We Made Our Own Constellations [OU RMT]

[Towelie]

Team Starry Knight​

With memories as big as the sky, we made our own constellations...​

After making countless, boring teams, I decided to start from scratch. I was browsing through the StrataDex out of boredom one day, and I came across Jirachi. Jirachi is regularly known for causing frustration with iron head, providing team support with wish, or running a scarf threat to revenge kill some of OU's toughest foes. As I was looking through the sets, I came across a set called CM Wish Jirachi... And this is how the team was born. I don't want to bore you with team building, but the only changes I've made are...
--Lead Heatran moved and replaced with Starmie.
--Specs Latias switched to MixMence
--MixMence switched to NP Vaccum Wave Infernape, but later switched back.

I love to play with this team, but I don't think it's the best it can be. I've been laddering for a couple weeks with it, and I've only reached a CRE of 1429, and I really want to improve it, so without further ado, team Starry Knight!

Hydra (Starmie) @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam

Hydra leads off the team as an anti-lead, one of my favorite in the game. Its main purpose is to take out the other lead, while also spinning down their rocks. It excels against so many leads, including: Infernape, Dragonite, Swampert, Metagross, Azelf, Aerodactly, Heatran, Gliscor, Hippowdon, Skarmory, and etc. The list just goes on, and on, and on. Unfortunately, I lose to sleep leads so Tyranitar has to deal with T-Spikes if I go up against a Roserade. This lead also can sweep lategame if it hasn't been damaged to much, and its counters are removed. Its LO Hydro Pump hits hard. Really hard. It 0HKOs Gengar without Rocks all the time. Unfortunately, this lead loses to Jirachi and Roserade, in which case I switch too...
The constellation Hydra is directly translated to Sea Serpent. Starmie is a water type, therefore it is only fitting.

Taurus (Heatran) (M) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock

ShucaTran is amazing. It provides a lure against so many of the ground types that jirachi hates. Often, Gliscor and Swampert are like OMG EARTHQUAKE and then I'm like OMG BOOM. With Gliscor or Swampert out of the way, Jirachi has a smoot htime sweeping. He also provides me with a sturdy Dragon resist, which every team needs at least two of these days. He also counters basically any Jirachi set, bar some weird CM Hp Ground set. Fire Blast is for Stab that hits like a fucking truck, Stealth Rocks is to keep things like Salamence and Gyarados at bay, Earth Power is to hit other fire types, most notably opposing Heatrans, and Explosion is to go out with a bang when Gliscor thinks he can kill me w/ EQ. I love this set, and I'm not sure if I want to change it.
The constellation Tauros directly translates to The Bull. Yes, I know Heatran isn't a bull but it's kind of like a fire bull type thing. Yes, I also know that I'm really pushing it on this one xD

Perseus (Scizor) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP/252 Atk/8 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Quick Attack
- Superpower
- U-turn

Perseus provides general scouting with U-Turn and revenge killing with its two priority moves. Now, you may notice my lack of Pursuit. The purpose of this is because I like revenging gyarados, starmie, infernape, and other better. I really, really, hate un-stabed pursuit, because it's the biggest set up fodder move EVER. On stuff like Latias, I'd rather just U Turn out to keep up momentum and put me at the advantage. I used to run a Specially Defensive spread on this Scizor, but I was kind of annoyed some times at the lack of damage output. Scizor is my main switch into Latias, Celebi, Flygon, Gengar, Swampert, Tyranitar, and Weavile and it really is the glue of my team. Against Celebi, Latias, and Gengar I always double switch to either Heatran, or TTar, in case of something gay like hp fire. It also helps me keep Salamence at bay, but I have to watch out for Magnezone switches.
The constellation Perseus translates to The Hero. Scizor is often my hero, saving the day with it's revenge kills and timely Superpower kills.

Cepheus (Tyranitar) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Cepheus is a BEAST. Everyone is running scarf tar in this metagame rite now, and for good reason too. It keeps so many of the fast, psychic types at bay, including celebi, latias, starmie, rotom-a, and gengar. it also loves wish support from jirachi, taking strong fire attacks from the likes of heatran and infernape. unfortunately, I feel that TTar is the weakest link. Half of the time, it lets something dangerous set up and it really fucks me over. If I were to change anything on my team, it would definitely be ttar. EQ > Superpower to revenge things like infernape and jirachi better, because they are both extremely dangerous pokes in this metagame.
The constellation Cepheus translates to "The King of Ethiopa." TTar totally looks like a king because of its stature, and attitude that says fuck you.

Draco (Salamence) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 16 Atk/252 Spd/242 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Earthquake
- Outrage

Draco is one of the most feared pokemon in the game, and for good reason. A base 140 stab, and a base 120 stab, along with moves to hit what its stab cant. No wonder its so good. Rather than the Dragon Dance set, I use the New MixMence set to murder stall. This combined with its amazing synergy with Jirachi and Wish Support, its a bitch to bring down. At full health, it helps me check SD Lucario which my team doesn't really have to much trouble with it. 16 atk is to 2hko blissey with Draco Meteor + Outrage. Max speed it to tie with Jirachi, other Salamence, and all the base 100's that fill the metagame. I usually like to open up with earthquake or flamethrower because scizor and skarm always come in expecting the dragon dance set, to be kod be a super effective base 95 or 100 move. I love this thing, and it opens up gigantic holes in the other team to help jirachi sweep, and even scizor with its huge powered bullet punches.
The Draco constellation directly translates to The Dragon, so it's only fitting.

Starry Knight (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP/220 Def/36 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Wish
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic

Starry Knight, the poke this team was based on. What drew me to Jirachi was the fact that it can provide team support, and even sweep by itself! I love this thing so much, and once ground and fire types are gone, it's basically gg. I have pulled countless wins out of my ass with this thing, and it truly is the Star of the show. Its evd heavily defensively to be able to survive a +1 LO EQ from a gyarados, but these days all I see are DD Taunt gyaras which jirachi handles easily. There really isn't much explanation for this. CM up when I can, wish to heal, and psychic and thunderbolt for nice neutral coverage to sweep. even though it seems i get walled by latias, Specs latias (bar trick) and LO 3 attacks are beaten 100 % of the time, except for a crit of course.
Jirachi is named Starry Knight because its my teams Knight, and its a Star, and of course because of the pun.

Now, rate, hate steal :)

 

[Towelie]

Sorry for lack of pics, sprites werent working.
stolen from scofields Dark Passenger RMT.

Blissey - The only thing it walls on my team is Starmie, so it's pretty easy to deal with.

Bronzong - Initial switch is heatran. Scizor can U Turn for some damage, as can mence. Jirachi can set up on it and so forth.

Celebi - Usually Heatran or scizor, but I double switch out of it usually incase of hp fire or earth power.

Cresselia - Scizor, ttar, heatran, jirachi

Forretress - Tran, starmie spins on it, mence hits it hard, jirachi sets up.

Gliscor- gah i fuckin hate this thing. Why in the hell did game freak give something ground/flying with roost? I usually have to hope on baiting it with tran, hitting it hard with mence, or praying that starmies alive. If these guys are dead, i can't really touch it. I'm thinking of ice beam on ttar, or removing ttar completely.

Gyarados - Scizor, Jirachi. ttar on rest talk.

Hippowdon - Mence, starmie. it can be a pain.

Jirachi - Well it depends on the set. Heatran takes on anything. mence can revenge cm to an extent, and it can beat scarf if its locked into something other than iron head/ice punch. ttar also helps to revenge cm

Rotom-A - Heatran, Jirachi sets up ALL OVER rest talk or defensive.

Skarmory - heatran, rachi, starmie, mence

Snorlax - Scizor, mence, jirachi for ones w/o eq, and boom with tran if necessary.
Suicune- i hate this thing. crocune can be boomed on by tran assuming its < 60%. sometimes i have to resort to rachi which is basically a crit war. offensive cm is handled by jirachi who sets up on it and has healing and prays for lack of crit. i fucking hate cm roar because it roars jirachi out.

Swampert - tran lures it, starmie does massive damage, mence deals huge damage with draco meteor. its annoying for jirachi though

Tyranitar - scizor, and scarf tar risks a speed tie against dd. cb isnt seen much anymore, but all i have to do is predict around it.

Vaporeon - everything hits it pretty hard, jirachi sets up on roarless versions.

Zapdos - again, everything hits it hard. ss + rocks helps to wear it down.

Offensive Threats:

Azelf - Lead is usually a 50 50 chance. if i win the second speed tie, i win. offensive lo is beaten by scizor and ttar

Breloom- it can set up all over ttar which i hate. i usually go to my most expendable member to take the sleep, then to mence, then play accordingly.

Gengar- scizor, ttar, double switch to watch out for hp fire

Gyarados - scizor, jirachi.

Heatran -i can hit it on the switch with scizor, and i can lure it with my own tran. starmie ohkos almost all variants with hydro pump, but it halts jirachis sweep.

Infernape - ttar, scizor can take it out at low health w/ quick attack, starmie

Jolteon - this thing hits like a truck. scizor can revenge with quick attack, and ttar can revenge it. ttar gets outsped by t bolt wont do to much. hp fighting hurts though.

Latias - scizor, ttar.

Kingdra - scizor, jirachi. its tough for it to set up anywhere. maybe on a ttar pursuit.

Lucario- scizor can pick off weakened ones, mence intimidates it, while ttar checks bullet punchless versions.

Machamp - fuck machamp. lead versions, i go to scizor to take the payback then u turn to starmie, and hydro pump and hope i dont get haxed. it can set up all over ttar, so i have to really play around it.

Magnezone - tran, ttar, scizor hits it on the switch, mence can revenge.

Mamoswine - annoying as hell. scizor and ttar can hit it hard though, as can starmie.

Metagross - lead is taken care of somewhat by starmie, cb is played around, while agiligross is worn down. rachi can take an eq and scizor can revenge it if its really low health.

Salamence - scizor, play around it with outrage.

Scizor - Heatran, jirachi takes 35 ish from a u turn. not a threat

Starmie - ttar, scizor, my own (speed tie D:)

Tyranitar - scizor, my own can revenge adamant dd, mence can intimidate it.

 

[Smith]

I posted a very similar team just about an hour ago! Both of us use Mixmence, scarftar, ShucaTran, CB Scizor and started off with WishCm Jirachi. Great minds think alike. :)

This team, unfortunately, gets destroyed by the popular combination of Magnezone and Salamence, as without Scizor, you're ruined against a DDMence. My only suggestion for this would be to make sure Scizor only uses U-turn early game, until you can gauge for sure whether or not your opponent is using Magnezone. You could also use a Swampert lead, but then we'd have nearly the exact same team. =P

 

[Towelie]

Wow haha, that's kinda funny xD
But ya, I rarely use anything but U Turn early game and sometimes superpower to catch a magnezone or tran on the switch, but ya, thanks for the advice

 

[MetaNite]

Hi. Good team. First off, I dislike Hydro Pump on your lead Starmie. It still won't OHKO Metagross and has shaky accuracy. I'd you're laddering, I am sure you'll miss a couple times and that would be bad. I'd simply use Surf instead.

As others have mentioned, Salamance and other set up sweepers like Gyarados are a big problem to your team. After a Dragon Dance, Life Orb Gyarados will kill pretty much your whole team except perhaps Jirachi, who still takes a probably un-recoverable amount of damage from a Life Orb Earthquake. That would be very bad for the star of your team to take especially if it's early on in the match. You say ScarfTar is the most replaceable member of your team, so why don't you replace it with Rotom-A? RestTalk versions are an excellent counter to Gyarados and will also help against Machamp, by hopefully burning it with WoW. If you do choose to do this, then you should give Scizor Pursuit so it can trap pesky Latias. Good luck.

 

[franky]

Hello Towel,

It seems like your team has excellent synergy already, but the only evident problem now is dealing with offensive threats. If you want to truly improve dealing with Gyarados, Salamence, and even Lucario to a lesser extent - all three set up on locked in Tyranitar (the likely scenario), you can always try your hands on an offensive Suicune over Starmie. Suicune gives you that missing link to your team to combat with the aforementioned threats. The only thing your trading is a Rapid Spin user at the start of your match for a little insurance against the threats mentioned. The set is 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe with the item Leftovers over Life orb and the movesets Calm Mind / Surf / Ice Beam / Hidden Power Electric with a Timid nature. This Suicune allows you to stick to the offensive nature of your team, while additionally having the bulk to deal with Gyarados via Hidden Power Electric. Suicune ultimately adds a secondary bulky Pokemon to your team, this way, you can avoid using Jirachi as your physical wall since it is your primary sweeper. Timid and lefties means that you'll outpace Lucario and keep your survivability.

With that being said, a little switch to Heatran on the lead slot wouldn't hurt that much. Heatran applies pressure on most of the common leads anyways, so it prevents them from laying down Stealth Rock. This is somewhat compensated for the lack of rapid spin you have. If you look at the positives, it will lure Latias and Swampert at the start of the match. Scarftar will trap Latias early in the match, making Jirachi's sweep somewhat easier if you decide to whip it out middle game instead of late-game.

As for other options, Roost over Earthquake and Brick Break over Outrage on Salamence might be an idea. This allows you to somewhat keep Lucario checked the entire match, since it will be setting up more often than you think (Scarftar). The only problem now is that you won't be hitting Blissey as hard, but your entire team can deal with it. overall gl.

 

[Towelie]

First of all, thank you for the rate Franky. CM Suicune does sound great on this team, and heatran is the lead will be a nice, easy switch. I'm going to try the change right away, and MetaKnite the only thing I dislike about RestTalk Rotom is the fact that it slows down the offensive nature of the team, so for now I'm going to try the Suicune suggestion.

 

[Towelie]

hi. your team looks pretty solid but there's some thing i see with your team that can be improved. i think latias works over salamence for a few reasons. 1. you fix the glaring infernape and heatran weaknesses you have. 2. isnt sr weak, and 3. it makes a better switchin to gliscor, swampert and things that stop jirachi and as a result opens up holes better. latias has much better defenses and better speed so an offensive set basically outclasses salamece's current set, the only downside is losing salamence's outrage to deal with blissey and shit. hope i helped good luck

^ Sprinkles rate. The only think i dislike is the fact that I give lucario another chance to set up, but I will try Franky's MixMence suggestion, as well as sprinkles specs lati suggestion.

 

[Towelie]

24 hr bump

 

[Nosferalto]

Looking at your team, the main problem seems to be dealing with some offensive threats, mainly Gyarados, Metagross and Jolteon. DD Gyarados can set-up with ease on Scizor locked onto Bullet Punch or Tyranitar locked onto Earthquake. After it sets up, Gyarados can sweep without much retaliation. Similarly, Metagross, Agility versions, won't have any problem setting up an Agility on Scizor locked onto Bullet Punch or Tyranitar locked on Stone Edge or Pursuit and then KO your whole team with the appropriate move; Earthquake murdering Tyranitar, Heatran, Scizor and Jirachi while Meteor Mash OHKOes Salamence negating Intimidate due to it's Clear Body ability and Thunder Punch disposes of Starmie. Joteon also seems to be an issue, especially SpecsJolt since you have no Electric resist meaning nothing can switch-in safely.

Now, I don't think Salamence is really needed on this team as ith Sandstorm on the team, Life Orb as an Item on Salamence and the Stealth Rock weakness, it is going to take 41% everytime it switches in and attacks and that's assuming the opponent doesn't attack. With that being said I think that your team will benefit from a Choice Scarf Flygon replacing Salamence. Flygon will provide an Electric immunity and a solid check to DD Gyarados, Agility Metagross, Jolteon and Salamence to an extent. It outspeeds Gyarados after a Dragon Dance and packs a x4 SE Thunder Punch. Flygon is immune to Electric meaning it can switch-into Jolteon's Thunderbolt, outspeeds it thanks to the Scarf and threatens it with STAB Earthquake. It will also outspeed any Metagross after an Agility and stops it from sweeping your whole team. Here's the set;

Flygon @ Choice Scarf
Jolly | 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Earthquake | Outrage | U-Turn | Thunder Punch

The only downside of Flygon is having three Choice users. However, with CB Scizor and Scarf Tyranitar, you are trapping a multitude of threats. Since Tyranitar already checks Latias, Gengar and other specially oriented sweepers, you should definitely consider running a Swords Dance set on Scizor which also synergizes fairly well with Scarf Tar as it Pursuits it's counters such as Rotom-H meaning it won't have any problems sweeping on this team.

Scizor @ Life Orb / Leftovers
Adamant | 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Bullet Punch | Superpower | Roost | Swords Dance

You have a very nice team. Good Luck

 

[ToF]

There's like no reason for you to have both CBScizor and Scarf Tyranitar on the same team. The point of both is to trap troublesome offensive threats like Latias, Rotom-H, and Starmie; having both on the same team is redundant.

I personally like Scarf Tyranitar better than Scizor. Too much stuff can setup on Scizor locked into Pursuit and Bullet Punch, whereas with Tyranitar it's usually only Pursuit. I would replace Scizor with SD Lucario. Both function similarly, without the latter being locked into moves that might let opposing Pokemon setup. Not only would Scarf Tyranitar help Jirachi sweep easier, but also helps Lucario too by removing things like Gengar and Rotom-H. With the amount of Scarf Tyranitar in the metagame, you might even wanna consider running Bullet Punch over Crunch on Lucario. You got Rotom-H checked by a lot of your own offensive threats anyway.

I also second the suggestion made above about Suicune over Starmie. Helps a lot with your Gyarados weakness, and you maintain similar synergy and typing. Also helps that Suicune isn't Pursuit bait =).

Heatran could easily be moved to the lead slot, and functions quite nicely as a lead. Normally causes a lot of problems for the more common leads including Skarmory, Metagross, and Azelf. Since some Swampert are leads as well, you could also get SR out and explode on them early game.

Last thing is if you find Salamence dying to quickly, I'd just run the classic Mixmence over the new one. Draco Meteor / Fire Blast / Brick Break hit everything hard anyway without the possible problems associated with being locked into Outrage. Roost is what will really help in the long run, and I think it warrants a switch.

 

[les gets]

Hi, I'll try to add on to what some other raters have said already:

I'd say the weakest link on your team is Scarftar. The reason I say this is because it's very redundant with most other members of your team, especially Scizor. Other than Latias (ones with Hidden Power Fire), there is nothing notable your Tyranitar beats that the rest of the team doesn't already have covered, at least that I can think of, so if there's any mon you're willing to change, I suggest it be your Scarftar.

One decent alternative to your Scarftar is a Scarf Latias who helps clean up and take care of some threats to your team (notably Gyarados and Salamence). Trick can be used to cripple Suicune, who you mentioned as a problem for your team. Scarf Latias can serve as a check to other non-scarf Latias as well as Scarf Flygon, who, albeit is not a huge threat, probably causes your team some grief otherwise. Resistance-wise, Latias fits well over Tyranitar, and it has great synergy with other members of your team such as Salamence.

With this change, I also suggest you use Pursuit over Quick Attack because you won't need to revenge Gyarados, Starmie, and Infernape anymore, like you mentioned earlier.

As far as nitpicks / cool stuff to try out...what about a classic mixmence over your new mixmence? They both accomplish much of the same, however I think classic mence does a lot better against stall, which you have a little trouble with otherwise. I realize Wish is helpful for your team, but Superachi works really well with classic mence and helps take down hippowdon/suicune/etc.

The other raters pretty much covered everything. Nice job on the team!