"The Mensis ritual must be stopped, lest we all become beasts."
I)Intro
A) A few notes
Hello Smogon, it's been a while since I've posted here... Actually it's been a while since I've played the game period, I could go into more details but I don't believe anyone cares (nor should care)
I'd like to introduce you to my team which did quite well overall, all I will ask you is that before you proceed to read the team or to comment on it you take the following into account :
• Just because Gourgheist is never used and I'm not a "famous" player doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing, give the team a shot before instantly dismissing it as a "noobish gimmick". I took my time to ladder with it for a good while just to prove its worth.
• I will not take into consideration any advice that suggests removing Gourgheist or changing Metagross' set. They're what makes this team unique and interesting, if I wanted to build a classic archetypal team there would be no point in sharing it.
• I care a lot about how I present my team and the thematic I use, feel absolutely free to rate it too, I'd like that a lot. Even if you're not familiar with Bloodborne.
• I apologize for any potential mistakes in English, not my first language
B) The Team
• Team building process
I'm trying to keep it short this time as my RMTs usually tend to drag on quite a bit, so the building process will be quick... In short I knew from pre-pokebank that Tyranitar/Excadrill/Gourgheist made an amazing core for keeping stealth rock in game and also removing enemy entry hazards. I then realized Excadrill made quite a good bait for a lot of stuff that checks/counters Metagross, so I've decided to build my team around Mega-Agiligross. Scarfed Landorus helps in more ways that could be described right there but in a few words he helped keeping or saving the momentum and also participated in baiting some of Metagross' checks/counters. And finally right now you might think that those 5 pokemons get walled with little effort by hard stall teams and have trouble with rotom; you would be correct. That's why I needed a good wallbreaker and that's when Kyurem-Black comes in. As you will see later my machup against stall teams is still not the best but with good predictions they can be pierced through.
• How to use it ?
Again right here I will not go in too much details as all will be explained better later, but in short the team's goal is to put enough pressure on the opponent so that Metagross can end up sweeping. The goal is to wear down the enemy. It is important to keep the rocks on enemy field which Tyranitar + Gourgheist are pretty good a. The team requires A LOT of what might seem like risky predicting so you might not instantly feel comfortable with it if you use it, I will go into more details when speaking about Excadrill, Gourgheist and Kyurem-Black, but already take that into account.
II)A closer look at the team
Micolash, Host of the Nightmare (Excadrill) (M) @ Air Balloon
"Ooh! Majestic! A hunter is a hunter, even in a dream. But, alas, not too fast ! The nightmare swirls and churns unending !"
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance
• Why Excadrill ?
First things first, why leading with Excadrill ? Well that's simple, because that's the only pokemon I absolutely never lead with. I could have used a "fake" lead to lure my opponent but that's a double edged sword and I rather chose to plain and simple use a pokemon that is obviously not my lead in the lead position so there is no tricks involved. Excadrill is here to put an offensive pressure with swords dance on some pokemons that could annoy Metagross such as Landorus, Slowbro or even Skarmory and Rotom (Skarm starts taking quite some damage after a couple Sword Dance and I need rotom at like 60% so if I don't need Excadrill I can chip away some of its health with a +2 Iron Head, rocks and sandstorm).
• Moveset, nature, EVs...
Not much to report regarding nature and EVs, as I said swords dance is used to put some (quite high) offensive pressure
Spinning under sand is easy, Air Balloon is cool against Garchomp, Landorus, Excadrill and others. It especially helps against lead Garchomp, I lead with Tyranitar, use Ice Beam, switch to drill and spin, usually Garchomp won't stay and even if it does all it will do is break my balloon.
• In Game
Probably the most important pokemon in early game, I usually start putting some pressure with him and tyranitar wearing down the opposing team as much as possible. Depending on the machup if I see drill can sweep I might save it for later. But usually I use him and tar early to win the entry hazard battle, which is not difficult at all usually
• Excadrill's place in the team's balance ?
Not really used defensively, although it can occasionally switch in on Claifairy, or by predicting or on obvious earthquakes, often it will come to revenge kill or to setup after a kill (usually after Tyranitar gets KO'd)
• Other options ?
I've considered using rock slide over Iron Head but the results were underwhelming as damaging fairies is better than damaging Zapdos and Rotom, who are not such huge threat's to Metagross to begin with
Father Gascoigne, The Hunter (Metagross) @ Metagrossite
"Beasts all over the shop."
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Rock Polish
- Earthquake
- Zen Headbutt
There really is not much to say about Metagross by himself, the whole team's goal is to set up its sweep, no body expects Rock Polish/Agility (don't ask me why...) so usually in late game it is surprisingly easy to setup as the opponent will usually think he's sacrificing a pokemon who can't do anything to Metagross and revenge killing later with a scarfed of faster pokemon.. It usually does not go this way at all lol
So yeah Mega Metagross hits like a truck and in late game most teams will be torn apart.
Against teams where I don't need the speed I won't wait until late game to use it obviously and might use him to add some pressure in mid/early game too.
Yeah there really is not anything more to say about this pokemon by himself, since I will be explaining how every other pokemon contributes to its sweep.
- Other Options ?
Gehrman, The First Hunter (Tyranitar) (M) @ Smooth Rock
"Tonight, Gehrman joins the hunt."
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 80 Def / 180 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Ice Beam
- Crunch
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Why Tyranitar ?
- Moveset, nature, EVs...
Why Crunch ? Because I ended up never using Pursuit since I benefit from having Lati@s alive to set up Metagross later in the game and because Crunch helps against Slowbro.
- In game
- Tyranitar's place in the team's balance ?
- Other Options ?
Amygdala (Landorus-Therian) @ Choice Scarf
"Oh Amygdala, oh Amygdala... Have mercy on the poor bastard !"
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
Ebrietas, Daughter of The Cosmos (Gourgeist-Super) (F) @ Leftovers
The sky and the cosmos are one.
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Will-O-Wisp
- Seed Bomb
- Protect
- Why Gourgheist ?
+2 84 Atk Mega Scizor Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gourgeist-Super: 264-312 (70.5 - 83.4%)
252 Atk Life Orb Weavile Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gourgeist-Super: 244-291 (65.2 - 77.8%)
252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gourgeist-Super: 294-348 (78.6 - 93%)
252+ Atk Choice Band Huge Power Azumarill Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gourgeist-Super: 169-199 (45.1 - 53.2%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (0% chance with Protect)
Needless to say Garchomp/Excadrill/Landorus/Scizor/Breloom and many many others will not even tickle Gourgheist and that means a free will-o-wisp or leech seed against those pokemons.
- Moveset, nature, EVs...
I used Phantom Force before Seed Bomb, which allowed to maximize the WoW/Seed/Sandstorm/Leftovers potential by attacking in two turns, but it ended up problematic against substitute Keldeo and Manaphy.
Why no Synthesis ? Well, I'll answer that in the next part.
- In game
- Gourgheist's place in the team's balance ?
- Other options ?
Moon Presence (Kyurem-Black) @ Life Orb
"Behold ! A Paleblood sky !"
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 20 Atk / 252 SpA / 236 Spe
Mild Nature
- Outrage
- Fusion Bolt
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Why Kyurem-Black ?
- Moveset, nature, EVs...
- In game
- Kyurem's place in the team's balance ?
- Other options ?
Micolash (Excadrill) (M) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance
Father Gascoigne (Metagross) @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Rock Polish
- Earthquake
- Zen Headbutt
Gehrman (Tyranitar) (M) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 80 Def / 180 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Ice Beam
- Crunch
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
Amygdala (Landorus-Therian) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
Ebrietas (Gourgeist-Super) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Will-O-Wisp
- Seed Bomb
- Protect
Moon Presence (Kyurem-Black) @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 20 Atk / 252 SpA / 236 Spe
Mild Nature
- Outrage
- Fusion Bolt
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance
Father Gascoigne (Metagross) @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Rock Polish
- Earthquake
- Zen Headbutt
Gehrman (Tyranitar) (M) @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 80 Def / 180 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Ice Beam
- Crunch
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
Amygdala (Landorus-Therian) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
Ebrietas (Gourgeist-Super) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Will-O-Wisp
- Seed Bomb
- Protect
Moon Presence (Kyurem-Black) @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 20 Atk / 252 SpA / 236 Spe
Mild Nature
- Outrage
- Fusion Bolt
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
Threat List (to be completed... Maybe.)
I really don't have the time to make an exhaustive threat list right now, but here are the pokemons to watch out for :
- Weavile :
- Gengar :
- Bisharp :
- Keldeo : if the opponnent leads with it, it can become quite annoying against Landorus... I will usually switch into Gourgheist so frisk tells me the item it's using, it can end up being an annoyance, but not a massive threat.
- Hard Stall teams in general, but mostly :
In Conclusion :
All I have to say is that I hope you enjoyed reading this threat and maybe even the team, took me a good lot of time to make, so I'm really too tired to come up with an interesting conclusion so yeah, maybe to be completed too lol
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