SM OU Grassium Z Kartana Bulky Offense

[Flame from Heaven]

Hello everyone, Blade here for another RMT. I have been messing around with this team for a while, and I would like to get some further feedback. Without further ado, let's move onto the team.
The Team at a Glance.

Teambuilding Process.

I wanted to build around this tried and true core. Basically, it is similar to the Zard Y Tyranitar and Dugtrio Core in mid Sun and Moon. Magenzone and Tyranitar eliminate all of Grassium Z Kartanas switch-ins with the exceptions of Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss.

The core is absolutely wrecked by Hawlucha a huge threat in the current metagame. I am also running Smart Strike on Kartana to break Amoonguss Stall. Zapdos gives me a defogger, a check to the aforementioned Pokemon, and a check to Ground Types such as Landorus-T.

Tapu Bulu gives me another check to Tapu Lele and a check to Water and Electric Types, mainly Ash Greninja and Tapu Koko. It also powers Kartanas STABs up and weakens Earthquake for Tyranitar and Magnezone.

This is where I had to get creative, as the current team got wrecked by Mega Venusaur and AV Magearna. I also needed some speed control, so Blacephalon was my pick.
The Team.

Kartana @ Grassium Z

Ability: Beast Boost

Shiny: Yes

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Leaf Blade

- Swords Dance

- Smart Strike

- Sacred Sword
Kartana is this teams main way of wallbreaking. I chose to use Grassium Z due to its insane power in Grassy Terrain as well as me having Magnezone. I chose Smart Strike over Knock Off to break Amoonguss Stall more reliably.

Magnezone @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Magnet Pull

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Thunderbolt

- Volt Switch

- Flash Cannon

- Hidden Power [Fire]
Magnezone is here to trap most of Grassium Z Kartanas switch-ins. I picked the scarf set to trap opposing Kartana and besides, I already have a Z move user. Scarf Magnezone can also be a decent check to Tapu Lele.

Tyranitar-Mega @ Tyranitarite

Ability: Sand Stream

EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Stealth Rock

- Pursuit

- Stone Edge

- Fire Punch
Tyranitar is here to set up Stealth Rock as well as trap Latios and Latias for Kartana. Since I am using Tapu Bulu, I am using Fire Punch over Earthquake. I prefer Stone Edge over Crunch to check Volcarona and Zapdos better.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Static
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Roost
Zapdos is here to counter Hawlucha and to Defog away Hazards. I personally find Static much more useful than Pressure, as it can really screw over a lot of Pokemon such as Defensive Lando and Mega Medicham.

Tapu Bulu @ Assault Vest

Ability: Grassy Surge

EVs: 248 HP / 60 Atk / 56 SpD / 144 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Horn Leech

- Wood Hammer

- Superpower

- Nature's Madness
Tapu Bulu is here to check Pokemon such as Keldeo, Ash Greninja, and Tapu Koko. Its Grassy Surge Ability helps a lot as it weakens Earthquake and boosts Kartanas Bloom Doom to insane levels of Power.

Blacephalon @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Beast Boost

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Fire Blast

- Shadow Ball

- Flamethrower

- Trick
Blacepahlon is here as my form of Speed Control as well as my way of checking Magearna and Venusaur. I have been considering replacing Trick with Hidden Power Ice to revenge kill DD Zygarde; I haven't been finding too many opportunities to use Trick.
The Three Biggest Threats to my Team are,

Tyranitar is an insane threat against this team; it can use Zapdos to switch in and wallbreak, and it can also trap Blacephalon. Thankfully, Tapu Bulu and Kartana can revenge kill it.

Because of this teams lack of Bulky Steels, a good player utilizing Tapu Lele has a major advantage against this team.

If Tyranitar gets weakened, then Volcarona can absolutely tear apart my team.
Click here to Steal.
http://pokepast.es/99358d2f68c93ec3

 

[stuuful12]

This is one of those RMTs that people will just copypaste since it looks great to use to ladder
...
This is also one of those RMTs that can potentially crash computers with those pictures

Jokes aside, I actually do have a suggestion to improve on your weakness
Change

to

Now this suggestion might seem of the rails, but I suggest you switch out Choice Scarf Blacephalon for Choice Scarf Heatran.
Other than Choice Scarf Heatran being a hilarious way too catch opponents off guard, it can help you against all of your threats, whilst providing an immunity to fire which is incredibly helpful for Kartana.
It can tank a Choice Specs Tapu Lele hit, and catch Fightinium off guard for a strong Fire Blast.
Heatran is one of, if not the best answer to Volcarona not named Chansey, as Psychium is more common than Hidden Power Ground, and Heatran can easily revenge kill non-Hidden Power Ground variants
Admittedly, while not a true counter, it can still 2HKO Tyranitar with its moves, so it isn't cannon fodder unlike Blacephalon
Finally, it accomplishes most of what Blacephalon was meant to do, mainly pressure Venusaur and Magearna, but thanks to having better bulk, it can do that much better. While there are a lot of pokemon who outspeed you at +1 that don't outspeed Blacephalon, nearly all of those pokemon can beat Blacephalon one v one.

Hide

Set comes here
Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Flash Cannon
- Earth Power
- Stone Edge / Will-o-wisp

 

[Flame from Heaven]

This is one of those RMTs that people will just copypaste since it looks great to use to ladder
...
This is also one of those RMTs that can potentially crash computers with those pictures

Jokes aside, I actually do have a suggestion to improve on your weakness
Change

to

Now this suggestion might seem of the rails, but I suggest you switch out Choice Scarf Blacephalon for Choice Scarf Heatran.
Other than Choice Scarf Heatran being a hilarious way too catch opponents off, it can help you against all of your threats, whilst providing an immunity to fire which is incredibly helpful for Kartana.
It can tank a Choice Specs Tapu Lele hit, and catch Fightinium off guard for a strong Fire Blast.
Heatran is one of, if not the best answer to Volcarona not named Chansey, as Psychium is more common than Hidden Power Ground, and Heatran can easily revenge kill non-Hidden Power Ground variants
Admittedly, it can 2HKO Tyranitar with its moves, so it isn't cannon fodder unlike Blacephalon
Finally, it accomplishes most of what Blacephalon was meant to do, mainly pressure Venusaur and Magearna, but thanks to having better bulk, it can do that much better. While there are a lot of pokemon who outspeed you at +1 that don't outspeed Blacephalon, nearly all of those pokemon can beat Blacephalon one v one.

Hide

Set comes here
Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Flash Cannon
- Earth Power
- Stone Edge / Will-o-wisp

Thank you for the compliment! Sorry about the pictures!
I actually have been considering using this before you brought it up, but this change gives me huge problems against Psyspam, and I am not particularly fond of triple steel types. This also increases my Mega Medicham Weakness.
Regardless, I will definitely try this change out! Thank you for your help!

 

[A]

Hi BladeofFriendship, interesting team you got there! Unfortunately it's really cluttered with a ton of issues, the team's pretty slow, relies on Bulu too much to really answer the common threats leaving it to be too pressured (this is not an exaggeration), and while none of the Pokemon presented are bad (Blacephalon is debatable, but still.) The team's a bit lacking in direction and finds itself to be absolutely creamed by the likes of DD Iron Tail Zygarde variants, Tapu Lele, Mega Medicham, Volcarona, without much counterplay. Zapdos gives you loads of trouble as it simply roosts off Stone Edge Mttar's damage, and Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss also just comfortably step on you. If Tapu Bulu gets lured, the team's backbone pretty much falls apart flat.

Now 3 Pokemon changes are something I usually avoid, but this may be a radical change required to make this work. Note that Kartana + M-Ttar + Bulu is a fine core, but the remaining three just don't do well enough to support it.

(edit: was talking to a few rmt buddies about it, an alternate version would be keeping zone / mttar / zap / bulu / kart / lando, two mon changes also work here since there's a couple of flexibility options that you can go for in terms of optimizing this, if you wanted a less passive version of the team without sacrificing too much, this is totally fine just that it has some poor MUs w certain things and you'd need to play around them better like say lando kart can play around mmedi, it's less safer than lando pex steela but it's there)

Proposed Changes

Knock Off > Smart Strike

While yes, you do have the option to go into SD Grass Z under terrain to slam Zapdos, knock also helps in cases where you cannot afford to boost, and it also slams a great deal of switch-ins like Celesteela as well.

Increased Speed EVs to creep Scizor-Mega and Mawile-Mega.

This is important as M-TTar can shave off 80% off most MZor for free as they try to go for U-turn and Defog, and it removes one of Kart's more defensive nuisances as well, or weakens it enough to make it less of a threat, and it also does a great deal of damage to Mega Mawile which can be annoying.

Optimized EV spread
This EV spread is handy as it lets you effectively answer nearly every Lele variant, not being 2hkoed by the likes of Specs Psyshock, and you can also contest vs CM variants a fair bit.

(Bulky) Scarf Landorus > Blacephalon
Lando retains the team's defog, and gives a lot of easily accessible speed and flexibility in pivoting, which allows you to answer the likes of Mega Medicham by going through Landorus-T then to your defensive backbone such as Celesteela. It also generates momentum unlike Blacephalon, really blace doesn't do much here.

Celesteela > Zapdos
Celesteela over Zapdos gives the team a bulky steel that blanket checks a ton of threats and can even buffer vs the likes of Hawlucha, presses Leech Seed and slots in with Pex. It also punishes non Leech seed Venu a good amount.

Toxapex > Magnezone
Toxapex removes a lot of strain from Tapu Bulu, helps vs random stuff like Magearna, can burn Venusaur, pressures pokemon like Tapu Lele, Mega Medicham, and Zapdos with Toxic, and can pivoted to whenever necessary.

Importable

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
- Defog

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Def / 156 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Leech Seed
- Flamethrower
- Heavy Slam
- Protect

Tapu Bulu @ Assault Vest
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 80 Atk / 36 Def / 76 SpD / 68 Spe
Impish Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Horn Leech
- Nature's Madness
- Superpower

Toxapex (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Haze
- Recover

Tyranitar-Mega (M) @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 160 Atk / 100 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Fire Punch
- Pursuit
- Stealth Rock

Kartana @ Grassium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance