RMT (CounterLeads+Rain Dance) VGC 2010

[baboon 101]

I'm a longtime lurker, first time poster in this forum. VGC might be the nerdiest thing I have ever considered doing, but it's coming to Dallas, about an hour from where I live, so I figured I would give it a shot.

Leads:

Mewtwo @ Life Orb
4 HP/252 spA/252 Spe
Hasty Nature (Why not timid? He has a perfect Speed IV and that was too valuable to pass up, and IMO justifies the defense drop)
Thunder
SolarBeam
Aura Sphere
Protect

The Idea behind this Mewtwo is pretty simple, Put the hurt on leading Kyogre with thunder, Groudon with SolarBeam, and Abomasnow and Tyranitar with Aura Sphere. Basically, he takes the effects of weather and makes it bite their own team in the ass.

The reason I have endure and salac is because nevemind I don't.

Infernape @ Focus Sash/??? (I will probably change it to Sash if I get rid of Parasect)
Adamant/Jolly (I'm still doing some calculations to decide this, though I know I can get one with a perfect speed IV either way)
4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
Fake out
Mach Punch
Fire Punch
Magic Coat

I haven't done any playtesting with this one yet, but I think this makes a beautiful compliment to my Mewtwo. Fake out is obvious, I either use it to hold off trick room for a turn while Mewtwo kills either the setter-upper or his partner, fake out a potentially scarfed Kyogre while Mewtwo lays down the hurt with thunder, or a number of other uses that are far too numerous to list here.

Mach Punch hurts Tyranitar hard and Fire punch is mainly there for STAB, Abomasnow, Scizor, and Shedinja.

Magic Coat is there for one main reason, to send a nasty surprise back at the dark void Smeargles, but it could also work to bounce back a spore from a Breloom/Parasect (a particularly bold one, to stay in on an infernape) or a thunder wave.

Switch-Ins:

Garchomp @ Choice Band
4 HP/ 252 Atk/ 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
Outrage/Dragon Claw
Fire Fang
Crunch
Earthquake

With Infernape making a lovely, supportive lead, Garchomp would really just be there to be a harder physical hitter. My lead now lacks a counter for Rayquaza and Palkia, so I think I may keep him so that Infernape can do a fake out, then allow Garchomp to have a much safer switch in to deal with the threat.


OR:

Parasect @ Focus Sash
252 HP/ 126 Def/ 130 SpD
Relaxed Nature
Spore
Brick Break
Aerial Ace (only there for Shedinja)
Endure

I chose relaxed because there is no way in hell Parasect will outspeed anything ever, so I might as well use that to my advantage if the opponent throws up a trick room. Ideally, Parasect would come out in the rain (set up by either myself or my opponent) and use the dry skin ability to its full potential.

If the opponent has a Kyogre that is choice locked into water spout, parasect will spore the kyogre's partner on his first turn in and (thanks to a lack of sleep clause) spore Kyogre on the second turn.

Why did I choose endure over protect? It is so my Kyogre can use surf and heal my Parasect, restoring its sash if it hasn't been used yet.

Kyogre @ Choice Scarf
252 SpA/ (I forget the actual spread, but it allows him to barely outspeed Mewtwo, Jolteon and other +speed perfect IV base 130s, the rest are dumped into HP)
Modest Nature
Water Spout
Surf
Ice Beam
Thunder

We've all seen this Kyogre before, I don't think it needs much explanation. The reason he is scarfed is because the rest of the team is designed to remove his walls before I switch him in, allowing him to steamroll with the ludicrously-powerful water spout.

My 2 main questions as of now are, "is that a good lead combo, or am I overlooking something obvious?" and "Should I keep Parasect or Garchomp?"

 

[Werecario]

What is your defense against choice scarf smeargle spamming dark void. If you fall asleep you have no lum or chesto to wake it up. Being asleep for a long time could cost you the game. Especially because of Garchomps and Mewtwo's fragility. Honestly I do not see your endure and salac berry on mewtwo working out. There are just too many pokemon with priority attacks in VGC, not to mention if you switch out then the salac berry boost goes away. Also you have a weakness to TR. Sure paresect will do great in a TR situation, but how much can he really do? The rest of your team is screwed. And what happens if you get stuck with Garchomp using earthquake and Kyogre using water spout and a shininja comes out, or even just a vaporeon? I don't recoment choice scarf because this.

As for moves, I wouldn't give mewtwo endure and salac berry, I would give protect and lefties instead.

For garchomp, if you really want to spam earthquake, give it a metronome or a ground boosting item and just use it over and over until a pokemon comes out that wont get hurt by it comes out. Also, I wouldn't suggest outrage. There is only a 50% chance of it hitting and if you are really worried about palkia, attack it with both mewtwo and garchomp.

When it comes to parasect, first off, why not toxicroak? Second, why not at least a stab like seed bomb or x scissor instead of brick break. Also, fire will totally destroy parasect because of its types and ability.

And finally with kyogre, you might want to try blizzard instead of ice beam. Its 120 attack power makes up for the fact that in double battles attacks that hit more that one foe are multiplied by .75 and it has the chance to hit two enemies. Its like using two ice beams at the same time but with slightly lower accuracy. There are also alot of abomasnows in vgc also that make blizzard have 100% accuracy.

The main things though are get rid of scarfs and why parasect?

 

[baboon 101]

To answer your question of "Why Parasect and not toxicroak" the short answer is this: spore. A smeargle might be better suited to the job the more I think about it, and access to shadow sneak (for shedinja) and dark void (which puts both pokemon to sleep 64% of the time, one 32% of the time and only totally misses 4%) but the spore+dry skin combo works brilliantly (in theory) in this rain-intensive environment.

Parasect has brick break because its offenses are just terrible, so I don't really bother with them, brick break is there for the sole purpose of removing light screen and reflect.

I actually agree with you in that the more I think about the endure salac on mewtwo, the more I don't like it. Unless you can explain the reason behind leftovers, I'm probably going to go life orb, though, as the idea behind mewtwo is to hit hard, hit fast, hit once. If the opponent survives turn one, there usually won't be a turn 2.

I think I might give him life orb and protect, because if I predict a water spout, I can have mewtwo protect and switch in parasect (or smeargle if I end up changing it), possibly scaring off the kyogre and almost definitely getting in a sleep.

This would also remedy my lack of lum/chesto berry. Dark Void smeargle is usually paired with a fake out teammate, and that teammate would likely aim for mewtwo. I would protect, the dark void would likely hit my poor garchomp, and mewtwo would avenge him on the next turn.

Choice band on Garchomp was a tough choice to make for precicely the reasons you listed, but in the end, I need a counter for both Rayquaza and Palkia, and I don't know if any other dragon has it in them. Latios and Latias are options, but that leaves my team with absolutely no real physical attack.

My Kyogre can't afford to lose it's scarf either, maybe replace garchomp's band with a liechi berry? Garchomp could use the flexibility, but his unboosted attack is just a bit lacking against critical opponents.

Then again, I could just scrap a sleep inducer altogether and make up some phyisical attacking prowess with that slot.

Edit: and Kyogre has ice beam for the sole purpose that if it came face to face with rayquaza, there would be nothing left to chance.

 

[baboon 101]

Hate to bump my own thread, but I made a major change by adding Infernape as a lead, and rather than make a new thread detailing the new team, I figured I would just bump this one.

 

[Werecario]

If you want to use parasect check out articuno64's war story. He has a really good one. There is no reason for leftovers over liffe orb when mewtwo leads, I just hats it when a battle is lost because a life orb kills the last pokemon. This is usually when the holder of it is secondary instead of lead. And finally, how are you going to use magic coat when you are asleep?

 

[Showsni]

If you want to use parasect check out articuno64's war story. He has a really good one. There is no reason for leftovers over liffe orb when mewtwo leads, I just hats it when a battle is lost because a life orb kills the last pokemon. This is usually when the holder of it is secondary instead of lead. And finally, how are you going to use magic coat when you are asleep?

Though, that Parasect is specifically designed for a dedicated Trick Room team, which this isn't.

If you use Magic Coat the turn Smeargle Dark Voids, it bounces the move back at Smeargle. Though I don't think it protects your partner; so if Smeargle's sash has been broken, it's better just to Mach Punch it and get the kill.