And here is my first competitive RMT thread. This is a team I created early in B/W, back when manaphy and sky shaymin ruled standard play. I wanted to create a team that could easily manage with SS and Drizzle, without using a weather effect of its own. After a fairly long hiatus, I’ve decided to bring this team back and see how it works in today’s metagame.
Mamoswine @ Focus Sash
252 Att / 252 Spe / 4 DefA
amant, Snow Cloak]
Ice Shard
Earthquake
Stealth Rock
Endeavor
And people say suicide leads are dead. Being one of the very few things that naturally is immune to hail and sandstorm, Mamo makes effective use of his sash. His real function is to set up stealth rocks, pure and simple. While the advent of seeing other peoples teams before the battle starts is the real reason most “true” leads are obsolete, I find it can really help mamo out with this moveset. By keeping mamo at the fore front of my group, the opponent generally will send out a semi mamo counter as their lead (people seem to like to send out a politoed or Rotom-w). That’s where endevour comes in. Most Rotom-w will happily think that they are free from harm from ol’ mamo, and happily fire off a hydro pump to take him out, where endeavor + ice shard will make quick work of the appliance. Its not a perfect strategy, if the rotom decides to WoW, then the strategy is essentially ruined. Still, it catches quite a few people unawares, and Mamo can generally take out at least one opponent, while simultaneously setting up rocks.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
252 HP / 204 SpD / 52 Def
Impish, Iron Barbs
Spikes
Thunder Wave
Leech Seed
Power Whip
And here he is, the pokemon that single handedly took over as defensive master of gen 5. I originally had a roserade in this position, because I wanted something a little faster to set up my spikes. However, Ferrothorn has proved time and again better with those amazing resistances and useful support options. Its pretty simple to use… come in on something that cant do anything to it… and then predict a little. If you expect fast sweeper, thunder wave… if you expect another wall, set up spikes or leech seed them. Power whip helps me take care of stuff like Rotom-w who gives the rest of my team a bit of a problem.
Yanmega @ Life Orb
252 SpA, 170 Spe, 86 HP
Modest, Speed Boost
Bug Buzz
Air Slash
HP Ground
Protect
Those ev’s might be a bit off… essentially atm its made to just outspeed base 130’s after a speed boost. I might tailor them a little bit more at another point, but for now it works well enough. Anyways, this guy is probably the main sweeper on my team. He comes in and cleans house after everything has taken a bit of damage. His typing has a lot of problems… but he can revenge most Latios and reniclus, and can easily switch into almost any fighting type (save for terrakion). I have debated time and again, on switching from HP ground to HP fire, with the advent of the balloon. While it does give me a way to do respectable damage to Ferrothorn, I still find the ability to hit heatran worth keeping HP ground. Most heatran are growing bold these days, and switch into yanmega without fear, either switching directly in (loosing their balloon in the process), or predicting a switch and trying to set up.
Starmie @ Leftovers
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Timid, Natural Cure
Rapid Spin
Hydro Pump
Thunderbolt
Ice Beam
You can’t have a yanmega without a rapid spinner, and thus Starmie. This is more of an offensive spinner, and starmie is really good at checking a good number of speedier threats. It doesn’t generally sweep much or anything, but just keeps stuff like gliscor in line, and helps weaken a few notable counters (such as thundurus and tyranitar) so that yanmega can have an easier sweep.
Heatran @ Leftovers
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Timid, Flash Fire
Fire Blast
Earth Power
Substitute
Toxic
Good ol’ sub-tran. He’s mostly here for his decent bulk, and his typing works well with my team. Toxic helps to whittle down things like Jellicient, Vaporeon, and Latias… while also sometimes forcing switches. This really helps me beat a number of bulky water types who otherwise can block my main sweepers (and they love to come in on heatran). Simple to use… substitute helps beat the odd status abuser, and ease predictions… attacks are self explanatory
Dragonite @ Choice Band
252 Att, 180ish HP, 76ish Spe
Adamant, Inner Focus
Outrage
Super Power
Extreme Speed
Fire Punch / Dragon Claw
Again, not entirely sure about the evs, hes primarily bulky with a little bit of speed to beat a few slower counters. The powerhouse of my team, either a revenge killer with extremespeed, or powerhouse to break through a few mixed walls that are a bit of a problem. CB garchop held this position for a long time (mostly due to a more favorable typing than ol’ nite here) but with his banishment, I’ve fallen to rely on dragonite. Still, extreme speed is a great tool, so I’m not too miffed. Essentially does what every bulky choice bander does… hits hard and predicts. I’m forced to use inner focus to have super power. It’s a bit of a shame, but hey… its helped against a couple random Jirachis.
And that’s my team…
A few problems with it I can point out already:
- Rapid Spin: My team semi-relies on spikes and SR being up. It sure helps Dnite and Yanmega get a few key K/Os. The problem is, I don’t have a ghost type to block rapid spin… mostly due to the fact that I have yet to find a ghost that “gels” with this team.
- Zapdos (and to a lesser extent, Thundurus): The typing of zapdos and thundurus really hurts my team. A bulky zapdos can really rip my team aparat, taking only a bit from starmie or heatran, and destroying ferrothorn with heatwave. Thundurus has a similar threat, but his lesser bulk makes him a bit easier to take down after SR. Sub variants are scary but still manageale.
Mamoswine @ Focus Sash
252 Att / 252 Spe / 4 DefA
amant, Snow Cloak]
Ice Shard
Earthquake
Stealth Rock
Endeavor
And people say suicide leads are dead. Being one of the very few things that naturally is immune to hail and sandstorm, Mamo makes effective use of his sash. His real function is to set up stealth rocks, pure and simple. While the advent of seeing other peoples teams before the battle starts is the real reason most “true” leads are obsolete, I find it can really help mamo out with this moveset. By keeping mamo at the fore front of my group, the opponent generally will send out a semi mamo counter as their lead (people seem to like to send out a politoed or Rotom-w). That’s where endevour comes in. Most Rotom-w will happily think that they are free from harm from ol’ mamo, and happily fire off a hydro pump to take him out, where endeavor + ice shard will make quick work of the appliance. Its not a perfect strategy, if the rotom decides to WoW, then the strategy is essentially ruined. Still, it catches quite a few people unawares, and Mamo can generally take out at least one opponent, while simultaneously setting up rocks.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
252 HP / 204 SpD / 52 Def
Impish, Iron Barbs
Spikes
Thunder Wave
Leech Seed
Power Whip
And here he is, the pokemon that single handedly took over as defensive master of gen 5. I originally had a roserade in this position, because I wanted something a little faster to set up my spikes. However, Ferrothorn has proved time and again better with those amazing resistances and useful support options. Its pretty simple to use… come in on something that cant do anything to it… and then predict a little. If you expect fast sweeper, thunder wave… if you expect another wall, set up spikes or leech seed them. Power whip helps me take care of stuff like Rotom-w who gives the rest of my team a bit of a problem.
Yanmega @ Life Orb
252 SpA, 170 Spe, 86 HP
Modest, Speed Boost
Bug Buzz
Air Slash
HP Ground
Protect
Those ev’s might be a bit off… essentially atm its made to just outspeed base 130’s after a speed boost. I might tailor them a little bit more at another point, but for now it works well enough. Anyways, this guy is probably the main sweeper on my team. He comes in and cleans house after everything has taken a bit of damage. His typing has a lot of problems… but he can revenge most Latios and reniclus, and can easily switch into almost any fighting type (save for terrakion). I have debated time and again, on switching from HP ground to HP fire, with the advent of the balloon. While it does give me a way to do respectable damage to Ferrothorn, I still find the ability to hit heatran worth keeping HP ground. Most heatran are growing bold these days, and switch into yanmega without fear, either switching directly in (loosing their balloon in the process), or predicting a switch and trying to set up.
Starmie @ Leftovers
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Timid, Natural Cure
Rapid Spin
Hydro Pump
Thunderbolt
Ice Beam
You can’t have a yanmega without a rapid spinner, and thus Starmie. This is more of an offensive spinner, and starmie is really good at checking a good number of speedier threats. It doesn’t generally sweep much or anything, but just keeps stuff like gliscor in line, and helps weaken a few notable counters (such as thundurus and tyranitar) so that yanmega can have an easier sweep.
Heatran @ Leftovers
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Timid, Flash Fire
Fire Blast
Earth Power
Substitute
Toxic
Good ol’ sub-tran. He’s mostly here for his decent bulk, and his typing works well with my team. Toxic helps to whittle down things like Jellicient, Vaporeon, and Latias… while also sometimes forcing switches. This really helps me beat a number of bulky water types who otherwise can block my main sweepers (and they love to come in on heatran). Simple to use… substitute helps beat the odd status abuser, and ease predictions… attacks are self explanatory
Dragonite @ Choice Band
252 Att, 180ish HP, 76ish Spe
Adamant, Inner Focus
Outrage
Super Power
Extreme Speed
Fire Punch / Dragon Claw
Again, not entirely sure about the evs, hes primarily bulky with a little bit of speed to beat a few slower counters. The powerhouse of my team, either a revenge killer with extremespeed, or powerhouse to break through a few mixed walls that are a bit of a problem. CB garchop held this position for a long time (mostly due to a more favorable typing than ol’ nite here) but with his banishment, I’ve fallen to rely on dragonite. Still, extreme speed is a great tool, so I’m not too miffed. Essentially does what every bulky choice bander does… hits hard and predicts. I’m forced to use inner focus to have super power. It’s a bit of a shame, but hey… its helped against a couple random Jirachis.
And that’s my team…
A few problems with it I can point out already:
- Rapid Spin: My team semi-relies on spikes and SR being up. It sure helps Dnite and Yanmega get a few key K/Os. The problem is, I don’t have a ghost type to block rapid spin… mostly due to the fact that I have yet to find a ghost that “gels” with this team.
- Zapdos (and to a lesser extent, Thundurus): The typing of zapdos and thundurus really hurts my team. A bulky zapdos can really rip my team aparat, taking only a bit from starmie or heatran, and destroying ferrothorn with heatwave. Thundurus has a similar threat, but his lesser bulk makes him a bit easier to take down after SR. Sub variants are scary but still manageale.
