(Middle Cup) Your Psycho Neighbors

[The Truth]

Team Psycho Neighbors

First of all, let me introduce myself. I'm The Truth, known on other forums by a couple other names, which i won't bore you with. I'm a novice battler, with a lack of skill the size of delaware. Now that introductions are out of the way, its time to explain the team.

I recently got into middle cup after entering an MC tournament on serebii. I basically entered just for fun and threw a team together out of the limited options available to me, and to my surprise, its actually turned out pretty well so far. Middle cup has been added as a teir to play in ;D. Fun stuff, but most of the time it just comes down to who has the most broken stuff. KInda like RU, but smaller.

I call it Team Psycho Neighbors because most of its offense comes from psychic-types and i really couldnt think of anything else.

Team Building Process

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i started off with the mighty kadabra, in all of his special sweeping glory.

Chansey provided good defensive support and covered other kadabra and ghosts well.

I got the idea for gurdurr from a friend during the original building process. i had decided i needed a good chansey counter and gurdurr was the way to go.

I needed something to counter dragons like fraxure who swept mc teams, and i picked this guy up from a friend. he could survive an outrage and revenge with dragon claw. he was used through most of testing.

The team really needed more offensive presence to function in middle cup, so i picked the next strongest special sweeper in mc that i could think of at the time. duosion came to mind, as i didnt really like most of the options available to me, and so the psychic power-core was born.

I'm really not sure why i added rose to the team, but i've never regretted it. she's been one of the best and most crucial members the whole way along.

The team felt really rhydon weak at this point, and shelgon wasnt really contributing. it also forced me to run heal bell on chansey, because him getting toxiced meant dragons screwed me over. i decided to replace him with a physically defensive wartortle. it has worked better with the rest of the team and served many more purposes than shelgon ever did, so i'm happy with it.

in depth

Kadabra(M) @ focus sash
Trait:Magic Guard
EVs: 252 sp.atk, 252 spe, 4 HP
Timid nature (-atk, +spe)
-psyshock
-shadow ball
-encore
-charge beam
Kadabra is undoubtedly one of, if not the, most powerful pokemon in middle cup. He's the offensive backbone of this team, and does his job pretty well. psyshock is his obvious attacking move, and shadow ball is for coverage and killing opposing kadabra. i don't run HP fighting because it lowers speed and i need to be able to tie/outrun enemy kadabra so i can kill them with shadow ball. the other two moves are basically filler, but knock off is actually pretty good in an eviolite-dominated teir. i run a sash over an eviolite on kadabra because he's incredibly frail even with the boost, and the sash lets him survive what the eviolite wouldn't. I lead with this guy 90% of the time, unless i see an obvious counter up front, as he ohkos most of mc.I'm now running an encore/charge beam set as it functions as an excellent stallbreaker, able to loop encore and force a switch while getting buffs from charge beam.

Duosion(M) @ Eviolite
Trait:Magic Guard
EVs:252 HP, 252 Def, 4 sp.def
Bold nature (-atk, +def)
-psyshock
-shadow ball
-calm mind
-recover
Meet Duosion, my little mini-reuniclus. he provides quite a lot more power to the team, and if he manages to set up, he can sweep. i don't really think that the moves need much explaining, so i'll go short and sweet. psyshock for stab and because its an amazing move, shadow ball for coverage, calm mind to set up and recover to stay alive. not exactly rocket science. I run eviolite over leftovers or life orb because its simply too good to pass up.

Chansey(F) @ Eviolite
Trait:Natural Cure
EVs:252 hp, 252 def, 4 sp.def
bold nature(-atk, +def)
-toxic
-seismic toss
-softboiled
-shadow ball
Here's Chansey, straight from OU to your doorstep. in my opinion, its the most powerful pokemon in middle cup right now, and it definitely deserves a place in any team. the EV spread is standard and lets it take both physical and special attacks extremely well. I run wish/protect over heal bell/softboiled because statuses really aren't much of a problem to the team and wish-passing is a great tactic. Eviolite, as usual, is great.Now running shadow ball, because it lets me troll haunter and kadabra, and its fun. Not good in many situations, but it matters when it matters. Softboiled over wish now, because i don't have protect and i want my instant healing, dammit.

Gurdurr(M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Guts
EVs:252 HP, 252 atk, 4 sp.def
Brave nature (+atk, -spe)
-drain punch
-mach punch
-payback
-bulk up
This guy is basically a mini-conkeldurr. he's my chansey counter and he kills dark-types well too, which helps kadabra and duosion sweep. the moves aren't anything special...drain punch for the healing and as a standard offensive move, mach punch to finish weakened foes, payback for that perfect coverage, and bulk up to let him join the 6-0 club. I run max hp over defensive investment because the eviolite gives him a big enough boost to defenses. He's my lead around 5% of the time, when i see a zweilous or something up front.

Wartortle(M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP, 252 def, 4 sp.def
relaxed nature (+def, -spe)
-rapid spin
-surf
-rest
-toxic
Finally, a set of my own devising. This guy is an all-purpose physical wall and my rhydon stopper. he comes in on anything and KO's it with surf. Rest is because he has no other forms of recovery, and i run toxic for things that can't kill me but aren't weak to my moves. The nature might seem a little weird, but all of its other stats are too important to let drop. This guy leads the other 5%, when rhydon, vibrava, or other things that threaten kadabra and gurdurr are up there. Rapid spin has been added over ice punch. Middle cup was added as a teir on the PO server and i've been playing some matches. Stall and hazards are more popular than ever ;o

Roselia(F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP, 252 sp.def, 4 sp.atk
Calm Nature (-atk, +sp.def)
-sleep powder
-toxic spikes
-leaf storm
-synthesis
Eviolites, Eviolites everywhere! Anyway, i run this guy because he completes a near perfect defensive core with wartortle. Sleep powder is for extremely threatening things and gives me a turn to set up toxic spikes. toxic spikes can really mess with offense when their sweepers only have a set number of turns to live, and since this team is defensive at heart, i can usually stall a sweeper for that amount of turns. Leaf storm is the most powerful move available to roselia and allows it to act as a decent rhydon check, and rest is its best recovery move and lets me abuse natural cure. With the eviolite boost, this guy lives psychics from kadabras, among other, weaker things. Roselia has pp-stalled a porygon2 before. It's honestly one of my favorite pokemon in middle cup to use.I'm running synthesis now because i don't like being forced to switch every time i heal up.

Overall, i think this team is pretty good, but it still has a lot of room to improve, and would probably be much more effective in the hands of a better player than myself. Still, It's a defensive team that has braved the extremely offensive nature of middle cup, and thats definitely something. I'm looking forward to seeing what Smogon thinks of my first RMT, so rate away!

My major edits are done! this includes a team building process, threat list, and a little more in the descriptions.
Moar edits in Bold.​

 

[The Truth]

All right, i have my threatlist, and if you're interested in rating the team, i urge you to read it. I think it provides insights into how the team is played.

Red:big threat
Blue:medium threat
Black:not that dangerous.

Offensive Threats

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Rhydon is the top sweeper in middle cup, and for good reason. It used to easily 6-0 my team, and its basically the main reason i run my Wartortle. Wartortle comes in on any of rhydon's attack and ko's it with surf. if tort is down, roselia can kill it with leaf storm, but i have to be careful due to megahorn and its extremely high attack power.

I've given my opinions on kadabra, and im sticking with them. this guy is extremely powerful, and i have to be somewhat careful around it. My own kadabra can usually kill it due to most running hp fighting, which lowers speed one point. a set-up duosion can do it, and chansey counters it pretty well too. If worst comes to worst, i have to sleep it with roselia.

A total monster, ddance fraxure can sweep teams in middle cup. If kadabra's sash is unbroken, it can deal severe damage with psychic at +1, but sadly i've seen a +1 fraxure outspeed it, so i'll only get one shot off. Wartortle can do a great job at countering it with its marvelous defense.

zweilous has always been pretty powerful with hustle and outrage, but this team really isnt threatened by it. However, it has to be out of the way to let my offensive mons sweep. Gurdurr comes in and kos it easily, and Wartortle can do the job too.

Duosion is a beast. Once it gets a calm mind or two up, it becomes virtually unstoppable. my only chances are o bring rose in on a death and sleep it, or to kill it with kadabra before it gets too many buffs.

Gurdurr. i can't toxic it because of guts, and it's extremely hard to kill due to drain punch. Luckily, kadabra can one-shot it, but it can't come in on any of its moves except bulk up. Roselia does a pretty good job at countering it though.

Yes, speed boost combusken is legal. No, its not a problem. Kadabra comes in on the protect/swords dance and ko's. wartortle can do the job against physical variants too. even duosion has no real trouble with it, as he doesn't really care about speed boost and can take hits all day, that is until he decides to ko it with psyshock.

Not threatening at all. It can barely even touch chansey by spamming wild charge. i simply either toxic it and stall it out or i kill it with seismic toss. easy as pie.

This guy can't do much to me either. Chansey stalls him out easily, and kadabra can kill it. if it comes in on roselia, i can take a hit and sleep it, then switch to duosion and use it as setup fodder.

Offensive variants of metang are extremely hard to deal with. chansey tends to do well against them unless they carry trick/choice item and predict a switch. The main reason that this guy deserves an entry in red is that he gives Kadabra and Gurdurr both major trouble, and it isnt exactly safe to bring in roselia to sleep it either.

This thing deserves a blue rating, not because of how utterly powerful it is, but because of how versatile and tricky it is. i've seen many pikachu in mc running focus punch, which is both odd and rather terrifying. this makes it unsafe to switch in chansey on it. usually on something with a strong physical move, i would go to wartortle, but it would simply get killed by a thunderbolt or something. Gurdurr and Roselia can both do a pretty good job versus Pikachu, and kadabra, if it gets a free switch somehow, can ko it.

Not a big problem. kadabra can kill it, duosion can murder it from a mid-sweep position, and roselia or chansey can simply come in on it and kill it easily. seadra may be a threat to some teams, but it most certainly isnt a threat to this one.

Defensive Threats

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This annoying thing comes in on kadabra all the time, and its one of the main reasons i run knock off. Knock off will cripple the chansey, and i can then switch to gurdurr and murder it with drain punch. Sadly, chansey's annoyingness is multiplied by quite a bit when paired with dusclops, effectively ruining gurdurr's day.

Grrrrrrrrr. This guy isnt exactly threatening on his own, but when paired with chansey, they form an incredibly powerful defensive core. he loves to come in on gurdurr, who is unable to 2hko it with payback. chansey also makes it a lot more difficult to net a ko with shadow ball, but knock off really messes with this core. Dusclops, imo, is a bigger threat by himslef than chansey too, although still not an absolute foil.

Roselia, Roselia, so amazingly good. Immune to toxic, wrecks my toxic spikes, and has survived a psychic from kadabra just to sleep it. Duosion can try to kill it with psyshock, due to most roselia being specially defensive, but im pretty sure it doesn't ohko anyway. Gurdurr can come in on one layer of toxic spikes and gain immunity to sleep and doubled attack without the creeping death of two layers.

Shelgon is mainly used to stop attacking dragons with high defense and ko them with dragon claw. I don't run attacking dragons. i can simply toxic this guy and watch him die, or use him as setup fodder for Duosion. Many run roar though, so the forementioned strategy doesn't work out. still not really threatening though.

porygon2 really isn't all that scary to the team. Gurdurr can kill it, and toxicing it will do more harm than good to them. Roselia lives through everything it can throw at me, then sleeps it or sets up tspikes. it can just rest to recover all of its hp and then switch out. the only problem is that toxic really doesnt do much, thanks to there being a 2/3 chance of it tracing magic guard or natural cure.

Dual Screens magneton is annoying at best. it can't do much damage to me if i play my cards right, and gurdurr can put massive holes in it. if gurdurr isnt doing the job, chansey can simply kill it with seismic toss due to the lack of recovery.

Yep, defensive metang is also annoying. possibly more so than offensive, except that defensive variants don't usually carry trick, making it easy for chansey to kill it with seismic toss spammage. the toxic immunity is a pain though.

Duosion and kadabra can both murder it without too much trouble, and yet it stays one of the most infuriating things to match up against. This thing walls Gurdurr, Roselia, Chansey, and Wartortle completely due to typing and toxic immunity. Whirlwind/Haze variants are the most annoying, because they aren't setup bait for duosion, which would others=wise cm until they switch and then pull a sweep.

A Short Summary on Playing the Team
Kill stuff with kadabra. when a counter comes in, bring in a defender and kill said counter.​

 

[The Truth]

I'm bumping this because

A)I've done some edits and made some changes
B)I want to get at least one rate before i let it die TT-TT
C)Middle cup is finally getting some recognition, yay.

 

[Raseri]

Whoa a Middle Cup team, I haven't played in forever

Have you considered running Agility Seadra over Wartortle. A simple set of:

Seadra @ Life orb/Eviolite
Max SpAtk/Speed
-Agility
-Surf/Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Hidden Power Grass

with a Modest nature you outspeed +1 Base 105s iirc, and can easily OHKO many threats to your team.

Unfortunately MC is a very unbalanced tier so not much will ever stand up to Rhydon. That's all I can really suggest, except maybe a Rain Dance HP Water Electabuzz in the same slot to also destroy Rhydon, though that can only revenge kill

 

[The Truth]

Whoa a Middle Cup team, I haven't played in forever

Have you considered running Agility Seadra over Wartortle. A simple set of:

Seadra @ Life orb/Eviolite
Max SpAtk/Speed
-Agility
-Surf/Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Hidden Power Grass

with a Modest nature you outspeed +1 Base 105s iirc, and can easily OHKO many threats to your team.

Unfortunately MC is a very unbalanced tier so not much will ever stand up to Rhydon. That's all I can really suggest, except maybe a Rain Dance HP Water Electabuzz in the same slot to also destroy Rhydon, though that can only revenge kill

Thanks for that, i'll test it out. i think wartortle is pretty important because it checks all sorts of things and can switch into rhydon's moves, but i'll definitely test that out and see if it works.