~~ What if life was like a videogame? ~~
~~~ Starmie vs the World ~~~
Now with Gen 4 coming to a stop and the attention of the players moving to Gen 5, it is time for me to retire a good chunk of my teams. This one team is a bit special to me though, so I decided not to just move it into the "Gen 4" directory and not look at it again anymore. I have used it extensively for over a year, and kept it updated troughout this whole period. It has been my go to team for a lot of important matches and even though I have never really achieved anything special with it like high peaks on the ladder or big achievements in tournaments, it has always been there for me and has beaten some notable players. So this is my time to say goodbye, dear team and may you rest in piece in the RMT graveyard. Offcourse suggestions and improvements are always welcome and I'll really apreciate them!
I started this team at the end of being tutored (by SilentEcho) for the Fuk Dragons tournament, which was going on around that time. At the time, I wanted to test something new and also rather gimmicky, and at the suggestion of SilentEcho, the team started off with Gravity Starmie. Obviously, that wasnt quite as effective, so I ended up being based on the standard Life Orb Starmie. The team turned out to be one of the most offensive teams I have ever made, with a focus on speed and power. It definitely has a high-risk high-reward thing going on with it, but that is definitely something I enjoy playing with.
Oh yeah, I based this RMT on the Scott Pillgrim comics (and movie if you will), because I absolutely love it.
So, here we have it, Team Starmie vs the World:
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ΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞ
The Ambitious
Gliscor @ Leftovers ~ Stephen Stills
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Earthquake
- U-turn
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I start off the battle with Gliscor. LeadScor has always been one of the leads I enjoyed a lot. The general gist is to Taunt anything slower that wants to set up rocks. Stuff like Skarmory, Forretress and Swampert are effectively shut down. I usually Taunt Heatran aswell, as they mostly carry Shuca anyways and will still attempt to set up rocks. Faster things like Azelf will recieve a U-turn in the face as they either Taunt or attack me.
Outside of the lead slot, Gliscor is still very valuable to me, checking many threats that otherwise terrorise the team. I have to play around carefully with it, as I would fall victim to certain threats if I do not. Therefore I tend to run away from risky lead matchups a lot more often then taking the risk. The EV's on this are rather standard, allowing me to speed tie with opposing 95 base speeds aswell as giving me maximum bulk.
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- ~ Azelf: Either Taunts, as I U-turn to Jirachi, or sets up rocks. Jirachi then gets to U-turn again. Winning depends on wheter or not they taunt.
- ~ Machamp: Troublesome, will probably Dynamic Punch (or Ice Punch, which changes everything), so I'll U-turn to Gengar, and then promptly switch to Jirachi on the Payback to Iron Head it. This is giving me problems, but I usually manage to play around it.
- ~ Aerodactyl: Will most likely Taunt as I U-turn to Jirachi and Iron Head it to oblivion.
- ~ Metagross: Taunt their rocks and Earthquake for the possible 2HKO, not much of a problem, unless they carry Ice Punch.
- ~ Swampert: Taunt prevents their rocks as I survive Ice Beam when neccesary.
- ~ Infernape: Take the Fake Out, EQ as they most likely get up rocks. Ape will take a big hit, but they'll still get rocks up.
- ~ Heatran: Taunt their rocks, EQ them or set up own rocks.
- ~ Jirachi: I usually just Earthquake them as they will most likely trick me, giving me a 2HKO. If they set up rocks, they will have to switch, giving me time to set up mine.
- ~ Ninjask: Actually troublesome, set up rocks as they protect for the speed boost, then U-turn on their Sub/Swordsdance. Luckily this will only be seen on ladder.
- ~ Roserade: Taunt almost completely shuts them down, then U-turn on the Leaf Storm and let Jirachi take care of it.
- ~ Hippowdon: Taunt and set up rocks. I'll have to take a hit if they carry Ice Fang though.
- ~ Starmie: This is a lost cause, forcing me to go to Jirachi to either eat a trick or Icebeam/Surf. I then get to U-turn away as I see fit.
- ~ Dragonite: Go to Jirachi on the probable Draco Meteor and either Iron Head or Ice Punch it.
- ~ Tyranitar: Taunt and set up rocks, possibly Earthquaking afterwards. Troublesome if they carry Ice Beam.
- ~ Uxie: Take the trick and U-turn away. I might also switch in Gengar or Jirachi to take the trick and retaliate.
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Gliscor is named after Stephen Stills, the leading guitar player of the Sex Bob-Ombs and Gliscor is leading something aswell. Lets just hope Gliscor won't hyper cut the strings...
The Critic
Kingdra @ Chesto Berry ~ Wallace Wells
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 144 HP/160 Atk/42 SpD/164 Spe
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Rest
- Waterfall
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Chesto Rest Kingdra is just plain amazing, often times racking up multiple DDances with ease and proceeding to punch huge gaping holes into teams. With almost unresisted coverage in OU (only that manwhore Empoleon, but he allows me to set up even further anyways). I used to run 252 Atk / 252 Spe at the start, but I quickly discovered I needed more bulk to be effective. After fidling around a long time with this, Chesto Rest Kingdra also showed up in C&C, where I quickly stole this spread. Its just plain amazing how easy it is to set up on things like Suicune, who fails to 2HKO me with Ice Beam at +2. The Speed EV's ensure that I outspeed Jolly Scarfgon after 2 DD's. After having gained multiple Dragon Dances, which isnt such a hard job to complete, I rest to shed possible status I have gained and proceed to either Dragon Dance some more at full HP, or simply barge trough opposing teams. I usually bring in Kingdra rather early, to do as much damage as possible. At this point it either grants me a quick victory or manages to severely weaken some mons, allowing Starmie or Infernape to then take a leisure walk trough the opponents ranks. I decided to go with Sniper as the ability because rain just didn't seem common enough to warrant the loss of a bigger chance of hax in my favor, and that hax came trough on some crucial moments. Sniper Kingdra all the way baby.
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Kingdra is named after Wallace Wells, the roommate of Scott. He is always always there for Scott when he needs him, but also quickly Snipes (get it?) down Scott when he gets too excited. He also keeps Scotts sister informed on what the heck Scott may be doing.
The Fierce
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf ~ Knives Chau
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Fire Punch
- Ice Punch
- Iron Head
- U-turn
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Choice Scarf Jirachi is one of the best revenge killers in the game. Not only does it have great coverage in the elemental punches, but it also gets Serene Grace and Iron Head, arguably the biggest reason why Jirachi is seen as one of the most annoying Pokemon in OU. U-turn makes Jirachi's physical movepool complete and most importantly gives me a quick way out of a large amount of Bulky waters, giving Kingdra a nice opportunity to start stacking Dragon Dances. Iron Head is there for obvious flinching reasons aswell as a strong stab, because admittedly, Jirachi's unstabbed moves are only good on quadruple effective hits. And thats exactly where Fire Punch and Ice Punch come in. They allow me to check a large number of annoying Pokemon, such +1 DDNite and Scarf Flygon (although I'll have to speed tie with it if it isn't locked into Outrage). Fire Punch has netted me so many KO's on Scizor coming in thinking I would use another move, or simply revenging them. It also hits Forry for a good chunk of damage. I decided not to use Thunderpunch, as Gengar is still good enough at checking Gyarados up to +2 speed.
As I usually won't like my Gengar getting locked into anything but Focus Blast early, I use Jirachi more early game, whilst Gengar forms an excellent backup if things go bad.¤¤¤¤¤¤
Jirachi is named after Knives Chau, the seemingly innocent high school student that has some deadly moves up her sleeve.
The Bitch
Gengar @ Choice Scarf ~ Kim Pine
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
- Focus Blast
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Gengar is my second Scarfer and main revengekiller to stuff like DDGyarados and DDTar. It also backs up as an excellent late game cleaner and plays an important role when I'm facing stall as tricking Blissey is just too easy with this. I tend to not show Gengar too often early game, and when I do, I tend to open with Focus Blast. The main reason is that I do not, under any circumstance, want to risk Gengar being trapped in any move but Focus Blast when a TTar comes in, as I'll then be wide open to stuff like DDGyara. When I either know the opponent lacks a TTar or I have killed it, this thing comes out to wreck stuff, often getting surprise kills on Scarfed Rotom-a, Starmie and Azelf. Shadow Ball is my general Stab, hitting a lot of things solid damage whilst Focus Blast gives perfect neutral coverage and a good way of hitting stuff like Heatran and Tyranitar. Trick is actually very rarily used when I'm not playing stall. Most common examples for this are stopping stuff that set up too many Calm Minds or Curses. It's also crucial for me to dismantle Stall.
Now I have considered using a Scarf Rotom-a in this slot, but it just didn't cut it. The main reason I enjoy this Gengar so much is that it is some sort of safety net for me to play a more risky game, knowing that I will not get swept by a +2 DDTar. It fits the style of the team, which is hitting stuf fast and hard, making sure they die before I do.¤¤¤¤¤¤
Gengar is named after Kim Pine, the drummer of the Sex Bob-Ombs and Scott's ex. I can't really write any special resemblence between the two out of the fact that Kim is a ginger and Gengar somewhat resembles the word ginger, so there you have it.
The Hero
Infernape @ Life Orb ~ Scott Pilgrim
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 64 Atk/192 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Vacuum Wave
- Close Combat
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Infernape is my main answer to any thing that can stop Starmie in her path once she gets going. The set is somewhat of a mixture between the standard Nasty Plot Ape and specially based MixApe. It is meant to put a world of hurt on stuff like Blissey, but also forms a way past opposing Tyranitar that can be annoying. During the creation of this team, ScarfTar was the most common set by far and it was a big problem to Starmie, and I needed a way to dispatch of this problem so the idea arised of Nasty Plot ape with Vacuum Wave. If the opponent had a ScarfTar with Earthquake, there would be a good chance it would come in after I Nasty Plotted and would try to Earthquake me so I had a clean Vacuum Wave at it. Together with Starmie, Infernape is more then capable of destroying almost the entire OU metagame and with both Mence and Latias gone, it had lost two of its biggest counters.
The moves here are rather self explanatory. Fire Blast and Close Combat form two solid stab attacks whilst Nasty Plot is there to boost Fire Blast and Vacuum Wave. The EV's come from the standard MixApe spread, giving me enough punch to kick stuff like Blissey hard whilst retaining the Special Attack needed to perform it's Nasty Plot role properly.¤¤¤¤¤¤
Infernape is named after the main character Scott Pilgrim. Scott may seem like a rather dull and defenseless kid at first, but behind those looks hides a fierce warrior with blistering moves.
The Wanted
Starmie @ Life Orb ~ Ramona Flowers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Recover
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And finally, here we have the star of the team (no pun intended): Starmie. How to describe the strenght of Life Orb Starmie? Well, lets put it this way, if the opponent doesn't have a dedicated special wall like Snorlax or Blissey, they have no safe switch in. Starmie hits almost the entire tier for big damage, 2HKOing and OHKOing a huge amount of common Pokemon. If this thing gets going, it is really hard to stop. Thunderbolt and Ice Beam provide me with the infamous BoltBeam combo, and Hydro Pump is a strong stab attack rounding the type coverage off making it unresisted in OU. Recover makes sure that Starmie will stay in top shape, shedding off the malicious Life Orb recoil and entry hazard damage. I tend to only reveal Starmie very late in the match and use her as my final sweeper. Things have to go pretty bad if I am to reveal her early on in the match. That being said, there isn't really a whole lot to say about Starmie. The EV's provide maximum power and speed together with a timid nature and Life Orb gives the extra punch needed to muscle trough some mons that would otherwise be troublesome to my little seastar.
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Starmie is named after Ramona Flowers, the girl with whom Scott falls in love. To win Ramona's heart however, Scott will have to beat Ramona's seven evil exes. I pretty much chose Starmie to be Ramone because both are the one thing it's all about. Also, Starmie is blue and Ramone has blue hair in the picture next to her, so it matches up pretty well.
Instead of just making a long list of mon's and how I handle them, I'll just pick the seven most problematic ones I have encountered, making it suit more to the theme of the RMT (aswell as saving me a large amount of time).
- ~ Machamp: Both lead Machamp and Sub Machamp are a huge pain in the ass to play around. I will have to make some nasty double switches to get around this bad boy and if I make a wrong prediction I'll likely end up sacrificing one of my mons to it so I can rid myself of this pest.
- ~ Jirachi: Most Jirachi are easily handled, but Body Slam Rachi is a real killer. Gliscor will usually fulfill the role of taking Thunder Wave , but Body Slam hits and possibly paralyses, meaning it could disrupt my entire team. Luckily these are very rare.
- ~ Vaporeon: My usual response to this is: Go to Kingdra and start stacking Dragon Dances. Stuff gets hard when they run Roar though, as I'll have to Thunderbolt it with Gengar or Starmie, making this a lot harder.
- ~ Jolteon: Choiced one's aren't that bad, as I can work around those without too much trouble. The main problem is Life Orb Jolteon, who I have no real answer for outside of Gliscor, who falls to HP Ice. I'll usually end up doing something complicated to wear it down and then whack it with either Jirachi or Gengar. Troublesome.
- ~ Suicune: Similar problem as with Vaporeon, but they don't have protect to bait Outrages.
- ~ Zapdos: Gliscor provides a somewhat decent switch in to Life Orb, but can't do much back, forcing me to Ice Beam it with Starmie. Defensive versions are harder to take down, but pose a smaller threat due to the lesser type coverage. Both are still extremely annoying though.
- ~ Infernape: Mix Ape is hard to switch into, possibly killing something in the process. Starmie outspeeds and KO's, but one wrong prediction may lead to a casualty on my side.
So this was my team. It has been my loyal companion for almost a year and I'm now sharing this with the rest of you. Rates, criticism and other tips are always welcome, so thanks in advance. Now for one last look:
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ΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞ
ΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞ
- SilentEcho, for being such an awesome tutor who helped me start this team off.
- Ice-Eyes, for giving me some usefull input on this team and RMT.
- NixHex, for giving me help with this RMT aswell.
