Team Megan Fox is Hot but not THAT hot (Peaked 37th on Suspect)
Hi, this is my first actually successful suspect team, peaking at #37 on the Suspect ladder before it starting falling back down the ladder. While the RMT is called "Team Megan Fox is Hot but not THAT hot", I usually refer to it as Team "Royalty" as I laddered under the alt King Fightmaster and each pokemon has a nickname involving Kings. This team tries to achieve a Scizor sweep by eliminating Scizor's counters via Shaymin and the rest of the team.
In the absence of Salamence, many pokemon such as Heatran and Shaymin are rising in usage to the point where Fire/Water/Grass cores are being more and more viable. Scizor, one of my favorite OU pokemon is a lot less used (IE its only used on some teams, not 99% of them) since its not needed to check Mence and Heatran is extremely commmon now. So I decided to see where Scizor could be useful in this new metagame by basing a team around it.
At this point I wondered where to go with this team, but I kept hearing about how awesome Shaymin was in the new metagame, and I thought about it. Shaymin shares some common counters with Scizor in Heatran and Zapdos, so it could be a great lure as it can OHKO Heatran with Earth Power and lure in Zapdos for something else to handle. But in order for it to stay Heatran's to stay in, I need to bluff a Choice item since most LO Heatrans (Since I can't beat scarfed ones obviously) wouldn't stay in if they knew that an Earth Power was coming, so I tried an Expert belt and it worked wonders.
Now like I said before, Fire/Water/Grass cores are much more viable. With this in mind, I decided to add 2 pokemon that could help me defensively. Vaporeon and Heatran came to mind instantly. Wish support from Vaporeon could increase the longevity of my team while Heatran could revenge kill pokemon that threaten my team. So I threw those 2 in.
Now Zapdos was still a problem that needed to be worked around and I needed a pokemon to set up rocks and lead against pokemon like Azelf and Roserade. Having used Tyranitar a lot of times in the past, I knew that it was affective at both of these so I tried the lead set with a few adjustments that I'll map out later.
Now to assist Tyranitar with some leads it has trouble against like Metagross and Machamp. I asked around and somebody suggested Reflect Rotom. Reflect adds a lot of physical bulk to my team which lets it stand up to things like Lucario and Infernape's Close Combats.
King Vulcan (Heatran) (M) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP/116 Spd/144 SDef
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
As suggested, I changed my lead from Lead Tar to a bulky Heatran Lead, and its been working wonders so far. Thanks to its speed and bulk I can Taunt slower leads like Metagross and Swampert and survive the impending EQ's with my Shuca Berry. Later in the match it serves as one of my answers to stall since it outruns most pokemon on a stall team and it can taunt them so their either forced to attack weakly or switch. It functions pretty similarly to a regular Leadtran, if I face a lead thats faster and has a super effective move on me I'll have to switch out to something like, lets say Vaporeon if I'm facing a Lead Ape. The EVs give me maximum bulk while being able to outrun max speed neutral Metagrosses. Fire Blast and Earth Power let me beat most OU leads while Taunt lets me stop slower ones that have no problem with either, such as Swampert.
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King Ray (Rotom-h) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/160 Def/96 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball
Now, there are some opposing leads that Tyranitar and my whole team just have trouble with. Mainly Machamp and Metagross. Reflect Rotom can turn a Machamp's Payback into a 3-4HKO while I can just Thunderbolt away at it. Reflect combined with Rotom's resists increases the overall bulk of the team while serving as a main counter to certain Pokemon like Gyarados. Reflect also gives me the ability for Scizor to Swords Dance on more physical threats.
The EVs let me outrun Standard Rotom-A's incase of a situation where I'd need to keep it in instead of using Tyranitar. The moveset is standard but the option of Pain Split being on there is something I've been thinking about. The set lets me play both defensively and offensively which is a good thing to be able to do when running bulky offense since being able to play effectively under different situations is important for any team.
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King Plato (Vaporeon) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 188 HP/252 Def/68 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Wish
- Surf
- Protect
Vaporeon is the backbone of the team. Wish support increases the durability of the entire team so when pokemon like Tyranitar get weak I can heal them up so they can continue doing their job. The moveset is fairly standard but works well enough that a change isn't needed. Ice Beam lets me effectively handle Dragonite without much problems. Protect lets me scout moves and avoid KO's via wish. Surf lets me pick off weakened pokemon like Tyranitar and Scizor thanks to my 68 speed EVs. Along with Heatran and Shaymin, Vap makes up my Fire/Water/Grass. These cores work off each other's resistances to counter threats. Vaporeon can wish and keep Heatran alive which allows it to stop Lucarios and other tough pokemon.
Vaporeon is my main line of defense and support because of Wish's usefulness. A lot of times a Wish can win me the match (As corny as that sounds) because sometimes I need to be able to switch in safely and Wish almost assures that my pokemon come in healthy.
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King Pin (Tyranitar) (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 160 HP/252 Atk/96 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Crunch
Another suggestion I got was to use Tyranitar. CB Tar gives my team a lot of raw power that I could use when facing pokemon my team has trouble against such as Blissey. In fact Blissey is the main reason I opted for this. Pursuit puts huge dents in the thing regardless if it switches or not. And because so many people use Choice items on their pokemon, Pursuit becomes even more useful as they would have to choose between either staying in and doing little damage with a resisted attack or switching and losing a huge chunk of health or even being KO'd. Part of the reason I used Tyranitar in the first place is its ability to counter Zapdos so effectively. Its sandstorm and natural bulk lets it sponge special attacks in general but Zapdos targeted because its a pokemon in OU that single-handedly destroys Fire/Water/Grass cores. Tyranitar sponges and KO's Zapdos with Stone Edge which lets my entire team function more better. The EVs let me outspeed Skarmory's so I can 2HKO before it can roost off the damage.
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King Carrot (Shaymin) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Seed Flare
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Air Slash
This the MVP for my team in most matches. Expert Belt Shaymin is an amazing Heatran lure. Since Heatran is the most common pokemon in Suspect, and its Scizor's number 1 counter, I needed a pokemon to lure out and KO it. Enter Shaymin. Shaymin baits Heatrans into switching in on a Seed Flare and since theres no recovery or recoil, they think that its a Choice Specs or Scarf variant of Shaymin and stay in while I KO their Heatran's with Earth Power. Its also a good pokemon for baiting Zapdos's so they can be taken out by a good Stone Edge from Tyranitar. Its also a suprisingly solid special sweeper after the opponent knows what set I'm actually running, 2HKO most switch-ins that don't directly resist my attacks.
EVs are pretty standard, Max SpA/Max Speed and a Timid nature to outspeed neutral base 100's. Seed Flare and HP Fire give me good coverage on most OU's while Earth Power lets me hit the ones that resists both moves and Air Slash is mainly filler but it helps me with Fighting types like Breloom.
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King Crimson (Scizor) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 188 HP/252 Atk/60 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Brick Break
Now we reach the culmination of my team's efforts, Bulky SD Scizor was a monster in OU and since no one really goes out of their way to carry more than one Scizor counter, this combined with Shaymin can literally bring down teams. With the defensive EVs and Scizor's resists, I can easily get 2 or 3 SD's down then Bullet punch my way to a win. Brick Break gives me an attack to suprise Magnezones that would try to switch in and trap me. I chose Superpower over Brick Break because of the fact that its redundant to boost my stats then lower them again everytime something that resists Bullet Punch comes along. This set isn't only a Swords Dancer, its also a competent revenge killer with Bullet Punch. The EVs give me maximum bulk while being able to outspeed Skarmory. This bulk lets me set up on pokemon that I normally wouldn't be able to, like bulky waters such as Vaporeon.
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Hi, this is my first actually successful suspect team, peaking at #37 on the Suspect ladder before it starting falling back down the ladder. While the RMT is called "Team Megan Fox is Hot but not THAT hot", I usually refer to it as Team "Royalty" as I laddered under the alt King Fightmaster and each pokemon has a nickname involving Kings. This team tries to achieve a Scizor sweep by eliminating Scizor's counters via Shaymin and the rest of the team.
In the absence of Salamence, many pokemon such as Heatran and Shaymin are rising in usage to the point where Fire/Water/Grass cores are being more and more viable. Scizor, one of my favorite OU pokemon is a lot less used (IE its only used on some teams, not 99% of them) since its not needed to check Mence and Heatran is extremely commmon now. So I decided to see where Scizor could be useful in this new metagame by basing a team around it.
At this point I wondered where to go with this team, but I kept hearing about how awesome Shaymin was in the new metagame, and I thought about it. Shaymin shares some common counters with Scizor in Heatran and Zapdos, so it could be a great lure as it can OHKO Heatran with Earth Power and lure in Zapdos for something else to handle. But in order for it to stay Heatran's to stay in, I need to bluff a Choice item since most LO Heatrans (Since I can't beat scarfed ones obviously) wouldn't stay in if they knew that an Earth Power was coming, so I tried an Expert belt and it worked wonders.
Now like I said before, Fire/Water/Grass cores are much more viable. With this in mind, I decided to add 2 pokemon that could help me defensively. Vaporeon and Heatran came to mind instantly. Wish support from Vaporeon could increase the longevity of my team while Heatran could revenge kill pokemon that threaten my team. So I threw those 2 in.
Now Zapdos was still a problem that needed to be worked around and I needed a pokemon to set up rocks and lead against pokemon like Azelf and Roserade. Having used Tyranitar a lot of times in the past, I knew that it was affective at both of these so I tried the lead set with a few adjustments that I'll map out later.
Now to assist Tyranitar with some leads it has trouble against like Metagross and Machamp. I asked around and somebody suggested Reflect Rotom. Reflect adds a lot of physical bulk to my team which lets it stand up to things like Lucario and Infernape's Close Combats.
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------------------------------------The Team------------------------------------
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------------------------------------The Team------------------------------------
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King Vulcan (Heatran) (M) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP/116 Spd/144 SDef
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
As suggested, I changed my lead from Lead Tar to a bulky Heatran Lead, and its been working wonders so far. Thanks to its speed and bulk I can Taunt slower leads like Metagross and Swampert and survive the impending EQ's with my Shuca Berry. Later in the match it serves as one of my answers to stall since it outruns most pokemon on a stall team and it can taunt them so their either forced to attack weakly or switch. It functions pretty similarly to a regular Leadtran, if I face a lead thats faster and has a super effective move on me I'll have to switch out to something like, lets say Vaporeon if I'm facing a Lead Ape. The EVs give me maximum bulk while being able to outrun max speed neutral Metagrosses. Fire Blast and Earth Power let me beat most OU leads while Taunt lets me stop slower ones that have no problem with either, such as Swampert.
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King Ray (Rotom-h) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/160 Def/96 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
Now, there are some opposing leads that Tyranitar and my whole team just have trouble with. Mainly Machamp and Metagross. Reflect Rotom can turn a Machamp's Payback into a 3-4HKO while I can just Thunderbolt away at it. Reflect combined with Rotom's resists increases the overall bulk of the team while serving as a main counter to certain Pokemon like Gyarados. Reflect also gives me the ability for Scizor to Swords Dance on more physical threats.
The EVs let me outrun Standard Rotom-A's incase of a situation where I'd need to keep it in instead of using Tyranitar. The moveset is standard but the option of Pain Split being on there is something I've been thinking about. The set lets me play both defensively and offensively which is a good thing to be able to do when running bulky offense since being able to play effectively under different situations is important for any team.
---
King Plato (Vaporeon) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 188 HP/252 Def/68 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
Vaporeon is the backbone of the team. Wish support increases the durability of the entire team so when pokemon like Tyranitar get weak I can heal them up so they can continue doing their job. The moveset is fairly standard but works well enough that a change isn't needed. Ice Beam lets me effectively handle Dragonite without much problems. Protect lets me scout moves and avoid KO's via wish. Surf lets me pick off weakened pokemon like Tyranitar and Scizor thanks to my 68 speed EVs. Along with Heatran and Shaymin, Vap makes up my Fire/Water/Grass. These cores work off each other's resistances to counter threats. Vaporeon can wish and keep Heatran alive which allows it to stop Lucarios and other tough pokemon.
Vaporeon is my main line of defense and support because of Wish's usefulness. A lot of times a Wish can win me the match (As corny as that sounds) because sometimes I need to be able to switch in safely and Wish almost assures that my pokemon come in healthy.
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King Pin (Tyranitar) (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 160 HP/252 Atk/96 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
Another suggestion I got was to use Tyranitar. CB Tar gives my team a lot of raw power that I could use when facing pokemon my team has trouble against such as Blissey. In fact Blissey is the main reason I opted for this. Pursuit puts huge dents in the thing regardless if it switches or not. And because so many people use Choice items on their pokemon, Pursuit becomes even more useful as they would have to choose between either staying in and doing little damage with a resisted attack or switching and losing a huge chunk of health or even being KO'd. Part of the reason I used Tyranitar in the first place is its ability to counter Zapdos so effectively. Its sandstorm and natural bulk lets it sponge special attacks in general but Zapdos targeted because its a pokemon in OU that single-handedly destroys Fire/Water/Grass cores. Tyranitar sponges and KO's Zapdos with Stone Edge which lets my entire team function more better. The EVs let me outspeed Skarmory's so I can 2HKO before it can roost off the damage.
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King Carrot (Shaymin) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
This the MVP for my team in most matches. Expert Belt Shaymin is an amazing Heatran lure. Since Heatran is the most common pokemon in Suspect, and its Scizor's number 1 counter, I needed a pokemon to lure out and KO it. Enter Shaymin. Shaymin baits Heatrans into switching in on a Seed Flare and since theres no recovery or recoil, they think that its a Choice Specs or Scarf variant of Shaymin and stay in while I KO their Heatran's with Earth Power. Its also a good pokemon for baiting Zapdos's so they can be taken out by a good Stone Edge from Tyranitar. Its also a suprisingly solid special sweeper after the opponent knows what set I'm actually running, 2HKO most switch-ins that don't directly resist my attacks.
EVs are pretty standard, Max SpA/Max Speed and a Timid nature to outspeed neutral base 100's. Seed Flare and HP Fire give me good coverage on most OU's while Earth Power lets me hit the ones that resists both moves and Air Slash is mainly filler but it helps me with Fighting types like Breloom.
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King Crimson (Scizor) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 188 HP/252 Atk/60 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
Now we reach the culmination of my team's efforts, Bulky SD Scizor was a monster in OU and since no one really goes out of their way to carry more than one Scizor counter, this combined with Shaymin can literally bring down teams. With the defensive EVs and Scizor's resists, I can easily get 2 or 3 SD's down then Bullet punch my way to a win. Brick Break gives me an attack to suprise Magnezones that would try to switch in and trap me. I chose Superpower over Brick Break because of the fact that its redundant to boost my stats then lower them again everytime something that resists Bullet Punch comes along. This set isn't only a Swords Dancer, its also a competent revenge killer with Bullet Punch. The EVs give me maximum bulk while being able to outspeed Skarmory. This bulk lets me set up on pokemon that I normally wouldn't be able to, like bulky waters such as Vaporeon.
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