The following is my post from the team building competition thread, but reposted here for more eyes. After taking some time to sit on the team for a while I can say that I do think this team is competitively viable as a counter team, but should absolutely not be spammed without checking your opponent's scouts. This is without a doubt, one of the most inflexible teams I have ever used, but when it gets a good matchup, it is incredibly overbearing. Ladder peak of 1784, and it probably could have gone further if I wasn't trying to qualify for ladder tour. General improvements recommended include swapping Houndoom for Claydol (which makes the gengar MU much harder, while providing a better TTar MU), swapping Bulk Up on Medicham for Substitute, and giving Medicham a Lum Berry to better lure in Gengar (which I do believe is better in hindsight). Happy gaming!
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https://pokepast.es/aef2f2d61002a81f
Generally speaking I am a WAY better pilot than I am a team builder, but anyone who knows my history in the tier will know that I learned the game by exclusively using a (very bad) Medicham lead team that I made, featuring Magneton and Dugtrio. I definitely should not have learned the game with something so cheesy, and I have abandoned it as I have improved as a player. That being said, today I dared to ask: "What if there were THREE trappers?". This comp abuses typical counterplay to Medicham leads in order to achieve early traps and enable a Suicune or Rest Lax sweep for the late game. It is absolutely a matchup fish, but when it works well, it works VERY well, especially into things like Beer Lover, Classico, and other forms of TSS. I have been able to ladder to high 1600s using this paste, with wins on several very good players participating in the Ladder Tour, which has helped boost my faith that this team has some legs to stand on.
Medicham - In my original team, I had used Jolly CB Medi with Brick Break, Rock Slide, Shadow Ball/Focus Punch, and Baton Pass. This was fine, but swapping Rock Slide for Bulk Up really opens up opportunities to assist the rest of the team. Snorlax appreciates a head start on Curse boosts (similar to CM Passing to SuperRachi), Houndoom can live an explosion from Gengar, and most notably, Bold Suicune becomes borderline unkillable if you activate it late game. Into TTar lead, I typically just Brick Break, but Baton Pass is acceptable if you want a more cleanly executed trap on an incoming Skarmory, Celebi, or Gengar. It mostly just depends on how you think your opponent will respond. Most other leads will force Medicham to hard switch to either Snorlax or Suicune, but this generally draws out trap targets early anyway, which allows you to form your plan of attack. The one lead that is the exception to this is Metagross, which I recommend hard pivoting to Magneton instead of Suicune. Even if they EQ on the predicted Magneton switch, Adamant Dugtrio is favored to revenge KO. Removing Metagross early is so important for both Suicune and Snorlax that it is worth potentially sacrificing Magneton early. Shadow Ball and Focus Punch both have their merits, but I tend to lean towards Shadow Ball to allow Medicham to duel Claydol and serve as a backup way to hit Gengar if something should happen to Houndoom. Recover could also be considered for added longevity into some Pokemon, but finding turns for it is difficult, and I typically find myself more often wishing I had Ghost coverage instead.
Dugtrio - I find that Dugtrio is the most expendable trapper out of the three, but it allows for Magneton and Houndoom to operate at an increased consistency. As stated above, Metagross is a very high value target. If Magneton switches in on Metagross and is able to determine that the set is not CB, usually there is some hesitation in sacrificing Magneton for one Tbolt into Metagross, but the Dugtrio follow up makes this a 1 to 1 trade. This Dugtrio is EV'd to switch in on most Celebi builds, OHKO ing many common sets, and living hits from more passive builds. If HP Bug does not OHKO Celebi, then Houndoom is safely able to revenge KO with Pursuit due to the implied lack of speed on bulkier Celebi builds. Adamant Dugtrio is heavily favored to whittle down Blissey while only using Earthquake, and still lives one Ice Beam from Modest sets.
Magneton - Magneton is Magneton. Nothing crazy new going on here. Rain Dance or Sunny Day both work as weather clear options, but I find that Rain Dance often pairs better in late game scenarios. I am frequently going back and forth on whether Toxic or TWave is a better option, but Toxic allowing Magneton to hit Swampert on its way out is very strong, so I lean Toxic generally.
Houndoom - Houndoom is here purely to remove Gengar and Sandstorm. Black Glasses Pursuit ensures a 2HKO on sets that stay in, and is very heavily favored to OHKO bulky sets switching out. It frequently finds very safe early entry points, as for many teams, Wisp Gengar is their best Medicham check. Sunny Beam has the added benefit of obliterating common switch ins like Swampert and Milotic, but on top of that if you set sun on a turn that Tyranitar switches in, you are able to Solar Beam as you sacrifice Houndoom for a confirmed revenge KO from Dugtrio. There are several instances where Houndoom + Dugtrio will be able to remove a threat that they could not on their own, which is very nice synergy. I attempted using this team with Black Glasses Rain Dance Tyranitar, but it only added another gimmick to an already pretty gimmicky team, and was generally worse at removing Gengar anyway, so only attempt that set at your own risk.
Suicune - Suicune operates as a very important defensive and offensive piece for this team. You may notice that there is no "real" rock resist to be found here. Typically this is because you are assuming that Tyranitar gets trapped early, but if it doesn't then Bold Suicune is your best answer. It works surprisingly well, and served a similar defensive role on the original double trapper team I used to use, but used Roar over Ice Beam. This is unfortunately not as safe in this comp, as Salamence is horrible for this team, and forces Suicune to run Ice Beam to act as a blanket counter to it. Suicune is a major reason why I decided to run Bulk Up Pass Medicham, as Bold Suicune at +1 Defense is nearly unkillable for any physical attacker and can just run away with games if Zapdos isn't there to stop it. This is easier to set up than you would think, and is a major point against revealing both Bulk Up and Baton Pass too early. The surprise factor is very very strong, and I am honestly surprised I have not seen more teams built around passing defense boosts to Suicune in the past.
Snorlax - Snorlax runs mono Body Slam, with Curse, Rest, and Sleep Talk. Once Metagross, Gengar, Skarmory, Celebi, Tyranitar, and sand are removed, it is incredibly difficult to meaningfully punish such a greedy set. This is obviously not the first team to attempt to enable MonoLax, but it is the first one I have seen that goes all in on it as hard as this. Even if you are only partially successful in your traps, this set is ignorant enough to blow through most of these in the endgame anyway. Snorlax pairs very well with Bulk Up Pass as well, as it will outspeed other Curse lax sets upon being passed in, and getting a head start on boosts will allow for it to hit much harder immediately.
Overall, I think this team is a great example of how to generate momentum with Medicham in several ways. It sacrifices some power for utility and the ability to enable other members of the team in a way that a simple CB set cannot.
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https://pokepast.es/aef2f2d61002a81f
Generally speaking I am a WAY better pilot than I am a team builder, but anyone who knows my history in the tier will know that I learned the game by exclusively using a (very bad) Medicham lead team that I made, featuring Magneton and Dugtrio. I definitely should not have learned the game with something so cheesy, and I have abandoned it as I have improved as a player. That being said, today I dared to ask: "What if there were THREE trappers?". This comp abuses typical counterplay to Medicham leads in order to achieve early traps and enable a Suicune or Rest Lax sweep for the late game. It is absolutely a matchup fish, but when it works well, it works VERY well, especially into things like Beer Lover, Classico, and other forms of TSS. I have been able to ladder to high 1600s using this paste, with wins on several very good players participating in the Ladder Tour, which has helped boost my faith that this team has some legs to stand on.
Medicham - In my original team, I had used Jolly CB Medi with Brick Break, Rock Slide, Shadow Ball/Focus Punch, and Baton Pass. This was fine, but swapping Rock Slide for Bulk Up really opens up opportunities to assist the rest of the team. Snorlax appreciates a head start on Curse boosts (similar to CM Passing to SuperRachi), Houndoom can live an explosion from Gengar, and most notably, Bold Suicune becomes borderline unkillable if you activate it late game. Into TTar lead, I typically just Brick Break, but Baton Pass is acceptable if you want a more cleanly executed trap on an incoming Skarmory, Celebi, or Gengar. It mostly just depends on how you think your opponent will respond. Most other leads will force Medicham to hard switch to either Snorlax or Suicune, but this generally draws out trap targets early anyway, which allows you to form your plan of attack. The one lead that is the exception to this is Metagross, which I recommend hard pivoting to Magneton instead of Suicune. Even if they EQ on the predicted Magneton switch, Adamant Dugtrio is favored to revenge KO. Removing Metagross early is so important for both Suicune and Snorlax that it is worth potentially sacrificing Magneton early. Shadow Ball and Focus Punch both have their merits, but I tend to lean towards Shadow Ball to allow Medicham to duel Claydol and serve as a backup way to hit Gengar if something should happen to Houndoom. Recover could also be considered for added longevity into some Pokemon, but finding turns for it is difficult, and I typically find myself more often wishing I had Ghost coverage instead.
Dugtrio - I find that Dugtrio is the most expendable trapper out of the three, but it allows for Magneton and Houndoom to operate at an increased consistency. As stated above, Metagross is a very high value target. If Magneton switches in on Metagross and is able to determine that the set is not CB, usually there is some hesitation in sacrificing Magneton for one Tbolt into Metagross, but the Dugtrio follow up makes this a 1 to 1 trade. This Dugtrio is EV'd to switch in on most Celebi builds, OHKO ing many common sets, and living hits from more passive builds. If HP Bug does not OHKO Celebi, then Houndoom is safely able to revenge KO with Pursuit due to the implied lack of speed on bulkier Celebi builds. Adamant Dugtrio is heavily favored to whittle down Blissey while only using Earthquake, and still lives one Ice Beam from Modest sets.
Magneton - Magneton is Magneton. Nothing crazy new going on here. Rain Dance or Sunny Day both work as weather clear options, but I find that Rain Dance often pairs better in late game scenarios. I am frequently going back and forth on whether Toxic or TWave is a better option, but Toxic allowing Magneton to hit Swampert on its way out is very strong, so I lean Toxic generally.
Houndoom - Houndoom is here purely to remove Gengar and Sandstorm. Black Glasses Pursuit ensures a 2HKO on sets that stay in, and is very heavily favored to OHKO bulky sets switching out. It frequently finds very safe early entry points, as for many teams, Wisp Gengar is their best Medicham check. Sunny Beam has the added benefit of obliterating common switch ins like Swampert and Milotic, but on top of that if you set sun on a turn that Tyranitar switches in, you are able to Solar Beam as you sacrifice Houndoom for a confirmed revenge KO from Dugtrio. There are several instances where Houndoom + Dugtrio will be able to remove a threat that they could not on their own, which is very nice synergy. I attempted using this team with Black Glasses Rain Dance Tyranitar, but it only added another gimmick to an already pretty gimmicky team, and was generally worse at removing Gengar anyway, so only attempt that set at your own risk.
Suicune - Suicune operates as a very important defensive and offensive piece for this team. You may notice that there is no "real" rock resist to be found here. Typically this is because you are assuming that Tyranitar gets trapped early, but if it doesn't then Bold Suicune is your best answer. It works surprisingly well, and served a similar defensive role on the original double trapper team I used to use, but used Roar over Ice Beam. This is unfortunately not as safe in this comp, as Salamence is horrible for this team, and forces Suicune to run Ice Beam to act as a blanket counter to it. Suicune is a major reason why I decided to run Bulk Up Pass Medicham, as Bold Suicune at +1 Defense is nearly unkillable for any physical attacker and can just run away with games if Zapdos isn't there to stop it. This is easier to set up than you would think, and is a major point against revealing both Bulk Up and Baton Pass too early. The surprise factor is very very strong, and I am honestly surprised I have not seen more teams built around passing defense boosts to Suicune in the past.
Snorlax - Snorlax runs mono Body Slam, with Curse, Rest, and Sleep Talk. Once Metagross, Gengar, Skarmory, Celebi, Tyranitar, and sand are removed, it is incredibly difficult to meaningfully punish such a greedy set. This is obviously not the first team to attempt to enable MonoLax, but it is the first one I have seen that goes all in on it as hard as this. Even if you are only partially successful in your traps, this set is ignorant enough to blow through most of these in the endgame anyway. Snorlax pairs very well with Bulk Up Pass as well, as it will outspeed other Curse lax sets upon being passed in, and getting a head start on boosts will allow for it to hit much harder immediately.
Overall, I think this team is a great example of how to generate momentum with Medicham in several ways. It sacrifices some power for utility and the ability to enable other members of the team in a way that a simple CB set cannot.