Introduction
Hi, I have been playing Pokemon for quite a while now, but I have never made a post in the forum before. I always enjoyed building my own teams, even though they are mostly pretty bad. So when this one started to perform pretty well, I was actually rather surprised. It took a while to get used to, but it kept climbing the ladder steadily and was really fun to play. So with out further ado, here is the team.
Teambuilding Process
These were the two Pokemon I decided to built around. I always liked both in ORAS and Beedrill seemed to punch a hole into most teams with its strong STABs and Talonflame greatly enjoys the absence of Rotom-W in the Meta.
Magnezone just brought to many benefits to ignore. It forms a really strong Voltturn-Core with Beedrill and traps opposing Steel-Types which otherwise easily wall the bee.
At this point it was pretty clear, that bulky Ground-Types were going to be a problem for the team, so I looked for a mon that can force these out. Furthermore I wanted an other strong priority user, as Talonflame is pretty unreliable. Ash-Greninja was the obvious choice.
With this mon I began to round things up. It is the fastest Taunt/Stealthrock user in the tier and the only one, that out speeds Greninja, making it a pretty good suicide lead.
I already had some really fast attackers on the team, but I thought I needed at least one really fast scarfer to revenge kill oposing scarf users. I also wanted some Defog support, as half my team is weak to rocks, Talonflame crippling so. Latios and Kartana were the two options I had, but in the end I went with Kartana for the additional sweeping potential.
The Team
Talonflame @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Taunt
Talonflame does so many things for the team. With Swords Dance, Taunt and Z-Move it can break through defensive cores. One of the more common answers to it is Toxapex which has a chance to get OHKO by +2 Supersonic Skystrike after rocks, depending on the set. It also functions as a panic button, being able to either OHKO, or at least deal a great amount of damage to setup sweeper or other mons outspeeding everything else. I tried Roost over Taunt, but it was often not that useful and stopping opponents from recovering or setting up is really appreciated.
Beedrill-Mega @ Beedrillite
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Drill Run
- Poison Jab
- Knock Off
- U-turn
The Mega of the team fulfills the roll of a Revengekiller, as well as a potential Sweeper thanks to it amazing ability and offensive stats. It deals with most Fairies in the tier, can cripple with Knock Off and can trap opponents in the U-Turn-Voltswitch-Vortex. It just is a really solid offensive threat, that sometimes destroys teams on its own.
Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
I think we all know, what Magnezone is capable off. It has a pretty limited roll, but what it does it does really well. Celesteela, Ferrothorn, M-Scizor and Skarmory all wall Beedrill and get destroyed by Magnezone. It can get some chip damage on Magearna, limiting the time it can switch in. Magnezone can take some hits if necessary, something most of the other team members can not. I run max speed timid to be able to out speed defensive Lando, neutral nature offensive Celesteela as well as neutral base 70s, allowing for some surprising kills. It can also sometimes bluff a scarf-set.
Greninja-Ash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Water Shuriken
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
Ash-Gren is basically the special counterpart to Beedrill. They complement each other really well, destroying each others counters. Tapu Fini, Tapu Bulu, AV Tangrowth and Keldeo take on Greninja, but are heavily pressured by Beedrill. Greninja in return deals with all the Ground-Types that like to switch in on Beedrill. With its strong priority in form of Water Shuriken it can also easily revenge kill and clean up Pokemon, that live a Supersonic Skystrike. I use Surf over Hydropump because it often seems more import to get consistent damage of rather than a big amount. Missing a pump usually means you loose a mon. I also tried Spikes over U-turn, but I found keeping momentum more important than the extra chip.
Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
Aerodactyl is one of my favorite suicide leads. It out speeds and Taunts pretty much everything and can easily get up rocks. Earthquake and Ice Fang hit nearly every other Stealthrocker hard and take a good chunk out of them before Aero is going down.
Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Defog
- Sacred Sword
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
Kartana can easily clean up a game once you have weakened it checks and counters. It out speeds and KOs Choice Scarf Keldeo, which otherwise would be a huge problem to the team and also can take a hit from Mega Swampert in the rain. Defog Support is pretty necessary for the team. If they get up their rocks, it greatly hinders Talon and Beedrill, so having the option to remove them is always nice.
Playstyle
I lead nearly every game with Aerodactyl, that is what it is for after all. The only exception is vs rain, were I like to lead with Magnezone to pressure Pelipper. I always try to keep up the pressure, using U-Turn/Voltswitch or making aggressive doubles to keep the momentum. It is really import to identify your on win condition early on, so you can remove or chip away at the opposing counters. Sometimes I often sac a mon to get a good amount of damage on an opponent, i.e. using Supersonic on Lando, even though Talonflame is killed afterwards. Usually, when the opposing team is weakened enough Beedrill, Gren or Kartana can just clean it up.
Threats
Rain: Basically everything that is faster than the team can make some serious problems for it and Swiftswim users are often faster. Depending on the Set, Mega Swampert does not ouspeed Kartana, but Kartan can not switch in on it that often. Specs Kingdra in the rain pretty much kills everything. Your best option is just to try to never le it come in, or only outside the rain, were it is pretty useless. Supersonic can OHKO it after Rocks but it is not really reliabel. I think rain is the hardest Match-up I played against.
Toxapex: Pretty much the only really defensive mon I had problems with. Usually I try to break it with Talonflame, but a clever player could sacrifice a different mon to take it and than just wall me forever with Pex. The only other mon that can kill it is Magnezone, and sometimes you can set up a Voltturn-Circle on it but usually it gives you a pretty hard time, if you can't kill it early.
Greninja-Ash: If it gets it Battle-Bond, Ashgren suddenly outspeeds a good part of your team, and it hits it pretty hard with Choice Specs Water Shuriken. You can only try to either never let it get a kill (pretty hard) or always keep your Kartana healthy enough to take a WS (>90%).
Bulky Ground-Types: While these are often not that big of a problem, they can wall big parts of your team and stop you from Voltswitching with Magnezone. Usually I just try to lure them in with Aerodactyl or Talonflame and deal a hefty amount with Ice Fang and +2 Skystrike respectively.
Fast Scarfers, Webs and Trickroom: Pretty much everything that stops you from having the speed advantage is bad, as the team was not meant to take hits. Webs and Trickroom are pretty easy to deal with, Taunt and Priority helps a lot in these Match-ups, but depending on the scarfer, they could be problem. Especially scarf Tapu Koko can be a huge problem to the team, as it usually lives a Priority Attack and OHKOs nearly everything.
Conclusion
This team works really well against Balance and Offense, destroying their defensive cores and out-speeding their offensive threats. I have not played against much Stall recently, but the few matches I had weren't bad either. However it has some problem with some of the more non-traditional play-styles like weather and Webs. So please, rate my team.
Talonflame @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Taunt
Beedrill-Mega @ Beedrillite
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Drill Run
- Poison Jab
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Greninja-Ash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Water Shuriken
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Defog
- Sacred Sword
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Taunt
Beedrill-Mega @ Beedrillite
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Drill Run
- Poison Jab
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Greninja-Ash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Water Shuriken
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Defog
- Sacred Sword
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
Some Replays:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-606339851
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-606413966
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-606444326
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-607466030