Sazi and Blazi- a 5th Gen OU team

[Granstafer]

Hi once again people of smogon! So here it is, my first Gen V competitive team! I only know what I’m doing to a certain extent (which isn’t much) so help is much appreciated! ​

TEAM SAZI AND BLAZI
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Skarmory @ Shed Shell
EVs 252 HP/240 Def/16 Spe
Impish nature
Ability: Sturdy
-stealth rock
-spikes
- Brave Bird
- Roost

This was originally Nattorei, but it has been only proven useful as a lead, while Skarm completes the infamous SkarmBliss core (which in my case, is SkarmChance). This blocks Doryuzu from sweeping and scares them away. Shed shell is to escape the mischievous Magnezone who attempts to trap my steel types, which is just another thing for Blaziken to come into.


Sazandora (Sazi) @ life orb
Evs 252 SpAtk/252 Spe/4 Hp
Modest Nature
Ability: Levitate
-Draco Meteor
- Fire blast
-Dark Pulse
- U-turn

My special attacker and one of the Pokémon this was built around. Sazandora’s Draco Meteor owns, but since it lower’s Sazi’s sp. attack, Dark pulse is used for primary STAB. U-turn switches on Blissey/chansey to Blaziken allowing it to do its thing. I may change Fire blast to surf or focus blast depending on the circumstances. People who are stupid enough to switch in roob before a draco meteor only gets ko'ed by draco meteor. mach punch from roob 3hko's sazi before a bulk up, and 2hko's after 1 bulk up.


Blaziken (Blazi) @ Life Orb
EVs: 252 Atk/232 Spe/20 HP
Adamant nature
Ability: speed boost
-protect
-HJK
-blaze kick
-swords dance

Speed boost Blaziken, an awesome Pokémon to use, and the other main component of my team. Usually comes in on something like Blissey and swords dances up while it does whatever, and protects after that to get 2 speed boosts and to scout. 232 speed EVs is enough to outspeed jolly scarfed Zoroark after 2 speed boosts. Blaziken actually has fairly decent synergy with Sazandora, Sazi coming in on certain EQ’s aimed at Blazi, and Blazi coming in on ice attacks aimed at Sazi. Roob and Dory are a pain, but skarmory can usually take care of Dory. Roob is an issue

Chansey @ Pre-evolution stone
EVs 252 HP/ 252 Def/4 SpDef
Bold nature
Ability: Natural cure
-Wish
-protect
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic

Wish support chansey, acting just like Blissey. Why chansey? The Pre-evolution stone allows chansey to take hits easier. While this is sacrificing lefties, it has wish and protect for recovery. Wish recovers the health of her teammates, especially Sazi and Blazi. Toxic is spread around the opposing team to make the job easier, and as a last resort, toxic stalling. Seismic toss is Chansey’s best way off attacking.


Burungeru @ Leftovers
EVs 252 HP/252 SpDef/4 Def
Calm nature
Ability: Water absorb
-Will-o-wisp
-Surf
-Recover
-Ice Beam

With Entry hazards up, a spinblocker is necessary for such a team. Burungeru is an excellent spinblocker, spreading burns and keeping itself healthy with Recover. Ice beam is for dragons and Suf is for STAB. Roob continues to be an issue with payback, but is still a good spinblocker.


Garchomp @ choice scarf
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spe/ 4 Sp. Def
Jolly Nature
Ability: Sand Veil
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Dragon claw
-Stone edge

With Garchomp free to run in OU, He has replaced the not-so-amazing scarfgon as my revege killer. Stone edge is to defeat Gyrados, EQ is for main stab, Outrage/ dragon claw for dragons. Performing better than scarfgon ever did.

Roob continues to be an issue wit this team, and can, at best, be hurt by spikes and SR, hit By a burn or Toxic, and then plucked off by chomp.

So, what do you guys think? Comments, suggestions etc. are appreciated!

 

[LeviLamprey]

I love it! A non-Shadow Tag Shanderaa! All the sets are unique and brilliant. Blaziken should Protect first turn to get an SB, and see how offensive the enemy is. If you can't afford an SD. Replace Wish or Softboiled on Chansey: Softboiled for Protect with Wish for scouting/evasive purposes. If gettign rid of Wish, use Protect or some form of move to hit Ghosts: like Toxic which unfortunately doesn't get Gengar, or replace with Aromatherapy? Not too sure: just don't run 2 recovery moves. Love the Sazi and Blazi team name! Also, how useful is Pain Split on Shandy? Probably don't ned to change it with B60 HP, but there may be a more useful move like Nitro Charge for Speed boosting? But overall a REALLY good team!!!

 

[Jaroda]

Er, you're going to learn this the hard way, but your Skarmory will only be able to finish off weakened Roopushin. It can't check a fresh one. You'll fail to OHKO with Brave Bird, especially with no attack EVs and when they have a Bulk Up from you switching in. Then when you Brave Bird, they'll heal with Drain Punch while damaging you. If you try to Roost, you lose your Flying type and Roopushin's attack become super effective. All Skarmory can usually do is Whirlwind it away for later.

Even your, oddly, bulky Shandera can't kill SpD Roopushin which are very common, even if it were Timid with max SpA and Overheat. Then you fall to Payback or Stone Edge. Frankly, your whole team is Roopushin weak.

Anyway, if you want a bulky Ghost you can do a LOT better than Shandera (who is supposed to be a revenge pokemon anyway), especially since you're not even using Shadow Tag. Burungeru is a much better spin blocker, can Recover, and use WoW and Toxic.

Blaziken does not need Protect AND Sword Dance. You're walled to hell by Gyarados, Dragonite, Salamence, L@tias, Gliscor and Burungeru. I think Protect is kind of pointless on Blaziken anyway, you really need SD and a third coverage move. Either Shadow Claw or Stone Edge, depending on who you want to deal with.

Garchomp is a much better Scarf user and Kojondo and Scizor are better U-Turn users. Replace for one of them.

Softboiled and Wish on Chansey is pointless. Use Protect with Wish if you want guaranteed healing while simulatenously preventing damage.

If Sazandora has Life Orb I'd sack one of the Dragon moves for Earth Power. If you were choiced though then it'd be different.

Threat wise I see Roopushin and Latios being huge problems. You can revenge with scarf Outrage but you'll get revenged in turn, unless Latios is scarfed too.

 

[Granstafer]

Thanks for the Input. I made the major changes.

 

[Chou Toshio]

Maybe the easiest way to add some Roob check is to switch one of your Dragons for Salamence. My personal preference would be Sazandora since they are pretty similar, but I understand Sazandora is one of the pokemon the team is built on. Just by looking though I can tell you'd have issues with Roob and other Fighting pokemon by looking at this team. If you replace Garchomp with Salamence, I'd switch Sazandora for the Scarf set.

My favorite Salamence set is:
Salamence
Naive
@Life Orb
16 Atk / 240 SpA / 252 Spe
-Draco Meteor
-Earthquake
-Fire Blast / Flamethrower
-Outrage

but it might not be the best fit for the team. Draco Meteor does 1 HKO most Roobushin though.

I'd say stick to Fire Blast on Sazandora. With Blissey, Burungeru, Garchomp and Blaziken, this team is not the least bit afraid of Heatran. Otherwise, Fire Blast is invaluable against Nattorei.

 

[Jaroda]

What with a fair majority, 75% at least, of Roopushin carrying Guts you're asking for trouble by trying to burn one. All you can really do with your current team is Toxic stall with Blaziken's Protect and switching to Burungeru and simply Recovering to keep Payback damage minimal, but that's really more of a desperate strategy than an efficient one.Bulky Salamence is indeed a decent check to Payback Roopushin with a combination of Intimidate and Dragon Dance. Roosting would unfortunately remove your fighting resistence. Rankurusu, Slowbro, Shaymin-S, Specs Latios and Gliscorb with Acrobat are the best Roopushin counters I find.

 

[Granstafer]

bump

 

[y4f]

Hey there. Let me first say that this team looks very balanced and solid, and I'm sure it works great. My first suggestion, however, would be to change the Skarm set you run. Seeing as you may be going against a lot of status inducing leads, I'd suggest running a Taunt Lead Skarm variant like this:

Skarmory @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 240 SDef (or Def) / 16 Spd
Calm / Impish nature
- Taunt
- Roost
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock

This Skarmory loses to faster Taunt / Mirror Coat leads, but the main advantage it has over your current set is that it guarantees that it will get up layers against any slower lead. It also stops said slower leads from getting up layers of their own. Against faster Taunt leads, you can always just switch to an appopriate counter.

For Sazandora, having Dark-type stab in the form of Dark Pulse may seem appealing but I personally like the coverage of Surf better. It allows you to hit pokes like Gliscor, Hippowdon, BalloonTran, and Dory a lot harder. I would also go for Flamethrower over Fire Blast to hit Sand Veil switch ins and not take any chances. Running Modest + LO easily cancels out the drop in power, and Flamethrower with LO gets you most of the KOs you need. I would also consider dropping U-turn for Dragon Pulse for late-game action, as having a powerful STAB that hits almost everything for neutral and doesn't decrease SAtk, especially boosted by LO is crucial, especially with Rocks up.

While the Sazi / Blazi combination does offer incredible synergy, I would consider the Blazi / Lati combination as well. Both Latias and Latios offer slightly more bulk than Sazandora, as well as counter Blazikens counters. Sazandora can take out the physical walls that plague Blazi, and vice versa, yet there are quite a few pokes that cause significant problems for the both of them. Most specially bulky waters can take on Sazi and Blazi with ease, as can Roobushin (one of the main problems). After a Bulk Up, neither Blazi nor Sazi can handle Roob as priority boosted Mach Punch hits Saz and with boosted defenses it can take whatever Blaziken throws at it. Latias can switch into a boosted Drain Punch and OHKO with Specs DM. If you do decide to run one of the Lati siblings over Sazandora, I'd run a Choice Specs set so you can cripple walls via Trick, seeing as you don't have any mixed sweepers / wallbreakers. Something like this:

Latias @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Trick

Forces switches and hits everything not named Blissey or a steel incredibly hard. Will help you rack up entry hazard damage. Also, a better switchin to Trickscarfers / specers than Garchomp since Garchomp gets locked into outrage when he tries to hit switchins, while lati can switch out after DM.

I wish you luck with the team!