Goal:
After spending the first couple months successfully challenging the Dream World Tier, I decided to start playing the "real" game and migrate over to Standard OU. This team is very loosely based on my DW team, http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83978, and draws upon many of the lessons I learned using it. In adapting it to the OU environment, I focused on challenging conventional playstyles while still being able to face up to "regular" teams with little to no disadvantages. This was accomplished primarily through implementing sets that are contrarian or underused in their nature. It wasn't easy and a lot of tweaking had to be done, but in the end, this team has garnished me an excellent run on the Smogon PO server: coming in after the nomination rounds were unfortunately already decided, I am now at the 1350's after only a few hours of continuous play, not accounting for the time needed to adjust the sets.
I wanted to get this team out there before the meta is unequivocally changed in the new round of bans.
Philosophy:
In making any Anti-meta team, the first step is to of course counter weather. Deeper down, it is actually the completely chaotic speed tiers that I believe are messing up balanced teams. Swift Swim, Dory, and Mischievous Heart all contribute to making the traditional playstyle of fast sweepers less relevant in general. While rain is the primary culprit, its prominence has made other weather inducers, particularly Tyranitar, more used as well. Thus, my first goal will be to adapt this team to the new speed tiers and to counter the inducers to the fullest extent. Furthermore, I have to adjust the team so that I can take the super-hard hits that rain or sun boosted STABs will entail.
As a consequence of the impossibility of outspeeding many new threats, there is a new focus on bulky set-uppers such as Roobushin, Rankurusu, and Zuruzukin. This team will have to be designed to be able to kill, neutralize, or force them out before their boosts make them more or less invincible. In the stall world, I will need to have a way to check the combination of Nattorei, Buruguru, and Poison Heal Gliscor; probably the most devestating anti-offense trio in my opinion and the bane of many previous teams.
Rather than putting specific Pokemon that counter specific threats, I concentrated on playing to my primary strength which is my flexibility. Drawing upon the excellent guides Borat wrote for Gen II (I highly recommend reading them as his lessons and advice are fully applicable to any generation), my goal was to find a weakness on my opponents team and to exploit it to the fullest extent. It might be that one or two slow pokes in a team of Swift Swimmers or it might be that one member who serves as a defensive crux for my opponents entire team. I believe that achieving a "breakthrough" can derail an opponents entire team or strategy. This same mentality can be used defensively; instead of having types that are resistant to every single possible attack, I instead have very few types and focus on taking out their shared counters ("eggs in one basket and watch the basket" approach).
Team:
Without further adieu, let me introduce you to the gang.
Having never played Gen IV, I don't know how prominent scarfed Brelooms were, but I am impressed by its usefulness. The entire purpose of this guy is to sleep the opponents lead. With the way the new sleep mechanics are done, this essentially neutralizes one of my opponents Pokemon off the bat. He can outspeed every non-scarfed lead in the metagame today except for Ninjask and Aerodactyl. The things this guy cannot handle are leads that carry a Lum Berry, or Mischievous Heart users with Taunt. However, given my flexibility, I can easily swap leads based on the team preview. For example, if I spot someone like Machamp anywhere on the enemy team, I will use another lead and save this guy for later.
After the sleep, it will usually be a double switch. For entry-hazard leads, I'm forced to switch to Espeon in case they stay in and wake up (more on this later). This is one weakness of this strategy since the opponent may switch to a sweeper in which case I'm in an awkward situation. However, the benefits are innumerable, particularly when I spore the opponent's primary weather inducer since that is the first step to my anti-weather strategy.
His other attacks are very basic and come straight off the guide. They are there for STABs and to make sure this guy can serve as an adequate revenge killer for slower and bulkier Pokemon.
A more or less standard Specs Latios serve as my wall buster. Draco Meteor of course is his primary attack and the other moves are more or less filler. Psycho Shock is in case I need to go up against Blissey/Chansey and have no other options.
This guy is especially designed against stall. Being Modest instead of Timid, it hits extremely hard. Capitalizing on Nattorei's lack of recovery, I usually use brute force with a combination of this guy and Dragonite to kill it with sheer force and derail the opponents defensive core (trio I mentioned above). This plays directly into my "breakthrough" doctrine. Also being Modest allows it to 2HKO Tyranitars thus giving me the upper hand if the opponent foolishly decides to switch him in on the first DM. On the flip side, it means I won't be able to outspeed some critical threats such as +nature Ononokus.
Given that Latios may be banned, I could use some help finding a replacement for this guy. Basically, I need a wall-breaker (preferably on the special side) that has above 105 base speed. My initial thought was Specs Sazandora, but his speed is too low.
I cannot live without this Espeon. It does exactly what it's supposed to do: switch in to expected hazards and statuses, survive, and get out. Through experience in the DW world, I find that the majority of my switch-ins carry physical attacks, thus justifying the physically defensive nature. Moreover, this guy doesn't need that much speed to accomplish his mission, thus I EVed it to outspeed Jolly Breloom only.
He serves as probably the best counter to Nattorei possible. Come in on Spikes or Leech Seed, use Reflect while they try to hit you with Gyro Ball. With my low speed and Reflect, its a 4HKO. Hit back with HP Fire. Baton Pass is there for Pursuit users - namely Tyranitar and Scizor. However, he is somewhat of a set-up fodder as his weak Special Attack doesn't dent a lot of threats.
The one member consistent among all my teams, this Dragonite is especially designed to fit my offensive style as well as to excel in the current metagame environment. I started with a standard Offensive DD set, but I realized it was rather futile setting up against Swift Swim teams. Moreover, DD meant this guy was bait for Erufuun with its priority Encore. Thus, I traded the coverage of EQ (only against Heatran really) for the added utility of ExtremeSpeed. With ESpeed, this guy actually wants Erufuun to Encore since it means 3 more "free" Dragon Dances (since they will usually stay and and start subseeding only to be hit by ESpeed after Dnite is ridiculously powerful). In rain, this guy acts as a damage control against swift swimmers either by taking the first hit (multi-scale) and retaliating or by finishing off weaker opponents with ESpeed. On the off chance I get to DD up in rain, ESpeed will make sure its not wasted against swift swimmers by doing considerable damage to them before dying.
I have tried other options and would like suggestions on which one to keep. To fully counter weather, it's actually better to have a Choice Band for quick power and I've had some success with it. In particular, CB Dnite Outrage combined with Specs Latios DM almost guarantees a breakthrough. Moreover, I've tried Dragon Claw instead of Outrage to keep my options open. However, both sets were deemed inferior either due to a lack of flexibility or power. This set tries to find that happy medium.
My pièce de résistance; this is the bread and butter of my counter-weather game plan and the cause of quite a few rage-quits. In my DW team, I noticed that the addition of so many fire moves and resistances on my team members as well as the sheer godliness of Heatran in the sun made Drought teams extremely easy to handle. Thus, I decided to use this fact to my benefit. This guy's job is to set up the sun in the face of rain and turn the abundance of water Pokemon on the opponents teams from an innate advantage to a disadvantage. Getting off that first Sunny Day is the biggest challenge. Usually, I target the one or two non-swift-swim Pokemon on rain teams such as a defensive crux Nattorei. As a desperate measure, I actually outspeed Politoeds and able to set up in their face, although it's not recommended. One trick is to use Sunny Day and then use it again immediately afterwards since my opponent's usual knee jerk reaction is to bring in Politoed immediately. This will ensure the sun is still up and forces my opponent to do a double switch. I initially had HP Grass, but realized a Sun + STAB Boosted Fire Blast did almost as much to water types.
Against sand, I have HP Fighting and Balloon. The latter is to counter or check Doryuzzu while the former is specifically for Tyranitar. Earth Power is a 3HKO against T-tar and is unacceptable since the opponent would bring in T-tar, take the two hits and OHKO with Superpower. HP Fighting is a 2HKO even against the most specially defensive variants. Thus, Heatran becomes essentially a lure as I will do half on the switch in and then outspeed (non-scarfed) and KO. Sunny day is less needed, although I will use it if the opportunity arises.
Outside of countering weather, Fire Blast and Dragon Pulse provides neutral coverage. It also means Heatran is a soft counter to Dragons. Although I would prefer to have HP Ice instead, T-tar is such a threat that I'm willing to take the 2HKO instead of OHKO on things such as Salamence and Garchomp. HP Fighting also allows me to take on other Heatrans if the Balloon is intact. Heatran greatly appreciates if Breloom already spored the opponent's weather inducer since it gives me a free turn to get the sun back up.
Rankurusu is a relatively recent addition to the team. Rather than choosing the Trick Room Sweeper or the Calm Mind Sweeper, I decided to have both. It suffers from extreme 4 move syndrome, but I find it to be successful in doing its job. Very little to explain: Trick Room while the opponents switches, CM if expecting a special attack, attack by turn 3 and do as much damage as possible before dying. Psychic + Focus Blast provides decent, but incomplete coverage. Thus, I usually bring him in late-game when the opponent's Psychic types are gone. I could use some help with the EVs on this guy.
This guy also serves as a suicide Trick-Roomer. If Heatran failed to stop rain, then I will sacrifice this guy to set up Trick Room, giving me the advantage for 4 turns. As silly as it sounds, this strat. has actually won me a few games against rain offensive.
Threat List
Instead of posting how I'm going to deal with every possible threat, I'll focus on the threats that I'm having a hard time handling so I could get some feedback on possible adjustments and improvements.
LO Gengar: This is a tricky one since I don't have anyone that can resist Ghost + Fighting. Usually, I'll have to sacrifice someone and come in to revenge with Breloom or Dragonite. Also, my team is has three members to Ghost, while this is usually compensated by Heatran's resistance, Gengar makes that point moot with Focus Blast. I have less of a problem with Dark Types due to Breloom.
Landlos: I can handle Dory just fine, but Landlos is another problem. I don't really have anyone faster and Breloom can't do anything to it if the opponent is already asleep. Thus, I have to either sacrifice Rankurusu to set up Trick Room, or sacrifice a Poke and revenge it with Dragonite.
Rain and Sand: I'm not going to kid myself; for all my measures against weather, it is still an extremely challenging match-up. While I am against the ban of Drizzle, I acknowledge how hard it is to take down well made and well played weather teams.
That's it for now, I'll add more threats later. Thanks for reading!
After spending the first couple months successfully challenging the Dream World Tier, I decided to start playing the "real" game and migrate over to Standard OU. This team is very loosely based on my DW team, http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83978, and draws upon many of the lessons I learned using it. In adapting it to the OU environment, I focused on challenging conventional playstyles while still being able to face up to "regular" teams with little to no disadvantages. This was accomplished primarily through implementing sets that are contrarian or underused in their nature. It wasn't easy and a lot of tweaking had to be done, but in the end, this team has garnished me an excellent run on the Smogon PO server: coming in after the nomination rounds were unfortunately already decided, I am now at the 1350's after only a few hours of continuous play, not accounting for the time needed to adjust the sets.
I wanted to get this team out there before the meta is unequivocally changed in the new round of bans.
Philosophy:
In making any Anti-meta team, the first step is to of course counter weather. Deeper down, it is actually the completely chaotic speed tiers that I believe are messing up balanced teams. Swift Swim, Dory, and Mischievous Heart all contribute to making the traditional playstyle of fast sweepers less relevant in general. While rain is the primary culprit, its prominence has made other weather inducers, particularly Tyranitar, more used as well. Thus, my first goal will be to adapt this team to the new speed tiers and to counter the inducers to the fullest extent. Furthermore, I have to adjust the team so that I can take the super-hard hits that rain or sun boosted STABs will entail.
As a consequence of the impossibility of outspeeding many new threats, there is a new focus on bulky set-uppers such as Roobushin, Rankurusu, and Zuruzukin. This team will have to be designed to be able to kill, neutralize, or force them out before their boosts make them more or less invincible. In the stall world, I will need to have a way to check the combination of Nattorei, Buruguru, and Poison Heal Gliscor; probably the most devestating anti-offense trio in my opinion and the bane of many previous teams.
Rather than putting specific Pokemon that counter specific threats, I concentrated on playing to my primary strength which is my flexibility. Drawing upon the excellent guides Borat wrote for Gen II (I highly recommend reading them as his lessons and advice are fully applicable to any generation), my goal was to find a weakness on my opponents team and to exploit it to the fullest extent. It might be that one or two slow pokes in a team of Swift Swimmers or it might be that one member who serves as a defensive crux for my opponents entire team. I believe that achieving a "breakthrough" can derail an opponents entire team or strategy. This same mentality can be used defensively; instead of having types that are resistant to every single possible attack, I instead have very few types and focus on taking out their shared counters ("eggs in one basket and watch the basket" approach).
Team:
Without further adieu, let me introduce you to the gang.
Anti-Lead
Breloom (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Seed Bomb
- Spore
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
Breloom (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Seed Bomb
- Spore
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
Having never played Gen IV, I don't know how prominent scarfed Brelooms were, but I am impressed by its usefulness. The entire purpose of this guy is to sleep the opponents lead. With the way the new sleep mechanics are done, this essentially neutralizes one of my opponents Pokemon off the bat. He can outspeed every non-scarfed lead in the metagame today except for Ninjask and Aerodactyl. The things this guy cannot handle are leads that carry a Lum Berry, or Mischievous Heart users with Taunt. However, given my flexibility, I can easily swap leads based on the team preview. For example, if I spot someone like Machamp anywhere on the enemy team, I will use another lead and save this guy for later.
After the sleep, it will usually be a double switch. For entry-hazard leads, I'm forced to switch to Espeon in case they stay in and wake up (more on this later). This is one weakness of this strategy since the opponent may switch to a sweeper in which case I'm in an awkward situation. However, the benefits are innumerable, particularly when I spore the opponent's primary weather inducer since that is the first step to my anti-weather strategy.
His other attacks are very basic and come straight off the guide. They are there for STABs and to make sure this guy can serve as an adequate revenge killer for slower and bulkier Pokemon.
Wall Buster
Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Trick
- Psycho Shock
Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Trick
- Psycho Shock
A more or less standard Specs Latios serve as my wall buster. Draco Meteor of course is his primary attack and the other moves are more or less filler. Psycho Shock is in case I need to go up against Blissey/Chansey and have no other options.
This guy is especially designed against stall. Being Modest instead of Timid, it hits extremely hard. Capitalizing on Nattorei's lack of recovery, I usually use brute force with a combination of this guy and Dragonite to kill it with sheer force and derail the opponents defensive core (trio I mentioned above). This plays directly into my "breakthrough" doctrine. Also being Modest allows it to 2HKO Tyranitars thus giving me the upper hand if the opponent foolishly decides to switch him in on the first DM. On the flip side, it means I won't be able to outspeed some critical threats such as +nature Ononokus.
Given that Latios may be banned, I could use some help finding a replacement for this guy. Basically, I need a wall-breaker (preferably on the special side) that has above 105 base speed. My initial thought was Specs Sazandora, but his speed is too low.
Defensive Crux
Espeon (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Mirror
EVs: 224 HP / 216 Def / 36 SAtk / 32 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Reflect
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Baton Pass
Espeon (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Mirror
EVs: 224 HP / 216 Def / 36 SAtk / 32 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Reflect
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Baton Pass
I cannot live without this Espeon. It does exactly what it's supposed to do: switch in to expected hazards and statuses, survive, and get out. Through experience in the DW world, I find that the majority of my switch-ins carry physical attacks, thus justifying the physically defensive nature. Moreover, this guy doesn't need that much speed to accomplish his mission, thus I EVed it to outspeed Jolly Breloom only.
He serves as probably the best counter to Nattorei possible. Come in on Spikes or Leech Seed, use Reflect while they try to hit you with Gyro Ball. With my low speed and Reflect, its a 4HKO. Hit back with HP Fire. Baton Pass is there for Pursuit users - namely Tyranitar and Scizor. However, he is somewhat of a set-up fodder as his weak Special Attack doesn't dent a lot of threats.
Damage Control Sweeper
Dragonite (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Multi-Scale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- Dragon Dance
- ExtremeSpeed
Dragonite (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Multi-Scale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- Dragon Dance
- ExtremeSpeed
The one member consistent among all my teams, this Dragonite is especially designed to fit my offensive style as well as to excel in the current metagame environment. I started with a standard Offensive DD set, but I realized it was rather futile setting up against Swift Swim teams. Moreover, DD meant this guy was bait for Erufuun with its priority Encore. Thus, I traded the coverage of EQ (only against Heatran really) for the added utility of ExtremeSpeed. With ESpeed, this guy actually wants Erufuun to Encore since it means 3 more "free" Dragon Dances (since they will usually stay and and start subseeding only to be hit by ESpeed after Dnite is ridiculously powerful). In rain, this guy acts as a damage control against swift swimmers either by taking the first hit (multi-scale) and retaliating or by finishing off weaker opponents with ESpeed. On the off chance I get to DD up in rain, ESpeed will make sure its not wasted against swift swimmers by doing considerable damage to them before dying.
I have tried other options and would like suggestions on which one to keep. To fully counter weather, it's actually better to have a Choice Band for quick power and I've had some success with it. In particular, CB Dnite Outrage combined with Specs Latios DM almost guarantees a breakthrough. Moreover, I've tried Dragon Claw instead of Outrage to keep my options open. However, both sets were deemed inferior either due to a lack of flexibility or power. This set tries to find that happy medium.
Anti-meta Utility-mon
Heatran (F) @ Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Sunny Day
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Dragon Pulse
- Fire Blast
Heatran (F) @ Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Sunny Day
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Dragon Pulse
- Fire Blast
My pièce de résistance; this is the bread and butter of my counter-weather game plan and the cause of quite a few rage-quits. In my DW team, I noticed that the addition of so many fire moves and resistances on my team members as well as the sheer godliness of Heatran in the sun made Drought teams extremely easy to handle. Thus, I decided to use this fact to my benefit. This guy's job is to set up the sun in the face of rain and turn the abundance of water Pokemon on the opponents teams from an innate advantage to a disadvantage. Getting off that first Sunny Day is the biggest challenge. Usually, I target the one or two non-swift-swim Pokemon on rain teams such as a defensive crux Nattorei. As a desperate measure, I actually outspeed Politoeds and able to set up in their face, although it's not recommended. One trick is to use Sunny Day and then use it again immediately afterwards since my opponent's usual knee jerk reaction is to bring in Politoed immediately. This will ensure the sun is still up and forces my opponent to do a double switch. I initially had HP Grass, but realized a Sun + STAB Boosted Fire Blast did almost as much to water types.
Against sand, I have HP Fighting and Balloon. The latter is to counter or check Doryuzzu while the former is specifically for Tyranitar. Earth Power is a 3HKO against T-tar and is unacceptable since the opponent would bring in T-tar, take the two hits and OHKO with Superpower. HP Fighting is a 2HKO even against the most specially defensive variants. Thus, Heatran becomes essentially a lure as I will do half on the switch in and then outspeed (non-scarfed) and KO. Sunny day is less needed, although I will use it if the opportunity arises.
Outside of countering weather, Fire Blast and Dragon Pulse provides neutral coverage. It also means Heatran is a soft counter to Dragons. Although I would prefer to have HP Ice instead, T-tar is such a threat that I'm willing to take the 2HKO instead of OHKO on things such as Salamence and Garchomp. HP Fighting also allows me to take on other Heatrans if the Balloon is intact. Heatran greatly appreciates if Breloom already spored the opponent's weather inducer since it gives me a free turn to get the sun back up.
Suicide Sweeper
Rankurusu (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 192 HP / 188 Def / 128 SAtk
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Trick Room
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
Rankurusu (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 192 HP / 188 Def / 128 SAtk
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Trick Room
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
Rankurusu is a relatively recent addition to the team. Rather than choosing the Trick Room Sweeper or the Calm Mind Sweeper, I decided to have both. It suffers from extreme 4 move syndrome, but I find it to be successful in doing its job. Very little to explain: Trick Room while the opponents switches, CM if expecting a special attack, attack by turn 3 and do as much damage as possible before dying. Psychic + Focus Blast provides decent, but incomplete coverage. Thus, I usually bring him in late-game when the opponent's Psychic types are gone. I could use some help with the EVs on this guy.
This guy also serves as a suicide Trick-Roomer. If Heatran failed to stop rain, then I will sacrifice this guy to set up Trick Room, giving me the advantage for 4 turns. As silly as it sounds, this strat. has actually won me a few games against rain offensive.
Threat List
Instead of posting how I'm going to deal with every possible threat, I'll focus on the threats that I'm having a hard time handling so I could get some feedback on possible adjustments and improvements.
LO Gengar: This is a tricky one since I don't have anyone that can resist Ghost + Fighting. Usually, I'll have to sacrifice someone and come in to revenge with Breloom or Dragonite. Also, my team is has three members to Ghost, while this is usually compensated by Heatran's resistance, Gengar makes that point moot with Focus Blast. I have less of a problem with Dark Types due to Breloom.
Landlos: I can handle Dory just fine, but Landlos is another problem. I don't really have anyone faster and Breloom can't do anything to it if the opponent is already asleep. Thus, I have to either sacrifice Rankurusu to set up Trick Room, or sacrifice a Poke and revenge it with Dragonite.
Rain and Sand: I'm not going to kid myself; for all my measures against weather, it is still an extremely challenging match-up. While I am against the ban of Drizzle, I acknowledge how hard it is to take down well made and well played weather teams.
That's it for now, I'll add more threats later. Thanks for reading!
