Rhyganium Paraspam + Blissey
Hey all, back with another GSC OU team featuring a BL mon (seems to be my thing at this point). This time it's Meganium, featured for its synergy with Rhydon. Rhydon is a ton of fun to use and is one of the strongest sources of immediate offense in GSC OU, but it has a ton of flaws that require support for it to be effective. I believe that this team addresses those flaws well and allows Rhydon to shine, while also featuring a fun Snorlax set and the rarely-seen but very cool combination of Snorlax and Blissey together outside of stall. This team has taken me to the top of the ladder, so I hope you enjoy reading about and using the team! Let's go!
The Team
Snorlax runs an unusual set on this team that took me a while to settle on, but ended up working out well. The idea behind it is that Snorlax is able to cripple all of its checks with either Lovely Kiss or Thunder, which supports the team winning the Spikes games early against Cloyster, and helps to break down Normal resists by either putting them to sleep and wearing them down with Double-Edge against Pokemon like Golem, Tyranitar, and Steelix, or simply wearing them down and threatening paralysis with Thunder against foes like Gengar, Misdreavus, and Forretress. Rest gives Snorlax additional longevity against threats like Zapdos, Nidoking, and Jynx.
The team was originally built around the synergy between Meganium and Rhydon, and Meganium provides some interesting benefits for the team. It switches into and threatens Starmie and Cloyster with Razor Leaf. It also spreads paralysis onto Pokemon like Zapdos, Raikou, and Skarmory with Body Slam to support Rhydon's offense, especially in combination with Curse and Rock Slide flinches. Meganium has reliable one-turn healing with Synthesis to keep itself healthy and allow it to repeatedly check the Pokemon it needs to. Meganium also is a solid switch to Tyranitar, even if Fire Blast is clicked, due to having Synthesis and good all-around bulk. Finally, this Meganium runs Reflect, which aids its teammates in switching around strong physcial attacks like Earthquake and Explosion. It also allows Meganium to stay in on some Pokemon and whittle them down with Razor Leaf if needed.
Rhydon is a dangerous sweeper and Snorlax check, but it needs a lot of support to function due to its low Speed, poor special bulk, and reliance on Rock Slide for coverage. Paralysis support facilitates Rhydon's offense by allowing it to mitigate these issues, and Rhydon's teammates are adept at providing this for it through Snorlax and Zapdos' Thunders and Meganium's Body Slam. Snorlax's Thunder and Meganium's Body Slam also work as effective lures to Pokemon like Skarmory and Forretress, which gives Rhydon an easier time breaking through them. Rhydon itself hits extremely hard with its STAB combination, and is a huge threat to stall teams, especially if they lack Toxic Skarmory. Rhydon also appreciates Meganium's Reflect support on this team to allow it to take on or at least phaze out EQ variants of Snorlax.
Forry is doing double duty here as spinner and spiker for the team. There's not too much to explain here other than the last 2 moveslots. Toxic and Explosion are mainly to keep CurseLax in check, but have additional utility in stopping other boosting sweepers, like Heracross and Machamp, from getting out of hand.
Zapdos is running RestTalk on this team, since it's needed to check Nidoking. Zapdos is the team's primary check to many Pokemon, namely Heracross, Exeggutor, and Machamp, so it's important to preserve its health and not let it get statused or Exploded on unnecessarily, as the team will have a much harder time checking these Pokemon with Zapdos gone.
Teams running Blissey and Snorlax have an interesting advantage in that Snorlax can afford to not run Sleep Talk, since Blissey will reliably counter Zapdos and Raikou, allowing Snorlax to be more cavalier with its HP, and to run an additional offensive move. Blissey's set is standard, but supports its team with Heal Bell to rid it of status, which Snorlax, Meganium, and Rhydon will often be afflicted with. Flamethrower allows Blissey to hit Forretress and Ghosts, while Toxic ensures Pokemon like Snorlax, Tyranitar, and Machamp don't get to switch in for free.
Threats
It's difficult to switch around Gengar's Explosion and coverage since the Pokemon that can threaten it are also scared of its coverage on this team: Snorlax and Zapdos need to land inaccurate moves multiple times, Blissey needs to chip away slowly with Flamethrower, and Rhydon has to be wary of Ice Punch/Hypnosis/Dynamic Punch/HP Water.
Blissey can easily take Jynx on by itself, but Blissey getting slept makes other special attackers on Jynx's team much more dangerous since Snorlax is not a RestTalk set here. Blissey can also lose to Nightmare variants of Jynx, or if it gets particularly bad luck with sleep turns/Psychic SpDef drops, especially if it takes a Thief.
These 3 go together because they're all dangerous for the same reason: Zapdos is the only Pokemon on the team that really wants to switch into them. If Zapdos goes down, especially to an Explosion (which these Pokemon are commonly paired with), these Pokemon become much more troublesome and have much less solid answers. For Machamp, Meganium becomes the primary counterplay with Reflect. For Heracross, you will probably have to Explode on it with Forretress and keep up pressure on it. For Eggy, you will have to take it on with Blissey, Snorlax, and Meganium, and try to absorb its Explosion with Rhydon or Forretress, while avoiding taking status on Pokemon you need to check Eggy's teammates.
Blissey's Flamethrower on this team is pretty telegraphed, so it's difficult to land a strong hit on Forry. Snorlax also doesn't threaten an immediate KO with Thunder and Forry is not completely useless when paralyzed. Forry will likely get multiple opportunities to Spike and Spin vs this team, which is not the worst thing in the world given this team's ability to play the long game, but it is something where you will have to make some smart doubles with Blissey and Zapdos around opposing Forretress to keep up pressure against it.
Umbreon is just tough to kill for this team due to only having one strong special attacker on the team in Zapdos. Beyond that, Umbreon's Charm and RestTalk make it difficult to break down for the rest of the team. Umbreon itself is not a huge threat, but you need to be sure you can still KO it eventually.
While Blissey is somewhat scared of Snorlax, Snorlax takes massive recoil from Double-Edge upon hitting Blissey, and in combination with Toxic poison this can force Snorlax to Rest pretty quickly. Rhydon can also threaten Blissey, but needs to watch out for Toxic poison wearing it down and possible Ice Beam coverage.
These two go together as dangerous mixed attackers able to boost their physical attack that speed tie Zapdos. Zapdos threatens them heavily with Thunder, but this can go wrong if Thunder misses. If Zapdos is no longer around to check these Pokemon, you will need to make use of Snorlax and Rhydon (for Charizard) to keep them at bay.
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