Hi all, this is my first RMT for quite some time and definetely the best team I've made on any ladder. I started off with this team quite some time ago on a quest to put an end to the bulky offense that was monopolizing all form of playstyle in LC pretty much so this team was dedicated to beat these teams and hopefully inspire other people to try a different playstyle too. Essentially, this became a counter-offense team and is partly what prompted me to name this team thus as it is dedicated to stopping sweepers and such, as well as vast overhype for the coming film and because I thought it sounded cool :P. The team is almost definetely not one of the best teams you've ever seen, but I believe it is solid, even if it didn't peak that high points' wise. So without further ado, I present to thee:
Team building process:
I wanted to start the team by building around an under-rated and under-used pokemon (at least he was when I made this team) who could still be effective in today's metagame. I decided to go for the not-so-famous-anymore car battery, elekid.
Next, I wanted a team member who synergised decently with elekid and could make a mess of the opponent's team for elekid to clean up. I went for the bog-standard acrobat (gotten over your gasps of surprise yet?)
Seeing as both of these were pretty vulnerable to choice scarfers' revenge killing, I decided to add one of my own, I'd had a good experience with scarfoo and I thought "why not" and slapped him on to the team.
After this, I messed around quite a lot with the core and tried to give HO quite a shot but I realised that I sucked at that and went for a more balanced approach in a defensive pivot and hazards-setter. Ferroseed was the, uh, fruit for the job.
This was when I decided the main theme for the team which was to be counter-offense and I wanted something that could deal with boosting sweepers and such which mienfoo couldn't handle. Seeing as I disliked misdreavus, I gave staryu a spin (yes, I'm a GOD at puns) and it hasn't dissapointed.
Finding myself with a slot free, I decided to add in another defensive pivot to ease the pressure off ferroseed and as I despised frillish with a passion (though male jellicent is still cool), I went for tentacool.
Croagunk (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 212 HP / 36 Atk / 36 Def / 108 SAtk / 116 SDef
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Fake Out
- Vacuum Wave
- Drain Punch
- Shadow Ball
Overview:
Croa here was suggested by Ray Jay over Magby but I decided that he did pretty much the same job as tentacool and replaced the jelly. He does a really good job of softening up misdreavus as well as acting as a good fail-safe to dangerous sweepers. On top of this, he takes special hits well thanks to eviolite and some good special bulk and brings a nice water immunity and other resistances to the table.
Moveset and EVs:
Fake out is a nifty move for croagunk bringing in some gratis damage is always welcome.
Vacuum wave is the filler I've been trying out and it seems to do well, finishing off a lot of threats that manage to slip past the net of my scarfers.
Shadow ball is essential for smacking misdreavus and 2hkoes non eviolite sets while surviving a 2hko himself, though I'm considering running sucker punch over vacuum wave and shifting over the EVs a little to deal with eviolite missy better.
Drain punch is a good move for croagunk giving him some nice recovery and dealing respectable damage to non-resistors.
The EVs give croa a bit of everything meaning he can take hits and dish them out well from both ends of the spectrum.
Staryu @choice scarf
EVs: 196 sp. atk, 236 spe, 76 HP
Natural cure
Timid
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Rapid spin
Overview:
Now before you start raging about how I'm carrying scarfyu (with rapid spin), let me tell you that Staryu is in many ways the glue of the team as it is capable of revenge killing dangerous threats such as shellder and clamperl, who otherwise usually walk all over offense, and absorbing status. Having a second scarfer is a great boon and I think one of the reasons why this team was successful with mienfoo and staryu, both with good coverage, cover a very large amount of offensive threats.
Moveset and EVs:
-Hydro pump is staryu's strongest STAB and really hurts everything that doesn't resist it, opening up an opportunity for a late game clean
-Boltbeam provide near perfect coverage together and are both required for revenge killing certain threats, bolt for the smashers, ice beam for snover and gligar.
-Rapid spin seems quite strange on a scarfed pokemon but it's still very effective, especially if staryu has a hard counter such as lileep in play and getting those hazards quickly off can be game changing. The only other option would be hidden power grass which would only help with chinchou, who is already dealt with quite well by the rest of the team.
Magby @life orb
EVs: 252 spe, 200 sp. atk IVs: 7 HP
Hasty (+spe, -def)
Vital spirit
-Fire Blast
-Hidden Power Grass
-Substitute
-Cross Chop
Overview:
Magby is a great mon who has always lived humbly in the shadows as people neglected it and chose the easier to use ponyta but magby is always ready for when duty calls, and give him the support, and he can be a top class pokemon. Magby is the oddball of the team but has still has an important task on his shoulders. I was originally using a flame charge set over cross chop to late game clean, but I figured that wasn't necessary and turned him into a fearsome wall breaker. Magby will often come in on a u-turn when a steel type like bronzor comes into play, from there, it can either set up a substitute or start launching incredibly powerful fire blasts. This guy maintains momentum even when faced by walls, which is very important and is invaluable in disposing of walls which can just sit on their behinds and recover stall me as my unboosted sweepers fail to harm them.
Moveset and EVs:
-Fire blast is the STAB of choice and naturally caused magby to run a mostly special set as flare blitz is generally a pretty bad idea on something with 19HP and a life orb. Fire blast also works effectively in the more physically bulky inclined form which the metagame is today.
-Hidden power grass is good for water types, breaking through chinchou and staryu who could otherwise be troublesome and packing a very nasty surprise for a tirtouga who has switched in on stealth rock.
-Cross chop is a very useful move and is essential for magby to muscle through walls well as it enables him to flatten the likes of porygon and lileep who could otherwise just recover stall him.
-Substitute is just awesome in general on magby, creating a buffer which can be game changing should I get unlucky on a common speed-tie as well as mocking sucker punch users and easing prediction.
Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed the team. All constructive C&C is very much welcomed. By the way, I have a no ghost, dark, or psychic pokemon policy so if you could bare that in mind.
Team building process:
I wanted to start the team by building around an under-rated and under-used pokemon (at least he was when I made this team) who could still be effective in today's metagame. I decided to go for the not-so-famous-anymore car battery, elekid.
Next, I wanted a team member who synergised decently with elekid and could make a mess of the opponent's team for elekid to clean up. I went for the bog-standard acrobat (gotten over your gasps of surprise yet?)
Seeing as both of these were pretty vulnerable to choice scarfers' revenge killing, I decided to add one of my own, I'd had a good experience with scarfoo and I thought "why not" and slapped him on to the team.
After this, I messed around quite a lot with the core and tried to give HO quite a shot but I realised that I sucked at that and went for a more balanced approach in a defensive pivot and hazards-setter. Ferroseed was the, uh, fruit for the job.
This was when I decided the main theme for the team which was to be counter-offense and I wanted something that could deal with boosting sweepers and such which mienfoo couldn't handle. Seeing as I disliked misdreavus, I gave staryu a spin (yes, I'm a GOD at puns) and it hasn't dissapointed.
Finding myself with a slot free, I decided to add in another defensive pivot to ease the pressure off ferroseed and as I despised frillish with a passion (though male jellicent is still cool), I went for tentacool.
The team did well, but I felt that elekid wasn't pulling his weight due to several factors like his inability to OHKO things thanks to eviolite * spits *, his defenses which rivalled that of a snowflake when holding a life orb (elekid, not the snowflake), and a list of useful resistances as long as a nose-hair. With regret, I replaced him, but I wanted to keep it different and not same old same old so I recruited his BFF and competitive rival, magby. Also, I changed tentacool to croagunk, which has proved to be a beneficial change.
The Team at a Glance
A Closer Look
Mienfoo @choice scarf
EVs: 236 atk, 236 spe, 36 HP
Jolly (-sp. atk, +spe)
Regenerator
-Hi Jump Kick
-U-turn
-Drain Punch
-Stone Edge
EVs: 236 atk, 236 spe, 36 HP
Jolly (-sp. atk, +spe)
Regenerator
-Hi Jump Kick
-U-turn
-Drain Punch
-Stone Edge
Overview:
This is mienfoo, consistently proving in the meta-game to be one of the best, if not THE best and most versatile new threat from black and white to little cup. I'll often lead with mienfoo if I'm not sure what my opponent will be running. Mienfoo is really great at what he does, picking up momentum, applying offensive pressure, and revenge killing a lot of threats.
This is mienfoo, consistently proving in the meta-game to be one of the best, if not THE best and most versatile new threat from black and white to little cup. I'll often lead with mienfoo if I'm not sure what my opponent will be running. Mienfoo is really great at what he does, picking up momentum, applying offensive pressure, and revenge killing a lot of threats.
Moveset and EVs:
HJK is an obvious one, hitting very hard when coming of 18 attack backed up by STAB forces the opponent to make a lot of switches rather than risking instant foot-covered death, making it very simple for mienfoo to pick up momentum.
Drain punch isn't used much but is mostly for when I really need to hit a dangerous target like scraggy without risking the recoil or miss chance of HJK. I did once have HP ice here with a little special attack investment but it literally ONLY killed gligar and was far too exploitable to set up on for my taste.
U-turn is probably the most important move, picking up momentum while still softening them up for another threat to come in safely.
Stone edge is a good coverage move and is nifty for killing the odd bug type or murkrow or even finishing off misdreavus.
The EVs, nature, and ability are obvious. Mienfoo gets maximum attacking stats and good recovery with its great ability.
Gligar @eviolite
EVs: 236 atk, 236 spe
Jolly (I really don't need to explain this, do I?)
Hyper Cutter
-Earthquake
-Aerial Ace
-U-turn
-Roost
EVs: 236 atk, 236 spe
Jolly (I really don't need to explain this, do I?)
Hyper Cutter
-Earthquake
-Aerial Ace
-U-turn
-Roost
Overview:
Gligar is just so, so, so good. He functions mostly as the go-to guy of the team, taking lots of random hits well and healing them off reliably as well as posing a large threat and grabbing momentum, much like mienfoo. Gligar hits hard and fast as well as boasting good bulk which was exactly what this team needed. This used to be a standard acrobatics set but I found I needed some more bulk from him. This also turned him into a solid check to shell smash dwebble, who would otherwise give my team a tough time.
Gligar is just so, so, so good. He functions mostly as the go-to guy of the team, taking lots of random hits well and healing them off reliably as well as posing a large threat and grabbing momentum, much like mienfoo. Gligar hits hard and fast as well as boasting good bulk which was exactly what this team needed. This used to be a standard acrobatics set but I found I needed some more bulk from him. This also turned him into a solid check to shell smash dwebble, who would otherwise give my team a tough time.
Moveset and EVs:
Earthquake is a staple for all gligar sets, providing solid, reliable STAB with good power.
Earthquake is a staple for all gligar sets, providing solid, reliable STAB with good power.
Aerial Ace is really just a replacement for acrobatics but I find it covers earthquake well enough.
U-turn, definetely an under-used move on gligar. This lets him pick up momentum as well as doing good damage to some of his checks, such as snover.
Roost is very important as it gives him much better staying power and lets him easily take random hits which a lot of the rest of my team wouldn't be able to afford to take.
EVs are straight forward again giving him solid attacking stats while hyper cutter lets him take on feathercalm murkrow.
Ferroseed @eviolite
EVs: 164 HP, 188 def, 156 sp. def, 0 spe IVs
Relaxed (+def, -spe)
-Gyro ball
-Stealth Rock
-Leech seed
-Protect
EVs: 164 HP, 188 def, 156 sp. def, 0 spe IVs
Relaxed (+def, -spe)
-Gyro ball
-Stealth Rock
-Leech seed
-Protect
Overview:
Without this little blighter, this team wouldn't have nearly as well as it did. Ferroseed provides important hazards which penalize the opponent every time they have to switch (which is a lot) and take only 1 turn to set up. He also walls water types such as staryu and chinchou, easily taking their coverage moves bar HP fire and leech seed stalling them, waiting for a recover or a switch to make a safe switch to an offensive team mate.
Moveset and EVs:
The moves are pretty obvious, leech seed is very important as it gives him his only form of recovery with protect augmenting that and messing up scarfers such as mienfoo and larvesta.
Stealth rock is very important as, like I mentioned earlier, it punishes the opponent for every time they switch which racks up faster than many opponents would like to think.
Gyro ball is the only offensive move which hits everything with decent speed pretty hard as well as the grass types switching in to block leech seed, notably snover, where bullet seed would fail.
Croagunk (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 212 HP / 36 Atk / 36 Def / 108 SAtk / 116 SDef
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Fake Out
- Vacuum Wave
- Drain Punch
- Shadow Ball
Overview:
Croa here was suggested by Ray Jay over Magby but I decided that he did pretty much the same job as tentacool and replaced the jelly. He does a really good job of softening up misdreavus as well as acting as a good fail-safe to dangerous sweepers. On top of this, he takes special hits well thanks to eviolite and some good special bulk and brings a nice water immunity and other resistances to the table.
Moveset and EVs:
Fake out is a nifty move for croagunk bringing in some gratis damage is always welcome.
Vacuum wave is the filler I've been trying out and it seems to do well, finishing off a lot of threats that manage to slip past the net of my scarfers.
Shadow ball is essential for smacking misdreavus and 2hkoes non eviolite sets while surviving a 2hko himself, though I'm considering running sucker punch over vacuum wave and shifting over the EVs a little to deal with eviolite missy better.
Drain punch is a good move for croagunk giving him some nice recovery and dealing respectable damage to non-resistors.
The EVs give croa a bit of everything meaning he can take hits and dish them out well from both ends of the spectrum.
Staryu @choice scarf
EVs: 196 sp. atk, 236 spe, 76 HP
Natural cure
Timid
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Rapid spin
Overview:
Now before you start raging about how I'm carrying scarfyu (with rapid spin), let me tell you that Staryu is in many ways the glue of the team as it is capable of revenge killing dangerous threats such as shellder and clamperl, who otherwise usually walk all over offense, and absorbing status. Having a second scarfer is a great boon and I think one of the reasons why this team was successful with mienfoo and staryu, both with good coverage, cover a very large amount of offensive threats.
Moveset and EVs:
-Hydro pump is staryu's strongest STAB and really hurts everything that doesn't resist it, opening up an opportunity for a late game clean
-Boltbeam provide near perfect coverage together and are both required for revenge killing certain threats, bolt for the smashers, ice beam for snover and gligar.
-Rapid spin seems quite strange on a scarfed pokemon but it's still very effective, especially if staryu has a hard counter such as lileep in play and getting those hazards quickly off can be game changing. The only other option would be hidden power grass which would only help with chinchou, who is already dealt with quite well by the rest of the team.
Magby @life orb
EVs: 252 spe, 200 sp. atk IVs: 7 HP
Hasty (+spe, -def)
Vital spirit
-Fire Blast
-Hidden Power Grass
-Substitute
-Cross Chop
Overview:
Magby is a great mon who has always lived humbly in the shadows as people neglected it and chose the easier to use ponyta but magby is always ready for when duty calls, and give him the support, and he can be a top class pokemon. Magby is the oddball of the team but has still has an important task on his shoulders. I was originally using a flame charge set over cross chop to late game clean, but I figured that wasn't necessary and turned him into a fearsome wall breaker. Magby will often come in on a u-turn when a steel type like bronzor comes into play, from there, it can either set up a substitute or start launching incredibly powerful fire blasts. This guy maintains momentum even when faced by walls, which is very important and is invaluable in disposing of walls which can just sit on their behinds and recover stall me as my unboosted sweepers fail to harm them.
Moveset and EVs:
-Fire blast is the STAB of choice and naturally caused magby to run a mostly special set as flare blitz is generally a pretty bad idea on something with 19HP and a life orb. Fire blast also works effectively in the more physically bulky inclined form which the metagame is today.
-Hidden power grass is good for water types, breaking through chinchou and staryu who could otherwise be troublesome and packing a very nasty surprise for a tirtouga who has switched in on stealth rock.
-Cross chop is a very useful move and is essential for magby to muscle through walls well as it enables him to flatten the likes of porygon and lileep who could otherwise just recover stall him.
-Substitute is just awesome in general on magby, creating a buffer which can be game changing should I get unlucky on a common speed-tie as well as mocking sucker punch users and easing prediction.
Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed the team. All constructive C&C is very much welcomed. By the way, I have a no ghost, dark, or psychic pokemon policy so if you could bare that in mind.
