No Chomp, T-tar, Mence, Ape, Vile, Bliss, Elf, Deoxys, Oh my!

[Galliance]

Intro:

After retiring my Bibarel Team one day, I decided I needed a failsafe way to win my Pokemon Matches. My Standard Rating at that time was only from the high 1100s to low 1200s. Obviously, not very good. This was, till I realized there was one easy way to win a Pokemon match and I decided to incorporate it with another Gimmick team of mine...

Team at a Glance:

Substitutes:

Here we go!...
Changes in Italics

The lead

Shedinja@Focus Sash, Wonder Guard
Adamant, 252 Atk, 252 Spe

Swords Dance
Will-O-Wisp
X-Scissor
Shadow Sneak

Ok, before you even go "WTF? Shedinja? Everyone knows it fails in OU!" Well, that's only if you use it wrong. This Shedinja (its the Standard set in the Smogon Analysis) made me realize that almost all its moves can be used to counter some of the most common leads nowadays. The EV Spread and nature need no explanation, and the 4 extra EVs wouldn't be needed anywhere anyways. Swords Dance is just great, especially when you can SD up in front of a Suicune for example with 6 CMs up. SD technically turns Shedinja's respectable 306 Attack and can Max it to 918. Of course, even with just 1 SD Up, it KOs many psychic types and can pull surprise KOs on other Pokemon. Azelf is OHKOed by X-Scissor, and if it has a Focus Sash, there's a chance it tries to set-up SR first. Deoxys-S is the same, though it isn't OHKOed, a Shadow Sneak after attacking with an X-Scissor still kills it. Celebi and Cresselia, two commonly used walls also can't touch Sheddy barring Toxic or Leech Seed. (These problems are solved by other team members, read on... Another interesting thing is that Shedinja screws over many BP Teams, as long as I get any other Team Member to absorb sleep. Many BP teams can't touch Sheddy, with all their moves used for BPing. ANother major weakness you may see are Leading Porygon2s, tracing Wonder Guard then causing havoc. Problem solved again. Hitmontop can easily Toxic P2, then Shedinja can easily outstall it with its high PP moves. SR, Toxic Spikes and Spikes you might say. Shedinja is a useless lead and will end up being dead weight on the team. Another reason why I have Tentacruel and Hitmontop. What about Tyranitar or Hippowdon? Easy. I use prediction to kill them with Hitmontop or Starmie, then change the weather with Bronzong. What about Super effective moves? After the Focus Sash activates, you're toast. The other team members have perfect team synergy and cover all of Sheddy's weaknesses. This will probably be my longest explanation.

The Physical Wall and Spinner

Hitmontop@Leftovers, Intimidate
Impish, 252 HP, 72 Def, 184 Spe

Rapid Spin
Aerial Ace
Close Combat
Stone Edge

My physical wall. It may not look like much, but with intimidate, it's a great switch in on Physical Mence, T-tar and Gyara with Super Effective Moves against all 3 enough to dent them if they dare to stay in. Hitmontop's handy Dark and Rock resistance help in letting it take hits for Sheddy. Usually, when a Physical Attacker switches in on Shedinja, it gets burned. Together with Intimidate, the opponent will really do negligible damage and Hitmontop can get in a moderate hit. This guy is also my sleep absorber since his only job is to counter specific threats to Shedinja, Poison Gliscor or any other Physical Wall switching in and spin away those nasty Spikes. His resistance to SR is an added bonus. I replaced Toxic with Aerial Ace since Hitmontop didn't really have any other support moves and Toxic was redundant with TS as the raters said. Aerial Ace is also good against Hera trying to switch in and gain a Guts Boost.

The 2nd Spinner, Special Wall and Toxic Spiker

Tentacruel@Leftovers, Liquid Ooze
Calm, 204 HP, 96 SpA, 172 SpD, 36 Spe

Rapid Spin
Toxic Spikes
Surf
Sludge Bomb

The Standard Tentacruel set. Tentacruel plays a very important role in the team. It absorbs Toxic Spikes when it switches in, the only other Poison type in OU capable of doing so is Roserade. It is also my Special wall, setting up Toxic Spikes as Infernape or any fire type for that matter switches out. Liquid Ooze is the preffered ability, as this lets it counter Celebi without Psychic, Abomasnow and Breloom OHKOing the two latter and dealing 45+% to Defensive Celebis. Surf si for general STAB and Rapid Spin is to make sure Spikes/SR isn't a problem for Shedinja.

The Suicide Bomber, SR Layer and Weather Changer

Bronzong@Leftovers, Levitate
Relaxed, 252 HP, 128 Atk, 128 SpD

Stealth Rock
Gyro Ball
Explosion
Sunny Day

The "suicide Pokemon" in my team so to speak. Like Azelf and Deoxys, Bronzong's job is to setup SR, kill things with Gyro Ball then go out with a BOOM! Since Tyranitar is one of the most used Pokemon though, I had to get Rain Dance to make sure Weather doesnt mess with Shedinja. Gyro Ball OHKOs Weavile and Gengar. Explosion on Blissey or another Special Wall or just to get it one last hit.

The Revenge Killer

Heatran@Choice Scarf, Flash Fire
Hasty, 252 SpA, 252 Spe, 4HP

Fire Blast
Earth Power
HP Ice
Explosion

I used to have a Dugtrio/Lucario here, but I decided Heatran would help Sheddy a lot more than than the paper defenses of Duggy and Luke. Basically, just come in on the obvious Fire Attack sent at Shedinja, then try to predict the opponent's next move. Instead of the Timid Nature, I gave it Hasty since the defense drop won't matter against EQ users and I still want Explosion to hit hard.

The Late Game Sweeper, Janitor

Starmie@Choice Specs, Natural Cure
Timid, 252 SpA, 252 Spe, 4HP

Surf
Thunderbolt
Ice Beam
Grass Knot

Ah SpecsStar. 492 SpAttack just hurts a LOT. The reason I didn't give this the standard moveset is because Choice Specs just turns a lot of Potential 2HKOs into OHKOs and 3HKOs into 2HKOs. This outruns Modest Gengar and OHKOs a lot of stuff, I can't name the long list. It also 2HKOs Celebi, for those stupid enough too switch in. By the time the opponent realizes this is Speced, its too late. SpecsStar really is great and if ever Shedinja falls, its usually the one killing stuff and cleaning thins up late game, hence its the Janitor of the team, so to speak.

The Substitutes:

I used too have a CBDuggy over Tran too trap Electric types till I realized even with CB, Dugg is just really weak. At one point in time, I also had an Endure-Reversal-Crunch-Extremespeed Lucario, but it didn't work out either.

Conclusion:

Well, there's the team. It's gimmick, yes, but it got me from the High 1100s too the high 1300s. Pretty good for something with Shedinja in it, don't you think?

*I'm guessing when I post this, there'll be a sudden rise of Ttar usage and Pursuit users. Oh well, I want your opinions after all, lol.

Threat List:

Only a few Pokemon actually threaten this team, since the team synergy is really great.

Pursuit Metagross is probably the worst Pokemon the team will face, since almost all Metagross I meet don't have Pursuit, it's really easy to just cripple them with Burn. Even that, I have Heatran for it.

Sand and Hail teams. Hail really isn't a problem though, since Abomasnow goes down pretty quickly and then Sheddy just sweeps. Sand is what the team really hates. It's hard to get a Ttat or Hippo too stay in when you need it too and the stereotype that almost all Sand teams are stall makes the team fear it even more. SpecsStar is the only chance I really have, and I need Tyranitar too at least be at 70-80% healthy for a KO.

Please do mention all your thoughts on this team, I wanna see comments and reactions too, lol. Thanks again for taking your time to read this.

 

[Caelum]

Not a full rate at all, but don't lead with Shedinja. Tyranitar (not sure how weather damage works first turn tbh)/Weavile/Scizor leads say hi with Pursuit. Save it for later.

 

[HR.]

On Heatran, switch Overheat for Fire Blast, and switch Dragon Pulse for HP Ice. Fire Blast will do loads more in the long run, and HP Ice is for better coverage while still hitting dragons hard. I would also make it Timid to help it outrun more things. Toxic and Toxic Spikes seems kind of redundant, consider prio move on Hitmontop, but it isn't necessary. Also, as Caelum said, don't lead with Shedinja, save it till his counters are gone.

 

[Bourbon]

I would change the weather on here to sunny day (heatran). Also, watch out for Gyarados, I have no idea how your team beats DD LO Gyarados :|

I don't know what I would change though... but bottom line you need a Gyarados counter.

 

[Rag]

You shouldn't fear Spikes and Stealth Rock that immensely, so running two Rapid Spinners seems unessecary to me. I would keep Tentacruel though, as it absorbs Toxic Spikes whereas Hitmontop don't. Tbh it seems like Hitmontop is there basically to handle Tyranitar, but Techotop still does the job qute well imho. Technotop will also provide you a answer to Lucario in its Techincan Mach Punch, so it's worth some consideration, especially considering everything seems to fare quite bad again Lucario.

I agree with Caelum, don't lead of with your Shedinja. You got like tons of support that should keep him alive anyway, like a spinner and Rain Dance. Speaking of Rain Dance, even through you're not going to spam it unless Sandstorm is running I don't like it used in conjuction with your Overheat Heatran. Lava Plume seems pretty cool though, crippling most Sandstorm Pokémon and prevents them from posing a threat to your team if they get burned, and unlike Overheat, Lava Plume got some uses even if Rain Dance is running.

I think I would've tried Hypnosis on Bronzong in favor of Explosion. It's much better to sleep a Gyarados rather then exploding on it, as losing Bronzong would've given you trouble against a lot of pokémon, such as Mamoswine, Deoxys-S, Weavile, etc. If you ran the standard CounterStar you would still solve the problem though, but that's a pretty drastic compared to Hypnosis on Bronzong.

 

[Galliance]

Well, thanks for all the comments, I editted a lot. Heatran now works a lot better, KOing the things that Sheddy fears the most. I decided to go with Aerial Ace on Top too hit ScarfCross, something this team fears hard.

The reason I lead with Sheddy is so I can switch to the appropriate counter at once. Hitmontop needs Intimidate and can't afford Technician since it'll not be that bulky without the Attack Drop.

Sheddy also counters all bulky waters BTW, so no problem there.

Thanks for all the comments! :D I was gonna post more, but accidentally hit the back button. :(

 

[Tangerine]

What common lead is Sheddy going to counter?

Azelf did it's job if it set up Rocks. This means that the second rocks are up - Sheddy can never switch in again (and get walled by Heatran!). Sheddy can't do much to Bronzong who will sleep it. Gengar can take a Shadow Sneak and sleep it or shadow ball. TTar and Abomasnow and Hippowdon means that it will meet its instant doom. And the thing is - it does nothing to aid your team - you just want to beat the common leads although most leads will do their job just by setting up rocks and weather.

I really don't find the point of running two spinners. None of your team members will need it except... Shedinja. Considering your team isn't a stall team, nor it is very offensive, you're going to be relying on Shedinja to pull its weight... the issue is that it wont, considering Heatrans are everywhere and you have no reliable way to get rid of it at all. Two Rapid Spinners to support Shedinja who is just asking to be maulled is a bit silly, IMO.

Instead of Sunny Day - why not try Rain Dance if you're so intent on running Shedinja? I also dont recommend it as a lead. By running Rain Dance you can run some choice sweepers like Kabutops who can easily take care of Heatrans and other things that might maul Shedinja. After you let things like Kabutops and other sweepers of your choice, then you spin (with Starmie, most likely) and then bring in shedinja for the finish. I think it's a much better game plan, really.

So, my idea is.

1) Run Electrode or Deoxys E as a lead with Rain Dance. Deoxys E can also serve as an end game sweeper or shut down leads with Taunt. Replace Hitmontop.

2) Bronzong gets rain Dance instead of Sunny Day.

3) Heatran is replaced with Kabutops.

4) Starmie turns into Rapid Spin Starmie, still with LO.

5) Replace Tentacruel for another Rain Dance sweeper.

6) Sweep with Shedinja to finish the game.

Hope it helped!

 

[Galliance]

K, thanks Tangerine, I'll try out your suggestions. I'm going with Electrode though as the title of the RMT wouldn't make sense then.

I'll leave the RMT up though, so others can see. I'll see if the new team gets me more wins, since my current rating in Standard is now 1399. Thanks again for the rate!

Edit: Tried the rain team. It generally raped, but it got screwed over by a Trace Porygon2. :(

 

[Galliance]

+24 HR bump. Any more suggestions on the RMT First Post? I tried Tangerine's suggestion, and it works greaty, but I switch teams from tiem to time so more comments will be appreciated.