SM OU Never show your cards too early...

[Peace Love and Dub]

Never Show Your Cards Too Early (AKA Chameleon)



Peace and love to all who help me with their input!
It has been a LONG time since I've posted anything on the forum, I've been playing massive amounts of online poker and have used my deception strategy to apply it to this team. With Team Preview, gone are the days of surprise sweeps by Baton Passing to anything (man I miss the Ninjask/Smeargle lead matchups), but deception with sets, particularly items, can give teams a huge advantage in my opinion.
My idea is to rotate out items to find the best user of the three items in question, Z-items, Choice Scarf and Life Orb (or Air Balloon in the case of Magnezone).
The first three Pokemon can switch their items based on common standard threats. I've easily gotten up to 1500 on the ladder with these particular items, but I'm wondering if it's possible to have a more well rounded team by switching them around.

Tapu Lele @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
​

I formerly relied on Tapu Lele's Terrain control to chip away at priority attackers until I slapped two physical sponges at the end of the set. Most of my teams have had trouble with set-up sweepers (there's only so much Unaware Clefable can do) so the idea is to never lose momentum. HP Ice is for Landourus-T, also no opposed to using HP Fire for Kartana since Focus Blast's accuracy is shaky. That's also the reason I've used Fightium-Z, rather than Scarf or Specs, since Mega 'Zam is generally fast enough to revenge kill things that Tapu Lele can.

Magnezone @ Air Balloon
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
​

Standard, non-choice Magnezone. It has the most options for potential items, as it can also use Scarf, a Z item or Assault Vest. I'm leaning towards Assault Vest for things with non-STAB fire coverage (for instance, Magnezone would have to sacrifice itself if something like Togekiss has Flamethrower), but Air Balloon has worked well enough to this point. Scarf Magnezone is subpar IMO, and Z-moves require precise prediction, so I would rather use my Z-items on the other two 'mons on the team.

Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Stone Edge
- Scald
​

The pony is my most reliable revenge killer. If only it got Ice Beam so I wouldn't have to use Scald or Icy Wind. I've used Waterium and Rockium-Z to some success with the pony in the past, but find this to be the safest bet, unless using a scarf on Tapu Lele or Magnezone who be more effective (I generally don't like to use two choice items on a team if I have no entry hazard control, due to the mega-reliance on switching). It takes care of most of Mega 'Zam and Tapu Lele's weaknesses, while Psychic Terrain prevents Mega Pinsir from taking it out. I have not tried using Hidden Power in the last slot, don't know how effective it is.

Alakazam @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]
​

The heart of my team. The previous three can get rid of pretty much all common counters, allowing for a sweep from the best glass cannon in standard. I've found fire-type coverage is more useful since I'm running HP Ice twice already.

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
​

LT's basic D, providing a slower U-Turn to get things in safely and complete my VoltTurn strategy while also setting up rocks. It's generally the most useful lead, since it can either set up rocks or chip excellent damage to common leads. It's versatility is key to fooling your opponent, and the lack of Physically threatening 'mons on the team means that you can bluff an attacker set if you find yourself in the common scenario against other LT's.

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Def / 156 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower
​

Initially, I had a Physical Ferrothorn with Life Orb to surprise Heatran and Swampert, but that left me in a pinch if I can't control terrain and Electric Seed Hawlucha comes in, so Celesteela is basically here to protect against that. It also shuts down Mega Medicham and Mega Mawile if they don't have ThunderPunch, and at least helps with Magearna, although Magearna is probably the biggest problem for this team, as you need both Land-T and Celesteela to ensure it doesn't rip a hole in it.

So to sum it up, my alternative options I think are:
Using a Scarf on either Magnezone or Tapu Lele instead of Keldeo (which would use Waterium/Rockium-Z)
Using Assault Vest on any of the aforementioned.
Using a Z-move on Magnezone for more reliable wallbreaking.
Switching any Hidden Powers
I'm also definitely not married to using Land-T and Celesteela as the team is really built around Mega 'Zam and the other three for it's counters.​

Also, if any of this is too obvious, please let me know, as I chose this team based on the versatility of all of the Pokemon, forcing pressure on offensive teams who cannot scout, or forcing balanced teams to scout or take risks based on what sets each can have.

It's good to be back! Much thanks and praise to the Smogon Fam!
​

 

[Meliodafu7]

Hey buddy, nice team, PsySpam remains as a threatening playstyle, but I think there are a few improvements

I think this team benefits more from a CM Tapu Lele instead of HP Ice, since you have LandoSteela for handle opposing Landorus-T, and Zygarde doesn't want to take a Moonblast, Gliscor don't want to take a +1 Psyshock/Moonblast, and Garchomp can be handled by LandoSteela pretty well and isn't that much relevant. I propose this change because whit the boost it can be a major threat for balance, and you can break through AV Magearna with 25% chip between a +1 AoP + +1 Psyshock while tanking the Flash/Fleur Cannon the the SpDef boost, giving your Alakazam a fairly good time to clean lategame.

2.- I would consider Specs Magnezone to ensure the OHKO on M-Scizor without rocks and also for additional pressure on Celesteela.

That's all folk :)

 

[patlop2307]

Hey there! Psychic-Spam is still a pretty effective playstyle but I'm really not sure if the team works.

What are you weak to?

• Charizard-Y still clicks Flamethrower on 4 of the 6 Pokémon, those being Celesteela, Landorus-Therian, Magnezone and Tapu-Lele since your coverage for it is extremely poor with Stone Edge Keldeo already existing and not being the nice lure it once was.
• Kyurem-Black can go for the Z-Move on 2-3 on your Pokémon and pretty much get a kill while the player can preserve the Pokémon to do more damage to your team.
• Stall gives you headaches because you do not have any defined breaker whatsoever. You do not have Knock Off on anything, and the Pokémon that you are supposed to get damage off just recovers on your team.

How could you improve the team?

Toxapex > Keldeo: To get rid of your first and probably biggest issue, I would suggest you running Toxapex over Keldeo. Yes, this change does make the team more standard and yes, the team is going to get bulkier, but that is the price you are going to have to take, I suppose.

Kartana > Magnezone: Since you lost your scarfer, you need some speed control. The reason why I chose Kartana is because it not only provides the Knock off support for your mons, it also is an excellent Choice Scarf abuser with an absurd amount of attack.

Taunt > Hidden Power [Ice]; Tapu-Lele: Taunt betters your stall match-up by a good margin; being able to Taunt Skarmory for instance, prevents Spikes, Taunting Clef prevents Wishes, and so on and so forth. It is also nice for shutting down some potential set up, in the case that you actually need to.

(Earthquake > Flamethrower ; Celesteela): This is a minor suggestion and very situational, but if you feel like you need to cover the Magnezone weakness, you can run Earthquake over Flamethrower instead.


*NOTE: The change that I have put in parentheses will not be included in the paste I am going post!

Finished Version of the Team:

Suggested Version of the team

http://pokepast.es/54c636dcef952e4d

Hope I helped you out with this rate, man!