Tournament UU Rating Team Competition v2 - Round 2

[Indigo Plateau]

approved by rmt hitler eheh

Hosts: Indigo Plateau | Snowy | Sun
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Welcome to the latest edition of the Team Rater Competition! The tier this time around will be USM UU. For each round we'll post a team, and participants will have one week to complete a rate of said team. When the round is over, the participants who submitted the best rates will move onto the next round. If you are eliminated and want to receive feedback on your rate, the hosts will be more than happy to provide that upon request. Each round will last one week. Failure to rate the team within the one week time period will result in disqualification unless you're able to give us a valid reason. Please only sign up if you can commit to rating one team every week for the next month. If you're currently involved in or are looking to start rating UU teams, I highly encourage you to participate as this promises to be a great learning experience. Here's to a fun and competitive tournament!

Important notes:

• The top rates from each round in addition to the rates in the final two rounds will count towards the Team Rater badge
  
• The winner will be awarded voice status in the Trainers' School room on PS if they have shown an interest in getting involved.
• Each round will last one week. Failure to rate the team within the one week time period will result in disqualification unless you're able to give us a valid reason. Please only sign up if you can commit to rating one team every week for the next month.
• If you are eliminated and would like some feedback on your rate and how you can improve going forward, feel free to ask us.
• At the end of each round, we will announce the best rate from that round and a quick overview of what we liked in the rates submitted.

Participants

Amane Misa vivalospride Kreme martha Darksafadao bebo7788 faded love danger zone

deadline is Thursday, October 18 @ 11:59 PM GMT EDT

good luck to all participants!

 

[Indigo Plateau]

As we move onto Round 2, we wanted to highlight our favorite rates from Round 1; congratulations to Amane Misa & martha! You can see their respective rates below
Please also note that if you want feedback on your rate (regardless of whether you moved on or not), feel free to PM us!

Amane Misa

The first thing I noticed is that the team does not have Stealth Rock. Then, I noticed the poor matchup against Dark-types like Hydreigon and Ghost-types like Chandelure.

• Hydreigon > Latias gave the team a better matchup against the kinds of Krookodile and Chandelure. Furthermore, thanks to U-turn, it lures in Fairy-types who Nidoking can capitalize on for a free turn.
• As I mentioned, the team does not have Stealth Rock, which is very bad. I had to replace Stealth Rock > Substitute on Nidoking because of it.
• As I said, the Dark-types matchup is very bad. It led me to change Togekiss > Tentacruel. Togekiss is another hazard remover that unlike Tentacruel can take on Dark-types like Hydreigon and Krookodile reliably. It is holding a Babiri Berry and has Flamethrower, to lure in Scizor and OHKO it.
• A minor change: Pursuit > Knock Off on Scizor is the best option because the team hates to switch into Latias.
• Other Options: Nidoqueen > Nidoking with the same moveset but with the EV spread of 88 HP / 252 SpA / 168 Spe coupled with a Modest nature gives the team a slightly bulkier and stronger breaker, for the cost of Speed. This should help with the Terrakion matchup if anything, but is not necessary. Defog > Fire Blast on Hydreigon and Thunder Wave > Defog on Togekiss provides the team with a less reliable form of hazard control, but Thunder Wave on Togekiss actually really helps the other slower team members like Heracross and Nidoking in breaking through checks that rely on their higher Speed stat to check them.

importable with changes

Manectric-Mega @ Manectite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Heracross @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Facade

Togekiss @ Babiri Berry
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Flamethrower
- Roost
- Defog

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
- Fire Blast

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock

Thanks!

martha

The first thing I noticed about this team was its lack of Stealth Rock. Stealth Rock should be present on all good competitve teams to punish switch-ins and severely weaken some of the tier.

>

For this, I changed Nidoking to Mamoswine. Mamoswine provides the role of a breaker Nidoking originally had, but it also has Ice-type moves to threaten Ground-types, which the team struggled with originally, particularly bulkier ones. It also has priority Ice Shard to help revenge kill faster Pokemon like Mega Aerodactyl, Hydreigon, and Latias when weakened.

This team also has a weakness to Hydreigon and other Dragon-types in general. They can't switch into Heracross or Mamowsine, but they don't really have anything that resists their STAB moves outside of Scizor, which can be worn down easily and doesn't appreciate Hydreigon's Dark Pulse.

>

Tentacruel was extemely passive on an otherwise offensive VoltTurn team and drained a lot of momentum. Additionally, its Toxic Spikes didn't help with much when a team build around a strong VoltTurn core forces too many switches for a Pokemon to be worn down fast enough. The team needed a Fairy-type so I replaced Tentacruel with Babiri Berry Togekiss. Togekiss can switch intro Hydreigon and help against Latias somewhat too. It is also running a set that can lure and KO Scizor, which becomes problematic by adding two Pokemon weak to Bullet Punch. The set also helps eliminate or weaken otehr Steel-types like Mega Aggron and Mega Steelix too.

>

I replaced Choice Scarf Latias with Choice Scarf Hydreigon to provide another pivot to help the VoltTurn core. It also has a better matchup against Scizor, and Latias doesn't need to be run for Trick to help the stall matchup when you have three incredibly strong breakers in Heracross, Mamoswine, and Primarina. I elected to run Defog over Fire Blast due to dropping removal in Tentacruel.

My final smaller changes are Pursuit > Knock Off on Choice Band Scizor as well as a bulkier EV spread. Pursuit helps punish switches from Latias, further aiding the matchup against it. The bulkier spread makes it less frail and helps it come into attacks more easily. I also opted to run Signal Beam > Hidden Power Ice on Mega Manectric to hit Hydreigon harder as well as helping with Krookodile, Latias, and Celebi.

Importable

Manectric-Mega @ Manectite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Heracross @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Facade

Togekiss @ Babiri Berry
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Air Slash
- Flamethrower
- Roost

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 164 HP / 252 Atk / 92 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
- Defog

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Icicle Crash
- Stealth Rock

And now, below is the team for Round 2:

I wanted to build around the sand core of Aerodactyl + Hippowdon, which is really solid and has been used extensively before. Aerodactyl gets a boost from sand that allows me to trap Pokemon like Latias and Ghost-types, and Hippowdon is physically defensive to help against Fighting-types.

Next, I added Hydreigon for extra insurance against Pokemon like Celebi, Suicune, and Reuniclus. Taunt Life Orb is also great for breaking through bulky teams, which Aerodactyl can struggle to do alone.

I’ve enjoyed using Nasty Plot Celebi a lot, and it helps my team muscle through bulky Water-types that can trouble the first three Pokemon.

Primarina has excellent synergy with Celebi, wearing down opposing special walls and Fire-types for it. I think every team needs a Fairy-type, so it seemed to fit well here.

Lastly, I wanted something to help against stall, and Togekiss is a phenomenal stallbreaker. Flamethrower lets me lure in Steel-types and makes Aerodactyl’s and Celebi’s job easier.

(click me)​