Nails' LC Team (peaked #1)

Nails

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Nails LC Team


This is the team I’ve used for a long while on the CAP server LC ladder. It had the #1 spot on the ladder for like 2-3 months solid (like, a week total of other people on top of the ladder), hitting a peak of like 1620 iirc, maybe higher, and never really dropping lower than 1580 for that entire period. So, I’m kind of just retiring this team, because I got more than my fair share of mileage out of it. That said, anything that’ll make it better would be helpful!

At a glance:



pohca (Machop) (M) @ Oran Berry
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 196 HP/196 Atk/116 Def
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dynamicpunch
- Ice Punch
- Protect
- Bullet Punch

This machop is probably the best lead in LC, dead serious. It loses to like 3 things, all of which hit hard specially, and are handled by the rest of the team (munchy). It has an incredible amount of bulk, and hits like a truck. To give examples, Gligar does something like 60% with earthquake to it, and it then activates oran berry. Ice Punch then responds back with a ohko. Here’s the lead stats from the time when I was first using the team (I built around the end of june, those are july’s stats), along with lead matchups.

Machop: They’re frequently less bulky than me, so I can win a DPunch war on average. I can also switch to gastly and hypnosis it.

Snover: Leads can’t ohko me, I ohko/knock it down to sash + bullet punch.

Meowth: Protect on the fake out, dpunch for the ohko. If they have hypnosis I lose.

Kabuto: Dpunch turn 1, they set up rocks or attack. If they set rocks, protect turn 2, then bullet punch t3 to give them an extra shot at hitting themselves. If they attack, bullet punch because I don’t want to give them a shot to get up rocks when I don’t have to.

Aipom: Same as Meowth except slightly more powerful and no hypnosis. Protect on the fake out, then dpunch.

Hippopotas: Dpunch spam, they’re bulky as hell but machop wins out due to confusion hax. They probably get rocks though, barring speed ties and a huge amount of confusion hax.

Abra: Switch out to houndour to take the psychic, and then switch to munchy on the coverage move. Switch to munchy would admittedly work, but I like saving damage whenever possible.

Diglett: DPunch. They get rocks or a weak EQ on chop.

Gastly: No clue what this is doing, probably hypnosis and/or trick room. Switch to Dratini on the hypnosis to troll with shed skin and hypnosis’s already shitty accuracy (it’s like a 42% chance of a sleep being on it at the end of the turn).

Chimchar: Protect on the fake out, if they set up rocks that turn whatever. Machop has a decent shot at living an overheat, but fake out kills those chances.

Voltorb: Dpunch while they get their 8 turns of rain. Technically a lose, but most stuff loses to it.

Gligar: Ice Punch, it comes nowhere near ohkoing.

Bronzor: Switch to houndour on the sr/psychic, spam fire blast unless I know their team.

Houndour: A fantastic lead, I have no clue how it was 14th that month. That said, I switch out to my own houndour on the fire attack, dark pulse while they reversal so I don’t get koed, followed by hp ground to finish it off. Leadour is really a fantastic lead and should be top 5 every month…

Drifloon: Ice Punch nearly kills it, just keep spamming it or bullet Punch if it’s in ko range.

As you can see, there’s like 3 leads machop loses to (Natu’s another, dammit Zari) and it frequently has enough hp left afterwards thanks to oran to revenge kill something lategame. There’s a reason it had like 17% usage that month, and it’s not just because I inflated the stats. To compare, deoxys-e had 7% usage at its peak as a lead, and azelf was at like 10% at its peak usage iirc. So that’s my lead.

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inita (Dratini) (M) @ Oran Berry
Ability: Shed Skin
EVs: 28 HP/244 Atk/196 Spd/36 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Extremespeed
- Outrage
- Waterfall

Dratini is the pokemon on the team I’m least happy with. It generally is sacrificed to sleep or death foddered. Every so often it sweeps 6 pokemon, but it’s generally difficult to set up the 2 dd’s required to sweep the metagame, and bronzor beats you without something like +4. It was thrown up to try and provide resists, but it doesn’t have the bulk to absorb hits. That said, it’s nice to have its priority, but it could still be replaced fairly easily.

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xalhcnu (Munchlax) (M) @ Oran Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 236 Atk/116 Def/156 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Pursuit
- Body Slam/Frustration
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch

The best pokemon in LC, it provides so much to a team that I don’t understand why you WOULDN’T want one on your team. It goes like this: you switch into something, it switches out or dies. That’s it. Pretty much any ev spread is viable on munchy, as long as it has max+ attack. I chose to put 2 points into def and SpD, I could move a point from SpD into hp but it wouldn’t do that much, and it works. Frustration is actually quite important on munchy, as it gives quite a few extra koes (ohko on Dratini for example, which BS doesn’t). However, getting a para allows you to get a free hit on the other guy, so it’s not always worth it. Ice Punch over Fire Punch because I have houndour so Bronzor isn’t a huge threat, and an extra Gligar check is cool.

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yltsa (Gastly) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 36 HP/40 Def/200 Spd/200 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Hypnosis
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fighting]

This is kind of the signature pokemon of the team (along with the machop). It all started out with me wanting to find a viable use for leftovers in lc (to be fair, I later found out that it was listed in the LC guide, but I came up with this set before I read it). I decided that I would have to get as many free turns as possible, so basically I want for as many immunities as you can get (3), a move that incapacitates the opponent (hypnosis), and a move that gives me another free turn (subs). The set works because the moves and pokemon have great synergy. Gastly itself forces a ton of switches. This gives me a chance to set up a sub. I then get 2 shots to hit hypnosis (assuming I’m faster), upgrading its awful 60% accuracy to 84% over 2 turns. Hitting hypnosis then gives me a free chance to sub, all of this giving me many many free turns. As for the attacks, hp fighting is admittedly an odd attack to use because sludge bomb is nearly always better (its strongest attack in fact). However, RP Aron sets up on Gastly if I don’t have it, which is very bad, as my team’s only counter, Machop, can only counter it if it’s living and at a decent hp level. I don’t want to use hp ground because then Munchy rapes me.

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uohcni (Chinchou) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 52/228 Spd/228 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Chinchou is the team’s scarfer, because every team needs one basically. It provides a lot of bulk, and power, and 24 speed is cool. Modest over timid because I like the extra power, and there’s like 3 scarfers that hit 25. It’s a standard moveset, with dual stabs, ice beam to revenge Dratini and hit grasses, as well as Gligar if I don’t want to risk missing. Hp ground vs hp grass are basically equal, I went with ground for the hell of it. There isn’t a lot to explain here. It serves as my Elekid counter, as hydro pump + one LO recoil koes and chicnhy switches in for free on electric attacks… but yeah, that’s about it.

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ruonduo (Houndour) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 36 Atk/36 Def/236 Spd/200 SAtk
Hasty nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Sucker Punch

Houndour is here for its typing and power. Max speed is fantastic on Houndour, so it can tie with other hounds. Max SpA and LO for hitting as hard as possible, the attack point is for SP, and the last point is stuck in def instead of SpD to balance out the defenses. Dual stabs should be obvious, hp ground is for other houndour, sucker punch for priority.

Something about houndour that is frequently ignored is its dark typing. A particularily lulzy thing to do is switch into a lead slowpoke while it uses Zen Headbutt and then ohko with a SE dark pulse. The fire/dark typing also allows it to basically destroy anything ever seen on a trick room team (bronzor, slowpoke, exeggcute, cubone, duskull, ect.). That’s basically its role on the team, switch in once or twice and score a ko.

Weaknesses:

Rain Dance: Sorta kinda, munchy checks special stuff, chinchy dies pretty fast, and then I just have to prevent setup or I can be swept on the second set up. Gastly does well at stalling out rain though.

Scarf Gligar: Kinda beats my team, I have a couple checks that get worn down fast and only one eq immune/resist. Destroys chinchy, Dratini, and houndour. However, gastly gets a free setup on scarfed eq.

Scarfed Doduo: If it predicts right nothing can switch in. No one uses it, but I think I lost to one… once? Just a theory weakness because no one uses it, but it’d be mildly threatening, since.

So, there’s my team. Rate/Hate/Steal, I can guarantee it works well. Thanks for reading it!
 
So you finally post it. =]

If gastly goes down, rp Aron kind of beats you (or if hypnosis misses) if chinchou locks itself into ice beam.

I suggest removing mr. Expendable (dratini) for a scarf gligar, for a second (and better) check to Aron.

Another great team, congrats on holding #1 for so long. (looks like I have to post a counter-team now) Good luck in the tourney - I'll be rooting for you!
 

Nails

Double Threat
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Thanks for rating coma. I'd been toying with the idea of replacing dratini with a gligar for a while, but had never got around to testing it. Machop is probably the best aron counter in the meta (bronzor does nothing to magnet rise aron) but it's frequently weakened by then. Scarfgar makes all sorts of sense, so if I ever get a chance to test it it'll proibably do a better job.
 
I've played this a few times. You have difficulty with the Carvanha + Elekid combo. If I remember correctly you had a sure win after I blundered with my wynaut and I managed to win at the death after you got smashed by those two. I'll have a better rate later.

EDIT: Scarf Gligar is actually the kind of thing that would work great to help deal with Elekid. So long as it has enough bulk to take a AJ from Carvanha that may be the solution.
 

Nails

Double Threat
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It is really really difficult to make a team that isn't weak to vahna, as if you have one thing it beats it sets up a sub on it and proceeds to destroy. But the fact that Chinchou checks both of them means that it's probably weakened from vanha, and if you have a wynaut it's screwed. Good points, scarfgar seems like it fits well.
 
gj

If people ever use SubChop, it can switch in on Houndour or Munchlax, sub on the switch out, eat Gastly, and come back later and start 'punching.

But no one runs SubChop, so you're good.

Above two sentences are only there so the post doesn't get modded. Take them as you will.

Oh yeah. Thirding Scarf Gligar.
 
You are correct that chinchou checks them both. Especially since it is scarfed.

I think your biggest problem is Priority. Sure you have some moves spread around but they aren't really usable alot of the time. Most priority users have type advantage on yours except for Dratini which is the fairly average normal type. Having something like Croagunk would help you alot but sadly everything on this team is needed.

I'm going to suggest you replace Dratini with something. Scarf Gligar would help you greatly in that slot. In which case I think AgilityChou might be better for you so you have something to make use of that U-turn. Agility Chou and scarfchou play fairly similarly. Sadly that leaves you slightly more vanha weak. Is it possible to EV Gligar to survive an Aqua Jet. If so then you may have something going there. Otherwise give some thought to putting in a fighting priority move somewhere. Possibly Croagunk who can beat most of the things you have trouble with provided they aren't set up.

Bottom line is Dratini should be dropped for Scarf Gligar, the rest is up to you. Btw this team is better than your new one imo.
 

Nails

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Thanks.

You are correct that chinchou checks them both. Especially since it is scarfed.

I think your biggest problem is Priority. Sure you have some moves spread around but they aren't really usable alot of the time. Most priority users have type advantage on yours except for Dratini which is the fairly average normal type. Having something like Croagunk would help you alot but sadly everything on this team is needed.

I'm going to suggest you replace Dratini with something. Scarf Gligar would help you greatly in that slot. In which case I think AgilityChou might be better for you so you have something to make use of that U-turn. Agility Chou and scarfchou play fairly similarly. Sadly that leaves you slightly more vanha weak. Is it possible to EV Gligar to survive an Aqua Jet. If so then you may have something going there. Otherwise give some thought to putting in a fighting priority move somewhere. Possibly Croagunk who can beat most of the things you have trouble with provided they aren't set up.

Bottom line is Dratini should be dropped for Scarf Gligar, the rest is up to you. Btw this team is better than your new one imo.
No investment lets gligar survive an aqua jet. It takes like 80% from phanpy's ice shard for a comparison (about the same from a LO AJ).

I'm using an agilichou on my new team, and it's basically the same in all ways except it loses coverage on chinchou and it sweeps rain teams (which scarfchou doesn't do quite as well).

So in conclusion:

Scarfgar is a cool guy
agilichou afraids of nothing.
 
Ok I played the new version of this team. (With scarfgar) It wasn't you using it so it was a bit different. Anyways it is very Agility Paras weak. Granted I had taken out Houndour and Gligar had taken two lots of SR damage but it went from fairly even to dead fairly quickly and the team I was using was fairly ordinary.

I want to say get rid of Gastly for Duskull so you have some more priority but I know you are going to reject that seeing as it probably makes the team a whole worse. I would say make sure that Gligar stays healthy so it can take the hits it needs to and give it AA.
 

Nails

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Duskull is a way better pokemon in the current meta than gastly. It is just a total dick to face, and I'm sure it'd work fine. I think for this team, having gastly with subs just acts as a mindgame pokemon, as they can't use dpunch with their scarfchop or I will get a free sub, and it'll be a total bitch to kill. As much as I love Duskull, it does a different thing. The team is able to use either one well, it's just a matter of personal preference.

As far as the paras weakness, once I sac something to sleep, depending on what I have left I can check it. Munchy lives a seed bomb for example, chop ice punches, gastly resists both of its stabs but I'm not sure it lives... Dour can SP too. It's admittedly an issue, but something that I'm generally able to play around.

Ofc, this is all theorymon. Losing Espeed may hurt badly enough that I need the priority. I haven't played with the newer version of the team yet bc there hasn't been anyone on cap and I'm playing 5th gen a bit on PO. But w/e. Thanks for the comments =)
 
Scarf or priority. They both do similar things. Basically I would seriously consider putting Shadow Sneak on a Duskull over Gastly. It actually beats Machop better thanks to being slower and it can wow. Giving it frustration means that it doesn't have to run SpAtt EVs which gets you an extra attack point iirc. Which in turn makes Munchlax no more of a threat than it was when you had Gastly.

Also Team uber has a LC ladder and sometimes there are people playing it, not very often though.
 
Hi nails. this team is bad like all of your teams but i guess ill rate it. you're really subvanha weak because once chincou is gone and gastly and munchy are weakened it pretty much destroys you with crunch + aqua jet. just play cautiously with them. and gastly i always wondered why you used lefties because lefties suck. use lo. or spooky plate. or SOMETHING other than lefties. anyways good team bla bla
 

Nails

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this team is bad

*random shit about lefties gastly pwnzing subvanha*

good team
What is this I don't even.

And yeah, subvanha rapes me, but it can only get in on a revenge, so that means I kilt one of their guys. It's easy enough to play around, I usually only lose one mon. Lefties was used b/c oran was glitched on shoddy mostly, but it's also cool to not lose hp to sandstorm so they actually have to attack me to kill me.
 

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