Spaceman

[Homeslice]

(Can listen to song here)
Introduction
As far as 5th gen OU goes, I'm not exactly the best or the worst. I always sit comfortably around the high 1600's and never really thought much of it. Of course everyone on here has the desire to be the best battler and be recognized by everyone else for it, whether they want to admit it or not. I've always struggled with team building out of one successful team I had. All of the other teams I threw together weren't good enough. It took me a while to realize why that was, until it smacked me across the face why it wasn't working. While listening to this song in particular, I realized I was never successful because I never chose teammates based off their ability to help a specific Pokemon I centralize the team around. So without further ado, the second team I can honestly say I'm proud of.

Team at a glance:

In-Depth

Changes in Red

Spaceman (Starmie) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Psyshock

Enter Starmie, one of the two most underused threats in the metagame in my opinion. Most people expect Starmie to be used as an offensive Spinning pivot. I expect it to abuse it's fantastic speed and above average Special Attack in the form of a Choice Specs set. Everything is most likely self-explanatory, outside of my choice of no Trick. I personally don't like trick because it defeats the purpose somewhat of using Specs if I'm just gonna end up getting a Leftovers in return. Psyshock also allows me to dent Blissey/Chansey mildly, and Breloom or Keldeo can then finish them off. I use Surf over Hydro Pump because Surf is much more reliable, and with rain teams rampant Surf is hitting just as hard to many pokes while not losing me games due to low accuracy. As the main point of my team, I use him primarily as a mid-late game sweeper after threats like Tyranitar and Scizor have been removed.

Dream Maker (Breloom) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Seed Bomb

When making a team focused on Starmie, well, Tyranitar is a problem. Who completely laughs at Tyranitar? None other than Breloom! I personally like the Poison Heal strategy over Techniloom, which is what I am going to probably always use due to Techniloom having less durability. Breloom and Starmie work so well in conjunction, Breloom can stop Tyranitar and Scizor easily, while Starmie can stop Heatran and Ninetails and Sun teams in general. I mainly use Breloom early game, sometimes even as my lead to Spore off the start and cripple one of the opponent's Pokemon, set up Swords Dance, and prepare to sweep off of the STAB coverage and last a little longer due to the Drain Punch and Poison Heal combo. Breloom functions pretty well as a lead, mostly because not many weather starters can outspeed it besides a Scarfed one, and can cripple that mon for the rest of the game, which is a huge benefit. Breloom can also act as a status absorber after Celebi has gone down.

Transmission (Magnezone) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Charge Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Let me start off by saying Magnezone is the most useful Pokemon ever. Everyone knows what it does, no point in restating it. I'm a little shaky on the EV's here- I don't think max speed is necessary, but I don't know how much I need to outspeed Scizor, Ferrothorn, Forretress, and Skarmory. Ferrothorn is easily the best set-up bait for me, coming in on the hazard set up, Substituting when they try to leech seed, and spamming charge beam until I deem necessary, because Gyro Ball and Power Whip both do nothing. Magnezone almost always manages to get at least 2 Pokemon down early game, which completely eases momentum for Starmie in that big walls don't stop it anymore.

Song Maker (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 220 SDef / 252 HP / 36 Spd
Calm Nature
- Leech Seed
- Giga Drain
- Heal Bell
- Thunder Wave

Celebi was chosen because, well, rain and sun. Celebi can somewhat deal with both, mostly rain. The EVs are pretty standard for a Specially Defensive Celebi. The set, however, is kind of a jumble of multiple sets that works insanely well for me. There's no need to SubSeed with Celebi, it's bulky enough. I noticed at this point I had no reliable status inducer, so I use the always nice Thunder Wave. Heal Bell is standard, it heals my team up, though sometimes is more of a burden to Breloom early game. Most of Celebi's usefulness is from stopping Electric moves aimed at Starmie, as well as being a decent check to Tyranitar.

A Lonely Night (Donphan) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard

Everybody needs hazards, right? I figured Donphan would be the best fit for my team as I needed more Physical presence on the team, and most hazard users don't have that. Rapid Spin is also desperately needed, everyone seems to love running all hazards now, and I don't have a poison type that can remove T-Spikes and don't have any flying types or levitaters that won't be worn down by Spikes. Donphan gives me both hazards and rapid spinning, and has a respectable attack to back it up, something Forretress doesn't have. It also has the ability to take down most dragon types with Ice Shard, bar Kyurem-B and Hydreigon.

The Nile (Latias) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Trick
As far as Latias goes, I definitely had some doubts in the first place. It makes my team even more Pursuit weak, but gave me a check to many threats i didn't realize I was prepared for. I recently faced a sun team, and Latias was able to shut down Venusaur completely, which gave the rest of my team the help they needed to sweep, so I was sold on it. It's about the same as Keldeo as a revenge killer, but can cripple walls while Starmie cannot. Psyshock still is a bit underwhelming against Blissey/Chansey, but Latias does her job. It also removed a glaring Dragon weakness I noticed after Magnezone was down, able to revenge kill pretty much any Dragon that was not a bulky variant. Latias covers up many holes on my team, essentially being the glue with bulky revenge killing.

Importable:

Hide

Spaceman (Starmie) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Psyshock

Dream Maker (Breloom) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Seed Bomb

Transmission (Magnezone) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Serious Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 Spd
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Charge Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Song Maker (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 SDef / 36 Spd
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leech Seed
- Giga Drain
- Heal Bell
- Thunder Wave

A Lonely Night (Donphan) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard

The Nile (Latias) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Trick

Original Importable

Hide

Spaceman (Starmie) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Psyshock

Dream Maker (Breloom) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Seed Bomb

Transmission (Magnezone) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Serious Nature
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Charge Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Song Maker (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 220 SDef / 252 HP / 36 Spd
Calm Nature
- Leech Seed
- Giga Drain
- Heal Bell
- Thunder Wave

A Lonely Night (Donphan) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard

The Nile (Keldeo) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Scrapped members (if any):

Hide

The Nile (Keldeo) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Latias simply just did her job better, it covered up too many glaring weaknesses I had, Breloom and Celebi were also capable enough to handle tyranitar

 

[MCBarrett]

Hey Homeslice, I like your idea of trying to utilize Specs Starmie since it is very rarely seen and could catch some people off guard, so good job for that. Most of the team compliments Starmie pretty well but I think some changes could be made to help you deal with big threats to your team more easily.

First of all you are extremely weak to Sun Teams, specifically Venusaur. You have no way of stopping sun from being set up so that already puts you at a disadvantage as Venusaur now outspeeds your entire team, plus after one Growth boost everything on your team is ohko'd besides Donphan because Donphan has sturdy. Venusaur also has a few good chances to set up, whether it be against Starmie or Keldeo locked into a water type move, or against Donphan who can't do too much against Venusaur. For this problem I would suggest using Latias over Keldeo as your choice scarf user. Latias can tank special hits much better than Keldeo and has a chance of surviving two Sludge Bombs from Venusaur even after SR damage. Latias also brings more coverage diversity to your team since all of Keldeo's STAB options are already used by either Breloom or Starmie.

Now, even with that change you still are going to have some trouble against Rain with Celebi and Latias being the only members of your team that can take Rain boosted Hydro Pumps from Keldeo or Specs Politoed. So since the really powerful weathers both give you some trouble I think you need a way to change the weather yourself just to keep the opponent from being able to spam powerful attacks at you. Therefore, I would suggest replacing your Donphan with specially defensive Tyranitar. I think this could work well for a few reasons. Firstly, as I said before it keeps your opponent from having a total advantage over you at the beginning of the match. Also, nothing on your team minds being in the sand so there is no problem there. Although you lose your spinner, your team does not mind hazards really, especially with Magnezone being able to trap and ohko most hazard setters in OU anyways.

Lastly, just on your Celebi, I would suggest using Baton Pass over Leech Seed. I think leech seed is not very effective in this metagame with the constant switching that is done by most teams anyways. Plus Baton Pass allows you to escape from Tyranitar and Scizor without being Pursuit trapped and it gives you switch initiative.

Hopefully you find my suggestions to be useful. Here are the sets and good luck with the team!:

Hide

Latias @ Choice Scarf
Timid Nature
252 sp att/ 4hp/ 252 speed
Draco Meteor
Psyshock
Surf
Trick

Tyranitar @ Chople Berry/ Leftovers
Sassy Nature
252 hp/ 4 att/ 252 sp def
0 speed IV
Stealth Rock
Crunch
Pursuit
Stone Edge

 

[Homeslice]

Thanks MCBarrett, I'm mildly iffy about the whole Tyranitar thing, but I'll start by trying out Latias first. I'll also make the switch from Leech Seed to Baton Pass and see how that goes.

 

[MCBarrett]

If you don't like the Tyranitar idea I have another suggestion that may help. If you change your Magnezone to a Magma Storm Heatran you will be able to trap and kill opposing Politoed and set up the sun to put opposing rain teams at a sever disadvantage. Sun will become less of a problem as well since you will have the two biggest problems for sun teams in Heatran and Scarfed Latias. Plus Heatran can still handle Steel Types very easily so you don't lose much by getting rid of Magnezone.

Here is the set:

Hide

Heatran @ Air Balloon/ Leftovers/ Life Orb
Timid Nature
252 sp att/ 4 hp/ 252 speed
Magma Storm
Solarbeam
Sunny Day
Earth Power/ HP Ice

 

[Winry.]

Hello!

The biggest threat I see is Double Dance Thudurus-T. If it can set up both boosts (not that hard against this team) it will be an easy 6-0 for the opponent. Venusaur also looks like quite the threat to face, considering you have nothing to stop a +2 Venu sweep. To a lesser extent, Rock Polish Landorus can lategame while LO Mamoswine can weaken you enough to the point where the rest of the Mamo team will sweep (mind you, you can play around it).

I'm going to recommend you replace Celebi for Life Orb Latias. It can come in on ThundyT on any of its dances and beat it, while also tanking +2 Sludge Bombs from Venusaur if you opt to use a spread of 112 Hp / 144 SpA / 252 Spe, and it can stop midgame sweeps from Landorus-I. Like Celebi, it can heal itself (leech seed / recover respectively) and it can still deter rain teams so you won't lose that. I don't think you'll find the loss of Heal Bell too saddening (considering your Breloom is Toxic Orb).

As for some minor changes, I would try adding Trick on Starmie so it can do things lategame and possible cripple set up sweepers (give Dragonite Specs as it DD's, cripple the switch into Blissey or Chansey, etc.). Thunderbolt seems most replaceable, with you having Magnezone and all.

I'm curious as to if your 1600s on PO or PS, but that has nothing to do with this team. Good Job and Good Luck! :)

Winry Rockbell

 

[Homeslice]

I'm going to recommend you replace Celebi for Life Orb Latias.

Done somewhat, replacing Celebi would have given me a huge rain weakness I don't want. Latias can't exactly 6-0 every rain team on her own.

As for some minor changes, I would try adding Trick on Starmie

Really thought about this, don't plan on it at all, hitting them hard enough that they don't set up is good enough, Starmie is kind of underwhelming with this set and Leftovers anyways

I'm curious as to if your 1600s on PO or PS, but that has nothing to do with this team. Good Job and Good Luck! :)

PS.

Winry Rockbell

Minor editting done, added Latias and her sprite, updated new importable, put keldeo in scrapped list