A Cap balanced team, as the name suggests, combines strategies of both stall and offense. Rather than giving your opponent thoughts of quitting because the battle takes too long, or running extremely powerful pokemon that lead an onslaught, balance has threats and counters. It doesn't run 6 chanseys or 6 talonflames, but it can fair very well in the cap meta. The team I listed below is my meister team. It is a team I used for a while, and go to number 1 on the ladder with. It is still viable in the current meta, and has threats as will be discussed later. It has a few walls like chansey and tomohawk, which is a very strong stall core, but it also has landorus which is the premiere offensive pokemon in the cap meta.
I hope this guide gives new cap players an example of what a good cap team will look like. Its definitely not autopilot, and predictions and play making is critical in order to win games and ladder successfully. The sets I listed are common sets for most pokemon, and if you do not know in detail what a pokemon does (or I do not explain well enough what it does for this team) then look for the skeletons posted in the cap metagame thread to learn more.
I hope you enjoyed reading, and feel free to post new teams, analyze mine, ask questions, whatever. The Cap players in the pokemon showdown cap room are waiting for new and talented players to pick up cap and participate in the creation process.
I'm going to compile replays against different types of teams and post them for you all.
Against rain:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/cap-141784090
I hope this guide gives new cap players an example of what a good cap team will look like. Its definitely not autopilot, and predictions and play making is critical in order to win games and ladder successfully. The sets I listed are common sets for most pokemon, and if you do not know in detail what a pokemon does (or I do not explain well enough what it does for this team) then look for the skeletons posted in the cap metagame thread to learn more.
HawkMeister (Tomohawk) (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
- Air Slash
- Haze
Tomohawk and chansey make up the defensive core for this team. I do not like reflect on tomohawk, though many argue it is the best set. Anyway, I have haze, as you do not want a cawmodore to set up on you and sweep you. It also prevents other boosters from sweeping. It has the rocky helmet to deal residual damage as you already have roost and do not stay in on special attackers, so the only attacks that hit you won't do very much anyway because they are all physical. Instead of reflect, I use stealth rocks, as tomohawk I feel is the most reliable user in the game. Air slash is simply to deal damage and to hit the many pokemon in cap that have a flying weakness.
BumMeister (Colossoil) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Rapid Spin
The first three moves are all standard on colossoil, and while many like u-turn, I love spinning rocks away as damage over the course of a long game will add up. It can take many effective special hits and can tank one hyper voice at full health from a mega gardevoir, allowing you to revenge kill with earthquake.
Gday's Chirpsy (Chansey) (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Toxic
- Aromatherapy
- Seismic Toss/Wish
- Soft-Boiled/Protect
You will notice this is the only pokemon not to have meister in its name. In honor of gday, I named it chirpsy, but because I did not want to copy it completely, I changed the name. Chansey eats all the special attacks, and leaves when a physical pokemon or pokemon carrying knock off comes in. Otherwise, you just toxic stall your opponent until they lose. Its a traditional chansey set. If you want, you can wish pass to other pokemon on your team, but I feel that it is unnecessary.
SassMeister (Aegislash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Sacred Sword
- Shadow Sneak
- Shadow Ball
- King's Shield
This also eats special attacks, and if your opponents threats are removed, it can win games. I think its an ou traditional set, though leftovers over weakness policy helps because there are many threats like volkraken in cap that force you to switch out. It can tank hyper voices and shadow ball, and can 2hko hp bulky colossoil with sacred sword.
TrapMeister (Gothitelle) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 126 SpD / 132 Spe
Calm Nature
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Rest
- Psychic
If you play the game right, make the right predictions, and have the right timing, the game rewards you. This is one of the pokemon that the phrase applies to. If you catch the chansey, its done in. You can change the speed evs to catch and kill whatever pokemon you want, and you can change its set completely. This particular set destroys chansey and tomohawk, and if played right, can catch and kill both of them. It has enough speed to outspeed and taunt mega venusaur.
IronyMeister (Landorus) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Fire]/Focus Blast/SuperPower/Sludge Wave
- Psychic
- Knock Off
This is the monster of the cap metagame. Every HO and balance team in cap should either have this or multiple counters. I run hp fire to kill skarmory and not worry about missing focus blast. This is the mixed set, and is my favorite, though there are other sets. As this pokemon and gothitelle are my specialties, you can read more in my skeletons and analyses when I post them up. Gothitelle is done and I did this article today instead of doing landorus. Psychic kills tomohawk, earth power kills everything but chansey, knock off kills psychic types and removes eviolite, and you can run super power for AV colossoil, sludge wave for fairies, focus blast because it does a lot of damage, and even stealth rocks if you don't have a rock thrower. Another good name for it is Animus, because it is in respect to Animus, the great player who popularized it and made it the driving force in the meta is today. I like calling it Angel's Gift, because it is a weapon unlike any other.
But I digress. This is my cap team from the beginning of June that I stopped using the middle of june. It is very good, and I think is a perfect example of what a balanced core is in the meta.
You have landorus and colossoil to kill stuff, tomohawk and chansey to take hits and be utility, aegislash because it is aegislash, and gothitelle which you can tailor make to kill any weakness of your team.
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
- Air Slash
- Haze
Tomohawk and chansey make up the defensive core for this team. I do not like reflect on tomohawk, though many argue it is the best set. Anyway, I have haze, as you do not want a cawmodore to set up on you and sweep you. It also prevents other boosters from sweeping. It has the rocky helmet to deal residual damage as you already have roost and do not stay in on special attackers, so the only attacks that hit you won't do very much anyway because they are all physical. Instead of reflect, I use stealth rocks, as tomohawk I feel is the most reliable user in the game. Air slash is simply to deal damage and to hit the many pokemon in cap that have a flying weakness.
BumMeister (Colossoil) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Rapid Spin
The first three moves are all standard on colossoil, and while many like u-turn, I love spinning rocks away as damage over the course of a long game will add up. It can take many effective special hits and can tank one hyper voice at full health from a mega gardevoir, allowing you to revenge kill with earthquake.
Gday's Chirpsy (Chansey) (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Toxic
- Aromatherapy
- Seismic Toss/Wish
- Soft-Boiled/Protect
You will notice this is the only pokemon not to have meister in its name. In honor of gday, I named it chirpsy, but because I did not want to copy it completely, I changed the name. Chansey eats all the special attacks, and leaves when a physical pokemon or pokemon carrying knock off comes in. Otherwise, you just toxic stall your opponent until they lose. Its a traditional chansey set. If you want, you can wish pass to other pokemon on your team, but I feel that it is unnecessary.
SassMeister (Aegislash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Sacred Sword
- Shadow Sneak
- Shadow Ball
- King's Shield
This also eats special attacks, and if your opponents threats are removed, it can win games. I think its an ou traditional set, though leftovers over weakness policy helps because there are many threats like volkraken in cap that force you to switch out. It can tank hyper voices and shadow ball, and can 2hko hp bulky colossoil with sacred sword.
TrapMeister (Gothitelle) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 126 SpD / 132 Spe
Calm Nature
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Rest
- Psychic
If you play the game right, make the right predictions, and have the right timing, the game rewards you. This is one of the pokemon that the phrase applies to. If you catch the chansey, its done in. You can change the speed evs to catch and kill whatever pokemon you want, and you can change its set completely. This particular set destroys chansey and tomohawk, and if played right, can catch and kill both of them. It has enough speed to outspeed and taunt mega venusaur.
IronyMeister (Landorus) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Fire]/Focus Blast/SuperPower/Sludge Wave
- Psychic
- Knock Off
This is the monster of the cap metagame. Every HO and balance team in cap should either have this or multiple counters. I run hp fire to kill skarmory and not worry about missing focus blast. This is the mixed set, and is my favorite, though there are other sets. As this pokemon and gothitelle are my specialties, you can read more in my skeletons and analyses when I post them up. Gothitelle is done and I did this article today instead of doing landorus. Psychic kills tomohawk, earth power kills everything but chansey, knock off kills psychic types and removes eviolite, and you can run super power for AV colossoil, sludge wave for fairies, focus blast because it does a lot of damage, and even stealth rocks if you don't have a rock thrower. Another good name for it is Animus, because it is in respect to Animus, the great player who popularized it and made it the driving force in the meta is today. I like calling it Angel's Gift, because it is a weapon unlike any other.
But I digress. This is my cap team from the beginning of June that I stopped using the middle of june. It is very good, and I think is a perfect example of what a balanced core is in the meta.
You have landorus and colossoil to kill stuff, tomohawk and chansey to take hits and be utility, aegislash because it is aegislash, and gothitelle which you can tailor make to kill any weakness of your team.
I hope you enjoyed reading, and feel free to post new teams, analyze mine, ask questions, whatever. The Cap players in the pokemon showdown cap room are waiting for new and talented players to pick up cap and participate in the creation process.
I'm going to compile replays against different types of teams and post them for you all.
Against rain:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/cap-141784090
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