A NU Hope

[Ich777ich]

Hey ya'll, this is Ian again bringing you another team. I need A LOT of help with this team as I needed to create an NU team for this tournament I am in. Normally I'd just make one on my own and hope it kicks ass, but the people in this tournament are some really good players and I need all the help I can get with making this team. So here was my original team idea:

From Afar...

The Lead​

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Magmortar (Maganon)@ Focus Sash
Ability: Flame Body
EV's: 252 Sp.A, 248 Speed, 8 Atk
Nature: Naive
~Fire Blast/Flamethrower
~Thunderbolt
~Hidden Power Grass
~Mach Punch​

Moveset: My Lead, well actually my Anti-lead. This Magortar is great at hitting hard, outspeeding a good amount of pokes (Neutral Base 90's and Pos. Natured Base 80's), and just kicking ass. Fire Blast is a great attack and coming off of a large 125 Base powerful is painful, however Flamethrower is just as usable because of the perfect accuracy it offers. Another thing that makes Magmortar a great pokemon is how it learns Thunderbolt, I mean how awesome is that. T-bolt destroys Mantine and wrecks many other waters. HP Grass hits the water/ground types for an OHKO, as well as the rock/grounds. Mach Punch is a great way for finishing off faster frail pokes, and also allows Magmortar to 2HKO the faster sash leads.
EV's/Nature: Naive and 248 speed allow Magmortar to outspeed neutral base 90's as well as other positive natured base 80's. 252 for highest Sp.A and the rest into Atk to boost the power of Mach Punch.

The Special Wall​

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Lapras (Lokhlass)@ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EV's: 248 HP, 252 Sp.D, 8 Speed
Nature: Calm
Moveset:
~Surf
~Ice Beam
~Thunderbolt
~Roar​

Moveset: I decided to use Lapras as my Special wall because i believe it offers a little more than Mantine does to my more offensive team. One is how Lapras has a much, MUCH higher base HP which comes in handy for taking other physical attacks. Also, Lapras offers a higher Defensive stat, meaning it can take hits from both sides better than Mantine (Though I have to watch out for CC and SE). Lapras brings better Special attacks to the table, like the ability to use the Boltbeam combo which also means that Lapras can take out other Water types if it comes down to it. Those 3 attacks give Lapras perfect type coverage in NU (Lanturn is UU). Lapras is my main check against Rain Dance teams, I just have to watch out for Relicanth. Also, Roar is my phazing move for this team and is great for scouting the opponents team as well as nullifying pokemon that want to setup on Lapras.
EV's/Nature: 248 HP give Lapras max hp that is not divisible by 4 (for SR). Calm nature and Max Sp.D allow Lapras to take Special attacks like a beast. The rest is put into speed to outrun any other random base 60's.​

The Defensive Wall​

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Miltank (AK-Milky7)@ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat/Scrappy
EV's: 252 HP, 240 Def, 16 Speed
Nature: Impish
Moveset:
~Stealth Rock
~Milk Drink
~Body Slam
~Earthquake/Brick Break​

Moveset: I do not really know why Miltank was put into NU, it is really a physical beast. With a good recovery move, good abilities, and only 1 weakness, Miltank does especially well as a wall. My team needs a SRer and Miltank serves this role well, as she finds many times where she can come in and throw it up. Milk Drink is for recovery after taking hits. Body Slam is for STAB and the Paralysis is always a positive. The last move went with the ability, EQ is for hitting the rare ghost types while allowing me to use the great ability that is Thick Fat which allows Miltank to take those popular Fire and Ice attacks well. Brick Break and scrappy was my other option, because it allows Miltank to hit Steels for SE damage and allows Miltank to ruin Double Screeners. But I thought that Thick Fat and EQ was a better combo for the NU tier, of course I could be wrong.
EV's/Nature: Pretty Standard EV's, Max HP for bulk, 16 speed to outrun something (Can't remember what it was for sure though),and the rest put into Def for taking those physical hits well. ​

The Revenge Killer​

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Gardevoir (Gardian)@ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
EV's: 252 Sp.A, 252 Speed, 6 Sp.d
Nature: Modest
Moveset:
~Psychic
~Thunderbolt
~Shadow Ball/Focus Blast
~Trick​

Moveset: Gardevoir works extremely well as a revenge killer with it's great Sp.A and rare ability Trace. Trace allows Gardevoir to counter the popular weather teams in NU, and with choice scarf mean the speed boosts allow Gardevoir to outspeed all of the weather sweepers. Gardevoir is not only for taking out weather sweepers, but with Trick it allows Gardevoir to ruin Walls/ Stall teams. Psychic is for STAB and is a good move overall, Thunderbolt gives good type coverage alongside psychic and hits rain sweepers hard. The last attacking move is up for grabs because both are usable. Shadow Ball takes out other Psychic types and is what I am leaning towards more. Though this leaves me walled by Probopass/Bastiodon, I have other pokemon for dealing with these walls, plus if I have not tricked my scarf yet I can cripple them immensely.
EV's/Nature: 252 in Speed in Special Attack for making Gardeboir reach it's fullest potential as a revenge killer and Modest Nature for added power because with a scarf the speed boost from a Timid nature isn't really necessary. The rest is put into Sp.d. ​

Sweeper #1​

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Hitmonchan (Knockchan)@ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EV's: 48 HP, 252 Atk, 208 Speed
Nature: Adamant
Moveset:
~Agility
~Close Combat
~Earthquake
~Thunderpunch/Ice Punch​

Moveset: Agility Hitmonchan is a surprisingly potent threat in the tier with it's large base power moves and type coverage. Agility boosts Hitmonchan's speed to 480, enough to outspeed all swift swimmers and chlorophyll pokes in their respective weather in the NU tier (Besides Floatzel and Shiftry). Close Combat is for STAB and is a very powerful move overall. Earthquake destroys the popular fire types in NU and is Hitmonchan's greatest weapon against psychic's. The last move is hard to choose from, but I'm slanted towards Thunderpunch because then I can absolutely destroy Mantine as well as do a good amount of damage to Slowking and other waters resist to Close Combat. Ice Punch however hit's the grass/poison's for more damage than EQ and CC.
EV's/Nature: 252 Atk and Adamant for max power. 208 allows Hitmonchan to reach a speed of 240, which is enough to outrun Modest/Adamant Victreebel in the sun. The rest is placed into HP.​

Sweeper #2​

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Pinsir (Kailios)@ Life Orb
Ability: Mold Breaker
EV's: 252 Atk, 4 Def, 252 Speed
Nature: Jolly
~Swords Dance
~X-Scissor
~Quick Attack
~Earthquake​

Moveset: The other sweeper on my team is Pinsir. The set I use works well in UU so I decided to try it out in NU. Though Pinsir doesn't have Technician like Scyther (Though he is UU), Pinsir gets a larger Base Atk Power and the ability take out Steel Types with Earthquake. Mold Breaker is a great ability and also takes care of Shedninja who could be problematic. Swords Dance boosts Pinsir's attack to an extremely large level and with Pinsir's decent speed, good type coverage, and priority move Pinsir becomes hard to stop. Life Orb boosts Pinsir's attack to turn 2HKO's into OHKO's, because basically a +2 Pinsir with Life Orb is going to 2HKO minimum everything in the tier.
EV's/Nature: Standard EV's with Jolly Nature to outspeed more, plus with a +2 from swords dance and a life orb boost the attack difference between adamant and jolly becomes minimal.​

So yeah, this is my first thought as to how this team should look. I want to keep this team as a mainly offensive team, so while rating this team please keep that in mind. However, I do believe I need a lot of help with this team, so I am open to any and all suggestions for improvement. Thanks for reading my RMT and any advice will be greatly appreciated.​

...A Final Look​

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[ZapdosBlitz]

Hello,nice team.
The first thing I see from your team is that you have 3 Rock weakness while only having 1 resistance which is a frail mons.This is certainly not good when factoring that Stealth Rock is the most common entry hazard.Therefore I suggest replacing Lapras with Quagsire.While Lapras seems to be a lot more bulkier,Quagsire have access to reliable recovery move and also access to the move Encore.This will help your two sweeper setting up easier (and also work as pseudo phazing move).Quaggy give you rock resistance,the same water immunity,fire resistance (so you can opt for Scrappy on Miltank) and electric immunity that you lack (4x grass weakness already covered pretty nicely by your other team member.Here is the set:

Quagsire @Leftovers
Ability:Water Absorb
252 Hp / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Nature:Careful
-Earthquake
-Encore
-Recover
-Stone Edge/Ice Punch
This is basically the same Bulky Water set with special defence EV to fit your teams.Although 65 SpD is not the best,394 Hp quite make up for it,Quaggy can also take physical attack if need be,thanks to it's excellent 95/85 Def.You can always tweak the moveset to fit your team needs.
This is all I can see for now and sorry If I can't help much I know almost nothing about NU xP.Good Luck

 

[Aeron Ee1]

Hello

Just a minor nitpick since I suck at rating but since you're only going to be using Mach Punch on Magmortar to finish of Focus Sash users, it doesn't seem big enough of a deal to lower your Magmortar's somewhat decent Special Defense to neutralise it (unless theres some 2HKO that it brings). This is just a suggestion however.

ZapdosBlitz be speaking the truth..

Good Luck

 

[Aerodrome]

To be honest, Gastrodon might be a better Special Wall than Quagsire because of higher HP and Special Defence.

 

[ZapdosBlitz]

but he will lose water immunity

 

[InflatablePie]

I'm not that great of a rater, especially because I don't know NU, but I have a suggestion if you opt to use Scrappy Miltank:

Miltank (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 HP/40 Def/216 Speed
Jolly nature (+Speed, -Special Attack)
- Stealth Rock
- Seismic Toss
- Milk Drink
- Thunder Wave/Toxic

I'm using this on my UU team and it works great. Scrappy and Seismic Toss do pretty good damage to anything - you can also run Brick Break if you really don't like screens, although you'll lose a small amount of damage there, I believe. Milk Drink is pretty much a staple, of course, ensuring Miltank won't go down without a fight. Stealth Rock helps build up residual damage. Thunder Wave is what makes Miltank fairly annoying to take down. The paralysis can help tons in helping Hitmonchan/Pinsir set up as well. If you need something to break down walls, you can also opt for Toxic.

You lose some defense (plus Fire/Ice resists from Thick Fat), but in return gain an easier time in spreading paralysis, which I think can help your sweepers. The EVs allow you to still outrun +1 Speed Lapras. Also, if you fear +Speed 252 Typhlosion, you can speed tie it by placing the Defense EVs back in to Speed.

Hope this helps and good luck with your tournament! :D

 

[The Real Elmo]

First off let me say, I LOVE your Agility-Chan!

Anyways, this is my first rate of a team ever, so take it with a grain of salt.

Like ZapdosBlitz said, You have 3 Stealth Rock Weak pokemon.
In addition to that, you also have no Status absorber.
Your team is Very Specs-Espeon Weak, with even your special wall Lapras being 2HKO'd by Psychic with SR up(which Magmortar doesn't exactly do a good job of stopping).
You are also Extremely weak to DA's Hail stall team (and hail stall in general)
With SR up, maybe a layer or two of spikes, The actual Hail, and Toxic being thrown around at every given opportunity, your team is going to fall apart scary fast. Again, A status absorber will go a long way towards helping your team. Or, You might want to consider giving Miltank Heal Bell.

I would suggest changing your Lapras either to the Rest-Talk set (http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/lapras) to give you greater survivability and a status absorber, or switching Lapras out with a different pokemon, like the Quagsire or Gastrodon that's been suggested, or go mainstream (much to Class's horror) and use Slowking.
you may also want to consider Skuntank somewhere on your team to combat Espeon, just be cautious of HP-Ground. Skuntank also will absorb Toxic Spikes for you (if someone decides to even use them in the Poison filled NU, lol)(*Raises own hand guiltily...)

Think about putting a spinner somewhere on your team. Spinning in NU is very easy due to the low number of Ghost types. BUT, You have to be smart about when you spin, otherwise a smart player can and will punish you for it. Mainly with Haunter.
There are only 2 notable Spin blockers in NU, Haunter and Dusclops.
Again, Skuntank would go a long way to combating both of them.




Here's a short Lead analysis of your Lead (i'd do your whole team, But I have ECON in a few minutes :p)

Lead: Magmortar.
I don't believe that you're using Maggy to the best of his ability's, but I like the originality of the set.
Let me check how he fairs against the common leads (at least the ones i encounter regularly)

Primape: If he stays in and attacks, you win. If he U-turns out, he breaks your sash and escapes to fight another day.
Medicham: Fake out breaks your sash (possibly burning him though), most likely followed by a switch as you outspeed non-scarved leads.
Sandslash: Without Life Orb, you will never 1hko. Even with Life orb, there's still a chance that Slashy will live and get his rocks up.
Glalie: Easy kill
Persian: Fake out breaks your sash, and if he's not burned proceeds to KO with Return
Snorunt: Nothing he can carry (bar HP-Rock/Ground/Water) can damage you. Hail will break your sash though, Leech seed can be annoying, and he can play mindgames with protect against you.
Pinsir: If he sets up rocks, you will win with a flamethrower/Mach Punch. But if he chooses to attack, He will KO with EQ/Quick Attack.
Jumpluff: If he sets up sun, you get an easy KO and get to keep your sash. If he decides to sleep you instead, You get to face the next 8 turns under a sunny day assault.
Venomoth: If he sleeps you, he wins. Most Lead Moth's are Specs though, so if he attacks you will win.


Consider switching Pinsir and Magmortar's Roles. In my experience, Pinsir is a very reliable lead, easily getting SR up and and heavily damaging the opponents team at the same time.
Where Magmortar is a very, very good end game sweeper/wall breaker, Even 2HKOing Slowking 100% of the time with SR and LO.


Best of luck with your Tourney! Let us know how it goes.

 

[Ice-eyes]

I much prefer Medicham to Magmortar as that kind of lead. This is for several reasons. One is that Fake Out is a lot better than Mach Punch. If they're slower, they often don't get a hit in at all, and if they're faster you at least rack up some damage on them before KOing or being forced out.

The other problem with non-LO Magmortar is that, barring T-Bolt paralysis, you haven't got a hope of getting through Slowking, which Medicham accomplishes quite nicely with its added raw power (≈168 base as opposed to 125) and physical ThunderPunch.

The other issue with your team is that Fighting-types run through you really quickly. Your only resists are a frail Choiced Gardevoir which is often 2HKOd by Adamant ScarfApe's Close Combat and a sweeping Pinsir which you really wouldn't want to switch in - especially if they have SR. Both your walls are weak to Fighting, as well, which can make WallBreaker Medicham an absolute nightmare. I would suggest switching Lapras to Slowking - it's a better Special sponge, has reliable recovery and can (should) use Thunder Wave to beat most wallbreakers and sweepers. Also, it provides an important bulky Psychic resist.

A smaller but still serious issue you have is with Sleep. You really don't have a Sleep absorber and things like Venomoth and Persian can easily grab what's essentially a free kill. It's difficult to completely fix this problem without overhauling your team completely, but putting Heal Bell on Miltank over your coverage move would help. You don't really need to hit Rock and Steel types that much since, with the exception of Cradily (which Pinsir or Hitmonchan might be able to set up on and which Magmortar scares out) most of them don't pose much of a threat. Heal Bell is also useful to get Paralysis off your Rain sweepers or heal Toxic.

With a strong core, you don't really need that much rain tech; consider switching Gardevoir to Espeon (Scarf or Specs), though you don't have to. If you keep it, you should definitely use Focus Blast to hit That Annoying Cow and also Porygon2 - Shadow Ball isn't that important given that by far the most common defensive Psychic-type in the tier is weak to T-Bolt. When using either, be really careful about Skuntank switching in and Pursuiting you, as well.

Overall, this team isn't bad, but it could certainly be improved.

 

[Leman]

I agree that Medicham is a better lead than your Magmortar. Not because it can break through Slowking, because Magmortar can do that too with a little prediction, but because Fake Out + Attack works a lot better than Attack + Mach Punch.

Second, I dont have any idea why you would ever use Lapras as a Special Wall instead of Slowking. As of now, you have a dificulty beating fire types in general, mainly Charizard, but Typhlosion, Magmortar, and Ninetales all look like they could easily pick this team apart, with a little support. (Quick Calc shows that the weakest attack (Scarf Typhlosion's Eruption 2HKOs Lapras with SR) I'd advocate the following set:

Slowking @ Leftovers
Ability: Own Tempo
EV's: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Nature: Calm
Moveset:
~Surf
~Slack Off
~Thunder Wave
~Grass Knot / Psychic

 

[Zoap]

Don't know much about NU, as I've only played a few matches but if your looking to replace Lapras because of the SR issue then Politoed makes a great special wall for NU. I noticed that Zap suggested Quagsire over Gastrodom because of Water Absorb, well Politoed has that and has better special walling abilities than Quagsire. Here's the set:

Politoed@Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EV's: 252 HP-4 SpA-252 SpDf
Nature: Calm
Moveset:
Surf
Toxic/Hypnosis
Refresh
Ice Beam/Perish Song/Haze

GL with the tournament.

 

[Plus]

Hello.

Your attempt for NU offense isn't bad, however there are some notable weaknesses you could fix with this team, mainly your lack of Electric resist for pokemon like Magneton and Manectric, your weaknesses to entry hazards, mainly toxic spikes from Venomoth.

For an anti-lead in NU, killing Persian is pretty key, which Magmortar really fails to do. Additionally, you lose to Venomoth, who outspeeds, sleeps, and proceeds to dent your team with Bug Buzz, or at least get 1 layer of Toxic Spikes up which literally kills your whole team lol. Furthermore, you lack a normal resistance in this team, something that is very important in NU, with Regigigas on the run. Speaking of which, it can set up on Miltank or Gardevoir Tbolt and proceed to sweep a good portion of your team until you can get something like Hitmonchan out without Regi on a sub.

Venomoth will come in and out with Tinted Lens, spamming Bug buzz on all your pokemon and doing quite a bit of damage in the process. Lapras is the best option to deal with this, however it's not coming in on Venomoth more than twice thanks to Stealth Rock. Additionally, should you not have something slept, Vemonoth can Sleep powder your response, and cause a ruckus for your team.

For these rather large weaknesses, I'd first focus on Magmortar, the anti lead. As an anti lead, failing to beat Persian and Venomoth, two of the most lethal leads in NU as well as not being exactly the best way to utilize Magmortar's strength, I would simply make do without it, and replace it with a Sandslash, who gives a rapid spinner and also eases up on your Miltank's moveset.

Slowking is a much more potent Special wall than both Mantine and Lapras -- I'd suggest you at least try that out before using something that lacks reliable recovery and sports an SR weakness. Slowking allows you to Paralyze threats on the switch in and pound them with Surfs and Psychics, something not many of NU can handle.

With SR out of Miltank's moveslot, I would suggest running Heal Bell so you get a cleric in the mix. Nothing in your team switches into Slowking without risking Twave, additionally should something like a Flareon Lavaplume Slowking on the switch in and cause a burn, you can fix that by simply going to Miltank and clearing the status.

Sandslash @ Leftovers
Impish 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Earthquake / Rapid Spin / Stealth Rock / Knock Off

Slowking @ Leftovers
Calm 252 HP / 164 SpD / 92 Spe
Surf / Psychic / Thunder Wave / Slack Off

The 92 speed on Slowking is to outspeed Regigigas before it gets its act together, so you can Twave before it tries to sub you. This is very important, as Regigigas tends to come in on Regigigas very often and get a sub up without having Surf to break it. Though these changes might not be the best in addressing said weaknesses, this is probably the best you can go without changing the aspect of the team itself.

Cool team, good luck in the tournament. If you need to test these changes out prior, you can try some NU matches on Doug's CAP Server on Shoddy battle which has a NU ladder.