National Dex Peaked #408 1682 Ladder Magnet Pull Magnezone

[xTimeCrystal]

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction​

2. Proof of Peak + Pokepaste + Peak Game Replay​

3. Teambuilding Process​

4. Team Set Details​

Introduction
I'm xTimeCrystal and a relatively new player in the competitive Pokemon scene. I have improved quite a bit over the year or so I have been playing Gen 9 and finally reached the Top 500 in a semi-official tier. Here is my 3rd RMT about one of my most consistent teams yet.

Proof of Peak + Pokepaste + Peak Game Replay

Proof of Peak + Pokepaste + Peak Game Replay

View attachment 599640
1700 Elo but Ladder Decay

Peak Elo Game

Teambuilding Process


One of my favorite mechanics is trapping, since it allows the player to guarantee the elimination of a Pokemon if played correctly. Arena Trap and Shadow Tag are banned from the tier, so I had to choose between Magnet Pull, Pursuit, and Binding moves. Pursuit is unreliable at best since it often relies heavily on the opponent being unable to touch the trapper or being significantly chipped, and the only viable users in Tyranitar or Tyranitar Mega are weak and are hard to fit on a team. Binding moves are also quite gimmicky and hard to play with thanks to the inability to trap Pokemon without getting a free turn. Hence, Magnet Pull is the only viable trapping strategy in National Dex.
Out of all the Magnet Pull users in the tier, only Magnezone is viable, and its wide movepool and decent speed tier will be important later on. Hence, it was the Pokemon that was chosen for the team.


Magnet Pull is useless without an abuser or benefactor. The best way to decide on abusers is by looking at commonly used Steel types. Immediately, five key Pokemon were identified in Archaludon, Corviknight, Ferrothorn, Heatran, and Scizor Mega. All of these Pokemon were seen often in the tier, and trapping any of them would immediately remove most teams' ONLY Psychic resist. Therefore, Tapu Lele with a Choice Scarf was a no-brainer to add to the team as it can usually sweep after those nasty Steel types were removed, or outright sweep Turn 1 if the opponent does not carry a check. Bulky Dark types are also not prominent in National Dex, further allowing the Magnet Pull + Tapu Lele combo to pressure the opponent greatly. Next, I had to choose a Mega Pokemon for the team to support. After considering multiple candidates such as Dragon Dance Outrage Charizard Mega X, Scizor Mega, Diancie Mega, and Lopunny Mega, I eventually settled on Lopunny Mega. This was because it is the fastest Mega out of all five candidates, and provides great utility with Fake Out and U-Turn to help check setup sweepers and pivot on a Steel type to trap it. However, this core of Lopunny Mega and Tapu Lele is counterproductive, since Psychic Terrain blocks priority from Lopunny Mega. Based on that, another strong sweeper that appreciates Steel removal was added. Rillaboom resets Psychic Terrain and provides healing for the team, allowing the team to play in multiple modes of terrain, and in particular it loves Ferrothorn, Heatran, and Scizor Mega being removed and being unable to effectively 4x Resist its strong Grassy Glide and Wood Hammer.

tapu-lele:()
Alomomola was chosen for its ability to pivot on the Fire and Water type Pokemon that looked incredibly threatening to the rest of the team, and to provide a nice defensive backbone to be able to switch into threats that the rest of the team cannot offensively check. Although there isn't much explanation here, it is quite consistent and I believe it is not the limiting factor of the team. Rather, Cinderace is a Pokemon that does not fit well on this team, and it is unable to cover the weaknesses of the team effectively. I needed a Hazard remover though, and the Fire-Water-Grass core formed and the ability of Cinderace to pivot was a nice benefit, so I still put it on the team.

Team Set Details

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
View attachment 599645
Ability: Magnet Pull
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 176 HP / 208 SpA / 124 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Steel Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Bide

The given EVs allow Magnezone to trap Archaludon of all things, since the EVs allow it to live 2 Body Press after Stealth Rock chip, allowing it to come in safely when doubled in or given a free turn, provided the Archaludon has no defense boosts. Tera Water allows it to click Bide in front of Heatran, which can be emergency trapped only if the Tera Water Magnezone is at decent health. In addition, the Speed EVs allow it to outspeed 0 Speed Scizor Mega, to kill it with Hidden Power Fire before Scizor Mega can U-Turn. Choice Specs were chosen on this set because it provided the immediate power to 2HKO or OHKO key targets, such as 2HKOing Ting Lu with Steel Beam, and OHKOing Ferrothorn with Hidden Power Fire (3HKO under Rain with Leech Seed healing).

Lopunny (F) @ Lopunnite

Ability: Limber
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 0
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Frustration
- Close Combat
- U-turn

Standard set, U-Turn over something like Triple Axel to be able to pivot Magnet Pull user in safely. This can easily snowball out of control after the Steel types on a team have been chipped or trapped, and the lack of Rocky Helmet Ferrothorn or Corviknight post elimination will only benefit Lopunny Mega.

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Psychic Surge
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 8 HP / 252 SpA / 248 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Standard set but with Hidden Power Fire to hit Scizor Mega and Ferrothorn HARD without the help of Magnezone. The EVs are to outspeed Slither Wing at +1 since this team lost badly to it once. The Modest Nature is to hit harder since the speed tier reached by Choice Scarf Tapu Lele is not as important since the rest of the team can deal with +1 Great Tusk easily already.

Rillaboom @ Choice Band

Ability: Grassy Surge
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Wood Hammer
- Knock Off
- U-turn

No explanation needed for the set, does most damage with Wood Hammer and Grassy Glide with Adamant Choice Band.

Cinderace @ Heavy-Duty Boots

Ability: Libero
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pyro Ball
- Sucker Punch
- U-turn
- Court Change

Please help me with this mon, idk what to replace it with.

Alomomola @ Heavy-Duty Boots

Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 8 HP / 252 Def / 248 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flip Turn
- Mirror Coat
- Wish
- Protect

Wish + Flip Turn helps keep the rest of the team healthy, and Protect helps scout and aids the matchup against Trick Room and other Turn limited strategies such as weather and terrain. Mirror Coat is chosen over Scald on this set since it helps check certain Volcarona sets by living a hit with Tera Dragon and knocking it out. It also helps punish Volt Switch by knocking out the Pokemon the opponent pivots to, and is very easy to bait Volt Switches thanks to the lack of a Ground type on the team.

 

[Eternal Sunset]

Hi i am happy to see people rate ndou team on furms, i wanna say two point about ur team, first u need to consider the mega Lopunny whether fit lele well, cause Psychic Surge and ur lopunny got fake out, ur lopunny needs to come out seveal times in one game so if u wanna exert its strength，u may need to change the set or the teammates. The second point is that in the metagame the Gouging Fire is popular and u need to have a way to against it, ur lele is modest and even with scarf u cant outspeed jolly Gouging Fire that dragon dance once, so just consider these two points and i believe u can get a higher grades

 

[Miyoko]

Hey, I like the team idea but there is a drawback

Team is great but the only problem would be that Mega Lopunny Fake out won't work in Psychic Terrain.
Instead of Lopunny u can try other megas like Mega Gyarados , Mega Diancie , Mega Charizard X and Mega Charizard Y

Changes you can make :-
1. Wil-o-wisp --> Sucker Punch on Cinderace
Wil-o-wisp will help u a lot vs physical attackers that are problematic already for the team like Dragonite , Zamazenta and Garchomp
2. Set up mons --> Mega Lopunny
Since u have psy terrain and grassy terrain, u can try set up sweepers. Some examples are as follows:-
Dragon dance Mega Gyarados
Dragon dance Gouging Fire
Swords Dance Unburden Hawlucha
Quiver Dance Volcarona
Leaf Storm Tera Ground HP Fire or Glare Serperior
(More ideas can be applied, I can remember only these lol)

And the team kinda looks weak to Dragonite and Gouging fire as mentioned by dawn to the dusk so maybe u can try some little changes in the team. Else it seems totally good. Also since u have psy terrain, I would suggest u to use some set up sweepers. Thank you!

Bye

 

[Nashrock]

the idea is pretty neat here, but I do think there're some possible improvements.
1. As mentioned above, mega lopunny doesn't fit the role very well. If you want a mega slot here, diancie or gyarados would be a better choice. Otherwise, dragonite and choice specs ival could also work.
2. 252 Spe + Timid is kinda mandatory for scarf lele, sry about that.
3. If you wanna replace cind with something else, I'd suggest lando/zap/torn with defog, preferably the latter two.
4. Toxic over mirror coat on alo is probably better
5.You need to fit Stealth Rock somewhere if you're not using court change as hazard control (I'd recommend to bring ur own rock anyway)
6. not a big deal but personally I'd spare some Spe Evs on rilla to HP

 

[xTimeCrystal]

Thanks for the suggestions! Team was a lot better after I followed these tips and ideas.