Monotype Ghostbusters

wuhoodude · Jul 4, 2018

Introduction
Hello everyone! This is my very first RMT, and I am excited to share this fun and effective hyper offensive normal team. I built this team a long time ago back when Marshadow was still terrorizing the ladder. Everyone was like "Omg ghost can finally 6-0 normal." I was not gonna be the normal type user to get rekt by a ghost team. Fat normal balance could not exist in that era of Monotype, so I had no choice but to build HO. That was the only way for a normal team to stand a chance against that broken pokemon Marshadow. Plus I was so damn tired of the standard "duck, egg, birb" core that made up the majority of normal type teams. This team in its roots was originally a counterteam but has evolved to take on any type and playstyle that comes in its way.

Mega Lopunny was my first choice for its ability to spam any attack versus ghost types. Since I had originally wanted to counterteam ghost, Mega Loppunny was the perfect choice.

What's better than one scrappy user? A second scrappy user! I chose swellow as my second pokemon because it got a decent buff this generation and helps Mega Lopunny hit the special side. Its easily spammable boomburst does a lot of damage to opposing pokemon. With this scrappy dynamic duo around, no defensive ghost core is safe.

Smeargle was a necessity for my team. It sets up the much needed hazards on the team so the rest of the members could put in work.

Next I added diggersby to help wallbreak. In some cases, diggersby can actually sweep opposing teams with this moveset.

Hyper offensive normal teams are known to be weak to priority, but I didn't want mine to fall too easily. I added bewear to help tank hits and check the likes of Mega Scizor and belly drum azumarill.

At the time, I added meloetta to help check the influx of fighting teams running around. Even with sticky webs, I still used choice scarf on meloetta to have some speed control vs floating pokemon.

The matchup vs opposing web teams was tough, so I decided to replace meloetta for staraptor. Staraptor still checked fighting and still provided the team with some sort of speed control for the team.

The Team

1 Thicc Bih (Lopunny-Mega) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Return
- Ice Punch

Mega Lopunny is a staple on normal teams. I chose a standard set with fake out to help chip at faster opponents like choice scarf latios and latias and other choice scarf users if sticky webs aren't up. High jump kick is Mega Loppuny's powerful stab so it can hit steel types and ohko Mega Sableye. Return is a more risk free stab move that lets Mega Lopunny hit pokemon that resists its fighting stab like toxapex. Ice punch allows Mega Lopunny to ohko landorus and garchomp.

BoomChick (Swellow) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Heat Wave
- Air Slash
- Defog / U-Turn

Swellow is the second half of the scrappy core. Boomburst is swellow's most spammable move with no drawback, letting swellow easily 2hko Gourgeist. With heatwave, Swellow can bring Skarmory down to sturdy and ohko defensive Mega Scizor. Air slash allows Swellow to do more damage to Mega Gallade and Keldeo than boomburst does. I originally had U-turn as Swellow's last move, but I added defog for a last ditch hazard removal in case spikes or opposing sticky webs got out of control. Max special attack and max speed with timid nature lets Swellow hit really hard with choice specs while outspeeding non choice scarf Latias or Latios.

U French? (Smeargle) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Sticky Web
- Spore
- Magic Coat

Smeargle is the dedicated hazard setter for HO normal teams. Stealth rock is necessary to help ensure ko's for the rest of the team, specifically so that Mega Lopunny can ko both Mega Charizard X and Mega Charizard Y after coming in on rocks. Sticky webs slows down choice scarf users that touch the ground so that Mega Lopunny can outspeed. Spore gives free turns for the team to setup or attack. Magic coat is for fast taunt users that try to stop Smeargle from setting hazards. This is specifically useful vs fighting teams because cobalion will almost always click taunt. They risk more if they do not click taunt on the first turn as sticky webs is the only way for my team to have a chance vs the likes of choice scarf terrakion or choice scarf keldeo. Max hp and max speed lets Smeargle survive really really weak hits and get up hazards vs slower opponents.

BunniesTho (Diggersby) @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Huge Power
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Frustration
- Earthquake
- Quick Attack

Back when I made this team, I was paranoid about water stall, so I added diggersby to help weaken defensive teams. Since I saw water stall running around, I felt the standard choice band set was easily exploited. I made this set to help vs that. Swords dance boosts Diggersby's attack to crazy levels so that Mega Slowbro couldn't completely wall. Frustration with silk scarf can 2hko or ohko every standard bulky water type after a swords dance boost without having to lose hp from life orb. Earthquake is more useful vs matchups with rock and poison. Quick attack lets diggersby clean weakened opponents that are faster than it. Max attack with adamant nature makes Diggersby really hard to switch into, and max speed lets diggersby outspeed most defensive pokemon and break through them.

Don'tHugMeI'mScared (Bewear) @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Fluffy
Happiness: 0
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Superpower
- Frustration
- Ice Punch

This fluffy buddy of mine is amazing at checking priority moves that HO normal teams are typically weak to such as bullet punch from Mega Scizor, aqua jet from Azumarill, and choice band extreme speed from Dragonite. Bewear's amazing physical bulk allows it to check bisharp even with a defiant boost. Swords dance boosts bewear's attack to help bust through skarmory and defensive Mega Scizor with Z-Superpower. Z-Superpower can ohko offensive Mega-Scizor with rocks up without Bewear needing to boost. Frustration lets Bewear hit Mega Venusaur and more importantly Azumarill. Ice punch ohkos Dragonite after its multiscale is broken. This evs let Bewear outspeed the standard Mega Venusaur spread that creeps adamant Azumarill. Maximum attack with adamant nature lets Bewear break Mega Scizor and hit as hard as possible. The rest of evs are put into hp to help Bewear tank hits better.

Flippin Hair (Staraptor) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Reckless
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Double-Edge
- Close Combat
- U-turn

Staraptor provides the team with more insurance vs bug and fighting teams. With choice scarf and webs up, staraptor outspeeds everything that touches the ground. Brave Bird lets Staraptor ohko Mega Venusaur. Double edge allows staraptor to do more damage to pokemon like Rotom-Wash. With close combat, Staraptor can hit pokemon that resist its stabs such as tyranitar and heatran. U-turn is for Staraptor to pivot out against physically defensive pokemon. Max attack and max speed with jolly nature and a choice scarf makes Staraptor a great revenge killer every pokemon that touches the ground with webs up.

Threats

The Lati twins are big threats, especially with choice scarves. With their abilities, they are able to avoid the speed drop from sticky webs. Mega Lopunny should try to fake out and get them in range of +2 quick attack from diggersby after stealth rock.

Rocky Polish Mew is so dangerous since there is no stopping it after it uses its z move to activate psychic terrain. The only way to beat is to make sure it doesn't set up.

Choice scarf Jirachi is just stupid, but when was this pokemon never annoying? Staraptor can speed tie with it and Bewear can eat iron head for days, but its just a matter of breaking through flinches. If webs can stay up, Mega Lopunny's high jump kick can do a lot.
This team just doesn't have a good matchup vs HO psychic

Eien Esteemed monotype room owner
smub Best rock and ice user I've fought
Everyone in the sheddy league :) even if you all don't play mono
lastly Panther-T Well it's finally here. I remember a looong time ago I asked how to make a good RMT in the RMT room and you made some good suggestions. I've come a long way in competitive pokemon thanks to you even if you only helped me with UU. I know you don't play often anymore, so I hope you see this someday.

Conclusion
After procrastinating this for over a year, I've finally done it! I made a lot of changes with the team as the Monotype meta evolved. Although I made this team in the marshadow meta, the team still is as good as ever. This team does well vs types that normal teams typically struggle with. Steel and fighting are rarely a problem for this team. Ghost is definitely not an issue because who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!

1 Thicc Bih (Lopunny-Mega) (F) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Return
- Ice Punch

BoomChick (Swellow) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Heat Wave
- Air Slash
- Defog

U French? (Smeargle) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Sticky Web
- Spore
- Magic Coat

BunniesTho (Diggersby) @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Huge Power
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Frustration
- Earthquake
- Quick Attack

Don'tHugMeI'mScared (Bewear) @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Fluffy
Happiness: 0
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Superpower
- Frustration
- Ice Punch

Flippin Hair (Staraptor) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Reckless
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Double-Edge
- Close Combat
- U-turn

This team was also featured in a Pokeaim video!

Guwahavel · Jul 9, 2018

Ice Punch on both Mega Lopunny and Bewear is hardly ever worth it since compared to OU, Landorus-Therian is far less prevalent. Power-Up Punch would probably be a better option for the slot. I would change Staraptor to Intimidate to help with stuff like Terrakion running scarf and make the team less reliant on Webs since Smeargle can't do much about Rapid Spin or Magic Bounce. I would also replace Swellow with Porygon Z since it outclasses it as a special attacker and sweeper with it's Z-Conversion set, and your team will struggle with Flying more without 2 Ice Punch users. Swellow isn't worth it these days since Ghost isn't very common with Marshadow being banned, and Mega Lopunny already gives said teams huge issues. Finally I personally like having Ditto on a HO Normal team because they tend to struggle with bulky setup sweepers like Mega Altaria. If you choose to run it I would put it over Bewear since it is slightly redundant with Mega Lopunny.

Hope you enjoy the team!

Porygon-Z @ Normalium Z
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Conversion
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt

Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 0 Spe
- Transform

wuhoodude · Jul 9, 2018

Guwahavel said:
Ice Punch on both Mega Lopunny and Bewear is hardly ever worth it since compared to OU, Landorus-Therian is far less prevalent. Power-Up Punch would probably be a better option for the slot. I would change Staraptor to Intimidate to help with stuff like Terrakion running scarf and make the team less reliant on Webs since Smeargle can't do much about Rapid Spin or Magic Bounce. I would also replace Swellow with Porygon Z since it outclasses it as a special attacker and sweeper with it's Z-Conversion set, and your team will struggle with Flying more without 2 Ice Punch users. Swellow isn't worth it these days since Ghost isn't very common with Marshadow being banned, and Mega Lopunny already gives said teams huge issues. Finally I personally like having Ditto on a HO Normal team because they tend to struggle with bulky setup sweepers like Mega Altaria. If you choose to run it I would put it over Bewear since it is slightly redundant with Mega Lopunny.

Hope you enjoy the team!

Porygon-Z @ Normalium Z
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Conversion
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt

Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 0 Spe
- Transform

Thanks for the rate. To be more specific, ice punch on Mega Lopunny ohkos landurus- incarnate, which otherwise gets a kill if it comes in. Ice punch also hits gliscor, which walls the team otherwise. I do like your suggestion to change staraptor to intimidate, and I will try it out.
However, I do not like your reasoning that Porygon Z outclasses Swellow as a special attacker. Even though they are both special attackers, they perform different roles. Yes Porygon Z can sweep, but it must setup to be able to do the damage that swellow does immediately. Swellow also has the natural speed that Porygon Z does not have until it sets up.
The problem with ditto. First off I kinda personally despise ditto. Second, HO normal teams do struggle with bulky setup sweepers as you said, but ditto in some cases can't even check them. The Mega Altaria you gave as an example could run frustration and ditto would be useless unless it runs minimum happiness, which could cause problems for teams that run return. It's too many mind games with ditto. Again, ditto can't do much to bulky setup sweepers, especially those that wall themselves. Mega Scizor for example, is a big threat to HO normal teams, and ditto can't do anything to it. By replacing bewear with ditto, I won't have any way of beating Mega Scizor.
Since I am on the topic of bewear, I must repeat that ice punch is essential for checking choice band dragonite, which otherwise sweeps though the team with extreme speed. Intimidate staraptor could come in, but it wouldn't do anything do dragonite. It just stalls out the inevitable loss.
Again thank you for taking the time to rate my team, and I will try out scarf intimidate staraptor.

Tyke · Jul 16, 2018

A couple notes:

Air Slash Swellow barely hits fighting types harder than boomburst (225 BP vs Boomburst’s 210). If you want to run flying stab, run Hurricane to hit Mega Venusaur. I don’t think you need flying stab at all though; if you get Webs up against Fighting (which is a irrelevant matchup I wouldn’t even bother trying to prep for with an already niche build like HO normal), Mega Lop and Scarf Raptor can already win. So I’d drop the flying stab for either U-turn or Tailwind.

I second intimidate raptor; it can act as a soft check to scarf terrakion as well. I would drop double edge for Defog on scarf raptor, given it can force some switches. This frees you up to use u-turn in Swellow.

I don’t think you need ice Punch on Mega Lop AND Bewear. Power Up Punch Mega lop does frightening things with web support, and encore is still great even on hyper offense for taking advantage of defensive mons; I would definitely run Encore PuP over Fake Out and Ice Punch.

Magic Coat Smeargle is really questionable. It sounds good in theory but clicking it always a huge risk to take when more reliable options like nuzzle exist. You say the reason to run Magic Coat is for the Fighting matchup, but Nuzzle spam ends up getting Webs up against Fighting if the Cobalion doesn’t attack the turn after taunting anyways. You can also just lead Mega Lop against Fighting to counter Cobalion, or use defog Staraptor / Swellow to give sashSmeargle a lategame chance to reset Webs. Besides, as I said before, Fighting really isn’t a matchup worth prepping for. Nuzzle has substantially broader use; luring in targets after spore, acting as a check to offensive threats with sash, and keeping smeargle from being taken advantage of once it’s burned spore.
Hope this helps!

wuhoodude · Jul 16, 2018

Tyke said:
A couple notes:

Air Slash Swellow barely hits fighting types harder than boomburst (225 BP vs Boomburst’s 210). If you want to run flying stab, run Hurricane to hit Mega Venusaur. I don’t think you need flying stab at all though; if you get Webs up against Fighting (which is a irrelevant matchup I wouldn’t even bother trying to prep for with an already niche build like HO normal), Mega Lop and Scarf Raptor can already win. So I’d drop the flying stab for either U-turn or Tailwind.

I second intimidate raptor; it can act as a soft check to scarf terrakion as well. I would drop double edge for Defog on scarf raptor, given it can force some switches. This frees you up to use u-turn in Swellow.

I don’t think you need ice Punch on Mega Lop AND Bewear. Power Up Punch Mega lop does frightening things with web support, and encore is still great even on hyper offense for taking advantage of defensive mons; I would definitely run Encore PuP over Fake Out and Ice Punch.

Magic Coat Smeargle is really questionable. It sounds good in theory but clicking it always a huge risk to take when more reliable options like nuzzle exist. You say the reason to run Magic Coat is for the Fighting matchup, but Nuzzle spam ends up getting Webs up against Fighting if the Cobalion doesn’t attack the turn after taunting anyways. You can also just lead Mega Lop against Fighting to counter Cobalion, or use defog Staraptor / Swellow to give sashSmeargle a lategame chance to reset Webs. Besides, as I said before, Fighting really isn’t a matchup worth prepping for. Nuzzle has substantially broader use; luring in targets after spore, acting as a check to offensive threats with sash, and keeping smeargle from being taken advantage of once it’s burned spore.
Hope this helps!

Thanks for the rate! You made some interesting suggestions.

It was great when hurricane + heat wave became compatible on Swellow in USUM. I believe there are two types of players: those who take higher risks for higher rewards and those who take fewer risks but for fewer rewards. I am the second type where I prepare my teams so that I minimize the hax factor if it can hurt me. Hurricane is great for its power but at the cost of accuracy. While hurricane has the chance to ohko Mega Venusaur after rocks, there is a higher chance to not do any damage compared to air slash. I feel like this depends entirely on the player. At the same time, I actually agree that I don't need flying stab on Swellow. I rarely click flying stab anyways and I think tailwind would definitely be more beneficial to the team. This helps vs the likes of the Lati twins, which are big threats if either carries a choice scarf.

I'm definitely going to try intimidate staraptor. Though I'm not too sure about dropping double edge for defog. I think being able to hit electric types harder is more important on staraptor given that zeraora was recently released. If I am unable to keep webs up vs electric, staraptor is the only thing that can outspeed zeraora, and I'd like to do more damage to it or anything that switches in on double edge.

Now I agree that ice punch isn't needed on both Mega Lop and Bewear. I think PuP over ice punch would benifit my team more, but I think I could still use fake out to chip at faster threats like the scarf lati twins that I mentioned. Encore is nice vs defensive teams, but I think chip damage with fake out vs offensive is more important since I already have SD Diggersby to take advantage of many defensive mons.

Your reasoning for nuzzle makes a lot of sense, and I support making the most use out of a pokemon's moves. Nuzzle can help a ton vs problematic choice scarf users. I will definitely try it out.
Thanks again for the rate!

Eien · Jul 20, 2018

Hey! I've actually always loved messing around with webs Normal to see what could work (since ORAS even), and this looks like a cool take on the concept with the use of Swellow wallbreaking for your multiple cleaners. I agree with both Tyke's rate and your response; he made a lot of good suggestions. That being said, there is one huge hole in your team right now, though, and my one and only change patches it up for you.

The biggest problem right now is that your team basically can't even touch the Flying defensive core, and that becomes even more problematic when Flying's offensive core rips right through you as well. This is actually an issue your team faces against a lot of balance and fat cores. Mew and Jirachi together wall your whole team with the help of whatever Mega Evolution is on the Psychic team and so do Toxapex and Mantine on Water teams. I hate to suggest this after seeing your avatar and your signature, but I have to be honest and say that Bewear is undeniably the weakest link here. I strongly urge you to run Porygon-Z over Bewear not Swellow. There's great synergy with Swellow being a strong special wallbreaker and Porygon-Z being a reliable special cleaner, so I feel they pair very well together. So why Porygon-Z instead of Bewear?

You mention you are very worried about Choice Band Dragonite's Extreme Speed, and that is something you absolutely should be worried about. However, a Ghost-type Porygon-Z doesn't take a low amount of damage from Extreme Speed; Porygon-Z is completely immune to Extreme Speed. This means Porygon-Z immediately sets up on Dragonite and sweeps if it ever dares to click it. Sure, you might like Bewear stopping Extreme Speed, but Bewear is easily 2HKOed by Outrage or Fire Punch and lacks recovery. Porygon-Z makes it so that Extreme Speed is literally not ever a good move for Dragonite to use. Porygon-Z does this job even better than Bewear does. The other Pokemon you wanted Bewear to cover was Mega Scizor. However, +2 Mega Scizor OHKOes Bewear with Superpower 75% of the time and always does with Stealth Rock support. Bewear doesn't stop a properly played Mega Scizor at all (Bug teams set their own webs against you and Steel teams have a reliable spinner). In fact, Guwahavel's suggestion of Ditto does actually handle Mega Scizor much, much better than Bewear ever could, since boosted Mega Scizor is KOed by itself without a problem. However, I don't think a Ditto is that necessary for your team.

The other reason is that Porygon-Z covers so many of the threats you are worried about. The matchup I was most worried about was Flying, since they are immune to Sticky Web. Thunderbolt and STAB Adaptability-boosted Shadow Ball completely rip through Flying teams (including Gliscor), making that matchup go from almost unwinnable to actually in your favor! In addition to Flying, because it uses Ghost Z-Conversion, Porygon-Z is one of the biggest threats to Psychic teams, which currently also have an amazing matchup against you thanks to Victini, Latios, and Mega Gallade all breaking your team. Once again, Porygon-Z completely flips this matchup around and puts you in the lead. Finally, Porygon-Z is a huge help in the Electric matchup too, which just got Zeraora to totally mess Normal up. Once boosted, Porygon-Z is able to take out literally every Electric-type. I'm sure you've noticed these are all matchups you really struggle to win, and Porygon-Z really turns them around for you.

I hope you give my suggestion a shot and try it out. From my experience, Porygon-Z is critical to the success of webs Normal, so I am confident you'll see even greater results if it's on board. I hope this helps and good luck with your team!

Porygon-Z @ Normalium Z
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Recover
- Conversion

Monotype Ghostbusters

wuhoodude

Goodbye Bewear

Guwahavel

wuhoodude

Goodbye Bewear

Tyke

wuhoodude

Goodbye Bewear

Eien

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