ORAS NU Gym Leader Training 101

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Cased

Banned deucer.
Sup guys, I've played NU since BW1 and I almost feel as if I've simply built with everything worthwhile to use in the tier. Sure I could build with some shitty Pokemon but eh that's just not too fun for me. And if most of you guys know me, you probably know that I enjoy making other people excited during tournament matches. In the last two years, Smogtours lobby has gone increasingly insane whenever someone brings cool stuff, add that to the fact that I approach competitive Pokemon as a spectator sport, it makes sense that in tournaments I would bring whatever the crowd enjoys. Week 1 in SPL I tested it out, even though I didn't get the win due to 10% shenanigans, everybody really enjoyed it. A lot of people labeled me as a gym leader and I figured I could make a fun little gimmick out of this for tournaments. I made a team with every single type for NU, while a lot of types aren't nearly as good as some others (holy fuck Steel is so ass), bringing monotype to tournaments is a 100% legitimate strategy against players who often use big defensive cores. While you can often tailor your monotype teams to give you a stronger matchup against offense, monotype really shines against balanced defensive builds. Now it's my job to give you guys some guidelines on how to create an effective monotype team to compete.

1. Have legitimate counter-play to types you're weak against

Yeah sure, if you bring Mono Normal and somebody brings a scarf Fighting-type, it's probably hard to overcome. But if you're able to pack three Pokemon with legitimate priority, then with good play you can probably overcome it. No matter what type you choose, there are always effective methods of being able to counterplay whatever type you're weak against. Are you weak to it? Yeah obviously, but there are certainly ways to ensure you're not destroyed by it. Some advice on how to counter-play is...
  • Get Creative with Lures
Sometimes I'll have slots dedicated to ensuring my matchup against certain types isn't too bad. Often times the item, EVs, and/or set is dedicated towards either luring in common Pokemon that destroy me, or giving myself the odds that I can beat a certain set.

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@ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Gastro Acid / Earthquake
- Recover
- Rock Slide

This is a pretty funny set, this is basically my switch-in to Fire Blast. Fire-types are pretty annoying to Mono Grass obviously, and Max SpD Cradily can really help out against them. Gastro Acid was used to beat Sliggo and annoy Pokemon that relied on their ability to be effective. I'd rather not talk about the time I used Gastro Acid on Archeops and got absolutely shitslammed, but if you check calcs, this stands up decently against a lot of Fire-type Pokemon. And hey, Combusken needs to hit two Focus Blasts to beat this thing, if it hits two then just shrug and hope he misses a Fire Blast.


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@ Lum Berry
Ability: Protean
EVs: 160 HP / 252 Atk / 96 SpA
Brave Nature
- Knock Off
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Sneak
- Stealth Rock

During Week 1, Scarf Sawk and other types would often pummel the teams understandably enough. Shadow Sneak gave me priority to check them as well, since Protean would change me to a Ghost-type after I use Shadow Sneak. Thankfully, Knock Off removing Eviolite from Rhydon/Piloswine and recovery off other things was nice. But since my team relied on priority, this was the perfect way to get creative with checking Fighting-type Pokemon.

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@ Chople Berry
Ability: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 SpD
Bold Nature
- Counter
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Thunder Wave

This is probably the funniest lure I've used in a while. Ice really doesn't have much counterplay against Fighters unless you're willing to use ZHB Aurorus, and even then you risk Mach and Bullet Punch. So I decided to run a lure to not ruin Aurorus which was the set-up sweeper of my team with Rock Polish. This set takes less than 50% from Hariyama Close Combat, lives a Kabutops Life Orb Adamant Stone Edge 99% of the time, and Counter is able to get rid of it. I use Thunder Wave and Toxic on this set because thanks to its natural bulk, since it allows me to live Fire-type attacks and attacks in general from specially offense Pokemon, and Thunder Wave or Toxic is usually the best way to cripplea majority of them, since I use Counter on physical threats.
  • Keep Calm and Keep Attacking
Yeah your opponent will probably be alright against Ice-types if he has Hariyama, or Grass-types if he has Sliggo, but just keep attacking. Those Pokemon are placed on balanced teams because of their ability to take on 1 or 2 Pokemon that have a specific type or two. Overwhelming counters like that is quite easy, plus it puts your opponent in a situation where they feel as if they need to play very cautiously with that counter, giving you room to outplay and mess with your opponent. People go full retard whenever they see monotype tbh, take advantage of that.
  • Shrug
Even if you're clearly weak to things, just give yourself some odds of beating it. Sure Combusken destroys Mono Grass even with Cradily as a way to beat it, but in order to do so, it needs to hit Focus Blasts and Fire Blasts. That means its .85 x 6 (right?) and then of course he needs to hit two Focus Blasts so yeah Combusken needs to hit a lot of moves in order to beat it. Just like LO Floatzel needs to hit Hydros against Mono Fire, and again. Play your odds even if something 6-0s you, because it needs to be well-played in order to do so. And lucky.

2. Create Roles Like A Normal Offensive Team

When creating monotype teams, I still find it really effective to have win conditions and dedicated answers to certain types. Gameplanning becomes much easier mid-game to late-game, and it creates something for your lures to actually do. Not just, jajajajaja i killed an AV Magmortar with Ice now I can uh... Use Ice Beam and get revenged by whatever Speed control your opponent uses on their team.

On my Mono Grass, my defensive core was Tropius / Cradily. Tropius took on whatever physical threats my opponent brought out while Cradily dealt with specially defensive. Try your best to make sure your defensive cores aren't weak to common types that they are supposed to beat. Don't have your physical wall have a weakness to Fighting or Dark if you can, and don't have your special wall be weak to Fire / Water (Or whatever type you feel is most common in the tier).

Then you have wallbreakers and win conditions, I was never a huge fan of stressing speed control for teams like this because your goal is probably to break balance, and how important is speed control worth if you're trying to gain matchup against bulk? You obviously want a fast team, but it's not as important, thanks to priority and a Defensive core. Sure scarfers are nice but generally you want a powerhouse or two in order to break up cores or net a kill almost every time against offense. The awesome part about having win conditions with Monotype teams is that the check and counter to your win condition are necessary to switch into the entire team. Therefore you're whittling down the counter as the game progresses thanks to an onslaught of attacks (one of the bullet points before) creating an easy way to open up holes for your win con.

3. Insult Your Opponent

You don't HAVE to do this. But it feels good. While losing to monotype is nothing to be ashamed about due to the tough matchup it can create (if you like using that as an excuse, I don't care for it). But it's definitely the exclamation mark for using a Godly team. Here are some examples of me insulting others while using monotype: (Self quoting is cringe usually, I'm just showing you the joy you can have)

★CasedVictory:yeah whatever
★CasedVictory: suck my dick

+CasedVictory: backstabbing fuck

+CasedVictory: SUCK MY DICK BITCH
+soulgazer: ciele
+CasedVictory: CANCEL THIS DICK

+CasedVictory: that's what happens when you're fat

+CasedVictory: they dont call me casedvictory
+CasedVictory: because i ball out
+CasedVictory: they call me casedvictory
+CasedVictory: because i nut on fat canadian's eyes

Here are the monotype teams I've used in the past. And since Euro Balance is such a common thing that players bring nowadays, I really suggest that some of the top players attempt at bringing monotype once in a while as a counter-style.
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Kecleon @ Lum Berry
Ability: Protean
EVs: 160 HP / 252 Atk / 96 SpA
Brave Nature
- Knock Off
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Sneak
- Stealth Rock

Audino @ Audinite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 240 HP / 172 SpA / 96 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dazzling Gleam
- Fire Blast
- Grass Knot
- Healing Wish

Swellow @ Choice Specs
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Boomburst
- Heat Wave
- U-turn
- Sleep Talk

Kangaskhan @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Sucker Punch
- Fake Out

Zangoose @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Toxic Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Facade
- Knock Off
- Quick Attack
- Close Combat

Tauros @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Pursuit
- Rock Climb
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast

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Shiftry @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 240 Atk / 16 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Extrasensory

Sceptile @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 216 HP / 252 Atk / 40 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake

Gogoat @ Leftovers
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 32 SpD / 224 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Horn Leech
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Gastro Acid
- Recover
- Rock Slide

Abomasnow @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Blizzard
- Earthquake
- Energy Ball
- Rock Slide

Tropius @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Air Slash
- Protect
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Piloswine @ Eviolite
Ability: Thick Fat
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Atk / 220 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Shard
- Curse

Jynx @ Leftovers
Ability: Dry Skin
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Lovely Kiss
- Ice Beam
- Nasty Plot
- Substitute

Regice @ Chople Berry
Ability: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 SpD
Bold Nature
- Counter
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Thunder Wave

Aurorus @ Never-Melt Ice
Ability: Refrigerate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Rock Polish
- Hyper Voice
- Freeze-Dry
- Earth Power

Avalugg @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sturdy
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Mirror Coat
- Avalanche

Abomasnow @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Earthquake
- Wood Hammer
- Blizzard
- Ice Shard

Only really gonna shoutout Finchinator rozes Kiyo iplaytennislol (advantage or w.e) for helping me test this stuff and sticking through my autistic changes and lures and dealing with me enough to keep telling me this shit is a good idea when in reality you guys probably only wanted me to bring this stuff because it's pretty funny to bring in an SPL environment. Like I said, I do it for the crowd. Enjoy~​
 
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