SM LC i've got an itchy nose

This is a team I built late night once for LCPL, and it has had tournament success outside with different variants so I'm gonna dump it here. I may be 0-6, or 0-5, 0-4, maybe even 0-0 next year in the Smogon Snake Draft, but whatever man other people made this team work so who cares. I don't use this website much anymore but I've had an itchy nose so.

some of my friends used it in snake tour, and from what i saw, someone passed this team somewhere because people were using far in grand slam too.

do not get it twisted, i do not watch anime anymore either.

At a Glance
Teambuilding Process
I only build teams for mons after midnight, so that my creative juices flow. And they been flown hard on this team.
I began with pondering sets of Gastly and Abra. The biggest nuisance for these 2 are Pursuit trappers, but having both of these are having like 2 Abras. And Shrug says Abra is broken, so I was convinced. Shrug Shrug helloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo idk if this tag works lol these new forums are dumb

Everyone is using Diglett as their answers to trap Grimer, and hope to outplay Pawniard (or just hope it isn't scarf!) But I was tired of using Diglett on every team. It is ugly. I do not like ugly Pokemon.

And then I was like, lemme see all the trappers this tier has to offer. Saw Trapinch, and I began thinking, "Man, I saw trash use this garbage, and it sucks." So I didn't feel like using it, but then I saw its stats. I think it has more attack than Infernape or something so yeah it is strong there. I did some calcing on my graphing calculator (Showdown calc is overrated) and found that there was a way to make this thing live anything, more in depth in the in depth for what I mean.

Vullaby is broken, so I wanted to use something that beats it, so I picked Spritzee. This is because Vullaby can also be a nuisance for Gastly Abra teams. Also, I needed hazards; they help Gastly and Abra break down things much easier and change 2HKOS to 1 and things like that, so I added Ferro.

Well Vullaby is broken, so I needed one of my own. Nah, that isn't the reason it is here, though. I wanted something with momentum, and another check for birds. I know this team doesn't take kindly to birds, but lol, what team could have? Birds were broken in this meta and unless you had 2 Onix with 100 lives each, idk how a team would be safe against them. Ferro + Vully + Spritz and even + Trapinch should have been enough for birds, if you were smart, so yeah.


In Depth


Item: Life Orb | Ability: Levitate / Magic Guard
EVs: 200 SpA / 76 SpD / 200 Spe / 240 SpA / 200 Spe | Timid Nature
Moves: Sludge Bomb / Shadow Ball / Psychic / Dazzling Gleam / Hidden Power [Fire] / Substitute

Gastly and Abra with Life Orb smacks everything not named Grimer-Alola. These two were pretty similar in their movesets; both had STABs of their respective types so that they could run through most of the tier. I decided to use HP Fire on both of these solely for Ferroseed; I have Trapinch to switch into and kill Grimer, and deal with Pawniard, so I did not think there was a reason to run HP Ground or Fighting. The main utility of Subsitute is to sub on a double switch, and if your opponent goes out into something that these two do not like, trap them, or go out into your pivots. For the most part, what annoys these 2 are the Pursuit trappers like I mentioned, but there may also be something that Ferroseed can start getting up hazards on, or Spritzee can wall. The point of this team is to beat the counters to one of these two, because almost always, what beats Gastly also beats Abra, but if you can take down the counter by either trapping of weakening, then you can run town with the other one of these two which are still alive. It does require some sacrifices and aggressive plays, but I never said this was stall. In most games, usually one of these two does all the breaking, and sacking the correct one is a part of the way this team works.


Item: Groundium Z | Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 116 HP / 116 Atk / 76 Def / 196 Spe | Adamant Nature
Moves: Earthquake / Feint / Rock Slide / Superpower

THE HERO of this team. Trapinch is able to hard switch into Grimer-Alola, live the Knock Off, be allowed to get poisoned, and live Shadow Sneak afterwards. This means if you have a sub up with Gastly or Abra, you can directly go out into Trapinch, which is the main purpose of it existing on this team. Trapinch does not stop there, however. Pawniard or Stunky a problem? Just sack one of Gastly or Abra, and get this in, trap them, and then go in with either Gastly or Abra (whichever one was not sacked.) Trapinch can also revenge things like Scarf Magnemite, which is a huge nuisance to Gastly and Abra. If they have Foongus out, with a bit of chip, it will die to Z-EQ. It has enough speed to outspeed everything under 10, so 9 Speed Foongus, Ferroseed, Spritzee, and Munchlax, and can beat them up for Gastly and Abra to clean up. I think the utility of this mon is great, especially for Gastly and Abra teams.


Item: Eviolite | Ability: Aroma Veil
EVs: 212 HP / 196 Def / 12 SpA / 76 SpD / 12 Spe | Bold Nature
Moves: Wish / Protect / Moonblast / Aromatherapy

Spritzee is one of the bulky pivots of this team. It is here incase Gastly or Abra can't kill what is in front of them, and Trapinch is not an appropriate switch. Wish passing is also solid for passing to any of Trapinch, Ferroseed, or Vullaby, if the opponent has gone into something that can deal with Spritzee. Additionally, the cleric support helps get rid of status, which can be a problem with a team like this. Getting rid of paralysis on Gastly or Abra, or getting rid of a burn on Vullaby are good examples of when Aromatherapy is useful. The overall bulk of Spritzee also lets this check Pokemon such as Doduo.


Item: Berry Juice | Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 84 HP / 36 Atk / 108 Def / 228 SpD / 36 Spe | Impish Nature
Moves: Spikes / Stealth Rock / Bullet Seed / Knock Off

Ferroseed is the hazard setter for this team. I went with Ferroseed over the other rockers because Ferroseed is able to check Water-types as well, and Staryu and Chinchou are annoying for this team. They can live a hit from Gastly or Abra, and kill them, and having Ferroseed to pivot into them provides valuable support to the Gastly Abra core. It is also helpful to check Shell Smashers, Electric- and Flying-types. I went with Berry Juice so that it can switch into many Pokemon multiple times, such as Shellder, or Abra.


Item: Eviolite | Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 116 HP / 156 Atk / 76 SpD / 116 Spe | Jolly Nature
Moves: Brave Bird / Roost / U-Turn / Knock Off

Vullaby is the glue of this team. U-Turn can lead to valuable momentum that this team appreciates greatly. Gastly and Abra prefer getting sheltered switches instead of going hard into them, because they cannot live a hit for their lives. Knock Off with Brave Bird helps put on pressure, and having Eviolites knocked off for Gastly and Abra is very helpful for a late game sweep. Vullaby can also be another Fighting-type check in a pinch, and the overall bulk allows it to act as another pivot along with Spritzee and Ferroseed. Roost helps with repeated switch ins to things like Foongus or defensive Staryu.

oo
Thunder Wave > Spikes on Ferro was what I was doing originally, but I decided that more layers for Gastly and Abra was worth it, because there are some rolls in which the Spikes + SR really comes into play.
Calm Mind > Aromatherapy on Spritzee, I had this originally but I think the cleric support was more useful. Additionally, the things that Trapinch traps for Spritzee is also what Gastly and Abra can just smack down so yeah.
Mienfoo > Vullaby Dundies did this and it worked for him in Snake so ig it has some merit. But I really like the Foongus counter that Vullaby provides for the team.
Sucker Punch > HP Fire or Sub was something I tested for a while. I think kingler used it in snake and would have won but he choked. I just like killing Ferro and subbing for Grimers.

Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7lc-293789 lcpl w7, original debut
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7lc-608546854 starmaster vs heysup, lc open r1 (idr giving this team then)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7lc-321338 dundies vs op, snake
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7lc-630012022 op vs spaceworm, lc open r6
and other people used it in their slam runs, i guess this team was posted somewhere lol bop.

Import
Gastly @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Level: 5
EVs: 200 SpA / 76 SpD / 200 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Sludge Bomb
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Abra @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Level: 5
EVs: 240 SpA / 200 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Dazzling Gleam
- Substitute

Trapinch @ Groundium Z
Ability: Arena Trap
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 116 Atk / 76 Def / 196 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Feint
- Rock Slide
- Superpower

Spritzee @ Eviolite
Ability: Aroma Veil
Level: 5
EVs: 212 HP / 196 Def / 12 SpA / 76 SpD / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Aromatherapy

Ferroseed @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 5
EVs: 84 HP / 36 Atk / 108 Def / 228 SpD / 36 Spe
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Bullet Seed

Vullaby @ Eviolite
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 156 Atk / 76 SpD / 116 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Knock Off
- Roost
- U-turn


Ending
I hope this team has shined some light on how good Gastly & Abra is.
maybe if i used this in snake i woulda won. nooo!!!!

Shoutouts:
ichinose chan!!
 
Last edited:

Fiend

someguy
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LC Leader
besides the abra / gastly formatting being balls, this is a pretty solid team. i think it has a pretty bad weakness to a few things like wingulls and doduos, but if they don't have something that happens to cheese you and you don't blow at this game you can't get something as clean for picking up wins. it's a great team and when you first brought it out i was surprised you build smthng so clean and i just couldn't handle it. it's very good.
 

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