Hi gang! Some of you may recognize me from around the forum somewhere or from PS! I'm presenting a really fun team I've been using lately that I've labeled...
ICE ACE
FROZEN
NO DISNEY PUNS
IntroFROZEN
NO DISNEY PUNS
So the idea for the team started like most of my teams do; I was having a stupid discussion about a mon that you never see on the ladder. I talked a lot about how Aurorus didn't see any usage despite its access to a wide range of hard hitting moves. On paper, it was very similar to Choice Band Sawk where it had no safe switch ins, only revenge killers. Plus, it was a cute mon. I love cute mons. I expected the team to kind of flounder and not really get anywhere, but my freezy dino was dropping bodies so quickly in practice, I was dead-set motivated to make this team work well. The state that it's in right now isn't perfect, and I respect that, but it is possibly the best iteration of it I have come to and so I present it here. Any suggestions would be great and I'll address any obvious concerns for the team down below.
Teambuilding
OK so let's talk history here cause this team has a beefy bit of it
Aurorus was, of course, the Pokemon I wanted to center the team around. The specs set was super powerful and had no switch ins. I needed a Stealth Rocker and I knew after Mega Steelix was banned, there would be an insane amount of powerful Normal-types dominating the tier. Defensive Mawile helped with the powerful normal types and to synergize with Aurorus really well, handling key threats such as Cacturne, Hariyama, and Archeops. Secondly, while Mawile was a nice soft check to Fighting types, I was still very weak to Sawk and Gurdurr. Hazard control is nice for freezy dino, too, so I picked out Claydol.
I like being prepared for fire spam probably a tad too much in this meta. While Flash Fire Typh is always a neat soft check to fire spam, it also functions as a lure for Hariyama which is why I chose it. Carracosta was a natural choice on the team because it is a powerful threat and benefited greatly from Claydol handling a number of its common checks and counters. At this point I noticed I was super Malamar weak and pretty weak to grass too so I added SD Scyther.
Having Scyther around, unfortunately, put too much pressure onto Claydol to spin half the time. I went with mega crodino because it helped me beat Rotom and Mismagius while also not making me terribly weak to most Grass-types.
Unfortunately, I found crodino was too passive to do much of anything on this team. I noticed I had very few answers for Water-types in general outside of Aurorus's Freeze-Dry. Agility Mantine with Signal Beam was a great fix for offensive water types while still beating Malamar. Leafeon dealt with most bulky Water-types and supported the team surprisingly well mid- to late-game. Grass-type coverage is very powerful in NU right now because of the decline of Vileplume usage. Leafeon could take down or severely weaken threats like offensive Seismitoad, Hariyama, and Lanturn that all pressured the team.
At this point, I still noticed a number of glaring flaws with the team. First and foremost, it was devastated by Klinklang. There was truly no stop to it if it got up a Shift Gear on Mawile. Secondly, the team's only answer to CM Psychic spam was Leafeon setting up alongside the CM user, being at full, and the opponent not having Signal Beam. Overall, the outlook there was not too good. While offensive Mantine was certainly fun and my friends and I shared many laughs over it doing a surprising amount of work, it just didn't hit hard enough or switch in on enough to keep it around. Yet, I needed it for Malamar and Rain. I thought for a long time on a solution and my result was Curse Quagsire and Defensive Mantine. Defensive Mantine kept my hazard control, water type switch in, and even provided a smashpass answer. Curse Quagsire gave me an answer to CM Psychic types, (not named Giga Drain Uxie, which is handled by Leafeon) Malamar, most Ghost-types, retained Claydol's ability to beat Gurdurr, and more. And so, here the team has stayed and I am pretty happy with it.
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Aurorus @ Choice Specs
Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psychic
- Earth Power
- Freeze-Dry
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Mawile @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Toxic
- Baton Pass
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(the above spread is not indicative to how much speed creep I run on my base 50 Pokemon. I keep that a secret.)
Enter cutemon #2. This is one of my favorite Mawile sets to use right now. Albeit quite passive, it does its job quite efficiently. This set is so underappreciated for its ability to set up rocks or grab momentum versus notable offensive Pokemon like Swellow, Kangaskhan, Hariyama, Archeops, Scyther, and Tauros. In the context of my entire team, the momentum Mawile gets from Baton Pass has been a god send. Mawile tends to bait in Xatu, Seismitoad, Vileplume, and Weezings. All great defensive Pokemon that Aurorus has a field day against. Last ditch Intimidate fodder is also very nice for pressuring any Fighting-types late-game. Tiny jaws is a tough little cutie and has been a valued team member since the beginning.
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Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 172 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Recover
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
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Curse Quagsire is certainly a niche set that I would not recommend for any team. Because of how weak it is when it is first sent out, it's function is not really sweeping, but more the threat of sweeping. It will often force the opponent into having no other option but to switch into one of the many things that can beat it. That being said, Quagsire is an invaluable member for the team for his ability to completely switch momentum into your favor. Specially defensive lets Quagsire snag some extra kills by being able to live otherwise fatal HP Grasses from Pokemon like Zebstrika or Raichu. It also lets it handle Nasty Plot Mismagius and Rotom more comfortably, which are both Pokemon that threaten this team a great deal. The defense EVs let you always live 2 Double-Edges from Adamant Silk Scarf Kangaskhan if you Curse on the first one. Ultimately, one of Quagsire's main goals on the team is to shut down Malamar, the once-dark horse of NU. Curse lets you set up next to Malamar, but your boosts will actually be effective. Quagsire is also a soft check to most CM Psychic types in the tier, such as Heat Wave Xatu and Musharna. Quagsire has been one of my favorite members to use since his induction onto the team. Truly a team player.
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Typhlosion @ Charcoal
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Extrasensory
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hidden Power [Grass]
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Charcoal Typhlosion is also one of my favorite Pokemon to run right now. It is an extremely under-appreciated lure that can neutralize Kangaskhans, Hariyamas, Carracostas and several others for the rest of the match if you take advantage of the predictability of what is assumed to be a Choice-locked Typhlosion. Typhlosion is also just a great offensively sound Pokemon to have on the team. Typhlosion is the main tool I have to use to keep Lilligant or even Servine from setting up. Earthquake can also be used in place of HP Grass if you want to hit Lanturns, Mega Camerupts, and other Typhlosions for sizable damage. Typhlosion is a relatively soft Fire-type spam answer, but a potent answer nonetheless. I will often times find myself having to play Typhlosion very carefully because of how invaluable he is to the team.
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Mantine @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Defog
- Haze
- Toxic
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Admittedly, there is nothing special about this Mantine set. Defensive Mantine just functions as a really great glue for the team. With the team absolutely despising Spikes, two weak to Stealth Rock, a notable weakness to Fire-types like Pyroar, and having been destroyed by SmashPass once or twice, I figured defensive Mantine was the perfect fit for my team. Haze's purpose on the team is not limited to just preventing SmashPass sweeps; it is also a tool for preventing Lilligant or Servine from sweeping me. Also, Mantine works as a neat soft check for Fighting-types that can harass the team a bit. Although I miss Agility + Signal Beam, I think defensive is the sound choice here. Also, Mantine is another cutemon.
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Leafeon @ Life Orb
Ability: Leaf Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Knock Off
- Synthesis
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The finale. SD Leafeon is a great Pokemon that will be seen a lot again soon, I'm sure. Leafeon partners well with Aurorus as they take care of each others' checks and counters. Weezing, Vileplume, and Togetic are just a few examples of Pokemon that Aurorus can take care of for Leafeon. The only Pokemon Leafeon can really pressure well for Aurorus is Hariyama, but that's still a great bonus. Leafeon also functions as one of the team's few late-game cleaners, which is something the team was surprisingly lacking in up until this point. I rarely have to SD but it's nice to have around for threatening the opponent with. Synthesis is really only there to prevent the threat of whittling. Seeing as Leafeon is needed to break down bulky Water-types, I opted for as much health regen as I could.
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QD Lilligant and Choice Scarf Servine require a lot of tricky handling for this team. Allowing them a single turn of set up puts a lot of pressure on the team to act quickly.
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Specifically, Choice Scarf Mesprit. Having access to all the coverage to hit every member of my team somehow makes it very tricky to switch into.
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I haven't had to fight Trick Room yet, but I can tell you now I would be tempted to forfeit turn 1 if I saw I was up against it. This team has virtually nothing for common threats on Trick Room and I'm not exactly sure how I would handle fighting it.
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I have prepared for a lot of fast Pokemon and I'm aware that the team is averagely slow with no priority. Zebstrika, with its unique coverage options, really causes a lot of problems for me with Volt Switch and Hidden Power Grass shenanigans.
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Changes
This is where I'll keep track of all the changes I make based on suggestions from the raters! Thanks in advance for helping make the team sick!
Importable
Aurorus @ Choice Specs
Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psychic
- Earth Power
- Freeze-Dry
Mawile @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Toxic
- Baton Pass
Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 160 Def / 100 SpD
Impish Nature
- Curse
- Recover
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
Magmortar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 104 HP / 252 SpA / 152 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic
Mantine @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Defog
- Haze
- Toxic
Mesprit @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Zen Headbutt
- Knock Off
- Healing Wish
- U-turn
Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psychic
- Earth Power
- Freeze-Dry
Mawile @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Toxic
- Baton Pass
Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 160 Def / 100 SpD
Impish Nature
- Curse
- Recover
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
Magmortar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 104 HP / 252 SpA / 152 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic
Mantine @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Defog
- Haze
- Toxic
Mesprit @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Zen Headbutt
- Knock Off
- Healing Wish
- U-turn
Replays
Some neat games I have picked out of the team in action!
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nu-217353898
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/nu-217385331
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