[Insert Interesting Title Here]

[Energy Storm]

Introduction:

Being my first OU RMT, I don't expect it to be perfect. This team has netted reasonable success on the OU ladder, and despite a few flaws I believe this team is rather decent. We'll see.

At a Glance:

Team Building Process

Oddly enough, this team was centered around bulky Gyarados. He can shut down set-up sweepers and walls with Taunt, and proceed to Dragon Dance up and become a potent offensive threat. So here he is:

Gyarados's biggest flaw is a huge weakness to Electric type moves. Also, he's a bit slow before Dragon Dance kicks in. Support Celebi seemed to work well with him, to both counter most Electric types and spread paralysis.

Looking closer, both Pokemon hate Rotom-A. Also, I wanted to complete the Fire/Water/Grass core. So what better partner to these two Pokemon than Heatran?

Now, being an offensive team, a Stealth Rock user would be useful. Metagross seemed to work nicely, throwing some sturdy offensive momentum to my side, as well as almost always getting up Stealth Rock.

Despite being quite powerful, the team was annoyingly slow and lacked consistant checks to Dragon Dance abusers such as Dragonite. I thought Flygon was too widespread and way too predictable, so instead, I introduce my favorite revenge killer: Choice Scarf Starmie.

Now Electric types were still dangerous for this team, and I wanted a bulky set-up abuser that could wall and sweep at the same time. Swampert came to me naturally.

After a while, I realized that Metagross, although strong, wasn't preventing common leads like Azelf from getting layers up. For the lack of a spinner, I replaced Metagross with another efficient and dangerous lead: Choice Scarf Jirachi.

Despite being quite annoying for the opposing team, Swampert just wasn't living up to his worth. Taunt users often shut him down, and he became set-up fodder. Instead, a Substitute Machamp was apparently better.

In-Depth Analysis of the Team

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
Nature: Jolly
Ev Spread: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Moves:
-Iron Head
-Fire Punch
-Stealth Rock
-Trick

Choice Scarf Jirachi is an amazing lead. With Iron Head, it easily 2HKOs Aerodactyl and most Azelf leads, and that 60% flinch rate renders them unable to get their own layers up more often than not. Trick essentially cripples bulkier leads, such as Metagross and Hippowdon, and allows me to get my own rocks up.

Damage calculations against most common leads:

Azelf: Fire Blast 79.4%-88.3%
Aerodactyl: Earthquake 55% - 64.9%
Metagross: Earthquake 71.3%-84.2%
Infernape: Fire Blast 98.8% - 116.4%
Hippowdon: Earthquake 69% - 82.5%
Swampert: Earthquake 69% - 81.3%
Heatran: Fire Blast 114.6% - 135.7%

Jirachi can also come in late game, get rocks up while outspeeding the opposition with Choice Scarf, or effectively revenge kill things like Dragonite.

Synergy:

Fire - Gyarados, Starmie
Ground - Gyarados, Starmie, Celebi

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Adamant
EV Spread: 156 HP/68 Atk/92 Def/188 Spe
Moves:
-Dragon Dance
-Taunt
-Waterfall
-Bounce

Bulky Gyarados is a beast - he prevents walls from setting up by wrecking them with Taunt, then Dragon Dances on the switch. The given EVs allow him to outspeed opposing Gyarados. Bounce and Waterfall make for a good dual STAB, with Waterfall giving nice coverage and Bounce doing massive damage, netting an extra turn of leftovers recovery, and with a big chance of paralysis.

Bulky Gyarados checks a lot of things, including Swords Dance Lucario, Heatran, Scizor, etc. Intimidate is a godsend that really cuts the offensive power and force switches, and his good bulk provide numerous opportunities to set up. I have single-handedly swept with this thing more than once.

Synergy:

Electric - Celebi
Rock - Celebi, Starmie, Machamp

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Modest
EV Spread: 232 HP/240 SpA/36 Spe
Moves:
-Leaf Storm
-Thunder Wave
-Hidden Power [Fire]
-Recover

Celebi is a wonderful support member of this offensively-based team, being able to spread paralysis, wall to a certain extent, and eliminate threats such as Scizor and Swampert with HP Fire and Leaf Storm, respectively. As this team is relatively slow, paralysis support is a godsend, and Celebi does a great job in passing it around, simply mowing through Ground types that try to switch in with Leaf Storm. Celebi is my main switch in to things like Jolteon and Rotom-A (other than a Rotom-H's Overheat), survive a Shadow Ball from a LO Rotom-A, and proceed to OHKO with Leaf Storm.

Synergy:

Fire - Heatran, Gyarados, Starmie
Ghost - Heatran
Dark - Heatran, Machamp
Bug - Heatran, Gyarados
Ice - Heatran, Starmie, Jirachi

Heatran @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
Nature: Naive
EV Spread: 4 Atk/252 SpA/252 Spe
Moves:
-Fire Blast
-Earth Power
-Dragon Pulse
-Explosion

With Scarftrans running around left and right, I expected that few people could notice a Shucatran ninja'ing in the midst of them. Bluffing a Choice Scarf proves to be very useful, netting me surprise kills all the time. This thing loves switching into Rotom Will-o-Wisps and netting that Flash Fire boost, then proceed to eliminate them by Fire Blast. Earth Power is the second obvious coverage option, and Dragon Pulse is used over HP Grass to nail Dragonite and Flygon on the switch, as well as provide perfect coverage. I used to use HP Grass, but it didn't see to much use since I switched out in face of most Bulky Waters anyways. And Explosion catches many walls like Blissey off guard, often getting a KO when Heatran's health is low.

Synergy:

Water - Gyarados, Celebi, Starmie
Ground - Gyarados, Celebi, Starmie
Fighting - Gyarados, Celebi

Starmie @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Modest
EV Spread: 4 Hp/252 SpA/252 Spe
Moves:
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Trick

Meet in my opinion the best revenge killer in the game: Scarfmie. Starmie can easily outspeed many quick threats including Infernape, Gengar, and Scarf Flygon, and eliminate them with its three perfect-coverage moves coming off of a dangerously high Special Attack. Since few peolpe use Scarfmie these days, things like Flygon and +1 Gyarados (and Dragonite) tend to stay in, before getting immediately OHKOed. Starmie is my main check to Dragon Dancers, like again, Gyarados and Dragonite, as well as potent sweepers that would otherwise tear through my generally slow team with ease. Trick is a move I almost never use, but works well in critical emergencies to cripple the opposition.

Synergy:

Electric - Celebi
Ghost - Heatran
Dark - Heatran, Machamp
Bug - Heatran, Gyarados

Machamp @ Leftovers
Ability: No Guard
Nature: Adamant
EV Spread: 128 Hp/252 Atk/128 Spe
Moves:
-Dynamicpunch
-Payback
-Stone Edge
-Substitute

Machamp would be one of the most deadly sweepers in the game if it wasn't for his low speed and gigantic weakness to Ghost types like Rotom-A and Gengar. However, since this beastly creature forces all sorts of switches, Substitute manages to protect it from both crippling status, as well as surivive one devastating move like Shadow Ball, and continue to OHKO the opponent with a super-effective Payback. Stone Edge finishes the coverage, making Pokemon like Gyarados and Zapdos and think twice before switching in. Machamp is usually my late-game sweeper, and often pulls off a massive sweep that often wins the game for me or at least create a massive dent in the opponent's team.

Synergy:

Flying - Heatran, Jirachi
Psychic - Jirachi, Celebi, Starmie, Heatran

Conclusion:

Again, since this is my first RMT, it may not be phenomanally up-to-notch, but I suppose that with a decent rating on the OU ladder that is still steadily rising, that it should at least be rate-viable. So rate and review, please!

Final Look at the Team:

Final Words: RMTs are a pain in the rear end to write. I accidentally deleted this thing two or three times, and it took forever to rewrite it each time. Peace.

 

[Energy Storm]

Reserved for threat list.

 

[Scimjara]

Hello. At a glance this looks like a solid team. I'm not so sure about Jirachi being an amazing lead Just to clear something up Jirachi can't effectively revenge kill Dragonite especially not Dragon Dance variants since Iron Head does not flinch and using Trick isn't "revenge killing". The focus you have with Jirachi from the looks of it is to get up SR no matter what even if you receive over half damage. Theres no real point of sacraficing a lead to get up SR when you don't have a spin blocker. So with this said I would suggest Colbur Berry Azelf, you can effectively set up SR while being able to Taunt slower leads unlike Jirachi who has to let of a Trick which isn't always the best idea. Offensive Zapdos and Substitute Gengar variants can be trouble some for this team best hope is to play around them at this point.

Solid team as it is hopefully I helped. Good Luck

 

[tawp64]

A major threat to this team is LO Jolteon.
Maybe try a LO Jolt yourself in Starmie's spot. I've used it, and it is one of the best sets ever.

Jolteon @ Life Orb
Volt Absorb
4 HP/252 SP.A/252 SPE
Modest/Timid
~Thunderbolt
~Shadowball
~HP:Ice/Grass
~Thunder Wave/Protect

This will have great synergy with Gyara, and it stops other Jolteon. Thunder Wave is my preference because it really stops some of it's non-ground counters from doing anything. Protect is more of a scouting option. HP:Ice can get those dragons, which this team dosen't seem to have much trouble with, and HP: Grass gets Swampert, which at best annoys this team.

Triple ground weakness is a problem, so I highly suggest Flygon or Scarf Rotom in Starmie's spot.

 

[Faladran]

Congrats on your first RMT! ^^

You've mentioned that you want to utilize Machamp as your late-game sweeper, and many of your team members seem to be common members of a Parahax team. I think that one way you can improve your team would be to add some more paralysis support in addition to Celebi's. I'll add more onto this later, so here we go:

Notable Problems

• 
  LO Jolteon

As mentioned above, offensive variants of Jolteon are among the biggest threats to your team offensively. The standard LO set is capable of easily 2HKOing everything on your team, meaning it isn't unlikely to sweep you after some residual damage. Jirachi and Starmie can both outspeed it with Choice Scarf, but you'll need to play carefully around it since both take large amounts of damage from switching into a STAB Thunderbolt. Also keep in mind that while Celebi resists Electric, many Jolteon carry Shadow Ball or even Signal Beam in their movesets.

Suggestions

• Lead with LO Starmie

Jirachi isn't as effective a lead as it used to be due to the increase in popularity of Heatran and Infernape leads. It also struggles somewhat against Machamp, since it must rely on flinching it consistently with Iron Head to take it down. I would recommend moving Starmie to the lead position and changing it to the Life Orb set, which will help you start off offensively and match up well against most common leads. This set should work well:

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Psychic
-Rapid Spin

This is similar to the LO Rapid Spin Starmie set on-site, with the only notable change being that Psychic is used over Thunderbolt. This is because Thunderbolt is used to hit Water-types, whom Psychic also deals significant damage to (you also have Celebi to switch into most opposing Waters). However, its main purpose is allowing you to net the OHKO on lead Machamp. Starmie's other moves provide it with good coverage, and Rapid Spin is great for finishing off Focus Sash leads such as Aerodactyl, and will spin away any hazards your opponents has set up.

• Use Sub-TWave Jirachi

This suggestion should only be taken if you decide to make the above change and lead with Starmie. As you've mentioned, Machamp could be an extremely dangerous attacker if it weren't for its low Speed stat, which is absolutely correct. One of the best ways to help support it and work around this disadvantage is by paralyzing as many opposing Pokemon as possible. The ideal team member to help perform this function is the notorious Sub-TWave Jirachi, who works excellently with Machamp:

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 164 HP/168 Atk/176 Spe
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Thunder Wave
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch

With this set, Jirachi is easily able to provide paralysis support while also possessing the ability to sweep through teams itself. When using it, the best move to use initially is Thunder Wave. This will allow you to paralyze any scout your opponent's switch-in to Jirachi. Later in the game when more of your opponent's Pokemon have been paralyzed, create a Substitute and continue using Iron Head as your opponent only has a 30% chance to make a move. Fire Punch prevents you from being walled by Steel-types, and easily KO's Scizor after a bit of residual damage.

A similar offensive core can be found in this Smog issue. Jirachi and Machamp are a very potent offensive duo, since Jirachi's paralysis support and Machamp's confusion hax each render the opponent unable to make a move most of the time, allowing you to safely set up a Substitute and begin sweeping. Combined with Celebi to switch into bulky Water and Ground-types and provide additional paralysis support, this combination should prove to be very effective when played correctly. If you decide to go with this set, just remember to add in Stealth Rock to Heatran's moveset over Dragon Pulse, which is the most replaceable option.

Good luck with your team!

 

[george182]

If jolteon is a huge pain then just use scarf flygon over scarf starmie. Flygon I think is the most used scarfed poke in the game at the moment because he is such a good scout and revenge killer.

I would also question dragon pulse on heatran. Kingdra outspeeds you and KO's with waterfall. So I would suggest Hp ice, this hit's gliscor, dragonite, flygon much harder and can net some nice OHKO's on all of them. Dragon pulse/Fire blast do not OHKO the standard dragonite and gliscor.

I also don't think that trick scarf Jirachi has such a good match up against common leads anymore, and I would suggest using a different lead. Perhaps trick scarf uxie?