So this is kind of a fun team i put together after looking through archives and move sets of what used to be the Gold and Silver Meta game. Feeling pretty inspired I set out to make a GSC team that functioned well in Black and White. By the way when I say GSC team i don't mean just pokemon from the GSC era. I also mean to (for the most part) Embody the style of play that was prominent at that time.
Anyways Let me briefly summarize the meta game of the GSC glory days. First of all there's possibly the most notable fact that physical and special attacks were split apart based on typing and not specific to the move itself. This caused pokemon like Gyarados who one would presume to have been OU for 4 generations to be UU due to lack of decent stab. Another equally notable fact was that there was no EV investment. This meant that essentially you were running around with natureless pokemon who had Max ev investment in all stats. This fact combined with the lack of choice band and life orb made it very difficult to score a non super effective (and even super effective) OHKO. This combined with most Pokemon's general lack of better move choices made the meta game filled with Bulky Rest talkers. Fast Pokemon like Alakazam and Gengar could only sweep an opponents weakened team. So essentially the GSC era was filled with Bulky rest talkers and mixed attackers.
Heracross @ Life Orb
Guts
Adamant
192 Hp/252 Atk/ 64 Spe
-Close Combat
-MegaHorn
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
Rest talking Heracross. Works alot Better than it sounds surprisingly. First off there is a slight modification from the old rest talking set in that heracross now gets Close Combat, which is a new powerful STAB option over using poor old rock slide to cover megahorn. This combined with the new great innovation the Life Orb and his new ability Guts, Allows this set to be more than useful in the current Metagame. The advantages this set offers over a regular slightly more versatile Heracross are actually Great in number. Rest talking heracross first and foremost gives me a strong breloom counter. Heracross is naturally pretty bulky on top of resisting both of his STABS making him a pretty solid counter to him and any other sleep inflicting nuisances. In addition to being able to absorb sleep he can also absorb other statuses like Burn and Toxic which even with a guts boost can easily Be stalled out in the current Meta. Anyways, sleep talking Hera cross thanks to guts boost and Life orb is actually a very very potent wall breaker. Rest prevents walls from abusing Life orb recoil and statuses to Destroy Heracross while they set up. Afterwards I start firing off Guts Boosted Close Combats and Megahorns which everything Bar MultiScale Dragonite and Gliscor will have a hard time switching into. (even offensive Gyarados is 2Hko'd with Rocks Down by either of the attacks) IMO this set while a bit Gliscor Weak deserves alot more credit than it's given.
Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Sand Stream
Sassy
252Hp/128Atk/128Spd
-Crunch
-Substitute
-Focus Punch
-Ice Beam
Tyraniboah while is a generally newer spread still embodies the mixed attacker element of GSC that we all know and love. Ice beam makes him possibly the best Gliscor lure anyone could ever ask for, which clears the way for my Dual fighting Core Sweepers HitmonTop And Heracross. SandStream as well as his useful resistances make Tyranitar a staple on my team for effectively dealing with weather. Lum berry because Tyranitar becomes more useless than Wii fitness in a middle aged persons house when he's burned. Substitute is probably the most useful thing on this set. Combined with a lum berry it allows tyranitar to wall things like Reuniclus (Sub until focus blast misses where i can safely 2hko him with crunch) and Dusclops (who fails to break his sub with nightshade while being unable to burn him or painsplit him when he's safely behind his substitute). What's more to say? Tyranitar is a boss. He's also a pretty awesome at handling Air Baloon Heatran, where as most T-tars have to pop his Air Baloon before Koing.
Hitmontop @ Life Orb
Technician
Adamant
252 Hp/252 Atk/ 4 Spe
-Close Combat
-Fake Out
-Mach Punch
-Sucker Punch
Hitmontops set embodies the GSC metagame the Least out of all of my pokemon. But hey, it makes the team work. Technician Fake Out and Mach punch and sucker punch make him a ridiculously potent revenge killer for my team. He acts as a check for Excadrill and other Weakened Sweepers such as CS landorus, while also being a dominant Late game sweeper and a very powerful Ninetails and politoed check (after Rocks damage). He also revenge kills latios fairly well even without rocks damage. Nothing particularly else to say. I would've made room for rapid spin but all of his moves are pretty necessary so i opted against it. Most of my team does well against rocks anyways.
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Intimidate
Adamant
68Hp/252 Atk/188 Spe
-Waterfall
-Substitute
-Earthquake
-Dragon Dance
Tauntrados Spread but running Substitute instead of taunt to keep me covered from prankster Thundurus. Substitute also allows me to abuse Quiver dance passers like Gorebyss where i safely set up a sub and then Punish the horrendous defenses that follow from safely behind my sub. This set adds an aggressive element to my team threatening most walls trying to setup with a potential sweep. This set embodies The GSC metagame the 2nd Least of all my pokemon. Gyarados acts as my infernape counter (although the few that run Thunderpunch can seriously abuse my team) as well as my volcarona counter (its a pain while in the sun but i've always been able to play to avoid that). I've considered running MultiScale Dragonite over this but cant seem to get over the utility that intimidate brings.
Venusaur @ Black Sludge
Chlorophyll
Bold
192Hp/252 Def/ 52 Spd/ 12 Spe
-Leech Seed
-Sleep Powder
-Substitute
-Sludge Bomb
Subseeding Venusaur; Pretty self Explanatory. My team makes great use of venusaurs bulk and useful resistances to break stall as well sleep pokemon that would otherwise be an obvious threat. I opted for Sludge bomb over Hidden power fire due to the fact that most steels are scared of Handing Gyarados a sweep on a silver platter. Trouble some steels are put to sleep which is pretty awesome considering black and whites new sleep mechanics. Sludge bomb also handles grass types (bar Ferrathorn) that try to switch in on the leech seed.
Blissey @ Leftovers
Natural Cure
Bold
252 Hp/252 Def/ 4 Spd
-Shadow Ball
-Stealth Rocks
-Seismic toss
-Soft Boiled
In the GSC metagame SkarmBliss was the most known duo and for a pretty good reason. Due to the metagames general lack of offensive power combined with Cross Chop Being the only fighting move capable of hurting blissey meant that the duo was pretty hard to take down. However in BW Blissey doesnt have nearly the same luxury. Sadly Blissey becomes set up bait for most special attackers bar Politoed and Rotom - W (the latter of which can stall via pain split and will o wisp) These factors make Blissey probably the LEAST useful pokemon on my team. Blisseys natural cure is much appreciated and ability lay rocks down as well but Blissey really just doesnt have any staying power. Blissey is too easily forced out by Nasty Plotting special attackers and Life orb Latios (who 2hko's blissey with Psyshock when rocks are down). Honestly I dont even need her to take rain boosted hydro pumps considering how well built the rest of my team is. Anyways, If the above rant wasnt an obvious indicator, i'm seriously considering replacement.
I'll get to the threat list and other stuff later but if you do decide to critique my team before that, please try to make suggestions that do not take away from the GSC theme that my team has going for it.
Anyways Let me briefly summarize the meta game of the GSC glory days. First of all there's possibly the most notable fact that physical and special attacks were split apart based on typing and not specific to the move itself. This caused pokemon like Gyarados who one would presume to have been OU for 4 generations to be UU due to lack of decent stab. Another equally notable fact was that there was no EV investment. This meant that essentially you were running around with natureless pokemon who had Max ev investment in all stats. This fact combined with the lack of choice band and life orb made it very difficult to score a non super effective (and even super effective) OHKO. This combined with most Pokemon's general lack of better move choices made the meta game filled with Bulky Rest talkers. Fast Pokemon like Alakazam and Gengar could only sweep an opponents weakened team. So essentially the GSC era was filled with Bulky rest talkers and mixed attackers.
Heracross @ Life Orb
Guts
Adamant
192 Hp/252 Atk/ 64 Spe
-Close Combat
-MegaHorn
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
Rest talking Heracross. Works alot Better than it sounds surprisingly. First off there is a slight modification from the old rest talking set in that heracross now gets Close Combat, which is a new powerful STAB option over using poor old rock slide to cover megahorn. This combined with the new great innovation the Life Orb and his new ability Guts, Allows this set to be more than useful in the current Metagame. The advantages this set offers over a regular slightly more versatile Heracross are actually Great in number. Rest talking heracross first and foremost gives me a strong breloom counter. Heracross is naturally pretty bulky on top of resisting both of his STABS making him a pretty solid counter to him and any other sleep inflicting nuisances. In addition to being able to absorb sleep he can also absorb other statuses like Burn and Toxic which even with a guts boost can easily Be stalled out in the current Meta. Anyways, sleep talking Hera cross thanks to guts boost and Life orb is actually a very very potent wall breaker. Rest prevents walls from abusing Life orb recoil and statuses to Destroy Heracross while they set up. Afterwards I start firing off Guts Boosted Close Combats and Megahorns which everything Bar MultiScale Dragonite and Gliscor will have a hard time switching into. (even offensive Gyarados is 2Hko'd with Rocks Down by either of the attacks) IMO this set while a bit Gliscor Weak deserves alot more credit than it's given.
Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Sand Stream
Sassy
252Hp/128Atk/128Spd
-Crunch
-Substitute
-Focus Punch
-Ice Beam
Tyraniboah while is a generally newer spread still embodies the mixed attacker element of GSC that we all know and love. Ice beam makes him possibly the best Gliscor lure anyone could ever ask for, which clears the way for my Dual fighting Core Sweepers HitmonTop And Heracross. SandStream as well as his useful resistances make Tyranitar a staple on my team for effectively dealing with weather. Lum berry because Tyranitar becomes more useless than Wii fitness in a middle aged persons house when he's burned. Substitute is probably the most useful thing on this set. Combined with a lum berry it allows tyranitar to wall things like Reuniclus (Sub until focus blast misses where i can safely 2hko him with crunch) and Dusclops (who fails to break his sub with nightshade while being unable to burn him or painsplit him when he's safely behind his substitute). What's more to say? Tyranitar is a boss. He's also a pretty awesome at handling Air Baloon Heatran, where as most T-tars have to pop his Air Baloon before Koing.
Hitmontop @ Life Orb
Technician
Adamant
252 Hp/252 Atk/ 4 Spe
-Close Combat
-Fake Out
-Mach Punch
-Sucker Punch
Hitmontops set embodies the GSC metagame the Least out of all of my pokemon. But hey, it makes the team work. Technician Fake Out and Mach punch and sucker punch make him a ridiculously potent revenge killer for my team. He acts as a check for Excadrill and other Weakened Sweepers such as CS landorus, while also being a dominant Late game sweeper and a very powerful Ninetails and politoed check (after Rocks damage). He also revenge kills latios fairly well even without rocks damage. Nothing particularly else to say. I would've made room for rapid spin but all of his moves are pretty necessary so i opted against it. Most of my team does well against rocks anyways.
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Intimidate
Adamant
68Hp/252 Atk/188 Spe
-Waterfall
-Substitute
-Earthquake
-Dragon Dance
Tauntrados Spread but running Substitute instead of taunt to keep me covered from prankster Thundurus. Substitute also allows me to abuse Quiver dance passers like Gorebyss where i safely set up a sub and then Punish the horrendous defenses that follow from safely behind my sub. This set adds an aggressive element to my team threatening most walls trying to setup with a potential sweep. This set embodies The GSC metagame the 2nd Least of all my pokemon. Gyarados acts as my infernape counter (although the few that run Thunderpunch can seriously abuse my team) as well as my volcarona counter (its a pain while in the sun but i've always been able to play to avoid that). I've considered running MultiScale Dragonite over this but cant seem to get over the utility that intimidate brings.
Venusaur @ Black Sludge
Chlorophyll
Bold
192Hp/252 Def/ 52 Spd/ 12 Spe
-Leech Seed
-Sleep Powder
-Substitute
-Sludge Bomb
Subseeding Venusaur; Pretty self Explanatory. My team makes great use of venusaurs bulk and useful resistances to break stall as well sleep pokemon that would otherwise be an obvious threat. I opted for Sludge bomb over Hidden power fire due to the fact that most steels are scared of Handing Gyarados a sweep on a silver platter. Trouble some steels are put to sleep which is pretty awesome considering black and whites new sleep mechanics. Sludge bomb also handles grass types (bar Ferrathorn) that try to switch in on the leech seed.
Blissey @ Leftovers
Natural Cure
Bold
252 Hp/252 Def/ 4 Spd
-Shadow Ball
-Stealth Rocks
-Seismic toss
-Soft Boiled
In the GSC metagame SkarmBliss was the most known duo and for a pretty good reason. Due to the metagames general lack of offensive power combined with Cross Chop Being the only fighting move capable of hurting blissey meant that the duo was pretty hard to take down. However in BW Blissey doesnt have nearly the same luxury. Sadly Blissey becomes set up bait for most special attackers bar Politoed and Rotom - W (the latter of which can stall via pain split and will o wisp) These factors make Blissey probably the LEAST useful pokemon on my team. Blisseys natural cure is much appreciated and ability lay rocks down as well but Blissey really just doesnt have any staying power. Blissey is too easily forced out by Nasty Plotting special attackers and Life orb Latios (who 2hko's blissey with Psyshock when rocks are down). Honestly I dont even need her to take rain boosted hydro pumps considering how well built the rest of my team is. Anyways, If the above rant wasnt an obvious indicator, i'm seriously considering replacement.
I'll get to the threat list and other stuff later but if you do decide to critique my team before that, please try to make suggestions that do not take away from the GSC theme that my team has going for it.