SM OU Weird Dreams (Psychic Spam + Scarf Nape Offense)


Introduction
Yo, this is my first RMT post so if I do something wrong let me know. Im not trying to look stupid. Moving on, I was recently scrolling through the viability rankings and saw Mega Alakazam at B+. The last time I used it was Pre-USUM. The meta has changed since then so I wanted to try it out again.
(Im not very good at OU, wouldnt call myself decent either)


Alakazam-Mega (M) @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Recover
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
Alright, this is probably the set you've seen a lot. Psychic is Alakazam's most spammable attack and powerful which is boosted by Psychic Terrain. Its able to OHKO Toxapex under Psychic Terrain and 2hko it without it. Shadow Ball allows Alakazam to hit Psychic types that otherwise resists its STAB move. Mew/Lele/Jirachi/Latios are some examples. Focus Blast is used to hit Steel/Dark types that are immune/resist its other attacking moves. Finally, Recover helps to 1v1 Heatran better. When Mega evolved, its immune to Magma Storm due to Trace.


Tapu Lele @ Psychium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Next up the obvious partner, Tapu Lele. One of if not the best partner to Mega Zam. Psyshock is boosted by Psychic Terrain and hits special walls, namely chansey, hard. It can be boosted up to a 160 BP Shattered Psyche which dents physical walls. Moonblast is Lele's second STAB. Hitting Dark types like Greninja super-effectively. Calm Mind can be used to boost its special attack and defense. After one boost, Z-Psyshock can do atleast 60% to Celesteela. Hidden Power Fire does damage to steels like Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor.


Weavile @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
With two Psychic types, there are obvious common weaknesses. Weavile can pursuit-trap Psychics and Ghost types. Ice Shard gives it a form of priority that can revenge kill Lando-T and Zygarde which are big threats. Icicle Crash is its second strongest move and most spammable. It hits the likes of Tornadus-T, Zapdos, Landorus-T, Tangrowth, etc. Knock Off removes items off Chansey (Eviolite), Tangrowth & Tapu Bulu (AV). Pursuit is the main reason I chose this. It traps Mega Latios, Mega Latias, Mew, Gengar, Blacephalon, Victini, you get the idea.


Infernape @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Earthquake​

Next, I wanted something to hit Magearna, Kartana, Tapu Bulu, and Mega Scizor super-effectively (I know its specific) as they are huge threats to the team. Infernape was the perfect candidate. Close Combat and Flare Blitz are its two STAB moves that hit hard. Uturn allows Infernape to bring in pivots like Zapdos or Ferrothorn to take the hits. Earthquake gives Infernape near perfect coverage in the meta. It hits Blacephalon, Toxapex, and Tapu Koko super-effectively.


Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Protect
Ferrothorn comes up next. Its steel typing is greatly appreciated resisting Fairies and other Steels. Stealth Rocks helps to pressure Flying types and Volcarona. Leech Seed helps to wear down Heatran. It also gives Ferrothorn another way to recover. Power Whip is used to OHKO Ash-Gren. If taunted, its not completely rendered useless. Protect is used to stall some turns. Incase you need some Leech Seed recovery.




Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
- Discharge
- Roost
- Heat Wave
- Defog
The final member of this team. The one I over-use all the time. Zapdos. I mainly added it to check Flying types (Hawlucha) but, when battling, I also found it useful for paras. Discharge is a great move for it. 80 BP and 30% chance to paralyze. Roost is used to recover health when low. Heat Wave allows it to hit pesky Grass/Steel types. Defog defogs away hazards that wear down the team.



Threats List
(I found very limited threats to the team when battling actually)
Rain - Its very annoying to play against this. Its possible to defeat it but very hard when Ferro is down or severely weakened.


Terrakion - The thing comes in and gets a kill for most of the time



 
Very cool team. I feel like Tran can be a bit more beneficial to the team then Nape. Any reasons why you chose Nape>Tran?
I didnt want to add another Special Attacker to the team. I wanted to balance it out with more physical attackers. I also liked how Nape got U-Turn.
 

Felixx

I'm back.
The team looks pretty nice and standard besides the Infernape, and the only change I would make is Rock Slide > EQ, I don't feel that EQ hits enough target to justify using, Blace is uncommon, Koko still gets hit by Flare Blitz, and Pex dosen't even care about it, while Rock Slide gives you the ability to OHKO Volcarona, now while Stone Edge is a possible option, you're only really gonna use it against Volc, and Rock Slide still gets the job done.

You could also look into the possibility of using Scarf Kartana, since Zapdos already checks opposing Kart, Bulu, and M-Sciz, while not having a bad match-up versus AV Magearna, and it buffers your match-up against Zygarde while also being able to clean teams late game. I'd suggest using the standard set but use Smart Strike over Defog since you already have it on Zapdos and your team's not hazards weak, having Smart Strike gives you a better chance against Kyurem-B and Shift Gear Mag. Also btw, in no way, shape, or form is Terrak even remotely common, so don't worry about it!

Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
- Smart Strike
 
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The team looks pretty nice and standard besides the Infernape, and the only change I would make is Rock Slide > EQ, I don't feel that EQ hits enough target to justify using, Blace is uncommon, Koko still gets hit by Flare Blitz, and Pex dosen't even care about it, while Rock Slide gives you the ability to OHKO Volcarona, now while Stone Edge is a possible option, you're only really gonna use it against Volc, and Rock Slide still gets the job done.

You could also look into the possibility of using Scarf Kartana, since Zapdos already checks opposing Kart, Bulu, and M-Sciz, while not having a bad match-up versus AV Magearna, and it buffers your match-up against Zygarde while also being able to clean teams late game. I'd suggest using the standard set but use Smart Strike over Defog since you already have it on Zapdos and your team's not hazards weak, having Smart Strike gives you a better chance against Kyurem-B and Shift Gear Mag. Also btw, in no way, shape, or form is Terrak even remotely common, so don't worry about it!

Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
- Smart Strike
Thanks for the feedback. Will definitely try it out.
 
Hey Pokeregionz! Very interesting team you have there. I absolutely love the idea of using Infernape in an OU team, a Pokémon that you would otherwise never see in the tier. And while I do think the team is pretty decent, there are some flaws the team has to it which I will be going over as well as pointing out some individual weaknesses and, lastly, try to cover those flaws and individual weaknesses.

Overview:
As already said in the intro, I really do like the concept of the team and what it is trying to accomplish. I also like how you tried composing the team: You have a trapper so that Tapu Lele/Mega-Alakazam can take advantage of it, you have a relatively fast speed control that can get switches into the sweepers and breakers of the team, the list goes on. However, one thing that I do want to point out is that you have no real
resist, leaving you extremely weak to Zygarde. And while you could potentially beat certain sets with Weavile's priority, Tapu Lele's Psychic Terrain makes it astronomically harder to accomplish that goal. I also see problems in the team being able to break stall. Normally Tapu Lele would break stall, but recent stall trends have shown that Jirachi has gotten more popular on stall teams which then means that it's basically not possible to break due to Jirachi being able to wall it and it being able to scout your Weavile with Protect. The rest is taken care of by Mega-Sableye, Chansey and Quagsire/Zapdos. Although these points aren't a lot in terms of quantitiy, those problems are pretty severe and need to be taken care of.
What is your team weak to?
:
As already said before, you don't have a
resist nor a solid Wish-Passer like Clefable plus a soft check like Landorus-Therian. Paired with the fact that Infernape can't even really touch it, makes it incredibly hard to deal with the Pokémon. All sets can be threats to your team, literally all of them (from offensive Dragon Dance to Substitute-Coil). Covering that weakness would normally be an easy task, but the team doesn't make it easy to fit in a check.
: While I don't necessarily see the team losing to Jirachi in a vacuum, I do very much believe that Jirachi is a problem with certain defensive partners: Quagsire, Chansey, Zapdos to name a few. The reasons as for why Jirachi is as annoying I have already explained above. I just think we need a shift of the stall breaker, a bunch of stuff works really well versus it.
/
:
Charizard-X is also a huge problem fpr your team since, at +1, it outspeeds everything in the tier except for Infernape and that isn't really able to touch Charizard-X. Pair that with the fact that Psychic Terrain disables any form of priority and Ferrothorn serves as set-up bait, makes it almost impossible to deal with it. Charizard-Y on the other hand is generally annoying, although it is better to deal with since it obviously can't set up (Dragon Dance Charizard-Y isn't really a set). However, it can be cruical if played well getting rid of your setter at the very least. These threats can be covered by running something along the lines of defensive Landorus-Therian and Toxapex respectively, which I am probably not going to make, however.
How can you improve the team?
Major Changes:
>
: This change is being made purely for defensive purposes. While I do like the idea of having a trapper, Weavile sort of condradicts with the Psychic Terrain. But aside from that, Gliscor offers you an anchor to go into against stall match-ups, poses as a Zygarde check thanks to it running Ice Fang on this team and is generally a very sustainable Pokémon. Another surprise might be the spread: I have made a custom spread so that Offensive Zygarde gets 2hko'd by Ice Fang, Ice Fang also breaks the subs of bulkier sets, so you should be good to go against it.
Minor Changes:
Stealth Rock > Earthquake (
):
So, I wanted to expand the types of hazards on your team since it would obviously help in your stall match-up. I have, again, had a very unorthodox idea of having Stealth Rock on Choice Scarf Infernape. It sort of acts as a momentum gainer and pressurer against the magic bouncers and is able to set hazards pretty reliably in the offensive match-ups, if you play it well of course. I decided to replace Earthquake since I don't see the point of running it except for stuff like Charizard-X, which your team posted above still loses to. For that reason the set is now going to be Close Combat|Stealth Rock|U-Turn|Flare Blitz.
Spikes > Stealth Rock (
):
The change was made purely for the reason of just having Spikes on the team. Spikes supports the match-up versus Mega-Sableye-less stall and balance. The set is therefore going to be Spikes|Power Whip|Leech Seed|Protect.
Taunt > Calm Mind (
):
I'm of the opinion that Taunt is way better in general, even against stall. It disables Clefables from setting rocks or wishing into other Pokémon for example. But aside from my opinion, consider this an optional change. It's just my opinion on the matter but if you feel like Calm Mind has been working better for you, go for it. My version of Tapu Lele is going to be Taunt|Monblast|PsyshockHidden Power [Fire].
Conclusion:
While I do think the team looks pretty decent, it did have some flaws that were really hard to cover and I sincerely hope these changes somewhat help in the match-up. What was especially difficult was keeping the theme of the team while covering all of the deficits of the team. Also the team is far from perfect being weak to Charizard-Y, Mega-Mawile, Tapu Lele, and Mega-Alakazam still. Give this team a shot and tell me how it has been doing. If you have any additional questions or criticisms I encourage you to tell me about it! With all of that being said I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors and have fun with the team!
Resources and Calculations:
136 Atk Gliscor Ice Fang vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Zygarde: 180-212 (50.2 - 59.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
 
Hey Pokeregionz! Very interesting team you have there. I absolutely love the idea of using Infernape in an OU team, a Pokémon that you would otherwise never see in the tier. And while I do think the team is pretty decent, there are some flaws the team has to it which I will be going over as well as pointing out some individual weaknesses and, lastly, try to cover those flaws and individual weaknesses.

Overview:
As already said in the intro, I really do like the concept of the team and what it is trying to accomplish. I also like how you tried composing the team: You have a trapper so that Tapu Lele/Mega-Alakazam can take advantage of it, you have a relatively fast speed control that can get switches into the sweepers and breakers of the team, the list goes on. However, one thing that I do want to point out is that you have no real
resist, leaving you extremely weak to Zygarde. And while you could potentially beat certain sets with Weavile's priority, Tapu Lele's Psychic Terrain makes it astronomically harder to accomplish that goal. I also see problems in the team being able to break stall. Normally Tapu Lele would break stall, but recent stall trends have shown that Jirachi has gotten more popular on stall teams which then means that it's basically not possible to break due to Jirachi being able to wall it and it being able to scout your Weavile with Protect. The rest is taken care of by Mega-Sableye, Chansey and Quagsire/Zapdos. Although these points aren't a lot in terms of quantitiy, those problems are pretty severe and need to be taken care of.
What is your team weak to?
:
As already said before, you don't have a
resist nor a solid Wish-Passer like Clefable plus a soft check like Landorus-Therian. Paired with the fact that Infernape can't even really touch it, makes it incredibly hard to deal with the Pokémon. All sets can be threats to your team, literally all of them (from offensive Dragon Dance to Substitute-Coil). Covering that weakness would normally be an easy task, but the team doesn't make it easy to fit in a check.
: While I don't necessarily see the team losing to Jirachi in a vacuum, I do very much believe that Jirachi is a problem with certain defensive partners: Quagsire, Chansey, Zapdos to name a few. The reasons as for why Jirachi is as annoying I have already explained above. I just think we need a shift of the stall breaker, a bunch of stuff works really well versus it.
/
:
Charizard-X is also a huge problem fpr your team since, at +1, it outspeeds everything in the tier except for Infernape and that isn't really able to touch Charizard-X. Pair that with the fact that Psychic Terrain disables any form of priority and Ferrothorn serves as set-up bait, makes it almost impossible to deal with it. Charizard-Y on the other hand is generally annoying, although it is better to deal with since it obviously can't set up (Dragon Dance Charizard-Y isn't really a set). However, it can be cruical if played well getting rid of your setter at the very least. These threats can be covered by running something along the lines of defensive Landorus-Therian and Toxapex respectively, which I am probably not going to make, however.
How can you improve the team?
Major Changes:
>
: This change is being made purely for defensive purposes. While I do like the idea of having a trapper, Weavile sort of condradicts with the Psychic Terrain. But aside from that, Gliscor offers you an anchor to go into against stall match-ups, poses as a Zygarde check thanks to it running Ice Fang on this team and is generally a very sustainable Pokémon. Another surprise might be the spread: I have made a custom spread so that Offensive Zygarde gets 2hko'd by Ice Fang, Ice Fang also breaks the subs of bulkier sets, so you should be good to go against it.
Minor Changes:
Stealth Rock > Earthquake (
):
So, I wanted to expand the types of hazards on your team since it would obviously help in your stall match-up. I have, again, had a very unorthodox idea of having Stealth Rock on Choice Scarf Infernape. It sort of acts as a momentum gainer and pressurer against the magic bouncers and is able to set hazards pretty reliably in the offensive match-ups, if you play it well of course. I decided to replace Earthquake since I don't see the point of running it except for stuff like Charizard-X, which your team posted above still loses to. For that reason the set is now going to be Close Combat|Stealth Rock|U-Turn|Flare Blitz.
Spikes > Stealth Rock (
):
The change was made purely for the reason of just having Spikes on the team. Spikes supports the match-up versus Mega-Sableye-less stall and balance. The set is therefore going to be Spikes|Power Whip|Leech Seed|Protect.
Taunt > Calm Mind (
):
I'm of the opinion that Taunt is way better in general, even against stall. It disables Clefables from setting rocks or wishing into other Pokémon for example. But aside from my opinion, consider this an optional change. It's just my opinion on the matter but if you feel like Calm Mind has been working better for you, go for it. My version of Tapu Lele is going to be Taunt|Monblast|PsyshockHidden Power [Fire].
Conclusion:
While I do think the team looks pretty decent, it did have some flaws that were really hard to cover and I sincerely hope these changes somewhat help in the match-up. What was especially difficult was keeping the theme of the team while covering all of the deficits of the team. Also the team is far from perfect being weak to Charizard-Y, Mega-Mawile, Tapu Lele, and Mega-Alakazam still. Give this team a shot and tell me how it has been doing. If you have any additional questions or criticisms I encourage you to tell me about it! With all of that being said I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors and have fun with the team!

Resources and Calculations:
136 Atk Gliscor Ice Fang vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Zygarde: 180-212 (50.2 - 59.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Very helpful information. Will definitely try this out. Thanks for feedback
 

Indigo Plateau

is a Community Leaderis a Top Tiering Contributoris a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
UU Leader
Hey Pokeregionz! I think Mega Zam is a really cool Pokemon, so this team caught my eye. Infernape is also another Pokemon which you rarely see, making this team a very interesting one. However, it has some fundamental flaws and could be improved.



From a teambuilding perspective, your team lacks a Ground-type. In a tier where Tapu Koko sees a lot of usage, a Ground-type is mandatory. I also understand the reasoning for having Weavile on your team, but the Pokemon that it traps are either uncommon (Gengar, Victini, etc) or already beat by Tapu Lele (Mega Lati@s, Mew). With that being said, let's take a deeper look at some specific threats to your team; this will make suggesting changes a bit easier.

======================


Due to your lack of Ground-type, Tapu Koko is extremely threatening to your team. Your main Tapu Koko switch-in is a Ferrothorn, which doesn't actually block any Electric-type moves. This means that Tapu Koko loses nothing by pivoting around your team and bringing in a powerful breaker to beat Ferrothorn.


You don't have a single sturdy Fire-type resist on your team, so any Fire-type is very threatening. Heatran, Zard-Y, and Volcarona 2HKO your entire team with their Fire-type STAB attacks. Volcarona in particular sets up a Quiver Dance in front of your Ferrothorn and sweeps with ease.


Other setup sweepers like Shift Gear Magearna and Calm Mind Clefable find a few opportunities to pull off their stat boosting move when your team is weakened. Magearna can use Shift Gear on your Psychic-types, while Clefable can Calm Mind on anything except the Psychic-types. This isn't necessarily easy to fix, but you can make changes to pressure these two a bit more.


Celesteela walls your PsySpam core, preventing it from effectively putting in work due to Leech Seed + Leftovers. You do have Infernape and Zapdos to pressure it, but it can scout Infernape's move and Leech Seed + switch out against Zapdos.

======================

This team is a bit hard to fix by only changing one Pokemon, and in all my attempts trying to do so, it ended up with a lot of flaws and an end result that didn't satisfy me. I ultimately changed two Pokemon and came up with something that I enjoyed using; below are the changes:

>

On Psychic spam teams, Magnezone is a much better trapper than Weavile. Mega Alakazam and Tapu Lele both struggle to break through bulky Steel-types like Celesteela, Ferrothorn, and Scizor, all of which Magnezone can trap. Magnezone is also a very good partner to revenge kill Choice Scarf Kartana, which beats the PsySpam core with any move bar Sacred Sword. Magnezone also helps pressure Clefable and Magearna more than Weavile does (watch out for Focus Blast, though) and gives you another Tapu Koko resist.

>

Although I didn't want to remove Infernape, your team was in dire need of a Heatran answer and a Ground-type at this point, and I think Zygarde fits quite nicely here. Outside of status moves, Zygarde is able to switch into the majority of Heatran's moves. Zygarde is also quite nice at pressuring the aforementioned bulky Steel-types and all Fire-types that threaten your team, while CB Thousand Arrows is phenomenal at weakening the opposing team to give Mega Zam a chance to clean late-game.

Hidden Power Ice > Heat Wave
Minor change, but since you have a Magnezone to trap and remove Steel-types like Scizor and Kartana, I like HP Ice on Zapdos better to hit annoying Ground-types like Zygarde, Gliscor, and Landorus-T.

======================

(click me!)

That's it for the changes. Although I think your team is much better than it was at first, it still has some problems. First, your fastest Pokemon outside of Mega Alakazam is Magnezone, which only hits 360 Speed; this means your team is a bit slow compared to other offensive teams. Removing Weavile leaves you more susceptible to
, but Choice Band variants can be handled by Ferrothorn's Leech Seed + Protect, while DD variants don't set up on much (and you have Zapdos + priority + Mega Zam outspeeds at +1).
is very annoying - try not to give it a free CM against your defensive Pokemon. Lastly,
can get out of control if you don't keep Ferrothorn healthy.


I hope the rate helped you out; test the team and let me know if you have any questions! :toast:
 
I would recommend switching Mega Alakazam from a timid nature to a modest nature. This allows Alakazam to hit stupid hard while still out speeding Pokémon like Tapu Koko.

252+ SpA Alakazam-Mega Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Heatran: 342-404 (88.6 - 104.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Alakazam-Mega Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Heatran: 312-368 (80.8 - 95.3%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252+ SpA Alakazam-Mega Shadow Ball vs. 248 HP / 108+ SpD Jirachi: 196-232 (48.6 - 57.5%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Alakazam-Mega Shadow Ball vs. 248 HP / 108+ SpD Jirachi: 180-212 (44.6 - 52.6%) -- 18.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
 

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