Criminal Scum!
TheTabKey's Team of Generic Cookie Cutter Pokemon
Before I start with the team, a little about myself. I'm TheTabKey, aka The Royal God (which is a running inside joke between myself and a few friends). You can call me Tab, John.. Anything you'd like. I've been playing competitive Pokemon for a few years now, and have never really made an XY OU team I considered to be a serious team meant for laddering and trying to take a high spot. BW OU I spent most of my time in OU and UU, but for the beginning of Gen 6 I felt the OU ladder was pretty horrible. A few bans happened, I tried it out, and I'm enjoying it again. I primarily play UU and NU (well, PU now), but I decided to give the OU ladder another chance and this is the team I've been having the most success with. I've been lurking on Smogon for a few years now, but never really cared to post. Mostly just read the suspect tests and discussions about certain Pokemon I liked, and eventually started posting. I posted a couple times in the "Funny Things You've Seen on the OU Ladder" thread, but aside from that I just recently got into posting and being a part of the Smogon community.
The Team
Team Building Process
I love Assault Vest Landorus-Therian. So I figured, make a team based around him. And that was the entire premise of this team.
Not knowing where to take the team, I looked at what had brought me success in the past. Between this, Breloom, Azumarill, Conkeldurr, and more, I decided rather than picking a good partner for Landorus, I would just... Pick one I thought sounded good. So I chose Dragonite since it can easily get at least one Dragon Dance due to Multiscale, and has priority.
Don't like Hazards, never have, never will. I rarely even use them myself, and if Focus Sash wasn't an item, I probably wouldn't ever consider having Stealth Rocks on my team. BUT, I don't want Dragonite to lose his Multiscale, and if I ended up using a Focus Sash-er of my own, I want to keep that in tact. I chose Mega Scizor since I've never really used him much, he gets priority, can get some momentum, has reliable recovery and defog. What more could I ask for?
Well, Stealth Rocks needed to happen. I needed something to take special hits. Rocks, reliable recovery, and great coverage. Thus, Clefable was born.
At this point my team was 75% physical, 25% special, so I figured I needed a decent special attacker. Keldeo? Why not. It's powerful, has good coverage, and doesn't add or subtract many of the weaknesses of my team yet (which, looking at it right now, I can't think of any Pokemon these 5 alone would have much trouble with).
So at this point I was a little lost as to where to take the team from here. Again, I couldn't really thing of a Pokemon that would give this team a huge problem. So I decided that since I needed a scarfer and I lacked electric moves... Thundurus-Therian?
Scarfed Thundurus-Therian. I don't think I've ever seen that used, and I really want to go back and make a team around him. I love the idea of a Scarfed Thundurus-Therian, but he just sucked on this team. He got a few kills during the time he was on the team, but felt out of place and created too much of a Stealth Rock and Ice weakness. I was becoming overly dependent on Scizor. But, I really wanted to make my Scarfed Thundurus work, so...
Breloom! Focus Sash Breloom is like one of my favorite Pokemon to use in OU. But unfortunately, he wasn't cutting it. I don't have much more to say about him. He made the team's feel of a bulky offense-ish team go away. Bulky Offense is probably my favorite playstyle, and Breloom just did not fit on the team, and he hardly did anything while he was on it.
Still felt kind of lost as to what to do with the final slot. So I decided Sableye. Without a doubt my favorite Pokemon in the game, I've been running the same set on him since I heard about it BW OU and it has never failed me. Spin blocker, cripples nearly anything, takes out the few threats this team had, and looks amazing. But I missed the Focus Sash.
And that's how we came to this. Focus Sash Gengar, something I've rarely used. Takes out a lot of the same things Sableye could, along with having incredible coverage, still letting me spin block, and getting to keep that Focus Sash.
Individual Pokemon
Criminal Scum! (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Superpower
Well, I said the team was cookie cutter and right off the bat, it is. Assault Vest Landorus-Therian. One of the best stops in the tier to Talonflame and Charizard-Y, which would otherwise be huge threats to the team (well, Clefable does a decent job at stopping Charizard-Y and if Gengar still has his Focus Sash, I can rely on that as well). 99% of the time, this thing is my lead. He has incredible coverage with these four moves, and next to nothing wants to take any of them from an Adamant Landorus-Therian.
Sorta Decent (Dragonite) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- ExtremeSpeed
- Earthquake
- Outrage
Ah, Dragonite! I had such high expectations for you! And you achieve those expectations like... 30% of the time. Once this thing gets a Dragon Dance or two set up, it destroys everything. But I find it getting chances to set up so rarely. Totally open for suggestions on new members for this slot. I don't have much to say about him, unfortunately. He has priority, hits hard, and can take a few hits. Been experimenting with an Assault Vest Dragonite, if I end up keeping that I'll update this. But for now, DDNite claims this spot.
Generic Red Name (Scizor) @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
Pretty self-explanatory, STAB + Technician on both moves, one for priority (Bullet Punch), which my team is lacking, and the other for momentum (U-Turn). Defog to get rid of those horrible things known as Hazards, and Roost. Yeah, that's about it. Takes hits from just about everything that isn't a Fire-type, shrugs it off and goes on with his day. Makes a pretty decent defensive duo with Clefable, often times he does the clean-up for me at the end of a game if need be. My only qualm with Mega Scizor is...
252+ Atk Technician Mega Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Azumarill: 144-171 (35.6 - 42.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
y u no 2HKO Azumarill 4 ;-;
(There's no way to make him 2HKO Azumarill without sacrificing all of my Defense EV's and stacking Spikes, at least not a way that I can find)
Nein Siam! (Clefable) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Soft-Boiled
- Moonblast
- Flamethrower
Props to you if you know what "Nein Siam" means, each word is in a different language. Huehue. Regardless, Clefable is a God. Rocks, recovery, great coverage, and Magic Guard. Yes, please. Moonblast, generic STAB move, Flamethrower to hit any Steel-Types that want to come in. I only set up rocks if I see Talonflame, Charizard, anything that might be running a Focus Sash, or any other annoying flying type (depending on their team). 99% of the time, if I don't see one of those 3 or 4 things, I only set up rocks if I just so happen to get a free turn. I won't go out of my way to make sure they're up, feels like a waste of time if it's not for one of the reasons listed above. But, Clefable makes a pretty good defensive duo with Scizor (and to an extent, Landorus-Therian), and if need be, is usually my sleep fodder. I notice a lot of people like to try to burn or toxic Clefable, and it confuses me. Do they just assume I'm running Unaware? Or do they forget about Magic Guard? Either way, I've been lucky in that most games I needed to use Clefable for sleep fodder, he was already burnt or poisoned and I got a free switch into it.
Heil Hydra (Keldeo) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Icy Wind
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Fire]
This thing's name was originally Lel Kyurem, but I just watched Captain America again and the name fits him perfectly. Specs Keldeo is such a solid Pokemon. Hits like a truck. I opted for the higher accuracy moves (Scald and Secret Sword) over the higher damage moves (Hydro Pump and Focus Blast) because I prefer the reliability (and that burn chance on Scald is wonderful). I've had a hard time deciding between Hidden Power Electic, Flying, and Fire. For now, it's Fire. For Ferrothorn mostly. I've been told Flying was the better option for things like Mega Venusaur, but I see so few of them that the time I was trying Flying, I didn't even see one the entire time I was trying it. Electric is nice, as well, but it doesn't hit Ferrothorn.
Moo Gen Gar (Gengar) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt
Focus Sash, spin blocker, and electric coverage. That's about what this thing was put here for. I chose a Modest Nature because I faced someone using a Bastiodon. Focus Blast didn't kill (before I changed it from Timid > Modest). So yeah, Modest happened. Needless to say that was a bit annoying. I also find it isn't as dependent upon the speed as it is the damage, the Focus Sash pseudo-covers the loss of speed, and I've found Modest to be much more successful. Shadow Ball and Sludge Wave for STABS, Sludge Wave is nice for things like Azumarill. Focus Blast was originally there for Tyranitar... And Bastiodon ;_;... Thunderbolt is there because I wanted an Electric move on the team, and he learns it. Along with another 3 incredible moves.
...
So yeah.
That's my team.
Criminal Scum!
Criminal Scum!
TheTabKey's Team of Generic Cookie Cutter Pokemon
Thanks for reading!
~Tab
hehe sableye so qt
