Numel. The Numel Team for Partners in Crime. The Numel Team that won me a very high stakes match in OMPL for Partners in Crime. The team that has Numel so people can click on this page and get interested in playing Partners in Crime.
Introduction
This OMPL was the first time Partners in Crime was added to the format, so I want to
Enter Week 7, yuki is a VERY good player and both zoe and Frixel desperately want me to win because my team tying the week hinges on them making playoffs. SammyCe123 and DeepFriedMagikarp both separately suggested to build around a Numel gimmick. Volcarona and Ogerpon have setup and redirection, which makes it great pairs for numel, who doesnt really do much except be a meat shield. so they can obtain simple boosts. At first it seemed like it kinda sucked so I scrapped it, but a lot of trial, error, and scrapped (better) ideas I ended up back here but with concessions and some additions to fix certain matchups.
Teambuilding
This was the core. Volcarona can effectively Geomancy when paired with Numel. Ogerpon-W has Simple SD and gives Numel and Volcarona Water Absorb which is very nice.
Milotic was for intimidate deterrent (Competitive). I had a really cool idea with Imprison + Haze on this kind of team to cheese hazers like yuki and frixel.
Gholdengo does Gholdengo things, needed recovery anyways so recover + tect ghold fit the build here.
Chromate suggested Prankster. I was also kinda weak to flying types anyways so this seemed fine.
...except this kinda sucked. Super weak to trick room. Gets outpowered super easily. Numel has the bulk of fine china. It was just poor.
Mew ended up being a better Imprison + Haze mon over Milotic because it had Pollen Puff meaning I wasn't as reliant on wasting turns by clicking recover with my setup sweeper, and also Mew had funnier moves to imprison despite having an unability.
These two were genuinely considered here because I got traumatized by Unaware Clefable w1 and was concerned if it was gonna happen again (it didn't), but really they kinda made the team worse to use. Hearthflame gave the team a bad weakness to water and rock types I could not fix and Tinkaton felt super out of place.
This was simple shenanigans v2. Except it sucked more. Simple Beam had more issues vs running Numel itself and was easy to telegraph and ruin my day with.
These two were also seriously considered because Ice Scales brokey alongside Simple Quiver Dance. However Frosmoth doesn't really redirect threats away from it.
I keep thinking this mon is viable and try and use it and continue to be disappointed by how much it sucks. Don't use this.
I tried these two on the simple beam approach and these didn't really work as I wanted them to.
After this, I scrapped simple stuff until the night before my match with yuki. I tried some other ideas but all of them were not fleshed out well enough and couldn't really fix concerns I had with the other stuff before the big match.
This is what I ended up going with. Intimidate and Unaware were fake anyways. I pretty much combined everything that went well into one team.
Team
Volcarona @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 12 SpA / 12 SpD / 140 Spe
Timid Nature
- Heat Wave
- Giga Drain
- Quiver Dance
- Rage Powder
So this thing's deal is that its ally (read: Numel) can click Rage Powder so it can start quiver dancing. With Rage Powder, I can simply redirect damage, taunts, roars, or anything that can ruin Volcarona's day. Alternatively, Volcarona itself can Rage Powder so its ally (read: not Numel) can start quiver dancing. It is very strong, very bulky, and overall just a pain. Tera Fairy is chosen to annoy Dragon Types on two ends. One of them being immune to their strong Dragon Type attacks and to dodge Dragon Tail. This team is very setup heavy so any sort of phazing can ruin its chances of winning. Side Note: I cannot EV so any complex spreads you see are from VGC/DOU/PIC analyses.
Numel @ Eviolite
Ability: Simple
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 18 Spe
- Protect
- Yawn
- Stockpile
- Roar
The gameplan is simple (pun intended): tank whatever you can and give Volcarona/Ogerpon-W the ability to setup with Simple. Numel with Eviolite can tank like 1, 2 hits max before dying. Protect is used here because neither Volcarona nor Ogerpon-Wellspring have it, which will cause issues in terms of being able to outplay. Yawn threatens sleep so you can fish for more Simple boosts. Simple Stockpile gives +2 in Defense and Special Defense, which makes things very hard to kill if you manage to pull it off. Roar is mostly for opposing setup and denying Trick Room. IVs allow you to underspeed min speed Base 50s like Ursaluna and Kingambit so you can Yawn them and force the opponent into wasting Trick Room turns. Tera Grass is ideal given its massive 4x weakness and gives an immunity to Spore and other powder moves.
Ogerpon-Wellspring (F) @ Wellspring Mask
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 200 HP / 124 Atk / 184 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ivy Cudgel
- Horn Leech
- Follow Me
- Swords Dance
The second simple sweeper, but also a great utility pick outside of Simple. Water Absorb helps my two Fire-types out. Its allies (Numel) can click follow me so Ogerpon can click Swords Dance and start sweeping. Not only that, this Pokemon is a fairly bulky redirector in its own right, which has the important task of being a Spore blocker for this team. An important interaction is that Embody Aspect can give you +2 Special Defense when boosted by Simple, which is INCREDIBLY funny when you manage to pull it off. Ogerpon-W outspeeds Landorus-I, and can hit it with Ivy Cudgel, because otherwise it can just clean house alongside Tornadus. Important note: while Simple boosts SD to +4, intimidate lowers it to -4. Make sure to swap out numel if you believe intimidate is coming in to mitigate losses because this team cannot block it. The same can be said with Snarl or Icy Wind, which is disastrous for Volcarona and Gholdengo.
Mew @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Synchronize
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Pollen Puff
- Imprison
- Trick Room
- Haze
Frixel
This is a yuki-centric cteam but deserves more mention as it is very good at annoying common ways to answer setup. Imprison in Partners in Crime is very aggravating because you can block 8 moves at once (wow)! This Pokemon fuctions as the second meat shield to garner more boosts. Trick Room and Haze is mostly to be imprisoned, but can be used for playing damage control, ending trick room for the former and stopping opposing, stronger, setup for the latter. Pollen Puff not only functions of the only damaging move on Mew's moveset and its unique ability to heal allies, but also gives Volcarona Bug STAB which helps vs common resists to FWG moves. Tera Dark removes its Ghost weakness while also being immune to Prankster status moves, importantly Taunt.
Gholdengo @ Leftovers
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 248 HP / 40 Def / 112 SpA / 24 SpD / 84 Spe
Modest Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Protect
- Make It Rain
- Shadow Ball
Gholdengo isn't the best Pokemon in PiC for nothing. Good as Gold is one of the best abilities, being able to block Spore, Whirlwind, Roar, Taunt, and more improves this team's matchups against common ways to stop setup sweepers. While Gholdengo isn't a intended to be used with simple, it can be if you try hard enough. Just be sure to switch out Numel before you click Make it Rain or else you will get a -2 Special Attack drop. Tera Flying is used over the more common Tera Dragon specifically to prevent both Landorus forms and Ting-Lu from making progress against this Pokemon. You can also use this Pokemon as a Quiver Dance sweeper or give Volcarona or Ninetales-A Nasty Plot to make them more threatening.
Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Blizzard
- Aurora Veil
- Moonblast
- Baton Pass
At this point I realized that I can't really, hit dragon types, like at all. Hence, Ninetales-Alola. It outspeeds Lando-I naturally and can KO it with a super effective Blizzard. Aurora Veil is amazing here as it gives Numel one (1) bulk so it doesn't die as easily, which means more opportunities for Simple Quiver/Swords Dance. Baton Pass keeps the party going so any setup boosts on very weak/low HP Pokemon won't go to waste. And Moonblast functions as STAB for Post Tera Fairy Volcarona and coverage for Gholdengo against Ting Lu or Incineroar. Also, with Snow I can temporarily disrupt opposing weather teams so while they reapply weather I can immediately try and set up.
Threats
Easily the worst matchup because Lando-I and Torn are a super strong combo, common goodstuffs like Chien-Pao and Ogerpon-Wellspring in the standard archetype can steamroll if you dont show initiative.
Unaware just sucks to play against when you rely on a ton over the top setup moves. Gholdengo can annoy Clef and Volcarona/Ogerpon-W can brute force Dondozo, which should alleviate issues.
Trick Room relies on you forcing them out of trick room (lead mew) but then you cant take advantage of Numel, which sucks.
I don't have (m)any fire resists so a well timed eruption spam can just 6-0 if you don't lead properly/deal with Lilligant-Hisui.
Clear Smog is one of the only ways to like actively remove the boosts that I havent really covered yet, and Spore (with or without prankster) will always be a pain to play around. Gholdengo, Tera Grass Numel, and Ogerpon-W should be enough counterplay to deal with Amoonguss.
Importable
Try Partners in Crime, the tier is cool and fun to play I swear.
Sign up for this too.
Easily the worst matchup because Lando-I and Torn are a super strong combo, common goodstuffs like Chien-Pao and Ogerpon-Wellspring in the standard archetype can steamroll if you dont show initiative. Unaware just sucks to play against when you rely on a ton over the top setup moves. Gholdengo can annoy Clef and Volcarona/Ogerpon-W can brute force Dondozo, which should alleviate issues. Trick Room relies on you forcing them out of trick room (lead mew) but then you cant take advantage of Numel, which sucks. I don't have (m)any fire resists so a well timed eruption spam can just 6-0 if you don't lead properly/deal with Lilligant-Hisui. Clear Smog is one of the only ways to like actively remove the boosts that I havent really covered yet, and Spore (with or without prankster) will always be a pain to play around. Gholdengo, Tera Grass Numel, and Ogerpon-W should be enough counterplay to deal with Amoonguss.SammyCe123 Thank you so much for taking the brunt of being PiC support for me in the team. I'm glad testing with me a lot got you inspired to play the tier more going forward.
Chromate DeepFriedMagikarp Chris32156 Frixel yuki zoe Thank you all for helping me test and stuff in the at least one of the weeks I didn't face you.
Glory ojr Ivar57 PociekMociek Fraise frankjosh SpaceSpeakers and the other heart takers I am too scared to tag for the support, moral or otherwise. Kinda expected to go negative but here I am managing to get 5 whole wins.
Smudge I am very sorry for how many times you got completely mu'd and almost had to fend for yourself this season but I am very happy you still manage to get some wins for your inaugural entry into OMPL, especially vs Chromate.
jasprose Evie and everyone else on PiC council/community I have already tagged/forgot to tag for being cool.
Lumii HoeenHero UT ponchlake Career Ended Miss Crisis RICEMAN and other friends that deserve a shoutout but don't fit into the above criteria.
Chromate DeepFriedMagikarp Chris32156 Frixel yuki zoe Thank you all for helping me test and stuff in the at least one of the weeks I didn't face you.
Glory ojr Ivar57 PociekMociek Fraise frankjosh SpaceSpeakers and the other heart takers I am too scared to tag for the support, moral or otherwise. Kinda expected to go negative but here I am managing to get 5 whole wins.
Smudge I am very sorry for how many times you got completely mu'd and almost had to fend for yourself this season but I am very happy you still manage to get some wins for your inaugural entry into OMPL, especially vs Chromate.
jasprose Evie and everyone else on PiC council/community I have already tagged/forgot to tag for being cool.
Lumii HoeenHero UT ponchlake Career Ended Miss Crisis RICEMAN and other friends that deserve a shoutout but don't fit into the above criteria.
Importable Try Partners in Crime, the tier is cool and fun to play I swear.
Sign up for this too.
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