Tournament The World Cup of Pokemon 2019: SM OU Discussion

Kory2600

cclm
Well, i guess i'm gonna open this thread.I only played 1 game and it was due to a sub but despite our poor showing as a team ( france) i kind of enjoyed building around some cool stuffs during that timeframe so, even if i ended up not bringing em all obviously, enjoy!


Kommo-o @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 HP / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Close Combat
- Protect

Def one of my favorite "underrated" mon i've ever played, being able to check most ash-greninjas, kokos, zapdos, tyranitar,heatran,charizard-mega y,even spd bulu or things like rotom which could be annoying to switch into for a bulky offense all in 1 pokemon is really key cc still hits fairly hard but you obviously gonna use toxic a lot more, being able to toxic scarf landos, tornadus, zapdos again etc is still something pretty cool and cc against does quite a bit on steels so its not as deadweight.Lastly protect gives you room against choiced mons ( specs koko/lele, scarf lando once its weakened a bit, scarf/band kartana, scarf jirachi, you know.Really reliable rocker, will always gives you something against offense/balanced, it obviously struggles against bulkier teams with like toxapex, reuniclus, clefable but eh, you still get em up :nice:


Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 8 HP / 252 Atk / 248 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Stone Edge

Not really an innovative set here but i def think its kind of underrated.It obviously hits a lot of things really hard and does his job against bulkier teams, it also is kind of bulky even without a lot of hp, being able to take some supereffective things like leaf storm from serperior at full, eq from a +0 charizard x,moonblast from diancie, moonblast from clefable obviously as well, thus scare them out and hit something with either stone edge ( assuming it hits.) or crunch really hard. it obviously needs support but i think band tar has potential right now..Speed is for modest zones btw.


Victini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Final Gambit
- U-turn
- Trick
- V-create

Again, not rly innovative at all but i've had a crush on this lately. Being able to final gambit on something you want gone ( like tyranitar, garchomp or lando, heatran, toxapex ..) is just lovely support for your team. Other than that it can use trick on bulkish teams before using final gambit as well, and do his scarfer job against offensive teams which tends to have like rotom as a fire resist.It also have tons of key resistances like psychic, steel, grass, ice or even fighting and his bulk is pretty good too.However you gotta use him wisely since its weak to rocks, weak as a physical attacker as well, even tho v create is fucking 180 bp lol what the fuck.


And that's it.Now that my team is eliminated i hope to see some good pokemon battles and may the best team win! ( rooting for west and LA tho )



(Bonus)

Probopass @ Expert Belt
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 28 HP / 252 Atk / 228 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Taunt
- Fire Punch
- Stealth Rock

This shit sucks, don't use it in tournaments, however it has a little niche, it traps spowerless scizors eqless celesteelas and defensive heatran at full!
 

Ruft

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OU Leader
Probopass @ Expert Belt
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 28 HP / 252 Atk / 228 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Taunt
- Fire Punch
- Stealth Rock

This shit sucks, don't use it in tournaments, however it has a little niche, it traps spowerless scizors eqless celesteelas and defensive heatran at full!
Doesn't Alolan Golem do the same thing but better?

Golem-Alola @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wild Charge
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- Explosion / Stealth Rock / Stone Edge
 
Since Germany got eliminated its my turn to breathe some life into this thread and share everything I made again.

:psysly:

Groups

Relous

vs. HSA paste
Team I made for Necrozma during qualifiers, I really enjoy this structure and at this time there was no harm in simply using the two teams I had made for Austria's SM. Celesteela is a monster and the Fire-resists are allowing it to do its job. You'd also think that mixed Chomp + Fini dont go well but all the Draco targets are actually flying and therefore unaffected by the terrain (Landorus-Therian, Mega-Lati@s, Tornadus-Therian).

vs. Sabella paste
The first 'counterteam'. Sabella had been skipping Toxapex left and right and I'm a huge believer in Zard Y's upside vs non-Pex. Zard Y turned out to have a spectacular matchup but Sabella simply outplayed Relous throughout the game, who also had finite tools to deal with Mega-Mawile. To go more in-depth on the team itself, it is pretty much entirely built around supporting Zard Y and giving it the time it needs with the Tang Pex Mew core as well as Pursuit/Sand/Spin support from Tyranitar and Excadrill.

♀
vs. CKW paste
Another quote 'counterteam' focused around enduring the first wave of pressure CKW's teams lacking longevity dish out. Worked as intended. Double Steel + HP Ground Ditto is a great core in itself and the 3 Atk Mega-Latias set is a menace in the right matchup. No Defog, only Hazards.

ict
vs. hamhamhamham paste
Stall team I used vs. tama in SPL. Stall is pretty decent still and people tend to prepare less for it nowadays. Matchup turned out super well and despite how Exca was mishandled ict managed to still win with some insane Volc doubles. There isnt a lot that can be said about this particular team, the only oddity is physdef on Mega-Sableye which is there to prevent Rocks from Z-Rock Grounds as best as possible.

vs. Jytcampbell paste
Team I made for xray vs. Soulwind smogon tour semis where it didnt come to a game 3 so we still had this leftover. Ict should have preserved Psychics until fully boosted and attempt to pp stall the Jirachi only going for Psychic on a predicted switch but he didnt manage to find that route so we lost eventually to Fini + Zard X which are both rather annoying to this team, especially Fini. The team itself is pretty much just a bunch of sturdy cores slapped together with a few 'unexpexted' sets I personally enjoy that go well together like Helmet Reuni, 3 Atk Roost Mega-Scizor and Icium-Z Kyurem.

vs. Gypsy King paste
Ict hadnt been doing too well with long-term gameplans so we decided to take a more offensive approach. I made this BO specifically for this game, it just has a bunch of good cores in Rotom+Torn, double Regen and powerful standalone mons in Z-Chomp / MMawile where every mon brings some defensive utility to the table. Most noticeable on this team is the lack of a real steel-type but Scarf Victini attempts to offer an alternative Psychic- and Fairy-resist and there are some other good moves vs. those like Power Whip on Tang or Sucker on Maw. Ict managed to put himself in a pretty nice position in a relatively even matchup but lost via timeout.

xray
vs. Axel paste
Xray asked me to build around Sub Z-Rock Chomp so I did. This team is a bit weak to SD Gliscor (who at the time wasnt nearly as popular) but the usual SM spreads are still threatened by Rotom-Wash. The overall matchup turned out to be really hard, however, and after getting hit by some techs like Foul Play Scarf Krookodile not even SD Mega-Scizor had a shot at winning anymore. Ash-Greninja is also pretty threatening for this team due to no Dark resist but every single mon is able to check it to some capacity and AV Torn as well as (semi) SpD Rotom are alright at dealing with it overall.

Quarters

Relous

vs. Googly paste
Relous had been bringing pretty fat stuff overall so we decided to switch it up. This rain team is the other SM team I made for Austria, more specifically for Liones. At this point there was definitely some risk involved with bringing used teams that I had built, however, the custap Mag tech remained unrevealed and the other 5 mons are pretty straight-forward. What I mean by that is there is not much you can gain by knowing your opponent has Damp Rock Peliper once the game has started, you should know that stuff anyway. We managed to run into Zard Y despite our insane Pex usage so that was pretty rough but thanks to a misplay on googly's side (evolving Zard prematurely on Ferro's protect) and some insane play from Relous it somehow still worked out. Team is pretty standard Rain that aims to utilize Manaphy, the Custap Mag is there to get rid of Alakazam once it cannot check it by virtue of its typing anymore but it can catch oh so many other things and it will get chipped without going out of your way due to its role as a pivot in the midgame.


ict
vs. Vore Gidal paste
Like in g3 of the group stage, I wanted to make another offensive team for ict and we had yet to use Gear+Lando offense plus we were low on Ash-Greninja and Mega-Medicham usage, also. I've made like 30 versions of this team switching up Amoonguss/Tang as well as the Magearna, Garchomp and Landorus-Therian movesets but ultimately decided that this was the best combination to solve all the main problems like Mega-Scizor, Celesteela and T-Spikes. Knock Off Scarf Lando targets Celesteela since Amoonguss (unlike Tang) is unable to learn Knock Off and is just a great utility move overall. The defensive Leftovers Magearna set is the real MVP tho and I've even thought about making it 3 Atks Pain Split (HP Fire over Heart Swap and perhaps Flash Cannon over Fleur then). Most of this stuff is pretty self-explanatory but the Magearna EV's allow it to OHKO Kartana and survive a HJK from +2 Hawlucha.

Semis

-
 
This thread has seen better days but considering this tournament is finally over, it would be a waste not to give credence to all the sets and ideas that made it all possible for us to get the trophy. i'll only be mentioning sets that aren't particularly seen in standard play, but have manifested in our tour play during this edition of wcop.

Garchomp @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Substitute / Fire Fang

not sure why this set is not used as much as it is, but i believe that z dragon chomp is by far superior to both mega sd and sd z rock. the targets that z rock hits that z dragon doesn't are really just bulu and skarm(both of which aren't particularly threatening), and oftentimes missing out on the extra power boosted by STAB no less is essentially limiting chomp's nuking power as whole. people also assume that whenever chomp sds, it is z rock, and having z dragon to deal with their check/pivot can be much more rewarding. celesteela isn't an answer either since the most it can do is leech seed and coverage in fire fang or substitute can deal with that, as well as knocking it out with a +4 z dragon. while this set forfeits chomp's ability to set up rocks, sd sr chomp is usually whittled and at most claims 1 kill or major damage before it goes down, which potentially allows for the opponent to defog later on in the match. substitute is preferable for scouting and safe set up(also blocking status), while also allowing for safe usage of z dragon vs non fairy pivots, but fire fang is also usable if coverage for bulu and certain steel types is preferred. if using fire fang, fini is a decent partner as it provides misty terrain support to block status for it and the targets z dragon hits are usually levitating or flying which doesn't nerf its damage output.

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 128 SpD / 136 Spe || EVs: 244 HP / 148 SpD / 116 Spe
Jolly / Careful Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Earthquake
- Facade

sd gliscor is low key broken and admittedly has really skyrocketed in usage ever since oras players from spain started spamming it in sm. the only real "counters" that can deal with it is skarm, physdef steela, ice beam lati, rh tang with hp ice, slowbro, and unaware mons. that isn't a really big list of counters, but the major way of dealing with it before it gets out of hand is honestly applying as much offensive pressure as possible. i personally use 2 spreads for it, one that is more spdef and caters to easier set up while the other is faster to cover threats like z tran, megatar, adamant sd land and base 80s. you can even go faster for jolly drill if you're really weak to that but would be a lot of wasted evs otherwise. while sr and defog gliscor are also quite good, sd reigns supreme.

Landorus-Therian @ Rockium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

didn't really think this set was relevant any longer until blunder mentioned how good it can be, and also the fact that germany almost swept us with it so yeah dd land with the comeback. while the standard set is sr over rp which is more catered to dealing with stall, rock polish allows it to outspeed pretty much everything in the current meta, even jolly sand drill and standard hawlucha. rp is very much a surprise tech since it is a set that nobody expects to face and is only really revenged by certain priority. a speed boosting sweeper that can't be revenged under normal circumstances is in itself a huge boon, added with the fact that it is on a mon that can don so many sets, so set up should not be a huge issue if played correctly. probably the most underrated set on my list which definitely deserves some love.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 208 SpD / 52 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Protect
- Toxic

this is basically spdef tran, but forgoes rocks for both stallbreaking and walling potential. of course if you wanted maximum stallbreaking, the standard set with z fire and taunt over protect would be ideal, however the metagame is proving to be less hospitable for stall as a playstyle and this set caters to the majority of the tier much better. as far as counters go, clefable, chansey with heal bell and gliscor are really the only relevant switchins. pex and fini both die to the combination of magma storm chip damage, earth power spam and protect for longevity. this set is perfect in both the offense and defense department and is what i run on most of my trans if i can fit sr on something else.

Diancie-Mega @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect / Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]

while this isn't the only set it can run, this is what i consider standard diancie to be. diancie is a very underrated mega, despite probably being my most used as it has exceptional offensive stats and versatility in movepool. i honestly think diancie is the best offensive fairy type in the tier, as it has both the speed and power to supplement it(outspeeding kart is so good), compared to mawile and magearna's low speed as well as the tapu's role on a team being spread too thin. while diamond storm isn't bad neutral coverage, i prefer full special since the targets that diamond storm hits are mons that shouldn't even stay in on diancie in the first place. either protect or stealth rock have their merits, protect being able to scout and allowing for safe mega evolving and sr making for a decent offensive rocker. moonblast and earth power already have near perfect coverage, with hp ice scoring the ko on standard gliscor as well as defensive landorus, allowing diancie to not be forced out by common ground type sr users.

Mawile-Mega @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 80 HP / 248 Atk / 8 SpD / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Ice Punch

pretty sure i've tried every offensive mawile set in existence but nothing does it better than subpunch imo. 4 atks has 4mss surprisingly and sd has mindgames with sucker and sd while also having coverage issues, but subpunch gives mawile safe haven to do what it does best, wallbreak. while this set does not have STAB, that isn't necessary when focus punch outdamages play rough with the rest of the elemental punches solving its coverage issue for the most part. being able to effectively deal with shit like tangpexscor and landtran with the click of a button is what this mawile is born to do. the evs allow its substitute to not be broken by pex's scald while outspeeding skarm, but more bulk can be used to allow mawile to serve as a better pivot and also tank certain hits.

Aggron-Mega @ Aggronite
Ability: Filter
EVs: 240 HP / 240 Atk / 28 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Avalanche
- Fire Punch

i was skeptical at first thinking,"why use offensive aggron when mawile exists" but this thing is an absolute menace. i'd go even further in saying that this set is actually better than 4 atks mawile. be that as it may, this set does necessitate wish support. i've tried standard aggron stall before and it never really clicked for me, as aggron was just an inferior mega on stall to sableye for the most part. what offensive aggron has over mawile though is bulk, a lot of it. for perspective, this thing can live a mega medicham's hjk and ohko back with heavy slam. aggron doesn't really need to invest in spdef since its meant to deal primarily with physical attackers. while i couldn't really fit rocks on this, the coverage is absolutely worth it, allowing it to check and retaliate vs a good portion of the metagame, with the slight creep in speed allowing it to outspeed celesteela and do quite a bit of chip with fire punch.

Salamence @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 248 Atk / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Fly

a very much slept on set up sweeper, subddmence is unstoppable once it gets a dd and its moxie going. this set does require magnezone support, but it does have advantages to some of its other competition in landorus and gyarados. its defensive typing is quite good allowing it to set up vs common fire, water and grass types(also not being revenged by ashgren), its speed tier being able to beat out on the most common scarfer in the tier being landorus, and the perfect moveset to cater to this beast. sub eases set up while also blocking status and prevents mindgames when using z fly, with flying ground coverage to cover the majority of the metagame.

Volcarona @ Buginium Z / Iapapa Berry
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower
- Bug Buzz
- Hidden Power [Ground]

this is standard volcarona yes, but it is still a very much slept on pokemon in the metagame. if you don't have a chansey or toxapex, all this mon needs is 1 qd to potentially sweep your entire team. needless to say it still requires defog support and teamates that can deal with those 2 mons, but while this mon is considered "cheese" i think this is the best variety on the market, beating out all of weather, ho and stall if you ask me(at least vs standard shit).

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 180 SpD / 76 Spe
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Iron Head
- Secret Power

standard wish rachi but there is a caveat to this set, which is having to pair it with tapu bulu. secret power is basically a noncontact body slam that is weaker, but also has a 60% chance to put something to sleep under grassy terrain. this means rachi can't be punished by switching in for example by a tran or pex and can fish for a sleep vs them while switching out to take advantage of an out of commission mon. also has the added benefit of bulu beating out fini and koko for terrain wars since they can block sleep via terrain.

Tapu Bulu @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Horn Leech
- Superpower
- Stone Edge

scarfbulu has really been growing in usage as of late and i'm surprised people don't really consider it when they think of bulu. they either assume defensive sd(which i think is bad now) and cb, but scarf does have a lot of merit to it. being able to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame besides megazam not only fixes its speed issue as an offensive mon, but also serves as a decent deterrent vs offense. while it isn't as potent as band, it isn't a bad option if one is in need of speed control and can forgo the breaking power.

Tapu Fini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 96 HP / 160 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Defog
- Hydro Pump
- Moonblast

a bit of an unconventional fini set, but scarfini does outspeed the entire unboosted metagame(including megazam) while also serving as an emergency fast defogger(similar to scarf lando) and also has pretty good utility with trick and good offensive STABs. i was experimenting with finiland cores and they typically use defensive fini and scarf land, but i felt that offensive set up land with scarfini would perform much better vs fat. trick is especially nice on it since it allows it to cripple fat walls similarly to taunt while also allowing it to switch up moves if need be. the spatk investment allows it to ohko opposing offensive land with pump guaranteed.

Tapu Koko @ Fairium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 80 HP / 4 Def / 172 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Calm Mind
- Roost

a set i didn't think would really grow on me but it has. while my all time favorite koko set is indeed specs, cm z fairy certainly has its perks. being a strong and fast win con with a lot of staying power, this koko has multiple opportunities to wreak havoc once its counters have been weakened or eliminated. a boosted z fairy allows it to eliminate most electric deterrents with ease, thus allowing it to just spam tbolt on the rest of the enemy. probably its most underrated set, but one that is still quite relevant i'd say.

Greninja @ Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes / Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
- Extrasensory
- Hidden Power [Fire]

if there is any greninja set that one would probably not expect, it would probably be ebelt. seeing as everyone and their moms have ash gren counters(at least in tour), protean greninja would seemingly do well to compensate for that. sure z dig is also very good as well, but it does require a z crystal(also forces it to be physically based) and ebelt can more or less accomplish the same thing. hp fire allows it to threaten steel types like ferro and gearna, with esense covering pex. pump is necessary to make sure that gren isn't walled by things like tran or ttar while rounding out as pretty good neutral coverage. spikes is ideal as a midground, especially since gren is probably the mon that forces the most switches but ice beam can be used for near perfect coverage.

Slowbro-Mega @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 176 Def / 36 SpD / 48 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Slack Off
- Scald
- Psyshock

i only ever really considered using slowbro ever since people learned how passive pex is and that pex as a mon was accounted for on every sm team, thus dwindling its overall usefulness in tour as far as a tanky wall goes. slowbro on the other hand allows it to deal with a lot of things that toxapex can't, for example: zardx, pert, medi, land, gliscor, chomp off the top of my head. also the fact that ash gren usage was dwindling meant that slowbro had a lot more breathing room in the current metagame. despite being its bread and butter set in oras, standard cm megabro is quite a potent win con in sm, especially vs certain bo and balance builds. the evs creep pex, while also koing it after 2 calm minds and being heavily invested in defense to deal with almost every physical attacker in the tier. ice beam can be ran over calm mind if your team is extremely sd chomp weak, but having a win con with cm might be too good to pass up.

Reuniclus @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 212 Def / 48 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Calm Mind
- Recover

not really a fan of acid armor, but cm z fight reuni is quite a frightening set up sweeper that is quite honestly a mon that people don't really prep for or consider when building. this plays similarly to sd gliscor, and is really only managed via offensive pressure to prevent set up as there isn't really much counterplay to this mon once it's boosted. a bit of a mu fishy mon imo, but one that can pay off dividends if you're expecting some fatty balance or bulky offense.

Latias-Mega @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Reflect Type / Substitute
- Roost
- Stored Power

this set is borderline op vs most bo and balance builds, with very few actual things being able to stop it. obviously this set requires support to deal with dark types, but the sweeping potential with just 2 cms is quite insane. this is basically standard cm lati, but reflect type or sub allows it to deal with most of its counters/issues it would normally face when trying to set up most notably status users and potent breakers. this set also forgoes ice beam, so extra support to deal with offensive grounds is in order but is an investment that is well worth it depending on your team.

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 236 HP / 176 SpD / 96 Spe
Careful Nature
- Substitute
- Spore
- Leech Seed
- Focus Punch

unfortunately i didn't get to showcase it as well as i could have since it got crit :psygrump: , but subseed loom is a strong win con by virtue of its moveset and ability. it does have some inherit issues as a "defensive" grass type because of its lack of bulk, but it can compensate with utility in spore and it in general being annoying by getting free substitutes and focus punches. i will say that every time i've used loom it hasn't been useless since it can put mons to bed, perform as a status blocker(fuck rotom), and get initiative vs common ou threats like ashgren, lando, pex and ferro. i haven't been able to make the best team i can with it, but i hope i've inspired others who can.

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge / Payapa Berry / Occa Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 232 HP / 60 Def / 216 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Spore
- Sludge Bomb
- Stomping Tantrum
- Hidden Power [Fire]

speaking of mons with spore, amoonguss is criminally underrated as a defensive grass type and am somewhat surprised by its low usage. advantages it has over tangrowth in particular are that it's one of the few viable mons that can absorb tspikes from pex, can check every tapu (lele if payapa) while also checking common metagame threats in gren, gearna, rotom and offensive grass types. being able to invalidate a mon with sleep, while also performing as an ideal pivot vs the majority of the common meta is something you can't ask more of from a regen mon. black sludge is preferred, but payapa berry can be used to not die or forced out vs offensive psychics like lele, zam and medi, while occa is helpful vs offensive fires like tran and zard. giga drain isn't necessary i feel since amoonguss already walls most water types and the extra coverage is much more useful.

Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 1 Spe
- Transform

while i have not ever considered this mon in my building since it goes against a lot of my preconceived notions of what a competitive team comprises of, scarf ditto is undeniably a mon that has garnered usage and its own build archetype. it has several uses, but is primarily best used as a revenge killer. it also functions as a set scouter, pivot, wall, basically everything since it can be literally anything. the ivs allow it to also trap opposing magnezone and ko it with hp ground as well. definitely a mon i've underestimated, but is something i took into account during our wcop run by using mons that aren't susceptible to it such as sd gliscor, hawlucha, and z fly mence.
 
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Oh... A poor thread where almost no one posts and where I can expand my religion of randomness? Lets get it done!

Paste: https://pokepast.es/5a9bdce3fa110681

FMG was my first opponent and I expected him to scout my Replays, see my enormous Victini usage (is the best OU Scarfer for a reason) and bring 2 or 3 good checks for him. So, I brought a Victini... but not the one he expected. With 404 HP, Final Gambit kills almost all Victini checks. Charizard-X benefits from that by sharing many checks with Victini, as both are physical Fire Types into which things like Tyranitar, Heatran and Lando switch, The team is mostly offensive, so I needed a second scarfer and Jirachi is the second best in OU after Victini. Not only Jirachi switches into things like Lele, Kyu-B and Diancie, but it can also cure one of my sweepers or my pivots with Healing Wish. Lando + Fini hazard core pairs well with anything, I have built Volturn teams with them, Sun Teams with them, Hail teams with them and even a Luxray team, they are that good at their role. The final Mon is Kartana, another physical one that uses a Z-Giga Impact to kill everything after Zard and Victini weaken the physical walls. Its also sort of a Rain check, as it resists everything Swampert throws and outspeeds things like Azumarill, Crawdaunt and Manaphy.

The strategy of Final Gambit Victini worked out, but I still lost to FMG because of misplays, as I always do.

Paste: https://pokepast.es/a5a110d27a3a5098

Against Ultraballz the idea that I wanted to try was Wild Madness Koko. With Nature Madness it wears down his checks and then switches out with U-Turn, usually to Tornadus-T, as many of those checks are Grass types that take damage from Rocky Helmet ( and even when they are Special, Tornadus-T eats all their moves and also Defogs). Z Wild Charge is the strongest move Koko has and I like that crazy power. After trying the core in some different teams, I decided to use Rain. Most of the sets are standart, however Swampert has Superpower and Greninja has no Spikes. I really like Superpower on Swamp as it damages hard any Ferrothorn, Kartana and Rotom-W than usually switch into Swamp. On the other hard, I dislike using Hazards or Defog on choiced Mons, so Greninja has 2 accurate STABs, 1 powerful STAB and a priority move. Both Swampert and Greninja really benefit from Nature Madness Koko that wears down all grass types. The team is completely destroyed by Mega Alakazam (although he has to hit 2 or 3 Focus Blasts to win) but Ultraballz had more than 300 OU Replays in the Scouter and Mega Zam was in only 8 of them.

Still, that preparation was not enough. This time I didn,t lose because of my plays, but because Ultraballz brought the supreme counterteam: a sand Team with 2 Grounds, 2 Tornadus checks and 2 Regenerator Mons, one for each offensive water I had.

Paste: https://pokepast.es/26cac99000575729

My strategy to avoid scouting used to be putting Replays of almost all my battles and therefore overwhelm and confuse possible scouters with tons of useless information. This started to fail after Replays Scouter appeared and included the option of making Usage Stats. Essence was more clever: there was no information of him in the Replay Scouter when I tried to find it. Still, one of my teammates had 6 teams made by him, and 5 of them were totally destroyed by my Mega Tar Balance. I made this team in September or October of 2018 and used it successfully in several spanish tournaments and against Redemption in OST. The game plan of this team is just cheking the most threats possible while having some offensive presence. CelesDon is a much more Solid core than CelePex, they have perfect sinergy and check many things. Unlike CelePex, the core isn,t destroyed when a Sub-Z Steelium Zone appears, as Gastro laughs of it. Mega Tar puts Rocks, scares Defoguers like Tornadus-T (also 2HKOs Mega Sableye and can OHKO Diancie) and pursuits thing like Mega Lati@s, Blacephalon, Victini and Alakazams that don,t trust the power of friendship Focus Blast provides. Ice Punch one shots offensive Chomp and sometimes lures Gliscor, SD versions of which are enormous threat of this team. Clefable absorbs Status and Sweeps with CM + Thunder. I consider it to be the best Clefable set, as with some luck in the long run it can sweep against the whole Meta except Excadrill, Clear Smog Amoonguss and the rare Mega Steelix. Clefable also turns out to be the best check Medicham has in this team... which is actually not good. Rotom-H checks a lot more than you would think: Flying Types ( Celesteela gets knocked by Torna-T, Tar can get hit by a fight move), Scizor, Zard-Y, Mawile, Magearna, etc. Against Glisc/Quag less Stall teams it also annoys Chansey with Pain Split. I originally started to use Rotom-H in 2014 Hail Teams ( and its still almost a must in those kind of teams) but the Mon has lots of uses outside of that playstyle. Tornadus-T is the final Mon of this team. Its the Defoguer and Z Move user that checks (softly) Kartana, Medicham and CM Keldeo among others. Rotom and Tornadus form a solid Volturn Core that gains momentum and sometimes lets Tar come safely to Pursuit something.

Essence used a Balanced Zard-Y Team. Had that Zard-Y Solar Beam, it could have overwhelmed Rotom-H in the long run if played well, and destroy me. But he hadn,t, so that was the one battle I won during the Wcop. Fortunately, I was the only one to win Essence in the whole Tournament.


I ended up 1-2, got deservely benched and didn,t see another battle until we got out. Hopefully the SS Meta will be better than this one, I will be better next year than this one and Team Europe improves too in the next edition!

Some other cool ideas I had during WCOP:


Chess (Chesnaught) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Roar / Wood Hammer / Leech Seed / whatever you need
- Spiky Shield
- Drain Punch

Fortunately for Chesnaught, people don,t listen to Ben Gay and don,t usually use Dragonium Chomp ( which I also tend to favour) over Rockium. Well, that Chomp gets countered by this. Ches also checks things like Crawdaunt, Bisharp, Mega Gyarados, Tyranitar, Excadrill, Kartana, Lopunny and is even a one time switch-in to Ass Ninja. It gets Spikes, so it automatically has a solid niche in defensive teams. I like Roar as the last move in order to not allow Bulu set-up on, but if that Mon is covered, Ches has a surprisingly large movepool of useful options for that slot. Needs Wish Support, preferably by Chansey or Alomomola.


Mr. 108 (Spiritomb) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 SpD
Impish Nature
- Pursuit
- Foul Play
- Pain Split
- Will-O-Wisp

Fuck Alakazam and Fuck Medicham. This allows to put another Mega on Stall, not named Sableye. It bipasses Subs, burns things and can use Foul Play on set-up sweepers like Rocks Chomp:

+2 252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 240+ Def Spiritomb: 225-265 (74.2 - 87.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery


Ashirene (Primarina) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Rest
- Sleep Talk


Pretty sure some of you have already seen me battling with this Mon on ladder. Unfortunately couln,t qualify, but its still a good Mon on defensive teams. Unlike Fini, it has recovery and thats its main niche. Water Fairy Typing is amazing and Primarina also hits harder than Fini, even when its not in Torrent range. Checks most Trans, Chomps and Ass Ninjas very well, while absorbing Status. Be wary of opposing Fini, which prevents Rest.

Ennyūto (Salazzle) @ Leftovers
Ability: Corrosion
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 36 Def / 224 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Toxic
- Flamethrower

Toxics Tran and Pex, among others. Switches into most Grass Types and has HP Ice for Gliscor ( an otherwise hard counter), Chomp and Lando.



Sword Of The Past (Doublade) (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Sleep Talk
- Shadow Claw
- Rest


Did I tell you how much I hate Medicham? Well, this also checks Mega Heracross, Bulu, some Magearnas, Z-Kyu-B and many others. Really likes Grassy Terrain support which makes EQ do you 0.


Froslasse (Froslass) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Will-O-Wisp

The nick it has is enough if a niche, but this works very well on HO, not only putting Spikes, but crippling opposition with 2 different Status and Cursed Body, which I consider an amazing ability. Pair it with a Fairy to threaten Sableye and a Serperior to threaten Fini and Diancie. Bisharp is also a cool partner to disuade Defog and benefitting from burns, paralisis and Cursed Body.


Zapdosorio (Zapdos) @ Chilan Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 240 HP / 192 Def / 76 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Roost
- Defog


I invented Z Giga Impact Kartana back in 2015, at the very beginning of SM. Well, now its a popular set, and this Zapdos counters it, at the same time being faster than standart Fini.


Komo? (Kommo-o) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Rock Slide
- Dragon Tail
- Drain Punch
- Flamethrower

The best Kommonium Counter. Also checks Volcarona, Zard-Y and Scizor well.



Zapdosorio (Zapdos) @ Charti Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 188 Def / 72 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Heat Wave
- Roost

Leads against Rockium Chomp and lives to tell it.


Lazolen (Ribombee) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Shield Dust
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Moonblast
- Bug Buzz
- Energy Ball

A Mega Swampert check that no one expects. Also checks things like Kartana and Kommo-o. I tried this on very specific teams where I ended up being weak to many things and without another viable Scarfer to check all of them at the same time.

Weedragon (Drampa) (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Focus Blast

Aka the Mon that makes Serperior TOTALLY useless.


Zapdosorio (Zapdos) @ Electrium Z
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Roost
- Defog

A Z Move (aka Knock Off absorber) user on Stall that also lures Swampert. Yes, I like experimenting with Zapdos.
 

Askov

Explode
is a Tiering Contributoris a Past SPL Champion
UUPL Champion
i havent played any game in this wcop but i experimented some unconventional stuff while teambuilding in the bench


Serperior @ Normalium Z
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 56 HP / 200 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flash
- Substitute
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]

yeah, this serp is the actual demon set, with z-flash u not only drop opp's accuracy by one stage but also gives u +1 evasion which will make magma heatran change its STAB move. If you can chip/knock off heatran and chip/para torn, it basically will tear apart most teams


Alakazam-Mega @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Future Sight
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Recover

Since Alakazam can force a lot of switches, Future Sight is a cool tech to abuse if you can afford to have good pokes that forces steels/bulk psychics out, it also can be used with pokemon like ash-gren which will make its checks think twice before being sent out to eat a gren attack


lights down low (Sableye-Mega) @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball

- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp

kinda underrated set, although it isn't the most splashable poke it can still put a lot of work vs more passive teams
 
Zapdos @ Life Orb
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Agility
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]

This set is very curious because in most cases it is usually used with Electrium Z and Jolly, however I choose to use Life orb in this way I increase the power of the attacks and I make sure to give Kill to things that otherwise I could nott with Z and with a modest nature is a blow to unprepared teams. While this set suffers excessively from the LO recoil, it can be a good wincon against teams without a great special wall Cof cof chansey cof cof


Iku Ze! (Tapu Lele) @ Psychium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Psyshock
- Moonblast

Sub CM lele is a set that I like very much because with the right support it can cause great damage and although it does not have the immediate power of the specs, it is a good wincon.
 

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