SM OU Mega-Latias BO - Peaked 1900s

[Imbadbuturworse]

Introduction​

Hi all, I’ve been spending a lot of time just building teams lately having moderate success with the process but I think my latest creation actually deserves a post so before I fill this up with any more mindless rambling let’s get to it!

Teambuilding Process​

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After falling in usage a lot since Latias and her twin Latios used to feature on nearly every team I felt the meta had forgotten too much about how effective this mon can be in the tier. I initially started off with latios in this build but given the added bulk that latias had and my desire to run a cm stored power set I opted for mega latias

Given that the bulky spread and moveset that I opted for I needed a guaranteed way to deal with those annoying steel types that roam the ou meta, enter Magnezone

Now I needed a way to deal with them pesky dark types as well as something to ease the stall match up. I opted for Magearna to fill this gap, not only is it my dark type slayer, an annoyance to stall but it finishes my dragon/steel/fairy core

Lando-T, what can I say? Beautiful synergy with both magnezone and Magearna in its ground immunity, access to stealth rock, momentum and a great way to shore up a growing weakness to Zygarde, it fit so well it was almost like Lando put himself in this team for me

Now this is probably the first mon that is really going to turn people’s heads and ask “why cress!?” Well the answer is quite simple really I needed another way to deal with Zygarde, Lando T, Kartana was looking to be an issue. My mega medicham answers were looking non existent and specs lele was looking pretty free to press whatever it wants vs me. Originally I turned to mew to try and fill this void, all seemed good till I calcd specs lele then my poor lil pink friend started to fall short so I opted for his bulkier cousin Cresselia and the calcs started to look a lot better :)

With addition of Cresselia I started to look too weak to both volcarona and ash gren. In the modern meta being weak to these is just an instant L, I also needed hazard control so after looking through all the mons that can learn defog it occurred to me that Mantine is exactly what this team needs so it became my final addition to the team

The Team​

Latias-Mega @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stored Power
- Refresh
- Calm Mind
- Roost
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Mega-Latias is the end game plan to this team and what I would say is the MVP. All that came after was made to assist this thing in its role as bulky sweeper. Stored Power is there for the ability to break through stall and it’s fascination with unaware mons. It’s natural bulk mean it’s 3hkod by clefables moonblast also which made it preferable to her twin brother Latios. Latias also has access to refresh which is a god send, it allows you to set up on mons without fearing toxic(which ends up being some teams only way of dealing with latias) roost and calm mind finish the set for obvious reasons. Reflect Type and substitute are worth mentioning as options over refresh but I felt that Reflect Type was too situational, also the mons that I could use this on are already dealt with by team mates. Substitute meant I couldn’t freely switch into the likes of heatran and gastro and start setting up as I would be fearing toxic so I passed at this too

Magnezone @ Electrium Z
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 72 HP / 216 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Substitute
​

The blessed remover of steel, Magnezone. Honestly I’m of the opinion that if other trapping abilities n mons where banned that this thing should be too, people argue that it’s trapping is very specific etc but that’s all a discussion for another place and another time! Zone when partnered with Latias and Magearna is just beautiful. It removes pretty much every steel type in the ou meta bar heatran giving Latias an easier time sweeping teams, the electrium z set is standard but I had to tweak the EVs. It speed creeps the cb ttar set on the smogon analysis page and a little bit more for Tapu Bulu too which has been known to also creep cb ttar, tho Ttar was more worthwhile as it can prove an annoyance to the team, I took a little bit out of the sp atk and put the remaining EVs into its hp, these help ease the match up vs the rare knock off mega Scizor as it’s now a roll in Magnezones favour for its sub to remain in tact which is nice as it allows u to stay behind a sub and hit something hard after you dispose of mega scizor, vs uturn variants though you’re much better just clicking hp fire and weakening this for mega latias end game. The EVs also help with mega mawile as it allows you to pivot into a play rough and live sucker punch after (should you opt to not predict this and go for sub) though I found its best to be weary of pivoting into mmaw as it’s coverage options fire fang and focus punch hurt if not outright kill and zone is necessary in removing mmaw for mega latias

Magearna @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 36 Def / 36 SpA / 188 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fleur Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Pain Split
​

I’m still not entirely sure about it’s moveset, being partnered with magnezone I often think about running dual stab but in a tier that contains “tha pex” not being able to hit this seemed like a massive mistake so I opted for thunderbolt. The calm mind and pain split additions to this moveset I have to give credit to A and moondazing, I’ve known these two to use this on the ladder and when I’ve viewed their replays vs stall with this set up I’ve really paid attention to how well it performs. Magearna job as mentioned before is to kill dark types and to ease the stall match up and this is exactly what it does. Now the EVs and item are definitely worth mentioning, a combination of 248 hp and 36 def means that mega medichams high jump kick will never kill you from full and it’s a roll in your favour if rocks are up, this makes Magearna a secondary medicham check if cress becomes overwhelmed, max attack neutral nature lando-t eq will also not ohko if shuca is gone, Magearna is also able to survive a specs psychic from lele and a lando-t eq should it be absolutely necessary for you to do so. Shuca Berry aids the team in dealing with Zygarde as you’re able to lure it in, live any hit from above 60% hp and remove Zygarde with a fluer cannon which with the sp atk investment is guaranteed to kill. The concern though is mostly with cb zygarde as it’s known to use outrage which kills mega latias preventing a sweep. Lastly the speed allows it to speed creep cb Ttar which as mentioned above in zones analysis is a noteworthy threat to this team, thankfully tho it dies at +1 from fluer cannon, or two fluer cannons in a row from neutral.

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 224 HP / 84 Def / 200 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stealth Rock
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Landorus-Therian is his name, role compression is his game. I needed something that could help out with the mons that are faster than mega latias, assist in dealing with ttar, ease the Zygarde match up and set up stealth rocks so I opted for this moveset. Scarf stealth rocks I’m sure many people will turn their noses up at, but with the role compression it offered I could see little alternative than to use it, if ppl can use scarf defog then I don’t see how scarf sr is any different in fact it wasn’t too long ago that scarf garchomp would use stealth rocks. I opted for bulk over attack investment too which is another thing which might cause unrest in the ou masses but it allows lando more freedom to pivot into attacks which in turn allows for more opportunities for it to lure in mons like celesteela and mega scizor so you can uturn out into magnezone and kill them, freeing up mega latias to sweep end game.

Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 208 HP / 220 Def / 60 SpD / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Moonlight
- Lunar Dance
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Cresselia, the infamous moon duck ..... This shores up the teams weakness to mega medicham pressing buttons, lando and zygarde having free rein to take a walk through my team and tapu lele obliterating me turn 1. Ice beam was the best option for an attack as it has the best overall coverage, Toxic is on the set the help Cresselia cripple the mons that may either try to use you as set up bait or to chip away at dark types like ttar and ash gren, you’re able to take a hit from their super effective stabs and throw off a Toxic which helps Mega Latias significantly end game. Moonlight keeps you healthy for as long as the PP and weather will allow, lunar dance fills the last slot as it allows cress to bring back a weakened ally back into the battle, this is a big help to Lando T/Zone/Magearna. The EVs pump Cresselia physical bulk, it hits a magic lefties number for hp which lowers the reliance on clicking moonlight and the 60 spdef EVs mean that specs lele moonblast is a 3hko. 20 speed allows you to outspeed cb ttar allowing you to get off a lunar dance before you die. I seem to speed creep this mon a lot ik haha

Mantine @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Def / 220 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Scald
- Defog
- Haze
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Ash Gren, who dat? Volcarona, who dat? Mega alakazam, who dat? Honestly if it’s a special attacker there’s a good chance that mantine walls it to high hell and back. The EV spread is straight outta Compton, I mean the mantine ou analysis! It does all the things it says it does in there so I don’t want to ramble on too much about that, instead I’ll talk about the move choices, scald for the stab and burn chance, roost to keep healthy and defog to get rid of hazards. Haze is the option I decided to go for over toxic, it stops calm mind/nasty plot sweepers from becoming an issue, it keeps pesky reuniclus at bay and it ensures that every variant of volcarona is accounted for. Mantines job is a simple one as u can see, don’t let the team lose to special set up sweepers and keep away them pesky pebbles and spikes.

Conclusion​

First of all I would like to give a shoutout to Lamonier and Electric win for assisting in testing the team and ascertaining a peak point as I don’t get many opportunities to ladder. OU mods A and moondazing for the cm/pain split Magearna and lastly all the victims on the ou ladder!

In conclusion the team notably has some issues in dealing with Zard X and Tyranitar, match ups vs these can prove to be the most difficult and while it is possible to beat them it can often end up with one or two mons being significantly weakened. I have tried of course to remedy this as best as I can but it will still require you to be alert of the potential to lose to these at all times during the battle. Mega Mawile can also prove to be an issue to this team but honestly this mon is so strong that dealing with it is more nightmarish than it’s 15 mouths.

I’m not really sure what else to say other than I hope you enjoy the team as much as I did building it, may it bring you the success you desire and I hope you’re not too savage in your rates!

Importable

Latias-Mega @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stored Power
- Refresh
- Calm Mind
- Roost

Magnezone @ Electrium Z
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 72 HP / 216 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Substitute

Magearna @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 36 Def / 36 SpA / 188 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fleur Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Pain Split

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 224 HP / 84 Def / 200 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stealth Rock

Cresselia @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 208 HP / 220 Def / 60 SpD / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Moonlight
- Lunar Dance

Mantine @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Def / 220 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Scald
- Defog
- Haze

 

[Imbadbuturworse]

Update:

Toxic is now used on my Cresselia to better assist Mega Latias with breaking down dark types. Now you’re able to toxic the likes of ttar/ash gren and potentially set up with Mega Latias while the toxic slowly eats away at them, if I knew how to edit my original post on phone I would of done this but a comment will have to do for now.