The team at a glance:
Background:
After successfully using high speed Suicune for a while, I searched for another expectantly slow Pokemon. At first, Jirachi and Celebi came to mind, but they apparently are expected to be fast. Then, looking through Smogon's Pokemon list, I found Cresselia. I ran it by Maniaclyrasist and we came up with some extreme theorymon. Cresselia had it all- Levitate, 101 HP Substitutes, a good 85 base speed, and a usable special attack. The icing on the cake was that everyone at the time expected it to be slow. It seemed to be the perfect Pokemon to fit my criteria. It only had two banes- Sandstorm, and lack of type coverage. I then based this team around getting Cresselia to set up and annihilate any opposition that would stop Cresselia. After one good week, this team is now officially retired.
The Team:
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 36 Atk/252 Spd/220 SAtk
Hasty nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Flamethrower
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
This is an awesome lead. Sets up the Rocks that annoys everyone so much. Most Spinners get at least 2HKO'd (the exception being Starmie, which my team actually does well against). However, Azelf's usefulness is deteriorating- rapidly. The metagame is changing quickly with Tyranitar leads and Azelf can only get Stealth Rock in. Aerodactyl would be be the replacement, however, I don't like it too much. Azelf has Explosion, which aids in switching Cresselia in.
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 136 Atk/252 Spd/120 SAtk
Hasty nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Explosion
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Wonderful mixed sweeper. Explosion is incredibly awesome in taking out a nuisance and switching Cresselia in. The main reason I'm using Hidden Power Ice is for Garchomp. I don't like Focus Blast as missing is not cool, and I'd prefer reliability over power.
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/4 SDef
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Sucker Punch
- Rock Slide
- Pursuit
Yeah, these guys are that good. Pursuit may seem weird and unnecessary on a Pokemon that has Arena Trap, but it easily deals with Gengar. My team generally doesn't have problems with Heracross and Breloom anyway so Pursuit can slightly cover up my Gengar problem. I change Rock Slide to Stone Edge occasionally to hit harder, however, Rock Slide is much more consistent due to its accuracy.
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 240 HP/80 Atk/188 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Crunch
"Tyranitar counter." There's no way I'm running Extremespeed as my team already has slight problems with Gengar- and I'd prefer to get rid of it fast. Stone Edge was replaced with Crunch because the former is such a horrible move (seriously, it missed three times in a row...) and Crunch is nifty in dealing with Bulky Psychics and Ghost-types. 188 Speed EVs allows it to out speed the Base 70s (like Breloom) and finish them off.
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 72 HP/216 Spd/220 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]
Fast Suicune. It is there to get rid of Heatran, which Cresselia has troubles with. It has 286 speed because I usually want to outrun Togekiss and Mamoswine (which I have lost to on many occasions due to random Snow Cloak activations). Has the element of surprise to it also, which is always good.
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 92 HP/232 Spd/184 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
Substitute Cresselia is too good. It has 404 HP, meaning there's no way Blissey is beating this without Sandstorm or if I play dumb and get poisoned/paralyzed (which I won't obviously lol). Substitute is reinforced by Calm Mind, blocks status, and aids in prediction (along with having the ability to kill Heracross). 290 Speed outspeeds the rare Electivire, but it also beats random 286 speed Pokemon, like SubRoost Zapdos which can become a nuisance due to Pressure. It works so well because people never expect a fast Cresselia. People are also afraid of the possibility of Ice Beam so they won't immediately switch Garchomp in. I know this is walled by Tyranitar, but that's what I have Lucario and Dugtrio for. Hidden Power Fighting seems like the better option- it hits Heatran/Tyranitar/Blissey super-effectively and still hits Metagross and Jirachi- but it prevents me from beating Celebi and Spiritomb in which my team could have problems with. I already have Suicune to deal with Heatran and Weavile and Lucario to deal with Tyranitar.
What's so Good About This Team:
This team is not overly reliant on one Pokémon to sweep. In fact, everyone of these Pokemon could sweep to an extent. It's an offensive team not beaten by Deoxys-S. In fact, mixed sweeping Deoxys-S actually grants Cresselia a free switch in and helps set up. The team also has the element of surprise on its side, due to the Pokémon usually used as "tanks" are now decently fast sweepers. This was actually my first time using Cresselia on Shoddybattle, and the results are amazing.
By the way, if anyone wants to use this team, go ahead. Just be warned of the abundance of Tyranitar leads :}
