Gen 7 [Gen 7 OU] Beginner's Unorthodox Team

Introduction

Hello! This is my first RMT ever, and English is not my first language so I probably have a lot of grammatical errors. When I first started with competitive Pokémon, I wanted to play with Gen 7 mechanics (because I wanted Mega Evolution, Ditto, and Ash-Greninja at the same time because they are all cool) however, I didn't know anything about Teambuilding (not even playing main series games casually, my starter is the only Pokémon I use in battles) or Smogon. So after researching for a bit, I found about Tiers and an image that featured "iconic Gen 7 OU Pokémon", so I selected a few of them and looked them up on Smogon Dex (All movesets, abilities, EVs/IVs are from there, but I chose the team members).
And that's how I ended up with this team. The members have not changed since the team's creation, but their movesets and items did. This team surprisingly works for me a lot of the time. However, I have no clue if it's a balanced, bulky offense, hyper offense or what kind of team.

The Team

:sm/ditto:
Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Transform

While I was building this team for the first time, I originally included Ditto just because I like Ditto, but from a more realistic point-of-view, I thought that it would probably suck and be crap. Unlike what I thought, however, it turned out to be a great team member. While it usually struggles to kill the Pokémon that it transformed into, it is good at killing the opponent's last few Pokémon. It uses a Choice Scarf to avoid speed ties with the Pokémon it just transformed into, but this does not work if that Pokémon also has a Choice Scarf.

:sm/lopunny-mega:
Lopunny-Mega @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Fake Out
- Return
- Ice Punch

Upon switching Lopunny in, it always is Mega Evolved and uses STAB Fake Out, High Jump Kick is used unless I switch Mega Loppuny or for X reason it will or has a high chance of failing. But if it is against the very common Landorous-T or Garchomp, Ice Punch is used. Return is part of the moveset for a rare just-in-case occasion.

:sm/landorus-therian:
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 232 Atk / 68 Def / 208 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Defog

This is, in my opinion, straightforward. Choice Scarf to compensate for Landorous-T's low Speed. Earthquake is for a strong STAB move, U-turn is for a free and safe switch to another team member (plus for some Pokémon with a weakness to Bug). Stone Edge for cover-edge (ba dumm tss). Defog because no other Pokémon on the team has entry hazard removal "capabilities". If the opponent has a Landorous-T in the field and it's likely they use Earthquake, I usually switch Landorous in for a type immunity.

:sm/greninja-ash:
Greninja-Ash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Water Shuriken
- Dark Pulse
- Spikes

252 EVs in Special Attack for a boost in its moveset's damage category, 252 in Speed, so it's more likely to outspeed other Pokémon and the remaining in Defense to help just a little bit its worst stat. Hydro Pump for a less accurate but more powerful version of Surf. I do not use Water Shuriken before it has transformed into Ash-Greninja. While Dark Pulse does not seem very threatening, it surprisingly has OHKOed many Pokémon.

:sm/heatran:
Heatran @ Steelium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Flash Cannon
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock

Heatran is my Stealth Rock set-up Pokémon. And, according to the Smogon Dex, "The 4 Defense EVs are to take a +2 Sucker Punch from Mega Mawile at full health. Modest nature is preferred to improve damage rolls against Garchomp and Gliscor" Magma Storm is a powerful STAB and very useful against the common Ferrothorn. While Steelium Z is a good STAB Z-Move, most of the time I use it as a last-minute last resort. Finally, Earth Power can very easily OHKO opposing Heatran.

:sm/magearna:
Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 224 SpD / 36 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Volt Switch
- Fleur Cannon
- Focus Blast
- Iron Head

The only Pokémon on the team I didn't know existed before making the team! Volt Switch, besides being used for an easy switch, is good against Greninja and Tornadus. Focus Blast can hit Heatran, Ferrothorn, and Mega-Lopunny for Super Effective damage. While Magearna has a low Attack stat, Iron Head is used against Calm Mind users like Mega Alakazam, Clefable, and opposing Magearna.
 
Hi DinoMan_Beta,
Always good to see new people trying to build in SM OU. While I can see you understand some cores (the combination of Magearna Assault Vest + Landorus-Therian Choice Scarf is, indeed, always good) and your team is, overall, not bad at all; I think there's some glaring weakness that you maybe not notice. The most important, in my opinion, is that the balance between your defensive and offensive core is not good (your team is not solid enough but also does not progress that well to compensate the lack of staying power of your Defensive backbone).
While Lopunny-Mega do a good job against most Offensive and Bulky Offensive defensive core, I think it will always be very lacking against any more Balance/Semi-Stall/Stall core and, therefore, if you want to add Lopunny-Mega on an Offense like yours, you really need to pair Lopunny-Mega with powerful Wallbreaker. In your team, I dont think you got this one big breaker as Greninja-Ash face the same issue as Lopunny-Mega on that field and Heatran can be very unreliable because of the necessity to find the right timing to unleash the Z-Move (and, obviously, once the Z-move is used, Heatran can't break anymore).

To help you, I will split my advices in two categories:
-the "Major Changes": where I will replace one pokemon
-the "Minor Changes": where I will just adjust sets

Major Changes:

:Heatran: :Steelium Z: -> :Victini: :Choice Band: To keep that idea of a Fire Breaker, I believe Victini with Choice Band is a better pick here. Thanks to its absurb 180 Base Power Fire Move V-Create, even with a mediocre base attack of 100, Victini is able to dig holes in any team lacking a good fire-resist. Moreover, Victini comes with Bolt Strike to hit Water, U-turn to keep Momentum and Trick to cripple Defensive walls such as Toxapex, Gastrodon or Heatran.

:Ditto: :Choice Scarf: -> :Rotom-Wash: :Iapapa Berry: Overall, I'm not a fan of Ditto outside of Balance/Semi-Stall as its two main assets is to give infinite PP against Stall and being a vicious revenge killer against HO/Set-Up pokemons. Therefore, I think it's better to solidy your defensive backbone by adding a Rotom-Wash instead. Rotom-Wash is a very usual pivot as it brings many greats things such as many key-resistances (water, fire, flying, ground immunity, ...) and plenty of excellent support moves (Volt-Switch, Will-o-Wisp, Defog, ...).

Minor Changes:

:Greninja-Ash: :Choice Specs: -> :Greninja: :Groundium Z: With the adding of Victini, I think Greninja with the ability Protrean is a better set. Thanks to the combination of Dig + Groundium-Z, Greninja can unleash once a physical 160 BP Ground Move and, thus, be able to fake a possible Greninja-Ash with Choice Specs and target the assigned checks such as Magearna Assault Vest, Toxapex or Tapu Fini (which is greatly appreciate by Victini and Lopunny-Mega).

:Landorus-Therian: :Choice Scarf: -> :Landorus-Therian: :Leftovers: While the speed control is always a good thing, I believe Lopunny-Mega alongside Magearna and Rotom-Wash will be enough on that department. Therefore, I will go for a much bulkier variant with Leftovers instead of Choice Scarf. The main reason of that pick is that Landorus-Therian is one of the better setter of Stealth Rock in my opinion, especially when this latter can punish common defogger such as Rotom-Wash or Tornadus-Therian with the move Toxic, which, again, is appreciate by Victini and Lopunny-Mega.

N.B: I also add some other changes that I will not explain as they are just small improvements. Just look at the pokepast to have the team in detail and PM me/answer this post if you have any questions.

Lopunny-Mega @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Quick Attack
- Frustration
- Fake Out

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 208 Def / 52 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic

Greninja (M) @ Groundium Z
Ability: Protean
EVs: 232 Atk / 24 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Gunk Shot
- Dig
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Ice Beam

Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 28 Def / 232 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 15 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Fleur Cannon
- Ice Beam
- Explosion

Victini @ Choice Band
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- U-turn
- Trick

Rotom-Wash @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 168 Def / 92 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog

Hope you will enjoy the team and feel free to ask for more help in the forum. Good luck in your future games and see you soon!
 
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