Hi guys, I'm entering a Monotype tournament in Las Vegas. The rules are as follows:
- Double Elim
- Standard rules and clauses for OU.
- You may enter up to 10 Pokemon, and choose one type.
- All tournament rounds will consist of a best 2/3 set.
- In each match of the set, at least 4 of pokemon used must be of your type. You may have two "floaters" of any type.
- You may change as many Pokemon as you like between matches during the set, but at least 4 must remain the type specified. (basically, you get 4 extra subs that you can switch out between matches)
My type is Flying. So I need 4 flying types and two floaters for my main team, and I can also enter 4 additional subs, at least 1-2 of which should probably be flying as well. You can also have duplicate pokemon with different EV's and sets, so that's an idea to go with as well. Anyway, here's my team:
Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash / Pressure
Jolly / 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
-Taunt
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
For a while, I was using Swampert as a lead, and that was working out really well, but the rest of my team was getting swept by thunderbolts and ice beams when Swampert was KO'd or took a lot of damage from being a lead. So now I save him for later, with a more offensive set.
Aerodactyl is a great lead for denying rocks to most common leads with taunt, which is extremely important for my team. He also almost always gets rocks up which I greatly appreciate, and I don't expect too many of his counters to appear in a monotype tournament right out. If he's down to 1HP he can also come back and revenge if the opponent hasn't managed to drop stealth rocks yet. This set is standard and I've tested it in OU; it works nicely and compliments the team.
Skarmory @ Leftovers / Keen Eye
Impish
252 HP / 100 Def / 152 SDef
-Spikes
-Roost
-Whirlwind
-Brave Bird
Specially bulkier Skarm. Drop spikes and shuffle. This guy is a good catchall physical wall at all stages of the game, and a couple of layers of spikes make a big difference to my bulky team. Skarm is also neutral to Rock and Ice and resists Dragon (and a few more types), making it excellent for phazing anything that wants to set up before it's weakened. Since the two main dragon dancers take 25% from stealth rock, they're often only one or two whirlwinds away from dead weight.
Honchkrow @ Life Orb / Insomnia
Jolly / 104 Atk / 252 Spd / 152 Def
-Sucker Punch
-Brave Bird
-Heat Wave
-Substitute
Honchkrow is a really solid pokemon in OU, and absolutlely a lifesaver on this team due to the fact that he checks Starmie, Latias, Gengar, Choice Rotom and many huge threats to the team. Jolly 252 Spd gives me 265 speed, faster than neutral natured Gyrados, +Speed Breloom, metagross, and Skarmory, and any non-scarfed Scizor and T-Tar. The defensive EVs allow me to survive one choice-banded Scizor bullet punch and KO with heat wave after stealth rock. Also checks a bunch of janky pokemon like Forretress and can severely damage fighting, grass, steel, psychic and other monotypes. Sucker Punch is also great against a seriously weakened CB or Swords Dance Scizor because of its priority and Honchkrow's speed advantage allowing it to strike first, and is also a reliable revenge check to any weakened Pokemon, but it can't be switching in all the time due to stealth rocks.
Substitute is used over Pursuit/Superpower in this set. I'm not so concerned about hitting steels with my current team. If I'm certain that they'll switch due to fear of Sucker Punch, instead of Pursuiting I'll use a sub, allowing me to get at least two hits on the next pokemon (Brave Bird + sucker punch), which will often KO them and allow me to possibly get in more attacks or switch. Its really good, give it a whirl and see.
Gliscor @ Leftovers / Sand Veil
Impish / 252 HP / 144 SDef / 114 Atk
-Earthquake
-Taunt
-Toxic
-Roost
My second bulky Roost user. Gliscor is almost obligatory on any flying monotype due to its electric immunity. Most pokemon don't carry T-bolt and an ice move on the same set, so this guy forces a lot of switches. He's also a great answer to sandstorm teams, breaks stall effectively with Taunt/Toxic, and is just nicely bulky. The main thing is just to avoid ice/water attacks and he'll be around for a while.
Rotom-F @ Leftovers / Levitate
Timid / 252 HP / 128 SpD / 50 SpA / 80 SpDef
-Shadow Ball
-Discharge
-Will-O-Wisp
-Pain Split
Pain Split/2 STABS Rotom. Timid/128 speed is faster than neutral Gyara, which is important as this is my main check to Gyara; if it runs +speed it won't hit as hard and either way I should be able to get it with Discharge. Rotom-F is cuz I like fridges and to scare off dragons or something, I might switch this to a different Rotom with the same set, but not right away.
The idea is to status as many things with burn and paralysis as possible, and try to get some KOs as well, while resisting Electric and not taking significant damage from weaker ice or rock attacks due to general bulk. Rotom can also sweep when needed and serves as a secondary check to Starmie.
Swampert @ Leftovers / Torrent
Careful / 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef
-Curse
-Earthquake
-Waterfall
-Avalanche
My major check to a dragon team on the first run, which is the team that I'm most afraid of. This is the normal cursepert; switch in on a choiced attack or thunderbolt, Curse if the option is available or hit something fairly hard.
Swampert is the most important member of my team, in my opinion, if only because it resists Water and Rock, and takes 0 from electric. Its weakness is le grass knot, and almost any of my other pokemon can switch into le grass knot and do well due to their own resistances. Swampert is always my go-to guy to allow me to scout moves and absorb damage.
Together, Rotom, Skarmory and Swampert forms a defensive trio which resists every type in the game. Two of them attack well offensively, while Skarmory usually uses Whirlwind to attack, but can also capitalize with a fairly powerful Brave Bird. All 3 pokemon resist bullet punch, and I expect to see a few Scizors and maybe some Metagrosses. So with good prediction I can force a lot of switches to take advantage of spikes and stealth rock and wear down the opponent's team for Honchkrow's sucker punches to finish them off.
Right now I'm looking for suggestions as to different EVs/Sets on my team, suggested pokemon that cover the flying type's weakness well, and suggestions for subs that can help me deal with some major threats, and pokemon that can sweep types. A few thoughts so far:
-Kingdra w/ Swift Swim + Dragon Dance, Draco Metor, Waterfall, HP Grass to beat Water-based rain dance teams (Choice Scarf?)
-Specs Jolteon/CB Electavire for electric absorb
-Lanturn?
-Mamoswine to help with Dragons
-Rapid Spin support (Starmie, Donphan?)
- Double Elim
- Standard rules and clauses for OU.
- You may enter up to 10 Pokemon, and choose one type.
- All tournament rounds will consist of a best 2/3 set.
- In each match of the set, at least 4 of pokemon used must be of your type. You may have two "floaters" of any type.
- You may change as many Pokemon as you like between matches during the set, but at least 4 must remain the type specified. (basically, you get 4 extra subs that you can switch out between matches)
My type is Flying. So I need 4 flying types and two floaters for my main team, and I can also enter 4 additional subs, at least 1-2 of which should probably be flying as well. You can also have duplicate pokemon with different EV's and sets, so that's an idea to go with as well. Anyway, here's my team:
Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash / Pressure
Jolly / 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
-Taunt
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
For a while, I was using Swampert as a lead, and that was working out really well, but the rest of my team was getting swept by thunderbolts and ice beams when Swampert was KO'd or took a lot of damage from being a lead. So now I save him for later, with a more offensive set.
Aerodactyl is a great lead for denying rocks to most common leads with taunt, which is extremely important for my team. He also almost always gets rocks up which I greatly appreciate, and I don't expect too many of his counters to appear in a monotype tournament right out. If he's down to 1HP he can also come back and revenge if the opponent hasn't managed to drop stealth rocks yet. This set is standard and I've tested it in OU; it works nicely and compliments the team.
Skarmory @ Leftovers / Keen Eye
Impish
252 HP / 100 Def / 152 SDef
-Spikes
-Roost
-Whirlwind
-Brave Bird
Specially bulkier Skarm. Drop spikes and shuffle. This guy is a good catchall physical wall at all stages of the game, and a couple of layers of spikes make a big difference to my bulky team. Skarm is also neutral to Rock and Ice and resists Dragon (and a few more types), making it excellent for phazing anything that wants to set up before it's weakened. Since the two main dragon dancers take 25% from stealth rock, they're often only one or two whirlwinds away from dead weight.
Honchkrow @ Life Orb / Insomnia
Jolly / 104 Atk / 252 Spd / 152 Def
-Sucker Punch
-Brave Bird
-Heat Wave
-Substitute
Honchkrow is a really solid pokemon in OU, and absolutlely a lifesaver on this team due to the fact that he checks Starmie, Latias, Gengar, Choice Rotom and many huge threats to the team. Jolly 252 Spd gives me 265 speed, faster than neutral natured Gyrados, +Speed Breloom, metagross, and Skarmory, and any non-scarfed Scizor and T-Tar. The defensive EVs allow me to survive one choice-banded Scizor bullet punch and KO with heat wave after stealth rock. Also checks a bunch of janky pokemon like Forretress and can severely damage fighting, grass, steel, psychic and other monotypes. Sucker Punch is also great against a seriously weakened CB or Swords Dance Scizor because of its priority and Honchkrow's speed advantage allowing it to strike first, and is also a reliable revenge check to any weakened Pokemon, but it can't be switching in all the time due to stealth rocks.
Substitute is used over Pursuit/Superpower in this set. I'm not so concerned about hitting steels with my current team. If I'm certain that they'll switch due to fear of Sucker Punch, instead of Pursuiting I'll use a sub, allowing me to get at least two hits on the next pokemon (Brave Bird + sucker punch), which will often KO them and allow me to possibly get in more attacks or switch. Its really good, give it a whirl and see.
Gliscor @ Leftovers / Sand Veil
Impish / 252 HP / 144 SDef / 114 Atk
-Earthquake
-Taunt
-Toxic
-Roost
My second bulky Roost user. Gliscor is almost obligatory on any flying monotype due to its electric immunity. Most pokemon don't carry T-bolt and an ice move on the same set, so this guy forces a lot of switches. He's also a great answer to sandstorm teams, breaks stall effectively with Taunt/Toxic, and is just nicely bulky. The main thing is just to avoid ice/water attacks and he'll be around for a while.
Rotom-F @ Leftovers / Levitate
Timid / 252 HP / 128 SpD / 50 SpA / 80 SpDef
-Shadow Ball
-Discharge
-Will-O-Wisp
-Pain Split
Pain Split/2 STABS Rotom. Timid/128 speed is faster than neutral Gyara, which is important as this is my main check to Gyara; if it runs +speed it won't hit as hard and either way I should be able to get it with Discharge. Rotom-F is cuz I like fridges and to scare off dragons or something, I might switch this to a different Rotom with the same set, but not right away.
The idea is to status as many things with burn and paralysis as possible, and try to get some KOs as well, while resisting Electric and not taking significant damage from weaker ice or rock attacks due to general bulk. Rotom can also sweep when needed and serves as a secondary check to Starmie.
Swampert @ Leftovers / Torrent
Careful / 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef
-Curse
-Earthquake
-Waterfall
-Avalanche
My major check to a dragon team on the first run, which is the team that I'm most afraid of. This is the normal cursepert; switch in on a choiced attack or thunderbolt, Curse if the option is available or hit something fairly hard.
Swampert is the most important member of my team, in my opinion, if only because it resists Water and Rock, and takes 0 from electric. Its weakness is le grass knot, and almost any of my other pokemon can switch into le grass knot and do well due to their own resistances. Swampert is always my go-to guy to allow me to scout moves and absorb damage.
Together, Rotom, Skarmory and Swampert forms a defensive trio which resists every type in the game. Two of them attack well offensively, while Skarmory usually uses Whirlwind to attack, but can also capitalize with a fairly powerful Brave Bird. All 3 pokemon resist bullet punch, and I expect to see a few Scizors and maybe some Metagrosses. So with good prediction I can force a lot of switches to take advantage of spikes and stealth rock and wear down the opponent's team for Honchkrow's sucker punches to finish them off.
Right now I'm looking for suggestions as to different EVs/Sets on my team, suggested pokemon that cover the flying type's weakness well, and suggestions for subs that can help me deal with some major threats, and pokemon that can sweep types. A few thoughts so far:
-Kingdra w/ Swift Swim + Dragon Dance, Draco Metor, Waterfall, HP Grass to beat Water-based rain dance teams (Choice Scarf?)
-Specs Jolteon/CB Electavire for electric absorb
-Lanturn?
-Mamoswine to help with Dragons
-Rapid Spin support (Starmie, Donphan?)
