ABOUT THE TEAM AND ME
I have mainly just been a Smogon guest lurking about and reading the smog, articles in the LC forums, and RMTs in general for about 2 years, and admittedly, stealing some teams from the RMT or other places I could find good teams, because my team building skills were absolute trash. However after encountering the creator of a team that I stole on the ladder using the team that I stole, or "borrowed," I felt a little embarrassed, because I am very shy and self conscious. After that experience, I decided to go try and make a team by myself after reading through all the team building guides and viability rankings on the LC forums. This is probably the first team I made that isn't COMPLETELY trash. This team was also based on the team I found on the RMT, but pretty much completely changed from it except for the win condition. (http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/shadow-dancing-a-goth-offense-team.3517146/)
BRIEF TEAM BUILDING PROCCESS(probably not worth it because my team building is pretty bad)Pokemon that made the final cut are bolded.
1. WIN CONDITION/LATE GAME SWEEPER- Because this was based on the team I had found on the RMT, I choose swords dance pawniard to be my win condition. Then, I looked at Pawniard's problems, a lot of them which I hadn't found at this time. The only ones I found at this moment were ground types (drilbur and diglett mainly) and fighting types
2. TAKING CARE OF FIGHTING TYPES- Once again, I decided to make this similar to the team I found, and the main reason for my making this team was because I loved gothita and wanted a good way to use it. If you couldn't tell from my as subtle as a sledgehammer hints(including the pokemon's name in the 2nd hint), my pokemon of choice to take care of fighting types was gothita, because it could trap and (hopefully) kill fighting types
3. HAZARDS- I am actually relatively new to LC (just dropped down from playing casually in OU) and know that DeoSharp is/was (id about the OU metagame anymore) a very prominent threat in OU. After reading an article in the Smog about advice on switching tiers, it said to make comparisons between the tier you were in and the tier you are switching to, so I made the Pawniard and Bisharp connection, and decided to add a "deoxys-d." For my "deoxys-d" that sets up hazards, I decided to go with the hazard stacking dwebble at first, because I played LC a tiny bit for fun during BW and I think hazards dwebble was actually pretty good back then.
TEAM BUILDING SO FAR- Pawniard(sweeper), Gothita(fighting support), Dwebble(hazards)
4. CHECKING GROUND TYPES- I decided to look for grass types, and came upon foongus, an overall good pivot. I actually forgot poison was weak to ground and that foongus actually takes a decent amount of damage from a drilbur's EQ, so I decided that foongus was going to be my ground type check.
5. COVERING WEAKNESSES- All of the pokemon on my team were weak to fire, except for gothita, but I wasn't exactly expecting it to tank fire type moves consistently, so i looked for a good stop to most fire types in the tier. I also wanted something that could give me a slow u-turn/volt switch into pawniard. Chinchou fit well in this role very well.
6. I normally have a hard time choosing a 6th pokemon, and this was no exception. Something about the pressure of it being the last puzzle piece to hopefully make your team work, or the fact that the core of your team is usually already made at this point, and supporting and finding/fixing is something I am really bad at. I decided to be really cheeky and make a F/W/G core by adding Ponyta. Ponyta is also a decent switching into Mienfoo I guess, so it wasn't completely random...
7. After messing around, I finally came to the conclusion a couple months late that spike stacking dwebble just wasn't cutting it anymore. I decided to replace it with Trubbish, because Trubbish has the option to set up spikes, and can take on opposing mienfoos and pawniards very well, which both need to be removed for pawniard to sweep.
8. Drilbur completely screwed my team over, and gothita just wasn't pulling it's weight, because it actually can't reliably kill mienfoos. Because of this, I decided to remove gothita instead of foongus(because foongus is still a good pivot) to get a better drilbur check, eventually settling on Slowpoke.
FINAL VERSION-Pawniard(sweeper), Foongus(pivot), Chinchou(momentum and covering fire weakness), Ponyta(FWG), Trubbish(fighting type and pawn check), Slowpoke(ground type counter)
Sorry for that not intended to be as long wall of words. If you completed that, you deserve a cookie.
NOW, FOR THE ACTUAL TEAM
Pawniard
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Item: Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
Evs: 236atk, 36 def, 36 spdef, 196 speed
Nature: Jolly
Swords Dance, Knock Off, Sucker Punch, Iron HeadNOW, FOR THE ACTUAL TEAM
Pawniard
Item: Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
Evs: 236atk, 36 def, 36 spdef, 196 speed
Nature: Jolly
Description: Swords Dance Pawniard can really become a big threat after one Swords Dance. It has the ability to dent if not kill most defensive threats in the game. A few notable defensive threats that Swords Dance Pawniard can OHKO or 2HKO after a swords dance include Spritzee, Porygon, Archen, Chinchou, and Foongus. Knock off is in general a great move, especially in LC, Sucker Punch, because Pawniard needs priority to beat threats that are faster than it, and Iron Head mainly for additional STAB and a little more coverage. The EVs focus on it's Attack and Speed, while giving it some bulk. The eviolite makes it much bulkier and able to come in mid game and knock off a few of it's checks or bulkier pokemon in general without being knocked to a too low hp range before attempting to pull off a sweep with it.
Additional Notes: I think that Pawniard is here to stay on this team. I was thinking of perhaps a different move than Iron Head, but I think Iron Head is probably the best option. I was also thinking of switching eviolite to life orb to maybe snag a little more kills that it would usually miss out on (if there are any, I honestly don't know).
Trubbish
Item: Berry Juice
Ability: Sticky Hold
Evs:40hp, 184def, 100sdef, 160speed
New Evs for Trubbish are 116 HP, 36 Atk, 100Def, 20 SpDef, 236 speed thanks to
Nature:Bold
New Nature for Trubbish is Jolly
Recycle, Spikes, Gunk Shot, Drain punch
Description: Trubbish is a great switch-in to most fighting types that threaten Pawniard, because it resists their fighting STAB and can take a knock off no problem, because of sticky hold. Recycle+Berry juice give it some decent recovery. Spikes are so that it can let Pawniard get some more kills, as well as wearing down pokemon in general. Spikes can also bait the defog for pawniard to switch into. Gunk Shot is just for power, because of trubbish's low attack stat. Drain punch is because Pawniards usually end up switching into trubbish, so you can surprise them with an OHKO drain punch.Ability: Sticky Hold
Evs:
New Evs for Trubbish are 116 HP, 36 Atk, 100Def, 20 SpDef, 236 speed thanks to
Nature:
New Nature for Trubbish is Jolly
Recycle, Spikes, Gunk Shot, Drain punch
Additional Thoughts: The Evs are slightly random, giving it good mixed bulk, but most importantly good defense for checking pawn and fighting types. The speed is so that I think it outspeeds or ties with most Pawniards. However, I think a better EV spread might help; idk. Trubbish may be changed for Timbur, because trubbish can't actually OHKO pawniard with drain punch, while Timbur makes a great pawniard counter.
Chinchou
Item: Eviolite New Item is Choice Scarf
Ability: Volt Absorb
Evs: New Evs are 52 def, 232 SpAtk, 224 speed
Nature:Bold Changed to modest
MOVES: Hydro pump, Ice Beam, thunderbolt, Volt Switch
changed from rest/talk chinchou
Description: Chinchou was mainly put on the the team to help stop fire types. Chinchou in general is just a really solid pivot, and has the ability to give a Ability: Volt Absorb
Evs: New Evs are 52 def, 232 SpAtk, 224 speed
Nature:
MOVES: Hydro pump, Ice Beam, thunderbolt, Volt Switch
changed from rest/talk chinchou
Additional Thoughts: Honestly, I don't really know about what variant of Chinchou I should run. Scarf could give me some much needed specially offensive presence and some speed too, as well as a drilbur check, so I was considering that. Just changed it to scarf but still testing between scarf and rest/talk. Currently I like scarf better.
Foongus
Item: Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Evs: 124 hp, 160 def, 160SpDef
Nature:Bold
Spore, Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb, Hidden Power Fighting
Description: Foongus overall just works as a nice pivot pokemon with a surprisingly decent power (more ATK than Fletchling). Spore is also a great move just to have in general, as you can disable a pokemon for maybe the whole game with it. The EVs are standard,Bold for more defense, because I normally use it against physical attackers. HP Fighting is used, because Foongus(at least in lower ladders) makes great bait for Pawniard. Foongus is also a pretty good fighting type switch-in as well.
Item: Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Evs: 124 hp, 160 def, 160SpDef
Nature:Bold
Spore, Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb, Hidden Power Fighting
Additional Thoughts: I honestly don't really know about Foongus. He forms a nice FWG core, but I was thinking of replacing him with Pumpkaboo or whatever the name is, because 1. It can spin block, 2. It can counter drilbur, and 3. It fits the Halloween theme since Halloween is coming soon.
Ponyta
Item: Eviolite
Ability: Flame Body
Evs:
New Evs for Ponyta are 236 Def, 76 SpDef, 196 Speed
Nature:
New Nature is impish
Flare Blitz, Will-o-Wisp, Morning Sun, Toxic replaces Wild Charge.
Additional Thoughts: The EVs could potentially be better I think. This is one of the pokemon that I am 75% sold on, meaning it isn't bad but if I had to, I guess I could replace it.
Staryu(replacing Slowpoke)
Item: Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Evs: 116 Hp, 156 Def, 36 SpAtk, 156 speed
Nature:Timid
Rapid Spin, Scald, Thunderbolt, Recover
Description: Stayu replaces slowpoke because of the fact that it basically is like Slowpoke with the same typing, but Staryu has the important trait of being able to rapid spin away hazards, which Ponyta really needs have removed. Staryu, just like Slowpoke can "Fish for for Scald burns," (thanks Eren yeagar) which is both important and makes a very bad pun. Staryu also can check drilbur pretty well. Recover gives it the longevity it needs and natural cure is overall a great ability. The EVs are so it is pretty physically defensive but also capitalizes on it's amazing speedItem: Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Evs: 116 Hp, 156 Def, 36 SpAtk, 156 speed
Nature:Timid
Rapid Spin, Scald, Thunderbolt, Recover
OUTRO
This is my first team and is probably really bad. If you are reading this, thank you so much, because I would never have thought anyone would be reading this RMT, none the less actually be interested enough to read it to here. I know the team is probably horrible, but please don't tear it apart to pieces and instead be constructive, because the team and this RMT took a while to make. Thank you so much Eren Yeagar for the changes to Trubbish and Ponyta's natures and Evs. I am extremely appreciative of Yagura for also affirming(if that's the word idk) Staryu, and also affirm me that scarf chinchou would be a good worthwhile change, as well as telling me to replace wild charge on ponyta which looking back i did find a little lackluster.
This is my first team and is probably really bad. If you are reading this, thank you so much, because I would never have thought anyone would be reading this RMT, none the less actually be interested enough to read it to here. I know the team is probably horrible, but please don't tear it apart to pieces and instead be constructive, because the team and this RMT took a while to make. Thank you so much Eren Yeagar for the changes to Trubbish and Ponyta's natures and Evs. I am extremely appreciative of Yagura for also affirming(if that's the word idk) Staryu, and also affirm me that scarf chinchou would be a good worthwhile change, as well as telling me to replace wild charge on ponyta which looking back i did find a little lackluster.
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