ORAS LC Flight of the Magby

[lewdude]

Flight of the Magby

Hello LC aficionados! Lewdude here with a hot off the presses team centered around Belly Drum Magby. The goal of this team is simple: remove sashes and sturdies with hazards/volt-turn and eliminate or whittle pokemon that can revenge Magby at +6. I use a voltturn core in Mienfoo and Chinchou to get my Magby in and use Stunky and Lileep for hazard control. Calm Mind Spritzee provides wish support and an alternative win con.
Right now I'm looking to refine this team a bit further, since I still have trouble with a few choice LC threats like Life Orb Pawniard, ScarfFoo and Berry Juice Magnemite.

The Team

Magby @ Berry Juice
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 236 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 19 HP
- Belly Drum
- Mach Punch
- Fire Punch
- Thief


Belly Drum Magby is an excellent sweeper in LC due to its superb Fire/Fighting coverage and speed tier. It can come in on a variety of pokes such as Foongus, Ponyta, Spritzees and more; then proceed to get to +6 and sweep. It reaches the coveted 19 speed tier, outpacing mienfoos, gastlys and tying with Staryus and Abras. Fire Punch is the primary Stab and at +6 can net KOs on eviolite Spritzee and Porygon after hazards or whittle damage. Mach Punch is what really brought me to love Magby, since at +6 it can KO many scarfers and faster pokemon that would otherwise stop the sweep in its tracks like Diglett or Pawniard. Thief is for bulkier fire pokes like Ponyta and can allow me to steal an eviolite or berry juice to keep on going.

Mienfoo @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 196 Def / 36 SpD / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- U-turn
- Acrobatics


Classic Bulkyfoo is generally my lead, allowing me to u-turn and knock off any item that may be causing me umbrage. I chose Acrobatics over Taunt or another coverage move because I found Foo getting knocked off quite often, and itemless acro can KO a Foongus switching in on a knock off as well as other knocked off Mienfoos. Knock Off removes eviolites and berry juices, allowing magby to have an easier time cleaning up. U-turn allows Magby to get in on common Mienfoo switchins like Ponyta, Larvesta, Foongus and Spritzee.

Stunky @ Eviolite
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 12 HP / 92 Atk / 60 Def / 108 SpA / 188 SpD / 4 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Defog
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Sludge Bomb


One of the most useful members of the team, but I can't help but feel that it could use some definite improvement. Allows me to separate Abras and Gastlys from their focus sashes and provides hazard control with defog. I've been wondering about swapping Sludge Bomb for Fire Blast or something to help with Pawniard and Ferroseed, but am otherwise clueless on how to build a better Stunky.

Spritzee @ Eviolite
Ability: Aroma Veil
EVs: 212 HP / 196 Def / 12 SpA / 76 SpD / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Wish
- Protect


Another problem child, Spritzee has been quite useful in turning the odds around with Calm Mind setting up and being able to balk a ton of physical hits. My go-to Mienfoo and Timburr switch-in and my wish passer. Yet, it absolutely saps all momentum from my team and I always feel like I have to play catch up as my opponent switches in a Magnemite or a Pawniard in. While Sash Abra gets set up on, Life Orb Abra can threaten to 2HKO even with an eviolite or an itemless Calm Mind.

Lileep @ Eviolite
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 228 HP / 220 Def / 60 SpD
Bold Nature
- Giga Drain
- Ancient Power
- Recover
- Stealth Rock


The surprise MVP of this team (aside from Magby, of course), Lileep really carries it's weight. My stealth rocker, which busts sashes and sturdies, my water pokemon (such as Staryu and Chinchou) counter, my Fletchling check and my additional Drilburr and Foongus counter. Lileep walls a ton of LC monsters and I chose a physically defensive leaning set to better take on Fletching which cannot 3HKO without a swords dance up and is easily 2HKO'd by Ancient Power. Lileep has been extremely useful, though I wonder if I am using a sub-optimal set by choosing a physically defensive one over a specially defensive one.

Chinchou @ Berry Juice
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 76 HP / 212 Def / 152 SpA / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Scald
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Heal Bell


And lastly, Chinchou, my primary Fletchling and Carvanha counter and Magnemite check. The Ev's emphasize bulk while allowing 14 speed and giving Chinchou enough oomph to KO a Fletchling about 75% of the time without hazards. Volt Switch gets my Magby on stuff like Pumpkaboo and Foongus while Scald can spread the burns around. Hidden Power Ground allows me to 2HKO opposing Chinchou and heal bell can be useful when I've burnt my mienfoo on a Ponyta or got my Magby paralyzed.

Conclusion

Magby has quickly become one of my favorite pokemon in LC and I feel that it is dreadfully underused. Unlike Zigzagoon, it doesn't wholly rely on its priority to hit hard fast, but can fall back on Mach Punch when needed. I still think this team needs some definite work, but I have enjoyed playing with it and tooling around with it.

Any advice would be most appreciated! Thanks!

Also here's the importable for my team: http://pastebin.com/6pDuBEqT

Here's a replay showing that Spritzee isn't completely hopeless: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/lc-257528355

 

[Oma]

Hello lewdude and welcome to LC! You've got a pretty nice team here that utilizes some cool underrated threats in Magby in Lileep. While it's a really solid team, a few things can be changed for the better.

-On Stunky, use a Brave Nature over Sassy. A Brave Nature is needed to hit 15 Atk, which is needed to OHKO Gastly and Abra with Pursuit should they not switch out. This prevents Stunky from taking extra damage, and the extra special defense isnt needed to check Abra and Gastly. I'd also recommend using Fire Blast over Sludge Bomb to roast Pawniards that want to come in on a Defog, as Pawniard runs through your team with Mienfoo weakened/trapped.

- On Lileep, use a spread of 228 HP / 140 Def / 140 SpD with a Calm Nature. With Chinchou on your team, checking Fletch shouldn't be Lileep's main priority. Your team is noticeably weak Omanyte, however, as Sucker from Stunky and Mach Punch from Magby fail to take it down. By using more Special Defense, Lileep can avoid the OHKO from +2 Ice Beam after Stealth Rock and check Omanyte.

- Your team right now has a notable weakness to Life Orb Pawniard, Bulky Attacker Snubbull, and Bulk Up Timburr. To help check these threats, I would recommend running Acrobatics Larvesta over Spritzee. While a bit of an unconventional set, this will allow you to switch into Snubbull, check Pawniard, and still beat Fighters while not being a momentum sink, thanks to U-turn. Acrobatics lets it actually beat Timburr, unlike other Larvesta sets that dont do enough damage to it at +1. While this accentuates a Diglett weakness, you do live a Rock Slide from full health and can kill/pivot out of the Diglett in return.

Acro Larv

Larvesta @ Eviolite
Ability: Flame Body
Level: 5
EVs: 76 HP / 236 Def / 156 SpD / 40 Spe
Impish Nature
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Acrobatics
- Morning Sun

- While this is more of a personal preference thing, I would recommend using Stone Edge over Acrobatics on Mienfoo. This will help lure out and damage opposing Ponyta, which could otherwise stop a Magby sweep with a strong Flare Blitz and speed ties. It can also live a Fletchling's Acrobatics from full and then get a surprise kill, which is good because Fletchling is a major threat to your team that can stop Magby from sweeping.

That's all I have for the team right now, good luck with the team and all your future battles in LC!

 

[lewdude]

Well I'll definitely take your suggestions for Stunky and Lileep for a spin Omastar42! I am pretty unsure about that Larvesta set though, since that would make me quite weak to rocks. Do you have a replay or anything that shows the acrobatics larvesta giving a timburr the business?

 

[tcr]

What up dude, pretty sweet looking magby team you have there

Obviously its pretty solid, one thing I would change however is to get rid of Stunky. Stunky is cool and all, but in my honest opinion its simply in the same boat as Trubbish was right after the Missy era ended. While it filled a niche of completely walling Fighting-types, it really didn't do anything other than that one role, and was often set up bait for Pokemon. Right now, you can have issues with things like Drilbur, as you don't really have any switchins to its Earthquake. Its also easy to wear down, meaning that you would probably be playing with 5 mons simply to get rid of Abra. I would recommend Vullaby over Stunky, as Vullaby can provide Knock Off pressure, a switch in to tons of things more than Stunky ever could (with things like Mienfoo, Gastly, Abra, Timburr, etc in there) and also provides Defog. A moveset of Defog / Brave Bird / Knock Off / Roost with some other move over Roost if you feel that Spritzee's Wishes are more than enough (I don't personally think so, but thats just me) should do. With this, your team is slightly more Omanyte weak, as it can now set up on Vullaby. With that change, I'm going to recommend a more specially oriented Lileep spread, that allows it to not be OHKOed by Omanyte after SR and +2 Ice Beam. Vullaby can help you a little bit with Fletchling, as at least you can hit it really hard with Brave Bird.

Like Omastar42, I'm also going to recommend Stone Edge Mienfoo, as this lets you nail things like Larvesta, Ponyta, and Fletchling. I recommend a Choice Scarf set, as Scarf Mienfoo can be really useful against other Abra, Gastly, Slower Shell Smashers like Tirtouga, and a general Choice Scarf user is good to have in general. I hope that these changes help you out in your team! Good luck in your future endeavors.