National Dex Imagined Flight - A NatDex Flying Monotype team

[Neko]

(click sprites for the paste)

Introduction
Hello, I'm Neko and I like monotype and cats. Unfortunately this is not a cat team, but it is a monotype one. I'm not really much of a battler, but I like making teams and seeing nice ideas work well is a bit fulfilling. National Dex Monotype is also the second tier I started with (back in early 2021), so I would like to share a Flying team built around Mega Aerodatcyl, which has to be one of the teams I really had fun with. This team notably has an alright matchup against the majority of the types, with Normal, Dark, and Ice being the hardest.

Teambuilding Process

I wanted to build around Mega Aerodactyl since it had the best move in the game: Dragon Dance. Coupled with its insane speed and good STABs and coverage, I thought it can just end games if I manage to set it up.

Tornadus-T complements Mega Aerodactyl as it is special wallbreaker which can deal with physical walls such as Hippowdon, Slowbro, and Porygon2 that it struggles with.

Landorus is chosen as it also helps beating down the said physical walls, while also being able to set hazards. The above average speed tier also helps in dealing with scary threats like Victini and Nidoking.

Thundurus-T provides Speed control, pivoting, and a secondary Electric immunity.

The team is currently very weak to Water, as we do not have Mega Charizard-Y and Dragon Dance Dragonite overlaps with Mega Aerodactyl's niche. Also, Defog support helps our Stealth Rock-weak wallbreakers.

Celesteela completes the defensive core, dealing with threats such as Terrakion and Excadrill, and provides crucial Steel STAB for dealing with pesky Ice and Fairy-types.

In-Depth Descriptions

Imagined Flight

Imagined Flight (Aerodactyl-Mega) (F) @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Dual Wingbeat

Mega Aerodactyl is an excellent late game sweeper for Flying teams due to its amazing speed tier, EdgeQuake coverage, and passable bulk. At +1, Mega Aerodactyl can rip through offensive teams such as Dragon, Psychic, Electric, and Water. Setting up Dragon Dance is a daunting task, but its actually quite bulky, as it survives Choice Scarf Tapu Lele's Thunderbolt, Boosted Kommo-o's Clanging Scales, and Boosted Victini's Stored Power / Thunderbolt. Stone Edge finishes off Flying teams once Celesteela has been worn down, while Earthquake harasses teams such as Electric, Poison, and Fiairy, notably OHKOing threats like Tapu Koko, Nidoking, and Mega Diancie after Stealth Rock without boosts. Dual Wingbeat is a more consistent option for dealing damage to threats such as Latios, Mega Venusaur, and Mega Lopunny. Its amazing speedtier allows it to immediately deal with and remove threats such as Mega Lopunny, Non-Choice Scarf Greninja, and Cinderace.

Defying Gravity

Defying gravity (Tornadus-Therian) @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 88 HP / 172 SpA / 8 SpD / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Hurricane
- Taunt / U-Turn
- Focus Blast / Heat Wave

Tornadus-T is an excellent special wallbreaker for Flying teams due to its access to very accurate moves excellent coverage which allows it to break down opposing defensive cores, above average bulk to shrug off attacks from defensive Pokemon such as Toxapex, and Regenerator which allows it to setup multiple times in a match. Taunt shuts down Haze users such as Toxapex and Mantine, while also stopping Entry Hazard setters like Garchomp and Jirachi. Focus Blast dents Rock- and Steel-types like Tyranitar and Heatran, while Heat Wave targets Ferrothorn and Celesteela. Z-Hurricane is an extremely strong nuke that obliterates even Galarian Slowking (at +4, which is achievable), and should be used if you really need Hurricane to hit that turn. 88 HP in conjunction with 8 SpDef allows it to survive Choice Scarf Greninja's Ice Beam and OHKO it with Focus Blast / Supersonic Skystrike. 240 Speed allows it to outspeed and remove Cinderace.

Repress

Repress (Landorus) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Rock Slide

Landorus helps Mega Aerodactyl by wearing down the opposing team with its ability to set hazards, deal with Steel-types like Ferrothorn and Jirachi, and provide an Electric immunity. Focus Blast obliterates SubRoost Kyurem, Mega Tyranitar (even under sand), and Porygon2. Rock Slide deals with Mega Charizard-Y, Volcarona, and chunks Tornadus-T. It's used over its Therian forme due to its higher Speed tier, allowing it to delete SubRoost Kyurem, 70% of the time.

Arcturus

Arcturus (Thundurus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast / Sludge Wave
- Grass Knot

When equipped with a Choice Scarf, Thundurus-T outspeeds most Choice Scarf users such as Tapu Lele, Galarian Darmanitan, and Excadrill. Volt Switch grabs momentum, and is the sole way of revenge-killing Mega Gyarados, while HP Ice catches Ground types such as opposing Landorus-T and Mega Garchomp. Focus Blast OHKOs Choice Scarf Galarian Darmanitan, while also being able to dent Steel- and Dark-types such as Excadrill and Mega Tyranitar, while Sludge Wave OHKOs Tapu Koko, and allows Thundurus-T to clean Fairy teams late-game. Grass Knot is for pesky Water- and Ground-types such as Adamant Swift Swim Mega Swampert, Gastrodon, and Mamoswine. Something to take note though is that an Ice Shard from Adamant Choice Band Mamoswine OHKOs Thundrurus-T.

Under the Sky

Under the Sky (Mantine) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Roost
- Scald
- Haze

The first half of the defensive core, Mantine covers for Mega Aerodactyl's weakness to Water. Great mixed defenses means that it can reliably check Mega Swampert, (Non-Thunder Punch) Urshifu-R, Blacephalon, and Volcarona. Defog allows it to clear Hazards, improving the survivability of its team mates. Scald in conjunction with Haze dissuades setup sweepers like Mega Scizor and Bisharp from using it as setup fodder. 96 Speed allows it to Haze away boosts from Adamant Belly Drum Azumarill, while the rest is used to maximize its defense to better check threats like Urshifu-R and Mega Swampert.

Air Castles

Air Castles (Celesteela) @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Celesteela is the second half of the defensive core, checking threats like Choice Scarf Weavile, Mega Diancie, and Choice Scarf Terrakion defensively. Heavy Slam pressures Ice and Fairy teams, allowing it to OHKO Alolan Ninetales, Mega Diancie, and Galarian Darmanitan. Flamethrower roasts Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor, while Leech Seed chips the opposing team due to the sheer amount of switches Celesteela forces. A physically defensive variant is used to better check scary threats like Mamoswine, Weavile, and Terrakion.

Threatlist

Normal's defensive core of Porygon2 and Blissey can overwhelm and wear down this team due to the lack of mixed attackers and Porygon2's tendency to pack Discharge and Ice Beam. Mega Lopunny is also quite bulky and has Triple Axel; Ideally you want to lead Mega Aerodactyl to force the bunny out, however be very careful of Ditto.

Greninja is very painful to play against, as it can end up cleaning Flying teams late-game with a Choice Scarf or Expert Belt set. Coupled with Dragon Dance Tyranitar, which breaks both Mantine and Celesteela, playing offensively is the only way to go.

Ice matchup is stressful, as Galarian Darmanitan OHKOs everyone but Celesteela. Fortunately, Thundurus-T's Focus Blast OHKOs it, and the offensive core threatens Kyurem a lot, so its still doable. Save HP on Celesteela for Choice Scarf Weavile, though.

If Tapu Koko isn't choiced, the Fairy matchup can end pretty badly. Fortunately, Celesteela has enough bulk to check Mega Diancie, and Thundurus-T can pressure Tapu Koko with Sludge Wave. 64 SpDef EVs may be given to Celesteela if you are paranoid, as it allows Celesteela to never get 2HKO'ed by Mystical Fire from Mega Diancie, but it hurts the Stone Edge / Icicle Crash survivability of Celesteela. Mega Aerodactyl can also win this matchup provided that Azumarill has been put out of commission.

Replays
Vs. Psychic
Vs. Flying
Vs. Ghost


Shoutouts

Thank you to those who have pet the catto

Please don't bonk catto for the pings thank you ;w;

Ashbala you introduced me to monotype and have me trapped in the monotype basement, when do you plan to free me? >:(
Petele the cat in the shoe misses you ;w;

Ida ASKid679 Foots thelegendsrevamped Sunnyboi0 SNAK30PRA you guys made mons fun

Monotype
Plunder Leafium Z Aqua Jet torterraxx martinvtran Hyperspace12 silver grace Thank you for letting me in the basement even though I actually only simp there and for being there even when the catto isn't ;w;
style.css Stylewwww. Thank you for sharing brain cells, from CLC to suggesting and showing stuff to catto :D. Don't worry, I'll eventually be able to get more brain cells.
maroon Felines roxiee Monotype QC team, thank you for not giving up on me even though I sometimes write questionably ;w;
Mateeus Thank you for being nice to catto
DugZa the other team didn't make it ;w; I'll try to do better but thank you so much for putting up with me. Or well, not dropping me. Yet.

Smogon
Siatam I'm sorry for not being able to play GSC as much ;w;
dex Finland deetah Astra Thank you for all the GP checks, hopefully this is readable though...

Other people who pet the catto for 1000 reasons that I cannot list them all
Day Healer Giang Nguyen diegoblu Prosaic phosphor Trikingtri Redgoop115 LuckyPiper Anique Crystal Vince thank you guys for existing you made mons worthwhile :3

 

[style.css]

Hey Neko, great work on the RMT and thanks for the shoutout. It’s a little weird since I did see the team before you made the post but after reading I thought of a couple minor things that may help.


Beside having 4 extra EVs I noticed that you don’t need 252 Spe. You can drop down to just 200 EVs which still puts you faster than Zeraora with the only thing in between being Accelgor which is a non-threat. This gives you an extra 52 EVs you can use to go into HP for to change some incoming damage rolls. Either way this might help get Aerodactyl set up just a little bit easier.


An option to help make breaking this core (and other bulky cores) a bit easier you could make sure to use Heat Wave on Tornadus for your Fire coverage and drop Flamethrower on Celesteela for Toxic. This way you can hit P2 and put it on a timer or limit how long Blissey can stay in as well. This could provide you with the momentum needed to break such an annoying core.

Other than those 2 things this team looks great. Congrats on the RMT!

 

[Neko]

Hey Neko, great work on the RMT and thanks for the shoutout. It’s a little weird since I did see the team before you made the post but after reading I thought of a couple minor things that may help.


Beside having 4 extra EVs I noticed that you don’t need 252 Spe. You can drop down to just 200 EVs which still puts you faster than Zeraora with the only thing in between being Accelgor which is a non-threat. This gives you an extra 52 EVs you can use to go into HP for to change some incoming damage rolls. Either way this might help get Aerodactyl set up just a little bit easier.


An option to help make breaking this core (and other bulky cores) a bit easier you could make sure to use Heat Wave on Tornadus for your Fire coverage and drop Flamethrower on Celesteela for Toxic. This way you can hit P2 and put it on a timer or limit how long Blissey can stay in as well. This could provide you with the momentum needed to break such an annoying core.

Other than those 2 things this team looks great. Congrats on the RMT!

The Aero doesn't have 4 extra EVs, its 248 Atk (one less point), though, I'll tweak the speed yea

On Toxic Celesteela: I'll try it uwu