This team is an update from my past team which takes into consideration the recent bans in SV OU and the following development of the metagame, being currently the only Stall Sample Team in SV OU.
This post is divided into General Team Description, Individual Roles of Team members, as well an enumeration of team weaknesses.
GENERAL TEAM DESCRIPTION:
Untitled 2 (pokepast.es)
The core idea of this team is to always win the hazard war by enforcing hazards to stay up through Gholdengho´s ability and ghost typing, while being immune to oppositing hazards due to Heavy-Duty Boots Spam, in a generation where very few pokemon get knock off to remove them.
Gholdengo´s ghost typing makes it immune to Rapid Spin, while the "Good as Gold" ability blocks oppositing defog, it´s steel typing also walls the new "Mortal Spin", meaning that the only way you can remove hazards in front of Gholdengo is by using Mold Breaker Defog Hawlucha or through the use of "Tidy Up", which is only learned by Maushold, with neither being a consistent method.
In order to remove hazards from the field, the opponent would need a rapid spinner that can threaten gholdengo in some manner, (Cyclizar´s knock off, Great Tusk´s Earthquake). All off the pokemon capable of doing so can get worn down by hazards, status, or being damaged on a switch, meaning that long term the team can win the hazard war.
A key aspect to note, is that Corviknight is the knock off absorber in the team, and that there are a few Pokemon that learn knock and are capable of threathening it, like mixed Iron Valiant or Choice Band Great Tusk, which can be problematic when these pokemon are paired with hazard setters + gholdengo or hazard setters who threaten Corviknight.
The hazards available to this team are blissey´s Stealth Rocks and Clodsire´s Spikes, which can be set up against any pokemon that doesn´t represnt a threat to them. It is important to note that there are very few Spikes Immune Pokemon added in this generation, as there are no dominant flying types/levitate users/ Magic Guard Pokemon in OU.
With hazards up, oppositing offensive pokemon, either carry Heavy-Duty Boots, meaning they can´t carry Energy Boosters, Choice bands, Life Orbs etc; or take hazards damage on every switch, making defensive counterplay effective, as the opponent has less possibilities to double switch and pokemon will be at lower HP to begin with.
INDIVIDUAL ROLES OF TEAM MEMBERS:
Now that the core idea of the team has been explained in detail, I will explain the roles of each member of the team, as well as how to choose your tera based on Match-up accordingly.
Starting with arguably the best defensive pokemon introduced this generation:
Clodsire is a physical Unaware Wall, that unlike Dondozo or Skelidirge, keeps enough Special Bulk in order to deal with Special set up sweepers like Nasty Plot Gholdengo, Calm Mind Iron Valiant and even Nasty Plot Chi-yu in some scenarios. On the Physical Side, Clodsire walls Kingambit in the early game or after it gets burnt by Talonflame, Physical versions of Iron Valiant, some Iron Hands and Pawmot sets, SD Lokix and Scizor, among others. What truly is impressive about Clodsire is the new amount of pokemon you can wall by using Tera Water; suddenly, you are a counter to SD Chien-pao(excluding Tera dark or electric), Quaquaval and Ceruledge while also dealing better with Baxcalibur, Iron Moth, Gholdengo and Chi-Yu, even allowing you to get a safe toxic against +1 boosted Espathra.
You need to be carefull with your recover PP, as this pokemon can switch into many different threats, and you should use it to deal with only the threats the rest of your team can´t cover.
Gholdengo´s ability does not only block defog, it´s usefullness might even be superior to Mega-Sableye´s Magic Bounce in past generations.
Good as Gold makes this pokemon immune to spore, which combined with its defensive typing, makes this pokemon a hard counter to Breloom.
It can also deal with Espathra if you nasty plot on a predicted protect, although if it calm minds as you nasty Plot, it will calm mind again and Tera, forcing some mind games.
Gholdengo is the team´s win condition, carrying both recover and nasty plot in order to set up and break bulkier teams or revenge kill some pokemon against offensive teams. Tera flying allows you to stay in on non poison jab Unaware Clodsire and spam shadow ball, with the same apllying to Ting-lu in situations where you don´t need Gholdengo´s HP, as ruination will bring you down to low health but will never be able to defeat Gholdengo. It also allows you to beat Annihilape in some scenarios, although you should only spend your Tera there in case it gets out of control. It can also be a good idea to spend the Tera against Chien-Pao if you are at high health as they will rarely click an ice move against you.
Blissey is obviously the main special wall of the team, pay attention to the fact that it now runs max Spd, in order to reliably wall Choice Specs Tera Fire Chi-yu and dealing better with nasty plot variants, making it weak to physical attacks and forcing Blissey to stick to it´s main role. (You can change it to Physically Defensive at your own will, naturally.)
This Pokemon walls Iron Moth, non Psyshock Gholdengo, Choice Specs Dragapult, Volcarona, Skelidirge, among others. In case Nasty Plot Gholdengo or Skelidirge´s Torch Song get out of control, you can use Clodsire to deal with these. Tera fairy allows it to beat the mixed Dragapult Set, while making you safer against Chi-yu´s Dark Pulse.
Alomomola is the only Regenerator Pokemon on the team, it can force progress through the use of whirlpool although water absorb clodsire will wall it.
It generally switches into u-turns to neutralize the damage with regenerator but it can deal with a variety of Dragon Dance, Bulk up or Curse users through the use of Chilling Water(not Annihilape), as well as passing wishes to teammates which come of a big 160 base hp stat, resulting in the regeneration of 267 Health Points.
It is also the main switch into Choice Band Roaring Moon or Chien-Pao.
Tera Ghost can be used for spin-blocking against Great Tusk or for a neutrality to electric and grass, which is usefull against Pawmot and Iron Hands.
Corviknight is the only member of the team which does not carry Heavy-Duty Boots, due to its spikes and toxic spikes immunity. This also makes it the team´s knock off absorber, although some knock users may threathen it, like Choice Band Great Tusk. Rocky helmet is usefull to punish uturn, and other attacks, especially Maushold´s Population Bomb. This pokemon walls Meowscarada, although taunt can be annoying. It is also the main Cyclizar switch-in on the team, since it can absorb knock-off, u-turn out on Espathra behind Substitute, breaking sub, or uturn into Annihilape behind sub into Talonflame for propper counterplay, with the rest of substitute users losing to corviknight 1v1 or being walled by a different member of the team regardless. Defog is generally useless, although it can be helpfull in scenarios where your opponent does not have Gholdengo and has knocked off your pokemon´s boots. Tera Dark can be used in an emergency against Kingambit, Chien Pao or Roaring Moon.
Talonflame is the new member of the team, initially replacing Avalugg due to the lack of consistent Annihilape answers on the team, however, Talonflame´s qualities go much beyond excepted. First of all, a lucky flame body trigger can clutch otherwise apparently lost endgames, sometimes, when Talonflame does not appear to be usefull in a certain match-up, it can be sacrificed to trigger a flame body activation, if Talonflame is 2hkod by a contact move, flame body has a 51% chance to trigger.
Talonflame can wall annihilape, although they sometimes taunt you on the switch and spam taunt whenever you want to bring it in, forcing you to go to Gholdengo to break the cycle, as it is too risky to attack Annihilape. After it gets burnt just switch between clodsire and alomomola forever withouth attacking it. Talonflame is also a very reliable counter to Kingambit and ends up burning Ting-Lu in many games, meaning Clodsire and Blissey will be able to get hazards up more freely against it.
Tera Normal can be used for addition safety against Annihilape, while surprising scarf Gholdengo. It also makes Talonflame Stealth Rock neutral in case it gets knocked off.
Finally, I wanted to list a bunch of problematic pokemon and sets for this team, pay attention to the Tera types of each set to understand why they are problematic:
(Annihilape baits Talonflame´s Will-o-Wisp into Espathra, making it immune to Clodsire´s Toxic later.)
Thank you for your attention!
This post is divided into General Team Description, Individual Roles of Team members, as well an enumeration of team weaknesses.
GENERAL TEAM DESCRIPTION:
Untitled 2 (pokepast.es)
The core idea of this team is to always win the hazard war by enforcing hazards to stay up through Gholdengho´s ability and ghost typing, while being immune to oppositing hazards due to Heavy-Duty Boots Spam, in a generation where very few pokemon get knock off to remove them.
Gholdengo´s ghost typing makes it immune to Rapid Spin, while the "Good as Gold" ability blocks oppositing defog, it´s steel typing also walls the new "Mortal Spin", meaning that the only way you can remove hazards in front of Gholdengo is by using Mold Breaker Defog Hawlucha or through the use of "Tidy Up", which is only learned by Maushold, with neither being a consistent method.
In order to remove hazards from the field, the opponent would need a rapid spinner that can threaten gholdengo in some manner, (Cyclizar´s knock off, Great Tusk´s Earthquake). All off the pokemon capable of doing so can get worn down by hazards, status, or being damaged on a switch, meaning that long term the team can win the hazard war.
A key aspect to note, is that Corviknight is the knock off absorber in the team, and that there are a few Pokemon that learn knock and are capable of threathening it, like mixed Iron Valiant or Choice Band Great Tusk, which can be problematic when these pokemon are paired with hazard setters + gholdengo or hazard setters who threaten Corviknight.
The hazards available to this team are blissey´s Stealth Rocks and Clodsire´s Spikes, which can be set up against any pokemon that doesn´t represnt a threat to them. It is important to note that there are very few Spikes Immune Pokemon added in this generation, as there are no dominant flying types/levitate users/ Magic Guard Pokemon in OU.
With hazards up, oppositing offensive pokemon, either carry Heavy-Duty Boots, meaning they can´t carry Energy Boosters, Choice bands, Life Orbs etc; or take hazards damage on every switch, making defensive counterplay effective, as the opponent has less possibilities to double switch and pokemon will be at lower HP to begin with.
INDIVIDUAL ROLES OF TEAM MEMBERS:
Now that the core idea of the team has been explained in detail, I will explain the roles of each member of the team, as well as how to choose your tera based on Match-up accordingly.
Starting with arguably the best defensive pokemon introduced this generation:
Clodsire is a physical Unaware Wall, that unlike Dondozo or Skelidirge, keeps enough Special Bulk in order to deal with Special set up sweepers like Nasty Plot Gholdengo, Calm Mind Iron Valiant and even Nasty Plot Chi-yu in some scenarios. On the Physical Side, Clodsire walls Kingambit in the early game or after it gets burnt by Talonflame, Physical versions of Iron Valiant, some Iron Hands and Pawmot sets, SD Lokix and Scizor, among others. What truly is impressive about Clodsire is the new amount of pokemon you can wall by using Tera Water; suddenly, you are a counter to SD Chien-pao(excluding Tera dark or electric), Quaquaval and Ceruledge while also dealing better with Baxcalibur, Iron Moth, Gholdengo and Chi-Yu, even allowing you to get a safe toxic against +1 boosted Espathra.
You need to be carefull with your recover PP, as this pokemon can switch into many different threats, and you should use it to deal with only the threats the rest of your team can´t cover.
Gholdengo´s ability does not only block defog, it´s usefullness might even be superior to Mega-Sableye´s Magic Bounce in past generations.
Good as Gold makes this pokemon immune to spore, which combined with its defensive typing, makes this pokemon a hard counter to Breloom.
It can also deal with Espathra if you nasty plot on a predicted protect, although if it calm minds as you nasty Plot, it will calm mind again and Tera, forcing some mind games.
Gholdengo is the team´s win condition, carrying both recover and nasty plot in order to set up and break bulkier teams or revenge kill some pokemon against offensive teams. Tera flying allows you to stay in on non poison jab Unaware Clodsire and spam shadow ball, with the same apllying to Ting-lu in situations where you don´t need Gholdengo´s HP, as ruination will bring you down to low health but will never be able to defeat Gholdengo. It also allows you to beat Annihilape in some scenarios, although you should only spend your Tera there in case it gets out of control. It can also be a good idea to spend the Tera against Chien-Pao if you are at high health as they will rarely click an ice move against you.
Blissey is obviously the main special wall of the team, pay attention to the fact that it now runs max Spd, in order to reliably wall Choice Specs Tera Fire Chi-yu and dealing better with nasty plot variants, making it weak to physical attacks and forcing Blissey to stick to it´s main role. (You can change it to Physically Defensive at your own will, naturally.)
This Pokemon walls Iron Moth, non Psyshock Gholdengo, Choice Specs Dragapult, Volcarona, Skelidirge, among others. In case Nasty Plot Gholdengo or Skelidirge´s Torch Song get out of control, you can use Clodsire to deal with these. Tera fairy allows it to beat the mixed Dragapult Set, while making you safer against Chi-yu´s Dark Pulse.
Alomomola is the only Regenerator Pokemon on the team, it can force progress through the use of whirlpool although water absorb clodsire will wall it.
It generally switches into u-turns to neutralize the damage with regenerator but it can deal with a variety of Dragon Dance, Bulk up or Curse users through the use of Chilling Water(not Annihilape), as well as passing wishes to teammates which come of a big 160 base hp stat, resulting in the regeneration of 267 Health Points.
It is also the main switch into Choice Band Roaring Moon or Chien-Pao.
Tera Ghost can be used for spin-blocking against Great Tusk or for a neutrality to electric and grass, which is usefull against Pawmot and Iron Hands.
Corviknight is the only member of the team which does not carry Heavy-Duty Boots, due to its spikes and toxic spikes immunity. This also makes it the team´s knock off absorber, although some knock users may threathen it, like Choice Band Great Tusk. Rocky helmet is usefull to punish uturn, and other attacks, especially Maushold´s Population Bomb. This pokemon walls Meowscarada, although taunt can be annoying. It is also the main Cyclizar switch-in on the team, since it can absorb knock-off, u-turn out on Espathra behind Substitute, breaking sub, or uturn into Annihilape behind sub into Talonflame for propper counterplay, with the rest of substitute users losing to corviknight 1v1 or being walled by a different member of the team regardless. Defog is generally useless, although it can be helpfull in scenarios where your opponent does not have Gholdengo and has knocked off your pokemon´s boots. Tera Dark can be used in an emergency against Kingambit, Chien Pao or Roaring Moon.
Talonflame is the new member of the team, initially replacing Avalugg due to the lack of consistent Annihilape answers on the team, however, Talonflame´s qualities go much beyond excepted. First of all, a lucky flame body trigger can clutch otherwise apparently lost endgames, sometimes, when Talonflame does not appear to be usefull in a certain match-up, it can be sacrificed to trigger a flame body activation, if Talonflame is 2hkod by a contact move, flame body has a 51% chance to trigger.
Talonflame can wall annihilape, although they sometimes taunt you on the switch and spam taunt whenever you want to bring it in, forcing you to go to Gholdengo to break the cycle, as it is too risky to attack Annihilape. After it gets burnt just switch between clodsire and alomomola forever withouth attacking it. Talonflame is also a very reliable counter to Kingambit and ends up burning Ting-Lu in many games, meaning Clodsire and Blissey will be able to get hazards up more freely against it.
Tera Normal can be used for addition safety against Annihilape, while surprising scarf Gholdengo. It also makes Talonflame Stealth Rock neutral in case it gets knocked off.
Finally, I wanted to list a bunch of problematic pokemon and sets for this team, pay attention to the Tera types of each set to understand why they are problematic:
(Annihilape baits Talonflame´s Will-o-Wisp into Espathra, making it immune to Clodsire´s Toxic later.)
Thank you for your attention!
