XY OU Drunk Tank(s)

[Expert_Occultist]

Drunk Tank(s) (or a serious look at drunk team building)

Ok, this team requires a little bit of back story before we get to the description. My girlfriend and I were vacationing in Penticton, BC (yes, in Canada this is a vacation destination) and on our second last night there we decided to get shitfaced drunk together on vodka and elderflower liqueur (so good :)). Being the pokemonshowdown users that we are, we decided to put our swimming heads together and come up with a team. It incorporates mons that we're familiar with as well as mons that we rarely use. We decided to test it out for real and funny enough, it just kept winning. We had enough sense to stop when the loses started accumulating but by the time that happened my rating shot up from the mid 1400's to 1658! Damn son!

Now on to the description. This team appears to be an offensively oriented team with a f/d/s core as well as volt-turn elements and priority.

Opera (Gardevoir) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Taunt

Gardevoir is a mon that both my gf and I are very familiar with so naturally we'd pick this first when our thoughts are dominated by alcohol. It's just our fav :) She's a great wallbreaker with fantastic coverage. With access to Taunt she becomes our main stallcrusher. Usually you can just click "Hyper Voice" and be done with it, but Gard is so much more than a simple bludgeon. If you have your wits about you one can Trace some very useful things. From beating weather sweepers to absorbing Heatran's fire moves Gard can do many things.

Hypno Sex Ray (Breloom) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Tomb
- Spore

This team has many potential leads in Garchomp, Scizor, or even Gardevoir ; but when I see my opponent isn't running a grass type this becomes my go-to. Breloom's attacks are standard allowing it to revenge kill scarfed t-tars, excadrill, and Lopunny while breaking through other mons with bullet seed. Rock Tomb punishes switch-ins by lowing their speed down to Breloom's level and Spore puts most mons to sleep. The adamant nature is the only interesting thing about this set. Jolly is usually used but I'm not sure what that out speeds, if anything. Adamant gives my attacks some extra kick while still beating Bisharp and friends. Focus Sash is also hard to keep up since I don't run hazard removal but I'd rather keep attacking than use a turn defogging or spinning. This is offense dammit!

Scissoring (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Pursuit
- Superpower

I haven't used Scizor in a while and even though it can't take hits as well as it used to it still offers a toolbox full of utility. Scizor makes a nice priority buddy alongside Breloom and its slow U-turn allow me to get frailer mons in safely. Pursuit traps the Lati twins and Gengar (although we encountered a high amount of HP-fire Latios' on the ladder that fateful booze-filled night...). Superpower is for Heatran and Magnazone although I never find myself clicking that move anyway. Choice Band gives me maximum power and the EVs give me top bulk while maintaining said power. There isn't much else to say here other than Scizor puts the Steel in my f/s/d core. It's the same Scizor we've all used for years.

Sid (Garchomp) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 76 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock

D'awwww. You wouldn't hit this cute little guy, would you?? That's good because Rough Skin and Rock Helm combine to make contact attacks a futile endeavor. As we were building I mentioned that we need a rocker. After much headbanging to Nightwish tunes, we settled on my new favourite stealth rock user Garchomp. Defensive tankchomp can tank a ton of hits that usually give offensive teams trouble such as Talonflame, Lopunny, and Metagross to name a few. His ability, item, dragon tail, and stealth rocks help wear down opposing mons so our wallbreakers and priority users can break through. Earthquake is standard and hits things for decent damage. Lastly Fire Blast, whether spatk is invested in or not, beats ferrothorn and scizor.

Nubbins (Raikou) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball

We're staying at my sister's place and she has a cat named Nubbins so logically this team needs a cat... named Nubbins...ANYWAY Raikou's super fast Volt Switch provides this team with a nifty volt-turn core with Scizor. Raikou is pretty much the fastest non-mega mon in the tier which provides the team with a check to fast offensive threats. Since speed is not an issue Choice Specs were chosen for maximum power. Proper prediction is needed with this mon since you can easily get locked into an electric move against ground types.

Muppet (Manaphy) @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 96 HP / 252 SpA / 160 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Tail Glow

In a stunning moment of clarity my girlfriend suggested that "we need a sweeper". "Good plan! What were you thinking?"I asked "Manaphy is pretty solid" she said. So there we have it, our last team member. Manaphy can take a surprising amount of hits with this spread and busts balance teams like no other. The chosen moves hit the tier for at least neutral damage with Tail Glow boosting Manaphy's power. Honestly, I never saw myself clicking Tail Glow instead relying on Manaphy as a bulky water guy but it's nice to know you can suddenly turn Manaphy into a sweeper

Threats:

This team was not really constructed for threat coverage in mind (on account of us being pretty wasted) but upon further inspection, this is what I came up with.

Charizard-X: my priority is not prepared to handle this guy and since I have no priority thunder wave once Charx gets a dd up I'm pretty much dead. X_X (RIP)

This team has proven surprisingly effective (and the most fun I've had with vodka in a long time) but there's probably way more wrong with it than I let on so constructive criticism is always welcome.


Thanks for letting me regale you with our tale of drunken teambuilding (:

 

[Perennial]

Excadrill and Landorus-T are two big weaknesses I notice. this is because you lack a ground immunity and offer those two pokémon the possibility of coming in for free on Specs Raikou. another issue is Charizard-X, which you have very little to stop from sweeping after a DD on Raikou or Scizor. for these reasons, I recommend using a defensive Landorus-T over Garchomp. defensive Landorus-T covers nearly the same threats as Garchomp, allows you to cover the problems mentioned previously more reliably and has U-turn to bring in your powerhouses. the main difference is Garchomp's ability to deal with Bisharp better. however, it has difficulty setting up on this team and you have Breloom as a check so the difference isn't that big of a deal.

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Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet / Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 8 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge / Toxic
- Stealth Rock

Leftovers can be used over Rocky Helmet if you prefer the added recovery over the chip damage on things like Talonflame. Toxic is also useable over Stone Edge to cripple bulky waters and other bulky grounds like Hippowdon and opposing Landorus-T. Adamant is also an option over Impish if you'd like a little more power while still retaining good amounts of bulk.

another weakness is Mega Venusaur. even though Manaphy can lure with Psychic, the real issue is nothing on your team can switch in. this is problematic because Mega Venusaur has many opportunities to come in and annoy your team, like on Breloom and Raikou. another problem is a surprising lack of speed for such an offensive team. threats like Gengar, Thundurus-I, and Serperior are faster than everything here bar Raikou and threaten you lots with their powerful attacks. the same applies to others like Mega Manectric and Alakazam. to address these problems I recommend trying Scarf Heatran over Scizor. this retains a steel capable of checking pokémon like Altaria, provides a Mega Venusaur switch-in and revenge killer faster than many of the threats mentioned before. you also gain added insurance vs. birds and a check to Charizard-Y, which is appreciated with the removal of Garchomp.

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Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Flash Cannon
- Earth Power
- Stone Edge

one final suggestion is to use AV on Raikou. the loss of Scizor makes Gengar more threatening an AV will help with this. you will also appreciate the added bulk to handle Thundurus-I and Mega Manectric better, which as mentioned before are problematic. Specs Raikou locked in on Thunderbolt is offering too many set-up opportunities on this team and I think you'll appreciate the flexibility to switch around moves here.