By Neno. Art by Aragornbird.
Introduction
Yeah, so hi. I haven't been playing pokémon for a while, and I actually decided to quit competitive for good before HG/SS came to the US. But that didn't stop me from atleast stay updated about the pokémon metagame (loving The Smog for helping me here) and to an extent the pokémon community. So after having been staying away from Smogon in a while I check out the main page and happily (happfully?) see that the new issue of The Smog has been released. I hurry to check The Featured Pokémon for this issue and is delighted to see that it is my all time favorite mushroom, Breloom.
This of course sparked an interest in making a team based around this guy again as I have so many times before and to get some inspiration I read through the rest of the issue finding the "Lead Synergy" article which helped me throw together the base of the team which altogether has great synergy not to speak of the excellent lead synergy.
So not wasting anymore time here are the current team members:
Information
First I'll tell you about how the team operate. At all my teams involving a breloom I also pack Heatran and some water type. I have tried to deviate from that route many times, but I always seem to find back to this kind of defensive base. So after having decided atleast to have Heatran on the team I wanted something similar to Breloom so I could scout out his counters as fast as possible. The "Lead Synergy" article gave me a quick, but effective, option for this and Machamp was picked for it's (now obvious) great synergy with Heatran for taking on leads. With these three as my base I decided that the main focal point for my team would be to weaken or get rid of Brelooms counters, keeping Breloom as hidden as possible so he later can come in and do a hefty sweep when my opponent is no longer ready for him. Now that the strategy is out in the light I'll give you further information about the pokémon.
Machamp (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP/232 Atk/12 Spe/12 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dynamic Punch
- Payback
- Ice Punch
- Bullet Punch
No matter how you look at it, Machamp is a great lead. It takes down those suicide leads, forcing them them to either get up SR or die, but this is not the main reason for picking Machamp in the first place.
Machamp has pretty similar counters as Breloom and quite often I will see my opponents Breloom response and weaken it. This is also the reason I've chosen to go with Ice Punch over the more common Stone Edge as Gliscors with Taunt really is a pain to take down and the more they are damaged or less PP they have on Roost the better.
Next up is:
Heatran (M) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP/252 SAtk/252 Spe
Naive nature (+Spe, SDef-)
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Explosion
Heatran to finish the lead combo. Heatran have been through a lot of changes in between Choice Scarf and what not, but eventually in the final edit of the team I decided I needed the Shuca Berry so I could kill other Heatrans switching in while faking before mentioned item. Explosion is mainly filler, but I've had some good times exploding on Gliscor and other random fliers to open up for a Breloom sweep. As I said earlier, Heatran is part of a great type resisting synergy between himself, Breloom and the water type of choice Lanturn. This makes it easy to forexample switch Breloom in on a Swampert taking either the chosen water attack or an Earthquake.
I have copy/pasted the lead match ups for those of you who have not read the "Lead Synergy" article. If you have read it just skip through it all, but take care to read the notice at the end!
This is how I play it against all the mentioned except Swampert. I usually make an immediate switch to Breloom while they SR then Sub to scout out their move. If they Ice Beam I next kill them with Seed Bomb, if they do any other attack (bar the rare avalanche) they most probably won't brake the sub. If they switch I might Spore depending on who they switch too or just launch a powerful attack. Swampert is a joy for me as it's easy set up bait for Breloom, though he no longer is hidden. Speaking of which:
Breloom (F) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 232 HP/252 Atk/24 Spe
Adamant nature (+Atk, Satk-)
- Spore
- Focus Punch
- Seed Bomb
- Substitute
The definite star of the team. She just wrecks all teams not prepared for her, which isn't all that many to be honest. However I have yet to meet a team which is overprepared for Breloom which is where Machamp comes in. As you might have noticed I have a bit different EV spread than normal, and also some of the move choices may put you off. The explanation for the EV spread is that I don't realy need Breloom to outspeed all that much. What it would otherwise outspeed is covered by other team members (mostly Heatran) and the extra bulk helps for taking unSTABed Ice Beams and what not. It is also the reason why Swampert is my fav Breloom setup as if it doesn't have Ice Beam it can't break the sub, unless it's some heavy physical attacker of course.
I mainly have Seed Bomb over Leech Seed or Stone Edge to take out lead Swamperts who would otherwise be a pain to take down and other random bulky waters. It also helps that it does more damage to quick special attackers like Gengar, Jolteon and Starmie than Leech Seed would do. Leech Seed would help me with Gliscor though who can be somewhat of a bitch.
Now over to the gimmick:
Lanturn (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 40 HP/40 Spe/176 Satk/252 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, Atk-)
- Thunderbolt
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
Although I call her a gimmick Lanturn is really tieing up some loose ends here as at every version of this team Starmie, Jolteon and to a certain extent Gengar has been major threaths which ended up sweeping me several times. After adding Lanturn on the team I have generally no problem with Starmie or Jolteon who where the worst, and she helps on Gengar, though he can still be troublesome. I also got another switch in to the rotom applications.
Another thing Lanturn does for the team is spreading paralysis. As you might have noticed my team lacks in one aspect of the game. Speed. Lanturn remedies this and the support it gives is really helping it team mates out. Now, the only problem with this is that a paralyzed poké is one that can't sleep and this have been somewhat of a problem time and time again, but after getting used to having both statuses on the team I seem get around this somehow. The other moves have their uses, Surf is for Jolteon, while Thunderbolt is for Starmie. Ice Beam rounds out the coverage making sure grassers like Celebi and Breloom can't switch in freely though I might change this move for Confuse Ray in the future.
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP/228 Def/32 Spe
Bold nature (+Def, Atk-)
- Thunderbolt
- HP Ice (70)
- Roost
- Thunder Wave
Continuing the paralysis support is Zapdos. Zapdos and Lanturn is such a great combo at spreading that status as they together cover a lot of different pokemon, and lots of those I need slowed for the rest of the team. HP Ice is the move of choice over Heat Wave at the moment as it helps to Pressure stall Gliscor of it's Roosts, though this might change as Scizor is a meanie.
When it comes to why I picked Zapdos it was really only a choice between it and a physical defensive Rotom application. The Rotoms have an easier time against Gyarados, but goes down to Tyranitar. Zapdos lures in t-tars for Breloom to set up on while also standing a better chance against Gengar (not kidding, it's an important factor) than a Rotom does. Even so, Gyarados is really only a problem if it looks like this:
Gyarados @ Life Orb
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Ice Fang
If it lacks Stone Edge Zapdos will take it down, and if it lacks Ice Fang, it will be stopped by Breloom after it kills Zapdos. If it carries Bounce I can sub while it is invulnerable and sleep it, damage it on it's way down, though I have yet to play against a Gyarados carrying Bounce.
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 80 HP/252 Atk/176 Spe
Jolly nature (+Spe, SAtk-)
- Iron Head
- Ice Punch
- U-turn
- Fire Punch
Jirachi is mainly on the team to revenge kill Dragon Dancers not named Gyarados and Gengar. He really is the last part that glues the team all together and is further baiting Swampert if Heatran and Zapdos wasn't enough.
I have only ever used Fire Punch at opponent Jirachi and am thinking about putting ThunderPunch or Trick over it though they would only have minor utility. Minor is better than none though, and I'm looking for tips which to pick. ThunderPunch will only help against that Gyarados I talked about earlier, but if I don't pack ThunderPunch when I meet that guy and is using trick instead, I'm totally gonna lose Jirachi and some other poké taking crippling damage after having tricked the scarf over to Gyarados, or he might just save Gyara using him as a scarfer for later in the match. Trick will be useful in more than one situation though, but none really as critical than this one, and I have yet to think I really wish I had trick here.
Aesthetics
I have already told you a little about how the team came to be, but in this section I will tell you about all the team members and changes which have been tried out so far. It is really only for the fun if it I write this down, so it is by no means required reading if you only want to rate the team so feel free to skip ahead if this do not interest you.
So yeah, hi. This is where it all started. It feels kind of weird not starting out with a pokémon, but I have to give credit where it is due, and half of the team came out of this very fine issue of The Smog.
Breloom is not only my favorite mushroom, but also my favorite poké. If it hadn't been for it being the Featured Pokémon I most probably wouldn't have made any team to begin with. It is also obvious that this is the pokémon I wanted to build the team around.
Heatran just have too good synergy with Breloom, it's just too good to describe. If you haven't tried it out please do so. I needed a Stealth Rocker on the team and decided to make Heatran the local bully who torture birds together with the decision to add another pokémon on the team.
Machamp have so many rolls on this team, he makes a great lead combo with Heatran while weakening Brelooms counters and also being the only form of priority this team have.
To give the team some more fire power and finishing the grass/fire/water resistance combo I added an offensive LOcune. This was easily the weakest link, but it atleast stopped the Infernape that my current team have some problems to get around.
Realizing I yet had to get a fighting resist and a solid Gyarados counter I picked Zapdos up. At first I picked it over the Rotoms solely because of its reliable way of healing, but later kept it for reasons stated above. It was the first of my pokés which gave the paralysis support.
As the last pick up I needed something to take down a DDmence after a DD, and Jirachi came quickly to mind as it also could carry Thunder Wave wich it carried over Fire Punch for a long time. It was just that important to get SubGengars paralyzed, and it was also used in situations which I thought my opponent would switch, forexample against an early DDMence which could be saved for later.
After some playtesting I quickly found out my weaknesses to quick special attackers, and not wanting to put Blissey on the team (she is easy setup bait for dangerous stuff like AgiliGross or opponent Brelooms!) I made an unorthodox change of making Zapdos special defensive and switching Suicune for CS Rotom-h, with Thunder Wave, to remedy for the Lucario weakness while being able to revenge kill Gyarados.
Starmie was still a major pain though so while looking up Starmie in the Smogon Strategydéx I found Lanturn in the counters section and immediately recognized it's worth. With in on the team, Zapdos could go back to being physically defensive, and Jirachi no longer need to carry Thunder Wave. Meanwhile Heatran has been on a roller coaster of changes involving Choice Scarf, Choice Specs and Dragon Pulse, but after the Lanturn switch it was needed to take on it's own kind and was given the Shuca Berry which it now carries.
Here is the chart of the teams current standing on weaknesses and resistances:
Identify the problem(s)
However perfect this team is, there is still some problems with it otherwise I wouldn't make this RMT! The only major weakness is baton pass teams (it's all about if I can sleep them or not, not get taunted by that stupid Gliscor). As it is few of these I count that as negligible. Otherwise there are some pokés I have some problems with, starting with the worst:
- It is a pain to do more than dent this thing, Machamp is the only one being able to damage it at all, and if it carries psychic I just have to hope I didn't sleep anything yet. These mostly come out on Heatran which helps a lot so I can Explode on them.
- These have always been troublesome, especially when they are in rain dance teams. Luckily I don't see them all that often, but maybe trick on Jirachi would help stop this monster.
- Same as Cresselia, Gliscor is just hard to kill though it goes down easier than the psychotic duck. However Arial Ace versions just dispose of Breloom far too easily and Stone Edge versions make it hard to PP stall it with Zapdos.
- I have nothing who walls this guy efficiently, but since he is so weak he goes down to either Zapdos or Machamp if any of these are at about full health. I have yet to be so desperate as to pit Lanturn against this guy so I have yet to do the damage calculation.
- Gengars Shadow Balls hits Lanturn pretty hard, especially when they are specced, but he is somehow worked around by the rest of the team. Machamps Bullet Punch helping a lot here.
- Metagross is only dangerous when it is quicker than Heatran and they carry something to take on Zapdos. This would have to be an AgiliGross with both Ice Punch and Earthquake which isn't too farfetched. The problem only arises when they chip at Zapdos with Ice Punch and threatening EQ if I try to Roost and threaten to use Agility on the switch to Heatran. This is a 50-50 mindgame though and most often than not I have gotten out of it just fine.
- The Gyarados I mentioned earlier. It is not as plausible as many like to run Taunt, Earthquake or Bounce over Ice Fang so I'm mostly okay.
Playtesting
In here I will place what I am currently playtesting. This will change from time to time depending on tips gotten here in this thread and on my whims when I want to try something new (as HP electric on Heatran maybe?).
- Stone Edge over Seed Bomb on Breloom
- Vaporeon over Lanturn
- Salamence over Zapdos
- Scizor over Jirachi
Vaporeon (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 188 HP/252 Def/56 Spe/12 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, Atk-)
- Wish
- Protect
- Surf
- Roar/HP Electric
Salamence (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 80 HP/252Atk/176 Spe
Rash nature (+Atk, SDef-)
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Brick Break
- Roost
Scizor (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs:284 HP/252 Atk/8 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, SAtk-)
- Bullet Punch
- U-Turn
- Superpower
- Quick Attack
Grammar
In here I will put changes made since I started the thread as a kind of log. The current main team will always be displayed at the information section.
Closing
As the closing comments I want to thank the Smogs staff for taking off of their time to making such a great magazine which keeps players like me from leaving the competetive scene. I especially want to thank Seaven Deadly Sins for writing the Featured Pokémon article, and Scofield for writing the Lead Synergy article. I would also like to thank the trio of Bloo, Vashta and Plus who wrote the article Looks Do Matter! A Guide to RMT Presentation from which I stole the format (not the way you thought you would influence RMT writers eh?) of this RMT and without I probably wouldn't be writing this at all! Thanks also goes to Aragornbird for his totally awesome drawings of pokémon which I used for the information part of this team. You should totally check out his webpage here. Last but not the least I want to thank the reader for reading through my RMT. I hope you will be able to come up with something to help strengthen my team as I wouldn't like to see it end off here with me not being totally satisfied with its conclusion.
Introduction
Yeah, so hi. I haven't been playing pokémon for a while, and I actually decided to quit competitive for good before HG/SS came to the US. But that didn't stop me from atleast stay updated about the pokémon metagame (loving The Smog for helping me here) and to an extent the pokémon community. So after having been staying away from Smogon in a while I check out the main page and happily (happfully?) see that the new issue of The Smog has been released. I hurry to check The Featured Pokémon for this issue and is delighted to see that it is my all time favorite mushroom, Breloom.
This of course sparked an interest in making a team based around this guy again as I have so many times before and to get some inspiration I read through the rest of the issue finding the "Lead Synergy" article which helped me throw together the base of the team which altogether has great synergy not to speak of the excellent lead synergy.
So not wasting anymore time here are the current team members:
Information
First I'll tell you about how the team operate. At all my teams involving a breloom I also pack Heatran and some water type. I have tried to deviate from that route many times, but I always seem to find back to this kind of defensive base. So after having decided atleast to have Heatran on the team I wanted something similar to Breloom so I could scout out his counters as fast as possible. The "Lead Synergy" article gave me a quick, but effective, option for this and Machamp was picked for it's (now obvious) great synergy with Heatran for taking on leads. With these three as my base I decided that the main focal point for my team would be to weaken or get rid of Brelooms counters, keeping Breloom as hidden as possible so he later can come in and do a hefty sweep when my opponent is no longer ready for him. Now that the strategy is out in the light I'll give you further information about the pokémon.
Machamp (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP/232 Atk/12 Spe/12 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dynamic Punch
- Payback
- Ice Punch
- Bullet Punch
No matter how you look at it, Machamp is a great lead. It takes down those suicide leads, forcing them them to either get up SR or die, but this is not the main reason for picking Machamp in the first place.
Machamp has pretty similar counters as Breloom and quite often I will see my opponents Breloom response and weaken it. This is also the reason I've chosen to go with Ice Punch over the more common Stone Edge as Gliscors with Taunt really is a pain to take down and the more they are damaged or less PP they have on Roost the better.
Next up is:
Heatran (M) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP/252 SAtk/252 Spe
Naive nature (+Spe, SDef-)
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Explosion
Heatran to finish the lead combo. Heatran have been through a lot of changes in between Choice Scarf and what not, but eventually in the final edit of the team I decided I needed the Shuca Berry so I could kill other Heatrans switching in while faking before mentioned item. Explosion is mainly filler, but I've had some good times exploding on Gliscor and other random fliers to open up for a Breloom sweep. As I said earlier, Heatran is part of a great type resisting synergy between himself, Breloom and the water type of choice Lanturn. This makes it easy to forexample switch Breloom in on a Swampert taking either the chosen water attack or an Earthquake.
I have copy/pasted the lead match ups for those of you who have not read the "Lead Synergy" article. If you have read it just skip through it all, but take care to read the notice at the end!
Scofield said:Machamp has risen dramatically as a lead, rising from #13 in March to #7 in April, as people start to realize how well it does against most common leads. Once again, both make excellent leads, but Machamp fares much better against more leads.
Machamp can beat Azelf by using Payback + Bullet Punch. If Azelf chooses to attack, Machamp can always survive a Timid unboosted Psychic while preventing Azelf from getting Stealth Rock up. If Azelf is Dual Screen, Machamp has some more difficulty.
Machamp can beat Aerodactyl with DynamicPunch + Bullet Punch. Unfortunately, Aerodactly's Pressure ability can drain DynamicPunch's PP faster, so using Ice Punch, if you have it, can spare yourself some PP.
Machamp matches up much better with Swampert than Heatrean, being able to 3HKO it with DynamicPunch, and even preventing Stealth Rock if you're lucky with confusion damage.
Metagross will usually Meteor Mash for the 2HKO while not caring about confusion, due to Lum Berry. It is best to switch to Heatran to take the Meteor Mash. If Metagross has a Lum Berry it is at Heatran's mercy, and Heatran can either attack or get up Stealth Rock.
Jirachi has the advantage over Machamp, being able to flinch it to death with Iron Head or OHKO it with either Zen Headbutt or Psychic. Heatran does not mind coming in on any of these attacks, as it resists just about any attack that Jirachi can throw at it. Once Heatran is in, it can get up Stealth Rock or Fire Blast for the OHKO if Jirachi is foolish enough to stay in.
One of the times you will be glad that you didn't lead with Heatran, as Infernape can threaten Heatran with Close Combat. Machamp can take any of Infernape's attacks and beat it with DynamicPunch + Bullet Punch. If Infernape chooses to Stealth Rock, Machamp will take minimal damage.
Machamp versus Machamp match ups always depend on whoever runs more Speed on Machamp, allowing them to 2HKO first, with confusion not playing a role due to Lum Berry.
Machamp handles Roserade well, being able to beat it with Payback, Stone Edge, or Ice Punch followed up by Bullet Punch. The best Roserade can do is get up a layer of Toxic Spikes or do some damage with Leaf Storm. Machamp matches up against Roserade much better than Heatran does.
Another lead match up where Machamp has a much better advantage than Heatran does. Machamp completely dominates Tyranitar with DynamicPunch, so much so that it might be a good idea to Payback first turn, expecting a Rotom-A switch in.
If Machamp has Ice Punch, it can surprise Gliscor by doing a good amount of damage. This is extra helpful if your team's sweeper is a Lucario, which needs Gliscor weakened before it can sweep. If lacking Ice Punch, the best Machamp can do is DynamicPunch and confuse it before switching out. Heatran does not match up too well with Gliscor either, so it might be a good idea to pair this combination with a bulky water.
Heatran has to choose between Exploding for the OHKO or getting up Stealth Rock and dying. I usually just stay in and DynamicPunch. Opposing Heatran is still a more favorable match-up for Machamp than a 50/50 coin toss with your own Heatran.
This is how I play it against all the mentioned except Swampert. I usually make an immediate switch to Breloom while they SR then Sub to scout out their move. If they Ice Beam I next kill them with Seed Bomb, if they do any other attack (bar the rare avalanche) they most probably won't brake the sub. If they switch I might Spore depending on who they switch too or just launch a powerful attack. Swampert is a joy for me as it's easy set up bait for Breloom, though he no longer is hidden. Speaking of which:
Breloom (F) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 232 HP/252 Atk/24 Spe
Adamant nature (+Atk, Satk-)
- Spore
- Focus Punch
- Seed Bomb
- Substitute
The definite star of the team. She just wrecks all teams not prepared for her, which isn't all that many to be honest. However I have yet to meet a team which is overprepared for Breloom which is where Machamp comes in. As you might have noticed I have a bit different EV spread than normal, and also some of the move choices may put you off. The explanation for the EV spread is that I don't realy need Breloom to outspeed all that much. What it would otherwise outspeed is covered by other team members (mostly Heatran) and the extra bulk helps for taking unSTABed Ice Beams and what not. It is also the reason why Swampert is my fav Breloom setup as if it doesn't have Ice Beam it can't break the sub, unless it's some heavy physical attacker of course.
I mainly have Seed Bomb over Leech Seed or Stone Edge to take out lead Swamperts who would otherwise be a pain to take down and other random bulky waters. It also helps that it does more damage to quick special attackers like Gengar, Jolteon and Starmie than Leech Seed would do. Leech Seed would help me with Gliscor though who can be somewhat of a bitch.
Now over to the gimmick:
Lanturn (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 40 HP/40 Spe/176 Satk/252 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, Atk-)
- Thunderbolt
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
Although I call her a gimmick Lanturn is really tieing up some loose ends here as at every version of this team Starmie, Jolteon and to a certain extent Gengar has been major threaths which ended up sweeping me several times. After adding Lanturn on the team I have generally no problem with Starmie or Jolteon who where the worst, and she helps on Gengar, though he can still be troublesome. I also got another switch in to the rotom applications.
Another thing Lanturn does for the team is spreading paralysis. As you might have noticed my team lacks in one aspect of the game. Speed. Lanturn remedies this and the support it gives is really helping it team mates out. Now, the only problem with this is that a paralyzed poké is one that can't sleep and this have been somewhat of a problem time and time again, but after getting used to having both statuses on the team I seem get around this somehow. The other moves have their uses, Surf is for Jolteon, while Thunderbolt is for Starmie. Ice Beam rounds out the coverage making sure grassers like Celebi and Breloom can't switch in freely though I might change this move for Confuse Ray in the future.
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP/228 Def/32 Spe
Bold nature (+Def, Atk-)
- Thunderbolt
- HP Ice (70)
- Roost
- Thunder Wave
Continuing the paralysis support is Zapdos. Zapdos and Lanturn is such a great combo at spreading that status as they together cover a lot of different pokemon, and lots of those I need slowed for the rest of the team. HP Ice is the move of choice over Heat Wave at the moment as it helps to Pressure stall Gliscor of it's Roosts, though this might change as Scizor is a meanie.
When it comes to why I picked Zapdos it was really only a choice between it and a physical defensive Rotom application. The Rotoms have an easier time against Gyarados, but goes down to Tyranitar. Zapdos lures in t-tars for Breloom to set up on while also standing a better chance against Gengar (not kidding, it's an important factor) than a Rotom does. Even so, Gyarados is really only a problem if it looks like this:
Gyarados @ Life Orb
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Ice Fang
If it lacks Stone Edge Zapdos will take it down, and if it lacks Ice Fang, it will be stopped by Breloom after it kills Zapdos. If it carries Bounce I can sub while it is invulnerable and sleep it, damage it on it's way down, though I have yet to play against a Gyarados carrying Bounce.
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 80 HP/252 Atk/176 Spe
Jolly nature (+Spe, SAtk-)
- Iron Head
- Ice Punch
- U-turn
- Fire Punch
Jirachi is mainly on the team to revenge kill Dragon Dancers not named Gyarados and Gengar. He really is the last part that glues the team all together and is further baiting Swampert if Heatran and Zapdos wasn't enough.
I have only ever used Fire Punch at opponent Jirachi and am thinking about putting ThunderPunch or Trick over it though they would only have minor utility. Minor is better than none though, and I'm looking for tips which to pick. ThunderPunch will only help against that Gyarados I talked about earlier, but if I don't pack ThunderPunch when I meet that guy and is using trick instead, I'm totally gonna lose Jirachi and some other poké taking crippling damage after having tricked the scarf over to Gyarados, or he might just save Gyara using him as a scarfer for later in the match. Trick will be useful in more than one situation though, but none really as critical than this one, and I have yet to think I really wish I had trick here.
Aesthetics
I have already told you a little about how the team came to be, but in this section I will tell you about all the team members and changes which have been tried out so far. It is really only for the fun if it I write this down, so it is by no means required reading if you only want to rate the team so feel free to skip ahead if this do not interest you.
So yeah, hi. This is where it all started. It feels kind of weird not starting out with a pokémon, but I have to give credit where it is due, and half of the team came out of this very fine issue of The Smog.
Breloom is not only my favorite mushroom, but also my favorite poké. If it hadn't been for it being the Featured Pokémon I most probably wouldn't have made any team to begin with. It is also obvious that this is the pokémon I wanted to build the team around.
Heatran just have too good synergy with Breloom, it's just too good to describe. If you haven't tried it out please do so. I needed a Stealth Rocker on the team and decided to make Heatran the local bully who torture birds together with the decision to add another pokémon on the team.
Machamp have so many rolls on this team, he makes a great lead combo with Heatran while weakening Brelooms counters and also being the only form of priority this team have.
To give the team some more fire power and finishing the grass/fire/water resistance combo I added an offensive LOcune. This was easily the weakest link, but it atleast stopped the Infernape that my current team have some problems to get around.
Realizing I yet had to get a fighting resist and a solid Gyarados counter I picked Zapdos up. At first I picked it over the Rotoms solely because of its reliable way of healing, but later kept it for reasons stated above. It was the first of my pokés which gave the paralysis support.
As the last pick up I needed something to take down a DDmence after a DD, and Jirachi came quickly to mind as it also could carry Thunder Wave wich it carried over Fire Punch for a long time. It was just that important to get SubGengars paralyzed, and it was also used in situations which I thought my opponent would switch, forexample against an early DDMence which could be saved for later.
After some playtesting I quickly found out my weaknesses to quick special attackers, and not wanting to put Blissey on the team (she is easy setup bait for dangerous stuff like AgiliGross or opponent Brelooms!) I made an unorthodox change of making Zapdos special defensive and switching Suicune for CS Rotom-h, with Thunder Wave, to remedy for the Lucario weakness while being able to revenge kill Gyarados.
Starmie was still a major pain though so while looking up Starmie in the Smogon Strategydéx I found Lanturn in the counters section and immediately recognized it's worth. With in on the team, Zapdos could go back to being physically defensive, and Jirachi no longer need to carry Thunder Wave. Meanwhile Heatran has been on a roller coaster of changes involving Choice Scarf, Choice Specs and Dragon Pulse, but after the Lanturn switch it was needed to take on it's own kind and was given the Shuca Berry which it now carries.
Here is the chart of the teams current standing on weaknesses and resistances:
Identify the problem(s)
However perfect this team is, there is still some problems with it otherwise I wouldn't make this RMT! The only major weakness is baton pass teams (it's all about if I can sleep them or not, not get taunted by that stupid Gliscor). As it is few of these I count that as negligible. Otherwise there are some pokés I have some problems with, starting with the worst:
Playtesting
In here I will place what I am currently playtesting. This will change from time to time depending on tips gotten here in this thread and on my whims when I want to try something new (as HP electric on Heatran maybe?).
- Stone Edge over Seed Bomb on Breloom
- Vaporeon over Lanturn
- Salamence over Zapdos
- Scizor over Jirachi
Vaporeon (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 188 HP/252 Def/56 Spe/12 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, Atk-)
- Wish
- Protect
- Surf
- Roar/HP Electric
Salamence (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 80 HP/252Atk/176 Spe
Rash nature (+Atk, SDef-)
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Brick Break
- Roost
Scizor (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs:284 HP/252 Atk/8 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, SAtk-)
- Bullet Punch
- U-Turn
- Superpower
- Quick Attack
Grammar
In here I will put changes made since I started the thread as a kind of log. The current main team will always be displayed at the information section.
Closing
As the closing comments I want to thank the Smogs staff for taking off of their time to making such a great magazine which keeps players like me from leaving the competetive scene. I especially want to thank Seaven Deadly Sins for writing the Featured Pokémon article, and Scofield for writing the Lead Synergy article. I would also like to thank the trio of Bloo, Vashta and Plus who wrote the article Looks Do Matter! A Guide to RMT Presentation from which I stole the format (not the way you thought you would influence RMT writers eh?) of this RMT and without I probably wouldn't be writing this at all! Thanks also goes to Aragornbird for his totally awesome drawings of pokémon which I used for the information part of this team. You should totally check out his webpage here. Last but not the least I want to thank the reader for reading through my RMT. I hope you will be able to come up with something to help strengthen my team as I wouldn't like to see it end off here with me not being totally satisfied with its conclusion.
