SM LC How did we get so dark?

[Midnight Howl]

Introduction

Carvanha has always been one of the must fun Pokémons to build around in LC, at least from my point of view, but I didn't have any good (and not outdated) team with it. At first I thought running 4 or 5 mons that supported carvanha well and could win against its checks but then I decided to do the opposite: building a dark spam to overwhelm carvanha's checks getting them low, knocking them off etc.

Teambuilding Process

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The team is built around Carvanha, as I said before. It can get easy late game sweeps if its checks are worn down because of speed boost making it faster every turn in combination with a pretty high attack stat, a good stab combination in water and dark and a nice coverage move in psychic fangs.

Despite having psychic fangs, Carvanha can't Ohko bulky fighting types such as Mienfoo or Timburr when they are holding an eviolite so I thought Pawniard was a good option as it baits them in to knock them off. It also provides rocks for the team, strong priority in sucker punch and useful resistances acting as a decent flying check.

Even though spikes are not the best option in this meta, I decided that if i was going to use Carvanha, having a spiker was important as it pressures many things and with Pawniard on the team, thanks to defiant I can get a +2 in attack if the opponent tries to defog. I also wanted a grass type that could switch into Foongus. Chespin was on my mind but I wanted something that could take fairies, especially Spritzee, better. That's how I came up with the idea of using budew. I know Foongus is better due to regenerator and superior bulk, but ultimately I valued more the role compression of Budew (and because Budew is cute not gonna lie).

I chose Mienfoo as my fourth Pokémon because I needed something bulkier that could constantly switch in and out to force switches, thus making my opponent take hazards damage. Mienfoo does exactly that, while hitting pretty hard with High jump kick, gaining momentum with u-turn and knocking off some bulky mons that would stop Carvanha such as spritzee or Foongus.

If I wanted to make a dark spam team I definitely needed a good fighting check. In my opinion Spritzee is the best at that because it takes little damage from any attack that Mienfoo or Timburr choose and can heal up. The fact that it can wish pass to its teammates is also appreciated. Spritzee is also nice because it can switch into many mons (even if it doesn't resist their stabs) thanks to its huge defenses, take little damage and wish + protect to heal.

Just in case two dark types weren't enough I added a third one. Vullaby is a really good pivot thanks to the buff to weak armor in gen 7, its access to u-turn and natural bulk. It's another fighting check and even though I already had spritzee I thought in some matchups I would need to keep spritzee at a good amount of health and preserve the eviolite for other threats, such as shell smashers or other strong things that could sweep my team. Depending on the spread it can check abra wich otherwise my team would be weak to.

The Team

How (Carvanha) @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpD / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 9 HP
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs
- Protect

Carvanha with a life orb hits so hard and after two speed boosts from its ability it can outspeed any scarfer even with adamant nature. There's nothing special about this set, just dual stabs and psychic fangs to hit fighting types, Mareanie and Foongus. 9 IVs in HP to get under 20 so life orb only does 1HP each turn. Protect is to get a free boost in case you are in front of a faster mon and also scout what they want to do.

Did (Pawniard) @ Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
Level: 5
EVs: 156 Atk / 36 Def / 116 SpD / 196 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock

As much as I like psychium z rock polish Pawniard, the best option here was using the standard set because it's bulkier and can switch in to birds more reliably. I also wanted rocks so this set fits really well. Knock off gets rid of eviolites while sucker punch is a really strong priority. It can also 2hko the bulkier mienfoo sets with iron head if they have previously lost their eviolites. Because of all the mentioned, this set is the one that better works to help Carvanha get to clean in late game.

We (Budew) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Level: 5
EVs: 196 HP / 236 Def / 36 SpA / 36 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis
- Giga Drain

Although Carvanha is supposed to be the star of the team, Budew's cuteness combined with its great utility and bulk make it one of the most important members. I made this spread so it has the same defenses and special attack as Foongus, even though it has 2 HP less. That's not a big deal as it can still switch into the same things a Foongus would (Snivy, Onix, Foongus itself...) while getting spikes in the process. Giga drain hits a lot of things for super effective damage (water types, rock types...) while healing Budew. Sludge Bomb hits even harder and has a 30% chance of poisoning wich makes it really easy to spam unless there is a steel type in the enemy team. Synthesis gives Budew instant recovery but can't be overly used as it has only 8 PP.

Get (Mienfoo) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 236 HP / 196 Def / 36 SpD
Impish Nature
- Feint
- Knock Off
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn

I am using a regular slowfoo set because I like the extra bulk it has and sometimes slower u-turns are apreciated. While 15 attack is not incredible (it's not bad either) STAB High jump kick hits hard to anything that doesn't resist it of course at the cost we all know (50% of your HP if you miss). With everyone running eviolite and Berry Juice, Knock off is one of the best moves in the tier, also getting a 50% boost in damage if the foe is holding an item. It also gives mienfoo the ability to hit ghost types wich is important as otherwise they could come in for free and make Mienfoo crash in case it uses High jump kick. U-turn is really useful at gaining momentum if you predict the opponent to make a switch. It is especially good in this team because they will be taking so much hazard damage every time while you keep the momentum. Finally, I chose feint over fake out because many pokemons are running protect only to stop fake out, so feint is good to revenge kill things and it also goes through protect so you can get free chip damage.

So (Spritzee) @ Eviolite
Ability: Aroma Veil
Level: 5
EVs: 212 HP / 196 Def / 12 SpA / 76 SpD / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Wish
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Spritzee acts mainly as a fighting check but it can come in many neutral attacks if those aren't too strong and use the combination of wish and protect to heal back up to full HP. Protect is also good to scout choice locked mons such as magnemite. It's ability to switch into many different things and pass wishes to its teammates is really good for the team, because it means you can outlast your opponent thanks to the hazard damage they will be taking while you can have your mons at a good amount of HP. Last but not least the team was a bit weak to Ferroseed wich is also a Carvanha counter. That's why I decided to run hp fire over covet or anything else, because it baits Ferroseed in and 2hkoes it. Even if they switch out after you hp fire them, 60% damage on Ferro is really good for Carvanha.

Dark (Vullaby) @ Berry Juice
Ability: Weak Armor
Level: 5
EVs: 196 HP / 156 SpD / 116 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Protect

Vullaby is the second pivot on the team and is really good at gaining momentum because of it threatening things with strong knock offs and brave birds. This spread, though, is a bit more defensive to better take on Abra or Gastly and it lets Vullaby take a dazzling gleam from sash Abra after rocks and a dazzling gleam from LO Abra if it's at full. As I am running spikes, defog isn't needed so I chose to use protect instead. What protect does is scouting the move that choice locked mons want to use, preventing fake out damage and also making High jump kick users crash and take 50% damage. This is really good because otherwise defensive Mienfoo can take a Brave Bird and kill Vullaby back if it has the -1 defense from weak armor.

Conclusion

This team was really fun to build and even funnier to use in the ladder or tours. Now that I used and shared it a lot I thought I could do an RMT on it to see what is everyone's opinion of it and get some suggestions. I feel that I have improved a lot this last months in both my building and my playing skills. I'm still far from being a top tier player but anyway I wanted to thank some people who have been really nice with me and helping in ways they can't even imagine. This has nothing to do with the RMT so I will hide it, but I felt like there was no harm in doing it anyway.

shoutouts

SpaceWorm thanks for always testing with me and being so nice. One of the best players I have met in the time I've been playing LC. taranteeeno You have really given me a lot of confidence and self-trust wich I was lacking some time ago. Lpl has been one of the most fun tours and has made me improve a lot, and its in part thanks to you :>. TheRam you are such a fun person to talk to and you really deserve the best on life. You have the potential, just keep it up, and don't ever dare to change the way you are :P Also everyone on MDL I love you so much you are so friendly and there's a lot of people who also helped me improve and giving me tips for building teams etc. Thanks to everyone <3

Also, here is a replay of me using the team on a tournament:
Last chance tour vs Wolfein

Importable

How (Carvanha) @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpD / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 9 HP
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs
- Protect

Did (Pawniard) @ Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
Level: 5
EVs: 156 Atk / 36 Def / 116 SpD / 196 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock

We (Budew) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Level: 5
EVs: 196 HP / 236 Def / 36 SpA / 36 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis
- Giga Drain

Get (Mienfoo) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 236 HP / 196 Def / 36 SpD
Impish Nature
- Feint
- Knock Off
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn

So (Spritzee) @ Eviolite
Ability: Aroma Veil
Level: 5
EVs: 212 HP / 196 Def / 12 SpA / 76 SpD / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Wish
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Dark (Vullaby) @ Berry Juice
Ability: Weak Armor
Level: 5
EVs: 196 HP / 156 SpD / 116 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Protect