The Cold War of Mice and Men

[neo360shot]

Team at a glance~~~

~~~

Ok, this is my first RMT, but i have been making assorted teams for a long time. I have been a huge lurker up until now...so after random testing I finally have something worthy for a smogon level RMT.

This team was entirely based around one pokemon

The god of destruction that is the rushing weasel: Linoone

since the team is built around a sweeper i devised a formula for a team that helps support a sweeper
-Crippling Anti-lead that can still use rocks
-Defensive core 1
-Defensive core 2
-Wallbreaker 1
-Wallbreaker 2
-THE SWEEPER

from there i decided who would fill what gaps

The sweeper is obviously linoone
here is his set:

Nickname: Lenny (main character from mice and men, was a beast that could kill anything but was gentle...until he gets excited...)
EV's: 252 Atk/ 252 Spe/ 4 HP
Item: Salac Berry
Ability: Gluttony
Nature: Adamant

Moveset:
*Belly Drum
*Seed Bomb
*Extremespeed
*Shadow Claw

As this is the only viable linoone set, most people already know the drill
find a chance, belly drum, reach 1024 atk, and wreak...havoc...upon village after village...

Now analyzing its weakness, steels, i choose my first defensive core component to be able to take out and resist steels...i think you know who I'm talking about...

~Magenzone~
Nickname: Twilight Zone
EVs: 252 HP/ 162 SpD/ 96 Def
Item: Light Clay
Ability: Magnet Pull
Nature: Relaxed

Moveset:
*Reflect
*Light Screen
*T-bolt/Discharge (always experimenting back and forth)
*Hp-fire (because scizor and fortress make linoone cry)

So basically walk in on a steel (preferable choiced ones) and set up...after that, kill the jarvis and have my wallbreakers smile from behind protection

To give me a quick shot at a steel, here is my other defensive core component

~Dragonite~
Nickname: Mr. Gorbechof
EV's: 252 / 212 SpD / 44 Spe
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Inner Focus
Nature: Careful

Moveset:
*Heal Bell
*Roost
*Thunder Wave
*Dragon Claw

he passes out the vital paralysis that helps me wallbreakers do their job without getting well, revenged...
Not to mention getting rid of my own
He and zone resist all types

Now onto the wallbreakers

As my main problems consist of stallteams...from my pokemon debut...:(...I have these two to especially rip out the hearts of stall...

Wallbreaker #1
My personal favorite pokemon, Nidoking

Nickname: Regan Smash (tearing down the walls)
EV's 252 Atk / 168 SpA / 88 Spe
Item: Life Orb
Abillity: Rivalry
Nature: Naughty

Moveset:
*Megahorn
*EQ
*Ice Beam
*Fire Blast

If linoone is the mouse, then Nidoking is the MEN of this team.
As a wallbreaker, he is one of the best in OU IMHO, he can eat the scarmbliss combo, celetran combo, and the my team's own NiteZone core. He also gets free switch on
*thunderbolt
*thunder wave
*toxic
*toxic Spikes

rather common on the average stall team

however, psychic and ground leave the purple spiked behemouth moaning in pain...hers a solution...his partner

Nickname: Titan II (after the biggest nuclear bomb...ever...)
EV's 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Modest

Moveset:
*Nasty Plot
*Psychic
*Grass knot
*Flamthrower

Ok, after 1 Nasty plot this 2HKO's everything in the game after Stealth rock...that is why i have modest nature...it is not meant to sweep but, "soften up" the same threats linoone must stare down to sweep

Last but not least, I decided on the lead. Like stated previously, it needed to cripple common leads, get rocks, and give linoone support

Nickname: Sputnik
EV's: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Jolly

Moveset:
*Trick
*Meteor Mash
*Explosion/Earthquake (always switching)
*Stealth Rock

What my evil russian satilite does is, after my wallbreakers bring the house down, linoone requires a free turn to drum up...choice scarf tricking creates this opertune moment...

say gengar is shadowballing me for the kill, give him a scarf, and bring linoone in...he must switch and I proceed to ravage his team...

most of my guys have great synergy with each other...but up until now has been tests...I would appreciate the opinions of the people who can improve the chinks in this team's armor or just make it more efficient

Here is the team fully constructed

 

[neo360shot]

Reserved for threat list/lead counters/wall counters

 

[DarkSlay]

Hey there, and welcome to Smogon!

First off, before I rate the team, the format in which this team is presented in is very confusing. It is recommended that you order your Pokemon by position in the party, that is from your Lead being first to your last Pokemon. Here, it seems that Linoone is your lead, which is obviously not true. In fact...I'm wasn't really sure who your lead was. XD I'm going to assume its Metagross for now, although your description of him doesn't really point to it being a lead. You did mention it earlier, though.

Speaking of which, you also need to beef up some of your descriptions of each Pokemon. Descriptions should be at least a good paragraph (five sentences) or two for each Pokemon. What does this Pokemon do for the team? Why did you choose it over _______? Explain the move choices, EV's, or items. And so on, and so forth.

Now, on to the rate!

There is one Pokemon in particular (although there are many threats to this team) that gives this team headaches: Swampert. ITs immunity to TWave, its access to Earthquake and Ice Beam, and its sturdy Defenses give this team a bunch of trouble. It OHKO's Magnezone, gives trouble to Dragonite, takes almost no damage from Nidoking and can KO, and KO's Metagross (or at least forces you to Explode). Your only check is Azelf, but once its gone, your team has lots of trouble with it.

I see what this team is doing, and I like your direction in which you are taking this. However, there are other Pokemon out there that both give Linoone an easier time setting up, and are able to also take advantage of Dual Screens. It just seems that this team is full of Pokemon doing jobs that are either unusual or just plain unnecessary, which tends to lead to failure during battles. While I usually do not condone raters who change an entire team, this team needs some serious overhauling in order for the goal of a Linoone Sweep to be successful. We'll take it nice and easy, going through each individual Pokemon:

Metagross

Actually, it's one of the things I really don't have a problem with on the team. Trick leads are pretty good, and Metagross with a Scarf does outspeed almost all of them (bar Aerodactyl). I would keep it. Good job.

Azelf

There are multiple problems with Azelf outside of a lead position in today's metagame. One, the abundance of ScarfTar's running around (as well as just about any other Pursuit user). If Azelf switches into SR twice (with Sandstorm activated), it's OHKO'd by Pursuit. Two, it is easily walled by Blissey, giving your opponent time to wall it and switch out to set up sweepers and such. I believe this is where we should start some changes to the overall team. There is another gerbil who is rising in popularity lately for its supportive characteristics in the OU metagame. I feel like it would help out this team exponentially:

Uxie @ Leftovers
Ability: Light Clay
EV's: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Nature: Impish
Moveset:
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Memento
- Yawn / U-Turn

Uxie's amazing 130/130 Defenses, along with its solid Psychic typing and good support movepool, gives it an opportunity to be a great Screens user. DS Uxie is also the main compliment to BD Linoone in the first place, and for good reason Reflect and Light Screen are its bread and butter, being able to set it up continuous amounts of time throughout the battle. Memento is the key sacrificial move here, however, enabling Linoone to come in either on a switch or unharmed 99% of the time. Yawn is for earlier in the game, giving Uxie a way to pass Screens to other Pokemon on the team through either putting your opponent to sleep, or forcing an unwanted switch. To give you an example of its bulk, under its own Reflect, Uxie takes from a ScarfTar's Crunch (let alone Pursuit) 23.7% - 27.7%. That's pretty darn good for a weakness.

Nidoking

The only hesitance I'm having in replacing him is how its your favorite Pokemon. From a competitive standpoint, Nidoking just doesn't get the job done in the OU environment anymore. There are not only better options stat-wise, but there are also better options move wise. Nidoking is just too slow for such a fast-paced metagame that OU has evolved into. It cannot OHKO SpD Skarm after Rocks (who is rising in usage). It has a very low chance of 2HKO'ing Blissey, among other things, with EQ. There are other examples, but we'll stop there. Unless you are 100% hesitant to remove Nidoking from the team, I recommend a better stall breaker who is much more competitive in today's OU metagame:

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EV's: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
Moveset:
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Grass Knot / Vacuum Wave

Infernape is a beast at breaking Stall. In fact, there is most likely no other Pokemon in the OU environment who can accomplish stall breaking as well as Infernape. Nasty Plot boosts is Special Attack to an astounding 614 after one boost. Fire Blast and Focus Blast are the choice for its bread and butter moves, OHKO'ing Skarmory, Blissey (after SR), Celebi, Cresselia (slight chance after SR), and just about every Stall Pokemon known to man. Did I mention that both moves OHKO Salamence, Gyarados (slight chance), and offensive Dragonite after SR? The last move, however, is where things get a little sticky. Grass Knot may seem like the obvious choice, which gives you a reliable OHKO on Swampert and Suicune. However, Focus Blast does OHKO these Pokes, plus Vaporeon, after SR. Vacuum Wave enables you to OHKO ScarfTar, ScarfTran, and Lucario switch-ins before they hit you. These three are pretty much the only Pokes that can harm NPApe too, making this move pretty valuable. Grass Knot is more reliable than Focus Blast is, though, so the choice is yours.

Magnezone

Now that the role of Screen user has been filled, Magnezone now has the opportunity to be used to its full potential as a Steel Trapper. Under Screens, it will be hard as heck to take Magnezone down, so giving Magnezone a set that can take advantage of trapping Steels AND Dual Screens would be beneficial.

Magnezone @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EV's: 40 Atk / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Nature: Naive
Moveset:
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- HP Grass
- Explosion

Magnezone's primary goal with this set is to simply trap Steels and have its way with them while also butting itself in an advantageous position. It honestly shouldn't be pulling off more than one role, in my opinion. Substitute allows you to take minimal damage from things like CBScizor's Bullet Punch and CSJirachi's Iron Head. Thunderbolt 2HKO's these Pokes in return. Because of this, HP Grass is the recommended move, taking out the expected Swampert switch-in who would wall this set without it. Explosion is to take out any Blissey who switch in after their Steel is out for the count, as well as to deal massive damage when Magnezone is at low HP.

Dragonite

Dragonite, in this role you've given it, is pretty good. There are few things that can take it out when its under Screens, so that's a good thing. However, there is another set similar to this one that also gives Dragonite some sweeping potential once Steels are removed:

Dragonite @ Leftovers
Ability: Inner Focus
EV's: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Nature: Careful
Moveset:
- Dragon Dance
- Heal Bell
- Roost
- Dragon Claw

This set aims to do almost exactly what your old set does, except it also gives Dragonite a way to become a potent sweeper when Screens are down. Dragon Dance boosts its Speed and Attack to good levels, and this set is designed to get in multiple boosts before it attempts to sweep. Heal Bell ensures that status does not hinder Dragonite's sweep as well as provide support to the entire team. Roost heals off damage to continue its sweep. Granted, this isn't the easiest set to master at first, but with proper Screen support, Dragonite can easily get to +3 or +4 with little hassle.

Linoone

Not much to say here. It's a Linoone based team, so I'm not changing it.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

 

[neo360shot]

Thanks so much darkslay...really saved me there...

I will try out slowdance dragonite and uxie...

Thanks for the advice

now i know what i always did wrong with my teams...too many jobs for 1 guy was inefficient...TY :)

 

[ginganinja]

Dark Drkslay summed up up really well, however I think that a Duel Screen Azelf should lead over Metagross. This allows screans set up from the word Go and puts your opponient on the back foot. Next I suggest a SubPass Vaporeon since it can pass substitutes to Lunnine. With the screns up the sub is even harder to break. Having a sub also protects Linnone from setting up its Drum since it cannot really take a hit anyway and with a SUb it can get its drum off easier. Vaporeon can also support the team with Wish and can even provide the oppotunity for a second Linnone sweep (though its unlikely that Linnone can get a drum of once, speed and then come back a second time to clean up), still I do think that a SubPass should be considered mainly for protecting Linnone in its aims to get of a Drum.

Hope I helped!

Have a Nice Day!

EDIT: I think I got the reference!

 

[Shizzle]

Also your layout is kind of messy. If you want more and more people to actually rate your team, its best to have it in an effective layout. It makes it much easier to look at, and constancy in sprites helps a lot, sprites from arkeis are probably the best, or try that gts place. Here was my latest RMT, http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71458&highlight=shizzle, dont bump it or anything, just look at how it is presented.

Anyway, on to the rate :)

I know you may love Linoone, but it just CANNOT work in OU. One simple reason, Scizor is in approximately 30% of teams, and after a belly drum and the 50% health loss, Scizor can just come in and revenge kill fairly easily, he takes approximately 70% odd damage from Extremspeed after +6. Also 2 of the most popular pure physical OU walls, Skarmory and Forretress resist all your attacking moves. Not to mention any team with Tyranitar and anything with protect.


Magnezone has NO use for Hidden Power Grass. Nearly all Swampert's are lead, and generally are weakened enough for Hidden Power Ice to be powerful enough. HP Ice also gives you the BoltBeam combo, which has great coverage. Anyway the set posted by DrkSlay is a pretty good one, and can help deal with an offensive sweeping team rather well.

If you want to keep Azelf, make sure you replace Grass Knot with Hidden Power Fighting, Grass Knot gives little help, as after a Nasty Plot, Psychic takes down next to anything, and HP Fight 70 is a much more effective way of taking down Heatran AND Tyranitar.

Nidoking is a general beast, but does not have the speed or outright power to work as a mixed sweeper in OU. Infernape as mentioned by DrkSlay is a much better mixed sweeper, he not only has access to both Close Combat and Fire Blast [2 potent STABs], but also Grass Knot as well as QuakeEdge or any needed filler.

 

[neo360shot]

calm mind rachi really wrecks this team...anyone got any ideas on how to solve this?

 

[neo360shot]

Also your layout is kind of messy. If you want more and more people to actually rate your team, its best to have it in an effective layout. It makes it much easier to look at, and constancy in sprites helps a lot, sprites from arkeis are probably the best, or try that gts place. Here was my latest RMT, http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71458&highlight=shizzle, dont bump it or anything, just look at how it is presented.

Anyway, on to the rate :)

I know you may love Linoone, but it just CANNOT work in OU. One simple reason, Scizor is in approximately 30% of teams, and after a belly drum and the 50% health loss, Scizor can just come in and revenge kill fairly easily, he takes approximately 70% odd damage from Extremspeed after +6. Also 2 of the most popular pure physical OU walls, Skarmory and Forretress resist all your attacking moves. Not to mention any team with Tyranitar and anything with protect.


Magnezone has NO use for Hidden Power Grass. Nearly all Swampert's are lead, and generally are weakened enough for Hidden Power Ice to be powerful enough. HP Ice also gives you the BoltBeam combo, which has great coverage. Anyway the set posted by DrkSlay is a pretty good one, and can help deal with an offensive sweeping team rather well.

If you want to keep Azelf, make sure you replace Grass Knot with Hidden Power Fighting, Grass Knot gives little help, as after a Nasty Plot, Psychic takes down next to anything, and HP Fight 70 is a much more effective way of taking down Heatran AND Tyranitar.

Nidoking is a general beast, but does not have the speed or outright power to work as a mixed sweeper in OU. Infernape as mentioned by DrkSlay is a much better mixed sweeper, he not only has access to both Close Combat and Fire Blast [2 potent STABs], but also Grass Knot as well as QuakeEdge or any needed filler.

scizor gets wrecked by magnezone when they get stuck and killed off
dragonite even lures scizor in (however swords dancers laugh in my face...)

 

[Shizzle]

Yes Magnezone does counter Scizor, however yours does not. You are simply relying on the opposing Scizor to be Choice Banded, if it isn't, then you are completely screwed. You need a proper counter to Scizor, considering it is the most used pokemon in standard. Increasing the Speed EVs on Magnezone is all you need to do.

 

[neo360shot]

sure no problem
how many?

 

[neo360shot]

Reserved for version 2