Pokey go BOOM! [Shoddy OU]

CardsOfTheHeart

Yes, it's an Explosion team. I've always wanted to try a team like this--or at least a team with at least 3 "Exploders" (not a word, I don't think)--so I've been testing it as of late.

It was actually pretty effective at first so I then tried laddering with it to get into the Skymin voting. I could barely crack 1600. T-T Now I'm at 1556 and out of ideas. I don't care if I get into the Skymin voting, anymore, but I would like to make this the first really "good" team I've ever made.

(By the way, if some of the descriptions seem lacking, you can only put as much thought into the descriptions as you do into the team. Sorry. ><)

Onto the team (no pictures):

Azelf @ Choice Scarf
Naive (+Spe, -SpD) 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Flamethrower
- Explosion
- Grass Knot
- Trick

The first of the sacrificial bombs, and it has TrickScarf! Trick is very effective at crippling many of Azelf's switch-ins. With the Scarf, a Speed of 541 allows me to pretty much do whatever I want.

Flamethrower is an anti-lead move here as many common leads are Fire-weak like Bronzong and Metagross. Not many leads are resistant to it, either.

Grass Knot is there mainly for Swampert as I would have trouble with him otherwise. If I wasn't so worried about him, I would probably have Stealth Rock in that spot.
---

Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Calm (+SpD, -Atk) 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SDef
- Discharge
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Will-o-wisp

The first of my two status absorbers and the closest thing I have to a Special wall. It also spreads status around and provides a check on Gyarados.

This one is probably the most expendable, though, as it seems to contribute to a few of my problems that I will outline at the end. I've tried a RestTalk Hariyama with Whirlwind in this spot, but I'm really missing that bulk...
---

Salamence @ Life Orb
Naive (+Spe, -SpD) 80 Atk / 252 SAtk / 176 Spe
- Earthquake
- Flamethrower
- Outrage
- Draco Meteor

The main sweeper of the team. My goal is to enable this guy to sweep.

I'll let RaikouLover explain this MixMence. There's nothing else I can say about it.
---

Metagross @ Choice Band
Adamant (+Atk, -SpA) 252 HP / 244 Atk / 12 Def
- Bullet Punch
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Pursuit

The second of the sacrificial bombs. Standard CBGross spread, nothing special. It provides some needed utility, though, in a priority move and Pursuit-trapping for Ghosts, and it does a damn good job at it.
---

Cresselia @ Leftovers
Calm (+SpD, -Atk) 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
- Charge Beam
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

The second of the status absorbers.

How many people say this is a sitting duck, again? Really, you have no idea how many teams I have been able to sweep with Cress. It's amazing how many people let this thing go unchecked.

There's nothing much to say about this standard Cress other than it provides needed checks against Gyarados and Salamence. I'll get to the Salamence issue a little later.
---

Heatran (M) @ Choice Scarf
Naive (+Spe, -SpD) 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Ice]

The last of the sacrifical bombs. Standard is as standard does. ScarfTran provides some needed speed as the team is a little slow without it. I've tried Dragon Pulse in the final spot; I don't really like it, tbh.
---

Okay, I've eluded to a few of these issues that I've encountered with this team. Let me spell them out for you:

1. NO PHAZING!

Anything that sets up gives me trouble. Substitutes, in particular, give me problems. If only I had a reliable way of getting rid of them...

2. TYRANITAR!

HUGE issue. I have no reliable way of switching into one. Boah is especially nasty to deal with.

[If you think the first two issues can be solved with a RestTalk Hariyama, forget it; it doesn't work on this team--not in place of Rotom, anyway.]

3. Salamence

I don't have a whole lot that can actually switch into a Salamence. Cress is the best option that I have. Not as big of a issue, but it's still problematic on occassion.



I'm at the end of my rope. Ideas, anyone?
 
looks pretty standard put i would put meteor mash on metagross over bullet punch or pursuit because it 150 power with stab most of the time unless they resist it.

and if you really want salamence to sweep mixmence isn't the way to go. just put dragon dance on him over draco meteor hes too slow to sweep without it. outrage does a ton of damage with it too.
 
The thing I love most about exploders is that they can take out a dangerous threat that switches into them. Except for when they are choiced. So, I'm asking you, why are all 3 of your exploders choiced? That forces you to switch out instead of just blowing up on something that can give you trouble before it has a chance to set up. Azelf has trick, so that's fine. If speed is a must for you, scarftran is fine too, but personally I prefer life orb. Now, that metagross has no business being choiced. If you want power then go with life orb or expert belt if you want to feign being choiced, otherwise a lum berry works well. Let's keep bullet punch/pursuit since you want to trap ghosts that ruin your explosion strategy. I personally never found much use for earthquake, meteor mash might be the better move there but that is purely up to preference. Gross doesn't really need more power to ko things like swampert or or cressy.

Going back to azelf and swampert again, I don't see grass knot as a necesity at all. Bulky walls that give you trouble is exactly what explosion is for. Also, not having a stealth rocker on your team can ruin yor entire explosion strategy. Rocks also help to guarantee some ohkos like explosion tran on gyarados. I'd much rather go with stealth rock over grass knot on azelf, not only that but trick pretty much guarantees that you can set up rocks.

Speaking of pert again, I think he would fit very well on this team. I really don't see why you need two status absorbers. I'd go with 3 attack cursepert over rotom, so that you have something that can switch in on mence and threaten it. You still have cressy for gyarados and at worst, tran can explode on it.

Lastly, I have yet to try out that mence set, but I am quite in love with the dragon dance set atm, so that might be worth a try. Offensive dd is viable on this team, or you can try out phy bulky or spc bulky. This is just to give you a clear cut sweeper who is even more dangerous in the late game thanks to stat uppers.
 
Ghosts would love to see me explode on them. Pursuit takes them out so that doesn't happen.

Also, I don't think I could ever make a team without priority moves; they're that important to me. Bullet Punch has been essential to revenge-killing certain threats.

DDMence would probably be a better option, but I need Draco Meteor as a check on Swampert. If I lose Draco Meteor, I'd have to put HP Grass on Heatran, and I don't know if I want to do that. Hmm...

EDIT in response to scofield: I've been thinking about Stealth Rock over Grass Knot on Azelf for that very reason.

I do like the idea of CursePert as I do need a more reliable check on Tyranitar and Mence.

CBGross seemed like a no-brainer to me. It really hasn't worked out as well as I had hoped. I guess I was just using it wrong.

I'll try out those suggestions. I had never used an Explosion team before so I suppose I wasn't using it right. ><
 
Just to pop in and say I think you should go with this for Metagross:

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 112 HP/184 Atk/212 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- Explosion
- Earthquake

It's a very easy way to take care of Gengar etc who ruin you Explosion strategy. What is great about this set is that Lum Berry makes it look like you are choiced, so you can kill something then asplode on something else which thinks you will switch. Coool right :D

love the theme of your team though :).
 
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