'Insert Witty Title'

[newbioform]

My last team, despite working like a charm on shoddy, is forced into early retirement by the introduction of Platinum and the rise of Skymin; a major reconstruction is obviously required. Unfortunately I missed tutoring sign-up this round, so I had to take matters into my own hands, and out came an unsatisfying result. Therefore I ask you, the 'new team raters' of Smogon to help me out.

Because my previous team has a strategy that works well, I decides to keep it for the time being. Thanks to Skymin, stall, which was the bane of my scout team, is now impossible to run,

So without furthur ado, I present you my first Platinum team.
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Scizor is a member of my last team, which laughs at the new TrickGar leads. TrickGross, on the other hand, can be frustrating as my only switch into it is Swampert, who does not enjoy a scarf at all. I will consider replacing him if someone can provide a good suggestion.

Scizor @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Technitian
EVs: 40 HP/252 Atk/216 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -Sp.Atk)
~ Aerial Ace
~ Superpower
~ Pursuit
~ U-Turn

An anti-lead that can deliver a nasty surprise to those who are not expecting it. The speed EVs allow it to outspeed base 100s by 2 points.
Aerial Ace OHKOs Breloom and Yanmega, who will both try to sleep me only to be outsped. Superpower OHKOs all TTars and dents Porygon2. Pursuit is for Deoxys-e and all the trick Alakazam, Azelf and Gengars. This Scizor is sturdy enough to survive two focus blasts from Gengar while OHKOs with pursuit. U-Turn is a multi-purpose move that OHKOs Roserade, Azelf and Weavile (who will switch) and can chop a healthy chunk out of everything else.
In case of Aerodactyl I'll switch to

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP/216 Def/52 Sp.Atk
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
~ Surf
~ Ice Beam
~ Roar
~ Stealth Rock

Another unchanged member as he can dust off some common threats. Does a great job of walling non-trick Metagross, Tyranitar, Mamoswine and physical dragons. Switch into electric attacks and setup SR. He is OHKOed by SpecsMence Draco Meteor though, not something pleasant to say the least. I can easily switch him into Heatrans and start firing random Ice Beams until I take out the Skymin switch-in.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/124 Def/132 Sp.Def
Calm Nature (+Sp.Def, -Atk) 30 Sp.Atk IVs
~ Thunderbolt
~ HP Grass
~ Heatwave
~ Roost

All-roundly useful to wall Scizor and can switch into Skymin if really needed. Take hits from Heracross and Lucario and OHKOs back.

Shaymin-S @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 4 HP/252 Sp.Atk/252 Spd
Modest Nature (+Sp.Atk, -Atk)
~ Seed Flare
~ Air Slash
~ HP Ice
~ Earth Power

The new Garchomp and as good a revenge killer as it gets. I don't feel like dropping some speed just so I can tie with other scarfmin.

Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -Sp.Atk)
~ Close Combat
~ Extremespeed
~ Sword Dance
~ Crunch

My SkarmBliss breaker and general late-game cleanup poke. After a SD Extremespeed does a decent amount to skymin. Scarftran can be a headache if my team didn't manage to take it down though. I am quite busy these days and is therefore unable to hang around shoddy much to get the full-scope impact of Platinum. I am therefore unsure of how well would SD Luke work in the current metagame, among other things.

Machamp @ Leftovers
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+ Atk, -Sp.Atk)
~ Rest
~ Sleeptalk
~ Dynamic Punch
~ Stone Edge
Status absorber and can also be offensive. Beats Gyarados and both attacks can frustrate Shaymin switch-ins.

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The strategy is to set up rocks, then use Scizor to repeated scout out the opposition and weaken his physical wall in the process. Depending on what he uses for his physical wall, one or two of my sweepers can attempt to weaken it and set up the other for a sweep. There are probably lots of things about the team that I did not cover in this post, I'll add them in when they come up in the rate.
I thank you in advance for helping me out. :)

 

[Taylor]

I'm quite fond of this team. It looks well thought out and strong.

You may as well mirror-match Zapdos' Bold varient EV spread, which is of course: 252 HP / 216 SDef / 40 Def/Spd. The last 40 EVs, to me, are optional and can be placed in either stat; even in Special Attack.

You may find that Ice Punch or Stone Edge may be more useful on Lucario than Crunch. It's no secret that Crunch has become an inferior choice to Ice Punch, and even to Stone Edge. The latter may prove to be more useful because you can hit Gyarados, Salamence (though Salamence runs 280 Speed or above, so I shouldn't be using this as an example) and Dragonite for instance, all in one; Ice Punch naturally covers Gliscor and Celebi at the expense of Gyarados coverage, but those two will be far less threatening to your team than the first three. Gyarados seems to be countered unorthadoxly in this team, what with the Thunderpunch Machamp, so Stone Edge Lucario gives you another way to hit Gyarados hard; plus Gyarados switch on Lucario oftenly, so it's a suitable option in that respect.

With that in mind, it frees up the tention you're putting under Machamp. Presumably Thunderpunch was for Gyarados specifically, but you can now settle for Stone Edge (still hits Gyarados for super effective) as the extra coverage Lucario provided you with is a relief. Additionally, it works well with Machamp's No Guard trait.

 

[newbioform]

I'm quite fond of this team. It looks well thought out and strong.

Thanks, although I'm not quite satisfied with it because my last team looks so much more effective and synergistic than this.

You may as well mirror-match Zapdos' Bold varient EV spread, which is of course: 252 HP / 216 SDef / 40 Def/Spd. The last 40 EVs, to me, are optional and can be placed in either stat; even in Special Attack.

I'll edit it in. EDIT: actually, Calm lets me get 12 spare EVs with the exact same stats achieved. Whoever made the Bold spread must be really bad. :p

You may find that Ice Punch or Stone Edge may be more useful on Lucario than Crunch. It's no secret that Crunch has become an inferior choice to Ice Punch, and even to Stone Edge. The latter may prove to be more useful because you can hit Gyarados, Salamence (though Salamence runs 280 Speed or above, so I shouldn't be using this as an example) and Dragonite for instance, all in one; Ice Punch naturally covers Gliscor and Celebi at the expense of Gyarados coverage, but those two will be far less threatening to your team than the first three. Gyarados seems to be countered unorthadoxly in this team, what with the Thunderpunch Machamp, so Stone Edge Lucario gives you another way to hit Gyarados hard; plus Gyarados switch on Lucario oftenly, so it's a suitable option in that respect.

With that in mind, it frees up the tention you're putting under Machamp. Presumably Thunderpunch was for Gyarados specifically, but you can now settle for Stone Edge (still hits Gyarados for super effective) as the extra coverage Lucario provided you with is a relief. Additionally, it works well with Machamp's No Guard trait.

Since Gliscors all run speed EVs to outspeed Luke and Celebi is hit SE by Crunch, Ice Punch is no good. This means it's really Gyarados/Dragonite vs. Cresselia/Dusknoir/Celebi/Rotoms. A tough call really considering how popular Gyara is and the fact that I really want to replace that Machamp which screams 'skymin switch-in'. How about a resttalk Tyranitar over Machamp? That would nicely cover all my crunchable troubles and give Luke Stone Edge. I can always roar out gyara if needed and kill it through SR damage.

 

[Taylor]

You may as well stick Hidden Power Electric on Swampert and OHKO Gyarados immediately. Remember, you don't lead with Stealth Rock support, so you're not guaranteed to have it out before Gyarados initially switches in and sets up. You can phaze twice with Swampert, but then what? Gyarados should still be on 50% and can Dragon Dance on Scizor / Swampert, though setting up on Lucario is questionable.

I guess Roar suits Swampert more for reasons that I need not explain, and has more going for it in the long run.

I think you should be fine with Stone Edge Machamp and revenge-killing with Skaymin-s. Whatever way we look at it, we can agree that the less Gyarados can set up on, you reduce the ammount of situations you will find yourself in severe situations with it.

Adding Celebi seems harmless but gives opposing Heatran another OHKO in the bag. Zapdos can reduce the ammount of Fire Blasts Heatran has at its disposal, notably twice as fast as usual thanks to Pressure. But Zapdos is 2HKOed with Stealth Rock support and besides Swampert, if we assume you add Celebi over Machamp, the rest of your team is weak to Fire-type attacks. Just make sure you keep Swampert alive; a task that may seem to be easier said than done with no recovery move.

I won't discount Celebi's ability to counter Gyarados, though, which may prove to be just enough of a reaon to use it; afterall, it would save us a lot of hassle elsewhere.

Alternatively, Hidden Power Electric Heatran over Machamp is not such a bad idea. You revenge-kill Gyarados, as we're using Timid/Naive (dependant on the moveset), and we have a secondary switch-in to Heatran opposition; let's not forget enemy Shaymin-s, too.

For Heatran's moves: Fire Blast, Earth Power, Hidden Power Electric, and Explosion or Dragon Pulse, which ultimately decides whether you use a Hasty or Timid nature.

It's up to you.

 

[newbioform]

Thank you very much, for you obviously cares about helping me and took a lot of effort to write walls of words. :)

Yeah I agrees that HP Electric really has no place on this Pert, which already has STAB Earthquake sacrificed to make way for roar. Note this is my only option at beating CM Suicune and Raikou.

I can definitely see why Celebi is a bad option for this team (what was I thinking) with all these fire users running around. And despite everything, this team should work just as well without paralysis support as it is designed this way.

The Machamp vs. ScarfTran is a tough decision as I can see both sitting snuggly in the team. I have never used this Machamp though and watching MS frustrating people with resttalk dynamic punch Machamp has raised my interest enough to try it myself. If I find this Machamp ineffective, I will definitely consider using a ScarfTran, which has been amazing for me.

I'm still debating Crunch vs. Stone Edge though. Hopefully I can get a few games under my belt this week and see for myself. After all, real games always beats theorymon.

 

[Taylor]

One of Machamp's biggest assets is the ability to counter Tyranitar. But, as we can see, you have a Choice Scarf Scizor, Choice Scarf Shamin-s, and Swampert - 3 different options, all capable of posing a threat to Tyranitar. With Machamp, it seems like we're over-preparing for Tyranitar and there's just no real need to.

Common Tyranitar sets, like Dragon Dance varients, are easily countered by certain Pokemon, but it cannot be countered entirely, due to its diverse, wide-spread of moves available to it. Figure out the set and act accordingly, as they say. But you have more than enough Tyranitar coverage so it's definately worth mentioning that it is unnecessary to have Machamp in the mix as well.

I didn't say Celebi was an absolute no but I had my doubts with what it would bring to the team as a whole - both good and bad points.

After all, real games always beats theorymon.

I would have to agree. Test Heatran and Celebi, if you must, and see which you deem to be worthy of the spot.

 

[newbioform]

Test Heatran and Celebi, if you must, and see which you deem to be worthy of the spot.

Actually, I have came up with another poke can potentially fill the spot and do everything just as well, if not better:

Porygon2 @ Leftovers
Ability: Trace
Nature: Modest
EVs: 240 HP/164 Def/104 Sp.Atk

~ Discharge/Charge Beam
~ Ice Beam
~ Rest
~ Sleeptalk

Obviously extra Heatran and Gyara security, and can pull off a sweep with Charge Beam. I'll get this tested in the next week or so.

 

[Taylor]

I think you may find Recover to be more fitting on Porygon2, mainly because it is the better option. A status-absorber is a necessity and is not always recommended, so you don't have to go to the extreme and give it a try on something that isn't as effective with Rest and Sleep Talk when it has Recover at its disposal. Please don't feel that you must replace Machamp's position with something that can't do it better than what you're replacing it for.

If you feel that it's necessary to lose the Heatran support - yes, opposing Heatran will have no trouble in dealing with Porygon2, especially one that is reliant on Rest + Sleep Talk - then be my guest.

You're not even guaranteed to be able to deal with Gyarados because you may have been forced asleep before the opponent brings it in, which is a possibility. Also, those EV investments appear to be 3HKOed by Gyarados's Waterfall and with Stealth Rock in play, while you're unable to OHKO back, which of course is extremely pointless if you're assured to lose one-on-one against something you intend to counter.

Make sure you experiment with Heatran, and even Celebi.