Jorgen
World's Strongest Fairy
Here's a team I whipped up a while back when I was desperately trying to fit Suicune on a team. Normally, I end up just not considering it or replacing it with something like Starmie or Miltank that can actually support the team better.
I came into this thinking Suicune's best set was Roar and that it needed Spikes to work consistently, so I added Forretress on the team since Cloyster just "felt" redundant. Plus, Forr is Toxic-immune, which is nice since I wanted to have a way to win the long-term Spikes war without needing a Heal Beller. If I did use Cloyster and therefore need a Heal Beller to beat Toxic long-term, I guarantee you that Suicune would have been the prime target for replacement by Miltank.
I then added Gengar for spinblock because Forr can HP Bug to keep Starmie out whereas Cloy and other Forr are pretty handily blocked by Gengar. Plus, Gengar is Toxic immune unlike Missy, and it also adds some instant offensive punch and adds a Sleeper to the team, which is always a nice ace in the hole to have.
After that I tacked Zapdos on the team because Gengar can bait and explode on Raikou to make Zapdos's life easier. With Spikes to facilitate the Explosion KO on Raikou and to facilitate the possible Thunder KO on Snorlax, Zapdos seemed a particularly natural fit. Zapdos also offers defensive boons as a Sleep Talker and Heracross/Machamp/Vap check. It seems like I put a lot of thought into this, but not really; I just kinda slapped Zapdos on and realized afterward just how well it gelled.
Following that, I added Marowak to have an Electric immunity and to offer some more instant offense. Zapdos and Gengar also tended to bait Raikous, Tyranitars, Steelixes, and opposing Snorlaxes, all of which Marowak thrives against when it catches them on the double-switch. I usually have trouble using Marowak, but this felt like my best bet at getting it to work for me since I have plenty to bait its best matchups, plus I have Rapid Spin support from Forr to boot.
Finally, I tacked a standard Curselax onto the team. Very basic, but Curse allows it to net Lefties recovery more easily while walling Electrics for me, and Marowak's existence makes it more likely that Snorlax switches into Hidden Powers instead of Thunders. The main reason I use EQ Curselax as opposed to another set is because Snorlax is mainly a defensive beast on this team, and without EQ I don't really have a solid answer to Gengar and, more importantly, have no way to prevent Misdreavus from capitalizing off of Lax. Curselax gives me an extra answer (if only just a half-baked answer) to opposing Curselax, and it baits Skarm/GrowlTank/Charmbreon matchups, all of which are prime matchups for Forretress.
The final result is as follows, with minimal descriptions since I kind of already described each mon's role in the teambuilding process above.
Gengar (M) @ Leftovers
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Punch
- Hypnosis
- Explosion
Spinblocker, monolax staller, Raikou baiter, and sleeper.
Marowak (M) @ Thick Club
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Swords Dance
Instant offense and Thunder immunity (therefore Hidden Power bait). In addition to Gengar and Zapdos, it contributes hugely to this team not just being a shitty passive stall team. Capitalizes off the ability of Zapdos and Gengar to bait favorable matchups. HP Bug > HP Fly because OHKOs on Exeggutor and who even uses Heracross anyway.
Zapdos @ Leftovers
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Sleep Talker and all-around cool dude. It synergizes well both offensively and defensively, but it's Zapdos, that's inevitable.
Snorlax (M) @ Leftovers
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Curse
- Rest
Mainly patches up a bunch of defensive gaps, including opposing Gengar, Electrics, and, to an extent, non-mono Curselaxen. Also, it's Curselax, so it can easily clean up endgame or take advantage of certain Curselax-weak teams (like this one :P).
Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Explosion
Spiker/spinner for the team. Not much to it, it's Toxic-immune, switches in easily on a lot of stuff Snorlax baits, has Gengar to spinblock for it, and can always Explode when I'm in dire straits against Snorlax, Quagsire, Nidoking, or Marowak. Also it checks Giga Egg, which is nice.
Suicune @ Leftovers
- Surf
- Toxic
- Roar
- Rest
Suicune is cool. Phazer for the team, it steps in against Curselax when I need it to (I WILL need it to), hardwalls all but Roar or last-poke Vaporeon (although there's Zapdos and Snorlax for other variants), checks Grounds easily, shuts down Charizard and Tentacruel (not that those are too big a deal for this team), and can Roar/Toxic shuffle with Spikes down. I guess the main thing making Suicune good for this team is just how many things it shuts down that the team needs it to.
Of course, as I alluded to, this team can struggle with Curselax, especially those that pack a coverage move to render Gengar unable to check it. This team relies on Suicune to act as a temporary stop, Spikes + Zapdos Thunders weakening it, pressure from Marowak double-switches, and if all else fails, my own Snorlax smacking it around with Double-Edge in the Curselax ditto. The Curselax issue is honestly the biggest problem with this team, but since it's such a prominent problem it's basically a dealbreaker that prevents me from using this team in a truly serious match. Ghosts can also be trouble, since my Phazer is Thunder-weak (although Misdreavus is more likely to use Attract than Thunder nowadays) and, outside of Snorlax, I don't really have anything that can both take Gengar's Boltbeam and force it out - and Snorlax can be slept. No STAB Psychics makes Machamp a bit of a doozy to force out, although this team is a far cry from a Machamp-weak team with Suicune and Zapdos, in addition to Gengar and boom from Forretress helping out. This team is particularly capable of dealing with Vaporeon thanks to Suicune, although other Baton Pass Eeveelutions, particularly Jolteon, are tough to deal with. Instead of doing the classic Phazer switch-in to deal with Agi- or Growth-pass, I have to pressure with Marowak, Forr boom, Gengar outpacing a potential +2 Drumlax, and setting up Curselax to have counterplay against it.
Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings about GSC teambuilding.
I came into this thinking Suicune's best set was Roar and that it needed Spikes to work consistently, so I added Forretress on the team since Cloyster just "felt" redundant. Plus, Forr is Toxic-immune, which is nice since I wanted to have a way to win the long-term Spikes war without needing a Heal Beller. If I did use Cloyster and therefore need a Heal Beller to beat Toxic long-term, I guarantee you that Suicune would have been the prime target for replacement by Miltank.
I then added Gengar for spinblock because Forr can HP Bug to keep Starmie out whereas Cloy and other Forr are pretty handily blocked by Gengar. Plus, Gengar is Toxic immune unlike Missy, and it also adds some instant offensive punch and adds a Sleeper to the team, which is always a nice ace in the hole to have.
After that I tacked Zapdos on the team because Gengar can bait and explode on Raikou to make Zapdos's life easier. With Spikes to facilitate the Explosion KO on Raikou and to facilitate the possible Thunder KO on Snorlax, Zapdos seemed a particularly natural fit. Zapdos also offers defensive boons as a Sleep Talker and Heracross/Machamp/Vap check. It seems like I put a lot of thought into this, but not really; I just kinda slapped Zapdos on and realized afterward just how well it gelled.
Following that, I added Marowak to have an Electric immunity and to offer some more instant offense. Zapdos and Gengar also tended to bait Raikous, Tyranitars, Steelixes, and opposing Snorlaxes, all of which Marowak thrives against when it catches them on the double-switch. I usually have trouble using Marowak, but this felt like my best bet at getting it to work for me since I have plenty to bait its best matchups, plus I have Rapid Spin support from Forr to boot.
Finally, I tacked a standard Curselax onto the team. Very basic, but Curse allows it to net Lefties recovery more easily while walling Electrics for me, and Marowak's existence makes it more likely that Snorlax switches into Hidden Powers instead of Thunders. The main reason I use EQ Curselax as opposed to another set is because Snorlax is mainly a defensive beast on this team, and without EQ I don't really have a solid answer to Gengar and, more importantly, have no way to prevent Misdreavus from capitalizing off of Lax. Curselax gives me an extra answer (if only just a half-baked answer) to opposing Curselax, and it baits Skarm/GrowlTank/Charmbreon matchups, all of which are prime matchups for Forretress.
The final result is as follows, with minimal descriptions since I kind of already described each mon's role in the teambuilding process above.
Gengar (M) @ Leftovers
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Punch
- Hypnosis
- Explosion
Spinblocker, monolax staller, Raikou baiter, and sleeper.
Marowak (M) @ Thick Club
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Swords Dance
Instant offense and Thunder immunity (therefore Hidden Power bait). In addition to Gengar and Zapdos, it contributes hugely to this team not just being a shitty passive stall team. Capitalizes off the ability of Zapdos and Gengar to bait favorable matchups. HP Bug > HP Fly because OHKOs on Exeggutor and who even uses Heracross anyway.
Zapdos @ Leftovers
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Sleep Talker and all-around cool dude. It synergizes well both offensively and defensively, but it's Zapdos, that's inevitable.
Snorlax (M) @ Leftovers
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Curse
- Rest
Mainly patches up a bunch of defensive gaps, including opposing Gengar, Electrics, and, to an extent, non-mono Curselaxen. Also, it's Curselax, so it can easily clean up endgame or take advantage of certain Curselax-weak teams (like this one :P).
Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Explosion
Spiker/spinner for the team. Not much to it, it's Toxic-immune, switches in easily on a lot of stuff Snorlax baits, has Gengar to spinblock for it, and can always Explode when I'm in dire straits against Snorlax, Quagsire, Nidoking, or Marowak. Also it checks Giga Egg, which is nice.
Suicune @ Leftovers
- Surf
- Toxic
- Roar
- Rest
Suicune is cool. Phazer for the team, it steps in against Curselax when I need it to (I WILL need it to), hardwalls all but Roar or last-poke Vaporeon (although there's Zapdos and Snorlax for other variants), checks Grounds easily, shuts down Charizard and Tentacruel (not that those are too big a deal for this team), and can Roar/Toxic shuffle with Spikes down. I guess the main thing making Suicune good for this team is just how many things it shuts down that the team needs it to.
Of course, as I alluded to, this team can struggle with Curselax, especially those that pack a coverage move to render Gengar unable to check it. This team relies on Suicune to act as a temporary stop, Spikes + Zapdos Thunders weakening it, pressure from Marowak double-switches, and if all else fails, my own Snorlax smacking it around with Double-Edge in the Curselax ditto. The Curselax issue is honestly the biggest problem with this team, but since it's such a prominent problem it's basically a dealbreaker that prevents me from using this team in a truly serious match. Ghosts can also be trouble, since my Phazer is Thunder-weak (although Misdreavus is more likely to use Attract than Thunder nowadays) and, outside of Snorlax, I don't really have anything that can both take Gengar's Boltbeam and force it out - and Snorlax can be slept. No STAB Psychics makes Machamp a bit of a doozy to force out, although this team is a far cry from a Machamp-weak team with Suicune and Zapdos, in addition to Gengar and boom from Forretress helping out. This team is particularly capable of dealing with Vaporeon thanks to Suicune, although other Baton Pass Eeveelutions, particularly Jolteon, are tough to deal with. Instead of doing the classic Phazer switch-in to deal with Agi- or Growth-pass, I have to pressure with Marowak, Forr boom, Gengar outpacing a potential +2 Drumlax, and setting up Curselax to have counterplay against it.
Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings about GSC teambuilding.