Hey everyone, this is a team that I really enjoyed playing with. Nowadays, with all the weather wars, and a lot of other stupid stuff, playing Pokemon is just not really fun anymore. I had a good run with this, got pretty high up the ladder, but nowadays, it's just really difficult to consistently win with this. So I'm retiring it until I get bored again. Anyway, read on for the team building process, or skip to the second post for the RMT proper.
The Building Process
It's actually a funny story. I accidentally deleted my Rain offense team, and I really wanted to ladder, so I just threw together a quick team, in order to ladder. This was the original line-up.
Fairly bog standard Smash pass team. Spec Politoed was there to punch a few holes in the opponent's team, Latios used Dual Screen + Memento, Huntail Smash Passed to Jirachi or (Mr. Mime to block the incoming Perish Song), Jirachi broke stuff with a mixed set (KO'd a large chunk of the metagame, 2HKOs Rotom-W and Ferrothorn with Iron Head + Drain Punch) and Scarf Terrakion was there to sweep the remains. I found out early on that this team had 2 major weakneses: Focus Sash, and the fact that Jirachi was my only chance at winning. So in order to patch that, I switched to the second incarnation.
With Azelf as a dedicated Taunt/SR Lead, I basically neutered Focus Sash (except for the odd Rapid Spin + Reversal Dugtrio). Whimsicott was added for his priority Taunt, Light Screen and Memento, in order to cripple the opponent early. Still pretty standard, however, it now had trouble with Mamoswine, whose Ice Shard burst holes into my team. Additionally, Azelf lost precious turns setting up, during which leading ScarfMence just ate me alive. Dragonite was also trouble, since it could either DD if I SR, or just outright Outrage and kill me. In order to patch these, I ended up using the final version of the team, the one it's at currently.
Current Team
Capped at #11 on Smogon OU Ladder, at 1490 points.
Capped at #50ish on the PO OU Ladder, at 1500 points. It might have been higher, but fuck Thundurus and priority Thunder Wave. Seriously.
The Team
The Sets
Deoxys-D @ Red Card
252 HP/ 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid
Pressure
Magic Coat
Stealth Rock
Spikes
Taunt
Deoxys-D acts as my fast Taunter/Lead/general pain in the ass to everything it comes into contact with. Against things with Taunt, Deoxys-D uses Magic Coat, bounces the Taunt back, then proceeds to set-up. Against anything with a set-up move (except TTar, because it can OHKO you with CB Crunch), Taunt first, then proceed to set-up. If it has neither, proceed to set-up. This thing is amazing. Seriously.
From the February stats, this is how it matches up against common Pokemon (whatever goes first on the team)
#1 Scizor: Use SR, then Taunt, then Spike. If it's CB, Red Card will activate before U-Turn and Scizor gets swapped with a random Pokemon, not what the opponent actually wants. That's, at the very least, a 50/50 chance of a decent match-up against the second Pokemon. If it's a SD version, it gets a SD up, then Taunt prevents the second Swords Dance. At this point, it either fails to KO with Lefties Bug Bite, or KOs with LO Bug Bite, then I can switch in Latios and try to get Reflect up.
#2 Dragonite: Use Taunt, then SR. Dragonite fails to DD, then gets forced out. If it's a CBNite, it gets forced out, and the switch-in has a fair chance of allowing SR.
#3 Rotom-W: Nope. I might get Tricked, but I get Rocks up
#4 Heatran: Nope.
#5 Tyranitar: Nope. Might get KO'd by CB Crunch, so I usually use Stealth Rock first, which lets him get SR up too. Too bad, but then I get to Spike once or twice, depending on my luck.
#6 Politoed: Rocks up, Politoed out.
#7 Ferrothorn: Nope
#8 Terrakion: Kinda tricky. Scarf variants can't win, but SD variants get their SD up while I Taunt, then, since they can't Rock Polish, they attack, kill me, then Latios comes in to Double Screen. No rocks.
#9 Jirachi: Again, kinda Tricky. Wall and CM variants lose, Scarfers win by Tricking me into Taunt.
#10 Latios: Take the hit, get Rocks up, deal with whatever comes in.
All in all, it gets SR up fairly easily, can even prevent the opponent from doing the same, and Spikes are just a bonus.
Gorebyss @ White Herb
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid
Swift Swim
Shell Smash
Substitute
Baton Pass
Surf
Gorebyss replaced Huntail because Surf deals much, much better with Skarmory and Hippowdon, too big threats to the SmashPasser. Other than that, bog standard, Smash, Sub if you think Ferrothorn is going to try and TWave you, then Pass. The max speed is necessary in order to outrun standard Scarf Rotom-W, and sub as it Tricks or as it runs away with Volt Switch. This can't deal with PHazers such as Roar TTar or Whirlwind Snorlax, but it takes hits much better than Smeargle, especially CB Bullet Punch.
Jirachi @ Leftovers
252 HP / 116 Def / 140 Spe
Bold
Serene Grace
Flash Cannon
Thunderbolt
Calm Mind
Substitute
Jirachi brings a much needed Dragon resist and some bulk to the table. With the Speed EVs, Jirachi just barely outspeeds Scarf Starmie and subs before it Tricks. that's Scarf, Timid base 115 Speed. It also outspeeds most Chlorophyll users, although it has a bit of trouble killing them before it has set-up. Anyway, Sub CM Jirachi is excellent, as the Sub is nigh unbreakable while still under Screens, and the Calm Minds let it kill anything eventually. Except Chansey, but Chansey is fat. This Jirachi replaces the original LO MixRachi mostly because I need to be able to take Outrage with something, and LO wears it down a bit fast. Completely stopped by Quagsire, but not by most CMers, since, in a CM War, neither side will be doing more than 25% damage, usually, and I will crit first, since I'm faster (I can sub until it stays alive, and attack them until it crits).
Gyarados @ Leftovers
60 HP / 252 Attack / 196 Speed
Jolly
Moxie
Waterfall
Frustration
Earthquake
Taunt
This. This is the reason why everyone should have a Quagsire somewhere. Either that, some sort of priority paralysis (Whimsicott) ,3 priority moves, or an Ambipom. Gyarados is terrifying by itself, but with the equivalent of 2 DD given to him for free, he's terrifying. Skarmory gets Taunted and takes ~40% from +2 Waterfall under Sand, uses Brave Bird, then the recoil of it and another Waterfall KOs. Ferrothorn takes about the same amount for Earthquake, and can only hope to hit back hard enough with Power Whip to weaken it, since it's vulnerable to Spikes. Hippowdon gets slapped by +2 Waterfall. +2 Rotom is one of the few things that can take a hit. If you have Max HP and Max Def, you will survive a +2 Frustration after SR and KO back with Thunderbolt. If you're Scarfed, you die. Celebi can take a Frustration comfortably, at around 60% damage. Then it hits back with Giga Drain for...20%? Yeah.
Latios @ Light Clay
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid
Levitate
Light Screen
Reflect
Memento
Rain Dance
Latios comes in after Deoxys-D is dead, sets up double screen, then suicide bombs with Memento, leaving the opposing Pokemon completely powerless. CB Crunch from TTar does around...78% through Reflect, so I have ample time to set that up, then Memento. Pretty self-explanatory, although, Rain Dance is to mess around with Sun teams, and if I Memento as a fast Taunter comes in, I usually lose, since they'll Taunt my SmashPasser.
Smeargle @ White Herb
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid
Own Tempo
Spore
Ingrain
Shell Smash
Baton Pass
My second SmashPasser, Smeargle can safely come in and set-up because of the screens, Spore whatever's in front of him, then Baton Pass and choose a recipient. I usually go to Gyarados against fast, heavy offense teams since I can set-up quickly and efficiently, and also against Rain Teams, because Politoed can take a +2 TBolt and use Perish Song. Against slower teams, if they have something like Reuniclus or Alakazam, both of which can take a hit and either KO back or use Trick Room, I go to Jirachi and use them as set-up bait.
Keep in mind this is a team designed for laddering. I'm not consistently fighting teams that are prepared for it, so part of the reason for its success was that a very large amount of teams on the ladder just weren't expecting it.
That's pretty much the entire team. Rate and suggest changes if you want to, I probably won't use this anymore.
The Building Process
It's actually a funny story. I accidentally deleted my Rain offense team, and I really wanted to ladder, so I just threw together a quick team, in order to ladder. This was the original line-up.
Fairly bog standard Smash pass team. Spec Politoed was there to punch a few holes in the opponent's team, Latios used Dual Screen + Memento, Huntail Smash Passed to Jirachi or (Mr. Mime to block the incoming Perish Song), Jirachi broke stuff with a mixed set (KO'd a large chunk of the metagame, 2HKOs Rotom-W and Ferrothorn with Iron Head + Drain Punch) and Scarf Terrakion was there to sweep the remains. I found out early on that this team had 2 major weakneses: Focus Sash, and the fact that Jirachi was my only chance at winning. So in order to patch that, I switched to the second incarnation.
With Azelf as a dedicated Taunt/SR Lead, I basically neutered Focus Sash (except for the odd Rapid Spin + Reversal Dugtrio). Whimsicott was added for his priority Taunt, Light Screen and Memento, in order to cripple the opponent early. Still pretty standard, however, it now had trouble with Mamoswine, whose Ice Shard burst holes into my team. Additionally, Azelf lost precious turns setting up, during which leading ScarfMence just ate me alive. Dragonite was also trouble, since it could either DD if I SR, or just outright Outrage and kill me. In order to patch these, I ended up using the final version of the team, the one it's at currently.
Current Team
Capped at #11 on Smogon OU Ladder, at 1490 points.
Capped at #50ish on the PO OU Ladder, at 1500 points. It might have been higher, but fuck Thundurus and priority Thunder Wave. Seriously.
The Team
The Sets
Deoxys-D @ Red Card
252 HP/ 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid
Pressure
Magic Coat
Stealth Rock
Spikes
Taunt
Deoxys-D acts as my fast Taunter/Lead/general pain in the ass to everything it comes into contact with. Against things with Taunt, Deoxys-D uses Magic Coat, bounces the Taunt back, then proceeds to set-up. Against anything with a set-up move (except TTar, because it can OHKO you with CB Crunch), Taunt first, then proceed to set-up. If it has neither, proceed to set-up. This thing is amazing. Seriously.
From the February stats, this is how it matches up against common Pokemon (whatever goes first on the team)
#1 Scizor: Use SR, then Taunt, then Spike. If it's CB, Red Card will activate before U-Turn and Scizor gets swapped with a random Pokemon, not what the opponent actually wants. That's, at the very least, a 50/50 chance of a decent match-up against the second Pokemon. If it's a SD version, it gets a SD up, then Taunt prevents the second Swords Dance. At this point, it either fails to KO with Lefties Bug Bite, or KOs with LO Bug Bite, then I can switch in Latios and try to get Reflect up.
#2 Dragonite: Use Taunt, then SR. Dragonite fails to DD, then gets forced out. If it's a CBNite, it gets forced out, and the switch-in has a fair chance of allowing SR.
#3 Rotom-W: Nope. I might get Tricked, but I get Rocks up
#4 Heatran: Nope.
#5 Tyranitar: Nope. Might get KO'd by CB Crunch, so I usually use Stealth Rock first, which lets him get SR up too. Too bad, but then I get to Spike once or twice, depending on my luck.
#6 Politoed: Rocks up, Politoed out.
#7 Ferrothorn: Nope
#8 Terrakion: Kinda tricky. Scarf variants can't win, but SD variants get their SD up while I Taunt, then, since they can't Rock Polish, they attack, kill me, then Latios comes in to Double Screen. No rocks.
#9 Jirachi: Again, kinda Tricky. Wall and CM variants lose, Scarfers win by Tricking me into Taunt.
#10 Latios: Take the hit, get Rocks up, deal with whatever comes in.
All in all, it gets SR up fairly easily, can even prevent the opponent from doing the same, and Spikes are just a bonus.
Gorebyss @ White Herb
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid
Swift Swim
Shell Smash
Substitute
Baton Pass
Surf
Gorebyss replaced Huntail because Surf deals much, much better with Skarmory and Hippowdon, too big threats to the SmashPasser. Other than that, bog standard, Smash, Sub if you think Ferrothorn is going to try and TWave you, then Pass. The max speed is necessary in order to outrun standard Scarf Rotom-W, and sub as it Tricks or as it runs away with Volt Switch. This can't deal with PHazers such as Roar TTar or Whirlwind Snorlax, but it takes hits much better than Smeargle, especially CB Bullet Punch.
Jirachi @ Leftovers
252 HP / 116 Def / 140 Spe
Bold
Serene Grace
Flash Cannon
Thunderbolt
Calm Mind
Substitute
Jirachi brings a much needed Dragon resist and some bulk to the table. With the Speed EVs, Jirachi just barely outspeeds Scarf Starmie and subs before it Tricks. that's Scarf, Timid base 115 Speed. It also outspeeds most Chlorophyll users, although it has a bit of trouble killing them before it has set-up. Anyway, Sub CM Jirachi is excellent, as the Sub is nigh unbreakable while still under Screens, and the Calm Minds let it kill anything eventually. Except Chansey, but Chansey is fat. This Jirachi replaces the original LO MixRachi mostly because I need to be able to take Outrage with something, and LO wears it down a bit fast. Completely stopped by Quagsire, but not by most CMers, since, in a CM War, neither side will be doing more than 25% damage, usually, and I will crit first, since I'm faster (I can sub until it stays alive, and attack them until it crits).
Gyarados @ Leftovers
60 HP / 252 Attack / 196 Speed
Jolly
Moxie
Waterfall
Frustration
Earthquake
Taunt
This. This is the reason why everyone should have a Quagsire somewhere. Either that, some sort of priority paralysis (Whimsicott) ,3 priority moves, or an Ambipom. Gyarados is terrifying by itself, but with the equivalent of 2 DD given to him for free, he's terrifying. Skarmory gets Taunted and takes ~40% from +2 Waterfall under Sand, uses Brave Bird, then the recoil of it and another Waterfall KOs. Ferrothorn takes about the same amount for Earthquake, and can only hope to hit back hard enough with Power Whip to weaken it, since it's vulnerable to Spikes. Hippowdon gets slapped by +2 Waterfall. +2 Rotom is one of the few things that can take a hit. If you have Max HP and Max Def, you will survive a +2 Frustration after SR and KO back with Thunderbolt. If you're Scarfed, you die. Celebi can take a Frustration comfortably, at around 60% damage. Then it hits back with Giga Drain for...20%? Yeah.
Latios @ Light Clay
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid
Levitate
Light Screen
Reflect
Memento
Rain Dance
Latios comes in after Deoxys-D is dead, sets up double screen, then suicide bombs with Memento, leaving the opposing Pokemon completely powerless. CB Crunch from TTar does around...78% through Reflect, so I have ample time to set that up, then Memento. Pretty self-explanatory, although, Rain Dance is to mess around with Sun teams, and if I Memento as a fast Taunter comes in, I usually lose, since they'll Taunt my SmashPasser.
Smeargle @ White Herb
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid
Own Tempo
Spore
Ingrain
Shell Smash
Baton Pass
My second SmashPasser, Smeargle can safely come in and set-up because of the screens, Spore whatever's in front of him, then Baton Pass and choose a recipient. I usually go to Gyarados against fast, heavy offense teams since I can set-up quickly and efficiently, and also against Rain Teams, because Politoed can take a +2 TBolt and use Perish Song. Against slower teams, if they have something like Reuniclus or Alakazam, both of which can take a hit and either KO back or use Trick Room, I go to Jirachi and use them as set-up bait.
Keep in mind this is a team designed for laddering. I'm not consistently fighting teams that are prepared for it, so part of the reason for its success was that a very large amount of teams on the ladder just weren't expecting it.
That's pretty much the entire team. Rate and suggest changes if you want to, I probably won't use this anymore.
