SM OU Mega altaria balance

[sprkl]

Mega Altaria Balance
Hi there, welcome to my first RMT :), hopefully everything is fine.
This is a balance team, centred around mega altaria.
anyway, on to the team. :)

[click on the sprites to see the team, or click here.]
[just a note, you should probably run jolly, for some reason I put adamant here and everywhere else]
Process

Mega altaria is an interesting mon, as it has great coverage with it's fairy stab and earthquake, as it can hit almost the entirety of the metagame effectively bar Skarmory and Celesteela, and reliable set-up and recovery in dragon dance and roost respectively, but lacks immediate firepower with its middling base 110 attack stat. natural cure is situational, but can be useful as a status absorber.

Magnezone is an excellent partner for mega altaria, as it removes a majority of the pokemon in the metagame that gives it trouble, namely Skarmory, Celesteela, Ferrothorn and Mega-Scizor. this Magnezone is a steelium z substitute set, as it allows it to wall the ever-present Ferrothorn provided it doesn't switch into a leech seed, and then it can fire off a steelium z or a thunderbolt to potentially get a second kill.

Tyranitar is the rocker for the team and provides a way to trap any bothersome pokemon with pursuit. stab stone edge to take care of flyers, and earthquake for heatran.
it provides the team with a psychic immunity, and sandstorm.

A standard protean gren, it acts as a speed check, and a check to kart and M-zam, as it has a 50% chance to KO kart from full, and u-turn has a guaranteed chance to KO zam. ice beam can also pick up the ko on landorus, and has an 80% chance to kill torn with beam after rocks, which can all threaten the team. it also has a 100% chance to OHKO tank chomp. this greninja is an offensive check to the tapus, but never use it defensively.

Tapu fini provides the team with defog support, as well as a blanket check to prominent fighting types in the meta such as hawlucha and medicham. as moonblast nearly OKHO's them, and medicham only does 66% at best. one should be a bit more careful of hawlucha, as it can do at most 95% to fini with +2 acrobatics. 16 def ev's should be run to always tank a +2 acro after a round of lefties. whirlpool allows this fini set to trap and remove sableye, with can be invaluable against stall teams, as it allows you to stack hazards.

Lastly, ferrothorn provides this team with a secondary type of hazard, and is a great check to water, electric and grass types. ferrothorn is essential against rain, as it walls swamperts without power-up punch or superpower. Iron barbs can also be used to chip predicted u-turns, as long as they don't have a check available.

The sets

Pixie (Altaria-Mega) (M) @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Frustration
- Earthquake
- Roost

A standard mega altaria set, set up with DD and hopefully wreak havoc. Frustration can OHKO fighting and dark types such as M-Medicham, +1 def Hawlucha, Keldeo, Greninja, Kommo-o, Brelloom, M-Heacross, M-Gyardos at +0 and nearly KO Ttar, M-Ttar, and M-Lopunny. Earthquake OHKO's sp.Def Heatran. be careful though, as Altaria lacks much offensive presence without setup. Altaria is noticeably weak to pex, as it can get worn down with toxic, and haze to mitigate any setup opportunities.Altaria greatly appreciates magnezone to remove any troublesome steels that might stop it.
Funnily enough, Altaria has a 20% chance to survive medicham's ice punch without rocks up, but this should never be relied upon.

Magnezone @ Steelium Z
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Another pretty standard set, sub z Magnezone excels at emoving passive steels from the game. it completely walls Ferro, Skarmory and non-fast superpower Scizor, but can struggle against Celesteela. substitute allows zone to completely wall a Ferrothorn, and allows it to fire off a steelium z or thunderbolt on its next opponent, which just KO's offensive landorus, and can do some good damage to the opponent.

Tyranitar (F) @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 100 HP / 152 Atk / 152 Def / 104 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Tyranitar is this teams stealth rocker, and can trap annoying psychics. 100 HP and 152 Def allow it to stomach a +1 ex from M-Charizard-X after SR, and KO or at least put in in sand-storm range with stone missedge. chople berry and pursuit allow it to check psychics with fb. pursuit is run over crunch as mons that would normally be hit by crunch would want to switch out anyway, and the trapping power is appreciated. crunch can be run over pursuit as it is more reliable, in case the opponent is too dumb/smart to switch out. pursuit allows it to take on and remove blacephalon, and mega-alakazam from the battle. earthquake is there to give Ttar edge-quake coverage. Pursuit also allows you to remove troublesome choiced users.

Greninja (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Gunk Shot
- Low Kick

A pretty standard set. u-turn gives the team some momentum, as well as allow gren to deal with psychics. ice beam is there for the ever-present quad-weak to ice mons, as well as tornadus, kartana and thundorus. gunk shot is there to kill the tapu's and is a is grens best all-around damage output for this set. if protean hasn't been revealed, you could potentially bait in tapu fini and pick up a sneaky kill. low kick is run for heatran, but t-spikes or spikes or even hp-fire (more reliable for kart) could be run to give gren some more utility.

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Moonblast
- Whirlpool
- Taunt

another pretty standard set, tapu fini provides the team with good defence and defog. it's ability to trap and remove passive mons with whirlpool and taunt is greatly appreciated. nature's madness could be run over moonblast for a better trapper, but I personally prefer the damage on hawlucha and medicham. fini is the main defensive check against the dark and fighting types of the tier, and its misty terrain is greatly appreciated.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Def / 232 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip

A great defensive mon, ferrothorn is a great wall in conjunction with fini, and can set up hazards against the opposing team with spikes. ferrothorn is this team's best counter to rain, as it is invaluable against swampert. Knock off could be run over gyro ball for more utility, but I like the damage against fast mons. 252 HP and 232 SpD allow ferrothorn to take on greninja-ash, and KO back with power whip. Ferrothorn greatly appreciates fini traping sableeye, as ferrothorn can then go ham with spikes and leech seed.


Threats
- Mega-medicham is a pretty powerful breaker against most teams, and this team is no different. the teams best answer is a combination of fini and greninja, but fini needs to be kept healthy, and at least one mon will need to be sacked.
4 SpA Tapu Fini Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Medicham-Mega: 224-266 (85.8 - 101.9%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes

- hawlucha is another powerful and braindead fighting type. fini is once again your best bet, but ensure it never gets +2 and get up rocks yourself. which allows fini to reliably KO. or you could potentially have a bit more Sp.Atk investment.
4 SpA Tapu Fini Moonblast vs. 96 HP / 36 SpD Hawlucha: 270-320 (84.1 - 99.6%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

- Lopunny is great against this team, as this team is pretty fighting weak. fini and gren are yet again the counters. you will probably have to sack something to kill it though.
4 SpA Tapu Fini Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Lopunny-Mega: 204-242 (75.2 - 89.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+ - rain has a strong offensive presence and is completely braindead, and can mow through this team, This team's best answer would be ferrothorn, but you should be careful in case they are a superpower set.

- this team might struggle to kill rotom-wash, meaning it can just come in, defog or wisp and switch out. power whip from ferrothorn
is your best bet, but leech seed can also work.
,
- opposing magnezone cn be annoying, but try and predict it with your own, and trap it. if it outspeeds and gets the jump on you, pursuit trap it with ttar. Considering magnezone would be their main ferro counter, once removed ferrro would go ham.

Replays

vs Kyurem and Blacephalon Balance - 2-0
vs surprise offensive steela and sash lando 0-3
vs agility Thundorus-t offence 3-0
vs lele M-zam + Magnezone 1-0 (ttar is a goat here)
[more to be addded]

Thanks for reading :)


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[sprkl]

bump

 

[Soulthief1412]

Ok so first of all I like your team i have tried my self building around mega altaria and had much fun using that pokemon so here some things im noticing:
1. A thread you did not mention that can 6:0 you is mega venusaur your only real way of killing it is with magnezones z-move(if you got piror dmg with spikes or a flash cannon). But you can ignore this point if you want since mega venu is uncomon.
2. Im not convinced that whirlpool is the move that saves you the stall matchup since u lose 1vs1 against chansey seismic tossing you and probably don't beat pex/zapdos. So maybe consider using nature's madness over whirlpool, taunt plus madness is pretty damn good vs. stall if they dont have a million regenerator pokemon.

 

[Robot7620]

Ok, so I know you already mentioned it, but MegaCham and MLop screw this team over if Fini is low.
So basically a core of Hawlucha and MVenu screw this team over.
MVenu take care of MAlt + Fini, and Hawlucha just sweeps once MVenu takes care of these.
Course you'll need a Tapu, and I suggest Koko as a secondary check to Fini, which is the bulkiest thing on your team rn.

 

[Robot7620]

Ok so first of all I like your team i have tried my self building around mega altaria and had much fun using that pokemon so here some things im noticing:
1. A thread you did not mention that can 6:0 you is mega venusaur your only real way of killing it is with magnezones z-move(if you got piror dmg with spikes or a flash cannon). But you can ignore this point if you want since mega venu is uncomon.
2. Im not convinced that whirlpool is the move that saves you the stall matchup since u lose 1vs1 against chansey seismic tossing you and probably don't beat pex/zapdos. So maybe consider using nature's madness over whirlpool, taunt plus madness is pretty damn good vs. stall if they dont have a million regenerator pokemon.

Also, MVenu is far from being uncommon it is a serious threat and honestly should be in OU.

 

[Phyn]

Dude I am sorry I really don't like this
Volt switch is completely free
You don't have a ground immunity after altaria goes mega, and not even a ground resist in OU, Lando's reign

 

[sprkl]

Dude I am sorry I really don't like this
Volt switch is completely free
You don't have a ground immunity after altaria goes mega, and not even a ground resist in OU, Lando's reign

fair enough. although I used this quite a lot a while back, I never really had a problem with lando or volt. but I can see your point.

 

[sprkl]

Ok so first of all I like your team i have tried my self building around mega altaria and had much fun using that pokemon so here some things im noticing:
1. A thread you did not mention that can 6:0 you is mega venusaur your only real way of killing it is with magnezones z-move(if you got piror dmg with spikes or a flash cannon). But you can ignore this point if you want since mega venu is uncomon.
2. Im not convinced that whirlpool is the move that saves you the stall matchup since u lose 1vs1 against chansey seismic tossing you and probably don't beat pex/zapdos. So maybe consider using nature's madness over whirlpool, taunt plus madness is pretty damn good vs. stall if they dont have a million regenerator pokemon.

I would agree with your statement about Venusaur, but I personally found whirlpool pretty useful, as it allowed me to trap sableye and remove it, allowing me to stack hazards, which is pressures stall, considering it's spikes and SR.