Stratos
Banned deucer.
Introduction
Hello, it's Pwnemon here, with both my first post as a Doubles mod and my 5k! This is not a coincidence... I had planned to RMT this as a 5k when farm league ended so it couldn't be used against me, but my 5k approached way too fast (love to shitpost I guess). But then yesterday when I was at 4,996 posts, Joim nominated me for Moderator. The coincidence was too perfect; it was like divine intervention brought this together. Skip to the end for shoutouts. Enough with the 5k, now on to the team!
This team ended up being basically just generally good things on a team together, not even using any new Pokemon. While all of the members of the team interplay rather nicely, there is little specialization and the team is very adaptable to different scenarios. In the future I'd like to build teams that are a little less generic, but this serves as a good intro into the XY metagame.
The Team
A note about the nicknames: There was a big fight in #doubles about whether Landorus-T was a dog or a cat, so we split into 2 camps: #landoge and #kittylando. I changed my Landorus's nickname at that time to reflect his true character. Later I decided what the fuck and applied the nickname scheme to the entire team.
such fearsome (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Intimidate
76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant
U-turn
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Superpower
I'm a firm believer that every team should have an "oh shit!" button, and Landorus-T is an amazing one. Intimidate+U-turn makes him a go-to lead, and he can switch in on a lot of physical attackers to really reduce the harm they can cause. He also serves as my primary answer to Charizard-Y and Kanga—hence Stone Edge and Superpower respectively, though it means I have to forego Hax Slide, RIP flinch trolling. Stone Edge > Rock Slide because Rock Slide can't KO Zard if Wide Guard or Intimidate, which are often used to support it (as is Fake Out, which blows for me). I almost exclusively use U-turn early on, though I will use Sedge or Superpower to get the KOes I put them there for, and then EQ later on when things are weakened and unable to just switch out to Levitators. Landorus is this team's fastmode and what I usually rely on to pick off weakened Pokemon or clean late-game.
wow (Rotom-Wash) @ Sitrus Berry
Levitate
252 HP / 112 SpA / 136 SpD / 8 Spe
Modest
Protect
Thunderbolt
Hydro Pump
Will-O-Wisp
What's Landorus without a buddy next to whom he can spam EQ? Rotom-W forms the other half of my typical lead pair, and serves as a vital member of the team's defensive backbone, able to switch in on Heatran and Water-types, which not much else on my team has business doing. In addition, it can burn physical attackers on the switch, and serves as my secondary answer to Charizard-Y (hence the Special Defense EVs, to live SolarBeam). His resistances and general bulk make him a great glue pokemon to handle most threats in a pinch, so he isn't as specialized as the rest of this team. The 8 Speed simply creeps all the things that go for 0 spe Rotom-W (including 2 of my own Pokemon) since probably the most important speed tiers in doubles are 0 speed Rotom-W and 252 speed Bisharp.
omg lava (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Flash Fire
252 HP / 16 Def / 164 SpA / 76 Spe
Modest
Substitute
Heat Wave
Earth Power
Protect
Substitute Heatran has fallen from the best Pokemon in the meta to only a very good one, but it's still the best choice for this team. Substitute is necessary because nothing else on my team has any business handling sleep-carrying grass types. Heatran is necessary because my team's only other solid switch-in to fire types is Rotom-W (Landorus-T has unfortunate special bulk), and this team has two Pokemon (Scizor and Amoonguss) which absolutely let fire types walk all over them. This is a slightly bulkier than standard set designed to always live Hitmontop close combat, which is still a useful benchmark to keep in mind for a sun counter as Hitmontop is a common Charizard Y partner. Charizard Y is the single biggest defense destroyer so i have like three things tailored to beat it on this team. EVs outspeed Rotom-W.
very disguise (Amoonguss) (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Regenerator
252 HP / 184 Def / 72 SpD
Sassy
IVs: 0 Spe
Spore
Giga Drain
Rage Powder
Protect
All that frontloading on Charizard-Y counters pays off here, I guess. The team as I've listed is pretty weak to Rotom-W, and literally nothing beats Rotom-W like Amoonguss. That's why I added him to the team, but he also serves as a great secondary fighting check and stop to virtually anything that I desperately need stopped. The other thing to say about Amoonguss is that he absolutely ruins things if I can switch him in while TR is up, and he is one of the many reasons (along with cress and scizor) that this team NEVER has trouble with Trick Room. There's not too much you can ever say about Amoonguss in an RMT because its role is so always the same. Redirecting things is cool...
very duck (Cresselia) (F) @ Expert Belt
Levitate
252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet
IVs: 0 Spe
Trick Room
Psychic
Ice Beam
Hidden Power Ground
Cresselia's spot used to be occupied by a TR Gallade but I found I wanted a little extra survivability on the team. Offensive Cresselia gave me exactly what I wanted. I have to be careful with how I use her, because unlike normal Cresselia she can actually die, but the surprising power is totally worth it. Cress handles many of the major threats to my team, including Rotom-W, Landorus-T, Heatran, and Breloom, along with providing Trick Room for Amoonguss to wreak havoc and for me to generally improve my matchup against faster teams. It is also a good buddy for Lando-T to lead next to, since it's immune to Earthquake or can set TR as Lando u-turns into the appropriate slower threat. Psychic over Psyshock is used to break Kyurem-B Substitutes in one hit. It may seem odd that most of my team is EVd to outspeed threats outside of TR when i'm very clearly running Trick Room here, but this team is not designed to function under Trick Room most of the time.
so exoskeleton (Scizor) @ Scizorite
Technician
164 HP / 252 Atk / 92 Spe
Adamant
Bullet Punch
Bug Bite
Protect
Swords Dance
Every team needs priority. Scizor's typing doesn't do too much for the team but his general bulk allows him to be a solid tank of a hit or two. Bug-Type coverage is huge in this meta and Scizor carries some of the best you can get. I run Swords Dance scizor because I was sick and fucking tired of everyone and their mother switching in their goddamn landorus-t to intimidate me and then i do like 14%; i'd rather be at +1 and do like 70%. Scizor is my breaker and removes some key threats like Cress and Togekiss. 92 Spe is vital because it lets me beat min Rotom-W; otherwise I am way too reliant on Amoonguss to keep Scizor from getting burned and that sets me up for a free switch to Tran, which puts me on the back foot the whole match. I would recommend everyone running 92 Spe Scizor, it greatly increases its effectiveness.
As I said, this team isn't perfect. Here are some problems I've noticed with it:
-Trouble with Fires. Especially ones that set up. Two of the biggest threats to my team are Charizard X and Volcarona; once they've set up, there's basically nothing that can take them down short of a sac and some major opponent misplays.Hello, it's Pwnemon here, with both my first post as a Doubles mod and my 5k! This is not a coincidence... I had planned to RMT this as a 5k when farm league ended so it couldn't be used against me, but my 5k approached way too fast (love to shitpost I guess). But then yesterday when I was at 4,996 posts, Joim nominated me for Moderator. The coincidence was too perfect; it was like divine intervention brought this together. Skip to the end for shoutouts. Enough with the 5k, now on to the team!
This team ended up being basically just generally good things on a team together, not even using any new Pokemon. While all of the members of the team interplay rather nicely, there is little specialization and the team is very adaptable to different scenarios. In the future I'd like to build teams that are a little less generic, but this serves as a good intro into the XY metagame.
The Team
A note about the nicknames: There was a big fight in #doubles about whether Landorus-T was a dog or a cat, so we split into 2 camps: #landoge and #kittylando. I changed my Landorus's nickname at that time to reflect his true character. Later I decided what the fuck and applied the nickname scheme to the entire team.
such fearsome (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Intimidate
76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant
U-turn
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Superpower
I'm a firm believer that every team should have an "oh shit!" button, and Landorus-T is an amazing one. Intimidate+U-turn makes him a go-to lead, and he can switch in on a lot of physical attackers to really reduce the harm they can cause. He also serves as my primary answer to Charizard-Y and Kanga—hence Stone Edge and Superpower respectively, though it means I have to forego Hax Slide, RIP flinch trolling. Stone Edge > Rock Slide because Rock Slide can't KO Zard if Wide Guard or Intimidate, which are often used to support it (as is Fake Out, which blows for me). I almost exclusively use U-turn early on, though I will use Sedge or Superpower to get the KOes I put them there for, and then EQ later on when things are weakened and unable to just switch out to Levitators. Landorus is this team's fastmode and what I usually rely on to pick off weakened Pokemon or clean late-game.
wow (Rotom-Wash) @ Sitrus Berry
Levitate
252 HP / 112 SpA / 136 SpD / 8 Spe
Modest
Protect
Thunderbolt
Hydro Pump
Will-O-Wisp
What's Landorus without a buddy next to whom he can spam EQ? Rotom-W forms the other half of my typical lead pair, and serves as a vital member of the team's defensive backbone, able to switch in on Heatran and Water-types, which not much else on my team has business doing. In addition, it can burn physical attackers on the switch, and serves as my secondary answer to Charizard-Y (hence the Special Defense EVs, to live SolarBeam). His resistances and general bulk make him a great glue pokemon to handle most threats in a pinch, so he isn't as specialized as the rest of this team. The 8 Speed simply creeps all the things that go for 0 spe Rotom-W (including 2 of my own Pokemon) since probably the most important speed tiers in doubles are 0 speed Rotom-W and 252 speed Bisharp.
omg lava (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Flash Fire
252 HP / 16 Def / 164 SpA / 76 Spe
Modest
Substitute
Heat Wave
Earth Power
Protect
Substitute Heatran has fallen from the best Pokemon in the meta to only a very good one, but it's still the best choice for this team. Substitute is necessary because nothing else on my team has any business handling sleep-carrying grass types. Heatran is necessary because my team's only other solid switch-in to fire types is Rotom-W (Landorus-T has unfortunate special bulk), and this team has two Pokemon (Scizor and Amoonguss) which absolutely let fire types walk all over them. This is a slightly bulkier than standard set designed to always live Hitmontop close combat, which is still a useful benchmark to keep in mind for a sun counter as Hitmontop is a common Charizard Y partner. Charizard Y is the single biggest defense destroyer so i have like three things tailored to beat it on this team. EVs outspeed Rotom-W.
very disguise (Amoonguss) (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Regenerator
252 HP / 184 Def / 72 SpD
Sassy
IVs: 0 Spe
Spore
Giga Drain
Rage Powder
Protect
All that frontloading on Charizard-Y counters pays off here, I guess. The team as I've listed is pretty weak to Rotom-W, and literally nothing beats Rotom-W like Amoonguss. That's why I added him to the team, but he also serves as a great secondary fighting check and stop to virtually anything that I desperately need stopped. The other thing to say about Amoonguss is that he absolutely ruins things if I can switch him in while TR is up, and he is one of the many reasons (along with cress and scizor) that this team NEVER has trouble with Trick Room. There's not too much you can ever say about Amoonguss in an RMT because its role is so always the same. Redirecting things is cool...
very duck (Cresselia) (F) @ Expert Belt
Levitate
252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet
IVs: 0 Spe
Trick Room
Psychic
Ice Beam
Hidden Power Ground
Cresselia's spot used to be occupied by a TR Gallade but I found I wanted a little extra survivability on the team. Offensive Cresselia gave me exactly what I wanted. I have to be careful with how I use her, because unlike normal Cresselia she can actually die, but the surprising power is totally worth it. Cress handles many of the major threats to my team, including Rotom-W, Landorus-T, Heatran, and Breloom, along with providing Trick Room for Amoonguss to wreak havoc and for me to generally improve my matchup against faster teams. It is also a good buddy for Lando-T to lead next to, since it's immune to Earthquake or can set TR as Lando u-turns into the appropriate slower threat. Psychic over Psyshock is used to break Kyurem-B Substitutes in one hit. It may seem odd that most of my team is EVd to outspeed threats outside of TR when i'm very clearly running Trick Room here, but this team is not designed to function under Trick Room most of the time.
so exoskeleton (Scizor) @ Scizorite
Technician
164 HP / 252 Atk / 92 Spe
Adamant
Bullet Punch
Bug Bite
Protect
Swords Dance
Every team needs priority. Scizor's typing doesn't do too much for the team but his general bulk allows him to be a solid tank of a hit or two. Bug-Type coverage is huge in this meta and Scizor carries some of the best you can get. I run Swords Dance scizor because I was sick and fucking tired of everyone and their mother switching in their goddamn landorus-t to intimidate me and then i do like 14%; i'd rather be at +1 and do like 70%. Scizor is my breaker and removes some key threats like Cress and Togekiss. 92 Spe is vital because it lets me beat min Rotom-W; otherwise I am way too reliant on Amoonguss to keep Scizor from getting burned and that sets me up for a free switch to Tran, which puts me on the back foot the whole match. I would recommend everyone running 92 Spe Scizor, it greatly increases its effectiveness.
As I said, this team isn't perfect. Here are some problems I've noticed with it:
-Lower ladder gimmicks that involve boosting your defenses. These beat me every time because my team can't output enough damage to stop them.
Thanks for reading, happy battling, merry 5k to me, rate please!
ALL RIGHT TIME FOR SHOUTOUTS:
Molk: perhaps my oldest friend on Smogon, i miss you bro! you need to learn doubles so that we can hang again, stop just lurking :O
Audiosurfer: come back nigga
Elevator Music: ive probably never said this before but im not kidding when i say being around you has made me a better smogon user, i used to freak out about everything but you taught me the art of being chill. also a real bro
MK Ultra: another guy i met via asb and another of my closest friends; i love having someone I can geek out with who shares such a close sense of humor with me
blarajan for getting doubles into SPL =) cant wait to hang with you next year at UMD
Mizuhime Arcticblast lucariojr Braverius Level 51 Yilx Anyone else i forgot from #doubles: you guys are why I got back into competitive battling, some of the chillest people I know and just fun to discuss the metagame with. look forward to battling whichever ones of you i get to stomp post-midseason draft :O. keep it up, ignore the haters =)
ASB i'm kind of losing interest in the game as I get back into competitive battling, but you were the life support that kept me on smogon until I was introduced into doubles and i love the game. keep it up, ignore the haters =)
Cap i hate you guys because you're gonna force me to learn gen vi ou someday, and i dont like singles anymore :( even tho i get kind of heated in chat sometimes, it's fun to participate in the process and ive made some friendships in your channel. keep it up, ignore the haters =)
@me why do you pick only parts of the site that have a lot of haters to participate in?
Audiosurfer: come back nigga
Elevator Music: ive probably never said this before but im not kidding when i say being around you has made me a better smogon user, i used to freak out about everything but you taught me the art of being chill. also a real bro
MK Ultra: another guy i met via asb and another of my closest friends; i love having someone I can geek out with who shares such a close sense of humor with me
blarajan for getting doubles into SPL =) cant wait to hang with you next year at UMD
Mizuhime Arcticblast lucariojr Braverius Level 51 Yilx Anyone else i forgot from #doubles: you guys are why I got back into competitive battling, some of the chillest people I know and just fun to discuss the metagame with. look forward to battling whichever ones of you i get to stomp post-midseason draft :O. keep it up, ignore the haters =)
ASB i'm kind of losing interest in the game as I get back into competitive battling, but you were the life support that kept me on smogon until I was introduced into doubles and i love the game. keep it up, ignore the haters =)
Cap i hate you guys because you're gonna force me to learn gen vi ou someday, and i dont like singles anymore :( even tho i get kind of heated in chat sometimes, it's fun to participate in the process and ive made some friendships in your channel. keep it up, ignore the haters =)
@me why do you pick only parts of the site that have a lot of haters to participate in?
edit: if ur wondering why i posted a 5k with 3k posts, its because birkal recently removed asb posts from postcounts
Last edited:
