SM LC Blue Chips

Shrug

is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Past SPL Championis a Past SCL Champion
LCPL Champion

Hey y'all, it's Shrug. Thanks to an improbable series of events, I have a trophy now, which is pretty cool. I'm a dumbass sentimental traditionalist, at least in matters of minimal import, so I decided to type up an RMT as a formal farewell to snake and the metagame we're about to depart. This team isn't revolutionary, but i think it's the one that best synthases the dominant elements of late-period SM Lc. Onix + fighting-type explains itself; while it may have faded a bit at the end of this meta it remains relevant and effective. Mixvullaby might be the most consistent - as in, always difference-making and large-looming - set in the game, and it's back here in its original role: opening up midgame for a birdspam finisher, here Doduo. The fast lc offensive special attacker shows up in the form of staryu, a mon that has only ascended since the start of the gen. And Spritzee is here, the vulla check, the everything check, bringing along its insane winrate and varied utility. It sums into what I think is a very effective offensive team, an opinion shared by people whose opinions on lc i respect - dcae, starmaster, etc. It has picked up wins in various tours and is clearly a team of quality.

How did it come together? All at once, mostly. I decided I wanted to use doduo + staryu early on in my phase one building. But i ran into a deficit of imagination; basically, I was trying to make the team too balanced. I was throwing ferros on there, and the team would get overwhelmed - it didnt have enough defense to withstand concerted offensive pressure. So i decided fuck it, I was building direct offense, changed doduo to scarf and committed to 4 attack evio staryu. Vullaby followed, as did timburr. Onix and spritzee just popped into the head after, two blanket checks that also give offensive presence. And it didnt change from there: it was certified and we were ttg.

Before we get to the sets, I'm going to give notes on the team. There are some weaknesses, but here weaknesses means things you dont overpower by just clicking the clear moves - things you need to plan ahead for. Those are Elekid, Spritzee, and Abra. Elekid you need onix for, though you can use spritzee and maybe try to pursuit. It's really only bad if you let it have its way against vullaby (unboosted) or staryu. Abra is abra, duct-tape together a check and then pursuit. And Spritzee requires probably a vullaby or timburr sac for knock + damage, then offensive pressure preventing a wish. Harder than it seems because this team doesnt set up and spritzee really is an irksomely bulky fucker. This team owes a stylistic debt to stathakis's Greek rmt, which you can find here, and is really fascinating reading for its theory of pkmn that was likely a radical re-conceptualization of the (stall-heavy) 2009 game and also rather prescient - it holds up, in modified form, in 2017 lc.

Onto the team.

@

Blue Chips (Onix) @ Berry Juice
Trait: Sturdy
236 Atk / 76 SpD / 196 Speed
Jolly Nature
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Endure

Three lives Onix, which is broken apparently. It's not, but it is good, in a variety of ways. The moves are obvious: rocks to get rocks, Sturdy to give it checking power, and dual STABs. This is your blanket check to a lot of things, most notably the volt switch electric types, but also abra, etc. Checks birds obviously. Deploy this judiciously and the team will sing, i think, and try to make sacrifices count - fire off strong EQs and Rock Blasts, or drop it for a switchin. This team helps it because the normal momentum-sinks for Onix - staryu, Fightings - have obvious checks in Vullaby (which punishes Spins) and Spritzee (which eats fighting types for brunch), which frees it up. I'm not going to belabor the point, because Onix is obvious, but I will repeat myself for emphasis: deploy Onix strategically. Named because it's an obvious blue-chip mon in lc and looks like a mf snack lol

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Tapas (Vullaby) @ Berry Juice
Trait: Weak Armor
156 Atk / 76 Def / 76 SpA / 76 SpD / 116 Spe
Hardy Nature
- Knock Off
- Brave Bird
- Heat Wave
- Defog

It's Shrugaby baby, gotta love it. I'm a vainglorious little bitch so i insist on taking credit for things, particularly this one, which has maybe shaped the back-half SM metagame more than any other thread that emerged only after the nu-generational primordial ooze receded and we had a real meta. It's good. Knock is good because it opens up other teams. Brave bird is good because it bops fighting and grass types and is powerful STAB. Heat Wave is good to threaten Pawn and ferro and to avoid contact. Defog deals with webs and spikestacks and maybe rocks if you need them off - that depends on the game. Use in the midgame to open up teams, particularly ones that use spritzee. Named because it gives you a sample of everything delicious

@

Nordic Wind (Staryu) @ Eviolite
Trait: Analytic
36 Hp / 200 SpA / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Starmaster disliked 4 Attack Staryu before this team, but it convinced him, heh. It's so good. If you get a free Pump off you get a kill, really, because you have all four attacks. Ferro gets brapped. other waters get brapped. Analytic is a life orb boost by itself. The evio allows it to take hits and respond in kind, even switch in sometimes, but be careful, because this is still frail. This is one of the real wincons on the team, though the breadth of its attacking potential means it's often good to use in the midgame with vullaby to really put the opp on the back foot. Named because it blows you away

@

Thug Love Story (Spritzee) @ Eviolite
Trait: Aroma Veil
212 Hp / 196 Def / 12 SpA / 76 SpD / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- Covet
- Wish
- Protect

Spritzee is fantastic. A Vullaby and Fight check by role, it's really an everything fixer - fill it in for yourself. Abra, sure, and elekid, and doduo, and all of em. Fire off moonblasts, preserve yourself with wishes if you need, but be careful to not let setups happen - thats the only danger. Don't forget about spritzee as an attacking mon, because often people neglect to reserve something to take Moonblasts. Covet is good as hell too, a low-key Thief that also allows you to take a hit. It punishes people for the cheeky stay-in-with-foo-to-knock play thats kinda gotten more common now. Named because it's the teams beating heart

@

Tan Leather (Timburr) @ Eviolite
Trait: Iron Fist
196 Atk / 156 Def / 156 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch
- Fire Punch

Timburr is your fighting-type heft. The moves are all obvious besides Fire Punch. There's a reason for it, and not just hitting Gunk slightly harder - that's a bonus. It's really for Foongus, but in a sneaky way that Ice Punch isnt. It's for when you come in on Ferro or Pawn and there's a foongus in the back. You fear Foongus coming in on a fighting move and getting a free turn v timburr with hp over 72% (evioless) or 56% (w evio), which means it lives and it can fire off a Spore. that's bad. But cant you just predict with ice punch? I dont want Timburr getting slammed with iron heads or a layer of spikes. Fire Punch cuts down both Pawn and foongus in one move at the cost of hitting vullaby slightly less hard, but i can deal with that. Otherwise, use it normally. Named because it's broken in

@

Expensive Pens (Doduo) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Early Bird
236 Atk / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Jump Kick
- Drill Peck
- Pursuit

The street-sweeper of the team. Doduo is a refreshingly obvious mon even on a simple team like this. You click moves. Pursuit should be employed well: think abra, gastly, wingull, elekid maybe. The only nonstandard thing is Drill Peck, and that exists for a reason that should be obvious: no recoil. Whenever I play games with this team, some enlightened pokemon master will have like a random onix at 10%, a full health knocked foo, and a full health knocked foong, and will crow triumphantly about his masterfully planned victory-by-recoil. uh-huh, bitch? So yes. Named because it's the highest-quality sharp end of a team

so yea, that's about it. this is a good team. Use it if you'd like.

Some replays:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7lc-316967 - Me against ggggd in Snake
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7lc-323701 - ict w it in grand slam
i know dcae used it too in ssnl but i cannot find that

and an importable:
Blue Chips (Onix) @ Berry Juice
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 76 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Endure

Tapas (Vullaby) @ Berry Juice
Ability: Weak Armor
Level: 5
EVs: 156 Atk / 76 Def / 76 SpA / 76 SpD / 116 Spe
- Knock Off
- Brave Bird
- Heat Wave
- Defog

Nordic Wind (Staryu) @ Eviolite
Ability: Analytic
Level: 5
EVs: 36 HP / 200 SpA / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Hydro Pump
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Thug Love Story (Spritzee) @ Eviolite
Ability: Aroma Veil
Level: 5
EVs: 212 HP / 196 Def / 12 SpA / 76 SpD / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect
- Covet

Tan Leather (Timburr) @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Fist
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Atk / 156 Def / 156 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch
- Fire Punch

Expensive Pens (Doduo) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Early Bird
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Drill Peck
- Jump Kick
- Pursuit


shouts everyone who made lc in snake so fun, and action bronson's blue chips. cheers y'all
 

Luthier

Don’t get mad, get even.
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Two-Time Past SCL Champion
Hey shrug :). I wanted to say a couple of things about the team and give whatever input I can. I think the main weakness to this team is the magnemite + staryu. The team has troubles dealing with mag. Although you do have timburr in the back to deal with volt switching and then have the endure on the onix to take care of the stealth rock damage, I still feel like it's a bit weak to mag.


The other thing that I wanted to talk about is a set that seems to be on the rise. I know it sounds like an unset but it is something to watch out on ur team. It's sub BU rattle snubble. It takes a chip out of ur team and although spritzee would be ur way of dealing with it each time... it no longer can deal with as well when snubb does above 50 with +1 with the rigth spread or if the evio is knocked off

Last thing is the way you deal with scarf snivy. In emergencies you can go onix and then fire off a rock blast and then kill with quick attack from ur scarf doduo. But then, you leave urself free to volt turn which is kinda annoying to deal with.

These are just a couple of things I noticed. Other than that, really cool team :)
 
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