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Welcome to the latest edition of the Team Rater Competition! The tier this time around will be SM UU. For each round we'll post a team, and participants will have one week to complete a rate of said team. When the round is over, the participants who submitted the best rates will move onto the next round. If you are eliminated and want to receive feedback on your rate, the hosts will be more than happy to provide that upon request. Each round will last one week. Failure to rate the team within the one week time period will result in disqualification unless you're able to give us a valid reason. Please only sign up if you can commit to rating one team every week for the next month. If you're currently involved in or are looking to start rating UU teams, I highly encourage you to participate as this promises to be a great learning experience. Here's to a fun and competitive tournament!
Important notes:
Shoutouts in the room intro of the RMT room and in RMT news
The top rates from each round in addition to the rates in the final two rounds will count towards the Team Rater badge
The winner will be awarded voice status in the RMT room on PS if they have shown an interest in getting involved.
Each round will last one week. Failure to rate the team within the one week time period will result in disqualification unless you're able to give us a valid reason. Please only sign up if you can commit to rating one team every week for the next month.
If you are eliminated and would like some feedback on your rate and how you can improve going forward, feel free to ask us.
At the end of each round, we will announce the best rate from that round and a quick overview of what we liked in the rates submitted.
the team was looking quite weak to rotom wash so i added this pokemon to counter it. the moveset is fairly self explanatory but i wanted a modest nature in order to maximise its power. hp fire lets me hit scizor and klefki.
Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
- Haze
- Knock Off
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
tentacruel was added in order to remove hazards which could annoy cofagrigus. since it needs to set up 2 things usually in order to sweep keeping it healthy is really important. the evs maximise its defensive capabilities so it can handle scizor and cobalion a lot more comfortably. haze allows me to check set up sweepers like the aforementioned two pokemon. this team lacked a knock off user so i added knock off on tentacruel.
since sceptile can be prone to being worn down with will-o-wisp from rotom and was vulnerable to pursuit users like muk i needed another check to it so i added hydreigon. the fact that its scarf lets me outspeed manectric which is useful. flamethrower is used here in order to hit steel types that would otherwise beat it like bulky scizor, cobalion and klefki.
Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Play Rough
- Toxic
- Thunder Wave
klefki is a great partner for cofagrigus because it resists dark type moves and can set down spikes which aids in cofagrigus cleaning up teams. i have toxic on klefki in order to punish things like mantine if they try to defog. thunder wave provides this team with some speed control outside of trick room. it has max defence in order to help out with sharpedo
this team was built around cofagrigus. i decided to use the offensive trick room set with ghostium z in order to have a strong one time move that lets me pick up KOs. I have will-o-wisp in order to wear down initial responses to cofag like muk.
Cobalion @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
cobalion provides me with a scizor check (important since klefki cannot touch scizor) another dark resist which is capable of punishing stuff like muk with rocky helmet. it has swords dance in order to be able to beat bulky sd scizor.
Hello lads, me and Cynde decided to give you guys another day to submit your rate, the new deadline is November 23rd 11.59 PM GMT-5 Good luck everyone!
Cobalion @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
(Threats & Issues // Fixes):
The very first thing I would like to address with this team is its weakness to Manectric-Mega. The only capable switch-in is Choice Scarf Hydreigon, which gets worn down and can easily be exploited by Volt Switch. In fact, Sceptile-Mega fails to check Mega Manectric because of a Modest nature, making any (risky) attempts to absorb Electric type attacks futile. Therefore, the very first change I would like to suggest is opting for a Timid nature on Sceptile-Mega, which opens another option to revenge kill Manectric-Mega while still dissuading the opponent from recklessy spamming Volt Switch.
Another big problem is Mamoswine, which threatens with its powerful Earthquake and priority Ice Shard. The only way I see to play around Mamoswine is hard switching into Cobalion on a predicted Ice type attack at some point, which is undoubtedly risky. Two minor changes can help alleviate the trouble Mamoswine poses: A Timid Nature with 96 Spe on Tentacruel and Magnet Rise > Thunder Wave on Klefki. (Addtionially, some EV spread advice on Tentacruel: 232 HP reduces damage taken from Stealth Rock and Spikes while keeping the last available Leftovers number!) Magnet Rise on Klefki also improves the teams matchup vs Dragon Dance Altaria that have Earthquake as coverage, as well as Mega Aerodactyl. 80 SpDef on Klefki avoid he OHKO from Hydreigon's Fire Blast after Stealth Rock.
Gliscor, especially Swords Dance variants, may give this team a good amount of trouble with the only reliable way of revenge killing is Leaf Storm from Sceptile. Cofagrigus can take two Sword Dance boosted EQ but fails to OHKO back, even with the Z-move. Addtionally, Gliscor will have plenty of options to enter the field versus both Klefki and Cobalion. With Magnet Rise on Klefki to check Dragon Dance Mega Altaria, Haxorus and Mega Aerodactyl, I felt it was appropraite to change Choice Scarf Hydreigon to Latias. The set I had in mind is the Groundium-Z (EQ) set to lure Muk-A (as well as weakening various Steel types for Mega Sceptile), while also carrying Ice Beam to deal with the aforementioned weakness to Gliscor. Next to Gliscor Latias also provides the team with an immediate switch-in to Nidoking, Volcanion and Mega Manectric that is able to stay healthy with Recover. This does come at the cost of speed control that Hydreigon provided, but given the change to a Timid nature on Sceptile, as well as Trick Room being an option in the back, it does not actually make too much of an impact. However, relying solely on Magnet Rise is troublesome at times, which is why I suggest Shuca Berry over Rocky Helmet on Cobalion. It allows to lure Choice Scarf Krookodile, Mega Aerodactyl and Drill Run Mega Beedrill, specifically.
+
Next up is the difficulty of the stall match-up. A simple core of Blissey + Quagsire hard-walls Cofagrigus and Cobalion. The only way I see this team breaking stall is by somehow getting Spikes up (which might be difficult to keep on the field since Klefki can't punish common Defog users such as Mandibuzz and Scizor) while the opponent has to heal, doubling into Cobalion on the following turn, then doubling back in to Mega Sceptile and repeating the process until Quagsire is in range for two Close Combat from Cobalion. Therefore, a more immediate measure to punish stall builds would be appreciated on this team. The last two changes go hand in hand with the change from Hydreigon to Groundium-Z Latias: Leftovers for Cofagrigus & Substitute>Will-O-Wisp (Draco Meteor + Tectonic Rage now takes care of Muk-A), as well Toxic Spikes>Knock Off on Tentacruel. With two layers of Toxic Spikes on the field Blissey will eventually fall to the increasing damage, having to switch in order to activate Natural Cure which in return creates openings to pick up KO's with boosted Shadow Ball. Substitute allows Cofagrigus to dodge Toxic, making Blissey set up fodder. Additionally, Toxic Spikes helps with the teams match-up versus VinCune which can cheese its way through Sceptile once it is burned.
Overview of the changes I made:
Magnet Rise over Thunder Wave on Klefki
Shuca Berry over Rocky Helmet on Cobalion
A Timid over a Modest nature on Mega Sceptile
More speed and Toxic Spikes over Knock Off on Tentacruel
Swap Choice Scarf Hydreigon for Groundium-Z Latias with Ice Beam
Leftovers over Ghostium-Z and Subsitute over Will-O-Wisp on Cofagrigus
With the exception of the change from Hydreigon to Latias, I constantly reminded myself to only make small changes/adjustments (even though they were numerous!) so that the original idea of the team (Cofagrigus SpikeStack) would be kept intact. Regardless of this rounds outcome I would love some feedback to my rate so that I can improve!
