Team Close and Personal [LC RMT]

[Ice-eyes]

With Misdreavus banned, the Little Cup metagame has undergone quite a significant change. Many pokemon have benefited from the fact that such a flexible, powerful, bulky and common check can now be discounted. This team is built around abusing the lack of Misdreavus and has evolved into one of the most successful LC teams I've used.

If I were to consider the biggest weakness of this team, it would be the lack of strong priority. I rely heavily on Scarfers for revenge-killing - set-up sweepers with priority or speed-boosting sweepers tend to hurt me a lot. I also have trouble against very smart Rain players, though mostly I can just sacrifice things to slow them down and then sweep as soon as the eight turns are up.

So, let's take a look:

Shellder @ Choice Scarf
Skill Link
Naïve (+Spe, -SpD)
36 HP/236 Atk/36 Def/196 Spe
Rock Blast
Surf
Ice Shard
Explosion

See? See how it's sticking its tongue out? See that? It's mocking you. You know it. You know it, but you can't do anything about it.

Choice Scarf Shellder is incredibly awesome. Thanks to that ever so infuriating Shoddy Battle glitch, Rock Blast will KO through Sashes (and Subs). Shellder is capable of OHKOing Voltorb, Houndour, Chimchar (which is rising in usage) and several other leads with it. Surf lays waste to the bulky Ground-types that resist Rock Blast, 2HKOing Phanpy and Gligar through Oran as well as obliterating Onix. Ice Shard is, like all priority, incredibly useful in Little Cup, and helps Shellder revenge-kill a number of pokes. For example, due to its high Defense, Shellder is easily capable of taking on weakened Dratini. Explosion allows it to go out with a (very fast) bang. I’ve eschewed Icicle Spear because it’s only slightly more powerful than Ice Shard and I feel both Surf and Explosion are necessary on this set.

Gligar @ Oran Berry
Sand Veil
Jolly (+Spe, -SpA)
236 Atk/236 Spe
Earthquake
Aqua Tail / Stone Edge
Stealth Rock
Roost

Gligar is a brilliant partner for Shellder – Shellder resists Water and Ice, while Gligar is immune to Electric. Since I don’t have a lead that can set up Rocks, having another pokemon that can do so is paramount and Gligar fits the bill. However, the typical bulky Gligar doesn’t really suit me – I wanted a flying scorpion that could force switches and keep pace with the fastest Little Cup pokes. As such, this Gligar plays a little bit differently – it uses pace and power to force switches, rather than its bulk, and that gives it opportunities to Rock up or Roost. The second attack slot is a tough choice. Aqua Tail helps hit Phanpy, Hippopotas, other Gligar etc. but those are already dealt with nicely by Shellder and AT doesn’t quite have the coverage of Stone Edge. Thoughts?

Munchlax @ Oran Berry
Thick Fat
Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
36 HP/236 Atk/236 SpD
Return
Earthquake
Fire Punch
Pursuit

Munchlax is similar to Gligar in that it’s a bulky pokemon with a very offensive set. Lax is very useful because it provides some special bulk to my team, switching into attacks my other pokes can’t take on. It also resists Gligar’s Ice weakness quite nicely. However, with Misdreavus gone, Munchlax serves another purpose extremely efficiently. There are no more double-Ghost strategies, so it is free to Pursuit all the Ghastlies it wants – especially those Scarf ones that are everywhere at the moment because of Dragon Dance Dratini. With the opponent’s Ghost gone, things get a lot easier for the rest of my team.

The EVs provide Lax with maximum attack power as well as as much special bulk as possible. It can, for example, eat Life Orb Omanyte’s Rain-boosted STAB Hydro Pump and live to tell the tale.

Gastly @ Life Orb
Levitate
Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
36 HP/236 SpA/236 Spe
Shadow Ball
Sludge Bomb
Hypnosis
Substitute

Sub Gastly is the team’s Ghost – necessary for most LC players with Fighting-types on the rise. By coming in on any of its immunities, it can force something out (it helps that it can bluff a Scarf) and set up a Sub. Once that happens, at least one opposing poke is going down. Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb are excellent STAB options for Gastly, especially when considering that it doesn’t have to lock itself into either. Hypnosis is an underrated and excellent option – it allows Gastly to incapacitate Munchlax, with two bites at the cherry if it’s behind a Sub. Many players have been using Sucker Punch Gastly, but I find that it’s beneficial to lure opposing Scarf Gastly in, sack my own to their Shadow Ball (having probably already killed something for them to take down my sub), and then Pursuiting it with Munchlax.

Mankey @ Choice Scarf
Vital Spirit
Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
36 HP/236 Atk/236 Spe
Close Combat
U-Turn
Ice Punch
Punishment

Mankey is an excellent revenge killer. Outpacing most regular Choice Scarf users, it checks many important threats. More than that, it’s a useful scout – U-Turning off Gastly into Munchlax is a common play, and a devastating one. Mankey helps the team maintain momentum, and can even clean up a weakened team late-game with powerful Close Combats. Ice Punch hammers Gligar, while Punishment can put the hurt on Ghosts if it’s really necessary.

Machop @ Choice Scarf
No Guard
Jolly (+Atk, -Spe)
36 HP/196 Atk/36 Def/236 Spe
DynamicPunch
Payback
Ice Punch
Bullet Punch

Smogon, what have you done? Banning Misdreavus, while entirely justified, has left the metagame without a bulky and versatile Ghost. Two-Ghost strategies have also been thrown out of the window. Once the opponent’s Ghastly (or Duskull) is out of the way, Machop tears through almost anything. DynamicPunch’s confusion makes it incredibly difficult for anything slower to kill it and it has a surprising amount of bulk as well. Payback even lets it eliminate those irritating Ghost-types, should Machop need to be brought out in the early game. Should it come up against Gligar when not Choice-locked, Ice Punch clears the scorpion out. Bullet Punch is priority, that staple of Little Cup - allowing Machop to take down slower priority abusers and finish weakened Scarfers and Dratini.

 

[Heysup]

While this team lacks a bit of defensive synergy as a team, it definitely has a strong enough core with Gligar, Gastly, and Munchlax. I have a couple suggestions:

Firstly, we don't usually condone the use of the Shoddy Battle glitch because it made SDS mad once and he wants to ban everyone that does it.

However, I think your Shellder lead would work even better with Oran Berry. This allows you to pick of the opponent when they "would" survive with a Focus Sash, while also giving you more versatility against many Pokemon, such as Dratini if it switches into Surf.

Second, I think you should definitely consider HP Fighting over Sludge Bomb on Gastly. While Sludge Bomb is good, Hidden Power Fighting is much safer when considering how dangerous a Pokemon like Aron is to the metagame at the moment. Sludge Bomb is still good though.

Other than that, it looks good. Good team.

 

[Destiny Warrior]

Actually, that Shellder would work legally in Wifi, as a Pokemon holding Focus Sash, CAN be KO'd by Rock Blast IIRC, as by the time you get to the second hit, it is counted as another attack, so it can KO through the Sash(after the first attack though) and Subs(but Sub has to be broken first by the attack). Well, IIRC then it is likely to be implemented on SB2.

My only suggestion would be to drop Punishment for Payback, since Payback is far more reliable, as there aren't too many sweepers that set up for long amounts of time, for Punishment's damage difference with Payback to become noticeable. Besides, Drifloon can be taken out by Payback anyway.

 

[matty]

Firstly, we don't usually condone the use of the Shoddy Battle glitch because it made SDS mad once and he wants to ban everyone that does it.

lol ><

However, I think your Shellder lead would work even better with Oran Berry. This allows you to pick of the opponent when they "would" survive with a Focus Sash, while also giving you more versatility against many Pokemon, such as Dratini if it switches into Surf.

I completely agree with this. Choice scarf is nice, but I don't think its mandatory, especially since like HS said, letting a Dratini set up on your team will make you instantly lose 2-3 poke depending if they are smart and don't spam Outrage.

Second, I think you should definitely consider HP Fighting over Sludge Bomb on Gastly. While Sludge Bomb is good, Hidden Power Fighting is much safer when considering how dangerous a Pokemon like Aron is to the metagame at the moment. Sludge Bomb is still good though.

This is what I don't agree with. I'm a big fan of Sludge Bomb because it has fairly decent coverage along with getting stab and lots of stuff. In the case that an Aron does come in, you just hypno it and switch out. I've tested both HP Fighting and Sludge Bomb and I really can't say I liked HP Fighting all that much.

 

[Destiny Warrior]

But wouldn't surprising it with a boosted Payback on the switch be better?

 

[Elevator Music]

Yeah I can't really condone the use of Shellder as a lead just to exploit that glitch but hey, whatever. It's most likely not crucial to the success of the team anyways heh.

What really impresses me about this team is the use of SubGastly+Munchlax+Fighting mons. SubGastly and your first Fighting poke do a great job of luring out Ghosts which Munchlax can easily trap and kill, leaing you free to sweep with the other Fighting poke. Furthermore, Gastly finds an easy set up on opposing Fighting pokemon attacking Munchlax. Of course, you already knew that but still...

I wouldn't worry too much about getting more priority of your own. I mean worst-case scenario just slap like Croagunk over Shellder or something come SB2 and move Gligar to the lead position. (That should also help with Rain teams a lot...). Alternatively you could replace Mankey with Croagunk and Shellder with <bulky water of choice>, though that seems shaky as well.

imo team is fine as is (sans glitch)