SM OU Old school

[Gen1OG]

Introduction​

** This is a team that I've been fiddling with for a long while but it's still got some breakpoints that I haven't figured out if you could help me tweek my stat distribution, items, or movesets to combat my nemesis I'd love you forevermore (nemesis include but not limited to talonflame, mega-beedrill, mega-venusaur, mega-swampert, and chancey) thank you for your time**
**mega alakazam is not a problem for this team at all, in fact I win with this team a lot. Also entry hazards aren't autowin**

The Team​

Aries Mu (Slowking) (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
- Thunder wave
​

**Choice Specs forces Slowking to switch often letting his ability Regenerator shine, he still serves as my goto switch in on almost anything that uses SpA and lacks toxic and dark pulse.
Knockoff hurts Slowking ... a lot, same as dark pulse.
toxic might be a better option than Thunder wave still testing it out, I think having Twave is beneficial to reliably cripple predictable switches for a potentially clean pivot into my heavy hitters, just gotta watch out for status reflecting pokes another reason Twave>toxic here, Twave creates opportunities for my dancers to dance their way to awesomeness
I used to have mega slowbro here but this hit and run regenerator is too fun.
Assault Vest is a consideration, slotting in either a psyshock, shadow ball, or thunderbolt, however I think a calm mind/leftovers/slack off set would be a better option for staying power and hitting harder.
I'm constantly changing this Pokemon his move pool is insane**

Dragon Shiryu (Gyarados) (M) @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Bounce
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
​

**everyone knows and loves good ol gyarados, sometimes I'll just bounce on mf's paralyzing them and i find that satisfying af, othertimes skystrike is an easy moxy boost especially after dancing, and after a dance and a moxie it gets cray only being stopped by some scarf users**

Gemini Kanon (Nidoking) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
​

**nidoking is my main lead, WRECKING most opposing leads or hopefully forcing a painful switch, with a little prediction he is a beast OHKOing A LOT of pokes, he hits hard, has amazing coverage, and can take at least one hit from most pokes.
Also he soaks up toxic, toxic spikes, and electrical attacks often aimed at slowking or gyarados
this Pokemon should be ou**

Virgo Shaka (Clefable) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Protect
- Wish
​

**Clefable is awesome, often trainers will start setting up on clefable and I'll laugh and laugh, then they'll forfit, clefable is fairy type which is almost mandatory in today's meta, plus a bad hoss special wall, and wish passer which is super clutch. I miss out on flamethrowers awesome coverage, and heal bell's sweet chime but protect and leftovers is so incredibly reliable and a lets me scout moves while recovering those crucial few hp
I'm sure if the EVs aren't optimized quite yet**

Gemini Saga (Gengar) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Destiny Bond
- Trick
​

**I use gengar to hurt or revenge kill pokes that lack SpD. thunderbolt is too weak, trick and scarf over Taunt and life orb so I can out speed more threats.
Destiny Bond I'm really liking on gengar sometimes netting a welcome trade, I haven't missed focus blast too much.**

Pegasus Seiya (Dragonite) (M) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
​

**Weakness policy Dragonite is super gimmicky in all the best ways, clefable's wish can be used to help Dragonite switch in through hazards and set up shop. If that fails he still has extreme speed coming off a solid attack stat allowing for a late game cleanup or a strong mid game counter
I contemplate outrage often, also a fire move might be nice**

Importable

Aries Mu (Slowking) (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
- Thunder Wave

Dragon Shiryu (Gyarados) (M) @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Bounce
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance

Gemini Kanon (Nidoking) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam

Virgo Shaka (Clefable) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Protect
- Wish

Gemini Saga (Gengar) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Destiny Bond
- Taunt

Pegasus Seiya (Dragonite) (M) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw

 

[Cervar]

You have no hazard setting or removal, which means that you‘ll probably auto-lose to every semi-competitive team just because you cant switch the apropiate answers to their threats reliably. I‘m also not knowledgeable enough in USUM OU to optimize your team to a sufficient ladder standard.
Just some food for thought, without a steel type M-Alakazam murders your entire team.

 

[Gen1OG]

You have no hazard setting or removal, which means that you‘ll probably auto-lose to every semi-competitive team just because you cant switch the apropiate answers to their threats reliably. I‘m also not knowledgeable enough in USUM OU to optimize your team to a sufficient ladder standard.
Just some food for thought, without a steel type M-Alakazam murders your entire team.

Entry hazards don't bother me too much except for dragonites weakness policy / multiscale even then I can still pull it off with a wish, and mega alakazam is not a threat to this team I beat him often

 

[Twilight]

Hey this is a very interesting team you have here which I will do my best to rate. I do love the fact you aren't using very standard Pokemon in OU so I give you props for that but I do also agree with Jaina that if this is a Gen 1 focused team it will take a lot to make this team semi-viable, but I'll give it my best shot. I also agree with Cervar about the lack of hazard control and your weakness to Zam. While you don't see it as a prominent issue I would like to point it out anyways.

Threats:

- Lack of Hazard Removal / Hazards: Okay so Stealth Rocks are very problematic for your team especially when you are running both Gyarados and Dragonite. While you may not find it an issue, I would like to point out why I believe it is. Not only does it limit how many switch ins both these Pokemon get it also removes your Dragonite's Marvel Scale something that helps Dragonite set up easily without getting blown up by a super effective move. And in the chance you have to swap after setting up you take another 25% on switch-in. This makes you heavily reliant on Clefable being able to pass a wish, something a good player can easily take advantage of. Your own lack of rocks is an issue as well because you can't rack up residual chip damage which can be crucial to beat bulkier teams and heavily pressure x2 or x4 weak Pokemon.

- Mega Alakazam: This Pokemon does basically run through your team with the exception of you being able to bait and revenge kill it with Gengar but as soon as you reveal Gengar in the match and they do not see Life Orb and acknowledge it isn't Specs damage it will be quite easy to catch onto. With Stealth Rocks up on your field it can basically run through you especially with chip on gyarados and Dragonite's scale being broken.

- Ash-Greninja: This Pokemon can also literally run through your squad. It just spams dark pulse on everything that isn't Clefable and proceeds to either rack up a lot of chip damage or easily get it's form. Your Gyarados doesn't eat two dark pulses pre-transformation not even making that a good switch-in. And if it presses Hydro on a Clefable switch you'll get 2OHKO'd. So it is quite easy to say this Pokemon can run through your team with some chip damage from supporting Pokemon and Stealth Rocks.

252 SpA Choice Specs Greninja Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gyarados: 166-196 (50.1 - 59.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

These are the most prominent issues I see of course there are more things that threaten your team quite easily such as Zapdos and certain Zygarde variants for example but these 4 things are what I think need to be fixed.

Minor Changes:

- You are running a Jolly nature on Gengar which I assumne is a mistake. It should be a Timid nature to not reduce your Special Attack. I just wanted to bring this to your attention but I plan to replace this Pokemon anyways.

- I would run the standard Magic Guard Clefable set because it stops it being easily punished by Toxic / Toxic Spikes especially since you have no cleric support for it. With this set you can still function as a bulky physical wall but also pass Wish to your Pokemon and you have space to run rocks.

- I am going to suggest running Taunt > Earthquake on your Gyarados because the changes I plan to make give you more than enough coverage to beat Pokemon like Magearna, Toxapex and Mawile. This helps vs many Pokemon that can't necessarily touch you coverage wise but can stall with recovery or threaten you with toxic / burn. Examples like Celesteela, Mew, Chansey and Clefable. This is an optional change but do give it a try.

- I would suggest using Substitute over Flamethrower so you have more opportunities to wallbreak even if the opponent switches into something faster/capable of revenge killing you. It optimises the amount of damage you can output and losing some coverage against Scizor and Ferrothorn shouldn't be problematic. Especially since Scizor gets 2OHKO'd by Earth Power and Ferrothorn takes around 35%.

Major Changes:

>

- Right so I am going to suggest replacing your Dragonite with Tyranitar. Tyranitar gives you away to get rid of annoying Pokemon such as the lati twins for example and eases your pressure vs stall. It also gives you a switch into an annoying Pokemon such as Zapdos and easily break through it, something that works nicely with Gyarados who hates said Pokemon. It is a very standard set Stone Edge for Pokemon like Zapdos, Crunch as your main stab move. Pursuit to trap the lati twins and other weakened Pokemon. And finally the last slot is up to you. Earthquakeif you don't think Scizor or Ferrothorn is going to be too much of an issue with the chip damage from Landorus and Nidoking. Otherwise run Fire Punch to help break through them.

>

- So I would replace Gengar for Scarf Landorus as your main revenge killer mainly because it gives you Defog something your Gyarados and team appreciates to minimise residual damage. It also alleviates pressure off Clefable to wall Zygarde and other offensive threats such as Scizor, opposing Lando and Kartana to an extent. Lando is capable of outspeeding Modest Zam with a scarf so keeping it handy for that is helpful, plus tyranitar can also deal with Mega Alakazam assuming you don't get hit by Focus Blast but I plan to add another Pokemon as well to minimise the threat tho you still need to be wary.

>

- My final big change is going to be using Ferrothorn over the Slowking. I know you love the Pokemon but it doesn't fit that well on this team, as it can't wall Pokemon like Ash-Greninja. Overall Ferrothorn provides a lot more for your team providing Spikes support to beat bulkier teams and I decided to opt for a rather niche set I have used in the past plenty of times being Chople Berry + HP Fire to help vs Kartana something you do struggle to beat and can bait in. I am going to borrow the set used in a recent video from Pokeaim (Feel free to check his channel out!) as the ev spread is more up to date to run a set like this. While this set does lack recovery you do have Wish on Clefable to alleviate this. Chople also makes dealing with Keldeo easier and hitting it hard with Power Whip, though Gyarados is a decent switch-in bar it having Stone Edge and being wary of Scald Burn.

Importable

https://pokepast.es/4ff1795c609b65ec

Conclusion:

I hope these changes help you out I tried my best not to remove too much of the team. I think overall the changes are more competitively viable but by no means is it perfect. Overall you should find it easier to cover the Mega Zam weakness and Ash-Greninja. Nidoking is easily replaceable for something else but I simply kept it on the team to not take too much from it, so that is an optional change but do acknowledge you will need something to help pressure physically defensive walls. You also now have a form of hazard control and hazard setters in the form of spikes and stealth rocks which is great for your Pokemon to wallbreak or sweep late game. Again I hope these changes help, good luck with future building buddy!

 

[Gen1OG]

Any other thoughts