RMT (mad russian staller)

[xizlol]

Hello guys I am new here and I was wondering if you could rate my team, which is especially designed to beat a guy in my school who has flawless (41-0 but he runs a very generic baton passer team) and also for competitive battle for future.

Any advice or criticism is greatly welcomed.

The guy I'm challenging has Ambipom (agility x 2 and baton passer, also his lead), Deoxys-S (for sweep), Dragonite, Ho-oh, Rampardos and some legendary pokemon I can't remember. Although I believe he will do some changes, we are doing poke battle in our school this friday after school and I really want to beat this guy.

Okay I will list my pokemon now...

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability:keen eye
EVs: 252HP, 252 Sdef, 4Spe
Nature: Careful
- Taunt
- Whirlwind
- Spikes
- Roost

Since I will not be able to outspeed his lead Ambipom, I decided to make my lead defensive. I will start off with taunt and will not allow his lead to baton pass agility and stall his lead and lay my spikes (x3). After that I will just whirlwind his lead and switch out to my second lead pokemon.

Smeargle @ Leftovers
Ability:Own tempo
EVs: 252 Def, 252 Spe, 4HP
Nature: Jolly
- Ingrain
- Baton pass
- Stealth rock
- Spore

As you guys can clearly see I have gone a very defensive approach, its because I do not prefer playing with sweeper team however I going to include them in my team just in case. After switching on Smeargle I will put the target into sleep and stack my stealth rock (x1) then after I do that I am going to use ingrain and baton pass to my tank.

Shuckle@ Leftovers
Ability:Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4Spe
Nature: Impish
- Toxic
- Substitute
- Rest
- Protect

The legendary shuckle is going to be my toxic staller and I am pretty sure it can take couple hits from Speedy Deoxys and hopefully inflict it with toxic aswell and I will try to stall all his pokemon by just using shuckle with Ingrain heal, leftovers and rest... stall all day, but if somehow if shuckle dies I got a back up pokemon.

Deoxys@ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Spdef, 4Spe
Nature: Bold
- Calm mind
- Cosmic power
- Psychic
- Recover

If my shuckle fails I am going to switch to the boss Deoxys-D and stack cosmic power (x3) and calm mind(x3) which will eventually max out sp def and I will also get +3 SpA which I will be using offensively with the little help of recover. I also got back up plan if my deoxys somehow dies.

Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP, 4Spe, 252 Spdef
Nature: Bold
- Baton pass
- Agility
- Roost
- Substitute

Obviously this is my last option is all my team fails and I need someone to sweep, so this is going to be by defensive scizor whose sole purpose is to get agility (either x 2 or x3) and baton pass to my ultimate powerhouse sweeper.

Garchomp @ Life orb
Ability:Sand veil
EVs: 252 Atk, 4HP, 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire fang
- Stone edge

My ultimate sweeper, after x3 agility it should be able to outspeed right about anything and with the help of lifeorb it should be able to take about anything down.

Okay this is my current team that I came up by myself and I am confident this should nuke that cocky guy in our school and if you guys have any recommendation or any tweaks I should consider adding please tell me.

Thanks in advance

 

[jackm]

Alright, listen up.

First: the Smogon RMT forum is not the right place to ask for help teambuilding against a specific team. RMT is a place where you ask for people to advise you on any glaring (or non-glaring) weaknesses your team has against the current metagame. However, as it seems that you're kind of lost, I'll be kind and give you some tips right now.

Ok, #1 thing you need to understand:
Speed is not everything, but it is important.

In your description of Skarmory you state

Since I will not be able to outspeed his lead Ambipom, I decided to make my lead defensive.

I don't think you understand how his Ambipom is going to play. From the fact that you stated that this guy is going 41-0, I am presuming that either everyone at your school except him are n00bs (no offense) or that you guys are fairly mediocre and he's just one step ahead of the rest. Because you have a basic understanding of how moves work, I am going to assume that he (at least sort of) understands statistical analysis. If you lead with Skarmory and he leads with Ambipom, he's not going to start blithely boosting because he will know that Skarmory can Taunt/Whirlwind you. Seeing as he seems to be able to muscle through most teams I think the way you are going to have to beat this guy is through a combination of brute force and deception, which brings me to my next point.

If you want to build a Baton Pass team, it needs to have brute force.

This team simply lacks brute force. The most powerful offensive pokemon on your team is Garchomp, (oh, and by the way, Deoxys-D should not be going offensive. I'll get to that later) but the only boosting you can provide it with is Speed. While Speed will get you far, it will never get you far enough if your opponent has a pokemon which can stand up to its unboosted hits. Your Garchomp set simply lacks power. If you want to keep your Baton Pass team a Baton Pass team, you need to pass more than just Speed.

You need to ask yourself "the teambuilding questions".

The teambuilding questions are:

1.) What does this attempt to accomplish?
2.) Should it be trying to accomplish something else?
3.) Is it possible for it to accomplish this better (more efficiently, less consequence, etc.)?

You need to ask these three questions to yourself about every single slot on your team, as well as about the team as a whole. Even every move. I say "Slot" because I think the only pokemon who will be remaining on the team are Scizor and Garchomp after this, maybe Skarmory. Currently, it seems your team lacks forethought into what each pokemon is trying to accomplish, and how the team operates as a whole. You need to make sure that every single pokemon, every single move is dedicated fully to the destruction of your opponent's team, and as you know what it is (at least partially) you should never be losing. Any moves or pokemon that are not expressly on the team with the intent of having a function imperative to success should be exchanged for ones which will help you function against your opponent.

TO BE CONTINUED