On the Mold Breaker v. Sturdy Sawk issue:
It has sort of been said already, but imo Sturdy is better for Scarf sets while Mold Breaker and Band work really well together. Sawk appreciates being able to revenge with CC and then stay in to CC some more without worrying about being revenged. Mold Breaker lends itself so well to the band set because of Pokemon carrying Sturdy and Levitate. Also, I like to kill of Shedinja with EQ or Ice Punch, but maybe that's just me. :3
All of you are mean Liepard is cute ^_^
Yeah, I used to think Chansey and Blissey were cute too. Then I started playing competitively some time back, and all of that changed.
Problem with Sawsbuck is that it can't defeat many of the physical walls in NU. Even Regirock is troublesome if it carries Drain Punch, and Gurdurr is a full stop. Another problem, Swellow and Jumpluff also stop Sawsbuck though they can't switch in on Double-Edge. If Sawsbuck runs Adamant to pack the power it wants to have, a variety of things is suddenly outspeeding it, and even worse, those all have, without exception, powerful super-effective attacks to stomp Sawsbuck hard. Sawk is by far the most common, but Zangoose, Pikachu, and Leavanny are in the same boat.
You should always run Jolly>Adamant on an SD set. With LO+SD boost, you won't really be missing out on that extra Attack. And everything has its checks and counters. You shouldn't be setting up with Sawsbuck if you know it is going to be revenged with great ease.
On the great Wartortle debate of 2013:
I have run Wartortle more than once, and it handles itself just fine. Personally, I ran Scald/Seismic Toss/Rapid Spin/Toxic. Seismic Toss can break subs, so you don't have to worry too much about opposing Pokemon trying to set up on it. If you are REALLY paranoid about Pokes trying to come in and set up on it, run Haze. Problem solved. When I ran it on PO for a while as well because I wanted to use Shell Smash Crustle (which Crustle is still legal on PO in NU, even though a ban seems to be coming). I couldn't afford to have hazards up because I really needed Crustle to maintain its Sturdy when it came it. I didn't feel comfortable running a spinner weak to rocks for this reason. I posted an RMT on PO, and everyone recommended I ran Torkoal or Armaldo. I tried both, and neither worked as consistently as Wartortle. Overall, I feel like it's an inferior spinner in most cases, but sometimes you really need a spinner that is not weak to rocks.
| 13 | Golem | 8.36428% | 9634 | 7.545% | 8902 | 8.528% |
Even with Sawk, this is still so much higher than Regirock...
Personally, I like to run Golem as a suicide SR lead. Regirock is better at walling, but Golem hits much harder with dual-STAB EdgeQuake + Sucker Punch.
Oh, yeah, also, looking at the RU Stats, it seems we're about to get Munchlax, Hariyama, and Scolipede, and maybe if we're lucky, Klinklang. Hariyama and Scolipede are lowest than the cut point, already, and Munchlanx and Klinklang are so near (about 10 uses less, and they're lowest the cut point).
I'd be fine with Hariyama and to an extent Klinklang. But I reaaaallly don't want Scolipede (which will undoubtedly become the best spikes stacker in NU) or Munchlax (just because annoying). Actually, I would love to play with Hariyama. Bring it on!