I've been playing pokemon since the days of red and blue, but most of my teams ended up being pure sweeper teams. This is my first time on this forum, making a team that's not 6 special sweepers, so please bear with me and don't flame too hard for not having awesome pictures like the rest of the forum. I am making this team on a SoulSilver game cartridge, so please keep that in mind when I say where a potentially odd-looking attack is coming from.
Team Overview (not in any particular order): Arcanine, Cradily, Magnezone, Garchomp (I don't remember if he's still banned from metagaming or not), Salamence (assuming Garchomp is indeed banned), Swampert, Gardevoir
The Breakdown (movesets, natures, and EV spreads):
Arcanine
Nature: Adamant (-special attack, +attack)
EV Spread: 252 attack, 252 speed, 6 hp
Held Item: Choice Scarf or Band
Moves:
Crunch (Dark)
Flare Blitz (Fire)
Iron Head (Steel, Move Tutor)
Extremespeed (Normal)
Plan of Action: Arcanine is a physical sweeper with a wide moveset that can take down psychics like Alakazam and ghosts like Gengar while also being able to counter anything a steel-type could. Flare Blitz is there to take down grass-types and other pokemon that aren't weak to dark or steel and provide STAB. Extremespeed is there incase Arcanine is outsped and needs to clinch down on a small amount of remaining health. Weak against bulky waters and physical walls.
Cradily
Nature: Calm or Careful (-attack/special attack respectively, +special defense)
EV Spread: 252 hp, 252 special defense, 6 defense
Held Item: Leftovers
Moves:
Amnesia (Psychic)
Toxic (Poison, TM)
Barrier (Egg Move)
Recover (Egg Move)
Plan of Action: Cradily is meant to be a special wall with the strong capability of becoming a physical wall with Barrier in play. Toxic is there to poison the foe while Cradily works on buffing its special defense and keeping up barrier. Recover is there instead of Ingrain to allow for more flexibility and the ability to swap out. However, a wall like this is countered by a poison or steel type and their immunity to poison and pokemon with rest to clear their poison status.
Magnezone:
Nature: Modest (-attack, +special attack)
EV Spread: 252 special attack, 252 hp, 6 speed
Held Item: Quick Claw
Moves:
Thunderbolt (Electric, TM)
Magnet Rise (Electric)
Signal Beam (Bug, Move Tutor)
Mirror Shot (Steel)
Plan of Action: Magnezone is a special sweeper, hands down. Mirror Shot's accuracy is a little lower than I'd like, but it is still a decent steel move in a movepool that badly needs diversity. Magnezone has pretty bad speed anyway, so I plan on focusing on beefing up his special attack and HP to let him hit hard and survive hits himself and pray to the RNG gods that his Quick Claw works more often than once a blue moon. Magnet Rise is in the movepool to help protect against the pokemon that know earthquake, or pretty much every pokemon and their inbred brother. Signal Beam is there for bulky dark types like Umbreon and psychic sweepers like Alakazam and Espeon.
Garchomp:
Nature: Jolly (-special attack, +speed)
EV Spread: +252 attack, +252 speed, +6 hp
Held Item: Scope Lens
Moves:
Dragon Claw (Dragon)
Crunch (Dark)
Poison Jab (Poison, TM)
Iron Head (Steel, Move Tutor)
Plan of Action: Much like Arcanine before him, Garchomp is a fast, heavy-hitting physical sweeper. His moveset allows him to tackle other dragons head on and hold his own against most other types, including ice with Iron Head. He shines against other dragons, grass, psychics, ghosts and rocks, but is stopped cold by steel types. What I wouldn't give for a 5th move slot to teach him earthquake.
Salamence:
Nature: Jolly (-special attack, +speed)
EV Spread: +252 attack, +252 speed, +6 hp
Held Item: Scope Lens
Moves:
Crunch (Dark)
Dragon Claw (Dragon)
Earthquake (Ground, TM)
Steel Wing (Steel, TM)
Plan of Action: Almost the same as Garchomp, only without the plus to pesky grass types and is no longer countered by steel types thanks to Earthquake. However, Steel Wing isn't guarenteed to hit every time and is weaker than Iron Head, potentially leaving Salamence open to an attack.
Swampert:
Nature: Adamant (-special attack, +attack)
EV Spread: +252 attack, +252 hp, +6 speed
Held Item: Expert Belt
Moves:
Earthquake (Ground)
Brick Break (Fighting, TM)
Avalanche (Ice, TM)
Waterfall (Water, HM)
Plan of Action: Another physical sweeper, and the slow counterpart to Magnezone. Swampert is an all around attacker with a held item that increases all of his attacks and STAB on two of them to boot. Avalanche helps incase he gets cornered by a grass or dragon type, and his bulky hp will help him to survive the attack, if at all possible. Brick Break helps break up Barrier and Light Screen defenses and shut down walls like Snorlax, Blissey and Blastiodon. However, almost anything with grass moves like Energy Ball will most likely shut down Swampert real quick, so switching out when an Alakazam or Gengar enters play will more than likely happen.
Gardevoir:
Nature: Timid (-attack, +speed)
EV Spread: +252 special attack, +252 speed, +6 hp
Held Item: Choice Specs/Expert Belt
Moves:
Psychic (Psychic)
Signal Beam (Bug, Move Tutor)
Shadow Ball (Ghost, TM)
Energy Ball (Grass, TM)
Plan of Action: Special sweeper with a well-rounded movepool. Psychic helps shut down fighting and poison types and is a nice, all-around strong attack that benefits from STAB, Signal Beam is there for defense against dark types and Shadow Ball locks down ghosts. Energy Ball is there for bulky waters, rocks and grounds. It doesn't have quite the special attack or speed of Alakazam, Gengar or Espeon, and will likely lose in a direct contest between them, but has a little extra cushion in the defenses department to help take perhaps one more hit that matters. The moveset counters almost anything that could get thrown at it.
______________________________________
TL;DR: Ugly, unappealing set-up is unappealing and a plea for help.
Team Overview (not in any particular order): Arcanine, Cradily, Magnezone, Garchomp (I don't remember if he's still banned from metagaming or not), Salamence (assuming Garchomp is indeed banned), Swampert, Gardevoir
The Breakdown (movesets, natures, and EV spreads):
Arcanine
Nature: Adamant (-special attack, +attack)
EV Spread: 252 attack, 252 speed, 6 hp
Held Item: Choice Scarf or Band
Moves:
Crunch (Dark)
Flare Blitz (Fire)
Iron Head (Steel, Move Tutor)
Extremespeed (Normal)
Plan of Action: Arcanine is a physical sweeper with a wide moveset that can take down psychics like Alakazam and ghosts like Gengar while also being able to counter anything a steel-type could. Flare Blitz is there to take down grass-types and other pokemon that aren't weak to dark or steel and provide STAB. Extremespeed is there incase Arcanine is outsped and needs to clinch down on a small amount of remaining health. Weak against bulky waters and physical walls.
Cradily
Nature: Calm or Careful (-attack/special attack respectively, +special defense)
EV Spread: 252 hp, 252 special defense, 6 defense
Held Item: Leftovers
Moves:
Amnesia (Psychic)
Toxic (Poison, TM)
Barrier (Egg Move)
Recover (Egg Move)
Plan of Action: Cradily is meant to be a special wall with the strong capability of becoming a physical wall with Barrier in play. Toxic is there to poison the foe while Cradily works on buffing its special defense and keeping up barrier. Recover is there instead of Ingrain to allow for more flexibility and the ability to swap out. However, a wall like this is countered by a poison or steel type and their immunity to poison and pokemon with rest to clear their poison status.
Magnezone:
Nature: Modest (-attack, +special attack)
EV Spread: 252 special attack, 252 hp, 6 speed
Held Item: Quick Claw
Moves:
Thunderbolt (Electric, TM)
Magnet Rise (Electric)
Signal Beam (Bug, Move Tutor)
Mirror Shot (Steel)
Plan of Action: Magnezone is a special sweeper, hands down. Mirror Shot's accuracy is a little lower than I'd like, but it is still a decent steel move in a movepool that badly needs diversity. Magnezone has pretty bad speed anyway, so I plan on focusing on beefing up his special attack and HP to let him hit hard and survive hits himself and pray to the RNG gods that his Quick Claw works more often than once a blue moon. Magnet Rise is in the movepool to help protect against the pokemon that know earthquake, or pretty much every pokemon and their inbred brother. Signal Beam is there for bulky dark types like Umbreon and psychic sweepers like Alakazam and Espeon.
Garchomp:
Nature: Jolly (-special attack, +speed)
EV Spread: +252 attack, +252 speed, +6 hp
Held Item: Scope Lens
Moves:
Dragon Claw (Dragon)
Crunch (Dark)
Poison Jab (Poison, TM)
Iron Head (Steel, Move Tutor)
Plan of Action: Much like Arcanine before him, Garchomp is a fast, heavy-hitting physical sweeper. His moveset allows him to tackle other dragons head on and hold his own against most other types, including ice with Iron Head. He shines against other dragons, grass, psychics, ghosts and rocks, but is stopped cold by steel types. What I wouldn't give for a 5th move slot to teach him earthquake.
Salamence:
Nature: Jolly (-special attack, +speed)
EV Spread: +252 attack, +252 speed, +6 hp
Held Item: Scope Lens
Moves:
Crunch (Dark)
Dragon Claw (Dragon)
Earthquake (Ground, TM)
Steel Wing (Steel, TM)
Plan of Action: Almost the same as Garchomp, only without the plus to pesky grass types and is no longer countered by steel types thanks to Earthquake. However, Steel Wing isn't guarenteed to hit every time and is weaker than Iron Head, potentially leaving Salamence open to an attack.
Swampert:
Nature: Adamant (-special attack, +attack)
EV Spread: +252 attack, +252 hp, +6 speed
Held Item: Expert Belt
Moves:
Earthquake (Ground)
Brick Break (Fighting, TM)
Avalanche (Ice, TM)
Waterfall (Water, HM)
Plan of Action: Another physical sweeper, and the slow counterpart to Magnezone. Swampert is an all around attacker with a held item that increases all of his attacks and STAB on two of them to boot. Avalanche helps incase he gets cornered by a grass or dragon type, and his bulky hp will help him to survive the attack, if at all possible. Brick Break helps break up Barrier and Light Screen defenses and shut down walls like Snorlax, Blissey and Blastiodon. However, almost anything with grass moves like Energy Ball will most likely shut down Swampert real quick, so switching out when an Alakazam or Gengar enters play will more than likely happen.
Gardevoir:
Nature: Timid (-attack, +speed)
EV Spread: +252 special attack, +252 speed, +6 hp
Held Item: Choice Specs/Expert Belt
Moves:
Psychic (Psychic)
Signal Beam (Bug, Move Tutor)
Shadow Ball (Ghost, TM)
Energy Ball (Grass, TM)
Plan of Action: Special sweeper with a well-rounded movepool. Psychic helps shut down fighting and poison types and is a nice, all-around strong attack that benefits from STAB, Signal Beam is there for defense against dark types and Shadow Ball locks down ghosts. Energy Ball is there for bulky waters, rocks and grounds. It doesn't have quite the special attack or speed of Alakazam, Gengar or Espeon, and will likely lose in a direct contest between them, but has a little extra cushion in the defenses department to help take perhaps one more hit that matters. The moveset counters almost anything that could get thrown at it.
______________________________________
TL;DR: Ugly, unappealing set-up is unappealing and a plea for help.
