So begins my challenge to make a monoteam of every type except dragons. Don't know what I'm going to do with those guys. The basic plan of this team is to get a Cresselia sweep going. You'll notice that three pokemon are exceptional at derailing physical attackers. This is because Cresselia is a special sponge, and barring some particular threats, can set up on a large majority of the special cast.
Jynx (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Forewarn
EVs: 4 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fake Out
- Protect
- Counter
- Ice Beam
Fake out to break focus sashes, Protect to prevent mine from being broken by faster fake out users. Counter weeds out physical attackers, and Ice Beam gives me something to do against special attackers (and OHKOS Aerodactyl most of the time. I ran into a bulky one the other day, that was quite the surprise). I'm not worried about stealth rocks.
Top 10 leads, in no particular order:
Azelf: Ice Beam is a 2HKO if they go for rocks, otherwise, flamethrower hurts this set a lot.
Aerodactyl: I love seeing these things. They get rocks up sure. But they're down a pokemon, and usually down 2, because they usually send in something that's physical, and the sash isn't broken. Ice Beam+Fake out is a KO I'm fairly positive, though I have ran into one bulky aero that survived the combo.
Tyranitar: I'd rather see this sooner than later. Fake out and protect are rather useless, so just counter away. Since ttar leads are usually meant to screw other leads up, and all of his attacks are 2x against jynx, they usually go for the attack. If they don't, I at least know it's not one of the deadlier TTar sets that really screws me up, and I can send in an appropriate counter.
Infernape: This guy absolutely destroys me. His fake out is faster, so all I can do is protect. He's got fireblast instead of close combat, and people always go for the Fireblast instead of CC because they don't get realize yet how fragile jynx is. Afterwards, there really isn't a safe switch in besides Gardevoir, but I don't like ruining that surprise so early in the match.
Ninjask: Ice Beam away. Whatever's getting the baton pass is probably gonna be fragile, and I have ways of dealing with something with no attack boosts. It's usually physical as well, which means great times are had by all when i counter the easily predicted attack.
Roserade: Fake out and ice beam through the sleep. Jynx is a better pokemon to have sleeping than anything else on my team. Not really worried about toxic spikes, only three pokemon are vulnerable to them, one of which has recover.
Swampert: Fake out, ice beam on their SR, and counter the earthquake, or continue to Ice Beam if Earthquake didn't show up on forewarn.
Metagross: Fake out, counter the physical attack. I don't know why they never SR first, considering both of Jynx stabs are resisted, but they always go for a physical attack.
Jirachi: Fake out, protect to scout a little, usually ending in a counter.
Machamp: If they go with dynamic punch, then it's a 50% chance of me coming out on top. Anything else, machamp is dead, and their team is down one very troublesome physical attacker.
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Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 162 Atk/100 Def/148 Spd/100 SDef
Docile nature (neutral)
- Wish
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Fire Punch
- Cosmic Power
At first I was using Trickrachi, but I found having 3 users of choice items on my team really narrowed my options. I opted instead for cosmic power, as I can use it to scout for the hard hitters of the other team. I feel i'm misguided here, as it hasn't really been performing differently than trickrachi did. Maybe slightly better, but I know I can do way better with this slot. HP Fighting is to take out TTars who want to earthquake, Fire Punch takes out scizor, and can lead to burn hax in a protracted battle. Wish is for team support, and what initially drew me to this set.
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Girafarig (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Return
- Zen Headbutt
A very glass cannon, though a glass cannon with an immunity to ghost. This is my answer to Rotom forms. If they're choiced, they'll switch out, and I know to prioritize them as nothing sucks more than getting cresselia trick choiced on a calm mind. If they're not choiced, then Girafarig can surivive and KO with crunch. Also survives a non life orbed, non speced focus blast from gengar in my experience, though I haven't done any calcs.
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Celebi @ Flame Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/80 Def/176 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Trick
- U-turn
- Recover
- Psychic
The second physical sweeper disabler/first wall breaker. It is very good at what it does. Two things will switch into a celebi. Walls on a stall team, and scizors/tyranitars/some other competent physical sweeper that can set up or threaten on a celebi. Flame Orb makes walling harder, and physically sweeping next to impossible. Recover has allowed me to stall ko from burn damage several physical sweepers who their owners just wouldn't take out. U-Turn for gtfo situations against slower pokemon, and sometimes switching in a counter after the attack. Psychic for a reliable stab. Considering Leaf Storm here instead, and a better team support move over u-turn.
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Gardevoir (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Trace
EVs: 244 HP/252 Def/14 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Trick
- Hidden Power [Fire]
My second disabler/second t-tar and scizor counter. Focus Blast OHKOS T-Tar, while Gardevoir can survive a crunch and Stealth Rocks from Scarf Tar, the most common variety. HP Fire kos scizor (who can't touch this set barring bullet punch, which is a 3hko I believe, or some sort of speed boosting variety with X-scissor). Trick allows me to take out troublesome walls. Psychic for a reliable STAB.
---
Cresselia (F) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/4 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Rest
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
The captain of the team so to speak. Everything is centered around enabling this guy to sweep. 3 direct counters physical threats in general, as well as two direct threats against it help it to do it's job. Come in on a special attacker and set up. It can set up on a Seismic Tossing blissey, with a little luck (SpD drops from psychic). Rest+Chesto is for immediate recovery, and enables me to get more boost in before committing to a 2 turn gap, at which point, nothing should really be able to touch cressy anyways.
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The main threats to this team I've noticed are Dragon Dancers. Dragon Dance Gyra, Salamence, and Ttar (Especially TTar) ruin my fun, and if they can get set up, which isn't particularly hard with Girafarig and Gardevoir being choiced, will sweep my team. Celebi counters Gyra to some extent, being able to take a +1 waterfall, and trick flame orb onto it. Salamence is on his way out of OU if I understand correctly, but if I identify the threat early enough, Cresselia can take him out. DD tar will destroy my team though.
Infernape, particularly the lead variety can also hurt. The only viable response to Fireblast is to switch in Cresselia, but I really dislike revealing her that early in the match.
Life Orb Gengar is unstopable. Girafarig can't take it, as Focus Blast is OHKO. Shadow Ball ruins the rest of the team, barring Jirachi, but even then it's tough.
Perhaps my biggest enemy though is the nature of Cresselia herself. She is a slow sweeper. As in she takes a lot of hits that don't do much damage, but all have the potential to crit. And if they get a crit, it hurts. This problem has led me to consider using another sweeper, but so far, I don't feel like restructuring the entire team around Azelf, Alakazam, or Espeon.
Jynx (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Forewarn
EVs: 4 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fake Out
- Protect
- Counter
- Ice Beam
Fake out to break focus sashes, Protect to prevent mine from being broken by faster fake out users. Counter weeds out physical attackers, and Ice Beam gives me something to do against special attackers (and OHKOS Aerodactyl most of the time. I ran into a bulky one the other day, that was quite the surprise). I'm not worried about stealth rocks.
Top 10 leads, in no particular order:
Azelf: Ice Beam is a 2HKO if they go for rocks, otherwise, flamethrower hurts this set a lot.
Aerodactyl: I love seeing these things. They get rocks up sure. But they're down a pokemon, and usually down 2, because they usually send in something that's physical, and the sash isn't broken. Ice Beam+Fake out is a KO I'm fairly positive, though I have ran into one bulky aero that survived the combo.
Tyranitar: I'd rather see this sooner than later. Fake out and protect are rather useless, so just counter away. Since ttar leads are usually meant to screw other leads up, and all of his attacks are 2x against jynx, they usually go for the attack. If they don't, I at least know it's not one of the deadlier TTar sets that really screws me up, and I can send in an appropriate counter.
Infernape: This guy absolutely destroys me. His fake out is faster, so all I can do is protect. He's got fireblast instead of close combat, and people always go for the Fireblast instead of CC because they don't get realize yet how fragile jynx is. Afterwards, there really isn't a safe switch in besides Gardevoir, but I don't like ruining that surprise so early in the match.
Ninjask: Ice Beam away. Whatever's getting the baton pass is probably gonna be fragile, and I have ways of dealing with something with no attack boosts. It's usually physical as well, which means great times are had by all when i counter the easily predicted attack.
Roserade: Fake out and ice beam through the sleep. Jynx is a better pokemon to have sleeping than anything else on my team. Not really worried about toxic spikes, only three pokemon are vulnerable to them, one of which has recover.
Swampert: Fake out, ice beam on their SR, and counter the earthquake, or continue to Ice Beam if Earthquake didn't show up on forewarn.
Metagross: Fake out, counter the physical attack. I don't know why they never SR first, considering both of Jynx stabs are resisted, but they always go for a physical attack.
Jirachi: Fake out, protect to scout a little, usually ending in a counter.
Machamp: If they go with dynamic punch, then it's a 50% chance of me coming out on top. Anything else, machamp is dead, and their team is down one very troublesome physical attacker.
---
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 162 Atk/100 Def/148 Spd/100 SDef
Docile nature (neutral)
- Wish
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Fire Punch
- Cosmic Power
At first I was using Trickrachi, but I found having 3 users of choice items on my team really narrowed my options. I opted instead for cosmic power, as I can use it to scout for the hard hitters of the other team. I feel i'm misguided here, as it hasn't really been performing differently than trickrachi did. Maybe slightly better, but I know I can do way better with this slot. HP Fighting is to take out TTars who want to earthquake, Fire Punch takes out scizor, and can lead to burn hax in a protracted battle. Wish is for team support, and what initially drew me to this set.
---
Girafarig (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Return
- Zen Headbutt
A very glass cannon, though a glass cannon with an immunity to ghost. This is my answer to Rotom forms. If they're choiced, they'll switch out, and I know to prioritize them as nothing sucks more than getting cresselia trick choiced on a calm mind. If they're not choiced, then Girafarig can surivive and KO with crunch. Also survives a non life orbed, non speced focus blast from gengar in my experience, though I haven't done any calcs.
---
Celebi @ Flame Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/80 Def/176 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Trick
- U-turn
- Recover
- Psychic
The second physical sweeper disabler/first wall breaker. It is very good at what it does. Two things will switch into a celebi. Walls on a stall team, and scizors/tyranitars/some other competent physical sweeper that can set up or threaten on a celebi. Flame Orb makes walling harder, and physically sweeping next to impossible. Recover has allowed me to stall ko from burn damage several physical sweepers who their owners just wouldn't take out. U-Turn for gtfo situations against slower pokemon, and sometimes switching in a counter after the attack. Psychic for a reliable stab. Considering Leaf Storm here instead, and a better team support move over u-turn.
---
Gardevoir (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Trace
EVs: 244 HP/252 Def/14 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Trick
- Hidden Power [Fire]
My second disabler/second t-tar and scizor counter. Focus Blast OHKOS T-Tar, while Gardevoir can survive a crunch and Stealth Rocks from Scarf Tar, the most common variety. HP Fire kos scizor (who can't touch this set barring bullet punch, which is a 3hko I believe, or some sort of speed boosting variety with X-scissor). Trick allows me to take out troublesome walls. Psychic for a reliable STAB.
---
Cresselia (F) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/4 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Rest
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
The captain of the team so to speak. Everything is centered around enabling this guy to sweep. 3 direct counters physical threats in general, as well as two direct threats against it help it to do it's job. Come in on a special attacker and set up. It can set up on a Seismic Tossing blissey, with a little luck (SpD drops from psychic). Rest+Chesto is for immediate recovery, and enables me to get more boost in before committing to a 2 turn gap, at which point, nothing should really be able to touch cressy anyways.
---
The main threats to this team I've noticed are Dragon Dancers. Dragon Dance Gyra, Salamence, and Ttar (Especially TTar) ruin my fun, and if they can get set up, which isn't particularly hard with Girafarig and Gardevoir being choiced, will sweep my team. Celebi counters Gyra to some extent, being able to take a +1 waterfall, and trick flame orb onto it. Salamence is on his way out of OU if I understand correctly, but if I identify the threat early enough, Cresselia can take him out. DD tar will destroy my team though.
Infernape, particularly the lead variety can also hurt. The only viable response to Fireblast is to switch in Cresselia, but I really dislike revealing her that early in the match.
Life Orb Gengar is unstopable. Girafarig can't take it, as Focus Blast is OHKO. Shadow Ball ruins the rest of the team, barring Jirachi, but even then it's tough.
Perhaps my biggest enemy though is the nature of Cresselia herself. She is a slow sweeper. As in she takes a lot of hits that don't do much damage, but all have the potential to crit. And if they get a crit, it hurts. This problem has led me to consider using another sweeper, but so far, I don't feel like restructuring the entire team around Azelf, Alakazam, or Espeon.
