SM OU Kartana Playground

[Grandmas Cookin]

I have been playing OU for a while now and this is by far the best team i made myself. I frequently steal teams, so making my own team makes me feel better about this format.

Scarp Boi (Kartana) @ Focus Sash Ability: Beast Boost EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Timid Nature IVs: 19 Atk
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Swords Dance

Alright, starting off with my favourite mon from gen 7, Kartana! This is the mon the team was built around (sort of) and by far my favourite set of any pokemon since heracross in gen 2. This is the sashed SD timid set that boosts speed on KO’s. If you can get a SD up, something is about to die. This is the main sweeper of the team.

Livewire (Zapdos) @ Leftovers Ability: Pressure Shiny: Yes EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD Modest Nature IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Defog
- Roost

Since I have a sashed mon, I needed some form of hazard removal so sash stays up as long as possible. Zapdos does that and more. Carrying discharge and heat wave this mon is a nuisance to just about anything that gets set onto the field. My favourite flying type also get roost for recovery and can pressure stall if needed (Although I dislike stall with a burning passion)

Planet Doggo (Landorus-Therian) @ Choice Scarf Ability: Intimidate EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe Hasty Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Ah yes, Mr. 40% usage. As the most versatile mon in the tier you shouldn’t be surprised to see it on another team playing perfectly in its position of scouting and clicking EQ. This Doggo also counters other Lando-T is they decide to stay in as HP ice is a guaranteed 2HKO on every Lando I've ever seen.

Stardust (Clefable) (F) @ Leftovers Ability: Magic Guard Shiny: Yes EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD Calm Nature IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Stealth Rock
- Heal Bell

Proof I dont like stall! No toxic on one of the most popular toxic stall mon. Rather I play this fable cleric style while also laying rocks as it is a very reliable mon in surviving multiple hits from even the toughest of mons. Moonblast also deals a nice chunk of damage to mons like; kartana, lando-t, hawlucha, and Mswampert.

Lockheed (Latios-Mega) @ Latiosite Ability: Levitate EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Timid Nature IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Roost
- Calm Mind

Every team needs a mega! This one has the BoltBeam set with calm mind and roost. It was originally run with max hp over speed however 350 speed has been more helpful in battles.

Heckin Event (Volcanion) @ Wacan Berry Ability: Water Absorb EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD Modest Nature IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Steam Eruption
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power

This mon has 2 major weaknesses ground and electric, I chose to cover electric as I have 3 ground immunities, and only 1 electric immunity. And substitute will give Volcanion the advantage if you can predict a switch.

Other than a link - Here - to a battle to show this team in action i have nothing. I will gladly accept constructive criticism as i am fairly new.

 

[temp]

Hi Grandmas Cookin’! This team is actually super cool. I love the defensive synergy between Mega Latias and Clefable, and the two work particularly well on this team, too. Your team basically has everything a team needs and a little more: a cleric, a pivot, a scarfer, an electric immune, ground immune, etc. However, some sets could use some improvement.

OVERVIEW

Firstly, how do you break Chansey? Kartana 2HKOs at +2, but no smart Chansey player will allow Kartana to do so. Chansey is also accompanied by physically defensive mons like Skarmory, Landorus, etc., all of which answer Timid Kartana easily. Mega Swampert has a pretty nice time against your team as well, as it hits everything super effectively (excluding Clefable and even Kartana if lacking Superpower). With a solid amount of chip, rocks and even Toxic damage included, Serperior can clean up against this team. It outspeeds everything outside of Scarf Landorus-Therian. Speaking of Scarf Lando, I feel that it's severely holding you back from beating Volcarona. Z-Psychic variants (Fire Blast, Quiver Dance, Psychic, Bug Buzz) completely annihilate this team, which can be easily remedied by adding ScarfChomp or ScarfKeld > Landorus. I'll try to address these glaring weaknesses especially and others in this rate. Enjoy!

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TEAM CHANGES

[Fightinium Z > Focus Sash, 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Jolly Nature] - Firstly, I noticed that this team lacks a Z-move. Z-moves are especially nice when it comes to busting past bulky walls, and I feel that Fightinium Z would heavily benefit Kartana in its ability to sweep. All-out-Pummeling becomes a 175 BP Fighting-type attack, which is able to OHKO the likes of Skarmory with some prior damage, Celesteela, etc. Next, I'm going to address the gimmick of Timid Kartana. I've seen it used to success before, but the drop in power is definitely noticeable. A lot of people who advocate for this set seem to forget that you drop from 461 attack to 347 attack, which is almost 80 stat points lost. Sure, you still have a decent attack stat at +2 and can get speed from Beast Boost, but you miss out on numerous KOs.

[248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe Bold Nature] - I'm not sure what your Zapdos is trying to be on this team. It's running a defensive set, packing Defog and Roost, but you have max Special Attack and Modest to make it hit like a truck. Unfortunately, it's not much of a defensive behemoth when it lacks the stats to back it up. 248 HP lets it take 1% less from Stealth Rocks, letting it switch in 1 more time than usual.

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- Garchomp, in this current metagame, is a lot better as a revenge killer / scarfer. Given its speed tier of 102, it outpaces +1 base 100 speed Pokemon (Zard X and Volcarona in particular). Landorus' perk is that it has U-turn and Intimidate, but it falls short in the speed department. Chomp improves your Volcarona match-up a ton.

[252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD Bold Nature + Knock Off > Heal Bell] - Clefable still eats special hits solidly without investment, and Clef's main thing in this tier is that it has amazing mixed bulk with reliable recovery, a solid defensive typing and abilities. It's best to abuse this and allow it to check things like Garchomp easier. Clerics in this meta are very dull. Clefable on its own absorbs status nicely with its Magic Guard ability, so Heal Bell isn't 100% necessary. Knock Off cripples Pokemon that rely on items like Porygon2 or Chansey, while also ridding of Black Sludge, Lefties, etc. This heavily benefits your win conditions, as any chip damage is appreciated; as is any way of lowering a Pokemon's bulk (longterm too!).

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[Mega Latias > Mega Latios] - Calm Mind Stored Power Mega Latias can break Chansey if they ever bring it in late, as at +5, it KOs. Clefable solidly absorbs Toxic from it, aiding Latias in her sweep. Only bring Latias out in preparation to sweep when Pokemon such as Mawile, Greninja, etc. have been removed from the field, as they will easily stymie your set-up attempt. Try to avoid Toxic from mons like Heatran at all costs as well. Mega Latios isn't that great unless you desperately need a Mega, and even then, it functions a lot better with a Roost + 3 Attacks set anyway. Mega Latias benefits from CM a lot more given its higher natural bulk.

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- Now, Alomomola's and Volcanion's roles are entirely different, but I feel that it works exceptionally well on this team. It provides Wish support for Chomp and Kartana specifically, and makes quick work of Mega Swampert. Do not bring this into Kingdra unless you're trying to scout for which move it's clicking. Protect is paramount to utilize vs. rain, as it stalls out turns. However, do not be obvious, as you'll easily lose momentum and they can bring in their Ferrothorn, allowing them to Spike.

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OTHER OPTIONS

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- Tangrowth improves your Kingdra and Serperior match-up, but it is prone to taking Specs Ice Beams, +4/+6 HP Fires, Ice Punches from Mega Pert, etc., so if you were to opt for AV Tang, be weary of those coverage options.

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original team:
rated team (alomomola):
(tang):

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I hope you enjoyed the rate. This is a solid bulky offensive team. It has its fair share of poor match-ups, but I hope my edits helped slightly. Let me know if you prefer the Alomomola variant or the Tangrowth one. In my opinion, the Alomomola version is more solid when it comes to packing an Ice-resist, allowing a solid blanket for Z-Freeze Shock from Kyu-B, which the Tangrowth version performs poorly against. Good luck!

 

[Grandmas Cookin]

Wow thats a lot to take in, i really appreciate your input on the team! I like the Z-SS on kartana idea and will try it, however i still feel that the timid speed boosting set is better overall on this team as the team outside of lando and latios is relatively slow.

Replacing landorus with scarf chomp does seem like a really good idea, and I will test be testing that out!

Zapdos is a set i saw that utilizes being bulky enough to survive hits while threatening other defensive mons, but the defensive set you showed does seem better as the things zapdos threatens wont be staying in for long enough to be KO’ed. Zapdos is also the kind of mon that gets hurt by a max of four moveslots as hp grass or ice would also be nice to help counter my rain, or Serperior weaknesses.

Heal bell on clefable was because i only have two physical mons on the team and they both don’t OHKO most mons with WoW and i dont have a bulky toxic immunity outside of clef. Knock off does look good on clef but depending on the circumstances it will be less effective. I will have multiple versions of the team so maybe on different sets there will be room for knock off but in this instance i feel heal bell is better.

Replacing latios with latias is definitely better however other than stored power, and calm mind im not sure what to put on it, as boltbeam looks awesome on this teams coverage, but that leaves no room for recovery.

Definitely a hard choice between tang and Alomomola, guess this is where the different sets come into play.

All, and all a really good rate. I greatly appreciate the help in spoting out weaknesses in the team, and improving sets for me!

Can’t wait to face you on the ladder!