Old team, revitalised

[phalanx]

ahh yes platinum metagame, and the team i have used forever can finaly be changed to include some new and differant things, after the nerf without garchomp (for a bit parter it being missing has left a huge hole in my team in terms of resists)

Ninjask@Focus sash
Ability: speed boost
EVs: 176hp/252atk/82speed
Jolly nature (+Speed, -SpA)
- Substitute
- Swords dance
- X-scissor
- Baton Pass

yes its that speerd passing insect that has been picking apart those fast suicide leads (azelf, deoxys), the prupose of this is to pass speed, and sometimes attack or a sub to other pokes in the team (freeing up moveslots for coverage, or allowing me to run alternate natures) as well as using it as a simple scout as once i'm faster and i can predict what is coming i can bring in something on an attack and do whatever i wish, the sash is there to allow it to be anti-lead or still function late on, afterall even with 1% hp it can still revenge kill and pass away.

Scizor@Occa Berry
Ability: Technitian
EVs: 6hp/252atk/252speed
Jolly nature (+Speed, -SpA)
- Brick Break
- Swords dance
- X-scissor
- Bullet punch

yes, its jolly with 252 speed, even with only base 65 speed (251 maximum with jolly) using jask to pass a bit of speed that low base is soon dismissed, this is the replacement to garchomp (tried nite, it did work but rock weakness was a downer). with a bit of speed behind it STABED x-scissor with a SD is a force, especially with bullet punch and brick break. occa is to allow it to take a fire hit (althought from showing it doesnt work..).
as this is the new poke and there are other options, i was thinking about mence (outrage of course) as a possible replacement

Infernape@Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 26atk/252spA/232speed
Naive nature (+Speed, -SpDef)
- Close Combat
- Flamethrower
- Grass Knot
- Hidden power [Ice]

typical mixape, brought in to deal with whirlwinders which would otherwise make a mess of the team, as well as cut through a few of the bulky pokemon (most are weak to one move from ape) and with jask passing to it extra speed means any nasty surprises are outsped and dealt with, also makes a very nice late game sweeper.

Jirachi@leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252Hp/122def/136SpA
Modest nature (+SpA, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Phychic
- Thunderbolt
- Calm mind

the odd poke out, this doesnt just go out and sweep, it sits back subs, CM's then sweeps, works great on cressys and other special attackers, a bit odd running with only modest, but it is still faster then scizor, Thunderbolt gives a surprise and parahax. (could be replaced for more agression due to the platinum inclusions the pokes jirachi delt with are countered)

Metagross@shell bell
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 154Hp/252Atk/104speed
Ademant nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Thunderpunch
- Ice Punch

allow the ninjask a swords dance and this beast cometh, 2 speed boosts and that lowly 202 speed is turned into something only beaten by the quickest scarfers, and as it is ademant and max attack 405 base attack allows this to sweep even the bulkiest of things with ease (especially with a jask swords dance or a MM attack raise) and being steel most priority wont do alot, and thats why it has shell bell, afterall if all i am going to do is hit (hard) and 2-1hko i might as well take the shell bell and take the 9% HP (on the frail stuff) to 25% (bliss) every turn.

Shaymin-s@yache berry
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 6hp/252SpA/252Speed
Modest nature (+SpA, -atk)
- Air Slash
- Earth power
- seed flare
- substitute

replaces porygon-z and the only unforced change in the team, and it fits into porygons SpA role almost perfectly, what it loses (NP) is replaced with coverage, the nature modest for the reason, speed build is overkill and a waste (it has 353 speed at modest anyway) might as well take the jask boost and max out damage potential, the moves are really self explanitary well substitute isn't, that is there to make it harder to kill (afterall how many things try and set up something ;)) of course whether sub is a viable choice over grasswhistle (team could use a bit of sleeping power) or hidden power Fire (more coverage) of course a HP fire prediction could force a switch allowing free sub (and a dead anything else), also maybe replaced by zapdos

so thoughts, its late here so i may not have been clear on roles, i know how they work and every advantage, thats why i chose the 2 i did, the problems are what these specific pokes bring, fire weakness on 5 pokes..., skymin at least gives me something to play with in regards to ground attacks other then ninjask, looking at what i have to play with in regards to speed, reducing the fire/ground weakness isn't a problem currently (nothing has had chance to exploit it) but as the metagame evolves, it might.
due to the select choices and requirements for the functioning, choices are limited any ideas on what i could run.

 

[Tangerine]

I'm not sure there is much you can do to this team to "save it", considering I think the fact that you're using teams like this shows that you really have zero competitive knowledge at all.

First of all, Heatran 6-0s your team without much of an effort. Your ONLY possible switch into Fire Blasts is Infernape - and we all know how fragile Infernape is. Secondly, Gyarados after a DD does a pretty good job wiping your entire team out without much thought - and Gyarados also has ample opportunities to set up, really. And seriously, Ninjask? What are you passing speed to, really?

You claim that this team works together? It doesn't at all. Thinking that "Hey ninjask passes speed looooooooool" is synergy is completely laughable and likely shows your "skill" as a battler. You know how this team works? Please explain because it's a complete joke - Occa Berry on Scizor with those pitiful EVs isn't saving it from a Fire Blast from Heatran, nor is it going to outspeed anything anyway.

You talk of "prediction" and "metagame changes" but consider it this way - throwing around those words isn't going to make you sound any smarter as any user can look at this team and tell you how terrible it is. I know for a fact you play a lot and the fact that you're still making bullshit teams like this just makes me think that you shouldn't even be playing this game. Or maybe you have some sort of potential you are capable of reaching but who knows, we all don't see it. All we see is user phalanx, posting his team, with big words trying to make him sound smart and intelligent, with a shitastic team that is completely laughable and doesn't take into consideration the metagame at all. I'm not even going to begin mentioning how many weaks this team has because supposedly "you know how it works" - then why don't you explain it to us, because we are all at a loss on how this team can even work in a competitive setting considering it ignores nearly every damn metagame threat that exists.

Lurk more, don't attempt at a team, because it is clear you have no idea what you're doing and no one in this world is capable of helping you considering your attitude *anyway*

 

[Itchni]

The Tutoring program is starting soon. Im thinking you should start there.

 

[Accipender]

Your entire team (barring ape) is weak to fire...
also 4 are weak to flying, and with shaymin running around, this is not good...
1/2 the team is SR weak...
and 3 pokes weak to Ground...

I like the idea, and if you can play around all the weaks, do it, but there are pokemon which can run all over your team...

 

[lilyhollow]

not to add to tangerine's um, raging fury but

is this team assuming Item Clause? If so then how are we really supposed to rate/critique it in the first place?

 

[Ancien Régime]

I'm sorry, but I really have to pile on here, because this is a joke. Do you really expect anyone to believe that this team is worthy of anyone's time?

There are so many problems with this team - scarf fire users (no possible switchins), Dragon Dancers (6-0 if they happen to have Fire Blast), Skymin (outspeeds and 2hkos everything except Ninjask), SD Lucario (OHKOs nearly everything after a SD with CC/X-Speed), it goes on and on.

What does this team do? It seems like you looked at the Platinum adds, slapped them on your team and commenced patting yourself on the back.

I have to ask - what could make you post a team like this? I do not understand. It cannot be that you're inexperienced - you play a lot, you post a lot, and so forth. You've been here 5 months, and have 931 posts. And yet you seem to have no idea how to play competitive pokemon. A team like this would be understandable if you were new to the game - but you are not. This team cannot be helped, save for actually giving you a new team.

This makes me wonder - what exactly are you doing here? I've seen you post in the tier threads, and quite frankly, as Tangerine said, you use the jargon of competitive battling, without the faintest understanding of what those words mean. Quite frankly, this is an insult to those who have spent months, if not years of their lives striving to understand and play the game better.


From what I can tell, you act as if you have extensive knowledge of competitive pokemon, but your posts belie that. You use the words of competitive players, yet again, you seem not to understand what they entail. Do you honestly think people see you as someone with valuable knowledge and information?

There is something definitely wrong here - I cannot see how a person with 5 months experience and 931 posts can make a team that is worse than a team a rank novice can come up with. I can only conclude that you don't care, that you don't take this seriously enough to actually improve your skills, you don't take this seriously to listen to feedback, you don't take this seriously enough to understand that you know very, very little. It seems all you want to do is give the impression that you are a "good user"...without actually being a good user.

 

[stormtrooper]

scarf tran weak could 6-0 you alone

 

[Surveying Motions]

Well, phalanx, this has gone well!

 

[remlabmez]

Eeek I saw ninjask as a lead and knew flames were coming, in all seriousness read tangerines and ancien regime's post.

 

[Edough323]

I don't exactly understand why everybody is attacking you and your decent team like this. I'm sorry, but there are so many ways to teach somebody how to improve without being overly critical and rude about it.
And to add to that, your team isn't half bad at all. It can actually with a few tiny improvements made quite efficient :)
So let's start!

Okay ninjask. Obviously this lead is the key core of your team passing speed boosts to most of your other members, so let's start there. Seeing as how you don't have protect on him, he's going to easily be brought down to 1 HP by scarftran, making you only feasible of passing one boost. Putting protect on him will fix that, as after one you're outspeeding him and can proceed to sub down.
If one fireblast misses, you're good to go with passing a speed boost and an attack boost.
Of course, this is all at the sacrifice of swords dance, but at least try this out, i promise it'll get you more use out of your lead. And passing attack boost is still feasible with..
Replace Focus Sash with Liechi Berry, as after a protect and the proceeding subbing down, you'll never, and for good reason, have to use it.
This way you'll really be passing the boosts.
So...
- Swords Dance
- Focus Sash
+ Protect
+ Liechi Berry

For Scizor, I understand your attempting to rid of the fire weakness, but here we're discussing moving from a 300% increase in power to a 100% increase regardless, which coming from any stabbed source will finish you off anyways. Rid yourself of it, and switch for either life orb if you'd like the guaranteed 2HKO on the likes of blissey without swords dance, or swordsdance for more longetivity.
I'd also like to suggest switching out brick break in general for Baton Pass, that way you can continue passing boosts after you bring scizor in in case a counter is brought out. After the speed increase from Ninjask you should have no problem bringing out a third poke in the chain without scizor taking damage.
Try
-Occa Berry
-Brick Break
+Life Orb/Leftovers
+Baton Pass

Getting rid of brick break on scizor still gives you a perfectly viable blissey counter with MixApe. However, I think you'll have more success on this team with a different set...
Infernape @ Life Orb
16 HP/236 ATK/252 Speed
Adamant
Close Combat
Flare Blitz
Stone Edge
U-Turn

This set will take so much more advantage of speed and attack passes from Ninjask and Scizor, and on top of that will continue the flowing synergy going with the advent of U-Turn allowing the continuous switching to, well, continue.
With the three team members above you're now going with a consistent pattern of every switch causing either direct or indirect benefit for your team, whether it be through damaging the opponent (U-turn) or passing on stat boosts (Baton Pass)

Moving onwards, we get to your problematic poke who's actually not benefiting your team in any way, jirachi.
On top of that, we have no actual revenge killing-force on your team outside of Shaymin who will get outsped and fained by a well-implemented scarftran nor a fire resist to balance the rest of your aforementioned fire-weakness.
We're going to completely scrap Jirachi and replace him instead with a scarftran of your own!
-Jirachi
+ Heatran @ Choice Scarf
20 HP/232 Speed/252 Special Attack
Modest
Fire Blast
EarthPower
Hidden Power electric
Explosion

That should patch up at least partially the fire weakness, will give you a nice manner of revenge killing and some much-needed power on the special attacking offensive side. You're also looking at a semi-decent gyarados check, not being able to switch in, but being able to surprisngly revengekill.

Metagross:
Shell-Bell, while a nice idea, won't be helping you out much, at least not with the same consistency as leftovers would. And beyond that, even leftoverswould not be preferable here, considering you've got a one-hit-one-ohko sweeper here. If he doesn't get the proper boosts, as will often be the case when he's left your last poke, you'll want a more usable item on this guy. Switch out shellbell for a life orb. And also, his ability is Clear Body, not Serence Grace.
-Shell Bell
+Life Orb

Finally Shaymin-S, the set's pretty much standard. I'd suggest to you switching Earthpower with HP Fire if only to take out Bronzong with more ease, but you're now looking at several fire attacks spread throughout your team and honestly provided you're looking at the good side of the 60% flinch rate with airslash, you've already got yourself a good way of contening with the iron bastard.

Okay that should be it.
I hope you take whatever suggestions you deem fit and see if any improvements befall your team.
Good luck!

 

[Lee]

I'm locking this as it's getting a little mean-spirited. C'mon guys, if you don't have anything productive to post then don't post at all.