Freezer - Heavy Rain

[BenzMafia]

Freezer - Heavy Rain

Introduction:
Hello people of the internet, I'm BenzMafia, welcoming you my first RMT. I usually play UU but when a really broken threat (ex: Medicham-Mega) gets a retest i play others tiers as well. When i first saw the rain dance Moltres set atomicllamas submitted to the next best thing to deal with grass types that usually give trouble to rain teams, i thought it was a really cool idea and decided to give it a try some day. Unfortunately, Moltres got banned but i realised Articuno can fill the role so instead of trashing the team i went back to the drawing board once again. And that's how the team was born.

Teambuilding Process:

Rain Sweepers:

--> Kabutops looked pretty appealing since it can be really threatening under rain and spin hazards at the same time. I decided to pair it with Seismitoad because of its ability to lay SR and take on physically bulky steel types that can take hits from Kabutops and beat them 1v1 such as Doublade, Steelix and Cobalion.

Water Checks:

--> Instead of adding more pokemon that can benefit from rain, decided to add pokemon that can support the team by dealing with water and grass types so i could have a more balanced rain team instead of a standart and boring one. Whimsicott and Heliolisk are the scald switch-ins i chose due to their high speed and support moves in rain dance and tailwind.

Grass Checks:

--> Articuno's bulk and recovery makes it a decent rain setter. Hurricane also becomes really spammable and freeze dry comes pretty handy nailing Gastrodon and bulky Seismitoad who can wall most of my team. Finally, i realised i am weak to psychic types so slapped an Escavalier. This also means i don't have to sleep fodder something to Amoongus and not completely get wrecked by trick room teams.

The team:

Not so blind bird (Articuno) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rain Dance
- Hurricane
- Freeze-Dry
- Roost

Freezer (Japanese name of Articuno) is the Pokemon i started with. By no means it is meta defining but does its job on this team. Its ability to beat key threats like most grasses and Gastrodon is so beneficial to the team. Hurricane surprisingly hits hard. Speed is for Adamant Tyrantrum so i can OHKO it before getting murdered.

Blindtops (Kabutops) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Jet
- Rapid Spin

Kabutops has great synergy with Articuno since it can spin hazards away for it and a staple member of rain teams due to its sheer power and speed after swift swim. I was using swords dance first but most of the time didn't find myself clicking it so replaced it with Aqua Jet and stuck with it (OHKO's Hitmonlee under rain after a LO recoil).

Deafcott (Whimsicott) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Moonblast
- Shadow Ball
- Tailwind

Whimsicott is my Grass-type of choice and switch-in to waters. Shadow ball is chosen over hidden power fire because it doesn't get weakened under rain, two hit KOs both Doublade and Delphox. Moonblast already does enough to Durant and Cobalion anyway. Tailwind helps against opposing rain teams, lets Heliolisk set the rain on anything if needed, allows Escavalier to outspeed slow threats like Jellicent so it can KO before getting burned and finally i don't get murdered by Slurpuff if it sets up.

Blindtoad (Seismitoad) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Stealth Rock

Seismitoad is my second rain sweeper of choice due to the fact that it can beat Kabutops' common checks. Its coverage hits most of the pokemon in the tier and i was lacking stealth rock on my team so toad fit the bill so well.

Mutelisk (Heliolisk) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Surf
- Hyper Voice
- Rain Dance

Heliolisk is great at setting the rain and keeping momentum with volt switch. I have considered using Thunder but never actually tried it thinking without life orb it would be still weak so i would like to get feedback about it. Surf is the choice of the coverage move for ground types since Steelix-M is really dominant. Because Heliolisk usually lures grass types such as Abomasnow and Virizion hyper voice is a great way to weaken them into the range of sludge wave from Seismitoad.

Blindvalier (Escavalier) @ Choice Band
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Megahorn
- Knock Off
- Pursuit

Escavalier is the glue of my team giving me a way of dealing with psychic types and Amoongus without sleep foddering something. First variation of this team had Durant but i like the utility of pursuit and higher special bulk that Escavalier offers better. Also i was consistently losing to trick room teams and Escavalier solves that problem, now they have to think twice before setting TR.


Threat List:

If it is running more speed than my Escavalier and carries Fire Blast it is usually gg. Even if it doesn't it's dual STAB is really hard to switch-in due to the threat of scald burns. After a CM neither Heliolisk nor Whimsicott can break through it.

LO + 3 attacks murders everything, need rain set asap.

This guy was easier to keep in check when i had Moltres but now it can be an issue if it gets some boost beacuse my only fighting resist is weak to steel. Thankfully Heliolisk outspeeds by 1 base point and can either set the rain so toad can take it on or volt switch out to weaken it. Usually i try to lure it with Whimsicott and two hit KO with moonblast.


Don't have a ladder peak but here are some replays vs competent players during the suspect ladder i had with the old variation of the team so you can have more ideas about how the team works if you'd like to rate it. Thank you for reading.

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vs soTsoT
vs a sticky web team
vs Somalia
vs Steve Angello

Importable

Not so blind bird (Articuno) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rain Dance
- Hurricane
- Freeze-Dry
- Roost

Blindtops (Kabutops) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Jet
- Rapid Spin

Deafcott (Whimsicott) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Moonblast
- Shadow Ball
- Tailwind

Blindvalier (Escavalier) @ Choice Band
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Megahorn
- Knock Off
- Pursuit

Blindtoad (Seismitoad) @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Stealth Rock

Mutelisk (Heliolisk) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Surf
- Hyper Voice
- Rain Dance