SS OU Magnetic Love (1835 Elo with 83,6% GXE)

ironwater

⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡
is a Battle Simulator Administratoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
PS Admin
magnezone.gif
kartana.gif
tapulele.gif
landorus-therian.gif
tapufini.gif
dragonite.gif



Introduction

Hey everyone, ironwater here. I often post in this section to give my opinion on other people’s teams, but today I want to share a team I made and with which I had decent success, as it is a team I enjoy using. It is also my 600th posts (and by saying that I realize how much I have posted on this forum in like a year and a half), and even though it’s not a very symbolic number, it’s a great occasion to make this kind of long and detailed post. Anyway, have fun reading and I hope you will enjoy the team.



Paste of the team

1634758037034.png 1634758042600.png 1634758047335.png 1634758053822.png 1634758059044.png 1634758063812.png
(link is on the sprites)


Proof of peak

Before going over the explanations of the team, here is my ladder peak with it.

ironwater dx 1835.PNG


ironwater dx alt.PNG

rank harmony lies 85% GXE.PNG


harmony lies alt.PNG


Teambuilding process

:kartana: + :magnezone:

I don’t remember exactly when I started having this idea and built the team, but I wanted to try Magnezone as I felt it was an extremely threatening tool in a metagame so filled with Corviknight and more generally with defensive Steel types. Magnezone is more of a support Pokemon that abuses its trapping ability to open a path for teammates who love to see their counters being removed. In my opinion, the best one of them is Kartana which explains why I based my team on these two Pokemon.

:kartana: + :magnezone: + :tapu lele:

If Kartana is a deadly weapon when the opposing team only relies on Corviknight to check it, it can be quite difficult to make progress against teams relying on another bulky Flying type like Zapdos or Tornadus-T. I wanted to have a second good breaker able to threaten these Kartana answers while still taking advantage of Magnezone trapping ability. Tapu Lele was the perfect candidate, bringing a lot of sheer power and loving to see Magnezone trap Ferrothorn, Corviknight and Scizor.

:kartana: + :magnezone: + :tapu lele: + :landorus-therian:

The fourth slot is a pretty standard choice that was more than needed with this trio. Indeed, Landorus-T brings Rocks and a rather slow U-turn to find trapping opportunities with Magnezone or breaking opportunities with Tapu Lele. With SpD investments it’s also a pseudo Dragapult and Heatran answer, two Pokemon particularly annoying to deal with in this metagame.

:kartana: + :magnezone: + :tapu lele: + :landorus-therian: + :tapu fini:

I find Tapu Fini amazing in the tier and, as I needed a bulky Water type and a decent Weavile answer, it was a very good candidate for the fifth slot of the team. Tapu fini can check a lot of threats which would be almost impossible to handle otherwise with this squad while being way less passive than other solid bulky Water types like Toxapex.

:kartana: + :magnezone: + :tapu lele: + :landorus-therian: + :tapu fini: + :dragonite:

For the last slot, I needed another bulky Flying type able to check Kartana and Volcarona. Dragonite was not only an amazing candidate to deal with these too, but was also a solid Magnezone partner, as it easily baits in Corviknight and loves to see it being trapped and removed.



Team Description

I will go over each Pokemon and explain their role and set, but also how they interact with each other.

magnezone.gif

Flow Control @ Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Def / 84 Spe
Bold Nature
(or EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 Spe
with Timid or Modest Nature)
- Iron Defense
- Body Press
- Thunderbolt
- Substitute / Toxic / Flash Cannon​

Magnezone’s role is first and foremost a support one. It’s a deadly weapon to remove pestering defensive Steel types who may annoy the breakers of this team. What makes Magnezone super good in this metagame despite only being able to trap one type of Pokemon is that classic OU cores are way too much relying on defensive Steel types to deal with some of the tier’s biggest threats. If we take a closer look at the list of Steel types used in OU, Magnezone can trap efficiently Corviknight, Skarmory, Ferrothorn and defensive Scizor. It can also annoy choice locked Kartana and Melmetal, Bisharp and sometimes opposing Magnezone. You can’t do much against Heatran however (unless you run a SpD Mirror Coat set), but its lack of recovery makes it easier to deal with than most of the aforementioned Pokemon.

Going over the Pokemon listed just above, Corviknight is most of the time used without Speed investments and with only a few SpD ones meaning that you will be able to deal a good 60 to 70% with Thunderbolt before it can U-turn out. Just by having the threat of Magnezone coming, most players won’t even try to Roost with Corviknight and will just accept to take damage and U-turn out, which is something you can easily abuse to weaken it without even having to trap it. Speedy Corviknight could be annoying as, even if it’s less bulky, Magnezone can’t do anything against it. I encountered only one Corviknight faster than this Magnezone spread, but it was almost impossible to beat. Talking about the spread, the Speed investment cover Skarmory, as it is the Speed needed to outspeed a non-invested Skarmory. This Pokemon can’t U-turn but its Body Press hurts, and you often want to OHKO it with Thunderbolt (after breaking Sturdy with a U-turn or Rocks) without taking Body Press damage. These two Steel birds can be hard to beat when equipped with a Shed Shell, and you won’t be able to do anything until you Knock Off them.

If Thunderbolt is mainly here to catch Corviknight and Skarmory, the rest of the moves help a lot against Ferrothorn. With the combination of Body Press and Iron Defense you can easily take down almost any Ferrothorn set. Substitute help taking even more advantage of a trapped Ferrothorn by avoiding being chipped down by Leech Seed, but also ending the one vs one behind a Substitute and with a boosted Defense stat so that you can claim another kill against a lot of teams (without Infiltrator Dragapult of course). The Defense stat is thus maximized to boost Body Press damage but also to use Magnezone as a one- or two-time answer to some physical breakers like Weavile or Arctozolt (which won’t do much even with Low Kick). The rest is set in HP to increase even more this bulk. The combination of Iron Defense and Body Press with a maximized physical bulk doesn’t only help against Ferrothorn. Indeed, you can even trap unwise Kartana or Melmetal. Choice Locked Kartana are more or less forced to click Sacred Sword if they don’t want to just get trapped and die dealing almost no damage to your Magnezone. However, Swords Dance Kartana is way harder to trap and to chip down, especially if it clicks Swords Dance the first turn. As for Melmetal, the banded one is forced to click Earthquake or Superpower and if it happens to click Double Iron Bash against your Magnezone, it’s basically a dead Melmetal. Against non-choice locked one, you can still come on a Double Iron Bash and start setting up with Iron Defense, and you can do so even if it has Earthquake because you are faster, and it won’t kill. Depending on the Melmetal set you will be able to set one or two Iron Defense before attacking meaning you can kill it (while taking a lot of damage) or chip it enough to put it in Kartana or Tapu Lele range. Another example of offensive Steel type you can trap is Bisharp, who has a low chance to OHKO with a +2 Black Glasses boosted Knock Off and can’t do anything if it Knock Off first while you can OHKO it in return with Body Press. Last one to mention is Scizor who is a bit less common, and even if it can U-turn out, it doesn’t like taking Thunderbolt chip before (as defensive Scizor is slower than Magnezone and offensive ones are not that much of a problem for Tapu Lele anyway).

Overall, except in some rare matchups where none of these Steel types are used, Magnezone’s trapping ability is amazing to pressure the opposing Kartana or Tapu Lele answers. On top of that, with this kind of bulky set, Magnezone is a great (short term) defensive wall and can even trap offensive Steel types not locked into the right move.

Alternatives on this set are using more Speed to catch all Corviknight spread or even more Spa to chip them down even more but losing bulk may leave you unable to deal with some aforementioned physical threats. Instead of Substitute, Flash Cannon and Toxic are two good options to threaten things like Landorus-T (who comes freely on this set) or Clefable.

kartana.gif

Hero’s Blade @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Knock Off
- Sacred Sword
- Smart Strike​

Kartana truly is Magnezone bestie. This set can’t do much against Corviknight and Skarmory and struggles against Ferrothorn who can punish Kartana for clicking the wrong move. The set is very standard, Leaf Blade is the most powerful STAB option while Smart Strike is a nice secondary STAB making it able to hit things like Clefable, but also some Flying types like Tornadus-T and Dragonite for decent damage. Knock Off and Sacred Sword are the two best coverage options Kartana has, and this moveset is overall really hard to switch into. Now using a Choice Scarf on this set means that you still need to lock yourself into the right move if you want to break opposing answers and you won’t be able to get passed through the bulkiest ones. If, thanks to Magnezone, Corvikngiht and Skarmory (and in a way Scizor and Ferrothorn, but also sometimes Melmetal) are not really a problem, things like Zapdos, Dragonite and Bulky Tornadus-T are way harder to deal with. Zapdos is especially annoying because of Static as, if you get paralyzed, you will lose your best (and kind of only) Speed control option.

Even if a Choice Scarf set has flaws, I still think it’s the best option here, as Choice Scarf Kartana is amazing for two things: revenge killing almost everything and cleaning a weakened team with Beast Boost. I think that having this paper cutter as the fast Speed Control Pokemon and using Tapu Lele as the strong breaker makes more sense just because of how fast this thing is (being faster than most Scarf users) and how strong it becomes after getting Beast Boost activated.

tapulele.gif

Persephone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Psychic​

Tapu Lele is the kill claimer of the team. Equipped with a Choice Specs, this demon has almost no switch-ins. The moveset and the spread are very standard. Psychic and Moonblast are your two best STAB options; Psyshock is a secondary Psychic STAB able to nuke Special walls like Galarian Slowking and Blissey. Lastly, Focus Blast is a powerful tool to deal massive damage to Steel types and especially to Heatran who is a Pokemon you can’t beat with Magnezone. It’s rather unreliable but not to risky to use on a forced switch. I opted for a Modest Nature as Timid doesn’t help outspeeding much interesting things, and the boost in power in always nice to take.

I often use Tapu Lele in a very aggressive way, leading with it on excepted Defensive Landorus-T and starting the match by firing off strong attacks to force a Steel type to come and potentially get trapped by Magnezone. Tapu Lele also help pressuring Kartana’s best answers like Zapdos, Tornadus-T and Dragonite while being able to sponge one or two Special hits if needed with its decent special bulk. Some Pokemon like Slowking and Heatran can be annoying as Magnezone can’t remove them and they are able to sponge some hits or scout for what move you want to use, but they get overwhelmed pretty quickly and are far from being unmanageable. Overall, you will have to make a lot of good predictions to use Tapu Lele at its full potential, but when you understand how most people react to it, it’s relatively easy to claim kills with this fairy demon.

landorus-therian.gif

Timekeeper (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Knock Off / Toxic​

Landorus-T doesn’t have 50% usage in OU for nothing. This Pokemon is surprisingly bulky, and its main role is to set Rocks and chip down the other Landorus-T while being able to keep the momentum with U-turn. Earthquake is the main STAB and, even though some Lando-T run Earth Power to OHKO Kartana, Earthquake remains the best option in a team not particularly Kartana weak. The Last move can be Knock Off or Toxic. Both these moves annoy other Lando-T as they negate their only recovery. Knock Off can be useful when you need to remove a Shed Shell on Corviknight or Skarmory, as they probably won’t let Kartana Knock Off them knowing that Magnezone would be free if they do. However, they are often a bit less cautious against Lando-T and they love to come in to remove the Rocks you just have set. Alternatively, Toxic can be great to beat some slow setup sweepers like Cosmic Power Mew or Dragonite lacking Ice Punch.

The spread I chose aims to maximize Lando special bulky so that it can be a pseudo Dragapult or Heatran answer. 12 EVs in Speed allow it to outspeed the 120 Speed EVs Heatran spread, but you could run less Speed and even drop some Speed IVs to underspeed other Landorus-T and have a slower U-turn. A lot of defensive Heatran don’t even run Speed anyway so this shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

tapufini.gif

Harmony @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 64 Spe
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Taunt
- Draining Kiss
- Scald​

I love Tapu Fini in this metagame. Its amazing defensive typing makes it a good Weavile, Urshifu-R and Heatran answer. Calm Mind Tapu Fini is probably the hardest set to overwhelm for these threats, as it can heal relatively easy with boosted Draining Kiss. Calm Mind also makes Tapu Fini a great wincon against a lot of teams and sometimes you can try to just win with it when you are in a disadvantage situation (like against a Kyurem claiming kills as Kyurem will lose the one vs one if you already started Calm Minding up). The spread is standard, with enough Speed investment to outspeed a common defensive Heatran spread and Banded Tyranitar. On a Calm Mind set, Draining Kiss is way better than Moonblast, as it gives you an amazing recovery tool and let you attempt a sweep against a weakened team. Scald is better than Surf, in my opinion, as being able to fish for burns against Rillaboom or Flying types like Landorus-T, Tornadus-T, Corviknight but also after the terrain goes away is worth the little drop in power. Last move can be Taunt, or Substitute. I like Taunt more just because I need it to beat Toxapex lacking Poison Jab, as Toxapex can be annoying for this team if I lose Tapu Lele.

Tapu Fini benefit a lot from Magnezone removing one of its best answer in Ferrothorn and help the whole team against the very threatening Weavile, but also against Urshifu-R, as Dragonite hates to take a U-turn and to lose Multiscale. Tapu Fini can also help a bit against Dragapult, being able to take two Shadow Ball when at full and to retaliate with Draining Kiss to recover almost all the damage it takes on Shadow Ball.

dragonite.gif

Old Times Dragon (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Atk / 52 Def / 152 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dual Wingbeat / Ice Punch
- Defog / Earthquake
- Roost​

Dragonite is both an efficient defensive answer to huge threats like Volcarona, Kartana and Urshifu-R, and an offensive monster able to Dragon Dance up against a lot of things. Dragon Dance and Roost are mandatory for both Longevity and a decent offensive presence. Defog can be useful, as this team lacks a Defogger and I often find myself having to remove several layers of Spikes after trapping a Ferrothorn with Magnezone. Now, running two offensive moves would of course make this thing way more threatening offensively, but I feel that Defog is way too important for the Ferrothorn matchup (as most of my Pokemon don’t like coming on Spikes). If you run Defog, there’s only one moveslot left and thus the best option is Dual Wingbeat which is a decent STAB option. In case you want to remove Defog, Earthquake would be the coverage of choice and will help Dragonite to threaten things like Heatran. However, even with Defog, you can force out the opposing Heatran as they can’t risk taking an Earthquake and can’t know that you don’t run it (letting Heatran die for nothing when there’s a Tapu Lele and a Kartana in the opposing team is clearly not the best move). With two offensive moves, Ice Punch may be slightly better than Dual Wingbeat just because of how good the Ground + Ice coverage is.

The spread is the defensive Dragon Dance Dragonite basic spread. The Speed Evs allow Dragonite to outspeed Kartana and 110 base Speed Pokemon after a Dragon Dance. Some Attack investments make it a little less passive while the majority of remaining EVs are put in HP and Defense to handle better physical breakers like Urshifu-R and Kartana. Thanks to Multiscale and its decent bulk, Dragonite is a nice defensive option and a great wincon in some matchups where nothing can really prevent it from setting up.



Threatlist

Before going over some replays I want to talk a bit about Pokemon who can be very annoying for this team. You don’t autolose against any of these Pokemon, but they all are very threatening, and you must play carefully against them.​


1634757960596.png
Kyurem is hard to deal with for a lot of teams because of how rare its reliable checks are. Here, you don’t have any answer to the frozen dragon, as Freeze dry destroys everything except Magnezone who is slower and dies to Earth Power. Kyurem is in my opinion the biggest threat for this squad and a matchup you have to play very carefully. However, it is not unmanageable as you have ways to pressure it offensively. Tapu Lele, even though it’s slower, can take any hits even from a Choice Specs Kyurem and retaliate with an OHKO. Kartana is faster and can threaten it with Smart Strike after some previous chip. Tapu Fini can beat it one vs one if you have already setup a Calm Mind as it comes. Overall, against Kyurem I just try to play the game very offensively, not letting it come for free on Landorus-T for instance and trying to directly apply pressure with Tapu Lele to force damage and make it less annoying. Depending on its teammates and how they can handle your offensive pressure, Kyurem can a huge threat and needs you to think about everything you click to avoid letting him kill your Pokemon one by one.


1634757969073.png
Zapdos can be used as a defensive Flying type or as an offensive wallbreaker in Rain. Both sets are annoying for this team as defensive Zapdos can’t be trapped by Magnezone and prevents Kartana from mindlessly clicking moves, as you can’t beat it and you will just take the risk to activate Static and lose most of your Speed Control. You can make aggressive double switchs on Tapu Lele when Zapdos is the Kartana answer, however, as Tapu Lele can almost OHKO it and is in general very hard to switch into. Offensive Zapdos in Rain is a bit harder to handle. Landorus-T, while being specially defensive is not a check because of Weather Ball and on top of that you can’t really touch it. Magnezone takes a lot of damage and Kartana can’t even 2HKO it. Your best way to deal with the thunder bird is pressuring the Rain team and force it to trade damage with Tapu Lele as, even if Tapu Lele is slower, you can take any hit and kill it back. You must be very cautious to not get overwhelmed by Barraskewda clicking Flip Turn on Tapu Fini into Zapdos claiming a kill each time and the best way to avoid that is to take kills first. This is not extremely hard as the only Lele answer in Rain teams is Ferrothorn, which can easily get trapped and removed by a Magnezone that will end up behind a Substitute and potentially claim another kill.


1634757977199.png
Melmetal sheer power and amazing coverage makes it extremely hard to deal with defensively and like most teams, this team doesn’t have a good answer to it. Here again the best way to manage it is by outpressuring and forcing it to take damage, which is not that hard as it is extremely slow and can’t heal. Melmetal is also annoying for Tapu Lele and Kartana as it can sponge some hits so weakening it is always great for these two. You can also use Magnezone to trap Melmetal and setup with Iron Defense against it. If they don’t click Earthquake as you come in, you can take one Earthquake or even two depending on the Melmetal set after an Iron Defense Boost. If you can take two, you just have to Body Press twice at +2 to KO it, otherwise you can setup a second Iron Defense and chip it down severely with a +4 Body Press before dying. More generally, you want to avoid being in a position where Melmetal can come freely and fire an attack, as at best you will take a lot of damage on a Pokemon, and most of the time you will have to sacrifice something.


1634757984602.png
What makes Slowking Galar annoying is its coverage. Ice Beam nukes Dragonite and Landorus-T, Flamethrower or Earthquake let it handle Magnezone and Sludge Bomb threaten Tapu Lele and Tapu Fini. Slowking Galar is pressured by most of your Pokemon, but it can come in rather freely on Tapu Fini, forces Tapu Lele to click Psyshock and Kartana to click Knock Off or Smart Strike. Most of the time, when you don’t let it switch in for free, it will get wormed down quickly, as most people will bring it in front of Lele to scout the move you want to lock yourself into and if you catch it with a Psyshock it will take massive damage and will have a hard time recovering everything with Regenerator.


1634757991711.png
Dragapult is faster than everything on this team except Kartana and is very hard to switch into. Landorus-T and Tapu Fini don’t get 2HKO by Shadow Ball, but they will get chip down fast. Moreover, each time you get a kill with Tapu Lele, Dragapult can come freely and force something to take a Shadow Ball. The team is rather offensive so most of the time you won’t have to repeatedly switch-in against Dragapult without having made any form of progress. You still need to choose carefully who you want to send against it, and you need to wisely use the few Pokemon in the team who can take two hits from this beast.


1634757997851.png
Blacephalon is way rarer than Dragapult, but also way more threatening. Against Blacephalon, it’s relatively easy, you don’t have any switch-ins and need to sacrifice something each time it comes for free. It’s way easier to chip down with Rocks than Dragapult though, and way easier to kill due to its very low bulk.


1634758004618.png
Defensive Mew can be a little annoying for Tapu Lele and Kartana, as they struggle a bit to break it. Stack Hazard Mew on Hyper Offense teams can also be annoying with Red Card. However, the Mew set I’ve struggled the most with is definitively the Cosmic Power one. Without using Toxic on Landorus or Magnezone, I can’t prevent this thing from just setting up and sweeping me, and I need to hope for a crit. This set is rather rare (and Mew is in general), but it’s a very annoying Pokemon for this team who has some usage in the tier.


1634758010261.png
The Shedstall matchup can be a bit hard with Magnezone, Tapu Lele and Tapu Fini walled by Shedinja. You could run Shadow Ball on Tapu Lele to catch it, but I don’t think it’s worth it considering how uncommon Shedstall is.



Replays and game analysis

This is, in my opinion, the most interesting part of my post. I will feature here ten replays and I will comment half of them. The goal is not just to show that this team can work but rather how it works and what my thoughts are during a match.


ironwater (harmony lies) 1475 vs Serginho1 1516

:kartana: :magnezone: :tapu lele: :landorus-therian: :tapu fini: :dragonite: vs :chansey: :toxapex: :hippowdon: :skarmory: :clefable: :ditto:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1425314020-rnifmyl9orszkgf5k82cab1l34dq73bpw

Game preview: Choice Specs Tapu Lele is nasty against Stall and with Skarmory gone, Psyshock is impossible to switch-in for their team. I must play carefully around Ditto though, and I assume that Skarmory can be Shed Shell, as it is a common item in stall teams. I decide to lead with Tapu Lele to force Skarmory in and try to trap it.

Game breakdown: Them leading with Toxapex (probably to setup Toxic Spikes against what they expected to be Landorus) is perfect for my Tapu Lele. However, looking at how they don’t hesitate to stay with Skarmory, I assume it’s indeed Shed Shell and they reveal it when I finally send Magnezone. I need to Knock Off this thing if I want to make any progress against their team.

They happen to go Skarmory against my Landorus on turn 11 and, as they don’t scout for Knock Off, I can remove their Shed Shell and process to trap them with Magnezone. Trading Rocks with Hippowdon is not a big deal as Rocks will help Tapu Lele and Kartana to score kills.

They let me deal important damage on Toxapex by staying against Landorus, and even if Hippowdon send my Tapu Fini on Toxic Spikes with Whirlwind, I’m in a rather good position with Kartana and Tapu Lele.

They make the mistake of not clicking Recover with Toxapex on turn 21 and let me kill their Ditto with Landorus. I can thus Defog with Dragonite to avoid taking Toxic Spikes on Tapu Lele and, because Toxapex is low, I just need to get an opportunity to switch in Kartana against Clefable on a predictable Protect to either trade Kartana for big damage on Clefable into a Tapu Lele clean or make them switch into Toxapex which allow Kartana to sweep and win me the game, which is what they opt to do.


ironwater (ironwater dx) 1687 vs Rand Raining Rain 1598

:kartana: :magnezone: :tapu lele: :landorus-therian: :tapu fini: :dragonite: vs :dragapult: :slowking galar: :toxapex: :tapu lele: :landorus-therian: :corviknight:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1431026362-nnkw7wl21flpyxm1o2jmipll0unvfw1pw

Game preview: Tapu Lele can click Psyshock freely against this team, the only switch-in is Corviknight who will get trapped if he tries to Roost. I have to be careful against their own Tapu Lele who is probably Specs too, as I have no switch-in. I’m expecting them to lead with Landorus-T, so I’m gonna go with Tapu Lele and start pressuring first.

Game breakdown: They indeed lead with Landorus and have to take almost 80% on Slowking Galar to scout Tapu Lele. I Psyshock two times against Corviknight as they cannot afford to stay on a Magnezone double and have to U-turn. In three turns, I have basically everything in range of Tapu Lele.

They get a free Dragapult switch-in however and, looking at U-turn damages and Clear Body, it’s probably a Choice Band set which means it’s a bit less of threat than a Specs one. With Lando against Corviknight they could have healed, but here again as I can U-turn, they have no reason to risk their Corviknight so I click Rocks predicting that they will U-turn again which is what they decide to do.

Being slower on my Landorus against their own means I can come back with Tapu Lele on turn 8 and claim a kill this time. They decide to sac Corviknight which means that I don’t really need Magnezone anymore and I can send it as their Tapu Lele comes to revenge kill mine. They make a good call clicking Focus Blast. However, with this kind of anticipation I can infer that they are choice locked now (they have no point to anticipate Magnezone if they can switch moves because Magnezone is slower), and thus my own Tapu Lele is free to come back and claim a new kill.

Killing Slowking Galar means that Tapu Fini is a huge threat now. I decide to go Dragonite against Pult on turn 11 as I don’t really need it here. Thus, I can just sacrifice Dragonite against Tapu Lele as Pult U-turn away and send Kartana to revenge kill it. They still have Toxapex who isn’t 2HKO. However, they must Recover which means I can go back onto Tapu Lele and claim a third kill who will be their Landorus.

I try to repeat this loop, but they predict Tapu Lele this time and Scald burn me so that I can only score one more kill. Getting Knocked Off on Kartana is annoying though as Pult outspeed everything now. However, as they sacrifice their Tapu Lele and reveal both Scald and Knock Off on Toxapex (so no Poison Jab), I can just finish off the game with Calm Mind Taunt Tapu Fini.


ironwater (ironwater dx) 1717 vs Steez Ibanez 1853

:kartana: :magnezone: :tapu lele: :landorus-therian: :tapu fini: :dragonite: vs :ferrothorn: :tapu fini: :landorus-therian: :regieleki: :kyurem: :heatran:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1431039058-rs9ffrj0pgqoybzsdpvg0iet30bn1ykpw

Game preview: Kyurem is a huge threat, and I must at all cost avoid giving it free switch-ins. Them having Regieleki means that I must be very careful with Landorus-T and not use it to deal with Heatran. Tapu Lele and Kartana will both be amazing if I can trap Ferrothorn. As last game, I lead with Tapu Lele expecting them to go Landorus.


Game breakdown: They indeed lead with Landorus and reveal they are faster with Intimidation activating before Psychic Surge. I don’t expect them to Earthquake, as they don’t want to give me a free positioning with my own Landorus, so I decide to still fire an attack with Tapu Lele, even though it’s a bit risky. As I said in the intro, I don’t want them to click U-turn into Kyurem as my Landorus comes in and get a free kill. Heatran being their Rocker makes a lot of sense, and trading damage on it with damage on my Tapu Fini is worth to help Tapu Lele and Kartana claiming kills against their team. Moreover, taking damage on Tapu fini is not a big deal as there’s no Urhsifu-R or Weavile I need to check.

I manage to catch Ferrothorn with Magnezone on turn 9 after some switch predictions with Tapu Fini and process to trap it and eliminate it. They get several layers of Spikes in the process, but they have to sacrifice a second Pokemon as I’m still behind a Substitute and they decide to throw Heatran. I can let Kyurem revenge kill me now and Defog with Dragonite as I assume that I can live a hit if they are not Specs (and if they are, they are locked on Earth Power). They reveal that they indeed aren’t Specs, but still almost killed my Dragonite making me think of a Never Melt Ice set or a Modest Kyurem (which would mean that my Tapu Lele Speed ties with it).

Being able to Defog with Dragonite means that Tapu Lele can now take a hit from Kyurem and they need to let something else die against it. They let me take Landorus which means that Kartana can’t be Intimidated now. Nothing can KO Tapu Lele and so they chose to weaken me with Tapu Fini. However, as they decide to sacrifice Regieleki over Tapu Fini on the second attack and reveal that Kyurem is indeed Modest so in a Speed tie (that I win) with my Tapu Lele (or slower with some bulk), Kartana is free to clean.



Game preview: This team is well known (Ox the Fox's Hail team) and Arctozolt is not that much of a problem for my team as I have Magnezone and Scarf Kartana (who is faster). The big threats here are more Volcanion because I don’t have any switch-ins (Dragonite is a mediocre one, especially with Hail breaking Multiscale) and Tornadus-T who can be annoying as with an Assaut Vest it can take a hit from Tapu Lele and Knock Off my Choice Specs. I’m thinking of leading Tapu Lele (here again) to catch their Landorus.

Game breakdown: This time the Tapu Lele lead doesn’t work well, and I rather switch back to Landorus to avoid getting Knock Off that early in the game. They let me get up Rocks and Knock Off them, and even though I almost lost my Landorus in the process, I can now U-turn into Tapu Lele and start wallbreaking. Corviknight can’t even take two Psychic (with the second one not even under Psychic terrain), which means I will be able to fully use Magnezone to weaken Arctozolt and Ninetales, but also that Kartana is super free now.

They decide to weaken Tapu Lele with Landorus instead of setting Rocks or Defogging, but I don’t mind much this damage as Lele can take a hit from defensive Landorus (which I know they are because I know the team) and I don’t need health on him, as I will only use to it to revenge kill Volcanion. With Landorus gone, Kartana looks even more free.

I can go Magnezone against their Ninetales, and I even beat Arctozolt under Aurora Veil. Them switching it to Volcanion while it is in Rocks range and they can’t Defog anymore doesn’t make much sense, but at this point it’s over, because Tapu Lele can force out Volcanion or kill it, which allows Kartana to clean with Smart Strike.



Game preview: This is another known team (made by Pinkacross and Storm Zone). The Regieleki + Zapdos Galar combo is extremely scary as I’m relying on Landorus-T to check Regieleki. Slowking is also a bit annoying for Tapu Lele, but it still takes a lot of damage on Moonblast which is rather free against this team. As usual I lead with Tapu Lele to pressure a probable Landorus-T lead.

Game breakdown: They lead with Regieleki which is not the best position for me to start the game. I stay and click Moonblast anticipating a Double Switch from them but they just Volt Switch which does a lot of damage. I’m able to put Slowking very low though. Even if Slowking is severely chip down, they can take the positioning back with Weavile and force a Knock Off on something. My Weavile answer is Tapu Fini but losing Leftovers on it makes Zapdos even more threatening.

I double back into Tapu Lele expecting them to try to heal Slowking, but they decide to switch-in Regieleki and this time I don’t wanna risk to get Volt Switched on and go Landorus-T as they decide to do the same so that we can trade Rocks. Taking a Toxic on Landorus makes their Regieleki even scarier, but I wanted this trade so that Kartana could come and click buttons against a weakened Landorus. My Landorus being faster means that they can take the momentum and make Zapdos in against Magnezone.

In this situation, Tapu Fini can still take two Close Combat and force it out. Instead of going Slowking against Tapu Fini, they go Regieleki which means they take some Scald chip. Regieleki being able to Spin away my Rocks is annoying but dealing damage to this thing so that I can have it in range of everything is an interesting trade for me.

I still have enough life on Landorus-T to put my Rocks back, and by keeping Tapu Fini I have a sac to scout what move Zapdos wants to use. Him using Drill Pick means my Magnezone is free and expecting Landorus to come I double on Tapu Lele and claim my first kill on Slowking.

At this point I can sac Lando as it doesn’t even check Regieleki anymore and I can start using Kartana to pressure their team. I don’t 2HKO Ferrothorn though and can’t take the risk of losing my Choice Scarf on a Knock Off, as I need it for Weavile. I directly switch in Magnezone which is a bit risky if they double but they don’t happen to, and I can easily beat Ferrothorn while being at +6 Defense and behind a Substitute. This allows me to take a second kill.

They made the mistake to go Zapdos and not Regieleki after letting Landorus die, and I miraculously survived Close Combat, leaving them with only Regieleki and Weavile. I need to Defog with Dragonite so that Kartana can take a hit from Regieleki.

On turn 35 I plan to sac Tapu Lele on Weavile to revenge kill it with Kartana, but they see it coming and hard switch Regieleki to take this kill, which is a good play on their part. As Kartana can take a hit on Regieleki and Psychic Terrain is up meaning Weavile can’t Ice Shard me, they are forced to Volt Switch and sac Weavile meaning that I can win with Dragonite (unless they receive an Ancient Power Omniboost, which they fortunately don’t manage to get).


Other replays without analysis


ironwater
(harmony lies) 1712 vs GuyguyLaMenace 1673

:kartana: :magnezone: :tapu lele: :landorus-therian: :tapu fini: :dragonite: vs :ninetales-alola: :blaziken: :zapdos-galar: :moltres-galar: :aegislash: :garchomp:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1430896767-hm3cbtq7nrgoxiwvk8kuoi0b16kc4eqpw


ironwater (ironwater dx) 1750 vs WarioNear 1807

:kartana: :magnezone: :tapu lele: :landorus-therian: :tapu fini: :dragonite: vs :pelipper: :zapdos: :ferrothorn: :garchomp: :kingdra: :barraskewda:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1431045841-f7zj47xtuyoiub1sirihnbbacxc6fmapw


ironwater
(ironwater dx) 1773 vs Ayante 1738

:kartana: :magnezone: :tapu lele: :landorus-therian: :tapu fini: :dragonite: vs :zeraora: :slowking galar: :clefable: :hippowdon: :corviknight: :urshifu-rapid-strike:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1431048312-xsr6wuevef4kxarm7u24gucrfxdnoxlpw


ironwater
(ironwater dx) 1787 vs Grease Fire 1740

:kartana: :magnezone: :tapu lele: :landorus-therian: :tapu fini: :dragonite: vs :mew: :bisharp: :dragonite: :landorus-therian: :magnezone: :dragapult:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1432451142-dcnd8kvqxl59258rokk5ofjrvjewrm5pw


Bonus one (Specs Tapu Lele against Shedinjaless stall)

ironwater (harmony lies) 1730 vs fesgtep 1833

:kartana: :magnezone: :tapu lele: :landorus-therian: :tapu fini: :dragonite: vs :gengar: :chansey: :dragonite: :toxapex: :quagsire: :mandibuzz:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1430922379-mvayiimx7qsnooucgdxt7lbdrnwxdwmpw



Shoutouts
Beka T’es nul et quand tu gagnes c’est parce que t’es lucky. Néanmoins, t’es probablement le meilleur ami que je me suis fait sur ce jeu et ça a toujours été fun de jouer et de discuter avec toi.

Mimilucha Neco0s BeTheShadow La brochette de modo salty (ou ex modo pour Zephyyyr avec son pseudo Smogon trop dark), j’me souviens de l’époque des tournois du dimanche, Zephyyyr faisait trop le malin parce qu’il pouvait ban tout le monde, Mimilucha était pas encore un top player et Neco0s faisait des tour rules plus longues que ce post, c’était marrant.

Gt0 Le fan de Garchomp reconvertit en frappeur de Fantômes, t’es aussi un de mes premiers amis sur ce jeu et même si tu joues des tiers dans lesquels je m’aventure pas trop, c’est toujours un plaisir de jouer avec toi.

Jojos Le grand et unique Jojos. Le monstre de l’AG qui a gagné un tournoi Smogon. T’es à la fois mystérieux et drôle mais surtout t’es très bon pour trouver des surnoms.

Palapapop C’était cool l’époque où on tryhardait le LBA sur Arcade avec Mino et ses 40 alts. On s’est bien amusé sur Smash aussi même si Bekaray était cancer à camper. Dommage que t’aies plus le temps pour le staff franais, mais bon courage pour tes études.

laevin T’es un des premiers amis que je me suis fait sur franais, et même si t’es plus trop sur la room maintenant, je me souviens encore du début où on parlait tous les deux beaucoup (trop) et des suspects UU que j’ai pas réussi malgré l’aide de tes teams broken.

iKiQ Tu passes plus trop sur le jeu, mais c’était sympa de discuter avec toi de tous ces tiers différents quand t’étais actif. T’es probablement le meilleur joueur RBY UU que je connaisse (même si je dois admettre que j’en connais pas beaucoup). Bonne chance pour tes speedruns (je crois que t’en fais pas mal).

Tuthur Le big boss du ZU qui m’a fait découvrir le tier avec l’incroyable Lapras stall. Je te connais depuis un peu moins longtemps que certains ici, mais t’es rapidement devenu un super pote, puis c’est bien d’avoir des gens qui savent un peu jouer au jeu dans ses potes.

PandaDoux Le plus doux de tous les pandas. L’ancien boss de Pokémon Nuage, le petit prince du AAA reconverti au Camomons. Je me souviens de quand tu me passais tes stalls pour les suspects AAA, c’était rigolo à jouer.

R8 J’aime pas le Natdex, j’aime pas le stall (fin si un peu mais pas quand je dois jouer contre) et j’aime pas la Belgique, mais je t’aime bien quand même. Pour une fois je te dirais pas de l2p (même si je le pense) mais que t’es quelqu’un de super cool et sympa.

Gman Le meilleur d’entre nous. En vrai c’est super cool de discuter avec toi et c’est dommage qu’on n’ait pas pu se croiser irl (mais peut-être un jour qui sait). Change rien, t’es super cool avec tout le monde et je suis super content de t’avoir comme ami.

Staxi Le Stax UwU :flushed : :doggo: Je te connaissais pas avant, et t’es assez discret en général, mais en apprenant à te connaître je trouve que t’es bien plus sympa que ce que je pouvais penser.

Coolcodename We talked a lot about OU and it’s nice to see all the progress you’ve made in a short period of time. You are very dedicated to learning the tier, and I’m sure you will become a very solid player. Always a pleasure to talk with you and play training games. Don’t change anything.

Katy You are one of the nicest persons I met on this website and I love all the energy you put in TA and in the Translation Project. You have been an incredible OU contributor and you know a lot of stuff about the tier. I enjoy talking with you and admire your dedication in helping other people. I wish you the best for all the irl stuff you have been struggling with.

Pujo Dragonillis Antorot SFG Panure Lionyx Apagogie KabilaPok Menace17 Emeri Altthiel LBDC Osake Agarica Adri MinoGod54 Mes amis du staff Franais et Arcade, vous faites (ou avez fait) un super taff, et même si j’en connais certains mieux que d’autres, je vous apprécie tous et c’est un plaisir (ou ça a été un plaisir) de gérer la commu avec vous. Ah et, c’était super cool de faire la PSPL avec certains d’entre vous !

Inder Hats Mindnight Distrib-PS Vextal tpC le vrai DonSalvatore Maktyum Sirwings Louna RoiDadadou tf Fathiryxi Gareeb Mes autres amis de Pokeland et Bandolossal (parce que si je dis que Pokeland certains vont râler), je me suis bien amusé avec vous que ce soit sur among us (à l’époque où les gens y jouaient encore) ou sur discord/sur la room.

ErPeris AM maroon t045t3r Geysers Alolan Corviknight OU Abhi Pais Typhlosion4 Ika Ika Musume sawamura Windingsss Lasen FangFoe HaaiL Tysonslayer adem avarice eu TGA Crunchman All the friends I made on the wonderful Trainer Academy Room, you all are amazing and it’s always nice to talk with you. Most of you dedicated a lot of time helping newcomers with competitive stuff and you have all my respect for that.

Conclusion

It took me quite some time writing all this (and I know most people won’t read something that long), but I had a lot of fun using this team and wanted to make my own RMT. Feel free to try the team or to suggest any idea you have or modifications you would make. Thanks for reading. Until next time, stay safe!
 
Last edited:

Katy

Banned deucer.
such a great RMT you do such an amazing job and you are so dedicated ironwater, i also wish you all the best wether it is on- or offline stuff, i hope everything you are doing in your life will turn out great <3
 
I feel like this team relies to much on magnezone to get rid of steels. He’s definitely a great tool for it but I feel like every other Pokémon on your team can’t deal with ferrothorn and corvi well at all. Idk, maybe try switching out a Pokémon for something else that can deal with steels; because it’s good to have mag but you should always have a secondary answer
 
Thanks so much for posting such a detailed and thoughtful RMT!

For the team I would echo the sentiment Re: Magnezone that this team is a bit overloaded on it. Magnezone while it is good at its job, one can argue the sheer breaking power of LeLe + a non Scarf Kartana + EQ on Dragonite can overwhelm most steel cores as it is. That frees up a team slot for a mon that could be more useful overall.
 

ironwater

⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡
is a Battle Simulator Administratoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
PS Admin
ça sonne presque comme un adieu mdrrrr
Hey Sirwings, malheureusement, va falloir me supporter encore un peu :)

Good job ironwater i have New team from ND >•<
Ty Zikam! Hope you are doing allright.

such a great RMT you do such an amazing job and you are so dedicated ironwater, i also wish you all the best wether it is on- or offline stuff, i hope everything you are doing in your life will turn out great <3
Thank you Katy, I appreciate your kind words and wish you the same <3

You are the goat t045t3r!

I feel like this team relies to much on magnezone to get rid of steels. He’s definitely a great tool for it but I feel like every other Pokémon on your team can’t deal with ferrothorn and corvi well at all. Idk, maybe try switching out a Pokémon for something else that can deal with steels; because it’s good to have mag but you should always have a secondary answer
Thanks so much for posting such a detailed and thoughtful RMT!

For the team I would echo the sentiment Re: Magnezone that this team is a bit overloaded on it. Magnezone while it is good at its job, one can argue the sheer breaking power of LeLe + a non Scarf Kartana + EQ on Dragonite can overwhelm most steel cores as it is. That frees up a team slot for a mon that could be more useful overall.
Hey HISELOISOVER9000 and RaikouLover, thanks for these feedbacks. It is true that this team relies a lot on Magnezone to beat some Steel types like Corviknight and Ferrothorn (mainly those who can heal). As long as you keep Magnezone when these Pokemon are around you should be fine (and I didn’t find myself struggling against these as I’ve always kept Magnezone when I still needed it). Now, if you happen to be in the situation where you lose Magnezone and need to beat Corviknight, for instance, you can still use Tapu Lele and Tapu Fini, but yeah Kartana, Landorus and Dragonite become really easy to check and you will have a hard time making any progress in the game. Regarding Ferrothorn, it remains rather easy to pressure because of its lack of good recovery.

Something you can try if you are worried about Steel types is changing a bit the structure, replacing Dragonite by an Hawlucha and maybe using Choice Band over Choice Scarf on Kartana and a Scarf Tapu Fini instead of a Calm Mind one. I saw Ox the Fox using a team with the same five first Pokemon and Hawlucha over Dragonite in OLT final and this can be a way to pressure Steel types while not always relying on Magnezone, and at the same time to turn the team into something more offensive.

Cool team, I'm alola420. I remember facing this demonic team and I had a ton of trouble switching in. Your analyses are on point. Great RMT, keep up the good work
Hey MattShatt, wasn’t expecting to see someone I played on the ladder here. Thanks for the match and thanks for the compliments, glad you liked the analysis of the game.

Ironwater = Jobless ptdr. En vrai very good work man.
Heureusement je le suis pas (pour l’instant), et ouais ça m’a pris beaucoup de temps à écrire (j’ai commencé y a un mois quand même, mais j’ai surtout pris beaucoup de plaisir à écrire tout ça). Merci pour le compliment en tout cas D_C_T_D.

Nice team:swole:. If you want more tankiness especially for kyurem and pult you can try AV tapu lele with futur sight (or not if you think it would be overkill) it's cool and you're not locked anymore.
Hey Maxouille, thanks for your idea, AV Tapu Lele could indeed be nice to improve the Kyurem Matchup, I like the stupidly strong damage output of Specs Lele, but not being locked into a move (and being able to bait that you are or bait a Scarf) while improving its special bulk is a good idea, I’ll keep it in mind.

Well done, also thanks fir the mention :)
Hey Typh, thanks my friend!

thank u for pinging me to like ur post ironwater (very cool french person)
Ty adem, you are also a very cool person.

:angry:

goat ironwater, definitely one of the best french people
Oh, I knew I forgot to ping some people :eyes:, but ty omi appreciate your kind words!

Very Cool team ironwater! You're one of the nicest users I've met on the site. I hope you keep growing and keep having fun:psyglad: Also Coolcodename bad
Tanks HaaiL, you are a nice person too and I hope you will keep having fun too. And Coolcodename is not that bad anymore, I’m proud of the progress he made.

/report ironwater kek. nice team french water
Nooo TGA don’t report me pls, and ty :)

jtm trop mon bb iter
:blush:
Moi aussi je t’aime Hats (même si parfois tu es un peu cringe mais en vrai ça va).

Le futur ABR mesdames et messieurs, je l'annonce vous êtes pas prêts.
Yo Mimi, je laisse ça à Beka, moi j’ai pas besoin de la luck d'ABR pour gagner mes matchs, mais merci de croire en moi.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top