SM OU Word on a Wing

curiosity · Sep 8, 2018

the alternative if the above is blocked

Word On A Wing

Introduction

Hey all, it's been a while since I've posted in this section. Since I last posted here, I guess a few things have changed here and there. I think the most important thing is the fantastic group of friends that have kept me around, even making a pretty cool nickname in curi. I've also had the chance to pick up another project, which allowed me to meet a lovely co-host and even a badge to boot. I've somehow managed to become a voice in the now Trainer's school room (formerly the RMT room) too, which is pretty cool. I guess I wanted to share this team to give my thanks to everyone who i've met so far before putting aside smogon and showdown for exams. This team is nowhere near perfect, but I believe this is a pretty accurate representation of my building style that also satisfies everyone's expectations of me.

Teambuilding Process

Throughout the OLT, many had decided to utilise the combination of Acid Armour Reuniclus alongside Toxic Spikes. This particular trend intrigued me, as Reuniclus is normally classified as a fantastic stallbreaker, but when utilising a Double Dance set, it becomes a ferocious win condition versus offence, sacrificing its ability to wallbreak to wall out its usual checks and use them as setup fodder. At that point, I hadn't used this particular combination, so I decided to give it a try. I ended up pairing it with a Toxapex thanks to the fantastic defensive utility that the two possess - Reuniclus is able to wall a significant portion of Toxapex's checks (and vice versa) while Toxapex granted it the Toxic Spikes support that I had wanted, in addition to possessing the ability to slowly wear down many of Reuniclus' checks through forced switches and Scald, so it was an obvious no-brainer here.

The core above faced several issues; mainly its weakness to common wallbreakers such as Mega Alakazam, Tornadus and Kartana, so Celesteela was the obvious option. Celesteela provided the team with a crucial answer to said wallbreakers, as well as providing the team with a much more comfortable matchup versus offence and balance, thanks to its ability to simply come in on the vast majority of the meta and simply remove any and all momentum from the opposing team, also forcing many switch-ins to take additional leech seed damage, which complemented the toxic spikes support that Toxapex provided and further aiding in Reuniclus' ability to break past offence.

Since Reuniclus was running a dual dance set, the team struggled with bulkier builds, specifically stall, which really annoyed this team. Furthermore, the lack of Stealth Rock and the general (dare I say) passivity (although I don't believe that each of these individual 'mons are particularly passive, but from a general stance, you're not going to be breaking anything with these three 'mons, especially considering that Reuniclus was a Double Dance set rather than its traditional stallbreaker set) of the team really hindered many common matchups, so I had decided to add Heatran to the team. Offensive Heatran condensed everything that the team needed into one convenient team-slot that amplified the team's ability to take on stall, while also improving the matchup versus Tornadus, (an unboosted) Mawile and Magearna, which really threatened the team at this point in time.

At this point, the team was lacking a volt switch immunity, in addition to speed control, so I immediately added Landorus. Much like Heatran, it offered an unparalleled role compression that the team, by providing the team with the aforementioned speed control, a crucial volt switch immunity (to prevent the core of koko + breaker from becoming troublesome) and a blanket check to many threatening breakers, most notably Mawile, Zygarde and Tapu Koko, which would otherwise be a losing matchup. The team also appreciated the ability to remove breakers such as Reuniclus and Calm Mind Latias with punishment, as this team wasn't particularly weak to hazards then, so I stuck with that.

So at this point, the team was not only looking quite slow, but I was also quite weak to Heatran and Heatran immensely pressured, as it was the only breaker present on the team, so I added Alakazam to the build. Modest Alakazam gave the team a much needed breaker that improved the team's matchup versus rain which the team was incredibly weak to, as well as improving the balance matchup, which really solidified the team. However, it was at this point where I began to notice some flaws with the team. The Zygarde and Tapu Koko matchup was incredibly lacklustre, as well as the stall matchup becoming increasingly difficult thanks to other trends (see Moltres), I was forced to make the following change, although I honestly do prefer this variation of the team.

As you can see, I had replaced Celesteela with a Tangrowth, which - admittedly is not the best change - did improve the glaring Zygarde matchup that the team possessed, while still blanket checking many notable threats to the team, which included Zygarde, Swampert, Magearna and Tapu Koko, in addition to providing the team with another "win condition" versus stall. Because I had replaced Celesteela, I was forced to drop Punishment for Defog on Landorus, due to the new hazard weakness that the team had developed (although not as prominent as other builds, spike stacking is annoying) which also sucked. In addition to that, I concluded that I absolutely hated Double Dance was not to my liking, so I had changed its set to a standard stallbreaker set, although I have gone on record by switching between the two variants to attempt to actually find good use of Double Dance Reuniclus, although I never found good use of that. I'll admit that I'm not happy with this variant as much as the former, but I have had my fun with this team.

This was an incredibly late change, but I ended up reverting back to the original change simply because I was pressured too much by the likes of Alakazam, Gliscor and Tornadus to name some threats that consistently annoyed the team. While I did lose the triple blue fat core, It does help out with many matchups, including the aforementioned, as well as the offence matchup, which was slightly reduced with the fact that Celesteela is honestly the best way to strip momentum versus offence, although the change did leave the team weaker to certain variants of Zygarde and Tapu Koko, although that was a change I was willing to make, considering the more difficult matchups such as the Mega Alakazam and Tornadus have been drastically improved, allowing this team to simply thrive.

A Closer Look

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Anyone who's ever read my posts on the forums or even talked to me in the OU room should know that this is my absolute favourite 'mon in the tier. While stall has certainly adapted to the presence of Reuniclus, with the recent surge of 'mons such as Pyukumuku, Pressure abusers such as Moltres and Zapdos which exploits the limited PP of both Psyshock and and Heart Swap Magearna, I still believe that Reuniclus is one of the tier's best stallbreakers, as it is able to consistently break through many staples, including the omnipresent Chansey, Celesteela and Tangrowth. Reuniclus serves as the team's primary stallbreaker, breaking down the aforementioned, specifically serving as the initial switch-in to the majority of these 'mons, particularly Ferrothorn, which would otherwise be problematic, as leech seed severely hinders Heatran's capabilities to break, as you put it in range of many common attacks, such as a Chansey Seismic Toss and two Toxapex Scalds. In addition to that, it serves as the team's dedicated switch-in to breakers such as Medicham and Lopunny, comfortably turning them into setup fodder, while also providing the team with an emergency blanket check to the likes of Zygarde, Landorus, and even Mega Latios. The set itself is quite standard, although it deviates slightly through Focus Blast, which grants the team the ability to deal with Ferrothorn and Tyranitar, which would otherwise be rather annoying to deal with, although the latter does lack any consistent defensive counterplay other than abusing a mis-prediction, which is incredibly unreliable. There's not much I can honestly say without repeating myself, so I'll pull a Finch and link previous posts where i've discussed Reuniclus, although you should note that some of my opinions have changed, thanks to my growth as a player and experience in the meta.

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Even as the meta shifted over several months, Toxapex continues to be a quintessential pick on balance. While it has accumulated several new checks (with said checks increasing in usage throughout the past several months, including Mega Alakazam, Mega Latios, Gliscor and even Reuniclus it has remained as a incredibly consistent wall, being able to invalidate a notable number of the tier's breakers while having fantastic defensive synergy with Reuniclus and Celesteela, which has the ability to essentially wall the entirety of the of the meta. Toxapex particularly walls some notable threats to the team, including both formes of Greninja, Mega Mawile and Tornadus, as well as heavily improving many other matchups, including the stall matchup. I'll begin with this, as it's generally unheard of that Toxapex is able to improve a stall matchup, but in practice, the combination of Reuniclus and Alakazam's Magic Guard, entry hazards and Toxapex's Regenerator, you can infinitely switch without consequence, wearing down the opponent's team while you regenerate HP with pex and avoid damage with Reuniclus and Alazakam. Toxapex provides multiple forms of fantastic utilities to this team, with the most significant being Toxic Spikes, which immensely aids Reuniclus' ability to break past the large majority of its usual checks with Toxic Spikes support, as well as just being helpful for basically the entire team, as Celesteela is able to wear down its targets much quicker, while Alakazam and Heatran appreciating the ability to wear down checks faster than it already can. Toxic can be used to punish Alakazam and Tornadus in particular (or just anything that wants to hard switch in) but it's generally easier to abuse Toxic Spikes with this build. Scald is also used to deter and punish breakers from switching in breakers such as Mawile, Gliscor and Zygarde that want to switch into pex, whether the opponent excepts a layer of Toxic Spikes to be set or just the recovery, although it is incredibly luck reliant. Haze alleviates the team's weakness to 'mons such as Calm Mind Clefable, Mega Mawile, Reuniclus and Volcarona, although the latter does have to be played around very carefully. The speed investment allows Toxapex to outspeed Reuniclus, allowing it to Haze before it can attack, therefore nullifying it.

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Celesteela is another one of my "guilty pleasures", in the sense that I absolutely love using whenever I can. In this instance, the ability to negate wallbreakers such as Mega Alakazam, Mega Latios, Tornadus and an entire spectrum of wallbreakers is absolutely crucial for this particular build, as it ensures that this build doesn't automatically lose the tier's most dominant wallbreakers. As a result of this, Celesteela provides the team with an excellent matchup versus both balance and offence, where it is simply able strip momentum from the opponent in many scenarios. This is especially important when considering how important momentum is in the offence matchup, so gaining it is incredibly helpful. This is aided by the combination Leech Seed, Protect and Toxic Spikes, which is able to really annoy pivots on offence, including Greninja, Zygarde, and Gastrodon, which would want to pivot into Celesteela. It also has the ability to punish 'mons such as Tornadus, Tapu Bulu, Toxapex, Magearna and Tangrowth which would pivot into Celesteela, even though these pivots have the ability to avoid the combination of Toxic Spikes and Leech Seed. Heavy Slam is pretty nice for hitting some of these pivots, in addition to Clefable, Weavile and Alakazam, invalidating them both before either can do anything is incredibly useful, as it prevents them from becoming overly threatening. Flamethrower is nice to hit 'mons such as Mawile and Kartana and is also incredibly useful when fishing for burns versus other breakers such as Gliscor, Zygarde, and Tyranitar, although it's generally the worst play to go for in these instances.

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In a similar vein to Reuniclus, Heatran is something that I essentially idolise, thanks to its ability to immensely pressure everything from offence to stall. I'll keep this short because I've shared my opinion on Heatran on many different occasions, but Heatran's dominance in the meta has only increased as the metagame stabilised throughout the year. Similarly to Reuniclus, the metagame has drastically changed within several months. However, unlike Reuniclus, the metagame simply revolves around Heatran, where threats such as Mega Alakazam, Mega Latios, Gliscor and Gastrodon have risen to prominence as a direct response to Heatran's presence in the tier, and in the case of Gastrodon, fallen back down to obscurity thanks to people realising how pressured it is by its checks, but it has somehow managed to adapt to the presence of these sets with multiple creative sets which allows Heatran to break past them. Unfortunately, I'm not here to showcase to any of these innovations, rather, I've decided to showcase the set that has remained consistently fantastic throughout the entirety of the generation. Firium Heatran provides this team with an excellent breaker, which vastly improves the team's matchup versus both balance and stall, possessing the ability to trap and remove common defensive threats, such as Toxapex, Celesteela, Chansey and Tangrowth, through Magma Storm, which grants Alakazam more breathing room to operate. Stealth Rock is a necessity to absolutely every viable competitive team, while taunt shuts down many of its targets, while providing stallbreaking potential to Heatran. Finally, I've opted to go with a Firium Z here to boost Magma Storm's power into absurd levels, allowing Heatran to break past Gliscor and Chansey without too much prediction, although you should definitely be conservative with your Z Crystal, considering that the meta is dominanted by 'mons that can abuse that Z move.

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While I do believe that Landorus has become somewhat worse within the past several months, it still remains as one of the meta's best picks. Because of the near-ubiquity of Landorus, I won't describe it's position in the meta, but I will emphasise the fact that it has been consistently fantastic, and will continue to be fantastic. Landorus offers this team excellent role compression, with the most significant role being that of the dedicated form of speed control, which allows Landorus to consistently check Tapu Koko, Mega Alakazam and Mega Mawile with Earthquake, or to gain momentum through U-turn. Because of Landorus' ability to force incredible amounts of switches, Landorus is able to consistently utilise Defog. Landorus' ability to remove hazards is only emphasised by the fact that it is immune to both forms of spikes, while also taking neutral damage from Stealth Rock, meaning that it is able to frequently Defog for minimal drawbacks. On the topic of Landorus' typing, its ground typing grants the team a volt switch immunity, preventing the combination volt switch abusers and a wallbreaker core from becoming a notable threat to the team. Hidden Power Ice is used solely to punish Zygarde thanks to its threatening nature and can be used to hit Gliscor, although it is generally the suboptimal play to do so. Knock Off can also be used over Hidden Power Ice, but Zygarde is simply too threatening.

Alakazam has undoubtedly changed the most throughout the past few months, initially rising as a consistent wallbreaker with fantastic defensive utility through Trace, which allows Alakazam to check a notable portion of the metagame, with prime examples being Heatran and Mega Latios, which are both completely walled unless running two uncommon moves in the form of Flash Cannon and a Steelium Z and Draco Meteor, as well as taking advantage of other notable 'mons, including Tornadus, Toxapex and Tangrowth, which provides Alakazam with Regenerator, while also reverse trapping Magnezone that are locked into HP Fire, Swift Swim from the likes of Swampert and Kingdra and an entire spectrum of abilities, including Beast Boost from Kartana and even Poison Heal from Gliscor. To further add to its extensive resume, Alakzam's offensive capabilities are near unparalleled, as it is able to simply tear through common balance builds, with only walls such as Celesteela, Tapu Bulu, Magearna, and Chansey being able to prevent Alakazam from simply winning versus stall and balance. These difficult matchups can be made easier with Toxic Spikes and Leech Seed support, which afflicts enough support in order for Alakazam to further break past these 'mons. Shadow Ball and Focus Blast round out Alakazam's coverage, allowing it to punish 'mons such as Mega Latios, opposing Mega Alakazam, Heatran and Tyranitar for super effective damage, while Recover allows Alakazam to consistently check 'mons such as Heatran and Latios, which would otherwise annoy it with chip damage. Against the stall matchup, avoid having to mega evolve until you're forced to, as you're able to infinitely switch between both Reuniclus and Toxapex for an easier matchup versus the playstyle. Knock Off can be used over Shadow Ball, but it's generally not worth it, even if Knock off support is invaluable. I should also mention that a Modest Nature can be used for additional breaking capabilities, but you do lose out on outspeeding Zygarde, although it is entirely preference.

Threatlist

This matchup is arguably the most difficult, as you are forced to scout the set prior to establishing a gameplan versus it. Sub + Glare and wcar variants simply just win without consequence, while the majority of other variants can simply be played around, although it's admittedly incredibly difficult. Although the matchup was easier with both Acid Armour Reuniclus and Tangrowth, sacrifices had to be made in order to accomodate other threats, which has only resulting me in having a terrible matchup versus one of the most dominant 'mons in the tier, although it is somwhat ironic considering how much I stress normally reserving multiple consistent Zygarde checks per team. The most common way i've dealt with Zygarde is to afflict it with either a burn or poison to wear it down at a faster rate, but this will require a bit of luck in your favour.

Swords Dance Mawile is incredibly threatening, even with multiple dedicated checks to it. While it isn't given too many opportunities to freely setup, once it does, it becomes unwallable. Knock Off Variants have no reason not to click it versus this build, as there team lacks a proper dark resist, while Thunder Punch variants can be played around with through scouting with Landorus. Heatran and Landorus both dislike being Sucker Punched, so it might be worth it to cycle between Landorus and Toxapex to utilise Intimidate, however, due to the lack of Wish Support, you'll be finding that Landorus will be getting worn down incredibly quickly, so you have to be incredibly conservative with Landorus.

The lack of electric resists on this variation of the build is incredibly annoying, as the team's sole volt switch immunity dislikes having to pivot into Tapu Koko, as it is not only able to pivot out with u-turn, but it also can just use Hidden Power Ice to effectively 2hko it, so even then it is discouraging to switch into directly into koko. It also has the capability to get a minimum of a single kill per game, thanks to the lack of electric resist, but it does have more forms of counterplay than the previous threats, so there's that.

As I've previously mentioned, this particular build has no dark resist, although that isn't a large factor when considering the breaking capabilities of Tyranitar and Hoopa. Tyranitar is simply able to spam both of its stab pretty liberally, as nothing on this build wants to take a banded stone edge (or a banded crunch for that matter), although Landorus can be used as a makeshift check. While you may argue that Reuniclus is able to abuse Tyranitar locked into pursuit, there's essentially no drawback to simply using crunch or stone edge versus this team. Hoopa is always going to be a pain for balance, as nothing appreciates coming into any of its attacks (neither physical or special variants have any consistent defensive counterplay), although nasty plot variants can be forced out by doubling straight into Landorus, although that play generally only works once. Hydreigon is simply able to sit in front of everything not named Celesteela and freely spam dark pulse with little consequence, although it should be noted that it is considerably weak. The team is able to quite easily deal with these 'mons, considering that Alakazam simply comes in after a sack and uses Focus Blast to remove something, while Landorus can also simply click U-turn and remove the threat, especially if it has taken some prior damage.

While one may do the best they can to pressure stall, stall has many variations that allow it to overcome common stallbreakers. This build's particular stallbreakers are Heatran and Reuniclus, which heavily rely on moves with limited PP, so pressure or PP stalling is an incredibly viable countermeasure versus this build. Moltres in particular is a gigantic threat, as it as able to simply PP both Heatran and Reuniclus, although it must be weary of Taunt from Heatran. Other Pressure abusers such as Zapdos and Articuno (shoutouts to asa) are also incredibly threatening due to their ability to their ability to basically PP stall both breakers, even having the ability to PP stall with the entire team in certain situations. Quagsire should also be mentioned as it is able to wall both Reuniclus and Heatran while also preventing Alakazam from coming in, as you risk Earthquake doing notable damage.

curiosity · Sep 9, 2018

Replays

Before I present the replays, I must thank So Noisy for quality controlling the replays and getting some replays. It really means a lot to me during this busy time ^_^

Shoutouts

Crew

So Noisy sadly, I start with you of all people since you're probably the closest friend on this site. Ever since I joined crew back in late April, you've always been there, helping me learn how to get better at the game and telling me when i'm going way over my head. I think I've created some of my most fond memories on this site with you, whether it's haxing the everloving shit out of you or watching you force end uno, even you just making plays on me. I know you hate this sappy shit, so i'll keep it brief, thanks for being a good friend and thanks for getting like 20 replays lol.

Qplaz I feel really bad for putting you under noisy but I was recommended to put him above everyone else so my bad. Although I'm disappointed that you come from the lamest city in the country, you're always here making ps! and discord an incredibly enjoyable place to be. We're always making really fond memories and always have the best conversations ever, which really makes me feel somewhat important here, so thanks for being a really fantastic friend, although you really need to log on more smh.

allstarapology and lyd i'm tagging you two together because you two are my next closest set of friends after these two idiots above you. I genuinely can't describe the feeling of happiness that I get by talking to you guys and I honestly can't stress how much your input means to me. I genuinely don't know what to say this situation other than Thank you for being fantastic friends. I guess i'm also the biggest fan of the two of you and let no one else tell you otherwise. Thanks for the sheer amount of memories i've made with you two really make me smile, so thanks for being there for me.

TPP thank you for everlasting kindness and for some of the best conversations on this site. I hope after my exams are finished, we can talk a bit more and it would be nice to stop getting so lucky versus you, then we could actually both improve alongside one another without having to forfeit halfway through the match. Honestly, the amount of fond memories i've created with you is just astronomical, and I hope to keep this friendship lasting for as long as i'm on smogon.

yogi you're also someone that just happens to make my day whenever I end up talking to you. There's not a message you send that makes me happy in one way or another, not to mention that you introduced me to my second favourite tier to play and an awesome community to boot. I hope we get to BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA more together in the future and even play some more PU after exams.

vso i'm sorry you had to be underneath everyone, but there's like a hundred people so that's my bad. I know you don't really like the team and I know we haven't spoken much lately because of my exams and you being dead and all, but you've been a great friend to me that's all that important.

laser火circus similarly to what TPP said in his stellar rmt, I think you and su are the one of the only reasons I've consistently come back to showdown so frequently. You're a great friend to have and our conversations are always memorable. The amount of fantastic memories i've created with you is just fantastic, and I hope to have many more fantastic experiences with you.

ShinyUnown i'm just going to continue on from where I left off from laser above, i've made many fond memories with you as well, whether it's playing uno or just taking the shit out of things, it's been a real pleasure serving beneath you. I should also mention that the only reason why i've stuck around in the ou room is because of you, lc, A and cute user propellants who are basically the only auth that are ever online when i'm here. I'll admit that it's harder to contribute to the OU room now that I have duties in the former RMT section and that my interest in the PU section is high, but I hope one day that I can work underneath both you and laser as a quality voice of the room.

Anish I can still remember submitting a team to the rmt room and you taking a look at it. I don't think I would have ever expected to have auth at that point in time, but I guess it was thanks to your help that my interest in RMT exists. Much like everyone else, you're a great friend, letting me grow as a player and even helping me learn LC and allowing me to smack you with Psychium Pumpkaboo and Wingull, although I am super sorry about all the hax lol.

martha You have always been one of the nicest, most talented and entertaining people i've known, and i'm glad to have become your friend. Even though you say you're terrible at mons, you've got to know that you are actually one of the most talented and knowledgable uusers that i've met. Even if you don't agree with me, you do have to admit that you are one of the most hardworking users on this site, which makes all our interactions more memorable. Thanks for everything you have done for me, and yes, I did follow up on this promise.

3017 I hope you can forgive me for the fact you're underneath everyone, but there are just sooo many people here that it's not funny. Much like everyone else, i've made plenty of fantastic memories with you over the past several months and I couldn't tell you how sad I was when you temporarily left 'mons, although I'm glad you pulled a yogi and came back, it was really sad during those 2-3 days without you. I hope you actually do stick around though, because you really are a good mate to have. Fuckin oath you're a sick cunt. Is that how Tasmanians speak?

Baloor you are actually one of the best people on this site, no joke. While I'll never step foot in Pro Wrestling again, I'll always be grateful that you do actually do spar with me and help me test stuff. You're also really fun to talk to in general, so i'm very glad you didn't quit mons. I hope we can do some more stuff in the future, because you're just a fun guy to be around.

Indigo Plateau much like everyone else here, you're a fantastic friend to have around and every conversation with you is super memorable, mainly because the hilarity of some of them. I'm really glad you got to become a forum mod, it's really cool seeing my friends go places. I hope to actually participate in the Iron Chef soon, because you need some actual Japanese clout and because it seems like a really cool project, so that's something to look forwards to once my exams end. Oh and grats on the fisting nerd.

IronBullet you're still one of my favourite people to talk to on this site, even it is a simple "get tagged". You're always making me laugh and it's even more special considering how hard you work on this site. Thanks for leading one of the best sections on the site and always liking my posts, the supposed are always appreciated.

Perry I legitimately almost forgot to tag you, but then I realised that the post was lacking in royalty so here I am. You're just the funniest guy in the server and I hope you know that I really enjoy your company, even if you are pretty gay. I'm really sad that you did step down from rmt, because that means I had less people to look upto now, but hey, you

Eternam I couldn't tell you how ecstatic I was when I first joined Crew and found out that one of my inspirations also happened to be in the same room. Thanks for all the help and advice you've given me over the past few months, as it's let me grow as not only a player, but a builder, although I could never dream of being as influential as you. I also really appreciate the conversations we have, they're always really fun ^_^.

Gross Sweep much like Anish, you're a fantastic friend to have, as I don't think I've received as much as much helpful advice on rating from anyone. I really did wish you logged into the crew room more often, then we'd have more chances to have stupid things to happen. I promise the uno's not as chaotic as we've made it out to be.

Creator of Chaos I'm sorry that you're all the way down here, but I just wanted to tell you how much of a cool cohost you are. Our conversations are always super memorable and our victims are always really fun to work with. It's been a pleasure hosting with you so far, I look forwards for many more cycles to come (although you might have to take the next few lol my bad).

Nuked I know we haven't know each other for an awfully long time, but I feel like you've become one of my most trusted friends on this site. Every conversation I have with you not only makes me happy, but it makes me consider a whole new range of emotions that I'd thought I'd experience online. Thanks for being such a cool guy and I hope for the best.

LL WTF I DIDN'T FORGET ABOUT YOU GOOD USER.

patlop2307 u hoe you've been dead forever so I don't have much to say but I guess this out of context screenshot works.

For real tho, you're a really great friend to have, as most conversations we have not only make me laugh, but they're really memorable. You need to be way more active on discord tho smh.

Ske Mask The Slump God you're always a pleasure to talk to and to just analysing your building style has made me a better builder. I hope that one day I can stand next to you as a fellow workshop builder, or just as someone who's as well respected as you are. I hope to get closer to you over the next few months and to become really close friends ^_^

Simia I know we don't talk as much as I'd like, but I really enjoy your company when we do talk and I hope to extend that friendship further into the future. I wish you nothing but the best of luck for the OLT playoffs and I really hope to get closer in the future ^_^

1Surgeon, BM, Charmflash, A Cake Wearing A Hat MFJK while we don't really talk as much as i'd like to (or in the case of BM as much as we used to), i'm still a huge fan of your work and really love talking to you guys, so I hope we can talk more in the future.

The viv and Chloe Place

vivalospride I know you're in crew but I didn't want to tag you at the bottom of the shoutouts. You're probably one of the nicest people i've met since joining this site and i'm happy to have joined the room. Your advice and friendship means a lot to me, and I honestly can't describe how much it means to me. All I can really says it that I hope It can continue throughout our time on this website.

Chloe i'm glad I got to meet you, because you're probably one of the nicest users on this site, not to mention funny and just an awesome person. I don't know what to add, but I'm glad to have met you and I hope we can remain as friends throughout the duration of my stay on this site ^_^

sed I wanted to thank you for your constant help and just general support, which has really helped me as a builder and as a player. In all honesty, I don't know what to add since I don't want to repeat myself, but I wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me.

GL Volkner i've only recently met you, but you're a really cool guy in general and I hope to become closer.

allstarapology martha get tagged again

Rate My Team

A while I can't tag you, that won't change the fact that you're still one of my closest friends on this say and dare I say you're an inspiration to me. I can't stress how much I appreciate the help you've given me over the past months and how many fun times i've had with you. Admittedly, I do need to work on my shitposting, but that's not exactly on my list of priorities.

Decemm I know you're in crew now but I didn't want to tag you at the bottom of the list because you're just a great friend in general. We've had some really fun experiences in the past few weeks, so I hope you enjoy crew as much as I do, because I promise you it's like the best place ever.

Eien again, I didn't want to leave you on the bottom of the crew list because that's not what we do to our biggest fans.

On a more serious note, I really enjoy talking to you, since you make me laugh like a lunatic and just a really cool chat presence in general. I hope we can talk more in the future ^_^

I Also would like to mention anyone that has come up to me in the RMT room, including XxAwesomePlayzxX and PTF (there's more on you if you scroll down) because you guys really make me happy, as I really do like helping people out. Side note, if you ever see me in the Trainers' School room, feel free to say hi, i'm more than happy to help absolutely anyone out with your OU and PU teams!

IronBullet get tagged again.

PU

yogi allstarapology get tagged again.

HJAD I wanted to tag you first because I didn't want to tag you in the middle of crew. Much like everyone here, you're an incredibly fun guy to talk to, and you've made PU a really fun experience for me. I really can't stress how fun it has been to talk to you and be a part of the PU community as a whole, whether it's discussing the meta and the subsequent learning that comes with it, as well as just screwing around in the PU discord, so I really hope we get the chance to talk more.

tondas I don't even remember how I met you, but I know you were a huge factor when getting into PU. I've really enjoyed having such a cool friend, as it makes many situations and places just so much cooler. I also can't stress how much I appreciate you sharing your PU knowledge with you and just having a really cool friend in general, so thank you so much for everything. Hopefully you'll be rewarded for your work soon, but until then, just keep being yourself.

jklioe much like hbad above, you're a really great guy to talk to. The few conversations I've had with you have been incredibly memorable, and it's been really fun to learn some really cool techs from you. It's been a real pleasuring having to know you and I hope we can get closer ^_^ I should also mention that you have really really good analyses, so it'll be really cool to see you with a teardrop sooner or later.

2xTheTap I know we haven't talked as much as everyone else but I'm incredibly grateful for the help you've given me over the past few weeks. Although you've probably seen me at my worst performance wise, I've really appreciated the help you've given me, as i've really started to improve as both a PU player and a PU builder, which I can't express enough. I hope I can talk a lot more over the next few months to become good friends ^_^

Darkinium I can't say that i'm not a huge fan. You're a pretty good guy to talk you, although I will say that I don't think i've been talking to you enough and I really hope to get to know you better over the upcoming months, as everyone talks so much praise about you, and in my limited time that i've spoken to you, I've really enjoyed the admittedly small conversations we've had together.

PTF I can't tell you how much I appreciate someone that's just ecstatic to see another Australian on this site lmao. You're a really cool guy in general, and I'm sure you're a way better PU player than I am, but I hope to catch up to your level one day. But until then, I'll stick to rating ;)

LordST I'll be upfront by saying that I'm really just am a huge fan of yours. I really enjoying discussing the tier and learning from you in both the PU room and the PU discord, and I hope one that I can be just as good as you are. But until then, I'm looking forwards to learning more from your vast pool of knowledge and hopefully become a good player.

Ktütverde I know it was a while since we last spoke (excluding today) but you've been a really cool person to talk to and even to just watch. My admiration of you is beyond words at this point, and so I hope you do fantastically well in the rest of the OLT playoffs.

Other People

xJoelituh i'm sorry you had to be all the way down at the bottom of the shoutouts, even though you're probably the coolest person i've met through the smogon discord. The many conversations we've had together have been really fun and memorable. I should also thank you for the general tips about all the oldgens you've given me over the past few months, as its really sparked my interests in those gens and I'm very much looking forwards to playing said tiers, as well as continuing our friendships into the future. Hopefully we'll get the prestigious green role one day, but until then Buena suerte a los dos, mi amigo

Kris I'm sad that you've got to study too because that means I lose one of the funniest people I know on this site. I hope all of your studies go well, so until then please note that it's been a real pleasure knowing you. Thank you especially for fixing my grammar, because I've learnt the lesson to actually proofread before sending my stuff off to GP lmao. Well, until you finish your exams, good luck and hope you do well ^_^

Molk although we haven't spoken in a while, i've always enjoyed your company on the smogon discord sever. Much like many others on this list, I hope we do get to speak more in the future and even become close friends ^_^

Leo GMars Finchinator I'm lumping you three together because you're one of the reasons I'm here where I am today. Thank you so so so so so soooooo much for letting me do the things I do on the forums, because it's been an absolute pleasure running them and just being a part of the general ou community. I should say that I love each and every one of you individually, because you all make me smile. Whether it's because of Leo's amazing resume of one-liners, G's now clickable mixtape and the generally funny person that is Finch, I really do feel honoured to be able to work underneath you all.

Felixx i know we've both got exams, meaning that we haven't talked in a while, but I've absolutely enjoyed having you as a friend. It'll be sad seeing you go, but I hope for the best in the future.

Jordy you're just lame. Jokes aside, thanks for helping out with my projects, the participation is really helpful. Sadly, you're also a pretty cool user, although you need to get the ps account jordy. On that note, I'd like to thank absolutely everyone who participates in any of my projects, the participation is simply invaluable and I can't stress how much it means to me that you participate. Thank you all for helping out!

maroon I know I'm not awfully active, but thanks for being a generally nice person. I promise you i'll be more active once exams are over, but until then, I look forwards to a friendship to come.

Moose 50 you're a pretty cool guy, hope we can talk more :)

DMDW I'm lazy so here's a screenshot.

ayedan I know it's been a while since we had a proper conversation, but I really do enjoy your company and your admiration, although there's not much to admire about me. I hope you hop back onto the smogon discord so we can talk way more!

Quote you might be last, but you're certainly not the least. I'll admit that i've been a tad awkward when talking to you simply because I think of the way we met all too often and that just cracks me up. I hope to get properly closer to you in the future, and even start playing LC at a decent level (other than just screwing around with anish) but I think I have a long way to go.

Conclusion

I'd like to expressly thank everyone for reading this RMT! I know this team is nowhere near perfect, but it was something that I expressly enjoying using, perhaps even being my favourite build to use altogether. I'd like to quickly apologise to not only anyone I've missed, because there's so many people that I've gotten to know over the past several months. Seriously, I've tagged like upwards of 50 users in a single post. Yikes. The other group of people i'd like to apologise to are my project participants, who will have to wait a few days until an update because in all honesty, i'm just burnt out after making this RMT, which has taken just under 48 hours to complete. Yikes.

Anyways, I wanted to use this section of the RMT to basically wrap up everything and just to give some general comments on the team. First and foremost, this team is nowhere near perfect, as there are many things that can be improved upon. That being said, this is still one of the most consistent builds I've created, and I've certainly had my fare share of fun with it, which is why I've chose Word on a Wing as the title of this RMT, as it's one of my favourite songs, which accompanies one of my favourite and most ambitious projects. I'm sorry for the delays i've caused across all my projects, but I hope you can forgive me, considering the sheer length of these posts (for the record, the combined word total of these two posts is in excess of 8000 words, which is the longest thing i've ever typed up) and how important this is to me. Why is it important? Well, to keep things short, i'm going to be studying my ass off for the next month, so you'll see minimal activity from me across the board, so this is essentially a goodbye and thank you letter dedicated to everyone that I remotely care about. So with that being said, I hope this has been a fun read and I hope everyone has fun using this team. Until next time, goodbye!

Importable

nom (Reuniclus) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 244 HP / 212 Def / 52 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 216 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic Spikes
- Recover
- Haze

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower

Heatran @ Firium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 80 HP / 148 Atk / 84 Def / 196 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Defog

Alakazam-Mega @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Recover

For anyone wondering, I'll also leave a link to the Acid Armour variation here since it's probably better. But it's a bad set so pick your poison I guess

patlop2307 · Sep 10, 2018

Hey pal! This is a really interesting team you have there that refelcts the current state of the meta pretty well and is a type of build that has been seen in the last smogtours finals by blunder (replay here), so this is definitely an interesting rate to make. This team is far from flawless though and that's what I'm going to be covering in this rate. So let's get it started.

Overview:

First things first, I do believe that the team is pretty solidly built and it actually has an idea behind it. That being said, it has a lot of approaches to beating certain playstyles (specifically stall), but is missing one supporter Pokémon to wall/offensively pressure potential threats to your team, which could be one of the reasons why you are weak to as many Pokémon as you claim to be. But this is the only glaring problem I have with the team and -thankfully- most of the approaches can be completed without changing too much of the team.

How can you improve the team?

Major Changes:

>

: The reason why I decided to go with Gastrodon over Toxapex here is because it acts as a better wall to the majority of the threats you mentioned (Heatran + Mega Alakazam, Moltres/Zapdos, Tapu Koko, and even Hydreigon). Additionally, Gastrodon can do almost anything that Toxapex can, with the exception of Toxic Spikes and Haze, but even that doesn't matter a lot of the times. I am running the standard max special defense set with Earthquake because of Magearna.

Minor Changes:

Knock Off > Shadow Ball (

): Now, since I believe that Heatran alone won't do it against stall, we need something to catch stall off-guard. I decided to go with Knock Off here to catch players by surprise, for istance knocking off Chansey's Eviolite, Clefable's Leftovers or Tangrowth's Assault Vest. Replacing Shadow Ball with Knock Off has its deficitys of course, but I believe it is the least momentum draining, since you'll "only" have trouble against Reuniclus. However, you can replace Knock Off with Recover, but this would make Mega-Alakzam not as useful against the Pressure Pokémon like Moltres and Zapdos.

Conclusion:

Well, this rate was pretty short and I tried to keep the changes on as low of a profile as certainly possible. Of course I didn't cover everything, but I think I covered the majority of weaknesses. Weaknesses you should consider are Zygarde, Mega-Mawile and Tapu Lele, Reuniclus to an extent because there is counterplay for those two Pokémon. If you have any more questions or criticism concerning this rate, feel free to tell me bruv. Thanks for tagging me and I wish you the best in your future.

SM OU Word on a Wing

curiosity

curiosity

patlop2307