Marigold
formerly KuraiTenshi26
Hey, everyone! For the first time ever, I need reqs because I regret not going for it last time because shed shell lele totally isn't niche. I feel like with the disappearance of pheromosa at the moment, the underprepared-for mega alakazam can sweep once its checks are weakened, and it doesn't take much effort to do so. Additionally, teams can struggle to handle the combination of alakazam + volcarona. I'm sitting at 1211 ELO at the moment and I could definitely rise further, but... I'd rather perfect the team before continuing. Without further ado, here's the team and the ideas behind it.
Teambuilding Process
We start with the speedy sweeper that is somewhat underprepared for, capable of pressuring offense and stalland not being mega metagross. I decided to start here.
Capable of shredding bulky steels that give mega alakazam nightmares, magnezone makes a fantastic partner providing an end-all-be-all answer to the likes of celesteela, skarmory, ferrothorn, and scizor, while providing a slow volt switch. Additionally, alakazam can lure in these bulky steels and knock off potential shed shells, and their synergy only grows this way.
I need rocks, a ground immunity, and a physical pivot. Creatively, I decided to add Landorus-therian to my team to handle this. Lando-t and magnezone have amazing synergy, luring in each other's foes and pivoting around them. This addition also creates a slow volt-turn core, which is all the rage in SM OU.
My team could definitely use some stallbreaking at this point, and possibly some defog support too. Fini can fit this role perfectly and also protect the team from status, which is pretty cool. I am iffy about Fini's addition to this team however, as I'll explain later in the threatlist.
I feel like setup alakazam is sorta weak in the meta and I wanted to dedicate knock off on it to support mag. Also, the team gets stopped by the likes of grass types at the moment. Volcarona not only gives me a setup wincon, but is soooooo good in the meta right now. Capable of setting up on a lot of mons and even lele locked into moonblast, volcarona can often pick up sweeps that zam cannot finish, or outright sweep on its own. Zam and volc also sweep each a lot of each other's checks, which is great as I only need to eliminate either of their checks to pave the way to victory.
Let's double up on ground types, cause why not. In addition to creating lead mindgames, scarfchomp is another means of eliminating heatran and dragon types that could stop volcarona from sweeping. With two ground types in the back, it also discourages brainless volt switches, and even encourages electrics to go for hp ice, which my vest zone can switch into happily.
The Team
Regal (Landorus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 24 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
The posterboy of the meta, putting the OU in OverUsed. Defensive lando-t gives me rocks and a slow u-turn. It also lets me weaken an opposing lando-t (lol) to the range where zam or volc can kill it. The investment in spdef lets me survive one koko hp ice, which I can comfortably retaliate with an eq in return with.
Grit (Magnezone) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 128 HP / 252 SpA / 128 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
A classic vest zone, capable of eliminating bulky steels and checking lele, koko, and ash-ninja. If I can catch a steel switch-in with a u-turn or smart double, this often spells death for them unless they carry shed shell. Moveset is near explanatory, with tbolt and flash cannon as hard-hitting stabs, and hp fire to nail those 4x fire weaknesses. Shed shell stall is a pain, which leads me to my next pokemon...
Tranquility (Alakazam-Mega) @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Knock Off
Behold, the super fast, copycat sweeper! Throw in your shed shell steels, I dare you, eat a knock off! Throw in your eviolite walls, eat a knock off! Think your chansey is safe without eviolite? Think again, psyshock now 2hko's! Nice greninja (ban plz). No miss will save you now, eat an ohko after rocks! Oh yeah, there's shadow ball for some nice neutral coverage. I opted for dazzling gleam to lead against sab stall and scare it off into chansey, only to smack it with knock off to cripple the blob for the rest of the game. Once the blob is gone and the unaware pokemon is worn down or dead, volc has a way to sweep stall away.
Bliss (Tapu Fini) @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Def / 68 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Nature's Madness
- Taunt
- Defog
Standard defogger fini with enough bulk to get 3hko'd from megagross' meteor mash after leftovers. Nature's madness + taunt can wear down stall nicely, and scald is great for burning threats to my team like bulu on the switch, or denting lando-t.
Elegance (Volcarona) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 236 HP / 152 Def / 120 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fiery Dance
- Giga Drain
- Roost
Bold volcarona is capable of setting up on more than it deserves. Once pesky heatrans, pink blobs, and special walls are gone, Volcarona is clear to go for a clean sweep. Giga drain is chosen to demolish water/ground mons, roost allows me to set up quiver dance on things I would normally not be able to set up on with a firium z set, or just roost off rock damage in a pinch.
Savage (Garchomp) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Stone Edge
- Poison Jab
My designated speed control, garchomp provides me a way to smash mega metagross with a hard-hitting eq, a trade against ddance zygarde-50, as well as another answer to heatran. Edgequake combo is reliable in general. I don't dare use outrage in fairy and steel mons the metagame, so dragon claw is opted for instead. Poison jab is here to ohko bulu and pressure tangrowth if it comes in.
Threats
Ouch. Banded wood hammer shreds this team to ribbons save for volcarona. Fini gives it a way in as I defog and I often find myself relying on scald's burn chance to mitigate its damage.
Outside of volcarona and knocking off the vest, I don't really have an answer to this. Poison jab can hit it decently and maybe poison, but it gives me trouble or maybe I'm just bad and need to play around it better.
Max speed heatrans are difficult to deal with, as garchomp is then my only way of dealing with it and lando-t is everywhere, making me risk burns or giving the foe a free lando-t switch-in. Fini is not a reliable answer because bloom doom is a thing for some reason >:( Also, BuluTran is just arrrrrrrrrrgh
Scarf keldeo not only outspeeds the whole team, but craps on/wears down everything that isn't fini or a fully healthy garchomp. Even garchomp fears icy wind, and fini fears hp electric.
Capable of pivoting or crushing my whole team, pheromosa is a massive threat that can even end volcarona with a QD set if I don't set up on it first geeeeeeeeeeet dunked on, roach waifu. You're not allowed on the suspect ladder >:P
And there you have it, the entire team and its strengths along with its weaknesses! I'm down to change anything on this team. A couple of concerns are my fini set or even fini's placement itself on the team, and the fact I'm not abusing a z crystal for some ez damage. I've contemplated adding it on lando-t to lure in some tangrowths or finis, but I'd like some outside advice on this and my whole team in general. Thanks for reading, and as always...
May the pokekarma with you,
KuraiTenshi26
Teambuilding Process
We start with the speedy sweeper that is somewhat underprepared for, capable of pressuring offense and stall
Capable of shredding bulky steels that give mega alakazam nightmares, magnezone makes a fantastic partner providing an end-all-be-all answer to the likes of celesteela, skarmory, ferrothorn, and scizor, while providing a slow volt switch. Additionally, alakazam can lure in these bulky steels and knock off potential shed shells, and their synergy only grows this way.
I need rocks, a ground immunity, and a physical pivot. Creatively, I decided to add Landorus-therian to my team to handle this. Lando-t and magnezone have amazing synergy, luring in each other's foes and pivoting around them. This addition also creates a slow volt-turn core, which is all the rage in SM OU.
My team could definitely use some stallbreaking at this point, and possibly some defog support too. Fini can fit this role perfectly and also protect the team from status, which is pretty cool. I am iffy about Fini's addition to this team however, as I'll explain later in the threatlist.
I feel like setup alakazam is sorta weak in the meta and I wanted to dedicate knock off on it to support mag. Also, the team gets stopped by the likes of grass types at the moment. Volcarona not only gives me a setup wincon, but is soooooo good in the meta right now. Capable of setting up on a lot of mons and even lele locked into moonblast, volcarona can often pick up sweeps that zam cannot finish, or outright sweep on its own. Zam and volc also sweep each a lot of each other's checks, which is great as I only need to eliminate either of their checks to pave the way to victory.
Let's double up on ground types, cause why not. In addition to creating lead mindgames, scarfchomp is another means of eliminating heatran and dragon types that could stop volcarona from sweeping. With two ground types in the back, it also discourages brainless volt switches, and even encourages electrics to go for hp ice, which my vest zone can switch into happily.
The Team
Regal (Landorus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 24 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
The posterboy of the meta, putting the OU in OverUsed. Defensive lando-t gives me rocks and a slow u-turn. It also lets me weaken an opposing lando-t (lol) to the range where zam or volc can kill it. The investment in spdef lets me survive one koko hp ice, which I can comfortably retaliate with an eq in return with.
Grit (Magnezone) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 128 HP / 252 SpA / 128 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
A classic vest zone, capable of eliminating bulky steels and checking lele, koko, and ash-ninja. If I can catch a steel switch-in with a u-turn or smart double, this often spells death for them unless they carry shed shell. Moveset is near explanatory, with tbolt and flash cannon as hard-hitting stabs, and hp fire to nail those 4x fire weaknesses. Shed shell stall is a pain, which leads me to my next pokemon...
Tranquility (Alakazam-Mega) @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Knock Off
Behold, the super fast, copycat sweeper! Throw in your shed shell steels, I dare you, eat a knock off! Throw in your eviolite walls, eat a knock off! Think your chansey is safe without eviolite? Think again, psyshock now 2hko's! Nice greninja (ban plz). No miss will save you now, eat an ohko after rocks! Oh yeah, there's shadow ball for some nice neutral coverage. I opted for dazzling gleam to lead against sab stall and scare it off into chansey, only to smack it with knock off to cripple the blob for the rest of the game. Once the blob is gone and the unaware pokemon is worn down or dead, volc has a way to sweep stall away.
Bliss (Tapu Fini) @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Def / 68 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Nature's Madness
- Taunt
- Defog
Standard defogger fini with enough bulk to get 3hko'd from megagross' meteor mash after leftovers. Nature's madness + taunt can wear down stall nicely, and scald is great for burning threats to my team like bulu on the switch, or denting lando-t.
Elegance (Volcarona) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 236 HP / 152 Def / 120 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fiery Dance
- Giga Drain
- Roost
Bold volcarona is capable of setting up on more than it deserves. Once pesky heatrans, pink blobs, and special walls are gone, Volcarona is clear to go for a clean sweep. Giga drain is chosen to demolish water/ground mons, roost allows me to set up quiver dance on things I would normally not be able to set up on with a firium z set, or just roost off rock damage in a pinch.
Savage (Garchomp) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Stone Edge
- Poison Jab
My designated speed control, garchomp provides me a way to smash mega metagross with a hard-hitting eq, a trade against ddance zygarde-50, as well as another answer to heatran. Edgequake combo is reliable in general. I don't dare use outrage in fairy and steel mons the metagame, so dragon claw is opted for instead. Poison jab is here to ohko bulu and pressure tangrowth if it comes in.
Threats
And there you have it, the entire team and its strengths along with its weaknesses! I'm down to change anything on this team. A couple of concerns are my fini set or even fini's placement itself on the team, and the fact I'm not abusing a z crystal for some ez damage. I've contemplated adding it on lando-t to lure in some tangrowths or finis, but I'd like some outside advice on this and my whole team in general. Thanks for reading, and as always...
May the pokekarma with you,
KuraiTenshi26
