I had decent success with this team on the ladder, climbing to 1550 with it.
The inspiration for this team came from reading a thread where someone mentioned that Meganium can function as a solid defensive pokemon with the set Razor Leaf + Reflect + Leech Seed + Synthesis, even functioning as a check to EqLax.
I've always liked Meganium as a pokemon, and I always felt sad at how it got the short end of the stick as a starter pokemon in the gen 2 games. I decided I wanted to try to see if I could create a team based around it, with Meganium functioning as the team's EqLax check.
Team Building Process:
The first question to ask was, what type of a team would I build around Meganium. A pure stall team didn't make sense to me, as Skarmory would likely be a sturdier EqLax check on a stall team, and running both Skarmory and Meganium on the same team would defeat the purpose of trying to run Meganium as my EqLax check. A Skarmory + Meganium stall team could probably work, especially in conjunction with Heal Bell support for Meganium, but I just didn't want to bother with this type of team.
Additionally, building an offensive team around Meganium didn't make the most sense to me either. Meganium, it turns out, is generally a wonderful defensive pokemon, usually being able to check/wall 2+ pokemon on the opposing team, often 3+. It has solid 80/100/100 bulk, a respectable speed tier (for a defensive pokemon) of 80, and a nice pure-Grass defensive typing. However, its offense, unless hitting super-effectively, is pitiful, and it can often let low-health pokemon, such as Zapdos, switch in for free and heal up. Also, when building around Meganium, one quickly realizes that it's basically mandatory to run a Normal-resistant phazer alongside it, those being Skarmory, Steelix, Golem, Tyranitar, or Rhydon. Meganium doesn't purely counter or wall Snorlax, but it can delay it, annoy it, and often cause it to Rest or switch out, but Snorlax can simply decide to Curse-up in your face, and in these cases, you need a Normal-resistant phazer alongside Meganium to help out.
Standard offensive teams tend to skimp on defensive Snorlax coverage, and particularly EqCurseLax coverage. These teams typically run one of Steelix, Golem, Tyranitar, or Rhydon, and possibly Gengar, Cloyster, Exeggutor, etc. for some additional support, but they tend to rely on beating down on Snorlax and forcing it to rest, or booming on it. By running Meganium plus a normal-resistant phazer, we are now effectively dedicating an additional slot to defensive Snorlax coverage, which means that we are necessarily sacrificing offensive coverage on our team in order to do this. So, I tentatively decided that some sort of mid-paced, "balanced" team would be the optimal way to build around EqLax-check Meganium.
At this point, I had decided on a core of Meganium + a non-Skarmory Normal-resistant phazer, the question was which would work best alongside Meganium. I'm sure that any of these could work to some extent, but I decided that Rhydon was a good choice. Steelix and Golem are typically running Explosion, and I typically tend to associate these pokemon with fast-paced offensive teams. Boom-Steelix and Boom-Golem would likely get worn-down by Snorlax in the long run (unless it was a mono-lax), and don't offer great offensive coverage outside of booming. This would make these teams riskier and less-reliable in my opinion, as Snorlax may well simply win on the spot if Golem or Steelix boom on the wrong target. Tyranitar or Rhydon running a Curse/Roar/Earthquake/Rock Slide set seemed like ideal partners for Meganium on a balanced team, and Rhydon does this set better than Tyranitar. With this set and paired with Meganium, Rhydon can frequently switch in on a Leech Seeded Snorlax, behind a Reflect, and either Roar it out, or Curse up and start unleashing havoc on the opposing team.
With this core decided on, the question now was how to fill out the rest of the team. Rhydon is a pokemon that greatly appreciates paralysis support, and both Meganium and Rhydon greatly appreciate Rapid Spin support. The no-brainer addition to the team was Rapid Spin + Thunder Wave Starmie. This Starmie can often, in the course of a typical game, paralyze key targets such as Zapdos, Raikou, Snorlax, Gengar, and Cloyster for Rhydon, making Rhydon significantly more threatening. The downside is that sometimes Spikes will stay up when running this Starmie set.
Now, to round out the remainder of the team, we need Snorlax, (most likely) an electric type, and something else. I decided to run Curse + Eq + Body Slam Lax to support Rhydon as an offensive threat and provide additional paralysis support. Alongside CurseLax, SleepTalk Raikou made sense as the team's special wall and Sleep-Talker. For the last slot, I went with Cloyster. You had better have a pretty damn good reason not to run Spikes, and I couldn't think of a good reason for this team not to. Running Cloyster over Forretress gives the team a bit more of an offensive flair, and Cloyster can function as a solid playmaker with boom and is a reasonable offensive threat, unlike Forretress who slows the pace of the team when run. I tried running Forretress over Cloyster sometimes, and it does help a bit in certain matchups, but in practice it seems to not work as well.
Movesets
Meganium
-Razor Leaf
-Reflect
-Leech Seed
-Synthesis
With this set, Meganium can function as your first-line of defense against the mighty Snorlax, and can often switch in on Snorlax over and over throughout the course of a match. In fact, it turns out that Meganium still works very well against Fire-lax, with Flamethrower doing in the low-mid 30's. The general strategy is to switch in on Snorlax, set up a Reflect and then Leech Seed, chip with Razor Leaf, and heal with Synthesis as needed. The Snorlax may switch out in frustration, or perhaps stay in and Curse up. If Snorlax is Cursing up, you will eventually need to switch out, probably to Rhydon, and phaze it out. The beauty of Leech Seeding Snorlax is that Snorlax has such a massive HP pool that Meganium and Rhydon are healing in the range of 16-20% HP from Leech Seed every turn. Behind a Reflect, Rhydon is generally safe from even a Cursed-up EqLax. Also, an important mechanic is that when phazing, Leech Seed activates immediately after the opponent's turn, so you heal before Roaring. The bottom-line is that Meganium often works reasonably well as a Snorlax check; rarely a permanent solution, given its susceptibility to crits, status, and Synthesis' low PP of 8, but often working well in the short-medium term. Body Slam Snorlax is generally a tougher matchup than Double-Edge or Return, given that paraylsis makes you slower and can lead to full-para. However, the paralysis support from the team can often temporarily lead to a paralyzed Snorlax, which evens things out.
Not only can Meganium be your first-line of defense against Snorlax, but it's also one of the best catch-all defensive checks in the entire tier, being able to switch in on just about anything in a pinch. In particular, it can check Ground/Rock types such as Steelix, Golem, Rhydon, Marowak, Quagsire, and Tyranitar. It's arguably the best Marowak check in the game, especially if Marowak is lacking Hidden Power Bug. It's also an excellent Vaporeon check. Reflect helps out against a myriad of physical threats, and it can check Machamp, Nidoking, etc. in a pinch. Reflect + Leech Seed can allow for many advantageous situations over the course of a typical match.
A hidden advantage of running Meganium is the information-asymmetry that results. The more you play Meganium, the more you will learn its limitations and how to squeeze the maximum amount of defensive value out of it. For example, squeezing out recovery via Leftovers and Leech Seed rather than using Synthesis, or setting up Reflects at opportune moments. Most opponents will not be used to facing Meganium and will not always fully grasp the optimal short- or long-term strategy to use to defeat it. Meganium performs best against offensive teams, typically being able to stifle multiple members of a team and slow momentum down with Reflect.
Rhydon
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Curse
-Roar
Rhydon serves as the team's phazer, and primary offensive threat alongside Snorlax. Rhydon's offensive prowess is greatly enabled by the paralysis support offered by the team, alongside Meganium's role as the primary Snorlax switch-in. The combination of Meganium + Rhydon can handle most Snorlax sets, including Lovely Kiss Lax (Meganium will eat the Lovely Kiss). Ideally, as mentioned, Rhydon will get in on a Leech Seeded Snorlax behind Reflect, and then unleash its devastating stabs on the paralyzed opponent and batter the opponent down over the course of the match. This generally works better against offensive teams; stall teams, especially those containing Suicune or Starmie, can be tougher to break, but it's still possible. Rhydon tends to like to wait back and not switch in until the right moment, as too much chip damage, paralysis, or burn will pretty much cripple Rhydon in its role as a battering ram for this team.
Starmie
-Surf
-Thunder Wave
-Rapid Spin
-Recover
Starmie greatly complements the Meganium + Rhydon core with both Rapid Spin and paralysis support. Rapid Spin is far from guaranteed if the opponent is packing a Ghost type, or is running a slow, methodical stall team, so it can often be crucial to predict the switch to Gengar and cripple it with Thunder Wave. Thunder Waving Cloyster is also greatly helpful to Rhydon. Starmie is also an important defensive member of the team, providing back-up support against Ground types and other random offensive threats, and being the only true Machamp check on the team.
Snorlax
-Body Slam
-Earthquake
-Curse
-Rest
Curse + Eq + Body Slam Lax gives the team a more offensive flair than Sleep Talk Lax would, which is important, because this team is meant to be a mid-paced "balance" team, not excelling at pure stall, needing a bit of offensive support. Body Slam is great to support Rhydon, particularly against the typically Normal-Resistant Snorlax switch-ins. Earthquake over Flamethrower is greatly appreciated against offense, but Flamethrower could easily be used over Earthquake if you expect your opponent to run stall (this would likely improve your matchup).
Raikou
-Thunder
-Hidden Power Ice
-Sleep Talk
-Rest
Not much needs to be said about Raikou. I run it over Zapdos alongside CurseLax for a more sturdy special wall. Thunder > Thunderbolt for paralysis support and to keep more pressure on Snorlax. The biggest downside of running Raikou over Zapdos for this team is the lack of a Flying type on the team, and the massive Heracross weakness that creates for this team, in addition to making the team weaker against Machamp and Nidoking. Curse Heracross is almost impossible to play around for this team, but I still think this team as constructed works better than it would with a Zapdos outside of that one specific matchup.
Cloyster
-Surf
-Spikes
-Toxic
-Explosion
Cloyster is just too damn good not to run. Spikes are very nice for this team, as Meganium can force switches with Leech Seed, Rhydon greatly benefits, etc. I haven't played around with Cloyster's moveset, but this seems best overall. Explosion can be a key move to break a hole in the opponent's defenses. Forretress can be used in this slot, and that will slightly improve your matchup against Heracross, Nidoking, Exegutor, etc., and can help in certain stall matchups, but I've found that Cloyster usually works better in practice. Running Forretress makes this more of a stall team, and can lead to ties, draws, and excruciating, drawn-out switch fests against other stall teams.
Summary
This team probably works better on the ladder than it would in a tournament environment. It excels against many offensive teams, as well as Baton Pass teams, both of which are extremely common on the ladder. It also thrives off the opponent's lack of understanding of what Meganium does. It's not as great against certain stall teams, but slight adjustments could be made to the team (run FireLax and/or Forretress) to improve these matchups. The team also has a massive Heracross problem that is hard to play around, but Heracross is uncommon. It can also suffer from Meganium's passivity at times, and Meganium can kill momentum at times. The team also could be viewed as a bit of a matchup fish, as its defensive coverage is skewed, having 2 Water types and a Grass type. It can in particular sometimes be susceptible to a targeted boom on Raikou, but this can still usually be overcome.
Despite its flaws, this team is very viable into some matchups, and in these, you can giggle with delight as you send in the underappreciated Meganium to stifle their Snorlax and wall half of their team, slowly wear them down with paralysis, and unleash the underused and badass Rhydon and rip their team apart.
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