SM OU Kyurem+Gear Balance

[Egor]

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Teambuilding Process

I built this team for 43rd round of OU Teambuilding Competition. Subject of this round is Kyurem, so obviously it's my first mon. I immediately paired it with Magearna, which is my wincon. Magearna appreciates pressure that Kyurem puts on opposing mons that may be troublesome for Magearna like Heatran, Ferrothorn, and most importantly Toxapex, which completely walls my Magearna set. Magearna also can act as an offensive check to Tapu Lele and Mega Alakazam.

Hazard control is crucial for Kyurem because of its weakness to Stealth Rock, so the next my mon is Zapdos. Along with Defog support, it pressures Celesteela and Mega Scizor, which can be annoying for both Kyurem and Magearna, checks mons such as Kartana, Hawlucha, and Mega Pinsir, and forms a double Pressure core with Kyurem, which improves my stall matchup.

Toxapex completes my defensive backbone with Zapdos, checking many special attackers like Ash-Greninja, Volcarona, and Mega Diancie. Toxapex spreads Toxic, which reduces defensive mons' longevity and allows my team to break past them easier.

I noticed that my team has troubles with Chansey, and it lacks of Stealth Rock setter, so I added Mega Tyranitar. It fills the role of Stealth Rock setter and acts as a second wallbreaker, alongside Kyurem. It also can lure in some Steels like Mega Scizor and beat them with Fire Punch. Mega Tyranitar's Dark typing is also useful to wall non-Focus Blast Reuniclus.

Last mon. Now I lack of Ground and Speed control. Scarf Lando excellently fills these roles. It eases my matchup vs fast teams, which isn't good, somewhat checks troublesome for my team Zygarde, and provides a pivot support thanks to U-turn.

In-depth Look

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Ability: Pressure
EVs: 56 HP / 200 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Substitute
- Earth Power
- Roost

Standart SubRoost Kyurem. Ice Beam is a STAB of choice because of decent power and reliability. Earth Power alongside Ice Beam gives Kyurem a Mamoswine coverage. The combination of Substitute, Roost, and Pressure allows Kyurem to PP stall opposing mons. Metronome pairs well with Substitute and Mamoswine coverage because it's pretty spammable. The EV spread and Timid nature maximize Speed and gives 101 HP Substitutes, the rest in Special Attack.

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Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shift Gear
- Calm Mind
- Fleur Cannon
- Focus Blast​

Double Dance Magearna. Shift Gear and Calm Mind are Magearna's sweeping tools. Fleur Cannon is the strongest move. Focus Blast is the coverage for the likes of Heatran and Ferrothorn. Fairium Z turns Fleur Cannon into a very strong nuke, which can pick a KO without Special Attack drop and allow Magearna to snowball and sweep. The EV spread maximizes offensive stats, which is important for successful sweeping.

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Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Discharge
- Roost
- Heat Wave
- Defog

Discharge spreads paralysis. Heat Wave is a coverage for mons like Mega Scizor, Tangrowth, and Ferrothorn. Roost is necessary to increase Zapdos's longevity. Defog is a form of hazard control, which prevents my team from being worn down by hazards. Pressure is chosen to form a double Pressure core with Kyurem. Leftovers increase Zapdos's longevity alongside Roost. The EV spread maximizes physical bulk, allowing Zapdos to check the likes of Kartana and Hawlucha more consistently.

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Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover
- Toxic

Scald cripples physical attackers with a potential burn. Haze is an anti-setup tool. Recover, Regenerator, and Black Sludge increase Toxapex's longevity. Toxic punishes defensive mons like Tangrowth and Gastrodon. The EV spread maximizes Toxapex's special bulk, allowing it to check special attackers like Ash-Greninja and Volcarona more consistently.

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Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Fire Punch

Stealth Rock is mandatory for every team. Pursuit punishes switches and VoltTurn cores. Stone Edge is the strongest move. Fire Punch is for mons like Ferrothorn, Mega Mawile, and Mega Scizor. Sand Stream is the only Tyranitar's ability and is a great one, boosting Tyranitar's special bulk. The EV spread maximizes Attack, outpaces Mega Mawile and makes Tyranitar as bulky as possible.

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Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 244 Atk / 68 Def / 196 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stone Edge

Offensive Scarf Lando. Earthquake is the most spammable move. U-turn is for generating and obtaining momentum. Hidden Power Ice allows Lando to somewhat check Zygarde. Stone Edge has great synergy with Earthquake. The EV spread allows Lando to outpace Mega Alakazam and survive a +2 Acrobatics from Hawlucha. Naïve nature was chosen because of Hidden Power Ice.

Threatlist

: one of the most difficult matchups. Iron Tail variants are especially dangerous, as they can beat Kyurem which otherwise can check Zygarde. Lando is easy to wear down so it isn't very reliable. WP sets 6-0 my team.

: Rain teams really pressures me because I lack of switch-ins to common Rain mons like Mega Swampert. The best I can do is try to setup Magearna on Pelipper or try to constantly change the weather with Mega Tyranitar.

: my lack of Psychic checks means that they heavily pressure my team, and I can handle them only offensively with either Magearna or Lando. Hoopa-U is especially dangerous because nothing can switch in.

: similar to Hoopa-U, I can't switch into this thing. Kyurem-B is easier to deal with, though, as it doesn't hit through Kyurem's Substitute.

Fast Offensive Teams: they can overload my defensive backbone, so I forced to overrely on Lando or Magearna sweep.
​

 

[devilicious]

I’m not really sure about Tyranitar’s worth on your team. The set you have can’t really hurt Chansey. I suggest you replace it with specially defensive Tapu Bulu.

Tapu Bulu @ leftovers
Ability: Grassy surge
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Def
Careful nature
- Swords dance
- Horn leech
- Superpower
- Synthesis

Tapu Bulu checks Zygarde although you need to watch out for iron tail. It’s also your answer to rain teams. After a swords dance, it becomes pretty difficult to switch into Tapu Bulu’s grassy terrain boosted Horn leech.

I also suggest you run 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe EVs on Zapdos to outspeed adamant Bisharp and timid magnezone.

Scarf Lando-T doesn’t cut it for you either because it lacks the power to break through bulky offensive teams which are very common in this meta. I suggest you run this set.

Landorus-T @ Flyinium Z
Ability : Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Jolly nature
- Stealth rock
- Swords dance
- Earthquake
- Fly

This set allows you to get rocks up reliably while also netting KOs on many would be counters to Lando like Tangrowth and Ferrothorn.

 

[Egor]

I’m not really sure about Tyranitar’s worth on your team. The set you have can’t really hurt Chansey. I suggest you replace it with specially defensive Tapu Bulu.

Tapu Bulu @ leftovers
Ability: Grassy surge
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Def
Careful nature
- Swords dance
- Horn leech
- Superpower
- Synthesis

Tapu Bulu checks Zygarde although you need to watch out for iron tail. It’s also your answer to rain teams. After a swords dance, it becomes pretty difficult to switch into Tapu Bulu’s grassy terrain boosted Horn leech.

I also suggest you run 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe EVs on Zapdos to outspeed adamant Bisharp and timid magnezone.

Scarf Lando-T doesn’t cut it for you either because it lacks the power to break through bulky offensive teams which are very common in this meta. I suggest you run this set.

Landorus-T @ Flyinium Z
Ability : Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Jolly nature
- Stealth rock
- Swords dance
- Earthquake
- Fly

This set allows you to get rocks up reliably while also netting KOs on many would be counters to Lando like Tangrowth and Ferrothorn.

If I'll replace scarf Lando with zfly, the team'll be even more slower, which isnt good imo. As for Zap spread, Zone runs timid only when scarf which anyway outpaces Zap. Bisharp is very uncommon rn, so I would maximize physical bulk rather than cut it for uncommon threats.

 

[unami]

hello, i had a look at the team and i can give my 2 cents on this. its going to be small pointers which can potentially turn some losses into wins, no big fancy changes because im not experienced with using regular kyurem.

so ur landot, id suggest running max speed jolly coz porygon z is a thing on the ladder and ive lost games to it in the past cause my scarf landot wasnt faster and being swept by that is extremely gay. then id suggest trying explosion over stone edge as stuff like kommo o and other weird stuff on cheese hyper offense is also present on the ladder and booming on that if it takes slightly a bit chip is great so u dont suffer too much casualties. probably can do w/o edge since pex checks zard y, zapdos pinsir and gyarados (also another boom target no prediction needed). dont need defense evs necessarily since u got phys def zap.

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Explosion

then, the zapdos set should be 248 hp regardless whether u care about adamant bisharp or magnezone or not. odd numbers for stealth rock weak things like zapdos make it so it has 4 switches into sr, at the 4th switch ur at 1% hp. i personally think the 20 evs is worth it, u cant assume everyone on the ladder is running only scarf zone, theres gna be other sets running around. bisharp is also nice even tho its uncommon. 20 evs isnt much a sacrifice. then, id suggest static over pressure and volt switch over discharge. static increases ur chances of winning games by a considerable bit (if u can hax then go for it), potentially paralyzing pinsir, scarf landot gyarados etc on contact and if u get that lucky break, u can even roost on them. i know u said pressure helps with stall but honestly, i really dont see you breaking stall with this team, sorry if i offended you, wasnt my intention and just what i think from team preview. volt helps you more easily bring ur breakers kyurem, tar and mag in.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Static
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Roost
- Heat Wave
- Defog

gl with team!

 

[devilicious]

If I'll replace scarf Lando with zfly, the team'll be even more slower, which isnt good imo. As for Zap spread, Zone runs timid only when scarf which anyway outpaces Zap. Bisharp is very uncommon rn, so I would maximize physical bulk rather than cut it for uncommon threats.

The leftovers number for Zapdos is reached with 248 HP EVs. 20 Def EVs really isn’t doing much anyway so it’s worth investing into speed. I see your point about your team’s speed so I guess keeping Scarf Lando makes sense. But you should try Tapu Bulu instead of Tyranitar for sure.

I request you guys to review my team as well. This is the link https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/bulky-offense.3644470/

 

[MFJK]

Hey,

You've got a cool team there and I appreciate the fact that it features Kyurem, which I think is really good. Overall, your 6 is able to respond against most prominent threats and archetypes, although the style of play you were going for with this team really isn't useful in some matchups. I believe this is mainly due to your team being overreliant on Magearna and Landorus-T to switch-in on some specific threats. When facing Psychic-types like M-Alakazam and Tapu Lele you pretty much all the time be forced into Magearna, meaning that it will be severely weakened, or even eliminated before it can actually do its job. Similarly, you're overly dependent on Landorus-T as your Zygarde and M-Mawile check and since it's your only offensive pivot, it will be hard for you to maintain offensive momentum in those situations. Your team is also relatively slow since Kyurem is your fastest mon outside of Landorus-T and it's outsped by many common offensive threats. What that means is that when facing offense, you will be forced to play reactively, constantly switching into your main switchin to the opposing threat. And through aggressive plays from the opponent, he can completely destroy the flow of your of your team. This is especially harmful when facing traditional offense because your team lacks defensive tools vs. certain threats, and doesn't have a pokemon that can apply constant offensive pressure to some faster threats (M-Medicham and Tornadus-T for example) outside of Landorus-T

My changes below will be changing the team's style of play, making it a more proactive one, relying mainly on offensive pressure and hazards, as opposed to your current one. I believe that it will take full advantage of Kyurem and Magearna's capabilities, allowing them to put in more work. Without further ado, let's get into the suggestions.

Major changes

->

- The first thing I did was trying to get rid of that reliance upon Landorus-T to check Zygarde, which is why I estimated that Tangrowth would be a better fit than Toxapex here. Of course, Toxapex is a pretty good pokemon that can help walling a lot of special attackers, but it's also easily taken advantage of by pokemons such as Substitute Zygarde because of its passiveness and further improved your Psychic-type weakness, which obviously isn't good for this type of team. Tangrowth is also somewhat passive, but definitely much less than Toxapex since it has the ability to damage Steel-types with Earthquake and its access to Knock Off. All of that coupled with its ability to still check Ash-Greninja and to check M-Alakazam better made it a better slot here.

->

- The second and last major change I'm proposing is Ash-Greninja over Zapdos. I can get that you did not want to rely on Landorus-T as your defogger, which is why you chose Zapdos, but Zapdos also isn't that good as a defogger here either - it's really pressured by Heatran and M-Tyranitar which are 2 of the most common rockers at the moment, and the fact that it's weak to rocks itself means that it can quickly get overwhelmed (because of the situations where you'll be forced to play more reactively, which I touched upon earlier). This is why I felt like you'd better off improve your offense matchup with that slot, which Ash-Greninja accomplishes really well. It's high speed stat paired with its strong STABs and access to Spikes are really helpful to apply offensive pressure on the opponent, especially with M-Tyranitar as your rockr since you pressure Tornadus from defogging. Having Ash-Greninja on your team allows you to play more aggressively with your team, which I think you really needed. I also wanted to point out that I think that I believe it'd be more helpul than something like Rotom-W (which I considered because defog + volt + heatran check) because it wouldn't really solve the team's problem about being overwhelmed or its issue vs. faster threats, which is why I still think Ash-Gren is better.

Minor changes

- A change that I believe would make the team more efficient is CM + Pain Split Magearna over your current version. The reason behind it is that it would really improve your matchup against Psychic-types and would solve the problem about the team being overreliant on it. With Tangrowth and a Magearna with a form of recovery, it will allow you some room for reactive play, while not completely sucking your momentum because of hazards + Magearna still being really strong. Of course, it is not without downsides since it means you're less likely to be able to sweep offense, but CM + Pain Split is still really good at that to be honest, and with Ash-Gren, your matchup vs. offense is really not that bad. Also, it improves your matchup vs. Stall and although it was already good enough, it could still be troublesome and with it, it's a lot easier to win vs. it.

- I'd recommend changing your Landorus-T to a bulky scarf variant with Defog > Stone Edge because although it's much less common at the moment, I feel it would be better in order to allow for a better ability to switch-in on physical attackers like M-Mawile and Kartana, which I think you need much more here than the slight boost in attack.

- Finally, a very minor nitpick but I'd change Kyurem's spread to 56 HP / 192 SpA / 8 SpD / 252 Spe which allows you to take M-Charizad-Y's Fire Blast from full.

~~
Final notes & comments

Overall, I really enjoyed rating your team! My changes make it a more offensively-oriented team that is meant to be played aggressively, yet still allows for reactive to reset momentum when you're on the back foot thanks to Tangrowth and Pain Split Magearna. There are still some pokemons which are annoying to your team such as M-Medicham and M-Mawile, but at least you've got more ways to play around them and to prevent them from doing too much damage through aggressive plays. Also, if you're wondering, I got the Mageanr a spread from a Ske team and it helps improving rolls vs. Landorus-T's Earthquake. hope that my changes helped. Good luck with your team and have an awesome day! n_n

Importable

 

[Egor]

Hey,

You've got a cool team there and I appreciate the fact that it features Kyurem, which I think is really good. Overall, your 6 is able to respond against most prominent threats and archetypes, although the style of play you were going for with this team really isn't useful in some matchups. I believe this is mainly due to your team being overreliant on Magearna and Landorus-T to switch-in on some specific threats. When facing Psychic-types like M-Alakazam and Tapu Lele you pretty much all the time be forced into Magearna, meaning that it will be severely weakened, or even eliminated before it can actually do its job. Similarly, you're overly dependent on Landorus-T as your Zygarde and M-Mawile check and since it's your only offensive pivot, it will be hard for you to maintain offensive momentum in those situations. Your team is also relatively slow since Kyurem is your fastest mon outside of Landorus-T and it's outsped by many common offensive threats. What that means is that when facing offense, you will be forced to play reactively, constantly switching into your main switchin to the opposing threat. And through aggressive plays from the opponent, he can completely destroy the flow of your of your team. This is especially harmful when facing traditional offense because your team lacks defensive tools vs. certain threats, and doesn't have a pokemon that can apply constant offensive pressure to some faster threats (M-Medicham and Tornadus-T for example) outside of Landorus-T

My changes below will be changing the team's style of play, making it a more proactive one, relying mainly on offensive pressure and hazards, as opposed to your current one. I believe that it will take full advantage of Kyurem and Magearna's capabilities, allowing them to put in more work. Without further ado, let's get into the suggestions.

Major changes

->

- The first thing I did was trying to get rid of that reliance upon Landorus-T to check Zygarde, which is why I estimated that Tangrowth would be a better fit than Toxapex here. Of course, Toxapex is a pretty good pokemon that can help walling a lot of special attackers, but it's also easily taken advantage of by pokemons such as Substitute Zygarde because of its passiveness and further improved your Psychic-type weakness, which obviously isn't good for this type of team. Tangrowth is also somewhat passive, but definitely much less than Toxapex since it has the ability to damage Steel-types with Earthquake and its access to Knock Off. All of that coupled with its ability to still check Ash-Greninja and to check M-Alakazam better made it a better slot here.

->

- The second and last major change I'm proposing is Ash-Greninja over Zapdos. I can get that you did not want to rely on Landorus-T as your defogger, which is why you chose Zapdos, but Zapdos also isn't that good as a defogger here either - it's really pressured by Heatran and M-Tyranitar which are 2 of the most common rockers at the moment, and the fact that it's weak to rocks itself means that it can quickly get overwhelmed (because of the situations where you'll be forced to play more reactively, which I touched upon earlier). This is why I felt like you'd better off improve your offense matchup with that slot, which Ash-Greninja accomplishes really well. It's high speed stat paired with its strong STABs and access to Spikes are really helpful to apply offensive pressure on the opponent, especially with M-Tyranitar as your rockr since you pressure Tornadus from defogging. Having Ash-Greninja on your team allows you to play more aggressively with your team, which I think you really needed. I also wanted to point out that I think that I believe it'd be more helpul than something like Rotom-W (which I considered because defog + volt + heatran check) because it wouldn't really solve the team's problem about being overwhelmed or its issue vs. faster threats, which is why I still think Ash-Gren is better.

Minor changes

- A change that I believe would make the team more efficient is CM + Pain Split Magearna over your current version. The reason behind it is that it would really improve your matchup against Psychic-types and would solve the problem about the team being overreliant on it. With Tangrowth and a Magearna with a form of recovery, it will allow you some room for reactive play, while not completely sucking your momentum because of hazards + Magearna still being really strong. Of course, it is not without downsides since it means you're less likely to be able to sweep offense, but CM + Pain Split is still really good at that to be honest, and with Ash-Gren, your matchup vs. offense is really not that bad. Also, it improves your matchup vs. Stall and although it was already good enough, it could still be troublesome and with it, it's a lot easier to win vs. it.

- I'd recommend changing your Landorus-T to a bulky scarf variant with Defog > Stone Edge because although it's much less common at the moment, I feel it would be better in order to allow for a better ability to switch-in on physical attackers like M-Mawile and Kartana, which I think you need much more here than the slight boost in attack.

- Finally, a very minor nitpick but I'd change Kyurem's spread to 56 HP / 192 SpA / 8 SpD / 252 Spe which allows you to take M-Charizad-Y's Fire Blast from full.

~~
Final notes & comments

Overall, I really enjoyed rating your team! My changes make it a more offensively-oriented team that is meant to be played aggressively, yet still allows for reactive to reset momentum when you're on the back foot thanks to Tangrowth and Pain Split Magearna. There are still some pokemons which are annoying to your team such as M-Medicham and M-Mawile, but at least you've got more ways to play around them and to prevent them from doing too much damage through aggressive plays. Also, if you're wondering, I got the Mageanr a spread from a Ske team and it helps improving rolls vs. Landorus-T's Earthquake. hope that my changes helped. Good luck with your team and have an awesome day! n_n

Importable

Thanks man! I'll try ur suggestions!