Psycho Cutters
I know, the name sucks. If anyone can come with a better name, that can somehow be related to the word "CUT", please let me know. Anyway, let's get this started.
First, a few informations about this team: It's supposed to be used in a offline tournament in my city. This will be a monotype tournament, no wildcards allowed. So, yeah. Complete monotype. Also, it doesn't completely follows Smogon Tiers for the banned pokes. Almost every Uber poke from Smogon is banned from the tournament, except for Latios being allowed without a Soul Dew, and Wobbuffet being allowed.
So, the only banned pokes are:
- Darkrai;
- Deoxys;
- Dialga;
- Giratina;
- Groudon;
- Ho-Oh;
- Kyogre;
- Lugia;
- Mew;
- Mewtwo;
- Palkia;
- Rayquaza
- Celebi *
*Celebi is banned for a totally different reason, as the event never happened here in Brazil, so they've decided to not allow use of Celebi.
Also, during all the tournament (except for the finals), no recovery-only move is allowed. So, no Recover, Roost, Wish, Rest... but we can use status healing moves, and Leech Seed and Pain Split are allowed, since they heal at the same time as they cause damage.
Species Clause and Sleep Clause are on, and you can repeat items. So, with all that in mind, this is the monotype Psychic I've created and tested against other monotypes in the last few weeks:
The Lead - Physical Wall
Metagross @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD. / 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Trick
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
This Metagross works pretty much the same as the Trick Lead Metagross from the Analysis. This lead works pretty well so far, and in all my tests, it was able to defeat the opponent lead, or at least cripple it with a choice scarf that allowed some of my pokes to setup, and my Wobbuffet was able to kill that opponent easily because of the choice scarf. Stealth rock is an obvious choice, and helps a lot of my pokes to acchieve those 2HKO or OHKO when needed. I've replaced Explosion with Earthquake, much needed against some threats as it's the only pokemon on my team capable of using it. It also takes the place of Explosion because I need this pokemon alive, being my best Physical Defensive poke and all.
Physical Sweeporter
Gallade @ Wide Lens (??)
Ability: Steadfast
EVs: 252 HP / 152 Atk / 104 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Thunder Wave
- Will-O-Wisp
- Close Combat
- Night Slash
Double status Gallade that can help support the team. Thunder Wave over Hypnosis because it can support the Wobbuffet, giving it the possibility to Encore the last used move of a pokemon with up to 400 speed. Also, it can cripple to some extent Dragon Dancers or pokemon receiving Speed Boosts to some extent, as long as it's used on the switch, or while they are still setting up. Will-O-Wisp can cripple the plain old Physical Sweeper. I've chosen those two status instead of Hypnosis because of the sleep clause. Close Combat is there for stab, Tyranitar, Blissey etc. Night Slash gives the Gallade best coverage, and is also my chosen Dark Move. The item, though, is still a hard choice. It was there because of the Hypnosis, but maybe I can switch to a Leftovers, now that I only have Will-o-Wisp, with an already nice accuracy.
Special Sweeper
Azelf @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 40 Atk / 252 SpA. / 216 Spe
Nature: Naive
- Psychic
- Explosion
- Fire Blast
- Grass Knot
Azelf is there pretty much for special sweeping, but can explode if necessary. Grass Knot for Swamperts and Tyranitars, but can also give pretty nice damage to Milotic. Explosion can be used in cases of opponents that would pretty much destroy the Azelf with a Pursuit, in case all the other moves were resisted. Also, it can be used as a last resort, when Azelf's HP is already at its limit. Fire Blast for Scizor, grass pokemons, and other bugs/steels. Psychic is plain old STAB.
Physical Sweeper
Jirachi @ Expert Belt
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA. / 252 Spe
Nature: Hasty
- Iron Head
- Ice Punch
- Fire Punch
- Thunderbolt
As the Azelf, this Jirachi is a Physical Sweeper, with Thunderbolt there to beat Skarmory and Gyarados. All of its moves abuse Serene Grace ability to some extent, and the paralysis possibility from Thunderbolt can really help the Wobbuffet's Encore strategy too. Ice Punch for dragons and Aerodactyl, Fire Punch for other steels. Expert Belt can help the opponent misread Jirachi's item for a scarf, and manage a KO that way.
Monster Killer
Wobbuffet @ Leftovers
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 28 HP / 228 Def / 228 SpD. / 24 Spe
Nature: Bold
- Encore
- Counter
- Mirror Coat
- Safeguard
Not much needs to be said about a Wobbuffet. The organizators of the tournament made a mistake, in my opinion, in allowing Wobbuffet out of the Uber tier, and need to be punished for that. Wobbuffet can pretty much counter anything, depending on my team's needs. I've used it to destroy a Heracross, after tricking it with a choice scarf in trade for the choice band it was holding. After that, switching into the close combat and killing it was pretty easy. The speed EVs are there to allow it to outspeed a few more pokemons while paralized, which in turn could help Encoring some useless move on it.
Special Wall/Sweeper
Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA. / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
- Calm Mind
- Surf
- Dragon Pulse
- Refresh
That is pretty much my biggest doubt on the team. I've used an Offensive Calm Mind approach for the Latias, since the impossibility of using Recover would make the Defensive set a lot less useful. But considering the greater attacking power of the Latios, maybe I should switch dragons on the team? Calm Mind is there pretty much to raise the Special Attack to help it sweep. Surf is because otherwise, my team wouldn't have water moves, what could be extremely dangerous against Fire teams, having two Steel pokes. Dragon Pulse is there because it's resisted only by Steel pokemons. The last move is a big question mark to me. With refresh, I could use the Lati@s to absorve status, but that is pretty much it. Hidden Power Fire, on the other hand, could free my Jirachi to run another Grass Knot on the set, protecting it and the team from Tyranitars in case my Azelf died/exploded soon.
That is pretty much it. Please keep in mind that this team will be facing other monotype teams, that will not have access to wildcards either. I believe my two levitating pokes might help against spikes/toxic spikes (which are also resisted by the two Steel pokes, leaving only Gallade and Wobbuffet at mercy of Toxic Spikes), so I don't think Rapid Spin would be needed.
Now, go ahead and bash it, where needed. Also, keep in mind that the finals will be held on Pokemon Battle Revolution, which pretty much eliminates Rotom Forms, lowering its uses a lot.
I know, the name sucks. If anyone can come with a better name, that can somehow be related to the word "CUT", please let me know. Anyway, let's get this started.
First, a few informations about this team: It's supposed to be used in a offline tournament in my city. This will be a monotype tournament, no wildcards allowed. So, yeah. Complete monotype. Also, it doesn't completely follows Smogon Tiers for the banned pokes. Almost every Uber poke from Smogon is banned from the tournament, except for Latios being allowed without a Soul Dew, and Wobbuffet being allowed.
So, the only banned pokes are:
- Darkrai;
- Deoxys;
- Dialga;
- Giratina;
- Groudon;
- Ho-Oh;
- Kyogre;
- Lugia;
- Mew;
- Mewtwo;
- Palkia;
- Rayquaza
- Celebi *
*Celebi is banned for a totally different reason, as the event never happened here in Brazil, so they've decided to not allow use of Celebi.
Also, during all the tournament (except for the finals), no recovery-only move is allowed. So, no Recover, Roost, Wish, Rest... but we can use status healing moves, and Leech Seed and Pain Split are allowed, since they heal at the same time as they cause damage.
Species Clause and Sleep Clause are on, and you can repeat items. So, with all that in mind, this is the monotype Psychic I've created and tested against other monotypes in the last few weeks:
The Lead - Physical Wall
Metagross @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD. / 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Trick
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
This Metagross works pretty much the same as the Trick Lead Metagross from the Analysis. This lead works pretty well so far, and in all my tests, it was able to defeat the opponent lead, or at least cripple it with a choice scarf that allowed some of my pokes to setup, and my Wobbuffet was able to kill that opponent easily because of the choice scarf. Stealth rock is an obvious choice, and helps a lot of my pokes to acchieve those 2HKO or OHKO when needed. I've replaced Explosion with Earthquake, much needed against some threats as it's the only pokemon on my team capable of using it. It also takes the place of Explosion because I need this pokemon alive, being my best Physical Defensive poke and all.
Physical Sweeporter
Gallade @ Wide Lens (??)
Ability: Steadfast
EVs: 252 HP / 152 Atk / 104 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Thunder Wave
- Will-O-Wisp
- Close Combat
- Night Slash
Double status Gallade that can help support the team. Thunder Wave over Hypnosis because it can support the Wobbuffet, giving it the possibility to Encore the last used move of a pokemon with up to 400 speed. Also, it can cripple to some extent Dragon Dancers or pokemon receiving Speed Boosts to some extent, as long as it's used on the switch, or while they are still setting up. Will-O-Wisp can cripple the plain old Physical Sweeper. I've chosen those two status instead of Hypnosis because of the sleep clause. Close Combat is there for stab, Tyranitar, Blissey etc. Night Slash gives the Gallade best coverage, and is also my chosen Dark Move. The item, though, is still a hard choice. It was there because of the Hypnosis, but maybe I can switch to a Leftovers, now that I only have Will-o-Wisp, with an already nice accuracy.
Special Sweeper
Azelf @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 40 Atk / 252 SpA. / 216 Spe
Nature: Naive
- Psychic
- Explosion
- Fire Blast
- Grass Knot
Azelf is there pretty much for special sweeping, but can explode if necessary. Grass Knot for Swamperts and Tyranitars, but can also give pretty nice damage to Milotic. Explosion can be used in cases of opponents that would pretty much destroy the Azelf with a Pursuit, in case all the other moves were resisted. Also, it can be used as a last resort, when Azelf's HP is already at its limit. Fire Blast for Scizor, grass pokemons, and other bugs/steels. Psychic is plain old STAB.
Physical Sweeper
Jirachi @ Expert Belt
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA. / 252 Spe
Nature: Hasty
- Iron Head
- Ice Punch
- Fire Punch
- Thunderbolt
As the Azelf, this Jirachi is a Physical Sweeper, with Thunderbolt there to beat Skarmory and Gyarados. All of its moves abuse Serene Grace ability to some extent, and the paralysis possibility from Thunderbolt can really help the Wobbuffet's Encore strategy too. Ice Punch for dragons and Aerodactyl, Fire Punch for other steels. Expert Belt can help the opponent misread Jirachi's item for a scarf, and manage a KO that way.
Monster Killer
Wobbuffet @ Leftovers
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 28 HP / 228 Def / 228 SpD. / 24 Spe
Nature: Bold
- Encore
- Counter
- Mirror Coat
- Safeguard
Not much needs to be said about a Wobbuffet. The organizators of the tournament made a mistake, in my opinion, in allowing Wobbuffet out of the Uber tier, and need to be punished for that. Wobbuffet can pretty much counter anything, depending on my team's needs. I've used it to destroy a Heracross, after tricking it with a choice scarf in trade for the choice band it was holding. After that, switching into the close combat and killing it was pretty easy. The speed EVs are there to allow it to outspeed a few more pokemons while paralized, which in turn could help Encoring some useless move on it.
Special Wall/Sweeper
Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA. / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
- Calm Mind
- Surf
- Dragon Pulse
- Refresh
That is pretty much my biggest doubt on the team. I've used an Offensive Calm Mind approach for the Latias, since the impossibility of using Recover would make the Defensive set a lot less useful. But considering the greater attacking power of the Latios, maybe I should switch dragons on the team? Calm Mind is there pretty much to raise the Special Attack to help it sweep. Surf is because otherwise, my team wouldn't have water moves, what could be extremely dangerous against Fire teams, having two Steel pokes. Dragon Pulse is there because it's resisted only by Steel pokemons. The last move is a big question mark to me. With refresh, I could use the Lati@s to absorve status, but that is pretty much it. Hidden Power Fire, on the other hand, could free my Jirachi to run another Grass Knot on the set, protecting it and the team from Tyranitars in case my Azelf died/exploded soon.
That is pretty much it. Please keep in mind that this team will be facing other monotype teams, that will not have access to wildcards either. I believe my two levitating pokes might help against spikes/toxic spikes (which are also resisted by the two Steel pokes, leaving only Gallade and Wobbuffet at mercy of Toxic Spikes), so I don't think Rapid Spin would be needed.
Now, go ahead and bash it, where needed. Also, keep in mind that the finals will be held on Pokemon Battle Revolution, which pretty much eliminates Rotom Forms, lowering its uses a lot.
