Through most of Black and White 1 I didn't really keep track of the metagame or really play all that much, but with the approach of Wcop, I decided it was time to try to get back into things. This was the team that got me to actually enjoy Black and White and was by far my favorite team that I used throughout the tiers existence. Credit goes to yee for helping with the teambuilding here.
Team Overview
Team Building Process
When I began with the team, I wan't to choose a slightly less prevalent threat to build around, and Hydreigon just seemed like the perfect choice. The major issues that Hydreigon have are with Blissey/Chansey, which led to...
Breloom seemed like a very good way to put pressure on both Blissey and Chansey, while also giving Hydreigon some free turns to switch in with spore. Tyranitar was also added at this point with Sand's ability to hinder them, as well as a way to deal with Rain and Sun up front.
After that we were looking at SR users that also fit with the offensive nature of the team thusfar, and decided to go with a Mew. Along with rocks, Mew also provided a solid check to the fighting types that would give the team trouble thusfar. At this point, we realized that the team was fairly slow, while also lacking a steel type. To counteract both these problems, we went with double priority Lucario, which has quickly become one of my favorite sets.
While Lucario helped with the team's speed issue through priority, it still seemed slow, while also lacking a revenge killer. Eventually, we decided upon Sash Alakazam, who helped both of these problems, giving us the final team lineup.
However, after some playtesting it was clear the Mew felt fairly useless in its current state. So we decided to switch Ttar to a much more bulky set with SR and make Mew a Nasty Plot set. Finally, we eventually gave Breloom a bulkier set in order to deal with the teams issues with thinks like Scarf Rachi and U-Turn spam.
Hydreigon (F) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
Hydreigon is the set that the entire team was built around. Its major purpose is just to blow holes through the opposing team early in the game, helping to set up either Lucario, Mew, or Alakazam to come in at the end and clean up. I opted for an Expert Belt set for two reasons. The first is just general preference in having the ability to change moves. However, it was also very useful due to the prevalence of both Scarf and Specs Hydreigon. It was not uncommon to pick up a free kill by simply bluffing a choice item throughout the game. The moveset itself is fairly standard, and don't particularly see a reason to change it without good reason. Finally, I went with Modest due to Hydreigon's troll base speed. It can't really outrun anything I care about with Timid, and the boost in power is very nice.
Breloom (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 236 HP / 56 Atk / 216 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Spore
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Seed Bomb
Breloom's initial use to this team came soley from its ability to put pressure on both Blissey and Chansey, the two major issues for Hydreigon. However, as the team progressed it started to become apparent that it was a key member to the team. With the popularity of both Sand and Rain, Breloom become a lead of choice for me in most games due to its advantageous matchup with both Politoed and Tyranitar. With Spore and just the raw power of the Sub Punch set, Breloom fairly regularly picked up multiple kills for the team. It was also the teams main switch in to Rotom-W, as well as Volt-Turn in general. While initially we ran a more offensive spread, we switched to this one in order to better be able to deal with U-turn spam, Scarf Rachi, and Terrakion, as this set has an 87% chance to live a Jolly CB Close Combat. Finally, Breloom was also my main way of dealing with stall, as it is notorious for giving stall fits. In fact, Breloom is able to beat Celebi, widely considered its best counter, 1 on 1 if it gets hit on the switch with Spore and has decent luck on sleep turns.
Tyranitar (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 192 SDef
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
Tyranitar's has two main purposes for this team. The first is simply to set up Stealth Rock, and the second is to provide a weather that isn't Rain or Sun. Without Sand, both weathers are able to wreck havoc with their ability to spam powered up attacks utilizing the weather boosts. On top of that, Tyranitar serves as the teams only real counter to Volcarona, both through SR and the ability to swich in on a Quiver Dance and take a hit. It is also the main switch in to Lati@s and Tornadus, who otherwise give the team problems. While initially a CB set was used here, it became apparent that a more defensive set needed to help give the team a little bit more bulk. The set is fairly standard, with Fire Blast to ensure that Skarm, Forretress, and Ferrothorn are not tempted to set up on it. Finally, the set has a 15 speed iv to ensure that it is able to undercut Politoed and start the game with sand if both lead.
Mew @ Leftovers
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Aura Sphere
- Fire Blast
While the majority of Mew's that you see in this metagame are more defensive, this sets seeks to take advantage of that. With how popular Taunt WoW Mew was, people very rarely expected Nasty Plot Mew to show up. Mew serves as one of the possible late game cleaners for this team, especially once Lati@s has been taken care of by Tyranitar. Aside from them, the only real way to beat this set is by simply outspeeding it, but Mew is bulky enough that there are very few things that can take it out in one hit, which allows it to put a large dent in the opposing team before it goes down. Aside from providing another setup sweeper, Mew is also important for its ability to check most Terrakion, as long as I don't switch into X-Scissor. It also serves as a general catch all if I don't feel that I have a good switch, as it generally at least breaks even with most threats. While initially this was a bulky SR Mew, the team immediately improved after the switch to Nasty Plot, and I haven't looked back since.
Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Bullet Punch
While this team was initially built around Hydreigon, it was Lucario that truly shined for the team. Initially, it was chosen for it's ability to take a single outrage, along with the very useful priority to a team that was plagued by a noticeable lack of speed. However, as the team progressed Lucario quickly became the end game strategy in the vast majority of cases. If it is able to get up a single Swords Dance, it easily dispatches offensive teams that have been worn down throughout the battle with the combo of Extremespeed and Bullet Punch. On the other hands, it also does massive damage to stall as long as I was able to take out Jellicent and Celebi before attempting a set up, which was not all that difficult to do. Lucario also serves as one of the two revenge killers for the team through its double priority. While Crunch and Ice Punch were both considered over Bullet Punch, they lost out in the end because of the ability to continue sweeps in the face of Terrakion, Gengar, and Scarftar. All in all, this became my favorite set of the generation as people continually seemed under-prepared for such a dangerous threat.
Alakazam (F) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
At this point, the team still felt kinda slow, as well as needing a solid revenge killer to deal with things that start setting up on the team. Alakazam just seemed to fit both of those needs. With Focus Sash it is basically a free pass for me to deal with the vast majority of set up sweepers, especially when combined with the priority from Lucario and the passive damage from sand being up. Also, Alakazam fit perfectly as a means of getting Lucario that late game set up to sweep, as it often forced opposing pokemon to lock themselves into a move ill fit to deal with Lucario, allowing the late game sweep. Alakazam also just serves as an all around damage dealer, as it provides good coverage and a decent damage output, although I was slightly disappointed by that.
So that's the team. Only major issue I have found is that I basically lose to Rain Stall with Duggy, as I can't get both SR and my weather up for the entire game. Any suggestions there would be nice. I may do a threat list depending on how much time I have this week, but don't expect one.
Images from serebii.net.
Team Overview
Team Building Process
When I began with the team, I wan't to choose a slightly less prevalent threat to build around, and Hydreigon just seemed like the perfect choice. The major issues that Hydreigon have are with Blissey/Chansey, which led to...
Breloom seemed like a very good way to put pressure on both Blissey and Chansey, while also giving Hydreigon some free turns to switch in with spore. Tyranitar was also added at this point with Sand's ability to hinder them, as well as a way to deal with Rain and Sun up front.
After that we were looking at SR users that also fit with the offensive nature of the team thusfar, and decided to go with a Mew. Along with rocks, Mew also provided a solid check to the fighting types that would give the team trouble thusfar. At this point, we realized that the team was fairly slow, while also lacking a steel type. To counteract both these problems, we went with double priority Lucario, which has quickly become one of my favorite sets.
While Lucario helped with the team's speed issue through priority, it still seemed slow, while also lacking a revenge killer. Eventually, we decided upon Sash Alakazam, who helped both of these problems, giving us the final team lineup.
However, after some playtesting it was clear the Mew felt fairly useless in its current state. So we decided to switch Ttar to a much more bulky set with SR and make Mew a Nasty Plot set. Finally, we eventually gave Breloom a bulkier set in order to deal with the teams issues with thinks like Scarf Rachi and U-Turn spam.
Hydreigon (F) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
Hydreigon is the set that the entire team was built around. Its major purpose is just to blow holes through the opposing team early in the game, helping to set up either Lucario, Mew, or Alakazam to come in at the end and clean up. I opted for an Expert Belt set for two reasons. The first is just general preference in having the ability to change moves. However, it was also very useful due to the prevalence of both Scarf and Specs Hydreigon. It was not uncommon to pick up a free kill by simply bluffing a choice item throughout the game. The moveset itself is fairly standard, and don't particularly see a reason to change it without good reason. Finally, I went with Modest due to Hydreigon's troll base speed. It can't really outrun anything I care about with Timid, and the boost in power is very nice.
Breloom (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 236 HP / 56 Atk / 216 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Spore
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Seed Bomb
Breloom's initial use to this team came soley from its ability to put pressure on both Blissey and Chansey, the two major issues for Hydreigon. However, as the team progressed it started to become apparent that it was a key member to the team. With the popularity of both Sand and Rain, Breloom become a lead of choice for me in most games due to its advantageous matchup with both Politoed and Tyranitar. With Spore and just the raw power of the Sub Punch set, Breloom fairly regularly picked up multiple kills for the team. It was also the teams main switch in to Rotom-W, as well as Volt-Turn in general. While initially we ran a more offensive spread, we switched to this one in order to better be able to deal with U-turn spam, Scarf Rachi, and Terrakion, as this set has an 87% chance to live a Jolly CB Close Combat. Finally, Breloom was also my main way of dealing with stall, as it is notorious for giving stall fits. In fact, Breloom is able to beat Celebi, widely considered its best counter, 1 on 1 if it gets hit on the switch with Spore and has decent luck on sleep turns.
Tyranitar (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 192 SDef
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
Tyranitar's has two main purposes for this team. The first is simply to set up Stealth Rock, and the second is to provide a weather that isn't Rain or Sun. Without Sand, both weathers are able to wreck havoc with their ability to spam powered up attacks utilizing the weather boosts. On top of that, Tyranitar serves as the teams only real counter to Volcarona, both through SR and the ability to swich in on a Quiver Dance and take a hit. It is also the main switch in to Lati@s and Tornadus, who otherwise give the team problems. While initially a CB set was used here, it became apparent that a more defensive set needed to help give the team a little bit more bulk. The set is fairly standard, with Fire Blast to ensure that Skarm, Forretress, and Ferrothorn are not tempted to set up on it. Finally, the set has a 15 speed iv to ensure that it is able to undercut Politoed and start the game with sand if both lead.
Mew @ Leftovers
Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Aura Sphere
- Fire Blast
While the majority of Mew's that you see in this metagame are more defensive, this sets seeks to take advantage of that. With how popular Taunt WoW Mew was, people very rarely expected Nasty Plot Mew to show up. Mew serves as one of the possible late game cleaners for this team, especially once Lati@s has been taken care of by Tyranitar. Aside from them, the only real way to beat this set is by simply outspeeding it, but Mew is bulky enough that there are very few things that can take it out in one hit, which allows it to put a large dent in the opposing team before it goes down. Aside from providing another setup sweeper, Mew is also important for its ability to check most Terrakion, as long as I don't switch into X-Scissor. It also serves as a general catch all if I don't feel that I have a good switch, as it generally at least breaks even with most threats. While initially this was a bulky SR Mew, the team immediately improved after the switch to Nasty Plot, and I haven't looked back since.
Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Bullet Punch
While this team was initially built around Hydreigon, it was Lucario that truly shined for the team. Initially, it was chosen for it's ability to take a single outrage, along with the very useful priority to a team that was plagued by a noticeable lack of speed. However, as the team progressed Lucario quickly became the end game strategy in the vast majority of cases. If it is able to get up a single Swords Dance, it easily dispatches offensive teams that have been worn down throughout the battle with the combo of Extremespeed and Bullet Punch. On the other hands, it also does massive damage to stall as long as I was able to take out Jellicent and Celebi before attempting a set up, which was not all that difficult to do. Lucario also serves as one of the two revenge killers for the team through its double priority. While Crunch and Ice Punch were both considered over Bullet Punch, they lost out in the end because of the ability to continue sweeps in the face of Terrakion, Gengar, and Scarftar. All in all, this became my favorite set of the generation as people continually seemed under-prepared for such a dangerous threat.
Alakazam (F) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
At this point, the team still felt kinda slow, as well as needing a solid revenge killer to deal with things that start setting up on the team. Alakazam just seemed to fit both of those needs. With Focus Sash it is basically a free pass for me to deal with the vast majority of set up sweepers, especially when combined with the priority from Lucario and the passive damage from sand being up. Also, Alakazam fit perfectly as a means of getting Lucario that late game set up to sweep, as it often forced opposing pokemon to lock themselves into a move ill fit to deal with Lucario, allowing the late game sweep. Alakazam also just serves as an all around damage dealer, as it provides good coverage and a decent damage output, although I was slightly disappointed by that.
So that's the team. Only major issue I have found is that I basically lose to Rain Stall with Duggy, as I can't get both SR and my weather up for the entire game. Any suggestions there would be nice. I may do a threat list depending on how much time I have this week, but don't expect one.
Images from serebii.net.
