to get a huge dent
 

Blizzard

@ NeverMeltIce
This is the first time i'd be participating, so please bear with me, lol.



Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 4 SAtk / 252 HP
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Substitute
- Dragon Pulse

Everybody knows what this Latias does. It is, without doubt, one of Latias's best sets. The goal of this set is really simple. Late game, it switches in, sets up, heals any damage in the process, and sweeps. Early game and mid game, it helps sponge many resisted hits due to it's humongous sp. def. Access to recovery is just icing on the cake. So basically, its job is to sponge hits for the team most of the time, countering Keldeo, Landorus, and what not, and being a general nuisance. And second, sweeping end game. Hidden power Fire is good option over Substitute if Fire types are going to be a problem, which i'm sure they won't, because of teammates. However, HP Fire means you have one less speed point that leaves you outsped by Gengar and opposing Lati@s (provided they don't carry HP Fire), which could be game-changing.

I believe that Latias is a good choice for team one, since the opposing team cannot afford to have its main and true counters (tyranitar and scizor) since tyranitar brings sandstorm and will simply allow Team one to abuse it by including Sand Rush or Sand Force abusers. If Tyranitar will not have Sand Stream, then fighting types will have a field day anyway. Scizor has many counters that are very valuable in the metagame. I'm talking about Magnezone, since it discourages the opposing team to run steels, making things simple for team one. Thundurus-T, Keldeo, Jellicent, Skarmory, all do a very good job of countering Scizor. Chansey and blissey are clear set-up baits for many pokemon like Kyurem-B, Gengar, SubCM Jirachi, and physical attackers that make for very good partners for Latias. Since Latias is naturally very fast, the opposing team will have to either pack an equally fast pokemon (and a strong one, since most faster pokemon are specially based), or have a scarfed pokemon, which are set-up baits for the teammates in general. So i believe that the opposing team will not find it easy to pick a counter.

Thus, i believe that Latias's defensive capabilities and end game sweeping capabilities make it a very valuable pokemon to have for Team one.

I hope you do consider this pokemon! :)

And please, do tell me whether you feel this is an appropriate submission, since i'd love to get feedback, good or not. I would love learn a lot from this thread.
 

Neliel

Sacred Sword
This is the first time i'd be participating, so please bear with me, lol.



Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 4 SAtk / 252 HP
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Substitute
- Dragon Pulse

Everybody knows what this Latias does. It is, without doubt, one of Latias's best sets. The goal of this set is really simple. Late game, it switches in, sets up, heals any damage in the process, and sweeps. Early game and mid game, it helps sponge many resisted hits due to it's humongous sp. def. Access to recovery is just icing on the cake. So basically, its job is to sponge hits for the team most of the time, countering Keldeo, Landorus, and what not, and being a general nuisance. And second, sweeping end game. Hidden power Fire is good option over Substitute if Fire types are going to be a problem, which i'm sure they won't, because of teammates. However, HP Fire means you have one less speed point that leaves you outsped by Gengar and opposing Lati@s (provided they don't carry HP Fire), which could be game-changing.

I believe that Latias is a good choice for team one, since the opposing team cannot afford to have its main and true counters (tyranitar and scizor) since tyranitar brings sandstorm and will simply allow Team one to abuse it by including Sand Rush or Sand Force abusers. If Tyranitar will not have Sand Stream, then fighting types will have a field day anyway. Scizor has many counters that are very valuable in the metagame. I'm talking about Magnezone, since it discourages the opposing team to run steels, making things simple for team one. Thundurus-T, Keldeo, Jellicent, Skarmory, all do a very good job of countering Scizor. Chansey and blissey are clear set-up baits for many pokemon like Kyurem-B, Gengar, SubCM Jirachi, and physical attackers that make for very good partners for Latias. Since Latias is naturally very fast, the opposing team will have to either pack an equally fast pokemon (and a strong one, since most faster pokemon are specially based), or have a scarfed pokemon, which are set-up baits for the teammates in general. So i believe that the opposing team will not find it easy to pick a counter.

Thus, i believe that Latias's defensive capabilities and end game sweeping capabilities make it a very valuable pokemon to have for Team one.

I hope you do consider this pokemon! :)

And please, do tell me whether you feel this is an appropriate submission, since i'd love to get feedback, good or not. I would love learn a lot from this thread.
Im not completely opposed to this, but honestly i think we should focus on things with more coverage moves, to put more pressure on the opponent. As far as i can tell, tyranitar its completely fine to the other team to be chosen, since the only two sand abuser are very easy to check, sandslash doesnt even outspeed fast scarf pokemon while stoutland needs to lock hitself into return to do something. Also, its dragon pulse is very weak, and i doubt it does enough damage without boosting twice or so. Its too early to say that it will sweep in lategame, because the other team obviously wont let it happen. this type of pokemon can be chosen later imo.
 

LilOu

PO poopyhead

Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 240 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Pain Split
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp

Ok, so Rotom Wash. This guy is not really offensive, but puts pressure as hell, just send it against something that can't do anything against it and you got the momentum. Usually, the opponent is afraid of sending a Pokemon that is not a true-counter to it because having a burned mon is not good, never, so you can try to use Will-O-Wisp or just scout the switch with Volt Switch and send the appropriate counter / check. This works more like a Pokemon that keeps the team together (although we don't know the team yet, I know that this is gonna work).

Ok, talking about burn vs paralysis, burn seems better for me, crippling things that can otherwise hit Rotom-W, but if you guys think that T-wave would help more I'll change it.
 
Holy cow, these submissions are already amazing. You guys already understand the idea behind the first pick in being something self-sufficient and generally useful so no need to make a post about that.

Outside of that, I just want to pick on Tabuu and let you guys know to make sure your sets are in import/export format so that Ganj4lf can easily copy-paste them into the original post.

Oh and remember to not put slashes in your sets unless it is for weather based moves like Thunder vs Tbolt.
 

Neliel

Sacred Sword

Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 240 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Pain Split
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp / Thunder Wave

Ok, so Rotom Wash. This guy is not really offensive, but puts pressure as hell, just send it against something that can't do anything against it and you got the momentum. Usually, the opponent is afraid of sending a Pokemon that is not a true-counter to it because having a burned mon is not good, never, so you can try to use Will-O-Wisp or just scout the switch with Volt Switch and send the appropriate counter / check. This works more like a Pokemon that keeps the team together (although we don't know the team yet, I know that this is gonna work).
actually there is a rule which doesnt allow slashes in the set. lets say we choose a latios to check it, its not the same thing if you can also have thunder wave.
 

Neliel

Sacred Sword
Well you cant tell which one is the most important as of now... its the same if we choose t-wave or w-o-w since they will pick something that beats it depending on the move we chose.
 

Reymedy

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Nice, it's back, hopefully I can get something chosen this time :



Scizor @ Leftovers
Technician
200 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
- Sword Dance
- U-Turn


In this project, volt-switch, status, substitutes etc. are really important.
Scizor provides us with a strong defensive typing, along with a recovery move and a move to grab the momentum in U-Turn.
On the top of that, the ennemy team will HAVE TO let 0 room for him to set-up a Sword Dance, or a way to wall Scizor no matter what happens, like Skarmory. But given the nature of this set, it's impossible to reliably answer to it.
You take Skarmory ? Then we just need to pick something to screw you after Scizor U-Turn away. U-Turn/Volt-Switch, on an offensive pokemon, is I believe, a broken thing in this project.
Oh and priority, that's cool.
 

Salamence @ Life Orb
Moxie
64 Atk / 192 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake

Counter this pokemon? One of the first things that comes to my mind as a pokemon difficult to counter is mixmence. Nothing really can switch into this, high powered moves that provide great coverage is perfect for this team slot. This is a strong first pick in my opinion as it puts instant pressure on team 2 and with its good speed, should be usefull throughout the match no matter what team 2 picks. Going with moxie as it makes mence even harder to counter as he can really get a snowball effect going and become unstoppable.
 

scorpdestroyer

it's a skorupi egg
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
I can't say I didn't see Salamence coming.


I don't get why SD + U-Turn, because you're just resetting the SD boosts when you U-Turn out.

Also on Thunder Wave vs Will-o-Wisp, I believe that Thunder Wave is the superior option because paralysis support allows Team 1 to choose slower, bulkier threats, and is a great way to slow down any fast threats from Team 2 (unless they pick Trick Room), and as a bonus affects special sweepers as well. Paralysis IMO is harder to play around compared with burn.
 

Arcticblast

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Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 76 HP / 180 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Roost

Life Orb Latias isn't perfect offensively, but a rather bulky option for the first pick will still limit the options the opponent can choose, especially when you factor in Latias's power and speed. Draco Meteor hits hard, Psyshock means it can come in more easily on OU's top Fighting-types (as well as hit Landorus relatively hard), and Hidden Power Fighting is a deterrent to the other team slapping on a CB Tyranitar. The HP EVs ensure that CB Tyranitar's Pursuit will never KO Latias after one turn of Life Orb recoil as long as Latias stays in (although it will kill itself shortly afterward, it's in exchange for crippling Tyranitar). Picking Latias will give Team 1 insurance against Landorus-I, Keldeo, Terrakion that do not boost Speed, and a host of other Pokemon.
 

ganj4lF

Nobody is safe from the power of science!
is a Team Rater Alumnus
Yeah, I knew about that rule. It says "some exceptions may be allowed in case of choices that depend on external factors", but I think that Will-O vs T-wave is really important, so I kept the slash. Depending on what the people think is more important the move will be chosen.
Just to clarify, the only case you are allowed to use a slash is for moves that are completely outclassed by another one in a different weather. The complete list of allowed slashes follows:

  • Thunder / Thunderbolt
  • Blizzard / Ice Beam
  • Hurricane / Air Slash
  • Solarbeam / Energy Ball (or Giga Drain if available)

Thunder Wave and Will-O-Wisp are not allowed to be slashed for anything, so please edit your submission or it will be left out of the final voting slate.

(I'll link this post from the OP, hopefully all the misunderstandings on this will be addressed).

EDIT: If someone's wondering why that rule is there, let me quote myself:

The point is, Thunder outclasses Thunderbolt completely in rain, and that's the only reason slashes are permitted in that case. In your case, Hydro Pump doesn't (technically) outclass Surf in Rain, nor does Grass Knot outclass Ice Beam in any circumstance (and the other way too). The point is you're changing coverage depending on future picks; let's say they pick Jellicent to stop Empoleon, then you can pick Rain just to have a reason to use Grass Knot and go through Jelli. That's not allowed, that's not how CtP is supposed to work. To be honest, I was thinking about banning slashes completely, that point in the rules is just to avoid dumb things like running Ice Beam in hail just cause you didn't know you'd later pick an Abomasnow. As a general rule of thumb, if it changes coverage, that slash must be removed.
 
Adding my input. First time taking part in the project, sorry for any mistakes.



Sly Cooper (Lucario) @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Ice Punch
- Swords Dance


Lucario makes for a great Late game sweeper that is very underrated. Lucario has access to strong priority in Bullet Punch and Extremespeed that are always nice to have. The move set it fairly straight forward, Swords Dance allows you to set up. Close Combat is the main STAB move and Extremespeed for priority. Ice Punch after a Swords Dance kills Gliscor, Celebi, Dragonite, Landorus-T (after the intimidate). Crunch can be used Ice Punch if Jellicent is an issue though Tyranitar can be partnered with Lucario to deal with Jellicent. A Jolly nature is an option over adamant to outspeed Jolly Mamoswine who can OHKO with and Earthquake.

Hope this was done right.
 

Blizzard

@ NeverMeltIce
I can't say I didn't see Salamence coming.


I don't get why SD + U-Turn, because you're just resetting the SD boosts when you U-Turn out.

Also on Thunder Wave vs Will-o-Wisp, I believe that Thunder Wave is the superior option because paralysis support allows Team 1 to choose slower, bulkier threats, and is a great way to slow down any fast threats from Team 2 (unless they pick Trick Room), and as a bonus affects special sweepers as well. Paralysis IMO is harder to play around compared with burn.

SD+U-turn is a fantastic combo on Scizor, imo. Like he mentioned, it lets you escape your common counter switch ins like skarmory. 'he just SD'd, hehe, he's bound to switch out when he sees skarmory...', well, you do switch, breaking skarmory's sturdy, and switching to magnezone or something and volt switching. Also, it does tons of damage to Thundurus-T, since U-turn is hardly expected with SD. The fact that it can escape without giving a free turn and doing a lot of damage in the process is what makes this set so deadly.
 
Surprised Breloom hasn't been looked at. First attempt at this, but anyways:



Breloom @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Low Sweep
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed

Say hello to Breloom. One of the few pokemon alongside the likes of Terrakion that only needs STAB moves to do well in OU. With Spore and Technician, it can shut down one Pokemon with little trouble, and can then wreck both prepared and unprepared teams alike with Technician-boosted attacks. Low Sweep is what makes Breloom such a tricky threat to switch in on; with a Jolly nature, Starmie is outsped and OHKOd if it switches in on Low Sweep, as it lowers the Speed stat by 1 stage. Mach Punch is the third tool that Breloom uses and abuses with Technician, as it nails pokemon like Terrakion for heavy damage, and is generally useful in dealing with faster pokemon like Weavile, who would otherwise outspeed and OHKO. Finally, Bullet Seed is Breloom's most powerful grass attack, as it can hit for 2-5 times in a row. It is also very effective for breaking through Substitutes that frailer pokemon use in vain. It OHKOs pretty much everything weak to it, and also dents the likes of Latios, Latias and break Dragonite's Multiscale.
However, it is given problems by pokemon that can switch in on Mach Punch, like Landorus. Celebi is worthy of a mention to check or counter Breloom, it can take Spore and recover from it, or it can simply sit there and take it's other moves like a champ. It also OHKOs with Psychic and does heavy damage with HP Fire.
This could also force something like Celebi or Latias to be used, thus making the U-Turn Landorus mentioned somewhere above me a good partner...

Hope that was done well...
 

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