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Alright, sorry for the late arrival but here we are with the next week. With that, our winner is none other than A Cake Wearing A Hat! Congratulations!
Cake - 3
KSt3ve - 2
Our next team is by none other than Accelgor! Thank you so much for providing this weeks team. One last Haxorus team before the suspect voting goes up.
Golisopod @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Emergency Exit
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spe
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Liquidation
- Leech Life
- Knock Off
Cobalion @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Volt Switch
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 240 HP / 104 Def / 148 SpD / 16 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
A few weeks ago I realized I didn't use Haxorus nowhere near as I should have been using, so I figured to build a typical offense around the CB set. Pivots are a must, hence the inclusion of mons like Noivern, Volt Switch Cobalion, and even Golisopod. Spikes Roserade helps Haxorus to have an easier time getting past soft check like Umbreon, and using Rhyperior as my rocker keeps things offensive and fast paced. It's just one of the more simplistic and catch-all offenses that you'll see around, but one that aims to bring the most out of a top tier mon in Haxorus.
This submission phase will end Friday, May 29th! Happy posting.
Espeon is fantastic against this team. The only member that is faster is Noivern; everything else gets outpaced. Espeon is running Protect to deal with Haxorus' and Golisopod's First Imprssions.
Rhyperior and Roserade get easily OHKOed from full. In order to beat Haxorus you need to use Protect first, to scout the move it is going for. You outpace it in the following turn and OHKO it with Dazzling Gleam. The same applies for beating Golisopod but instead of OHKOing it in you force it out via Emergency Exit and revenge it when it tries to come in again (don't forget to protect, lol). Cobalion gets 2HKOed by Psychic and can therefore hit Espeon with one attack.
Noivern is the only member that doesn't lose to Espeon. Silvally-Fairy is a nice check to Noivern and discourages the use of Draco Meteor. It forces Noivern out and can pivot via U-turn to get Espeon on the field. It also has the coverage to hit Roserade.
analysis set (Incineroar) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 108 Def / 68 SpD / 84 Spe
Careful Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- Parting Shot
- Toxic / Will-O-Wisp
Protect is a viable option on DD Necrozma that gives it an excellent matchup versus offensive teams that have Noivern as their fastest Pokemon and depend on First Impression to take down faster sweepers, such as the team given this week. Necrozma has the bulk to live one attack from anything but Haxorus, and Lum Berry prevents it from being crippled by status moves. If it gets an opportunity to set up freely, +1 Necrozma KOs everything but Rhyperior and Golisopod*; both take ~80%. Incineroar gives it opportunities to set up freely by weakening opponents with Parting Shot and its status move. Its typing means that it also draws in Rhyperior and Golisopod and chips them into range of DD Necrozma. Since you have Protect, you avoid First Impression, even getting an extra DD on Haxorus' Choice-locked First Impression. Protect usually means giving up Knock Off, but Incineroar is able to fill that void by Knocking opposing mons.
*not OHKOing Golis isn't a big deal at all, since you do enough to force it out with Emergency Exit and prevent it from attacking you back.
Inteleon @ Life Orb
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Air Slash
- Protect
Claydol @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 32 SpA / 148 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Earth Power / Protect
- Teleport
Inteleon can easily cripple this team without even needing the added power of Choice Specs. So I opted for a Life Orb Inteleon with Protect for the First Impressions. If you want to avoid recoil damage from Life Orb, even Expert Belt does wonders for this team in particular.
Inteleon can OHKO 3 mons on the team with Life Orb and has a 43.8% chance to OHKO Roserade which is a confirmed OHKO after Stealth Rock chip. This set can also deal with Golispod by using Protect to scout First Impression and then Air Slashing it to activate its Emergency Exit.
Theoretically, the only pokemon on the team that can hit Inteleon are Noivern and Cobalion provided Inteleon is not switching into their attacks or Inteleon doesn't miss Air Slash(95%) on Golispod.
Moreover, Inteleon can live a Draco from Noivern and also live a Close Combat from Cobalion which brings it into Torrent range maximizing it's power.
252 SpA Life Orb Inteleon Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Haxorus: 333-393 (113.6 - 134.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Life Orb Inteleon Ice Beam vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Noivern: 598-707 (160.3 - 189.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Life Orb Inteleon Surf vs. 240 HP / 148+ SpD Solid Rock Rhyperior: 659-776 (152.9 - 180%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Life Orb Inteleon Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Roserade: 237-281 (90.8 - 107.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Life Orb Inteleon Air Slash vs. 64 HP / 0 SpD Golisopod: 226-268 (73.6 - 87.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Inteleon Surf vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Cobalion: 242-286 (74.9 - 88.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
The other pokemon I wanted to add was Claydol. Claydol switches into Cobalion and also stops it from Volt Switching out. With a little SpA investment it can 2HKO Cobalion even with a Shuca berry. It also takes hits from Noivern and can Toxic it to make sure the rocks stay up. And it can also Teleport out to give Inteleon a free switch in. You can put Protect over Earth Power to get extra recovery. You can also run standard EVs and Claydol can still perform its role here
0 SpA Noivern Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 148 SpD Claydol: 103-123 (31.7 - 37.9%)
252 Atk Cobalion Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 76+ Def Claydol: 84-99 (25.9 - 30.5%) -- 1.4% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
32 SpA Claydol Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Shuca Berry Cobalion: 99-117 (30.6 - 36.2%)
32 SpA Claydol Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Cobalion: 198-234 (61.3 - 72.4%)
Congrats to Expulso for winning this week with their Incineroar + Necrozma submission!
Expulso - 3
Corthius - 1
Apologies for the delay on this week, we were waiting to see if a Rain quickban happened after Haxorus test before posting. As Rain is still allowed, this week will feature a Rain team by me!
"This rain team was built with Coba berry Keldeo as the centerpiece, allowing it to take advantage of one of its most prominent revenge killers in Noivern. Drednaw is a great option for a Stealth Rocker here, allowing the usage of Escavalier to serve as an excellent check to problematic Pokemon like Gardevoir, Celebi, and Reuniclus that members of the team dislike, and offering strong speed control and breaking power with Swift Swim and SD. Shuca Berry + Head Smash offers a slightly higher damage output to Life Orb + Stone Edge, but also allows it to both set up on or attempt to switch into Rhyperior for the team, and lets it break through Gastrodon after a tiny amount of chip without worrying about Earth Power. Pelipper is basically a required teammate, but a maximum defense set helps the team deal with barraskewda, and a slow u-turn is perfect to get the breakers in. Noivern provides secondary speed control, letting it pressure Keldeo in conjunction with Heliolisk, and appreciates 100% accurate Hurricanes in the Rain. Heliolisk rounds the team off with a Water-immunity, and a fantastic breaker with Life Orb + Thunder + Weather Ball. Grass Knot over Volt Switch in the last slot helps to pressure Gastrodon, which can be very annoying for Rain teams like this".
Mantine @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Roost
- Substitute
- Surf
This team is just beaten down by a mantine, as noting wants to come in on a hurricane, and under rain the only things that can even think about switching in on his team is heliolisk and dreadnaw. as such a defensive celibi stops both of those mons right in their tracks, and can even pivot out into mantine later.
Due to not having enough submissions we are going to extend the submission deadline to Thursday, June 11th 2020!
Edit: even though Drizzle has been banned it will be allowed as this week started before the drizzle ban!
Keldeo scarf outspeed noivern and Heliolisk + is very threatening in the rain for offensive teams.
Ditto also is very threatening for offensive teams
Double scarf is quite useful against rain
(Well, rain has been banned, I don't want to explain too much how to counter a team that can no longer exist..)
Virizion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Leaf Storm
- Stone Edge
- Synthesis
These are two established sets from the Creative and Underrated Sets thread by known users Pif and Highways that I believe go together well, particularly in Rain meta. Virizion checks Electric-types for Milotic (with the Mixed set primarily for Rotom-W, which can otherwise annoy Milotic heavily), while Coil Milotic just kinda happens to shred any balance without a Grass and also happens to do really well against Rain. Against this team, Virizion checks the two Pokemon that Milotic can't handle in Drednaw and Heliolisk, while Milotic pretty handily beats everything else.
This was one of the best defensive cores to deal with Sun and it might be even better against Rain. Gastrodon is a massive annoyance to take down, since only Heliolisk really threatens it without crits or Hurricane confusion self-hits on this team. Clear Smog stonewalls Keldeo and Drednaw and ensures that those two will never break through the slug. Scald keeps Escavalier on its toes and basically ruins it if everyone's favorite 30% side effect kicks in. The optimal last move is probably Toxic, since it has the most value in overall matchups in any case and it greatly annoys the 3 remaining Pokemon on this specific team. Earth Power and Ice Beam are also very viable moves on any Gastro for sniping Helio and Noivern, though. Gastrodon's partner really only needs to deal with Heliolisk and Noivern, which is something that Gigalith is as good at as any other option. It doesn't love taking Grass Knots, but it crucially avoids the 2HKO and the combination of LO + Sand + Toxic should wear down Helio to the point where Gastrodon can just sit on the rest of the team.
Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Smack Down
- Megahorn
Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Hyper Voice
- Wish
- Protect
Silvally-Steel @ Steel Memory
Ability: RKS System
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Multi-Attack
- U-turn
- Fire Fang
So this team here is originally built around Decidueye. I found it had a lot of useful tools for the current UU meta. With it's typing and bulk, it made it a great check to Keldeo, along with being able to beat common rockers suck as Rhyperior and Bronzong. The first partner I paired with it was Pangoro, which took advantage of many things, mainly Incineroar as Pangoro is able to freely click a move against it. The next two that were put on the team were Noivern and Rhyperior. Noivern is easily one of the best mons in the tier and with Decidueye using defog, i'm able free up with three attacks. Rhyperior is my rocks user, and there are a few different choices in its moves here. Megahorn is so I can hit grass types, mainly celebi super effectively on the switch. Smack Down allows me to more reliably deal with Galarian Weezing and Bronzong which otherwise wall Rhyperior. Sylveon is my next choice as just a good defensive fairy. Calm Mind was chosen as the last move to because it helps make sylveon much more of a threat than it otherwise would be without it. Silvally-Steel is my last slot as it gives a lot of utility, especially with Wish support from Sylveon. Swords Dance allows it to be a powerful breaker, or even cleaner due to decent speed along with a high power attack. U-Turn allows it to pivot out of unfavorable positions.
Submissions are due by Saturday, June 20th! Good luck everyone!
Edit: Any post DLC content such as the new moves or NFE’s are not allowed in this week!