RMT Thingy Number 1: Rocking Shark

RMT Thingy #1: Cool Team

Well, once again I’m going to try and introduce a new segment to this blog. If you know anything about Smogon and visit the Forums, you probably know that the RMT Section is probably the most popular, if not 2^nd or 3^rd. I decided that instead of reviewing a Pokémon this time (mostly because I couldn’t think of a good Pokémon) I would do a semi-RMT (Rate My Team). Be sure to leave your suggestions for this team and also be sure to comment if you like this kind of stuff. On to the team:

Usually when building a team in any tier, I like to have at least one Pokémon with an uncommon or unique moveset. I am a casual battler and hence am not too concerned about being the very best. Recently, I wanted to try and get better at the game and so I made this team. It is basically a bunch of standard things that work pretty well together. I’m sure that it isn’t the greatest team in the world and it probably has a lot of flaws, but it is honestly one of the best teams I’ve ever made.

I decided to make a UU team, because I  was looking through the other 3 tiers that I can actually play in, OU, RU, NU, and didn’t feel like there were any fun teams to make. So, I remember reading Underused Battling 101 in The Smog #25 (which by the way is a great web-zine to read for entertaining and helpful info on battling and Pokémon in general. http://www.smogon.com/smog/) and seeing the threatening Pokémon in the tier. A suggestion near the bottom of the page for Offensive Cores was Snorlax/Cofagrigus. It said to use Offensive Trick Room Cofagrigus and Choice Band Snorlax.  Me, being the more defensive oriented player, even on offensive teams, opted for the same Cofagrigus, but I decided to switch the CB Snorlax for a more defensive CurseLax.

I started with the previously mentioned core.

I decided that I would take an offensive approach to this team, so I added a spiker/toxic spiker in Roserade.

 

Next, I needed a Fighting-type, I decided on Machamp for no other reason than me liking it. I also decided to make it my team’s scarfer.

 

My team lacked stealth rocks and I needed something to deal with the powerful Fire-types in the tier. An offensive version of Swampert was perfect for this.

 

Finally, I needed a powerful sweeper that could easily sweep through a weakened. At first, I wanted to have Kingdra, but in the end I decided on Sharpedo. This was actually the first time that I ever used it and boy did I discover why it is such a threat in UU.

 

After some play testing, I found that the whole scarf-Machamp thing, wasn’t really working, so I found Mienshao as a replacement.

 

I wasn’t having any luck with Mienshao and so decided to change it to a MoxieCross. Also, the team was having tons of problems with Milotic and other bulky-waters, even with Offensive Roserade. Since Roserade can usually get 2-3 layers of assorted Spikes, I decided to remove Swampert and replace it with the powerful Electric Bird Zapdos.

 

Once again the team was changed. The Roserade wasn’t really that good as a semi-dedicated lead , so I changed it to Froslass.

 

Froslass kinda wasn’t that good. In fact out of the 7 or 8 games I playtested, 4 of the games the opponent lead with a Chandelure. This, added to the fact that Froslass wasn’t really working in any of the other games except one, prompted me to make a change.  Crustle was added to the team to provide the much needed SR support. I haven’t looked back since…

 

BoO (Cofagrigus)

EV:       252 HP                         IVs:      2 Attack, Speed

252 Sp. Attack                         30 Defense, Sp. Defense/Attack        

4 Defense

Nature: Quiet

Item: Leftovers

Moves: -Trick Room

             -Nasty Plot

             -Hidden Power (Fighting)

             -Shadow Ball

Nothing special about this Pokémon. It’s basically just a standard Trick Room Cofagrigus. Usually it is used up in the early-mid game. Basically, I come in on a Fighting-Type and resist the hit. Next they switch out to a wall/tank usually and I set up on it with the Trick Room. Then depending on the wall/tank, I set up one Nasty and attack 3 times or sometimes if the opponent cannot 3HKO me, I will stall out the turns and set up to +6 and reset the Trick Room for 4 turns of pain. If the latter is allowed, at least 2-4 Pokémon are usually eliminated. This Cofagrigus is usually gone by the late-game and thus this team has a hard time dealing with Fighting-Types in the late-game. At this point, the name of the game is sac-and-Cross or sac-and-Shark. Heracross and Sharpedo are the only things that can come in and take out the threat.

CrossMan: Heracross

Evs: -252 Attack

        -252 Speed

        -4 HP

Nature: Jolly

Item: Choice Scarf

Moves: -Close Combat

            -Megahorn

            -Stone Edge

            -Sleep Talk

Once again, nothing special. Standard Scarf Heracross. Jolly is used to attempt a sweep. Dual-STAB moves is obvious and necessary. Stone Edge for a solid (hehe) coverage move and finally Sleep Talk, for sleep absorber. Generally speaking, this thing has really lived up to its reputation on this team. Out 20-30 games, I don’t even think I’ve swept once with this thing. The most kills would be 2 or3, but those were basically just revenge-kills. I may consider switching this to another Fighting-Type, but for now it does its job well enough.

Blonz: Snorlax

EVs: -144 HP

        -188 Def

        -176 Sp. Defense

Nature: Careful

Item: Leftovers

Moves: -Body Slam

            -Curse

            -Crunch

            -Rest

The second half of the offensive core and yet another underachiever. Don’t get me wrong, this this is definitely useful. It just hasn’t really done what it’s supposed to. Usually whenever the opponent sees this, they automatically switch into something with Toxic. This thing has really just been a special wall for me. I’ve never really used Curse too much. The EV’s are Standard and on Smogon. They allow Snorlax to survive a plethora of combination of attacks. http://www.smogon.com/bw/pokemon/snorlax (Check out Classic CurseLax)

Crunch over Earthquake, because of the Ghost-Types that like to come in on this. The rest are standard. Get it, the Rest. Anyways, that’s about it for this thing, nothing really special to note, except that a specially defensive one may be a change that I may test out in the future.

CoolMAN: Crustle

EVs: 252 Attack

        252 Speed

        4 Def

Nature: Adamant

Item: Custap Bery

Moves:-X-Scissor

                -Rock Blast

                -Stealth Rock

                -Spikes

This Pokémon is awesome. I put this thing on the team because I really felt that I needed Stealth Rock support, but knew that my team really appreciated the Spikes support as well. Max Attack and Max Speed give it Max effectiveness. It usually very useful solely because, people don’t expect it to do much. I don’t know what people expect it to do. On turn 1, usually I set up SR, but if the opponent is something that Crustle can hit for big damage, I might go for the attack. Crustle is particularly good against lead Zoarark. It sets up the SR, and then surprises the Dark fiend with an X-Scissor to the throat, that OHKOes bar Focus Sash. This Pokémon is just good. Adamant base 95 Attack is powerful enough to hurt everything. Rock Blast 3KOs a few notable Pokémon, including Chandelure. Crustle!!!

Spike: Zapdos

EVs: 252 Sp. Attack

        252 Speed

        4 Sp Defense

Nature: Timid

Item: Life Orb

Moves: -Thunderbolt

                -Heat Wave

                -Hidden Power Ice

                -Roost

Once again a standard set. Honestly, Zapdos usually doesn’t do too much. Even with all the praise for this set, I haven’t really found too much of a use for it. The main draw of this set is that this team desperately needs something to take on bulky waters. This little feat however, should not be overlooked. The main sweeper of this team, Sharpedo, needs the bulky-waters to be weakened and better: dead, in order to sweep. The other important speed sweeper is Heracross, which even after 1-2 boosts has a hard time OHKOing waters at full HP. The lesson to be learned: All teams that win by offense (anything but stall) need a way to take care of bulky-waters.

GoSharks: Sharpedo

EVs: 252 Attack

        252 Speed

        4  HP

Nature: Naughty/Jolly

Item: Life Orb

Moves: -Waterfall

                -Crunch

                -Ice Beam/Earthquake

                -Protect

The whole reason I made this team was to test out Sharpedo for the first time. The combo of speed boost and a base 120 Attack is a deadly combo. Its Dual-Stab has very good coverage and the third slot can fill up the wholes. The debate between Ice Beam and Earthquake is all up to personal preference. Generally, I prefer Ice Beam, solely for Flygon. So many times, Flygon takes 80-90% and stops my sweep and sometimes ends the game. With no steel types, Banded/Scarfed Flygon’s Outrage is a huge ass threat. Otherwise, usually Earthquake is preferred. This set is very good at sweeping and is usually my late cleaner. The biggest con about this Pokémon is the fact that all it can do is sweep. This makes it so sometimes it feels like right off the bat I’m down 5 to 6, because Sharpedo can’t do much early-game.

Conclusion:

This team is definitely a work in progress and I would accept any criticism for it is clearly not finished. Anyways, feel free to use this team, as long as I get some credit. Hope to make more RMTs and also, I may make some updates in the future. Follow, Comment, Enjoy, and CYA!